Win McNamee/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- ABC News reported this week that special counsel Robert Muellers team has now told the Justice Department to turn over any emails and other documents related to, among other things, the May 9 firing of James Comey as FBI director. The move is a strong signal that Muellers team is actively investigating whether President Trump tried to obstruct a federal criminal probe over Russias attempts to influence last years presidential election. But what exactly is known about the controversial move to ax Comey, and what could it mean for what Muellers team is still hoping to uncover? Shifting narratives and conflicting messages about possible intentions and directives before the May firing took place have helped make it all quite murky. Here is a breakdown of the known facts, and the unanswered questions, about the whole matter. What the White House said publicly The White House released a statement after the firing, pointing to recommendations from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions as key motivating factors. "President Trump acted based on the clear recommendations of both Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions," the White House statement read. Rosenstein wrote a memorandum, dated May 9, to Sessions, criticizing Comeys handling of the Clinton email investigation, as well as Comeys July 5, 2016, news conference on the FBIs ultimate findings in that probe. I cannot defend the director's handling of the conclusion of the investigation of Secretary Clinton's emails, and I do not understand his refusal to accept the nearly universal judgment that he was mistaken, Rosenstein wrote. The White House released its statement, a letter that Trump wrote to Comey, including the presidents claim that Comey told him he was not under investigation in relation to the Russia probe, as well as the memos from both Rosenstein and Sessions urging the president to fire Mueller. "While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgment of the Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the Bureau," Trump wrote in his letter to Comey. "It is essential that we find new leadership for the FBI that restores public trust and confidence in its vital law enforcement mission. When the official word arrived Shortly after 5 p.m. ET May 9, Trump called several members of Congress to inform them of his decision. According to then-press secretary Sean Spicer, Trump reached out to House and Senate leadership. Trump called House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and left a message for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. He also spoke to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and reached out to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., as well as Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Dianne Feinstein of California. Comey's termination was read to him over the phone while he was traveling for the bureau in Los Angeles, two FBI sources told ABC News. He was there for a field office inspection and a recruitment event that evening as part of the FBI's efforts to boost diversity. A different FBI official told ABC News that Comey first learned of his firing by seeing news reports on TV. Comey was "surprised, really surprised" and was "caught flat-footed," the official said. A White House official confirmed to ABC News that Keith Schiller, the president's longtime bodyguard and then-Oval Office director of operations, hand-delivered Trump's termination letter to FBI headquarters. FBI agents and staff were stunned by the news, FBI sources told ABC News. Motivations for the memo In the days immediately after Comeys firing, different White House officials, including Spicer and then-deputy press secretary Sarah Sanders, denied that Trump had influenced or directed Rosenstein to write the memo that suggested Comey be fired. That differed from other accounts. On May 10, Sen. Feinstein said that during his call with her, Trump said "the department's a mess, I asked Rosenstein and Sessions to look into it," apparently referring to the FBI. In a May 18 closed-door briefing with the Senate, Rosenstein reportedly told them that "he knew that Comey was going to be removed prior to him writing his memo," Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said, though Rosenstein has not confirmed that publicly. And in the wake of Comeys firing, Trump told NBC News, When I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said 'you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story." How it relates to the Russia investigation The nature of the interactions and any alleged directives shared between the White House and the key Department of Justice officials before the Comey dismissal is now a part of special counsel Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. ABC News has since learned from a source that Mueller's team is eager to obtain emails related to the firing of Comey. Mueller's investigators now seek not only communications between Justice Department officials themselves, but also any communications with White House counterparts, the source said. During a House hearing in June, Rosenstein refused to say whether he consulted with the White House before Comey's firing or whether anyone asked him to write his memo, insisting such questions "may well be within the scope of the special counsel's investigation." Rosenstein still maintains final supervision over the Russia investigation being led by Mueller, even though he was interviewed by Mueller's team as a witness for his own role in Comey's firing. Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Four people are missing and presumed dead following last weeks fire at a Pennsylvania senior living community. The massive blaze tore through Barclay Friends Senior Living Community in West Chester late Thursday, injuring more than two-dozen people and displacing 133 residents. The cause is still unknown. Officials previously had suggested that not all the residents had made it out alive, but they didnt reveal the number of missing until Monday afternoon. A husband and wife as well as two other elderly women hadnt been found and we arent expecting good news, Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan said. Investigators will start sorting through the remains of the burnt-out building with heavy machinery, officials said. Eight people were still hospitalized Monday, authorities said, and scores of residents have been relocated to surrounding facilities. Many residents were pushed from the complex in wheelchairs or rolled out on their beds into overnight temperatures that dipped into the low 40s as strong winds fanned flames that engulfed sections of the building within minutes. More than 400 emergency personnel responded to the fire. The heat was so intense that one firefighter battling the blaze discovered his helmet was melting. Dozens of neighbors also helped during the rescue effort, wrapping residents in blankets and ferrying them to ambulances using makeshift gurneys. Volunteers collected clothing and supplies for the residents over the weekend. Organizers said the support was so overwhelming they couldnt accept any more items. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Numbers Pennsylvania Airbus SE is looking to develop autonomous aircraft and technologies that will allow a single pilot to operate commercial jetliners, helping cut costs for carriers, Chief Technology Officer Paul Eremenko said. The more disruptive approach is to say maybe we can reduce the crew needs for our future aircraft, Eremenko told Bloomberg Televisions Yvonne Man in an interview broadcast on Wednesday. Were pursuing single-pilot operation as a potential option and a lot of the technologies needed to make that happen has also put us on the path towards unpiloted operation. The aerospace industry has begun seeing a similar trend as the car market, where automakers are investing in or acquiring autonomous driving startups. Plane manufacturers including Airbus and Boeing Co. are racing to develop artificial intelligence that will one day enable computers to fly planes without human beings at the controls. Turning that idea into a practical reality wont be easy in an industry where at least two pilots in the cockpit have been the norm for commercial flights for several decades. After a Germanwings pilot flew an A320 plane into the French Alps in March 2015, killing all 150 people on board, many airlines around the world made at least two people in the cockpit mandatory at all times. In addition to there being no transport-category aircraft certificated for a single pilot or pilotless flight, its unclear whether passengers or their insurers or carriers would accept or permit it, said aviation consultant Robert Mann, a former American Airlines executive. People are arguably apprehensive about these kind of things, said Shukor Yusof, founder of aviation consulting firm Endau Analytics in Malaysia. You have driver-less cars, driver-less buses, but for something that flies, thats something different. Airbus has a division called Urban Air Mobility that is exploring technology from on-demand helicopter rides to delivery drones. Boeing said last month it purchased a company that is developing flying taxis for Uber Technologies Inc. and also bought into a hybrid-electric airplane company. Last week, Airbus agreed to set up an innovation center in Chinas Shenzhen, near Hong Kong. The facility will help accelerate research needed to chart the future of air travel, and China will provide Airbus an opportunity to design and develop such technologies, Eremenko said. Take a Leap I think the general aviation space in China is just opening up, Eremenko said in Hong Kong. Theres an opportunity for China to sort of take a leap ahead as it has been prone to do in other areas and design the aerospace system, design the regulatory regime to be future looking, forward looking to enable urban air mobility. The Toulouse, France-based company is also exploring technologies that will bring more automation to the cockpit of planes that could help resolve shortage of pilots in countries like China, which is set to emerge as the worlds biggest aviation market in less than a decade. Discussions are on with Chinese companies such as Baidu Inc. to find ways to apply self-driving vehicles to the aviation industry, Eremenko said. Boeing estimates that 637,000 pilots will be needed to fly commercial aircraft globally in the next two decades. The industry needs to find ways to produce more cockpit crew as only 200,000 pilots have been trained since the start of the aviation industry, Eremenko said. Airbuss A3 Silicon Valley think tank has been working on its proposed Vahana flying taxi, due for its first test before the end of this year. The pilotless, electric-powered vehicle could be hailed like a conventional cab, but wont get stuck in traffic jams. The single-person flying machine could slash journey times for city dwellers over a range of 50 miles, according to Airbus. With assistance from Kelly Belknap, Emily Yamamoto and Benjamin Katz. Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. Topics InsurTech Aviation China Aerospace Starr Cos. announced an agreement with SMARTT MGA to act as agents for Starr International (Europe) Ltd. to provide automated quotes and policy documentation for light general aviation business. We have built a close and fruitful relationship with SMARTT and are happy that we have formalized this arrangement, stated Jim Herbert, chief underwriting officer, aviation. We believe our StarrLink International platform will bring significant efficiencies to the way aviation business is placed. We look forward to expanding our product offerings through SMARTT MGA in the near future. Michal Chmielewski, chief executive officer, SMARTT MGA, stated, Most quotes, binding and policy documentation issuance take only a few minutes to produce through the StarrLink platform changing the way aviation insurance is purchased. SMARTT MGA is a part of SMARTT Group, which is an insurance and reinsurance intermediary incorporated in Poland and authorised by Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF). Source: Starr Cos. Topics Aviation Insurance Wholesale Investing in Growth and Community, Sharing Success From leadership style, to growth in a sluggish economy, to profit sharing, to career opportunities, to doing the right thing for customers, and more, employees of R&R Insurance Services in Waukesha, Wisconsin, say theres a lot to love about their place of employment. And their enthusiasm for their employer helped R&R Insurance land a spot as one of Insurance Journals Best Agency to Work For in 2017. As the Bronze Best Agency award winner for the Midwest region, R&R Insurance joins a small group of elite agencies across the nation whose employees nominated and ranked their employers well above the rest in IJs Best Agency to Work For poll for 2017. With five locations, R&R Insurance has 185 employees and annual revenues between $26 million and $50 million. That his employees nominated the agency for the award is incredibly gratifying, said Ken Riesch, owner and president of R&R Insurance. I am humbled to know they value the agency and truly believe in our mission. Our goal as an agency is to develop and expand the careers of our employees and it is my job to ensure our employees know the value they bring to our agency every day. R&R is a great place to work for so many reasons, but as an owner I truly believe in investing back into the agency. Whether it be people, resources, or technology, I am committed to doing what I can to help R&R grow and in turn growing our employees. Judging by employee responses to IJs survey, R&Rs staff gets it. R&R offers great opportunity for individual growth, wrote one employee. They also provide resources that other agencies cannot match. This enables me to concentrate on my primary job function, which is to bring new clients in the door. The agencys profit-sharing plan is a benefit that increases talent retention. I cannot say enough positive things about R&R and I look forward to growing alongside the company for many more years. Another employee praised the company not only for reinvesting profits into the agency but for sharing its success with their community, as well. Attending community events that are sponsored by R&R always makes me feel proud to be part of this organization. R&R doesnt just take its profits and reinvest in itself (although it does this very well in the form of resources, technology and profit sharing). It invests in its community From The Women and Girls Fund, to the United Way, to the Bryon Riesch Paralysis Foundation and countless other organizations R&R takes its success and reputation, and uses it to reach out to the members of our community who need help, and gives them a push forward, the employee wrote. Staff members appreciate the outstanding, specialized service the agency provides to its clients, as well as the innovative strategies for improvement and providing employees with opportunities to develop. For instance, one employee wrote, the Employee Leadership Team is new within the last 5 years. This is a rotating committee, which gives up and coming individuals within the agency the opportunity to be engaged in project management, team building, and professional development. Another said the company does a good job of making sure the really good employees are given the recognition and opportunities to advance and use their talents to make the agency successful. Reischs advice to agency owners looking to make their agency a Best Place to Work? Your people are your greatest assets and your success is to be shared. Share your success with your employees, your customers, and your community. Dont muddle in the little things and truly enjoy each and every day that you step into the office. Topics Agencies The U.S. Department of Labors Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has proposed $1,837,861 in fines against Didion Milling Inc. in Cambria, Wisconsin, following a May 31, 2017, explosion that killed five workers and injured 12 others, including a 21-year-old employee who suffered a double leg amputation after being crushed by a railcar. OSHA said it found that the explosion likely resulted from Didions failures to correct the leakage and accumulation of highly combustible grain dust throughout the facility and to properly maintain equipment to control ignition sources. Didions Cambria facility was cited with 14 willful including eight willful per-instance egregious and five serious citations, most involving fire and explosion hazards. The company has been placed in OSHAs Severe Violator Enforcement Program. In a statement, OSHA Regional Administrator Ken Nishiyama Atha said Didions disregard for the law led to an explosion that claimed the lives of workers, and heartbreak for their families and the community. The egregious willful citations were issued for violating OSHAs grain handling standard by failing to perform required maintenance on operating equipment and implementing a housekeeping program to control dust accumulations. Willful citations were issued for failure to shut down ignition sources, prevent static electricity discharge, provide adequate personal protective equipment to employees, correct malfunctioning dust collection systems, maintain equipment safety controls, and have an emergency alarm system. Serious citations addressed hazards associated with fires and explosions, and the lack of employee training. The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHAs area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. Source: OSHA Topics Workers' Compensation Wisconsin A Century Young and Still Going Strong A family-owned insurance agency doesnt make it to 100 years and counting without doing a lot of things right, and the fact that Garrett Insurance Agency (GIA) in Kerrville, Texas, celebrates a century of service next year has not gone unnoticed by the agencys employees who nominated it as an Insurance Journal Best Agency to Work For in 2017. GIA, the Bronze winner of the Best Agency to Work For South Central region, may be hitting the century mark in 2018, but that in no way means it is stodgy or stuck in its ways. Employees responding to IJs Best Agency survey noted that GIA provides staff not only with state-of-the-art equipment, software and phone systems, but with endless opportunities to succeed as well. One employee put it this way: Next year is the agencys 100th year anniversary in the small town of Kerrville, Texas. Being around that long you know the agency has had a presence in the community and strives to gain, keep, and build customer relationships. All of our employees have a chance to push themselves and work their way up. Another wrote: If a person is wanting to grow this would be the place to make dreams happen, if a person is willing to work! With 35 employees and additional locations in Federicksburg and Conroe, Texas, GIA had an annual revenue last year of more than $3.7 million, according to agency President Stephen R. Schmerbeck. A fourth-generation leader of the agency, Schmerbeck said in an email to Insurance Journal that it is humbling and gratifying that the people primarily responsible for our success, our staff, would take the time to tell others about their experience in our office. The agencys leadership has worked very hard to match our staff with their individual gifts, talents and interests, Schmerbeck said. While that process has included some trial and error, the net result has created a cohesive and pleasant environment for all. The importance of an agencys staff cant be overstated, according to Schmerbeck, because without them, you are nothing. Theirs is the voice on the phone, face at the reception desk, the first point of contact for our clients and prospects, so hire the best as the investment will pay dividends going forward. That staff-centric attitude is obviously appreciated by the agencys employees. Said one: I have worked for only one other insurance agency and there is no comparison. The way the employees are treated as family makes me want to work extra hard to make this agency even more successful. Another said: I have been given opportunities from the day I started working. I have always been offered ways to advance in what I am doing, as well as change what I am doing if I do not feel comfortable doing it. Management has always treated me with respect and kindness in all aspects of our work environment. Several employees praised the fact that GIA has been recognized in its community for its excellence. GIA was honored with Readers Choice awards from the local newspaper, the Kerrville Daily Times, for the best insurance agency, best boss and best insurance agent in 2017. It was also the first business to be inducted in the Kerrville Chamber of Commerce Hall of Fame, said one staff member. Both the employees and managers can take credit for the agencys successes, one employee wrote, stating: Everyone that is involved with our business is the face of the company. Garrett would not be where it is today without the hard work and relationships our staff and managers make every day. Another put it simply: Garrett Insurance is just a terrific place to work!!!!!!!!!! Topics Agencies Texas Some Dickinson business owners are getting back on their feet or trying after flooding from Hurricane Harvey swamped more than 80 shops, restaurants and offices. The Galveston County Daily News reports Keith Lilley, owner of two popular Dickinson restaurants, Dickinson Bar-B-Que & Steakhouse and Marais, had severe flooding at both properties. Within a week after the storm, the restaurant owner was up and running, serving menus from both restaurants out of his new waterfront restaurant, Marais, 2015 FM 517. But next door to Marais, Dickinson Bar-B-Que, which took on more than 3 feet of water, remains closed for renovations. Across the street, a strip center owned by a local dentist that once housed about five businesses is down to the studs. The dentist is operating in League City for the time being and a tailor who worked there has been working out of her house, Lilley said. For businesses, getting back in operation can be costly. Lilley estimated he had cut about $200,000 in checks this month for contractor payments and other renovation-related expenses, he said. The expenses have been draining revenues, he said. We lost about half a million dollars in revenue the first month, but expenses dont stop, Lilley said. Youre having to spend money at the worst time for it. Still, Lilley, who carried flood insurance on both properties and had security cameras in place that documented flooding, considers himself far more fortunate than many in the hard-hit community, he said. Now, Lilley is one of many business owners seeking a Harvey grant offered by the citys Economic Development Corp. The Dickinson Economic Development Corp. announced earlier this month a grant program intended to help small business owners defray some of the costs of rebuilding. The grants stem from local sales taxes the corporation collects, Economic Development Coordinator Angela Forbes said. The grants are relatively small, compared to the damages businesses face. But the funding is intended to assist businesses recovering, Forbes said. The corporation identified, through surveys and door-to-door checks, at least 85 Dickinson businesses that were damaged during Hurricane Harvey, Forbes said. The storm made landfall on Aug. 25 in Rockport about 200 miles south and dumped more than 40 inches of rain over the Houston area in the following days, swelling waterways and flooding thousands of homes and businesses. Businesses operating in Dickinson are eligible to apply for the grant, regardless of whether or not theyve received other assistance, such as small business loans or flood insurance payouts, Forbes said. The EDC is very interested in working with small business owners to provide any help we possibly can, Forbes said. The money can be used for rebuilding, roofing, new windows or entryways, facade repairs or utility work, she said. Other expenses may be taken into consideration, too, she said. The corporation has allocated about $200,000 for the program, she said. Many businesses are back up and running, even if places are still under construction, she said. But owners have been dealing with the red tape and hassle of disaster recovery, Forbes said. I know for many its been a struggle with insurance companies and contractors, Forbes said. Theres so much work and so few contractors that people feel they can trust. Small businesses can also apply for the citys Harvey Relief Fund about $1 million in grants the city is offering from Harvey donations, she said. The city has set aside about 20 percent of the fund for business owners, she said. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Texas Flood A Florida nursing home under investigation for the deaths of 13 patients after Hurricane Irma says in a letter to Congress that staff members did everything possible but couldnt overcome a lack of power to the central air conditioner. In a letter released Monday, Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills attorney Geoffrey D. Smith told the House Energy and Commerce Committee that employees followed proper procedures between the air conditioner losing power on Sept. 10 and when the deaths began Sept. 13. The committee is investigating the deaths as are local police detectives and the state. Smith said managers made repeated calls to Florida Power & Light, the state health care administration and Gov. Rick Scott in an effort to get the air conditioning power restored but got nowhere. Meanwhile, he says the facilitys main power never went out and employees used portable air conditioners and fans to cool the patients and kept them hydrated. There was no state law requiring nursing homes to have backup generators for their central air conditioners. He said staff had been closely monitoring patients for two days when the deaths began without warning. He said the temperature inside the facility never exceeded 81 degrees, which would be within standards. We believe that there were multiple system failures that need to be considered and investigated before casting blame on persons who risked their own well-being to care for others during this natural disaster, Smith wrote. Scotts office issued a statement Monday saying, This facility had a responsibility to its patients to protect life during emergencies. We must learn why this facility chose not to evacuate their patients to the hospital across the street or call 911. Florida Power & Light says it followed the priority list for restoration as agreed to by Broward County. Smith wrote in his letter that from Sept. 10 to 12, the staff monitored the facilitys 150 patients and none exhibited any sign of heat exhaustion. He said about 3 a.m. on Sept. 13, several patients began showing signs of respiratory and cardiac distress. He said the staff summoned paramedics for each patient and followed proper protocols. The onset of heat stroke is impossible to predict and can occur in 10 to 15 minutes, he said. He said the elderly are susceptible at 81 degrees (27 degrees Celsius). He said about 6 a.m., Hollywood police officers and staff from Memorial Regional Hospital, the trauma center across the street, declared a mass casualty situation. Officers and hospital staff members have said the facility seemed excessively hot. Detectives took a temperature reading but that has not been released. All patients were evacuated to Memorial over the next three hours. Three patients died at the nursing home, five later that day at Memorial and five in subsequent days at the hospital. A 14th death was later determined not to be related. The dead ranged in age from 57 to 99, with most from their 70s to 90s. Smith rejected criticism that the center should have evacuated its patients to Memorial earlier, saying that would violate established emergency procedures. Hospitals are critical facilities that are supposed to be used for individual cases, not as mass evacuation centers, he wrote. Shortly after the evacuation, an FPL crew arrived and restored the air conditionings power in 20 minutes, he wrote. He said 242 other Florida nursing homes lost power. He said he is seeking information on deaths at other facilities to see if they spiked during the blackout. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Florida Hurricane A man, his ex-wife and two sons are accused of burning down two West Virginia homes and pocketing over $550,000 in insurance claims. The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports 66-year-old Windel Lester, his ex-wife, 41-year-old Georgetta Lester, and his sons, 40-year-old Gregory A. Lester and 47-year-old James Edward Lester, were indicted on several charges, including money laundering. The indictment alleges the Lesters and others devised a scheme to defraud an insurance company by buying vacant properties, insuring them and setting them on fire. Theyre accused of submitting false insurance claims and collecting funds. After allegedly receiving the insurance money, theyre accused of laundering it through at least two banks. Windel was on the board of directors of one of the banks. Its unclear if they have lawyers. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Fraud Virginia What Is Net Neutrality? Network neutrality ensures that all data on the internet is treated equally by internet service providers (ISPs) and governments, regardless of content, user, platform, application, or device. For users, net neutrality enables access and transparency of internet content and allows access to all internet services and applications. Key Takeaways Network neutrality ensures that all data on the internet is treated equally by ISPs and governments, regardless of content, user, platform, application, or device. Net neutrality policy discussions target issues such as blocking or filtering online content, and preferential internet speeds based on business agreements. U.S. net neutrality laws were enacted by the Obama administration in 2015 and repealed by the Trump administration in 2018. The Net Neutrality and Broadband Justice Act was introduced in July 2022 and would give the FCC tools to protect the free and open internet and create a just broadband future for everyone in the United States. Understanding Net Neutrality Net neutrality argues that the internet should be accessible to everyone and requires all ISPs to provide the same level of data access and speed to all traffic and traffic to one service or website cannot be blocked or degraded. Coined by Columbia University law professor Tim Wu, net neutrality is used as a broad label in internet public policy and regulatory discussions concerning online freedom of expression, competition of service, innovation, pricing, and internet traffic management. Policy discussions both for and against net neutrality regulation target issues such as blocking or filtering online content, preferential internet speeds based on business agreements, throttling to limit user upload and download rates, and market competition and innovation to offer consumers the best choice of ISP. Net Neutrality Policies The Obama Administration advanced net neutrality legislation in 2015 and enacted rules that barred ISPs such as AT&T and Comcast from deliberately speeding up or slowing down traffic to or from specific websites based on demand or business preferences. However, in 2017, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), under President Trump, eliminated all net neutrality protections and renounced its authority over broadband, but allowed states to implement their own open internet rules. In July 2022, Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and Representative Doris Matsui (CA-06) introduced the Net Neutrality and Broadband Justice Act, legislation that would classify broadband internet access as a telecommunications service under Title II of the Communications Act, giving the FCC the appropriate authority to reinstate net neutrality protections. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for an accessible and just broadband future and the Net Neutrality and Broadband Justice Act gives the FCC the authority to prohibit discriminatory practices like blocking, throttling, paid prioritization online, and the ability to enact effective broadband policies that enhance public safety, increase accessibility and protect consumers. Net Neutrality Discussion There are opposing opinions concerning net neutrality and acceptable internet management activities and those which are overreaching and result in discrimination against both users and content providers. Arguments for Net Neutrality Network neutrality does not allow ISPs to determine the speed at which consumers can access specific websites or services and smaller companies will be more likely to enter the market and create new services. Net neutrality ensures an open internet if mandated by law in the U.S. and prevents broadband providers from practicing data discrimination as a competitive tactic. Human rights organizations, consumer rights advocates, and software companies argue that cable companies should be classified as "common carriers," like public utility companies or public transportation providers, who are forbidden by law from discriminating among their users. Criticism of Net Neutrality Forcing ISPs to treat all traffic equally the government will ultimately discourage the investment in new infrastructure, and will also create a disincentive for ISPs to innovate. Conservative think tanks, hardware companies, and major telecommunication providers are popular critics of net neutrality. ISPs argue that tiered prices allow them to remain competitive and generate funds needed for further innovation and expansion of broadband networks, as well as to recoup the costs already invested in broadband. Example of Net Neutrality Following the 2017 repeal of net neutrality rules, several violations were studied including: YouTube and Netflix were slowed by wireless carriers, using a fraction of the available speed. Verizons throttling of services affected the Santa Clara County Fire Departments ability to provide emergency services during the California wildfires. Comcast introduced new speed limits where videos will be throttled to 480p on all its mobile plans unless customers pay extra. What Is Net Neutrality and Why Is It Important? Net neutrality is the concept that states that organizations, such as Internet service providers, should treat all data on the internet equally. Proponents argue it promotes a free and open internet, where users can access content without restriction, provided the content does not violate any laws. Does the UK Have Net Neutrality? The European Union (EU) formed regulations to promote and protect an open internet, preventing internet service providers from restricting and blocking users' access to lawful content. Certain exceptions, such as the ability to slow traffic at the request of a court order, apply. Is There Net Neutrality in India? In 2017, India developed some of the strictest net neutrality laws in the world. Policymakers and Indian activists, with a desire to promote an open internet and widespread internet access to the nation's citizens, advocated together for net neutrality laws. Service providers who violate these regulations face losing their license to operate. The Bottom Line Net neutrality seeks to promote an open and free internet, unencumbered by service providers and other organizations. Regulations and policies regarding net neutrality have been debated for several years with policies and changes enacted since 2015. Former University of Nebraska President James B. Milliken, who has served as chancellor of the City University of New York since 2014, said Tuesday he will step down at the end of the school year. Milliken, 60, was diagnosed with throat cancer in April and has undergone months of radiation and chemotherapy, he wrote in a message to the CUNY community Tuesday. While he said he feels healthy and expects to be "active and working for many more years," additional health challenges will require his attention "in the months ahead." "The business about learning more about yourself and gaining new perspective when faced with such challenges has certainly proved to be the case with me," Milliken wrote. "The experience has given me an even deeper commitment to enjoying fully my work, my family and friends, and my life." Milliken said a nearly new board of trustees charged with oversight of CUNY "will have their own ideas about CUNY, and they should have the opportunity to help shape the leadership and agenda for the future." The Fremont native was president of NU from 2004 to 2014, while previously serving as an administrator at the University of North Carolina system and as a former vice president for external affairs at NU from 1988 to 1998. Milliken said he is looking forward to ending his time at CUNY with spring graduation ceremonies. "I have been given one of life's great gifts the chance to do something I love that has a positive impact on many," he said. "I will always be grateful for that opportunity and for the relationships I have had with students, faculty and staff of The City University of New York." What Is a Monte Carlo Simulation? A Monte Carlo simulation is used to model the probability of different outcomes in a process that cannot easily be predicted due to the intervention of random variables. It is a technique used to understand the impact of risk and uncertainty. A Monte Carlo simulation is used to tackle a range of problems in many fields including investing, business, physics, and engineering. It is also referred to as a multiple probability simulation. Key Takeaways A Monte Carlo simulation is a model used to predict the probability of a variety of outcomes when the potential for random variables is present. Monte Carlo simulations help to explain the impact of risk and uncertainty in prediction and forecasting models. A Monte Carlo simulation requires assigning multiple values to an uncertain variable to achieve multiple results and then averaging the results to obtain an estimate. Monte Carlo simulations assume perfectly efficient markets. 1:28 Monte Carlo Simulation Understanding the Monte Carlo Simulation When faced with significant uncertainty in making a forecast or estimate, some methods replace the uncertain variable with a single average number. The Monte Carlo Simulation instead uses multiple values and then averages the results. Monte Carlo simulations have a vast array of applications in fields that are plagued by random variables, notably business and investing. They are used to estimate the probability of cost overruns in large projects and the likelihood that an asset price will move in a certain way. Telecoms use them to assess network performance in various scenarios, which helps them to optimize their networks. Financial analysts use them to assess the risk that an entity will default, and to analyze derivatives such as options. Insurers and oil well drillers also use them to measure risk. Monte Carlo simulations have many applications outside of business and finance, such as in meteorology, astronomy, and particle physics. Monte Carlo Simulation History The Monte Carlo simulation was named after the gambling destination in Monaco because chance and random outcomes are central to this modeling technique, as they are to games like roulette, dice, and slot machines. The technique was initially developed by Stanislaw Ulam, a mathematician who worked on the Manhattan Project, the secret effort to create the first atomic weapon. He shared his idea with John Von Neumann, a colleague at the Manhattan Project, and the two collaborated to refine the Monte Carlo simulation. How Does the Monte Carlo Simulation Method Work? The Monte Carlo method acknowledges an issue for any simulation technique: the probability of varying outcomes cannot be firmly pinpointed because of random variable interference. Therefore, a Monte Carlo simulation focuses on constantly repeating random samples. A Monte Carlo simulation takes the variable that has uncertainty and assigns it a random value. The model is then run and a result is provided. This process is repeated again and again while assigning many different values to the variable in question. Once the simulation is complete, the results are averaged to arrive at an estimate. Monte Carlo Simulation Steps Microsoft Excel or a similar program can be used to create a Monte Carlo simulation that estimates the probable price movements of stocks or other assets. There are two components to an asset's price movement: drift, which is its constant directional movement, and a random input, which represents market volatility. By analyzing historical price data, you can determine the drift, standard deviation, variance, and average price movement of a security. These are the building blocks of a Monte Carlo simulation. The 4 Steps in a Monte Carlo Simulation Step 1: To project one possible price trajectory, use the historical price data of the asset to generate a series of periodic daily returns using the natural logarithm (note that this equation differs from the usual percentage change formula): Periodic Daily Return = l n ( Days Price Previous Days Price ) \begin{aligned} &\text{Periodic Daily Return} = ln \left ( \frac{ \text{Day's Price} }{ \text{Previous Day's Price} } \right ) \\ \end{aligned} Periodic Daily Return = l n ( Previous Days Price Days Price ) Step 2: Next use the AVERAGE, STDEV.P, and VAR.P functions on the entire resulting series to obtain the average daily return, standard deviation, and variance inputs, respectively. The drift is equal to: Drift = Average Daily Return Variance 2 where: Average Daily Return = Produced from Excels AVERAGE function from periodic daily returns series Variance = Produced from Excels VAR.P function from periodic daily returns series \begin{aligned} &\text{Drift} = \text{Average Daily Return} - \frac{ \text{Variance} }{ 2 } \\ &\textbf{where:} \\ &\text{Average Daily Return} = \text{Produced from Excel's} \\ &\text{AVERAGE function from periodic daily returns series} \\ &\text{Variance} = \text{Produced from Excel's} \\ &\text{VAR.P function from periodic daily returns series} \\ \end{aligned} Drift = Average Daily Return 2 Variance where: Average Daily Return = Produced from Excels AVERAGE function from periodic daily returns series Variance = Produced from Excels VAR.P function from periodic daily returns series Alternatively, drift can be set to 0; this choice reflects a certain theoretical orientation, but the difference will not be huge, at least for shorter time frames. Step 3: Next, obtain a random input: Random Value = NORMSINV(RAND()) where: = Standard deviation, produced from Excels STDEV.P function from periodic daily returns series NORMSINV and RAND = Excel functions \begin{aligned} &\text{Random Value} = \sigma \times \text{NORMSINV(RAND())} \\ &\textbf{where:} \\ &\sigma = \text{Standard deviation, produced from Excel's} \\ &\text{STDEV.P function from periodic daily returns series} \\ &\text{NORMSINV and RAND} = \text{Excel functions} \\ \end{aligned} Random Value = NORMSINV(RAND()) where: = Standard deviation, produced from Excels STDEV.P function from periodic daily returns series NORMSINV and RAND = Excel functions The equation for the following day's price is: Next Days Price = Todays Price e ( Drift + Random Value ) \begin{aligned} &\text{Next Day's Price} = \text{Today's Price} \times e^{ ( \text{Drift} + \text{Random Value} ) }\\ \end{aligned} Next Days Price = Todays Price e ( Drift + Random Value ) Step 4: To take e to a given power x in Excel, use the EXP function: EXP(x). Repeat this calculation the desired number of times. (Each repetition represents one day.) The result is a simulation of the asset's future price movement. By generating an arbitrary number of simulations, you can assess the probability that a security's price will follow a given trajectory. Monte Carlo Simulation Results Explained The frequencies of different outcomes generated by this simulation will form a normal distribution, that is, a bell curve. The most likely return is in the middle of the curve, meaning there is an equal chance that the actual return will be higher or lower. The probability that the actual return will be within one standard deviation of the most probable ("expected") rate is 68%. The probability that it will be within two standard deviations is 95%, and that it will be within three standard deviations 99.7%. Still, there is no guarantee that the most expected outcome will occur, or that actual movements will not exceed the wildest projections. Crucially, a Monte Carlo simulation ignores everything that is not built into the price movement such as macro trends, a company's leadership, market hype, and cyclical factors). In other words, it assumes a perfectly efficient market. Advantages and Disadvantages of a Monte Carlo Simulation The Monte Carlo method is used to help an investor estimate the likelihood of a gain or a loss on a certain investment. Other methods have the same aim. The Monte Carlo simulation was created to overcome a perceived disadvantage of other methods of estimating a probable outcome. No simulation can pinpoint an inevitable outcome. The Monte Carlo method aims at a sounder estimate of the probability that an outcome will differ from a projection. The difference is that the Monte Carlo method tests a number of random variables and then averages them, rather than starting out with an average. Like any financial simulation, the Monte Carlo method uses historical price data as the basis for a projection of future price data. It then disrupts the pattern by introducing random variables, represented by numbers. Finally, it averages those numbers to arrive at an estimate of the risk that the pattern will be disrupted in real life. How Is the Monte Carlo Simulation Used in Finance Applications? The Monte Carlo simulation is used to estimate the probability of a certain income. As such, it is widely used by investors and financial analysts to evaluate the probable success of investments they're considering. Some common uses include: Pricing stock options . The potential price movements of the underlying asset are tracked given every possible variable. The results are averaged and then discounted to the asset's current price. This is intended to indicate the probable payoff of the options. . The potential price movements of the underlying asset are tracked given every possible variable. The results are averaged and then discounted to the asset's current price. This is intended to indicate the probable payoff of the options. Portfolio valuation . A number of alternative portfolios can be tested using the Monte Carlo simulation in order to arrive at a measure of their comparative risk. . A number of alternative portfolios can be tested using the Monte Carlo simulation in order to arrive at a measure of their comparative risk. Fixed income investments. The short rate is the random variable here. The simulation is used to calculate the probable impact of movements in the short rate on fixed rate investments. What Professions Use the Monte Carlo Simulation? It may be best known for its financial applications, but the Monte Carlo simulation is used in virtually every profession that must measure risks and prepare to meet them. For example, a telecom may build its network to sustain all of its users all of the time. In order to do that, it must consider all of the possible variations in demand for the service. It must determine whether the system will stand the strain of peak hours and peak seasons. A Monte Carlo simulation may help the telecom decide whether its service is likely to stand the strain of Super Bowl Sunday as well as an average Sunday in August. Burma U.S. Diplomats Accuse Tillerson of Breaking Child Soldiers Law U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson answers questions during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, DC, U.S. November 20, 2017. / Reuters WASHINGTON A group of about a dozen U.S. State Department officials have taken the unusual step of formally accusing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson of violating a federal law designed to stop foreign militaries from enlisting child soldiers, according to internal documents reviewed by Reuters. A confidential State Department dissent memo not previously reported said Tillerson breached the Child Soldiers Prevention Act when he decided in June to exclude Iraq, Myanmar, and Afghanistan from a U.S. list of offenders in the use of child soldiers. This was despite the department publicly acknowledging that children were being conscripted in those countries. Keeping the countries off the annual list makes it easier to provide them with U.S. military assistance. Iraq and Afghanistan are close allies in the fight against Islamist militants, while Myanmar is an emerging ally to offset Chinas influence in Southeast Asia. Documents reviewed by Reuters also show Tillersons decision was at odds with a unanimous recommendation by the heads of the State Departments regional bureaus overseeing embassies in the Middle East and Asia, the U.S. envoy on Afghanistan and Pakistan, the departments human rights office and its own in-house lawyers. Beyond contravening U.S. law, this decision risks marring the credibility of a broad range of State Department reports and analyses and has weakened one of the U.S. governments primary diplomatic tools to deter governmental armed forces and government-supported armed groups from recruiting and using children in combat and support roles around the world, said the July 28 memo. Reuters reported in June that Tillerson had disregarded internal recommendations on Iraq, Myanmar and Afghanistan. The new documents reveal the scale of the opposition in the State Department, including the rare use of what is known as the dissent channel, which allows officials to object to policies without fear of reprisals. The views expressed by the U.S. officials illustrate ongoing tensions between career diplomats and the former chief of Exxon Mobil Corp appointed by President Donald Trump to pursue an America First approach to diplomacy. INTERPRETING THE LAW The child soldiers law passed in 2008 states that the U.S. government must be satisfied that no children under the age of 18 are recruited, conscripted or otherwise compelled to serve as child soldiers for a country to be removed from the list. The statute extends specifically to government militaries and government-supported armed groups like militias. The list currently includes the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Mali, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The secretary thoroughly reviewed all of the information presented to him and made a determination about whether the facts presented justified a listing pursuant to the law, a State Department spokesperson said when asked about the officials allegation that he had violated the law. In a written response to the dissent memo on Sept. 1, Tillerson adviser Brian Hook acknowledged that the three countries did use child soldiers. He said, however, it was necessary to distinguish between governments making little or no effort to correct their child soldier violations and those which are making sincere if as yet incomplete efforts. Hook made clear that Americas top diplomat used what he sees as his discretion to interpret the law. A POWERFUL MESSAGE Foreign militaries on the list are prohibited from receiving aid, training and weapons from Washington unless the White House issues a waiver based on U.S. national interest. In 2016, under the Obama administration, both Iraq and Myanmar, as well as others such as Nigeria and Somalia, received waivers. At times, the human rights community chided President Barack Obama for being too willing to issue waivers and exemptions, especially for governments that had security ties with Washington, instead of sanctioning more of those countries. Human Rights Watch frequently criticized President Barack Obama for giving too many countries waivers, but the law has made a real difference, Jo Becker, advocacy director for the groups childrens rights division, wrote in June in a critique of Tillersons decision. The dissenting U.S. officials stressed that Tillersons decision to exclude Iraq, Afghanistan and Myanmar went a step further than the Obama administrations waiver policy by contravening the law and effectively easing pressure on the countries to eradicate the use of child soldiers. The officials acknowledged in the documents reviewed by Reuters that those three countries had made progress. But in their reading of the law, they said that was not enough to be kept off a list that has been used to shame governments into completely eradicating the use of child soldiers. UNCONSCIONABLE ACTIONS Ben Cardin, ranking Democrat on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote to Tillerson on Friday saying there were serious concerns that the State Department may not be complying with the law and that the secretarys decision sent a powerful message to these countries that they were receiving a pass on their unconscionable actions. Rachel Stohl, a senior associate at the Stimson Center think tank in Washington who focuses on children in armed conflict, said that by excluding the three countries from the list, the Trump administration has further enabled perpetual human rights abusers. The memo was among a series of previously unreported documents sent this month to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the State Departments independent inspector generals office that relate to allegations that Tillerson violated the child soldiers law. Legal scholars say that because of the executive branchs latitude in foreign policy there is little legal recourse to counter Tillersons decision. Herman Schwartz, a constitutional law professor at American University in Washington, said U.S. courts would be unlikely to accept any challenge to Tillersons interpretation of the child soldiers law as allowing him to remove a country from the list on his own discretion. The signatories to the document were largely senior policy experts with years of involvement in the issues, said an official familiar with the matter. Reuters saw a copy of the document that did not include the names of those who signed it. Tillersons decision to remove Iraq and Myanmar from the list and reject a recommendation by U.S. officials to add Afghanistan was announced in the release of the governments annual human trafficking report on June 27. Six days earlier, a previously unreported memo emailed to Tillerson from a range of senior diplomats said the three countries violated the law based on evidence gathered by U.S. officials in 2016 and recommended that he approve them for the new list. The memo also said two confirmed cases of child recruitment by the Myanmar military were documented during the reporting period. Human rights advocates have estimated that dozens of children are still conscripted there. Myanmar government spokesman Zaw Htay challenged accusers to provide details of where and how child soldiers are being used. He noted that in the latest State Department report on human trafficking, they already recognized (Myanmar) for reducing of child soldiers though the report also made clear some children were still conscripted. Burma AI Describes Political Situation in Rakhine as Apartheid Rohingya refugees wait in line to receive humanitarian aid in Kutupalong refugee camp near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, October 29, 2017. / Hannah McKay / Reuters CHIANG MAI, Thailand Amnesty International has labeled the current situation in northern Rakhine State as apartheid following the mass exodus of Rohingya Muslims into Bangladesh. The crisis developed when an Aug. 25 attack by Muslim militants against government security forces sparked a military clearance operation. Rohingya in Myanmar are trapped in a vicious system of state-sponsored, institutionalized discrimination that amounts to apartheid, the UK-based rights group said in a report on Tuesday. After the release of the report, UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was quoted by The Independent newspaper as telling his countrys parliament he had received very troubling evidence that will be used to access whether genocide has been committed against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. He stressed that unless the refugees are allowed return, then this crisis, this purge will indeed satisfy the definition of ethnic cleansing. As for genocide, Im afraid it is the case that we have recently received evidence of a very troubling kind, and what we will do is make sure that such testimony as to what has been taking place is collated and used so that the proper judicial authorities can determine whether indeed it answers to the definition of genocide. International human rights groups have accused Myanmar authorities of crimes against humanity and discrimination against the Rohingya, who are seen by many in Myanmar as interlopers from Bangladesh. Last Thursday, US-based Human Rights Watch released a report accusing Myanmar security forces of widespread rapes of women and girls as part of a campaign of UN-labeled ethnic cleansing against Rohingya Muslims. Caged without a roof, AI said, puts into context the recent wave of violence in Myanmar. Security forces have reportedly killed innocent Rohingya and burned whole villages to the ground, according to AI. The UN says more than 620,000 have fled to Bangladesh. While the Rohingya refugee crisis has hit headlines in the past three months, Amnesty International said its two-year investigation had documented how authorities severely restrict virtually all aspects of Rohingyas lives in Rakhine State in terms of access to healthcare at hospitals in towns, education, freedom of movement and denial of citizenship. It added that The current situation meets every requirement of the legal definition of the crime against humanity of apartheid. Regarding the use of the term apartheid, human rights advocate U Aung Myo Min said a thorough investigation by local and international experts is needed to describe the situation and decide whether it meets the definition, because we need a lot of evidence to support the label of apartheid. U Aung Myo Min, director of Equality Myanmar, said international allegations have been met with denials from the government, so we cannot judge from only one perspective; we still have not been able to conduct any investigations that are accurate and impartial. He was referring to widespread disinformation and fake news, including photos, regarding the Rohingya crisis that have been disseminated over the Internet. Establishing a joint investigation team of local and international experts would allow an accurate analysis of the situation because the public does not trust government-formed investigation commissions. Plus, international experts need input from local people to put events in context, he said. AI said Myanmar is legally obliged to dismantle the apartheid system in Rakhine State, and must also ensure accountability for those responsible for committing acts that amount to crimes against humanity. Anna Neistat, AIs senior director of research, said in the press statement, The Myanmar authorities are keeping Rohingya women, men and children segregated and cowed in a dehumanizing system of apartheid. Their rights are violated daily and the repression has only intensified in recent years. Since last month, State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has said her government is working toward the repatriation and rehabilitation of people from northern Rakhine State and to accept them back into the country. Returning refugees will need to show proof that they previously resided in the country, she said, adding that the government would implement repatriation under a 1993 agreement, something confirmed by the permanent secretary of the Labor Ministry. However, the right groups raised concerns over the safety of any returnees. Restoring the rights and legal status of the Rohingya, and amending the countrys discriminatory citizenship laws is urgently needed both for those who remain in the country and those who wish to return. Rohingya who have fled persecution in Myanmar cannot be asked to return to a system of apartheid, Neistat said. Burma Arakan Lawmaker Urges Govt to Lower Criteria for Teachers in Remote Areas U Zaw Myint submits a proposal at the Rakhine State Parliament. / Min Aung Khaing / The Irrawaddy SITTWEAn Arakanese lawmaker on Tuesday submitted a proposal to the Rakhine State Parliament urging the Union government to lower the criteria for teaching primary school in remote areas, including Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships in Rakhine State. Transportation is poor in Buthidaung and Maungdaw. Whats worse, there are serious safety concerns. So teachers appointed by the government cannot go into these remote areas. As a result, children there are devoid of schooling, said U Zaw Zaw Myint of Buthidaung (Constituency 1), who submitted the proposal. The Education Ministry requires that primary school teachers have at least a university degree or have passed matriculation. The lawmaker urged that the ministry adjust the requirements to allow those who have finished 9th or 10th grade to teach at primary schools in ethnic areas including northern Rakhine. The government can grant exemptions and appoint local ethnic people such as Mro, Khami and Daingnet who have completed the 9th and 10th grade. I think they can teach at least 8th graders. Only then will children in those areas become literate and learn rational thinking, he told The Irrawaddy. As their education improves, this will help reduce conflicts in the area, and also facilitate peace and stability as well as development, he added. Lawmaker U Aung Win of Myebon Township seconded his proposal, which was then approved by the Rakhine State Parliament for debate. Over 400 schools have closed in Buthidaung, Maungdaw and Rathedaung townships since insurgent attacks were launched on police outposts in northern Rakhine State on Aug. 25. There were 2,482 teachers and over 150,000 students at those schools, according to the Rakhine State Education Department. Burma Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Hopeful Talks Will Result in MoU on Rohingya Repatriation State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi speaks at the press conference on the 13th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Foreign Ministers Meeting in Naypyitaw on Nov. 21 / Myanmar State Counselors Office / Facebook YANGON Myanmars State Counselor and Foreign Affairs Minister Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said on Tuesday that she hoped talks with Bangladesh this week would result in a memorandum of understanding on the repatriation of refugees. At a press conference on the 13th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Foreign Ministers Meeting in Naypyitaw, the state counselor told reporters that bilateral discussions would be held with Bangladeshs foreign minister on Wednesday and Thursday on the return of refugees who had fled to Bangladesh amid the latest Rakhine crisis, according to the State Counselors Office. The two countries officials have discussed the repatriation since last month. We hope that this will result in an MOU being signed quickly, which would enable us to start the safe and voluntarily return of all of those who have gone across the border, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said. The State Counselor said that during the ASEM Foreign Ministers Meeting, the Rakhine crisis had been discussed with representatives attending from ASEAN and European countries, including implementation of the recommendations of the Kofi Annan-led Advisory Commission on Rakhine state. She added that efforts would be made for the long-term establishment of peace and stability in Rakhine but that it would take time for the issues there to be resolved. Myanmar officials have pledged to accept the refugees under a 1993 agreement between the two countries. In late September, the government said it would accept the refugees at two checkpoints in Taungpyo Letwe and Nga Khu Ya villages before resettling them in Dar Gyi Zar village in Maungdaw Township. Temporary shelters are being built and are expected to be finished in December at Taungpyo Letwe village. Shelters will also be built in Nga Khu Ya village. More than 600,000 Rohingya have fled across the border since Aug. 25, when a Muslim militant group, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), attacked police outposts in Maungdaw Township, prompting clearance operations by the Myanmar Army. Burma Ex-Minister Says NLD has Wasted Two Years Trying to Build a Better-Performing Cabinet U Soe Thane, Union Minister of Myanmar, in 2014. / Reuters NaypyitawU Soe Thane, a former minister of the Presidents Office in the U Thein Sein government, has called for steps to be taken to ensure the two new ministries proposed by the National League for Democracy (NLD)-led government operate in an effective manner or the revamp will be a wasted effort. It is important that new ministries are effective and efficient. Otherwise, establishing 1,000 more departments will be useless, U Soe Thane, who is also an Upper House lawmaker, told reporters in Naypyitaw. A presidential proposal to add two news ministries, namely a Cabinet Office Ministry and Ministry of International Cooperation, to the existing cabinet was submitted to the Union Parliament on Monday. Lawmakers will discuss the proposal and seek parliamentary approval on Thursday. According to the plan, no additional government staff will be employed for the two ministries. Instead they will be staffed with officials currently assigned to the Union government and the Foreign Affairs Ministrys International Organizations and Economics Department. There were 36 ministries under the U Thein Sein government. The NLD-led administration slashed the executive cabinet to 22 ministries and eliminated the post of deputy minister at many ministriesa move that overburdened the ministers, according to critics. U Soe Thane implied that the NLD-led government had cut the cabinet without considering the possible long-term consequences. It is important that we see far into the future, he said. If those two ministries had been established some two years ago [when the NLD took office], the country could have seen greater progress. Now, two years have been wasted, he said. U Soe Thane was one of U Thein Seins right-hand men, overseeing the Ministry of Industry and the Presidents Office. He was also assigned by the former president to supervise national development projects. National Security advisor U Thaung Tun, and Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister U Kyaw Tin have been named to respectively take the helm of the Cabinet Office Ministry and International Cooperation Ministry. The Cabinet Office has many onerous duties and responsibilities such as administration, legislation, economic planning, and finance, and the appointment of a minister, who would be accountable to the president, would help make the Cabinet Office more productive, Union Attorney-General U Htun Htun Oo told Parliament. Under the previous government, the Cabinet Office was run by a director-general. From a point of view of saving money, the NLD-led government could keep the director-general [instead of appointing a minister], said U Soe Thane. And as for international cooperation, it was previously handled by the Ministry of Planning. So, again from an economical point of view, I dont think a new ministry is necessary, he added. U Soe Thane suggested separating certain ministries, and appointing more deputies to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation so that Myanmar, whose economy is still largely based on primary industry, can perform better. I am not clear about the intention of forming a separate International Cooperation Ministry. In fact, the Foreign Ministry already has a department that handles international cooperation, said former Lt-Gen Thaung Aye of the opposition Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). Meanwhile, Daw Khin San Hlaing, a lawmaker from the ruling NLD party, expressed concern the two foreign ministries jurisdictions may overlap. I am only concerned that friction may arise between the two ministries. But [the presidential proposal] said the two would cooperate, said Daw Khin San Hlaing, a lawmaker of ruling NLD. Currently, Myanmars de facto leader, State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, is also overseeing the Foreign Ministry and the minister of International Cooperation would share her responsibility to attend international meetings in the future. Burma Maung Yu Pye: Whether I like it or not, I think I am destined to exist as a poet Maung Yu Pye / Dana Lixenberg Maung Yu Pye (b.1981) was born in the far south of Myanmar, in the town of Myeik on the Andaman Sea. Myeik is a sleepy fishing town on an emerald bay dominated by a giant reclining Buddha. Maung Yu Pyes Under the Great Ice Sheet a poem about a country frozen in time inspired us to embark on this project. What was the inspiration for your poem Under the Great Ice Sheet? My inspiration came from a science fiction film. I wrote the poem so you can get multiple meanings from it. I wanted to talk about a circle of being and ceasing to be, of a race, of a world. Our existence and our multi-racial history are laced with incidents of systematically oppressing one another, one on top of another. At the same time, we are collectively pressed down by a giant ice sheet. And that ice sheet is yet underneath a greater ice sheet. An iceberg is our half-dead existence. The poem made it past the censorboard, because the censors were only concentrating on political jargon and certain key words they had identified as posing a threat to the regime. They probably thought its only science fiction. When did you start writing poetry? When I was 20 years old, in 2001. After three of my poems were selected by a poetry journal, I thought I had become a professional poet. But five years later I was introduced to Zeyar Linns philosophy of poetry and the turn towards modernism. Thats when I realized that I was still a student. And now after coming back from the International Writers Program at the University of Iowa, I am questioning my existence as a Myanmar poet, or even whether I am qualified to be a poet at all. I still have a lot to learn. How do you write? I rarely write daily. Sometimes, I write three or four days in a row, sometimes maybe just one poem in a month, sometimes maybe just one in a whole year. For five years, I only experimented with creating a new form of poetry. Since our country is lagging behind in so many things, what were doing as new has already happened in the U.S. 20 years ago. But its better late than never. So I pursue the creation of new forms. That opened me to many other forms of poetry and showed me ways to create new kind of poems. Now, I am starting to change again. I discarded the overt emphasis on language and form. Instead of creating a new kind of poem, I once again concentrate on creating a real poem. If a poem becomes a real poem, then its new. How do you get inspired? For me, the seed of poetry comes from a film, a song, a journey, a news story, a family matter, or a new experience. An inspiration is when I experience a readiness to give birth to a poem, with all my senses and nerves ready to begin a creation. When you are in such a magical mood, even a glass or a table can become a poem. It is unbounded by theory. It is hard to imitate. It cannot come into existence just by simply trying. You need that something magical in you in order to create a poem, which makes the poetry very difficult and ever new. Could you imagine not writing poetry? Whether I like it or not, I think I am destined to exist as a poet. Everything comes to be because it has to be. The day you realize that poetic soul is riding on top of you for life, whether you like it or not, is the day you become a professional poet even without being aware of it. Tell me about writing under the past censorship. During the repressive military regime, when we had no freedom of expression, writing poetry felt much better. Poets then wanted to reflect the bad system. But they had to obliquely use words, symbolism, metaphors to avoid the censor, making their works richer. But still, there were certain words that you could not use at all. As the dictatorship lingered, some magazines and even some poets automatically ended up self-censoring themselves. Now we can freely write what we want. But the poets whose wings were shackled during the dictatorship are slow to take flight now. I also think that the new generation that enjoys freedom and new technology lacks experience and forgets the techniques of the modernist poets of the past who had to struggle hard just to keep themselves alive. How do you balance daily life with your art? As I grow older, family obligation and work challenge my life as a poet. That is what all poets here experience. My environment demands that making money must be my first priority in life. Ive worked so many jobs since I finished school. I have become a wage slave. But I have a family now a wife and two children, so what am I to do? Only very few people respect and recognize the poet and his work. Although we didnt become poets to gain recognition, its become increasingly hard to live among those who dont value your art. I find it a little depressing and discouraging. Authors Note: These interviews are excerpted from Burma Storybook, a poetry and photography book inspired by the documentary film of the same name, produced by Corinne van Egeraat and directed by Petr Lom. The English language hardcover edition of the book is for sale at Hla Day, Innwa Bookstore, Myanmar Book Center and the Strand Hotel. A Burmese language-only paperback edition of the book is for sale through Yangon Book Plaza. There will be a Free Open Air Screening of the Burma Storybook documentary film (82 min.) in Mahabandoola Park in Yangon on November 25 at 6 p.m. From Nov. 25 to Dec. 4, you can visit the interactive Burma Storybook Photo Exhibit at the Tourism Burma Building. For more information: www.burmastorybook.com Burma Project to Restore Shwe Kyaung Resumes Restoration work in progress on Mandalays Golden Palace Monastery in January 2016. / The Irrawaddy Mandalay Conservation work on Mandalays famed Shwe Nan Daw Kyaung Monastery has resumed after being suspended for a year due to delays in grant disbursement for the project. We had to slow everything down for over a year between the two grants. We are now resuming the project, Jeff Allen, a program director at the U.S.-based NGO World Monuments Fund (WMF) told The Irrawaddy. Allen was speaking on Wednesday at an event in Mandalay, where experts from Italy explained the conservation of wood carvings at the building. According to WMF, about 50 percent of the restoration work has already been completed over the last few years. We are also preparing to restore the ruined part of the veranda. Hopefully in the coming January, we will receive permission from the Ministry of Culture and be able to begin the work then, Allen said. In the meantime, restoration work on the nayas, decorative mythical creatures, on the base pillars of Shwe Nan Daw Kyaung, has begun, with the technological assistance from experts from Italy. Cleaning and preserving the nayas is very delicate work. We have to work carefully to maintain the original artifacts, said Urszula Strugala, one of the Italian experts. During the cleaning, we found that layers of yellow paint and earth oil, which were not part of the original paintings but put there during the 1990s, have somehow blocked the moisture inside the wood and affected the nayas, she said. The heritage project, which was initially expected to take two years to complete, began in February 2014 as a collaboration between Myanmars Ministry of Culture, the U.S. Embassy and the WMF. In September 2014, some of the decaying pillars were due to be restored with teak logs from Loikaw in Karenni State. However, the process was delayed for about a year because of holdups with supply. The major restoration of the monastery resumed in January 2016 and was suspended again due to the shortage of funds. Early support for the project came from the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation, which joined hands with Myanmars Ministry of Culture to preserve the 19th-century traditional teak wooden building, also known as the Golden Palace, which was constructed during the reign of King Mindon. At the time, U.S. Ambassador Derek Mitchell said the WMF, which is based in Washington, would implement the US$500,000 project, adding that the budget would also cover training for Myanmar officials and craftsmen in preservation techniques. The Shwe Nan Daw Kyaung Monastery was originally covered with gold leaf and glass mosaics, and is known for the intricate wood carvings on its walls and roofs that show Buddhist myths. It was built as a royal chamber for King Mindon and located within the Mandalay Palace complex. Under Mindons son, King Thibaw, the building was moved to a site outside of the Mandalay Palace moat and was turned into a monastery. During World War II, aerial bombardments destroyed most of the historic buildings inside the Mandalay Palace complex, leaving the Shwe Nan Daw Kyaung Monastery as the only remaining original structure from the 19th century palace. In 1996, Myanmars Archaeological Department submitted the monastery for inclusion on Unescos World Heritage List, where it remains under consideration by the U.N. body. Burma Visiting US Lawmakers Allege Ethnic Cleansing Rohingya refugees wait to receive humanitarian aid at Palong Khali refugee camp near Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh October 30, 2017. / Adnan Abidi / Reuters YANGON Based on firsthand accounts from Rohingya living on the Bangladesh border, a US delegation led by Senator Jeff Merkley said the Myanmar Armys clearance operation bore all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing and had forced huge numbers of people to flee to the neighboring country. Over the weekend, a group of US legislators and diplomats, including Ambassador Scot Marciel, traveled to northern Rakhine State to learn firsthand how the situation there had unfolded since Aug. 25. After wrapping up their tour, the delegation held a press conference at the Hotel Lotte in Yangon on Tuesday. We spoke with many refugees and heard a lot of firsthand accounts. Many refugees have suffered horrific attacks, including loved ones, children and husbands being killed in front of them, wives and daughters being raped, burns and other horrific injuries. This has all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing, Merkley said. Merkleys statement echoed a description of the clearance operation by the United Nations as a textbook example of ethnic cleansing, but was at odds with comments made by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who stopped short of using the phrase during his recent visit to Myanmar. The Myanmar government has consistently rejected such allegations from the international community. The US delegation met with members of the Rakhine State cabinet and the Arakan National Party (ANP), as well as representatives of civil society organizations and the Muslim community in Sittwe, the state capital. However, the government denied the groups requests to visit some sites, Merkley said. We appreciate that Aung San Suu Kyi made an invitation in her speech to the United Nations in September for foreign officials to visit the camps and villages directly. We came halfway around the world in order to respond to that invitation. We are pleased we are able to visit Sittwe, but we are saddened that permission to visit villages and camps was denied. The US lawmakers condemned violent attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army that killed more than a dozen government security forces on Aug. 25, saying that the groups attacks had caused serious suffering by a number of ethnic groups in Rakhine State. However, he said a disproportionate response by the Myanmar Army had driven out more than 600,000 Muslims to Bangladesh and caused 300 villagers to be burnt to the ground. The root causes of this horrific situation, he said, are longstanding prejudice and discrimination, aggravated by poverty. The delegates said the segregation of communities in Sittwe resulted in discrimination, especially the limits placed on Muslims freedom of movement since communal riots between the Rakhine and Muslim communities in 2012. The senators urged the government to address the root causes of the conflict and seek a long-term solution to the Rohingya crisis by implementing the recommendations of the Kofi Annan-led advisory commission. The Myanmar State counselor has already established an implementation commission and an international advisory board. In addition, the delegates suggested restoring full access for humanitarian organizations on the ground. At present, the government is only allowing the International Red Cross to assist the World Food Programmes food distribution efforts. Merkley asked that freedom of movement be granted to the Rohingya community with a fair path to ending discrimination and that the security forces keeping the Rakhine and Muslim communities apart be removed. He urged the government to work with Bangladesh and the United Nations to enable conditions facilitating the voluntary and safe repatriation of refugees currently in the Bangladesh border area, including the rebuilding of structures and community facilities, as the homes of many were destroyed during the clashes. He also called for a full investigation of these atrocities. Congressman David Cicillin, a member of the delegation who joined both the Bangladesh and Rakhine trips, said, This is a very important moment for this country and the leadership of this country to demonstrate to the world and to the people of Myanmar that they take the responsibility of democracy and the leadership of democracy seriously. Asserting that democracy cannot function unless individuals rights are respected, he added: Nor can [we] tolerate institutions or individuals who violate individual human rights in really horrific ways without being held accountable. The delegates also collected firsthand accounts from people seeking refuge in Bangladesh and said they would keep the footage as evidence. Burma Without Anyone Knowing it, Post-modernism Was Already in Our Everyday Life Moe Way / Dana Lixenberg Moe Way (b. 1969) was born in a small village in the Irrawaddy Delta and now lives in Yangon. He lives in a high-rise apartment piled high with boxes of books. Moe Way is both a poet as well as Myanmars most prominent publisher of poetry. How did you discover poetry? I was born in a village in Ayeyawaddy Division. My father was village chief. He had some law books, because he needed to study a bit of law for his work. I loved reading since I was small, but there were no other books to read except for these law books. They were easy to understand because they had examples of cases, written like stories. These were the first books I read. Then I went to middle school in a small town and stayed at a monastery. Some young novices there had translated kung fu novels. I then started reading romance novels. I also started getting interested in poetry that I had to study in textbooks. I still remember the pen name of one of the poets I read: Ancient Anonymous. What a romantic name. Not a lot of kids were into poetry. But I was. I started writing poems in seventh grade. Then we moved to Yangon, and I had access to magazines and read lots of short stories. Back then, I merely read poems casually. But some of my friends were already really into it. Through them, I got to appreciate poetry as a separate art form in itself, reflecting whats going on around you, how youre feeling. Then I started writing poems as well as experimenting with short stories. I did not have any expectations yet even then. Then by the mid 90s, I met a poet and fell in love with poetry. I got married in 1991 after failing tenth grade twice. The schools were closed frequently due to unrest. I set up a furniture shop as well as a teashop in my neighborhood. Then I ran a pharmacy. And how did you start publishing books? I often went to bookstores and found that nobody was publishing books of poetry. I wanted to publish them. I started out with some borrowed money. For a while, I was juggling between my pharmacy and book publishing. Then I gave up the pharmacy completely to concentrate on publishing to this day. How do you write? Do you have a specific time of day for writing? I dont work like that. Whenever I read good poetry by others, I get inspiration for myself. I dont need a special place or time for writing. All I need is a pen and a paper. Do you want to comment on your writing style? Some people think the modern poems we write are easy to create because they dont adhere to rhyme and other stringent rules. But it is not that easy. It has its own system that we studied and practiced for years and years. We must know when reading a poem that this poem is similar to that poem which in turn came from this and that kind of poem. This poet breaks the rules and conventions of that poet before him, and turns the poem into something of his own we must recognize that. If not, an outsider might think something is a poem but we know it is not. Can you tell us your position on post-modernism? When people here first heard about post-modern, everyone started talking about it. They were very influenced by western post-modernism, and wanted to come up with criteria of what it meant. But to me, post-modernism is already here in Myanmar even without anyone knowing it. Post-modernism was already in our everyday life. A cell phone here would cost about $1500, a price you wouldnt find anywhere else in the world. Thats to me a kind of post-modernism. Ive become older and more mature. Nowadays, I dont have any ism in me. I just want to write pure poetry. I want to write about clear water, sky, and flowers, anything that inspires me. I no longer hold on to any ism. How are the changes in Myanmar its democratization affecting the way poets write? The way I write poems never really changes. Finding raw material and inspiration still remains the same. They dont change just because the political situation changes. Weve always used symbolism when needed. It is true that sometimes you had to use symbolism to get around the censor. But many poems reflect the truth without resorting to such measures. Only those with an overtly political statement had to rely on symbolism to get away with it. I should emphasize that writing is not just concerned with politics. True poets are not thinking about politics all the time. We are also creating apolitical art as well. But poems about politics seem to get all the attention for example Saung Khas recent Mr. President poem [a poem he wrote about getting a tattoo of the Presidents face on his penis, for which he was sentenced to prison.] Tell me about working under censorship. We had to give the censors office three copies of the manuscripts for inspection. They were particularly difficult about poetry. Theyd take at least four to six months to approve a poetry book. Sometimes you had to bribe them just to speed up the process a little all the way up the ladder from the clerk to their supervisor, to the inspectors clerk, to the inspector. They also fined us 10 cents for each misspelling they found. And they had their own definition of symbolism. For example, they thought rose refers to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The writer may not even mean her. But the censors prohibited the word. Some poets didnt let them touch their poems. So we had to remove the poem from the publication. Some poems got some stanzas and lines censored. There were so many hardships back then. But thats how we had been working all our lives and we didnt think of it as so difficult. It was just one of those things we had to do. Now, there are no such hassles anymore. What is it like to publish now? You no longer have to wait many months to pass the censor you can publish right away. Films dont enjoy that kind of freedom yet. Only books. But if you publish something that might offend someone, you might face legal action. But as for publishing, you can do whatever you want now. It is easy to publish a book now. Authors Note: These interviews are excerpted from Burma Storybook, a poetry and photography book inspired by the documentary film of the same name, produced by Corinne van Egeraat and directed by Petr Lom. The English language hardcover edition of the book is for sale at Hla Day, Innwa Bookstore, Myanmar Book Center and the Strand Hotel. A Burmese language-only paperback edition of the book is for sale through Yangon Book Plaza. There will be a Free Open Air Screening of the Burma Storybook documentary film (82 min.) in Mahabandoola Park in Yangon on November 25 at 6 p.m. From Nov. 25 to Dec. 4, you can visit the interactive Burma Storybook Photo Exhibit at the Tourism Burma Building. For more information: www.burmastorybook.com The group that built the West Haymarket arena and is paying off the bonds could lose $3.6 million in annual federal payments almost $70 million over the life of the bonds as an indirect result of proposed federal tax code changes. Because of the uncertainty surrounding those changes, the West Haymarket Joint Public Agency on Tuesday passed a resolution asking the federal government to maintain the federal subsidy for bonds the JPA issued to build Pinnacle Bank Arena. The resolution was passed unanimously by the three JPA members: Mayor Chris Beutler, University of Nebraska Regent Tim Clare and City Councilman Carl Eskridge. Jane Kinsey, with Watchdogs of Lincoln Government, a group that opposed building the arena, spoke against the resolution. She said the city should not have relied on a federal subsidy. "It is simply unconscionable that you have done this in the first place," she said. Kinsey said members of her group will be emailing the Nebraska congressional delegation asking them to disregard the JPA resolution and "keep the U.S. government from supporting frivolous types of projects." In 2010, the JPA used $168 million of Build America Bonds and $32 million of Recovery Zone Bonds to help finance the arena improvements. These types of bonds were authorized under the federal stimulus package passed in 2009 in response to the Great Recession. The bonds were issued with taxable interest, but they are eligible to receive a federal subsidy equal to a percentage of each interest payment. While the federal tax reform bills being considered in Congress do not specifically address subsidies for the bonds, we are concerned that unintended consequences will result in the elimination of the subsidies, said Brandon Kauffman, city finance director and treasurer for the JPA, in a news release. The subsidy could be eliminated in order to help pay off the $1.5 trillion debt expected to be the result of the proposed federal tax package between 2018 and 2027. The JPA is asking our congressional delegation to ensure that the government fulfills its promise to continue to pay the annual subsidies on the JPA bond, Kauffman said. The U.S. House of Representatives passed a tax reform bill Nov. 16. The Senate version of the bill has cleared the Finance Committee, and the full chamber is expected to consider it in early December. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the impact of the proposed tax reform measures would add $1.5 trillion to the deficit from 2018 through 2027. A deficit of that size would require the Office of Management and Budget to issue a sequestration order to cut billions of dollars from mandatory federal programs. The Build America Bonds and Recovery Zone Bonds are two of the programs that would be affected. The JPA is expected to receive $3.6 million in fiscal year 2018 as part of the subsidies from the bonds. The payments made to all entities that issued the bonds are expected to be $3.9 billion. A sequestration order could eliminate all of those payments. Congress has the ability to override the automatic cuts, but it would need to do so in a separate measure if tax reform passes, and that would require 60 votes in the Senate. In addition to the bond programs, the cuts could also impact Medicare, border patrol, farm investment programs and price supports, crime victims funds and other federally supported programs, according to a city news release. However, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch has said Congress routinely exempts affected programs from sequestration cuts. We will continue to monitor the federal tax reform bill and whether it will have an impact on the JPA, Kauffman said in the release. A loss of the federal subsidies for interest payments would place a severe financial burden on the JPA, but we wont be able to determine the consequences until a final version of the tax reform bill is passed. Wednesday, Nov 22nd, 2017 (1:29 pm) - Score 3,384 The Governments Chancellor, Philip Hammond MP, has today given his Autumn Budget 2017 speech and committed to invest 500 million into a range of initiatives from artificial intelligence, to 5G and full fibre broadband (385m for the latter two specifically). But its not new money. Normally at this time of year wed expect the Government to publish their Autumn Statement (Spending Review), although in recent years this has become more like a second budget and that is now deemed unnecessary. Instead the usual Spring Budget has been scrapped and all future budgets will now take place once a year in the autumn, although the switch means that 2017 is getting two budgets. Suffice to say that many of the major broadband and telecoms related announcements for this year were already unveiled in March (details) and the snap 2017 General Election in June has done little to change that core direction (i.e. todays first autumn budget is inevitably light on new content). Nevertheless we should point out that the 2017 Conservative Manifesto did pledge the following. Quote from the Conservative Manifesto We will work to provide gigaspeed connectivity to as many businesses and homes as possible. We will introduce a full fibre connection voucher for companies across the country by 2018 and by 2022 we will have major fibre spines in over a hundred towns and cities, with ten million premises connected to full fibre and a clear path to national coverage over the next decade. However we broadly expect that the Governments existing approach (see details further below), as well as natural commercial upgrades (mostly via Virgin Media and Openreach), should be able to deliver on the 10 million premises pledge and without recourse to billions of new public funding. This is because the majority of that work will focus on the easy low hanging fruit, such as dense urban areas. The good news is that todays update did include a pledge to invest over 500 million in a range of initiatives from artificial intelligence, to 5G and full fibre broadband (this actually equates to 385m when only focusing upon 5G Mobile and Full Fibre). The bad news is that this funding isnt new and is based off the same 740m investment that was already announced in the Spring 2017 Budget. Hammond also committed over 30m to trial new solutions on the TransPennine route to improve mobile and digital connectivity on trains, although its unclear whether this investment will come from the 500m allocation mentioned above. On top of that the chancellor announced a new City Deal for the West Midlands, which may also have a digital infrastructure aspect. Autumn Budget 2017 5.19 Digital communications 5G testbeds and trials The UK has an opportunity to become a world leader in 5G, which is the next generation of mobile communications. The government will invest a further 160 million from the NPIF in new 5G infrastructure. The first projects to benefit are: * 10 million to create facilities where the security of 5G networks can be tested and proven, working with the National Cyber Security Centre * 5 million for an initial trial, starting in 2018, to test 5G applications and deployment on roads, including helping to test how we can maximise future productivity benefits from self-driving cars, building on the work already progressing on connected and autonomous vehicle trials in the West Midlands Local full-fibre networks Full-fibre is the gold standard for fast and reliable broadband. The government is launching a new 190 million Challenge Fund that local areas around the country will bid for to encourage faster rollout of full-fibre networks by industry. Children in 100 schools around the country will be some of the first to benefit, starting with a pilot in the East Midlands in early 2018. Rail passenger communications The government will shortly consult on commercial options to improve mobile communications for rail passengers and will invest up to 35 million to enable trials. This will be used to: upgrade the Network Rail test track in Melton Mowbray; install trackside infrastructure along the Trans-Pennine route between Manchester, Leeds and York; and support the rollout of full-fibre and 5G networks. In case anybody has forgotten, well recap what the current Government has already pledged for broadband infrastructure (note: the 190m for local full fibre networks mentioned above is stated as 200m below because its recently been reduced by 10m due to the Gigabit broadband pilots). Summary of Previous UK Broadband Developments * The 1.6bn+ Broadband Delivery UK programme aims to put fixed line superfast broadband (24Mbps+) networks within reach of 95% of premises by the end of 2017 (currently c.94%) and then 98% by around 2020. Openreach (BT) hold most of the contracts but a few AltNets are also involved in the later stages (Gigaclear, Call Flow, Airband etc.). More recent contracts target a speed of 30Mbps+. * The proposal for a legally-binding Universal Service Obligation (USO) for broadband, which would offer a 10Mbps minimum download speed to all by 2020, is still progressing (here). We are just awaiting a decision on the final design and BTs voluntary proposal to fund a softer USO. * The sovereign-backed 40bn UK Guarantees Scheme will run until 2021, which reflects investment that Virgin Media and Openreach (BT) can call upon as part of their commercial plans to expand the coverage of ultrafast broadband (100Mbps+) services. We expect around 60-70% of the UK to be reached by around 2020 (mostly urban areas). * 400m has been provided to a Digital Infrastructure Investment Fund (here), which must be matched by private finance, to help invest in new full fibre (FTTP/B) networks over the next 4 years (helping to boost alternative network providers). Its hoped that this could boost FTTH/P capable connections by an extra 2 million premises by 2020. * 200m has been set aside to support the Local Full Fibre Networks (LFFN) scheme (details), which will fund a programme of local projects to test ways to accelerate market delivery of new full fibre broadband networks (e.g. connection vouchers for businesses [here], aggregated demand schemes, opening access to existing public sector infrastructure). * 100% business rates relief for new full-fibre infrastructure, backdated for a 5 year period from 1st April 2017, but the advantages of this may be neutralised by the governments hike in existing rates (here). The European Commission have also raised some unexpected last minute competition concerns (here). * Providing funding to support a programme of 5G trials and future spectrum release (here). The first commercial 5G roll-outs arent expected to begin until 2020 and Ofcom are currently fighting legal challenges in order to release some of the necessary radio spectrum bands (700MHz, 3.4-3.8GHz, 26GHz etc.). * Various local voucher / subsidy schemes are still on-going to help those areas that suffer slow broadband speeds (examples). * Ofcoms Strategic Review has attempted to boost competition by making Openreach more independent from BT and giving rivals greater access to the operators national network of fibre optic cables and cable ducts/poles (here). Not to mention improving the overall quality of service and greater information sharing. * The Government are also supporting various other broadband related measures through their Digital Economy Act 2017, such as automatic compensation from ISPs for service faults (here), improved / cheaper access to build new infrastructure on private land (here) and more enhancements for consumer switching. The above is not an exhaustive list and doesnt include other elements, such more general changes in Ofcom regulation or the Advertising Standards Authoritys (ASA) review of how broadband speeds and fibre services are promoted to consumers (here and here). UPDATE 7:23pm Weve had it confirmed that todays announcement of a new 190 million Challenge Fund for local full fibre is really just a re-announcement of the same 200m pot mentioned in the Spring 2017 budget. Likewise this and the 5G funding come from the same 740m budget that was also announced during the spring. Politicians.. ugh. UPDATE 23rd Nov 2017 Despite effectively being announced several times already (including in yesterdays budget), the Government has today re-launched its 190m Local Full Fibre Network (LFFN) Challenge Fund to stimulate commercial investment in full fibre networks across the whole of the UK, including rural and urban locations, by demonstrating approaches that encourage additional private investment and by making sustainable commercial deployments viable. Minister for Digital, Matt Hancock, said: World class connectivity is increasingly essential to people at work and at home. Its vital to ensure the UKs future competitiveness in the global market and our ability to attract investment. Full fibre is fundamental for fashioning a Britain fit for the future. The projects aim to enable gigabit capable connections to key public buildings and businesses, with the expectation that this leads to broadband providers creating additional connections to local homes and businesses. The Government is now encouraging a broad range of local bodies Local Authorities, Combined Authorities, Local Enterprise Partnerships as well other local public / government bodies such as health, education or transport bodies, to apply to the fund. Australia has the third highest rate of mobile penetration among OECD countries, behind Japan and Finland, according to a report from the OECD, which said it had 128.8 subscriptions per 100 people. The report, titled the OECD Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard for 2017, covers the 35 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, an inter-governmental economic organisation. Apart from statistics about digital trends, the report also includes figures about employment and other country traits. It found that Australia was responsible for a little more than 3% of the top 10 most-cited scientific publications in 2016, behind Canada, Japan and France. And Australia was found to be the eighth largest producer of most-cited scientific documents on machine learning after the US, China, India, the UK, Italy, Canada and Germany. Eighty-eight percent of Australia used the Internet in 2016, up from 73% in 2006, the report found. Among the 16-24-year-olds, the usage figure was 97.7%; this fell to 72.8% for those aged 55-74. The OECD report said that Australian Government budgets for research and development had increased since 2008, showing an increase of 9% between 2008 and 2016. There was strong growth in 2008 and 2009, and a slight decline since then. Women were said to have invented 8.9% of patents in Australia between 2012 and 2015, compared to 10% in the US and 7% in the European Union. More authors of scientific material came to Australia than left the country between 2002 and 2016. Almost 7500 more authors came to the country than left, just behind Switzerland and the US and marginally ahead of China. Government support for business R&D was second highest in Australia in 2015, the report said, with almost 87% of total support. Only the Netherlands had more government support for business R&D. The Australian figure was up from 65% in 2006. On the global front, the OECD report said China, Chinese Taipei, Japan, South Korea and the US accounted for 70% to 100% of the 20 fastest growing new ICT technologies, such as payment protocols or interactive TV over 2012-15, as measured by inventions patented in the five top intellectual property offices. Both South Korea and Japan led in robot intensity, the number of robots used in a sector divided by the overall value created by that sector. Robot intensity is rising in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovak Republic and Slovenia, and in the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), most notably in China which is fast catching up to US levels. The report said use of the Internet of Things was growing fast with China having the most SIM cards in machines in 2017 at 228 million subscriptions, accounting for 44% of global machine-to-machine connections and three times that in the US. In terms of such cards per person, New Zealand was second after Sweden, well ahead of the US and UK. Australia stood below the OECD average. When it came to artificial intelligence technologies patented in the five top IP offices, there was a rise of 6% year-on-year over 2010-15, led by Japan which, along with South Korea and the US, accounted for more than 62% of AI-related patent applications, down from 70% in 2000-05 as filings rose from China and Chinese Taipei. EU countries contributed to 12% of the top AI inventions, down from 19% in the previous decade. The US led the OECD in the share of the worlds top 10% most-cited scientific publications while China overtook the UK to take second place after tripling output in a decade. The US share of top-cited research fell from 38% in 2005 to 26% in 2016, the UK slipped from 8% to 6% and China rose from 4% to 14%. On the employment front, the report said Australia had made large employment gains between 2010 to 2016, with about a million new jobs. In 2014, 20.7% of jobs were sustained by foreign demand, up from 18.9% in 2004. This was the lowest in the OECD, apart from Japan and the US. Australian women earned about 13% less than men when individual and job-related characteristics were taken into account; this dropped to 11% when skills differences were factored in. The US Government has taken further steps to tighten the rules for foreign H-1B visa holders, reportedly removing the ability for their spouses to obtain work permits. Additionally, a Congressional panel has approved legislation to raise the minimum salary paid to an H-1B visa holder from US$60,000 to US$90,000, making it more difficult for the individual to be hired. The law, known as the Protect and Grow American Jobs Act (HR 170), includes a number of other restrictions on H-1B visa holders. It was passed by the House Judiciary Committee last Thursday. Reacting to the passage of the measure, R Chandrashekhar, president of Indian IT lobby group the National Association of Software and Services Companies, said the bill, if passed by Congress, would harm US businesses and stifle innovation. "Unfortunately, this legislation is being driven by myths, not reality. US Government data show very significant shortages of high skill talent around the country. The data show that the high skill visa programmes are not a major cause of US unemployment, and IT specialists working on temporary visas are not cheap labour," he said. Spouses and children of foreign H-1B visa holders are issued H4 visas. A rule brought in during the Obama presidency in 2015 made it possible for spouses, mostly women, to obtain work permits. Prior to this, these foreigners were not allowed to work or obtain a Social Security number. Since the rule was modified, a total of 41,526 people were given work permits, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Since the election of Donald Trump a year ago, the US has been clamping down on H-1B visas which are used to bring in about 85,000 people a year to work in the US. Many of them are Indians who work in the technology industry. Last month, the government issued new guidelines making it tougher for existing H-1B holders to renew their visas, specifying that they would have to go through the same process for renewal as they did to first obtain the visa. These rules also apply to the L-1B visa which allows a worker to stay in the US for between five and seven years. There is no minimum wage requirement and dependants of an L-1B visa holder can work right away. The number of applicants for H-1B visas fell this year for the first time in four years. In April, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services received 199,000 applications, compared to 236,000 received in 2016. Another stricture on H-1B visas, is that computer programmers would not be presumed to be eligible for an H-1B visa. Rather, details of qualifications need to be supplied so that it could be determined whether the individual is fit to do the specialised task for which the visa is sought. This guidance means that H-1B visas will go to very high-skilled and higher-paid professionals, with low- and mid-level jobs presumably to go to American workers instead. Ride-sharing company Uber has sacked its chief security officer Joe Sullivan and one of his deputies after it was found that both had played a role in hiding a data breach that exposed the personal data of 57 million users from around the globe. The October 2016 hack included names, email addresses and phone numbers, Bloomberg reported citing a company spokesperson. Apart from this, personal information about seven million Uber drivers was accessed as well. The stolen data included 600,000 US drivers' licence numbers, but no social security numbers, trip locations or other data. The company said it had paid the attackers who stole the data US$100,000 to keep the matter quiet, rather than report the breach to US authorities as was its obligation. Uber chief executive Data Khosrowshahi, who took on the role in September this year, told Bloomberg: "None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it. We are changing the way we do business." The breach took place under the former chief executive, Travis Kalanick, who found out about it in November 2016. At the time Uber had settled a suit about data security disclosures and was negotiating with the US Federal Trade Commission about how it handled consumer data. The hack was discovered by an external team that was tasked with finding out the activities of Sullivan's security team which is said to have taken many decisions that have affected the company. The attackers gained access to a private GitHub repository used by Uber software engineers and used login credentials which were available on the repository to access data on an Amazon Web Services account that was used to handle computing tasks. They found driver and rider information in the AWS bucket and contacted the company asking for a ransom. Corey Williams, senior director of products and marketing at identity and access management company Centrify, said the hack was preventable. Unfortunately, companies continue to rely on a system of trust: Trust that a simple username and password is enough to know who is accessing their network and systems; trust that perimeter security has eliminated all of the bad actors within the network; and trust that once on the network or system that the user should have access to any data or commands," he said. The longstanding lesson was that a password was simply not enough for protection. The time has come to no longer trust in too-easily stolen passwords for ensuring that users are who they say they are, Williams said. Instead, now is the time to move to a zero-trust approach that only grants access to services based on what we know about the user and their device - a zero-trust stance that ensures all access to services must be authenticated, authorised and encrypted. Only then will these utterly preventable hacks start to subside. There are at least five criminal probes into Uber, looking into alleged bribery, illicit software, pricing schemes, and theft of a competitor's IP. A number of civil suits are also ongoing and the service faces bans in London and other cities due to what has been termed reckless behaviour. Uber suffered a data breach in 2014 as well and was discussing a settlement with the FTC while it haggled with the hackers to keep the 2016 breach quiet. With 34.4% UK market share to Apple and 34% to Samsung, Huawei, Alcatel and Moto join them to account for almost 80% of Q3 2017 smartphone sales. The latest research from Counterpoints Market Pulse service shows that "UK smartphones sales remained flat annually in Q3 2017, while the overall handset market (including feature phones) declined by 8% year on year." My thought on that stat is that this also obviously means that sales equalled 92% of what was sold last year, and with part of that in feature phone land, this still means smartphones are as popular as ever, with new models from the big brand names presumably replacing a lot of old ones as the older models get handed down as upgrades of their own, or sold etc. In any case, commenting on the findings, Counterpoint's research associate Parv Sharma said: Apple continued to lead the smartphone market with just over 34% share despite sales declining sequentially. Samsung was the second largest brand, slightly behind Apple, with flat market share YoY. "The Chinese giant Huawei was the third largest brand, with consistent double-digit market share, leveraging a diverse portfolio across all price-tiers, but still some distance behind Samsung and Apple that represent something approaching a virtual duopoly. "Like we see in the US market, Apple & Samsung together control more than two thirds of the UK smartphone market in sales volumes and more than 80% in sales value. Here's Counterpoint's Exhibit 1, being UK Smartphone Sales Ranking and Market Share chart Q3 2017: Source: Counterpoint Research: Quarterly Market Pulse Q3 2017 Adding his commentary on premium smartphone market, research director Peter Richardson said: The UK is one of the strongest markets for Apple globally and this is reflected in the premium segments share of the market overall. "Despite Apple being at the tail-end of a product cycle through most of 3Q, the premium segment (>US$500 wholesale) still grew both in terms of volume and value, while the overall market volume fell. "Apple dominated the premium segment and was the main contributor to overall market value share especially as the Average Selling Price (ASP) of the newly launched iPhone 8 was higher than the iPhone 7s launch price. Samsung also enjoyed a strong position, accounting for almost one third of the premium market volume during the quarter. Apple and Samsung together leave very little room for other players. Commenting on the best-selling smartphones, Richardson added: The Apple iPhone 7 was the bestselling smartphone and contributed to 15% of the total smartphones sold in Q3 2017. "Samsungs Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus were second and third. Samsung also has a strong range across all price bands and it, together with Huawei, provided a strong volume platform that was resilient to attack from most other brands. About UK distribution channels, Richardson said: The UK operators and retailers have developed one of the best multi-channel distribution systems worldwide; few other countries offer quite the same level of sophistication. "However, the limited range of brands offered in volume by the main operators means that market share is concentrated among just a few players. We dont see this changing any time soon as distribution power is, if anything, being increasingly focused among the main operators. Exhibit 2: UK Bestselling Smartphone Rankings Q3 2017 Source: Counterpoint Research: Quarterly Market Pulse Q3 2017 Here's Counterpoint's "Market Summary:" Reddit Email 132 Shares By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | The Arab League is embroiled in a new cold war among its own members, largely over Irans role in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have so much influence in the Arab League that they got through a resolution of the foreign ministers committee condemning Iran and casting Lebanons Hizbullah as a terrorist organization committing terrorism in Arab countries. (This attitude is not new. In 2016, as well, the Arab League called Hizbullah terrorists). This resolution was rejected by Lebanon, Syria and Iraq as well as by the Palestinian party-militia Gaza. At least in the past, Algeria has also refused to buy into such rhetoric. The Houthi government of Sanaa Yemen demurred, as well. I cant imagine Oman going along with this wording, since it brokers deals with Iran. Qatar has also rejected the resolution (it is being targeted by Saudi Arabia). Egypt, too, has been signalling that Cairo thinks the time inopportune for ratcheting up tensions with Iran. Iran charged that Saudi Arabia is the country destabilizing the Middle East. So my guess is that governments representing a majority or plurality of the Arab League states are actually opposed to this FM Council resolution. The Arab League comprises 22 members, all but three of them Arabic-speaking (Somali, Djibouti and the Comoros Islands make a special place for Arabic as an official language). Since a language is not actually an ethnicity or a nation, it is not surprising that the Arab League usually does not amount to much as a nationalist organization. It has frequently been split over key issues. In the 1960s it was split between nationalists like Gamal Abdel Nasser who tilted toward socialism and the Soviet Union, and monarchies like those of Saudi Arabia and Morocco who tilted toward capitalism and the United States. In a later era it expelled Egypt for concluding the Camp David Peace Accord with Israel in 1978-79. It split on the Arab Spring in 2011. So this split is nothing new, though the occasion for it the question of how belligerent to be toward Iran, is new. If Saudi Arabia dreamed of regimenting all the Arabs behind this conference, they failed. Related video: New China TV: Debate at Arab League meeting over Qatars alleged link with terror Reddit Email 220 Shares By IMEMC News | Israels Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz revealed that the country maintains secret contacts within Saudi Arabia and many other Muslim and Arab countries, especially those with shared concerns from Iran. Steinitz, a member of Netanyahus security cabinet, did not characterize the contacts or give details when asked why Israel was hiding its ties with Saudi Arabia, He replied: We have ties that are indeed partly covert with many Muslim and Arab countries, and usually we are not the party who is ashamed, according to Reuters. When asked about Israels interest in establishing relations with a state that does not have a parliament, does not contain opposition, and the king is appointed by the ruling family, he said: This is not our way. We prefer democracy. He also added, according to the PNN, that Saudi Arabia is recently undergoing a process of moderation, escalating its stance against Iran, Hezbollah and terrorism; Saudi Arabia is our partner in the face of the Iranian threat. He revealed that the diplomatic efforts by Israel with the US administration and the United Nations to reconsider the nuclear agreement with Iran is happening through contacts with the Saudi authorities and through their help. Via IMEMC - Related video added by Juan Cole: PressTV [Iran]: Israeli minister: Tel Aviv had covert contacts with Saudi over Iran The Young Turks | (Video News Clip) | Does Trump support Roy Moore? Cenk Uygur, the host of The Young Turks, breaks down Trumps response: President Donald Trump on Tuesday directly addressed the sexual misconduct allegations against Alabama GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore, nearly two weeks after the first accounts of Moores alleged sexual predation were first reported by The Washington Post. Roy Moore denies it. Thats all I can say, Trump told reporters while leaving the White House to go to his Mar-a-Lago resort for the Thanksgiving holiday. Reddit Email 434 Shares San Francisco (Tomdispatch.com) He received a prestigious award from the West Point Association of Graduates. He published a runaway bestselling autobiography. Last February, a lavishly produced book celebrating his paintings of Americans who served in the military was, as Time put it, burning up the Amazon charts. Still, the liberal media wasnt ready to embrace George W. Bush not at least until he made some oblique criticisms of the current tenant of his old position, suggesting that, in the present political climate, bigotry seems emboldened. Seems? Have you been to Charlottesville lately, Mr. Bush? The former president was less tentative on the main subject of his address to a conference on democracy hed organized in New York City: the importance of free trade and the need for a large American footprint in the world. We see a fading confidence in the value of free markets and international trade, he said, forgetting that conflict, instability, and poverty follow in the wake of protectionism. More on that speech later. Not the First Rehab Job George W. Bush is hardly the first disgraced Republican president and war criminal to worm his way back into American esteem. Richard Nixon remains the leader in that department. He spent his later years being celebrated as an elder statesman and a master of realpolitik in international relations. In the process, he managed to shake off the dust of Watergate. In those years, few even remembered that his was the first administration in which both the president and vice president resigned. In 1973, that disgraced vice president, Spiro Agnew, pled guilty to a felony count of tax evasion, but not before hed bequeathed the English language a few of its most mellifluous sobriquets, among them the nattering nabobs of negativism and the effete corps of impudent snobs (aimed at those who opposed the Vietnam War). Nixons rehabilitation not only reduced the Watergate scandal in American memory, but also essentially obliterated his greater crimes, among which were these: * while still a presidential candidate in 1968, he opened a secret back channel to the South Vietnamese government to keep it out of peace talks with the North that might have benefited his Democratic opponent; * in the war itself, he oversaw the expansion of the CIAs Phoenix Program of torture and assassination in which, as historian Alfred McCoy has described it, the formalities of prosecution of suspected Viet Cong were replaced with pump and dump pumping suspects of information by torture and then dumping the bodies, more than 20,000 of them between 1968 and 1971; * he also oversaw an expansive, illegal, and undeclared war in Cambodia (which, when it was about to come to light, he described as a brief incursion into that country); * he oversaw the saturation or carpet bombing of the North Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, and that countrys major port, Haiphong; * and he presided over the first 9/11, the 1973 military coup that murdered Chiles elected president, Salvador Allende, ushering in years of terror and torture under General Augusto Pinochet. And dont think that Richard Nixon is the only other example of such a post-presidential rehabilitation. Ronald Reagan is now remembered by friend and foe alike as a kind, folksy president and a wily strategist who ended the Cold War by forcing a cash-strapped Soviet Union to keep up with U.S. defense spending and then negotiated directly with Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev. When he died in June 2004, the New York Times was typical in the largely fawning obituary it ran, describing him as the man who restored popular faith in the presidency and the American government. That obituary did at least mention the Iran-Contra conspiracy in which President Reagan approved the (illegal) sale of arms to Iran to fund his (illegal) support of the Nicaraguan Contras, the murderous rebel force that sought to overthrow that countrys leftist Sandinista government. The deception and disdain for the law, commented the obituary, invited comparisons to Watergate, undermined Mr. Reagans credibility, and severely weakened his powers of persuasion with Congress. An odd set of observations about a man being hailed for restoring faith in the presidency, but consistent with the contradictions inherent in any lionization of Reagan. Lest we forget, he was also the president who began his first term by attacking unions, starting with the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization, a move which so many years later still results in regular flight delays, thanks to a 27-year low in the number of air controllers. Reagan also inaugurated the mania for deregulation that led to the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s and ultimately to the subprime mortgage crisis and financial meltdown of 2007-2008. His presidency reinforced what would become a never-ending slide in the value of real wages and his tax policies were the starting point for what has, in our own time, become not an inequality gap but an inequality chasm that has now left three men with the same amount of wealth as 160 million Americans. (Not surprisingly, depending on whos calculating it, the United States either has the worlds highest or perhaps fourth-highest Gini score, a measurement of economic inequality.) Nixon had to wait many years for his rehabilitation and Reagans was largely posthumous. At a vigorous 71, however, Bush seems to be slipping effortlessly back onto the national stage only nine years after leaving office essentially in disgrace. He will evidently have plenty of time to bask in historys glow before the first of those nostalgic obituaries are written. And for that, he can thank Donald Trump. W. Redux? During that October 17th speech in which he criticized Trump without mentioning his name, George W. Bush touted the Spirit of Liberty: At Home, in the World. There, he bemoaned the degradation of political discourse by casual cruelty, noting that bullying and prejudice in our public life sets a national tone, provides permission for cruelty and bigotry, and compromises the moral education of children. Like the rest of his family, Bush does not share Trumps aversion to immigrants, so he added that this country seems to be forgetting the dynamism that immigration has always brought to America. Articles in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and even the Guardian eagerly reported Bushs implicit criticisms of the president as a hopeful sign of resistance to Trumpism from the responsible Republican right. Politico simply labeled the event a George W. Bush speech on Trumpism, although much of it was about the decline of democracy in Europe and the value of free trade. Its certainly true that his speech included oblique critiques of the man who repeatedly insulted his brother Jeb as a very low-energy kind of guy and knocked him out of the race to be the third Bush to sit in the Oval Office, but its worth reading the whole address. Its vintage W. that is, vintage W. as a war criminal. He began, for instance, by reprising the lie that since World War II, America has encouraged and benefited from the global advance of free markets, from the strength of democratic alliances, and from the advance of free societies. As Alfred McCoy demonstrates in his recent book, In the Shadows of the American Century, that is a particularly disingenuous description of a 70-year history in which Washington supported and, in a remarkable number of cases was directly involved in, the destruction of free societies. A list of examples would perhaps begin with the 1953 British and U.S.-backed coup against the democratically elected Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh that would install the despotic Shah in power in that country. It would certainly continue with the 1954 U.S. and United Fruit Company coup against Jacobo Arbenz, the democratically elected president of Guatemala (an early instance of Washingtons post-World War II encouragement of anything-but-free-trade); the 1960 CIA-backed coup against, and the murder of, Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba; and the 1973 military coup in Chile. An honest history would also include the active encouragement of societies that were anything but free, including those run by juntas, dictators, or military governments in Greece, Brazil, Argentina, the Philippines, Indonesia, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Uruguay, Iraq, and South Korea, to name just a few. Of course, George W. Bush is hardly the first president to lie about the post-World War II record of the United States. Nor is he the first to suggest that American security is directly threatened by the chaos and despair of distant places, which he attributed in his speech to the lack of the democracy Washington put so much effort into destroying in more than 70 countries across the planet. And dont forget that it was precisely the pretext of a direct threat to American security that led to the most criminal lie of his career: the insistence that Iraqi autocrat Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction and that the U.S. invasion of his country was justified by a (legally questionable) case of preemptive self-defense. By initiating a war of aggression, by loosing shock and awe on the capital of a nation that had not attacked ours, President Bush committed a war crime. Indeed, it was the first in the list of crimes for which the leaders of Nazi Germany were indicted at Nuremberg after World War II: the ultimate crime against peace. Few Americans have ever heard of the Kellogg-Briand Pact, but in 1928 the United States signed it and the Senate ratified it by a vote of 85-1. The 50 signatories of that treaty renounced war as a means of settling international disputes and, as the authors of The Internationalists: How a Radical Plan to Outlaw War Remade the World have argued, by implication made aggressive war a violation of international law. The U.S. Constitution states in Article 6 that all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land. By invading Iraq, Bush broke both international and U.S. law. In addition to his crimes against peace, Bush and his administration were also the authors of such traditionally recognized war crimes as torture and the use of chemical weapons. One of the uglier aspects of the U.S. militarys battle for the Iraqi city of Fallujah was its use of white phosphorus, an incendiary munition. Phosphorus ignites spontaneously when exposed to air. If bits of the chemical attach to human beings, skin and flesh burn away. The burning continues as long as there is oxygen available, sometimes right into the bone. In short, isnt it a little early to begin rehabilitating the man responsible for indefinite detention at Guantanamo, enhanced interrogation techniques, and the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and at least 150,000 Afghans not to mention the trillions of U.S. dollars shoved down the memory hole in pursuit of the futile wars that followed? Leda and the Swan The same year that the Kellogg-Briand Pact was signed, William Butler Yeats published a collection of poems called The Tower. It contains what many consider his masterpiece, the harrowing sonnet Leda and the Swan. In it, Yeats recreates the moment in Greek myth when Zeus, the ruling god of Olympus, having taken the form of a swan, rapes the helpless human woman Leda, leaving her pregnant with a daughter. That daughter became Helen of Troy, whose abduction was the casus belli for the Trojan War. The poet begins with the victims shock and awe: A sudden blow: the great wings beating still Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressed By the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill, He holds her helpless breast upon his breast. In the final stanza, Yeats writes: A shudder in the loins engenders there The broken wall, the burning roof and tower And Agamemnon dead. In those brief words can be read an entire history of war and death, recounted more fully in the 15,693 lines of the Iliad, all somehow encapsulated in that first act of violence. In his poem, Yeats implies that Zeus knows full well the final outcome of his act. Similarly perhaps, the swans of Washington in 2003, which was at that time the planets own imperial Olympus, had more than an inkling of the broken walls, the burning roofs and towers their invasion of Iraq might engender. As early as 1996, future Vice President Dick Cheneys fellow hawks Richard Perle and Douglas Feith who would later join the Bush administration as adviser on the Defense Policy Board and under secretary of defense for policy helped write a report for Benjamin Netanyahu, who was then running the Israeli government for the first time. Titled A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm, it urged the leaders of Israels right-wing Likud party to leave behind the nations previous geopolitical strategy by abandoning peace negotiations with the Palestinians and using military means to actively restructure the Middle East in their favor. Israel, the authors argued, can shape its strategic environment, in cooperation with Turkey and Jordan, by weakening, containing, and even rolling back Syria. Such a campaign would begin by removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq an important Israeli strategic objective in its own right as a means of foiling Syrias regional ambitions. The ultimate goal was a realignment of power in the region, with Syria destabilized, a monarchy in Iraq, and a new regional alliance among Turkey, Jordan, and Israel. It would prove to be the geopolitical equivalent of a movie preview. In the wake of 9/11, the same cast of characters would take a similar path in Washington and, in the end, that rolling back operation would shake or destroy country after country from Afghanistan and Iraq to Libya and Yemen. Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Syria has certainly been destabilized in ways almost impossible to imagine, through the rise of ISIS (born in an American military prison) and a vicious, multi-sided civil war that, by early 2016, had left more than a tenth of its population killed or injured. In the process, more than 10 million people, including untold numbers of children, were turned into internal or external refugees. Netanyahu, in fact, would reject the clean break proposal (perhaps because it also suggested that Israel make a clean break with its dependence on U.S. aid), but the neocons were undeterred. In 1998, they resurrected the plan as part of a new pressure group they formed, the Project for a New American Century (PNAC), and presented it to Bill Clinton in a letter encouraging him to direct a full complement of diplomatic, political, and military efforts to remove Saddam Hussein from power. Nor were they overly concerned about the legality of such a move, writing that American policy cannot continue to be crippled by a misguided insistence on unanimity in the U.N. Security Council. In other words, the country should not be crippled by adherence to the U.N. Charter, whose Article 51 prohibits unilateral war making without Security Council approval, except in cases of immediate individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations. Like Netanyahu, Clinton ignored their suggestion. However, the signatories of the letter included many figures who would become key players in the Bush administration, among them Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Undersecretaries of State John Bolton and Richard Armitage, Reagan hold-over Elliott Abrams, and Zalmay Khalilzad, who among other roles served as Bushs special envoy and ambassador at large for free Iraqis. And it included, of course, Cheney adviser and Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, who had prepared a draft of a 1992 Defense Planning Guidance document for President George H.W. Bush in which he argued for the importance of U.S. readiness to take unilateral military action, whether approved by the United Nations or not. In other words, the top officials of the Bush administration took office already planning to attack Iraq. It only awaited 19 mostly Saudi terrorists hijacking four American commercial airliners on September 11, 2001. That would be the pretext to launch what has become a generational struggle that would eventually destroy Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Yemen (and almost as a side dish, Afghanistan), and which now threatens to engulf the entire Greater Middle East, North Africa, and parts of Asia, from Afghanistan to the Philippines, in a set of never-ending wars and spreading terror movements. All that suffering sprang from the actions of one feckless president and his crew. So what if after 16 years of fruitless war, 16 years of disintegrating American infrastructure, 16 years of almost unprecedented inequality George W. Bush does find Trumps rhetorical style distasteful? Is that really any reason to turn a presidential war criminal into a liberal hero? Rebecca Gordon, a TomDispatch regular, teaches in the philosophy department at the University of San Francisco. She is the author of American Nuremberg: The U.S. Officials Who Should Stand Trial for Post-9/11 War Crimes. Her previous books include Mainstreaming Torture: Ethical Approaches in the Post-9/11 United States and Letters from Nicaragua. Follow TomDispatch on Twitter and join us on Facebook. Check out the newest Dispatch Book, Alfred McCoys In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of U.S. Global Power, as well as John Dowers The Violent American Century: War and Terror Since World War II, John Feffers dystopian novel Splinterlands, Nick Turses Next Time Theyll Come to Count the Dead, and Tom Engelhardts Shadow Government: Surveillance, Secret Wars, and a Global Security State in a Single-Superpower World. Copyright 2017 Rebecca Gordon Via Tomdispatch.com Related video added by Juan Cole: The Young Turks: Do Democrats Miss George W. Bush? MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Orosur Mining Inc. (Orosur or the Company) (TSX/AIM:OMI) a South American-focused gold producer, developer and explorer announces a second quarter (Q2) operations update on production from its San Gregorio mine complex in Uruguay. The Company expects a deferral of approximately 2,000 ounces from Q2 production at the San Gregorio mine complex due to the extended downtime of two long hole drill rigs used in stope production at the San Gregorio Underground West mine (SGW UG). Work is well underway to repair the machinery and it is anticipated that the affected drill rigs will return to full productivity by the end of November and the Company has already resumed underground production. During Q2, development continued as planned at SGW UG and mill feed is being partially supplemented by open pit ore and low grade stockpiles causing lower head grades than planned. Orosur will provide a detailed update on Q2 production in the Quarterly Results Report. About Orosur Mining Inc. Orosur Mining Inc. (TSX:OMI; AIM:OMI) is a fully integrated gold producer, developer and explorer focused on identifying and advancing gold projects in South America. The Company operates the only producing gold mine in Uruguay (San Gregorio), and has assembled an exploration portfolio of high quality assets in Uruguay, Chile and Colombia. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Nov. 22, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ascot Resources Ltd (TSXV:AOT) (Ascot or the Company) is pleased to announce the next set of high-grade gold assay results from 32 holes in the Northern Lights area. The Company has 40 holes remaining pending assay results, which are expected to be completed between now and early December 2017. Recent Drilling Highlights: The new Prew Subzone continues to deliver exceptional results including hole P17-1558 which had an interval of 25.10 metres averaging 6.47 g/t Au, including two high-grade intervals of 1.00 metre each, grading 57.30 g/t Au and 43.50 g/t Au. The Prew Subzone (named in memory of Mr. Mike Prew) remains open along strike and has been traced for 500 metres down plunge, with a general width of 150-200 metres. In the Ben Subzone hole P17-1536 returned 14.89 g/t Au over 6.0 metres which included 44.00 g/t Au over 2.00 metres. Hole P17-1552 returned 109.00 g/t Au over 1.00 m. This higher-grade area in the Ben Subzone has been traced down plunge for 700 metres, with a general width of 200 metres. In the Northern Lights West zone, hole P17-1563 returned 9.76 g/t Au over 9.15 metres including 17.67 g/t Au over 4.15 metres. This northwest striking steep northeast dipping limb has been traced for 400+ metres of strike length with 150-200 metres of dip length. As per details in a previous release, the Company has engaged David Rennie of Roscoe Postle Associates Inc. (RPA) as the qualified person to assist management in the development of the new resource estimate. The new resource estimate will provide the basis for a PEA to explore mining opportunities utilizing the existing mine and plant infrastructure. Two long tenured executive directors, John Toffan and Rick Kasum have recently resigned from the Board. As the former President and CEO of Ascot, Mr. Toffan was instrumental in advancing the Company to where it is today. Mr. White, President & CEO, commented, John led the Company since its inception and we thank him most heartily for his leadership and faithful service over this period. Rick, based in Stewart, B.C. and a veteran of the Golden Triangle area, has been a key contributor in helping the Company with its extensive drilling program and activities in the local community. Rick will continue to assist the Company as a consultant, working with Ascot on its future drilling programs. On behalf of everyone at Ascot we thank them both for their tremendous longstanding efforts, especially with the extensive drill program. We wish them both success in their future endeavours. The Company is also pleased to announce that an investor conference call with President and CEO, Derek White will be held on Thursday, November 23, 2017 at 4:15 pm Eastern time 1:15 pm Pacific time. Mr. White will discuss the overall drilling results for 2017 and next steps for the Company going forward. A question and answer period will follow the presentation. To participate, please dial: Canada/USA toll-free 1-800-319-4610 or International toll +1-604-638-5340 and request to join the "Ascot Resources Conference Call". Participants please dial in 5 to 10 minutes prior to the scheduled start time. An Investor presentation, along with the latest drill hole results, can be found on the Ascot web site at www.ascotgold.com. New 2017 drill highlights include: Hole # Zone From m's To m's Width m's Au (g/t) Au Cut* (g/t) Ag (g/t) Zn % P17-1534 Ben Subzone 167.00 174.68 7.68 3.35 3.35 6.7 0.95 incl. 172.00 173.00 1.00 11.85 11.85 14.4 0.97 P17-1536 Ben Subzone 300.00 306.00 6.00 14.89 11.65* 5.7 0.10 incl. 300.00 302.00 2.00 44.00 34.29* 8.7 0.04 P17-1540 Prew Subzone 283.00 340.00 57.00 1.35 1.35 3.9 0.16 incl. 283.00 297.00 14.00 2.13 2.13 3.4 0.08 incl. 296.00 297.00 1.00 8.25 8.25 3.7 0.21 incl. 322.40 340.00 17.60 1.49 1.49 5.2 0.24 incl. 334.00 336.00 2.00 4.97 4.97 3.1 0.23 P17-1541 Prew Subzone 260.00 350.00 90.00 1.06 1.06 3.8 0.16 incl. 282.70 287.60 4.90 8.97 8.97 17.7 1.05 incl. 285.00 286.00 1.00 27.60 27.60 45.5 2.83 P17-1543 Prew Subzone 295.00 322.00 27.00 1.64 1.64 7.9 0.47 incl. 299.00 311.00 12.00 2.24 2.24 10.5 0.64 incl. 305.00 307.00 2.00 5.76 5.76 9.2 0.53 P17-1547 Ben Subzone 230.00 275.84 45.84 1.16 1.16 5.1 0.37 incl. 230.00 238.20 8.20 4.40 4.40 2.2 0.11 incl. 237.20 238.20 1.00 26.70 26.70 4.4 0.48 P17-1552 Ben Subzone 242.90 292.00 49.10 2.82 1.30* 5.0 0.25 incl. 248.50 249.50 1.00 109.00 34.29* 23.3 0.42 incl. 274.40 277.60 3.20 2.70 2.70 5.9 0.05 P17-1554 Ben Subzone 297.80 327.00 29.20 1.31 1.31 4.1 0.23 incl. 325.00 327.00 2.00 7.66 7.66 10.3 1.08 P17-1555 Ben Subzone 264.00 276.00 12.00 2.96 2.96 7.1 0.36 incl. 264.00 272.00 8.00 4.37 4.37 10.0 0.54 incl. 264.00 266.00 2.00 7.73 7.73 5.8 0.20 P17-1557 Prew Subzone 282.00 306.55 24.55 2.47 2.47 8.4 0.30 incl. 288.00 292.00 4.00 7.56 7.56 29.6 0.96 incl. 290.00 292.00 2.00 12.15 12.15 50.3 1.36 P17-1558 Prew Subzone 261.70 333.10 71.40 2.52 2.08* 7.2 0.28 incl. 272.65 297.75 25.10 6.47 5.19* 11.4 0.41 incl. 275.65 276.65 1.00 43.50 34.29* 37.8 0.70 incl. 281.35 282.35 1.00 57.30 34.29* 51.1 0.56 incl. 290.65 291.60 0.95 31.30 31.30 69.8 3.87 P17-1562 NL West 141.65 149.00 7.35 6.82 6.82* 20.7 6.11 incl. 142.85 147.00 4.15 11.64 11.64* 32.8 10.44 incl. 146.10 147.00 0.90 34.80 34.29* 55.6 22.40 P17-1563 NL West 175.25 192.00 16.75 5.68 5.68 27.4 3.53 incl. 175.25 184.40 9.15 9.76 9.76 44.4 5.63 incl. 175.25 179.40 4.15 17.67 17.67 73.5 8.46 True widths are believed to be 70-90% of intersected widths in the Premier area. (*) samples cut to 1opt or 34.29 g/t Au. This is the 10th results release for 2017 drill season and includes 32 holes P17-1527, 1530 and P17-1534-1563. The balance of drilling consisting of 40 holes P17-1564-1603 are awaiting assay results and will be released as these are finalized. Detailed results table, locations and figures can be viewed at the following Ascot link: www.ascotgold.com Graeme Evans, P. Geo and Lawrence Tsang, P. Geo provide the field management for the Premier exploration program. Graeme Evans, designated as the Qualified Person (QP) as defined by National Instrument 43-101 has reviewed and approved the technical contents of this news release on behalf of Ascot Resources Ltd. Quality Assurance/Quality Control Analytical work is being carried out by ALS Lab Group. Quality assurance and quality control programs include the use of analytical blanks and standards and duplicates in addition to the labs own internal quality assurance program. All samples were analyzed using multi-digestion with ICP finish and fire assay with AA finish for gold. Samples over 100 ppm silver were reanalyzed using four acid digestion with an ore grade AA finish. Samples over 1,500 ppm silver were fire assayed with a gravimetric finish. Samples with over 10 ppm gold were fire assayed with a gravimetric finish. Identified or suspected metallic gold or silver are subjected to "metallics" assays. Also for extreme high gold grades a concentrate analysis is performed with a fire assay and gravimetric finish accurate up to 999985 ppm Au limit (ALS Au-CON01) method. Sampling and storage are at the company's secure facility in Stewart with bi-weekly sample shipments made to ALS Labs Terrace prep site. Vancouver, British Columbia (FSCwire) - Prophecy Development Corp. (Prophecy or the Company) (TSX:PCY, OTCQX:PRPCF, Frankfurt:1P2) has received an independent technical report with an effective date of October 20, 2017 titled Updated Mineral Resource Estimate and Technical Report for the Pulacayo Project (the Report). The Report was prepared by Mercator Geological Services Limited (Mercator) on the Companys Pulacayo project (the Project) and has been filed under the Companys profile on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com. The Project is located in Bolivia, 107 km northeast of Sumitomo Corporations San Cristobal silver mine, 185 km southwest of Coeur Mining, Inc.s San Bartolome silver mine, and 139 km north of Pan American Silver Corp.s San Vicente silver mine. The Report describes resources estimated following the guidelines of the CIM Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves. Two mineral resource estimates were disclosed according to the requirements of National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101) one for the Pulacayo deposit and the second for the Paca deposit. Pulacayo Deposit Results of the mineral resource estimate prepared by Mercator for the Pulacayo deposit are presented below in Table 1. The Report filed on SEDAR documents the resource estimate. The Report outlined 2.08 million tonnes at a weighted average grade of Ag 455 g/t, Pb 2.18%, Zn 3.19% (Ag Eq. 594 g/t) in the indicated category and 0.48 million tonnes at a weighted average grade of Ag 406 g/t, Pb 2.08%, Zn 3.93% (Ag Eq. 572 g/t) in the inferred category. The contained metal content estimated by the Company, of the indicated category resources is 30.4 million ounces of silver, 100.0 million pounds of lead, 146.3 million pounds of zinc. The contained metal content estimated by the Company, of the inferred category resource is 6.3 million ounces of silver, 22.0 million pounds of lead, and 41.6 million pounds of zinc (more resource details in the table below). Table 1. Pulacayo Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource Statement Details Pulacayo Mineral Resource Statement Effective October 20, 2017 Ag Eq. Cut-Off (g/t) Category Tonnes* Ag (g/t) Pb (%) Zn (%) Ag Eq. (g/t) 400 Indicated 2,080,000 455 2.18 3.19 594 Inferred 480,000 406 2.08 3.93 572 Notes: (1) Mineral resources are estimated in conformance with the CIM Standards referenced in NI 43-101. (2) Raw silver assays were capped at 1,700 g/t, raw lead assays were capped at 15% and raw zinc assays were capped at 15%. (3) Silver equivalent Ag Eq. (g/t) = Ag (g/t)*89.2% + (Pb% *(US$0.94/ lb. Pb /14.583 Troy oz./lb./US$16.50 per Troy oz. Ag)*10,000*91.9%) + (Zn% *(US$1.00/lb. Zn/14.583 Troy oz./lb./US$16.50 per Troy oz. Ag)*10,000*82.9%). (4) Metal prices used in the silver equivalent calculation are US$16.50/Troy oz. Ag, US$0.94/lb Pb and US$1.00/lb. Zn. Metal recoveries used in the silver equivalent equation reflect historic metallurgical results disclosed by Apogee Silver Ltd. (Porter et al., 2013). (5) Metal grades were interpolated within wire-framed, three-dimensional silver domain solids using Geovia-Surpac Ver. 6.6.1 software and inverse distance squared interpolation methods. Block size is 10m(X) by 10m(Z) by 2m(Y). Historic mine void space was removed from the model prior to reporting of resources. (6) Block density factors reflect three-dimensional modeling of drill core density determinations. (7) Mineral resources are considered to have reasonable expectation for economic development using underground mining methods based on the deposit history, resource amount and metal grades, current metal pricing and comparison to broadly comparable deposits elsewhere. (8) Rounding of figures may result in apparent differences between tonnes, grade and contained ounces. (9) Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. (10) * Tonnes are rounded to nearest 10,000. The contained metals estimated by the Company based on in the October 20, 2017 resource estimate by Mercator are presented in Table 2. Table 2: Contained Metals Based on October 20, 2017 Pulacayo Deposit** Mineral Resource Estimate Metal Indicated Resource Inferred Resource Silver 30.4 million oz. 6.3 million oz. Lead 100.0 million lbs. 22.0 million lbs. Zinc 146.3 million lbs. 41.6 million lbs. **Based on the resource estimate Ag Eq. cut-off value of 400 g/t and 100% recovery; figures are rounded to the nearest 100,000th increment Between 2006 and 2012, a total of 69,739 metres of diamond drilling (226 surface and 42 underground drill holes) was conducted at Pulacayo, results of which support the mineral resource estimate reported in this news release. The Pulacayo site is currently permitted for production at a milling rate of 560 tonnes per day and no known legal, political, environmental, or other risks that would materially affect potential future development have been identified by Prophecy at the effective date of the current (October 20, 2017) mineral resource estimate. Approximately 85% of the resource tonnage identified at the 400 g/t Ag Eq. cut-off value occurs within 150 meters vertical distance from the main San Leon tunnel, which may facilitate future mineral extraction. Historic Pulacayo production was predominantly from the Tajo vein system which extends over a strike length of more than 2.5 km and to a depth of at least 1,000 meters. Prior resource drilling only covered approximately 20% of the Tajo vein system strike length. With new drilling, Prophecy feels that there is potential to discover additional resources along the Tajo structure. The Companys research has shown that relatively few silver underground deposits have been defined at resource cut-off values of 400 g/t Ag Eq. or more. Paca Deposit The Paca deposit is located in Bolivia approximately 7 km north of the Pulacayo deposit. Results of the mineral resource estimate prepared by Mercator for the Paca deposit are presented below in Table 3. The Report described previously and filed on SEDAR documents the resource estimate. The Report outlined 2.54 million tonnes at a weighted average grade of Ag 256 g/t, Pb 1.03%, Zn 1.10% (Ag Eq. 342 g/t) in the inferred category. The contained metal content estimated by the Company, of the inferred category resources is 20.9 million ounces of silver, 57.7 million pounds of lead, 61.6 million pounds of zinc. (more resource details in the table below). Table 3. Paca Inferred Mineral Resource Statement Details Paca Mineral Resource Statement Effective October 20, 2017 Ag Eq. Cut-Off (g/t) Category Tonnes* Ag (g/t) Pb (%) Zn (%) Ag Eq. (g/t) 200 Inferred 2,540,000 256 1.03 1.10 342 Notes: (1) Mineral resources are estimated in conformance with the CIM Standards referenced in NI 43-101. (2) Raw silver assays were capped at 1,050 g/t, raw lead assays were capped at 5% and raw zinc assays were capped at 5%. (3) Silver equivalent Ag Eq. (g/t) = Ag (g/t) + (Pb% *(US$0.94/ lb. Pb /14.583 Troy oz./lb./US$16.50 per Troy oz. Ag)*10,000) + (Zn% *(US$1.00/lb. Zn/14.583 Troy oz./lb./US$16.50 per Troy oz. Ag)*10,000). 100 % metal recoveries are assumed based on lack of comprehensive metallurgical results. (4) Metal prices used in the silver equivalent calculation are US$16.50/Troy oz. Ag, US$0.94/lb Pb and US$1.00/lb Zn and reflect those used for the Pulacayo deposit mineral resource estimate reported above. (5) Metal grades were interpolated within wire-framed, three-dimensional solids using Geovia-Surpac Ver. 6.7 software and inverse distance squared interpolation methods. Block size is 5m (X) by 5m (Z) by 2.5m (Y). Historic mine void space was removed from the model prior to reporting resources. (6) A block density factor of 2.26g/cm was used and reflects the average of 799 density measurements. (7) Mineral resources are considered to have reasonable expectation for economic development using combined underground and open pit methods based on the deposit history, resource amount and metal grades, current metal pricing and comparison to broadly comparable deposits elsewhere. (8) Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. (9) *Tonnes are rounded to nearest 10,000. The contained metals estimated by the Company based on the October 20, 2017 resource estimate by Mercator are presented in Table 4. Table 4. Contained Metals Based On October 20, 2017 Paca Deposit** Mineral Resource Estimate Metal Inferred Resource Silver 20.9 million oz. Lead 57.7 million lbs. Zinc 61.6 million lbs. **Based on the resource estimate Ag Eq. cut-off value of 200 g/t and 100% recovery; figures are rounded to the nearest 100,000th increment The resource estimate is based on results of 97 diamond drill holes and 1 reverse circulation drill hole totaling 18,160 meters completed between 2002 and 2007. The geology of the Paca deposit includes a core zone of feeder-style mineralization associated predominantly with brecciated andesite, plus additional zones of shallowly dipping mantos-style mineralization that are hosted by the surrounding volcano-sedimentary sequence. The Paca deposit remains open at depth and along strike. The Paca mineralization starts from surface and the deposit may be amenable to open-pit mining and this will be evaluated further in the future. The Companys research has shown that relatively few silver open pit deposits have been defined at resource cut-off values of 200 g/t Ag Eq. or more. Project update The Companys Bolivian subsidiary, ASC Bolivia LDC Sucursal Bolivia, has invested approximately US$28 million at Pulacayo and already acquired necessary environmental and social licenses to mine at Pulacayo. The Company is working with the Bolivian mining ministry and Corporacion Minera De Bolivia (COMIBOL) to obtain authorization which will allow Prophecy to mine at Pulacayo while transitioning from the current joint venture contract to a mining production contract. Qualified Persons The technical contents of this news release have been prepared under the supervision of Christopher M. Kravits, CPG, LPG, General Mining Manager of Prophecy. Mr. Kravits is a Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101. Mr. Kravits is a consultant to the Company and is not independent of the Company since most of his income is derived from the Company. Peter Webster, P. Geo., of Mercator Geological Services Limited is one of the Qualified Persons within the meaning of NI 43-101 responsible for preparation of Sections 3.0 to 8.0, 14.0 to 23.0 and 26 of the Report. He also reviewed all Report sections, contributed to the Report Summary and Report Sections 24.0 and 25.0, and responsible for the mineral resource estimate addressed in this news release. Michael P. Cullen, P. Geo., also of Mercator Geological Services Limited is the other Qualified Person within the meaning of NI 43-101 responsible for preparation of Sections 1.0 and 2.0, 9.0 through 13.0 of the Report. He also reviewed all Report sections and contributed to the Report Summary. About Prophecy Prophecy Development Corp. is a Canadian public company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange that is engaged in worldwide mineral and energy exploration and development. Further information on Prophecy can be found at www.prophecydev.com. About Mercator Mercator Geological Services Limited is a Canadian consulting firm founded in 1997 that offers a broad range of professional project management services including technical reporting to standards referenced in NI 43-101, exploration program management, and professional staffing for both small and large mineral exploration projects. Mercator has completed mineral exploration and resource estimation programs both domestically and internationally and prepared on behalf of Prophecy, the current mineral resource estimates for the Pulacayo deposit and the Paca deposit. TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Nov. 21, 2017) - Sulliden Mining Capital Inc. (TSX:SMC) ("Sulliden") and Pitchblack Resources Ltd. (NEX:PIT.H) ("Pitchblack") are pleased to announce the closing of the previously announced "bought deal" private placement offering (the "Offering") of subscription receipts (the "Subscription Receipts") of 2507868 Ontario Inc. ("Sulliden Sub"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sulliden, at a price of $1.64 per Subscription Receipt. An aggregate of 14,030,000 Subscription Receipts were sold pursuant to the Offering, including the full exercise of the over-allotment option granted to the Underwriters (as defined below), for aggregate gross proceeds of $23,009,200. National Bank Financial Inc. ("NBF") acted as sole bookrunner together with Haywood Securities Inc. and PI Financial Corp., as co-lead underwriters, on behalf of a syndicate of underwriters that included Desjardins Securities Inc., GMP Securities L.P., Jett Capital Advisors, LLC, Mackie Research Capital Corporation and Paradigm Capital Inc. (collectively, the "Underwriters"). Each Subscription Receipt entitles the holder thereof to receive one common share in the capital of Sulliden Sub (each, an "SR Share") and one common share purchase warrant of Sulliden Sub (each, an "SR Warrant") upon satisfaction of the Escrow Release Conditions (as defined below). Each SR Warrant shall entitle the holder thereof to acquire one common share in the capital of Sulliden Sub (each, an "SR Warrant Share"), subject to standard adjustment provisions, at a price of $2.50 per SR Warrant Share for a period of 36 months from the closing date of the Offering. As consideration for the services rendered by the Underwriters in connection with the Offering, Sulliden Sub has agreed to pay the Underwriters a cash commission equal to 6.0% of the gross proceeds raised from the sale of Subscription Receipts (the "Commission") to those purchasers under the Offering who are not on the President's List (as defined below) and 3.0% of the gross proceeds raised from the sale of Subscription Receipts to certain purchasers under the Offering who were identified to the Underwriters by Sulliden Sub (the "President's List"). Pursuant to the underwriting agreement entered into among Sulliden Sub, Pitchblack and the Underwriters, 50% of the Commission was payable on closing of the Offering and the remaining 50% of the Commission (plus accrued interest thereon) shall become payable out of the funds being held in escrow by TSX Trust Company (the "Escrow Agent") upon satisfaction of the Escrow Release Conditions. The aggregate gross proceeds raised pursuant to the Offering, less an amount equal to (i) the aggregate of the out-of-pocket expenses of the Underwriters incurred in connection with the Offering, and (ii) 50% of the Commission, has been deposited into escrow (the "Escrowed Proceeds") with the Escrow Agent and will be released by the Escrow Agent to Sulliden Sub and the Underwriters, as applicable, following receipt of a written notice from Sulliden Sub and NBF confirming that the Escrow Release Conditions have been satisfied. The "Escrow Release Conditions" include the satisfaction of all conditions precedent to the completion of the Transaction (as defined below), other than the filing of the Articles of Amalgamation giving effect to the amalgamation (the "Amalgamation") of Sulliden Sub, 2513924 Ontario Inc. and a newly-incorporated subsidiary of Pitchblack created for the special purpose of effecting the amalgamation. Provided the Escrow Release Conditions have been satisfied on or prior to 5:00 p.m. (Toronto Time) on January 31, 2018, the Escrowed Proceeds and accrued interest thereon (less an amount on account of the remaining balance of the Commission and accrued interest thereon payable to the Underwriters as described above) will be released to Sulliden Sub, and the Subscription Receipts will be automatically converted into SR Shares and SR Warrants, which will thereafter be exchanged for common shares and warrants of Pitchblack, respectively, on a one-for-one basis with the warrants of Pitchblack to be on the same terms as the SR Warrants. The closing of the Offering is a significant step towards the completion of the previously announced acquisition by Pitchblack of an option to acquire the Troilus gold project (the "Troilus Project") in Quebec (the "Transaction"). It is intended that, upon completion of the Amalgamation, the net proceeds of the Offering will be used for current and future expanded exploration programs at the Troilus Project, exercise of the Troilus Project option agreement, and for general corporate purposes. The Transaction Completion of the Transaction remains subject to receipt of all necessary approvals, including regulatory approvals from the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV"). The previously announced special meeting of shareholders of Pitchblack called to consider and approve, among other things, certain aspects of the Amalgamation was originally scheduled for December 7, 2017 (the "Shareholder Meeting"). The Shareholder Meeting has been re-scheduled pending final regulatory approval of the meeting materials and is currently anticipated to be held at a later date in December 2017. As soon as the new meeting date has been determined, Pitchblack intends to file an amended notice of meeting under its issuer profile available at www.sedar.com. Completion of the Transaction is subject to certain standard conditions including receipt of all necessary consents, waivers, permits, exemptions, orders and approvals, including the approval of the TSXV. The Transaction also constitutes a "related party transaction" under National Instrument 61-101 and is therefore subject to the provisions of that instrument including Pitchblack minority shareholder approval. 2227929 Ontario Inc., a company owned by Fred Leigh, is a shareholder of 251 Ontario and Sulliden and is a non-arm's length party to Pitchblack as it owns approximately 15% of the outstanding common shares of Pitchblack. In addition, William Clarke, a director of Pitchblack, is also a director of Sulliden, and Scott Moore, President and CEO of Pitchblack, owns 89,775 common shares of Sulliden. In addition to the minority shareholder approval requirements of National Instrument 61-101, pursuant to the policies of the TSXV, shareholders of Pitchblack who are considered non-arm's length to the Transaction are also excluded from voting on the Transaction. As a result, in aggregate, 4,464,995 common shares of Pitchblack (representing 45% of the outstanding shares) will be excluded from voting. Upon completion of the Transaction, the Board and senior management of Pitchblack will consist of the following individuals: Justin Reid, Chief Executive Officer/ Director. 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. Peter Tagliamonte, Executive Director. 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. Damian Lopez, Corporate Secretary. Mr. Lopez is a corporate and securities lawyer who has provided business and legal consulting to various public and private companies in the resource-based sectors. Mr. Lopez holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Toronto and a Juris Doctor from Osgoode Hall. Denis Arsenault, Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Arsenault is a Chartered Professional Accountant with more than 30 years of professional experience who has held senior financial positions in various sectors including the mining industry. Mr. Arsenault has extensive experience with mining companies developing mining projects, negotiating with financial institutions for funding requirements and with managing all aspects and financial reporting for companies with operating mines. Mr. Arsenault was previously the Chief Financial Officer of Sulliden Gold Corporation Ltd., which was acquired by Rio Alto Mining Inc. in August 2014. Prior to working with Sulliden he was the Chief Financial Officer of Central Sun Mining Inc. which was acquired by B2Gold Corp. in March 2009. Scott Moore, Director. Mr. Moore is a business executive with over 25 years of experience in the resource and durable goods sectors. He is currently the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Issuer, the Chief Executive Officer of Euro Sun Mining Inc., the Chairman of the board of directors of Copper One and Chief Operating Officer of Forbes and Manhattan and is the former President and CEO of Dacha Strategic Metals. Mr. Moore holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management. Tom Olesinski, Director. Mr. Olesinski, CPA, CMA, has over 20 years of finance and management experience. Mr. Olesinski worked as a managing forensic accountant for BDO Dunwoody, where he earned a Certified Fraud Examiner designation, before moving into the marketing communications industry, where he worked for Cossette Communication Group in various roles, including Director of Finance and Operations. Mr. Olesinski currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of Havas Media Canada as well as Chief Financial Officer of Havas Worldwide Canada. Pierre Pettigrew, Director. From January 1996 to February 2006, the Honourable Pierre Pettigrew served as a member of the Government of Canada where he led a number of senior departments in successive federal Canadian governments. Among other positions, he has served Canada as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister for International Trade and the Minister for International Cooperation. Pierre Pettigrew presently works with Deloitte & Touche, LLP in the role of Executive Advisor, International and he serves as a director of several public companies. Since 2016, Pierre Pettigrew has been the Special Envoy of the Canadian Government to the European Union in respect of the Comprehensive European Trade Agreement. Pierre Pettigrew is a graduate of Oxford University and has completed the Rotman School of Management Directors Education program, 2007. About Sulliden Mining Capital Sulliden Mining Capital is a venture capital company focused on acquiring and advancing brownfield, development-stage and early production-stage mining projects in the Americas. About Pitchblack Resources Ltd. Pitchblack has uranium and gold assets in the Yukon Territory, Canada. The company is currently reviewing the potential of these properties. 60 Shares Share A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com. As part of my role in International Programs at the American College of Physicians (ACP), I have a unique opportunity to travel frequently and engage with internists around the world. In fact, I am writing this while almost 7,000 miles away from home, participating in the 4th Annual Qatar Internal Medicine Conference/Best of ACPs Internal Medicine Meeting in the city of Doha. Changes to U.S. immigration policy and travel rules along with uncertainty around our own health care system have certainly made this an interesting time to travel internationally. During visits to other parts of the world, Ive made it a point to actively seek out the thoughts, feelings, and perspectives of our international medical colleagues. Specifically, how they view what is happening in our country, the potential impact these changes may have on them personally, and how they think all of us as members of a worldwide community of physicians will be affected. Much of what Ive heard was not unexpected; however, Ive also heard so much more that truly surprised me. Not unexpectedly, most of those whom Ive talked with have expressed difficulty in understanding the reasons why many of these decisions have been made; Im frequently asked to try to explain the likely motivation and meaning behind them, and whether they reflect the feelings of the country in general. There is also genuine concern that shifting policies may adversely affect our ability to continue working together, not to mention how they might affect these physicians personally or the patients for whom they care. Plus, there is worry about how potential changes to the U.S. health care system might adversely affect the quality of medicine in America which, despite its myriad issues, remains highly respected around the world and is one of the primary reasons they find collaboration with us so valuable. What I have found truly surprising is that in many ways, these changes may actually be bringing us closer together as a global physician community. Why might this be? It doesnt take much international travel to realize how different medicine is outside of the U.S., ranging from how physicians are trained to the marked differences between countries and regions in terms of how medicine is actually practiced. For example, some countries have well-organized and efficient health care systems (think Cuba), but are remarkably under-resourced, whereas more resource-intense countries (such as ours) struggle to provide the highest level of care to patients in a manner that avoids wasteful practices. This doesnt even begin to consider factors like epidemic diseases, natural disasters, and social/political upheaval (such as in Venezuela and other parts of the world) that challenge physicians as they work to care for patients. Interestingly, our international colleagues seem to inherently understand that all doctors must deal with a variety of specific issues in the system in which they practice, (whatever they may be), but that these challenges do not alter the sense of mission and core values we share as physicians. We in the U.S. are not immune to our own particular set of challenges. So instead of anger, suspicion, or distrust, Ive actually experienced a sense of empathy from them since they are able to relate to the experience of dealing with factors that significantly affect them and their patients but are not necessarily under their control. In fact, in many instances, they express great concern about how these same issues are personally affecting me, other physicians in our country, and our ability to care for patients. Perhaps more importantly, the shared mission and values that we hold as physicians seem to be strengthening the bonds between us as an international community. What has always impressed me in my international medical travels is that beyond the obvious differences in the structure and function of health care systems worldwide, the essential elements of medicine are remarkably similar everywhere. Just as I hope that the major drivers of physicians in our country are the ideals of the primacy of patient wellbeing, honesty and integrity, providing the highest level of care possible, and maintaining a high level of professional performance, I find that these are the identical motivations shared by physicians in other parts of the world. This observation brings to life one of the many prescient quotes by William Osler who commented over a century ago in in 1904 that: Medicine is the only world-wide profession, following everywhere the same methods, actuated by the same ambitions, and pursuing the same ends. It is unfortunate that current events have required us to engage our international colleagues in discussions of how they feel about us and American medicine. However, as is often the case, sometimes great good comes out of the potentially negative. I have truly been heartened by the fact that in these challenging times, our global, shared commitment to medicine is actually pulling us closer together and not driving us apart. Philip A. Masters is vice-president, Membership and International Programs, American College of Physicians. His statements do not necessarily reflect official policies of ACP. Image credit: Shutterstock.com Though a variety of polls have indicated a large majority of Americans support the idea of paid family and medical leave, disagreement about whether it should be mandated by the federal government and where the money should come to pay for it from remains strong. In the end, it often comes down to a tug-of-war between what businesses can afford and the desire to ensure workers have the chance to provide for their family members, both financially and in person. A plan by Nebraska Sen. Deb Fischer that attempts to bridge this gap offering a tax credit to employers worth between an eighth and a quarter of wages paid to eligible workers during their absences. While the plan doesnt guarantee a minimum number of paid days like those seen in other countries, it marks an initial step to address paid family leave, an area where the United States has long fallen short. No other developed country lacks paid parental leave requirements at the federal level, according to the international Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Yet the U.S. has more working mothers and two-income families than ever before. Fischer is correct in noting many pertinent federal laws were passed in an era with far different workforce participation. The Family and Medical Leave Act, for instance, wasnt passed until 1993. Yet, nearly a quarter of a century later, the Pew Research Center reports only 13 percent of Americans received specific employer-paid leave. Most received at least some pay from banking available time off prior to their absence, but the lowest-income workers were least likely to earn any pay while away from work and nearly half reported having to go on public assistance to cover lost wages. Forcing Americans to rely on public assistance is an expensive proposition that often creates a vicious circle for its inhabitants. In too many cases, increasing work or wages leads to an abrupt end of needed money, trapping families by limiting their only way to make ends meet to the social safety net. To that end, Fischers plan also has a cap on earners that attempts to provide low and middle earners the benefit theyre less likely to have than their peers. The good news is Fischers measure, which shes billing as the nations first paid family leave plan, has been included in the Senates tax reform bill. Though that bill has some major flaws about which we harbor deep concerns, its better than its companion in the House but faces a difficult road to passage. Still, the senator has pushed a long-stated legislative goal closer to the finish line. Even if the Senates tax efforts fall apart, Fischer has crafted a worthwhile endeavor on paid family leave that aims to address an age-old shortcoming for American workers. BAMAKO, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Industrial gold production in Mali, Africa's third biggest producer, is on track to exceed earlier forecasts for this year, a government official said on Friday. Mali's industrial miners produced 46.9 tonnes of gold last year, but the government said in May that production in 2017 would slip to about 45 tonnes as the country waited for new mines to come online next year. Mamadou Sidibe, deputy director of the government's Cell for Planning and Statistics, did not give an updated forecast for 2017 production. But output for the first nine months hit 35.2 tonnes, five percent higher than projected, he told Reuters. Major investors in Mali's gold sector include Anglo Gold Ashanti and Randgold Resources . Sidibe said 2017 output would be boosted by last month's start of production at B2Gold's giant Fekola project. Fekola and Hummingbird Resources' new Yanfolila mine are expected to hit full production next year. The government, meanwhile, said earlier this year that it expects informal artisinal miners to produce 50 tonnes of gold this year, more than double last year's haul of 20.1 tonnes. If so, total production from industrial and informal mines could top 95 tonnes, a more than 40 percent rise on last year. The gold industry contributes around a quarter of the West African government's revenues and exports last year were valued at $2.2 billion. (Reporting by Tiemoko Diallo; Writing by Aaron Ross; Editing by Edward McAllister and Alexander Smith) Simon Bridges released: Regional Development Minister Shane Jones is already backtracking from his promise to plant a billion trees in 10 years, National Party Economic Development Spokesperson Simon Bridges says. From his statements earlier today it appears hes realised that the pledge of a billion new trees is entirely unachievable and now hes attempting to back away from it, Mr Bridges says. His problem is that the target is recorded unambiguously in both the Labour-New Zealand First coalition agreement and the Speech from the Throne on the new Governments programme. Now he wants to count around 50 million trees that are already planted every year, about half of the billion hes committed to over a decade. These are happening regardless of his slush fund or the kind of Government in power. So his first action is to cut his target in half. Not exactly impressive. So much backtracking so early in the life of a Government. Its almost as if they were dishonest with their pledges. Their pledge of 100 million trees a year equates to 274,000 trees a day. That is 11,400 trees and hour or 190 trees a minute or three trees a second. The Government has been in office 27 days so they are already 7.4 million trees short of their target! No Right Turn notes: Partnership with the private sector is one thing, but misleading the public about the ambition of the policy is another. Because the 50 million trees a year private industry currently plants is almost entirely replanting, replacing trees which theyve already cut down. In other words, thats just planting to stand still. Worse, the required replanting rate is going to soar over the next decade, as the forests that were planted in the 1990s are harvested. If private industry wants to avoid deforesting land (and paying the carbon costs for doing so), it will probably end up planting that billion trees itself. Meanwhile, if we want to get the emissions benefits, we need to plant additional trees, not just replant harvested land. The billion trees policy looked like it was an ambitious target to do this, and bring our emissions under control. Instead, it looks like it is just more bureaucratic fudging, designed to give the impression of action while deliberately avoiding achieving anything substantive. Share this: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Reddit WhatsApp More Pinterest Print Tumblr Responses by University of Nebraska-Lincoln Chancellor Ronnie Green, UNL English professor Joy Castro and NU President Hank Bounds to the criticism of three state senators displays the impetus for intellect and professionalism. Their carefully chosen dialogue emphasizes how academic facts underscore the high level of intellect and professionalism that exists at Nebraskas flagship university. Given our current state Legislature, I hope the low road of a political agenda and voter deceit has not superseded truth, intellect and professionalism. Several disturbing questions remain. Are the three state senators concerned with recent campus happenings? Or, as Professor Castro asks, are they Raising doubts about the value and quality of our university in order to lay the groundwork for the kind of gutting of public higher education funding that states like Wisconsin and Louisiana have experienced? Or, are they hogtied by administrative bullying and associated ineptness, created by a conflict between fact and opinion, limiting their ability to author meaningful property tax reform legislation -- thus choosing instead to seek personal or party fulfillment by desecrating Nebraskas institutions of higher education? Alvin Guenther, Dunbar On 21 November, Colombias high commissioner for peace, Rodrigo Rivera, described as unfair the comments made by head of the United Nations (UN) peace verification mission in Colombia, Jean Arnault, that many demobilised guerrillas from the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) are leaving the designated concentration zones amid disillusionment with the implementation of the peace accord reached with the government last year. End of preview - This article contains approximately 668 words. Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article Not a Subscriber? Choose from one of the following options The current flap over whether UNL is a politically hostile environment has provided a new opportunity for elected officials to overreach. However, with an open mind, I read the Local View by three senators ("UNLs treatment of conservatives is troubling," Nov. 2) hoping to find cogent arguments and deep reasoning. Unfortunately, their five-point list including an irresistible stab at education was as vague and half-baked as their floor debate during session. Going directly to the press without first talking with Chancellor Ronnie Green and President Hank Bounds is a breach of professional etiquette. Rogue behavior by a few senators reflects poorly on the rest of the Unicameral, which like a school board only has power as a whole. A conservative ideology is one thing, but this particular conservative group collected names for watchlists. An organization that keeps watchlists should give us all pause. And the senators were offended that the representative was called a neo-fascist? That was being kind. Millions of Americans have fought and died to stop the spread of ideologies that keep watchlists." The senators should appreciate that this group was not run off campus. If the university allows itself to be bullied into certain actions by conservatives, rather than back its own faculty, it sends a chill through the hearts of proud alumni everywhere. Its little things like this that paint Nebraska as an unwelcome place. Its not taxes. Its the politics. Mike Powers, Palmyra May 3, 2021, 7 AM The 1861 5 red and blue Greenville, Ala., Confederate postmasters provisional stamp, one of only six recorded examples. This unused stamp will be offered at auction by Schuyler Rumsey. One of just seven known covers bearing the United States 1860 90 blue George Washington stamp. The large package front is being offered during the Dec. 13-14 auction by Schuyler Rumsey in San Francisco, Calif. By Michael Baadke Schuyler Rumsey Philatelic Auctions has two sales scheduled for Dec. 13-14 at the firms offices in San Francisco, Calif. The Wednesday Gems of Philately sale features mostly United States classic stamps and covers plus a selection of international material. The sale on Thursday offers more than 700 lots of Civil War and Confederate States stamps and covers, including postmasters provisionals and prisoner-of-war covers. The offerings in the first sale include a large package front franked with the United States 1860 90 blue George Washington (Scott 39), one of just seven recorded covers bearing the 1860 90 stamp. Connect with Linns Stamp News: Sign up for our newsletter Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter The stamp accompanies two 1 blue Benjamin Franklin singles (Scott 24), a 3 dull red Washington (26), and two 12 black Washington singles (36B). The stamps are grouped together and tied by multiple grid cancels. Addressed to Amelia County C.H., Va., the cover is also one of just two known bearing the 90 stamp and addressed for domestic delivery. The 90 stamp was typically used on heavier multiple-rate trans-Atlantic mail. A Richmond, Va., circular datestamp from Jan. 16, 1861, is struck on the front of the cover. In the auction lot description, Rumsey explains that the stamp is rarely found on cover because of its high denomination and relatively short life. All U.S. stamps were demonetized in August 1861 as a measure designed to preclude the sale of stamps from Southern post offices during the Civil War. The auction lot description notes some stamp faults and cover staining, but points out that the 1860 90 stamp on cover is valued at $225,000 in the 2018 Scott Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps and Covers. The cover in this sale, which is accompanied by a 2017 Philatelic Foundation certificate, is offered with an estimate of $20,000 to $30,000. A different 90 blue Washington stamp from around the same time period is found on a solo franking mailed to Hawaii: It is the 1861 stamp bearing the same portrait as the 1860 issue but within a different frame (Scott 72). The cover is struck with a red Boston, Mass., circular datestamp; the Oct. 28 date is clearly visible, but without a year date. This very cover was the subject of an analysis by philatelic researcher and longtime Linns Stamp News contributor Richard B. Graham in an essay published in the 1983 first volume of the Philatelic Foundations Opinions series. Considering the rates that the single stamp could have paid and the contents the envelope could have contained, Graham concluded that the cover was mailed in 1861 or 1862, and is genuine in all respects. This is the only recorded cover to Hawaii bearing the 1861 90 stamp, Rumsey notes. With 1980 and 2004 Philatelic Foundation certificates, the cover is offered with a $30,000 to $40,000 estimate. Along with a substantial array of U.S. postal history, the Gems of Philately sale offers a number of highly graded U.S. stamps. One example of these is an original gum never-hinged 1912 $1 violet brown Benjamin Franklin stamp (Scott 423) that has been graded superb 98 jumbo, with 2015 graded certificates from Philatelic Stamp Authentication and Grading, and Professional Stamp Experts. Rumsey notes that the 98J grade is the highest grade awarded to this rare stamp, and that the stamp on offer is the sole example to achieve this grade. Although the Scott catalog value for a mint 1912 $1 violet brown is $950, that value is specifically for a stamp grading very-fine 80. The 2018 Scott Stamp Values-U.S. Specialized by Grade, an expanded valuing table found within the Scott U.S. Specialized catalog, assigns a value of $17,750 to a mint example of this stamp grading superb 98. The jumbo designation for the stamp which PSE describes as signifying exceedingly large margins in comparison to the average of that stamp and its pristine Post Office freshness further add to its desirability. An 1845 postmasters provisional stamp from St. Louis, Mo., is described by Rumsey as without question one of the finest mint examples. The 10 black on greenish St. Louis Bears stamp (Scott 11X2) has large beautifully balanced margins, with deep color enhancing a crisp detailed impression of fresh pristine paper, according to the auction lot description. The stamp is accompanied by 1969 and 2000 Philatelic Foundation certificates, and a 2008 Professional Stamp Experts certificate grading it as extra-fine 90. It is listed by Rumsey with the Scott catalog value of $50,000 for no gum. The Thursday sale will offer some 700 lots of philatelic material from the U.S. Civil War, with Union and Confederate patriotic covers, Confederate stamps both on cover and off, advertising covers, blockade covers and much more. Several dozen postmasters provisional stamps are being offered during this sale, including one of the six known examples of the 1861 5 red and blue Greenville, Ala., stamp (Scott 33X1). This rare unused issue is described as having ample margins to touched, rich colors and strong impressions of the blue ornamental border and red town name and denomination, without gum as usual, trivial small corner creases at top and bottom left. With Philatelic Foundation certificates dating from 1952 and 2006, the bicolor stamp is listed by Rumsey with its Scott catalog value of $25,000. The auction also includes two examples of another bicolor stamp, the 1861 5 green and carmine crisscross border Baton Rouge, La., provisional (Scott 11X3). The single lightly postmarked stamp has a Scott catalog value of $4,000, and the second stamp, on cover with a Baton Rouge circular datestamp, is listed by Scott at $10,000. The Schuyler Rumsey auctions can be viewed at the website, with online bidding options available. For additional information contact Schuyler Rumsey Philatelic Auctions, 47 Kearny St., Suite 500, San Francisco, CA 94108. "O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, how lovely are thy branches," goes the traditional German carol. But are those branches real or fake? Conscious consumers may wonder which type of Christmas tree real or artificial is better for the environment. And if the branches are real, how do you keep them fresh for the entire holiday season? The real vs. fake argument will likely not be settled any time soon. Americans apparently prefer to go natural. They purchased 27.4 million real trees in 2016, and 18.6 million fake trees, according to a Nielsen consumer survey commissioned by the National Christmas Tree Association (NCTA), a trade association of tree growers. There are valid arguments for both choices. On the one hand, the NCTA argues that real trees are "renewable, recyclable resources." On the other hand, artificial trees can be used over and over, says a member of the American Christmas Tree Association, an organization that represent both real and artificial tree retailers. Environmental impact "Drive time," disposal methods and life span are determining factors in assessing a tree's environmental impact, according to two studies. In 2009, researchers at Ellipsos (opens in new tab), a sustainability consulting firm, assessed the impact of real and artificial trees in four categories: human health, ecosystem quality, climate change and resource depletion. They found that a natural tree is a better option for the environmentally conscious consumer in terms of effects on climate change and resource depletion. However, an artificial tree becomes a better solution regarding climate change if it's used for 20 years. A similar study, by PE International and sponsored by ACTA, also a sustainability consultant, found that using an artificial tree for more than eight Christmases is environmentally friendlier than purchasing eight or more real cut trees over eight years. Health concerns Promoters of artificial trees often argue that real trees can trigger allergies, either from pollen or mold and dust. However, Clint Springer, an assistant professor of biology at Saint Joseph's University in Philadephia, noted in a press release that pollen is not usually an issue in farm-raised trees because they are too young at cutting time to be reproductive. Springer also said that mold spores found in live trees are usually not a problem because they rarely become airborne. If a person is sensitive to the natural scent, however, Springer recommended pines over firs because pines tend to have a weaker scent. Keeping it fresh If you choose a real tree, keeping it fresh is very important, not only to preserve its beauty, but also to prevent it from becoming a fire hazard. With proper care, a Christmas tree can stay fresh for a month or even longer. Everyone knows that you must add water to the reservoir in the base of a Christmas tree and as a rule of thumb, a typical tree absorbs a quart of water for each inch of its diameter. Add to the mix? There is some debate about whether adding any kind of mixture to the water helps keep a tree fresher longer. Tchukki Anderson, a staff arborist for the Tree Care Industry Association, says many people have had success by mixing a tablespoon of sugar or corn syrup in the water. However, she says, water is usually enough. A 2010 study at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point confirmed that keeping fresh-cut trees watered will reduce needle loss (opens in new tab), refuting claims that watering a dead tree is pointless. However, the study's author, tree scientist Les Werner, says additives such as sugar, aspirin or even vodka don't help. "Clean water still works the best." But don't take their word for it. Try the experiment and find out for yourself how to keep your Christmas tree fresher longer. If your family uses a real Christmas tree, or fresh evergreens for decoration, borrow a few small cut branches and try this experiment. You could also try using cut flowers, such as carnations. What you need 5 small branches of healthy, fresh cut evergreen, each about 4 inches long make sure the branches come from the same tree and are as nearly identical in size and shape as possible. (If you use flowers they should be the same type, and the stems should be cut to the same length in the same way.) 5 quart jars with lids to store your solutions 5 "vases" for your cuttings (It is best to use identical containers. Transparent plastic cups or drinking glasses work well you will want to be able to observe the cut tip of each sample without removing it from the liquid.) Tap water White vinegar Light corn syrup Household bleach Labels and permanent marker Measuring cup Measuring spoons Mixing bowl What to do Prepare the solutions be sure to label your jars: Jar 1: 1 quart plain tap water Jar 2: 1 quart of water with a half-cup of light corn syrup dissolved in it. (It works best to warm the water on the stove and add the syrup slowly as it warms. Make sure it is cool before placing your plant cutting in the solution.) Jar 3: 1 quart of water with 1 teaspoon of white vinegar added Jar 4: 1 quart of water with 1 teaspoon of bleach added Jar 5: Tree Freshening mixture: 1 quart of water with a half-cup of light corn syrup dissolved in it, 1 teaspoon of white vinegar* and 1 teaspoon bleach. NOTE: It is VERY IMPORTANT to mix the syrup water and vinegar together first before adding any bleach!! *Adding bleach directly to undiluted vinegar results in toxic vapors. Omit the vinegar if this makes you nervous. Use fresh-cut branches about the same size and shape. (opens in new tab) Shutterstock (opens in new tab) ) (Image credit: April Cat Prepare the test samples make sure to label them! Trim the bottom of each branch at an angle and place each of your branches in a separate "vase" so that the trimmed end rests on the bottom and the foliage is clear of the vase. Pour just enough liquid from Jar 1 into Vase 1 so that the trimmed angle of the branch is completely submerged in the liquid but most of the branch is above the surface of the liquid. Repeat with Jar 2 and Vase 2 and so on, with each of the other solutions. Place the vases in a secure location at room temperature. Observe the branches every two days over a period of at least 4 weeks, adding appropriate liquid from the jars to keep just the cut tip of the branches submerged. Look for changes to the foliage and for signs of mold or mildew at the base. Record your observations in a data table. Questions Most tap water has a slightly alkaline pH. Most evergreens prefer slightly acidic conditions. Which additive makes the water more acidic? Light corn syrup is made up of dissolved sugars, why is adding sugar into the mix important? Undiluted bleach is toxic to living things, so why was bleach added to the Tree Freshening mixture? (Hint: Think about why many household cleaners include bleach.) What else to try Try using clear soda pop (like 7Up) instead of the Tree Freshening mixture in Jar 5. Try grinding up 1 aspirin tablet to dissolve in a quart of water instead of the white vinegar. Try other household liquids. Experiments compiled by Mary Bagley, Live Science contributor More Holiday Science Experiments More Science Fair Projects An uncommon fungal infection appears to have lingered in one man's body for 30 years before making itself known in his brain and a heart transplant may have played a role in making him sick, a new report of the man's case reveals. The 70-year-old man was diagnosed with histoplasmosis, an infection caused by inhaling the spores of a fungus called Histoplasma capsulatum. Histoplasma is common in some parts of the U.S. namely, around the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys but not in the Southwest. Indeed, the case is unusual because the man lives in Arizona and he did not spend much time outside of the state. He likely picked up the infection during a brief visit to North Carolina three decades earlier, according to the case report, which was published Nov. 8 in the journal BMJ Case Reports. Histoplasmas spores live in soil that may contain bird or bat droppings, and people can inhale these spores after dirt or dust containing the droppings gets disturbed, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This can happen during activities, such as cleaning chicken coops, exploring caves, and landscaping or demolishing old buildings, the CDC says. [10 Bizarre Diseases You Can Get Outdoors] Histoplasmosis usually affects a person's lungs and causes flu-like symptoms, such as a fever, cough and fatigue, the CDC says, but the fungus can also spread to other organs. But not everyone who inhales the spores gets sick, according to the CDC. In this man's case, he may have been more vulnerable to the infection because he was a heart-transplant recipient who received a donated organ in 1986. Reactivating an infection The man's heart transplant wasn't the source of the infection, but it may have been the reason the histoplasmosis infection was reactivated, said Dr. Carol Kauffman, an infectious-disease expert at the Veterans Affairs Ann Arbor Healthcare System in Michigan. Kauffman was not involved in the man's case, but has written extensively about histoplasmosis. After an organ transplant, people must take drugs to suppress the immune system so that the body doesn't attack the new organ. These medications lowered the man's immunity and allowed the fungal spores that lay dormant in his body to grow again, Kauffman told Live Science. The man learned of his infection when he went to see infectious-disease experts at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center in Tucson because he had been feeling confused for four days, according to the case report. Brain scans of the man's head revealed abnormal brain tissue, leading doctors to think that he might have had a tumor. Additional tests revealed that the man also had abnormal growths on his adrenal glands, which produce a variety of important hormones. The doctors then performed a biopsy of the adrenal glands which are located on top of a person's kidneys and found areas of inflamed, dead tissue, which can be a symptom of histoplasmosis, according to the case report. Lab tests and a fungal culture confirmed the man's diagnosis of disseminated histoplasmosis, the more severe and rarer form of the disease. ("Disseminated" means that the disease spread beyond the initial location of the infection, in this case, the lungs.) Indeed, the man's initial symptoms confusion and an "altered mental status" were likely the result of the infection spreading to his brain, Kauffman said. The case report authors said that histoplasmosis was an unusual diagnosis, considering that the man could recall only a short visit, more than 30 years earlier, to North Carolina, which is an endemic area, meaning an area where the disease is seen more regularly. Kauffman noted that the report doesn't provide all of the details needed to know how the man first picked up the infection. For example, he might not remember all of his travels; and if he drove to North Carolina, he could have stopped along the way in endemic areas, she said. The fungus can be in the soil in many places, and a person can be exposed to it without having a history of being in contact with birds, bats or caves, Kauffman said. The man was given an antifungal medication to treat the infection, according to the case report. Originally published on Live Science. Understanding the hydrology of one of the planet's saltiest bodies of water, Don Juan Pond in Antarctica, could help scientists figure out mysteries about environments on Mars. At the bottom of the world, in a frigid Antarctic desert, sits a weird pond only a few inches deep that is so salty, it stays liquid even at temperatures of minus 58 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 50 degrees Celsius). The source of the pond's unusually heavy and pure load of salt has been a geochemical mystery since it was discovered during a 1961 expedition. Scientists had generally assumed that Don Juan Pond a play on the names of the expedition's helicopter pilots was fed by deep groundwater, but a widely publicized 2013 paper suggested the salts came from a shallower source. In the new study, published Sept. 15 in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters, researchers used computer models of the pond's chemistry to dispute that finding. Because the area is one of the closest terrestrial analogues to Mars, understanding how water flows through the pond and the surrounding area could help scientists understand the behavior of similar features on the Red Planet. [The 7 Most Mars-Like Places on Earth] The salt in Don Juan Pond isn't the same as the stuff that gets sprinkled on food. Instead, it is 95 percent calcium chloride, which significantly lowers the freezing point of water, helping the pond stay liquid even into the bitter Antarctic winter. The liquid in Don Juan Pond, located in Antarctica's Wright Valley, is almost 45 percent salts by weight. (Image credit: Pierre Roudier/Flickr) It's rare for nature to produce a water solution so pure, said study co-author Jonathan Toner, a geochemist at the University of Washington. From a chemistry perspective, "it's kind of like walking into the room and seeing a pink elephant," he told Live Science. All that salt makes the water denser and more viscous than the water that pours from taps or laps up on beaches, giving it the consistency of a thin syrup, Toner said. The pond is so salty (about 40 percent by weight) because of a combination of two factors: the high evaporation rate in the extremely dry environment of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, where it is located, and the ability of calcium chloride to form much more concentrated solutions than plain table salt (sodium chloride). But where that salt comes from and why the pond is so chemically pure have been long-standing mysteries. And they're difficult to answer because the pond was designated a protected area to prevent any contamination so there are restrictions on sampling and studying the area. The 2013 study used time-lapse photography to monitor the flow of water around the pond. The authors concluded that calcium chloride in the surrounding soil was sucking up water from the atmosphere whenever the humidity peaked a process called deliquescence. That water was visible as streaks of darkened earth on the slopes near the pond. The authors think that periodic snowmelt then washed the salts into the pond. [Photographic Proof of Climate Change: Time-Lapse Images of Retreating Glaciers] "But we totally disagreed" with the study authors' conclusions, Toner said. "I think they really didn't consider the past evidence for a deep groundwater source." He and his colleagues compared the two possible sources of the salt deep groundwater and the process described in the 2013 paper with a chemistry model that compared the makeup of the pond water with what would be expected to evolve through evaporation from those two different sources. They found that the deep groundwater source "matches it exactly, to uncanny accuracy, while the shallower source "is just nowhere near" it, Toner said. The study still leaves open the question of where the deep groundwater ultimately comes from. Toner and his colleagues think salty water percolates down through the frozen soils and interacts with surrounding minerals in a way that produces purified plumes of calcium chloride (which they have detected by drilling into the soil), Toner said. But this process happens much more slowly than the 2013 study proposed, from thousands to tens of thousands of years. Jay Dickson, one of the authors of the 2013 paper and a planetary scientist at Caltech, doesn't think the new study refutes his own because it doesn't address the question of the ultimate source of the salt. He thinks the processes described in each paper may be connected, though Toner disagrees. The new study also shows that the pond is being continuously flushed out, Toner said, suggesting it is connected to an extensive groundwater system that is also feeding another lake in the valley that is rich in calcium chloride, though not as pure. He also thinks the surface streaks of water could be another manifestation of the groundwater system. [See Photos of Antarctica's Subglacial Lake Whillans] Understanding that system, as well as the surface streaks of water sucked up by the salty soils, could help reveal more about similar features on the surface of Mars. It is virtually impossible, though, for Mars to have an extensive groundwater system because it simply gets too cold, Dickson said. "If they're right that it's a deep groundwater source [then] that is not happening on Mars today, he told Live Science. Toner will be part of a team that will explore and sample the area around Don Juan Pond in December to find more evidence for the source of the salts and the potential connections to a larger groundwater system. Original article on Live Science. This 1593 map shows southern Puebla from the church of Todos Santos (now northeast of Mexico City) and Lake Texcoco, to the church of Santa Cruz Huitziltepec, Pue (lower right). The map also reveals the genealogy and land ownership for the Nahuatl "de Leon" family from 1480 to 1593. A rare, indigenous-made map of Mexico from the era of the Nahuatl people's first contact with Europeans is now in the collection of the U.S. Library of Congress. The library announced yesterday (Nov. 21) that it acquired the so-called Codex Quetzalecatzin(also known as the Mapa de Ecatepec-Huitziltepec) and that a digitally preserved copy is now online. For more than 100 years, the map had passed through private collections, including that of newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst. [Cracking Codices: 10 of the Most Mysterious Ancient Manuscripts] According to the Library of Congress, few manuscripts of this kind have survived into the present, and the codex, created in 1593, is a rare example of the many maps that were produced for the Spanish Empire to document the histories of local families and their resources. The manuscript shows the genealogy of the members of the "de Leon" family, indigenous Nahuatl people who were descended from a political leader named Quetzalecatzin. The map also illustrates the land and property this family owned, using Aztec-style graphic symbols for riversand roads, and hieroglyphic writing. But there are also traces of Spanish influence in the manuscript. Some hieroglyphic labels are translated with the Latin alphabet. The names of indigenous elites like "don Alonso" and "don Matheo"imply that some locals had been baptized with Christian names. The map also "shows churches, some Spanish place names and images suggesting a community adapting to Spanish law and rule," said John Hessler, curator of the Jay I. Kislak Collection for the Archaeology of the Early Americas of the Library of Congress. "The codex shows graphically the kinds of cultural interactions taking place at an important moment in American history," Hessler said in a statement. "In a sense, we see the birth of what would be the start of what we would come to know as the Americas." The map covers some recognizable geographic terrain. It features the church of Todos Santos in modern-day Mexico City suburb of Ecatepec, the now-drained Lake Texcoco and the Atoyac River. Original article on Live Science. Some colleges provide tuition assistance to employees' children. There's a proposal in the House's current tax reform legislation to tax tuition assistance provided to such employees' children. The Senate bill, thankfully, leaves the existing system in place. This is a job perk of working at a college that allows kids who may not get the same level of education to study for free or at lower tuition. No actual money changes hands -- and the world is made a better place. Does Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, who voted for the House bill, support this? Why? Please tell us something other than "It was in the bill; I had to vote for it." What is the purpose of taking the tax relief this gives those families? How much relief do they get? How will that amount hurt the family -- and the kids' education, if they still get it? What good does turning that service, costing nothing, into a tax break for the richer among us? Explain the relative use to those two families. Herbert Abrams, Lincoln Local News, Business & Finance, Community, Charity & Cause, Politics By Long Island News & PR Published: November 22 2017 Latest Investment Brings Total HOPP Funding To $130 Million; Program Funded By A.G. Schneidermans Settlements With The Big Banks. New York, NY - November 22, 2017 - Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced an additional $20 million in funding for the fifth year of his Homeowner Protection Program (HOPP), which connects homeowners to free, qualified mortgage-assistance relief services across New York. This new $20 million in funding brings Attorney General Schneiderman's total investment in HOPP to $130 million since 2012. No New Yorker should lose their home because they dont have access to an attorney. As communities across New York continue to recover from the housing crisis, HOPP has provided a lifeline that allows families to avoid foreclosure and remain in their homes and its clear that theres an ongoing need for these critical services, said Attorney General Schneiderman. Im proud that were able to provide an additional $20 million for this vital program. Since the Office of the Attorney General established the program in 2012, more than 80,000 families have received free, high-quality assistance to avoid foreclosure through HOPP, including over 25,000 families who have received modifications to their mortgages. HOPP funds a statewide network of nearly 90 housing counseling and legal services organizations. New Yorkers can visit www.AGHomeHelp.com or call the Attorney Generals Foreclosure Prevention Hotline at 855-HOME-456 (855-4663-456) to learn more and find free, qualified mortgage-assistance relief services across the state. The funding for HOPP comes from bank settlements that Attorney General Schneiderman secured through the federal-state mortgage-backed securities working group, which President Obama appointed Attorney General Schneiderman to co-chair in 2012. That settlement money has been allocated toward a range of initiatives across the state to help communities recover from the housing crisis. "We have an obligation to provide the tools and resources necessary to enable residents who are struggling financially a pathway to avoid foreclosure, said Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone. I commend Attorney General Schneiderman for his unwavering commitment to this mission and backing it up with funding that will support counseling, legal services, and assistance for residents to remain in their homes. I am grateful for the substantial funding Attorney General Schneiderman continues to secure to help Nassau County residents who need assistance with mortgage, credit and other housing issues, said Nassau County Executive Elect Laura Curran. This is a great program for Nassau and I look forward to working with the Attorney General as County executive. Homeowners facing foreclosure need all the help they can get, but often are taken advantage of because they dont know their options or their rights, said Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz. The HOPP program gives them guidance and space to make good decisions and avoid foreclosure, bringing stability to families and neighborhoods. Thousands of homeowners statewide have benefitted from the program and thanks to Attorney General Schneiderman thousands more will now have the same opportunity. Attorney General Schneiderman has once again demonstrated his deep commitment to New York homeowners. This much needed funding comes at a critical moment for groups working on the front lines to stabilize communities and keep families in their homes across the state, said Christie Peale, Executive Director of the Center for NYC Neighborhoods. We are grateful to the Attorney Generals partnership and support, and pledge to help his office implement strategies that prevent foreclosures, deter scammers and strengthen neighborhoods. by Sara Guaglione , November 21, 2017 Crains Chicago Business is another publisher to end comments, joining other media companies in abandoning that feature. While ChicagoBusiness.com was using discussion platform Disqus to host readers comments, Crains Chicago Business says the trolls were no match for the sites team. Simply put, we do not have the personnel to manage this commentary, to keep it civil and fair and to halt the back and forth before it devolves into invective, name-calling and, in too many cases, outright hate speech. We'd rather not play host to these often anonymous commenters. ""They drive out more civil readers and potential commenters. They sully our content, our brand and our sponsors, wrote the editors of Crains Chicago Businessin an Opinion piece on the site yesterday. advertisement advertisement So, to borrow a phrase, we're draining the swamp, they added. The post suggests readers communicate with one another and the publisher via social media and email. Using these methods, readers will be speaking to the world at large, rather than inside the echo chamber that our comments section generally has become." The editors also noted social media reveals more about a persons identity in connection to their comments, allowing for less anonymity. Given the huge audiences Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other social-media platforms continue to build, we hope you'll find them a useful alternative for airing their views, they wrote. Sister publication Crains New York Business still has a Disqus-run comments section below its stories. In September,Al Jazeera English disabled the comments section on its site, saying it was hijacked by users hiding behind pseudonyms spewing vitriol, bigotry, racism and sectarianism. The possibility of having any form of debate was virtually nonexistent. And in July, MSN temporarily removed comments on its sites to block abusive and offensive posts, according to iMediaEthics, joining sites like The Daily Beast, Mic, Reuters and the Chicago Sun-Times. NPR, which got rid of the feature a year ago, found that Facebook comments for NPR posts were up year-over-year, reaching a high of 700,000 in January. Publishers are increasingly directing readers to social media should they wish to comment on content, clearing up the site's pages and freeing up resources drained by combating trolls. If nonsensical comments appear below a shared article on social media, it does not next to a publisher's banner ads. by Sara Guaglione , November 21, 2017 Seventeen magazine is launching a new, social-first brand for the LGBTQ community called Here. This will be a space dedicated to LGBTQ readers and allies aimed at amplifying the voices of LGBTQ-identified teenagerssomething the world is missing right now. Both a resource and a place for teens to express themselves, we wanted to build a community we wish had existed when we were growing up, wrote the editors of Hearst-owned Seventeen magazine in a post on the site. The editors added that one year after the election of President Trump, a space for the LGBTQ community is needed now, more than ever for representation and visibility. advertisement advertisement A lot of us dont come out until our early twenties, the post continued. Being queer outside of big cities can be isolating, lonely and confusing, especially when you dont see people in the media who look and think like you do. The editors of Here have been through this, and we wanted to create the type of community we wish wed had growing upone thats a safe space for queer teens to amplify their voices. Editors of Seventeen and LGBTQ teens and influencers will contribute content. Seventeen.com editor Kristin Koch told Fashionista that in the last year, the brand has shifted gears to become more social-first to better serve its "hyper-digital" audience. It has producied content for Snapchat Discover and original programming on YouTube and Facebook. Here will live primarily on Facebook and Instagram, which is already loaded with fun and inspiring memes and photos, such as one featuring sneakers with rainbow-colored laces. But it also gets its own vertical on Seventeen.com for articles and essays, and is located on the main navigation bar. "While there are many amazing resources and platforms for the LGBTQ community, many of which we're excited to work with, what we felt was missing was a place dedicated to young people who were exploring their identities and still coming out in the world," Koch told Fashionista. Last month, Conde Nast introduced its own LGBTQ-focused brand called Them, its first new independent title in a decade, created by digital editorial director of Teen Vogue and Allure, Phillip Picardi. Them is aimed primarily at Generation Z, the generation after millennials. Magazine brands created for the gay community have blossomed this year. In September, the publisher of marijuana-enthusiast magazine High Times, Oreva Capital, bought LGBTQ-focused titles Out and The Advocate. In August, gay hookup app Grindr launched Into, a digital magazine targeting millennial LGBTQ audiences. by Ray Schultz , November 21, 2017 Youve heard of Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday. Now theres a new shopping holiday. Fosina Marketing Group has declared this Sunday Subscription Box Sunday. Subscription boxes are surprise packages of cool stuff that are automatically delivered to the doorstep. They can be sent as gifts, or as presents to yourself. Fosina sees them as the new gift cards. And it has created a website PollyDrop to support the holiday and draw consumers to subscription box offers. One featured offering is the Gentlemans Box, which costs $25 monthly for over $100 value per box. Another is the Bulu Box, ranging from $8 to $10, depending on the monthly plan. It contains healthy snack samples. Research by Hitwise shows that monthly visits to subscription box sites surpassed 40 million in January and March of this year, Fosina reports. The major growth was in the pet, lifestyle, apparel, beauty, food and kids. advertisement advertisement Overall, there are an estimated 5.3 million subscription box shoppers. Even without the holiday, email is a critical component of marketing subscription boxes, says Jim Fosina, CEO of Fosina Marketing Group. More than just shipping notifications and order confirmations, email can be used to establish a dialogue with the new customer that transcends the operational and engages in the conversational, Fosina says. He adds that from the moment the consumer enters their credit card number and signs up - It is mission critical that the marketer connect leveraging email with a range of messaging that is hyper relevant and personalized to the new customer. Now its not certain whether this holiday will take off. In New York City, to name only one locale, it must compete with the running of vintage subway trains and other such thrills. And in some ways, subscription box marketing bears a resemblance to the old Shop Around the World by Mail Club, a direct mail scheme that flourished for a time in the 20th century. It offered a surprise gift from a foreign land, every month. Fosina concedes that early stage marketers in the subscription box arena are dealing with challenges in terms of building affinity, loyalty and life time value among those who are "opting in" to a subscription box relationship with customers. The solution is to engage from the moment of transaction and beyond in a highly contextual manner, Fosina says. He concludes that the messaging has to transcend the promotional and build on the social aspect of a relationship. Fosina Marketing is a digital agency that help brands with multiple tasks, including email marketing. It recently merged with advertising firm Agency212 and tech provider iFuel Interactive. Well, we can file this one in the discouraging but not particularly surprising folder. New research from academics in Germany suggests that people who display materialistic characteristics in other areas of their lives are likely to view their digital connections on social media as objects, to be collected and curated, as well. The paper by researchers at the Ruhr-University Bochum in Germany, titled Facebook: The Self-Regulatory Role of Social Comparisons and the Objectification of Facebook friends, was based on online questionnaires administered to 242 Facebook users. The questionnaires used a variety of indices to measure both social-media engagement and attitudes toward material possessions, for example agreement with questions such as: My life would be better if I owned certain things I don't have. The study found that people with materialistic characteristics are more likely to use Facebook more often, and with a higher degree of engagement, than peers with fewer materialistic characteristics. advertisement advertisement They also place greater emphasis on comparing themselves to other Facebook users, and this extends to amassing more online friends than others, as reflected in agreement with the statement: Having many Facebook friends contributes more success in my personal and professional life. Lead author Phillip Ozimek explained: Materialistic people use Facebook more frequently because they tend to objectify their Facebook friends -- they acquire Facebook friends to increase their possession. The researchers repeated the experiment with another study group composed of 289 Facebook users, with different sample criteria, and uncovered a similar correlation in responses from people with materialist tendencies. by Larissa Faw , November 22, 2017 New York Citys tourism marketing organization, NYC & Company, is launching a big, new campaign True York City with media and partnerships running across 17 countries through next spring. The value of the campaign is estimated at $15.6 million, per the organization. The True York City creative showcases both well-known and lesser-known areas of the five boroughs and invites New York residents to submit their own images. Artwork depicts the phrase Famous Original New York City" with typography using a sampling of NYC visuals from past and present as an art form. Graphics include an apple (The Big Apple), five noise lines to represent the boroughs and a heart, in homage to the I Love NY logo, which debuted 40 years ago. advertisement advertisement JCDecaux is introducing out-of-home advertisements in Boston, Chicago and select national shopping malls through mid-February, all designed to drive viewers to NYCgo.com. New York City media will cover all five boroughs and showcase the #TrueYorkCity hashtag. To further amplify the social media message, the campaign is working with Facebook, Instagram, Weibo and WeChat in China. Internationally, this is the first JCDecaux out-of-home media presence for NYC & Company in Argentina, Chile and Sweden. The campaign will also attempt to lure travelers in Norway, Australia, Brazil, France and Spain. Cooperative travel partnerships will contribute an estimated value of $1.7 million, says NYC & Company. Among these alliances, British Airways has introduced ads promoting travel offers/packages through February 2018; Aeromexico is running nationwide media through early January and CANUSA is debuting nationwide media in Germany with additional creative to come roll out in 2018. In addition, NYC & Company holds multiple strategic city-to-city tourism alliances internationally. Nearly $1 million of in-kind media contributions will include an Air Canada partnership running through December. There will be a campaign launch in Cape Town, South Africa in February. This roll-out coincides with NYC & Company having appointed Elan Cole as creative director in July 2017. Since the time she stepped out of the car waving her hand in 'Om Shanti Om', we fell head over heels in love with this beauty. Deepika Padukone is an epitome of hotness and there is no one who can deny that! What sets this dusky beauty apart from her contemporaries is her sexy persona and every smiling face. But not everyone has loved her when she made her debut; some called her expressionless, while some even thought that she could never make it big in the industry. However, everything changed when she donned Veronica's character in 'Cocktail' breaking all the myths and proving that she could do anything and everything. Since then, there was no turning back. Deepika is that actor who is the perfect combination of beauty and brains. Working in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 'Goliyon Ki Raasleela: Ram Leela' and 'Baajiroa Mastani', she touched the level that no one in this industry has. She proved that she is one of the most versatile actors in tinsel town and owned her way to being one of the highest paid actresses today. She is sexy, fierce, drop-dead beautiful and just keeps getting better and better. There is no one who can match her elegance and oomph quotient. Every time we come across her latest photo, we can't help but wonder how on earth can anyone look so glamorous all the time! Now, her latest photoshoot will set your screen on fire. With the sun kissing her well-toned body and a non-pareil beauty such as Deepika Padukone, what else does one need to click a perfect picture? After a long while, you will see Deepika in her sizzling avatar channelling her wild and exotic side. One look at the pictures and you can't help but sigh at her beauty! Shot in Sri Lanka, check out these beautiful photos of Deeps right away: Her sultry look will set your screen on fire! Filmfare She is sexy and she knows it! Deepika Padukone_Filmfare She will make your heart beat faster. Filmfare How...like how can someone look THIS beautiful all the time? Filmfare Her killer attitude is too much to handle. Filmfare Her magnificent persona and stunning aura is indeed attractive. Filmfare A star who breaks her own record of hotness. Filmfare She is making our pulse race with her fierce attitude. Filmfare The ultimate diva with bang on swag! Filmfare This exquisite beauty is too good to be real! Let us know what do you think about her photos. Here you are raving about 4G speeds on your smartphone while America and Russia are busy building 6G fighter jets that can tackle more or less any airborne attack with the snap of a finger. These sixth generation aircrafts are being developed to boast of some mind blowing features that will revolutionise security and defence in a way the world couldn't ever imagine. The National Interest The U.S., for instance, has been working on their sixth gen F/A-XX programme since its announcement in 2014. XX stands for a unique number, like 22 in the case of the F- 22 Raptor, that would take numeric form once the prototype sees the light of day. The fighter jet will have state of the art technology that would help it attain higher speeds and altitudes as compared to other jets. YouTube The idea is to employ Adaptive Versatile Engine Technology or ADVENT to these next gen fighter jets, in order to help them achieve better fuel economy as well as hermeneutic cruise speeds. These jets can also be launched and land on the U.S.'s swanky new $16 billion warship USS Gerald R. Ford CVN-78. But that's not all. These fighter jets will also be covered in smart skins that will be built out of sensors and communicative channels that will gather information from all available sources, like satellites, and keep the pilot updated. The best features of the fighter jet that caught our eye, at least, were improved stealth mechanisms that make it difficult to be detected and the possibility of flying it unmanned, because a reduced number of casualties is a sign of true advancement. Defence Talk Now, if the U.S. is building smart jet fighters, how can Russia be far behind? They unveiled the MiG-41 sixth gen fighter jet that was touted to fly above the atmosphere. Does that make this a spaceship, woah! Well probably, except that it's not going to fly to the moon, so the flight would still be at a limited altitude, insane nonetheless! The MiG-41 comes with pretty much the same features as the ones in the proposed F/A-XX jets-- improved stealth properties, advanced laser weaponry, smart skins, Mach 4-4.3 speeds (which means that the jet is capable of going four or four point three times the speed of sound-- super duper sonic, 4500kmph, to be specific), can be operated unmanned and intercept most forms of airborne attacks. Sputnik While the F/A-XX is supposed to relieve the old F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighter jets, the MiG-41 would put the MiG-31 Foxhound to rest in its birth place. The F/A-XX won't be operational till 2030 but the MiG-41 could be seen taking charge early in 2020. When a woman is single in a big city, it's not tough to imagine the opportunities that may come her way. By opportunities I mean sexual encounters with various eligible men. They can and should live up to their fantasies by taking men home on their own accord and have the best one night stands they can possibly imagine. Men often wonder what goes through a woman's head when she's out scouting for the night, trying to make the most of her single life. I agree one night stands are a rare phenomenon in our society but when it does happen, women don't like to talk too much about it, leaving men in the realms of curiosity. Somehow though, I found 5 unabashed single women to explicitly describe their hottest one night stands they've had in the past, to break the monotony and the stigma that's attached to sex for a single women. Use their tales as inspiration to spice up your sex life! I Found Me A Music Man My friend organises musical evenings every now and then. The idea is to promote talented artists by providing a platform for them to perform in front of an informal crowd. I always make it a point to attend his music concerts because the energy is so awesome. The one I went for the last time was quite thrilling and unexpected. It was a Friday night and I had made plans to go out with my friends later, after the concert got over. I sat right in front to watch the musicians perform. The first performance was by a jazz guitarist who was also singing his own songs. We saw each other and it was like lust at first sight! Throughout his performance he kept exchanging glances with me, like he was singing to impress me. After he finished and before the next performer came on stage we both unanimously decided to walk at the back of the terrace where the performances were happening and chat each other up. Thinkstock There were hardly any words spoken. We'd just about exchanged names and pleasantries when he leaned in to kiss me. I kissed him back and went with the flow. There was a lot more than kissing that happened. His hands were everywhere and I couldn't contain the sounds coming out from my mouth. I took him home right after (forgetting about the plans I had already made with my friends) and we had the best sex of my life. He was an animal in bed! The next morning he woke up, took his guitar and started strumming some jazz tunes while I was still waking up. We exchanged numbers and he was on his way out. I haven't heard from him since but I still have the scars left behind, on my body from that night! Niharika, 28 (name changed). The Bar-Beque It was a rustic crowded bar I had gone to with a friend, to grab a drink. We were actually fishing for some cute men while bar hopping. But everywhere we looked, the men were either taken or just so unappealing until this guy walked up to me. He was lean, spoke well and politely asked me and my friend what we were drinking. After finding out the poison of our choice for the night, he got us our drinks and started chatting me up. My friend, bored out of her wits, decided to call it a night and explicitly asked me to message or call her once I got home (since I wanted to stay longer and see what he was all about). We hit up a conversation about the city, the people and found out we had a dozen common friends. He then asked me to accompany him for a friend's barbeque party and I agreed. We headed to the party and it was quite a lot of fun. We spent the entire night together, just talking. I wanted to go use the loo in the middle so he said he'll show me where it is. That was all there is. Once we got to the loo, I don't know what got over me. I bolted the door from inside and we had the most heated make out session ever. We were all over each other and we were one step short of 'doing it' because we didn't have protection (wise call). Thinkstock I couldn't invite him home because I live with my family and neither could he so we called it a night. He dropped me home on one condition though: that he got to keep my panties from the night to remind him of the hottest make out he's ever had. I obviously agreed! Sophia, 30 House Bound I live in a house full of people. I have a joint family and it's always crowded. Sometimes I hate it and at times it's exciting at times like these- my cousin is four years older and he had a friend visiting him from his college in the US for a day before he left the city to travel to another. There is always a guest room available for visitors in our mansion and coincidently the guest room, where he was putting up, was adjacent to my room. There was instant attraction when we both met and I would go all red in the face when he spoke to me. My brother noticed that and warned me to keep away from him saying the entire family would be watching me like a hawk (since we both were single AF). Instead of being mindful about the do's and the don't's, I found it quite thrilling to imagine what it be like to have sex with him, in the same house, secretly! Since he had just one night in town, I wanted to make the most of this opportunity and live out my fantasy to have sex with a complete stranger and I knew he was thinking the same. We all had dinner together and spent some time chatting him up, making him feel like a visiting guest. Right after dinner, we retired to our respective rooms. Sometime post midnight, I noticed his room light was still on. That was my cue. My entire family, including my cousin were asleep to watch me like a hawk. So I took the bravest step I had ever taken and ventured into his room on the pretext of asking him 'if he needed anything for the night'. He was a bit taken aback but showed a sudden relief about my presence in his room, at such an ungodly hour. After some banter, we started making out. He grabbed me and pulled me into bed and reached for my pyjamas and hurriedly took them off to give me head. I was in pleasureville. The sex was wild and he was quite horny. We tried to keep it as low as we could. After two hours, I kissed him goodbye and went back to my room. He had an early morning flight. The next day my cousin came up to me and said 'I know about last night. I just hope and pray you guys used protection'. Rohini, 27 (name changed) Wedding Bells It was my friends wedding and I had to attend it. I had just come out of an 8 year old relationship and I was in that phase of randomly hooking up with men. Although I hadn't initiated it yet but I was quite certain this is what I wanted. So anyway the wedding was fun. Met a lot of old friends and along with old friends I met this guy who was the grooms friend. Very polished and good looking individual who I was instantly attracted too. After a couple of drinks we had together, he asked me to accompany him to his car where he had forgotten his pack of cigarettes. When we reached his car he asked me if I wanted to go for a short drive. I instantly agreed. We hadn't gone much further when he pulled over and we started making out. It was a tad difficult since we had space constraints and I was in a sari (which was turning him on even more). After 15 minutes of intense foreplay he lifted my sari and entered me. I was in heaven. I didn't climax but just that experience was enough for me to get the thrill I was seeking. We later joined the ceremony as if nothing had happened. Naina, 25 Thai Me Up I was invited to a friend's pool party. Since I have no qualms about one night stands and have them often, I was looking for a suitable boy to take back home from the party (since I was going alone). I've had many sexual encounters in the past but this one was worth a mention. So anyway I reached the party and got hammered. There was this guy who had been staring at me the minute I entered. He wasn't too tall but well built. He was a gym enthusiast from Thailand! We got talking and before you know it, he was driving me to his place. We didn't spare even a second and started making out and taking off our clothes simultaneously. The next thing I know, I am in handcuffs, tied to this bar at his kitchen, stark naked. While my legs were spread apart, he decided to go down on me and man, was I left wanting more! He then took me out to his balcony and handcuffed me to the grills there with my back facing him and f***** me from behind. I was screaming and moaning as loud as I could and I bet the neighbours heard us but we didn't stop. After the hottest sex session of my life, he dropped me home. I've never seen him again but whenever I have sex I always imagine that night in my head! Susan, 35 Some say one night stands are healthy; some say they're too provocative and dangerous. I feel a woman should go with the flow and figure what's safe and healthy for her sans judgement from her male counterparts. If a woman friend of yours indulges in one night stands, there isn't anything wrong in that. That's just a way of healthily expressing her sexuality. Just look out for her. If you're indulging in one night stands yourself, make sure you show utmost respect to the woman in question, while having some crazy fun together. Were excited to announce that metalbulletin.com is now part of fastmarkets.com. A new look and an improved experience means you can still stay ahead of this fast-moving metals market with price data, news and market intelligence right here on Fastmarkets. Discover more than 2000 prices, news and analysis in primary and secondary metals markets. We cover base metals, industrial minerals, ores and alloys, steel, scrap and steel raw materials. If you already have a Fastmarkets account, youll still have uninterrupted access to your markets by logging in with your current details. Rosa Whitaker Duncan-Williams, wife of Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams, has described marrying the General Overseer of the Action Chapel International Ministry as a blessing. According to her, the marriage with the man of God has expanded the positives in her life. I think marriage was a fulfilment of purpose. I was alone for many years but marriage has expanded everything that I was doing in a very positive way. There was no substitute for a Godly marriage. I am happy to no longer walk this journey alone- although companionship and marriage took a long time to come together for me, she told The Intelligent Lady magazine. She spoke to the magazine about her career, growing up from a challenged home, her education, accepting God in her life and also marriage in an interview captioned as, A woman of Purpose & Passion. It was arguably the first time Rosa opened up about being married to Duncan-Williams nine years after they tied the nuptial knot. Rosa Whitaker is described as a woman with solid educational background. She is the president and CEO of The Whitaker Group (TWG), and is recognised as a leading expert on African trade, investment and business. One of the heads on architects of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), whose persistence and work brought about this trade law, Americas first with African countries which provide duty-free access to US market for essentially all African-made products. She got married to Duncan-Williams some nine years ago after he divorced his previous wife of 26 years, Mama Francisca. Rosa told the magazine that Duncan-Williams has been supportive of her as a wife and a career woman and so she is to him. Combining work and marriage life is not a big deal for her. Well that goes back again to purpose because I believe that God has to be the source and centre of any successful marriage. My husband, Archbishop Duncan-Williams, and I never disagree on this, so we commit everything to prayer. He is supportive of me and Gods call on my life and I am very supportive of him. I understood that if I married I would only marry a man whose vision I could support. And so I am married to my husband but I am also married to his mission. I support, protect and Im fiercely loyal to his mission, she revealed. She also advised single woman, saying, Being single does not mean living a life of misery. If you are miserable as a single woman youre going to be miserable as a married woman. Theres nothing outside of yourself and outside of God thats going to make you sustainably happy. The motivation for marriage is often incorrect because people are looking for something outside of themselves to complete them or to give them happiness. Some women in particular want to marry because of cultural pressures or to escape a stigma associated with aging while single." "Our satisfaction should really come from the Holy Spirit. Be prayerful and be your best self and that when the time is right God will bring the right person. Decide to live a purpose-driven life full of inner peace and joy regardless of lifes circumstances or your marital status. Instead of trying to find the right person, focus on becoming the right person, she stated. DNL, full name Essien Blay Osman currently signed to Daakye Media has released a new afrobeat single tilted "Problem No Dey" which he describes as his final year message to young and future generation going through tough times to stay focused and strong. Problem No Dey is all about focusing on your dream regardless of today ups and down No matter how hard life is Enjoy the little things you have and keep on with the hard works and pray to God because one day one day you will make it. He stated that the name DNL was given to him by his mates in Senior High School as Dark N Lovely and he shortened it as DNL when he started to brand himself as an artist. He completed basic school at Emmosek Basic School inside Teshie in 2013 and High school at Kaneshie Senior High Technical School in 2016. He offered General Arts. He started recording in 2016. Because of his bright talent and greater hope he has, His class mate created a group called DAAKYE MUSIC signed him to manage him on August 2017. He released his new single tittled MEWU for the record label in that same month and it has really made grounds and that gives him the hope for his place in the Music Industry in Ghana. Problem No Dey (PND) is the second song realised under the group with the support of his Mates called Emmanuel Baah-Donkor and Thomas Akagbo who support him in terms of finance. It is his dream to work with the big names in the Music Industry such as Stonebwoy, Yaa Pono, Samini, Sarkodie, Medikal and many more. He also likes to work in international collaboration with the likes of Wizkid, Aka, M.I , Jay Z and more. His first album will be titled Daakye (future) because he thinks he has great future. https://soundcloud.com/user-724570335/dnl-problem-no-dey-pnd-produced-by-dj-biznes An 18-year-old second-year female student of Methodist Senior High School (SHS) in Sekondi, Western Region, has been arrested for allegedly stabbing and killing a male student of Takoradi Technical Institute (TTI) formerly Takoradi Polytechnic last Friday. The suspect, Monica Dery, is reported to be the girlfriend of the deceased, Emmanuel Asante, 19. According to sources, the incident took place after a purported misunderstanding between the two lovebirds, which resulted in a fight. We gathered that the boy was Monicas lover and an altercation ensued when he confronted her. But we cant tell what brought about the misunderstanding, a source told DAILY GUIDE. The source continued, So in the process, the suspect purportedly got incensed, took a knife from her sisters shop and purportedly stabbed Emmanuel Asante at the back with it. Some onlookers intervened and rushed the TTI student to the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital in Sekondi for treatment but died later at the health facility. The mortal remains of Asante has since been deposited at the hospitals morgue while the suspect is in police grip. ASP Olivia Ewurabena Adiku, Western Regional Police Public Relations Officer, told DAILY GUIDE that on Friday, November 18, 2017, Monica Dery, a second year Home Economics student, was arrested for alleged murder. She said that the suspect was in a relationship with Emmanuel Asante, a student of Takoradi Technical Institute. She mentioned that on that fateful day at Fijai, near Sekondi, there was a misunderstanding between the two which resulted in a brawl. She indicated that after the two were separated, Monica picked Asantes footwear to her sisters store and the victim later followed up to collect them. According to the PRO, Asante was alleged to have slapped Monica and she in turn picked a knife in front of the store and stabbed him at the back close to the ribs. The Upper East Region on Friday marked the World Prematurity day at the Tanga-Poore Community in the Bongo District with a call on stakeholders, particularly traditional rulers and community members to ensure that women go for antenatal and postnatal services during pregnancies and after delivery. The day is set aside every year on November 17 by the global community to observe the World Prematurity day. A premature baby is a baby born earlier or before the expectant 37 weeks of pregnancy. Premature babies may need to stay in a Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU) and may have long-term health problems. The event which was celebrated as a community durbar by the Integrated Youth Needs and Welfare (INTYON), an NGO in collaboration with the Ghana Health Service (GHS) with support from UNICEF-Ghana, brought together traditional rulers, opinion leaders, officials from the Department of Social and Community Development, women groups, the media among others. The Executive Director of INTYON, Chief Issah Ibrahim, who made the call, stressed that the issue of giving birth to preterm babies could be avoided if pregnant women were encouraged to patronize health facilities regularly to access antenatal care. He stated that traditional rulers were the custodians of the people and therefore urged them to ensure that pregnant women accessed antenatal and postnatal care during pregnancies and after delivery. Whilst calling on husbands to ensure that their pregnant wives go for antenatal services, he stressed the need for them to accompany their wives to health facilities particularly during delivering periods. He appealed to the stakeholders, especially parents not to do away with preterm babies, and said they should give equal attention to them like the normal babies by ensuring that they were sent regularly to health facilities to access health services. Chief Ibrahim indicated that currently his outfit and other NGOs together with the Ghana Health Service are implementing a project dubbed 'Mother-Baby Friendly Health Facility Initiatives (MBFHI)', in 42 communities in the District, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The project is targeting health workers, women, traditional and religious leaders and geared towards encouraging more women to regularly visit and deliver at health centres as well as ensuring early initiation to breast feeding within 30 minutes after birth, exclusive breastfeeding and promoting basic new-born care. Mr John Azam, the Director of Social Welfare and Community Development in charge of the Bongo District, who represented the District Chief Executive, Mr Peter Ayimbisa Ayamga, at the function, commended the organizers and the sponsors of the programme and appealed to the communities to take advantage of the information and education to help improve upon their lives. 'Development is not only about physical infrastructure like schools and hospitals, Information and education is also very critical for development, and you must count yourselves lucky for this programme and make amends,' he stressed. He stated that Government through the Livelihood Empowerment Programme was providing support to pregnant women in some selected households in the communities to help improve upon their nutritional status. The Chief of the area, Naba Abugbire Tampoore, pledged to institute measures in the community to ensure that pregnant women attended health facilities regularly to access antenatal and postnatal care as well as deliver at the facility and exclusively feed their babies. The occasion was used to put up drama performances on inimical cultural practices that inhabit maternal and infant health and other health related issues including open defecation. GNA By Samuel Akapule, GNA Minescho cooperative credit union has held its 25th Annual General Meeting with a call on members to repay their loans promptly in order not to hinder the progress of the union. Dr Lewis Brew, chairman of the loans committee said during the year under review, a total of 314 loan applications were considered by the union and an amount of GHE2,521,888.50 Ghana Cedis was approved and disbursed. He said at the end of the 2016/2017 financial year, 744 loans were outstanding giving a total cumulative amount of GHE3,576,788.87 Ghana Cedis. Dr Brew said in the year however, a total amount of GHE3,280,811.30 Ghana cedis was received as loans repayment and this included; loan principal payment of GHE2,643,597.26 and interest payment of GHE637,214.04 Ghana cedis. He stated that the committee would continue to educate borrowers and use all legitimate means to recover loans granted to members On his part, the board chairman, Associate Professor William Kwame Buah announced that the union made unprecedented surplus of GHE533,602.34 this year, representing 279 per cent. He said the operation income rose from GHE1,865,724.83 in 2016 to GHE2,646,089.01 in the year under review. Prof. Buah noted that the union recorded significant change in its size as total asset decreased from 9.8 million Ghana cedis to 9.1 million Ghana cedis, representing a decline of 7 per cent. This he said was necessary to clean the loan portfolio and to bring to bear quality performing assets in the union in line with the best practices to provide value for money. The board chairman said Minescho also recorded a decline in the cost of income ratio of 80 per cent in 2017 as compared to 93 per cent in 2016. He pointed out that the collapse of many financial institutions, decreased in the base rate of Bank of Ghana from 25.5 per cent to 22.5 per cent, closure of small scale mining companies, restructuring of financial institution by regulators and proliferation of financial institution in the Region were some challenges the union faced in the year under review Amidst these challenges, Associate Prof. Buah explained that the board remained resolute and guided the executive arm of the Union and they made significant achievement over the period. He said the board approved a five year strategic and business plan as part of requirements for Bank of Ghana Licensing. This, the board chairman said would provide a strategic direction and focus of this noble union and was aimed at bringing them in line with best practices, goal congruence and decorum. He expressed appreciation to individuals, cooperate institutions, especially the University of Mines and Technology for contributing to the success and growth of the union. GNA By Erica Apeatua Addo, GNA Personal branding expert, Em Bartels is set to embark on a series of a forum on communication, Elocution 101, to provide support for executives and professionals in the art of oral delivery and diction. The founder and Executive Director of ExcellConsulting GH as well as Excell Branding GH, hopes to use the forum to 'ripple' into making the oral communication space better. Oral communication in our society has deteriorated in recent years. In many of our public space such as the electronic media, bad diction is brushed off with the flimsy excuse of English not being our first language, she told the media in an interview recently . It also widely believed that speaking confidently comes with practice and practice is what makes one perfect. Ms Bartels said, "eloquence and good diction increase your visibility with people who count. If you speak with clarity and eloquence, your audience will be captivated." Speaking with clarity is particularly useful at business meetings, interviews and conferences and also while presenting to an audience, she asserted. Em Bartels has developed the Elocution 101 series to support executives, media personnel and business people to develop, grow and perfect the art of articulating confidently. The event will be held on November 29-30, 2017, at the British Council, Accra. Participants would be taken through subjects such as understanding the International Phonetic Alphabets, Silent English letters, Auditory and articulatory phonetics, mispronounced words and many more. This forum is to share ideas on confident spoken communication, insights on public speaking, unparalleled in its ability to help members stand out. Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Jerry Tsatro Mordy | Email: [email protected], Twitter: @jerrymordy The Minority Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs is asking Ghanas president Nana Akufo-Addo to grant an asylum to the resigned Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa believes Ghana will be the safest haven for the Pan-Africanist who announced his resignation from office Tuesday, after 37 years in power. The North Tongu Member of Parliament is worried about the safety of Comrade Robert Mugabe and wants the African Union to take interest in how the 93-year-old is treated by military heads who succeeded in mounting pressure on Mugabe to step down. The long time Pan Africanist announced a voluntary resignation Tuesday after weeks of contradictory information about the future of the political leadership of Zimbabwe. A bloodless military takeover ousted the Zimbabwean leader who has been at the helm since 1980. He was put under house arrest briefly before being allowed to attend a graduation ceremony during which he capped General Constantine Chiwengas wife at the ceremony. It was the same general who had led the take over and his brief confinement under a house arrest. There were reports suggesting Mugabe was returning to power but those reports were immediately countered by information that Emmerson Mnangagwa, Vice President to Mugabe who fled the country after threats on his life had returned in the hope of taking over from the 93-year-old. Initially there were fears the Zimbabwean leader was scheming to have his wife, Grace Mugabe, takeover from him after serving the country for over three decades. This was resisted by a cross section of Zimbabwean nationals, with many believing it was the trigger for the swift military takeover. After weeks of political drama, Robert Mugabe announced his voluntary resignation from office a decision which has sent many Zimbabweans on the streets in wild jubilation. Former Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa will now take power in Zimbabwe, the ruling ZANU PF Party said in a statement. Commenting on the future of Zimbabwe, a Member of Parliament in Ghana, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said the security of Mr Mugabe must be of paramount interest to the whole of Africa, especially to the African Union. While congratulating the military for respecting Mr Mugabe and treating him with dignity, he is concerned the situation may change, now that he is out of power. Ablakwa says Ghanas Akufo-Addo must take steps to invite Mugabe back to Ghana. "Mugabe already has close ties with Ghana" he said adding, "he was trained as a liberation fighter; he married his first wife in Ghana; his son was buried in Ghana, he loves Ghana. Akufo-Addo should offer a safe-haven to him he said. He described Mr Mugabe as an African icon but added the inordinate ambition of his wife has ended the Mugabe political story. But a member of the Parliamentary committee on Foreign Affairs Frank Annor Dompreh has been quick to discount the coup account in Zimbabwe. He told Joy News the institutions were allowed to go ahead with their functions despite the military takeover with the Vice President being allowed to return. He said the Zimbabweans must put the past behind them and forge ahead towards a united future. It must be a Zimbabwean affair. The destiny of Zimbabwe must lie with Zimbabweans, he pointed out. Story by Ghana|Myjoyonline.com|Nathan Gadugah The Minority in Parliament's call for the withdrawal of the "illegal" 2018 budget has been described as "one of those jovial things people say in parliament". Deputy Finance Minister Kweku Kwarteng said he is surprised at the demand by the Minority spokesperson on Finance Cassiel Ato Forson "Honestly, I don't think he meant it", he told Joy News Tuesday. The Minority has maintained the Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta in July 2017 revised revenue targets without parliamentary approval and went ahead to include those estimates in the new budget statement. Minority Spokesperson on Finance Ato Forson argued on the floor of the House Tuesday that the revisions are illegal and breaches the Public Financial Management Act. Photo: Obuasi West MP Ato Forson He threatened that the Minority could withdraw support for the approval of the budget. But Deputy Finance Minister Kweku Kwarteng told Joseph Opoku Gakpo Joy News' Parliamentary correspondent that Ato Forson was not serious with the comment. Even after the Joy News reporter pointed out that the former deputy Finance minister repeated the demand to the media, Kwaku Kwarteng who is also Obuasi West MP struggled to believe it. "I still don't think he meant it because it could not have been a serious point" he said. The deputy Finance minister explained that government comes back to Parliament for approval only if it plans to exceed the expenditure ceilings it has set out in the earlier budget presentation. In this case, the government through its Finance minister comes to present a supplementary budget to Parliament for approval, the Obuasi West MP explained. Photo: Deputy Finance minister Kweku Kwarteng Until the Minority can prove that the government exceeded its expenditure targets without seeking parliamentary approval, the demand by the Minority has no basis. "I don't even want to contest [their] point and give it credibility. I don't even understand why they would want to make such a point in Parliament", the baffled deputy minister said. Joining in agreement, Chairman of Parliaments Finance Committee Dr. Mark Assibey Yeboah said the Minority's demand is "much ado about nothing". Story by Ghana|myjoyonline.com We should learn by now that God does not bless through Tithes, Sowing of Monies or Miracles of Wealth falling from Heaven. The Jews were the first to pay Tithes, but they are rich through Hard Working, Wise Investments, Technology, Medicine, Agriculture, Military Wares and Equipments, Aerodynamics and Literature. The Jews have won Noble Prizes through their hard working than any people on earth. The Jews are not lazy miracle and all-night prayer watchers as the Africans. FROM DIVINE FREEDOM TO MANS ENSLAVEMENT. African Christians Are Redeemed by God, but men have enslaved us because of our ignorance. After the shameful Slave Trade that saw millions of Africans sold to Arabs, Europeans and Americans, we now face the Worse Enslavement of all time: Religious and Political Enslavement. Now our youths and future hopes are sold in Libya, many are drown everyday in the Mediterranean Sea, seeking to run away from poverty and humiliation. How long should it continue? Our Politicians and African Pastors are the worse Slave Masters. In the farms, factories and homes of the Arabs, Europeans and Americans Slave Masters, they educated us in their Mission Schools to remove our language and identity, and they gave us and our families food, clothing and shelter for our labour. Our African Politicians and Pastors, our New Slave Masters, educate us to be corrupt and at church to suit their diabolic plans, they give us no food, clothing and shelter. The African Pastor is the worse Slave Master. They use the name and fear of God to extract our labor and monies. But we cant attend their Mission Schools, Hospitals and other Facilities. One Nigerian Preacher, called ENOCH A. ADEBOYE, the General Overseer of Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), said If Africans do not Pay Tithes, God will curse us. But Who Are More Cursed Than Africans. And who is that god, who gave his only begotten son to the wretched man, and now turns to curse them for not giving him money? That god may be the most confused and brainless god ever. Why should that god curse and kill his only son for the sakes of people he now turns to curse for not paying tithes to him Did he give his son to us for a return of money? But Africans follow such Pastors in our millions. How could a people be so ignorant, foolish and deceived? No Continent pay monies to God than Black Africans, both at home and in the Diaspora. The black Christians in African Pay millions of dollars to Churches annually; In The United States and Europe, the Blacks Divine Payments are Billions a year. But we are the poorest people of all people. THE WAY FORWARD We should learn by now that God does not bless through Tithes, but through Hard Work, wise Investments and adequate Education. God can only bless us through our hard work, wise investments and proper education, and not through miracles of tithing. We should learn from the Jews as Examples. God always wants us to learn from the Jews. They are our Examples, both good and evil. The Jews were the pioneer Tithers, But they are hard workers, great technologists, Agro, Medical and Hardware scientists and great literature-eirs. They have won Noble Prizes through their hard working than any people on earth. Every Continent has hard working classes, and that is why they are not poor. Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Mark Zuckerberg and Aliko Dangote Pay No Tithes. They are not even Christians as We Are. Bill Gates sometimes attend his wifes church, the Roman Catholic. But the Roman Catholics are not Tithers. Warrant Buffet even hate church. Mark Zuckerberg is a Jewish Atheist. Aliko Dankote is a Moslem. Development and Wealth Creation are not through Giving to God, Fasting and All-Night Prayers, they are through the use of the Minds and the Hands God Has given us. Money and great life do not fall from heaven, they are already on earth. Gods Supernatural Blessing and Overflow come though proper application of Wisdom. Because Ignorance destroys, Laziness makes Poor and Praying Without Working makes the People useless Beings. Edward Bamfo-Darko is a Ghanaian Pastor and Pharmacist residing in Germany. President Akufo-Addo has taken his campaign to create a Ghana beyond aid to Europe declaring he is determined to discard what he terms a mindset of dependency and living on handouts. Speaking at an event hosted by the Royal African Society at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, he questioned how the UK and other donor countries spend their aid money on the continent. The President spoke about how confident he is that Africans shall work to take Africa to where it deserves to be; as a prosperous and dynamic member of the world community. We need to, and we shall move Africa Beyond Aid, he stressed adding Africa no longer wants to be the default place to go to find the footage to illustrate famine stories. We no longer want to offer the justification for those who want to be rude and abusive about Africa and her peoples. It is time to build our economies that are not dependent on charity and handoutsWe have learnt from long and bitter experience that, no matter how generous the charity, we would, and, indeed, we have remained poor, he said. Some panelists at the event Describing Africa as a rich continent, and, currently, with the worlds second-fastest economic growth rates, the world's fastest-growing region for foreign direct investment, and in possession of nearly 30 percent of the earth's remaining mineral resources, the President bemoaned the fact that the masses of the African peoples remain poor. With Ghana endowed with natural resources, the President stressed that we can, and we should be able to build a Ghana which looks to the use of her own resources and their proper management as the way to engineer social and economic growth in our country. Making reference to the cocoa industry, he noted that Ghana and Cote dIvoire, who produce 65% of the worlds output of cocoa make less than $6 billion from a cocoa industry that is a $100 billion industry. If we simply ground and sold the cocoa in paste form, instead of selling the cocoa beans, we double our earnings. In much the same way as we would double our earnings from gold if we sold it refined than in its raw state. We are determined to process these products, he said. Musician, Fuse ODG and Tech developer, Chinery Hesse The President stated that nations it is time that African countries were responsible for processing their own resources, adding that it is time that we, in Africa, manage our resources well, to generate wealth for our populations. He said it is the responsibility of African leaders to make their countries attractive to the younger generation. "They should feel they have a worthwhile future if they stay and build their nations. We should be, and are shamed by the desperation that drives a young person to attempt to cross the Sahara on foot, and the Mediterranean Sea in rickety boats, in the hope of finding a better future in Europe, he added. We are not disclaiming aid, but we do want to discard a mind-set of dependency and living on handouts; it is unhealthy both for the giver and for the receiver, President continued. Story by Ghana|Myjoyonline.com | Abubakar Ibrahim The First Lady Rebecca Akufo-Addo has arrived in Beijing, China for an eight-day official visit. She was met on arrival by Ghanas Ambassador to China, Ambassador Edward Boateng and other government officials from Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Peoples Republic of China. The First Lady who is leading a delegation of women entrepreneurs and members of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) will also visit Hong Kong as part of the trip. Welcoming her to the Beijing Airport, Mr Boateng expressed the delight of the embassy and the Ghanaian community in China for honouring them with her visit. He commended her for the initiative to lead businesswomen to seek for business and investment as a way of empowering more women to be business owners back home. Mr Boateng said China abounds with a lot of businesses which Ghanaians could benefit from therefore assured the First Lady that he and his team had planned arrangements to meet the needs and expectations of the visiting businesswomen and entrepreneurs. He also had a meeting with the businesswomen at the Kunlun Hotel and briefed them on some prior engagements with prospective investors in the extractive and manufacturing industries in the light their visit. Mrs.Akufo-Addo also expressed her appreciation to the Chinese government for the warm reception accorded her and her delegation. The First Lady is accompanied by the Minister of State for Education, Prof. Kwesi Yankah; Vice President of AGI, Humphrey Kwasi Darke; the Director of the Crop Research Institute (CRI), Dr. Stella A. Ennin; Also part of the entourage were Janet Abobiyu, Chief Executive Officer (CEO); Unijay Company Limited, Madam Comfort Agyekum, a businesswoman and Ama Atwena Amankwaah of CEO Creatline Senses. Later in the evening, the women entrepreneurs had the opportunity of meeting members of the China -Asia Economic Association Committee. Story by Ghana|Myjoyonline.com The Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG) says it is disappointed with the government for its decision to reject repayment in kind for input support under the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) programme. The Association is the apex farmer-based non-Governmental Organization in Ghana with the mandate to advocate for pro-poor agriculture and trade policies and other issues that affect the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. According to PFAG, governments directive to reject the in-kind repayment is captured in a letter from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to Directors of Agriculture at both Regional and District and dated November 16, 2017. The directive is in bad faith and seeks to breach the agreement between government, through the ministry, and beneficiaries of the programme, prior to its inception, the Association said in a press release issued Tuesday, November 21, 2017. PFAG insists that prior to the inception of the programme, beneficiaries were told by the Agricultural Minister, Owusu Afriyie Akoto and his representatives that 50% input support of which farmers will be repaid with produce. Subsequent to that, there were several meetings with District Directors of agriculture and the beneficiaries to discuss repayment modalities of which in-kind repayment were further reiterated. In September 2017, there were other several meetings with District Directors of agriculture across the ten regions of Ghana with farmers, on repayment modalities and the same repayment modalities were emphasized. On the basis of this, many farmers relied on and bought into the idea as it was a way of addressing the problem of market access, reduce post-harvest losses and address the problem of low prices due to the glut of mass sales after harvest to offset credit. It is therefore surprising, shocking and disappointing for the Minister of Agriculture to take a unilateral decision and issue a directive to all Regional and District Directors of Agriculture to receive repayment only in cash without re-negotiating with farmers. This is a serious breach of agreement and unfair treatment on the part of the government, PFAG said in the statement. The association is, therefore, calling on the Minister to as a matter of urgency to reconsider the decision and stick to the initial agreement based on the following reasons: 1. An agreement is by two or more parties and any decision to alter any part of the agreement should be by mutual consent 2. The initial agreement gave assurance of repayment in-kindwhen there is no available market and reneging on that position will surely lead to low recovery 3. The new directives will give avenue fordishonest farmers to find reasons for non-repayment 4. The government can easily sell the in-kind repayment through National Food Buffer Stock Company, School Feeding Programme etc. Whiles PFAG is calling on the government to reconsider its position to receive repayment only in cash, PFAG is also admonishing all farmers, especially, PFAG members who benefited from the Planting for Food and Jobs programme to honour their part of the initial agreement and make their produce or cash repayment ready for the government. PFAG says the PFJ programme as laudable and will not hesitate to handover any defaulting member for necessary action. Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com 22.11.2017 LISTEN There was at least GHC282 million of underpayments on income tax in the public sector in 2014, a survey on the country's fiscal policy analysis on the scale of income tax non-compliance has revealed. 'In the private sector, there are no significant underpayments of income tax among firms which filed Pay As You Earn (PAYE).' The survey attributed the underperformance of tax collection in the public sector to the difference between the reporting system to the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) between the private and public sectors. The study was conducted by World Bank in collaboration with the International Monetary Fund and the GRA. Speaking at the presentation in Accra on Tuesday, Mrs Tomomi Tanaka, Senior Economist, World Bank said the private sector firms listed all the workers and their wage incomes and reported how much they withheld from each worker. However, she said in the public sector, the Controller and Accountant General's Department sent one cheque to the GRA for all public sector workers, making it difficult to verify how much each public sector worker earned and how much income was withheld from them. Mrs Tanaka said the underpayment of income tax in the public sector resulted not only from lack of transparency, but also from the existence of ghost workers in the sector. The survey revealed that the income tax revenue from the private sector rose by 267 per cent during the period of 2011 and 2014, but in 2016, the tax revenue from the private sector declined while it improved in the public sector. She explained that income tax revenue slightly declined from 2014 to 2016, because the tax collection from the private sector declined substantially due to changes in the tax rates, the election cycle and the electricity shortages. The Senior Economist noted that majority of income taxes were paid as PAYE, which required that employers remited the deducted amount to the GRA, adding that not all firms were registered with the Authority. She explained that not all firms and organisations which remit PAYE to the GRA send the full amount of income tax due. Mr Tanaka said in 2014, the total tax revenue in the public sector was only GHE461 million, lower than the projected total tax revenue for the year. She said in 2014, PAYE was filed for 1.1 million wage earners by private sector firms, while the business census-Integrated Business Establishment Survey suggested that there were 1.4 million workers who work for private sector firms registered with the GRA. The report also suggested that Ghana's tax collection was low compared to other lower middle income African countries. 'Raising tax revenue is an urgent issue in the country as government has been suffering from a widening fiscal deficit and a rising debts burden, the country lied below the trend lines for all major taxes, that is value added tax, corporate tax and income tax,' she said. She called for improved transparency of payments to public sector workers and improved database to allow more precise estimations of revenue targets and tax gap. Professor Godfred Bokpin, Lecturer, University of Ghana Business School urged government to make good use of technology to enable Ghanaians and all who matter to pay their taxes in the comfort of their homes to increase government revenue and reduce long queues. He urged government to up their operations and address the problems associated with tax exemptions, non-compliance of tax and the illicit financial flow to get more revenue for the country. Mr Charles Addae, Acting Commission, Research, Planning and Monitoring of GRA encouraged all to pay their tax to enable government to undertake its developmental projects and lauded the introduction of the Ghana Card which, he said would help identify individuals and organisations for tax compliance. GNA By Kodjo Adams, GNA 22.11.2017 LISTEN The International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development (ISSBD) Ghana Chapter has been inaugurated with a call on its members to be committed to ensure that science emerging from research reflects the diversity of human needs. Reverend Father Professor Anthony Afful Broni, Acting Vice Chancellor of University of Education, Winneba (UEW), who inaugurated the chapter at the end of the 12th Regional workshop held at Winneba, urged researchers to embark on new paths that will emerge as results of interactions between cultures and rapid technological advancement. The workshop, held under the theme: 'Researching into Adoptive Behaviours in contexts of change: Interdisciplinary and Multicultural Approaches for early career scholars in Africa', was organized by UEW, Faulty of Educational Studies in collaboration with ISSBD. Participants at the workshop came from various countries including: Zimbabwe, Cameron, Nigeria, Kenya, Cote d'Ivoire and South Africa. Topics discussed at the workshop included grant/proposal writing, inter-disciplinary approach in research for early career scholars in Africa, how to publish in International Journals, how to make academic paper presentation and effective presentation of conference posters. Professor Afful-Broni said many areas across the world have witnessed rapid changes in the context of human development arising from urbanization, economic development, environmental degradation and violent conflict. This, he said, has led to the emergence of developmental contexts placing individuals at risk of development 'maladaptive behaviours' hence the need for a multidisciplinary, international and interdisciplinary cooperative approaches. Prof Anne Petersen of the University of Michigan expressed concern that ISSBD was established in 1969 with few people but currently it has membership of over 1000 members in 88 countries. Prof Charity Sylvia Akotia, Department of Psychology, University of Ghana, said there is the need to study adaptive behaviours as it is recognised as critical to understanding development and the needs of the individual. GNA 22.11.2017 LISTEN Ms Otiko Afisah Djaba, Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection on Tuesday said the steady progress that Ghanaian women have chalked over the recent period have accelerated activities in all spheres of national development. She said from politics, economics, commerce and industry, an increasing number of women have taken advantage of the conducive and enabling environment to develop their God-given talents and skills to participate in the development of the county. Ms Djaba was speaking at the launch of the Gender and Development Initiative for Africa in Accra, which is on the theme: 'African Women as Leaders in Business and Politics'. The Gender and Development Initiative is to ensure that the promotion of African Women as Leaders in Business and Politics will be a reality by 2030. The Gender Minister said the launch in Ghana was another feather in the cap of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who has demonstrated his special acumen as a Gender and Development champion. She also applauded the contribution of President Alpha Conde of the Republic of Guinea as the African Union Leader of Gender and Development. Ms Djaba urged and challenged all African Leaders to work towards increasing gender equity across the continent. She said with tenacity, women representation in Ghana's Parliament had grown from below 24 to 37; increased women presence in the Executive Branch; and the leading roles women were playing both at the Office of the President and the Judiciary. 'For the first time in our history, Ghana has a female Chief of Staff, former and immediate female Chief Justices, and a former female Speaker of Parliament,' she said. Ms Djaba said President Akufo-Addo government's unique breakthrough initiatives such as the Free SHS programme, One District-One Factory, Planting for Food and Jobs, One Village-One Dam provide a ladder to escape from poverty and deprivation for women who have always formed a disproportionate percentage of the vulnerable in our society. This, she said, was to empower citizens who contributed meaningfully to their own development and as effective partners in nation building. The Gender Minister noted that in spite of these prominent and profound life-changing initiatives, there were still gaps, and that Ghana recognized and embrace the objectives and goals of the Gender and Development Initiative for Africa by President Akufo-Addo. She said Ghana acknowledged that women still had a long way to go to achieve the equality and equity that will guarantee the harmony and advancement that the country needed to achieve social upliftment and full inclusion to enable government not to leave anybody out or behind. Ms Djaba said the Ministry of Gender, on behalf of all girls and women, seizes the opportunity to pledge its total commitment, unalloyed and relentless support for the Gender and Development Initiatives. She said the Government through the Gender Ministry had increased women beneficiaries of the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) to 54 per cent. About 400 Kayayes have been trained in various skills, the Gender Policy, Social Protection, Children's Act, Human Trafficking Act and Ending Child Marriage, National Plan of Action amongst other Legislative Instruments to better protect women and promote gender equity. The Minister said 1,000 LEAP beneficiaries' specifically pregnant and or lactating mothers with children under one year would be provided with skills training and start-ups to improve upon their consumption. Female Genital Mutilation, Fistula and Breast Cancer victims were also being identified for the new LEAP, she said. She said the Ministry would launch the 'HeforShe' Campaign this December to garner the support of males for more effective gender equity. The Draft Affirmative Action Bill has been sent to the Attorney General's Office to be prepared for Cabinet Approval and submission to Parliament before it rises this December. 'The Domestic Violence Secretariat is also embarking on 16-days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence from November 25 to December 10, 2017. The Gender Ministry will continue to provide aggressive advocacy initiatives that were grassroots based to contribute further to the advancement of females and children to reduce and eliminate abuse and violence against women. GNA By Amadu Kamil Sanah, GNA RACINE The City Council is moving forward with plans to create an anti-bullying ordinance for Racine. Aldermen Tracey Larrin and Jason Meekma, who represent Racines 4th and 14th districts respectively, recommended the city create the anti-bullying rule. The idea, similar to measures other Wisconsin communities are implementing, is to allow the city to hold people accountable for bullying behaviors. A city committee reviewed the concept earlier this month and referred it to the City Council for further review. On Tuesday, the council voted unanimously to move ahead in the planning process. The next step for the city to create a new ordinance would typically be to request the City Attorneys Office to draft the language. This situation is unique, because the ordinance has already been drafted. Still, in following the procedure, the City Council voted Tuesday to request the draft. At its next meeting on Dec. 5, the Council could vote to refer that draft to a committee for review. What it says The proposal, released upon request to The Journal Times, defines bullying as an intentional course of conduct which is reasonably likely to intimidate, emotionally abuse, slander (or) threaten someone. Under the proposal, people would not only be prohibited from bullying, but they also would be prohibited from retaliating against anyone who reports bullying. Like other Wisconsin communities, Racines proposal also would bar parents or custodians of people younger than 18 from allowing their kids to bully. If a kid is caught bullying again within 90 days of police providing a written warning to their parents, the parents could also be held liable, the proposed language states. In addition to bullying, the ordinance draft also addresses harassment and illegal use of computerized communications, both of which are addressed by state laws. The ordinance proposes allowing Racine police to penalize people at the municipal level for such behaviors. Violators of the ordinance could face fines between $1 and $1,000, plus court costs, according to the draft. Meekma previously told The Journal Times that the idea behind the ordinance is to take a stand against bullying and engage parents about their kids conduct. This is giving us the ability to not allow people to say its not my problem, or theyre just being kids, he said. Public testimony Prior to the vote on Tuesday, the City Council heard testimony from community members voicing support for the proposal. Some of that testimony came from bow-tie biz kid Alex Hart-Upendo and his parents, who spoke of their familys own experience with bullying. They, like others in attendance, asked the council to move the ordinance forward. Twenty members of the Truth Faith Church have been presented with certificates of literacy by the Non-Formal Education Division (NFED) of the Ministry of Education. They undertook lessons in financial skills, reading, pronunciation and numeracy as part of the eighteen-month training to enable them manage their businesses. Mrs Priscilla Mercy Nketsia Akromah, the Accra Metropolitan Coordinator of the NFED, at the presentation of the certificates, said the programme was meant to complement government's efforts at equipping the unemployed with useful skills. She said through the efforts of the facilitators, many illiterate parents can now read, write and do calculations, which has enhanced their businesses and urged others to take advantage of the programme. Mrs Akromah said since the inception of the programme, the NFED has been able to reduce the illiteracy level and made many functionally literate. The NFED Coordinator called on the graduates to strive to exhibit what they learnt at the training to transform their lives. She appealed to non-governmental organisations to support the NFED in order to organize more educational programmes for the churches. Pastor Joseph Anane, a beneficiary of the programme, expressed gratitude to the NFED and the facilitators for their assistance to the church. He said education has no end and urged unfortunate members of society who could not further their education to enroll onto the NFED programme to enhance their status. Pastor Anane said the educational department of the church would continue to support those who would want to go further in their education. GNA Mr Alan Kyeremanten, Minister of Trade and Industry, has urged Turkey business delegations currently on a business tour of the country to partner with Ghanaians to invest in Ghana. He said Ghana has arrays of investment opportunities in the areas of agriculture, manufacturing, oil and gas, petro-chemical, pharmaceutical, industrial starch, textile, wood processing, palm oil and iron and steel industries that they could tap into to do good business in Ghana. He said government has identified a number of new strategic goal posts such as petro-chemical, industrial salt and iron and steel industries to diversify from cocoa and gold production. The Minister said government was committed to using oil and gas resources to start petro-chemical industry in the country and urged the delegation to assist government in that direction. The delegation, led by Ahmet Gulec, Board Member of Turkish Exporters Assembly (TIM), equivalent to Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), was on a three-day bilateral and trade tour in Ghana to seek possible partnership with the Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Industries (GNCCI). Currently, Ghana is Turkey's third biggest trading partner in Africa. Ghana is on course to become the second biggest trading partner of Turkey. In 2015, trade volume between Turkey and Ghana reached 400 million dollars (230 million exports, 170 million imports), which made Ghana Turkey's fourth largest trade partner in Sub-Saharan Africa. Mr Kyeremanten noted there was a symbiotic relation between the two countries, adding that 'it is about time we deepen that relationship on more commercial side'. He said Ghana has one of the best judicial systems in West Africa and it was important for investors to have faith in Ghana's Judicial System. 'When it comes to the stability of the country, Ghana is the preferred destination for every investor. You are also assure of government's commitment to guarantee physical security of your investments in the country,' he said and urged them to feel free to partner with Ghanaian businesses. Ms Nesrin Bayazit, the Turkish Ambassador to Ghana, said despite the challenges of refugees influx to Turkey since 2010, the country continue to perform extremely well. She said currently Turkey has the largest number of refugees in the world. She commended the cordial relationship between the two countries, saying, 'For the last six years there were three Presidential visits from the two countries and this demonstrates strong democracy,' and called on Turkish Businesses to feel free to invest in Ghana. 'Our Presidents set up a new goal and directed us to increase the trade volume to one billion dollars by 2020 and looking at the trade indicators 'We have the opportunity to move one step ahead in meeting the goals,' she added. Mr Gulec, on his part, said the Turkish Exporters Assembly has 67,000 Exporters who provide jobs for 3.5 million people and hoped that the trade relations between the two would increase after the forum. He said they also hoped to strengthen their bond with Africa to increase both bilateral and trade relations. 'That's why we have to travel over 7000 kilometers to Accra, Ghana, to take the relations on a higher level,' he added. He said in 2012, Ghana and Turkey signed a Joint Committee Agreement and their next committee meeting would soon come on in Turkey. He said at the last Joint Committee meeting, they agreed to increase trade volume from the current 500 million to one billion in the next five years and urged all to work towards achieving the goal. Mr Edward Benjamin Ashong-Lartey, Director of Investor Services at GIPC, took the delegates through the steps of registering businesses in Ghana, Incentives and Business opportunities. GNA By Patience Gbeze, GNA 22.11.2017 LISTEN The Mo Ibrahim Foundation on Tuesday said it welcomes President Robert Mugabe's decision to resign after 37 years in office. 'We hope that this decision will allow for a smooth and peaceful transition of power, and that all Zimbabweans will get their chance of an authentic, fair and legitimate election process,'' it said. The 2017 Ibrahim Index of African Governance, released yesterday, said Zimbabwe had a mixed picture in terms of governance. The Index measures the overall governance and Zimbabwe still ranks 40th out of 54 countries in 2016. Mo Ibrahim, Chairman of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, said: "Robert Mugabe's overdue departure now gives the people of Zimbabwe the chance to determine their futures. 'It is vital that a proper, fair and transparent process is in place for the next election. Zimbabweans deserve that, and they will rightly demand that". Military heads in Zimbabwe have succeeded in mounting pressure on 93-year old Mugabe to step down. The long time Pan Africanist announced a voluntary resignation Tuesday after weeks of contradictory information about the future of the political leadership of Zimbabwe. A bloodless military takeover ousted the Zimbabwean leader who has been at the helm since 1980. GNA Ghanas exports to Turkey have increased from $168 million in 2015 to $180.4 million in 2016. The Turkish Ambassador to Ghana, Nesrin Bayazit, revealed this at a meeting in Kumasi with the Ghanaian business community. Turkey is ninth on the list of countries Ghana imports diverse products to whiles Ghana, on the other hand, is the twentieth on the list of countries Turkey exports to. Though the numbers look impressive, Ghanaian businesses operators are being encouraged to increase exports to Turkey. Ms Bayazit, says there are opportunities to enhance sustainable bilateral trade relations. At the meeting with the business community in Kumasi, the Turkish envoy says increased trade is the vehicle for strengthened relations. If you look at our economic relations, we have ups and downs, in the last three years, it has been difficult. Last year, [total imports and exports] reached 480 million dollars, so to have a sustainable trade we want to encourage Ghana to export more, and this is your job you must promote Ghana better in Turkey and We will like to help you in that way, she said. Nesrin Bayazit revealed Turkey exported 298.5 million US Dollars worth of goods to Ghana in 2016. She particularly wants improved investment in construction and agriculture by Ghanaian businesses in the Ashanti Region which is the destination for the chunk Turkish exports. I understand that a lot of exports from Turkey come here into this region, so there is a great potential. I understand that this region needs a lot of infrastructure and affordable housing.I am glad to emphasise that his Royal Highness [Otumfuo Osei Tutu II] said land is not a problem so it is good, we have the best construction companies to collaborate, she said. According to her, agriculture is one area Turkey wants to see its companies get involved in. Turkey is a country with vast experience in agriculture, and we have modern facilities in agriculture and so we hope that we can put the strength of both countries and bring our companies together, she adds. Some of the business owners complained about language as a barrier to doing trade with their Turkish counterparts. President of the Ashanti-Turkish Traders and Culture Association, Anto Godwin, says a school should be established to teach the Turkish language to facilitate the trade. Business Development Consultant for Ashanti-Turkey Trade and Culture, Musah Amin, believes more engagement will also bring to the fore better funding opportunities for local businesses. Financing is one major challenge facing local businesses, so we want to go beyond Ghanaian borders to find out if there are some EXIM banks, be it in Turkey or wherever, that have certain products modelled or tailored to meet the need of small and medium scale businesses, Mr Amin said. The Ghanaian community in the East Hartford, Connecticut was thrown into a state of shock a fortnight ago when a community activist, Mr Akwasi Agyeman departed into eternity. As a respect for the Ghanaian tradition, the Consul General thought it wise to be at the one week funeral celebration; to console the bereaved family and the Ghanaian community at large. The funeral event which took place on Saturday, November 18, 2017, drew mourners from other African and non-African communities who spoke well of the departed illustrious son of the community. When he was given the opportunity to speak, H.E. Professor Amoako noted that he had come to console the bereaved family and interact with members of the community. However, considering how difficult it was to meet a Ghanaian community in the U.S., he wouldnt hesitate to give a hint of the various initiatives being taken at the consulate on his watch. He said, among other things, his outfit is considering opening consular agent offices across the U.S., to lessen the burden of people traveling hundreds of miles to receive services. He mentioned that apart from Los Angeles, California which currently has an office, Atlanta, Georgia; Houston, Texas; Worcester, Massachusetts; and Columbus Ohio have been selected as the tentative locations in the pipeline. Mr. Eugene Martin Kyerematen, a leading community member, thanked the Consul General for taking time off his busy schedule to be at the event, given the short notice. In Robert Greene's 48 Laws of Power, a story is told of the kites and ravens who were together searching for food. They chanced upon a wounded lion by a hunter's bullet. The two families saw the lion is about to die, so they decided to wait for its death, so they will share its meat. The ravens said they will choose the head of the lion. And the kites chose that of the belly and the legs. The lion heard the decision of the birds, and with the last strength in its body, the lion opened its mouth and said to the kites: "all that while, I'd thought you kites are wiser than the ravens. Why would you then settle on my belly and legs whilst you let these foolish ravens to take my head that has in it my brains and strength? " Upon hearing this, the kites changed their decision and said they deserved the head of the lion, not the ravens. The ravens on the other hand said: "we made the choice first, and you agreed to it " . To settle on who eats the head of the lion, the kites and the ravens must fight, who wins will have the unchallenged rights to eat the head of the lion - the one with brains and the strength. Then these birds fought till the last of them died. The lion who was by then hungry and needed some little food to revive its strength crept to the dead birds and ate them one after the other till it regained its strength and moved away to where it got healed of the wounds. Yesterday, I was listening to the BBC news, around 16:00 hours GMT, and I heard people jubilating, honking horns, shouting, some crying and all that. The reporter said the sound had come from the Zimbabwean parliament, and the streets of Harare. Why? I asked myself, and the story went that "Robert Mugabe has resigned as a president " I was not surprised to hear the resignation of president Mugabe though. Because the lead up to that is public knowledge. The sacking of Joyce Mujiru and Emerson Mnangagwa as vice presidents, the rumours that Grace Mugabe is prepared to succeed her 93 year old husband have been seen by students of African politics as what will cause the downfall of once Great Mugabe. Not just because Robert Mugabe married his first wife Sally from my country Ghana. Or he getting his political awakening from this country he worked as a teacher. But I personally admire president Mugabe. How he prioritised education, making sure Zimbabweans gets the best in tertiary education in Africa is a blueprint for political enthusiasts like myself. It was this same president Mugabe who saw the need to give back the lands that hitherto had been the preserve of the white minority to the black farmers. Not to talk about the health care system in the country Zimbabwe. But none of the above good stories in Zimbabwe's history is more told by the foreign media. The foreign media only have interest in demonising president Mugabe so the obvious would be achieved - neocolonisation. Mugabe's PanAfricanist's stance is painted as a dictator and a tyrant. The foreign media will never talk about what caused the economic woes of Zimbabwe after independence from white minority rule. They will not talk about the economic sabotage to Zimbabwe, where farm produce from the country are blacklisted because of the indigenisation programme Mugabe enforced for blacks to own farmlands. They will not talk about the diamond from Zimbabwe that could only be sold on the black market because of economic sanctions. No, they were only interested in having a puppet at the helm so Africans will forever remain slaves to the whites. And Africans have bought into that. Today, the only defender of African heritage is pushed aside, and Zimbabweans are jubilating. But they should be reminded of what Libyans did after the demise of Col. Muammar Gaddafi. And today, once a paradise is a pale shadow of itself. Libya is now a failed state. Thanks to those who hated Africa and balkanised our fronts for their parochial interests. My dear Zimbabweans, now is not the time to jubilate. But the time to weep. I will forever respect comrade Mugabe. Did you see how gracefully he resigned? He loved you, but you failed to see that, because the propaganda has done its worst. We live to see. You will miss Mugabe like Libyans are crying for Gaddafi today. Comrade Robert Gabriel Mugabe, your name is already etched in gold. And those who know you, admire you, will never leave you in the middle of the sea. Your bullet wounded the lion. The kites and the ravens failed to learn it's a lion they are dealing with. They've now given strength back to the lion. What awaits us now is siphoning of the betters from the blessed land of Zimbabwe, same as the oil from Libya is not accounted for now. Comrade, my mentor, you'll not go to your maker through violence means. Today, the media says you've lost the fight. Those of us who understand the tactics of war knows you've won the battle, because we believe in the victory of good over evil. You'll live in peace and return to the pantheon with air of accomplishment. Author : Charles Yeboah Contact: 0249542111 WhatsApp: 0579333213 Email: [email protected] The Author 22.11.2017 LISTEN SIM stands for Subscriber Identity Module. SIM card registration is the process of recording and verifying mobile phone number/s and personal information of a subscriber, by a communications service provider. Such information includes the subscribers photograph, name, date of birth, gender, residential address and other details of valid identification documents. The SIM registration exercise is aimed primarily to reduce mobile phone related crimes such as prank calls, cyber-crime, kidnapping, mobile money fraud and its related issues and general security matter. It is also intended to help the law enforcement agencies to identify the SIM card owners, track criminals who use phones for illegal activities, curb incidents such as phone theft, hate text messages, mobile fraud activities, inciting violence and probably to help Telcos know their subscribers better. The registration exercise further help to combat crime such as SIM Box fraud because no one can use fake names for SIM registration. The exercise also enables subscribers to be identified as they use value added services such as mobile banking, mobile money, and electronic payments for services. Due to this crucial nature of SIM registration and its security implications, the process of getting SIM registered must be done properly and checked to avoid inconsistencies and fake subscriber identity. SIM cards must contain valid user identity in conformity to the national identification standards as enshrined in the L.I. 2006, the subscriber identity module registration regulation of Ghana in 2011. Fake SIM Registration It was observed in the last nationwide SIM registration exercise in 2011 that some of the agents of the Telcos who operated in most part of the country, connived with fraudsters and allowed them to register SIMs with fake ID card numbers. These agents mostly did not demand picture IDs before registration and even if they did, the ID numbers the subscribers provided were not easily verifiable so the Telcos found it extremely difficult to prevent the fake SIM registration. Fake SIM registration is a recipe for disaster in the mobile communications ecosystem because bad people usually use such fraudulent act to perpetrate criminal activities on the mobile communication space. Security agencies such as criminal investigations department (CID) cyber security unit mostly find it difficult to investigate crime committed with fake registered SIM and its related offenses. For instance, Mobile money fraud and scratch card theft is on the ascendency in Ghana but the security agencies mandated to handle such crime have no clue where to begin the investigations from because the SIM used by these criminals were registered with fake information. This has made it extremely difficult for the security agencies especially Ghana Police Service to combat crime involving mobile devices. Pre-registered SIM is also another issue which exposed the subscriber to several unforeseen inconveniences. Pre-registered SIM is when agents of Telcos intentionally use fake information to register SIM cards, activate the services on the SIM and sell to unsuspecting subscribers. The danger here is that, in case of SIM loss, subscribers are required to prove their identity which usually does not match with the pre-registered SIM information. Urgent need for New SIM Registration in Ghana Proper modalities must be put in place before new SIM registration exercise begins in Ghana. The past experience of SIM registration has not been a good one so the nation must prepare itself adequately before the commencement of such exercise. The implementation of national digital addressing system and the national identification card (NID) must be properly integrated into the new exercise. Every SIM registration must be done strictly by the use of NID number; this has to be verified and approved by National Communications Authority (NCA) before Telcos could finalize the SIM registration. This obviously will be an added security feature for the entire process to ensure Telcos conduct proper SIM registration in Ghana as it has been done elsewhere in Africa. The Role of NCA and Check Mechanism NCA as an authorized body which monitors and regulates the operations of the Telcos in Ghana must ensure the Telcos implement proper registration standards. The authority could also directly get involved in the SIM registration process in Ghana should government request such an exercise to be carried out.NCA in consultation with the Telcos must create Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) protocol which will enable new users access the facility by texting their NID number to a short code for verification and authorization. In order to check malicious people from using others NID to register, NCA must have the sole responsibility to implement certain authentication mechanism to verify new users. This new SIM registration process will prevent fake SIM registration and make things difficult for fraudsters to carry out any criminal activity like SIM Box and mobile money fraud. NCA involvement in the new SIM registration will enable the authority have: i. Statistics of registered subscribers on real time basis. ii. A determining index to derive the market share of the Telcos easily. iii. A real time information on the progress of SIM registration iv. The mechanism to check and prevent the use of pre-registered SIM cards v. Prevent registration with fake bio-data The Telcos must ensure that subscribers privacy is protected at all times. The situation where Telcos release subscriber details to third party companies must be addressed by NCA. NCA must also ensure that any Telco that releases information of its subscriber to a third party marketing organization shall receive some form of stern punishment and the subscribers involved compensated appropriately. The introduction of punitive measures will deter the networks from releasing such data. Until this is done, Telcos will not enforce policies which protect subscriber data. A mix of punitive and reward actions can be applied to Telcos that either flout or enforce their privacy policies. This will go in a long way to sanitize the system. Owusu Nyarko-Boateng 0244305305 [email protected] Abuja, Nigeria, November 21, 2017 The African Development Bank (AfDB) has called on African countries to implement the 1990 Yamoussoukro agreement for open skies. While 20 countries have signed on, the 27-year old accord still faces implementation challenges, Akinwumi Adesina, President of the AfDB said Tuesday at the opening ceremony of the third ICAO World Aviation Forum in Abuja. Rigid bilateral air service agreements have made it difficult to liberalize the regional aviation markets. We must make regional aviation markets competitive and drive down costs, raise efficiencies and improve connectivity and convenience, Adesina said. The Bank President also emphasized the Banks strong support for Nigeria and expressed confidence in the ability of Nigeria to deliver on its policy commitments. The hosting of this global forum here in Abuja is a clear mark of confidence in Nigeria. Let me use this opportunity to commend you and the government on the Economic Recovery and Growth Program, to build a more resilient economy, Adesina said. As you know, we provided $600 million to support the government to address its budget deficit challenges and stand ready to continue to fully support the government as it embarks on efforts to diversify the economy and raise the revenue profiles and productivity of the non-oil sectors. The Bank President also commended the Government of Nigeria for its efforts to improve the state of aviation in Nigeria. The aviation sector plays an important in opening up doors to investors, he added. Air transport promotes trade, investments and tourism, and boosts economic growth. Today, Africas aviation industry adds US $73 billion to the continents annual GDP and employs about 7 million people an average 130,000 people per country in Africa, according to the Bank President. The aviation industry is projected to grow by 5% annually for the next 20 years. From serving 120 million passengers in 2015, the industry will triple and serve over 300 million passengers by 2035, Adesina observed. Thats the good news, he said, adding that regrettably Africas aviation growth is held back by very restrictive regulatory environments which limit market size, profitability, and drive up costs. Aircraft departure fees alone in Africa are 30% above the global average, while taxes, fees and charges are 8% higher. Given lower per capita incomes in Africa, high fares essentially tax the poor out of the air! We may have an open sky policy, but then end up with empty skies! The AfDB President called for the development of airport terminal capacity to expand passenger growth, develop regional aviation hubs to improve connectivity, and upgrade air navigational services and air traffic control to improve safety. Modern and cheaper technologies such as the satellite based air navigation services now preclude the need for ground infrastructure, and make it possible to serve remote areas with radars. We must also develop within Africa, aircraft maintenance services and strengthen regional and sub-regional aviation safety agencies, he noted. The AfDB has invested $20 billion in infrastructure over the past 10 years, with over $1 billion in the aviation sector. The Banks investments include building modern airports and terminal extensions in Senegal, Morocco, Kenya, Ghana, Egypt, Cabo Verde and improving airport navigation systems in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The AfDB supported aircraft fleet expansion programs for Ethiopia and Cote dIvoire. The Bank also supported regional efforts for improving aviation safety and capacity building. Adesina congratulated Nigeria on the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) certification of two airports in Abuja and Lagos as a consequence of meeting global standards, noting that the feat makes Nigeria the only country with two ICAO-certified airports in West and Central Africa. The objective of the Bank is to support the ICAO safety and security standards certification of 20 African airports by 2019, Adesina said. The African Development Bank will soon be going to its Board with a new aviation sector framework to support the revitalization of the aviation industry in Africa, he said. The Bank, Adesina explained, is working with other partners on establishing facilities to de-risk financing for aircraft acquisition, upgrading of airports, expansion of regional navigational and air safety, and deregulation of the aviation industry to be more competitive and efficient. The African Development Bank (AfDB) is partnering with the Nigerian Government, the African Union Commission (AUC), and the New Partnership for Africas Development (NEPAD) Agency to co-host the third ICAO World Aviation Forum from November 20-22 in Abuja, Nigeria. 22.11.2017 LISTEN Abuja, Nigeria, November 21, 2017 The African Development Bank (AfDB) has called for bold actions to improve connectivity, market access, and cost reduction in Africas aviation sector. Pierre Guislain, AfDB Vice-President for Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialization, made this call at the third ICAO World Aviation Forum in Abuja. The AfDB is partnering with the Nigerian government, the African Union Commission (AUC), and the New Partnership for Africas Development (NEPAD) Agency to co-host the third ICAO World Aviation Forum from November 20-22 in the Nigerian capital. The Bank has also reiterated its commitment to partner with stakeholders to boost the continents aviation sector. Guislain emphasized the critical role aviation can play to boost economic growth by integrating the continents fragmented markets. In the past ten years, AfDB has provide about $1 billion to the African aviation sector. We have invested in airport construction or expansion in Morocco, Tunisia, Cape Verde, Ghana or Kenya, and in the improvement of air safety and navigation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and West and Central Africa, he stressed. We have also provided financing for aircraft acquisition by Ethiopian Airlines and Air Cote dIvoire. Despite Africas fragmentation with major economic centres geographically far from each other, the low level of connectivity and absence of significant airline hubs remains a real challenge for business people and ordinary Africans, he observed. We all know that travelling in Africa remains inconvenient and costly. Today, a two-and-half-hour flight from Lilongwe and Johannesburg costs three times more than a similar flight from Rome to London, for example, he noted. Opening intra-African aviation and lifting remaining traffic restrictions is still a priority nearly 20 years after the Yamoussoukro Decision signed by 44 countries. The AfDB VP considers private sector financing and investment as critical and called for a level playing field where there is an open and reliable access, as well as private airlines competing with state-owned operators. Liberalization of the aviation industry can spur regional integration and trade by bridging the 54 fragmented African markets, he noted. Guislain identified more open visa policies as another way to stimulate integration and foster regional passenger traffic. According to the AfDB, the African aviation industry is hampered by high costs. Therefore, sustained growth of the sector would require a tough look at ways to cut costs related to high taxes, fees and charges and airport levies. They also include high costs especially for airlines, due in part to higher country and company risk as well as the small size of many African airlines. Nigerias Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika, described aviation as the way to go to foster economic development. 22.11.2017 LISTEN The Ghana Chamber of Mines is leading the digital agenda and raising the status quo in corporate governance with the introduction of an online portal that will provide copious information to the industry players and particularly serve as a reference point for investors in other sectors of the economy. The Chamber as part of its effort to commemorate the Local Content Day has created the digital platform ( www.ghanachamberofmines.org ) to communicate and disseminate the opportunities available to local businesses and bring more visibility into the value chain of the mining industry. Speaking at the ceremony, the President of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Mr. Kwame Addo-Kufuor said the online portal will provide in-depth information on mining inputs for local manufacturers and suppliers to the industry. He noted that the portal will support potential investors and local entrepreneurs who can provide these inputs with up-to-date and specific information to prop up the implementation of the local content policy for mining industry. Mr. Addo-Kufuor indicated that the Chamber appreciates that by supporting local manufacturing and supply of goods and services they enhance Ghanas efforts to quicken the pace of industrialization, economic growth and job creation. Members of the Ghana Chamber of Mines have established a proven (but not well advertised) track-record in supporting indigenous businesses to participate in critical areas of our value chain. We are proud to have been part of the success stories of households names such as Carmeuse Lime Products Ghana, Wafor a leading producer of steel balls for the industry, Zen Petroleum and Interplast to name a few, he emphasized. The President of the Chamber stressed that the Chamber has at various times taken voluntary initiatives to promote in-country expenditure on mining inputs such as fabrication of critical components of plant, machinery & equipment and engineering services. According to him, more needs to be done to enhance the local participation in the value chain of the mining industry hence the continuous collaboration between Minerals Commission and the Chamber to increase the quantum of goods and services we have but locally. The Minerals and Mining Act 2006 (Act 703) and the Minerals and Mining General Regulations (2012), LI 2173 require, among other things, that mining companies procure inputs from Ghana to the maximum extent possible consistent with various economic and technical parameters. The collaboration initially identified eight mining inputs; the list has now grown to 19 with proposals for additional items. Included are items for which Ghana has a natural competitive advantage for production because of the abundance of raw materials examples of these are caustic soda and activated carbon, he intimated. Mr. Addo-Kufuor called on the local manufactures to step up to the call to meet the performance requirements of the mining industry, which by the nature of their operations cannot compromise on safety, health and environmental requirements, maintenance of quality levels, tight control, capacity to accommodate large and repeat orders among others, competiveness, delivery deadlines among others. He calls for engagement and collaboration and to build the capacity of local producers and service providers who aspire to supply into the mining value chain. The Ministry for Lands and Natural Resources should consider setting up a local content desk to provide advice on regulations, required certifications, standards and co-ordinate efforts aimed providing support and driving excellence and competitiveness, he intimated. The President of the Chamber added that the Local Content Day will be commemorated regularly to consistently draw attention of all stakeholders to the opportunities in the industrys value chain and the need to tap into them for broad-based economic transformation. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Sulemanu Koney emphasized that their interest is in local manufacturing to create and add more value to the sector. Mr. Koney added that the Chamber will in the coming days engage the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) to integrate the mining industry in order to raise finance for both mining and manufacturing. Financing naturally will have to be a problem but then again we have to be innovative and creative but we need to ask how we are able to link the mining industry to the Ghana Stock Exchange to raise the needed capital for both mining and manufacturing and these are the things that we need to look at because if you go to other developing countries they have linked their natural resources to the financial markets, he stated. RACINE The City Council will wait until its Dec. 5 meeting to make decisions about the vetoes Mayor Cory Mason has made to Racines budget. Mason vetoed three items from the citys spending plans: The event center was proposed by former Mayor John Dickert and supported by Council President Dennis Wiser, who served as interim mayor in Dickerts absence until Mason took office. Mason announced Friday that he was vetoing the funds for the project from the spending plans, in keeping with his campaign promise. As a mayor who wants to set a good tone with the voters who just elected me less than a month ago, it is really important that I follow through and keep my word, Mason told media outlets Friday. In vetoing the communications position, Mason wrote that he thinks the position should be full time, rather than adding that work to an existing employees duties. He also wrote that an additional city attorney position may not be the best way to save the city money. Instead, he wrote, the city could try negotiating better rates from outside lawyers and entering longer-term, project-based contracts. On an 8-to-6 vote, the City Council decided to wait until December to potentially override Masons vetoes. One council member, 4th District Alderman Tracey Larrin, was absent from Tuesdays meeting. Wiser recommended the council wait until all its members were present for discussion and voting. Any vote to override a veto requires support of two-thirds of the City Councils 15 members, regardless of how many are present, said City Attorney Scott Letteney. Alderman Sandy Weidner, who represents the citys 6th District, spoke against the idea, stating someone could be missing from the next meeting. She said Tuesdays meeting was the appropriate time to take up the vetoes. Alderman Melissa Lemke, who represents the 15th District, echoed Weidners stance, stating that many members of the public attended the meeting specifically to see the how the council voted on the matters. Wisers request to hold off on the vetoes had support from Alderman Terry McCarthy, who represents the citys 9th District. He said he agreed with the spirit of the people who wanted to vote Tuesday, but said he wanted to wait until the council could receive information from city staff about their opinions on Masons vetoes. Residents weigh in The councils vote followed about 50 minutes of comments from community members concerning items before the City Council, including about Masons veto of the arena. The comments were mixed, with some pushing for the council to override the veto, and others asking the council to let the veto stand. Some who wanted the event center to move forward argued it could spur other activity in Racine, including development and employment. Those who spoke against it argued that the community had already stated it was against the project. Wiser, McCarthy and aldermen Jeff Coe, John Tate II, Raymond DeHahn, Q.A. Shakoor II, Mary Land and James Morgenroth voted to wait until next month for any action on the vetoes. Aldermen Mollie Jones, Steve Smetana, Henry Perez and Jason Meekma joined Weidner and Lemke in requesting not to defer. The City Councils next meeting is scheduled at 7 p.m. Dec. 5 at City Hall, 730 Washington Ave. 22.11.2017 LISTEN It is a clear and sunny day in Domeabra (translated: come if you love me - probably in a crude reference to the dilapidated roads that lead to the town). The town folk are eagerly awaiting the visit of their District Chief Executive (DCE). The anticipation had built up for a couple of weeks and on this day, the entire town and residents of nearby villages, have gathered in the town square to finally welcome the "honourable" DCE. The grand durbar was slated for 10am, and around 11:30 am, a convoy of 4 luxury cars pulls up at the square, to rapturous cheer from the crowd. After a couple of, mostly uninspiring, praise-heaping speeches, the Chief of the town makes his request known to the DCE: improvement of the bad road he and his team had just traveled on, repair of their dilapidated school building etc. The DCE responds with very audacious promises, some clearly outside his sphere of influence. He leaves to another town after being presented with a couple of gifts: the biggest sheep in the town and assorted farm produce - as custom demands. For many readers, this fictional story doesn't sound like fiction at all, as these kinds of scenes play around many parts of our continent daily - acted by politicians of all grades and classes. In a broader sense, it brings into question the interplay between culture and politics; the people's idea of public service, and the politicians belief about the nature of their work. It seems to me that our culture reinforces the idea that, somehow, our leaders are a special breed of people who deserve some form of 'worship' and ego-massaging in order to derive some benefits from them. This probably explains why we give our politicians, merely on their assumption of office, the title of honourable; a title which is supposed to be earned through dedication to a positive course of action. One is not an honourable human being as a result of the position they occupy, but as a result of the actions that emanate from the position. Our erroneous idea about leadership tends to perpetuate a feeling of superiority among our political servants, which shapes the perception of the role they play. Leadership, and its perception thereof, is a reflection of the belief and attitude of the people so led. We have invented a self-destructive system of beliefs, which treat our public servants as if they are a special species who are above law and discipline. Today, the average African politician knows that the worst punishment he/she might ever receive for corruption is a couple of weeks of bad press. Our attitude as a people explains why the service-based nature of political leadership, enshrined in the idea of democracy, has been replaced by a 'serve me' based one. History tells us that any system that rewards and 'worships' people based on the positions they occupy, instead of the difference they make with those positions, erodes the essential incentive for them to act competently. It is said that, in the heyday of the Roman empire, a victorious general had a slave whose duty was to whisper the words ''memento mori'' (remember you are mortal), during his triumphant parade through the streets of Rome. This idea inspired action as a means of earning continuous praise, whilst serving as a reminder of humility. The Israeli statesman Shimon Perez once said, "I learned that public service is a privilege that must be based on moral foundations". This is a very brilliant way of appreciating the idea of public office: it's a PRIVILEGE and a SERVICE. It's a privilege as it gives the servant the resources as well as the opportunity to utilize those resources in enhancing the lives of those who so give their mandate. As a society, we place so much emphasis on leadership and not servanthood, so our understanding of the concept of service has gradually eroded. Now, everyone wants to be "the head and not the tail", as if the head can survive on its own. Ask the average person their understanding of service and at best you're likely to get an incoherent stream of words. Service in the interest of the nation is still relevant in our pursuit of socio-economic development; a nation cannot develop without the exertion of her citizens in selfless pursuit of public service. A politician is not a 'leader' but a servant; a servant who provides leadership in service. In another sense, politics is a ministry too, it's a calling, and those who respond to this important call should be prepared to humble themselves and apply their energy and intellect in the service of humanity. A servant is not the most important person in the nation. The most important 'person' is the people on whose service the politician earns the privilege of a career. Until this becomes part of our collective consciousness, we will continue to suffer mediocrity of achievement from our politicians. African politicians act the way they do because we the citizens reinforce the idea that acting that way is cool. Zimbabweans waited Wednesday to discover when their new leader would be appointed after president Robert Mugabe's resignation brought a sudden end to a 37-year reign of authoritarian rule. Mugabe's tenure ended in an announcement at a special joint session of parliament where MPs had convened to impeach the 93-year-old who dominated every aspect of Zimbabwean public life for decades. On the streets, the news that his long and often brutal leadership was over sparked wild celebrations on Tuesday evening. Car horns honked and large crowds erupted into ecstatic cheers and dancing. The likely next president is Emmerson Mnangagwa, who Mugabe sacked as his deputy earlier this month in a move that pushed infuriated army chiefs to seize power and force Mugabe's exit. Mnangagwa was once a key Mugabe ally, but he was also chief rival of the president's wife Grace in a bitter succession battle that erupted publicly in recent months. "I, Robert Gabriel Mugabe... hereby formally tender my resignation... with immediate effect," said the letter which was read out by parliamentary speaker Jacob Mudenda. The long-awaited resignation of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe looks set to end the country's worst political crisis since independence in 1980 "My decision to resign is voluntary," he said, speaking of his "concern for the welfare of the people of Zimbabwe and my desire to ensure a smooth, peaceful and non-violent transfer of power". Huge protests A man removed a portrait of Mugabe from a room inside the conference centre where MPs had assembled for the extraordinary session to impeach the defiant president. Another bystander replaced it with an image of Mnangagwa, who critics accuse of being a ruthless hardliner guilty overseeing years of state-sponsored violence. The ruling ZANU-PF party said Mnangagwa, who fled Zimbabwe after his sacking, could swiftly be named interim president as the country charts a way through the turbulence. "Mnangagwa... will come back in the next 24 hours or so and he will be the one who will be sworn in to be (interim) president for 90 days," said party spokesman Simon Khaya Moyo on Tuesday. Scenes of jubilation erupted everywhere, with people dancing in the streets and cheering over the resignation of Zimbabwe's strongman The resignation capped a week in which the military seized control and tens of thousands of ordinary Zimbabweans took to the streets in an unprecedented show of dissent against Mugabe. "I am so happy that Mugabe is gone, 37 years under dictatorship is not a joke. I am hoping for a new Zimbabwe ruled by the people," Tinashe Chakanetsa, 18, told AFP. As the news began to sink in, crowds gathered brandishing national flags and often praising army chief General Constantino Chiwenga who led the military's power-grab. Mugabe had ruled Zimbabwe almost unopposed since independence in 1980 -- but efforts to position Grace Mugabe, 52, as his successor prompted intervention from the military that underpinned his regime. His monolithic grip was shattered last week when armoured military vehicles took to the streets, blockaded parliament and soldiers placed him under house arrest. Army appeals for calm The operation had all the hallmarks of a coup, but the generals stopped short of forcing him out. As the crisis grew, the ZANU-PF party, an instrument of Mugabe's brutal decades in power, removed him as party leader and began parliamentary proceedings to have him impeached. "When he saw the turnout (of lawmakers), he probably realised he'd better jump before he was pushed," said Derek Matyszak, an analyst at the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies. Following Mugabe's stunning departure, army chief Chiwenga called for Zimbabweans to "exercise maximum restraint and observe law and order to the fullest". British Prime Minister Theresa May said the resignation gave Zimbabwe "an opportunity to forge a new path free of the oppression that characterised (Mugabe's) rule". The European Union's diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini called for a solution that "respects the aspirations of the people of Zimbabwe for a more prosperous and democratic future". The US embassy in Harare described it as a historic moment for the country. Most Zimbabweans have only known life under Mugabe, whose time in power was defined by violent suppression, economic collapse and international isolation. rm-fj-sn-bgs/adm/aph 22.11.2017 LISTEN This article was published by Associates for Scriptural Knowledge (A.S.K) Thankfully, Jewish theologians know better than their Christian counterparts. They are well aware that only Levites have the right to receive tithe of the people. After all, the Jewish leaders have the Old Testament as their Scripture and thats what it commands. And since there is no Temple in existence (and consequently no ordained Levites or Priests serving in a Temple), then a major factor in fulfilling the laws of tithing does not exist in our modern world. In regard to this, it may be profitable to relate an event that happened to me over thirtyfive years ago when I was just starting to study theology in college. A letter had been given to me for answering. It was from a woman who heard that modern Jews were not tithing. She wanted to know whether the information was true, and if so, why the Jews seemingly violated the plain laws of the Bible which spoke of tithing as a law to be obeyed? Having read the letter, I began to share her concern. To resolve the matter I telephoned three rabbis in the Los Angeles area for their explanation. Much to my dismay, all three independently of each other informed me that no religious Jew should tithe today. I was startled at their replies. This appeared to be evidence that the Jews were so lax with their biblical interpretation that they were abandoning even the simple words of their own Scripture about the laws of tithing. By the time I spoke with the last rabbi, my youthful indignation was beginning to emerge. But that rabbi then wisely began to show me my ignorance (not his) in the whole matter. First, he admitted that none of his congregation paid one penny of tithe that was demanded in the Old Testament. He then said: "If any member of my synagogue paid tithe in the scriptural manner, he would be disobeying the law of Godhe would be sinning against God." I was staggered by his answer. He went on to inform me that since the Bible demands that the tithe be paid to Levites, he said it would be wrong to pay it to anyone else. And further, because there is presently no official Levitical order of Priests ministering at a Temple in Jerusalem, this makes it illegal at this period to pay any biblical tithe. He went on to say, however, that the moment a Temple is rebuilt, with its altar in operation and with the priesthood officiating at that altar (and the Levites there to assist them), then every Jew who lives in the tithing zones mentioned in the Bible will be required to tithe according to the biblical commands. This teaching was a revelation to me (as it may be to some of our readers), but the rabbi gave the proper biblical answers. To pay the biblical tithe at this time, without Levites and Priests in their regular ordained offices and doing service in the Temple, would be "sin" both to the giver and the receiver. The rabbi told me: "If we are to obey the law, we cannot pay tithe unless we pay it to the ones ordained by God to accept that tithe." The rabbi explained that though he was the chief rabbi of his synagogue, he was not a Levite. He said he was descended from the tribe of Judah and was thereby not eligible to receive tithe. The same disqualification applied even to Christ Jesus while he was on earth since he was also reckoned as having come from the tribe of Judah. This same restriction was applicable to the activities of the apostle Peter (because he was as well from Judah) and it applied to the apostle Paul (because he was from the tribe of Benjamin). Neither Christ nor those apostles were Levites so they were all disqualified from receiving any part of the biblical tithe. It is just that simple. And listen, if Christ, Peter and Paul did not use the biblical tithe for any of their work in teaching the Gospel, Christian ministers today should not use the biblical tithe either. The Jewish religious authorities are wise enough to read what the Word of God states about the tithe and, thankfully, they abide by it. But our Gentile preachers and priests care very little what the biblical texts actually state and go merrily on their way by devising their own laws of tithing which are different from those of the Bible. The rabbi then gave me some information on the method that many Jews use today to secure adequate funds with which to operate their religious organizations. He went on to say that the activities of his synagogue were financially supported through the adoption of the "patron system" by its members. That is, families would buy seats in the synagogue for various prices each year. The rabbi mentioned that many of his congregation actually paid more than a tenth of their income to get better seats in the synagogue. This method for raising funds is perfectly proper (from the biblical point of view) if Jews wish to use it. This is because the money is paid to the synagogue and not to an ordained Levitical priesthood. The final rabbi was correctly interpreting the teaching of the Holy Scripture. While many Christian ministers today teach that Christians may be in danger of missing salvation itself if they do not pay tithe to the church, Jewish rabbis know better than to say such a thing. They realize that it is biblically improper (actually, it is a blatant disobedience to the laws of the Bible) for anyone to pay or to receive the biblical tithe today. And any minister or ecclesiastical leader who uses the biblical tithe (or any one who pays to a minister the biblical tithe) is a sinner in the eyes of God. 22.11.2017 LISTEN Some angry youth of Awutu Bawjiase in the Central region on Tuesday demolished structures of a yet to be completed fuel station inside the Bawjiase market. The youth cite security concerns as the reason for demolishing the uncompleted structure. They explain that several warnings and subsequent letters to authorities in the area and region to step in to stop the said construction of the fuel station which is cited at the middle of the town has proven futile. According to them, the location of the filling station can cause a disaster in case there is an explosion in the future. They added that several letters and petition to the Central Regional Minister and the Environmental Protection Agency have also yielded no results. They also alleged that the owner of the fuel station is a security coordinator at the office of the vice president and due to that, all the agencies have failed to act on their behalf. Meanwhile, Awutu Bawjiase District Police commander, DSP Bernard Norgan has described the action of the Youth as unfortunate and says his outfit is investigating the issue to bring the culprits to book. Great minds have purposes, others have wishes Washington Irvine The President and his Veep are workaholics and so are his ministers. If you like to work hard, you will attract people with the same ethic. You have to enjoy daily challenges. People who work hard ask the following questions: How do we accomplish more? How do we get to where we want to go? It is a combination of vision, courage and above all, discipline to realize that the possibilities are always there. But if you are thinking too small, you might miss them. That is why people must begin to think big. I have extreme confidence in the President and his team. Prescient is a word that defines vision, foresight, creative discernment, or perception. Our president is a visionary leader who will surely carry us to the Eldorado. Men are born to succeed, not to fail and the president knows that pretty well. There are leaders like former president Mahama who spent all his time focusing on problems bedeviling the country instead of focusing on opportunities available. That was why he failed woefully. You can't prove your merit on quiet waters. You need to focus on your goals, not your problems. Yes, indeed, you don't toss your problems and don't dwell on them either Even before Mr. Ken Ofori Attah went to parliament to read this year's budget, the Minority in parliament called a press conference to tell Ghanaians that the nation will go HIPC and that if care is not taken, the 1983 famine that nearly brought the country on her knees will visit Ghana again. How funny! Thirty four years ago when this calamity befell Ghana, the likes of Sunhyini, Okudjeto Ablakwa, Sam George and the other young MPs in the Minority were born too late to experience the gravity of the famine but there they were at the press conference, giggling as if they have seen the balls of their in-laws. Any Ghanaian who will wish the 1983 famine happens again in this country has madness in his or her stomach. In 1983, this country was under a military regime because Flt. Lt. J.J Rawlings had launched a mutiny which overthrew the government of Dr. Hilla Limann who was in power for barely two years. I do not want to recount what happened to the good people of this country because it will be like reminding an orphan who lost his parents through a ghastly road accident. The revolution was simply bloody. Heads did roll and blood flowed. But the long and short of it all was that two years into the regime of the Provisional National Defense Council (PNDC), the weather in Ghana started changing. Hot wind started blowing in Ghana and the earth went dry and patchy. The rains refused to come for more than two years and grasses went dry. Then bush fire set in, burning everything on its way. Cocoa farms and other food crops went up in flames and the country experienced acute food storages. Sometimes people go to bed without food for some days and people began to grow lean. You could easily identify how lean the person has grown by the prominence of his or her collarbone. We used to call that Rawlings' Chain. Children became scavengers, scratching the refuse dumps for crunches to eat. At a point in time, Ghana had to appeal to the US for yellow corn. The type of corn which was meant for the poultry in the US was brought in to be used for Ga kenkey. Because Ghanaians were not used to eating that type of corn, people had running stomachs and diarrhea. You woke up in the morning and the first thing you do is to look at the sky to check whether clouds are gathering for rains to come but heaven refused to open the sky for the rains to come. Farmers refused to cultivate their lands because it was not worth it. After all, the rains will not come. What compounded the problem was that as we were struggling to uncoil ourselves from the grip of the famine, Nigeria deported thousands of Ghanaians back home. Many children died through that unfortunate famine. And you sit in Accra wishing that such a famine will befall Ghana because you lost an election due to your own greed and thievery? That is total madness! Recently the president launched the 'One District One Warehouse' at Ejura in the Ashanti Region and he has reasons to do so. If the Planting for Food and Jobs programme comes into reality as it should, excess grains would be stored for the rainy day. In my holy district, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture has received more than eight hundred thousand bags of fertilizers to be distributed to farmers. A bag of subsidized fertilizer costs fifty Ghana Cedis, half the price sold at the open market and even then the farmer is required to pay only two hundred and fifty Ghana Cedis and pay the rest after cultivating and selling his or her crop. You people can sit in Accra and tickle yourselves, who cares about daydreamers? In one year's time, food would be in abundance and those doomsday alarmists will see their smoothness level. As for me, I am watching what the government is doing but I do not listen to what the jealous opposition witches and wizards are saying because I have known people who could be starring at an open door and not realizing it is opened, let alone its significance. President Nana Akufo Addo knows the significance of an open door. You only follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there used to be walls. (Me and my poetic rhymes!). What I am expecting the Minister in charge of fisheries to do is to travel down memory lane and see what happened in Ghana between 1973 and 1974. Immediately General Kutu Acheampong took over power in 1972, fisher folks along the coastal areas begun experiencing bumper harvest of fish, especially herrings. Between 1973 and 1974, our fisher folks could not contain the bumper harvest and so some of them had to sail back to sea to jettison their catch because we had no cold stores to keep the fishes. Fishmongers became so tired of drying fish and decided to abandon fishes they bought at the beaches. In those days, we were not importing fish from abroad and yet we had enough fish for home consumption. If the minister puts things right and makes premix fuel available to the fishermen at highly subsidized prices and cheap outboard motors, I have no doubt that what happened between 1973 to 1974 could be repeated. In fact, if the minister musters the courage and drives away these Korean and Chinese pair-trawlers from our territorial waters, we will no more import fish from Norway where some of the imported fishes were kept in cold store for more than 'two decades' before they were brought to Africa to sell. If we set our priorities right, stop buying V8 luxurious cars and unnecessary foreign travels and decide to pump more money into the Ministry of Fisheries, things can be turned around. We don't have to listen to the NDC because since they lost the 2016 general election miserably, they have been acting like wounded lions. They bark, they yell, they shout and they kick like mad cows from Bole. Nearly one year after losing the election, they have not come into terms with reality. The reality is that Ghanaians rejected them because of the way they mismanaged the economy and brought hardship to the good people of this country. They have deliberately decided not to see anything good about the Nana Addo-led administration. Happily Ghanaians who are in the majority can read between the lines. What the president and his team should do is to refuse to fight the current. They should rather let the current have their way with them. The president should not question these losers because he has trained himself and prepared over the years for this moment and he should not allow himself to be distracted. In the run-up to the 2016 general election, Nana Akufo Addo was insulted, ridiculed and taken to the cleaners by men and women of straw and yet he stayed cool as he went around campaigning. The President should remember that when you get to the top, another wave will pound you again and this is exactly what the desperate NDC losers are doing. They are simply vexation to the spirit. Are you aware cigar makes old men stronger? Try one stick of Havana a day and see. From Eric Bawah The unprecedented youth demonstration involving both sides of the chieftaincy divide-Abudu and Andani- in Yendi last Monday has sent a clear and unambiguous message to the major players in the imbroglio. The Dagbon crisis has remained one of the longest and most intractable chieftaincy disputes in the country; its fallouts far-reaching and expensive. The youth, and indeed many adults, have spoken and their word has resonated across the nation the bottom-line of which is we have had enough of it, we need peace now. They did not mince words in the petition they presented to the District Chief Executive Officer for onward delivery to the appropriate quarters and peace-starved people of Dagbon and Ghanaians in general are supporting them in their street approach to the quest for peace in this troubled part of the country. So much blood, funds and sacrifice have gone into the quest for peace in Dagbon yet so little has been achieved in terms of return to normalcy. The sandbags, now the facade of the reconstructed Gbewa Palace bespeaks of the fragile peace prevailing in Yendi and for that matter Dagbon the town representing the spirit of this great kingdom. We stand shoulder to shoulder with those who seek peace and not war because that is a prerequisite for development in every society. War saps the energy of the people and drains the kitty of the state. There is belligerence fatigue in Dagbon and the youth have showed it loud and clear. To those who championed this noble cause, we ask that they continue the search for peace regardless of the landmines lurking in the corners. This being the first time that such a move is being taken by the youth who have vowed to continue until peace is achieved and sustained, we ask that the Committee of Eminent Persons who have been tasked with managing the quest for peace to engage them. They are young and vibrant and ready to do whatever it takes to return normalcy to Dagbon. It took them weeks, if not months, of arranging for the successful march which when it all ended peacefully attracted the commendation of non-Dagombas who could not believe what they were seeing in pictures. Yes, Dagbon is hungry for peace. The negative effects of crisis in a given land in terms of lost development and the enhancement of poverty and other social challenges are enormous. With the flagship programmes of the NPP government about to commence across the country, this is not the time to allow such bloodcurdling encounters to stand in the way of the people. That is why Dagbon youth are angry and it is legitimate. Posterity will judge whoever stands in the way between these youth and their ultimate goal of peace and tranquility in Dagbon. There are killjoys who would attempt such a cause but no amount of such antics can stop the resolve of a people to change their lot. These noble youth of Dagbon, by their action, could do what others failed to do in altering the negative trend which had rendered peace dangerously elusive for decades. We wish them Godspeed. Every now and then theres a news report on highway robbery on the high ways across most parts of the country. The victims of these highway robbers are passengers who are travelling from one district to another or from one region to the other. Highway robbery has become a phenomenon that the police seem unable to bring to an end. Its no pleasant experience to be robbed of ones belongings and money. Its worse when these victims are killed or raped in the course of the robbery. These highway robbers attack their victims on highways where theres no mobile phone network and ask the driver to drive into the nearby bushes along the road, there the passengers are robbed of their money and belongings. The issue of poor mobile phone network should ring a bell. The mobile network communication companies have more to do since most parts of the country are unreachable in spite of the heavy presence and catchy advertisement of being across the country. Its crucial that the mobile phone network is improved to promote communication across the length and breadth of the country. Rapid information sharing is critical to foiling the operation of these highway robbers. In all of this, the Ghana Police Service plays a major role. The police have been mandated by law to protect lives and properties. Unfortunately, therere a number of unfavourable conditions that the police officer who is on duty on the highway finds him or herself in. The unfavourable conditions include: the harsh conditions of the weather, sleeping in tents in lonely places making them vulnerable to snakes and scorpions, not having access to potable water and good food, not having access to proper sanitation, and they have no access to adequate vehicles and bullet proof vests. Unfortunately the men and women in the police service cant complain because the very moment an officer complains about these challenges that are faced in the line of duty, its misconstrued as an attempt to challenge the status quo. The police officer works with the mentality of the proverbial monkey who says: I see no evil. I hear no evil. I speak no evil Sadly, the police hierarchy pretends not to know about the plight of the officers in the line of duty on the highways. But this posture puts the officers at a disadvantage in the performance of their legally mandated duty of protecting lives and properties. This further gives a field day to the criminals in highway robbery. How does it feel to have a police escort whose rifle is malfunctioning while he is travelling with passengers from Sawla to Fufuso or from Bolgatanga to Wa through Navrongo-Tumu stretch? The feeling is mutual. This is the reality of the police officer who is on duty to protect citizens on the highway. Quite recently the Inspector General of Police made some pronouncements on changing the face of the Ghana Police Service. Well this is welcoming. The men and women of the police service must be motivated to fight crime. In jurisdictions where the safety of the citizenry goes beyond words, the police service creates an atmosphere that is conducive for the officer to be motivated enough to fight crime and perform the core mandate of protecting lives and properties. Again, it was recently announced that the Ghana Police service ranks 8th in Africa. In spite of the challenges that confront the Police service we seem to be among the best ten. Theres more to be done to make the Ghanaian Police officer a world class officer. Due to the changing trend of society and peoples activities the Ghana Police Service needs to offer refresher courses for its men and women periodically. When the police officer receives periodic refresher courses on the changing trends of society, best practices of combating crime, on laws of the land, human rights and relating with the public, it will reflect in the positive image of the Ghana Police Service. The need to give attention to the plight of the police officer on duty on the highway is a matter of course. When the police officer is adequately resourced and motivated, it reflects positively in the performance of his or her duty. The writer is a freelance journalist. [email protected]/[email protected] At least 30 people were killed when farmers attacked herdsmen in northeast Nigeria's Adamawa state, police told AFP on Wednesday. State police spokesman Othman Abubakar said farmers from the Christian Bachama ethnic group stormed four settlements of Muslim Fulani herders in Numan district on Monday, hacking residents and burning homes. "We have so far recovered 30 bodies from the affected villages but the toll is not conclusive as rescue teams are still combing the bushes in the area for more bodies," he said. A man-hunt had been launched for the assailants, he added. "The deputy governor visited the villages and an investigation has commenced to unravel the cause of the attack and bring the perpetrators to justice," he said. Fulani community leaders gave higher tolls from the incident, the latest in a long-running series of clashes between farmers and herders across Nigeria. Mafindi Danburam, head of the herders' union in Adamawa, said the farmers stormed the villages of Kikan, Kodomun, Shafaran and Ketowal at about 1:00 pm (1200 GMT) on Monday, "killing women and children" and burning homes. "From our estimation more than 60 women and children were slaughtered in the attack, with some of them pursued inside the bush and killed while they tried to flee," he added. The Fulanis had taken their cattle for grazing while others had gone to the market when the villages were attacked. Aminu Yakub, in charge of Numan's central mosque, said 47 bodies were buried on Tuesday in line with the Muslim tradition. "We claimed 47 bodies of women and children from the morgue at the general hospital for burial, including months-old babies," he said. Numan, which lies on the Benue River some 70 kilometres (45 miles) west from the state capital, Yola, is Adamawa's farming and herding hub, with fertile land and fresh water. Disputes over grazing and water rights have persisted between the indigenous Bachama farmers and settler Fulani herders, leading to periodic violence. Reports of Monday's attack came a day after at least 50 worshippers were killed in a suicide bombing in a mosque in Mubi, also in Adamawa state. Although no group has claimed responsibility, the bombing bore the hallmarks of Boko Haram Islamists who are waging a jihadist uprising in Nigeria's northeast. Nigeria's central states have been riven for decades with ethnic, sectarian and religious violence linked to tensions between farmers and herders over land and water. In September, the International Crisis Group said some 2,500 people were killed and tens of thousands forced from their homes, as unrest spread southwards from central and northern states. It warned the deadly clashes threatened the country's national security. 22.11.2017 LISTEN President of GhIE, Ing Carlien Chedid (seated middle), past Presidents and Council members pose with the newly inducted engineers after the ceremony President of the Ghana Institute of Engineering (GhIE), Ing Carlien Bou-Chedid has called on government to engage qualified engineers to develop the country's infrastructure. She stressed the need to engage engineers with the requisite licences who belong to accredited professional bodies as required by law to undertake projects to create jobs and ensure value for money. She said government's flagship projects like the 'One District, One Factory, 'One District, One Warehouse, as well as modernization of the rail system and national sanitation campaign, among others, need certified engineers to oversee every phase of construction projects. Ing. Bou-Chedid made the call at the 18th induction ceremony in Accra at the Engineers Centre, Roman Ridge on Tuesday, 14th November, 2017, to add 253 new engineers. The new inductees were made up of 80 Civil Technical Engineers, 49 Mechanical & Agric Engineers, 28 Chemical & Mining Engineers and 96 Electrical & Electronic Engineers. She reminded the newly-inducted engineers to stay abreast with fast growing trends of technology. You are expected to undertake continuous development programmes annually before having your licenses renewed. This is a basic requirement to ensure you are always abreast with the latest advancements in your area of specialty. Development is taking place very fast and there are new and more efficient methods of performing many engineering activities coming up each day. Ing Kwasi Kwakwa, FGhIE, admonished the new engineers to learn to serve and venture into other areas of specialty. Outside the institution, you can rise into national office by going into active politics. There are so few engineers up there and that accounts for the perception that engineers appear anonymous in national life and named a few as Ing Yaw Osafo Maafo, Senior Minister; Ing. Owusu Adiomi, Deputy Minister of Roads & Highways. He reiterated that Ghana would go nowhere without engineering practitioners and stated that the nation's development should be hinged on indigenous engineers. Engineering has been and continues to be the backbone for the development and progress of a nation. President of GhIE, Ing Carlien Chedid (seated middle), past Presidents and Council members pose with the newly inducted engineers after the ceremony By Emmanuel Kubi Nicknamed "the Crocodile" for his ruthlessness, Emmerson Mnangagwa who will take over as Zimbabwe's next president, is a hardliner with ties to the military who could prove as authoritarian as his mentor Robert Mugabe. It was his political ambition to take over which set off a bitter succession battle between him and Grace, the president's 52-year-old wife, triggering the crisis that toppled the autocrat, who resigned on Tuesday. When Mnangagwa was dismissed as vice president by Mugabe on November 6, it initially looked like he'd been outfoxed by the first lady, forcing him to flee the country. But the situation quickly turned on its head, with his dismissal triggering a military takeover and mass street protests, which ended with Mugabe's ouster and Mnangagwa catapulted to centre stage. With the nation still reeling from Mugabe's lightning demise, the 75-year-old was to make a triumphant return home on Wednesday and be sworn in as president on Friday. A former close Mugabe ally, Mnangagwa's fall from grace appears to have been engineered by the first lady, who lobbied her husband to back her own political ambitions. It was the climax of a long feud between the pair over who would replace the ailing and increasingly frail 93-year-old leader. But Mnangagwa's dismissal alarmed the army, with the generals quickly moving in, staging a military takeover which brought him down within days. Political veteran Enraging Grace? Zimbabwe's former first lady was locked in a bitter succession battle with vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa over who would succeed her husband Mnangagwa's rise to the top comes after decades of experience under Mugabe since Zimbabwe won independence from Britain in 1980. In the early days, Mugabe appointed Mnangagwa, a young trainee lawyer, as Zimbabwe's first minister for national security. After that, he held a host of different cabinet positions -- but relations between him and his political mentor were not always easy, and the younger man was no stranger to presidential purges. In 2004, he lost his post as administrative secretary in the ruling ZANU-PF after being accused of openly angling for the post of vice president. Violence and intimidation But it was during the 2008 elections that his fortunes really began to change, when he was serving as head of Mugabe's election campaign. Mugabe lost the first round vote, and Mnangagwa allegedly supervised the wave of violence and intimidation that forced the opposition to pull out of the run-off vote. In the same year, he took over as head of the Joint Operations Command, a committee of security chiefs which was accused by rights groups of organising violence to crush dissent. He was targeted by EU and US sanctions imposed on Mugabe and his close allies over the elections and the ensuing violence but was promptly handed control of the powerful defence ministry. A young fighter Emmerson Mnangagwa was sacked as vice president on November 6, with Robert Mugabe accusing him of disloyalty Born in the southwestern Zvishavane district on September 15, 1942, Mnangagwa completed his early education in Zimbabwe before his family relocated to neighbouring Zambia. His grandfather was a traditional leader and his father a political agitator for the repeal of colonial laws that disadvantaged blacks. In 1966, Mnangagwa joined the struggle for independence from Britain, becoming one of the young combatants who helped direct the war after undergoing training in China and Egypt. He was arrested and sentenced to death but his sentence was later commuted to 10 years in prison because of his young age. After independence in 1980, he directed a brutal crackdown on opposition supporters that claimed thousands of lives in the Matabeleland and Midlands provinces. The Gukurahundi massacres remain the biggest scar on his reputation among many Zimbabweans. He once remarked that he had been taught to "destroy and kill" -- although he later claimed to be a born-again Christian. RACINE The race is on for the 66th Assembly District seat, and it could end up being decided in the primary. Cory Mason announced his resignation from his Assembly seat when he was sworn in as the mayor of Racine on Nov. 7. Following his announcement, Gov. Scott Walker declared a special election to determine who will fill Masons seat through January 2019. Masons former aide, Greta Neubauer, a 26-year-old Racine native, was the first to enter the race on Nov. 9. Neubauer is the daughter of former state representative Jeff Neubauer and Wisconsin Court of Appeals Judge Lisa Neubauer. I am running for State Assembly because we need the next generation of leaders to stand up to the powerful special interests that buy our politicians and corrupt our democracy, Neubauer wrote in her candidacy announcement. Together we can enact a Green New Deal that provides living wage jobs and protects our environment. On Nov. 15, Racine 3rd District Alderman John Tate II announced he would also run. The 32-year-old social worker and lifelong Racine resident was elected to represent District 3 in April. As a social worker and an alderman for the 3rd District, I see through the eyes of my clients and constituents. And as a lifelong Racine resident, I have seen first-hand the toll that shuttered factories and right-wing attacks have taken on our county, Tate wrote in a Facebook announcement of his candidacy. I will fight every day to bring family-supporting jobs to our neighbors and communities. Both Neubauer and Tate are running as Democrats, so a primary is set to take place on Dec. 19. The general election is scheduled for Jan. 16. Races elsewhere Two other state Legislature special elections will be held on the same date. Senate District 10 in northwest Wisconsin will elect a successor for Sen. Sheila Harsdorf, R-River Falls, who resigned to join Walkers administration as his secretary of agriculture, trade and consumer protection. Assembly District 58 will elect someone to fill the late state Rep. Robert Gannons seat, after Gannon, R-Slinger, died on Oct. 3. Reid Magney, the Election Commissions public information officer, said the special election dates were set partly because of state law, which states special elections cannot be held between the February primary and the April election. State law is very specific on when special elections can and cannot occur, said Magney. Another factor was that the Wisconsin Legislature opens its spring session in early January. Those areas would be without a representative until the first week of April had (Walker) waited, said Magney. The deadline to file as a candidate with the states Election Commission was at 5 p.m. on Tuesday. For the 66th District, no Republican or independent contenders registered by that deadline. Magney said theres still time for a write-candidate to file their paperwork and be counted. Otherwise, Masons successor could be determined by the Dec. 19 primary. Equatorial Guinea's constitutional court has confirmed the results of this month's elections in which the ruling party secured a landslide victory with 92 percent of the vote. In an announcement late Tuesday, the court said it had validated the outcome of the November 12 poll in which the Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE) and its allies won all 75 senate seats and 99 of the 100 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of parliament. It also won all of the mayoral seats across the country, in a ballot widely criticised by the opposition as fraudulent. The opposition Citizens for Innovation (CI) won 5.77 percent of the vote and will have a single MP. The PDGE has dominated the parliament of the tiny oil-rich country since single-party rule was scrapped in 1991. It is the party of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, Africa's longest-serving leader, who has ruled the former Spanish colony for 38 years and been repeatedly accused of abuses by human rights groups. An opposition coalition of the Union of the Centre-Right (UCD) and Convergence for Social Democracy (CPDS) took 2.23 percent of the vote -- not enough to gain an elected representative. Around 273,502 people took part in the election, with turnout around 84 percent, according to the electoral commission. Equatorial Guinea, which borders Cameroon and Gabon, is one of sub-Sahara's biggest oil producers but a large proportion of its 1.2 million population still lives in poverty. More than 59 years since the Volta region was added to Ghana, leading chiefs in the region want the region divided. The Volta region is made up of Ewes who cover the southern half of the region and an amalgam of Guans, Buems and Akans, in the Northern half. Forming a Joint Consultative Committee, the chiefs and opinion leaders have a representative presenting arguments to the Commission of Enquiry tasked to create new regions. The chiefs want the carved out area to be called the Oti region and have tasked Secretary of the Joint Consultative Committee Kweku Addeah to make their case as convincingly as possible. At a closed door meeting at the Osu Castle, journalists would not be able to assess how convincing the arguments were as the encounter was in-camera. But laughter could occasionally ripple through the conference room where the petitioners faced Justice Stephen Brobbey and eight others who form the Commission of Enquiry. Emerging hours later, the Secretary of the Joint Consultative Committee Kweku Addeah fed the media with a heavily summarized version of his arguments. He said the neglect the Oti area suffers is shocking vis-a-vis the natural resource contribution to the country. He said Ghana's cashcow -cocoa beans - hauled out of the region is not commensurate with the development projects undertaken in the area. There is also coffee and cola to make the region three-pronged cash crop contribution complete. The measure of their neglect, he said, is seen in how the Oti area can hardly boast of any major political appointment of residents from the area. Kweku Addeah believes the neglect is enough and development can come faster if the Oti region is created. There would be a regional minister and a whole government bureaucracy and a good budgetary allocations moved in there to trigger development projects, businesses and other construction works. The topography of the Volta region is even making a case for the split because the Oti river divides the region into the haves in the South where the regional capital Ho is located and the haves-not in the Northern area. To conduct any critical official business with the government, people have to contend with crossing the Oti river to get to the capital, Ho. In essence, the people from the North and South of the Volta region have not really felt the regional cohesion envisioned by the creators of the region. If the 30-year old struggle to divide the Volta region gets the nod, the chiefs want the new Oti region to include the Jasikan district, Biakoye district, Kadjebi district, Nkwanta North and south and Krachie East, West and Ntsumuru districts. Also included are Santrokofi, Akpafu, Likpe and Lolobi traditional areas all in the Hohoe municipality. The Commission will submit their report to the president and a referendum is expected to be held to finalise the creation. If the referendum happens, it will be the second in the Volta region after the 1956 Plebiscite effectively added the Trans-Volta Togoland controlled by the British to Ghana. Beirut Freedom Lions Club of District 35, in collaboration with Lebanese the community in Ghana, has launched a joint project for implanting and distributing over 100 ear aid apparel worth $400,000 to persons with hearing impairment freely in Ghana. The Beirut Freedom Lions Club of Lebanon is sponsoring 85 percent of the project and the Lebanese community and companies in Ghana committing 15 percent. The First Lady, Rebecca Akufo-Addo, at the launch at the Kempiski Hotel, Accra on Friday commended the Beirut Lions Club highly for the massive support. She pledged the Rebecca Foundation's support for the initiative. Also at the launch was the Lebanese Ambassador to Ghana, Ali Halabi, who pointed out that the event was of particular importance to him due to the fact that it demonstrates the power of what collaboration and unity could do for humanity. He said, The gift of hearing is something which most of us have taken for granted. Unfortunately, for these vulnerable ones, this hasn't been the case. It is, therefore, a special feeling to witness and feel the happiness on the faces of these unfortunate Ghanaians as they, too, enjoy God's wonderful gift of hearing. Beirut Freedom Lions Club president, Lion Raja Jabbour, indicated that his outfit which is based in Lebanon has the passion for restoring hearing aid and considers it as its main objective. He mentioned that the club's passion stirred him to approach Mr Halabi and the Lebanese community, hence the gesture. And touching on statistics regarding hearing impairment, he said, First of all, 75 percent of males and females that have hearing problems are below 35 years, hundreds of needy people as statistically noted by the local hospitals need hearing aid but they cannot afford it, example Korle-Bu Hospital has 740 cases of hearing problems that they are helpless and fundless to do. The event received support from Interplast, Azar Paints, Radwan Dakmak, Samir Engineering, Apollo Cap Ghana Limited, Latex Foam and Marina Mall. Nungua Senior High School faces an imminent shut down over poor sanitation facilities including toilets for students. The sanitation department of the Ledzokuku Krowor Municipal Assembly (LEKMA) has summoned the school authorities over the situation. The school is likely to be closed on Friday, November 24, 2017 which is likely to affect some 1500 students. The headmistress of the school, Mrs Cecelia Asabea Boateng, has appealed to authorities to help address the poor sanitation condition of the school. 22.11.2017 LISTEN Introduction The phrases ON BEHALF OF and IN BEHALF OF are similar and worthy of literary discourse. This is to establish their semantic and grammatical validity, the differences between them in usage, and the specific varieties of English American or British each is suitable for. The discourse is NOT intended to engage in value judgment or verbal pyrotechnics about the phrases. At the end of it, the choice will be the readers, depending on the appropriate usage in the appropriate context. Learning Outcomes After going through this discourse, fellow learners and readers should be able to understand the appropriate usage of: ON BEHALF OF and IN BEHALF OF. Illustration ON BEHALF OF is commonly said, and it is correct. IN BEHALF OF is hardly used, but it is correct. Hahahahahaha! Dear reader, dont be confused! Yes the two phrases are grammatically right but semantically different. In other words, they have different meanings, although they both belong to the same grammatical class of prepositional phrases. According to THE AMERICAN HERITAGE BOOK OF ENGLISH USAGE, ON BEHALF OF means as agent of or on the part of. Examples in usage: ON BEHALF of Ghanaian Muslims, the National Chief Imam commissioned a mosque at Tamale Technical University (TaTU) last week. Safurah has received the award of Best Servant ON BEHALF of her husband, Alhaji Ayah. In addition, THE AMERICAN HERITAGE BOOK OF ENGLISH USAGE cites IN BEHALF OF to mean for the benefit of. Examples in usage: The Dagbon Youth Association (DAYA) has launched a fundraising project IN BEHALF of victims of fire outbreak at Tamale Market. The Northern Students Union (NORSU) has organized extra classes IN BEHALF of students of Senior High schools across the country. The Third Edition of Oxford Dictionary of English edited by Angus Sevenson corroborates the American authority, but singles out IN BEHALF OF as American usage. Among other things, the dictionary defines ON BEHALF OF as as representative of, on the part of, and done by. Conclusion In the light of the above discussion, it has become clear that none of the two phrases under review ON BEHALF OF and in BEHALF OF is better than the other. What is better than both of them is the ability to understand them well and use them appropriately. Allah is the Best Grammarian. Dedication This discourse is dedicated to a lovely brother and senior servant, Idrisu Ayatullah, who has added value to his credentials with Executive Master's in Business Administration (EMBA) from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). May Allah bless his efforts. May this achievement be another source of inspiration to the younger ones in the family. Ameen. References James, C. (1998). Errors in language learning and use. London: Routledge. Oxford dictionary of English. (2010). (3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. The American heritage book of English usage. (1996). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. Dr. Abubakar Mohammed Marzuq Azimdoo, Lecturer, University of Applied Management, Germany - Ghana Campus, McCarthy Hill, Accra. 22.11.2017 LISTEN Accra, Nov. 22, CDA Consult - Ghana Grains Council (GGC) and the fully integrated Financial and Commodities Ecosystem (FinComEco) have signed a Master Collaboration Agreement (MCA) to jointly develop a range of platforms, projects and initiatives in the agricultural commodity markets sector, especially for grains and legumes in Ghana. In a statement to the Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult) in Accra signed by Mr Hirander Misra, Founder and Deputy Chairman of FinComEco, said the MCA seeks to link agriculture to the latest financial technology. He said the joint venture will facilitate grain and legume crop value chain efficiencies through provision of strategic services including electronic warehouse receipts enablement, financing, standards, training and capacity building and the provision of marketing information. Mr Misra explained that the GGC and FinComEco will also aim to work with development organisations such as World Bank Group, research bodies and local private sector partners to ensure the success of the collaboration for the benefit of the Ghanaian agricultural sector and associated trading with related agri-financing facilitation. He said the aim is to develop an effective strategic working alignment with the Ministry of Trade and Industry to operationalise the Ghana Commodity Exchange (GCX), when it becomes operational. He said FinComEco will also provide global best practices in managing robust warehouse receipt systems and other solutions as part of the wider FinComEco model. This includes distribution of third party agri-finance and electronic banking facilitation enabled by scalable technology supported by its partner GMEX Group, which aims be integrated into the commodity exchange ecosystem in due course. We are delighted to be working with GGC to bring the FinComEco initiative to Ghana. Our unique collaborative approach is delivering best-of-breed technology, standards and inputs including seeds, fertilisers and pesticides to link the supply to demand agricultural value chain, he said. Mr Gideon Aboagye, GGC Chairman noted: As a local giant in the promotion of Warehouse Receipt System (WRS) in Ghana, collaborating with FinComEco, a company with an international reputation in the ecosystem, is the right decision to move WRS to a different level, as we move towards the operationalising the emerging commodities exchange. He said GGC is a private sector-led initiative formed with initial funding from USAIDs ATP and ADVANCE projects. It is a body formed by leaders in the grains business with the aim of positively intervening in the grains and legume value chain to achieve improvement in productivity, quality and greater commercialisation of the industry. Mr Aboagye said the GGC oversees 28 certified warehouses across the country, with 99 members. Additionally, its advocacy relationship with government and public institutions will enable the collaboration to help facilitate extended market access and influence policy change, he said. He said GCCs objectives include the responsibility to facilitating grain and legume value chain efficiency in Ghana through the provision of strategic value-added services including regulated warehouse receipting, financing, training and capacity building, provision of marketing information and other value-added services including market linkages, as well as policy change interventions for the agricultural industry. The WRS is responsible for certifying and enforcing agreed standards for the grains industry. Increased quality, productivity and profitability by positive interventions within the grains value chain. FinComEco, is a financial and commodities ecosystem is fostering financial inclusion with social responsibility in collaboration with local stake-holders, development organisations, governments and the private sector with the aim of improving food security and economic diversity. The new electronic commodities exchange solution is establishing and reinvigorating local spot exchanges and enabling trade across multiple regions with a focus on the agricultural sector to create a holistic secure financial system. 22.11.2017 LISTEN A law lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Dennis Adjei Dwomoh, has called for more amendments to Ghanas justice system where juveniles are concerned. Speaking on Joy FMs Super Morning Show on Tuesday, he stated that the countrys legal system does not protect children as much as it needs to do, when they become victims of crimes like sexual abuse. "When the child is the offender, the law makes provisions that the case should be trashed within six months but the law is mute on what should be done in the case of the child being the victim, I think the same provision should be made that the case should be dealt with within 6 months so such cases do not drag for long," he said. He stated also that, the court ambiance is intimidating for some children and this can impede smooth proceedings. Besides the ambiance, the pressure on the courts makes it difficult for the cases to be dealt with in time and this causes tiredness and stress to the kids. Even as a lawyer I am so tired when I have to wait for one or two hours for my case to be called and that makes me tired, so how will a child who is already traumatized feel, he asked. He suggested that the hearing of such sexual abuse cases against children be shifted to Saturdays to decrease the pressure on the victims and also fast-track the process. Eliza Olympio from the Coalition Against Sexual Abuse, who was also on the show stated that publishing the sexual offenders' list which is currently privy to the state (police) will help parents protect children from such people. Currently the list exists but you will have to apply to see if someones name is on it or not, he said. Listen to the audio: Story by Ghana| Myjoyonline.com| Oswald K. Azumah Even before Robert Mugabe's resignation, many Zimbabweans tempered their yearning for his downfall with the knowledge that his likely successor has a similar reputation for brutality and corruption. Emmerson Mnangagwa, who until recently was one of Mugabe's longest-serving and closest allies, will be sworn in as the new president on Friday offering Zimbabwe the chance to open a new chapter. But his career as a hardline minister in the ZANU-PF party points to a new leader who could be just as keen to suppress opposition voices, restrict freedoms and govern with an iron fist. "It's a great relief that he is out of the way, but we shouldn't get too excited about the new guy," Patrick Moyo, a 38-year-old bank worker told AFP. "People must not forget his past." Mnangagwa's past allegedly includes two of the most infamous episodes of state-sponsored violence during Mugabe's reign -- both of which he is accused of overseeing. After independence in 1980, Mnangagwa, then the state security minister, directed the "Gukurahundi" massacres of supposed dissidents in the Matabeleland and Midlands provinces. The government, which drew most of its support from the ethnic Shona majority, unleashed the North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade on the Ndebele people leaving an estimated 20,000 people dead and deep scars on the national psyche. 'Mugabe's enforcer' Emmerson Mnangagwa, seen here in Harare earlier in the year, has been one of Mugabe's closest allies In the 2008 election, Mnangagwa was also seen as the architect of the wave of deadly violence and intimidation that forced the opposition to pull out of a run-off vote which Mugabe risked losing. "This is a change of a leader within the same authoritarian system of ZANU-PF backed by the military," Dewa Mavhinga, southern African director of Human Rights Watch, told AFP. "It's unlikely that there will be significant changes because Mnangagwa was Mugabe's enforcer. He is likely to continue as far as abuses, impunity and lack of democratic change are concerned. "He has to protect those who have been implicated in abuses because it is essentially the same team." Anthoni van Nieuwkerk, a politics professor at Wits University in Johannesburg, described Mnangagwa, 75, as having "blood on his hands". "He is not an angel or a democrat by any definition," Van Nieuwkerk said. "He is an old politician with significant support inside the military and inside the ruling party." Other accusations against Mnangagwa include his alleged involvement in illegal gold and diamond mining that has helped fund the ZANU-PF regime as well as made him a wealthy man. He is known as "The Crocodile" -- both for his ruthlessness and his membership of "The Crocodile Gang", a sabotage unit during the independence war against British colonial rule. 'Another dictator'? "We need a complete overhaul, not just the removal of one person at the top. With any elements of ZANU-PF still in power, I doubt that we will move forward," said Oscar Muponda, an office worker in the capital. "We hate ZANU-PF and we don't want to replace a dictator with another dictator." Mnangagwa was previously targeted by US and EU sanctions but is no longer blacklisted. Despite his record, international diplomats have built a working relationship with him as a likely future leader who may usher in limited reforms. He could also head a national unity government that would include opposition leaders and rule the country for some years before new elections. Many hope he could at least bring rapid economic growth after Mugabe's "indigenisation" policies and farm seizures saw investors flee, production collapse and unemployment rise to over 90 percent. Under Mnangagwa, there could be "economic proposals aimed at Zimbabwe's re-engagement with the international community," said London-based analyst IHS Markit. It is a hope that many Zimbabweans are clinging to as Mnangagwa prepares to take his oath of office. "The main concern is about the financial crisis," said Berry Makiyi, 35, an electrical engineering entrepreneur. "He should tackle this issue first." bgs-chp-sn-fj/gw/hmw 22.11.2017 LISTEN Former First Vice President of the International Criminal Court, and a Judge Her Excellency Justice Akua Kuenyehia has appealed to parents and teachers to encourage their children and students to make reading a habit. According to her reading is the mother of all success. Thus the need to read and read extensively for the development of the well-being of the citizenry cannot be overemphasised. Judge Kuenyehia as she is affectionately called made the appealed at the launch of two books: "WISDOM, FAITH AND A SONG and, THEY TOUCHED US FOR GOOD" authored by the Board Chairman of The BEIGE Bank (TBB) Mr Kofi Otutu Adu Labi at the Victory Presbyterian Church in Accra. The learned and international acclaimed judge remained the gathering how indispensable reading is to the acquisition of knowledge. H E Judge Kuenyehia explained that in her early days in school she could vividly described how the various cities in Australia and countries looks like even though she had never travelled before. "I remember people asking whether I had been in Australia before and I tell no, I got to know more about Australia because I read from books and magazines which talks more it." She recalled. A Member of the Council of State and former Chief Justice of the Republic of Ghana, Her Ladyship Justice Mrs. Georgina Theodore Wood who chaired the function called on educational institutions and individuals to patronise the book since it was educative and would positively impact on the society. He described Mr Adu Labi as a pragmatic personality and a gift from God. In his address, the author, revealed that Ghana is facing a wisdom problem we all need to accept and address it as a people. This he maintained it will not go away if we behave like ostriches and pretend that we do not see it. Mr Adu Labi explained his current collection of books represent a passion in him to pass on what he consider valuable lessons from the School of Life through the tool of storytelling. According to him there are three threads which run through the book "WISDOM, FAITH AND A SONG". One is that wisdom will help you stand out from the crowd. The second thread, he noted was that everyone on earth need faith to survive in the world. For example faith in our future is what will propel us to invest in our lives and those of our children. This has deep implications for nation building. He indicated The third thread he said was a confirmation of the power of song. Saying "Indeed I have often found myself shedding silent tears whenever I sing some of the hymns highlighted in the book. A Methodist Minister friend of mine once called me the Weeping Prophet, on account of this tendency, a phenomenon which he says he experiences regularly himself. These lessons informed the choice of title. The second book, THEY TOUCHED US FOR GOOD, is dedicated to all the leaders who have influenced him and countless others for good, with special reference to Mr S. T. Ampofo, his secondary school Headmaster at Ofori Panin Secondary School. The thrust of the book is that leadership should be about influence. Influence that is purposeful, positively impactful, lasting and cross-generational. The examples from the lives of Mrs Joyce Asibey (or Auntie Joyce of Aburi Girls) BEPOW SO HANN, Mrs Clarice Howorth (or Miss Garnett or Garnie of Wesley Girls) LIVE PURE, S. T. Ampofo of Ofori Panin (still alive and sprightly at 92) MPAYINFO, Esther Afua Ocloo of Nkulenu Industries (A Bush Girl comes to town) and finally the story of my own mother, Yaa Okyerebea Adu Labi, who first wore shoes when she qualified as a specialist Home Science teacher from the Agogo Basel Mission Training College in 1939. The launch brought together Her Excellency Mrs Matilda Amissah-Arthur, wife of the former Vice President, Very Rev Professor Emmanuel Martey, immediate past Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Rev Col David Adoteye-Asare, Fafraha District Minister, Clergy, Mr Emmanuel Asiedu-Mante, former First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, and Dr Johnson Asiama, Second Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana among others. "Madam Chair, distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, last year we gave out partial proceeds from the book sales, after paying off publishing and printing costs, to three charitable causes. By the grace of God, we intend adopting the same approach this year. Accordingly, partial proceeds from the sales of the books being launched today will go to the following causes: Victory Evangelism, the Kairos Youth Foundation of Victory Congregation, the Akua Kuenyehia Foundation for Okyerebea Scholarships for girls from Abiriw and the Dansoman Emmanuel Presbyterian Church Scholarship Scheme" the author announced. Zimbabwe's incoming president Emmerson Mnangagwa told adoring crowds in Harare on Wednesday that they were witnessing "unfolding full democracy" as he returned to take power after Robert Mugabe stepped down after 37 years in power. It was his first public speech since Mugabe fired him on November 6 over a succession tussle with the former first lady, a move that prompted the military's intervention to force Mugabe from power, leading to his resignation on Tuesday. Mnangagwa, who has close ties to the army and the security establishment, will be sworn in as president at an inauguration ceremony on Friday, officials said. "Today we are witnessing the beginning of a new and unfolding full democracy in our country," he said in front of hundreds of supporters, some wearing shirts emblazoned with images of the 75-year-old leader. Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was sacked as vice president by Mugabe on November 6, is to be sworn in on Friday "We want to grow our economy, we want jobs... all patriotic Zimbabweans (should) come together, work together," he said. He was surrounded by a large security detail and arrived at the headquarters of the ruling ZANU-PF party in a presidential-style motorcade. Two young men held a stuffed crocodile above their heads, a reference to Mnangagwas's nickname, earned for his reputation for stealth and ruthlessness. 'All I want is job creation' He had flown in earlier to Harare's Manyame airbase from South Africa, and met key ZANU-PF officials before heading to the State House, the nerve centre of Zimbabwe's political establishment, for a briefing. "Great speech all round, can't describe how I felt seeing him after what he went through. All I want is job creation," said Remigio Mutero, 30, an unemployed IT graduate. Mugabe's iron grip ended Tuesday in a shock announcement to parliament, where MPs had convened to impeach the 93-year-old leader who dominated every aspect of Zimbabwean public life for decades. He had last been seen in public on Friday and had given a televised address on Sunday, but neither he nor his wife Grace have been seen since, with their whereabouts unknown. On the streets, the news that his long and often brutal leadership was over sparked wild celebrations which lasted late into the night, with crowds dancing and cheering amid a cacophony of car horns. Excited crowds A former key Mugabe ally, Mnangagwa had fled the country after his dismissal, saying he would not return without guarantees of his safety. His sacking was the result of an increasingly bitter succession battle with first lady Grace, who had been pushing to take over from her ageing husband. In a highly symbolic scene shortly after his resignation, a man took down a portrait of Mugabe from a wall inside the building where MPs had assembled for the extraordinary session to impeach the defiant president. Another person replaced it with an image of the ousted vice president. The end of Mugabe's authoriatian regime has sparked scenes of public euphoria not seen since independence in 1980 But critics describe Mnangagwa as a ruthless hard-liner who was behind years of state-sponsored violence, warning that he could prove just as authoritarian as his mentor. Rinaldo Depagne of the International Crisis Group said Mugabe's departure "does not necessarily mean more democracy". Profile of Emmerson Mnangagwa, who is to be sworn in as Zimbabwe's president on Friday Mugabe's resignation capped a chaotic week in which the military seized control and tens of thousands of Zimbabweans took to the streets in an unprecedented show of dissent against Mugabe, who left behind an economy in ruins. "We hope to be able to access our money from the bank come December and the US dollar must come back," said Talent Chamunorwa, 37, a brick seller. He was referring to Zimbabwe's chronic shortage of cash and a mistrusted scheme for "bond notes" whose value is supposed to be linked to the US currency, but which trade at a much lower rate in reality. Grace was his undoing Mugabe had ruled Zimbabwe almost unopposed since independence, and eventually became the world's oldest serving head of state. The long-awaited resignation of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe looks set to end the country's worst political crisis since independence in 1980 But efforts to position his 52-year-old wife Grace as his successor were his undoing. Although Mugabe's fate remains unknown, the ZANU-PF has said he deserves to be treated with respect after leading the country for nearly four decades. Last week's military takeover had all the hallmarks of a coup, but the generals stopped short of forcing Mugabe out, and Mnangagwa thanked army chief General Constantino Chiwenga during his speech on Wednesday. As the crisis grew, the ZANU-PF, an instrument of Mugabe's brutal reign, removed him as party leader and began parliamentary proceedings to have him impeached. 'Opportunity'? The international community hailed Mugabe's exit as a chance to reshape Zimbabwe's future, with the US and Britain calling Mugabe's resignation an "opportunity for Zimbabwe". The government of China, a major political and economic backer of Zimbabwe, described Mugabe as a "good friend of the Chinese people". But for most Zimbabweans, who had known life only under Mugabe, his time in power was defined by violent suppression, economic collapse and international isolation. rm-fj-sn-bgs/gw/js The Lagos State Police Command has disclosed that the 158 protesters and members of the Otodo-Gbame community who were arrested for breaching public peace during their procession has since 16th of November, 2017, been released. It was gathered that the protesters who were released at about 7PM, during their protest threw caution into the wind by blocking major roads and breaching public peace which resulted into serious panic by the members of the public. It later took the intervention of men of the Lagos State Police Command to calm the situation restoring peace and order. The Police also disclosed that those involved have also been made to take an undertaken embrace and maintain peace in any part of Lagos they find themselves. The command however appeal to members of the public that henceforth when demonstrating or airing their grievances, they should do so in a peaceful manner and must not constitute themselves in a manner likely to cause a breach of public peace as the command is committed to the safety of Lagosians generally. If there is one thing pretty Nollywood actress, Omotola Jalade, wants to be known for, it is not only about acting alone but a lover of fashion. The actress has not failed when it comes to dressing as she steps out looking lovely in outfit presented to her. Indeed, she is not just pretty but a modest fellow who is ready to protect the dignity of the African woman no matter what it cost her. She was a guest at the Heroes for Change initiative by Unilever Nigeria and she was the toast of many who could not take their eyes off her as she walked into the hall. Controversial Nigerian nudist, Maheeda, is a year older today precisely 35years of age and rather than spoil herself with drinks, it is a day to reflect on her life. She recalled how she had survived a bullet would which almost cost her life and broken bottles which was inside her body due to a robbery incident she encountered while returning from the club. About 10years ago when I was still living in Nigeria, I went to visit a friend of mine. Reaching his House I saw a sick girl outside on the floor helpless. I asked whats wrong they said she is sick but no money to take her to the hospital. I went inside the room but couldnt stay knowing that child reminds me of me being kept outside for my body to heal itself because we had no money for hospital. So I came out gave them money and ask them to take the Child to the hospital immediately!!! . They called me that evening that the child has been admitted in the hospital as soon as they reached. They thanked me and off the phone..... 3days latter while I was coming back from the club, I was attacked by gun men who shot at my car and a bullet hit me. The bullet went through my nose and stayed right where you can see on the scan pictures I just posted. And a big piece of glass went into my neck too as u can see on the scan pictures. We went to 2 hospitals that night only the 3rd accept me. They were scared I will die on them. I was bleeding like hell... I was coughing out glasses and blood which made me ask the nurses if I will make? Im a strong woman but for the first time in my life I asked someone if I will survive!!!!! But I did anyway the next day the little girl I helped called me from her own hospital bed to tell me she prayed for me that her brother told them immediately I was shot to pray for me and she did that I shouldnt worry nothing will happen to me!!! We both recovered and here I am today telling the story... so now if I say thank God for life, you will feel me better. I am 35 years today thank God for life and dont forget to be good to people, you might just be saving your own life/future!!!! Popular Yoruba movie producer cum actress, Ayoola kikelomo, will always seat back and smile with thanksgiving in her mouth appreciating God for a good year 2017. The year might have been a tough one for many including the actress but she has been able to pull through and her works have not gone unnoticed. She is currently in South Africa, and aside trying to come up with some good scripts and meeting up with friends, the actress was rewarded for her hardwork as she won an Award for Best Female Upcoming Actress Of The Year At TAMVAAS AWARDS 2017. Sharing the good news, the actress wrote, 2I was so shocked yesterday night when i received an Award Of Best Female Upcoming Actress Of The Year At TAMVAAS AWARDS 2017. A very big thanks to TAMVAAS for honouring me. I dedicate this award to God Almighty , my family, my fans home and abroad, my colleagues in industry both home and abroad. Mount Pleasant, SC (29464) Today Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Low 44F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Low 44F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. Three or four decades ago, it would have been unlikely for newspaper readers to see a Page A1 like the one that ran this week in The Journal Times. From top to bottom, there were stories chronicling the achievements of local people all of them women. The top headline of the day Wednesday was Neubauer wins primary and reported on the Democratic primary win of Greta Neubauer, which likely sets her up to win the general election and become the next state representative for the 66th District. Its possible the newspaper may have run a similar headline in the past, but that would have been about Neubauers father, Jeff, who was previously a state representative from the area, or her mother, Lisa, who is a judge on the Wisconsin Court of Appeals. Clearly, there is a lineage of public service in the family, but Greta, 26, worked her way up through jobs with a non-profit and then an internship with former legislator and now Racine Mayor Cory Mason. The dominant photo on Page A1 on Wednesday was of Samantha Logic at a ceremony at halftime of the Case-Horlick boys basketball game at Case High School, where she was honored for her playing days at Case by having her jersey number 22 retired. Logic lit up the court for four years at Case, and was named Associated Press Player of the Year in 2011 as a senior. She went on to play college ball at Iowa, where she was named third-team AP All America in 2015, and was drafted into the WNBA. She now plays in the Austrian Womens Basketball League. Rounding out the page was a story about Cathy Stepp, a former housebuilder from Yorkville. In part because of her frustrations dealing with government, Stepp got involved in state politics and was elected state senator representing Racine County in 2003 and served four years there before being tapped to head the state Department of Natural Resources, which she did for several years, reshaping it and making it more business friendly. Four months ago, she was named a deputy administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency regional office near Kansas City and last week was named to head the EPA Chicago regional office which oversees the upper Midwest and a good portion of the Great Lakes. In past days we might have said they all deserve a tip of the hat for their successes, but that seems both dated and probably a bit sexist as well. What they have done all three of them is muscle their way to achievements with hard work, dedication and talent in their own ways. And, by doing so, they have opened the doors to other success stories by other young women and maybe some young men as well. Perhaps Samantha Logic put it best in words when she said of her retired No. 22 jersey that will hang on the wall at Case High: I can only hope that it will inspire someone walking into the fieldhouse. Dreams can become a reality. I hope they also take into context sacrifices that have to be made to achieve that. A tip of the hat? These three are wearing the hat. They may not have broken the glass ceiling for women, but they have certainly put some cracks in it and their hard work and talent will pave the way for others to follow and that will benefit all of society. Review of CI.133 will aid in ... National Turkey Federation View Photos For those seeking a Thanksgiving plate, there are two table locations this evening. Daryl Sarina, Christian Heights Business Administrator and Special Events Coordinator, was Wednesdays KVML Newsmaker of the Day. Tonight, from 5:30PM to 7:00PM, Christian Heights Church and The Heart Rock Coffee Company (formally known as Heart Rock Cafe) are hosting their annual Sit-Down Dinner. Meals will be available to take to someone in need and meals will be delivered to locations starting at 4:00PM if arrangements have been made. According to Sarina, This is a community event. Everyone is invited. Additionally, this year the Jamestown Hope Center, located at 10365 9th street, will offer kids activities beginning at 4 PM this afternoon which will be followed by a sit down meal from 5:30 to 7 PM. These events are not just limited to members of Christian Heights Church. For more information on to-go meals, call (209) 532-7305. The Newsmaker of the Day is heard every weekday morning at 6:45, 7:45 and 8:45 on AM 1450 and FM 102.7 KVML. By Georg Zachmann, a Senior Fellow at Bruegel and a member of the German Advisory Group in Ukraine and the German Economic Team in Belarus and Moldova. Prior to that he worked at the German Ministry of Finance and the German Institute for Economic Research in Berlin. Originally published at Bruegel Brexit promises pain for Ireland that could be cut off from the EU internal market and be left exposed to market instability in the UK. Georg Zachmann assesses the scale of the possible damage for Ireland, and how the UK and EU might use the special energy relations on the Irish island to commit to a pragmatic solution. Ireland is the EU member state that will be most impacted by Brexit. A particular case in point is the energy sector. Currently the Irish electricity and gas markets only physical connections are with the UK. So, after Brexit, these Irish markets would not be connected with the EU anymore. This has material implications. Adverse Effects for Irish Gas Customers Currently, Ireland imports about half of its gas consumption through the UK (the rest is produced domestically). While there is no reason to believe that these gas flows will be stopped after Brexit, there might be three possible adverse effects for Irish gas customers: The liquidity of the UK gas wholesale market (NBP) might suffer from falling under different regulations compared to its EU counterparts. This might translate into more volatile and somewhat higher prices. As Irish gas prices will remain tied to the UK gas market, this would also affect Irish consumers. The risks for Irish consumers would increase, as EU solidarity rules which imply that the UK would have to prioritise Irish household gas consumption over UK industrial consumption in a supply crisis situation would cease to apply (but the 1993 protocol between the network operators on dealing with gas emergencies on either island would remain untouched by Brexit). The likely most important implication of Brexit is that Ireland will be unable to continue to participate in the development of the common gas market once it is no longer connected to the EU. Being outside of this large, liquid and competitive market will not only imply higher and more volatile gas prices, but it will also affect the investment decisions of gas companies in Ireland (as access to the large EU market is an anchor of regulatory stability). Adverse Effects for the Irish Electricity Sector The same considerations apply for the electricity sector as for the gas sector. While the trading volume in electricity is smaller (as electricity is largely generated and consumed domestically), the long term implications for this sector are likely even bigger than for gas. Electricity markets are complex markets based on thousands of pages of rules on the obligations of individual players and the specifications of the traded products. The EU is rolling out a market design to all its member states to ensure the joint optimisation of the EU electricity system. That is, if the wind is blowing stronger in Portugal, a gas-fired power plant in the Netherlands might be signalled to reduce its production. If the UK is unable to stay in the internal market, Ireland would also be decoupled from it. Given the increasing role of renewables in the EU as a whole, and the unique wind patterns on the Irish West coast in particular, situations in which Ireland might want to export or import large volumes of cheap electricity on short notice will become more frequent. Consequently a decoupling of Ireland from the internal electricity market could imply a greater need to invest in the back-up capacity in Ireland, lower revenues for wind power exports, and hence more volatile and higher electricity prices for consumers. Source: Bruegel based on UK Government (2017). The Special Case of Northern Ireland However, the reliance of the Republic of Ireland on the UK is only one side of the story. On the other hand, Northern Ireland may also be significantly affected by Brexit. Northern Ireland imports electricity and gas from the Republic of Ireland and this dependency is set to increase as several power plants in Northern Ireland are expected to close. Furthermore, both parts of the Irish island share a Single Electricity Market (SEM), which is supposed to be further integrated with the EU internal electricity market. If Northern Ireland would have to leave this joint Irish electricity market, it would be too small to sustain a functioning electricity marketwith multiple competing suppliers and different types of plants for different demand situations. Hence, Northern Ireland is at risk of losing the benefits of a competitive electricity market and at the same time requires expensive extra capacity to ensure secure supplies. Conclusion Current discussions suggest that the UK will leave the internal energy market because of matters of principle on both sides: On the one hand the EU does not want to accept a special treatment of trade in specific sectors (no cherry-picking), while on the other hand the UK does not want to be bound by EU institutions that are crucial for the functioning of this market. The complex case of the Republic of Ireland might offer the UK and the EU27 an opportunity to still achieve this first-best solution. The EU might argue that accepting full internal energy market membership of the UK is the price to pay for allowing the Republic of Ireland to fully benefit from the EU internal energy market. At the same time the UK might find the loss of sovereignty that comes with accepting the EU internal energy market rules acceptable in order to ensure competitive energy supplies in Northern Ireland. The rest of the UK would also certainly benefit from being in the internal energy market. This mutual dependency between the UK, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland can be a credibility device for both sides, which might help convince investors of the stability of the arrangement by which the UK stays inside the EU internal energy market. Deborah James, djames@cepr.net, who facilitates the campaign on the WTO for the Our World Is Not for Sale network. Originally published at Alternet In the early 1990s, transnational corporations (TNCs) in the agriculture, services, pharmaceuticals, and manufacturing sectors each got agreements as part of the WTO to lock in rights for those companies to participate in markets under favorable conditions, while limiting the ability of governments to regulate and shape their economies. The topics corresponded to the corporate agenda at the time. Today, the biggest corporations are also seeking to lock in rights and handcuff public interest regulation through trade agreements, including the WTO. But today, the five biggest corporations are all from one sector: technology; and are all from one country: the United States. Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft, with support from other companies and the governments of Japan, Canada, and the EU, are seeking to rewrite the rules of the digital economy of the future by obtaining within the WTO a mandate to negotiate binding rules under the guise of e-commerce. However, the rules they are seeking go far beyond what most of us think of as e-commerce. Their top agenda is to ensure free for them access to the worlds most valuable resource the new oil, which is data. They want to be able to capture the billions of data points that we as digitally-connected humans produce on a daily basis, transfer the data wherever they want, and store them on servers in the United States. This would endanger privacy and data protections around the world, given the lack of legal protections on data in the US. Then they can process data into intelligence, which can be packaged and sold to third parties for large profits, akin to monopoly rents. It is also the raw material for artificial intelligence, which is based on the massive accumulation of data in order to train algorithms to make decisions. In the economy of the future, whoever owns the data will dominate the market. These companies are already being widely criticized for their monopolistic and oligopolistic behaviors, which would be consolidated under these proposals. Think about Google, which has become the largest collector of advertising revenue thanks to its ability to analyze and repackage our data. And think about Uber: it is the biggest transportation company in the world, yet it does not own cars and it does not employ drivers. Its main asset is the massive amount of data it has on how people move around cities. And with that first mover advantage, and with its army of lawyers and its massive scale, it can outcompete or simply buy up competitors around the world. The disruption Uber has caused in the transportation sector will shortly be seen in just about every sector you can imagine. The implications for jobs and workers are difficult to overestimate. Another key rule these corporations are seeking would allow digital services corporations to operate and profit within a country without having to maintain any type of physical or legal presence. But if a financial services firm goes bankrupt, how can depositors seek redress? If a worker (or contractor) for the companys rights are violated, or a consumer is defrauded, how can they get justice? And if the company does not have a domestic presence, how can it be properly taxed, so that it is on a level playing field with domestic businesses? Most countries require foreign services suppliers to maintain a commercial, physical presence in the country to operate for just these reasons; but Big Tech just sees it as a barrier to trade (and unaccountable profit). Public interest regulations would be seriously undermined. But thats not all. Big Tech also does not want to be required to benefit the local economies in which they profit. There are a series of policies that most countries employ to ensure that the local economy benefits from the presence of TNCs: requiring technology transfer, so they can grow their own startups; requiring local inputs, to help boost local businesses; and requiring the hiring of local people, to promote employment. But although every developed country used these strategies in order to develop, they seek to kick the ladder away so that developing countries cannot do the same, exacerbating inequality between countries. The business model of many of these companies is predicated on three strategies with serious negative social impacts: deregulation; increasing precarification of work; and tax optimization, which most would consider akin to evasion of taxes. All of these downward trends would be accelerated and locked in were the proposed rules on e-commerce to be agreed in the WTO. Since proponents of e-commerce rules in the WTO first tabled proposals last year, they have sought to convert an existing mandate to discuss e-commerce into a mandate to negotiate binding rules on e-commerce in the WTO. They have justified their proposals on the basis that e-commerce will promote development and benefit micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) as if promoting e-commerce and having binding rules written by TNCs are the same thing. But developing countries have focused their demands on increasing infrastructure, access to finance, closing the digital divide (obtaining affordable access), increasing regulatory capacity, and other concerns that will not be addressed by new rules on e-commerce in the WTO. Meanwhile, MSMEs are able to participate in e-commerce now; but they are less likely to reap the benefits of scale, historic subsidies, strong state-sponsored infrastructure, tax avoidance strategies, and a system of trade rules written for them and by their lawyers if e-commerce rules in the WTO were to be adopted. What MSMEs need are platforms to facilitate customs clearance and international payments, but this is not what has been proposed in the WTO. At this point, proponents have scaled back their ambitions due to massive resistance from the African bloc and some Asian and Latin American members. Now they are proposing more seemingly technical issues, such as e-payments, e-signatures, and spam. But these issues actually belong in other fora, such as the UN Conference on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) or the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) where legal and technical experts rather than only commercial interests were long ago able to help governments establish better rules. Perhaps as a Plan B, proponents are claiming that technological neutrality already exists in the WTO. This would mean that if a country committed financial services in the WTO meaning that it agreed to have financial services subject to rules limiting regulation in that sector then cross-border online banking with all of the potential cybersecurity threats of hacking, or unstable financial flows wreaking havoc on local banking systems would already be committed. But this is a preposterous idea, and WTO members have not agreed to it, despite the intent of some countries that it is an accepted principle. Proponents are also pushing to renew a waiver on tariffs on electronically delivered products, but there is no economic rationale as to why digitally traded products should not have to contribute to the national tax base while those that are traditionally traded usually do. But Big Tech may actually obtain this waiver, since it is often traded for a waiver that helps stabilize the generic pharmaceuticals market in developing countries, which helps guarantee access to life-saving medicines for millions of people. The outcome in Buenos Aires will depend on strong resistance by developing country members to this new corporate Big Tech agenda. They should be aided by a strong civil society resistance to further imposition of procorporate rules that encroach on our daily lives. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the EUs Permanent Structured Cooperation ahead of a meeting with EU Foreign Ministers on Monday (13 November 2017). I believe that this can strengthen European defence, he said, while stressing the need for complementarity between NATO and EU efforts. Mr. Stoltenberg also highlighted that military mobility can be a flagship of NATO-EU cooperation, which is being stepped up. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg began a two-day visit to Canada on Friday (17 November 2017), to participate in the Halifax International Security Forum. On Friday, Mr Stoltenberg will open the Forum alongside Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Singh Sajjan, and participate in a panel discussion. Later in the day, he will accept the Halifax Builder Award on behalf of NATO, and give a speech. The Builder Award is given to individuals or institutions which have made outstanding contributions to the Halifax Forums goal of strengthening cooperation among democracies. On Saturday, the Secretary General will hold a series of bilateral meetings, and participate in further panel discussions. The Halifax International Security Forum, of which NATO is a partner, is a leading international security conference. It has been held annually in Halifax, Nova Scotia since 2009. 2 TSC members jailed after failing to post bail The Special Court on Tuesday sent Chairperson and member of the now-defunct Tax Settlement Commission (TSC) Lumba Dhowj Mahat and Umesh Dhakal to jail after they failed to post a bail amount. Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg accepted the Halifax Builder Award on behalf of NATO in the margins of the Halifax International Security Forum on Friday (17 November 2017). The award is presented annually to individuals or organisations which have made an outstanding contribution to strengthening cooperation amongst democracies. Mr Stoltenberg called the award a great recognition for all those who have worked tirelessly for peace and security within the NATO Alliance. The Secretary General underscored that in times of evolving threats, "the transatlantic bond remains as important as it has ever been," adding that allies are stepping up on both sides of the Atlantic. Pointing to US and Canadian deployments in Europe, Mr Stoltenberg welcomed that the North American Allies "are strengthening their contributions to European security". He further welcomed that European Allies are investing more in defence, and raising the readiness of their forces. Calling the transatlantic bond "the backbone of our mutual security", the Secretary General stressed that NATO "ensures our democracy, our prosperity and open societies". Earlier on Friday, the Secretary General participated in the opening of the Halifax International Security Forum, together with Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan. Mr Stoltenberg stressed that NATO is historys most successful alliance because of its ability to adapt to changing circumstances. He further welcomed efforts to mainstream gender perspectives throughout peace and security work, saying that empowering women "is not just the right thing to do its the smart thing to do". The Secretary General also thanked Minister Sajjan for Canadas many contributions to the Alliance, including its leadership of a multinational NATO battlegroup in Latvia. On Saturday, the Secretary General will hold bilateral meetings in the margins of the Forum, and participate in plenary sessions. The Halifax International Security Forum, of which NATO is a partner, is a leading peace and security conference which has taken place annually in Nova Scotia, Canada since 2009. Speech by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the Halifax International Security Forum It is a great pleasure to announce that I have appointed Clare Hutchinson of Canada as my new Special Representative for Women, Peace and Security. Ms Hutchinson brings a breadth of experience to the job. This includes more than ten years of experience as a Gender Adviser for the United Nations, including in Kosovo and Lebanon. Empowering women is not just the right thing to do, its the smart thing to do: it makes countries safer and more stable. NATO is determined to make a difference, including through our training and operations for example, by deploying gender advisers to local communities in Afghanistan. We also aim to raise the profile of women at all levels within the Alliance. We still need to do more, but for NATO, peace and security are not just a mans world. I thank Canada for its strong commitment to women, peace and security, and I look forward to welcoming Ms Hutchinson to NATO Headquarters soon. On Thursday 23 November 2017, the NATO Secretary General, Mr. Jens Stoltenberg will meet the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, H.E. Mr. Ilham Aliyev at NATO Headquarters. The President will also attend a meeting of the North Atlantic Council. Media Advisory 09:45 Secretary General joint press point with the President Main entrance The press point will be streamed live on the NATO website in English, French and Russian. Still and video images of the event will be available on the NATO website after the event. Follow us on Twitter (@NATOPress and @jensstoltenberg) On Thursday 23 November 2017, the NATO Secretary General, Mr. Jens Stoltenberg will meet the Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova, H.E. Mr. Pavel Filip at NATO Headquarters. Media Advisory 13:15 Secretary General joint press point with the Prime Minister Main entrance The press point will be streamed live on the NATO website in English, French, Romanian and Russian. Still and video images of the event will be available on the NATO website after the event. Follow us on Twitter (@NATOPress and @jensstoltenberg). I welcome the ruling of the UN Criminal Tribunal against Ratko Mladic. This shows that the rule of law is working and those responsible for war crimes are held to account. As Bosnian Serb commander, General Mladic was responsible for appalling crimes against civilians, including the murder of thousands of Bosnian men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995. NATO helped bring to an end this dark chapter in the history of Europe. The Western Balkans are of strategic importance for our Alliance, which has helped to build stability in the region for over twenty years. We see the future of the Western Balkans in Euro-Atlantic cooperation and integration for those who want it. I hope that todays ruling will move the region further down the path of peace and reconciliation. On 13 March 2017, Jens Stoltenberg released his third annual report as NATO Secretary General. The annual report provides an overview of how NATO protected its citizens and projected stability in 2016. It includes details on how NATO is enhancing deterrence and defence, engaging in dialogue, investing in security, improving capabilities, supporting the fight against terrorism, building relationships, sharing expertise, advancing the role of women in peace and security, and adapting as an institution. Below you will find short descriptions of as well as direct links to the elements of the annual report. You can also download the full annual report. At no time since the end of the Cold War has the NATO Alliance faced greater challenges to our security than it does today. But NATO is the most successful alliance in history because it has been able to change as the world has changed. For the first 40 years of its life, the Alliance's focus was collective defence. When the Berlin Wall came down, our focus shifted to crisis management beyond our borders intervening to stop large-scale bloodshed and keep the peace in the Western Balkans, fighting terrorism in Afghanistan, and tackling piracy off the Horn of Africa. Read the Foreword in the Annual Report (PDF) TOP For All Who Serve NATO's commitment to safeguarding the freedom and security of all its members is made possible by the service of men and women from across its member and partner countries. In 2016, tens of thousands of Allied service members were deployed on land, in the air, and at sea to provide for NATO's defence and to project stability beyond NATO's borders. Whether engaged in security operations, military exercises, or training missions, the security and stability of the Alliance would not be possible without their contributions. NATO recognises the dedication of all who serve. The Alliance owes a debt of gratitude to every man and woman in service for the risks they take and the sacrifices they and their families make while serving NATO's common purposes and values. TOP Preventing conflict means being able to deter and defend against any potential security threat. In recent years, NATO has responded to a series of new challenges with the largest reinforcement of its collective defence in a generation. At the same time, as part of an overall approach to its collective security, the Alliance seeks to improve transparency and reduce the risk of escalation by engaging in meaningful dialogue with Russia. Read the chapter "Deterrence, Deterrence & Dialogue" in the Annual Report (PDF) TOP NATO is committed to defending its nearly one billion citizens in Europe and North America. Fulfilling this commitment requires that Allies understand the changing security environment, agree on policies for how to address the challenges and threats, develop and invest in the capabilities required to implement those policies, and resolve to use their capabilities when required. Each of these elements is essential for NATO to fulfil its purpose of safeguarding the freedom and security of all its members. Read the chapter "Investing in Security" in the Annual Report (PDF) TOP NATO's modern defence posture is based on an effective combination of cutting-edge weapons systems and platforms and forces trained to work together seamlessly. As important as it is that Allies invest in defence, it is also critical that those funds are invested in the right capabilities. NATO plays an important role in assessing what capabilities the Alliance needs, setting targets for national or collective development of capabilities, and facilitating national, multinational and collective capability development and innovation. Read the chapter "Improving Capabilities" in the Annual Report (PDF) TOP Providing for the security of the Alliance requires not only a strong deterrence and defence posture but also the ability to project stability and strengthen security beyond NATO's borders. For NATO, this involves a range of activities including providing training and support to countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan, conducting or contributing to missions on land, at sea and in the air, and cultivating relationships with partners around the world. Read the chapter "Projecting Stability" in the Annual Report (PDF) TOP NATO maintains a broad and diverse network of partnerships with countries in the Euro-Atlantic region and beyond. In 2016, partners continued to be involved in many of the core activities that take place at NATO. Partners have been integrated across NATO's activities and agenda, often contributing sideby- side with Allies. Through its partnerships, NATO helps countries to strengthen their ability to safeguard their own security, both at home and as part of international missions. Read the chapter "Projecting Stability: Cultivating Partnerships" in the Annual Report (PDF) TOP At the Warsaw Summit in July 2016, NATO leaders reiterated their belief that the empowerment of women at NATO and in the military make the Alliance stronger. If peace is to be sustainable, it must be inclusive. To that end, NATO and its partners are working together to promote the role of women in peace and security as part of their commitment to the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 and related Resolutions. Read the chapter "Promoting the Role of Women" in the Annual Report (PDF) TOP NATO is a political-military alliance of 28 countries. The Organization itself includes a number of structures that support the everyday work of the Alliance. Throughout 2016, NATO continued to implement innovative ways of working in order to improve its overall flexibility, effectiveness, efficiency and accountability despite a challenging resource environment. NATO also continues to adapt its processes and structures to ensure that it is adaptable by design and inherently flexible, resilient, and responsive to any threat. To this end, NATO continued to rigorously pursue improvements to better integrate resources and work strands, including by adopting modern and innovative approaches and ways of working. These efforts will help improve prioritisation and better align resources so that the workforce, both civilian and military, is well placed to support the achievement of NATO's top priorities. Read the chapter "Organisation" in the Annual Report (PDF) TOP (Natural News) When you first hear the word bacteria, your reaction might be one of disgust. The word brings to mind sickness and gross images of bacteria, but we can also benefit from bacteria in the gut microbiome, says Dr. Pere Santamaria. A microbiome is a collection of microbes or microorganisms living in an environment and this results in a mini-ecosystem. In humans, a microbiome is formed by communities of symbiotic, commensal and pathogenic bacteria. The human microbiome is also home to fungi and viruses. According to Santamaria, The bacteria we have in our gut actually have many beneficial functions. They help in our digestion, prevent infection by pathogens and educate our immune system on what to fight. In a recent study, protein in the gut microbiome showed a new function which has been proven to have a significant effect on individuals who suffer from inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). (Related: Microbiome Gut health discoveries revealed.) The study by Santamaria and Kathy McCoy, Ph.D., from the University of Calgarys Cumming School of Medicine (CSM) was published recently in the journal Cell. It was discovered that a new mechanism in the gut microbiome helps regulate both pro- and anti-inflammatory cells. McCoy shared, We found that a protein expressed by gut bacteria called Bacteroides works to prevent IBD by rapidly recruiting white blood cells to kill a cell of the immune system that is responsible for orchestrating IBD. She continued, We think that this mechanism is likely involved in preventing most people from developing IBD. In the immune system, the human microbiome sets the parameters that allow our body to decide what is good and bad for us. The microbiome maintains order and balance in the communities residing within it so that any pathogens waiting to wreak havoc on your body are minimized. Microbiomes also prevent the host system from attacking itself. But Santamaria warned that the protein can cause white blood cells to overreact when it senses the presence of IBD bacteria, which in turn causes diseases like it. When overstimulated, these white blood cells might even cause autoimmune disorders like diabetes. He added, This discovery demonstrates the effect the gut microbiome has on the immune system and unearths a novel mechanism via which changes in the gut microbiome can increase the risk of autoimmune disorders. While we looked specifically at IBD, it is likely there are many proteins in the gut that contribute to the development of other autoimmune disorders via similar mechanisms. For the gut microbiome to progress, a single bacterium must be isolated within animal models to help rule out other environmental factors. McCoy shared that germ-free mice kick-started her research collaboration with Santamaria. Before she joined UCalgary, McCoy was studying germ-free mice at the University of Bern, Switzerland. She talked about how Santamaria sent her some of his mouse strains so she can make them germ-free. McCoy added that they were able to successfully add back single microbial species that did or did not express the protein in the gut to investigate their effect. After six years, both Santamaria and McCoy are continuing the work they began on germ-free mice in the hopes of making significant discoveries with positive impacts. Even though the road to the conclusion of their research is not yet in sight, the two are looking forward to the development of new therapies that can use the power of the gut microbiome to its advantage. In November 2017, the new Western Canadian Microbiome Center (WCMC)s germ-free facility will open at the CSM. The WCMC is definitely a suitable space to look into the benefits of gut bacteria. McCoy is also the director of the WCMC, and she is grateful to have the chance to work on specific gut microbiomes without other environmental variables to consider. She concluded, This will help us further this research, as well as complete many other studies into the effects of the microbiome. Read more articles about other health studies on various diseases like IBD and possible treatments at Research.news. Sources include: ScienceDaily.com Enviromedica.com (Natural News) With the staggering 80,000 synthetic chemicals lurking in the environment and over 700 contaminants present at detectable levels in the body of the average American adult it is clear that modern life poses unprecedented challenges to the immune system. According to medical researcher Dr. Thomas Janossy plus many other integrative healthcare experts, chelation represents an essential detoxification tool for maintaining optimal health. Simply put, most people suffering from chronic health conditions are dealing with a high toxic burden that is overwhelming the bodys natural defenses and triggering symptoms associated with Alzheimers disease, cancer and cardiovascular issues. This is why chelation therapy is considered to help remove the toxic load from our life. Discover the proper way to detoxify the body with chelation therapy. On the next NaturalHealth365 Talk Hour, Jonathan Landsman and detoxification pioneer Dr. Thomas Janossy discuss the lifesaving benefits of chelation therapy plus, how to make it work for you with safe, science-based protocols. If your life is being diminished due to heavy metal toxicity you wont want to miss this highly-informative program about your health. To hear this FREE show visit https://www.naturalhealth365.com and enter your email address for show details. How chelation effectively removes toxic heavy metals from the body Chelation therapy involves the administration of chemical compounds such as DMSA or EDTA. These chelating agents bind to metals and allow them to be eliminated from the body. Successful chelation can provide a wealth of health benefits that extend to virtually all body systems and organs. For example, Dr. Janossy maintains that detoxifying bone marrow helps the body produce a greater number of stem cells, while helping to enhance the telomeres (the caps at the ends of chromosomes that are associated with longevity). Chelation can help decalcify arterial walls, clearing them of atherosclerotic plaque and helping to prevent cardiovascular disease. In addition, chelation helps to raise levels of beneficial nitric oxide, which relaxes blood vessel walls as well as reducing blood pressure, decreasing blood cholesterol levels, decreasing angina (chest pain) and even regulating cardiac arrhythmias. Reducing heavy metal levels can also help minimize the destructive effects and symptoms of artificial EMFs (a form of radiation exposure), produced by cell phones, laptops, cell phone towers and Wi-Fi networks. And, finally, one of chelations most impressive powers is its ability to disrupt biofilms those persistent and difficult-to-treat layered communities of pathogenic bacteria. To learn more directly from Dr. Janossy about his pioneering work with innovative (safe) ways to detoxify the body, dont miss the next NaturalHealth365 Talk Hour hosted by Jonathan Landsman. To hear this FREE show visit https://www.naturalhealth365.com and enter your email address for show details. Chelation therapy can sharply reduce your cancer risk from lead exposure As you may know, exposure to lead increases oxidative stress, interferes with the immune system and lowers glutathione levels which is crucial for detoxification. Lead is a primary environmental health threat for children, with exposure causing lowered IQ and other cognitive issues. Lead exposure affects adults as well, with over 30 million American adults at risk of premature death due to past lead exposure. Dr. Janossy warns that exposure to toxic heavy metals including lead increases the incidence of genetic defects such as cell mutations, thereby raising the risk of cancer. Lead exposure, in particular, can cause malfunction in the formation of blood cells and can trigger cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma. In the past, chelation therapy was only available through IV administration. But, now, Dr.Janossy has developed a new (safe) protocol that he wants to share with our audience. Keep in mind, if done incorrectly, chelation (or any other detox program) can produce many unwanted side effects such as, dizziness, neurological problems and in some cases premature death. Find out how to protect your health. Be sure to mark your calendar and join us for a great show. Discover a safe way to detoxify the body of heavy metals Sun. Nov. 26 This weeks guest: Dr. Thomas Janossy, medical researcher and detoxification expert Dr. Thomas Janossy is a pioneer in the field of natural health who has done groundbreaking work in the area of detoxification, anti-biofilm strategies and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimers disease and other forms of dementia. He has researched ketones at Sunnybrook Health Science Center at the University of Chicago, and worked as a neuroscientist performing research on the brain at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Experimental Medicine. Dr. Janossy launched the first commercially available stem cell testing opportunity at the University of Toronto, and is the developer of the first natural anti-malaria product. In addition, Dr. Janossy holds a Veterinary Medicine degree from St. Stephen University in Budapest which gives him a broader perspective on nutrition, sickness and health across many species. He is dedicated to helping patients achieve outstanding wellness revolving around a strong immune system, minimizing toxic burdens and improving our nutritional status. To hear this FREE show visit https://www.naturalhealth365.com and enter your email address for show details. Sources for this article include: NaturalNews.com ScientificAmerican.com NaturalNews.com Two former Presentation High students on Wednesday spoke publicly for the first time about allegations of sexual misconduct by a teacher at the prestigious all-girls Catholic school in San Jose. Kathryn Leehane and Cheryl Hodgin Marshall, who graduated in 1991, were accompanied by attorney Robert Allard at a Wednesday press conference to discuss the accusations, which date back nearly three decades. Leehane first recounted being groped and shown a pornographic photo by her high school Spanish teacher in a recent essay published in the Washington Post, but has not spoken publicly about the allegations until now. She said shes doing so in an effort to make positive change at the school she still holds in high regard. Throughout all of this my biggest concern has been for the safety and welfare of those young women, Leehane said. I love Presentation. Its a wonderful school and I want all of those women to thrive. Hodgin Marshall, also speaking publicly for the first time, said her close friend Jane was molested by that same teacher in 1990. Both women say they reported the incidents of sexual misconduct to trusted school leaders: Then principal Marian Stuckey and current principal Mary Miller who was vice principal in 1990. Former Presentation High School students Cheryl Hodgin Marshall and Kathryn Leehane, along with attorney Bob Allard, discuss alleged sexual misconduct allegations by a teacher. I told a trusted teacher about the molestation who then spoke with Jane and in turn immediately reported it to the principal, Hodgin Marshall said. Jane was called in to speak with the principal and afterward came to me in tears saying she did not feel that the principal believed her and that the principal suggested that Jane must have been dreaming it. We were both in disbelief and we didnt know what to think. Hodgin Marshall said she and Jane heard nothing for approximately a month, so they went to Vice Principal Mary Miller. Once again we were in disbelief and in tears at the outcome, she said. Not only did we not get any help, she dismissed both of us with stern warnings to be careful of what we say. Miller, now the principal of the $20,000 per year private school, denied those claims. Stuckey did not respond to requests for comment but Presentation spokesperson Samantha LoCurto responded absolutely not regarding Hodgin Marshalls allegation that Stuckey told Jane she must have been dreaming. The accused teacher, John Fernandez, continued to teach at Presentation High School until he retired in 2004. He recently died of cancer in 2015. "One thing has become alarmingly clear," Leehane said. "My abuse did not have to happen. The administration had notice going back to the mid-1980's that the teacher who abused me was a problem. The school had numerous opportunities to deal with him. Tragically, I was not his first -- or his last -- victim." School principal Mary Miller continues to decline interview requests from NBC Bay Area. In a written statement released after Wednesdays press conference, Miller strongly disputed the claims made by Leehane, Hodgin Marshall, and Allard. For the attorney or others to suggest that at some point in the past PHS could have handled certain cases in a different manner is open to interpretation and is taken to heart, Miller wrote. However, for anyone to suggest that PHS has in any manner covered up or condoned any instance of sexual abuse is an outright lie. In the statement, Miller said the administration conducted an investigation into the allegations when they were first brought to the schools attention. "PHS conducted an investigation more than 25 years ago into this matter as well as other claims made today. There is no new information provided by this personal injury attorney or the former students," Miller said in the statement. "Due to privacy and confidentiality, we cannot disclose the details or outcomes of our investigations; we sincerely wish that we could reveal more information. Each case described today was investigated and action taken based upon the information provided to the school at the time." But NBC Bay Area learned Wednesday that investigation did not include informing authorities. In an email Wednesday, a spokesperson for the school confirmed what Leehane and Hodgin Marshall said they suspected all along: the allegations were never reported to police or Child Protective Services. Leehane contacted the San Jose Police Department herself in 1996. Leehane said the officer did a thorough job investigating her accusations, but because years had passed since the alleged abuse, there wasnt much the police could do. What we can tell you is that prior to the report that was made to law enforcement, Presentation has not been provided with sufficient information with which to form a reasonable suspicion of childhood sexual abuse, PHS spokesperson Samantha LoCurto wrote. The school did not report the matter to CPS or police. Last Wednesday, the Presentation High School board sent a letter to parents defending Miller. The board in the letter said the administration satisfied its due diligence in the investigative process. Requests to speak with Miller were declined by Presentation High School. There were active attempts on behalf of this administration to suppress the sharing of information about crimes which were committed on this campus, attorney Robert Allard said. If you have a reasonable suspicion that a sex crime has occurred, the law tells you you must call the police and report it. You're not to investigate it. You're not to ask the victim questions. You're not to ask the teacher questions. Your job is to report and apparently that message got lost in translation with this administration. [[457863683, C]] At Wednesday's press conference, Leehane also shared responses to letters she wrote in college to Principal Miller. She says she decided to report Fernandezs actions only after learning about her classmates alleged abuse by the same teacher. Leehane said the administration never responded to her first letter, and only replied to a second letter after she sent copies to several other teachers. In a response to Leehane, Miller wrote back, saying in part: As I said before, the welfare of the students is my number one concern. But I am also concerned with the welfare and reputation of our faculty members. John [Fernandez] needs to know what you are accusing him of so he has the opportunity to respond. I would appreciate that any further correspondence regarding this matter be directed to me only. In addition to holding Wednesdays press conference, Allard said he recently sent a letter to the Presentation board demanding a public reckoning by the administration, an apology, and a commitment to train its staff. However, after reading Millers Wednesday statement about the press conference, Allard wrote to NBC Bay Area saying his team may have to reconvene after the holiday to develop alternative courses of action. Most regrettably, the current administration at Presentation has chosen, in response to our public comments made today, to engage in personal attacks and deflect attention away from the sole issue raised, specifically, the schools repeated failure to appropriately address reported incidents of sexual misconduct involving its staff. Since the allegations as described are indefensible, the more appropriate response would have been to, as requested, acknowledge past failures, apologize and enthusiastically commit to making a safer child protection system so that all involved can move forward in a productive direction. The schools response, however, make it clear that these demands will never be met and that it will continue to hide behind alleged confidentiality as opposed to making any attempt to justify its actions. Although Leehane and Hodgin Marshall were the only Presentation graduates to share their stories Wednesday, Allard said his team is in the process of investigating claims of sexual misconduct by other alums. He said the allegations go well beyond John Fernandez. Earlier this month, Presentation put two current teachers on leave while the school and police conduct an investigation into allegations of inappropriate behavior against them. Multiple sources who spoke to NBC Bay Areas Investigative Unit say the allegations against one of those teachers occurred earlier this year. NBC Bay Area obtained an email sent to Principal Miller by a Presentation staff member in March that stated the staff member witnessed disturbing behavior by a male teacher. In that email, the staffer said she was concerned the teacher was acting inappropriately with a current student. Many of the girls came up to me during the tournament and told me various times that they found [him] creepy and didnt like how he talked to them or treated them, the staff member wrote. A few of them mentioned times where he had inappropriately touched their hair or made them feel uncomfortable. That email was written in March of this year, more than seven months before he was eventually put on leave. San Jose police say they are investigating accusations against various teachers, both past and present. They encourage any potential victims or anyone with information to come forward. 20k Lalitpur children to receive new typhoid vaccination Around 20,000 children in Lalitpur Metropolitan City will be administered a new vaccine against typhoid, one of the common causes of fever among Nepali children. The vaccination programme was launched at Wolkhu Ward Health Post of Lalitpur-11 on Monday. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency board Tuesday unanimously voted to ban cannabis advertising on city buses, trains and at transit stops, citing a need to protect youth. The policy change, which puts cannabis products in the same prohibited category as alcohol, tobacco and firearms, was proposed in response to complaints about cannabis ads and "uncertainty" in the regulatory environment while the city works toward finalizing regulations for the cannabis industry, according to SFMTA staff. The proposal called for the issue to be revisited in six months. However, SFMTA board members on Tuesday said they were more motivated by a concern for advertising products not legal to those under 18 on buses that carry large numbers of minors. "I am hearing from my board that regardless of the regulatory environment we are not likely to want to advertise cannabis based on the fact that we have so many kids on our uses," Board Chair Cheryl Brinkman said. "This is definitely not a value judgment, it's simply falling in line with what standards advertising practices are," Brinkman said. Advertisers who have already bought space will still be allowed to run their ads. Only two speakers addressed the policy change, with both expressing support. California voters approved marijuana legalization with the passage of Prop. 64 in November 2016. Cannabis industry advertising is expected to grow after marijuana becomes fully legal in the state on Jan. 1, meaning the SFMTA could be passing up some potential revenue with the advertising ban. The Board of Supervisors is currently working out the details of land use and permit policies for cannabis related businesses in San Francisco. However, board members have so far run up against deep disagreements over issues such as how far from schools they can be located or whether caps are appropriate for specific neighborhoods. A vote scheduled for last Tuesday was postponed until after Thanksgiving to allow negotiations to continue. The postponement means the city's regulations for recreational cannabis sales will not be in place as of Jan. 1. The criminal case against a Mexican man accused of killing a woman on a crowded San Francisco pier is coming to a close more than two years after setting off a national firestorm over immigration. Here's a timeline of events leading up to the final deliberations. July 1, 2015: Kate Steinle is shot and killed at San Francisco's Pier 14 while walking with her father. 1 Hour Later: Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, an undocumented immigrant, is arrested at Pier 40 for suspicion of murder. July 2, 2015: Police divers retrieve a gun in the murky San Francisco Bay off Pier 14. July 5, 2015: Garcia Zarate admits to police that he shot Steinle and Claims it was accidental. July 8, 2015: The U.S. Bureau of Land Management confirms the gun was stolen from a ranger's car parked in downtown San Francisco on June 27. Sept. 1, 2015: The Steinle family files wrongful death claims against San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, The Bureau of Land Management and ICE. Sept. 18, 2015: Garcia Zarate is formally charged with second-degree murder. Jan. 6, 2017: A judge dismisses the family's claims to sue the city of San Francisco or former sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, but proceeds with a lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management. June 29, 2017: The House of Representatives passes "Kate's Law" which enhances penalties for convicted and deported criminals re-entering the U.S. Oct. 23, 2017: Trial begins for Jose Ines Garcia Zarate. Oct. 26, 2017: Surveillance footage shown in court appears to show Garcia Zarate in the fatal shooting of Steinle throwing something in the water and leaving the scene after she is struck. Nov. 1, 2017: Prosecutors show jurors a video of a police interview with Garcia Zarate where he appears to confess and then contradict himself. Nov. 7, 2017: Defense claims surveillance video supports the argument that the shooting was accidental. Nov. 8, 2017: A firearms expert testifies in support of an accidental shooting. Nov. 17, 2017: Jurors are allowed to consider a first-degree murder verdict. Nov. 20, 2017: Closing arguments begin, the defense argues prosecutors have no evidence to support Zarate wanted to hurt someone. Nov. 21, 2017: Jury begins deliberation in the Kate Steinle murder trial. Nov. 30, 2017: Jury acquits Garcia Zarate of all charges in death of Kate Steinle, expect firearms possession. A man held captive in a North Korean prison in 2010 and freed with the help of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter died in San Diego over the weekend after being found ablaze in a field. Aijalon M. Gomes, 38, had recently relocated to San Diego from Boston. On Friday night, around 11:30 p.m., an off-duty California Highway Patrol officer was driving westbound on Pacific Highway near SeaWorld Drive when he spotted a man on fire in a field adjacent to the roadway. That man has now been identified by investigators as Gomes. The officer stopped to try to help Gomes while crews from the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department (SDFD) arrived. Gomes' injuries were too severe and firefighters pronounced him dead at the scene. At first, investigators did not know how or why he had been on fire, so they deemed Gomes death suspicious and the San Diego Metro Arson Strike Team (MAST) looked into the case. SDPDs Homicide Unit also aided in the preliminary investigation. On Tuesday, police said the preliminary investigation indicates Gomes death was not a homicide but rather possibly an accidental death or suicide. His manner and cause of death will not be confirmed until the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office completes its investigation and files a report. NBC 7 spoke with Gomes' mother, Jacqueline McCarthy, who said her son had just moved to San Diego. She also confirmed his ordeal in North Korea. "My son was a very good human being," she said. "He loved people. He loved his family." McCarthy is asking for privacy and said she plans to set up an online fundraising page to help cover the costs of her son's funeral. According to NBC News, Gomes was imprisoned and sentenced to eight years of hard labor in North Korea on Jan. 25, 2010, after he crossed into North Korea from China for unknown reasons. Gomes had been teaching English in South Korea at the time of his arrest. That year, Carter flew to the country to negotiate Gomes freedom. North Korea agreed to free him if Carter went to get him. He was ultimately released to Carter and able to return home to his family in Boston. NBC News at the time reported that Gomes had grown up in the Boston neighborhood of Mattapan. He graduated high school in 1997 and went on to attend Bowdoin College in Maine before moving to South Korea to teach English several years after graduating. The investigation into his death in San Diego is ongoing. Anyone with information on this case can reach out to the SDPDs Homicide Unit at (619) 531-2293 or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477. What to Know The Norwegian Cruise ship left on Halloween and was due back in Manhattan on Nov. 11, but its propulsion system failed 6 days into the trip Passengers were stuck in Barbados; they were put up in hotels but many said they didn't have access to critical needs like medication One New Jersey woman says she was gone so long it cost her her job An 11-day tropical excursion that turned into a weekslong nightmare for some travelers has ended, with relieved passengers stepping off their cruise ship, at least one of them in tears, at Pier 88 in New York City Tuesday. The Norwegian Cruise ship left on Halloween and was due back on Manhattan's West Side on Nov. 11, but its propulsion system failed about six days later in Barbados. Passengers were stuck. They say they were given three options: Norwegian would fly them home, they could take another cruise from Ft. Lauderdale or stay in Barbados hotels until their ship could return. More than two dozen guests couldn't fly because of medical reasons, the cruise company said, and they were accommodated at a nearby resort with all meals included. While some say they made the most of being stuck on the island, many travelers said the trip was stressful. Kara Kaminski cried as she stepped off the boat Tuesday; she hugged her mother, who had come to pick up the Lyndhurst, New Jersey, woman and her family. Kaminski described the trip as a nightmare -- she said her entire family was separated in different hotels. Her 10-year-old son has severe allergies and needs special accommodations that weren't available, Kaminski said, adding, "so he was the one suffering the majority of the time." Another passenger, Kaminski's friend Diana Parada, says she was gone so long she lost her job at a toy manufacturing plant. She said she got an email Tuesday notifying her of the termination. "Norwegian Cruise Line sincerely apologizes for this unexpected change to the ship's itinerary and its impact on our guests," the company said in a statement. "Norwegian provided extensive support and care as needed to ensure that all of our guests were comfortable and well taken care of as they returned to New York." "The ship's technical issue has been addressed and all guests who remained in Barbados have sailed back to New York," the statement continued. "Norwegian Gem will depart this evening for her next cruise as scheduled. Norwegian appreciates our guests' understanding and patience with this unforeseen technical issue." A mother of two who defied a deportation order on Monday has been granted a stay of deportation. A Hartford judge granted the stay for Miriam Martinez-Lemus on Wednesday afternoon, according to Catalina Horak, an advocate working on Martinez-Lemus's behalf. Sen. Richard Blumenthal also confirmed the stay was granted. Martinez-Lemus was ordered to leave the U.S. for her native Guatemala by 3 p.m. on Monday. She was denied a stay of deportation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement but decided not to get on a plane and instead returned to her home in Stamford. Martinez-Lemus has two daughters, ages 12 and 10. Her oldest daughter suffers from Type-1 diabetes and an attorney for Martinez-Lemus said care for the girl requires two parents. Both of her children are American citizens. A native of Guatemala, Martinez-Lemus left the country and sought asylum in the U.S. in 1992 after political unrest in the country in the 1970s and 1980s. U.S. Department of Homeland Security U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement released a statement about the case on Monday. Miriam Martinez-Lemus is (a)citizen of Guatemala. A federal immigration judge granted her voluntary departure in 2002, but she failed to leave the U.S. as instructed and that order automatically changed to a final order of removal. A Meriden father of three who has sought sanctuary in a New Haven church for nearly four months to avoid deportation to Ecuador will be able to go home for Thanksgiving, according to his attorney and Sen. Richard Blumenthal. They said Marco Reyes has a temporary reprieve from deportation. Reyes, who has lived in the United States for 20 years, reported to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in July as scheduled and was told he would have to leave behind the life he built in Meriden and head back to Ecuador by Aug. 8. Instead of leaving the country, Reyes defied a deportation order and sought sanctuary at the First and Summerfield United Methodist Church across from the New Haven Green, where he spent had been staying since August and built a lectern there for the pastor. Blumenthal went to the church on Wednesday morning to meet with advocates and deliver pies to Reyes, who expected to spend Thanksgiving there, in sanctuary. On Wednesday afternoon, Reyes' attorney, Erin ONeil-Baker, said her client will be able to go home for a temporary, undefined amount of time while he has a pending petition for review and a motion to reopen with the board of immigration appeals. (W)hile those are pending, DHS (the U.S. Department of Homeland Security) is not enforcing his deportation, so there is no timeline at all. While those motions and petitions are pending, DHS has decided not to enforce his removal, ONeil-Baker said. Blumenthal said he hopes the reprieve will become a permanent stay for Reyes, who deserves a full, fair hearing. Reyes has lived in Connecticut with his wife and children since 1997 and the problem arose in 2007 when the family was vacationing and accidentally crossed into Canada. Federal immigration authorities apprehended Marco Reyes as they tried to return. Supporters said Marco has been checking in with ICE since 2016. ICE released a statement in October about Reyes case On Aug. 8, Marco Reyes-Alvarez, a citizen of Ecuador illegally present in the United States, was scheduled to meet ICE deportation officers with the agencys Hartford, Connecticut office, to verify his compliance with a removal order issued by a federal immigration judge in 2009. Reyes failed to appear and has since taken refuge in a church in New Haven, indicating he does not intend to comply with the courts order. Reyes is now considered an ICE fugitive and will be arrested and detained when encountered. At which time, ICE will remove him from the United States, the statement says. According to ICE, Reyes in 2010 filed petitions to reopen his case and requested a stay of removal from the Board of Immigration Appeals and the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Both were ultimately denied. He requested another stay of removal from ICE in 2016, which was granted while he pursued additional legal options in his case. The statement goes on to say: After he exhausted those options, ICE notified him that the agency planned to carry out his removal order. In late 2017, he again petitioned the Board of Immigration Appeals to reopen his case and requested another stay of removal. The Board of Immigration Appeals denied the stay of removal, allowing ICE to proceed with the case. On May 5, 2017, ICE Acting Director Thomas Homan notified the chairmen of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees that ICE will no longer automatically grant a stay of removal for an alien based on private immigration bills introduced by Members of Congress unless the Chair of the full Committee or Subcommittee makes a written request to ICE to stay the aliens removal. This policy became effective May 5, 2017. Those aliens for whom an investigative report had been requested prior to May 5, 2017, will be processed under the old policy and granted an automatic stay of removal until March 15, 2019. Formal correspondence documenting this update is forthcoming. ICE is currently working to fulfill all requests for investigative reports received in conjunction with private immigration relief legislation introduced in the 115th Congress. This grandfathering of the private immigration bill policy affects 30 aliens whose private bills were processed before May 5. A federal immigration judges orders cannot be ignored. ICE and the courts can delay acting on an order to ensure all applicable legal processes and possible benefits are followed and/or reviewed, which occurred in this case. However, after these legal options are exhausted, ICE must still carry out the judges order in the absence of any other mitigating factors. City of Groton police are looking into a report of candy that had possibly been tampered with that was handed out to a toddler on Halloween Tuesday night. A mother called police to say her 1-year-old child suffered a finger injury while handling the candy. The child was taken to a medical facility. Stitches were not required but the child's skin had to be glued together, according to Groton police. The mother reported the incident to police at 10 p.m. Tuesday. (The mom) went into the candy bag and found some item of some kind were not sure exactly what kind of lodged into one of the candies, said Lt. Eric Jenkins. Jenkins said the mom inadvertently misplaced that piece of candy, but investigators found a second piece of candy in the family's candy bag with a piece of thin metal hidden in the wrapper of a "fun size" Snickers bar. Thinner than, lets say, a razor blade. Its very thin. Probably a half inch long. But its a piece of metal, Jenkins said. Investigators have not yet been able to determine where the candy came from, police said. Police are now canvassing the neighborhood between Benham Road, Hynes Avenue, Brandegee Avenue and Morse Avenue looking for the original, possibly tampered with piece of candy and going door-to-door asking residents if they know anything about it. Honestly in 40 years Ive never heard of anything like that happening, said Deborah Dewolf of Groton. Police knocked on her door after the reported incident. Dewolf raised kids in the neighborhood. Its very concerning because my niece has a 10-month-old that was living with us and he would have been out (trick-or-treating), she said. Police are urging parents in Groton to throw away any candy received unless they know it came from a trusted source. As of Wednesday morning, police say they have only identified the one family who was a victim in this case, but are asking parents to check their children's candy closely and alert police to anything suspicious. Officers from both the Patrol and Detective Divisions are conducting an "aggressive" investigation into the incident. Jenkins said this is the first time hes seen something like this in 29 years with the department. Is it just this one candy? Is it several different candies? Did it happen at the factory? Did it happen during packaging, Jenkins asked. NBC Connecticut did make contact with the mom involved. She wanted to remain anonymous but thanks Groton Police for their diligence and warns all parents to carefully check each piece of candy before their child touches it. NBC Connecticut also reached out to Mars, who makes Snickers, about the incident but have not received a response at the time this article was published. Anyone with information on the case is asked to call City of Groton Police at 860-445-2451. A Stamford mother ordered to be deported to Guatemala watched from her window as those supporting her fight against being deported held a vigil in front of her apartment. Members of the community showed up with signs in front of Miriam Martinez-Lemus apartment such as "stop deportation." Members of the community prayed, including members of her church St. Marys Catholic Church in Stamford, the mayor and state representatives. Miriam Martinez-Lemus of Guatemala was denied her stay in the US on Monday. She was supposed to hop on her flight then but did not so that she could stay and care for her daughter. Her 12-year-old daughter has Type 1 Diabetes, which requires Martinez-Lemus to administer medicine several times a day to make sure her daughter is healthy. Martinez-Lemus has lived in Stamford for more than 20 years. She, her attorneys, even the governor have asked ICE to reconsider their decision. Martinez-Lemus told NBC Connecticut she is scared to come outside, so we spoke with her inside her house. They have a lot of people they have a lot of friends, family and people that I dont know to come and support me and my family and that Im not alone, she said. Because she did not depart on her flight yesterday, ICE officials say that lists her as an immigration fugitive. She can be arrested when they encounter her. Budget cuts mean your chances of beating a traffic ticket in Connecticut are a lot better this year. Nearly two-thirds of Connecticut traffic tickets resolved at the courts were nolled in 2017, according to the Connecticut Judicial Branch. When a ticket is nolled, it means the state does not prosecute the offender. The number of nolled tickets jumped to roughly 60-percent in 2017, up from about 50-percent in previous years. Chief State's Attorney Kevin Kane said budget cuts placed on his division in May 2016 are the reason. Kane had to choose between cutting full-time prosecutors who handle major criminal cases or cutting a 12-person team that handled motor vehicle cases. That team included 10 entry level, per diem prosecutors who worked fewer than 40 hours per week, for $125 per day with no benefits. The full-time prosecutors now carry the load of motor vehicle cases. Brian Preleski, the state's attorney in New Britain for instance, I remember calling him one morning he handled the infraction docket in the morning and then at two oclock in the afternoon he handled a serial murder," Kane said. Greg Goodstein was one of the per diem state prosecutors let go due to the budget cuts. He now defends drivers in motor vehicle cases at the same courthouse. There's maybe, I would if I were to guess, I'd say between 80 and 100 tickets being adjudicated on a Friday morning now as opposed to 400 or 500, Goodstein said. He said some police officers are discouraged by the changes and wonder why they even still write tickets. The officers that I know are very diligent and they take their job very seriously and they take public safety very seriously. So I don't know that they've actually stopped writing as many tickets as they did, but sure it's, you know, several of have made the comment 'why bother? The group that represents local police chiefs did not want to comment on the ticket data, but the Connecticut State Police released a statement: "The Connecticut State Police are committed to reducing the frequency and severity of traffic accidents through the use of proactive traffic enforcement targeting a range of traffic violations including impaired, reckless and distracted drivers. Each of the agencies in the justice system does their best. Troopers will remain steadfast in their efforts to ensure the safety of Connecticuts highways and secondary roadways. Cities, towns and the State of Connecticut stand to lose money with the drop in prosecutions of motor vehicle violations. Per diem prosecutors on motor vehicle cases cost the state roughly $350,000 per year. Without them, traffic ticket revenue dropped almost $3 million in fiscal 2017, according to Judicial Branch data. State lawmakers told the NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters they would be open to making some changes so that the state doesn't leave millions in traffic ticket money on the table. Im positive that my colleagues would be willing to look at this and see what we could do to address this situation, said Cathy Osten, Democratic co-chair of the state legislature's Appropriations Committee. Republican President Pro-Tem, Sen. Len Fasano, had a similar response. If theres an argument that could be made that for a small investment theres a greater return for the state, certainly Im willing to listen to that argument, Fasano said. The Chief States Attorneys office recently found money to bring back five per diem prosecutors. The state has also started a pilot program to pre-screen traffic tickets that could help, but Kevin Kane said that alone wont solve the problem. Basic lesson Govt, Teachers Service Commission should do more to promote teaching as a viable career Health officials in North Texas are warning about a spike in flu cases in adults and children ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. According to Medical City Arlington officials, flu is up in Southeast Tarrant County. Medical City Arlington and Medical City Arlington ER Grand Prairie reports almost 200 cases last week. "We've seen a large amount of positive cases, which is a little bit unexpected, just in the last week or so," said Dr. Trent Boyko, an emergency physician. The Dallas County Health Department reports 112 cases last week. Cook Children's reports 23 children were diagnosed with the flu last week. "That's the most patients we've seen since a really bad 2014. In comparison, we did not see a single case of the flu during the month of November in 2015 and 2016," the hospital stated in an alert. "It's here, and it's just a matter of time before we get inundated with flu everywhere," Boyko said. He said none of the people he's treated for flu had received this year's flu shot, which tells him this season's shot may be working like its supposed to. Doctors suggest getting your shot as soon as possible, but the flu shot takes two weeks before it can protect you from the virus. So while you're traveling through busy airports, or spending time with loved ones Thanksgiving Day, Boyko says good hand hygiene will be key to a flu-free holiday. He expects flu cases to increase when children return to school next week. Sini Ann Mathews, the mother of a North Texas toddler who died under suspicious circumstances, has requested a bond reduction hearing in her child endangerment case. Mathews was arrested last week after investigators said she and her husband, Wesley Mathews, left their 3-year-old adopted daughter Sherin Mathews at home, without adult supervision, while they went to dinner with their biological 3-year-old daughter on Oct. 6. Sherin, Wesley said, was being punished for not drinking her milk and was alive when they returned home about 90 minutes later. As a result of that incident, Sini was charged with child endangerment and is being held on $250,000 bond after being arraigned last week. With the bond hearing scheduled for 9 a.m. Nov. 27, she is expected to remain in jail through Thanksgiving. Wesley Mathews, meanwhile, remains jailed on a felony charge of injury to a child. On Oct. 7, Wesley Mathews called police and reported Sherin missing. In a story he would later change, Wesley originally told police Sherin disappeared overnight after he ordered her to stand outside at about 3 a.m. for not drinking her milk. When he returned, Wesley said she had disappeared and that her location was unknown. The girl's body was found in a drainage culvert two weeks after her father reported her missing. Only then did the girl's father change his story to say that he "physically assisted" his daughter drink the milk and that she choked and died -- after which, he moved her body. Sini Mathews, who has maintained her innocence in Sherin's death, said she was asleep when the incident happened overnight with Wesley. The couple's biological 3-year-old daughter was placed into foster care after her sister disappeared. On Monday, officials with Child Protective Services confirmed to NBC 5 that she had been turned over to the custody of family members in the Houston area. Sini and Wesley Mathews have a custody hearing for their biological daughter scheduled for Nov. 29. NBC 5's Maria Guerrero contributed to this report. Editor's Note: Police now say the biological daughter of Wesley and Sini Mathews is 3-years-old, not 4-years-old, as mentioned in previous reports. The child will turn four in December. On a surprise trip to Russia, Syria's Bashar Assad discussed potential new peace initiatives for post-war Syria with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who declared that Russia's two-year military campaign in Syria is wrapping up, the Kremlin said Tuesday. Putin later spoke by phone with President Donald Trump, with Syria, Iran, North Korea and Ukraine on the agenda, according to the White House. The Kremlin said Putin briefed Trump in the phone call about his talks with the Syrian leader and plans for a political settlement in Syria. It also said Putin called for coordination of anti-terror efforts with the U.S., adding that Afghanistan was also discussed. Moscow released footage of Assad warmly embracing Putin, who hosted him in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Monday, ahead of a summit between Russia, Turkey and Iran and a new round of Syria peace talks in Geneva later in this month. The meeting was unannounced and the Kremlin did not make it public until Tuesday morning. "I passed to (Putin) and all Russian people our greetings and gratitude for all of the efforts that Russia made to save our country," Assad told Russia's top brass in televised remarks. Assad has only ventured outside his war-ravaged nation twice since the conflict began both times to Russia. This week's visit to meet Putin is his second since the crisis began in March 2011 leading to a civil war that has killed some 400,000 people and resulted in millions of refugees. The first was in October 2015, weeks after Russia launched its military campaign in Syria to shore up Assad's forces, which turned the war in favor of Assad. The meeting in Sochi, which lasted three hours, preceded a summit between the presidents of Iran, Russia and Turkey set for Wednesday at the same venue. Iran and Russia have been Assad's main backers while Turkey supports the opposition. Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian president had previously assured the leaders of Turkey and Iran that "Russia will work with Syrian leadership to prepare the groundwork for the understandings that could be reached in Sochi on Wednesday and to make sure that agreements that could be reached would be viable." It wasn't immediately clear if the Kremlin put any pressure on Assad to accept a new deal brokered by Russia, Turkey and Iran or whether that deal would involve Assad staying on as president once the war is over but Assad signaled his intention to hold his ground in future Syria peace talks. "We count on Russia's support to keep foreign players from interfering into the political process," he said during the talks with Putin. Assad is believed to have left Sochi after the meeting and returned to Damascus. Asked whether Putin and Assad have talked about the Syrian president's future in post-war Syria, Peskov said "possible options for political settlement have been discussed" and added that "only the Syrian people could determine Assad's role." Despite pressure from other nations that Assad step down, Moscow has insisted that it is up to the Syrian people to vote him in or out. The Kremlin said Putin called Saudi King Salman as well as Trump to discuss the situation in Syria. Trump and Putin spoke informally several times last week when they attended a summit in Vietnam. They agreed on a number of principles for the future of war-torn Syria. To prepare for Wednesday's mini-summit, military chiefs of Russia, Turkey and Iran met in Sochi on Tuesday and agreed to coordinate their efforts in Syria. Russia's defense ministry said the three military chiefs discussed in Sochi "concrete steps to complete the elimination of the remaining IS and Nusra Front formations" in Syria, referring to Islamic State fighters and Syria's al-Qaida affiliate as it was formerly known. The three also agreed to improve coordination in a safety zone in the Idlib province in Syria's northwest. Russia, Turkey and Iran earlier this year brokered a truce between Syria's government and the rebels in four areas in Syria, including Idlib. On Sunday, Syrian troops and their allies captured the eastern town of Boukamal, the last major urban area held by the Islamic State group in Syria, leaving the militants to defend just strips of desert territory and a besieged pocket outside Damascus. With the Syrian government controlling most of the country and Islamic State fighters in disarray, Putin said during the talks with Assad that Russia's military campaign in Syria is wrapping up though he made no mention of the Russian presence in Syria, which Moscow is not likely to give up. "As for our joint work to fight terrorists in Syria, this military operation is coming to an end," he told Assad in televised remarks. "I note with pleasure your willingness to work with everyone who wants peace and settlement." Putin declared in March 2016 that Moscow will scale down its presence in Syria, but the Russian military has remained heavily involved in the conflict. Russian television showed footage of Putin and Assad entering a meeting with the top brass of Russia's defense ministry and the General Staff. "I asked the Syrian president to stop by," Putin told the Russian generals. He then referred to Assad and said: "I would like to introduce you to people who played a key role in saving Syria." Assad's office quoted him as thanking Russia and its military, which he said "gave martyrs and made efforts in Syria." He added: "I was very happy to know that you are here since you are the officers who directly took part in the battle in Syria." Assad said the Russian Air Force helped Syrian troops in the fight against insurgents, helping many Syrians to return to their homes. "In the name of the Syrian people, I greet you and thank you all, every Russian officer, fighter and pilot that took part in this war," Assad said. Associated Press writer Vladimir Isachenkov contributed to this report. All lanes of northbound Central Expressway are back open at Parker Road in Plano after a fatal crash involving a motorcycle and multiple other vehicles Tuesday. The crash took place at about 2:10 p.m. and killed one person and injured three others. Friday, police identified the victim as 56-year-old Randal Earl Sexton of Allen. They say a 2014 Kawasaki motorcycle illegally entered into the HOV lane due to slow traffic and was struck by a vehicle traveling in that lane. That collision created a series of crashes involving a total of seven vehicles. The motorcycle driver was ejected from his vehicle and although he was wearing a helmet, the helmet came off, police said. Sexton, the motorcyclist, died at the scene and no other serious injuries were reported from any of the other motorists. In addition to the motorcycle, the crash involved two pickup trucks, two sedans, an SUV and a Jeep. The crash was spread over two of the four main lanes of the highway as well as the HOV lane, where the motorcycle came to rest along side one of the sedans. Drivers on northbound U.S. Highway 75 were diverted off the highway at Parker Road for several hours as crews worked at the scene. Plano police said at about 5:30 p.m. that the northbound lanes had reopened. The investigation is on-going. Firefighters battling a truck fire in Georgia early Monday probably couldn't ignore the elephant in the room three elephants, that is, standing by the side of the highway. They'd been evacuated from the truck's trailer when the fire broke out on Interstate 24 on the Georgia-Tennessee border at about 2 a.m., according to the Chattanooga Fire Department. The trio of huge but well-behaved animals were heading to Sarasota, Florida, and were unharmed, firefighters said on Facebook. The truck's owner gave them some hay to chew while firefighters put out the blaze. "They were pretty lucky that it was nothing greater than an elephant," Chattanooga Capt. Wadie Suttles told NBC affiliate WRCB. "Can you imagine what things would be like if it was a lion?" Days after the Trump administration announced the end of temporary immigration status for almost 60,000 Haitians living in the United States, protesters are asking one of Floridas senators to help keep them in the country. Protesters arrived outside the Doral office of Sen. Marco Rubio on Wednesday, urging him to create legislation that will allow those who have been allowed in the county under TPS including those who came from Haiti after the devastating 2010 earthquake. Sometimes I get scared, but I believe that if I keep on fighting, one day President Trump will hear my voice and Congress will too, said 10-year-old Ronyde Christinia Ponthieux, a native of Haiti who was at the event. The Department of Homeland Security announced Monday that conditions have improved enough that the status will only be allowed to continue until 2019. Advocates for Haitians say a persistent cholera epidemic and damages caused by three hurricanes since 2016 exacerbate the difficulty for returning Haitians. Days after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake devastated Haiti in January 2010, President Barack Obama granted the 18-month protection status for Haitians in America who would otherwise have to go home. Obama renewed it every time it ran out. Since taking office, Trump has ended temporary permit programs for Sudan and Nicaragua. He postponed until next July a decision on how to deal with a similar program for 86,000 residents from Honduras. The temporary status covers some 435,000 people from nine countries ravaged by natural disasters or war, who came to the U.S. legally or otherwise. Another 200 utility workers from New York state have arrived in Puerto Rico to assist in getting the power back on following Hurricane Maria. Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo says the workers arrived Tuesday along with 180 utility vehicles. They follow 160 utility workers and nearly 100 vehicles that arrived earlier in the month. Another 40 workers will travel to Puerto Rico next week, bringing the total number of utility workers to 400. New York state has also sent hundreds of other experts to help Puerto Rico as it recovers from September's Category 5 storm. Nurses, port officials, law enforcement and members of the National Guard have already traveled to the U.S. territory, and the state has also sent water, medical supplies and other needed items. Four students were hurt by a "large fireball" that erupted during a chemistry class mishap at a prestigious all girls' Catholic high school in the Bronx Wednesday, according to a fire official at the scene and the school president. FDNY Deputy Assistant Chief Joe Woznica said all four students were taken to hospitals -- three with burns, the fourth with respiratory-related issues -- after the accident during first period at St. Catharine Academy on Williamsbridge Road. All are expected to be OK. Sister Patricia Wolf, president of St. Catharine's, a private school with annual tuition rates near $9,000, said the teacher was conducting a flame experiment and the flame apparently got too large. Wolf said there were no hazardous materials involved and the teacher's actions were not believed to be reckless. The teacher, a man who has been on the faculty for about three years, was distraught after the accident, Wolf said. The 125-year-old school enrolls about 500 students in grades 9-12, according to a 2016 annual report. Parents of all students were notified by text about the accident immediately after it happened, Wolf said. Guardians of the injured students were called. The school resumed on a regular schedule, though students were set for an early dismissal Wednesday ahead of the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend. According to its website, "St. Catharine Academy has a 100% college acceptance rate to some of the finest colleges and universities in the world." A hit-and-run driver got out of his car to look at the 70-year-old woman and her caretaker he mowed down in a Manhattan intersection before taking off, surveillance footage shows. Video obtained at the scene at West 181st Street and Bennett Avenue in Washington Heights shows the driver of a white SUV backing out of a parking spot and across two lanes of traffic before smashing into the elderly woman and her 42-year-old caretaker as they crossed Bennett Avenue at about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday. The woman's son said after she was hit she was taken to the emergency room. "She fell on the floor and she hit her head probably her back as well," he told News 4 New York. "She was taken to the hospital." The driver then can be seen getting out of his vehicle to peer at the two victims, the footage shows. But instead of trying to help, he gets back into the SUV and makes his getaway, swerving around another driver in a black SUV who had tried to box him in until police could get on scene. "He said to the crowd that he was staying and waiting for the police," the victim's son said. "Well he did not. He just flew away." The women are expected to be OK, but the hunt continues for the driver and the car with Florida plates. No arrests have been made in the case. Anyone with information on the driver should call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS. Bomb hoax terrifies people at Supreme Court The Supreme Court cancelled all its proceedings on Tuesday following an anonymous call about a bomb planted on its promises. Police later concluded that it was a hoax. Si quieres leer esta historia en espanol haz clic aqui. Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney unleashed an insult-laden tirade against President Donald Trump on Wednesday, denouncing the Trump administration's decision to end protections for Haitians and other immigrants living in the United States. "There is no compassion whatsoever in the White House. I'm just beside myself with sadness because our president is a bully, our president is a punk, and he just doesn't get it." "I don't know where he was raised, but his family didn't do a good job raising that guy," Kenney said. (You can watch a portion of Kenney's comments on Trump above or the full set below.) Kenney made the remarks after calling on the Trump Administration to reverse recent decisions to end Temporary Protective Status for Haitians, Sudanese, and Nicaraguans. Hondurans are still awaiting a decision on their status. Often abbreviated as TPS, the program was created in 1990 and currently allows for 435,000 people from nine countries affected by natural disasters or war to live and work in the United States. Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney fired back at President Trump this afternoon, calling the White Houses decision to end TPS un-American. On Monday, thousands of Haitians in the area were told their Temporary Protected Status would officially end by July 2019. NBC10s Aaron Baskerville reports. On Monday, nearly 60,000 Haitians were notified they must leave the U.S. by July 2019. All moved to the U.S. to escape devastation left behind by a 7.0-magnitude earthquake in 2010. Seven years later, the Carribean nation is still struggling to rebuild, but the Department of Homeland Security said conditions have improved enough to send people back. "Could you imagine if they ended TPS for the Irish when we came here in the 1840s? Sent us all back to starve in our home country?" Kenney, an Irish-American, said while flanked by Haitians and immigration advocates. Kenney said the decisions are "simply un-American." He said deporting these immigrants will be a detrement to the local economy. The mayor also questioned what would happen to TPS immigrant children, who were born in the U.S. and thus are citizens. "This country used to be a country of compassion and empathy and it is now a country of anger and divisiveness and Donald Trump is the reason why we've gotten where we are," Kenney said adding that Trump should "get out" of the U.S. NBC10 has reached out to the White House for comment. You can watch Kenney's full comments below: Mayor Jim Kenney unleashed long-simmering anger at President Donald Trump on Wednesday following the White Houses announcement to end Temporary Protective Status for immigrants of several countries staying in the United States. The Trump administration on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the latest travel ban to take full effect. A federal appeals court ruling last week allowed President Donald Trump's newest version of the ban to partially take effect. That ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the administration to ban people from six mostly Muslim countries unless they have a "bona fide" relationship with someone in the U.S. Last month, a federal judge in Hawaii had blocked most of Trump's third travel ban just before it was due to take effect. A judge in Maryland separately blocked it to a lesser degree, saying Trump could bar people from Chad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen as long as they did not have "bona fide" relationships with people or organizations already in the U.S. The travel ban also applies to travelers from North Korea and to some Venezuelan government officials and their families, but the lawsuits did not challenge those restrictions. The application filed Monday by the U.S. Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to put the Hawaii judge's ruling on hold. Preventing the president from enforcing "his national-security and foreign-relations judgment will cause ongoing irreparable harm to the government and the public, especially by requiring the executive to disregard the identified inadequacies and by undermining the proclamation's goal of inducing cooperation by other nations," the government's application said. If granted, the full ban would be in effect while the government's appeal makes its way through the courts. Hawaii Attorney General Doug Chin said Monday, "We look forward to the Supreme Court's review of this matter, and to the oral argument before the court of appeals in two weeks." Arguments are scheduled for Dec. 6 at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Seattle. The Maryland case is due to be argued before the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Dec. 8. In a separate 9th Circuit ruling Monday, a request by six states to intervene in the Hawaii lawsuit was denied. California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon and Washington filed a motion last month asking to be parties in Hawaii's lawsuit. They agree with Hawaii that the ban is unconstitutional. Niahla weighed six pounds, nine ounces when she was born Sept. 26 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. She looks like your typically snuggly newborn in her hospital crib. But after four weeks at HUP, the baby girl was still not ready to go home with her mother Colleen Peebles. Niahla is battling an opioid addiction. "I got pregnant with my daughter and everyone is like, 'You've got to stop taking it, you've got to stop taking it,'" Peebles told NBC10 Investigators during an interview at HUP's neo-natal intensive care unit. "I'm like, 'I'm OK.' But I'm not okay." Peebles said she became addicted to pain killers after back surgery. Despite her pregnancy, she couldn't break her dependence on Percocet. Now sober, the new mother watches on as her addiction is causing a second withdrawal. "I know how it feels and how it felt when I went through withdrawal and to see my daughter go through that I wouldnt wish that on my worst enemy," Peebles said. NBC10 Niahla is not alone, her doctor says. In fact, according to Dr. Joanna Parga-Belinkie, a neonatalogist at HUP, babies are being born addicted more than ever. Parga-Belinkie is speaking from first-hand experience. She doesn't have raw numbers. That's because, in the midst of America's opioid epidemic, the smallest victims of the disease are not being counted in real time in Pennsylvania. Their suffering and long healing process is not tracked in any public database. Children's advocates and medical experts believe newborn addiction should be classified by the state Department of Health as a "reportable condition." Such a designation would help dedication of resources, treatment and funding, the experts say. "It would underscore the message that this is a public health crisis that is directly and dramatically impacting infants," Cathleen Palm, of the Center for Children's Justice, said. Several states already are tracking where and how many infants are born opioid-addicted. They include California, Ohio, Tennessee and Vermont. Health officials in Tennessee believe the oversight helped guide policy that led to a leveling-off of newborn addiction. "Folks pay attention to these data," Tennessee Deputy Health Commissioner Michael Warren said. "They think about it in their communities and they use that to drive local interventions." Flossie Fagan, an expectant mother from Port Richmond in the city, struggles with heroin addiction. What does that mean for her unborn child? Her story is like so many other young women pregnant and addicted. In Pennsylvania, the state's top health official, Dr. Rachel Levine, said there is no timeline for changing regulations to require newborn addiction be reported and tracked. "I think whenever you can have more timely data that's of benefit," Levine, Gov. Tom Wolf's acting health secretary, said in an interview. "But I think its important not to underestimate the importance of the data that we do have." Levine said the state's ability to track infant addiction is limited to federal Medicaid records, of which the most recent data is from 2016. That means new parents like Colleen Peebles and expectant mothers like Flossie Fagan and their babies born addicted are going untracked. It remains a mystery how many young women like Fagan, who is pregnant and battling opioid addiction, are living in Philadelphia currently. And it'll remain unknown how many children, like the soon-to-be born child Fagan is carrying, are living with addiction until stronger oversight is put in place in Pennsylvania. Nearly seven years after a vehicular homicide suspect escaped to his native Peru, he sits behind bars in suburban Philadelphia on $5 million bail. Nelio Sotomayor-Sanchez is accused of causing a head-on crash that happened just days before Christmas. Authorities arrested Sotomayor-Sanchez, 46, earlier this year in Lima, Peru. On Tuesday, U.S. Marshals accompanied him back to the United States to face charges in the 2010 death of a Newtown Township woman. Sheree Maillie, a 55-year-old teacher's aide, died when Sotomayor-Sanchez's Volkswagen Beetle crossed a double-yellow line while attempting to pass another vehicle along Woodburne Road in Middletown Township on Dec. 23, 2010, according to a criminal complaint. He struck Maillie's Chrysler PT Cruiser head on, authorities said. She died a short time later. Sotomayor-Sanchez did not have a license at the time of the crash, police said. He was taken to a nearby medical center and treated for non-life threatening injuries. Just days after leaving the hospital, Sotomayor-Sanchez moved to Tampa, Florida, authorities said. A day after being charged in Bucks County court in February 2011, Sotomayor-Sanchez flew to Colombia and then home to Peru despite facing several charges, including homicide by vehicle, involuntary manslaughter and causing a deadly accident while driving without a license. Court documents suggest Sotomayor-Sanchez was aware of these charges when he fled to South America, police said. He was later charged with unlawful international flight to avoid prosecution. On Tuesday, Judge Diane Gibbons set Sotomayor-Sanchez's bail at $5 million. He is due to go on trial on Dec. 11, according to court documents. A Southern California man shot in the back during the Las Vegas massacre last month was reunited with the heroic off-duty firefighter who helped save his life. Zack Mesker is out of the Intensive Care Unit at a hospital after he was injured in the Las Vegas shooting. On Sunday, Mesker and his girlfriend were surprised by a visit from Jason Aldean and his wife. NBC 7's Rory Devine reports. Zack Mesker, 21, of San Marcos, was one of hundreds of victims shot at the outdoor Route 91 Harvest music festival in Las Vegas on Oct. 1. Gunman Stephen Paddock opened fire from his hotel room on the 32nd floor of The Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino, raining down bullets on the crowd of 22,000 concertgoers. Fifty-eight people were killed and more than 500 were wounded. Mesker's mom, Lorraine Mesker, told NBC 7 she got a call from her son's girlfriend, Lauren Kyander, that night. Family photo "I got a call about what had happened at the concert and that Zack had been hit," Mesker said. "He was in triage and they were asking her to run and leave the scene." Kyander posted on Facebook that Meske had collapsed near the Tropicana hotel. There, a hero stepped in to help him. "When Zack collapsed, an off-duty firefighter helped him and never left his side until he got an ambulance," Kyander wrote on Facebook. Cal Fire firefighter Chris Wetzel, of the Riverside County Fire Department, was at the concert that night. Wetzel, who lost a friend during the shooting, was off-duty at the time. He told NBC 7 he does not consider himself a hero. "I just saw people suffering and in pain, and it's all I could do," Wetzel wrote to NBC 7. On Sunday, Wetzel and Mesker finally had the chance to reunite. During the shooting, Mesker told Wetzel he was worried about losing his flip-flop. Wetzel brought him a new pair. The father of a 21-year-old San Marcos man said his son called him and said he had been shot and then the line went dead. NBC 7s Rory Devine has the story. "He had lost a flip-flop when I was helping out and he said to me 'Wait my flip- flop,'" Wetzel wrote. "I told him 'Don't worry about the flip-flop, we gotta get you out of here.'" Wetzel also said he wasn't sure how important the flip-flops were to Mesker, but he told himself if he ever reunited with Zack, he would get him another pair. Mesker spent three weeks in a Las Vegas hospital before coming back home to San Diego County. He is currently back in San Marcos, recovering with his family and girlfriend. His nation is a smoldering ruin, much of it held by rival armed factions, domestic or foreign. Half the population is displaced, hundreds of thousands have died and much of the West regards him as a tyrant and human rights abuser. But Syrian President Bashar Assad appears to have survived the war and is likely to hold onto power for the foreseeable future. The sides in Syria's civil war are preparing for the eighth round of U.N.-sponsored peace talks in Geneva intended to set a political transition to end the nearly 7-year-old conflict. Barring any surprises, no negotiated resolution is likely to lead to Assad's ouster. One reason is military. Assad's forces have had the momentum on the ground the past year, backed by an overwhelming Russian air campaign and fighters from Iran and Hezbollah. Assad's government now controls more than 50 percent of Syria. Holding half the country normally wouldn't be an optimistic sign, but that's up from 19 percent earlier this year. His troops control Syria's four largest cities, 10 of its 14 provincial capitals and its Mediterranean coast. No force on the ground is capable of driving Assad out at this stage. On the diplomatic front, the top opposition supporters, the United States and its allies, long ago backed off demands that any deal involve Assad's immediate removal. Now they are pushing for a plan for elections that could bring a new leader. But Assad's ally Russia now dominates the negotiating process, meaning there is little pressure on him to accept real elections or any election before his term ends in 2021. A political solution under his terms would be to incorporate opposition members into a national unity government under his leadership. Assad's opposition is in disarray. The top opposition negotiator, Riyad Hijab, resigned Monday, complaining that foreign powers were carving up Syria and brokering side deals to "prolong the life of Bashar Assad's regime." The opposition is meeting later the week in Saudi Arabia to come up with a unified delegation and negotiating stance. Saudi Arabia has already signaled to the opposition it has to come to terms with Assad's survival. Assad looks increasingly confident. On Monday, he traveled to the Russian city of Sochi for talks with President Vladimir Putin. It was only Assad's second trip outside his country since the conflict began in March 2011 and the previous one was to Russia as well. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in late October repeated Washington's call for Assad to surrender control, insisting that "the reign of the Assad family is coming to an end." But turning that call into reality takes leverage that Washington doesn't appear ready to use. In a joint statement released earlier this month, U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia's Putin agreed there is no military solution to Syria's war. They made vague comments about Assad's "recent commitment to the Geneva process and constitutional reform and elections" as called for under a U.N. Security Council resolution. There are few scenarios that could bring about Assad's fall. One would be if Russia forces Assad to accept a political transition that ensures his departure from the presidency. But it is hard to imagine what incentive the U.S. could give Moscow to dump its ally. Another scenario would be if the U.S. or other opposition backers reversed course and launched an all-out military drive against Assad. "That requires massive escalation, restarting the war from scratch to roll back Assad's gains and creating an opposition that is both able to govern and acceptable to the international community," said Aron Lund, a fellow with the New York-based think tank The Century Foundation. "Looking at the conflict right now and how the opposition's allies are all backing away it's just not going to happen," he said. Trump ended a CIA-backed program training rebel forces trying to oust Assad. The United States has been more focused on fighting the Islamic State group in Syria, supporting Kurdish-led forces that have successfully rolled back the militants and took control of nearly a quarter of the country. Turkey, another top supporter of the opposition, is more concerned with thwarting the ambitions of the Kurds in Syria than with ousting Assad. It backs a force of opposition factions holding an enclave of territory in northern Syria and skirmishing with the Kurds. The main rebel-held area focused on fighting Assad is in the northwestern province of Idlib, but it is dominated by al-Qaida-allied factions. Russia, meanwhile, helped mediate a series of local cease-fires between Assad's forces and rebels on most fronts around the country. That has allowed Assad and his allies troops from Iran, Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas and Iraqi Shiite militiamen to focus on battling the Islamic State group in the east. On Sunday, state-run media announced that Assad's forces have recaptured the town of Boukamal, the Islamic State group's last significant stronghold in Syria, leaving the militants to defend just strips of desert territory in the country and a besieged pocket outside the capital, Damascus. "To be sure there will be flare-ups of violence and bombings and unrest," Lund said. "But he (Assad) holds the center, he holds most of the population, he's got the economy and the institutions and the U.N. seat. ... He has all the stuff he needs to continue to rule." When Syria's conflict began with mass protests in March 2011, many expected Assad to be quickly toppled like other Arab leaders. Regional and international supporters of the opposition poured in money and weapons and then U.S. President Barack Obama and other Western leaders declared the Assad dynasty finished. Assad's determination never wavered throughout the conflict, aided by the opposition's fragmentation and Russia and Iran's inerventions. Nikolaos Van Dam, author of the book "Destroying A Nation: The Civil War in Syria," said Western countries created false expectations by calling on Assad to step down while only offering half-hearted support for the opposition and underestimating the cohesion of Assad's leadership. An off-duty Military Police (PM) officer shot dead two suspected armed robbers Saturday during a hold up at a Brazilian pharmacy, all while holding his young son in his arms. Sgt. Rafael Souza was with his wife and young son at a pharmacy in the city of Campo Limpo Paulista, buying medicine when two hooded armed men stormed the business, according to Sao Paulo's Metropolitan Battalion, Brazil's Radio Acesa reported. Officials said when Souza told the gunmen he was a police officer, one of the suspects, later identified as 24-year-old Jefferson Alves, pointed a gun in Souza's direction and fired. The officer then drew his own weapon, firing a shot past another shopper, who has his hands in the air. Surveillance video shows the officer holding his son in one arm while firing at the suspects in the other. At one point, the officer's wife can be seen running between aisles, hiding behind shelves as she makes her way toward her husband to grab her son. Alves and the other suspect, identified as 22-year-old Italo Creato, were pronounced dead at the scene, the city's coroner's office said. The PM said it is investigating the incident and Souza will undergo a psychological analysis before returning to duty. Rapper Meek Mill's five-year tradition of giving out turkeys to his fellow Philadelphians continued on Thanksgiving Eve this year despite the lionized musician's controversial imprisonment. Mill, 30, began the holiday event in 2013 with the help of community leaders like South Philadelphia's Anton Moore. That first year, 200 turkeys were handed out at the Vare Middle School, as well as winter coats. This year, as many as 1,000 turkeys will be distributed at four locations throughout Wednesday morning and afternoon. The first batch of birds were given out at Moore's community organization, Unity in the Community, at Point Breeze Avenue and Dickinson Street, starting at 11 a.m. The giveaways were to proceed then at noon at Bible Way Baptist Church, 1323 North 52nd St.; 2 p.m. at Martin Luther King Recreation Center, 2101 Cecil B. Moore Ave.; and 3 p.m. at Strawberry Mansion Learning Center, Dauphin Street and North 30th Street. NBC10/Lauren Mayk Mill, born Robert Rihmeek Williams, has become a nationally-recognized figure in recent weeks after a Philadelphia Common Pleas judge sentenced him to jail for probation violations. Activists and renowned musicians from Colin Kaepernick to Jay-Z have pointed to his jailing as symbolic of what they describe as harsh treatment of blacks by the criminal justice system. Julius "Dr. J" Erving and Philadelphia Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins took part in a Center City #FreeMeek" rally. Hundreds of protesters, including 76ers legend Dr. J, Eagles player Malcolm Jenkins, and rapper Rick Ross, rallied in Center City in support of jailed Philly hip hop artist Meek Mill. NBC10s Aaron Baskerville has the story. Kaepernick said in social media posts that he spoke with Mill in prison and said the rapper was "in good spirits." Jay-Z wrote in a New York Times op-ed that the Mill has "been stalked by a system that considers the slightest infraction a justification for locking him back inside." "Consider this: Meek was around 19 when he was convicted on charges relating to drug and gun possession, and he served an eight-month sentence," Jay-Z wrote. "Now hes 30, so he has been on probation for basically his entire adult life." This is the card handed out with the turkeys pic.twitter.com/RjVPB0Mr0k Lauren Mayk (@Laurenjmayk) November 22, 2017 Mill's attorneys have filed appeals to Common Pleas Judge Genece Brinkley's sentence of two to four years in prison. Brinkley, who has overseen Mill's decade-long probation, has not made a ruling on the appeal. His attorneys have also asked that Brinkley recuse herself from Mill's case and any appeals. They claimed in court filings that the judge has expressed herself over the years "in personal, injudicious terms when ruling or explaining her rulings" in the ongoing probation hearings. The recusal request included some tawdry accusations, like a claim that she asked the Philadelphia-born rapper to record a version of a Boyz II Men song and include a shout out to Brinkley. Another claim accuses the judge of recommending Mill leave his management agency, Roc Nation, which is headed by Jay-Z, and rejoin his original manager, a Philadelphia man named Charlie Mack. In sending Mill to jail Nov. 6, Brinkley said Mill "does what he wants" despite repeated warnings. Twice in recent years, Brinkley ruled that Mill violated his probation by being associated with an alleged fight at a St. Louis airport and being charged with popping wheelies on a dirt bike in New York City. Border to close for 72 hours Nepal-India border will be shut for 72 hours ahead of the first phase of the federal and provincial elections that take place on November 26. More than 350 firearms have been lost or stolen from local and federal police agencies headquartered in the Washington, D.C., area since 2011, according to an investigation by the News4 I-Team. In many cases, the firearms have not yet been recovered. A compilation of police records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act reveals a series stolen or lost firearms at large and small police agencies. At least 35 of them were taken or lost from the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C., since 2011. Twenty-eight others were lost or stolen from Prince Georges County Police. Ten were reported missing or stolen from Alexandria police, while eight were lost or stolen from Virginia State Police during the time period. In a rising number of cases, the firearms were stolen from police vehicles. Six of the seven firearms taken from Fairfax County Police were listed as taken from cruisers or officers personal vehicles. A firearm stolen from the car of an off-duty Rockville police officer was later seized from a teenager on campus at Albert Einstein High School in Kensington, according to police reports. [[458864593, C]] The teenager from whom the firearm was seized is facing federal criminal charges. Firearms experts with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said thieves often steal firearms from vehicles from both private citizens and law enforcement. Individuals who are known to posses firearms legally become targets, ATF investigator Kevin OKeefe said. Some high-profile thefts have yet to be solved. FBI agents told the I-Team they have not yet located a pair of agency firearms and other tactical gear stolen from the vehicle of a D.C. field office employee in summer 2016. Calvert County Sheriffs officials said they have not determined the rightful owner of a cache of stolen police weapons found in the possession of a man they arrested in March. Rockville Police, from whom two guns were stolen in April, said they have recently stiffened their policies to prevent future thefts. Acting Police Chief Robert Rappoport said officers must now store firearms in a locked case when keeping those guns in a vehicle trunk. It'll add another level of security to the weapons," he said. "If a vehicle's trunk is compromised, there's one extra level to ensure the weapon can't be removed from the trunk." A review of reports from federal inspectors general shows federal agencies also lost guns by the dozens in recent years. An October 2017 report from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General said federal homeland security agents lost at least 228 firearms since 2014. Personnel did not follow policy or used poor judgment when safeguarding these assets, the report said. In a formal response to the report, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it would offer additional training to staff to reduce the risk of future gun thefts or losses. Reported by Scott MacFarlane, produced by Rick Yarborough, and shot and edited by Jeff Piper. Authorities say a man wanted in the shooting death of a Hagerstown, Maryland, woman was released from jail just two days before the crime. A warrant for first-degree murder has been issued for 33-year-old Devaughn Tyrone Drew, the Washington County Sheriff's Office said. Investigators believe he is responsible for the death of 23-year-old Destiny Aurelia Boccone. Deputies found Boccone's body inside a vehicle Sunday night while responding to the scene of a crash. Investigators say she had been shot. During their investigation, detectives learned that Drew had been released from the Maryland Department of Corrections on Nov. 17, just two days before Boccone was shot. Investigatos have not said whether Boccone and Drew knew one another. Anyone with information on Drew's location is asked to call the Washington County Sheriff's Office at 240-313-2170. A 14-year-old boy died last month after he was shot in the head in Maryland during a drug deal. His mother told News4 she is now making it her mission to teach teenagers about the danger of guns. Xavier Young died on Oct. 30 after he was shot from a car window in a parking lot in Laurel, Maryland, his mom, Jennifer Young said. He was shot just an hour after he told his mom he was on his way home. Xavier had agreed to go to the parking lot with a friend selling marijuana, who was afraid to go alone, Jennifer Young said. If something's not right -- if it doesn't feel right, if it doesn't sound right, then its not right -- and you shouldn't go, his mom said. Three teens have been charged in connection with Xavier Young's death. The youngest is only 15 years old, police say. Jennifer described her son as a class clown with many friends. Seven of her sons organs were donated to people in need. His mom said his heart now beats inside a 12-year-old girl. Jennifer Young said she is devastated her son died, but relieved he could help save others. "Just to know he is inside someone else is amazing," she said. Thanksgiving is synonymous with food and family. But for people without anywhere to go, it can be a lonely day. A restaurant in La Plata, Maryland, will open its doors on Thursday to anyone without somewhere to go. The owner of Galazio Restaurant and a team of volunteers said they want to make Thanksgiving a happy day for everyone. "It's not a handout -- it's a place Thanksgiving orphans can share a meal together," volunteer Larry Bisagni said. This is the third year that Galazio will host the community meal. Last year, they served military members whose loved ones lived elsewhere, business executives, full families and even naturalists who lived in the woods, restaurant owner Joe Gressis said. Galazio typically serves Greek food, but on Thanksgiving the chefs will serve up turkey, stuffing and the holiday classics. One group donated more than 20 turkeys to the cause, enabling the hosts to add prime rib to the menu as well, Gressis said. Its not like a homeless shelter or soup kitchen, where people stand in line. Its a real sit-down dinner with tablecloths and delicious food, he said. The feast this year will honor Carol Bisagni, a a relentless force for good in the community who died Nov. 20, 2016, her son, the volunteer Larry Bisagni, said. Carol Bisagni was Galazio's first volunteer at the dinner, both men said. She moved from New England to D.C. in 1963, inspired by the Civil Rights movement and Dr. Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream Speech, her son said. When he was young, his mother went home with bread and bologna and had him help her make sandwiches for people in need. Immediately, I knew those sandwiches were not for us, he said. They were for women fleeing domestic violence. At the dinner last year, one of Galazio's dinner guests mirrored Carol Bisagnis giving spirit. The man put $100 in a donation jar and said he wished he had had someplace to go for Thanksgiving after he lost his job amid the economic downturn of 2008, Larry Bisagni said. That man wasn't homeless. Other dinner guests last year were. People often equate homelessness with drug abuse, alcoholism or some other sort of addiction. But the truth of the matter is one hardship in life can really put you there, Larry Bisagni said. Gressis said all are welcome at the meal. The community supports our restaurant 364 days out of the year, so this one day out of the year is on us, Gressis said. Reservations can be made by calling 301-392-9500. Though not mandatory, Gressi said reservations are highly recommended so Galazio's cooks can prepare enough food. Another free community Thanksgiving dinner will be held at the Boston Market in Riverdale, Maryland, from 4 to 6 p.m. Thursday. The dinners organizer, J. Clemonts, said this is his second time hosting such a gathering. The people who came may not have been related, but they were certainly family on that day, J. said. As many as 10 members of the gang MS-13 stabbed a man more than 100 times in a Maryland park, ripped out his heart and buried him, officials say. Court documents released Wednesday reveal gruesome details about the killing of a man officials in Montgomery County still have not been able to identify. Miguel Angel Lopez-Abrego, 19, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. A ranking gang member told police Lopez-Abrego was the first person to stab the victim, court documents say. The informant said that he, Lopez-Abrego and eight other MS-13 gang members lured the victim to Wheaton Regional Park this spring. For about two weeks, they planned how to get the man to go from the Annapolis area to Wheaton because they planned to kill him and dispose of his body, the informant told police. Lopez-Abrego helped dig a grave for the victim and used a walkie-talkie to tell the other gang members when the victim had arrived, the informant told police. Then, the gang members choked him, stabbed him more than 100 times, decapitated him and dismembered him, the informant said. They ripped his heart from his chest and threw it into the grave they dug for him. On Sept. 5, the informant led detectives to the body. The man's remains were where the informant said they would be, and he had injuries consistent with the torture the informant described. Lopez-Abrego was found in North Carolina on Nov. 11 and arrested on a first-degree murder warrant. He has been extradited to Montgomery County. Police are still working to identify the victim. In September, investigators released several photos of clothing and a rosary that were found with him. The items included a rosary, a sweatshirt with a Methodist church logo and a pair of blue shorts. You can see the photos on the Montgomery County Police website. Police say the victim was a Hispanic man who was about 5 feet 2 inches tall and 126 pounds. He had short, dark brown hair. He was missing a bottom tooth, and police believe he was living in the Annapolis area. Anyone with information is asked to call 240-773-5070. The Argentine submarine ARA San Juan went missing in the South Atlantic last week with 44 crew members aboard. Here's a look at the submarine and the round-the-clock international maritime search. THE VESSEL The German-built diesel-electric TR-1700 class submarine was commissioned in 1985 and was most recently refit in 2014. The retrofitting cost about $12 million and took more than 500,000 work hours. The boat was cut in half and had its engines and batteries replaced. Refits can be difficult because they involve integrating systems produced by different manufacturers, said Rockford Weitz, director of the Fletcher School's maritime studies program at Tufts University. "The cost of even the smallest mistake during this cutting phase of the operation is enormous - threatening the life and safety of the ship's crew," Weitz said. LOST AT SEA The Argentine navy says it lost contact with the submarine on Nov. 15. It had sailed from the extreme southern port of Ushuaia on Nov. 8 after a training exercise and was heading for its base at Mar del Plata, about 250 miles (400 kilometers) southeast of Buenos Aires. Most submarines can deploy a location beacon to the surface that can emit emergency signals via satellite, but there is no sign the San Juan did so. The sub carried enough food, oxygen and fuel for the crew to survive about 90 days on the sea's surface, but the navy said it had only enough oxygen to last seven days if submerged. Other experts, however, said that if the sub sank but was still structurally intact, the crew could have 7 to 10 days of oxygen. The amount of oxygen would depend on when the San Juan last resurfaced to recharge its batteries and other factors. "But it is clear that time for a successful rescue operation is very, very limited," Weitz said. POSSIBLE PROBLEMS The submarine's captain reported a battery failure and the vessel was on its way to the navy base in Mar del Plata when it went missing. Authorities have no specific details of the problem. Argentine naval protocol says that when a sub loses communications, it should surface. But navy spokesman Enrique Balbi said the crew might have remained submerged to protect the sub from stormy weather that has caused waves of more than 20 feet (6 meters). INTERNATIONAL HELP More than a dozen vessels and aircraft are searching off the coast of the Patagonia region in southern Argentina. The sub's last known position has been combed fully, and the search area has been expanding. The effort has been hindered by the bad weather, though forecasters say conditions should improve in the coming days. Britain has sent a polar exploration vessel, the HMS Protector, and the U.S. Navy deployed its Undersea Rescue Command, which includes remotely operated vehicle and vessels capable of rescuing people from bottomed submarines. FALSE ALARMS Hopes were buoyed after brief satellite calls were received and when sounds were detected deep in the South Atlantic. But experts later determined that neither was from the missing sub. A U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon aircraft spotted white flares, but the Argentine navy said they were unlikely to be from the San Juan, which carried red and green flares. The navy said a life raft that was found in the search area early Tuesday didn't belong to the submarine and likely fell off another vessel. CREW AND FAMILIES The San Juan had a crew of 44, which included Eliana Krawczyk, Argentina's first female submarine officer. Worried relatives of the missing sailors have gathered at the Mar Del Plata Navy Base to receive psychological counseling and anxiously wait for news about their loved ones. "We can make up a thousand movies with happy and sad endings, but the reality is that the days pass by and not knowing anything kills you," said Carlos Mendoza, the brother of submarine officer Fernando Ariel Mendoza. "Every minute is oxygen that's worth gold." Associated Press writer Almudena Calatrava and AP video journalist Paul Byrne contributed to this report. Yolnick Jeune couldn't sleep for days, anxious over the fate of a program that has staved off the deportations of both herself and tens of thousands of other Haitians in the U.S. Then, President Donald Trump's administration this week announced one last 18-month extension of the Temporary Protected Status that has allowed her to work and provide for her five children, including a 7-year-old, U.S.-born girl. "I can breathe a little and get some rest. This buys me time to figure out what's next," Jeune said Tuesday in Miami's Little Haiti community, standing next to her daughter Lagranda. But at the same time, Jeune is upset that the government on Monday said she and nearly 60,000 Haitians must return home July 2019, ruling out any further extensions of the immigration benefits given to Haitians who came before and in the aftermath of the Caribbean country's 2010 earthquake. "I am very depressed to know that within 18 months, I have to go back," she said. Having been in Miami since 2009, Jeune has not returned to Haiti but hears from her sister and other relatives back in her native Port-de-Paix that conditions have not improved for those whose lives were upended by the earthquake. In Little Haiti, the mood was of both relief and anger. Many of the dozens lined up to receive turkeys at the cultural center ahead of Thanksgiving were confused over whether the program was in fact extended or ended and were hesitant to speak about immigration. "This decision has thrown these families in complete whirlwind," said Marleine Bastien, executive director of the advocacy group Haitian Women of Miami, at a press conference Tuesday in Little Haiti. "President Trump you did promise when you were campaigning that you would be Haiti's best champion," she said. "Is this your idea of being our champion? I beg to differ." The Department of Homeland Security said on Monday that conditions in Haiti have improved significantly since the earthquake. The announcement came 60 days before temporary status is set to expire, but many in Miami were expecting a shorter extension because in May the agency had only given six months instead of the usual 18. The program protects from deportation some 435,000 people from nine countries ravaged by natural disasters or war, who came to the U.S. legally or otherwise. Days after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake devastated Haiti in January 2010, President Barack Obama granted the 18-month protection status for Haitians in the U.S. who would otherwise have had to go home. He renewed it every time it ran out. Ira Kurzban, a lawyer who has represented former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in the U.S., called Trump administration's decision "ill-advised" and "morally bankrupt" and said he would challenge it in court. Although it remains one of the poorest nations in the world, Haiti has made advances spurred by international aid since the quake. The United Nations last month ended a peacekeeping mission in Haiti that, at its peak, included more than 10,000 troops. But Kurzban said people from the Caribbean nation still deserved temporary protection, because of political instability and other natural disasters such as Hurricane Matthew that tore through southern Haiti in October 2016, killing more than 500. Haiti wasn't the first country to be canceled. Trump has ended temporary permit programs for people from Sudan and Nicaragua. He postponed a decision until next July on how to deal with 86,000 Hondurans. About 300 people rallied a mile away from Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort on Tuesday before his scheduled arrival, demanding residence for those immigrants under the refugee programs. Jeune and others are hoping these 18 months are enough for Congress to find a permanent solution for Haitians. Maryland Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, along with fellow Democrat Dianne Feinstein of California, last week unveiled new legislation to protect undocumented immigrants living under temporary protected status. But Kurzban said the likelihood of legislation passing before the 2019 deadline is small. It's also not easy for refugees to change their temporary immigration status to a permanent one on their own, with only certain circuit courts in the nation allowing it, and not the appeals court that rules over Florida, Georgia and Alabama. Florida is the state with the most program holders of Haitian nationality. The Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, estimates 32,500 Haitians in Florida have temporary protected status, with 18,800 U.S.-born children living in those households. But there are also thousands in states like New York and Massachusetts. In Massachusetts, where about 4,700 Haitians enjoy the protected status, Marianne Jeune said Trump's decision was a welcome development. The longtime healthcare worker said she will have enough time to hopefully make arrangements to remain in the U.S. with her three children, one of them born in the U.S. "This is good news. Very, very good news," she said. She plans to marry the father of her 5-year-old daughter, who has U.S. citizenship, and seek permanent residency. In Little Haiti, Ronyde Christina Ponthieux, a 10-year-old fifth-grade student, was devastated. She cried on her father's shoulder on Tuesday when contemplating the possibility her parents may lose their immigration benefits. "I have trouble sleeping at night sometimes, because I know that here's a possibility me and my family may be deported," Ronyde said. "A couple of months ago, my dad, he had high-blood pressure. People are stressing because knowing that there may be a possibility of them being deported is a huge thing. I love my dad, I love my parents, and all of these people they are important to me." As North Korea marches toward nuclear mastery, President Donald Trump slaps the country back on an American blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism. But is it anything more than bluster? After all, former President George W. Bush removed North Korea from that same list nearly a decade ago, also in an attempt to halt its march toward nuclear mastery. Aside from a pretty good illustration of just how hopeless the decades-long effort to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions can seem, the contrasting approaches also show that the list has always been more about symbolism than substance. The top U.S. diplomat, Rex Tillerson, acknowledged as much and undercut Trump's declaration that it was part of a "maximum pressure campaign" to isolate North Korea when he called the decision a "very symbolic move" with limited practical effects. After months of nuclear and missile tests that put North Korea ever closer to completing a viable long-range nuclear arsenal that can hit the U.S. mainland, the designation has the ring of a counterpunch that's more impressive to look at than painful to feel. And since North Korea will see it as a yet another in a long list of provocations even if symbolic it likely pushes a negotiated end to the dangerous standoff on the Korean Peninsula further away. There will be angry words from Pyongyang, maybe more weapons tests, and then more angry words from Washington, and maybe more sanctions. The listing will raise animosity and speed up North Korea's nuclear development, said Hong Min, an analyst at Seoul's Korea Institute for National Unification. North Korea will also see the move as proof that the Trump administration has no genuine interest in diplomacy, considering the shame and global stigma the designation still brings, Hong said. One problem for Trump is that while North Korea cared very much about the terror list a decade ago, it may not worry as much about it now. When North Korea was taken off the list in 2008 part of a pledge Bush made in a 2007 nuclear disarmament deal that blew up within a year North Korea chafed at what it saw as an impediment to doing international business and pursuing large multilateral financial loans, analysts at the time said. But 2017's North Korea is very different from the nation that did a deal with Bush. The dictator now in charge the young Kim Jong Un, who took over after his father, Kim Jong Il, died in 2011 has so far seen little benefit to the interminable diplomatic wrangling his father dove into between so-called provocations. Kim Jong Un, instead, has pursued with breakneck speed the building of an arsenal of nuclear-tipped missiles. Granted, the messages from Washington where Trump has swung between threats of "fire and fury" and offers to talk have been mixed, but when there has been U.S. outreach, North Korea has seemed uninterested. The move by Trump will also fit neatly, from North Korea's perspective, into its long-running claim that Washington harbors "hostile intentions" that make the nuclear program a crucial part of national defense. How you see the respective moves by Bush and Trump may depend on how you define terrorism. Those who thought North Korea shouldn't be on the list a decade ago argued that it had not been tied directly to terrorism since its agents planted a bomb on a South Korean commercial jetliner in 1987. The other side saw North Korea's abduction of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s, and its alleged assassinations of North Koreans who fled to South Korea, as clear evidence of terrorism. Trump, in announcing the listing this week, mentioned an American student imprisoned in North Korea who died of injuries suffered there, and also "assassinations on foreign soil," a reference to the killing of Kim Jong Un's half brother with nerve agent at the Kuala Lumpur airport in February. Some in South Korea believe that, regardless of Washington's actions, North Korea has no intention of negotiating over its weapons until it successfully builds a working long-range nuclear arsenal, something that may happen in the next couple of years. Evidence for this could be seen when a senior Chinese envoy, Song Tao, apparently failed to meet Kim Jong Un during a four-day visit that ended Monday, according to Cheong Seong-Chang, an analyst at South Korea's Sejong Institute. The terror list designation, Cheong said, won't hurt North Korea economically as it's already so highly sanctioned. But, he said, it would have one concrete result: "A dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang is virtually impossible now." AP writers Hyung-jin Kim and Kim Tong-hyung contributed to this story. What to Know Firefighters responded to the blaze at 282 Hanover St. at 1 a.m. Wednesday where it quickly reached 3-alarms. One man jumped from a window and was later pronounced dead. Firefighters found the body of another man inside the building. Three residents were rescued. Fire officials said the cause of the blaze is careless disposal of smoking materials in a bedroom. A fire at a building in Boston's North End early Wednesday morning claimed the lives of two people. Crews responded to 282 Hanover St. around 1 a.m. where the fire on the third floor quickly reached 3 alarms. Fire officials said one resident jumped out of a window and was taken to an area hospital where he died from his injuries. Once crews got inside the 5-story building, the body of another man was found. The man who jumped was identified by coworkers as Peter Smith, 33. Smith worked at Wilkins Investment Counsel and members of his 13-person team told NBC Boston they're taking his death hard. Fire officials said one resident jumped out of a window and was taken to an area hospital where he died from his injuries. Once crews got inside the 5-story building, the body of another man was found. "He was the best of the best, very smart, dedicated, he has thousands of friends, and I mean thousands of friends," his boss John Wilkins said over the phone. One resident who did not give her name said her roommate, known in the neighborhood as Matt or Matty, 58, stayed to put out the flames in their second-floor apartment, but did not make it out. "I got up to ask him why the house was so smoky and he said, 'Help me. Help me put this out.' And I started filling up a pan of water and it was just useless and I said, 'Matt, we have to go, it's just too big,'" the woman recalled. "He's a good customer," said local store owner Mark Petrigno. "He's been here as long as I've owned the store, he has been here about 25 years." Wilkins Investment Counsel Authorities said the men are the first fire fatalities in Boston this year. "It's a tragedy," Boston Police Commissioner William Evans said. "It's Thanksgiving, and to think that we have two people dead, it just breaks your heart." "It is never a good time to lose, have a tragedy like that, right before the holidays I think it makes it worse," said Mayor Marty Walsh. Crews were able to rescue two adults and an infant. One of those adults is listed in critical condition at an area hospital. "We rescued two adults and a child from one of the area ladders and a couple of other people were brought down the stairs from the fourth floor down that way. There was another rescue from one of the other windows as well so there was a lot going on all around the building," said Boston Fire Deputy Chief Michael Ruggere. Building Fire in Boston's North End Claims Lives of Two Firefighters were able to douse the flames inside the building, which contains four apartments and a restaurant on the street level. Officials said getting at the fire was an issue. "The problem was the inaccessibility. You couldn't get down to the courtyards and the rear of the building so it makes it very difficult," Ruggere said. "The problem was the inaccessibility. You couldn't get down to the courtyards and the rear of the building so it makes it very difficult," said Ruggere. The exact manner and cause of the two fatalities will be determined by the State Medical Examiners Office. Fire officials said the cause of the fire is careless disposal of smoking materials in a second-floor bedroom. The American Red Cross is assisting 12 residents displaced by the fire. Damage to the building is estimated at $1.5 million, including what appears to be water damage at Trattoria Il Panino, a restaurant within the building. Ristorante Saraceno and Gelateria are located next to Il Panino, but details on those establishments have not been given as of yet. Four people are facing drug and weapons charges after local police and a state police SWAT team converged on a Bow, New Hampshire home following a months-long investigation. Bow police and state police said they executed a search warrant at 3 Branch Londonderry Turnpike West on Wednesday. The suspects initially did not want to surrender, but after a short time, three of them exited. A fourth suspect remained inside and ultimately surrendered 45 minutes later after negotiating with police. Paul LaCourse, 50, of Bow, was arrested on possession of a controlled drug and felon in possession of a deadly weapon charges. His bail was set at $10,000. Joseph Henriksen, 33, of Warner, was arrested on a warrant for sale of a controlled drug. His bail was set at $50,000. Jennifer Karl, 35, of Belmont, was arrested on a warrant for transporting drugs in a motor vehicle and breach of bail. Her bail was set at $5,000. Allyson Graham, 23, of Manchester, was arrested for breach of bail. Her bail was set at $2,000. All four suspects are being held at the Merrimack County House of Corrections, according to police. A large number of firearms, knives and narcotics were seized, and police said additional charges will be forthcoming. Assisting in the investigation were Allenstown police, the Merrimack County Sheriff's Office and the Bow Fire Department. Candidates quiet about perennial food shortage, underdevelopment Most candidates running their election campaigns in the Karnali region are trying to sell the voters the promises mentioned in the central manifestos of their parties since they have not prepared provincial manifestos. State police say a funeral home employee transporting a body was killed when his hearse was hit from behind by a sport utility vehicle. Police said the crash killed 59-year-old Richard Charest of Winthrop. It happened on Route 202 in Greene on Monday evening. Authorities said Charest was transporting the body back to the funeral home where he worked when the crash occurred. They say Charest and the body he was transporting remained inside the hearse after the crash. Police said the driver of the SUV, 58-year-old Donald Asselin of Sabattus, suffered minor injuries. The cause of the crash remains under investigation. Massachusetts' highest court has granted a new trial for a man convicted of murder in a 2009 killing. The Supreme Judicial Court said Tuesday that Aaron Morin deserves a new trial because his trial lawyers failed to challenge the introduction of evidence that was improperly seized from his cellphone. The justices say the "improperly seized evidence" likely influenced the jury's verdict. The justices also said they believe the evidence was "sufficient to support his conviction." Morin was convicted of first-degree murder in 2012 in the death of Chad Fleming, who was beaten and strangled. Morin's attorney Robert Shaw Jr. says the evidence shows Fleming was killed by Morin's co-defendant and that Morin wasn't involved. Shaw says they're pleased with the decision and are confident they can demonstrate Morin is innocent. Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said her office has launched an investigation into an Uber hack that exposed the data of more than 57 million users and drivers. "We've launched an investigation into the Uber breach and have been in touch with the company to get more information," she said in a tweet on Wednesday. "We have serious concerns about the reported conduct." She also told WGBH-FM she had requested documents and other information from the ride-hailing service, adding that her office is "keeping all criminal and civil options on the table." Massachusetts isn't the only New England state looking into the Uber breach. The attorney generals in Connecticut and New Hampshire have also launched their own investigations. Uber came clean Tuesday about its cover-up of a year-old hacking attack that stole personal information about its customers and drivers. So far, there's no evidence that the data has been misused, the company's new CEO said. The heist took the names, email addresses and mobile phone numbers of 57 million riders around the world. The thieves also nabbed the driver's license numbers of 600,000 Uber drivers in the U.S. The revelation was the latest stain on Uber's reputation. The California company ousted Travis Kalanick as CEO in June after an internal investigation concluded he had built a culture that allowed female workers to be sexually harassed and encouraged employees to push legal limits. It's also the latest major breach involving a prominent company that didn't notify the people that could potentially be harmed for months or even years after the break-in occurred. Police say they were forced to shoot and kill a rabid coyote after it attacked two people in North Attleboro, Massachusetts earlier this week. Judy Place, of North Attleboro, said she called police Monday night after she heard the animal trying to get under her house. Place said the animal bit her leg after she went outside to show police where it was hiding. The coyote also bit a second person, according to the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. North Attleboro Police Capt. Joseph DiRenzo said officers used their stun guns, and then resorted to firing a warning shot. Place said she ran inside after the animal finally released her. DiRenzo tells The Sun Chronicle police killed the animal after it started going after another officer. Place suffered puncture wounds to her leg. Test results from the state Department of Public Health confirmed that the coyote was rabid. MassWildlife is urging the public to report any unusual animal behavior to local authorities and avoid contact with coyotes. Attacks by coyotes on people are rare in Massachusetts. The North Attleboro attacks are at the eighth and ninth documented attacks on people by coyotes since the 1950s. The last coyote attack on a person was two years ago in Kingston. For tips on avoiding coyotes, check out MassWildlife's Living With Coyotes Fact Sheet. A Rhode Island man accused of killing his live-in girlfriend then telling investigators she had been struck by a car has been indicted on a murder charge. Attorney General Peter Kilmartin said Monday that 32-year-old Allen Hanson is charged with domestic murder in the May death of Jennifer Silva. Police say they responded to the couple's East Providence home, where they found Silva in a parking lot at the rear of the address. She died at the hospital. Hanson identified himself as Silva's boyfriend and said she had been hit by a car. But police determined that she was actually the victim of a "domestic violence altercation." Court records don't list an attorney for Hanson. A woman was hospitalized Tuesday after New Hampshire officials say she was shot by a hunter in Hopkinton. New Hampshire Department of Fish and Game officials said the victim was riding her mountain bike on Hall Road in Elm Brook Park when she heard a gunshot. The woman, who has not been identified, said she realized a short time later that she had been struck by a bullet. The victim was taken to Concord Hospital where she was treated and released for a non-life threatening injury. Authorities said Conservation Officers and Hopkinton Police were called to the scene where a 34-year-old man was interviewed. He was not identified. An initial investigation led Conservation Officers to believe that the suspect was shooting at a deer and failed to see the victim on her bike. The investigation is ongoing and potential charges against the shooter are undetermined. President Ronald Reagan once advised trust, but verify about nuclear disarmament. The same could be said about some official information on public health and safety issues. Remember Flint, Michigan? LeeAnne Walters is a mother of four in Flint, Michigan. She was alarmed when her entire family started losing clumps of hair and her twins kept breaking out in rashes, reported Mother Jones. The family was suffering from the effects of lead in Flints water supply. Frustrated with the citys response, Walters contacted a manager at the EPA which helped unleash a chain of investigations into the crisis. Background NPR reported that lead seepage into the drinking water in Flint, Michigan caused a massive public health crisis and prompted a federal state of emergency. The problem began when the city switched its water supply in 2014. Almost immediately, residents of Flint a majority-black city where 40 percent of people live in poverty started complaining about the quality of the water. City and state officials denied for months that there was a serious problem. By that time, supply pipes had sustained major corrosion and lead was leaching into the water. The city switched back to its original water supply late last year, but it was too late to reverse the damage to the pipes. Over 100,000 Flint residents were potentially exposed to high levels of lead in their drinking water due to insufficient water treatment. Residents were instructed to use only bottled or filtered water. Part of the contamination in Flint is from the use of hazardous lead service pipes that connect municipal main water supplies to older homes and communities. City officials issued a questionable boil advisory that ran contrary to Center for Disease Control guidelines. Boiling water does not remove lead. The lead concentration of the water can actually increase slightly as some of the water evaporates with boiling. What are people supposed to do with missing information, and dangerous advice? Theres a vital role here for technology to provide correct information. How sensors and IoT help New sensors and remote monitoring applications can warn residents and officials of contamination levels. Its not much, but at least its a start till public infrastructure is improved. NanoAffix Science This startup uses technology licensed patented technologies from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Research Foundation. Its working on a handheld device for real-time, on-site detection of toxic lead in tap water with design goals of: An affordable price point around $10/sensor Resiliency with enough power to run for a year without changing the battery Miniaturization to have multiple contaminant sensors on a single probe Nanofix integrates a micro-sized sensor chip built upon a graphene-gold nanoparticle sensing platform along with a portable digital meter to displays the results. University of Michigan project Mark Burns, the T.C. Chang Professor of Chemical Engineering at U-M, and his colleagues are working on an inexpensive sensor that can be placed at key points in city water systems and taps. "I hope it will have some impact because it is scary to think about having lead in your water," Burns said. Libelium The Waspmote Smart Water platform monitors water quality remotely. It uses multiple sensors to measure a range of water quality parameters, including the level of lead. Solar panels are used to recharge its ultra-low-power sensor node. Sensor reading can be sent to the cloud via a cellular (3G, GPRS, WCDMA) or long range 802.15.4/ZigBee (868/900MHz). The dangers of lead poisoning Lead affects childrens brain development. It lowers IQ and reduces educational attainment. Children who survive severe lead poisoning may be left with mental retardation and behavioural disorders according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Sensors to detect lead in water and alert residents are just a start. They arent a fix. Many cities stopped using them decades ago, but millions of lead lines are still in use today. Flint is a microcosm, says Robert Glennon, a professor of law and public policy at the University of Arizona in Tuscon and author of the book, Unquenchable: America's Water Crisis and What To Do About It. The maintenance of water systems and wastewater systems is not just an urban problem, or a problem for places with low-income residents. Its a problem all over the nation that needs to be addressed. The aftermath Governor Snyder, along with EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. "Let me be blunt," the governor said in his opening statement. "This was a failure of government at all levels. Local, state and federal officials we all failed the families of Flint." Four government officialsone from the city of Flint, two from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), and one from the Environmental Protection Agencyresigned over the mishandling of the crisis. There have also been 15 criminal cases filed against local and state officials in regards to the crisis. Take President Regans advice of trust, but verify seriously, the next time youre unsure about official information that might impact your health or safety. Verify the facts for yourself with a sensor. They dont have an agenda, and give the same readings whether youre rich or poor. "Its a sad representation of Newbury" THE fact that dozens of objections to a new centre for West Berkshires muslim community were so offensive they were unable to be published, is a sad representation of Newbury. That was the view of Newbury town councillor Elizabeth OKeeffe (Lib Dem, Victoria), who was speaking at a planning and highways committee meeting last Monday. Earlier this month West Berkshire Council rejected plans for the new community centre in Pound Street, owing to a lack of parking spaces and extra traffic. The application to turn the empty offices into a new centre for religious instruction, worship, education, training and indoor leisure garnered 271 letters of representation, with most raising objection. And, according to the planning officers report, there were 88 letters with personal details withheld or that were considered not suitable for publication. Discussing the matter at the recent town council meeting, Ms OKeeffe said: This isnt really to do with West Berkshires planning decision, but its a sad representation of Newbury that there were so many objections that were anonymous. Chairman Anthony Pick (Con, St Johns) pointed out: The ones that were anonymous were not anonymous. They were rejected for bad language they were so offensive they could not be included. Ms OKeeffe replied: Yes, well as a resident I consider that just absolutely awful. The Bangladesh Welfare Centre had wanted to move from its current home in Pound Lane to the redundant office building in Pound Court. However, despite being just yards away from the mosque, West Berkshire Council highways officers objected to the proposed move on safety grounds. The site has just nine car parking spaces, while up to 110 worshippers could be expected to attend Friday prayers. Some questioned why a site so close to an existing mosque could be deemed unsuitable. But speaking at the meeting on Monday, Newbury Town Council leader Adrian Edwards (Con, Falkland) argued that the Bangladesh Welfare Centre should not have been allowed use of the current building as a place of worship either. He said: There was no planning application. They didnt even have change of use and it really was a most unsuitable venue because of lack of parking anyone who lives on Pound Street knows that. It was a pity really that it was allowed in the first place because then they would have had to find a better site. Ms OKeeffe said the town council should work with faith groups and other organisations in the future to help them identify suitable locations in the town. I think this is a good example of how the town council could liaise with these groups to help them find appropriate sites, she said. Think about this. You have diabetes, are trying to control your insulin levels and instead of taking a pill or giving yourself an injection, you click an app on your phone that tells your pancreas to bring blood sugar levels back to normal. Sound improbable? Not according to Luis Ulloa, an immunologist at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in a paper published today in Trends in Molecular Medicine. "Our bodies are a lot like rooms in a house," says Ulloa. "In order to see when you enter a darkened room, you need electricity to turn on the lights. Our body is like that room and has an electrical network that can be used to manipulate and help control how it works." In a 2014 study, Ulloa and his colleagues discovered that transmitting short electrical pulses into mice through acupuncture needles, the vagus nerve that links the neck, heart, lungs and abdomen to the brain was stimulated and sepsis, a life-threatening infection that kills about 750,000 Americans each year, prevented. There is no drug treatment to cure this deadly infection, which is the leading cause of death in hospital intensive care units. This new Rutgers research indicates that data available on a wide range of nerve stimulating procedures - from ancient traditional acupuncture and the more modern electroacupuncture, to neuromodulation, a procedure that involves implanting electrical devices to relieve chronic pain, pelvic disorders and Parkinson's disease, can be advantageous for treating inflammatory disorders like arthritis and deadly infections like sepsis. Ulloa says these studies have found that nerve stimulation provides therapeutic benefits in treating colitis, diabetes, obesity, pancreatitis, paralysis, and life threatening infections. Bioelectronic medicine, a new and more advanced version of electroacupuncture, is aiming to treat chronic diseases with electrical signals in the body by using miniature implantable devises to make sure organs function properly. "All you have to do is look at the pacemaker and how it has enabled people with arrhythmias to live long lives," says Ulloa. "We believe this type of medicine could be used throughout the body." What scientists now need to do, Ulloa says, is compare the data from all these nerve-stimulating procedures to the recent studies done in experimental and animal models. This means recognizing the clinical advantages of varying procedures including acupuncture, controversial and questioned by some clinicians for its efficacy. Ulloa argues that the clinical outcome of acupuncture depends on the experience of the practitioner and the precision of the needles. More studies need to be done, he says, to determine how and why the procedure, according to clinical studies, can improve postoperative recovery, osteoarthritis, migraine, joint pain, stroke, post-traumatic stress disorder and drug addiction. The American Pain Society, The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, the National Institutes of Health and the World Health Organization all endorse the use of electroacupuncture. "Acupuncture is used by over 15 million Americans and it is difficult not to recognize the clinical implications of these methods," Ulloa says. Further examination of nerve-stimulating techniques will lead to new and improved treatments for physical and mental health ailments, Ulloa says. The belief has always been just take a pill when you're sick," he says. "In the future, I believe we will be connected to the cell phone in order to to control our organ functions." Decompression surgery does not reduce shoulder pain any more than placebo surgery for people with shoulder impingement when the tendon rubs and catches in the joint, according to the first placebo-controlled trial in shoulder surgery published in The Lancet. Furthermore, although both types of surgery were slightly more effective at reducing subacromial shoulder pain compared to no treatment, the difference was small and not likely to result in a noticeable effect. In the USA, shoulder pain accounts for 4.5 million visits to the doctor each year, and 2.4% of all GP visits in the UK. For subacromial shoulder pain, treatment options include subacromial decompression, which is one of the most commonly used surgeries in orthopedics. In England, the number of surgeries has risen from 2523 in 2000, to 21355 in 2010. The authors of the study say the findings question the value of this operation, and that patients considering undergoing the operation should be informed. Over the past three decades, patients with this form of shoulder pain and clinicians have accepted this surgery in the belief that it provides reliable relief of symptoms, and has low risk of adverse events and complications. However, the findings from our study suggest that surgery might not provide a clinically significant benefit over no treatment, and that there is no benefit of decompression over placebo surgery. says co-chief investigator Professor Andrew Carr, National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre, University of Oxford, UK. The study involved 32 hospitals and 51 surgeons across the UK. In the study, 90, 94 and 90 people who had suffered shoulder pain for at least three months despite having physiotherapy and steroid injections underwent decompression surgery, placebo surgery or no treatment, respectively. They completed questionnaires about their level of pain and function at six months. Decompression surgery is a keyhole surgery that involves removing a small area of bone and soft tissue in the shoulder joint to open up the joint and prevent rubbing or catching when the arm is lifted. In the placebo surgery, surgeons conducted a procedure to look inside the joint where the joint was inspected but no tissue was removed. Both surgeries were completed as keyhole procedures to ensure that patients were not aware of which surgery they had had. Surgery participants also had one to four physiotherapy sessions afterwards, while those having no treatment only had a check-up appointment three months after the start of the trial. Six and 12 months after they entered the trial, the participants completed questionnaires rating their symptoms, including pain (from 0-48, with a higher number meaning less pain). Overall, symptoms diminished in all three groups from the start of the trial. At six months, people who had had decompression surgery and those who had had placebo surgery rated their pain and function at a similar level, with no statistical difference (32.7 points and 34.2 points, respectively). Comparatively, both forms of surgery showed a small benefit over no treatment (rated at 29.4 points in the no treatment group), however, the difference is unlikely to result in a noticeable difference in symptoms. The authors suggest that the difference could be attributable to a number of factors, including a placebo effect related to surgery, a nocebo effect related to having no treatment, other unintended effects of the placebo surgery, or because people undergoing surgery were given physiotherapy and told to rest. Our findings call into question the value of shoulder decompression surgery for this group of patients, and should be communicated to patients and doctors considering this type of surgery. In light of our results, other ways to treat shoulder impingement could be considered, such as painkillers, physiotherapy and steroid injections. says co-chief investigator Professor David Beard, University of Oxford, UK. During the trial, six participants had a frozen shoulder (two people in each treatment group) related to the study, and one person in the placebo surgery group underwent decompression surgery for pain. The authors note some limitations to their study, including that some patients did not continue with their assigned treatment (23%, 42% and 12% of decompression, placebo surgery and no treatment participants, respectively). For example, some patients assigned to surgery did not undergo treatment as their symptoms improved, and other patients assigned to no treatment chose to undergo decompression surgery. However, the authors found that the effects of this do not impact on the results. In addition, there were long waiting times within the study meaning some people who had only recently had surgery and may have still been recovering were compared with people who had had no treatment for six months, which may affect the results. On average, people assigned to decompression surgery waited 90 days for their surgery, and people assigned to placebo surgery waited 82 days. The study did not look at the recurrence of pain after a year, but the authors state that it is unlikely that one group would show larger improvements long-term when they have not done so in a year after surgery. Writing in a linked Comment, Dr Berend Schreurs, Radboud University Medical Center, the Netherlands, says: Choose wisely In Nepal, politics is the most talked about subject, be it on the news or local tea shops. There are nearly 80 political parties that are now officially registered in the country. My dad was in excruciating pain over Labor Day weekend, so my mom rushed him to the emergency room of a renowned university hospital. Doctors determined that he needed surgery that night, and luckily I was able to fly in and see him before he was wheeled away. "Take care of your mom if anything happens to me," he said as my mom and I wept. Thankfully, my dad made it through. But he had to spend 11 days recovering in the hospital, a place he now equates with prison. One night, he suffered for five hours, desperately calling for help after his pain meds had run out. A nurse's aide stationed in his room had fallen asleep. "I called on the intercom so many times, and nobody showed up," he recounts. That was just one of the many failures in care that we encountered during my dad's stay. Others included inconsistent nursing quality, waiting all day for doctors to respond to pages, insensitive communication of bad news, trying in vain to reduce noise levels so my dad could sleep, and so much more. My job is to give you advice on health care and insurance issues. My mom is a registered nurse. Yet we both felt frustrated that we couldn't make things better for my dad. Unfortunately, this happens to a lot of people. "Everything you hear these days is about patient-centered care, this and that," says Terry Bay, who owns a Casper, Wyo.-based business that provides advocacy services to older patients. But "we don't live in a patient-centered health care environment." Today I'm going to offer advice for you in case you or a loved one lands in a hospital. There are state and federal laws that cover, among other things, your rights to privacy, nondiscrimination, language interpretation and visitation, says Lois Richardson, vice president and legal counsel of the California Hospital Association. But beyond legal protections, there are people you can talk to and steps you can take to improve your situation if you feel you're not getting the care you deserve. And patients' opinions do count. "All hospitals increasingly are being scored and paid based on patient and family satisfaction scores," says Rebecca Kirch, an executive vice president with the National Patient Advocate Foundation. "There is power in the people." That power starts with a few simple things. First, make sure a spouse, child, family member or friend anyone concerned for your well-being can spend time with you in the hospital and be your advocate. You cannot do it by yourself while you're in pain, medicated and not thinking clearly. "It's having someone else in your court, someone who can check in and make sure your questions are being answered," says Dr. Rebecca Sudore, a geriatrician and palliative care physician at the University of California-San Francisco. Before you or your advocate speaks to your nurse or doctor, write down your questions. Keep track of your glasses, hearing aids and dentures the personal belongings that most often go missing in hospitals, Sudore says. "How can someone speak up for themselves if they can't see someone? Or can't hear?" she asks. When the time comes to ask questions or express frustration don't be afraid to speak up. You have every right, even though it can feel intimidating to question your doctors or complain about your nurses. "You can say, 'No, I don't want to go for that test. I want to speak to my daughter first,'" Bay says. If you're getting jostled out of sleep for a blood draw or blood pressure check in the middle of the night, ask your doctor the next day if it's really necessary. Often, it can wait till early morning, says Julianne Morath, president and CEO of the Hospital Quality Institute. "It's up to us to put our own humanity back into decisions," Sudore says. But here's where speaking up can get thorny. Let's say you don't feel you're getting adequate care or you're unhappy with how you're being treated. You can start with your nurse, but if that's uncomfortable perhaps because that nurse is the source of the problem approach the charge nurse, who manages the staff in your unit. You can also ask to talk to a hospital-based social worker, who can intercede or help you figure out who to talk to, Kirch says. If that doesn't help, take your complaints to the next level. Every hospital that participates in the Medicare program which is most must have an ombudsman or patient rights advocate, Richardson says. My mom and I eventually complained to the patient rights advocate. It helped, and we wish we had done it sooner. If you can't go to the patient rights advocate yourself, "you can call them or ask your nurse to call them and have them come up to your room," Richardson says. Hospitals must acknowledge patient complaints immediately, she says, and must respond in writing once they are resolved. As part of this process, no matter whom you talk to, there are some phrases that can spur quick action, Kirch explains. One is "This doesn't feel like quality care to me." Another is "I see my loved one suffering." If you have a serious illness and you're suffering from symptoms that aren't being managed correctly, you can also request a consultation with a palliative care team. Palliative care isn't only about end-of-life issues, it's about quality of life, Kirch says. Most large hospitals have a multidisciplinary team of doctors, nurses, social workers, chaplains and others who can provide added support on top of the medical treatment you're receiving, especially if you're getting shuffled among medical specialties. "They can help tremendously to fill in the blanks. It can be pain management. It can be spiritual or psychological distress," Kirch says. "The palliative care team treats the person beyond the disease." If you have done all that and still have concerns, Kirch's organization has case managers who provide free, one-on-one support for patients. Call 800-532-5274 for more information or visit www.patientadvocate.org/help.php. To be clear, I'm not suggesting you complain about every little thing. Be realistic. For instance, a hospital doctor may see up to 30 patients a day. So you might have to wait for your page to be answered unless you have a serious, potentially life-threatening problem, Sudore says. "It may not be that you're being ignored. It might be that someone has to figure out the competing priorities," she says. And don't forget that your caregivers are human too, Morath advises. "They get tired, they get stressed," she says. "Very often, just letting them know you're not getting what you need and asking for their help is a very powerful act." This story was produced by Kaiser Health News, which publishes California Healthline, a service of the California Health Care Foundation. After years of rigorous research, a team of scientists has identified the genetic engine that drives a rare form of liver cancer. The findings offer prime targets for drugs to treat the usually lethal disease, fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma (FL-HCC), which mainly strikes adolescents and young adults. Sanford Simon, who conducted the research as head of The Rockefeller University's Laboratory of Cellular Biophysics, describes the culprit as a "chimeric gene," a mutation created when two genes fuse together. These genes normally sit far apart from each other, separated by some 400,000 base pairs, the building blocks of DNA that combine to form genes. The chimeric gene, which Simon's lab first characterized three years ago, has been found in each of the hundreds of FL-HCC patients tested for the mutation. A disease mechanism revealed Having confirmed the chimeric gene as a hallmark of the disease, Simon set out to explore if and how it may cause these malignant tumors. He worked with Scott Lowe, a cancer geneticist at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, to develop a mouse model of FL-HCC. In work published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the scientists used CRISPR gene editing, a highly precise tool for manipulating DNA, to generate mice that carry the 400,000 base-pair deletion and produce the chimeric gene. Edward Kastenhuber, a graduate student in Lowe's lab, found that these mice develop liver tumors that mimic the biology of the tumors found in humans with FL-HCC, suggesting that the deletion is in itself sufficient to cause the cancer--other alterations are not necessary for tumors to grow. However, this experiment left open the question of precisely how the deletion spurs cancer: by eliminating genes that normally would suppress the growth of tumors, or by introducing the chimeric gene. Another experiment, in which mice with the fused gene but no deletion in the genome developed tumors, proved that it's the mutation, not the missing DNA as such, that causes the disease. Genetics & Genomics eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today With the chimeric gene firmly established as the driver of the disease, and its cellular mechanisms defined, Simon and his team--including Gadi Lalazar, of Rockefeller's Clinical Scholars Program, and graduate student David Requena--are now working to identify potential targets for drugs to treat the disease. New concepts for therapy Among these drug targets is a protein produced from the fused gene that belongs to a family of enzymes called kinases. These enzymes are often mutated in cancers. "In fact," Simon explains, "some of the most successful cancer therapies available, including Gleevec, act by targeting specific kinases." The researchers showed that disruption of the fused gene's kinase activity impaired the formation of tumors in mice--a finding that has strengthened their confidence that agents aimed at targeting this activity or its consequences might be effective against FL-HCC. The team is also studying the effects of targeting a number of cellular signaling systems that have previously been implicated in other cancers, and that speed tumor growth when they become overactive in FL-HCC patients. And they will be using their new mouse model as a system to test the effectiveness of new therapies prior to initiating clinical trials in patients. Simon first became interested in FL-HCC nine years ago, when his 12-year-old daughter Elana was diagnosed with the disease. (Now 21, Elana is a senior at Harvard, and a lead author on earlier reports characterizing the genomics of the disease.) He continues to embrace the challenge the cancer presents and attributes the latest breakthroughs to an "incredible perfect storm" of advances in all of the sciences, thanks to decades of public investment in basic research. "Here's a cancer where, five years ago, we didn't know if it was one disease or many diseases lumped together," Simon adds. "We didn't know if it was inherited or if it was due to a sporadic mutation. And now we know exactly what the driver is and how it works, and we can start designing therapeutics." Researchers from the UK and Netherlands have identified five distinct subgroups of eczema, a finding that helps explain how the condition can affect people at different stages of their lives. Doctors and patients have long known that the itchy skin condition can affect people in many different ways. Now Professor Sara Brown from the University of Dundee and collaborators at the University of Bristol and the University of Groningen, Netherlands, have shown for the first time that there are atopic dermatitis subgroups in children. Professor Brown said: "This research study has confirmed that eczema is a very diverse disease, and it's provided evidence of distinctly different trajectories, including a group that hadn't previously been recognised, in whom eczema develops for the first time around six years of age and is often associated with asthma. "We've also shown that genetic risk factors contribute to the most troublesome and long-lasting eczema, so these patients can be our focus for future research to improve care. It's also important evidence that we need to consider which subtypes of eczema may respond to which treatments in clinical trials to ensure the right children get the right treatment in future." The researchers looked at 13,500 children from birth to 11 or 16 years, born in the UK or Netherlands. Around 40 per cent of children developed eczema at some time in their life. Through statistical analysis, the researchers were able to identify different groups including children whose eczema begins in infancy but then resolves, as different from children whose eczema starts later or becomes a long-term problem. The groups were defined as: Eczema starts in infancy and doesn't go away Eczema starts in infancy and lasts throughout childhood Eczema starts in infancy and goes away in early childhood Eczema starts in mid-childhood (around 6 years) and goes away later in childhood Eczema starts in late childhood (11 years-early teens) and then goes away Genetics & Genomics eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today The largest group, approximately one-third of children with eczema, develop the disease soon after birth and mostly grow out of it by their fifth birthday. However, for the one in eight children with eczema who are in a group where eczema does not resolve, the disease can last into adulthood. These children are also most likely to have relatives with eczema and experience other health problems, including asthma and allergies. Dr Lavinia Paternoster, Senior Lecturer in Genetic Epidemiology from Bristol Medical School: Population Health Sciences, who initiated the study, said: "This study brought together two European birth cohorts, PIAMA, from the Netherlands and ALSPAC (or 'Children of the 90s') from Bristol. "The patterns of disease observed in these two cohorts were remarkably similar, which gives us greater confidence in the results. "We've found some evidence of what might cause children to suffer from different subtypes of eczema, but we still need to do a lot more work to understand this further and work out how we can use this information in the clinic to better help patients." Mrs Magali Redding, CEO of Eczema Outreach Scotland, added: "This is a fantastic step forward for research on eczema in children. Families are desperate for clues about their specific circumstances and hope for the future. "To families of children suffering from eczema, research results like this paper on sub-groups of patients provide much needed hope for a clearer prognosis and ultimately better treatments. "The impact of atopic dermatitis on people's quality of life can be devastating. With this chronic condition on the increase, the work of Professor Sara Brown and her academic colleagues is crucial and always welcome by our members." Source: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/ First look - Han Solo's first "wife" Sana Starros in her first solo series The Marvel Comics' original character Sana Starros gets her own series GamesRadar+ is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Heres why you can trust us. Pakistan Court orders release of 26/11 Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed Islamabad : A Pakistan court on Wednesday ordered the release from house arrest of terrorist leader Hafiz Saeed, blamed for the 2008 Mumbai terror attack. A Judicial Review Board consisting of judges from the Lahore High Court rejected a plea from the government of Pakistan's Punjab province to extend his detention by three months, Dunya News reported. The court had warned the government last month that it would end Saeed's house arrest if enough evidence was not submitted against the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief. Saeed and four aides were placed under house arrest in January under the Anti-Terrorism Act. Saeed's advocate A.K. Dogar earlier said the JuD leaders had been detained merely on the basis of allegations, without any substantial evidence against them, and called the call for extending the detention "illegal" and a "violation of basic rights". In previous proceedings, the Punjab Home Department has argued that that if he was released, his activities would pose a serious threat to public safety and public order. Saeed is accused by India of masterminding the Mumbai terror attack of November 2008 which left 166 Indians and foreigners dead. New Delhi has repeatedly urged Islamabad to punish him for the massacre. Pentagon directed energy plan was delivered internally in the fall of 2017 and will be fully completed by early 2018. This will be an update to a roadmap made in 2015. They will be creating a detailed plan for high-energy lasers and radio frequency weapons. AFRL (US Air Force Research Lab) plans to test the laser on a tactical fighter jet by 2021. They have issued contracts as part of AFRLs Self-protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator (SHiELD) program, and these will be a major step forward in the maturation of protective airborne laser systems. The AFRL has split the SHiELD program into three separate development contracts: 1 a USD39 million contract, awarded to Northrop Grumman in August 2016, for the development and production of the SHiELD Turret Research in Aero Effects (STRAFE) the beam control system which characterises the flight environment for atmospheric disturbances that could distort the laser beam, acquires and tracks incoming targets, determines an aim point for the laser, then shapes and focuses the outgoing beam on the target; 2. a USD90 million contract, awarded to Boeing in December 2016, for the Laser Pod Research and Development (LPRD) component the LPRD contract provides for system integration into a pod, and integration of that pod onto an aircraft; 3. the USD26.3 million contract, awarded to Lockheed Martin in early November for the development of the LANCE high-energy fiber laser. LANCE, coupled with the STRAFE beam control system will be integrated into the LPRD pod, along with the systems required to operate it, which will then be integrated onto the tactical fighter testbed aircraft and subsequently trialled. AFRLs Self-Protected High-Energy Laser Demonstration (Shield) is looking at 100kw system by 2021-2022. While the LPRD pod is ostensibly responsible for thermal management of the laser, the primary power source will be from the plane. 1 HP = 745 Watts. 40% laser efficiency and a beam strength of 60 Kilowatts would need 150 KW or 201 horsepower. 40% laser efficiency and a beam strength of 150 Kilowatts would need 375 KW or 500 horsepower. Higher energy density batteries and supercapacitors will also help lower the weight and cost of laser and direct energy weapons. Research firm Technavio last year predicted the Chinese would surpass the U.S. in research and development spending on laser systems by 2022. In 2018, the Navy is expected to test a 150-kilowatt electric laser weapon. The high-energy laser weapon is being developed by Northrop Grumman to protect ships from drones, boats and enemy missiles. The Army recently took delivery of a 60-kilowatt laser system from Lockheed that will be put on combat vehicles. Also, in August Lockheed did tests for the Army on a 30-kilowatt Advanced Test High Energy Asset (ATHENA) laser weapon system that shot down five drones. ATHENA is so powerful it can burn a hole in truck from a mile away. Experts point out that a decade ago, the solid-state laser technology was bigger than many of the combat vehicles. U.S. Missile Defense Agency requested defense contractors to submit proposals for drones equipped with a high-energy laser weapon system that would be compact and designed to intercept missiles in the boost phase. It would be used to bring down ballistic missiles fired by North Korea that are a threat to the U.S. or its allies. Scaling Fiber combat lasers Lockheed built a 30-kW system using internal funds to demonstrate the feasibility of combining the beams from multiple fiber lasers while maintaining beam quality and electrical efficiency. The modular technology allows the laser to scale up to power levels beyond 100 kW. After the 2017 demo, the Army plans to upgrade the HEL MD to 100 kW and could do this simply by adding modules. Generating the laser beam by diode-pumping a long optical fiber results in higher beam quality and electrical efficiency but less power than solid-state devices using slabs of laser crystal as the gain medium. This requires the beams from multiple fibers to be combined efficiently to form a single high-power beam. Lockheed says its laser system can achieve 40% efficiency, reducing the power-generation and cooling requirements for the overall weapon system. The 30-kW Aladin demo system had around 100 fiber-laser modules. The 60-kW prototype for the Army has fewer, higher-power, kilowatt-class fiber lasers. Its almost 1 for 1 [lasers vs. kilowatts]. You can tack on 5-10%. Thats one of the big advantages of spectral beam combining, says Afzal. On the end of each laser module is a delivery fiber that terminates in the beam-combiner box. This outputs a single high-power beam to the weapon systems laser-beam director turret. The production laser modules are more rugged. The truck-mounted HEL MD has been tested against mortars and unmanned aircraft with a 10-kW industrial fiber laser, but range and lethality was limited. After demonstration of the 60-kW system in 2017, plans call for tests of the 100-kW version by 2022. The FCC will vote to get rid of Net Neutrality in December, 2017 and then there will be lawsuits to delay implementation. Past behavior of Comcast, AT&T and Verizon will mean that they will use pricing to raise the cost of content competitors like Netflix. Consumers who already pay for say $50 for a Comcast internet line and $7.99-13.99 per month for Netflix will likely see Comcast increasing the charges to Netflix, which will then be passed on to consumers. Prices may go up to $10.99-19.99 per month. You already paid Comcast to use the internet but they will double charge Netflix in an attempt some people switch back to Comcast able. Verizon and the other providers will be trying to do the same thing. Many people such as myself had already cut the cord for television content. When technological liberation comes via internet Loons or internet satellites Technological liberation from overcharging will come over the next few years. Google Loon was used to provide emergency service to Puerto Rico. Networks of thousands of internet satellites could start appearing in significant numbers as early as 2019. New Services and companies will be welcomed as Liberators from the overcharging and oppression of Comcast and other overcharging ISPs Abusing customers with extra charges will cause more brand destruction in time for the switch Part of the cord cutting was because of how much many customers hate Comcast and the other ISPs for the service and charges of the past decades. In Jan, 2017, 24/7 Wall St.s annual customer satisfaction survey, they found the 12 most hated companies in America. Comcast topped the list. In the case of Comcast and Sprint, more than half of respondents had a negative customer experience, the only two existing brands out of the more than 100 we surveyed for which this was the case. Comcast internet services received the fourth worst score out of some 350 companies. In J.D. Powers rating of major wireline services, only Time Warner Cable recently bought by Charter received as poor of an overall satisfaction score. In the same survey, Comcast received the worst scores in cost to consumer, performance, billing, and reliability. In 24/7 Wall St.s annual customer satisfaction poll conducted in partnership with Zogby, nearly 55% of of respondents reported a negative experience with the company, the second worst of any corporation. No, it will be revenge too Revenge is best served cold and revenge is sweet. So revenge is like ice cream. Binod Ghimire covers parliamentary affairs and human rights for The Kathmandu Post. Since joining the Post in 2010, he has reported primarily on social issues, focusing on education and transitional justice. Tencent, headed by Pony Ma Huateng, has seen its stock price soar nearly 120 per cent so far this year. The Shenzhen-based company reported third quarter net income rose 69 per cent on year, beating market estimates. Earnings were boosted by its smartphone games unit, including Honour of Kings, the fantasy role-playing multiplayer online battle arena game, and its efforts to derive more advertising revenue from its video streaming platform and WeChat messaging app. Wechats user base reached 980 million at the end of September, helping drive the companys digital content business. Recruited to Chinas National AI team Chinas Ministry of Science and Technology identified internet giants Baidu, Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings collectively known as BAT and voice intelligence specialist iFlyTek, as the first group to spur development of next generation AI technologies that are vital to everything from voice activated digital assistants to self-driving cars. Baidus focus will be on autonomous driving; the cloud computing division of Alibaba is tasked with a project called city brains, a set of AI solutions to improve urban life, including smart transport; Tencent will focus on computer vision for medial diagnosis; while Shenzhen-listed iFlyTek, a dominant player in voice recognition, will specialise in voice intelligence. 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Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe Wataniya Airways to start daily service to Nepal from November 29 Wataniya Airways of Kuwait has decided to operate direct flights to Nepal as it moves to cater to growing travel demand with Nepali migrant workers rushing to the oil-rich country in larger numbers. You are clearly a super-user of NUVO.net. Thats a good thing. It means you depend on independent and local news sources to keep you informed. You are a smart person. Coincidentally, independent and local news sources depend on you too. Youve read 25 articles this month and now, wed like you to be join our mission and become a NUVO Supporter. For as little as $4 a month, you can keep us alive and fighting -- and can have unlimited access to the independent news that cant be found anywhere else. NYFA One Year Filmmaking NYFA One Year Acting NYFA One Year Screenwriting NYFA One Year Documentary NYFA One Year Producing Must apply through traditional application process A minimum grade point average of 3.0 out of 4.0 required for admission The NYFA program must be COMPLETED Must be 22 years of age when starting classes at the New School If admitted, students are eligible for a BA or BS in Liberal Arts Student are not eligible to take classes at the New School that repeat material taught in their previous classes at NYFA. They must either take advanced classes moving beyond what they studied at NYFA or a class from another department altogether The first 24 of 30 credits taken at the New School must be liberal arts courses NYFA One Year Filmmaking Credits granted towards Bachelor of Science in Television and Film Studies Must apply through traditional application process Must apply through traditional application process NYFA credit can only be applied towards substantially similar courses at FAAP Must have completed NYFA program Must apply through traditional application process NYFA credit can only be applied towards substantially similar courses at Regent's College London Must have completed NYFA program This articulation agreement is designed to aid SDCC students that wish to transfer credits to NYFA in order to complete a BFA at NYFA-Los Angeles Only certain SDCC classes that are substantially equivalent will be accepted by NYFA NYFA will only accept credit towards classes in the Liberal Arts and Sciences Dept. of the BFA degree NYFA will not accept any credits into the core arts major of the BFA A grade of C or higher must have been received in the SDCC class This articulation agreement is designed to aid SMC students that wish to transfer credits to NYFA in order to complete a BFA at NYFA-Los Angeles. Only certain SMC classes that are substantially equivalent will be accepted by NYFA. NYFA will only accept credit towards classes in the Liberal Arts and Sciences Dept. of the BFA degree. NYFA will not accept any credits into the core arts major of the BFA. A grade of C or higher must have been received in the SMC class. An articulation agreement is an agreement between two schools that allows course credit a student earns at one school to be accepted or transferred and applied toward a degree or program the student pursues at another school. Articulation agreements do not guarantee that a student will be admitted to the partner school. However, once admitted, the agreement usually specifies how many credits and under what conditions, the student will be awarded for courses completed at the prior institution. The final decision for accepting credits rests with the receiving school, college or institution. In all cases, students should consult with academic counselors or advisors at both institutions to fully understand the terms of the agreement and how it applies to their own course of study.The following is a list of current articulation agreements held by New York Film Academy with a summary of the key points of each agreement. You may click on each to download a copy of the actual agreement by clicking on the partner school.Programs covered in the agreement:Please refer to articulation agreement for more information.Programs covered in the agreement:Please refer to articulation agreement for more information.Please refer to articulation agreement for more information.Please refer to articulation agreement for more information.Please refer to articulation agreement for more information.Please refer to articulation agreement for more information. Administration Elli Ventouras Dean of NYFA New York MFA, Parsons School of Design. M.A., New York Institute of Technology - summa cum laude. Currently Ms. Ventouras oversees the day to day Academic operations in the New York location. Previously, she was the Founding Dean for the New York Film Academy in South Beach where she contributed to the development of the Bachelors and Masters Degree programs in Filmmaking and Acting as well as the Conservatory and short term programs. As a director, producer and editor, her Award winning film Voices screened internationally at: Golden Gate Documentary Film Festival in San Francisco (Distinguished for Special Artistic Value), Festival Du Cinema de Bruxelles (winner for the La Realisation Integrale Award), Festival Du Court Metrage De Lyon (winner of Le Senario). Voices was also Semifinalist at Boston Motion Picture Awards and was requested and screened as part of the activities planned in Athens, Greece for the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Other screenings include The Queens Theater in the Park in Flushing NY, Panorama Film Festival in Thessaloniki, Greece; Drama Short Film Festival in Greece, Miami International Short Film Festival, Barcelona Short Film Festival, and the Hollywood International Student Film Festival. Her film Modern Greek Tragedy was nominated for best international film at the Drama Film Festival and screened at the Molodost Film Festival in Russia. Sonny Calderon Vice President of Academic Affairs MFA in Screen and Television Writing, USC. BA in Communications, University of Michigan. As co-founder, writer, and producer at Impressionista Films, created and produced award-winning branded entertainment for clients such as Hilary Duff, Miller Beer, DKNY, Ford Motor Company, Macys, DirecTV, and Martha Stewart. Sandra A. Schein, Ph.D. Associate Vice President of Student Health and Wellness Dean of Students, New York Campus BA University of Pennsylvania, Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa; Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara. Licensed Psychologist in the State of New York. Previously held positions include Director, Counseling and Career Services, Oxford College of Emory University (recipient of the Emory University Award of Distinction) and Director, Eating Disorders Program, Kaiser Permanente, Atlanta, GA. Academic interests include positive psychology, strengths-based education, and leadership development. Carlye Bowers Director of Campus Life/Sr. Director of Title IX Carlye Bowers finally considers herself an official New Yorker after making the move from Texas in 2013. Since then, Carlye has spent the larger part of her professional career at the New York Film Academy developing and expanding the Student Life and Title IX Departments. Under her leadership, New York Film Academy has implemented a Student Ambassador program, New Student Orientation Week, and a robust ongoing prevention and awareness campaign, including the rollout of the Sexual Respect Training for the all students and employees. June through May, Carlye has the pleasure of taking on the role of Director of Teen Summer Camps. Carlye holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Business Marketing from the Neely School of Business and a Bachelor of Science in Radio, Film & Television. She is a lover of all things glitter, never says no to popcorn or ice cream, and enjoys a good snuggle from her siamese cat, Finn. Dr. Mary Samuelson Dean of General Education; Chair of Liberal Arts & Sciences Dr. Mary Samuelson received her Ph.D. and MA degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and completed her undergraduate work in Cinema-Television and English Literature at the University of Southern California (USC). For the past four years, Mary has taught courses and advised students in the Cinema and Media Studies and Writing Programs departments at UCLA, the Cinema-Television department at Los Angeles Community College (LACC), and here at the New York Film Academy (NYFA). Her essays "Radical Moment: The National Recovery Administration and Hollywood's 'New Deal'" and Wartime News Flow: Government and Studio Newsreels, 1941-1945 will come out in collections focusing on film and the law (September 2016) and the U.S. newsfilm (June 2016), respectively. Marys dissertation The Patriotic Play: Roosevelt, Antitrust, and the War Activities Committee of the Motion Picture Industry is slated for book publication in Spring 2017. Barbara Weintraub Director of Industry Outreach and Professional Development Barbara Weintraub is a leading Hollywood entertainment career counselor with a history of hands-on experience, working with many of the industrys most acclaimed producers and directors. Barbaras first job was an actress on Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets, which convinced her she wanted to work on the other side of the camera." She honed her production skills working with legendary producer Jerry Bruckheimer on Beverly Hills Cop and Top Gun before joining the senior management team responsible for launching E! Entertainment Television, the first all-entertainment reporting cable channel. Barbara started her own production company, producing television shows including an NBC comedy special with Kelsey Grammer, Jason Bateman and Tony Shaloub. She is also Vice President and Board Member of GreenLight Women. Prima Gonzalez Director, Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning Prima Gonzalez received her Masters in Teaching from the University of Southern California and holds a Bachelors degree in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing from Washington State University. Prima brings years of experience teaching and mentoring instructors to develop and refine educational resources in learner-centered environments. Her background in fine arts and writing has allowed her to blend her artistic and educational interests by connecting storytelling, critique, and the artistic process to academic skill development. Prima is very committed to professional development and stays active in the community by consistently presenting at conferences and holding a position on the CATESOL Board of Directors. Her presentations have covered a variety of topics including the enhancement of peer-to-peer feedback, using critique to sharpen English language development, and promoting inclusivity through reexamination of practices and educational tools. As CETL Director, Prima will share her passion for teaching while collaborating on professional development offerings that address the needs of departments on the LA, NYC, and South Beach campuses. Crickett Rumley Senior Director, Film Festival Department Crickett Rumley received her MFA in Film at Columbia University, adapted projects for Killer Films and PBS, and authored the novel Never Sit Down in a Hoopskirt and Other Things I Learned in Southern Belle Hell. The founder and senior director of the New York Film Academys Film Festival Department, she is based in Los Angeles. With diversity, equity, and inclusion at the foundation of her work, Crickett regularly develops educational programs and festival strategy for both NYFAs diverse student body and international organizations. She has hosted webinars with TV writers Boo Killebrew and Gail Lerner, Jordanian filmmaker Zaid Abu Hamdan, BAFTA, Oscar, and Student Academy Award winners and nominees, as well as moderated panels with staff from festivals such as New Filmmakers LA, Hollyshorts, Austin, and Reel Sisters of the Diaspora. A regular juror for the Forum on Life, Culture, and Societys International Short Film Competition, Crickett also sat on the jury for the 2021 Tallgrass Film Festival, one of MovieMaker Magazines 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee. You can find her doling out festival tips in Backstage Magazine and on Twitter at @Crickett_NYFA. Colonel Jack Jacobs Chair of Veterans Advancement Program Colonel Jack Jacobs, the Chair of the New York Film Academy's Veterans Advancement Program served in the U.S. military for more than 20 years and is considered a true American hero. Colonel Jacob's is among the most highly decorated soldiers from that era, having earned the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest combat honor, two Silver Stars, and three Bronze Stars. After leaving the military in 1987, Colonel Jacobs had a successful career in the financial industry; he currently is the on-air military strategist for NBC and MSNBC. Jacobs was nominated for Emmys in 2010 and 2011 and was the recipient of the distinguished Edward R. Murrow Award for his NBC segment "Iraq: The Long Way Out." New York Film Academy offers rolling admissions. You may apply year round to enroll in classes for Fall, Spring, and Summer courses The ESL School at NYFA All applicants to New York Film Academy programs and workshops must have a high school diploma or acceptable equivalent by the time of the course start date. There is no minimum GPA required; however, students must speak English and express a serious desire to explore the art and craft of visual storytelling. Applicants will be interviewed in English by an Admissions Committee member by phone or in person.All applicants must possess the drive and commitment necessary to complete a rigorous, total immersion program. They must be able to communicate well and work collaboratively with others in an artistic environment. Each program requires different Supplemental Materials.Recruitment leading to enrollment is conducted in English. In order to enroll, students sign an enrollment agreement that includes the terms and conditions and all cancellation and refund policies of their program. If English is not the student's primary language, and the student is unable to understand the terms and conditions of the enrollment agreement, the student shall have the right to obtain a clear explanation of the terms and conditions and all cancellation and refund policies in his or her primary language.If you are applying for programs at our Los Angeles Campus please mail all documents to. These documents will not be returned.If you are applying for programs at our New York Campus please mail all documents to toThese documents will not be returned.If you are applying for programs at our South Beach Campus please mail all documents to. These documents will not be returned. Gunmen seized a hotel in Bamako, the capital of Mali, on Friday, taking about 100 people hostage and killing more than two dozen. The attack is the latest eruption of violence in Mali, a former French colony in West Africa that has been racked by an Islamist insurgency for the past three years. What Is the Situation in Mali? In 2012, a military coup overthrew the democratically elected president, destabilizing what had been one of the most secure, albeit poor, nations in the region. ROME Pope Francis waded into turbulent geopolitical waters once again on Friday during his first visit to Armenia when he made an unscripted remark referring to the World War I-era massacre of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks as a genocide. The prepared text of his speech did not include the politically contentious word, which generally draws furious reactions from Turkey. Instead, the text opted for the more veiled Armenian expression metz yeghern, which translates as the great evil. But in keeping with his penchant for blunt talk, the pontiff said Friday that that tragedy had been a genocide and was the first of the deplorable series of catastrophes of the past century, made possible by twisted racial, ideological or religious aims that darkened the minds of the tormentors even to the point of planning the annihilation of entire peoples. Francis words were met with a standing ovation by President Serzh Sargsyan of Armenia and other officials and diplomats who gathered at the presidential palace in Yerevan, the nations capital, to hear the pope. Achyut Wagle holds PhD in economics and is currently a professor at the Kathmandu University School of Management. He is an econo-political analyst, writing for The Kathmandu Post for many years. The Obamas recent selection of artists to paint their official portraits drew attention to the rich tradition of African-American figurative painting. One artist in this lineage is Emma Amos, the only female member of Spiral, a collective founded by African-American artists in 1963. (Ms. Amoss work is also included in the recent benchmark exhibitions Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power at the Tate Modern in London and We Wanted A Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965-85 at the Brooklyn Museum.) Black Bodies, her current show at Ryan Lee, offers a sampling of four decades of her work. Black bodies are central to this show, as the title suggests, but Ms. Amos often takes a stealthy approach to the subject. Thank You Jesus for Paul Robeson (and for Nicholas Murrays Photograph 1926), from 1995, is a portrait that celebrates the great African-American actor and activist Paul Robeson but also the photographer who captured his image in an era when heroic black figures were less visible in art while Maybe If I Stand on My Head (1999) depicts a man doing a headstand, alluding to the physical and psychic contortions people with dark skin must endure in a racialized society. Is it idiosyncratic, or a different perspective on what the regulatory framework to going to be? We dont know yet, said Blair Effron, a co-founder of Centerview Partners, a boutique bank that has been an adviser on many deals this year. On Tuesday, Mr. Trump weighed in again on the deal. Personally, Ive always felt that that was a deal thats not good for the country, he said outside the White House. I think your pricing is going to go up. Nobody expects the lawsuit to shut off the deals spigot. Big companies still have reasons aplenty to pursue mergers and acquisitions not least, the rapid, technology-fueled transformations of many industries and the possibility of government opposition is just one factor influencing their decisions. This event does not eliminate the need for transformational events or scale in these industries, said Aryeh Bourkoff, the founder of the investment bank LionTree and an adviser on media deals. Yet Mr. Bourkoff and others said the specter of government opposition to mergers had begun to weigh on deal makers minds. Investment bankers said they were especially wary of mergers that affected big consumer brands or could lead to job losses. Fox Newss prime time has tilted Trump-ward this year, adding the talk-radio personality Laura Ingraham to the White House-friendly lineup of Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson. On Tuesday, the network announced that another hard-line conservative is set to join its ranks: Mark Levin, one of the countrys most prominent right-wing radio hosts, who will host a weekly Sunday show starting in February. Mr. Levin is an influential figure in conservative circles whose radio show is syndicated on more than 300 stations. He rivals his fellow talk-radio hosts, Mr. Hannity and Ms. Ingraham, in audience size, but not in name recognition, a situation that could change with his new perch on Fox News. A champion of tea party politics who also served in the Ronald Reagan administration, Mr. Levin is an idiosyncratic conservative who, in the midst of last years Republican primary, declared that he would never vote for Donald J. Trump. In the heart of Flatbush, Brooklyn, past the bright Haitian takeout corner spot, with its aroma of richly fried pork, and down the block from La Difference driving school, an anxious crowd packed the front waiting room of the district office for Councilman Mathieu Eugene. Older residents of Brooklyn and recent immigrants from Haiti all wanted to know: What now? On Monday night, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it would in 18 months end a program known as Temporary Protected Status for Haitians affected by the deadly earthquake that rocked the island in 2010. T.P.S., as it is known, allows people from countries crippled by natural disasters or armed conflicts to live and work legally in the United States. By its nature, T.P.S. is supposed to end at some point, but under previous administrations its protections had been extended for years or even decades. The status of T.P.S. permit holders from Honduras and El Salvador has not yet been decided, but Homeland Security deemed Haiti ready to accept its citizens, and gave Haitians living in the U.S. until July 2019 to prepare. I went to Haiti last year and I can tell you, its not ready, Peddy Jean-Louis, 50, said while waiting for an appointment to check on his status. It is still damaged. Very few criminal prosecutions in New York have likely drawn as much public criticism from a foreign leader as that of Reza Zarrab, a Turkish-Iranian gold trader who was charged along with eight other defendants with conspiring to evade the United States sanctions on Iran. Turkeys president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has called the charges a plot against the Turkish Republic, and raised the issue in a phone call with President Trump in September. Turkeys foreign minister claimed that the prosecutions evidence was concocted by Gulenists, a movement led by an Islamic cleric living in exile in Pennsylvania; the movement has been banned in Turkey as a terrorist group and blamed by Mr. Erdogan for the failed coup in 2016. On Saturday, Turkey opened an investigation of Preet Bharara, the former United States attorney in Manhattan whose office filed the original charges, and of his successor, Joon H. Kim, who is overseeing a trial in the case that starts next week. On Tuesday, Mr. Kim and the judge, Richard M. Berman, took the unusual step of responding publicly to the Turkish officials criticism. David Cassidy, the actor, singer and teen heartthrob best known as the band member with the green eyes and the feathered haircut on The Partridge Family, the 1970s television show about a family band, died on Tuesday in a hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He was 67. His publicist, Jo-Ann Geffen, said the cause was liver failure. Mr. Cassidy, who lived in Fort Lauderdale, had recently been admitted to the hospital in critical condition. Mr. Cassidy rose to fame on The Partridge Family playing Keith Partridge, the eldest of five children in a family that forms a band and goes on tour in a multicolored bus. His character, a high school student, was swooned over by young women as he learned to navigate his newfound fame. It was 1970, with the turbulent late 1960s of the Vietnam War, race riots, psychedelia, Woodstock and Altamont barely past, when Mr. Cassidy got the lead role on the show. The Partridge Family was produced by Screen Gems, which had also been the company behind The Monkees, another sitcom about a pop band, which had its own heartthrob in Davy Jones. His time as a celebrity had long since passed. In those days, he was mostly known for playing ragtime piano in a bar called the Wharf, down by the Kennebec River. Image Vaughn Meader won the Grammy for Album of the Year in 1963 for his comedy record, The First Family. Credit... Sun Journal/Associated Press Forty years earlier, though, he was one of the most popular entertainers in the world. The First Family sold more than a million copies in its first two weeks, pushing the debut album of Peter, Paul & Mary out of the No. 1 spot. Soon enough, Americans of both parties could do Meaders version of Kennedy especially his signature line, move ahead with great vigah, delivered in the presidents Harvard accent. Not everyone was pleased by the First Family phenomenon. James Hagerty, who had been President Dwight Eisenhowers press secretary, said that it demeaned the presidency and that every Communist country in the world would love this record. But Kennedy himself seemed to enjoy it and even gave copies of the record as Christmas presents. At a Democratic Party event, the president greeted his audience by saying, Vaughn Meader was busy tonight, so I came myself. At a news conference, he said: I listened to Mr. Meaders record and, frankly, I thought it sounded more like Teddy than me. So now hes annoyed. In 1999 over breakfast (and drinks), Meader asked me, Did I ever tell you how I got murdered in Milwaukee? I got into a cab, November 63. The cabby said, Did you hear about Kennedy in Dallas? I said to him, No, how does it go? I thought he was telling me a joke. FRONT PAGE A picture caption on Tuesday with an article about faltering efforts by Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany to form a new government misidentified a man accompanying the chancellor. He is Stephan Steinlein, head of the federal presidential office, not Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germanys president. INTERNATIONAL An article on Tuesday about a political stalemate in Northern Ireland misidentified the head of a homeless charity who meets with lawmakers at the Northern Ireland Assemblys building in Stormont. She is Ricky Rowledge, not Ricky Routledge. NEW YORK Because of an editing error, an article on Nov. 15 about plans for a mixed-use waterfront project in Long Island City, Queens, misstated the length of Anable Basin. It is 1,000 feet long, not 500. BUSINESS DAY An article last Wednesday about the decision by Toys R Us to file for bankruptcy in a Virginia court misidentified the city where the law firm Kirkland & Ellis is based. It is Chicago, not New York. Haha, Mr. Cornish wrote. I told him it was your fault, of course. Look too damned good. Mr. Cornish initially denied most of the allegations, though he did acknowledge the texts to Ms. Maye Quade. But as part of the settlement reached with Ms. Walker, he agreed to resign by Dec. 1, to publicly apologize and to pay Ms. Walkers legal fees, her lawyer, Scott Flaherty, confirmed. Ms. Walker will receive no money from the settlement. Her primary goal was removing him from office, Mr. Flaherty said, and thats happened, or will happen shortly. Mr. Cornish, who did not immediately respond to an email from The New York Times on Tuesday, apologized in an earlier statement for his unwelcome behavior. As a proud former peace officer and longtime champion for public safety, I am forced to face the reality that I have made some at the Capitol feel uncomfortable and disrespected, he wrote. In contrast, Mr. Schoen continues to deny the allegations against him. In an investigation published this month, MinnPost reported that, among other things, Mr. Schoen had sent one woman a photo of a penis and grabbed another woman from behind. His lawyer, Paul Rogosheske, told The Star Tribune that Mr. Schoen a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, the states equivalent of the national Democratic Party would release evidence of his innocence on Wednesday. Nonetheless, he is resigning because he doesnt feel he can be effective anymore and doesnt want to work in an environment like this, said Mr. Rogosheske, who did not immediately respond to a request for further information. WASHINGTON The F.B.I. is investigating whether Representative Robert A. Brady of Pennsylvania, the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, illegally paid a political opponent $90,000 to drop out of a 2012 primary race, court documents show. Two of Mr. Bradys political consultants have already been charged in a campaign finance investigation of the congressmans 2012 re-election. But a recently unsealed application for a search warrant suggests Mr. Brady may be a target of the inquiry. The allegations involve payments the Brady campaign made to the campaign of Jimmie Moore, a former Municipal Court judge in Philadelphia who ended his run for Congress in February 2012. In the search warrant application, the F.B.I. said the payments were disguised as reimbursement for a poll and funneled through shell companies created by Mr. Bradys aides for the sole purpose of using money from the Brady campaign to repay Moore campaign debts. Election code of conduct increasingly violated in Baitadi Violation of the election code of conduct is found increasing in the district with the House of Representatives and State Assembly elections drawing closer. WASHINGTON President Trump will soon have to decide whether to impose the types of tariffs on imported products that he has long championed after a federal body again recommended stiff levies, this time on foreign-made washing machines. The United States International Trade Commission, a quasi-judicial body that rules on trade cases, unanimously recommended that the president take action to limit imports of washers, a move that could help the domestic manufacturer Whirlpool better compete with its foreign rivals Samsung and LG. The trade officials recommended that the United States impose what is known as a tariff-rate quota a tax on imports that would go into effect after a certain number of foreign products entered the American market. In this case, they recommended that the United States impose a tariff starting at 50 percent on all washers imported after the first 1.2 million units for the next three years, with the tariff rate to decrease slightly in the next few years. Two of the four commissioners issuing the decision also recommended an additional charge. The trade body will submit its recommendations on Dec. 5 to Mr. Trump, who will have to make a final decision by February. A decision to impose tariffs could further exacerbate trade tensions with South Korea, which is home to Samsung and LG. While South Korea has typically been a strong economic and strategic partner of the United States, particularly in dealing with North Korea, Mr. Trump has taken a more antagonistic approach to a foreign ally. WASHINGTON A second federal judge blocked the Trump administrations proposed ban on transgender troops Tuesday, saying President Trumps announcement of the ban in a series of tweets this summer was capricious, arbitrary, and unqualified. In a preliminary injunction, Judge Marvin J. Garbis of the Federal District Court for Maryland halted a policy that would have discharged all current transgender troops and barred prospective ones from enlisting, saying it likely violated equal protection provisions of the Constitution. Judge Garbiss 53-page order went further than a similar ruling last month by Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia, which also said the ban likely violated the Constitution. There is absolutely no support for the claim that the ongoing service of transgender people would have any negative effective on the military at all, the ruling said. But while Judge Kollar-Kotelly did not specifically block a Trump administration policy prohibiting gender-reassignment surgery for service members at the governments expense, Judge Garbiss order does. For most Americans, turkeys come in plastic, from supermarkets. Their feathers are gone. Their gobble has been silenced. They are certainly not scaring the bejesus out of your dog, or attacking your car because they have seen a reflection of themselves in the grillwork and wrongly perceived an enemy worthy of attack. It turns out that genuine, free-range wild turkeys not to be confused with the farm-raised kind that most people will overcook on Thursday are increasingly finding their free range to include suburbs from New England to California and lots of spots between. Human-turkey conflicts are on the rise. A few weeks before Thanksgiving last year, for example, Ashley Kruse noticed that glass from a second-story window of her house in Council Bluffs, Iowa, had shattered onto her driveway. She walked upstairs to find a room covered in blood and turkey feathers. A turkey had smashed its way inside, for reasons only a turkey could say. He left a mess, but he was no longer there, said Ms. Kruse, who works for the city. It was disgusting and hilarious at the same time. As part of the effort, donors are funding the distribution of mosquito nets and training health workers. Image An informational flier on malaria, distributed at Vietnamese pharmacies. A drug-resistant strain of the disease has been detected in the country. Credit... Quinn Ryan Mattingly for The New York Times If this gets to Africa, its going to be catastrophic, Dr. Christopher V. Plowe, a malaria expert at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, said in a Skype interview from Myanmar. A key challenge, experts said, is that malaria is most intense in forests and jungles, and people living there are notoriously difficult to monitor. The problem is even worse where there is fighting, such as along Myanmars border with China. Dr. Do Kim Giang, a Vietnamese medical official who has worked in Bu Gia Map District, said he saw no hope of eradicating malaria there. We can only prevent cases from turning deadly, he said during an interview at a no-frills health clinic in a neighboring district. Binh Phuoc Province, which includes Bu Gia Map, accounted for 39 percent of Vietnams 1,601 confirmed cases of falciparum malaria in the past year, according to W.H.O. data. Experts are cautiously optimistic that the next miracle cure will be available soon. The drug companies Sanofi and Novartis are each in the late phases of testing new combination therapies. At least one could win W.H.O. approval by 2022 or 2023, or even by 2020 if a drug-resistance crisis broke out in Africa, said Dr. Timothy N. Wells, chief scientific officer for the Medicines for Malaria Venture, a Swiss public-private partnership that coordinates most of the worlds malaria research. Several other drugs, none of them artemisinin-based, are in the pipeline, he said. Our portfolio of new molecules is pushing forward at what Id consider a reasonable speed, Dr. Wells said. SEOUL, South Korea Fully armed North Korean troops violated the truce that halted the 1950-53 Korean War when they fired weapons across the border last week while chasing a fellow Communist soldier defecting to South Korea, the United Nations Command said on Wednesday. One of the North Korean chasers briefly crossed the borderline before turning back in a hurry, another violation of the Korean War armistice, the command said. The American-led United Nations Command, which oversees the armistice, notified the North Korean Peoples Army of its findings and demanded a meeting to discuss ways to prevent future violations, the command said in a statement. The command also released closed-circuit television footage that illustrated the North Koreans dramatic defection through the Joint Security Area north of Seoul, the South Korean capital, on Nov. 13. It was a close escape for the soldier, who bolted toward the border line just yards ahead of former comrades who had started to shoot. Why Am I Still Doing This Here? Ms. Pardela, the pediatric nurse, still needs to stop by the post office so that her mail can be forwarded to Germany. She is keeping her British bank account open because she hopes that one day the pound will rise again. It has lost as much as 20 percent of its value against the euro since the referendum. So have her savings. After the Brexit vote, a British colleague urged Ms. Pardela to apply for citizenship. Her skills were needed. No way, she answered. I respect the vote, she had said. But Im not going to bend to it. Last September, she called an old friend from nursing school and asked about job opportunities back in Germany. Brexit was a trigger, said Ms. Pardela. It makes you reassess your life. You find yourself thinking: Im working really hard. I havent had a pay raise in four years. Now theyre telling me they dont want immigrants? Why am I still doing this here? And then you think: Im 45. I better move now. It will be harder when Im 55. In her small apartment, now filled with moving boxes, Ms. Pardela was packing photos of Big Ben and the London Eye, as well as a series of trashy romance novels that helped her learn English. Still on the fridge was a magnet featuring Florence Nightingale, the mother of modern nursing in Britain: an Englishwoman who was born in Italy and trained in Germany. The food-crisis forecasting agency created by the United States has added its voice to warnings of imminent and widespread famine in Yemen because of the Saudi-led blockade, now more than two weeks old. The American alert on Yemen, from the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, said that a prolonged closure of key ports in Yemen risks an unprecedented deterioration in food security to its worst category, Phase 5, across large areas of the country. The five-stage scale with Phase 5 being famine is used by humanitarian aid groups to anticipate the severity of potential hunger emergencies. Famine is defined as existing in areas in which at least one in five households suffers an extreme lack of food and other basic needs where starvation, death and destitution are evident. Relief officials of the United Nations and other humanitarian groups have said at least seven million people are at risk of famine in Yemen, the Arab worlds poorest country, because of restrictions on deliveries imposed by the Saudi-led military coalition that has been fighting Yemens Iran-backed Houthi rebels since 2015. Dmitri Hvorostovsky, the Russian baritone who died of brain cancer on Nov. 22 at 55, was beloved around the world for passionate performances in Verdi and Tchaikovsky operas and for emotionally direct song recitals. His voice dark and smoky, he sang with elegant relish through long, smooth phrases. He projected nobility and an old-fashioned word for an old-fashioned talent virility. Anthony Tommasini, Michael Cooper and I chose 11 of our favorite clips of Mr. Hvorostovsky, highlights from a career full of them. Tchaikovsky, Eugene Onegin Once youve read an excellent book about climate change, which Jeff Goodells The Water Will Come most certainly is, you can never unremember the facts. Elected officials may be busy arguing about whether global warming is real. But most scientists are having other arguments entirely about whether danger is imminent or a few decades off; about whether our prospects are dire or merely grim. Sea-level rise is one of the central facts of our time, as real as gravity, Goodell writes. It will reshape our world in ways most of us can only dimly imagine. Goodell has little trouble imagining it. He opens The Water Will Come with a fictional hurricane whipping through Miami in 2037. It sweeps the Art Deco buildings of South Beach off their foundations, disgorges millions of gallons of raw sewage into Biscayne Bay and eats the last of the citys beaches. Thousands scramble for bottled water dropped by the National Guard. Zika and dengue fever start to bloom (so much moisture, so many mosquitoes). Out rush the retirees and glamour pusses; in rush the lawyers and slumlords. Within decades, the place is swallowed whole by the ocean. What was once a vibrant city is now a scuba-diving destination for intrepid historians and disaster tourists. The whole scenario seems indecently feasible by the books end. After this years calamitous flooding in Houston and the Caribbean, The Water Will Come is depressingly well-timed, though Im guessing all good books about this subject will be from now on. Political time now lags behind geological time: If we dont take dramatic steps to prepare for the rising seas, hundreds of millions could be displaced from their homes by the end of the century, and the infrastructure fringing the coast, valued in the trillions of dollars, could be lost. Farmers sigh with relief as fertiliser shipment arrives A consignment of 2,500 tonnes of fertiliser has arrived at Sirsiya Dry Port, bringing relief to anxious farmers who have been facing a shortage of soil nourishers. The shipment reached the dry port on Monday. Four CDOs transferred The government transferred four chief district officers (CDOs) on Tuesday, just five days before the scheduled first phase of provincial and federal elections, charging them with non-cooperation in security arrangement for polls. Govt to file cases against anti-poll elements in court The government will file court cases against those detained for their involvement in anti-election activities, a minister said on Tuesday. Kanchanpur chief election officer recommends action against EU representatives Chief election officer of Kanchanpur district and justice Rajendra Kumar Acharya has written a letter to Election Commission (EC), urging the election body to forbid the European Union (EU) representatives from observing elections in the district. Maoist chair seeks trustworthy member in his secretariat In the untimely death of his son Prakash on Sunday, CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has lost the most trustworthy member of his secretariat. Measures necessary to achieve SDGs stressed Private sector investment and collaboration among stakeholders will need to be increased, and greater focus will have to be put on developing social enterprises to achieve the goals and targets identified by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), experts said Tuesday. A policy shift in Kashmir: Youth will be the focus India oi-Vicky By Vicky The appointment of Dineshwar Sharma as the interlocutor in Jammu and Kashmir was the first sign of a policy shift by the Narendra Modi government. While on one hand, several agencies went after terrorists and funding on the other the appointment of Sharma signaled that the government was willing to speak to all those who wanted peace in the Valley. Sharma who held talks in Kashmir with several stakeholders went on to suggest to the government to withdraw cases against stone pelters who had committed the offence for the first time. There are around 4.500 such first-time offenders in the Valley and now the government has decided to withdraw those cases. Top Home Ministry officials informed OneIndia that Sharma had suggested that it was crucial to focus on the youth of Kashmir. Sharma, on the other hand, informed that the focus would be on the youth. My current focus is on them as they matter the most, Sharma also said. In another move, the Indian Army has decided to open channels for terrorists to surrender. This is an option that the Army has given to the locals who have taken to militancy. There is a 24x7 toll-free number which has been set up for terrorists to surrender The number is 14411. This helpline number is called Madadgar. Either the terrorist himself can call in and surrender or the families too can dial and seek help. Top officials in Kashmir told the local youth who have joined terror groups to return home. Director General of Police, Jammu and Kashmir, S P Vaid has urged the local youth to return to their homes. Vaid while making the appeal also said that they had managed to get at least 60 youth back into their homes. Lt Gen J S Sandhu too made a similar appeal and said that the youth should stop being a proxy of Pakistan. The local terrorists must realise that it is easy to call themselves as Mujahids. But are you really a Mujahid or just a proxy, the Army official asked. He further assured that the Army and police would extend all help. He said that there would be no harassment and the youth who are ready to return home would get more help than what they would have expected. OneIndia News Akhilesh is son first, leader later, says Mulayam Singh Yadav India pti-PTI Lucknow, Nov 22: With a message that all was well in the faction-hit Samajwadi Party, former chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav said he had blessed his son Akhilesh Yadav, and would continue to do so. The father and son shared the dais in the party headquarters here after a long spell, as workers gathered to wish the SP founder on his 79th birthday. "He is a son first and leader later," Mulayam Singh Yadav said while addressing the workers. As Mulayam walked to the dais, he was greeted by party leaders, with Akhilesh touching his feet and welcoming him with a shawl. "I have given my blessing to Akhilesh and will continue to do so. This is an issue of discussion in the country that I blessed Akhilesh. I want to say he is my son and is also in politics," Mulayam said. He conveyed his message of unity to the SP, which has seen a group led by his supporters rise against party president Akhilesh, as songs hailing the veteran leader -- such as Jai Jai Jai Mulayam" and "Man se Mulayam, Iradey Loha hain" -- played in the background. Mulayam loyalist and Akhilesh's uncle Shivpal Yadav did not attend the celebrations. But other supporters, including SP MLA Ashu Malik and Narad Rai, who joined the BSP during the Assembly polls, accompanied the patriarch. Giving lessons of "samajwad" (socialism) to the workers, Mulayam held them responsible for the party's poor show in the Assembly elections, in which the party won only 47 of the 403 seats. "You should all read Lohiaji. Our party always fought for the cause of women and discrimination on the basis of caste, religion and region," Mulayam said. "What is 'samajwad'," he asked the workers and told them it was about "equality" and "happiness" and advised the cadre to connect with the masses. Claiming that the BJP won the Lok Sabha polls with "false promises", including the claim that it would give Rs 15 lakh to everyone, Mulayam said the saffron party must ensure that its pledges were fulfilled. "Not fulfilling promises is corruption. They can give Rs 15 lakh in instalments. Give Rs 3 lakh every year and in five years, the promise is met," he said. He also pulled up Akhilesh for giving party positions to those who "cannot win (a seat) even at the level of their village polling booth". "Those who could not ensure the victory of the party are being given big posts in the SP. There are many, not just one," he said. He cited the example of a leader who, Mulayam said, had won only nine votes in his village, when his family itself had 51 members. "This is a matter of shame that we won only 47 seats despite the welfare work being done by Akhilesh," he said. Mulayam also cut a cake on the occasion and offered the first slice to his son. Akhilesh, who was unanimously re-elected the party president at the SP national convention in October, had claimed he had the blessings of his father, though Mulayam and his estranged uncle Shivpal Yadav had skipped the Agra event. Mulayam has not been on good terms with Akhilesh since his son ousted him from the post of the party national president in January. Mulayam was born on November 22, 1939, in Saifai village in the Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh. PTI Arrest of ABT terrorists shows how deep the ISIS has penetrated West Bengal India oi-Vicky By Vicky The arrest of two Ansarullah Bangla Team members by the Kolkata police only goes on to show the extent of penetration that the Islamic State has made in West Bengal. The ABT, a Bangladesh based terrorist outfit is considered to be the B-Team of the ISIS in the sub-continent. In fact, when the ISIS had announced operations in Bangladesh, it had sought the support of the ABT to expand operations. The ABT which was earlier associated with the al-Qaeda switched loyalties a year and a half back. Its leaders openly propagated in the name of the ISIS. The ABT was also responsible for the killing of bloggers and intellectuals in Bangladesh. The preliminary investigations conducted post the arrest of Samsad and Riazul suggested that they were in West Bengal to purchase arms and chemicals to prepare explosives. The arrest was carried out following specific intelligence inputs. Intelligence Bureau officials say that the arrests are crucial. There was never any strong presence of the ABT in India and their operations were largely restricted to Bangladesh. With their arrest details about the modules they have set up and also the locals they were in touch with would come to light, the officer also noted. The arrest also showed that these men were not in India only to purchase arms. Religious literature found on them suggests that they were also planning on distributing the same to spread the ideology. The IB officer said that the ABT has plans of acting as a proxy for the ISIS in India. The ISIS which has come heavily under the radar in West Bengal would use the ABT to stay off the radar and continue to spread its ideology. In Bangladesh, the ISIS made a slow start. Several splinter groups had been siding with the al-Qaeda including the ABT. However, over the past few months, the Ansar Ul Bangla Team(ABT) witnessed some infighting and several disgruntled elements decided to pledge support to the ISIS. An Intelligence Bureau dossier says that the ISIS works with allies in the sub-continent. In Afghanistan, it garners support from the Heroes of Islam Brigade in Khorasan and the al-Tawheed Brigade in Khorasan. In India, the ISIS has the support of the Ansar-ul-Tawhid or the erstwhile Indian Mujahideen. n Pakistan, the ISIS has the support of the Tehrik-e-Taliban, Tehreek-e-Khilafat and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. The IM has not had a strong base in West Bengal and Assam. Groups such as the Harkat-ul-Jihadi Islami and SIMI have a greater presence. The ABT has been roped in now and the arrest signals the beginning of this alliance in Bengal and Assam. The ABT and the ISIS began spreading a reign of fear among the people by issuing fatwas in a bid to set up an Islamic Caliphate. The ISIS saw an opportunity in Bangladesh and realized that it could set up a module in order to achieve its dream of setting up a Caliphate which would also spill into Bengal and the neighbouring areas. OneIndia News Bank of Baroda specialist officer recruitment 2017, apply for 427 posts India oi-Vicky By Vicky The Bank of Baroda specialist officer recruitment 2017 is underway. You can apply for 427 posts on the official website. The bank has called for applications to the posts of specialist officers at Baroda Corporate Centre, Mumbai. Aspirants can only apply for one post. There are a total of 427 posts available and the last date to apply for the same is on December 5, 2017. Selected candidates will be on a probation period of 12 months. Candidates who are interested in these posts can apply for the same from the official website of the bank bankofbaroda.com. Selection process: For scale 1 sales posts there will be an online test followed by group discussions and interviews. For scale 2 posts, candidates will be directly called for interviews on the basis of their application, followed by GDs and inteviews. The online test for these posts will be conducted on the basis of the number of applications recieved. The test will be for two hours and 200 marks. It will include questions on reasoning, English language, quantitative aptitude and professional knowledge. There will be a negative marking of 0.25 marks for every wrong answer. Apply for these posts: Credit risk head (corporate credit)- 1 Enterprise and operational risk management head- 1 IT security- 5 Dealers/traders treasury- 3 Relationship managers treasury (forex/derivatices)- 2 Product sales treasury- 20 Finance/credit MMG/S III- 40 Finance/credit MMG/S II- 140 Trade finance- 50 Security- 15 Sales- 150 OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, November 22, 2017, 7:17 [IST] Central team roped in as dengue cases in Bihar rise to over 5000 Bihar teachers asked to check open defecation, minister defends move India oi-PTI Patna, November 22: A controversy has arisen over directions to school teachers in certain Bihar districts to dissuade people from defecating in the open and click pictures of those who refused to pay heed. Orders issued by block education officers asked teachers to do rounds in various wards and panchayat areas in the mornings and evenings and ask people to use toilets. They were also directed to click photographs to shame those who insisted on relieving themselves in the open. However, teachers were not happy with the extra load of work. "Teachers are already overworked. They are used in a number of non-teaching works like the census, preparation of voters' list etc. This new order on open defecation is not only an addition, it is also an insult to their dignity," general secretary of Bihar Secondary Teachers' Association Shatrughan Prasad Singh said. State Education Minister Krishna Nandan Prasad Verma, however, defended the move, saying "Teachers are intellectuals and can perform the task of convincing people not to defecate in the open much better than others." There's unnecessary controversy. Teachers are respected in society. Dept thought if they make people aware, they'll be heard & followed. They weren't asked to set aside teaching for it: #Bihar on order stating teachers to keep tab on open defecation defaulters pic.twitter.com/AjOB62FJB3 ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2017 "Moreover, the teachers do not have to keep a tab on those defecating in the open throughout the day. They will have to take some time off in the mornings and the evenings. This will not affect their teaching work," he said. Achieving open defecation free (ODF) status has become a priority in Bihar in view of the Swachch Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Seven Resolves of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, both of which aim at providing every household with sanitation facility. PTI Cabinet okays amendment to railway land policy, 300 cargo terminals to be developed in 5 years Explained: The new guidelines which mandate TV channels to telecast content of national interest Union Cabinet approves proposal to hike salaries of SC, HC judges India pti-PTI The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the revision of salaries of Supreme Court and high court judges. Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said here that a bill would be introduced in Parliament to effect the pay hike. The then Chief Justice of India T S Thakur had written to the government in 2016 seeking a hike in salaries of Supreme Court and high court judges. A Supreme Court judge at present gets Rs 1.5 lakh a month in hand after all deductions from salary and allowances. The CJI gets a higher amount than this, while the judges of the high courts get a lesser amount. Rent-free accommodation is provided to the judges while they are in service. With this step, 31 Supreme Court judges, 1,079 high court judges and over 2,000 retired judges will benefit. PTI Chairman of Bhadreswar Municipality of West Bengal shot dead India oi-Amitava By Amitava The Chairman of the Bhadreswar Municipality was shot dead by assailants on Tuesday night in the Hooghly district of West Bengal. 5 people have been detained in connection with the murder. The incident occurred at around 10:45 pm when Chairman Manoj Upadhyay was returning home from the Jai Bharat Sangha club. Upadhay used to visit the club regularly and return home at this time. He was on a bike. His name was called out by a group of 15 or 16 odd men standing on the GT Road near the Hanuman Mandir in Gatebazar area. Chintru Dubey who was driving stopped the bike and Upadhyaya had got down and walked to the group when they started firing. "Five rounds were fired after which the assailants fled on foot" stated Dubey. Hearing gunshots locals rushed out from their homes to find Upadhyay lying in a pool of blood. He was shot in the chest and stomach. He was rushed to the Chandannagar hospital where he was declared brought dead. Police top brass, including Police Commissioner Piyush Pandeyrushed to the spot. "He has been shot from close quarters. We are investigating the case" stated Pandey. The name of one Raju and Ratan Shaw have come up in connection with the case. Both have criminal records. They are absconding. 5 persons have been detained. Police feel that it is a premeditated murder as the assailants had the know how that Upadhyay used to visit the club regularly and return home at the time. "Upadhyay had done a lot for this area. He was an active party leader. Law will take its own course and the culprits will be nabbed at the earliest" stated Tapan Dasgupta, Hoogly District Trinamool Congress President. Upadhayay was a popular leader and a strong voice against anti-socials. He had stood up strongly against anti-socials and had halted extortion rackets in the area. OneIndia News No decision yet on joining BJP or AAP, says Hardik; hails saffron party over Ayodhya issue, Article 370 Is Hardik Patel joining BJP today? This is what he says Cong-BJP are the same, never demanded tickets says Hardik Patel India oi-Vicky By Vicky "The Congress and BJP are one and the same and I never demanded any tickets to contest the elections", Hardik Patel of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) said. Referring to the 2015 quota stir, Hardik said he would not forget the sacrifice made by the Patidar "martyrs" for the sake of just three-four tickets. "Just remember one thing, we have to decimate those who have committed atrocities on us. I will not tell you who to vote for. Both the BJP and the Congress are the same. For them, the people are of no value. Just use your wisdom while giving your vote and choose the one who assures you justice," Hardik told a huge gathering at Transad village in Dholka taluka. His remarks days after the Congress initially allotted two seats to PAAS members -- Amit Thummar and Lalit Vasoya -- as against 20 seats demanded by the outfit. The Congress later withdrew the candidature of Thummar from Junagadh and replaced him with Bhikhabhai Joshi of the party, leaving only Vasoya (Dhroaji) in the fray from PAAS. The "improper representation" to PAAS had prompted protests by its members. Soon after the first list was released on Sunday night, agitated PAAS members started a protest in many parts of the state. In Surat, several PAAS members ransacked the Congress city unit's office and indulged in sloganeering against the party. "You must have seen on television how some people went on a rampage (on Sunday night when Congress issued its first list). I want to make it clear that I neither sought any ticket in the past nor I will seek in the future. We will not forget the martyrdom of our youths for the sake of three-four tickets," Hardik said evoking cheers from the crowd. This is for the first time in the last two days that Hardik made any comments about the ongoing tussle between PAAS and the Congress over the allocation of tickets. Asking people not to believe everything which comes on television, he said the time has come to "decimate" the ruling BJP. OneIndia News Congress has agreed to give Patidars reservation, will fight BJP: Hardik Patel India oi-Chennabasaveshwar By Chennabasaveshwar Recommended Video Gujarat Assembly polls : Hardik Patel says Congress has accepted Patidar's demands | Oneindia News PAAS leader Hardik Patel on Wednesday said the Congress has accepted their demands and agreed to give reservation to Patidar community. Patidar leader broke his silence over his ties with Congress party to media after canceling two media briefings earlier. Hardik said, "Article 46 will be used by Congress to bring in a bill for non-reserved classes. Others will get exactly the same benefits like OBCs without increasing reservation limit." "Draft has been prepared between us and Congress. The formula is not restricted to Patidar community alone," he said. About the ceiling on the reservation quota, he said, "Existing 49 per cent SC/ST/OBC reservation will not be disturbed. Congress has to listen to our demands and come up with a formula." Commenting on the upcoming elections, he said, "It is important to fight against BJP as Patidars have been victimized by them." He further clarified that PAAS 'never asked for any ticket' and also, there was no conflict within PAAS. However, he did not say about PAAS alliance with the Congress. He said, "We have never appealed to anyone to vote for Congress, but since they are talking about our rights, we leave it to people to decide." He blamed ruling-BJP for involving in horse-trading ahead of elections. He said, "Horse trading attempts being made with our conveners in North Gujarat, Rs 50 lakh being offered. BJP using its tactics as it fears defeat." He categorically said that PAAS would not join any political party for the next two and a half years and keep fighting against atrocities of BJP. OneIndia News Cong for Muslims, BJP for Hindus: Did Rahuls temple visits in Guj help to bust the myth? Did Rahul sit in a temple like he was offering namaz? Ask Yogi Adityanath India oi-Vicky By Vicky Yogi Adityanath has claimed that Rahul Gandhi was told off by a priest at a temple for sitting as if he was about to offer namaz. The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister made the statement while taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi's frequent temple visits in Gujarat. The statement was made during a media event hosted by a television channel. "I feel like laughing. Poor thing does not even know how to sit in a temple", Yogi said. "When he had gone to Kashi Vishwanath temple, he was sitting as if he was about to offer namaz. The priest had to tell him, this is a temple, not a mosque," the UP CM also added. Former Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah was quick to react. We do not sit for namaz Yogiji, so when you decide to tell lies to polarise votes, how about you lie about things you know about, he said. OneIndia News Does Delhi pollution signal towards a political crisis? India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia New Delhi, Nov 22: November has brought "doom" for Delhi. It has been more than two weeks since the residents of the national capital are battling air pollution with little relief in sight. Now, the thick blanket of smog in Delhi has become a daily affair. During the initial days, the Delhi smog was well-covered by the media across the country. However, with the passing of days, the alarm over 'poor air quality' in the national capital has reduced because of its regularity, like many other grave issues plaguing the country. According to reports, Delhi's air quality remained "very poor" for the third straight day on Tuesday. The authorities warned that the situation may "worsen" in the coming days. The air quality index (AQI), as maintained by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), was 326 on a scale of 500. Since reports indicate more bad days ahead for the national capital, what does this mean for the people of Delhi and the nation as a whole? Some experts smell a political crisis in the Delhi pollution. "...That is why the crisis expressed by choking air quality cannot be considered an environmental one. It is a political crisis--in a fundamental, not in an electoral, sense. If democratic politics is about empowering the citizen, it has failed in Delhi. "Citizens of the city have reached a state of disempowered existence and numbness through a series of silently suffered traumas. These traumas cannot be treated now, but acknowledging them might have some healing effect," writes Krishna Kumar, former director of NCERT and a Hindi writer, in a column published by The Indian Express. The writer suggests reinvention of Delhi like many others in the recent few days. "We are now at a point where the city has to be reinvented. There is no point protesting, and there is no place, literally, to stage a protest. (Jantar Mantar, where space to protest was allotted some years ago has been restored to its original sanctity.) "Making a city out of Delhi once again would mean identifying people who care about its future and who don't mind carrying on with certain duties of despair. One of them is to initiate the infusion of sustainable public anxiety," Krishna adds. In the column for the English daily, the former director of NCERT stated that the entire process will "require mobilisation of institutions of various kinds, including those involved in education, law, and health". "We can rest assured that e-mobilisation will not work. Second, the people who agree to work for Delhi's rebirth and recovery as a city will need to avoid arousing the hope of any impending solution to the problem of air pollution. "Rather, they will have to encourage people to show adequate stamina for bearing the consequences of past neglect and misfortunes. Rebirth of a city is no simple matter. It will take time, and the harvest of its rebirth cannot be collected with a rented combiner," he adds. OneIndia News Rs 43.8m Japanese aid for disaster risk reduction Japan has announced a financial assistance worth $419,859 (Rs 43,824,882) to Shapla Neer to implement the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Strengthening Project in Chitwan. Cong for Muslims, BJP for Hindus: Did Rahuls temple visits in Guj help to bust the myth? My meet with Rahul would have prevented BJP's Gujarat win: Hardik Patel From invitation cards to hot air balloons; EC's novel initiatives to increase voter turnout India oi-Vikas By Vikas The Election Commission is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that the voter turnout is high during the Gujarat Assembly elections 2017. The Gujarat Election Commission has been using various other mediums such as radio and TeleVision to encourage people to vote. Several hoardings have also been put up across the poll-bound state to encourage voters to exercise their franchise. The state EC is now using the hot air balloons to create awareness among voters. Last week, the EC said that it would give voters a personalised invitation to participate in the election process. Mahendra Patel, the Chief Electoral Officer of Surat, told ANI that the invitation cards would be addressed to the head of the family. The invitation would be delivered to the family when the booth level officer visits them to give the voting slip. The Gujarat Assembly Elections 2017 will be held in two phases on December 9 and 14. The counting of votes will take place on December 18. OneIndia News Gujarat polls: To back Hardik, Lalu thrown his hat in the ring India oi-Vicky By Vicky The newest entrant to throw his hat into the Gujarat ring is Lalu Prasad Yadav. The chief of the RJD has expressed his solidarity with Patidar leader, Hardik Patel and is all set to visit the poll-bound state. During a conversation with Hardik Patel on Sunday, Lalu not just expressed his solidarity but also said that he was ready to visit the state and campaign both him as well as the Congress. Hardik is in touch with Lalu's eldest daughter Misa Bharti. He is also said to be in touch with Lalu's son Tejaswi Yadav who is the leader of opposition in the Bihar assembly. During the three-day RJD meet that concluded on Tuesday, the party's vice-president, Shivanand Tiwary said that all like-minded people including Hardik Patel will come together. He also said that Lalu is ready to campaign in Gujarat if invited by Hardik. He has always supported Hardik, but it was for the first time on Sunday that he spoke with him. OneIndia News Cong for Muslims, BJP for Hindus: Did Rahuls temple visits in Guj help to bust the myth? Hardik sex tape to Padmavati: Is BJP trying to divert attention from real issues ahead of Guj polls? India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Gandhinagar, Nov 22: There is nothing new about it. Every time we approach an election, real issues always take a backstage and 'strange' topics drive election campaigns of the political parties. A similar cycle of events is taking place ahead of the all-important Gujarat Assembly elections, scheduled on December 9 and 14. Initially, everyone was discussing Patidar agitation, Dalit atrocities and anger of the business community due to the demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax (GST), to name a few subjects, before the poll season in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled state. Now, it's the series of alleged sex tapes involving Hardik Patel, the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) leader, and controversies surrounding the upcoming Bollywood film, Padmavati, that have become hot election debates. The opposition Congress has alleged that the BJP is trying to "manufacture trivial" issues to divert the public's attention from real subjects that are actually affecting the lives of voters of the state. However, the Congress is equally guilty of repeating the same 'mistakes' of the BJP by jumping into debates involving "non-issues". Congress general secretary in-charge of Gujarat Ashok Gehlot criticised the BJP on Tuesday over creating a ruckus in the state ahead of the Assembly polls. Speaking to ANI, Gehlot said, "Just to create a ruckus in the state, Narendra Modi and his party members have created disturbances in Gujarat over issues like Hardik Patel (sex CD), on film Padmavati and so many others. All this has been done to divert the attention of the people." "On looking at them (the BJP), the Gujarat people have got an idea as to what the BJP is up to and to what extent they could go to create a nuisance. I am sure after this the public will support us and not them," he added. A political analyst said that the Congress too is creating "ruckus" in the state as several of its leaders, like those from the BJP, have spoken in support of those protesting against the period drama, Padmavati, based on the life of queen Padmini from Chittor, Rajasthan. The protest against the Sanjay Leela Bhansali's film was started by a fringe group--Shri Rajput Karni Sena--after it vandalised the sets of the film and slapped the director during the shooting of Padmavati in Jaipur in January. Thereafter, members of Shri Rajput Karni Sena once again destroyed the sets of the film in Maharashtra. After those two incidents, protests against the film almost went silent. As the makers of the film released the trailer of Padmavati and declared its release date, protests over the film once again started and this time it got ample support from both the Congress and the BJP. The protesters of the film, including descendants of Rajput rulers, stated that the film hurts the sentiments of the community and the Hindus in general by distorting historical facts. However, historians are yet to confirm whether queen Padmini actually existed or not and the film has been inspired by a 16th-century poem. "The entire Padmavati issue is to consolidate the Rajput and Hindu groups' votes ahead of the Gujarat polls. Padmavati is a big budget Bollywood film and easy to attract people's attention by protesting against it. "Thus, the BJP and the Congress are openly supporting the goons of right-wing groups who are threatening to kill the actors and director of the film," said the political analyst on condition of anonymity. Earlier also sex tapes allegedly involving Hardik made 'big' headlines. Just a month before the polls, tapes allegedly showing Hardik with women and drinking beer went viral on social media. The young Patidar leader himself has laughed off the tapes saying "I am yet to marry and I am not impotent". The 23-year-old politician-activist blamed the BJP for infringing upon his privacy and threatened legal action. "The BJP is behind these videos that violate my right to privacy. They love to peep into the personal lives of others. As their 22-year-old Vikas (development agenda) stands exposed, they are trying to expose a 23-year-old boy. I will consult my lawyers and file a complaint soon against perpetrators of the sex CD," Hardik told Times of India. Hardik added that the "video attack" is nothing but character assassination. But that is not going to "adversely impact the Patidar agitation for OBC quota". "Even if I am a bad person, it does not have a bearing on our demand for quota. Our agitation will continue and is stronger now," he said. Now, we have to see how much the Padmavati row and Hardik sex tapes would have an impact on voters' decision to choose their leaders in the upcoming Gujarat elections. OneIndia News Hyderabad gets ready for Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2017 India oi-Chennabasaveshwar By Chennabasaveshwar Pearl city Hyderabad is gearing up for the eighth annual Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) to be held on 28-30 November. The United States of America and the Republic of India are the joint hosts of the summit. This is the first time GES will be hosted in South Asia, and the event will highlight India's enabling environment for innovation and entrepreneurship. Hyderabad, capital of Telangana state and the home to T-Hub, India's largest startup incubator, has a robust startup ecosystem, a presence of major U.S. tech firms, and supportive government policies in place to facilitate emerging entrepreneurs. US President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump, who is also a top White House advisor, will be leading the American contingent at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit. Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to the White House in June had invited Ivanka Trump, 36, to visit India. This year's Summit will highlight the theme Women First, Prosperity for All, and will focus on supporting women entrepreneurs and fostering economic growth globally. Advisor to the President Ivanka Trump will lead the United States delegation to the Summit. I-T hub Cyberabad A microcosm of the city's entrepreneurial endeavours, Cyberabad has been a key driver in boosting the startup ecosystem in and around the city. Youngsters painting the pots GES is the preeminent annual entrepreneurship gathering that convenes emerging entrepreneurs, investors and supporters from around the world. GES 2017 will create an environment that empowers innovators, particularly women, to take their ideas to the next level. Roadside idols get artistic touch Through two and a half days of networking, mentoring, and workshops, GES empowers entrepreneurs to pitch their ideas, build partnerships, secure funding, innovate, and find their target customers -- creating new goods and services that will transform societies. Trees get a new makeover As the host city to Global Entrepreneurship Summit in 2017, Hyderabad hopes to not only bring the global best practices home to India but also to become an integral part of the global entrepreneurial ecosystem Labourers busy painting the pillars The city has created a holistic environment with dedicated entrepreneurship facilities and has also set up a robust infrastructure, both physical and technological. The GES will be held in Hyderabad International Convention Centre. OneIndia News In UP 166 criminals killed in encounters in past five years: Yogi One Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist gunned down in Jammu and Kashmir J&K: Fierce encounter between security forces, militants in Keran sector, 1 jawan martyred India oi-Deepika By Deepika An Army jawan was killed during a gunbattle with militants in Keran sector of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday. The gun-battle broke out at Choken Post in Keran sector near the Line of Control at around 7.30 am, they said, adding a soldier was killed in the exchange of firing between the two sides. The operation was going on when reports last came in, the officials added. On Tuesday, at least 3 Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants belonging to Pakistan were gunned down by security forces following a gunfight in Jammu and Kashmir's (J&K) Kupwara district. After the incident, the entire areas have been cordoned off, especially the Magam area that lies near Handwara. The security forces acted following tip-off about militants' presence in the area and neutralised 3 militants of LeT terror outfit. While the security forces were attempting to burst terror hideouts after an information was received to them, a gun battle started where the forces were able to neutralise terrorists. There are no reports of any Indian casualty in the gun battle. OneIndia News Kerala govt intends to replace Governor as Chancellor of universities through ordinance DGP Kerala orders FIR against The Kerala Story after TN journalist forwards complaint to CM Kerala: Cabinet approves Justice Antony commission report on Mangalam channel phone chat India oi-Chennabasaveshwar By Chennabasaveshwar The Kerala Cabinet on Wednesday approved Justice Antony commission report on Mangalam channel phone chat scandal. Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan said there was a planned conspiracy by the channel against former transport minister A.K. Saseendran. The government has directed DGP to probe the conspiracy. Justice Antony commission report recommended cancellation of Mangalam channel's licence and continue police cases registered against it. The Justice PS Antony panel was set up in March after a new Malayalam TV channel released an incriminating audio clip allegedly of Nationalist Congress Party leader AK Saseendran. Saseendran told PTI that he cooperated with the commission and is positive about the report. "I have no negative thoughts," he said. "I have only positive thoughts about the report." Before he resigned, Saseendran was the only NCP minister in the Kerala Cabinet. After his resignation, party MLA Thomas Chandy was sworn into his post. Chandy, too, resigned on November 15 after the Kerala High Court criticised him for his decision to challenge the Alappuzha district collector's report that found violations of land rules by a luxury lake resort he owns. (With agency inputs) Kerala Love Jihad: Hold proceedings in-camera, father urges SC India oi-Vicky By Vicky An application has been filed in the Supreme Court urging that the interaction in the Kerala Love Jihad case be held in-camera. The father of the girl who converted to Islam before marrying a Muslim man has sought that the proceedings be held in-camera and not in open court. The application in this regard was filed after a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra had on October 30 directed that the woman be produced before it on November 27 for an interaction in open court. Asokan K M, father of the woman, referred to the communally sensitive nature of the case and sought in-camera interaction on some grounds including that radical elements could jeopardise the safety and privacy of his daughter and the family. The top court had on August 16 said it would speak to the woman in-camera before taking a final decision on the matter. It has later modified the order saying "We may further add that this court shall speak to her not in camera but in open court." Asokan, in his application, claimed that since the matter "involves sensitive issues involving the security and physical safety of the parties and communally sensitive issues in the backdrop of the involvement of radical/extremist elements, it is genuinely believed that in-camera interaction is necessary in the interest of the safety and privacy of respondent number one and his family." The plea has also referred to the apex court's judgement declaring right to privacy as a fundamental right and urged the top court to consider the impact of privacy of not only the woman, but also her family. "Further, given the extent of religious indoctrination by extremist elements, wherein the respondent number one's daughter is already spewing narratives of hell and the torment meted out to sinners, she may be subject to undue pressure which could be an obstacle to truth seeking and dispensation of justice," it said. It also said that the Kerala High Court had sent the woman back to her parents and directed round-the-clock security for her family in view of the threat perception from radical elements. The apex court had earlier observed that the free consent of a major to marriage has to be ascertained amid an assertion by National Investigation Agency (NIA) that an indoctrinated person may be incapable of giving free consent to marriage. The NIA had referred to "psychological kidnapping" and said that an indoctrinated person may be incapable of giving free consent. It had also alleged that there was a "well-oiled machinery working in Kerala" indulging in indoctrination and radicalisation and 89 such cases have been reported. The NIA had claimed that this was a case in which the woman was indoctrinated and hence the court could invoke parental authority even if she was a major. The counsel for her father had earlier claimed that Shafin Jahan, the alleged husband of the woman, was a radicalised man and had links with persons who used to recruit for ISIS. The woman, a Hindu, had converted to Islam and later married Jahan. It was alleged that the woman was recruited by Islamic State's mission in Syria and Jahan was only a stooge. Jahan had on September 20 approached the apex court seeking recall of its August 16 order directing the NIA to investigate the controversial case of conversion and marriage of a Hindu woman with him. He had moved the top court after the Kerala High Court had annulled his marriage, saying it was an insult to the independence of women in the country. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, November 22, 2017, 5:46 [IST] Germany based Khalistan terrorist plotted with ISI to strike several parts of India 2022: Why India must worry about the revival of Khalistan terrorism Ludhiana factory building collapse: Owner Inderjit Singh Gola arrested India oi-Madhuri A day after a Ludhiana factory caught fire and collapsed, owner of the factory Inderjit Singh Gola has been arrested on Wednesday. The death toll rose to 13, with at least 20 people still feared trapped beneath the debris. Two people were rescued and are undergoing treatment. A major fire broke out at the Amarson Polymers building at Mushtaq Ganj near Suffiana Chowk at around 8 am on Monday morning, four hours before the five-storey building collapsed. Several firemen, who had entered the building to douse the flames, are feared trapped. Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday expressed shock at the incident. Taking to Twitter, he said, "Shocked and saddened at the Ludhiana factory collapse. Have asked district administration to extend all help to NDRF in rescue operations." He further announced the formation of a commission to investigate the matter and a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the families of the victims. OneIndia News Violence over Padmaavat : Much ado about nothing? Padmavati row: Now, Maharashtra BJP minister seeks ban India pti-PTI Maharashtra Tourism Minister Jaykumar Rawal on Tuesday demanded a ban on the screening of the controversy-ridden film "Padmavati" in the state. Rawal has also written a letter to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) demanding that the movie be shown to a committee of expert historians for scrutiny. "I have written a letter to the chief minister demanding a ban on the movie if it distorted historical facts," the BJP leader said. He said any "objectionable scenes" in the movie should be deleted before its release is allowed. Rawal said he has written to the CBFC to cancel the "certificate given to the movie" and that it be shown to a committee of expert historians. "Requesting the CBFC to immediately cancel the certificate given to the movie Padmavati. A committee comprising expert historians be allowed to watch the movie and edit the defamatory fantasies for the language, script, and scenes which undermines, devalues and insults the great valour and sacrifice of Rani Padmavati which is being worshipped by lakhs of people," the letter read. The Sanjay Leela Bhansali film starring Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor, and Ranveer Singh is based on Rajput queen Padmavati. Amid rumours that there was a romantic dream sequence between Padmavati and Alauddin Khiljis characters, various Rajput and other groups have been protesting against the film, alleging it "distorts" history and hurts the sentiments of the people. Historians are, however, divided on whether Rani Padmavati even existed. Rawal said actor Ranveer Singh should not have played the character of Delhi Sultan Alauddin Khalji in the movie. "He (Ranveer Singh) should have thought what role is he playing," he said. Khalji has been projected as a hero in the movie and today's generation believe in movies, he said. "Do they want them to believe that Khalji was a hero?" the minister asked. Chief Ministers of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh - all BJP ruled states - and Punjab, ruled by the Congress, have already opposed the release of the movie. PTI 'Sidelined' Tej Pratap says anti-social elements trying to break RJD, denies rift with Tejashwi RJD declares Tejashwi Yadav as its Chief Minister face for Bihar polls India oi-PTI The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on Wednesday declared Lalu Prasad's son Tejashwi Yadav as its chief ministerial candidate for the next Assembly election in the state. A resolution on this was adopted at the party's national council-cum-open session meet here which was attended by the party's top leaders. RJD supremo Lalu Prasad was formally declared as having been elected, unopposed, as the party's national president for the 10th consecutive term at the meet. Senior party leader Jagdanand Singh read out the resolution that the party will fight the next Bihar Assembly election under the leadership of Yadav, who would also head the government in the event of the RJD winning the poll. The next election to the 243-member Bihar Legislative Assembly is scheduled for 2020. Speculations have been rife about Tejashwi Yadav, Prasad's younger son, being declared the party's face for the next state polls. A few days ago, Prasad stated that Tejashwi Yadav was "able" and "mature" and that there was nothing wrong if people were talking about him as the party's chief ministerial candidate. Tejaswi Yadav is at present the leader of Opposition in the Assembly. He served as the Deputy Chief Minister in the 'Grand Alliance' government of the RJD, JD(U) and the Congress. The 'Grand Alliance' collapsed in July this year after the JD(U) deserted it and joined hands with the BJP to form the government. Speaking on the occasion, Prasad lambasted the Narendra Modi government for its failure to keep the promise of "achhe din" and called Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar a "finished chap". The RJD chief claimed that NDA governments, both at the Centre and in the state, would not retain power. "The Narendra Modi government's fortunes have started dwindling. Now the entire country is on the boil. They want to create tension in the name of Lord Ram and also by creating division among Ram and Rahim in order to influence elections. But we will have to fight it out firmly," Prasad said, referring to the Hindu-Muslim discord. To underscore that the Sangh Parivar has been opposed to Dalits rising to higher positions, Prasad alleged, "Jayaprakash Narayan wanted to make Jagjivan Ram the Prime Minister when the Janata Party won (in 1977). But those associated with the Sangh did not let it happen." Seeking to clarify the impression of his party being against forward castes, Prasad, a champion of the "Mandal movement" on job reservation, said, "The upper castes need not harbour any apprehensions about my party." PTI Rural Palpa dont know how to vote; poll body to send educators soon province 5 Many voters living in rural parts of Palpa district have said they do not know how to cast their votes in the upcoming elections as the District Education Office has still not sent voter educators to their areas. Special train with farmers takes wrong route, halts in Madhya Pradesh India oi-Chennabasaveshwar By Chennabasaveshwar A train with over 2,500 farmers, who were returning to Maharashtra after attending the Kisan Yatra protest rally in Delhi, stranded in Madhya Pradesh due to wrong signal by railway authorities. The train travelled 160 kilometres in the wrong direction halted at a Madhya Pradesh railway station. Now, the railway authorities don't know what to do with them. As per a News18 report, railway authorities gave a wrong signal to the train at the Mathura station, which led to the train landing up in Madhya Pradesh instead of Maharashtra. The report quoted a passenger saying, "When we spoke to the driver, he said there was a wrong signal at the Mathura railway station which caused this goof up. It looks like we will only reach by Thursday morning." No railway authorities have even tried to reach out to these passengers till now. OneIndia News 'Medicine can also be studied in Tamil medium!' - CM Stalin's efforts are getting a growing response Mayor Priya is not the puppet but the savior - How did Chennai recover from the floods? TN: Arson at Chennai's Sathyabama University after first-year student commits suicide India oi-Madhuri A First-year student at Chennai's Sathyabama University allegedly committed suicide on Wednesday after being scolded for copying during exams. Hours later, her body was sent to Royapettah Government Hospital for post-mortem. The students of the University went on a rampage and set fire to things inside the campus. First reports of the violence came in at around 8.30 pm. It is learned that the student hailing from Andhra Pradesh allegedly committed suicide in her college hostel soon after she was sent to the exam hall. The deceased has been identified as Ragamonika. However, the name has not been revealed officially. The incident happened when the girl was writing the chemistry paper for her semester exam and was found copying. The invigilator then informed other officials and asked her to leave the hall. However, students alleged that Ragamonika killed herself after she was humiliated by a professor for copying. Meanwhile, the parents of the victim are on their way from Hyderabad and none of them blamed the university. A case has been registered under section CrPc 174 ( (unnatural death) and further investigations are on. OneIndia News New RBI rule may disrupt auto payments of your utility bills, OTT subscriptions PM Modi launches e-RUPI: What are the benefits of the new digital payment platform? Five years of demonetisation: Notes in circulation on rise; so are digital payments Indias UPI platform: Nepal to become first country to implement it To promote digital transactions Centre likely to withdraw cheque books India oi-Vicky By Vicky Cheque books may soon become a thing of the past. A senior of the trade body said that the government may soon phase out chequebooks to encourage digital transactions further. Praveen Khandelwal, secretary general of the Confederation of All India Traders said that in all probability, the Centre may withdraw chequebooks and encourage digital transactions. RBI data suggests that the number of digital transactions rose by around 10 percent to 965 million in October from 877 million in September. The digital transaction in October is the highest since the decision on demonetisation was made in November 2016. While the personal payments have shifted to NEFT and IMPS modes, businesses, where payments involve multi-level clearances, have been slow in discarding cheque-based payments. OneIndia News The Rohingya influx continues as Tripura police nets seven of them Tripura scribe could have been killed for exposing misdeeds of Commandant India oi-Amitava By Amitava Many inTripura strongly harbor the belief that journalist Sudip Datta Bhaumik was shot dead for having exposed the misdeeds of the Commandant of the 2nd Battalion of the Tripura State Rifles (TSR.) Subal Kumar Dey, Editor of the Syandan Patrika, a leading vernacular daily published from Agartala where Bhaumik was engaged as a senior reporter, talking to Oneindia over phone alleged "Bhaumik was called to the camp by the Commandant on Tuesday. He was then shot dead. It's a conspiracy. Bhaumik had done three investigative news items against the Commandant." Both the Commandant Tapan Debbarma and the PSO constable Nandalal Reang were arrested and produced at the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court in Agartala on Wednesday. The camp of the 2nd Battalion at R.K. Nagar, Khas Noagaon, Tripura. The camp is located around 20 km from the State Capital Agartala. The body of the slain scribe was kept at the Agartal Press Club where people from all walks of life including political leaders paid their last respect. The journalists demanded that the Tripura Government ensure safety of journalists. This is the second incident of a journalist being murdered in Tripura in the last two months. They were both remanded to police custody for 10 days. "They had been arrested on charges of murder and criminal conspiracy" stated Harakumar Debbarma, Superintendent of Police. On Tuesday 48 year old Bhaumiuk, who was a crime reporter with Syandan Patrika, a Bengali newspaper of Agartala. He had gone to meet the Commandant at the Tripura State Rifles camp. He had prior appointment. However he had had an altercation with a PSO and the PSO allegedly shot him dead. 28 year old Santanu Bhowmik, a journalist working with a news channel "Din Raat" while covering a clash between Indigenous People's Front of Tripura and CPIM's Rajjer Upajati Ganamukti Parishad in Mandia, West Tripura on September 20. He was allegedly hit on the head from behind and abducted. Police later had found him with grievous multiple stab injuries. He was rushed to the GB Panth Hospital where he was declared dead. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, November 22, 2017, 18:41 [IST] Ummar Khan's family lashes out at the Government India oi-Shreya By Shreya Alwar lynching victim's family lashed out at the Government for creating an anti-Muslim atmosphere leading to the blatant lynching and atrocities being inflicted on the community. On November 10, dairy farmer Ummar Khan was allegedly shot at and thrashed along with his two friends at Alwar district in Rajasthan, where dairy farmer Pehlu Khan was lynched by self-styled cow protectors. Ummar Khan was also thrashed and shot down in a similar way under the suspicion of being a cow smuggler, and after being killed his body was left on railway tracks to cover up the murder. The police instead of looking for the perpetrators lodged a case against Umar and his friend for cow smuggling, however two of the accused were also arrested by the police later. Apart from Ummar Khan's family, Junaid - who was stabbed to death in a train in Haryana after an argument over seat took a violent communal turn, was also present at the program which was arrange to discuss the atmosphere of hatred and communal violent which is being perpetuated in the country. Junaid's brother said that he was a young boy who was killed for a reason he was not even aware of, he said, "Junaid was very young to understand communal hate, when communal remarks were hurled at him, he lost his cool and might had said something in the heat of the moment, which led to the cause of his death," Ummar Khan's brother and uncle also held the same view and reiterated what Junaid's brother had to say about the atmosphere of hatred in the country. Regarding the cow related attacks on Muslims, Ummar's brother said, "We poor Muslims don't keep cow to eat its meat, we need cows for milk, which we can feed to our families and we can earn something by selling the milk. We can't keep buffaloes as they are very costly, however, it seems that keeping a cow is no longer an option, as it has become life-threatening for us now," Journalists, social activists were also present at the program and spoke about how these perpetrators are being encouraged by certain ministers and government officials and also the police which is encouraging them to indulged in such acts of lynching without any fear knowing fully aware of the state and political backing. They spoke about how there was a deliberate effort to botch up investigations in case of Junaid and Pehlu Khan and how the police wanted to ignore essential evidence. The opposition has also taken this opportunity to fire salvos at the BJP government over extending support to the perpetrators and for further polarising the nation. However, it is still not evident if indeed such perpetrators are enjoying political backing, but what is clear is the fact that the police do not seem to have the same alacrity with which they lodge cases against the victims, towards the perpetrators and the accused. OneIndia News Why Madhya Pradeshs ban on Padmavati is invalid, unlawful India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Mumbai, Nov 22: It seems everyone wants to ban the upcoming Bollywood period drama, Padmavati. The Madhya Pradesh government is the first one to announce a ban on the magnum opus on Monday. Like MP, other Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled states, including Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, are mulling over imposing a ban on the film which has irked several Hindu groups for allegedly distorting history. Speaking on the issue of Shivraj Singh Chouhan government's decision to ban the film, former controversial chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) Pahlaj Nihalani said that a movie cannot be banned in a state before receiving a certification from the Censor Board, as the CBFC is popularly known as. "Movies cannot be banned. A state can impose a ban only if it is deemed that the movie may disrupt law and order situation in the state, and only after film certification. A certificate is yet to be issued to Padmavati," Nihalani told ANI, adding, "Unless certificate is not issued, no state can make 'jumlas' like 'we'll cut it' or 'we'll not let it release'." Nihalani further informed that the producer of the movie can approach the court if the scenes do get cut. While declaring a ban on the film, MP chief minister Chouhan said that his government won't allow the release of the film in the state unless the objectionable scenes were removed. The film was earlier scheduled to release on December 1. Recently, the makers of the film decided to postpone its release taking into consideration the constant threats and protests against Padmavati, its director, and actors. Moreover, the CBFC has recently sent back the film to its makers citing "technical deficiencies". The board has asked the makers to resend the film for revision. The CBFC chairperson Prasoon Joshi had said that the board will arrive at a decision after a discussion. However, Nihalani, whose stint was full of controversies as he censored several movies, said that a chairperson cannot decide the fate of a movie. "The examination committee decides after watching the movie; the chairman cannot decide," he said. "Unless the censor board pronounces its decision, the opinion of everyone else is of no value," Nihalani added. The protest against the Bhansali's film was started by a fringe group--Shri Rajput Karni Sena--after it vandalised the sets of the film and slapped the director during the shooting of Padmavati in Jaipur in January. Thereafter, members of Shri Rajput Karni Sena once again destroyed the sets of the film in Maharashtra. After those two incidents, protests against the film almost went silent. As the makers of the film released the trailer of Padmavati and declared its release date, protests over the film once again started and this time it got ample support from both the Congress and the BJP. The protesters of the film, including descendants of Rajput rulers, stated that the film hurts the sentiments of the community and the Hindus in general by distorting historical facts. However, historians are yet to confirm whether queen Padmini actually existed or not and the film has been inspired by a 16th-century poem. In recent times, several political leaders and goons of right-wing groups have announced death threats to Deepika Padukone, the lead actress of the film, and Bhansali. OneIndia News 'Kantara' box office: Even as Bollywood's Akshays and Ajays struggle, this one hits Rs 75-crore mark Woman techie dies after falling from 10th floor of apartment in Bengaluru India oi-Deepika By Deepika Recommended Video Bengaluru : Female Techie falls off 10th floor , police start investigation in case | Oneindia News A 27-year-old woman plunged to her death from the tenth floor of an upscale apartment complex in Marathahalli on Wednesday. The body of Geethanjali, working in a leading IT company was found laying on the ground. She is suspected to have jumped from the 10th floor of the building. The woman hailed from Goa. The police are yet to ascertain if the death was accidental or a homicide. According to the sources, the woman was at work as usual and during tea break she went off and her colleagues were unaware of her whearabout. "Though no suicide note or evidence of foul play was found in her room, the body has been sent for autopsy to ascertain the cause of death, the police said. The Police have taken custory of her laptop for further enquiry and have sought the help of the residents of the apartment. The Police said they were investigating whether it was a suicide or murder. OneIndia News After 'state sponsor of terrorism' tag, new US sanctions on North Korea International pti-PTI Washington, November 22: The United States once again unveiled new sanctions targeting North Korean shipping and Chinese traders doing business with Pyongyang. The measures came a day after President Donald Trump declared North Korea a state sponsor of terrorism, a spot on a US blacklist Pyongyang had shed nearly a decade ago. "These designations include companies that have engaged in trade with North Korea cumulatively worth hundreds of millions of dollars," US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said. "We are also sanctioning the shipping and transportation companies, and their vessels, that facilitate North Korea's trade and its deceptive maneuvers." On Monday, Trump had said the sanctions announcement would be the first in a series of moves over the next two weeks that would reinforce his "maximum pressure campaign" against Kim Jong-Un's regime. As had been expected, the Treasury measures make use of existing US directives against North Korean trade but expand their scope to take in more companies and individuals. Most importantly, they expand the list of Chinese firms accused of doing business with the North despite promises from Beijing that it will honour UN-backed punitive measures. Trump met China's President Xi Jinping earlier this month and is bullish about the US-China relationship, but concerns remain that Beijing is not ready to take tough measures against Kim. In particular, China has been reluctant to cut off oil supplies through a pipeline to North Korea's lone refinery, fearing that regime collapse could lead to chaos on their common border. And, according to US officials, some Chinese-based banks and trading firms continue to do business with the North in defiance of UN sanctions and US threats of unilateral measures. "We still hope all relevant parties can contribute to easing tensions," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Tuesday, after the US terror designation. "More should be done in that regard," he added. China has pushed for a "dual-track approach" which would see the United States freeze its military drills in South Korea while North Korea would halt its weapons programs. Washington has rejected that approach. According to Mnuchin, the sanctions would not only increase Pyongyang's isolation but also expose "its evasive tactics." In all, the new measures add one individual, 13 trading entities and 20 ships to US sanctions lists. Any property or assets of the firms involved that are found to be in areas under US jurisdiction are to be frozen, and Americans are banned from trading with them. PTI 17 years on: The 9/11 attacks and the Indian connection Man jumps to death from 30th floor of World Trade Centre in Mumbai 9/11: The Falling Man, an image that we will never forget Airlines settle Twin Towers claim with WTC developer over 9/11 attacks International pti-PTI New York, November 22: American Airlines and United Airlines have agreed to a USD 95.1 million settlement with the developer of the World Trade Centre over September 11, 2001, attacks, ending 13 years of litigation. Insurers will cover the payout to World Trade Centre Properties, owned by developer Larry Silverstein, according to court papers filed Tuesday. Six weeks before the attacks Silverstein signed a 99-year lease for the site, which is owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. After the suicide airliner attacks that felled the Twin Towers, Silverstein received from his own insurers USD 4.55 billion in settlements after years of negotiations. But he also fought to receive damages from American and United, whose hijacked planes were used in the attacks. He initially sought USD 12.3 billion from the airlines and airport security companies. Now the two sides have reached a settlement that must still be approved by US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein. The September 11 attacks on the Twin Towers by hijackers loyal to Al-Qaeda killed more than 2,750 people. Another hijacked plane hit the Pentagon in Washington, while a fourth crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. Altogether around 3,000 people died in the attacks. PTI Dalveer Bhandari in ICJ: How the shrewd Indian diplomatic battle was won International oi-Vicky By Vicky Dalveer Bhandari's win at the International Court of Justice was a Herculean task. India adopted a strategy which saw Justice Bhandari make it to the ICJ. Intense efforts were made since June after India announced the name of Justice Bhandari for the ICJ. India spoke with 175 nations to ensure that the name went through. Official sources say that Minister for External Affairs, Sushma Swaraj played the lead role and spoke personally with her counterparts in 60 nations. Prime Minister Narendra Modi too raised the issue at every meeting he held with world leaders to ensure that Bhandari's candidature went through. "India never indulged in the negative campaign. It was run on the strength of our candidate and strength of India strong constitutional system," an official said. In what was described by India as one of its "biggest diplomatic victories" in the multilateral arena, Bhandari received 183 of the 193 votes in the General Assembly and secured all 15 votes in the Security Council to fill the final vacancy on the Hague-based International Court of Justice after separate but simultaneous elections were held at the UN headquarters here. Bhandari re-elected to ICJ: Amit Shah terms it as Modi govt's diplomatic success Bhandari, 70, was declared re-elected for a fresh nine- year term at the ICJ after Britain withdrew its candidate Christopher Greenwood from the race about an hour before the scheduled voting. According to observers, Bhandari's victory has sent a strong message to the leading powers about the winds of change in the world and underscored the point that India is now a force to reckon with. The ICJ has a bench of 15 judges, five of whom are elected every three years for a nine-year term. To be elected, the candidate needed a majority in both the chambers. Established in 1945, the role of the ICJ is to settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by states and to give advisory opinions on legal questions. Soon after the election results were announced, India's Permanent Representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin was congratulated by representatives of other countries on the floor of the General Assembly. "Vande Mataram - India wins election to the International Court of Justice. JaiHind" tweeted External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. Who is Dalveer Bhandari? In the previous 11 rounds of voting, Bhandari had consistently polled nearly two-thirds of the members of the General Assembly. With Bhandari's election, Britain will not have a judge on the world court's 15-member panel for the first time. Also for the first time in 70 years, a permanent member of the Security Council lost to a non-permanent member for a seat in the ICJ. The British move to block voting in the Security Council and go for the joint consultation mechanism, which was last used some 96 years ago, also fell flat yesterday. This is because, many of the Security Council members including some Permanent Members which were consistently supporting Britain in the secret ballot, backed off from voting in favour of the UK move to stop next rounds of voting as this required open voting, observers said. "It is actually perhaps the biggest diplomatic victory we have in a multilateral arena," a long-time friend of India at the United Nations said. In a dramatic move, British Permanent Representative to the UN Matthew Rycroft wrote identical letters to the presidents of the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council before the two chambers were scheduled to meet at 3 pm (local time) for the 12th round of voting. Rycroft said in his letter the current deadlock is unlikely to be broken by further rounds of voting and the UK, therefore, has decided to withdraw Greenwood's nomination. "In taking this step, we have borne in mind the close relationship that the United Kingdom and India have always enjoyed and we will continue to enjoy...," Rycroft said. Noting that Britain is a major player in the UN system, sources said the "signal to all the membership is clear that Indians are now a force to reckon with". According to informed sources, three hours before the voting, General Assembly President Miroslav Lajcak and Italian Ambassador Sebastiano Cardi in his capacity as Security Council President for the month of November convened a consultative meeting with the Permanent Representative of the UK to the UN Rycroft and Akbaruddin. India refused to budge against any kind of pressure and insisted to complete the democratic process, sources said. It was unclear what transpired in the next two hours that forced Britain to withdraw from the race. In Washington, US President Donald Trump in between had a meeting with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and his Indian- origin Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley. It is learned that many of the Britain's supporters at this point of time clearly told them that they would vote for Greenwood only in a secret ballot but could not be seen voting in open against India and that too at a time when two-thirds of the world community was backing New Delhi. Reading the writing on the wall, Britain decided to withdraw from the race, sources said. At the start of the General Assembly and the Security Council meeting both Lajcak and Cardi read similar letters from Rycroft informing them about UK's decision to withdraw from the race. Thereafter Lajcak and Cardi announced to complete the rest of the election process by having the name of just Bhandari on the ballot. Soon Bhandari was declared elected. In the last 10 days, it is learned that India mounted an unprecedented diplomatic campaign to win the ICJ seat. Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself is believed to have taken up the matter with some of the world leaders. After Bhandari's re-election, he congratulated him and said: "His re-election is a proud moment for us". He also expressed gratitude to the members of the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council for "their support and trust in India." OneIndia News School teacher arrested for planting bomb A school teacher has been arrested on the charge of involvement in anti-election activities from Shivapuri rural municipality in Nuwakot district on Wednesday. Pakistan Army Major killed in gun battle with militants International pti-PTI Islamabad, Nov 22: In a gunbattle with terrorists during a raid at their hideout in Dera Ismail Khan district near the Afghanistan border, a Pakistan Army Major was killed. Director General Inter-Services Public Relations Major General Asif Ghafoor said that 28-year-old Major Ishaq was killed in Kulachi of Dera Ismail Khan district. "We have a sacred duty at hand of cleansing & defending our motherland; We shall do it," Ghafoor tweeted, confirming the death of the Army officer. He, however, did not give any details about casualties suffered by militants in the operations. Ghafoor said that army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and other senior officers, including Corps Commander Peshawar Lt Gen Nazir Butt attended the slain officer's funeral. Dera Ismail Khan is a gateway to the North and South Waziristan tribal regions. These were once a base for local and foreign militants. Major Ishaq is the fourth army officer to be killed during operations against terrorists by security forces in the last three months, Geo News reported. PTI Slip of Tongue in Pak Parliament: Speaker pronounces Nawaz Sharif's name instead of Shehbaz Sharif Panama Papers scandal: Pak anti-graft court begins trial of Sharif, his family International pti-PTI Islamabad, November 22: Pakistan's ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family members on Wednesday appeared before an anti-graft court in Islamabad as the trial resumed in the high-profile Panama Papers scandal. Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law retired captain Muhammad Safdar arrived at the court amidst heavy security arrangements made to deal with any untoward incident. Sharif and his family members were welcomed by a number of senior leaders of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) party at the court. Judge Muhammad Bashir started the proceeding which was still going on. The court had last week accepted 67-year-old Sharif's application for exemption from court hearings till November 27. However, Sharif appeared before the court today due to a change in his plans. Three cases were registered by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against Sharif and his family in the Accountability Court Islamabad. The accountability court on November 8 rejected a plea by Sharif to club all three cases together. Sharif's lawyer Khawaja Harris had argued that all three cases dealt with assets beyond means and allegations and most of the witnesses were same, therefore the references should be taken as one. Last week, Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Saqib Nisar also dismissed Sharif's in-chamber appeal to merge three cases filed by the NAB in the Panama Papers scandal. Sharif was indicted in all three cases while his daughter Maryam and her husband Safdar, co-accused with Sharif in only one case, were also indicted last month. Sharif's sons Hassan and Hussian are also co-accused in all three cases but have so far failed to appear in the court despite repeated summons, prompting the court to separate their case and initiate a process to declare them proclaimed offenders. A five-member bench of the Supreme Court on July 28 had disqualified Sharif over his undeclared income. The apex court also directed the NAB to file cases against him, and his children in the accountability court and directed the trial court to decide the cases within six months. The NAB had filed three cases on September 8 against Sharif and his family, and another case against Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. The three cases against the Sharifs are related to the Flagship Investment Ltd, the Avenfield (London) properties and Jeddah-based Al-Azizia Company and Hill Metal Establishment. Sharif's family alleges that the cases are politically motivated.The political future of Sharif, who leads the country's most powerful political family and the PML-N party, has been hanging in balance since his disqualification. If convicted, Sharif could be jailed. PTI New Jersey Hits $200 Million in Annual Online Gambling Revenue Published November 21, 2017 by Elana K For the eighth month in a row, New Jerseys online casinos have raked in over $20 million. Octobers revenue has brought New Jerseys yearly gross total above $200 million, setting a new annual record with 2 months still left in the year. The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (NJDGE) released the states October gambling revenue numbers, and it is cause for celebration. For the eighth month in a row, New Jerseys online casinos have raked in over $20 million. Octobers revenue has brought New Jerseys yearly gross total above $200 million, setting a new annual record with 2 months still left in the year. The good news from New Jersey comes on the eve of its 4th anniversary of legalized online gambling, which was set in motion in November 2013. October 2017 Revenue The NJDGE report puts October iGaming revenue at $20.6 million; and when online casinos have a good month, the state of New Jersey has a good month as well. New Jersey earned $3.6 million in tax dollars from its iGaming monthly tax revenue. Analysts say that at the rate New Jersey online gambling is going, the state could break the $250 million mark by the end of the year. As for the casinos themselves, the Golden Nugget has a stronghold on first place, breaking the $6 million mark for the third time this year. Borgata came in second with nearly $4.2 million, while Resorts narrowly beat out the Tropicana for third place with nearly $3.5 million. Caesars came in last with about $3.3 million. Online Poker Situation is Getting Desperate While New Jersey online gambling as a whole is doing great, online poker is suffering. Compared to October 2016, online poker revenue was down nearly 20 percent in October 2017, a huge blow to online poker operators. It seems like the only thing that can save the state's online poker industry is the shared online poker liquidity compact that NJ Governor Chris Christie signed last month, which allows for a shared player pool of poker players from New Jersey, Nevada, and Delaware. (And perhaps Pennsylvania, now that its become the 4th state to legalize online gambling.) New Jersey online poker operators have nothing to do but wait until the compact is enacted, and then hope it will pull NJ's online poker industry out of the mire. Congress Switchboard: 202-224-3121 "Rob's bottom-up consulting for Thought Technology over the years to help us incorporate bottom-up thinking in our business and product development has been very valuable. It is a truly disruptive technique, well worth considering, which is well explained in his book." Hal Myers, PhD, President, Thought Technology, Ltd. Member of the Board of Directors for the Ten to the Ninth Foundation (formerly Singularity University) LIE #3: The 1917 October Revolution in Russia was a "coup" staged by Lenin and the communist Bolshevik Party. They were power hungry and grabbed power for themselves. On the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution of October 1917, a flood of magazine and news articles blasts out the lie that Lenin and the vanguard party he led, known as the Bolsheviks, were manipulators: out for themselves and advancing through deceit. Fact: The Russian Revolution was an anti-capitalist/socialist revolution that involved the determined, heroic, and self-sacrificing struggle of millions of the oppressed and exploited along with intellectuals, young people, and others. In the months leading up to October, mass protests, strikes, large-scale mutinies and mass desertions from the army, land occupations by hungry peasants, and pitched battles between workers and government forces rocked society. In October, the old order was overthrown through a mass insurrection. A new state-political power representing the interests of the formerly oppressed and exploited and the great majority of society was established. Fact: What made the October 1917 victory possible... what enabled the revolution in power to defeat the forces of counter-revolution and their imperialist backers in the civil war of 1918-20 that followed... and what was decisive to building modern history's first society free from exploitation and oppression, was visionary, scientifically based leadership. This communist leadership, the Bolshevik party led by V.I. Lenin, guided and unleashed the masses in their millions to consciously bring a new and emancipatory world into being. That is the crime and the example for which the imperialists and their ideologues hold Lenin responsible. That is why they detest, denounce, and distort Lenin's leadership... because this is about leading the masses to put an end to capitalism-imperialism and all its horrors, and to all exploitation and oppression. That is why their op-eds declare: "never again." The truth is that the Russian revolution was the furthest thing from a manipulative coup. For centuries, Russia was a sharply divided society of haves and have-nots. The wealthy capitalists and big landowners relied on the ruthless rule of the Tsar (a kind of monarchy) supported by the Russian Orthodox Church and maintaining the old order through police terror, denial of rights, and thuggish, KKK-type violence. By 1917, Tsarist Russia's participation in World War 1 had reaped a gruesome toll: seven million killed and wounded. The dead were mostly drawn from the ranks of landless peasants and half-starved urban factory workers. In February, in the face of mass outpourings, the Tsar was forced to "abdicate" (step down). A new "bourgeois-reformist" government came to power making all kinds of promises. But it did nothing to solve the basic problems of the people--and it continued to wage the slaughter of world war. Under Lenin's leadership, the Bolsheviks raised the demand "peace, bread, land"--to end the war with Germany, prevent starvation, and drive out the big landowners and redistribute land to poor peasants. They were the only political force prepared and determined to lead the oppressed in Russian society to act to realize these demands. The other major parties and organized forces in Russia (including those on the "left") were working to reform, to make changes within, an exploitative, oppressive, and decrepit system--and they supported Russia's participation in World War 1. We are told... - That Lenin and the Bolsheviks were "manipulative." The fact is, the Bolshevik program and their vision of a new and better world resonated widely and deeply in a society in crisis, upheaval, and looking for direction. Their program expressed the urgently felt needs of millions suffering the misery and hopelessness of the old order. And the Bolsheviks, at the risk of losing short-term support, went up against reactionary popular tides--for instance, the "we-must-win-the-war" World War 1 patriotism that swept Russia. They stood up to and challenged deeply entrenched anti-Semitic (anti-Jewish) prejudices. - That Lenin and the Bolsheviks were "masters of deceit." The truth is that the Bolsheviks had been raising the consciousness of the oppressed, bringing scientific understanding to the masses, so that they could grasp the root causes of their suffering and un-reformability of the system--and consciously act in their own revolutionary interests. And in a situation of growing radicalization and discontent in 1917, the Bolsheviks were training people to see through the maneuvering and deceptions of an oppressive government, and the inadequacy of all other political programs and agendas. Far from deceiving people and concealing his views, Lenin's whole approach was that the Bolsheviks must lead by empowering millions with a conscious understanding of the means, methods, and goals of the communist revolution. For this, the Bolsheviks relied on a daily newspaper printed and distributed throughout Russia in the tens of thousands (through legal and underground channels) in order to prepare minds and organize forces for the seizure and exercise of state power. - That they were an "isolated clique." The Bolsheviks had grassroots strength as well as organization in factory committees, and in the armed forces. These organizations were called soviets: the illegal, anti-government representative assemblies of workers, soldiers, and peasants contesting for power. The question that Lenin posed, as a revolutionary crisis ripened, was whether the power would lead to overthrowing and defeating the old social and economic order, and establishing the rule of a new AND emancipatory economic, political, and social system. Lenin decisively led the Bolsheviks to take revolutionary responsibility and leadership in 1917. Bob Avakian demarcates how momentous this was and is for all who crave liberation: Lenin's argument in What Is To Be Done?--that the more highly organized and centralized the party was, the more it was a real vanguard organization of revolutionaries, the greater would be the role and initiative of the masses in revolutionary struggle--was powerfully demonstrated in the Russian Revolution itself and has been in all proletarian revolutions. Nowhere has such a revolution been made without such a party and nowhere has the lack of such a party contributed to unleashing the initiative of masses of the oppressed in conscious revolutionary struggle. (BAsics 6:1) Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Quicklink Not Found Sometimes, authors delete their quicklinks after publishing them. To see if the quicklink was renamed or re-published, please click here. Progressive Content Not Found Sometimes, authors delete their progressive content after publishing. To see if the progressive content was renamed or re-published, please click here. American hedge fund manager, philanthropist, and environmentalist Thomas " Tom" Steyer has mounted a $20 million campaign to remove Trump from office. Steyer is the single largest donor to the Democratic Party, having donated over $66 million during the 2016 election cycle. He and his wife signed The Giving Pledge, which is a commitment to donate half of their fortune to charity during their lifetimes. Steyer said, "We're putting a couple of large billboards in Times Square calling for the impeachment of the president...We legitimately feel that this is the huge issue in front of the American people that no one is standing up for what the overwhelming number of Americans think," according to Newsweek. More than 350,000 people go through Times Square daily. The billboards direct people to Steyer's website, where they can sign a petition calling on Congress to impeach. Trump would be the third president to be impeached. The goal is to make him the first president to be impeached and removed from office. Steyer started his petition a month ago. At the time of this writing, it is closing in on 3 million signatories. Below is the letter Steyer wrote to elected officials on Oct 18, 2017. (Emphasis is mine.) Wednesday, October 18, 2017 Dear Elected Official, This is not a time for "patience" -- Donald Trump is not fit for office. It is evident that there is zero reason to believe "he can be a good president." Whether by the nature of Mr. Trump's relationship with Vladimir Putin and Russia, his willingness to exploit the office of the Presidency for his personal gain and treat the government like a family enterprise, his conduct during Charlottesville, his decision to pull out of the Paris climate accords, or his seeming determination to take the nation to war, he has violated the Constitution, the office of the Presidency, and the trust of the public. He is a clear and present danger to the United States of America. Republican Senator Bob Corker, Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, referred to the Trump White House as a day care center, and observed that this president has put us "on the path to World War III." This comes following reports that Trump's own Secretary of State referred to him as a "moron" and that Chief of Staff John Kelly and Secretary of Defense James Mattis have an agreement not to leave Trump home alone for fear of what he could do. And we have seen other Republican Senators, including Senators Sasse and Flake, express their own profound concerns. If Trump has lost the trust of the members of his own administration and leading members of his own party, surely it is time to act. An accounting of his record to date leads to the same conclusion. He is turning his back on Lady Liberty by holding immigrant children hostage. He is actively sabotaging the Affordable Care Act -- a law he is constitutionally obligated to faithfully execute -- while seeking to strip away health care coverage that will leave millions of Americans to choose between life and bankruptcy. He is repealing clean air protections and unleashing polluters, even as increasingly catastrophic natural disasters supercharged by our warming planet ravaged the country throughout the summer -- from hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, to the wildfires that have raged across California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana. He has threatened to reduce aid for millions of American citizens in Puerto Rico who are struggling to survive without drinkable water or electricity -- a move that would be a total dereliction of his duty. And every day, Americans are left bracing for a Twitter screed that could set off a nuclear war. These actions represent systemic attacks on our nation's future. They endanger every single one of your constituents. That's why you have a duty to speak out. There is no moral reason to remain silent about this. Constitutional experts like Noah Feldman have already laid out clear legal and historical foundations for impeachment. Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, a co-author of the Federalist Papers -- and an immigrant himself -- argued that "high crimes and misdemeanors" could be defined as "abuse or violation of some public trust." This president has clearly already exceeded these standards. Congress has impeached past presidents for far less. While we know that Republicans do not seem prepared to pursue impeachment even as members in their own ranks openly question Trump's fitness for office, we are all working hard to ensure Democrats will take back the House and Senate in 2018. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). From Truthdig Two months after the Sept. 20 landfall of Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico -- like the nearby Virgin Islands -- is still in a state of horrifying devastation. The help being offered by the Trump administration is thin to the point of being cruel and unusual. At this point one must ask: Is Trump's astonishing lack of aid part of a larger plan to cleanse the islands of their native populations, drive down real estate values and create a billionaire's luxury hotel-casino-prostitution playground la Cuba before the revolution? In other words: ethnic cleansing for the superrich. There is just one piece of good news: Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., has joined Rep. Stacey Plaskett of the Virgin Islands in proposing that Puerto Rico's electric grid be rebuilt with wind, solar and a network of micro-grids. More than half the original electric grid is still not functioning, with frequent blackouts occurring in areas where the grid is operational. Amid a widespread green campaign (more on that later), Lieu and Plaskett have asked the public to cosign their letter to the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to "invest in a more resilient energy infrastructure focused on renewable energy technology and distributed generation." One major wind farm on Puerto Rico's south shore did survive Maria intact, as did the solar array of a local greenhouse business. Elon Musk has revived a children's hospital by shipping in a solar/battery array that is sustaining the few medical facilities in San Juan with reliable power. But overall, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are in such horrific shape that it's hard to dismiss the idea that the weak recovery effort might be by design. Consider this: -- Throughout the islands, U.S. citizens are dying due to lack of clean water. Tens of thousands are still without food, clothing, medical care or even basic shelter. -- A CNN survey of Puerto Rico's burial services found a minimum of 499 deaths in the wake of the storm. That number cannot begin to cover the entire scope of the casualties, as many of the corpses have never made it to funeral homes. The official government death toll is about 65. When Trump visited the island he proudly put it at 16, complimenting FEMA for keeping it so "low." -- Despite enormous resources available, the Trump administration has failed to deliver even sufficient tarps to cover rooftops that have been shattered or blown away altogether. -- North Carolina activist Ana Blackburn reported on prn.fm radio's "Green Power & Wellness Show" that her mother, who lives in central Puerto Rico, is feeding more than 100 people per day at a church kitchen that can barely scrap together enough food for everyone. -- She also confirmed widespread reports that FEMA workers are delivering small quantities of bottled water, but nowhere near enough to prevent desperately thirsty locals from drinking contaminated water from polluted streams and even from designated SuperFund sites (hazardous waste dumps), resulting in widespread sickness and death. -- FEMA has been responding to requests for help by handing people without phone service or electricity a flier with a phone number to call and a website on which to fill out an application. -- Many in Puerto Rico have died because most of the island's hospitals have no power and cannot provide surgery, dialysis and other basic life-saving services. Insulin and other medicines have spoiled due to lack of refrigeration. Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). UK condemns poll-related violence The United Kingdom has condemned the recent incidents of election-related violence in Nepal. Issuing a statement on Tuesday, the British Embassy in Kathmandu said: With the publication of a collection of his speeches , the late, unlamented (from the Left at any rate) Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is back in the news. Scalia was well-known for describing himself as an "Originalist" when it came to Constitutional law. He held that the Constitution should be interpreted as controlling in the sense that the framers would have understood it at the time of the framing. No other interpretation is to be allowed. Another name for that approach is called "strict constructionism." As the Federal bench is being filled with far right-wing judges (and a Supreme Court justice or two), picked for the Trumpites by the far-right Federalist Society, we are going to be hearing a lot more of that phraseology. OK. If 'originalism" is going to be the guiding light of decision-making in the Federal courts, more-and-more down the road, it does pay to take a look at what the doctrine means, and more importantly how it has been and will be used by the Right-wing/Trumpite Federal bench. For that understanding let us turn to no less authority than Scalia himself: "Let me begin by telling you what originalism is. The Constitution, as you know, contains a number of broad provisions, which are necessarily vague in their application: due process of law, equal protection of the laws, cruel and unusual punishments, the freedom of speech, to name a few. Originalism gives to those terms the meaning they were understood to have when the people adopted them. Is the death penalty cruel and unusual punishment? A hard question, perhaps, for the non-originalist. I have sat with four colleagues who thought it was. But for the originalist the answer is easy: At the time the people ratified the Eighth Amendment -- the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause -- no one thought it forbade the death penalty." Scalia Dissent. The applesauce didn't taste good. It just wasn't original enough for him. (Image by Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com) Details DMCA The key sentence here is: "Originalism gives to those terms the meaning they were understood to have when the people adopted them." Sounds logical, right? Well, perhaps. But perhaps not so fast. Unlike the Napoleonic Codes that govern the law in much of Europe the phrases the Scalia quotes are not in fact absolute in their language. "Equal protection of the law," "Freedom of speech," and certainly "due process of law" are all concepts wide open to interpretation, starting with the question "for whom?" They are actually quite ambiguous terms. In fact the Constitution, starting right from the Preamble (ignored by all, but a quite powerful statement of the purposes the government defined by the Constitution is supposed to fulfill), is filled with ambiguity, ranging from what exactly is "interstate commerce" (Art. I, Sect 8) to what exactly is a "Republican form of government" (Art. IV, Sect. 4). And when it came to the powers of the Supreme Court (Art. III, Sects. 1 and 2), it is again inexact. So much so that the fourth Chief Justice of the United States, John Marshall, going into territory that none of his predecessors had done, in a series of decisions starting with Marbury v. Madison, was able to fashion the broad-ranging review powers of the Court over the actions of both the Federal and state governments that are nowhere mentioned in the Constitution, explicitly or even vaguely (see Chap. 5, "Anderson v. Board of Education," The 15% Solution: How the Republican Religious Right Took Control of the U.S. 1981-2022: A Futuristic Novel http://www.puntopress.com/2013/03/23/jonas-the-15-solution-hits-main-distribution/). And so, Scalia is right in stating that "Originalism" should be one's guide in the interpretation of the Constitution. He is just wrong in stating what the Framers had in mind when they wrote it. To repeat, they filled it with ambiguity, hardly an endorsement of any kind, from the plain text of the document itself, of the concepts of "originalism" (in the sense that Scalia promoted the term) or "strict constructionism." Scalia just used that high-sounding concept as a cover for basing his opinions on his personal philosophy and understanding of the law, and politics, which is in fact what all justices of the Supreme Court have always done. And then we come to Judge Roy Moore's concept of "Originalism." It indeed is original alright; that is, original with the Religious Right . For Moore sees "God" in the Constitution and Moore holds that it is "God's Law" that is controlling, above the Constitution. Furthermore, the "God" that Moore sees in the Constitution is a particular one. It is not the Jewish God (and of course there are several of those), nor the Islamic one, nor that of the variety of other monotheistic religions which have followers on the Earth, such as Zoroastrianism , nor those of the variety of polytheistic religions such as Hinduism (widely practiced). Moore's of course is the "Christian" God. Now even within the limits of Christianity there are a number of different interpretations of what "God" is and means. Presumably what Moore means by the word is the Southern Baptist concept in which he was raised and apparently has never left. But this is a minor problem for the Moore Doctrine compared to the fact that neither the words "God" nor "Christian" (or "Christianity") appear anywhere in the Constitution or are even alluded to. The word "Religion" does appear of course, but in the exclusionary sense as in the "no religious test" provision of Article VI and the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. But these facts present no obstacle to Moore because a) in a highly original approach to the Constitution, Moore claims that the Declaration of Independence is "organically" part of it (I heard him say this in a radio interview with Michelangelo Signorelli of Sirius XM Radio Progress). But golly gee, I have read the Constitution numerous times and have never been able to find the Declaration included in it or even alluded to. And b) he interprets the phrase "Nature's God" in the Declaration to mean specifically the Christian God as Moore understands him (and for Moore is most surely is a "him," not a "her") and the term "Creator" as again meaning Moore's Christian God. Now there are a couple of textual problems that arise for Moore, even in just the interpretation of the Declaration (and of course if the Framers, several of whom contributed to the writing of the Declaration, had wanted to include it or any of its language in the Constitution they surely would have). First, in the Declaration the term "Nature's God" refers specifically to "the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them," the "them" being "one people [wishing] to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth. . ." Very limited, to a breakaway of one ruling group from that of the Mother Country (secession, if you will). Second, in perhaps the Declaration's most famous sentence, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness[,]" the framers, one must assume with the consciousness of what they were doing, chose to use the word "Creator," not the word "God." And I, as a Reasonist, am perfectly comfortable with that word, which for me means the laws of physics, chemistry, and biology. Moore stands as an accused pedophile, a conclusion to which many Republicans as reactionary politically as he is have come. But even if that were not the case, if he does get to the Senate, he would be a very dangerous figure there. Moore is indeed a racist (birtherism), a violent homophobe (homosexual acts should be against the law [as they are in, say, Saudi Arabia and Uganda]), and an Islamophobe (in opposing the seating of Cong. Keith Ellison because he is a Muslim, the self-proclaimed "Constitutionalist" apparently never got to the "no religious test for office" part of it). Moore holds that "God" (which of course means what he means as "God," for example a power that would unleash the bombers of 9/11 to punish what he regards as "Godlessness" in the United States) stands above the Constitution. Which makes him, like Mike Pence and Ted Cruz, a Dominionist. Which also makes it OK for him, as the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, to tell court officers throughout Alabama that they don't have to obey a US Supreme Court ruling. And so, for both Rightists, Moore and Scalia, "originalism" really means that the "Constitution says what I say it says," which, if one goes back through the ruling of countless reactionary judges on the court over the years who have tried to cloak themselves in that false doctrine, is hardly an original position. How did Christianity get separated from Judaism, when the two religions have so much in common? That was the question pondered by three eminent scholars -- two Christian and one Jewish -- at a symposium hosted by the Center for Jewish History in New York City more than a decade ago. It's an important question and conundrum that persists today, since Christianity is based on Jewish prophesy and lineage -- and the fact that all of Jesus' disciples and followers were Jews. And we should add to that the growing consensus among biblical scholars that Jesus lived and died a dedicated practicing Jew. The symposium panelists -- Father Donald Senior, president of the Catholic Theological Union of Chicago; Anglican priest Bruce Chilton, author of Rabbi Jesus; and Rabbi Jacob Neusner, author of numerous books on religion and several on early Christianity -- agreed that Jesus lived and died a dedicated Jew, that he never mentioned or heard the word "Christian," and that he never proposed a new religion. In fact, the word Christian does not appear at all in the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) of the New Testament, which cover the three years of Jesus' religious and spiritual mission. Rabbi Neusner added that almost all of Jesus' teachings were drawn from the Torah (the Five Books of Moses). These forthright statements begged the question that I then posed to Father Senior and Father Chilton during the Q and A: "You have convinced me that Jesus was thoroughly Jewish. So why aren't you Jews or Jewish Christians?" They squirmed a bit at my provocation, but acknowledged that they had walked into this setup. Then they gave the standard answer to the question of what divides Judaism and Christianity: "Jesus is the Son of God, the promised Messiah, who died for the salvation of mankind. With the arrival of Jesus, the new path to God and redemption is through belief in Jesus Christ." This view asserts Jesus' divinity, further supported, from the Christian perspective, by the virgin birth (Mary, Jesus' mother, was impregnated by the Holy Spirit), the miracles that Jesus performed, and his resurrection after the crucifixion. So how does Thomas Jefferson, a founding father and third president of the United States, fit into this story? Jefferson, an avowed deist who loved Jesus and reportedly read portions of the Bible every night, was not a fan of many of the depictions of Jesus in the Gospels. His opposition to those parts of the Jesus story that he rejected was so strong that he deleted them in his personal copy of the Bible. He wrote: "Jesus did not mean to impose himself on mankind as the son of God." Jefferson called the writers of the New Testament "ignorant, unlettered men" who produced "superstitions, fanaticisms, and fabrications." The Humanist reports that one evening in 1804, while sitting at his desk at the White House, Jefferson "took out two Bibles and opened them to the story of Jesus. Then he grabbed a razor and began cutting. Working methodically, Jefferson sliced out the parts of the Bible that he believed and pasted them onto a folio of blank pages." In cutting and pasting passages from the four Gospels, he created a single narrative. Thomas Jefferson cut and pasted to create his bible (Image by Smithsonian Magazine) Details DMCA In a letter to John Adams, Jefferson wrote: "The worthy parts of the Bible were easily distinguishable from the worthless." In another letter to a friend, Philadelphia physician Benjamin Rush, Jefferson referred to his Bible as his "wee little book," and added: "To the corruption of Christianity I am indeed opposed, but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself." The only copy of this Bible disappeared and has never been found. But in 1820 at age 77, Jefferson created a new copy in English and three others in French, Latin and Greek. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Ourshopee Launches Online Shopping - Ecommerce Website in Qatar OurShopee is one of the trustworthy shopping website located in UAE and Oman declares the launching of its online shopping website https://www.qatar.ourshopee.com/ OurShopee is one of the ecommerce website located in UAE and Oman declared the launching of its online shopping website in the first week of November in Qatar. Ourshopee reassured its customers about the genuine quality of its products by giving them the 100% guarantee that shopping on the site would ensure an authentic shopping experience.Ourshopee is one of the leading reliable online shopping company has been established in the first week of November in Qatar growing its services by treating its customers with care, concern and utmost devotion solving problems of customers with the blink of an eye leaving the bright smile on their face, said Jamsheer Thanaloot, the CEO of OurShopee.OurShopee online shopping site in Doha Qatar offers trouble-free installments plans, free shipping, cash on delivery option, pay by credit card on delivery, pay by debit card on delivery which makes Ourshopee most desired among its customer. This easy and trustworthy payment access grabs many customers to the doorway of OurShopee. OurShopee is indeed known for its transparency in dealing with clients.Having accumulated the vast amount of collection OurShopee online shopping site in Doha Qatar gives the grand variety of products for 24/7 hours on very reasonable prices. OurShopee walks parallel to the emerging trends prevailing in society offering a number of products to its customers. The collection of Ourshopee contains technical gadgets like Mobiles of Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi, Huawei etc while it also has an exclusive variety of laptop such as Acer, HP, Dell, Lenovo etc. One need not roam around in town to buy Kitchen appliances when Ourshopee stands as the versatile helper offering items related to kitchen such as food preparation, kitchenware, heating and cooling airs etc.The online shopping offers of OurShopee Doha Qatar have the finest variety of clothing with the colorful shade, bags of various vogues, and footwear. For girls, Ourshopee can be the most famous and handy site to shop from as it offers beauty products like perfumes, cosmetics, jewelry. You can also order gifts for your near and dear ones from OurShopee. All you need to do is just hit click and the product will be available to you in no time with swift delivery.In terms of prices, OurShopee is very much flexible to its customer and in festival season, OurShopee brings favourable discounts, deals, and offers to its customers for giving them the best online shopping experience.OurShopee has already gained trust of its customer by quick services with propriety of response which can be seen in the reviews of the Ahmad who says that the Dell Inspiron 5567 sold by OurShopee was delivered on time with the best quality of products and flexible price, while another purchaser Asim Najjar says that the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4, the mobile bought from OurShopee is functioning properly. It is this constant persistence of OurShopee that gains trust and enthusiasm of customers to choose OurShopee for further shopping in future furthermore it shows the success of OurShopee.About Ourshopee :OurShopee has indeed turned itself into mammoth of marketplace laden with the affluent collection of items. OurShopee provides their customer with an instant delivery and multiple payment methods which has undeniably made OurShopee the foremost shopping site in Doha Qatar.OurShopee LLCDoha, QatarPhone: +968 24769100Mail: info@ourshopee.comWebsite : Improved driving comfort and very quiet running OPTIMAL: Flexible couplings - Made in Germany www.optimal-germany.com Name and function:Flexible couplings are also known as Hardy discs, named after their inventor, John Leslie Hardy.They are used in vehicles with rear wheel or all-wheel drive and are connected to the longitudinal shaft via the integrated precision steel sleeves.The special construction of the OPTIMAL flexible couplings in the form of innovatively arranged cord packs, a special rubber compound and high-quality steel sleeves enables the compensation of not only misalignments and axial play but also of juddering movements when starting the shaft or changing speed. This allows irritating vibrations and juddering to be avoided while driving.Flexible couplings from OPTIMAL:For popular vehicle applications from BMW and Mercedes, OPTIMAL now offers flexible couplings MADE IN GERMANY.- The F3 flexible couplings are manufactured in Germany on state-of-the-art machines and subject to the quality standards for original equipment as required by TS16949.- An optimised, internal cord structure guarantees efficient torque transmission.- The composite rubber body supports and protects the cord skeleton so that the entire system achieves excellent attenuation properties.- Deviations of angle and length in the drive train can be reliably compensated for.- The OPTIMAL flexible coupling effectively suppresses vibrations for excellent driving comfort and low levels of noise.- Continuous quality control- All references are available in digital search and catalogue systems (TecDoc, DVSE, etc.)- Very wide market coverageAbout OPTIMAL AG & Co. KG:OPTIMAL AG & Co. KG has been producing and selling high-quality spare car parts for a quarter of a century. The companys products range from wheel bearing kits, steering and suspension parts, shock absorbers, and brake systems to rubber-metal parts, water pumps, and belt tensioner kits.Driven by passion and enthusiasm, the company, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2016, has always regarded its employees as its main assets. At OPTIMAL, cooperating fairly with business partners and using resources carefully are equally as important as providing high-quality products and an outstanding service.With the widest range of wheel bearing kits, TUV-certified steering and suspension parts, and completely pre-assembled suspension struts, OPTIMAL AG & Co. KG is the number one provider of these products. OPTIMALs parts are sourced from international production partners, original equipment manufacturers, and quality suppliers. 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Ultrasonic Flowmeter report provides key information about the market with a detailed SWOT analysis, including invaluable facts and figures, experts opinions, and the latest developments across the globe.Get Sample Copy atDevelopment 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 (North America, EU, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, India) and other regions can be added. Complete report on Ultrasonic Flowmeter Market spread across 123 pages key manufacturers and list of tables and figures. An exclusive discount can be asked before order a copy atKey Companies Analyzed in this Report are:GETexas InstrumentAnalog DeviceST MicroelectronicsEmersonKrohneE+HSiemensFujielectricYokogawaHanicABBOmegaHonevwellThe report focuses on Global Ultrasonic Flowmeter Market 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. What's more, the Ultrasonic Flowmeter 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.Place a Direct Order Purchase on this Report @Major Points Covered in Table of Contents:1 Ultrasonic Flowmeter Market Overview2 Global Ultrasonic Flowmeter Market Competition by Manufacturers3 Global Ultrasonic Flowmeter Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region4 Global Ultrasonic Flowmeter Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region5 Global Ultrasonic Flowmeter Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type6 Global Ultrasonic Flowmeter Market Analysis by Application7 Global Ultrasonic Flowmeter Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis8 Ultrasonic Flowmeter Manufacturing Cost Analysis9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers10 Marketing Strategy Analyses, Distributors/Traders11 Market Effect Factors Analysis12 Global Ultrasonic Flowmeter Market Forecast13 Research Findings and Conclusion14 AppendixesOrian Research is one of the most comprehensive collections of market intelligence reports on the World Wide Web. Our reports repository boasts of over 500000+ industry and country research reports from over 100 top publishers. We continuously update our repository so as to provide our clients easy access to the world's most complete and current database of expert insights on global industries, companies, and products. We also specialize in custom research in situations where our syndicate research offerings do not meet the specific requirements of our esteemed clients.Ruwin MendezVice President Global Sales & Partner RelationsOrian Research ConsultantsUS: +1 (832) 380-8827 | UK: +44 0161-818-8027Email: info@orianresearch.comWebsite:Follow Us on LinkedIn: China Continues to be a Net Importer of Polycarbonates Polycarbonate Capacity Increase, Kilotons (2000-2020) The total Polycarbonate installed capacity as of 2016 is estimated to be around 5,600 Kilo tons. In the year 2000, China, Japan and USA accounted for around 50% of the global total. China increased its installed capacity share to 25% in 2016 from around 2% in 2005. USA and Japan now account for 14% and 8% respectively. On an average around 224 kilo tons of PC capacity was added each year from 2000 to 2016. The biggest addition in the PC installed capacity was seen in the year 2008, when around 423 kilo tons of new capacities came on stream. Covestro is one of the major producers of polycarbonates and the company plans to double its Shanghai, China manufacturing facility by 2019 to become the leader in terms of production capacity.With roughly around 25% share, China is the worlds largest producer of polycarbonates; it also accounted for largest consumption of around 43% in 2016. Prismane Consulting expects a modest growth in the global polycarbonates demand from 2017 to 2025. Asia-Pacific on the back of China should continue occupying the lions share in the market. China has been experiencing capacity additions averaging 47% since 2000 till date. Prismane Consulting estimates that China will continue to be a net importer in the short term forecast.Polycarbonates are used in Automotive (Window, Non-Window), Optical Media, Sheet/Films, Consumer Appliances, Medical, Electrical & Electronics, Construction, Packaging, and Other Applications.Global demand of Polycarbonates was estimated to be over 4,000 kilo tons in 2016. Sheets & films and electrical & electronics were the most important application segments for polycarbonates in 2016 with overall consumption accounting for around 22% each. Automotive is likely to be the growth driving application in the long-term forecast. The polycarbonates market is expected to grow at an annual average of 3.5% per annum till 2025.For market information on polycarbonates, and other Engineering Plastics write to sales@prismaneconsulting.comPrismane Consulting is a unique global boutique consulting firm with an Indian origin. We present ourselves to the world outside providing management, economic and technical expertise to improve customer engagement, boost operational efficiency, reduce costs and achieve superior business results. Prismane Consulting serves leading businesses in the field of Chemicals, Petrochemicals, Polymers, Materials, Environment and Energy. We have been advising clients on their key strategic issues solving their toughest and most critical business problems.Prismane ConsultingOffice #519, Amanora Chambers, Amanora Park Town,Hadapsar-Magarpatta Road,Pune 411028India Calling Aid & Development Innovators in Africa Enter Innovator of the Year Competition AIDF Innovator of the Year Award http://www.aidforum.org/docs/Innovator_of_the_Year_Award_-_nominations_form.pdf http://africa.aidforum.org/awards The Aid & International Development Forum is currently accepting nominations for the Innovator of the Year Award. This competition celebrates individuals, who have introduced game-changing initiatives, created research or inventions that have made an impact on the humanitarian aid and development sectors in Africa over the past year.The aim is to recognise individuals for their inspiring leadership, forward thinking, creative problem-solving and implementation of innovative programmes that have helped drive Africas progress towards Sustainable Development Goals.The nominee can be one person or a team however only one representative will be required to accept the award on the teams behalf.Download the nomination form hereCompleted nomination forms must be sent to awards@aidforum.org with Innovator of the Year Award in the subject line by 31st December 2017.The winner will be announced on 28 February 2018 at the 3rd annual Aid & Development Africa Summit in Nairobi, Kenya. The recipient of the award will benefit from extensive media coverage and industry recognition for their achievements in humanitarian aid and development in Africa.Criteria for the AIDF Innovator of the Year Award: Inspired innovation: nominees should exhibit a thoughtful, creative and innovative approach to resolving humanitarian and development challenges in Africa over the past year Proven impact: the initiatives, research or inventions that nominees have introduced or implemented should demonstrate a positive impact on solving humanitarian aid and development challenges in Africa Building on success: nominees should be looking to enhance and grow the impact of their initiatives, research or inventions to accelerate Africas progress towards Sustainable Development Goals, including future plans to take their idea to the next level If your nominee is shortlisted they should be prepared to attend the awards ceremony on 28 February 2018 at the Safari Park Hotel, Nairobi, KenyaAIDF Innovator of the Year Award Timeline:Application deadline 31 December 2017Finalists shortlisted 15 January 2018Voting 16 January - 20 February 2018Winners announced 28 February 2018For more information about the AIDF Innovator of the Year Award, eligibility, criteria and timelines, please visitThe 3rd Aid & Development Africa Summit was launched in 2015 to engage all the relevant aid and development stakeholders within Africa and beyond. The two day conference features four different streams and attracts 350 senior attendees from regional governments, UN agencies, international and regional NGOs, CBOs, investors and donors, research institutes and the private sector.The agenda has been developed in consultation with key organisations, such as WFP, IRFC, World Vision, USAID, UNICEF, World Bank, Save the Children, UN Habitat, CRS, FHI360, Oxfam, Habitat for Humanity International, IRD and will include case studies, panel discussions, exclusive breakfast briefings, workshops, and interactive roundtable sessions.3rd Floor, Two America Square, London, EC3N 2LU New Jubal App facilitates finding and promoting - events Francis Hornak. https://youtu.be/NDX9xo6ALUI http://www.jubal.co.uk Jubal has launched an App that enables its users to access details of events involving specific artists, venues, music genres, and various event categories.Named after the first musician recorded in Western culture, Jubal has been designed with classical music lovers and promoters in mind but it can be used to attract an audience for any event.The Jubal App allows users to filter events by date, location and other criteria, as well as check the availability of and buy tickets.We intend Jubal to benefit event goers especially concert goers - promoters and artists, said Francis Hornak, a trustee for a classical music trust, who first had the idea for the App during a board meeting.I often found that I didnt know when concerts were taking place, he added. I thought that itd be useful to have an App that has that information readily available, easy to use and that would send me a nudge from time-to-time to let me know when an up-coming concert involves someone who interests me.So, Francis, aided by a team that includes Appy Award winners, Mobikats, created the Jubal App.The App provides a list of concerts and other events taking place and is intended to cover the whole of the UK. Although initially focused on the countrys main concert venues, one of its most attractive features is that the App will also be able to cater for concerts in church halls, schools, pubs and other smaller venues.Opening the App enables users to see a list of concerts, from today onwards. Theres a location search function that will show concerts close to the users location, or in any other area the user specifies.Users can see information about a venue, its location and can get directions to it. They can also see basic details of the events programme; can link to iTunes to hear excerpts from the pieces being performed and see a web link or a telephone number so that they can buy tickets for the performance.Theres an option to send a message about an event to a contact, via text or email. Users can also share information about the concert via social media; save a shortlist of concerts, and add them to the users calendar.From a users point of view, the App makes it easier to find concerts anywhere in the UK over any specific period, Francis said.Venues, performers and promoters should also find the App to be a highly cost-effective way to promote their concerts, he added. It will help sell more tickets, fill empty seats and should end up costing very little.Those wanting to promote an event via the Jubal App can enter the details of the event via Jubals web portal. Anyone can apply for a log-in and permission to post event details on the App and this should be granted after a short vetting process by the Apps owners.For further details of the Jubal App, visitAbout JubalNamed after the first musician recorded in Western culture, Jubal is an App that enables users to indulge their preferences and access details of events involving specific artists, venues and/or music genres. In addition, the App provides information on other events, which can be filtered by date, location and other criteria. It allows users to check the availability of and buy tickets. Jubal hopes to benefit all parties including event goers, promoters, artists/groups/orchestras and venues and, ultimately, if it proves a success, Jubals shareholders - including the classical charitable trust for which Francis Hornak is a trustee.Jubal App Ltd89 Iona House, Pembroke Road, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 3EB,UK andJubilee House, Sixteen Acres Lane, Bickmarsh, Bidford-On-Avon, Alcester, B50 4PA, UKWeb:Contact: Paul Wareing, +44 (0)7983 107965; skype: paulwareingPR contact: Bob Little, Bob Little Press & PR, +44 (0)1727 860405, bob.little@boblittlepr.com Nov 22, 2017: Gesture Recognition System Market Forecast 2023 Microsoft, Sony, PointGrab, Samsung Gesture Recognition System https://goo.gl/b6BZmF http://www.spiremarketresearch.com/global-gesture-recognition-system-market-2017-demand-insight-key-players-segmentation-and-forecast-to-2022 A market study Global Gesture Recognition System Market examines the performance of the Gesture Recognition System market Size 2017. 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SamsungFirstly, the report covers the top Gesture Recognition System manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Enquiry for More Info@Further, the Gesture Recognition System report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Gesture Recognition System industry, Gesture Recognition System industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. 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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 75244United States Nov 22, 2017: Gas Sensors Market Forecast 2023 Alphasense, Biral, Dextens, YOKOGAWA Gas Sensors https://goo.gl/G5nUrf http://www.spiremarketresearch.com/global-gas-sensors-market-2017-demand-insight-key-players-segmentation-and-forecast-to-2022 A market study Global Gas Sensors Market examines the performance of the Gas Sensors market Size 2017. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Gas Sensors market state and the competitive landscape globally. 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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 75244United States US says alarmed at attacks on candidates The United States has expressed its concern over the recent attacks on candidates for Nepals upcoming provincial and federal elections. Nov 22, 2017: Gradient Power Amplifier Market Forecast 2023 Infineon, Qorvo Inc, Qualcomm, Toshiba Gradient Power Amplifier https://goo.gl/QEkdZG http://www.spiremarketresearch.com/global-gradient-power-amplifier-market-2017-demand-insight-key-players-segmentation-and-forecast-to-2022 A market study Global Gradient Power Amplifier Market examines the performance of the Gradient Power Amplifier market Size 2017. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Gradient Power Amplifier market state and the competitive landscape globally. 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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 75244United States Nov 22, 2017: Fire-Proof Door Market Forecast 2023 Shundian, DASHUN, Xinruida, Bolang, Chinsun Fire-Proof Door https://goo.gl/gj3HxU http://www.spiremarketresearch.com/global-fire-proof-door-market-2017-demand-insight-key-players-segmentation-and-forecast-to-2022/ A market study Global Fire-Proof Door Market examines the performance of the Fire-Proof Door market Size 2017. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Fire-Proof Door market state and the competitive landscape globally. 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BUYANGFire-Proof Door Market : By Application Class A Class B Class CFire-Proof Door Market : By Type Public Places Construction Site Evacuation RoutesFirstly, the report covers the top Fire-Proof Door manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Enquiry for More Info@Further, the Fire-Proof Door report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Fire-Proof Door industry, Fire-Proof Door industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. 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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 75244United States Nov 22, 2017: Anticorrosion Cut-Off Valves Market Forecast 2023 Aalborg, Alco, DeZURIK, FLOWSERVE Anticorrosion Cut-Off Valves https://goo.gl/Ceis82 http://www.spiremarketresearch.com/global-anticorrosion-cut-off-valves-market-2017-demand-insight-key-players-segmentation-and-forecast-to-2022/ A market study Global Anticorrosion Cut-Off Valves Market examines the performance of the Anticorrosion Cut-Off Valves market Size 2017. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Anticorrosion Cut-Off Valves market state and the competitive landscape globally. 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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 75244United States Nov 22, 2017: Acrylic Display Rack Market Forecast 2023 Melvin Roos, Mobile Merchandisers, Grand Benedicts Acrylic Display Rack https://goo.gl/Wg1yxJ http://www.spiremarketresearch.com/global-acrylic-display-rack-market-2017-demand-insight-key-players-segmentation-and-forecast-to-2022/ A market study Global Acrylic Display Rack Market examines the performance of the Acrylic Display Rack market Size 2017. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Acrylic Display Rack market state and the competitive landscape globally. 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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 75244United States Nov 22, 2017: Acoustic Bass Strings Market Forecast 2023 DR Strings, Elixir, Ernie Ball, Fender Acoustic Bass Strings https://goo.gl/cMfp2Z http://www.spiremarketresearch.com/global-acoustic-bass-strings-market-2017-demand-insight-key-players-segmentation-and-forecast-to-2022/ A market study Global Acoustic Bass Strings Market examines the performance of the Acoustic Bass Strings market Size 2017. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Acoustic Bass Strings market state and the competitive landscape globally. 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WarwickAcoustic Bass Strings Market : By Application Nickel Plated Steel Stainless SteelAcoustic Bass Strings Market : By Type Four-string Acoustic Bass Five-string Acoustic Bass Six-string Acoustic BassFirstly, the report covers the top Acoustic Bass Strings manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Enquiry for More Info@Further, the Acoustic Bass Strings report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Acoustic Bass Strings industry, Acoustic Bass Strings industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. 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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 75244United States Nov 22, 2017: Frozen Storage Box Market Forecast 2023 Fisher Scientific, Haier Frozen Storage Box Market http://bit.ly/2AkQ6DV http://www.spiremarketresearch.com/global-frozen-storage-box-market-2017-demand-insight-key-players-segmentation-and-forecast-to-2022/ http://www.spiremarketresearch.com/ Frozen Storage Box Market Research 2017A market study Global Frozen Storage Box Market examines the performance of the Frozen Storage Box market 2017. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Frozen Storage Box market state and the competitive landscape globally. 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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, USAWeb:Email: sales@spiremarketresearch.com Analysis and Forecast 2022 Brown Rice 2017 Global Industry Key Players - Asia Golden , T.K. Mills , Shiva Shellac & Chemicals, Daawat , Amira Nature Foods , Riviana Foods Market Analysis and Forecast to 2022 Global Brown Rice Market https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/1909015-global-brown-rice-market-research-report-2017 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/enquiry/1909015-global-brown-rice-market-research-report-2017 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=1909015 Global Brown Rice MarketIn this report, the global Brown Rice 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.Global Brown Rice market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingAsia GoldenT.K. MillsShiva Shellac & ChemicalsDaawatAmira Nature FoodsRiviana FoodsChandrika GroupEbro FoodsSun FoodAgistin BiotechRequest a Sample Report @Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Brown Rice in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoLong GrainMedium GrainShort GrainOn 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 Brown Rice for each application, includingSuper/ Hyper StoresDepartment StoresGroceryOnline RetailersTo enquire about this report visit @Table of Contents-Key Points CoveredGlobal Brown Rice Market Research Report 20171 Brown Rice Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Brown Rice1.2 Brown Rice Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Brown Rice Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Brown Rice Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Long Grain1.2.4 Medium Grain1.2.5 Short Grain1.3 Global Brown Rice Segment by Application1.3.1 Brown Rice Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Super/ Hyper Stores1.3.3 Department Stores1.3.4 Grocery1.3.5 Online Retailers1.4 Global Brown Rice Market by Region (2012-2022)1.4.1 Global Brown Rice 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 Brown Rice (2012-2022)1.5.1 Global Brown Rice Revenue Status and Outlook (2012-2022)1.5.2 Global Brown Rice Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2012-2022)7 Global Brown Rice Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 Asia Golden7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.1.2 Brown Rice Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Product A7.1.2.2 Product B7.1.3 Asia Golden Brown Rice Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 T.K. Mills7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.2.2 Brown Rice Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Product A7.2.2.2 Product B7.2.3 T.K. Mills Brown Rice Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 Shiva Shellac & Chemicals7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.3.2 Brown Rice Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Product A7.3.2.2 Product B7.3.3 Shiva Shellac & Chemicals Brown Rice Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.4 Daawat7.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.4.2 Brown Rice Product Category, Application and Specification7.4.2.1 Product A7.4.2.2 Product B7.4.3 Daawat Brown Rice Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.4.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.5 Amira Nature Foods7.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.5.2 Brown Rice Product Category, Application and Specification7.5.2.1 Product A7.5.2.2 Product B7.5.3 Amira Nature Foods Brown Rice Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.5.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.6 Riviana Foods7.6.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.6.2 Brown Rice Product Category, Application and Specification7.6.2.1 Product A7.6.2.2 Product B7.6.3 Riviana Foods Brown Rice Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.6.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.7 Chandrika Group7.7.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.7.2 Brown Rice Product Category, Application and Specification7.7.2.1 Product A7.7.2.2 Product B7.7.3 Chandrika Group Brown Rice Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.7.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.8 Ebro Foods7.8.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.8.2 Brown Rice Product Category, Application and Specification7.8.2.1 Product A7.8.2.2 Product B7.8.3 Ebro Foods Brown Rice Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.8.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.9 Sun Food7.9.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.9.2 Brown Rice Product Category, Application and Specification7.9.2.1 Product A7.9.2.2 Product B7.9.3 Sun Food Brown Rice Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.9.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.10 Agistin Biotech7.10.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.10.2 Brown Rice Product Category, Application and Specification7.10.2.1 Product A7.10.2.2 Product B7.10.3 Agistin Biotech Brown Rice Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.10.4 Main Business/Business OverviewContinued..Buy Report@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 Aloe Vera Extract Market Report for Period 2017 till 2022 Aloe Farms, Evergreen, Yuensun and Others Aloe Vera Extract Market https://goo.gl/zhHkM7 https://goo.gl/zhHkM7 https://goo.gl/zhHkM7 http://marketreportscompany.com Global Aloe Vera Extract Market report provides detailed analysis of companies namely Aloe Farms, Evergreen, Yuensun and Others. 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The Global Aloe Vera Extract Market report explores manufacturers competitive scenario and provides market share for all major players of this market based on production capacity, sales, revenue, geographical presence and other major factors.Enquire before Buying @Table of Contents:1 Aloe Vera Extract Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Aloe Vera Extract1.2 Aloe Vera Extract Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Aloe Vera Extract Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Aloe Vera Extract Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Kuraso Aloe1.2.4 Cape of Good Hope Aloe1.2.5 Aloe Vera1.3 Global Aloe Vera Extract Segment by Application.......................Continue (Global Aloe Vera Extract Market Research Industry Report is prepared with the help of extensive primary and secondary sources, directories, journals, newsletters and with the help of third-party application like Hoovers, Factiva, Bloomberg, Businessweek, etc.About Us:Market Reports Company is a global research and consulting company. We provide customized reports. We can study and analyze any market based on wide range of parameters. We can provide market insights for any particular region, country across the globe within shortest possible turn around time.What we offer: Customized Reports: we provide customized report study on any market or industry. Region Specific Study: If you need region specific or if you are searching for particular region market study then, we have expert research team for that. How we work: We work in all domains and industries, you name it and we provide the market research industry report analysis of it. 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The value chain helps to analyze major upstream in raw materials, major equipments, manufacturing process, downstream customer analysis and major distributor analysis.The report also covers in-depth description, competitive scenario, wide product portfolio of prime players active in this market and business strategies adopted by competitors along with their SWOT analysis. Side by side, it also explicitly provides information about mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and all the other important activities happened in current and past few years. The Global Aluminum Chlorhydrate Market report explores manufacturers competitive scenario and provides market share for all major players of this market based on production capacity, sales, revenue, geographical presence and other major factors.Enquire before Buying @Table of Contents:1 Aluminum Chlorhydrate Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Aluminum Chlorhydrate1.2 Classification of Aluminum Chlorhydrate by Product Category1.2.1 Global Aluminum Chlorhydrate Market Size (Sales) Comparison by Type (2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Aluminum Chlorhydrate Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Liquid Aluminum Chlorhydrate1.2.4 Solid Aluminum Chlorhydrate1.3 Global Aluminum Chlorhydrate Market by Application/End Users......................Continue (Global Aluminum Chlorhydrate Market Research Industry Report is prepared with the help of extensive primary and secondary sources, directories, journals, newsletters and with the help of third-party application like Hoovers, Factiva, Bloomberg, Businessweek, etc.About Us:Market Reports Company is a global research and consulting company. We provide customized reports. We can study and analyze any market based on wide range of parameters. We can provide market insights for any particular region, country across the globe within shortest possible turn around time.What we offer: Customized Reports: we provide customized report study on any market or industry. Region Specific Study: If you need region specific or if you are searching for particular region market study then, we have expert research team for that. How we work: We work in all domains and industries, you name it and we provide the market research industry report analysis of it. Expertise: Superior Research Team, 24*7 Customer Care ServiceContact UsJason Smith,Sales Manager, Global Business Development,Website:Email: jasonsmith@marketreportscompany.comContact us: +1-888-220-3424Address: 20 N State Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60602 United States Internet of Things Technology Market 2017 Overview & Growth Led by Key Players Intel, Qualcomm, Cisco Systems, Symantec & More ReportsWeb http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00011238637/sample http://www.reportsweb.com/global-internet-of-things-technology-market-size-status-and-forecast-2022 http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00011238637/discount http://www.reportsweb.com/buy&RW00011238637/buy/3300 ReportsWeb.com has announced the addition of the Global Internet of Things Technology Market Size, Status and Forecast 2022 The report focuses on Global major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, product picture and specification.This report studies the global Internet of Things Technology market, analyzes and researches the Internet of Things Technology development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. This report focuses on the top players in global market, likeIntelQualcommexas InstrumentsInternational Business Machines (IBM)StmicroelectronicsGeneral Electric (GE)Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)Cisco SystemsMicrosoftAmazon Web Services (AWS)SymantecPTCAlphabetStart-Up EcosystemAyla NetworksLosant IotNotionPepperHelium SystemsRequest a Sample copy atMarket segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEUJapanChinaIndiaSoutheast AsiaComplete report is available atMarket segment by Type, the product can be split intoProcessorSensorConnectivity ICMemory DeviceLogic DeviceMarket segment by Application, Internet of Things Technology can be split intoDevice ManagementApplication ManagementNetwork ManagementFew points from Table of Contents:1 Industry Overview of Internet of Things Technology2 Global Internet of Things Technology Competition Analysis by Players3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 Intel3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Internet of Things Technology Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 Qualcomm3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Internet of Things Technology Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 exas Instruments3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 Internet of Things Technology Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.3.5 Recent Developments4 Global Internet of Things Technology Market Size by Type and Application (2012-2017)4.1 Global Internet of Things Technology Market Size by Type (2012-2017)4.2 Global Internet of Things Technology Market Size by Application (2012-2017)4.3 Potential Application of Internet of Things Technology in Future4.4 Top Consumer/End Users of Internet of Things Technology5 United States Internet of Things Technology Development Status and Outlook5.1 United States Internet of Things Technology Market Size (2012-2017)5.2 United States Internet of Things Technology Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)6 EU Internet of Things Technology Development Status and Outlook6.1 EU Internet of Things Technology Market Size (2012-2017)6.2 EU Internet of Things Technology Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)Get Discount at7 Japan Internet of Things Technology Development Status and Outlook8 China Internet of Things Technology Development Status and Outlook9 India Internet of Things Technology Development Status and Outlook10 Southeast Asia Internet of Things Technology Development Status and Outlook11 Market Forecast by Regions, Type and Application (2017-2022)12 Internet of Things Technology Market Dynamics13 Market Effect Factors AnalysisPurchase complete 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.533, 5th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028 Aluminum Fluoride Salts Market Report for Period 2017 till 2022 Jiaozuo Do-fluoride, Baiyin Zhongtian, Hunan Hongyuan and Others Aluminum Fluoride Salts Market https://goo.gl/6m9Py6 https://goo.gl/6m9Py6 https://goo.gl/6m9Py6 http://marketreportscompany.com Global Aluminum Fluoride Salts Market report provides detailed analysis of companies namely Jiaozuo Do-fluoride, Baiyin Zhongtian, Hunan Hongyuan and Others. This report study includes global market statistics and analysis for example, company performance, historical analysis 2012 to 2016, market forecast 2017 to 2023 in terms of volume, revenue, YOY growth rate, and CAGR for the year 2017 to 2023, etc.Request for Free Sample Copy of Global Aluminum Fluoride Salts Market 2017Top Company Profiles and Analysis included in this report:FluorsidRusalRio Tinto AlcanMexichem FluorBolidenAlufluorOthersGlobal Aluminum Fluoride Salts Market: Key Product TypeWet Aluminum Fluoride SaltDry Aluminum Fluoride SaltAnhydrous Aluminum Fluoride SaltOthersGlobal Aluminum Fluoride Salts Market: Key ApplicationAluminum IndustryCeramic IndustryOthersGlobal Aluminum Fluoride Salts Market: Key RegionNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaThe Global Aluminum Fluoride Salts Market analysis report provides detailed value chain for analysis of Global Aluminum Fluoride Salts Market. 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The Global Aluminum Fluoride Salts Market report explores manufacturers competitive scenario and provides market share for all major players of this market based on production capacity, sales, revenue, geographical presence and other major factors.Enquire before Buying @Table of Contents:1 Aluminum Fluoride Salts Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Aluminum Fluoride Salts1.2 Aluminum Fluoride Salts Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Aluminum Fluoride Salts Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Aluminum Fluoride Salts Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Wet Aluminum Fluoride Salt1.2.4 Dry Aluminum Fluoride Salt1.2.5 Anhydrous Aluminum Fluoride Salt1.3 Global Aluminum Fluoride Salts Segment by Application......................Continue (Global Aluminum Fluoride Salts Market Research Industry Report is prepared with the help of extensive primary and secondary sources, directories, journals, newsletters and with the help of third-party application like Hoovers, Factiva, Bloomberg, Businessweek, etc.About Us:Market Reports Company is a global research and consulting company. We provide customized reports. We can study and analyze any market based on wide range of parameters. We can provide market insights for any particular region, country across the globe within shortest possible turn around time.What we offer: Customized Reports: we provide customized report study on any market or industry. Region Specific Study: If you need region specific or if you are searching for particular region market study then, we have expert research team for that. How we work: We work in all domains and industries, you name it and we provide the market research industry report analysis of it. 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The value chain helps to analyze major upstream in raw materials, major equipments, manufacturing process, downstream customer analysis and major distributor analysis.The report also covers in-depth description, competitive scenario, wide product portfolio of prime players active in this market and business strategies adopted by competitors along with their SWOT analysis. Side by side, it also explicitly provides information about mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and all the other important activities happened in current and past few years. The Global Aluminum Welding Wire Market report explores manufacturers competitive scenario and provides market share for all major players of this market based on production capacity, sales, revenue, geographical presence and other major factors.Enquire before Buying @Table of Contents:1 Industry Overview of Aluminum Welding Wire1.1 Definition and Specifications of Aluminum Welding Wire1.1.1 Definition of Aluminum Welding Wire1.1.2 Specifications of Aluminum Welding Wire1.2 Classification of Aluminum Welding Wire1.2.1 1.0 Kg Per Plate1.2.2 2.0 Kg Per Plate1.2.3 5.0 Kg Per Plate1.3 Applications of Aluminum Welding Wire1.3.1 Transformers and Reactors1.3.2 Refrigerator and Air Conditioning1.3.3 Motor1.3.4 Other1.4 Market Segment by Regions.......................Continue (Global Aluminum Welding Wire Market Research Industry Report is prepared with the help of extensive primary and secondary sources, directories, journals, newsletters and with the help of third-party application like Hoovers, Factiva, Bloomberg, Businessweek, etc.About Us:Market Reports Company is a global research and consulting company. We provide customized reports. We can study and analyze any market based on wide range of parameters. We can provide market insights for any particular region, country across the globe within shortest possible turn around time.What we offer: Customized Reports: we provide customized report study on any market or industry. Region Specific Study: If you need region specific or if you are searching for particular region market study then, we have expert research team for that. How we work: We work in all domains and industries, you name it and we provide the market research industry report analysis of it. Expertise: Superior Research Team, 24*7 Customer Care ServiceContact UsJason Smith,Sales Manager, Global Business Development,Website:Email: jasonsmith@marketreportscompany.comContact us: +1-888-220-3424Address: 20 N State Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60602 United States Spectrum Analyzer Market to 2022: Competitive intelligence, Industry Constraints, Qualitative analysis and Forecast Spectrum Analyzer Market Research Report https://www.htfmarketreport.com/sample-report/804104-global-spectrum-analyzer-sales-market-2 https://www.htfmarketreport.com/reports/804104-global-spectrum-analyzer-sales-market-2 https://www.htfmarketreport.com/buy-now?format=1&report=804104 https://www.htfmarketreport.com/enquiry-before-buy/804104-global-spectrum-analyzer-sales-market-2 https://www.linkedin.com/company/13388569/ Global Spectrum Analyzer Sales Market Report 2017 is latest research study released by HTF MI evaluating the market, highlighting opportunities, risk side analysis, and leveraged with strategic and tactical decision-making support. The study provides information on market trends and development, drivers, capacities, technologies, and on the changing capital structure of the Global Spectrum Analyzer Market.Global Spectrum Analyzer market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includes Tektronix, Keysight, Viavi Solutions Inc., Anritsu, Rohde & Schwarz, GW INSTEK, Siglent & ThinkRFGlobal Spectrum Analyzer (Thousands Units) and Revenue (Million USD) Market Split by Product Type such as Benchtop & PotableMarket Segment by Type 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022Benchtop xx xx xx xx xx Xx xx-Change (%) xx% xx% xx% xx% xx% xx% xx%Potable xx xx xx xx xx Xx xx-Change (%) xx% xx% xx% xx% xx% xx% xx%The research study is segmented by Application such as Consumer electronics industry, Communications industry & Others with historical and projected market share and compounded annual growth rate.Global Spectrum Analyzer (Thousands Units) by Application (2017-2022)Market Segment by Application 2012 2017 2022 Market Share (%)2022 CAGR (%)(2017-2022)Consumer electronics industry xx xx xx xx% xx%Communications industry xx xx xx xx% xx%Others xx xx xx xx% xx%Total xx xx xx 100% xx%Get Access to sample pages @Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), and market share and growth rate of Spectrum Analyzer in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringMarket Segment by Regions 2012 2017 2022 Share (%) CAGR (2017-2022)United States xx xx xx xx% xx%China xx xx xx xx% xx%Europe xx xx xx xx% xx%Japan xx xx xx xx% xx%Southeast Asia xx xx xx xx% xx%India xx xx xx xx% xx%Total xx xx xx xx% xx%This independent 108 page research with title Global Spectrum Analyzer Sales Market Report 2017 covers geographic analysis that includes regions/countries like United States, China, Europe, Japan, Southeast Asia & India and important players/vendors such as Tektronix, Keysight, Viavi Solutions Inc., Anritsu, Rohde & Schwarz, GW INSTEK, Siglent & ThinkRF. With n-number of tables and figures examining the Spectrum Analyzer , the research gives you a perfect visual, products, submarkets and market leaders revenue forecasts as well as analysis to 2022Each player highlighted in the research study contains companies Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors, in-depth business overview, geographic footprint and contact information. The report contains a comprehensive market and vendor landscape in addition to SWOT Analysis.Read Detailed Index of full Research Study at @This study is the collection of primary and secondary data including valuable information from major vendors in the market and the projections are derived on data from 2012 to current date and projected forecasts till 2022 which makes the research study a valuable resource for industry personnel, and other people looking for key industry related data in readily accessible documents with easy to analyze graphs and tables. The report is a perfect answer to future development roadmap of Spectrum Analyzer based on ongoing outlook to assist industry player understand the development journey of Spectrum Analyzer Market.Key questions answered in this report - Global Spectrum Analyzer Sales Market Report 2017What will the market size be in 2022 and what will the growth rate beWhat are the key market trendsWhat is driving Global Spectrum Analyzer marketWhat are the challenges to market growthWho are the key vendors in Global Spectrum Analyzer market spaceBuy this research report @There are 15 Chapters to display the Global Spectrum Analyzer market.Chapter 1, to describe Definition, Specifications and Classification of Spectrum Analyzer , Applications of Spectrum Analyzer , Market Segment by Regions;Chapter 2, to analyze the Manufacturing Cost Structure, Raw Material and Suppliers, Manufacturing Process, Industry Chain Structure;Chapter 3, to display the Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of , Capacity and Commercial Production Date, Manufacturing Plants Distribution, R&D Status and Technology Source, Raw Materials Sources Analysis;Chapter 4, to show the Overall Market Analysis, Capacity Analysis (Company Segment), Sales Analysis (Company Segment), Sales Price Analysis (Company Segment);Chapter 5 and 6, to show the Regional Market Analysis that includes United States, China, Europe, Japan, Southeast Asia & India, Spectrum Analyzer Segment Market Analysis (by Type);Chapter 7 and 8, to analyze the Spectrum Analyzer Segment Market Analysis (by Application) Major Manufacturers Analysis of ;Chapter 9, Market Trend Analysis, Regional Market Trend, Market Trend by Product Type [Benchtop & Potable], Market Trend by Application [Consumer electronics industry, Communications industry & Others];Chapter 10, Regional Marketing Type Analysis, International Trade Type Analysis, Supply Chain Analysis;Chapter 11, to analyze the Consumers Analysis of ;Chapter 12, to describe Spectrum Analyzer Research Findings and Conclusion, Appendix, methodology and data source;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Spectrum Analyzer sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source.Get customization & check discount for report @Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.Connect with us atHTF 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, NJ USA - 08837sales@htfmarketreport.comPh: +1 (206) 317 1218 Anti-Counterfiet Packaging Market Report for Period 2017 till 2022 Tetra Leval, Mondi, Polyone Corporation and Others Anti-Counterfiet Packaging Market https://goo.gl/G8gqAm https://goo.gl/G8gqAm https://goo.gl/G8gqAm http://marketreportscompany.com Global Anti-Counterfiet Packaging Market report provides detailed analysis of companies namely Tetra Leval, Mondi, Polyone Corporation and Others. This report study includes global market statistics and analysis for example, company performance, historical analysis 2012 to 2016, market forecast 2017 to 2023 in terms of volume, revenue, YOY growth rate, and CAGR for the year 2017 to 2023, etc.Request for Free Sample Copy of Global Anti-Counterfiet Packaging Market 2017Top Company Profiles and Analysis included in this report:BemisSealed Air CorporationBerry PlasticsLindeAmcorDupontTetra LevalMondiPolyone CorporationReynolds Packaging GroupOthersGlobal Anti-Counterfiet Packaging Market: Key Product TypeCoding and PrintingRfidHologramSecurity LabelsPackaging DesignsOthersGlobal Anti-Counterfiet Packaging Market: Key ApplicationFood and BeveragePharma and HealthcareIndustrial and AutomotiveConsumer ElectronicsClothing and ApparelOthersGlobal Anti-Counterfiet Packaging Market: Key RegionNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaThe Global Anti-Counterfiet Packaging Market analysis report provides detailed value chain for analysis of Global Anti-Counterfiet Packaging Market. The value chain helps to analyze major upstream in raw materials, major equipments, manufacturing process, downstream customer analysis and major distributor analysis.The report also covers in-depth description, competitive scenario, wide product portfolio of prime players active in this market and business strategies adopted by competitors along with their SWOT analysis. Side by side, it also explicitly provides information about mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and all the other important activities happened in current and past few years. The Global Anti-Counterfiet Packaging Market report explores manufacturers competitive scenario and provides market share for all major players of this market based on production capacity, sales, revenue, geographical presence and other major factors.Enquire before Buying @Table of Contents:1 Anti-Counterfiet Packaging Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Anti-Counterfiet Packaging1.2 Anti-Counterfiet Packaging Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Anti-Counterfiet Packaging Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Anti-Counterfiet Packaging Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Coding and Printing1.2.4 Rfid1.2.5 Hologram1.2.6 Security Labels1.2.7 Packaging Designs1.2.8 Others1.3 Global Anti-Counterfiet Packaging Segment by Application......................Continue (Global Anti-Counterfiet Packaging Market Research Industry Report is prepared with the help of extensive primary and secondary sources, directories, journals, newsletters and with the help of third-party application like Hoovers, Factiva, Bloomberg, Businessweek, etc.About Us:Market Reports Company is a global research and consulting company. We provide customized reports. We can study and analyze any market based on wide range of parameters. We can provide market insights for any particular region, country across the globe within shortest possible turn around time.What we offer: Customized Reports: we provide customized report study on any market or industry. Region Specific Study: If you need region specific or if you are searching for particular region market study then, we have expert research team for that. How we work: We work in all domains and industries, you name it and we provide the market research industry report analysis of it. Expertise: Superior Research Team, 24*7 Customer Care ServiceContact UsJason Smith,Sales Manager, Global Business Development,Website:Email: jasonsmith@marketreportscompany.comContact us: +1-888-220-3424Address: 20 N State Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60602 United States Anti-Foam Decorative Coating Additive Market Report for Period 2017 till 2022 Sherwin-Williams Company, Dow Chemical Company, Eastman Chemical Company and Others Anti-Foam Decorative Coating Additive Market https://goo.gl/9ZYJ4F https://goo.gl/9ZYJ4F https://goo.gl/9ZYJ4F http://marketreportscompany.com Global Anti-Foam Decorative Coating Additive Market report provides detailed analysis of companies namely Sherwin-Williams Company, Dow Chemical Company, Eastman Chemical Company and Others. This report study includes global market statistics and analysis for example, company performance, historical analysis 2012 to 2016, market forecast 2017 to 2023 in terms of volume, revenue, YOY growth rate, and CAGR for the year 2017 to 2023, etc.Request for Free Sample Copy of Global Anti-Foam Decorative Coating Additive Market 2017Top Company Profiles and Analysis included in this report:AkzoNobelBASFSherwin-Williams CompanyDow Chemical CompanyEastman Chemical CompanyOthersGlobal Anti-Foam Decorative Coating Additive Market: Key Product TypeWater BasedSolvent BasedPowder BasedOthersGlobal Anti-Foam Decorative Coating Additive Market: Key ApplicationResidential BuildingCommercial BuildingOthersGlobal Anti-Foam Decorative Coating Additive Market: Key RegionNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaThe Global Anti-Foam Decorative Coating Additive Market analysis report provides detailed value chain for analysis of Global Anti-Foam Decorative Coating Additive Market. The value chain helps to analyze major upstream in raw materials, major equipments, manufacturing process, downstream customer analysis and major distributor analysis.The report also covers in-depth description, competitive scenario, wide product portfolio of prime players active in this market and business strategies adopted by competitors along with their SWOT analysis. Side by side, it also explicitly provides information about mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and all the other important activities happened in current and past few years. The Global Anti-Foam Decorative Coating Additive Market report explores manufacturers competitive scenario and provides market share for all major players of this market based on production capacity, sales, revenue, geographical presence and other major factors.Enquire before Buying @Table of Contents:Global Anti-Foam Decorative Coating Additive Market Research Report 20171 Anti-Foam Decorative Coating Additive Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Anti-Foam Decorative Coating Additive1.2 Anti-Foam Decorative Coating Additive Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Anti-Foam Decorative Coating Additive Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Anti-Foam Decorative Coating Additive Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Water Based1.2.4 Solvent Based1.2.5 Powder Based1.3 Global Anti-Foam Decorative Coating Additive Segment by Application1.3.1 Anti-Foam Decorative Coating Additive Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2012-2022)......................Continue (Global Anti-Foam Decorative Coating Additive Market Research Industry Report is prepared with the help of extensive primary and secondary sources, directories, journals, newsletters and with the help of third-party application like Hoovers, Factiva, Bloomberg, Businessweek, etc.About Us:Market Reports Company is a global research and consulting company. We provide customized reports. We can study and analyze any market based on wide range of parameters. We can provide market insights for any particular region, country across the globe within shortest possible turn around time.What we offer: Customized Reports: we provide customized report study on any market or industry. Region Specific Study: If you need region specific or if you are searching for particular region market study then, we have expert research team for that. How we work: We work in all domains and industries, you name it and we provide the market research industry report analysis of it. Expertise: Superior Research Team, 24*7 Customer Care ServiceContact UsJason Smith,Sales Manager, Global Business Development,Website:Email: jasonsmith@marketreportscompany.comContact us: +1-888-220-3424Address: 20 N State Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60602 United States North America to Lead in Terms of Revenue in the Global Pet Food Packaging Market MRRSE https://www.mrrse.com/sample/3778 https://www.mrrse.com/pet-food-packaging-market https://www.mrrse.com/ https://www.industrynewsanalysis.com/ Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) has recently introduced a new report in its repository titled Pet Food Packaging Global industry analysis, size, share, growth, trends and forecast 2017-2022. This report presents a thorough understanding of the global pet food packaging market for the five year forecast period 2017-2022. The report also highlights the past growth of the global pet food packaging market to provide information on the growth prospects in near future. The different qualitative aspects responsible for the growth of the pet food packaging market globally are also indicated in the report. Some of the key elements covered in the report include information on the supply chain, cost structure of the product, pricing analysis, raw material sourcing strategies, list of the various pet food packaging distributors and leading market players.Click here for Free Sample Report @Factors Fueling Revenue Growth of the Global Pet Food Packaging MarketThe report presents insights on various macro and microeconomic factors that are expected to influence the growth of the global pet food packaging market in the coming years. Increasing advancements in the pet care sector are responsible for the growth in revenue of the global pet food packaging market. The demand for quality pet food has led to the upsurge in the requirement of qualitative food packaging to maintain the quality of pet food products. This is the key factor impacting the growth of the global pet food packaging market in the coming years. Further, an increasing adoption of pets by individuals is another key driving factor for the growth of the global market for pet food packaging.Global Pet Food Packaging Market: Segmental AnalysisThe study segments the global pet food packaging market by packaging materials into plastic and paper, paperboard, metal, and others; on the basis of application into frozen food, wet food, dry food, and pet treats; and by end use into cat food, dog food and others. Regions assessed in the report include Japan, North America, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, Latin America, and Europe. Based on packaging material, plastic is the predicted to be the highest utilized material in the global market for pet food packaging due to its widespread usage and will share the highest value in terms of revenue towards the close of the forecast period in 2022. Among the regional markets, North America currently the leading market is expected to remain the key market in the global pet food packaging market during the forecast period. Europe is also expected to be one of the major contributors in the worldwide pet food packaging market over the coming years.Browse Full Report with TOC @Global Pet Food Packaging Market: Manufacturing InsightsThe dominating key players in the global market for pet food packaging are described in the report and information is provided on their key strategies, geographical presence, and product catalog. Companies such as Crown Holdings Inc., Mondi Ltd., Smurfit Kappa Group Plc, DS Smith Plc, Bemis Co. Inc., Packaging Corp. of America, Amcor Ltd., Ardagh Group SA, Berry Global Group Inc., Ball Corporation, Georgia-Pacific LLC, Sealed Air Corp., and Bemis Co. Inc. are some of the leading players in the global pet food packaging market.About MRRSEMarket Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of Market Research 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.comWebsite:Read More Industry News At: Cellular IoT Market Recent Study Offers Insights for Key Players - Qualcomm (U.S.), Gemalto N.V. (Netherlands), Sierra Wireless (Canada) & More 2017 Reportsweb http://www.reportsweb.com/global-cellular-iot-market-size-status-and-forecast-2022 http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00011244136/sample http://www.reportsweb.com/buy&RW00011244136/buy/3300 The latest study on Global Cellular IoT Market to its vast collection of research Database. The current growth status in each of the regions along with an analysis of growth in these regions in the future is presented in the report.The Global Cellular IoT Market Size, Status and Forecast 2022 is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Cellular IoT industry. In a word, This report studies Cellular IoT in Global market, especially Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, Latin America, Middle East & Africa and Asia-Pacific, 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 Qualcomm (U.S.), Gemalto N.V. (Netherlands), Sierra Wireless (Canada), U-Blox (Switzerland), MediaTek (Taiwan), Telit Communications PLC (U.K.), ZTE Corporation (China), Mistbase (Sweden), Sequans Communications (France) and CommSolid GmbH (Germany) .Browse complete report @Market Segment by Region, this report splits Global into several key Region, with sales, revenue, market share and growth rate of Cellular IoT in these regions, from 2011 to 2022 (forecast), like Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, Latin America, Middle East & Africa and Asia-Pacific.Market segment by Type, Cellular IoT can be split intoHardwareSoftwareMarket segment by Application, Cellular IoT can be split intoAgricultureEnvironmental MonitoringAutomotive & TransportationEnergyHealthCareManufacturingRetailOthersRequest for Sample @Major points from Table of Contents:1 Industry Overview of Cellular IoT2 Global Cellular IoT Competition Analysis by Players3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 Qualcomm (U.S.)3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Cellular IoT Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 Gemalto N.V. (Netherlands)3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Cellular IoT Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 Sierra Wireless (Canada)3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 Cellular IoT Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.3.5 Recent Developments5 United States Cellular IoT Development Status and Outlook6 EU Cellular IoT Development Status and Outlook7 Japan Cellular IoT Development Status and Outlook8 China Cellular IoT Development Status and Outlook9 India Cellular IoT Development Status and Outlook10 Southeast Asia Cellular IoT Development Status and Outlook11 Market Forecast by Regions, Type and Application (2017-2022)12 Cellular IoT Market Dynamics13 Market Effect Factors Analysis13.1 Technology Progress/Risk13.1.1 Substitutes13.1.2 Technology Progress in Related Industry13.2 Consumer Needs Trend/Customer Preference13.3 External Environmental Change13.3.1 Economic Fluctuations13.3.2 Other Risk FactorsMajor Points from Table of ContentsFigure Cellular IoT Product ScopeFigure Global Cellular IoT Market Size (Million USD) (2012-2017)Table Global Cellular IoT Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2012-2017)Figure Global Cellular IoT Market Share by Regions in 2016Figure United States Cellular IoT Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2012-2017)Figure EU Cellular IoT Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2012-2017)Figure Japan Cellular IoT Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2012-2017)Figure China Cellular IoT Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2012-2017)Figure India Cellular IoT Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2012-2017)Figure Southeast Asia Cellular IoT Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2012-2017)Figure Global Cellular IoT Market Share by Type in 2016Figure Hardware Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2012-2017)Figure Software Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2012-2017)Figure Global Cellular IoT Market Share by Application in 2016Table Key Downstream Customer in AgricultureFigure Cellular IoT Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate in Agriculture (2012-2017)Table Key Downstream Customer in Environmental MonitoringFigure Cellular IoT Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate in Environmental Monitoring (2012-2017)Table Key Downstream Customer in Automotive & TransportationFigure Cellular IoT Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate in Automotive & Transportation (2012-2017)Table Key Downstream Customer in EnergyFigure Cellular IoT Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate in Energy (2012-2017)Place a Direct Purchase Order of Complete Report @Contact Info:Name: Sameer JoshiEmail: 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.533, 5th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028 Cyclophosphamide Market Report for Period 2017 till 2022 The Medicines Company, Theravance Biopharma and Others Cyclophosphamide Market https://goo.gl/hVD53u https://goo.gl/hVD53u https://goo.gl/hVD53u http://marketreportscompany.com Global Cyclophosphamide Market report provides detailed analysis of companies namely The Medicines Company, Theravance Biopharma and Others. This report study includes global market statistics and analysis for example, company performance, historical analysis 2012 to 2016, market forecast 2017 to 2023 in terms of volume, revenue, YOY growth rate, and CAGR for the year 2017 to 2023, etc.Request for Free Sample Copy of Global Cyclophosphamide Market 2017Top Company Profiles and Analysis included in this report:BaxterRoxaneGLS Pharma LtdSanofiCSC PHARMACEUTICALS INTERNATIONALLGM PharmaPfizerMerckOthersGlobal Cyclophosphamide Market: Key Product TypeCyclophosphamide PowderCyclophosphamide InjectionOthersGlobal Cyclophosphamide Market: Key ApplicationCancerAutoimmune DiseasesAL AmyloidosisOtherGlobal Cyclophosphamide Market: Key RegionNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaThe Global Cyclophosphamide Market analysis report provides detailed value chain for analysis of Global Cyclophosphamide Market. The value chain helps to analyze major upstream in raw materials, major equipments, manufacturing process, downstream customer analysis and major distributor analysis.The report also covers in-depth description, competitive scenario, wide product portfolio of prime players active in this market and business strategies adopted by competitors along with their SWOT analysis. Side by side, it also explicitly provides information about mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and all the other important activities happened in current and past few years. The Global Cyclophosphamide Market report explores manufacturers competitive scenario and provides market share for all major players of this market based on production capacity, sales, revenue, geographical presence and other major factors.Enquire before Buying @Table of Contents:1 Cyclophosphamide Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Cyclophosphamide1.2 Cyclophosphamide Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Cyclophosphamide Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Cyclophosphamide Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Cyclophosphamide Powder1.2.4 Cyclophosphamide Injection1.3 Global Cyclophosphamide Segment by Application1.3.1 Cyclophosphamide Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Cancer1.3.3 Autoimmune Diseases1.3.4 AL Amyloidosis1.3.5 Other1.4 Global Cyclophosphamide Market by Region (2012-2022).......................Continue (Global Cyclophosphamide Market Research Industry Report is prepared with the help of extensive primary and secondary sources, directories, journals, newsletters and with the help of third-party application like Hoovers, Factiva, Bloomberg, Businessweek, etc.About Us:Market Reports Company is a global research and consulting company. We provide customized reports. We can study and analyze any market based on wide range of parameters. We can provide market insights for any particular region, country across the globe within shortest possible turn around time.What we offer: Customized Reports: we provide customized report study on any market or industry. Region Specific Study: If you need region specific or if you are searching for particular region market study then, we have expert research team for that. How we work: We work in all domains and industries, you name it and we provide the market research industry report analysis of it. Expertise: Superior Research Team, 24*7 Customer Care ServiceContact UsJason Smith,Sales Manager, Global Business Development,Website:Email: jasonsmith@marketreportscompany.comContact us: +1-888-220-3424Address: 20 N State Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60602 United States Serial Attached SCSI Market To Witness Enhanced Usage For Electronic Product, Computer And Aerospace Applications Till 2021 | Million Insights Million Insights - World's Fastest Growing Market Research Database https://www.millioninsights.com/industry-reports/serial-attached-scsi-market?utm_source=Pressrelease&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=Openpr_Nov22&utm_content=Content https://www.millioninsights.com/industry-reports/serial-attached-scsi-market/request-sample https://www.millioninsights.com/industry/consumer-electronics The global Serial Attached SCSI Market particularly spans from the region of North America, Europe, Japan, China, Korea, and Taiwan. Serial-Attached SCSI [SAS] is a technique that is utilized in get into computer peripheral devices that engages a serial, one bit at a time, resources of alphanumeric information transmission by thin cables. The technique is stated in the American National Standard Institute [ANSI] standard called Serial-attached SCSI, Small Computer System Interface, similarly recognized as ANSI/INCITS 376-2003. In the commercial initiative, serial-attached SCSI is particularly of importance for admittance to bulk storing devices, mainly exterior hard drives and magnetic tape drives.Serial-Attached SCSI [SAS] proposes benefits over old age parallel expertise. The cables are very thin, and the connectors are not as much of large. Serial information transmission permits the usage of lengthier cables as compare to parallel information transfer. The glitches associated to crosstalk are not as much of possible in serial interfaces, then in parallel interfaces, since there are smaller number conductors in the cables. The hardware for serial interfaces is not as much of expensive as the hardware for corresponding parallel interfaces in the Serial Attached SCSI market.Full Research Report On Global Serial Attached SCSI Market Analysis available at:Serial-Attached SCSI is believed to propose the best resolution for companies with considerable storing, backup and archiving stresses. SAS is broadly measured to be the predominant interface for direct-attached storing and is utilized to maintain hard drive controls in enterprise-grade server farmsteads. The instruments which work with SAS are well-matched with Serial Advanced Technology Attachment [SATA] instruments. Moreover, SAS products are well-matched with instruments that work with previous SCSI know-hows. SAS cares up to 128 straight point-to-point contacts, as related to the 15-device restriction shared with equivalent SCSI buttons in the Serial Attached SCSI market.Exterior disk drives, host connecters and expanders were the original instruments to use SAS. The expertise is likely to increase to printers, scanners, digital cameras and additional peripherals. Serial Attached SCSI [SAS] is a steeple chase in sequence code of behavior that transfers information to and from computer storage instruments like hard drives and tape drives. SAS substitutes the old Parallel SCSI, Parallel Small Computer System Interface, bus expertise that initially seemed in the year of 1980s in the Serial Attached SCSI market.SAS, similar to its ancestor, utilizes the normal SCSI command set. SAS proposes regressive compatibility with SATA, type 2 and late. This permits for SATA drives to be linked to SAS backplanes. The T10 methodological group of the International Committee for Information Technology Standards [INCITS] improves and conserves the SAS procedure; the SCSI Trade Association [SCSITA] supports the know-how.Intel and additional associate companies of the SCSI Trade Association (STA), today, have the SAS structure chunks to deliver all the profits of high-speed sequential transportations to together IT and embedded markets. The rapidity and scalability of SAS carries actual presentation to huge storing groups or inter-box transportations. This offers a new opening to improve next-generation embedded system plan with SAS expertise to generate scalable strategies with better presentation and suppleness.Some of the important companies, engaged in the business of the Serial Attached SCSI are Amphenol, TE, Samtec, Molex, Hirose, Amphenol FCI, JAE, JST, HARTING, Yamaichi, ERNI, Fujitsu, International Electro Technical Commission, MicroTCA. By geography, the Serial Attached SCSI market spans North America, China, Europe, Japan, Taiwan, and Korea. The division of the Serial Attached SCSI Market on the basis of type of application spans National defense, Computer, Aerospace, and Electronic products.Request for Free Sample Copy:This report studies Serial Attached SCSI in Global market, especially in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan, focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with Production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, covering TE Samtec Amphenol Molex Hirose Amphenol FCI JAE JST HARTING Yamaichi ERNI Fujitsu International Electrotechnical Commission MicroTCAMarket Segment by Regions, this report splits Global into several key Region, with production, consumption, revenue, market share and growth rate of Serial Attached SCSI in these regions, from 2011 to 2021 (forecast), like North America China Europe Japan Taiwan KoreaSplit by product type, with production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, can be divided into Type I Type II Type IIISplit by application, this report focuses on consumption, market share and growth rate of Serial Attached SCSI in each application, can be divided into Electronic product Computer Aerospace National defenseRelated Reports of this Category available at Million Insights:Million Insights, is a distributor of market research reports, published by premium publishers only. We have a comprehensive market place that will enable you to compare data points, before you make a purchase. Enabling informed buying is our motto and we strive hard to ensure that our clients get to browse through multiple samples, prior to an investment. Service flexibility & the fastest response time are two pillars, on which our business model is founded. Our market research report store, includes in-depth reports, from across various industry verticals, such as healthcare, technology, chemicals, food & beverages, consumer goods, material science & automotive.Office No. 302, 3rd Floor, Manikchand Galleria,Model Colony, Shivaji Nagar, Pune, MH, 411016 IndiaPhone: 91-20-65300184Email: sales@millioninsights.com North America to Lead the Global Market with Maximum Waterjet Cutting Machine Installations MRRSE https://www.mrrse.com/sample/3719 https://www.mrrse.com/waterjet-cutting-machine-consumables-market https://www.mrrse.com/ https://www.industrynewsanalysis.com/ Recently, Market Research Reports Search Engine has added a new report to its repository titled Waterjet Cutting Machine Consumables Market: Global Industry Analysis (2012 2016) and Forecast (2017 2025). This extensive research report gives a clear insight to the global market for waterjet cutting machine consumables. It briefs the key trends following the market, the restraints that are limiting the market growth and also the drivers of the global market for waterjet cutting machine consumable.Click here for Free Sample Report @The market has witnessed growth as major companies in the market are shifting their focus towards acquisitions and mergers with an aim to expand their global reach and the offerings of products.Global Market for Waterjet Cutting Machine Consumable: SegmentationThis comprehensive research study includes all the necessary data of the market like the pricing analysis, revenue share, CAGR etc. To make studying and understanding the market easier, the market is bifurcated into major segments based on product type, end use, application and region. The segmentation in terms of product type includes Abrasives, Others (Mixing Chambers, Orifice, Etc.), Nozzles, Focus Tubes, Water Filters and Grates. Based on end-use, the global market for waterjet cutting machine consumable is segmented into Metal Fabrication, Electronics, Automotive, Ceramics and Others (Paper and Pulp, Food and Beverages, Aerospace). In terms of application, the market is segmented into Pure Waterjet Cutting and Abrasive Waterjet Cutting.Other than this, a major segmentation is done based on region, which include regions like North America, MEA, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Europe. According to the research, regions like North America, Asia Pacific and Europe lead the market and may continue leading even in the coming years with maximum demand and supply in the global market for waterjet cutting machine consumable. North America also has the maximum number of waterjet cutting machine installations. Also the market has been affected with the improvement in waterjet technology like robotic waterjet cutting machines which is increasing defense, aerospace, automotive and electronic industries.Whereas in Europe, applications like medical and aerospace experience more use of waterjet cutting.Global Market for Waterjet Cutting Machine Consumable: Research MethodologyThe research conducted on the global market for waterjet cutting machine consumable was based on a systematic methodology which includes an exhaustive secondary research and also validations of the result to get accurate results. The report is a result of a research that involves data crunching, statistical analysis, information gathered from interviews of industry experts and key players of the market, annual reports of many companies in the global market for waterjet cutting machine consumable, investor presentations, press releases etc.Browse Full Report with TOC @Global Market for Waterjet Cutting Machine Consumable: Competitive LandscapeThe research report on global market for waterjet cutting machine consumable provides detailed profiles of key players in the market. This helps the existing companies and also the new entrants to understand the competitive landscape of the market and strategize their future plans accordingly. Some of the key players included in the report are are Hammelmann GmbH, Flow International Corp., Barton International Inc, OMAX Corporation, WSI Waterjet System International, CERATIZIT S.A, Diamond Technology Innovations, Inc., Wardjet Inc, GMA Garnet Pty. Ltd, OSKAR MOSER TECHNISCHE EDELSTEINE, TECHNI Waterjet etc.About MRRSEMarket Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of Market Research 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.comWebsite:Read More Industry News At: Dehydrogenases Market Report for Period 2017 till 2022 Syngenta AG,Novozymes A/S, Roche and Others Dehydrogenases Market https://goo.gl/cdPQ2x https://goo.gl/cdPQ2x https://goo.gl/cdPQ2x http://marketreportscompany.com Global Dehydrogenases Market report provides detailed analysis of companies namely Syngenta AG,Novozymes A/S, Roche and Others. This report study includes global market statistics and analysis for example, company performance, historical analysis 2012 to 2016, market forecast 2017 to 2023 in terms of volume, revenue, YOY growth rate, and CAGR for the year 2017 to 2023, etc.Request for Free Sample Copy of Global Dehydrogenases Market 2017Top Company Profiles and Analysis included in this report:OYC AmericasMyBioSourceCalzyme Laboratories IncSyngenta AGNovozymes A/SRocheTOYOBOChangchun HuiliRandoxOthersGlobal Dehydrogenases Market: Key Product TypeAlcohol DehydrogenaseMaltase DehydrogenaseOthersGlobal Dehydrogenases Market: Key ApplicationFoodMedicineOthersGlobal Dehydrogenases Market: Key RegionUnited StatesChinaEuropeJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaThe Global Dehydrogenases Market analysis report provides detailed value chain for analysis of Global Dehydrogenases Market. The value chain helps to analyze major upstream in raw materials, major equipments, manufacturing process, downstream customer analysis and major distributor analysis.The report also covers in-depth description, competitive scenario, wide product portfolio of prime players active in this market and business strategies adopted by competitors along with their SWOT analysis. Side by side, it also explicitly provides information about mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and all the other important activities happened in current and past few years. The Global Dehydrogenases Market report explores manufacturers competitive scenario and provides market share for all major players of this market based on production capacity, sales, revenue, geographical presence and other major factors.Enquire before Buying @Table of Contents:1 Dehydrogenases Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Dehydrogenases1.2 Classification of Dehydrogenases by Product Category1.2.1 Global Dehydrogenases Market Size (Sales) Comparison by Type (2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Dehydrogenases Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Alcohol Dehydrogenase1.2.4 Maltase Dehydrogenase1.2.5 Others1.3 Global Dehydrogenases Market by Application/End Users......................Continue (Global Dehydrogenases Market Research Industry Report is prepared with the help of extensive primary and secondary sources, directories, journals, newsletters and with the help of third-party application like Hoovers, Factiva, Bloomberg, Businessweek, etc.About Us:Market Reports Company is a global research and consulting company. We provide customized reports. We can study and analyze any market based on wide range of parameters. We can provide market insights for any particular region, country across the globe within shortest possible turn around time.What we offer: Customized Reports: we provide customized report study on any market or industry. Region Specific Study: If you need region specific or if you are searching for particular region market study then, we have expert research team for that. How we work: We work in all domains and industries, you name it and we provide the market research industry report analysis of it. Expertise: Superior Research Team, 24*7 Customer Care ServiceContact UsJason Smith,Sales Manager, Global Business Development,Website:Email: jasonsmith@marketreportscompany.comContact us: +1-888-220-3424Address: 20 N State Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60602 United States Oyster Mushroom Market New Research Study 2017-2022 Reportsweb http://www.reportsweb.com/global-oyster-mushroom-market-professional-survey-report-forecast-2017-2021 http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00011073561/sample http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00011073561/discount http://www.reportsweb.com/buy&RW00011073561/buy/3400 This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringBonduelle Fresh EuropeCosta PtyDrinkwater's Mushrooms LimitedLutece HoldingsMonaghan Mushrooms IrelandMonterey MushroomsOkechampShanghai Finc Bio-TechThe Mushroom CompanyBy Regions, this report covers (we can add the regions/countries as you want)North AmericaChinaEuropeSoutheast AsiaJapanIndiaFor more information about this report atTable of Content1 Industry Overview of Oyster Mushroom2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Oyster Mushroom2.1 Raw Material and Suppliers2.2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Oyster Mushroom2.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Oyster Mushroom2.4 Industry Chain Structure of Oyster Mushroom3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Oyster Mushroom3.1 Capacity and Commercial Production Date of Global Oyster Mushroom Major Manufacturers in 20163.2 Manufacturing Plants Distribution of Global Oyster Mushroom Major Manufacturers in 20163.3 R&D Status and Technology Source of Global Oyster Mushroom Major Manufacturers in 20163.4 Raw Materials Sources Analysis of Global Oyster Mushroom Major Manufacturers in 2016Request a sample copy at4 Global Oyster Mushroom Overall Market Overview5 Oyster Mushroom Regional Market Analysis6 Global 2012-2017 Oyster Mushroom Segment Market Analysis (by Type)7 Global 2012-2017 Oyster Mushroom Segment Market Analysis (by Application)7.1 Global 2012-2017 Oyster Mushroom Consumption by Application7.2 Different Application of Oyster Mushroom Product Interview Price Analysis7.3 Different Application of Oyster Mushroom Product Driving Factors Analysis7.3.1 Office Use of Oyster Mushroom Growth Driving Factor Analysis7.3.2 Personal Use of Oyster Mushroom Growth Driving Factor AnalysisDiscount on report purchase at8 Major Manufacturers Analysis of Oyster Mushroom8.1 Bonduelle Fresh Europe8.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors8.1.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.1.3 Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)8.1.4 Business Overview8.2 Costa Pty8.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors8.2.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.2.3 Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)8.2.4 Business Overview8.3 Drinkwater's Mushrooms Limited8.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors8.3.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.3.3 Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)8.3.4 Business Overview9 Development Trend of Analysis of Oyster Mushroom Market10 Oyster Mushroom Marketing Type Analysis11 Consumers Analysis of Oyster MushroomPurchase Complete Report atAbout UsWe provide best in classcustomer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries. Our commitment to customer service is best exemplified by free analyst support that we offer to our clients which sets us apart from any other provider. We also offer enterprise subscriptions which provide significant cost savings to our clients.Contact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@reportsweb.com533, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028 Nov, 22 2017: Cleaning Machines Market Forecast 2023 Labconco, Turatti, Marel France, Cemastir, Mocom, Anest Iwata Cleaning Machines http://bit.ly/2jcamMT http://www.spiremarketresearch.com/global-cleaning-machines-market-2017-demand-insight-key-players-segmentation-and-forecast-to-2022 http://www.spiremarketresearch.com Cleaning Machines Market Research 2017A market study "Global Cleaning Machines Market" examines the performance of the Cleaning Machines market 2017. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Cleaning Machines market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Cleaning Machines market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Cleaning Machines Market 2017 report includes Cleaning Machines market Revenue, market Share, Cleaning Machines industry volume, market Trends, Cleaning Machines Growth aspects. 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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, USAWeb:Email: sales@spiremarketresearch.com Nov, 22 2017: CNG Passenger Cars Market Forecast 2023 Suzuki, Volkswagen, Changan, Daimler, Honda, Geely CNG Passenger Cars http://bit.ly/2zV8rWX http://www.spiremarketresearch.com/global-cng-passenger-cars-market-2017-demand-insight-key-players-segmentation-and-forecast-to-2022 http://www.spiremarketresearch.com CNG Passenger Cars Market Research 2017A market study "Global CNG Passenger Cars Market" examines the performance of the CNG Passenger Cars market 2017. It encloses an in-depth Research of the CNG Passenger Cars market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of CNG Passenger Cars market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global CNG Passenger Cars Market 2017 report includes CNG Passenger Cars market Revenue, market Share, CNG Passenger Cars industry volume, market Trends, CNG Passenger Cars Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, CNG Passenger Cars Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global CNG Passenger Cars Market 2017 : Volkswagen General Motors Daimler Fiat Ford PSA Peugeot Citroen Honda TATA Suzuki Hyundai Changan Geely Great Wall Iran Khodro IndustrialCNG Passenger Cars Market : By Application Family Commercial Public ServiceCNG Passenger Cars Market : By Type Small Car Minibus BusFirstly, the report covers the top CNG Passenger Cars manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the CNG Passenger Cars report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of CNG Passenger Cars industry, CNG Passenger Cars industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. CNG Passenger Cars Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The CNG Passenger Cars 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 CNG Passenger Cars market revenue worldwide.Finally, CNG Passenger Cars 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, USAWeb:Email: sales@spiremarketresearch.com Graphic Films Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2022 Market Research https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1377724 https://www.researchmoz.us/graphic-films-market-global-industry-analysis-size-share-growth-trends-and-forecast-2017-2022-report.html/toc Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Graphic Films Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2022" to its huge collection of research reports.Global Graphic Films Market: OverviewThe global graphic films market is predicted to find major applications in the advertising and automotive industries. Graphic films could be increasingly engaged for manufacturing vehicle wraps and promotional banners. Moreover, compared to traditional types of films, graphic films are expected to be a cost-effective alternative. Transitions caused in the lifestyle of consumers as a result of improving purchase power and aggressive technological developments could be responsible for the further growth of the market.The report presented herewith is a brilliant compilation of significant studies of the global graphic films market. Buyers of the report will be exposed to some of the most important factors of the market affecting its growth and future projections. Each segment of the market is carefully analyzed with special focus on their future prospects and statistical information.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Global Graphic Films Market: DynamicsThe world graphic films market is foretold to witness the dominance of polyvinylchloride (PVC) expected to be retained in the near future. While there could be various end users associated with the market, the advertisement sector could showcase a stronger growth. The automotive sector is projected to tread on the heels of the advertisement sector in the coming years. Asia Pacific could be empowered with a major uplift due to its bolstering economic condition. The International Monetary Fund (IME) had declared the economy of Asia Pacific to have grown by an over 5.0% in 2016, and is anticipated to rise further between 2017 and 2022.Global Graphic Films Market: SegmentationThe international graphic films market is predicted to be segmented as per three categories, i.e. type of film, type of material, and end use. According to film type, the market could be classified into opaque, transparent, translucent, and reflective and other films. Among these segments, transparent films could garner a colossal growth in the market for the coming years. In 2017, this segment collected a share of 32.7% in the market.In terms of material type, the international graphic films market is prophesied to be segregated into PVC, polypropylene (PP), and polyethylene (PE) and other materials. By end use, the market could see a segmentation into automotive, promotion, advertising, and branding, and industrial and other end-use sectors.Browse Detail Report With TOC @Geographically, the international graphic films market is envisaged to testify the leading position of Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ) expected to be maintained all through the course of the forecast timeframe 2017-2022. This regional market could rise at a 7.0% CAGR. North America and Europe could be the other larger regions but with a lesser growth than APEJ. Japan and the Middle East and Africa (MEA) are forecast to exhibit a slower growth in the market. The report also foresees Latin America as a vital region of the market.Table of Content1. Global Graphic Films Market - Executive Summary2. Global Graphic Films Market Overview2.1. Introduction2.1.1. Global Graphic Films Market Taxonomy2.1.2. Global Graphic Films Market Definition2.2. Global Graphic Films Market Size (US$ Mn) and Forecast, 2012-20222.2.1. Global Graphic Films Market Y-o-Y Growth2.3. Global Graphic Films Market Dynamics2.4. Supply Chain2.5. Cost Structure2.6. Pricing Analysis2.7. Raw Material Sourcing Strategy and Analysis2.8. List of Distributors2.9. Key Participants Market Presence (Intensity Map) By Region3. Global Graphic Films Market Analysis and Forecast By Film Type3.1. Global Graphic Films Market Size and Forecast By Film Type, 2012-20223.1.1. Opaque Films Market Size and Forecast, 2012-20223.1.1.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Region3.1.1.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region3.1.1.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region3.1.2. Transparent Films Market Size and Forecast, 2012-20223.1.2.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Region3.1.2.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region3.1.2.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region3.1.3. Translucent Films Market Size and Forecast, 2012-20224. Global Graphic Films Market Analysis and Forecast By Material Type4.1. Global Graphic Films Market Size and Forecast By Material Type, 2012-20224.1.1. Polyvinylchloride (PVC) Market Size and Forecast, 2012-20224.1.1.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Region4.1.1.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region4.1.1.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region4.1.2. Polypropylene (PP) Market Size and Forecast, 2012-20224.1.2.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Region4.1.2.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region4.1.2.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region5. Global Graphic Films Market Analysis and Forecast By End Use5.1. Global Graphic Films Market Size and Forecast By End Use, 2012-20225.1.1. Automotive Market Size and Forecast, 2012-20225.1.1.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Region5.1.1.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region5.1.1.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region5.1.2. Promotion, advertising and Branding Market Size and Forecast, 2012-20225.1.2.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By RegionResearchMoz 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.ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.us Nov, 22 2017: Dental Caries Detectors Market Forecast 2023 Kavo, AdDent, DEXIS, SOPRO, Sirona Dental Systems Dental Caries Detectors http://bit.ly/2zUkPqg http://www.spiremarketresearch.com/global-dental-caries-detectors-market-2017-demand-insight-key-players-segmentation-and-forecast-to-2022 http://www.spiremarketresearch.com Dental Caries Detectors Market Research 2017A market study "Global Dental Caries Detectors Market" examines the performance of the Dental Caries Detectors market 2017. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Dental Caries Detectors market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Dental Caries Detectors market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Dental Caries Detectors Market 2017 report includes Dental Caries Detectors market Revenue, market Share, Dental Caries Detectors industry volume, market Trends, Dental Caries Detectors Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Dental Caries Detectors Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Dental Caries Detectors Market 2017 : AdDent SOPRO W&H Dentalwerk International Air Techniques Kavo DEXIS Sirona Dental SystemsFirstly, the report covers the top Dental Caries Detectors manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Dental Caries Detectors report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Dental Caries Detectors industry, Dental Caries Detectors industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Dental Caries Detectors Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Dental Caries Detectors 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 Dental Caries Detectors market revenue worldwide.Finally, Dental Caries Detectors 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, USAWeb:Email: sales@spiremarketresearch.com Global Automotive Test Equipment Market to grow at a CAGR of 6.09% during 2017-2021 - ABB, Delphi Automotive, HORIBA, Robert Bosch https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1378096 https://www.researchmoz.us/global-automotive-test-equipment-market-2017-2021-report.html/toc http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Automotive test equipment is required by automakers to ensure the safety of the passenger and compliance of the vehicle to governmental regulations before it is launched in the market. This equipment helps vehicles adhere to norms and undergo mandatory quality checks. The automotive test equipment sector is likely to experience certain challenges in the future in the form of cost pressure and the complexity of the system. Governmental norms and regulatory pressures in developing regions regarding the safety and emissions generated from automobiles are likely to become stringent.The global automotive test equipment market to grow at a CAGR of 6.09% during the period 2017-2021. The report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global automotive test equipment market for 2017-2021. The report presents a detailed picture of the market by way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources.Click to get Sample PDF:The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:- Americas- APAC- EMEATechnavio's report, Global Automotive Test Equipment 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.View Complete TOC with Tables and Figures at:Key vendors- ABB- Delphi Automotive- HORIBA- Robert BoschOther prominent vendors- ACTIA Group- ADVANTEST- EM TEST- Freese Enterprises- Honeywell International- Moog- Presto Testing Instruments- Sierra Instruments- SPACE S.R.L.- Tcnicas Reunidas de Automocin- TesscornKey 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?ResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMozs service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-621-2074Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn at: Mobile Payment Transaction Market Recent Advancements & Outlook by 2020 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/12937 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/19108 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/mobile-payment-transaction-market.asp http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com The mobile payment is an integrated system linked by various components of value chain which typically includes the merchant, the consumer, the financial institution involved and not to forget the payment gateway and the telecom network.In terms of revenue, the global mobile payment transaction market revenues valued at US$ 549,917.7 Mn in 2015 will possibly reach US$ 2,849,231.4 Mn in the year 2020.Mobile payment transaction volume will grow by a massive 41.7% during the forecast period 2015-2020. In terms of volume, the global mobile payment transaction market volume was 18,969.8 million transactions in the year 2015 and this is projected to increase by 106,001.5 million transactions by the year 2020.Persistence Market Research forecasts the global mobile payment transaction market to register a CAGR of 39.1% through 2020 and reach US$ 2.89 trillion in revenues.Request to view Sample Report:Market dynamicsEven though there will be tremendous growth in mobile payment transactions market, there are many challenges that are obstructing the growth of this market. A major challenge is the slow adoption of smartphone compatible POS systems by the retailers. If taken at face value, a 41.7% volume growth looks amazing, but there is something to be concerned about. One of the major concerns is that apart from few countries, consumers havent fully accepted the concept of mobile payments, even though the facility is much more secure. However, given the inherent nature of the product, it wouldnt be long before consumers all over the world use the facilities provided by mobile payments, as per the research report of Persistence Market Research.Market forecastBy technology, SMS and WAP/WEB will continue to account for most of the transactions conducted worldwide. Mobile payments conducted through SMS will witness a robust CAGR of 24.5% over the forecast period. In the year 2015, the revenue from the SMS segment was US$ 238,884.3 Mn and this is going to be at the value of US$ 678,117.1 Mn by 2020 end.Mobile payments conducted through WAP/WEB will witness a CAGR of 48.0% during the forecast period. In the year 2015, the revenue from the WAP/WEB segment was US$ 164,386.1 Mn and this is going to be valued at US$ 1,725,209.6 at the end of the forecast period in the year 2020.Request to download and view ToC @Money transfer and merchandise purchases account for over 90% revenue share of the global mobile payment transaction market on the basis of end-use purpose. Mobile payments made for merchandise purchases will be worth US$ 323.73 Bn in 2016, up from US$ 228.32 Bn in 2015. Money transfer, the largest end-use purpose in the mobile payment transaction market, will grow by over 38% to surpass US$ 381 Bn in revenues.The market for mobile payments will continue to be robust in APEJ and Africa, as majority of people there dont own a credit card, in contrast of the situation in Europe and United States. So, consumers in APEJ and Africa are making a direct shift from using cash to using mobile payments. Growth in the mobile payments market will be particularly strong in China. This is due to the entry of major market players like Apple and Samsung in the Chinese market, making the competition more fierce and interesting.Due to a strong showing in China, the market for mobile payment will continue to grow in the Asia Pacific region and this region will be the leading market in the world in terms of volume. However, in terms of value, it is Africa that will maintain its number one position in the mobile payment transaction market. This is due to the spectacular success of M-Pesa in Kenya and this has influenced consumers and businesses in other regions of Africa to adopt the technology of mobile payments. This has boosted the market of mobile payment transaction market in Africa. Currently, Africa has nearly 32% revenue share of the global mobile payment market, and boasts of a subscriber base of over 100 million. Other than Asia Pacific and Africa, Western Europe and United States are other lucrative regions for mobile payment transaction market the world over.View Report @About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Nov, 22 2017: Coalescing Filter Element Market Forecast 2023 Wilkerson, Speedaire, Solberg, Ingersoll-rand Coalescing Filter Element http://bit.ly/2hEEUXk http://www.spiremarketresearch.com/global-coalescing-filter-element-market-2017-demand-insight-key-players-segmentation-and-forecast-to-2022 http://www.spiremarketresearch.com Coalescing Filter Element Market Research 2017A market study "Global Coalescing Filter Element Market" examines the performance of the Coalescing Filter Element market 2017. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Coalescing Filter Element market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Coalescing Filter Element market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Coalescing Filter Element Market 2017 report includes Coalescing Filter Element market Revenue, market Share, Coalescing Filter Element industry volume, market Trends, Coalescing Filter Element Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Coalescing Filter Element Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Coalescing Filter Element Market 2017 : Speedaire Parker Wilkerson Solberg Ingersoll-randFirstly, the report covers the top Coalescing Filter Element manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Coalescing Filter Element report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Coalescing Filter Element industry, Coalescing Filter Element industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Coalescing Filter Element Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Coalescing Filter Element 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 Coalescing Filter Element market revenue worldwide.Finally, Coalescing Filter Element 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, USAWeb:Email: sales@spiremarketresearch.com Germany Acid Proof Lining Market Poised to Gain Valuation of US$ 7.605.3 Mn by 2026 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-de-1751 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-de-1751 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/checkout/1751 www.futuremarketinsights.com The need for protecting industrial surfaces exposed to corrosive chemicals will continue to influence the demand for acid proof lining in Germany. In 2016, the acid proof lining market in Germany is expected to reach market value of US$ 4,296.2 Mn, at a y-o-y growth of 5.1% over 2015. The rising incidences of industrial equipment damages owing to the mechanical abrasion is also anticipated to drive the demand for acid proof linings in Germany.The industrial use of acid proof lining in coating the floor tiles of various manufacturing units is expected to fuel the growth of Germanys acid proof lining market. The rising necessity of providing durable solutions to industrial infrastructure is observed as a key driver for the growth of the Germany acid proof lining market. Furthermore, the mounting private equity investments will continue to boost the growth of the Germany acid proof lining market. However, the high costs of veneering industrial surfaces will be a major challenge hampering the demand for expensive yet highly-durable acid proof lining types such as carbon brick coating.Request for Table of Contents @On the basis of material-type, the acid proof lining market in Germany will witness the fastest growth in the thermoplastics lining segment. In 2015, the thermoplastics lining segment is estimated to have accounted for over 25% of total market share in Germanys acid proof lining market. By the end of 2016, the share of thermoplastics lining segment is expected to grow at a substantial rate, closing in on the ceramic brick lining market share, which accounted for 34.8% in 2015.The acid proof lining market in Germany is further segmented on the basis of end-use industries. Owing to the pervasive need of acid proof lining for protection against chemical abrasion, the chemical industries in Germany are expected to dominate the end-user segment with 29.3% market share in 2016. The water treatment facilities and power generation plants in Germany are also anticipated to fuel the demand for durable acid proof lining.Request for Sample @In order to expand the scope of application, the market for acid proof lining in Germany is undergoing reforms that favour manufacturers. Small acid proof lining manufacturers will continue to emerge, owing to the low entry barriers. The leading companies in Germanys acid proof lining market will expand their business operations to meet the surging adoption levels of acid proof linings from end-use industrial verticals such as metallurgy, pharmaceuticals, and automotive manufacturing. The key players of the Germany acid proof lining market include AGRU Kunststofftechnik GmbH, Steuler-Kch GmbH, SKO Saureschutz und Kunststoffbau GmbH, GBT-BUCOLIT GmbH, Christen & Laudon GmbH Kunststoff Apparatebau, A-SPT Protective Solutions GmbH & Co. KG, Knapper Oberflachentechnik GmbH, Nittel GmbH & Co. KG, , Hurner-Funken GmbH and Simona AG, among others.Long-term Outlook: The Germany acid proof lining market is projected to register a CAGR of 5.9% during the forecast period 2016-2026. In terms of value, the acid proof lining market in Germany will reach US$ 7.605.3 Mn by end of the forecast period.Buy Germany Acid Proof Lining Market Report @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.comWebsite: Organic Tobacco Market: Roll-Your-Own Tobacco Segment Anticipated to Register Significant CAGR over the Forecast Period Organic tobacco is majorly used in smoking products such as cigarettes and RYO and is expected to gain traction over the forecast period. The smoking segment is the most dominating segment in terms of market share as well as CAGR. In 2016, the smoking segment was expected to dominate the global organic tobacco market with more than 80% revenue share. The smoking segment is projected to reach more than US$ 200 Mn by 2026 end, expanding at a CAGR of 7.6% over the forecast period. The segment is anticipated to gain more than 5 BPS between 2016 and 2026 and is anticipated to record total incremental opportunity of more than US$ 100 Mn between 2016 and 2026 which is estimated to represent close to 90% share of the total incremental opportunity between 2016 and 2026. The roll-your-own (RYO) tobacco sub-segment in the smoking segment is expected to expand at a significant CAGR of 8.1% over the forecast period. Get an exclusive sample of this report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-245 Rising high disposable income likely to fuel the growth of the smoking segment in the global organic tobacco market The smoking segment is driving market growth across the globe as anti-tobacco activists claim that organic cigarettes help smokers quit the habit sooner as compared to conventional cigarettes. As a result, many smokers are switching to organic cigarettes and this is creating a positive impact on the smoking segment of the global organic tobacco market. Rising health consciousness has changed the preference of smokers across the globe. As organic tobacco products are less harmful (as compared to tobacco products), consumers across the globe are shifting towards organic tobacco based products rather than quitting them completely and this is one of the important reasons fuelling the growth of the smoking segment in the global organic tobacco market. An increasing awareness and eventually a rising demand for organic tobacco products is gaining traction in developed countries such as U.S., Canada, Brazil, Spain, Italy, Germany and Japan. This particular factor is boosting growth in the smoking segment of the global organic tobacco market. Organic tobacco products are expensive and therefore less popular in developing countries; however, the rising high disposable income in developed regions is driving the demand for organic cigarettes and roll-your-own tobacco products, which is further boosting the growth of the smoking segment of the global organic tobacco market. Browse Research Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/organic-tobacco-market Rising use of hookah and water pipes expected to fuel the growth of the smoking segment in the MEA region The smoking segment is estimated to gain more than 100 BPS between 2016 and 2026 in Latin America and is expected to increase at a CAGR of 7.6% over the forecast period. Smoking is an attractive segment in terms of market share and CAGR and is expected to retain its dominance throughout the forecast period. The roll-your-own tobacco sub-segment of the smoking segment is anticipated to grow 2.5x by the end of the projected period in Latin America. In Eastern Europe, the smoking segment is projected to hold 90% of the market share by the end of 2026, owing to the ban on chewing and snuff tobacco in Europe. This segment is expected to increase at a CAGR of 6.6% over the forecast period. The segment also remains the most dominating segment in Western Europe in terms of both value and volume over the forecast period, due to increasing regulations on the consumption of smokeless form of tobacco. Roll-your-own tobacco is gaining popularity in the Western Europe organic tobacco market. Due to an increasing number of smokers in China, the smoking segment is predicted to be the most attractive segment holding a dominant share in the APEJ organic tobacco market. This segment is expected to increase at a CAGR of 6.9% over the forecast period. Rising use of hookah and water pipes in the MEA region is likely to drive the growth of the smoking segment in the region. Smoking is also anticipated to emerge as an attractive segment in terms of market share and CAGR and is expected to show its dominance over the forecast period in the MEA region. Consumption of tobacco across several smoking applications is primarily driving the growth of this segment in the MEA region. About FMI 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 centres in the U.S. and India. FMIs research and consulting services help businesses around the globe navigate the challenges in a rapidly evolving marketplace with confidence and clarity. Our customised and syndicated market research reports deliver actionable insights that drive sustainable growth. We continuously track emerging trends and events in a broad range of end industries to ensure our clients prepare for the evolving needs of their consumers. Contact FMI 3rd Floor, 207 Regent Street, London W1B 3HH United Kingdom T: + 44 (0) 20 7692 8790 D: +44 (0) 20 3287 4268 Email:sales@futuremarketinsights.com This release was published on openPR. Permanent link to this press release: Copy Please set a link in the press area of your homepage to this press release on openPR. openPR disclaims liability for any content contained in this release. At a CAGR of 12.65%, Global Solar-powered UAV Market to grow over 2017-2021 - AeroVironment, Airbus, Alphabet, Facebook, Thales Group https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1378101 https://www.researchmoz.us/global-solar-powered-uav-market-2017-2021-report.html/toc http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones are autonomous aircraft, which are remotely controlled from the ground or through onboard computers. Conventional UAVs are available in various sizes. While the large-sized ones, which are employed for tactical missions, are powered by internal combustion engines, smaller ones are mainly powered by electric motors. However, since the last decade, the advent of new technologies has led to the development of UAVs powered by photovoltaic cells, hydrogen fuel cells, and hybrid-electric propulsions engines. Solar-powered UAV platforms use photovoltaic panels to absorb energy from the sun and convert it into electrical energy to thrust the engines. The use of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell system in a solar-powered UAV allows it to achieve an uninterrupted flight for over six months. The Helios Prototype was one of the earliest solar-powered UAVs (developed by AeroVironment in 1999 with funding from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)), which used PEM-based fuel system. Solar-powered UAVs find their applications in defense and commercial sectors.The global solar-powered UAV market to grow at a CAGR of 12.65% during the period 2017-2021. The report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global solar-powered UAV market for 2017-2021. To calculate the market size, the report considers the retail selling price as the average selling price of the product.Click to get Sample PDF:The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:- Americas- APAC- EMEATechnavio's report, Global Solar-powered UAV 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.View Complete TOC with Tables and Figures at:Key vendors- AeroVironment- Airbus- Alphabet- Facebook- Thales GroupOther prominent vendors- AC Propulsion- Boeing- DJI- Lockheed Martin- Silent Falcon UAS- Sunlight PhotonicsMarket driver- Focus on greater use of renewable energy sources- For a full, detailed list, view our reportKey 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?ResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMozs service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-621-2074Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn at: Radial Compression Devices Market Report 2017- Terumo Corporation, Merit Medical, Abbott Laboratories Radial Compression Devices Market https://goo.gl/aCwq59 https://goo.gl/3ZRsRC www.apexmarketreports.com Apex Research, recently published a detailed market research study focused on the "Radial Compression Devices Market" across the global, regional and country level. The report provides 360 analysis of "Radial Compression Devices Market" from view of manufacturers, regions, product types and end industries. The research report analyses and provides the historical data along with current performance of the global Radial Compression Devices industry, and estimates the future trend of Radial Compression Devices market on the basis of this detailed study. The study shares "Radial Compression Devices Market" performance both in terms of volume and revenue.Get Free Sample Copy of Report Here:Top Manufacturers Analysis of This ReportTerumo CorporationMerit MedicalAbbott LaboratoriesAdvanced Vascular DynamicsVascular SolutionComed B.V.Beijing Demax Medical TechnologyThe market research report explores the Radial Compression Devices market across the globe along with major regions and countries. The research report provides a detailed study on each and every aspect of "Radial Compression Devices Market". The research report studies the entire value chain from raw material to end user industries. The report also shares import/export statistics along with production and consumption for all major regions and countries. Moreover, the research study classifies the Radial Compression Devices market based on major product types, application and end users industries of Radial Compression Devices. Besides, the report also covers geographical segmentation for Radial Compression Devices market. The report further provides production, capacity, price per region, gross margin, production cost, for all major regions and countries listed in report.The competitive landscape of the global market for Radial Compression Devices is determined by assessing the major industry participants, production capacity, production capacity utilization rate, Radial Compression Devices market's production chain, pricing by each manufacturer and the revenue generated by each manufacturer in the Radial Compression Devices market globally.Enquire Before Buying @The Global Radial Compression Devices market 2017 is further analyzed on the basis of product pricing, Radial Compression Devices production volume, data pertaining to demand and Radial Compression Devices supply, and the revenue garnered by the product. The report provides upstream and downstream analysis covering major raw material used in manufacturing of Radial Compression Devices along with detailed manufacturing sources. The report also shares list of major raw material manufacturers along with their manufacturing locations. Detailed raw material price trend analysis along with manufacturing cost analysis is also incorporated into the report. Various methodical tools such as investment returns, feasibility, SWOT analysis and market attractiveness analysis has been implemented in the research study to present a comprehensive, detailed study of the industry for Radial Compression Devices across the world.Apex Market Reports offers elevating market research globally. We have collection of various syndicated reports of different categories. Apex Market Reports provides you to best services, weather youre searching for new trends in market or competitive scenario in emerging market.Customers can buys different reports across various categories such as Chemical and Material, Biotechnology, Healthcare, Food and beverages, Automobile and various sectors. Our Website offers safe and secure online ordering experience, convenient payment options.Frank ValadezCorporate Sales Specialist155 North Wacker Drive, Suite 4250Chicago, IL 60606Phone: +17739042683Email id - sales@apexmarketreports.comWebsite - Solar Micro Inverter Market Surge at CAGR of 16.6% During 2016-2026 by FMI https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-1766 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1766 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/checkout/1766 www.futuremarketinsights.com The demand for solar micro inverters is expected to witness a significant upsurge on account of increase in the number of photovoltaic (PV) installations and the need to improve overall system efficiency and safety. In 2016, the global solar micro inverters market is anticipated to register a y-o-y growth of 11.4% over 2015, and reach US$ 488.2 Mn in terms of market value. The escalating demand for solar micro inverters will continue to penetrate the market for module-level power electronics, owing to falling prices and upcoming products.The higher adoption of photovoltaic installations is a key factor driving the growth of the global solar micro inverters market. Moreover, rising preference for fully integrated PV modules or AC Modules, is anticipated to fuel the demand for solar micro inverters. The U.S. National Electric Code (NEC) also favours the usage of micro inverter technology and is driving the demand for micro inverters in the North American market. However, the use of power optimisers as an alternative to micro inverters can restrain the growth of the global solar micro inverter market.Request for Table of Contents @On the basis of system type, the global market for solar micro inverters is expected to be dominated by Stand Alone system sales, followed by micro inverter systems sold for developing AC Modules, named as integrated systems. In 2015, the stand alone solar micro inverter systems procured global market share of 96.7%, and are expected to attain estimated revenues of US$ 471 Mn by 2016-end.By end-user type, the residential segment of the global market will continue dominance over the commercial segment by attaining a market share of 76.2% in 2016. Among residential end-users, changing consumer preference for more efficient and safe inverter alternative will prompt the replacement of conventional inverters with solar micro inverters. Dropping prices and rising commercial scale PV installations will incite extensive growth in the demand for solar micro inverters among the commercial segment as well.Request for Sample @Due to the varying use of micro inverters across the world, global players are concentrating on regions where awareness about using renewable energy resources is higher. Robust adoption of PV storage systems in the U.S. will continue to fuel demand for solar micro inverters in North America, and the region is expected to attain market value of US$ 282.2 Mn in 2016. Moreover, Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) is expected to be a lucrative region for the growth of the global market. The growing trade of inexpensive inverters in China and India will boost the demand for solar micro inverters in APEJ region. The key players contributing to the growth of the global solar micro inverters market include, SMA, Darfon Electronics, ABB, APSytems, Chilicon Power, iEnergy, Enphase, NEP, SunPower, and Sparq Systems among others.Long-term Outlook: The global solar micro inverters market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 16.6% during the forecast period 2016-2026. Over the forecast period, North America and APEJ will continue to be the most profitable regions for the growth of the global market for solar micro inverters.Buy Solar Micro Inverter Market Report @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.comWebsite: NPK Market Analysis- Size, Share, Growth, Industry Demand, Forecast, Application Analysis To 2022 https://www.qyresearchgroups.com/request-sample/613970 https://www.qyresearchgroups.com/report/global-npk-market-research-report-2017-d-219 https://www.qyresearchgroups.com/check-discount/613970 https://www.qyresearchgroups.com The Global NPK Market Research Report 2017 renders deep perception of the key regional market status of the NPK Industry on a global level that primarily aims the core regions which comprises of continents like Europe, North America, and Asia and the key countries such as United States, Germany, China and Japan.The report on Global NPK Market is a professional report which provides thorough knowledge along with complete information pertaining to the NPK industry a propos classification, definitions, applications, industry chain summary, industry policies in addition to plans, product specifications, manufacturing processes, cost structures, etc.Get Sample Copy of this Report @The potential of this industry segment has been rigorously investigated in conjunction with primary market challenges. The present market condition and future prospects of the segment has also been examined. Moreover, key strategies in the market that includes product developments, partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, etc., are discussed. Besides, upstream raw materials and equipment and downstream demand analysis is also conducted.Report Includes:-The report cloaks the market analysis and projection of NPK Market on a regional as well as global level. The report constitutes qualitative and quantitative valuation by industry analysts, first-hand data, assistance from industry experts along with their most recent verbatim and each industry manufacturers via the market value chain. The research experts have additionally assessed the in general sales and revenue generation of this particular market. In addition, this report also delivers widespread analysis of root market trends, several governing elements and macro-economic indicators, coupled with market improvements as per every segment. Furthermore, the report contains diverse profiles of primary market players of NPK Market.The report is generically segmented into six parts and every part aims on the overview of the NPK industry, present condition of the market, feasibleness of the investment along with several strategies and policies. Apart from the definition and classification, the report also discusses the analysis of import and export and describes a comparison of the market that is focused on the trends and development. Along with entire framework in addition to in-depth details, one can prepare and stay ahead of the competitors across the targeted locations. The fact that this market report renders details about the major market players along with their product development and current trends proves to be very beneficial for fresh entrants to comprehend and recognize the industry in an improved manner. The report also enlightens the productions, sales, supply, market condition, demand, growth, and forecast of the NPK industry in the global markets.Browse full report with Table of Content @Every regions market has been studied thoroughly in this report which deals with the precise information pertaining to the Marketing Channels and novel project investments so that the new entrants as well as the established market players conduct intricate research of trends and analysis in these regional markets. Acknowledging the status of the environment and products up gradation, the market report foretells each and every detail.So as to fabricate this report, complete key details, strategies and variables are examined so that entire useful information is amalgamated together for the understanding and studying the key facts pertaining the global NPK Industry. The production value and market share in conjunction with the SWOT analysis everything is integrated in this report.Some points from TOC:-Global NPK Market Research Report 20171 NPK Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of NPK1.2 NPK Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global NPK Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2012-2022)1.2.2 Global NPK Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Chlorine-Based Compound Fertilizers1.2.4 Sulfur-Based Compound Fertilizers1.2.5 Nitro-Based Compound Fertilizers1.2.6 Urea-Based Compound Fertilizer1.3 Global NPK Segment by Application1.3.1 NPK Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Agriculture1.3.3 Forestry1.3.4 Horticulture1.3.5 Other1.4 Global NPK Market by Region (2012-2022)1.4.1 Global NPK 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 NPK (2012-2022)1.5.1 Global NPK Revenue Status and Outlook (2012-2022)1.5.2 Global NPK Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2012-2022)Download PDF Report:About Us:QY Research Groups 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. QY Research Groups 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 world's most complete and current database of expert insights on Global industries, companies, products, and trends.Contact us:Email- sales@qyresearchgroups.comWebsite- PET Blow Moulder Market - Dynamic changes in the packaging industry and the increasing number of bottled consumer products are expected to drive https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-na-3534 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/north-america-pet-blow-moulder-market The U.S. accounted for a revenue share of a little more than 70% in the North America PET blow moulder market in 2016 and is expected to gain 110 basis points by 2026. The U.S. is likely to witness a rapid Y-o-Y growth rate of close to 4% over the period of assessment. The PET blow moulder market in the U.S. is estimated to be valued at more than US$ 25 Mn in 2017 and is likely to record a CAGR of 4.5% from 2016 to 2026 to reach a little more than US$ 40 Mn by 2026. In terms of value, the U.S market is expected to represent an incremental opportunity of more than US$ 15 Mn and grow 1.6X during the forecast period.Get an exclusive sample of this report @Increasing taxation and stringent government policies for the ban of plastic bags is expected to hinder the growth of the PET blow moulder market in the U.S.Due to the rising demand for PET bottles, manufacturers are trying to get more output by investing less, which is ultimately affecting the quality of bottles. For instance, manufacturers have started using a lesser amount of raw material in the manufacturing process. However, this makes the bottles thinner, which causes the bottles to not be able to bear the force incurred during the quality checking process. Reducing the quality of bottles manufactured adversely affects the PET blow moulder market in the U.S.Along with generic bottles, the PET blow moulding industry also depends on customised bottles. In fact, customised bottle is a trend in the market, which is now flourishing with a number of brands. Most of these brands have adopted the trend of customising their own bottles. However, these customised bottles if dropped, can bend or even break due to acute stretch ratios. This factor is also likely to be a restraining factor in the growth of the PET blow moulder market in the U.S.PET moulding machines are made to manufacture a large number of bottles, i.e. a minimum of 30,000 bottles/hour. Because of the inherent quality, these machines are largely used by manufacturers who generally require large-scale output. However, if these machines are forced to be used for a smaller volume output then manufacturers would not be able to fetch the profit they expect. The small scale industries operating in rural regions cant consume such high volumes of the product thus forcing the market to produce machines that can handle smaller volumes in a single run with economic rates. Such economic machines with smaller volume are limited in the market, which is hampering the growth of the PET blow moulder market in the U.S.Browse Research Report @Unstable macro-economic and political conditions are the major challenges faced by the PET blow moulder market in the U.S.The PET blow moulder market in the U.S is affected by economic conditions and consumer spending trends. The high energy requirements of the manufacturing process lead to high costs, which eventually lead to increasing losses for companies. Similarly, unfavourable political, labour and tax conditions also lay a challenging road for PET blow moulder manufacturers in the U.S. Increasing demand for bio-based materials for packaging has significantly reduced the demand for PET bottles, thereby resulting in a challenge for PET blow moulder manufacturers. As consumers are getting more inclined towards sustainable raw materials for their packaging solutions, there is a tough road ahead for PET blow moulder manufacturers in the U.S to increase their profitability margins.About FMIFuture 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 centres in the U.S. and India.FMIs research and consulting services help businesses around the globe navigate the challenges in a rapidly evolving marketplace with confidence and clarity. Our customised and syndicated market research reports deliver actionable insights that drive sustainable growth. We continuously track emerging trends and events in a broad range of end industries to ensure our clients prepare for the evolving needs of their consumers.Contact FMI3rd Floor, 207 Regent Street,London W1B 3HHUnited KingdomT: + 44 (0) 20 7692 8790D: +44 (0) 20 3287 4268Email:sales@futuremarketinsights.com Bioinformatics Market Analysis of Top Key Player - Agilent Technologies, Illumina Inc., QIAGEN N. V and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/2265 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/bioinformatics-market-2265 Globally the market for bioinformatics is growing steadily and has a bright future, this market expected to grow at the rate of about 19.8% till 2022 and this has started since 2016.Bioinformatics is an interdisciplinary field that makes systems and programming gadgets for understanding natural data. As an interdisciplinary field of science, bioinformatics joins programming building, bits of knowledge, number juggling, and planning to explore and decode regular data. Bioinformatics has been used for in silico examinations of common request using numerical and quantifiable techniques. The Bioinformatics Market segments and sub-segments with respect to four main geographies and their countries- Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Middle East & Africa.Get a Sample Report @Bioinformatics is the use of data improvement in the field of biotechnology with the genuine goal of information storing up, information warehousing and isolating the DNA game-plans. In bioinformatics improvement getting some answers concerning different branches is required which wires science, math, programming building, laws of material science and science adjacent it particularly strong getting some answers concerning data progression is required to investigate biotechnological information.Competitive Analysis:Some of the key players in this market are: Agilent Technologies, Illumina, Inc., QIAGEN N. V, and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Dassault Systemes, QIAGEN and others.The report about bioinformatics market by Market Research Future comprises of extensive primary research along with the detail analysis of qualitative as well as quantitative aspects by various industry experts, key opinion leaders to gain a deeper insight of the market and industry performance. The report gives a clear picture of current market scenario which includes past and estimated future market size with respect to value and volume, technological advancement, macro economical and governing factors in the market. The report further provides detail information about and strategies used by top key players in the industry. The report also gives a broad study of the different markets segments and regions.Regional Analysis of Bioinformatics Market:Universally Americas is the best market for Bioinformatics. Where in nations like US and Canada acknowledge an essential part in the change of the market. Europe is relied on to be the second-most noteworthy market which is required to finish US$ million going before the total of the guage period. Other than Asia pacific market is relied on to be the speediest making business part for Bioinformatics.Browse Full Report @Brief TOC1. Introduction2. Research Methodology3. Market Dynamics4. Market Factor Analysis5. Global Bioinformatics Market, By Application6. Global Bioinformatics Market, By Services And Technology7. Global Bioinformatics Market, By Sector8. Global Bioinformatics Market, By Region9. Competitive Landscape10. Company ProfileAbout Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Specialty Polyamide Market Analysis, Size, Share, Growth and Trends by Forecast to 2022 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/2074 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/enquiry/2074 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/specialty-polyamide-market Market HighlightsThe Global Polymer Chameleon Market is expected to reach USD 1.98 million by 2022, according to MRFR analysis the major drivers for the market are due to increasing needs for highly technical solutions, increasing demand for new energies and metal replacement in transportationThe quality, durability, light weight nature and properties of Specialty Polyamide are one of the key factors that drives the market. The demand for recyclable polyamide, and the upcoming safety regulations & innovative techniques developed for its use will be the key influencing factors for the global Specialty -polyamide market with the increased emphasis on its different types and their applications.Almost 27% of the total polyamide demand was for the transportation segment in 2015, with Consumer Goods application as the fastest growing application segment. As an application, transportation is the largest segment of polyamide, primarily due to its high penetration in all the regions and the increased demand for lightweight polyamide from auto component manufacturers.Further key findings from the report suggest: The global Specialty Polyamide market demand was estimated at 1.98 million tons in 2016 Transportation segment the Specialty Polyamide had the highest market share in 2016. Asia Pacific has dominated the market and is projected to Expand at the highest CAGR of XX% in 2016 Key companies in the Specialty Polyamide industry include Akzo Nobel N.V., Autonomic Materials Inc., BASF SE, DOW Chemical Company, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Evonik Industries AG, High Impact Technology, Honeywell International, Inc., Huntsman International LLCand MacDermid Autotype Ltd.Request a Sample Copy @Key Players:The key players in market includes :Evonik Industries AG, BASF SE, Arekma SA, Asahi Kasei Corporation, Koninklijke DSM N.V., E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, LG Chem, Ltd., Solvay S.A., INVISTA S.a r.l., and Radici Group.Regional AnalysisAsia-pacific region is expected to maintain its dominance in the global market. Emerging markets of China, japan and India are expected to boost the Asia Pacific Specialty Polyamide market. Other emerging markets are North America, Europe and the Middle East countries. Asia Pacific has the largest market share for global Specialty Polyamide, followed by Europe and Row.Specialty Polyamide is among the most dominated among engineering plastics with applications in various end-user industries including Transportation, Energy, Consumer Goods, Industrial Coatings, Electronics, and Others. Specialty Polyamide, also known as nylon occurs in nature in form of silk and wool and can be produced artificially through polymerization.Almost 27% of the total polyamide demand was for the transportation segment in 2015, with Consumer Goods application as the fastest growing application segment. As an application, transportation is the largest segment of polyamide, primarily due to its high penetration in all the regions and the increased demand for lightweight polyamide from auto component manufacturers.Further key findings from the report suggest: Smart Drug Delivery System & Implants the Specialty polyamide had the highest market share in 2016.Enquire about this Report @Table of Content1 Executive Summary2 Scope Of The Report2.1 Market Definition2.2 Scope Of The Study2.2.1 Research Objectives2.2.2 Assumptions & Limitations2.3 Markets Structure3 Market Research Methodology3.1 Research Process3.2 Secondary Research3.3 Primary Research3.4 Forecast Model4 Market Landscape4.1 Five Forces Analysis4.1.1 Threat Of New Entrants4.1.2 Bargaining Power Of Buyers4.1.3 Threat Of Substitutes4.1.4 Segment Rivalry4.2 Value Chain/Supply Chain Of Global Specialty Polyamide Market5 Industry Overview Of Global Specialty Polyamide MarketContinue..For further information on 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.Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com Building Automation Systems industry: Strategic Directions to Gain High Share in 2026 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/12823 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/12823 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/pos-machines-market.asp https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/quantum-sensors-market.asp https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/selfie-accessories-market.asp https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com In reference to a new report published by Persistence Market Research, the global building automation systems market will showcase significant growth between 2016 and 2026. Manufacturers of building automation systems are rapidly adopting new regulations set across the globe and they are also lining up new products to meet rising market demand. The Persistence Market Research report titled, Building Automation Systems Market: Global Industry Analysis & Forecast, 2016-2026, talks in detail about the market psyche and also scrutinizes the market drifts which are expected to impact the future of the global building automation systems market. The global building automation systems market was valued more than US$ 43 Bn in 2015 and is expected to mint better revenue by the end of 2016, reaching approximately US$ 48 Bn. The market will continue its journey towards expansion and the market worth will reach US$ 141.1 Bn towards the end of 2026. The global building automation systems market will record a CAGR of 11.1% during the projected period.Request Sample:Global Building Automation Systems Market: Factors and Trends Impacting GrowthGovernments around the globe are rolling out different precautionary measures to cut down the wastage of energy. Different new regulatory methods are adopted to reduce the consumption of energy. This is a massive booster for the global building automation systems market. Several big economies around the globe such as Europe, US and Japan have already curated some restrictive methods to revise the previous trends. This opens a new window of opportunity for the global building automation systems market. A slew of new technologies that are eroding this market are actively affecting the global canvas of the market. Better and more advanced technologies are enhancing the end-user experience and also increasing market outreach. The introduction of smart web-based, cloud-based control networks backed by the Internet of Things (IOT), mobile technologies, integrated building systems and facility management solutions are expanding the periphery of the global building automation systems market. Last but not the least, the urgent need for consolidated security solutions is also pushing ahead the market growth of the global building automation systems market. These key factors will complement the all-round development of the market within the forecast period but there are also certain key factors that might barricade the normal development of the market within the period of forecast. Building automation systems come with a high price tag and this is expected to impact their widespread adoption. The absence of skilled manpower is another market growth deterrent.Global Building Automation Systems Market: Revenue ForecastThe rising incidences of security violations across the globe are likely to impact the growth of the security and surveillance segment in the global building automation systems market. The security and surveillance segment will exhibit a robust growth in terms of revenue and will overshadow the market within the forecast period. The commercial segment will contribute notably to the global building automation systems market. Towards the end of the projected period, the commercial segment will touch a market worth of more than US$ 63 Bn and will record a CAGR of 10.9%. Apart from this the government and residential segments will also project promising growth trends by 2026 end. North America will lure maximum investors, as the building automation systems market in this region will exceed a whopping value of US$ 55 Bn by the close of 2026.Download TOC:Global Building Automation Systems Market: Top ContendersThe global market for building automation systems is crowded with several players. The Rheem Manufacturing Company, United Technologies, General Electric, Lennox International, Philips Lighting Holding B.V., Ingersoll-Rand Plc. Honeywell International Inc., Johnson Controls are some of the major players contributing to the growth of the market. They are establishing smart IT backed platforms to provide advanced building automation systems to their customers.Latest Report:Pos Machines MarketQuantum Sensors MarketSelfie Accessories MarketPersistence 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.305 Broadway,7th FloorNew York City, NY 10007United States+1-646-568-7751+1 800-961-0353 (USA-Canada Toll free)Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWebsite: Global School Furniture Market Size and Forecast to Grow at a CAGR of 16.74% Till Year 2021 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1378345/global-school-furniture-market-research-reports https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/1378345 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/enquiryBuy/1378345 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ Latest industry research report on: Global School Furniture Market | Industry Size, Share, Research, Reviews, Analysis, Strategies, Demand, Growth, Segmentation, Parameters, ForecastsThe objective of this report is to define, describe, and forecast the market on the basis of type, application, medical condition, and region. It provides detailed information regarding the major factors influencing the growth of the market. This report also tracks and analyzes competitive developments of the key players in terms of market developments, product portfolios, and financials.Acute Renal Failure Market: Industry Size, Share, Growth, Forecasts.Complete Report Details @The global furniture market is classified into the global educational furniture market, global office furniture market, global home furniture market, and others. With the rising number of K-12 schools and increasing enrollments of students in these schools, due to increasing awareness of education, particularly from the emerging economies, the demand for innovative furniture in modern classrooms is expected to rise continuously during the forecast period.Technavios analysts forecast the global school furniture market to grow at a CAGR of 16.74% during the period 2017-2021.Request For Sample Report @Covered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global school furniture market for 2017-2021. To calculate the market size, the report considers the revenues generated by market vendors only through the new sales of furniture in schools, colleges, and other educational institutions, including seating furniture, storage furniture, laboratory furniture, and other furniture accessories.The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:AmericasAPACEMEATechnavio's report, Global School Furniture 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.Have Any Query? Ask Our Expert @Key vendorsHerman MillerSteelcaseSmith SystemVircoOther vendorsBallen PanelsFleetwood GroupHertz FurnitureKnollKIMarket driverStringent environmental regulationsFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challengeConsiderable costs of transportation and logisticsFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trendRapid popularity of online retailingFor a full, detailed list, view our reportKey questions answered in this reportWhat will the market size be in 2021 and what will the growth rate be?What are the key market trends?What is driving this market?What are the challenges to market growth?Who are the key vendors in this market space?About usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.Contact UsState Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-621-2074Website:Email: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Umbilical Cord Blood Banking Market to Expand at a Rapid CAGR of 11.4% from 2017 to 2025 Umbilical Cord Blood Banking Market https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/umbilical-cord-blood-banking-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=19922 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/checkout.php?rep_id=19922G multisystem mitochondrial MELAS and MIDD syndromes and mixed phenotypes. The results of the trial were presented by Prof. Jan Smeitink, Khondrion's CEO, at the Dutch Life Sciences Conference. "The final reporting of the KHENERGY study is planned for Q1 2018, but encouraged by the results, we wanted to share these preliminary data regarding safety and efficacy now," said Jan Smeitink. The KHENERGY study is a Phase II, single-center, double blind, randomized, placebo-controlled 2-way crossover trial involving 20 patients. Patients received KH176 in a 100 mg twice-daily oral dosing schedule for one month. Efficacy endpoints included objective, quantitative assessments as well as questionnaires evaluating the mood and quality of life of patients. The study also explored biomarkers associated with mitochondrial functioning. "The preliminary findings of this study related to adverse events showed a promising safety profile. Also, the pharmacokinetic analysis of KH176 showed that the candidate drug's maximum blood concentrations remained below the pre-defined safety threshold obtained in Phase I evaluations," said Dr. Edwin Spaans, Khondrion's Chief Medical Officer. Of the functional outcomes measures, two aspects of alertness showed positive trends. All others, did not show a positive signal in the four weeks treatment arm. With regard to clinical outcomes, statistically significant improvements were observed in the total Beck Depression Inventory score and its affective sub-domain. Positive trends were observed in the HADS depression subsection and the RAND-36 SF affective symptoms. Self-reported outcomes revealed an amelioration of migraine in three out of three affected subjects. "Given the relatively short duration of this study, these findings are encouraging," according to dr. Mirian Janssen (MD, PhD), Principal Investigator. "Based on the outcome of the Phase II study, we have decided to immediately continue with all necessary steps enabling the next phases of our KH176 development program, including all Phase III preparations," said Jan Smeitink. About KH176 KH176 is a member of a new class of potential Khondrion drugs essential for the control of oxidative and redox alterations. The Phase I trial results of this study were recently published in the Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases. About Khondrion Khondrion is a privately held leading clinical-stage pharmaceutical company. The potential of several lead compounds to serve as new treatment modalities for mitochondrial disease is currently being explored. Khondrion's KH176 has been granted Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) for Leigh disease and MELAS syndrome in Europe and for all inherited mitochondrial respiratory chain disorders in the USA. Khondrion has established collaborations with patient organizations, patient advocacy groups, university expert centers and research groups around the world as well as with small, medium and large enterprises. The company is supported by the Dutch Foundations Energy4All, Join4Energy, Road4Energy, Ride4Kids, Tim Foundation, Zeldzame Ziekten Fonds, and National and European Governments. Khondrion has a strong intellectual property position protecting its emerging product portfolio via granted and multiple, broad patent applications. Based on the outcome of the KHENERGY study the company continues preparing for a pivotal program to confirm the potential benefits of KH176 in patients with mitochondrial disease. For more information and a cautionary note regarding forward-looking statement concerning this press release, please visit http://www.khondrion.com SOURCE Khondrion NEW HAVEN, Conn., Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Knights of Columbus is helping organize several informative events next week as it joins the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and other Catholic groups in sponsoring "Solidarity in Suffering," a Week of Awareness for Persecuted Christians. The week begins Sunday, Nov. 26, with a day of prayer. To highlight this issue, the Knights of Columbus has helped organize a number of events, including a memorial mass for victims of ISIS' genocide, an event at the UN cosponsored by the Holy See's Mission to the United Nations, and a number of roundtable discussion and talks in New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. "The Week of Awareness is an opportunity to inform people about the dire situation facing Christians in places like Iraq and Syria where our faith has been present since the time of the Apostles, but could soon disappear," said Knights of Columbus CEO Carl Anderson. "It is a time to pray, and to offer help and crucial hope to those who have lost everything but their faith for their faith." Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil will be in the United States for the Week of Awareness. Since ISIS invaded Northern Iraq in 2014, the vast majority of Christians in that country have resided within the Archdiocese of Erbil, where Archbishop Warda has overseen a massive humanitarian operation to feed, clothe, shelter, educate and care for this displaced community, and those of other faiths also in their care. Since ISIS's defeat in the Nineveh region of Iraq earlier this year, Archbishop Warda has helped oversee the return of displaced people back to their recently liberated homes in nearby Nineveh. Among other meetings, Archbishop Warda will meet with media at the National Press Club on Tuesday, Nov. 28. He will celebrate a Chaldean Catholic Memorial Mass that evening at 6 p.m. at the Saint John Paul II National Shrine, also in Washington. The Knights of Columbus and the Holy See's Mission to the United Nations will sponsor a conference at the UN on "Preserving Pluralism and Diversity in the Nineveh Region," on Thursday, Nov. 30 from 3 to 5 p.m. Archbishop Warda, Knights of Columbus CEO Carl Anderson and other experts will participate together with Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the Holy See's permanent observer to the United Nations. During the week, Knights of Columbus councils throughout the country will also work with their parishes to share information about persecuted Christians and the Knights' efforts on their behalf, including a $2 million initiative to rebuild Karamles, a predominately Christian town in Nineveh that was previously under the control of ISIS. The Knights of Columbus has committed more than $17 million to assistance for the persecuted groups and those in their care in the Middle East. The organization has advocated on their behalf, including urging the congressional and state department genocide designations against ISIS in 2016. The Knights of Columbus has long urged adequate funding for the fragile and too-often-forgotten groups targeted for genocide by ISIS. It applauded Vice President Mike Pence's recent announcement that the Trump administration will begin providing aid directly to religious minority groups impacted by ISIS' genocide. The Knights has also been supportive of H.R. 390, a bill that passed the US House unanimously this summer, and is awaiting approval by the US Senate. The bill would mandate that the government provide financial assistance to religious groups that were targeted for genocide. For additional information visit www.ChristiansAtRisk.org SOURCE Knights of Columbus Related Links http://www.ChristiansAtRisk.org Listed (ASX:LAM; TSX:LAM) TORONTO, Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - Laramide Resources Ltd. ("Laramide" or the "Company") is pleased to announce it has filed an independent Mineral Resource Estimate technical report (the "Technical Report") on Sedar (www.sedar.com) for the Company's 100% owned Church Rock Uranium Project located in Grants Mineral Belt, New Mexico, United States. The Technical Report supports the disclosure made by the Company in its October 10, 2017 news release announcing the results of the maiden Mineral Resource Estimate. The Technical Report was prepared in CIM Definition Standards (2014) pursuant to National Instrument 43-101 "Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects" ("NI 43-101"). The Technical Report, with an effective date of November 14, 2017, is titled "Technical Report on the Church Rock Uranium Project, McKinley County, State of New Mexico, U.S.A.", and was prepared by Mr. Mark B. Mathisen, C.P.G., of Roscoe Postle Associates Inc. of Denver, Colorado, USA, who is a "qualified person" for the purposes of NI 43-101. The Technical Report states an Inferred Resource Estimate for the Church Rock Project of 33.9 million tons at an average grade of 0.075% eU 3 O 8 for a contained resource of 50.8 million pounds using a 0.5 ft-% Grade Thickness (GT) cutoff. The Technical Report is available on the Company's website at www.laramide.com and is available under its profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. About Laramide Resources Laramide Resources Ltd., headquartered in Toronto and listed on the TSX: LAM and ASX: LAM, is engaged in the exploration and development of high-quality uranium assets. Laramide's portfolio of advanced uranium projects have been chosen for their production potential. Major U.S. assets include the Church Rock and Crownpoint In-Situ Recovery (ISR) projects and La Jara Mesa in Grants, New Mexico, as well as La Sal in the Lisbon Valley district of Utah. The recently acquired Church Rock and Crownpoint properties, with near-term development potential and significant mineral resources, form a leading ISR division operating in a tier one jurisdiction with enhanced overall project economics. The Company's Australian advanced stage Westmoreland is one of the largest projects currently held by a junior mining company. Qualified Person The technical information in this news release has been prepared in accordance with the Canadian regulatory requirements set out in NI 43-101. The information has been reviewed and approved by Bryn Jones, MMinEng, FAusIMM, a Qualified Person under the definition established by National Instrument 43 101 and JORC. Mr. Jones is the Chief Operating Officer of the Company and a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Laramide confirms that it is not aware of any new information or data that materially affects the information included in the market announcement dated 10 October 2017 and that all material assumptions and technical parameters underpinning the estimates in that market announcement continue to apply and have not materially changed. To learn more about Laramide, please visit the Company's website at www.laramide.com. Forward-looking Statements and Cautionary Language This News Release contains forward looking statements which are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those reflected in the forward looking statements. The Company does not intend to update this information and disclaims any legal liability to the contrary. SOURCE Laramide Resources Ltd. Related Links http://www.laramide.com VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Lifestyle Delivery Systems Inc. (CSE: LDS), (OTCQB: LDSYF) and (Frankfurt: LD6, WKN: A14XHT) ("LDS" or the "Company") announces that on November 16, 2017, the Company submitted plans for a cultivation facility to be developed on the Company's ten acre parcel to the city of Adelanto planning department. The proposed 202,500 square foot cultivation facility will be an environmentally controlled hybrid greenhouse capable of producing over 150,000 mature cannabis plants from seedlings every 100 days. The Company plans to subdivide the facility which will be leased to permitted and licensed cultivation entities that meet the Company's strict requirements. The Company anticipates receiving the construction permits in time for construction to commence before the end of its fiscal 2017. Brad Eckenweiler, CEO of LDS, stated, "This facility will represent approximately 20% of the raw cannabis material required to meet the manufacturing, extraction and distillation requirements of CSPA and LDS Scientific. We will continue pursuing qualified contract growers for our product-specific cannabis genetics grow program. This will be necessary to meet the additional raw material needs of the manufacturing facility as well as our continued dependence on current northern California growers producing high grade contaminate free material." The LDS Scientific's team anticipates releasing production and sales figures generated from November in early December. 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 direct involvement 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. In particular, there is significant regulatory uncertainty with respect to the production and sale of medicinal and recreational marijuana in the United States of America. In particular, marijuana remains a Schedule I drug under the United States Controlled Substances Act of 1970. Although Congress has prohibited the US Justice Department from spending federal funds to interfere with the implementation of state medical marijuana laws, this prohibition must be renewed each year to remain in effect and is subject to change at any time. In addition, although the State of California has adopted laws permitting the commercial cultivation, extraction and manufacturing of medicinal marijuana, final regulations with respect to the implementation of these laws have yet to be adopted. 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. STOCKTON, Calif., Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- SunPower by The Solar Quote held their first annual giveaway contest for a free solar panel system during the month of October. On Nov. 18, they surprised the winner, Betty Cousins. Cousins and her husband are foster parents to three kids. They are also the legal guardians of three other kids in the home. Cousins works hard to provide for her family and is continuously giving back. "Betty is an amazing woman who works hard to help others," said Robert Posten, CEO of SunPower by The Solar Quote. "She is deserving of this gift; we want her to feel appreciated for the work she does. When Betty wouldn't let us leave without a bag of her home-grown pomegranates, I knew we had chosen the right person. This is going to be an annual event for us. We love any opportunity to make people happy." SunPower by The Solar Quote will be installing the system at no charge to the family. The system is 10.8-kilowatt and offsets more than 100% of the family's electric usage. This means that they can use more power in their home at no cost. The install will use 33 SunPower solar panels. The install is scheduled to be finished before the New Year. About SunPower by The Solar Quote: SunPower by The Solar Quote is a SunPower Master Dealer providing residential and commercial solar systems in Northern California. They are locally owned and operated with offices in Tracy and Stockton. SunPower by The Solar Quote is committed to helping families reduce their energy costs. For more information visit sunpowerbythesolarquote.com For more information contact: Jennifer Burroughs [email protected] (888) 944-6765 [email protected] www.sunpowerbythesolarquote.com SOURCE SunPower by The Solar Quote Related Links http://www.sunpowerbythesolarquote.com "Maui Wowi's Cyber Monday deal comes at a great time for coffee lovers," said Jenni Pollack, national marketing manager for Maui Wowi. "Not only can our customers share rich, delicious coffee as gifts for family and friends this holiday season, but they can order our premium coffee for themselves and holiday guests. This way, everyone can stay energized and caffeinated during the busy shopping season." The Maui Mountain Roast is a fan favorite, limited time only blend that makes a great gift for any coffee connoisseur. Made with beans cultivated in the premier coffee growing conditions of Maui, this bold coffee blend includes subtle hints of wild berry with an earthy finish. Other popular choices include dark roasts like the Molokai blend or flavored coffees like Toasted Coconut or Chocolate Macadamia Nut. Maui Wowi harvests its coffee beans from Hawaii's Kona District, Molokai, Maui and Kauai regions, which are known for their rich volcanic soil, perfect for growing coffee that is smooth and less acidic. To order, visit the online store at: shop.mauiwowi.com. About Maui Wowi Since 1982, Maui Wowi has embraced the Hawaiian culture and has been serving paradise in a cup since the day it began, over 30 years ago. From event carts, mall kiosks and stand-alone retail locations, Maui Wowi offers premium smoothies, as well as gourmet Hawaiian coffees and espresso beverages. The company maintains strong community involvement through fundraising efforts by its franchisees, in addition to Team Karma; an initiative that promotes corporate responsibility and giving back to the community. The brand has more than 450 operating units and an online store. In November 2015, Maui Wowi was acquired by Kahala Brands, one of the fastest growing franchising companies in the world with a portfolio of 22 quick-service restaurant brands and approximately 2900 locations in 28 countries. For more information about Maui Wowi, visit www.MauiWowi.com. For more information about Kahala Brands, visit www.KahalaBrands.com. SOURCE Maui Wowi Related Links http://www.MauiWowi.com She earned her J.D., cum laude, from Case Western Reserve University School of Law, where she graduated with a double concentration in Patent Law and Health Law, each with honors. While at Case Western, Micalizzi received two CALI Excellence Awards, the ABA/BNA Award for Excellence in the Study of IP and the Arthur E. Petersilge Award. She received a B.S., cum laude, in Biochemistry and Humanities from Villanova University, where she was a presidential scholar. Prior to joining McDonald Hopkins, Micalizzi served as a legal extern with Cleveland Clinic Innovations and Parker Hannifin, as well as a legal intern with the Milton A. Kramer Law Clinic, Health Clinic. Micalizzi can be reached at [email protected] or 216.348.5844. About McDonald Hopkins Founded in 1930, McDonald Hopkins is a business advisory and advocacy law firm with locations in Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, Miami, and West Palm Beach. With more than 50 service and industry teams, the firm has the expertise and knowledge to meet the growing number of legal and business challenges our clients face. For more information about McDonald Hopkins, visit mcdonaldhopkins.com. CONTACT: Deborah W. Kelm McDonald Hopkins LLC 600 Superior Avenue, East, Suite 2100 Cleveland, Ohio 44114 Phone: 216.348.5733 Email: [email protected] SOURCE McDonald Hopkins Related Links http://www.mcdonaldhopkins.com NEW YORK, Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Mesothelioma Compensation Center is a passionate resource for US Navy Veterans with mesothelioma wanting the best possible financial compensation if they were exposed to asbestos in a navy ship's or submarine's engine room or reactor. The group is encouraging all US Navy Veterans who have recently been diagnosed with mesothelioma due to asbestos exposure on a ship or submarine to contact them at 800-714-0303. As the group would like to explain anytime, "To get the best possible financial compensation results, a US Navy Veteran with mesothelioma will need the services of some of the nation's most capable mesothelioma attorneys to help." http://MesotheliomaCompensationCenter.Com US Navy Engine Room US Navy The types of US Navy ship engine rooms the Mesothelioma Compensation Center is focused on include: Oil Boiler system Gas turbine Nuclear Reactor The Mesothelioma Compensation Center says, "We have experience assisting US Navy Veterans who were exposed to asbestos in a navy ship's engine room as a boiler technician, assigned to a ship's engine room as an EN, or assigned as a machinist, mechanic, electrician, fireman, steamfitter, or pipefitter. We also have experience working with US Navy Veterans who were exposed to asbestos on a nuclear aircraft carrier, a Los Angeles Class Submarine, or an Ohio Class Submarine. "Our number one priority is to assist US Navy Veterans, confirmed to have mesothelioma, in receiving the very best possible financial compensation. As we would also like to discuss, we are extremely passionate about making certain that a US Navy Veteran with mesothelioma has direct access to the nation's top lawyers who do not overcharge their clients." "If we had one incredibly vital compensation tip for a US Navy Veteran with mesothelioma it would be to call us at 800-714-0303. We want to provide information on lawyers that consistently produce the best possible compensation results for people in this circumstance. Simultaneously, we educate Veteran and their family on how to avoid mesothelioma marketing law firms who work to sell cases to other law firms. US Navy Veterans with mesothelioma are not a commodity." http://MesotheliomaCompensationCenter.Com For a very good description of what is required of a US Navy Sailor to get a EN (Engine Room) rating please refer to the following website: https://www.navycs.com/navy-jobs/engineman.html High-risk work groups for exposure to asbestos include Veterans of the US Navy, power plant workers, shipyard workers, steel mill workers, oil refinery workers, factory workers, plumbers, electricians, welders, pipefitters, millwrights, pipefitters, miners, auto mechanics, machinists, pulp or paper mill workers, printers, firemen, rail road workers and construction workers. In most instances people with mesothelioma were 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, based on the calls the Mesothelioma Compensation Center receives a US Navy Veteran with mesothelioma could live in any state including New York, Florida, California, Texas, Illinois, Ohio, Iowa, Indiana, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, Idaho, or Alaska. 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: https://www.cancer.gov/types/mesothelioma. Media Contact: Michael Thomas 800-714-0303 [email protected] SOURCE Mesothelioma Compensation Center Related Links http://mesotheliomacompensationcenter.com PHOENIX, Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Metro Phoenix Bank (OTCPink: MPHX)("Bank") announced the addition of Eric J. Grubelich, CFA to its Board of Directors. Stephen P. Haggard, President and Chief Executive Officer stated that "Mr. Grubelich's significant banking and capital markets expertise will be a great asset for the Bank as we embark on our next chapter of growth." Mr. Grubelich has 30 years of experience in the banking sector and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). As a professional bank investor, he specializes in the analysis and due diligence of regional and community banks. Most of his prior professional background focused on equity and debt bank research and sales for Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc. He also served as a senior advisor to a financial sector investment fund (Highlander Bank Holdings, LLC). Mr. Grubelich received a Bachelor's of Science degree from Lehigh University's College of Business and Economics. Metro Phoenix Bank has celebrated an important milestone, serving our business community for 10 years. Mr. Haggard commented that "we have championed through one of the most severe recessions in decades and never wavered from our mission of providing sincere customer service, practical market knowledge and entrepreneurial spirit, always striving to become Phoenix's premier provider of consistent, predictable and meaningful commercial bank services. Over the last decade, Metro Phoenix Bank has been a constant source of capital for small- to mid-sized businesses and real estate professionals." Looking ahead, Mr. Haggard indicates that the Bank's next chapter will continue to include a heavy emphasis in commercial banking services, a dedicated HOA deposit platform, Treasury Management services, and SBA lending. The Bank continues to be a leader in Arizona small business lending and operates with the highest SBA designation known as the Preferred Lender Program (PLP). About the Company Metro Phoenix Bank (MPB), Inc., headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, is a full-service community Bank that caters to small-to mid-sized businesses and real estate professionals. MPB offers deposit and loan product services as well as convenient on-line banking. The Bank was established in 2007 and operates out of a single corporate office. The company is traded over-the-counter as MPHX. For further information, please visit the website: www.metrophoenixbank.com. For more information: Visit: www.metrophoenixbank.com Call: (602) 346-1800 Email: [email protected] SOURCE Metro Phoenix Bank Related Links http://www.metrophoenixbank.com AMSTERDAM, Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Bitfury Group, the world's largest full-service Blockchain technology company, today announced it is investing $5M in Moeco, an IoT platform and hardware developer. Moeco is working to build a global network of cells that enable users to integrate existing IoT networks, or deploy new ones, becoming their own in-house service provider. "We are very excited to invest in Moeco, whose work and vision aligns with our own ambitious goals," said Valery Vavilov, CEO of the Bitfury Group. "Moeco is a service platform that enables customers to deploy citywide IoT networks using Blockchain technology, and the Bitfury Group provides a full range of Blockchain services and solutions that can help them do just that. Together, I believe Moeco and Bitfury will make great progress in bringing IoT devices to the Blockchain." To achieve its business goals, Moeco plans to use Bitfury's Exonum, a new protocol that helps businesses move, manage and secure data and assets. "Moeco's goal is to 'uberize' IoT connectivity by delivering data to the right place in a secure way and making sure the gateways are compensated fairly. The p2p nature of the underlying blockchain technology will help us scale the system quickly and efficiently," said Dmitry Gorilovskiy, Moeco's founder and CEO. "This is why we are especially excited about our decision to use Bitfury's Exonum protocol. Exonum is at the core of the Moeco platform. This round of investment will help us speed up the trials with core clients in retail and smart city areas and bring in more resources for Exonum's development at the same time." Moeco enables device manufacturers to become global service providers, meaning that IoT devices will work anywhere, without limitations and the need to forge a patchwork of complicated contracts with carriers. About Moeco http://www.moeco.io With Moeco, anyone can become a IoT provider by installing a dedicated Access Point or a mobile application and earn revenue for each connection. Moeco unites independent IoT gateways and existing networks to form a global scale network, providing roaming-free environment for end users, corporate customers, hardware manufacturers, and service providers. To deliver its vision, Moeco relies on two "last mile" technologies Lora WAN (in the form of always-on dedicated gateways most suitable for businesses, with range of about 15km), and Bluetooth Low Energy-enabled smartphones that act as mobile gateways. The latter option provides the best value for non-critical consumer and big data applications. About The Bitfury Group http://bitfury.com The Bitfury Group is a leading full service Blockchain technology company and one of the largest private infrastructure providers in the Blockchain ecosystem. Contacts: Dmitry +1 347 688 2390 [email protected] SOURCE Moeco MCLEAN, Va., Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- There is no better time to teach kids about cultural diversity than at the holidays and there is no better way than by having fun. That's exactly what the Hindu on the Bindu does, joining the Elf on the Shelf and Mensch on a Bench. Not only does the Hindu on the Bindu celebrate Diwali, the festival of lights, but it inspires children all year long to learn about their family traditions and share them with others. That's what motivated David Euler to create this adorable cuddly doll and impressive storybook. "I am Jewish. My wife is Hindu. I decided to make a doll that is universal and gives Hindu kids like my children something not only for just Diwali but to enjoy all year long," says Euler, a renowned acupuncturist who also co-directed and taught the acupuncture course for physicians at Harvard Medical School for 16 years. "The Hindu on the Bindu lives within all of us. He is our inner child, our spirit of imagination, and our connection to creativity and hope." Given today's digital world, imagination and the ability to interact decreases, says Euler. "It's called social media, but it's actually anti-social. Today's technology is highly addictive and changes brain chemistry and I want to counter that. It is my hope that Hindu on the Bindu will encourage children to talk and reconnect with family members, friends and neighbors." The bindu is the symbol of all beginnings, he explains, the ultimate opportunity for all creation. "If you know where you are coming from, you know where you are going," stresses Euler. His hope is the product inspires children to tap into their creativity that results in them writing stories that can then be shared through the Hindu on the Bindu website at: www.hinduonthebindu.com and then printed and published. From Friday, November 24 to Sunday, November 26, a 20 percent discount is available by using the code BlackFriday2017. SOURCE Hindu on the Bindu Related Links http://www.hinduonthebindu.com LOS ANGELES, Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- X-Men, which ran five seasons on Fox-TV (1992-95), garnered exceptionally high ratings for a Saturday morning cartoon, and earned worldwide critical praise for its dark, serious nature. The new book Previously on X-Men celebrates the 25th anniversary of the show. Co-developer and head writer Eric Lewald provides an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at the struggles to launch the series and maintain both the quality and themes of the comic books. Previously On X-Men book cover. X-Men: The Animated Series promotional image. According to Lewald, X-Men: TAS was "the single most successful animated action-adventure series of the last 25 years," both in America and throughout the world. He adds, "The series has played in syndication nearly non-stop over the 20 years since it finished its network run, and all five [seasons] of its DVDs are Amazon bestsellers." But it was not an easy sell to television. "Even a modest-budgeted 'kids show' is a multi-million-dollar risk," Lewald explains. "Network executives must believe they can get a large audience to be profitable, or their jobs or even the existence of a smaller network could be in jeopardy. From 1966 to 1989, there had been 11 attempts at Marvel TV series; none were hits. On top of that, the networks' recent successes had been young, light, and funny. X-Men: TAS was older, dark, and intense." Despite this, Fox-TV decided to take a chance with X-Men. The creative staff's biggest challenge was to remain faithful to the comic books. According to Lewald, "For a century, Hollywood told heroic comic-book stories as cheap, short kiddie diversions. As comics evolved in the '70s and '80s into a far more serious storytelling form, Hollywood hadn't noticed. Like Star Trek or Sherlock Holmes, the X-Men had millions of fans, so Mark Edens who laid out the first 26 stories with me and I felt a duty to the world of the X-Men to retain its spirit. Luckily, the people with the most say on the project backed us, allowing us to keep the integrity of our vision. Without their support, X-Men could have ended up being X-Babies! "We showed superheroes as realistic adult characters in serious dramas. This was a risk, but the resulting worldwide success helped expand the audience who appreciated the comic books into the hundreds of millions who watched our show. "There were no Marvel movies before our series, despite their success as comics. In the 20 years since we finished our network run in 1997, 'Marvel superhero' has become the most successful category of movies in the world jumpstarted, appropriately, by the first X-Men movie in 2000. Much as westerns, musicals, and crime dramas had been for decades, 'superhero' is now its own movie and TV genre. X-Men: TAS blazed that trail." The new 450-page hardback, Previously on X-Men, is published by Jacobs/Brown Press. Additional information is available at www.jacobsbrownmediagroup.com. For a review copy, or to interview the author, email [email protected]. Contact: Sondra Burrows 818-856-1322 [email protected] SOURCE Jacobs/Brown Press Related Links http://www.jacobsbrownmediagroup.com WASHINGTON, Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Students at U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York, will speak with NASA astronauts living, working and doing research aboard the International Space Station at 9:15 a.m. EST Monday, Nov. 27. The 20-minute, Earth-to-space call will air live on NASA Television and the agency's website. Randy Bresnik, Mark Vande Hei and Joe Acaba will be asked questions by students. The discussion will include topics about life aboard the space station, NASA's deep space exploration plans, and scientific research in space. This is Bresnik's second mission to the station, and he serves as the station's Expedition 53 commander. Bresnik launched to the orbiting laboratory on July 28 and is scheduled to return to Earth in December. Vande Hei and Acaba both arrived at the space station on Sept. 12. This is Vande Hei's first space mission and Acaba's third. Both will return to Earth in February 2018. Vande Hei was an assistant professor of physics at West Point. He and his crewmates will speak to cadets in the Department of Physics and Nuclear Engineering. West Point was selected through a competitive process to host a downlink with the station. Media interested in attending the event should contact Kimberly Lewis at [email protected] or 845-938-7907. United States Military Academy is at 900 Washington Road in West Point. Linking students directly to astronauts aboard the space station provides unique, authentic experiences designed to enhance student learning, performance and interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). This in-flight education downlink is an integral component of NASA's Year of Education on Station which provides extensive space station-related resources and opportunities to students and educators. Follow the astronauts on social media: https://www.twitter.com/NASA_astronauts/ See videos and lesson plans highlighting research on the International Space Station at: https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation/ SOURCE NASA Related Links http://www.nasa.gov BOSTON, Nov. 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- On November 16, 2017, OneUnited Bank, the largest black owned bank in America, teamed up with Charlemagne Tha God and The Breakfast Club, a progressive national black radio platform, on their Change4Change Radiothon. In an effort to support the "troops in the field" of the social justice movement, The Radiothon succeeded in raising over $700,000 to benefit The Gathering for Justice, an organization whose mission is to promote social justice, eliminate racial inequalities and prevent child incarceration. Harry Belafonte founded The Gathering for Justice in 2005 after he witnessed a news report of a 5-year-old black girl being handcuffed and arrested in her classroom for "being unruly." The organization is the fiscal sponsor for Colin Kaepernick's Know Your Rights Campaign and The National Women's March. Celebrities including Diddy, Kevin Hart, Cardi B., Eminem, DJ Khaled, will.i.am, Ludacris, Fat Joe, Swiss Beatz, Remy Ma and Nick Cannon donated generously to the Radiothon. But the real heroes were the thousands of Breakfast Club listeners who donated $1, $5, $10, & $20. OneUnited Bank's support of Change4Change demonstrates the true power of "collective economics" and the positive ripple effect it can have. During a live interview about his $100,000 donation, Diddy commented, "It's incredible. This is how we should use our power." Teri Williams, President & COO of OneUnited Bank, states that now is the best time to build personal and community wealth by using technology and financial literacy. We also need to use our collective economic power to defend ourselves and fight for social justice. OneUnited Bank encourages the Black community and its allies to not only move their money or #BankBlack, but also move their minds to do more business with Black owned businesses or #BuyBlack and #BuildBlack. The Change4Change partnership exemplifies OneUnited Bank's commitment to the social and economic justice movements. The Breakfast Club will take donations through December 1, 2017. Media Contact: Suzan McDowell, President, Circle of One Marketing [email protected] (305) 576-3790 ONEUNITED BANK: OneUnited Bank is the premier bank for urban communities, the largest Black-owned bank, the first Black internet bank and a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI). Its mission is to provide affordable financial services to support economic development in urban communities and maintain superior financial performance to maximize shareholder value. OneUnited is an FDIC insured bank and an equal housing lender. SOURCE OneUnited Bank Related Links http://www.oneunited.com OAK PARK, Mich., Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Ooze Inc, a vaporizer and accessories company within the concentrate, tobacco, and dry herb industry announced they have acquired the distribution rights for King Palm Hemp Wraps. This partnership opens many doors for Ooze Inc's already impressive catalog of products available for wholesalers. "We first came across King Palm Wraps a year ago and were introduced soon after. We loved the product and thought it would be the perfect opportunity for a partnership," said Dan Hannawa. With how quickly the industry is growing, it is only a matter of time before more brands see the opportunity of partnering up to reach a larger audience. King Palm saw this is as a prime opportunity to create a partnership. "The distribution agreement with Ooze is a great partnership for many reasons. Ooze had been purchasing King Palm products from us when we first released these game-changing rolls into the market. They quickly realized the positive impact we offer to smokers by providing an all-natural leaf that is already pre-rolled, and ready-to-fill with our provided packing stick and doubling to that value by being the 'World's Best Smokable Leaf'. Many of our avid users will tell you that our leaf burns very slow and produces a white ash, which usually results from a clean grow. King Palm is highly passionate about producing and delivering a truly amazing leaf and smoking experience, and by partnering with Ooze it will let us focus on just that. Stay tuned for the different kinds of leaves we plan on releasing towards the start of 2019. We would like to thank all our fans for their support as we keep innovating in the natural-smokables space." Daniel Sanchez Managing Partner at KingPalm.com ABOUT OOZE INC. Ooze Inc. is a Michigan based company looking to enhance the consumer experience like never before. Our products are ideal for concentrates, tobacco, and essential oils. Ooze sells throughout the country to consumers, wholesalers, distributors, and retailers of all sizes. If you would like more information about this information and how to do wholesale or distribution with Ooze Inc., please contact Dan Hannawa at (855) 669-3420 or email at [email protected]. SOURCE Ooze Inc. PLEASANTON, Calif., Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- OpenVPN, Inc. (https://openvpn.net), has a warning for all small businesses out there: Get your online security ready before Small Business Saturday. "For businesses, any disruption in service can cause serious damage," said Francis Dinha, CEO of OpenVPN, Inc. "Not only is there harm to the actual business in terms of potential legal issues, clients could be lost forever if they believe their personal information is not safe with that business." A study commissioned by Bank of America Merchant Services shows that 31% of small businesses that reported a data breach spent more than $50,000 to resolve the issue, not to mention the potential cost and reputational harm a data breach can inflict. "What the criminals do is they hijack a bunch of computers sending a variety of data packets to bring down a small business site," Dinha explained. "Think of it as a lot of traffic that jams access to your business." This kind of attack is called a DDOS, he explained, or a "Denial of Service Attack." And just like a traffic jam, it can be started with just one careless driver or in this case employee. "Having one of your employees surfing a seemingly harmless website could unexpectedly download malicious software to your computer system, which in turn, can shut your entire business operation down," said Gary McCloud, VP of Business Development for OpenVPN. Why? Because even a "secured" wifi is simply not as safe as it sounds. Dinha says, "Yes, a 'secured wifi' may exist through a 3rd party provider, but the encryption is not all that safe." The BofA Study showed that 20% of consumers would never return to a business if they knew their personal data had been compromised. Even the federal government has set up a slew of online safety guidelines for small businesses, recognizing the danger and potential threat to businesses that employ between 20 and 100 employees. "While the large companies have an infrastructure to prevent cyber attacks, some of the small to medium sized businesses are the ones who can be the most vulnerable if they don't protect themselves using additional security measures," Dinha said. His recommendation is to employ the use of a Virtual Private Network (VPN) that encrypts information on the way to a site and then re-encrypts it on the way back. His company, OpenVPN and its small business product Private Tunnel prevent more than 1 million cyber attacks each day. Private Tunnel (https://privatetunnel.com) is a simple download and compatible across all major operating systems, including mobile, laptop and desktops for as little as $6 a month. Small Business Saturday, started in 2010 to support smaller businesses, nestled itself in between Black Friday, traditionally a big box store event and Cyber Monday, when shoppers would find the biggest sales online. "However, we all know this year, the so-called shopping calendar has completely changed," said Dinha. "Cyber Monday deals are already underway, and there's no way to 'undo' a cyber attack," he said. "Once it happens, it could damage your company irreparably." About OpenVPN, Inc. OpenVPN, Inc., is used by more than 100,000 businesses worldwide and its consumer and small business product, Private Tunnel, prevent more than one million cyber attacks each day. The award-winning open source VPN protocol has been downloaded more than 50 million times, worldwide. SOURCE OpenVPN, Inc. Related Links https://www.openvpn.net TEL AVIV, Israel, November 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Paygilant's on-device fraud prevention solution meets the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) most recent Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPI) guidelines. The latest RBI guidelines from October 2017 require PPI issuers to meet the challenges of fraud and customer protection with a strong risk management system in place. These guidelines include: mandatory two-factor authentication for virtual cards, successive wallet payment transactions, and for increasing capped transaction values. Other requirements for wallets include an inactivity time feature, restriction on multiple login attempts, a separate login required for the wallet, a cooling period before adding beneficiaries and a check on the number of transactions per day per beneficiary. These regulations have been introduced in light of the overnight success of mobile wallets in India after the Prime Minister Modi's demonetization policy of last November. According to a recent join report by Google and Boston Consulting Group, the digital payments industry is estimated to reach $500 billion by 2020 and contribute to 15% of India's GDP. The RBI's intention is to encourage the growth of digital wallet transactions but also protect its citizens against payment and identity fraud. Payment providers fear that such strict guidelines will cause friction in transactions and hurt mobile wallet adoption in India. "Instead of additional authentication which negatively impacts the user experience, Paygilant allows banks and mobile wallets to embrace robust risk-based authentication for all transaction amounts on mobile devices in the pre-transaction phase. Paygilant's ability to provide visibility into the payment activity of the user through in-depth behavioral mapping can accurately identify fraudulent attempts and trigger authentication only upon these suspicious and risky transactions. This type of risk-based fraud detection brings greater security and significantly fewer false positives than current anti-fraud solutions, as well as a positive customer experience," says Ziv Cohen, CEO of Paygilant. About Paygilant: Paygilant provides an on-device mobile payment fraud detection solution that minimizes both mobile payment fraud as well as customer authentication friction. The solution detects fraud on the mobile device itself in the pre-transaction phase using device specific parameters as well as user behavior and transaction history information. Contact: Tamar Weiss Marketing Manager +972-52-877-1099 [email protected] SOURCE Paygilant CAMPBELL, Calif., Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Dr. Radoslav "Rado" Danilak, CEO of Silicon Valley startup Tachyum Inc., is among the invited speakers at conference "Danube Valley: From Manufacturers to Innovators," organized by GLOBSEC, InfraPartners Management LLP, and The Slovak Alliance for Innovation Economy. Dr. Danilak will present on a panel and Q&A about the future of energy and mobility. Danilak and participants have the honor of being introduced by H. E. Andrej Kiska, President of the Slovak Republic. The event will be held November 30 in Bratislava in the Slovak Republic's Danube Valley, considered Central Europe's Silicon Valley. GLOBSEC, an independent, non-partisan, non-governmental organization and think tank, advises and publishes on global security policy, conducts research, and unites experts in foreign policy, cybersecurity, defense, energy, and other globally critical fields. Its Bratislava Forum is one of the world's top conferences on global security in the world, and other events and forums are attracting elite decision-makers in politics, technology, and academia. Danilak and other experts will discuss how a growing world population, climate change, and finite energy resources are affecting worldwide industries and driving greater innovation for complex and globally applicable solutions that combine energy production, efficiency, distribution, transportation, and storage. "As a U.S. citizen born in Slovakia, it's an extraordinary privilege to share the stage with President Kiska, and to address him on how to overcome the challenge of powering an exponentially growing data center industry," said Danilak. "This is the single most critical challenge facing global data centers, and as 80 percent of the world's energy still comes from fossil fuels, rising energy costs and increased pollution are foregone conclusions if we do not take action." Danilak is well known as an innovator in bringing low-cost flash to consumer and enterprise markets on the strength of his landmark flash memory controller chip developed at SandForce and his game changing ultra-dense, all-flash arrays at Skyera. Now, Danilak and a group of industry veterans are designing a high-performance, ultra-low power Cloud Chip aimed directly at the hyperscale data center market and cloud computing centers with his latest venture, Tachyum. Follow Tachyum https://twitter.com/tachyum https://www.linkedin.com/company/tachyum https://www.facebook.com/Tachyum/ About Tachyum Named for the Greek "tachy," meaning speed, combined with "-um," indicating an element, Tachyum emerged from stealth mode in 2017 engineering disruptive intelligent information processing products. Tachyum's founders have a track record of delivering transformational products to market, by solving significant device physics challenges. And they are about to do it again. For more information visit: http://tachyum.com. Contact: Mark Smith JPR Communications 818-798-1472 [email protected] SOURCE Tachyum Inc. Related Links http://www.tachyum.com Kim praised the focus and determination of his team: "I am proud of my team's hard work and ability to go the extra mile for the client, and it is a great honor to be recognized with this award." As a leading provider of outsourced marketing and sales solutions, Opus Business Consulting brings the personal connection back in the client-customer relationship. The firm uses a face-to-face approach to build strong global relationships with both customers and partners, working with recognizable brands to increase market share and expand their customer base via personalized marketing and sales campaigns. The team of trained sales professionals at Opus Business Consulting not only serves clients with integrity and professionalism but also works to create a positive environment where team members can grow and succeed. The company seeks to create a culture that offers opportunities for personal and professional growth. Opus Business Consulting also gives back to the local community, supporting various nonprofits including Operation Smile and the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. Like Opus Business Consulting on Facebook and follow them on Twitter. About Opus Business Consulting Based in Philadelphia, Opus Business Consulting is a privately owned outsourced marketing and sales company that works with leading clients in telecommunications and related industries to increase market share. Opus Business Consulting provides team members with abundant opportunities for growth and leadership while offering excellent service to the client and the customer. For more information, call 412-922-6863 or contact them at http://opusbusinessconsulting.com/. Contact: Jongmin Kim 412-922-6863 SOURCE Opus Business Consulting Related Links http://opusbusinessconsulting.com OVERLAND PARK, Kan., Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- QTS Realty Trust (NYSE: QTS), an international provider of data centers, managed hosting and cloud services, today announced that for the third year in a row, Travis Wright, Site Director at QTS' Irving and Fort Worth data centers, was named to The Dallas 500 a list of North Texas' most influential business leaders compiled by the editors of D CEO, a publication of D Magazine. D CEO recognizes the region's most powerful leaders in 60 business categories and compiles the list based on extensive contacts in local business circles, hundreds of interviews and months of research. The result is The Dallas 500, the definitive list of the most influential leaders in North Texas who make Dallas-Fort Worth a powerful economic force. "Dallas is the second-largest data center market in the U.S. and a key part of QTS' growth strategy," said Dan Bennewitz, Chief Operating Officer, Sales and Marketing QTS. "We are seeing success in this competitive landscape because of great people like Travis and his team that differentiate us from other providers." Wright, who has a combined 35 years in critical facility and energy efficiency management experience, has led the QTS Irving data center since October 2014 and managed the opening of QTS' newest data center in Fort Worth. Wright continues to oversee the state-of-the-art, mega data center facilities, and manages more than 80 full-time and contract employees. "I am again humbled by making it into The Dallas 500 list for the third year in a row. I owe a great deal of my success to QTS' data center team members who make a positive impact each day for our customers and in the community since our opening in 2014," said Wright. Last week, Wright played host to more than 100 attendees at QTS' Investor Day on November 13 at the Fort-Worth facility. At the event, QTS presented its Software-Defined Data Center Platform and announced the launch of QTS CloudRampTM, a first-of-its-kind colocation solution in collaboration with AWS. About QTS QTS Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: QTS) is a leading data center and managed cloud provider, offering a comprehensive portfolio of IT solutions built on the industry's first Software-Defined Data Center Platform. QTS is a trusted partner to more than 1,100 customers throughout North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. QTS owns, operates or manages more than six million square feet of data center space. QTS provides cutting-edge technology; flexible, scalable infrastructure; and an industry-lead customer experience. Visit QTS at www.qtsdatacenters.com, call toll-free 877.QTS.DATA or follow on Twitter @DataCenters_QTS. Media Contact: Sharon Goldmacher communications 21 404.814.1330 [email protected] SOURCE QTS Realty Trust, Inc. Related Links http://www.qtsdatacenters.com MUNICH, Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Rohde & Schwarz, a leading supplier of test and measurement equipment, is enabling the testing and validation of sub-6 GHz 3GPP 5G new radio (NR) based devices. R&S CMW100 communications manufacturing test set is preparing the industry for 5G new radio (NR) sub-6 GHz devices 3GPP's 5G NR will support frequency ranges up to 52.6 GHz, but initial 5G designs will use frequencies below 6 GHz with a focus on 3.5 GHz. For these sub-6 GHz carrier frequencies, 3GPP currently discusses a maximum bandwidth per component carrier of 100 MHz. Thus, the R&S CMW100 communications manufacturing test set with a measurement bandwidth of 160 MHz is ready for testing initial 5G NR sub-6 GHz wireless devices. Thanks to its high measurement speed, the R&S CMW100 is an ideal solution for high-volume production environments. The flexible testing solution is suitable for all types of wireless devices, supporting LTE, WLAN and Bluetooth besides 5G NR sub-6 GHz. This makes the R&S CMW100 a cost-effective solution for mass production of cellular and non-cellular (wireless connectivity) devices calibrated and verified in so-called non-signaling mode (analyzer/generator). Manufacturers of handsets and devices profit from a variety of measurement functionalities with a single investment in equipment, training and adaptation costs. Anton Messmer, Vice President Mobile Radio Testers at Rohde & Schwarz, said: "The evolution to 5G networks will employ a wider range of spectrum bands. Utilizing spectrum bands below 6 GHz is the decisive aspect of enabling deployments with reliable network coverage. The R&S CMW100 demonstrates Rohde & Schwarz capability to support 5G NR sub-6 GHz and will help accelerate the 5G ecosystem." The latest 160 MHz version of R&S CMW100 is available now from Rohde & Schwarz. Dedicated vector signal analysis and generator software options supporting 5G NR sub-6 GHz will be available in 2018. For more information on the R&S CMW100 test set, visit www.rohde-schwarz.com/ad/press/cmw100. To learn more about the R&S CMW100 test set for 5G NR sub-6 GHz, watch the video here: https://youtu.be/a409tH8z6oE. Press contacts: Europe (headquarters): Christian Mokry (phone: +49 89 4129 13052; email: [email protected]) North America: Pam Sanders (phone: +1 410 910 7908; email: [email protected]) Asia Pacific: Wen Shi Tong (phone: +65 6 307-0029; email: [email protected]) Contacts for readers: Customer Support Europe, Africa, Middle East: +49 89 4129 12345 [email protected] Customer Support North America: +1 888 TEST RSA (+1 888 837 87 72) [email protected] Customer Support Latin America: +1 410 910 79 88 [email protected] Customer Support Asia Pacific: +65 65 13 04 88 [email protected] Customer Support China: +86 800 810 8228 or +86 400 650 5896 [email protected] Rohde & Schwarz The Rohde & Schwarz technology group develops, produces and markets innovative information and communications technology products for professional users. Rohde & Schwarz focuses on test and measurement, broadcast and media, cybersecurity, secure communications and monitoring and network testing, areas that address many different industry and government-sector market segments. Founded more than 80 years ago, the independent company has an extensive sales and service network in more than 70 countries. On June 30, 2017, Rohde & Schwarz had approximately 10,500 employees. The group achieved a net revenue of approximately EUR 1.9 billion in the 2016/2017 fiscal year (July to June). The company is headquartered in Munich, Germany, and also has regional hubs in Asia and the USA. R&S is a registered trademark of Rohde & Schwarz GmbH & Co. KG. All press releases, including photos for downloading, are available on the Internet at http://www.press.rohde-schwarz.com. SOURCE Rohde & Schwarz TOKYO, Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Start Today USA, the American subsidiary of Japan's largest fashion e-commerce company, announces the launch of the ZOZOSUIT, a revolutionary body measurement device. Designed in anticipation of the launch of Start Today's first private label collection, ZOZO, the suit's technology will allow the company to create clothes that are guaranteed to fit, every time. Start Today USA Launches Pre-Orders Of The ZOZOSUITt, A Revolutionary Body Measurement Device To Help Deliver Perfectly-Fitting Clothing Starting November 22nd, U.S. customers can pre-order the ZOZOSUIT for free* at zozosuit.com, with orders shipping in Spring 2018. The ZOZOSUIT features patented sensor technology that is capable of capturing 15,000 precise measurements unique to each customer. Enabled with Bluetooth, the ZOZOSUIT seamlessly syncs with the ZOZO app and allows customers to upload their measurements from the comfort of their own home. Once their measurements have been captured, customers can shop the ZOZO collection, men's and women's high-quality basics including denim, t-shirts and coats, in the world's first size-free e-commerce experience. Start Today has likewise developed proprietary algorithms that utilize machine learning to process its growing database of body data. These algorithms process tens of thousands of measurements in minutes to match customers with ZOZO clothing that is perfectly sized to their unique body. With the ZOZOSUIT and ZOZO collection, shoppers will never again have to debate which size to select or struggle with common fit issues. In Japan, where Start Today is globally headquartered, the ZOZOSUIT launches to the public today. It will be available exclusively to members of ZOZOTOWN, the country's largest e-commerce fashion website. In Japan, data from the suit's sensors will help guide shoppers to find the best fit from the thousands of brands the site currently offers and to shop Start Today's private label clothing. Shipments of the ZOZOSUIT to ZOZOTOWN customers will start at the end of November 2017. *Shipping and handling fees may apply. ABOUT START TODAY Founded in 1998 by CEO, Yusaku Maezawa, Start Today has grown into Japan's largest fashion e-commerce company, with $2.6 Billion in annual sales. Maezawa is also one of the world's leading art collectors, recognized for his record-breaking purchase of Jean-Michel Basquiat's Untitled in 2017. Start Today's portfolio includes ZOZOTOWN, Japan's go-to marketplace for fashion, which welcomes over 25 million visitors every month. With the ZOZOSUIT and the upcoming debut of its private label brand, Start Today is bringing its revolutionary technology and a size-free shopping experience to customers across the globe. PRESS CONTACT JBC Melissa Duren Conner, Partner & Managing Director [email protected] | 646.896.1397 SOURCE Start Today USA PRINCETON, N.J., Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Systech International, a global technology leader in serialization, product safety, and consumer and brand protection, and NKP Pharma, an innovator in the field of designing and manufacturing pharmaceutical packaging machinery, today announced a strategic agreement. The accord allows the two companies to provide software/hardware solutions to the Indian pharmaceutical industry that meet serialization and traceability regulations. "Regionally specific serialization regulations are rapidly rolling out and Indian pharma must meet them to ensure full compliance in order to continue serving a global market," said Harry Saint-Preux, Director - Global Alliances & Channels. "Our partnership with NKP allows for simplified regulatory compliance with a high-end, integrated hardware and software solution." "Systech is the gold standard in the industry for providing premium solutions to meet global serialization and traceability mandates," said Darshan Mevada, Managing Director of NKP. "Our relationship with Systech allows us to provide a fully integrated software-hardware solution that will verifiably meet U.S. DSCSA, EU FMD, and other regulations," said Mevada. To discuss solutions, compliance, and integrated capabilities, meet with Systech and NKP Pharma at CPhI India, 28-30 November 2017 in Mumbai , Stand B50/Hall 6. Systech's software solutions are used by 19 of the top 20 global pharmaceutical companies. Systech is the only company that offers the full stack of Level 1 to Level 5 solutions. Systech, in tandem with NKP's hardware and integration services, can provide the Indian industry with complete and unified serialization solutions that meet audit and validation requirements. About Systech International: Systech pioneered serialization and is defining the future of authentication. For 30 years, Systech has led best practices for global brands across pharmaceutical, life sciences, and consumer packaged goods industries. Systech's presence includes offices in North America, Europe, India, and a partner network in South America, the Middle East, China, and Japan. Cloud-based authentication services are available to companies who want to uniquely identify, authenticate, and trace products from manufacturer to consumer. About NKP Pharma: NKP is a world leader in the field of designing and manufacturing pharmaceutical packaging machineries. Its wide range of pharmaceutical machineries are equipped with the most advanced features for a broad spectrum of industry applications. NKP is committed to client satisfaction with the best usages of its machines. Contact: Systech International Stacey Owens-Perrotta T +1 609 235 3639 [email protected] SOURCE Systech International Related Links http://systechone.com According to Dr. Li Jiming's introduction, the chief engineer of Changyu, Changyu Cabernet carries on the adjustment to the matrix, the previous eighth-generation Changyu Cabernet 4 series of products optimized into the current special election level, the collection level, the master level. The special election Cabernet is with rich fruit; the collection Cabernet is very prominent; and the master Cabernet is with complex aroma and balanced taste. Changyu Cabernet upgraded completely won the high praise of the guests. Robert Geddes MW, the world wine master, said, "The first feeling that the ninth generation Changyu Cabernet gave me is that California meets the Australian Colavara, which surprises us with a lot of fruity and floral." Jancis Robsion MW, one of the top three wine critics in the world, played a 16-point mark for Changyu Cabernet, which is an outstanding score, almost equal to the Bordeaux second-tier chateau. Anthony Laixia, chairman of the Federation of French Wine and Spirits Exporters, said he has visited Changyu several times. He believes that the quality of Changyu Cabernet Wine has greatly improved in these years. After entering the 21st century, Changyu Cabernet greatly accelerate the pace to the world, especially favored in Europe. Today, Changyu Cabernet has entered more than 5,000 sales in Europe, becoming well received by European consumers of Chinese wines. "There are reasons to believe that in the next five years or so, Changyu Cabernet's annual sale is expected to rise from 30 million to 50 million bottles," Sun Jian, Deputy General Manager of Changyu, said at the press conference. Image Attachments Links: http://asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=301392 http://asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=301393 SOURCE Yantai Changyu Pioneer Wine Co., Ltd. SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The RealReal, the leading luxury consignment company, today announced the opening of its first San Francisco pop-up shop at 222 Stockton Street in Union Square. The two month pop-up shop marks the company's second brick-and-mortar store experience. It will feature one-of-a-kind-luxury items, including women's and men's fashion, fine jewelry, watches, home furnishings, decor and art, in addition to allowing clients to drop off consignment. Shoppers of the SF pop-up shop can expect a curated selection of everything from Birkin handbags and holiday dresses to a wall of the most sought after sneakers of the moment. The RealReal's staff of gemologists, art curators and authentication specialists will be on hand to answer questions and provide personalized service. The SF opening comes on the heels of a successful launch of the company's new flagship store at 80 Wooster in Soho, NY. The RealReal's foray into brick-and-mortar provides another touchpoint for its customers and consignors, and is another step toward bringing its experts forward to educate clients on the value of luxury consignment. "As a San Francisco-based company, we're excited to expand our brick-and-mortar footprint to the west coast and open our doors to the luxury shoppers and consignors of our hometown this holiday season," said The RealReal CEO and Founder Julie Wainwright. "We are always looking for new ways to offer our customers and consignors access to our experts on a personal level and our SF pop-up shop is another strategic move for us in that direction. We're excited to test the market and bring our unique luxury experience to the Bay Area." A portion of proceeds from the pop-up shop's opening night event will go toward Go Fund a Hero supporting the families of Bay Area firefighters. For more details please visit: https://promotion.therealreal.com/popupsf/ About The RealReal The RealReal is the leader in authenticated luxury consignment with a certified expert behind every single item. The company reinvented luxury resale and changed how people think about buying luxury goods. The RealReal provides the largest selection of pre-owned, authenticated luxury items including women's and men's fashion, fine jewelry, watches, fine art and home furnishings. Consignors earn up to 85% of the sale price and items sell quickly. The company has Luxury Consignment Offices in 7 US cities that offer free fine jewelry and watch valuations from certified gemologists, as well as a white glove consignment service in every city. The RealReal is a leader in the circular economy and an innovator in sustainable luxury. To learn more about The RealReal, visit www.therealreal.com. Press Contact: Natalie Seufferlein [email protected] (650) 823-5892 SOURCE The RealReal Related Links http://www.therealreal.com LUXEMBOURG, Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Australia On Monday, November 20, 2017, in Sydney, SPI Group achieved a significant legal victory in its 13 year defense of a litigation brought by Russian state-owned entity Federal Treasury Enterprise Sojuzplodoimport (FKP or FTE) over the ownership of the SPI Group's Stolichnaya trademarks in Australia. In what was acknowledged by the Federal Court of Australia to be an "exceptional step", the Court ordered that FKP's case against SPI be stayed until further notice. The Court confirmed that the Russian Federation was the "real plaintiff" in the proceeding, and the case is now suspended unless and until the Russian Federation produces documents that it has been withholding for years. The dispute stretches back to March 13, 2000, when Vladimir Putin issued an order requiring the "restoration" of the Stolichnaya trademarks to the state and instructing Russian state authorities to provide monthly reports on such efforts. Then, on July 6, 2001, the Russian government issued a secret resolution establishing a working group of representatives of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (V.G.Mishin); the General Prosecutor's Office (L.P.Kuleba); the Federal Security Service (A.A.Fatekhov); the representative of the Government in the Constitutional Court, Highest Arbitrazh Court and Supreme Court (M.Yu.Barschevsky); and other officials. The resolution appointed the then deputy Minister of Agriculture and later General Director of FKP, Vladimir Loginov, as the head of the working group. In its decision, the Australian Court referred to, among other things, the above-described order and resolution as evidencing the involvement of the Russian Federation in the Australian litigation. The Court noted the failure of the Russian Federation to produce numerous categories of documents, including: The monthly reports requested by Vladimir Putin from various senior Russian officials (including the Government of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of the Interior) in his March 2000 order. and the Ministry of the Interior) in his order. Documents that were seized by Russian law enforcement officials in multiple raids of SPI's premises in Moscow during the period from 1999 to 2007. during the period from 1999 to 2007. Documents contained in 'secret archives', including those kept by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation . . Documents and correspondence created or received by the above-mentioned working group. Documents concerning the process leading to the creation of FGUP (an entity from which FKP claims it received rights to the Stolichnaya trademarks, even though according to SPI, FGUP did not exist until 2001). If the Russian Federation does not produce the relevant documents by 30 November 2018, SPI may seek the formal dismissal of FKP's claim. This decision is a comprehensive win for SPI. The Court also ordered that FKP pay SPI's legal costs. United States In early November 2017, the Discovery Master appointed by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York granted a motion to compel in favour of SPI, and stayed discovery in the U.S. case for 45 days or until FKP completes production of documents from various agencies of the Russian Federation, whichever is longer. The Discovery Master ordered that nine categories of documents relevant to the parties' dispute over the U.S. Stolichnaya trademarks be produced from the Federal Agency for the Management of State Property; Rosalcohol; the Ministry of Agriculture; the Ministry of Property Relations of the Russian Federation; Rospatent; the Apparatus of the Russian Federation Government; and the Administration of the Russian Federation President. This marks a significant victory for SPI because the claims in relation to the U.S. trademarks cannot be fairly adjudicated without discovery from the Russian Federation. Brazil On October 31, 2017, the Federal Court of Appeal of Brazil announced a decision on the appeal in the Stolichnaya trademark case confirming the SPI Group's ownership of the trademarks. The Court of Appeal's decision was unanimous, with the Judges ruling 3-0 in favor of SPI. This decision marks another defeat for FKP and three other related parties, and comes after several interlocutory decisions, including at the Superior Court of Justice's level, and after the Federal Court of Rio de Janeiro's March 2016 ruling in SPI's favor on the merits. *** The Australian and U.S. orders and the Brazilian decision mark significant victories for SPI on three different continents within three weeks. SPI Group continues to expect positive results because the plaintiffs' claims in the long-standing dispute have no merit. SPI and its affiliates own the Stolichnaya trademarks in more than 180 countries. SOURCE SPI Group DALLAS, Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Top 10 Jungle, a leading provider of slick digital content and online product and service reviews, says, "Don't Be A Debt Consolidation Turkey!" "If you are one of the many considering debt consolidation before the holidays, Top 10 Jungle has some advice for you," says Benny Alvarez, Top 10 Jungle spokesman. "This may be one of the most important financial decisions of your life. Don't forget to read reviews, compare prices and save money!" Read Expert Reviews. Compare Prices. Save Money. Get BBB Accredited A+ Rated Offers. Read Reviews: There are hundreds of debt consolidation, debt settlement and debt relief companies out there. They are similar in some ways but very different in others. It is important to do careful research before selecting the organization that you want to partner with. There are also many unscrupulous companies out there preying on those who need financial help. It is vital that you work with a nationwide and reputable company. Compare Prices: There are multiple ways to consolidate your debt. You need to compare it all. You may commit to a secured or unsecured debt consolidation loan, transfer outstanding debt onto a new or existing line of credit, or pool your debt on a balance transfer credit card. Debt settlement is another option. Debt settlement is the practice of paying a lump sum to settle a debt for less than what you owe. For-profit debt settlement companies negotiate with creditors on your behalf and charge you a fee, often a percentage of the amount of debt that is forgiven. Save Money: Top 10 Jungle put together a free and simple to read debt consolidation comparison chart. They have already done the independent research and established relationships with the leading debt consolidation companies in the country. Top10Jungle.com visitors are encouraged to take advantage of the free information being provided. ABOUT TOP 10 JUNGLE Top 10 Reviews Top 10 Jungle provides rankings for popular categories such as the best debt consolidation, personal loans, medical alerts, VPN, antivirus, small business loans, pet insurance, web hosting, website building and much, much more. Best Rated Products The Best Rated Products Division is where you want to look when you are about to make a purchase. We cover a wide range of products from tablets, laptops, modems and e-Readers to the latest book you just have to read. We are adding categories daily. Our purpose is to make it easy for you to pick the best product and to be confident in your decision. We have something for everyone at Top 10 Jungle and best of all it's free! For press inquiries or partnership opportunities, please contact Benny Alvarez ([email protected]). Related Images image1.jpg Don't Be A Debt Consolidation Turkey! image2.jpg Best Debt Consolidation Reviews image3.jpg Top 10 Jungle Wishes You A Very Happy Thanksgiving! image4.jpg Best Debt Relief Related Links Reviews: Debt Consolidation Related Video https://vimeo.com/232571483 SOURCE Top 10 Jungle ATLANTA, Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- With November boasting some of the hottest sales events of the year Black Friday and Cyber Monday now is the time for car shoppers to get in the holiday spirit and take advantage of the extra special incentive deals being offered this month. For those who are looking to save money this holiday season, but are hesitant to purchase a used car and the repair costs that are often associated with them, certified pre-owned (CPO) vehicles can offer a happy medium. "Lightly used and discounted, with a long, manufacturer-backed warranty, CPO vehicles provide car buyers peace of mind without breaking the bank," said Brian Moody, executive editor for Autotrader. "The added benefit to CPO vehicles is that many automakers offer deals and incentives on them to help win over car shoppers. However, with the holiday season on the horizon, many automakers are adding extra incentives to their already impressive deals, sweetening the pot further." The editors at Autotrader have rounded up some of the top CPO deals this month to help spread holiday cheer and guide car buyers. Autotrader Editors' Top Picks for CPO Deals for November 2017 Buick's CPO program offers two different warranties. Consumers can either select six years/100,000 miles of powertrain coverage from the car's original sale date, or a one-year/12,000-mile bumper-to-bumper plan that either begins the date you purchase the car, or the date the original warranty expires. Cadillac's CPO program is fully-loaded this month. On top of offering comprehensive coverage for six years/100,000 miles, car buyers can also cash in on a November special. Through the end of the month, customers can purchase a CPO Cadillac SRX and get 2.9 percent interest for up to 36 months. Like Cadillac, Ford's CPO program is extra tempting this month. In addition to offering seven years/100,000-mile powertrain warranty coverage from the original purchase date, or comprehensive coverage for one year/12,000 miles beyond the factory warranty, qualified customers can also get 1.9 percent interest for 36 months, 2.9 percent for 60 months, or 3.9 percent for 72 months. This month, Infiniti is supplementing its already impressive CPO program six years of comprehensive coverage with no mileage limit on most models with 1.25 percent interest for qualified shoppers on all CPO Infiniti models. Kia's CPO program also offers a top-of-the-line package deal, with bumper-to-bumper warranty coverage as well as 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain protection. Additionally, Kia is offering 1.9 percent interest for up to 36 months on all CPO models through the end of the month. Land Rover's CPO program is giving car buyers something new to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. In addition to its seven-year/100,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranty from the original sales date, Land Rover is also offering special incentives on the Range Rover Evoque this month. While the best deal is for qualified buyers looking to finance an Evoque for 24 months at 0.9 percent interest shoppers can also get 1.9 percent interest for up to 60 months on CPO 2014 and 2015 Evoque models, or 2.9 percent on 2013 and 2016 versions. Subaru's CPO program also touts extra incentives this month. On top of offering seven-year/100,000-mile powertrain warranty coverage from the original sale date, qualified car shoppers can also get 1.49 percent interest for up to 36 months for all CPO models. Volkswagen's CPO program boasts an additional two years or 24,000 miles of coverage on top of the original warranty of any CPO model. Plus, during this month only, car shoppers can get 1.9 percent interest for up to 60 months for all CPO models. To see Autotrader's full coverage of the top CPO programs mentioned and available inventory, please visit https://www.autotrader.com/car-deals/cpo-deals-november-2017-270675. Helpful during the shopping process, Autotrader's easy and convenient Save Car tool will keep an eye on the vehicles consumers have saved, and can send email or text alerts with important details like if the price has dropped, new incentives offered like cash back rebates, zero percent financing and more. For more information and news from Autotrader, visit press.autotrader.com, follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Autotrader_com (or @Autotrader_com), Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/autotrader_com/ (or @autotrader_com), like our page on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/autotrader/, add us on Snapchat (@Autotrader_com), and get updates at Google+ at https://plus.google.com/+Autotrader. About Autotrader Autotrader connects with more actual car buyers than any other third-party listing site, with the most engaged audience of in-market shoppers. As the foremost authority on automotive consumer insights and expert in online and mobile marketing, Autotrader makes the car shopping experience easy and fun for today's empowered consumer looking to find or sell the perfect new, used or Certified Pre-Owned car. Using technology, shopper insights and local market guidance, Autotrader's comprehensive marketing solutions guide dealers to personalized digital marketing strategies that grow brand, drive traffic and connect the online and in-store shopping experience. Autotrader is a Cox Automotive brand. Cox Automotive is a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises. For more information, please visit http://press.autotrader.com. About Cox Automotive Cox Automotive Inc. is transforming the way the world buys, sells and owns cars with industry-leading digital marketing, financial, retail and wholesale solutions for consumers, dealers, manufacturers and the overall automotive ecosystem worldwide. Committed to open choice and dedicated to strong partnerships, the Cox Automotive family includes Autotrader, Dealer.com, Dealertrack, Kelley Blue Book, Manheim, NextGear Capital, vAuto, Xtime and a host of other brands. The global company has 32,000-plus team members in more than 200 locations and is partner to more than 40,000 auto dealers, as well as most major automobile manufacturers, while engaging U.S. consumer car buyers with the most recognized media brands in the industry. Cox Automotive is a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises Inc., an Atlanta-based company with revenues exceeding $20 billion and approximately 60,000 employees. Cox Enterprises' other major operating subsidiaries include Cox Communications and Cox Media Group. For more information about Cox Automotive, visit www.coxautoinc.com. SOURCE Autotrader Related Links http://www.autotrader.com FluksAqua serves up the facts against improper disposal of fat, oil and grease SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - As millions of American families celebrate Thanksgiving with traditional holiday meals, an inevitable crisis looms. Fat, oil and grease (FOG) from turkey, ham, bacon and all the trimmings will be discarded down kitchen sinks and toilets across the nation. To shed a light on the damaging disposal of FOG, FluksAqua, an environmentally-engaged free water and wastewater utility forum, conducted a national survey to ask Americans how they fare with the FOG of Thanksgiving. Key findings of the survey: Americans (say) they do the right thing An impressive 80.6% of Americans claim that they dispose of Thanksgiving FOG using a separate container (the right way). Only 19.5% fess up to dumping FOG down a kitchen drain or toilet. Sadly, the facts don't jive. Greasy buildups remain an increasingly large problem across the US. In fact, last month a massive fatberg (a congealed mass of fat, personal care products and similar items found in sewer systems) was responsible for a sewer overflow that discharged around 1.2 million gallons of sewage into Jones Falls in Baltimore. In densely populated cities like New York, the problem is increasingly concerning. The City of New York Department of Environmental Protection, which services over eight million customers reported that 71% of sewer backup complaints were related to grease buildups in 2016. New York and other major cities like Houston and Los Angeles have implemented FOG diversion programs to help curb the problem, but FOG build-ups remain a recurring nation-wide concern, especially around holidays. "It is quite a spectacle to see dark brown tanks turn silver every Thanksgiving," says Nick Hansen, a senior wastewater treatment plant operator in California. "It's the turkey grease floating to the surface and the sunlight reflecting off of it." Americans are divided on FOG Flushing A surprisingly close number of American dinner guests would "suggest using a separate container" for FOG disposal (35.2%) vs. 30.6% who would say nothing because "it's not their home." 14.1% of Americans would point out that flushing FOG "is wrong" 20.1% say 'they don't care' A Majority of Americans will be Cooking a Thanksgiving Meal While 33.8% report they aren't cooking for anyone this Thanksgiving, the majority of Americans (66.1%) will be cooking some kind of a family meal. Fact-finding research on fat flushing Using a popular American brand of frozen and stuffed turkey, FluksAqua went to the test kitchens and cooked two turkeys in the recommended standard size range for a Thanksgiving meal that served 10-12 adults. Both birds produced over one cup of liquid fat. See our research here in an expanded online newsroom. "One cup of fat probably doesn't seem like a lot of liquid to flush into the system," said Dr. Hubert Colas, President Americas, FluksAqua. "But when you consider that thousands of households could be pouring that same cup of fat down the drain, it becomes a problem. This fat accumulates to create a clog in the sewer infrastructure and has the potential to damage pipes. Your cup of turkey fat may actually cost your water utility thousands of dollars in repairs which is ultimately paid by taxpayers." What you can do to prevent it Ideally, Americans around the country would stop flushing FOG down drains altogether. "We recommend using a reusable container to dispose of it through your regular waste system, or an environmental depot," suggests Dr. Colas. "Reducing FOG waste in the water infrastructure means less pressure on the system and can lower operating costs. FluksAqua is working together with cities around the world to implement plans of action to prevent FOG build ups and save taxpayers thousands of dollars. About FluksAqua: FluksAqua is the world's largest online community created by a dedicated group of water and wastewater professionals to facilitate a constant and interactive flow of information between operators and professionals on issues of water safety, infrastructure, conservation and optimization. SOURCE FluksAqua HOUSTON, Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Court of Federal Claims has appointed two attorneys from the firm of Burns Charest LLP to lead proposed class-action claims arising from flooding in Houston that resulted from Hurricane Harvey. Seasoned trial lawyers Daniel Charest and Larry Vincent of Burns Charest were appointed co-lead counsel, along with Charles Irvine of Irvine & Conner PLLC, to manage discovery and dispositive motions. Mr. Vincent was also appointed co-lead counsel for jurisdictional discovery and motions to dismiss. The plaintiffs in the case are Houston homeowners whose properties were ravaged by floodwater releases from the Addicks and Barker reservoirs, which were designed for flood control. During the massive rains that resulted from Hurricane Harvey, the Army Corps of Engineers performed controlled releases of floodwater from the reservoirs out of concern the dams would break. But the retention of flood water and subsequent releases inundated many neighborhoods, leading to hundreds of millions of dollars in damage both upstream and downstream of the reservoirs. The homeowners claim that by intentionally flooding the area, the government took their land without providing compensation in violation of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. "Our clients suffered enormous damages as a result of the government's design of the reservoirs and actions during Hurricane Harvey," said Mr. Charest. "We are committed to helping the people of Houston receive just compensation." Burns Charest represents homeowners whose properties are in the flood zone upstream of the reservoirs. There are currently hundreds of upstream lawsuits pending before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, but the attorneys estimate that number could eventually grow to more than 15,000. The court has laid out an aggressive schedule, with dispositive motions due by June 15, 2018. "We are very pleased that the court recognizes the urgency in resolving these claims and the need to help residents who are desperate to move forward with plans to recover, rebuild or relocate," said Mr. Charest. Burns Charest has brought claims on behalf of American consumers and businesses in cases throughout the United States, and is currently leading the national class action litigation against EpiPen manufacturer Mylan, and against 3M Co., based on claims of defective dental crowns. The Houston case is In re Addicks and Barker (Texas) Flood-Control Reservoirs, Master Docket No. 17-3000L, U.S. Court of Federal Claims. Burns Charest is a Dallas and New Orleans-based trial law firm with a national practice representing consumers and businesses. The firm represents clients in large, complex class actions; antitrust claims; oil and gas royalty disputes; environmental pollution cases; and asbestos exposure claims. To learn more, visit http://www.burnscharest.com. Contact Information Barry Pound 800-559-4534 [email protected] SOURCE Burns Charest Related Links http://www.burnscharest.com DENVER, Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Vista Gold Corp. (TSX & NYSE American: VGZ) ("Vista" or the "Company") today announced that it has entered into an At-the-Market Offering Agreement (the "ATM Agreement") with H.C. Wainwright & Co., LLC ("Wainwright") as sales manager. Under the terms of the ATM Agreement, the Company will be entitled to sell, at its sole discretion and from time to time as it may choose, common shares in the capital of the Company ("Shares") through Wainwright, with such sales having an aggregate gross sales value of up to US$10.0 million (the "Offering"). The ATM Agreement will remain in full force and effect until the earlier of August 31, 2020, or the date that the ATM Agreement is terminated in accordance with the terms therein. Sales of Shares, if any, will be made through distributions directly on the NYSE American LLC or other established United States trading market. Under the Offering, no offers or sales of Shares will be made in Canada, including through the Toronto Stock Exchange (the "TSX") or other trading markets in Canada. The Shares will be distributed at the market prices prevailing at the time of sale. As a result, prices of Shares sold under the Offering, if any, may vary between purchasers and distributions. The Offering will be made by way of a prospectus supplement dated November 22, 2017 (the "Prospectus Supplement") to the base prospectus contained in the Company's existing U.S. shelf registration statement on Form S-3 (File No. 333-218979) (the "Registration Statement"), which became effective July 5, 2017. The Prospectus Supplement and the base prospectus have been filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") and is, together with the related Registration Statement, available on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. Alternatively, Wainwright will provide copies of these documents upon request by contacting H.C. Wainwright & Co., LLC, 430 Park Avenue, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10022 at [email protected]. The Company believes that its existing working capital, coupled with potential future sources of non-dilutive financing will be sufficient to cover its fixed costs and project activities, including permitting and completion of the PFS update, for several years. This ATM Agreement is a low-cost means of providing additional balance sheet flexibility; however, the Company is under no obligation to exercise its right to sell Shares under the ATM Agreement. If market conditions improve significantly and Shares are sold, Vista intends to use the net proceeds for general corporate and working capital purposes. The Company will pay Wainwright a commission equal to 2.0% of the gross sales price from sales, if any, of the Shares sold under the Offering. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities, nor will there be any sale of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. About Vista Gold Corp. The Company is a well-funded gold project developer. Our principal asset is our flagship Mt Todd gold project in Northern Territory, Australia. Mt Todd is one of the largest known undeveloped gold projects in Australia. For further information, please contact Connie Martinez at (720) 981-1185. Forward Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this press release that address activities, events or developments that we expect or anticipate will or may occur in the future, including such things as our belief that our existing working capital, coupled with potential future sources of non-dilutive financing will be sufficient to cover our fixed costs and project activities, including permitting and completion of the PFS update, for several years; if market conditions improve significantly and Shares are sold, our intent to use the net proceeds for general corporate and working capital purposes, are forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. The material factors and assumptions used to develop the forward-looking statements and forward-looking information contained in this press release include the following: our approved business plans, mineral resource and reserve estimates and results of preliminary economic assessments, prefeasibility studies and feasibility studies on our projects, if any, our experience with regulators, and positive changes to current economic conditions and the price of gold. When used in this press release, the words "optimistic," "potential," "indicate," "expect," "intend," "hopes," "believe," "may," "will," "if," "anticipate," and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. These 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 statements. Such factors include, among others, uncertainty of resource and reserve estimates, uncertainty as to the Company's future operating costs and ability to raise capital; risks relating to cost increases for capital and operating costs; risks of shortages and fluctuating costs of equipment or supplies; risks relating to fluctuations in the price of gold; the inherently hazardous nature of mining-related activities; potential effects on our operations of environmental regulations in the countries in which it operates; risks due to legal proceedings; risks relating to political and economic instability in certain countries in which it operates; uncertainty as to the results of bulk metallurgical test work; and uncertainty as to completion of critical milestones for Mt Todd; as well as those factors discussed under the headings "Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" and "Risk Factors" in the Company's latest Annual Report on Form 10-K as filed on February 22, 2017 and other documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Canadian securities regulatory authorities. Although we have attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements and forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Except as required by law, we assume no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information; whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. SOURCE Vista Gold Corp. Recently, Distributed Business Value Research Institute of Wanxiang Blockchain conducted a research on blockchain and the derived business patterns, and released the latest research report "Blockchain and Distributed Business White Paper" ("White Paper"). Dr. Xiao Feng, Chairman of the Board and General Manager of Wanxiang, served as the chief editor. As stated in the White Paper, blockchain technology is reshaping the business model. First, in a public blockchain network, tokens become the proof of the right to use of transactions between nodes. Token mechanism gives incentives to nodes, promoting more users to join the network, further enhancing the value of the network, and thus forming a commercial bootstrapping mechanism. Second, the increase in the value of blockchain network is a reduction in transaction costs. The addition of nodes flattens the transaction costs and brings the marginal cost infinitely close to zero. As a result, enterprises or companies as forms of organization are no longer needed. Instead, it will be a brand new, self-governing organization called "Distributed Autonomous Organization (DAO)". Therefore, blockchain technology gives birth to the important elements of Distributed Business, improves the network effect and reduces transaction costs. It can be said that blockchain technology is remodeling the business community and creating the entirely new Distributed Business. The White Paper is focused on new forms of Distributed Business. Based on the analysis and understanding of existing applications and organizations, Distributed Business Value Research Institute of Wanxiang Blockchain systematically summarizes the characteristics, forms, operation mechanisms and elements, and concepts of Distributed Business. They believe that Distributed Business weakens the concept of ownership of the traditional business community and places greater emphasis on the significance of the right to use. This form of business is no longer attached to the centralized and closed organizational structure and decision-making model, but adopts a distributed, virtual and open-source form so that everyone can participate in it in different roles (investor, user, developer or operator). For these reasons, Distributed Business generally appears as a sharing economy. Its operation is supported by the bootstrapping mechanism, which improves the value of a Distributed Business network with the increase in the number of participants who are motivated to join. As a result, the marginal cost comes closer to zero. In addition, this bootstrapping mechanism not only eliminates the need to rely on capital to seek market monopoly as traditional enterprises and platform enterprises, but also provides itself with endogenous development momentum and provides infinite possibilities for further business innovation. Meanwhile, it is pointed out in White Paper that, though Distributed Business has been realized both technically and commercially, it still faces deficiencies and obstacles. Distributed Business Value Research Institute of Wanxiang Blockchain adopts SWOT model to analyze Distributed Business from four perspectives including strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges. On this basis, it offers suggestions to government, entrepreneurs, research and development staffs, and industry enterprises for them to make decisions and carry out Distributed Business. Full version of the White Paper is available on: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bI7JIOe-CfJ5fPHKxYlFub2Kg-KCGU6r/view?usp=sharing Introduction to Editor-in-Chief of the White Paper and the research team: Dr. Feng Xiao is currently the Vice Chairman and Executive Director of China Wanxiang Holding Co., Ltd, Vice Chairman of MinSheng Life Insurance Co., Ltd, Chairman of Wanxiang Trust Co., Ltd, Chairman of Minsheng Tonghui Asset Management Co., Ltd and Chairman of All-in Payment Network Services Co.Ltd., and DATAYES Inc., Chairman of ZheShang Fund Management Co., Ltd, and Chairman and CEO of Wanxiang Blockchain Inc. He holds a PhD in Economics from China Nankai University. Dr. Xiao has over 20 years of experience in Chinese securities and asset management industry. He was the founder of Bosera Funds, which is one of the first and largest mutual funds in China. China Wanxiang Holdings has been executing its strategic plan in the field of blockchain technology since 2015. Now, Wanxiang Blockchain has built a blockchain ecosystem which includes Wanxiang Blockchain Labs, Wanxiang Blockchain Business Consulting Service, Wanxiang Chainbase Accelerator, and Wancloud. With these initiatives, Wanxiang Blockchain is promoting the development of blockchain industry in China in the aspects of including technology, capital, resources, and more. SOURCE Wanxiang Blockchain ALLERD, Denmark, Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Welltec A/S (we, us, our or Welltec) announced today the results of its previously announced cash tender offer (Tender Offer) to purchase any and all of its 8% Senior Secured Notes due 2019 (Securities). The Tender Offer expired at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on November 21, 2017 (Expiration Time). The Tender Offer was made pursuant to an Offer to Purchase dated November 8, 2017, as supplemented on November 10, 2017 and as amended on November 14, 2017 (Offer to Purchase) and a related Notice of Guaranteed Delivery, which set forth the terms and conditions of the Tender Offer. As of the Expiration Time, US$239,976,000 aggregate principal amount, or approximately 73.84%, of the outstanding Securities had been validly tendered. Welltec will accept, subject to the Financing Condition and the other conditions being fulfilled or waived, for purchase all such tendered Securities and pay to the holders thereof US$1,013 per US$ 1,000 principal amount of Securities that were validly tendered and not validly withdrawn on or prior to the Expiration Time, plus accrued and unpaid interest on such Securities from the applicable last interest payment date up to, but not including, November 28, 2017. The amounts tendered described above excludes US$1,314,000 aggregate principal amount of outstanding Securities tendered pursuant to the guaranteed delivery procedures described in the Offer to Purchase. Subject to the respective holders' performance of the delivery requirements under such procedures and subject to the Financing Condition and the other conditions being fulfilled or waived, Welltec will accept for purchase and pay to the holders thereof the consideration for the Securities described above, plus accrued and unpaid interest on such Securities from the applicable last interest payment date up to, but not including, November 28, 2017. On November 28, 2017, Welltec intends to issue a notice to redeem the Securities that were not purchased in the Tender Offer (Post-Closing Redemption) on February 1, 2019 at the then-applicable redemption price of 100% of the aggregate principal amount thereof plus accrued and unpaid interest for the Securities. Welltec intends to deposit into an account designated by the trustee for the Securities amounts required to fund the Post-Closing Redemption, in accordance with the satisfaction and discharge provisions of the indenture governing the Securities. This news release does not constitute a notice of redemption of the Securities. The Settlement Date is currently expected to occur on November 28, 2017. We engaged Goldman Sachs International to act as the Dealer Manager and D.F. King & Co., Inc. to act as both the Information Agent and the Tender Agent in connection with the Tender Offer. Questions regarding the Tender Offer may be directed to Goldman Sachs International at +44 20 7774 9862 or [email protected]. Requests for the Offer to Purchase may be directed to D.F. King & Co., Inc. at 866.828.6934 (toll free) or 212.269.5550 (collect) or by email at [email protected], and copies of the Offer to Purchase may be obtained at www.dfking.com/welltec. Welltec made the Tender Offer only by, and pursuant to, the terms of the Offer to Purchase and Notice of Guaranteed Delivery, copies of which may be obtained from D.F. King & Co., Inc. This news release does not constitute an offer to purchase securities or a solicitation of an offer to sell any securities or an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase any new securities, nor does it constitute an offer or solicitation in any jurisdiction in which such offer or solicitation is unlawful. ABOUT WELLTEC Welltec develops and delivers technology and solutions for the oil and gas industry. Our solutions are dedicated to optimizing the management and development of clients' assets, both in the form of well completion technology and intervention services required to ensure performance and integrity. We operate in all types of onshore and offshore well environments, including deepwater, subsea, extended reach, heavy oil and unconventional gas and oil wells. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS In addition to historical information, this news release includes certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Exchange Act. From time to time, we provide forward-looking statements in other materials we release to the public as well as oral forward-looking statements. We have tried, wherever possible, to identify such statements by using the words "believes," "estimates," "aims," "targets," "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "continues," "ongoing," "potential," "product," "projects," "guidance," "seeks," "may," "will," "could," "would," "should" or, in each case, their negative, or other variations or comparable terminology or by discussions of strategies, plans, objectives, targets, goals, future events or intentions. The absence of such terminology does not necessarily mean that a statement is not forward-looking. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. We caution you that forward-looking statements are based on potentially inaccurate assumptions and are not guarantees of future performance and that our actual results of operations, financial condition and liquidity and the development of the industry in which we operate may differ materially from those made in or suggested by the forward-looking statements contained in this news release. In addition, even if our results of operations, financial condition and liquidity, and the development of the industry in which we operate are consistent with the forward-looking statements contained in this news release, those results or developments may not be indicative of results or developments in subsequent periods. All forward-looking statements contained in this news release are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are or were made, and we do not intend to update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect any event or circumstance occurring after the date of this news release, currently unknown facts or conditions or the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law. SOURCE Welltec A/S ORLANDO, Fla., Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The YMCA of Central Florida (YMCA), today announced it is notifying individuals related to an isolated security incident involving certain personal information. Information accessed may have contained consumers' names, and/or Social Security Number, driver's license or other government issued identification, passport, financial account number, payment card number, health information, or health insurance number. On October 24, 2017, the YMCA learned that an unauthorized person gained access to several employees' email accounts. Upon learning of the incident, the YMCA immediately disabled the affected email accounts, changed the account passwords and began an investigation, including engaging a leading forensic firm. The investigation determined that some emails may have been accessed which were primarily related to program registrations. "We sincerely regret that this incident occurred and apologize for any inconvenience or concern this may cause our Y community," said Colleen Manahan, chief financial officer for the YMCA of Central Florida. "To help prevent an incident like this from occurring again, we are providing our team members with additional privacy education and training." At this time, the YMCA has no indication that the information in the emails was actually viewed or used in any way. However, out of an abundance of caution, the YMCA has notified potentially affected consumers. Individuals whose Social Security numbers were potentially involved will be offered a one-year, complimentary credit monitoring and identity protection service. In addition, the YMCA has established a dedicated call center to answer any questions individuals may have. Consumers affected may call 1-877-982-1592, Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. Eastern Time, for additional information and resources. For more information about this incident, please visit https://ymcacentralflorida.com/protectinginformation/. ABOUT THE YMCA OF CENTRAL FLORIDA The YMCA of Central Florida is one of the area's largest nonprofits, serving more than 415,000 Central Floridians per year through a focus on Youth Development, Healthy Living and Social Responsibility. With a Christian-based mission to improve lives and communities, it operates 26 YMCA locations across Orange, Seminole, Osceola, Brevard, Lake and Marion counties. And this mission is expanded beyond the four walls of the Y through community-based programs to combat chronic disease, boost children's after-school safety and learning, and strengthen fragile families. This YMCA Association of over 1,800 employees engaged 23,000 donors, volunteers and advocates, who joined together for the common good. To ensure that the Y remains available and accessible to all, it also provided $5.4 million in program and membership assistance to more than 50,000 children, families and seniors. SOURCE YMCA of Central Florida The good macroeconomic performance of the Polish economy is having a positive effect on the warehouse market. Since the beginning of the year, demand has exceeded 2.54 million square metres, spurring on subsequent investments in Q3 an impressive result of 1.34 million m of modern warehouse space was under [] A joint construction company venture in Brisbane between the Chinese government-owned construction giant China Railway Construction Group's and construction company Rimfire Constructions has collapsed. The joint venture formed by the two parties, CRCG-Rimfire Pty Ltd has been placed under voluntary administration, the Courier Mail reported last week. Fairfax Media reported Grant Thornton has scheduled the first creditors meeting for Monday. It was a big disappointment for the world's third largest construction company, according to a media statement by the company. "Unfortunately, the appointment of an administrator to Rimfire Constructions (Qld) Pty Ltd being the subsidiary of our joint venture partner, Rimfire Constructions Pty Ltd in September has now had a flow-on impact on the joint venture company, CRCG-Rimfire," the company said, "CRCG wishes to be a productive, long-term participant in the Australian construction industry." Rimfire Constructions was previously led by former Lendlease head of apartment construction Adam Moore and Danny Cain. In a report to the creditors of Rimfire Constructions, Mr Cain said Rimfire's troubles were caused by CRCG's refusal to pay for expenses incurred by the joint venture. The business, which was initially profitable, had cost overruns, the report said, but agreement between the two companies which indicated CRCG would reimburse the JV costs ahead of regulatory approvals was not honoured, Mr Cain said. CRCG disputed the debt of $1.169 million and a CRCG spokesperson vehemently rejected the claims. "The company is confident the voluntary administrator will get to the bottom of all transactions and that CRCG's position will be vindicated," he said. "We now find ourselves in a situation where the directors had little choice but to place the company into voluntary administration," CRCG said. Former Queensland Premier Peter Beattie and his wife Heather, who this week sold their home in Brisbane, have emerged as buying a $975,000 apartment in Zetland. After the $2.19 million Wilston Queenslander-style sale, the Beatties will now divide their time between Zetland and their riverside apartment in the inner Brisbane suburb of Newstead. Beattie, who is chair of the organising committee for next years Commonwealth Games, purchased the five-bedroom Wilston house for $310,000 in 1993. Place Ascots Snezana Harris sold the home off market to a local surgeon. Beattie, who was Queensland Premier from 1998 to 2007, then spending almost a decade in the USA, appears as a presenter on Sky News. This article first appeared in The Daily Telegraph. The Moonee Valley Racecourse is set for a $2 billion redevelopment, turning the night racing venue into a dynamic urban lifestyle precinct. The joint-venture is between leading superannuation fund Hostplus and property developer Hamton, in partnership with Moonee Valley Racing Club (MVRC). MRVC chose the joint venture after a 12 month competitive selection process. As the industry super fund for hospitality, tourism, recreation and sport, in 2018 Hostplus celebrates a 30-year relationship with MVRC and is the trustee for the retirement savings of the near 400 MVRC employees and more than 7600 City of Moonee Valley residents. Hostplus CEO David Elia said the funds investment in the redevelopment is a natural fit with the sectors Hostplus serves. Today we are excited to announce our involvement in securing MVRCs future, alongside the creation of many new jobs and economic growth for the sectors we proudly serve. "We are delighted to partner with Hamton, with whom we have a strong track record as joint venture partners, via ISPT spanning more than a decade, he said. The redevelopment will see MVRC cement its position as one of the worlds premier racing clubs and will reinvigorate The Valley as an iconic Melbourne destination of the 21st century. "This investment will also complement our diversified portfolio and deliver strong risk-adjusted returns to members over the long-term. Around nine hectares of the 40-hectare site owned by MVRC will be available for development by Hostplus-Hamton. Payments by Hostplus-Hamton to MVRC will facilitate the construction of the Clubs new grandstand and racetrack. Paul Hameister, executive chairman of Hamton said the redevelopment of the entire site will be considered as one integrated precinct. "[The prceinct will be] one that is a great place to live, work and visit, with new public parks and facilities, destinational food and beverage, complementary retail, innovative work-spaces and world class residential homes. Our aim is to deliver an enduring legacy of which we can all be proud. Now that our appointment has been formalised, the proposed development masterplan will be refined over the coming 12 months before we can release further details, Mr Hameister said. Part of the masterplan refinement over the coming months will include engagement with key stakeholders, including the community, to learn more about local priorities for Moonee Valley. The investment by Hostplus in the joint venture with Hamton will be managed by ISPT pursuant to a direct mandate. ISPT coordinated the coming-together of the two joint venture partners and was heavily involved in the competitive selection process on behalf of Hostplus. The nine-hectare development site has already been rezoned by MVRC to a combination of Activity Centre Zone and Mixed Use Zone. The permit for the first stage is expected to be lodged early in 2018. The site is six km from Melbournes CBD and a short walk from Moonee Ponds rail station. D.C. Bookseller to renovate; a children's pop-up to open in California; the former bookseller biking for charity; the Brooklyn indie showing its canine side; and more. Washington D.C. Bookstore Owner Discusses Changes: The owners of the three Kramerbooks bookstores plan to renovate the stores and turn them into "a high sensory cultural experience." Children's Pop-up Store Opens in California: The Multi-multicultural Children's Book Store, a pop-up bookstore, will be open through the end of the year at the The Shops at Hilltop in Richmond, Calif. Washington Bookstore Celebrates Anniversary: Moonraker Books in the town of Langley is marking 45 years in business. Brooklyn Bookstore Hosts Reading for Dogs: Powerhouse on Eighth bookstore in Park Slope invited elementary school kids to read books about dogs to dogs. Barnes & Nobel Opens Fifth Store with Restaurant: The latest iteration of Barnes & Nobel's bookstore and restaurant concept opens today in Ashburn, Vir. Scottish Used Bookstore Attracts Tourists: Leakey's bookshop in Inverness is situated in an old Gaelic church and houses some 100,000 books. Inspired by the 2001 census phenomenon in which 70,000 Australians identified their religion as Jedi, British musician and Star Wars fan Daniel Jones founded the Church of Jediism in 2007. His first book on the belief system, entitled Becoming The Force: 9 Lessons On How To Live as a Jediist Master (Watkins Media, Nov.), is based on the Jedi characters in Star Wars media and draws on new age spirituality, eastern religious traditions, and self-help. What is your religious background, and how do you describe Jediism? I was not raised in a religious environment. The closest thing to religious upbringing I had was kind of the philosophy of Buddha, Japanese martial arts, and a little bit of yin/yang from the Chinese traditions. [Star Wars creator] George Lucas obviously did a lot of research into Taoism, Buddhism, and on [author and mythologist] Joseph Campbell when he was looking at how to align the Jedi in the Star Wars universe. What I have found is that he had picked [a] straight line between all those [schools of thought] and esoteric kinds of religions. They are really in touch with the universe and [offer a] grounded sense of reality. With Jediism, and in the book, we are taking those principles that George Lucas already laid out and putting them into a more practical sense. What responses has the Church of Jediism received, including from other religious organizations? We get a lot of feedback, mostly positive and exciting, due to how new the movement is. We get feedback from our members on our Facebook group and page. Most people want to have it officially recognized as an official world religion. We do also get a lot of negative feedback from Christian organisations. Jediism can be a religion to some people, a way of life or an applied life philosophy to others. It is down to the individual in what they want to use it as. Can you give an example of how Star Wars has helped you become a better person? What it taught me growing up was that the rebels sort of banded together to fight for a greater good. They showed a sense of community and helping one another. Star Wars taught me about being true to yourself and helping your fellow neighbor, and that is elemental in everything that Ive become. How do you think the new film, The Last Jedi, will impact the Jediist religion? I think it is really going to up the popularity of what we are doing. Religion and spirituality habe gotten a bad name, and so what we are trying to do with Jediism is [help] millennials and the people who have lost their faith in the universe become centered to the universe so they can ground themselves. People are going to see The Last Jedi and [the religion will] be renewed and reborn like it was in the 2000s [after] they released The Phantom Menace. What do you hope people will learn from your book? I hope that my book will teach people to understand themselves better, to understand where they are and who they are, and to make them just a little bit happier. They will keep on being happier and more positive, and that will radiate to everybody else, and other people will have the same affect. The joint annual meetings of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) and the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) drew nearly 10,300 scholars to Boston from Nov. 18-21; an increase from 9,500 attendees in 2016. Jack Fitzmier, executive director of AAR, and John Kutsko, executive director of SBL, said they expected Boston, with its many colleges and universities, to be a more popular location for both American and international scholars. The number of exhibitors also was up to 152 from 139 last year in San Antonio. SBL has enjoyed an uptick in membership this year, with 8,200 members compared to 2016s 8,100. Alternately, AAR membership has dropped from 8,700 in 2016 to 8,300 this year. It was Fitzmiers last AAR as director, though he will stay on as a consultant. In recent years, AAR members have increasingly taken an activist stance on politics and social issues, and in his plenary address, outgoing AAR president, Princeton professor Eddie S. Glaude Jr., spoke on "the challenges facing religion under the Trump presidency," noting that Americans are in a time of war and a time of lies Look at the devastation that is happening in the name of what we study! A number of panels attacked Trump and his agenda, including one featuring incoming AAR president David Gushee (Still Christian: Following Jesus Out of American Evangelicalism) of Mercer University, who, referring to the 81% of white evangelicals reported to have voted for Trump, said, This has shattered whatever survives of the witness of white evangelicals in American culture. Gushee is among the contributors to Faith and Resistance in the Age of Trump (Orbis, out now), which might have been the most talked-about book at the conference. Also on the political front, an internecine controversy erupted over a panel on the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement, which urges boycotts as an expression of religious values. When scholars opposing the BDS movement decided not to participate, AAR president Glaude said he was cancelling the discussion until both sides could be represented; that move stirred protest among attendees, some of whom went forward with the session anyway. Less controversial was a Sunday session featuring Martin Scorsese, who received the AAR Religion and Arts Award for the elements of faith, apostasy, and morality in his films, according to the organization. On Saturday morning, Paraclete Press, the publishing arm of the Cape Cod-based Community of Jesus, hosted a session on The Role of the Visual Arts in Ecumenical Exchange. Using the arts and music for religious expression is central to the Communitys mission. On Tuesday, November 21, SBL announced the launch on January 1 of a 30-year review of New Revised Standard Version of the Bible by 60-70 scholars; it is set to be completed by the end of 2020. (Rights to the NRSV are owned by the National Council of Churches, which licenses it to several publishers.) Also launching next year is SBL Central, an online platform for research and study that will be sponsored by nine publishers but open to all. In 2014, SBL debuted Bible Odyssey, a site designed to make scripture study more accessible to non-scholars; it now draws more than 5,000 visitors a day. Teaching opportunities for all scholars have shrunk, as colleges, universities, and seminaries create fewer tenure track positions in all fields and make greater use of adjunct professors. That issue of contingent faculty was an even higher-profile concern at AAR/SBL this year, with panels on the subject and many attendees wearing badges to draw attention to the issue. According to Kutsko and Fitzmier, 70% of all instruction at colleges and universities is done by adjuncts, who are paid less and have no job security or benefits. Fitzmier said that, ethically, schools should limit enrollment, since newly minted PhDs will graduate into a decimated job market. As everywhere else, sexual harassment was on the agenda, and Kutsko and Fitzmier said they are developing new professional conduct policies to deal with sexual harassment and discrimination, along with clear procedures for reporting and enforcement. Said Kutsko, Victims need to know that AAR and SBL will support our members. AAR/SBL 2018 meets in Denver, Colo., Nov. 16-20. In the United States, black and poor students are suspended at much higher rates than their white and non-poor peers. This point is essentially undisputed, due in large part to data that the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights has compiled and made public through the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC). While the existence of these disparities is not controversial, how to interpret the disparities is bitterly disputed. Just last week, for example, National Review ran an op-ed on discipline disparities with the subtitle, Are America's teachers a bunch of racists? Democrats seem to think so. At the heart of this dispute is whether racial discipline disparities reflect discriminatory discipline practices by educators. On one hand, discriminatory school discipline practicespunishing different groups differently for similar behaviorscertainly could contribute to the disparities we see. Researchers have found evidence of both implicit and intentional forms of bias in many parts of American life, and that bias surely could extend to schools. On the other hand, students of different backgrounds might behave differently in school, in which case discipline disparities could arise even if schools administer punishments consistently across groups. Some other form of discrimination or injustice, inside or outside of schools, could be to blame. In reality, the question of whether discipline disparities reflect large-scale discriminatory school practices is extremely difficult to answer. Researchers typically cannot observe the actual behaviors of large numbers of students. Moreover, researchers often have little, if any, data on student infractions and punishmentsdata that we are fortunate to have from Louisiana as the basis of our recent work. A Study of Discipline Disparities in Louisiana Today, we released a study ( PDF ) (and accompanying policy brief ( PDF )) on discipline disparities by race and family income in Louisiana. It draws on rich, student-level data from the Louisiana Department of Education for the 200001 through 201314 school years. The study explores topics related to today's policy discussions about discipline disparities. These topics are too numerous and complex to explain in detail here (but are described in detail in the paper). The list below highlights a few findings, before we delve into the part of the study that specifically examines discrimination: Black students are about twice as likely as white students to be suspended. Black students are about twice as likely as white students to be suspended, and low-income students are about 1.75 times as likely as non-low-income students to be suspended. Discipline disparities are large for both violent infractions (such as fighting and assault) and nonviolent infractions (such as disrespecting authority and using profanity). Disparities in suspension rates are evident within schools (black and low-income students are suspended at higher rates than their same-school peers) and across schools (black and low-income students disproportionately attend schools with high suspension rates). While across-district differences account for a small portion of the disparities, within-school and across-school-within-district differences each account for a sizable share of the disparities. Black and low-income students receive longer suspensions than their peers for the same types of infractions. Punishments from Interracial Fights The most novel part of the study looks directly for evidence of discriminatory discipline practices in schools. This is difficult. To date, the most compelling large-scale, quantitative evidence of discrimination in student discipline comes from comparisons of how black and white students are punished for the same types of infractions. For example, when black students fight, do they receive longer suspensions than white students who fight? While the logic of these comparisons is sensible, we worry that they cannot rule out confounding factors related to discipline and student backgrounds. Are fights between black students more severe, on average, than fights between white students, making longer suspensions warranted? That is hard, if not impossible, for researchers to know. Our data enable us to explore a very particular context in which disparities seem likely to reflect discriminatory school practices, with alternate explanations seeming unlikely. We compare the punishments that result from a fight between a black student and a white student in the same school. To address the possibility that schools might punish students differently for reasons other than race (and the possibility that one group might tend to instigate or escalate these fights), we control for a number of student characteristics. These include prior discipline history, test scores, special education status, and free or reduced-price lunch eligibility. The resulting analyses, we believe, represent the most credible exploration of discriminatory discipline practices possible using our data. Black students are systematically punished longer than white students for interracial fights. We find that black students are systematically punished longer than white students for interracial fights. The difference appears small in magnitudeabout one additional suspension day for black students for every 20 interracial fightsbut consistent and statistically significant in all models tested. Our analysis is not a comprehensive look at all possible forms of discrimination in schools. Rather, we looked for evidence of disparities in the corner of our data where we would least expect to find them if not for discriminatory discipline practices. Notably, these differences arise from situations in which administrators likely know they are punishing black and white students differentlyand know those differences are visible to students, parents, and staff. It seems possible, if not likely, that punishment disparities are larger in less visible circumstances. Why Discipline Disparities Matter Questions about discipline disparities are being actively debated in Washington, including whether we should be paying much attention at all. On Friday, education officials in the Trump administration assembled a group upset with what they believe was Obama-era overreach to address how students are punished. Clearly, this issue is complex, and individuals on all sides of discipline debates have made statements that reach beyond the supporting research evidence. However, there is also clear reason to track, monitor, research, and attend to these disparities. Whatever mix of in-school and out-of-school problems cause discipline disparities, they are problems. Solving these problems will require that we diagnose and address them appropriately. Nathan Barrett is associate director and senior research fellow at the Education Research Alliance for New Orleans, Tulane University. Andrew McEachin is a policy researcher at the RAND Corporation. Jonathan Mills is a senior research associate at the University of Arkansas, Department of Education Reform. Jon Valant is a fellow in the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution. This commentary originally appeared on Brookings Institution's Brown Center Chalkboard on November 20, 2017. Commentary gives RAND researchers a platform to convey insights based on their professional expertise and often on their peer-reviewed research and analysis. The European Union's (EU) cycle of economic policy coordination, known as the European Semester, starts with the European Commission publishing the Annual Growth Survey (AGS). Every November the AGS is released, setting out priorities for fiscal and economic policymaking for the year ahead. This year's survey is slated to be released Nov. 22. Based on the AGS and economic progress reports from individual member states, the European Commission proposes country-specific recommendations (CSRs) to achieve economic growth. The European Union also aims to devote a share of its budget to AGS priorities. However, two areas in relation to the AGS remain unclear. Firstly, whether any synergies exist between the objectives of the AGS and the contribution of the EU and national budgets. Secondly, the extent to which the CSRs are taken on board by individual member states. Our analysis for the European Parliament Committee on Budgets showed that a notable share of the EU budget is devoted to AGS priorities, but that member states' national budgets do not necessarily follow the CSRs. Indeed, there remains room for greater implementation of CSRs by individual member states. The number of instances where member states have not taken any action or do not plan to take even one CSR on board remains minimal. However, responses to CSRs and their subsequent implementation by member states tend to be 'work in progress', with only a small portion of the recommendations fully addressed. Synergies do exist between the EU budget and the objectives of the AGS, particularly around the accomplishment of common AGS-related goals. However, the extent to which the EU helps individual member states achieve AGS priorities in their own national budgets remains more difficult to assess. The general consensus is that the AGS can lead to positive outcomes for the EU and member states. Our study found that the most positive outcomes are often achieved in adopting measures that aim to address two out of the three priority areas for the AGSinvestment and structural reforms. Regarding the final AGS priority areafiscal consolidationthere are concerns about its suitability as a goal or recommendation for individual member states, particularly in times of economic downturns. The impact of the AGS on the budgets of the EU and member states remains unclear. From our research, it seems that the budgets of EU and individual member states are working towards common goals described in the AGS, but the impact from this work is hard to assess. Our study recommended that the concept of European added value ( PDF ) could be more strongly embedded in the European Semester. This refers to the additional value created by the actions of individual Member States, such as greater legal certainty, and not just economic growth. The 'added value' element could help in understanding the unique contribution of the AGS and the coordination process across member states. At the same time, some longer-term measurement could be beneficial. Currently, the CSRs operate on a one-year timeframe, but the effects of reforms may take much longer to materialize. Taking on board these recommendations and addressing wider concerns about the AGS could help the EU and individual member states clearly identify the benefits of the AGS to their budgets and overall economic situation. Jirka Taylor is a policy analyst at the RAND Corporation. Marco Hafner is a research leader at RAND Europe. The authors were involved in the study Synergies Between the Objectives Set Out in the Annual Growth Survey and the Contribution of the EU Budget and National Budgets. This commentary originally appeared on E!Sharp on November 21, 2017. Commentary gives RAND researchers a platform to convey insights based on their professional expertise and often on their peer-reviewed research and analysis. At the Madrid-hosted BITAM 2017 event for the broadcast industry, PlayBox Technology EU (PBT EU) has introduced its SubtitleNEXT multilingual captioning suite of products to the Spanish market. We are absolutely delighted to be part of BITAM in Madrid again this year. Following the immense interest at IBC this year, we are using the opportunity to launch our array of SubtitleNEXT applications at BITAM. With upcoming demand in translation services worldwide, we are at hand to advise and offer support to professionals coming to the show about how to solve their captioning and subtitling needs, said Alexander Stoyanov, sales director and managing partner, PBT EU SubtitleNEXT is PBT EUs advanced captioning subtitling product family of toolsets with a scope of modules, applications and hardware that supports several text-related scenarios from creation to distribution.The product line, which supports real-time capabilities, includes several software licensing options, ranging from entry level SubtitleNEXT Novice to xplorer, Spark, Spin and Live Options. Two developments on the US regulatory front this week portend a shake-up in the video industry landscape in the country. Hot on the heels of the US Department of Justice (DOJ) filing a lawsuit to block AT&T's proposed $85 million acquisition of Time Warner Inc, the countrys broadcast regulator the FCC has set a vote to repeal the Obama-era net neutrality rules.The DOJ is arguing that if AT&T, the nation's largest pay-TV company, acquires Time Warner the third-largest media company worldwide and owner of HBO, Turner Broadcasting, CNN and the Warner Bros studio it would gain too much control over programming and distribution, and potentially represent an antitrust situation. The fear is that the merged companys size would be such that it would impede competition from online video distributors and raise content prices on its rivals on the distribution side all of which would translate into higher prices for consumers.This merger would greatly harm American consumers, said DOJ antitrust chief Makan Delrahim. It would mean higher monthly television bills and fewer of the new, emerging innovative options that consumers are beginning to enjoy.The DOJ's complaint, filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, seeks a permanent injunction on the merger, on the grounds that it violates the Clayton Act anti-monopoly statute.AT&T said it plans to fight the litigation, noting that similar mega-mergers, such as Comcasts union with NBCUniversal, which made it the second-largest media company in the world, have been greenlighted.Today's DOJ lawsuit is a radical and inexplicable departure from decades of antitrust precedent, said AT&T general counsel David McAtee II. Vertical mergers like this one are routinely approved because they benefit consumers without removing any competitor from the market. We see no legitimate reason for our merger to be treated differently.Meanwhile, FCC chairman Ajit Pai announced that the regulatory body would vote on net neutrality rules on 14 December. Its expected that the GOP-dominated court will vote to roll back the regulations introduced in 2015, which prohibit ISPs from throttling over-the-top (OTT) traffic, and which prevents them from establishing paid fast-lanes for OTT companies.Net neutrality fans argue that to absent such regulations, ISPs, which are usually also pay-TV providers, could simply slow down content they dont like or which is competitive with their own services. In addition, they say a roll-back could have a chilling effect on OTT diversity, given that not all start-ups could afford to pay for pricey carriage tiers.Despite such fears, Pai has long called net neutrality a mistake, and did so again on Tuesday.For almost 20 years, the Internet thrived under the light-touch regulatory approach established by President Clinton and a Republican Congress, said Pai. This bipartisan framework led the private sector to invest $1.5 trillion building communications networks throughout the United States. And it gave us an Internet economy that became the envy of the world.He added: In 2015, the prior FCC bowed to pressure from President Obama. On a party-line vote, it imposed heavy-handed, utility-style regulations upon the Internet. That decision was a mistake. Its depressed investment in building and expanding broadband networks and deterred innovation.Pai plans to lay out a specific replacement proposal this week. Leading independent distributor all3media international has sealed a deal with BBC Four for English/Welsh-language crime drama Hidden (Craith). Hidden (Craith) stars Sian Reese-Williams, Rhodri Meilir, Gwyneth Keyworth and Sion Alun Davies, and shows Reese-Williams as DCI Cadi John who is drawn back to her childhood home by the faltering health of her father and finds herself policing the precinct and people of her youth. Yet when the body of a local woman is found in a remote mountain river, Cadis world - and the world of those around her - is changed forever.Produced by Severn Screen for S4C and BBC Wales, the series was co-created by Severn Screens Mark Andrew and Ed Talfan at the helm of award-winning global hit Y Gwyll/Hinterland who will also serve as executive producers on the series alongside producer Hannah Thomas.The deal will see BBC Four acquire the UK-wide broadcast rights to the eight-part series which will screen in 2018. The drama will premiere in Welsh on S4C in January 2018 as Craith, before the bilingual version of Hidden airs first on BBC Wales and then on BBC Four.Were very pleased to welcome BBC Four on board this new Severn Screen series, commented Caroline Stephenson, SVP EMEA at all3media international . Hidden (Craith) delivers a truly gripping crime drama, in the Scandi Noir vein, set amidst the breath-taking landscapes of northern Wales. It will be the perfect addition to BBC Fours roster of acclaimed international drama. Hidden (Craith) has the tone of Y Gwyll/Hinterland which has already been acquired in more than 70 territories, and were expecting it to prove equally as popular when it debuts to the global market. The U.S.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) convened the latest in a series of expert meetings on U.S.-Russia relations in October 2017 in Moscow. The mood was grim: participants were unanimous that the current state of bilateral relations is dire and in danger of spiraling down further. In Russia, that country's representatives reported, the conventional wisdom holds that disagreements between the two countries are intractable. Where the United States sees the Ukraine crisis as having caused the downturn in relations, Russians see it as a result of the failure to better ensure Russia's security in the years since the end of the Cold War. The Trump administration's foreign policy, moreover, increasingly feels to Moscow very similar to that of the Obama administration, particularly when it comes to Ukraine and Syria, even though many American specialists see it as unpredictable and still evolving. U.S. President Donald Trumps 12-day, 5-country tour of Asia was well planned. It started with old friends, was followed by a near-peer rival, and concluded with two countries that may yield the largest return on investment of American time and energy Vietnam and the Philippines. The waxing and waning of Chinese and American influence among these regional states should be closely monitored as a leading indicator of the Sino-American power struggle within the greater Indo-Pacific. In Japan and South Korea, the president was greeted with friendly smiles and open arms. These visits exhibited textbook ally diplomacy, beginning with reaffirmations of existing alliances, reiterations of the important economic ties between the nations, and securing cooperation on shared external threats. But when the president reached China, the positive momentum began to falter. While there were positives on the economic side, including $253 billion-worth of deals and Chinese concessions on market access for U.S. companies, other gains were limited. President Trumps warm feelings for Chinese President Xi Jinping gave U.S. allies, partners, and potential partners, all of them actively counter-balancing China, reason for pause. Moreover, he achieved no further clarity on intellectual property rights, adherence to established international norms on the global air and sea commons, or an agreed-upon strategy for a denuclearized Korean Peninsula. For a president that has promised tough action on China, there appeared to be no substantive talks on military flashpoints. But the converging and diverging national interests of these big four Indo-Pacific countries are well-documented, well-defined, and well-understood by the global community. This maturity often means that negotiations relegate potential benefits to areas on the margins of the most prominent issues. Enter Vietnam and the Philippines two states with markedly different histories with the United States. Their locations, maritime orientations, and existing relations with the United States and China provide both Vietnam and the Philippines with outsized shares in the strategic calculus of nations wishing to act as the dominant power in the Indo-Pacific. Thus, the stops in both Vietnam and the Philippines were a deliberate, strategic play by the presidents team to provide Trump with two comparatively low risk, high-reward visits on his Asia tour. Vietnam, a communist country that fought a bloody war with the United States 50 years ago, finds itself actively soliciting closer ties with its one-time foe. Vietnams current policy decisions are heavily influenced by its centuries-long rivalry with China; a rivalry that once again has been brought to the forefront by overly assertive Chinese actions regarding fishing rights in the contested South China Sea. Vietnam imposes strict limits on its international diplomacy with its so-called three nos policy, meaning no military alliances, no foreign bases, and no letting any one country use Vietnam to harm another. Yet its ongoing disputes with China present opportunities for greater cooperation with the United States. Prior to the presidential visit, Vietnam was concerned by Americas withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the downturn in freedom of navigation operations performed by the U.S. Navy in the South China Sea. Trumps reassurance that the United States remains committed to upholding established international norms in the global commons, and the mention of a possible Vietnam-U.S. free trade agreement, assuaged many Vietnamese fears. In return, Washington received assurances of greater intellectual property rights enforcement coupled with increased trade. To be sure, the total dollar amount of trade deals will not approach the $253 billion agreed to with China. However, Trumps diplomatic labors in Vietnam secured a staunch, long-term, and vocal regional partner with a proven international track record of active resistance to extraordinary Chinese maritime claims. In contrast to Vietnam stands the Philippines. Once a close ally of the United States, it has moved closer to Beijing under the leadership of President Rodrigo Duterte. This cooling of U.S.-Philippines ties is viewed as important indicator of waning U.S. regional influence. More important for the Chinese, Filipino acquiescence to Chinas claims in the South China Sea, despite an international tribunal ruling in the Philippines favor, is a critical lawfare component to the ultimate normalization and international acceptance of Chinese sovereignty claims outlined in its 9-dash line. To this end, the Chinese government has committed substantial time, money, and national prestige in cultivating its relationship with Duterte. If Trump succeeds in reversing the trajectory of the U.S.-Filipino relationship, this would be a major diplomatic success and a striking blow to larger Chinese designs within the region. For now, the jury remains out on the overall success or failure of Trumps Asia trip. Seemingly, the Japanese, Korean, and Chinese legs of the trip played out as expected, with incremental movement on the most pressing issues. However, if Trump successfully aligned U.S. national interests with those of Vietnam and the Philippines, he will have cultivated fertile ground from which to further grow American leadership in the region. Trumps diplomacy with two also-visited countries may ultimately have the greatest strategic impact for advancing Americas interest in the Indo-Pacific. Thomas Bodine is the Navy federal executive fellow and Karl Friedhoff is the public opinion and foreign policy fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. The views expressed here are the authors' own. US President Donald Trumps first visit to Beijing was an exhibition of mutual flattery. China rolled out the red carpet for what it termed a 'state visit plus', replete with unprecedented pomp and circumstance for an American leader. Trump returned the favour with incessant fawning over Chinese President Xi Jinping, supplemented by extravagant admiration for China. 'Nothing you can see is so beautiful', he said of a full-dress Chinese military parade he witnessed in Beijing. The mood contrasted sharply with Trumps heated campaign rhetoric (recall his declaration 'We can't continue to allow China to rape our country'), eliciting a flood of analyses in the Western press that he had reversed course toward a softer approach to Beijing. Chinas state-run media was all too happy to reinforce this message, billing the summit as locking in a positive path for the US-China relationship. Dont count on it. Happy veneer aside, three factors at home are likely to drive the US toward a harder line on China in the months and years ahead. Call it the 'Three Ps'. First, people. Trump is slowly, but surely, filling out his Asia team at the National Security Council, State Department, and Defense Department. Not by accident, theres a near consensus among these political appointees shared throughout the Administration on the need for a more competitive strategy toward China. That will begin to show. Second, policy development. The Trump Administration is finally beginning to get its national security policymaking process up and running. With two big official strategy documents the National Defense Strategy and the National Security Strategy likely to drop in the coming months, expect to see a portrayal of China as first and foremost a strategic competitor. This doesnt mean the Trump Administration will demonstrate perfect coherence or competence on foreign policy, but these frames will drive and inform day-to-day decisions on Asia. When, as anticipated, the Administration gets around to focusing on other regional issues beyond North Korea (with Taiwan and South China Sea as leading contenders), the possibility of greater friction with China is far more likely than not. The third and most important factor driving the US toward a harder line on China is politics. Consider how Democrats and even some Republicans have pulled Trump back to a more moderate position on Iran. With China, its going to be the opposite. The dominant criticism in Washington across the political spectrum is that Trump has failed to deliver on China. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has accused Trump of being 'nothing more than a paper tiger' on China. Across the aisle, the second-ranking Republican in the Senate, John Cornyn, recently introduced legislation to increase scrutiny of Chinese investments in the US, arguing that 'Its time to wake up to the mounting risks' of Chinas threat to the American economy. And lets not forget that the Bannon-ist, populist, nationalist wing of the GOP first lit this issue on fire in 2016 by blaming China for emptying US factories. Bottom line: ahead of elections in 2018 and 2020, Trump will feel mounting pressure from all sides to make good on his campaign promise to hold China to account for its unfair trade practices. But is America even capable of taking on Beijing if it wanted to? You dont have to search far these days to find doomsday predictions of American decline. Eurasia Groups Ian Bremmer stole the mid-November cover of TIME magazine to argue the contest is already over, proclaiming that 'China Won'. Sensing a similar reversal of fortune, former Foreign Policy chief editor David Rothkopf tweeted upon the Presidents departure to Asia that 'Trump about to make history as first POTUS who had to travel all the way to PRC to meet world's most powerful man.' Fair enough: After all, who could fail to compare Xi Jinpings Davos-friendly odes to globalisation with Donald Trumps protectionism and damaging withdrawal from the Paris climate deal and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement? Yet the reality in Asia betrays a far more complicated picture. For starters, in spite of (or, perhaps, because of) concerns about Donald Trump, the most important happenings while Trump was in Asia were demonstrations of resistance to not willing or reluctant acceptance of Chinas growing influence. On trade and investment, the remaining eleven members of the TPP managed to move forward on the deal without the US. Washingtons absence was notable and costly, but more significant is the collective desire in the region to avoid a China-led economic order. Similarly, for the first time in a decade, senior officials from Australia, India, Japan, and the US met as a 'Quad' to re-energise cooperation among the regions leading democracies. Again, little nuance that this is anything other than an effort to generate alternatives to a Sino-centric future. It bears remembering that Xi Jinping may be consolidating power at home, but remains deeply unpopular overseas. Pew Research polls, often used as evidence of Trumps low ratings globally, have also shown that the world has barely more confidence in Xi, leaving the Chinese President about as popular as Vladimir Putin. Despite the billions of dollars the Chinese government has spent trying to burnish its leaders image abroad, Xis numbers are in the basement compared to respected figures like Angela Merkel and Barack Obama. This all suggests it is premature to declare China victorious while the region and the world are rejecting both its leadership and its leader. Finally, lets remember that, despite Trumps corrosive effect, the foundations of American power remain strong. The US economy is still the largest and most advanced in the world, with the best universities, the most capable military, strong demographics, and a vibrant civil society. By comparison, take your issue area economics, politics, environment, energy, demographics, ideology and Chinas position looks more perilous than dominant. China is no doubt a force to be reckoned with, but Trump has the wherewithal to play hardball on trade, Taiwan, or the South China Sea should he choose. Donald Trump, of course, is the ultimate wildcard, and predicting the future of US foreign policy under his watch is risky business. Nonetheless, all signs are now pointing toward a harder US line against China, regardless of either the royal treatment Trump received in Beijing or his 'great chemistry' and 'very good relationship' with Xi. Though they had not released an album since V in 2014, Maroon 5 returned stronger with new content, most of which was produced with a sound slightly different than its usual pop and rock hits. Martinsville is building a new police station. What you need to know. A spokesman for Armenias ruling party has dismissed as "ridiculous" an accusation made on a Russian television channel that Armenias government elites "glorify Nazism." Zvezda TV, which is viewed in Armenia as the propagandist arm of the Russian Ministry of Defense, last week aired a program that compared the logo of the Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) to the emblem of the Third Reich. It also compared Garegin Nzhdeh, a 20th-century Armenian military commander whose ideology the HHK espouses, to World War II-era Ukrainian nationalist leader Stepan Bandera, and asserted that "Armenia's ruling elites glorify Nazi collaborators." A statue of Nzhdeh, who briefly allied himself with Nazis during World War II and was imprisoned by Moscow for that act, was erected last year in the center of the Armenian capital, Yerevan, in a move criticized by Moscow at the time. HHK spokesman Eduard Sharmazanov, who is also a deputy speaker of the Armenian parliament, defended the statue in comments to RFE/RLs Armenian Service (Azatutyun.am) on November 21. Garegin Nzhdeh is one of the greatest heroes of the Armenian nation and monuments to him should be erected not only in Yerevan, but also in different parts of Armenia, he said. Armenia is a sovereign country and will decide itself whose monuments to erect, he added. Sharmazanov said comparisons of the HHKs logo to a Nazi emblem are ridiculous and politically blind." Moscow previously criticized the Nzhdeh statue shortly after the monument was inaugurated in May 2016 in a ceremony attended by President Serzh Sarkisian and other senior officials affiliated with the ruling party. We cannot understand why that statue was placed, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova said then, stressing that the Russian government is strongly opposed to any revival, glorification, or other manifestations of Nazism, neo-Nazism, and extremism. The Russian Foreign Ministry later softened its stance on the matter, with its spokesperson Zakharova saying that placing Nzhdehs statue in the center of Yerevan was Armenias internal affair. Senior HHK figures rejected Russia's criticism at the time, and have downplayed Nzhdehs documented collaboration with Nazi Germany, insisting that he is an Armenian national hero. Born in the Russian Empire in 1886, Nzhdeh was one of the prominent military leaders of a short-lived independent Armenian republic formed in 1918. In 1920, he mounted armed resistance against the republics takeover by Bolshevik Russia in Zangezur, a mountainous region in what is now southeastern Armenia. Nzhdeh and his supporters ended their resistance and fled to neighboring Persia in July 1921 after receiving assurances that the region would not be incorporated into Soviet Azerbaijan. Nzhdeh was one of several exiled Armenian leaders who pledged allegiance to Nazi Germany in 1942 with the stated aim of saving Soviet Armenia from a possible Turkish invasion after what they expected to be a Soviet defeat by the Third Reich. Nzhdeh surrendered to advancing Red Army divisions in Bulgaria in 1944 after reportedly offering to help Soviet dictator Josef Stalin mobilize Armenians for a Soviet assault on Turkey. In 1948, a Soviet court sentenced him to 25 years in prison on charges that mainly stemmed from his alleged counterrevolutionary activities in 1920-1921. Nzhdeh was rehabilitated in Armenia after the republics last Communist government was removed from power in 1990. He is widely credited with preserving Armenian control over Zangezur. He is also revered by many Armenians as the founder of a new brand of Armenian nationalism that emerged in the 1930s. The HHK has espoused Nzhdehs Tseghakron ideology, which puts the emphasis on armed self-defense and self-reliance, since it was established in the early 1990s. The HHKs current coalition partner, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), which is one of the oldest Armenian political parties, also embraces Nzhdehs teachings. In lambasting certain ruling elites in Armenia, Russias Zvezda TV also singled out an accord that Armenia plans to sign with the European Union at the Eastern Partnership Summit in Brussels on November 24. HHK spokesman Sharmazanov declined to say whether the criticism indicated dissatisfaction with the planned EU deal in Moscow. Armenian officials have repeatedly stated that their relations with Brussels do not affect Yerevans allied relationship with Moscow or jeopardize the South Caucasus nations membership in the Russian-led trade bloc. The de facto military authorities in Azerbaijan's breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region said three of its fighters were killed and one was seriously wounded in a land-mine explosion on November 21 near the line of contact separating the combatant sides. The November 22 statement said the servicemen triggered an antitank mine while carrying out engineering work. Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman Artsrun Hovannisian said the case was not a result of "direct enemy impact." The deadly incident came shortly after a regional tour by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who visited Baku and Yerevan on November 19-21 for talks that partially focused on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. The Nagorno-Karabakh region, populated mainly by ethnic Armenians, declared independence from Azerbaijan amid a 1988-94 war that claimed an estimated 30,000 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of people. People on the streets of the Serbian capital, Belgrade, reacted with derision to the life sentence given to former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic for orchestrating massacres and ethnic cleansing during Bosnia's 1992-95 war. An international tribunal in The Hague found Mladic guilty on 10 counts of genocide and crimes against humanity on November 22. Some in Belgrade claimed the prosecution was a conspiracy by the United States. (RFE/RL's Balkan Service) The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague has restated its judgement that the mass killings in Srebrenica in 1995 constituted a genocide. Judge Alphons Orie was speaking before delivering the verdict on the Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic, who faces charges of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. (Reuters) Sarajevo residents who lost their children in the siege of Sarajevo expressed mixed feelings after Bosnian Serb wartime commander Ratko Mladic was given life imprisonment for genocide and other war crimes. They came togther to watch the verdict on TV, more than twenty years after the conflict in Bosnia. (RFE/RL's Balkan Service) So, whose little green men are they, anyway? At this point, we don't really know. But there was a sense of deja vu in Luhansk yesterday as masked, armed men in unmarked uniforms took up positions in the center of the de facto Russian-controlled eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk. It all felt so retro -- so very 2014. Except that then, the so-called "little green men" were part of a Kremlin campaign to stir up and manufacture a separatist uprising in the Donbas and undermine Ukraine's sovereignty. Today, they appear to be a tool in a fight among the separatists themselves. Initial reports suggest that the reappearance of little green men in Luhansk is connected to a power struggle that ensued after Igor Plotnitsky, the pro-Moscow separatist leader in Luhansk, fired his police chief, Igor Kornet, earlier this week. The Russian news agency RBK is quoting an unidentified Kremlin official close to Vladislav Surkov, Russia's point man on Ukraine policy, as saying that Moscow is displeased with Plotnitsky's rule and is backing Kornet. But the Kremlin is denying this and -- quite improbably -- calling the whole thing an internal affair of the so-called "Luhansk People's Republic." It's going to take a little while for the smoke to clear before we can piece together what exactly is really going on here. But one thing is clear. When you use force, deception, and subterfuge to create a fake state on somebody else's territory -- force, deception, and subterfuge will likely become the organizing principles of that fake state. A territory established by little green men is doomed to be governed by the rule of little green men. Keep telling me what you think on The Power Vertical's Twitter feed and on our Facebook page. Survivors and relatives of victims of the 1995 massacre of Bosniak men and boys in and around Srebrenica watched a video feed as former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic was sentenced to life in prison. In The Hague on November 22, Mladic was convicted of war crimes charges, including genocide, at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Some expressed their feelings about the verdict to RFE/RL's Balkan Service. Welcome back to the China In Eurasia briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter tracking Chinas resurgent influence from Eastern Europe to Central Asia. Im RFE/RL correspondent Reid Standish. Before we get started, a few announcements: The newsletter is now biweekly, rather than going out only on the first and third Wednesdays of each month. To subscribe, click here. And I will also be launching Talking China In Eurasia, a new podcast. Im joined by the Royal United Services Institutes Raffaello Pantucci to talk about Xi and Putin. Listen to the first episode here or below. Xi Gets Pragmatic About Russia At The G20 It was light on optimism, but U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping injected a healthy dose of pragmatism back into the U.S.-China relationship with their meeting in Bali at a time when global anxiety is rising over Russias war against Ukraine. Finding Perspective: The meeting on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit was far from a breakthrough, but it did repair some damage from the recent backslide in relations between both countries and send some signals that the world isnt necessarily destined for Cold War 2.0. The more than three-hour talks saw some blunt exchanges over contentious issues like Taiwan and North Korea, but the two leaders also pledged more frequent communications and decided that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Beijing for follow-up talks in 2023. Of particular note, Biden raised Russias invasion of Ukraine and threats by Russian President Vladimir Putin to use nuclear weapons. Both leaders reiterated their agreement that a nuclear war should never be fought, according to a White House readout. While far from a sea change for Chinese policy, thats notable. The credibility of Beijings claims to be neutral on the Ukraine war continue to come under scrutiny, and China has shown discomfort of late with the Kremlins nuclear saber-rattling. Xi made similar comments after a November 4 summit with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and during another G20 meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, according to the French readout. Why It Matters: Xi is not abandoning Putin, but this marks the latest shift for Beijings balancing act over Russias invasion of Ukraine. Four Chinese officials briefed on the February 4 meeting between Xi and Putin, where they declared a no-limits partnership, told the Financial Times that Putin didnt tell Xi the truth about the invasion and that Beijing was caught off guard by it. What Xi knew about Putins war plans has been a topic of debate, and there is evidence to support both the idea that Xi was aware and that he was caught off guard. Many analysts are of the opinion that Xi knew about Putin's decision to invade but expected a quick victory, which perhaps was what Putin believed at the time. Others point to a steady stream of dismissals from Chinese officials and experts about the likelihood of an invasion in February and the fact that Beijing did not evacuate its citizens from Ukraine like Western nations did as evidence that China was not expecting a war. China certainly has its own interests in keeping a distance from Moscows war and using that space to do some upkeep with the West. But perhaps the most important point here is that even if Putin did blindside Xi, China has stuck with Russia despite its battlefield failures, political isolation, and the atrocities its troops are accused of committing. Again, this is pragmatism more than anything else. As Chinese experts often say, even if Russia is looking unattractive these days, why would Beijing abandon its main anti-Western partner as China continues to be in the crosshairs of rising American pressure? Read More Want to hear more about Russia and Chinas complex relationship amid the Ukraine war? Then tune in to the debut of Talking China In Eurasia today at 2 p.m. CET/ 8 a.m. EST. You can listen live here and find the episode on RFE/RLs website and wherever you listen to your podcasts. Condemning Russias invasion of Ukraine and its global fallout is shaping up to be the key theme of the G20, with the Financial Times reporting that a joint communique from the summit takes aim at Moscow. Expert Corner: The Future Of The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Readers asked: Did Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharifs recent trip to Beijing breathe new life into the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)? How do Islamabad and Beijing really feel about the project after all these years? To find out more, I asked Filippo Boni, an expert on China-Pakistan relations at the Open University in Britain: Shehbaz Sharif's visit to China was high on symbolism and relatively low on substance. While the two sides were keen to reaffirm and emphasize the strength of their strategic partnership, no significant new commitment was made. Apart from a few memorandums of understanding and attempts from the Pakistanis in the run-up to the trip to address some of CPECs issues including payments to Chinese independent power producers nothing major came from the visit. This is despite Sharif's attempts at revitalizing CPEC since April and the very close ties he enjoys with the Chinese leadership. The outcome of this visit is not entirely surprising, especially if interpreted against the backdrop of Pakistan's current domestic predicaments. The security situation for Chinese nationals has deteriorated, the economy is struggling, and political instability is at one of its highest points in recent years. All these dynamics, coupled with the global scaling down of Belt and Road Initiative financing, have likely impacted Beijing's lack of commitment to new projects. After almost 10 years and $25 billion worth of projects, there seems to be a general consensus on both sides that the first phase of CPEC the one focused primarily on energy projects was largely successful. The same cannot be said for the second phase, including the slow progress on the development of Special Economic Zones, and for the port of Gwadar, where little progress has been made for the ports full commercial functioning. Do you have a question about Chinas growing footprint in Eurasia? Send it to me at StandishR@rferl.org or reply directly to this e-mail and Ill get it answered by leading experts and policymakers. Three More Stories From Eurasia 1. 'Sweep It Under The Rug' Recent allegations of China operating 54 overseas police stations have fueled controversy around the world and sparked investigations, but in Hungary and Serbia the new findings are being met with swift denials by authorities, despite growing evidence. The Details: My colleagues Akos Keller-Alant from RFE/RLs Hungarian Service, Mila Durdevic from RFE/RLs Balkan Service, and I reported on the fallout from these revelations and the slew of probes launched in many European countries recently. The stations are overseas operations of the public security bureaus from two Chinese provinces and are used to persuade citizens to return to China, including through pressure on family members at home. While most of those involved appear to be suspected of crimes such as telecommunications fraud or corruption, dissidents have also reported that the stations have been used to monitor and threaten them. Fourteen governments have already launched investigations into the overseas police stations, and the Dutch and Irish governments have ordered China to shut down the facilities in their countries. But in Hungary and Serbia two countries where Beijing is said to operate such facilities and whose governments prize their warming political and economic ties with China officials appear to be trying to sweep it under the rug, as one analyst characterized it, despite growing scrutiny from opposition lawmakers in each country. 2. Global Ripples Hit Central Asia Political and economic shocks from Moscows war in Ukraine, coupled with added strains from tensions between Beijing and Washington, are taking their toll around the world, especially in Central Asia, where countries in the region are closely tied to both China and Russia. What It Means: As RFE/RLs Uzbek Service reported, Vladimir Norov, the countrys foreign minister, warned about geopolitical tensions affecting stability in the region and beyond while addressing his counterparts at an Organization of Turkic States meeting in Samarkand. The breakdown in global cooperation is felt particularly strong in Central Asia. While some economies have been able to benefit by becoming a new home for businesses and capital relocated from Russia, others are seeing investment dry up and their economies coming under strain. World Bank Vice President for Europe and Central Asia Anna Bjerde recently warned that Uzbekistan needs to continue with its market reforms in order to withstand the global economic shocks that are to come. RFE/RLs Kyrgyz Service also reported that the countrys government is trying to court more investment but that questions remain from investors about Kyrgyzstans stability and investment climate. According to official statistics from January to June of this year, China is the leading source of foreign investment, with $129 million during that span. 3. The Tech In Moscows Iranian Drones A new investigation by Schemes, the investigative unit of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, looked into electronic components underpinning Tehran's production of the Mohajer-6 drone, which Russia has used in its war in Ukraine, and found that theyre far from homegrown. What You Need To Know: The Mohajer-6 drones contain components produced by companies from the United States and the European Union, both of which have sanctions restricting the export to Iran of technology that can be used for both civilian and military purposes. The investigation also found drone components produced in China, including a real-time mini-camera made by a Hong Kong firm. The drone also contains a microchip bearing the logo of a California technology company and a thermal-imaging camera that Ukrainian intelligence says may have been produced by a firm based in Oregon or China. The international tech in the drone not only highlights the complex ecosystem that allows firms and buyers to circumvent sanctions slapped on both Iran and Russia, but also the close networks between Chinese and Western tech companies that still exist, despite a recent push to break some of those linkages. Across The Supercontinent On The Mainland: The watchdog group Freedom House recently launched a new project called the China Dissent Monitor, which tracks protests and other forms of dissent inside China. Read it here. Censored: Chinese authorities behind a major trade expo in Shanghai pulled an opening ceremony address by European Council President Charles Michel that was set to criticize Russia's illegal war in Ukraine and call for reduced European dependency on China, Reuters reported. Backtracking: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has softened his countrys stance toward China, moving away from his predecessor Liz Trusss decision to label it a threat. One Thing To Watch How long will Chinas stringent COVID policies stay in place? New infections are rising as a winter wave hits and popular frustration continues to boil over inside the country as investor confidence stays dented over the measures. New footage also showed crowds of residents in the southern metropolis of Guangzhou escaping a compulsory lockdown and clashing with police. Thats all from me for now. Dont forget to send me any questions, comments, or tips that you might have. Until next time, Reid Standish If you enjoyed this briefing and don't want to miss the next edition, subscribe here. It will be sent to your in-box on the first and third Wednesdays of each month. The guilty verdict of former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic, known as the "Butcher of Bosnia," brought the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) a step closer to its closure, but for many of his victims, it did little to ease the pain. The 75-year-old former Bosnian Serb general was sentenced on November 22 to life imprisonment after being found guilty on 10 of 11 charges, including one guilty verdict of genocide, as well as war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in the bloody 1992-95 conflict that tore the former Yugoslavia apart. Victims both outside the court, which winds down at the end of this year, and back in Bosnia-Herzegovina applauded the result, even though some felt that justice could never be served for the man responsible for thousands of deaths during the conflict. "None of us here expected anything else. But there is something I am not satisfied with. I am not satisfied with the verdict that [Ratko Mladic] is not guilty in Count One of the indictment [related specifically to genocide in Bosnian towns and villages]," said Munir Habibovic, a survivor of the Srebrenica massacre, as she stood in the Potocari cemetery and memorial center just outside Srebrenica. Mladic, who insisted he was innocent of all of the charges, had managed to escape prosecution for 16 years until his arrest in Serbia in May 2011 and extradition to The Hague. A survivor of multiple strokes, Mladic was visibly frail when the trial began in 2012. During the rendering of the verdict, his lawyers asked for a halt in the proceedings due to the accused's high blood pressure. After the request was denied, a visibly agitated Mladic, who defiantly opened the trial by saying, "I want my enemies, and there are many, to drop dead because I am still alive," rose in the dock and began shouting at the court that he didn't feel well before being removed from the room. Moments later, Mladic was found guilty of commanding forces responsible for crimes including the worst atrocities of the war: the deadly three-year siege of the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, and the 1995 massacre of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica. He was found not guilty of genocide in some other Bosnian towns and villages. "I'm partially satisfied. It's more than for Karadzic. But they didn't find him guilty for the accusation of genocide in some villages," said Munira Subasic, president of the Mothers of Srebrenica association. The crimes committed rank among the "most heinous known to humankind," and include genocide and extermination as a crime against humanity, Presiding Judge Alphons Orie said in reading out a summary of the judgment. "He deserves much more severe punishment," said one survivor, who lost her children and husband, in a live interview with the BBC outside The Hague-based court after the verdict was handed down. "He needs to be tortured," she said. "He'll be fine in prison, but he needs to suffer like our children did." Given the gravity of the offenses, Mladic's case became one of the highest-profile war crimes trials since the Nuremberg trials of Germany's Nazi leadership after World War II. UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein called the conviction a "momentous victory for justice." "Mladic is the epitome of evil, and the prosecution of Mladic is the epitome of what international justice is all about," Zeid said in a statement. "Today's verdict is a warning to the perpetrators of such crimes that they will not escape justice, no matter how powerful they may be nor how long it may take." Mladic's lawyer and his son both said the verdict would be appealed and that Mladic has been denied his "basic human rights" by not being allowed to see doctors of his own choice. The reaction in Serbia was mixed, in a country that is trying to move toward the European Union but still has strong nationalist tendencies. President Aleksandar Vucic urged his compatriots to look to the future rather than "suffocating in tears of the past." In the small Serbian village of Lazarevo, where Mladic was finally apprehended, residents dismissed a court they said has sought to solely blame Serbs for the crimes committed during the Yugoslav conflict. The AP quoted villager Igor Topolic as saying he was "horrified and saddened" by the verdict and called Mladic "a Serbian national hero." With the Mladic verdict rendered, the ICTY next week will make its ruling on the appeals of former Bosnian Croat leader Jadranko Prlic and five other Bosnian Croats. Prlic, now 57, was sentenced to 25 years in prison on charges of murdering and deporting Muslims during the war. After that, the ICTY will close its doors. The Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals, MICT, will take over the remaining cases along with domestic courts, particularly the Bosnian state court. With reporting by RFE/RL's Balkan Service A UN tribunal on Wednesday convicted former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic of genocide and crimes against humanity for orchestrating massacres and ethnic cleansing during Bosnia's 1992-95 war. The court in The Hague found Mladic guilty of 10 of 11 charges, including the slaughter of 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica and the siege of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, in which more than 11,000 civilians were killed. Judge Alphon Orie read the final verdict and the sentence of life in prison. (Reuters) A court in Pakistan has ordered the release from house arrest of an Islamist leader accused of masterminding the 2008 attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people, his lawyer and a prosecutor say. Prosecutor Sattar Sahil told Reuters on November 22 that Hafiz Saeed is expected to be released on November 23 after the Lahore court rejected the provincial government's request for a 60-day extension to his detention. "The review board of the Lahore High Court asked the Punjab government to produce evidence against Hafiz Saeed for keeping him detained, but the government failed," Saeed's lawyer, A.K. Dogar, said. The move is likely to anger U.S. and Indian officials, who have accused Saeed of helping plan the Mumbai attacks in which 10 gunmen rampaged through India's largest city, shooting up two luxury hotels, a Jewish center, and a train station during a siege that lasted several days. India accused Pakistan of helping organize the attacks in cooperation with Saeed, who is head of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) charity, which U.S. officials say is a front for the banned Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group. The United States had offered a $10-million reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Saeed and has accused Pakistan of offering a safe haven for insurgents operating in neighboring countries. Pakistan and the JuD have denied involvement in the Mumbai attack. U.S. and Indian officials did not immediately comment on the court's order. Based on reporting by AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa, and The Guardian Russia, Iran, and Turkey have agreed to organize a "congress" involving Syrian government and opposition forces in an effort to end the Middle East country's six-year civil war, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on November 22. Putin made the comments at the end of trilateral peace talks with his counterparts from Iran and Turkey -- Hassan Rohani and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, respectively -- in the southern Russian city of Sochi. "The Iranian and Turkish presidents have supported the initiative to convene the Syrian national congress," Putin said, citing a joint statement issued by the three leaders at the end of their summit. "We have agreed to hold these very important events at the appropriate level and ensure the participation of representatives of broad layers of Syrian society in it," Putin said. Putin said the leaders had instructed diplomats, security, and defense officials to work on the composition and date of the congress to be held in Sochi, calling it a first step to establishing an "inclusive dialogue" among warring parties. "It is planned to bring together at the negotiating table delegates from different political parties, internal and external opposition, ethnic, and confessional groups," he added. It was not immediately clear how the new congress would differ from two parallel rounds of peace talks surrounding Syria's bloody civil war, which has killed more than 310,000 people, created 6.1 million refugees, and internally displaced some 5 million Syrians since 2011. The United Nations sponsors peace talks in Geneva in search of a political solution, while Russia, Iran, and Turkey co-sponsor negotiations in the Kazakh capital, Astana, that focus on battlefield issues and involve some rebel forces and the government. Russia and Iran back Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the conflict, while Turkey and the United States support differing rebel groups fighting against his government. The extremist Islamic State (IS) group has also entered the fighting and is opposed by all other sides. Moscows two-year air campaign in Syria has given Assad an upper hand in the conflict, while Russia has also faced accusations of killing hundreds of civilians with its aerial bombardments, allegations it has denied. Rohani called the trilateral talks "very useful" and added his support for the so-called Congress of National Dialogue between Syrian factions in Sochi. Earlier in the day, Erdogan stressed the "need to make significant progress on the political solution. I believe we will make critical decisions here." Before the start of the talks, Putin had said there is a "real chance" to end the civil war but that a political solution to the conflict would require compromises from all parties involved, including the Syrian government Moscow is backing. "There is a real chance to put an end to this yearslong civil war," Putin said. "It is obvious that the reform process will not be simple. It will require compromise and concessions from all parties, including obviously the Syrian government," he added. It was not immediately clear what Putin was referring to in the way of "concessions" by the Syrian government. The fate of Assad has been a stumbling block in previous rounds of peace talks. The United States and opposition groups have at times said his removal was a prerequisite to a peace deal, although U.S. officials, both under former President Barack Obama and current President Donald Trump, have eased off those demands. Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television reported on November 22 that a draft of a final statement of Syrian opposition groups meeting in Riyadh calls for Assad's ouster before the start of any transition period. Some members of the Syrian opposition have suggested the communique could drop mention of Assad, which would represent an easing of long-standing demands that he not have a role in any transition period. The groups are meeting in Saudi Arabia in a bid to create a single representative body for a new round of UN-sponsored talks in Geneva on November 28. With reporting by Reuters, AFP, dpa, AP, TASS, and the BBC Former Russian Federation Council member Umar Dzhabrailov has been fined 500,000 rubles ($23,000) for discharging a firearm in a posh Moscow hotel in August. Moscow's Tverskoi district court handed down the sentence on November 22 after convicting Dzhabrailov of "hooliganism involving the use of a weapon." The maximum penalty was up to five years in prison, and prosecutors had sought a two-year suspended prison term. Dzhabrailov was given an additional 4,000-ruble fine for using narcotics. In court, Dzhabrailov acknowledged guilt and offered his apologies "to the party that supposedly considers itself a victim." Police arrested Dzhabrailov on August 29 at the Four Seasons Hotel, in the heart of Moscow near the Kremlin. He had fired several shots from a ceremonial pistol and a white powder that was later determined to be cocaine was found in his room. He later claimed he had fired the shots into the ceiling "in despair" after undergoing a breakdown. Dzhabrailov, a businessman, represented the executive branch of the government of Chechnya in the Federation Council, Russia's upper parliament house, from 2004 until 2009. Based on reporting by RBK, Radio Mayak, and RIA Novosti A French judge put detained Russian businessman and lawmaker Suleiman Kerimov under formal investigation for suspected tax evasion and set strict conditions on his release late on November 22. Prosecutors said bail was set at 5 million euros and Kerimov must hand in his passport and agree to remain in the Nice area of France, where he was arrested on November 20 at the Cote D'Azur International Airport near the French Riviera. The arrest prompted outrage in Russia and the Kremlin has vowed to defend Kerimov. The Russian Foreign Ministry said on November 22 that it had summoned the charge d'affaires of the French Embassy in Moscow to protest the arrest. France's formal investigation of Kerimov, 51, is a step that often, but not always, leads to a trial under the French legal system. Prosecutors said it was opened on suspicion of aggravated laundering of tax fraud proceeds, a crime that carries a prison sentence of up to 10 years. A French judicial source told Reuters that the investigation centers on Kerimov's purchase of several luxury residences on the French Riviera via shell companies, something that could have enabled him to reduce taxes owed to the French state. The Kremlin earlier pledged its support for Kerimov, whose fortune is estimated at $6.3 billion by Forbes magazine. "The senator status and the fact that he is a Russian citizen is a guarantee that we will, of course, put in all possible efforts to defend his lawful interests," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on November 22. Kerimov represents the southern region of Dagestan in Russia's upper house of parliament, known as the Federal Council, and the Russian Foreign Ministry said earlier that it had notified France that he has diplomatic immunity. Russia's state-run RIA Novosti news agency, however, cited an unidentified Federation Council source as saying that Kerimov had not traveled to France using his diplomatic passport because he was not there on official business. A spokeswoman for the French Foreign Ministry said Kerimov could only claim immunity in relation to his work as a lawmaker. "It is for the relevant judge to decide whether the reasons for his prosecution relate to his job and therefore whether he is protected by immunity," she said. Much of Kerimov's fortune comes from controlling Russia's largest gold producer Polyus, though he has also held shares in potash giant Uralkali and construction company PIK Group. With reporting by AFP, Reuters, AP, TASS, Interfax, dpa, and RIA-Novosti Russia's Federation Council has approved legislation that would empower the government to designate media outlets receiving funding from abroad as "foreign agents" and impose sanctions against them. The measure passed the upper chamber of the Russian parliament on November 22 in a unanimous 154-0 vote, with one abstention. It will now be sent to President Vladimir Putin for signature. Federation Council head Valentina Matviyenko said the measure was adopted after lawmakers considered criticism from the presidential human rights council, which said the measure was flawed and urged that it be sent back to the lower house for revision. The legislation was unanimously passed in the third and final reading in the State Duma on November 15. Within hours, the Justice Ministry sent warnings to several Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) news services. The letters did not specify what potential restrictions they could face, but lawmakers have said designated media could be subjected to detailed financial reporting requirements and required to label published material as coming from a foreign agent. RFE/RL was among several media outlets that Russian officials warned could be labeled a foreign agent, a list that also included the Voice of America (VOA), CNN, and Germany's international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle. The international rights organization Amnesty International has said the legislation would deal a "serious blow" to media freedom in Russia, although Russian officials have said it would not apply to domestic media. Russian officials have called the new legislation a "symmetrical response" to what they describe as U.S. pressure on Russian media. On November 13, the Russian state-funded television channel RT registered in the United States under a decades-old law called the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The U.S. Justice Department required RT to register in the wake of a January finding by U.S. intelligence agencies that RT and Russia's Sputnik news agency spread disinformation as part of a Russian-government effort to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election. In a November 15 statement, RFE/RL said the "situation regarding Russian media in the U.S. and U.S. media in Russia remains vastly unequal." "RT and Sputnik distribute freely in the U.S., whereas RFE/RL has lost its broadcast affiliates in Russia due to administrative pressures, and has no access to cable," it said. "RFE/RL reporters are subject to harassment and even physical attack in Russia." Visiting the Moscow bureau of RFE/RL and VOA on November 17, U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman said that the Russian legislation was a "big concern" for the United States and that "the principles of free media in any free society and democracy are absolutely critical for strength and well-being." Putin's representative to the Duma said on November 15 that his administration supported the legislation. With reporting by TASS and Meduza Russian opera star Dmitry Hvorostovsky has died of brain cancer at age 55, his family says. The Siberian-born baritone died "peacefully" and surrounded by relatives at a hospice near his home in London, a statement on his Facebook page said. "May the warmth of his voice and his spirit always be with us," it said. Hvorostovsky was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2015 and had all but given up live performances by the end of 2016. He made his final public appearance at a concert called Dmitri And Friends at Austria's Grafenegg Festival in June. The Vienna State Opera announced that month that that he had canceled all upcoming performances. Hvorostovsky, who was born in Krasnoyarsk in October 1962, has recorded more than 40 albums. Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed condolences to Hvorostovsky's family, friends, and fans, saying that his work was an achievement belonging "not just to [Russian] but to world culture," according to a Kremlin statement. It said he had been honored as a People's Artist of Russia. Hvorostovsky is survived by his wife, Florence Hvorostovsky, and their two children, as well as his twin children from a previous marriage, and his parents. With reporting by AP Moscow has threatened to retaliate if Google gives less prominence in its search results to articles from Russian state-funded news websites Sputnik and RT, according to the Russian news agency Interfax. Interfax quoted Aleksandr Zharov, head of Russia's Roskomnadzor media regulator, as saying that his agency sent a letter to Google on November 21 requesting clarification of comments over the weekend by Eric Schmidt, the chief executive of Google's parent company Alphabet, in which Schmidt said Google was "working on...de-ranking" the Russian news websites. "We will receive an answer and understand what to do next," Interfax quoted Zharov as saying. "We hope our opinion will be heard, and we won't have to resort to" what the agency described as "possible retaliatory measures." Schmidt, speaking at the Halifax International Security Forum on November 18, responded to a question about allegations that Sputnik spreads "propaganda" in its articles and said Google was working to give less prominence to "those kinds of websites," rather than delisting them. "It's basically RT and Sputnik. We're well aware and we're trying to engineer the systems to prevent it," Schmidt said. The Russian government funds Sputnik and RT, formerly known as Russia Today. U.S. intelligence agencies have said both of the websites spread misinformation and published negative stories about Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. "We didn't see this a few years ago," Schmidt said. "We didn't realize this could be so pervasive," he noted, adding that the technology industry had been "naive." "Ten years ago, I thought that everyone would be able to deal with the Internet because the Internet, as we all knew, was full of falsehoods as well as truths. But faced with the data, from what we've seen from Russia in 2016, and with other actors around the world, we have to act." Schmidt said Russian disinformation was easy to combat because it involves "amplification around a message" that is "repetitive, exploitative, false [or] likely to have been weaponized." "My own view is that these patterns can be detected, and that they can be taken down or de-prioritized," he said. "We dont want to ban the sites. That's not how we operate.... I am strongly not in favor of censorship." Google spokeswoman Andrea Faville said Google's efforts to demote search results that link to low-quality, false, and deliberately misleading content began in April. Google is also working to highlight authoritative content, she said. Faville said Google analyzes a website's attributes and, based on that assessment, gives it a higher or lower position in search results. RT's editor in chief, Margarita Simonyan, issued a statement saying that Googles own internal review system had found that the news site had broken no rules. Sputnik on November 21 quoted Roskomnadzor's Zharov as saying he would monitor "how discriminating this measure will be in its practical embodiment." "It is obvious that we will defend our media," Sputnik quoted Zharov as saying. RT has previously been penalized by Google. The television network received guaranteed ad revenue from Google's YouTube outlet until September, when it was removed as preferred partner. With reporting by Reuters, Motherboard, and The Guardian Igor Sechin, a powerful ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and CEO of the Rosneft state-owned oil giant, has failed to show up for the third time at a Moscow court to testify in the corruption trial of a former economy minister. The judge at Moscow's Zamoskvoretsky district court announced on November 22 that Sechin's lawyer, Nikolai Klen, informed the court in writing that his client would not appear because he is currently on a business trip in Siberia. Judge Larisa Semyonova said the statement added that Sechin believed his "earlier testimony could be read out in court," apparently referring to statements he gave to investigators. The defense, however, insisted on the right to question Sechin and the court upheld that request, issuing a fourth summons ordering Sechin to appear on November 27. Rosneft had announced on November 21 that Sechin would miss the hearing because he was escorting Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on a tour of Rosneft facilities in Khanty-Mansiisk. Lawyer Klen also informed the court that his client had a full slate of business trips scheduled until the end of the year. Sechin has been summoned to testify as a witness in the trial of former Economy Minister Aleksei Ulyukayev, who is charged with extorting a $2 million bribe from Rosneft in 2016. Ulyukayev has said he would like to testify only after Sechin has been questioned. Defense lawyers on November 22 said, however, that they will proceed with Ulyukayev's testimony if Sechin fails to appear in court for a fourth time. Prosecutors the same day asked the court not to let the defense stall the proceedings over the issue of Sechin's testimony. Sechin said on November 16 he was willing to testify "when we can agree on a schedule" and that his job as CEO of the state oil giant was more important than the trial. Prosecutors say Sechin handed Ulyukayev the $2 million that the then-minister allegedly extorted from him in exchange for a favorable decision on a major acquisition by Rosneft. Ulyukayev says he is not guilty and accuses Sechin and Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) of tricking him by telling him the case containing the money was full of wine. Ulyukayev's trial began in August. He is under house arrest. With reporting by TASS, RIA Novosti, Interfax, and Vedomosti A Moscow court has fined Ali Feruz, an Uzbek citizen who works for the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, after ruling that he worked illegally in Russia. The Basmanny district court issued the ruling late on November 21 and ordered Feruz to pay a 5,000-ruble ($85) fine. Feruz pleaded not guilty, insisting that he was not Novaya Gazeta's permanent employee and did not receive regular salary from the newspaper for his work. The court also ruled that he should be deported to Uzbekistan, but suspended that decision due to an August ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The ECHR order to suspend the journalist's deportation was issued after rights groups said they feared Feruz could face torture, imprisonment, or even death at the hands of Uzbek authorities. Last month, the same Moscow court upheld immigration officials' 2015 decision to refuse asylum for Feruz, saying that the journalist had failed to prove he faces danger in Uzbekistan. Feruz is to remain at a holding center for foreigners whose status is in question until the ECHR issues a final decision about his case. Novaya Gazeta spokeswoman Nadezhda Prusenkova said on November 22 that the court's decision to fine Feruz will be appealed. Feruz, whose real name is Hudoberdi Nurmatov, was born in Siberia in 1986. He left Russia for Uzbekistan at the age of 17 to live with his Uzbek stepfather and to accept Uzbek citizenship. But he fled Uzbekistan in 2008, alleging he was detained and tortured for two days by members of Uzbekistans security service. Prominent rights activists and intellectuals in Russia have called on the Kremlin not to deport Feruz. Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax WASHINGTON -- City lawmakers in Washington are considering renaming the street in front of the Russian Embassy in the U.S. capital to honor slain Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov. Mary Cheh, a Democratic member of the D.C. Council, said that if legislation to rename the street is approved, the block of Wisconsin Avenue between Edmonds and Davis streets in Washington would be called Boris Nemtsov Plaza, The Washington Post reported on November 21. A sign with the new name would appear under the existing Wisconsin Avenue sign, but no actual postal addresses would change, the report said. Cheh could not immediately be reached for comment on November 22. The initiative follows legislation by U.S. senators to rename the street in Nemtsov's honor that has yet to progress after it was introduced in February. Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister and longtime critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was a lawmaker in the Yaroslavl Oblast and co-chairman of the opposition Parnas party at the time of his killing on February 27, 2015. His slaying drew international condemnation and underscored the dangers faced by Russians who oppose the Kremlin. U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (Republican-Florida), one of nine bipartisan members of the Senate to co-sponsor the federal bill, introduced the legislation on the second anniversary of Nemtsov's fatal shooting on a bridge near the Kremlin. "It's important because it highlights a particular case of an individual who lost his life because of his opposition to the Putin government," Rubio told RFE/RL earlier this year. In July, a Moscow court found five men from Russia's North Caucasus region of Chechnya guilty of Nemtsov's murder and sentenced them to lengthy prison terms. But Nemtsovs relatives and associates believe his killing was ordered at a higher level and say justice will not be served until the person or people behind it are identified and prosecuted. Cheh said she had been approached by U.S. senators who suggested that local lawmakers could change the name of the street after the federal legislation stalled. She said the sign would stand as a symbol of the democratic values of the United States and that the Russian Embassy would not have a say in the changing of the name. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has criticized the bid to rename the street after Nemtsov. In an interview with the independent Russian news agency RBK in May, she accused U.S. "political elites" of "manipulating" the slain politician's name. With reporting by The Washington Post and RBK ON MY MIND There is one provision in the Russian Constitution that Vladimir Putin has been adamant about following: the prohibition on three consecutive presidential terms. Back in 2007-8, Putin rejected the advice of some aides who were urging him to ignore or amend Russia's basic law and stay on for a third term. Putin of course settled on the so-called "castling," using Dmitry Medvedev as a placeholder president for four years before returning to the Kremlin in 2012. But now, as Putin prepares to campaign for what would be his final term under the current law, talk of an impending "constitutional reform" is gaining currency among Kremlin-watchers. (I wrote about it here and here). In a good piece featured below, the always insightful political analyst Tatyana Stanovaya looks back at the history of the idea of changing the Russian Constitution and makes a compelling case that it could be in the offing after the presidential election in March. How Russia's ruling elite will handle a lame-duck Putin, and what measures they might take to keep him in power one way or another, will be one of the key developments to watch in 2018. IN THE NEWS U.S. President Donald Trump has spoken by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin and discussed the need to bring peace to Syria and Ukraine among other matters, the White House said. Moscow has threatened to retaliate if Google gives less prominence in its search results to articles from Russian state-funded news websites Sputnik and RT, according to the Russian news agency Interfax. News reports say French police have detained Russian billionaire Suleiman Kerimov as part of a tax-evasion investigation. More than a dozen environmental groups in Russia have shuttered their operations since the authorities required them to register as "foreign agents" under a politically charged law that critics say is stymieing civil society and political dissent, the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch says in a new report. The Kremlin has slammed what it called the "exalted persecution" of a Russian high-school student who said that some German soldiers did not want to fight in World War II. Russian state oil company chief Igor Sechin, who was summoned twice last week to testify in a former economy minister's extortion trial but failed to show up, says he will also skip a hearing today, despite a third summons. Belarus says President Alyaksandr Lukashenka will not attend the European Union's Eastern Partnership summit in Brussels on November 24. During a visit to Armenia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said there is no cause for "too much optimism" over a resolution of the long-standing conflict over Azerbaijan's breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh. A spokesman for Armenias ruling party on November 21 dismissed as "ridiculous" an accusation made on a Russian television channel that Armenias government elites "glorify Nazism." Armed men in unmarked uniforms have taken up positions in the center of Luhansk in what appears to be part of a power struggle among the Russia-backed separatists who control the city in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine has expelled a Belarusian diplomat amid a spy scandal between the two neighboring countries. WHAT I'M READING Constitutional Reform Political analyst Tatyana Stanovaya has a good piece in Republic.ru looking at the history, politics, and speculation surrounding proposals to change the Russian Constitution to keep Vladimir Putin in power beyond his next term. Fontanka.ru has an interview with Communist Party lawmaker Vladimir Bortko, who has proposed convening a constitutional assembly to amend the basic law. And in a commentary for Novoye Vremya-New Times, Andrei Kolesnikov of the Moscow Carnegie Center critiques the idea of constitutional reform. Myths, Counter-Myths, And Scandals In his column for Republic.ru, opposition journalist and political commentator Oleg Kashin weighs in on the scandal surrounding Russian student Nikolai Desyatnichenko's speech to the German Bundestag. Development Without Modernization Also in Republic.ru, Dmitry Travin looks at how Russia can develop in the absence of a clear modernization program. Deterrence In The Digital Age Edward Lucas, author of the book The New Cold War, has a piece on the Center for European Policy Analysis website arguing for a modernized concept of deterrence. Poland And The Eastern Partnership In a commentary, Chatham House's Kataryna Wolczuk argues that abandoning a leadership role in the Eastern Partnership would be a mistake for Poland. NOTE TO POWER VERTICALISTAS: Due to the Thanksgiving Day holiday, The Morning Vertical and The Daily Vertical will not appear on Thursday, November 23, and Friday, November 24. The regular schedule resumes on Monday, November 27. A Kyiv court has released a Kazakh blogger from detention at a Ukrainian lawmaker's request while authorities consider her possible extradition to Kazakhstan. Svitlana Zalishchuk, a member of Ukraine's parliament, wrote on Facebook that Zhanar Akhmet, who fled to Ukraine after criticizing Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev's government, was released on November 22 pending a decision on her extradition. The ruling makes Zalishchuk responsible for ensuring that Akhmet does not flee Ukraine. Akhmet was detained in Kyiv last month based on a Kazakh arrest warrant that accuses her of fraud. On November 2, the Shevchenko District Court in Kyiv ruled that Akhmet must remain in detention for 60 days before the decision on her possible extradition is made. Akhmet fled Kazakhstan in March with her 9-year-old son, saying she feared for her safety if she remained in the Central Asian nation. Akhmet told RFE/RL that she decided to flee when she learned from sources that she could face charges of "organizing an illegal group" that uses the Internet to advocate self-immolation. She previously faced a series of court hearings in Almaty for alleged infractions, including jaywalking, that she considered politically motivated retaliation for her criticism of authorities. At least four other Kazakh opposition and rights activists -- Ermek Narymbaev, Moldir Adilova, Aidos Sadyqov, and Natalya Sadyqova -- also have fled to Ukraine in recent years. Nazarbaev, 77, has held power in Kazakhstan since before the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. He has established tight control over politics and the media and tolerates little dissent in the oil-producing country of 18 million. KYIV -- Residents of separatist-controlled Luhansk awoke on November 21 to an all-too-familiar and distressing scene: masked, heavily armed men on armored vehicles patrolling the streets of the war-wracked eastern Ukrainian city. It captured the attention of those not only on the ground but in Kyiv and Moscow and beyond. And for good reason: There was something different about it all this time. This was a separatist-against-separatist affair. So what is going on? Is It A Coup? In a nutshell: A power struggle between leaders of the so-called Luhansk "people's republic" is playing out on the city's streets. Some would call it a coup, and it certainly appears to be an attempt at a takeover by Ihor Kornet, the "republic's" top cop, who was dismissed on November 20 by his nemesis, Ihor Plotnitsky, the "republic's" official leader. Both men are native Ukrainians. The beef between Plotnitsky and Kornet goes way back. Part of it stems from Plotnitskys seizure of a large home from Kornet that he had taken for himself in 2014. The former is said to be the Kremlin's choice for leader, while the latter is believed to be the favorite of Russia's Federal Security Service, the FSB. Kornet's revolt began on November 21 when men in green believed to be loyal to him seized control of Luhansk's key administrative buildings, patrolled the city center, and reportedly forced Plotnitsky to flee across the border to Russia. Accounts of Plotnitsky's whereabouts, however, vary. While Ukrainian Interior Ministry spokesman Artem Shevchenko claimed that Plotnitsky had, indeed, escaped to Russia, the separatists' television channel in Luhansk reported on November 22 that Plotnitsky remained in the city. The channel published a video showing Plotnitsky holding a meeting with other de facto authority figures in which he accuses Kornet of "attempting to overthrow the government." It is not clear whether the video was shot in Luhansk. Some of the drama was captured on camera by the "state-run" news network in Luhansk, GTRK LNR, and it does support claims of a coup: RFE/RL also managed to obtain footage from Luhansk: In both videos, gunmen are seen standing guard in the Luhansk city center, which appears to be blocked off by armored vehicles. The scene looks remarkably similar to Russia's takeover of the Crimean Peninsula, right down to the "little green men." As the operation developed, local television and radio stations were shut down, leading to somewhat of an information black hole for the region's residents. But social media filled some of the void. Local users, including military personnel, tweeted developments, shared short reports on their Telegram channels, or posted information to pages on the Russian network VK. The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) for the Ukraine conflict said it had observed a convoy of military vehicles and masked, armed men in central Luhansk. It shared photos on Twitter showing dozens of them massing in Luhansk: Adding a new level of intrigue, a video surfaced that appeared to show a large, snaking convoy of military vehicles heading eastward from Donetsk, another separatist-held city, toward Luhansk. Open-source investigator Aric Toler geolocated the video to a highway in Luhansk. It seemed like an invasion of Luhansk by its fellow Russia-backed separatist neighbor was under way. Or were they sent in as reinforcements? The answer appeared to come on November 22, with militants loyal to Kornet, alongside special forces from neighboring Donetsk, storming the Luhansk prosecutor's office and arresting the Luhansk "prosecutor-general" and "military prosecutor," both of whom are loyal to Plotnitsky, reported the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta. A video shared on Facebook by the pro-separatist NewsFront agency showed several gunmen with sights trained on the building as civilians exited and were guided down the street. What Is The Kremlin's Stance? A report on November 23 by Russia's RBC news agency cited a source close to Kremlin aide Vladislav Surkov, Russian President Vladimir Putin's hand-picked handler for the Ukrainian separatists, as saying Moscow had sided with Kornet in the spat. However, the source said that Plotnitsky would likely be given a "last chance" and allowed to remain as a figurehead. Plotnitsky is a signatory to the Minsk peace agreements of February 2015 that are meant to be a road map to ending the conflict. That is likely why, despite being the cause of numerous internal conflicts, the Kremlin has not yet removed him from power, Oleg Bondarenko, director of the Russian Foundation for Progressive Politics, told Russia's RBC news agency. Officially, the Kremlin hasn't taken a stance, but spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on November 23 that Moscow is closely following the situation in Luhansk. In a cryptic response to a reporter's question, Peskov said "there is an understanding" in the Kremlin about who may be behind the tensions, but he did not elaborate further. Russia has repeatedly denied wielding control over and supporting the two separatist "republics" of eastern Ukraine with manpower, money, and weapons, contrary to overwhelming evidence it does so. What Does Kyiv Make Of This? The uncertain and military nature of the events unfolding in Luhansk was enough for Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to call an extraordinary meeting with his top brass in Kyiv on November 21. They informed him of an illegal crossing of the Ukrainian border in the far-eastern Krasnodon district of the Luhansk region by Russian tanks, as well as the increasing frequency of provocations by militants, according to a statement published on the presidential website. That information has not been independently verified, though similar information has appeared in unverified local reports. "Given the increasing number of Russian servicemen and intensification of the mercenaries' activities, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are ready for any developments to guarantee the security of civilians," Poroshenko said at the meeting. On November 22, as tensions escalated in Luhansk, the Ukrainian armed forces were put on high alert, said Defense Ministry spokesman Andriy Lysenko. "Due to the military activity of the invadersour units are in a state of constant combat readiness," Lysenko said. According to one report that cited a Ukrainian military volunteer, government forces took advantage of the separatists spat to retake a few square kilometers of territory and several villages near the separatist-held city of Debaltseve. How Do We Know For Sure What Is Really Happening? The truth is, it's hard to know exactly what is unfolding in Luhansk. The eastern Ukrainian city has been under the control of Russia-backed separatists since spring 2014. Very few outsiders and journalists have been allowed access since autumn 2015. No independent, objective media exists within the occupied Donetsk and Luhansk areas. And while Russian reporters are granted access more frequently, they often come from Russia's state-run or pro-Kremlin media and provide a limited -- if not completely propagandized -- view of things. However, reports from trustworthy media have suggested for some time that the Kremlin was tiring of Plotnitsky. On his watch, the Luhansk "people's republic" has been a lawless (even for an unrecognized breakaway territory) and often times brutal place, where assassinating misbehaving warlords seemed to be the rule, not the exception. The outcome of the power struggle remained unclear late on November 22, and it may be impossible to predict what the night will bring. The uncertainty has even pro-Russia separatist commanders concerned. "What's happening in Luhansk could lead to unexpected consequences," Aleksandr Khodakovsky, an outspoken commander in Donetsk who's picked his fair share of fights for power within that "republic," wrote on Facebook. In the end, reasoned Alexander Clarkson, a lecturer for European Studies at King's College London and a close observer of the Ukraine conflict, "whoever comes out on top will be integrated into any current or future negotiation process that will be steered by Moscow anyway." Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said Moscow is closely following the situation in the parts of Ukraine's eastern region of Luhansk that are controlled by Russia-backed separatists following reports that local separatist leader Igor Plotnitsky has fled to Russia. Speaking to reporters in Moscow on November 22, Peskov said that "there is an understanding" in the Kremlin about who may be behind the tensions in what the separatists call the "Luhansk People's Republic" (LNR), but did not elaborate further. On November 21, armed men in unmarked uniforms took up positions in the center of the provincial capital, Luhansk, in what appeared to be part of a power struggle among the separatists. Media reports in Russia said on November 22, citing unofficial sources, that Plotnitsky and his family had fled to Russia amid the tension. Moscow controls part of the Ukrainian state border in the Luhansk region. Ukrainian lawmaker Anton Herashchenko told reporters in Kyiv on November 22 that Plotnitsky was in Russia. However, the separatists' television channel in Luhansk reported on November 22 that Plotnitsky was in Luhansk and showed a video in which Plotnitsky was shown leading a meeting of de facto government members and was heard accusing the de facto former police chief, Igor Kornet, of "attempting to overthrow the government." However, it is not clear the video was shot in Luhansk. WATCH: Gunmen in unmarked uniforms appeared on the streets of Luhansk, in an apparent power struggle among Russia-backed separatists who control the Ukrainian city. (RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service) Earlier reports said that several trucks with armed military personnel arrived in Luhansk during the night of November 21-22. Aric Toler, a researcher working for the Bellingcat open-source investigations organization, reported that the personnel in the trucks were Russia-backed separatists from the adjacent Ukrainian region of Donetsk, parts of which are also controlled by separatists in a self-proclaimed entity called the "Donetsk People's Republic" (DNR). Parts of the two regions have been held by Russia-backed separatists since Moscow fomented unrest there following the ouster of Russia-friendly Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014. Russia has provided military, economic, and political support to the separatists since a war broke out in the area in April 2014 that has left more than 10,000 people dead. Moscow denies involvement in the conflict, despite compelling evidence to the contrary. Moscow also says it respects Ukraine's territorial integrity although it annexed the Ukrainian region of Crimea in March 2014 and controls part of Ukraine's border over Kyiv's objections. Peskov on November 22 refused to comment when asked about the possibility the two separatist entities could merge in the future. "That is an issue for the two republics," he said, using the separatists' term for the areas they control. Earlier on November 22, the head of Russia's presidential directorate for cooperation with the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Mikhail Arutyunov, rejected reports that Moscow supported Kornet in his standoff with Plotnitsky, saying that the situation was the "LNR's internal affair and nobody turned to the Kremlin asking for help." Media reported on November 22 that LNR police and DNR security forces jointly stormed the separatists' de facto prosecutor's office in Luhansk and arrested the self-proclaimed LNR chief prosecutor, Vitaly Podobry, and de facto "military prosecutor," Sergei Razno. It was not clear if forces loyal to Plotnitsky or to Kornet were involved in the arrests. Observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which monitors the implementation of a much-violated ceasefire agreement with Ukraine, said on Facebook that "military-type vehicles" and "unidentified armed men" remained in the center of Luhansk on November 22. Many of the armed men were wearing white arm bands and had covered their faces, the monitoring mission said. It noted an "overall calm" in the city but said its observers were denied access to an intersection in Luhansk by unidentified armed men. With reporting by Rusvesna.su, UNIAN, Novaya Gazeta, Interfax, TASS, and Meduza A UN tribunal has sentenced former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic to life imprisonment after convicting him of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide, during Bosnia's 1992-95 war. The court in The Hague on November 22 convicted Mladic on 10 of the 11 counts he faced. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein hailed the verdict as a "momentous victory for justice," calling Mladic the "epitome of evil." Mladic was found guilty of commanding forces responsible for crimes including the worst atrocities of the war the deadly three-year siege of the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, and the 1995 massacre of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica. Presiding Judge Alphons Orie read out the judgment after ordering Mladic out of the courtroom over an outburst. "They are lying; you are lying. I don't feel well," Mladic shouted, before being hustled out of the courtroom by two UN security guards. WATCH: Minutes before he was found guilty, Ratko Mladic began a tirade as his lawyer requested a delay due to his high blood pressure. (Reuters) Mladic was acquitted on one count of genocide linked to ethnic purges in Bosnian towns and villages. His lawyers said they would appeal the ruling. "It is certain we will file an appeal and the appeal will be successful," attorney Dragan Ivetic told journalists The chief prosecutor of the UN tribunal said the ruling was not a verdict against all Serbian people. "Mladic's guilt is his and his alone," prosecutor Serge Brammertz said. Serbian nationalists portray the tribunal as anti-Serb because most of the people it has convicted were Serbs. End Of The Road Barring appeals, Mladic's verdict will be the last to come down from the tribunal, which was established at The Hague in 1993 to prosecute crimes committed in the Balkan wars of the early 1990s. Mladic, 75, called the "Butcher of Bosnia" by his enemies, was accused of genocide for organizing the summary execution of some 8,000 Muslim Bosniak men and boys in the eastern enclave of Srebrenica in July 1995, which has been called the worst atrocity to be committed in Europe since the Holocaust. WATCH: The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague has restated its judgement that the mass killings in Srebrenica in 1995 constituted a genocide. (Reuters) Welcoming the verdict, Bosnian Prime Minister Denis Zvizdic said in a statement that it "confirmed that war criminals cannot escape justice regardless of how long they hide." The United States said it "respects" the tribunals ruling and urged people in the Balkan region to "build a better future." "We will continue to commemorate the victims of the horrific crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia," a U.S. State Department spokesman said. "We urge the countries and peoples of the region to refrain from divisive rhetoric and work together to build a better future for the entire region," the spokesman added. In a statement, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the ruling "shows that the rule of law is working." British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said conviction shows that "those who perpetrate atrocities cannot outrun justice." Kosovo's Foreign Ministry said the verdict marked an act of "international justice and satisfaction for the Bosnia war victims." The ministry said Kosovo's own ethnic Albanian population, like Bosnians, suffered at the hands of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and his generals, who it said "applied in Kosovo, too, all the forms of crimes described in the charges against Mladic." Kosovo was previously a province of Serbia that declared independence in 2008. Serbian President Alksandar Vucic said he was not surprised by the verdict, adding that "all of us knew what will be the outcome." But Vucic -- a former ultranationalist who supported Mladic's war campaigns and who now says he's a pro-EU reformer -- urged "citizens of Serbia to look to the future." The EU said it could not comment specifically on the judgment but that it fully respects the court's decisions. It said the verdict "touches upon some of the darkest, most tragic events" in the recent history of the Western Balkans and Europe. Given the gravity of the alleged offenses, Mladic's case became one of the highest-profile war crimes trials since the Nuremberg trials of Germany's Nazi leadership after World War II. In Srebrenica, prosecutors say Mladic's soldiers pushed past Dutch UN peacekeepers before separating the males for execution and putting the elderly, women, and children on buses and trucks to Bosniak-controlled territory. The men and boys were marched away, shot in the back, and dumped in mass graves. The remains of about 6,900 of the victims have been identified through DNA analysis, but many are considered still missing decades later. In 2007, the tribunal ruled the massacre was genocide carried out by Bosnian Serb forces. Prosecutors said the ultimate plan pursued by Mladic, Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic, and Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic was to purge Bosnia of non-Serbs -- in what became known as "ethnic cleansing" -- and carve out a "Greater Serbia" in what had been Yugoslavia. WATCH: Sarajevo residents who lost their children in the siege of Sarajevo expressed mixed feelings after Mladic was given life imprisonment for genocide and other war crimes. They came together to watch the verdict on TV, more than 20 years after the conflict in Bosnia. (RFE/RL's Balkan Service) Other counts against Mladic include persecutions, murder, torture, rape, extermination, the shelling and sniping of Sarajevo, deportations, terrorism, and taking UN peacekeepers hostage. The tribunal filed charges against Mladic in 1995, but he remained in hiding in Serbia until Belgrade arrested him and handed him over in May 2011. A survivor of multiple strokes, Mladic was visibly frail when the trial began in 2012. His defense attorneys raised his health as an issue throughout the trial. The tribunal in 2016 found Mladic's political chief, Karadzic, guilty of similar charges, including genocide, and sentenced him to 40 years in prison. He has appealed. Milosevic died in his cell in The Hague in 2006, and his trial ended without a verdict. With reporting by Tony Wesolowsky, dpa, Reuters, AP, AFP, and Euronews The top U.S. prosecutor in a high-profile Iran sanctions case has denied charges from top Turkish officials that the case is "fabricated" and "politically motivated," calling those allegations "ridiculous." "Frankly, it displays a fundamental misunderstanding of how our justice system works," acting U.S. Attorney Joon Kim said at a news conference in New York on November 21, speaking of his case charging Turkish-Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab and high-level former Turkish officials with helping Iran evade U.S. sanctions. "The defendants are charged with serious crimes.... That's why the case is being brought, and that's the only reason," Kim said. The judge overseeing the case, U.S. District Judge Richard Berman, said on November 21 that Turkey's government should provide evidence if it believes the defendants are being unfairly prosecuted, rather than hurling criticism at prosecutors. "The best way for them to be helpful is to help defense counsel by providing in court any evidence or witnesses they are aware of that could assist the defense," Berman said. The judge and prosecutor were responding to accusations from Turkey's foreign minister on November 17 that the case was "politically motivated," and based on "fabricated" evidence from a case against Zarrab that Turkey dropped in 2013. Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag also charged that the case was "political" in remarks in Istanbul on November 20, adding that Ankara viewed the defendants as "hostages," and saw the case as "a clear plot against Turkey." "It is very clear that this aims at harming Turkeys economic relations with Iran, its relations with Russia, and its economic relations with other countries," Bozdag said. Turkey has complained that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ministers are mentioned in the court documents in the case, although only one former Turkish economy minister has been charged. Turkey's protests have increased amid U.S. news reports saying that Zarrab may be cooperating with U.S. prosecutors to develop a money-laundering case that possibly involves Turkish officials. Zarrab has failed to show up at several recent pretrial hearings in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, prompting speculation that he may be cutting a deal with prosecutors. Jury selection for his trial was due to start on November 20, but was postponed for a week until November 27. Because of the case's possible implications for the Turkish government and U.S.-Turkish relations, it is now being closely watched by financial markets. On November 21, the Turkish lira hit a record low against the U.S. dollar after the postponement of jury selection was announced. The case has also depressed the stocks of banks that could be hit by the allegation that the defendants worked with Ankara and Tehran to help Iran evade U.S. sanctions that prohibit it from using U.S. dollars or U.S. financial institutions to conduct trade. With reporting by AP, Reuters, dpa, and AFP A U.S. grand jury has leveled 22 new charges against an Uzbek immigrant accused of running down eight people in a truck attack in New York City last month, including murder and support for the extremist group Islamic State (IS). In an expanded indictment handed down late on November 21, Sayfullo Saipov, 29, was charged with eight counts of murder and 12 counts of attempted murder. If convicted on the murder charges, Saipov could face the death penalty. Saipov was arrested after he emerged from a rented truck on October 21 after using it in a rampage to run down pedestrians and cyclists on a bike path in lower Manhattan near where the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center once stood. It was the most deadly attack in New York since the September 1, 2001 attacks. Saipov was immediately charged with terrorism, but prosecutors took several weeks to collect evidence in bringing the murder and other new charges against him. Saipov's lawyer did not immediately comment on the expanded indictment. Saipov's initial court appearance is scheduled for November 28. He is expected to enter a plea at that time. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions called the attack a "calculated act of terrorism in the heart of one of our great cities." Acting U.S. Attorney Joon Kim said that "scores of videos and images on his cellphone" will be part of the evidence in the case against Saipov. "Like many terrorists before him, Saipov will now face justice in an American court," Kim said. "And like New York City's response to his alleged attack, we expect that justice in this case will be swift, firm, and resolute." William Sweeney, the head of New York's FBI office, said that despite Saipov's "intentions to inflict significant damage, death, and injury to innocent victims," the indictment shows "that the rule of law will always prevail." Authorities said Saipov, who is being held without bail, made statements after his arrest about his allegiance to IS, which later took credit for the attack. Authorities said in court papers that Saipov told investigators he was inspired to carry out the attack after watching a video of IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi questioning "what Muslims in the United States and elsewhere were doing to respond to the killing of Muslims in Iraq." Evidence against Saipov includes what was found on two of his phones, according to court documents. Investigators said one phone contained 90 videos and other IS propaganda, including one of a beheading and another of a tank running over a prisoner. The other phone showed a search for truck-rental outlets. Saipov was shot by a police officer after crashing the truck into a school bus at the end of his rampage. Authorities said his injury was minor enough that he was transferred to a prison facility in Manhattan two days later. Saipov came to the United States legally in 2010 from Uzbekistan, where officials and his family said he had no history of radicalization or trouble with the law. He first lived in Ohio, where he was a commercial truck driver, then in Florida. He most recently lived in New Jersey with his wife and children, and worked as an Uber driver. His sister told RFE/RL's Uzbek Service earlier this month that Saipov was "brainwashed" after he came to the United States. She said his family became alarmed when he grew a full beard in the style of some religious extremists after his 2013 marriage. "When we first saw his picture with a beard, we got scared," Umida Saipova, 27, told RFE/RL in a telephone interview. "We dont know who has brainwashed him." With reporting by AP, AFP, Reuters, and RFE/RL's Uzbek Service By the numbers, the International Criminal Tribunal on Yugoslavia (ICTY) can boast of many successes over the more than two decades it has been prosecuting war crimes resulting from the breakup of Yugoslavia. But while the tribunal blazed a trail of firsts, shortcomings such as failing to prevent the early release of those found guilty of war crimes have planted lingering doubts over its success in bringing justice and reconciliation to a region where ethnic tensions continue to simmer. Before wrapping up its activities as planned at the end of the year, the court will hear its last major case on November 22, with a verdict expected to be handed down to Ratko Mladic. Once dubbed "the Butcher of Bosnia," the 75-year-old former Bosnian-Serb general is being tried on 11 charges, including two of genocide, as well as war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in the bloody 1992-95 conflict that tore the former Yugoslavia apart. "The tribunal's treatment of the Bosnian War shows that international tribunals are more about interpreting history than dispensing justice," says Luke Gittos, a criminal lawyer and law editor at Spiked Online. WATCH: Hague Prosecutor Warns On Pending Cases Ahead Of Mladic Verdict Failings Of The Court In 1993 the United Nations created the international war crimes court, the first since the Nuremberg and Tokyo tribunals were created after World War II. Since then it has heard some 5,000 witnesses testify about crimes committed during the bloody breakup of Yugoslavia, filing indictments against 161 people, many of whom were high-ranking state officials. Being a pioneer in the legal world, The Hague-based court had the difficult task of harmonizing differing legal traditions, dealing with the linguistic logistics posed by the languages of the countries that emerged from the conflict, and complex cases that needed meticulous gathering of mountains of evidence. Like many international tribunals, it also lacked police powers and had to rely on foreign governments to aid its operations. Refik Hodzic, a former spokesman for the tribunal, has said the ICTY could have had more of an impact on society in the region; for example, by providing facts for public debate that could have better fostered discussion in the region of what happened during the war and helped avert allegations of judicial bias. "The failing of the tribunal...was not to embrace, not to recognize its role as a transitional justice mechanism, as a mechanism that is in the service of the social recovery of the society, so that it can in real time recognize the destructiveness of this discourse that was coming from the political circles," he told Warscapes.com in an interview earlier this year. One decision the court has been sharply criticized over is its 2016 acquittal of Serbian nationalist Vojislav Seselj on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Seselj was accused of inciting ethnic hatred and murder with his speeches during the conflicts that broke federal Yugoslavia into seven successor states and killed 130,000 people. Testimony showed Seselj once gave a speech to Serbian troops where he told them that "not a single Ustasha must leave Vukovar [an eastern Croatian city on the Danube River border with Serbia] alive." Ustasha refers to the pro-Nazi wartime regime in Croatia. Judge Jean-Claude Antonetti, who headed a three-judge panel at the court that voted 2-1 in favor of acquittal, said that speeches such as the one Seselj made were done "in a context of conflict and were meant to boost the morale of the troops of his camp, rather than calling upon them to spare no one." But the dissenting judge, Flavia Lattanzi, wrote a scathing response in the judgement accusing Seselj and his allies of intimidating witnesses and that, with the verdict, the majority judges had set "aside all the rules of international humanitarian law." 'Singling Out Serbs' Within the region, the reaction was just as sharp against a court many thought had failed in its quest for justice. In Serbia, animosity toward the ICTY continues even as it winds down its operations. Many Serbs have compared the tribunal to a witch-hunt against Serbia, pointing to the fact that about 80 percent of the total indictments came against Serbs. On November 1, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic continued the rhetoric in sharply critical comments regarding the court ahead of a meeting with ICTY President Carmel Agius. Brnabic, echoing comments from other senior Serbian officials, said the tribunal had failed to fulfill its purpose and done nothing to aid in reconciliation. "I think that [the court] contributed to heightened tensions in the region. No one can say that The Hague tribunal was objective to all the sides which participated in the conflict of the 1990s," she told reporters in Belgrade. "Serbia absolutely had it the worst when it comes to the collective number of years of imprisonment of all those held accountable in The Hague, but also in the number of people who died while on trial in The Hague, which is unconscionable." From Criminal To Hero Top officials at the ICTY, including Agius and Serge Brammertz, who took over as chief prosecutor in 2008, have noted some of the court's shortcomings. Victims say they have lost faith in the court because of the early release of some convicted officials and their subsequent reintegration into state institutions. One flashpoint pertaining to the issue of war criminals being turned into role models was a recent report that General Vladimir Lazarevic, the former commander of the Pristina Corps of the Yugoslav Army, would join the teaching staff at Serbia's state military academy. In 2009, he was convicted at The Hague tribunal of the forced deportation of more than 700,000 ethnic Albanians during the 1989-99 Kosovo War. Last month the 68-year-old was released from jail and immediately tasked with lecturing to the next generation of Serbian soldiers. Brammertz says he is "quite shocked" and finds it "disgraceful" that some convicted war criminals are being turned into war heroes. "It is simply inconceivable to me that those responsible for implementing ethnic-cleansing campaigns can be seen as heroes. What is heroic about killing civilians, burning places of worship, imprisoning innocents, and forcing hundreds of thousands to flee their homes?" he told an ICTY legacy conference in June. WATCH: For Srebrenica Mother, Mladic Verdict Promises Little Sense Of Justice 'A Big Job' ICTY officials are also quick to point out that the tribunal has tirelessly pursued justice in the face of such a daunting mandate. They note that the ICTY will go down in history as the first court to charge an acting head of state with genocide and other crimes, even though former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic died in 2006 before the end of his trial. "Many people blame us for not accusing all the criminals, but it was not our task at all. Our role was to accuse the most responsible ones and we have done that. Our term of office was short. I think a big job has been done within the limited time frame," Agius said. "In my view, the principal achievement of the tribunal, and its most important legacy, is its ground-breaking role in the fight against impunity and the successful fulfillment of its mandate to prosecute those who bear the greatest responsibility for the horrific crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia during the conflicts of the 1990s," Agius added. After Mladic the ICTY next week will make its ruling on the appeals of former Bosnian Croat leader Jadranko Prlic and five other Bosnian Croats. Prlic, now 57, was sentenced to 25 years in prison on charges of murdering and deporting Muslims during the war. After that, it will close its doors. The Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals will take over the remaining cases, along with domestic courts, particularly the Bosnian state court, according to Agius. "Our legacy will depend on how those institutions will continue working. We provided a big help to establishing the Bosnian state court; we gave international judges [the opportunity] to work at that court until someone decided they were no longer needed," he said. "In my opinion, that was a big mistake." Logging out... You've been inactive for a while, logging you out in a few seconds... America Sets Cuba's Rules In this story, Cuba is the kid discovering their new independence and America is the strict parent setting the rules. The U.S. just kicked Spain out of Cuba, but America wanted to keep a tight grip on the island's people and precious, precious sugar and coal resources. The Platt Amendment was a set of seven rules that Cuba was forced to follow, and most of the rules have to do with Cuba being closely watched and influenced by the U.S. It's independencebut it's independence with seven very thick strings attached. Questions About Main Idea How independent really was Cuba, with the restrictions of the Platt Amendment being enforced by the U.S.? Did the U.S. create the Platt Amendment to genuinely help Cuba get on its newly independent feet, or was it to control the country's people and resources? Could it be both? What right did the U.S. have to set rules and restrictions for Cuba, considering Cuba's history of colonization and oppression? Why might the U.S. be so concerned with a small island such as Cuba when it was dealing with much bigger issues on the world stage? Chew on This America saw a bit of itself in scrappy, rebellious Cuba, and created the Platt Amendment in order to protect and guide Cuba in the scary new world of independence. America valued Cuba solely for its resources and its close location, and created the Platt Amendment in order to take advantage of the newly independent nation. Advertisment: Claim: A good Samaritan warns a female driver about the armed and dangerous man hiding in the back seat of her car. Rating: About this rating Legend Stories about a stranger slipping into the back seat of a solo woman's car, presumably with ill intentions, have been circulating in various forms both on and off the Internet for many years: A friend stopped at a pay-at-the-pump gas station to get gas. Once she filled her gas tank and after paying at the pump and starting to leave, the voice of the attendant inside came over the speaker.. He told her that something happened with her card and that she needed to come inside to pay. The lady was confused because the transaction showed complete and approved. She relayed that to him and was getting ready to leave but the attendant, once again, urged her to come in to pay or there'd be trouble. She proceeded to go inside and started arguing with the attendant about his threat. He told her to calm down and listen carefully: He said that while she was pumping gas, a guy slipped into the back seat of her car on the other side and the attendant had already called the police.She became frightened and looked out in time to see her car door open and the guy slip out. The report is that the new gang initiation thing is to bring back a woman and/or her car. One way they are doing this is crawling under women's cars while they're pumping gas or at grocery stores in the nighttime. The other way is slipping into unattended cars and kidnapping the women.Please pass this on to other women, young and old alike. Be extra careful going to and from your car at night. If at all possible, don't go alone! This is real!! The message: 1. ALWAYS lock your car doors, even if you're gone for just a second! 2. Check underneath your car when approaching it for reentry, and check in the back before getting in. 3. Always be aware of your surroundings and of other individuals in your general vicinity, particularly at night! Send this to everyone so your friends can take precaution. AND GUYS...YOU TELL ANY WOMEN YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS Thanks, Barbara Baker, Secretary Directorate of Training U.S. Army Military Police School quickly caught on, becoming one of the favorite scary legends of that period. In addition to circulating orally, it showed up in Ann Landers' column in 1982, presented as a harrowing experience that had befallen the letter writer's friend. This legend first appeared at least as far back as 1967 andquickly caught on, becoming one of the favorite scary legends of that period. In addition to circulating orally, it showed up in Ann Landers' column in 1982, presented as a harrowing experience that had befallen the letter writer's friend. Sightings: This legend shows up in the 1983 film Nightmares, the 1984 film Mr. Wrong and the 1998 film Urban Legend. You'll also spot the "gas station" version worked into the plot of an episode of TV's Homicide ("Thrill of the Kill"; originally aired 10 November 1995) and Millennium ("The Pest House," original air date 27 February 1998). It was also made into a short film titled Suspicious in 1995. A hoax urging service station customers to exercise caution when pumping gas appeared first on the Internet in early June 2000: [Collected via e-mail, 2000] My name is Captain Abraham Sands of the Jacksonville, Florida Police Department. I have been asked by state and local authorities to write this email in order to get the word out to car drivers of a very dangerous prank that is occurring in numerous states. Some person or persons have been affixing hypodermic needles to the underside of gas pump handles. These needles appear to be infected with HIV positive blood. In the Jacksonville area alone there have been 17 cases of people being stuck by these needles over the past five months. We have verified reports of at least 12 others in various states around the country. It is believed that these may be copycat incidents due to someone reading about the crimes or seeing them reported on the television. At this point no one has been arrested and catching the perpetrator(s) has become our top priority. Shockingly, of the 17 people who where stuck, eight have tested HIV positive and because of the nature of the disease, the others could test positive in a couple years. Evidently the consumers go to fill their car with gas, and when picking up the pump handle get stuck with the infected needle. IT IS IMPERATIVE TO CAREFULLY CHECK THE HANDLE of the gas pump each time you use one. LOOK AT EVERY SURFACE YOUR HAND MAY TOUCH, INCLUDING UNDER THE HANDLE. If you do find a needle affixed to one, immediately contact your local police department so they can collect the evidence. PLEASE HELP US BY MAINTAINING A VIGILANCE AND BY FORWARDING THIS EMAIL TO ANYONE YOU KNOW WHO DRIVES. THE MORE PEOPLE WHO KNOW OF THIS THE BETTER PROTECTED WE CAN ALL BE. [Collected via e-mail, 2006] East Coast - Warning! In Florida and other places on the East Coast a group of people are putting HIV/AIDS infected and filled needles underneath gas pump handles, so when someone reaches to pick it up and put gas in their car, they get stabbed with it. 16 people have been a victim of this crime so far and 10 tested HIV positive. Instead of posting that stupid crap about how your love life will suck for years to come of you don't re-post, post this. It's important to inform people, even if you don't drive, a family member might, and what if they were next? CHECK UNDER THE HANDLE BEFORE YOU GRAB IT!!! IT MIGHT SAVE YOUR LIFE! Tell as many people as you can about this serious issue! [Collected via Facebook, January 2013] IN Florida and other places on the East Coast a groups of people are putting HIV/AIDS infected and filled needles underneath gas pump handles, so when someone reaches to pick it up and put gas in their car, they get stabbed with it. 16 people have been a victim of this crime so far and 10 tested HIV positive. Instead of posting that stupid crap about how your love life will suck for years to come if yo udon't re-post, post this. It's important to inform people, even if you don't drive, a family member might, and what if they were next? CHECK UNDER THE HANDLE) Advertisment: Claim: Glen Eagles hospital issued an urgent warning because seven women have died after sniffing perfume samples received in the mail. Rating: About this rating False A warning about women killed by poisoned perfume samples surfaced in e-mail in mid-October 2001, a month after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and versions of it have periodically circulated since then in various online forms: Very Important ! URGENT News from Glen Eagles Hospital URGENT !!!!! Seven women have died after inhaling a free perfume sample that was mailed to them. The product was poisonous . If you receive free samples in the mail such as lotions, perfumes, diapers etc. throw them away . The government is afraid that this might be another terrorist act . They will not announce it in the news because they do not want to create panic or give the terrorists new ideas. Send this Fwd: to all your friends and family members. Diane J. Ford Office of the Chief of Police Office of Risk Management 101 M Street, SW Washington, DC Anthrax poison in Tide detergent packs coming through the mail. Do not open or use, 7 dead already. This is real not a chain letter. Alert !!!!!DO NOT OPEN ANY FREE Colonges, lotions, soaps or any products, such as this, that might be in your mailbox or offered to you free, anywhere in public places. If you smell these you could die. I had a text alert come to me through my Verizon Phone from a Goverment Agent, just as probally a lot of you have. It is serious!! They think this is another terrorist attack. It Is legit TO ALL FACEBOOK FRIENDS : CNN has issued a warning!!!! If you get anything in the mail pertaining to Tide (Detergent) DON'T OPEN IT! Toss It immediately (ANTHRAX) 7 people have died !!1 Please do not take this lightly !!! There was nothing to the claim, and no such deaths occurred. Its premise that the government was keeping such news from the public so as not to cause panic was rather far-fetched, given that at the time Attorney General John Ashcroft was repeating vague warnings about further terrorist activity to come and the media's fascination with reporting the anthrax spore mailings that eventually killed five people. Even if the government had the power to keep such news under wraps, is it at all reasonable to believe seven grieving families would have stayed completely silent about the deaths of their loved ones? By 2010, the alert had morphed into one warning against all manner of samples offered to consumers, either placed in their mailboxes or handed to them directly. At that time as well, Tide detergent samples were particularly singled out, usually with the assertion that they contained anthrax. By January 2012, the warning about Tide detergent samples was being spread by cell phone text message. These subsequent rumors were also false. This baseless bit of scarelore appeared to be a combination of two older, equally unfounded pieces of the same genre: the perfume robbers tale (women in parking lots lured into sniffing cut-rate perfume lose consciousness and are robbed while they're out) and the Klingerman virus scare (blue virus-laden sponges mailed in envelopes marked "A gift for you from the Klingerman Foundation" have caused 23 deaths). But lore moves forward with the times, so this newer caution incorporated "terrorists" (presumably Middle Eastern) into the mix. One of the ways we cope with terrifying times is to try to fill in the gaps of the unknown. In frantic pursuit of this goal, misinformation and information are accorded almost the same weight, and rumors and "warnings" speed along on very fast feet indeed. Such heads up as this fallacious e-mail express not only fears about deadly substances arriving by mail, but they also help us feel better about having to live in such dangerous times through the reduction of a nebulous lurking threat to a matter of something that can be dealt with. "Beware of perfume samples" is far less indistinct (and thus far less unsettling) than "Beware of all mail," let alone the anxiety-ridden reality of "We don't know where, when, or how the next attack will occur, so be wary of everything." In early 2002, this particular warning received a shot in the arm from having been passed through the County Attorney's office of Harris County, Texas. Franchell Plummer, an administrative assistant working for that service received the e-mailed warning from a friend and unthinkingly forwarded it to others in the manner that so many do. Her signature block became incorporated into the alert, with many taking its presence there as a sign that the information contained in the warning had been vetted by a state attorney's office and that indeed this was an official warning about a real and verified threat. It wasn't real; it was a case of a low-level employee's forwarding baseless scaremail to others. Ms. Plummer was officially reprimanded for her act, and the Harris County Attorney's office disavowed the e-mail and told everyone who called to ask that it was a hoax. A version that completed with the tagline "JHU Office of Communications & Public Affairs" has been similarly disclaimed by that institution. According to Dennis O'Shea, executive director of communications and public affairs at The Johns Hopkins University, "This warning message was not issued by my office nor has my office in any way authorized it or any message like it." In June 2010 a version of this hoax prefaced with an "URGENT News from Gleneagles Hospital" headline surfaced and was disseminated not only via e-mail but also through cell phone text messages and Facebook posts. The rumor spread widely enough that Gleneagles Hospital and Medical Centre (which is based in Singapore) posted a disclaimer on their web site: Recently, an email and short message service (SMS) has been circulating amongst members of the public pertaining to a poisonous perfume sample which caused the death of seven women upon inhalation and exposure. It was purportedly sent by a person who claimed to be an employee of Gleneagles Hospital Limited, on behalf of the hospital, in order to warn the public as these seven women were supposedly admitted and treated at Gleneagles Hospital. We understand the panic and mystification that this email has caused and the public's need to seek verification and consolation from a reliable medical institution such as ours. Thus, we would like to highlight that we have never admitted or treated such patients and have never been aware of such incidences. We would also like to categorically state that this email did not originate from our Hospital and / or any of our employees, current or otherwise. In addition, we declare that no one was ever at any time commissioned or authorised by the Hospital to deliver and circulate such warnings. Further to this, we would also like to point out that our registered company name is Gleneagles Hospital (Kuala Lumpur) Sdn. Bhd. (Co. No. 198498-T) and we were never at any point known as Gleneagles Hospital Limited as claimed in the email. This email hoax first surfaced five years ago, and we had posted a statement on the GIMC website to clarify and inform members of the public that the contents of the email were a hoax. In view of the above, we sincerely hope that all members of the public who had read this email and our clarification will inform everyone around them that this is a hoax and urge everyone to ignore and delete such emails in the future. Thank you. A variant of this scare which began circulating in mid-2010 cautioned about mailed samples of Tide brand detergent supposedly containing anthrax. In January 2011, that scare was spread by text messages sent to cell phones, some of them asserting "It was on CNN today!" Those warnings were equally spurious no such incidents have been reported (on CNN or elsewhere), and Tide company representatives stated that: I can 100% confirm that the text message going around is not true. From time to time people do this kind of thing as a prank, unfortunately there is little we can do other than to share the fact that this is completely unfounded. If you are concerned or want further reassurance please contact our Consumer Relations team on: 1-800-879-8433 On or around 12 April 2016, the warning (reproduced as images above) began circulating on Facebook. Once again, it held that "Glen Eagles" hospital had warned that seven women had died after inhaling perfume samples sent to them via mail. The warning was widely shared across the United States, despite most sharers not knowing what or where "Glen Eagles" hospital might be. Many versions of the claim added speculation that ISIS might be behind the attacks, or that the news media had kept a lid on the seven deaths so as not to inspire terrorism or cause panic. No dates, cause of death, mechanism of poisoning, or other details were provided about the purported tainted perfume samples and their relationship with "Glen Eagles," nor did those warnings anyone explain why seven women and one hospital had been targeted in the scheme. In 2013, Malaysia's My Star published an article about the recurring e-mail hoax and its move to social media: Notes: What if Navy blitz becomes blueprint? Notre Dame 'would welcome that' This artist's impression shows the distant dwarf planet Eris in the distance with its moon Dysmonia in the foreground. Both call the Kuiper Belt "home." New observations have shown that Eris is smaller than previously thought and almost exactly the same size as Pluto. Eris is extremely re Beyond the gas giant Neptune lies a region of space filled with icy bodies. Known as the Kuiper Belt, this chilly expanse holds trillions of objects remnants of the early solar system. In 1943, astronomer Kenneth Edgeworth suggested comets and larger bodies might exist beyond Neptune. And in 1951, astronomer Gerard Kuiper predicted the existence of a belt of icy objects at the far edge of the solar system. Today, the rings predicted by the pair are known as the Kuiper Belt or the Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt. Despite its massive size, the Kuiper Belt wasn't discovered until 1992 by astronomers Dave Jewitt and Jane Luu. According to NASA , the pair had been "doggedly scanning the heavens in search of dim objects beyond Neptune" since 1987. They dubbed the first object they spotted "Smiley" but it was later cataloged as "1992 QB1." Since then, astronomers have discovered several intriguing Kuiper Belt objects and potential planets within the region. NASA's New Horizons mission continues to uncover previously hidden planets and objects, helping scientists learn more about this unique solar system relic. Kuiper Belt formation When the solar system formed , much of the gas, dust and rocks pulled together to form the sun and planets. The planets then swept most of the remaining debris into the sun or out of the solar system. But objects at the edge of the solar system were far enough away to avoid the gravitational tugs of the much larger planets like Jupiter , and so managed to stay in their place as they slowly orbited the sun. The Kuiper Belt and its compatriot, the more distant and spherical Oort Cloud , contain the leftover remnants from the beginning of the solar system and can provide valuable insights into its birth. According to the Nice model one of the proposed models of solar system formation the Kuiper Belt may have formed closer to the sun, near where Neptune now orbits. In this model, the planets engaged in an elaborate dance, with Neptune and Uranus changing places and moving outward, away from the sun. As the planets moved farther away from the sun, their gravity may have carried many of the Kuiper Belt objects (opens in new tab) with them, shepherding the tiny objects ahead as the ice giants migrated. As a result, many of the Kuiper Belt objects were moved from the region they were created into the colder part of the solar system. The most crowded section of the Kuiper Belt is between 42 and 48 times Earth's distance from the sun. The orbit of objects in this region remain stable for the most part, although some objects occasionally have their course changed slightly when they drift too close to Neptune. Scientists estimate that thousands of bodies more than 100 km (62 miles) in diameter travel around the sun within this belt, along with trillions of smaller objects, many of which are short-period comets . The region also contains several dwarf planets round worlds too large to be considered asteroids but too small to qualify as a planet . The Kuiper Belt is shown beyond the orbit of Neptune. One of its inhabitants is Eris, on a highly tilted and elipical orbit. (Image credit: NASA) Kuiper Belt objects Pluto was the first true Kuiper Belt object (KBO) to be seen, although scientists at the time didn't recognize it as such until other KBOs were discovered. Once Jewitt and Luu discovered the Kuiper Belt, astronomers soon saw that the region beyond Neptune was full of icy rocks and tiny worlds. Sedna , a KBO that's about three-fourths the size of Pluto, was discovered in 2004. It is so far out from the sun it takes about 10,500 years to make a single orbit. Sedna is about 1,100 miles (1,770 km) wide and circles the sun in an eccentric orbit that ranges between 8 billion miles (12.9 billion km) and 84 billion miles (135 billion km). "The sun appears so small from that distance that you could completely block it out with the head of a pin," Mike Brown, an astronomer at the California Institute of Technology who discovered this and several other Kuiper Belt objects, said in a statement . This artist's impression shows the distant dwarf planet Eris. New observations have shown that Eris is smaller than previously thought and almost exactly the same size as Pluto. Eris is extremely reflective and its surface is probably covered in frost formed from the frozen remains of its atmosphere. The distant Sun appears to the upper right and both Eris and its moon Dysnomia (center) appear as crescents. (Image credit: ESO/L. Calcada) In July 2005, astronomers discovered Eris, a KBO that's slightly smaller than Pluto. Eris orbits the sun approximately once every 580 years, traveling almost 100 times farther from the sun than Earth does. Its discovery revealed to some astronomers the problem of categorizing Pluto as a full-scale planet. According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU)s 2006 definition, a planet must be large enough to clear its neighborhood of debris. Pluto and Eris, surrounded by the Kuiper Belt, had clearly failed to do so. As a result, in 2006, Pluto, Eris, and the largest asteroid, Ceres , were reclassified by the IAU as dwarf planets. Two more dwarf planets, Haumea and Makemake , were discovered in the Kuiper Belt in 2008. Astronomers are now reconsidering Haumea's status as a dwarf planet. In 2017, when the object passed between Earth and a bright star, scientists realized it is more elongated than round. Roundness is one of the criteria of a dwarf planet, according to the IAUs definition . Haumea's elongated shape could be a result of it's rapid spin; a day on the object only lasts about four hours. "I don't know if this will change the definition [of a dwarf planet]," Santos Sanz, an astronomer at the Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia in Granada, Spain, told Space.com . "I think probably yes, but probably it will take time." Planet Nine Planet Nine is a hypothetical world thought to orbit the sun at a distance that is about 600 times farther from the sun than Earth's orbit, and about 20 times farther out than the orbit of Neptune. (The orbit of Neptune is 2.7 billion miles from the sun at its closest point.) Scientists have not actually seen Planet Nine . Its existence was inferred by gravitational effects observed on other objects in the Kuiper Belt. Scientists Mike Brown and Konstantin Batygin at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena described the evidence for Planet Nine in a study published in the Astronomical Journal in 2016. If there is another world out there, astronomers Scott Sheppard, of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C., and Chadwick Trujillo, of Northern Arizona University, are likely to find it soon. The pair have spent the last six years working on the deepest survey of faint objects at the edge of the solar system, after proposing the existence of Planet X, a small dwarf planet beyond Pluto, in 2014 (opens in new tab). So far, Sheppard and Trujillo have found 62 distant objects, which make up about 80 percent of all of those at the edge of the system. Last year, the two discovered dwarf planet 2015 TG387 , nicknamed "the Goblin," and the most distant KBO ever reported, 2018 VG18 , nicknamed "FarOut." In February 2019, Sheppard unofficially announced the discovery of an even more distant object, informally known as "FarFarOut." "These distant objects are like breadcrumbs leading us to Planet X," Sheppard said in a statement . "The more of them we can find, the better we can understand the outer solar system and the possible planet that we think is shaping their orbits a discovery that would redefine our knowledge of the solar system's evolution." A visit from New Horizons Because of their small size and distant location, Kuiper Belt objects are a challenge to spot from Earth. Infrared measurements from NASA's space-based Spitzer telescope have helped to nail down sizes for the largest objects. In order to catch a better glimpse of these remote leftovers from the birth of the solar system, NASA launched the New Horizons mission . The spacecraft reached Pluto in 2015 and continued on with an aim to examine multiple KBOs. On Jan. 1, 2019 New Horizons flew by the Kuiper Belt object called 2014 MU69. The first images taken of MU69 suggested a snowman-like configuration, with two round balls stuck together. These images seemed to confirm the idea of pebble accretion a theory of planetary formation that suggests small rocky and icy bodies in the solar system are slowly pulled together by gravity. However, images released a month after the flyby suggested that the pair were flatter than originally thought, more like two hamburger patties than snowballs. Their formation remains a mystery. "The new images are creating scientific puzzles about how such an object could even be formed," Alan Stern, the New Horizons principal investigator, said in a statement . "We've never seen something like this orbiting the sun." MU69 may not be the last object New Horizons visits. The team has already said that the spacecraft has enough fuel to fly by another KBO . NASA would need to approve an extended mission but visiting another object would help scientists gain a broader understanding of the Kuiper Belt. "We've got fuel, and the spacecraft's in great health," Stern said in a webcast in December 2018. "So, I think there's a bright future ahead." Additional resources: While Americans all over the country will celebrate Thanksgiving with their families, the Expedition 53 crewmembers on the International Space Station will need to stay where they are in orbit. But the busy crew on the station did find time to reflect on the importance of the holiday, and share some memories of family holidays. They delivered their comments in a new video on the NASA Johnson Space Center YouTube channel. "What we have really enjoyed in a warmer climate, in Houston, is moving our dining room table out onto the sidewalk, and having Thanksgiving outside with our neighbors, which has been a lot of fun," said flight engineer Mark Vande Hei, who is on his first space mission. [Thanksgiving Dinner in Space: How Astronauts Dine on Turkey Day] When he was a child, Vande Hei recalled, his mother would cook up turkey and cranberry sauce, but it was really the pumpkin pies he looked forward to. "I could usually eat [it] for breakfast over the next three days," he said. The Thanksgiving staples were a little different in the household of Joe Acaba, flight engineer on Expedition 53. "Our cranberry sauce still had the lines from the can," recalled Acaba, who is on his second mission. "Our stuffing was made out of meat, so we had more meat stuffing inside of the turkey. For some reason, we had shrimp cocktail, and that was one of my favorite parts. Maybe that's traditional, but I don't see it too often." A typical Thanksgiving for Acaba on Earth sees him getting up early, going for a run and then making a big brunch for the family. The run and the cooking "does give me a chance to reflect on my life, all the things that I have to be thankful for," he said. [Astronaut Photos from Space Station's Expedition 53] The space station's commander, Randy Bresnik, said he enjoys the time with family and neighbors during Thanksgiving weekend, and that he's always grateful for his family's health and for the abundance of food on the table. "My wife cooks up the most amazing dinner, and we have any family that might be in town, or friends, or people from our church that come on over." Bresnik is participating in his second spaceflight. On his first mission space shuttle mission STS-129 in 2009 his wife gave birth to their daughter, Abigail Mae Bresnik. See more Ahead of the Thanksgiving weekend, the crew checked out the Bigelow Expandable Aerospace Module, which is an inflatable room being tested in space to see how well its materials stand up to an extended time in orbit. The crew also did checks of their vision; NASA astronauts have experienced eye problems in the past and one of NASA's priorities is figuring out how to address the issue. Meanwhile, NASA posted a recipe for "out of this world" cornbread with directions to complete the recipe on Earth or in space. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com. James E. Webb was NASA administrator from 1961 to 1968. He oversaw the Gemini program, the beginning of the Apollo program, and the development of Cape Kennedy and the Johnson Space Center. In 2019, a massive telescope will launch from the Earth, providing an in-depth view of space and bringing into focus objects older and farther away than we have ever seen before. The instrument will bear the name of James Webb, a champion of the early space program, who saw further ahead than many other people at the time. "Many believe that James E. Webb did more for science than perhaps any other government official, and that it is only fitting that the Next Generation Space Telescope would be named after him," says a NASA biography of Webb, who ran the space agency from 1961 to 1968. Background James Edwin Webb was born Oct. 7, 1906, in Tally Ho, North Carolina. He was the second of five children born to John and Sarah Webb. In 1938, he married Patsy Aiken Douglas and the couple had two children, Sarah Gorham and James Edwin Jr. Webb attended the University of North Carolina, receiving a degree in education. He served as a pilot for the Marine Corps from 1930 to 1932. In 1934, he began to study law at George Washington University, and was admitted to the Bar of the District of Columbia in 1936. For the next eight years, he served in various government positions for North Carolina leaders, as well as corporate roles in the Sperry Gyroscope Company of New York. In 1944, he re-entered the Marine Corps for World War II. After the war, Webb returned to Washington and served in several positions. President Harry Truman asked Webb to serve as under secretary of state. At the end of the Truman administration, Webb left Washington to work with the Kerr-McGee Oil Corp. in Oklahoma. 'We had to move' Only a few years later, Webb was contacted by the White House to meet with Vice President Lyndon Johnson about leading the newly formed National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). After the Soviet Union put the first human-built satellite, Sputnik, into orbit, the United States entered a space race. However, Webb did not think he was qualified to lead NASA. "It seemed to me that someone who knew more about rocketry, about space, would be a better man for the job," Webb said during an interview as part of an oral history project sponsored by the Lyndon B. Johnson Library. But President John F. Kennedy disagreed, arguing that the position required more policy than science. "President Kennedy said, 'I want you for this reason,'" Webb said. "And I've never said no to any president who has asked me to do things." On Feb. 14, 1961, Webb became the second administrator of NASA. Only three months later, Kennedy announced his desire to put a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth by the end of the decade. During his first presentation to Kennedy, prior to the president's announcement, Webb requested over $300 million dollars to increase the work done on Saturn booster rockets, with the aim of putting an astronaut into space. "Kennedy approved the booster side; he did not approve the spacecraft side," Webb said. Then, in April 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit Earth. "Gagarin's flight, coming after the interval since Sputnik, and with the image that Russia could in fact produce the first manned flight ... put a strong impulse on building some additional booster power," Webb said. Funding was revisited and increased. "After Gagarin's flight, [Johnson] felt that we just simply couldn't stand still. We had to move," Webb said. Sending astronauts to the moon Under Webb's tenure, the Gemini program picked up and the Apollo program began. Humans began to spend time in space. "We didn't feel sure that we could win it, but we felt sure we could compete," Webb said. But the new NASA administrator didn't focus solely on the immediate competition with Russia. According to NASA, "Webb believed that the space program was more than a political race. He believed that NASA had to strike a balance between human spaceflight and science because such a combination would serve as a catalyst for strengthening the nation's universities and aerospace industry." Under Webb's leadership, NASA built up Cape Kennedy in Florida, where rockets could safely attempt to launch into space. They acquired a large plant in New Orleans to test some of the larger boosters. They set up Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, to build some of the large manned spaceflights. This buildup of the south led some to criticize the new organization for favoring what was, after all, Webb's home region of the United States. But Webb claims that he did not bend to political pressure. "The basic reason was to get the space program done in the most effective way possible, and to build scientific, engineering, and managerial strength for a long time in the future," Webb said. "We were not just constructing the fastest, quickest way to get a few payloads into orbit. We were building permanently." While some senators claimed to have won locations for their state, Webb said he did not factor in political ramifications. "I said, if it had been subject to political influence, it would be in Boston, because that's where the most pressure came from," he said. Webb also focused on building up resources outside the government, strengthening universities and private programs. "The mandate in the law was not to build a strong NASA but to increase the competence of the United States to deal with scientific and technical matters in aeronautics and space," he said. During Webb's tenure, NASA invested in the development of robotic spacecraft and sent scientific probes to Mars and Venus. By the time he retired, NASA had launched more than 75 space science missions to study the stars, the sun, the Milky Way, the moon and the environment around Earth. America's first human flight and first orbital flight came under Webb's tenure, as did the first two-man flight and the first human walk in space. Webb "enhanced the role of scientists in key roles," NASA reports. "He gave them greater control in the selection process of science missions and he created the NASA University Program, which established grants for space research, funded the construction of new laboratories at universities and provided fellowships for graduate students." When disaster strikes On Jan. 27, 1967, astronauts Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee were killed during a test of the Apollo 1 capsule. "We've always known that something like this was going to happen sooner than later," Webb said in an interview. "Who would have thought the first tragedy would be on the ground." Webb asked President Johnson to allow NASA to conduct its own examination, which it did, presenting the results of the investigation to the public. Webb presented the findings to various congressional committees, deflecting much of the blame onto himself. "While he was personally tarred with the disaster, the space agency's image and popular support was largely undamaged," according to a NASA biography. As the Johnson presidency came to a close, Webb made the decision to step down as the administrator of NASA. In his interview with the LBJ oral project, he said he wanted there to be a vacancy to allow the next president to assign an administrator of his own choosing, though he worked to establish continuity in the agency's leadership. Webb stepped down as NASA administrator on Oct. 7, 1968. He remained in Washington to serve on various advisory boards, including as a regent of the Smithsonian Institution. Only a few months later, Apollo 11 landed the first human astronauts on the surface of the moon. John E. Pike, director of the Space Policy Project at the Federation of American Scientists, later said Webb played a key role. "The reason we got to the moon before the Russians was they didn't have anybody to pull it together. The critical difference was we outmanaged them," Pike said. Webb's role was visible in both the 1998 miniseries "From the Earth to the Moon" and the 2016 movie "Hidden Figures." Webb died on March 27, 1992, and was buried at Arlington Cemetery. The Next Generation Space Telescope As early as 1965, Webb wrote that a major space telescope, then known as the Large Space Telescope, should become a major NASA effort. It would be decades before the project began. In 1996, NASA began construction on a large space telescope, which has been named the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). It is often described as the scientific successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. However, JWST will not replace Hubble, which is still in operation. The two instruments complement one another, but they are not identical. Instead, JWST will be able to see objects older and farther away than previous instruments, looking deeper in the infrared than Hubble is capable. While Hubble has a single 7.9-foot (2.4 meters) mirror, JWST has 18 hexagonal mirror segments with a combined size of 21 feet 4 inches (6.5 meters). Launch for JWST has been recently pushed back to spring of 2019. "It is fitting that Hubble's successor be named in honor of James Webb," NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe said in a statement. "Thanks to his efforts, we got our first glimpses at the dramatic landscape of outer space. He took our nation on its first voyages of exploration, turning our imagination into reality. Indeed, he laid the foundations at NASA for one of the most successful periods of astronomical discovery. As a result, we're rewriting the textbooks today with the help of the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the James Webb Telescope." Follow Nola Taylor Redd at @NolaTRedd, Facebook, or Google+. Follow us at @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Additional resources Shaheed El-Hafed, Nov21, 2017 (SPS) - Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mohamed Salem Ould Salek, has urged the Kingdom of Morocco not to waste more time, to respect its internationally recognised borders, and to deal with the Sahrawi Republic and with all countries of the region based on mutual respect and common destiny. Acting in the opposite direction will represent a reprehensible squandering of the Moroccan peoples resources and a waste of time that will only lead to more deprivation and misery in Morocco. Following is the full statement of Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mohamed Salem Ould Salek: Statement by Mr Mohamed Salem Ould Salek Minister of Foreign Affairs Morocco should not waste more time The presence of the Sahrawi Republic at the fifth summit of the AU-EU partnership due to take place in Abidjan (Cote dIvoire) in the few coming days is as a strategic victory for the Sahrawi State. This fact confirms that the Moroccan illegal military occupation of parts of our national territory is ill-fated and that the total withdrawal of the occupying forces is inevitable. It also demonstrates that the Sahrawi State will take its place at the United Nations and in all continental and international organisations and institutions. No doubt, the Moroccan diplomacy must have realised that Frances pressure within the European Union and its blatant representations made to the host country and the lobbying campaigns have not affected the status of the Sahrawi State because it is a national, continental and international fact that enjoys strong support in Africa and worldwide. The international community, including the European Union and its member States, as well as world organisations and courts do not recognise Moroccos sovereignty over Western Sahara. Lying to the Moroccan people through statements and articles appearing in some media on the regimes payroll cannot hide the successive defeats of the Moroccan occupation policies. That Morocco occupies or vacates its seat anywhere will not stop the Sahrawi people from restoring their sovereignty over their homeland. It will not prevent the Sahrawi Republic from taking its seat at the United Nations and raising its flag among the flags of world nations at the headquarters of the General Assembly in New York alongside the Moroccan flag, as is the case today in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. We urge to the Kingdom of Morocco not to waste more time, to respect its internationally recognised borders, and to deal with the Sahrawi Republic and with all countries of the region based on mutual respect and common destiny. Acting in the opposite direction will represent a reprehensible squandering of the Moroccan peoples resources and a waste of time that will only lead to more deprivation and misery in Morocco.SPS 125/090/TRA B argain-hunting holidaymakers should look beyond the eurozone, Thomas Cook said on Wednesday as cut-throat competition in Spain led to a plunge in its shares. The tour operators stock fell by 10.9% to 109p, as investors worried about the health of the business where margins were hit. Spain is not unaffordable for families but other destinations offer a better price quality relationship, Peter Fankhauser, chief executive of Thomas Cook said. At least in Turkey you can pay in sterling, rather than having to pay with the euro, he said. Turkey, where Thomas Cook was the market leader, is coming back strongly after terrorist attacks put off holidaymakers, and destinations such as Morocco, Cyprus and Cape Verde are also selling well. Winter bookings are up 5% on last year and there has been a strong recovery in demand for Egypt, although it is a long way off the popularity it reached before the Arab Spring in 2010. Thomas Cook said that this year was a milestone year for the company, which has been on a slow path back to recovery after a 1.6 billion debt restructuring four years ago. It revealed an increase in pre-tax profits from 5 million last year to 12 million and said it would increase its dividend payout by 20%, as revenues rose by 9% to 9 billion for the year to the end of September. It has also reduced its net debt by 89 million to 40 million. The tour operator said its recent initiatives, including a tie-up on city hotels with Expedia and a partnership with Swiss hotel investor LMEY which will enable Thomas Cook to open more of its own brand hotels, would lead to more profitable growth. Fankhauser added that Thomas Cooks airline was performing well, particularly on the Continent, and was in a good position to benefit from the collapse of Monarch, the charter airline. W e are jumping 10 years into the future of banking to discover this: Ive just been refused a Tinder date because my credit score is too low and my blood pressure is too high. David Duffy, the chief executive of CYBG, is laughing at the idea and, fair enough, its not his life. By his telling, this sort of stuff is already happening in Asia, thanks to early adopters of all such technology this way coming. Alibaba, Apple, Amazon and others double as banks in China and the amount of information shared across the platforms is either exciting, if youre a banker, or chilling, if youre on the wrong side of the numbers. (Broke, 55, getting fat). In the old days, says Duffy, our shopping, our health and our banking transactions would be kept separate. From here on, and increasingly quickly, they will occur in one location. We will bank, shop, hail rides, order takeaways from one place, even if in the background there is furious competition for our custom. No one will fill out a credit application, because lenders will already know enough about you from social media and from what you have bought online to decide if youre a good risk. Duffys CYBG the old Clydesdale and Yorkshire banks is ready to do all this right now, he says. He just needs the rest of us to catch up, culturally and technologically. From his Studio B store in Kensington High Street, a cross between a Starbucks and an Apple store, he will open minds, says the website, and inspire the kind of thinking that could shape the future of banking. His point is that thus far, despite all the talk of challenger banks and fintechs, market shares for the big five have barely shifted. One fallout from the too-big-to-fail banking crisis was that the big banks are now even bigger. Open banking, where we share our details with financial services companies who fight to offer us tailored deals, is his solution. Privacy is the understandable worry, he admits, though young folk seem to worry about it less and less. Privacy concerns go back to the industrial age, Duffy tells me. People can leave a briefcase on a train and lose security. Weve just got to be brilliant at protecting people. In the UK, people start off hating their banks, if only because it saves time later. The cyberbank of the future that leaks all of our most private details (dating history, medical disasters) into the public domain would be unpopular indeed. Duffys confidence that this just wouldnt happen is reassuring, I guess. But that dating stuff is more than a joke. Discover Financial Services in the US linked with Tinder to reveal that a good credit score is more important than looks: People may be hesitant to reveal their credit scores now, but the data suggest that it might become the norm over time, said Discover. Duffy thinks our disquiet at all this will pass, which is why he has spent 350 million on digitising his computer systems. One digital platform, iB, will in time process all CYBG customer requests whether on mobile, online, on the phone or in branch. By making customers data more freely available, with their permission, CYBG will be able to launch services that plug into the main bank account like apps downloaded to a smartphone. So, just as Amazon and Apple become more and more like banks, CYBG will become less like one, offering us, perhaps, holidays, new cars, cinema tickets. For clunking giants like Lloyds, with old systems, this future is harder to reach. How soon do we get to this Brave New World? Says Duffy: The jury is out on how quickly were going to see radical change coming from Open Banking. We will certainly see aggregation services next year. More significant change will probably take a few years, as consumers take time to understand the new types of services on offer and get comfortable with the idea of their data being made available to third parties. Theres a privacy disaster in store here, somewhere, surely. But also an opportunity to finally improve bank service, to ditch the old high street dinosaurs. Theyve had it coming. I t was good to read that Italys minister of economy and finance, Pier Carlo Padoan, thinks Brexit will make the EU stronger [Brexit brought the EU together rather than splitting us apart, November 20]. Unfortunately, I fear the attitudes that he displays may have the opposite effect. Nowhere is the question considered of how the EU came to lose an important member. He does acknowledge that resentment against the union has grown, fuelling radical and anti-EU movements and parties across Europe, but thinks that this is because the EU has not done enough. If he spoke with Brexit voters in this country they might have told him that the opposite is true, but I suspect Signor Padoan was really writing to other insiders such as himself. In a democracy you need to carry the people with you, and if you dont they will find a way to let you know. As Oscar Wilde might have said, to lose one country may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose any more looks like carelessness. Jeremy Polmear Pier Carlo Padoan is either ignorant or arrogant in his pledge to speed up the integration of the remaining 27 countries of the EU when overwhelming numbers of the population in those countries desire quite the opposite. If he is unaware of the growing strength of the Five Star movement in his own country, the National Front in France and populist parties in Austria, Poland, Hungary and even famously liberal Holland, then I suspect it will soon be arriverderci to Signor Padoan. As even the previously unassailable German Chancellor Angela Merkel has just discovered, you ignore the wishes of your people at your peril. Howard Ricklow In the hearts of hardline Brexiteers there lies a deep conviction that mainland Europe owes us for saving it in the two World Wars. While it is indeed true that we did, it must be remembered that, as a nation, we were heroes then. The EU president recently thanked Britain for our fortitude during the wars. However, our current headless-chicken performance is likely to erode and deplete all the honour which our historical actions have accrued. James McGrory Telling the EU not to put politics above prosperity reveals how fundamentally David Davis misunderstands the European project. While the UK sees the EU in economic and transactional terms, on the continent it is a strategic political project that seeks to advance the European cause through co-operation. Daviss pleas will fall on deaf ears; the other 27 states will never put prosperity above politics. Rohan Moorthy High Brexit bill is surely no surprise I was sorry to read the negative comments from former education minister Robert Halfon about the likely large bill for Britain as we leave the EU [Bananas! New Tory revolt on 40bn bill for Brexit, November 20]. As a Remain voter he should have been saying I told you so, except that he and the rest of the Tory party didnt. More seriously, this shows that Brexiteers such as Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Nigel Farage lied about the costs of leaving the EU. After all, it was their bus in the referendum campaign which claimed we would have millions of pounds a week to spend if we left, showing their ignorance of the EU and the rules we signed up for 40 years ago. David Reed I am not sure why Tory Brexiteers would go bananas over an added bill of some 18 billion. After all, this only represents one year of the added funding the NHS will enjoy once we have left the union a year will soon pass and then that cash can be pumped into the NHS as promised. Tom McAra Goldmans would be no loss to Britain So Lloyd Blankfein is considering relocating Goldman Sachs from London to the EU [November 20]. Given that 80 per cent of what the global financial industry gets up to is based on generating commissions and bonuses, the disappearance of Goldman Sachs and its ilk will be no great loss. It does not recognise national jurisdiction and drains otherwise productive economies wherever it finds them. If Brexit means it turns its gaze towards the EU, this is good news for Britain. Martin Kennedy The moves of the European Medicines Agency and European Banking Authority are huge losses to Tower Hamlets. As well as more than 1,000 jobs, we will lose the business generated by 36,000 visitors to the agencies each year. Brexit Secretary David Davis misled people when he said they would be able to stay, a sign of how incompetent he is. Elaine Bagshaw, Lib-Dem candidate for Poplar & Limehouse The dreadful service on the Piccadilly line When is something going to be done about the appalling service on the Piccadilly line to help us beleaguered daily users? In the past two days alone it has been an unalloyed nightmare travelling into and out of central London. On Sunday there was a signal failure at Gloucester Road and this was exacerbated by a broken-down train at Acton Town, which as a station seems to have more signal failures than the rest of the line put together. The result was that I missed a train on which I had pre-booked at Kings Cross, so had to pay again and was an hour late for my appointment. On Monday, still reeling from that awful days travelling, there was a signal failure at South Kensington, which meant a journey which should take 40 minutes took an hour-and-a-half. I was late for work again. These disruptions are becoming almost the norm. It wasnt long ago that we suffered industrial action on the line because of the proposed introduction of the Night Tube. The vast majority of us who live on the terrible Piccadilly line couldnt care less about a night service we just want a reliable day service. Is it too much to ask? Simon Warr MPs are betraying animal welfare Despite living in a land of animal lovers our MPs have voted to reject a bill that recognises that animals feel pain and emotion. This decision is crass and defies logic. Do MPs get a frisson of pleasure by going against our wishes? In EU law animals are sentient. That might not make much of a difference but at least it is stated in black and white and could one day mean something to the millions of animals slaughtered, vivisected or used for sport. Sara Starkey At a time when people are becoming more sympathetic with regard to the treatment of animals, our MPs apparent refusal to recognise that animals feel pain will only further alienate millennials whose support they need. Helen Bailey I f youve got used to having an electronic voice assistant at home, leaving your house means leaving Amazon Echo or Google Home behind. But not anymore Speak Music has unveiled a new gadget, Muse, which brings Amazons Alexa into your car. The small circular device connects to your smartphone via bluetooth, allowing you to use voice commands on the go. Muse is powered by the cigarette lighter port, attaches to the dashboard on a magnetic mount, and can connect to in-car wi-fi. Speak Musics project has been funded on Indiegogo, where early adopters can can get a discounted pre-order. Unlike your phone's native assistant, Alexa does not ask you to unlock your phone. It has over 25,000 skills that work with just your voice, the device description explains. Smart speakers - in pictures 1 /8 Smart speakers - in pictures Amazon Echo 2nd-generation Amazon Google Home Google Sonos One Sonos Apple HomePod Apple Amazon Echo Plus Amazon Google Home Mini Google As with the full Echo device, Muse's Alexa allows users to request music, ask for information, and can sync up to your shopping lists and calendar. It also allows for hands-free phone calls. While Spotify support wont be available for Muse at launch, an update is already being planned to bring the streaming service to the gadget. Muse is already in production, and its hitting America first but it looks set to arrive in the UK in early 2018. G oogle Pixel 2 is about to get a lot smarter with an upcoming software update. The smartphone will be getting new image-analysing functionality in the coming weeks thanks to Google Lens. The feature adds search functionality to your images, meaning users can find out more information about the pictures they take. For instance, snap a landmark in an unfamiliar city, and Google Lens can search the image and tell you what the landmark is. Coming soon: Google Lens will bring image-analysing software to Google Pixel 2 (Google) Once an object is identified in a photo, Lens offers extra Google search information about it. The software can recognise art works, film posters, and even different plants and flowers. Users can scan barcodes on products, and it can also strip out text information including contact details from business cards, and addresses and dates from event posters. Google Lens is coming to Google Pixel 2 / Google Though no exact date has been set, Googles latest blog post reveals that Google Lens will roll out to Pixel 2 very soon. Google Lens in the Assistant will be rolling out to all Pixel phones set to English in the U.S., U.K., Australia, Canada, India and Singapore over the coming weeks, it says. We cant wait to see how Google Lens helps you explore the world around you, with the help of your Google Assistant. And dont forget, Google Lens is also available in Google Photos, so even after you take a picture, you can continue to explore and get more information about whats in your photo. M achu Picchu has become a travel buzz word of late with every discerning traveller making sure to tick the ancient Peruvian city off their bucket list. And with limited numbers allowed on the trail 500 per day, 300 being porters and guides climbing Machu Picchu takes months of planning. This may be why Peru is opening up the Incan citys little-known sacred sister, Choquequirao. Located just 40 miles from Mach Picchu and dating back to the 15th and 16th centuries, Choquequirao is currently only accessible to people willing to make a five-day hike. Therefore it receives far fewer visitors, just 5,800 per year compared to Machu Picchus 1.2million. However, the Peruvian government is hoping to change that by adding a new road to the city from Machu Picchu and adding in cable cars that can take holidaymakers directly to the ancient site. The road to Machu Picchu 1 /2 The road to Machu Picchu peru.jpg cusco.jpg Cusco Sitting 3,050 metres above sea level, Choquequirao covers 1,800 hectares filled with terraces, stairways, plazas and temples. The 60 million investment scheme was pledged by the Peruvian president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski as part of the governments plan to double the number of tourists per year to seven million by 2021. By adding the road and cable car, the government hopes to bring 150,000 visitors to Choquequirao eventually increasing to half a million. However, more visitors to Choquequirao could see it face deterioration like were seeing with Machu Picchu. To combat this deterioration, the Peruvian government allotted two time slots for visitors to visit the famous ruins and lessen human impact on the ancient city. An alternative adventure in Peru could be abroad the new Belmond Andean explorer - South America's first luxury sleeper train. Departing from Cusco, the capital of the Inca Empire, the train travels across the lofty Andean plains to the white city of Arequipa. You can choose from one of four unforgettable journeys that will lead you along one of the highest train routes in the world. With Choquequirao and the Belmond in the mix, Peru is a must-visit destination of 2018. T his is the moment a bystander tackles a suspected moped mugger moments after he snatched a handbag from a woman in North London. Dramatic dashcam footage emerged today of two helmeted thieves on a scooter mounting a pavement to apparently snatch the black bag from the lone pedestrian in Islington. They drive off as the stunned victim looks on in horror following the attempted mugging in Barnsbury. Seconds later a casually dressed pedestrian charges into the scooters path, grabs the pillion passenger by the neck and wrestles him from the saddle. The suspect squirmed free to rejoin his accomplice but lost the bag in the fracas. As the have-a-go hero checks himself for injuries, the shocked driver says: You alright mate? Dont worry Ive got it all on camera. The driver had been tailing the moped as the pair apparently prowled the streets hunting for victims. The footage was uploaded to the internet yesterday by a user who said it took place on Sunday. They wrote: It was an incredible act of bravery. London Assembly member Sian Berry called for Scotland Yard to consider banning pillion passengers in parts of the capital such as Islington which have been badly hit by moped robberies. Security experts have warned of a predicted rise in moped-enabled criminal activity including robbery in the run up to Christmas. A knifeman who roamed the streets of south London looking for Muslims to stab has been locked up for more than two years. Mickey Sage, 24, armed himself with a ten-inch knife as he ran around asking terrified strangers in Camberwell Green if they were Muslims. When he was arrested, Sage confessed I was out to kill a Muslim and admitted he had hoped to find an Imam to attack. Police were called in the early hours of June 7 to reports of Sage threatening people with a knife and asking if they were Muslims. He ditched the large blade he was carrying when officers arrived, but later admitted it was my knife. Camberwell Green magistrates court heard Sage continued to make Islamophobic slurs while in the back of the police car, saying he wanted to be a martyr for England and stab an Imam in the neck. He admitted two charges of threatening a person in a public place with a knife and was sentenced to two years and three months in prison yesterday. DC Samuel Cafferty, from Southwark CID, said: Hate crime like this has no place in any society. S cotland Yard is investigating Kevin Spacey over a second alleged sexual assault. The new allegation was made last week after 20 people came forward with complaints of inappropriate behaviour against Spacey during his time at the Old Vic. Spacey, 58, is already subject to a Met Police probe over claims he sexually assaulted a young actor at his London home. The 23-year-old, who had asked Spacey for career advice, said he woke up to the Hollywood star performing a sex act on him, the Sun reported earlier this month. A Met Police spokesman said: On Wednesday, November 1, City of London Police referred an allegation of sexual assault to the Metropolitan Police Service. It is alleged a man assaulted another man, victim one, in 2008 in Lambeth. On Friday, November 17 a further allegation was made about the same man. The allegations are of sexual assaults against a man, victim two, in 2005 in Lambeth. Officers from the Child Abuse and Sexual Offences Command are investigating. The Yard said it would not name the alleged attacker. Spacey started performing at the Old Vic in the 1990s and served as artistic director from 2004-15. The theatre, in Waterloo, received 20 complaints after it set up an anonymous hotline, resulting in 16 staff and four other people coming forward to detail a string of alleged incidents between 1995 and 2013. A source close to the investigation said all 20 allegations were either of a sexual nature or made the correspondent feel uncomfortable. The Old Vic said: Those affected felt unable to raise concerns and that Kevin Spacey operated without sufficient accountability. The double Oscar-winners behaviour came under scrutiny last month when the American TV and stage actor Anthony Rapp alleged that he was sexually harassed by Spacey in 1986 in New York, when he was 14 and Spacey was 26. Spacey responded by saying he did not remember the incident but said that if he had acted in the way Rapp alleged, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behaviour. Netflix have axed his hit political drama, House Of Cards, while director Sir Ridley Scott cut the star from his latest film to reshoot scenes. Spacey's representatives have previously said he was "taking the time to seek necessary to seek evaluation and treatment". They have not yet responded to the latest allegation. T his is the shocking moment a young man is glassed in the face for holding hands with his boyfriend. Dramatic CCTV footage shows the moment Anjungi Lam, 35, smashes his pint glass into the side of the 20-year-olds head from behind as he stands at the bar at a Wetherspoons pub. The victim suffered cuts to his nose, lip and neck as well as a chipped tooth and damage to his cornea in the horrifying attack in the Kentish Drovers pub in Peckham. He had never met or spoken to Lam, but believes the attack was motivated by homophobia because he had walked into the pub holding hands with boyfriend, also age 20. Crime: The thug glassed a stranger in the face in the homophobic attack in a pub (Metropolitan Police) / PA The couple had been ordering drinks when Lam struck, and flying glass also got in the victim's boyfriend's eye in the incident on March 5. Lam admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent at Inner London Crown Court on June 23, and was jailed for two years. He was easily identified because he had previously worked at the pub for three months before being sacked for lateness, police said. He was arrested on May 19. Anjungi Lam, 35, has been jailed (PA) / Metropolitan Police Investigating officer Pc Lance Sharrock, from Southwark's Community Safety Unit, said: "This was an entirely unprovoked incident. Lam did not know the victim or his partner, they had not spoken nor had any disagreement to provoke such a violent attack. "Lam was quickly identified and I am pleased at his sentence which shows that incidents of this nature will not be tolerated." A number of unrelated offences Lam had committed were taken into consideration at sentence, including actual bodily harm, assault by beating, theft and possession of an offensive weapon. A rmed police descended on a residential street in north London after a teenager was shot and stabbed. Residents reported hearing gunshots close to Wood Green Crown Court and police rushed to the scene at around 8pm on Tuesday. London Air Ambulance was scrambled after paramedics discovered a man, believed to be in his late teens, who was shot and stabbed. He was rushed to an east London and remains in stable condition. Shooting: Residents reported seeing multiple police cars and ambulances Police were still at the scene, just off Lordship Lane, and forensics were scouring the area. A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: Police were called at approximately 8pm on Tuesday, 21 November to Crown Close, off Winkfield Road in Wood Green following reports of a shooting. Officers, the London Ambulance Service and London's Air Ambulance attended. A man, believed to be aged in his late teens, was found suffering from gunshot wounds and a suspected stab wound. He was taken to an east London hospital where he remains in a stable condition. His injuries are not believed to be life-threatening. No one has been arrested in connection with the incident. A ctivists dressed as "Maybots" protested outside Parliament as Chancellor Philip Hammond prepared to deliver his autumn Budget. Members of the GMB Union staged a demonstration near to the Treasury in a last-ditch plea to the Chancellor to give public sector workers a pay rise in the Budget. The masked "Maybots", made to resemble Prime Minister Theresa May as a robot, were joined by a Chancellor figure on Wednesday morning - just hours before Mr Hammond was due to make his much-anticipated speech. Unions have been pressing the Government for months to scrap the cap on the pay of millions of public sector workers. The union, which represents 640,000 public and private sector workers, urged the Chancellor to "end seven years of misery" for the industry. Britain's GMB union stages a protest outside Parliament. / REUTERS The masked demonstrators were joined by a 'Gothic Chancellor' in a dark mask shaped like a crow. GMB national officer Rehana Azam said: "Today the Chancellor can end seven years of misery for our 5.5 million public sector workers. Budget 2017: All you need to know "Seven years where they've had their real terms pay slashed, leaving them forced to use food banks while struggling to pay the rent and feed their families. "People are sick to the back teeth of austerity - while the richest in the country enjoy tax cuts. "If this Government can find 40 billion to leave the EU, and 1.5 billion to keep themselves in power, they can find the money to lift the pay cap for our millions of public sector workers." Protests took place on College Green, Westminster Abbey, and outside the Treasury. A couple behind a chain of independent butchers in London today told of their heartbreak at its shock closure after ploughing their life savings into the business. Miranda Ballard and her husband Roland quit media jobs in 2008 to study animal husbandry and butchery before moving to a farm in Worcester. They initially launched their Muddy Boots business to supply supermarkets and online grocers, including Waitrose and Ocado, with top-quality meat. The brand expanded to include five stores in the capital and an east London factory, with plans for further outlets. But now it has entered administration with the loss of dozens of jobs, to the shock of loyal customers. Regret: Miranda Ballard of Muddy Boots Mrs Ballard said the couple had lost everything trying to keep the business afloat. We both now have to take stock, get jobs, and we have nothing left for ourselves, she added. Our savings are gone, it was everything we had. The decision was made on Saturday after discussions with investors, as the couple could not guarantee business would pick up in the new year. They announced their decision on social media on Monday. Closure will mean the loss of five factory jobs, 12 full-time retail staff and 25 part-time posts in the stores. Mrs Ballard said: When we called time there was a sense of relief to have the decision made. But there was enormous regret. Roland and I got to the point where we could not promise things will get better. We had nothing left to try. The company owed about 30,000 to suppliers and had seen operating costs rise along with the price of ingredients, despite a turnover of 1.3 million. Mrs Ballard said: The amount we owed was not a huge amount of money and while sales had returned to previous levels this autumn, they had not roared. We couldnt guarantee it will be better next year. Traditionally you could just make the money back at Christmas, but with meat it doesnt work like that. We have to buy everything in and the profit margins at Christmas arent that huge. There is no way we couldve put in a 40,000 order with suppliers if there was a chance we would go bust in January. It was a decision made with a heavy heart. One customer tweeted: I was a big fan of your Crouch End branch and the ethos of your company. The couple turned down a partnership with Tesco after deciding to launch their own shops first in Crouch End in 2014. They followed with stores in Muswell Hill, Wandsworth, Earlsfield and Stoke Newington. Muddy Boots said anyone with existing orders would be contacted.@1Ben_Morgan S adiq Khan has blasted Philip Hammonds budget as the most anti-London in a generation. The Mayor of London accused the Government of showing contempt for Londoners through their plans for spending. The Mayor noted that the Chancellor has failed to mention counter-terrorism and had not offered any funding to the Met Police. He said: It is sadly now inevitable that police officer numbers will continue to fall potentially to as few as 27,500 by 2021 - and we are left with no choice but to scrap Londons strategic target for 32,000 police officers that has been in place since 2012. Despite Mr Hammond announcing that Stamp Duty will be scrapped for first-time buyers on properties up to 300,000, Mr Khan slammed a lack of funding for extra affordable housing in London. How will the budget affect you? He said: The Chancellor did not announce a penny of extra grant for affordable housing in London even though we know the current spending is less than a fifth of what we need. Everyone knows we need councils to be able to build more, but there was no commitment that any councils in London will be given the powers to do so. This Government is all talk and no action on housing, he added. The Chancellor also pledged to build 300,000 more homes UK-wide by 2020 and 100,000 in Oxfordshire by 2031. Philip Hammond at Downing Street / Joe Giddens/PA Mr Khan further slammed Mr Hammonds plans to commit 220m to tackling air pollution across Britain. He branded the pledge totally inadequate and a kick in the teeth for Londoners after air pollution levels in the capital hit the most severe levels numerous times this year. Sir Vince Cable condemns Budget Brexit pledge He added: The capital alone requires 515m just for a vehicle scrappage fund. It is a kick in the teeth of Londoners who deserve the right to breathe clean air and are encouraged by the Government to buy more polluting vehicles. P hilip Hammond and Theresa May cracked a joke about cough sweets in todays Budget in one of many staged gags aimed to lighten up the Commons speech. The House of Commons erupted into laughs and cheers after the Chancellor told MPs: I did take the precaution of asking my Right Honourable friend to bring a packet of cough sweets just in case. It was in reference to the PM's Tory party conference speech last month which was repeatedly interrupted by her coughing fit. Today Mrs May waved a packet of throat sweets from the frontbench as MPs roared with laughter. It was one of many jokes made by Philip Hammond nicknamed Spreadsheet Phil for his perceived seriousness - in his first Budget speech since Junes disastrous General Election defeat which saw the Tories majority slashed. Here are some of his top gags: Theresa May waved her cough sweets. / PA Alcohol He began by jokingly telling the House he had refused the alcoholic drink usually allowed to the Chancellor on Budget Day, instead opting for plain water. He later cracked another joke about alcohol. After announcing that duty was rising on white cider but other alcoholic drinks would stay the same, Mr Hammond quipped: Merry Christmas, Mr Deputy Speaker. Jeremy Clarkson He also poked fun at ex-Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson. Budget 2017: Philip Hammond cracks May, Hammond, Clarkson gag Talking about driverless cars, Mr Hammond said: I know that Jeremy Clarkson doesnt like them, but there are many other good reasons to pursue this technology. His joke was met with loud laughs in the chamner. The chancellor went on: So today we step up our support for it. Im sorry Jeremy, but definitely not the first time youve been snubbed by Hammond and May. 'Economicky words' Mr Hammond also made a jibe at environment secretary Michael Gove, following reports last week that an unnamed cabinet minister had complained Mr Gove was using long economicky words at meetings with the PM to audition to be the next chancellor. 'Budget banter': Hammond at the despatch box. / PA The chancellor told the House on Wednesday this is the bit with the long economicky words in it before presenting the growth forecasts. Maths Announcing that schools will get 600 in extra cash for every A level maths student, Mr Hammond told MPs there would be more maths for everyone, adding: Dont say I dont know how to show the nation a good time. I'm a Celebrity The second of the chancellor's two TV-themed jokes to the Commons was about ITV reality show I'm A Celebrity. Mr Hammond appeared to be enjoying making the House erupt into laughter. / PA Making a dig at Labour, Mr Hammond said: If they carry on like that there will be plenty of others joining Kezia Dugdale in saying, Im Labour, get me out of here. The Chancellor appeared to be enjoying making Parliament laugh, managing to rack up a good number of quips during his time at the despatch box. Many members of the public also seemed to be entertained by Mr Hammonds attempt at banter. Social media users began using the #BudgetBantz hashtag as people praised the frontbencher for his classic puns. Spreadsheet Phil is a joker, wrote Lizzy Woodfield, while others said he was delivering the Budget like a stand-up. Others were far less impressed. Hammonds jokes were a bit better than his budget no real laugh out loud funny lines though, one internet user said. David Beckett said on Twitter: An important tip about doing a presentation is if youre not funny, dont try to be. Philip Hammond should definitely adhere to that advice. R ailcards offering young people cut-price train tickets will be extended to anyone under 30 years old. Chancellor Philip Hammond confirmed plans for a new discounted railcard for 26 to 30-year-olds in Wednesdays budget. It is expected to launch in spring 2018. The so-called 'millennials card' will operate on a similar basis to the current 16-25 railcard, which has been available in one form or another since 1974. Chancellor Philip Hammond delivers his first Autumn budget / BBC The railcard currently costs 30 a year and entitles the holder to a third off the normal fare. Mr Hammond has said ministers were working with industry figures with a view to launching the new 26-30 card in spring 2018. The Treasury estimated that an additional 4.5 million young people would become eligible for discounted fares under the scheme. Budget 2017: All you need to know Jacqueline Starr, managing director of customer experience at the Rail Delivery Group, the trade body for train companies and Network Rail, said: "It's good news that government has chosen to build on the trial of a 26-30 railcard by Greater Anglia on behalf of the wider industry. "A key commitment in our long-term plan to change and improve is to boost communities by enabling more people to travel by train and that's why we developed this proposal." A former boss of Harrods has warned that the annual Black Friday frenzy is turning into a major disaster for the hard-pressed British high street. Retail expert Andrew Jennings, who also ran House of Fraser and the New York department store Saks Fifth Avenue, said the end-of-November ritual was forcing stores to cut prices in the run-up to Christmas when they can afford it least. Mr Jennings told the Standard: As a retailer Im totally against it the lead up to Christmas should be a great opportunity to sell at full price. The sale period is getting longer so to take a price cut at Christmas is against everything I believe in in terms of getting a retailer profitable. Having said that, now weve got it if you dont do it you lose out. But everyone needs to think very carefully about how they participate and whether they can come up with other ideas, such as a charity donation instead. "For example, Fat Face are donating 100,000 in exchange for not participating in Black Friday. Craziest Black Friday moments in the UK Mr Jennings, who published a book on retailing called Almost Is Not Good Enough this month, added that the Black Friday effect was having a massive distorting effect on spending. Its already looking as if Black Friday has depressed sales in October and if were not careful we will find that all of November is being discounted. A number of major British retailers have failed in the run-up to Christmas when cash flow is most stretched, including music chain Zavvi and Woolworths. Retail expert Andrew Jennings says the end-of-November ritual is forcing stores to cut prices The warning was echoed by retail expert James Brown, of pricing consultants Simon-Kucher. He said: Weve reviewed thousands of promotions by hundreds of businesses, and were confident that many will make dramatically less than they expect out of cutting prices on Black Friday. Some will even make a loss, although many wont actually realise it as the sales numbers look good at first glance. One business we examined recently had the unwelcome realisation that roughly half of all their promotions were loss-making. In their haste to promote, they simply hadnt noticed. What is Black Friday? One retailer Kerry Mounsey, founder of ethical fashion label Verry Kerry, said she would be boycotting Black Friday. She said: Instead, Verry Kerry will be partnering with charity Streets Kitchen to donate 20 per cent of all orders made from Friday 24 to Monday 27 November, to buying thermal socks for the homeless. Our target is 500 pairs. This years Black Friday spree is set to be the biggest since the event was imported from America by Amazon in 2010. A total of 2.6 billion is forecast to be spent on deals, up eight per cent on last years 2.4 billion, according to analysis by the Centre for Retail Research and the VoucherCodes website. A baby whale thought to have been poisoned by plastic during the filming of Blue Planet II may have died from natural causes, an expert has said. Viewers of the popular BBC programme were left devastated after a clip of a pilot whale carrying her dead newborn calf was broadcast on Sunday. Wildlife stalwart David Attenborough said it was likely the calf had been killed by drinking milk contaminated with plastic that its mother had ingested. The show aimed to highlight the dangers of pollution in the ocean. But a scientist who advised producers on the BBC series said there was no evidence the newborn was poisoned, The Times reported. Blue Planet II: How plastic is killing our sea creatures - In pictures 1 /6 Blue Planet II: How plastic is killing our sea creatures - In pictures A turtle trapped in plastic BBC A baby whale was killed by poisonous plastic BBC Plastic is destroying the ocean BBC Millions of plastic bags are thrown ocean each year BBC Animals become tangled in the rubbish BBC The most recent episode, which documented a female pilot whale clutching her dead calf, led to accusations that the BBC had not made it clear there was no proof the calf was poisoned. Sir David appeared to tell the audience it was possible that plastic had contributed to the contamination of the mother's milk. He said: "Unless the flow of plastics and industrial pollution into the oceans is reduced, marine life will be poisoned by them for many centuries to come." However, the BBC admitted on Tuesday that it was not aware how the calf had died. And Dr Paul Jepson, who advised the Blue Planet II team, told The Times that no samples were taken from the dead calf during filming. Dr Jepson, European Veterinary Specialist in Wildlife Population Health at the Zoological Society of London, said it could have died from a natural cause or chemical pollutants could have been a factor, it was reported. A BBC spokesperson told the Daily Mail: "The pilot whale sequence does not state 'plastics killed the baby whale', rather it says chemical contamination is the most likely cause. But that micro-plastics may have played a role. "The Blue Planet II team was advised by the scientific community across the series, including a number of world experts on chemical and plastic pollution. "The facts presented in their research indicate the dead calf could have been poisoned from its mothers milk due to chemical pollution, and new research shows that plastics could be part of the problem. "Its well documented that industrial pollutants accumulate on micro-plastics and that micro-plastics are consumed by a wide variety of sea creatures." The camera team were unable to perform an autopsy on the calf, the spokesperson reportedly added. P rimary school pupils have been banned from hanging decorations on their towns Christmas tree after the school received an inadequate Ofsted rating. Youngsters in Cornwall were forced to pass up the annual tradition in favour of a commitment to ongoing improvement at the school, the Telegraph reported. Parents of students at Padstow School hit back at the plans and accused staff of ruining the magic of the community gathering. They pledged to plan their own events for children to make decorations for the tree. One mother told the Telegraph: What's been taken away is the magic of community getting together, all because our Ofsted report was a shambles." Another, Emma George added: It's a disgrace, it's so sad that [the head teacher] wants to take this away. A school spokesperson told the newspaper: "Due to an extremely busy timetable of events and activities planned between now and Christmas and a commitment to ongoing school improvement, the school has politely declined to be involved this year." They added that the school "has always enjoyed close links with the town" and is involved in many Christmas community events. Q ueen Elizabeth II is now the world's oldest living head of state following Robert Mugabe's resignation as president of Zimbabwe at the age of 93. Aged 91, the Queen is already Britains longest-reigning monarch, a record held by Queen Victoria until she was surpassed in September 2015. The monarch narrowly beats Beji Caid Essebsi of Tunisia, aged 90, and Kuwaits 88-year-old Sheikh Sabah IV to top spot. On Monday, the Queen celebrated the 70th anniversary of her marriage to Prince Philip. World's oldest heads of state 1. Queen Elizabeth II, United Kingdom: Age - 91 2. Beji Caid Essebsi, Tunisia: Age - 90 3. Sheikh Sabah IV Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Kuwait: Age - 88 4. Raul Castro, Cuba: Age - 86 5. Paul Biya, Cameroon: Age - 84 6. Michel Aoun, Lebanon: Age - 84 Bells rang out at Westminster Abbey to honour seven decades since the day the future monarch Princess Elizabeth, then 21, walked up the aisle at the Abbey to marry her dashing Greek and Danish prince in 1947. At 1pm, the Abbey's Company of Ringers began a complicated peal consisting of 5,070 changes or sequences, with the 70 a nod to the platinum anniversary. It took the team of 10 ringers around three hours and 20 minutes to complete, as they delivered the tribute without a break. It is a historic tradition that the Abbey bells are rung for significant royal occasions and anniversaries, and the Queen is the first British monarch to celebrate a platinum wedding anniversary. Queen Elizabeth with Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace in 1997 / AFP/Getty Images The fairy-tale royal wedding was a morale boost in the tough years that followed the Second World War and millions of people tuned in to listen to the ceremony on the wireless. Zimbabwe's parliament speaker Jacob Mudenda confirmed Mugabes resignation this afternoon after a motion was delivered to have him impeached for refusing to step down. The 93-year-old, who has given up his position after 37 years as leader, said he resigned to allow a smooth transfer of power. In a resignation letter, he wrote: "Kindly give public notice of my decision as soon as possible. "My decision to resign is voluntary on my part." S pirits make drinkers feel sexy and angry while tipples like red wine are relaxing, a London study has found. Scientists at King's College London have found proof that certain types of alcohol can have different effects of people's mood. Red wine and beer make us feel relaxed whereas spirits cause someone to feel more sexy, angry or morose. The large study was published in the journal BMJ Open. It questioned nearly 30,000 people between the ages of 18 and 34 from 21 different countries around the world on the effect alcohol has on them. People tend to drink more in order to continue to feel the positive effects of alcohol - but drinking can also have negative effects, the survey found. Of the people questioned, many said red wine made them feel more lethargic than white wine - but it also made them feel more relaxed. When it came to drinking spirits, participants reported they became more aggressive and tearful when consuming them. Hard alcohol also made them feel unwell or restless, respondents said. The study also revealed that men were far more likely than women to associate aggression with alcohol. In terms of the positives associated with drinking, over half of the individuals who took part in the survey said that alcohol gave them confidence and over 40 per cent said that drinking spirits made them feel sexy. Professor Mark Bellis, from Public Health Wales NHS Trust, told the BBC that the environment in which we drink may contribute to the way we feel when we consume it. He said: Young people will often drink spirits on a night out, whereas wine might be drunk more at home, with a meal. F oxtons saw a spike in its share prices after the Chancellor unveiled plans to scrap stamp duty for first time buyers. In his Budget speech, Philip Hammond announced he would be abolishing stamp duty for new buyers purchasing properties up to 300,000. The announcement was welcome news to scores of young buyers and many in the property industry including UK sales and lettings company Foxtons. The value of the estate agencys shares rocketed soaring from 69.25 pence to 71.25 pence in just ten minutes. It then temporality dropped before shooting even higher to 71.75 pence. Spike: The share prices soared following the announcement The spike came after a day of steady increase for the companys shares as details of the Budget emerged. The stamp duty policy was part of the Chancellors plan to tackle the UK's housing crisis at the centre of his Budget. In properties worth up to 500,000, the measure will still apply to the first 300,000, meaning 95 per cent of first-time buyers will see a cut in the amount of stamp duty, with 80 per cent paying none at all. The cut will come into force immediately, Mr Hammond said, as he set out plans to build 300,000 extra new homes a year by the mid-2020s. Budget 2017: Philip Hammond cracks May, Hammond, Clarkson gag "This is our plan to deliver on the pledge we have made to the next generation that the dream of home ownership will become a reality in this country once again," Mr Hammond said. Founder of online estate agency eMoov.co.uk, Russell Quirk, slammed the well-worn promise to build more homes as little more than the annual dose of rhetoric and empty announcements of bold plans and accused the stamp duty cut of being a cynical electoral bribe. He said the policy was the only real sign of good intent in the budget, and suggested it could help reignite the property market momentarily. But added: Some may say [it] acts as yet another diversion from the elephant in the room of a continued failure to build a meaningful number of affordable homes. Indeed a cynical electoral bribe." A village in Switzerland wants to entice new residents by offering over 50,000 to people willing to come and live there. Residents in Albinen, a small Swiss village in the Canton of Valais, will on November 30 vote on a new policy that would offer up to 53,408 (70,000 francs) to new residents. The tiny mountain village has experienced a large exodus of residents in recent years, leaving just 240 people remaining. While there are a number of holiday homes in the village, permanent residents, including young families, have opted to leave. Three families, including eight children, left the village in recent years, which led to the closure of the village school, local news reported. Now the local council plans to offer a grant of 19,074 (25,000 francs) for adults and 7,630 (10,000 francs) for children from elsewhere to take up residence. But the cash will only be granted if families or individuals decide to buy or build a house in Albinen. The move came after a group of young citizens launched a petition demanding the municipal council offer a cash incentive to potential buyers. To encourage more young families to join the population, the new benefits will be available to anyone under the age of 45 who agrees to live in Albinen for a minimum of 10 years. Any property purchased in Albinen must also have a minimum value of 152,598 (200,000 francs). A family of four would receive 53,408 (70,000 francs) under the proposals, which were outlined in the municipality's newsletter. The municipality hopes to create a fund for the scheme, in which they would pay 76,366 (100,000 francs) each year. A pple has admitted that high school students interning at a Taiwan supplier exceeded legal working hours while working on the iPhone X production line. The tech giant was responding to a report published by the Financial Times looking into high school students and their work experience. The Financial Times reported that six high school children claimed to have worked 11-hour days assembling the iPhone X at a factory in Zhengzhou China. The six workers were among 3,000 students who were sent from Zhengzhou Urban Rail Transit School to work at a local facility run by a Taiwan-based Apple supplier, Hon Hai Precision Industry, which is better known as Foxconn. The students said they were told by their school that they must complete three months of work experience in order to graduate. One 18 year-old student called Ms Wang told the FT: We are being forced by our school to work here. She declined to use her first name for fear of punishment. She continued: The work has nothing to do with our studies. While Apple said that the students worked more hours than they were legally supposed to, it claimed that students were not forced to carry out the work as a condition of graduation from school. In response to the claims, a spokesman for Apple said: "Weve confirmed the students worked voluntarily, were compensated and provided benefits, but they should not have been allowed to work overtime." The company said that an audit revealed that the students had been working over the illegal amount of hours which is 40 per week in China. The spokesman said: "When we found that some students were allowed to work overtime, we took prompt action. A team of specialists are on site at the facility working with the management on systems to ensure the appropriate standards are adhered to. They continued: "Apple is dedicated to ensuring everyone in our supply chain is treated with the dignity and respect they deserve. We know our work is never done and well continue to do all we can to make a positive impact and protect workers in our supply chain. T he search for a missing Argentine submarine and its 44 crew members is entering a critical stage amid fears it could soon run out of oxygen. The ARA San Juan disappeared about 300 miles off Argentinas southern Atlantic coast last Wednesday after reporting a battery failure. Britain and four other countries are helping Argentina in the search, while crew members relatives have gathered at the vessels base in Mar del Plata desperately awaiting news. If the German-built submarine had sunk or was otherwise unable to rise to the surface, it would be winding down its seven-day oxygen supply, Argentinas navy said. "Oxygen is a permanent worry. Every day that passes is more critical," naval commander Gabriel Galeazzi said at an evening news conference in Mar del Plata. People watch over the vessel's base in Mar del Plata as they wait for news / AP More than a dozen boats and planes from Argentina, the United States, Britain, Chile and Brazil have joined the search. Authorities had been mainly scanning from the sky as storms halted the maritime hunt last weekend. The weather improved on Tuesday, helping search efforts by sea. Wind speed slowed and waves that rose as high as 8 metres at the weekend diminished. Signs in support of the submarine's crew at the naval base in Mar del Plata / AP "The search by patrol ships has become more effective thanks more than anything to less pounding by the waves, which have fallen to three or four metres," said navy spokesman Enrique Balbi. "We have to make the most of today and tomorrow because on Thursday the weather is expected to get more complicated." The submarine was en route from Ushuaia to Mar del Plata when it sent its last signal / EPA Also on Tuesday, authorities investigated white flares spotted in the South Atlantic overnight. Searchers found an empty floating raft, and noticed the flares from a distance. But the raft's brand suggested it did not belong to the ARA San Juan, which was equipped with only red flares for emergencies and green flares for other situations, the navy said. Searchers have suffered other disappointments. Analysis of satellite signals and sounds detected by underwater probes, initially thought to be messages from the crew, has found they did not come from the vessel. "The sounds could be biological. We have discarded the possibility that it was a clanging of morse code against the hull of the submarine," Balbi said. Relatives of crew members have been gathered at a naval base in Mar del Plata, where the search is being coordinated. The ARA San Juan was launched in 1983, the newest of three submarines in the navy's fleet, and underwent maintenance in 2008 in Argentina. Its four diesel engines and its electric propeller engines were replaced, according to specialist publication Jane's Sentinel. A stonishing aerial footage shows an enormous traffic jam as Los Angeles travellers set off for Thanksgiving. ABC tweeted the staggering video on Wednesday, showing bumper to bumper queues on the 405 motorway, one the most congested routes in the United States. Thousands have shared the clip, which shows the red and white headlights of the cars on the gridlocked road on Tuesday evening. This year more than 50 million Americans will travel at least 50 miles away from their homes, the largest number since 2005, according to the AAA. Meanwhile 89 per cent of all those getting away for Thanksgiving will travel by car. The annual celebration, which takes place on Thursday, kicked off on Tuesday when Donald Trump partook in the presidential tradition of pardoning a turkey. Trump pardons Thanksgiving turkeys at the White House The act of leniency meant 47-pound Drumstick and 36-pound Wishbone will get to live the rest of their lives at a farm in Virginia, where they will join Tater and Tot, pardoned by Barack Obama in 2016. President George H W Bush established the annual turkey pardon tradition in 1989 when he spared an unnamed, 50-pound turkey. A Catholic school in Australia was forced to cover its new statue after 'inappropriate' photos of it went viral on social media. Blackfriars Priory School in Adelaide unveiled its new statue of St martin de Porres handing a kneeling child some bread last week. Unfortunately, the design left room for interpretation and the school were left embarrassed after students took inappropriate photos of the statue and posted them on social media. The school immediately covered the statue with a black cloth and cordoned it off. The controversial statue embarrassed the Catholic school However, images of the statue were already online and people were quick to respond to the controversial statue. Cheryl Prevor wrote: It's extraordinary that at no point between chiseling the marble to, well literally erecting the statue, not one person paused and said "Really, that's what you're going with?" Other more innocent viewers did not understand the fuss surrounding the statue: Whereas some questioned the motives of the artist: On Wednesday, Blackfriars Priory School released a statement on the matter on its Facebook page. The school claimed that the statue was made in Vietnam by a sculptor that it had worked with before. Due to the distance between the two countries the school were unable to view the statue before it was installed. According to Principal Simon Cobiac, the two-dimensional concept plans for the statue were viewed and approved by the executive team in May but upon arrival the three-dimensional statue was deemed by the executive to be potentially suggestive. He said that the school has commissioned a local sculptor to redesign the statue. D ramatic footage has emerged of a North Korean soldier desperately attempting to cross the border into the South while former comrades fire a barrage of bullets at him. The defector was shot five times in the escape on November 13 but is reportedly on the road to recovery after being rescued by South Korean soldiers and flown to hospital by helicopter. Doctors said that he had regained consciousness following two operations to extract the bullets, and his breathing was stable and unassisted. The UN Command today released a surveillance video which captures the entire dash for freedom across the so-called demilitarized zone between the two nations. The defecting soldier, whose rank and identity have not been disclosed, can be seen speeding in a jeep down a tree-lined road towards the border. He began his escape by driving to the dividing line in a jeep / AFP/Getty Images Shocked North Korean soldiers begin to chase after him and he crashes the jeep into a ditch near the line that divides the countries. It is the part of the border where rival soldiers face each other at the closest distance, with tour groups often visiting. The defector can be seen running across fallen leaves after crashing the jeep / EPA The soldier can then be seen sprinting across the dividing line while about 40 rounds are fired at him. One North Korean soldier crosses the line, violating the Korean armistice agreement, before hurrying back, according to Col. Chad G Carroll, a spokesman for the UN Command. North Korean soldiers fired 40 rounds at him as made his dash for freedom / AFP/Getty Images The defector, who collapses on a bed of fallen leaves, is later dragged to safety by South Korean troops. He was flown by a U.S. military helicopter to a hospital in Suwon, south of Seoul. He collapsed by a wall after being shot multiple times / REUTERS An official from U.N. Command (UNC) said North Korea had been informed on Wednesday that it had violated the 1953 armistice agreement, which marked the cessation of hostilities in the Korean War. North Korean troops were seen gathering in the wake of the incident / AFP/Getty Images The official told a news conference that a soldier from the North Korean People's Army (KPA) had crossed the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) for a few seconds as others fired shots at the defecting soldier. Doctors later discovered a 10-inch parasite in the defectors stomach, which is thought by many to confirm the poor food and hygiene standards thought to be affecting the North Korean population. Reports say the man was an army staff sergeant in his mid-20s who was stationed in Panmmunjom, a village in the Joint Security Area, part of a truce area set up by the UN. P olice in Scotland have been praised for writing an open letter to a potential victim of domestic abuse on Twitter. Lochaber and Skye Police, based at the Scottish Highlands and the Isle of Skye, posted a series of tweets directed at a woman at risk of domestic abuse. Writing that they knew the woman was one of the accounts 6,000 followers, the force said they wanted to try to keep [her] safe." The thread begins: "A letter to a young woman in Skye. We know you follow this account and want you to see this": The police go on to say they were trying to help the woman, who is potentially in danger: They emphasise that domestic abuse is not the victims fault: And end the thread with a firm message: The thread gathered thousands of likes and retweets. Twitter users praised the police for their kindness and sensitivity. The tweets also encouraged victims of domestic abuse to come forward and share their stories: According to Womens Aid, the police receive over 100 calls relating to domestic abuse every hour in the UK. If you are experiencing domestic abuse, contact Women's Aid. Z imbabwe's recently fired vice president has been sworn in as leader after more than a week of political turmoil which saw despot Robert Mugabe ousted from power. Emmerson Mnangagwa, who recently fled the country in fear of his life, made a triumphant return on Wednesday in advance of his inauguration as president on Friday. The ceremony brought an end to Robert Mugabe's 37-year rule. Mr Mugabe, 93, who had led Zimbabwe from independence in 1980, stepped down on Tuesday after the army seized power and the ruling party ZANU-PF turned against him. Emmerson Mnangagwa Inauguration - In pictures 1 /20 Emmerson Mnangagwa Inauguration - In pictures Newly sworn in Zimbabwe's president Emmerson Mnangagwa walks after taking the oath of office at the national sports stadium AFP/Getty Images Emmerson Mnangagwa and his wife Auxillia arrive at the presidential inauguration ceremony in the capital Harare, Zimbabwe AP Emmerson Mnangagwa is sworn in as Zimbabwe's president in Harare, Zimbabwe Reuters Emmerson Mnangagwa is sworn in as the new Zimbabwe's president in Harare AFP/Getty Images Emmerson Mnangagwa takes his seat at his presidential inauguration ceremony in Harare, Zimbabwe, AP The crowd cheers and dances at the presidential inauguration ceremony of Emmerson Mnangagwa in Harare, Zimbabwe AP Women hold portraits of Emmerson Mnangagwa at his presidential inauguration ceremony in Harare, Zimbabwe AP President elect Emmerson Mnangagwa gestures as he arrives with his wife Auxilia at the National Sport Stadium in Harare, AFP/Getty Images Emmerson Mnangagwa and his wife Auxillia arrive at the presidential inauguration ceremony in the capital Harare, Zimbabwe AP The military parade at the presidential inauguration ceremony of Emmerson Mnangagwa in the capital Harare, Zimbabwe AP Zimbabwean judges arrive for Emmerson Mnangagwa's presidential inauguration ceremony in the capital Harare, Zimbabwe AP Army General Constantino Chiwenga, center, arrives with his wife Mary at the presidential inauguration ceremony of Emmerson Mnangagwa in Harare, Zimbabwe AP An honor guard marches on to the field for Emmerson Mnangagwa's presidential inauguration ceremony in the capital Harare, Zimbabwe AP The crowd cheers and dances at the presidential inauguration ceremony of Emmerson Mnangagwa in Harare, Zimbabwe AP Emmerson Mnangagwa arrives at the presidential inauguration ceremony in the capital Harare, Zimbabwe AP The former president resigned on Tuesday as parliament began a process to impeach him, sparking scenes of jubilation across Zimbabwe. This blog is currently paused, but check back soon for further updates on the situation in Zimbabwe. Z imbabwes military chief today threatened to deal severely with any acts of revenge against members of Robert Mugabes regime as the jubilant country waited for the deposed leaders former deputy to be sworn in as president. At the end of a wild night of celebration on the streets of Harare, Defence Forces Commander General Constantino Chiwenga urged maximum restraint. The general, whose forces effectively seized power last week, said: Acts of vengeful retribution or trying to settle personal scores will be dealt with severely. Zimbabweans across the political divide should exercise maximum restraint and observe law and order to the fullest. Jubilation in Harare following Mugabe's resignation Follow the latest in our live blog here Our vaunted character and tradition as a peaceful and law-abiding nation must now show in practical terms through unconditional observance of the law. His warning came after a bloodless coup that saw the 93 year old former guerilla leader deposed after 37 years in power since the country of 16 million people won independence from Britain. Defence Forces Commander General Constantino Chiwenga said: "Acts of vengeful retribution or trying to settle personal scores will be dealt with severely" / EPA Mr Mugabes ex-deputy Emmerson Mnangagwa was set to return to Zimbabwe from hiding this evening, two weeks after he fled the country in fear of his safety following his sacking by Mugabe. He is expected to be sworn in as the new President on Friday. Celebrations in Zimbabwe following Robert Mugabe's resignation 1 /25 Celebrations in Zimbabwe following Robert Mugabe's resignation Supporters of Emmerson Mnangagwa, the man expected to become Zimbabwe's new president and known as "The Crocodile", hold a stuffed crocodile and pictures of him as they cheer at Manyame Air Force base in Harare AP Zimbabweans celebrate in the morning sun after President Robert Mugabe resigned in Harare, Zimbabwe Reuters Zimbabweans drink, dance, sing and ride on cars as they celebrate at night at an intersection in downtown Harare AP Zimbabweans celebrate after President Robert Mugabe resigns in Harare Reuters Zimbabweans celebrate after President Robert Mugabe resigns in Harare Reuters Zimbabweans celebrate in neighbouring Hillbrow, Johannesburg, South Africa AP Zimbabweans celebrate after Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe resigned in Harare AP Zimbabweans drink, sing, and dance on top of passing vehicles as they celebrate at night at an intersection in downtown Harare AP Zimbabweans celebrate in the streets of Harare AP Zimbabweans celebrate after hearing about the resignation of President Robert Mugabe in Harare, AP Zimbabweans celebrate after hearing about the resignation of President Robert Mugabe in Harare, AP People and soldiers celebrate after the resignation of Zimbabwe's president AFP/Getty Images People holding Zimbabwean flags celebrate in the street after the resignation of Zimbabwe's president AFP/Getty Images Zimbabwe's members of parliament celebrate after Mugabe's resignation AFP/Getty Images Zimbabweans celebrate after hearing about the resignation of President Robert Mugabe in Harare Sky News Zimbabweans celebrate after hearing about the resignation of President Robert Mugabe in Harare Sky News Zimbabweans celebrate in Harare AP People celebrate in the streets after the resignation of Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe AFP/Getty Images Zimbabwe's members of parliament celebrate after Mugabe's resignation AFP/Getty Images Mr Mugabes dramstic resignation yesterday came after ruling party ZANU-PF began impeachment proceedings against him. Mugabes ex-deputy Emmerson Mnangagwa was set to return to Zimbabwe from hiding this evening / AFP/Getty Images However, many Zimbabweans still harbour doubts about the 75 year old, who was internal security chief in the mid-1980s when Mugabe deployed a North Korean-trained brigade against rebels in Matabeleland during which up to 20,000 civilians were killed. Zimbabweans calling for Mugabe to step down / Reuters Piers Pigou, southern Africa senior consultant at conflict resolution body International Crisis Group, said: The dark past is not going to disappear. They will be following him around like a piece of chewing gum on his shoe. For him to really be seen to be doing the right thing, hes going to have to introduce policies that fundamentally undermine the power structures of ZANU-PF, through a shift to genuine political pluralism and a decoupling of the party and state. Robert Mugabe resigns as Zimbabwe's president after 37 years Mr Mnangagwa is nicknamed Ngwena, or crocodile in the Shona language, an animal famed in Zimbabwe for its stealth and ruthlessness, Meanwhile China says it respected the decision of Mr Mugabe to resign as president of Zimbabwe and that he is still our good friend. Chinas foreign ministry said that Mr Mugabe made historic contributions to the national independence and liberation cause in Zimbabwe and has long been committed to friendship between China and Zimbabwe. Ministry spokesman Lu Kang also said China hoped that other countries can hold back from interfering in Zimbabwes domestic affairs. P iers Morgan has been hailed for providing the best moment ever on Good Morning Britain after he shut down a controversial dating guru with an insulting one liner. Morgan, 52, branded Richard La Ruina a d*** after he claimed British women are less intelligent and less attractive than those in Eastern Europe. Speaking about British women, the self-proclaimed dating guru said: They dont look very good, they dont look after themselves. Theyre famous for moaning and complaining all the time. They just ask a lot and give very little in return. Unimpressed by his offensive comments, Morgan cut in: Youre a d*** arent you? I mean your name is Richard so you are literally a d***. Attempting to call him out on his claims, he continued: Your mothers English right? So does she also qualify as unattractive, stupid, entitled and the rest of it, or is she an exception? Outraged: Piers Morgan slated the guest / ITV Viewers praised Morgan for his cutting comment and thanked him for sticking up for us women. One tweeted: This guy on #goodmorningbritain is a moron Lol. Go on Piers! 'Repulsive': Dating guru Richard La Ruina / ITV A second posted: I love the way you deal with idiots like the one this morning #d*** lol. Nearly fell off my chair. Morgan slammed La Ruina, who is married to a Russian woman, for having zero respect for English women. After challenging him to be brutally honest about his co-stars Charlotte Hawkins and Susanna Reid he said: You are a repulsive individual who's come on here and when you're actually confronted by smart, intelligent beautiful women you can't deal with it, can you? Richard, I think you are right to seek your future in Russia, because the chances of you having sex in this country again are zero. 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To help you find what you are looking for: Enter Search Term(s): Still cant find what youre looking for? Send us a message using our contact us form. To report a broken link or other problems with the website, please include the URL. Thank you for visiting state.gov. by Austin Bay November 21, 2017 On June 21, as Iraqi ground forces neared the center of Mosul's Old City, Islamic State fighters detonated explosives and destroyed the al-Nuri Grand Mosque. For eight centuries, the building symbolized Mosul, which is why, in June 2014, ISIS senior commander Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed the ISIS caliphate from a Grand Mosque balcony. Speaking freely in the great house of worship demonstrated Al-Baghdadi's control of Mosul. As an internet propaganda tool, video of his declaration confirmed he was a caliph, the religious-political ruler of an expanding militant Islamist territorial state. In retrospect, the mosque's obliteration was indisputable evidence of terrorists' political nihilism. ISIS leaders really worship power and if they cannot seize power and hold it, then they will destroy Muslim shrines and cities as well as murder human beings en masse. For many reasons, Iraq's battle to free Mosul and its environs was long, agonizing and bloody. ISIS controlled a lot of territory. In June 2014, ISIS attacked northern Iraq from bases in Syria. They seized portions Saladin, Diyala and Ninewa provinces. Mosul, Ninewa's capital and Iraq's second largest city, fell on June 10. ISIS fighters also attacked towns in Anbar province. Eventually ISIS controlled Iraqi territory with a population of four and a half million (though a million managed to escape ISIS oppression). The ISIS offensive also battered the Iraqi Army, completely destroying several units in the north. Kurdish militias managed to halt ISIS attacks east and north of Mosul. The Iraqi government used the army's best units to defend Baghdad. Allied air support helped stall the ISIS offensive. To stem 2014's crisis, Iraq took a political risk and organized Popular Mobilization Force militias. Several PMF units were (and still are) large Shia Muslim militias with ties to Iran. Iraq had to build a new army to defeat ISIS, one that could work with the militias but also fight urban battles. Urban warfare is complicated. For example, it requires combat engineers capable of clearing mines and removing obstacles while under fire. Foreign advisers can help control artillery and air support, but Iraqi officers and their units had to learn how and when to use heavy firepower, and use it at close quarters. Civilian casualties were a major concern. The Iraqi government promised to limit casualties as much as possible, even though ISIS had turned Iraqi cities into fortresses. Training and equipping Iraqi forces for these missions took time. The U.S. and other coalition partners supplied both training and equipment. When Iraq began attacking ISIS in 2015. The Mosul offensive officially began in October 2016. Mosul was officially liberated in mid-July 2017, though sporadic fighting continued around the area. On August 31, the city of Tal Afar (west of Mosul) fell to Iraqi forces. On November 17, ISIS fighters fled the town of Rawa (in Anbar, near the Syrian border). Rawa was the last Iraqi town of any size under Islamic State control. This week, American sources in the U.S.-led coalition estimated 99 percent of Iraqi territory ISIS seized has been liberated. ISIS, however, still holds some territory in Syria. The Iraqi government, the coalition, the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq and several human rights groups have tried to keep accurate casualty figures for the campaign. The UN reports are issued on a monthly basis. Last week the blog "Musings In Iraq" summarized UN and media figures. Since the Iraqi offensive's official start date in October 2016, 21,224 have been killed and 30,996 wounded in Ninewa province. Of the dead, 17,404 were killed in devastated Mosul and 24,580 were wounded in the city fight. How many of the dead were executed by ISIS? The estimate is 5,325. This isn't the last word on casualties. Investigators will find more graves. On November 2, UN investigators accused ISIS of committing crimes against humanity in Mosul. During the campaign, ISIS used "thousands (of human beings) as human shields," intentionally shelled civilian homes and indiscriminately targeted "civilians trying to flee the city." Unfortunately, the UN's condemnation isn't the last word on ISIS' hideous crimes. So far this year there has been less and less Islamic terrorist violence each month. There has been continued Islamic terrorist activity as groups like AQIM (Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb) and ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) trying to maintain some base areas, mainly in the rural east (along the coast) and southeast. Those efforts are being seriously threatened by continuing losses. Early in 2017 rarely were more than ten Islamic terrorists killed in a month with about as many captured. This trended downward and that began in January when only five Islamic terrorists were killed and five captured. In addition 28 Islamic terrorism supporters were arrested and the bodies of two Islamic terrorists were found in the countryside along with 46 bunkers used by Islamic terrorists. Most bunkers were empty but those that were not contained 23 automatic rifles, 39 semi-automatic and single shot rifles, 1,600 rounds of rifle and pistol ammo, four rockets, two RPG launchers, two mortars, four bomb making workshops, 30 crude bombs, along with seven cell phones and other equipment. On the borders, mainly in the south, 128 smugglers were arrested and several hundred tons of food, consumer goods and fuel seized. Also intercepted were 1,301 illegal migrants, which have become a lucrative business for the smugglers. Troops following up on tips from locals are scouring the coastal hills and finding few live Islamic terrorists but lots of evidence that they used to be, but not many of them recently. For the rest of 2017 there were more Islamic terrorists captured or coming in voluntarily, than there killed in clashes or, even more rarely, while attempting an attack. By the end of 2017 the security forces had a growing list of identified Islamic terrorists in Algeria and more people willing to report activity by any of them. There were still Islamic terrorist base areas in Mali to the south and Libya to the east but in both cases the Islamic terrorists tended to stay away from Algeria. Over the last decade Algeria had built a reputation of being a very hostile environment for Islamic terrorists. This was made very clear in 2016. For all of 2016 125 Islamic terrorists were killed. This included fifteen ISIL members and nearly all once belonged to AQIM, which was formed in 2007 from several of the 1990s era Algerian groups. Most of these clashes took place east of the capital or in the far south near the borders of Mali, Niger and Libya. Algeria is one of the growing number of North African nations (like Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt) that are defeating Islamic terrorism. Despite efforts by popular (elsewhere) Islamic terror groups to get established in Algeria the local population and security forces have successfully opposed this. In 2016 230 Islamic terrorists were arrested or surrendered. Thats an increase over 2015 as is success in finding hideouts (over 460) and arms caches (containing over 750 assault rifles, machine-guns and sniper rifles as well as over four tons of ammo and explosives) belonging to Islamic terror groups. When Islamic terrorists lose this much infrastructure and armed supporters they are in big trouble. This can be seen in the declining number of terror attacks and growing number of Islamic terrorists clashing with the security forces and losing. Terrorized By Corrupt Bureaucrats There are other forms of terrorism in Algeria. Thus there are growing calls for reforms in the government bureaucracy. The problem here is the corruption and mismanagement revealed when the government tried to restrict imports (because of low oil prices and shrinking foreign currency reserves). The reality was that many basic food and medical items got cut but not a lot of luxury items. This has not reached crises proportions and there is still enough press freedom (and the Internet) to publicize that is happening and at least get the government to acknowledge there is a problem. To put this in perspective the government pledged earlier in 2017 to reverse the decline in foreign currency available to pay for imports. Foreign currency reserves fell below $100 billion recently and are expected to end the year at about $97 billion and continue falling to about $85 billion at the end of 2018. The government inability to reform (suppress corruption) the economy quickly enough to reduce vulnerability to low oil prices becomes obvious when the foreign reserve situation is reported, as they must be (to placate foreign exporters and lenders). Foreign exchange reserves, essential to pay for imports, fell to $105 billion in mid-2017. This is not a new problem because foreign currency reserves were $193 billion in mid- 2014 and even then there were calls to cut non-essential imports. The government cut its budget 14 percent in 2017 in order to get the budget deficit down to 8 percent (versus 15 percent in 2016). Even so after five more years of this the foreign currency reserves will be less of a cushion and more of a threat because of all the additional budget cuts. Most of the problem is with administration of decisions already made. Despite the problems with oil income and government reforms GDP grew about two percent this year and is headed for about four percent in 2018. Legal Islamic Terrorism Not all the Islamic terrorism in Algeria is illegal. The government recently ordered a Protestant church closed because some local Moslems claimed the Christians were illegally printing bibles and other Christian literature in the church. This is forbidden by Algerian law, which declares Islam the state religion and all other religions are subject to a long list of restrictions. Algerian law also demands persecution of some Islamic sects many Moslems disapprove of. November 19, 2017: In Jijel Province (365 kilometers east of the capital) soldiers found, examined and destroyed two bomb making workshops. Apparently these were used by members of AQIM. Also found were ten shotguns, an assault rifle, lots of ammo, 22 completed bombs and components for building more bombs. November 16, 2017: In the southwest (Adrar Province, 1.420 kilometers from the capital) soldiers patrolling along the Mali border found another batch of weapons and ammunition hidden by smugglers before movement into Mali or further north into populated areas of Algeria. This year the flow has been increasingly into Mali. But that is complicated by increased Algerian patrols along its southern borders and increased surveillance by French led counter-terror forces in northern Mali and similar areas to the east and west. November 15, 2017: Leaders from Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria met in Egypt to update their common Libya policy. All three nations continue to vigorously (loudly and repeatedly) support a recent and unexpected peace agreement in Libya. A major reason for this July 2017 agreement was the need to avoid mass starvation in Libya. Since 2011 Libyan oil exports had shrunk and the Libyan Central Bank cash reserves are nearly gone. If peace and unity are not achieved soon no government would be able to buy and import food and other essentials. Even by Middle Eastern standards Libya was setting new records in self-destructive behavior. By 2017 more Libyans were agreeing that the situation was indeed becoming desperate and a lot more compromise was the only solution. Even with the current national compromise the tribal (Arab, Berber and black African) and religious differences (Islamic radicals versus everyone else) plus epic levels of corruption and entitlement keep peace and prosperity out of reach. At this point most Libyans will settle for survival. The neighbors (particularly Egypt, Mali, Niger, Tunisia and Algeria) back the new peace deal as do European nations. How long it will last is another matter. So far, the deal is still on track. If achieved by the end of the year or early in 2108 it would mean the first national government in Libya since 2011 and fewer worries about smuggling and Islamic terrorism coming out of Libya. November 12, 2017: In Batna province (400 kilometers southeast of the capital) four men were arrested and charged with belonging to AQIM. These arrests were part of a larger operation that began several weeks ago that resulted in six Islamic terrorists killed and seven captured. Documents were seized and some of the captured Islamic terrorists offered information that led to the arrests today. November 7, 2017: Morocco puts its first surveillance satellite into orbit. The 1.1 ton Mohammed VIA is based on a similar French earth observation satellite; Pleiades-HR. Another Moroccan satellite will be launched in 2018. This is part of a secret $590 million deal made with France in 2013. The new photo-satellites orbit 694 kilometers from the earth and will last at least five years. These photo satellites can take pictures day or night and make out objects 70cm (28 inches) across. By current standards thats not very good. Back in the mid-1970s the U.S. was launching satellites with a resolution of 7 cm and current high-res satellite cameras can detect objects as small as 2 cm (less than an inch across). F0r mapping the lower res satellites are OK and in the mid-80s the U.S. was putting such satellites up that had a resolution of 70cm. These could take pictures of large areas. Moroccos satellite photo needs can be taken care of by commercial satellites that will provide photos of whatever you want at whatever resolution you need (50 cm or less). In effect Morocco will be paying nearly a hundred million dollars a year for photo satellite images that can be obtained for a tenth of the cost from commercial services. Much of what they need can be obtained via smart phones using commercial satellite image services. This may have been a prestige thing for Morocco as well as an opportunity to generate some bribes for key officials in Morocco and France. That sort of thing has been a part of diplomacy in the Mediterranean for thousands of years but is largely illegal now. October 29, 2017: In the east (Annaba Province) Algerian and Tunisian warships completed a week of joint training off the coast along their common maritime border. The joint training makes naval forces from both nations better able to coordinate efforts to deal with smuggling and Islamic terrorist activities along the maritime border. October 25, 2017: In Batna province (400 kilometers southeast of the capital) a wanted Islamic terrorist was arrested. In Bouira province (120 kilometers southeast of the capital) troops found a bomb workshop and destroyed it. October 23, 2017: In Batna province (440 kilometers southeast of the capital) three Islamic terrorist bunkers were found and destroyed by soldiers pursuing leads. All three bunkers had food supplies and one had a bomb awaiting someone to place and detonate it. Thirty-nine-year-old Aaron Andrew McKay was fined $6,000 after he pleaded guilty in the Gisborne District Court last week, to selling 35 crayfish, and for being in possession of crayfish for sale. Tongan church leader, 66-year-old Sunia Haunga, was fined $4,500 after admitting being in possession of excess crayfish (the daily bag limit is 6) and for breaching the Fisheries Act by intending to gain some benefit from possessing the crayfish. The vehicles used in both of the offences and gear also used in the offences are forfeited to the Crown. In addition to his fine, McKay is also ordered to pay $3,000 for the release of his car. Both mens actions are very disappointing says Ministry for Primary Industries spokesman, Adam Plumstead. In Mr McKays case, he was involved in selling crayfish illegally in Tauranga in January this year. He had organised, mainly via text, a number of buyers for the 35 illegally caught crayfish he was selling. His offending was uncovered by a fisheries officer who had been tipped off about the illegal sale. That fisheries officer then apprehended McKay redhanded with the assistance of two local honorary fisheries officers while he was in the process of attempting to sell the crayfish. In Mr Haungas case, he had packaged up 130 crayfish, which is more than 21 times the legal daily catch limit, among 5 boxes of oranges that were destined for family members in Auckland in September last year. There is no excuse for this sort of offending. The law is clear. The impact of black market poaching restricts the rights of both recreational and customary fishers to access the crayfish stock. It also limits the potential growth in the size of the New Zealand rock lobster industry. In addition, there are health and safety concerns where food products like seafood are not handled and processed to approved standards. Crayfish is a very sought after commodity and the fishery is already under a lot of pressure. Its obviously very disappointing to note this sort of offending. People who dont respect the Fisheries Act will be dealt with accordingly as these two cases have shown. In Mr McKays case, if he offends again under the act, he will be banned from fishing for 3 years. Facebook on Tuesday raised the ante for messaging apps photo quality with the announcement of 4K support for Messenger. Were making significant investments in how people communicate visually on Messenger, wrote Facebook Messenger product managers Sean Kelly and Hagen Green in an online post. Starting Tuesday, people can send and receive photos in Messenger at 4K resolution or up to 4,096 x 4,096 pixels per image the highest quality many smartphones support. Although the need for speed in a messaging app and the size of 4K photo files would seem to work at odds with each other, that apparently is not the case with the Messenger upgrade. Your photos will also be sent just as quickly as before, even at this new, higher resolution, Kelly and Green maintained. Click on image to zoom in on difference in resolution. Speed is important. Viewers will start to abandon content if it takes more than two seconds to start up, research from Akamai suggests. Whats more, with each incremental second of delay, the abandonment rate increases 5.8 percent. Catching Up The new 4K support will be transparent to users. After upgrading to the new version of Messenger, a user can open a conversation, tap the camera roll icon, select a photo and hit send. The recipient then will receive the high resolution photo. The 4K resolution support will be available immediately for both iPhone and Android phones in the United States, Canada, France, Australia, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea, according to Kelly and Green. The feature will be introduced in other countries in the coming weeks. Facebooks announcement to support 4K is actually just about catching up with the market, said Andreas Scherer, managing partner at Salto Partners. Smartphones from Apple, Samsung and Google are already supporting the 4K format, he told TechNewsWorld. Table Stakes With 4K support in Messenger, Facebook is taking advantage of the higher-resolution screens in the latest smartphones, noted Ross Rubin, principal analyst at Reticle Research. This is an opportunity for Messenger users to enjoy a richer photo experience, he told TechNewsWorld. 4K also keeps users within the app, which is where Facebook can control the environment, Rubin pointed out. 4K photos may not give Messenger a sustainable advantage over other messaging programs but then again, given its massive installed base, it doesnt need any new competitive advantages. 4K is becoming table stakes for high- and mid-tier smartphones, said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT. Its what people are coming to expect when they plunk down nearly (US)$1,000 for a phone, so handsets that dont support 4K will increasingly stand out as second rate, he told TechNewsWorld. Click on image to zoom in on difference in resolution. No Need to See Flys Whiskers Although Facebook promised that transmitting 4K photos wont hurt Messengers performance, questions remain about potential negative consequences. It could kill your data plan, said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. 4K photos are very big files. You do 30 or 40 of those, and youre going to blow out your data plan, he told TechNewsWorld. Thats why you should be sure your phone is connected to WiFi if youre going to transfer 4K pictures, Enderle advised. You really dont have to attach high resolution pictures to social media, he added. You may want to show someone something youre seeing or something youre eating. You dont want to necessarily want to pick out the whiskers on the fly thats on the food. Format of the Future The move to enhance Messengers 4K support is a sign that Facebook wants to keep the app ahead of a technology wave to come. 4K isnt just a marketing play to sell more displays, like 3D was. This next-generation format delivers higher resolution and crisper images, and it will eventually become the standard for all video, Forrester analyst Nick Barber wrote in a report released last year. 4K will become the standard for not only television, but for streaming on the Web, too, Barber predicted. Once they resolve bandwidth and processing issues, enterprises and consumers will demand a better format than todays traditional high definition. 4K is this format. Amazon's Echo Show smart home speaker was dealt a major blow in September when Google removed the device's ability to play videos from YouTube. Now, it looks as though the matter has been resolved. Amazon claimed the move came as a total surprise and was unwarranted. Google, meanwhile, said it had been in negotiations with Amazon for a "long time" with regard to poor app design. Amazon's implementation was so bad, Google claimed, that it violated their terms of service and created a broken user experience. Some speculated that the move may be strategic considering Google is reportedly developing its own hardware device to compete with the Echo Show. Whatever the case, Amazon responded by slashing $30 off the cost of the device, temporarily bringing it down from $230 to just $200 (it eventually went back up to its original price). On Tuesday, Voicebot reported that YouTube had returned to the Echo Show. A spokesperson for Amazon provided the publication with the following statement on the matter: "We're excited to offer customers the capability to watch even more video content from sources such as Vimeo, YouTube, and Dailymotion on Echo Show. More video sources will be added over time." Photos provided by the site show a YouTube app that looks much better than it once did, now mimicking what you might find on the desktop versus a generic "mobile" experience. This is great news for existing Echo Show owners and those that might be eyeballing one for the holidays. It's also good to see that Google didn't totally blacklist Amazon as some probably suspected. If you're looking to pick up an Echo Show this year, you'll likely want to swing by Best Buy as they're offering $50 off the cost of the device during their Black Friday sale. That brings the cost down to just $179.99 What a year it's been for Uber: an investigation into workplace sexism, Greyball, the Hell Software, lawsuits, the medical records scandal, Kalanick's resignation, a London ban, etc. Now, the company is facing yet another crisis after it was revealed hackers stole the personal data of 57 million customers and drivers. The ride-hailing giant has admitted that it failed to notify the affected individuals and regulators about the breach, which took place on October 26, 2016. Perhaps most damning of all, it paid the hackers responsible $100,000 to delete the data and stop the incident becoming public knowledge, reports Bloomberg. Information accessed by the hackers included names, email addresses, and phone numbers of 50 million Uber customers worldwide. The personal details of 7 million drivers were also stolen, including 600,000 US drivers' license numbers. The company says sensitive data such as bank account numbers, trip location history, social security numbers, and birth dates had not been compromised. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said he was only recently made aware of the incident. "None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it," he explained in a statement. "While I can't erase the past, I can commit on behalf of every Uber employee that we will learn from our mistakes." Although Uber had "obtained assurances that the downloaded data had been destroyed," Khosrowshahi has terminated the employment of two employees that were responsible for the company's "failure to notify affected individuals or regulators." Chief security officer Joe Sullivan was one of those let go. Uber said it will provide free credit monitoring and identity theft protection to affected drivers. The company added that customers don't have to take any further action but should monitor their credit and other accounts. Khosrowshahi said he is working with Matt Olsen, co-founder of cybersecurity consulting firm IronNet Cybersecurity, to outline new security measures for Uber going forward. Uber has now notified authorities of the breach. The New York Attorney General's office has opened an investigation into the matter. Yesterday brought news that Uber had been hit with an $8.9 million fine for allowing people with felony convictions and motor vehicle offenses to become drivers. Intel has issued a security advisory over security flaws on its PC, server, and Internet-of-Things processors that make the platforms vulnerable to remote attacks. Mark Ermolov and Maxim Goryachy of Positive Technologies Research identified the issues, and will reveal full details of the Intel Management Engine flaws in a talk at the Black Hat Europe security conference on December 6. Intel writes that an attacker could use the vulnerabilities to "gain unauthorized access to the platform, [the] Intel ME feature, and third-party secrets protected by the Intel Management Engine, Intel Server Platform Service (SPS), or Intel Trusted Execution Engine (TXE)." From there, a hacker could load and execute arbitrary code outside the visibility of the user and operating system, impersonate the ME/SPS/TXE, and cause the system to crash or become unstable. Intel has published a list of the processors affected by the vulnerabilities. 6th, 7th and 8th Generation Intel Core processors Intel Xeon E3-1200 v5 and v6 processors Intel Xeon Scalable processors Intel Xeon W processors Intel Atom C3000 processors Apollo Lake Intel Atom E3900 series Apollo Lake Intel Pentiums Celeron N and J series processors "Intel Management Engine is a proprietary technology that consists of a microcontroller integrated into the Platform Controller Hub (PCH) microchip with a set of built-in peripherals," the Black Hat talk abstract stated. "The PCH carries almost all communication between the processor and external devices; therefore, Intel ME has access to almost all data on the computer, and the ability to execute third-party code allows compromising the platform completely." Both Dell and Lenovo have posted long lists of affected systems. Intel has also provided a detection tool on its support website to identify vulnerable Windows and Linux systems, though it's aimed at enterprise use. The good news is that there are no reports of the vulnerabilities being exploited, but that could soon change. Motherboard and system makers have started integrating patches into their upcoming BIOS updates. "We worked with equipment manufacturers on firmware and software updates addressing these vulnerabilities, and these updates are available now," Intel said in a statement. "Businesses, systems administrators, and system owners using computers or devices that incorporate these Intel products should check with their equipment manufacturers or vendors for updates for their systems, and apply any applicable updates as soon as possible." People have strong feelings about the increasing number of full-priced games containing loot boxes.Things reached a tipping point with Star Wars Battlefront 2's much-hated system, but it looks as if the player backlash is having an effect, with both Belgium and Hawaii fighting back against the practice while urging other countries and states to do the same. Following a recent investigation, the Belgian Gaming Commission has just ruled that the loot box system constitutes a form of gambling. According to VTM Nieuws, the Commission concluded that the "mixing of money and addiction" makes it little different from slot machines. "Mixing gambling and gaming, especially at a young age, is dangerous for the mental health of the child," said Belgium's Minister of Justice, Koen Geens. He is calling for an outright ban on those in-game purchases where you don't know what you're specifically buying, adding that Belgium would have to "go to Europe" for the process of banning the system. Over in Hawaii, Rep. Chris Lee (D) has announced that the state will be taking action to address this "predatory behavior." "This game [Star Wars Battlefront 2] is a Star Wars-themed online casino," said Lee, before repeating Admiral Ackbar's famous line: "It's a trap." Explaing his statement on Reddit, Lee writes: "These kinds of loot boxes and microtransactions are explicitly designed to prey upon and exploit human psychology in the same way casino games are so designed. This is especially true for young adults who child psychologists and other experts explain are particularly vulnerable. These exploitive mechanisms and the deceptive marketing promoting them have no place in games being marketed to minors, and perhaps no place in games at all." Lee proposes introducing legislation prohibiting the sale of games featuring loot boxes to minors, while "prohibiting different kinds of mechanisms" within games. He has also "been in discussions with our counterparts in a number of other states who are also considering how to address this issue. Change is difficult at the federal level, but states can and are taking action." Some argue that loot boxes can't be considered gambling because you're always guaranteed to get something, but seeing as the 'prizes' include unimpressive emotes and victory poses, many people keep handing over cash in the hope of winning something better, making the gambling comparison seem pretty apt. Yesterday, a financial analyst called the loot box controversy an "overreaction" by the media and players, adding that gamers should be paying more for these titles. How much of an effect the actions of Belgium and Hawaii have on loot box systems remains to be seen, but it could be an important first step in implementing an industry-wide change. Earlier this week, Alphabet chairman Eric Schmidt said Google would lower the visibility of articles from government-funded Russian outlets RT and Sputnik in its search results. The move has prompted Alexander Zharov, head of Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor, to send a letter to Google asking for clarification on its position. "We will receive an answer and understand what to do next," Zhorov said, according to Interfax. "We hope our opinion will be heard, and we won't have to resort to more serious" retaliatory measures. While speaking at the Halifax Security Forum on Saturday, Schmidt answered a question about Sputnik's prominent appearance in Google's news alerts. American intelligence agencies claim both RT and Sputnik played a role in influencing US voter opinion during the 2016 election through the spread of misinformation. "It's basically RT and Sputnik are the two, and there's a whole bunch of coverage about what we're doing there. But we're well aware of it, we're trying to engineer the systems to prevent it," said Schmidt. Although Google is lowering the organizations' positions in the search rankings, Schmidt emphasized that "we don't want to ban the sites; that's not how we operate." Zharov said he would wait to "see how discriminating this measure will be in its practical embodiment" before taking further action. Google spokeswoman Andrea Faville told Reuters that Schmidt's comments referred to ongoing efforts announced in April to demote search results that link to low quality, false and deliberately misleading content, while also promoting "authoritative" pages. While most reviews of the Surface Book 2 peg it as a powerful, competent, and versatile 2-in-1, some noticed issues with its battery life, especially when it comes to gaming. Microsoft has now confirmed that in certain cases the power supply is unable to charge the machine fast enough to stop it from draining. "In some intense, prolonged gaming scenarios with Power Mode Slider set to 'best performance' the battery may discharge while connected to the power supply," a Microsoft spokesperson told The Verge. In addition to featuring one in the screen, the 15-inch Surface Book 2 comes with an extra battery in its keyboard section, which is where the optional GTX 1060 GPU is located. The 2-in-1 has a range of settings to preserve battery life at the cost of performance, but users engaged in graphically intensive tasks like gaming will probably want to enable 'best performance.' It may hammer the battery, but surely plugging it in will stop the drain? Apparently not. The problem is that the GTX 1060 draws between 70 and 80 watts, while the Surface 2's processor can reach 35 watts in high power mode. But the 102-watt charger only supplies about 95 watts to the device. Microsoft does point out that the power management system will prevent the battery from draining completely, but it's still going to cause issues. The company suggests throttling the hardware during gaming to "better performance" or "best battery" settings. That won't be ideal for titles like Destiny 2, which drains power at 10 percent per hour when in maximum performance mode. Microsoft says that the Surface Book 2 is "a great option for STEM professionals (designers, developers, engineers)," suggesting that it's not primarily designed for gaming. Still, you'd expect a device that costs $2,499 not to lose power when it's plugged in, even if you are playing games on it. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has announced that Meg Whitman will step down as CEO early next year. Whitman was rumored to be in the running for the vacant chief executive position at Uber over the summer. HPE quickly shot down the idea, however, saying that Whitman was fully committed to her job and planned to stay with the company until her work there was complete. A month later, Uber appointed former Expedia boss Dara Khosrowshahi as its new chief. Whitman is scheduled to leave HPE on February 1, 2018, and will be replaced by current HPE President Antonio Neri. She will remain on the HPE Board of Directors, the company said. Whitman joined HP in September 2011 after growing eBay from a small business with 40 employees and $4 million in annual revenue to a powerhouse e-commerce player with over 15,000 team members and $8 billion in yearly revenue. She ran for Governor of California in 2010 but lost to Jerry Brown by a vote of 54 percent to 41 percent. Whitman led HP through treacherous waters as the computer industry as a whole struggled through the explosion of smartphones and tablets. She ultimately decided to split the company into two units, one that would focus on consumer PCs and printing and another tasked with handling corporate computing and network duties. In a statement accompanying the news, Whitman said that now is the right time for Neri and a new generation of leaders to take the reins of HPE. She added that she has tremendous confidence that they will continue to build a great company that will thrive well into the future. Neri joined HP in 1995 as a customer service engineer at a call center and worked his way up through the ranks over the years. He took over the company's technology services business in 2011 and was appointed president of HPE this past June. According to the President of the National Institute of Civil Aeronautics (INAC), twelve airlines have requested to operate with Venezuela. | Read More Mahindra Automotive North America Opens New HQ and Manufacturing Facility in Metro Detroit as Part of North American Growth Strategy LEARN MORE: Mahindra Backgrounder - Vehicles, Company, Past, Future Facility is the first new OEM Operation in Southeast Michigan in over 25 years Mahindra to manufacture new off-highway vehicle at the facility Tripled employment to 250; plans for 400 new jobs & additional investment of $600M through 2020 AUBURN HILLS, Mich., November 20, 2017 - As a strong indication of its growing presence in North America, Mahindra Automotive North America (MANA) opened a new North American HQ and manufacturing operation today, the first such new OEM facility in Southeast Michigan in over 25 years. The expansion is part of a $230 million investment in Southeast Michigan that also includes a recently-opened warehouse and logistics operation in Pontiac and an existing prototype operation in Troy. In total, Mahindra has grown to 400,000 sq. ft. across three Detroit area facilities. Over the past 18 months, MANA will have tripled its workforce to 250. By 2020, additional planned projects will result in 400 more jobs and another $600 million in local investment over that same period. In addition, MANA will continue to provide Metro Detroit-based engineering support for new vehicle platform development for India and global markets. The new facility will produce an off-highway vehicle which will extend Mahindra's current position in this growing segment. Designed and engineered by MANA, the vehicle promises to be unlike anything currently on the market. Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra, Automotive Division EVP Rajan Wadhera and MANA President and CEO, Rick Haas participated in the facility inauguration along with Michigan Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley and Members of Congress Brenda Lawrence and Dave Trott. The event was also attended by elected officials, business leaders and Mahindra employees. "This is an exciting day for Mahindra, our terrific employees and Detroit. I couldn't be prouder to be here to help open this new facility today," said Anand Mahindra. "This building opening represents our companys growing presence in North America and locally in the Metro Detroit area where we have tripled our workforce during the past 18 months. We are committed to growing the Mahindra brand in North America and Michigan." "This expansion represents a milestone for us and for Michigan," said Haas. "We started this operation with seven people four years ago -- to be crossing the 250 mark is a testament to the hard work of our employees and what this region has to offer in terms of top automotive talent." Mahindra was recently named as one of five vehicle manufacturers selected by the United State Postal Service (USPS) to produce prototype delivery trucks for testing and evaluation. At the request of the USPS, details about the program will be available at a later date. About MANA Mahindra Automotive North America (MANA) is Mahindra's North American automotive headquarters. In addition to leading all North America activity, MANA is a comprehensive automotive design, engineering and vehicle development center. Established in 2013 and located in Troy, Michigan, MANAs team of veteran executives, engineers and designers working with affiliate Mahindra automotive teams in India, Korea and Italy, is playing a key role in growing Mahindras global automotive business. Learn more about Mahindra Automotive North America at: www.mahindraautomotiveNA.com About THE MAHINDRA GROUP The Mahindra Group is a USD 19 billion federation of companies that enables people to rise through innovative mobility solutions, driving rural prosperity, enhancing urban living, nurturing new businesses and fostering communities. It has a leadership position in utility vehicles, information technology, financial services and vacation ownership in India and is the worlds largest tractor company, by volume. It also enjoys a strong presence in agribusiness, components, commercial vehicles, consulting services, energy, industrial equipment, logistics, real estate, steel, aerospace, defense and two wheelers. Headquartered in India, Mahindra employs more than 200,000 people across 100 countries. Henny Takes A First Look: 2018 Mercedes-Benz X-Class Mercedes pickup confirms the new trend By Henny Hemmes Juror, World Car Awards National representative FIA Women in Motorsport Senior European Editor The Auto Channel THE HAGUE, November 20, 2017. When Mercedes-Benz announced to premiere its X-Class pickup truck at the International Motor Show (IAA) in Frankfurt, last September, I was a bit surprised. Sales of the X-Class would start in Europe, followed next year by South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Later The X will be available in Argentina and Brazil, but Mercedes does not include the US. Who would need such large vehicles in Europe.? It is an exception when you see a Ford Ranger or a Toyota Hilux. With just over 80,000 units sold in the first half of this year, the European market is very small compared to the US. where in the same time nearly 217 thousand mid-size and 1.1 million full-size pickups were sold. But Mercedes makes its point by recognizing a small markets possibilities and the changing requirements of the international pickup markets. The demand for mid-size pickups with typical passenger car characteristics and comfort features has been steadily on the rise for years, while the popularity of pickups for private use is increasing as they are no longer viewed purely as ?workhorses. For people who need serious pulling power, an SUV is not capable enough. Andy Barratt, managing director of Ford in the UK said to Automotive News Europe: That growth is partly a function of the new model surge, where there is more competition coming in, it grows the market as well. Theres still more growth to come. During the first six months of 2017, sales rose by 19 per cent and are expected to exceed 200,000. The publication recognizes a trend with other manufacturers, such as VW (Amarok), Renault, Fiat and next year PSA, stepping into the segment. Back to Mercedes-Benz that is the first premium manufacturer to take these changes into account. The X-Class is aimed at different customer groups: land-owners and farmers in Argentina, business owners such as building contractors in Australia, families with an affinity for premium products in Brazil, trend-conscious individuals in South Africa or Great Britain, as well as sporty adventurers in New Zealand. The pickup will be offered in three variants to meet the requirements of those potential customers. Interior finish is what you may expect of a premium model. Mercedes says that comfort and quality feel are elevated to a new level in the mid-size pickup segment. It speaks for itself that the X gets systems which we know from the Mercedes passenger cars. They include theTouchpad in the center console, the integrated Comand system, Linguatronic voice controla and a 360-degree camera. In conjunction with Command Online, the centre display has an 8.4 screen with a resolution of 960 x 540 pixels and high-contrast IPS technology (In-Plane Switching). It is the largest display in the segment. Mercedes offers two 4-cylinder engines and two variants of its 2.3-liter diesel:. the 163 hp strong X 220d and the X 250d with 190 hp. The X 350d 4Matic 84with a 258 hp/550 Nm strong V6 will be available from mid-2018. The new Benz model is 5340 mm/210 inches long, 1920 mm/75.6 in. wide and 1819 mm/ 71.6 in. high., its wheelbase is 3150 mm/124 in. The sizes of the load bed are l/w/h 1587/1560/474 mm or 62.4/61.5/!8.7 inches. The maximum payload is 1024 kg/2297 pound and braked towing capacity is 1651-3500 kg / 3638-7716 pound. SUBARU OF AMERICA CONFIRMS PLAN TO RELEASE LIMITED EDITION MODELS TO COMMEMORATE 50TH ANNIVERSARY New York November 21, 2017; At an automotive media lunch in N.Y. today, Jeff Walters, Subaru of America VP of Sales, confirmed the companys plan to release limited edition models to commemorate its 50th anniversary next year. Each vehicle in the Subaru line-up will offer a 50th anniversary edition. The editions will feature a new, common color which will be based on a high-level trim and will come with special badging. Subaru of America was founded on February 15th,1968, and operated for a short time from Balboa Park, CA, before moving to the Delaware Valley where is has had its home for almost all of its 50 years. Leading up to its 50th anniversary, the company is enjoying close to a decade of consecutive year-over-year sales growth, besting any other auto brand, and is expected to close 2017 with sales of over 650,000. More details on the limited-edition models will be made available at the debut at the Chicago International Auto Show in February 2018. The 2018 Mazda CX-5 adds features at each trim level, with a starting MSRP[1] of $24,150 New cylinder-deactivation technology improves fuel economy; Mazda is the only automaker to offer this technology on a four-cylinder engine in North America Mazda CX-5 Sport models add leather steering wheel, leather shift knob, Blind Spot Monitoring and Rear Cross-Traffic Alert as standard The full i-ACTIVSENSE suite of safety technology comes standard on CX-5 Touring models and is available as a package for CX-5 Sport models 2018 CX-5 to go on sale nationwide starting the beginning of December IRVINE, Calif. (November 22, 2017) The Mazda CX-5 compact crossover SUV continues to win the hearts of critics and customers, with its sales off to a record pace since the second generation went on sale this past spring. For the 2018 model year, Mazda CX-5 is getting even better, employing cylinder-deactivation technology, safety and refinement updates at all trim levels and carries features rarely seen in vehicles competing in the next class up such as an available head-up display and standard LED headlights and tail lights. Mazda CX-5s SKYACTIV-G 2.5 engine has received small updates to reduce internal friction and the amount customers will spend on fuel, but no feature stands out more than its segment-exclusive cylinder-deactivation technology. The engine has the ability to imperceptible shut down the two outside cylinders at cruising speeds to maximize efficiency. It is designed to assist in improving real-world efficiency rather than simply in catalogued evaluations and comes standard on all trim levels. Mazda is the only automaker to equip a four-cylinder engine with cylinder deactivation in North America. Additional newly standard equipment includes a leather-wrapped steering wheel and leather-wrapped shift knob. On the safety front, Blind Spot Monitoring with Rear Cross-Traffic Alert comes standard across all models. All features were previously available on mid-level CX-5 Touring models and above. The entry-level CX-5 Sport features cloth upholstery, standard LED headlights, 17-inch alloy wheels, an electronic parking brake, MAZDA CONNECTTM infotainment with a 7-inch screen and Bluetooth audio streaming and phone pairing as standard, among a much longer list of features. In its newly available Sport i-ACTIVSENSE Package, CX-5 adds High Beam Control, Lane Departure Warning, Lane-Keep Assist, Mazda Radar Cruise Control, Smart Brake Support, rain-sensing windshield wipers and automatic on/off headlights. The mid-trim CX-5 Touring adds standard 19-inch allow wheels for 2018 and the full i-ACTIVSENSE suite of safety features. Mazda CX-5 Touring upgrades to leatherette-upholstered seats and Mazda Advanced Keyless Entry. Additional features in CX-5 Touring include heated front seats, 6-way power adjustable drivers seat, dual-zone automatic climate control, rear air condition vents and two rear USB ports for charging smartphones or tablets. The available Touring Preferred Package includes auto-dimming rearview mirror with Homelink, BOSE 10-speaker audio sound system with Centerpoint2 and AudioPilot2, navigation, a power glass moonroof and a power liftgate. Further building on the Touring Preferred Package, the top-trim CX-5 Grand Touring receives new 2-position memory drivers seat and 6-way power adjustable passenger seat. CX-5 Grand Touring comes standard with leather-trimmed seats, LED fog lights and tail lights, Adaptive Front-lighting System and SiriusXM satellite radio with 4-month trial subscription. The available Grand Touring Premium Package includes windshield-projected Active Driving Display head-up unit with Traffic Sign Recognition, heated steering wheel, heated second-row outboard seats and windshield wiper de-icer. All CX-5 models sold in the U.S. come with a standard 2.5-liter SKYACTIV-G engine that delivers 187 horsepower and 186 lb-ft of torque, paired to an efficient, quick-shifting SKYACTIV-DRIVE 6-speed automatic transmission with manual-shift mode and Sport mode. Front-wheel drive is standard; Mazdas predictive i-ACTIV all-wheel drive is available on every trim level, feeding information from 27 sensors found in CX-5 to predict road conditions and send power wherever its needed without the unnerving drivetrain reactions or slipping that can be felt in some competitors during inclement conditions. CX-5 has earned the IIHS Top Safety Pick+ designation for the firth-consecutive year in 2017, joining all Mazda models tested to earn the nonprofits highest award when equipped with proper headlights and specific technologies. MSRP[2] for all models is as follows: Front-Wheel Drive i-ACTIV All-Wheel Drive CX-5 Sport $24,150 $25,450 Sport i-ACTIVSENSE Package $625 $625 CX-5 Touring $26,215 $27,515 Touring Preferred Package $1,200 $1,200 CX-5 Grand Touring $29,645 $30,945 Grand Touring Premium Package $1,395 $1,395 Premium paint colors: Soul Red Crystal $595 Machine Gray Metallic $300 Snowflake White Pearl Mica $200 The 2018 Mazda CX-5 will arrive at dealerships nationwide in the beginning of December. Mazda North American Operations is headquartered in Irvine, California, and oversees the sales, marketing, parts and customer service support of Mazda vehicles in the United States and Mexico through nearly 600 dealers. Operations in Mexico are managed by Mazda Motor de Mexico in Mexico City. Larry Nassar. Photo: JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP/Getty Images Former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar, who has been accused of sexually abusing more than 130 women and girls, pleaded guilty to criminal sexual conduct in Michigan court. In recent weeks, several prominent gymnasts have spoken out about being abused by the doctor, including Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas, and McKayla Maroney. As CNN reports, Nassar pleaded guilty to seven counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct with three of the charges relating to victims under the age of 13 and three applying to victims between the ages of 13 and 15. The Detroit News reports Nassar also plans to plead guilty to three additional counts next week. Each count carries a possible prison sentence between 25 to 40 years, and Nassar is also awaiting sentencing for separate federal child-pornography charges. On Monday night, Douglas became the latest gymnast to accuse Nassar of abusing her while he served as the Team USA doctor. And earlier in the month, Raisman told 60 Minutes that she decided to speak out about the abuse to try to change the culture in gymnastics: When I see these young girls that come up to me I just want to create change so that they never, ever have to go through this. In celebration of New York Magazines 50th anniversary, this weekly series, which will continue through October 2018, tells the stories behind key moments that shaped the citys culture. On a recent afternoon at the vintage shop Search & Destroy, teens browsed plaid skirts, ripped jeans, and band T-shirts near a Bin Laden poster, Gremlin head, and pornographic props. Now that the ur-punk clothing shop Trash and Vaudeville has moved to Seventh Street, Search & Destroy is the last transgressive clothier on St. Marks; crusties gather at its steps like scouts around a campfire. But the shop is significant for another reason, too; its also the last secondhand shop on St. Marks Place between Second and Third Avenues the block where, 50 years ago, New Yorks vintage shopping scene was born. In the flush years after World War II, most mainstream adults considered used clothes, sold by charity shops, something strictly for poor people. Then, in mid-50s New York, fashionable young beatniks started buying second-hand furs from Ridge Trading Company to keep them warm on their way to the Cedar Tavern. Rich college kids picked up on the trend, prompting Lord & Taylor to begin offering used furs to meet the demand. But that was as far as hip vintage went. Adults of the 1950s and 1960s coveted sparkling homes and wardrobes, and parted hair. If a guy comes down the block dressed in leopard skin with a snake around his neck now, it doesnt seem like such a big deal, says Charles FitzGerald, who moved to St. Marks in 1959 and operated a series of secondhand and new shops there, including Grizzly Furs, Bowl & Board, and Hindu Kush. But then it was. Remember, we were coming out of a period of extremely conventional middle-class-ness in this country It was the throwaway era. I lived off the leavings. FitzGerald made a killing, thanks to the fastidiousness of 50s grown-ups: A mother would take a raccoon coat that had a little scuff on it and throw it out. I would get that raccoon coat for $2 and sell it as fast as I could for $20. I literally sold hundreds of fur coats in a day. A man sifts through fur coats at Limbo. Photo: Fred W. McDarrah/Getty Images There were some vintage shops elsewhere in the city notably Harriet Love in Soho but they reached maximum concentration on St. Marks: In the 60s, says FitzGerald, you practically had to reserve space on the steps just to watch the parade of crazily dressed people passing by. Part of the 1960s cultural rebellion, then, involved calculated grubbiness. Teenagers allowed tangles in their hair and old, frayed clothing on their bodies. They picked up old chairs on the street and bought worn-in jeans. This lifestyle was environmentally friendly, it was cheap, and it scandalized adults win, win, win. The trend peaked in New York in the late 1960s, and the flagship store was a place called Limbo. Like FitzGerald, Marty Freedman jumped on the vintage trend early. Id just gotten out of the service, he told me. I had a store for five years in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. We had the elevated subway running over the store. I was carrying what they called jivey Ivy clothing: Brooks Brothers style, but much funkier. It was a strange neighborhood for a store like that, but Trump [Senior] was opening up a [middle-class, post-war housing] development. Freedman thought he was going to hit it big when the new tenants arrived. Unfortunately, most of the people who moved into the area were senior citizens. They were neither Ivy nor jivey. That miscalculation, coupled with rampant crime in the area (hed be robbed every time a leather jacket delivery was made; the over-ground trains drowned out the alarm), had him looking for a new store. Partying in the East Village, he found it: Coming out of the Dom [at 19-23 St. Marks] one night, I saw someone being evicted [from 24 St. Marks]. I tracked down the super. I signed a lease for $85 a month. Freedmans new shop, Limbo, opened in 1965, back when East Village was a new-enough term that it appeared in the press surrounded by quotation marks. Hed noticed that his clientele of hippies or, as they called themselves then, freaks were partial to army surplus: 13-button pants, pea coats. I found out where I could get them, says Freedman. We called them at the time rag dealers big warehouses where they shipped old clothes mostly to places like Nigeria and Afghanistan. Youd give the foreman a bottle of cognac as a gift and theyd give us shears to use to open any bale in these five-floor warehouses They were selling it for pennies a pound. Wed load up my Volkswagen. We called it carefully selected dead mans clothing. An exterior shot of the store. Photo: Courtesy of Limbo An ad for Limbo. Photo: Courtesy of Limbo Freedman got Levis 501s from Utah. (Mormons had big families, 10 kids, and when there was a jean that showed just a little bit of wear, they would hand it in to the local charity.) Of these, hed hand some pairs over to local East Village artists along with sewing machines and leather scraps; regular jeans sold for $2.50, the artist-embellished ones could bring $200. Overwhelmed by demand, in 1967 Limbo moved down the block to a much larger shop at number 4 (the 1831 building formerly home to Alexander Hamiltons widow, Eliza Schuyler), and really took off. Luck played its part in the stores success: Freedmans partner Freddie Billingsley once scored a truckload of grenadier jackets on credit. I thought it was a mistake, says Freedman. The next week, the Sgt. Pepper album came out. Ka-ching. Limbo wasnt the first hip vintage store in the world. According to Jennifer Le Zotte, author of From Goodwill to Grunge: A History of Secondhand Styles and Alternative Economies, that designation goes to London: Many of the Kings Row vintage boutiques like I Was Lord Kitcheners Valet started as stalls in Portobello Road, a flea market in London. Both San Francisco and New York imported the trend in their own ways. Psychedelic San Francisco went for Western Victorian and buckskin Native American accents. New York re-popularized 20s and 30s looks. Cicely Hansen, owner of the Haight-Ashbury shop Decades of Fashion, says that back in the 1960s, she was able to find her tribe by looking for other people in used clothing (and without underpinnings; her mother had advised her that nice girls dont jiggle). The East Coast Limbo look was less ethereal than Californias, more unisex and more reliant on repurposed uniforms. Nearly everyone who made the East Village scene in the late 1960s has a Limbo story. Judy Garrison, who now runs a store in the Catskills, told me: One winter, everyone on St. Marks Place wore the exact same Afghani wool-lined coat from Limbo. I wore mine outside the city once and everyone looked at me like I was insane. The writer Paul Krassner told me he bought a long coat and a derby hat at Limbo while on acid. Later, realizing the coat was a mistake, he went back and explained. The clerk said, Oh, of course, if you were tripping you could return it. (Good thing: On St. Marks Place, the customer is always right mantra could have been, the customer is always high.) Around Limbo, boutiques thrived, offering various combinations of vintage and new hippie fashion: Queen of Diamonds, Khadejha, Something a Little Bit Different, the Owl and the Pussycat, Gussie and Becky, Cecil Rutherford, Arthur McGee, and (around the corner on Second), The Naked Grape. (There were also a number of hairdressers in the area, most famously Paul McGregor, who invented Jane Fondas shag; and plenty of cheap restaurants, including B&H and Veselka, both of which are still going strong.) New York Times article spotlighting Limbo. 1960s retro style. Designer Kristina Gorby sold both her own looks (including this psychedelic eyeball dress, the custom-made stretch-velour outfit Janis Joplin wore at Woodstock, and a pre-DVF wrap dress), as well as select vintage pieces, like high-lace World War Iera womens shoes. As a little girl, Kristina Gorbys daughter, Natasha, watched the street scene out the large front window of the familys home, upstairs from Limbo at No. 4. My babysitter would be trying to get me to come eat, but I couldnt stop looking out the window, Natasha Gorby Cebek told me by phone (her mother, recovering from a stroke, wasnt able to talk long). It was so much fun to watch everybody. People were all wearing bell bottoms. It was just so colorful. Patchwork. Pantsuits. I remember one in particular this guy had these little puffballs hanging off the bottom of his bell-bottoms, and a matching hat. And I remember the guy next door who owned the first shop I got my first fur coat from him, lambs wool, black-and-white. The guy next door was FitzGerald. He still lives on St. Marks Place. When I checked in with him recently, he said that people dont realize how controversial the vintage-clothing trend was when it started. It became a real friction point, he said. In our department of complaints, it was unbelievable how many irate mothers we had to deal with. Back in the late 60s, he was interviewed for a dismissive WWD article on the vintage trend entitled Flea Bit. Suburban mothers werent the only ones who hated the vintage shops. The East Villages Ukrainian and Polish residents looked particularly askance at the military garb. Once a hippie exited Limbo wearing a German army jacket. Before hed made it to the end of the block, an older woman attacked him with an umbrella. As the 1970s began, the hippie scene faded and punk arrived. In 1975, Freedman passed Limbos space to Trash & Vaudeville. St. Marks has seen a few successful post-Limbo vintage shops over the years. At secondhand store The Late Show in the 1970s, author Luc Sante set down his jacket to try something on and when he went to pick it up it was gone; someone had bought it. A New York Times story from 1987 mentioning the 14 St. Marks incarnation of vintage shop Andys Chee-Pees calls St. Marks the East Villages spiritual heart or its corrupted, overtouristed center. Physical Graffiti closed a few years ago in its spot at the 96 St. Marks building that appears on the cover of Led Zeppelins album of the same name (its now a tea shop). Today, vintage lingers in the surrounding blocks Angelas Vintage, Cure Thrift, Tokio 7, Tokyo Joe, Eleven Consignment Boutique, L Train Vintage, Metropolis; chains like Buffalo Exchange; as well as a few longstanding shops on Ninth Street, like Cobblestones. But its changed since the days of Limbo. Store owner and designer Khadejha (right) with a customer in her shop on St. Marks Place. Photo: Fred W. McDarrah/Getty Images As Lavers Law says, the clothes from about 30 years prior amuse us the most. Whats not the same is that in the 1960s, 1930s clothes were unique and made from high-quality materials; in the 2010s, 1990s clothes are, like, Express baby doll dresses. The higher-quality old stuff is in shorter supply, and so its become more precious and much more expensive. To a dance once in junior high school, I wore a perfect-condition 1950s pink tulle party dress, purchased on or near St. Marks for, as I recall, $5. I just looked on eBay for something similar; the price point was around $125. Whats more, the neighborhoods economics have changed. Rents have risen, pushing out nearby vintage shops like Love Saves the Day and Atomic Passion. And, like a parent repeatedly trying to smooth down a childs cowlick, corporate developers keep trying to clean up St. Marks. The latest battle: the corner of St. Marks and Third Avenue is getting a seven-story office building; neighborhood protests warn that the area could become a Silicon Alley. And yet, incredibly, St. Marks Place still feels, in its eternal bounty of drunk teenagers, sunglass hawkers, and vulgar T-shirts, reliably scuzzy. Yes, theres a Chipotle in the Doms old building and a new Starbucks on Avenue A. But The Gap, 7-11, and Pinkberry have all closed. On the corner of St. Marks and Second, Chase will soon be replaced by The Swiss Institute, which will offer free exhibits and community events. Many of the streets landmarks Gem Spa, Grassroots, St. Marks Barber, St. Marks Comics endure. East Village Books on St. Marks and First still has incredibly cheap used books. The performer Penny Arcade, who used to live on St. Marks between Second and Third, told me a couple of years ago that she found it still magnetic and chaotic: Somehow you cant gentrify that block. And there is still one vintage shop left there: Search & Destroy. When asked if the store, which opened 25 years ago, had any plans to leave, Maya, a laconic manager sitting on the steps out front, deadpanned, I hope not. Back inside, she said the street isnt what it once was, but she didnt have time to elaborate. Kids were waiting in line to buy used jeans just like their grandparents did across the street 50 years ago. Order Highbrow, Lowbrow, Brilliant, Despicable: 50 Years of New York, a celebratory book chronicling the magazines history with powerful images and behind-the-scenes stories from staff and subjects. 3,000-Year-Old Castle Found at Bottom of Turkish Lake A team of Turkish underwater explorers discovered amazingly preserved remains of a 3,000-year-old castle at the bottom of the countrys largest lake, Lake Van. The team, working under the auspices of the provincial government, believes the castle was built under the Urartu Kingdom, also called the Kingdom of Van, which ruled the region between the 10th and 6th centuries B.C., according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. That determination was made based on the style of the ruins. There was a rumor that there might be something under the water but most archaeologists and museum officials told us that we wont find anything, said Tahsin Ceylan, the head of the diving team, according to Daily Sabah. The castle runs are about 1,100 yards long with walls of about 13 feet that are visible. Because the water in the lake is very alkaline, the remains have been kept in excellent condition. The lake, the second largest in the Middle East, is over 560 feet deep on average. It is rumored to be the home of an unknown creature, the Lake Van monster. But its also the home to a slew of recent discoveries, like a large stalagmite formation, 1,000-year-old gravestones, and the wreckage of an old Russian ship. Archeologists believe the lake used to be much shallower during the Urartu times. As the lake waters rose, people withdrew but the structures stayed there. Even though most of them are in ruins, they are still there. We need to protect these structures first. Other castles in the country have been damaged, but the lake has hidden the castle here and preserved it, said another member of the team, Mustafa Akkus, assistant professor at the Van Yuzuncu Yl Universitys Faculty of Fisheries, according to Hurriyet Daily News. Akkus believes the discovery will not only help researchers better understand the history of the region, but will also boost the local economy. If we can make a good enough presentation of them, dozens of diving schools will be opened around Van Lake, and thousands of people will come here to dive and see these beauties, said Akkus, Hurriyet reported. While youre here Share! We work hard to deliver the most important and interesting news every day for you, but would like to ask a little favor: Please share this story with your friends by clicking the share button below. Thank you! About 50 Employees Fired for Not Getting Flu Shot A health care provider in Minnesota has fired about 50 employees after they reportedly refused to get the flu vaccine. Essentia Health had a set Nov. 20 deadline for employees to be vaccinated, receive an exemption for medical or religious reasons, or leave the company, reported KBJR. Dr. Rajesh Prabhu, Essentias chief patient quality and safety officer, said Essentias mandatory policy came down to two things, a desire to increase patient safety and to improve Essentias 82 percent flu vaccination rate from 2016. Purely voluntary or more education doesnt get you those high levels of immunization compliance and as you know other states, other health care organizations have done the same thing we have, Prabhu, an infectious disease specialist, told the news station. Prabhu also said that 99.5 percent of employees have chosen the first two options, but about 50 employees have been terminated with more left waiting to hear back on their exemptions as of Nov. 21. A number of unions representing members at Essentia have spoken up against the mandatory policy. On Oct. 20, United Steelworker filed a temporary injunction to allow union and management to resolve the dispute under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement, however, a federal judge denied the motion on Nov. 9, KBJR reported. Other unions have also taken action against Essentia. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) both filed unfair labor practice claims on behalf of their employees claiming Essentia failed to negotiate with union members before establishing and enforcing the mandatory policy. MNAs chief, Steve Strand, told KBJR that the union intends to fight any terminations for a policy, which they deem unnecessarily intrusive and may not even be effective. The flu shot isnt a be all end all it only has a certain efficacy, Strand said. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the number of flu-related hospitalization since 2010 ranged from 140,000 to 710,000, while flu-related deaths are estimated to have ranged from 12,000 to 56,000. Recent studies show that flu vaccination reduces the risk of flu illness by between 40% and 60% among the overall population during seasons when most circulating flu viruses are well-matched to the flu vaccine, CDCs website read. Prabhu maintains that the mandatory requirement is to keep patients safe during flu season. People may debate on how effective that is but based on what the level of evidence is and what our peers are doing, we thought this was the best way to protect our patients, he told KBJR. In a statement earlier this month, the doctor explained the benefits of receiving the vaccination and has encouraged the public to receive the shot. Getting a flu shot is not only the most effective way to prevent getting a serious case of influenza, but it also protects members of our community, especially the most vulnerable elderly, young children, and those with significant health conditions that may not respond as well to the flu vaccine, Prabhu said in the statement. The vaccine will protect you against whats believe to be the three or four most common influenza strains currently circulating, he added. From NTD.tv Dear reader, we have a little favor to ask of you. We work hard to deliver important and interesting articles to you, but we cant do it without ad revenue. Please help support independent journalism by sharing this article with your friends and family. It takes less than a minute. Thank you! With Balis Mt. Agung volcano in the background, a Balinese woman takes a selfie of herself on Oct. 3, 2017. The volcano erupted on Nov. 22. (Bay Ismoyo/AFP/Getty Images) Bali Volcano Erupts, Thousands Remain Safe for Now The initial eruption of a large volcano on the Indonesian tourist island of Bali has been small but a larger one could follow, warns a U.S.-based volcanologist. Balis Mt. Agung erupted on Nov. 21, two months after some 150,000 local residents living near it were evacuated, reported the Australian Broadcast Corporation (ABC). Dr. Janine Krippner, who has been following the volcanos rumblings since September, said the small phreatic eruption had been anticipated. They said if something did happen it was likely to be small it might be larger afterwards but it would start out small, said Krippner. A phreatic eruption is basically one where there is no magma involved. Weve all seen the steaming, the steam plume at the top of the volcano, she said. And what can happen with volcanos is some of the steam can get trapped, and it can be pressurized, and it can cause an explosion. The initial eruption sent a plume of steam and ash up to 800 meters (2,624 ft) above its summit. Gunung Agung meletus mengeluarkan asap dan abu kelabu tebal dengan tekanan sedang pada 21/11/2017 pukul 17:05 WITA. Tinggi letusan maksimum 700 meter dari puncak kawah. Status Siaga (level 3). Radius 6-7,5 km dilarang ada aktivitas masyarakat. Masyarakat dihimbau tenang. pic.twitter.com/bw63qSbh2y Sutopo Purwo Nugroho (@Sutopo_BNPB) November 21, 2017 In September, Indonesian authorities ordered the evacuation of residents living near Mt. Agung which last erupted in 1963. That eruption resulted in the deaths of nearly 1,600 people, many of whom were killed by clouds of hot gas. The evacuation zone currently around Mt. Agung is 6-7.5 kilometers (3.7 4.6 miles) from the crater. There is no reason yet to broaden the zone, said Dewa Made Mertayasa who is the head of local efforts monitoring the volcano. The dangers are for [the people] living within a 6km to 7.5km radius from the crater, Mertayasa told the ABC. That evacuation zone should remain clear because the ash clouds are heading in that direction, he said. The people should be on alert, as the volcano has been spewing ash cloud though in small size and non-pyroclastic but still the ash will affect the people surrounding Mt. Agung. The last time Mt Agung erupted was in 1963! yesterday at dinner, we saw it erupt in front of our eyes! ???? #bali #balivolcano pic.twitter.com/cYNI9xKP4O Angela Sun (@sunnyangela) November 22, 2017 Local police officials said there has been no sign of panic on the island in response to the eruption. Balis airport remains open and tourist areas are currently deemed safe. Reaction to the volcanos activity over the past two months has cost the islands economy at least US $110 million in lost tourism and local productivity, reported the BBC. Indonesia sits on the so-called Ring of Fire which is prone to earthquakes and volcano activity. Think your friends may not know about this? Share it on Facebook and you will help keep them up to date and help us earn the ad revenue we need to keep reporting. Thank you! From NTD.tv We may have heard it said, in that familiar hushed and somber tone, something along the lines of, Theyre having palliative care now. Its almost as if the meaning of those words is so universally understood they need no further explanation. Most people simply assume it means the person is now dying. Yet, when a health professional suggests palliative care might be a useful addition to a patients care, they most likely mean something different. So what does the patient actually take away from the suggestion? We asked this question of people being treated for cancer in hospital, as well as their families. We wanted to explore their initial perceptions of palliative care when this term was first raised with them in a clinical setting. We found people held narrow, often inaccurate and outdated understandings of palliative care. Below are some of the common beliefs about it, and what the research actually says. Myth 1: Its Just Nursing Care From its inception, palliative care has definitely always involved nurses. But by todays standards, there is much more to it than, for example, a nurse assisting a patient with showering. Palliative care is delivered by a multidisciplinary team of experts, such as social workers, counselors, nurses, and volunteers, who are trained to respond to the needs of those with serious illness. For most patients, this will include consultation with a specialist palliative care doctor who has undergone additional medical training to become an expert in managing and treating the concerns that commonly arise from serious illness. Myth 2: Its Just About Pain Relief Palliative care is often called on to provide optimal pain relief. But, just as frequently, palliative care is there to help manage symptoms other than pain that result from a serious illness or its treatment. For example, a palliative care specialist has particular experience with medications and strategies that may help with problems such as nausea, breathlessness, or constipationwhich, left unattended, may reduce a persons quality of life. Myth 3: Its a Place to Wait for Death Palliative care does provide care for those at the end of life who may prefer to receive care or have needs best attended to in a hospital or at a hospice. However, it is not just about end-of-life care. Palliative care is available at any stage of serious illness. It can be helpful, and is recommended early in an illness, to work alongside other medical teams to diagnose and treat the cause of symptoms, manage medications, help with communication or decision-making about treatment options, or provide family support. Myth 4: Services Are Offered Only in Hospitals Palliative care does provide support to people in the hospital, but just as frequently palliative care services are available to people in their own homes. Additionally, just as a person with heart disease may go to a clinic at the hospital to see a cardiologist, people with serious illness can attend an appointment to see a palliative care specialist. Myth 5: It Means Depending on Others The principal goal of palliative care is actually the opposite of dependency. It aims to support a person to maintain their independence and quality of life while living with serious illness. This may mean providing equipment or strategies that may be needed to ensure a person can continue to live their life to the fullest. What Does the Research Say? There are now over 10 high-quality, randomized clinical (human) trials, conducted internationally, that demonstrate the benefits of accessing palliative care if faced with serious illness. These studies, mostly conducted with people recently diagnosed with a serious form of cancer, compare the outcomes of people randomly allocated to receive either just best-practice care or best-practice care with palliative care. Collectively, this research shows that people with a serious case of cancer who access palliative care soon after their diagnosis, alongside their recommended cancer treatments, have better outcomes. They report feeling better, with fewer symptoms associated with cancer and its treatment, as well as improved mood and better quality of life. There is also growing evidence to show the people receiving palliative care live longer. So next time we hear that a friend is receiving palliative care, we should also think of the possibilities and accomplishments they may achieve, and high-quality care they may receive. Anna Collins is a research fellow in the department of medicine at the University of Melbourne in Australia. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Aijalon Mahli Gomes greets his mother after stepping off a plane on Aug. 27, 2010, at Logan International Airport in Boston, Mass. (Darren McCollester/Getty Images) Former North Korea Prisoner Found on Fire on a San Diego Field An American teacher who was imprisoned in Korea eight years ago was spotted running and engulfed in flames on Friday, Nov. 17, in a field near a San Diego highway. Aijalon Gomes, 38, eventually collapsed and died of his injuries at the scene, San Diego police said. An off-duty California Highway Patrol officer was driving west on Pacific Highway near Sea World Drive when his spotted Gomez, according to Lt. Todd Griffin. The officer ran to help Gomes while first responders arrived, but Gomes succumbed to his injuries. Investigators suspect the death is either an accident or a suicide, but are suspending the final call on the matter until an autopsy is conducted by the San Diego Office of the Medical Examiner. Gomes made international headlines in 2010 when he crossed the frozen Tumen River from China into North Korea. He was caught by border guards and eventually sentenced to eight years of hard labor and fined $700,000, the San Diego Tribune reported. The communist regime used Gomes to pressure the United States during an international dispute triggered by the sinking of a South Korean ship by a torpedo fired by North Korea. The communist regime denied firing the weapon and threatened to make Gomess sentence harsher if the United States did not soften its criticism. Gomes was eventually freed by former President Jimmy Carter in August 2010. I was praying each and every day, Jacqueline McCarthy, Gomess mother, told NBC on Tuesday. They would not let me talk to him. Gomes wrote a book about his ordeal after his release. According to the Amazon description of the book, Gomes described the psychological torment of incarceration and hard labor. When he got off the plane, he got on his knees and was very thankful he was home, McCarthy said about her son. Gomes may have crossed into North Korea to support Robert Park, a Korean-American human rights activist who crossed into North Korea to raise awareness for the human rights abuses taking place inside the communist nation. Park crossed the Tumen River in 2009, a year before Gomes. Carter said that Gomes attempted suicide inside the North Korean labor camp several times including through starvation and slitting his wrists. Gomess mother said that he had recently moved to San Diego from Boston. Gomes became withdrawn from family in the years since his release, communicating more through text than in person. McCarthy believes Gomes had post-traumatic stress disorder. I know it affected him, she said. McCarthy said she was shaken by the news. I couldnt picture my son doing that to himself, she said. McCarty described Gomes as a beautiful person. My son was a very good human being, she said. He loved people. He loved his family. She said he left a teaching job to care for his grandparents before he went to South Korea. He was selfless. He was always giving his last to everyone. Support The Epoch Times. Share this article. From NTD.tv A student from an engineering school attends the first edition of the Steria Hacking Challenge., in Meudon, west of Paris, on March 16, 2013. (Thomas Samson/AFP/Getty Images) Hackers Delete 30 Million Files From California Transit System, Demand 1 Bitcoin A regional transit system in California was imperiled by a hackeror hackerswho deleted 30 million files and took the computer systems down. The attack forced Sacramento Regional Transit to halt its operating systems that take credit card payments and assign buses and trains to routes, CBS Sacramento reported. We actually had the hackers get into our system, and systematically start erasing programs and data, Deputy General Manager Mark Lonergan. Officials have alerted federal agencies. The hacker demanded a ransom in bitcoin, leaving a message on the website: Im sorry to modify the home page, Im good hacker, I just want to help you fix these vulnerability (sic). Hackers attack Sacramento transit system and demand $8000 ransom Sacramento Bee https://t.co/6pmbkJc5mK pic.twitter.com/e6qSoM4fLy Trevor Kennedy (@trevorkennedy) November 21, 2017 Hackers Tried To Extort Money From Sacramento Transit System With #Ransomware Attack https://t.co/Rb2fCsts2L 910 Intel Unit (@910_Intel_Unit) November 21, 2017 SacRT said that it managed to get through the hacking without a significant slowdown for riders. No customer or employee identities were compromised, it said. On Sunday morning it also said, Hello, I will always attack your website, we are hackers. we can do everything. Pay us now to stop attacking, the Sacramento Bee reported. SacRT didnt respond to the demand of one bitcoin, which is worth about $8,000. We caught it early (Sunday) morning, chief operating officer Mark Lonergan told the newspaper. We took all our systems offline and determined what data had been erased. We are restoring everything now and bringing it up online. The agency was able to trace how the hackers entered the system, he said. That is how we know no data exited, he said. This was about destruction. Theyll bring in an outside expert to review our vulnerabilities and make this less likely to happen again, Lonergan said. Sac RT hit by cyber ransom attack over weekend https://t.co/czIHa7FE2b CBS Sacramento CBS13 (@CBSSacramento) November 20, 2017 Hackers attack Sacramento transit system and demand $8,000 ransom https://t.co/Mf7FYJqxmF Ed Fletcher (@NewsFletch) November 20, 2017 And while youre here We have a small favor to ask of you. More people are reading NTD TV than ever, but ad revenues are plummeting across media websites. If you can, please share this article on Facebook so you can help NTD. It takes less than a minute. Thank you very much! The Argentine submarine ARA San Juan, S-42, docked before a mission. The sub has been missing since Nov. 15, 2017. (en.wikipedia.org) Heat Signature Found in Search for Missing Argentine Submarine as Oxygen Runs Out A missing Argentine submarines crew is slated to run out of oxygen on Wednesday amid reports of the discovery of the vessels heat signature. The ARA San Juan went missing in the South Atlantic Ocean last week about 200 miles from the city of Puerto Madryn. A large heat signal was found, and search planes and ships were sent to determine whether its a false alarm or not, according to the Daily Mail. A U.S. Navy aircraft detected a heat stain from 230 feet below the surface of the ocean. A rescue vessel also reported hearing a sonar signal. The United States, Britain, and three other countries are helping Argentina search for the missing submarine. Oxygen is a permanent worry. Every day that passes is more critical, naval commander Gabriel Galeazzi said at an evening news conference in Mar del Plata, according to the Evening Standard. More than a dozen boats and planes from Argentina, the United States, Britain, Chile, and Brazil are searching. If the German-built submarine had sunk or was otherwise unable to rise to the surface since it gave its last location on Nov. 15, it would be using up the last of its seven-day oxygen supply, according to Reuters. We are in the critical phaseparticularly with respect to oxygen, Balbi told reporters. There has been no contact with anything that could be the San Juan submarine. Around 30 boats and planes and 4,000 people from Argentina, the United States, Britain, Chile, and Brazil have joined the search for the submarine, which last transmitted its location about 300 miles from the coast. Just catching up on this #ARASanJuan story and it sounds insane. Submarine w/ 44 Argentinian sailors went missing 6 days ago. Sonar is picking up sounds of they think are sailors banging. They might only have 1 day of oxygen left. Hope they can be rescued. Matt McCarthy (@mccarthystweets) November 22, 2017 @NASA_Johnson @ISS_Research @NASA @Space_Station Map of posible Point of coordinate Submarine Agentina ARA San Juan. Theory of Point! Time-SPACE Acting Administrator Robert M. Lightfoot Jr pic.twitter.com/9HOTgp0cqA Marcos Passarello (@Marcospassare) November 22, 2017 Planes have covered some 190,000 square miles of the ocean surface, but much of the area has not yet been scoured by the boats. Capt. Balbi added: The seven days is not dogmatic. It varies according to the circumstances. As a submariner, I am not losing hope, according to the Daily Mail. And while youre here We work hard to deliver the most important and interesting news every day for you, but would like to ask a little favor in return: Would you please share this story with your friends? You can just click the share button below. Thank you! Attorney General Jeff Sessions at the headquarters of the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) in Fall Church, Va., on Oct. 12, 2017. (Benjamin Chasteen/The Epoch Times) Justice Department Moves to Strip Child Sex Abusers of US Citizenship WASHINGTONFive men who became U.S. citizens around the turn of the century are child sex abusers who the Justice Department is trying to strip of their citizenship. The department on Nov. 21 filed lawsuits against all five menthree are natives of Mexico, one of Colombia, and one of Nigeriasaying they committed fraud by concealing the sexual abuse during the naturalization process. The men committed crimes of sexual abuse of minor victims prior to naturalizing, the Justice Department said. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the fraud is a betrayal of the American peoples generosity. It is especially appalling when it also involves the sexual abuse of children. The Department of Justice has a duty to prosecute these crimes vigorously, particularly so for individuals who commit fraud in the naturalization process, Sessions said. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, the citizenship of a naturalized U.S. citizen may be revoked if it was illegally procured, or procured by concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation. Other ways a naturalized U.S. citizen can become denaturalized and deported include refusal to testify before Congress, a dishonorable discharge from the military before serving five years, or membership in a subversive group (such as the Nazi Party or al-Qaeda) within five years of being naturalized. A person applying for naturalization must prove they are a person of good moral character, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website. This includes not committing a crime against a person with intent to harm. The Offenders The Justice Department provided the following information about the five men, who were living in Florida, Illinois, and Texas: Jorge Luis Alvarado Jorge Luis Alvarado, 56, a native of Mexico, was naturalized on March 9, 2000. Shortly before filing his naturalization application, Alvarado made unlawful sexual contact with a 16-year-old child. In March 2007, he pleaded guilty in Texas state court to committing indecency with a child by sexual contact, a second-degree felony. Alvarado was ordered to community supervision and to register as a sex offender. He has been residing in southern Texas. Alberto Mario Beleno Alberto Mario Beleno, 64, a native of Colombia, was naturalized on Feb. 26, 2001. Before Beleno was naturalized, he committed lewd and lascivious acts on a 6-year-old child. In 2001, less than three months after he was naturalized, Beleno was arrested and ultimately pleaded guilty/nolo contendere in Florida state court to committing felony lewd and lascivious exhibition and felony lewd and lascivious molestation of a minor in 1993 and 1994. Beleno was ordered to register as a sex offender for his conduct. His last known residence in the United States was in Miami, Florida. Eleazar Corral Valenzuela Eleazar Corral Valenzuela, 49, a native of Mexico, was naturalized on June 15, 2000. Prior to applying to naturalize, he sexually abused a minor child. In November 2000, after his naturalization, Corral pleaded guilty in Illinois state court to aggravated criminal sexual abuse, a Class 2 felony. He was ordered to register as a sex offender. He has been residing in Aurora, Illinois. Moises Herrera-Gonzalez Moises Herrera-Gonzalez, 55, a native of Mexico, naturalized on Sept. 25, 1999. On Jan. 1, 1996, before he filed his naturalization application, Herrera-Gonzalez sexually assaulted and injured a 6-year-old child. He filed his naturalization application in September 1996, nine months after the sexual assault. On July 8, 2002, after he was naturalized, Herrera-Gonzalez pleaded guilty in Texas state court to committing bodily injury to a child, a third-degree felony. He was sentenced to five years in prison. He has been residing in Arlington, Texas. Emmanuel Olugbenga Omopariola Emmanuel Olugbenga Omopariola, 60, a native of Nigeria, naturalized on July 1, 2004. Before he filed his naturalization application in May 2003, Omopariola made unlawful sexual contact with a 7-year-old child. In 2015, after he was naturalized, Omopariola pleaded guilty in Texas state court to indecency with a childsexual contact, a second-degree felony. He was ordered to undergo five years of community supervision and placed on the sex offender registry. He has been residing in Grand Prairie, Texas. Ellery Chartier-Molinari, 4, was abandoned on a school bus in Windsor, Canada, on Nov. 20, 2017, when the driver failed to do a child check. (JoAnne Chartier) Kindergarten Child Left Alone on Freezing School Bus, Driver Fired A driver failed to follow procedure and abandoned a 4-year-old girl alone on a school bus for three hours in frigid Windsor, Canada, on Monday, Nov. 20, reports the CBC. The fallout from the incident has prompted policy amendments at the bus company to further reduce the likelihood of something like this happening again, according to CTV. While the distressed mother launched a desperate search for her missing daughter, young Ellery Chartier-Molinari sat shivering and alone inside the bus, far away from the day care where she was supposed to be, reports CBC. The kindergartner got on the bus and set off for day care. What she didnt do is get off at her stop because she fell asleep. The driver finished his route and left the bus and child locked up in the bus yard. What he didnt do is perform a child check, which is standard company protocol at CG Pearson Bus Lines, the drivers now former employer. According to Pearson Transportation Manager Ryan Pearson, CBC reported that company policy is for drivers to check the bus after each section of their run. The driver responsible for the young girls traumatic experience was terminated on Tuesday, Nov. 21. We will do everything in our power to make sure this never happens again, said Pearson, according to CBC. The incident sparked a passenger safety policy review at the company, which is exploring ways to make it easier for parents to get in touch in case of emergencies. Pearson also now requires drivers to radio dispatch to confirm that they have carried out a child check. Policies like these could have saved Ellerys mother, JoAnne Chartier, some anguish. If theres a child trapped on the bus because your employee didnt check, you should be reachable, said Chartier, according to CBC. Im glad theyre doing something now, but for us its too late. Chartier said that when she went to pick up her daughter at day care and was informed by staff that Ellery hadnt got off the bus that day, she panicked. It was a parents worst nightmare, she said, reported CBC. I had no idea where she was or even how to find her because the bus company was unreachable. Chartier said she was unable to reach anyone at CG Pearson Bus Lines directly and contacted the police. She credits her sisters outreach to a Facebook group of about 5,000 moms for finally getting through to the company. It turns out one of the women in the group worked with the company and helped put Chartier in touch. Moments before police officers and family arrived at the bus yard, Pearson employees found the girl, according to the CBC report. Shaking and cold, Ellery was sitting on the bus and was being quiet because youre supposed to be quiet on the bus, said her mother, reported CBC. I was crying, we gave each other a big hug and she wiped my tears. According to her mother, Ellery had some trouble falling asleep and was nervous about getting on the bus the following day. Chartier is planning to take legal action in connection with the incident. We work hard to bring you the best stories from around the world, but we cant do it without ad revenue. If you like this article, please share it with your friends and family. Lebanese politician Saad al-Hariri speaks during a press conference at Kuwait international airport in Kuwait City on May 4, 2008. Hariri recently resigned as Lebanons prime minister, perhaps while under pressure to do so from Saudi Arabia. (YASSER AL-ZAYYAT/AFP/Getty Images) Lebanon Poised on Edge of Cliff, Again Throughout its modern existence, Lebanon has frequently teetered on the edge of disasterand more than occasionally tumbled into the gulf. With a population divided between Christians and Sunni and Shia Muslims, the political structure reflects this circumstance. The President, for example, has to be a Maronite Christian, the Prime Minister a Sunni Muslim, the Speaker of the Parliament a Shia Muslim, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Deputy Speaker of Parliament Eastern Orthodox. Until 1990 when the Taif Agreement ended the 1975-90 civil war, Christians held a 6 to 5 majority in parliament; the agreement evened the Christian-Muslim ratio. Lebanon has not held a census since 1932 for fear of finding officially the realitythat the percentage of the Muslim population has increased significantly. Thus at its base Lebanon lives a lie with all of the consequences associated with such mendacity. Despite these inherent tensions, Lebanon fared well until its 1975-90 civil war. The country was relatively calm and renowned as prosperous, characterized by tourism, agriculture, commerce, and banking. Read More Lebanon Squeezed Between Saudi Arabia and Iran Financial power and diversity prompted the sobriquet Switzerland of the East during the 1960s, and Beirut, as a tourist playground for Arabs to loosen the shackles of their national rules, resulted in being labeled the Paris of the Middle East. Or, What happened in Beirut, stayed in Beirut. Sectarian tension in 1975 culminated in the civil war between Christians and Muslims. Christians asked for and received Syrian intervention to calm the fighting (but getting the Syrians in was much easier than getting them out). A major effort was directed at removing PLO members. A Multinational Force, including United States, France, Italy, and the UK oversaw its removal in 1982. In the eyes of Lebanese, however, the MLF morphed into being a catspaw for Israel, and suicide truck bombers in October 1983 blew up the Marine barracks killing 220 Marines of 1st battalion/8th Marines and other U.S. servicemen, making this incident the deadliest single-day death toll for the Marine Corps since Iwo Jima. Simultaneously, truck bombers blew up the French barracks, killing 55 French troops. This disaster followed the April 1983 attack on the U.S. embassy that effectively destroyed it, killing 63 Americans and Lebanese. Understandably, the U.S. government has been uninterested in further military intervention either unilateral or multilateral. Sporadic fighting continued, marked by atrocity, massacre, assassination, Israeli invasion, and continued destruction of the country. The 1989 Taif agreement, brought peaceat a price. All militias were disbandedexcept Hezbollah. And Hezbollah is regarded as a terrorist organization by many, including the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and other Arab states. The country has staggered along for 25 yearsa collection of swords piled like jackstraws. Never short of drama, in February 2005 former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri (father of the current prime minister) was assassinated by a massive car bomb. One positive was popular reaction to the bombing forced the long-overdue withdrawal of Syrian forces. The last decade has seen Lebanon struggling to recover both economically and politically with politicians serving as proxies for Iran (President Michel Aoun) and Saudi Arabia (Prime Minister Hariri) in their fighting in Syria and elsewhere in the region. One consequence has been over a million refugees exacerbating intercommunal tensions. Hence to the current imbroglio. Hariri, who holds Lebanese, Saudi, (and, very quietly, French) citizenship, resigned on Nov. 4 (or maybe not), choosing to do so from Saudis capital Riyadh. Such action generated a plethora of explanations and extrapolations. In various iterations, they included Hariri being kidnapped by the Saudis and forced to resign; Hariri attempting to pressure other Lebanese actors to force Hezbollah from power; and/or a Saudi attempt to force the Hariri family to surrender economic control of a business located in Saudi. But Lebanese leadership insisted Hariri must return to Lebanon to resign officially. And, in an arrangement apparently brokered by French President Macron, Hariri (after various announced departure dates) appeared in Paris on Nov. 18 ending the international political equivalent of the childs game Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego. So what next? Hariris professed desire to pressure removal of Hezbollah and concurrent Iranian political influence seems quixotic at best. Happily, the likelihood of another direct Hezbollah attack on Israel/massive Israeli riposte now seems unlikely. Perhaps it was no more than a fit of nerves by an essentially nonpolitician who feared assassination (and left wife and children in Saudi). Theoretically, he plans a Nov. 22 return to celebrate Lebanese Independence Daya date Americans remember as the day JFK was assassinated. David T. Jones is a retired U.S. State Department senior foreign service career officer who has published several hundred books, articles, columns, and reviews on U.S.Canadian bilateral issues and general foreign policy. During a career that spanned over 30 years, he concentrated on politico-military issues, serving as adviser for two Army chiefs of staff. Among his books is Alternative North Americas: What Canada and the United States Can Learn from Each Other. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia at the Oval Office at the White House May 13, 2015 in Washington, DC. (Olivier Douliery - Pool/Getty Images) Lebanon Squeezed Between Saudi Arabia and Iran Simmering tension between the governments of tiny Lebanon (pop. 6m), the most religiously diverse country in the Middle East, and regional super power Saudi Arabia (pop. 32m) has escalated recently, worsening the already bad security situation across the region. On Nov. 4, Lebanons Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, a longtime beneficiary of Saudi support, astonished many after vanishing two weeks earlier and then announcing his resignation while in Saudi Arabia. Concurrently, Saudi Arabias emboldened Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman began his purge of anyone who might question his leadership, including eleven princes and four ministers. Al-Hariris jet on landing in Riyadh was reportedly surrounded by Saudi police. Lebanese political leaders ascribe his abrupt decision to quit as yielding to pressure from Riyadh while under house arrest. Read More Lebanon Poised on Edge of Cliff, Again Al-Hariri, however, insists the resignation was prompted by an assassination plot (His respected father, Rafik, also a Lebanese prime minister, was assassinated in 2005 in Beirut.) and accused Iran and Hezbollah of sowing strife across the region. Many noted that the Saudis were upset by al-Hariris failure to wean his government away from Hezbollah, a militant Shia political organization and militia created and backed by Irans regime. Prince Salman is pursuing both an aggressive Yemen policy and the ongoing blockade of Qatar. Samia Nakhoul of Reuters News wrote that many Lebanese fear Saudi Arabia will do to Lebanon what it did to Qatar and pressure its Arab allies to enforce an economic blockade until its demands are met. The 400,000 Lebanese who work in the Gulf region generate US$8 billion annually in remittances that account for 20 percent of Lebanons GDP. There is also the question of Lebanons Syrian refugees. The official number is one million, but the UNHCR stopped counting in 2015. Many believe it is now closer to 1.5 million or roughly a quarter of Lebanons population. Hariri said in April that Lebanon was close to a breaking point because of the refugees. The civil war in Syria has seriously weakened Lebanons economy, slowing growth to about one percent from an average of eight percent beforehand. Estimates of the aggregate costs of Syrias war to Lebanon run as high as $18 billion to the end of 2015 and have also raised tensions among its various communities, which support different sides. On Nov. 4, a ballistic missile reportedly of Iranian make was fired on Tehrans instructions by Yemens Houthi rebels. The missile, aimed at Riyadhs airport, was successfully intercepted. The Houthis have been receiving support from Hezbollah to fight the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen, which has greatly intensified the impoverished nations humanitarian crisis. In various conflicts in Syria and Iraq, forces backed by Iran are currently prevailing. Thousands of Hezbollah fighters continue to defend the inhuman regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. If the pro-Assad militias capture the Syrian-Iraqi border crossing at Bukamal from ISIS, Tehran will achieve its swath of influence from Iran to the Mediterranean. This prospect understandably makes Saudis, Israelis, and other nations nervous. The result could be Saudi economic sanctions on Lebanon and punitive Israeli strikes on Hezbollah positions. A Lebanese paper sympathetic to Hezbollah recently published a secret document, showing that the Saudis are willing to normalize relations with Israel as part of a U.S.-led Israeli-Palestinian peace effort to unite the region against Iran. Such initiatives would undoubtedly lead to even greater tensions between the Saudi monarchy and Irans Supreme Leader. If Lebanon becomes another destabilizing proxy battlefield between the two capitals, security in the Middle East will undergo yet another major setback. Middle East specialist Thanassis Cambanis notes compellingly in The Atlantic: (War between Saudi Arabia and Iran) would upend still more lives in a part of the world where the recently displaced number in the millions, the dead in the hundreds of thousands, and where epidemics of disease and malnutrition strike with depressing regularity. Short of direct war, Riyadhs machinations will likely produce a destabilizing proxy war. The Saudi regime seems willing to launch a proxy war with Iran in order to shore up its crown princes credentials as a leader protecting Saudi Arabias interests. U.S. President Donald Trump appears ready to put the squeeze on Iran. Al-Hariri, a dual Lebanese-Saudi national, spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Nov. 18 and plans to return to Beirut on Nov. 22, Lebanons Independence Day. Lebanon is caught in the power struggle between Saudi Arabia and Iran with little control over its future. Tragically for its people and the refugees in Lebanon, any agreement between them by which they would work through all issues of concern and relinquish their support for proxies in third countries is highly unlikely in the coming months. The United States and France, which brokered al-Hararis release, are best placed to push for a peaceful solution if willing. David Kilgour, a lawyer by profession, served in Canadas House of Commons for almost 27 years. In Jean Chretiens Cabinet, he was secretary of state (Africa and Latin America) and secretary of state (Asia-Pacific). He is the author of several books and co-author with David Matas of Bloody Harvest: The Killing of Falun Gong for Their Organs. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Sayfullo Saipov, the suspect in the New York City truck attack, is seen in this courtroom sketch appearing in Manhattan federal courtroom in a wheelchair in New York, NY, U.S., Nov. 1, 2017. (Reuters/Jane Rosenberg) Man Charged With Terrorism, Murder in New York Truck Attack WASHINGTONA federal grand jury on Tuesday, Nov. 21, indicted Sayfullo Saipov on terrorism and murder charges stemming from last months truck attack in Lower Manhattan in which eight people were killed, the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement. Saipov was arrested immediately after the Oct. 31 attack in which he plowed a truck down a New York City bike lane and has been in federal custody. The indictment charged Saipov with eight counts of murder, 12 counts of attempted murder, one count of providing and attempting to provide material support to ISIS and one count of violence and destruction of a motor vehicle resulting in death, the Justice Department said. Saipov, an Uzbek immigrant, was hospitalized after he was shot by a police officer and arrested. ISISI claimed responsibility for the truck attack, which was the deadliest assault on New York City since Sept. 11, 2001. Five of the victims were Argentinians who were part of a group in New York to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their high school graduation. A Belgian woman, a New Yorker and a New Jersey man were also killed. Mother Facing Jail Time for Trying to Help Daughter Stop School Bullying The mother of a Norfolk, Virginia, elementary school student was arrested for trying to help her daughter record bullies. The mother said she gave her daughter a recorder to take to school to record bullying. She said she tried to alert the school administration to the problem, but received no response. If Im not getting an answer from you, what am I left to do? said single mother Sarah Sims, via WAVY. She was planning to have her daughter help her case that nothing was being done by the school to stop the bullying. Instead, after the daughter was found with the digital recorder, the mother ended up in jail and is facing felony charges, according to WAVY. The thing that bothers me the most is that I am yet to get a response from anyone in the administration, Sims added, via WAVY. According to WAVY Sims was charged with felony use of a device to intercept oral communication and misdemeanor contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The felony charge could mean five years in prison for Sims. I was mortified, Sims told WAVY. The next thing I know, Im a felon. Felony charges and a misdemeanor when Im trying to look out for my kid. What do you do? Simss lawyer, Kristin Paulding, thinks the charges are exaggerated, according to WAVY. They arent making this about that classroom, said Paulding. [T]hese are charges that carry jail time. Instead of comforting her shes going to a magistrate and being handcuffed, Paulding added, via WAVY. Paulding doesnt think the court will take the charges seriously. We are at the very early stages of this, but even at the early stages I think the community needs to know that this is happening because any parent out there that is sending their child to school now could be at risk for something that happened to Sarah, Paulding said. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Jan. 18. Meanwhile, the child has been moved to another classroom. The contents of any recordings the child may have made remain a mystery. From NTD.tv Like what you read? Then please help us grow! Please share with your networks and help spread the word. A man watches a television news screen showing a picture of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un delivering a statement in Pyongyang, at a railway station in Seoul on Sept. 22, 2017. (JUNG YEON-JE/AFP/Getty Images) North Korea Threatens Retaliation over Terror Designation North Korea is warning it will settle accounts with the United States over being relisted as a state sponsor of terrorism. This is a serious provocation and a violent infringement upon our dignified country, said a foreign affairs spokesperson for the regime on Nov. 22. The threatening commentary was published by North Korean news agency KCNA. President Donald Trump announced the designation Tuesday, relisting the communist regime after former President George W. Bush delisted it in 2008 following an ill-fated deal for the county to abandon its nuclear weapons program. Besides bombing a South Korean flight in 1987 and conducting various kidnappings and attacks outside North Korea, the regime is believed responsible for the assassination of leader Kim Jong Uns half-brother, Kim Jong Nam, in Malaysia in February. The North Korean spokesperson denied the regime has supported terrorism. North Korea withdrew from the international treaty on non-proliferation in January 2003. North Koreas pursuit of nuclear weapons has stirred fears it could sell those systems to other countries, a possibility that North Korean defector Thae Yong Ho said was highly likely during testimony before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on Nov 1. North Koreas long-standing military cooperation with Iran, which extends to missile development, gives credence to concerns the regime would share that technology, said the former North Korean diplomat. When asked directly if North Korea would sell nuclear weapons technology to Iran, Thae said: Absolutely, because North Korea is a country who wants to sell anything for the hard currency. Alongside the designation, Trump announced additional sanctions from the U.S. Treasury Department. The regime said the sanctions were unjust and would not dissuade it from pursuing nuclear weapons. The regimes statement accuses the United States of trying to destroy the North Korean communist ideology, but said no sanctions could stand up to the great and limitless strength of self-reliance and self-development of our people who are closely rallied around their leader. Our army and people are full of rage and anger towards the heinous gangsters who dared to put the name of our sacred country in this wretched list of terrorism and are hardening their will to settle all accounts with those gangsters at any time in any way. The U.S. will be held entirely accountable for all the consequences to be entailed by its impudent provocation to the DPRK, it finished. The statement came on the heels of an editorial in the regimes Rodong Sinmun newspaper that attacked President Trump for comments made in South Koreas National Assembly in Seoul on Nov. 7. In the speech Trump noted widespread abuses of the Kim regime and the consequences of its policies. Among children under the age of five, nearly 30 percent of afflictedand are afflicted by stunted growth due to malnutrition, said Trump. An estimated 100,000 North Koreans suffer in gulags, toiling in forced labor and enduring torture, starvation, rape, and murder on a constant basis. Trump criticized the regime for its outsized spending on statutes glorifying the Kim family compared to providing basic necessities for the North Korean people. North Korea is not the paradise your grandfather envisioned. It is a hell that no person deserves, said Trump. The Rodong Sinmun commentary published yesterday said Trump should be sternly punished for his remarks. We can never overlook the fact that Trump malignantly slandered and insulted the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK and its socialist system, it reads. Think your friends may not know about this? Share it on Facebook and you will help keep them up to date and help us earn the ad revenue we need to keep reporting. Thank you! United Nations Command spokesman Colonel Chad G. Carroll shows a surveillance TV footage containing the moment of defection of a North Korean Soldier, during a press briefing at the Defence Ministry in Seoul on Nov. 22, 2017. A North Korean soldier crossed the border into the South in breach of a 1953 armistice agreement as he pursued a defector who was shot last week, the US-led United Nations Command (UNC) said on Nov. 22. (JUNG YEON-JE/AFP/Getty Images) North Korea Violated Armistice When Firing, Crossing Border, UN Says Latest in series of violations of armistice by the North Korean regime North Korea violated its armistice with United Nations Command (UNC) when its soldiers opened fire on a soldier attempting to defect by crossing through the joint security area where the North and South Korean soldiers stand face-to-face. While the UNC is looking for a way to prevent future violations, North Korea has repeatedly announced that it had withdrawn from the armistice. North Koreas previous violations of the agreement have been more severe. UNC Investigation The UNC completed an investigation of the incident on Monday and issued its finding on Nov, 21. North Korea violated the armistice twice during the incident, it said. The Special Investigation Team says the North Korean soldiers violated the armistice by firing weapons across the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) and by one of the soldiers momentarily crossing the MDL in pursuit of the defector. The UNC has notified North Korea of the violations and requested a meeting to discuss the investigation results and prevent future violations. UNC Commander Gen. Vincent K. Brooks said the UNC security battalion handled the situation properly to deter a resumption of hostilities. The armistice agreement was challenged, but it remains in place, he said. Violations of Armistice The North Korean regime has repeatedly withdrawn from the armistice and has consistently violated it. The regime has announced its withdrawal from the agreement six timesin 1994, 1996, 2003, 2006, 2009, and 2013. Those announcements often came in protest of U.S.-South Korean military cooperation. In 2009, the regime went as far as saying the two countries were back in a state of war. In 2013, the North again said it was not bound by the armistice after being hit with sanctions due to its nuclear bomb test at the time. As the U.N. prepared to vote on those sanctions, Pyongyang even threatened nuclear war. Now that the U.S. is set to light a fuse for a nuclear war, the revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK will exercise the right to a preemptive nuclear attack to destroy the strongholds of the aggressors and to defend the supreme interests of the country, read a statement issued from North Korea at the time. One of the more startling violations of the armistice was North Koreas repeated attempts to tunnel under the demilitarized zone so that it could more effectively invade South Korea. One of the tunnels created for a surprise attack on Seoul extended a quarter of a mile into South Korea and was large enough to put 30,000 soldiers an hour under the demilitarized zone. It is now used as a tourist destination. The regime is believed to have dug around 20 tunnels, though only four have been discovered. The tunnels have become less relevant as the North has improved its missile technology. More recently, in 2010, North Korea torpedoed the ROKS Cheonan, a South Korean corvette, killing 46 soldiers. Later that year, the regime fired around 200 shells at a military base on Yeonpyeong island, killing two soldiers and two civilians. Latest Incident The latest violation of the armistice happened on Nov. 13. Footage from UNC cameras inside the demilitarized zone captured the defector racing his jeep across the 72-hour Bridge, pulling over, and running to South Korea through the joint security area where North and South Korean soldiers stand face-to-face. North Korean soldiers pursued and fired on the defector even after he crossed the military demarcation line (MDL) that separates North from South Korea. One of the soldiers chased the defector across the painted stripe that shows the exact location of the MDL. The soldiers fired 40 rounds, hitting the defector at least five times, causing him to take cover and lay on the ground until UNC security battalion soldiers recovered him and had him medically evacuated. Both firing across the MDL and crossing it were clear violations of the armistice, said the UNC. Think your friends may not know about this? Share it on Facebook and you will help keep them up to date and help us earn the ad revenue we need to keep reporting. Thank you! North Koreas Shrinking Pool Of International Relations North Koreas propaganda apparatus clings to each and every example that the isolated regime still maintains some friends in the outside world. But the reality is more stark. While the regime did have ties throughout the communist world, it has found friends harder to hold on to as many of its former friends have abandoned Marxism. As the U.S.-led campaign of maximum pressure continues, Kim Jong Un has found his communist dictatorship increasingly isolated. One mark of how cut off the regime has become came when Air China announced this week that it had cancelled its route to North Korea due to lack of demand. While China remains North Koreas most critical trading partner, relations are fraught. A Chinese envoy returned from North Korea on Nov. 20, with no news or confirmation he met with Kim Jong Un, an unusual twist. North Korea saw its already isolated position begin to worsen after its Sept. 3 nuclear test when several countries downgraded or broke off diplomatic ties. Spain, Kuwait, Peru, and Mexico ejected North Koreas ambassadors while Egypt and Uganda broke off military ties. The Philippines, one of North Koreas few major trade partners, suspended trade. Many other countries, like Canada, had already downgraded diplomatic ties with the regime and had sanctions in place prior to the nuclear test. Russia has reportedly used the breakdown between North Korea and China to try to tighten relations with the Kim regime, which would make it one of the few countries doing so. Singapore was North Koreas seventh-largest trading partner, but it announced last week it would cut trade ties with the country. Last week the State Department also announced Sudan had agreed to sever all trade and military ties with North Korea. As the regime grows more isolated, its remaining ties become more meaningful. Last week, the regime dispatched its foreign minister, Ri Yong Ho, to Cuba, according to the Korean Central News Agency. The rare diplomatic exchange made headlines for being one of the few overt examples of diplomatic relations between North Korea and another country. While the connection gives North Korea some public support, the limited trade relationship with Cuba does little to resolve the regimes pressing economic issues. The regime has also maintained ties with Iran, a relationship that dates back to the 1980s. Iran and North Korea forged relations when the Kim regime supplied Iran with missiles while it was under an arms embargo. North Korea has other relationships with some African countries, but meaningful ties to countries it can trade with are gradually dissolving. Some of North Koreas longest standing relationships are with Bulgaria, Pakistan, and Malaysia. Bulgaria, however, is also pursuing closer ties with South Korea and has publicly criticized North Koreas nuclear program. Pakistan has been an important arms customer of North Koreas and reportedly bought long-range missiles from the Kim regime while offering civilian nuclear technology. While details of the current relationship are hard to obtain, Pakistan issued a carefully worded statement maintaining that North Korea should comply with UN Security Council sanctions. Malaysia, another nation North Korea had long standing ties with, also downgraded its relations with North Korea, withdrawing its ambassador and instituting a travel ban in September. Pressure from the United States has pushed Malaysia to limit bilateral ties with North Korea, and the Kim regimes presumed assassination of Kims estranged half-brother Kim Jong-nam at Malaysias Kuala Lumpur International Airport in February also had an impact. If you enjoyed reading this article, please share it. Wei Li, who allegedly threatened mass murder at a church and a Las Vegas casino between Nov. 6 and Nov. 9. - Summit County Sheriff's Office Ohio Man Arrested for Threatening Mass Murder An Ohio man is in federal custody for allegedly threatening mass murder at a Las Vegas casino and a church. Wei Li, 28, of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, allegedly sent his estranged wife a series of texts threatening to carry out a massacre of historic proportions. Lis wife reported the texts to the Las Vegas police department, which notified both the Cuyahoga Falls police and the FBI. The Cleveland Division of the FBI said Li texted these threats to his wife between Nov. 69, according to Fox News. Li was arrested on Nov. 10 and was booked into Summit County Jail on $500,000 bail. He faces charges including interstate threatening communications and destruction of evidence. According to court documents accessed by Cleveland.com, Li told his wife he would come to the Las Vegas hotel and casino where she worked and carry out a mass shooting. In another text, he told his wife he was going to shoot up the church they had attended. There are 1,000 people in our church, Li texted his wife, according to Cleveland.com. I will make the biggest in history. He also sent his wife photographs of himself holding guns and knives along with a list of Las Vegas casinos. He texted her that if he didnt get his green card, he would kill her. According to the court records, Li also told his wife that he had visited the casino where she worked, to see if he could get in while armed. No one checked me, hed told her. When FBI and Cuyahoga Falls police arrested Li at his home, he admitted sending bad texts. He turned over his phone but had deleted the threatening texts. According to Fox News, the FBI was able to recover them. Li said he was having family problems and was not serious about carrying out his threats. He had no guns at his home. Police did find knives that looked like the knives he used in the videos. Lis threats drew a swift response after the last two mass murders which have rocked the nation, one of which was in Las Vegas. Lis threats to kill shoot up a Las Vegas casino evoke the deadly attack on a country music concert on Oct. 1, 2017. In that incident a gunman unleashed a hail of bullets on a crowd of concert-goers below, killing 58 and wounding hundreds more. Lis threats about a mass shooting in a church come after the murder of 26 worshippers at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, on Nov. 5. Think your friends may not know about this? Share it on Facebook and you will help keep them up to date and help us earn the ad revenue we need to keep reporting. Thank you! From NTD.tv Rare Mature White Crocodile Spotted in Northern Australia Tourists were fortunate enough to get a glimpse of a mature white crocodile nicknamed Pearl during a cruise in northern Australia on Nov. 19. Pearl was spotted in Adelaide River, Northern Territory, by staff and tourists who were on the Spectacular Jumping Crocodile Cruise, reported NT News. NT Crocodile Conservation & Protection Society has speculated on a Facebook post that the reptile is the offspring of Michael Jackson another rare crocodile with a black body and white head. Michael Jackson was killed after taking the life of fisherman Lanh Van Tran in 2014. Michael Jackson and Pearls appearance is caused by hypomelanism, a condition where a reduced amount of the pigment melanin is produced compared to other animals of the same species seen in the wild, according to BBC citing a zoologist. Adam Britton, a research associate at Charles Darwin University, said hypomelanism probably occurred through genetics or during incubation. During incubation, if the eggs in the nest get a little bit too hot, it can lead to errors in cell division and cause mutations, Britton told BBC. He added that the condition could cause a color mutation or a different pattern of scales on the skin. Britton also said that white crocodiles are not uncommon among young crocodiles, particularly ones bred in crocodile farms. Its a little bit more unusual to see an adult crocodile with that lighter coloration, Britton told the news station. Ive seen crocodiles like this every now and then, but not as big in the wild, he added. Dear reader, we have a little favor to ask of you. We work hard to deliver important and interesting articles to you, but we cant do it without ad revenue. Please help support independent journalism by sharing this article with your friends and family. It takes less than a minute. Thank you! From NTD.tv The village of Albinen in the summer. (Leukerbad 365) The Swiss Mountain Village that could Pay You $70,000 to Move In The dream of a peaceful chalet nestling high in the Swiss mountains, a short hop from one of Europes largest health spas, comes with the expectation of a big price tag. But the picturesque village of Albinen in Switzerland is so desperate to boost its flagging population, they are considering paying people US$70,000 (70,000 Swiss Francs) to move there. The only catch is that its a ten-year contract: move out before and you have to pay it back. Children are worth extra. The mountain village of Albinen is 1,300m above sea level in the Rhone valley. Like other villages in the area it has suffered from an exodus of young people. After the local school shut down, locals decided to take action, petitioning the mayor with a proposal for the village to invest in its own futureby paying families to move there. The village, with a population of 240, will vote next week on proposals outlined in the local village newsletter. The scheme would mean the local authorities pay 25,000 Swiss francs (around US$25,000) to any individual willing to buy or build a house in the village. Couples would get 50,000 francs, plus 10,000 francs for each child born within a 10-year window. The center of the village boasts narrow cobbled streets, a shop and old houses. Newcomers would have to speak German, the regions first language. Albinen is four miles away from Leukerbad, which hosts one of Europes largest health spa complexes, famed for its calcium- and sulphate-rich thermal waters. President of Albinen Beat Jost said: Second homes and large residential complexes of investor groups are out of the question. Anyone who moves away again ten years after the start of construction or after buying the house must repay the money, he said, reported the Metro. Most of the previous residents who have left the village have been families with children. The school recently had to shut down when the number of pupils dropped to seven, according to Swiss news agency ATS. According to the Telegraph, the village population peaked at 380, in 1900. But Albinen is by no means the first dwindling village in Europe to cook up discounts in hopes of enticing more residents. The Italian town of Candela announced last month it would give handouts to new residents. According to The Daily Mail, Switzerlands smallest mountain village of Corippo plans to turn the entire village, which has only a 13 inhabitants left, into a giant hotel. Italy announced earlier this year that it was giving away 103 of its historic buildings for free, according to The Telegraph, on the condition that the newcomers transformed the properties into tourist facilities. Like this story? Please consider sharing with friends and family. A North Korean ship passes in front of the waterfront of the Chinese border city of Dandong (at rear), in China's northeast Liaoning Province on Sept. 4, 2017. The U.S. Department of the Treasury added more than a dozen business entities to the list of companies targeted by U.S. sanctions against North Korea, including a Chinese company accused of helping the North Korean regime to develop weapons of mass destruction. (Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images) U.S. Sanctions on Chinese Companies Doing Business With North Korea Are About to Get More Serious More than a dozen business entities have been newly added to the list of companies targeted by U.S. sanctions against North Korea, one of which is a Chinese company accused of helping the North Korean regime develop weapons of mass destruction. The move is the latest in a string of actions taken by the Trump administration to crackdown on Chinese companies known for assisting the Kim Jong Un regime. U.S. Department of the Treasurys Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced on Tuesday that one individual, 12 shipping companies, and 20 vessels with long-standing commercial ties to North Korea have been added to the U.S. sanction efforts against the totalitarian regime. Most of the newly added shipping companies are alleged to have engaged in significant importation from or exportation of goods to North Korea. Others are alleged to have involved in the exportation of overseas workers from North Korea, a system that has been described as modern day slave labor by an earlier State Department report released in June. Four Chinese shipping companies and one executive have been named by the announcement as responsible for having cumulatively exported approximately $650 million worth of goods to North Korea, and cumulatively imported more than $100 million worth of goods from North Korea. These goods have included computers and various raw materials. Of particular note is the Chinese company Dandong Dongyuan Industrial Co., Ltd (Dongyuan) and its owner Sun Sidong, which the OFAC said have been associated with front companies for weapons of mass destruction-related North Korean organizations. According to OFAC, Dongyuan exported over $28 million worth of goods to North Korea over several years, including motor vehicles, electrical machinery, radio navigational items, aluminum, iron, pipes, and items associated with nuclear reactors. As North Korea continues to threaten international peace and security, we are steadfast in our determination to maximize economic pressure to isolate it from outside sources of trade and revenue while exposing its evasive tactics, said Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. We are also sanctioning the shipping and transportation companies, and their vessels, that facilitate North Koreas trade and its deceptive maneuvers. Other newly added targets include two North Korean government agencies and six North Korean shipping and trading companies that the OFAC said have violated sanctions. These entities used deceptive shipping practices including ship-to-ship transfers to evade sanctions, a practice that OFAC said is prohibited by United Nations Security Council resolution. The logo of Uber is seen on an iPad, during a news conference to announce Uber resumes ride-hailing service, in Taipei, Taiwan April 13, 2017. (Reuters/Tyrone Siu/File Photo) Uber Paid Hackers to Cover up Massive Data Breach Uber paid hackers $100,000 to keep secret a massive breach last year that exposed the personal information of about 57 million accounts of the ride-service provider, the company said on Tuesday. Discovery of the U.S. companys cover-up of the incident resulted in the firing of two employees responsible for its response to the hack, said Dara Khosrowshahi, who replaced co-founder Travis Kalanick as CEO in August. None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it, Khosrowshahi said in a blog post. The breach occurred in October 2016 but Khosrowshahi said he had only recently learned of it. The hack is another controversy for Uber on top of sexual harassment allegations, a lawsuit alleging trade secrets theft and multiple federal criminal probes that culminated in Kalanicks ouster in June. The stolen information included names, email addresses, and mobile phone numbers of Uber users around the world, and the names and license numbers of 600,000 U.S. drivers, Khosrowshahi said. Uber passengers need not worry as there was no evidence of fraud, while drivers whose license numbers had been stolen would be offered free identity theft protection and credit monitoring, Uber said. Two hackers gained access to proprietary information stored on GitHub, a service that allows engineers to collaborate on software code. There, the two people stole Ubers credentials for a separate cloud-services provider where they were able to download driver and rider data, the company said. A GitHub spokeswoman said the hack was not the result of a failure of GitHubs security. While I cant erase the past, I can commit on behalf of every Uber employee that we will learn from our mistakes, Khosrowshahi said. We are changing the way we do business, putting integrity at the core of every decision we make and working hard to earn the trust of our customers. Bloomberg News first reported the data breach on Tuesday. Khosrowshahi said Uber had begun notifying regulators. The New York attorney general has opened an investigation, a spokeswoman said. Regulators in Australia and the Philippines said on Wednesday they would look into the matter. Uber is seeking to mend fences in Asia after having run-ins with authorities, and is negotiating with a consortium led by Japans SoftBank Group for fresh investment. SoftBank declined to comment. Uber said it had fired its chief security officer, Joe Sullivan, and a deputy, Craig Clark, this week because of their role in the handling of the incident. Sullivan, formerly the top security official at Facebook and a federal prosecutor, served as both security chief and deputy general counsel for Uber. Sullivan declined to comment when reached by Reuters. Clark could not immediately be reached for comment. Kalanick learned of the breach in November 2016, a month after it took place, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. At the time, the company was negotiating with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission over the handling of consumer data. A board committee had investigated the breach and concluded that neither Kalanick nor Salle Yoo, Ubers general counsel at the time, were involved in the cover-up, another person familiar with the issue said. The person did not say when the investigation took place. Uber said on Tuesday it was obliged to report the theft of the drivers license information and had failed to do so. Kalanick, through a spokesman, declined to comment. The former CEO remains on the Uber board of directors, and Khosrowshahi has said he consults with him regularly. Although payments to hackers are rarely publicly discussed, U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation officials and private security companies have told Reuters that an increasing number of companies are paying criminal hackers to recover stolen data. The economics of being a bad guy on the internet today are incredibly favorable, said Oren Falkowitz, co-founder of California-based cyber security company Area 1 Security. Uber has a history of failing to protect driver and passenger data. Hackers previously stole information about Uber drivers and the company acknowledged in 2014 that its employees had used a software tool called God View to track passengers. Khosrowshahi said on Tuesday he had hired Matt Olsen, former general counsel of the U.S. National Security Agency, to restructure the companys security teams and processes. The company also hired Mandiant, a cybersecurity firm owned by FireEye Inc, to investigate the breach. The new CEO has traveled the world since replacing Kalanick to deliver a message that Uber has matured from it earlier days as a rule-flouting startup. The new CEO faces an unknown number of problems fostered by the culture promoted by his predecessor, said Erik Gordon, an expert in entrepreneurship and technology at the University of Michigans Ross School of Business. Lifestyle: If You're Not Getting Closer to Achieving Your Goals, Try Using a Different Metric Wrestling Legend Kamala On Life Support: Reports Kamala, The Ugandan Giant who wrestled in the WWE, is on life support, according to People magazine. Born James Harris, the 67-year-old Mississippi native was hospitalized Sunday for emergency surgery, the report said. His stepdaughter, Juanita James, took to Facebook and posted about his condition. FB friends and family please [pray] for my stepfather aka Kamala James Harris [he] had emergency surgery this morning around 3am they didnt think he would make it out of surgery but God, she wrote. Hes on life support. His buddy Coco B Wear [sic] is here. She was referring to fellow pro wrestler pro-wrestler, Koko B. Ware. Why the wrestler needed surgery isnt clear. A lot of people has asked me for updates on James Harris status the Doctor said hes looking good this morning, his stepdaughter wrote on Facebook. Hes still on Life support but hes showing signs of improvement. In the 1980s and 1990s, Harris played Kamala The Ugandan Giant, a cannibalistic headhunter from the African jungles. He would usually pretend not to speak English. He was the kind of guy you had nightmares about, Jim Ross, a former wrestling commentator, told Bleacher Report in 2014. But out of the ring, you couldnt find a more beautiful person. According to the report three years ago, doctors were forced to amputate Harriss left leg due to diabetes. Im never going to walk again, Harris told Bleacher Report. Its just something I have to accept. And while youre here We have a small favor to ask of you. More people are reading The Epoch Times than ever, but ad revenues are plummeting across media websites. If you can, please share this article on Facebook so you can help The Epoch Times. It takes less than a minute. Thank you very much! Your Ultimate Investing Toolkit Sign up for MarketBeat All Access to gain access to MarketBeat's full suite of research tools: Portfolio Monitoring Top Stock Lists Premium Reports Stock Screeners Live News Feed Premium Support Free for your first month. Noem tells NYT former President Trump doesn't offer 'best chance' for GOP In an interview with The New York Times, Gov. Kristi Noem spoke about her reservations about former President Donald Trump announcing his bid for re-election. MONTREALCanadian business leaders need to take courageous action to make sure their companies are more diverse and inclusive in order to remain competitive amid demographic and technological changes in the workplace, according to a new report released Wednesday. Actions taken by many firms to date in the areas of diversity and inclusion have delivered more optics than outcomes, says a Deloitte study advocating the benefits of building more inclusive organizations. After decades of progress, the country has been stuck in neutral, struggling to advance traditionally under-represented groups such as women, visible minorities, those with disabilities and Indigenous people, especially to the most senior levels of organizations, it said. Read more: Ryerson study highlights severe lack of visible minorities on corporate boards Man named to lead Canadian womens advisory board . . . again Corporate boards will do better if they are more diverse: Editorial Deloitte Canada CEO Frank Vettese described it as a perfect storm of forces. Global competition, disruptive technology and powerful demographic change are pushing companies to do more to maximize the impact of their people in the workplace. We see inclusion as not only something that is critical for the individual . . . but its actually the smart thing to do for business, Vettese said. The professional services firm had lengthy conversations with 25 senior Canadian executives about half of whom were women or visible minorities. It found that business leaders view Canadas diversity as a competitive advantage for companies and the country. Deloitte said a 2016 survey of 1,300 business leaders linked superior financial performance with retaining employees of different backgrounds, skill sets and mindsets. But fundamentally changing the business culture to become truly inclusive is hard to do and can be frustratingly slow, the 44-page report said. Only 11 per cent of Canadian companies could be considered courageous and Deloitte is not among them, although it outlined efforts taken to improve its ranking. Canadian women account for 35 per cent of managerial positions and much fewer board directors while the disabled, Indigenous people and immigrants are under-represented in the workforce. Visible minorities held just 4.5 per cent of director positions in the top 500 Canadian companies by revenues. The report called for companies to be bold and move beyond colourful window dressing and pursue real outcomes. Thats especially attractive to millennials, who will account for 75 per cent of the Canadian workforce by 2025. About 47 per cent of millennials consider diversity and inclusion as important job-search criteria, said the report. That compares to 33 per cent of generation X and 37 per cent of baby boomers. Were in a very critical war for talent, Vettese said. We need everybody involved and included in our business environment for us to have a chance to succeed and, moreover, a chance to truly be prosperous. Some companies are making efforts. The Toronto Raptors has hired women in several key roles in a league that is a leader in diversity and inclusion among pro-sports franchises. Canadas largest retirement fund manager is pushing to have more women on corporate boards, voting 34 times this year against directors who chaired boards nomination committees that failed to include women as candidates. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board chief executive Mark Machin said diversity makes for better business decisions. But a long list of top Canadian firms remain holdouts, prompting Ontario Securities Commission chairperson Maureen Jensen to say it might be time to strengthen its measures to get more women on board. Vettese said imposing a one-size-fits-all requirement will make it harder to foster the required cultural transformation in organizations. Even though progress, I would say, has stalled somewhat over the last decade, I actually think that were at the beginning of seeing some very substantive movements. SHARE: Dara Khosrowshahis appointment as head of Uber Technologies last summer was supposed to mark the beginning of a new chapter. The company had been racing from one disaster to the next, leading to boycotts, lawsuits, criminal probes, an executive exodus and an investor-led mutiny against the co-founder. Somehow, the new chief executive officer keeps finding more horrors at every turn. The latest is a cyberattack Uber had concealed since last year that exposed personal data on 57 million customers and drivers globally. The company, which said it had paid hackers $100,000 to delete the data and keep quiet, disclosed the incident on Tuesday, following an investigation commissioned by the board. The chief security officer and one of his deputies were ousted for their actions following the hack. By Wednesday, Uber had not said how many Canadians had been affected. Uber Canada's blog said names, email addresses and mobile phone numbers of 57 million riders were taken, but did not provide specifics about where the customers are. It specifies only that hackers took the driver's licence numbers of 600,000 Uber drivers in the U.S. The company has not responded to requests made by The Canadian Press about how many Canadians were impacted. Khosrowshahis role so far looks less like a turnaround artist and more like chief apology officer on behalf of his predecessor, Travis Kalanick. Since he took over, London moved toward outlawing the service, citing a lack of corporate responsibility. Uber is appealing. (I apologize for the mistakes weve made, Khosrowshahi said in response.) He then travelled to Brasilia to meet with officials there and ward off restrictions on Ubers business. (In the past, we were a bit aggressive, he told a Brazilian newspaper.) And now the mishandled data breach. (We will learn from our mistakes.) The hacking fallout has already begun. Within hours of the disclosure, a customer filed a lawsuit seeking class-action status, and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman launched an investigation. More states and the Federal Trade Commission, which had settled with Uber over another privacy matter in August, will probably pile on, said Jeremiah Grossman, chief of security strategy at SentinelOne Inc., which aids companies with cyberdefence. Im sure theyll get another call from the FTC, he said. The company also faces potentially higher than usual fines from British authorities because the firm did not promptly disclose the hack. Canada does not have laws requiring disclosure of data breaches, but NDP public safety critic Matthew Dube said in an email to The Canadian Press that the Uber incident shows the need for them. This type of hack is once again a reminder that the government needs to listen to the Privacy Commissioner and implement fines for companies who treat Canadians' information this way. The law also needs to be changed to force companies to divulge these hacks and be transparent. The company still has not provided any details on the number of Canadians affected despite multiple requests, going against the importance of transparency in these matters, said Satyamoorthy Kabilan, director of national security at the Conference Board of Canada. That hiding of things, or that lack of communication over the breach, that is certainly a major concern for me. He said it's important for companies to proactively disclose data breaches so that individuals can respond, so that security experts can learn from the breach, and to retain the trust of customers. What we've seen is organizations which are up front about what happened, they tend to retain the trust of users, whereas organizations that don't can be hit very badly. The ghosts of Kalanicks past will scare up more problems for Uber. The hack introduces an unexpected factor in negotiations between SoftBank Group Corp. and Uber shareholders over a planned investment of as much as $10 billion, a deal Khosrowshahi has been championing. It may weigh on the companys valuation, now at about $70 billion (U.S.), ahead of an initial public offering expected in 2019. And the theft of customer data offers one more reason for people to switch to Lyft Inc., which was quickly gaining market share in the U.S. before expanding to Canada this month, or another local ride-hailing app. The breach at Uber, while significant, is smaller than recent incidents at Yahoo or Equifax Inc., but the decision to keep it a secret for a year was particularly concerning. Cybersecurity experts said Ubers payment to the two hackers in exchange for their discretion and assurances that they delete the data was very unusual. I was shocked, said Kowsik Guruswamy, chief technology officer at Menlo Security Inc. Companies need to own up. Experts also questioned whether Uber was able to verify the information was truly out of the attackers hands. What guarantee or promise did they have that they deleted this data and didnt make a backup? Guruswamy said. It sounds to me like the $100,000 went, not to protect the consumers, but to keep it from getting out in the news. Khosrowshahi said in an emailed statement that Uber secured its systems and implemented new security measures after the attack. While I cant erase the past, I can commit on behalf of every Uber employee that we will learn from our mistakes, he said. Besides the hack, there are numerous past indiscretions from Kalanicks tenure that will haunt his successor at Uber. The U.S. has opened at least five criminal probes into possible bribery, illicit software, questionable pricing schemes and theft of a competitors intellectual property, people familiar with the matters have said. The San Francisco-based company also faces dozens of civil suits, including a high-profile case from Alphabet set for trial next month. Before the board selected former Expedia CEO Khosrowshahi in August, Meg Whitman was a finalist for Uber chief. In a coincidentally timed announcement shortly before Ubers hacking disclosure Tuesday, Whitman said she was stepping down as head of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. Perhaps she should now consider herself lucky to be passed over for the Uber job. With files from The Canadian Press Read more about: SHARE: OTTAWACanadian chief executives are calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to nail down and implement an 11-nation Pacific Rim trade deal, as Canada holds out in hopes of changes. The Business Council of Canada, representing chief executives from many of the countrys biggest firms, said the latest version of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) would be immensely beneficial and is imperiled by any delay. The TPP controversy comes as talks toward a revised North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) stall on contentious U.S. demands. Now more than ever, Canada should be doing everything possible to diversify its trade, said John Manley, chief executive of the group, said in a statement concluding a visit to Japan, the largest economy in the proposed pact. The pacific deal would be a game-changer for Canadian companies in key markets in the Americas and across the Pacific. Read more: Canadas decision to decline TPP agreement shouldnt have been a surprise: Trudeau A reworked Trans-Pacific Partnership could be the trade deal of the future: Walkom 11 Pacific Rim countries say theyve reached basic trade deal without U.S. The groups chair, Linamar Corp. chief executive officer Linda Hasenfratz, also called on Trudeau to finalize the deal. Linamar is a major auto parts maker, and Hasenfratz sits on the Canadian governments advisory council for NAFTA talks. The fate of the Pacific trade deal, which was rebranded as the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), remains in doubt as Canada the second-largest economy in the pactpushes for changes while Japan calls for a quick agreement. A meeting in Vietnam of leaders of the 11 CPTPP nations was cancelled this month when Trudeau didnt show up, an absence the Canadians said was due to a lengthy meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The nations are seeking a way forward after U.S. President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the deal. Trudeau has said the country wont be rushed into a deal, which was agreed to initially by his predecessor. A Japanese newspaper report this week suggested the other countries might proceed without Canada. SHARE: Compared to Hollywood, Canadas screen industry is tiny. And by all accounts, there are fewer egos, bullies and power-trippers on the scale of Harvey Weinstein within it. But of course theres been sexual harassment here. Absolutely. No question, Emmy-nominated Canadian writer-director Patricia Rozema said in a recent interview. There are definitely, definitely cases of people who have been systematically sexually harassing young actors, female actors, and getting away with it, and people looking the other way. Canadas performers union, ACTRA, has invited industry stakeholders to a closed-door meeting on Thursday to discuss how to implement practical, concrete measures to tackle the issue here in a way that also leads to cultural change. Is there a specific thing I would like to see come out of that meeting? Action, said actor Lyriq Bent. This isnt something that is new, this is something thats been going on for a long time, which is why a lot of what were hearing about has been 20, 30 years ago . . . Now, an opportunity came along where people have to listen. So lets purge. Lets purge ourselves of all of this sickness and move forward. Its about time. While sexual misconduct has long been a part of the Canadian industry, its a problem that seems to be growing, said actress-writer Susan Coyne, co-creator of Slings and Arrows and screenwriter of the new film The Man Who Invented Christmas. For the past year, shes been holding ad-hoc meetings in Toronto livingrooms and coffee shops about sexual misconduct in the industry. The latest meeting had about 25 women in attendance. What I was hearing from younger actresses is things have gotten worse than when I and my friends, like Martha Burns, were younger and were their age and starting out, said Coyne. And I dont understand how that could be. It was so disturbing. The smallness of Canadas screen industry makes it almost harder to speak up, because theres just so much less work and we dont have the stars who can lead the charge either, she added. We work a lot, not just on Canadian sets, but we have a lot of American shows that come up here, too. And Canadians have even less power there, working on an American show; its so easy to replace you. Oscar-nominated filmmaker Atom Egoyan said ACTRA needs to take a much firmer stand going forward. There are situations clearly in history where ACTRA was told of abuses and didnt react properly and I think that can never, ever happen again, said Egoyan. I think obviously and ACTRA is quite aware of the fact that they bowed to pressure. Actress Mia Kirshner is also critical of the way ACTRA has handled the topic of sexual harassment and abuse. Too little, too late. I dont believe that ACTRA is actually interested listening to union members, Kirshner tweeted recently. I believe that this committee is being created for the purpose of public relations. She wrote that she declined to be a part of a new committee created by ACTRA to deal with the issue and instead has co-created a group called #AfterMeToo to push for change. Jennifer Jonas, producer and owner of New Real Films, said Thursdays industry meeting should address the need for parity and equality on TV and film sets. Sexual harassment, I guess you could boil down to being a kind of bullying where the power dynamic is in someone elses favour, said Jonas. What Im happy to be seeing with the #metoo (hashtag) and all the different industry people both in Canada and the United States coming out with their statements and everything right now is that people are recognizing that if you make sure theres more gender parity, more diversity, take the power away from the bullies, that things will necessarily and structurally improve. Rozema suggested industry workers also need a better method to report information about offenders. Right now we have a system where people can do whatever they want, but only if you have enough information to convict someone can you do anything about it, she said. There needs to be a system in place where there can be anonymous reports. So if you get 60 reports on some dude, you can start to say, Where theres smoke, theres fire. Writer-director Michael Dowse added that a responsibility also lies with agents in ensuring they dont put their clients in harms way. Obviously nobody should be doing that thing, but there should be an awareness of reading those situations and avoiding private meetings with directors, said Dowse. Actor Shawn Doyle, a councillor for ACTRA Toronto, insisted the union is taking the situation and this moment in time very, very seriously. I think its really important that at the end of that meeting there comes out a firm set of guidelines, that we can move forward as an industry together, he said. Something that can be enforced across the board. Something that doesnt allow wiggle room. There are going to have to be consequences for people committing any kind of harassment or bullying or abuse of any sort. And my hope is that we can find a speedy way to get to some resolve and protect our members. With files from Maija Kappler SHARE: ETYEK-BUDA, HUNGARY-Hungary is known in the Western imagination for just a select, few things. Goulash? Yes, absolutely. Paprika, their national spice? Perhaps. Gold-medal-grade Olympic wrestlers? Indeed, by the dozen. But their wine much less cheese wont move the needle for many culinary experts west of the Carpathians. But still, Im here in a one of the countrys top, recently prize-winning wine regions, watching a rather broad-shouldered man (possibly, formerly one of those Olympians) in a sizable striped tank top wrestling a big, 26-kilo wheel of sheeps cheese, his hulking arms and great slab of a back straining to get it done while we look on, holding glasses of red in a dark cellar somewhere southeast of Budapest. A moment later, we all walk out with handfuls of super-fresh, rather delicious cheese. Here in the part of Europe where West slowly becomes East, where Turkish Ottomans fought Austrians and empires were made and smashed everything, and especially food and drink, is fraught with history. Im here learning more about Hungarians and their culture by eating, and drinking, plenty. That day City and Wine, a wine tour company, begins with a ride away from the busy streets of Budapest into the rolling hills and red-tiled villages of the Etyek-Buda wine region, about an hour to the southeast. Here, white wines are primary, with small growers most of whom sell from their cellar alone making Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and a few Hungarian grapes such as Zenit and Kadarka, the latter an embattled varietal that Hungarian winemakers are fighting to bring back to relevance. Initiated in Roman times and later continued by German settlers to the area many of the villages still have two names, one Hungarian, one German production here was entirely shut down during the years of Ottoman occupation. Brought back under Habsburg Empire rule in the 19th century, quality went downhill fast under in the 20th century under the communists, when Hungarian vineyards were used to produce mass volumes of low-grade sparkling wine for the Soviet Union. It was very industrial, says Nagy Gabor, owner and winemaker at the Gradowski Estate. They put the grape juice into the rail cars, and the fermentation happened on the long trip to Moscow. You can imagine the quality I can remember my father pouring it into the toilet. But, Gabor says, with the dissolution of the Eastern Bloc, Hungarian wines and food are making a steady, strong comeback. We sit and sip a mix of his whites and reds (grown in another, nearby wine region Cab Franc, Merlot, Pinot Noir) in the heart of Etyek, in his tiny stone restaurant on a street lined entirely with cellars, the vines spreading both above and below a narrow, cobblestoned road. Hungarian winemaking has 2,000 years of history, he says, swilling a glass. We have a saying here. You can criticize my food, and even my wife but never, ever my wine. Continuing down the road to a neighbouring winery and his neighbour the cheese maker, who invites us down for an impromptu visit and nibble we dine on local sausage and ham and the revered chicken paprikash, arriving back into Budapest late and well-lubricated in a tour van. Over the next few days, I sample more of this culture, dining on old Hungarian favourites at Evidens Bistro; sipping nice, crisp Hungarian whites in Doblo, a hip wine bar in the citys famed Jewish Quarter; and re-energizing with a pint of Kapuziner Hefeweizen, a cold Hungarian wheat beer, after a relaxing morning at the opulent Gellert Baths, set right on the River Danube. And I learn more about the next generation of Hungarian cooking in Budapest at the Budapest Makery, an ultra-modern culinary workshop just opened this year. There, with a light mix of house music popping in the background, chefs provide minimal guidance and the tools to succeed. An open kitchen staffed by two or three cooks delivers pre-chopped and already-poured ingredients to cooking stations equipped with induction stovetops and all the tools, with guests cooking them up with the help of slick instructional videos pre-recorded by chefs on electronic tablets. I select two of the most traditional dishes on offer a consomme with meat pancakes and duck breast with a pureed lecso and as I mix and stir and flip and pour, operations manager Bence Thomanu says this place is all about the shared experience. In a regular cooking course you just mimic the chef but here, if you have 10 people, 10 different dishes are possible, he says. And at the end, you think, OK, I just made it. Its like a painting. Theres a feeling of accomplishment. He notes the two items Ive chosen to cook. That meat soup, every Sunday my mother would make it for us. And its also the perfect hangover cure, he observes, with a mischievous smile. And lecso was his favourite food as a kid. These are special Hungarian ingredients. These are the dishes you ask for, from your grandmother. Finishing up without any help I definitely feel that accomplishment and, tasting my work, the tender duck and the perfectly smothered lesco and the meaty soup, I realize its possibly the best thing Ive ever made. Well past goulash, preconceptions smashed, I head back out into the city sated but ready for plenty more Hungarian food and culture, and preferably both together. Tim Johnson was a guest of Iberostar Hotels and Resorts, which didnt review or approve this story. When you go: Get there: Air Canada Rouge provides seasonal, thrice-weekly direct flights from Toronto to Budapest. Their premium cabin features complimentary alcoholic drinks, good food and much more space than a standard economy seat. Stay: Set on Liberty Square with views of its famous fountain, the Iberostar Grand Hotel Budapest (iberostar.com) provides five-star accommodations in the heart of the city, just steps from some of its very best bars and restaurants and the famous St. Stephens Cathedral. Rooms are large, and many feature deep-soaker bathtubs and other luxury amenities. And after a long day of sightseeing, return to Mediterranean-Hungarian fusion fare at the hotels Parilla restaurant, then settle in for a soak in the hotels giant spa tub. Wine tour: City and Wine (cityandwine.hu) provides half-day afternoon tours with a private guide in an air-conditioned bus to the Etyek-Buda wine region. Tours include three stops at wineries and a homemade dinner. Cook: Budapest Makery (budapestmakery.hu) is best experienced with a group of friends or family fully equipped workstations are grouped together, allowing for observation and interaction as you create your Hungarian culinary masterpiece. Right now the options are limited to food, but craft cocktails will soon be added to the menu of options. Do your research: budapestinfo.hu SHARE: MONTREALA Quebec fur farmer will face strict controls if he plans to continue in the business after pleading guilty to animal cruelty charges last week. The case stems from a 2014 investigation into a farm about 65 kilometres east of Montreal that housed red foxes and minks found to be in terrible condition. The SPCA, which conducted the probe, says there were three guilty pleas in the case one to causing unnecessary suffering to foxes; one to neglecting them; and another to neglecting two dogs found on the property. Jean-Luc Rodier received a $5,000 fine and 75 hours of community service in a sentence jointly recommended by the Crown and defence. Attempts to reach Rodier on Tuesday were unsuccessful. Hed initially faced six charges in November 2014. The SPCA acted on a complaint and Sophie Gaillard of the Montreal branch said the conditions on the farm were deplorable when she visited more than three years ago. She said the animals were dehydrated, living in cramped quarters and malnourished and two foxes had to be euthanized on the spot. Most importantly to us, for the next 15 years, he wont be able to own or have the control or live with any animals with the only exception of mink, said Gaillard. If he does continue to raise mink for fur, thatll have to be done under veterinary supervision with reports being provided to the SPCA on a regular basis. She said whats most horrific is that standard conditions for wild animals bred for commercial purposes are perfectly legal. Keeping wild animals in tiny, tiny cages, depriving them of the ability to express any type of natural behaviour and seeing them kept like this for years on end, its perfectly legal in Canada today, Gaillard said. Read more about: SHARE: SAINT JOHN, N.B.It is a tale of a love grown weary, a journey of self-discovery and the road to recovery for a New Brunswick musician, heartsick over the demise of his nine-year romance. And all of it is told in an emotionally raw sales pitch from Adam Kierstead a self-described nerd hoping to unload the badass guitar he bought on impulse months after his relationship fizzled. The Kijiji ad which had already garnered more than 3,160 visits by mid-day Tuesday features a 2008 Gibson Reverse Explorer with pictures showcasing the telltale angular design favoured by metalheads and spandex-clad rockers. Beneath is the forlorn, 770-word story of how Kierstead acquired the used brown guitar and why he decided to part with it. It starts with the couple driving home from Cape Breton last September after a friends wedding, when both realize their relationship was sputtering to a halt. Wed glance over at each other every few minutes, neither wanting to start. Finally, she did, Kierstead writes. So are we breaking up or what? The response: I guess so. What follows is a painfully honest account of how Kierstead, a musician in several Saint John bands, coped with loves loss. In an email to The Canadian Press Tuesday, Kierstead responded to an interview request by saying, I am already feeling a bit sheepish about the amount of attention my ad has gotten thus far (although it does appear a sale is pending!). In his Kijiji ad, he describes being forced to stay in our now her home for weeks after the split. It became clear almost immediately that she was winning the breakup she was more social, laughing more, killing it at the gym, he lamented. But here I was, 32 years old, sleeping on a camping cot in my exs storage room while I looked for an apartment. I was miserable. Kierstead went onto say he had never considered himself reckless or prone to excessive drinking or spending the little money he had in a foolhardy fashion. But, he says when he got a call last October from a local music store letting him know about a used Reverse Explorer that had come in, his self-restraint and presence of mind flew the coop. I was out the door and in the car in seconds. My opportunity for in-character wanton recklessness had finally arrived, he writes, explaining the joy he felt upon entering the store and picking up the instrument. I plugged the guitar in and cackled as I fumbled through a couple of Slayer riffs (I did an awful job). This was perfect. This was just what I needed. I handed over the cash and left with my treasure. Kierstead, whose Facebook profile picture features the bespectacled musician wearing a plaid shirt and awkwardly holding a gold-coloured cat, said the joy was not long-lived. A year after the purchase, he said his ex was in a new job, settled in with a kind, gregarious, much-better-looking-than-me man who treats her like gold), and a new cat. For his part, he said he had moved on, was happy with his own new cat and remained good friends with his former partner, even going for the odd coffee date. Then, he says he was yanked back to reality last week when he was out buying some beer for band practice and a man in his 50s said, Out of my way, nerd. Stunned, Kierstead said he flashed back to the many times in high school when he called the same thing. I realized something: I AM a nerd. Yes. Irredeemably nerdy. I cant play anything as completely badass as a Reverse Explorer in good conscience, he said of his epiphany. I have a Duo-Sonic. My amps dont even have distortion channels, for crying out loud. I have to pass this thing along to someone deserving. It truly is time to move on. To that end, Kierstead posted the ad listing the guitar for $900, adding that he may consider a trade for a full-size ventless dryer. Thats mostly a joke, but also some insight into why Im actually selling this guitar, he states, ending on a hopeful note. Thanks for reading. Really, Im fine. SHARE: HALIFAXA Nova Scotia judge who acquitted a taxi driver accused of sexually assaulting an intoxicated passenger failed to recognize the nature of the evidence before him and made several errors in law, a Crown attorney told the provinces highest court Wednesday. Crown lawyer Jennifer MacLellan told the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal that provincial court Judge Gregory Lenehan said three times in his oral decision there was no evidence of a lack of consent or a lack of capacity to consent to the sexual act that took place in Bassam Al-Rawis cab on May 22, 2015. However, MacLellan told the three-justice panel there was, in fact, ample circumstantial evidence to prove the complainant, who had no memory of what happened, was incapable of consenting. Read more: Chief justice orders investigation into Nova Scotia judge who acquitted taxi driver of sexual assault Halifax judge finds cab driver not guilty of sexual assault, says a drunk can consent Anger over Halifax taxi drivers sexual assault acquittal spurs letter writing campaign against judge This is not a rejection of evidence ... This is a failure of the trial judge to recognize the evidence before him, MacLellan said. Lenehans decision never dealt with the possibility the woman may have been incapable of consenting to sex prior to passing out, she said. During Al-Rawis trial, an expert testified that the young woman was extremely intoxicated after drinking five draught beers, two tequila shots and one vodka-cranberry drink while at a downtown bar, MacLellan said. The forensic analyst determined the womans blood-alcohol level was as high as 241 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood three times the legal limit. Text messages sent by the woman after she left the bar were riddled with mistakes and were, at times, largely incoherent, the attorney said. MacLellan cited one response to a friend who asked if the woman was OK: No. I am not got, was the texted reply. At the conclusion of Al-Rawis trial, Lenehan said he accepted evidence that the woman had urinated in her pants before the cab driver removed them from her while she was in the back seat. Court heard that when a police officer spotted the woman in the cab at 1:20 a.m., she was lying unconscious, naked from the waist down with her tank top pushed up and her legs propped up on the two front seats. The vehicle was found in a neighbourhood far from the womans home, only 11 minutes after she got in the taxi shortly after 1 a.m. A constable testified that the driver was seen shoving the womans pants and underwear between the front seats, As well, his pants were undone around his waist and his zipper was down. This circumstantial evidence created a tight web around Mr. Al-Rawi from which he could not escape, MacLellan told the court. By suggesting there was no evidence dealing with the womans capacity to consent, the judge made an error in law, MacLellan said. Al-Rawis lawyer, Luke Craggs, said the evidence wasnt as clear as the Crown had suggested. He said many of the womans text messages that night had proper spelling and grammar, and he pointed to evidence the woman had an upsetting argument with a friend before getting in the taxi. (The judge) decided the evidence correctly, Craggs told the court, adding that the oral decision appeared to be a reluctant acquittal. What happened in the taxi is really unknown ... (The judge) struggled with a gap in the evidentiary record. Craggs also noted that during the trial the Crown never specifically asked the woman if she did not consent to sex with Al-Rawi. MacLellan said asking such a question would have been improper, as it could have opened the door to questions about the womans previous sexual behaviour, which is not permitted in sexual assault cases. The Crown lawyer said the judge also erred by speculating about the possibility that the woman may have flirted with Al-Rawi or initiated the sexual activity rather than drawing inferences from the facts proven in the evidence. Lenehans decision in March, which the Crown is seeking to overturn, concluded the Crown had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the woman did not consent to sexual activity with the driver. In his decision, Lenehan said a person is incapable of consent if they are unconscious or are so intoxicated that they are unable to understand or perceive their situation. This does not mean, however, that an intoxicated person cannot give consent to sexual activity, he said at the time. Clearly, a drunk can consent. Lenehans words set off a storm of social media criticism and two public protests. Based on a complaint, the decision is the subject of an investigation by a three-member review committee appointed by Nova Scotias chief justice. Lenehans poor choice of words suggested the judge was confused about the nature of drunkenness and consent, MacLellan said Wednesday. The appeal panel reserved its decision. Read more about: SHARE: MONTREALAs provinces begin drafting laws for the control and sale of cannabis on their territories, an upcoming Supreme Court of Canada case is threatening to derail their plans. Ontario and Quebec, for instance, want to create provincial cannabis monopolies. As a consequence, Quebecers and Ontarians would be prohibited from mail-ordering recreational cannabis from licensed producers outside their home province or buying pot from anyone other than their provincial government. But on Dec. 6, the Supreme Court begins hearing arguments in a case that could mean the end of state-run monopolies as they apply to another favourite Canadian vice: alcohol. Read more: Ottawa outlines long-awaited rules for pot sales StatCan to include marijuana in GDP accounts as legalization nears Ontario late to warn parents, kids about marijuana dangers, doctors say If the justices rule in favour of a New Brunswick man fighting against provincial liquor monopolies, the decision will almost certainly trigger lawsuits across the country seeking to dismantle similar government-run corporations for marijuana, according to legal and trade experts. It would mean big changes a more free and fair cannabis industry, said Jack Lloyd, one of the lawyers representing marijuana activists who received intervener status in the Supreme Court case. The case began in 2012, when the RCMP arrested Gerard Comeau on his return to New Brunswick after he had bought alcohol in Quebec. He was fined for violating New Brunswick law, which limits the amount of booze that can be brought into the province from elsewhere in Canada. Comeau contested the ticket, arguing Sec. 121 of the Constitution Act, 1867, mandates that all Canadian goods be admitted freely across the country. His lawyers argued the fathers of Confederation wanted a single market for all products made in Canada. Comeau won, and his case has made its way to the highest court in the country. Legal and trade experts consulted by The Canadian Press said they believe the Supreme Court will likely rule in favour of Comeau, but their opinions diverged on how that decision would apply to the cannabis industry. Brian Lee Crowley, managing director of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, an Ottawa-based think-tank, said a Supreme Court ruling in favour of Comeau would prevent provinces from discriminating between Canadian suppliers of alcohol or cannabis. I think (a Comeau win) would make provinces not be able to prevent you from, say, mail-ordering marijuana from someone in another part of the country, Crowley said in an interview. Pier-Andre Bouchard St-Amant, a professor at Quebecs School of Public Policy, said according to all the prognostications, the Supreme Court will rule in favour of Comeau. He added, however, he believes provinces would still be allowed to enter into agreements with one another to limit the cross-border trade of certain products, depending on the scope of the ruling. Andrew Smith of the University of Liverpool Management School, was an expert witness in the Comeau case and said he believes the framers of the Constitution wanted a single market without fetters on interprovincial trade. Smith said if the Supreme Court agrees with Comeau, companies will surely attempt to use the judicial precedent to argue against provincial cannabis monopolies. I dont think that this will happen in practice, he said. Australias constitution has a free-trade clause similar to Canadas, and the European Union is also governed by free-trade principles but not with regard to recreational drugs, he explained. People in EU countries cannot drive to Amsterdam, where marijuana is openly sold in cafes, and then drive back to say, Germany, with the marijuana, Smith said in an email. The principle of the single market doesnt extend to such controversial products in Australia or the EU, he said. Whether marijuana will be mentioned in the Supreme Courts ruling, or how broad it will be, remains to be seen. But Lloyd said if free trade in Canada doesnt apply to cannabis, then the black market will continue to fill an important void. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has promised marijuana will be legal in Canada by July 1, 2018, but he has left it up to the provinces to regulate how cannabis will be controlled and sold on their territories. One of the main justifications for legalization was to take revenues away from organized criminals. Canadians, however, will continue to purchase marijuana from illegal producers across the country including by mail if they cant find the products they like, in an accessible way, in their home provinces, Lloyd said. The existing illegal industry will thrive if these provincial restrictions (remain) onerous. SHARE: YouTube star and tech entrepreneur Casey Neistat is in Toronto this week for the Influence Toronto 2017 influencer and entrepreneur conference. He sat down with the Star to talk about his YouTube channel, which has more than 8 million subscribers, his new venture with CNN Beme News his advice for young entrepreneurs and influencers just starting out, and thoughts on what drives credibility in the news industry. His responses have been edited. Can you tell us why you think people are drawn to you? I was on YouTube for almost five years and in those five years I was able to accrue about 400,000 YouTube subscribers and then I switched what I was doing on my channel to a daily upload, a daily reality show about myself and in the next two years it went from 400,000 subscribers to 8 million subscribers. So I learned a lot about what a subscriber relationship looks like on the platform and I think it has a lot to do with building relationships with the person on the other side, in this case me. And I think that no matter how good the work was that I made before I started my daily show, people couldnt have the same relationship with the work that they could with the individual. So I attribute a lot of that growth to the fact that people were able to sort of develop a relationship with me via this sort of daily reality show. How do you draw that line about what youre going to make public about your life and what youre doing versus what youre going to keep private? Its entirely intuitive what gets shared and what doesnt, Im a very open person, Im not someone who really holds back much, I think that honesty and transparency is the only way you can get to know someone. Youre here at Influence Toronto 2017 is there a message that youre hoping to leave or advice that you have for young entrepreneurs, young people coming up? The thing that I hope to drive home here at Influence Toronto and when I speak to young people the one thing that I really try to focus in on is just how unique of an inflection point we are in the media industry right now and this inflection point will not last. The opportunities that anyone who has interest has to succeed right now will not be there a decade from now I think right now we are seeing a gigantic turn in the landscape of media, where its going from these big powerful companies to sort of the individual creator, but I dont think it will be as open, as fair, and as accessible looking ahead, I think it will become more and more constrictednows the moment. Youve recently launched Beme News, can you tell me a little bit about your goals for that? When CNN bought my company, the opportunity was to leverage all of the resources that they have as a news organization and then the resources we have as a technology company, young people that are trying to do interesting things and then together we want to build something really new. I think next year 2018, is when youre going to see really meaningful stuff and Beme really defining what it is. But Im very excited about it. Are you going to be launching on other platforms or are you sticking with YouTube? For Beme, were platform agnostic so were going to go wherever the eyeballs are. I think thats true for my own career as well. I think right now YouTube is sort of the richest, densest social media platform out there, not by a small margin, so thats the main focus of where I disseminate my work. What is it about YouTube thats kept you there for now? YouTube is this incredible porous, wildly open, global distribution platform where you can put up anything you want and reach whatever audience is interested in whatever it is that youre posting. It is this sort of xanadu, this idealistic place for distributing content, it doesnt mean theres not hiccups and faults, but it is like everything that I ever wanted distribution to look and feel like. In this era where weve got all these people calling fake news do you have advice for the bigger news organizations on how to combat that, create more trust? When I think of the future of news media I think its really about personality driven content, I trust a journalist and therefore I will listen to whatever that journalist has to say. SHARE: Mary Ethel Weatherseed has been a member of the Needlework Guild of Canada for 84 years, a little known organization with a big mandate: ensuring Torontos most needy are properly clothed. No one has heard much about us, said the 96-year-old. People are always surprised that were still around. The guild, a registered charity, celebrated its 125th anniversary Tuesday, but aside fromcommemorative cake and speeches, it was primarily about business. There was a din in the basement of Yorkminster Park Baptist Church, where scores of volunteers hurriedly worked to organize and distribute about 4,000 handmade articles of clothing to 21 local social service agencies. Some worked their way down checklists, while others helped locate desired items. Store bought garments were also being prepared to be carted away to serve underprivileged communities. Items included mittens, toques, socks and blankets. President Susan Garskey said the original guild began in England in 1882 and was exported to Toronto about 10 years later. Since its inception, its principles have remained the same. Its about helping those who are less fortunate than ourselves, she said. Its making sure they have clothing, an optional extra. To me, its an unsung hero thats just gone on for years and so many people dont know about it. Ont. Lt.-Gov. Elizabeth Dowdeswell attended the guilds distribution day her first time, she said. I get to pick out things to give to several charities, she said, which included Haven Toronto and Yonge Street Mission. I have just found 30 hats for men. As we get into the cold weather season, we know how many are in need of warm clothing, she said. This is what makes communities come together, the fact that people care enough to work during the year and help make life a little easier for someone else. The guild has been carried down generationally, Garskey said. Her grandmother and mother were both members. We actually predate the Ministry of Community and Social Services, she said. There are about 300 volunteers. Each person annually contributes two handmade items or financial donations, which goes towards purchasing garments. Its made up of Toronto residents, but there are some who send in their donations from outside the city, Garskey, who lives in Peterborough, said. Sixty-eight layettes surround Joyce Hisey, an executive member some are stacked almost as tall as she is. They are for single mothers and contain things like knitted toy bears, sweaters and hygienic products for babies. We have a lot of people who are short of everything, she said. The requests from the agencies keep coming in all the time. Other agencies include Children's Aid Society of Toronto, Native Child and Family Services and Sistering. Theres been a sharp demand for layettes over the years, she said. We used to do 24, she said. The agencies came and asked for double. SHARE: Ottawa has unveiled a national housing strategy that will create 100,000 new housing units and repair another 300,000 over the coming decade, federal officials say. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited a Toronto neighbourhood Wednesday to unveil details of the plan to invest $11.2 billion to address the urgent housing needs of 530,000 vulnerable families and individuals. The plan will cut chronic homelessness by 50 per cent, federal officials say. Trudeau said the strategy marks a significant return to the housing file for the federal government. Combined with investments from other levels of government, total spending could reach $40 billion. Read more: Activists say Ottawa should deliver housing funds over two years, instead of 11 Housing plan wont help middle class, experts say We know that housing affordability is a huge issue for Canadians right across the country. Were focusing on making sure that people can afford their homes, making sure that we take a significantly more effective approach on homelessness, Trudeau said in Ottawa before travelling to Toronto for the announcement. We know that making sure that people have housing that they can rely on is a fundamental building block for success for families and for communities. The prime minister later joined Mayor John Tory and Ontario Housing Minister Peter Milczyn at an afternoon press conference in Lawrence Heights, the site of a Toronto Community Housing revitalization project. Included in the strategy, was a pledge to use a portion of a $15.9-billion national co-investment fund to repair Canadas aging and ailing social housing stock. The precise amount has not been determined. Municipal leaders had made the repair of existing stock, construction of new housing and renewing rent subsidies key priorities for the strategy. At the press conference Wednesday, Tory spoke of a call last year by a coalition of big city mayors who rang the alarm bell on an escalating crisis, particularly when it came to the decline of social housing stock, a lack of affordable housing options and the resulting strain on the emergency shelter system. When housing in crisis the impacts are real and they are profound, cutting across all ages and all income levels and producing widespread social and economic negative impacts, said Tory, flanked by leads on the Toronto housing file MP Adam Vaughan (Spadina-Fort York) and deputy mayor Ana Bailao. The federal government, said Tory, has been responsive to all of the points the coalition made, and called the strategy the first meaningful federal response to Canadas housing crisis in 50 years. In Toronto, this strategy and funding will help us repair our social housing and this will keep a roof, a proper and fit roof, over the heads of 60,000 Toronto households, the mayor said. The strategy provides the details of how funding earmarked in the 2017 federal budget for housing will be spent over the coming decade. The measures, hammered out after consultations with municipalities, housing advocates and other stakeholders, include: $15.9 billion for a national housing co-investment fund to build an expected 60,000 new units and repair 240,000 others. It will provide $4.7 billion in capital contributions and $11.2 billion in low-cost loans. At least 2,400 units will go to people with developmental disabilities, 12,000 affordable units for seniors and 7,000 for survivors of family violence. $2 billion for a new Canada Housing Benefit to provide funding directly to low-income families and individuals. Provinces and territories will be expected to provide matching funds to bring total investment to $4 billion. This measure is expected to assist 300,000 vulnerable households. Protesers took to the streets of Toronto on Nov. 22 to protest cuts to Toronto Community Housing and a lack of affordable housing. Canada's long-awaited federal housing strategy will include a new national housing benefit. $2.2 billion to expand and extend the homelessness partnering strategy, which had been due to end in 2018-19. $4.3 billion for a Canada Community Housing Initiative to provinces and territories to support their housing efforts. Combined with matching provincial funds, the total investment will be $8.6 billion. New legislation to require future federal governments to maintain a national housing strategy. Creation of a new federal housing advocate to help seek solutions to systemic affordable housing issues. New legislation to require future federal governments to maintain a national housing strategy. Creation of a new federal housing advocate to help seek solutions to systemic affordable housing issues. At least 25 per cent of the investments will support projects to target the needs of women and girls, including new and repaired shelter spaces and affordable housing for senior women. Targeted support for Indigenous peoples not living on reserves. The federal government also recognizes that housing is a human right, for the first time. This is an incredible moment for Canada and our leadership on human rights, said Leilani Farha, executive director of Canada Without Poverty. The recognition of the right to housing in the NHS and the adoption of rights-based approach in the strategy are major steps forward as we work to end homelessness and housing insecurity across the country, added Farha, who is also UN special rapporteur on housing. As Trudeau, Tory and stakeholders gathered in Toronto, Jean-Yves Duclos, minister of families, children and social development, released the details of the strategy in Vancouver. When asked what pieces of the strategy most tightly align with Torontos needs, Duclos pointed to the commitment to maintain federal subsidies for co-operative and community housing, for the next decade. There has been a lot of anxiety and nervousness over the years as to the future of the community housing stock in Toronto and Ontario, Dulcos told the Star. That time, that era of uncertainly and anxiety is now ending, because the federal government is saying today that it will be there as a reliable and strong partner over the next 10 years to make sure that the housing stock and more importantly the vulnerable Canadians living in that housing stock will be protected. David Hulchanski, a professor of housing and community development at the University of Toronto, said the federal governments formal commitment to housing security was a bit of good news, but said more detailed information on exactly how the money will be spent is essential. Hulchanski suggested annual reports, detailing precisely how much money is spent and where, across the country. On Parliament Hill, opposition parties voiced disappointment with the strategy, saying its not moving fast enough to help the most vulnerable and does nothing to aid first-time home buyers. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh called it timid, saying much of the federal investments wont happen for years, even after the next federal election in 2019. There are so many people that are in desperate need of housing that this plan does not address the seriousness of the crisis, Singh told reporters. SHARE: HAMILTONWilliam Shatner is objecting to the use of his name and likeness to promote an upcoming condo development in Hamilton. The Canadian-born star, best known for playing Captain Kirk on the original Star Trek series, took to Twitter and aimed his phasers on the project dubbed Television City. He complained that his name and a caricature of him were attached to floor plans for a million-dollar two-bedroom penthouse. Shatner said he doesnt recall giving permission to prominent Toronto developer Brad Lamb to use his name and image as promotional tools. Lamb responded in a statement that his intention was to pay tribute to the stars and he doubted anyone would buy a condo based on its name. He said his company is making every effort to remove references to Shatner and all other celebrities from promotional material after receiving the tweet. A floor plan for a Hamilton condo featuring the likeness of actor William Shatner is shown in a handout. Shatner is objecting to the use of his name and likeness to promote the upcoming condo development. Shatner tweeted a price list that showed various condo units named after several Hollywood stars including Lucille Ball, Bob Barker, Jay Leno, Mr. T, and Betty White. Read more about: SHARE: A witness at a murder trial says he sold one of the accused a gun days before a young Toronto woman vanished. Matthew Ward-Jackson says he pleaded guilty to the gun transaction with Dellen Millard that took place in early July 2012. The Crown alleges Millard and Mark Smich killed Laura Babcock because she became the odd woman out in a love triangle with Millard and his girlfriend. Read more: Laura Babcocks accused killer is portraying himself in court as a thoughtless jerk Dellen Millard, Laura Babcock had bad blood, friend testifies at murder trial Ex-girlfriend testifies she saw Laura Babcocks accused killers testing incinerator: DiManno The prosecution contends the pair burned her body in a commercial animal incinerator that was later found on Millards farm near Waterloo, Ont. Millard, 32, of Toronto, and Smich, 30, of Oakville, Ont., have both pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the presumed death of Babcock, 23. Ward-Jackson could not recall many details about the gun sale and was often evasive about the numerous phone calls and text messages with Millard in July 2012. Babcock disappeared on July 3, 2012. No one has heard from her since that summer and her body has not been found. Ward-Jackson, who also goes by his rapper name Ish, told court Wednesday that Millard showed interest in a gun that had come into his possession. He later changed his testimony and said he figured Millard would want a gun because he was a manly man, interested in cars, girls, maybe firearms. The Crown walked Ward-Jackson through a series of text messages police recovered from Millards phone. One discussed a .32-calibre gun, that Ward-Jackson described in a text to Millard sent at 8:14 p.m. on July 1, 2012, as a really nice nice compact piece. Did you write that text? asked Crown attorney Jill Cameron. Me or my butler, Ward-Jackson said. You had a butler? Cameron asked. Yup. Somebody that I paid to help me manage my life ... but I did arrange this deal, he said. Ward-Jackson said the gun was empty when he arranged the deal with Millard. He said he didnt provide Millard any ammunition. The Crown asked Ward-Jackson repeatedly if he could recall the numerous calls and text messages that phone records showed the contents of most were not recovered. I truthfully dont recall many of them, this is several years ago and Ive been incarcerated for four years, Ward-Jackson said. He told court he was testifying against his will. The Crown continued to press him on the gun deal. Did you ever ask why he needed a gun? Cameron asked. No, its none of my business, I have no right to ask him that, Ward-Jackson said. Court also heard about an agreed statement of fact that a .32-calibre gun was recovered at Millards home with his DNA on the handle. The trial continues Thursday. SHARE: Canadas Immigration Minister says hes committed to changing the rule that bars many people with disabilities and illnesses from immigrating to Canada. Rights groups and individuals affected by the so-called medical inadmissibility rule say not only is it inhumane, but it also breaches the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, as well as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The provision is at the centre of public hearings by a parliamentary committee to review a provision of Canadas immigration law that rejects immigrants who are expected to place excessive demand on health or social services if let into the country. Disability is the last major characteristic that remains a barrier to settling and building a life in Canada, and the Council of Canadians with Disabilities believes this provision is outdated and discriminatory and must be removed from the (Immigration) Act, said John Rae, a vice chair of the council. On Wednesday, Citizenship and Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen agreed the rule needs to be updated. He was vague on exactly how the law might be changed, saying no decisions would be made without input from the provinces and territories who bear most of the costs of health and social services. "This provision needs to be changed. It's simply not in line with our government's policies with respect to moving towards an accessibility agenda, but also with ... how Canadians are increasingly of the opinion that we should be more inclusive as a society," Hussen said, testifying before the parliamentary committee. According to the Immigration Department, 1,429 immigration applications were rejected on medical grounds in the last three years. Under the law, demand is found to be excessive if it exceeds the average annual health care costs for a Canadian, which is currently estimated at $6,655. American disability advocate Loree Erickson, who graduated with a doctoral degree from York Universitys critical disability program, said it is hypocritical for Canada to say it embraces accessibility, diversity and equal rights when its immigration law excludes those with disabilities. The Virginia natives permanent residence application was rejected two weeks ago. Its devastating and terrifying, said Erickson, who has been in Canada for 14 years and taught at Ryerson University and the University of Toronto. Our needs arent special or excessive. Amalia Loyzaga, of the Torontos Caregivers Action Centre, a grassroots advocacy group, said some 150 foreign caregivers, who met the two-year live-in employment requirement, were denied permanent residence in 2014 because a dependant child was deemed medically inadmissible. It is clear the law is discriminatory against disabled people, said Loyzaga, who came to Canada in 2008 under the live-in caregiver program and who has recently been warned by immigration officials that her daughter Apple, who is mildly autistic, could be deemed medically inadmissible. We cant wait any longer. We need an immediate repeal of the discriminatory medical inadmissibility regime. The HIV & AIDS Legal Clinic Ontario said people living with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, are essentially inadmissible to Canada because antiretroviral medications easily cost $12,000 to $15,000 a year. By focusing solely on alleged use of health services as grounds for exclusion and ignoring the important contributions that people with HIV make to Canadian society, the excessive demand regime conceals outdated prejudices that people living with HIV like other people with disabilities are a burden on Canadian society, the clinic said in its written submission. Although the law does grant exceptions sometimes on humanitarian grounds, Toronto labour and human rights lawyer Fay Faraday said not everyone can afford a lawyer to represent them. The caregivers are providing a service and care to your family, but themselves are denied the rights to bring their family here because their family is just like yours, noted Faraday. These workers are a growing part of the labour market that cannot be automated. Its human care work. They need (permanent) status on arrival. The Canadian Bar Association said both Ottawa and the provinces must conduct a comprehensive study of health and social service costs to support its policy decisions on the monetary threshold immigration officials currently use for medical inadmissibility. Any review of this process must balance the need to protect public health and the integrity of the Canadian health care system with the legitimate needs of migrants in a manner that is consistent with Canadian Charter values and international human rights standards, the association said in its recommendations. The parliamentary immigration committee is expected to continue its medical inadmissibility hearings into the new year before releasing a full report with final recommendations. With files from The Canadian Press SHARE: Giorgio Mammoliti, Toronto city councillor, and Matt Brown, mayor of London, Ont. What was your first impression of your date? MAMMOLITI: Matt Brown was very warm and welcoming. Asked me many questions about the important work I do representing York West-Ward 7. BROWN: Councillor Mammoliti was friendly and easy to talk to. He seemed to be a little unsure of how this experience was going to unfold, as was I. It was clear to me that he was a lifelong politician with many years of experience in local government. Was there a moment when you thought, what have I got myself into? MAMMOLITI: Never. I felt very comfortable in his company. BROWN: When I had learned what Councillor Mammoliti had planned for our date in Vancouver, I dont think he knew I had been to this area 20 years ago, prior to the opening of the supervised injection site. I was curious as to how conversations were going to unfold and what his end goal was. What facts or viewpoints had you not considered/heard before? MAMMOLITI: That harm reduction plans are an important measure in combating the opioid/fentanyl crisis. BROWN: I had not considered the viewpoint that addiction and harm reduction should be a hospital-based treatment, which is what Councillor Mammoliti believes. This is the most expensive and least welcoming way to address the issues. How much did your view change about the issue? MAMMOLITI: My view was unaffected by Matts views. I am very passionate about keeping the people of Toronto safe and the communities they live in. The issue needs to be dealt with, but putting our communities at risk is not the solution. BROWN: After visiting East Hastings in Vancouver, I have an expanded view of the drug/opioid crisis in Canada. Seeing the severity of it only reaffirmed my support for supervised injection sites coupled with further harm-reduction measures. Especially when I compared what the area looked like 20 years ago to what it is today. Now, I am more convinced than ever before that this is the right thing to do. What was the best strategy your date used to persuade you? MAMMOLITI: While he tried to make a convincing case, I stand firm in my opinion that safe injection sites will turn the surrounding areas into Third World-like conditions. BROWN: Councillor Mammolitis strategy was to take me to the supervised injection site, a ground zero so to speak for this type of harm reduction. He was persistent in his message that this type of facility created greater harm and concentration. He changed the location and changed the profile, but it ended up strengthening my stance on the issue. What was the worst? MAMMOLITI: Seeing how decrepit a formerly vibrant part of a city had become. Addicts need real help to combat their addictions and successfully return to a life of meaning and normalcy. BROWN: In my eyes, the worst strategy Councillor Mammoliti had was actually taking me to East Hastings in Vancouver and conversing with business owners and the BIA in the area. Both were supportive of supervised injection sites and harm reduction and commented on the need for further action and investment in those types of resources. What part of your date do you wish you could do over? MAMMOLITI: Nothing that stands out. It was an informative meeting. BROWN: I was hoping we could spend more time speaking to those with lived experience in the London community. We spoke to several, but I was hoping thered be more time to share more of a first-hand account of what the situation is like in London surrounding addiction and our programs. The next time you run into your date will it be awkward? MAMMOLITI: Not at all. Matt was very hospitable and jovial. BROWN: No, I feel as if weve built a positive rapport with each other through this process. What surprised you most about your date? MAMMOLITI: That he also was a councillor for a Ward 7 [in London, Ont.] from 2010-2014 and that we have that in common, as I am the councillor of York-West Ward 7 in Toronto. BROWN: The thing that surprised me most about our date was how emotional Councillor Mammoliti was. He genuinely cares about this issue and his community, and I respect him for that. How would you rate this political blind date out of 10? MAMMOLITI: 8 BROWN: 10 NEXT WEEK: CORRECTIONS The two MPPs debate Ontario's corrections system on episode 4 of TVO's Political Blind Date. Critics argue Ontarios Correctional Services Act is badly in need of reform, that it no longer meets the needs of a changing population. As minister of community safety and correctional services, Marie-France Lalonde has the power to modernize the system, but is her government interested in doing so and would she even go far enough for NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo who sits on the opposite side of the chamber? They go on a couple dates to find out. LALONDE: Lets be practical in ensuring that those individuals who have sadly encountered our justice system are having the best support to be rehabilitated and reinserted into our community. DINOVO: My job is to hold her feet to the fire and make sure she does. Political Blind Date is produced by Open Door Co., Nomad Films and TVO, which airs the show Tuesdays at 9 p.m., and on tvo.org. The Toronto Star is the series media partner. Political Blind Date Episodes The six-part series airs Tuesdays on TVO at 9 p.m. and on tvo.org. See thestar.com for weekly pre- and post-show coverage. Nov. 7 MARIJUANA Garnett Genuis, Conservative MP, Sherwood Park-Fort Saskatchewan, and Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Liberal MP, Beaches-East York. Nov. 14 TRANSIT Doug Ford, former Toronto councillor, and Jagmeet Singh, NDP federal leader. Nov. 21 SAFE INJECTION SITES Matt Brown, London, Ont. mayor, and Giorgio Mammoliti, Toronto councillor, York West. Nov. 28 CORRECTIONS Cheri DiNovo, NDP MPP, Parkdale-High Park, and Marie-France Lalonde, Liberal MPP and Minister, Ottawa-Orleans. Dec. 5 HOUSING Maria Augimeri, Toronto councillor, York Centre, and Adam Vaughan, Liberal MP, SpadinaFort York Dec. 12 CARBON TAXES Arthur Potts, Liberal MPP, Beaches-East York, and Shannon Stubbs, Conservative MP, Lakeland. SHARE: Premier Kathleen Wynne is off on her final trade mission before the June election. She left Wednesday for Beijing, her third business trip to China since becoming premier in February 2013. Wynne will also visit Vietnam. As premier, I want to make sure Ontario businesses have every opportunity to remain competitive in a global, rapidly changing economy, she said in a statement, noting China is Ontarios second-largest trading partner after the United States with two-way trade of $42 billion. The focus of her fortnight abroad is the agri-food sector, science and technology, and medicine. Over the next two weeks, I look forward to working with Ontario delegates as they connect with international partners to help grow their business, create good jobs and seek new opportunities that benefit people across the province. Joined by more than 100 corporate and academic delegates from Ontario, Wynne will meet with business leaders and politicians in Beijing, Nanjing, Chongqing, and Shenzhen before departing for Hong Kong. The series of meetings starts Friday. She will then become the first Ontario premier to visit Vietnam. With hopes of further cashing in on trade with that fast-growing emerging economy, Wynne will be in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. Trade between the province and Vietnam was worth more than $3 billion last year, nearly four times what it was in 2012. During her time as premier, Wynne, who returns home Dec. 6, has also visited India, Israel, Japan, South Korea, and a number of U.S. states, to attract investment to Ontario. With Ontarians headed to the polls on June 7, 2018, opposition wags have joked that her excursion to China, Hong Kong and Vietnam is a farewell tour. Read more about: SHARE: The good news: this round of North American Free Trade Agreement negotiations didnt end with Canada and the U.S. in a new argument. The bad news: they didnt make progress on the things they were arguing about before. The fifth round of the renegotiation, which concluded Tuesday in Mexico City, produced progress on low-key matters, such as telecommunications and customs enforcement, but little to none on the big issues that threaten to ruin the talks initiated by President Donald Trump. For example, Canada and Mexico declined to present a counter-offer to an American proposal on automotive manufacturing that is loathed even by the U.S. auto industry. Instead, Canada delivered a kind of lecture on the protectionist proposal, explaining how it would hurt both countries and pressing the U.S. for further specifics. Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said there was some very good concrete progress on some of the more technical chapters important to Canadian businesses. But she added, There are some areas where more extreme proposals have been put forward. These are proposals that we simply cannot agree to, she told reporters in Ottawa. What weve done in some of those areas is ask for a better understanding of those proposals. We really feel that a fact-based approach is the way to get a good result. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer expressed frustration with the approach taken by Canada and Mexico, calling on them to come to the table in a serious way. While we have made progress on some of our efforts to modernize NAFTA, I remain concerned about the lack of headway. Thus far, we have seen no evidence that Canada or Mexico are willing to seriously engage on provisions that will lead to a rebalanced agreement. Absent rebalancing, we will not reach a satisfactory result, he said in a statement. A Canadian official said on condition of anonymity: On the controversial proposals, we cannot really negotiate as there seems to be little room to do so and little logic to the proposals. There did not appear to be progress on dairy, on which the U.S. wants Canada to dismantle its own protectionist system, or on government procurement, on which the U.S. has proposed protectionist Buy American rules that would freeze out many Canadian firms. In fact, the New York Times reported, Mexico responded to that proposal with a point-making protectionist proposal of its own, suggesting a plan that would effectively deny Americans access to Mexican government contracts. Some observers saw hints of a U.S. softening on its proposal for a five-year automatic termination clause, but the three sides did not come to any conclusion on the sunset subject. There are at least short-term benefits to Canadas strategy of delaying engagement on contentious topics, said Robert Fisher, a U.S. negotiator for the original NAFTA talks and now managing director of Washington trade consulting firm Hills and Co. Dragging out the talks, Fisher said, creates time for powerful U.S. interests opposed to the Trump proposals to put their own pressure on the administration. In the last week alone, 57 House Republicans wrote to Lighthizer to criticize the auto proposal; the third-ranking Senate Republican, John Thune, wrote to Lighthizer to call for labour mobility and criticize Trumps focus on trade deficits; and the second-ranking Senate Republican, John Cornyn, held a Texas hearing in which he hailed NAFTA as overwhelmingly positive for the state. In my view, the U.S. is firmly entrenched in many of these positions, and its not going to be the Canadians and Mexicans that are going to change the mind of the U.S. administration. Its going to be U.S. stakeholders and, more importantly, Congress, said Dan Ujczo, an Ohio trade lawyer with Dickinson Wright. And I think thats been the most significant development between Round 4 and Round 5: Congress is more actively engaged. But Fisher emphasized that Canadas strategy also carries risks. Because the U.S. and Mexican political calendars demand that any new deal be concluded quickly, he said, an ongoing refusal to engage could push Trump toward initiating the process of terminating NAFTA. You can only slow-walk a negotiation for a short period of time, he said. At some point I think Canada and Mexico are going to have to react to the U.S. proposals, even if its to say, Im sorry theyre totally unacceptable. And if thats your final line, were done. But I dont think anybody wants to be there yet. This round appeared to be designed to lower the rhetorical temperature after an October round that ended with Freeland and Lighthizer exchanging accusations in Washington. Neither of them was present in Mexico City. A sixth round of talks is scheduled for Washington in December. The negotiators will then move to Montreal in January. Flavio Volpe, president of Canadas Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association, applauded the Canadians decision to present facts about the destructive potential of the U.S. auto proposal rather than put forward a counterproposal. He said the move could set the stage for productive sleeves-up negotiating at the next round. If they reject the premise, Im not sure where that leaves us. But Im confident they wont reject the premise. The Canadian and Mexican arguments were fully based on quantitative arguments. Its not how we feel. Everybodys past feelings, Volpe said. Read more about: SHARE: Three military personnel have been reassigned from their White House jobs amid allegations that they had improper contact with foreign women while travelling with U.S. President Donald Trump on his recent trip to Asia, according to officials familiar with the situation. The service members all worked for the White House Communications Agency, a specialized military unit that helps provide the president, vice president, Secret Service and other officials with secure communications. The military is scrutinizing three Army non-commissioned officers who allegedly broke curfew during Trumps trip to Vietnam this month, officials said. Mark Wright, a spokesperson for the Defense Department, confirmed that the Pentagon is examining the behaviour of personnel during the visit to Vietnam. We are aware of the incident, and it is currently under investigation, Wright said. Trump visited Vietnam as part of a 12-day swing through Asia. The episode comes after four military personnel on the same White House team faced allegations related to their behaviour during a trip to Panama in August with Vice President Mike Pence. Those men two from the Army and two from the Air Force stood accused of taking foreign women after hours into a secure area as they were preparing for Pences arrival, officials said. U.S. President Donald Trump said one of the major accomplishments of his Asia trip was building better relationships with other countries. He went on to say that a relationship based on respect is much more important than anything else. (The Associated Press They were all flown home before Pence arrived and stripped of their White House assignments pending the findings of the investigation, officials said. Army Col. Amanda Azubuike, a military spokesperson, said an investigation into the Panama case has been closed and the findings forwarded to senior military officials for review. She said she was not aware of the final conclusions or any disciplinary action. NBC previously reported that military members on the Panama trip had been removed from White House duty. Service members with high-level security clearances are expected to report contacts with foreign individuals to ensure that their interactions do not compromise national security. The mission of the White House Communications Agency is to prevent eavesdropping on presidential communications and to ensure that White House officials can be securely reached worldwide at a moments notice. If found guilty, the service members face the risk of losing their security clearances or could be subject to administrative discipline or courts-martial. Spokespeople for Trump and Pence declined to comment and referred questions to the office of Defence Secretary Jim Mattis. Read more about: SHARE: THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDSAn unrepentant Ratko Mladic, the bullish Bosnian Serb general whose forces rained shells and snipers bullets on Sarajevo and carried out the worst massacre in Europe since the Second World War, was convicted Wednesday of genocide and other crimes and sentenced to spend the rest of his life behind bars. Defiant to the last, Mladic was ejected from a courtroom at the United Nations Yugoslav war crimes tribunal after yelling at judges: Everything you said is pure lies. Shame on you! He was dispatched to a neighbouring room to watch on a TV screen as Presiding Judge Alphons Orie pronounced him guilty of 10 counts that also included war crimes and crimes against humanity. Human-rights organizations hailed the convictions as proof that even top military brass long considered untouchable cannot evade justice forever. Mladic spent years on the run before his arrest in 2011. This landmark verdict marks a significant moment for international justice and sends out a powerful message around the world that impunity cannot and will not be tolerated, said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty Internationals Europe director. Lewis MacKenzie, a retired Canadian major-general who led a United Nations force in Sarajevo, commended the decision. But MacKenzie, who met Mladic several times when he commanded a peacekeeping force in Bosnia and Herzegovina, said he is amazed that it took six years to bring the man known as the Butcher of Bosnia to justice. McKenzie said the fact that it took that long is not a great endorsement of the UNs Yugoslav war crimes tribunal. He said he believes there was plenty of evidence to convict Mladic shortly after he was captured in Serbia in May 2011. For prosecutors, it was a fitting end to a 23-year effort to mete out justice at the UN tribunal for atrocities committed during the Balkan wars of the early 1990s. Mladics conviction signalled the end of the final trial before the tribunal closes its doors by the end of the year. But legal battles will continue. Mladics attorneys vowed to appeal his convictions on 10 charges related to a string of atrocities from the beginning of the 1992-95 Bosnian war to its bitter end. The defence team considers this judgment to be erroneous, and there will be an appeal, and we believe that the appeal will correct the errors of the trial chamber, Mladic lawyer Dragan Ivetic said. Mladics son, Darko, said his father told him after the verdict that the tribunal was a NATO commission . . . trying to criminalize a legal endeavour of Serbian people in times of civil war to protect itself from the aggression. Read more: Ex-Bosnian Serb Gen. Ratko Mladic may not be fit to hear verdicts in war crime trial: lawyer Ex Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic convicted of genocide, sentenced to 40 years Orie started the hearing by reading out a litany of horrors perpetrated by forces under Mladics control. Detainees were forced to rape and engage in other degrading sexual acts with one another. Many Bosnian Muslim women who were unlawfully detained were raped, Orie said. The judge recounted the story of a mother who ventured into the streets during the deadly siege of Sarajevo with her son as Serb snipers and artillery targeted the Bosnian capital. She was shot. The bullet passed through her abdomen and struck her 7-year-old sons head, killing him. In Srebrenica, the war reached its bloody climax as Bosnian Serb forces overran what was supposed to be a UN-protected safe haven. After busing away women and children, Serb forces systematically murdered some 8,000 Muslim males. Many of these men and boys were cursed, insulted, threatened, forced to sing Serb songs and beaten while awaiting their execution, Orie said. Kosovo, previously a province of Serbia that declared independence in 2008, welcomed the conviction. The countrys Foreign Ministry said the verdict marked an act of international justice and satisfaction for the Bosnia war victims. The ministry also recalled that its own ethnic Albanian population, like Bosnians, suffered at the hands of Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic and his generals, who applied in Kosovo, too, all the forms of crimes described in the charges against Mladic. Mladic looked relaxed as the hearing started, greeting lawyers, crossing himself and giving a thumbs-up to photographers in court. But midway through the hearing Mladics lawyer, Dragan Ivetic, asked for a delay because the general was suffering from high blood pressure. The judge refused, Mladic started yelling and was tossed out of court. When he started speaking, it was not about his health but much more I think trying to insult the judges, chief prosecutor Serge Brammertz said. The conflict in the former Yugoslavia erupted after the countrys breakup in the early 1990s, with the worst crimes taking place in Bosnia. More than 100,000 people died and millions lost their homes before a peace agreement was signed in 1995. Mladic went into hiding for around 10 years before his arrest in Serbia in May 2011. Mladics political master during the war, former Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadzic, was also convicted last year for genocide and sentenced to 40 years. He has appealed the ruling. The man widely blamed for fomenting wars across the Balkans, former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, died in his UN cell in 2006 before tribunal judges could reach verdicts in his trial. The ethnic tensions that Milosevic stoked from Belgrade simmer to this day. Top Bosnian Serb political leader Milorad Dodik said the tribunal only underscored its anti-Serb bias by convicting Mladic. Dodik said the court was established with the single purpose of demonizing Serbs. This opinion is shared by all the Serbs, Dodik said, describing Mladic as a hero and a patriot. Serbian President Alksandar Vucic, a former ultranationalist who supported Mladics war campaigns but now casts himself as a pro-EU reformer, agreed that the court has been biased against Serbs but added that we should not justify the crimes committed by the Serbs. We are ready to accept our responsibility for war crimes while the others are not, he said. For a former prisoner of Serb-run camps in northwestern Bosnia who was in The Hague, the verdict was sweet relief. Fikret Alic became a symbol of the horrors in Bosnia after his skeletal frame was photographed by Time magazine behind barbed wire in 1992 in a Bosnian Serb camp. Justice has won, he said. And the war criminal has been convicted. With files from The Canadian Press Read more about: SHARE: NEW YORKIn the heart of Flatbush, Brooklyn, past the bright Haitian takeout corner spot, with its aroma of richly fried pork, and down the block from La Difference driving school, an anxious crowd packed the front waiting room of the district office for Councilman Mathieu Eugene. Older residents of Brooklyn and recent immigrants from Haiti all wanted to know: What now? On Monday night, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced that it would in 18 months end a program known as Temporary Protected Status for Haitians affected by the deadly earthquake that rocked the island in 2010. TPS, as it is known, allows people from countries crippled by natural disasters or armed conflicts to live and work legally in the United States. By its nature, TPS is supposed to end at some point, but under previous administrations its protections had been extended for years or even decades. The status of TPS permit holders from Honduras and El Salvador has not yet been decided, but Homeland Security deemed Haiti ready to accept its citizens, and gave Haitians living in the U.S. until July 2019 to prepare. Read more: U.S. decision to end temporary status for Haitians has Canada on alert for asylum seekers Trump administration ending temporary residency permits for almost 60,000 Haitians I went to Haiti last year and I can tell you, its not ready, Peddy Jean-Louis, 50, said while waiting for an appointment to check on his status. It is still damaged. With a TPS work permit, Jean-Louis has a job as a cook. He hoped his daughter, a U.S. citizen, would be able to sponsor him for a green card. I am lucky, I have an option. The others chatting somberly in French and Creole beside him were not as hopeful. But they brightened briefly when their Haitian-born city council member, Eugene, burst through the storefront door and started shaking hands. A few minutes later, in his back conference room, Eugene, a Democrat who has been on the council since 2007, confided that he, too, was worried. These 18 months are going to be 18 months of panic, of stress, and that will create a mental situation, Eugene, who trained as a medical doctor, said. This is going to create another disaster. We are going to break families apart. Eugene also said the 18 months gave advocates more time to organize, perhaps for a more permanent status. If they are still here, we are going to continue to fight, he said. There are approximately 5,200 Haitians living with TPS in the city, according to the New York Immigration Coalition, an advocacy organization, and about 59,000 living in the United States since the earthquake. For some Haitians who had entered the country illegally or overstayed visas, TPS allowed them an opportunity to live and work openly. Kane Andre, a naturalized citizen from Haiti who is a church minister and a real estate agent, was looking on the bright side. We were happy to have the permit extended, he said. What I see is that if they plan to have more jobs, that would be good for the country. We fought here to get a better Haiti and so it will be easier to go back. Community leaders and those in small businesses wondered if such an eventual departure would have a ripple effect on Flatbush, if not the wider New York economy. In the backroom of La Difference Auto School, the walls of a Haitian cultural centre were adorned with a large map of the country, paintings and posters in Creole. The manager of the driving school, Ernst Severe, feared the empty room would be a sign of things to come. Immigrants from Haiti who had gotten TPS after the earthquake represented about a third of his clients. I think its going to affect my business greatly, Severe, 61, said before starting a driving lesson. At a money transfer station located in a nearby barbershop, Manoucheka Ostane, 35, said a good portion of the business comes from remittances immigrants send back to their families in Haiti. If you dont send anything, youre not going to get anything, she said, referring to a commission. If theres nobody coming in, were going to have to close and look for something else to do. As much as Haitis still-struggling infrastructure dominated conversation in Brooklyn, Joenald Pierre wondered who was left on the island to welcome the earthquake refugees. A U.S. citizen born to Haitian parents in New York, he was personally devastated by the disaster. Where do you go? said Pierre, 44, while eating griot, a Haitian pork dish, at the Bebe Fritay restaurant. Where do you go? I lost half my family in the earthquake. Twenty cousins died. Zachary Laresche, 52, opened Casa 1 Tire Repair in Flatbush in 2013, after he got a TPS permit. Its not easy for a businessman like me to go back, he said, explaining that the islands economy would not support a small business. He figured that many people would defy orders of deportation to stay in the United States. But Laresche said he would decide his future when the time came. Im a citizen of the world, he said. On Tuesday, Eugene met in his office with a Haitian-Canadian member of Canadian Parliament, Emmanuel Dubourg. Eugene visited Montreal several months ago and was shocked to see the thousands of Haitians who had migrated there, supported by family, but with a tenuous hope for legal status. The two men wanted to dissuade Haitians from illegally crossing into Canada. The message remains the same: Its not a free ticket to come to Canada, Dubourg said in an interview. Since the summer, he has been serving on a government task force addressing illegal immigration. According to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, from January to September 6,360 Haitians applied for asylum, but only 10 per cent received it. For those who do not have a valid asylum claim, Canada will send them back to their country of origin, Dubourg said. We welcome them with dignity, he said. But it doesnt mean that they are going to get permanent residence in Canada. Read more about: SHARE: JAKARTAIndonesias military and police continue to perform abusive virginity tests on female recruits three years after the World Health Organization declared they had no scientific validity, an international human rights group said Wednesday. Human Rights Watch said senior Indonesian police and military officers have told it that security forces still impose the cruel and discriminatory tests, which are carried out under the guise of psychological examinations for mental health and morality reasons. The Indonesian governments continuing tolerance for abusive virginity tests by the security forces reflects an appalling lack of political will to protect the rights of Indonesian women, said Nisha Varia, womens rights advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. The group called for President Joko Jokowi Widodo to order the national police chief and military commander to ban the practice. The testing includes the invasive two-finger test to determine whether female applicants hymens are intact, which WHO in its 2014 clinical guidelines for health care of sexually abused women said lacks any scientific basis. Indonesias military did not respond to a request for comment. Three years ago it defended the practice as safeguarding morality. Police spokesman Setyo Wasisto said the force stopped virginity tests three years ago. Currently, he said, health checks for male and female recruits include tests for venereal diseases and only female medical staff test female recruits. Human Rights Watch said it found that applicants who were deemed to have failed the virginity test were not necessarily penalized but all of the women it spoke with described the test as painful, embarrassing, and traumatic. Human Rights Watch has also documented the use of virginity tests by security forces in Egypt, India and Afghanistan and criticized calls for virginity tests for Indonesian school girls. It said all three branches of the Indonesian military have imposed the tests for decades and in some circumstances also extended the requirement to the fiancees of military officers. Read more about: SHARE: BEIRUTLebanons Prime Minister Saad Hariri walked back his resignation on Wednesday after weeks of intensive international diplomacy aimed at restoring the delicate political balance that has kept the country from being pulled apart by regional tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Hariris decision to stay on, provisionally at least, is an embarrassment to Riyadh, which is widely seen as having orchestrated the resignation. But the kingdoms increasingly activist leadership led by the 32-year-old crown prince who is spearheading the kingdoms foreign policy can take solace in having revived the conversation about the formidable influence wielded in Lebanon by the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah. The reversal capped a dramatic two-and-a-half weeks that saw Hariri resign suddenly from Riyadh on Nov. 4, then travelled to Paris, Egypt, and Cyprus, before finally returning home on the eve of Lebanons 74th Independence Day celebrations. Read more: Lebanons prime minister dismisses rumours about his detention in Saudi Arabia Lebanese PM Hariri plans France trip in aftermath of shock resignation Lebanons prime minister insists hes free amid mysterious stay in Saudi Arabia President Michel Aoun received him with a warm embrace at the military parade on Wednesday morning, and the two men sat relaxed and appearing to enjoy each others company at the viewing stand. Aoun had earlier said he would not accept Hariris resignation until the prime minister presented it in person. Wednesday was the first opportunity for face-to-face talks. Hariri later said he presented his resignation, but was asked by Aoun to retract it and allow time for consultations. He acquiesced and said he was looking forward to a real partnership with all political forces to put Lebanons higher interests before any others. The reversal highlights the latest Saudi foreign policy overreach under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, seen as being behind most of the kingdoms major decisions. When he resigned, in an uncomfortable, televised statement from Riyadh, Hariri said he was protesting what he called meddling in Arab affairs by Iran and its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah. Hezbollah is a partner in the coalition government Hariri formed a year ago. The resignation sparked a political and diplomatic crisis as Lebanese officials accused the kingdom of pressuring the Saudi-aligned politician to step down. The Lebanese, affronted by the developments, rallied around Hariri, unanimously calling for his return in what became an embarrassment for the kingdom. The Saudi crown prince, who has the blessing of his father, King Salman, has taken a much harder line against the Sunni kingdoms main rival Shiite power Iran, which has spread its influence in the Arab region in recent years. The crown prince, who is also defence minister, has a reputation for being impulsive. He has led Saudi Arabia into a nearly three-year-long war in Yemen to try and push back Iranian-allied rebels there. A global outcry by aid groups over the tightening of a Saudi blockade in Yemen prompted the Saudis to say they would lift restrictions on urgently-needed humanitarian supplies. But Hariris retraction is not a total loss for the Gulf kingdom, which can point to the newly invigorated debate, mainly in Lebanon, over the extent of Hezbollahs regional influence, and its formidable military capabilities that rival those of the Lebanese Army. The group, operating independently of Lebanons government, has been fighting on the side of Syrian President Bashar Assad in the brutal civil war next door. Many of Assads enemies are rebels backed by Saudi Arabia. The kingdom claims Hezbollah is also advising Iran-backed Shiite rebels in Yemen, in their war against that countrys Saudi-backed government. Hariri, after meeting Aoun on Wednesday, stressed his support for a return to Lebanons official policy of disassociation from the wars, outside conflicts, and regional disputes a pointed statement meant for Hezbollah. Analyst Maha Yahya, director of the Beirut-based Carnegie Middle East Center, said Saudi Arabia has turned the tables on Hezbollah, a year after Lebanons parties and regional sponsors reached a consensus deal to put Aoun a Christian but also a political ally of the Shiite Hezbollah in the presidential palace. Under Lebanons delicate balance of power, the countrys president must be a Christian, the prime minster a Sunni and the parliament speaker a Shiite making any coalition by necessity a product of long negotiations and political give-and-take. According to Yahya, the Saudi-triggered resignation was basically a statement to the effect that whatever agreement that was put in place that brought President Aoun to power is now over. The Saudi message, Yahya said, was clear: We want to negotiate a new agreement, one in which the role of Hezbollah is under discussion. It remains to be seen what Hariri is demanding and how much room there is to negotiate in order to at least arrive at some sort of acceptable modus vivendi, she said. Putting the resignation on hold now means there is still room for backdoor negotiations to try and figure a way out of this, Yahya said. Hariris reversal appears to be a culmination of nearly three weeks of international pressure to restore Lebanons delicate political configuration, and return Hariri to Beirut. French President Emmanuel Macron, who has shown a keenness to restore Frances influence in the Middle East, flew to Saudi Arabia to meet Hariri days after his resignation, then sat with Salman and Crown Prince. Days later, the White House issued a statement calling Hariri a trusted partner to the United States, adding pressure on Saudi Arabia to clarify the situation. Macrons mediation succeeded in getting Hariri out of the kingdom. Hariri was in Paris on Saturday, then, on Tuesday, he travelled to Egypt and Cyprus, meeting with Presidents Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and Nicos Anastasiades. Lebanons Al-Akhbar newspaper, which boasts deep contacts in the region despite its anti-Saudi stand, reported that officials in Egypt, Jordan, and Kuwait allies of Saudi Arabia were alarmed by the Saudi crown princes recent regional manoeuvres. Cypriot government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides said in remarks to the private Sigma radio station that Hariris visit to Larnaca was neither by chance or a surprise. The common aim is stability in Lebanon, he told The Associated Press. Posters erected around Beirut and other cities welcomed Hariris return. God give him a long life and protect him, said Ali Mohiedeen, one of a few thousand well-wishers and party supporters arrived at Hariris central Beirut residence on Wednesday afternoon. About Hezbollah, he said: Its time they handover their weapons, its time they submit to the realities. And as for Hariri, Sheikh Saad, the step he took, he should have taken it a long time ago, said Mohiedeen. Read more about: SHARE: WASHINGTONThe United States declared the ongoing violence against Rohingya Muslims in Burma to be ethnic cleansing on Wednesday, threatening penalties for military officials engaged in a brutal crackdown that has sent more than 600,000 refugees flooding over the border to Bangladesh. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson blamed Burmas security forces and local vigilantes for what he called intolerable suffering by the Rohingya. Although the military has accused Rohingya insurgents of triggering the crisis, Tillerson said that no provocation can justify the horrendous atrocities that have ensued. After a careful and thorough analysis of available facts, it is clear that the situation in northern Rakhine state constitutes ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya, Tillerson said in a statement. Although the designation carries no legal obligations for the U.S. to act, Tillerson said those who perpetrated the atrocities must be held accountable. He added that the U.S. wanted a full investigation and was considering targeted sanctions against those responsible but not broader sanctions against the nation. Rohingya from Burmas Rakhine state have been fleeing to neighbouring Bangladesh, seeking refuge from what Burmas military has called clearance operations. The crisis started in August, when Rohingya insurgents attacked Burma security forces, leading to a brutal crackdown in which soldiers and Buddhist mobs have killed men, raped women and burned homes and property to force the Rohingya to leave. The declaration followed a lengthy review process by U.S. President Donald Trumps administration to determine whether the violence met the threshold to be considered ethnic cleansing. The United Nations came to that conclusion in September, but the U.S. had held off, with Tillerson saying he needed more information even as he expressed deep concern about the crisis. Last week, Tillerson travelled to Burma in the highest level visit by a U.S. official since Trump took office. U.S. officials dangled the possibility of an ethnic cleansing designation ahead of Tillersons trip, potentially giving him more leverage as he met with officials in Burma. In the capital of Naypitaw, Tillerson met with the countrys civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, as well as Burmas powerful military chief, Min Aung Hlaing, who is in charge of operations in Rakhine state, home to Burmas Rohingya population. Alam Jafar led his wife and their three young children to the coast, catching a boat he thought would carry the Rohingya Muslim family to safety in Bangladesh. But their escape from persecution in Myanmar ended in tragedy. (The Associated Press) Senior State Department officials said the determination was intended to ramp up pressure on the military and others in Burma to resolve the conflict and repatriate refugees who have fled to Bangladesh. Yet it was also likely to intensify calls for the Trump administration and Congress to move toward new sanctions. Earlier this month, a House committee passed a non-binding resolution condemning murderous ethnic cleansing and atrocities and calling on Trump to impose sanctions on those responsible for abuses. Yet sweeping sanctions targeting Burmas economy or its military as a whole are off the table, officials said, adding that the Trump administration had determined they would not be productive either for ensuring accountability or for promoting broader U.S. goals in Burma. Instead, the U.S. is considering sanctions against individuals only, said the officials, who werent authorized to comment by name and briefed reporters on a conference call on condition of anonymity. Broad-based U.S. sanctions on Burma were eased under former president Barack Obama as the Southeast Asian nation inched toward democracy. U.S. officials have been concerned that slapping back sanctions or pushing Burmas leaders too hard on the Rohingya violence could undermine the countrys civilian government, led for the last 18 months by Suu Kyi. That could slow or reverse the countrys delicate transition away from decades of harsh military rule and risks pushing Burma away from the U.S. and closer to China. The State Department has also examined whether the violence in Rakhine meets the definitions for crimes against humanity or genocide, but have so far made no such determinations. Both designations carry significant legal consequences. Ethnic cleansing, on the other hand, isnt recognized as an independent crime under international law, according to the United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention. The ethnic cleansing term surfaced in the context of the 1990s conflict in the former Yugoslavia, when a UN commission defined it as rendering an area ethnically homogeneous by using force or intimidation to remove persons of given groups from the area. Human rights groups accuse the military of a scorched-earth campaign against the Rohinyga, who numbered roughly one million in Burma before the latest exodus. The Buddhist majority in Burma believes they migrated illegally from Bangladesh, but many Rohingya families have lived for generations in Burma. In 1982, they were stripped of their citizenship. Already, the United States has curtailed its ties to Burmas military over the violence. Earlier this year, the U.S. restored restrictions on granting visas to members of Burmas military, and the State Department has deemed units and officers involved in operations in Rakhine state ineligible for U.S. assistance. Read more about: SHARE: Three hundred protest letters written by Japanese Canadians in the 1940s were recovered from Canadas vast national archives and have recently been undergoing review. The letters convey the damage of trust betrayed and the courage of everyday people confronting injustice. Federal officials promised Japanese Canadians that their homes, business, farms, automobiles, fishing boats and personal belongings would be returned at the end of the war. Instead, everything was seized and sold. In 1944, Aya Suzuki wrote a letter to her government explaining the betrayal that she felt: Before leaving Vancouver your men had told us that this process was to protect us and in your assurance we had our business put into our local agents whom we trusted. Suzuki had discovered that everything she owned had been forcibly sold. Suzuki joined hundreds of others in forceful protest. You have gone against our wishes, also without even consulting us what are we (Canada) fighting for? Not that same treatment the Nazis gave the Jews be practiced here in our own country! The lives of 22,000 Japanese Canadians were disrupted after Canada entered the Pacific War in December 1941. By autumn 1942, Canada had uprooted, interned and incarcerated all people of Japanese descent living within 160 kilometres of the Pacific Coast. The majority of the uprooted were Canadian citizens (British subjects of Canada, in the language of the time). Not one was ever found guilty of wrongdoing. Although the racist policies resembled those in other jurisdictions, including the United States, in important respects they were even more severe. Canada was unique in forcing the sale of all property belonging to citizens of Japanese origin. Also, Canada maintained its internment program until 1949, even though the U.S. had disbanded its four years earlier. In the U.S., the approaching end of the Pacific War hastened the end of restrictions against people of Japanese descent according to historian Greg Robinson in his book Tragedy of Democracy. But in Canada, our government instead implemented the renewal and reinforcement of state violence. Almost 20 per cent of Japanese Canadians, just under 4,000 people, were exiled to Japan, a country that many had never even visited. Ignored by officials 75 years ago, the 300 letters, which protested the forced sale of property, have been brought to light as part of a major research project. Landscapes of Injustice is funded by a $2.5-million grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and an additional $3 million in funds from partner organizations. It is one of the largest research collaborations in the country. As the project director, I coordinate the efforts of 70 scholars, students, museum workers, teachers and community leaders working together to help tell the history of the dispossession of Japanese Canadians. The research collective will create a travelling museum exhibit, teaching materials for elementary and secondary schools, educational websites, a digital archive and popular and scholarly publications. Using the letters, scholars working with the Landscapes of Injustice project have been able to understand the perspectives of Japanese Canadians articulating the value of their lands and belongings and the impacts of the policies that dispossessed them. The protests of Japanese Canadians illuminate the specific and complex harms of the permanent loss of home. In their letters, Japanese Canadians explained how the loss of their homes and belongings threatened a permanent rupture in their sense of belonging and their faith in their country in some ways, above and beyond their uprooting and internment. Many Japanese Canadians wrote letters describing the losses as violation of lifelong ambitions. Rikizo Yoneyama lost his farm in Haney, near Vancouver. Born in 1887 in the Kanagawa Prefecture, southwest of Tokyo, Yoneyama had crossed the Pacific at the age of 20. In the first decade after his immigration, Yoneyama worked in a sawmill and then a pharmacy, saving enough money to purchase 7.5 acres, where he dug a well by hand so that he could raise chickens and pigs, and cultivate berries, apples, pears, plums and cherries, as well as a variety of vegetables. He married and by the 1930s was a father of four. Supplementing the familys farm income with wage-labour, Yoneyama was able in 1935 to purchase additional land, where he built a two-storey chicken coop and an enlarged family home. In July 1944, Yoneyama received word that his lifes work had been undone. His property had been sold for less than half of the farms annual income, he wrote. I realize that we are the victims of a war emergency and as such are willing to undergo hardship to help safeguard the shores of our homeland, Yoneyama wrote in his letter to the Government of Canada. Yet he never imagined that he would lose everything. I came to Canada in 1907, he wrote, and was allowed the privilege of Canadian Citizenship on December 22, 1914. This was to me, he continued, the most gracious opportunity given by the country of my adoption. Through it, I realized an ambition I had desired since landing on this continent, that of being able to raise a family of Canadian sons and daughters. The loss of all this, Yoneyama stressed, was more than just economic. His home, he wrote, to us meant more than just a home. It was to us, the foundation of security and freedom as Canadian citizens. The Landscapes of Injustice project is working to ensure that voices like Yoneyamas are heard today. His letter has been returned to his son, Harold Yoneyama, who had not previously known of its existence. A virtual exhibit will feature the letters. Our project partner, the Nikkei National Museum, has received a major grant from the Virtual Museum of Canada to create an immersive digital exhibit centred on the letters. Sherri Kajiwara, curator for the Nikkei National Museum, said the letters are especially important at the 75th anniversary of the dispossession of Japanese Canadians: Its a significant glimpse into a difficult and traumatic time for Canadians of Japanese ancestry. Susanne Tabata, a digital content creator and filmmaker working on the project, sees the dispossession of Japanese Canadians as a cautionary tale closely linked to current events. In light of the current rise in public xenophobic discourse what connections can we make between stories of migration today and the Japanese Canadian experience of the past? she said. How do we navigate this discussion? And what is there to learn from this history so it does not repeat itself? Jordan Stanger-Ross is Associate Professor of History at the Centre for Asia Pacific Initiatives of the University of Victoria. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Disclosure information is available on the original site. SHARE: It was a question intended to belittle and embarrass. How do you spell the word hangar? Honest to God, this reporter, for one, was silently urging the witness to shoot back with a hyphenated obscenity: ---- Y-O-U. Crown attorney Jill Cameron was promptly on her feet, objecting. Justice Michael Code agreed. I cant see the relevance, he said. Move on. For a good hour, by that point, Dellen Millard had been eliciting evidence that Marlena Meneses head over heels in love with his best friend, Mark Smich, back in the late spring of 2012 had been a dull-witted teenage high school dropout with scarcely two brain cells to rub together. And a mooch, both she and Smich living off his generosity, smoking his weed, drinking his booze, semi-residing at his Etobicoke home. Read more: Dellen Millard, Laura Babcock had bad blood, friend testifies at murder trial Ex-girlfriend testifies she saw Laura Babcocks accused killers testing incinerator: DiManno Dellen Millard claimed incinerator was for pet cremation business uncle called idea absurd, Babcock trial hears For a bit of pin money, Meneses would do odd jobs, including cleaning out the toilet at the H-A-N-G-A-R owned by his familys aviation business. Meneses, 18 at the time, had moved out of her own home after quarrelling with her stepfather. She and Smich had been involved for about a year. You kind of liked me at the beginning? Millard asked. Yes, she did. As time moved on, you didnt like me as much? Meneses: Thats correct. These were all facts which Meneses, a key witness for the prosecution, had made clear under direct examination last Friday. On Tuesday, when the trial now into its fifth week resumed, it was Millards chance to cross-examine. Millard and Smich have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the disappearance and presumed death of Laura Babcock shortly after Canada Day, 2012. The 23-year-olds remains have never been found. The prosecution maintains that Babcock was killed July 3-4, her body burned in an incinerator at the hangar on July 23. While Meneses was not sure of the exact date and hadnt been asked shed testified about seeing the incinerator, the Eliminator as it was dubbed, in action late one night after Millard drove the three of them to the hangar, claiming he needed to test the machine. Ordered to stay in the car, shed stepped out to investigate after hearing a sharp cracking sound. I passed by it and I saw smoke coming out of it and it had a crackling noise. The jury has seen a brief video of the Eliminator purportedly doing its business around midnight that evening, bits of orange-hot embers wafting into the air. On Tuesday, Millard hes representing himself at trial spent a great deal of time exploring the dynamics among the trio of friends, depicting Meneses in particular as a leech hed tolerated, out of an excess of charity. He reminded Meneses of all the times hed played trivia games with her, a kind of torment. It made you feel dumb? Indeed it had. It hurt your feelings. If so, and Meneses agreed to feelings of inferiority, way over her head with this wealthy and charismatic scion, she is no longer that cowering naif of five years ago. On several occasions she raised her voice and snapped back at Millard. You used to smoke a lot of weed, right? Yes. Wherever we were going, you came with us? Yes. I smacked your butt once, didnt I? Meneses: Yes, and actually it was more than once. You gave me a dirty look, so I knew you didnt like it. It was unwanted contact. As in his cross-examination of other witnesses mutual friends from that era who knew about the bad blood which had apparently developed between Millard and Babcock the defendant continued to portray himself as an utterly unpleasant person who didnt give a fig about the people he wounded and deceived. The Crowns theory is that Millard decided to eliminate Babcock after shed bragged to his current girlfriend that they were still having sex, triggering bitterness and counter-accusations of infidelity. Millard seems intent on portraying himself as someone who didnt care about the melodrama swirling around his relationships and thus would have no motive for killing Babcock. Do you pay rent now? Millard asked, mildly. Meneses had told court she is living with her mother and has recently been promoted to assistant manager at her workplace. I have a job and I pay for everything by myself. Do you still smoke cigarettes? Millard continued. Meneses wondered aloud if she was required to answer these pointless questions. Unperturbed, Millard continued outlining his generosity; the care he took of Meneses and her likewise broke boyfriend. I woke you guys up in the morning . . . I took you to Tim Hortons . . . And Harveys for lunch . . . And shawarma for dinner . . . BBQ from Costco . . . There was even a time when I left my card with you guys to order pizza. Who paid for your phone? Meneses acknowledged all of it. The words almost whiplashed out of her: At the same time, we were doing work for you, so you felt obligated to pay. I worked for that. Zigzagging, Millard recalled an occasion where Meneses whod taken a mechanics course was able to remove a broken tail light from a Cadillac after he had fumbled the procedure. You felt good to do a job that I wasnt able to do. Meneses: It felt amazing. Millard, as the avuncular pal: Despite disliking me, the teasing, you learned a lot from me, didnt you? Meneses, dryly: Oh, I learned a lot from all of this. While Smich, tapping away at his laptop next to his defence lawyer, never once glanced up at the witness, Millard methodically depicted his co-defendants relationship with Meneses as casually cruel. It was a controlling and abusing relationship, wasnt it? He didnt like to call you his girlfriend. He called you a bitch, or The Bitch. And he, Millard, had never intervened to modify Smichs behaviour, had he? Maybe you should have, Meneses responded, quietly. Meneses admitted that shed told one small lie on the stand Tuesday and immediately took it back at first denying that shed fired a handgun which belonged to Millard, then conceding she had. Yes, I fired that gun. So, a lie? I know, Im sorry. Shed similarly been untruthful in her first interview with police. But not, as the Crown was able to get on the record in redirect, in her eight subsequent interviews. In the latter part of Tuesday, Crown attorney Ken Lockhart called to the stand Andrew Michalski, whod been close friends with Millard since Grade 11 and knew Babcock as well. Michalski said he was interested in dating Babcock back in 2012, after she and Millard had their hookup. Hed asked Millard for permission. He gave me his blessing. Nothing came of it, however. Jurors have already heard that Millard, in April, had asked Michalski to keep him updated on Babcock, to know her whereabouts. While he was working at a job in Winnipeg later that summer, Michalski came across a Facebook posting about Babcock being missing. He and Millard briefly exchanged text messages about it. I asked him what was up. But Michalski insisted they never had a direct conversation about it afterward. I never had a conversation . . . nothing. Theyd all been friends and now the young woman had vanished. Surely there would have been some concern for her? Apparently not, in this self-absorbed coterie of the heartless. Michalski: Just because we didnt think highly of her at that time. Rosie DiManno usually appears Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. SHARE: Global oil prices tested two year highs again Wednesday, led by U.S. benchmark crude, as an expected dip in domestic production combined with ongoing disruptions to imports from Canada lifted markets ahead of next week's OPEC summit in Vienna. WTI futures for delivery in January traded early in the European session at $57.88, up $1.05 or 1.85%, leaving prices just shy of their two-year high of just over $58. International benchmark Brent crude futures for delivery in January traded at $63.18, up $0.61 or 0.97%. WTI's gain was underpinned by expectations that U.S. government data, due on Wednesday, will show that supply from U.S. producers dipped about 2.2 million barrels in the past week. That report follows the American Petroleum Institute data, released on Tuesday, which tallied a 7.2 million barrel fall in U.S. stockpiles. Pressure on supplies is set to continue due to disruptions of imports from Canada's tar fields following the temporary closure of the Keystone crude pipeline. Operator Transcanada Corp. (TRP) - Get Free Report said deliveries will be cut by at least 85% through to the end of November, while it repairs a leak that has spilled about 5,000 barrels of oil in South Dakota. "The shutdown of the Keystone pipeline could limit barrels into Cushing (the U.S.'s biggest oil-storage hub) and help clear one of the more stubborn areas of crude inventory," Goldman Sachs analysts wrote Wednesday. Nebraska Regulators Approve Keystone XL Pipeline Outside of the U.S. all eyes are on next week's OPEC-led summit in Vienna, where the world's largest oil exporters, including Russia, are expected to discuss an extension to production caps that are due to expire in March. OPEC support for an extension appears solid, while Russian officials have been meeting with their domestic oil companies to gauge support. Reports this week claimed that the majority of Russian oil companies have lined up behind a six-month extension, with only Gazprom Neft arguing against the prolongation. Oil Stocks: You Are What Your 'Record' Says Markets are already pricing in the announcement of an extension following the OPEC-led meeting on Nov. 30, according to Dutch bank ING, which warned that such confidence comes with risks. "An outcome at the OPEC meeting which falls short of market expectations, will likely lead to a selloff, and given the large speculative long in Brent, this could be fairly severe," wrote ING analysts. More of What's Trending on TheStreet: Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) - Get Free Report isn't giving in just yet. The company will challenge the proxy vote recount that awarded activist investor Nelson Peltz a seat on the P&G board, according to a report from CNBC citing unnamed sources. P&G notified independent inspector IVS Associates that it planned to "review" the count but wouldn't say it was challenging the results. After P&G initially claimed victory last month, Peltz won the seat in a narrow recount by 43,000 votes, or 0.0016%, in an IVS tally. Advisers are now expected to review each contested vote to ensure it is legitimate. It's the latest step in an ongoing battle between Peltz and P&G as the investor attempts to implement change by way of the company's board. The two sides have spent $60 million going up against one another. P&G stock fell 0.65% to $88.14 in early afternoon trading Wednesday. More of What's Trending on TheStreet: Salesforce.com Inc. (CRM) - Get Free Report has seen some profit-taking after it beat October quarter estimates and issued above-consensus January quarter sales guidance, but issued below-consensus quarterly EPS guidance due to an aggressive spending pace. That fact that shares were up nearly 60% going into earnings has much to do with the selloff. Here are some takeaways from Salesforce's report and earnings call: 1. Billings momentum remains strong. Salesforce's closely-watched billings -- defined as revenue plus the sequential change in the deferred revenue balance -- came in at $2.25 billion -- up 24% annually and easily above a $2.02 billion consensus. In addition, the unbilled deferred revenue balance, which consists of deals that are under contract but which Salesforce hasn't yet billed clients for, grew 34% to $11.5 billion. That's faster than the 30% growth seen in the July quarter. Billings growth slowed slightly from the July quarter's 26%. But the July quarter's growth was boosted by the fact that Salesforce's $2.8 billion purchase of e-commerce software firm Demandware didn't close until late in the July 2016 quarter. The latest billings numbers suggest deal momentum with big enterprises -- including for deals featuring multiple Salesforce products -- remains pretty healthy. On the earnings call, COO Keith Block talked up a "wall-to-wall" deal with a European automaker and a giant deal with the Department of Homeland Security, among others. And CEO Marc Benioff reiterated Salesforce's goal of organically achieving $20 billion to $22 billion in revenue by fiscal 2022 (ends in Jan. 2022), up from $8.4 billion in fiscal 2018. It's worth noting that Salesforce did guide for just 19% to 20% January quarter deferred revenue growth. But the company has beaten its deferred revenue guidance by a healthy margin during the last couple of quarters. 2. Share gains continue -- especially in customer support and marketing software. Salesforce's mainstay Sales Cloud business (salesforce automation software) saw revenue grow 17% to $906.5 million, a rate that's even with the July quarter's. But its Service Cloud business (customer service software) saw revenue growth improve to 23% (sales totaled $738.1 million) from 21%. And the Marketing and Commerce Cloud unit (marketing automation and e-commerce software) saw revenue rise 40% to $346.2 million. Though annual growth slowed from the July quarter due to the timing of the Demandware deal's closing, it looks as if Salesforce's Marketing Cloud platform saw growth accelerate. And the Salesforce Platform and Other unit, which covers the Heroku and Force.com cloud app development platforms (PaaS), saw growth improve slightly to 34% (sales totaled $495.3 million). A healthy CRM software market -- benefiting from both strong IT software spending and a shift in IT spending power towards chief marketing officers (CMOs) -- is helping Salesforce's cause. But with the help of "land-and-expand" situations in which Sales Cloud deals are followed by deals for other products, the company is also clearly taking enterprise CRM share from rivals such as Oracle Corp. (ORCL) - Get Free Report and SAP SE (SAP) - Get Free Report . 3. Initiatives launched over the last three years seem to be paying off. Since 2014, Salesforce has overhauled the interface/user experience for its core apps via its Lightning platform, launched a machine learning solution (called Einstein) that surfaces insights and recommends actions by analyzing data within Salesforce apps, launched many solutions for verticals such as banking, healthcare and retail, grown its international footprint via aggressive hiring and a deal with Amazon (AMZN) - Get Free Report Web Services (AWS) to host Salesforce's apps in overseas data centers and continued adding to its stable of software and IT services partnerships (tie-ups with IBM (IBM) - Get Free Report and Alphabet/Google (GOOGL) - Get Free Report are among Salesforce's 2017 partnerships). The growth rates posted by Salesforce's various business segments suggest these moves are bearing fruit. So do some other numbers. EMEA and Asia-Pac revenue respectively rose 33% and 27% in constant currency; 57% of the buyers of Salesforce's vertical offerings are said to be new clients; and over half of all new business is said to stem from partnerships. 4. R&D spending is picking up -- and an executive shakeup suggests it could pick up more. Salesforce's GAAP R&D spend rose 26% to $394 million, slightly outpacing revenue/billings growth and also topping the 19% growth seen in Salesforce's traditionally-high sales/marketing spend (it totaled $1.18 billion). Investments in things like Einstein, vertical solutions and the Trailhead platform for teaching office workers how to use Salesforce apps are making their presence felt. And in tandem with its earnings report, Salesforce announced that Bret Taylor, who was once Facebook's (FB) - Get Free Report CTO and joined Salesforce via its 2016 acquisition of word-processing app Quip, is now a company president and has been named chief product officer. Alex Dayon, who was previously Salesforce's president and product chief, is now its chief strategy officer and will be "working closely with Salesforce's customers on product direction and transformation." 5. Stock comp remains high. Salesforce's "stock-based expense" grew 23% to $251.3 million, with substantial expenses incurred for stock awards granted to both R&D and sales/marketing workers. Together with heavy stock comp in prior quarters, this led Salesforce's diluted share count to rise 5% annually to 729.4 million. The company also guided for stock expenses to have a $0.31 impact on its January quarter GAAP EPS, a forecast that implies expenses of about $226 million based on the October quarter share count. Salesforce's adjusted (non-GAAP) EPS figures, which analyst estimates are based on, don't cover stock expenses. But clearly, it's something that investors looking at the company should take into account. Alphabet and Facebook are holdings in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio. Want to be alerted before Cramer buys or sells GOOGL or FB? Learn more now. More of What's Trending on TheStreet: Editors' pick: Originally published Nov. 22. Auto company shares fell after the fifth round of renegotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement ended in Mexico without producing meaningful progress. Canada and Mexico have been resisting U.S. demands to rewrite the 1993 deal. The situation has heightened concern among business groups that President Donald Trump will follow through with his earlier threats to withdraw the U.S. from NAFTA. "While we have made progress on some of our efforts to modernize NAFTA, I remain concerned about the lack of headway," U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in a statement. "Thus far, we have seen no evidence that Canada or Mexico are willing to seriously engage on provisions that will lead to a rebalanced agreement. Absent rebalancing, we will not reach a satisfactory result." Canadian and Mexican officials have rejected U.S. demands to change the rules for determining when a product can be labeled as "made in America" or "made in the U.S.A.," arguing that the changes would damage the auto industry, whose supply chain is spread throughout the continent, the Washington Examiner reported, citing an official with knowledge of the talks. The Trump administration also wants to add an expiration clause to NAFTA as well as allow countries to opt out of its investment dispute settlement system. "Significant differences remain on some key areas," Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters in Ottawa Tuesday. "These are proposals we simply cannot agree to." The trade partners also disagree about a U.S. proposal that would require half of the content of all North American-built autos to be produced in the United States and the broader, North American allotment to be increased to 85% from 62.5%. There is currently no rule governing U.S.-only production. The U.S. also wants to expand an existing "tracing list" to demand more products - including all steel - originate in North America. Trump has complained about the loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs to Mexico, and the rule changes are aimed at reversing the flow of work to Mexico and rebalance the U.S.'s automotive trade deficit with its southern neighbor, where wages are lower. The proposed rules would be difficult to implement and lead to further job loss as companies could simply move manufacturing offshore to China, and then export the car back to the U.S. paying a relatively marginal tariff of just 2.5 per cent, according to the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a trade group of car makers operating in the U.S., including GM and Ford. Freeland said both Canada and Mexico feel the plan is entirely unworkable, and would damage an already deeply integrated North American auto manufacturing market. "The net result would be negative for both of our countries," she said. General Motors (GM) - Get Free Report shares fell 74 cents, or 1.6% to $44.23 in trading on the New York Stock Exchange as of about 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Ford (F) - Get Free Report shares fell 1 cent, or about 0.2% to $12.10. Fiat Chrysler (FCAU) - Get Free Report slipped 30 cents, or 1.6%, to $17.61. A sixth round of talks is scheduled for Washington in December. The negotiators will then move to Montreal in January. More of What's Trending on TheStreet: Editors' pick: Originally published Nov. 22. Penumbra, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and markets medical devices in the United States and internationally. The company offers aspiration based thrombectomy systems and accessory devices, including revascularization device for mechanical thrombectomy, such as Penumbra System under the Penumbra RED, JET, ACE, 3D Revascularization Device, and Penumbra ENGINE brands, as well as components and accessories; neurovascular embolization coiling systems to treat patients with various sizes of aneurysms and other neurovascular lesions under the Penumbra Coil 400, POD400, PAC400, and Penumbra SMART Coil brand names; and neurovascular access systems designed to provide intracranial access for use in a range of neurovascular therapies under the Neuron, Neuron MAX, Select, BENCHMARK, BMX96, DDC, and PX SLIM brands. It also provides neurosurgical aspiration tools for the removal of tissue and fluids under the Artemis Neuro Evacuation Device brand; aspiration-based thrombectomy systems for vascular applications under the Indigo System brand; and detachable embolic coil systems for peripheral embolization under the Ruby Coil and Ruby LP brand names. In addition, the company offers microcatheter for the delivery of detachable coils and occlusion devices under the LANTERN brand; and detachable, microcatheter-deliverable occlusion devices designed primarily to occlude peripheral vessels under the POD (Penumbra Occlusion Device) brand, as well as immersive computer-based technologies and immersive therapeutics to promote health, motor function, and cognition under the Real Immersive System brand; and a complementary device for use with Ruby Coil and POD for vessel occlusion under the Packing Coil and Packing Coil LP brands. The company sells its products through direct sales organizations and distributors. Penumbra, Inc. was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in Alameda, California. Bank of Montreal provides diversified financial services primarily in North America. The company's personal banking products and services include checking and savings accounts, credit cards, mortgages, and financial and investment advice services; and commercial banking products and services comprise business deposit accounts, commercial credit cards, business loans and commercial mortgages, cash management solutions, foreign exchange, specialized banking programs, treasury and payment solutions, and risk management products for small business and commercial banking customers. It also offers investment and wealth advisory services; digital investing services; financial services and solutions; and investment management, and trust and custody services. In addition, the company provides life insurance, accident and sickness insurance, and annuity products; creditor and travel insurance to bank customers; and reinsurance solutions. Further, it offers client's debt and equity capital-raising services, as well as loan origination and syndication, and treasury management; strategic advice on mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, and recapitalizations, as well as valuation and fairness opinions; and trade finance, risk mitigation, and other operating services. Additionally, the company provides research and access to markets for institutional, corporate, and retail clients; trading solutions that include debt, foreign exchange, interest rate, credit, equity, securitization and commodities; new product development and origination services, as well as risk management advice and services to hedge against fluctuations; and funding and liquidity management services to its clients. It operates through approximately 900 bank branches and 3,300 automated banking machines in Canada and the United States. Bank of Montreal was founded in 1817 and is headquartered in Montreal, Canada. Helping the hungry: Food boxes distributed at Bedford church The fourth Tuesday of each month, food boxes are given away at the Bedford Sherwood Oaks Christian Church. The Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10 Plus are two of the best Android phones around, but the Galaxy S9 (now $599) and Galaxy S9+ ($699) deliver a lot of phone for less money. You get solid cameras with a fun Super Slow-Mo video mode and swift performance inside handsets that are among the sleekest in their price range. No, you won't get the ultra-wide camera in the Galaxy S10 lineup or a fingerprint reader in the screen. But, overall, the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ are pretty great values, and today some of the best used smartphones around. We've also picked out the best Galaxy S9 cases. Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ Specs and Price Swipe to scroll horizontally Galaxy S9 Galaxy S9+ Price From $599 From $699 Display 5.8 inches (2960 x 1440 pixels) 6.2 inches (2960 x 1440 pixels) Camera 12-MP Super Speed Dual Pixel (f/1.5 - f/2.4) 12-MP Super Speed Dual Pixel (f/1.5 - f/2.4), 12-MP telephoto with 2x zoom (f/2.4) Front Camera 8-MP (f/1.7) 8-MP (f/1.7) CPU Snapdragon 845 Snapdragon 845 RAM 4GB 6GB Storage 64GB, 128GB, 256GB 64GB, 128GB, 256GB microSD Up to 400GB Up to 400GB Battery 3,000 mAh 3,500 mAh Colors Midnight Black, Coral Blue, Lilac Purple, Sunrise Gold Midnight Black, Coral Blue, Lilac Purple, Sunrise Gold Size 5.8 x 2.7 x 0.33 inches 6.2 x 2.9 x 0.33 inches Weight 5.8 ounces 6.7 ounces Design: Now even awesomer I'll give Samsung a pass for not changing the design of the Galaxy S9 much, because the phone's edge-to-edge Infinity Display already looked stunning when it was introduced a year ago on the Galaxy S8. This time around, Samsung trimmed the bezels slightly on the top and bottom, giving you the same size displays in slightly more compact packages. The S9+ measures 6.2 x 2.8 X 0.33 inches, while the S8+ is 6.3 x 2.9 x 0.3 inches. However, the newer S9+ is heavier than its predecessor, at 6.7 versus 6.1 ounces, likely owing to the addition of the second rear-camera lens. The S9 is a lighter 5.8 ounces. The biggest change is on the back of the S9 and S9+, as Samsung wisely moved the fingerprint sensor so that it sits beneath the camera instead of to the right of the lens (which is also a problem with the Note 8). And yet, despite this tweak, the reader is still pretty close to the bottom lens; it took a couple of days of practice for me to target the sensor correctly, but by that time, I had moved on to the iris and face-recognition methods for unlocking the phone. The S9+ and S9 are available in Midnight Black, Coral Blue and Lilac Purple. We received the black model, which is sleek enough for a business setting but kind of boring. We would much prefer a pop of color. As with the S8, Samsung's new phones are IP68 water resistant, so you can dunk them in up to 5 feet of water for 30 minutes without fear. The new phones also include headphone jacks, but the backs pick up smudges easily. Alas, the Bixby button remains on the left side, right underneath the volume button, which resulted in several accidental presses on my part. The good news is that you can turn this function off, but you can't remap the button to launch another app. Durability: Tough to a point We tested the toughness of the Galaxy S9 by dropping it on its face onto wood from a height of 4 feet and 6 feet; we then dropped it on its edge and face onto concrete from 4 feet. We also dropped it on its edge and face from 6 feet onto concrete. Drops from 4 feet and 6 feet onto wood caused no damage whatsoever to the S9. A 4-foot face drop onto concrete caused the S9's screen to crack, but the phone was still largely usable. Following that, a 6-foot drop onto its edge caused more damage, as did a face drop from that height. Finally, a 4-foot drop into a water-filled toilet didn't cause much more damage to occur, but by this point, the screen was shattered pretty thoroughly. It survived, though, which earned it a toughness score of 6 out of 10. To see the results of other smartphones, as well as our complete scoring methodology, check out our smartphone drop tests. Display: Its killer A funny thing happened with the iPhone X. Even though that phone reportedly packs a Samsung-made OLED screen, it beat Samsung's own phones in our screen shootout last fall, achieving the highest brightness (indoors), widest viewing angles and most-natural-looking colors. Samsung has responded with the Galaxy S9+, whose curved display offers a brighter picture than the S8+ and covers even more of the color gamut than the iPhone X and Pixel 2 XL. On our light meter, the S9's display registered a whopping 603 nits, which is higher than the Pixel 2 XL's 438 nits and even higher than the iPhone X's 574 nits. The S9+ got even brighter at 630 nits. However, it's important to note that Samsung's panels don't get this bright manually; you'll have to be in direct sunlight. Under normal indoor conditions, the max brightness on the iPhone X is higher than the S9 or S9+. The S9 definitely has the most colorful panel around, though, as it reproduces a whopping 220 percent of the SRGB color gamut. The S9+ registered 231 percent. That's much higher than the results from the iPhone X (128.6 percent) and Pixel 2 XL (120 percent). In side-by-side viewing of a scene from the Black Panther on the Galaxy S9+, iPhone X and Pixel 2 XL, the S9+ delivered the best image quality. The greens and blues popped more on the S9+s panel, even though the iPhone Xs display shined brighter. The Pixel 2 XLs image looked a little flat by comparison. My only nitpick with this curved panel is that it can sometimes be difficult to press buttons on the extreme edges of the display; on more than one occasion I had to press twice for something to register. Audio: A big boost I did something I've never done before when reviewing the Galaxy S9. I left the phone on for hours by my side playing music as I wrote this review and did my testing. That's because the sound coming from the stereo speakers at the top and bottom of the S9 is just that good. When I streamed Alice Merton's "No Roots," the vocals sounded clear even at maximum volume and the drums had a nice punch to them. With the S9 and S9+ delivering 1.4 times more volume than the S8 and S8+, I also had an easier time hearing directions coming from Google Maps while I drove. MORE: Galaxy S9+ Battery Life: Here's How It Stacks Up Although there's not a lot of content that supports it yet, both the S9 and S9+ support Dolby Atmos technology. This fools your ear into believing that sound is coming at you from different directions in 3D space, making movies more immersive. Camera: Low-light improvement, Super Slow-mo fun Boasting a new variable aperture, the Galaxy S9's new Super Speed Dual Pixel camera is designed to let in 28 percent more light than the S8. The aperture automatically adjusts from f/1.5 to f/2.4, depending on the conditions. In addition, the camera offers dedicated memory for reducing noise. The results were fairly impressive in my testing, although the S9 and S9+ still trail the Pixel 2 and iPhone X in overall image quality. If you like the idea of 2x optical zoom or you want to take convincing-looking portraits, the S9+ is the phone to get, as its dual rear lenses give you those benefits. The regular S9 has a single rear shooter. The Galaxy S9+ did a good job capturing a pinata indoors with some light streaming in through the window (to the left). When you zoom in, there's definitely less noise and more detail in the Samsung's shot. However, the oranges, purples and yellows are more vibrant in the iPhone X's photo. In much dimmer conditions, the S9+ pulled off a cool-looking shot at the Campbell bar in New York City. The glass in the background is well-defined, and you can make out the bartender, although the bottoms of some of the glass bottles get blown out. The Galaxy S9 offered the best focus in this shot of a raspberry tart dessert, and the powdered sugar looks delicious. However, the red looks more luscious and the gold foil more lustrous on the iPhone X. In this challenging photo taken inside Grand Central Terminal, the Pixel 2's image offered the clearest shot of the clock and the most-legible image of the signs. The Galaxy S9's shot offers truer colors, though. For video, the Galaxy S9 and S9+ up the ante with Super Slow-Mo, which lets you capture footage at 960 frames per second at 720p resolution. By comparison, the iPhone X and Pixel 2 XL record at just 240 fps (1080p) and 120 fps (1080p), respectively. To test out Super Slow-Mo, I shot this quick video of someone playing ping pong. The footage looked great, and his backspin shot looked dramatic. From there, I swiped up on the clip to apply my choice of one of three nifty effects: Loop, Reverse or Swing. I picked Loop and then shared the video out to Facebook as a GIF. My only complaint with Super Slow-Mo is that I wasn't always able to pick the exact right moment to film. In auto mode, the S9 is smart enough to detect motion and activate slow motion, but you might want to switch to manual so you can pick the exact moment you want to slow things down. I found it tricky to capture my son dribbling a basketball between his legs. AR Emoji: More creepy than cool If you've been jealous of Apple's Animoji on the iPhone X, the AR Emoji feature on the Galaxy S9 and S9+ is probably not going to help. Using the S9's front camera, you can create a 3D avatar of yourself (similar to Bitmoji) and then create a gallery of GIFs and stickers you can share of yourself via all sorts of apps. The idea is fun, but the execution is lacking. The AR Emoji I created just had a passing resemblance to myself, and then one my daughter created looked almost nothing like her, except that it somehow managed to pick up some acne in her forehead not cool. Her take: "Tell Samsung they need to do a better job, because this is the worst ever." To be fair, another AR Emoji I created of my father-in-law looked almost spot on, right down to his mustache and glasses. But that was the exception. I just wish there were more clothes options for personalizing your emoji. You can also record videos using your AR Emoji, but I would advise against it unless you want to freak people out. The resulting footage looked jittery, and the S9+'s front camera didn't do an accurate job mirroring my facial movements. The TrueDepth camera on the iPhone X does a much better job with this sort of thing, although you're limited to using just animals. MORE: AR Emoji vs. Animoji: It's Not Even Close Security: Intelligent Scan is handy, but it's no Face ID The Galaxy S9 has an answer for Apple's Face ID, but it's not a great one. A new Intelligent Scan feature combines facial recognition with iris scanning to unlock your device. The good news is that you don't even need to touch the display (unlike with the iPhone X) to get into your phone. You just stare at it. The bad news is that Intelligent Scan doesn't work as well as Face ID, and not just because you can't verify purchases with it. For starters, Samsung warns you via its disclaimer that "your phone could be unlocked by someone or something that looks like you." That means that, just as with the Galaxy S8, someone could get into your S9 or S9+ using a photo of you. By contrast, the 3D sensor inside the iPhone X creates a depth map of your face using 30,000 invisible dots, so its more secure. My other nitpick with Intelligent Scan is that the S9+ kept prodding me to hold the phone more upright; I don't have to do that with the iPhone X to get into the device. Lastly, the IR sensor pulsates as it reads your eyes, which was disconcerting to me. (The disclaimer also warns against using this feature with infants, as it may damage their eyesight.) If you're worried about security, I would advise using the fingerprint sensor to unlock your phone, even though Intelligent Scan is slightly more convenient. Performance: A step up Powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 845 processor and 6GB of RAM, the Galaxy S9+ is an absolute beast. The Galaxy S9 is swift, too, but it's a little less powerful because it has 4GB of RAM. When playing Tekken on the expansive 6.2-inch display with 18 other apps open in the background, I executed three combos in a row including an explosive kick to the face and the S9+ never stuttered. In terms of sheer processing might, the A11 Bionic chip in the latest iPhones is the fastest around, but Samsung is closing the gap. In our video-editing test, which involves exporting a 2-minute 4K video file, the Galaxy S9+ took 2 minutes and 32 seconds. The Galaxy S9 took 3:29. Both of those times are behind the iPhone X's 42 seconds. The Pixel 2 XL took 2:55 with its older Snapdragon 835 chip. The Galaxy S9+ also opened demanding apps more slowly than the iPhone X did. For instance, it took the iPhone X a little more than 13 seconds to fire up the Injustice 2 game, compared to 20 seconds for the S9+. And the iPhone X was about 5 seconds faster when opening Tekken 2. The Galaxy S9 and S9+ were no match for Apple's A11 Bionic on Geekbench 4, which measures overall performance. The S9 hit 7,276 and the S9+ 8,295, compared to 10,357 for the iPhone X. On 3DMark's Sling Shot benchmark, which measures graphics performance, the Galaxy S9 scored 5,739, which beats the iPhone X (3,998). However, on the more demanding Sling Shot Extreme OpenGL ES 3.1 benchmark, the iPhone X notched 4,994 to the Galaxy S9+'s 4,634. The regular S9 hit 4,617. When it comes to 4G LTE performance, the Galaxy S9+ smoked the iPhone X in side-by-side tests over T-Mobile's network. On the Speedtest.net app, the S9+ averaged 71.6 Mbps downloads and 10.1 Mbps uploads. The iPhone X mustered 48.8 Mbps down and 7.7 Mbps up. The based model of the Galaxy S9+ comes with 64GB of storage, and you can add a microSD card with up to 400GB. No iPhone lets you do that. A month after the S9's debut, Samsung started offering 128GB and 256GB versions of both the S9 and S9+ for an extra $50 and $100, respectively. Software: Bixby Vision and AR take center stage Running Android 8.0 Oreo, the Galaxy S9+ is anything but a stock Android phone. The Edge panel a series of shortcuts you can access by swiping in from the right side of the screen is very much all Samsung. The most compelling feature is App Pair, which lets you launch two apps side by side (or top and bottom) with a single touch. For example, I found pairing up email and Facebook to be a good work-and-play combo. Bixby, Samsung's digital assistant, is the hallmark feature on this flagship, and the assistant has developed some new talents since Samsung introduced it on the S8. For instance, using Bixby Vision and the Galaxy S9's camera, you can point the phone at food and get a calorie count, as I did with a green apple. You can also translate foreign languages on the fly, whether it's a menu, a sign or anything with text. I successfully translated some French headlines to English using this feature on the Le Monde site. There are some rough edges to Bixby Vision. For example, the Shopping tool accurately identified a jar of Jif peanut butter I held in front of the phone, but when I switched over to the Food tool, the Galaxy S9+ couldn't tell what the object was. I also had some trouble using the Place finder feature, which is supposed to overlay information on the camera view to show you things like business names, depending on where you point the phone. Unfortunately, the S9 showed me a listing for the Sweetgreen salad place as I pointed the camera directly at a Hale and Hearty Soups. Although I didn't test Bixby's virtual makeup tool, my colleague Caitlin was generally impressed by it. Using the S9's front camera, you can try on everything from lipstick and eyeshadow to blush; if you like what you see, you can buy it on the spot from Sephora. Otherwise, Bixby is more of a time-saver than an all-knowing assistant, reducing the number of steps it takes to perform complex actions. For instance, I loved that I could say, "Add this video to my family album," after pressing the Bixby button instead of performing the task myself with a series of taps. Battery Life: Excellent The Galaxy S9+ can easily last a full workday on a charge, but the S9's endurance could be better. On the Tom's Guide Battery Test, which involves continuous web surfing over 4G LTE, the S9+ handset lasted a superb 10 hours and 59 minutes, which is comparable to the Galaxy S8+'s 11:04 and a little bit longer than the iPhone X's 10:49. On the same test, the regular S9 endured for an average of 10:52 over LTE. That's better than the iPhone X but is behind the Pixel 2 XL (12:09). All of these phones were tested on T-Mobile's network. Galaxy S9/S9+ vs. iPhone X and Pixel 2 XL Priced starting at $840 (depending on the carrier), the Galaxy S9+ has a significant price advantage over the iPhone X ($999). For $160 less, Samsung gives you a much bigger display (6.2 versus 5.8 inches), which you'll likely appreciate when typing, reading documents and watching videos. The S9+ also benefits from removable storage and a headphone jack, not to mention the ability to run two apps side by side. The regular Galaxy S9 (from $720) is cheaper than the S9+, but you'll have to do live with a smaller 5.8-inch screen, a smaller battery and less RAM (4GB vs 6GB for the S9+). Plus, the S9+ packs dual rear cameras to the S9's single lens. Samsung Galaxy S9+ (left) and Apple iPhone X (right) However, the iPhone X boasts a brighter display with more-accurate colors, a slightly better camera and more reliable Face ID biometric security. And that phone's A11 Bionic chip is more powerful. The iPhone 8 Plus ($799) has the same processor and great dual cameras as the iPhone X, but its 5.5-inch LCD display looks dated next to the OLED panel on the S9+. MORE: Best small phones The biggest advantage the Pixel 2 XL has over the Galaxy S9 and S9+ is the Google device's camera, as it edged out Samsung's handset in our camera shootout. Google's phone also offers even longer life and a pure version of Android. But the Galaxy S9+ has dual rear cameras, which make for better-looking portraits; a faster Snapdragon 845 processor; and a sleeker, edge-to-edge design. Bottom Line The Galaxy S9 and S9+ deliver nearly everything you could want in a flagship phone for less money, including speedy performance, good low-light photography, fantastic displays and impressive battery life (the S9+ wins there). But the S9 and S9+ are also proof that smartphones are starting to hit a wall in terms of radical new changes that companies can make from one generation to the next. Between these phones' lackluster AR Emoji and not-quite-nailed Bixby features, Samsung seems to be lurching a bit in order to trumpet that these are "new" phones and not just great upgrades. But there's absolutely nothing wrong with great upgrades. And all of the big and little enhancements for the S9 and S9+ make them worth the investment, especially if you don't want to overspend for your next phone. Credit: Tom's Guide Jet Fuel Company (BJFCo), a joint venture between nogaholding and Bahrain Airport Company (BAC), has started work on the construction of its fuel tanks which will be ready by March 2019, said a report. BJFCo will be in charge of transporting jet fuel within the airport, as well as for the operation and maintenance of the new tanks, reported the BNA, citing senior officials at the regular weekly Cabinet session, which was chaired by HRH Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa at Gudaibiya Palace yesterday (November 20). BJFCo has in April signed aviation fuelling restructuring agreements for Bahrain International Airport (BIA) with several companies including Bafco, Chevron, BP, nogaholding and Bapco. These deals will result in a more streamlined and efficient aviation fuel supply, operation and maintenance process at the airport, said the report. The cabinet also took note of the completion of the necessary foundations for the fuel tanks and was informed that the entire fuel network will be ready for operation in July 2020, it added. MCI Middle East has announced a new strategic partnership with Zahara Tours in Oman and has now launched MCI Oman. The partnership reaffirms MCIs strategy of growing in the Middle East and driving the meetings industry forward in its emerging markets, said a statement. With 130+ associations based in Oman, the country has the opportunity to host large international conferences and conventions over the coming years. MCIs goal is to support the market and assist with the development of the local meetings industry which in turn will attract regional and international meetings to the region. With MCIs global expertise and Zaharas local knowledge, the partnership will design innovative programs and products to help enhance the experience of conducting meetings in Oman. The aim of the partnership is to support and be part of the fabric of Omans vision and goals and help drive strategic and economic benefits into the country, said the statement. Co-creating and developing the meetings industry aligns with Vision 2040 of Oman, it said. Ajay Bhojwani, Managing Director MCI Middle East, said: Oman is one of the newest and most exciting markets in our region and it has all the hallmarks of being a great business meetings destination. Currently 8 percent of our events are held in Oman. Given the opportunity platform, this joint venture will help us consolidate our presence in the Middle East and also grow our presence and influence in the market. We are certain that our presence will help drive more events to Oman, elevate the level of the industry and generate the added interest from our international clients. MCI is proud to be the Meetings Partner of Zahara Tours. Gautam Broota, CEO Zahara Tours, said: We share the positive outlook of MCI with our partnership. We stay committed to Omans vision and looking forward to be a significant contributor to the business and association meetings Industry in Oman. Over the last decade, Oman has invested in infrastructure, products and services that greatly support the exhibitions and meetings industry. With the opening of the Oman Exhibition and Convention Centre and the consolidation of the Convention Bureau in Oman, the country is proactively driving business tourism. - TradeArabia News Service Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay is entering a month of festivities beginning from Thanksgiving with Bahrain National Day themed activities and fun-filled Christmas and New Year celebrations. While celebrating the festive spirit, exploring the Kingdoms diverse array of attractions from its ancient souqs and the world-renowned National Theatre to Bahrain National Museum and Jewellery Arabia is easy when staying longer at Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay, with the hotel offering a complimentary fifth night to guests booking their stay for four consecutive paid nights in a Premier Room. In addition, guests will enjoy 20 per cent off room rates with the hotels Bahrain Getaway offer. Providing the perfect backdrop for the festive season, and drawing on the biggest talents in the Four Seasons family in Bahrain and the local culinary scene, for the first time ever, two top chefs Brian Becher, executive chef of re Asian Cuisine | Wolfgang Puck, and Bahraini chef Tala Bashmi will combine their expertise for a one-night-only event at the hotels exclusive and innovative Asian cuisine destination. Priced at BD47 ($122), the five-course dinner is a not-to-be-missed gastronomic experience showcasing the talents of two culinary icons on December 15 from 8:00pm to 11:00pm. 46th National Day Celebrations The following two days on December 16and 17, and in the spirit of the 46th Bahraini National Day, the hotel will be all decked up in national colours from 6pm until all night long. Inside the Bahrain Bay Kitchen, the hotels lively indoor-outdoor restaurant, the culinary team will serve a special National Day Brunch featuring mouth-watering dishes prepared especially for the joyous occasion. Priced at BD16, the delectable Brunch will be served from 12.30pm until 3.30pm. In addition, a sweet surprise, in the form of the hotels signature delicacy, Sticky Toffee Date Cake will await all guests visiting any of the two Wolfgang Puck restaurants at the hotel. Little ones too can look forward to celebrating the event with the hotels Kids For All Seasons program, where they will spend time creating flags, learning more about the history of the Kingdom with storytelling sessions and quiz contests, in addition to other fun activities such as face painting and drawing competitions. Thanksgiving feast Treat your family and loved ones to a signature Four Seasons feast this Thanksgiving, which includes Turkey-to-go (roast Turkey with chestnut stuffing, turkey sauce, cranberry chutney, mashed potato, Brussels sprouts and carrots) for eight people, and is priced at BHD 80++. Guests also have the option to choose from Roast Beef for BHD 20++ per kilogram, and Honey Baked Spiral Ham for BHD 45++for up to ten people, which are available for home delivery or pick up between 23rd November and 31st December. Christmas fun for the whole family At CUT by Wolfgang Puck, guests will unwrap an unforgettable festive treat with a scrumptious Christmas Eve four-course dinner featuring Wolfgang Pucks signature soup, handmade pasta, roasted meats and fish, and seasonal desserts. Christmas Dinner will be served on 24th and 25thDecember, from 7:00pm until 11:00pm and is priced at BHD 45++. An a la carte menu is also available during the festive days. The fun also continues for the little ones at the complimentary Kids For All Seasons program, featuring an array of themed activities throughout the festive season. From candy hunts on the outdoor lawn to balloon art, face painting, making festive accessories, writing letters to Santa or cookie decorating along with gingerbread house building, the team has a thoughtfully orchestrated schedule to ensures hours of fun for kids of all ages. In addition, the hotels youngest visitors can look forward to meeting Santa and receiving their special present on 22nd and 25th December during brunch at Bahrain Bay Kitchen. Kids For All Seasons will be open daily for ages 4-12 from 9:00am to 6:00pm on weekdays and from 9:00am to 8:30 pm on weekends. On New Years Eve, it will be open from 9:00am until 12:30am. New Years Party Guests will be spoilt for choice this New Years Eve at Bahrain Bay Kitchen, as they tantalize their taste buds with the restaurants signature seafood offerings of Canadian lobster, Alaskan king crab, salt encrusted sea bass and Hokkaido scallops, as well as smoked BBQ wagyu short ribs, in addition to a live Asian cooking station, specialties from the tandoori oven, and a tempting mix of Arabian favourites. It is recommended that guests leave room to indulge from the hotels famous chocolate fountain! New Years Eve Buffet will be served on December 31 from 8:00pm until 1:00am, and is priced at BD35 (with soft beverages), BD45 (including full beverage package). Guests will additionally enjoy free access to the sparkling New Years Eve Party by the Azure Pool. TradeArabia News Service Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Commerce and Nigerias Ministry of Industry Trade and Investment (MITI) finalized the Memorandum of Understanding to formally establish a new bilateral policy instrument focused on trade and investment between Nigeria and the United States. The U.S.-Nigeria Commercial and Investment Dialogue (CID) is a U.S. Department of Commerce and Nigerias Ministry of Industry Trade and Investment-led mechanism designed to promote increased, diverse, and sustained trade and investment between the United States and Nigeria. The CID, the newest instrument of U.S. engagement with Nigeria, is different in that it leverages the voice of the private sector in the effort to enhance the bilateral commercial and investment relationship. Nigerias Minister of Industry Trade and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu Enelemah, signed the Memorandum of Understanding, witnessed by U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary Seward L. Jones, Jr. The document had been previously signed in Washington by Secretary of Commerce Wilbur L. Ross, Jr. on behalf of the United States Government. The United States and Nigeria have worked together for several months on the requisite details to establish the CID. The CID will initially focus on infrastructure, agriculture, digital economy, investment, and regulatory reform. At the 2016 U.S.-Africa Business Summit in New York, President Muhammadu Buhari announced his support for the CID and Dr. Enelemah has worked tirelessly with many senior officials of the U.S. Department of Commerce to bring about yesterdays signing. The CID is expected to launch in early 2018 at a meeting co-chaired by Secretary Ross and Minister Enelamah. United States-Nigeria Bi-National Commission Joint Communique The United States-Nigeria Bi-National Commission (BNC) met on November 20, 2017, in Abuja, Nigeria. The BNC was co-chaired by Geoffrey Onyeama, Honorable Minister of Foreign Affairs, Federal Republic of Nigeria and John J. Sullivan, Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of State, United States of America. This years BNC focused on advancing U.S.-Nigerian shared prosperity, including discussion on three areas of focus: Security Cooperation, Economic Growth and Development, and Governance and Democracy. Prior to this years BNC, in their February 13, 2017 call and their September 20, 2017 lunch event at the opening of the United Nations General Assembly, President Donald J. Trump and President Muhammadu Buhari recalled the enduring bonds between the peoples of the United States and Nigeria. They reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthen the U.S.-Nigeria partnership in a manner that promotes a future of shared prosperity for both nations. In their February 17, 2017 call, President Buhari and U.S. Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson decided to utilize the BNC as the high-level strategic platform through which to advance the nations shared goals. Joint Goals Recognizing Nigerias strengthening democracy, its large population and dynamic economy, and its importance as a peacebuilder and peacekeeper, both nations seek to capitalize on areas of shared interest. The United States is expected to benefit from Nigerias leadership in promoting security, stability, and democracy on a continent brimming with emerging opportunities for U.S. trade and investment; Nigeria is expected to benefit from U.S. political support, security cooperation, technology, financial resources, and humanitarian and development assistance. The two countries developed a detailed agenda to guide discussions on a proposed goals paper, which would identify bilateral efforts for the next year. The November 20 BNC directed existing working groups for each of the three focus areas to finalize individual goal papers within one month. Security Cooperation The BNCs discussion on security cooperation was co-chaired by Minister of Defense General Mansur Mohammed Dan Ali Leads, Federal Republic of Nigeria; Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary Michelle Lenihan, U.S. Department of Defense and Brigadier General Frank Stokes, U.S. Africa Command. The BNC noted the continued threat to peace and security posed by Boko Haram and ISIS-West Africa. The United States reaffirmed its support for Nigeria and its Lake Chad neighbors in countering these threats. The BNC noted that U.S.-Nigeria bilateral security cooperation focuses both on immediate threats and medium- and long-term security and stabilization objectives. The BNC discussed progress toward the sale to Nigeria of A-29 light attack aircraft and associated training, and other areas of enhanced security cooperation. The BNC jointly determined to take further actions to advance U.S.-Nigeria security cooperation to promote peace and security in Nigeria, especially in Northeast Nigeria and the broader Lake Chad region. Both sides recognized that this cooperation includes, but is not limited to, military cooperation. The BNC discussed the coordinated, comprehensive response that is needed to bring sustainable peace to Nigerias Northeast region, including the humanitarian response; restoring civilian security, establishing effective governance to deliver essential services, and reviving moribund economies in areas liberated from terrorists; encouraging defections from Boko Haram and ISIS-West Africa; transferring military detainees to civilian correction facilities; eliminating terrorist financing; expanding intelligence sharing; conducting integrated planning for the restoration of full civilian authority, resettlement, and reconstruction; protecting civilians, safeguarding human rights, ensuring credible investigations, and prioritizing accountability for instances of security force abuses; ending the use of child soldiers and implementing a United Nations-backed action plan on this matter in a timely manner; and addressing the long-standing concerns of citizens in the Northeast, including with respect to economic opportunity. The BNC discussed the unsustainable situation of internally displaced persons in Nigeria and refugees in the region, and the Governments committed to work together to create conditions for their safe, dignified, and voluntary returns. The BNC acknowledged the significant contributions of the United States in supporting humanitarian assistance. The BNC discussed Nigerian efforts to help those affected by the violence begin to rebuild their lives, and the announcement of $45.5 million in additional U.S. assistance to support stabilization and early recovery work in Nigerias Northeast region. This effort is expected to include the creation and launch of a specialized stabilization police unit trained and equipped to be capable of accomplishing higher-risk policing tasks for civilian security in former terrorist-controlled territories. The BNC discussed longer-term security cooperation goals, including Nigerias efforts to modernize its security institutions and U.S.-Nigerian partnership on improving maritime security. The BNC discussed peacekeeping as well, and Nigeria underlined its intention to maintain its significant contributions to international peacekeeping in Sudan, Somalia, Mali, The Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau. The BNC directed the Working Group on Security Cooperation to meet within six months to review progress on joint goals. Economic Growth and Development The BNCs discussion on economic growth and development was co-chaired by Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment Dr. Okechukwu Elenamah, Federal Republic of Nigeria; Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Peter Haas and Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator Christopher Runyan, U.S. Agency for International Development. Both sides decided to hold the next U.S. Trade and Investment Framework Agreement talks in the first part of 2018 and to work to finalize an agenda for that meeting, to include a decision on a joint work plan on intellectual property protection. The two sides finalized a Memorandum of Understanding establishing a Commercial and Investment Dialogue signed by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment Okechukwu Enelamah as a way to strategically engage the private sectors of each country in strengthening commercial ties. Both sides acknowledged the importance of and potential for increased bilateral trade and investment through enhancing the business climate, policy predictability, and transparency. The two sides discussed the importance of implementing World Trade Organization-consistent trade measures, as well as the Trade Facilitation Agreement. The BNC noted the Governments decision to take further actions to promote inclusive prosperity and growth, economic diversification, and job creation through policies that are expected to improve the environment for doing business together. In this respect, the BNC recognized that sound fiscal and monetary policies, complemented by structural reforms and clear and transparent regulations, are important to managing the challenges of volatile global oil prices. The BNC also noted the importance of further diversifying the sources of government revenue. The BNC noted the Governments pledge to work together to ensure maximum utilization of available tools to promote mutually beneficial trade and investment, including the African Growth and Opportunity Act. The BNC recognized the importance of infrastructure development for Nigerian economic growth, noting particularly the importance of ensuring open and transparent bidding procedures for infrastructure projects. The BNC also noted the importance of increasing access to electricity, including through the continued modernization of the power sector, and noted continued U.S. assistance in this area. With respect to economic diversification, the BNC noted the potential for expanded agricultural investment and production, in particular through strengthening agro-business value chains. The extractive industries, including solid minerals, petroleum, and natural gas, also continue to play a role in economic diversification. The BNC directed the Working Group on Economic Growth and Development to meet within six months to review progress on joint goals. Governance and Democracy The BNCs discussion on governance and democracy was co-chaired by Attorney General and Minister of Justice Mr. Abubakar Malami Leads, Federal Republic of Nigeria, and Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Stephanie Sullivan. The BNC noted the historical importance of Nigerias 2015 elections and the peaceful transition that ensued. The United States noted its intention to support Nigerian efforts to improve the quality and transparency of elections, particularly in the lead-up to the 2019 elections, and looks to Nigeria to continue to support democracy and peaceful transitions of power across Africa. The BNC decided to strengthen U.S.-Nigerian joint efforts in support of good governance, respect for human rights, accountability, anti-corruption, and the effective use and delivery of public services, including efforts to reinforce peace building and conflict management in Nigeria. The BNC concurred that the Government of the United States should continue its support for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and other anti-corruption agencies, as appropriate. The BNC discussed Nigerias participation in the Open Government Partnership (OGP) and its potential to complement Nigerias anti-corruption efforts. Nigeria expressed its dedication to robustly implement its 2017-2019 OGP commitments and respond to an outstanding invitation to join the Partnership on Illicit Finance in due course. The BNC noted the Governments decision to intensify their work together to help Nigeria trace funds and assets stolen through corruption and other illicit activities and seek to recover the assets. The BNC decided to expand people-to-people contacts between the two countries, including continuing efforts such as the Young African Leaders Initiative. The BNC discussed multilateral cooperation, through ECOWAS, the United Nations, and other international organizations, and Nigerias role as a leader on the continent and a critical partner to the United States on a range of global issues. The BNC directed the Working Group on Governance and Democracy to meet within six months to review progress on joint goals. Vote of Thanks and Next Meeting The Government of the United States thanked the Government of Nigeria for hosting the meeting of the BNC. It was determined that the next meeting of the full BNC should be held in the United States within one year, at a date to be mutually decided through diplomatic channels. SIGNED at ABUJA, on November 20, 2017 This is where you ask questions about Alberta. Go to any travel webpage and search Punta Cana. It only takes about 10 minutes to figure it out. Or call and ask a travel agent. But for a 4 star in Punta Cana we generally pay around $ 5500 for 14 nights. You have already missed the super early booking bonus. We were booked before the end of a June. Edited: 4 years ago Try to avoid the week before Easter, as it is the peak holiday travel time in CR, when many local families, as well as tourists, are on the beach, etc. The middle of March (starting Mar. 10 in 2018) is also a week long school break in parts of Canada, and some ppl here head to CR, among other destinations. For us, at least, it is the week to avoid. For weather and availability in March, you might want to see https://costa-rica-guide.com/travel/best-time/march/ . We were on the Pacific coast of CR, Papagayo, in mid March in the past. While we saw wildlife (mostly howler monkeys, coatis and parrots) near our hotel, the overall look of the trees on the hills / view from our room was that of a dry brownish forest with a lot of dry crunchy fallen leaves and debris on the ground. It was also very hot, the dark sand on the beach was too hot to walk on barefoot, even from the chair to the water edge for a swim. LOL We saw what one might imagine about CR (green jungle type vegetation, waterfalls, etc) - during the trips away from the area though. There are some ready made itineraries - see https://www.twoweeksincostarica.com/itineraries/ , for ex. Your post is a tricky one. It seems tricky to find 1 place suitable for all your interests and different needs of your family. If you like greenery and beautiful views, consider Arenal. We stayed at https://www.arenalobservatorylodge.com , as it is very close to the volcano, offers gorgeous views of the volcano and/or the lake from some (!) rooms, from the restaurant with glass walls and the open observation deck by it. They have own hiking trails, so while your parents might enjoy sitting and enjoying the views, your kids can hike the trails right there. It is 25 min drive from La Fortuna, and there is only 1 restaurant. Only breakfast is included. It is very close to SkyAdventure, but for other adventures you might need a car, though the other tours can pick you up, for a fee, and there is a local shuttle to La Fortuna for US$8 pp one way ( taxi is US$30). It would be a beautiful, big, property to hang out on though. And your stay includes one guided hike for 2.5 hrs. We saw monkeys, toucans, red eyed frogs, coatis, a variety of birds, etc while staying there. Strange question I know.. I have been in Vietnam for 9 days now and all has been well.. But last night I stayed in Vinh, which obviously doesn't see many foreign tourists or travelers. When I was at the train station today to catch the train to Ninh Binh I was stared at and and talked about quite openly, and even pointed at. I get it, you don't see many white westerners, but still, have the vietnamese not been taught not to point, stare and openly talk about people who don't know your language? Still, I am fine with it.. But when I was on the train (absolutely no one spoke a single word of english, which is also okay, I manage to make my way trough Vietnam regardless), and the train was about to get in to Ninh Binh Railway Station, two women, one of the a staff member on the train, sat down in my cabin (I shared with a vietnamese woman), and the train worker even sat down in my bunk without even giving me a look. They all obviously talked about me, then at the end, the female train worker started to feel my thigh and gently stroking it while looking at me, before she pulled her hand back with no shame and continued to talk to her "besties". Is this normal behaviour for the vietnamese who doesn't see many whities? Or was this weird? I would have been happy to let them touch me (in a non-sexual way) if they tried to ask by using body language and if they weren't so rude, but to me this was just bad behaviour. Thoughts? The JR pass is more useful in most cases if you plan on using the shinkansen (bullet train) more than once. In your case, it does not seem worth it. If you are only going one-way trip from Tokyo to Osaka, you can take a look at the moonlight nagara night train or the willer express buses. You may also want to take a look at the Seishun Juhachi Kippu (Seishun 18 Kippu). You can use this ticket in the moonlight nagara trains and all trips from one city to another. From a fellow Brit. Try to come over Easter holidays. You need to book your accommodation very soon as it's a busy time with both domestic and international tourists, esp in places famous for cherry blossoms, such as Kyoto. Tokyo has plenty of places for cherry viewing. Japanese beaches, as opposed to coastline, are nothing special, very commercialised and busy at opening period, which is July to early Sept. You can still admire coastline in April. While humidity in August is no worse than in Singapore, you will be doing more exploring outdoors, which becomes very uncomfortable. Also temperatures can reach 35C or higher. I don't go to Japan between June and September for that very reason. Is your company in need of the most reliable and efficient best Best Jasmine Tea s in the market? Your good luck led you to the ideal situation, so congratulations! You are in the best possible place. By eliminating the need to read through dozens of Best Jasmine Tea reviews, we are saving you time and stress. Many customers find it difficult to decide which Best Jasmine Tea product to buy. The dilemma is brought about by the many types of Best Jasmine Tea in the market. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a clear understanding of how you may choose the most suitable Best Jasmine Tea available in the market. - A Kenyan woman pictured alongside NASA Leader Raila Odinga has expressed her gratitude to Kenyans for making her famous within hours - Sasha Mbote, a businesswoman went viral after photos of her hanging out with Raila at the Park Hyatt hotel in Zanzibar emerged - She had denied outrageous claims made against her but was elated at the fame The pretty woman who was recently spotted pictured with NASA leader Raila Odinga in suggestive photos has sent an audacious message to Kenyans after her photos with the NASA leader went viral. READ ALSO: Uhuru with women VS Raila with women; who is the real ladies man? Sasha Seraphine Mbote on Wednesday, November 22 took some time to thank Kenyans in an ironic post for allegedly making her an online sensation. Sasha posted a photo of herself alongside NASA leader Raila Odinga and Kenyans erupted. Photo: Sasha Seraphine/Facebook READ ALSO: List: All the governors who want Uhuru and Raila to meet urgently Through her Facebook page, Sasha explained that she was wary of the fact that Kenyans had a tendency to make viral the smallest of matters. As a result of the negative publicity she received after posing with Raila Odinga, she revealed that she had landed a lucrative deal in Arusha. Sasha is director of a tour company in Tanzania. She claims her business is booming ever since she went viral courtesy of Kenyans. Photo: Sasha/Facebook READ ALSO: My wife is alive and healing - Kalonzo Musyoka dismisses rumours his wife has passed on Kenyans have taken those pictures saying all sorts of things calling me names, I wanna say thank you so much my fellow countrymen you've shown the world what your made of, You just landed me a huge deal, She said in the post. Sasha sent an ironic thank you message to Kenyans after going viral. Photo: Sasha/Facebook READ ALSO: Avoid umalaya and risky lifestyle - Yoweri Museveni's message to the military goes viral Some slight digging by TUKO.co.ke revealed that Sasha Seraphine is a Kenyan-based lady who works as a director for a travel company based in Tanzania. At the time the photos of herself and Raila went viral, the company had planned a trip to Zanzibar on behalf of the NASA leader. The photos were however met with mixed feelings from Kenyans, with a large section terming them inappropriate from Raila Odingas point of view. Have anything to add to this article or suggestions? Share with us on news@tuko.co.ke Maraga rules in favour of Uhuru Kenyatta: Source: TUKO.co.ke Time to get the drinks, popcorn and other goodies out as you prepare to support your favouri Russian-backed militants launched nine attacks on positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in ATO area in Donbas in last day. This is reported by the ATO Headquarters press center. "Over the past day, illegal armed groups violated the ceasefire nine times. The Ukrainian Armed Forces opened fire on the enemy three times. As a result of fighting, no casualties were reported among Ukrainian troops," the statement reads. In Luhansk direction, illegal armed formations fired 152mm artillery and grenade launchers on the defenders of Luhanske (59km north-east of Donetsk). ATO troops near Novoluhanske (53km north-east of Donetsk) and Lozove (13km west of Donetsk) came under 82mm mortar fire. Militants also used small arms to shell Ukrainian positions outside Krymske (42.5km north-west of Luhansk) and weapons on infantry fighting vehicles and heavy machine guns outside Novoluhanske. In Donetsk direction, Russian-backed militants launched attacks on Ukrainian strongholds near Pavlopol (30 km northeast of Mariupol), using 120mm mortars and grenade launchers. ATO troops outside Avdiivka (18km north of Donetsk) came under infantry weapons fire. ol A total of 2,400 women have signed contracts for military service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine this year. Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak said this at the First Ukrainian Women's Congress in Kyiv. "A growing number of women join the military every year. This year, 2,400 women have signed contracts for military service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In 2014-2017, more than 6,000 women participated in the anti-terrorist operation in eastern Ukraine. A total of 107 female ATO participants received state awards, including, three posthumously," he said. According to the Ukrainian Defense Minister, 55,629 women are currently serving and working in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including 24,298 servicewomen. ol Kyiv authorities have signed an agreement on cooperation in the construction of the fourth subway line in Kyiv with a Chinese consortium, which includes China Railway International Group and China Pacific Construction Group. This was stated by Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. "We have signed a cooperation agreement with representatives of China Railway International Group and China Pacific Construction Group, and this agreement means that it is an investment and the implementation of the work of the fourth line of the Kyiv subway, which will connect the two banks [of the Dnipro River], from Zhuliany to Troyeshchyna through the Podilsko- Voskresensky Bridge. This line should be built within four or maximum five years," Klitschko said. According to him, the project is estimated to be worth about $2 billion. "The length of this line is 18 kilometers. It is planned to build 13 subway stations. This is the largest investment project that has been implemented in Kyiv in recent years. These corporations have extensive experience in implementing such large-scale projects. I hope that in the next two weeks we will be able to get the final contract, the signing of which will be a starting point for the launch of the project," the mayor said. op The gas reserves containing 600 billion cubic meters have been explored to date in Ukraine, according to different studies. Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Kistion said this at the Cabinets meeting, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. "Development of the gas sector is the main tool for achieving the energy independence. Own gas production is the only strategic resource of Ukraine. Our state, according to various studies, has the second or third largest natural gas deposits in Europe. Today, the explored reserves contain about 600 billion cubic meters," Kistion said. He commented that the gas demand of Europe, including Ukraine, would remain large at least until 2045. ol Robotics, IT, nanotechnologies, aerospace technologies are priority areas of scientific and technical cooperation between Ukraine and China. Deputy Education and Science Minister of Ukraine Maksym Strikha said this during the Ukrainian-Chinese Scientific and Technical Cooperation Forum, the press service of the Education and Science Ministry reports. "The People's Republic of China is one of our strategic partners in scientific and innovative cooperation. Last year, the second meeting of the Subcommission on Scientific and Technical Cooperation between the Governments of Ukraine and the People's Republic of China was held in Kyiv, where ten projects were selected for financing. Now they are being successfully implemented. We see a whole range of areas where our cooperation can be strengthened: robotics, IT, new materials and nanotechnologies, aerospace technologies, environmental protection, transportation, modern agricultural technologies," Strikha said, noting this list is not exhaustive. Deputy Minister of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China Lee Myung stressed importance of deepening the cooperation. ol There are ten women among a total of 158 captives who are held by militants in the occupied areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. "There are ten women among a total of 158 captives who are held by militants in the occupied areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions," First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Iryna Herashchenko told reporters on the sidelines of the First Ukrainian Women's Congress, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. According to her, the Ukrainian authorities insist that "the women should be released first from the illegal detention in prisons." The First Ukrainian Women's Congress has kicked off in Kyiv on the initiative of the interfactional association of Ukrainian lawmakers "Equal Opportunities." The event is attended by about 300 women and men who have achieved success in politics and business, as well as representatives of non-governmental organizations and media. ol Last Friday, Krakow hosted a meeting of the co-chairs of the Consultative Committee of the Presidents of Ukraine and Poland, Kostiantyn Yeliseyev and Krzysztof Szczerski. The meeting was quite lengthy (it lasted for more than four hours) and difficult, as Kyiv and Warsaw discussed the historical aspect of bilateral relations, which has recently begun to cast a shadow on the development of cooperation between the two countries in other areas. This meeting was also attended by Ukrainian Ambassador to Poland Andriy Deshchytsia. In an interview with Ukrinform's correspondent, he spoke about the practical results of this meeting, Ukraine's view on the resolution of problems in the historical sphere, as well as the current state of Ukrainian-Polish relations. Q: Mr. Ambassador, following the meeting the sides adopted a joint statement, which, in particular, says about the restoration of exhumation work by the Polish side in Ukraine. There is a public opinion that the result of the meeting suited Poland more than Ukraine. How do you assess the results of this meeting? A: First of all, I want to emphasize that this meeting was held on the initiative of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and was aimed at removing undesirable tension in the Ukrainian-Polish dialogue. The meeting helped ease emotions a bit. I want to note that the very atmosphere of the conversation as well as statements or positions expressed by the parties during the meeting, showed mutual readiness for constructive cooperation. Both sides acknowledged that this tension is not needed in our bilateral relations. The media reported that one of the achievements of this meeting was the decision to resume search and exhumation work in Ukraine. But in fact, this was just one of the issues agreed by both parties in this joint statement. In addition, an understanding was reached on the restoration of Ukrainian places of memory in Poland, which have become objects of acts of vandalism since 2014. Q: Does this apply to all destroyed places of memory? A: About seven objects were damaged, and we talked about all of them. They will be restored step by step, taking into account the specifics of each particular case and all legal procedures. Q: What agreements were reached in Krakow? A: We agreed on an important event that should take place in the coming weeks. The issue concerns a visit by the Polish president to Ukraine. This visit should also confirm the interest of both parties in developing strategic partnership at all levels, in particular at the level of the heads of state. A visit to Kharkiv would emphasize the importance of the security factor of cooperation, given that Kharkiv is geographically located on the front line in the context of Russia's war against Ukraine. There are a large number of OSCE SMM staff members who are scheduled to meet with the Polish president to discuss security issues and provide their assessments of the security situation in the region. Representatives of Poland are one of the largest groups in the SMM. In addition, the visit is important in the context of Poland's non-permanent membership of the UN Security Council, which will also discuss various projects for the settlement of the situation in Donbas, including the UN peacekeeping component. Q: What will be the status of this visit? A: It will most likely be an official visit. The program is still being drafted, but it envisages an expanded security aspect. The details of the visit will be discussed during subsequent contacts between Ukraine's Presidential Administration and the Office of the President of Poland. Q: The Polish foreign minister has recently spoken about the introduction of the so-called "black lists" of Ukrainians who are banned from entering Poland. The day after the meeting in Krakow, Secretary of the State Interagency Commission on the Commemoration of Participants in the Anti-Terrorist Operation, Victims of War and Political Repression Sviatoslav Sheremeta was refused entry into Poland. After that, our Foreign Ministry issued a statement that this was a violation of the agreements reached before. Please comment on this situation. A: The existence of a list for the prohibition of entry into a certain country for citizens of other states is due to the fact that these persons can pose a threat to the national security of the state. This practice exists all over the world. Since the Polish Foreign Ministry said it had created lists that include Ukrainian civil servants, this issue was also discussed in Krakow. The parties recognized that it was necessary to work to ensure that such lists did not include persons who, despite other political and scientific beliefs, occupy positions in state bodies and do not endanger national security. It was agreed that on the initiative of the co-chairs the sides would consider again the existing lists, since they are created by the respective special services and each case should be considered thoroughly. Only those who really endanger the security of the country, who violated the law of the country, for example, because of the illegal visit to the occupied territory of Ukraine or participation in actions against territorial integrity and state sovereignty, should remain in these lists. Unfortunately, it happened so that the agreements were reached on Friday, and on Saturday Mr. Sheremeta went to the border. Of course, at that moment, these agreements have not yet begun to work. Q: Did you raise in Krakow the question of the presence in this list of Sheremeta and Chairman of the Ukrainian National Remembrance Institute Volodymyr Viatrovych? After all, before this meeting, there were guesses that these individuals could be included in the "black list" of the Poles... A: No, we did not discuss specific individuals by name. We spoke only about approaches to the formation of these so-called "black lists." Q: The "black lists" are only a derivative problem. It is deeper, in contrast to the interpretation of the history of Ukraine and Poland. Head of the Polish National Remembrance Institute Jaroslaw Szarek has recently stated that, on the one hand, Warsaw cannot point to Kyiv who can be its heroes, and on the other hand, Poland cannot agree with the glorification of people in Ukraine who, from the point of view of Poland, are criminals. Have you discussed Krakow's attitude to history in a more global context? A: These questions were not discussed in detail at a meeting in Krakow, as there are other institutions and mechanisms for this. In fact, the Consultative Committee of the Presidents of Ukraine and Poland should have promoted the work of these institutions and looked for ways for their cooperation. However, we must be aware that today we have a different vision of our past in Ukraine and Poland. In Poland, this issue is more sensitive, including prior to the appearance of new facts that are published by Ukrainian historians. In Ukraine, after the Revolution of Dignity, the attitude towards the assessment of the historical past has changed. The positive perception of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army in Ukraine in no way means anti-Polish sentiments. The UIA, first of all, is seen as a formation that fought for Ukraine's statehood and against Soviet aggression. However, we also have to assess for ourselves the role and place of the UIA in the process of nation-building. If the facts are clear that concrete UIDA units or members are responsible for crimes against the civilian population, then this must be condemned. First of all, this must be condemned for us, not for the Polish side. If we do this, then we will have a clear conscience and we will be able to emphasize that the UIA fought for Ukrainian statehood, but crimes against civilians are unacceptable in all circumstances, regardless of who committed them. And this approach should be universal not only in relation to the UIA, but also in relation to other military formations of different countries. Q: The joint statement mentioned that Deputy Prime Ministers Pavlo Rosenko and Piotr Glinski would soon hold a meeting at which concrete decisions will be made on the restoration of exhumation work and commemoration of victims on both sides. Is it about raising these issues from the level of the national remembrance institutes of both countries to a higher level? A: First and foremost, it means that search and exhumation work and the commemoration of places of memory should be carried out by institutions that are responsible for this. From the Ukrainian side, the institution responsible for such issues is the State Interagency Commission for the Commemoration of Participants in the Anti-Terrorist Operation, Victims of War and Political Repression, which is headed by Deputy Prime Minister Pavlo Rozenko. From the Polish side, Deputy Prime Minister and Culture Minister Glinski is partially responsible for these questions. Why partially? Because the competence of the Culture Ministry includes the issue of perpetuating places of memory, while search and exhumation work in Poland is overseen by the National Remembrance Institute. Therefore, this formula of cooperation will require the involvement of Polish National Remembrance Institute. Instead, these issues in our country are considered by the interagency commission, which also includes representatives of the Ukrainian National Remembrance Institute, other central government agencies, etc. Q: We all understand who is interested in the deterioration of Ukrainian-Polish relations and who in fact initiated the destruction of monuments in previous years. In your opinion, are both parties aware that the more we quarrel, the more Moscow wins, and that we need to find a better understanding of history as soon as possible? A: I saw this understanding at the level of the co-chairs of the Consultative Committee of Presidents. There is an awareness that we need to remain calm, continue our strategic cooperation and emphasize the significance of each other for Ukraine and Poland. In this situation, we need to develop the formula "There is no independent Poland without independent Ukraine and vice versa" and not to be subjected to provocations coming from different sides. In particular, we are talking about "anonymous" destruction of memory places in Poland. We cannot admit the "burial" of Ukrainian-Polish strategic partnership. This "burial" is in the hands of the forces that do not want to see independent Ukraine and independent Poland and our strong partnership, which plays an important role for European and regional security, including in counteracting the threats coming from the Kremlin's aggressive policy. Q: Let's switch to other issues of Ukrainian-Polish cooperation. How do you assess it in other areas? Does Ukraine continue to feel the support of Poland internationally and bilaterally in the context of Russian aggression? A: The question of history is very "hot," and we cannot exclude it from our bilateral dialogue. However, we cannot focus solely on this. Our cooperation is very successful in various areas. The issue concerns political, military and military-technical cooperation, cooperation in the field of energy, economy, intercultural and interregional development. All this is oriented for the future. History, however important it was, is still the past that we cannot change. It should be remembered and honored, but we have to think about the future. The statements of Polish politicians have been unchanged in recent years: they clearly take the position of protecting the territorial integrity of Ukraine, extending sanctions against Russia, bringing Ukraine closer to the EU and NATO, and further developing military and military-technical cooperation. There is an example of the Ukrainian-Polish-Lithuanian Brigade (LitPolUkrBrig), which has recently participated with Canadians in the Maple Arch exercises. The Polish delegation led by the Polish deputy energy minister visited Khmelnytsky NPP, which is one of the elements of the European Power Bridge - a combination of the Khmelnytsky NPP Rzeszow line. In addition, we are talking about the construction of a gas interconnector between Ukraine and Poland, and we hope that it will be completed in the near future. Poland also maintains a clear position on blocking the Nord Stream 2 project. Poland is ready to discuss the issue of a peacekeeping mission in Donbas as part of its non-permanent membership of the UN Security Council in 2018-2019. This is all that is important to Ukraine and the whole of Europe in terms of security and further development. Q: That is, cooperation is very intense. A: Yes, it is. There are many examples of this kind. The association of rectors of the higher educational institutions of Ukraine and Poland have recently signed a memorandum of cooperation. A memorandum of understanding was also signed between the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and the Ministry of National Education of Poland on the implementation of the Ukrainian law on education. We are also preparing a law on cooperation between the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Poland. These are documents related to the development of cooperation in the academic and scientific spheres, which is very important to both countries. It builds the future through the training of specialists and the provision of opportunities for collaboration of scientists. Last week, Poland also hosted several art festivals involving Ukraine - in Lublin, Olsztyn, Zielona Gora - and this happened only within a few days. Preparations are underway for the signing of bilateral agreements on border cooperation, which will facilitate the expansion of people-to-people contacts. Q: We cannot even ignore the situation at the border. Verkhovna Rada Speaker Andriy Parubiy, along with his Polish counterpart Marek Kuchcinski, have recently traveled to the Polish-Ukrainian border and discussed the issue of improving the situation with the transit regime. How will cooperation between Ukraine and Poland develop in this direction? A: There is a desire and understanding to increase the number of checkpoints at the border and improve the existing infrastructure. These issues require finance and time. It seems to me that it would be expedient to allocate accessible funds to improve and modernize the existing infrastructure on the Ukrainian-Polish border, including roads from the Ukrainian side. In addition, it is also important to expand the capacity of those crossing points, where possible, and build new ones. However, this requires a certain amount of time and investment. There is an understanding on both sides of the border that it needs to be done, and that this is a matter of more than one year. We hope that this will be taken into account in the budgets of both countries for the coming years. This is why the heads of parliaments organized visits to several checkpoints before the adoption of budgets in order to take this into account in the financial perspective for the next year. Q: Ukraine is now struggling to support sanctions towards Russia in the West. Has Warsaw weakened support for this policy, given some cooling of relations between our countries? A: We have not seen it so far. Moreover, this is not even the question of Ukrainian-Polish relations, but the question of European security and the observance of international law. Poland demonstrates consistency and determination here, voting for maintaining sanctions policy against Russia. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult, including for Poland, to convince other EU countries of the need to maintain sanctions against Russia. I hope that the EU will continue to maintain unity and solidarity and, if necessary, even strengthen sanctions until Russia's full fulfilment of its commitments regarding the implementation of the Minsk agreements and the return of occupied Crimea to Ukraine. Yuriy Banakhevych. Warsaw Co-chairs of the Congressional Ukraine Congress have called for the swift release of Ukrinform correspondent Roman Sushchenko, who was illegally arrested in Moscow. This is said in the statement, released on the website of Democratic Party congresswoman from Ohio Marcy Kaptur. "Freedom of the press is a fundamental principle of democracy, transparency, and the rule of law. The wrongful treatment of journalists like Roman Sushchenko is part of a larger trend of politically-motivated persecution and violation of fundamental human rights by Russian authorities. We join the international community in calling for their swift release," the statement reads. Members of the Congressional Ukraine Congress pointed out that they remained troubled by the targeting and detention of journalists by Russian authorities for no crime other than seeking the truth. It is noted that the statement was signed by Congressional Ukraine Caucus Chairs, Reps. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), Andy Harris (R-MD), Sander Levin (D-MI), and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA). As a reminder, Marcy Kaptur is the author of the H.R.5859 Ukraine Freedom Support Act of 2014. As reported, Ukrinform correspondent in France Roman Sushchenko was arrested in Moscow on September 30, where he arrived on a private visit. He was accused of espionage, allegedly being a member of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry. The Ukrainian Main Intelligence Directorate denied allegations of the Russian Federal Security Service. The Russian court ruled at its closed hearing on October 1 to arrest the journalist for two months. October 7, the Russian Federation officially charged the Ukrainian journalist with spying. Sushchenko denied any guilt. The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry confirmed that Ukrinform correspondent Roman Sushchenko is not a staff employee of the Defense Intelligence. The Lefortovsky District Court of Moscow has repeatedly extended pre-trial detention term of Roman Sushchenko. September 25, the pre-trial detention term of Sushchenko was prolonged until November 30, 2017. Roman Sushchenko works with the Ukrainian National News Agency Ukrinform since 2002 and is agency's own correspondent in France since 2010. ol Welcome to Issue 3 of Everyday Urology - Oncology Insights which focuses on the exceptionally rapid and groundbreaking advances in both advanced prostate and bladder cancer evaluation and management.Petros Grivas cover article,not only succinctly reviews the five new approved immuno-oncology therapies (IO), aka checkpoint (PD pathway) inhibitors and their milestone clinical trials, but also offers guidance regarding treatment selection strategy as well as IO selection within the context of chemotherapeutic options. Additionally, he discusses a basis for monitoring efficacy of response, potential biomarkers and genomic markers predictive of patient benefit and also reviews the ongoing possibilities for combination strategies. Clearly, both advanced bladder and kidney cancer care information and subsequent management decisions are evolving at a breakneck pace. The ultimate benefit will allow clinicians to offer personalized, precision therapeutic paradigms as opposed to the historic one size fits all approaches.This issues Expert Commentary by Charles Ryan, The Five Take Home Messages of the LATITUDE and STAMPEDE Studies , deftly reviews the notable trial differences between LATITUDE and STAMPEDE regarding combination strategy of ADT and abiraterone acetate (Abi)/prednisone for castration naive patients. Additionally, he offers review and reflection regarding this ADT + Abi strategy versus a chemohormonal approach. Dr. Ryan assesses 5 lessons from the recent trial literature for the newly diagnosed advanced prostate (PCa) patient:1) Is early intervention with combination therapy better for advanced PCa patients and which specific patient populations?2) How can we assess the benefits of combined therapies and how long should we recommend a specific therapy?3) Despite the recent highly positive phase III trials for this patient population, we still face patient populations with poorly differentiated,resistant disease whom receive marginal benefit from combination therapy, and thus how do we best identify and manage their disease?4) Recognizing that both intrinsic and acquired mutational selection pressures will occur after initiating early combination therapies, how can we address both treatment and trial selection for these patients, especially after they develop CRPC?5) If a patient benefits from chemohormonal therapy, what benefit can they expect from combination androgen inhibition therapeutic strategies? Ultimately, patient care will be optimized from clinicians dedicated to reviewing the rapidly emerging data and then from those who can skillfully communicate the unfolding options, thereby truly offering the vaunted goal of shared physician/patient decision-making.In concluding this months issue, we provide the Spotlight section, which is focused on the 2017 ESMO meeting held this September in Madrid, Spain. This years meeting covered numerous abstracts focused on urological and oncological state-of-the-art presentations regarding combination strategies for advanced PCa patients as well as burgeoning information on IO therapeutics.Additionally, this year marks, first time coverage and attendance at the Canadian Urological Association (CUA) 2017, where over 40 abstracts were published including a presentation by Dr. Kim Chi, Liquid Biopsy in Personalizing Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer (CRPC) Therapy , evaluating the recent updates regarding interpretation and utilization of liquid biopsy for CRPC patient care.Please enjoy the 3rd issue of 2017 and thank you for your readership and feedback. A court in China's southern Hunan province has sentenced prominent rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong to two years in prison on the charge of inciting state subversion. Jiang is the twelfth lawyer to be sentenced since China began a sweeping crackdown more than two years ago that has seen more than 300 lawyers targeted. Two of those lawyers have filed an appeal. Kill chicken, frighten monkey Jiang's wife and rights activists denounced the sentence, calling it "unlawful." They said Chinese authorities are trying to use the ruling to send a warning to rights defenders and portray western democratic values as subversive. As the Chinese saying goes, kill the chicken to frighten the monkey. [Authorities] are using Jiangs case to tell other rights lawyers to behave themselves, or face the same consequences Jiang is facing. I think it sends a warning, said Jiangs wife Jin Bianling, who has lived in the United States with her daughter since 2013 to avoid Chinese government harassment. Jin insists her husband is innocent, arguing he has done nothing but his job, practicing law and defending the socially-disadvantaged. Prior to his arrest in November last year, 46-year-old Jiang had taken on numerous high-profile cases, including those of Falun Gong practitioners, Tibetan protesters and victims of the 2008 contaminated milk power scandal before being disbarred for his activism in 2009. Jiang was critical of Chinese authorities' crackdown on dissent, which began in July of 2015 a crackdown that critics argue has made a mockery of China's pledges to improve rule of law. Since his arrest, Jiang has been unlawfully deprived of legal representation, Jin said, as the lawyers hired by her to defend Jiang were denied access to their client. Two court-appointed lawyers have refused to talk to her since authorities held a so-called open trial for Jiang in August publishing details on social media. Forced confession? She further speculated that Jiang was either tortured or under pressure to have pleaded guilty three months ago. A 14-minute video clip of what the court called another open hearing to announce Jiangs verdict was posted on its official Weibo account on Tuesday for public viewing. According to the presiding judge, Liu Zheng, the court has concluded that Jiang is guilty of state subversion, but awarded a lenient jail term of two years after having taken into consideration his earlier public confession to his alleged crimes. Jiang would also be deprived of political rights for three years, Liu said. With an aim to subvert state power and topple the socialist regime, Jiang, the accused has posted articles on the Internet, accepted interviews by foreign media and hyped up sensitive issues to smear the government, attack the [political] system enshrined in the Constitution, incite subversion of state power and [attempt to] topple the socialist regime, the judge said. His behavior has constituted subversion of state power, he concluded. In response, Jiang told the court that he will not file an appeal. Infiltration of foreign forces? During his trial, Jiang and his court-appointed lawyers raised no objection to all of the accusations that were leveled against him, including one in which he allegedly instigated the wife of another rights lawyer, Xie Yang, to falsify Xies torture allegations while in police custody. Tuesdays court hearing also asserted that Jiang was under the long-term influence of the infiltration of anti-China forces because he had participated in overseas training and sought financial support from foreign backers to attempt to overthrow the incumbent regime. The point was highlighted heavily in a report on the trial by the state run Global Times. The focus on anti-China forces and overseas funding is not a good sign, said Kit Chan, who is with the Hong Kong-based China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group. That would be kind of an intimidation and warning to the other lawyers or civil society activists of participating any more in exchanging with any external partners, etc, Chan said. Its a sign of China trying to close itself in again. Chan agreed that Jiang was given a lighter-than-expected sentence, compared to other rights lawyers. But a two-year jail term is still too much for anyone who is as innocent as Jiang, she added. She also accused Chinese authorities of using Jiang as a scapegoat to distort Xies alleged torture, which she urged the United Nations to launch an investigation and hold the perpetrators accountable. Open trial? While the court declared Tuesdays session to be an open hearing, Jiangs supporters were prevented from gathering near the court and attending the trial. I made it to Changsha, but was taken back by the police. Im now back in Zhuzhou and under the watch of state police, Ou Biaofeng, a rights activist from Hunan province, told VOA. I hope that Jiang, his peer rights lawyers, arrested during the [2015] July 9 crackdown, and other rights activists can be set free soon, he added. Wang Qiaoling, wife of rights lawyer Li Heping, and Li Wenzu, wife of imprisoned lawyer Wang Quanzhang, also tweeted that they were first kept out of the courts vicinity and later taken away by the police to a nearby government building, a training center for civil servants. China has donated equipment to assist with mine and unexploded ordnance clearance in Cambodia, an official has said. Serey Kosal, deputy head of the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority, said in a video posted to his Facebook page that he had met with Xiong Bo, the Chinese ambassador, at a presentation ceremony where the goods were handed over, on Monday. He said Cambodia had two types of friend, in an apparent reference to the China and the west, the first helps us when we need help, and the others, as Cambodians usually say, are useless because they are only there for the drinks. China is a first-rate friend because we know they will help Cambodia whenever Cambodia encounters difficulties, he added. Kosal said Cambodia needed some $400 million to complete mine clearance operations before 2025. At the ceremony, China handed over 40 motorbikes, dozens of computers and tablets, as well as demining tools. The Chinese donation came after the United States said it was cutting aid to the Cambodian Mine Action Centers operations this year. Bo, the ambassador, said via an interpreter: The Chinese government actively supports the cause of mine clearance in Cambodia. It reflects Chinas international responsibilities and obligations for humanitarian work on the international stage and also reflects our traditional friendship. David Josar, U.S. Embassy spokesman, said the United States remained committed to helping the Cambodian people remove unexploded ordnance and landmines. When the Vietnam War ended in 1975, and the first refugees trickled into the Los Angeles area, Helene Ross, co-founder of the Westlake Women's Club, organized the group to collect necessities and distribute them to displaced Vietnamese. Kieu Hoang accepted clothing and, later, household goods and a motorbike. In September, he gave $5 million to help Houstonians rebuild after Hurricane Harvey. "I come here to thank the American people who allowed us to come to this country as a refugee in early 1975," he said at a press conference with Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner. In March, he gave $5 million to help flood victims in San Jose, where dam overspill forced 14,000 people to evacuate. Many of them, immigrants from Latin America and Vietnam, are among the city's poorest. "Kieu was very clear," said San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo of Kieu's no-strings-attached directive. "Every dollar was to go to those who are struggling to get back home. So, his mandate was clear and it was perfect. It was exactly what we needed." Helene Ross, now 91, said she never thought the young Vietnamese refugee she helped would become an entrepreneur helping others on such a scale. "Not in a million years," she said. Hoang, now worth $2.8 billion according to Forbes magazine, owns a sushi restaurant, an eponymously named Napa Valley vineyard, a nutritional supplements company, and a $33 million ranch called Hummingbird Nest which is a short drive from Westlake Village. The ranch earns its keep "a spectacular site for special events including weddings, private parties, movie/tv and photo shoots," says the website. "If you want to reach your dream, you have to work hard," Hoang said. "If you want to have money, you have to figure out how to make money." Working for a dream In his early days in California, Hoang, the father of five, worked three jobs. He realized there was money to be made selling rau ram a Vietnamese herb also known as Vietnamese cilantro or Vietnamese coriander growing in a friend's backyard. WATCH: Vietnamese Refugees Hoang bought rau ram low, then rode his motorbike to sell high to markets in areas where Vietnamese refugees like himself had settled. "That is how I made money and grew it," said Hoang, adding that bundling herbs for market built on survival skills he picked up while working as a combat interpreter for U.S. Special Forces during the Vietnam War. "When we were dropped off in the jungle, that was it," said Hoang, who volunteered with the U.S. military after spending a year studying science in college. "Nobody could come to rescue you. You had to find a way to survive." Hoang's survival in the U.S. hinged on Ross' group, which with the United Methodist Church of Westlake Village, sponsored him after he left Saigon, as Ho Chi Minh City was then known, days after North Vietnamese forces occupied the capital of the defeated South in 1975. "They didn't have a place to live, a job, friends, or clothing," said Ross. "So we found an apartment quickly for them, paid the first and last month's rent, so that they could move in immediately." She remembers Hoang and his family, their eagerness to start a new life. 'Bloody business' A church member who worked at Abbott Reference Laboratories recruited Hoang in 1975 for an entry-level position paying $1.25 per hour. He promised to overcome his lack of experience by working hard, and kept that vow by clocking 12-hour days. Within six months, Hoang was a supervisor, the first rung on a ladder that led to becoming director of the company's blood plasma testing and manufacturing division. He remains proud of his work testing plasma. Five years after resettling in the U.S., Hoang struck out on his own, founding his own plasma lab, Rare Antibody Antigen Supply Inc. (RAAS). By 1985, RAAS had 11 U.S. locations, and was, he said, approved by the state of California to begin testing for HIV in blood samples and plasma. By 1992, he expanded into China, where he established Shanghai RAAS Blood Products Co. The company introduced new technology into China, that "created the Chinese plasma business de novo," said Dr. Lucy Reynolds, a research fellow and the co-director of the Master's program in Control of Infectious Diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The company launched just before some of China's supply of donated blood was found to be contaminated with HIV and hepatitis. The scandal drew international attention as donors whose blood was drawn with infected needles and recipients died. Hoang and Shanghai RAAS Blood Products Co. were never implicated, and Forbes ranks the company fourth in its Innovative Companies list. According to Forbes, as of October, Shanghai RAAS has a market capitalization of $14.5 billion. Hoang owns 37 percent of the company. "In this kind of bloody business, we have competition everywhere," he said, alleging his competitors tried to discredit him. "They try to say our product is bad. This and that China product, so this is the kind of thing I tell you. I hate it." Embracing philanthropy Still, Hoang remains vice chairman of Shanghai RAAS, as he embraces philanthropy. "I cannot eat three bowls of rice at one time," Hoang said of his gifts to those rebuilding in San Jose and Harvey. "I cannot wear two pairs of shoes at one time. So all of my money, I give some to my children, some for my key employees and the rest will serve all those kinds of purpose," said Hoang. He is known in Vietnam for his love affair with a lingerie model and for his flamboyant style, exemplified by his green Gucci suit adorned with bees and stars. But the billionaire said he is keen on helping the most vulnerable people, rather than having his name put on prominent buildings. "Doing all these things so you can have a name forever, that is not what I want to do when people indeed need help badly," he said. Lindsey Caldwell, Catholic Charities division director for disaster recovery services, dispersed some of the money Hoang donated after the San Jose flooding, using it for temporary housing, car repairs, household items, tools that people needed for their jobs and even food. Elizabeth Arredondo, who with her family was flooded out of her San Jose home, lost everything but important papers stored high in a second-floor closet. She is one of the beneficiaries. "It gives me much joy that a person like him took interest in what happened to us," she said, adding that Hoang "has a really good heart." "That large donation really impacted the community in positive ways beyond measure," Caldwell said. That an immigrant helped so many immigrant families "is a beautiful picture of what the United States is made up of." Dreaming another dream As a former refugee who overcame challenges and difficulties to successfully resettle in the adopted country, Hoang said he had "a dream to have immigration laws [in the U.S.] so that a lot of people do not live in constant fear of being deported." He hopes the potential laws "can attract good people like me to help America to be greater and the greatest." Immigration has become one of the key issues under the Trump administration as the White House said last month that it wanted to, among other things, "defend the safety and security of our country; and protect American workers and taxpayers." "I call on anybody who makes a decision and who has a conscience to vote, to think about where their ancestors came from and how the United States of America was formed. And when you look at all the successful stories of all the people who contribute to the country, who are they? They have to remember that," Hoang said when asked about his message to President Donald Trump. On November 5, Hoang was among an audience of 500 who listened to Ivanka Trump, assistant to the president, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin as they "explained to us the details of tax reform." "America will be great again," said Hoang, as companies bring back "trillions and trillions" of dollars that will be "used to invest into this great America." There are now millions of Vietnamese Americans living in the U.S., making them the largest overseas Vietnamese community in the world. Hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese fled after the Vietnam War, and many of them took risky trips by boats. Hoang's family left Ho Chi Minh City on April 22, 1975, Hoang said, and he was flown out of the country on an American rescue aircraft on April 24. The family re-united on Guam, and flew to Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, California, on April 27. They did not, he said, "suffer as much as boat people." In a small post office in Little Saigon in California, dubbed "the capital of the Vietnamese refugees," Luong Ngo said he came to the United States when he was 30 years old, roughly at the same age like Hoang, and the 73-year-old former refugee's rags-to-riches story has inspired him. "He set an example for everyone. If I were billionaire like him, I would also help my community," Ngo said. "It is a way to reflect on the difficult past." Battambang is best known as Cambodias second city and a hub of free expression, the home of numerous artists, musicians, and writers. During the reign of the Khmer Rouge, this world was almost snuffed out, but four decades later the arts scene in Battambang is thriving and has produced yet another multi-talented son: Nov Cheanick. Cheanick is a young contemporary painter based in Battambang province. At just 28 years old, he has already had his works featured in galleries overseas, including in the United States, France, and Hong Kong. His pieces blend the modern with traditional Cambodian themes. Earlier this year, his painting series, Breaking the System, was showcased at the Sangker Gallery in Battambang, while his collection Rain was displayed at Java Cafe in Phnom Penh. Cheanick was born in 1989 in the Site 2 refugee camp before moving to Battambang province aged three. He worked in Thailand before getting into art to earn money for the family. He quit high school at 13 to join the Phare Ponleu Selpak art school in 2003. Cheanick is in my eyes one of the most talented artists in Cambodia. Davy Chou, a young Cambodian-French filmmaker, wrote on his Facebook page ahead of the opening of A Small Part, a series paintings by Cheanick. Modern art is little known in Cambodia, but Cheanick hopes his work can inspire Cambodians. Sophea Young, a researcher, loves the fact that Cheanick was a rebel at heart and used his art to express his desire for freedoms. He usually breaks the rules taught by his teachers and develops something more interesting. As well as painting, Cheanick can also sing and play the guitar, as he did at the opening of another exhibition last month, wearing ripped black jeans and a hippy-style t-shirt. He has also become something of a celebrity after starring in Diamond Island, an award-winning Cambodian film released last year. Despite the brush with fame, Cheanick is adamant he does not want to quit painting for the silver screen, despite the larger income. "For me, I am doing something so small to point out the direction for the next generation who wants to walk on the same path. It is a small example from me, he said. Sweden on Tuesday said it was stopping all new aid to Cambodia except that which was spent on education and research in the first concrete action by a European Union state since the opposition was banned in a court ruling last week. The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the main opposition party and sole challenger to Prime Minister Hun Sens longtime rule, the Cambodia National Rescue Party, would be dissolved and more than 100 of its officials banned from politics for five years. The CNRP president, Kem Sokha, has been arrested and civil rights groups and independent media have been targeted as part of a wider government crackdown ahead of next years general election. The United States has cut election funding and said it may take more steps against Phnom Penh, while the European Union has also said it may take collective action. In a statement, the Swedish Embassy in Phnom Penh said it would only supply further aid that was specifically geared towards promoting human rights and democracy. In light of these adverse political developments, the Swedish government is currently reviewing the forms of our engagement in Cambodia. We confirm the clear focus of our development cooperation on support to human rights and democracy, which has already been strengthened during 2017, through increased support to defenders of democracy and human rights, it said. Sweden has moreover decided that we will not initiate any new government-to-government development cooperation agreements, except in the areas of education and research. It will therefore not be possible to continue our support to the decentralization reform in its current form. The decentralization reforms involve strengthening local government institutions, which following the CNRPs strong showing in local elections last year, were to be 40 percent controlled by the opposition. But the ruling last week means the seats won by the opposition will be gifted to the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party without new elections. Responding to the Swedish statement, Gen. Khieu Sopheak, interior spokesman, said the government regretted the decision, adding that the government would seek other donors to support its decentralization project. Although there is such a cut, Cambodia will continue to walk and try to finish all planned projects, he said. Sweden gave Cambodia about $100 million in aid over the past five years, the third-largest donor among E.U. member states after France and Germany. On this "Straight Talk Africa" host Shaka Ssali is joined by Arikana Chihombori-Quao, the African Union Ambassador to the USA, David Onserio Monda, Professor of Political Science at the City University of New York and VOA Reporter Blessing Zulu to discuss the political realities in Zimbabwe and Kenya and explore the role of the African Union and the challenges it faces on the Continent. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia is set to hand down a verdict in the case against former General Ratko Mladic, Bosnian Serb wartime commander charged with crimes in the 1990s ethnic conflict in Bosnia. Hero for many Serbs and a criminal known as "the Butcher of Bosnia" for many others, Mladic will hear his verdict on Wednesday after five years in jail and almost 16 years on the run. VOA's Zlatica Hoke reports. Vietnamese refugee Kieu Hoangs experience after arriving in the U.S. is similar to many immigrants in this country. To support his family, he worked several jobs, including delivering newspapers and working at a lab making $1.25 an hour. He worked his way up, eventually owning his own blood plasma company that expanded to China, making him a billionaire. Hoang made headlines this year for the help he gave during the floods across the U.S. VOAs Elizabeth Lee reports from San Jose, California. Nearly eight years after Haitis devastating earthquake killed more than 200,000 people on the island, the Trump administration has decided to end its designated security program known as TPS, or Temporary Protected Status, which allowed nearly 60,000 Haitians to live and work in the United States. In New York City, home to one of the largest established diaspora populations in the country, Haitians are beginning to prepare their next steps but welcome having some time to do so. Across the country, as families began preparing for the holiday season, Haitian families with temporary protected status, or TPS, were met with a decision by the Trump administration to end the program permanently in July 2019. The decision was based on an assessment that conditions on the island ravaged by the 2010 earthquake had quote significantly improved such that they no longer prevent nationals of Haiti from returning safely, end quote. In response, advocates for extending the program took to the steps of New Yorks immigration court in lower Manhattan. Ritha Pierre, president of the Haitian-American Lawyers Association of New York, said there are growing concerns among local recipients. They don't know if they need to actually start making plans to go to Haiti," Pierre said. "At this point people are really confused, and they don't know how to take the news. They are not necessarily celebrating, but they're also they just don't know what to do. But Jocelyn McCalla, advocacy coordinator at Haitian-Americans United for Progress, considers the decision to allow the program to expire after 18 months a reason to be hopeful. The fact is that many people did not believe that the President Trump or his administration would in fact go beyond what was already decided about six months ago. It has gone beyond it, so I think that people are going to be able to take a breather, and they will enjoy and celebrate for the few days to come, and then get ready to take on the struggle," McCalla said. According to Pierre, TPS recipients are mostly hesitant to come forward in public amid misinformation and fear. But among the larger community, some feel the decision which comes right before the annual Thanksgiving holiday will not ruin the occasion for their families. Theyre not really letting the TPS status take away the holiday spirit. I think the celebration is still going on. People are still happy to live here," Haitian-American Lalanne Stanley told VOA. But community activists say they dont plan to sit back and pray for change in the coming months. We have to continue lobbying, continue fighting, continue urging Congress to create these pathways to citizenship," Pierre said. "But we also need to go into the communities, address the hysteria that is going to start happening if it hasn't already, and actually help create potential exit plans for these individuals. Winter could bring death to asylum seekers stranded on crowded Greek islands with only summer tents for shelter, aid groups said on Wednesday, urging a mass relocation to the mainland. More than 10,000 people, mostly Syrians and Iraqis fleeing years of war, have massed on the Greek islands that lie closest to Turkey, since the European Union agreed a deal with Ankara in March 2016 to shut down the route through Greece. Authorities say the terms of the agreement prevent them from traveling to the Greek mainland until their asylum applications are processed. Those who do not qualify are deported. But this has forced thousands to live in squalid conditions unfit for humans, the 20 aid groups said in a joint statement. "We are in a race against time. Lives will be lost 'again' this winter unless people are allowed to move, in an organized and voluntary fashion, to the mainland," said Jana Frey, who leads Greek operations for the International Rescue Committee. Exposure to bad weather is a key risk, along with overcrowding, lack of basic services and a reliance on dangerous and impromptu measures to keep warm, the groups said. Last year, a 66-year old woman and 6-year-old child died in Lesbos after a cooking gas canister exploded in a tent. "Nothing can justify trapping people in these terrible conditions on the islands for another winter," said Eva Cosse, Greece researcher at Human Rights Watch. The government has moved 2,000 people to camps on the mainland after the groups wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras last month, but conditions for those remaining on the island have since deteriorated, they said. Crowded camps on Lesbos, Samos, and Chios are holding two to three times more people than they should, including single women and children, the aid workers said. Some women are also sharing tents with unrelated men, further jeopardizing their safety. "European countries and Greece should urgently work together and move asylum seekers off the islands," said Gabriel Sakellaridis, director of Amnesty International in Greece. On Monday, residents on Lesbos went on strike, shutting businesses, shops, municipal offices and nurseries to protest against policies that they say have turned their island into a "prison" for migrants and refugees. About 30,000 people have arrived in Greece this year, a fraction compared to the nearly 1 million who arrived in 2015. Greek authorities in London and Athens did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The United Nations' Yugoslav war crimes tribunal ruled Wednesday former Bosnian Serb army leader Ratko Mladic is guilty of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity stemming from the conflict in the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s. The court convicted Mladic on 10 of the 11 charges he faced, including persecution, extermination, murder, deportation, terror and unlawful attacks on civilians. He was sentenced to life in prison. "The crimes committed rank among the most heinous to humankind, and include genocide and extermination as a crime against humanity," judge Alphons Orie said in reading the verdict. Genocide The court said Mladic intended to destroy the Bosnian Muslim population in Srebrenica, and in Sarajevo personally directed a campaign of shelling and sniping meant to spread terror and perpetrate murder among civilians. It also cited as a window into his motivations his expressions of a commitment to seek an ethnically homogenous Bosnian Serb republic. Mladic appeared in the courtroom, but was not present as Orie read the verdict. He requested a bathroom break partway through Wednesday's session, which was granted for five minutes but stretched on for 45 minutes. When the proceedings resumed, his lawyer said Mladic's blood pressure was dangerously high and requested the judge either stop reading the verdict or skip ahead to the court's judgment. Orie said the proceedings would go on as planned, at which point Mladic started yelling until he was ordered removed from the courtroom. 'Butcher of Bosnia' After the verdict, U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein praised the court's decision as a "momentous victory for justice" and the "epitome of what international justice is all about." "Today's verdict is a warning to the perpetrators of such crimes that they will not escape justice, no matter how powerful they may be nor how long it may take," Zeid said in a statement. A State Department official said Wednesday the United States supports the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and respects its ruling. "We will continue to commemorate the victims of the horrific crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia," the official said. "We urge the countries and peoples of the region to refrain from divisive rhetoric and work together to build a better future for the entire region." WATCH: ICTY Hands Down Mladic Verdict Mladic, known as the "Butcher of Bosnia," is the last former military leader to face war crimes charges in the court, which was set up to deal with the aftermath of the Bosnian war that raged from 1992 through 1995. He was charged with 11 counts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for his alleged role in leading sniper campaigns in Sarajevo and the 1995 killings of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica the worst massacre in Europe since World War II. Prosecutors asked the International Criminal Tribunal to sentence Mladic to life in prison. Last year, attorney Alan Tieger said anything less than a life sentence would be "an insult to the victims, living and dead, and an affront to justice." Mladics defense lawyer, Dragan Ivetic, accused prosecutors of seeking to make the former general a "symbolic sacrificial lamb for the perceived guilt" of all Serbs during the war. He called for Mladic, 75, to be acquitted on all charges. At the end of the war in 1995, Mladic went into hiding and lived in obscurity in Serbia, protected by family and elements of the security forces. Mladic was indicted for genocide and crimes against humanity but evaded justice for 16 years. He was eventually tracked down and arrested at a cousin's house in rural northern Serbia in 2011. The Bosnian Serbs' political leader, Radovan Karadzic, was found guilty of war crimes in March 2016 and sentenced to 40 years in prison. Ratko Mladic, the former general in charge of Bosnian Serb forces during the Balkans war in the early 1990s has been convicted of 10 charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes at an international tribunal in The Hague. He was jailed for life. In cold detail, the presiding judge, Alphons Orie, spelled out the crimes Mladic masterminded during the Bosnian war. On 13 and 14 July 1995, approximately 1,000 unarmed Bosnian and Muslim males including children and elderly were executed in Kravica Warehouse. On 16 July 1995 between 1,000 and 1,200 in the Branjevo military farm were summarily executed. And so the list went on. The so-called butcher of Bosnia was led away from the dock before the verdicts were announced, after shouting at the judge, It's a lie. Everything you said in this courtroom is a lie. Ratko Mladic led Bosnian Serbian forces during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war. He oversaw the siege of Sarajevo, where snipers and heavy artillery pounded the city and cut off supplies, killing thousands. Judges also found that Mladic had, in their words, significantly contributed to the massacre at Srebrenica, when more than 7,000 Muslim men and boys were murdered. For the victims relatives, the verdict offered some closure. Nedziba Salihovic lost her husband in the Srebrenica massacre in 1995. She spoke to VOA after the verdict was delivered. My husband was 42 when they separated him. He was carrying our 8-month old grandson in his arms. They took the baby away from my husbands arms. My grandson is now 22 and he comes to his fathers grave and prays. Today, I am so happy regardless of the sorrow and pain I felt in 1995. I am more than happy today indeed, Salihovic said. The Mladic verdict follows the conviction of the former Republika Srpska president Radovan Karadzic in 2016. The trials are widely seen as a victory for international justice. Kosovo welcomed the conviction of Mladic. Kosovos Foreign Ministry said the verdict marked an act of international justice and satisfaction for the Bosnia war victims. As did Bosnia. The people of Bosnia feel that justice has been done. To a certain extent now weve closed the loop on the grossest mass murder in Europe since the Second World War. However, sadly justice is not the glue that is likely to put that divided country together, said Jonathan Eyal of Londons Royal United Services Institute. A divided nation Bosnia remains a divided country. In the largely autonomous region of Republika Srpska, ethnic Serbs have expressed support for Ratko Mladic, and claim he is innocent. Serbias President Aleksandr Vucic, a former nationalist who supported Mladic's war campaigns, said Wednesday he was unsurprised by the verdict. All those who want to return to the past, I wish them farewell. We want to go to the future. We are capable of accepting our responsibility, I am afraid that many others are not, he said. Belgrade wants to consign the conflict to history, Eyal said. Ratko Mladic does not represent the new Serbia," he said. Theres no one under the age of 25 in Serbia who would look up to this criminal as a symbol of the country. So, for an older generation he will continue to have a certain appeal. For the future of Serbia, which wants to be part of the European Union, hes a nobody. Ratko Mladics lawyer says he plans to appeal the verdict. Analysts say the conviction is not likely to be overturned. Federico Ibanez clings to a fence crowded with blue-and-white Argentine flags, rosary beads and messages of support for his brother and 43 other crew members of a missing submarine that should have arrived to a naval base days ago. But his hopes are slowly dwindling. Ibanez and other relatives of the subs crew are now growing increasingly distressed as experts say that the vessel lost in the South Atlantic for seven days might be reaching a critical period of low oxygen Wednesday. The ARA San Juan went missing Nov. 15 when it was sailing from the extreme southern port of Ushuaia to the city of Mar del Plata, about 250 miles (400 kilometers) southeast of Buenos Aires. The Argentine navy and outside experts worry that oxygen for the crew would only last seven to 10 days if the sub is intact but submerged. Authorities still do not know if the sub rose to the surface to replenish its oxygen supply and charge batteries. Expected Monday The German-built diesel-electric TR-1700 class submarine was set to arrive Monday to a naval base in Mar del Plata, where local residents have arrived bearing messages of support for relatives of the crew anxiously waiting for news. More than a dozen international airplanes and ships have joined the maritime search despite stormy weather that has caused powerful waves of more than 20 feet (6 meters). The search teams are combing the waters in a wide area of some 185,000 square miles (480,000 square kilometers), which is roughly the size of Spain. On watch from shore From the shore, Jorge Villarreal, kept his eyes transfixed on the ocean, hoping to catch a glimpse of the vessel that carries his son, Fernando Villareal, a submarine officer. As a dad I want him to be rescued immediately but we cant forget about the inclemency of the weather. And the foreign help just doesnt come from one day to the next, he said. We hope this will go right because of the improving weather and the technology thats being used. The U.S. government has sent two P-8 Poseidon aircraft to Argentina, a naval research ship, a submarine rescue chamber, and sonar-equipped underwater vehicles. U.S. Navy sailors from the San Diego-based Undersea Rescue Command are also helping with the search. Hopes were lifted after brief satellite calls were received and when sounds were detected deep in the South Atlantic. But experts later determined that neither was from the missing sub. A U.S. Navy aircraft later spotted flares, and a life raft was found in the search area, but authorities said that they did not come from the missing submarine either. False alarms The false alarms have rattled nerves among distraught family members. As the search enters a critical phase, some have begun to complain that the Argentine navy responded too late. They took two days to accept help because they minimized the situation, Ibanez, the brother of 36-year-old submarine crew member Cristian Ibanez, told The Associated Press. The navy has said the submarine reported a battery failure before it went missing as it journeyed to the navy base. Authorities have no specific details of the problem. I feel like authorities let too much time pass by and decisions were taken late, Ibanez's sister, Elena Alfaro, said outside the base. And yet, I still carry some hope. The fashion and textile industry could generate nearly half a million jobs in sub-Saharan Africa over the next decade. Thats according to the African Development Bank, which launched its "Fashionomics" initiative in 2015 to revitalize the industry. However, designers in the region still struggle to grow their businesses. Lenny Ruvaga reports for VOA from Nairobi. Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri said Wednesday he is putting on hold his resignation at the request of President Michel Aoun. Speaking at the presidential palace near Beirut after a parade marking Lebanon's independence day, Hariri said the delay was meant to give time for more discussion with the president. "Our beloved nation needs in this critical period exceptional efforts from everyone to protect it in the face of dangers and challenges," he said. He also reiterated the need for Lebanon to remain neutral on regional conflicts. Hariri sparked a political crisis earlier this month when he announced from Saudi Arabia that he would step down, and then remained in Saudi Arabia as speculation swirled as to whether he was being detained. Aoun had said he would not accept the resignation until he could speak with Hariri in person, and after stops in France and Egypt, Hariri arrived back in Lebanon on Tuesday night. Hezbollah influence In his resignation speech, Hariri denounced Iran and Hezbollah for sowing friction in Arab states and said he feared assassination. His father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, was killed in a 2005 bombing. Middle East Institute scholar Zubair Iqbal said the entire situation unfolded because of a disruption in the delicate balance of competing influences over Lebanon, including those of Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite-majority Iran. He said Aoun had been leaning toward Hezbollah, which "established its credentials" in the conflict in neighboring Syria and elsewhere. "So the point really is, under these circumstances where the conditions were tilting against Hariri and his group, what was to be done? Now the Saudis clearly overreacted," Iqbal told VOA. "Instead of trying to work out the situation in Lebanon itself they regionalized it, and by regionalizing it they lost all the initiative or all the credentials that is concerned." VOA's Victor Beattie in Washington DC contributed to this report There were more killings in October in Mexico than in any other month in at least 20 years, according to official data. It's the latest grim milestone in 2017, a year on course to register the highest homicide tally since modern records began. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto's failure to tackle growing drug violence is seen as a major weakness ahead of next July's presidential election, where he faces an uphill battle to keep his centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in power. The data, published by Mexico's Interior Ministry on Monday, showed there were 2,371 homicide investigations opened in October. With 20,878 slayings nationwide in the first 10 months of 2017, this year is on track to overtake 2011 as the most violent since the government began publishing such data in 1997. There were an average of 69 killings a day so far this year, putting Mexico on track to overtake the 2011 homicide tally before the end of November. In 2011, there were an average of 63 slayings per day, according to Reuters' calculations. In a speech this month, Pena Nieto acknowledged that crime and violence had been rising. "It has to be said, we're still not satisfied, and we still have lots more to achieve," he said. "Security needs to remain an utmost priority for the government." However, he also added that certain sectors of society are engaged in "bullying" Mexico's institutions, belittling the work of the police and military. Those comments were ridiculed online, where many criticized the rising violence and graft that have stained his administration. In further bad news for Pena Nieto's unpopular government, Silvestre de la Toba, the head of the Baja California Sur state human rights commission, was shot dead on Monday. His killing drew criticism from U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Roberta Jacobson, who tweeted that his death should be fully investigated. Baja California Sur, which includes the popular resort of Los Cabos, is one of the states that have seen the sharpest rise in killings. There were 409 in the first 10 months of 2017, up 178 percent from the same period last year. Babies are much more likely to die in their first few weeks of life if their mothers live close to the site of an oil spill, according to new research. Scientists studied data on infant mortality and oil spills in Nigerias Niger delta region and describe their results as shocking. Henry Ridgwell reports. Babies are much more likely to die in their first few weeks of life if their mothers live close to the site of an oil spill, according to new research. Scientists studied data on infant mortality and oil spills in Nigerias Niger Delta region and describe their results as shocking. Its estimated that 240,000 barrels of crude oil are spilled into the Niger Delta every year. The environmental effects are clear to see waterways running thick with the choking, black liquid; suffocated wildlife; dying mangroves. The effect on the people living in the delta is slowly coming to light. The study by scientists at Switzerlands University of Saint Gallen is shocking: babies born in the delta are twice as likely to die in the first month of life if their mothers were living close to an oil spill before they became pregnant. Roland Hodler is lead researcher. We looked at the birth histories of more than 2,500 Nigerian mothers," Hodler said. "And we compared siblings, some conceived before and some conceived after a nearby oil spill. The researchers compared geographical data on 6,600 recent oil spills, with results from the 2013 national demographic and health survey. Their results show that even spills that happened five years before conception doubled the chances of babies dying after birth. However, spills that happened during pregnancy appeared to have little effect. We think the main reason is that some of the negative health effects are just building up over time," Hodler said. "So, if you think about these negative health effects, these are due to skin contact with crude oil, or to drinking contaminated water or eating contaminated fish or crops. And also inhaling smoke from fires. Its thought unborn and newborn infants are more vulnerable as they havent built up natural defenses. The study suggests the effects of oil spills will be felt long into the future. In 2015 the Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell agreed to share the costs of the clean-up an operation that the United Nations says will likely take 30 years. Critics say only a fraction of the money has been paid. Shell blames oil thieves for causing many of the spills. The Nigerian government did not respond to requests for comment. U.S. President Donald Trump's re-listing of North Korea this week as a state-sponsor of terrorism - a largely symbolic move and the announcement of tightened sanctions on Tuesday were generally welcomed by analysts as stepped-up pressure on Pyongyang to give up its nuclear and missile programs. But analysts question whether the moves, which also target Chinese trade, can get North Korea to the negotiating table. The re-designation of state sponsor of terrorism has symbolic significance rather than strong pressure, said Kim Yong-hyun, a professor of North Korean Studies at Dongguk University. The U.N. [Security Council] Sanction 2375 has been operating, so I think it will enhance pressure on Kim Jong Uns regime and international society's distrust on North Korea. China pressure is key New U.S. sanctions announced Tuesday against North Korea may add some substance to the symbolism, but only if China which accounts for almost all of North Koreas trade decides to help. The U.S. Treasury Department targeted 13 businesses and 20 ships linked to North Koreas funding for nuclear and ballistic missile programs, which it says amounts to more than $750 million in trade between Beijing and Pyongyang. The new sanction added ships, new individuals and institutions so it is seeking to partially block North Korea's maritime trade, said Kim Yong-hyun. In this regard, the new sanctions have new characteristics. But, it does not bring serious impacts to North Korea's economy. The sanctions are on trade and labor contractors, including a North Korean company that has operated in China, Cambodia, Poland, and Russia. But the unilateral measures, analysts said, only prevent U.S. companies and banks from doing business with those sanctioned, which was already happening in practice. Nonetheless, the added onus to doing business with Pyongyang now a designated state terrorism sponsor could encourage actions outside the U.S., said Daniel Pinkston, a North Korea scholar at Troy University in Seoul. But he cautions that much depends on cooperation among the region's actors. Well have to see what other states do, if they take similar measures or if they reassess their relationship or if they suspend any kinds of economic relations, which weve seen some states doing anyway, he said, pointing to Singapore and the Philippines as examples. Maybe this will encourage other states to take a similar response," he said. Sanctions are squeezing North Koreas economy more than in the past because Chinas enforcement has been much stronger, said Benjamin Katzeff Silbertstein, contributor to 38 North, a program of the U.S.-Korea Institute, and co-editor of North Korean Economy Watch . North Korean labor abroad, for example, has been sent home. And, its been much much more difficult for North Korean companies to export minerals and other goods that fall under U.N. sanctions. So, the way it seems right now, the economy is taking a hit from the sanctions. And, the question is, how long this type of pressure will be kept up by China, said Silberstein. Bad timing? The timing of the added pressure on North Korea could work against bringing it to negotiate an end to its nuclear and missile programs. After a recent string of missile tests, and its sixth and largest nuclear test in September, North Koreas military testing has been quiet, raising speculation that Pyongyang may be waiting to see what the U.S. offers to entice it to join talks. China has been pushing what it calls a freeze for freeze agreement that would halt U.S. and South Korean large-scale military drills in return for North Korea suspending its testing and nuclear program. The U.S. has maintained North Korea must cease its program before negotiations can begin. Some North Korea analysts argue the state sponsor of terrorism designation and new sanctions could encourage a return to testing and belligerence from Pyongyang and discourage it from entering talks. "Thats based on the assumption that the likelihood or the probability of returning to dialogue was high or the two sides were going to meet or there was going to be some diplomatic process that was going to be initiated, Pinkston said, "and that possibly North Korea would bargain in good faith to fulfill its previous non-proliferation commitments and work towards denuclearization, but I think thats unlikely, he said. Pyongyang violates armistice agreement A potential complication is an incident on November 13 involving the defection of a North Korean soldier who came under a hail of gunfire from his comrades as he drove across the border Despite being shot five times and suffering from infections and parasites, the soldier survived after getting medical treatment in South Korea. The United Nations Command, the unified command structure for the South Korean side of the border with North Korea, said on Wednesday the North's Korean People's Army violated the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement. UNC Commander General Vincent K. Brooks at a briefing for media showed a video of the soldiers defection and the violations, which included firing across the Military Demarcation Line and one KPA soldier briefly chasing the defector across the line. The armistice agreement was challenged, but it remains in place, he said in a statement. South Korea, Japan, and Australia were among the countries quick to voice support for Pyongyangs return to the state terror sponsor designation, while China was reserved in its response. The current situation on the Korean Peninsula remains highly complex and sensitive, said Chinas Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Tang at a regular briefing Tuesday. We hope the relevant parties will do more to help deescalate tensions and come back to the track of peacefully resolving the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue through dialogue and negotiation. North Korea did not immediately respond to being accused again of sponsoring terrorism but lashed out at Trump for insulting the leadership in Pyongyang during a speech this month in South Korea. The U.S. president called North Korea a murderous regime, a sentiment he repeated this week. The U.S. first put North Korea on the terror sponsor list for the 1987 bombing of a South Korean commercial plane, which killed all 115 people aboard. Washington removed Pyongyang from the list in 2008 to reward it for progress on dismantling its nuclear programs under a six-party deal, which it later violated. North Korea joins Iran, Sudan, and Syria the only countries designated by the U.S. as state sponsors of terrorism. Youmi Kim in Seoul contributed to this report. 1 A woman writes a note in the golden book inside the memorial of victims, in front of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague, prior to the verdict in the genocide trial of former Bosnian Serbian commander Ratko Mladic. United Nations judges in sentenced Mladic, dubbed the "Butcher of Bosnia", to life in jail for crimes committed during the 1992-1995 war that killed 100,000 people as ethnic rivalries tore apart Yugoslavia. A court in Pakistan has ordered authorities to release from house arrest an Islamist cleric whom the United States accuses of plotting the 2008 attacks on Indias financial capital of Mumbai. In January, Hafiz Saeed, head of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) organization, was placed under house arrest for 90 days in Lahore, the capital of Pakistan's most populous province of Punjab. Provincial authorities have since extended Saeeds detention several times. Saeed's attorneys have been telling the court his detention is unlawful and there is no proof of his involvement in terrorist activities. The provincial government had asked for another 60-day extension to the clerics detention, but, during Wednesdays court proceedings, judges turned down the request and ordered that Saeed be freed from his house arrest. The court ruled the government could not produce sufficient evidence to justify his detention. The religious leader is likely to be released later this week, said his counsel. US reward Washington has offered a $10 million reward for information leading to Saeeds arrest and conviction. The U.S. has also declared JuD a global terrorist organization, condemning it as a front for the outlawed Pakistani Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) group blamed for carrying out the Mumbai carnage that left 166 people dead. Despite U.S. sanctions on Saeed, the cleric has been living freely in Pakistan and delivering anti-U.S. speeches. His actions have been a major irritant in Pakistans traditionally uneasy relations with the U.S. and a major source of sustained tensions with India. New Delhi has linked resumption of normal ties with Islamabad to putting Saeed on trial for planning the Mumbai bloodshed. Pakistani officials maintain India has not shared evidence to substantiate the charges. Pope Francis will meet this month with the military chief of Myanmar as well as the Rohingya Muslims who claim to be persecuted by the country's armed forces. During a trip to Myanmar, starting November 26, the pontiff will meet with Senior General Min Aung Hlaing shortly before leaving for neighboring Bangladesh. Myanmar Cardinal Charles Bo persuaded the pope to add a meeting with the general to his schedule. Bo also advised the pope not to use the term "Rohingya" during his visit, for fear of inflaming tensions in the predominantly Buddhist country. Myanmar's military and government officials decline to use a term they see as giving the Muslims of the northern Rakhine state the status of an ethnic minority. The official line is that they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Human rights groups and the United Nations accuse the Myanmar army of atrocities against the minority Muslim population. Visit to camps The United Nations estimates more than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh, where they live in squalid refugee camps. The pope will meet some of those refugees when he visits Bangladesh starting December 1. "The pope's visit comes at a key moment for these two countries," said Vatican spokesman Greg Burke, adding that he expected a very interesting trip. Francis will also separately meet Myanmar's de facto civilian leader and Nobel peace laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi. International condemnation of Myanmar's treatment of the Rohingya has mounted in recent days, with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson saying Wednesday that it amounted to ethnic cleansing. Bo, the top Catholic official in Myanmar, has defended Aung San Suu Kyi against what he termed "unfair'' international criticism leveled against her. He has said she has no constitutional right to speak out against the military operation and has maneuvered in the best possible way to negotiate improvements not only for Rohingya but also for Myanmar's other minorities, Catholics included. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says violence in Myanmars Rakhine state targeting Muslim Rohingya qualifies as ethnic cleansing. "After a careful and thorough analysis of available facts, it is clear that the situation in northern Rakhine state constitutes ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya," Tillerson said in a written statement Wednesday. U.S. officials have been investigating what is behind the attacks that have killed hundreds of Rohingya and forced more than 600,000 across the border into camps in Bangladesh. WATCH: US Secretary of State Calls Violence Against Rohingya in Myanmar 'Ethnic Cleansing' Wednesday's announcement marks the first time the State Department has designated the violence as ethnic cleansing. Officials briefing reporters on background called the designation a descriptive term. "It [the determination] carries with it, again, the sense of urgency," one senior official said. "So it does not require any new obligations, but it does emphasize our concern about the situation and the importance of remediation, and to reverse the ethnic cleansing and make sure people can go home voluntarily and live their lives in dignity." The determination also increases pressure on the military of Myanmar. No provocation can justify the horrendous atrocities that have ensued, Tillerson said. "These abuses by some among the Burmese military, security forces, and local vigilantes have caused tremendous suffering and forced hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children to flee their homes in Burma to seek refuge in Bangladesh." The secretary of state in his written statement noted the United States will continue to work with the United Nations to seek resolution to the crisis in Myanmar and "will also pursue accountability through U.S. law, including possible targeted sanctions." Myanmars military has repeatedly rejected claims that atrocities, including rape and extrajudicial killings, are occurring in northern Rakhine, the epicenter of the violence that the U.N. has qualified as "textbook ethnic cleansing." The government does not recognize the Rohingya, referring to them as Bengali to imply origins in Bangladesh. But Bangladesh officials said the Rohingya are Myanmar nationals and it is a mistake to call them Bangladeshis. 'Ethnic cleansing' and sanctions More than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims have left Myanmars Rakhine State since August 25, after insurgents attacked security forces and prompted a brutal military crackdown. The U.S. State Department for weeks had been considering whether to officially make the same determination. During a visit last week to Myanmar, Tillerson said events in the west coast state of Rakhine had the "characteristics of crimes against humanity" but stopped short of describing them as ethnic cleansing. Tillerson's statement Wednesday carries strong political implications, as the U.S. weighs imposing targeted sanctions on Myanmar, while continuing its support of the country's civilian government and its democratic transition, which is under the leadership of Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. There is support among some U.S. lawmakers to impose financial and other penalties on Myanmar, although others have said they prefer to keep supporting a country still in the midst of a democratic transition. The Burma Sanctions Bill in the House of Representatives and a companion bill in the Senate would apply economic pressure on military generals with the aim of ending the ongoing violence inflicted on Rohingya Muslims. "This sends a very strong message to the Burmese military that we're not going to tolerate business as usual while they reap economic profits at the same time as they are perpetuating ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya people," said Representative Eliot Engel, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Those against sanctions say Aung San Suu Kyi and her government allies have little control over Myanmar's still powerful military. A senior State Department official said Wednesday the key to continuing the success of Myanmars transition is to allow the economy to develop, to get the peace process going so it can put some of the conflicts behind and allow the country to move forward. The idea of levying broad-based economic sanctions is not something that we think will be very productive either for getting accountability or for the broader set of purposes that the US is trying to achieve in Myanmar, said the official in a telephone briefing. Plight of Rohingya Tillerson's statement Wednesday comes a day after a U.S. Senate delegation to Myanmar said the crisis in the Rakhine state "has all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing." "Many refugees have suffered direct attacks including loved ones, children and husbands being killed in front of them, wives and daughters being raped, burns and other horrific injuries," Senator Jeff Merkley told a press conference at the U.S. embassy in Yangon. Merkley said the U.S. Congressional delegation has urged Myanmars government to implement the recommendations of the Kofi Annan-led Rakhine Advisory Commission, and to allow the United Nations and NGOs access to the troubled region to provide humanitarian assistance. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce on Wednesday welcomed the administration's declaration that Burma's military actions against the Rohingya are ethnic cleansing. "In recent months, we've heard horrific stories of young Rohingya mothers torn from their burning homes, drowned children and mass execution," Royce said in a statement. "Now the U.S. should impose sanctions against the Burmese military leaders responsible for this bloodbath." Separately, Aung San Suu Kyi expressed hope Tuesday for reaching an agreement with Bangladesh on the return of tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who have fled to Bangladesh in the past three months. "Nothing can be done overnight, but we believe that we will be able to make steady progress," she said. In his statement Wednesday, Secretary of State Tillerson said the situation is "difficult and complex" and called for accountability. "Those responsible for these atrocities must be held accountable. The United States continues to support a credible, independent investigation to further determine all facts on the ground to aid in these processes of accountability," Tillerson said. Amnesty International said the secretary's acknowledgment of ethnic cleansing and call for a investigation "sets an example for how the world can respond to this crisis." The time for outrage and condemnation has passed," said Joanne Lin, Amnesty's national director of advocacy and government relations on Wednesday. "The international community must impose a comprehensive arms embargo and targeted financial sanctions against senior Myanmar military officials responsible for crimes against humanity." At a military parade in the center of a city locked down by security and surrounded by the pomp and circumstance that typically come with commemorating Lebanon's Independence Day, Saad Hariri took his seat among the country's other leading politicians. After flying in late Tuesday, his appearance Wednesday in Beirut marks a turning point in the ongoing saga that began with his mysterious and some say forced resignation from the role of prime minister while in Saudi Arabia on November 4. Since then, the Lebanese have been left scratching their heads about his future and fearing for the future of the country itself. The shocking announcement and rumors that he was being held in Saudi Arabia plunged Lebanon into political turmoil. WATCH: Hariri's Return The nation now has him back, but exactly what his role will be remains unclear. Shortly after attending the Independence Day parade and following a meeting with President Michel Aoun, Hariri announced he would postpone his resignation. Welcome return Hariri's arrival came after he was whisked Friday from Saudi Arabia by Emmanuel Macron, president of France, the country from which Lebanon declared its independence in 1943. Hariri was in Egypt on Tuesday, before arriving in Lebanon late in the day to pray at the tomb of his father, Rafik Hariri, who was prime minister before his assassination in a massive car bomb explosion in 2005. Mohammed Abbas, one of the few spectators allowed to attend the heavily guarded parade, welcomed the return of Hariri, who like his father is seen as representative of the country's Sunni community. "I have no political opinions, but I do have a personal one: Saad Hariri is prime minister of this country and I am happy he has returned. He could not resign outside of this country," the 20-year-old said. "If he stays in the role [of prime minister] it will be better for Lebanon, both in terms of its economic and its social situation," Abbas said. Hariri's resignation in Riyadh was widely perceived as a move by the Saudis, and especially their ascendant, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, to counter the influence of Shia-dominated Iran and its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah. Saudi Arabia has denied the claim, as has Hariri. A tearful interview he gave from Riyadh last week did little to assuage fears. His resignation sparked concerns the country would be thrown into chaos. Some feared Saudi Arabia would attempt a Qatar-style economic blockade on a country that has struggled but somehow managed to remain relatively stable despite its volatile regional neighborhood, deeply divided politics, and the presence of about 1.5 million refugees. Others feared worse, though talk of the kind of internal violence that scarred the country during its 15-year-civil war was quickly silenced by a strong show of unity in calling for Hariri's return. Local media reports, not independently confirmed, say that upon formally meeting President Aoun at the parade, Aoun whispered, "Thank God for your safe return." Resignation delayed It was in Baabda Palace that Hariri announced earlier Wednesday that, upon the request of Aoun, he would be putting off his resignation "ahead of further consultations." Reports quoted Hariri as calling for a "responsible dialogue" and a need to commit to the country's disassociation policy a policy flaunted by Hezbollah's military support for the Syrian regime. Hariri's partial rowing back on his resignation sparked speculation he may be able to remain in power, enabling the country's current national unity government, which includes Hezbollah and appeared to be crumbling, to remain intact until next May's elections. Others see it as a blow to Saudi Arabia, which was perceived as punishing Hariri for compromising too much with Hezbollah, and the regional superpower's ambitions to counter Iranian influence. In Lebanon, though, there is a palpable sense of relief. And amid crowds of Hariri supporters gathered near the city's center, what mattered most was that he was back home. Supporters are galvanized by the memory of his father, whose slaying remains a big source of tension with Saudi Arabia and Hezbollah. A U.N.-backed tribunal currently is trying a number of Hezbollah members in absentia for his murder, allegations Hezbollah rejects. Abir Masri had just visited the tomb of Hariri's father, Rafik Hariri, a businessman who made his money in Saudi Arabia, and a politician who had enjoyed its backing. "Rafik Hariri was our leader and he died in vain, and we will follow the Hariri family till the end," Masri said. "We were very scared for him and his situation, but now everyone is smiling here." Looking forward Around Masri, hundreds of people waved Lebanese flags and the blue flag of the Future Movement political party. Music played and car horns honked, while young supporters broke into dance. Those gathered around Hariri's residence in Beirut's well-heeled downtown district got to see Hariri as he waved from the window. Meanwhile, congratulations for Lebanon on its Independence Day flooded in from world leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump, a backer of Saudi Arabia. Just what the future holds, however, and whether the worst is over for now in Lebanon, remains distinctly opaque. Unlike many other Hariri supporters who spoke to VOA, Eid Habach, from Baalbeck, voiced her fears that Saudi Arabia may have pressured Saad Hariri to resign. Describing Hariri as the "love" of her life, Habach said she feared for his independence, and that of her country. "Hariri will always be pressured, and in Lebanon there is little to reassure us about the future," she said. In Photos: Lebanon Celebrates Independence Day, Hariri's Return A federal grand jury has returned a 22-count indictment against Sayfullo Saipov in the death of eight people killed during a truck attack on a bike path in New York City. The Justice Department said Saipov was indicted Tuesday in a Manhattan federal court. He is charged with eight counts of murder, 12 counts of attempted murder, providing and attempting to provide material support to Islamic State, and violence and destruction of motor vehicles resulting in death. Saipov, an Uzbek immigrant, was hospitalized after he was shot by a police officer. He was arrested after several people were run over by a vehicle Oct. 31 in a midday attack on a popular bike path. "Consumed by hate and a twisted ideology, Sayfullo Saipov allegedly barreled down a pedestrian walkway and bicycle path on a sunny afternoon on the West Side of Manhattan, killing eight innocent people and injuring at least a dozen others," said Acting U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim for the Southern District of New York. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the truck attack, which was the deadliest assault on New York City since Sept. 11, 2001. With a new round of U.N.-led peace talks set to begin next week, Syrian opposition figures are meeting Wednesday in Saudi Arabia in an attempt to form a more unified front, while several outside nations with heavy influence on the conflict are holding their own consultations in Russia. Since the fighting broke out in 2011 the rebels have been a fragmented force opposing President Bashar al-Assad, with multiple attempts at uniting under an umbrella group held back by disagreements among the many factions. U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said in an opening statement at Wednesday's talks in Riyadh there needs to be a strong, unified opposition delegation at the November 28 negotiations in Geneva. Multiple rounds of U.N.-brokered talks have failed to stop the war that has left at least 400,000 people dead and 13 million Syrians in need of humanitarian aid. De Mistura has warned that time is running out to finally find a way to resolve the conflict. "I have asked for focus and realism because we need to get the parties into real negotiation over items where there is some prospect that they could begin to narrow the gaps, he said in a late October briefing. The U.N. Security Council has endorsed a multi-step political process that it says must be led by the Syrian people, and should include a new constitution and elections, as well as a nationwide cease-fire. U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated their governments' support for that process in a phone call Tuesday. The White House said Trump and Putin talked for more than an hour and stressed the importance of ending the humanitarian crisis in which millions of Syrians have been displaced from their homes. Trump and Putin said the displaced Syrians should be allowed to return and "the stability of a unified Syria free of malign intervention and terrorist safe havens" should be ensured. Putin hosted Assad for a meeting earlier this week and is holding talks Wednesday in Sochi with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss the peace process. Russia has bolstered Assad's rule with air strikes since late 2015 against groups trying to overthrow his regime, with Iranian fighters also supporting Damascus, and Turkey backing the Syrian opposition. Asian nations are overlooking human rights issues to focus instead on trade and investment, challenging rights-concerned Western countries to catch up in the deal-making process. Countries in the region of 4.5 billon people, home to the worlds fastest-growing economies, normally observe a tacit ban on criticizing one anothers internal affairs, Asian analysts say, including a deadly campaign against illegal drugs in the Philippines and strife between the government of Myanmar and its ethnic Rohingya minority. When the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) held summits last week in Manila with eight outside governments, including the U.S. and China, single-country domestic struggles seldom came up despite pressure from overseas rights groups. By and large I think Asian countries dont entangle or dont enmesh economic projects with domestic affairs, with human rights, said Daniel Chua, deputy head of graduate studies with the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Squeamish domestic issues That non-interference lets governments from Indonesia to Japan focus on practical gains from economic ties without the distrust that might follow a sideline discussion about one sides human rights crisis, labor issues or environmental matters issues that Western leaders may bring up under political pressure at home. When U.S. President Donald Trump met Philippine counterpart Rodrigo Duterte on the sidelines of the summits, he avoided raising reports that police have killed some 7,000 people in Manilas campaign against illegal drugs, a spokesperson for Duterte said. Duterte slammed Trumps predecessor Barack Obama last year and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last week for his raising the same issue. He spared Trump, who has said he's keen to work on bilateral trade deals in Asia. Leaders at the summits also knew about suspicion that Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak took money from a state company and calls from abroad for Myanmar to transparently investigate alleged atrocities against the Muslim Rohingya minority. Newly independent countries on the move Legal independence from the United States or European counties over just the past 60 to 70 years makes Southeast Asian nations keen to protect their sovereignty from outside influence, Chua said. Being fairly new, the protection of sovereignty and sense of independence is one of the few things Asian societies, Southeast Asian countries, hold very dearly, so Southeast Asian countries would tend to be very cautious when other countries may come in and comment or suggestions on their domestic policies, he said. Its seen sometimes as being insidious or subversive, he said. Cross-border integration is a relatively new trend in Asia as well compared to the degree of unity in Europe, Asian Development Bank lead economist Jayant Menon said. For the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, regionalism is means, not an end, he said, meaning member countries act together to bring in outside investment and trade. Asian countries do not need deep free-trade agreements (FTAs) that would cover items such as fair labor and pollution controls, Menon added. Its true that Asian FTAs in general are a bit more shallow than other FTAs, he said, citing a World Trade Organization study. They dont need (deeper FTAs) and they dont want it because they are not as big as Europe or North America. To sustain themselves, they need to look outside their borders for most of their trade and investment. Focus on trade this month When talking to one another on trade or economic cooperation, such as investment in infrastructure projects, Asian countries often shun the pro-labor and environmental clauses that Western governments often require. The United States had required such elements in the Trans Pacific Partnership before letting four Asian countries join the roster of an eventual 12. Trump pulled the United States out of that pact in January, but the other countries are trying to keep it alive. Last weeks summits in Manila produced a joint statement on the contents of an eventual ASEAN-led Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, a trade liberalization pact that would bind 16 countries and half the worlds population. The three-page statement sticks to trade and economic matters without mentions of labor, environment or human rights. The ASEAN-led deal thats expected to be signed in late 2018 has been described as an antidote to the Trans Pacific Partnership for lack of non-trade conditions and with China and India as members. Tacit agreement to put politics aside helps ASEAN countries focus more intently on the trade per se, said Song Seng Wun, economist with the private banking unit of CIMB in Singapore. I suppose trade in goods becomes easier if you just focus on line by line on tariffs, Song said. On the practical level, lets see how we can move forward on helping each other itself, he said in describing the regional trade ethic. ASEAN, which represents 630 million people as well as four national economies forecast to grow more than 6 percent this year, has trade liberalization agreements with Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea. In Manila, the association and the United States said they would step up cooperation. During his swing through Asia this month, Trump railed against trade deficits and told Asian leaders he wanted to pursue bilateral trade deals that are fair and reciprocal. U.S. President Donald Trump all but endorsed embattled Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore on Tuesday, saying the former state judge "totally denies" allegations that he sexually molested underage girls years ago. "I can tell you one thing for sure: We don't need a liberal person in there, a Democrat," Trump told reporters at the White House. Moore's opponent in the Senate race, Democrat Doug Jones, has a record that is "terrible on crime, it's terrible on the border, it's terrible on the military," Trump said. Trump said he would announce next week whether he will campaign on the Republican candidate's behalf. Moore's campaign has been in turmoil since The Washington Post published a story detailing the accounts of three women who claimed he pursued them while they were teenagers and he was in his 30s. Three more women have since spoken out with allegations of their own. WATCH : Trump on supporting Moore Moore has adamantly rejected accusations of sexual abuse, but prominent Republicans, including House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and two former presidential candidates, Senator John McCain of Arizona and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, have called for him to end his candidacy. Trump, himself the subject of sexual abuse allegations during his 2016 presidential campaign, which he said were false, had said little about the accusations against Moore until Tuesday. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Monday that Trump thought it was "up to the people of Alabama who their next senator will be." But earlier, White House adviser Kellyanne Conway described Jones as a "doctrinaire liberal" who would vote against tax cuts the Trump administration is pushing Congress to adopt. Asked whether the White House was asking people to vote for Moore, Conway deflected the question, but said, "I'm telling you we want the votes in the Senate to get this tax bill through." One of Moore's accusers, Leigh Corfman, told NBC on Monday that it took her decades before she regained her sense of trust and confidence in herself after the 1979 encounter she alleges she had with him. Now 53, Corfman said she was "a 14-year-old child trying to play in an adult's world" but that she "didn't deserve to have a 32-year-old man prey upon" her. "I was expecting candlelight and roses; what I got was very different," she said. "I felt guilty. I felt like I was the one to blame. "I met him around the corner from my house my mother did not know and he took me to his home," Corfman said. "After arriving at his home on the second occasion that I went with him, he basically laid out some blankets on the floor of his living room and proceeded to seduce me, I guess you would say." Corfman's accusations against Moore first appeared in the Post more than a week ago. She told the newspaper that Moore took off her "shirt and pants and removed his clothes," touched her over her bra and underpants and guided her hand to touch him over his underwear before she ended the encounter. She asked him to take her home, and he did. Moore leads an expanding list of lawmakers accused of sexual misconduct. On Monday, the website BuzzFeed alleged that longtime U.S. Representative John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat, paid $27,000 to a woman who alleged that he'd fired her from his Washington staff after she rebuffed his sexual overtures. Conyers, 88, at first denied the report, then on Tuesday he acknowledged the settlement, which he said he made to avoid protracted litigation. But he continued to deny he had sexually harassed the woman. Ryan, the leader of the majority Republicans in the chamber, called the allegation "extremely troubling. People who work in the House deserve and are entitled to a workplace without harassment or discrimination." Leaders of the House Ethics Committee said they were opening an investigation into the allegations, including whether Conyers had used official resources for impermissible personal purposes. Conyers said he would fully cooperate. Uber Technologies Inc failed to disclose a massive breach last year that exposed the data of some 57 million users of the ride-sharing service, the company's new chief executive officer said on Tuesday. Discovery of the company's handling of the incident led to the departure of two employees who led Uber's response to the incident, said Dara Khosrowshahi, who was named CEO in August following the departure of founder Travis Kalanick. Khosrowshahi said he had only recently learned of the matter himself. The companys admission that it failed to disclose the breach comes as Uber seeks to recover from a series of crises that culminated in the Kalanicks ouster in June. None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it, Khosrowshahi said in a blog post. According to the companys account, two individuals downloaded data from a web-based server at another company that provided Uber with cloud-computing services. The data contained names, email addresses and mobile phone numbers of some 57 million Uber users around the world. The hackers also downloaded names and drivers license numbers of some 600,000 of the company's U.S. drivers, Khosrowshahi said in a blog post. Bloomberg News reported that Ubers chief security officer Joe Sullivan and a deputy had been ousted from the company this week because of their role in the handling of the incident. The company paid hackers $100,000 to delete the stolen data, according to Bloomberg. Though such payoffs are rarely discussed in public, U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation officials and private security companies have told Reuters in the past year that an increasing number of companies have made payments to criminal hackers who have turned to extortion. None have previously come to light that aimed to suppress breaches that would have required public disclosure, such as those involving protected personal information. Sullivan did not immediately return messages seeking comment. Sullivan, formerly the top security official at Facebook Inc, is a former federal prosecutor and one of the most admired security executives in Silicon Valley. Kalanick learned of the breach a month after it took place, in November 2016, as the company was in negotiations with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission over the handling of consumer data, according to Bloomberg. Uber representatives did not respond when asked to comment on the Bloomberg report. Khosrowshahi said he had hired Matt Olsen, former general counsel of the U.S. National Security Agency, to help him figure out how to best guide and structure the company's security teams and processes. While I cant erase the past, I can commit on behalf of every Uber employee that we will learn from our mistakes, he said. We are changing the way we do business, putting integrity at the core of every decision we make and working hard to earn the trust of our customers. U.S. and Afghan airstrikes have destroyed nine Taliban drug factories and labs, killing 44 suspected traffickers in a border area of southern Helmand province. The combined offensive is aimed at targeting the revenue streams of terrorists, according to officials. Regional military corps commander, General Wali Mohammad Ahmadzai, told VOA that bombings of drug-producing centers started late Tuesday and continued into Wednesday morning. He said the airstrikes focused on a narcotics market run by the Taliban in Bahramcha, a remote, divided village on the border with Pakistan, which serves as a main center for shipping drugs from Afghanistan. The general described Bahramcha as the biggest narcotics market in Asia. He confirmed an unspecified number of Taliban militants and drug traffickers were killed but did not share any exact figures. Sources, however, told VOA the death toll stood at 44. Bahramcha is one of the villages on the largely porous border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The region is notorious for facilitating the movement of local and foreign militants in both directions. Taliban insurgents and their leaders also use the area to get medical aid in alleged sanctuaries on Pakistani soil, say Afghan officials. U.S. Army General John Nicholson told reporters earlier this week the counternarcotics campaign began Sunday when strikes destroyed seven Taliban drug labs in another part of Helmand, an opium-poppy producing region and Afghanistan's largest province. Villagers in Pakistan could also see destroyed mud houses and a vehicle on the Afghan side of the border where the overnight airstrikes took place. Spokespeople for the Afghan Taliban, however, in statements sent to media Wednesday, rejected as propaganda accusations the insurgent group is running drug producing labs and factories in Helmand or elsewhere in Afghanistan. They said the air raids hit civilian homes and those killed were civilians with no link to the Taliban. General Nicholson said Monday the U.S. military has for the first time engaged F-22 fighter jets in the newly launched war on Afghan drugs. It is also the first time, he said, the U.S. military is using new authority, granted by U.S. President Donald Trump in August, to curb terrorists and their revenue streams in Afghanistan. The United States has spent $8.6 billion on narcotics eradication in Afghanistan since 2002, but critics say there was record-breaking poppy production in 2017. The United Nations announced last week that narcotics production almost doubled this year in Afghanistan to around 9,000 tons, with a 63 percent increase in cultivation areas compared with 2016. The Taliban has expanded its control or influence to more than 40 percent of Afghan territory since international combat forces withdrew from Afghanistan in 2014. The U.S. military estimates income generated from illicit drugs is providing 60 percent of the Taliban's funding. Eight people were rescued and three are missing after a U.S. Navy transport plane crashed Wednesday into the western Pacific Ocean. The Navy said the twin-propeller C2-A Greyhound aircraft plummeted into the sea about 925 kilometers southeast of Okinawa while it was on a routine mission taking passengers and cargo from a U.S. base in Japan to the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier. It said the eight people were rescued about 40 minutes later and taken to the Reagan where they were reported in good condition. U.S. and Japanese naval ships are searching for the missing. There was no immediate explanation for the crash and the Navy said the incident is being investigated. U.S. President Donald Trump, at his oceanfront Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida for the Thanksgiving weekend holiday, said in a Twitter comment that he is monitoring the situation. "Prayers for all involved," he said. The Reagan was operating in the Philippine Sea as part of joint exercises with Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force, part of 10 days of training designed to increase defensive readiness and interoperability in air and sea maneuvers between the two countries. More than 14,000 U.S. personnel are participating in the drills, which also include the guided-missile destroyers USS Stethem, USS Chafee and USS Mustin, and a maritime patrol and reconnaissance squadron. Wednesday's crash was the third major incident involving the U.S. Navy's Japan-based 7th Fleet this year. It has had two fatal accidents in Asian waters, leaving 17 sailors dead and prompting the Defense Department's removal of eight top Navy officers from their posts, including the 7th Fleet commander. A United States Senate delegation to Myanmar said Tuesday that the crisis in the Rakhine state "has all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing." "Many refugees have suffered direct attacks including loved ones, children and husbands being killed in front of them, wives and daughters being raped, burns and other horrific injuries. This has all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing," Senator Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat, told a press conference at the U.S. embassy in Yangon. Merkley told reporters that the U.S. Congressional delegation has urged Myanmars government to implement the recommendations of the Kofi Annan-led Rakhine Advisory Commission, and to allow the UN and other NGOs access to the troubled region to provide humanitarian assistance. Tillerson has concerns In Washington, the U.S. State Department is considering whether to officially designate the conflict as ethnic cleansing. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited Myanmar last week and expressed concern over "credible reports of widespread atrocities committed by security forces and vigilantes." Pope set to visit The Pope is slated to visit Myanmar from Nov. 27-30, where he is expected to meet with the countrys de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Merkley is joined on the delegation by four Democrats: U.S. Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois and U.S. Representatives Betty McCollum of Minnesota, Jan Schakowsky of Illinois and David Cicilline of Rhode Island. The Senators and Representatives met with government officials and affected populations in the region, and highlighted the ongoing humanitarian crisis and urgent need for international action to bring an end to the violence. VOA Burmese and Thet Su Naing contributed to this report Hundreds of humanitarian staffers from nearly 50 agencies are stranded in Yemen or unable to enter the country after a Saudi-led military coalition shut down Yemen's air, land and sea ports, a U.N. spokesman said Wednesday. Ahmed Ben Lassoued, a Sanaa-based media official at The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told The Associated Press that a total of 32 flights have been canceled since Nov. 6, when the coalition ordered a tightening of the Yemen blockade. He said 220 humanitarian staff from nearly 50 agencies in Djibouti and Amman are waiting to return to northern Yemen. Another 310 passengers are stranded in Sanaa and other duty stations in northern Yemen, waiting to depart. "The blockade imposed on the humanitarian flights is severely hampering humanitarian operations, impeding humanitarians to provide much-needed assistance to millions of people who rely on it for their survival," Ben Lassoued said. The coalition has announced that it's lifting the blockade after initially tightening it on Nov. 6 after a missile attack on Riyadh by Yemeni rebels known as Houthis. Ships were ordered to leave the Red Sea ports of Hodeida and Salef, the only lifeline to northern Yemen where most of the population lives. The two ports are under the control of the Houthis. The conflict in Yemen pits the Shiite Houthi rebels and the ousted president's forces against the internationally recognized government and its main backer, the Saudi-led coalition. For more than two years, airstrikes and ground fighting have left over 10,000 people dead, driven 3 million from their homes and destroyed the country's already fragile infrastructure. International aid groups describe Yemen as the world's worst humanitarian crisis as millions are at risk of famine. The New-York based International Rescue Committee on Wednesday urged an end to the blockade, calling it a "collective punishment" of Yemenis that risks driving 500 children into malnutrition every week. It said the closure of Yemeni ports by the Saudi-led coalition as part of its fight against Houthi rebels creates "humanitarian misery for millions of Yemenis." The IRC also condemned the international community, saying its silence "is a disgrace and is enabling what could be collective punishment." Each week, the group said, 500 children join hundreds of thousands suffering from malnutrition. "Sanctions and inspections should not be used as weapons of war," the group said in a statement. On Wednesday, two flights landed in Sanaa airport for the first time. One was tasked with evacuating five staffers of the International Committee of the Red Cross, according to Soumaya Beltifa of the ICRC in Yemen. Al-Masirah TV network, run by Houthis, described it as the first humanitarian flight to come to Sanaa. A second flight carried Russian diplomats, according to an airport official. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. The URL has been copied to your clipboard The code has been copied to your clipboard. Zimbabwe's parliamentarians erupted into song and dance following the official delivery of the resignation letter signed by President Robert Mugabe, Tuesday. Speaker of the House of Assembly, Jacob Mudenda, read the announcement as legislators were attempting to impeach Mugabe. Former U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe Johnnie Carson described the resignation by Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe as "an important milestone in Zimbabwe's history. Carson served as ambassador to Zimbabwe in the 1990s. He described Mr. Mugabe as determined, articulate and disciplined. Hundreds of Zimbabweans turned out at the military Manyame Air Base in Harare, to welcome former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa who is expected to be named the country's new president, following the resignation of longtime leader, Robert Mugabe, on Tuesday. The United States has congratulated Zimbabweans for peacefully forcing Robert Mugabe to step down. In a statement, the U.S Embassy Harare said, Tonight marks an historic moment for Zimbabwe. We congratulate all Zimbabweans who raised their voices and stated peacefully and clearly that the time for change was overdue. As Secretary Tillerson recently stated, Zimbabwe has an historic opportunity to set itself on a new path. Through that process, the United States urges unwavering respect for the rule of law and for established democratic practices. It further said the country should transition towards establishing a democratic state. Whatever short-term arrangements the government may establish, the path forward must lead to free, fair, and inclusive elections, in which the people of Zimbabwe, are free to assemble peacefully without undue interference and to voice their opinions without fear, choose their own leaders. The United States imposed targeted sanctions on Mugabe and his inner circle for alleged human rights abuses and election rigging. Mr. Mugabe has been in power for more than 37 years and is being accused of committing atrocities in Matabeleland and the Midlands provinces under the guise of eliminating dissidents, which he linked to the then Zapu leader Joshua Nkomo. At least 20,000 people were killed by the infamous North Korean trained Fifth Brigade. United States State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert described the resignation of Robert Mugabe as president of Zimbabwe as a "historic opportunity and historic moment," for its citizens. Addressing journalists at a press briefing, Tuesday, Nauert said Mr. Mugabe's resignation is a clear indication of the will of the people. "The people of Zimbabwe have firmly voiced their desire for a new era to bring to an end Zimbabwe's isolation and allow the country to rejoin the international community," said Nauert. Nauert said the U.S. is unsure what arrangements will be made for governing Zimbabwe in the short term. But she says there should ultimately be "free and fair elections." "The future of Zimbabwe though has to be determined by the people of that country, we look forward to and hope for free and fair elections." She added that the U.S. is urging "unwavering respect for the rule of law and for established democratic practices." When pressed, Nauert declined to say whether the process that led to Mugabe's ouster constituted as a coup, adding that Mugabe ultimately decided to resign after impeachment proceedings were called for. Some Zimbabweans in the United States say they welcome the opportunities that a free Zimbabwe will bring, following the resignation of President Robert Mugabe who has been in power for over 37 years, Tuesday. Voice Of America Studio7's, Marvellous Mhlanga-Nyahuye gives you more. LABOR Apple says its supplier worked teens illegally Apple said Tuesday its main supplier in Asia has been employing high school students working illegal overtime to assemble the iPhone X. Interns at a factory operated by Hon Hai Precision Industry, part of Taiwans Foxconn Group, worked voluntarily and received benefits, but they worked longer days than Chinese law permits, Apple said in a statement. The Financial Times reported Tuesday that 3,000 students from the Zhengzhou Urban Rail Transit School were sent to work at the local facility as interns. During the course of a recent audit, we discovered instances of student interns working overtime at a supplier facility in China, Apple said. When we found that some students were allowed to work overtime, we took prompt action. Six students told the FT they routinely worked 11-hour days. Foxconn said company policy doesnt allow interns to work more than 40 hours a week on program-related assignments and acknowledged a number of cases where portions of our campuses have not adhered to this policy. It said it has taken action to correct the situation. Bloomberg News Also in Business The U.S. International Trade Commission on Tuesday recommended tariffs to keep Samsung and LG from flooding the U.S. market with inexpensive washers, a step that would protect American appliance giant Whirlpool. The ITC said a graduated tariff rate should be placed on imports of large residential washing machines above a 1.2 million-unit threshold in each of the next three years, with the rate starting at 50 percent the first year and sliding down to 40 percent by the third year. From news reports Coming today 8:30 a.m.: Commerce Department releases durable goods for October. 2 p.m.: Federal Reserve releases minutes from its October interest-rate meeting. Angelique Brunner is founder and president of EB5 Capital, a firm that connects foreign investors with developers. (Jared Soares/For The Washington Post) On the site of a shuttered Burger King in a long-neglected Northeast neighborhood, D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser donned a hard hat and dug a shiny shovel into a pile of dirt. It was a groundbreaking for a luxury apartment made possible by $27 million in foreign investment. Bowser, bundled in a black overcoat, touted her trade mission to China, where city officials and developers had invited wealthy Chinese to invest half a million dollars each in D.C. building projects in exchange for U.S. residency. That mission has resulted in the type of investment that will allow this project to go forward, Bowser said that February day at the Highline, a 12-story apartment and retail complex going up in a rapidly gentrifying slice of NoMa where cranes now crowd the skyline. The development is among the latest in D.C. funded by foreign investors through the controversial EB-5 visa, which some lawmakers have derided as citizenship for sale. Congress is expected to weigh the fate of the three-decade-old federal program by years end. Its defenders say the program helps economically depressed neighborhoods attract capital and jobs. But critics note instances where developers have used the low-cost financing to build luxury skyscrapers and high-end hotels in affluent areas, as President Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has done. NoMa adjacent to Union Market has the highest concentration of EB-5 financed projects in the city, said an official with an EB-5 lobbying group. (Jared Soares/For The Washington Post) Bowser and other proponents of the program cite a half dozen blocks near Washingtons Union Market where foreign investment is helping to spur rapid transformation. [Congress soon could make it harder for rich people to move to the U.S.] A longtime budget motel was redeveloped into two Hilton-branded hotels in 2015. A trash-sorting depot became an REI flagship in 2016 not far from a homeless encampment beneath a railroad overpass. In addition to the Highline apartments going up on Florida Avenue, two parking lots across the street are slated for new housing and retail by late 2019. All were partially financed between 15 and 64 percent by foreign investors after banks declined to fully back the projects, which are on the other side of the tracks from where most development was occurring, said Angelique Brunner, founder and president of EB5 Capital, a firm that connects foreign investors with developers. It would be very scary for a financial institution to step into this neighborhood the same way they might step into downtown Washington, Brunner said, a forerunner in bringing EB-5 investments to Washington. What we do in this neighborhood is really the heart and soul of what EB-5 was intended to be used for. The NoMa neighborhood seen from the top of Uline Arena in Northeast Washington. With the hotels, restaurants and amenity-rich apartments comes the specter of gentrification to a historically African American neighborhood of modest row homes. (Jared Soares/For The Washington Post) Changes in the old neighborhood The foreign investor visa program has funded projects in other transitioning D.C. neighborhoods such as Shaw and Anacostia, and more recently, the Navy Yard and Southwest Waterfront. NoMa, though, has the highest concentration of EB-5 financed projects in the city thanks to Brunner, said Peter Joseph, executive director of Invest in the USA, an EB-5 lobbying group. Brunner said she expects EB5 Capital to finance at least two more NoMa developments by 2018, bringing total foreign investment in the neighborhood to more than $150 million. With the hotels, restaurants and amenity-rich apartments, though, comes the specter of gentrification to a historically African American neighborhood of modest row homes. Some residents say they appreciate that the area is now being revived with conveniences they have long sought, after being decimated by the 1968 riots following the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. But they also lament feeling like tourists in their own neighborhood, with parking getting more difficult as hipsters and empty nesters move in. Im all for change, but its so evident what they do for white folks, said Moyer Fowler, 67, who has lived in the neighborhood for more than three decades, long before it was branded as NoMa. Were not going to know this city after awhile. The changes started around 2004 with the opening of the NoMa-Gallaudet U Metro station. Within a few years, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives headquarters opened, with its influx of federal workers. Back then, Fowlers block was mostly black families; about 10 are left out of roughly 60 homes. Now theres a dog park. And bike lanes. A Trader Joes grocery store is slated to open in 2018. Youve got Airbnbs now, and people walking with strollers and kids in the neighborhood. Before if somebody came out, its like, Yo, youre lost, said Eric Markham, a 46-year-old maintenance mechanic who is white and has rented in the area for a decade. Back in the day people couldnt give their houses away, and now you could come offering what theyre asking and still not get the house. Construction on Florida Avenue in Northeast Washington. (Jared Soares/For The Washington Post) End of an era for one business Some longtime business owners say they can no longer afford to stay, because redevelopment has pushed up property taxes. Central Armature Works, an electrical installation and construction firm that has been a fixture in the area since 1992, plans to relocate to Prince Georges County, said Robert Dorr, president and general manager of the 102-year-old family business. Dorr said his property taxes have climbed from $55,000 to about $700,000 over 25 years in the neighborhood. We thought we had a home here for at least another 50 years, Dorr said. But the city thinks the best use of this property is not industrial, so we will be forced to move. We cant afford the taxes. The Dorr family has entered into a joint venture with Trammell Crow to develop apartments, condos, a hotel and retail space at the site. Its become more profitable for business owners to develop the land on which their companies sit than to continue operating there. Brunner said the NoMa developments perfectly fit what Congress had envisioned when it created the EB-5 program in 1990, and that her projects have created thousands of jobs. Hotels often provide the highest income jobs for an undereducated local workforce, she said. We struggle with the issue of gentrification, Brunner said. When you redevelop an area, you really have to be very sensitive to what you provide and how you provide it. She said the redevelopment has spurred amenities that will benefit the entire neighborhood, new and longtime residents alike. No one was going to build a new grocery store for the rowhouse residents, she said. You needed to improve the density in the neighborhood to attract the grocery stores and other services. The luxury apartment complex at the old Burger King site also has a plan to include affordable housing, she said, with 13 units available to people making 80 percent of the local median income of $110,300 for a family of four. In addition, the developer is partnering with Habitat for Humanity to provide 13 townhouses for sale to families earning up to 50 percent of the local median income. Those homes will be located a mile up the road in Ivy City, on the other side of Union Market. The Uline Arena in Northeast Washington, which is now home to a flagship REI store. (Jared Soares/For The Washington Post) It was a tale of two cities Brunner, who as a black woman stands out in a field dominated by white men, has been primed for this particular slice of development financing since she was a young adult. As a full scholarship student at Brown University, Brunner held an AmeriCorps job renovating abandoned properties in South Providence, R.I., and conducting credit counseling for recent immigrants to become homeowners. One of the most painful points we could not address was there were no services there no grocery stores and no banks, even though people lived in these neighborhoods, Brunner said. When she moved to Washington after receiving a masters degree in public affairs from Princeton University, she saw the same problems, a daily reminder of the riots. Really it was a tale of two cities, she said. It was a federal city, which everyone saw on TV. And then it was the local city, which had apparently been forgotten. That is where foreign investors enter the picture to bridge the funding gap for commercial development when institutional investors feel there is too much risk. The EB-5 program became especially popular among developers after the 2008 financial crisis made bank loans harder to secure. [Everyone in China has the American Dream and a popular path to it may disappear] Seats from the old Uline Arena in REI. (Jared Soares/For The Washington Post) Beau Athia, who grew up on New York Avenue NE in a Super 8 motel that his parents owned after immigrating from India, said his family relied heavily on foreign investors to fund the construction of a pair of Hilton-branded hotels when they wanted to redevelop the site after the economic downturn. At the time when lenders werent willing to originate debt for new construction, EB5 Capital was more than willing to partner with us, Athia said. We were an immigrant family that basically spent most of our livelihood building up the asset and trying to help an underserved community improve. [In a Beijing ballroom, Kushner family pushes $500,000 investor visa to wealthy Chinese] But now legislators as well as the Trump administration are considering changes, including raising the investment threshold from $500,000 to $925,000. Lawmakers say they hope new rules will help prevent abuses, such as money going to build say, the Beverly Hills Waldorf Astoria, instead of helping rural or distressed urban communities. Foreign investors have an opportunity to recoup their money, with low interest, and become eligible for permanent residency once authorities confirm that the money has created at least 10 American jobs. With congressional authorization for the EB-5 visa set to expire next month, Brunner is hoping lawmakers will hash out permanent legislation for the program. As she toured NoMa recently, Brunner said she thinks it would likely take another decade to fully develop the neighborhood with more housing, retail and full-service hotels. An iconic barrel-shaped building where the Beatles played their first U.S. concert in 1964 had become an eyesore as a trash-transfer station and then a parking lot. Today it is revived as REIs fifth flagship store. Walking out of the store, Brunner pointed down Third Street NE toward Florida Avenue, where she had stood alongside Bowser during Februarys groundbreaking for the Highline. Construction is now in full swing. This block will be one of the strongest retail corridors in the entire city, connecting NoMa to Union Market, Brunner said. We will continue to invest in this neighborhood until its complete or until Congress outlaws our investment. You must insert an ignition key to start this one, which tells you something about its price range in a vehicle age where push-button ignition is commonplace. It is inexpensive by todays standards, certainly less costly than the popular Toyota RAV-4 compact sport-utility vehicle. Toyotas marketers call this one a sport-utility vehicle, which is more of a marketing term than anything else. The C-HR XLE, a new Toyota product for 2018, looks and feels more like a small station wagon, whimsically designed by grade-school students given its loopy yet angular exterior sculpture and availability in two-tone body colors (radiant green mica with ice-white roof in the model used for this column) generally shunned by other vehicle manufacturers. The interior is washable a work of recyclable, diamond-embossed, plasticlike door panels and fabric-covered seats. It is great for car owners with messy young children, or for adults who never have learned to tidy up their living spaces. It is not a vehicle designed to impress folks who have been driving for 10 or 20 years, or who have long held a desire to sit behind the steering wheel of something with dual exhaust pipes and loud exhaust notes. It is an odd small wagon for people with normal driving expectations, who intend to obey all posted speed limits and respect the authorized officials who enforce them. Equipment includes a 2.0-liter, gasoline-powered, four-cylinder engine (144 horsepower, 139 pound-feet of torque) linked to an automatic, continuously variable transmission an automatic transmission that seamlessly sends power to the drive wheels via the use of pulleys instead of fixed gears. The advantage of CVT models is that they tend to save fuel. But many drivers complain that they lack driving feel and are less than robust in climbing hills. The C-HR XLE does embrace modernity in the base XLE model and even more so in the top XLE Premium trim level. There is an auto-dimming rearview mirror with integrated backup camera display, advanced electronic safety features (e.g., lane-departure alert), and automatic high beams largely thanks to the Toyota Safety Sense package, highly recommended by this column. Like most Toyota products, the 2018 C-HR XLE is well-made, bereft of any obvious fit-and-finish faults. Whether it will attain the popularity of the RAV-4 remains to be seen. This one deliberately is aimed at a younger, less-affluent buyer, although Toyotas marketers are loath to put it that way. They use more exciting language. To wit: Revolutionary style meets rebellious spirit. Hmm. Heres hoping Toyotas rebels have as much willingness and enthusiasm to part with their money as buyers of the rival Nissan Rogue. Amber McGinnis at rehearsal for Theater Js The Last Night of Ballyhoo, winner of the 1997 Tony for best play. (Tamar Gasko) One hint that an emerging director just might be good: when theaters across town keep asking her to handle tough assignments. Thats been the path lately for Amber McGinnis, who, after a string of small troupe successes, is stepping up in class this month with a job at Theater J directing Alfred Uhrys The Last Night of Ballyhoo. McGinnis has a knack for guiding actors. The stylish overlapping dialogue in Caryl Churchill's "Top Girls," now at the Keegan Theatre, is as dynamic and exacting as music. Yet the play's gritty ending feels heartbreakingly real. Also acutely believable: Stephen Spotswood's "The Girl in the Red Corner," which McGinnis staged for the Welders Playwrights' Collective last year in a cage, for the martial arts fight scenes; and the troubled high-school-girl relationship in Ruby Rae Spiegel's "Dry Land," performed in the spring on a wide strip stage (with the audience on two sides) at Forum Theatre. "Dry Land" unfolded in a locker room as one of the girls dealt with an unintended pregnancy. I really didnt like it, McGinnis, 34, recalls of her first reaction to that script, which had harsh passages that McGinnis navigated with notable honesty and taste. Then an hour later I started sobbing my eyes out. It was last year's "Equus" Peter Shaffer's famous drama about the fervent boy who blinds horses at Constellation Theatre that started a conversation with Theater J Artistic Director Adam Immerwahr. That led to her current Theater J gig directing Uhry's 1997 Tony-winning play about a 1939 Jewish family in Atlanta. For a change, the serious comedy Ballyhoo with its title referring to a dance at an exclusive country club is what theater types call a conventional, well-made play. Its also McGinniss first experience with the regular daytime rehearsal hours of a fully Equity company. "And I'm excited for something set in the South," says McGinnis, who was raised outside Charlotte and got a master's degree in directing from Baylor University in Texas. Her thesis was about playwright Sarah Ruhl, a detail that piqued the interest of D.C. actress Sara Barker and led them to collaborate on Ruhl's adaptation of Virginia Woolf's "Orlando," a production by WSC Avant Bard in 2014. McGinnis understands if some people think of her as a feminist director; a lot of plays focused on women have come her way. But I hope Im not being pigeonholed, she says. Thatd make things really boring. She fell naturally into performing as a child. Her mother ran a dance studio, which explains why some of McGinniss early credits here included choreography. Her college major at North Carolinas Gardner-Webb University was religious studies, but she made it a double major with theater once she started taking classes. I think it was Brecht, McGinnis says of the radical German dramatist when asked about the turning point. That interest in drama and social change was sharpened after graduate school, when McGinnis started working with Will Interactive, an Austin-based outfit creating suicide-prevention pieces for soldiers and civilians. In 2009, the company offered McGinnis work in the Washington area writing and directing interactive training films. The "branching story lines," she says, are "part film, part video game." Which must have made her a natural to stage Bekah Brunstetter's video game-themed "The Oregon Trail" for Flying V during the 2015 Women's Voices Theater Festival? Yes that is my life! she says with a laugh. Actually, McGinniss life may be changing: Soon shell be off to Minnesota to shoot her first feature film, an independent picture (with a quarter-million-dollar budget) called International Falls. Shes also writing her own screenplay of a story set in the South, which is part of finding her sense of direction after a divorce a few years ago. She married at age 20. Writing my own stories, McGinnis says, is new to me. Rep. Nita M. Lowey (D-N.Y.), Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (D-N.Y.), former senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.), Anita Hill, former congresswoman Pat Schroeder (D-Colo.) and D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D). (Stephen Voss/Stephen Voss/For The Washington Post) On Nov. 16, Anita Hill sat down at The Washington Post offices with five current and former Democratic lawmakers: Nita M. Lowey (N.Y.), Barbara A. Mikulski (Md.), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D.C.), Pat Schroeder (Colo.) and Louise M. Slaughter (N.Y.) all allies of Hill during her historic appearance at the confirmation hearings for U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas in 1991. Hill, now a professor of legal history and public policy at Brandeis University in Massachusetts, alleged at the time that Thomas had sexually harassed her when she was in her mid-20s and worked for him at the Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The five female lawmakers were part of a larger group of members of Congress who prevailed on their colleagues including Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Joe Biden (D-Del.) to allow Hill to testify. Millions of Americans watched on television as the all-white, all-male panel questioned Hill with prosecutorial zeal. Thomas denied the allegations and called the proceedings "a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks." He was confirmed 52-48. Now, in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein sexual-assault scandal, Biden has faced renewed scrutiny over Hill's treatment during the 1991 hearings. At an event hosted by Glamour magazine on Nov. 13, he said he was "so sorry" for what she went through. A few days later, at our gathering which was set up for the issue of The Washington Post Magazine, in which we asked a number of political and cultural figures to revisit their roles in seminal Washington moments Hill said "some part of" Biden's recent remarks was a real apology, "but I still don't think it takes ownership of his role in what happened." (In June, when we began setting up the meeting, we invited Biden, but he declined. On Nov. 20, he declined to comment on Hill's statement. Thomas declined to comment as well.) Over the course of a 90-minute conversation moderated by Post reporter Libby Casey, Hill spoke about her experiences testifying, and the lawmakers talked about their advocacy for Hill. What follows is a transcript condensed, edited, annotated and reordered for clarity of the exchange. Mikulski, then in her first term as a Democratic senator from Maryland, picks up the story in June 1991. Mikulski: So Thurgood Marshall resigns. George H.W. Bush nominates Thomas on July 1. We're in recess. It's a sleepy time. The Senate starts the hearings September 10. They're sleepy hearings, and Thomas is very evasive about equal protection under law the gender aspects of the Civil Rights Act. So a lot of us began to have doubts about Thomas. The country first learned about Anita Hill's allegations on Oct. 6, when Newsday and NPR broke the story. Hill gave a televised news conference the next day. On Tuesday, Oct. 8, a group of women lawmakers started making one-minute speeches on the House floor demanding the Senate delay Thomas's confirmation. Then, Schroeder, Norton, Lowey, Slaughter, Jolene Unsoeld (D-Wash.), Barbara Boxer (a congresswoman at the time and future Democratic senator from California) and the late Patsy Mink (D-Hawaii) decided to try something else. [It was just awful: The Clarence Thomas hearings, in the words of those who were there] Schroeder: As I recall, a group of us walked in, and you know how you can do the one-minute speeches on the floor? So we each got up and we're doing them. And that then inspired us to go over to see the wonderful Senate, because they were having lunch as they always do on Tuesday. So we marched over there to go see them, because we were dumbfounded. Norton: It was so spontaneous. A photographer captured several of the congresswomen marching up the steps of the Capitol on their way to try to speak to Senate Democrats at their caucus lunch. Casey [holding up the photo]: So this is such an iconic photo for so many people all of the women marching. Slaughter: We think it's sort of like Iwo Jima. [laughter] Casey: Why? Slaughter: Because we weren't going to be turned. Schroeder: Storming it. Slaughter: We were not going to give up on this. We knocked on the door. Lowey: They did not let us in. They were so rude. Schroeder: We were literally told that they didn't let strangers in. Mikulski: I'm the only Democratic woman in the Senate. I didn't know they were marching over. There's George Mitchell, our Democratic leader, and somebody hands him a note and he says there are congresswomen outside. They want to speak. I said let them in. Others were saying okay. Schroeder: Barbara, since we weren't in the room and you were, was there any discussion in the room about what was going on? Mikulski: The phones were beginning to ring. There was a sense that the whole process, if not spinning out of control, was getting very chaotic. My voice was, "You don't get this is really going to be big. You need to meet with the women. Slow down the damn process." There were others saying, "Yeah." Mitchell agreed to meet with the lawmakers in his office. Slaughter: We didn't even sit down. We stood up in his office and made ourselves perfectly clear. He was pretty angry. Schroeder: He explained to us how it worked in the Senate and that you defer to your chairman, and we had a very fine chairman. Casey: In Senator Biden. Norton: And it shows the extent to which the Senate is a club, but it was a boys' club. Hill: Can I just say this about Senator Mitchell's approach? It may have been an opportunity to meet, but, throughout, what I found in the entire procedure was, "Let's triage." Let's control, let's keep things under control, under his control with the entire Senate and with the Judiciary Committee. It wasn't about, "Let's give an opportunity to be open and transparent." Mitchell, the former Senate majority leader, now in private practice, responded in a written statement to the comments by Hill and the lawmakers. He wrote, in part: "Unknown to the House Members, early that morning Senator Biden had asked me to try to get the agreement to vote on [Thomas] that evening changed, to allow time for further hearings and for Ms. Hill to testify. I asked for such a change, but Republican senators refused. That's where things stood as of the time of my meeting with the House Members. I was careful in my response to them because it seemed unlikely that we could get a delay. As soon as the meeting concluded Senator Biden and I resumed our effort and spent the rest of the day working to devise and implement a strategy to obtain a delay. Ultimately we succeeded. The Republicans agreed to the delay and to further hearings." Casey: Professor Hill, did you have any idea that all of this was happening in Washington? Hill: No. I read the newspapers the next day and saw the photo. That was the first time I knew. I was sitting in Norman, Oklahoma, still waiting to find out what was going to happen in the next few days. Really the first real contact that I had with an elected official was a call from Biden saying that there was going to be a hearing. Slaughter: We'd never seen Anita until the hearing. Hill: I didn't just spring up in October. The Senate Judiciary Committee had been contacting me. Slaughter: When did they call you? Hill: They called the first time maybe as early as July. But certainly they had called by August. I didn't want to be part of some kind of fishing expedition with some vague question that they had asked me. And I said, "You've got to be more specific." And when they first called, I thought, "Well, there probably are other women and they should invest in pursuing these other women," because, you know, they didn't have any idea of what was going on. And they didn't really seem interested. They only seemed interested in pursuing me. And it was in August that they finally came forward and said, "Well, we understand that you had experienced this behavior." Norton: Who told them about you? Hill: I do not know. I said, "Okay, yes, I will respond to your questions, but I want an investigation." When the Senate Judiciary Committee started going to the press, they made the claims that I had called up anonymously. Schroeder: Oh, that's right! And they called you. Hill: I will say this: If it had been up to the Senate, I would not have even had a written statement. Because what they wanted to do was to use the FBI to do the investigation and then the FBI was going to report. And I said, "I will agree to an FBI interview, but I want to do my own statement." Norton: Did they say you couldn't? Hill: No, they didn't. But they certainly hadn't invited me to. So I wanted to be on the record. I wanted it to be in my words. I didn't want it to be filtered through the FBI. Rep. Pat Schroeder (D-Colo.), center, leads a delegation of congresswomen to the Senate to voice concerns on the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court on Oct. 8, 1991. From left are Louise M. Slaughter (D-N.Y.), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), Nita M. Lowey (D-N.Y.), Schroeder, Patsy Mink (D-Hawaii) and Jolene Unsoeld (D-Wash.). (MARCY NIGHSWANDER/ASSOCIATED PRESS) Hill arrived in Washington on Wednesday, Oct. 9, and huddled with a small group of legal advisers including Emma Jordan and Susan Deller Ross of Georgetown University and Charles Ogletree of Harvard to prepare for the hearing. Hill: We understood that this was a big moment in terms of the issue of sexual harassment, but also we understood that there was a direct relationship between what I had to say and his competence and fitness to sit on the Supreme Court. You're talking about somebody who is going to be making decisions on these kinds of cases and who now has exhibited the same behavior that he's going to be judging. Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee confer during a break after testimony from Hill on Oct. 11, 1991. From left are Joe Biden (D-Del.), foreground, Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.), Dennis DeConcini (D-Ariz.), Howard Metzenbaum (D-Ohio) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). (John Duricka/AP) Norton: I was in the room with Professor Hill and some of her lawyers, and the reason I was in the room is because as chair of the EEOC I had promulgated the guidance. Before I came to the EEOC, it was not clear that sexual harassment was a violation of Title 7 of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. That guidance was subsequently confirmed by the Supreme Court. Hill: This was a big moment that I literally had one day to prepare for. I traveled one day. I got in from Oklahoma. I was mostly sequestered except for that day going into the conference room with these other attorneys. For a day it was just them sort of prepping me: "These are the kinds of questions that you can expect to be asked." There was some element of a trial that they prepared me for, but nothing like what was coming from the members of the committee particularly Alan Simpson and Orrin Hatch and Arlen Specter in terms of the cross-examination. On Friday, Oct. 11, Thomas testified first, followed by Hill. Thomas testified again that evening and the following day. Schroeder and Slaughter attended in person. The morning of Oct. 11, they were not sure whether Hill would testify and felt the process was being rushed. They spoke to Biden. Schroeder: We went to see Biden, because we were so frustrated by it. And he literally kind of pointed his finger and said, you don't understand how important one's word was in the Senate, that he had given his word to [Sen. John Danforth (R-Mo.), Thomas's chief sponsor] in the men's gym that this would be a very quick hearing, and he had to get it out before Columbus Day. Slaughter: We had a serious discussion that this had to happen. Schroeder: It was really, really ugly. Danforth did not return messages seeking comment. According to Mikulski, the venue for Biden and Danforth's apparent agreement the gym played a notable role in the life of the Senate. Mikulski: Remember what gym you are talking about. You are talking about the United States Senate gym. Casey: Right. Mikulski: There are two women there. [Kansas Republican Nancy] Kassebaum and do I look like a gym rat to you? [laughter] So the whole point of that is that's where they do a lot of their conversations. I never I went to the gym once to look around. I felt like they were taking me to a gulag or something. Casey: It wasn't your place to hang out. Mikulski: That's the negative part. The other part is that's where they often do the bipartisan stuff. Casey: Okay, there can be some benefit there. At the hearing, Hill sat alone at a table in front of a long row of white male senators. Hill testified in the Senate Office Building, where the Senate Judiciary Committee, an all-white, all-male panel, heard testimony on the nomination of Clarence Thomas for the Supreme Court. (GREG GIBSON/Associated Press) Hill: Even if somebody had been sitting at the table with me, nobody could speak but me, and the chairman was not controlling what was going on. So it was worse than being put on trial, because in a trial you've got legal protections. In the hearing, there was none of that. Casey [to the lawmakers]: Did you attend the hearing? Lowey: I found for me that is the memory I had that I will never forget, sitting there and looking at the faces of the men questioning. They were just blank faces I found. Casey: Were you surprised by the lack of Democrats on the panel providing that voice you were hoping for? Schroeder: Yes, we were. Absolutely. I mean we were just stunned at our [makes air quotes] liberals that were on the Judiciary Committee. Slaughter: I remember Alan Simpson talking about all that stuff coming across the transom in his office, some awful things about Anita. Hatch did not return messages seeking comment. Simpson, a Republican from Wyoming who is now retired from the Senate, defended his role in the hearings in a phone call with The Washington Post. "If it was a trial, it was a good one, one by their own party," he said. Biden, he recalled, "did about the fairest job I can ever imagine" as chairman. Simpson said he sees a difference between Hill's claims and physical assault. "Not once, at any point, did he force himself upon her, did he try to kiss her, try to molest her, touch her physically not once." However when asked if Hill's testimony described harassment, Simpson said, "To her it was. If that was sexual harassment to her, I don't know if it matters to anyone else. . . . And it opened the door to protection for women against sexual harassment." The former senator also said that he and Hill had since spoken and "made our peace." Responding to Slaughter's comment, he said, "Louise Slaughter has been after my tail for years! All those gals were doing it. They ripped into Biden, they ripped into me. It was a force." Casey: So that was a Republican senator. But also, the Democrats. Did you leave the hearings with a sense of feeling angry, feeling defeated, feeling confused even? Schroeder: I felt very angry, very confused. Mikulski: With the traditions of the Senate and the committee, Biden thought he was going to conduct a hearing, but the Republicans knew led by Arlen Specter that they were going to conduct a trial. And Professor Hill would be the one on trial. Schroeder: And they let them do it. Casey: I want to also mention the human element of this, too. Because the chairman kept changing the timing of when you would speak, your family wasn't even in the room when you began. They were outside, so you were really alone. You've talked about how telling the world this and experiencing it are two of the most difficult experiences of your life. Hill: Yes, it was the most difficult moment. Casey: You were saying things that would embarrass me to say to anyone, much less my mother. Judge Clarence Thomas pauses during testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. (Greg Gibson/AP) Hill: The day when we were preparing, they said, "You're going to have to be explicit." And the first thing that I thought of was my parents. They were 79 years old. They had lived their lives on this farm in Oklahoma. My father had never even been to Washington, D.C., and they didn't really know anything about this process. They were just good people who were getting sucked into this. I hadn't told them about my experience. And so when I told them that I was coming, I told them there are some things that you don't know and it's going to be difficult. But I have to say I was so proud of them. When they came into the room was the moment when I knew that I could do this because they never wavered. Mikulski: So you found it fortifying for them to be there? Hill: Absolutely. I knew they were going to be shocked and that they were going to be hurt that I had had to experience it. Not only the second time in the hearing but that I had had to go through this. I'm the youngest of 13 children. And so much of not only my parents but all of my older brothers and sisters, some of whom grew up in the Jim Crow South, they had to sort of put so much into me and my success and they believed that I had really made it. You don't want to tell them, "No, it's not wonderful." You want to sort of protect them from that, because they need to believe that all of their work was worth it. There were a whole lot of factors that went into making it not just a public hearing. I'll just say two things about that though. First of all, that public hearing would not have happened had it not been for these women in the room with me today. The other thing that I will say is that even though it was terrible to have a public hearing I am so glad it happened as a public hearing. Because I can only imagine what they would have done in private. Norton: If they had had an in-house hearing. Hill: Or even if they had never allowed me to speak at all, they could have attacked me, ruined my reputation. The story was already out there. Casey: And this way America got to see you. Hill: And at least they got to see me. So much of the strategy of the Republicans that unfortunately maybe Biden didn't see through or just didn't feel empowered to control was to control the amount of information that got out about me. I was told by Chairman Biden that I would speak first. And at the last minute that changed. Casey: And why is that significant in terms of the message? Hill: Because they wanted Clarence Thomas to do a preemptive strike against me. Norton: You are hearing the rebuttal before you hear the accusation. Hill: And no way is that ever appropriate in any kind of fair process. In fact, they were pushing to get me to release my statement even before I testified so that he could rebut it point by point even before the world saw me. That's the same thing that happened to the other witnesses. Angela Wright came forward to say, "The experience happened to me." Sukari Hardnett. Rose Jourdain. Three women who had worked at different times than I had at the EEOC came forward. Clarence Thomas was able to attack Angela Wright. Claimed that she was a disgruntled employee. She never even got to testify to defend herself. This was a big moment that I literally had one day to prepare for, Hill said of her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1991. (Greg Gibson/AP) Angela Wright, Rose Jourdain and Sukari Hardnett had also worked under Thomas at the EEOC. Wright said Thomas made inappropriate sexual comments to her and Jourdain corroborated Wright's account. In an affidavit, Hardnett said, "If you were young, black, female and reasonably attractive and worked directly for Clarence Thomas, you knew full well you were being inspected and auditioned as a female." Thomas during his testimony said he had fired Wright. The women's statements were entered into the record, but they were not called to testify. Slaughter: That was a terrible thing that the corroboration was not there. Hill: Well, I had the four witnesses that I had talked with at the time about the abuse. They did testify. Over the weekend, not in prime time. Casey: Were you all blown away by her ability to stay so calm? Schroeder: The Republicans were just so out of control. She was totally being fire-hosed and she was remaining totally calm. Norton: It seemed impossible that a young woman who had never been in the public eye could come before essentially the power structure of the Senate. Hill: And the presidency. Norton: Yes, and unwaveringly present her own case and say, "Take that." The room silenced when she finished speaking. Was hushed while she was speaking. [Anita Hill changed everything. And then came Harvey Weinstein.] On Oct. 15, the Senate voted 52-48 to confirm Thomas to the Supreme Court. Casey: So, you know Mr. Biden just this week was asked at an event about his perspective on this and he said, "I believed Anita Hill. I voted against Clarence Thomas." And then he goes on to say, "The only issue in the Anita Hill case was whether or not there could be information submitted in a record without a name attached to it anonymously accusing someone of something," referring to other women. And he said that he's confident that Thomas did sexually harass Hill and "Anita Hill was victimized. There's no question in my mind." Does that make you all feel any better? Hill: You didn't read his full apology. He said, "I am sorry if she felt she didn't get a fair hearing." That's sort of an "I'm sorry if you were offended." Casey: "The message I have delivered before is that I'm sorry if she believes that. I'm so sorry that she had to go through what she went through." He also said, "Think of the courage that it took for her to come forward." Norton: Some of that is a real mea culpa. Hill: Some part of it. But I still don't think it takes ownership of his role in what happened. And he also doesn't understand that it wasn't just that I felt it was not fair. It was that women were looking to the Senate Judiciary Committee and his leadership to really open the way to have these kinds of hearings. They should have been using best practices to show leadership on this issue on behalf of women's equality. And they did just the opposite. Casey: So he says, "Anita Hill was victimized. There's no question in my mind," but I think the takeaway from a lot of women's groups and members of Congress was that the victimization may have been twofold. Many people think that the victimization continued when you had to undergo this hearing. Hill: Right. Casey: So you're not hearing an apology for that, though? Hill: Or responsibility for it. That's what I want to hear. Norton: Well, she needed to undergo the hearing. She needed to speak out, but this process Hill: But you cannot just bring people forward into a process where you know they're not going to be treated fairly. That's not being heard. That's something that we are struggling with right now. Women are coming in to make a complaint, and the process is unfair and employers are saying, "Well, we have a process." Well, that's not enough. Casey: Senator Mikulski did bring up an important thing, the power of the media. So let's hear what you have to say on that. Mikulski: The power of visual media. When this dignified, brilliant woman was trying to tell her story, the women of America believed you. And then she was being harassed by the United States Senate, the picture of the all-white guys that caused stories. People calling, crying on the phone, saying, "You know it happened to me when I was a law clerk or whatever." And so on. Our phones were deluged. And the men were getting these same phone calls. And then their wives were telling them about what had happened to them. Their daughters were telling them. But to come back to the media, when they saw the all-male Senate Judiciary Committee in their interaction with Professor Hill Casey: That led to the year of the woman. Mikulski: Don't get mad, get elected. In 1992, 24 women were elected as new members to the House and four to the Senate, more than in any previous decade. Many cited anger over Hill's treatment during the Thomas hearings as a reason for running. Hill: There's another media part to this. During the hearing, the coverage was really the Washington press corps, and they had a political angle that they were following. And I think that's important to know. They were asking questions like, "Who supported her? Who's behind her? What group is she associated with?" That was the way that they were telling the story. Mikulski: And the way they think. Hill: They also had the benefit of Republican senators who were feeding stories to the media. And the White House that machine was going on. But then afterwards the media shifted to talking about sexual harassment in the workplace. And I think that was a segue into the year of the woman, because then that story started to be about women's experiences and how they were not being represented in Washington, D.C., by these guys. Casey: Professor Hill, did you have that takeaway at the time? So you go home to Oklahoma and Clarence Thomas is confirmed. Do you have the big picture perspective yet? Hill: No. I didn't have the year of the woman in mind. I wanted to just go back and teach my classes and get my life back. Norton: The year of the woman surprised everybody. Yes. Because we more than doubled the number of women in the Senate. Of course, there were very few to begin with. Schroeder: After the year of the woman, there are all these women getting sworn in. And they're about 10 percent. Big deal, right? But anyway, one of the old bulls came over and said to me, "Well I hope you're happy, Schroeder." I said, "What do you mean?" He said, "This place looks like a shopping mall." And I said, "Where do you shop?" [laughter] Casey: So Professor Hill, as you reflect on this time, have things evolved? Hill: Things have evolved. I've heard from thousands of women and some of them tell me very good stories about what has changed. But there needs to be more than just process on the books. Women are still experiencing this problem. It's still a teachable moment where we can learn from what happened in 1991. Just having somebody come forward is not enough. You've got to be able to come into a system that respects and values our experiences and our work and our integrity. And we're not there yet. More from Lifestyle: They were sexually harassed at work. They reported it. Here's what happened. Rape in the storage room. Groping at the bar. Why is the restaurant industry so terrible for women? The sexual-harassment epidemic has been diagnosed. What's the cure? Dear Amy: Im a young SAHM (stay-at-home mom) of a 5-month-old baby. My husband and I worked hard to budget, pay off debt and cut expenses before our baby was born. Im the only mom in my friend group who stays home, and recently Ive been getting asked to babysit (free) quite frequently. One friend asked me well in advance to drive across town to pick their daughter up from school two days in a row and watch her until they got home. I agreed, knowing that the child care they had lined up had fallen through. Under those circumstances, I was happy to help. A week later, that same friend is asking me to watch their child for an entire day because she works and her husband has made other plans. I really dont want to do it, but feel bad knowing that I have no excuse. I just dont want to. Their child is much older than my own and requires a lot of attention, taking away from bonding with my son. If there was some financial compensation I would be more inclined to do it, but I feel like free babysitting should be kept for times when they are really in a bind. How can I politely decline without feeling guilty, or making up an excuse? SAHM SAHM: If you are the only SAHM in your friend group, you might be fielding requests from several sets of parents. Your job is to take care of your child, and to live your own life the way you want to. Because you are a good person and a good friend you will occasionally want to help out other parents who are facing an emergency. However, Im working and my husband has other plans does not qualify as an emergency. And this friend should always offer to reciprocate when you step in. One way to handle this might be to leverage your own needs when replying to a request: I can take Sara for the day, but could you reciprocate by taking care of James this Saturday afternoon? Or if you want compensation, ask for it: What would you normally be paying your sitter for these days? Ill do it for the same fee. Many parents would be thrilled to pay for a steady and reliable backup. Here are other words to say: Im sorry you are in such a jam, but I cant help you out. You really need to find backup child care, other than me. Dont succumb to the temptation to pile on explanations, rationales, etc. Keep it simple. Dear Amy: This year has been one of the hardest of my life. My grandmother passed away, my uncle died of a stroke, my sister was killed in a car accident, I went through my first romantic heartbreak and I suffered a miscarriage. Ive always been a positive person, and I am fighting to maintain that in my life right now. In an effort to do that, I am avoiding news reports on current events. I do this just so I wont break. Recently a co-worker asked me about a mass shooting, and I expressed why I didnt keep up with such things. She scolded me, telling me I needed to be aware of these tragedies. Amy, I dont want to! I dont want to know that people kill each other for no reason. I am doing everything I can just to get out of bed some days! This co-worker complained that I was being rude. Was I? Am I wrong because I dont want to know about these things? Surviving in Texas Surviving in Texas: I hear you. And I completely understand your instincts to avoid bad news. Unless you work in the news business, you have no obligation to keep up-to-date on the almost daily string of tragedies befalling us right now. I dont know if you were rude to your co-worker. But protecting and then defending yourself isnt rude its your duty. Dear Amy: Not Easy described pressuring a guy in a fairly new relationship (four dates!) about being exclusive. I agreed with you that it is wise not to have sex until you are exclusive, but this means that all parties need to be patient. Sounds like a mismatch to me. Been There Been There: It seemed to me like "Not Easy" was trapped between her values and the fact that she really wanted to have sex. CrossFit your thumbs and charge up your mobile device because Cyber Monday is a ticktock away. Forget the sales on chenille socks and pour-over coffee makers. Instead, splurge on a vacation. Here is a roundup of the best Cyber Monday deals this Thanksgiving season. Taxes and fees are additional; booking restrictions vary. Some of the websites might not go live until the day of the sale, so dont worry: Your gadget has not gone rogue. The Box House Hotel Group is offering 20 percent off at the Box House Hotel, Franklin Guesthouse and Henry Norman Hotel, all in Brooklyn's Greenpoint neighborhood. Book on Monday using promo code CYBERBOXHOUSE. Travel Dec. 1-March 15. Rates range from $160 to $175 per night. Info: theboxhousehotel.com/en-us/about-us/box-house-hotel-group. Sailrock Resort, on the Turks & Caicos island of South Caicos, is offering 60 percent off its ridgetop suites and beachfront villas, plus free airfare from Providenciales (usually $125 round trip per person). Nightly rates start at $290 per couple. Travel Jan. 2-March 31. Book Nov. 24-27 at sailrockresort.com/exclusive-cyber-monday-offer. The Opal Collection has 50 percent savings at 16 of its properties in Florida, New England and New York's Adirondack Region. For example, the Samoset Resort in Rockport, Maine, starts at $119. Book for 72 hours starting at midnight Monday at opalcollection.com/offers/opalflash. With Benchmark Resorts & Hotels and Gemstone Collection, save up to 50 percent at two dozen properties in destinations ranging from California to Curacao. For example, the Snow King Hotel in Jackson, Wyo., starts at $229 for travel through March 31. Book Nov. 24-27 at BenchmarkCyberWeekend.com. With Friendly Planet Travel, save $400 to $1,400 on nearly 70 packages in more than 40 international destinations. For example, the 12-night Best of South Africa tour, which includes airfare from New York, starts at $2,999 per person double, a savings of $600. Book for 48 hours starting at midnight Monday at friendlyplanet.com/emails/2017-11-20_cyber_monday.html. Pacifica Hotels, a collection of 26 boutique properties along the California coast, has savings of up to 40 percent. For example, the FogCatcher Inn in Cambria starts at less than $100 a night. Book for 24 hours beginning midnight Monday; stay through March 16. Use promo code CYBER at pacificahotels.com/specials/cybermonday. Qatar Airways has a Cyber Monday fare sale. For example, round-trip fare from Washington Dulles to Bali starts at $680. Book through Monday; travel Jan. 11-May 31. Info: qatarairways.com/en-us/ offers/thank-you.html? cid=EMUS486180. With Abercrombie & Kent's Holiday Sale, save up to $2,800 on nine private journeys to destinations around the world. For example, the eight-day Botswana Private Journey costs $3,195 (was $5,395); the seven-day Chile Private Journey starts at $4,195 (was $6,995). Book from 8 a.m. Central time on Monday through 4 p.m. on Dec. 1. Info: www.abercrombiekent.com. Save $700 on REI Adventures 2018 departures of its nine-day Greek Island Hopper. Sale price is $3,599 per person double. Book Nov. 25 -Dec. 3 at rei.com/adventures/trips/europe/greek-island-hiking.html. The Kennebunkport Resort Collection, a group of boutique properties and restaurants in coastal Maine, has a gift-card special. Buy a $500 KRC gift card and receive a $100 resort credit; purchase a $200 gift card and earn a $25 resort credit. Gift cards have no expiration date and are valid at the eight hotels, five restaurants and Tree Spa at Hidden Pond. Available Monday only at www.kennebunkportresortcollection.com. At the Woodstock Inn & Resort, save up to 50 percent at the Vermont lodge. Guest rooms start $169; B&B rates are from $189. The 24-hour Cyber Monday sale begins at midnight. Travel Nov. 28-June 28. Info: www.woodstockinn.com. At the Red Frog Beach Island Resort & Spa, on Panama's Caribbean coast, receive a free fourth night, two specialty cocktails, two canopy zip line passes, round-trip airport transfers and boat transport. Book midnight to midnight, Nov. 24-27; travel Jan. 2-April 8. Nightly rate is from $269. Info: redfrogbeach.com/cyber-monday. Save 50 percent at the Grove Resort & Spa Orlando, a new Disney World-area resort. The residential-style suites start at $149 a night and come with full kitchens, living and dining rooms, screened balconies, and washer and dryer. Book Nov. 24-27 at www.groveresortorlando.com; stay through Sept. 30. Save 50 percent on a camper vacation with JUCY RV Rentals, which has pickup locations in Las Vegas, San Francisco and Los Angeles. The company is also throwing in kitchen and bedding kits and 100 miles per night, upping the savings to 75 percent. A three-day rental costs $90 (vs. $381). Book Nov. 24-27 at www.jucyusa.com using promo code JUCYBLACK. Travel in January and February. Book a seven-night stay at Cayo Espanto, a private island resort off the coast of Belize, and receive an airfare credit of up to $750 per person. Book Nov. 24-27 at aprivateisland.com/free-air-offer . The week-long, all-inclusive rate starts at $10,465 per couple. The property will also prorate the credit for a four-night stay, starting at $5,980. Royal Caribbean is offering savings of 40 percent for the second guest and 25 percent savings for the third and fourth passengers, plus up to $400 onboard credits per stateroom, depending on cruise length. Deal applies to all sailings (except China) departing on or after Dec. 24. Book Nov. 24-27 at royalcaribbean.com . The Wyndham Hotel Group is offering up to 55 percent off at nearly 50 hotels around the country. For example, the Wyndham Grand Chicago Riverfront starts at $95 a night and the Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham Dallas starts at $40 both 55 percent off. Stay through Sept. 30. Book at least two nights at whgcybersale.com (or the hotel website) on Nov. 24-27; use discount code HCYB17. Marriott International has a sale on more than 3,500 hotels throughout the United States, Caribbean, Latin America and Canada. For example, pay $89 at the Courtyard Atlanta Perimeter Center, Courtyard Boston Cambridge, Westin Las Vegas Hotel & Spa and Aloft New Orleans Downtown, among others. Book at marriott.com/travel-deals/black-friday-cyber-monday.mi on Nov. 23-27; stay Dec. 7-Jan. 15. Save up to 40 percent at the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Naples, Fla. Rates start at $229. Book Nov. 27- 30; travel Nov. 27-April 30. Use CYBER 17 at edgewaternaples.com. Save 30 percent at the Sunrise Springs Spa Resort in Santa Fe; rates start at $144. Book Nov. 27-Dec. 4; travel Dec. 15-March 29. Info: sunrisesprings.ojospa.com. With the 30 & 30 special at Amira Resort in St. George, Utah, save 30 percent on nightly rates and one spa treatment. Rates from $160. Book Nov. 24-27 using promo code 3030; travel Dec. 1-Dec. 1, 2018. Info: amiraresort.com/black-friday-spa-stay-package/?utm_source=Hawkins&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=BlackFriday2017 The Costa d'Este Beach Resort & Spa in Vero Beach, Fla., owned by Gloria and Emilio Estefan, is taking 50 percent off stays through June 30. Rates are from $189. Book Nov. 24-27 at costadeste.com. Save 25 percent at Virgin Hotels Chicago, the chain's flagship location, for travel through April 30. Rates are from $190 when booked by Nov. 27 at virginhotels.com. The Peninsula Hotels has 30 percent off at its properties in New York, Chicago and Paris and 20 percent off in Beverly Hills. Rooms for New York start at $453; Chicago, from $279; Beverly Hills, $476; and Paris, $816. Book Nov. 24-27 using promo codes NYCYBER, CHCYBER, BHCYBER and PRCYBER. The deal also includes spa and restaurant discounts and gift cards. Info: promotions.peninsula.com/hotels/cyber-Monday-live. Joie de Vivre Hotels has savings of up to 40 percent at all of its hotels, including the Hotel 50 Bowery (from $195) in New York City and the Talbott Hotel (from $159) in Chicago. Book Nov. 23-29 at jdvhotels.com with code CYBER. Stay Dec. 1-Dec. 1, 2018. The Tidewater Inn, in Easton, Md., has 20 percent off rates plus a $50 food and beverage credit for Hunter's Tavern. Rates start at $160. Book Nov. 24-27 for travel Dec. 1-March 2018. Use promo code Black Friday when booking at tidewaterinn.com. The Inn at Chesapeake Bay Beach Club, on Kent Island, Md., features 20 percent off rates and a three-course dinner for two at Knoxie's Table. Rates start at $189. Book Nov. 24-Nov. 27; travel December-March 2018. Use promo code BLKFRI at baybeachclub.com. Save $100 per person on 2018 Switzerland Rail Tours with Vacations by Rail. Book by Nov. 27. Deal applies to the Grand Train Tour of Switzerland (priced at $2,675) and Best of Switzerland by Rail ($3,190; May departure only). Info: vacationsbyrail.com. G Adventures is taking up to 30 percent off its tours, with many trips costing less than $1,500. Discounts include 30 percent off select trips in Haiti and Jamaica; 25 percent off yacht tours in the Galapagos; and 20 percent off select land and rail tours in India and safaris in Tanzania, Uganda, Namibia and South Africa. For example, the 15-day Essential India costs $1,279 per person double. Book midnight on Nov. 24 to 11:59 p.m. on Monday at gadventures.com/travel-deals/cyber-sale . Nisbet Plantation Beach Club, on the Caribbean island of Nevis, has a sale on stays from Jan. 3 to March 31. The deal includes 30 percent off rooms (from $441 a night), full daily breakfast, 25 percent off spa treatments, dinner for two at the Thursday night barbecue, $150 beverage credit, free upgrade (based on availability) and round-trip airport transfers. Valid on stays of at least five nights. Book Nov. 2427 at nisbetplantation.com/black-friday.html. Carol Sottili, Andrea Sachs Prices were verified at press time Thursday, but deals sell out and availability is not guaranteed. Some restrictions may apply. Columnist David Mitroffs favorite restaurants in New York and San Francisco now quietly add an 18 percent tip to his final bill before he even has a chance to consider a gratuity. Automatic tips have also appeared on his hotel bills and when he checks his luggage with the airport skycap. Its almost as if everyone assumes he wants to tack a few extra dollars onto the final tab, even when he doesnt. When it comes to tipping, he says, theres been a shift. For Mitroff, its more than an annoyance. Hes a business consultant with Piedmont Avenue Consulting, an Oakland, Calif., firm that specializes in hospitality industry technology, so hes had a front-row seat to the business decisions behind auto-tipping. He predicts a few rocky years before this issue is settled. The problem is disclosure: A business advertises its products at one price, but the bill unexpectedly arrives with extras attached to it. Its their job to clearly explain pricing, so when the check arrives its not a surprise, he says. But as auto-tips multiply, thats not whats happening. Cruise lines, for one, have almost fully embraced automatic tipping. Many restaurants have, too, particularly for large parties. The practice is spreading to other businesses that cater to travelers, most notably hotels. The charges are showing up on bills at the last minute as gotchas, and customers often feel shamed into paying them. Weve been placed into a situation that brings up both embarrassment and guilt if we do not honor this mandatory system, even though we dont agree with it and we may not feel the service was even worth tipping, says Nat Smith, a professional housesitter who is traveling around the world with his wife. Anyone can get tripped up by auto-tipping. Last summer, South Florida Sun Sentinel restaurant critic Michael Mayo dined at the Fresh American Bistro at the Sole on the Ocean resort in Sunny Isles Beach, Fla. He ended up leaving a $60 tip on top of an automatic 18 percent gratuity that had been built into the check, but which was hard to read. And nobody said a word, he noted in his story. A manager told Mayo the 18 percent fee was a resort policy. Thats not how its supposed to be. A few short years ago, automatic tipping was limited to restaurants with large parties, experts say. Even then, a guest would be notified of the gratuity and could adjust the tip based on the level of service. Lately, these automatic tips have made appearances in places people dont expect them, particularly on room service bills. Removing them is often difficult, embarrassing or both. Although the practice may benefit some travel industry workers, it's not entirely fair to travelers, who want to know the price of an item before they buy it. A tip, these travelers point out, should be something given for extraordinary service not an entitlement and never, ever, added automatically. Most offensive to guests is that these gratuities are added to their bills with a claim that its for their convenience. But thats not what it feels like. Even the most benign kind of auto-tip a helpful notation on a point-of-sale screen that asks, How much would you like to tip? can be deceptive. Push the 20 percent button and, more often than not, it will bill you for a percentage that is based on the amount of the meal plus tax. Greg Geronemus, the co-chief executive of Smartours, a New York tour operator, says his company doesnt include a tip in any of its invoices and never makes them mandatory. This decision is very clear-cut in our minds, he says. Tipping needs to be at the clients discretion and based on performance. Otherwise, you remove a key motivator for various people contributing to their experience during the tour. Travelers are also vulnerable to bogus mandatory tips. The last time Judy Reaves, a retired fire-prevention specialist, checked in for a flight curbside at her hometown airport in Phoenix, a skycap asked for her credit card. While it is customary to tip skycaps, she was surprised when the employee charged her an automatic gratuity in addition to charging her for the service. As it turns out, her surprise was warranted. According to the Phoenix airport website, theres no cost aside from the baseline fee for skycap service. Gratuities are accepted for great service, it notes. Mitroff, the business consultant, says that even without these tips or service charges, we are becoming an auto-tip society. And its time to think about what that means and whether thats what we want. When is the last time you left a restaurant without tipping? he says. Even if you had a bad experience, most people usually still tip 10 percent to say we are unhappy, not zero. He prefers the model adopted by most European countries, where the price youre quoted includes all applicable fees and charges. Why not include the tip in the pricing and make everything more streamlined? he asks. Your inattention feeds the reckless expansion of automatic tipping. Every time you absent-mindedly sign a check or push the tip 15 percent button on a Square terminal or sign a room-service bill without reviewing it, youre silently endorsing the often deceptive practice of auto-tipping. At the very least, its a hidden price increase that almost always sticks. At the most, its a violation of one of the core principles of American business: Never lie to your customers. Brenda Shields, an advisory neighborhood commissioner in a low-income area, says Airbnbs victimize needy citizens who would benefit from affordable housing. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post) In the eight years since Airbnb began operations in the District, thousands of homeowners have used it to become short-term landlords, often illegally. But now, a practice welcomed as a novel way to augment income and maybe befriend tourists has become a flash point in the citys debate over gentrification. Opponents of Airbnb and similar companies are backing legislation before the D.C. Council to prohibit some short-term rentals and regulate the rest. They say that renting houses and apartments for brief stays gobbles up living space that could ease the citys shortage of affordable housing. Many residents also resent seeing a surge of transients disturb the residential character of their buildings or street blocks. Residents complain about noise, unfamiliar faces and loss of precious parking spaces. But Airbnbs defenders turn the gentrification argument on its head. Given the citys high housing costs, they say, people rent out rooms in their primary residences, or in second and third homes they own, to earn enough money to remain in the District. They also say that the housing shortage has resulted not from short-term rentals which are a small fraction of the citys total housing stock but from larger economic factors such as the desire of millennials to live in cities. [D.C. lawmakers get an earful on proposal to strictly regulate Airbnb.] Airbnb landlord Shaun Johnson talks with his tennant, Taylor Valencia of San Francisco, at his property in NE Washington. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post) The dispute over online, short-term rental services has erupted at community meetings, on neighborhood message boards, in courtrooms, and in ads on television and radio. It pits entrenched interests in the hotel industry and their union against an upstart competitor in a classic example of how a new technology can threaten an established business model. At the core of the controversy are the same questions that grip the District over how redevelopment is transforming neighborhoods, raising housing costs, adding to congestion, and altering the citys economic and racial demographics. Most of the Airbnb folks dont fit into the neighborhood that well, said the Rev. H. Lionel Edmonds, pastor of Northwest D.C.s Mount Lebanon Baptist Church, who is helping lead a grass-roots campaign in favor of tough regulations. They dont invest in the community. . . . It increases the gentrifying component. Necessary extra income The short-term rental market has exploded in the District since Airbnb got its start with homeowners renting space to visitors for President Barack Obamas first inauguration in 2009. Last year, the number of Airbnb guest arrivals jumped almost 80 percent, from 160,000 to 287,000. The number of people who hosted at least one trip rose from 3,900 to 4,900. Although Airbnb is the largest and best-known short-term rental service in the city, other companies such as HomeAway and VRBO are active, as well. [D.C. lawmaker to introduce new restrictions on Airbnb, other short-term rentals.] The rapid growth has stirred concerns. Brenda E. Shields, an advisory neighborhood commissioner in the low-income Congress Heights neighborhood in Southeast Washington, says Airbnbs victimize the needy citizens she sees when she volunteers at her church food pantry or delivers clothing and toiletries to the homeless. Shes willing to let people rent rooms in their homes but wants a ban on Airbnbs in multiunit buildings. Youre taking away an apartment that somebody could live in, whos living in the streets, Shields said. Youre taking away from those people and giving to people who are here for a weekend or a week. Airbnb was a hot topic at a summer meeting of the Congress Heights Community Association, which was unable to reach a consensus. Mary Cuthbert, vice president of the association and an advisory neighborhood commissioner, warned that short-term rentals bring in transients who dilute a neighborhoods residential character and pose safety risks. You see all sorts of strange people coming and going at Airbnbs, Cuthbert said. Somebody may want to rent a room who is a psycho killer. She said short-term rentals were also contributing to a change in the racial makeup of the community. You have people coming in, and rents being pushed up, and minorities moving out to Maryland, Cuthbert said. [Perspective: D.C. Councils Airbnb bill could hurt small businesses that depend on vacation rentals.] But a short drive away, in River Terrace in Northeast, Shaun Johnson said he can afford to stay in the city only because of the extra income he makes as an Airbnb host. Johnson regularly rents out two bedrooms and the basement in his rowhouse and describes the extra $40 or $50 a night per rental as a godsend in meeting his mortgage payments. Johnson, a baggage ramp employee for American Airlines at Reagan National Airport, also says he has befriended many of his guests and especially enjoys introducing Washington to foreigners. I feel like Im an ambassador for the city and black Americans, he said. Johnson resents the accusation that he is contributing to a lack of affordable housing in the city. He says the government and big developers, not little guys trying to make a buck from Airbnb, are to blame for high housing costs. Why should the burden of affordable housing be on me? I can barely keep a roof over my head in my own house, Johnson said. On Capitol Hill, which has the most short-term rentals of any neighborhood in the city, Dunnzy Levin is concerned because the proposed legislation would bar her and her husband from operating a building they own that has six units for corporate furnished rentals and short-term Airbnbs. Its a huge deal for the income, Levin said. Its giving us a little bit of a cushion to put some money away, because living in the city is kind of hand to mouth. If the legislation sets a limit lower than six for the number of units that a host can rent as council members say is practically certain then, Levin said, she and her husband would change our business model. Another host concerned about the bill is Ruth Hamilton, who uses Airbnb to rent out one of two units in a rowhouse in Southwest that she and her husband own, in addition to the rowhouse where they live nearby. The Hamiltons experience shows the financial incentive to rent through Airbnb rather than through a traditional, long-term lease. The downstairs unit, which is rented long-term, has been fetching the couple $1,500 a month a rate they expect to jump to between $1,700 and $1,900 a month with the next tenant. But the upstairs unit, which they rent on Airbnb, yields an average of about $117 a night, and the unit is rented about three-quarters of the year. That works out to more than $2,500 a month. I do make more on that apartment than I would if I rented it out on a long-term basis, Hamilton said. The extra money has helped cover her sons college costs. Its really enabled us to do that without debt, she said. I understand the concerns about big apartment buildings going Airbnb and the need for affordable units. In our circumstances . . . our real estate is our way of making ends meet in the city. The implementation The legislation before the D.C. Council was the subject of a lively hearing in April. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) expects the council to act on it by January. Both supporters and detractors say the bill could result in a satisfactory compromise. In theory, it would permit individuals and small operators to take advantage of the sharing economy by renting out their primary residence, while insisting that they meet basic safety and licensing requirements. At the same time, it would prohibit large-scale commercial operators from using short-term rental services as a way to operate as hotels while dodging strict regulatory standards required in that business. We definitely want to go after the bad actors, said council member Kenyan R. McDuffie (D-Ward 5), who wrote the bill. People would still be free to market their property, provided they submit to a clear, concise regulatory framework, he said. But there is no resolution of several major questions over how far the law would go. The outcome will affect whether large numbers of hosts can continue to rent out rooms and houses and whether it will still be profitable to do so. It hasnt been decided how many nights each year an absentee host could rent their primary residence. The bill would set a cap of 15 nights, although McDuffie expects that will be amended to 60 or 90. The industry is pushing for at least 180 nights a year. The biggest dispute may be over whether people can rent out a second home. The bill says no, and McDuffie wants to keep it that way. But Airbnb wants hosts to be able to rent at least three entire home units. That typically means a house, apartment or basement with its own entrance, as opposed to a single room in a residence. Short-term rental companies are also worried that new licensing and inspection requirements will discourage too many owners from taking advantage of the service. They say the hotel industry and its allies are stirring up exaggerated arguments about housing costs to protect a monopoly at consumers expense. We find the bill really onerous and overly restrictive for the vast majority of our hosts who occasionally rent out their home or room in their home, said William D. Burns, the public policy director for Airbnb. One potential advantage of the bill is that it would make it easier to get a license for short-term rentals a legal requirement that is widely ignored. A large but unknown number of hosts are renting rooms or houses in violation of city zoning regulations, according to District officials and D.C. Council members. The city has mostly turned a blind eye to the violations, saying it doesnt have the resources to enforce the laws. In residential zones, where many Airbnbs operate, a single-family home typically can offer short-term rentals only if it obtains a bed-and-breakfast license with a home occupation permit. Many hosts lack such licenses, or are not serving breakfast to their guests, as the permit requires. The estimated number of short-term rentals being offered do exceed the number of licenses that would cover that type of activity, the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) said in a statement. The fine for operating without a license is $2,000, but the regulation is rarely enforced. In the past two years, the DCRA has issued $30,000 in fines for individuals or businesses operating unlicensed short-term rentals. The DCRA said enforcement is complaint driven, and investigations generally require considerable time to develop. The new legislation, if approved, would require considerable additional staffing to implement, the DCRA said. 'We have to look to the future' Much of the debate over short-term rentals has addressed the extent to which they are contributing to the citys chronic lack of affordable housing. Airbnb issued a report in April suggesting the impact was minimal. It found that of more than 300,000 housing units in the city, fewer than 9,000 entire home listings have hosted a trip via Airbnb. The results were reassuring to the Coalition for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development, which supports low-cost housing and requested the study from Airbnb. We dont see alarming numbers based on the data weve currently received, said Stephen Glaude, executive director of the coalition. Short-term rentals do not have a major impact on the housing stock at this time, he said. But Glaude said short-term rentals have contributed to rising housing prices in other cities, and the District should be wary. We need to start paying attention to the numbers, he said. Opponents note the housing shortage is so severe that its harmful to lose even a small number of apartments or homes. For instance, in 2016, according to Airbnb, 1,242 entire homes were rented for 90 days or more. That is more than the approximately 1,000 affordable housing units created or preserved each year under Mayor Muriel E. Bowsers (D) much-praised $100 million annual contributions to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. Burns, of Airbnb, said there was no guarantee that the Airbnb units would be affordable if rented long term. McDuffie says that even if the numbers are comparatively small, the rapid growth in short-term rentals is a threat to the city in the long run. They are taking homes off the long-term rental market in favor of more lucrative short-term rentals, he said. If that phenomenon continues without sensible regulations, its going to have an impact. We have to look to the future. This article has been updated. A school bus aide in Fairfax County has been charged with assaulting a 12-year-old autistic student, law enforcement authorities said Wednesday. Hyung Lee, 57, of Fairfax was charged with two counts of assault and battery in connection with two incidents in October, according to a news release from the Fairfax County Police Department. Lee, who was suspended without pay, turned himself in to police Tuesday. The boy's mother discovered bruises on her son's arms and reported the injury to school officials, said police spokeswoman Reem Awad. A supervisor reviewed school bus surveillance footage that showed two encounters between the boy and Lee one on Oct. 10 and the second nine days later, according to police. The mother then filed a police report, Awad said. A school district spokesman declined to disclose the school the student attends, citing student privacy. The identity of the child was not disclosed; authorities generally do not reveal the names of young victims. Lee is the third Fairfax schools employee arrested this week for allegedly harming a child who has autism. An aide, Edmund Bailey, 35, and a school bus driver, James Duffy III, 62, both of Lorton, were charged with one count each of assault and battery, police said. Bailey and Duffy are accused of assaulting an 11-year-old boy who is autistic twice in one week. Police said those incidents and Lees accused assault are not related. John Torre, a spokesman for the school district, said in an email that drivers and attendants who help transport special education students are being retrained in proper restraint and intervention. The school districts transportation office will continue to closely monitor the special education bus routes to ensure the safety and well-being of all students and staff, Torre said. When parents put their children on a school bus, it is with the understanding that they will arrive at their destination safely and on time, Torre said. Regrettably, the charges filed in these separate cases fall short of those expectations and are breaches of the valued trust of our parents. Columnist For years in the 1970s, people would show up at all hours of the day and night at a low, stone building in the unit block of O Street NW hoping to drop off stray dogs and cats. The building had once been an animal shelter but now served a two-legged clientele: people who were hungry and knew they could find a meal at a charity called So Others Might Eat. The Rev. John Adams, the president of SOME, still chuckles at the memory. ("We told them they had to go up to Oglethorpe Street" where the new animal shelter was, he said.) The nonprofit has grown a lot in the 40 years since then, not just in real estate but in scope: If you are poor or experiencing homelessness or addiction in Washington, you can probably get help at SOME, a partner in The Washington Post Helping Hand. Its easy for Adams to imagine the forces that can tip someone into poverty. His father was a millworker in Erie, Pa., turning coal into coke for the furnaces of the steel industry. He was injured very, very badly and had many years of not being able to work, said Adams, 76. For a while, the family father, mother, seven kids found itself without a home. The nuns and the priest were pretty good about helping us in lots of different ways, he said. My mother didnt even think we could go to Catholic school. The pastor insisted we all go. Tuition money was found, and the Adams family continued its parochial schooling. It was that experience being destitute, getting help that inspired Adams to become a priest. He studied social work in college. His first assignment was as a psychiatric social worker at a Chicago hospital that was home to 500 children. By the early 1970s he was working with homeless men and families in Alexandria, Va. In 1974 he was invited to lend a hand to a fledgling operation that had been launched four years earlier by the Rev. Horace McKenna. He would hand out sandwiches from the back door of the rectory at Gonzaga, the Jesuit boys school on North Capitol Street. The operation So Others Might Eat needed more space, so it relocated to that former animal shelter. Under Adams, it started to expand its scope, too. Adams thought involving others would help. He composed a letter to local Catholic parishes inviting them to provide one meal a month. His board of directors wondered why he planned to send it only to Catholic churches. I said, Well, I dont know any Protestant places. I dont know any Jewish people, Adams remembered. Give me names. (Such was the insularity of many Catholic clergy at the time.) A broader mailing list was assembled and today, SOME is nondenominational, with volunteers from many faiths and corporations, too. Last year, more than 380,000 meals were served at its dining room and in its other programs. Next came a dental clinic and a medical clinic to serve those who couldnt afford health care. Last year, there were 8,493 visits to a doctor or dentist in SOMEs clinics. A lot of people were alcoholic, Adams said. There were a lot of drugs going on in the city. So we started a pretty good program and have really advanced it quite a bit now. Last year, 241 men and women engaged with SOMEs addiction recovery services. Of course, there was something else, something obvious. When youre homeless, you need a home, Adams said. That was the next initiative, started in 1989. In 2016, 146 families with 336 children, as well as 543 single adults, lived in safe, affordable housing provided by SOME. On the wall in Adamss office is a tapestry embroidered with a passage from Isaiah 58: I want you to share your bread with the hungry, open your homes to the homeless, remove the yoke of injustice, let the oppressed go free. I asked Adams why he chose that particular verse to adorn his wall. Because thats really what were all about, he said. You can help The SOME dining room is open today, Thanksgiving. It will serve holiday meals to nearly 1,200 people. They will give thanks. There's something you can give, too: a gift to So Others Might Eat. To donate online, visit posthelpinghand.com and click on "Donate." To donate by mail, make a check payable to "So Others Might Eat" and send it to SOME, Attn: Helping Hand, 71 O St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20001. Twitter: @johnkelly For previous columns, visit washingtonpost.com/johnkelly. Obituaries of residents from the District, Maryland and Northern Virginia. Morton Smith, Foreign Service officer Morton Smith, 86, a Foreign Service officer who served as a public affairs, press and cultural officer in many countries in Asia and who also served as deputy chief of mission in Singapore from 1979 to 1983, followed by several years as deputy director of Voice of America, died Sept. 26 at a hospital in Bethesda, Md. The cause was cancer, said a son, Dan Smith. Mr. Smith, a Bethesda resident, was born in Brooklyn. In 1955, he joined the U.S. Information Agency but spent most of his career on loan to the State Department and other agencies. In the final years of his career, he was a diplomat-in-residence at Reed College in Portland, Ore., and a visiting professor at the National War College. He retired in 1993 and worked as a consultant afterward. Gerard Gary McGarrity, medical research scientist Gerard Gary McGarrity, 77, a medical research scientist who chaired the National Institutes of Health committee that in 1990 approved the use of gene therapy to treat fatal diseases, died Sept. 21 at his home in Gaithersburg, Md. The cause was complications from pulmonary fibrosis, said a son, Gerard McGarrity. Dr. McGarrity was born in Brooklyn. He was a specialist in gene therapy research and former president of the Coriell Institute for Medical Research in Camden, N.J., while serving on the NIH committee. This is a historic decision, he told the Associated Press at the time. What we have done today is add gene therapy to vaccines, antibiotics and radiation in the medical arsenal. In 1991, Dr. McGarrity moved to the Washington area to become a senior vice president at Genetic Therapy Inc./Novartis. Later he held senior executive positions at other bio tech companies, retiring about 2010 from VIRxSYS. George Scott III, Navy engineer George Scott III, 84, a Navy senior chief radioman who retired in 1972 and then spent 20 years as a civilian contract engineer for the Navy, died Oct. 6 at his home in Gates, N.C. The cause was cancer, said his wife, Norma Scott. Mr. Scott, a native of Ridgefield, Conn., served 20 years in the Navy, including duty in Korea and the Vietnam War. A former resident of Fairfax County, Va., he moved to West Melbourne, Fla., in 1994 and later to North Carolina. Pamela Woodruff, GWU psychology professor Pamela Woodruff, 75, a psychology lecturer and professor at George Washington University from 1979 to 2016, died Oct. 1 at a hospital in Olney, Md. The cause was pulmonary hypertension and renal failure, said a daughter, Sarah Woodruff. Dr. Woodruff, a resident of Sandy Spring, Md., was born Pamela Patton in Washington. From 1964 to 1976, she was a researcher at the National Cancer Institute, then a graduate student in clinical psychology at GWU for three years. She was a lifelong member of the Girl Scouts, a troop leader and day camp coordinator for the Scouts in Montgomery County. William Marsh, Foreign Service officer William Marsh, 86, a Foreign Service officer who served in Vietnam during the early years of the war when the embassy was subject to bombings and attacks and later with the U.S. delegation to the Vietnam peace talks in Paris, died Sept. 26 at his home in Mitchellville, Md. The cause was complications from hydrocephalus, said a son, Andrew Marsh. Mr. Marsh was born in Scranton, Pa. He joined the Foreign Service in 1960 and served 36 years, retiring as U.S. permanent representative to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome, where he received a presidential award for oversight of airdropped food provisions to starving refugees in Kosovo. In retirement, he spent nine years as a senior adviser for European affairs to the U.S. delegation to the U.N. General Assembly. Hannah Lipman, development director Hannah Lipman, 73, development director for a Jewish organization that brings students from around the country to Washington for meetings with government officials, died Sept. 15 while on a vacation trip to Iceland. The cause was cardiac arrest caused by an aortic dissection, said a son, Scott Lipman. Mrs. Lipman, a resident of Chevy Chase, Md., was born Hannah Leibowitz in Norfolk. She had lived in the Washington area since 1970. From 1990 to 2009, she was director of development for Panim el Panim, a unit of the Washington Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values. She was president of a Hadassah chapter and a member of Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation in Bethesda, Md. Peter Shoenfeld, mathematician Peter Shoenfeld, 77, a mathematician who worked for the defense contractor SAIC in the 1980s and 1990s, died Nov. 13 at a nursing home in Thomas, W.Va. The cause was multiple system atrophy, said his daughter, Sarah Shoenfeld. Dr. Shoenfeld was born in New York City and grew up in Mount Rainier, Md., and Silver Spring, Md. At SAIC, his family said, he helped develop the mathematics for guiding missiles launched from nuclear submarines. Earlier, he oversaw Howard Universitys computing office and did mathematics work for what was then the National Bureau of Standards, among other projects. He moved in 2004 from Silver Spring to Davis, W.Va., and was a volunteer contributor to a scientific study on windmills and bird mortality for the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy. From staff reports The coffin of President John F. Kennedy is moved from Air Force One to an ambulance upon arrival at Andrews Air Force Base on Nov. 22, 1963. Robert F. Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy, Kenny ODonnell and Larry OBrien stand side-by-side in the doorway. (Wally McNamee/The Washington Post) Wally McNamee, a prizewinning photographer for The Washington Post and then for Newsweek who covered presidents, soldiers in combat, Olympic athletes and ordinary men and women going about their daily lives, died Nov. 17 at a hospital in Fairfax County, Va. He was 84. The cause was pulmonary fibrosis and lung cancer, said a son, Bruce Win McNamee II. Mr. McNamee covered 10 presidents from Dwight D. Eisenhower to George W. Bush and the Olympic Games from 1976 to 1996. He was a Marine Corps photographer during the Korean War and later photographed combat operations during the Vietnam War. Among his most memorable pictures was a photograph of first lady Jacqueline Kennedy disembarking from Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base on Nov. 22, 1963, hours after President John F. Kennedy's assassination in Dallas. The president's brother Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy is holding her hand, and she is still wearing the suit stained with the president's blood. Mr. McNamee later described it as "a graphic touch to this horrible moment." On the day of the president's funeral, Mr. McNamee was posted atop the Lincoln Memorial from which he photographed the Kennedy funeral cortege crossing Memorial Bridge to Arlington National Cemetery. Wally McNamee at right. (Courtesy of McNamee family) It was a perfect geometric layout, Mr. McNamee told Bertrand Guez and Julie Asher in a 2014 interview, describing the horse-drawn caisson bearing the presidents body, accompanied by military honor guards moving in a straight line across the bridge to what would be the presidents burial site and the eternal flame. Mr. McNamee was on The Posts photo staff from 1955 until he left for Newsweek in 1968. He retired there after 30 years but continued to work as a contractor through the early 2000s. He took more than 100 Newsweek cover photographs. Four times he won the White House News Photographers Associations Photographer of the Year Award. He was one of only a handful of photographers who accompanied President Richard M. Nixon on his historic 1972 trip to China. He was resourceful in getting himself to a vantage point or location where taking a good picture was possible. When the United States invaded Grenada in 1983, no photographers were allowed to accompany the military. So Mr. McNamee, another Newsweek photographer and a reporter paid the owner of a small boat from a nearby island $10,000 to take them to the Caribbean island nation, where they waded ashore only to be greeted by a gruff U.S. Marine Corps sergeant who was less than welcoming. Besides, the sergeant said, he had a grudge against Newsweek. He had been promised a small pocket calculator as a giveaway for subscribing to the magazine, but he never received it. Mr. McNamee reached into a tote bag and pulled out a small pocket calculator of his own. Weve been looking all over the world for you, sergeant, he said. Here it is. He issued an epithet, then let the journalists through. Wallace William McNamee was born in Harrisonburg, Va., on Nov. 29, 1932. His father was an insurance salesman. The family moved to Arlington when he was a child, and he graduated from Washington-Lee High School. He attended George Washington University and worked as a copy aide at The Post, then joined the Marine Corps, serving in Korea and Japan. He returned to The Post in 1955. 1 of 66 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad Notable deaths in 2017 View Photos Remembering those who died in 2017. Caption Remembering those who died in 2017. Katherine Frey Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. A longtime Arlington resident, Mr. McNamee moved to Hilton Head, S.C., soon after he retired but returned to the Washington area for medical care. His marriage to the former Janet Regan ended in divorce. His second wife, Nikki Johnson McNamee, died in 2013 after 39 years of marriage. Survivors include three children from his first marriage, Win McNamee II of Arlington, Kimberly Mack of Falls Church, Va., and Julia McNamee of Trumbull, Conn.; and six grandchildren. In the Guez-Asher interview, Mr. McNamee spoke of his years as a White House photographer in the Kennedy administration. He would describe Kennedy as unusually comfortable being photographed . . . even during unguarded moments with his family. This, Mr. McNamee said, humanized him even more as a president . . . loved easily by people because he was so natural. On the weekend of Kennedys assassination and funeral, when it was all over, Mr. McNamee said, I cried a little . . . for the first time. Prince Georges County These were among incidents reported by the Prince Georges County Police Department. For information, call 301-772-4710. District 1 HQ: Hyattsville 301-699-2630 ROBBERIES Carters Lane, 5700 block, 7:39 p.m. Nov. 12. Robbery reported. Edmonston Rd. and Gallatin St., 8:46 p.m. Nov. 10. Robbery reported. Knox Rd., 4200 block, 2:16 p.m. Nov. 12. Robbery reported. Rhode Island Ave., 4300 block, 10:24 p.m. Nov. 10. Robbery reported. University Blvd., 2300 block, 4:03 a.m. Nov. 6. 53rd Ave., 9700 block, 9:02 p.m. Nov. 8. Robbery reported. THEFTS/BREAK-INS Annapolis Rd., 7400 block, 6:43 a.m. Nov. 8. Annapolis Rd., 7400 block, 2:55 p.m. Nov. 9. Baltimore Ave., 8100 block, 6:25 p.m. Nov. 12. Bladensburg Rd., 4200 block, 5:22 a.m. Nov. 12. New Hampshire Ave., 7800 block, 9:18 p.m. Nov. 10. Burketon Rd., 1100 block, 7:48 a.m. Nov. 10. From auto. Chillum Rd., 900 block, 7:52 p.m. Nov. 7. Chillum Rd., 1000 block, 5:01 a.m. Nov. 8. From auto. Chillum Rd., 1500 block, 11:36 a.m. Nov. 9. Edwards Way, 9200 block, 6:09 a.m. Nov. 6. From auto. Hamilton St., 6700 block, 2:21 p.m. Nov. 9. Oakland Ave., 6700 block, 11:02 a.m. Nov. 8. Oglethorpe St., 8300 block, 5:27 p.m. Nov. 10. Pogonia Ct., 3700 block, 11:42 a.m. Nov. 8. From auto. Princeton Ave., 7300 block, 3:27 a.m. Nov. 11. Queens Chapel Rd., 3100 block, 5:04 a.m. Nov. 9. Rhode Island Ave., 5000 block, 12:05 p.m. Nov. 6. Rhode Island Ave., 5000 block, 5:38 p.m. Nov. 7. Rhode Island Ave., 5000 block, 6:06 p.m. Nov. 7. Rhode Island Ave., 9900 block, 7:09 p.m. Nov. 7. Riggs Rd., 7400 block, 7:16 p.m. Nov. 9. Riggs Rd., 9100 block, 4:28 a.m. Nov. 7. Riverdale Rd., 7800 block, 8:17 a.m. Nov. 11. From auto. Rockford Dr., 4800 block, 3:21 p.m. Nov. 10. Rosalie Lane, 6500 block, 5:48 p.m. Nov. 9. Tecumseh St., 4700 block, 12:26 p.m. Nov. 12. Tuxedo Rd., 5000 block, 4:49 p.m. Nov. 6. From auto. Webster St., 6800 block, 9:47 a.m. Nov. 9. From auto. 15th Ave. and Merrimac Dr., 6:49 a.m. Nov. 10. From auto. 19th Ave., 9300 block, 9:09 a.m. Nov. 6. From auto. 24th Ave., 7900 block, 7:33 p.m. Nov. 7. From auto. 38th Ave., 8700 block, 1:51 p.m. Nov. 7. From auto. 55th Ave., 3600 block, 10:40 a.m. Nov. 12. From auto. 58th Ave., 8500 block, 3:27 p.m. Nov. 9. From auto. VEHICLE THEFTS Annapolis Rd., 5400 block, 5:26 p.m. Nov. 9. Stolen vehicle. Annapolis Rd., 6500 block, 2:31 p.m. Nov. 7. Stolen vehicle. Belcrest Rd., 6600 block, 8:19 a.m. Nov. 11. Stolen vehicle. Chapman Rd., 2000 block, 5:21 a.m. Nov. 6. Stolen vehicle. Gallatin St., 4300 block, 10:22 a.m. Nov. 11. Stolen vehicle. Hanson Oaks Dr., 4000 block, 5:13 a.m. Nov. 7. Stolen vehicle. Hanson Oaks Dr., 4000 block, 11:21 a.m. Nov. 7. Stolen vehicle. Hendricks Dr., 7400 block, 7:12 a.m. Nov. 9. Stolen vehicle. Kanawha St., 1400 block, 4:48 a.m. Nov. 8. Stolen vehicle. Rhode Island Ave., 5000 block, 7:42 p.m. Nov. 6. Stolen vehicle. Sara St., 7300 block, 3:22 p.m. Nov. 7. Stolen vehicle. Sheridan St., 600 block, 3:22 a.m. Nov. 10. Stolen vehicle. Timber Creek Terr., 5800 block, 10:16 a.m. Nov. 8. Stolen vehicle. 15th Ave., 8100 block, 9:34 a.m. Nov. 8. Stolen vehicle. 18th Ave., 8000 block, 8:11 a.m. Nov. 8. Stolen vehicle. 75th Ave., 4400 block, 11:19 a.m. Nov. 6. Stolen vehicle. District 2 HQ: Bowie 301-390-2100 ASSAULTS Begonia Dr., 4200 block, 10:51 p.m. Nov. 6. Jennings Lane, 15100 block, 10:03 p.m. Nov. 11. Major Lansdale Blvd., 15200 block, 7:29 p.m. Nov. 11. Wyatt Dr., 9400 block, 6:27 p.m. Nov. 9. ROBBERIES Brooke Lane and Tudor Rd., 3:52 p.m. Nov. 9. Robbery reported. Dunkirk Dr. and Tudor Rd., 1:06 a.m. Nov. 9. Robbery reported. Mary Bowie Pkwy., 13500 block, 2:14 a.m. Nov. 6. Robbery reported. Tuckerman St., 9100 block, 4:55 a.m. Nov. 12. Robbery reported. THEFTS/BREAK-INS Abbotswood Ct., 11400 block, 11:50 a.m. Nov. 7. Alameda Dr., 15700 block, 9:13 a.m. Nov. 6. From auto. Annapolis Rd., 15400 block, 4:38 p.m. Nov. 8. Annapolis Rd., 15500 block, 7 a.m. Nov. 6. From auto. Blackwell Lane, 12600 block, 1:56 a.m. Nov. 12. Booth Bay Way, 11300 block, 8:10 a.m. Nov. 8. Brown Station Rd., 4800 block, 9 a.m. Nov. 10. Caraway Ct., 1300 block, 9:28 p.m. Nov. 12. From auto. Charles Hill Blvd., 5300 block, 4:36 p.m. Nov. 12. Chester Grove Rd., 3100 block, 3:20 p.m. Nov. 8. Chester Grove Rd., 3200 block, 10:31 p.m. Nov. 8. Commerce Ct., 15800 block, 9:46 a.m. Nov. 9. From auto. Emerald Way, 15400 block, 7:53 p.m. Nov. 10. Emerald Way, 15400 block, 12:47 p.m. Nov. 12. Everglade Lane, 15600 block, 8:29 a.m. Nov. 9. From auto. Excalibur Ct., 3700 block, 7:01 a.m. Nov. 7. From auto. Excalibur Rd., 15900 block, 7:58 a.m. Nov. 6. Excalibur Rd., 15900 block, 9:56 a.m. Nov. 6. From auto. Excalibur Rd., 15900 block, 10:34 a.m. Nov. 7. Excalibur Rd., 15900 block, 7:56 p.m. Nov. 7. Excalibur Rd., 15900 block, noon Nov. 10. Excelsior Dr., 15400 block, 9:18 a.m. Nov. 6. Excelsior Dr., 15600 block, 6:43 p.m. Nov. 11. Gallant Fox Lane, 14300 block, 4:37 p.m. Nov. 9. Governors Bridge Rd., 16400 block, 11:32 a.m. Nov. 8. From auto. Governors Bridge Rd., 16500 block, 9:12 p.m. Nov. 7. Grand Blvd., 9400 block, 11:37 p.m. Nov. 10. Greenbelt Rd., 8500 block, 5:55 p.m. Nov. 8. Greenbelt Rd., 8700 block, 2:15 p.m. Nov. 10. Greenbelt Rd., 8800 block, 8:13 a.m. Nov. 9. Greenbelt Rd., 9900 block, 10:49 a.m. Nov. 6. Greenbelt Rd., 9900 block, 7:40 a.m. Nov. 12. Harry S. Truman Dr., 200 block, 5:39 a.m. Nov. 8. From auto. Harry S. Truman Dr., 500 block, 9:40 a.m. Nov. 11. From auto. Harry S. Truman Dr., 600 block, 6:26 p.m. Nov. 8. Harry S. Truman Dr., unit block, 7:31 a.m. Nov. 8. From auto. Hobart St., 8900 block, 10:44 p.m. Nov. 7. From auto. Joyceton Dr., 10800 block, 9:47 a.m. Nov. 6. Kurth Lane, 7100 block, 4:27 a.m. Nov. 10. From auto. Lake Arbor Way, 10200 block, 10:45 p.m. Nov. 10. Lake Pointe Ct., 9800 block, 10:03 a.m. Nov. 9. From auto. Largo Center Dr., 500 block, 4:35 a.m. Nov. 9. From auto. Largo Dr. W., 9400 block, 5:46 p.m. Nov. 6. Largo Dr. W., 9400 block, 6:24 p.m. Nov. 8. From auto. Madonna Lane, 3500 block, 10:42 a.m. Nov. 10. From auto. Main St., 14700 block, 8:22 p.m. Nov. 8. Mase Lane, 3500 block, 1:36 p.m. Nov. 11. From auto. Mercantile Lane, 1200 block, 4:56 p.m. Nov. 6. From auto. Norwegian Ct., 15500 block, 1:42 p.m. Nov. 6. From auto. Oklahoma Ct., 10100 block, 11:18 a.m. Nov. 8. Prince Pl., 10200 block, 10:13 a.m. Nov. 9. From auto. Quintette Lane, 12300 block, 3:20 a.m. Nov. 10. Seasons Way, 8500 block, 4:39 p.m. Nov. 10. Steeplechase Way, 100 block, 1:49 p.m. Nov. 8. From auto. Stretton Lane, 12400 block, 9:26 p.m. Nov. 12. Sunningdale Pl., 15600 block, 10:22 a.m. Nov. 8. Van Brady Rd., 11300 block, 7:20 p.m. Nov. 8. Watkins Park Dr., unit block, 9:22 a.m. Nov. 9. Weary Creek Ct., 2700 block, 2:14 p.m. Nov. 6. White Marsh Park Dr., 100 block, 7:55 a.m. Nov. 12. From auto. 11th St., 13100 block, 3:16 p.m. Nov. 12. VEHICLE THEFTS Annapolis Rd., 9400 block, 9:39 p.m. Nov. 7. Stolen vehicle. Annapolis Rd., 15300 block, 6:21 p.m. Nov. 7. Stolen vehicle. Greenbelt Rd., 8500 block, 11:04 a.m. Nov. 9. Stolen vehicle. Largo Center Dr., 1000 block, 12:03 a.m. Nov. 10. Stolen vehicle. Lottsford Vista Rd., 3500 block, 6:47 a.m. Nov. 7. Stolen vehicle. Westgate Rd., 5600 block, 7:10 a.m. Nov. 10. Stolen vehicle. District 3 HQ: Palmer Park 301-772-4900 ASSAULTS Dowell Lane, 4600 block, 2:40 a.m. Nov. 7. Cutting. Fedex Way, 1600 block, 4:53 p.m. Nov. 12. G St., 6400 block, 4:50 p.m. Nov. 12. Newkirk Ave., 3300 block, noon Nov. 9. Regency Pkwy., 3500 block, 8:29 a.m. Nov. 8. Walters Lane, 3200 block, 5:22 p.m. Nov. 6. Cutting. ROBBERIES Addison Rd. S., 100 block, 3:28 p.m. Nov. 9. Robbery reported. Marlboro Pike, 4900 block, 9 p.m. Nov. 6. Robbery reported. Marlboro Pike, 5200 block, 9:53 p.m. Nov. 8. Robbery reported. Plaza Dr., 2800 block, 3:06 a.m. Nov. 8. Regency Pkwy., 3800 block, 3:16 p.m. Nov. 12. Robbery reported. 75th Ave., 3200 block, 10:24 p.m. Nov. 8. Robbery reported. CARJACKINGS Central Ave., 8300 block, 4:41 a.m. Nov. 6. Carjacking reported. Donnell Dr. and Pennsylvania Ave., 3:31 a.m. Nov. 6. Carjacking reported. Hil Mar Dr., 5800 block, 5:47 a.m. Nov. 11. Carjacking reported. Landover Rd., 8500 block, 2:51 a.m. Nov. 6. Carjacking reported. THEFTS/BREAK-INS Addison Rd., 5500 block, 11:53 a.m. Nov. 12. Alaking Ct., 9100 block, 8:02 a.m. Nov. 7. Aquamarine Ct., 6900 block, 5:22 a.m. Nov. 7. From auto. Ardwick Ardmore Rd., 8400 block, 8:58 a.m. Nov. 8. Ardwick Ardmore Rd., 8400 block, 9:16 a.m. Nov. 11. From auto. Arena Dr. and Brightseat Rd., 7:05 a.m. Nov. 8. Arnold and Suitland roads, 8:01 a.m. Nov. 8. From auto. Bain Dr., 700 block, 1:51 p.m. Nov. 11. From auto. Beaver Rd., 2100 block, 12:52 a.m. Nov. 6. Theft from auto. Blacksmith Dr., 6100 block, 1:57 p.m. Nov. 11. From auto. Brightseat Rd., 1000 block, 11:33 a.m. Nov. 10. Brightseat Rd., 1600 block, 8:24 a.m. Nov. 8. From auto. Brooks Dr., 2000 block, 12:37 p.m. Nov. 11. From auto. Brooks Dr., 2100 block, 10:39 a.m. Nov. 6. From auto. Carrington Ave., 800 block, 6:59 p.m. Nov. 12. Central Ave., 9100 block, 6:18 p.m. Nov. 7. From auto. Cousins Dr., 3600 block, 8:14 a.m. Nov. 7. From auto. District Heights Pkwy., 6800 block, 5:11 p.m. Nov. 7. Donnel Dr., 3100 block, 6:06 p.m. Nov. 9. Donnell Dr., 3200 block, 8:56 p.m. Nov. 8. Donnell Dr., 3300 block, 3:48 p.m. Nov. 7. Donnell Pl., 7200 block, 7:45 a.m. Nov. 8. From auto. Drylog St., 6700 block, 6:30 p.m. Nov. 10. Edgeworth Dr., 8600 block, 11:06 a.m. Nov. 10. From auto. Fable St., 5000 block, 8:24 a.m. Nov. 8. Fairhill Dr., 2500 block, 10:29 a.m. Nov. 10. From auto. Fedex Way, 1600 block, 11:40 a.m. Nov. 12. Forest Park Dr., 1700 block, 6:59 a.m. Nov. 8. From auto. Garrett A Morgan Blvd., 500 block, 7:15 a.m. Nov. 9. From auto. Harrods Way, 8200 block, 4:16 p.m. Nov. 8. Hil Mar Cir. E., 6200 block, 6:23 p.m. Nov. 9. Inland Dr., 1300 block, 2:11 p.m. Nov. 7. Karen Blvd., 1000 block, 8:20 a.m. Nov. 12. From auto. Karen Blvd., 1300 block, 1:26 p.m. Nov. 8. Kipling Pkwy., 6900 block, 7:10 p.m. Nov. 9. Kipling Pkwy. and Wintergreen Ave., 6:32 p.m. Nov. 7. Landover Rd., 7700 block, 4:06 p.m. Nov. 9. Lorring Dr., 2700 block, 6:44 a.m. Nov. 9. From auto. Marlboro Pike, 4700 block, 10:11 a.m. Nov. 7. Marlboro Pike, 4700 block, 3:23 p.m. Nov. 8. Old Silver Hill Rd., 6100 block, 11:32 a.m. Nov. 7. Pearl Dr., 3500 block, 10:23 a.m. Nov. 6. Penn Belt Pl., 4000 block, 9:43 a.m. Nov. 7. From auto. Ritchie Marlboro Rd., 1400 block, 1 p.m. Nov. 8. Ritchie Station Ct., 1800 block, 11:41 p.m. Nov. 7. From auto. Rosemist Way, 3000 block, 6:40 a.m. Nov. 7. From auto. Shadyside Ave., 2400 block, 5:57 p.m. Nov. 12. Sheriff Rd., 5300 block, 2:25 a.m. Nov. 9. Sheriff Rd., 5700 block, 10:54 a.m. Nov. 11. Silver Hill Rd., 4900 block, 2:45 a.m. Nov. 7. Silver Hill Rd., 5400 block, 7:33 p.m. Nov. 9. Silver Hill Rd., 5800 block, 7:10 a.m. Nov. 10. Silver Hill Rd., 5800 block, 9:03 a.m. Nov. 10. Suitland Rd., 3900 block, 10:10 a.m. Nov. 10. Suitland Rd., 4100 block, 9:37 p.m. Nov. 7. From auto. Sunset Lane, 2900 block, 6:49 a.m. Nov. 8. From auto. Walker Mill Rd., 6800 block, 4:42 p.m. Nov. 6. Warfield Dr., 400 block, 7:59 a.m. Nov. 8. Willow Hill Pl., 300 block, 1:50 p.m. Nov. 11. 75th Ave., 3100 block, 6:32 a.m. Nov. 10. From auto. 75th Ave., 3200 block, 7:22 a.m. Nov. 8. From auto. VEHICLE THEFTS Atwood St., 6500 block, 8:15 a.m. Nov. 6. Stolen vehicle. Avanti Pl., 700 block, 6:18 a.m. Nov. 8. Stolen vehicle. Barlowe Rd., 7600 block, 10:41 a.m. Nov. 9. Stolen vehicle. Beaver Rd., 2000 block, 8:15 a.m. Nov. 11. Stolen vehicle. Belle Haven Dr., 1300 block, 9:21 a.m. Nov. 7. Stolen vehicle. Brooks Dr., 2100 block, 12:59 p.m. Nov. 11. Stolen vehicle. Carmody Hills Dr., 300 block, 2:03 p.m. Nov. 11. Stolen vehicle. Columbia Pl., 2300 block, 10:39 a.m. Nov. 9. Stolen vehicle. Donnell Dr., 3300 block, 1:29 p.m. Nov. 11. Stolen vehicle. East Spring St., 7100 block, 6:29 a.m. Nov. 6. Stolen vehicle. Flag Harbor Dr., 7200 block, 5:29 a.m. Nov. 6. Stolen vehicle. Forest Run Dr., 2800 block, 8:07 a.m. Nov. 6. Stolen vehicle. Greenleaf Rd., 7500 block, 6:54 a.m. Nov. 11. Stolen vehicle. Hil Mar Dr., 6500 block, 3:49 p.m. Nov. 6. Stolen vehicle. Hil Mar Dr., 6500 block, 9:27 a.m. Nov. 12. Stolen vehicle. Jericho City Dr., 8800 block, 8:36 a.m. Nov. 9. Stolen vehicle. Karen Blvd., 1500 block, 7:07 a.m. Nov. 7. Stolen vehicle. Leroy Gorham Dr., 4800 block, 10:51 a.m. Nov. 12. Stolen vehicle. Limerick Way, 600 block, 8:40 a.m. Nov. 7. Stolen vehicle. Lorring Dr., 2700 block, 9:52 p.m. Nov. 6. Stolen vehicle. Lorring Dr., 2700 block, 9:23 p.m. Nov. 10. Stolen vehicle. Martin Luther King Jr. Hwy., 6700 block, 12:24 p.m. Nov. 12. Stolen vehicle. Martin Luther King Jr. Hwy., 8600 block, 8:59 p.m. Nov. 12. Stolen vehicle. Milltown Ct., 6700 block, 2:21 p.m. Nov. 11. Stolen vehicle. Old Silver Hill Rd., 5700 block, 10:31 a.m. Nov. 8. Stolen vehicle. Red Maple Ct., 6800 block, 7:08 a.m. Nov. 7. Stolen vehicle. Regency Park Ct., 5600 block, 9:39 a.m. Nov. 9. Stolen vehicle. Regency Pkwy., 3900 block, 7 p.m. Nov. 9. Stolen vehicle. Southern Ave., 4700 block, 10:11 a.m. Nov. 10. Stolen vehicle. Suitland Rd., 3900 block, 12:44 p.m. Nov. 8. Stolen vehicle. Suitland Rd., 3900 block, 8:54 a.m. Nov. 9. Stolen vehicle. Xavier Lane, 3000 block, 5:34 a.m. Nov. 9. Stolen vehicle. VANDALISM Balboa Ave., 700 block, 1:09 p.m. Nov. 10. G St., 6400 block, 9:27 a.m. Nov. 8. Sheriff Rd., 5300 block, 4:48 p.m. Nov. 11. District 4 HQ: Oxon Hill 301-749-4900 ASSAULTS Alice Ave., 2200 block, 6:13 p.m. Nov. 9. Boydell Ave., 5200 block, 1:27 p.m. Nov. 8. Brinkley Rd., 4900 block, 10:38 p.m. Nov. 9. Maury Ave., 600 block, 11:45 a.m. Nov. 12. Wheeler Rd., 4400 block, 3:11 p.m. Nov. 7. ROBBERIES Fisher Rd., 5900 block, 3:31 p.m. Nov. 8. Robbery reported. Indian Head Hwy., 8300 block, 1:17 a.m. Nov. 7. Robbery reported. CARJACKING 23rd Pkwy., 4400 block, 9:34 p.m. Nov. 6. Carjacking reported. THEFTS/BREAK-INS Allentown Rd., 6300 block, 5:43 p.m. Nov. 11. Auth Rd., 5900 block, 10:32 a.m. Nov. 10. From auto. Beech Rd., 4500 block, 10:37 a.m. Nov. 9. From auto. Branch Ave., 3100 block, 9:05 p.m. Nov. 10. Branch Ave., 3700 block, 6:28 p.m. Nov. 8. Shoplifting. Branch Ave., 4400 block, 1:10 p.m. Nov. 10. From auto. Brinkley Rd., 3100 block, 7:25 a.m. Nov. 7. From auto. Chloe Dr., 5500 block, 9:01 p.m. Nov. 11. Colony Rd., 1400 block, 6:53 p.m. Nov. 11. Dimrill Ct., 6200 block, 3:36 p.m. Nov. 7. From auto. Indian Head Hwy., 4900 block, 11:36 a.m. Nov. 8. Iverson St., 1500 block, 3:52 p.m. Nov. 9. Keating St., 2100 block, 12:26 p.m. Nov. 7. From auto. Keating St., 2800 block, 2:26 p.m. Nov. 12. From auto. Livingston Rd., 6100 block, 1:53 p.m. Nov. 8. Livingston Rd., 6100 block, 10:28 a.m. Nov. 9. Livingston Rd., 6300 block, 11:21 a.m. Nov. 7. Loughran Rd., 9100 block, 11:35 a.m. Nov. 11. From auto. Lyons St., 4400 block, 6:35 a.m. Nov. 9. From auto. Mercedes Blvd., 4900 block, 4:38 a.m. Nov. 7. From auto. MGM National Ave., 100 block, 5:18 p.m. Nov. 6. MGM National Ave., 100 block, 10:41 p.m. Nov. 7. Olson St., 2300 block, 12:29 p.m. Nov. 6. From auto. Olson St., 2300 block, 5:51 p.m. Nov. 12. Oxon Hill Rd., 6000 block, 5:46 p.m. Nov. 12. Oxon Hill Rd., 6100 block, 10:29 a.m. Nov. 6. Oxon Hill Rd., 6100 block, 1:15 p.m. Nov. 6. Oxon Hill Rd., 6100 block, 12:06 p.m. Nov. 12. Oxon Hill Rd., 6200 block, 6:04 p.m. Nov. 6. Oxon Hill Rd., 6800 block, 4 p.m. Nov. 6. Raleigh Rd., 4700 block, 7:34 a.m. Nov. 10. Rayburn Dr., 6100 block, 7:18 a.m. Nov. 10. From auto. Southern Ave., 2600 block, 6:55 a.m. Nov. 11. From auto. Spring Valley Ct., 1000 block, 10:29 a.m. Nov. 10. From auto. Spring Valley Ct., 1000 block, 2:37 p.m. Nov. 11. From auto. St. Barnabas Rd., 3800 block, 1:26 a.m. Nov. 6. St. Barnabas Rd., 4500 block, 7:42 p.m. Nov. 9. Telfair Blvd., 4400 block, 10:28 a.m. Nov. 8. Waterfront St., 100 block, 10:45 a.m. Nov. 6. 23rd Pl., 4400 block, 11:09 a.m. Nov. 12. Theft from auto. 24th Ave., 4100 block, 11:31 a.m. Nov. 7. From auto. 32nd Ave., 3500 block, 5:05 p.m. Nov. 10. VEHICLE THEFTS Allentown Rd., 4500 block, 12:02 p.m. Nov. 10. Stolen vehicle. Caryhurst Dr., 6300 block, 5:51 a.m. Nov. 7. Stolen vehicle. Mercedes Blvd., 5000 block, 4:23 p.m. Nov. 10. Stolen vehicle. Northam Rd., 6700 block, 11:10 a.m. Nov. 12. Stolen vehicle. Old Silver Hill Rd., 3900 block, 6:59 p.m. Nov. 9. Stolen vehicle. Oxon Hill Rd., 6100 block, 4:41 p.m. Nov. 12. Stolen vehicle. Southern Ave., 2400 block, 7:45 a.m. Nov. 12. Stolen vehicle. Southern Ave., 2500 block, 8:57 a.m. Nov. 8. Stolen vehicle. Southview Dr., 1200 block, 3:15 p.m. Nov. 8. Stolen vehicle. 23rd Pl., 4100 block, 9:19 p.m. Nov. 12. Stolen vehicle. 24th Ave., 4100 block, 8:58 p.m. Nov. 6. Stolen vehicle. District 5 HQ: Clinton 301-856-3130 THEFTS/BREAK-INS Branch Ave., 12700 block, 7:58 a.m. Nov. 11. Burch Hill Rd., 6900 block, 4:19 p.m. Nov. 8. Crain Hwy. SW, 5700 block, 8:13 a.m. Nov. 12. Crain Hwy. SE, 15900 block, 5:03 p.m. Nov. 10. Theft from auto. Dangerfield Rd., 9900 block, 2:47 p.m. Nov. 6. From auto. Horsehead Rd., 17500 block, 8:44 a.m. Nov. 8. From auto. Kilbourne Dr., 4000 block, 3:59 p.m. Nov. 7. Pensacola Pl., 8900 block, 10:11 a.m. Nov. 6. Piscataway Rd., 9800 block, 12:36 p.m. Nov. 6. Pompey Dr., 11100 block, 3:54 p.m. Nov. 9. Snowbell Lane, 7500 block, 6:17 a.m. Nov. 7. From auto. Woody Terr., 9000 block, 10:17 a.m. Nov. 10. Woodyard Farm Rd., 7600 block, 8:12 a.m. Nov. 11. VEHICLE THEFTS Cedar Chase Dr., 8400 block, 7:30 a.m. Nov. 9. Stolen vehicle. Stuart Lane, 9200 block, 10:59 a.m. Nov. 11. Stolen vehicle. District 6 HQ: Beltsville 301-937-0910 ASSAULT Baltimore Ave., 10900 block, 1:58 p.m. Nov. 11. THEFTS/BREAK-INS Baltimore Ave., 10900 block, 4:04 p.m. Nov. 11. Baltimore Ave., 14200 block, 1:26 p.m. Nov. 10. Beltsville Rd., 3100 block, 8:26 a.m. Nov. 12. From auto. Bramble Ct., 14100 block, 6:18 a.m. Nov. 11. From auto. Briarwood Dr., 13800 block, 5:24 a.m. Nov. 10. From auto. Cherry Hill Rd., 11300 block, 9:20 a.m. Nov. 8. From auto. Contee Rd., 8700 block, 11:02 p.m. Nov. 9. Contee Rd., 8800 block, 8:44 p.m. Nov. 9. Edmonston Rd., 11300 block, 8:42 a.m. Nov. 6. Evans Trail, 11300 block, 4:39 p.m. Nov. 7. From auto. Harrison Rd., 4000 block, 2:57 p.m. Nov. 12. From auto. Larchdale Rd., 13100 block, 9:15 a.m. Nov. 11. From auto. Lockman Lane, 7500 block, 7:20 a.m. Nov. 9. From auto. Muirkirk Rd., 9600 block, 11:41 a.m. Nov. 6. From auto. Old Baltimore Pike, 11600 block, 7:13 a.m. Nov. 7. From auto. Sinope Way, 5000 block, 3:33 p.m. Nov. 8. From auto. Stonehall Dr., 3300 block, 8:04 a.m. Nov. 9. From auto. Sweitzer Rd., 6300 block, 9:41 p.m. Nov. 9. From auto. Towhee Ave., 10100 block, 8:22 a.m. Nov. 10. From auto. VEHICLE THEFTS Cherry Hill Rd., 11200 block, 2:35 p.m. Nov. 10. Stolen vehicle. Cherry Hill Rd., 11400 block, 4:25 p.m. Nov. 10. Stolen vehicle. Conway Rd., 12300 block, 4:05 p.m. Nov. 9. Stolen vehicle. Evans Trail, 11300 block, 1 a.m. Nov. 8. Stolen vehicle. Flint Rock Dr., 13100 block, 5:58 a.m. Nov. 9. Stolen vehicle. Larchdale Rd., 13100 block, 9:51 a.m. Nov. 6. Stolen vehicle. Tupelo Ave., 8600 block, 6:58 p.m. Nov. 11. Stolen vehicle. District 7 HQ: Fort Washington 301-292-5300 THEFTS/BREAK-INS Blackwater Rd., 3700 block, 9:32 a.m. Nov. 7. Farmington Rd. W., 200 block, 3:08 p.m. Nov. 12. Fort Washington and Livingston roads, 11:59 a.m. Nov. 7. From auto. Glissade Dr., 11200 block, 6:02 a.m. Nov. 9. From auto. Hickory Dr., 11700 block, 7:59 p.m. Nov. 9. Moreland St., 10000 block, 8:39 p.m. Nov. 9. Swan Creek Rd., 100 block, 2:12 p.m. Nov. 6. Greenbelt These were among incidents reported by the Greenbelt Police Department. For information, call 301-474-7200. ASSAULTS Centerway Rd., 100 block, Nov. 9. Springhill Dr., 6000 block, Nov. 13. ROBBERIES Canning Terr., 8200 block, Nov. 12. Strong arm robbery. Springhill Lane, 9100 block, Nov. 14. Armed robbery. EXPLOSIVES Crescent Rd., unit block, Nov. 14. Bomb threat. THEFTS/BREAK-INS Canning Terr., 8300 block, Nov. 14. Capitol Dr., 6500 block, Nov. 11. Cherrywood Lane, 5800 block, Nov. 15. Cherrywood Terr., 5800 block, Nov. 12. Greenbelt Rd., 6000 block, Nov. 10. Shoplifting. Greenbelt Rd., 6000 block, Nov. 13. Greenbelt Rd., 6100 block, Nov. 14. Shoplifting. Greenbelt Rd., 7500 block, Nov. 11. Greenway Center Dr., 7500 block, Nov. 13. Hanover Pkwy., 7800 block, Nov. 13. Mandan Rd., 7700 block, Nov. 9. Megan Lane, 7100 block, Nov. 15. Settling Pond Lane, 5300 block, Nov. 13. Springhill Terr., 6100 block, Nov. 15. VANDALISM Breezewood Dr., 6100 block, Nov. 9. Malicious destruction. Cherrywood Terr., 5900 block, Nov. 13. Malicious destruction. Cherrywood Terr., 5900 block, Nov. 13. Malicious destruction. Hanover Pkwy., 7700 block, Nov. 13. Malicious destruction. Hanover Pkwy., 7800 block, Nov. 11. Malicious destruction. Ivy Lane, 6400 block, Nov. 8. Malicious destruction. Springhill Lane, 9200 block, Nov. 9. Malicious destruction. Walker Dr., 7800 block, Nov. 9. Malicious destruction. Hyattsville These were among incidents reported by Hyattsville police. For information, call 301-985-5060. ASSAULTS Buchanan St., 4000 block, Nov. 10. ROBBERIES Belcrest Center Dr., 2900 block, Nov. 9. Robbery reported. Nicholson St., 2600 block, Nov. 6. Robbery reported. THEFTS/BREAK-INS Belcrest Rd., 6200 block, Nov. 7. Trespassing. Belcrest Rd., 6400 block, Nov. 9. From auto. Belcrest Rd., 6500 block, Nov. 10. From auto. Hamilton St., 2900 block, Nov. 11. Trespassing. Hamilton St., 3000 block, Nov. 7. Hamilton St., 3000 block, Nov. 8. Trespassing. Jamestown Rd., 5600 block, Nov. 9. From auto. Jefferson St., 4300 block, Nov. 9. From auto. Lancer Pl., 3300 block, Nov. 7. Residence was burglarized. Oglethorpe St., 4200 block, Nov. 8. West Hwy. E., 3300 block, Nov. 7. From auto. West Hwy. E., 3500 block, Nov. 2. West Hwy. E., 3500 block, Nov. 7. From auto. West Hwy. E., 3500 block, Nov. 7. Shoplifting. West Hwy. E., 3500 block, Nov. 7. Shoplifting. West Hwy. E., 3500 block, Nov. 10. Shoplifting. West Hwy. E., 3500 block, Nov. 11. Shoplifting. VEHICLE THEFTS Hamilton St., 3600 block, Nov. 11. Stolen vehicle. Kirkwood Pl., 2600 block, Nov. 6. Stolen vehicle. Rhode Island Ave., 4900 block, Nov. 9. Recovered stolen vehicle. VANDALISM Gallatin St., 4300 block, Nov. 8. Property damage. Nicholson St., 2800 block, Nov. 6. Laurel These were among incidents reported by Laurel police. For information, call 301-498-0092. THEFTS/BREAK-INS Aylesford Lane, 7800 block, midnight Oct. 31. Theft from motor vehicle. Baltimore Ave., 14700 block, midnight Oct. 29. Shoplifting. Doddington Ct., 7300 block, midnight Oct. 31. Theft from motor vehicle. Elaine Ct., 9100 block, midnight Oct. 31. Fifth St., 800 block, midnight Oct. 30. Theft from motor vehicle. Fort Meade Rd., 200 block, midnight Oct. 24. Shoplifting. Fort Meade Rd., 200 block, midnight Oct. 30. Main St., 600 block, midnight Oct. 27. Theft from motor vehicle. Oxford Dr., 14200 block, midnight Oct. 25. Theft from motor vehicle. Second St., 100 block, midnight Oct. 31. Theft from motor vehicle. MOTOR VEHICLE THEFT Fourth St., 14700 block, midnight Oct. 13. Motor vehicle theft reported. The FBI said Tuesday that it is investigating the shooting by U.S. Park Police Friday night in Fairfax County that left one man critically wounded. Two Park Police officers opened fire after pursuing a car that they said was connected with a hit-and-run crash in Alexandria. The chase ended in the the Mount Verrnon area of the county at Fort Hunt Road and Alexandria Avenue. No official explanation has been given as to why the police fired. In a statement, the FBIs Washington Field Office said it will ensure that the investigation is conducted in a fair, thorough and impartial manner. Police say a man whose body was found in a grave at Wheaton Regional Park was wearing this sweatshirt with a church logo on it at the time of his death. He was stabbed more than 100 times, police said. (Montgomery County Police) As many as 10 members of the MS-13 street gang lured a man into a park in Wheaton, Md., spoke with one another over walkie-talkies as he arrived, stabbed him more than 100 times, decapitated him and then cut out his heart, according to police documents made public Wednesday in Montgomery County District Court. The first alleged attacker to be arrested, Miguel Timido Angel Lopez-Abrego, 19, was charged with first-degree murder and held in jail after a brief hearing Wednesday. He is noted as being the first individual to thrust a knife into the chest of the decedent, Assistant States Attorney Kelly McGann said in court. Police continue to search for other suspects. Police found the body buried in a grave, deep in the woods of Wheaton Regional Park, that the attackers dug before the slaying, according to court records. Authorities have not been able to identify the victim, who they believe may have been from Annapolis. He was wearing a sweatshirt, and those who knew him would have noticed he was missing a lower tooth near the front of his mouth, police said. The investigation began in early September, when detectives spoke to an informant who said he knew of an MS-13 murder that occurred in the spring of this year in the park. The informant led detectives to the gravesite, according to court records. The remains were exhumed and examined by the Maryland Medical Examiners Office. Police have arrested and charged Miguel A. Lopez-Abrego, 19, with first-degree murder in connection with a MS-13 gang killing. (Montgomery County Police) The victim had been stabbed over one-hundred times, decapitated, dismembered, and his heart had been excised from his chest and thrown into the grave, detectives wrote in court papers. [Police: A man whose body was found in a Wheaton park died of a homicide] Although the victims identity was unknown, Montgomery detectives developed Lopez-Abrego as a suspect. On Sept. 29, patrol officers stopped a car driven by another MS-13 member in which Lopez-Abrego was a passenger. Detectives interviewed Lopez-Abrego, but he denied any involvement in the park murder, the court records state. Montgomery police tried to find Lopez-Abrego after that interview but couldnt find him. Law enforcement agents, looking for a different MS-13 suspect from Maryland Milton Portillo- Rodriguez, accused of a murder in Anne Arundel County tracked that man to Avery County, N.C. On Nov. 4, a group of about 10 agents from the U.S. Marshals Service and the local sheriffs office arrived at a condominium, Avery County Sheriff Kevin Frye said in a telephone interview Wednesday. A person but not the suspect answered the door. The deputies and agents found Portillo- Rodriguez, Lopez-Abrego and a third MS-13 member from Maryland attempting to hide inside, Frye said. The third suspect is accused in a different attack in another secluded part of the same Wheaton park. In that incident, as many as 15 assailants surrounded two victims, punching them, kicking them and striking them with large tree limbs, according to arrest records. The victims were hospitalized but survived. Police identified the suspect in that assault as Edwin Ruiz- Urrutia, 19. He is being held on no-bond status in Montgomery County on charges including attempted second-degree murder and first-degree assault. [MS-13 gains recruits and power in U.S. as teens surge across border] Frye, the Avery County sheriff, said the three alleged gang members found in the apartment hadnt made much of an impact. They were new arrivals, and no one really knew who they were, he said. Lopez-Abrego is a citizen of El Salvador, is in the United States illegally and is currently in immigration proceedings, officials from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Wednesday. They also said they had lodged a detainer against one of the other suspects arrested in North Carolina, an indication he may also be in the country illegally. [Behind the rise in seemingly chaotic MS-13 violence: A structured hierarchy.] The charging documents do not cite a motive in the slaying in the park, but investigators believe that the suspects had planned to carry it out for about two weeks. They also alleged that Lopez-Abrego helped dig the grave and waited near the edge of the wood line with a handheld walkie-talkie radio to alert the other suspects of the victims arrival. He also used a 15-inch knife in the attack, according to police. [Lured to a park with promise of sex, Md. man was stabbed 153 times by MS-13 gang members] Investigators said the victim was a Hispanic man, about 5-foot-2 and weighing 126 pounds. He had short, dark brown hair. At the time of the killing, the victim was wearing a gray sweatshirt with First United Methodist Church Laurel written on the upper left side. A rosary or necklace was also found on his body, said police, who had previously distributed photos of the victims sweatshirt and muddied blue shorts in an effort to identify his remains. The brutal slaying at the Wheaton park is part of a resurgence of killings in the Washington region that police and prosecutors attribute to MS-13. In one case, assailants armed with knives lured a 34-year-old to his already-dug grave. A 22-year-old also was taken to a wooded area and ordered to his knees before he was shot in the face. And in another case, an 18-year-old was ambushed near a stream, stabbed and stoned before he died under a bridge of the Capital Beltway. Dana Hedgpeth contributed to this report. D.C. police are searching for three young men suspected in seven robberies and attempted robberies that occurred on Oct. 30 and Nov. 1 in Northeast and Northwest Washington. In several of the attacks, police said the men assaulted victims, including knocking them to the ground. In one case in downtown Washington, a video shows that at least one of the men escaped on a red Capital Bikeshare bicycle. The first robbery occurred shortly after 9:30 a.m. Oct. 30 when police said a person walking along the Metropolitan Bike Trail near S Street NE was assaulted from behind. Police said one of the men took property from the victims pockets. Another robbery occurred about 2 a.m. Nov. 1 in the 700 block of First Street NE when police said a person was assaulted. Later on Nov. 1, police said, the three men robbed or attempted to rob five people in a matter of hours, starting at 8:15 p.m. in the 2200 block of N Street NW, in West End. Police said that was followed by attacks at 8:55 p.m. in the 1400 block of 21st Street NW; at 9 p.m. in the 2100 block of Q Street NW, near Dupont Circle; at 9:30 p.m. in the 1400 block of 20th Street NW; and at 9:50 p.m. in the 900 block of F Street NW. The attack on F Street, near Gallery Place and Capital One Arena, was captured on video that was released by police Tuesday. Police said one of the men asked the victim if he could use his phone and then knocked him to the ground. Video shows a brief scuffle; police said three young men fled, one on a Capital Bikeshare bicycle. Police also released video of the young men, two wearing backpacks, that appears to show them purchasing items using a bank card in a store. In a series of separate, unrelated robberies and attempted robberies in the District, police released videos to help in making arrests: Police were searching for a man who attempted to rob a person with a knife on Nov. 14 in the 1300 block of 14th Street NW. Police said the incident occurred about 1:50 p.m. but the victim refused to hand over a wallet and ran. Police said that the man with the knife made insulting remarks and that the case is being investigated as a possible hate crime. Two men, one armed with a handgun, robbed a person Nov. 15 in the 2500 block of 12th Street NW. The incident occurred about 2:40 p.m. Police said four men assaulted and robbed a woman of personal property Nov. 16 in the 2500 block of Woodley Road NW, in a residential neighborhood near the National Zoo. Two men, one with a gun, robbed a store in the 200 block of Cedar Street NW and took money from a cash register, police said. The incident occurred about 4:20 a.m. Sunday. A man armed with a gun robbed a shoe store Tuesday in the 1900 block of 12th Street NW, police said. The man escaped with money taken from the cash register in the 6:25 p.m. robbery. Isabelle Melese-d'Hospital, facing the camera at center, embraces Charleen Ward during an early November church service at St. Margaret's Episcopal Church in Washington. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post) A year ago, in the days after the shock of learning that Donald Trump would be the next president, Charleen Ward was afraid. And come Sunday, she was in church. I was really scared. I felt that things were going to be drastically changed for me as an African American woman, as a gay woman, she said. I needed to come after the election. I knew there would be many who felt the way I did. I needed to have that family support of the church. The pews were packed in churches across the country on the Sunday after the election, filled with Trump supporters giving thanks for the turning of a page in America, with stunned liberals seeking solace, and with many who simply felt compelled to be together in community in an emotional moment. Surely, the election didnt mark any sort of spiritual awakening in America. Theres been no big turn in the tide of an increasingly secular younger generation. But there was a slight shift: In churches across America, some of the people who walked through the doors for the first time in many years on that Sunday after Election Day stuck around. In quiet ways in the past year, the church has changed them. And they have changed the church. Thats apparent at St. Margarets Episcopal Church in the Districts Dupont Circle area, where Ward found community on that Sunday after the election. The church has so many new members many of whom voice their commitment to progressive priorities loud and clear, but dont have quite as firm a grasp on church tradition that the clergy just launched a series to teach them, over drinks, about the theology behind their social justice causes. It comes out of the requests from our 20- and 30-somethings, who are kind of new to church. Theyre not new to advocacy. Theyre not new to activism, said the Rev. Richard Weinberg. They have commitments. But they dont have the theological language and background. [People have been looking for a Religious Left. This little-known group of clergy has been organizing it.] Average Sunday attendance jumped from 98 in the month leading up to Trumps inauguration to 122 in the following month, Weinberg said. I would say that there is more of an energy and a commitment to the resistance movement. Young folks and not-young folks alike are coming. Seeking community Helen Templin, left, and the rest of the choir rehearse between services at St. Margaret's Episcopal Church in Washington. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post) Its a pattern echoed across the city and across the country, in congregations of many stripes. In many Jewish and Muslim congregations, some young people who didnt think much about their identities before drew closer to their communities in the face of rising anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. At All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church in the District, the Rev. Robert Hardies said that Sunday attendance is 33 percent higher this fall than it was before last years election. The Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray, president of the Unitarian Universalist Association, said thats the case at most congregations across the country in the liberal Unitarian Universalist church. Her own church in Phoenix saw a 20 percent increase in Sunday attendance after the election. A lot of people who are members but hadnt been attending regularly or hadnt attended in a while are all coming back to the community, she said. She thinks the stress of politics is driving women and immigrants in particular to church. When people are afraid, when theyre facing trauma, when theyre in the midst of tremendous challenge and difficulty, they seek out communities that will support them, Frederick-Gray said. They seek out religious community. And I believe people are experiencing trauma in this political environment. When The Washington Post asked women who participated in the January Womens March to write in about what actions theyve taken since Trumps inauguration, at least a dozen mentioned getting more involved in a church. At this time in our lives, this whole political climate is so distressing, a bit frightening, and so un-Christian to me that it is heartbreaking. So many people profess to believe in God but speak and act in ways that Jesus would never condone, wrote Tami Garrow, 57, of Yuma, Ariz. I just dont get it. At all. . . . So I go to church, write my elected officials, send money, pray, and try to figure out how to be relevant in a world that suddenly feels a bit foreign to me. Many mainline Protestant churches, as well as mosques and synagogues, have redoubled their social action activities, attracting new members who want a place to get involved. Church committees across the country have been busy hosting rallies about climate change and racism, writing and calling legislators about health care and taxes, and offering direct aid to refugees and immigrants. [The Rev. William Barber builds a moral movement.] "I hear that constantly from pastors, that they've seen an uptick in attendance post- election," said the Rev. Jennifer Butler, who chaired a White House faith council during the Obama administration and now leads the liberal organization Faith in Public Life. I think whats helping is that theres also a larger public witness of, I guess you would call it, progressive religion which I think has given people some comfort and some feeling of confidence in the church, that the church is going to practice what it preaches, Butler said. Affirming values and beliefs Choir members Pamela Perry, left, and Patrice Eubanks, left center, speak during a rehearsal between services. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post) At St. Margarets, members have joined some of the protest marches and have reached out to Muslim and Jewish leaders to show solidarity. But often the volunteer opportunities are less obviously political, like serving meals to hungry neighbors. Jade Williams, 27, has started going to St. Margarets on both Thursdays and Sundays to serve meals and chat with the homeless guests. She came to the church recently, soon after she moved from the Bahamas to the District to work for the Bahamian Embassy here and spotted a sign on the churchs door. It matches many of the yard signs that sprang up in the District after the election: Black Lives Matter . . . Love is Love, Science is Real. But it ends with an additional line: Gods Grace is Everything. Thats what drew me there and really keeps me there, she said about the sign. Recently, Williams had a harrowing experience that left her grateful for the church. She, her husband and relatives went to the Jefferson Memorial to take family photos and were shocked when a group of about 20 protesters, in town for a white nationalist demonstration, started taunting the family. Growing up, I went to a Catholic school. One of the songs we used to sing when we went to Mass in the morning, thats whats been on my mind these last few weeks Theyll Know We Are Christians by Our Love, she said. I think that relationship with the church home is incredibly significant and important to me, after that occurred, Williams said. It made me appreciate the work that St. Margarets is doing, its message. Every single message every Sunday morning has a social justice theme. On a recent Sunday, as the first anniversary of the election approached, Weinberg was the one delivering that message. He spoke of finding a message of liberation in that weeks Bible passage, from the Book of Revelation. That indeed is a good-news message, but . . . consider how each of us is called to the service of liberating work and faithful resistance in the face of injustice, he preached, naming rallies and marches as part of that work. For those who have fled their homes and found little welcome in the xenophobic West, liberation is coming. . . . For those who work so many damn jobs and still cant make ends meet, liberation is coming. . . . For our suffering planet, liberation is coming. Then the Rev. Kym Lucas explained Communion and the collection taking care to demystify the rituals for those who are new to church services and a member of the congregation made an announcement. [With Justice League, now theres a Jewish superhero played by a Jewish actor.] A year ago, that church member was brand-new herself. I was so completely devastated by the election, said the 40-year-old mother, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she works for the federal government and doesnt want her name published. I wanted to come to a place where I could start to put together what had happened in a way that wasnt just the political horse race but was about my values and my beliefs. She was raised in the Catholic Church, and while she hadnt attended a church in many years, she says her liberal political beliefs are very much rooted in her religious faith. After Trump won, she wanted to practice that tradition again. Now, she and her daughter are regular churchgoers, and she says the sermons have challenged her to think more deeply about her charitable donations. Lucas describes the newcomers, like that federal employee, as seekers. Many of them are looking for a community to spur them to action, but also simply for solace. For a lot of people theres been this sense of depression and sadness. Weve had to remind ourselves that there is hope, Lucas said. Thats what Ward, as a lesbian mother concerned about raising her 8-year-old daughter in Trumps America, felt she needed. The last year has felt like a nightmare, she said. The church really became a haven. Demonstrators participate in a #MeToo Survivors march in response to several high-profile sexual harassment scandals on November 12 in Los Angeles. Survivors are coming forward online and also contacting rape crisis centers in record numbers. (David Mcnew/Getty Images) Calls to rape crisis centers are surging in Washington and around the country amid an unprecedented public outpouring of survivors stories about sexual misconduct. Managers of crisis hotlines say the barrage of news implicating men in some of the most powerful positions in Hollywood, politics and the media is compelling women from all walks of life to speak out about their own traumatic experiences with sexual assault, many for the first time. Advocates for sexual violence prevention see the national conversation as a hopeful moment that could bring lasting change. It is also a challenging one in the short term, with a spike in demand that is straining the resources of about 1,300 rape crisis centers around the country that provide free, anonymous, round-the-clock counseling and other support services. Many centers are scrambling for funding, new staff members and volunteers to meet the demand. "The good news is we were able to help a record number of people last month," said Scott Berkowitz, president of the Rape Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), a national hotline with a call center in Washington. "The bad news is that there are even more that came to us and left before we could reach them because our wait times were too high." He said an uptick in calls is typical when there is a big news story or a scandal but the past year has brought two significant and sustained increases in demand for counseling and support. The first came after The Washington Post published video of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump bragging about groping women to the former host of "Access Hollywood." The second came in October with the report of decades of sexual harassment allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and then a #MeToo Twitter campaign went viral with many people sharing their own stories of sexual harassment or violence. [Violence. Threats. Begging. Harvey Weinsteins 30-year pattern of abuse in Hollywood.] In all, the network responded to 19,432 survivors in October, a 10 percent increase from the month before. In addition to a general hotline and live online chatline, RAINN operates hotlines for the Defense Department and the Peace Corps. At peak traffic last month, when #MeToo was trending, some people waited online or on the phone for up to three hours, Berkowitz said. In response to the demand, the network recently trained a group of 20 new people. It now has 150 people working for its call center and is planning to hire 18 more, he said. Requests for counseling are up at Doorways for Women and Families in Arlington, which saw a 15 percent increase in calls to its hotline last month. The D.C. Rape Crisis Center has seen a similar increase in calls the hotline now receives well over 400 calls a month and a 20 percent increase in requests for therapy. The uptick began last fall and has continued through the year, said Indira Henard, executive director of the DCRCC. She said many survivors are referencing the headlines when they call. The daily reminders create stress and instability for many who have a history of trauma, she said. Everywhere they turn, there is a reminder. Every time they are on Facebook and Twitter, they are being triggered. In their news feeds, there is another article and then another, she said. Every time something happens, it activates what is in your nervous system. Amanda Lindamood, the director of training and community engagement who manages the hotline at DCRCC, said this overexposure to trauma is affecting survivors as well as those who are working to help them. She is concerned about burnout for those taking calls because they are encountering more trauma now on the phone lines and are inundated with the topic in the news when theyre off, like the rest of the public. The uptick is happening across the country. In Cleveland, the volume of calls jumped 50 percent at the height of the #MeToo campaign, said Sondra Miller, president and chief executive of the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center. Miller said the center has heard from distraught parents who found #MeToo on their childrens social media profiles and did not know how to respond. It has also heard from survivors who are feeling pressure to publicly share their own stories, even if they dont feel they are in a healthy place to do that, she said. We remind them they are under no obligation to share, Miller said. The hotline gets a lot of overnight calls, she said. People are having trouble sleeping or having flashbacks or nightmares or anxiety or depression. They want someone to help them through the next few hours, she said. [#MeToo made the scale of sexual abuse go viral. But is it asking too much of survivors?] Rape crisis center managers say they are also seeing a surge in interest from people who want to help. Job and volunteer applications are up at many centers. Many are launching fundraising drives heading into the holiday season with hope that growing awareness about sexual assault will translate into contributions to boost their services. The historic moment is also leading to some new programs. RAINN, the national network, is developing online, moderated support groups for survivors. It also operates a hotline for a boarding school to coordinate therapy for former students who were assaulted as students, and it plans to launch other hotlines in contract with several other boarding schools. The DCRCC this year, together with some other nonprofits, created a Rethinking Masculinity course for men who want to explore gender identities and promote healthier models of masculinity. Lisae C. Jordan, executive director and counsel for the Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault, said she is hoping to channel the surge in interest from women's groups, businesses and individuals into advocacy this year during the next legislative session in Annapolis. Among other reforms, her organization is lobbying for a bill that would require local school districts to provide middle and high school students with age-appropriate lessons about the importance of obtaining consent before touching someone else. Nationally, advocacy groups are hoping to secure more funding from Congress for prevention work this year through a program with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The program already funds educational programs around the country covering issues such as healthy relationships and bystander intervention. The National Alliance to End Sexual Violence found in a survey in late 2016 that 39 percent of rape crisis centers had a waiting list for prevention education. Terri Poore, policy director for the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence, said the increased demand in requests for these kinds of prevention programs is a very hopeful sign. We believe starting early is the best way to make change, she said. THE DISTRICT Teen charged with shooting student, 17 D.C. police on Tuesday arrested a man and charged him with shooting and critically wounding a 17-year-old student as he walked home from Ballou High School earlier this month in Southeast Washington. Jerail Stroud, 18, of Southeast was charged with assault with intent to kill. The victim, who has not been identified, was shot about 3:45 p.m. Nov. 9 in the 3200 block of Fourth Street SE. At the time, police described his condition as critical and life-threatening. Police said he is still alive, although they did not have an updated condition. The shooting occurred in a residential area near the high school. Police said at the time that the victim had been seen arguing with another man moments before the shooting. Peter Hermann Two thieves assault woman, steal items Days before Thanksgiving, two thieves assaulted a woman and stole her belongings in the Petworth neighborhood, D.C. police said. The thieves also made off with an iPhone 6, several credit cards, $240 in cash and a $43 bottle of champagne. They also stole a $3 bag of turkey stuffing. The incident happened just after 3 a.m. Tuesday in the 4000 block of 14th Street NW, near Taylor Street. According to police, two men came up to the woman from behind, and one of them grabbed her. She fell to the ground, and one man hit her in the head with an unknown object. The men took the items, along with a backpack and wallet, before fleeing the scene. The victim refused medical treatment, according to police. Dana Hedgpeth VIRGINIA FBI helping search for 3 missing teens One of three teenagers who was reported missing in Prince William County has been found, officials said. Breonia A. Thomas, 17, was found in the District, according to local police. The three teens were reported missing over the weekend and initially reported as being runaways. But that information was later changed by police to endangered. Police did not elaborate on why the teens are endangered. They are believed to have left the area about 2:30 a.m. Nov. 12 in a small, silver SUV, possibly a Honda CR-V. The FBI is involved in the search for the women because they are believed to have left Virginia. The other two teens Ashley S. Lemus and Chamareya R. Wright are still missing, police said. Lemus is 17 and Hispanic and has a tattoo on her chest that says Stay Strong, according to police. Wright is described as a black 18-year-old woman who was last seen wearing a sweatshirt and dark-colored leggings. Dana Hedgpeth Eric Astor of Furnace Record Pressing gives a tour of the ongoing construction of the plant in Alexandria. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post) Vinyl records had their day. Then they nearly died. Then they were revived. Now investors are so confident in the resiliency of the revival that they are investing millions of dollars so the record industry can keep spinning in abundance. And a big part of the future of this nearly bygone medium could unfold in the Washington suburbs. Eric Astor of Falls Church is opening a record-pressing facility early next year in Fairfax County that he says eventually could increase the production of records in the country by almost 20 percent. The United States produces about 50 million records annually, and his business, Furnace Record Pressing, will have the capacity to make about 9 million a year. The sprawling 50,000-square-foot plant would help relieve an industry stymied by a supply chain that cant keep up with increasing demand. Record-pressing machines are expensive and bulky, and businesspeople like Astor are starting to become confident enough in the industrys longevity to invest in such costly equipment. Ive known this is real for a long time, and our customers are now finally saying we need more vinyl, Astor said. You either step up or theyll go somewhere else. Construction workers pass through Furnace Record Pressing during construction of the record-pressing plant. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post) Astor started Furnace MFG, which is now Furnace Record Pressing, in 1996, manufacturing DVDs and CDs in Fairfax County. About a decade ago, he started manufacturing records, but because he doesnt have the machinery in-house, he outsources the pressing to a plant in Europe. The packaging and distribution are then managed from the Virginia facility. Furnace Record Pressing has contracts with bands such as Metallica and record companies including D.C.-based Dischord Records, a mostly punk label that represents local artists. Brian Lowit, the label manager for Dischord Records, said that in recent years his label has had to wait as long as six months to receive records because of a backlog at the presses. Lowit said Dischord has always posted steady vinyl sales, but in recent years, the bigger, mainstream labels have also turned to vinyl, clogging the small number of presses in the country. [Pressing plants feel the strain with vinyl records back in the groove] Dischord uses Furnace Record Pressing to make some of its records, and Lowit said that when the new plant opens, it will probably have more of its albums pressed at Furnace. What theyre doing will obviously speed up the turnaround time, Lowit said. Its exciting to have a vinyl plant down the street from us. And I think itll be good for other local bands and labels. Itll make things more accessible. The massive record-pressing plant almost never happened. Astor, who played in punk bands in his teens and 20s, said he struggled to find the proper machinery to press records. A rendering of the planned interior of the building. (Furnace Record Pressing) In early 2015, he connected with a man in Mexico who had purchased press machines. The goal originally was for the two to partner and press records in Mexico, but the man decided it was too much work, and Astor bought the machines from him. He schlepped the machines to the Washington area and refurbished them. The new plant will have 16 new and refurbished machines, each weighing about a ton and measuring about 6 feet long, 4 feet wide and 5 feet tall. Manufacturing records is a hands-on process that also involves boilers and chillers. Furnace Record Pressing employs 30 people and will begin adding about 35 more to its payroll when the new plant opens in January. The hardest part is finding good people who can understand the trade, Astor said. You cant turn on a machine and expect records to come out perfectly. The room can have too much humidity. Someone can open a door and the room can then be too cold. Michael Kurtz, co-founder of the international Record Store Day an annual day in April that celebrates independently owned record stores said it is millennials driving the boom in vinyl sales. He said that streaming services such as Spotify present a different listening experience than vinyl and that the two arent in competition. Kurtz started Record Store Day in 2008 to promote the more than 1,400 independently owned record stores in the country. The event has grown to six continents, and each years sales have outpaced the previous one. In 2015, 12 million new and used records were sold on that day, Kurtz said. When Record Store Day launched in 2008, record production was typically less than a million per year worldwide, he said. What Record Store Day did was prove that people were willing to buy records. Record labels started printing more, and it allowed the industry to blossom. The Fairfax facility, near the interchange of the Beltway and Interstate 395, has been under construction for more than a year, and Astor said crews are in the process of moving and installing the pressing machines. Manufacturing records requires large amounts of energy, and Astor said he had to get permission from Washington Gas to double the buildings energy allotment. Because of this, Astor said he would be donating 5 percent of Furnace Record Pressings revenue to environmental advocacy organizations. The new pressing facility will also have a listening room and a small area where local bands can occasionally perform. Ive never seen a format for music grow as fast as vinyl, Astor said. For the last 30 years, weve been hearing this compressed piece of garbage. Now youre listening to it for the first time. Joshua Cole, Democratic candidate for delegate in the 28th district, speaks to protesters gathered outside the Stafford County Government building in Stafford, Va. on Monday, Nov. 13, 2017. The protesters called on the county registrar to count all absentee ballots. (Mike Morones/The Free Lance-Star via AP) A federal judge refused Wednesday to issue a temporary restraining order to stop Virginia's board of elections from certifying the results in two House of Delegates races in which more than 300 voters were apparently assigned to the wrong races. It is unclear how many of those voters cast ballots on Nov. 7. The ruling was a setback for Democrats, whose hopes for taking control of the chamber could rest on one of the two seats. The job of the board is to certify the count, Judge T.S. Ellis III of U.S. District Court in Alexandria said in a hearing conducted by telephone. Let the state process run its course. But the judge let the lawsuit stand, meaning Democrats could return to the court after the results are certified by the state board of elections to challenge the outcome and request a new election. We dont have a clear picture, exactly, of the scope of the problem, Ellis said. Republicans had unsuccessfully argued the case should be dismissed like two others brought by Democrats or their allies since the Nov. 7 elections. Amid questions about voting irregularities, the state board of elections has twice delayed certifying the results in the two Fredericksburg-area House races. It is expected to meet Monday. State elections officials have said 83 Fredericksburg voters were erroneously assigned to the 88th House District instead of the neighboring 28th. It was not clear how many of the 83 voted, but the mix-up has drawn intense scrutiny because one of the races was a squeaker that could tip the balance of power in the House. [Va. holds off certifying tight House race amid new claims of ballot mix-ups] Republican Bob Thomas holds an 82-vote lead over Democrat Joshua Cole for the 28th District seat, which is being vacated by retiring speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford). The Thomas-Cole contest is one of three close races that could determine which party controls the General Assemblys lower chamber following a wave of Democratic House wins. At Wednesdays hearing, lawyers for the state indicated more voters were affected than previously reported, saying at least 384 voters in the 28th and 88th districts had been assigned to the wrong district. View Graphic The latest stories and details on the 2017 Virginia general election and race for governor. Elections Commissioner Edgardo Cortes did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the higher number. In addition to requesting a new election, the loser in the 28th District also could contest the outcome in the General Assembly, Ellis said, though he acknowledged that partisan considerations might be an obstacle. We are in uncharted territory, said Heather Hays Lockerman, of the Virginia Attorney Generals Office. Members of the board, she said, will probably have some significant heartburn when certifying the results, knowing there were problems. House Republicans have threatened to file a lawsuit of their own if the board does not certify the two elections Monday. Del. Kirkland M. Cox (R-Colonial Heights), who is in line to become speaker if the GOP holds onto the majority, blasted the board for the delays. The State Board of Elections exists to be an independent arbiter of our elections, but after the last three days no one could be faulted for questioning the independence of a Board that seems to be working in lockstep with legal counsel for the Democratic Party, Cox said Wednesday. Board Chairman James Alcorn said the board needed extra time to sort out potential irregularities, as state code allows and said the board was an impartial arbiter. As a Board, we attempt to make our decisions in a transparent, nonpartisan, consensus driven manner, Alcorn wrote in an email to The Washington Post. For somebody to state that the Board is not independent is just a false allegation. [Democrats make historic gains in House] The pending lawsuit, filed against the board and Cortes, asserts that voters were cheated out of their right to cast a ballot in the proper race. These voters were disenfranchised from voting for the delegate who is to represent them, said Marc Elias, attorney for House Democrats and Cole. We have requested that the court issue a temporary restraining order to prevent the State Board of Elections from certifying the results in HD-28 until all voters who were disenfranchised have been given a reasonable opportunity to cast a ballot in the appropriate House District. The election is probably headed for a recount, although that cannot begin until after the results have been certified. Trevor M. Stanley, a lawyer for House Republicans and Thomas, contends that state law leaves the board little choice but to certify results, which he termed a ministerial process. He said certification must take place before any voting irregularities can be rectified either through a recount or by contesting the results in the House. Although we appreciate the Boards concern that votes be properly counted, delaying certification is counterproductive and harms the ability of interested parties to resolve any issues because, without a certification of the results, any recount or contest cannot proceed in the proper forum, Stanley wrote in a letter to the board. Once these results are certified . . . my clients will proudly work to ensure that every lawful vote cast by eligible voters counts in this election. But Alcorn contends that the board does have some discretion. He pointed to 2008, when the elections board refused to count certain ballots that Chesterfield County had included in its totals for the presidential primary. The discounted ballots had been drawn by hand, after polling places ran out of official ballots. According to Cortes, in the spring of 2016 Fredericksburg registrar Juanita Pitchford erroneously assigned 83 voters from the 28th House District to the 88th. Pitchford died in April. Elections officials said they were, at least initially, at a loss to explain why she made the changes. They also said they would look into whether other voters had been misassigned. The mix-up is not expected to threaten the outcome in the 88th District, where Del. Mark Cole (R-Fredericksburg) won reelection by a wide margin. Mark Cole is no relation to Joshua Cole. The Democrats lawsuit is filed on behalf of three Fredericksburg voters. Kenneth and Dolores Lecky intended to vote for Joshua Cole, the suit says, but they were given District 88 ballots because the poll book incorrectly listed them for that district. The third plaintiff is Phillip Ridderhof, who also planned to vote for Joshua Cole. He was properly identified in the poll book as a 28th District voter, but a poll worker erroneously gave him a ballot for the 88th. Elias and the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund separately filed two other suits in the race. One asserted that 55 late-arriving absentee ballots should have been counted. The other said voters who cast provisional ballots were given confusing instructions for how to ensure their votes were counted. Judges threw out both complaints. [Judge wont force a count of 55 late absentee ballots] Before the election, Republicans enjoyed a 66-to-34 majority in the House. Now the count is 49 Democrats and 51 Republicans, with the 28th District race and two others likely headed for recounts. Democrats, who also swept statewide offices for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general, need one more House win to force a power-sharing deal with Republicans and two more to take control of the chamber for the first time since 2000. In the other two close races, Del. Timothy D. Hugo (R-Fairfax) has a 106-vote lead over Democrat Donte Tanner, while Del. David E. Yancey (R-Newport News) is up just 10 votes over Democrat Shelly Simonds. NATIONAL SECURITY Retrial for former Blackwater guard The U.S. government will retry a former Blackwater Worldwide security guard after a federal appeals court threw out his first-degree murder conviction in shootings that killed 14 unarmed Iraqi civilians in Baghdads Nisour Square in 2007, prosecutors told a federal judge Tuesday. Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Martin of the District said the government will seek a retrial of Nicholas A. Slatten, 33, of Sparta, Tenn., as early as May, anticipating a six-week case with 50 witnesses, including about 15 from Iraq. U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth scheduled a Dec. 14 hearing to set a trial date and decide whether to conditionally release Slatten from federal prison in Sumterville, Fla., where he had been serving a mandatory life sentence. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Aug. 4 tossed out Slattens 2014 conviction on one count of murder, saying the trial court erred in not allowing him to be tried separately from three co-defendants, even though one of them said he, not Slatten, fired the shots that killed the first civilian victim, leading a team of U.S. security contractors to open fire indiscriminately on vehicles and pedestrians. The court denied a government request for rehearing before the full court on Nov. 6. Spencer S. Hsu PENNSYLVANIA Manhunt nabs suspect in police shooting The man who authorities say shot and killed a Pennsylvania police officer was caught Tuesday morning after a manhunt that lasted three days. Pennsylvania State Police announced early Tuesday that authorities had apprehended Rahmael Sal Holt, who is accused of fatally shooting New Kensington Police Officer Brian Shaw, 25, following a Friday night traffic stop about 20 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. Holt, 29, has been charged with first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer, murder of the first degree, possession of a firearm and carrying a firearm without a license, according to an online court docket. Shaw had been with the New Kensington Police Department for less than a year. Westmoreland County District Attorney John Peck told reporters that Holt was arrested at a home in Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Tribune Review reported that several associates and relatives, including the suspects mother, Sherry Holt, and another woman, Aysa Benson, were also arrested and accused of helping Rahmael Holt. Court records show the two have been charged with hindering apprehension, a third-degree felony. The shooting happened just after 8 p.m. Friday, when Shaw tried to pull over an SUV. Holt, who was the passenger, jumped out of the moving vehicle and Shaw ran after him, according to an affidavit. Video surveillance footage shows Holt running to a nearby parking lot, where authorities said he shot Shaw. Peck said Holt fired six shots, striking Shaw multiple times. The officer, who was wearing a protective vest, was able to radio to the 911 center that he had been shot. He was not able to return fire, Peck told reporters. Kristine Phillips Six killed in house fire: Four children and two adults from the same family died in a house fire early Tuesday in rural northern Illinois. Authorities received a 911 call just after midnight reporting smoke in the basement of a home outside Dixon in the unincorporated community of Lost Nation, according to the Ogle County Sheriff's Office. Firefighters arrived to find the home "fully engulfed" in the blaze. Investigators haven't found anything suspicious about the fire, Sheriff Brian VanVickle said. The county coroner said the bodies were so badly burned that his office will need dental records to determine identification. Associated Press IRAQ 32 killed in bombing in disputed town in north A suicide bomber in a pickup truck killed 32 people Tuesday at a marketplace in an Iraqi town claimed by both the central government in Baghdad and the Kurdish regional authorities, Iraqi officials said. The explosion in Tuz Khurmatu also wounded at least 80 people. No one asserted responsibility for the attack. The town is about 130 miles north of Baghdad and historically has been home to Kurds, Sunni Arabs and Shiite Turkmens. But since Saddam Husseins ouster in 2003, it has also witnessed outbreaks of deadly sectarian violence that have escalated since the Kurdish regions independence vote in September. The Kurdish region and Baghdad are at a military and political standoff after the referendum. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, calling the vote unconstitutional, shut the regions airspace to international commercial flights and retook disputed territories. The backlash forced Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani, who spearheaded the referendum campaign, to effectively step down. Associated Press VENEZUELA Acting Citgo president, 5 others detained Venezuelan authorities detained the acting president of Citgo, the state-owned oil companys U.S. subsidiary, and five other executives for alleged involvement in a corruption scheme, officials said Tuesday. Chief prosecutor Tarek William Saab said Jose Pereira and five Citgo vice presidents have been detained on suspicion of embezzlement stemming from a $4 billion agreement to refinance company bonds. According to Saab, the deal provided unconscionable and unfavorable terms for the state oil giant PDVSA and offered Citgo itself as a guarantee on repayment without prior government approval. Mediators of the contract were purportedly eligible for a 1.5 percent payoff of the total. Saab described the Citgo executives as facilitators for U.S. international pressure on Venezuelas oil sector, putting at risk Citgos assets while obtaining personal benefits. Citgo did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The detentions are part of an investigation by authorities into Venezuelas oil sector, which has struggled in recent years amid mismanagement and declining production. The Trump administration imposed sweeping sanctions against Venezuela in August, prohibiting financial institutions from providing new money to the government or PDVSA. The sanctions also prohibit Citgo from sending dividends back to Venezuela as well as ban trading in two bonds the government recently issued to circumvent its growing isolation from Western financial markets. Associated Press RUSSIA Spike in radioactivity confirmed in the Urals Russian authorities on Tuesday confirmed reports of a spike in radioactivity in the air over the Ural Mountains while the suspected culprit, a nuclear fuel processing plant, denied it was the source of contamination. The Russian Meteorological Service said it recorded the release of ruthenium-106 in the southern Urals in late September and classified it as extremely high contamination. Authorities insisted, however, that the amount of the isotope posed no health risks. Frances nuclear safety agency said earlier this month that it recorded radioactivity in the area between the Volga River and the Ural Mountains from a suspected accident involving nuclear fuel or the production of radioactive material. It said the release of ruthenium-106 posed no health or environmental risks to Europe. Last month, when reports of a trace of ruthenium over Europe first appeared, Russias state-controlled Rosatom corporation denied any leak. It reaffirmed Tuesday that the ruthenium emission registered by the state meteorological service hadnt come from any of its facilities. The Russian meteorological offices report noted high levels of radiation in residential areas adjacent to Rosatoms Mayak plant for spent nuclear fuel. Associated Press Human rights official, son killed in Mexico: Gunmen in Mexico have killed a human rights official and his son in the northern state of Baja California Sur. State officials said Silvestre de la Toba Camacho and his family were driving in an SUV in the state capital, La Paz, when gunmen in another vehicle opened fire. De la Toba Camacho, 47, and his 20-year-old son died at the scene. De la Toba Camacho's wife and 17-year-old daughter were wounded. Baja California Sur has seen an increase in violence as drug cartels battle for turf. From news services Conservatives have a new court-packing plan, and in the spirit of the holiday, it's a turducken of a scheme: a regulatory rollback hidden inside a civil rights reversal stuffed into a Trumpification of the courts. If conservatives get their way, President Trump will add twice as many lifetime members to the federal judiciary in the next 12 months (650) as Barack Obama named in eight years (325). American law will never be the same. The "outer turkey" in the plan is the ongoing Trumpification of the courts. In the final two years of Obama's presidency, Senate Republicans engaged in tenacious obstruction to leave as many judicial vacancies unfilled as possible. The Garland-to-Gorsuch Supreme Court switch is the most visible example of this tactic but far from the only one: Due to GOP obstruction, "the number of [judicial] vacancies . . . on the table when [Trump] was sworn in was unprecedented," White House Counsel Donald McGahn recently boasted to the conservative Federalist Society. Trump is wasting no time in filling the 103 judicial vacancies he inherited. In the first nine months of Obama's tenure, he nominated 20 judges to the federal trial and appellate courts; in Trump's first nine months, he named 58. Senate Republicans are racing these nominees through confirmation; last week, breaking a 100-year-old tradition, they eliminated the "blue slip" rule that allowed home-state senators to object to particularly problematic nominees. The rush to Trumpify the judiciary includes nominees rated unqualified by the American Bar Association, nominees with outrageously conservative views and nominees significantly younger (and, therefore, likely to serve longer) than those of previous presidents. As a result, by sometime next year, 1 in 8 cases filed in federal court will be heard by a judge picked by Trump. Many of these judges will likely still be serving in 2050. But even this plan to fill approximately 150 judicial vacancies before the 2018 elections is not enough for conservatives. Enter the next element of the court-packing turducken: a new plan written by the crafty co-founder of the Federalist Society, Steven Calabresi. In a paper that deserves credit for its transparency (it features a section titled "Undoing President Barack Obama's Judicial Legacy"), Calabresi proposes to pack the federal courts with a "minimum" of 260 and possibly as many as 447 newly created judicial positions. Under this plan, the 228-year-old federal judiciary would increase in a single year by 30 to 50 percent. Never mind that Republicans saw no urgency in filling judicial vacancies while Obama was president. Never mind that they ignored pleas from conservative Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. to fill positions in courts facing "judicial emergencies." Now, conservatives want a 30 to 50 percent increase in the number of federal judgeships. And they have a clear idea of who should fill this massive number of new posts: "President Trump and the Republican Senate will need to fill all of these new judgeships in 2018, before the next session of Congress." Almost overnight, the judicial branch would come to consist of almost equal parts judges picked by nine presidents combined Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush 41, Clinton, Bush 43 and Obama and judges picked by one: Donald J. Trump. The effect on our civil rights and liberties would be astounding. And a continuation of the pattern of Trump's nominees to date more white and more male than any president's in nearly 30 years would roll back decades of progress in judicial diversity. But even that isnt enough for the Turducken Court Packers. They have jammed one more treat inside this turkey. Calabresi has also proposed that Congress abolish 158 administrative law judgeships in federal regulatory agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency, Food and Drug Administration, Federal Communications Commission, and Securities and Exchange Commission, and replace these impartial fact-finders with a new corps of 158 Trump-selected judges who unlike current administrative law judges would serve for life. These new Trump administrative law judges would have vast power over environmental, health and safety, fair competition, communications, labor, financial and consumer regulation for decades. Unlike the existing administrative law judges, selected as nonpartisan members of the civil service, Calabresis replacement corps would all be picked in a single year, by a single man: Donald J. Trump. And if this breathtaking transformation of our federal judicial system isnt jarring enough, Calabresi has one final treat: a proposal that Congress do all of this in the tax-cut bill that Congress is trying to pass before it leaves for the holidays. Progressives need to mount a more cohesive and effective plan to slow down the Trump train of judicial transformation. Otherwise, well have a court-packing turducken for Thanksgiving, and a revolutionary rollback in rights and regulation for Christmas. Columnist A funny thing happened to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on the way to the exit door: He didn't leave. He may be a dead man walking, as many Washington analysts assume. Yet he's still pursuing the same list of quiet but mostly correct diplomatic goals as when he took the job 10 months ago. Tillerson has had a catastrophically bad encounter with official Washington. The White House disdains him; the State Department resents him; the press corps mostly scorns him. Tillerson presses on as if he doesnt care. Many officials claim they dont give a damn about inside the Beltway opinion; Tillerson seems to mean it. The latest instance of Tillerson clashing with his subordinates, according to Reuters, was a dissent memo from about a dozen Foreign Service officers accusing him of giving Iraq, Burma and Afghanistan a pass on a federal law opposing the use of child soldiers. That's just one example of internal criticism from the unhappiest State Department I've seen in more than 30 years of covering Foggy Bottom. Tillerson often seems out of sync with President Trump on major issues, including North Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Lebanon. And White House insiders have been predicting for months that this marriage cant last. Yet it not only continues, but on many areas of supposed disagreement, Trump has ended up adopting, more or less, the diplomatic course that Tillerson recommended. Tillerson has one secret survival weapon: Hes running a three-legged race, figuratively speaking, alongside Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, who respects Tillersons judgment and stays aligned with him through all the palace intrigue. Trump may not be a soul mate of his secretary of state, but hes not going to pick a fight with Mattis. Two policy areas where Tillersons approach seems to have the presidents support, despite noise to the contrary, are dialogue with China on the North Korea crisis and cooperation with Russia to stabilize Syria. Administration policy could change at any moment, given the iron whim of the man in the Oval Office. But the persistence of diplomacy is one of the little-noted facets of this most undiplomatic presidents first year. U.S. engagement with China was the centerpiece of Trumps Asia trip this month. But observers overlooked one of Tillersons signature initiatives: During the Beijing visit, the United States continued a high-level, secret dialogue with China about how to secure North Koreas nuclear weapons if the regime implodes. Tillerson lobbies China to encourage talks with the Kim Jong Un regime, even as the administration keeps escalating pressure. Two more turns of the screw came this week: On Monday, Pyongyang was returned to the list of state sponsors of terrorism; on Tuesday, the United States applied new sanctions to Chinese and North Korean companies. But Tillerson cautioned that even as the United States seeks more pressure points, there's no "silver bullet." Asked how the Chinese are helping, a U.S. official noted last weekend's visit to Pyongyang by a high-level Chinese emissary. The message was that the administration is still pursuing the Sino-American diplomatic track, along with sanctions and military options. Trump and Tillerson also share the unpopular but probably inescapable view that the United States must work with Russia to stabilize Syria. Russia's centrality in the miserable Syrian war was dramatized anew by President Vladimir Putin's meeting Monday with President Bashar al-Assad, who thanked the Russian leader for "saving our country." Putin will enhance his leverage as regional broker when he meets Wednesday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Putin has emerged as a dominant force in Syria, and he wants to play the peacemaker there now, but he doesn't hold all the cards. U.S. allies control big swaths of Syrian territory, and they're the missing pieces of Putin's peace process. Tillerson, working with America's partners, has pushed for a resumption of U.N.-organized peace talks in Geneva. A meeting there is now scheduled for Nov. 28, followed by a gathering in Sochi, Russia, on Dec. 2. These talks aren't a cure-all; but they can help reduce Syria's violence and begin a gradual political transition. Trump made the Russia connection personal with an hour-long phone call Tuesday with Putin, discussing Syria, Ukraine and North Korea. Trump may get hammered for it, but the conversation was sensible, and it capitalized on Tillerson's patient spadework. Tillerson is famously a former Boy Scout. He talked in 2014 about the character-building value of suffering in silence, during a "frog-strangler" downpour as a 12-year-old Scout. Trump has tested Tillerson's determination and dignity, but this Thanksgiving, the secretary of state is still at the table. Twitter: @IgnatiusPost Read more from David Ignatius's archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. IN ITS crusade against so-called sanctuary jurisdictions, the Trump administration is on an impressive judicial losing streak, having been slapped down in federal courts from San Francisco to Philadelphia. It remains undeterred, as the Justice Department girds for more battles whose stakes a few million dollars in federal funds withheld from offending cities make a mockery of the dire rhetoric deployed by officials in Washington. The administration is wrong on the law and the principle. It has no valid legal justification for its insistence that state and local law enforcement officers act as proxies for federal immigration agents and no basis for threatening to withhold funding if they refuse. By seeking to compel such conduct, the administration ignores police and prosecutors who warn that driving a wedge between law enforcement and immigrant communities will erode public safety. On Monday, a federal judge in San Francisco permanently blocked President Trump's executive order seeking to deny funding to uncooperative localities, but the administration shows no sign of giving up the fight. Just last week, the Justice Department threatened to withhold grant funding from three states (Illinois, Oregon and Vermont) and the District of Columbia, as well as 25 localities in California, Mississippi, Kentucky, Florida, New Mexico, Massachusetts and Washington state. It has suggested, without evidence, that sanctuary policies are driving up crime. After a federal judge in Philadelphia last week slapped down the administration's threat to pull $1.6 million in law enforcement grants, a Justice Department spokesman, Devin O'Malley, issued a statement attempting to link the city's spike in murders this year to its policies. In fact, there is zero evidence that rising homicides in Philadelphia are related to noncitizens who commit crimes at no greater rate than citizens, according to the citys police commissioner let alone to undocumented immigrants who might be in federal custody if not for local policies. Its worth noting that undocumented immigrants are arrested, prosecuted and convicted with no less fervor than citizens, even in so-called sanctuary localities. The administration hopes it can bully localities into more cooperation with federal deportation agents by threatening to withhold funding. But several of the most common so-called sanctuary policies for instance, barring local police from inquiring about a suspects immigration status and refusing to detain prisoners beyond their jail terms at the request of federal agents are not prohibited by any federal law. Most jurisdictions seek to balance information-sharing and other forms of cooperation with federal authorities with their interest in forging ties to immigrant communities. The judge in Philadelphia, in ruling against the administration's threat to withhold funding, found the city had done just that, creating no conflict. As it happens, the grants the feds wanted to withhold in that case would have covered, among other items, drugs used by first responders to save the lives of opioid overdose victims. How would that have been in the public interest? MAKE NO mistake about the meaning of the Trump administration's decision Monday to expel nearly 60,000 Haitians who have lived legally in the United States since a massive earthquake devastated their homeland in 2010: The world's richest and most powerful country is intentionally giving the Western Hemisphere's poorest and most vulnerable nation a gratuitous kick in the rear end. It is doing so despite the pleadings of the Haitian government and the assessment of experts, including those in the U.S. government, who portray Haiti and its supine economy as ill-equipped to absorb the wave of migrants that may be triggered by the administration's move. It is doing so despite the additional calamities nature has visited upon Haiti since the earthquake namely, a lethal cholera epidemic and, last year, a direct hit from a ferocious hurricane. It is doing so despite the fact that most of the Haitians are gainfully employed. And those facing removal have nearly 30,000 U.S.-born children American citizens who will be separated either from their family or from the country of their birth and upbringing. In announcing the decision, the Department of Homeland Security said it had decided to terminate the humanitarian program, known as Temporary Protected Status, because conditions in Haiti had improved. "Since the 2010 earthquake, the number of displaced people in Haiti has decreased by 97 percent," the department said in a statement. It also said, "Significant steps have been taken to improve the stability and quality of life for Haitian citizens, and Haiti is able to safely receive traditional levels of returned citizens." That assertion is not just unsubstantiated; it is specious. According to the World Bank, nearly a quarter of Haitians live on less than $1.23 per day, a level of extreme poverty rare in the Western Hemisphere; almost 60 percent live under the national poverty line of $2.41 per day. Unemployment is thought to be in the range of 40 percent. The agricultural sector, which accounts for more than a fifth of the economy and nearly 40 percent of its workers, is anemic. About half the country's population is undernourished, and chronic malnutrition among children is widespread. Acting homeland security secretary Elaine Duke issued her decision just 13 months after Hurricane Matthew ripped across Haiti, inflicting damage equivalent to a third of the country's gross domestic product. Partly because of the natural disasters, economic growth has slowed to just 1 percent. How can Haiti absorb the nearly 60,000 people who now have temporary protected status in the United States, to say nothing of their nearly 30,000 children? In short, it cannot. A country with few jobs and little opportunity, it suffers from chronic corruption and inept economic management. In the World Bank's ease of doing business index, Haiti ranks 181st of 190 countries. Under those circumstances, the administrations decision to rescind the humanitarian status that allowed so many Haitians to live in the United States amounts to an act of cruelty. It is a beggar-thy-neighbor policy unworthy of a great power and unsuited to a nation with a tradition of compassion. An abandoned home in La Presa, one of the hundreds of unincorporated towns that dot the U.S.-Mexico border near Laredo, Tex. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post) Parker Abt is a research fellow at the University of Pennsylvanias Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy. In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, Americans in Puerto Rico have spent weeks without reliable access to clean water, electricity and cellphone service. The conditions on the ground remain deplorable, with shattered homes and damaged infrastructure everywhere. But what if hundreds of thousands of Americans lived in these conditions for generations and no one noticed? Thats exactly what some border communities in Texas experience on a daily basis: third-world conditions compounded by public and official indifference to their plight. In the colonias of the American Southwest, hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens have lived without running water for decades (not to mention the lack of electricity, sewage treatment and drainage). Homes are built without regard for safety codes or regulations. The result is structures that look like shacks, hastily built by residents with little money and even less construction expertise. Some colonia houses have dirt floors and fit a full family in a single room. Many families in the colonias live on less than $250 a week. I visited one colonia this past summer where a family showed me the blackened shell of their house, which burned to the ground after firefighters took 30 minutes to arrive at the scene. One might think that colonias are just communities of immigrants living in the United States illegally, but most colonia residents are full-fledged American citizens. As citizens and taxpayers, residents demand and deserve the same basic government services as everyone else. This begs the question: How does the United States, one of the richest countries in the world, allow third-world shantytowns to exist within its borders and house its citizens? Colonias are communities usually built near the U.S.-Mexico border by poor Hispanic immigrants. For the federal government, the defining element of a colonia is that it has no access to clean water. These communities are the result of Texass light regulatory system combined with the construction of colonias on cheap, unused land outside of established city limits. Colonia land is so cheap partly because it is prone to flooding. Children often have trouble attending school because they cannot reach school buses after overnight thunderstorms flood the streets near their houses. This further deprives families of education as a path out of poverty. The flooding and generally poor sanitary conditions also produce contaminated wastewater where diseases flourish. Colonias have high rates of diseases rarely found in developed countries, such as tuberculosis, typhoid and dysentery. It was a threat of a cholera outbreak in the 1980s that spurred federal inquiries into the colonias. When the government does provide services to colonias, its effort can be woefully inadequate. For years, residents of the Cyndie Park II colonias outside Corpus Christi, Tex., drank well water contaminated with arsenic, a highly toxic carcinogen. After finally confirming in 2011 that the water contained arsenic, it took the state six years to allocate money for city water pipes. The county didnt tell the residents there was arsenic in the water and they kept drinking it, said Lionel Lopez, director of the South Texas Colonia Initiative, which has aided Corpus Christi colonias for decades. Lots of people there get cancer early. Hurricane Harvey, which made landfall as a Category 4 storm near Corpus Christi, was a near-catastrophe for the colonias. Help from relief groups such as the Red Cross and the Federal Emergency Management Agency was essentially nonexistent. Lopez said that when residents applied for FEMA aid, they were told they didn't qualify. Meanwhile, county and state governments are slow to act during crises. There was a push for funding to provide water and other services in these communities in the early 1990s following the cholera outbreak threat, but those efforts have since faded away. Texas, where more than 90 percent of colonias are located, heavily cut colonias aid programs this year. Particularly harmful was the firing of all the state's ombudsmen, local citizens who specialize in connecting the colonias to government aid programs and block grant sources. That's typical of government responses to colonias. Lawmakers only kick into gear when news of cholera spreads and newspaper headlines describe colonias as "third world." Then they pull back slowly as pressure dies down. It is a travesty that the United States leaves citizens without access to clean water. As the federal government continues to aid Puerto Rico after its catastrophe, it should also remember those in the mainland colonias who have gone without basic services for decades. We cannot allow the colonias to recede into obscurity yet again. The Nov. 17 Reliable Source article "Miranda Cosgrove for marine mammals" highlighted the actress for lobbying to protect marine mammals from seismic surveys (essentially at-sea explosions by the oil and gas industry to find oil and gas deposits). But the article didn't discuss the reason she was lobbying: a bill (H.R. 4239) that could be disastrous for marine mammal protection. The provisions of the bill would remove the legal restrictions on limiting "takes" (including harassment and injury) of marine mammals (whales, dolphins, seals, manatees, sea otters and polar bears) to just small geographic areas and small numbers, they would make it harder for government agencies to properly review the impacts of activities, and they would make it much harder for agencies to require mitigation measures to protect marine mammals from harm. These provisions, tucked into an energy bill, could be disastrous for U.S. populations of marine mammals, especially the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale and the recently discovered Gulf of Mexico Bryde's whale (sometimes referred to as the Great American whale or Gulf whale). It would be good to see this environmentally devastating bill seriously discussed elsewhere in The Post. E.C.M. Parsons, Fairfax ONE OF the most important functions the federal government performs is the decennial census, which not only provides a demographic snapshot of the country but also determines how much representation each state gets in Congress. It has been a thankfully nonpartisan effort in past years, run by experienced professionals who offered critics little basis on which to accuse them of tilting the count. The Trump administration might soon break that tradition. The latest reason for concern came into view Tuesday, in a Politico report revealing that President Trump might name Thomas Brunell, a professor at the University of Texas at Dallas, to be deputy director of the Census Bureau. He would be a poor choice. Though he is a serious academic, there is nothing in Mr. Brunell's background suggesting he is qualified to run a large government bureaucracy in general or the Census Bureau in particular. Previous Census Bureau leaders generally served extensively in government roles directly related to the bureau's work. Mr. Brunell has not. These facts have led many to wonder why Trump administration officials might want Mr. Brunell running the bureau. The answer may lie in his past work helping Republicans in electoral map cases, or in some of his views on voting issues. Mr. Brunell has criticized partisan gerrymandering but also early voting and nonpartisan redistricting commissions. Something of an iconoclast in his field, he is most notable among political scientists for arguing that electoral districts should be drawn to maximize the proportion of like-minded voters in each, limiting the number of competitive seats on electoral maps. None of this proves that Mr. Brunell would run a partisan Census Bureau. But his political affiliations and previous work would nevertheless harm perceptions of the bureaus integrity, an institution in which Americans must have complete faith. His possible appointment has inflamed preexisting worries that the Trump administration will meddle with the count. Of particular concern is the possibility that the president would order that census forms ask about immigration status, which would result in low response rates and, potentially, massive undercounts in minority communities. Republicans in Congress have badly underfunded the census the past several years, leading the bureau to cancel or put off important programs, which could harm the quality of the 2020 count. This fact alone argues for picking Census Bureau leaders seasoned in government operations and ready to take on a huge management challenge. Mr. Brunell, Politico reported, was considered for the Census Bureaus top job, but opposition in Congress nixed that plan. Unlike candidates for the directors job, those picked to be deputy director do not need Senate confirmation. If tapped, Mr. Brunell could start immediately, even while the bureau lacks a confirmed director. That would be damaging to an enterprise already at risk. Mr. Trump should find someone else. By Joseph Kato: Over 30 taxi operators have been arrested in Kampala following the chaos that erupted at Old Taxi Park when Kampala Capital City Authority law enforcers launched a crackdown of those who have defaulted on payment of monthly dues. There were ugly scenes as taxi drivers resisted KCCAs arrest and clamping of their vehicles. Police was called in swiftly to intervene after the rowdy drivers surrounded KCCA officials putting their livese at stake. The chaos that started from the Old Taxi Park spread to other roads including Kampala Road where the drivers blocked the city square junction paralyzing traffic flow for more than 15 minutes. Police commanded by Kampala Central Police Station, police commander, Joseph Bakaleke, used batons to disperse the taxi operators. Bakaleke says those arrested people were not drivers but goons ferried from Nankulabye, Katwe and Makerere to antangonise KCCAs lawful exercise. Melanie Sloan in 2015. (Meredith Dake/CQ Roll Call/AP) A high-profile Washington lawyer specializing in congressional ethics said Wednesday that Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) harassed and verbally abused her when she worked for him on Capitol Hill in the 1990s and that her repeated appeals for help to congressional leadership were ignored. There was nothing I could do to stop it, Melanie Sloan said in an interview. Not going to leadership, not going to my boss, not going to a womens group, not going to a reporter. I was dismissed and told I must be mentally unstable. Sloan, the former executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), was hired by Conyers in 1995 as minority counsel to the House Judiciary Committee, where he served as the ranking Democrat. She held the job until 1998. During that time, Sloan said, she witnessed and experienced behavior by Conyers similar to episodes described in claims against him that on Tuesday prompted the House Ethics Committee to open an investigation. In addition to accusations of sexual misconduct, the claims against Conyers included mistreatment of staff. Sloan said she did not believe she was sexually harassed by the congressman, but she said his behavior toward her was inappropriate and abusive. She said she was speaking publicly after seeing Conyers dismiss former staff members accounts of misconduct. Sloan said that Conyers routinely yelled at and berated her, often criticizing her appearance. On one occasion, she said, he summoned her to his Rayburn Building office, where she found him in his underwear. I was pretty taken aback to see my boss half-dressed, she said. I turned on my heel and I left. Arnold Reed, Conyerss legal counsel, denied Sloans allegations and said Conyers will address complaints about his conduct after Thanksgiving. Representative Conyers has never done anything inappropriate to Melanie Sloan, he said. Sloan is the first former Conyers staff member to speak on the record about the 88-year-old congressman, the longest-serving member of the House and the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. She said she kept quiet about the incidents for 20 years because her earlier complaints were not taken seriously. She agreed to speak about her experience with Conyers after a Washington Post reporter contacted her. The reason I decided to go on the record is to make it easier for other people, she said. People are afraid to come forward. So much about working in Washington is about loyalty, and you are supposed to shut up about these things. Sloan said she complained repeatedly about Conyerss behavior to her supervisor and contacted a senior staff member in the office of then-Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.), the House minority leader at the time. Gephardt said Wednesday that he did not recall Sloan raising concerns and was unaware of issues in Conyerss office. But he said congressional leadership needs to see through proposed legislation to change how harassment and abuse allegations are handled on Capitol Hill. This behavior, whenever it occurs, is reprehensible and cant be tolerated, Gephardt said. The accusations against Conyers are surfacing as liberals and conservatives in Congress wrestle with mounting pressure to change Capitol Hill culture. At a hearing this month, female lawmakers said current members of Congress had groped and exposed themselves to female staffers. Lawmakers have introduced bills that would change the handling of sexual harassment and abuse complaints. After leaving Capitol Hill, Sloan played a leading role in congressional ethics investigations as CREWs executive director. She wrote the 2004 complaint that led the House Ethics Committee to admonish then-Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) and a 2011 complaint against Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), who was forced to resign. She now is senior adviser to another Washington-based watchdog group, American Oversight. The Conyers investigation began less than 24 hours after BuzzFeed News reported a 2015 settlement between Conyers and an unidentified former employee over claims of sexual harassment. On Tuesday morning, Conyers initially denied to the Associated Press that he had settled sexual harassment claims, but he later acknowledged the settlement. I expressly and vehemently denied the allegations made against me, and continue to do so, Conyers said in a statement. In addition to the unidentified employee in the settlement, a former scheduler, Maria Reddick, filed a legal claim against Conyers in February saying that Conyers engaged in inappropriate sexual advances toward her and created a hostile work environment. Her complaint alleged that Conyers engaged in behavior such as rubbing on her shoulders, kissing her forehead, making inappropriate comments, covering and attempting to hold her hand. She said she requested to go through the formal counseling process run by the congressional Office of Compliance and subsequently requested mediation, the next step. It is unclear whether the claim was resolved. Reddick, representing herself in the case, asked the judge to seal the case to protect Conyerss reputation. The judge denied her motion. Reddick voluntarily dismissed her lawsuit in March. Reddick did not return calls for comment. The lawsuit was first reported by BuzzFeed News, which did not name Reddick. Conyerss spokeswoman said, The former staffer voluntarily decided to drop the case. Sloan said she feels a responsibility to speak up now because she knows that many young women on the Hill frequently in low-level, low-paying positions have less power than she did as a practicing attorney there. If that happened to me, and Im a pretty strong person, what is happening to everyone else? she said. Julie Tate and Alice Crites contributed to this report. The Washington Post is examining workplace violations on Capitol Hill and the process for reporting them. To contact a reporter, please email kimberly.kindy@washpost.com, michelle.lee@washpost.com or elise.viebeck@washpost.com. Senate candidate Roy Moores campaign refused Wednesday to substantiate a key claim it made as part of an effort to raise doubts about one of the Alabama candidates accusers. The campaign has claimed to have found documents that show Leigh Corfman lived more than a mile from the intersection where she said Moore picked her up for dates in 1979, when she was 14 and he was 32. She says he took her to his house and touched her inappropriately. Moore has denied knowing Corfman. According to records the media has not bothered to look at, weve been able to find that Corfmans supposed pickup place was almost a mile away from her mothers house and would have been across a major thoroughfare, Ben DuPre, a longtime aide to Moore, said at an event Tuesday in Montgomery. This is yet another improbable fact in Leigh Corfmans own words and story that the media has not bothered to investigate. Corfman and her mother, Nancy, told The Washington Post that they lived at the time on Whittier Street in Gadsden, Ala., around the corner from Alcott Road and Riley Street, where Leigh says she met Moore. Nancy Corfman said she kept that address from 1974 until February 1981, when she relocated with her new husband to a house on Dogwood Circle in Gadsden, which is about a mile away across a major thoroughfare. A police report about property theft published in the Gadsden Times on March 31, 1980, listed Nancy Corfman's address on Whittier Street. [Trump boosts Moore in Ala. Senate race despite sexual misconduct allegations] The Post requested documentation to support DuPres description of another address on Tuesday, and a spokeswoman for the Moore campaign said she would try to respond. On Wednesday morning, after another request for the information, Brett Doster, a strategist for the Moore campaign, sent an email to The Post. The Washington Post is a worthless piece of crap that has gone out of its way to railroad Roy Moore, Doster wrote in an email he described as an on the record statement. There is no need for anyone at the Washington Post to ever reach out to the Roy Moore campaign again because we will not respond to anyone from the Post now or in the future. Happy Thanksgiving. DuPre claimed Tuesday that the news media had not reviewed the available legal filings at the Etowah County courthouse for the custody dispute that Leigh Corfman says led her to meet Moore in February 1979. In fact, The Post obtained and reviewed the entire case file before publishing an article on Corfman. DuPre described what he called four problems with Corfmans story, including the claim of a different address. The evidence he presented did not contradict what Corfman has told The Post. First, DuPre said that court files showed that her parents were attempting to transfer custody of their daughter from the mother to the father. Second, he noted that her parents had described in legal filings concerns for their daughters behavior after their separation. Neither fact is in dispute, and both were known to The Post before publication. DuPre also pointed to a Breitbart story that quoted Corfmans mother saying there was no phone in her daughters room in 1979. Both Leigh Corfman and her mother have said they had a phone on a long cord in the hallway that could be brought into the daughters room, where the younger Corfman says she spoke with Moore. John Adams once said, Facts are stubborn things, DuPre said at the end of his remarks Tuesday. We urge the press to do its job. Alice Crites contributed to this report. President Trump talks to reporters as he departed with his family to his Mar-a-Lago resort Tuesday. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) President Trump gave a boost Tuesday to embattled Republican candidate Roy Moore in the Alabama Senate race, warning against a Democratic victory and emphasizing that the former judge "totally denies" allegations of inappropriate relationships with teenage girls. We dont need a liberal person in there, a Democrat, Trump said about Moores opponent, former federal prosecutor Doug Jones, who has led in some recent polls in the state. Ive looked at his record. Its terrible on crime. Its terrible on the border. Its terrible on military. The comments came after a week in which other Republican leaders in Washington, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), had cut ties with Moore and called on him to exit the race. They also stood in contrast to Trumps own support for the Republican National Committees decision last week to pull resources from the state, including 14 paid staffers and expertise in using party data to target voters and model the election result. There were no signs Tuesday that the RNC would reverse course, but a senior administration official said the presidents comments could prompt a larger effort to close ranks behind Moore. Normally there would be an outside group dumping $2 or $3 million attacking Doug Joness record, the official said after the president spoke. And now that the president has warned against having a liberal Democrat in that seat, that could be taken as signal to the outside groups. [A new poll makes it crystal clear: Sexual harassment is not a dealbreaker in todays Republican Party] Trump spoke as sexual harassment and abuse scandals continued to roil the nations political landscape. In Congress, new allegations of harassment emerged Tuesday against Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) released a statement calling for an ethics investigation of the matter. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) also faces an ethics probe after admitting to grabbing at the chest of a woman for a photograph while she slept before he was in Congress. Trump who during the presidential campaign was accused by 11 women of unwanted touching or kissing and was caught on tape boasting of grabbing women's genitals without their consent declined to comment directly on the allegations against Conyers or Franken but said he was happy that the misbehavior was becoming public. A lot of things are coming out, and I think thats good for our society, and I think its very, very good for women, and Im very happy a lot of these things are coming out, and Im very happy its being exposed, he said on the South Lawn of the White House before leaving for Florida, where he will spend the Thanksgiving holiday. As an aside, he noted that Moore's accusers had supported his campaign. "The women are Trump voters," he said. "Most of them are Trump voters." Just before the president spoke, Moore campaign surrogates issued a statement in Montgomery, saying they had evidence that cast doubt on the allegations of Leigh Corfman, who says she was touched sexually by Moore when she was 14 and he was in his 30s. The evidence they presented did not contradict Corfmans story. Ben DuPre, a longtime aide to Moore, displayed documents he said were from the Corfman familys divorce file. The Post had obtained and reviewed a copy of the divorce file before publishing Corfmans story. He noted that her parents had concerns at the time, following a divorce, regarding Leighs behavioral problems, a fact that is not contested. DuPre also claimed that Corfman lived nearly a mile away from the intersection of Alcott Road and Riley Street in Gadsden, Ala., where she says Moore picked her up. It was not clear what address DuPre was referring to. Corfman and her mother told The Post they lived at the time on Whittier Street, which is just around the corner from the alleged pickup point. DuPre also pointed to a Breitbart article in which Corfmans mother is quoted saying that there was no phone in her daughters room at the time. Both Corfman and her mother have said they had a phone on a long cord in the hallway that could be brought into Leigh Corfmans room. [President Trump just endorsed Roy Moore, for all intents and purposes] The RNC broke ties with Moore on Nov. 14 as the president was returning from Asia. There was, however, some disagreement inside the administration at the time about the best path forward. All the right political people were not read into that decision, said the senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly knew about the decision and was part of the discussion. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders later said the president supported the decision. But over the past week, the White House position began to change. In a Fox & Friends interview Monday morning, presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway tacitly supported Moore by talking about the importance of keeping Jones, whom she cast as a doctrinaire liberal, from winning Alabamas Senate seat a message that was deliberate, one White House official said. Conway alerted Trump in advance that she planned to make the argument against Jones, and the president agreed with the strategy, saying he was eager to see what the response was, the official said. White House aides also realized that Trump had come around to that approach stressing the importance of keeping the seat in Republican control when he began making the argument privately. Although his comments to the news media Tuesday afternoon were unplanned, aides were not surprised when Trump made them. In recent days, Trump had also begun expressing skepticism in private about the allegations against Moore. The president pointed to the presence of Gloria Allred a well-known lawyer for sexual misconduct cases, who is representing one of Moores accusers as well as the timing of the accusations, so close to the election, as indicators of a political attack on Moore. Democrats have dominated the broadcast airwaves in Alabama for weeks, spending more than seven times as much as Moore on television and radio ads, according to a Democrat and a Republican tracking the ad data. The latest ad by Jones plays back criticism of Moore that Ivanka Trump, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.) gave in the aftermath of allegations that Moore made unwanted advances on teenage girls. [What Trump has said about assault allegations against Franken, Moore, Clinton and himself] Ivanka Trump, the presidents daughter, is quoted as saying of the Moore allegations: Theres a special place in hell for people who prey on children. Sessions is quoted from a congressional hearing where he was asked about the Moore story: I have no reason to doubt these young women. And Shelby, who has been critical of Moore, is quoted about his plan to write in another name on the ballot. The ad targets Republicans and Republican-leaning voters who make up a majority of the state. The goal is to give them permission to vote for a Democrat in the Dec. 12 special election. Most Alabamians havent voted for a Democrat for U.S. Senate in a generation, said Zac McCrary, an Alabama-based pollster for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. You are butting up against a generation of Republican muscle memory, At a short Tuesday afternoon news conference, Jones smiled faintly as a reporter read back Trumps criticism of him as a soft on crime liberal. As a federal prosecutor, Jones obtained convictions in the early 2000s of two members of the Ku Klux Klan for their role in the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., which killed four young African American girls. I feel like my record speaks for itself, Jones said. I know my record on crime and criminal justice issues. I know my record on everything else. Weve got three weeks to go, and people are going to make that judgment. Asked if he considered Moore to be a sexual predator, Jones said he was less interested in characterizing his opponent than in listening to the accusers. I believe the women. I think that answers the question, he said. Im not going to call names. With three weeks to go until the vote, it is unclear if a Republican-leaning outside group will invest in the race to attack Jones. Ed Rollins, chairman of the pro-Trump Great America PAC, said that while his group has not made any decisions about what money to invest in Alabama going forward, any future ads probably would be attacking Jones rather than overtly supporting Moore. We think its always important that you get someone who is going to be a pro-Trump supporter, Rollins said. Obviously Alabamians are going to make up their mind. The only advertising weve done to date has been anti-Jones. Weve not made any decisions, but if we did anything else, it would be along the same lines. Weigel reported from Huntsville, Ala. Sean Sullivan and David Nakamura in Washington contributed to this report. President Trump and Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang participate in a welcome ceremony at the presidential palace in Hanoi on Nov. 12. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters) Three military personnel have been reassigned from their White House jobs amid allegations that they had improper contact with foreign women while traveling with President Trump on his recent trip to Asia, according to officials familiar with the situation. The service members worked for the White House Communications Agency, a specialized military unit that helps provide the president, vice president, Secret Service and other officials with secure communications. The military is scrutinizing three Army noncommissioned officers who allegedly broke curfew during Trumps trip to Vietnam this month, officials said. Mark Wright, a spokesman for the Defense Department, confirmed that the Pentagon is examining the behavior of personnel during the visit to Vietnam. We are aware of the incident, and it is currently under investigation, Wright said. If found guilty, the service members face the risk of losing their security clearances or could be subject to administrative discipline or courts-martial. Trump visited Vietnam as part of a 12-day swing through Asia. The episode comes after four military personnel on the same White House team faced allegations related to their behavior during a trip to Panama in August with Vice President Pence. Those men two from the Army and two from the Air Force stood accused of taking foreign women after hours into a secure area as they were preparing for Pences arrival, officials said. They were flown home before Pence arrived and stripped of their White House assignments pending the findings of the investigation, officials said. Army Col. Amanda I. Azubuike, a military spokeswoman, said an investigation into the Panama case has been closed and the findings forwarded to senior military officials for review. She said she was not aware of the final conclusions or disciplinary action. NBC previously reported that military members on the Panama trip had been removed from White House duty. Service members with high-level security clearances are expected to report contacts with foreign individuals to ensure that their interactions do not compromise national security. The mission of the White House Communications Agency is to prevent eavesdropping on presidential communications and to ensure that White House officials can be securely reached worldwide at a moments notice. The agency is part of the White House Military Office, a team of technical personnel traveling worldwide to support presidential trips. The communications agency employs 1,200 staffers drawn from all branches of the military. Many of its personnel are assigned to White House duties on four-year tours. Spokesmen for Trump and Pence declined to comment and referred questions to the office of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. The alleged misconduct on back-to-back White House trips comes five years after a high-profile episode involving Secret Service agents on a presidential trip. In April 2012, 13 Secret Service agents and officers were flown back to Washington from Cartagena, Colombia, after being accused of taking prostitutes back to their hotel rooms. The men were supposed to be preparing for President Barack Obamas arrival for an economic summit in the seaside resort. Ten lost their jobs. The scandal raised concerns that prostitutes had access to the agents rooms and possibly classified information about the presidents movements. The Secret Service director at the time, Mark Sullivan, testified to Congress that the episode was humiliating but said there was never a risk to the president. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), seen here in a file photo, has issued statements but has not spoken publicly about recent accusations of sexual misconduct. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post) Faced with a wide range of personal or ethical questions, some politicians are trying out an old strategy that has long been considered obsolete: hiding out. Rather than publicly confronting the issues, they have had aides issue statements sometimes denying allegations, sometimes apologizing and then have simply declined to talk much further about the issues. The strategy appears designed in part to avoid saying something that could be contradicted by others, but there is also an underlying sense that voters cannot pay attention to one thing for long in the nonstop-news era of President Trump that if they just keep their heads down, particularly over the holiday weekend, people will forget about the unanswered questions. There's Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), who felt compelled to apologize when two women accused him of inappropriate sexual conduct. Franken was last seen in public on the morning of Nov. 16 at a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee, on which he sits. He disappeared before the hearing began, just before the first allegation against him appeared online. Franken's apologies have included suggestions that he remembers the incidents differently, but he has declined to explain his side of things, even to news media in Minnesota. He has not returned to the state and is instead holed up in his family's home in Washington's Tenleytown neighborhood this week, even though Congress is not in session. Republican Senate nominee Roy Moore of Alabama has issued repeated denials since The Washington Post published a story two weeks ago in which four women said he pursued them romantically when they were teenagers and Moore was in his 30s. Several more similar allegations have surfaced since, but Moore has submitted to only one detailed interview about the allegations, on Sean Hannity's radio show. It went poorly, prompting most leading Republicans in Washington to declare that they believe Moores accusers and to ask him to withdraw from the race. Woman says Roy Moore initiated sexual encounter when she was 14, he was 32 This head-in-the-sand approach has confounded some in the capital. "Sen. Al Franken crisis strategy: hide out in DC for Thanksgiving, hoping this blows over and people quickly forget. Better to hold a Minnesota news conference before Turkey Day and apologize to voters who elected you," Ron Bonjean, a Republican crisis communications expert, tweeted Sunday. Bonjean has experienced these matters firsthand. Fifteen years ago, he served as a top adviser to Trent Lott (R-Miss.), who was poised to reclaim the post of Senate majority leader after the GOPs successful 2002 midterms. But about a month later, Lott made a racially insensitive joke at a celebration of Sen. Strom Thurmonds 100th birthday, leading to a reevaluation of Lotts previous statements on civil rights. Rather than quickly making a public appearance to explain himself, as some friends suggested, Lott chose to issue a few prepared statements, then went on a private trip to Florida before flying home to Mississippi for the holidays. Almost 10 days into the scandal, Lott finally gave in to demands from his colleagues and did a TV interview. He went on BET with Tavis Smiley and tried to answer every painful question. The damage was already too deep. He resigned his leadership post three days later. Lott rejected then what had become a commonly accepted practice of getting out in front of bad news on your own terms. The term "Friday news dump" came from that era, signifying when administrations announce bad news late in the week, admitting mistakes publicly but timing the release of information to get the least attention. Another violation of this principle is happening in Detroit, where Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) is not explaining what happened in his office to cause a nearly $30,000 payout to a former female staffer who said he sexually harassed her. Conyers answered the door to his home Tuesday when the Associated Press sought him out, but his answers were contradictory and confused. Since then, he has spoken only through legalistic statements issued by his staff. Bonjean believes the old rules still apply, particularly in the prevailing charged environment in which allegations of sexual misconduct by powerful men are roiling industries from Hollywood to Washington. What Franken, Conyers and Moore are underestimating is the anger of female voters out there. Its not going away for these guys, Bonjean said in an interview. Better to deliver your message on your own terms. By not addressing these issues, the lawmakers create the impression that they are hiding something. SNL goes after former cast member Al Franken, briefly In Kentucky, Sen. Rand Paul (R) has refused to talk about an attack on him allegedly by a next-door neighbor in Bowling Green during which six of Paul's ribs were broken. Paul is the victim here, not the assailant, but for nearly three weeks, his silence has helped propel speculation. On Wednesday, his wife, Kelley Paul, published an op-ed saying her husband now has pneumonia and denying that there was any "ongoing dispute" with the neighbor. She called the attack "deliberate" and complained about media coverage of the matter. Her comments contradict the suggestions of the senators own friends that it was a property dispute that has lasted for years. Local authorities have charged the neighbor only with a misdemeanor. If federal authorities thought the matter was a politically motivated attack on a U.S. senator, they would have jurisdiction and could file charges, but they have not done so. The prototype for handling controversy may be the case of Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), who was arrested for drunken driving in Alexandria, Va., in December 2012, far away from his apartment on Capitol Hill. He went on what his aides called an apology tour that included interviews with Idaho media. Crapo is a Mormon who had said he does not drink alcohol, and his standing could have fallen apart under perceptions of hypocrisy. It is still unclear why he went for a drive far away from his apartment after drinking shots of vodka, but his voters accepted his full-fledged apology. Last year, his opponent raised questions about the arrest. Virginias disclosure laws are so restrictive that Idaho media could not obtain the detailed police report. The senator obtained the report himself and gave it to the media, leading to more stories about the most embarrassing night of his political career. He apologized again. He then won reelection by more than 35 percentage points. Read more from Paul Kane's archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. Located near Tysons Corner and Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, Shouse Village offers a wide range of split-levels, Colonials and ramblers. (Justin T. Gellerson/For The Washington Post) 1 of 14 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad Where We Live | Shouse Village in Vienna, Va. View Photos Easter, Valentines Day and Halloween parties help newcomers here quickly become acquainted with their neighbors. Caption Easter, Valentines Day and Halloween parties help newcomers here quickly become acquainted with their neighbors. Justin T. Gellerson Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. While the oft-quoted axiom no pain, no gain is typically associated with pursuits of physical fitness, the spirit behind the phrase seemed to perfectly sum up Colleen Ganjians desperate attempts several years ago to purchase her dream home, she said. Ganjian, who along with her husband was raising a 3-year-old daughter, had her sights set on finding a single-family house, with a two-car garage, in the Vienna neighborhood of Shouse Village. The only problem, she soon discovered, was that a lot of other buyers seemed to have the same idea, leaving relatively few real estate options in this sought-after section of Northern Virginia. Every night, Id sit at my computer, eyes red and tired, and Google the neighborhood searching for a house, said Ganjian, who at the time had just sold her townhouse in Alexandrias Cameron Station and was living with her husband and daughter in her mothers basement. I did a ton of research and determined that Shouse Village would be the perfect place to move, but it was really difficult finding a home. [Diversity and neighborliness are tucked away in Hanover, Md.s Patapsco Ridge] One night, while Ganjian searched for properties online, a house that fit her checklist popped up. Within 12 hours, shed made a full-price offer and crossed her fingers, she said. We didnt get it and I was so upset. It was devastating. She resumed her nightly searches and a few weeks later saw an ad on Craigslist for a house that would soon hit the market. She found an email address for the listing agent and sent a heartfelt pitch note. Finally, Ganjian had found her new home. Honestly, the house was kind of a train wreck inside. We had to put in a fortune to renovate it, but the neighborhood is so great that we just couldnt ask for a better place, said Ganjian, who moved two years ago to a 2,900-square-foot, six-bedroom, four-bathroom Colonial. Welcoming to families: Located near Tysons Corner and Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, Shouse Village, which was developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and named after Wolf Trap founder Catherine Filene Shouse, offers a wide range of split-levels, Colonials and ramblers, said Paula Stewart, a real estate agent with Weichert Realtors. Stewart, who lives in Shouse Village, said that buyers, especially those with children, are drawn to the community because they feel that its a welcoming place for families. Our family feels very safe in the neighborhood, and you will often see residents walking or children biking on the sidewalk-lined streets, she said. [Green space, friendliness and a little upheaval in D.C.s Michigan Park] Ray Hwang, who moved to Shouse Village in January, said that his family has really taken to the neighborhood and has enjoyed themed parties in celebration of Valentines Day, Easter and Halloween. Residents recognize new faces and are really welcoming, said Hwang, who lives in a four-bedroom, three-bathroom Colonial. There are quite a bit of opportunities for new residents to move in and meet lots of friendly people. Suzanne Keating, president of the Shouse Village Community Association and a 27-year resident, said that a healthy mix of newcomers easily combines with longtime residents to help maintain a shared sense of belonging. It is a community that you can age in, and I have, said Keating, who lives in a decent-sized five-bedroom, three-bathroom, split-level house on Towlston Road. People really look out for each other. If somebody needs help with their gutters or something else, we take care of each other. Shouse Village, which was developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, was named after Wolf Trap founder Catherine Filene Shouse. (Justin T. Gellerson/For The Washington Post) Living there: Shouse Village is roughly bordered by the Dulles Access Road (Route 267) on the south, Shouse Drive and homes along Towlston Road up to Route 7 on the north, Towlston Road on the east, and the intersection of Tuba Court and Laurlin Court to the west. In the past 12 months, eight properties have sold in Shouse Village, ranging from a 1,646-square-foot, four-bedroom, three-bathroom split-level house for $660,000 to a 2,800-square-foot, four-bedroom, three-bathroom Colonial for $868,000, said Stewart, the resident and real estate agent. There are no homes on the market or under contract in Shouse Village, Stewart said. Schools: Colvin Run Elementary, Longfellow Middle and McLean High. Transit: Shouse Village is less than three miles from the Spring Hill Station on Metro's Silver Line. The community is also served by a Metrobus stop at the entrance of the community at Route 7 and Towlston Road. Crime: In the past six months, there has been one report of an assault and one report of theft from a vehicle in the area that includes Shouse Village, according to Fairfax County Police. Several cozy seating areas make up the common area of 700 Constitution Ave. in Northeast Washington. The apartment building was once a hospital. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post) When Laura Kiker rented a new apartment in September, a few blocks from the Capitol, she knew she was moving into a historical neighborhood. She had no idea, though, that her new home, at 700 Constitution Ave. in Northeast Washington, was a former hospital dating back nearly a century. Today, she loves living in what used to be a patient room at what once was known as Eastern Dispensary Casualty Hospital, in a four-story building with wide hallways, high ceilings and restored post-World War II-style architecture. A spacious rooftop deck, a yoga studio and an indoor dog wash are added bonuses for Kiker and her dog, Stella. There is so much history in this town, its nice to live in a place that has its own, said Kiker, 30, a management consultant. Across the country, hospitals that have shut their doors are coming back to life in various ways: as affordable senior housing, as historical hotels and as condos, including some costing tens of millions in the heart of New Yorks Greenwich Village. The trend of converting hospitals to new uses has accelerated as real estate values have soared in many cities. At the same time, the demand for inpatient beds has declined, with the rise of outpatient surgery centers and a move toward shorter hospital stays. As health systems consolidate for financial reasons, they might prefer that patients visit their flagship hospital while buildings of smaller hospitals in their orbit get sold off especially if the latter have a disproportionate share of indigent patients. David Friend, chief transformation officer at the consulting firm BDO in Boston, said that real estate is one of urban hospitals most valuable assets. A hospital could be worth more dead than alive, he said. [Luxe sheds put a little serenity in the back yard of a crowded house] The number of hospitals in the United States has declined by 21 percent over the past four decades, from 7,156 in 1975 to 5,627 in 2014, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Even when the conversions make medical sense, they pull at the heartstrings of communities whose residents have an emotional attachment to hospitals where family members were born, cured or died. But they sometimes create health deserts in their wake. 1 of 14 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad From hospitals to housing View Photos Across the U.S., several institutions have been converted into apartments and condos. Caption Across the U.S., several institutions have been converted into apartments and condos. Katherine Frey Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. St. Vincents Hospital in New York treated survivors of the Titanics sinking in 1912, the first AIDS patients in the 1980s and victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001. But it filed for bankruptcy protection and closed seven years ago. Developer Rudin Management bought it for $260 million and transformed it into a high-end condo complex that opened in 2014. Former Starbucks chief executive Howard Schultz bought one of the condos for $40 million. Jen van de Meer, an assistant professor at the Parsons School for Design in New York, who lives in the neighborhood, said residents protests about the conversion were not just about the optics of a hospital that had long served the poor being repurposed. Now, if you are in cardiac arrest, the nearest hospital could be an hour drive in a taxi or 20 minutes in an ambulance across the city, van de Meer said. St. Vincents is one of at least 10 former hospitals in New York City that have been turned into residential housing over the past 20 years. Closing a hospital and converting it to another use is not exactly like renovating an old Howard Johnsons, said Jeff Goldsmith, a health industry consultant in Charlottesville. A hospital in a lot of places defines a community thats why its so hard to close them, said Goldsmith, who noted that after Martha Jefferson Hospital closed its downtown facility in 2009 to move closer to the interstate highway, an apartment building took its place. But many older hospitals are too outmoded to be renovated for todays medical needs and patient expectations. For example, early 20th-century layouts cannot accommodate large operating room suites and private rooms, Friend said. [Builders imagine homes of the future but some of their dreams are available today] Its all about location, location, location, Terry Busby, chief executive officer of Arlington-based Urban Structures, said when asked why former hospitals are being bought and redeveloped as housing. They are often in city centers near transits The entryway to 700 Constitution Ave. features murals of iconic D.C. sites. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post) Moreover, the buildings, with their wide hallways and high ceilings, are often easy to remake as luxury apartments. In some circumstances, a conversion provides a much-needed lift for the community. New York Cancer Hospital, which opened on Central Park West in 1887 and closed in 1976, was an abandoned and partially burned-out hulk by the time it was restored as a condo complex in 2005. Developer MCL Cos. paid $24 million for the property, branded 455 Central Park West. The building itself is fantastic and a landmark in every sense of the word, said Alex Herrera, director of technical services at the New York Landmarks Conservancy. He said that it retained some of its original 19th-century architecture. Likewise, Columbia Hospital for Women in the Districts fashionable West End, which had delivered more than 250,000 babies since it opened shortly after the Civil War, closed in 2002 and reopened in 2006 as condos with a rooftop swimming pool. Some former hospitals are used for purposes other than housing. In Santa Fe, N.M., St. Vincent Hospital moved into a new facility in 1977, and the old structure downtown was reborn as a state office building. Later, it was abandoned, and locals listed it as one of the spookiest places in town. In 2014, the building reopened yet again as the 141-room Drury Plaza Hotel. After Linda Vista Community Hospital, in Los Angeless Boyle Heights neighborhood, closed in the 1990s, the abandoned six-story building fell into disrepair its empty patient rooms, discarded medical equipment and aging corridors serving as sets for movies such as Pearl Harbor and Outbreak. AMCAL Multi-Housing bought the property in 2011 and redeveloped it into a low-income senior apartment house called Hollenbeck Terrace. [Top-of-the-market condos, with top-of-the-market restaurant downstairs] They really rescued a building with tremendous history . . . while providing really needed low-income senior housing, said Linda Dishman, chief executive officer of the Los Angeles Conservancy, a group dedicated to preserving and revitalizing historic structures. It is such an iconic building in the neighborhood. Nicky Cymrot, president of the Capitol Hill Community Foundation, a neighborhood group in Washington, said that when Specialty Hospital Capitol Hill sold off a little-used 100,000-square-foot wing of its facility that became 700 Constitution, neighbors weighed in with concerns about aesthetics and traffic. But by the time the apartment building opened early this year after a five-year, $40 million renovation, the response was positive. The original building, located at 700 Constitution Avenue NE, was built in 1905 when it was established as the Eastern Dispensary Casualty Hospital. Other additions date to 1928 and 1956. It was renamed Rogers Memorial Hospital in the 1950s and later became Specialty Hospital-Capitol Hill. The developers restored the 1928 portion of the building, and 1956 additions were altered with a rear addition and roof deck constructed. Specialty Hospital, renamed BridgePoint Hospital, a long-term care facility, remains open next door. The apartments are brand new, with stainless-steel appliances, including refrigerators, microwaves and gas stoves. A key feature of the units is thick walls that keep things quiet. The bathrooms have modern shower stalls with glass doors and large shower heads. All the units have LED track lighting and granite countertops, and washers and dryers. There is a parking garage below the building. Other amenities in the building include a yoga studio, fitness center and a spacious living room area on the ground floor with large television and a billiards table. The lighted rooftop is complete with plants and outdoor furniture, including chaise longues, as well as two large gas grills. From the roof, residents enjoy great sunsets and view of the Capitol, the Washington Monument and the Library of Congress. There is also patio seating in the courtyard in the back of the building. The building is halfway between Lincoln Park and Stanton Park, less than a 10-minute walk to Eastern Market Metro and less than 15 minutes from Union Station. Nearly half of the 139-unit building, where one-bedroom apartments rent for nearly $2,600 per month, is already leased. Sophie White, 28, who moved into 700 Constitution in the summer, watched the buildings transformation and renovation from a rental property a few blocks away. It used to be a blight on the neighborhood with unsavory people milling around it, she said. Now, its really a cool place to live. Gorman reported from Los Angeles. Kaiser Health News, a nonprofit health newsroom whose stories appear in news outlets nationwide, is an editorially independent part of the Kaiser Family Foundation. No medical drama is complete without a bold-yet-sensitive heartthrob doctor in a leading role. The incredible tale of a North Korean soldier's escape across the demilitarized zone last week is no exception. The McDreamy in this case is Lee Cook-jong, the trauma surgeon who has operated on the soldier several times and provided updates along the way including a video showing Lee picking 10-inch-long parasitic worms out of the man's intestines and his declaration Wednesday that the defector will survive. The patient is not going to die, Lee told reporters at Ajou University Hospital south of Seoul, announcing that the man had regained consciousness and was stable. Although he remains in the intensive care unit, he could be transferred to a general ward as soon as this weekend. The 24-year-old North Korean soldier, who has been identified only by his surname, Oh, was shot five times as he made his brazen escape Nov. 13. Closed-circuit television footage released by the U.S. military on Wednesday showed Oh driving a jeep southward before the vehicle became stuck in a ditch yards from the Military Demarcation Line that forms the border. Oh jumped out and started running for the line. Four North Korean border guards tried to stop him, firing more than 40 rounds at him. One guard briefly crossed the line, violating the armistice that ended the Korean War in 1953. The video showed Oh lying wounded in a pile of leaves against a building on the southern side. Then three South Korean soldiers crawled out and dragged him to safety. From there, he was put in a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and flown 50 miles south to the hospital in Suwon, where Lee was waiting. If it werent for their emergency measures, he would have died before arriving at the hospital, Lee said. [ Dramatic video shows North Korean soldier making a run for freedom ] It was still touch-and-go when Oh arrived at the hospital. His blood pressure was so low after losing so much blood that the doctors did not even have time to check his blood type. Instead, they pumped about 40 units between three and four times the amount of blood contained in a human body of type O into him. He has had three surgeries, including an attempt to repair his damaged internal organs and stop the contamination caused by the parasites and the injuries. Through it all, the trauma surgeon, often in scrubs, has been giving regular updates on the soldiers condition. The revelation that the man had a severe parasitic infection Lee said he had never seen such a case except in medical textbooks and that his stomach contained raw corn kernels prompted widespread shock in South Korea. North Korean front-line soldiers were supposed to be elite troops, yet this man had worms not seen in South Korea since the 1970s and had been eating uncooked corn? Oh also has tuberculosis and hepatitis B, Lee said. And, at 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighing about 130 pounds, he is several inches shorter and 20 pounds lighter than the average male 18-year-old South Korean. There is intense interest in the soldier, and military intelligence officers reportedly are eager to question him about his escape, but Lee has been fending them off. The soldier is showing signs of depression and post-traumatic stress, and it will take about a month before he is well enough to answer questions, the doctor said. For now, Lee is keeping the conversation light talking about the way things are done in South Korea rather than asking him about North Korea and trying to cheer him up. The medical staff played him "Gee," a peppy pop song by Girls' Generation featuring lyrics such as, "Oh, it's too pretty, your soul's too pretty/It's love at first sight" and he declared that he liked girl bands. Lee also said Oh has been watching the American TV series CSI and the action movie The Transporter, in which a former special-forces operative hires himself out as a mercenary. The staff also has hung a South Korean flag in his room to reassure him he really is in the South. [ Escaped North Korean soldier fights for life after being shot crossing DMZ ] This is not Lees first time in the spotlight. The surgeon became a national hero in 2011 when he saved the life of a ship captain who had been shot by Somali pirates. After pirates seized a chemical freighter near the Gulf of Aden in 2011, South Korean commandos stormed the ship and the pirates shot the captain six times during the rescue attempt. Lee was waiting at a hospital in Oman and saved the captains life, earning a reputation as the countrys leading trauma surgeon. There was even a popular medical drama based on this story, Golden Time. The title was a reference to Lees frequent reminder that it is the hour after a severe injury that is most important for saving someones life. The 48-year-old Lee, who is blind in one eye and renowned for working 36-hour shifts, was also the inspiration for a character in another drama, Romantic Doctor, Teacher Kim, released last year. He became such a celebrity that even octogenarians with diabetes were trying to get in to see him. Lee became a doctor in South Korea but trained as a critical-care surgeon at the University of California at San Diego Medical Center in 2003. He then went on to the Royal London Hospitals trauma center. Returning home, he realized that there was no equivalent facility at any hospital in South Korea and estimated that about 30,000 trauma patients were dying in the country each year because of treatment delays and a lack of dedicated trauma units. He persuaded authorities to fund proper trauma centers, including his unit at Ajou University Hospital. Now, 20 percent of revenue from traffic fines goes to trauma centers in the country. [ American detained trying to enter North Korea; North Korean soldier escapes to the South ] But for a trauma surgeon, Lee faces a predicament that is unimaginable for American ER doctors: He seldom gets to treat gunshot wounds, because South Korea has very strict rules on gun ownership. Ten murders with a firearm were reported in South Korea between 2010 and 2015, compared with 8,592 in the United States, according to figures from the Small Arms Survey. Instead, the relatively few gunshot wounds he has treated have been sustained by South Korean and U.S. soldiers hurt during military drills, he told the Korea Times in 2015. Still, that appears to have been enough practice to save the North Korean soldier's life. Now, South Koreans are waiting for Lees next statement on the soldiers prognosis. In online forums, South Korean netizens have been sending their best wishes to Lee and his patient. A Korean who put his life on the line to cross over to the south. Hopefully he can be saved! wrote one in an online medical forum. Another added, Please survive so you can live in South Korea! Read more: What the parasites in a defectors stomach tell us about North Korea Graphic: This thin ribbon of land separates North and South Korea Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news By Damali Mukhaye: The government says it will cancel licenses of teachers over child violence in schools. This is after the findings from national survey on violence against children pointed at teachers as the worst perpetuators of child violence in the country. Releasing the results this morning, the commissioner children and youth affairs at the ministry of gender labour and social development Mondo Kyateeka says despite having a law against corporal punishment in place, teachers have continued to physically and sexually abuse children. He notes that the gender ministry and that of education are working to ensure that such teachers are kicked out of the school environment. Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri sings the Lebanese national anthem with thousands of his supporters outside his residence in Beirut on Wednesday. (Bilala Hussein/AP) Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Wednesday suspended his shock resignation delivered weeks earlier from Saudi Arabia, marking a stunning return to Beirut after weeks of speculation over his freedom of movement. Hariris Nov. 4 announcement from Riyadh blindsided political allies and foes alike, and stoked regional tensions amid suggestions that he had been coerced by his main regional patron. But in the marble hallway of Beiruts presidential palace Wednesday, Hariri said that he had agreed to delay his resignation to hold a dialogue that would lead Lebanon out of crisis. The announcement appeared to roll back a bold push by Saudi Arabia in recent weeks aimed at countering Iranian influence across the region. There is nothing more precious than our country, Hariri told supporters in Beirut. I am staying with you, and I will keep going with you to be the first line of defense of Lebanon, its stability and its Arab nature. Hariri had initially blamed his resignation on Iran, accusing it of sowing sedition, devastation and destruction in any place it settles in. But Lebanese politicians and Western officials saw the catalyst as Saudi Arabias desire to contain Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy around the region and a powerful political force in Lebanon. Hariris three-week absence marked the most bizarre twist yet in the life of a politician who has outlived an assassinated father and spent years in self-imposed exile after an earlier spell as prime minister was ended by a Hezbollah walkout from government. The Nov. 4 resignation was followed by two weeks spent in Riyadh, much of it out of sight, which sparked frenzied speculation over whether Hariri was being held there against his will. In an emotional interview last week, the 48-year-old politician looked exhausted. [Lebanon again caught in regions proxy battles] Hariri made no mention Wednesday of the speculation over his constrained movements within Saudi Arabia. But Paula Yacoubian, the journalist who interviewed him, said that she had not dealt with any Saudi officials at his residence, and described the prime minister as largely relaxed during her time there, although he had clearly lost weight. As a Lebanese-Saudi national, Hariris personal business interests have long been buoyed and buffeted by Saudi politics, with the familys Saudi Oger firm falling heavily into debt as the kingdoms oil fortunes have fallen and Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman spearheads economic changes. Hariris speech appeared to signal that Saudi Arabias regional ambitions could now end his political career, too. Within hours of the speech, Saudi authorities began a far-reaching campaign of arrests within Saudi Arabia, many of its targets appearing to be Mohameds political rivals. It also tightened an already devastating humanitarian blockade on Yemeni ports and airspace, increasing pressure on Iran-backed rebels that Saudi Arabia is fighting there, and alarming aid officials who warned that 7 million people could be pushed into famine as a result. The prime ministers return to Beirut appeared to have been helped by French diplomatic efforts. Hariri spent the weekend in Paris, and stopped for talks in Egypt and Cyprus before touching down on Lebanese soil late Tuesday, in time for the countrys Independence Day. The Trump administration, while not advocating Hariris side trip to Paris, had made clear to the Saudis, and to Hariri himself, that getting back to Beirut was essential, a U.S. official said. We accepted Paris as an alternative, but we just wanted to make sure it was temporary. We were not comfortable with a life in exile. French President Emmanuel Macron, who spoke directly to the crown prince about Hariris return, was one factor, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to comment on diplomatic efforts. The White House sees Saudi Arabia as key to two major foreign policy goals: bringing Iran to heel; and forging a settlement between Israel and the Palestinians. But the administration is less than pleased about recent actions by Riyadh that it considers distractions from those objectives. In addition to the Hariri episode, it has pushed Saudi Arabia to settle its ongoing dispute with Qatar and to ease its blockade of Yemen to allow passage of humanitarian aid. Hariris announcement Wednesday that he would be staying in his post appeared to signal that the Saudi gambit had failed. Hours later, Riyadh announced that the blockade on Yemens ports and airspace would be eased although aid agencies warned that the humanitarian effects would remain disastrous. In a sign of just how confusing his three-week absence has been, even those close to Hariri said that they were surprised by his announcement. Yesterday we had the impression that he was going to resign. . . . It is clear that a compromise was reached, Yacoubian said. By midmorning Wednesday, crowds of supporters in downtown Beirut erupted in celebration, raising banners and blasting songs from the back of pickup trucks. We were very worried for him the whole time he was gone, said Rana Alamadin, 45. But now? Its a beautiful day. Karen DeYoung and Brian Murphy in Washington contributed to this report. Read more The resignation of Lebanons prime minister raises risks in the Middle East Federal prosecutors on Tuesday expanded and upgraded the charges against the 29-year-old Uzbek immigrant who they say plowed a rented truck into people on a New York City bike path, killing eight, and for the first time accused him of murder in aid of a criminal enterprise. In a 22-count indictment, prosecutors said that the Islamic State was an enterprise engaged in organized crime and that Sayfullo Saipov perpetrated the attack for the purpose of gaining membership. The Paterson, N.J., man was charged with eight counts of murder in aid of racketeering, 12 counts of attempted murder in aid of racketeering, one count of providing and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State and one count of violence and destruction of a motor vehicle resulting in death. Each of the murder charges, along with the motor vehicle charge, carries a possible death sentence, though the Justice Department must still take other steps to pursue that penalty. [New York truck attack suspect charged with terrorism offense as Trump calls for a death sentence] As alleged in this indictment, Sayfullo Saipov murdered eight innocent people and injured many more in a calculated act of terrorism in the heart of one of our great cities, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement announcing the indictment. People have a right to safety walking down a sidewalk or riding a bike, and we will not change our resolve to confront these threats both at home and abroad. Saipov was shot and wounded by police and arrested after his Halloween attack, and he has been in custody since. He was initially charged with providing support to a terrorist organization and violence and destruction of a motor vehicle resulting in death. By prosecutors telling, the 29-year-old had been plotting an attack for the Islamic State for more than a year and chose Halloween so he could hit more pedestrians on the street. They say he emerged from his truck shouting Allahu akbar God is great and investigators found near the vehicle a note in Arabic text saying No God but God and Muhammad is his Prophet and Islamic Supplication. It will endure. After the incident, Saipov said he was proud of what he had done and even requested to display the Islamic State flag in his hospital room, federal authorities have alleged. While the indictment indicates prosecutors may seek the death penalty, there is a process for doing so that takes months. First, the U.S. attorney must make a formal recommendation that they would like to seek the death penalty in the case, then that recommendation would have to be approved by the attorney general. In the Saipov case, such deliberations will be complicated because within days of the attack, President Trump publicly called for Saipov to get the death penalty, tweeting: "NYC terrorist was happy as he asked to hang ISIS flag in his hospital room. He killed 8 people, badly injured 12. SHOULD GET DEATH PENALTY!'' Saipov's defense attorneys are likely to seize on the president's statement to argue it has unfairly colored the proceedings as they try to prevent his possible execution. A defense lawyer did not immediately return a message seeking comment Tuesday. Emmerson Buie Jr., special agent in charge of the FBIs El Paso field office, addresses questions Tuesday about the death of one Border Patrol agent and the severe injuries suffered by another. (Mark Lambie/El Paso Times/AP) The FBI said it is investigating the death of Border Patrol agent Rogelio Martinez as "a potential assault of a federal officer," but the agency cautioned Tuesday it has not reached any conclusions as to what happened over the weekend along a desolate span of Interstate 10 in West Texas. We call it potential because we do not yet have the full picture yet as to what transpired, FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Emmerson Buie Jr. said at a news conference at El Pasos FBI offices, about 135 miles west of the drainage culvert where Martinez and another agent were found badly injured late Saturday. Martinez, 36, who died of devastating head injuries, was found unconscious with broken bones, according to the FBI. The other agent, who has not been identified, also suffered severe head trauma and is in critical but stable condition. Border Patrol union officials say that agent has no recollection of what happened. Those officials have said they believe Martinez and the second agent were bludgeoned, possibly with rocks, in a savage desert ambush. The area where they were found, about 50 miles north of the border, is a well-known marijuana trafficking corridor, where drug runners sometimes hide in drainage culverts to await a rendezvous with a vehicle. President Trump and other advocates of tougher border enforcement have used Martinezs death to renew calls for a wall along the boundary with Mexico. Trump tweeted Sunday that Martinez was killed, while other GOP leaders characterized the incident as a brutal attack. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) called it a case of murder. Buie sidestepped questions about whether Trump and other Republican leaders were premature with their descriptions. I have not briefed the president. For information regarding what information is being provided to the president, Ill refer you to the Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs, he said. The FBI said it is offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to a resolution of the case. [A Border Patrol agent is dead in Texas, but circumstance remain murky] Officials with the National Border Patrol Council, which represents agents, have described the incident near Van Horn as a grisly ambush and said the two agents were attacked with rocks. But Culberson County Sheriff Oscar Carrillo, who was one of the first law enforcement officers to reach Martinez on Saturday night, said there was no evidence at the scene to support such claims. He said Martinezs injuries were consistent with a fall in challenging desert terrain on a moonless night. But the fact that another agent was found badly injured nearby could point to an assault, the sheriff said. The sheriff said the injuries to the other agent raise questions about whether both agents could have fallen victim to an accident or an attack. They were both hurt. What hurt them, we dont know, Carrillo said. Miroff reported from Washington. Devlin Barrett in Washington contributed to this report. Tens of thousands of people wanted by law enforcement officials have been removed this year from the FBI criminal background check database that prohibits fugitives from justice from buying guns. The FBI purged the names from the database after the Justice Department changed its legal interpretation of fugitive from justice to say it pertains only to wanted people who have crossed state lines. What that means is that those fugitives who were previously prohibited under federal law from purchasing firearms can now buy them, unless barred for other reasons. Since the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) was created in 1998, the background check system has prevented 1.5 million people from buying guns, including 180,000 denials to people who were fugitives from justice, according to government statistics. It is unclear how many people may have bought guns since February who previously would have been prohibited from doing so. Attorney General Jeff Sessions sent a memo Wednesday to the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives instructing them to take several steps to improve NICS. The system, he said, is critical for us to be able to keep guns out of the hands of those . . . prohibited from owning them. [One illegal gun. 12 weeks. A dozen criminal acts. The rapid cycle of gun violence.] The criminal background check system has come under scrutiny in recent weeks after the Air Force said it failed to follow policies for alerting the FBI about the domestic violence conviction of Devin P. Kelley, who killed more than two dozen churchgoers in Sutherland Springs, Tex., this month. Because his conviction was not entered into NICS, Kelley was allowed to buy firearms. Two years ago, Dylann Roof, who killed nine people at a historic black church in Charleston, S.C., was able to buy his gun after errors by the FBI and local law enforcement led to his name not being entered into criminal record databases when he was arrested and had admitted to drug possession. The interpretation of who is a fugitive from justice, a category that disqualifies people from buying a gun, has long been a matter of debate in law enforcement circles a dispute that ultimately led to the February purging of the database. Any one of these potentially dangerous fugitives can currently walk into a licensed gun dealer, pass a criminal background check, and walk out with a gun, Robyn Thomas, executive director of the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, wrote in a letter to FBI Director Christopher A. Wray on Wednesday. The Giffords organization, founded by former Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, called on the FBI and ATF to correct this self-inflicted loophole and recover all guns illegally purchased this year because of the purge of names from the database. Rifles for sale at a gun shop in Merrimack, N.H. (Dominick Reuter/AFP/Getty Images) For more than 15 years, the FBI and ATF disagreed about who exactly was a fugitive from justice. The FBI, which runs the criminal background check database, had a broad definition and said that anyone with an outstanding arrest warrant was prohibited from buying a gun. But ATF argued that, under the law, a person is considered a fugitive from justice only if they have an outstanding warrant and have also traveled to another state. In a 2016 report, Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz urged the Justice Department to address the disagreement as soon as possible. Late last year, before President Trump took office, the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel sided with ATF and narrowed the definition of fugitives, according to law enforcement officials. The office said that gun purchases could be denied only to fugitives who cross state lines. After Trump was inaugurated, the Justice Department further narrowed the definition to those who have fled across state lines to avoid prosecution for a crime or to avoid giving testimony in a criminal proceeding. On Feb. 15, the FBI directed its employees in the Criminal Justice Information Services Division to remove all entries of fugitives from justice from the background check database and said that entries will not be permitted under that category until further notice. Before the FBI memo, there were about 500,000 people identified as fugitives from justice in the database and all of those names were removed. Now there are 788. Even if the FBIs revised definition of fugitive from justice is assumed to be legally correct, purging the NICS database of every single individual previously identified as a fugitive from justice was an unjustifiable, alarmingly overbroad, and dangerous decision, the Giffords groups Thomas and Robin F. Thurston of the Democracy Forward Foundation wrote in the letter to the FBI. Federal law enforcement officials say that about 430,000 names of wanted people removed from the database were from Massachusetts. Commissioner James Slater of the Massachusetts Department of Criminal Justice Information Services said that the reason that his state had so many fugitives in the FBI database is that state policy required sending the bureau the names of all people with an outstanding warrant, whether it was for misdemeanors or felonies. Because Massachusetts state law prevents fugitives from buying guns, those individuals have now been added back to the federal database under the state prohibitor category and will be prevented from purchasing a firearm, he said. Of the 70,000 others whose names have been purged, the FBI is working with the states to identify which people might have crossed state lines and could be put back into the federal database for that or other reasons. The Justice Department is committed to working with law enforcement partners across the country to help ensure that all those who can legally be determined to be prohibited from receiving or possessing a firearm be included in federal criminal databases, said a Justice Department official who would discuss the matter only on the condition of anonymity. Sessions in his memo directed the FBI and ATF to work with the Defense Department and other government agencies to improve reporting and identify any other measures that could be taken to prevent guns getting into the wrong hands. David Chipman, a former ATF official who now works as a senior adviser to the Giffords group, said that, given the confusion over the definition of a fugitive, Congress should pass a new law that makes clear whether people with outstanding arrest warrants can buy a gun. I would imagine 99 percent of Americans dont want people who have a warrant out on them to be able to buy a gun, Chipman said. I cant believe there is a constituency for wanted people. Wanted people are particularly dangerous. Theyve already proven that theyll break the law. This story has been updated to clarify that the database was purged by the FBI after the Justice Department changed its legal interpretation of fugitive from justice. Read more: After Las Vegas, gun-control group seizing moment to push for tighter regulations No action by Congress or ATF on the device used in Las Vegas shooting The Trump administration has already been rolling back gun regulations Rohingya women carry blankets and other supplies they collected from aid distribution centers in the Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh on Tuesday. (Wong Maye-E/AP) The United States on Wednesday declared the violence and atrocities against the Rohingya Muslim minority in Burma to be a campaign of ethnic cleansing, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned that U.S. sanctions may be forthcoming. Tillerson blamed the Burmese military and security forces as well as local vigilantes for what he called horrendous atrocities that have caused more than 600,000 Rohingya to flee Burmas western Rakhine state for the safety of neighboring Bangladesh. But he placed most of the criticism on the government, demanding the security forces respect human rights and punish the guilty. Those responsible for these atrocities must be held accountable, he said in a statement, reiterating his call for an independent investigation into what has caused a refugee crisis in which Rohingya men have been executed, women raped and their babies murdered. The United States will also pursue accountability through U.S. law, including possible targeted sanctions, he added, suggesting sanctions might be directed against specific Burmese officials. Many members of Congress and human rights groups had been urging Tillerson for months to adopt the "ethnic cleansing" terminology. And others have used even stronger language. French President Emmanuel Macron has called it genocide. Amnesty International has called the violence in Burma "dehumanizing apartheid," and Human Rights Watch has termed it crimes against humanity. State Department officials noted that ethnic cleansing is not recognized internationally as a crime and triggers no punitive measures against Burma, which is also known as Myanmar. But it sets the stage to exert more pressure on Burmese officials if they fail to take actions such as giving humanitarian groups and the press access to Rakhine state and guaranteeing safety to those who voluntarily return home. [Aung Sun Suu Kyi was bright light for Rohingya. That dream has faded.] Tillerson made a brief visit last week to Burma, where he talked with State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and the head of the armed forces. The Burmese military has denied committing atrocities during clearance operations to battle Muslim insurgents in the predominantly Buddhist nation. An internal investigation cleared the military of any wrongdoing. On Aug. 25, militants belonging to the extremist Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army attacked outposts of Burmese security forces. According to human rights groups, those forces responded with a brutal and indiscriminate crackdown on Rohingya communities, drawing in local Buddhist mobs as they went. No provocation can justify the horrendous atrocities that have ensued, Tillerson said in his statement. [Rohingya misery: My whole world was my village] Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, as well as many who remain in Burma, have provided chilling testimony of the campaign, which they say was accompanied by widespread arson, rape and summary executions. Human rights groups applauded Tillersons decision to start using the term ethnic cleansing, but they said more action was needed. Eric P. Schwartz, president of Refugees International, said the move could be used by Washington to pressure other countries to take stronger measures, including a global arms embargo and the end of military-to-military relations. Secretary Tillersons statement is a necessary first step, he said. However, until the abuses against the Rohingya people end and full access is given to the international humanitarian aid and the U.N. fact-finding mission, such pressure and requisite actions will continue to be essential. Joanne Lin, head of advocacy and government relations for Amnesty International USA, said Tillerson's acknowledgment of ethnic cleansing sets an example for how to respond. "The time for outrage and condemnation has passed," she said. "The international community must impose a comprehensive arms embargo and targeted financial sanctions against senior Myanmar military officials responsible for crimes against humanity." Lin also urged the United States to introduce a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an embargo and sanctions, and to pressure Bangladesh to loosen its registration rules so humanitarian groups can get more aid workers on the ground. The term "ethnic cleansing" is largely descriptive and dates from the conflict in the 1990s in the former Yugoslavia. At the time, a U.N. commission defined it as "rendering an area ethnically homogeneous by using force or intimidation to remove people of given groups from the area." The Obama administration declared the Islamic State had committed genocide against Yazidis, Christians and Shiite Muslims. In 2005, the George W. Bush administration labeled the killings in Darfur, a region of Sudan, to be genocide and tightened sanctions. But no policy was mandated by law. Ultimately these things come down to the politics of it, said David Bosco, an associate professor at Indiana Universitys School of Global and International Studies and author of a number of books on international law. Even if the United States declared a genocide in Burma, Bosco added, its really just a question of whether that helps generate pressure for action. [Srebrenica holds painful lessons for victims of other ethnic-cleansing campaigns] The timing of Tillerson's statement was rife with symbolism. It coincided with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia's sentencing of former Bosnia Serb commander Ratko Mladic, who was convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity, to life in prison. The U.S. government should find more facts to declare the persecution against Rohingya is genocide, said Ro Nay San Lwin, a Rohingya blogger and activist based in Europe. Myanmars military commanders must be punished as Ratko Mladic was. Adam Taylor and Brian Murphy contributed to this report. Members of the pro-Syrian government forces ride a tank in the Syrian border town of Albu Kamal, on Monday. Syria's army and loyalist militiamen on Sunday ousted the Islamic State from its last urban stronghold in the country. (Stringer) The Trump administration is expanding its goals in Syria beyond routing the Islamic State to include a political settlement of the countrys civil war, a daunting and potentially open-ended commitment that could draw the United States into conflict with both Syria and Iran. With forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian and Iranian allies now bearing down on the last militant-controlled towns, the defeat of the Islamic State in Syria could be imminent along with an end to the U.S. justification for being there. U.S. officials say they are hoping to use the ongoing presence of American troops in northern Syria, in support of the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), to pressure Assad to make concessions at United Nations-brokered peace talks in Geneva. The negotiations there are set to resume at the end of this month after sputtering along for more than three years without result. Assads forces, with crucial aid from Iranian-sponsored militias, have regained control over much of the rest of the country in their separate war with Syrian rebels fighting to end the presidents autocratic rule. An abrupt U.S. withdrawal could complete Assads sweep of Syrian territory and help guarantee his political survival an outcome that would constitute a win for Iran, his close ally. Syrians check the rubble of buildings on Nov. 14 following an air strike on the rebel-held Syrian town of Atareb. (Zein Al Rifai/AFP/Getty Images) To avoid that outcome, U.S. officials say they plan to maintain a U.S. troop presence in northern Syria where the Americans have trained and assisted the SDF against the Islamic State and establish new local governance, apart from the Assad government, in those areas. When political negotiations began in Geneva more than three years ago, the rebels with some assistance from Western and Sunni Arab backers controlled a hefty amount of Syria and were in a far better position to demand Assads removal as part of a settlement. Russian air power and Iranian-allied ground forces, however, have sharply turned the situation to Assads advantage both on the battlefield and at the negotiating table. Russia and Iran have also indicated they plan to stay. [The rise and fall of the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq] In addition to extending the U.S. presence in Syria, the administration is also seeking new cooperation with Russia. Earlier this month, President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a joint statement backing the Geneva process. The two leaders spoke again by telephone Tuesday, just hours after Putin was photographed embracing Assad when the two met in the Russian resort of Sochi. Russia, together with Iran and Turkey, is hosting its own political conference this week on Syria, a gathering that could lock in positions that would make U.S. objectives harder to achieve. U.S. officials emphasized that an ongoing U.S. military presence in Syria is necessary to ensure that Islamic State remnants are mopped up and that repopulated communities are stabilized under local governance. The fight with ISIS is not over, one official said, using an acronym for the Islamic State. But the official, one of several who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing planning and initiatives, described the indefinite mission of U.S. forces as twofold. The Islamic States original expansion was enabled by the vacuum of authority left by the Syrian civil war, the official said. That vacuum was created by the lack of a legitimate political process, and the militant group, or its successors, will fill it again if the political aspect is not resolved. Asked last week how long U.S. troops would stay in Syria, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said: Were not just going to walk away right now before a political settlement is reached between Assad and the Syrian opposition. Were going to make sure we set the conditions for a diplomatic solution. . . . Not just, you know, fight the military part of it and then say good luck on the rest of it. The official number of U.S. troops currently deployed to Syria is 503, sent to train and assist the SDF. The actual number is believed to be far higher, including hundreds of additional Special Operations forces, forward air controllers, artillery crews and others sent for months-long temporary deployments. Mattis said there has been no decision on how many troops will remain. They will wait until the Geneva process has cracked, he said. That doesnt mean everyone stays there. That doesnt mean . . . certain troops are leaving. [How a woman in England tracks civilian deaths in Syria, one bomb at a time] Plans for a continuing troop presence indicate a shift in mission from defeating the Islamic State to a broader White House strategy aimed at countering Iranian influence, said Nicholas Heras of the Washington-based Center for a New American Security. The conditions are there for the counter-ISIS campaign to morph into a counter-Iran campaign, Heras said. The U.S. has no master plan to stay, but isnt in any hurry to leave either, he said. By placing no timeline on the end of the U.S. mission . . . the Pentagon is creating a framework for keeping the U.S. engaged in Syria for years to come. In recent months, the United States and Russia have established a cease-fire zone in southwestern Syria near the borders with Israel and Jordan. The agreement requires opposition and government troops along with their allies from the Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah militia to freeze in place. Israel has said that the agreement does not go far enough toward satisfying its concerns about Irans massively extended influence in Syria as a result of the civil war, which includes the deployment of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps military advisers and allied militias in large parts of the country controlled by the Assad government. Some of those forces are within six miles of Israeli-occupied territory in the Golan Heights. Washington and Moscow also have negotiated deconfliction lines in the east, where government forces, aided by Russian airstrikes, have advanced against the Islamic State toward the border with Iraq in the same area where the SDF, with its American backers, is pushing south against the militants. In angry statements last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the Russian Defense Ministry accused the United States of directly aiding Islamic State forces that have come into conflict with the Syrian forces pushing toward the Iraqi border, and of allowing terrorists to escape from U.S.-backed offensives against them in both Syria and Iraq. The U.S. Defense Department just as angrily denied the charges. The United States and Russia have chosen to emphasize different parts of the agreement between Trump and Putin, signed earlier this month when they met at an Asian regional conference, and committing their governments to support for the Geneva process. The administration has hailed Russian support for negotiations that it believes will ultimately bring Assads departure. It is banking in part on provisions on the Geneva negotiating table that allow the Syrian diaspora, including millions of anti-Assad refugees who have fled the violence there, to vote in eventual elections to be held under international monitoring. For its part, Russia has noted the agreements recognition of Syrias sovereignty and territorial integrity. Lavrov last week pointed out that both Russia and Iran, unlike the United States, are in Syria at the invitation of its government. The Syrian government routinely denounces U.S. troops as occupiers and threatens to drive them out. The agreement also calls for the eventual removal of foreign forces from Syria, but Russia has made clear that provision applies only to the southwest cease-fire zone, and the positioning of militias farther from the Israeli border. Russia, on Assads behalf, has long insisted that the Geneva negotiations be held without preconditions code for leaving open the door for Assads continuation in power. During his campaign, Trump appeared to agree, indicating that the United States could find common purpose with Assad and his allies in fighting against the Islamic State. Our priority is no longer to sit and focus on getting Assad out, Nikki Haley, Trumps U.N. ambassador, said in March. At the same time, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) asserted that the new administration was headed toward a Faustian bargain with Assad and Putin, sealed with an empty promise of counterterrorism cooperation. Ratko Mladic, a former Serb warlord who commanded forces that carried out some of the worst atrocities of the Balkan wars, was found guilty of genocide and other crimes against humanity by an international tribunal Wednesday. Mladic, 74, was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the bloodiest chapter of European history since World War II. His conviction on 10 of 11 counts marks the last major prosecution by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, which the U.N. Security Council set up more than two decades ago. The verdict was hailed as a victory for justice even if it was long delayed. Mladic is the epitome of evil, and the prosecution of Mladic is the epitome of what international justice is all about, said U.N. human rights chief Zeid Raad al-Hussein. Mladic, whose attorneys had sought to block Wednesdays judgment on the grounds that he was too ill to attend trial, had been removed from the courtroom before the verdict was read following an angry outburst in which he shouted insults at the presiding judge, Alphons Orie. Mladics attorneys said he will appeal the verdict, and they continued to deny the charges. Also at The Hague to witness the verdict were survivors, including those who had been held in concentration camps and mothers who lost their children during a merciless years-long military campaign against Bosnian Muslims that the court ruled amounted to an extermination attempt. Survivors applauded and wept as the decision by the three-judge panel was read, with many saying it represented a just punishment for a man dubbed the Butcher of Bosnia. Orie said in reading the verdict that Mladics crimes rank among the most heinous known to humankind. The judgment came after a trial that lasted more than four years, and involved testimony from nearly 600 witnesses. They recounted a litany of horrors carried out by forces under Mladics command during the war in Bosnia from 1992 to 1995, which claimed upward of 100,000 lives. The atrocities included sniper attacks, indiscriminate shelling, mass executions, and imprisonment in camps where people died of malnourishment and disease. Perhaps most horrific was the Mladic-directed July 1995 massacre of more than 7,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica, a supposed U.N. safe haven. Mladic was also convicted of orchestrating the destruction of Sarajevo, the Bosnian capital, through a four-year siege punctuated by shelling and sniper fire. [Analysis: Srebrenica at 20 years: How do we study genocide?] Burn their brains! witnesses reported Mladic, a career military man, shouting as he watched his troops shell the city. Mladic, an ultranationalist, viewed the war as a chance for Serbs to avenge hundreds of years of occupation by Muslim Turks. Wednesdays judgment found that he persecuted Croats and Muslims with the intent to create ethnically clean territories. Circumstances were brutal, Orie said in reading the verdict. Those who tried to defend their homes were met with ruthless force. Mass executions occurred and some victims succumbed after being beaten. Many of the perpetrators who had captured Bosnian Muslims showed little or no respect for human life or dignity. The prosecutions of Balkan war criminals are considered the most important war crimes cases in Europe since the Nuremberg trials of Nazi perpetrators. Of the 161 people indicted by the tribunal on war crimes charges, none remain at large today. In many cases, the perpetrators were tracked down after exhaustive international manhunts that extended for a decade or more. Mladic went into hiding in 1997 and was apprehended in 2011, when Serb police found him living in a cousins village near the Romanian border. Wednesdays decision was praised by human rights advocates. Amnesty International called the sentence a landmark moment for justice. The New York-based Physicians for Human Rights, which sent teams to exhume mass graves across the former Yugoslavia and supplied crucial evidence to the tribunal, also cheered the decision. "After more than two decades, today's verdict offers a measure of justice for all those who suffered from Mladic's unconscionable crimes," said Susannah Sirkin, the group's director of international policy and partnerships. But the verdict was denounced by right-wing parties in Serbia, where nationalist sentiment has again been on the rise. The Serbian Radical Party, which won 8 percent of the vote in elections last year, described Mladic as a war hero. "The verdict is political," party leader Vojislav Seselj said. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, meanwhile, appealed for his countrymen to not choke on tears over the past. My call to people in Serbia today is to start looking to the future, Vucic told Serbian reporters. Mladic's conviction follows that of the Serb political leader who took his country to war in Bosnia. Radovan Karadzic was convicted by the tribunal last year of crimes against humanity, and sentenced to 40 years in prison. [U.N. tribunal finds former Bosnia Serb leader guilty of genocide] Although Mladic was cleared on one charge of genocide related to accusations of mass killings in several Bosnian municipalities, he was convicted of the charge as it related to Srebrenica. The salt-mining town, which supposedly was under the protection of U.N. forces, became a byword for the inability of the international community to prevent ethnic cleansing. Mladic handed out sweets and offered reassuring words to the towns Muslim children just hours before his forces executed thousands of men and boys there. Many of the victims were shot in the back of the head, their arms bound behind them. In addition to genocide, Mladic was convicted on numerous other counts, including murder, deliberately causing terror and taking U.N. personnel hostage. The judgment said that his troops had engaged in the rape of Muslim women and girls, the destruction of homes and mosques, and the forced deportation of civilians. The war broke out in 1992 as the former Yugoslavia collapsed, and regions including Bosnia declared independence. Serb forces initially sought to defend Bosnian Serb territory but soon spread violence across the country. Mladic had looked relaxed as he entered the courtroom Wednesday, smiling and flashing a thumbs-up. But after the judge rejected a request from his attorney for the session to be postponed because the defendant was suffering from high blood pressure, the suit-and-tie-clad former general stood up and began shouting. Youre lying! Mladic said, as he was escorted from the courtroom. Mladic then watched on television in an adjacent room as the judge announced his fate. Luisa Beck contributed to this report. Read more Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news By Ritah Kemigisa: Zimbabwes president Robert Mugabes resignation continues to draw mixed reaction from various circles both locally and internally. In Uganda, Mwabustya Ndebesa a history don at Makerere University has described Mugabes resignation and the factors that forced him to do so as popular politics without bloodshed. According to Ndebesa what has transpired in Zimbabwe is a sign of a new method of removing long serving rulers from power where both constitutional and unconstitutional ways are employed. He however says this is most likely to have far reaching implications to Africa under circumstances where the military can take over and facilitate constitutionalism. The corporate logo of the state oil company PDVSA is seen at a gas station in Caracas, Venezuela, on Nov. 16, 2017. (Marco Bello/Reuters) The arrests here of six top executives of Citgo, the U.S. subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil giant, amount to a dramatic shake-up in the leadership of the oil interests that have been keeping embattled President Nicolas Maduro in power. The move suggests a possible attempt by the government to ensure the loyalty of Citgo's management, observers say. Venezuelan authorities on Tuesday arrested the six including Citgos chief executive alleging that they had sought to defraud the nation through a $4 billion financial deal. Several of the men are U.S. citizens. In a news conference, Venezuelas chief prosecutor, Tarek William Saab, said the executives, who were in Caracas for a meeting, were detained for putting Citgo in danger. On Wednesday, Maduro named Asdrubal Chavez, a cousin of late president Hugo Chavez, the new president of Citgo in an event broadcast on state television. Chavez, a former minister of oil and mining and now a member of parliament, will be heading to the United States to reconstruct Citgo in the coming days. The arrests marked the biggest steps taken so far in an effort by Venezuelan authorities to target corruption in the all-important oil sector, which has been suffering falling output because of deteriorating infrastructure. In recent months, Saabs office has filed corruption charges against 50 individuals, including several managers, linked to Petroleos de Venezuela S.A., the state-owned oil and gas company known as PDVSA. [Maduro calls for restructuring Venezuelas foreign debt] Venezuela's chief prosecutor, Tarek William Saab, speaks during a news conference in Caracas, Venezuela, on Aug. 23, 2017. (Ariana Cubillos/AP) Observers said, however, that the arrests of such high-level officials could be linked to a tug of war for loyalties in the upper ranks of Venezuelas government. Maduro was the handpicked successor of Chavez, the leftist firebrand who died in 2013. But especially in recent months, high-profile Chavez followers known as Chavistas have broken with Maduro. The men arrested, analysts say, appeared to be loyal to Rafael Ramirez, a former president of PDVSA and longtime Chavez ally who is Venezuelas representative at the United Nations. Ramirez is seen as subscribing to a more moderate brand of Chavezs leftist-nationalist ideology, known as Chavismo. On Sunday, Ramirez published an article on the left-leaning website Aporrea in which he appeared to criticize Maduros handling of the economy. From my perspective, this looks like a fight between factions of Chavismo for control over the oil industry, said Henkel Garcia, director of the Caracas-based consulting firm Econometrica. Saab alleged that the men, using a Swiss-based intermediary, orchestrated a deal to refinance bonds issued in 2014 and 2014 through two firms: Frontier Management Group and Apollo Global Management. Saab said they had not sought permission for the deal, in which a 5 percent cut would have gone to the Swiss intermediary. He suggested that the executives Citgos acting president and chief executive, Jose Angel Pereira, and five vice presidents: Tomeu Vadell, Alirio Zambrano, Jorge Toledo, Gustavo Cardenas and Jose Luis Zambrano had links to the Swiss-based group, Mangore Sarl. [Venezuelas economy may yet do what the opposition couldnt] This is corruption that should be sanctioned and punished, Saab said. Were talking about the management of our biggest subsidiary of PDVSA, a fundamental pillar for our economy. At least five of the detained executives are U.S. citizens, according to an official familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. In televised comments, Maduro said one of the men had claimed that he could not be arrested because he was a naturalized U.S. citizen, although born in Venezuela. He described their acts as treason. When the intelligence police, with orders from the chief prosecutor, arrived to arrest the directors for corruption, one of them, born in the state of Falcon, said he couldnt be detained because hes an American citizen, Maduro said. Can you imagine how far this treason goes? He said the U.S. Embassy was "alleging" that some of those detained were American and asking for their freedom. "Freedom?" he said. "These people were born in Venezuela, are Venezuelans and will be judged because they're corrupt thieves and traitors to the homeland." [Venezuela has too much money but not nearly enough cash] In a statement, Citgo said, We are looking into the current investigation related to CITGO officials by the Venezuelan Prosecutors Office to better understand the situation. The company added: Our priority is to protect the interests of our company and our employees. CITGO is a U.S.-based company that operates independently, and to the standards and regulations set in the U.S. We have procedures in place to ensure ongoing operations and the continuous supply of product to our customers. Houston-based Citgo has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Venezuelas oil giant since 1990. The Venezuelan government has sought to maintain its control and influence over the company even as Caracass relationship with Washington has eroded. Venezuela's oil industry has become an even more important source of hard cash here as the Trump administration has tightened sanctions that were imposed during the Obama administration, including a measure that strictly limits the ability of Venezuela to finance its debt through U.S. institutions. Venezuela is trying to renegotiate its debt while facing a crippling economic crisis and shortages of food and medicines. Faiola reported from Miami. Read more: Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news Eight people have been rescued and are in "good condition" after a U.S. Navy cargo plane carrying 11 crew members and passengers crashed into the Pacific Ocean off Japan, the U.S. Navy's 7th Fleet said Wednesday. The search for the remaining three people is continuing. It was the latest accident to befall the 7th Fleet, which is based in the Japanese port of Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, and has endured multiple collisions at sea this year, including two that involved guided-missile destroyers and left 17 sailors dead. The C-2A Greyhound aircraft was on a routine flight from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in southern Japan to the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier, which is in the Philippine Sea for exercises with Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force. It crashed at 2:45 p.m. local time Wednesday, the 7th Fleet said in a statement. The cause of the crash was not immediately known, it said, and an investigation will be conducted. The eight who were rescued were transferred to the Reagan for medical evaluation. They were later described by the Navy as being in good condition. The Reagan crew and Japanese forces were conducting search-and-rescue operations Wednesday afternoon to recover the remaining crew members and passengers. We are monitoring the situation. Prayers for all involved, President Trump wrote in a Twitter post. The Maritime Self-Defense Force is currently searching with U.S. forces, Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said, according to public broadcaster NHK. We received information from U.S. forces that the cause is possibly engine malfunction. Onodera voiced concern about the frequency of aircraft accidents involving U.S. forces, saying he would ask the American military to take more care with safety issues. This was an apparent reference to last months crash on Okinawa, when a transport helicopter caught fire during a training flight and crashed just 300 yards from houses. No one was injured. [ Deadly Navy accidents in the Pacific raise questions over a force stretched too thin ] The C-2A, a twin-engine cargo plane designed to transport people and supplies to and from aircraft carriers, crashed 93 miles northwest of Okinotori island, about halfway between Okinawa and Guam, according to the Okinawa Defense Bureau. The 7th Fleet has been conducting exercises linked to the recent rise in tensions with North Korea. This month, for the first time in a decade, it carried out a three-carrier strike exercise in the sea between Japan and the Korean Peninsula a show of force that North Korea has decried as warmongering. Wednesdays crash is just the latest such incident involving the 7th Fleet this year. Ten sailors were killed when the USS John S. McCain collided with an oil tanker near Singapore in August, and seven died when the USS Fitzgerald ran into a much heavier container ship off the coast of Japan in June. The month before, the guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain collided with a South Korean fishing vessel off the Korean Peninsula, and the guided-missile cruiser USS Antietam ran aground in Tokyo Bay in January. [ The Navy has now fired at least six amid the fallout over deadly accidents ] Most recently, a Japanese tug lost propulsion and drifted into the USS Benfold, another guided-missile destroyer, during a towing exercise last week. No one was injured on either vessel, and the Benfold sustained minimal damage, the 7th Fleet said in a statement on Saturday. The 7th Fleet has about 50 to 70 ships assigned to it and is responsible for an area that spans 36 maritime countries and 48 million square miles in the Pacific and Indian oceans, according to the Navy. The Navy removed the admiral in charge from his position in August, citing a "loss of confidence" in his ability to lead, and the Navy's top admiral ordered a fleetwide review of seamanship and training in the Pacific after the McCain collision. A survey released last month of sailors on the USS Shiloh, a cruiser, painted a damning picture of life in the 7th Fleet. The sailors say they are overworked and undertrained. "I just pray we never have to shoot down a missile from North Korea," one sailor lamented, according to the Navy Times, "because then our ineffectiveness will really show." The crew members described dysfunction from the top, suicidal thoughts, exhaustion, despair and concern that the Shiloh was being pushed to sail while vital repairs remained incomplete, the paper reported. Yuki Oda contributed to this report. Read more: Multiple failures by ship crews standing watch contributed to deadly collisions, Navy finds When Navy ships collide, there is virtually always human error involved The Navy, stunned by two fatal collisions, exhausts some sailors with 100-hour workweeks Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 21/11/2017 (1821 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. OTTAWA Cities and anti-poverty advocates are watching closely as Ottawa lays out a massive spending plan today aimed at getting more Canadians into adequate housing. The waiting lists are tremendous in places across the country, said Winnipeg deputy mayor Jenny Gerbasi, speaking as head of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. In Winnipeg, its not different than anywhere else, she said. We have social housing thats failing, we have existing (funding) agreements that are expiring. Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press Files Winnipeg deputy mayor Jenny Gerbasi: we have social housing that's failing, we have existing (funding) agreements that are expiring. Sources say Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will reveal his governments national housing strategy this afternoon in Toronto. Ottawa largely abandoned the housing file a generation ago, leaving it to the provinces in the 1990s. But a month ago, the Liberals announced in Winnipeg that theyd allocate around $40 billion to housing over the coming decade. Among the main questions Ottawa faces is how much funding should go to buildings, and to individual people. Manitoba still funds physical buildings, but its also one of the few places in North America with a portable housing benefit program. Rent Assist, as its called, subsidizes low-income peoples rent, even when they move to another building. The program doesnt tie Manitobans to a specific social-housing building, but instead lets them relocate for family or work reasons. At the same time, Ottawa faces a ticking time-bomb of hundreds of rental units and co-operatives whose mortgages were tied to federal funding agreements but will expire within the next 20 years, meaning 24,000 units depend on renewed federal funds. Another closely watched decision will be how Ottawa works with other levels of government. The Liberals have tied most of their infrastructure funding to tripartite agreements, where the city and province have to pony up funds to get federal help for a new bridge or upgraded transit. But Winnipeg has shelved some projects after the cash-strapped province restricted its funding. Gerbasi wouldnt say whether she feels that Manitoba would thwart Winnipeg housing projects if Ottawa tied them to such agreements. This is a key area for the provinces. They need to come to the table and be a partner in this, for this to work, she said. Manitoba is set to release its own poverty-reduction strategy before the end of the year. In a recent interview, Welfare Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said the looming strategy will be wide-ranging. Vulnerable Canadians will be a key priority, Duclos said. Affordability is key issue in many communities, but its also other characteristics, such as being handicapped, living with mental health, being a homeless person, being a senior and needing extra help. Or being a single mother and needing to access early learning and childcare. He added that urban Indigenous homelessness and housing crises on reserves would be addressed through a separate Indigenous strategy. dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 21/11/2017 (1821 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Councillors on a civic committee let slip an opportunity Tuesday to question the key city staffer on the south Charleswood corridor project, and get to the bottom of how staff and a consulting firm designed the controversial rogue route without council or committee approval. Tuesdays meeting of the public works committee was the last chance for those councillors to question Scott Suderman, the lead engineer on the project, who tendered his resignation after being publicly criticized by Coun. Marty Morantz and City of Winnipeg CAO Doug McNeil at the committees public meeting Oct. 31. Morantz (Charleswood-Tuxedo-Whyte Ridge) said the responsibility to question Suderman falls to McNeil, adding he expects McNeil to explain what happened at the meeting of the executive policy committee set for Nov. 29. PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS files Scott Suderman resigned following criticism. Its McNeils responsibility to get to the bottom of it. Hes the CAO of the City of Winnipeg, and Ive asked him to look into it publicly many times, Morantz said following the public works committee meeting, adding he expects answers from McNeil at the Nov. 29 meeting. Suderman, along with consulting engineering firm WSP Canada, was singled out by Morantz and McNeil as designing the proposed southwest extension of the Sterling Lyon Parkway as the new expressway corridor route through south Charleswood, and submitting the route to the province for an environmental review. City hall had engaged WSP Canadas predecessor firm, MMM Group, in December 2014 to help city staff develop options for the southward expansion of the William R. Clement Parkway, and to study a possible east-west corridor linking the Clement Parkway to Kenaston Boulevard, part of the citys long-term plan to complete the inner-ring road network. After the city and MMM had presented three route options to area residents in January 2016, the MMM team, apparently on their own initiative, developed the controversial fourth option the extension of the Sterling Lyon Parkway and submitted it to the province in July 2017 as the citys preferred choice. Residents learned of the new route only in early October, prompting an intense lobbying effort which led to McNeil putting the project on hold, and Morantz demanding that Suderman be replaced and that WSP Group be fired. Suderman gave his notice shortly after that Oct. 31 meeting, and hes only on the city payroll until the end of November. No decision has been taken by the city on WSPs status on the project. The public criticism of Suderman prompted the union representing middle managers to file a respectful workplace grievance. It was disclosed last week that the consulting firm had hired a commercial property appraiser in the fall of 2015, and his only job was to determine the value of properties along the rogue Sterling Lyon Parkway route creating the impression that city hall had covertly chosen that route, and the public consultations involving the three other routes had been a sham. Wayne Glowacki / Winnipeg Free Press FILES Coun. Marty Morantz (from left) says its Winnipeg CAO Doug McNeils obligation to get rogue corridor explanation. Morantz said he does not regret calling for Suderman to be replaced, adding he didnt want him to be fired and didnt expect him to quit. Morantz said he appreciates the work of all of the citys staff, but added civic employees face public scrutiny that they wouldnt find in the private sector. Its a tough job being in the public service, Morantz said. Theyre hard-working, civic-minded people who have devoted their careers to the city, but they do work in a political environment, and sometimes we have issues that need to be dealt with, just like any business. But in our business, its very public. aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 22/11/2017 (1820 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Its a case of figuratively kicking a man while hes literally down. The provincial NDP has attempted this week to capitalize politically on the personal trauma experienced by Premier Brian Pallister, who suffered a badly fractured arm as a result of falling into a ravine after becoming lost for several hours while hiking in the New Mexico wilderness. Minto MLA Andrew Swan was the New Democrats point person on the issue, raising familiar questions about the premiers cellphone use and the amount of time Mr. Pallister spends out of the province on vacation. In pursuing this line of attack, Mr. Swan demonstrated that the NDP is as hopelessly lost as the premier was in the after-nightfall darkness of the U.S. southwest. Government of Manitoba / The Canadian Press Premier Brian Pallister, after the fall The premier, who was on vacation with his wife last week, embarked on a planned six-hour hike in Gila National Forest, but lost his way and ended up wandering in the wilderness for more than 11 hours. His wife, Esther, called police after he failed to meet her at the trailhead at the appointed time. According to media reports, searchers located Mr. Pallister in the darkness and it was while trying to make his way toward the voices of the rescue party that he fell into a ravine and was injured. The incident does raise questions about Mr. Pallisters judgment having set out on a wilderness hike without a cellphone or a light, he clearly contributed to the misfortune that eventually befell him. He assumed he would be able to complete his hike before darkness fell and when his plan went awry, the danger he faced was significant. The parks website specifically warns that Cell phones do not work through most of the forest. While it is entirely fair to say Mr. Pallister alone is responsible for his predicament, the questions raised by Mr. Swan are irrelevant to the current situation. The concerns about out-of-province vacation time and aversion to/avoidance of communication technology that have dogged Mr. Pallister in the past are not applicable in this case. The premier is entitled, like every working person, to vacation time and where and how he chooses to spend it are his concern. Embarking on a hike that takes him out of cellphone range for a few hours doesnt compromise his ability to do his job any more than taking a boat to an island cottage in the Whiteshell that is out of range of cell towers. Staying in communication with his office means regular and frequent contact not constant, uninterrupted access. And while the amount of time Mr. Pallister spent at his vacation property in Costa Rica while serving as leader of the opposition reportedly as many as 10 weeks a year opened him up to suggestions he would be an absentee premier, there is nothing to suggest Mr. Pallister has been as frequently absent from Manitoba since being elected. Legitimate questions are being asked in the aftermath of the premiers mishap most notably, regarding why it took four days for the public to be informed he had been injured and who was in charge in Manitoba during his medical treatment in New Mexico. But the NDPs attempt to try to connect past concerns about Mr. Pallisters travel and technology habits with this new misfortune are at best misguided and at worst crassly cynical. The premier is the victim of a bad break, in every sense of the phrase. Surely, thats punishment enough for the time being. Q&A: Army veteran on a mission as a fellow at W&M The Mission Continues: Isaura Ramirez is working in the Office of Diversity & Inclusion as a Mission Continues Fellow. Photo by Stephen Salpukas Photo - of - Hide Caption Isaura Ramirez, a retired Army captain, is a Mission Continues Fellow working in the W&M Office of Diversity & Inclusion. The Mission Continues is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that partners veterans with community organizations "to create transformational change for communities in need all across the country," according to its website. Ramirez began her six-month fellowship in October, but this isn't her first time on campus. She was one of the featured speakers at the 2017 TEDxWilliam&Mary event and is a graduate of and volunteer with the Armed Services Arts Partnership's Comedy Bootcamp. W&M News recently asked Ramirez a few questions about her work and the contributions of veterans to the campus community. What are your responsibilities as a Mission Continues fellow at W&M? Mission Continues Fellows take on high community impact roles that support diverse community members. As a fellow serving at W&M Diversity & Inclusion office, I will focus in decreasing veteran employment barriers by building community partnerships to help develop better pathways for veteran employment in higher education in order to support community efforts in bridging the gap between the military and civilian sector. What do you hope to accomplish by the end of your fellowship? By the end of my fellowship in April 2018, I hope to increase engagement between veterans and the W&M community through new employment opportunities for veterans, a mentorship program and Green Zone training for staff and faculty in order to develop a supportive campus community for veterans and family members. What unique attributes do veterans bring to the W&M community and how do they help contribute to the diversity of the university? Leadership, adaptability and integrity are attributes commonly found among the veteran population. Service members are given increasing responsibility from day one in service. They are trained to adapt and overcome a changing enemy and environment and expected to sacrifice themselves to honor their duties for the good of the nation. Veterans keep their eyes on the big picture while keeping close attention to details. They have experience working with people from different cultures and backgrounds, making them an asset for organizations looking to improve their companys culture to become more diverse and inclusive. Veterans make up 9 percent of the state of Virginias population with close to 30 percent of Virginia veterans living in the Greater Hampton Roads region. How can W&M honor veterans within the campus community? The best way to honor veterans is to make a conscious effort to engage veterans and family members in your community. Reach out and connect. In doing so, you will do your part in bridging the gap between military and civilians and helping our veterans coming home transition to welcoming communities. On Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron received former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri at the Elysee presidential palace in Paris. Hariri had come from Saudi Arabia, where he had resigned on November 4 under pressure from Riyadh. Last night, Hariri left Paris for Cairo, where he will meet Egyptian dictator General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi before returning to Lebanon. Hariris resignation plunged Lebanon into a deep political crisis. Paris is intervening in an explosive situation that could destabilize the entire Middle East, while in neighboring Syria the proxies of Saudi Arabia and Washington are fighting the forces of the Syrian regime, Russia and Iran, the main supporter of the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah. Riyadh is violently hostile to Hezbollah, which is a partner in Hariris current coalition government in Lebanon. Riyadhs action threatens the fragile political equilibrium in Lebanon established after Lebanons 1975-1990 sectarian civil war between Sunni, Shiite, Christian and Druze factions. Druze politician Walid Jumblatt tweeted, Lebanon is too small and vulnerable to bear the political and economic burden of [Hariris] resignation. I will continue to call for dialogue between Saudi Arabia and Iran. In 2008, Sunni-Shiite conflicts nearly plunged the country into a new civil war. Paris, which intervened in the current Syrian conflict alongside Washington, is trying to find a graceful resolution to the dispute that benefits Saudi Arabia. Macron declared that he was hosting Hariri as prime minister, since his resignation has not been recognized by his country, because he did not go there. On Sunday, Macron announced that he had spoken to Trump, Sisi, the Saudi monarchy and UN General Secretary Antonio Guterres in order to find ways to stabilize the Middle East and to build peace, the Elysee announced. Lebanese President Michel Aoun refused to accept Hariris resignation unless he returned to Lebanon, calling Hariri a hostage of Saudi Arabia. Hariri said that he would return to Lebanon Wednesday to celebrate the national holiday. Important questions remain, however, as to how much influence Riyadh will continue to have over Hariri. His children did not travel with him to Paris, which could raise a lot of questions in Lebanon, noted Al Jazeera journalist Zeina Khodr. Some in Lebanon will doubtless say that in one way or another, Saad Hariri is still a political hostage. Hariri himself is issuing improbable denials that he resigned under pressure from Riyadh. In a tweet, he asserted that his voyage to Riyadh aimed simply to carry out consultations regarding the future of Lebanon and its relations with its Arab neighbors. Everything that was said [] about my trip [to Saudi Arabia] is only rumor. In fact, credible reports indicate that when Hariri arrived in Riyadh, the Saudi monarchy took him hostage and forced him to read a prepared speech. On Saudi media, Hariri announced his resignation, denounced Iran and Hezbollah, and accused Iran of having control of his country via Hezbollah. If Paris intervened to try to smooth over the crisis in the short term, it is clearly not resolved. The Financial Times of London opined, While undoubtedly a diplomatic coup for Mr. Macron, some regional and French diplomats have cautioned that his strategy to try to appease all sides in the region may backfire. France, the former colonial power in Lebanon and in Syria between the two world wars, aims to play a mediating role to advance its own reactionary imperialist interests. Macrons government has let it be known that it is intervening to prevent an explosion of the entire Middle East. But its intervention to defuse the current crisis does nothing to resolve the broader conflicts that produced the Hariri crisis, which emerge from decades of bloody neo-colonial wars waged by successive French governments allied to the other NATO powers. Over the more than a quarter-century since the Stalinist bureaucracys dissolution of the USSR eliminated the main military counterweight to imperialism, Washington and its European allies intervened across the Middle East. In Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen, wars claimed millions of lives and forced tens of millions of people to flee their homes. Now, a conflict between a Washington-Riyadh axis and a Moscow-Tehran axis is emerging that threatens to engulf not only the Middle East, but also Europe and the world in war. Donald Trumps election in 2016 and the defeat of Washingtons Islamist proxies in the Syrian war by the Russia-Iran-Syria coalition mark profound shifts in the political situation. The collapse of the US-led policy undermines the policy of Paris, which had participated alongside Washington in the financing and arming of Islamist militias in Syria. However, it has also intensified conflicts between Washington and its nominal European allies. Trumps visit to Riyadh in May provoked bitter criticisms in Europe, where it was seen as giving Riyadh a blank check for military escalation against Iran. Trump is also signaling he could repeal the nuclear treaty with Tehran signed in 2015 by the Obama administration and the European powers, which threatens European economic interests in Iran and could provoke an all-out war with Iran. If their intervention is less visibly aggressive than Washingtons, the European powers nonetheless play a reactionary role that feeds the imperialist drive towards all-out war in the Middle East. Increasingly opposed to Trump, the European Union (EU) aims to impose deep austerity on the workers to finance the creation of a war machine, the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), that can fight independently of Washington. In the meantime, the European powers play an unclear game, trying to advance their commercial and strategic interests independently of Washington without provoking a break that could lead to open conflict. Berlin denounced Riyadhs intervention in Lebanon. German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel declared that Europe cannot tolerate the adventurism that is spreading over there. The Saudi monarchy reacted by denouncing Gabriels remarks, which it called shameful and unjustified, and recalled its ambassador in Germany to Riyadh for consultations. French imperialism tacks between the different powers, trying to profit as much as possible from the ongoing conflicts. Lebanese political scientist Ziad Majed, at the American University in Paris, said: France is right, given that US foreign policy is far from clear, to mediate between the Saudis and Iranians, to be a major actor, but also for its economic interests in Iran (a major potential market if sanctions are lifted) and also in Saudi Arabia. Since the signing of the nuclear accord with Iran in 2015, Paris has been reinforcing its commercial ties with Tehran despite US sanctions against Iran. Automakers Renault and PSA Peugeot-Citroen and oil major Total have signed billion-euro contracts with Iran. Paris also wants to snap up contracts in Saudi Arabia, which announced an ambitious construction project for 2030, the Neo-M project, for 500 billion. Currently, Paris seems to be tacking towards Riyadh. Macron recently paid a surprise visit to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh, sent Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian to Riyadh, and invited Hariri to Paris. The Macron government may also host a meeting in Paris of the international support group for Lebanon, which includes the United States, the UN and the EU. Paris is also increasingly critical of Tehran. In Riyadh, Le Drian denounced the hegemonic ambitions of Iran. Macron has also demanded that Iran explain its ballistic missile program. Socialist Equality Party (SEP) and International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) members in Sri Lanka continue to receive important support for the World Socialist Web Site campaign against Google censorship. The WSWS has been the hardest hit by changes this year to Googles ranking algorithm which have demoted search results from socialist, anti-war and other progressive web sites. Over recent weeks, SEP/IYSSE members have campaigned in several working-class neighborhoods in Colombo, as well as at the University of Sri Jayawardenepura and the University of Colombo, and at the University of Peradeniya in Kandy, the Central Hills capital. Campaigners distributed hundreds of copies of WSWS articles explaining the escalating attack on democratic rights in the US and the Open Letter to Google by David North, chairman of WSWS International Editorial Board. Copies of the Sinhala-language version of the International Committee of the Fourth Internationals statement, Socialism and the Fight against War were also sold. Udana, a Mathematics PhD student from the University of Colombo, condemned Googles censorship: War is in the interests of the capitalists. The vast majority of the worlds population needs an alternative and there should be a media to organise them. The capitalist rulers are trying to avoid the eruption of a mass movement by blocking political discussions on the internet. I believe that socialism is a political alternative that people must study. Prabhath, a science undergraduate from the same university, said: The capitalist media always suggests that one capitalist ruler should be used to replace another and only want people to think about the things that it prefers. They fear the working class and the masses understanding that the problem is capitalism and rising up against it. As you said, this is why there is internet censorship. Supun, an applied sciences graduate from the University of Sri Jayawardenepuram, told campaigners: Im interested in following war developments around the world and mostly get this information through the internet. Although I havent read the WSWS before, Im convinced by what youve said that the site provides comprehensive coverage. Censorship of the internet cant be accepted because it was invented as a means of broadening access to information. Lakmal, a final-year management student, joined the discussion. I believe socialism is the alternative political program, he said. Its very important to have a media to organise the working class on an international basis. I will sign the petition but my question is: Can we stop Google censorship by just collecting signatures? Campaigners explained that the online petition was in order to build international working-class solidarity and that everyone who signed it was voicing their opposition to the attack on the basic democratic rights of the working class. Lakmal responded by signing the petition and purchasing some SEP literature. Perera, a University of Peradeniya student, denounced the corruption of capitalist governments for imposing high tax burdens on working people. They are also working to block access to information. We cant get correct information from main stream media which is working to prevent any exposure of the truth. I think Google censorship of the WSWS represents a higher level of these efforts. Campaigners held a discussion with a number of management students near the university senate building. We didnt know anything about Googles censorship but it must be condemned. What do you expect from us? one of the students asked. He and two students immediately signed the online petition. Dhanuka, an unemployed youth from Wanathamulla, a working-class neighborhood in Colombo, condemned Googles censorship of the WSWS. I defend the right of all workers and the oppressed to have access to truthful information. Despite Googles censorship, people will unite and fight against such anti-democratic measures. The mainstream media doesnt give the SEP any chance and so this censorship is totally bad. Dewakumar, an auto-rickshaw driver from Kajeema Watta, an impoverished area of Colombo, immediately signed the petition. Kajeema Watta residents have been under attack by consecutive Sri Lankan governments, which have demolished scores of low-income homes in the area to clear the land for highly profitable investment projects. We are in constant fear that the government will demolish the house where I live with my wife and two children, he said. All the other political parties support the government programs to sell this area to multimillionaire investors and evict poor people like us. While the WSWS has reported the truth about this, other media companies have concealed it. Everyone should be aware of these things. Although we live in shanties we also want to know about the growing danger of world war. We oppose any censorship of the WSWS and support any fight to defend it. On Monday, the Trump Administration announced that some 60,000 Haitian nationals would not have their Temporary Protected Status (TPS) renewed. Under TPS, Haitians that sought refuge after Haitis earthquake in 2010 have been allowed to live and work in the United States. The nationals now have until July 2019 to leave the country or face detention and deportation. A statement from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says the 18-month lead time is to allow for an orderly transition before the designation terminates on July 22, 2019. Haitians are the second-largest group of foreigners with temporary protected status currently living in the US. The program was created in 1990 to protect foreign nationals from deportation if the executive branch determined that natural disasters or armed conflict in their countries had created conditions unfit for their return. There are currently some 300,000 foreigners living in the United States under TPS. Mondays decision came after DHS officials determined that Haitis recovery from the 2010 earthquake had been sufficient. A senior official of the department stated the extraordinary conditions that followed the disaster no longer exist. Since the 2010 earthquake, the number of displaced people in Haiti has decreased by 97 percent, Homeland Security secretary Elaine Duke said in a statement. Significant steps have been taken to improve the stability and quality of life for Haitian citizens, and Haiti is able to safely receive traditional levels of returned citizens. The 18-month deadline, Duke said, will allow for an orderly transition, permitting the Haitians to arrange their departure and their government to prepare for their arrival. However, the governments claims about conditions in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere are utterly false. Haiti is still struggling to recover from the earthquake. Many in Haiti rely on money from expatriated relatives in the United States. The Haitian government has asked the Trump administration to extend the protected status. On January 12, 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake devastated Haiti, claiming up to 316,000 lives and displacing more than 1.5 million people. A report by the United Nations in January claimed that 2.5 million Haitians are still in need of humanitarian aid. The earthquake further injured approximately 300,000 people and left 3.3 million facing food shortages. The disaster destroyed or damaged more than 80 percent of rural housing, and hundreds of thousands were forced to live in makeshift tent cities. Public buildings such as schools and hospitals were destroyed during the quake, severely damaging crucial social infrastructure. Only months after the quake hit, one of the worst cholera epidemics in recent history rapidly engulfed Haiti, killing thousands and infecting more than 6 percent of the population in just over two years. Haitis healthcare system, already strained, was exacerbated by the outbreak. Reconstruction efforts in Haiti have been slow as well, despite the billions raised in international aid. The Red Cross is accused of building only six homes in Haiti since the disaster. With nearly half a billion dollars in donated funds, the Red Cross has spent millions on internal expenses. The country has experienced multiple disasters since the initial earthquake in 2010. Hurricane Sandy crashed through the country in 2012, causing drastic flooding, scores of new deaths, and cases of disease infections. A three-year drought followed sending the country into deeper levels of famine and poverty. In October 2016, Hurricane Matthew killed at least 1,000 people and devastated rural and urban areas alike. Collapsed trees and buildings blocked roadways, making it difficult to distribute medical supplies and support. Beyond natural disasters, Haiti is victim to decades of US and UN occupation. The legacy of occupation and invasion has continued to shadow the island of Hispaniola in the decades since the US officially pulled out in 1934. United States Marines invaded Santo Domingo in 1965, and carried out an intervention in Haiti in 1994. The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti, also known as MINUSTAH, has kept peacekeepers in the country since 2004. The UN peacekeepers in Haiti have been accused of accidentally spreading cholera after the earthquake. Sending the Haitian nationals back to Haiti is nothing short of criminal, but the Trump administration has insisted that the TPS program was only meant to be temporary, not a way for people to become long-term legal residents of the United States. Policy Director of the American Immigration Council, Royce Bernstein Murray, told NPR that Haitians with TPS have 27,000 American-born children with citizenship, and that the Trump Administrations decision will throw these families into crisis as their lives are uprooted. Earlier this month, the administration announced that it would not renew the provisional residency of 2,500 Nicaraguans as well. A Federal court in San Francisco issued a ruling Monday blocking the Trump administration's executive order which sought to restrict federal grants to so-called sanctuary cities. U.S District Judge William Orrick wrote in his decision that the administrations attempt to impose restrictions on federal funding to municipalities that do not cooperate with the attempts of federal immigration officials to round up and deport undocumented immigrants was a violation of the separation of powers clause of the constitution, which grants Congress, not the Executive Branch of the government, the power to approve and dispense federal funds. President Trump signed the order, Executive Order 13768, titled Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States, in the first week of his administration. The order outlines the administrations policy of mass detention and deportation and attempts to restrict funding to cities that do not cooperate with federal efforts. The central reasoning of the executive order is that sanctuary cities are in violation of 8 U.S.C. Section 1373, a section of the Immigration and Naturalization Act which prohibits states and municipalities from refusing to give the federal government information about the immigration status of individuals living in their communities. Therefore, according to the reasoning of the Trump Justice Department, the administration has the right to withhold federal grants to states and cities that it deems to be not in compliance with that section of the law. The language used in the order is consistent with the anti-immigrant demagoguery that is the hallmark of Trumps administration. In the opening section the order states, Many aliens who illegally enter the United States and those who overstay or otherwise violate the terms of their visas present a significant threat to national security and public safety. This is particularly so for aliens who engage in criminal conduct in the United States. This statement is demonstrably false. Undocumented immigrants are not convicted of crimes at any higher percentage than the population as a whole. This is a fact that Trump and the Justice Department are certainly aware of. The order, much like the administrations attempt to ban immigrants from predominantly Muslim countries, is a blatantly political attempt to inflame and mobilize the nationalist elements who are Trumps most ardent supporters. To that end, Trump has consistently sought to portray immigrants as dangerous criminals. In launching his presidential campaign, he described Mexican immigrants as rapists. In subsequent public appearances, both before and since his election, the President and his surrogates would frequently highlight a crime allegedly committed by an undocumented immigrant and imply that this was indicative of the immigrant community as a whole. Frequently, this would include an appearance by a family member of a victim of a violent crime, exploiting their loss to elicit an emotional response and whip up anti-immigrant racism. Further evidence of this tactic can be seen in another section of the order, which requires states to release reports highlighting the past criminal convictions of detained immigrants. The lawsuit in question was filed jointly by Santa Clara County, California and the City of San Francisco. In April Judge Orrick issued an order temporarily blocking the law. In his preliminary ruling, the judge emphasized that the executive order was a violation of the separation of powers outlined in the Constitution. Where Congress has failed to give the President discretion in allocating funds, the President has no constitutional authority to withhold such funds and violates his obligation to faithfully execute the laws duly enacted by Congress if he does so, Orrick noted. Section 9 purports to give the Attorney General and the Secretary the power to place a new condition on federal funds (compliance with Section 1373) not provided for by Congress. But the President does not have the power to place conditions on federal funds and so cannot delegate this power. In advocating in favor of the executive order Justice Department lawyers have been unable to craft an argument justifying it on constitutional grounds and have instead asserted that the order only covers three small grants, totaling approximately $1 million for both counties. The court rejected this argument outright, citing both the language of the section in question as well as statements made about the law by both President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions. In his ruling Judge Orrick noted that, The President has called it a weapon to use against jurisdictions that disagree with his preferred policies of immigration enforcement. He also noted that Attorney General Jeff Sessions has warned that jurisdictions that do not comply with Section 1373 would suffer withholding grants, termination of grants, and disbarment or ineligibility for future grants, and the claw back of any funds previously awarded. The fact that the Trump administration was unable to provide any legal rationale for the order and instead sought to minimize its intended consequences is a clear indication of its provocative nature. The attack on undocumented immigrants, so-called sanctuary cities, and the liberal judiciary that supposedly enables them, has been a persistent theme of the right-wing media for years. In signing the executive order Trump and Sessions were almost certainly aware that it would be challenged and overturned and that this would provide further fuel for the far-right elements that helped bring Trump to power and view his presidency as a vehicle to further their reactionary agenda. Since taking office in January the Trump administration has launched a campaign of terror against undocumented immigrants. Building on the policies of the Obama administration, which deported more immigrants than all previous administrations combined, Trumps administration has detained and deported tens of thousands of undocumented, mostly Latino, immigrants. Many of those detained are longtime residents of the US who are arrested at their workplace, in their homes or picking their children up at school. Many more arrived in the US after fleeing wretched conditions in countries devastated by the intervention of American imperialism, such as Guatemala, Honduras, or Nicaragua. Virtually all are workers, and therefore find no legitimate political representation in either of the two parties of big business. Most recently, the Trump administration rescinded the Temporary Protected Status granted to Haitian immigrants in the wake of the 2010 earthquake that destroyed Haiti and from which the country has never fully recovered. This will require an estimated 59,000 Haitian immigrants to return home by July 2019 or face deportation to the poorest country in the western hemisphere. This follows a similar decision earlier this month, which removed protected status from some 5,000 Nicaraguan immigrants, including many who have lived in the US for decades. Robert Mugabe resigned as president on Tuesday, six days after Zimbabwes military first moved against him. His resignation was announced in the midst of a debate in parliament on impeachment initiated by his factional rivals in the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF). Mugabe, 93, who has led the country for 37 years, refused to go after last Wednesdays move by the army targeting the G40 faction of his wife, Grace Mugabe, and supporting the former deputy prime minister, Emmerson Mnangagwa. He failed to resign in a televised address Sunday while flanked by top military figures, having been removed as party leader earlier that day. Instead, he suggested that he would lead a party congress next month. Despite the staging of rallies and scenes of euphoria in Harare at news of Mugabes resignation, his removal is the result of a palace coup with political and economic aims dictated by bourgeois forces no less corrupt than Mugabe. Mugabe finally submitted his resignation in a letter to parliament that was read out by the speaker, Jacob Mudenda, to the assembled MPs. The cheering in the chamber was an indication of how far removed the political overturn was from what the army and sections of the media had proclaimed to be a genuinely popular uprising. Even the charges under which Mugabe was to be impeachedthat his advanced age allowed his wife to usurp powerreflected the intention to limit any fallout. Mnangagwa, who is to be Mugabes replacement, has no principled differences with the man for whom he acted as enforcer for decades. He moved against his former boss only when Mugabe deposed him a fortnight ago, after sidelining other members of the old guard close to the military in favour of a younger bourgeois layer around Gucci Grace. The military portray Mugabes actions as undermining the heroes of the independence movement. But in the decades since the 1980s, the military leveraged its power to become a major economic force that grew wealthy at the expense of the working population. The generals were angry at Mugabe only for his promotion of a younger venal layer at their expense. Mnangagwa has been alleged to be Zimbabwes richest man in cables released by WikiLeaks and written by a US ambassador in 2001. The sources of his wealth include ill-gotten gains obtained while secretary for finance in ZANU-PF as well as illegal mineral exploitation in the Congo. His first destination in seeking support for a move against Mugabe was Beijing, Zimbabwes biggest investor, where Mnangagwa fled after being deposed. Mnangagwa has appealed to China, the US and Britain by advancing himself as engagement-friendly and an opponent of Mugabes recent turn to policies of indigenisation that penalised foreign investors in mining and other key industries. The man immediately in charge of the palace coup, commander of the Zimbabwe national army, General Constantine Chiwenga, is also fabulously wealthy, with an extensive real estate portfolio, control of some 100 companies, a fleet of luxury cars and a mountain of jewellery. The extent to which the military is managing events was epitomised by the statement issued Monday by Chiwenga. Flanked by Air Force of Zimbabwe Commander Perrance Shiri, Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri, Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services Commissioner-General Paradzai Zimondi and acting Central Intelligence Organisation head Aaron Nhepera, Chiwenga warned against any action by anyone that would threaten peace, life and property. Zimbabweans, he declared, had to remain calm and patient, fully observing and respecting the laws of the country, while your defence forcesremain seized with the operation codenamed Operation Restore Legacy. Chiwenga urged students protesting at the University of Zimbabwe to be calm and to proceed with their educational programmes as scheduled. Lining up behind the impeachment move is Morgan Tsvangirai, head of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The former leader of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) now speaks of his desire to see all the hungry fed as a reason for temporarily siding with the Mnangagwa faction. But he and the trade union bureaucracy are aligned with bourgeois forces in Zimbabwe and major imperialist powers, including Britain and the United States. Set up in 1999, the MDC stood against ZANU-PF as the defender of International Monetary Fund-imposed structural adjustment programmes and white farming interests when Mugabe was forced to make a show of opposition to both to preserve his popular base. In an interview with the South African Mail and Guardian in 1997, Tsvangirai denied that the IMF caused Zimbabwes social crisis, insisting that it was because We are not living within our means. He continued: At the stage we had reached, some form of structural adjustment was needed We had to relax and open up and allow business to operate without these constraints. The MDC has been a consistent advocate of this agenda and backed Western moves to depose Mugabe that involved crippling sanctions that destroyed the livelihoods of millions. London and Washington have over time combined backing for the MDC with seeking relations with factions within ZANU-PF, including that led by Mnangagwa. The ailing Tsvangirai still enjoys international backing, with the US and Britain insisting that the military must give way to civilian rule in arrangements that include the MDC and other opposition tendencies. The MDC is considered to be an important political lever against Chinas influence within ZANU-PF. Another party concerned that Mugabes departure from office be carefully managed is the African National Congress government in South Africa. President Jacob Zuma heads a regime that has just as decisively betrayed its promises to the working class and poor farmers in return for a share in their exploitation through governmental positions and business connections forged by means of the policies of Black economic empowerment. He arrives in Harare today from a meeting in Angola of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) to discuss how the power transition will continue. Yesterday, Reuters reported a cable it received weeks prior to the palace coup from South Africas Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO). The cable reports that sixteen African leaders in the SADC led by Zuma were encouraging Mugabe to step down in the knowledge that the army was ready to remove him. Dated October 23, the CIO source warns that Mugabe would face fierce resistance from the military if Mnangagwa was removed and that the military is not going to easily accept the appointment of Grace. The report adds that Reuters reported in September that Mnangagwa was plotting to succeed Mugabe, with army backing, at the helm of a broad coalition. The plot posited an interim unity government with international blessing to allow for Zimbabwes re-engagement with the world after decades of isolation from global lenders and donors. Mnangagwa yesterday, in his first public appearance since the coup, offered his vision for a new Zimbabwe that was in line with this aim, describing a national, not party political, project that was not a job for Zanu-PF alone The imperialists are calculating that opportunities will indeed be opened up to them. Prime Minister Theresa May said that the UK, as Zimbabwes oldest friend, will do all it can to help rebuild the Zimbabwean economy. Whatever rebuilding is planned involving Britain and other imperialist powers will be at the expense of the working class and rural poor. The essential issue posed before the working class of Zimbabwe is to assert its interests independently of all factions of the bourgeoisie. That class and not just Mugabe has proved incapable of freeing the masses from imperialist domination and creating the conditions for genuine and lasting social and economic progress. David Cassidy's Copyright: [AP] David Cassidy, pop culture idol of the 1970s, has died as a result of complications from dementia. The musician and actor was 67. His publicist JoAnn Geffen confirmed his death. Cassidy announced his diagnosis with dementia in early 2017, and reports indicate he died as a result of organ failure. He performed at the B.B. King Blues Club & Grill in New York in March, talking about his dementia, and said his arthritis made playing guitar an ordeal. With pretty-boy good looks and a long mane of dark hair, Cassidy was one every girls favorite teen crush in the early 1970s and drew screaming crowds at concert appearances. David Cassidy was part of a showbusiness family that included his father, Tony-winning actor Jack Cassidy, stepmother Shirley Jones, half-brother Shaun Cassidy and daughter, actress Katie Cassidy. Raised in New Jersey, Cassidy moved to Los Angeles in 1969 after starring in a Broadway musical that closed after only four performances. In 1970, after signing with Universal, Cassidy took on the role of Keith Partridge in The Partridge Family. Keith was the son of Shirley Partridge, who was played by Jones. After the singles I Think I Love You and Cherish took off, Cassidy began working on solo albums as well. He regularly sold out stadiums, leading to commentators to coin the phrase Cassidymania. Several of his shows resulted in riots or mass hysteria, including one notable 1974 performance in Australia, which garnered calls for Cassidy to be deported from the country. At a 1974 London concert, nearly 800 people were injured in a stampede at a Cassidy concert, and one teenage girl died a few days later. He stopped touring and acting soon after, concentrating on recording, and had a hit with I Write the Songs before Barry Manilow made it part of his act. In musical theater, he performed in Little Johnny Jones, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Time and Blood Brothers and created the Vegas shows The Rat Pack is Back and At the Copa. Story continues Cassidy was Emmy nominated for a guest role on a Police Story episode A Chance to Live. NBC based the series David Cassidy Man Undercover on the segment, but it lasted just one season. He also made guest appearances on shows including Fantasy Island, The Love Boat and Tales of the Unexpected. In the decades that followed, Cassidy continued to perform in Las Vegas and tour. At later shows, Cassidy was known for participating in Q&A sessions at his concerts. He also played the manager of Aaron Carters character in the 2005 film Popstar and starred with half-brother Patrick in Ruby and the Rockits, created by his half-brother Shaun. But he struggled with achieving his peak fame early in life, dealing with alcoholism and being arrested several times for DUIs. He filed for bankruptcy in 2015. He is survived by half-brothers Shaun Cassidy, actors Patrick and Ryan; daughter Katie Cassidy and son, actor Beau Cassidy. Related stories David Cassidy Hospitalized With Organ Failure Subscribe to Variety Newsletters and Email Alerts! After numerous sex scandals rocked Fox News, parent company 21st Century Fox is installing a Workplace Professionalism and Inclusion Council to watch-over the cable news net. Most members of the committee will be independent of Fox, per the publicly traded corporation. The council will regularly provide written reports to the 21st Century board. Those will be posted publicly to the companys website. More specifically, the new committee will advise Fox News and its senior management in its ongoing efforts to ensure a proper workplace environment for all employees and guests, strengthen reporting practices for wrongdoing, enhance HR training on workplace behavior, and further recruitment and advancement of women and minorities, per a Monday media release. Also Read: Kiss Frontman Gene Simmons Banned for Life From Fox News The Workplace Council gives our management team access to a brain trust of experts with deep and diverse experiences in workplace issues, said Jack Abernethy, co-president of Fox News Channel. We look forward to benefiting from their collective guidance. We are pleased to have resolved this matter with 21CF in a constructive way that will drive meaningful benefits for shareholders of 21CF and Fox News employees, said Max Berger, founding partner, Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP. The establishment of a majority independent council with the participation of senior HR executives from the company is a positive result that reflects a shared commitment from both sides to strengthen the workplace at Fox News. Over this past year, 21st Century Fox appointed a new global chief Human Resources officer, Thomas Gaissmaier, and a new head of Human Resources at Fox News, Kevin Lord. Both will be members of the new council, with Gaissmaier serving as chairperson. All of these changes came about after former Fox News boss Roger Ailes was accused of sexually harassing numerous women, most notably Gretchen Carlson, whom he is pictured with above. Earlier this year, anchor Bill OReilly was ousted from the network following similar allegations. Charles Payne, Sean Hannity and others have also been accused of sexual misconduct on the job. Story continues Also Read: Gretchen Carlson Blasts Roy Moore and His Supporters: 'We Have Reached Rock Bottom' (Video) The councils four independent members are: Honorable Barbara Jones, former judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, she runs a practice on corporate monitorships, compliance issues, internal investigations and arbitrations and mediations. Judge Jones chaired the Response Systems to Adult Sexual Assault Crimes Panel, created by Congress in the National Defense Authorization Act for 2013, aimed at assessing the investigation, prosecution and adjudication of sexual assaults in the military. Brande Stellings, who leads Catalysts consulting services and corporate board services groups, guides organizations to accelerate the advancement of women through the pipeline to leadership. Virgil Smith, who served as Vice President of Talent Acquisition and Diversity at the Gannett Company, is currently Principal Consultant of the Smith Edwards Group, LLC, and consultant for the Asian American Journalists Association. Sylvia Ann Hewlett, PhD economist, Kennedy Scholar, Founder and CEO of the Center for Talent Innovation, and member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She has published 12 books and 14 Harvard Business Review articles. Related stories from TheWrap: Gene Simmons Tweets Female-Empowerment Message, Gets Dragged Over Fox News Ban Fox News Should Fire Sean Hannity, Media Matters Head Says: 'Uniquely Destructive' Bill O'Reilly Still Banks Millions Despite Losing Fox News Perch Jennie Garth and her husband Dave Abrams are working through a tough time. A source close to the couple tells PEOPLE that while the two are not separated, theyre going through a rocky patch. Another source tells PEOPLE that the two are trying to fix their issues but are not filing for divorce. The Beverly Hills, 90210 alum, 45, and Abrams, 36, met in late fall 2014 on a blind date. They got engaged in March and tied the knot in July 2015 at her six-acre ranch home in Los Olivos, California. It was unreal, Garth told PEOPLE at the time. It was perfect. Things just lined up and I was like, I dont need it, I dont want it, and there it came, she added. He completes me. The actress shares daughters Luca, 20, Lola, 14, and Fiona, 11, with her ex-husband Peter Facinelli. The former couple split in 2012 after 11 years of marriage and finalized their divorce in 2013. Last week, Garth shared a poignant message on Instagram about staying strong during challenging times. Resilience means the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties, she wrote. But it doesnt mean well never experience sadness. It proves were able to spring back into shape after struggle has pushed us further than we ever imagined we could go. Resilience allows us to overcome and bounce back from heartache stronger and more flexible than before. I am resilient You are resilient. Beyonce, pictured at Tidal X: Brooklyn at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Oct. 17, 2017, is rolling in the bucks. (Photo: Getty Images) So Beyonce is now a queen on an entirely different level: Shes officially the highest-paid woman in music, according to Forbes. With her pretax earnings of $105 million this past year, her financial accomplishments include a world tour that grossed $250 million, the launch of her Ivy Park fashion line, and her stock in Tidal, just to name a few. But one cant just make a bed from all that cash and roll around in it all day, as fun as that sounds. So how does Beyonce spend all that money? 1. She buys insane homes. In August, it was reported that Bey and Jay-Z bought a Bel-Air mansion worth $135 million, and it features four pools, bulletproof windows, and a helipad. The 30,000-square-foot home has eight bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, custom fixtures imported from Italy, a 15-car garage, and an in-house spa and fitness center with a hot tub that fits 12. It was also reported that the Carters would be spending a mere $10 million to furnish the place. But thats not the only property Bey nabbed this year she also helped plunk down $26 million for whats being described as a waterfront estate in the Hamptons. Its just a little shack with seven bedrooms and nine bathrooms over 12,000 square feet, situated on a 2.1-acre lot near a nature preserve. Plus, it has an infinity edge pool, parque de Versailles floors created by French craftsmen, and numerous 18th-century French Louis XV carved stone fireplaces. You know, the kind of stuff you usually have in a second home. Beyonce and JAY-Z have finally found a permanent home in Los Angeles after paying $88 million for this Bel Air mansion. (Photo: Splash News) Of course, lets not forget that until these real estate purchases were made, she and Jay were renting a 10-bedroom, 14-bathroom villa in Malibu for a mere $400,000 per month. 2. She takes amazing vacations. OK, so maybe her anniversary trip with Jay this year was kind of pedestrian she went to the Grand Canyon and took adorable photos with her family. Sounds like something we would do! But shes best known for taking baller excursions all over the world, usually on some manner of yacht. Witness last years visit to Italy, where she and Blue wore matching outfits as they walked along stone streets and chilled on a yacht. Or when the trio went to Ibiza and Brazil for Beys 32nd birthday, where they once again lived the yacht life, and Bey proved that she was still one of us when she drank beer on the beach. Just look at their vacation photos. Oh, to live that life Story continues Last week, Bey and Jay hung out on this yacht, along with their kids, in Miami. (Photo: Splash News) 3. She buys Blue some amazing outfits. Blue Ivy has been slowly but surely entering the spotlight thanks to her famous mom and what her famous mom dresses her in. Blues wardrobe rivals that of a multitude of A-listers who walk red carpets for a living no surprise, considering her mamas taste in fashion. But how many kids do you know rock a kelly-green Gucci dress for $2100, or a ruffled Dolce & Gabbana hydrangea-print chiffon gown that matches her moms for $545, or a butterfly and Swarovski crystal metallic Mischka Aoki dress that costs something between $8,405 and $10,637. Just one although as twins Sir and Rumi get older, well undoubtedly start seeing them in some amazing kid-friendly designer gear too. A post shared by Beyonce (@beyonce) on May 19, 2017 at 5:07pm PDT 4. She donates to charity. Of course, not every dime Beyonce spends goes to fashion, real estate, and a rock-star lifestyle. She also gives back a lot. During Hurricane Harvey, which hit her hometown of Houston, she and Blue served meals to those in need, and Beyonce donated to relief efforts. She also has her own charitable organization, BeyGOOD, which partners with like-minded organizations to do things like fund scholarships; work with UNICEF to bring clean water to Burundi in Africa; and work with Jays charity, the Shawn Carter Foundation, to give toys to the less fortunate over the holidays. Bey has worked with and supported 31 charities to date, according to Look to the Stars, including Feeding America, Oxfam, MusiCares, the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Stand Up to Cancer, and many more. A post shared by Beyonce (@beyonce) on Sep 9, 2017 at 9:52pm PDT So while she may be making millions, she also spreads the wealth around to those who need it most. But what else would you expect from Queen Bey? Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. Although Natalie Portman is one of the most notable and well-respected actresses of our generation, that has not made her immune to the sexism and harassment that runs rampant in Hollywood. During Vulture Festival in Los Angeles over the weekend, the Oscar winner spoke to the recent slew of harassment allegations leveled against prominent industry members. When I heard everything coming out, I was like, wow, Im so lucky that I havent had this. And then, on reflection, I was like, OK, definitely never been assaulted, definitely not, but Ive had discrimination or harassment on almost everything Ive ever worked on in some way, Portman explained. I went from thinking I dont have a story to thinking, Oh wait, I have 100 stories, said the mother of two. Natalie, 36, went on to detail a discomfiting experience in which she agreed to travel on a private plane with a producer and his team. I showed up and it was just the two of us, and one bed was made on the plane. Nothing happened, I was not assaulted. I said: This doesnt make me feel comfortable, and that was respected. But that was super not OK, you know? That was really unacceptable and manipulative and could have beenI was scared, you know? But just the fact of any woman, if youre walking down the street alone at night, you feel scared, and Im not sure guys know what that [feels like]. RELATED: You'll Want to Steal Natalie Portman's New Mom Beauty Hack Portman shared that she feels women have kept their stories of workplace abuse quiet for so long due to the isolation of the male-dominated industry. Usually you walk into a movie as the only woman, and youre often the only woman on set. Its very rare to have female crew members apart from hair, makeup, and wardrobethe very stereotypical departments for women to be inand I think women experience this in a lot of industries. If you do get the opportunity to work, youre often the only woman in the room. I hear this from friends of mine who are lawyers, business people, writers on shows. The surprising thing is it almost feels strategic to keep you away from other women, because you dont have the opportunity to share stories. All these accusations are like, Oh yeah, everyone was isolated from each other, people didnt share. They didnt realize that there were hundreds of people with similar stories. It prevents mentorship of women by other women because youre just not exposed to it. You have to work hard to find and actually connect to people doing the same thing because were often that one seat at the table. Bravo, Natalie, for your honesty and openness. How to protest if Roy Moore gets elected amidst sexual misconduct allegations Despite the amount of sexual misconduct allegations against him, Roy Moore is still the Republican nominee to fill Attorney General Jeff Sessions seat in the U.S. Senate for the state of Alabama. While even Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has said that Moore should back out of the special election, Republicans are getting mixed messages since President Donald Trump defended Moore on November 21st. With the election taking place on December 12th, there are only a few weeks left before the people of Alabama decide if they want the Democrat Doug Jones or a man accused of making sexual advances on underage girls to represent them in the Senate. And if Moore does get elected to the U.S. Senate, youre going to need an outlet for your anger. Although Alabama is notably a red state, Politico reported that it might be a tight race with Jones leading some polls. That news came on November 12th, after The Washington Post reported that four women alleged that Moore had made romantic or sexual advances on them when they were teenagers. (One of the women said that Moore touched her sexually when she was 14.) These alleged incidents occurred when Moore was in his 30s. Moore who was elected twice as the chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court and dismissed both times for reasons unrelated to these accusations is now 70. Exclusive: Woman says Roy Moore initiated sexual encounter when she was 14, he was 32 https://t.co/lsvCr4s0NC Washington Post (@washingtonpost) November 9, 2017 Since the November 9th Washington Post article, more women have come forward to say that Moore made unwanted advances toward them that made them feel uncomfortable when they were teenagers or young women. Many of these accounts are said to have occurred at the Gadsden Mall in Alabama when Moore was in his early 30s and single. As Moore has denied all the accusations and is intent on continuing to run for Senate not to mention, he now has the support of the president what can you do? Well, if you live in Alabama, the best way to make your voice heard is to vote in the general election on December 12th, since there is a chance Moore could lose. You can volunteer for or contribute to Jones campaign to help strengthen his chances of defeating Moore. You can also peacefully protest in your state. After more than 50 Alabama pastors signed a letter saying that Moore is unfit to serve, 100 people attended a rally against Moore at a Birmingham, Alabama church. Just a few days later, over 300 faith leaders across the nation signed a letter that declared Moore should not be a Senator. Even if you arent religious, you could reach out to these faith leaders who signed the letter. They have a community that looks to them for guidance and by working peacefully together, you may be able to amplify your voices even if you dont live in Alabama. More than 300 faith leaders say Roy Moore is unfit to serve in the Senate https://t.co/HOky462g2P pic.twitter.com/ld7ewsarnG The Hill (@thehill) November 21, 2017 The Atlantic reported that there is a very slight chance that the Senate could expel Moore if he is elected. In that case, you could contact your Senator to make it clear that you want them to expel him. If you are in Alabama and Moore is elected, you should hold other Republican politicians in your state who stated Moores behavior was acceptable, like David Hall and Jim Zeigler, accountable. Nationwide, you can continue peacefully protesting Trump. Trump said that: 1. He believes Moore's denials 2. Any Republican is better than any Democrat no matter what Both of those things are the exact opposite of what establishment Republicans have been saying about Moore.https://t.co/D4DrYnfaIo Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) November 21, 2017 And, as always, no matter where you live, you can show your support for organizations who help victims particularly underage victims of sexual assault and abuse. Organizations like RAINN and Prevent Child Abuse America are just two examples. For now, you should focus your energy on encouraging the people of Alabama to not elect Moore. But there are things you can and should do to help end sexual misconduct against minors no matter how this special election plays out. (Photo: Natalie Hage) The Victorias Secret Angels are undeniably beautiful. Taking the stage during the brands annual fashion show held in Shanghai, China, on Monday, the models, wearing ornate outfits and sky-high heels, walked down the runway appearing almost mythical flaunting their lithe bodies. And their figures are just that fantastical largely because theyre unattainable by a vast majority of the population. In the United States, the average woman, according to a 2016 study, is a size 16. The average Victorias Secret model? Shes at least 59 and has a 24 inch waist. Bella Hadid completely owned the Victorias Secret Fashion Show with lots of sexy looks While over the years the company has made efforts to include more ethnicities in the show, body diversity has yet to be addressed. Despite this, the show still has an odd hold on me. I cant help but want to watch because the ensembles sexy undergarments, lace one-pieces, and theatrical wings are exquisite. But when its over and Im living in my plus size body replaying a highlight reel in my head, I frankly feel sad knowing that such a prominent company is promoting an unobtainable ideal. I want to come away from watching the show feeling sexy and powerful and that definitely doesnt happen for me. I consider myself a very confident and self-assured person and the parade of some of the most gorgeous women in the world with their flat stomachs, perfect long legs, and cheekbones for days still hits me hard. The most difficult part is confronting the fact that they look nothing like me. Rebel Wilson took a public jab at Victorias Secret while hosting the 2015 MTV Movie Awards wearing angel wings and leather pants with Think encrusted across her bottom. (Photo: Getty Images) Im not alone in feeling isolated and dejected. In a recent interview I did with Rebel Wilson about her new plus size clothing line, Rebel Wilson X Angels, we talked candidly about the Victorias Secret Fashion Show. I caught my sister watching one of their runway specials! the actress tells me. Im like, dont watch that! Its very unrealistic to think that anyone really looks like that. I know some of those girls who are lovelythey dont look like that in real life. They honestly dont! Story continues Hearing this from someone who I admire and has firsthand experience validated my reaction. Theres a whole lot of body makeup, hair, and face makeup that goes into that, Rebel assures. Lais Ribiero wearing the Champagne Nights Fantasy Bra, which costs $2 million. Its embellished with diamonds, yellow sapphires and blue topaz, weighs more than 600 carats, and took around 350 hours to create. (Photo: Getty Images) This makes me question why the show even exists. If these otherworldly, glowing, and remarkably beautiful women make lots of others feel inadequate me included it seems almost inhumane to purposefully and loudly exclude almost every other type except for one. And moreover, why do we keep watching when its proven that consuming unrealistic bodies in media only makes our insecurities louder? While of course we cant police what people want to watch and we certainly cant stop brands from repeatedly excluding an array of body types, we can start a conversation about it. We can talk to our friends, our daughters, and ourselves about how our bodies are still worthy and good enough, even if we dont get to see them go down a catwalk or grace a magazine cover. None of this is to say that Victorias Secret models shouldnt be celebrated, but we have to remember to celebrate ourselves, too. We want to hear from you! From outfits to body inclusivity (or lack thereof), how do you feel about the show? Send us a video submission with your thoughts, tagging @yahoostylebeauty and #VSforall on social media for an opportunity to be featured on our site. Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: Why the Victorias Secret Fashion Show might be bad for body image, according to scientists The Victorias Secret Fashion Show sends a dangerous message but a plus-size campaign wants to change that The anti-Victorias Secret runway show proves all women can be angels Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. The White House asked Twitter which turkey it should pardon, and now the internet is on fire Whether you love or hate the annual Thanksgiving tradition, the White House pardons a turkey every year. While the origins of the tradition are still a little fuzzy, with people most often associating the act with Harry S. Truman, President George H.W. Bush is actually credited for turning it into an annual act back in 1989. If youre unfamiliar with pardoning, its an event where the president spares the bird by refusing to eat it for the Thanksgiving feast. Its also a cute way to get personal with the animal that serves as a symbol of the holiday. This year, The Hill reported that the two turkeys had arrived at the White House after a stay at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel since of course, its a luxurious honor. The problem is that the White House isnt sure which of the two will officially get the honor of being pardoned. Heres where the problem lies. After the White House decided to poll Twitter, a few users noticed something a little off. The turkeys were named Drumstick and Wishbone and people soon realized that out of the two poultry-related names, one implies darker meat. Those who saw the tweet werent slow in responding to the tweet with their thoughts on the vote. Wishbone = white meat Drumstick = dark meat Guess which one trump pardons Mark Bare (@MarkBare54) November 20, 2017 Probably gonna be the white one Jim Thornburg (@GrimJimCrowley) November 20, 2017 Voting closed after over 40,000 people chose a turkey and Drumstick was the winner, with 60% of the vote. The two turkeys, Drumstick and Wishbone, participating in this year's National Thanksgiving Turkey Pardoning Ceremony have arrived in Washington, D.C. from Western Minnesota! A post shared by The White House (@whitehouse) on Nov 20, 2017 at 8:56am PST Of course, prior to the vote closing, Twitter also had a few other suggestions. Story continues Even though Trump is a Turkey, I would never recommend pardoning him. Dave White (@dpwhite) November 20, 2017 I vote POTUS 45 be sent to the farm. David Uthe (@Tiednbound) November 20, 2017 I don't know but we should impeach the Turkey in Chief. Janet (@sfjw) November 20, 2017 But the best response was probably this one. This just in: both turkeys have declined the invitation to the pardoning ceremony. Anne Hawkins (@A_Hawk10) November 20, 2017 The turkeys last year were named Tater and Tot. After the ceremony, Wishbone and Drumstick will be joining them at Virginia Techs Gobblers Rest reserve, where theyll live out the rest of their lives. Not so bad, for a turkey. Over 450 victims of the Las Vegas massacre have signed on to several lawsuits seeking damages from the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, as well as the promoters of the Route 91 Harvest Festival, the Los Angeles Times reports. Over 15 lawsuits have already been filed since the October 1st shooting, which left 58 dead and over 500 injured. The new suits filed Monday named the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino and its owner MGM Resorts International as defendants. An MGM subsidiary also owns the fairgrounds where Route 91 took place. The festival's promoter, Live Nation, was also named as a defendant, as was the estate of slain gunman Stephen Paddock. The new lawsuits accused Mandalay Bay of breaching "their duty of reasonable care" by failing to notice Paddock was stockpiling guns in his hotel room. They also faulted the hotel for not immediately calling the police after Paddock shot security guard Jesus Campo before opening fire on concertgoers across the street. During a news conference, one of the lawyers for the victims, Chad Pinkerton, said of the slow response, "My instinct tells me that's going to be because they wanted to control the environment and control the message before the public and the media was involved. Certainly they didn't know they were going to have an evil act such as this, but they could have anticipated it, they could have foreseen it." Furthermore, the lawsuits argue that the Route 91 Harvest Festival did not have adequate exits and properly trained employees. This lack of preparation, they argued, caused additional injuries, both from trampling and gunfire, as attendees tried to flee the fairgrounds. In a statement, MGM Resorts International said, "The incident that took place on October 1st was a terrible tragedy perpetrated by an evil man. These kinds of lawsuits are not unexpected and we intend to defend ourselves against them. That said, out of respect for the victims, we will give our response through the appropriate legal channels." Story continues Most of the plaintiffs in the new lawsuits were Route 91 concertgoers, though a few security guards working the event also joined the class. According to the attorneys, over 30 plaintiffs were shot, and two were family members of individuals that were killed. Approximately 100 others suffered trampling injuries, while about 250 were suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Pinkerton said many of their clients were unable to afford medical care for their injuries. Unlike other lawsuits stemming from the Las Vegas massacre, this one does not go after gun manufacturers or the makers of "bump" stocks, the accessories Paddock used to make his semi-automatic rifles function practically as fully automatic rifles. Another attorney, Muhammad S. Aziz, said, "Our focus in this case is not about gun control, because I think a lot of our clients feel strongly about their rights about gun ownership. It's about promoting security in the hospitality industry." Related Content: Belgrade (AFP) - After a UN court found former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic guilty of genocide and war crimes, here is a timeline of the 1990s Balkans conflicts that tore apart the former Yugoslavia. - Bickering after Tito dies - Communist Yugoslavia, which emerged shortly after the end of World War II, was made up of six republics: Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro and Macedonia. Following the death of its autocratic leader Josip Broz Tito in 1980, the Yugoslav federation found itself in crisis, with bickering between ethnic groups and surging nationalist sentiments. By the time the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, inter-ethnic relations in Yugoslavia were at breaking point. The first multiparty elections in the republics in 1990 were won mostly by nationalists. The most prosperous republics, Slovenia and Croatia, started advocating a greater decentralisation of Yugoslavia's government. But the largest republic, Serbia, led by Slobodan Milosevic, rallied fellow Serbs throughout Yugoslavia in a push for centralised control. - Slovenia and Croatia declare independence - On June 25, 1991, the parliaments of Slovenia and Croatia declared independence, which led to the deployment of the Belgrade-controlled Yugoslav army (JNA) towards affected borders and airports. After a 10-day conflict, the JNA withdrew from ethnically homogeneous Slovenia. But in Croatia, Serbian troops sided with ethnic Serb rebels who opposed independence, launching what would become a four-year war. The eastern town of Vukovar was razed to the ground during a siege by Yugoslav forces in autumn 1991, while the medieval Adriatic town of Dubrovnik was severely damaged. - Bosnian referendum - In Bosnia, the most ethnically and religiously diverse republic and home to four million people, Muslims and Croats organised an independence referendum. The move was fiercely opposed by Belgrade-backed Bosnian Serbs, who made up more than 30 percent of the population. Story continues While Serbs boycotted the vote, 60 percent of Bosnia's citizens voted for independence. - Bosnian war - In April 1992 war broke out between Bosnia's Muslims and Croats, who were on one side, and Bosnian Serbs. Bosnia won international recognition a day later. Led by Radovan Karadzic and armed by the JNA, the Serbs declared that territories under their control belonged to an entity called Republika Srpska. Soon after, Bosnian Croats turned against the republic's Muslims. - Siege of Sarajevo - Bosnian Serb troops immediately started a siege of the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo which would last 44 months. The city's 350,000 residents struggled to get basic necessities and at least 10,000 were killed by sniping and shelling by Serbs. By May 1992 Bosnian Serbs controlled two-thirds of Bosnia. - Ethnic cleansing - In August the first images of skeletal prisoners in camps awoke the world to the campaign of ethnic cleansing by Serb forces. An estimated 20,000 women, mostly Muslims, were raped. - Srebrenica massacre - In July 1995 Bosnian Serb forces took over the UN-protected "safe area" of Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia and massacred up to 8,000 Muslim men and boys. Described by two international courts as genocide, the massacre was the worst mass killing in Europe since the end of World War II. - NATO air strikes, Dayton agreement - In August 1995, after the fall of Srebrenica and the bombing of a Sarajevo market in which 41 people were killed, NATO unleashed air strikes on Bosnian Serb positions. On November 21, 1995, following three weeks of talks in the US city of Dayton, Ohio, the leaders of Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia agreed to a peace deal. In December 1995 a NATO peacekeeping force was deployed in Bosnia, which had been divided into a Muslim-Croat Federation, covering 51 percent of the territory, and a Serb entity, the Republika Srpska. - The Kosovo conflict - War then broke out in 1998 in Serbia's southern province of Kosovo between ethnic Albanian rebels seeking independence and Serbia's armed forces. The fighting ended in 1999 after an 11-week bombing campaign by NATO, by which time about 13,000 people had been killed and hundreds of thousands had fled their homes. Kosovo declared independence in 2008, a move Serbia refuses to recognise. - Court investigates crimes - The International Criminal Court for the Former Yugoslavia, established in 1993, has continued prosecuting those responsible for war crimes since the end of the conflicts. It indicted 161 people, convicted 83 and acquitted 19. Among those sentenced is Bosnian Serb wartime leader Karadzic, while Milosevic died in prison before being judged. - 'Butcher of Bosnia' guilty - On November 22, 2017, the court found Mladic guilty on 10 counts including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. But the man dubbed "The Butcher of Bosnia" was found not guilty of genocide in the municipalities. The verdict was long-awaited by tens of thousands of victims across the bitterly-divided region. It was the final trial for the special tribunal as it prepares to close its doors in December. Sixty percent of female American voters say they have experienced sexual harassment, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday, the majority of which has occurred in the workforce. The polls findings come at a time when sexual harassment allegations against prominent figures are emerging almost daily, rocking everything from movie sets and television show writing rooms to newsrooms and Capitol Hill. During the time the poll was conducted, sexual misconduct allegations emerged against Minnesota Sen. Al Franken, former President George H.W. Bush and Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore. The workplace was the most prominent place for sexual harassment; 69% of women polled said it happened to them at work. Forty-five percent said it happened to them on the streets, and 43% said it took place in social settings. Only 15 percent said it happened at home. Comparatively, only 20% of men said they had experienced sexual harassment. However, nearly everyone polled 88% of men and 89% of women said it is a major issue, and 55% said they have a better grasp of it because of recent media coverage. The Quinnipiac poll was conducted among 1, 415 voters across the country from November 15 to November 20 and has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points. Beijing (AFP) - Air China has suspended flights to North Korea, further limiting the secretive state's links with the outside world, but the company said Wednesday it was a business decision. The suspension comes shortly after US President Donald Trump visited Beijing and pressed his counterpart Xi Jinping to do more to rein in North Korea's nuclear programme. China sent a special envoy, Song Tao, to the North last week but his four-day trip ended with no direct statement on the crisis, after Pyongyang's series of nuclear and missile tests triggered global alarm. Air China said in a statement to AFP that it cancelled the Beijing to Pyongyang flight route because the "operational situation is not ideal". "Market conditions will determine the resumption of the flight route," the statement said. Air China last cancelled flights to North Korea in April, citing low customer demand, but resumed them soon after. China has denied any political motives behind its flag carrier's suspension of the route. "The airliners just work out their own operation plans based on the state of operation and the market," foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a press briefing on Tuesday when asked about the apparent move. Passengers flying from Beijing to North Korea are now left with just three regularly scheduled flights each week, on the North Korean state airline Air Koryo. Air Koryo also operates flights from the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang to Pyongyang, though it halted flights from the Chinese border city of Dandong earlier this year. Beijing is Pyongyang's only major ally and biggest trade partner, though in August China said it would abide by new UN sanctions which heavily curtail the North's exports of its most profitable goods. The US on Tuesday unveiled new sanctions targeting North Korean shipping and Chinese traders doing business with Pyongyang, again raising the pressure on the pariah state to abandon its nuclear program. China's foreign ministry rejected the sanctions on Chinese firms as "wrong", stressing that Beijing has enforced UN measures curbing trade with Pyongyang. Anita Hill said former Vice President Joe Bidens recent apology for his handling of her 1991 Senate testimony against then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas is not enough to make up for his failure at the time to show leadership on this issue on behalf of womens equality. He said, I am sorry if she felt she didnt get a fair hearing. Thats sort of an Im sorry if you were offended, Hill said in a wide-ranging Washington Post interview published Wednesday in which she also compared her time in the spotlight with unfairness that remains for women facing workplace sexual harassment. Biden, who chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing considering Thomas Supreme Court nomination, was asked on Nov. 13 about his widely criticized handling of Hills testimony that Thomas had sexually harassed her when they worked together. Hills testimony led to attacks on her credibility. Thomas, meanwhile, was narrowly confirmed to the high court. Lets get something straight here: I believed Anita Hill. I voted against Clarence Thomas, Biden said. He added: I am so sorry that she had to go through what she went through. The only issue in the Anita Hill case was whether or not there could be information submitted in a record without a name attached to it, anonymously accusing someone of something, he continued, referring to criticisms that other women were not permitted to testify against Thomas. Biden at a Nov. 13 event in New York, where he was asked about his handling of Anita Hill's testimony. (Photo: Craig Barritt via Getty Images) Neither Biden nor Thomas would comment on Hills remarks reported in The Washington Post. Hill said Bidens apology omits his role in what happened. He also doesnt understand that it wasnt just that I felt it was not fair, Hill said. It was that women were looking to the Senate Judiciary Committee and his leadership to really open the way to have these kinds of hearings. They should have been using best practices to show leadership on this issue on behalf of womens equality. And they did just the opposite. Hill also said that she does not feel Biden has taken responsibility for victimization she experienced as a result of the hearing. Story continues Washington Post reporter Libby Casey: So he says, Anita Hill was victimized. Theres no question in my mind, but I think the takeaway from a lot of womens groups and members of Congress was that the victimization may have been twofold. Many people think that the victimization continued when you had to undergo this hearing. Hill: Right. Casey: So youre not hearing an apology for that, though? Hill: Or responsibility for it. Thats what I want to hear. Hill drew parallels between the Senate hearing and how women who have reported workplace sexual harassment still are forced into a process where you know theyre not going to be treated fairly. Corporate human resources departments and other internal ways of reporting sexual misconduct often have the effect of protecting the employer, not the complainants, she pointed out. You cannot just bring people forward into a process where you know theyre not going to be treated fairly. Thats not being heard, Hill said. Thats something that we are struggling with right now. Women are coming in to make a complaint, and the process is unfair and employers are saying, Well, we have a process. Well, thats not enough. The newspaper interview brought together Hill and five Democratic women lawmakers who at the time protested the Senate hearing, calling it a trial against Hill. (Photo: The Washington Post via Getty Images) I found for me that is the memory I had that I will never forget, sitting there and looking at the faces of the men questioning. They were just blank faces I found, Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) said in the interview. We were just stunned at our liberals that were on the Judiciary Committee, former Rep. Pat Schroeder (D-Colo.) said, making air quotes. Hills testimony, more than 25 years ago, helped to raise awareness about sexual harassment of women in the workplace. But Hill, who has been outspoken about the recent wave of powerful men facing allegations of serial sexual misconduct, said its clear that larger, systemic issues still exist. Things have evolved. Ive heard from thousands of women and some of them tell me very good stories about what has changed. But there needs to be more than just process on the books, Hill said. Women are still experiencing this problem. Its still a teachable moment where we can learn from what happened in 1991. Just having somebody come forward is not enough. Youve got to be able to come into a system that respects and values our experiences and our work and our integrity. And were not there yet. Read the full Washington Post interview here. Related Articles Anita Hill: Harvey Weinstein's Behavior Is No Surprise Joe Biden Says Hes So Sorry For What Anita Hill Went Through Joe Biden 2020 Is A Terrible Idea In A Post-Weinstein America Also on HuffPost Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. Taking Security Seriously Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) talks with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) before the start of a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing concerning the roles and responsibilities for defending the nation against cyberattacks, on Oct. 19, 2017. With Liberty And Justice... Members of Code Pink for Peace protest before the start of a hearing where U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions will testify to the Senate Judiciary Committee in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on Oct. 18, 2017. Committee members questioned Sessions about conversations he had with President Donald Trump about the firing of former FBI Director James Comey, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy, the ongoing investigation about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and other subjects. Whispers Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), right, speaks with Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) before a confirmation hearing for Christopher Sharpley, nominee for inspector general of the CIA, on Oct. 17, 2017. Not Throwing Away His Shot Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of the musical "Hamilton," makes his way to a meeting of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies in the Rayburn Office Building during a round of meetings to urge federal funding for the arts and humanities on Sept. 13, 2017. Medicare For All Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), center, speaks on health care as Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), left, and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), right, listen during an event to introduce the Medicare for All Act on Sept. 13, 2017. Bernie Bros Supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) pack his office on Sept. 8, 2017. Members of the "Draft Bernie for a People's Party" campaign delivered a petition with more than 50,000 signatures to urge the senator to start and lead a new political party. McCain Appearance Sen. John McCain, second from left, leaves the Capitol after his first appearance since being diagnosed with cancer. He arrived to cast a vote to help Republican senators narrowly pass the motion to proceed for the replacement of the Affordable Care Act on July 25, 2017. A Narrow Win Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, center, speaks alongside Sens. John Barrasso, left, John Cornyn, right, and John Thune, rear, after the Senate narrowly passed the motion to proceed for the replacement of the Affordable Care Act on July 25, 2017. Kushner Questioning Jared Kushner, White House senior adviser and son-in-law to President Donald Trump, arrives at the Capitol on July 25, 2017. Kushner was interviewed by the House Intelligence Committee in a closed-door meeting about contacts he had with Russia. Hot Dogs On The Hill Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) prepares a hot dog during the American Meat Institute's annual Hot Dog Lunch in the Rayburn Office Building courtyard on July 19, 2017. And Their Veggie Counterparts Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) visits the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals veggie dog giveaway on July 19, 2017, countering a National Hot Dog Day event being held elsewhere on Capitol Hill. Poised For Questions Callista Gingrich, wife of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, waits for a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on her nomination to be the U.S. ambassador to the Vatican on July 18, 2017. Speaking Up Health care activists protest to stop the Republican health care bill at Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on July 17, 2017. In The Fray Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) speaks to members of the media after announcing the revised version of the Senate Republican health care bill on Capitol Hill on July 13, 2017. Anticipation Christopher Wray is seated with his daughter Caroline, left, as he prepares to testify at a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on his nomination to be the next FBI director on July 12, 2017. Up In Arms Health care activists protest to stop the Republican health care bill at Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on July 10, 2017. Across A Table Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) meets with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Capitol Hill on June 29, 2017. Somber Day House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) speaks about the recent attack on the Republican congressional baseball team during her weekly press conference on Capitol Hill on June 15, 2017. Family Matters Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), right, and his sons, Jack, 10, and Brad, arrive in the basement of the Capitol after a shooting at the Republican baseball practice in Alexandria, Virginia, on June 14, 2017. A Bipartisan Pause Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), right, coach of the Republican congressional baseball team, tells the story of the shooting that occurred during a baseball practice while he stands alongside Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.), left, a coach of the Democratic congressional baseball team on June 14, 2017. Hats On Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) reacts about the shooting he was present for at a Republican congressional baseball practice in Alexandria, Virginia, as he speaks with reporters at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on June 14, 2017. Public Testimony U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is sworn in to testify before a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on June 13, 2017. Comey's Big Day Former FBI Director James Comey testifies before a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election on Capitol Hill on June 8, 2017. Conveying His Point U.S. Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats testifies at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on his interactions with the Trump White House and on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act on June 7, 2017. Selfie Time Vice President Mike Pence takes a selfie with a tourist wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat inside the U.S. Capitol rotunda on June 6, 2017. The vice president walked through the rotunda after attending the Senate Republican policy luncheon. Budget Queries Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney testifies before the House Budget Committee about President Donald Trump's fiscal 2018 budget proposal on Capitol Hill on May 24, 2017. Flagged Down By Reporters Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, leaves a closed committee meeting on Capitol Hill on May 24, 2017. The committee is investigating possible Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election. Shock And Awe House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) hold a news conference on the release of the president's fiscal 2018 budget proposal on Capitol Hill on May 23, 2017. Seeing Double Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) arrives in the Capitol for the Senate Democrats' policy lunch on May 16, 2017. Honoring Officers President Donald Trump speaks at the National Peace Officers Memorial Service on the West Lawn of the Capitol on May 15, 2017. Whispers Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.), right, and ranking member Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) talk during a hearing with the heads of the U.S. intelligence agencies in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on May 11, 2017. Skeptical Former acting Attorney General Sally Yates arrives to testify before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election on Capitol Hill on May 8, 2017. Differing Opinions Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) gives a thumbs-up to protesters on the East Front of the Capitol after the House passed the Republicans' bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act on May 4, 2017. The protesters support the ACA. Real Talk United States Naval Academy Midshipman 2nd Class Shiela Craine (left), a sexual assault survivor, testifies before the House Armed Services Committee's Subcommittee on Military Personnel with (2nd from left to right) Ariana Bullard, Stephanie Gross and Annie Kendzior in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill on May 2, 2017. Kendzior, a former midshipman, and Gross, a former cadet, were both raped twice during their time at the military academies. The academy superintendents were called to testify following the release of a survey last month by the Pentagon that said 12.2 percent of academy women and 1.7 percent of academy men reported experiencing unwanted sexual contact during the 2015-16 academic year. In Support Of Immigrants Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-N.M.), center, is joined by dozens of Democratic members of the House of Representatives to mark "Immigrant Rights Day" in the Capitol Visitor Center on May 1, 2017 in Washington, D.C. The Democratic legislators called on Republicans and President Donald Trump to join their push for comprehensive immigration reform. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. By Tom Perry and Laila Bassam BEIRUT (Reuters) - Saad al-Hariri returned to Beirut on Tuesday for the first time since he resigned as prime minister in a statement delivered from Saudi Arabia that plunged Lebanon into crisis. Hariri's sudden resignation on Nov. 4 thrust Lebanon to the forefront of regional tussle between the Sunni monarchy of Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite Islamist Iran, whose powerful Lebanese ally Hezbollah is part of the Beirut government. Hariri, a long-time ally of Saudi Arabia, cited fear of assassination and meddling by Iran and Hezbollah in the Arab world in his resignation speech. The move caught even his aides off guard, and Lebanese state officials and politicians close to Hariri say Riyadh forced him to quit and held him in Riyadh. Riyadh and Hariri have denied this. Lebanese President Michel Aoun, who dispatched envoys to urge foreign states to secure Hariri's return from Saudi Arabia, has refused to accept the resignation until he returns to present it in person. Hariri drove straight from Beirut airport to read a prayer at the grave of his father, Rafik al-Hariri, whose 2005 assassination forced him into politics. Asked if had a message for the Lebanese, who have largely united in demanding his return, Hariri said: "Thank you". Hariri is expected to take part in Lebanese independence day celebrations on Wednesday. Earlier, Hariri met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo, saying after the meeting that he would announce his "political position" once he got to Lebanon. It is not yet clear if he will stick by the resignation or rescind it. In a Nov. 12 interview from Saudi Arabia with a TV station that he owns, Hariri said he would return to Lebanon to confirm his resignation. But he also held out the possibility of withdrawing it if Hezbollah respected Lebanon's policy of staying out of regional conflicts, notably Yemen. Following an intervention by France, Hariri departed Riyadh for Paris at the weekend. He flew into Beirut from Cyprus where he stopped for a 45-minute meeting with President Nicos Anastasiades. Story continues In his meeting with Egypt's Sisi, Hariri said he discussed Lebanon's stability and the necessity of keeping the country out of "all regional politics". AOUN WARNS ARABS NOT TO PUSH LEBANON TOWARDS "THE FIRE" Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who also called for Hariri's return, said on Monday his group was open to "any dialogue and any discussion". Nasallah also issued his clearest denial yet of any Hezbollah role in Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition is fighting Iran-allied Houthi forces. If Hariri affirms his resignation, Aoun will consult MPs on their choice for the next prime minister. He is obliged to nominate the candidate with the greatest support. Political sources expect Hariri to be nominated prime minister once again. Following Hariri's resignation, Saudi Arabia accused the entire Lebanese government - not just Hezbollah - of declaring war against it. Western governments including the United States have struck a different tone, however, affirming their support for Lebanon and the stability of a country that is hosting 1.5 million Syrian refugees - equal to one-in-four of the population. "We stand firmly with Lebanon and will continue supporting your countrys efforts to safeguard Lebanons stability, independence, and sovereignty," U.S. President Donald Trump said in a national day message to his Lebanese counterpart. In his Nov. 12 interview, Hariri warned Lebanon was at risk of Gulf Arab sanctions because of Hezbollah's regional meddling. He indicated the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Lebanese in the Gulf could be at risk, as well as trade, vital to the stability of the Lebanese economy. In a speech on the eve of independence day, Aoun told Arab states that dealing with Lebanon required "wisdom" otherwise the country would be pushed "towards the fire". Aoun's warning followed an Arab League meeting on Sunday whose closing communique condemned Hezbollah for "supporting terrorism" and noted that it was part of the government. "My message to the Arab brothers: Dealing with Lebanon requires a lot of wisdom and rationalism, and the alternative to that is pushing it towards the fire," Aoun said. (Reporting by Lisa Barrington, Tom Perry and Laila Bassam; Editing by John Stonestreet and Hugh Lawson) The driver of the stickered vehicle used to work for Sheriff Nehls in the county jail: Karen Fonseca/Facebook A woman who plastered her car with a large F*** Trump sticker has said she is considering launching a lawsuit against the Texan Sheriff who arrested her after discovering the sign. Troy Nehls, a Republican sheriff who serves an area southwest of Houston, penned a Facebook post calling for the driver of the vehicle displaying the F*** Trump and f*** you for voting for him sticker to turn themselves in. He said the sticker was upsetting locals and there had been numerous calls regarding the offensive display. Mr Nehls also claimed a prosecutor had informed him he could charge the driver with disorderly conduct. Texas defines the latter as using abusive, indecent, profane, or vulgar language in a public place, and the language by its very utterance tends to incite an immediate breach of the peace. "I have received numerous calls regarding the offensive display on this truck as it is often seen along FM 359. If you know who owns this truck or it is yours, I would like to discuss it with you, Mr Nehls said in his since-deleted post which went viral. Kate Fonesca, the driver of the stickered vehicle who used to work for Sheriff Nehls in the county jail, was arrested by him outside of Houston on an outstanding fraud warrant on Thursday. Her husband, Mike Fonseca, said his wife was arrested at their home in front of their six-year-old daughter. I think it's the sticker, he told a local ABC affiliate in an attempt to explain the reason for Ms Fonsecas arrest. Ms Fonesca, who was released on a bond of $1,500 later the same day, told reporters she thought she was targetted because Mr Nehls found the now infamous sticker offensive to US President Donald Trump. The 46-year-old, who has now added a new sticker which reads F*** Troy Nehls, held a press conference outside the Fort Bend County Justice Centre on Monday morning to voice her opposition to the sheriff. Ms Fonesca, who is the mother of 12, said her rights had been violated and the sheriff had messed with the wrong person. Story continues She said: "It's not two wrongs make a right. It's making my statement and saying, 'If you're going to put me on blast and you want to gain some votes, let's put the real Troy out there and give you what you wanted.'" Brian Middleton, Ms Fonescas lawyer, said he said he was keen for the FBI and the Texas Rangers to investigate Mr Nehls. He also said he was considering filing a civil rights claim against the office and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) had voiced their interest in the case. Mr Middleton said: "This is protected speech. So anyone who has a sticker like this is within their rights under the US Constitution." Mr Nehls responded to the press conference by releasing a lengthy statement, saying the warrant had been served to Ms Fonesca in a professional manner. He said: "The facts in this case as I see them are that Karen Fonseca wanted to place her feelings into the public realm by driving around with an obscenity on her vehicle. She got just that - much public recognition. This recognition did not cause her to be indicted by a grand jury for Felony Fraud (this happened back in August of 2017), but it did bring the subsequent warrant to our attention and we did our job by arresting her. The ACLU responded to Mr Nehls original Facebook post by saying: "Constitutional Law 101: You cant ban speech just because it has f*** in it". It included an invitation for Ms Fonseca to contact them if needed. Mr Nehls original post attracted more than 10,000 comments from people who were deeply divided between berating the sheriff and Ms Fonesca. Its not to cause hate or anonymity. Its just our freedom of speech and were exercising it, Ms Fonesca said in theaftermath of her arrest. Law enforcement officers trying to prosecute people for using the four-lettered expletive against the government have already been struck down by the Supreme Court. In 1971, a California judge ruled in the Supreme Court case Cohen Vs California that a F*** the draft jacket did not break the law because it was not likely to incite violence. A woman was fired from her job at a government contracting firm for violating the code of conduct policy in October after an image of her trailing President Trumps motorcade on her bike to give him the middle finger went viral. Preschool and kindergarten students from Crucifixion Elementary School celebrated the schools thirteenth annual Thanksgiving feast last Friday. After the students delivered a dazzling rendition of the turkey tango, they then served and ate with their parents at cafeteria tables decked out with with fall-themed decorations. Students made their own garments for the occasion, with preschoolers inspired by Native Americans and kindergarteners dressed as pilgrims. Kindergarten teacher Janine Ausdemore said the students learned about what the Native Americans and pilgrims ate together on Thanksgiving, and tried to replicate some of those foods in their feast. It wasnt mash potatoes and all the stuff we see now, said Ausdemore. They ate more of things like deer and stew. With oversight from their teachers, students worked last week and the morning of the event to prepare vegetables that went into the stew, which was served alongside cornbread and pumpkin pie. Ausdemore said the pie was inspired by the pumpkin pudding they ate on the first Thanksgiving. Principal Doug Harpenau said it was a special sight to see the preschool and kindergartners lined up cutting vegetables on Friday morning before the gathering. At the end of the head table, preschooler Isabella Thorson was offering to perform an encore of the turkey tango, after posing for some photos taken by the school yearbook staff. Next to Isabella was her dad, Niels, who this year will be observing his seventh Thanksgiving in America after arriving from Denmark. In his lap was Isabellas three-year old sister, Olivia, partaking in small a feast of her own. For preschooler Cecelia Fitts, true delight came from serving pumpkin pie to the parents. Fitts made trip after trip back to the desert table in her Thanksgiving garb, and still found enough time to nestle by her mom, Margaret, to share a piece of their own. The collapse of talks to form a coalition government in Germany has left an unsettling sense of uncertainty in Europes biggest democracy. In a country where stability is valued above all else, no-one is sure what comes next. The election in September produced a fragmented result. The radical-right AfD made big gains and the two major parties, Angela Merkels Christian-democratic CDU/CSU and the social-democratic SPD suffered significant losses. With the SPD insisting it would not return to government alongside the CDU, the latter sought an untried coalition with the liberal FDP and the Greens. This so-called Jamaica coalition (from the colours of the parties) proved too much of a stretch for the FDP. Unless the parties reconsider their positions, the only other options are an early election or a minority government. Merkel says she prefers a new election because a minority administration might not be stable. Yet such governments are common in Europe, especially in proportional democracies like Denmark and Sweden, but even currently in Britain. The fact that minority governments can often survive for entire electoral cycles suggests there must be structural factors at work that increase their stability. The median legislator The most important is the support of the so-called median legislator. Imagine that all members of a parliament were arranged in order from the most left wing to the most right wing. In a parliament of 101 MPs, the median legislator the middle MP would be number 51: they would have 50 MPs to their left and 50 to their right. The median legislators support would be needed to pass any bills, because they are the MP who would give left or right a majority. That puts the median MP in a strong position. If we assume for simplicity that all MPs in a given party adopt the same position, we can arrange the parties left to right and see which contains the median legislator. That party will have the greatest bargaining power which explains the stability of so many minority and coalition governments. Story continues To apply this idea to Germany, we need information on the parties general ideological positions. The Chapel Hill Expert Survey of 2014 gives the average estimates for each party by a group of academic specialists on German politics. On a 0 (extreme left) to 10 (extreme right) scale, the Left Partys average position was 1.2, the Greens were at 3.6, the SPD at 3.8, the CDU at 5.9, the FDP at 6.5, the CDUs Bavarian allies, the CSU at 7.2 and the AfD at 8.9. As there are 709 MPs in the German parliament, the median is number 355. Counting in from the right, AfD has 94 seats, the CSU 46, the FDP 80 and then the CDU, which has 200 and controls the median legislator. The CDU, then, is in a pivotal position. That would make a minority or coalition government containing the CDU more stable than any other offering. Majorities would have to be constructed for each parliamentary vote, but if parties vote on a left-right basis, the CDUs proposals could not be defeated by those put forward by more right-wing or left-wing parties. For example, a rival alliance among the three left-leaning parties would still need the CDUs support to pass any legislation. The German constitution also contains a specific rule that makes minority governments more stable than they would be elsewhere. The rules of the federal republic stipulate that for a chancellor to be defeated on a motion of no confidence, there must also be a nominated alternative chancellor. This would require parties to the left and right of the CDU agreeing on a single alternative in order to beat Merkel. Germanys problem The fragmented parliament leaves German politics at a crossroads. Voters enjoy an abundance of party choice but they do not have choice over governmental formation and that is a fundamental weakness. Until the 1980s, German governments were largely decided by the small FDP, which was the kingmaker in the old three-party system. For a brief period in the 1990s and 2000s, when the Greens allied with the SPD and the FDP was closer to the CDU/CSU, Germany had a two-bloc system in which voters could select centre-left or centre-right coalitions. It is the type of party system seen across Scandinavia and southern Europe, where voters know before elections what the likely coalition choices are and can therefore choose the government directly. But with the rise of Germanys Left Party, which was excluded by the others, a two-bloc system failed to produce majority coalitions. In its place, grand coalitions became more frequent from 2005. What were previously two alternative governing options the CDU and the SPD joined together to become one. They were chosen by party elites, not voters. Germanys party system makes it very difficult for voters to choose and remove governments. Its no wonder the SPD was so badly damaged by its time in government: why would left-wing voters support the SPD if they thought it would lead to a CDU-led government? A similar problem applies to the cross-bloc Jamaica coalition: left-wing supporters of the Greens could find themselves facilitating a right-dominated government. This is where a minority government could be an improvement. The CDU/CSU and the FDP could form a coherent centre-right administration that looked for or in some cases, simply received without soliciting it legislative support from other parties on individual issues. The median position of the CDU would lend stability. The SPD would be free to vote for issues it supported, while remaining the alternative government-in-waiting, along with the Greens. A CDU/CSU-Green coalition should be avoided because it cuts across the left-right divide. AfD and the Left Party would be excluded; with clear governmental alternatives now on offer to voters, they would need to seek greater credibility or their appeal could wither. There is no guarantee that new elections would produce a substantially different result and if they didnt, German politicians would be back where they started. Rather than hankering for overly large and ideologically incoherent coalitions, those politicians should look to Europe on how to run minority governments. In doing so, they would move towards the type of two-bloc system of competition that puts governmental choice in the hands of voters. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. The Conversation Tom Quinn does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. The New York Times PHOENIX Kari Lakes defeat in the governors race in Arizona has set off a high-stakes tug of war within the Republican Party, as Lakes right-wing allies pushed her to mount a Trump-style challenge to the results, while some establishment leaders including a former Republican governor urged her to concede her loss and move on. Lakes next move could prove a turning point for her party and the far-right faction of election deniers that propelled her rapid rise this year. Lake stands as the Dubai (AFP) - A Bahraini appeals court on Wednesday upheld a two-year jail sentence against high-profile activist Nabeel Rajab, a judicial source said, in a case condemned by rights groups. The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the court in Manama rejected an appeal by Rajab's attorneys. Rajab, a leading figure in protests that erupted in 2011 during the Arab Spring, was sentenced in July to two years in jail for press statements deemed insulting to the government. Amnesty International has called the Rajab sentencing "a flagrant violation of human rights and an alarming sign that Bahraini authorities will go to any length to silence critics". Rajab is also on trial in a second case and could face a 15-year prison term over a series of tweets criticising Saudi Arabia and its allies, including Bahrain, over their military intervention in the Yemen war. Home to a majority Shiite Muslim population, Bahrain has been ruled for more than 200 years by the Sunni Al-Khalifa dynasty. The tiny kingdom, located between Saudi Arabia and its arch-rival Iran, has been rocked by unrest since security forces cracked down on Shiite-led protests in 2011 demanding a constitutional monarchy and an elected prime minister. Authorities have since tightened their grip on all dissent. They accuse Shiite Iran of backing the protesters and inciting unrest in Bahrain, a charge Tehran denies. Bahrain is home to the US Fifth Fleet and a British military base that is still under construction. A Democratic mega-donor has put up huge digital billboards calling for the impeachment of Donald Trump in Times Square. The signs, funded by Tom Steyer, will be displayed in the heart of New York City for ten minutes out of every hour until New Year's Eve. Mr Steyer has said he will spend $20m on the billboards and television ads asking the public to sign a petition urging Congress to impeach the President. Tom Steyer stands in front of one of the billboards he has funded in Times Square calling for the impeachment of President Donald Trump (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Were putting a couple of large billboards in Times Square calling for the impeachment of the president, the billionaire told Bloomberg Politics. We legitimately feel that this is the huge issue in front of the American people that no one is standing up for what the overwhelming number of Americans think. The billboards will also show many people have signed the petition to impeach Mr Trump. Mr Steyer's national campaign warned Mr Trump had brought Americans "to the brink of nuclear war, obstructed justice at the FBI" and had"taken money from foreign governments and threatened to shut down news organisations," in violation of the US constitution. People in Congress and his own administration know this president is a clear and present danger who is mentally unstable and armed with nuclear weapons. And they do nothing, he added. Join us and tell your Member of Congress that they have a moral responsibility to stop doing whats political and start doing whats right." Wacky & totally unhinged Tom Steyer, who has been fighting me and my Make America Great Again agenda from beginning, never wins elections! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 27, 2017 Responding to the ad, Mr Trump tweeted: "Wacky and totally unhinged Tom Steyer, who has been fighting me and my Make America Great Again agenda from beginning, never wins elections!" Six Democrats in the House of Representatives have recently introduced articles of impeachment targeting Mr Trump. They singled out five of his actions which they argued merit impeachment, including his decision to fire FBI director James Comey in May. A Catholic school has been forced to cover up a potentially suggestive statue of a saint giving a boy a loaf of bread. Blackfriars Priory school in Adelaide, Australia, has thrown a black shroud over the sculpture of St Martin de Porres just weeks after it was unveiled. The statue depicts the saint handing a boy a stick of bread, but the positioning of the loaf led to complaints. Blackfriars Priory School forced to cover up a brand new statue after its unfortunate design of a kneeling boy and a saint caused a social media storm. Report in 7 News at 4pm and 6pm. #7News pic.twitter.com/BiELvib2df 7 News Adelaide (@7NewsAdelaide) November 22, 2017 The statue, originally produced by a sculptor in Vietnam, will now be remodelled. The schools principal, Simon Cobiac, said the plans for the statue had been approved in May. MOST POPULAR STORIES ON YAHOO UK TODAY Trumps tweets about Russia investigation could be an obstruction of justice Two WW2 machine guns handed in to police during firearms amnesty North Korea leader Kim Jong-Un has banned singing and drinking Rescued Papua New Guinea explorer denies it was all just a publicity stunt Loch Ness Monster is spotted for NINTH time this year as sightings soar Student, 19, who took legal high asked Is this real? before falling to his death But upon arrival the three-dimensional statue was deemed by the executive to be potentially suggestive, he said. As a consequence, the statue was immediately covered and a local sculptor has been commissioned to re-design it. The school apologises for any concerns and publicity generated by this matter and is taking action to substantially alter the statue. AN ADELAIDE CATHOLIC SCHOOL HAD TO COVER UP THIS STATUE OF A SAINT HANDING SOME BREAD TO A YOUNG BOY I WILL GIVE YOU 1 GUESS AS TO WHY pic.twitter.com/yMP691YZbX mat whitehead (@matwhi) November 22, 2017 St Martin de Porres was known for helping the poor in Peru in the 16th century. Story continues Locals took to an Adelaide Instagram page to complain about the statue. One said: Like who the hell designed, approved and erected it and no one thought about it? Another asked: Was there seriously no one that looked at this before it was installed? However, one user commented: Hes just giving the boy some bread. On Drop the Mic, the Backstreet Boys and Charlie Puth went head to head, totally roasting each other about, you guessed it, their age difference. In fact, before the battle even started, Puth was already throwing shade at the Backstreet Boys. When host Hailey Baldwin asked Puth how he researched the best-selling boy band of all time, Puth said, Well, my mom unpacked her old Gateway computer. We powered up the dial-up modem, and we went through our old Napster search history and I found those downloads of Backstreet Boys songs and I was like, Yeah, I do remember these guys, and, you know, it just came all back to me. The battle was totally entertaining as Nick Carter kicked it off, rapping, I saw you on YouTube, you had me in tears. You covered Adele, and Adele covered her ears. Well have you runnin, man, I hope youre an athlete. Cause, dude, you just went down the wrong back street. Puth then took a jab at the guys targeting their age, rapping, 100 million Backstreet fans cant be wrong, but 100 million Backstreet fans can be moms, Nick, to which Carter responded, Whats wrong with that? The Backstreet Boys defended their fan-moms and were definitely able to hold their own. However, in the end, internet sensation Puth was the one who walked away with the golden trophy and the bragging rights. Drop the Mic airs Tuesdays at 10:30 p.m. on TBS. Check out Halle Berry defending her love life and her career during a rap battle with James Corden: Read more from Yahoo! Entertainment: Tell us what you think! Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, or leave your comments below. And check out our host, Kylie Mar, on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. CHICAGO (Reuters) - The Chicago City Council gave final approval on Tuesday to a fiscal 2018 budget that Mayor Rahm Emanuel said keeps the city's shaky finances on a path toward stability. Emanuel, who took office in 2011, said the city needs to keep addressing its fiscal challenges. "Our work isn't done," he told the council following the 47-3 budget vote. "Nobody is sitting here spiking the ball at the 20-yard line." Through tax hikes and other actions taken since Emanuel took office, the city has reduced its structural budget deficit from nearly $636 million to $114.2 million in 2018. After falling every year since 2011, the gap is projected to increase to $212.7 million in 2019 and to $330.3 million in 2020 as the city faces growing contributions to its four retirement systems. The chronic deficit along with an unfunded pension liability that totaled $35.76 billion at the end of 2016 have led to low credit ratings and increased borrowing costs for the nation's third-largest city. The $8.6 billion budget for the fiscal year beginning Jan. 1 includes $3.77 billion in spending for operations and relies on $94 million in savings from a big bond refinancing under a new debt structure. [nL2N1MT1JD] Chicago plans to sell $574.5 million of highly rated tax-exempt and taxable bonds through a new Sales Tax Securitization Corporation in mid-December to refinance outstanding lower-rated sales tax revenue bonds. That sale will be followed by a $905 million bond issuance in January to refinance outstanding general obligation debt. The corporation will pledge Chicago's state-collected sales tax revenue to pay off the refinanced bonds. Bond investors will have a statutory lien shielding the debt from municipal bankruptcy, which is not allowed under Illinois law. The bonds are rated AAA by Fitch Ratings and AA by S&P Global Ratings, both of which are several notches higher than the city's GO ratings of BBB-minus and BBB-plus respectively. Story continues S&P said the budget Emanuel proposed last month makes "incremental process." "Although it would move the city forward, more action is needed to put Chicago on a path to fiscal sustainability," S&P said in an October report. The fiscal 2018 budget counts on $50.3 million in revenue growth, while adding new spending for police hires and reforms, the Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Transit Authority. (Reporting by Karen Pierog; Editing by Matthew Lewis) Chrissy Teigen did an Instagram live stream just hours after announcing her second pregnancy. (Photo: Instagram/Chrissy Teigen) Chrissy Teigen is known for being open about a lot of things. One of the most personal subjects shes spoken about, though, is her struggle with fertility. After giving birth to 1-year-old Luna in April 2016, Teigen revealed that her daughter had been conceived through IVF. So when the wife of John Legend took to Instagram on Tuesday to announce that shes pregnant with their second child, it wasnt a surprise to see many fans and followers ask about the way she had conceived this time around. The topic also came up in an Instagram live stream that Teigen did with her mother, Pepper, during which they mentioned a visit to the Buddhist Temple. Mommy gotta bring banana back to the temple, Pepper said to Teigen during the late-night live stream, before the expectant mama responded, I bought them eggs already, that was the whole thing. Once the mother-daughter duo realized they were on live stream, and that followers were probably confused, they explained that they had made a food offering to the temple in the hope that Teigen would become pregnant. We had to go to the temple to beg for a baby, and then I had to buy them eggs 99 eggs, Teigen explained, as her mother added that they had also brought a banana. So shouldnt they give me back eggs? I already got it for them. Pepper continued to explain that the food offerings were part of a promise that the pair made to the temple when asking for a baby, a Thai tradition for those who are hoping to have children. As described by author Andrea Whittaker, both eggs and bananas are given as offerings, as symbols of fertility. An additional offering like Teigens bananas must be made once a baby is conceived, in order to redeem the vow. The tradition is something that both Teigen and her mother evidently believe in; however, its not unlike Teigen to crack a few jokes about it. This is all very suspicious that it just happens to be their grocery list that day of what you have to bring to the temple, was her hilarious comment in the live stream. And it seems that grocery shopping was, in fact, on her mind when she went to the temple to make the offering. Story continues If I bring 4 perfect bananas to the thai temple today can I take 4 brown bananas from the mini Buddha house offerings? Making banana bread christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) September 17, 2017 Teigens viral hunt for brown bananas back in September seems to have been inspired by the collection of offerings that she made to the temple. She apparently got two things out of the process: a second baby and her delicious banana bread. Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. As you probably have heard, RSV is hitting early and hitting hard this year. Here at Winona Health, my fellow caregivers in Pediatrics and Family Medicine and I are fielding many questions from concerned parents and child care providers. We are always happy to be your resource! Photo credit: Giphy From ELLE UK Chrissy Teigen, model, mum, cook and professional Twitter troll has been relentless in her quest to get herself on the Victoria Secret catwalk. When we say relentless, we don't been endless gym sessions and letters from her agent, she's just using Twitter to bully VS into hiring her. Yesterday, we reported that the Sports Illustrated model gave a call-out on social media for people to Photoshop her into a group shot of some of the angels, which had hilarious consequences. She has also been pretending that she is in Shanghai and ready for her fitting, because Teigen is always one to take a joke too far, and then some. Check my instagram story !!! I am live from shanghai baby WOOOOOOOOOO - christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) November 18, 2017 Crazy nervous to close the Victoria's Secret fashion show tonight!!! Better get one last gym sesh in LOL!!!! - christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) November 18, 2017 Crazy nervous to close the Victoria's Secret fashion show tonight!!! Better get one last gym sesh in LOL!!!! - christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) November 18, 2017 Proving this point, despite the show being on Monday evening in Shanghai, Teigen has continued her gag, using some videos on Twitter to tell us she's squeezing in one more workout before the big event. Still not done with the prank, this morning she posted some videos of herself weeping, explaining that her alarm didn't go off, so she missed the show. Story continues It turns out the Victoria's Secret fashion show was yesterday and someone (clearly jealous of me) cancelled my wake up call they will be hearing from my lawyers - christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) November 20, 2017 The outspoken presenter managed to get such life-like tears by cutting some onions, though, after this performance maybe she should consider acting? Teigen clearly has the comedic prowess of Tina Fey and the dramatic gravitas of Meryl Streep. You Might Also Like ATHENS (Reuters) - Cyprus on Wednesday said it would try to help defuse a crisis in neighboring Lebanon after Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri made an unexpected stopover on the island on Tuesday night. Cyprus announced the move shortly after Hariri shelved a decision to resign at the request of Lebanon's President Michel Aoun, easing an impasse that had stirred tensions around the Middle East. Hariri met Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades at Larnaca airport for about 45 minutes late on Tuesday on his way back to Lebanon, his first visit home since he unexpectedly announced on Nov. 4 he would resign in a broadcast from Saudi Arabia. "Our common objective is stability in Lebanon, stability in our area. Within this context... the President of the Republic will undertake some initiatives precisely to promote this objective; stability in Lebanon," Cypriot government spokesman Nikos Christodoulides said. Christodoulides said Anastasiades's initiatives would be directed toward European Union and neighboring states, but was not more specific. "Cyprus is uniquely placed, as a member state of the European Union which also maintains excellent relations with all its neighbors. That (position) is broadly recognized and would allow us to work to achieve stability in Lebanon," he said. The island, perched on the edge of the Middle East, is broadly considered a neutral safe haven in an otherwise volatile region. It took in thousands of Lebanese fleeing civil war in the 1970s and successfully mediated an end to a 39-day siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem between Israeli forces and suspected Palestinian militants. On Tuesday Anastasiades received an invitation to visit Saudi Arabia, Christodoulides said. It was not immediately clear if it was connected to the crisis, though Cypriot government officials told Reuters the visit had been planned for some time. (Reporting By Michele Kambas, Editing by William Maclean) The last full trading day of the week will bring investors a light earnings schedule and three economic data points worth tracking. In the morning, earnings from Deere & Co. (DE) will be the main corporate highlight, with the economic schedule bringing investors the weekly report on initial jobless claims, the University of Michigans latest report on consumer sentiment, while the afternoon will see the release of the minutes from the latest FOMC meeting. Markets in the U.S. will be closed on Thursday for Thanksgiving and open just a half day on Friday. Earnings from Deere on Wednesday will give investors an overview of the state of the global agricultural sector. Elsewhere, investors will also keep track of two bits of corporate news that broke after the close on Thursday. HP Enterprise (HPE) CEO Meg Whitman said she would step down from her post in February 2018, while Bloomberg reported that Uber had the information of 57 million riders and drivers stolen in November 2016 and concealed this information from users and regulators. Bulls all the way up Wall Street analysts are pretty bullish on the stock market in 2018. Goldman Sachs became the latest Wall Street firm to release its year-ahead outlook, when on Tuesday the bank put a 2,850 price target on the S&P 500 for next year, forecasting an 11% return on earnings growth of 14%. Goldman said it expects to see rational exuberance in markets through 2020. The current equity rally echoes aspects of the 1990s bull market, said David Kostin, chief equity strategist at Goldman. From its December bear market low through 1996, the S&P 500 index delivered a total return of nearly 330% (17% annualized), just slightly behind the magnitude of the current rally. And yet Goldman expects the current markets fortunes to diverge from the tech bubble in the coming years, with the S&P 500 hitting 3,100 in 2020, a 20% rally over the next three years. In contrast, the S&P more than doubled during the last three-plus years of the tech bubble. Goldman Sachs predicts stocks will rally 11% in 2018 with a continued rise into the end of the decade. But as Yahoo Finances Sam Ro detailed over the weekend, strategists at BMO Capital, UBS, Deutsche Bank, and Credit Suisse have each called for double-digit returns in 2018. This makes Goldman the fifth major firm to call for another big year for stocks. Story continues For those who are skeptical of the current market rally or who are simply contrarians when the consensus seems to congeal around one big call all this bullishness might seem to be setting markets up for a disappointment. Those who know market history will see Goldmans rational exuberance and immediately recall the reference to the irrational exuberance that former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan alluded to in a famous speech in December 1996, over three years before the tech bubble began to burst. But the spirit of Greenspans comments were not to call the top in stocks, but to ask rhetorically if we can know when investor enthusiasm for certain assets has exceeded reasonable estimates of their value. When, in other words, does buying become a mania. In Goldmans view, this fervor has not come to U.S. markets and wont over the coming years. And yet that the path of investor enthusiasm can be forecast is perhaps an even more foolhardy prediction than forecasting the price of stocks. Because while stock prices may break from away from a reasonable estimate of the earnings stream produced by the underlying companies for a time, there is an agreed-upon framework underwriting market prices in a broad sense. Stock prices, in the end, usually make sense. How and why and when investors break from these fundamentals over time is a less predictable phenomenon. Myles Udland is a writer at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @MylesUdland Read more from Myles here: Trump speaks on sexual misconduct allegations and offers tacit endorsement President calls Moores Senate opponent Doug Jones terrible on crime Donald Trump finally weighed in on the sexual misconduct allegations that have engulfed the Senate candidate Roy Moore. The presidents comments seemed to amount to an endorsement. Speaking to reporters at the White House on Tuesday, Trump spoke about the Alabama Republican, who has been accused of sexual misconduct involving teenage girls while he was in his 30s, including two allegations of assault. Moore has denied the allegations. Asked if he was ready to talk about Moore, Trump said: Yeah, Ill be talking about him. I can tell you one thing for sure: we dont need a liberal person in there, a Democrat [Doug] Jones. Trump went on: [Moore] denies it. Look, he denies it. I mean, if you look at what is really going on, and you look at all the things that have happened over the last 48 hours, he totally denies it. He says it didnt happen. Youre talking about he said 40 years ago this did not happen. He also described Moores opponent Doug Jones as terrible on crime. Trump said: Ive looked at his record. Its terrible on crime. Its terrible on the border. Its terrible on the military. Trump also left open the possibility of campaigning with Moore, saying: Ill be letting you know next week. Trumps comments represent a significant shift from past statements from the White House, where the press secretary, Sarah Sanders, insisted that the election was a decision for Alabama voters and that Moore should step aside if the allegations were true. She had also said that Trump supported the decision by the Republican National Committee to cut off all support for Moores campaign. Many national Republicans have denounced Moore. The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, said of his accusers: I believe the women. Of the US senators who had previously endorsed Moore, all but one have now withdrawn their support. Story continues Trump also spoke on growing reports of sexual harassment and misconduct in all sectors of society. Asked what his message was to women at this pivotal moment, the president said: Women are very special. I think its a very special time because a lot of things are coming out, and I think thats good for our society, and I think its very, very good for women. And Im very happy a lot of these things are coming out, and Im very happy its being exposed. During the 2016 campaign, Trump was accused of sexual harassment by 16 different women. However, he has denied all the allegations and the White House has insisted all of his accusers were lying. Trump has also yet to follow through on his campaign pledge to sue all of his accusers for defamation. Trumps comments on Tuesday come as the Moore campaign stepped up its campaign against the allegations. They have repeatedly described the allegations as part of a campaign by the fake news and the Republican establishment to defeat Moore. Moore has long derided McConnell and has called on him to step down as the top Republican in the US Senate. McConnell actively supported Moores opponent in the Republican primary, appointed incumbent Luther Strange. Republican insiders saw Strange as a more reliable vote than Moore, who has twice been removed from his post as chief justice of the Alabama supreme court for defying federal courts, and has said homosexual conduct should be illegal. Dean Young, a top adviser to Moore, explicitly said on Tuesday that the campaign would not answer any more questions about the allegations, and dismissed them as Jerry Springer stuff. Although Moore originally equivocated about whether he ever dated teenage girls, telling Sean Hannity in an interview, Not generally, no, he has since issued a blanket denial by saying, I have never dated or engaged in any inappropriate conduct with an underage girl in response to a written question. Moore has paid a significant price in the polls in the deep red state since the Washington Post first reported the allegations earlier in November. The election on 12 December to fill the seat previously held by the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, should have been a comfortable Republican hold, but has become competitive. Republicans hold a narrow 52-48 majority in the Senate, adding to the significance of the contest, where Moore has fallen behindJones in the polls. A Fox News poll recently gave the Democrat an eight-point lead. An hour after Trump spoke to reporters, the Moore campaign touted his comments in a press release: President Trump blasts liberal Democrat Doug Jones. CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail will travel to Germany on Thursday for medical treatment and surgery and is expected to be there for three weeks, the cabinet said in a statement on Wednesday. It did not specify the condition he would be treated for. The cabinet spokesman said the presidency would choose someone to perform the premier's duties in Ismail's absence. (Reporting by Momen Abdelkhalek; Writing by Nadine Awadalla; Editing by Catherine Evans) By Brendan Pierson NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two former New York state jail guards were found guilty by a Manhattan jury on Tuesday of federal charges related to the 2013 beating of an inmate who suffered life-threatening injuries, prosecutors announced. Kathy Scott, 43, and George Santiago, 35, were convicted of conspiring to violate the civil rights of the inmate, Kevin Moore, and falsifying records to cover up the beating, according to the office of acting U.S. Attorney Joon Kim in Manhattan. Lawyers for Scott and Santiago could not immediately be reached for comment. Scott and Santiago, formerly correction officers at the Downstate Correctional Facility in Fishkill, New York, were arrested in September 2016. A third former officer arrested at the time, Carson Morris, pleaded guilty earlier this month, according to prosecutors. Two other ex-officers, Donald Cosman and Andrew Lowery, pleaded guilty in connection with the beating earlier in 2016 and cooperated with authorities. Prosecutors said the Nov. 12, 2013, beating came after Moore, who was to be housed in the jail temporarily for one night, questioned why he needed to be confined in a unit for inmates with mental health issues. Prosecutors said Santiago, Morris, Cosman and Lowery beat Moore with fists, boots and batons, while Scott, a sergeant, watched without doing anything to stop them. Moore sustained five fractured ribs, a collapsed lung and facial fractures, as well as severe back, hand, leg and foot contusions, prosecutors said. A clump of dreadlocks was ripped from his head, which one officer took as a trophy, the prosecutors said. Moore was hospitalized for 17 days following the attack, according to prosecutors. (Reporting by Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by James Dalgleish) Since July, the U.S. government has made public more than 30,000 files related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, as required by a deadline set by a 1992 law. Yet on Wednesday, the anniversary of that infamous day in Dallas 54 years ago, experts were no closer than before to answering some lingering questions about exactly why Lee Harvey Oswald would have wanted to murder the President. Thats been expected for a while now. Experts told TIME a year ago that the new records released this year were unlikely to revolutionize how the assassination is seen. Each one I examined just further convinced me that this is a 10-million-piece jigsaw puzzle that were never going to solve, Alice L. George, a historian whos written about the Cuban Missile Crisis and the JFK assassinations effect on Americans, told TIME in an email. Because of the way the documents have been released, they are entirely random, difficult to understand and totally without context. If there were a smoking gun, it would have leaked out a long time ago, echoes former CIA field officer Bob Baer. But he has found interesting information within the thousands of pages. As TIME previously reported, Baer has been investigating Oswalds connections to the Cuban dissident group Alpha 66 and his meeting at the Soviet embassy in Mexico eight weeks before he assassinated JFK. For Baer, the documents have provided more evidence that Oswalds connections to the Cubans and Soviets ran deep and also provided even more questions. For example, the document release so far included the third volume of a three-volume file on Valeriy Kostikov, a leader of the KGB division that deals with assassinations. Its called a 201 file, and that means the CIA was following Kostikov in a very serious way, he explains, but volume 1 and 2 they didnt release. Why was this guy so important to the CIA? Hes also been thinking about equally fascinating transcripts of calls to the Russians made by Silvia Duran, an employee at the Cuban embassy in Mexico, after Oswald requested a visa so he could go to Cuba and wait there for a Russian visa. Duran was arrested by Mexican authorities shortly after the assassination, a step that JFK experts have found intriguing. Story continues She was saying that he was in effect in a hurry to get a Cuban visa, and what I took away from that was that Oswald was in a hurry to get to Cuba, he couldnt wait in the U.S., which made me wonder whether he was planning to do something whether it was kill Kennedy or not and he needed an out, he says. If Oswald had simply gone to the Cuban embassy, applied for a visa, [and] was told to wait and come back, her role would be completely irrelevant in this whole investigation. The Mexicans arent going to arrest her if she processed a visa. According to Baer, other transcripts recently released appear to suggest she met Oswald more than once, which would contradict what she told the Mexican police after the assassination. Theres a file out there somewhere about Silvia Duran that explains why she was arrested, he says. She should have her own 201 file, simply because the CIA opens 201 files of everyone in a Cuban embassy. I dont know if its in the documents to be released or they simply werent even reviewed. Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter Still, while many hold out hope for more clues or answers to long-held theories about the motives for the assassination, other historians are finding that the documents are full of details that shed light on the period in general. Ex-Army intelligence officer John Newman, a JFK expert who consulted on Oliver Stones JFK (the film that sparked the conspiracy theory frenzy that was part of the motivation for the passage of the 1992 law), explains that lifted redactions also mean more chances to match code names with peoples real names: For example, files released this year confirmed his prediction that Eugenio was a pseudonym for Emilio Americo Rodriguez, a Cuban American who volunteered to work for the CIA in Havana in the early 60s, and whose true name was one of the most closely guarded CIA secrets of one of those years. Edward H. Miller, historian and author of Nut Country: Right Wing Dallas and the Birth of the Southern Strategy, found a Dec. 4, 1967, document that shows the Department of Justice was investigating whether Frank Sturgis, who would later be known as a Watergate burglar, was illegally sending guns to Cuba. Stuart Schrader, a fellow at the Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History at Harvard University, is interested in a document that he believes may shed new light on the role of the U.S. government in providing recompense to the families of anti-Castro Cuban exiles involved in the Bay of Pigs invasion. U.S. intelligence agencies are very, very reluctant to give out anything that reveals personal information about their own employees or their assets, [but] this document that listed what seemed to be next of kin seemed to be a very clear roster of personal connections, he says. At the very least, the files are fresh new primary sources for those studying the invasion or other parts of the 60s. Using these documents to study things other than the JFK assassination seems like the most sensible thing to do, he says. If all that energy had been spent on other directions, wed have a better sense of the period. Historians like Schrader, however, are interested in getting their hands on more than just additional U.S. intelligence files. The files that would help them finally paint a complete picture of the story are a lot harder to access: documents produced by Cuba that would tell the Cuban side of what happened. But it still remains to be seen whether any additional gems will be found on the American side. After a delay due to national security concerns, the new deadline for releasing the remaining JFK files is April 26, 2018. The Federal Communications Commission chairman, Ajit Pai, announced today that the Commission will vote on its proposal to end net neutrality rules next month. Since the commission is majority Republican and has no interest in listening to the comments of millions of Americans, the vote on December 14th will likely pass, and the handful of companies that control residential internet in the US will be able to do whatever they want. The full text of the proposal wont be released until tomorrow, but judging by the statement Pai released today, the only rules left in place will be the ones made up by the cable companies themselves. Don't Miss: The best Black Friday 2017 sales you can shop online right now: Walmart, Best Buy, more Under my proposal, the federal government will stop micromanaging the internet, Pai said in a statement. Instead, the FCC would simply require internet service providers to be transparent about their practices so that consumers can buy the service plan thats best for them and entrepreneurs and other small businesses can have the technical information they need to innovate. Democratic Senator Brian Schatz, the ranking member of the Senate Subcommittee on Communications, lost no time blasting Pais statement. Since its formation, weve seen a free and open internet grow our economy and our imaginations. But today the FCC has threatened to end the internet as we know it. If adopted, the FCCs plan will change the way every American gets information, watches movies, listens to music, conducts business, and talks to their families. By repealing basic net neutrality protections, the FCC is handing over full control of the internet to providers, leaving the American people with fewer choices and less access. The burden of regulation will be shifted to the Federal Trade Commission, which is charged with protecting consumers across every industry. Pai argues that the FTC is the logical choice to regulate the telecoms industry, as its the expert in interpreting companies own terms and conditions. Story continues But that argument misses the point entirely. The FTC has none of the teeth to fight a multi-billion-dollar industry that the FCC does; its far busier than the FCC; and its less familiar with the complexities of the telecoms business. More than anything else, the FTC will only be able to make sure that cable companies are adhering to their own terms and conditions, which are written to protect the cable monopolists, not the consumer. The FTC is adept at ensuring that one particular company doesnt illegally screw over a bunch of customers. But the problems with the telecoms industry stem from a lack of competition, not just lackluster customer service, and the FTC wont be able to do anything to promote healthy competition between cable companies. This isnt quite the end of the road for net neutrality. Thanks to the speed at which the FCC has moved to repeal rules that are only two years old and the fact that Pai has blatantly ignored millions of pro-net-neutrality comments filed by the public you can expect the decision to get tied up in court for years to come. BGR Top Deals: Trending Right Now: See the original version of this article on BGR.com (Photo: Ji Sub Jeong/Huffpost) Flight attendant Caroline Bright was kicking off her last shift of the day when she realized one of the pilots on board reminded her of someone. I was trying to figure it out, was it a celebrity? she told HuffPost. Who does he remind me of? He looked like her dad, she realized. When we landed and were waiting for the van to the hotel, I told him Id figured it out, she said. I told him, You look like just my dad. I had a picture of him on my phone, which I showed to the first officer. Doesnt he look just like my dad? she recalled asking him. I think they look so similar. The pilots response? Its been a long time since a girl like you called me daddy, she said. I felt so grossed out. I turned and looked at the officer and gave him an expression like, What just happened? And he just looked at me and shrugged. I remember thinking at the time that I must have said something inappropriate. Based on accounts shared with HuffPost from both current and former flight attendants, Brights story is among many instances of sexual harassment and assault in the skies. As more and more stories of sexual assault across industries come to the forefront, its impossible to ignore the dynamics of the airline industry, which are inherently gendered with origins in the sexualization of women. From unwanted advances to groping and forced physical contact, assault and harassment are realities seemingly accepted as commonplace by the flight attendants we spoke with, all of whom attested to various levels of unwanted physical contact during their time on the job. Its what drives some people, like former flight attendant Lanelle Henderson, out. Henderson worked for now-defunct Kiwi Airlines in the 90s and again for a little under a year for now-defunct Airtran in 2004. She told HuffPost that it was her experience in the 2000s that turned her off from remaining in the industry. Once, a male passenger whod been drinking began making advances toward her throughout a flight to DallasFort Worth, she told HuffPost. Story continues He would first grab my hand and compliment me, which in the beginning was flattering, she said. But then he grabbed and rubbed my leg. It was mostly embarrassing because the man behind him was looking at me as if to say, What are you going to do? And I was just startled and a newbie and trying to be polite. Henderson aboard an AirTrain flight during training for her time as a flight attendant for the airline in 2004. (Photo: Lanelle Henderson) Henderson said that the customer blocked her in the galley from moving between cabins. He eventually grabbed her butt. The man behind him said, Sir, enough already. This girl is not here for your pleasure. she said. Flight attendants told HuffPost that the customer is always right attitude mandated by much of the service industry often prevents many flight attendants from confronting in-flight harassment themselves, Henderson said. Dawn Arthur also became disillusioned during eight years working as a flight attendant in both the commercial and private sector. I was really excited [before I became a flight attendant], she said. I thought it was so cool. But then you find out that there is no support in the industry. The pilots arent trained to handle assault and they dont want to hear it. Its not their job. Arthur, who told HuffPost shes been pushed into a corner and felt up by passengers, said flight attendants may feel discouraged from taking action in order to avoid an in-flight delay or disturbance. If someone grabs you or threatens you, nothing is going to happen. Theyre on a tight timetable. Theyre not going to stop the plane. And then everyones going to be mad at you; youre not a team player, youre difficult. If there is a trend of keeping assault to oneself in the airline industry, former flight attendant Mandalena Lewis has broken it in a big way. She has not only spoken about her own alleged assault but is in the midst of a lawsuit against her former employer, Canadian airline WestJet, in part, she said, for firing her as a result. According to Lewis, the company neglected to adequately handle not only her experience with sexual assault in 2010, but with a group of women she is now representing in her case. Lewis recounted her assault to HuffPost, which happened during a layover in Maui in 2010. She said the incident ultimately led her to firing and discovery of other women who made claims against the same pilot who she said attacked her. We were on a layover in Maui, and the whole crew went out for dinner and drinks, totally standard, she said. The captain invited people up to his room. It was my second year of being a flight attendant and I was down to go up to the room and have a drink. I ended up going by myself. The first officers room was right next door and their door was open a bit. Lewis said the pilot had been acting very father-like up until that point, when the two of them went on the balcony. There was nothing inappropriate and I didnt send him any signals, she said. On the balcony, he started asking me really inappropriate questions: do I touch myself privately, do I masturbate, things like that. Lewis outside of a Vancouver court during the strike hearing. (Photo: Mandalena Lewis) When she turned to leave, thats when she said the pilot started to attack her. It started almost like horseplay, gradually becoming more aggressive, she said. Lewis said he attacked her three times. The first and second involved grabbing her from behind, squeezing her arms and commenting on how strong she was. The third time, he grabbed me and put me on the bed and got between my legs, she said. He touched my face and told me I wanted it and how strong I was. Lewis said she got her heels underneath him and kicked him off of her. He fell backward into the TV stand. I was shaking, tears were coming down my face. Lewis said that the airline took her off of flights with the pilot but did not take action to fire him. It was in 2015 when she says she spoke up about the lack of training surrounding sexual assault during a crew resource management class. She said her concerns were brushed off by the person leading the training, but there were a few people who came over afterward and thanked her for speaking out. A few months later, I was on a layover in Toronto and I got a Facebook message from a woman who told me she was in the room during the training, she said. She asked if she could call me to tell me her story. Sure enough, she told me that she was raped in 2008 by the same pilot. We didnt know each others stories and we didnt know each other, she said. Lewis told HuffPost both hired lawyers pretty quickly after that, but the other woman later settled with the company. We dropped the class-action suit and I went forward as an individual case for wrongful dismissal and negligence in early 2016. The airline has disputed the claims as recently as Nov. 9, saying employees should be bringing their cases to human rights tribunals and workers compensation boards instead of filing a lawsuit, according to Global News. Robert Palmer, manager of public relations for WestJet, declined to comment on ongoing legal proceedings, but said the company is committed to fostering a harassment-free workplace where all employees are treated with respect and dignity. While the demographics for flight attendants vary slightly by airline and have shifted over the years, the industry is still majority female about 80 percent. But men in the field say theyve also dealt with unwanted advances. A male JetBlue flight attendant, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told HuffPost he has been grabbed inappropriately multiple times by both men and women. Passengers commonly make comments referring to the mile-high club and getting him in the back of the plane. In the event that a situation escalates, flight crew can notify the pilot, who will decide whether it is necessary to take action, either by speaking to the passenger themselves or, in extreme cases, removing the person from the flight. Ten out of 10 times they have our side, but diverting and removing a person from the flight is obviously our last option, he said. For the people we spoke to, shrugging inappropriate behavior off had become commonplace. Many said even if they wanted to do something about it, the training isnt there. Sara Nelson is the international president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA as well as a 21-year flight attendant with United Airlines. She told HuffPost that in her experience along with the experience of some of the 50,000 flight attendants across the 20 airlines the association represents there is no exact protocol on how to handle it. There is very little training. Its nonexistent, actually, she said. There is training on how to handle assault and aggressive behavior on a plane, but there is no recognition of sexual assault as a unique crime. Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. Sara Nelson, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA and a 21-year United Airlines flight attendant. (Photo: Association of Flight Attendants-CWA) She added that for a flight attendant tasked with getting a job done, its easier to just keep things moving than to confront a passenger or bring it to the pilots attention. One, its a confined space, where flight attendants are charged with de-escalating conflict every single day, she said. I had a conversation with a group of flight attendants ranging from six months seniority to 10 years on Friday and the conversation basically was, We have to de-escalate everything and sometimes I just choose not to say anything. If someone grabs my butt or pulls me onto their lap, I tell them to knock it off and keep going. If allegations in other industries have pushed the conversation forward to put an end to assault, it has also emboldened people who Nelson say feel like theyre out of the public eye in the air. A flight attendant relayed a situation this week where a guy in the last few rows spoke up and said, When can we get some drinks around here, honey? she said. While the flight attendant was still in earshot, Nelson said he loudly added, You can probably get sued for calling someone honey nowadays, laughing with the men sitting around him. Nelson told HuffPost she thinks things have perhaps gotten worse since she started in 1996, due to planes these days being more crowded than ever and equipped with less staff. In a casual request from our membership about whats happening today on the plane, we were barraged with examples, she said. Flight attendants who worked in the 60s and 70s might argue the notion that it is worse, now, though. A Facebook group titled Stewardesses of the 1960s and 1970s, which boasts more than 9,000 members, has a recently posted thread asking members about sexual assault that currently has more than 400 comments. In spite of the frequency of sexual assault in the air, Nelson told HuffPost that she thinks the CEOs of airlines (most of whom are men) would be shocked to find out whats going on on their planes. Men dont think about this stuff, she said. Its not their experience. They have no idea what its like. And even if they are someone who doesnt participate, I bet if these men are really going to be honest, even the ones who would never do it themselves, have absolutely been sitting there and have done nothing while its happening. Still, Nelson has hope. Any time an issue is raised, there is opportunity for change, but I think we are just at the very beginning of the conversation here, she said, adding, It doesnt have to be this way. The more we talk about it and say its not OK, the better it will get. Sara Nelson speaks during a Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation subcommittee hearing in Washington, D.C. in May, 2017. (Photo: Bloomberg via Getty Images) Related... The ONE Thing Flight Attendants Wish You'd Stop Doing 7 Things Flight Attendants Notice About You When You Board A Plane If You Love Your Flight Attendant, Do Not Order Diet Coke Also on HuffPost This article originally appeared on HuffPost. Inclusa, a managed-care organization resulting from the merger of three agencies, has laid off 55 of its 1,200 workers after implementing efficiencies from the merger, according to CEO Mark Hilliker. Based in Stevens Point, Wis., and providing long-term care services in 51 of Wisconsins 72 counties, Inclusa supports about 15,600 Family Care members, Hilliker said in an interview. Inclusa was formed Jan. 1 with the merger of Community Care Connections of Wisconsin, Western Wisconsin Cares and ContinuUs. It operated under the name of Community Link for a time before settling on Inclusa, he said. In a merger, you do a lot to pull systems and practices together, he said. In putting together three organizations, we had a list of about 200 things to do. Were getting close to the end of the list. The 55 layoffs affected all levels of the agency, from management through staffers, the CEO said. Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb military commander known as the Butcher of Bosnia was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity. The 74-year-old war criminal was found guilty of orchestrating massacres and ethnic cleansing during Bosnia's 1992-95 war, including the massacre at Srebrenica, Europe's worst atrocity since World War Two. The conviction, which marked the final case of the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal, was hailed as a victory for justice and a warning to others - including Syrian president Bashar al-Assad - that the passage of time offered no protection to perpetrators of genocide. In a moment of drama Mladic was removed from the court minutes before the verdict for screaming "this is all lies, you are all liars". But the UN Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) found Mladic guilty of 10 of 11 charges, including the slaughter of 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica and the siege of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, in which more than 10,000 civilians died. Mothers of Srebrenica's victims clapped when the convictions were read out Credit: AFP The massacre at Srebrenica, near Bosnia's eastern border with Serbia, took place over a few days after July 11 1995 when Serbian forces took control of the area despite it being officially declared a UN safe area. When the international community failed to react, some 370 Dutch UN peacekeepers looked on helplessly as Serb forces separated men and boys to be shot, while the women and children were bussed out the town in what became known as ethnic cleansing. "The crimes committed rank among the most heinous known to humankind, and include genocide and extermination as a crime against humanity," Alphons Orie, the presiding judge, said in reading out a summary of the judgment. "Many of these men and boys were cursed, insulted, threatened, forced to sing Serb songs and beaten while awaiting their execution," he said. Mladic, who is in poor health and has suffered a series of strokes since his capture in 2011, had pleaded not guilty to all charges. His legal team said he would appeal against the verdict. Lawyers expect the final sentence might not be passed until 2019. Story continues The verdict was welcomed by the families of those who died, many of whom attended the court hearings, including Fikret Alic whose skeletal features were featured in a front-page photo in Time magazine in 1992, staring out from behind a barbed wire. International War Crimes Tribunal investigators clearing away soil and debris from dozens of Srebrenica victims buried in a mass grave near the village of Pilica Credit: Staton Winter / AP "Justice has won, and the war criminal has been convicted," Mr Alic told reporters, holding up the infamous photograph. "I am the one in this picture, Fikret Alic. I can testify to that crime that his general (Mladic) committed." Mladic was the most notorious of the 161 people indicted by the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal, along with former Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic and late Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic. The court has convicted 83 of these. The conviction effectively brings the work of the ICTY to a conclusion and was welcomed around the world as a victory for justice that many doubted would ever be delivered. Protesters stand outside the court, as they wait for the verdict on former Bosnian military chief Ratko Mladic Credit: Anadolu Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, said the conviction had demonstrated that war criminals could not escape justice. "Ratko Mladic's conviction for genocide in Srebrenica will not bring back the thousands who lost their lives but it does demonstrate that the architects of their suffering will be held to account, he said. Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, the UNs human rights chief called Mladic the "epitome of evil" and said his arrest and subsequent conviction after 16 years on the run and over four years on trial was a "momentous victory for justice". A scene from outside the court in The Hague Credit: Anadolu "The passage of time is no protection, he said, adding that Assad would be no exception. It's very clear to us that what happened in Syria recently[was] so grotesque that if a court of law on the basis of evidence were to prosecute senior leaders then you would expect that some of them would be held responsible." Paddy Ashdown, the former UN High Representative for Bosnia, said those who value the rule of law in war would welcome the verdict against "the murderer of Srebrenica", adding that Bosnia could now look forward more confidently to the future. Despite the successes of the Yugoslav tribunal, on the ground in Bosnia and Herzegovina the two communities remain sharply divided, and the European Union called on Balkan countries to "honour the victims" of war crimes by working towards reconciliation. The Bosnian prime minister Denis Zvizdic said he hoped that "those who still call for new divisions and conflicts will carefully read the verdict rendered today referring to the enduring separatism in post-war federal Bosnia's autonomous Serb region. Aleksandar Vucic, the president of Serbia which had acted as Mladics patron when under the control of Slobodan Milosevic but is now democratic and seeking EU membership, said Serbia "respects the victims" and called for a focus on the future. "I would like to call on everyone (in the region) to start looking into the future and not to drown in tears of the past... We need to look to the future...so we finally have a stable country," Mr Vucic told reporters when asked about the verdict. Berlin (AFP) - Diaries, prescription glasses and a cigarette case are among some 100 items belonging to John Lennon that have been recovered in Berlin after they were allegedly stolen by Yoko Ono's driver in 2006, German officials said Tuesday. The suspect, Koral Karsan, lives in Turkey and is currently out of reach of German law enforcement, police said as they presented the late Beatle's rediscovered personal effects at a press conference. The former chauffeur worked for Ono from 1995 to 2006. He already spent 60 days in jail in 2007 in the United States for trying to blackmail Lennon's widow Ono. "We believe (he) is guilty and the suspected thief of the objects," Carsten Pfohl of Berlin's criminal police office told reporters. The possessions were stolen from Ono's New York home in 2006. A total of 86 items -- including postcards, letters, handwritten music scores and two pairs of Lennon's trademark round glasses -- were discovered at a bankrupt Berlin auction house in July. More items were found hidden in the car of another suspect in the case, a 58-year-old German national who was arrested Monday on suspicion of fraud and handling stolen goods. One of the three diaries from the haul contains an entry penned by Lennon on December 8, 1980 -- the day he was shot dead by a disturbed fan outside his Manhattan apartment building. "We were amazed by what we found," said Berlin prosecutor Michael von Hagen, calling the trove part of "music history". Along with co-Beatle Paul McCartney, Lennon wrote some of the Fab Four's biggest hits including "Help" and "With a Little Help from My Friends", before the band split in 1970. His possessions have since become collectors' items. A leather jacket supposedly worn by Lennon sold for 10,400 (11,700 euros; $13,800) at an auction in England in February. By Ellen Francis and Laila Bassam BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's Saad al-Hariri on Wednesday shelved his decision to resign as prime minister at the request of President Michel Aoun, easing a crisis that had deepened tensions in the Middle East. Hariri made his announcement after returning to Beirut for the first time since he quit abruptly on Nov. 4 in a broadcast from Saudi Arabia. Top Lebanese officials have said Riyadh forced him to quit and held him in the kingdom. Riyadh and Hariri deny this. At the presidential palace near Beirut, Hariri said he hoped his move would lead to "a responsible dialogue...that deals with divisive issues and their repercussions on Lebanon's relations with Arab brothers." Hariri said all Lebanese sides must commit to keeping the country out of regional conflicts, a reference to the Iran-backed Hezbollah political and military movement. Hezbollah's regional military role has greatly alarmed Saudi Arabia, Hariri's long-time ally. "I presented today my resignation to President Aoun and he urged me to wait before offering it and to hold onto it for more dialogue about its reasons and political background, and I showed responsiveness," he said in a televised statement. The resignation had shocked even Hariri's aides. He returned to Lebanon late on Tuesday night after French intervention. Aoun, a political ally of Hezbollah, had refused to accept the resignation because it happened in "mysterious circumstances" abroad. He had called Hariri a hostage in Riyadh. REGIONAL RIVALRY Hariri appeared to express relief that Aoun had not accepted the resignation right away. He thanked Aoun on Wednesday for respecting constitutional norms and "his rejection of departing from them under any circumstances". The resignation pitched Lebanon to the forefront of the regional rivalry between Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite Islamist Iran, which backs Lebanon's Hezbollah, and raised concerns of a protracted crisis. In his resignation speech, Hariri had cited fear of assassination, and attacked Iran along with Hezbollah for sowing strife in the Arab world. Hundreds of Hariri supporters packed the streets near his house in central Beirut, waving the blue flag of his Future Movement political party. The Sunni leader told them he would "stay with (them)... to be a line of defense for Lebanon, Lebanon's stability and Lebanon's Arabism". "His presence in the country alone brings stability," said Manar Akoum, 26, as she stood with the celebrating crowd. Hariri's resignation was followed by a steep escalation in Saudi statements against the Lebanese government, which includes Shi'ite Hezbollah. Riyadh said the government as a whole - not just Hezbollah - had declared war against it. Western governments including the United States struck a different tone, affirming their support for Hariri and the stability of Lebanon, which hosts 1.5 million Syrian refugees - nearly one-in-four of the population. Ahead of his return to Beirut, Hariri had stressed the importance of the Lebanese state policy of staying out of regional conflicts, notably Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition is battling Iran-backed Houthi fighters. PRESERVING LEBANESE "COEXISTENCE" Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who had also called for Hariri's return, said on Monday his group was open to "any dialogue and any discussion". Nasrallah also issued his clearest denial yet of any Hezbollah role in Yemen. A senior source in a political alliance that includes Hezbollah said Hariri's move on Wednesday would start a breakthrough in the crisis. "This step is not detached from the framework of a complete solution whose features will appear in the coming days," the source told Reuters. Lebanese dollar bonds, which had fallen in response to Hariri's resignation, gained following Wednesday's announcement. A government minister from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a close ally of Saudi Arabia, said Lebanon must implement its policy of keeping out of Middle East conflicts in order to get out of its own crisis as well as regional troubles. "The main problem facing that is the selective implementation of (this) principle and the functional Iranian role of Hezbollah outside the Lebanese framework," Anwar Gargash, UAE minister of state for foreign affairs, wrote on Twitter. Cyprus, where Hariri had briefly stopped on his journey home, said it would attempt to help defuse the crisis. "Our common objective is stability in Lebanon, stability in our area. Within this context... the President of the Republic will undertake some initiatives precisely to promote this objective; stability in Lebanon," Cypriot government spokesman Nikos Christodoulides said. Hariri took office last year in a power-sharing deal that made Aoun head of state. He arrived in Beirut in time for independence day celebrations on Wednesday morning, taking the premier's seat alongside Aoun and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. Hariri said he looked forward to "real partnership with all the political powers, in placing Lebanon's interests high above any other interests" and preserving coexistence among Lebanese. (Additional reporting by Lisa Barrington, Tom Perry and Sarah Dadouch; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg, William Maclean) Be thankful for this meme of President Donald Trump pardoning his first turkey. Trump did the honors for a bird named Drumstick and a friend Wishbone on Tuesday, and it wasnt long before people online began commenting on and manipulating the images of the presidential Thanksgiving tradition in various amusing ways. On Reddit, a so-called Photoshop battle blew up over one particular snap: Over on Twitter, some people imagined what Drumstick was thinking, while others questioned why Trump had opted to grant freedom to a white turkey: Pardoned Trump Turkey appeals pardon; requests sweet relief of death adding youre an embarassing moron. pic.twitter.com/VKjp4YImoT Larry Murphy (@LarryMurphyJr) November 21, 2017 why didn't the turkey do a backflip in trump's face we all wanted it so bad Aparna Nancherla (@aparnapkin) November 21, 2017 happy turkey pardon day! pic.twitter.com/vZb6iOOmbk David Mack (@davidmackau) November 21, 2017 Today: @realDonaldTrump pardons the #thanksgiving turkey. Tomorrow: president Trump tweets about the "ungrateful turkey" should have thanked him for not being cooked!#TuesdayThoughts #turkeypardon Alex Haditaghi (@Alexhaditaghi) November 21, 2017 To be fair, there could still be state crimes the turkeys have to answer for. Matt Berman (@Mr_Berman) November 21, 2017 Just glad no one drove a MARTA bus in front of the turkey pardon ceremony. pic.twitter.com/KXIQPcNp4a Mark Knoller (@markknoller) November 21, 2017 Trump is saying nicer things about Drumstick, a turkey, than any Dreamer hes ever mentioned. #turkeypardon Ana Breton (@missbreton) November 21, 2017 For Thanksgiving Donald Trump is going to pardon a turkey and then yell at it for 14 hours for not thanking him properly elan gale (@theyearofelan) November 19, 2017 President Trump didnt pardon the whole turkey, just the white meat. Conan O'Brien (@ConanOBrien) November 21, 2017 Trump finds a way to pardon the only white turkey in the history of turkeys pic.twitter.com/cIzXKJOeNv Blake Wexler (@BlakeWexler) November 21, 2017 Related Coverage Story continues Ivanka Trump's Company Shared Thanksgiving Advice On Twitter. It Did Not Go Over Well. Trump Pardons Turkey In Thanksgiving Ceremony You Didn't Think Could Get Any Weirder Also on HuffPost Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani declared the end of the so-called Islamic State militant group Tuesday. Rouhani said he wished to thank all the "warriors of Islam" for helping to "put an end to a group that did not bring anything for us but evil, misery, destruction, murder and savagery." "The bulk of the work was done by the people and armies of Syria, Iraq and Lebanon and we helped them out of our religious and Islamic duty," he said at the Fifth National Congress of the House of Farmers in Tehran, according to a statement published on the president's website. On Sunday, the Syrian army and its allies assumed complete control over Albu Kamal, Islamic State's last significant town in Syria, Reuters reported. Islamic State's area of rule has diminished throughout the year as a result of two rival military campaigns. However, Western intelligence agencies have warned that the militant group may still be able to inspire attacks on civilians around the world. Rouhani said he would meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday to discuss the future of Syria and the region. WATCH: Terrorism expert says America is losing the digital war against ISIS. Here's why More From CNBC U.S. prosecutors have charged an Iranian national with hacking into cable TV network HBO and stealing episodes and plot summaries for unaired programs including Game of Thrones, then threatening to release the data unless he was paid $6 million. Behzad Mesri, also known as Skote Vahshat, was charged with the hack in a sealed indictment that was released on Tuesday by the U.S. Attorneys office in Manhattan. A spokesman with the U.S. Attorneys Office said Mesri has not been arrested, and declined to comment on the suspects whereabouts. The indictment described Mesri as a self-professed expert in hacking who had worked on behalf of Irans military to attack military systems, nuclear software systems and Israeli infrastructure. It also alleged that he helped an Iranian hacking group, Turk Black Hat Security Team, deface hundreds of websites in the United States and other countries. The cyber attack surfaced over the summer as HBO was running a new season of Game of Thrones and as the cable networks parent Time Warner Inc sought regulatory approval to sell itself to AT&T Inc in an $85.4 billion deal announced in October 2016. DOJ release: Iranian national charged with conducting cyber attack and $6 million extortion scheme against HBO. pic.twitter.com/5Bhfh3h3ZC Dan Linden (@DanLinden) November 21, 2017 The indictment charges Mesri with hacking into HBO from May to August and stealing unaired episodes of programs including Ballers, Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Deuce. Mesri also stole scripts and plot summaries for Game of Thrones, according to the indictment. It said he obtained credentials that HBO employees use to access the network, then used those accounts to steal data from the companys servers from May to August of this year. He demanded up to $6 million to keep the data secret in extortion emails to HBO staff, some of which ended with photos of Night King, a menacing zombie villain from Game of Thrones, according to the indictment. Story continues Reuters was unable reach Mesri for comment. Prosecutors charged Mesri with computer fraud, wire fraud, extortion and identity theft. HBO spokesman Jeff Cusson declined to comment on the indictment. As far as the criminal case is concerned, we prefer to leave any comments to the US Attorneys Office, he said in an email. He declined to say if the companys investigation into the breach was complete or how much the incident had cost the cable network. Belfast (AFP) - Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney on Wednesday said the arrangement linking Hong Kong with China could be a possible solution for addressing the fate of Northern Ireland after Brexit. The border between EU member Ireland and British-ruled Northern Ireland is becoming an increasing concern in divorce talks with Britain, with Dublin demanding that the frontier remain completely open, or risk endangering the peace process. Ireland fears that any divergence of Northern Ireland from EU law will automatically require the creation of cross-border controls, hitting the economy and reviving memories of when military checkpoints split the island. "Britain ... must take on their responsiblity to Northern Ireland ... and we will try to help them design that in a way that is fair to both communities," Coveney told reporters while on a visit to a community centre in the Northern Ireland city of Belfast. "This isn't entirely new by the way, there are other parts of the world whereby one country has difficult jurisdictions in terms of customs arrangements and trading arrangements," Coveney added. "Hong Kong is an example of that. I think there is probably no country in the world that defends its sovereign borders more aggressively than China does," he said. "Yet China lives with (and) functions with Hong Kong which has very much been part of Chinese territories, but operating under a different set of rules," he said. "I'm not sure whether the Hong Kong solution is appropriate, for Northern Ireland or not, but it is an example, of ironically a British-designed solution," he added. Britain -- the former colonial power in both Hong Kong and Ireland -- handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997. Since then Hong Kong has been governed under a "one country, two systems" deal which allows citizens rights unseen on the mainland, including a partially directly elected parliament. Story continues - 'Unthinkable' - The EU has given Britain until early December to make sufficient progress on three key Brexit divorce issues -- Northern Ireland, its exit bill and the rights of EU citizens living in Britain -- in order to move on to trade talks at a summit on December 14. Coveney stressed that a solution to the Ireland problem was not only about protecting the Irish economy, but preserving a peace process that many in Dublin fear is being taken for granted. "We are not in the business of building new barriers on the island of Ireland ever again," Coveney said. "What is at stake here, is not simply potential barriers of trade although that is a big concern, but it is also the potential destabilisation (of) a very delicate and quite fragile peace process," he said. This view was echoed by his British counterpart Boris Johnson in UK parliament on Tuesday. A return to a hard border, "would be unthinkable, it would be economic and political madness. Everybody understands the social, political and spiritual ramifications," he added. But, in opposition to the Ireland and EU position, Johnson insisted that the solution to these problems would be properly addressed in the second phase of talks. Area Lions Clubs are collecting deer hides again this year as part of a statewide campaign to raise money for the Wisconsin Lions Camp, a summer program that serves children with hearing, sight and cognitive problems, and children and adults with diabetes. The deer-hide collection program began in the seven-county 27-D2 Lions Club district in 2001, with 90 hides collected in the district, out of 2,249 statewide. In 2016, the district collected 1,325 hides, and the statewide drive brought in $76,785 for the camp. The goal this year is to collect $84,688 in deer hides, which would put the program over $1 million total statewide since the deer hide collection first began 30 years ago. Area drop-off sites, run by affiliated local Lions Clubs, include the following sites: Bangor: The Vault, Turnmires, Purple Cow, Likely Spot Barre Mills: Nicks Bar Coon Valley: Koon Kreek Feed Mill Genoa: Whitsler Farm, Don Oliver Farm, Norwegian Hollow Hideaway Holmen: Smokeys Bar and Grill Kendall: Kendall Fastrip Mindoro: Allied Co-op Morman Coulee: Ace Hardware, Charlies Inn Onalaska: La Crosse Archery, Petticoat Junction, Island Outdoors, site south of Great River Landing Seneca: Greeners Corner BP Soldiers Grove: Royal Bank, McCormicks Bar & Grill, Bill McCormicks, TazZees Wonder Bar St. Joseph: St. Josephs Ridge Lions Park Stoddard: Troy Jacobson Tomah: Roscoes Live Bait, Pauls Tire West Salem: Ace Hardware Wonewoc Area: Degners Bar (BOSTON) The U.S. Justice Department has threatened to sue Harvard University to force it to turn over documents as it investigates whether the Ivy League schools admission policies violate civil rights laws. Citing a 2015 lawsuit that charges the schools affirmative action policies discriminate against Asian-American applicants, the federal government in a letter set a Dec. 1 deadline for Harvard to hand over documents on its admission policies. The Justice Department is probing the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based schools compliance with Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, according to the letter, dated Friday and seen by Reuters on Tuesday. The measure prohibits institutions that receive federal funding from discriminating based on race, color or national origin. The Department is left with no choice but to conclude that Harvard is out of compliance with its Title VI access obligations, the letter reads. Title VI does not allow entities under investigation to dictate what information qualifies as relevant. Harvard has long maintained that its admissions policies are fully compliant with U.S. laws and has worked to increase the amount of financial aid it offers to ensure economic, as well as racial, diversity in its classes. The school said earlier this year that just over half of the freshmen admitted in 2017 were women, more than one in five was Asian and almost 15 percent African-American. As we have repeatedly made clear to the Department of Justice, the university will certainly comply with its obligations under Title VI, Harvard spokeswoman Anna Cowenhoven said in a statement on Tuesday. We have an obligation to protect the confidentiality of student and applicant files and other highly sensitive records, and we have been seeking to engage the Department of Justice in the best means of doing so. The squabble follows reports that the Justice Department had begun an investigation into whether university affirmative action admission policies broadly discriminate against white applicants. Story continues Affirmative action programs in higher education were meant to address racial discrimination. The Supreme Court has ruled universities may use affirmative action with the aim of helping minority applicants get into college. U.S. conservatives have said that in helping black and Latino applicants, affirmative action can hurt white people and Asian-Americans. The Department of Justice takes seriously any potential violation of an individuals civil and constitutional rights, but we will not comment at this time, Justice Department spokesman Devin OMalley said in an e-mail. Kaia Gerber and Cindy Crawford. (Photo by Venturelli/WireImage) Anyone arguing that Kaia Gerber isnt her model mom Cindy Crawford s mini-me, should see their high school photos. The 51-year-old beauty posted an Instagram shot of her and 16-year-old Kaias respective class photos (Kaia is on the left; Crawford on the right) and their resemblance is flat-out undeniable. School pics, now and then, Crawford write on the Tuesday post with more than 200,000 likes. School pics, now and then. A post shared by Cindy Crawford (@cindycrawford) on Nov 21, 2017 at 11:36am PST Although Kaias modeling career was clearly inevitable, Crawford had reservations, telling The Associated Press in October, In some ways. I wish I could have pushed it off a year or two. But shes 16. Thats how old I was when I started, which is young, but in fashion thats kind of the normal age when people start. In September, Kaia burst onto the modeling scene by walking in the Calvin Klein, Fendi, Alexander Wang, and Chanel shows during New York Fashion Week . Even if there never had been a Cindy, there could still be a Kaia, designer Jeremy Scott told the Los Angeles Times in October. Obviously the power of the Kaia is much more because of the Cindy. But shes a classic American beauty that could have and would have succeeded on her own today. As humans, were nostalgic, and thats just part of our humanity. Thats why it hasnt waned, that love for [the Supers], that nostalgia; she touches upon that nostalgia in that way. Theyre powerful emotions, and I think its something that obviously works in fashion but in pop culture in general. Cindy Crawford and Kaia Gerber host Best Buddies Mothers Day Brunch in Malibu, CA sponsored by David Yurman on May 13, 2017 in Malibu, California. (Photo: Getty Images) The mother-daughter models even shared the runway during this years Milan Fashion Week , to Crawfords surprise. I didnt know my daughter was doing that show, she told The Associated Press . The models themselves dont really get booked until the day before or two days before. And finally Kaia got booked for it, and I said, You know Im doing that show, right? Shes like, Wait, do we have to walk down together? I said, No. I dont even want to walk down with you. Im going to walk down with the ladies that are my age. You can go with the girls that are your age. Story continues The mother-daughter team are clearly close in September, Kaia paid a subtle tribute to her moms iconic 1992 Pepsi ad by wearing a bomber jacket with the company logo. And they often sync up their style whether theyre hitting the town or hosting brunch. Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. Kanye West in New York City. (Photo: Marc Piasecki/GC Images) Its been one year since Kanye West was taken to UCLA medical center for psychiatric evaluation. The incident came on the heels of the rappers abrupt cancellation of his Saint Pablo Tour following a period of bizarre behavior and outbursts. Today, Kim Kardashians husband seems to be in a better place, with a baby on the way and living a somewhat quieter life. However, it was a grueling year to get to this point. Of course, West has always had a flair for drama. Who can forget his 2005 George Bush doesnt care about black people moment during the Hurricane Katrina telethon, or when he crashed Taylor Swifts VMA speech in 2009? But Wests antics last year public feuds, manic tweeting, and onstage outbursts clearly had those close to him concerned. The rapper also started voicing his support of President Trump during shows, and took aim at high-profile friends like Jay-Z and Beyonce. During one show last fall, West went off on Jay-Z, claiming their kids never played together. He also criticized his Watch the Throne collaborator for not reaching out following Kardashians robbery. Dont call me after the robbery and say, How you feelin? You wanna know how Im feeling? West said on stage. Come by the house. Bring the kids by the house, like were brothers. Lets sit down. As for Beyonce, he called her out during another show, saying he was upset by conditions she allegedly set regarding her performance at the MTV Video Music Awards that summer. Beyonce, I was hurt because I heard that you said you wouldnt perform unless you won Video of the Year over me and over Hotline Bling, West claimed, before abruptly ending his show. Days later, West canceled his tour and was rushed to the hospital. It was reported the episode was due to sleep deprivation and exhaustion, but neither West nor Kardashian have ever officially commented on the situation. When the Famous rapper was released a week later, he didnt immediately move back home. But he did go visit then President-elect Donald Trump in one of his first public outings. This reportedly irked Kardashian, who supported Hillary Clinton. Story continues Donald Trump and Kanye West at Trump Tower. (Photo: Getty Images) West and Kardashian, 37, lived apart in the weeks that followed. He is receiving outpatient care somewhere else with a medical team, a source alleged to People of their separate living situation. Kim still seems concerned but is supportive. They dont know for how long Kanye will need outpatient care. She is very worried about the kids being around Kanye. The couple went through a rough patch as Wests issues, coupled with Kims robbery, put a strain on their marriage. However, problems were reportedly brewing before his breakdown. West spent the 2016 holidays with Kim and their two kids, North, 4, and Saint, 1, but their marital issues rolled into 2017. It doesnt seem like they have plans to split now. Things dont seem great, but it also seems they are working to change that, a source claimed to People. Kanye has been very low-key and Kim appreciates that. With her life not being completely chaotic, she is able to be more understanding and patient with Kanye. Kim seems more hopeful about their future together. Despite months of divorce rumors, their work paid off by the time West and Kardashians third anniversary rolled around in May. An insider told People that the couple has been able to process things and move past them, and are very ready for whats next and not be so focused on the mess that was last year. Theyre in a much better place. Kanye West and Kim Kardashian go out on a date night in February 2017. (Photo: Raymond Hall/GC Images) While Kardashian eased back into public life, West stayed in the shadows, skipping high-profile events like the Met Gala. They even opted to celebrate milestones like his 40th birthday privately on a social-media-free getaway to the Bahamas and a secret trip to Japan. Things appeared to be going so well that in June, the couple decided to hire a surrogate and have a third child. In September, they confirmed baby No. 3 was on the way. As Kimye got their groove back, so did West as an individual. He returned to the studio, producing albums for Kid Cudi and Pusha T. And in November, he returned to the stage for the first time in nearly a year, surprising fans at Cudis concert in Chicago. And this time, West was outburst-free. A happy Kanye West attends a Lakers game in L.A. in November 2017. (Photo: Getty Images) Nearly a year of laying low seems to have done the rapper well. Need proof? We havent even heard him rant about any of Taylor Swifts dis tracks! With another little girl on the way next year and perhaps a new album, heres hoping that Wests year is filled with more highs than lows. Read more from Yahoo Entertainment: 2018 Spirit Awards nominations: The 5 biggest winners Extra Innings: Bill Murray and his brother make an odd little show about baseball First look at Maggie Qs new PETA ad aimed at holiday shoppers The crew of the Key West Express made a dramatic rescue off Florida on Nov. 20 after a nearby pleasure craft caught fire. The ferry was approximately halfway through its journey from Fort Myers to Key West when the captain changed course to aid passengers in a burning vessel approximately 3 miles away. Arriving at the scene, crew members were able to safely rescue a family of three who had abandoned the burning boat. Jeremy Reed, a passenger aboard the Key West Express, told Yahoo News, We were just blown away by everything that was going on, and how successful and quickly the crew responded to this emergency. TOMAH Three years after their son died from a lethal mix of drugs prescribed by doctors at the Tomah VA Medical Center, Marvin and Linda Simcakoski returned Wednesday to recognize the hospitals strides to reduce opioid use and focus on patient-centered care. Linda Simcakoski said her son, 35-year-old Marine Jason Simcakoski, was drugged all the time before his death in August 2014 from a mix of opiates and Valium. Whenever she and her husband met with his doctors, she said, they seemed uninterested in their concerns. It always felt like we were butting heads, she said during a Wednesday news conference to showcase the centers improvements. That has changed. Simcakoskis death was one of several linked to the misuse of opioids by the Tomah VA, where such prescriptions were so common that patients called the center Candy Land, according to a report by the Center for Investigative Reporting. The 2015 story, which detailed a culture of retaliation against employees who spoke out, triggered an 18-month congressional investigation, ended several careers and inspired a host of new laws and policies aimed at reforming the way VA treats both pain and whistleblowers. Under new leadership, the Tomah VA has reduced reliance on opioid painkillers and embraced alternative and holistic approaches to pain and patient health. Simcakoski, of Stevens Point, said she has noticed a change in the culture as well. Workers who once kept quiet for fear of retribution are now speaking up and being heard. People are listening, she said. Victoria Brahm, who took over as director of the center in October 2015, said a common mission of service has provided the energy and courage to move forward and regain the trust of those veterans that we let down. This is a new VA, said Jake Leinenkugel, the former head of the Chippewa Falls brewing company who now serves as a White House adviser to the VA. When I talk to veterans, Im telling you at least nine out of 10 tell me that they are getting fantastic care. A Marine Corps veteran, Leinenkugel said that while media coverage focuses on the VAs shortcomings, Wisconsins Congressional leadership on veterans issues are the high point in the country. Leinenkugel noted that trust in the VA has grown from about half of veterans in 2014 to nearly three-quarters, though he would like to see more gains. We need to regain the trust of our veterans, he said. Were not there yet. Data provided by the VA show the share of patients receiving high doses of opioids (more than 400 milligrams per day morphine equivalent) has been cut roughly in half from a little more than 1 percent in 2013 to a little more than 0.5 percent, or just eight patients. The Tomah VA has reduced the number of patients receiving lower doses by about half. Although Tomahs opioid prescription rates remain above the average for the VAs Great Lakes network, which serves more than 220,000 veterans in three states, Brahm said it takes time to wean patients off high doses and notes that the Tomah clinic specializes in mental health and substance abuse. These are the patients that struggle, she said. VA data show Tomah has made strides in educating patients and cutting down on abuse. While fewer than 40 percent of chronic opioid therapy patients were drug tested in 2013, that number had reached nearly 90 percent by June, higher than any other hospital in the network. Drug tests help ensure that patients are taking the drugs they are prescribed rather than selling them and not taking others. As part of the move away from narcotics, Tomah introduced a program known as Pain University and has since been tapped as one of 18 centers to implement the VAs new Whole Health approach, a patient-centered approach to improving health. Shawn Plante, a 40-year-old Army veteran who struggled with chronic pain and PTSD, said his quality of life dramatically improved since starting the program, which incorporates alternative medicine such as acupuncture and aromatherapy, as well as meditation and yoga. I didnt go anywhere. I didnt do anything, he said. I basically stayed home in pain. Now hes active in the local VFW and is part of the honor guard. Linda Simcakoski said if the program had been available to her son, he would still be alive. Tony Worden said Pain University saved his life. Worden, who suffered shoulder and leg injuries in a 1980s submarine collision, said he self-medicated with pills and alcohol for decades before coming to the Tomah VA in 2014, about the time of Simcakoskis death. I was in a hole, he said. It was not a good place. Since starting Pain University in April, Worden said hes now able to control his anxiety enough to go out. And while hes still in pain, he can manage it without pills. The pain is there, Worden said. Its next to me. Its not my whole life. Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri (C) arrives at Beirut International Airport on November 21, 2017. - AFP Lebanons prime minister has announced he is suspending the resignation he made from Saudi Arabia more than two weeks ago, easing a political crisis that has rocked the country. Saad Hariri landed back in Beirut on Wednesday after 17 days away, in time for Lebanons independence day celebrations. President Michel Aoun had said he would not accept his resignation from Riyadh and told Mr Hariri he would have to tender it in person, saying he believed he was coerced from his Saudi backers. After a meeting between the two, Mr Hariri announced he was postponing his decision pending talks. Former Prime Minister of Lebanon Saad Hariri visits the grave of former Prime Minister of Lebanon, Rafik Hariri, who was assassinated, upon his arrival to Beirut Credit: Anadolu "I presented today my resignation to President Aoun and he urged me to wait before offering it and to hold onto it for more dialogue about its reasons and political background, and I showed responsiveness," Mr Hariri said in surprising conciliatory remarks. Mr Hariri, a dual Saudi citizen who once enjoyed Riyadhs backing, addressed hundreds of supporters of his Future Movement party outside his residence in Beirut. Im staying with you, I will continue with you to be a line of defense for Lebanon, Lebanon's stability and Lebanon's Arabism, he told the crowd. Questions remain over whether the resignation will stand, forcing negotiations on a new government, or if he might withdraw it. A resignation brings down the government and the president then engages in consultations to select a new prime minister to form a cabinet. French President Emmanuel Macron (4R) and his wife Brigitte Macron (R) welcome Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri (2R), his wife Lara Bachir El-Alzm (3R) and their son Houssam (L) at the Elysee Presidential Palace on November 18 Credit: AFP The resignation is seen by many as the first step in an unprecedented Saudi intervention in Lebanese politics and the opening up of a new front in its proxy war with foe Iran. In Lebanon, divided for more than a decade between a pro-Saudi camp and a Tehran-backed alliance, that process typically takes months of political wrangling. Mr Hariri announced his resignation in a televised address from Saudi Arabia on November 4, stunning the nation and plunging the country in turmoil. He has been silent since, and Lebanese are hoping his arrival back home will help clear up the mysterious circumstances surrounding his resignation. Riyadh has warned of its concerns of Iranian-backed Hizbollahs growing influence in the government. Saudi had hoped its meddling would have seen political parties rally against an emboldened Hizbollah, but instead they rallied they jointly condemned the kingdoms breach of its sovereignty. Beirut (AFP) - Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, whose resignation from Saudi Arabia earlier this month caused widespread consternation, is set to return to Beirut this week as part of a deal brokered by France. But will his resignation stand, forcing negotiations on a new government, or might he withdraw the decision? Here are some of the possible scenarios in the coming days. - Hariri's resignation stands - Under Lebanon's constitution, the president is bound to accept a prime minister's resignation however it is tendered, Lebanese constitutional expert Edmond Rizk told AFP. "The Lebanese constitution doesn't talk about the nature of a resignation. It just stipulates that if the head of government resigns, then the government has resigned," Rizk said. Such a decision automatically brings down the government, and the president then engages in consultations to select a new prime minister to form a cabinet. Although it is not outlined in the constitution, Rizk said, custom dictates that "this resignation is supposed to be submitted to the president of the republic." Hariri announced he was stepping down in a television broadcast from Riyadh on November 4, but Lebanese President Michel Aoun has insisted he will not officially accept it before Hariri presents his decision in person. The shock resignation from outside the country is unprecedented in Lebanese history, and provoked wild speculation that Hariri had stepped down under Saudi pressure and was even being detained. Aoun himself accused Riyadh of holding Hariri, and reiterated that he would not consider the premier's resignation until they were able to meet. In Paris, Hariri acknowledged he would see Aoun once back in Beirut to discuss his decision. "As you know I have resigned, and we will discuss that in Lebanon," he told reporters. - Forming a new government - If Hariri's resignation stands, consultations will need to begin on who will form a new government, just under a year after the last one was agreed. Story continues In the interim, the resigned prime minister and cabinet continue functioning in a "caretaker" role until a new government is announced. Forming a government in Lebanon usually takes months of wrangling among the country's deeply divided political factions. On the one side is Hariri's bloc, backed by Saudi Arabia and deeply suspicious of Iranian influence in the country and the broader region. On the other is a coalition led by Iran-backed Hezbollah, which includes Aoun and his allies. A deal between Hariri and Aoun across political lines allowed the formation of the last government in December 2016, but it came after a stalemate that left the country without a president for two-and-a-half years. The smoothest scenario would see Aoun name Hariri as prime minister again, with widespread backing from Lebanon's political class, as part of a similar deal to the 2016 settlement. "If Hariri's consultations lead to a new government, that would be a way out," said Rizk. But a potential obstacle lies in Hariri's harsh criticism of Hezbollah, whom he blasted in his resignation statement but whose support he would need to pull together a new cabinet. If Hariri is unwilling, or unable, to form a government, Aoun could then name a different prime minister. Under a power-sharing agreement, Lebanon's top political posts are distributed among the country's religious sects, with the prime minister's office reserved for a Sunni Muslim. There are several candidates within the Sunni community, but it is unclear whether any of them would be better able to negotiate a deal to produce a new government. - Hariri withdraws resignation - A final scenario, and perhaps the least destabilising for the country, would be for Hariri to withdraw his resignation. Hariri has left the door open to this possibility, saying in his only interview since stepping down that he would be willing to "rescind the resignation" if Hezbollah withdrew from regional conflicts. He accuses the powerful Shiite group of violating Lebanon's so-called "disassociation policy" intended to keep the country out of conflicts like that in neighbouring Syria. Hezbollah is actively fighting on the side of President Bashar al-Assad in the six-year war, and also stands accused of supporting Shiite rebels against Saudi Arabia in Yemen, a charge it denies. "We need to respect the disassociation policy," Hariri said in the interview. On Monday, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said: "All of us in Lebanon are waiting for the return of the prime minster, who for us has not resigned. "When he comes, we will see. We're open to all dialogue and discussion." (NEW DELHI) A member of Indias Hindu nationalist ruling party offered 100 million rupees ($1.5 million) to anyone who beheads the lead actress and the director of an unreleased Bollywood film Padmavati rumored to depict a relationship between a Hindu queen and a Muslim ruler. Suraj Pal Amu, a Bharatiya Janata Party leader from the northern state of Haryana, offered the bounty against actress Deepika Padukone and filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali on Sunday. The films producers postponed the release of the film, which was set to be in theaters Dec. 1, and Amu was reported by local media to have said at a public rally that the film would not be allowed to be released at all. Padmavati is based on a 16th century Sufi epic poem, Padmavat, in which a brave and beautiful Rajput queen chose to kill herself rather than be captured by the Muslim sultan of Delhi, Allaudin Khilji. Over centuries of its retelling, the epic has come to be seen as history, despite little evidence. Padukone plays Padmini, the legendary queen who committed jauhar, the medieval Rajput practice in which female royals walked into funeral fires to embrace death over the dishonor of being taken captive. Padmavati has been in trouble since the beginning of the year, with fringe groups in the western state of Rajasthan attacking the films set, threatening to burn down theaters that show it and even physically attacking Bhansali in January. Most of the anger appears to stem from allegations that Bhansali filmed a romantic dream sequence between the protagonists, which Bhansali has denied. Earlier this month, the head of the Rajput Karni Sena in Rajasthan said Padukone should have her nose cut a symbol of public humiliation for being part of a film that allegedly insulted the famed queen. Indias 1.3 billion-strong democracy is the largest in the world and has made great economic strides, but its politics are held hostage by a complex mix of religion and caste. Books and movies have been banned or received threats of violence because they either offend one religious or caste group, or are deemed offensive to Indian culture in general. Story continues Hollywood movies are routinely scrubbed of sex scenes, and Indias film censor board rejected Fifty Shades of Grey. The Da Vinci Code was banned in Goa state, which has a large Christian population. In 2014, the publishing house Penguin India pulled from shelves and destroyed all copies of American historian Wendy Donigers The Hindus: An Alternative History after a Hindu right-wing group protested, mainly because they said the book described Hindu mythological texts as fictional. Salman Rushdies The Satanic Verses has been banned since 1998, since many Muslims consider it blasphemous. The Indian-born Rushdie was forced to cancel a 2012 appearance at the Jaipur Literary Festival amid protests and threats by prominent Muslim clerics. By Noe Torres MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - There were more murders in October in Mexico than in any month over at least 20 years, according to official data, in the latest grim milestone in 2017, a year on course to register the highest homicide tally since modern records began. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto's failure to tackle growing drug violence is seen as a major weakness ahead of next July's presidential election, where he faces an uphill battle to keep his centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in power. The data, published by Mexico's interior ministry on Monday, showed there were 2,371 murder investigations opened in October. With 20,878 murders nationwide in the first 10 months of 2017, this year is on track to overtake 2011 as the most violent since the government began publishing such data in 1997. There were an average of 69 murders a day so far this year, putting Mexico on track to overtake the 2011 homicide tally before the end of November. In 2011, there were an average of 63 murders per day, according to Reuters calculations. In a speech earlier this month, Pena Nieto acknowledged that crime and violence had been rising. "It has to be said, we're still not satisfied, and we still have lots more to achieve," he said. "Security needs to remain an utmost priority for the government." However, he also added that certain sectors of society are engaged in "bullying" Mexico's institutions, belittling the work of the police and military. Those comments were ridiculed online, where many criticized the rising violence and graft that have stained his administration. In further bad news for Pena Nieto's unpopular government, Silvestre de la Toba, the head of the Baja California Sur state human rights commission, was shot dead on Monday. His killing drew criticism from U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Roberta Jacobson, who tweeted that his death should be fully investigated. Baja California Sur, which includes the popular resort of Los Cabos, is one of the states that has seen the sharpest rise in murders. There were 409 in the first 10 months of 2017, up 178 percent from the same period last year. (Additional reporting by Gabriel Stargardter and Lizbeth Diaz; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Sandra Maler) Harare (AFP) - Even before Robert Mugabe's resignation, many Zimbabweans tempered their yearning for his downfall with the knowledge that his likely successor has a similar reputation for brutality and corruption. Emmerson Mnangagwa, who until recently was one of Mugabe's longest-serving and closest allies, will be sworn in as the new president on Friday offering Zimbabwe the chance to open a new chapter. But his career as a hardline minister in the ZANU-PF party points to a new leader who could be just as keen to suppress opposition voices, restrict freedoms and govern with an iron fist. "It's a great relief that he is out of the way, but we shouldn't get too excited about the new guy," Patrick Moyo, a 38-year-old bank worker told AFP. "People must not forget his past." Mnangagwa's past allegedly includes two of the most infamous episodes of state-sponsored violence during Mugabe's reign -- both of which he is accused of overseeing. After independence in 1980, Mnangagwa, then the state security minister, directed the "Gukurahundi" massacres of supposed dissidents in the Matabeleland and Midlands provinces. The government, which drew most of its support from the ethnic Shona majority, unleashed the North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade on the Ndebele people leaving an estimated 20,000 people dead and deep scars on the national psyche. - 'Mugabe's enforcer' - In the 2008 election, Mnangagwa was also seen as the architect of the wave of deadly violence and intimidation that forced the opposition to pull out of a run-off vote which Mugabe risked losing. "This is a change of a leader within the same authoritarian system of ZANU-PF backed by the military," Dewa Mavhinga, southern African director of Human Rights Watch, told AFP. "It's unlikely that there will be significant changes because Mnangagwa was Mugabe's enforcer. He is likely to continue as far as abuses, impunity and lack of democratic change are concerned. Story continues "He has to protect those who have been implicated in abuses because it is essentially the same team." Anthoni van Nieuwkerk, a politics professor at Wits University in Johannesburg, described Mnangagwa, 75, as having "blood on his hands". "He is not an angel or a democrat by any definition," Van Nieuwkerk said. "He is an old politician with significant support inside the military and inside the ruling party." Other accusations against Mnangagwa include his alleged involvement in illegal gold and diamond mining that has helped fund the ZANU-PF regime as well as made him a wealthy man. He is known as "The Crocodile" -- both for his ruthlessness and his membership of "The Crocodile Gang", a sabotage unit during the independence war against British colonial rule. - 'Another dictator'? - "We need a complete overhaul, not just the removal of one person at the top. With any elements of ZANU-PF still in power, I doubt that we will move forward," said Oscar Muponda, an office worker in the capital. "We hate ZANU-PF and we don't want to replace a dictator with another dictator." Mnangagwa was previously targeted by US and EU sanctions but is no longer blacklisted. Despite his record, international diplomats have built a working relationship with him as a likely future leader who may usher in limited reforms. He could also head a national unity government that would include opposition leaders and rule the country for some years before new elections. Many hope he could at least bring rapid economic growth after Mugabe's "indigenisation" policies and farm seizures saw investors flee, production collapse and unemployment rise to over 90 percent. Under Mnangagwa, there could be "economic proposals aimed at Zimbabwe's re-engagement with the international community," said London-based analyst IHS Markit. It is a hope that many Zimbabweans are clinging to as Mnangagwa prepares to take his oath of office. "The main concern is about the financial crisis," said Berry Makiyi, 35, an electrical engineering entrepreneur. "He should tackle this issue first." bgs-chp-sn-fj/gw/hmw BOSTON (Reuters) - The leader of a Massachusetts-based unit of the notoriously violent MS-13 gang was convicted on Tuesday of racketeering conspiracy in the first trial in Boston to stem from a crackdown that led to charges against 61 people, prosecutors said. Rafael Leoner Aguirre, a Salvadoran national who prosecutors said led an MS-13 "clique" in Chelsea, Massachusetts, was found guilty by a federal jury in Boston following a two-week trial, prosecutors said. Republican U.S. President Donald Trump has vowed to crush criminal gangs, especially MS-13, and referred to gang members as "animals" and "thugs." Prosecutors said Leoner Aguirre, 22, encouraged members of the gang known as Enfermos Criminal Salvatrucha in Chelsea to attack and kill rival gang members and commit robberies. Leoner Aguirre himself attempted to commit two murders, prosecutors said. Leoner Aguirre, who illegally immigrated from El Salvador in 2013, faces up to 20 years in prison and will be subject to deportation following any prison term. His sentencing is scheduled for March 2. A lawyer for Leoner Aguirre did not respond to a request for comment. The conviction came as the U.S. Justice Department is pushing to break up cross-border criminal organizations. MS-13, which the department says has more than 30,000 members worldwide and 10,000 in the United States, is a prime focus of that effort. MS-13, also called La Mara Salvatrucha, was founded in Los Angeles in the 1980s in part to protect immigrants fleeing civil war in El Salvador. It has since grown into a sprawling cross-border criminal organization. Leoner Aguirre was charged in January 2016, before Trump took office. Attorney General Jeff Sessions cited the gang crackdown that led to his arrest in a September speech in Boston about efforts to combat MS-13, whose members he described as "some of the worst of the worst." Both Sessions and Trump have tied what they say is the need to fight the gang to the administration's initiatives targeting illegal immigration. To date, 23 other people charged in the Boston case have pleaded guilty. The next trial is scheduled for January. (Reporting by Nate Raymond; Editing by Scott Malone and Tom Brown) Harare (AFP) - Thirty-seven years ago, Robert Mugabe was feted as a titan who had won Africa's last great war against colonialism. On Tuesday, in the twilight of his life, Mugabe resigned, loathed by millions of his citizens for a rule tarnished by despotism, cronyism, corruption and economic ruin. Deserted by the forces that propped up his power for decades, Mugabe had faced the humiliation of impeachment proceedings launched by the ZANU-PF -- the party he had forged into a tool of unquestioning loyalty. In a bombshell letter read to parliament by the speaker Jacob Mudenda, the 93-year-old said: "I Robert Gabriel Mugabe in terms of section 96 of the constitution of Zimbabwe hereby formally tender my resignation... with immediate effect." Mugabe was born on February 21, 1924, into a Catholic family at the Kutama Mission, northwest of Harare -- a city then called Salisbury, capital of the white-ruled British colony of Rhodesia. As a child, Mugabe was a loner and studious, carrying a book to read even while tending cattle in the bush. His father, a carpenter, walked out on the family when he was 10, prompting the youngster to focus on his studies, qualifying as a schoolteacher at the age of 17. In these formative years, Mugabe was an intellectual who initially embraced Marxism. He enrolled at Fort Hare University in South Africa, where he met many of southern Africa's future black nationalist leaders. - Prison years - After teaching in Ghana, where he was influenced by the country's founding president Kwame Nkrumah, Mugabe returned to Rhodesia -- where he was detained in 1964 for his nationalist activities. He spent the next decade in prison camps or jail as the colony declared its independence from Britain. During his incarceration, he gained three degrees through correspondence, but the harsh years in prison also left a mark and honed his ruthlessness and guile. His four-year-old son by his first wife, Ghanaian-born Sally Francesca Hayfron, died while he was behind bars. Rhodesian leader Ian Smith denied him leave to attend the funeral. Story continues Released in 1974, Mugabe took over as head of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), which joined forces with Joshua Nkomo's Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU). The conflict for independence that erupted in 1964, coupled with international sanctions, forced the Rhodesian government to the negotiating table. The country finally won independence as Zimbabwe in 1980. In elections that year, Mugabe swept to power as prime minister, initially winning international plaudits for his policy of racial reconciliation and for extending improved education and health services to the black majority. But the glory faded as Mugabe cracked down on dissent. Nkomo, his former comrade-in-arms, was a first casualty. In 1982 he was dismissed from government, where he held the home affairs portfolio, after the discovery of an arms cache in his Matabeleland stronghold. Mugabe, whose party drew most of its support from the ethnic Shona majority, then unleashed his North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade on Nkomo's Ndebele people in a campaign that left an estimated 20,000 people dead. Mugabe's transformation into international pariah was made complete by his seizure of white-owned farms. Aimed largely at placating angry war veterans who threatened to destabilise his rule, the land reform policy wrecked the crucial agricultural sector, caused foreign investors to flee and turned the bread basket of southern Africa into an economic basket case. - 'A reptilian quality' - Britain's former foreign secretary Peter Carrington knew Mugabe well, having mediated the Lancaster House talks that paved the way for Zimbabwe's independence. "Mugabe wasn't human at all," Carrington told biographer Heidi Holland. "There was a sort of reptilian quality about him. "You could admire his skills and intellect... but he was an awfully slippery sort of person." Biographer Martin Meredith added: "His real obsession was not with personal wealth but with power." "Year after year Mugabe sustained his rule through violence and repression -- crushing political opponents, violating the courts, trampling on property rights, suppressing the independent press and rigging elections." One of the world's most recognisable leaders with his thin stripe of moustache and thick-rimmed spectacles, Mugabe appeared immune to criticism. "If people say you are a dictator... you know they are saying this merely to tarnish and demean your status, then you don't pay much attention," he said in a 2013 documentary. At stage-managed events, he used blistering rhetoric to blame Western sanctions for his country's downward spiral, even though these measures were targeted at Mugabe personally and his henchmen rather than at Zimbabwe's economy. Unbending in his policies and unyielding to his enemies, Mugabe seemed immutable to everything except time. For decades, the subject of who would succeed Mugabe was virtually taboo. As he reached his 90s, he became visibly frail -- he had been rumoured for years to have prostate cancer, but according to the official account, his frequent trips to Singapore were for treatment related to his cataracts. "It's true I was dead. I resurrected as I always do once I get back to my country. I am real again," he joked in 2016 after returning from a foreign trip, mocking rumours that he had died. As the end of Mugabe's rule appeared on the horizon, a vicious struggle to take over after his death erupted among the party elite. In the spotlight was Mugabe's ambitious second wife Grace, his former secretary who is 41 years his junior, and the father of his two sons and a daughter. Quietly lampooned by critics as "Gucci Grace" for her shopping habits, she fought for the spoils with vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa, precipitating the army takeover. Mugabe staged a last-ditch attempt to cling to office, making a TV address on Sunday that, to the astonishment of Zimbabweans, blithely ignored the clamour for him to quit. But the pressure mounted relentlessly, forcing Mugabe towards impeachment. "He was a great leader whose leadership degenerated to a level where he really brought Zimbabwe to its knees," said University of South Africa professor Shadrack Gutto. burs-ri/txw Robert O'Neill, the Navy Seal from Seal Team Six, better known as the guy who shot Osama Bin Laden, joined comedian Jim Jefferies on The Jim Jefferies Show to fire off some very serious artillery. Jefferies said, "In honor of my guest, I ordered a buffet of giant dangerous weapons. Rob's a perfect shot of course. But I need to try them out. Then I find the biggest, funnest and most deadly one to protect myself from a tyrannical government." Jefferies joking posted a picture of "Zombie Bin Laden" for O'Neill to shoot while he aimed at a picture of the second amendment. Though Jefferies has been outspoken on the incredible lack of gun control in the United States while O'Neill has a bit more of a conservative background there was one thing they agreed on --- Guns are fun. Jefferies jokingly spoofed ads for the guns they fired off. "This is the HMK-416. It's an assault rifle similar to the AR-15," he said, "The manufacturer calls it user friendly. In stores for...hunting. Yeah, let's say it's for 'hunting' this time." But when Jefferies challenged O'Neill to a watermelon shoot out with the biggest gun he could find, a 50 caliber sniper rifle, something kind of unexpected happened. Jefferies hit his watermelon and O'Neill did not! Though American hero who shot Bin Laden just got bested by a comedian from Australia, I'm sure his fellow Seal Team 6 members won't give him any grief for that. Jefferies said, "I'll retire my gun career right there. Maybe Bin Laden would have been okay if he was dressed as a watermelon." Robert ONeill, the Navy Seal from SEAL Team Six, better known as the guy who shot Osama Bin Laden, joined comedian Jim Jefferies on The Jim Jefferies Show to fire off some very serious artillery. Jefferies said, In honor of my guest, I ordered a buffet of giant dangerous weapons. Robs a perfect shot of course. But I need to try them out. Then I find the biggest, funnest, and most deadly one to protect myself from a tyrannical government. Jefferies jokingly posted a picture of Zombie Bin Laden for ONeill to shoot while he aimed at a picture of the Second Amendment. Jefferies has been outspoken on the incredible lack of gun control in the United States, while ONeill has a bit more of a conservative background, but there was one thing they agreed on: Guns are fun. Jefferies spoofed ads for the guns they fired off. This is the HMK-416. Its an assault rifle similar to the AR-15, he said. The manufacturer calls it user-friendly. In stores for hunting. Yeah, lets say its for hunting this time. But when Jefferies challenged ONeill to a watermelon shootout with the biggest gun he could find, a .50 caliber sniper rifle, something kind of unexpected happened. Jefferies hit his watermelon and ONeill did not! Though an American hero who shot Bin Laden got bested by a comedian from Australia, Im sure his fellow SEAL Team Six members wont give him any grief for that. Jefferies said, Maybe Bin Laden would have been OK if he was dressed as a watermelon. The Jim Jefferies Show airs Tuesdays at 10:30 p.m. on Comedy Central. Check out Jim Jefferies has #MeToo realization that he needs to do better: Read more from Yahoo Entertainment: Tell us what you think! Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram or leave your comments below. And check out our host, Kylie Mar, on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. By Camille Augustin Following a ruling sent down by Donald Trumps administration on Monday (Nov. 20), 59,000 Haitian people who were allowed admittance into the U.S. for work and livelihood following the countrys 2010 earthquake, now have to return to their homeland after the Temporary Protected Status initiative will end in 2019. According to the New York Times, the Federation for American Immigration Reforms President Dan Stein said this program was meant to have a termination date. The notion that this would be reflexively renewed again and again is a corruption of the entire concept, he said. Its not a refugee program or an immigration program. Its supposed to be reviewed and its supposed to be temporary. Seven years ago, a magnitude 7 earthquake rocked the country, displacing hundreds of thousands of Haitian residents and killing nearly 320,000 people, CNN reports. As a result, former President Barack Obamas administration renewed the Temporary Protected Status program until the country could regain its economic footing. A statement issued by the Department of Homeland Security outlined that Haitis government is equipped to receive its former residents while those who will be affected by this mandate are worried about their future. Since the 2010 earthquake, the number of displaced people in Haiti has decreased by 97 percent. Significant steps have been taken to improve the stability and quality of life for Haitian citizens, and Haiti is able to safely receive traditional levels of returned citizens, the statement notes. The Times adds that some Haitian immigrants affected by this mandate have sought asylum in Quebec, Canada. This post Nearly 60,000 Haitians Will Lose Temporary Protected Status In U.S. By July 2019 first appeared on Vibe. MADISON Tess Hatch, a young investor with Bessemer Venture Partners in their Menlo Park office, isnt shy when she talks about the early stage landscape in Wisconsin. In fact, as she told a packed room in Madison this month, she and her colleagues often tell their portfolio companies to think beyond Silicon Valley and expand in the Midwest. Why look to the heartland? With about $4 billion invested in more than 130 companies around the world, Bessemer wants to go where the business costs are reasonable and the talent and technology are first rate. Its a message that is slowly but surely getting across to investors outside Wisconsin, from as close as Chicago and as far away as California, as the cost of doing business in the nations largest urban centers skyrockets and high-quality pockets of innovation emerge in lower-cost cities in the Midwest. While those same investors see challenges to closing deals in the Midwest, they also see advantages ranging from lower valuations compared to what they see on the coasts, access to research and development centers and a customer base too big to be ignored. That was a recurring theme at the Wisconsin Early Stage Symposium, held Nov. 14-16 in Madison, where scores of companies met with investors in three formal settings and informally through networking encounters throughout the conference. The interest shown by out-of-state investors can be written off as anecdotal, except some harder data back up the fact that Wisconsin is no longer viewed as flyover land. In 2016, about one in five angel or venture capital deals in Wisconsin involved investors from other states, a trend that appears to be holding in 2017. Thats according to the Wisconsin Portfolio, a publication of the Wisconsin Technology Council that charts deal activity every year. A national group that periodically ranks states according to their new economy quotient recently gave Wisconsin its highest marks since 1999, when it first started ranking the states according to 25 specific criteria. Wisconsin ranked 26th overall in the November 2017 index published by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, just behind Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania and just ahead of Nebraska, Missouri and Idaho. Top-ranked states were Massachusetts, California, Washington, Virginia, Delaware and Maryland. In previous years, Wisconsins highest rank overall was 29th and it once stood as low as 37th among the 50 states. In the 25 categories, Wisconsin ranked as high as 6th for advances in eGovernment and as low as 43rd for foreign direct investment, a standing that is certain to change as Taiwans Foxconn Technology Group puts down roots in Racine County. It was 27th in venture capital, not stellar but at least in a second-tier class that includes many Midwestern states. Parts of Wisconsin are still venture-poor. Thats especially true in the Milwaukee area, despite the emergence of some smaller corporate funds. The cure in the states largest city would be a corporate fund-of-funds along the size and scale of the Renaissance Fund in Michigan or Cintrifuse in Cincinnati. Foxconn has quietly signaled for some time it has interest in the venture class. The Badger Fund of Funds, which invests in companies at the smaller end of the scale, has announced its first deal and formation of three regional funds so far. That will increasingly add to the states venture footprint. Older, more established funds are far from finished. Baird Capital, Capital Midwest and Venture Investors have remained active and, in some cases, are raising new funds to follow on the success of previous efforts. Finally, companies such as American Family, TASC, CUNA Mutual and WEA Trust in Madison are making corporate investments, although not always in Wisconsin. For years, the advice to young companies in the tech space was, Go west, young man or woman, to paraphrase Horace Greeleys advice from an earlier time. Many still do, but others are discovering there is more than a fighting chance at making it close to home. By Mubasher Bukhari LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - A Pakistani court on Wednesday ordered the release from house arrest of an Islamist leader accused by the United States and India of masterminding attacks on Mumbai in 2008 in which 166 people were killed, a prosecutor said. Hafiz Saeed was put under house arrest in January after years of living freely in Pakistan, one of the sore points in its fraying relationship with the United States. His freedom had also infuriated its arch-foe India. Saeed, who is expected to be freed on Thursday, thanked the court judges in a video message released by his Islamist charity. "Thanks to God, this is a victory of Pakistan's independence," he said. The government of Pakistan's Punjab province had asked for a 60-day extension to Saeed's detention but the request was turned down by the court, prosecutor Sattar Sahil told Reuters. "His previous detention for 30 days is over, which means he would be released tomorrow," said Sahil. Saeed has repeatedly denied involvement in the Mumbai attacks in which 10 gunmen attacked targets in India's largest city, including two luxury hotels, a Jewish center and a train station in a rampage that lasted several days. The violence brought nuclear-armed neighbors Pakistan and India to the brink of war. The United States had offered a $10 million bounty for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Saeed, who heads the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD). Members say the Jamaat-ud-Dawa is an charity but the United States says it is a front for the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant group. "The review board of the Lahore High Court asked the Punjab government to produce evidence against Hafiz Saeed for keeping him detained but the government failed," Saeed's lawyer A.K. Dogar told Reuters. "The court today said that there is nothing against Saeed, therefore he should be released," he added. A spokesman for India's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. India accused Pakistan of sponsoring the attacks through the LeT, which Saeed founded in the 1990s. Pakistan has denied any state involvement in the attack. It placed the LeT on a list of banned organizations in 2002. "The leader of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, Hafiz Saeed's (may God protect him) internment is over," Nadeem Awan, a media manager for JuD, wrote on Facebook after the court order. (Additional reporting by Tommy Wilkes; Writing by Saad Sayeed; Editing by Nick Macfie and John Stonestreet) Lahore (Pakistan) (AFP) - A Pakistani court Wednesday ordered the release of one of the alleged masterminds of the 2008 Mumbai attacks which killed more than 160 people, after months of US pressure on Islamabad over its alleged support for militants. Firebrand cleric Hafiz Saeed, who heads the UN-listed terrorist group Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and has a $10 million US bounty on his head, will be freed tomorrow after less than a year in detention following the decision by the Lahore High Court, a JuD official said. "The review board looking in to the case... has refused to extend his house arrest as the government failed to provide any evidence against the charges," a spokesman for the party, Ahmed Nadeen said. The horror of the Mumbai carnage played out on live television around the world as commandos battled the heavily armed gunmen, who arrived by sea on the evening of November 26, 2008. It took the authorities three days to regain full control of the city. JuD, which has operated freely across Pakistan and is popular for its charity work, is considered by the US and India to be a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the militant group blamed for the attack on India's financial capital. New Delhi has long seethed at Pakistan's failure either to hand over or prosecute those accused of planning the attacks, while Islamabad has alleged that India failed to give it crucial evidence. India has also said there is proof that "official agencies" in Pakistan were involved in plotting the attack -- a charge Islamabad denies. Analyst and retired Pakistani general Talat Masood told AFP that Saeed is given special treatment by the government "because they think that his organisation was supportive in Kashmir", the disputed Himalayan territory over which India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars. Saeed said later in a video message that he was detained because of his association with Kashmir. "It's because of Kashmir that India is after me, but all her efforts have been in vain and Allah has set me free," he said in the video released by his party's media team. Story continues "This is victory of Pakistan's freedom and God willing Kashmir will also be freed because I'm fighting Kashmir's case," Saeed added. India blames Pakistan for sending militant groups, including LeT, to foment unrest in the part of Kashmir controlled by New Delhi. However Masood said the government could seek new reasons to detain Saeed to avoid more international pressure, particularly from Washington, which has been pressuring Pakistan for months over its alleged support for militants including the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan. US President Donald Trump in August accused Pakistan of harbouring "agents of chaos", and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said last month that the Washington has made "very specific" requests of Pakistan over militancy. The US has also made several overtures to Pakistan's arch-enemy India for closer ties. Following a brief period of house arrest in 2008, Saeed led a high-profile public life and regularly delivered fiery anti-India speeches. He was placed under house arrest once more in January this year following years of foreign pressure, prompting demonstrations in several Pakistani cities. Masood said that his release could see him participate in a general election set to be held sometime next year, adding that if he won a seat in the national assembly that could be "very embarrassing internationally". Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Palestinian officials announced Tuesday they had suspended meetings with the US following a quarrel with President Donald Trump's administration over the future of their representative office in Washington. The announcement came on the same day the leading Palestinian political factions began talks in Cairo aimed at pushing ahead with reconciliation efforts. The suspension of meetings was not confirmed by the Americans. "We continue to be in contact with Palestinian officials about the status of the PLO office in Washington as well as about our larger efforts to advance a lasting and comprehensive peace," a US State Department official said. "These discussions are ongoing." Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Malki and other officials said they had suspended all meetings, but speaking in Spain, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said he remained committed to working with Trump and America to achieve a lasting peace deal. Trump has been seeking to build confidence ahead of a fresh attempt at peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. His envoys, including senior adviser Jared Kushner and peace negotiators Jason Greenblatt, have held dozens of meetings with Palestinians in the past year, but these could now be in jeopardy. Vice President Mike Pence is also due in Israel and the Palestinian territories next month. Malki said that by deciding to close the office of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the Americans had effectively cut off ties. "What is the use of holding any meetings with them when they close our office?" he told AFP. "In practice by closing the office they are freezing all meetings and we are making that official." The PLO, which the international community sees as representing all Palestinians, must have its permission to operate premises in the US capital renewed by the State Department every six months. But last week the department refused to renew the permit. Story continues - 'Closing down all communication' - US officials cited comments by Abbas about possibly taking Israel to the International Criminal Court as justification. A PLO spokesman confirmed they had received instructions from Abbas "regarding closing down all communication lines with the Americans". The row comes as Trump seeks bargaining chips in his bid to broker an elusive peace deal. He has a 90-day window to avert the office's closure if he deems progress has been made. Nickolay Mladenov, the UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, said he was "concerned" about the plans to close the office. "Only through constructive dialogue can we hope to advance peace," he said. Separately, 13 Palestinian factions including Abbas's Fatah began three-day talks in Cairo regarding the next steps in a reconciliation agreement made last month. The talks are being held behind closed doors. The two largest parties -- Fatah and Hamas -- signed an Egyptian-sponsored unity deal on October 12 under which Islamists Hamas are supposed to cede power in the Gaza Strip by December 1. Both parties and other smaller groups are expected to discuss several issues in Cairo, including forming a unity government and holding elections. There have been no Palestinian parliamentary elections since Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007 from Fatah, which dominates the government in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Palestinians and international powers hope implementing the unity deal could help ease the suffering of Gaza's two million residents, who suffer from severe poverty and unemployment. Israel has maintained a crippling decade-long blockade of Gaza, while Egypt has also largely closed its border in recent years. - Reconciliation push - Previous reconciliation attempts have failed. Fatah's delegation is headed by negotiator Azzam al-Ahmed, while on the Hamas side, deputy leader Saleh Aruri will be the highest-ranking official present. The October accord is supposed to see Fatah retake full control of Gaza. In a crucial first step, Hamas handed over Gaza's border crossings on November 1. Control of a number of government ministries has also been transferred, but significant stumbling blocks remain. In particular, the future of Hamas's vast armed wing, which has fought three wars with Israel since 2008, is disputed. Abbas has repeatedly said he will only accept one military authority in the Palestinian territories, but Hamas officials have refused to disarm. Israel has also said it will not accept any Palestinian government that includes Hamas unless the Islamist group lays down its weapons. The Fatah-dominated Palestinian government has also refused to remove crippling sanctions on Gaza that include reduced electricity. On Monday, Mladenov told the UN Security Council that, despite the challenges, the reconciliation "must not be allowed to fail". "If it does, it will most likely result in another devastating conflict," he said. MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday threatened to shut down any mine that supports Maoist rebels waging a protracted guerrilla war to overthrow the government. The Philippines has been in on-again, off-again peace talks with the National Democratic Front (NDF), the political arm of the communist movement, since 1986 to end a rebellion that has killed more than 40,000 people and stunted growth in resource-rich rural areas. In a speech honoring soldiers who fought pro-Islamic State militants for five months in the southern city of Marawi, Duterte said that attacks from the Maoist rebels had been on the rise, forcing him to end negotiations, and that he would declare the guerrilla group a terrorist organization. "If I go against the communists, then everybody has to reconfigure their relationship with the New People's Army," he said, referring to the communists' armed wing. "If you support them financially, I will close you down." Duterte said some mines were paying "revolutionary taxes" to the rebels in exchange for allowing their operations in remote areas to continue. He did not name any companies. Mines in the Philippines, many with foreign partners, are digging for gold, nickel, copper, chromite and coal. The Mines and Geosciences Bureau said the country had estimated $840 billion worth of untapped mineral wealth as of 2012. The rebels are also engaged in small-scale mining, like gold panning in the south. Mining companies shared the president's position, Ronald Recidoro, executive director at the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines, said. "We do not condone any member supporting the New People's Army through the payment of revolutionary taxes," Recidoro told Reuters. "This is clearly against the law and they really should be prosecuted if they are found to be supporting these organizations. And if closure is warranted, that is within the prerogative of the president." The Chamber of Mines groups 20 of the country's 43 operating mines. Recidoro said some mining firm members had experienced some of their equipment being burned by the NPA because of their refusal to pay the taxes. "I am fighting a rebellion... I have to build a strong army," Duterte said, adding the military would next year acquire 23 attack helicopters to boost counter-insurgency capability. Military spokesman Major-General Restituto Padilla said the Philippines already had approval for the purchase of attack helicopters but had not decided what type or where to source them. ($1 = 50.6 pesos) (Reporting by Manuel Mogato and Manolo Serapio; Editing by Nick Macfie) A retired Alabama police officer said she and her colleagues were told decades ago to make sure Roy Moore didnt hang around high school cheerleaders, and confirmed previous reports that the Republican Senate candidate was banned at the time from a local mall for predatory behavior toward teenage girls. The rumor mill was that he liked young girls, and ... we were advised that he was being suspended from the mall because he would hang around the young girls that worked in the stores and ... really got into a place of where they say he was harassing, former Gadsden police officer Faye Gary told MSNBC on Tuesday. We were also told to watch him at the ball games, and make sure that ... he didnt hang around the cheerleaders, she said. Gary did not clarify who issued the warnings, saying they were just rumors that circulated both at the local police department and courthouse. She also said that while working on juvenile cases as an officer, she never received a formal complaint about Moore. Every day we were looking for a complaint to come in, but none did, she said. The 70-year-old former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court has been accused of sexual misconduct by nearly 10 women, with several incidents allegedly occurring when the women were teenagers and he was in his early 30s. I didnt realize it until some time later that when they said he liked young girls I just thought he liked young ladies, you know, younger than him, maybe in their 20s, Gary said. I had no idea, or we had no idea that we were talking about 14-year-olds. But we never got a complaint on it. Moore targeting young girls was a known fact, Gary told the New York Times last week. It was treated like a joke. Thats just the way it was. Moore, known nationally for his anti-gay and anti-Muslim views, has steadfastly denied the allegations, casting them as a conspiracy against him. While many national Republican leaders have called on Moore to exit the race saying the allegations against him ring true Alabama GOP officials are sticking by him. And his campaign has held several events this week to defend him and discredit the women who have made the sexual assault and harassment accusations. Story continues Allegations are words. They are not facts, Stan Cooke, an Alabama pastor, said at an event Tuesday afternoon. Allegations are words. They are not indictments and they are not charges. After remaining mum on Moore after the allegations surfaced earlier this month, President Donald Trump on Tuesday all but endorsed him. He told reporters in Washington that he would rather have Moore in the Senate than a liberal person in there, referring to Democratic nominee Doug Jones. When asked whether an accused child molester is better than a Democrat, the president repeatedly said that Moore denies it. He would not say whether he believes the women. He says it didnt happen, and you know, you have to listen to him also, Trump said. Moore and Jones face off in a Dec. 12 special election for the seat Republican Jeff Sessions gave up to serve as Trumps attorney general. Recent polls have shown a close race. Dear Mitch McConnell, Bring. It. On. Judge Roy Moore (@MooreSenate) November 16, 2017 In remaining defiant, Moore, criticizing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), tweeted last week to bring it on an unfortunate choice of words, because, as many pointed out, Bring It On is the title of a popular movie about high school cheerleaders. Also on HuffPost Taking Security Seriously Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) talks with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) before the start of a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing concerning the roles and responsibilities for defending the nation against cyberattacks, on Oct. 19, 2017. With Liberty And Justice... Members of Code Pink for Peace protest before the start of a hearing where U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions will testify to the Senate Judiciary Committee in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on Oct. 18, 2017. Committee members questioned Sessions about conversations he had with President Donald Trump about the firing of former FBI Director James Comey, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy, the ongoing investigation about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and other subjects. Whispers Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), right, speaks with Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) before a confirmation hearing for Christopher Sharpley, nominee for inspector general of the CIA, on Oct. 17, 2017. Not Throwing Away His Shot Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of the musical "Hamilton," makes his way to a meeting of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies in the Rayburn Office Building during a round of meetings to urge federal funding for the arts and humanities on Sept. 13, 2017. Medicare For All Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), center, speaks on health care as Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), left, and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), right, listen during an event to introduce the Medicare for All Act on Sept. 13, 2017. Bernie Bros Supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) pack his office on Sept. 8, 2017. Members of the "Draft Bernie for a People's Party" campaign delivered a petition with more than 50,000 signatures to urge the senator to start and lead a new political party. McCain Appearance Sen. John McCain, second from left, leaves the Capitol after his first appearance since being diagnosed with cancer. He arrived to cast a vote to help Republican senators narrowly pass the motion to proceed for the replacement of the Affordable Care Act on July 25, 2017. A Narrow Win Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, center, speaks alongside Sens. John Barrasso, left, John Cornyn, right, and John Thune, rear, after the Senate narrowly passed the motion to proceed for the replacement of the Affordable Care Act on July 25, 2017. Kushner Questioning Jared Kushner, White House senior adviser and son-in-law to President Donald Trump, arrives at the Capitol on July 25, 2017. Kushner was interviewed by the House Intelligence Committee in a closed-door meeting about contacts he had with Russia. Hot Dogs On The Hill Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) prepares a hot dog during the American Meat Institute's annual Hot Dog Lunch in the Rayburn Office Building courtyard on July 19, 2017. And Their Veggie Counterparts Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) visits the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals veggie dog giveaway on July 19, 2017, countering a National Hot Dog Day event being held elsewhere on Capitol Hill. Poised For Questions Callista Gingrich, wife of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, waits for a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on her nomination to be the U.S. ambassador to the Vatican on July 18, 2017. Speaking Up Health care activists protest to stop the Republican health care bill at Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on July 17, 2017. In The Fray Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) speaks to members of the media after announcing the revised version of the Senate Republican health care bill on Capitol Hill on July 13, 2017. Anticipation Christopher Wray is seated with his daughter Caroline, left, as he prepares to testify at a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on his nomination to be the next FBI director on July 12, 2017. Up In Arms Health care activists protest to stop the Republican health care bill at Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on July 10, 2017. Across A Table Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) meets with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Capitol Hill on June 29, 2017. Somber Day House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) speaks about the recent attack on the Republican congressional baseball team during her weekly press conference on Capitol Hill on June 15, 2017. Family Matters Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), right, and his sons, Jack, 10, and Brad, arrive in the basement of the Capitol after a shooting at the Republican baseball practice in Alexandria, Virginia, on June 14, 2017. A Bipartisan Pause Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), right, coach of the Republican congressional baseball team, tells the story of the shooting that occurred during a baseball practice while he stands alongside Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.), left, a coach of the Democratic congressional baseball team on June 14, 2017. Hats On Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) reacts about the shooting he was present for at a Republican congressional baseball practice in Alexandria, Virginia, as he speaks with reporters at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on June 14, 2017. Public Testimony U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is sworn in to testify before a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on June 13, 2017. Comey's Big Day Former FBI Director James Comey testifies before a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election on Capitol Hill on June 8, 2017. Conveying His Point U.S. Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats testifies at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on his interactions with the Trump White House and on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act on June 7, 2017. Selfie Time Vice President Mike Pence takes a selfie with a tourist wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat inside the U.S. Capitol rotunda on June 6, 2017. The vice president walked through the rotunda after attending the Senate Republican policy luncheon. Budget Queries Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney testifies before the House Budget Committee about President Donald Trump's fiscal 2018 budget proposal on Capitol Hill on May 24, 2017. Flagged Down By Reporters Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, leaves a closed committee meeting on Capitol Hill on May 24, 2017. The committee is investigating possible Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election. Shock And Awe House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) hold a news conference on the release of the president's fiscal 2018 budget proposal on Capitol Hill on May 23, 2017. Seeing Double Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) arrives in the Capitol for the Senate Democrats' policy lunch on May 16, 2017. Honoring Officers President Donald Trump speaks at the National Peace Officers Memorial Service on the West Lawn of the Capitol on May 15, 2017. Whispers Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.), right, and ranking member Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) talk during a hearing with the heads of the U.S. intelligence agencies in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on May 11, 2017. Skeptical Former acting Attorney General Sally Yates arrives to testify before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election on Capitol Hill on May 8, 2017. Differing Opinions Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) gives a thumbs-up to protesters on the East Front of the Capitol after the House passed the Republicans' bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act on May 4, 2017. The protesters support the ACA. Real Talk United States Naval Academy Midshipman 2nd Class Shiela Craine (left), a sexual assault survivor, testifies before the House Armed Services Committee's Subcommittee on Military Personnel with (2nd from left to right) Ariana Bullard, Stephanie Gross and Annie Kendzior in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill on May 2, 2017. Kendzior, a former midshipman, and Gross, a former cadet, were both raped twice during their time at the military academies. The academy superintendents were called to testify following the release of a survey last month by the Pentagon that said 12.2 percent of academy women and 1.7 percent of academy men reported experiencing unwanted sexual contact during the 2015-16 academic year. In Support Of Immigrants Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-N.M.), center, is joined by dozens of Democratic members of the House of Representatives to mark "Immigrant Rights Day" in the Capitol Visitor Center on May 1, 2017 in Washington, D.C. The Democratic legislators called on Republicans and President Donald Trump to join their push for comprehensive immigration reform. Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. By Chris Kenning (Reuters) - A San Francisco jury on Tuesday was deliberating the fate of a Mexican man accused of murdering a woman while illegally in the United States in a case that President Donald Trump has cited in urging tighter borders and a crackdown on "sanctuary cities." Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, also known as Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, said he shot Kate Steinle by accident on a pier in San Francisco on July 1, 2015. He pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder. If convicted, he faces between 15 years and life in prison. The case, sent to the jury on Tuesday afternoon, became a rallying cry for Trump in his push to halt illegal immigration and penalize so-called sanctuary cities, including San Francisco. Such cities often do not use municipal funds or resources to enforce federal immigration laws. Sanctuary supporters say enlisting police in deportation actions undermines community trust in local law enforcement, particularly among Latinos. Garcia Zarate, 45, had been deported to Mexico five times since first entering the United States as a juvenile. Before the shooting, he was released from an area jail despite a request by immigration authorities he be detained for deportation, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Families for the defendant and the victim were in the courtroom on Monday as prosecutors said in their closing arguments that Garcia Zarate intentionally fired a stolen a gun at Steinle, local media reported. "Kate Steinle was wiped from the face of the Earth in her father's arms because of this man," Assistant District Attorney Diana Garcia said. Defense attorneys said Garcia Zarate found the gun and it accidentally discharged, the bullet ricocheting off the ground before striking the victim. A judge ruled last week the jury could also consider a first-degree murder charge. In June, the U.S. House of Representatives passed "Kate's Law," named for Steinle, that would increase penalties for illegal immigrants who return to the United States. The bill has not passed the U.S. Senate. Story continues Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions have threatened to cut off certain federal law enforcement grants to sanctuary cities, arguing the policies endanger public safety and pointing to cases such as that of Garcia Zarate. On Monday, a federal judge in California blocked Trump's' order, saying denying those funds was unconstitutional. The government is appealing. (Reporting by Chris Kenning in Louisville, Ky.; Editing by Peter Cooney) Belgrade (AFP) - Former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic's life sentence Wednesday was the last of more than 80 major convictions by a UN court trying crimes committed in the wars that followed the break-up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Here are 10 top figures accused of atrocities during the wars -- some of them convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), and some not. - Milosevic, Serbian president: charged - Slobodan Milosevic was accused of fuelling ethnic conflict and mass murder as he supported the Serb cause in the Croatian, Bosnian and Kosovo conflicts. He died in his cell in 2006 aged 64 while awaiting a verdict on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. - Karadzic, Bosnian Serb leader: 40 years - Radovan Karadzic, 72, was sentenced to 40 years in jail for genocide over the 1995 Srebrenica massacre and nine other charges including extermination, deportations and hostage-taking. He evaded capture for 13 years until he was arrested in 2008 on a Belgrade bus, masquerading behind a bushy beard as a New Age healer. - Mladic, Bosnian Serb commander: life - The army chief dubbed the "butcher of Bosnia", 74, was found guilty on 10 counts including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity during the 1992-1995 war. Caught after 16 years on the run, Mladic was found guilty of the 1995 massacre in northeastern Srebrenica, where troops under his command slaughtered almost 8,000 Muslim men and boys. - Seselj, radical Serb: acquitted - A Milosevic ally, Serbian Radical Party leader Vojislav Seselj, 63, was accused of being behind the murder of Croats, Muslims and other non-Serbs, and the forced deportation of "tens of thousands". The ICTY acquitted him on all charges, saying he did not have "hierarchial" responsibility for his forces after they came under Serbian army control. Prosecutors appealed. Seselj is now a member of parliament. Story continues - Izetbegovic, Bosnian president: no charges - Alija Izetbegovic was a Muslim who led Bosnia to independence. That move was followed by the bloody 1992-1995 war between Muslims, Serbs and Croats. After his death in 2003, the ICTY said it had been investigating Serb allegations that he committed war crimes, but no charges were ever brought. - Tudjman, Croatian president: no charges - Franjo Tudjman took Croatia out of the Yugoslav federation as its first president. The subsequent independence war left about 20,000 people dead. After Tudjman died in 1999, aged 77, the ICTY said he would have been indicted for war crimes had he lived. - Plavsic, Bosnian Serb president: guilty - The vice president of the Serbs' self-declared Republika Srpska during the Bosnian war, Biljana Plavsic, 87, pleaded guilty to crimes against humanity for persecution of Croats and Muslims. She was sentenced to 11 years in jail in 2003 and granted release in 2009. She was the only woman to be convicted by the ICTY. - Gotovina, Croatian general: acquitted - An army general considered a war hero by many Croats, Ante Gotovina, now 62, was sentenced to 24 years in jail for crimes against humanity and war crimes. He was acquitted on appeal in 2012. - Krajisnik, Bosnian Serb leader: guilty - Momcilo Krajisnik, 72, a wartime Bosnian Serb leader, served two-thirds of a 20-year sentence for crimes against humanity. He was released in August 2013 -- to a hero's welcome at home. - Thaci, Kosovo president: could face court - Kosovo's President Hashim Thaci, 49, was the political leader of the guerrilla Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) that fought for independence from Serbia. A 2010 Council of Europe report alleged he led a gang involved in assassinations, unlawful detentions and trafficking captives' organs. He denies the charges. He was not investigated by the ICTY but could face a special court in The Hague for alleged KLA crimes. Vilnius (AFP) - Pope Francis will pay his first visit to the Baltic states next year, when Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania mark 100 years since they gained independence from Russia, the region's three presidents said Wednesday. "In principle, we have the decision, we've heard it, officially it will be announced in December," Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite told reporters in the country's capital Vilnius. "The occasion is beautiful because the Baltic states will celebrate the centenary," she said, adding that the visit will take place in the autumn. "It will be a huge gift for Lithuania, and, I hope, also our neighbours," Grybauskaite added. She was echoed by representatives of Latvian President Raimonds Vejonis and his Estonian counterpart Kersti Kaljulaid, according to the BNS Baltic News Service (BNS). A spokesman for Kaljulaid told BNS on Wednesday that "the (papal) visit to the Baltic states should take place on September 16-18". But a spokesman for the Vatican, Greg Burke, told AFP that for the moment "the trip is still in the planning phase". In February, heavily Catholic Lithuania will mark a century since it declared independence from Russia in 1918, after spending more than a century under its thumb. Majority Lutheran Latvia and largely secular Estonia also declared independence later that year. The trio remained independent until World War II, when the Soviet Union annexed them under a deal with Nazi Germany. They broke free from the crumbling Soviet Union in 1990-1991, before joining the EU and NATO in 2004. The late Polish-born Pope John Paul II visited all three Baltic states in 1993. Harare (AFP) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, 93, who resigned on Tuesday, has a long history of making colourful or controversial remarks during a reign that has spanned nearly four decades. Among them: - On staying in office - "Some are saying 'Mr Mugabe is old, so he should step down'... No! When my time comes, I will tell you." 2014. "Only God who appointed me will remove me -- not the MDC (opposition), not the British." 2008 - On coming to power - Mugabe's speech when Zimbabwe won independence was more conciliatory. "It could never be a correct justification that because the whites oppressed us yesterday when they had power, the blacks must oppress them today." 1980 - On seizing farms - "You are now our enemies because you really have behaved as enemies of Zimbabwe. We are full of anger. Our entire community is angry and that is why we now have the war veterans seizing land." 2000 - On Britain, former colonial ruler - "The British were brought up as a violent people, liars, scoundrels and crooks... I am told that (former British prime minister Tony) Blair was a troublesome little boy at school." 2001 - On gay people - "Worse than pigs and dogs... Those who do it, we will say, they are wayward. It is just madness, insanity." 2010 - On gay marriage - "(President Barack) Obama came to Africa saying Africa must allow gay marriages... God destroyed the Earth because of these sins. Weddings are for a man and a woman." 2013 - On Nelson Mandela - "Mandela has gone a bit too far in doing good to the non-black communities, really in some cases at the expense of (blacks)... That's being too saintly, too good." 2013 - On Hitler - "I am still the Hitler of the time. This Hitler has only one objective, justice for his own people, sovereignty for his people, recognition of the independence of his people. "If that is Hitler, then let me be a Hitler tenfold." 2003 Story continues - On his affair - Before his first wife died in 1992, Mugabe started a relationship with Grace, whom he married in 1996. "I wanted children and this is how I thought I could get them. I knew what I was doing and my wife knew." 1998 - On colonialism - "African resources belong to Africa. Others may come to assist as our friends and allies, but no longer as colonisers or oppressors, no longer as racists." 2015 - On death - False reports of Mugabe dying were a feature of his old age. "I have died many times. That's where I have beaten Christ. Christ died once and resurrected once. I have died and resurrected and I don't know how many times I will die and resurrect." 2012 - On resigning - "My decision to resign is voluntary on my part. It arises from my concern for the welfare of the people of Zimbabwe and my desire to ensure a smooth, peaceful and non-violent transfer of power that underpins national security, peace and stability," he says in a resignation letter on November 21, 2017. bgs-burs/jmy/txw (WASHINGTON) The Trump administration imposed new sanctions Tuesday on a slew of North Korean shipping firms and Chinese trading companies in its latest push to isolate the rogue nation over its nuclear weapons development and deprive it of revenue. The Treasury Department also designated a North Korean corporation involved in exporting workers overseas. The action came a day after the United States returned North Korea to its list of state sponsors of terrorism. These designations include companies that have engaged in trade with North Korea cumulatively worth hundreds of millions of dollars, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. We are also sanctioning the shipping and transportation companies, and their vessels, that facilitate North Koreas trade and its deceptive maneuvers. Among the companies targeted were four Chinese-based companies and one Chinese individual said to have deep commercial ties with North Korea. The sanctions were imposed under a September executive order that opened the way for the U.S. to punish foreign companies dealing with the North. It bars those sanctioned from holding U.S. assets or doing business with Americans. The Dandong Kehua Economy & Trade Co. Ltd., Dandong Xianghe Trading Co. Ltd., and Dandong Hongda Trade Co. Ltd. are alleged to have exported about $650 million worth of goods to North Korea and imported more than $100 million from North Korea since 2013. The goods included notebook computers, anthracite coal, iron and other commodities and ferrous products. Also sanctioned were Chinese national Sun Sidong and his company, Dandong Dongyuan Industrial Co., said to have exported more than $28 million worth of goods to the North. The targeting of Chinese companies is a sore point with Beijing, whose help Trump is counting on to put an economic squeeze on Pyongyang. China recently sent its highest-level envoy to North Korea in two years to discuss the tense state of affairs on the Korean Peninsula. Story continues China firmly opposes unilateral sanctions out of the U.N. Security Council framework, the Chinese Embassy in Washington said Tuesday, especially the imposition of the so-called long-arm jurisdiction by other countries in accordance with their domestic laws. As part of its effort to stymie North Korean transportation networks, the Treasury Department sanctioned North Koreas Maritime Administration and its transport ministry, six North Korean shipping and trading companies and 20 of their vessels, which are all North Korean-flagged. It accused North Korea of deceptive shipping practices, including ship-to-ship transfers, which is prohibited under U.N. sanctions that have been imposed in response to Pyongyangs rapid tempo of nuclear and ballistic missile tests. The Treasury statement included aerial photos of what it said was Korea Kumbyol Trading Companys vessel Rye Song Gang 1 possibly transferring oil to evade sanctions that have restricted fuel exports to the North. Also sanctioned was the Korea South-South Cooperation Corporation, said to have exported North Korean workers to China, Russia, Cambodia and Poland to generate revenue for the government. When President Donald Trump announced the terror designation of North Korea on Monday, he promised to intensify the maximum pressure campaign against Pyongyang with the highest level of sanctions yet part of a rolling effort to compel it to negotiate over its nuclear program, which poses an emerged threat to the U.S. mainland. An editorial Tuesday in North Koreas ruling party newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, called Trump a heinous criminal who had insulted the dignity of the countrys supreme leadership and its socialist system during his recent visit to South Korea. The editorial, carried by the state-run news agency, threatened merciless punishment. It did not mention the terror designation or the threat of new sanctions. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson acknowledged Monday a two-month pause in the Norths nuclear and missile tests and said there was still hope for diplomacy. With tougher sanctions in the offing, he warned North Korean leader Kim Jong Un: This is only going to get worse until youre ready to come and talk. The terror designation, however, is likely to exacerbate sour relations between Washington and Pyongyang that have turned uglier with name-calling between Trump and Kim. North Korea shows no interest in talks aimed at getting it to give up its nukes. North Korea has joined Iran, Sudan and Syria on Americas terror blacklist, a position it has occupied on and off the terror list over the years. It was designated for two decades because of its involvement in international terror attacks in the 1980s, then taken off in 2008 to smooth the way for nuclear talks that soon failed. On Nov. 19, 1977, I stood on wooden risers at Ben Gurion Airport waiting to see if the circling plane carrying Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was really going to land. Israelis were in a state of shock and disbelief that the head of the largest Arab country had made a historic decision to visit Jerusalem. He was the first Arab leader to do so since the establishment of the Jewish state. Next to me, an Israeli foreign ministry staffer was sobbing. Another asked me if I thought the Egyptian plane might actually be carrying a bomb that would explode on landing, killing the entire Israeli political leadership assembled several rows below us. Instead, Sadat disembarked, advanced toward the Israelis, shook hands, and wrapped his arms around the bulky ex-Prime Minister Golda Meir. Forty years later, as the Mideast implodes, that moment still stands as a turning point for the region. In my office, I keep a framed copy of a poster that was tacked on every Jerusalem building, wall and light post, displaying Israeli and Egyptian flags topped by the world Peace in English, Arabic and Hebrew. The Egyptian leader hoped peace would extend to the entire region. His dream didnt come true. But Sadats trip opened the door to a broader peace, under the right conditions: If Arab and Israeli leaders emerge who have the guts and foresight he did. That holds true for the future, even if the current landscape looks very bleak. What was so striking about Sadat was that he had a clear vision and was pragmatic about how to get there. Israels hawkish prime minister, Menachem Begin, also had the courage and pragmatism to agree to return the Sinai to Egypt, the prerequisite to cementing a peace. (The only Mideast leaders to display such pragmatism since were Jordans King Hussein, along with Israeli premiers Yitzhak Rabin, Ehud Olmert, and to a lesser extent, Ehud Barak. Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat did so briefly, but then reverted to the pursuit of illusions.) Sadat recognized that, after heavy military and economic losses in 1967 and 1973, most of the Egyptian public had lost interest in fighting on behalf of the Palestinians. He believed his army had regained its honor by crossing the Suez Canal in 1973, which ultimately led to his decision that the time was ripe for a dramatic overture to the Israelis. The Egyptian leader hoped his stunning move would persuade Begin to return all lands captured in 1967 from the Arabs, including Gaza and the West Bank. Begin nixed that idea even before Sadat had concluded his emotional visit to Jerusalem. Yet that trip created openings, some seized, some not, that deeply affect the stability of the region until today. On the side of missed chances, I list the opportunity that Sadats visit did present to the Palestinians. His trip ultimately led to the 1978 Camp David Accords, brokered by President Jimmy Carter, that provided a road map for Palestinian autonomy on the West Bank and Gaza, at a time when there were hardly any Israeli settlements. The accords called for an elected self-governing authority and negotiations over final status of those territories. Some West Bank Palestinians believed that elected authority could garner international recognition and pressure on Israel to contemplate the establishment of a Palestinian state. But the Palestinian Liberation Organization the outside leadership that spoke for the diaspora was opposed to going this route because it didnt include them. A possible chance to move toward two states side by side was missed at a time when the region was far more stable. Yet the opportunity seized Begins recognition that a signed peace with Egypt was more important than Sinai has provided Israel with 40 years of stability, by removing the military threat on its southern border. That peace has lasted through Sadats assassination, the removal of President Hosni Mubarak, the election of a Muslim Brotherhood government, and an effective return to military rule under current President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Even though the peace is cold, and Egyptian civilians almost never visit Israel, the military and intelligence cooperation between the two countries is close. Some see parallels to Sadat with the emergence of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), who shares Israels strategic enmity toward Iran; there are all sorts of rumored contacts between the two countries as well as sharing of military intelligence. The Trump administration hopes MBS might godfather an Arab-Palestinian-Israeli peace. Yet the youthful MBS lacks Sadats seasoning and experience, and is operating in a far more fragmented region. Although he takes big chances, hes unlikely to make dramatic public moves toward Israel. Nor is Israels leadership open to the compromises on the Palestinian issue that the Saudis would require. Still, as the 40th anniversary of Sadats visit reminds us, one should never rule out the unexpected. But best to remember the unexpected may produce something better, or something worse. WASHINGTON Two weeks after signing executive orders to push forward the controversial Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, President Donald Trump told a group of county sheriffs gathered for a White House roundtable that he didnt think the projects were controversial. You know, usually, if I do something its like bedlam, right? Trump said at the February event. I havent had one call from anybody. His comments ignored months of public protest from Native Americans and environmentalists at the Standing Rock Sioux reservation and in Washington. Its also a strong contrast to Trumps more recent handling of an administrative decision to allow trophy hunting of African elephants. Less than 15 minutes after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Friday issued its official decision that it was reversing an Obama-era ban on importing elephants killed for sport in two African countries, Trump announced on Twitter that he was suspending the decision. Trump called trophy hunting a horror show and said hes unlikely to allow for such imports. African elephants have been listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act since 1978. A provision of the law, however, allows for sport-hunted trophies to be imported if the government determines that hunting will help safeguard the population. FWS also quietly rolled back protections for African lions last month, releasing new guidelines that allow big game hunters to bring back to the U.S. animal trophies from hunts in parts of Africa. Big-game trophy decision will be announced next week but will be very hard pressed to change my mind that this horror show in any way helps conservation of Elephants or any other animal. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 19, 2017 The presidents move was highly unexpected for a number of reasons not the least of which is that, in the face of fierce public backlash, Trump chose to side with the conservation community over gun rights and hunting advocacy groups. The National Rifle Association, Safari Club International and his own federal wildlife agency had claimed that lifting the ban would, counterintuitively, help safeguard the elephant population. Story continues Animal rights advocates, environmentalists, celebrities and lawmakers celebrated Trumps intervention, while employees of the agency under the leadership of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, an avid hunter were reportedly sent scrambling. But everyone seems to be scratching their heads about what exactly happened, and what Trumps seeming reversal actually means. Tanya Sanerib, a senior attorney with the conservation group Center for Biological Diversity, told HuffPost theyre trying to figure out the legal implications, and why Trump felt compelled to act on this particular issue. The administration did take quite a bit of heat for lifting the ban, including from conservative TV anchors and lawmakers. Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called on Trump to abandon the decision, saying elephants and other big game in Africa are blood currency for terrorist organizations. Lara Trump, the wife of Trumps son Eric and an animal welfare advocate, visited the White House on Friday, although it was unclear if she discussed the elephant issue with Trump, The Washington Post reported. Is it the public outcry? Is it that we have all these Republicans who are disagreeing with this decision? Sanerib wondered. Is it Lara Trump? Is it other factors? Who knows. Trump is not typically one to succumb to public pressure. Beyond unpopular pipeline decisions, hes also aggressively defended controversial moves to roll back Obama-era climate policies and pull the U.S. out of the historic Paris Agreement on climate change, despite widespread condemnation from the public and American businesses. For Michael Mann, a climate scientist at Pennsylvania State University, the takeaway from Trumps halting of the elephant decision is this: Trumps actions appear to suggest the existence of a small island of decency in a sea of sociopathy. Citing White House aides, The New York Times reported Monday that Trumps intervention was fueled by a simple fact: He likes elephants. He reportedly learned of the change via news reports, and had not been involved in the decision. Trumps sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, are avid big game hunters. In a now-famous photo that surfaced in 2012, Trump Jr. can be seen holding the tail of an elephant he shot and killed in Africa. But years before he became president, Trump voiced disapproval of his sons passion: @cher Old story, one of which I publicly disapproved. My sons love hunting, I dont. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2012 With its double about-face, the Trump administration has opened the door for a potential slew of legal challenges, including from groups with which it is typically aligned, as E&E News reported Monday. It is also the latest example of dysfunction from an administration thats been all but plagued by it. There are clear indications here that the left hand doesnt know what the right hand is doing, Sanerib told HuffPost. The Center for Biological Diversity and the Natural Resources Defense Council filed a lawsuit Monday against the administration in an effort to keep in place the Obama-era bans on importing elephants and lions. The governments actions are arbitrary and capricious, and it has failed to rationally explain its 180 degree turn from determining that Zimbabwe is incapable of managing elephant hunting sustainably, to proclaiming open season on elephants and lions in Zimbabwe, the conservation groups wrote in their complaint. Sanerib said the lawsuit also seeks to clear up confusion about where things currently stand. So far, she said, nothing suggests the new trophy policies on importing sport-hunted trophies have indeed been reversed. As of Tuesday morning, a page on FWSs website still listed the import of lion trophies from Zimbabwe and Zambia as approved, and provided guidelines for how hunters can apply to obtain permits. The FWS has, however, removed its official announcement regarding elephant trophy imports from those same countries. Reached for comment on the change, a FWS spokesperson referred HuffPost to its parent agency, the Interior Department. Interior did not respond to questions about the response it has received since last week or the impact Trumps verbal hold has had on the policy changes. The White House also managed to escape having to discuss the issue during Mondays press conference, as not a single reporter asked about Trumps action. Elly Pepper, deputy director of NRDCs wildlife trade initiative, said that while Trumps apparent backpedaling of the FWS decision is promising and has shined a light on the widespread support for protecting elephants, a temporary suspension is not enough. The lawsuit, she said, is about holding him accountable and ensuring that he isnt simply trying to escape public criticism, only to quietly start issuing permits once the dust settles. We cant rely on tweets when the fate of species is at stake, she said. Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. (WASHINGTON) President Donald Trump and Russias Vladimir Putin discussed efforts to bring peace to war-torn Syria during an hour-plus phone call on Tuesday. Iran, North Korea and Ukraine also were on the agenda, the White House said. Trump called it a great call Tuesday afternoon as he left the White House to spend Thanksgiving in Florida. Noting the length, he said he and Putin spoke very strongly about bringing peace to Syria and very strongly about North Korea. Trumps phone call with the Russian president came a day after Putin met with Syrian President Bashar Assad. Putin hosted Assad at a Black Sea resort ahead of a summit later this week with Russia, Turkey and Iran. Assad was called to Russia to get him to agree to potential peace initiatives drafted by the other three countries, the Kremlin said. The Kremlin said Putin briefed Trump in the phone call about his talks with Assad and plans for a political settlement in Syria. Putin also called for coordination of anti-terror efforts with the U.S., the Kremlin said, adding that Afghanistan was also discussed. Trump and Putin spoke informally several times earlier this month when they attended a summit in Vietnam. They agreed on a number of principles for the future of Syria. Berlin (AFP) - Pressure mounted Wednesday on Germany's Social Democrat leader Martin Schulz to reconsider an alliance with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and stop Europe's biggest economy from sinking into months of paralysis. Schulz has repeatedly said the SPD would not return as the junior coalition partner in a government led by Merkel, after suffering a stinging defeat in September's general election. But after Merkel's bid at forging a coalition with other parties fell apart, plunging Germany into a political crisis, voices within and outside the SPD have grown louder in questioning Schulz's decision and push for another election. President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who holds the power to call snap polls and who is himself a senior Social Democrat, has said that this "is the moment when all participants need to reconsider their attitude". Steinmeier will meet Schulz on Thursday. The president has already held talks with the leaders of parties in the failed coalition talks -- the pro-business FDP -- which halted the negotiations, the ecologist Greens and Merkel's Bavarian allies the CSU. As the crisis shows no signs of abating, the Sueddeutsche daily reported that "in the SPD, unease is growing over its clear refusal of a grand coalition". "One must speak with the president openly, without already insisting on your own point of view," Johannes Kahrs, who leads the right-leaning wing of the SPD, told Bild daily. EU Budget Commissioner Guenther Oettinger also urged the SPD to reexamine its stance. "With a view on Germany's ability to take action in Europe, the SPD should once again consider if it should not join a government," Oettinger, a CSU politician, told Spiegel weekly. Schulz himself told national news agency DPA on Wednesday that he is "certain, that we will find a good solution for our country in the coming days and weeks". He added that his party "is well aware of its responsibility in the current difficult situation." Story continues - 'Too many mistakes' - Schulz's comments came as Bild reported that "resistance is growing" against him. The "most prominent secret advocate for a new grand coalition is deputy chancellor Sigmar Gabriel", added Germany's top-selling daily. Schulz has declared that he was ready for a snap poll, but latest surveys show that an early election would likely deliver similar results to September's -- and the risk of potentially getting a worse score than the record low 20.5 percent is something that SPD members fear. "While a majority of rank and file members is fundamentally opposed to another stint in government, parts of the party's establishment feel that throwing a life-line to Merkel could well be preferable to unpredictable alternatives," said Michael Broening, political analyst at the SPD-linked Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. "At the very least it would enable the Social Democrats to push for a whole list of social democratic demands and basically dictate the terms of what is widely expected to be Merkel's last government," he added. With former finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble out of the way, the SPD could even make a play for the powerful ministry at a time when the public treasury is bulging with 45 billion euros, German media suggested. Seemingly backpedalling from Schulz's snap poll call, SPD parliamentary group chief Andrea Nahles said Monday she would not rule out backing a Merkel-led minority government. The party's rank and file are also wondering if former European Parliament chief Schulz is the best man to lead them into any new election campaign, according to media reports two weeks before the SPD's annual congress. "Too many mistakes during the election, missteps with new appointments and -- worst of all -- a misjudgement of the public's current mood," Bild said. Federal prosecutors will not seek the death penalty in their case against a Utah man accused of pushing his wife to her death off an Alaska cruise ship. Kenneth Manzanares has been charged with murder in the death of his wife, Kristy Manzanares, in July and has pleaded not guilty. Watch: 8-Year-Old Girl Dies After Falling From Cruise Ship Kristy, 39, was killed in her cabin aboard The Emerald Princess in what the FBI, which investigated the incident because it occurred in U.S. waters, described as a domestic dispute. Kenneth Manzanares was arrested after authorities say they discovered his wife had "a severe head wound and blood was spread throughout the room" according to an FBI criminal complaint. Investigators say Kenneth told a witness, "She would not stop laughing at me. My life is over." Kenneth reportedly tried to jump overboard but was restrained by members of the ship's crew. Watch: Husband of Woman Murdered on Cruise Ship Weeps in Court as He's Charged With Murder The Utah couple was celebrating 18 years of marriage and their three teen daughters were with them on the vessel. The U.S. attorney's office announced its decision to not pursue the death penalty in a court filing dated Friday. Related Articles: Crowds gathered to get a glimpse of an American crocodile that wandered onto Hollywood Beach in Hollywood, Fla., on Monday, Nov. 20. While American crocodiles are native to Florida, it is unusual for one to appear in a heavily populated area. Members of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission were able to safely secure the crocodile after several hours and are currently evaluating it for release into a more suitable habitat. Lugansk (Ukraine) (AFP) - Hundreds of armed men in military fatigues on Tuesday blocked access to government buildings in eastern Ukraine's rebel-held Lugansk as infighting spiked between rebel factions. The patrols began after an apparent standoff between the rebel region's self-proclaimed leader Igor Plotnitsky and the interior minister, who's been accused of seeking to destabilise the war-scarred city. Men wearing white ribbons on their arms blocked access to several administrative buildings in the city, including those housing the government and parliament, and defied the self-proclaimed leadership's calls to disperse, an AFP journalist reported from the scene. "The cordon will remain in place until the morning for sure," an armed man said, adding military drills were under way in Lugansk. Several buses with armed men and an armoured personnel vehicle were seen nearby. According to video footage broadcast by a local TV channel earlier on Tuesday, one of the men said that "planned joint exercises" had been ordered by the interior ministry. The patrols started after Plotnitsky, leader of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic, sacked the rebel region's interior minister on Monday. In a statement released Tuesday, Plotnitsky accused "the illegitimate leadership of the interior ministry" of seeking to destabilise the situation and called on Lugansk residents to remain calm. "Right now the leadership of the Lugansk People's Republic is doing everything in its power to secure the safety of residents," he said. "I can confidently say that attempts of certain people to remain in power at the cost of destabilising the situation in the country are futile and will soon be completely neutralised." The sacked minister, Igor Kornet, for his part refused to step down, while employees of the interior ministry released an open letter saying they would like to continue working under his command. The rebel region has been blighted by leadership squabbles and several senior rebels have been assassinated. A conflict between Russia-backed fighters and Ukrainian troops has killed more than 10,000 people since 2014, when pro-Russian forces declared parts of eastern Ukraine independent following Moscow's annexation of Crimea. US President Donald Trump has appeared to back Roy Moore despite sex misconduct allegations: Reuters Donald Trump appears to have backed Roy Moore just days after his daughter Ivanka said there was a special place in hell for the senate candidate if historic sex allegations against him are true. After weeks of uncharacteristic silence about the claims of sexual misconduct and predatory behaviour levelled against Mr Moore, the President has finally weighed in with what is being interpreted by many as an endorsement. I can tell you one thing for sure: we dont need a liberal person in there, a Democrat [Doug] Jones, Mr Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday, after being pressed on Mr Moore. [Mr Moore] denies it. Look, he denies it. I mean, if you look at what is really going on, and you look at all the things that have happened over the last 48 hours, he totally denies it. Its a far cry from the position being taken by the first daughter and presidential adviser Ivanka Trump, who is resolute in her disgust and disapproval of Mr Moore. Theres a special place in hell for people who prey on children, she told the Associated Press last week. Ive yet to see a valid explanation and I have no reason to doubt the victims accounts. Allegations against the Republican nominee for Alabamas open seat first surfaced earlier this month when four women told the Washington Post that he had pursued them when they were teenagers and he was in his thirties. One of them was just 14 at the time. Multiple other women between the ages of 16 and 22 have since come forward and accused him of unwanted sexual contact. Many of the allegations occurred in the late seventies when Mr Moore was an assistant district attorney in Alabama, while one allegation of groping a 28-year-old woman is said to have taken place in 1991. Mr Moore has ardently denied all allegations against him, saying he has not been guilty of sexual misconduct with anyone. According to Politico, Mr Trump has been very vocal behind the scenes about his scepticism towards the allegations and questions why they are coming to light just weeks before the election. Story continues But White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders reportedly declined to comment when asked whether Mr Trump has privately expressed scepticism towards the women accusing Mr Moore. White House aides even claim that the president draws parallels between Mr Moore and his own election campaign in 2016, when a long line of women accused Mr Trump of harassment. Mr Trumps public and private views represent a break from many heavyweights in his party. More than a dozen Senate Republicans have urged Mr Moore to drop out of the Senate race, while the Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee has threatened to expel him from the Senate if he wins. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell also turned up the heat on Mr Moore this week saying that he should step aside from the race and that he believed the women. All but one of the US senators who have previous backed Mr Moore have now withdrawn their endorsement, including Texan Republican Ted Cruz. I cant urge the people of Alabama to support a campaign in the face of these charges without serious persuasive demonstration that the charges are not true, he said. Further weight from the Presidents office was thrown behind Mr Moore when Mr Trump went on to further disparage the Democrat candidate for the seat. Ive looked at his record. Its terrible on crime. Its terrible on the border. Its terrible on the military, Mr Trump said of former US attorney Mr Jones. I can tell you for a fact, we do not need somebody thats going to be bad on crime, bad on borders, bad with the military, bad for the Second Amendment. It came after Mr Trump gave approval for presidential counsellor Kellyanne Conway to go after Mr Jones during an interview on Fox & Friends. Mr Moore has twice been elected and twice been removed from the Alabaman Supreme Court for failing to uphold the United States constitution. The first time was in 2003 after being elected to the position of Chief Justice. Mr Moore refused to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments commissioned by him from the Alabama Judicial Building despite orders from a federal court. He was re-elected to Chief Justice in 2013 but suspended in 2016 after directing judges to enforce the states ban on same-sex marriage, despite a ruling deeming the ban unconstitutional. He resigned from the role in April this year when he announced he would run for the Senate seat vacated by Jeff Sessions. Polling from Fox News revealed that Mr Jones is currently eight points ahead of Mr Moore in the race, with the election set to take place on 12 December. Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin shake hands at a summit in Vietnam on Nov. 10. (Photo: Sputnik Photo Agency/Reuters) WASHINGTON Russias tyrant works to help the Republican nominee win Americas presidential election. Members of the nominees campaign know of the effort and try to coordinate with it. The nominee wins the election and then, realizing the FBI is looking into the whole mess, fires the person running the investigation in hopes of putting an end to it. As implausible as that scenario sounds even as a Hollywood screenplay, thats where the nation stands as Donald Trump enters the final weeks of his first year in office: with a Justice Department special counsel running at full speed, two indictments and a guilty plea already under his belt. The fact pattern that continues to emerge is amazing, said Rick Wilson, a Republican consultant and among the first to question Trumps ties to Moscow during the GOP primary campaign. When I was a young cold warrior, back at the dawn of time, we had a healthy suspicion of Russia. The White House lawyer hired to coordinate its response to special counsel Robert Muellers work dismissed the very idea of collusion, saying that he expects the probe to finish within weeks. I think it could be wrapped up in the early part of the new year, Ty Cobb told HuffPost. Trump personally continues to deride the investigation as fake news and a waste of resources. In a series of tweets on Oct. 29, the president complained that Muellers probe is looking at phony Trump/Russia, collusion, which doesnt exist. The Dems are using this terrible (and bad for our country) Witch Hunt for evil politics. Facts that have emerged over the past year, however, suggest otherwise. On Jan. 6, 2017, the U.S. intelligence community released a declassified version of its analysis finding that Russian President Vladimir Putin had not only interfered in the 2016 election, but had actively tried to help Trump. Among the tools Russia used was the theft of emails from the campaign of Trumps opponent, Hillary Clinton, and their release through Russia-friendly WikiLeaks. Trump campaign foreign policy aide George Papadopoulos detailed in filings associated with his guilty plea agreement how Russians in April 2016 were offering the campaign emails damaging to Clinton. Emails between the presidents son, Donald Trump Jr., and a former business partner show that the younger Trump was eager to see the supposedly incriminating information in advance of a Trump Tower meeting. Trump Jr. later traded messages with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange about his fathers exploitation of emails stolen from Clinton campaign chair John Podesta. On Oct. 12, 2016, after Assange suggested that the GOP nominee help publicize the latest batch of stolen emails, Trump himself sent a tweet praising WikiLeaks just 15 minutes later. On May 9, 2017, after three months of complaining about the FBIs Russia probe, Trump fired the agencys director, James Comey. The reason initially stated was that Comey had mishandled an investigation into Clintons use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state. But the very next day, Trump reportedly told Russias foreign minister and its U.S. ambassador during an Oval Office visit that hed fired Comey to block the probe. Trump again cited the Russia investigation as a reason for firing Comey in an interview with NBC News on May 11. That firing led quickly to Muellers appointment to take over the investigation. Story continues Cobb still denied that the contacts between Trumps campaign and Russian officials constituted collusion and said that Comeys dismissal had been overblown. The press has made Comeys firing a cornerstone of this investigation, Cobb said. He had the absolute right to fire him, and when he did fire him, he did it for very appropriate reasons. But collusion per se is no longer the issue, according to Wilson. Theres no law against collusion, he said. But you know what? There are a whole bunch of other laws that cover conspiracy, money laundering, accepting campaign help of material value from a foreign power to win an election. Trumps denials about Russia began on July 27, 2016, at the same news conference where he invited Russia to hack Clintons computers to find the thousands of emails she had deleted from her private server. I mean I will tell you right now, zero, I have nothing to do with Russia, Trump said. In the months that followed, Trump continued to deny any contacts with Russia. After the Oct. 7, 2016, statement by the Department of Homeland Security that Russia was interfering with the election, he questioned that analysis. At the Oct. 19, 2016, presidential debate, when Clinton said that Putin preferred Trump because he would be Putins puppet, Trump argued that it was impossible to know who had done election-related hacking. Our country has no idea, he said at the debate, blaming instead at various times China, a 400-pound guy in his bed or someone from New Jersey. Trump for the first time acknowledged that the hacking was done by Russia at his Jan. 11, 2017, news conference five days after the intelligence communitys release but since then he has reverted to calling the Russia story a hoax and an attempt by Democrats to pin blame for their election loss elsewhere. More recently, Trump and White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders have taken to attacking the credibility of a report prepared by a former British Secret Service agent, Christopher Steele. That 35-page report, which has become known simply as the dossier, included a long list of contacts between Trumps campaign and Russian officials as well as claims that Russian intelligence obtained blackmail material against Trump by setting up an encounter with prostitutes at a Moscow hotel in 2013. The report was originally commissioned by a Republican donor; after Trump won the GOP nomination, Democrats took over paying for it. Both Trump and Sanders have argued that the Democratic financing makes the findings suspect. They even claim it proves that Democrats were the ones colluding with Russians because Steele was communicating with Russian sources. I think its very sad what theyve done with this fake dossier, Trump said on Oct. 25. But I think its a disgrace. Its just really its a very sad its a very sad commentary on politics in this country. But GOP consultant Rick Tyler, who worked for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) during the presidential primaries, said that as more details have emerged verified meetings between Trump campaign aides and Russian officials, for example the more accurate the dossier appears to be. The dossier seems more authenticated than phony, Tyler said. Interviewed in a new book about the Russia election interference, Steele himself said he believed that between 70 and 90 percent of the raw intelligence he reported is accurate. The new book also suggests that when Steele took his findings to an FBI agent in Rome, the investigation into the Trump campaign had already started, thanks to communications intercepted by British intelligence between Trump campaign aides and Russians. For Tyler, the issue is not whether Russian assistance ultimately swung the election to Trump who won the presidency thanks to a total margin of 80,000 votes across three key states. The Russians clearly had an influence. Did it make a difference in the race? I dont know how you get to that, he said. More important to Tyler is learning what information, if any, that Putin has on the president. Is he compromised? Every American has a right to know, Tyler said. Trump claimed in his January news conference that there was no compromising material from his 2013 visit to Moscow. He also said he had no business dealings with Russia. I have no dealings with Russia. I have no deals that could happen in Russia, because weve stayed away. And I have no loans with Russia, he said. But critics, both Republicans and Democrats, point to Trumps continued kid-glove treatment of Putin in stark contrast to the harsh words hes had for some traditional U.S. allies as a sign that he fears Putin for some reason. Trump expressed anger that Congress had passed a bill imposing new sanctions on Russia for its interference in the election and repeatedly states that he wants good relations with Putin. During his recent visit to Asia, the president met with Putin and claimed he again pressed the Russian leader on the election meddling. He said he didnt meddle. He said he didnt meddle. I asked him again. You can only ask so many times. But I just asked him again, and he said he absolutely did not meddle in our election. He did not do what theyre saying he did, Trump told reporters on Air Force One. And I believe I really believe that when he tells me that, he means it. But he says, I didnt do that. I think hes very insulted by it, if you want to know the truth. (The Russians, for their part, denied that the elections topic even came up in the meeting.) Democrats, meanwhile, hope to use the Russia investigation to remind voters heading into next years congressional elections that most Republicans continue to support Trump. The Democratic opposition research group American Bridge even created a website with a Russian URL to drive home that message. Trump wont be on the ballot next year, said Harrell Kirstein, a former Clinton campaign spokesman and now American Bridges Trump War Room communications director. But Republicans in Congress the same people who were fully aware of the Russian cyberattack against the United States last year but have still done nothing to stand up for the American people will be. Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. NICE, France (Reuters) - Billionaire Russian businessman Suleiman Kerimov was put under formal investigation on Wednesday in Nice in southern France on suspicions of laundering tax fraud proceeds, Nice prosecutor Jean-Michel Pretre said. Under France's legal system, being formally placed under investigation often - but not always - leads to a person being sent to trial. French police arrested the 51-year-old businessman and lawmaker at Nice airport on Monday evening in connection with a tax evasion case. The prosecution requested that Kerimov be kept in custody and a decision by a judge was due in the night from Wednesday to Thursday. Earlier a French judicial source said investigators were focusing on the purchase of several luxury residences on the French Riviera via shell companies, something that could have enabled Kerimov to reduce taxes owed to the French state. (Reporting by Matthias Galante; Writing by Leigh Thomas; Editing by Chris Reese) November is Native American Heritage Month in the United States. This celebration doesnt seem to get much attention, but if you go looking for information, it is available. To begin with, theres a website, nativeamericanheritagemonth.gov. This site connects you to a wealth of useful articles, videos and images. I wanted to know more about how the month got its designation, so I clicked on About and then was directed to the Library of Congress website. There I learned that, Since 1995 Presidents Clinton, George W. Bush, Obama, and Trump have issued annual proclamations which designate November as National American Indian Heritage Month, or since 2009 as National Native American Heritage Month. Now I wanted to know why the name had changed, and seeing references to the National Museum of the American Indian, a Smithsonian Institution, I went to its website, nmai.si.edu. Under a list of frequently asked questions, I found the following: What is the correct terminology: American Indian, Indian, Native American, or Native? All of these terms are acceptable. The consensus, however, is that whenever possible, Native people prefer to be called by their specific tribal name. In the United States, Native American has been widely used but is falling out of favor with some groups, and the terms American Indian or indigenous American are preferred by many Native people. The reference to tribal names reminded me that Wisconsin Public Radio is running a series of programs about Wisconsins tribes every Monday in November at 8PM. The programs are also available at the website wpr.org search for tribal histories. Of special interest to our region is the program about the Ho-Chunk Nation: By the banks of the Lemonweir River in what for ages had been Ho-Chunk territory, Andy Thundercloud shares the oral tradition of his people. Thundercloud tells of a traveling people who migrated across the land to become many different tribes, of the importance of maintaining the traditional language, and of the wonderful way of life he has known. So, bringing the subject to the local level, what information does our museum have about American Indians? An exhibit room on the second floor is devoted to prehistory and to American Indian history. Here you can learn about people who lived in this region during the Paleo era (11,500-8000 B.C.), Archaic era (8000-500 B.C.), Woodland era (500 B.C.-1000 A.D.) and Mississippian/Oneota era (1000A.D.-1650A.D.), and you can see stone tools that were made in those eras. You can also pick up free brochures about the Ho-Chunk of the modern era, covering such subjects as art, education and commerce. The museums reference library contains several useful resources, including Indian Nations of Wisconsin, by Patty Loew, and Wisconsin Indians, by Nancy Oestreich Lurie. And of course we have a large file and many books about the Black Hawk War of 1832, which ended tragically on the banks of the Mississippi River in what is now Vernon County. A Black Hawk Trail brochure is available free at the museum and other locations, and on our website, vernoncountyhistory.org. DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Wednesday his country will lend support to the Syrian opposition to come out unified from talks in the Saudi capital Riyadh ahead of peace talks in Geneva. "We will provide help and support for them in all what they need," Jubeir told reporters in Riyadh after he attended the opening session of a Syrian opposition conference aimed at unify their ranks ahead of peace talks in Geneva. "We hope they can come out of the conference unified," he added. (Writing by Dahlia Nehme, editing by Sami Aboudi) Mar del Plata (Argentina) (AFP) - Argentina's navy confirmed Thursday that an unusual noise heard in the Atlantic near the last known position of a missing submarine appeared to be an explosion, dashing the last hopes of finding the vessel's 44 crew members alive. Relatives of the missing sailors reacted with grief and anger to the news after holding out hope since the sub was reported overdue at its Mar del Plata base on November 17, two days after the explosion. "An anomalous, singular, short, violent and non-nuclear event consistent with an explosion," occurred shortly after the submarine's last communication, navy spokesman Captain Enrique Balbi told a news conference in Buenos Aires. After days of false hopes, some of the relatives said the navy had withheld information about the sub and lied to them over the past week. "I feel cheated," said Itati Leguizamon, whose husband German Suarez was a sonar operator on the ARA San Juan. "They did not tell us they died. But they tell us they are three thousand meters (9,800 feet) deep," added Leguizamon as other family members shouted angrily around her. "They lied to us," said Leguizamon, a lawyer. A sobbing Jessica Gopar, whose husband was an electrician aboard the San Juan, said "they just told us that the submarine exploded." She spoke as she came out from the sub's base. "He was the love of my life, engaged seven years before we got married," Gopar said of her husband, Fernando Santilli. "And how can I tell my son that he no longer has a father?" Underwater sounds detected in the first days of the search by two Argentine search ships were determined to originate from a sea creature, not the vessel. Satellite signals were also determined to be false alarms. The San Juan, a 34-year-old German-built diesel-electric submarine, had reported a battery problem on November 15 and said it was diverting to Mar del Plata, but did not send a distress signal, according to the navy. Story continues Balbi admitted on Wednesday that the situation for the sub and its crew appeared to be worsening. However, he refused to speculate at that point on the origin of what he initially described as a "hydro-acoustic anomaly" detected in the ocean almost three hours after the sub's communication and 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of its last known position. Balbi explained that information about the unusual noise only became available Wednesday after being relayed by the United States and "after all the information from all agencies reporting such hydro-acoustic events was reviewed." Explaining the lack of debris on the surface, Balbi said "nothing will end up floating to the surface" because a submarine "implodes". Gustavo Mauvecin, director of the Center for Hyperbaric Medicine at Mar del Plata, said hydrogen "is always an issue with submarines with electric engines". The San Juan "has 500 tons of lead-acid batteries, which release hydrogen if there is an overcharge in the battery. Hydrogen in contact with oxygen is explosive". - An explosion 'so violent' - "In my opinion, after an explosion like that, it's difficult for there to be survivors," a former submarine commander told AFP. The newspaper La Nacion said one hypothesis is that there was a short circuit in the batteries. It said this would explain the sub's failure to communicate and the fact that it did not have time to send off a distress signal. The commander said a problem with batteries, as the sub had reported, could in fact cause a blast. "A severe problem with batteries might generate hydrogen. Hydrogen above a certain percentage is explosive," said the commander who requested anonymity. Horacio Tobias, former chief of diving for the San Juan, said it "was so violent that they would not have had time to realize what happened". The San Juan would have had enough oxygen for its crew to survive underwater in the South Atlantic for seven days since its last contact, according to officials. That time had elapsed by 0730 GMT Wednesday. Argentina is leading an air-and-sea search to try to still find the sub. It is getting help from several countries now including Brazil, Britain, Chile, Colombia, France, Germany, Peru, Russia, the United States and Uruguay. Russia was the latest navy to volunteer help, sending an oceanographic research ship as the operation shifted from rescue to recovery. The Russian defense ministry said the Yantar was steaming to the area from the western coast of Africa on the orders of President Vladimir Putin. The weeklong search has focused on the sub's last known position, around 200 miles off the Argentine coast, but has been hampered by bad weather. Putin offered "words of support over the situation with the San Juan submarine" in a phone call to Argentine President Mauricio Macri late Wednesday, the Kremlin said. Russia said the Yantar "is equipped with two deep water submersibles which allow exploratory searches at a depth of up to 6,000 meters." US President Donald Trump offered his support, tweeting: "May God be with them and the people of Argentina!" A traditional German Christmas market, similar to the one alleged to be the men's target - AP Six Syrian men were arrested in raids across Germany on Tuesday morning on suspicion of planning a terror attack on behalf of Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil). According to unconfirmed reports, the target of the planned attack was a traditional Christmas market which opens in the western city of Essen next week. The men all entered Germany as asylum seekers, and are believed to have known each other in Syria before travelling to Europe. Authorities were alerted to the suspects by other asylum seekers who recognised them as jihadists who had fought for Isil in Syria, Welt newspaper reported. Officials have yet to comment on the target of the planned attack. A statement by prosecutors said the men were planning an attack with weapons or explosives on a public target in Germany. The scene of carnage after a truck ploughed through the Christmas market at Breitscheidplatz in Berlin in December 2016 Credit: EPA The plot had not yet advanced beyond the planning stage, prosecutors said. The arrested men are aged between 20 and 28. Four of them entered Germany as asylum seekers in September 2014, before Angela Merkel opened the countrys borders in her controversial refugee policy, while the other two arrived in 2015. The arrests come 11 months after Anis Amri, a rejected Tunisian asylum-seeker, killed 12 people and injured more than 50 when he drove a stolen lorry into a packed Christmas market in Berlin. Germany recent terror attacks Cities across Germany have ordered new security measures for Christmas markets this year, including concrete bollards to prevent a repeat of the lorry attack. Details of the new plot were not clear on Tuesday morning, but it appears from prosecutors statements the arrested men were planning to use a different means of attack. The suspects were held in a series of coordinated raids in the cities of Essen, Kassel, Hannover and Leipzig. More than 500 police officers took part in the operation. By Abdi Sheikh MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somalia's government said on Wednesday it had requested a U.S. air strike that killed scores of suspected militants to help pave the way for an upcoming ground offensive against Islamist group al Shabaab. The U.S. military's Africa Command (Africom) said on Tuesday it had killed more than 100 of the al Qaeda-linked insurgents in the strike on a camp 125 miles (200 km) northwest of the capital Mogadishu. "Those militants were preparing explosives and attacks. Operations against al Shabaab have been stepped up," Somali Information Minister Abdirahman Omar Osman told Reuters. "We have asked the U.S. to help us from the air to make our readied ground offensive more successful." Al Shabaab spokesman Abdiasis Abu Musab denied the air strike had taken place. "It is just... propaganda," he told Reuters. The United States has ramped up operations in Somalia this year after President Donald Trump loosened the rules of engagement in March. Africom reported eight U.S. air strikes from May to August, compared to 13 for the whole of 2016. Including Tuesday's strike, it has reported five this month alone. The Pentagon said the U.S. military would continue to target militants in strikes in coordination with the Somali government. Al Shabaab has lost control of most of Somalia's cities and towns since African Union peacekeepers supporting Somali troops pushed the insurgency out of the capital Mogadishu in 2011. But it retains a strong presence in parts of the south and center. Somali president Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, a dual U.S.-Somali citizen, has taken a harder line than his predecessors against the insurgency since he was sworn in earlier this year. But his plans have been undermined by the poor state of the Somali military and political infighting. He has also had to try to mend fences with the powerful Habar Gidir clan, following a raid involving U.S. forces on the town of Bariire in August in which 10 people were killed including three children. (Additional reporting by Feisal Omar in Mogadishu; Writing by Maggie Fick; Editing by Katharine Houreld and John Stonestreet) By Maja Zuvela SREBRENICA, Bosnia (Reuters) - Bosnian Muslims who lost loved ones in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre said on Wednesday that no punishment was enough for Ratko Mladic, the ex-Bosnian Serb wartime commander jailed for life for genocide. Mladic, dubbed the "Butcher of Bosnia", was convicted by a U.N. tribunal on 10 counts of war crimes including the siege of Sarajevo in which over 10,000 civilians died from shelling and sniper attacks, and the expulsion of hundred of thousands of non-Serbs during the 1992-95 conflict. "Can there ever be adequate punishment for someone who committed so many crimes? It would be too many even for 300 years, let alone three days," said Vasva Smajlovic, 74, referring to the Srebrenica slaughter in July 1995. Her husband, son-in-law and other relatives were among the 8,000 Muslim men and boys taken away and shot dead execution-style after Mladic assured U.N. peacekeepers and local residents that no harm would befall them after his forces seized the town. "I try to count my dead all the time. I count to 50 and then I'm not able to count anymore," Smajlovic said tearfully while watching a live telecast of the Mladic verdict. "No words can describe how I feel. I am angry. All this comes too late." Her sister-in-law felt, however, justice was served with Mladic's conviction, even if it came 22 years after the war. "Nothing can compensate for our pain but it is important that justice is done," said Bida Smajlovic, who last saw her husband when he tried to flee Srebrenica through woods in July 1995. His remains were later found in a mass grave. On July 11, 1995, Mladic's ultra-nationalist forces separated men and boys from women and took them away in buses or on foot to be shot within days. It was Europe's worst single atrocity since World War Two. POSTERS OF MLADIC IN SREBRENICA Wednesday's verdict, the last major case before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) after 24 years of work, stirred tension in a region still scarred by the 1990s Balkans conflagration. Story continues Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, who frequently threatens the secession of the Serb region from Bosnia, said the tribunal's judgement of Mladic only proved its bias against the Serbs. But Bakir Izetbegovic, the Muslim Bosniak member of Bosnia's tripartite presidency, said: "No people, including Serbs, should call Mladic a hero, ..., glorify criminals and decorate war criminals." "I hope this verdict will bring about such kind of sobering in Bosnia." The opinions underscored the stillborn reconciliation process in the federal state, now divided into an autonomous Serb Republic and Muslim-Croat federation. Placards with a portrait of the once beefy and brash Mladic bearing a slogan "You Are Our Hero" plastered the sides of buildings in Srebrenica, now a largely ethnic Serb town, and nearby Bratunac on Wednesday. "The general will become a legend, and we shall continue to live as we have lived," said Milena Komlenovic, the Serb mayor of the eastern town of Kalinovik, where Mladic went to school. She added that the international court's decisions - over 60 of 83 defendants convicted have been Serbs - had aggravated rather than healed divisions in Bosnia. Politicians in neighbouring Serbia, whose 1990s nationalist president, Slobodan Milosevic, armed and funded Mladic's forces, appealed for calm and urged all to look to the future when a now democratic Belgrade hopes to join the European Union. Our hearts are also with the victims, the victims on all sides. I do honestly feel...for all victims, but let's look towards the future," Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said. Zdravka Gvozdjar, whose nine-year-old son Eldin was killed in the Bosnian Serb bombardment of besieged Sarajevo, said the verdict was no surprise and partially satisfactory. "He deserved a much worse punishment but I was so excited and satisfied that he was handed down a life sentence because it is the most he could get. There is no comfort for me or any other mother (but) we have learnt to live with the pain." (Additional reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic in Sarajevo and Denis Kapetanovic in Kalinovik; editing by Mark Heinrich/Jeremy Gaunt) By Ayat Basma and Imad Creidi BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon marks its independence on Wednesday with its sovereignty as compromised as ever by the agendas of foreign states that have shaped its history since the French mandate ended in 1943. The crisis ignited by Saad al-Hariri's sudden resignation as prime minister is unprecedented even by the standards of a country where loyalties have been split between countries such as Iran and Saudi Arabia regionally and the United States, France and Russia globally. Hariri is due back in Lebanon on Wednesday for the first time since his resignation in a televised broadcast from Riyadh. Many believe Saudi Arabia made him quit and held him in Riyadh because he was not serving its objectives. Riyadh denies this. He will take part in independence day celebrations in Beirut after an intervention by Lebanon's former colonial power France led to him leaving Saudi Arabia for Paris last week. "Can Lebanese people act the way they want? Are they free to take a decision and follow it? No they cannot. Because there are foreign powers who decide the way things go," said Antoine Mouawad, a 65-year old charity employee. "We do not feel independent," said George al-Basha, 58, an unemployed barber in Beirut's Achrafiyeh district. For some Lebanese, the latest chapter in their turbulent history carries echoes of its independence in 1943, when France arrested the president and prime minister. International pressure and popular protests eventually forced their release. The parallel with Hariri's situation was drawn by one of Lebanon's major TV stations at the start of the crisis. THEATER FOR RIVALRY Foreign states have often regarded tiny Lebanon as a theater for their rivalry, exploiting the fissures between Muslim and Christian sects who have also courted foreign intervention to help them in their struggles with each other. For years it was the tussle between Israel, which occupied southern Lebanon from 1982-2000, and Syria, which maintained a big military presence across much of the country from 1976-2005, that played out on Lebanese soil. The Palestine Liberation Organisation also controlled much of the country prior to 1982. Reflecting today's biggest Middle East rivalry, it is competition between Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite Iran that lies behind many accusations of foreign meddling. Critics of the heavily armed Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah view it as a tool of Iranian policy. Opponents of Hariri, who was thrust into politics by the 2005 assassination of his father, Rafik, have similarly labeled him as an instrument of Saudi policy. But the demand for his return has united Lebanese across the political spectrum. Politicians close to Hariri say Riyadh held him against his will and forced his resignation to bust a coalition government that suited Hezbollah. Posters of Hariri demanding his return to Lebanon, even in areas dominated by his biggest political opponents, reflect widely felt anger at the perceived foreign intervention. "The most important thing in a country like Lebanon is to understand that independence is a battle that does not stop," Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk, a member of Hariri's Future Movement, said on Tuesday as he laid a wreath on Rafik Hariri's grave. "CRUDE INTERVENTION" Saad al-Hariri has also denied being held by Saudi Arabia, and in his resignation speech instead blamed Iran and Hezbollah for Lebanon's present difficulties. Wednesday's independence parade will be held near the central Martyrs Square, where reconstruction from Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war continues. In the nearby seaport are moored naval vessels belonging to the U.N. peacekeeping force UNIFIL which was established after Israeli's first invasion in 1978, and expanded after the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah. "What we have seen in the last 10 days or two weeks, this is really crude intervention," said Sami Atallah of the Lebanese Centre for Policy Studies, a thinktank in Beirut. "When you have a prime minister who resigns in a capital not his own, it tells you that someone else is giving the orders." Syria's military presence in Lebanon was brought to an end in 2005 by a wave of popular protests and international pressure following the Hariri assassination. A U.N.-backed court has charged five Hezbollah members over the killing. The group denies any role. "Lebanon is tied either to Saudi Arabia or to Iran. It doesn't have the ability to take actions by itself and politicians are to blame for this," said Nohad Chelhot, a retired business owner. (Writing by Tom Perry and Angus McDowall, Editing by William Maclean) United Nations Command on Tuesday released dramatic footage of a North Korean soldier defecting from his country and fleeing south across the Demilitarized Zone last week only to be fired upon by his fellow border guards. Video captured by closed circuit television shows the moments the unnamed soldier, thought to be in his 20s, sped through the DMZ in a jeep past North Korean checkpoints as he was pursued by guards carrying weapons. The jeep later veered into a ditch before the soldier jumped out and ran across the border, where four of his comrades can be seen firing upon him. Crazy CCTV footage just broadcast of the defection of a North Korean soldier at the DMZ last week pic.twitter.com/YznANH1yt0 Martyn Williams (@martyn_williams) November 22, 2017 South Korean soldiers quickly moved to rescue the soldier and bring him to safety. The man was shot at least five times and is in critical condition at a South Korean hospital. Doctors said Wednesday he had regained consciousness after having two operations to remove bullets from his body, according to Reuters. He is fine, Lee Cook-Jong, the lead surgeon, said at a news conference. He is not going to die. The Washington Post notes one of the pursuing North Korean soldiers can be seen on camera crossing the Military Demarcation Line between the two Koreas, a violation of the armistice agreement signed at the end of the Korean War in 1953. U.N. Command also said the North violated the agreement by firing across the MDL. UNC personnel at the [Joint Security Area] notified [the Norths Korean Peoples Army] of these violations today through normal communications channel in Panmunjom and requested a meeting to discuss the investigation results and measures to prevent future such violations, U.N. Command told the Post in a statement. Such a defection at the heavily armed DMZ is rare, and a soldier has not done so at the Joint Security Area since 2007, according to The New York Times. Thousands of North Koreans have defected in the past decades, although most travel through China. Story continues The Associated Press last week reported that doctors had to remove dozens of parasites, including intestinal worms as long as 10 inches, from the soldier while he was in the hospital. Some have said the health of the man reflects the ongoing humanitarian crisis within North Korea, which often struggles to feed its own people. A North Korean soldier can be seen defecting into South Korea in this image taken from a video released by U.N. Command this week. (Photo: United Nations Command via Reuters) Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. Pastor Frank Pomeroy hugs a woman during a visit with family and victims of the shooting at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. (Photo: Jonathan Bachman/Reuters) Nearly three weeks after a gunman stormed into the Sutherland Springs Baptist Church in Texas and massacred 26 people in the worst mass shooting in the states history, the churchs pastor says he is struggling to deal with his grief and that his sadness is compounded by guilt over what he might have done to stop the shooting. Speaking to the New York Times in his first interview since the attack, Pastor Frank Pomeroy said he regularly carried a concealed weapon when he preached on Sunday mornings. But on Nov. 5, he was absent from the pulpit, attending a gun training class hundreds of miles away in Oklahoma City when he got a text message from the churchs videographer that read: Shooting at church. Pomeroy tells the Times he thought the text message was a joke at first, but the camera operator, who was shot, told him it wasnt. The pastor began frantically calling others in the church, trying to find out what had happened. But the phones just rang and rang. More than half of those inside the small community church were dead, including Pomeroys 14-year-old daughter, Annabelle, while another 20 were wounded. The weeks since have been a blur of funerals, hospital visits to the wounded and meetings with insurance companies, lawyers and others about the future of the church. Pomeroy tells the Times that, as a pastor, he has tried his best to offer comfort to his grieving congregation and that they, in turn, have tried to console him, but that he is struggling. I feel that I am not grieving as adequately as I should. I feel pretty weak right now, a bit shaky, Pomeroy said. It is hard to be strong for everyone else when I have my own heartache. But each day I am able to function a little better. A woman prays next to a fence outside the Sutherland Springs First Baptist Church last weekend. (Photo: Eric Gay/AP) But Pomeroy said he struggles with guilt wondering if he might have been able to stop the gunman, Devin Patrick Kelley, 26, had he been there that morning. None of the other church members had been armed that morning. In a way, I think that if I were there I could have done more, the pastor told the Times. But who is to say? Story continues Weeks later, police still have yet to offer a specific motive in the case. They have said Kelley was engaged in a domestic dispute with his mother-in-law, Michelle Shields, who regularly attended the church but was not there that morning. According to police, Shields, whose 22-year-old daughter Danielle had been married to Kelley since 2014, received threatening text messages from the gunman ahead of the attack though it remains unclear exactly when those texts were sent. According to Pomeroy, Shields missed church that morning because she was at home with her grandson. But her mother, Lula Woicinski White, was killed. The Shields family has offered no public comment on the attack silence that has been largely matched by the gunmans own immediate family, including his parents. Kelley and his wife lived in a converted barn behind his parents home on a sprawling wooded property in New Braunfels, about an hour north of Sutherland Springs, though the couple was reportedly estranged. Balloons are released at a graveside service last week for members of the Holcombe family who were killed in the Sutherland Springs Baptist Church shooting. (Photo: Eric Gay/AP) Pomeroy tells the Times he knew Kelley and that he had attended services at the church once or twice a year with his wife. He would sit in the back and often made snide remarks about the church, making clear to the pastor that he was a nonbeliever. I tried to talk to him a few times but he wouldnt listen or engage, Pomeroy told the Times. He acted entitled and spoke often in a harsh and ugly way. He seemed like an angry person who had never been taught to treat people the right way. Just days before the shooting, on Halloween, the gunman had attended the churchs annual fall festival, where the pastor recalled it seemed like he was glaring at everybody he walked by. But Pomeroy said even as cold as Kelley was to him and others in the church, he never anticipated him having the guts or courage to attack the church as he did. My opinion is that he was going to the church to find the mother-in-law and was planning to shoot everybody on that side of the family, Pomeroy said. I think he came there for them but intended to do something much bigger. Read more from Yahoo News: Michelle Srenco dressed as a dad for Doughnuts With Dad day at school. (Photo: Courtesy of Michelle Srenco) A single mom who didnt want her kids to feel left out on Doughnuts With Dad day at school hit the event dressed as a man. Michelle Srenco is a mother of four in Coweta, Okla. Each year, the elementary school that her daughter Ciarah, 7, and son Jordan, 9, attend throws a fundraising event for dads to come to school and eat doughnuts with the students. In previous years, Srenco has attended in lieu of her childrens father, but this year she wanted to get creative. My kids actually encouraged me to dress like a dad, Srenco, 36, tells Yahoo Lifestyle. At first, I said, No way but at midnight the night before, I started trying on mens clothes. Michelle Srenco and her daughter Ciarah. (Photo: Courtesy of Michelle Srenco) She decided on a red-and-black plaid shirt that she borrowed from her partner (a perfect match with her sons shirt) and a gray cap. Then using a black eyebrow pencil, she carefully drew sideburns and a goatee. The family arrived early to the Oct. 16 event to avoid drawing a crowd, but walking into the gymnasium drew amusing stares from the 300 fathers in attendance. But some didnt even realize I was a woman, she says. Srenco prides herself on her embarrassing parenting abilities; however, her children loved the gesture. They thought it was so cool because their friends liked it, she says. Plus, the other dads gave me high-fives, and the principal loved it. Afterward, Srenco walked her kids to class and with her best dad voice said, Have a good day! Srenco attributes her hands-on parenting skills to her role as a single mom and her close relationship with her own father. I want to encourage single parents to do anything for their kids, she says. Dont let people judge you for it. I was scared and worried what people would say, but everything went amazing. Photo: Courtesy of Michelle Srenco Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: Story continues Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. Three months after the Geier family lost their home and all their belongings in a fire on Aug. 26, Angie Geier of Westby is still trying to salvage more than just charred memories. For the sake of her five children, Angie tries hard to keep up a strong outward appearance, but inside she fights back tears every day as she wonders what lifes roller coaster ride has in store for her next. Ever since that dreadful day the Geier family is humbled beyond words by the continued support of the community as the family strives to find normalcy in and anything but normal situation. The Geier home was constructed in 2010 as a Habitat for Humanity project and on Nov. 10, the family stood by and watched as the burned out remains of their once bustling home was bulldozed to the ground leaving behind an empty lot where a house filled with laughter once stood. The Geiers have two sets of twin boys, Dallas and Dakota, Jayden and Klayten, and a daughter, Gracey. They all attend school in Westby. Angie said the school and entire community just keep on finding ways to make life just a little easier during these trying times. For months she has wanted to let the community know the heartfelt gratitude the family has felt, but the words just wouldnt flow freely without tears dropping on the paper as she tried to write them down. Thanksgiving has always been a time to be grateful so I knew I needed to reach out and let everyone know just how grateful our family is for all the kindness, generosity, love and support they have bestowed upon us, Angie said, We are blessed to live in such a caring community and I promise that someday we will return the favor and give back to someone else in need. Angie, who also suffers from Multiple Sclerosis, said she never knows when she wakes up in the morning if it will be a good day or a bad day physically, but she pushes forward regardless and tries to keep a smile on her face. For now, the high point in her life is knowing her children have adapted to their lifestyle change and that they stay busy with school activities. As for the family pets they are all doing just fine, including Misha who everyone thought had perished in the fire, but days later this cat with nine lives crawled out of the rubble and into Angies arms. Misha keeps a watchful eye on who comes and goes through the front door, while Diesel, the family dog, tries to escape out the front door every chance he gets. When he does break free, the family knows which direction to look since he typically heads across town to the place he still calls home. The kids all miss our house too and I miss my home, Angie said as a tear rolled down her cheek. So God willing one day soon a new home will replace the one the Geier family lost at the same location on Coon Prairie Avenue, but for now, the family is making the best of lifes challenges and are truly grateful that they live in such an amazing community where so many people Give a Whoop. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives Ethics Committee said on Tuesday it is investigating allegations of sexual harassment against Representative John Conyers. Conyers, a Michigan Democrat, said earlier on Tuesday his office had resolved a harassment case with a payment but no admission of guilt. (Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Eric Walsh) By Toby Sterling, Stephanie van den Berg and Anthony Deutsch THE HAGUE (Reuters) - A U.N. tribunal on Wednesday convicted ex-Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic of genocide and crimes against humanity for massacres of Bosnian Muslims and ethnic cleansing campaigns to forge a "Greater Serbia", and jailed him for life. Mladic, 74, was hustled out of the court minutes before the verdict for bellowing "this is all lies, you are all liars" after returning from what his son described as a blood pressure test which delayed the reading-out of the judgment. The U.N. Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) found Mladic guilty of 10 of 11 charges, including the slaughter of 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica and the 43-month siege of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, in which more than 10,000 civilians were killed by shelling, mortar and sniper fire. The killings in Srebrenica of men and boys after they were separated from women and taken away in buses or marched off to be shot amounted to Europe's worst atrocity since World War Two. "The crimes committed rank among the most heinous known to humankind, and include genocide and extermination as a crime against humanity," Presiding Judge Alphons Orie said in reading out a summary of the judgment. "Many of these men and boys were cursed, insulted, threatened, forced to sing Serb songs and beaten while awaiting their execution," he said. Mladic had pleaded not guilty to all charges. His legal team said he would appeal against the verdict. Called the "Butcher of Bosnia" by survivors of his actions, Mladic was the most notorious of 163 ICTY indictees together with Radovan Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb nationalist leader and political mastermind of ethnic cleansing, and their patron, then-Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic. The tribunal found Mladic "significantly contributed" to genocide committed in Srebrenica with the goal of destroying its Muslim population, "personally directed" the bombardment of Sarajevo and was part of a "joint criminal enterprise" aimed at purging Bosnian Muslims and Catholic Croats from Bosnia. Story continues "GREATER SERBIA" Prosecutors said the ultimate agenda of Mladic, Karadzic and Milosevic was what came to be known worldwide as ethnic cleansing, to carve out an Orthodox "Greater Serbia" in the ashes of multinational federal Yugoslavia. ICTY Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz called the verdict "a milestone" in holding Mladic accountable not just for massacres but the detention of tens of thousands of non-Serbs in camps where many were beaten and raped, and the forced displacement of over one million to remake Bosnia's demographic map. He said Mladic was also convicted of using forces under his command to seize hundreds of U.N. peacekeepers as human shields to deter NATO from launching air strikes on his forces. NATO intervention eventually stopped the war. The Mladic case is the last major decision by the ICTY, which plans to close its doors soon after sentencing 83 Balkan war criminals since opening in 1993. In Geneva, U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein called Mladic the "epitome of evil" and said his conviction after 16 years as an indicted fugitive and five years of trial was a "momentous victory for justice". "Today's verdict is a warning to the perpetrators of such crimes that they will not escape justice, no matter how powerful they may be nor how long it may take," Zeid said in a statement. "RESPECT THE VICTIMS, LOOK TO THE FUTURE" -SERBIA President Aleksandar Vucic of Serbia, whose 1990s strongman leader Milosevic died in a tribunal prison in 2006 before the end of his genocide trial, said Serbia "respects the victims" and called for a focus on the future. "I would like to call on everyone (in the region) to start looking into the future and not to drown in tears of the past... We need to look to the future...so we finally have a stable country," Vucic told reporters when asked about the verdict. Serbia, once the most powerful Yugoslav republic, is now democratic and seeking ties to the European Union. Bosnian Prime Minister Denis Zvizdic said he hoped that "those who still call for new divisions and conflicts will carefully read the verdict rendered today ...in case that they are still no ready to face their past". He was alluding to enduring separatism in post-war federal Bosnia's autonomous Serb region. Srebrenica, near Bosnia's eastern border with Serbia, had been designated a "safe area" by the United Nations and was defended by lightly armed U.N. peacekeepers. But they quickly surrendered when Mladic's forces stormed it on July 11, 1995. SREBRENICA SLAUGHTER A bronzed and beefy Mladic was filmed visiting a refugee camp in Srebrenica on July 12. "He was giving away chocolate and sweets to the children while the cameras were rolling, telling us nothing will happen and that we have no reason to be afraid," recalled Munira Subasic of the Mothers of Srebrenica group. Serbian TV footage showed Mladic approaching a blond boy in a friendly way and asking him his name and how old he was, then turning to fearful Muslim women and children and assuring them: "All who would like to stay can stay. Just take it easy." Subasic said: "After the cameras left he gave an order to kill whoever could be killed, rape whoever could be raped and finally he ordered us all to be banished and chased out of Srebrenica, so he could make an 'ethnically clean' town." Dutch peacekeepers looked on helplessly as Bosnian Serb officers separated men and boys from women, then sent them out of sight on buses or marched them away to be shot. The remains of Subasic's son and husband were both found in mass graves by International Commission of Missing Persons (ICMP) workers. The ICMP have identified some 6,900 remains of Srebrenica victims through DNA analysis. "(This conviction) is an important reminder that more than 20 years after the Bosnian war, thousands of cases of enforced disappearances remain unresolved, and victims and their families continue to be denied access to justice, truth and reparation," said John Dalhuisen of rights group Amnesty International. Mladic is still seen as a national hero by some Serbs for presiding over the swift capture of much of Bosnia after its Serbs rose up against a Muslim-Croat referendum vote for independence from Serbian-dominated Yugoslavia. In their appeal against Wednesday's verdict, Mladic's lawyers will argue that Bosnian Serbs were "victims" of the 1992 referendum and went to war in "self-defence". Mladic's lawyers contended that Sarajevo was a legitimate military target as it was the main bastion of Muslim-led Bosnian government forces. They also asserted that Mladic left Srebrenica shortly before Serb fighters began executing Muslim detainees and was later shocked to find out they had occurred. Mladic's son, Darko, told reporters the court was biased against Serbs and alleged it had failed to pursue cases on behalf of Serb victims of Bosnian Muslim atrocities. But Wednesday's verdict was never much in doubt, given the mountain of evidence of Serb atrocities produced at previous trials. Four of Mladic's subordinates received life sentences. Karadzic, 72, was convicted of genocide in 2016 and sentenced to 40 years. He is appealing. FIVE-YEAR TRIAL Mladic was indicted along with Karadzic in 1995, shortly after the Srebrenica killings. But he evaded capture until 2011, three years after a heavily disguised Karadzic was arrested. Mladic's trial in The Hague took five years in part because of delays due to his poor health. He has suffered several strokes, but the ICTY rejected a flurry of last-minute attempts by his lawyers to put off the verdict on medical grounds. The ICTY indicted 161 people in all from Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo. Of the 83 convicted, more than 60 of them were ethnic Serbs. (Additional reporting by Ivana Sekularac in Belgrade, Daria Sito-Sucic in Sarajevo, Maja Zuvela in Srebrenica, Stephanie Nebehay and Tom Miles in Geneva; editing by Mark Heinrich) By Joel Schectman and David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on 13 Chinese and North Korean organizations Washington accused of helping evade nuclear restrictions against Pyongyang and supporting the country through trade of commodities like coal. The U.S. Treasury announced the action one day after President Donald Trump put North Korea back on a list of state sponsors of terrorism, on its website. The new curbs show the Trump administration's focus on hurting trade between China and North Korea, which it sees as key to deterring Pyongyang from its ambition to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the United States. "This designation will impose further sanctions and penalties on North Korea and related persons, and supports our maximum pressure campaign to isolate the murderous regime," said Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. The latest sanctions included blacklisting three Chinese companies, Dandong Kehua Economy & Trade Co., Dandong Xianghe Trading Co., and Dandong Hongda Trade Co., which the Treasury Department said had done more than $750 million in combined trade with North Korea over almost five years until Aug. 31. It said they were involved in trade of coal, iron ore, lead, zinc and silver ore, lead metal and ferrous products as well as notebook computers. The sanctions also blacklisted Sun Sidong and his company Dandong Dongyuan Industrial Co. In a June report, Washington think tank C4ADS said the firm was part of an interconnected network of Chinese companies that account for a vast share of trade with North Korea. U.S. authorities have repeatedly targeted companies and individuals from the Chinese city of Dandong, which borders North Korea, in a bid to cut off Pyongyang's major export revenue from selling natural resources, such as coal. In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang reiterated China's opposition to unilateral sanctions by other countries, adding it could investigate for itself any contravention of its laws or international obligations. "If other parties wish to have effective cooperation with China on this issue and really have a grasp of certain matters, they can totally share intelligence with China and cooperate with China to appropriately handle the issue," Lu told a daily briefing on Wednesday. The direct impact on listed companies may be limited as trade between China and its isolated northern neighbor has slowed substantially since the United Nations imposed a ban in September on North Korean exports of coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore and seafood. In February, China also prohibited coal purchases from North Korea. China does not strictly enforce financial rules in the Dandong area, said Anthony Ruggiero, a North Korea expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. As a result, Dandong draws companies interested in making a profit by selling to North Korea, he said. The new sanctions also hit several North Korean companies that send workers to countries such as Russia, Poland, Cambodia and China. United States authorities said they are seeking to cut off the money North Korea makes from the export of labor. Besides targeting sources of weapons technology, the curbs were the first time the United States sought to directly attack North Korea's daily consumer trade, said Peter Harrell, a sanctions expert at the Center for a New American Security. "We are sanctioning companies involved in ordinary trade," Harrell said. "That's the logical next step." The sanctions aim to further isolate Pyongyang, said Heather Nauert, a State Department spokeswoman, adding that she did not think targeting more Chinese firms would affect Beijings cooperation on the North Korean issue. "I dont think it jeopardizes anything," she said. "I think the world has come together on this issue. "We have a good relationship with China. Thats not going to change." (Reporting by Joel Schectman; Additional reporting by Josephine Mason and Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Editing by James Dalgleish and Clarence Fernandez) Urban Umbrella founder Andres Cortes (l.) with co-founder Benjamin Krall (r.). [Photo credit: Grahm Barnard] A sleek white sidewalk shed went up in front of a 16-story building in the Flatiron District of New York City this week. The structure, a recreation of the ubiquitous and unsightly blue or green sidewalk sheds that accompany construction sites across the city, is the brainchild of Urban Umbrella. And up until now, with the exception of a brief appearance at a site in lower Manhattan in New York five years ago, it has only been used in Toronto. But soon, two more buildings in New York, and projects in Boston, Quebec and Vancouver are expected to be graced by these umbrellas. The demand is there, its more about how to execute it, said Andres Cortes, founder of Urban Umbrella. Walk down a New York street or any other major city undergoing a healthy amount of construction and youre bound to see sidewalk sheds. The unsightly structures are a necessary evil they are there to protect pedestrians from falling debris. The law mandating sheds is meant to keep us safe, said Collin Yip, CEO of Rafi Properties, a real estate investment, development and asset management firm which hopes to install umbrellas at two of its projects in Boston. The implementation of that law has been an aesthetic disaster for anyone living under or around one. Seven years ago, Urban Umbrella reimagined the sidewalk shed and won a design competition sponsored by the mayor of New York City at the time, Michael Bloomberg. The city hired Danish planner Jahn Gehl to recommend ways to improve the quality of public city life and sidewalk aesthetics. Bloomberg called it the sidewalk shed of the 21st century. But beyond a prototype that was visible for two months at a lower Manhattan building and a Samsung Galaxy TV commercial spot, the umbrella was never adopted, at least in the United States, mainly because of its cost. Toronto testing ground Urban Umbrella has had better luck in Canada. Despite the expense, umbrellas were installed at two sites in Toronto in 2012: one at Ryerson Universitys new student learning center and another at developer Great Gulfs 75-story residential tower at One Bloor. Story continues Great Gulf saw a tremendous opportunity to use the system as a marketing platform for the project, said Cortes. Instead of being an eye sore, they used our system to herald the project as it was under construction. Urban Umbrellas scaffolding sheds, made of recycled steel, translucent plastic panels and LED light, live up to its name. It looks like an umbrella unfolding and allows natural light to hit sidewalks that would normally be darkened and narrowed by traditional sheds. Urban Umbrella shed at One Bloor, a 75-story residential tower that was constructed on the corner of Yonge and Bloor in Toronto. [Photo credit: Grahm Barnard] Similar to Great Gulf, developer Westbank recently tapped Urban Umbrella to deploy a shed at its project in Toronto, the redevelopment of Mirvish Village. There the umbrella will also be a part of the projects marketing program, according to Cortes. Price of pretty sheds Theres no argument that Urban Umbrella is a stylish alternative to traditional sheds, but it wasnt until recently that it became a financially viable option for landlords and Urban Umbrella to build. The umbrellas, now in its fifth design, is cost effective to manufacture and install, Cortes said. There were a lot of lessons learned from the installations in Toronto, he said. Today, umbrellas are fabricated in Canada and preinstalled in a factory so they can be deployed easily on site. Additionally, in January Urban Umbrella raised a $1.5 million seed round of funding from family offices, private equity and real estate investors including the Acker family (former owners of Sleepys, now known as the Mattress Firm), Red Bear Angels, New York-based Chasella Ventures and Los Angeles-based Legion Capital. The funding gives Urban Umbrella the ability to bid out materials and components of the shed. Prior to the seed money, the firm founded in 2009 was self-funded. Despite coming a long way, umbrellas are still a premium product and cost about 20%-30% more than traditional sheds. But its benefits outweigh its costs. When you have a shed in front of you, you see a decline in sales volume, everyone will agree on that, said Cortes. Its bad for business as a retailer and as a landlord it costs you when you have turnover in your retail space. An 140-linear-foot Urban Umbrella installation at 20 W. 22nd St. in the Flatiron District of Manhattan. [Photo credit: Grahm Barnard] The cost is relative to tenant experiences, said Robert Finkelstein, executive managing director at ABS Partners, owner of 20 W. 22nd St. in the Flatiron District, where the umbrella was just installed. We want our retail and office tenants to feel good about the building, ABS Partners is close to rolling out the umbrella at a second of its New York City properties and is in discussions about others. In the spring, an umbrella will also go up at 19 Murray St. in the Tribeca neighborhood of New York as its owner re-stuccos the five-story building. I chose Urban Umbrella for its feel, for its look, and for the enjoyment it will give the neighborhood while we repair our building, said Raphael Santore, owner of 19 Murray St., which is also home to his dental practice. Safety is one of Urban Umbrellas selling points Scaffolds are a very small percentage of construction costs when a builder is putting up a new building. If you look at the grand scheme of things, scaffolding is not a big cost, said Yip. It is important to have street appeal and safety. Street safety has been top of mind. On Nov. 19, scaffolding collapsed in the SoHo area of New York due to a strong gust of wind, which sent wooden planks flying to the streets injuring several people. The latest incident has local New York officials calling for enhanced scaffolding safety measures. Cortes said Urban Umbrellas sheds are a safer alternative because they have been heavily vetted and scrutinized by Building Departments in the U.S. and Canada. Weve been under the magnifying glass for a long time, said Cortes, adding that it has even gone through missile testing. It just seems more sturdy and safe than what is out there currently in the market, said Yip. It is the perfect time for Urban Umbrella. We are putting up beautiful buildings and all these old and terrible scaffolding. [Umbrellas] should be used more broadly. Amanda Fung is an editor at Yahoo Finance. Officers from the UKs Royal Navy searched for the missing Argentine submarine San Juan in the South Atlantic on Monday, November 20. This video, shared by the UKs Ministry of Defence on behalf of the Royal Navy, show the view from inside the HMS Protector, the Royal Navys ice patrol ship, as it endured waves of up to 10 metres. The HMS Protector arrived in the South Atlantic on November 19, following a request for assistance from the Argentine government, the Royal Navy said. The Protector was joined by the Royal Navys specialist Submarine Parachute Assistance Group and the Falklands Islands patrol vessel HMS Clyde to assist with the search efforts. The UKs Royal Navy was joined by international naval teams from the US, Chile, Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay and Peru for the rescue mission. The search for San Juan, which had 44 people on board, had become increasingly desperate after it last made contact with navy officials on Wednesday, November 15, ABC reported. The vessel only had enough oxygen supply for seven days if submerged, the news broadcaster reported. Credit: Twitter/HMS Protector via Storyful Washington (AFP) - The United States on Wednesday toughened its stance on Myanmar, accusing the country's security forces of perpetrating "horrendous atrocities" against the Rohingya that amount to "ethnic cleansing" of the Muslim minority. The statement from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who visited Myanmar last week, is the strongest US condemnation yet of the military's crackdown against the Rohingya, which has triggered a major refugee crisis and escalating global outrage. "After a careful and thorough analysis of available facts, it is clear that the situation in northern Rakhine state constitutes ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya," Tillerson said in a statement. "No provocation can justify the horrendous atrocities that have ensued." More than 600,000 Rohingya have fled mainly Buddhist Myanmar for Bangladesh since the military launched a counter-insurgency operation in troubled Rakhine state in late August. While the army insists it has only targeted Rohingya rebels, refugees massing in Bangladeshi camps have given chilling and consistent accounts of widespread murder, rape and arson at the hands of security forces and Buddhist mobs. "These abuses by some among the Burmese military, security forces, and local vigilantes have caused tremendous suffering and forced hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children to flee their homes," Tillerson said. Myanmar's response to the crisis will be vital to determining the success of its transition to becoming "a more democratic society," he added. - 'Looking at' sanctions - Myanmar's de facto civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi -- a Nobel peace laureate -- has been criticized by rights groups disappointed with her failure to condemn the crackdown or publicly criticize the military. Washington says Suu Kyi has a crucial role to play in tackling the crisis but has been careful to focus blame on the army. Story continues On his one-day visit to Myanmar's capital Naypyidaw, Tillerson said Washington was "deeply concerned by credible reports of widespread atrocities committed by Myanmar's security forces and vigilantes." He urged Myanmar to accept an independent investigation into those allegations, after which individual sanctions could be appropriate. On Wednesday, Tillerson said: "Burma's government and security forces must respect the human rights of all persons within its borders, and hold accountable those who fail to do so." Last year, former US president Barack Obama eased long-standing sanctions on Myanmar, reinstating preferential tariffs, to help the country's transition from being a military-run pariah to civilian government. The current administration says it does not favor a return to broad economic sanctions. But a senior State Department official told reporters on Wednesday: "We are looking at additional sanctions targeting individuals responsible for specific acts of violence." Myanmar's army and Suu Kyi's administration have dismissed reports of atrocities and refused to grant entry to UN investigators tasked with probing alleged abuses. Some world leaders had already described the scorched-earth military campaign against the Rohingya as "ethnic cleansing." Global human rights watchdogs over the past week issued reports accusing Myanmar security forces of slitting the throats of Rohingya, burning victims alive and gang-raping women and girls. The watchdogs described "mounting evidence" of genocide and spoke of "ethnic cleansing" founded on years of "apartheid." - Uptick in diplomacy - Diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis have intensified. France's Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and the European Union's top diplomat, Federica Mogherini, on Monday both visited Myanmar. China has made a proposal to resolve the crisis with a ceasefire, refugee repatriation and poverty alleviation. A foreign ministry spokesman in Beijing said Monday that the plan had won approval from leaders in both Bangladesh and Myanmar. "We understand that both Burma and Bangladesh are close to reaching an agreement on a process for voluntary repatriations," the senior State Department official said, adding that by declaring "ethnic cleansing," the US hopes to increase the pressure for such a deal. US Senator John McCain, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, welcomed Tillerson's statement as a first step that should be followed by "targeted sanctions against the military officials responsible for these atrocities." Chicago (AFP) - A police officer in Chicago, a city with a track record of abuses by law enforcement, was sentenced to five years in prison Monday for shooting at a car full of teenagers. The five-year sentence marked the first time in recent history that a police officer in the Midwestern city was sent to prison for an on-duty shooting. Marco Proano was convicted of two federal civil rights violations in August following the 2013 shooting, during which he fired 16 times at the teenagers' car, wounding two of them. Prosecutors had asked for eight years in prison. In sentencing Proano, the judge said he was troubled by the officer's lack of acceptance that he committed a crime, according to local media reports. Proano, who is still on the force, said he fired to protect a teen hanging out of the window of the Toyota Avalon sedan when it suddenly reversed, according to the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper. Chicago's police department is struggling to rebuild trust with communities, especially poor neighborhoods with predominantly Latino or black populations, following decades of abusive tactics. Prosecutors last week exonerated 15 people previously convicted of drug crimes due to concerns that the police may have falsely accused them, as part of a concerted effort by prosecutors to reexamine past convictions that may be tainted by police misconduct. Two other men -- both serving decades for murder convictions -- were also freed last week. In the highest profile case in the city, police officer Jason Van Dyke is awaiting his murder trial for shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times in 2014. The case led to protests and a year-long federal civil rights probe that found a pattern of abuse and excessive force in the Chicago Police Department. Toyota of La Crosse gave four bicycles to the Coulee Council on Addictions for people who rely on the CCA center for support, recovery and prevention services. The dealership bought the two mens and two womens Giant bicycles from River Trail Cycles in Onalaska last spring for its Borrow a Bike program. The Borrow program offers customers free bike use and a token good for a free scoop at The Pearl Ice Cream Parlor and Confectionery during vehicle service appointments during the warmer months. Each fall, the dealership donates the bikes to an area nonprofit organization. All of us know someone who has battled substance abuse, and were proud to support an organization that for 50 years has given people the support they need at the time they need it the most, said Sean Green, the dealerships general manager. The CCA has provided confidential help to individuals and families affected by addiction since 1968. It strives to increase education, awareness and prevention. Last month, the Coulee Council broke ground on a 13,000-square-foot facility at 921 Ferry St. The $2.9 million building will be twice as big as the current location in a converted house, giving the organization more room for programs such as alcohol assessments, peer support groups, sober social activities and early intervention programs. Seoul (AFP) - North Korea condemned its US terror listing as a "serious provocation" on Wednesday, warning that sanctions would never force it to abandon its nuclear weapons programme. The response came shortly after China, the North's sole ally, also rejected as "wrong" new US sanctions that targeted Chinese companies doing business with the pariah state. President Donald Trump Monday declared North Korea a state sponsor of terrorism, a spot on a US blacklist Pyongyang had shed nearly a decade ago. On Tuesday the US unveiled its fresh sanctions which also targeted North Korean shipping, raising the pressure on the North to abandon its nuclear programme. "Our army and people are full of rage and anger towards the heinous gangsters who dared to put the name of our sacred country in this wretched list of 'terrorism'," North Korean state news agency KCNA quoted a foreign ministry spokesperson as saying. Slamming Washington for behaving like an "international judge on terrorism", the spokesperson added that the US move was "clearly an absurdity and a mockery to world peace and security". Trump said that the terror designation and new sanctions would be part of a series of moves over the next two weeks to reinforce his "maximum pressure campaign" against Kim Jong-Un's regime. But the North remained defiant on Wednesday, vowing to continue building up its nuclear force in the face of repeated US sanctions and threats. "The nuclear weapons of the DPRK are the deterrence to safeguard our sovereignty," it said, using the initials of the North's official name. "As long as the US continues with its anti-DPRK hostile policy, our deterrence will be further strengthened." - 'More should be done' - The White House has said it will not tolerate the North's testing or deployment of an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead to US cities. Story continues Experts believe Pyongyang is within months of such a threshold, having carried out six nuclear tests since 2006 and test-fired several types of missiles, including multi-stage rockets. China has pressed for dialogue as regional tensions have soared, saying this week "more should be done" to hold talks to resolve the crisis. But on Wednesday Beijing lashed out at the latest sanctions, which expand the list of Chinese firms accused of doing business with the North despite promises from Beijing that it will honour UN-backed punitive measures. "We consistently oppose any country adopting unilateral sanctions based on its own domestic laws and regulations and the wrong method of exercising long-arm jurisdiction," foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a regular news briefing. Trump met China's President Xi Jinping earlier this month and is bullish about the US-China relationship, but concerns remain that Beijing is not ready to take tough measures against Kim. While China has backed the UN measures, it has been reluctant to take the more drastic step of cutting off oil supplies through a pipeline to North Korea's lone refinery, fearing that regime collapse could lead to chaos on their common border. And, according to US officials, some Chinese-based banks and trading firms continue to do business with the North in defiance of UN sanctions and US threats of unilateral measures. "China has been comprehensively respecting and strictly implementing (UN) Security Council resolutions and our efforts on this regard are witnessed by all," Lu said. The spokesman called on Washington to provide "any solid evidence" that Chinese companies have violated the UN sanctions. He said that if any companies or individuals have violated domestic laws, "we will severely deal with that in accordance with our laws and regulations". - Belligerent rhetoric - A Chinese special envoy also wrapped up a four-day trip to the North on Monday, during which the two sides discussed regional concerns but made no direct statements about the nuclear standoff. Beijing has pushed for a "dual track approach" which would see the United States freeze its military drills in South Korea while North Korea would halt its weapons programs. Washington has rejected that approach. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the sanctions would not only increase Pyongyang's isolation but also expose "its evasive tactics". "These designations include companies that have engaged in trade with North Korea cumulatively worth hundreds of millions of dollars," Mnuchin said. "We are also sanctioning the shipping and transportation companies, and their vessels, that facilitate North Korea's trade and its deceptive manoeuvres." Despite Trump and Kim's belligerent rhetoric, US officials say their main goal is for Pyongyang to back down and agree to discuss disarmament. An anti-LGBT Republican politician who was allegedly caught having sex with a man in his office is facing more than 30 accusations of sexual misconduct. Wes Goodman, a state legislator for Ohio, has already been forced to resign after a witness to the reported extramarital affair told the Ohio House Chief of Staff. But now Mr Goodman is facing a host of complaints after alleged victims shared screengrabs of conversations with right-leaning news website the Independent Journal Review. Mr Goodman, who routinely promotes family values, is married to a woman who is an assistant director of an annual abortion rally known as March for Life. According to the IJR, Mr Goodman would regularly contact men, usually aged between 18 and 24 and in the Republican movement, on Facebook Messenger. The conversations frequently turned sexually explicit, with Mr Goodman sending suggestive messages and photos of his genitalia on Snapchat, reports the website. One alleged victim, who wished to remain anonymous, told the IJR he received a friend request from Mr Goodman, who started discussing various political things before a two weeks later asking for the mans Snapchat details. He constantly sent me Snaps and was always commenting on my stories, the victim said. He also asked how much 'p***y' I was getting and wondering what I was doing on Friday and Saturday nights. He added: Then, he sent me videos of him masturbating as well as d**k pics. He also sent another Snapchat asking how big my penis was. Dozens of men shared similar experiences of their online encounters with Mr Goodman, according to the IRJ. The politician was also accused of groping an 18-year-old student in 2015 after a fundraiser, according to the Washington Post. Mr Goodman, whose Twitter biography describes him as Christian. American. Conservative. Republican. Husband to @Beth1027, has regularly claimed "natural marriage" occurs between a man and a woman. Story continues "Healthy, vibrant, thriving, values-driven families are the source of Ohio's proud history and the key to Ohio's future greatness, his campaign website said. The ideals of a loving father and mother, a committed natural marriage, and a caring community are well worth pursuing and protecting." The website has now been taken offline. Mr Goodman, who has been described as a conscience of the conservative movement, announced in a statement on Thursday that he was stepping down. We all bring our own struggles and our own trials into public life," he said. "That has been true for me, and I sincerely regret that my actions and choices have kept me from serving my constituents and our state in a way that reflects the best ideals of public service. "For those whom I have let own, Im sorry. As I move onto the next chapter of my life, I sincerely ask for privacy for myself, my family, and my friends. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three U.S. military personnel allegedly had improper contact with foreign women while traveling with President Donald Trump on his trip this month to Asia, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday. The three Army noncommissioned officers, who worked for the White House Communications Agency, have been reassigned from their White House jobs, according to the Post, which cited officials familiar with the situation. A U.S. official, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the incident took place in Vietnam. The Pentagon declined to provide any details but acknowledged it was looking into the matter. We are aware of the incident, and it is currently under investigation, said Pentagon spokesman Mark Wright. The White House Communications Agency provides information services and communications support to the president and his staff, according to its website. Four military personnel on the same White House team faced accusations stemming from their behavior during a trip to Panama in August with Vice President Mike Pence, the Post reported, citing U.S. officials. The four men, two from the Army and two from the Air Force, were accused of taking foreign women after hours into a secure area before Pences arrival, the officials told the Post. (Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Peter Cooney) Whitefish Energy is halting work on Puerto Ricos hurricane-ravaged electrical grid after claiming the U.S. territory owes the company $83 million. Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority failed to make timely payments to the Montana-based energy firm, which has resulted in Whitefish being unable to pay its subcontractors and 516 workers, according to a letter obtained by HuffPost that was signed by Whitefish CEO Andy Techmanski and dated Sunday. There is no basis for PREPA to withhold payments from Whitefish Energy and PREPAs refusal to make timely payments is a breach of the contract, Techmanski wrote to Justo Gonzalez, PREPAs interim director. Whitefish said in a statement that its now standing down on performing additional work until PREPA pays some of what it owes. We have met the terms of the contract including completing difficult work on time and under challenging conditions, according to the statement. Whitefish Energy Request For Payment by Hayley Miller on Scribd In the letter, Whitefish claimed PREPA had already audited and approved $26 million to be paid to the company, but had not followed through. Whitefish said it believed PREPA, already strapped for cash and holding roughly $9 billion of Puerto Ricos $73 billion in government debt, would be funded by federal agencies, which would help PREPA make the necessary payments to Whitefish. PREPA told HuffPost that it stopped pending payments to Whitefish last week after one of the companys subcontractors reached out. The subcontractor requested PREPA stop making payments to Whitefish because Whitefish owed the subcontractor money, according to PREPA. Faced with this claim, PREPA had to stop the pending payments to Whitefish until the situation with the Whitefish subcontractor is clarified, a PREPA spokeswoman told HuffPost in a statement Tuesday. The statement continued: PREPA is in communication with Whitefish and the subcontractor to clarify the situation and reach a satisfactory agreement for all parties. Story continues Whitefish did not immediately respond to HuffPosts request for comment about the alleged complaint from its subcontractor. Last month, PREPA canceled its controversial contract with Whitefish after lawmakers and federal agencies expressed doubt over the ethical viability of the business deal as well as Whitefishs ability to take on such a major project. Whitefish was expected to continue its work in Puerto Rico until Dec. 1, per the contracts terms. The two-year-old energy firm, financially backed by a major donor to President Donald Trumps 2016 campaign and based in the Interior Secretary Ryan Zinkes hometown, was awarded the contract in October without a proper bidding process. The contract, which stipulated that subcontractors would be paid hundreds of dollars per day for food and living expenses and barred government bodies from conducting an audit into rates charged, is now under investigation by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Whitefishs decision to shut down its operations comes just days after Ricardo Ramos resigned his position as PREPAs director amid backlash over his decision to sign the Whitefish contract. The controversy that the contract has generated is truly immense, Ramos said during a news conference last month announcing the contacts cancellation. Its a huge distraction. So as I understand it, its the better of two evils to cancel the contract. In the nearly two months since Whitefish arrived in Puerto Rico, just 50 percent of the islands power has been restored. Many vulnerable communities are still without access to basic necessities such as food and shelter. Its unclear what plans Puerto Rico has for restoring its energy grid come Dec. 1. CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article misstated the number of people PREPA was unable to pay. It was subcontractors and 516 workers, not 500 subcontractors. Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. Riyadh (AFP) - The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said Wednesday it would reopen a key Red Sea port and Sanaa airport to aid, after a more than two-week blockade following a missile attack on Riyadh. The coalition said it would reopen Hodeida port to receive "urgent humanitarian and relief materials" and Sanaa airport to UN aircraft from midday on Thursday (0900 GMT). It did not specify when or if it would ease a blockade on commercial traffic. Hodeida, which is controlled by Huthi rebels backed by Saudi Arabia's arch-rival Iran, is a key conduit for much-needed food and medicine imports to Yemen. The coalition imposed a total blockade of Yemen's ports and airports two days after the Huthis fired a missile at Saudi Arabia on November 4. The missile was intercepted near Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport, sparking a war of words between Tehran and Riyadh, which accused Iran of "direct aggression" and supplying arms to the Huthis. The United Nations said Wednesday it had been notified by the Saudi authorities of the reopening on Thursday of the Yemeni ports of Hodeida and Saleef, as well as Sanaa airport. "We are monitoring these developments and we are trying to see whether that actually takes place on the ground," UN spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters at UN headquarters in New York. "Of course, if that were to happen that would be a very welcome and critically important development." Aid group Save the Children welcomed the coalition's announcement but said opening the port and airport would be "nowhere near enough to avert a potential famine in Yemen". "Humanitarian relief only provides a small portion of the essential goods needed in Yemen -- commercial supplies are critical to feed the population and keep basic services running," it said. UN aid chief Mark Lowcock called on November 8 for the blockade to be lifted, warning that Yemen would otherwise face "the largest famine the world has seen for decades". Story continues The Huthi government on Tuesday announced the country's main international airport was fully functional again a week after a Saudi-led air strike destroyed the facility's navigation system. The airport had been open to only select humanitarian flights. Allied with Yemeni strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh, the Iran-backed Huthi rebels control the capital Sanaa along with much of northern Yemen. In 2015, Saudi Arabia and its allies joined the Yemeni government's fight against the rebels. More than 8,750 people have since been killed. The country also faces a deadly cholera epidemic and millions stand at the brink of official famine. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says Yemen is highly dependent on imported wheat for its basic needs. Harare (AFP) - Here is a timeline of the political crisis in Zimbabwe where veteran President Robert Mugabe resigned on Tuesday following a military takeover and unprecedented mass protests demanding he step down. - Army takes control - - November 14: Tanks are seen moving on the outskirts of the capital Harare a day after army chief Constantino Chiwenga denounces Mugabe's sacking of vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa on November 6. Mnangagwa was seen as the chief rival of Mugabe's wife Grace, 52, to succeed the veteran leader. Later, heavy gunfire is heard near Mugabe's residence in Harare. - Mugabe under house arrest - - November 15: By the early hours, military vehicles are on the capital's streets, but the army denies staging a coup, giving a televised address saying the 93-year-old is safe and that they are "only targeting criminals around him". South Africa says Mugabe has told its president, Jacob Zuma, by telephone that he is under house arrest but is "fine". The European Union and former colonial power Britain urge a peaceful resolution of the crisis while South Africa warns against any "unconstitutional changes" of government. - Mugabe refuses to resign - - November 16: Mugabe refuses to step down during talks with generals, a source close to the army leadership says in a move which enrages many Zimbabweans who see it as a bid to "buy time" to negotiate a favourable end to his 37-year reign. A day later he appears at a university graduation ceremony, acting as if nothing has happened. - Opposition grows - - November 17: Eight out of the 10 branches of Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF taking to state television to demand he stand down, in a call echoed by the influential war veterans association, which urges people to join huge street protests at the weekend. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says the people of Zimbabwe must choose their own government through elections. - Mass protests - Story continues - November 18: Tens of thousands of people flood Zimbabwe's streets demanding Mugabe's resignation in a joyful celebration of his apparently imminent demise. The display of open defiance would have been unthinkable just a week earlier. - Mugabe hangs on - - November 19: ZANU-PF sacks Mugabe as leader and demands he resign as head of state. It also expels his wife Grace and names the ousted Mnangagwa as the new party chief. The ruling party also says Mugabe must resign as president by midday Monday, or face impeachment. But in a live televised address, Mugabe defies expectations he will resign, instead saying he will preside over ZANU-PF's congress in December. - Parliament starts impeachment - - November 21: After the deadline passes without Mugabe resigning, Zimbabwe's parliament gathers to start the impeachment process, with lawmakers from across the spectrum calling on the president to quit. Mnangagwa, the country's likely next president, calls for Mugabe to stand down in his first intervention since the army takeover, saying he should "heed this clarion call" so the country can move forward. - Mugabe resigns - As MPs gather for a special joint session of parliament, speaker Jacob Mudenda reads out a letter from Mugabe resigning as president after a 37-year rule with immediate effect. The bombshell announcement sparks scenes of wild celebration in the streets of Harare, with car horns honking and crowds dancing and cheering over the departure of the autocrat who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence. - Ousted VP returns - - November 22: Mnangagwa, a former close Mugabe ally who is dubbed "the crocodile" for his ruthlessness, is to fly home from South Africa where he fled after his sacking, with state media saying he will be sworn in as president on Friday. burs-gw/hmw Harare (AFP) - Zimbabwe's Emmerson Mnangagwa was preparing Thursday for his new role as president after a triumphant return home following the dramatic departure of Robert Mugabe, ending 37 years of authoritarian rule. Mnangagwa, who has close ties to the army and the security establishment, returned to a hero's welcome in Zimbabwe on Wednesday, telling crowds of supporters in Harare they were witnessing the start of a new democratic era. The 75-year-old will be sworn in as president at an inauguration ceremony on Friday and state media suggested that Mugabe may attend and receive a "farewell" guard of honour. Mugabe fired Mnangagwa as vice president on November 6 over a succession tussle with the first lady, Grace Mugabe. That prompted the military's intervention and eventually led to the president's resignation on Tuesday. Mnangagwa told hundreds of supporters on Wednesday that they were witnessing "a new and unfolding full democracy". - 'All I want is job creation' - "Great speech all round, can't describe how I felt seeing him after what he went through. All I want is job creation," said Remigio Mutero, 30, an unemployed IT graduate. The inauguration will be held at the 60,000-capacity National Sports Stadium, and organisers have called on Zimbabweans "from all walks of life" to come and witness the "historic day". Supporters of the governing ZANU-PF party will be bussed to the ceremony from across Zimbabwe for the "once in a lifetime event", a party planning note said. Ahead of the inauguration, the army warned that criminals had been impersonating soldiers since the crisis and extorting money from the public and called on Zimbabweans to obey the law. Mnangagwa also wrote a note to the public, acknowledging the uncertainty that has plagued the country since the army took power. Britain, the former colonial power, said it would send Africa Minister Rory Stewart to the ceremony, but it is understood that no member of the royal family will attend. Story continues Regional heavyweight South Africa said President Jacob Zuma would not be present as he would be hosting a visit by Angola's new head of state. Zuma also praised Mugabe, noting "his contribution to the liberation of the Southern African region and the decolonisation of the continent". Mugabe's iron grip ended Tuesday in a shock announcement to parliament, where MPs had convened to impeach the 93-year-old leader who had dominated every aspect of Zimbabwean public life for decades. He was last seen in public on Friday and gave a televised address on Sunday, but neither he nor his wife Grace has been seen since, with their whereabouts unknown. - Loosing the 'democratic genie' - A former key Mugabe ally, Mnangagwa had fled the country after his dismissal, saying he would not return without guarantees for his safety. Critics describe Mnangagwa as a ruthless hard-liner, warning that he could prove just as authoritarian as his mentor. Peter Fabricius, an analyst at the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies, said opposition figures would be expecting Mnangagwa to establish a power-sharing government. "In toppling Mugabe, (the generals and Mnangagwa) also let the genie of democracy out the bottle, propelled by euphoria," he wrote in a research note. "Trying to squeeze it back in may not be easy." The main opposition group, the Movement for Democratic Change, said it was "cautiously optimistic" that Mnangagwa would not be as "evil, corrupt, decadent" as Mugabe. "We shall closely watch his next move," said party spokesman Obert Gutu. - Addressing the economy - Mugabe's resignation capped a chaotic week in which the military seized control and tens of thousands of Zimbabweans took to the streets in an unprecedented show of dissent against Mugabe, who left behind an economy in ruins. "We hope to be able to access our money from the bank come December and the US dollar must come back," said Talent Chamunorwa, 37, a brick seller. He was referring to Zimbabwe's chronic shortage of cash and a mistrusted scheme for "bond notes" whose value is supposed to be linked to the US currency, but which trade at a significantly lower rate in reality. The state-run Herald newspaper said in Thursday's edition that "doors will now be open" for economic growth. Mugabe had ruled Zimbabwe almost unopposed since independence in 1980, eventually becoming the world's oldest serving head of state. sn-rm-bgs-fj/gw/pvh By MacDonald Dzirutwe HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's parliament began an impeachment process against President Robert Mugabe on Tuesday that looks set to bring his domination of a country he has ruled since independence nearly four decades ago to an ignominious end. In the last week, Mugabe has clung on in the face of a collapse of his authority and a Monday deadline to quit. The army seized power a week ago and there have been mass protests against him and calls to resign from many sides including on Tuesday from the ruling party's favourite to succeed him Emmerson Mnangagwa. Parliament Speaker Jacob Mudenda said he received a motion to impeach and the parliament would adjourn to a hotel to start the proceedings on Tuesday afternoon. Zimbabwean law says a joint sitting can take place anywhere. Thousands or people demonstrated outside parliament urging Mugabe to quit. Mugabe led Zimbabwe's liberation war and is hailed as one of Africa's founding fathers and a staunch supporter of the drive to free neighbouring South Africa from apartheid in 1994. But many people in Africa and beyond also say he has damaged Zimbabwe's economy, democracy and judiciary by staying in power for too long and has used violence to crush perceived political opponents. (Writing by James Macharia; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg) Fifty years after the Six-Day War , the Israel State Archives has released the transcripts of cabinet meetings held immediately following the great military victory of 1967, focusing on the future of the lands held by the IDF. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Minister of Religions Zerach Warhaftig of the National Religious Party (NRP) warned in one of the discussions that the demographic problem would affect Israels basic right to the land. He said the demographic obstacle should be tackled, but that it should not be seen as the main issue. We must increase the number of Jews and use all possible means to reduce the number of Arabs, Warhaftig said. From left to right: IDF Chief of Staff Yitzhak Rabin, PM Levi Eshkol and Northern Command Chief David Elazar (Photo: Bamahane, courtesy of IDF Archive at Defense Ministry) He later distinguished between the definitions adopted after the war, saying that the West Bank lands mean liberation, and the Sinai and Golan Heights lands are occupation. He explained that Jewish Law says new targets must not be conquered when there are unliberated targets in the Land of Israel. The Golan is part of the Land of Israel too, Labor Party member Yigal Allon quickly responded. The person who pushed for negotiations with the Arab countries was actually the NRP leader Haim Moshe Shapira, who served as interior minister at the time. Responding to Allons claim that Israel plans to keep holding everything in its hands, and all the talk about peace isnt very valuable, Shapira said: Informing the world that Israel doesnt want peace is a weapon in the Arabs hands. It began as a formal discussion on the entry arrangements and responsibility for the Temple Mount compound, but the minutes reveal that three months after the Six-Day war achievement, Israel didnt have full control of the site, as Paratroopers Brigade Commander Mordechai Gur had said, and the it was actually largely controlled by the Waqf. At the start of the discussion, Defense Minister Moshe Dayan updated the ministers that Chief Military Rabbi Major-General Shlomo Goren had created an office for himself between the Western Wall and the yard of the mosques overlooking the Temple Mount. Goren had ruled that the Torah commentary forbids Jews to enter the Temple Mount, but in order to get into his office he had to enter the room from the Temple Mount compound. Dayan later added that he had changed his mind and that Rabbi Goren had started praying Mincha (the afternoon prayer) near his office. I told the chief of staff to order him to move the office to Tel Aviv. How did he get an office there? Who asked him to do that and what is he doing there? He was told to kindly return to his office. I didnt want to evacuate the place, so I said that the Military Police would remain there and then we would see what happens. Western Wall is Waqfs property The discussion revealed that the Waqf had charged one pound from each Jew or tourist visiting the mosque, while those who visited the external plaza were not required to pay. Dayan informed the ministers that the Waqf had started sending protest letters to Israel signed by The Jordanian Hashemite Kingdom. In one of those letters, the Waqf protested that the gate had been seized. Give us back the gate, because the Western Wall is the property of the Waqf. The fact that they wrote a letter with such a headline, Dayan said at the meeting, is enough for us to say that we have no response. If they write a letter in Jerusalem on behalf of the Jordanian kingdom, and he writes it to the West Banks military governor and address him as Your Honor, the Military Governor, it means that for them Jerusalem isnt Hebrew but belongs to the Hashemite kingdom. That being the case, the situation there will remain unchanged. We wont do or say a thing. The police station that found its way there absentmindedly will keep standing there. Prime Minister Levi Eshkol. Objected to cancelling Temple Mount admission fee (Photo: Bamahane, courtesy of IDF Archive at Defense Ministry) Menachem Begin said that during his visit to the Temple Mount, he saw how Jewish visitors were removing their shoes and the women were covering their arms and heads with handkerchiefs that had been hung on the wall beforehand. I wasnt happy when my wife placed it on her shoulders, and I gave her my coat. We have to influence our girls a bit, so they wont go there with trousers. It greatly offends them, especially when the girl is beautiful, Begin said, suggesting that the protest letter be returned to the Waqf. Minister of Police Eliyahu Sasson suggested cancelling the Temple Mount admission fee which was being charged by the Waqf, and even claimed that they were using the money to distribute posters and pay salaries to people inciting against Israel. Prime Minister Levi Eshkol objected, saying that this custom has been going on for years. The justice minister agreed too: This was the custom during the British Mandate era too. I paid 15 pennies when I entered the Temple Mount at the time. Moshe Dayan: Against Palestinian state Despite the security provided by the victory to the small state that had become a big winner, the leaders were uncalm. The ramifications of the border changes, as well as the events that took place after the warlike the sinking of the INS Eilat destroyerinfiltrated the discussions. Decades have passed since those discussions, but some have yet to be cleared for publication. I dont believe the Arabs will accept the current ceasefire lines, Defense Ministry Dayan said in a discussion held December 26, which later turned out to be a correct forecast for the Yom Kippur War. Under no circumstances will Egypt agree that we permanently sit on the eastern bank of the Suez Canal. Syria wont see the line were sitting on as a basis for an agreement either. Syria never wants to make peace on any line, but it wont see the Golan Heights line as a borderline, with all our explanations. Jordan wont see the current border as an acceptable line either. Later in the discussion, Dayan addressed the possibility of a Palestinian state: As for the West Banks Arabs, Im not suggesting a Palestinian state and Im against a Palestinian state. But very much regret it when someone says it out loud, because its a statement which deprives us of an ability to maneuver and discourages us. Our power in negotiations is to say that there is such an option. Its very possible that we could reach an agreement, but if we say in advance that we dont want it, were immediately preventing our possibility to maneuver. Dayan added that he was against granting Palestinians an Israeli citizenship and in favor of the idea that the military administration wont intervene in their civil lives. Concern for Jews in Arab states On August 20, 1967, the Ministerial Committee on Security Affairs held a discussion on the Jews in Egypt and on ways to speed up their immigration to Israel. foreign Minister Abba Eban said there were some 2,500 Jews in Egypt, 1,500 of them in Cairo and the other 1,000 in Alexandria. He noted that some 600 Jews had been arrested when the battles broke out, including Cairos chief rabbi, and that all the property of the Jewish community in Cairo had been confiscated within several days. Eban added that the situation had become increasingly difficult for the Jews of Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Syria, Morocco and Tunisia as well. Theres real hunger in Syria, he said. They arent arrested, but theyre locked up in their homes, so they naturally become very poor. Post-Six Day War minutes. The Libyan Jewish community in in a difficult situation, Abba Eban said (Photo: State Archive) Begin suggested that the foreign minister send a telegram to the United Nations secretary-general and ask him to help the Jews living in Arab countries. The Jews are persecuted, Begin said. They are locked up, tortured, and their property is robbed. The State of Israel must say these things clearly. In the 1930s and 1940s in Europe, a cruel enemy rose and tortured and exterminated the Jews. Under no circumstances will the State of Israel let Jews become hostages in some country and be abused. Efforts to free prisoners On October 1, 1967, the Ministerial Committee on Security Affairs and the Civil Disobedience Committee discussed a prisoner exchange deal with Egypt, and Dayan noted that a letter had been received from the POWs parents. We define the guys and the girl held in an Egyptian jail as prisoners of Zion. It sounds nice, but its inaccurate, said Minister Yigal Allon. Those are our security people, who accepted our order or offer to volunteer and received professional training in Israel. They started off in Israel, earned the ranks of officers and were sent on action. The action may have been unsuccessful, but its not their responsibility. Allon suggested linking the release of Egyptian prisoners to the Israelis arrested as part of the Lavon Affair (a failed Israeli covert operation conducted in Egypt in the Summer of 1954). Minister Pinchas Sapir said he believed Egypt didnt care about the 5,000 Egyptian prisoners held by Israel, and therefore Israel had no leverages of pressure that would lead to the release of the Israeli prisoners. Responding to proposals to exacerbate the Egyptian prisoners conditions, Defense Minister Dayan said: When the prisoner is here and cant do anything, I wont hurt him. I dont want to be on the list of countries that do so. Ministers decide to postpone decision by three months (Photo: State Archives) Eventually, the government decided to postpone the prisoner exchange in a bid to link the deal to the Lavon Affair detainees, and the soldiers parents were told that it had been postponed by three months in an attempt to get France, Italy and the pope involved. In another discussion held on December 12, 1967, a proposal was raised to release some of the Egyptian prisoners as a goodwill gesture. Dayan said the prisoners parents were not interested in that, as they wanted to see Egyptians released in exchange for Israelis. Prime Minister Eshkol accepted the proposal to send one general or two to Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, to try to convince him to sign a prisoner exchange deal. Eventually, the cabinet decided to release 500 Egyptian prisoners, including generals, in a bid to convince Egypt to free the Israelis. Dilemma following INS Eilat sinking On October 21, 1967, the Israeli Navy suffered a heavy blow. The INS Eilat destroyer was attacked with Egyptian missiles while sailing in the Port Said area. Forty-seven crewmembers were killed and 91 were wounded. The event became an important milestone in the history of the State of Israel, the IDF and the Israeli Navy in particular. The Ministerial Committee on Security Affairs convened the following day, after learning that 32 people had been killed and 15 had gone missing. The INS Eilat destroyer The ministers convened at Dayans office in Tel Aviv. The atmosphere was difficult and tense. There was a strong need to come up with a proper response, but it was clear that the right time and place had to be found. There is no way we can ignore the attack on the destroyer without a firm response, asserted Major-General Haim Bar-Lev. Aharon Yariv, head of the Military Intelligence Directorate, added: Its not because of the Jewish morale or the armys morale, which I am definitely not taking lightly. We cannot ignore this in terms of the visibility of our relationship with Arab states. Major-General Haim Bar-Lev. There is no way we can ignore the attack on the destroyer without a firm response (Photo: Bamahane, courtesy of IDF Archive at Defense Ministry) Its a disaster for dozens of families and a blow for us. We lost a destroyer, Dayan admitted, clarifying that we have no weapon parallel to these missiles. If Egypt launches these missile, they will have the upper hand. Eshkol: Well respond on water IDF Chief of Staff Yitzhak Rabin, who was asked to propose targets for an attack, rejected the option of targeting the Egyptian navy. The submarines and the destroyers are in Yemen. We have no access there, he said. Rabin was aware of the level of the Air Force and suggested an artillery attack on the refineries. He gave up the option of targeting old vessels in Port Said, which were anyway out of service after being hit in previous bombardments, and rejected a strike in Alexandria, where the Egyptians were on a heightened state of alert. Chief of Staff Yitzhak Rabin. Insisted on striking the Egyptians with artillery (Photo: Miki Astel, courtesy of IDF Archive at Defense Ministry) Defense Minister Dayan was in favor of immediate action, but Prime Minister Eshkol appeared hesitant during the meeting. With all my desire to conclude, I wouldnt rush to conclude that the tendency is to respond, he said. Labor Minister Yigal Allon suggested ambushing an Egyptian destroyer near the ports even in a week from now. Allon was concerned that a Soviet ship would be hit and proposed that Israel would punish Port Said without getting into trouble with the Russians. Finance Minister Pinchas Sapir was concerned about the Air Forces situation. We have almost one-third of the planes left, and the ability is less than one-third. I wouldnt get involved in oil issues. Eshkol demanded an answer: Could Tel Aviv and Haifa be bombed with missiles from the sea? Rabin replied, Theoretically, its possible, but I believe we would be able to respond. (Photo: Micha Penn, courtesy of IDF Archive at Defense Ministry) Rabin suggested targeting the refineries with artillery and setting them on fire. This time, Eshkol replied firmly: We were beaten at sea and we will respond on the water. Begin was in favor of an immediate response. We are below the minimum, he said. We must be cautious concerning our planes. I would very much like to see Port Said being hit. Thats where the missiles came from. The decisive moment was near. In an interim conclusion, six ministers voted in favor of targeting the refineries while six voted in favor of targeting aircraft, but the decision was postponed. Finally, the cabinet decided to target the refineries. On October 24, three days after the sinking of the INS Eilat destroyer, the IDF launched an artillery attack on oil refineries and fertilizer plants in the city of Suez. The plants burned for five days, inflicting heavy damage. The Breaking the Silence organization was founded by former IDF soldiers who served in the territories and were exposed to the wrongs created by the occupation. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The organization members, who love Israel with all their hearts, seek to convey a message to future soldiers who will serve in the West Bank, that their mission will be to oppress a foreign people and protect the settlements (rather than the state), and that the price they will pay is moral corruption. The Right sees this small organization as dangerous because it appeals to our youth and its parents and warns them of the price of serving the settlements. Education Minister Naftali Bennett has therefore banned Breaking the Silence representatives from entering schools, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is waging an unprecedented delegitimization campaign against the organization, in a bid to prepare the ground for outlawing it. Issacharoff with the Palestinian questioned as part of the investigation. Before an IDF officer is publicly condemned as a known liar, we should raise a warning sign (Photo: Breaking the Silence) Dean Issacharoff, a former officer, admitted in a lecture he gave young Israelis that during his military service he had used violence against a Palestinian who was throwing stones. The purpose of the admission was to stress that the occupation corrupts even the finest and most ethical soldier, that Issacharoff is no different from others. But unlike others, he shared his story, expressed remorse and explained the background for his decision to join Breaking the Silence. Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked immediately ordered the State Attorneys Office to launch an investigation against him. This is where it must be stressed that the minister has no authority to launch an investigation. That authority is given exclusively to the State Attorneys Office and to the attorney general. And if they already decided to investigate, why was it a selective investigation? Why didnt they order the examination of all the information collected by the organization on soldiers who have testified about what they saw in other cases? Why investigate the incident in which Issacharoff kneed a Palestinian who had thrown stones, but ignore dozens of much more serious cases? Is there anyone who believes that the investigation had nothing to do with the fact that Issacharoff is Breaking the Silences spokesman? That the justice minister, who is one of the leaders of the Bayit Yehudi party, didnt take advantage of her administrative supervision over the Justice Ministry and the state attorney to influence his professional discretion? The conduct of the State Attorneys Office is puzzling too. This was a public admission of an offense for the purpose of expressing remorse. Was it appropriate to investigate under these circumstances? Does the investigation serve or contradict the public interest, which calls for the revelation of such acts? Will the investigation prompt more soldiers to express remorse, or rather scare them and make them keep silent forever? As for the investigation, it is a known fact that a person cannot incriminate himself. Its the justification for a defendants admission, and a conviction requires something in addition. Once the investigation was launched, all that was needed in light of Issacharoffs admission was further evidence, which was found in the testimony of another soldier who had been present during the incident. But for some reason, that soldier wasnt even questioned. The person who was questioned was his commander, who reportedly denied the incident. Without taking a stand on his actual statement, if he had verified the story he could have gotten into trouble himself. The beaten Palestinian denied the allegations too, but it should be noted that Palestinians are usually afraid to testify against soldiers, and it is known that few Palestinians complain and that these cases are often closed. Moreover, the organization claims that the Palestinian who was questioned by the police isnt the same Palestinian who was beaten. And after all, determining credibility is mainly the courts job, and the case didnt reach the court. Assuming its investigation was completely unbiased, why did the State Attorneys Office announce that Issacharoff lied instead of announcing that the evidence against him was insufficient? How can the State Attorneys Office determine who lied under these circumstances? So before an IDF officer is publicly condemned as a known liar, we should raise a warning sign, lest we harm a person who will be brought to an unnecessary criminal investigation out of a political desire to break the organization. And by the way, should we assume that its just a coincidence that the results of the police investigation so far are the exact rotten fruit serving the justice ministers political agenda? During his meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad earlier on Tuesday, Russia's President Vladimir Putin mentioned that his military campaign against the Islamic State group in Syria is wrapping up, while giving no indication that Russia would scale down its military presence in Syriasomething Moscow is unlikely to do Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Assad, who arrived at the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Monday and warmly embraced his Russian counterpart, almost resting his head on the Putin's shoulder. Later, Assad thanked Putin and Russia's top brass for their "sacrifices" and efforts made to "save our country." He added that Damascus is interested in moving forward with a political process after the "victory over the terrorists." Without Russia's support and heavy airpower, Assad would likely still be battling for political survival, or would have already been possibly deposed. Putin (L) and Assad shake hands in Sochi Many among Assad's opposition, in any case, will say the Russian intervention preserved Assad's rule in Syria while thousands more were killed and tens of thousands more displaced in the civil war, now in its seventh year. Some also claim that the Russian involvement may have helped put any Assad accountability for human rights abuses out of reach. Putin and Assad embrace The Assad-Putin alliance has gone through several defining events, seemingly leading to a cement-like bond based in the self interests of both leaders, with Putin gaining access to Syria while being able to test Russian weapons within its borders, and Assad getting to keep his head. A series of defeats suffered by Assad's army in 2015 left his government teetering on the brink of collapse, prompting the Kremlin to intervene militarily to protect its long-time ally. A Russian army ship blasting an Islamic State target in the Mediterranean (Photo: Reuters) Weeks after Moscow signed a deal with the Syrian government on August 26, 2015 to deploy its forces, the Russian military refurbished the Hemeimeem air base in Syria's province of Latakia to prepare it for hosting dozens of Russian warplanes. The operation dubbed "the Syrian Express" saw the delivery of thousands of tons of military equipment and supplies by sea and heavy-lift cargo planes. The following month, on Sept. 30, Moscow declared the launch of its air campaign in Syria, Russia's first military action outside the former Soviet Union since its 1991 collapse. A parole board recently refused to grant early release from prison to a Palestinian from Gaza who was sentenced for a number of security-related crimes, citing the fact that Hamas is still holding onto the bodies of Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, who were killed during Operation Protective Edge in 2014. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter A gag order was placed on the prisoners identity, but he is said to be serving a three-year sentence for a list of offences, including establishing contact with foreign agents, training in an outlawed militia, weapons offences and affiliation with illegal groupsnamely Hamas. Among the reasons for the rejection, the parole board insisted that weight had to be given to the fact that the prisoner in question belongs to Hamass military wing, which has been holding onto Goldin and Shauls bodies since they fell in battle, and refuses to hand them back to Israel. Archive photo (Photo: Reuters) He joined the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and agreed with his brother to participate in riots. To that end, he crossed the border into Israel where he was arrested. The parole board said that its decision was not guided by a desire to exert pressure on Hamas, but rather to maintain faith in the legal system. It is not the job of the parole board to produce levers to pressure Hamas for their (Shaul and Goldins) return, but the board believes that the early release of the prisoner who is affiliated with the Hamas terror organization could and would be harmful to the publics confidence in the judicial system. Furthermore, the board went on to say that the onus rested on the prisoner to prove that he had repudiated the beliefs that resulted in his incarceration. The burden of proof is on the prisoner to show that he deserves to be released and that the release will not endanger public safety, it was written in the boards summary. Lieutenant Hadar Goldin (left) and Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul (right). When we are speaking about a security prisoner, this burden is seven times heavier and it is for the prisoner to prove that he has abandoned the ideology that caused him to carry out the crimes for which he was punished, it continued. The parole board believes that a premature release of the prisoner would constitute a danger to public safety. The severity of the crimes point to the danger the prisoner poses to state security. Responding to the parole boards conclusions, a human rights lawyer lamented the wholesale rejections of early release from prison, arguing that past precedents render release requests doomed from the outset. The parole boards dismiss release pleas by security prisoners wholesale and relies on the criteria set out by the law. But the court once accepted a decision which claimed that prison conditions for Hamas prisoners were worsened to put pressure on Hamas to release Gilad Shalit. According to this logic, no one should be released, the lawyer said. Visiting Sochi on Tuesday, Syrian President Bashar Assad looked like a child sent into a room for a moment to thank his uncles for the gifts he received from them, as he stood there all alone and lost, surrounded by the Russian security echelon. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter That one imagewhich was distributed by the Kremlin, by the wayreflects Syria's situation and the permanent agreement the Russians are concocting for the country, and largely for Israel too. Assad's trip to Russia on Monday was kept secret. He likely arrived on a Russian military aircraft, without an entourage, and even without his own interpreter. At first, he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin for three hours. Then he got caught in an event that had nothing to do with his visit. Assad and Putin, surrounded by top Russian security officials Putins schedule includes a periodical meeting with the security echelon for discussions on the Russian armys purchase plans. The defense minister was there, along with the chief of staff, the security industry heads and the heads of the military branches. Foreign leaders dont enter these meetings, which are run by Putin. The Russian president simply dragged Assad into the room to recite the required words of gratitude. I would like to introduce you to the people responsible for the success in Syria, Putin explained to Assad and to the cameras, pointing at the meeting attendees. As you know, apart from Turkey and Iran, we work intensively with other countries as well: With Egypt, the United States and Jordan. Which country was excluded from the list of countries Russia works with intensively? Israel. But the most important diplomatic development concerning the Syrian issue will take place in Sochi on Wednesday in the summit organized by Putin with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, where Syria will be divided into spheres of influence. Thats where the loot will be divided. The US isnt part of it, and neither is Syria. Assad hasnt been invited to the meeting. While Assad sees the Turkish invasion of northern Syria as hostile involvement, Putin has made it clear to him that, as part of the spheres of influence division in the permanent agreement in Syria, Turkey will be getting responsibility and influence over areas in the northern part of the country. The Russians see Turkey as their trojan horse in NATO. Erdogan is also offering Putin his ability to influence the moderate opposition forces, like the Free Syrian Army which is based in Turkey. Turkey, on its part, sees Russia as the only ally capable of maintaining its interests against hostile elements like the Kurds and against the infiltration of refugees into its territory. Putin and Rouhani, earlier this year. The most important diplomatic development concerning Syria will take place in Wednesdays summit (Photo: Reuters) The Iranians will receive Damascus, a considerable part of the Syrian army systems, inhabited by pro-Iranian militias and Hezbollah men. The Iranians basically control the Syrian army. So despite the conflict of interests, the Russians will receive the Assad regimes stability from the Iranians. Russia will start diluting its forces in Syria till the end of the year and will remain with reduced forces in western Syria along the coast, where the Russians will have a limited aerial deployment and a changing naval deployment, as well as a defense system for these forces. That is also what the Russians will bring to the permanent agreement talks in Geneva. The Americans, who are allegedly leading the talks, are being updated at best by the Russians and are only waiting for the moment they can get out of Russia. Assad is a marionette. And what about Israel? It will have to take care of its interests on its own. As part of the Russian attempt to soften Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrovs statement on Irans right to remain in Syria, the Russian ambassador to Israel announced Tuesday that Russia was taking Israels interests in Syria into account. The Russians should do so, as Israel is the leading element that could spoil the party. If Israel decides that it considers permanent pro-Iranian Shiite forces in Syrian military camps as a red line and bombs them, the Russians will have to explain to their Iranian allies why they are failing to control the Israelis. The day the Iranian-run airport in Syria is erased, all agreements will go up in the flames that will be ignited on the Israeli-Syrian border. A woman, who was 14 years old when she was seriously wounded in a terror attack in Jerusalem six years ago, passed away early Wednesday morning. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Hodaya Asulin, a resident of Mevo Horon in the West Bank, was seriously wounded by a bomb that blew up near a payphone close to the International Convention Center in the capital on March 23, 2011, and had been in a coma since. Hodaya Asulin (Photo: Courtesy of the Asulin family) A 59-year-old British tourist was also killed, and dozens were wounded in the blast. Following an investigation into the attack, it emerged that a bomb had been hidden in a bag near a public telephone and exploded at around 3pm next to the 74 bus line. Scene of the attack (Photo: Gil Yohanan) Since the attack, Asulin received intensive medical treatment, clinching on to her life in a protracted struggle. In the last two weeks, however, a serious deterioration in her medical state was recorded, causing her to pass away in her hospital bed in Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center in Jerusalem. Scene of the attack (Photo: Reuters) Hodayas uncle, Rafi Asulin, spoke to Ynet after his nieces passing. For the last six-and-a-half years, we have fought for the family to be complete, but at the end of the end, Hodaya passed away. Her death is extremely painful for her parents. We loved Hodaya deeply, he said. (Photo: Gil Yohanan) Hodayas parents, both of whom work in education, changed their daily lives to tend to their daughter at home. Throughout the years, they opened a small hospital in their home, and the whole family helped Hodaya, Rafi added. She underwent three resuscitations and survived them all, but last night, she died. The special counsel overseeing the FBI investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election, Robert Mueller, is investigating US President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner, looking further into his contacts with senior Israeli officials, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter In their report, the paper claimed that several sources involved in the investigation said that Kushner had spoken with senior Israeli officials who sought to thwart the UN Security Council from passing Resolution 2334, which states that Israeli settlement activities in "Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, including east Jerusalem" constitute a "flagrant violation" of international law and have "no legal validity." According to the sources, Kushner approached foreign leaders following talks with Israeli officials and tried to influence their vote on the council. The report states that the attempts were made concurrently with Trump's calls for Obama to veto the vote, which was held about a month before Trump's inauguration. Kushner (L) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Photo: EPA) The Obama administration rejected his request, and instead decided to abstain from voting. The resolution, which was approved by a decisive majority of 14-0 council members, opens the way, in principle, to sue Israelis settlers in International Court. It also paved the way for determining methods for monitoring and reporting on Israeli settlement activities, which could lead to sanctions against it. An Israeli political source told news agencies a few hours before the vote that "President Obama and Secretary (John) Kerry are behind this shameful move against Israel at the UN. The US administration secretly cooked up with the Palestinians an extreme anti-Israeli resolution behind Israels back which would be a tailwind for terror and boycotts." "Obama broke decades of policy in which the United States defended Israel at the UN," summarized the official, who asked not to be identified. Shortly after his inauguration, Trump appointed Kushner to lead the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. (Photo: Amos Ben Gershom/GPO) Two weeks ago it was reported that Trump and his advisers had begun to formulate an outline for a solution to the conflict based on the two-state solution, even though it apparently does not commit to the establishment of a Palestinian state. Kushner is currently under scrutiny by the FBI for undisclosed contacts with the Russian ambassador to the United States during and after the 2016 presidential campaign, and has been questioned several times for alleged collusion with the Kremlin to aid the Trump campaign in the elections against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. He has also been questioned on suspicions of relying on Russian funds to finance his business activities and is suspected to be the person who advised Trump to fire former FBI chief James Comey who has been looking into Trumps connections to Russia as part of his investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. One of the reasons behind Mueller's investigation into Kushner's contacts with Israeli officials could be related to these current ongoing investigations, as Russia is one of the five countries that could veto the vote on the resolution and thus protect Israel in case the US allows it to continue. An IDF force opened fire on two Palestinian suspects who illegally crossed the border from the northern part of the Gaza Strip into Israel. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter One of them was moderately wounded and taken to the hospital to receive medical treatment. The second was taken for questioning. During their arrest, the force searched them for concealed weapons and found a knife on one of them. IDF forces at the Gaza border (Photo: EPA) Security forces are now looking into whether the two planned to carry out an attack or crossed into Israel in order to be arrested, in light of the difficult conditions in the Gaza Strip, as has already happened hundreds of times since Operation Protective Edge. The two were spotted by the Gaza Division's observation posts and caught during their crossing. An Armored Corps force was deployed to the site to secure the area. The incident took place about three weeks after the demolition of a terrorist tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip, in which 12 Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists were killed. The tunnel demolition raised tensions along the border, with residents of Israeli communities near the strip concerned of a possible revenge attack by the PIJ. An Israeli laboratory at the Kerem Shalom Gaza crossing recently thwarted an attempted smuggling of several tons of explosive substances that were headed for terror groups in the strip. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The lab, which was recently established at the crossing at the behest of the Land Crossings Authority in the Ministry of Defense, was called into action after a truck arrived at the area that was carrying what was said to be a large load of car oils. Cargo of explosive substances headed for Gaza (: ) X Guards conducting the security checks grew suspicious of the trucks content, and transferred specific oil types to the lab for further investigation, where it transpired that the oils were not intended for car engines, but were rather dangerous substances intended for the production of large quantities of explosive devices. (Photo: Defense Ministry) Lab experts who initiated the joint project between the Land Crossings Authority, the Shin Bet and the Police border crossings department use a wide range of advanced equipment to identify the substances, which included gas, liquids, powder and solids, before they enter Gaza. (Photo: Defense Ministry) The laboratorys special methods to swiftly identify the dangerous materials are intended not only to limit terror activities in the southern enclave, but also to reduce delays that commonly accompany the entrance of cargo into the strip due to meticulous security checks. (Photo: Defense Ministry) Head of the Land Border Crossings Authority Brig. Gen. (res.) Kamil Abu Rokon, praised the work of the laboratory, noting the significant expansion of methods at its disposal to thwart similar smuggling attempts. (Photo: Defense Ministry) The establishment of the chemicals lab greatly widens the tool box for security officials in their daily and uncompromising struggle against smuggling into the Gaza Strip, Rokon said. The labs abilities include a range of means and the most important of all is the human elementthose who do the security checks at the crossings, he added. With our smart work, we know today how to locate forbidden materials that could help strengthen terror elements in the Gaza Strip. The lower house of Argentina's National Congress passed legislation this week declaring March 17 to be a day of remembrance and solidarity with the victims of the 1992 terror attack at the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, which claimed the lives of 29 people. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter When the legislative process is completed, all provinces in Argentina would be required to include in their curriculum educational activities dedicated to the consequences of global terrorism and the promotion of a dialogue of peace and non-violence. The new legislation is the result of a successful campaign led by Israel's Ambassador Ilan Sztulman and the embassy in Buenos Aires. The Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires in the wake of the attack (Photo: Avi Peretz) Of the 189 members of Chamber of Deputies who voted on the legislation to recognize March 17 as "A Day of Remembrance and Solidarity with the Victims of the Attack on the Israeli Embassy," 187 voted in favor, while one voted against and one abstained. The Senate would now have to approve the legislation with a majority of more than 50 percent (37 votes). Officials in the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires estimate there are currently 41 senators who support the legislation, with seven or eight additional senators also potentially supporting it. The embassy hopes to bring the legislation to a vote in the Senate in March 2018 in an effort to complete the legislative process before the anniversary of the attack. The Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires in the wake of the attack (Photo: AFP) The legislation officially recognizes a 1999 ruling of the Argentine Supreme Court that determined Hezbollah and Iran were responsible for the attack. This fact will also be included in the educational activities surrounding the Memorial Day. The legislation is part of the warming of ties between Israel and Argentina under the leadership of President Mauricio Macri, who is considered a friend of Israel. Under his predecessor, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, Buenos Aires' ties with Jerusalem strained. Kirchner was accused of cooperating with the Iranians in covering up Tehran's involvement in the attacks on the Israeli embassy and on the AMIA Jewish community center in the Argentine capital. On March 17, 1992, a car bomb blew up at the entrance to the Israeli Embassy in the Argentine capital, killing 29 people. Four of the dead were Israeli citizens working in the embassy, while four others were Jewish Argentine women. Over 220 people were wounded in the attack and entire sections of the historical four-story building collapsed. Lebanons Saad al-Hariri on Wednesday suspended his decision to resign as prime minister at the request of President Michel Aoun to allow for dialogue, easing a major political crisis. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Hariri made his announcement after returning to Beirut on Tuesday night for the first time since his November 4 shock resignation in a statement broadcast from Saudi Arabia. President Michel Aoun (L) with Saad al-Hariri (Photo: AFP) He said all Lebanese parties must commit to keeping Lebanon out of regional conflicts, a reference to the powerful, Iran-backed group Hezbollah whose regional role is a source of deep concern in Saudi Arabia. He said hoped his decision would open a new gateway for a responsible dialogue. I presented today my resignation to President Aoun and he urged me to wait before offering it and to hold onto it for more dialogue about its reasons and political background, and I showed responsiveness, Hariri said in a televised statement. Hariris resignation pitched Lebanon to the forefront of the regional tussle between Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Shiite Islamist Iran, which backs the powerful Lebanese group Hezbollah. Lebanese state officials and senior politicians close to Hariri say Riyadh forced him to quit and held him in the kingdom, which Saudi Arabia and Hariri have denied. Saad al-Hariri (Photo: AFP) The resignation took even Hariris aides by surprise. Hariris return to Lebanon followed an intervention by France. A long-time Saudi ally, Hariri cited fear of assassination in his resignation speech, and attacked Iran and its powerful Lebanese ally Hezbollah for sowing strife in the Arab world. The United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO) has chosen to honor the Israeli Volcani Institute, but the Israeli government has decided to snub the event. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Minister of Education Naftali Bennett and Minister of Agriculture Uri Ariel have decided, in conjunction with the Prime Minister's Office, that the insitute would not accept the prize as part of steps Israel is taking against UNESCO for its anti-Israel resolutions. UNESCO announced in August that it has decided to honor the Israeli Volcani Center, which serves as the research arm of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, for its contribution to the research of life sciences. UNESCO (Photo: AP) This is the first time that an Israeli institute is a recipient of this prize. "The institute has successfully developed cutting-edge innovations and methodologies in agricultural research with practical applications as well as capacity building programs to promote food security in arid, semi-arid and desert environments, advancing human well-being," UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova said. But Israel has decided not to attend the UNESCO 2017 Life Sciences awards ceremony, which is set to take place in Equatorial Guinea in two weeks. "There is no doubt that the Volcani Institute and its researchers deserve awards and recognition, but not from an organization that has in the past endorsed political resolutions against Israel," said a senior official who was party to the decision. "The prize awarded to the Volcani Institute will not serve as a fig leaf to legitimize the political resolutions of this organization, which harm the State of Israel," the official said. "Our intention is not to deny the prize and the international recognition from the Volcani Institute, which no doubt deserves it, but they will not (accept the prizeed) just to (legitimize) UNESCO." US President Donald Trump has recently decided to withdraw his country's membership from UNESCO. In the wake of that decision, Israel is reconsidering its future membership in the organization as well. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed the Foreign Ministry to prepare to withdraw from the UN body. That said, the move is not currently planned for the coming year. A deputy company commander in the Givati Brigade was reprimanded and a squad commander was suspended after IDF soldiers opened fire at a suspicious car near Neve Tzur-Halamish three weeks ago, killing a Palestinian and wounding his sister. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter In late October, a Givati force was stationed at the junction between Halamish and Nabi Salih to search vehicles amid concern of an attempted vehicular attack. According to an internal investigation of the incident, the soldiers opened fire at a car after the driver failed to stop when ordered to, killing Muhammad Musa and wounding his sister Latifah. The scene of the incident (Photo: AFP) No weapons were found in the vehicle, and the incident was therefore ruled not to be an attempted attack. The soldiers told the IDF's Criminal Investigation Division (CID) the driver was driving suspiciously, and that they were operating in accordance with the rules of engagement. Latifah Musa in the hospital (Photo: AFP) Following the conclusion of the internal investigation, the Givati Brigade commander decided to reprimand the deputy company commander for failures found in the way the report of the suspicious vehicle was conveyed to the soldiers. The squad commander was suspended of command roles due to his unprofessional conduct during the incident. The CID investigation is still ongoing. A Palestinian appearing in the video published by Breaking the Silence (BtS) Monday, which was intended to reinforce a claim made a group spokesman who falsely claimed he alone had severely beaten him up during his military service, said that in fact he had been attacked by a group of soldiers, but could not confirm that the spokesman himself was involved. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The spokesman, Dean Issacharoff, had claimed that he alone had severely beaten the Palestinian man up during an arrest. However, an investigation launched to determine whether Issacharoff was lying or guilty of assault found that concluded that the evidence did not attest to the alleged beating ever having taken place. Faisal al-Natshe, interviewed by Palestinian affairs correspondent for Hadashot television news Ohad Hemo (Photo: Hadashot television news) A central witness was the alleged victim himself, Hassan Julani, who denied ever being beaten by Issacharoff. Nevertheless, after Issacharoff was accused of lying, he and his organization claimed that Juliani was the wrong man and therefore published a video which purported to show the correct man, identified as Faisal al-Natshe. In an interview on Hadashot television news (formerly Channel 2 News) Tuesday, al-Natshe, a resident of Hebron, confirmed that he was beaten, but could not confirm Issacharoff's testimony, since he said he could not remember who hit him and was unable to confirm whether Issacharoff was even present. "That day there were stone-throwing, I stood watching," al- Natshe said in an interview. "Soldiers came and grabbed me from behind. A soldier started yelling "Stop, stop" and we started to run away from him. When they caught me, they beat me with their hands and their legs. There were ten soldiers who attacked me and the person who was with me." The video, in which Issacharoff is seen walking with al-Natshe, was found by the organization's researchers in the video archives of B'Tselem. Al-Natshe identified himself in the video, but when he was shown Issacharoff's picture he could not identify him. "I forgot already," he said, "I did not see them, I do not know who hit me. If I saw him I would not recognize him, they would not let us look at them even once. "They caught us there, beat us and then took us to detention. Some were masked and some were not." Al-Natsheh confirmed that no one from the State Prosecutor's Office had contacted him or questioned him. The video X Reservists on Duty, an NGO established by IDF reserve soldiers and officers to act against BDS, insisted Tuesday night that even after the exposure of the new video, Issacharoff was lying, and that in this incident he did not hit any Palestinian. Adir Mizrahi, a combat soldier who served with Issacharoff and claimed to be filmed in the video said Tuesday night that the incident had never happened as Issacharoff detailed. Faisal al-Natshe, as seen in the video The Justice Ministry responded to BtS' claims, saying that "the incident presented in the article is unknown to us and on the face of it is inconsistent with the incident described by Issacharoff in his interrogation. "Issacharoff described an incident in which, after the arrest, the detainee refused to be handcuffed, and that he was then asked by his company commander to use force to cuff him. Then, he claimed, he alone beat the detainee until he bled and fainted," the ministry statement continued. "On the other hand, the interview (al-Natshehed) described a situation in which he claims that he was beaten by a group of masked soldiers. In any case, there is no connection between the two cases." Dean Issacharoff "As a rule," it went on, "any information that is transferred to the investigating authorities and which raises suspicion that an alleged offense was committed justifies examining the possibility of opening an investigation. And so will the current case." A senior official in the State Prosecutor's Office said Tuesday that "if new material is received that proves that there is evidence that has not been examined, the case (of Issacharoff using excessive forceed) will be reopened." Dean Issacharoff (R) with Hassan Julani, the Palestinian who refuted his claim (Photo: Breaking the Silence) The case against first lieutenant Issacharoff was opened following a video that was distributed on the internet, in which Issacharoff described in a Breaking the Silence rally how, while serving as a combat officer, he repeatedly kneed a Palestinian detainee in the face and chest, causing him to "bleed and faint" without any operational justification. His testimony was made to emphasize the IDF's brutality against Palestinian citizens in the "occupied territories," as Issacharoff and his group put it. The investigation into the incident found that Issacharoff claims "did not occur at all," after questioning the Palestinian he allegedly beat. Issacharoff then insisted the Palestinian who was questioned and refuted his claims was not the one he assaulted, publishing the video to present his version of the story. The terrorist who killed IDF soldier Elhai Taharlev in a car-ramming at the Ofra Junction in April, was given two life sentences on Wednesday. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Malik Hamed , 23, received one life sentence for the murder of the 20-year-old Golani soldier. He received the second life sentence for the attempted murder of Roi Sasson, another soldier who was with Taharlev, and two civilians who were also at the junction at the time. He was also convicted of membership in the Hamas terror organization and of carrying out operations on behalf of Hamas. Terrorist Malek Hamed in court (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg) The indictment filed against him in May details how he planned to carry out a deadly attack and claim the lives of as many Israelis as possible. According to the indictment, Hamed went out with his car on several different occasions in search of a possible target for his attack. On the morning of April 6, 2017, Hamed drove up and down the road, searching for Jews to murder, avoiding bus stops with concrete barriers that would prevent him from carrying out his plan. Hamed continued searching for easier targets and eventually noticed a bus stop at the Ofra Junction where Taharlev and Sasson were standing, along with several civilians. He veered from his path at high speed, drove in between the concrete barriers, and rammed into the soldiers, killing Taharlev on the spot and wounding Sasson. Elhai Taharlev Rabbi Ohad Taharlev, Elhai's father, said following the sentencing that "If he could've been sentenced to death, that would have been preferable. But since there is no death penalty in Israeli law, I'm glad the court accepted the prosecution's demand of two life sentences. "Since the terrorist hurt the sanctity of life and cut short Elhai's life, I hope his entire life is empty, and that he never sees the light of day," Rabbi Taharlev added. "I'm glad the court implied in its ruling that even if there is a future prisoner exchange deal, there is no reason for the terrorist to be freed under any deal, noting that 'We must hope this punishment will lead to the imprisonment of the defendant until his last days, in a way that befits the murderous deeds he committed,'" the father added. The court also ordered Hamed to pay damages to the Taharlev family and to Sasson. Attorney David Shimron State witness Miki Ganor , told police investigators that shortly after the submarine affair came to light, Attorney David Shimron met with him and tried to dissuade Ganor from telling the truth to the police. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter According to Ganor, he met with Shimron at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Jerusalem after the affair made headlines but before police launched an official investigation into suspicions of corruption surrounding the acquisition of submarines and patrol boats for the Israeli Navy from German conglomerate ThyssenKrupp. Ganor claimed Shimron, who is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cousin and personal lawyer, carried out a series of actions that constitute an obstruction of justice. Miki Ganor, left, and David Shimron (Photo: Yuval Hen, Orel Cohen) Police investigators arrived at the Jerusalem hotel to gather evidence and ascertain such a meeting between the two had indeed taken place. According to Ganor, Shimron's motivation to complete the deal was based on his receiving payment for his legal services in the matter, with Shimron supposedly due to get an additional 20 percent of Ganor's commission after the deal was signed. "After the affair made headlines, Shimron was stressed. He asked to see me," Ganor told his investigators. "During the meeting, told me, 'It's lucky we didn't sign a deal with a 20 percent commission.'" He went on to say that Shimron "was afraid of the investigation and asked that were I to be called (to testifyed), that I not tell (the police) he was due an additional 20 percent of what was paid for the submarines." Ganor also presented investigators with documents showing that after the Germans transferred 10 million euros, some of those involved in the affair demanded their share for their help in promoting the deal. Shimron has maintained there was no signed contract between him and Ganor in which the two agreed he would receive a 20 percent commission. Ganor, meanwhile, insists such an agreement was being discussed and supposed to be signed. Shimron denied having met with Ganor at the Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem, while Ganor has kept insisting the meeting did take place. Shimron did not immediately respond to requests for comment on this story. In the inauguration of a Jisr az-Zarqa police station Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned a meeting he had had with Saham Agbaria, an Arab Israeli woman whose family members were murdered and who then spoke at the Knesset, greatly moving the prime minister. The woman, an Umm al-Fahm resident, demanded Netanyahu "not use (her) story in his ceremonies." Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter "When he spoke to me in the Knesset in 2012, he promised to handle the murder investigation and help us but I've seen neither hide nor hair of him since. He's been no help, he's all bluster. I felt our case has been buried since my conversation with the prime minister," she added. The incident in question happened in 2012, when masked men broke into her family's home and shot three of her sons to death. The murders were never solved and the killers never found. The same year the Knesset held a discussion on violence, after which Netanyahu conversed with Agbaria. He promised her to personally handle the murder case. Last year the prime minister also put out a video in which he spoke about his encounter with her. Umm al-Fahm resident Saham Agbaria demanded PM Netanyahu cease using her name When Netanyahu spoke about Agbaria on Tuesday, he said, "After the minister of public security and the commissioner began their terms we met and I told them one of the first items on their agenda was ensuring law and order for our Arab citizens. I was already taken aback then by calls of distress I received. They are suffering, they are crying out and they want change. I later attended an event that rattled methere's no other word for itin the Knesset. Sitting next to me was a young Muslim woman, whose husband was murdered and younger children were threatened. She sat next to me and shook." "She told me, 'Help me, prime minister, we're living in fear.' That had an immense impression on me because it's true, because Arab society is part and parcel of the State of Israel. There are no two states, there can't be one state and then another where it's the Wild West with violence and murders," the prime minister said. After the ceremony, Agbaria was perplexed. "I don't understand, if our matter is so important, why hasn't he handled the murder case? We've been living in fear ever since. Our lives have been in danger because the killers are still loose. The prime minister is dancing on our conversation," she objected. PM Netanyahu consoled Agbaria in 2012 (Photo: Gil Yohanan) The Zait family, also from Jisr az-Zarqa, whose son Muhammad Zait was murdered several months ago, similarly professed disappointment with the police. Muhammad's mother said, "My son is dead and buried and still no one can say who murdered him. The police station they opened will help with nothing. As long as the killers are out there, our lives are in danger. Even after his murder, we' still in danger." "My son's children are asking after their father. They still can't come to terms with the fact he's dead. They keep saying, 'We want to die so we can be buried next to dad, we miss him,'" she lamented. Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit on Wednesday submitted his response to two petitions filed against the Regulation Law, stating that seeking to legalize government-backed outposts in the West Bank built on Palestinian land is "unconstitutional." Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The Regulation Law stipulates that while the land itself will remain the property of the (often Palestinian) owners, the state will be able to expropriate its use within the West Bank region (to be used by settlers). As a result, the land owners will be able to choose between being monetarily compensated at an amount higher than the land's worth, and an alternative piece of land. Mandelblit had previously stated that the law was a discriminatory and one-sided annexation that could seriously hurt Palestinian land ownership, trample recognized arrangements relating to the competition of rights on property and increase the government's capacity to seize land. "There is no alternative to a judicial declaration of the Regulation Law as unconstitutional, set to be null and void," wrote the attorney general, noting that the lawwhich intended to address the plight of settlers facing eviction and demolitionis "a sweeping and harmful arrangement that lacks proportionality." Mandelblit (Photo: Noam Moskowitz) In February, the Regulation Law passed its second and third voting rounds, with a majority of 60 to 52. Mandelblit, however, made it clear a week prior that were it to pass, he would not defend the bill in the High Court. "There is no dispute that the desire to provide a proper response to this problem, in cases where we are dealing with innocent settlers who have found themselves in a situation not in their favor, is a worthy purpose," he elaborated, while emphasizing that "at the same time, the law does not suffice to provide a response to these situations, while also being applicable in situations where there is no justification for doing so." One example for such a case would be if a citizen decides to build their home on land that has no legally undisputed ownerssay, with one claimant being an Israeli settler and the other being a Palestinian. In such a case, the AG contends, the law would have no justification for deciding on the lands' ownership by ruling in favor of the settler. "The arrangement established in the law is sweeping, injurious and gives absolute priority to the rights and interests of the settler over the property rights of the land owners in the area," Mandelblit stressed. "The law will also cause severe discrimination of the Palestinian population in the region, and therefore the law does not meet the test of proportionality." The West Bank settlement of Ofra (Photo: Topview) "This conclusion," the AG added, "is bolstered in view of the fact that this law deviates significantly from recognized arrangements in the laws of the region and in Israel relating to the competition of rights on property, as well as the arrangements relating to the taking of land rights by the authorities." "The law also raises serious questions on the level of international law," he stressed. "However, it is sufficient to conclude that the law's directives do not pass the constitutional review in order to bring to the conclusion that there is no alternative but to declare nullity." The Regulation Law is meant to settle the the legal standing of thousands of homes in West Bank settlements built on land privately owned by Palestinians. It is estimated that some 2,000 homes fall under this law's jurisdiction. Hundreds of friends and family members attended the funeral of 21-year-old Hodaya Nechama Asulin Wednesday afternoon, which took place at the Mevo Horon cemetery. Hodaya passed away overnight after six and a half years. She entered a coma after being wounded in a 2011 terrorist attack in Jerusalem and never awoke. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Hodaya's mother Michal eulogized her daughter. "You were given to us as a gift twice, once 21 years ago and again seven years ago. You made peace with your torments. It's as if you said, "Whatever G-d Almighty does is fine with me,'" Michal said. "G-d chose you to be a soldier for the Israeli people. You were tormented for the people of Israel and granted countless people at home and abroad the privilege to read Tehillim (Psalmsed) in your honor," the deceased's mother continued. Hodaya Asulin's funeral Wednesday (Photo: Shaul Golan) Hodaya's father Eliyahu read Psalms in her memory and then gave a eulogy of his own. "Thanks to Hodaya we held Torah lessons at home and many young people grew stronger in their faith. She taught us how much you can positively influence the youth," he said. Hodaya's father (2nd from left) and Safed Chief Rabbi Eliyahu (2nd from right) (Photo: Shaul Golan) Asulin's father also said the prayer were not for naught and called on young people "to carry on praying with only a minor change, to say they were for the exaltation of the soul of Hodaya Nechama." Asulin's mother then spoke of another disaster to befall the family in the past, in which she lost a baby, and said, "I explained to my friends prayers are never wasted. G-d simply chooses what to do with them." Hodaya Asulin (Photo: Courtesy of the Asulin family) The mother then turned directly to her late daughter and said, "Pray for the people of Israel, pray for our family. You've given your life for Kiddush Hashem and we thank Him for depositing you with us. The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away." MK Hanegbi attended representing the government (Photo: Shaul Golan) Many well-known rabbis attended the funeral, including Safed Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, who knew Asulin's family. "Hodaya was a wellspring of life and work. The family's heroism is an example of our own unwillingness to break. This child was killed in war, and the nation's staying power is also measured by the power of the home front," he said. MK Tzachi Hanegbi (Likud) attended the funeral as the government's representative. "Hodaya was wounded and fought year in and year out surrounded by the love of her family and town. The pain is enormous, and anyone who heard the news in the Knesset could feel the shock. Evil ended the life of a young woman in the prime of her life, but it will not vanquish our people. We'll continue settling this land and turning back our enemies," Hanegbi eulogized. Russian President Vladimir Putin met Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at his Black Sea resort of Sochi Wednesday to discuss post-Syria and Iraq after the defeat of the Islamic State and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's surprise visit to the same resort Monday. Putin said there was a "real chance" to end the years' long civil that ravaged the country, but that it would take compromises, including on Assad's part. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Putin told Rouhani and Erdogan that the Islamic State's conquest of Syria was thwarted thanks to the countries they lead and noted their "special role" in terminating hostilities in Syria. Putin added that "Syria's collapse was prevented" thanks to the countries tri-lateral efforts. Syria's postwar political settlement will be concluded during Geneva peace talks, the Russian president also said. Rouhani (L), Putin and Erdogan met in Russia to discuss Syria's future (Photo: Reuters) Putin then told his Syrian and Turkish counterparts that they have now reached a "new phase" allowing for a political settlement of the conflict. The Russian president revealed he had offered his fellow leaders the "parameters of a forum for dialogue on the Syrian issue" and made it clear to all parties that the eventual peace agreement will necessitate compromises on all sides, including the Syrian government. Footage of the trilateral Russian, Iranian, Turkish summit (Anadolu Agency) X President Rouhani replied that the time was right for a political settlement of the conflict and that he was pleased that Russia, Turkey and Iran were collaborating so closely on the issue of Syrian peace, but nevertheless emphasized that "foreign intervention in Syria must cease. Any (foreign) military presence in the country is only legitimate if it enters at the behest of the Syrian government." Shortly after the meeting, the Saudi al-Arabiya network reported that the draft of a final statement by a Syrian opposition meeting in Riyadh called for the departure of President Bashar al-Assad at the beginning of any transition. Erdogan (L) shaking hands with Rouhani (Photo: Reuters) During Assad's unannounced visit with Putin, the two conferred for four hours, in what was the first meeting between the two leaders since October 2015. The Kremlin and Assad's office published a joint announcement regarding the latter's visit. Putin congratulated Assad on his "accomplishments" on the war on terror and stated that Syria was near to achieving its goal in combating terrorism, the Kremlin said. The Syrian president then thanked Putin for his support, both militarily and politically. The three leaders met in Sochi Wednesday (Photo: Reuters) The Kremlin added Putin also intends to speak with other leaders about the Syrian conflict. These have already included Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (with whom he spoke on Tuesday for half an hour), US President Donald Trump (with whom he spoke for an hour on Tuesday), and Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. The Prime Minister's Office said that the phone conversation dealt with Syria and Iran's attempts to establish itself in Syrian territory, with the PMO stating that "Prime Minister Netanyahu insisted on Israel's security principles." A special Russian envoy will also be a spectator during the planned Syrian summit meeting with opposition factions, to be held in Riyadh this week. Putin (R) met Assad earlier this week Assad, for his part, said Damascus was interested in moving forward with a political process after the "victory over the terrorists." "We count on the support of Russia to ensure the non-interference of outside players in the political process," Assad added, speaking through an interpreter, perhaps alluding to Israel. "We are interested in dialogue with anyone interested in a political solution." GENEVA The conviction of former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic for genocide and crimes against humanity serves as a warning to others such as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the United Nations' human rights chief said on Wednesday. Earlier on Wednesday the UN Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) found Mladic guilty of the slaughter of 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica and for the siege of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, in which more than 10,000 civilians were killed by shelling and snipers over 43 months. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, who worked for the United Nations in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, said he had waited a long time for the life sentence handed down against Mladic. "Mladic is the epitome of evil and the prosecution of Mladic is the epitome of international justice," Zeid said in an interview in his Geneva office. Representatives of the coalition's Haredi parties are once again threatening to leave the coalition should Israel Railways carry out unnecessary works on Shabbat. "The coalition simply will not survive the desecration of Shabbat," said sources within the Haredi parties. In an attempt to thwart the coalition rift, Haredi representatives will meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Wednesday evening. Coalition Chairman MK David Bitan (Likud) notified fellow party member MK Benny Begin Wednesday that he was removing him from the Knesset's Internal Affairs Committee due to his refusal to vote for the bill barring police from making recommendations on indictments, and that Bitan himself will be replacing the deposed MK until further notice. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Chairman of the Knesset's House Committee MK Yoav Kish (Likud) notified the parliament's plenum of the transition. Begin then released a statement saying the change was not done at his behest. MK Begin (L) was deposed from the Internal Affairs Committee by Coalition Chairman Bitan (Photo: Gil Yohanan) The move aroused the opposition's ire. Zionist Union Chairman Avi Gabbay responded, "Begin's opposition to the bill shines an exceedingly pathetic light on Likud MKs and coalition heads' embarrassing 'silence of the lambs.' What else needs to happen for heads of the coalition's parties to say they're sick of the corruption and dismantle the government? The prime minister is exacting his vengeanceusing his proxieson an MK as honest as Begin for refusing to support a corrupt, personal bill intended to save him from political inquiries." "Under Netanyahu's reign, Likud has turned into a party whose sole purpose is to supply him with a human shield against Israel's gate keepers," Gabbay accused. Opposition leaders Lapid (L) and Gabbay criticized Begin's dismissal (Photo: Yoav Dudkevitch) Yesh Atid Chairperson Yair Lapid also commented on the dismissal, saying, "What else can they do to pass the recommendations bill? Begin's removal from the Internal Affairs Committee signifies they have lost their way more than anything else could. If Netanyahu's 'emissaries' are asked to depose Begin, the symbol of integrity, decency and statism, to pass a law, you truly can understand something stinks around here." MK Meir Cohen, also of Lapid's party, concurred. "Begin was deposed because today's Likud cannot contain a member who still hoists the flag of justice and integrity and prefers the favor of the people over the favor of politicians," he said. The parliament's Internal Affairs Committee held a discussion on the recommendations billalso forbidding police from publishing a summation presenting sufficient evidence to indictTuesday. Likud's MK David Amsalem, the committee's chair, confronted State Attorney Shay Nitzan, who vehemently objected to the bill and hinted at its relation with Netanyahu's investigations, during the discussion. SA Nitzan (L) and Internal Affairs Committee Chairman Amsalem (R) exchanged heated words Tuesday (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky) "Our role is not to replace the police. It's the public's interest," Nitzan said. "The police puts out slanderous announcements," Amsalem retorted angrily. MK Ayman Odeh (Joint List) said a new video published Wednesday proved his claims of being assaulted by police officers during violent protests in Bedouin community Umm al-Hiran in January of this year. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The video, Odeh alleged, clearly shows how a cop he was confronting sprayed him in the eyes with pepper spray. When Odeh's head was pushed back, an objectappearing to resemble a stun grenadecan be seen thrown at him. Footage allegedly showed cops pepper spraying Odeh X The violent clashes took place at nighttime between police forces and residents on the backdrop of families being evicted from their homes, and included live fire exchanges. The police force, which arrived at Umm al-Hiran to provide security for the demolition of illegal buildings in the town, opened fire on residents and wounded Yaqoub Abu al-Qiyan. MK Odeh (circled) as he was allegedly pepper sprayed by police Al-Qiyan then carried on driving and ran over and killed Sgt.-Maj. Erez Levi, who was part of the security detail. Al-Qiyan later succumbed to his wounds and passed away. An Internal Affairs inquiry into the incident found serious failings with police's conduct during the clashes, which aroused a claim the incident leading to Levi's death was not an intentional car attack. One assumption was that after being shot by police, al-Qiyan's foot remained stuck on the gas peddle, leading to his continued driving and eventually, to his hitting Levi with his car. Sgt.-Maj. Levi was killed in the clashes MK Odeh, who arrived on the scene accompanied by a group of activists, was wounded in the clashes. Immediately after the incident a photo of him severely bleeding surfaced. The video published Wednesday clearly showed police officers blocking Odeh and other activists from moving forward, pushed them back and, allegedly, spraying them with pepper spray. An objecting similar to a stun grenade could then be seen thrown at the Knesset member with loud explosions audible in the background. The video was taken by Al-Jazeera cameraman Murad Said. MK Odeh's office noted the video underwent a process to amplify its contrast because the original footage was not clear enough to make out what was going on. Odeh was later wounded, by police's sponge bullets he claims Furthermore, the shooting of sponge bullets, which wounded MK Odeh, took place later and was not captured on film. 'Everything turned out to be true' When the new footage came to light, Odeh claimed that the "web of lies and incitement by the police and government continues being exposed. Everything we claimed right from the very beginning turned out to be true. Responsibility for the horrible loss suffered by the al-Qiyan and Erez families belongs to (Public Security Minister Gilad) Erdan and (Israel Police Commissioner Roni) Alsheikh, who should have resigned the same day." "Almost a year has passed, and it seems that instead of uncovering the truth and bringing those responsible to justice Internal Affairs is busier with covering up the affair. We continue demanding an independent committee of inquiry examine the bloody events of Umm al-Hiran from the moment the decision was made to the tragic aftermath. The only justice we can still offer the al-Qiyan family lies in uncovering the truth, recognizing the village of Umm al-Hiran and allowing the residents to stay on their land. We will continue fighting for that," Odeh vowed. Chairman of the town's committee Raad Abu al-Qiyan said "the video attests to the web of lies in Umm al-Hiran. Junior officers can be clearly seen assaulting the MK. Returning the case file to Internal Affairs speaks for itself. On the one hand they return the case, but on the other they're trying to lull the public to sleep." Umm al-Hiran's committee chairman referred to State Attorney Shay Nitzan's decision to return the case to Internal Affairs to conclude the investigation. Al-Qiyan rammed a cop with his car after being shot at by police Odeh's office, meanwhile, claimed that "the video apparently stands at the center of the renewed Internal Affairs investigation of the assault", but according to police sources Nitzan's decision had nothing to do with the video but stemmed from new information received regarding the car ramming incident. The case on Odeh's assault also returned to the force for completion. Police commented that "Unfortunately, time and time again the Israel Police pays a public price for being the only element meticulous about upholding the law and avoiding leaks and obstructions of justice. The Israel Police has been waiting for many months now on the official summation of an investigation that was shelved and then reopened for examination of specific details. We are forced to withhold further comment until the investigation concludes fully." Can't download the mp3s or zip files? Baffled by the point of this blog? Please go to the FAQ first of all. Your answer should be there. NOTE - you can also join our Facebook group by clicking on this link or alternatively feel free to be a Twitter follower . My personal site where you can find out more about my writing can also be found here "Left and to the Back" is a blog exploring the dark and dusty world of flop singles and albums, the kind you may find lingering near the stock room of your local second hand record store (if you still have one), or perhaps going for extortionate sums on ebay. The music uploaded to this site is for evaluation only, and where it is otherwise available at a reasonable price I would persuade you to support your local second hand record store by buying it. Many of the posts on here are about digging around in these shops and being thrilled by ridiculous and obscure finds, and I hope I'm persuading a few more readers to get out there and dig around. So please do dig. Man. No blog or download site can ever be an effective substitute. For a better idea about the kind of music featured, both sublime and ridiculous, please go to our Spotify playlist here . Please note that L&TTB is not primarily a sixties blog, even though a lot of good "lost" material was released around this era and will be featured. In short, if I like it and it's interesting, I'll upload it. And sometimes if I don't like it but it's interesting, it will also feature. Public meetings strive to raise optimism despite the announced closing of a Gothenburg manufacturing plant LEXINGTONWhile news Nov. 8 that a Gothenburg manufacturing plant would be closing and its jobs relocated to Kearney caught people by surprise and wasnt welcome, Gothenburg officials are trying to remain optimistic. Surviving a plant closure isnt unprecedented in Dawson County and Gothenburg has turned to its neighbors in Cozad for perspective. The Gothenburg Improvement Company, Dawson Area Development and Gothenburg Chamber of Commerce sponsored two community meetings on Monday: a noon meeting at the Gothenburg Senior Center and a 7 p.m. meeting in the Discovery Center at Gothenburg Public Schools to share facts and answer questions. Nate Wyatt, vice president of Gothenburg Improvement Company, said he reached out to Parker to ask questions. Although he was disappointed that the company said the matter was a done deal and couldnt be negotiated, he said he felt more comfortable once he understood that Parker has no plans to eliminate jobs. Each associate will be offered employment at the Kearney facility. He noted that the Parker Tech Seal facility in Gothenburg with the O Ring Division will not be impacted. Wyatt said when Parker corporate officials were in Gothenburg a year ago, to celebrate 25 years of being in Gothenburg, they praised outstanding work crews, impeccable quality and great morale. "That has nothing to do with the machinery and equipment that is here," said Wyatt. "Its the people and the Midwest work ethic." "What has really made this facility a great shining spot is the people," he said. He said in the near future Parker will be ramping up production to build up its inventory before the change takes place. This will mean expanded production, ahead of changes in which lines are phased out of Gothenburg and moved to Kearney. He said Dawson Area Development, GIC and the Gothenburg Chamber of Commerce are working to provide resources and opportunities to those who do not want to transfer to Kearney. Wyatt said the current unemployment rate in Dawson County is 3 percent and such low employment creates challenges for potential employers. "Employers are willing to expand if they have the workforce," he said. "We do have a workforce shortage issue in Dawson County," said Andrea McClintic, DAD executive director. She said if Parker employees choose not to commute there will be other jobs in the area for them. Additionally, she said people should spread the word to friends and family to consider moving back to the area. "We have a lot of opportunities here. We need people here," said Wyatt. He said when Tenneco announced a plant closure in 2009 and closed the facility in 2010, there were 600 employees impacted and relocation job offers meant moving out of state. "Our county absorbed those jobs very gracefully," he said. "We had the capacity to add people to the jobs that existed." He said at present employees are in higher demand. He said Jeff Whiting, owner of Runza in Cozad and Gothenburg, said when the Tennaco closing was announced he was shocked and worried about the future of his business. He not only kept going, within six months he bought the Cozad building he had been renting. In a fact sheet given to meeting attendees, Whiting states, "The interesting thing is that it really had little impact on our business there. Im thankful I didnt rush to a quick decision on the future of our Cozad location and would advise business owners in Gothenburg to approach this announcement the same." Karl Randecker, CEO and president of First State Bank, as well as a member of GIC, said Taylor Walker is in the process of opening a new restaurant and plans to proceed with those plans. "This is a terrible event that has happened to us, but were going to get through it," said Randecker. "Its going to be business as usual." He said at some point GIC will do everything it can to find a new employer. He noted that the plant is in great shape, which was not the case in Cozad with the Tennaco plant. Dean Kugler asked if Parker had made a commitment that the building would be available for sale. "Thats a real important aspect moving forward," he said. "We have reached out to Parker to try to ask that question," said Wyatt, noting the company plans to occupy it until Oct. 2018. He said looking at the history of Parker, they are not in the habit of keeping buildings. Gothenburg plant manager Brian Riley said he gets phone calls daily from people interested in the building and its assets. "It will be a hot commodity," he said, noting there is a division in Parker that handles such matters. The Parker facility in Kearney has 1 million square feet compared to 100,000 square feet in Gothenburg. There are 140 positions at Parker that are to be relocated to Kearney. It is estimated that half those workers live in Gothenburg. Others reside in places like Cozad and Lexington. Wyatt and Randecker also told attendees that Gothenburg will have a special election in February to vote on continuing its additional sales tax. "The vote is not a new tax, it is a reauthorization of how the current tax can be utilized," said Wyatt. If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales. Albert Einstein It is often asserted that the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 proved that HWA was right and he really did see the future. This of course is nonsense. Herbert W. Armstrong said that Christ would return within twenty years in his book Mystery of the Ages. (PCG has since deleted those words so someone in there knows HWA spoke nonsense.) How convenient for them to forget this. Also Herbert W. Armstrong never said the Soviet Union would collapse. He thought it would survive intact until a few years after Christ's return. It shows how biased some many in the COGs are that they never seem to notice this. This inconvenient truth is just tossed into the memory hole. It is true that HWA said that some Eastern European states would break away from Moscow's orbit and join the European Empire he said would arise at any moment. But he never talked of the Soviet Union collapsing. He did not teach that. Also he portrayed the rise of the European Empire to be far quicker then what has actually happened. In Mystery of the Ages Christ was supposed to return by 2005 at the most. So assertions that the fall of the Berlin Wall somehow prove that HWA was right is just complete nonsense spread by people who, for whatever reason, are still in denial that HWA was a false prophet who merely talked out of his own "human reasoning". SPRINGFIELD Only 157 endangered Snake River sockeye salmon returned to the Sawtooth Valley this year and not one of them came from a $14 million hatchery built to help their recovery. The Springfield Hatchery opened in eastern Idaho in 2013, paid for by the Bonneville Power Administration a federal agency that markets power from dams in the Northwest and whose ratepayers provide a major source of funding for regional salmon recovery. It was designed to add up to 1 million more sockeye that could be released into Redfish Lake Creek near Stanley. But Idaho Department of Fish and Game biologists discovered the young salmon smolts have been dying after their release because of stress. What we have learned is that water chemistry appears to be a significant contributor to reduced survival, Jesse Trushenski, a fish health expert with the department, said when the problem was announced at a meeting Nov. 14. The water in the Springfield Hatchery has an unusually high level of calcium carbonate, making it extremely hard while Redfish Lake Creeks water is unusually soft, said Paul Kline, Fish and Game assistant chief of fisheries. When the smolts were released into the creek, they suffered a physiological shock. It has taken Fish and Game three years to solve the mystery of the low survival numbers of Springfield-raised sockeye. Biologists noticed reduced survival from the Springfield fish in 2015, when the first sockeye raised there were placed into the creek to begin their long journey to the Pacific Ocean. But overall, a similar number of ocean-bound Idaho sockeye survived between Lower Granite Dam the first the fish encounter on the Snake River and Bonneville Dam, compared to Columbia River sockeye populations. In 2016, with good downstream flows, only 13 percent of Snake River sockeye survived to Bonneville. The usual number of Columbia sockeye survived in the range of 50 percent, Kline said. It was only this spring, when biologists saw thousands of another 230,000 Springfield sockeye die immediately upon release into the creek, that the chemistry issue was discovered. They found high stress hormones in the dead and dying salmon, caused by going from the very hard water to the very soft water. Kevin Lewis, executive director of Idaho Rivers United, was skeptical when the BPA decided to spend millions on the hatchery. He said breaching the four dams on the lower Snake River in Washington ultimately is the most cost-effective way to recover sockeye. He questions why biologists for Fish and Game and the other agencies involved didnt consider water hardness an issue in the beginning. We the taxpayers are paying the freight for all this, Lewis said. The agency had water quality experts analyze the water when the hatchery was built, Kline said. No red flags came up. The sockeye raised in other hatcheries, including the Eagle and Sawtooth hatcheries, had none of the same problems. What we didnt know was the extremely soft water (in Redfish Lake Creek) was going to be a problem, Kline said. Virgil Moore, director of Idaho Fish and Game, is also a fish biologist. Its not unusual to have startup problems with hatcheries because they are all unique, he said. What can Fish and Game do at this point? The Sawtooth Hatchery near Stanley is close to Redfish Lake Creek. It uses water from the Salmon River that has a hardness between the creeks and that found at Springfield. Experiments at the Eagle Hatchery show that smolts taken there first to acclimate can be released into the creek without harm, Kline said. Fish and Game has reduced its goal for raising Springfield sockeye to 700,000 smolts in 2019. It has 500,000 pre-smolts it plans to release in 2018. Of those, 450,000 will be split between two possible workarounds: acclimation in the Sawtooth Hatchery, and direct release into the Salmon River. Another 50,000 will be placed into Redfish Lake Creek as a control, Kline said. Just the latest sockeye setback Snake River sockeye, the southernmost population of sockeye salmon in the world, nearly vanished in the 1990s. In 1992, only one returned to the Sawtooth Valley: Idahos famed Lonesome Larry. The Idaho Department of Fish and Game placed him into a captive breeding program, along with 15 other sockeye that held the valuable genetic code allowing them to travel 900 miles and climb to 6,500 feet above sea level. The last truly wild sockeye salmon returned to Idaho in 1998. Fish and Game kept up its efforts, and in 2010 declared its project was successful enough to convert from a genetic conservation program to a recovery program. That year, 1,355 sockeye returned to Idaho, including 180 from the breeding program that spawned in the wild. In 2014, a full 1,516 sockeye reached Idaho lakes and streams a record since four key dams were built along the Snake River in the 1960s and 70s, contributing to altered fish runs. In 2015, the first year Springfield came online, hot temperatures in reservoirs along the Columbia and Snake killed most of the 4,000 Snake River sockeye counted at Bonneville Dam. Just 56 Idaho sockeye made the trip back to the Sawtooth Valley on their own. Another 35 were trucked to Fish and Games Eagle hatchery. The poor returns overall for Snake River salmon and steelhead show that federal dam managers and BPA are using the wrong approach, said Idaho River Uniteds Lewis. BPA is crying about spending so much money on fish and wildlife for dam mitigation, so now weve spent $16 billion on salmon recovery and Idahos wild fish have little to show for it, he said. BPA spokesman David Wilson said BPA and its partners have made tremendous progress with fish recovery in the Pacific Northwest through the use of conservation hatcheries. While its unfortunate that unforeseen issues have occurred, we are confident that IDFG and other regional partners will identify a solution and that over time, the current Snake River sockeye challenges will be overcome, Wilson said. Rick Williams is a fisheries biologist from Eagle who has questioned the salmon programs reliance on hatcheries. He said it was unfair to expect Fish and Game to have known about the water hardness issue before the hatchery was built. Unanticipated consequences is always a part of salmon management when we take them out of their natural environment, Williams said. TWIN FALLS A man accused of stabbing a woman last week appeared in court Tuesday. Philip M. Wolff, 33, was arraigned on a charge of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and a judge set his bond at $1 million. Police say Wolff stabbed a 28-year-old woman multiple times in the neck and upper body. On the evening of Nov. 15, police responded to a call on the 100 block of Quincy Street, where they found the injured woman on the street near her home. She told officers that Wolff, a friend of hers, had come over that night. At some point during the visit, Wolff pulled a knife out of his pocket and began to stab her. Police found Wolff, who was known to law enforcement, leaving the home. According to police, Wolff appeared to be delusional during an interrogation and was unable to respond to questioning in a coherent way. Police said Wolff was uncooperative in jail, delaying his initial appearance in court. Generally, defendants are arraigned within 24 hours of being arrested. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Dec. 1. BURLEY Two Mini-Cassia men have been charged with rape in separate cases. Michael Clayton, 22, of Burley, is charged with two counts of felony rape, after Cassia County Sheriff detectives said he had sex in 2016 with a 16-year-old girl when he was 20 years old. The girl told investigators she met him through friends and at the time he told her he was 18 years old. The girl said they had sex on two different occasions in his pickup truck at Milner Dam. She said she told him they needed to end the relationship because of the age difference, but he told her no and that no one would find out. The girls parents intervened and ended the relationship. A preliminary hearing is set for Friday in Cassia County Magistrate Court. TJ Layne Speers, 19, of Rupert, was charged in Cassia County with four counts of felony rape, after the Rupert Police Department contacted the Cassia County Sheriffs Office to inform them that Speers was having sex with a 14-year-old girl at a Burley residence between Jan 1 and June 30. Speers was 18 years old at the time. Speers told police that he had a sexual relationship with the girl that involved protected sex. He told investigators they had sex four times in the girls bedroom but he couldnt remember the dates or her address. He said he broke it off with her because of their age difference. When the girl was first questioned by detectives she denied the sexual relationship and did not want to go into detail, but eventually she said the sex occurred at her home. No hearings are currently set in the case. TWIN FALLS A Twin Falls man was arraigned Tuesday on charges including aggravated assault, aggravated battery and attempted kidnapping, with bond set at $1 million. Steven Harmon Smith, 67, was taken into custody Monday afternoon following a chase through the city. Police began pursuing Smiths car after reports of a fight involving a firearm at Garibaldis restaurant. According to police, Smiths wife and her son had been eating at the restaurant. When they walked out the door, they found Smith waiting for them in the parking lot. Smiths wife and her son said Smith pointed a handgun at them and demanded they get in the car, and a physical struggle ensued. Smith then took off in his vehicle. Smith denied pulling out the gun, and said he was not the one to start the fight. Smiths wife told police she had recently filed for divorce because her husband had been exhibiting increasingly violent and erratic behavior. Smith said he had spotted his wifes vehicle while driving by Garibaldis and waited outside for a chance to talk to her. Police reported also finding an AR-15 rifle and an uzi in Smiths car. Police reports note that officers have been dispatched to the familys residence eleven times since February. Last week, Smith broke into the home of his wifes family in Utah, where she was staying at the time. He has been charged with two counts of aggravated assault, aggravated battery, attempted kidnapping in the second degree, and attempt to elude a police officer in a motor vehicle. There was a Steven Smith who was a Twin Falls School District administrator, Superintendent Brady Dickinson said Wednesday, but he couldnt confirm whether its the same person who was arrested. Smith was a school principal at Harrison Elementary School and Robert Stuart Middle School during the 1990s and up until about 2010 or 2011, Dickinson said. He said he doesnt have specific dates available because theyre in locked personnel files and the school district office is closed for the Thanksgiving holiday. iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- A U.S. Navy aircraft with 11 passengers and crew crashed into the Philippine Sea on Wednesday on its return to the USS Ronald Reagan, according to the Navy's 7th Fleet. Eight of the 11 have been rescued and are in good condition, the Navy said. Search and rescue efforts continue for the other three people onboard the aircraft when it went down. The crash, which took place about 500 nautical miles (575 miles) southeast of Okinawa, Japan, happened at 2:45 p.m. local time, which is 12:45 a.m. ET. The USS Ronald Reagan is conducting search and rescue operations, the Navy said. The cause of the crash is unknown. The Navy said the C2-A aircraft was conducting "a routine transport flight carrying passengers and cargo from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni to USS Ronald Reagan." The USS Ronald Reagan is currently operating in the Philippine Sea. The ship was taking part in Annual Exercise 2017 (AE17), a bilateral field-training exercise with the Japanese Navy conducted in waters off Japan from Nov. 16 to Nov. 26. It is one of three carriers currently operating in the area, along with the USS Nimitz and USS Theodore Roosevelt. They took part in a military exercise a little over a week ago as a show of strength toward North Korea. The accident is the latest in a series of disasters in 2017 for the 7th Fleet, which is stationed in Japan. In January, the USS Antietam ran aground off the coast of Japan, damaging its propellers and spilling oil into the water. The USS Lake Champlain collided with South Korean fishing boat on May 9. Seven U.S. sailors were killed when the USS Fitzgerald collided with a Philippine-flagged container ship in the middle of the night off the coast of Yokosuka on June 17. And the deadliest accident came on Aug. 21, when 10 U.S. sailors were killed when the USS John S. McCain collided with commercial vessel Alnic MC in waters east of Singapore, according to the Navy. The commander of the 7th Fleet was removed of his command in late August following the USS John S. McCain accident. Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin was relieved of duty due to a "loss of confidence in his ability to command," according to the Navy. Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. After competing in the Wide Angle category of the Busan International Film Festival in October, Carlo Fajardas short film, Suerte, will vie for awards next in the Southeast Asian short film competition of the 28th Singapore International Film Festival from today till Dec. 3. Suerte, which literally means luck in Filipino and was used as a name of a street in the film, follows two amateur filmmakers (played by Fajarda himself and the films director of photography and editor Phillipe Quintos) shooting a documentary about the drug trade. While they go along with their subjects, brothers Betong (Karl Medina) and Roel (Dan Medrana), they slowly get involved until the point of no return. As the night wears on, their dangerous obsession with their project forces them to cross the line between observer and creator. The cast and crew of the digital short film, "Suerte" Fajardas thesis film at the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde joins three other Filipino films competing for the Silver Screen Awards in the festival. They are Carlo Francisco Manatads Jodilerks Dela Cruz, Employee of the Month, Margarita Minas Puppy Love, and Andrew Stephen Lees The Sound of Coins Hitting Brass. SGIFF will feature over 100 films from 42 countries. It is the longest-running and leading international film platform in Southeast Asia for independent cinema. Also part of the Philippine contingent in the official selection are Salvage: Malay Wild by Sherad Anthony Sanchez, The One Armed Executioner by Bobby A. Suarez. and In the Claws of A Century Wanting by Jewel Maranan. ADVERTISEMENT Founded in 1987, the festival focuses on independent films, particularly those from Asia. The Silver Screen Awards is divided into the Asian feature film competition and the Southeast Asian short film competition. The awards night will be held at the Grand Theatre of Marina Bay Sands on Dec. 2. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Analysts expect oil prices to come down by year-end despite the political tension inside Saudi Arabia, OPECs main producers, and the turmoil plaguing several other oil producing countries. Ahead of next weeks OPEC meeting in Vienna, crude oil prices are slightly falling with the possibility of hitting $52.60 per barrel by the end of 2017 through price swings in volatility along the way. The production-cuts agreement OPEC brokered a year ago will be at the top of the agenda when the countries meet in Vienna. On top of the agenda of the OPEC meeting is the oil production cut beyond the current March 2018 end-date. Despite signals from OPEC that the production agreement will be extended beyond the current March 2018 end-date, Iranian oil minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said earlier this week that most members want it so. Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri attended the 47th celebration of his countrys independence in Beirut on Wednesday after he touched down at Beirut international airport late Tuesday ending two weeks of Saudi-imposed exile. According to press reports, Lebanse President Michel Aoun said Hariri has put his resignation on hold. The Sunni leader was expected to meet later with his supporters at his resident in down Town Beirut and to attend the customary reception at the presidential palace after the independence military parade. Hariri, who also holds the Saudi citizenship, took the Lebanese and the world by surprise on November 4 by announcing his resignation in a broadcast from Riyadh, one day after arriving in the Saudi kingdom. He explained his resignation by assassination threats and picked on Iran and its Lebanon-based ally Hezbollah for spreading strife in the region. His resignation brought Lebanon at the forefront of regional proxy conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which seemingly exercises influence on Hariris one-year old cabinet. Members of his own Future Movement, President Michel Aoun and Hezbollah believed Riyadh coerced him into resigning and put him under house arrest. Hariri and Riyadh denied that. The son of assassinated Lebanese Premier, Rafik Hariri, last week promised to return home and to attend his countrys Independence Day celebrations. During his stay in Riyadh Hariri made a brief visit to the Emirates. President Aoun has yet accepted his resignation and indicated that he will wait for Hariri to tender the decision to him personally or try to address it. The resigning Prime Minister arrived to Beirut from Larnaca in Cyprus where he met late at night with President Nicos Anastasiades. Hours before the Cyprus stop, he was in Egypt where he met with President al-Sisi. Over the weekend, he was in Paris and held talks with President Emmanuel Macron. Lebanese top officials last week said they would use diplomatic channels to secure Hariris return. Late last week President Emmanuel Macro sent his foreign minister Le Drian to Riyadh to convince Saudi authorities to let Hariri leave the kingdom for France with his family. At least 50 people have been killed in a suicide bombing in the eastern Nigerian state of Adamawa on Tuesday, local media reported. According to the police, a bomber struck inside a mosque packed with worshippers during morning prayers in the town of Mubi. Some 20,000 people have been killed in Boko Harams eight-year insurgency in Nigeria and neighboring countries in similar attacks. The Boko Haram had captured Mubi in 2014, before the Army restored control in early 2015. While Nigerias military has made progress in combating Boko Harams deadly insurgency in recent years, the group continues to carry out suicide attacks in the northern region. The group often uses female or child bombers, probably from the persons abducted. The region, which is facing a near-famine after suffering at least $9 billion in damage from the destruction of bridges, schools and villages, already had some of the countrys highest poverty levels before the insurgency. President Muhammadu Buhari who has recently visited troops fighting the Islamist militants in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, urged the international community to support the Lake Chad region in its fight against Islamist extremism even as other conflicts emerge. Zimbabwean ex-Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Tuesday called on 93-year-old President Mugabe to resign, saying he needed to heed the clarion call of his people. The self-exiled Robert Mugabes most likely successor, Emmerson Mnangagwa, said he had been in contact with Mugabe and invited to return but would not do so until his personal security could be guaranteed. Zimbabwe has been in political turmoil since last week after armed forces seized power and placed Mugabe under house arrest. The veteran leader so far appears resistant to demands to step down despite calls from the ruling Zanu-PF party to do so. He has been deserted by most of his allies, while others have been arrested. There was a massive anti-Mugabe protest over the weekend demanding that the president steps down. The president had earlier been revoked by the party as its president and secretary. But in an address to the nation last Sunday, he said he still remained in charge. The Zanu-PF party is expected to begin impeachment proceedings in parliament on Tuesday in an attempt to strip Mugabe of the presidency. The president, who is believed to be staying at his private home in Harare, a well-guarded compound known as the Blue Roof, is reported to have asked for more time in office. Error 404 Not Found You may have mis-typed the URL. Or the page has been removed. Actually, there is nothing to see here... Click on the links below to do something, Thanks! Take Me our of here Georgias Public Defender Issues Statement About Cyanide Attack Case By Gvantsa Gabekhadze (TBILISI) -- Georgias Public Defender Ucha Nanuashvili released his preliminary findings about a cyanide case involving a clergyman who was given a nine-year prison sentence for the attempted murder of Patriarch Ilia IIs female secretary.Nanuashvili stated that the case was of high public interest, though the investigation and trials were conducted without public oversight.The Public Defender's Office was the only neutral body that monitored the trials, said Nanuashvili.Nanuashvili said statements made by representatives of the authorities in relation to Giorgi Mamaladze, the priest found guilty of the crime, violated the principle on the presumption of innocence.Statements by public officials contributed to the creation of prejudice against Mamaladze long before his conviction, Nanuashvili said.He added that the defense team worked under unfair conditions due to being forced not to disclose the details of the case, which according to Nanuashvili, did not serve the goals of procedural legislation and were superfluous and unnecessarily restricted.Tbilisi City Court and the Court of Appeals did not allow the defense to obtain airport camera recordings, which would be key pieces of evidence in this case. As a result, the defense was deprived of the opportunity to appoint several investigators to the case, Nanuashvili said.The court said Mamaladzes motive for the attempted murder was personal revenge.Mamaladzes lawyers and brother claimed the decision was absolutely groundless and Judge Besik Bugianishvili was a slave of the current Georgian Dream leadership and some influential figures in the Georgian Patriarchate.In early February, Georgias Chief Prosecutor announced that they had detained Mamaladze, the deputy head of the Patriarchates Property Management Service and director general of the Patriarchates medical center, at Tbilisi International Airport. According to the prosecution, he intended to flee to Germany on February 10.Ilia II was in Germany at the time to undergo an operation for bladder-related complications.Chief Prosecutor Irakli Shotadze said that Mamaladze had attempted to acquire cyanide from a close friend and distant relative, journalist Irakli Mamaladze, who informed the police that the former priest intended to kill a high ranking spiritual figure.Suspicion about who Mamaladze planned to murder grew when Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili stated that the country had avoided a huge tragedy.Later, the Prosecutors office stated that the alleged target was Ilia IIs secretary, Shorena Tetruashvili. After some time, a video emerged of Mamaladze speaking about Tetruashvili in a negative light and calling her an obstacle in his career.Mamaladzes lawyers and family claimed the footage was fabricated.Some members of the church, including Archbishop Petre, stated that Mamaladze had information about various financial and property-related violations within the church, which could have become the reason why he was trapped by some people involved in illegalities, both from the church and the authorities.Archbishop Petre named Tetruashvili along with another archbishop as key players in the wrongdoings.The Chief Prosecutors office demanded that the trials be closed to the public. The News in Brief South Ossetia Bars Ambulances Movements at Night and Weekends (TSKHINVALI, South Ossetia) The de facto government of Georgias breakaway region South Ossetia has issued an order that bars ambulances from crossing the contact line with areas under Tbilisis authority, news outlet Ekho Kavkaza reported earlier. According to the report, ambulances will no longer be allowed to cross the contact line on weekends or between 8 pm and 8 am. Ecko Kavkaza reported that informal restrictions were introduced about a month ago, quoting Tamar Mearakishvili, an Akhalgori-based activist who witnessed a person with serious health complication who was barred from crossing the conflict line due to the Russian-backed rebel governments new regulations. Mearakishvili later confirmed with the local authorities in Akhalgori that such a restriction on ambulances was in place. Akhalgori residents often use Georgian medical facilities for due to their higher quality and close proximity. Ambulances from the nearby Georgian city of Gori can reach Akhalgori in a matter of minutes, whereas the nearest hospital in the rebel capital Tskhinvali is more than an hour and a half away. South Ossetias secessionist government has not commented on the manner or issued a statement about their reasoning for the move. Akhalgori, a small town about 30 km west of Tbilisi, had been under Georgian central government until the 2008 Russo-Georgian War. It was captured by Russian military units and illegally transferred to South Ossetias jurisdiction by Moscows occupation forces. About 85 percent of its 7,600 inhabitants are ethnic Georgians. (DF watch) ,b>Georgias Population Plunges to 3.7 million Inhabitants (TBILISI) Georgias population decreased to 3.7 million inhabitants, according to data collected during the last national census in 2014. The main factors for the significant drop include mass migration and rapidly aging population, Tengiz Tsekvava, deputy executive director of the National Statistics Office of Georgia, said Tuesday. Following the first wave of mass migration in the early 1990s, the national birth rate quickly plummeted to all-time lows. "The 2014 census showed that the number of permanent residents in Georgia is 3.7 million, which is a huge change. It is a significant decline compared to 2002. when 4,3 million were registered in the country, said Tsekvava. The 2002 census was, in itself, a major drop from the last Soviet census from 1989 when Georgias population stood at 5.5 million. Huge waves of people left the country after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the loss of our two regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, to separatist wars obviously contributed to the population decline, Tsekvava added. (IPN) An elk hunter shot a charging grizzly bear Tuesday morning near the Sun River Canyon west of Augusta on the Rocky Mountain Front. The encounter took place mid-morning, according to Fish, Wildlife and Parks game wardens. The Great Falls-area hunter surprised a grizzly at the head of Home Gulch, about three miles south of the Sun River Canyon Road, wardens said. The hunter told wardens he fired a warning shot in the air, but the bear charged him anyway. The hunter shot at the bear. He said he thought he hit it three times. The bear turned and ran, and the hunter left the area, then notified FWP. An FWP bear management specialist flew over the area later Tuesday, but could not see any sign of the bear. FWP game wardens are on the ground searching today, trying to locate the animal. The U.S. Forest Service has posted warnings in the area, which is popular among elk hunters. FWPs Augusta check stationed also has warnings posted for hunters. The bear shooting is the second this hunting season along the Front. Earlier this month a Bozeman bird hunter shot and killed a charging grizzly sow. Montanas general elk and deer season ends Sunday, Nov. 26. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is offering a reward of as much as $1,000 for information about two bull elk that were killed south of Pompeys Pillar over the Nov. 18-19 weekend and illegally left to waste. FWP game warden Courtney Tyree said someone killed the two elk on private land south of Interstate 94 and removed the heads, but left most of the rest of the animals to waste. Anyone with information about the poaching is encouraged to call FWPs 24-hour crime-reporting line at 1-800-TIP-MONT (800-847-6668). Those who call with information leading to a conviction of the people responsible for the illegal waste qualify for a cash reward of as much as $1,000. United Airlines will offer daily one-hop flights to Los Angeles next summer from two airports in western Montana. Missoula International and Glacier Park International near Kalispell announced Tuesday the airlines plan to fly directly to Los Angeles International starting June 7 through, tentatively, Aug. 20. They always have the right to extend it, and theyve told us it does have the potential to shift to later in the year, said Brian Ellestad, deputy airport director in Missoula. For Missoula, United is the third airline to offer flights directly to the southern California hub, but the first to do it on an extended daily basis. Delta flies in and out each day for a couple of weeks through the Christmas period, while Allegiant Air has two weekly flights to and from LAX during the summer. Director Cris Jensen thanked United for its commitment to the community and its investment to serve the transportation needs of the region. This new flight is an excellent opportunity for travelers to access Los Angeles, in addition (to) easy access for southern Californians to witness the beauty of Montana, Jensen said in a news release. This direct service provides significant advantages, both to those who live in the valley and guests wishing to visit the Flathead, Rob Ratkowski, airport director for Glacier Park International, said in a separate release. Not only does this direct flight drastically reduce travel time to the West Coast, the flights arrival times will make it possible for travelers to easily catch same-day connections out of LAX. It really opens up travel options for residents and tourists. Five airlines service Missoula, and nonstop flights are offered year-round to seven destinations: Denver, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Phoenix-Mesa, Portland, Salt Lake City and Seattle. Seasonal nonstop service goes to Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles and Oakland. Efforts are underway in Missoula to attract a carrier for Texas flights. We continue to talk to both United and American for Texas service for next summer. Thats still a possibility, Ellestad said. As is the case with Missoula, three airlines that fly out of Glacier Park International will now go to Los Angeles on a seasonal basis. The four airlines that service the Flathead airport have year-round nonstop flights to Denver, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City and Seattle. Seasonal flights go to and from Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Oakland and Portland. A former Hamilton man was arrested in Oregon for allegedly having sexual relations with a friend's underage daughter, beginning when he lived with them. Gregory Sage, who is now 40 years old, was 34 when the alleged relationship began with the girl, who was 15 at the time. The girl initially denied that they had a sexual relationship, after her mother grew suspicious and reported her concerns to the Hamilton Police Department in April 2013, according to court documents. The mother said Sage appeared to be having an inappropriately close physical relationship with her daughter, and treated her more like a girlfriend than a child. The mother later kicked Sage out of the house, but the girl allegedly continued to sneak off to see him in Missoula. By the time the daughter was 18 years old and went away to college, she disclosed to her mother that Sage was her best friend and was living near where she attended college. The girl finally agreed to be truthful with detectives in February 2016, acknowledging that while she wanted to protect Sage, she realized he had hurt her and what he had done was wrong, according to court documents. The documents outlined whats often called grooming of a child by an adult, with the relationship progressing from a playful one to that of a sexual nature. In one case, they told the girls mother that the two were going to the Halloween Corn Maze, but instead had sex in a vehicle. When he was kicked out of the house, Sage allegedly left a cell phone behind for the girl. He repeatedly told her that he did not want to go to jail, that if she said anything about what they had been doing he would end up in jail, according to the affidavit of probable cause. He also allegedly told her that if he was caught, he would hurt himself because he didnt want to go to jail. An arrest warrant was issued for Sage, and he was arrested in Benton County, Oregon, in October, then booked into the Ravalli County Detention Center Nov. 17 on three felony charges of sexual intercourse without consent; and two felony charges of sexual abuse of children. His bond was set at $250,000. Enrollment is up at the University of Montana one slice of it. Yes, overall enrollment at UM has been down, and it's declined over the same years that the number of students has gone up at Montana State University. But when it comes to graduate students, UM is ahead by a long shot, and numbers are growing, according to data posted on the Montana Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education. Graduate enrollment at UM was at 1,822 in the 2017 fiscal year compared to 1,771 in 2016, according to full time equivalent (FTE) counts of residents and nonresidents. UM's number of graduate students is up nearly 15 percent from a decade ago. In the most recent fiscal year, UM counted 41 percent more graduate students than MSU. And when it comes to graduate student head count, UM hit a record 2,326 this year at least since 2001, according to data from UM. "Even faculty on campus don't realize graduate enrollment is up," said Ashby Kinch, associate dean of the Graduate School. "The narrative across the university and across the public sphere is everything is down, and that's just not true." In 2001, UM counted 1,577 graduate students, and it reached a record 2,326 in 2017, according to headcount data from UM. The year 2001 is a reference point because that's when data was consolidated at the Commissioner's Office, Kinch said. UM is striving to increase its overall enrollment, having seen a drop of some 24 percent since 2010. The jump in graduate school numbers is good news, but not just when it comes to head counts and bottom lines. As Kinch sees it, graduate students are the bellwether for the quality of an institution, and at UM, research is raising the bar for all students. "Our research enterprise drives our graduate enrollment. We have an incredibly talented faculty, and that's why graduate students want to come and study," Kinch said. *** James Mouton is a fifth-year doctoral student from Palo Alto, California. He's in the Division of Biological Sciences and was drawn to UM because of the strength of the research produced by both faculty and students, especially in relation to universities that appear comparable . "In terms of the research, they are producing much higher caliber stuff than a lot of the other schools I was looking at," Mouton said. And he said the quality of life in Missoula "awesome" made the choice to study here easy. The scientist is studying how responses to predation risk evolve in species of songbirds, and he's done fieldwork in Arizona near Flagstaff as well as in Malaysia and Borneo. He has grant support for his work, including funds from the National Science Foundation. The culture at UM is part of the attraction, he said. He said the university fosters top-shelf research, and that's valuable to graduate students. "Being surrounded by high-caliber work, it drives you to do better work yourself," Mouton said. *** Associate Dean Kinch is in his 15th year at UM, but he only started working in the Graduate School this past August. There, he began looking closely at enrollment and saw a trend that was different than the overall drop. Enrollment in the graduate school jumped from 2009 to 2010, around the tail end of the recession, and he said it would have been easy to conclude that people were returning to school because of the economy. But that wasn't the whole story. "That's a good hunch. But then the number stayed there, and then it jumped again," Kinch said. The number of Montana residents in the graduate school rose some 14.5 percent over the last decade to 1,305, and it's up 3.5 percent from the 2016 to 2017 fiscal years, according to FTE data from the Commissioner's Office. The number of nonresidents is up 1.5 percent, to 517 from 2016 to 2017, but down 6.1 percent since 2007. All told, though, UM counts a nearly 8 percent increase in total graduate student enrollment from 2007 to 2017, according to FTE data from the Commissioner's Office. And while MSU's share of the enrollment of graduate students in the state is smaller than UM's, its graduate school enrollment is on the upswing, too. It's grown some 46.5 percent since 2007 and more than 18 percent from the last fiscal year when it comes to FTEs. At UM, the research and faculty producing it are setting the pace, Kinch said. And he said the graduate students are the linchpin that connect the educational mission of UM with its research mission. "Graduate students come in, and they have energy, they have ambition, they have talent, and they link up with incredible faculty and push the whole research and creative enterprise forward," Kinch said. We are proud and wowed by the hundreds of Montanans who braved the weather to attend four public hearings and voice concerns about the mine being proposed in the headwaters of the iconic Smith River. Our Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) heard your clear message: Montanans want to protect the Smith Rivers wealth of sustainable virtues recreation, angling, scenic beauty, cultural treasures, and outdoor economy rather than allow a foreign mining company to risk those values and our grandchildrens legacy for short-term profit. The DEQ is now reading through the more than 10,000 written comments people have submitted raising the same concerns we heard at the live hearings. In the Great Falls hearing, Mayor Bob Kelly insisted on a bigger reclamation bond for the project in case pollution from an environmental event at the mine reaches the Missouri River. The city of Great Falls needs to be formally declared as having standing as an injured party and be able to seek and receive payment for reclamation and reparation of the damage that may occur to our water source, said the mayor. He was one of many people who recognized the threat this mine poses to downstream interests including clean water, fish, irrigation, property values, human health and the recreation economy. In White Sulphur Springs, Smith River landowner and engineer Warren Hopper expressed concern about the tailings liner leaking over time: In my line of work, I have seen double- and even tripled-lined impoundments eventually leak. Other opponents reminded DEQ of the track record of modern mines shuttering when the global market dictates, leaving locals with environmental contamination and taxpayers with the cleanup costs. For most Montanans, mines like Black Butte are a threat to good jobs rather than a boon. In Helena, more than 200 people showed up to the hearing, many coming straight from having paraded drift boats and rafts sporting No Smith River Mine signs around the capitol and rallying against the mine on the lawn. At the hearing, representatives from leading businesses such as Simms, Orvis and Costa spoke of the role the outdoor economy plays in Montana and their businesses. Lifelong outfitters and guides told DEQ that this mine makes them worry about their livelihoods. I have built a business of the Smith River. I have watched my business put kids through college. We provide good paying jobs. Why risk it? asked Brandon Boedecker, owner of Pro Outfitters. Finally, in Livingston, we heard concerns of forever impacts mines like the Black Butte project leave behind after shipping Montanas natural resources and profits overseas. Tim Stevens, of Livingston, said of the mine, The impacts are going to be forever, and thus, bonding, and analysis of impacts on things like roads and water quality, wildlife and the local way of life also needs to be forever. Though the scoping period ended Nov. 16, this is not the last time for concerned citizens to make a difference. Next spring, be prepared for DEQ to release a draft document detailing the possible environmental impacts of the mine. The public will have the opportunity to review and comment on those impacts and the course DEQ should take with this mine proposal. This will be another crucial time for Montanans to speak up and make sure this mine presents zero risk to the Smith River watershed. Montana Trout Unlimited would like to thank the DEQ for hosting these hearings and listening to the concerns of the public. Now its time for the DEQ to take those public concerns seriously. Nov. 28 is designated as Giving Tuesday and follows Black Friday and Cyber Monday right after Thanksgiving. Many folks are looking for a year-end tax-deductible donation organization to support, and this day highlights the ways in which people can contribute to a worthy cause. The special session of the state Legislature just concluded, and the Montana tax credit is still available to citizens who wish to receive a dollar-for-dollar tax credit in their income taxes for 2017. By contributing up to $150 before Dec. 31 to the Big Sky Scholarship Program, which benefits families that attend private schools around the state, individuals (or couples up to $300) will receive credit on their 2017 tax return. If you have questions or need assistance, please contact your local representative or the MVCA office. The Mission Valley Christian Academy is celebrating this giving day by offering to sponsor one of our outstanding teachers salary with the goal of raising $25,000 between Nov. 28 and Dec. 19. Half of the teachers employed at MVCA have a Masters degree and each one has more than one year of experience. We are fortunate to have such caring yet highly qualified teachers, and because they see working at MVCA as a ministry, they are willing to share their teaching gift in our small school for less than they could make in a public school. Please consider a year-end tax-deductible gift of one day of a MVCA salary for $125, a week for $650 or a month for $2,500. A gift of any amount will help the school reach their $45,000 fundraising goal. Over 88 percent of the school budget is directed to teacher salaries and we hope to continue to increase our teachers pay so they are on par with their public counterparts. Please visit missionvalleychristianacademy.net to donate online or find more information. In Second Corinthians, Paul states that "God loves a cheerful giver," so consider sharing the abundance we enjoy in this great nation with those around us cheerfully and generously. On behalf of the Mission Valley Christian Academy, thanks for considering giving on this special day to organizations who serve our local communities. Invented to divide the University of Montana faculty while giving them the impression that they are mastering their own destiny, the acronym APASP stands for an absurd, Kafka-esque, perverse pell-mell rush into a labyrinthine cluster of mediocrity. Although in the short run its diktats will save monies, in the long run it will cost a lot. The suppression of liberal arts programs and the downsizing of UM professoriate can only motivate students to study in Bozeman or out of state. The APASP reports signal the end of UM as we know it. The Missoula community and businesses will lose income and revenues; city coffers will lose tax monies; and in 2018, President Seth Bodnar will be presiding over a maimed institution, a shrunken head that no amount of head-hunting will be able to restore. Ex-President George Dennison will turn over in his grave with rancor and sadness. APASP is a perverse trick since, instead of the higher-ups, the faculty themselves (ex-UM Faculty Senate head and University Faculty Assocation head included) did the dirty job of realignment and re-prioritization (politically correct catchwords for cutting and retrenching in the name of fiscal responsibility, financial balance and philistine utilitarianism), all collaboratively dismembering UMs body. Worthy of the worst lifeboat politics, colleagues over-inflated their own life jackets while puncturing others to make them drown. Overboard went collegiality, togetherness, commonality of purposes, goals and programs, collective intelligence and creative innovations i.e., the core of what a liberal arts education means. In keeping with todays consumerist individualism, APASP promoted me-first politics in collaboration with the bean-counting mentality of Main Hall and Helena. APASP is absurd since its comparative evaluation process mixed potatoes with apples and oranges, nuts and bolts with birds and bicycles a pathetic capharnaum that only a surrealist such as Salvador Dali could love. Its fishy non-protocol had no clear categorization paradigms to judge programs as different as music, foreign languages, English and sustainable farming. Its reports can be read in so many contradictory ways that they open the door to widespread misinterpretation and abuse. The prioritization of the campus police force for development and growth, while French was targeted for elimination, is the ominous sign that something is rotten in the state of Denmark. The fact that a Missoula College diesel mechanic was able to judge the value of the history program may sound anti-elitist and populist, but in fact it is closer to Pol Pots policy of forced de-culturation and mass re-education than to a genuine democratic politics, unless one thinks that public education only means trade and vocational skill acquisition. The whole absurdity of the committees task is summed up by ex-UM Faculty Senate Head John Deboers now infamous metaphor when he unwittingly exclaimed that APASP was like reconstructing a plane in flight. I am sure that the higher-ups provided him, unlike others, with access to a beverage cart and a parachute. No wonder most APASP members did not want transparency and their names communicated to the public something UM lawyer Lucy France publicly refrained from addressing. This exemplifies Main Halls collegiality at its best; its esprit de corps. During the APASP process of academic destruction (and not re-structuration), where were the democratic legislators who are supposedly famous for defending education? Were they hiding under their desks in Helena trying to avoid Republican missives and missiles of cost-cutting and retrenchment? APASP, and the demise of the liberal arts core of the University of Montana, tells us where the state is now heading. Democrats in Montana have serious problems. First of all, they cant win. Despite this, they have 12 staffers making a combined $38,000 a month in salaries, and an equal amount is paid out in payroll taxes just to keep them on the payroll. Lets not get into their health benefits. Montana Democratic Party Executive Director Nancy Keenan makes nearly $6,000 a month alone. The Montana Republican Party has two staffers making less than $3,000 a month. And theyre winning. On top of this as Ochenski points out the Montana Democratic Party refuses to return or donate the $12,500 they received from serial groper Al Franken. They claim they dont have the money, despite having $262,000 cash in the bank, according to their latest FEC report. Folks, the Montana Democratic Party is in shambles. The time for new leadership and a new vision came long ago. Greg Strandberg, Missoula One of the best parts of Thanksgiving dinner has to be the leftovers. Other than just doing a repeat of the dinner, there are many ways you can use the features of the menu in new ways. Turkey sandwiches topped with cranberry sauce always are looked forward to, but you also can try combining chopped turkey with mayo, vegetables and shredded cheese to make a chicken salad, which you could enjoy as a salad or stuffed into pita breads. If you are looking for new ways to use your dinner leftovers, the following are some recipes you can select from. Remember to keep food safety in mind when taking care of leftovers and refrigerate meat and other potentially hazardous foods within 2 hours. This Southwestern flavored pie was a winner for Harriet Mathis of Orlando, Florida, in the Pillsbury Bake-Off in 2000. After you taste the pie, you will understand why. I have made some changes in the original recipe, substituting cooked turkey for seasoned chicken strips, instant brown rice for white rice, and Mexican style cheese for Colby Jack cheese blend. Making use of the refrigerated pie crusts and canned beans and vegetables gives you a quick and easy dish to assemble. Serve with fresh fruit. Southwestern Turkey Pie Makes 6 servings Ingredients: 1 (15-ounce) package refrigerated pie crusts 2 cups cooked turkey, torn or cut into bite-sized pieces cup instant brown or white rice 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained, rinsed 1 (11-ounce) can Mexicorn whole kernel, red and green peppers, drained 1 (2 -ounce) can sliced ripe olives, drained 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1 teaspoon cumin teaspoon salt teaspoon pepper 1 cup sour cream 1 cup thick and chunky salsa 8 ounces (2 cups) Mexican style shredded cheese blend 1 egg beaten 1-2 teaspoons fresh parsley Directions: Heat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare pie crusts as directed on package for 2-crust pie, using a 9-inch pie pan. In large bowl combine all filling ingredients except beaten egg and parsley; mix well. Spoon into crust-lined pan. Top with second crust; seal edges and flute. Cut slits in several places in top crust. Brush top with beaten egg; sprinkle with parsley. Bake at 400 degrees 40 to 50 minutes or until golden brown. If necessary, cover edge of crust with strips of foil after 15 to 20 minutes to prevent excessive browning. Source: Pillsbury Bake-Off Special Edition, 2004. Your leftover turkey will take on a new look with this casserole dish that can be prepared in advance and then baked the next day. If you have leftover dinner rolls, those could be used in place of the French bread. Swiss Turkey Strata Makes 6 servings Ingredients: 6 cups French bread cut into -inch cubes 1 cups shredded Swiss cheese, divided 1 cup cooked turkey or chicken cup chopped red and/or green bell pepper 4 eggs, beaten 2 cups milk cup Dijon or country Dijon mustard Directions: Layer 3 cups bread cubes, 1 cup cheese, turkey and pepper in greased 12-by-8-inch baking dish; top with remaining bread cubes. Whisk eggs, milk and mustard in a medium bowl until combined. Pour mixture over bread layer, being careful to moisten all of the bread. Sprinkle with remaining cup cheese. Cover; refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight. Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Garnish as desired. Source: Kraft All-Time Favorite Recipes, 2001. A traditional chicken a la king dish contains chicken or turkey in a rich cream sauce made with mushrooms, pimentos, green bell pepper and sherry, which is served over biscuits. This version is similar to a traditional shepherds pie, which is topped with mashed potatoes, giving you the opportunity to use more leftovers. If desired, add mushrooms and chopped bell pepper to your mixture, along with a little sherry. Potato-Topped Turkey a la King Makes 4 servings Ingredients: 2 tablespoons butter cup sliced green onions cup all-purpose flour teaspoon salt teaspoon black pepper 1 (14.5-ounce) can ready-to-serve chicken broth cup milk 2 cups cubed cooked turkey or chicken 1 cup frozen baby sweet peas 4 cups left-over mashed potatoes 1 egg, beaten 2 tablespoons chopped green onions Directions: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in large skillet over medium heat. Add cup green onions; cook and stir 1 minute. Add the flour, salt, and pepper and stir until blended. Gradually add broth and milk; cook until mixture boils and thickens, stirring constantly. Add turkey and peas; mix well. Spoon into ungreased 8-inch square or 2-quart baking dish. For topping, stir leftover mashed potatoes. Stir in beaten egg; if necessary add a little milk to make potatoes a spreading consistency. Spoon or pipe potatoes over chicken mixture in dish. Sprinkle chopped green onions on top along with paprika, if desired. Source: Casseroles & One Dish Meals by Pillsbury, 1999. If you have vegetable leftovers from dinner or a relish tray, try this recipe for vegetable patties to give them a second round at the table. Vegetable Rounds Makes about 20 rounds Ingredients: 1 cup Bisquick cup Parmesan cheese teaspoon pepper 4 slightly beaten eggs 4 cups shredded or chopped vegetables, such as Brussel sprouts, carrots, corn, zucchini, and/or onions cup butter Directions: In a mixing bowl, stir Bisquick, cheese and pepper. Stir in eggs until mixture is moistened. Fold in shredded or chopped vegetables. Melt half of butter in 10-inch frying pan. Using 2 tablespoons batter for each round, cook over medium heat, about 3 minutes on each side. Add remaining butter for frying second half of rounds. Source: Prizewinning Recipes by You, From The Bisquick Creations Recipe Contest. Judges needed for speech meet Butte Central High School is hosting a speech and debate meet on Saturday, Dec. 9, and are in need of volunteer judges. No experience is necessary. Judging clinics will be held at 2 p.m. Dec. 3, and 6 p.m. Dec. 7, in the Butte Central High School Library. It's recommended that new judges attend and veteran judges are welcome for a refresher course. Details or to sign-up, contact David Stonehocker at david.stonehocker@buttecentralschools.org or 406-593-1614. Daughters of Norway selling lefse Daughters of Norway, Solheim Lodge of Butte, has Norwegian lefse (sweet bread rounds) for sale at $5 for three rounds. To order, call Dorothy Anne at 406-723-9260 or 406-490-2633, or Evelyn at 406-723-3612. Standard looking for Santa photos Remember when you were a kid and you couldn't wait to sit on Santa's lap so you could tell him all the things you "just had to have" for Christmas? Sometimes a photograph was taken to capture the moment. The Montana Standard is looking for just these photos, particularly if it's on the humorous side. Send your photo, in .jpg format, to editor@mtstandard.com, or call Tracy Thornton at 406-496-5552 to set up a time to scan your treasured photograph. Deadline for submission is Monday, Dec. 18. The best photographs will be featured Christmas Eve in our Big Sky section. All photos will be viewed in a gallery online. Toastmasters list winners Top O The Mornin Toastmasters weekly winners included Diana Jensen, best speaker, and Zacary Beveridge, best topic respondent. Joe McBride and Billie Holmlund tied as best evaluator. The next meeting will be held at 6:30 a.m. Monday, Nov. 27, at Perkins. When we saw the recent news that the House of Representatives had just passed a massive tax cut for multi-national corporations that would add over $1.5 trillion to the national debt, we recalled a moment in 2010 when then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, said the national debt was the single biggest threat to our national security. Having personally spent time overseas countering the terrorist threat to the United States, we understand the seriousness of Admiral Mullens assessment and know personally whats at stake. We are deeply concerned that Congress is on the verge of adopting a tax policy that would greatly undermine our countrys strength at home and its ability to project power abroad. Dont get us wrong some deficit spending to fund targeted investments in infrastructure and education could make our country stronger and more competitive, but the policy Congress is advancing sets us on the wrong course. Our rivals on the world stage know the strategic value of massive investments in public education. China, for example, already graduates more than eight times the number of graduates in science, technology, engineering, and math than the United States. Weve seen too clearly how other countries have quickly advanced their cyberwarfare capabilities. Without decisive investment in the future, there will not be enough highly-skilled Americans trained and ready to fight back. The US House of Representatives proposed changes to the tax code would gut American higher education and weaken national security. For example, tuition waivers allowing graduate students to engage in advanced studies would be redefined as taxable "income." The result? Overnight, the tax burden on graduate students would more than double. Countless American students would be shut out from top programs in computer science, nuclear engineering, and critical languages like Chinese and Arabic. These are the exact fields our military and civilian agencies need to defend against rapidly evolving threats to American security. Imagine if our space program wasnt staffed by top scientists, but by mediocre ones simply lucky enough to be born into wealth. Imagine if the analyst deciphering chatter on terrorist networks rose to their position not because they were the brightest, but because they were among the few with a trust fund to pay for their education. This would be the new reality under the proposed tax regime and would not only compromise American national security, but also cause the United States to fall further behind the world in scientific achievements, thereby damaging our country for generations to come. Furthermore, most Americans wont even see any significant short-term benefits. Millions, including small business owners, will actually see their taxes rise. Eliminating personal exemptions and deductions for state taxes will hit Montanans particularly hard. Thirteen million Americans are expected to lose health insurance. Premiums are guaranteed to rise, as will medical-related bankruptcies. Who will benefit? According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, those with incomes above $730,000 will get a big tax break. The heirs of the wealthiest people in America will now collect their inheritance with little to no taxes paid. Corporations will have greater incentive to fire Americans and ship their jobs overseas. The few provisions meant to provide middle class tax relief are temporary. The corporate tax cuts? Permanent. As individuals who have served our nation overseas in harms way, we say this with great seriousness: the Senators and Representatives who support such policies are threatening American national security. These politicians should be willing to release their own tax returns, to show just how much they will personally benefit. If they are unwilling to do that, then you know whose interests theyre really serving. Its not the United States of America, and its not the people of Montana. -- This piece has been signed by Montanans for National Security members Julie Sirrs, Andrew Person, and Danny Tannenbaum. Our organization includes former national security professionals with extensive experience serving and protecting U.S. interests at home and abroad. The authors are all Montana residents. A state budget disaster has been averted, but Montanans must now brace ourselves for the drastic cuts to come. Make no mistake: These reductions are going to hurt. They shift the states financial burden squarely onto some of our most vulnerable neighbors. Combined with other poor decisions made by some of Montanas legislators during the special session that adjourned shortly after 1 a.m. last Thursday, Montanans will be paying the price for legislators refusal to consider new sources of revenue far into the future. And when we do, Montanans ought to talk to these same legislators who are now bragging about shrinking state government and not raising taxes. The special session was absolutely necessary to fill significant budget gaps after state revenue projections fell short of the amounts appropriated by legislators during the regular session earlier this year. Montana was facing a $227 million shortfall before Gov. Steve Bullock abruptly enacted $76 million in cuts he had outlined in a proposal announced shortly before the start of the special session. Bullock didnt have a deal in place with GOP majority leaders before convening the special session. In a meeting with the Missoulian editorial board several weeks ago, Bullock explained that he couldnt arrive at a deal because Republican leaders refused to compromise raising taxes. It turns out the governor was right. The other two parts of Bullocks three-part budget proposal called for $75 million in temporary tax increases and $75 million in transfers from other funds. Republican leaders in the Legislature, however, remained unmoved from their oft-repeated pledge not to raise taxes. A refusal to raise taxes no matter the consequences should never have become a driving factor in state budget talks. Legislators who are themselves a part of state government ought to be able to recognize the essential beneficial role of government in the everyday lives of Montanans. Their job, in fact, is to make that government work as efficiently and effectively as possible. Yet no one can seriously argue that the budget deal hammered out during the special session leaves Montana government better off. Montana Republicans, who hold a majority in the state House and Senate, not only accepted the governors cuts they demanded more. They also OKd transferring money from other funds and delaying state payments in order scrape up another $94 million. The closest they came to approving a new tax was voting to enact a new fee on the State Fund, the largest provider of workers compensation insurance in Montana. This badly conceived and possibly unlawful idea was originally suggested by Bullock, and is expected to generate $30 million over two years. Demonstrating that they have little idea how the State Fund functions, legislators also approved a requirement that the funds managers cannot charge the fee to its policyholders. They fail to understand that this money will still come from policyholders pockets in the form of smaller dividends. Legislators also agreed to require furloughs for certain state government employees who earn more than $50,000 a year, for a savings of $15 million, although Bullock has said he plans to veto this action. One bright spot was the creative proposal to change the state liquor licensing system from a lottery to an auction, which is expected to generate about $6.3 million over the biennium. Its a sensible idea that seems worth a try, and can always be reversed if it ends up creating more problems than it solves. Unfortunately, it was overshadowed by legislators stunning move to eliminate $13 million in block grants to school districts throughout the state. What that means is that local property owners will be forced to pick up a greater share of the tax burden or watch our schools suffer their own budget shortfalls. Finally, Republicans found a way to essentially force the governor into accepting a deal with a private prison company by passing a bill that creates an account to accept money from the company, CoreCivic. The company is offering to return $32 million in state payments if Montana puts that money toward the purchase of a prison facility in Shelby. It also wants its 10-year contract extended past its current expiration date in 2019. The way the fund is set up, half the money would be diverted to the state fire fund and the other half would be discretionary. This year alone the state racked up $75 million in wildfire costs. Theres no telling what sort of firefighting bill Montana will be facing next summer, though it would be smart to plan for at least as much as this year, if not more. Still, Republican leaders are celebrating this arm-twisting as a win for Montanans as they simultaneously try to pin blame on Bullock. Within hours of the session adjourning, they released a statement saying, in part: The fact is that the Governor didnt have a plan when he called us here. He wanted to force us into a corner to raise taxes without taking any action on his part to mitigate what he was calling a crisis. Far from being forced into a corner, however, these same Republicans are now crowing about how they did not, in fact, raise taxes. Ive ran six times for the Legislature and have always said Im not going to raise taxes, Senate President Scott Sales, R-Bozeman, said after the session. I feel good about the fact that transpired for the most part. He should not feel good about that at all. No legislator should. The main budget bill, House Bill 2, passed pretty much along party lines. It sets new budget bases that make the cuts essentially permanent even if revenues come in higher than current projections. Its clear, for one thing, that the revenue projection models on which the state budget is based are in need of improvement. Montanans should urge our legislators to work on that before the next regular session begins in 2019. But even more urgently, legislators should also be made to understand that their refusal to consider raising taxes, and the cuts that some of them insisted on will end up costing the state more in the long run. The very serious consequences of their actions in the special session are not being treated with the gravity they warrant. Instead, the GOP majority is giving all the appearance of playing political tiddlywinks with the lives of real Montanans. The careless, cavalier attitude of our legislative leaders only serves to erode the public's confidence in our state government; confidence that may prove difficult to earn back. The Missoulian Motorists will soon see radar speed signs along Continental Drive near Hillcrest Elementary School even though a panel of commissioners rejected a version of the idea only weeks ago. Trustees for Butte School District No. 1 agreed Monday night to pay more than $15,000 for the signs and the county will install and maintain them. Butte-Silver Bow commissioners gave their OK to the arrangement last week. It really looked like this was going to be shot down, but there are other ways to do things, Commissioner Cindy Perdue-Dolan said Tuesday. Public Works Director Dave Schultz said it could take a month to get the signs ordered and delivered and several days to get them installed with power. But they could be up within five to six weeks. The signs will show the speed limit, which drops from 35 mph to 25 mph during school hours at Hillcrest, and flash speeds of approaching vehicles from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on school days. In October, the councils Public Works Committee recommended against the county paying for and installing permanent radar signs at the school. They could cost up to $9,000 each and county officials said many drivers would ignore permanent signs, just as they do other speed-limit signs. The committee voted instead to have mobile signs placed at Hillcrest, but like other locations in town, only temporarily. Several residents took their case to the full council, saying the signs were needed to protect kids because many drivers speed along that stretch of Continental and the speed limit during school hours is 25 mph, not 15 mph as in other school locations. A few aimed barbs at the council, essentially saying they didnt care about child safety, and that sparked terse responses from some commissioners. The council agreed only to seek input from state transportation officials on the issue. But Perdue-Dolan reached out to Butte school officials and Superintendent Judy Jonart said she would try to find money within their budget to pay for the signs, saying it was a matter of protecting kids. Schultz then had the agreement drawn up that got the final OK needed from school trustees Monday night. The purchase of two signs and mounting posts is estimated at $15,865, which the school district will cover. The county will have them installed, provide power and maintain them. The school district agrees to pay for new signs should they need replacing and the county would handle their operation after that. Perdue-Dolan said she was very excited that a deal was worked out because it would enhance child safety. We thought about a public-private partnership but working with the school district was the way to go, she said. With its initial effort apparently stalled, the Louisa County Board of Supervisors voiced support Tuesday for a renewed effort to identify Louisa County as a Home Base Iowa Community. The board met with Carolyn Farley, operations manager for IowaWorks-Southeast Iowa (IWSEI); and IWSEI Business Marketing Specialist Debra Fox, who told the supervisors that Louisa County is a county in that region that is not yet a Home Base Iowa Community. The two explained that Home Base Iowa is a partnership of private businesses/organizations and public agencies that intend to attract veterans and their families to Iowa. The consortium accomplishes this by providing incentives, such as homeowner assistance, streamlined occupational licensing processes, in-state tuition assessment and other benefits. We would like to get the support of the supervisors to identify Louisa County as a Home Base Iowa Community, Farley said. According to the Home Base Iowa website, Des Moines and Henry counties already are identified. The supervisors said they had previously approved moving forward, but recent and upcoming personnel changes had left the earlier effort in limbo. We were on board with this, Supervisor Randy Griffin said, adding former Louisa Development Group (LDG) Executive Director Sherry Humphreys and current Louisa County Veterans Affairs Director Andy Beaver had taken on the project a few years ago. We were getting reports, but I guess this has fallen to the wayside, Griffin said, explaining Humphreys had retired from the LDG and Beaver will retire in December. Farley and Fox said they welcomed the support and said their office could provide online and other resources for veterans seeking jobs, housing and other assistance. The two said their main need locally was to contact and encourage county businesses to provide their own incentives for the program. The supervisors said the LDG and Louisa County Extension were in the process of hiring a new development director under a partnership those organizations recently had approved. In addition, the county has hired Adam Caudle to replace Beaver and the supervisors said the new staff would be available to help establish the program. Together the new development director and Caudle could provide the local contacts, the supervisors indicated. In other action, the supervisors agreed that a policy by some county officials to grant paid days off in addition to days listed in the county handbook was causing interoffice conflicts to develop. Supervisor Brad Quigley said he recently had discussed the practice, which he said was followed in the treasurer, assessor and recorder offices, with Louisa County Human Resources Consultant Paul Greufe and Louisa County Attorney Adam Parsons. Quigley said Parsons had indicated elected county officials can set the work parameters for their first deputies, but any workers below that level generally will be governed by county policies set by the supervisors. The supervisors said they will continue to discuss the issue with the countys other elected and appointed officials. In other action, the supervisors: Discussed continuing repair concerns at the county landfill; Learned the Freedom Rock painting had been completed; Was told by Louisa County Engineer Larry Roehl that negotiations between FEMA and the state of Iowa had broken down and no county engineers from Iowa would be heading to Puerto Rico to help with disaster recovery; Approved $286,730 in claims MUSCATINE Shoppers who walk into the Lincoln Center in Muscatine may be hit with a sense of nostalgia, such as the smell of cotton candy at the fair or waves crashing on the beach. After 17 years of operating her shop in Wilton, Kathy Purviance has opened the Soap Gypsy in Muscatine, at 810 Park Ave. And she brought all of her favorite scents with her, such as freshly ground coffee, milk and honey, Mountain Dew and more. "Little House on the Prairie" fans ask for Lemon Verbena, the favorite scent of character Laura Ingalls Wilder. Purviance, who hand-makes and packages all of her soaps, said her affinity for soap dates back to her childhood in Germany. "I've always had this thing about soap," she said. "I was raised in Germany so soap from France and all over Europe, it looked so different and was wrapped so different. I loved it." She started by buying a kit at a craft store, then eventually taught herself how to break out of the traditional soap-making mold. While attending nursing school in the United States, Purviance said she would bring soap with her wherever she went. "Then I was a traveling nurse for 10 years, and after work, I would always end up in shops," she said. "That was where I wanted to be. I always came back to soap." Purviance began selling her products at craft shows, then in 1999, moved to Wilton to open the Soap Gypsy out of her home. "Over having the business for 17 years, I've had really loyal customers," she said. "But year after year, the same customers keep coming back. I realized I need a bigger market." She calls her move to the Lincoln Center in Muscatine "spur of the moment," but Purviance already had a customer-base in Muscatine and the surrounding area. On her first day opening in Wilton, she recalls being greeted by two customers. After being open about five days in Muscatine, Purviance said she has already had more customers than she would see in a week in Wilton. Purviance takes pleasure in knowing each bar, whether in the shape of a rectangle or cupcake, was made, cut, wrapped and labeled by her. She also revels in her ability to name each creation. In her line of soap for men, the titles range from "Black Tuxedo" to "Stud Muffin." A scent for aromatherapy is called "Frankie Says Relax." And a soap with the fragrance of rose is called "I'll Never Let You Go, Jack." But over the years, despite having more than 50 different fragrances, Purviance said her mainstay continues to be one of her first creations: oatmeal, goat's milk and honey. She also offers "Plain Jane" soap, with buttermilk and no fragrance for people with sensitive skin or chemical sensitivities. And Purviance said she is devoted to offering soaps with safer ingredients than what is traditionally found at the drug store. "You can buy $1 glycerin soap at the store, but you don't know what's in it," she said. Instead of synthetic detergents, Purviance makes her soap with mango and shea butters, goat's milk, aloe vera, olive oil, pure glycerin and fragrance. She claims the soap could improve dry or tight skin. Opening in time for the holiday shopping season, Purviance said she is preparing for Black Friday and Small Business Saturday. She has Christmas gift baskets ranging from $5 to $10, plus several other gifts and holiday items. Purviance also offers lanterns, chimes, furniture, decor items, bath bombs and lotions. The Soap Gypsy is open Wednesdays and Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., plus Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Parking is located behind the Lincoln Center. For questions, call 563-299-0515 or visit the shop's Facebook page. MUSCATINE The Merrill Hotel and Conference Center in Muscatine is now the first hotel in Iowa to be accepted into the International Association of Conference Centers, which recognizes venues for building prestigious meeting and conference rooms. The hotel, at 119 W. Mississippi Drive, is now expected to open in March, according to spokeswoman Lori Denney. The $42 million four-star boutique hotel will include 122 guest rooms and suites, a parking garage with more than 100 spaces, meeting rooms, Abalone's Restaurant and bar, plus a ballroom with an outdoor terrace. Named after HON Industries chairman and CEO Stanley Merrill Howe, the hotel should create 70 jobs, according to Andy MacLellan, a hotel mogul and founder of Scottford Enterprises. This month, after a lengthy application process, Denney announced the hotel was accepted into the full International Association of Conference Centers (IACC) membership. She said the Merrill will be the only IACC sanctioned conference center in the state. "It's going to create a path for meeting planners, not just in Muscatine and surrounding areas, but statewide, in looking at this area for hosting their meetings," Denney said. "When you have IACC certification, we're the experts in the area. Meeting planners will have confidence in booking their events." Officials with the Merrill have touted its space for holding meetings and conferences. Denney said the top, sixth floor, will have 14,000 square feet of meeting space, including 15 separate rooms for groups of different sizes. "It'll be very flexible as far as the purposes and set up," she said. "The fabulous windows are up there with terrific views. It's very rare with a hotel that you get a view of the river on three sides." To earn IACC certification, venues must commit to the highest standards of design, services, technology and sustainability, according to Denney. She said the IACC even examines the make of tables and chairs in conference rooms. The IACC requires conference centers, for example, to have ergonomically designed chairs, access to high speed internet, a business center, plus equipment for presentations, such as digital projectors. The hotel is also required to offer meeting packages, for both overnight and day meetings, according to Denney. "Those packages can include breakfast, continuous breaks, lunch, audio/visual equipment ... really everything is included," she said. "It makes it really simple for the meeting planner." She said IACC certification means the Merrill Hotel and Conference Center will become "experts in hosting seamless meetings and executing them perfectly." Denney said construction on the exterior of the hotel is nearly finished, and crews will spend December working on the interior. She said the parking garage is also nearing completion, and she hopes the hotel and conference center will have a soft opening by late March. Of the project's $42 million price tag, $20 million has been provided by a group of four private investors, including the Howe Investment Fund, the MHI Fund, Kent Corporation and Friendship Windows, which is owned by Chinese real estate developers Glad Chen and Daniel Wang, according to initial plans for the project. The remainder of the funds from the project will come from a mix of loans from private, local banks, as well as financial assistance from local and state governments. SAN FRANCISCO -- Evidence that when Democrats rule taxes are never high enough can be found at any gas station in this once politically competitive state. Last month, the California gas tax was raised 12 cents a gallon. Regular gas at some stations is again approaching, and in some cities exceeding, $4 a gallon, a level not seen since natural disasters temporarily curtailed refinery production, and Gulf States manipulated prices. Republicans plan to put the gas tax issue on the 2018 ballot; hoping voters will roll back the increases. Some are not waiting for the next election, but are voting with their feet. One couple I know recently moved from San Diego to Arizona solely because of high taxes on their income and regulations on their small business. They are not alone. Coupled with the increasing cost of living in big cities, California, once a magnet for new arrivals, has now reversed polarity. Taxes are only part of the reason for the exodus. According to Chief Executive Magazine's annual survey of the best and worst states for business, California has ranked last six years in a row. Texas, by contrast, has ranked first. Add to this the recurring earth tremors, even earthquakes -- there was another Monday in Monterey County that registered 4.7 -- and expectations of a "big one," which continues to be talked about in scientific circles. Floods and forest fires destroy homes and lives. One-party rule also serves as an irritant for many of a different political persuasion. Gov. Jerry Brown recently signed legislation declaring California a "sanctuary state" for illegal immigrants. The law forbids state and local police from providing any information to the federal government about illegal aliens that isn't already publicly available. Then there is the annoying traffic. USA Today recently declared Los Angeles as having the worst traffic, not just in the country, but the world. San Francisco is not far behind. The state legislature is flirting with a single-payer health insurance system, similar to Canada's. But with many Canadians coming to the U.S. for serious medical treatment, why would legislators want to replicate their less than ideal health care system? It again raises a question I have asked many times before and have yet to get a satisfactory answer: Why do so many turn to government as a first resource when government has proved its inability to achieve so many things competently and cost efficiently? In this city by the bay, housing prices are so ridiculous The Guardian newspaper found a high-tech employee paying $1,400 a month to live in a "private room," which resembles a closet. "One Apple employee," it said, "was recently living in a Santa Cruz garage, using a compost bucket as a toilet. Another tech worker, enrolled in a coding boot camp, described how he lived with 12 other engineers in a two-bedroom apartment rented via Airbnb. 'It was $1,100 for a ... bunk bed and five people in the same room.'" Salaries in Silicon Valley are high compared to other parts of the country, but the inflated housing costs dilute whatever buying power someone with that level of income would enjoy in most other states. California is still a mostly beautiful state, especially along the coast, but its beauty is more superficial than substantive. According to the Orange County Register, "In 2016, some 26,000 more people left the Bay Area than arrived. San Francisco net migration went from a high of 16,000 positive in 2013 to 12,000 negative three years later. "Similar patterns have occurred across the state. Between 2010 and 2015, California had cut its average annual migration losses annually from 160,000 to 50,000, but that number surged last year to nearly 110,000. Losses in the Los Angeles-Orange County area have gone from 42,000 in 2011 to 88,000 this year. San Diego, where domestic migration turned positive in 2011 and 2012, is now losing around 8,000 net migrants annually." Given the policies of state government, don't look for those numbers to improve. 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 [] Lucille (Lucy) E Foster 1921-2017 Lucille (Lucy) E Foster Lucy Foster, age 96, passed away peacefully in her sleep in Napa, on November 7, 2017. She graduated from Tamalpais High School in 1938 and continued on to receive her Undergraduate degree in History at UC Berkeley and her Masters of Arts degree from San Francisco State College and her Doctorate in Education from Stanford University. While attending UC she met the love of her life, Donald Foster. They were married in1942 and had fifty years together. Following an exceptional 30-year career as teacher and administrator, she retired as the Distinguished Assistant Superintendent for Business, Director of Classified Personnel and the district labor negotiator for Laguna Salada School District of Pacifica, California. Lucy set an example to colleagues, family, and friends, as woman who broke the glass ceiling paving a path for future equality. Throughout her long life Lucy gave her time and expertise to community and social organizations. She was an active member the Red Cross, the Fir Branch of Childrens Hospital in Oakland, the American Association of University Women, the Delta Zeta sorority alumnae, Sonoma County PanHellenic Society, and various other local and national organizations. She served on the Santa Rosa Cultural Heritage Board for five years. The Canadian branch of University Woman honored her with the title of Dame for her tireless work to better the lives of women. Lucy will be remembered as a world traveler, an enthusiastic opera patron, and a wicked bridge and pinochle player. She lived her life fully and was loved. Her husband, Donald E. Foster, parents, Lewis E. Caster and Estelle Witt Caster and her stepmother, Marian Caster, precede her in death. She is survived by her sister, Sally Hunter (Ralph) of Napa, nephews Gregory Hunter (Debra) of Lafayette, Eric Hunter (Julia) of Napa, and Mory Hunter (Cherie) of Lawrenceville, GA and her cousin, Bennett Young of Novato. In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be given to Assistance League of Sonoma County, 5 West Sixth Street, Santa Rosa, CA 95401; American Association of University Women, Santa Rosa branch, 2382 Baggette Dr., Santa Rosa, CA 95401 or a charity of your choice. Written remembrances may be sent to the family online at www.tulocaycemetery.org. A celebration of her life will be held on Wednesday, December 27, 2017 at 2 PM at the Napa Elks Club, 2840 Soscol Ave, Napa, California. People find their culinary inspiration in all sorts of places: a grandmothers recipe cards, a television show, a memorable meal. Stephen Durfees baking and pastry students at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone had another source for a recent assignment. A week ago Monday, he told them that in the morning, six teams of two were each scheduled to meet a Napa Valley artist. Then they would have about 24 hours to create a dessert inspired by the artists works. And they werent just going to sketch something on paper. No, theyd have to make and plate enough to serve the artists and guests on Wednesday night. The artists the teams visited on Tuesday were a diverse assortment: painter Beverly Wilson; percussionist and painter John Hannaford; florist Jaime Giorgi, co-owner of The Monkey Flower Group; painter Steven Gordon; glass artist Ed Edwards, and Mikey Kelly, a Napa artist whose work this is from his website explores his interest in spirituality hacking by using language and polyalphabetic ciphers to create algorithmic programs that direct the paintings. Each piece is painted one line at a time to exacting angles to create woven layers of paint creating fields of interference patters and vibrations. Kelly, a former New Yorker, was also chosen by Napas Public Art Steering Committee for a public art installation Begin and Continue on the Napa Valley Vine Trail. He is putting the metal silhouettes of men, women, children and pets amid his algorithmic stripes on 710 feet of fencing surrounding the city yard near Jackson Street. Kellys website also notes: The paintings truly need to be seen in person to fully experience them. This is true. On Tuesday morning, I went with two of the students, Tess Shore and Kassandra Monroy, to Kellys Napa studio. The paintings are things of exquisite, intricate beauty, line after line, in soft pastel shades. What kind of dessert would they inspire? The best I could think up was those old-fashioned, long paper strips of candy dots, probably not an idea that would warrant a passing grade. Ergo, on Wednesday, I went up to the CIA to see what all of the students had come up with. Beverly Wilson: Her vibrant colors infuse her studies of the people and places of Napa Valley. Brianna Gruber and Corinne Dewey had created a passion fruit mousse, sitting atop a blueberry cremeux, a dense soft pudding; and this was sitting on a circle of lime cake. But that was not all: this was topped with a square of white chocolate dabbed with purple, orange and yellow. Wilsons assessment: I am amazed. This is truly beautiful. Jaime Giorgi. The florist was unable to attend the event. But there was no doubt among the others that shed have approved of the delicate arrangement created by Elena Thomas and Sam Cieniewicz, who explained that one of their artists guiding principals was no waste. They made a lemon curd tart with a rosemary shortbread crust, drizzled with apricot sauce and vanilla bean-apricot ice cream, and finished it with twists of lemon. John Hannaford: This had an extra challenge because Hannaford is a musician as well as a painter. So they had to incorporate sound. Amanda Andrade and Heather McCaffery did this by creating a dome white chocolate, sprinkled with colors and containing macadamia nuts. This perched on a wine glass that held a creation of lime cremeux, basil cake, gin foam and basil ice cream. I thought it was brilliant, Hannaford said, noting that his students had honored his vegetarianism and avoided using gelatin. Ed Edwards: Two of Edwards signature pieces are dishes woven of glass, and dishes with circles of contrasting colors worked into the glass shape. Daniel Mora and Katie Stone created a web of tuile, (French for tile) a dough that makes a thin, crisp wafer that can be shaped. This arched over a lime mousse and mango-raspberry sponge, decorated with circles of colored gelatin, which also were scattered over the plate. This not only won praise from the artist, who called it wonderful, but from Durfee. Just because its a good idea, doesnt always mean its going to work, Durfee commented. In this case, he noted the students had made their gelatin circles of a perfect texture that married with the mousse so you cut through the dessert and not bounce off when you hit a circle. Steven Gordon: Gordons fine use of pastels in a landscape of a tree in autumn inspired Christopher Keck and Olivia Jose to try to make a painting on a plate using not only his colors but the flavors of autumn with a chocolate cookie topped with spice ganache, cranberry compote, rosemary ice cream with a garnish of caramel-colored spun sugar, that suggested the bare branches of a tree all on a painted plate. Beautiful, Gordon said. Mikey Kelly: What did Tess Shore and Kassandra Monroy come up with? They decided to showcase Kellys work in progress, the Napa fence. You wouldnt know that there is meaning behind the lines, they told the group. They had captured the colors with a passion fruit and pink guava mousse wrapped in coconut sponge cake and embellished with yes many tiny stripes. Im blown away, Kelly told them. Its an exercise Durfee does twice a year with a pastry concept and design class. This one was made up of students in the four-year program based at the Hyde Park campus in New York who had come to Napa for one semester. He didnt announce any grades at the end of the exercise, but its a good guess they all passed with vibrant colors. The arrival of Thanksgiving and the holiday season is driving a host of Napa County programs to assist those in need, including underprivileged families and children as well as veterans and troops serving overseas. Local residents, businesses and other groups have a variety of ways to donate or deliver food, toys and other contributions to struggling Napans in time for the holidays. Here are some of the ways to offer aid. Toys for Tots and the Napa County Holiday Assistance Program Organizers in Napa County are seeking thousands of toys for the annual Toys for Tots drive, a centerpiece of an annual effort to bring food and gifts to low-income families for the December holidays. Drop-off boxes for toys will be set out at various locations countywide starting Nov. 29, and donations will be collected Dec. 8, according to Valerie Aguirre, chairwoman for the Napa County Holiday Assistance Program. Families who registered for the program in October will receive their gifts Dec. 16 and are entitled to one large and one small toy per child, plus a family gift and one or more boxes of non-perishable foods. The Holiday Assistance Program is run by a coalition that includes Toys for Tots, the Salvation Army, Catholic Charities, the Napa Food Bank, Queen of the Valley Medical Center, American Canyon, Calistoga and Yountville Family Services, and various churches, charities and volunteers in Napa County. For information on toy drop-off locations or to volunteer, contact Valerie Aguirre at 707-266-4586 or valnmike2@gmail.com. Check donations to pay for toys can be sent to Toys for Tots at 6468 Washington St. (Space 209), Yountville, CA 94599. Those wishing to volunteer with program also can register online at volunteer.cvnl.org, where candidates can view the available tasks and their dates and times. CHiPs for Kids toy drive The California Highway Patrol is gathering toys across Napa County to give to children and teenagers during its annual Christmastime donation drive, CHiPs for Kids. New and unwrapped toys can be dropped off at the CHP Napa station, at 975 Golden Gate Drive, on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Donation bins also have been set up at the following businesses: - Supercuts, 1806 Soscol Ave. (Suite B), Napa - Jax White Mule Diner, 1122 First St., Napa - Loose Caboose, 820 Third St., Napa - Kellys Filling Station and Wine Shop, 6795 Washington St., Yountville Other drop sites will be announced in the coming days, according to CHP Officer Marc Renspurger. A toy donation drive to support the program has been scheduled for 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Fosters Freeze, 1195 Imola Ave. in Napa, and will be co-sponsored by the Napa Valley Cruisers, Renspurger said. Cash donations as well as unwrapped toys will be accepted at the toy drive and at drop-off locations. For more information, contact CHP in Napa at 707-253-4906 or email Renspurger at mrenspurger@chp.ca.gov. Operation: With Love from Home Entering its second decade in Napa, Operation: With Love from Home is again rallying volunteers to create 1,200 care packages as holiday gifts for U.S. troops abroad. The groups 11th annual care package drive is accepting donations of snacks, clothing, personal toiletries and other items at 17 drop-off sites in Napa County, including its year-round site at Community Outreach, 3448 Villa Lane (Suite 102) in Napa. Collections began Nov. 1 and are continuing through Dec. 4. Cash donations are being accepted toward postage for the care packages, which organizer Liz Alessio said will run to $13.45 for each 9-pound box. Products in high demand for care packages this season include Girl Scout cookies, beef jerky, AA and AAA batteries, hand sanitizer, hand and foot warmers, single packets of coffee, tea and drink mixes, and disposable razors, according to Alessio. Volunteers are invited to join sorting parties to organize the donated items. Those events are scheduled for 5:30 to 7 p.m. on Nov. 29 and Dec. 6 at the Napa Senior Activity Center, 1500 Jefferson St. The Christmastime gift drive culminates in a packing bee Dec. 9 in the Napa Valley College gymnasium at 2277 Napa-Vallejo Highway. Packing will take place from 9:30 a.m. to about noon, and volunteers are asked to arrive before 9 to sign in. The packing bee will open with a Boy Scouts display of colors and the singing of The Star-Spangled Banner, and volunteers are encouraged to bring photos of active and retired members of the military to be included in a Wall of Honor at the event. If someone has a friend or relative who is a service member stationed overseas, Operation: With Love from Home will send care packages to that person as well as others in his or her unit, so long as the group receives their names by Dec. 4, according to Alessio. For more information, call 707-363-0043 or send an email to info@opwithlove.org. A list of donation sites and suggested gifts is available at opwithlove.org. Napa Elks food collection for homeless veterans Napa Elks Lodge No. 832s food drive for homeless and at-risk veterans began Nov. 1 and is continuing through Dec. 15, with boxes set out at the lodge at 2840 Soscol Ave. The group is accepting gifts of nonperishable food items as well as soaps, shampoos and toiletries, according to organizer Sandy Silveira. Food donations will be distributed by the Napa branch of Veterans Resource Centers of America, which opened earlier this month at 1835 First St., according to site director Jeff Baker. Donated goods are taken to the center every Monday for distribution. The resource center also is accepting gifts of blankets, sleeping bags, warm clothing, shoes, boots and toiletries, Baker said. For more information, call the Elks Lodge at 707-255-4522. Adopt a Family (Napa, St. Helena and Calistoga) Some 75 needy families in Napa, St. Helena and Calistoga will receive gift cards for the holidays from Adopt a Family, a partnership of Grace Episcopal Church and local family service groups. Adopt a Family is accepting money donations that will be used to purchase gift cards at Safeway, Target and Wal-Mart, according to organizer Shirley Swanson. Cards purchased with the contributions will be distributed by the COPE Family Center and the UpValley Family Center to households that have registered in advance. Contributions can be mailed to Grace Episcopal Church at 1314 Spring St., St. Helena, CA 94574 and must be postmarked by Dec. 11. Checks should be labeled Adopt a Family on the memo lines. For more information, those in Napa can contact Swanson at 530-320-1833 or sswanson@foothill.net. St. Helena and Calistoga residents can contact Martha Meals at 707-695-9816. Calistoga Christmas Faire The 48th annual Calistoga Christmas Faire will include various fundraising events to benefit those affected by the October wildfires in Napa and Sonoma counties. Organizers will partner with the Calistoga Fire Department and Redwood Empire Food Bank in a food, toy and tree ornament drive at the event from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 2 at the Napa County Fairgrounds, 1435 N. Oak St. in Calistoga. Traditionally our Christmas Faire is a celebration of community and merriment, the fairgrounds chief executive Carlene Moore said in a statement. And this year, we are hoping to reach beyond our county line to invite neighboring communities to join us for a day of healing, compassion, and joy. In addition to the food and gift drive, crafting stations will be set up for guests to make ornaments and decorations to take home or give to families in need. Information on the ornament program is available at gofundme.com/CalistogaChristmasFaire. To learn more about the Christmas Faire, visit celebratenapavalley.org. The Giving Tree The Napa County Office of Education has set up its third annual Giving Tree to encourage the donation of holiday gifts to local students, the agency announced. The program directed presents to more than 275 families in 2016, the office said in a news release. A tree was set up Nov. 15 in the lobby of the departments headquarters at 2121 Imola Ave., Napa. Hung from its branches are Santa Claus ornaments marked for students of Early Childhood Services, as well as Joy ornaments for those attending Camille Creek Community School. Visitors can choose an ornament and check its number against folders at the front counter, which will list possible gifts matching each number. The donor can then buy a toy or clothing item for each person listed on the form, wrap the items and attach gift labels, and add the name and ornament number to each present. All gifts are due, wrapped and labeled, back at the Office of Educations General Services department by Dec. 8. Gifts will be distributed at Early Childhood and the Camille Creek school during the week of Dec. 11. For more information, contact General Services at 707-253-6828. YOUNTVILLE A Yountville restaurateurs clash with the town over the removal of familiar lettering from a historic downtown building has led to an ultimatum bring back the MARKET banner from a long-gone grocery, and do it by Dec. 20. Despite the possibility of litigation to keep the lettering off Ciccios century-old storefront for good, the Town Council unanimously voted Tuesday to require the masthead, which has adorned the facade since its former life as Tonascia Market, to be returned outside the eatery at 6770 Washington St., in Yountvilles Old Town district. Ciccio founder Frank Altamura was given 30 days to have the six white block letters returned to the red wooden siding of his storefront, which was home to various family-run groceries from the late 1910s to 2000, when it was converted to restaurant use. The town order came two weeks after Altamura and his Napa-based attorney Kevin Teague sent Yountville a letter challenging the move as a violation of the restaurant owners constitutional free-speech and property rights under the First, Fifth and 14th Amendments. Council members postponed a vote on the matter scheduled for Nov. 7, and on Tuesday met for an hour in closed session before affirming the ruling they had made in October that Altamura had altered an historic structure without telling town officials, and thus violated permit terms preventing a landmark owner from making changes that damage its scale and character. Even as he conceded Yountvilles right to make and enforce zoning and historic preservation laws, Teague attacked the town order to revive the MARKET lettering as content-based meddling in Altamuras right of free speech, as well as an unconstitutional taking of private property. While finding that government can have substantial interests in historic resources, we have found no court decision finding the heightened, compelling interests in regulating speech for historic preservation or character purposes, he wrote to town officials. Since opening Ciccio five years ago, Altamura has sought to take down the lettering, both to avoid confusing visitors expecting a present-day grocery and to excise what he called an anachronism that may have been added to the landmark as recently as the 1970s. A 2012 application to eliminate the MARKET banner stalled after a deadlocked Town Council vote, despite support from the Napa County Landmarks preservation group. This August, however, Altamura won the support of Yountvilles zoning board for the storefront change, only to see the council vote against him last month. Tuesday night, Altamuras argument again fell on deaf ears, as council members criticized him for trying to gain town permission to change the storefront after the fact. In my opinion, you blatantly disregarded actions taken by previous councils, Mayor John Dunbar told Altamura at Town Hall. You had asked if you could remove the lettering, and we said no, and so you found a different way to do it, several years later. My vote is about the enforcement of the use permit, said Jeffrey Durham. Its not about the historical (character); its not about anything else except the use permit. Afterward, Teague predicted he and his client would analyze the resolution and discuss next steps, but added that a lawsuit remains possible before the towns Dec. 20 deadline to reverse the changes to the Ciccio building. The constitutional issues we raised still stand from our letter, he told the council. Tonascia Market, which operated in Yountville from 1916 to 1983, spent most of its existence in the present-day Ciccio space, a rustic affair with a gabled roof, porch and square wooden columns. The building housed other groceries and delis before its conversion first into Gordons Cafe and later Ciccio, an Italian restaurant open only for dinner. SANTA ROSA Four elderly residents of a Santa Rosa assisted living facility claim they were abandoned by staff members while the facility burned during the deadly Tubbs Fire in October. The suit was filed Monday against Oakmont Senior Living, LLC and Oakmont Management Group that own and operate Oakmont at Villa Capri in the Fountaingrove area of Santa Rosa, one of three neighborhoods destroyed during the Oct. 8 Tubbs Fire. The suit filed by law firms in San Francisco and San Jose claims the defendants, Oakmont failed to safely evacuate the four women ages 82 to 92 and other residents in wheelchairs and residents with dementia who were physically and cognitively incapable of escaping a burning building without assistance during the wildfires on Oct. 9. These residents survived only because the families of Virginia Gunn, 82, and Helen Allen, 89, made Herculean efforts to ensure that all the residents they could find got out of the building, attorneys Kathryn A. Stebner and Kelly Knapp of Stebner and Associates in San Francisco, and attorney Kristen Fish of Needham Kepner and Fish of San Jose said. Elizabeth Eurotas, the daughter of 84-year-old Alice Eurotas, Mark Allen, Helen Allens son and Villa Capri resident Elizabeth Budow, 92, also are named plaintiffs in the suit. Elizabeth Eurotas and Mark Allen allege Oakmont promised to search fire debris for surviving property before razing the building. Mark Allen also alleges he suffered emotional stress while evacuating his mother and other Villa Capri residents. Attorney Kathryn Stebner said the suit is intended to send a strong message to all California long-term care facilities that they must immediately develop workable evacuation plans with trained staff to implement them. As fire came closer to Villa Capri, staff told a family member there was no evacuation plan, and that the people with dementia should be evacuated last, attorney Kathryn Stebner said in a news release about the lawsuit. I dont know what would have happened if family members had not been there to get people out before the building burned. This should never happen again, Stebner said. Only three staff members were working at Villa Capri during the night of the fire to care for nearly 70 elderly and disabled residents, including a few dozen elders with dementia in a locked unit, according to the suit. Villa Capri had no power or backup generators, no one had keys to Oakmont vans that could have been used to evacuate residents and no one could make contact with the executive director of the facility during the fire, according to the plaintiffs attorneys. Mark Allen evacuated his mother and six other residents in his Suburban, and all Oakmont staff left before approximately 24 residents, 14 of them in the dementia care unit, were evacuated, according to the complaint. The remaining residents were eventually evacuated by a police officer who was driving to evacuate a facility next door, according to the attorneys. The suit also claims Oakmont told the media and other residents all the residents were safely evacuated, but plaintiff Elizabeth Budow was found by her family in a hospital after the fire with a broken hip and tooth, bruises and contusions on her body and an open wound on her heel. Oakmont never explained to Budows family how she was injured. All the plaintiffs suffered severe emotional distress, the attorneys said. The claims against Oakmont include elder abuse, false imprisonment, negligence and intentional and negligent infliction of emotional stress. The plaintiffs seek a jury trial and an unspecified amount of damages. A spokesperson for Oakmont Senior Living did not return a phone call or email for comment on the suit this afternoon. Almost every American over 55 years old remembers learning President John F. Kennedy had been shot, and almost all Americans, regardless of age, know something about that moment 54 years ago, when everything changed, as grief and outrage gripped the nation and the entire world. The grief rolled across the nation and the world like a massive shock wave. I got to know Secret Service Agent Clinton Hill, the man who dove off the follow-up car, known as the Queen Mary, directly behind President Kennedys limousine immediately after the first crack of a high-powered rifle cut the air. He told me he saw the president suddenly jerk both his arms to his neck and slump to his left. By training and instinct, Clint jumped off the running board and started running as hard as he could go toward the back of the presidents limousine and get his footing up on the rear running boards of the car. The presidents head slumped over toward his shocked wife, Jackie Kennedy who then cried out very loudly, My God, they have shot my husband. Clint was going over the trunk of the blue Lincoln as he pushed her back into the car. As the presidents blood gushed down into his face and onto Mrs. Kennedys lap and down her stockings into the rear compartment of the floor, a wounded Gov. Connally and his wife, Nellie, sat in the jump seat. Mrs. Connally pulled her wounded husband down completely after one of the shots hit him square in the back. He cried out My God, theyre going to kill us all. Then all hell broke loose, as Agent Bill Greer, the presidential driver, punched the peddle down all the way hard and the blue convertible jumped forward very violently and very fast, gaining massive traction on all four tires firmly touching the pavement as his fellow agent Roy Kellerman screamed Lets get out of line NOW! Clint, now shielding both the Kennedys and the Governor and Mrs. Connally, told me he turned back towards the Queen Mary and gave a thumbs down to the driver of the vehicle, now following bumper to bumper, yelling Get us to the hospital, Hes been hit. The limousine bucked forward violently, almost colliding with the lead car as they dove into a tunnel and then onto the freeway, jerking and rapidly cornering very fast around the police lead car, both the massive limos flags the United States and presidential flapping as the car traveled up to 90 miles per hour. Clint held on tight. Looking down in the back seat seeing the massive head wound and all the blood. TV stations suddenly broke with the horrible word of the shooting all around the world. First, there was stunned disbelief, then hatred and anger at the sniper or snipers who shot and killed Kennedy, and then anguish and tears and prayer. Not since the assassination of Abraham Lincoln has such a spontaneous spasm of grief and outrage gripped the nation. Women wept in the streets and men cursed in helpless anger. Clint, after seeing the condition of the presidents massive head wound, suddenly started banging his fists onto the fender portion of the speeding limo as its huge engine under the hood obeyed the gas pedal acceleration. Greer was punching with his right foot all the way to the floorboard, heading out onto the Stemmons Freeway, the follow-up Queen Mary directly behind as the driver flicked on its very loud siren. The motorbike police escort twisted their speed handlebars with all their might, all yanking on their sirens as well. It seemed like an eternity as both cars headed for Parkland Memorial Hospital with its mortally wounded cargo. Clint figured President Kennedy was dead instantly, only making gurgling noises with an opened bloody mouth. Gov. Connally, meanwhile, was struggling to breathe and Mrs. Kennedy kept screaming loudly Jack, oh Jack, I love you Jack. Clint then got a much firmer grip with both his hands and was able to form a shield completely over the occupants in the rear seats. Turning his head, his sunglasses blew off onto the freeway. By this time, all the agents in the Queen Mary yanked shotguns, submachine guns and other weaponry and were pointing them all over while their cars driver was desperately keeping up with the presidential convertible. They swung a hard left and then a sharp right into the emergency bay at the hospital. Then after a half hour passed at the hospital, the President was pronounced dead, the news broke, the devastating news no one wanted to hear. This event opened wide the start of a very violent decade as innocence as it once knew only a scant time ago changed forever into a terrible future. That future, and worse, includes war abroad against Communism and a war on poverty at home, landmark civil rights legislation. Medicare and Medicaid; a youth counterculture with its own music, styles, drugs and ideas, movements for consumer protection, homosexual rights, historic preservation and black power; the sexual revolution and feminism, urban race riots and yet more political assassinations, first civil rights leader Martin Luther King in 1968, then later that same year, President Kennedys beloved younger brother Robert, shot to death himself after clinching the needed primary votes for certain nomination for the presidency. On that awful day in 1963, business came to a standstill as people clustered around radio sets to hear again and again what they could not believe at first. Still, they asked, Is it true? Is it true? The tolling of church bells confirmed their fears. In New York, Mrs. Mary McGrath an elderly cleaning woman, stopped passerby outside St. Agnes Church and told them, Jesus, Mary, Mother of God, President Kennedy was shot. When informed he was dead, she fell to her knees and wept. MELBOURNE, Florida Melbourne Highs Pride of Mel-Hi Marching Band will perform in the annual National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade in Washington, D.C. on April 14, 2018. The school was one of only 13 bands from across the nation selected to participate. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); The two-hour procession will travel along Constitution Avenue and marks the conclusion of the four-week long Cherry Blossom Festival. The festival takes place in March and April and commemorates the 1912 gift of 3,000 cherry trees from Tokyo to the nations capital. The parade draws an on-site audience of more than 150,000 people and is nationally syndicated to an estimated 82 percent of U.S. television markets. I am incredibly proud and honored to be a part of this special group of people, said Joshua Sall, Melbourne High director of bands. The Melbourne High School Pride of Mel-Hi Band, Melbourne High School, the parents and community are an incredible group of people who came together to help us achieve this awesome honor. Approximately 196 people, including students, staff and chaperones, will travel for this opportunity. It will cost the band more than $125,000 to make the trip. To help with the associated costs, the band created a fundraising campaign which can be found at www.prideofmelhiband.com. We are so excited to travel up to our nations capital and represent Mel-Hi, the city of Melbourne, and Brevard County Schools. The students and I are absolutely thrilled to have this honor, said Sall. For more information or to contribute to the fundraising effort, visit www.prideofmelhiband.com or contact Joshua Sall, Melbourne High director of bands, at [email protected] Photo credit: BPS - At least 50 killed after suicide bomber explodes inside Mosque in North Eastern Nigeria. - Suicide bomber targeted early morning prayer rush before exploding himself. - Although no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, it is similar to Boko Haram's style of attack. At least 50 people have been confirmed killed with many more injured after a teenage suicide bomber exploded inside a Mosque in North-East Nigeria as people attempted to observe their morning prayers. Police said a teenage bomber targeted the mosque in the town of Mubi, Adamawa state, as people arrived for morning prayers on Tuesday. "We have 50 dead and we are now trying to get the exact number of those injured," Othman Abubakar, public relations officer of the Adamawa Police Command, was quoted as saying by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN). According to NAN, the mosque is located in Mubi's Dazala area. Although there has been no claim of responsibility by any terrorist or militant group for this tragic act, it is very similar to the antics typically deployed by Boko Haram. Boko Haram led suicide bombing have resulted in the death of nearly a thousand Nigerians since this year. The requested page is currently unavailable on this server. Back to [RTHK News Homepage] JOSEPH EID/AFP/Getty Images(NEW YORK ) -- Syrian President Bashar Assad met with his Russian President Vladimir Putin in the southern Russian city of Sochi on Monday evening as a part of a "working visit," the Kremlin said in a statement. Assad reportedly thanked Putin for "the efforts that Russia made to save our country," according to an English translation of the statement. "Two years ago, when I met with President Putin in Moscow, the fighting was just beginning. During these two years, the successes that have been achieved thanks to the assistance of the Air and Space Forces of the Russian Federation and the Syrian army are evident," Assad said, according to a readout of the meeting. "Now no one can deny these successes in the fight against terrorism. And thanks to your actions, as well as the actions of the Syrian army, our allies, many Syrians were able to return to their homes." "We count on Russia's support to ensure that external actors do not interfere in the political process and that from the outside they only support the process that the Syrians themselves will lead," he added. Putin also introduced Assad to senior officials of the country's Defense Ministry and the general staff, people who he said "played a decisive role in saving Syria," according to the Kremlin's statement. "Much has been done to stabilize the situation in Syria. I hope that in the very near future we will put the final point in the fight against terrorism in Syria, although it is clear that the centers will still exist, they will still emerge," Putin said. "So there are still problems with terrorism in the world, and in the Middle East, and in Syria in particular." "But the main task is already close to completion, and it will be possible to say in the very near future that we have solved it," he added. Putin said he planned to follow up the meeting with telephone calls to President Donald Trump, and to Middle Eastern leaders including the Emir of Qatar. The two leaders last met on Oct. 20, 2015 in Moscow after Russia launched a military operation against Syrian insurgents and ISIS. The conflict in Syria began in 2011 after the government cracked down violently on mostly peaceful protests against Assad's rule. The protests developed into an armed uprising and a civil war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions. Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-21 23:20:15|Editor: Mengjie Video Player Close SHENZHEN, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Two Boeing 747 freighters were sold Tuesday on Taobao after repeated attempts to sell them offline. The aircraft were purchased by SF Airlines for more than 320 million yuan (around 48 million U.S. dollars), according to Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court. Three Boeing 747 planes went up for auction on Monday. One of the auctions failed because only one buyer registered a bid, the court said. It is the first time aircraft have been the subject of a Taobao judicial auction, the court said. Deals were reached after 26 bids. The auction gathered over 800,000 viewers. The freight planes were previously owned by Jade Cargo International, the first Chinese cargo carrier with foreign investment. The company folded in 2013. The three aircraft had been put up for auction offline six times since October 2015, but failed to find buyers. "Online auctions are a good way to handle the property of bankrupt firms," said Long Guangwei, the court's vice president. "Online auctions save time and service fees for bidders," he said. Almost all Chinese courts have registered on Taobao's judicial sales platform since the service was launched in 2012. Over 330,000 objects have been auctioned there for a total of 460 billion yuan (about 69.6 billion U.S. dollars). "Online auctions help transparency in legal affairs because all information is there for all to see," said Lu Weixing, general manager of Alibaba's auction business. Financial, tax and land resources authorities, customs and police have used online auctions, Lu said. There have been several online auctions of company shares, land use and steel production capacity quotas, whose value reached billions. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 02:31:33|Editor: yan Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- UN leaders have called for calm and restraint in Zimbabwe following the resignation of President Robert Mugabe, who had ruled the country for 37 years since independence. Both UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and General Assembly President Miroslav Lajcak called for calm and restraint in the southern African country after a week of political tumult. Zimbabwe's Parliament Speaker Jacob Mudenda on Tuesday announced the resignation of Mugabe, one day after the 93-year-old ignored a deadline set by his own party to step down. "The (UN) secretary-general encourages all Zimbabweans to maintain calm and restraint," UN spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters in New York. Mugabe was taken into custody by the military last week after he fired Deputy President Emmerson Mnangagwa. His own political party restored Mnangagwa and demanded Mugabe's resignation. As Mugabe initially remained defiant, his party threatened to impeach him. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 02:36:35|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close LUSAKA, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Mining firms in Zambia on Tuesday called on the government to streamline small-scale mining in order to allow the country to get maximum benefits from the sub-sector. The Zambia Chamber of Mines, an association of large-scale mining firms operating in the country, said there was an urgent need for the government to organize and streamline artisanal mining which was currently disorganized and contributing nothing to the country's treasury. "Presently, this area of the industry is largely disorganized and run by individuals without appropriate consideration of environmental consequences and more importantly the consequences of the safety of the people working on these premises," Nathan Chishimba, the association's president said in a statement. The government, he said, was not benefiting from the process of small-scale mining and was missing on the opportunity to increase the tax base, adding that the industry was ready to work with the government so that the country could start benefiting from the sub-sector. He further said the government was keen to closely work with the government in identifying appropriate strategies and initiatives that will unlock the capacity to develop and mine other minerals apart from copper. The government recently said it expects mining firms to play a significant role in helping the country produce 1 million tons of copper next year. Africa's second largest copper producer expects to produce 850,000 tons of copper in 2017 from 770,597 tons last year. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 02:36:37|Editor: yan Video Player Close GENEVA, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Lakes and freshwater systems account for more than 20 percent of all methane emissions into the atmosphere, scientists at the University of Geneva have found, Swiss media reported Tuesday. Until recently, it had been thought that methane could only be produced in oxygen-deprived environments, such as the sedimentary layers found at the bottom of lakes. The phenomenon is still largely unknown and has been underscored by a two-year field study designed to measure the methane concentration and production in the surface water (the top five meters) of Lake Hallwil in the northern Swiss canton of Aargau. "Something is going on in the surface waters and nobody has been paying attention so far," Daniel McGinnis, co-author of the study with his colleague Daphne Donis said, Swiss New Agency ATS reported. Methane is a gas whose greenhouse effect is 28 times greater than that of carbon dioxide and measuring the gas is important in examining phenomena such as climate change. Flatulence in cows is a big producer of methane and Lake Hallwil, with an area of about 10 sq km, generates as much methane a year as a herd of 240 bovines, or about 25 tons. Till now scientists have not been able to explain the methane production in the surface waters of lakes. Scientists say it is therefore possible that lakes could be enormous producers of methane, much larger producers, in fact, than previously estimated. The Geneva University research is published in Nature Communication and shows that lakes play a critical role in the methane gas cycle. The measurement campaign was conducted over the summers of 2015 and 2016 in Lake Hallwil and reached an unexpected conclusion: the mechanical accumulation of methane in the lake surface cannot explain the concentrations that the scientists observed. The concentration should be much lower, and the rates observed can only be explained by the gas being produced in the surface layer, said the scientists. "It could be the by-product of another, yet unknown process," McGinnis said. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 02:51:39|Editor: yan Video Player Close WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- One Air Force pilot died and another was injured after their plane crashed Monday outside a military base in U.S. state of Texas, military officials said. The two pilots were flying T-38 Talon, a twin-engine supersonic jet assigned to Laughlin Air Force Base near Del Rio, and the plane went down about 4 p.m. about 23 kilometers northwest of the military installation, according to an Air Force statement. Reports said one airman was dead at the scene. The injured airman was taken to Val Verde Regional Medical Center in Del Rio. No identities have been released, and no information has been made available regarding the cause of the crash. The Air Force said they would undertake an investigation into the incident. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 03:46:53|Editor: yan Video Player Close RABAT, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Morocco and Senegal discussed here on Tuesday means to cement bilateral military cooperation as military chiefs of the two countries met. The Inspector General of Morocco's army, Fathallah El Ouarrak, and the Senegalese Chief of Defense Staff, Lieutenant-General Sheikh Gueye, examined various aspects of bilateral military cooperation, especially in the area of training and exchange of visits and experiences, the Moroccan Royal Armed Forces (FAR) said in a statement. This cooperation is part of the exceptional relations between the two brotherly countries, which are based on historical ties between Morocco and Senegal, the statement underlined. The two sides hailed the positive military cooperation between the two countries' armed forces, it noted. Initiated in 1969, the training of Senegalese military personnel at FAR's schools and training centers has always been the main axis of Moroccan-Senegalese military cooperation. More than 2,000 officers have so far received training at the kingdom's military schools. Senegalese Chief of Defense Staff is heading a large military delegation on a working visit to Morocco on Nov. 20-25. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 03:56:59|Editor: pengying Video Player Close Zimbabwean Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda reads the resignation letter of President Robert Mugabe in Harare, capital of Zimbabwe, on Nov. 21, 2017. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has resigned. His resignation was announced Tuesday by Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda during a joint sitting of Senate and National Assembly that was debating his impeachment motion. (Xinhua/Shaun Jusa) HARARE, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has resigned. His resignation was announced Tuesday by Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda during a joint sitting of Senate and National Assembly that was debating his impeachment motion. In his resignation letter Mugabe said: "I, Robert Gabriel Mugabe, in terms of Section 96 sub section 1 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe hereby formally tender my resignation as the President of Zimbabwe with immediate effect." He continued: "My decision to resign is voluntary on my part and arises from my concern with the welfare of the people of Zimbabwe and my desire to ensure a smooth, peaceful and non-violent transition of power that underpins national security, peace and stability." Mudenda immediately announced suspension of debate and said he will immediately put in place proper legal processes to install a new country president no later than end of Wednesday. The resignation came two days after the ruling Zanu-PF party deposed Mugabe as leader, and also recalled him from government over a litany of charges. The party had given Mugabe until mid-day on Monday to resign, but he ignored the deadline, prompting Zanu-PF legislators on Tuesday to start parliamentary impeachment proceedings against him. However, as the impeachment proceedings got underway, Mugabe abruptly resigned, ending almost four decades of near total dominance of Zimbabwe's political landscape. Zimbabwe Former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa persuaded Mugabe to resign and said he will not return to Zimbabwe until he is satisfied that his personal security is guaranteed. In a press statement released on Tuesday morning, Mnangagwa confirmed that he had spoken with Mugabe Monday. He called on Mugabe to resign in line with the wishes of the people who demanded his resignation as they demonstrated at the weekend in support of the Zimbabwe Defense Forces (ZDF) who took over government operations last Tuesday. He said he had told Mugabe that the current political and constitutional crisis in the country was not a matter between the two of them but between the people of Zimbabwe and Mugabe. "The people of Zimbabwe have clearly spoken on this matter. To me the voice of the people is the voice of God and their lack of trust and confidence in the leadership of President Mugabe has been expressed. "The people of Zimbabwe have spoken with one voice and it is my appeal to President Mugabe that he should take heed of this clarion call by the people of Zimbabwe to resign so that the country can move forward and preserve his legacy," he said. He said he had told Mugabe that he had two options: either cooperate with the defense forces for a peaceful resolution to the crisis which would result in the preservation of his legacy or continue to dig in and suffer humiliation because definitely the will of the people would prevail against one person. In neighboring country South Africa, traffic reportedly came to a standstill in its largest city Johannesburg on Tuesday as thousands of Zimbabweans went to the streets to celebrate following the resignation of their President Robert Mugabe. A 30 year old teacher Yeukai Shumba said she loves the former president Mugabe, however, Mugabe made a mistake by allowing his wife to control him. "We need change in our country. We have been struggling for so long... Definitely, I would go back home. I love my country, I am proudly a Zimbabwean. I know things won't change overnight but I would like to see more jobs for our youths. I would also want to see improvement in our health sector and our education must be affordable to all people," she said. Another Zimbabwean teacher, based in Johannesburg, Sylvester Simanga Dube, welcomed Mugabe's resignation. He said many Zimbabweans are homesick having been in the foreign lands for years. "Well I don't mind who comes in as president but there are signs that we are going to have a fresh promising restart. The new leader must work on economic revival and must have an appealing voice to the international community," he said. Earlier on Tuesday, Zimbabwean state media New Ziana reported that South African President Jacob Zuma and his Angolan counterpart Joao Lourenco will travel to Zimbabwe on Wednesday to assess the political situation in the country. File Photo: TV host Charlie Rose arrives for the Time 100 Gala in the Manhattan borough of New York, New York, U.S. April 25, 2017. (Xinhua/REUTERS) WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), a major U.S. TV news outlet, fired its veteran journalist Charlie Rose on Tuesday following accusations of sexual misconduct. "Despite Charlie's important journalist contribution to our news division, there is absolutely nothing more important, in this or any organization, than ensuring a safe, professional workplace - a supportive environment where people feel they can do their best work," said CBS News President David Rhodes in a note to staff. "I'm deeply disappointed and angry that people were victimized - and that even people not connected with these events could see their hard work undermined," he said. The firing is effective immediately. Rose was a co-host of CBS program This Morning and a contributing correspondent for its long-running Sunday night news magazine "60 Minutes." The "Charlie Rose" show was broadcast on PBS and Bloomberg TV. The Washington Post reported on Monday that eight women accused Rose of making unwanted sexual advances between the late 1990s and 2011. His misconduct included making lewd suggestions during phone calls, walking naked in front of female employees and groping their breasts or genital areas. Rose, 75, said in a statement on Monday that he had "behaved insensitively" at times, but said that some of the allegations were not accurate. Rose is the second major media news figure to be suspended from work on Monday in the face of allegations of sexual improprieties. The New York Times, earlier in the day, suspended one of its star reporters, White House correspondent Glenn Thrush, after several women accused him of unwanted kissing and touching. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 05:17:24|Editor: yan Video Player Close by Burak Akinci ANKARA, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- The incident that has caused tensions between NATO and Turkey during an exercise in Norway last week was a "provocation" against an indispensable ally of the western world but actually snubbed because of contentious foreign policy decisions, local experts said. "I think it was a planned and deliberate provocation ... I do not agree to the judgment that this matter should be considered as a minor incident. On the contrary, it is a major scandal that would lead to the reaction of the Turkish people," said Mustafa Kibaroglu from MEF University in Istanbul. Kibaroglu, expert on international relations, was referring to the blunder in a NATO military drill, where a civil contractor depicted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as an "enemy collaborator," and Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was shown as "hostile." An angry and outraged Turkey immediately decided to withdraw from the drill followed by apologies from NATO and Norway, and Erdogan lashed at a "vile" and "treacherous" attitude towards his country, sign of a serious rift between Turkey and the west in general. "The fact that the person who is behind this is not within NATO's institutional structure does not reduce the scope of this scandal," noted Kibaroglu. The main opposition party, the Republican People's Party (CHP), as well supported President Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) requests for a full blown investigation on the incident. One of its influential parliament members Mustafa Balbay also implied that this was an orchestrated effort to undermine Turkey in the alliance and certainly a "planned" one. "TURKEY SHOULD RECONSIDER NATO MEMBERSHIP" President Erdogan's chief adviser Yalcin Topcu went however radically further and said that "it's time to reconsider the issue of Turkey's membership to NATO," according to local media. "The presence of the great Turkish nation in its institution (NATO) has become questionable," Topcu said, branding the alliance's behavior towards Ankara as "dishonorable." But Turkish Presidential Spokesman Ibrahim Kalin tried to tone down talks that Turkey intends to sever relations with the military alliance, demanding that a comprehensive investigation be launched into the incident. Experts like Kibaroglu think that "a perception is being led lately as if Turkey was ostracized (in NATO) because of its preference to acquire Russian S-400 air defense systems and that there are divisions between Turkey and its western allies," which are not true, according to him. If Turkey would one day consider to leave NATO, "this should be discussed the broader way possible with all its implications," indicated Kibaroglu, who insisted that the western world would suffer more than Turkey if Ankara called it quits, "because a NATO without Turkey cannot fight effectively against threats to which will be confronted western nations today and in the future," he argued. Turkey is a NATO member since 1952 and has the second largest army in the alliance after the United States. There is growing antagonisms between Ankara and some of its allies within the military bloc. Ankara's decision to buy sophisticated Russian air defense systems caused concern among NATO members, including the United States, because mainly of lack of interoperability with NATO weapons. The incident in Norway may look somewhat minor to the unknowledgeable but it certainly constitutes a new and unprecedented outburst of ongoing tensions between the Turks and their western allies. The failed coup attempt of last year and the reluctance of western powers such as the United States and Germany to condemn and to extradite plotters has changed Turkish foreign policy's trajectory. Turkey turned towards Russia and then Iran in policy regarding the Syrian war made growing popular mistrust and resentment in Turkey towards the west. Ties with Washington and the European Union soured and Turkey found itself more distant than ever to the camps to which it had belonged since the early days of the Cold War. "Regarding quitting, Turkey should on the contrary strengthen presence in NATO in order to rebut these circles who are trying to conspire against her, otherwise, those who are behind this plot (in the Norway exercises) will have won," said Deniz Ulke Aribogan, a professor from the department of international relations of Istanbul University. "Leaving NATO is not an option for Ankara," she added. TURKISH-RUSSIAN TIES Turkey has considerably strengthened cooperation with Moscow after a bilateral spat in 2015 over the downing of a Russian fighter over Syria, and the two countries' presidents, Erdogan and Vladimir Putin, as well as their Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani, will meet on Wednesday in Sochi, Russia, to coordinate their cooperation in Syria, another high-level meeting closely followed by western capitals, especially Washington. Ahead of this crucial trilateral meeting, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was received at the Kremlin by President Putin. Turkey until recently absolutely wants Assad to leave power before any solution to the civil war. In this context, for Turkey to align too much on Russian positions is also a risk, Deniz Zeyrek, daily Hurriyet commentator said. "Putting all the eggs in the same basket is not good," he remarked, reminding that the history of the two nations were marred by strategical differences and conflicts. "If Ankara were to be dependent on Moscow's line in Syria and other regional matters, it would be forced to cave in to concessions towards Russia in the end," argued Zeyrek. And precisely when it comes to dependence in diplomacy, some analysts think that it's time for President Erdogan and his government to return to basics and to follow into the footsteps of the founder of Turkish Republic, Ataturk, who led a "national foreign policy" based on the sole interests of Turkey. "Looking at the general picture today, Turkey is not leading anything or setting the stage for anything significant that might contribute to how the new Middle East will be shaped," Semiz Idiz, Hurriyet Daily News columnist wrote. "It is instead hanging defensively on the coattails of soft global and regional powers, vacillating from one side to the other, in an attempt to secure what it can for its own interests," he argued, criticizing the state of its ties with major players, the United States and Russia. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 07:13:09|Editor: pengying Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday condemned a suicide bombing in Nigeria that resulted in scores of deaths. In a statement through his spokesman Farhan Haq, Guterres extended his condolences to the bereaved families and to the government and people of Nigeria for the loss of life, and wished a speedy recovery to the injured. He called for those responsible for these heinous acts to be swiftly brought to justice. Guterres reiterated the solidarity of the United Nations with the Nigerian government in its fight against terrorism and violent extremism, and renewed the commitment of the United Nations to continue to support regional counter-terrorism initiatives, said Haq. A suicide bomber set off explosives on Tuesday during morning prayers in a mosque in Mubi, a small town in the northeastern state of Adamawa, killing 50 people. Source:Xinhua| 2017-11-22 07:58:41|Editor: Mengjie Video Player Close Yu Jiajun (L, front) examines a villager at his clinic in Jinzhai County, east China's Anhui Province, Sept. 14, 2017. Local people in Haidao Village in Anhui call the village "an isolated island in the sea." The village is located deep in the mountains near the Xianghongdian Reservoir. A houseboat has been docked for nearly 20 years in the east of the reservoir. Yu Jiajun, 39, is the houseboat's owner and the only doctor in Haidao village, which is home to more than 200 people. In 1999, Yu graduated from Lu'an Medical School and settled with his wife on the houseboat. He named the boat "Haidao Clinic." For the past 18 years, he has rowed the small wooden boat every day to see his patients. Haidao villagers call it the "water ambulance." There are 55 households in Haidao with a population of more than 200 people. In recent years, many young people have gone to work in big cities, leaving behind over 100 old men, women and children at home. "There was no clinic in the past. Villagers had to walk and row for hours to go to the hospital in town," Yu recalled. As more and more young people leave for big cities, Yu has been reluctant to leave the clinic and his patients, according to Yu's wife, Wu Qijiao. Years ago, Wu's brother asked the couple to help him with business. But Yu chose to stay at his clinic because "my patients want me to stay." (Xinhua/Liu Junxi) Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 07:41:19|Editor: pengying Video Player Close People visit a charity Bazaar at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, on Nov. 21, 2017. The United Nations Women's Guild (UNWG) organized the annual international charity Bazaar on Tuesday to raise funds for disadvantaged children around the world. (Xinhua/Xu Jinquan) Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 08:18:19|Editor: Mengjie Video Player Close China's Hainan Airlines Flight 497 arrives at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, the United States, on Nov. 21, 2017. After flying over 11,000 kilometers, Hainan Airlines Flight 497, which took off from China's capital Beijing, landed at O'Hare International Airport at 12:05 pm local time on Tuesday. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner of Hainan Airlines flew with biological aviation fuel that is produced from waste cooking oil, signaling the first Sino-U.S. green route demonstration to use aviation biofuel. (Xinhua/Wang Ping) CHICAGO, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- After flying over 11,000 kilometers, Hainan Airlines Flight 497 which took off from Beijing landed at Chicago O'Hare International Airport at 12:05 pm local time on Tuesday. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner of Hainan Airlines flew with biological aviation fuel that is produced from waste cooking oil, signaling the first Sino-U.S. green route demonstration to use aviation biofuel. The use of biofuel can reduce carbon emissions while ensuring flight safety and efficiency, according to Hainan Airlines. Sun Jianfeng, President of Hainan Airlines Co., 787 Captain told Xinhua that today's flight by biofuel is as safe as ordinary aircraft with aviation oil, " after flying to a maximum height of 41,000 inches, we still found the engine runs well and aircraft performance is good and stable." Sun said Hainan Airlines has always viewed environmental protection and harmonious environment development as top priority, and it proved that Hainan Airlines has the capability to carry out cross-ocean flight using biofuel. "In the future, we will realize green flight by using more new mode aircraft and applied new computer programs to optimize flight," Sun said. Darrin Morgan, director of Sustainable Fuels Strategy at Boeing told Xinhua that today's flight by Hainan Airlines is a significant milestone, and more important, the sustainable fuel is produced by Chinese national company -Sinopec. "Boeing has been collaborating with Sinopec and many other Chinese stake holders over the years quite well in helping to create new sustainable aviation fuel supply chain and setting up new technologies to support the industry. We are looking forward to more collaboration with China in the future." said Morgan Hainan Airlines made the country's first domestic biofuel-powered passenger flight in 2015. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 10:03:47|Editor: pengying Video Player Close LONDON, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- British economic growth has been held back by the uncertainties of Brexit, but it is a more profound fault with the economy that looks set to make things difficult for the Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond when he delivers his "budget" on Wednesday. Hammond will deliver the annual autumn statement, his second, against a backdrop of moderate growth and Brexit uncertainties. However, it is not Brexit but Britain's continued and prolonged poor productivity performance that will cause a major headache for Hammond. Hammond can owe his position as chancellor of the exchequer to the change of leadership in the British government brought about by the surprise Brexit referendum vote in June last year. While Brexit has brought him a job, it has also brought headaches. It has affected the economy so that it is now the weakest performing of G7 nations. Annual GDP growth in Britain, according to Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) figures released on Monday, was 1.5 percent, the slowest rate of growth in the club of seven rich nations,namely Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and the United States. Britain has slipped from second highest in the group's growth rankings in 2016 to bottom now. Hammond's real problem comes from the poor productivity, before the financial crisis in 2008 productivity would improve by 2 percent per year. But the crisis squashed growth and sent productivity figures into reverse with Britain only regaining the pre-crisis level in 2016. The German and French economies are 36 percent and 30 percent respectively more productive than Britain, although British productivity is assisted by the low rate of unemployment and a record number of jobs. The unemployment rate is higher in France, at over 10 percent, while in Britain it is a low of 4.3 percent, the lowest for 42 years. A NEW AND LOWER FIGURE FOR PRODUCTIVITY FORECASTS The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), the official statistics watchdog, has constructed its forecasts for the past six years on the presumption that productivity will return to its trend growth of about 2 percent. But it has been nowhere near that, averaging 0.2 percent over the past five years. The OBR in March forecast that this is a new reality and is long term. It has said it will lower its productivity forecasts, perhaps below the 1.6 percent forecast it made back in March. All the OBR's statistics are the basis for government budget planning and if they change, then the planned income and spending will be different too. This will have big implications, and cause a big problem for Chancellor Hammond. "The problem Hammond has got is that the OBR has said that is going to downgrade productivity," Howard Archer, chief economic adviser to the EY ITEM Club, a financial data firm in London, told Xinhua. "Their forecast for productivity growth means that (with) other things being equal, the public finance figures will be revised up over the medium term. Because if they downgrade their productivity predictions, they are likely to downgrade growth, which will affect their tax revenue," he said. This will mean Hammond will have less money to play with. The 26 billion pound (34.5 billion U.S. dollar) "wriggle room" he created for himself in March to help him deal with the unknown dangers of Brexit is likely to have been reduced by two thirds, experts say. Archer said: "Hammond's probably going to find that the medium term outlook is less encouraging than it was in March." But there is some good news for Hammond. "The OBR will probably change the forecast for employment. The OBR had forecast that the equilibrium unemployment rate was 5 percent in March and it is now 4.3 percent. If they downgrade productivity they will have to improve employment forecast, which will offset it somewhat," said Archer. A CAUTIOUS BUDGET? So, what could be in Chancellor Hammond's autumn statement? "The chancellor is under pressure to take bold action, I have my doubts he will," said Archer. Hammond has said he wants to build 300,000 homes each year to tackle a housing crisis. In addition there are likely infrastructure announcements, possible in the regions outside London. However, raising money through tax is difficult and cutting public services further is deeply unpopular after seven years of cuts and austerity. "From the election result it is clear people are fed up with austerity and the squeeze on public sector pay, and Hammond is under pressure to find some money for the National Health Service (NHS) too," said Archer. "If he does look to spending some big money, he is going to have to look elsewhere to pay for it and I don't think he will do that. I think it will be a cautious budget," he added. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 10:43:55|Editor: Mengjie Video Player Close NEW YORK, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Stable Sino-U.S. relationship has fostered technological innovation in the past and a healthy bilateral relationship in the new era will continue to fuel global technological growth and benefit people around the world, said U.S. industry leaders here on Monday. "It's simply impossible to imagine a bright future for our planet that is not founded on a healthy relationship between China and the United States," said Brad Smith, president of Microsoft Corporation. In a pre-recorded speech delivered at the annual Gala Dinner held by the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations (NCUSCR) Monday evening, Smith recalled Microsoft's technological development in Chinese market after the company founded Microsoft Research Asia in Beijing in 1998. "Thanks to Chinese talents and their country's innovative spirit, this world-class research hub has continually pushed the limits of computing," said Smith. The research center has produced groundbreaking technologies that have fueled Microsoft's long-term strategy and its vision for the future, he said. "That's part of the reason we've been focused on doing even more to support this vital bridge across the Pacific (China-U.S. relationship)," said Smith. Following Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Microsoft in the Seattle area in 2015, the company has deepened its collaborations with the Chinese government at different levels, and with business and academic partners, he added. Echoing Smith, Paul Jacobs, executive chairman and chairman of the board of chip-making giant Qualcomm Incorporated, said Chinese enterprises have long been very valued partners of Qualcomm as reciprocal collaborations and activities have spanned more than two decades. Since entering the Chinese market, Qualcomm has contributed to China's development in areas including device manufactures, equipment providers, software developers, operators and chipset foundries, said Jacobs. Over the years, the company has fostered long-term relationships with China's leading smartphone makers including Xiaomi, Vivo and OPPO. With an agreement on a deal worth 12 billion U.S. dollars reached during the course of U.S. President Donald Trump's state visit to Beijing earlier this month, the company expects to cement cooperation with the three Chinese companies to help promote their global expansion efforts. During Trump's visit to China, the two countries signed deals worth 253.5 billion dollars, consisting of 34 cooperation agreements and letters of intent. Looking into the future, Qualcomm sees an absolutely tremendous opportunity to work with its partners in China to shape the future of the Internet of Things, said Jacobs. "We've established several joint ventures and innovation labs in China to accelerate these opportunities benefiting industries and companies in China and around the world," he said. Stephen A. Orlins, president of the NCUSCR, is quite optimistic when he looks ahead to the future of the bilateral relationship. He hopes to see Chinese investment and technology help upgrade the country's railway so that a trip from New York to Baltimore would be less than 40 minutes. "The investment would be a bright shining example of Chinese investment materially improving the quality of life for millions of Americans including me," said Orlins. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 10:59:01|Editor: Mengjie Video Player Close SANTIAGO, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Chilean President Michelle Bachelet highlighted on Tuesday the important role that China and the Asia-Pacific will play in the geopolitical future of the world. "We know very well that our relationship with China ... and with the Asia-Pacific ... is crucial. The world is currently turning more than ever toward the Pacific, and we must look in this direction," Bachelet said at an event for the 10th anniversary of the Confucius Institute at Santo Tomas University in Santiago, the capital. Referring to China as "one of our main political partners on the path of openness, integration and cooperation for progress," Bachelet said "I think we (Chile and China) have moved along a very positive path in recent decades and we must continue moving forward." Bachelet also went over some of the landmarks of the bilateral relationship, such as Chile being the first South American country to establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China in 1970, having signed a free-trade agreement (FTA), and the decade of existence of the Confucius Institute. For Bachelet, the FTA has been key for trade to continue expanding. "Thanks to this FTA, bilateral trade expanded at an average annual pace of 16 percent to reach 31.4 billion U.S. dollars last year," she said. China and Chile signed a deal on upgrading bilateral FTA on Nov. 11. Bachelet also highlighted the importance of the Confucius Institute to bilateral ties. "Throughout these years, it (the Confucius Institute) has made great contributions to the building of cross-Pacific bridges to advance our goal of becoming a connection platform between South America and Asia, a region in which China ... plays a leading role," she said. Bachelet added that, upon leaving the presidency, she would learn Chinese, "the language in which the big topics of the 21st century will be discussed." "The Confucius Institute is the main method of diffusing the Chinese culture and language in our country through courses, workshops and cultural activities. I am thinking of registering next year in March," she continued. The Confucius Institute at Santo Tomas University has trained more than 12,000 students over the past decade in Chinese language and culture. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 11:24:05|Editor: pengying Video Player Close RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian President Michel Temer Tuesday announced the appointment of Federal Representative Alexandre Baldy as the country's new minister of cities. According to the government, the inauguration ceremony of the new minister will be held on Wednesday afternoon. Baldy is currently serving as federal representative of the state of Goias, midwestern Brazil. He just left the Podemos party and is not affiliated to any other party at the moment. Baldy will replace Bruno Araujo who resigned last week. Araujo is affiliated to the Brazilians Social Democracy Party (PSDB), which was originally the largest allied party in President Temer's coalition. However, the alliance between PSDB and President Temer's own Brazilian Democratic Movement Party has since gone sour. The PSDB is divided in its support to the Temer administration, with several prominent leaders having publicly declared that PSDB members in the administration had to resign. In his resignation letter, Araujo said there was no longer support inside his party to his permanence in the ministry. Baldy is the first name that was announced to the cabinet. President Temer will carry out a cabinet reform and is expected to replace roughly half of the ministers. Some ministers will choose to leave their positions in order to run for the 2018 elections, in which Brazilians will elect a new President, state governors, federal and state representatives and senators. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 11:54:09|Editor: pengying Video Player Close NEW DELHI, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- A journalist working with vernacular daily was shot dead by a policeman in India's northeastern state of Tripura, police said Wednesday. The journalist Sudip Datta Bhaumick, was gunned down inside headquarters of Tripura State Rifles (TSR), a police force raised in the lines of paramilitary, in West Tripura, about 20 km from Agartala, the capital city of the state. "Yesterday, a journalist was gunned down inside the headquarters of the 2nd battalion of TSR," Abhijit Saptarshi, a senior police officer at West Tripura said. "The TSR constable has been arrested." The 48-year old Bhaumick was a reporter associated with "Syandan Patrika," a Bengali newspaper. Police said they were investigating the case to ascertain the reason behind the sudden killing. "The investigation to ascertain what had actually transpired between the constable and journalist is underway," Saptarshi said. Local media quoted Syandan Patrika editor, Subal Kumar Dey, as saying that his reporter went to the headquarter after obtaining formal permission from the commandant. "Sudip Datta Bhaumik, who was a senior journalist with our newspaper, had gone to meet the commandant of the 2nd battalion of TSR on Tuesday after obtaining a due appointment from him. But when he reached there he apparently had an argument with a personal security officer (PSO) of the commandant, during which the PSO shot at him," Dey was quoted by Indian Express as having said. The killing comes two months after a local TV journalist was hacked to death by mob in the district, when he was covering an agitation by the Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 12:29:15|Editor: pengying Video Player Close CANBERRA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Staff at Australia's Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex will walk off the job on Wednesday over a pay dispute. The station is one of the three around the world that is linked to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Deep Space Network. The network of stations provide two-way radio communication with more than 30 NASA spacecraft, including missions to study Mercury, Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, Pluto, the sun and the moon. Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex, 45 kilometers southeast of Canberra in Tidbinbilla, is administered by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) but funded by NASA. The CSIRO wants to sign the station's 70 staff to a new Australian Commonwealth enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA), a move which has been rejected by the staff. Mick Koppie, organizer for the Electrical Trades Union in Canberra, said the proposal from CSIRO is to decimate the staff's existing U.S. EBA. The U.S. bargaining agreement regulates an annual pay rises of 2.8 percent for the CSIRO staff, while the proposed agreement only caps pay rises at two percent. "Despite the fact that not one cent of funding for the Tidbinbilla deep space complex comes from the Commonwealth government, workers have been told ... they need to be covered by the restrictive wages policy," said Koppie. During the strike, rather than the site being shut down, staff at one of the sister stations in California will work overtime to keep it operational. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 13:44:29|Editor: pengying Video Player Close WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday voiced his support for Alabama Senate Republican candidate Roy Moore, a bombastic evangelical Christian who has been accused of serious sexual misconduct by at least nine women but denied all of them. "We don't need a liberal person in there, a Democrat," Trump told reporters in the White House, calling Moore's Democratic rival Doug Jones "terrible" on the issues of crime fighting, border control and the military build-up. As for the accusations against Moore, including molesting a 14-year-old girl and sexually assaulting another teenager when he was in his 30s, Trump said: "Roy Moore denies it -- that's all I can say." "He totally denies it. He says it didn't happen," Trump said, avoiding making clear whether he believes it or not. The president did not rule out a possible campaign stop with Moore. He told reporters: "I'll be letting you know next week." "It's the general consensus that Moore and his policies are better than a Democrat. This makes it about policy and not the sexual abuse allegations," a White House source told CNN, saying Trump knows the Republicans cannot afford to lose even one vote in the Senate. Republicans currently hold a slim 52-48 majority in the upper house. Moore and Jones are now almost neck and neck in the Senate race in this traditional deep red state, according to the Raycom News Network poll released Tuesday. Forty-seven percent of Alabama voters back Moore, while Jones receives 45 percent of the votes. The poll surveyed some 3,000 likely voters in the state with a margin of error of two percentage points. Much more respondents (45 percent vs 34 percent) believe some or all of the allegations against Moore are true. However, 21 percent of these people said they will still vote for him. Moore has been under fire since The Washington Post reported earlier this month that he initiated a sexual encounter with a 14-year-old girl when he was 32. The scandal was quickly piled up as at least eight other women also came forward in the past two weeks to accuse Moore of inappropriate sexual advances that happened when they were teenagers. More than a dozen Senate Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have urged Moore to step aside. The campaign arm for Senate Republicans and the Republican National Committee have also severed ties with Moore. However, Moore, a former chief justice of the Alabama state Supreme Court, has dismissed all the allegations and refused to withdraw from the Dec. 12 special election. Moore was twice ousted as Alabama's chief justice for disregarding court orders, first in refusing to remove a Ten Commandments statue he commissioned for state grounds and later in ignoring the federal Supreme Court's legalization of gay marriage. During his campaign, the former judge ran as an unabashed opponent of the Washington establishment, making clear he'll be anything but the safe "yes" vote for the Republican lawmakers' agenda led by McConnell. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 13:49:32|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close Military vehicles march during an operation against Islamic State (IS) in Sarkano district of Kunar province, Afghanistan, on Nov. 21, 2017. At least 11 Islamic States (IS) militants have been killed during air strikes by Afghan security forces in eastern Nangarhar province on Tuesday, the provincial governor's spokesman said Wednesday. (Xinhua/Emran Waak) JALALABAD, Afghanistan, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- At least 11 Islamic States (IS) militants have been killed during air strikes by Afghan security forces in eastern Nangarhar province on Tuesday, the provincial governor's spokesman said Wednesday. "Aircraft of security forces targeted the hideouts of IS militants in Nargosi and Khamon areas of Achin district in Nangarhar on Tuesday, killing at least 11 IS fighters," spokesman Ataullah Khogiani told Xinhua. During the strikes, two hideouts of IS militants were also completely destroyed, he added. Achin district is the stronghold of IS militants. Hundreds of armed fighters including several local commanders have been killed by Afghan and international forces in the past several months. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 13:54:34|Editor: pengying Video Player Close NEW YORK, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- The suspect in New York City's deadliest terror attack since 9/11 was indicted Tuesday on murder and terror-related charges, said the U.S. Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY). A grand jury in the Southern District of New York returned a 22-count indictment against Sayfullo Saipov in connection with his alleged terrorist attack in lower Manhattan on Oct. 31, which killed eight people and injured 12 others. Charges against the 29-year-old Uzbek native include eight counts of murder and 12 counts of attempted murder, both in aid of racketeering, and one count of providing and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State (IS) group, among others. "Like many terrorists before him, Saipov will now face justice in an American court. And like New York City's response to his alleged attack, we expect that justice in this case will be swift, firm, and resolute," said SDNY Acting U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim in a press release. According to the indictment, Saipov allegedly told authorities he was inspired to carry out the attack by IS videos he had watched on his phone. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 15:04:54|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close KATHMANDU, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Nepali business community on Wednesday expressed its firm commitment to contribute to the country in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. During a day-long seminar on "Role of the private sector in sustainable development in Nepal" held in Kathmandu on Tuesday, representatives of Nepal's top business associations and organizations made such commitment and also announced the formation of "Nepal Business Coalition for SDGs". The coalition calls on all businesses to align with the Sustainable Development Goals, adopted by the UN member states including Nepal in September 2015. The conference was organized by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in coordination with other organizations. According to a press release issued by UNDP on Wednesday, six major Nepali business organizations signed the Memorandum of Understanding with UNDP Nepal to collaborate on the SDGs. Confederation of Nepalese Industries, Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Federation of Women Entrepreneurs' Associations of Nepal, Hotel Association Nepal, National Business Initiative and Nepal Bankers' Association signed the understanding. According to UNDP, the coalition will collaborate to undertake joint initiatives to foster the achievement of the goals, mobilize other relevant stakeholders and advocate for their contribution to achieving the goals, and jointly work on policy reforms to improve Nepal's business environment. A recent study estimated that the achievement of the SDGs would bring more than 12 trillion U.S. dollars of business opportunities to the private sector. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 15:19:59|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close MANILA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine government announced on Wednesday that it has decided to cancel peace talks with leftist rebels in the country. "There will be no peace negotiations anymore with the (rebels) until such time as the desired enabling environment conducive to a change in the government's position becomes evident," presidential peace adviser Jesus Dureza said in a statement. Dureza said this was done according to President Rodrigo Duterte's directive. Recent tragic and violent incidents all over the country have left the president with no other choice but to arrive at this decision, he said. Nevertheless, Dureza thanked the Norwegian government for its support to the on-and-off talks to end the leftist rebels' insurgency. The Philippine military later announced they arrested two New People's Army (NPA) top leaders last week in Pagadian City. In his visit to soldiers on Tuesday, Philippine President Duterte said he wants to cut talks with the rebels following their attacks against troops and civilians. He also threatened to shut down mining firms that give "revolutionary taxes" to the rebels. This is not the first time that the Duterte administration has announced the cancellation of talks with rebels. In February, Duterte also announced the cancellation of the talks. But before Duterte's announcement, the rebels said they want out of the talks due to Duterte's failure to keep his promise to free 400 political prisoners. After taking office last June, the Duterte administration revived the talks with the rebels last August. Norway has agreed to broker the talks again. Since 1986, the Philippine government has been trying to reach a peace deal with the leftist rebels but failed to make any headway. The leftist rebellion began in 1969 and reached its peak in 1987 when it boasted 26,000 armed guerrillas. However, the movement has since dwindled due to differences in strategy and tactics and the arrests of many of its top leaders in the late 1980s. At present the military estimates the number of the armed rebels at around 4,000. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 15:40:04|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close LOS ANGELES, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has come up with a new model that can calculate "sea level fingerprints" to help coastal city planners assess how the sea would rise due to melting ice and prepare for the eventuality. Sea levels have already begun rising with ice melting, oceans expanding and the land sinking in some regions. The new NASA tool matches specific ice-melting locations with their effects on the world's ports. The ice-melting locations include regions such as Greenland and the Antarctic Peninsula and the sea-level changes can be assessed for 293 global port cities. When ice melts on land, the water doesn't get spread evenly across all oceans because of factors like gravitational pull and the Earth's rotation. The findings published in the journal Science Advances said the new, easy-to-use tool requires users to input data or projections of a certain area's ice loss and they will get a detailed profile of any of these 293 port cities' sea-level sensitivity to the changes in ice. "Now a coastal planner can understand and see how the melting or growing of a given ice sheet could be detrimental or beneficial to a specific location...You can apply the method to any type of melting scenario that you want," Eric Larour, one of the three-member team of researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, who came up with the tool, said. Larour said there were some "intriguing" findings. For instance,New York City was more strongly affected by melting ice in northeastern Greenland than in southwestern Greenland, while Sydney had a greater risk from the rapidly melting Antarctic Peninsula than from East Antarctica. Also, a melting Antarctic impacts areas south of the equator, such as South Asia, Africa and South America. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 15:55:08|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Relations between the United States and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) have taken a turn for the worse with the PNA deciding to halt communications after a key Palestinian office in Washington faced closure. The U.S. State Department said on Saturday that under U.S. law, State Secretary Rex Tillerson could not renew the certification of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) office in Washington to continue operations. It was due to "certain statements made by Palestinian leaders about the ICC (International Criminal Court)" at the United Nations, American State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said at a daily press briefing Tuesday. In September, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in his speech at the United Nations had called on the ICC to open an investigation and prosecute Israeli officials "for their involvement in settlement activities and aggressions against our people." U.S. laws are liable to ban the PLO from running a Washington office if it calls for the prosecution of Israelis by the ICC. The PNA responded by announcing Tuesday that it was suspending contacts with the United States over the decision to close the PLO office, calling it unacceptable. However, Nauert tried to downplay the spat, saying at the press briefing that communications with the PNA were not frozen. "In our view, communications are not frozen," she said. "We are in contact with the Palestinian officials about the status of that PLO office." "I think we'd like for them to be able to keep it open," she added. Calling the upcoming stage crucial, Nabil Abu Rdineh, a senior Palestinian official, said in a press release Tuesday that it was a " chance to correct Palestinian-American relations". Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 16:05:13|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close ISTANBUL, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Turkey's enmity toward Syrian Kurdish militia is what cannot be avoided when the presidents of Russia, Turkey and Iran meet in the Russian resort of Sochi Wednesday on the future of Syria, where anti-terror military operations are coming to an end, analysts said. Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to usher in a political process for Syria, which has withstood the ravages of years-long war, through increasing cooperation with his Turkish and Iranian counterparts, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Hassan Rouhani, with focus on bringing warring parties toward reconciliation and peace. Moscow has been working lately to host a Syrian Congress on National Dialogue, an anathema to Ankara, which has treated the Syrian Kurdish militia known as the People's Protection Units (YPG) and its political wing the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), as terror groups. The Kurds' participation in the congress is out of the question given Turkey's opposition, said Huseyin Bagci, a professor of international relations with the Ankara-based Middle East Technical University. Noting Iran has been fighting against Kurdish separatism as Turkey is, he told Xinhua, "If Turkey and Iran push for the exclusion of the Kurds, Russia may well take a step back." Moscow is known to be favoring the participation of the PYD in the congress as well as the Geneva peace process, while Ankara argues that it would mean legitimizing a terrorist group. "That would not mean, however, that Russia and the U.S. would not separately talk with the Kurds for a political settlement," said Bagci. Russia, Turkey and Iran are sponsors and guarantors of the Astana peace process, which has led to the establishment of cease-fire and de-escalation zones in four areas of Syria. Deeply frustrated with U.S. military support to the Kurdish militia, Ankara started last year to work with Moscow and Tehran toward peacemaking in Syria, which led to the Astana process. "The cards Turkey has in hand would not allow it to be against Kurds' participation," observed Hasan Koni, a professor of public international law at Istanbul Kultur University. The summit on Wednesday is the first among the leaders since Syria was plunged into turmoil in 2011. President Erdogan on Tuesday described it as one that would be very important for the future of the region. What Turkey has gained by building close ties with Russia is important despite some lingering differences of opinion on some issues, the Turkish leader said. Given its strained relations with the U.S., Turkey would not be in a position to say "no" to the Russian demand for a Kurdish autonomous region in Syria, Koni argued. "It's certain that Turkey will not be participating in the meetings in which the PYD will be present," said Murat Bilhan, deputy chairman of the Istanbul-based Turkish Asian Center for Strategic Studies. In his meeting with President Putin in Sochi on Tuesday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad voiced his readiness to have a dialogue with any party eager to be part of the political process, while his Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said in September that Kurdish autonomy was negotiable for Damascus. Koni feels that Ankara may be talked into changing its attitude after being offered some guarantee about the PYD. Noting Russia does not want to leave the Kurdish card into the U.S. hand, he said, "Iran is also the enemy of the U.S., so Turkey may feel the need to cooperate with Russia and Iran against the U.S. for the moment." Ankara has often accused Washington of working toward a Kurdish state in northern Syria, as the YPG has established three autonomous cantons along the Turkish border with U.S. support. The Kurdish militia is estimated to control around 30 percent of the Syrian territory as well as the country's major oil and water resources. Erdogan should be able to talk Putin into excluding the Kurdish militia from the congress on national dialogue, said Bilhan, a former diplomat. Saying there has been an understanding between the two countries for some time and Russia needs Turkey in the region, he argued that this balance of mutual interests would block the YPG from being part of the peace negotiations. The foreign ministers of Turkey, Russia and Iran met in Turkey's Antalya on Sunday, but apparently failed to reach an understanding on the PYD issue. Whether the Kurds will be invited to the congress will be tackled at the leaders' summit in Sochi, Yuri Ushakov, a Kremlin foreign policy aide, told reporters on Monday. Prior to the summit, top generals of the three countries gathered in Sochi on Tuesday, where the chiefs of the General Staff reportedly reached an agreement on concrete steps to be taken to eliminate the Islamic State and the al-Nusra Front in Syria. The Islamic State and al-Nusra Front, recognized as terrorist groups, have been excluded from the Astana peace process. In addition, the generals agreed on measures to increase the level of coordination among the three guarantors in the Syrian province of Idlib, one of the four de-escalation zones. Turkey sent troops to Idlib last month to monitor truce between rebel groups and the Syrian military. Koni does not believe Ankara has much room for manoeuver. Stressing that Turkey would not be able to side with the U.S. under the circumstances, he said Ankara may have to agree to the Kurds' inclusion in the talks. "There is no way out," he added. The Sochi summit and the congress on national dialogue being prepared are expected to lay the ground for the settlement of the Syrian conflict at the U.N.-sponsored talks in Geneva. In the view of Koni, Turkey may accept in Sochi a Kurdish autonomy on the eastern part of the Euphrates River in return for the YPG's departure from Afrin, a Kurdish canton in northwestern Syria and the only one on the western side of the Euphrates. Ankara has said it sees the YPG presence on the western bank of the river as a red line for its national security. "If al-Assad agrees to give autonomy to Kurds, Ankara has no chance of blocking it," said Koni. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 16:15:17|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close CAPE TOWN, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- South African President Jacob Zuma will no longer travel to Zimbabwe on a mediation mission as previously planned, the Presidency announced on Wednesday. Zuma had planned to visit Zimbabwe to mediate a peaceful solution to the Zimbabwean political crisis on Wednesday. He cancelled the plan following the resignation on Tuesday of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. Mugabe's resignation was announced by Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda during a joint sitting of Senate and National Assembly that was debating his impeachment motion. Under a decision made on Tuesday by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Organ Troika Plus SADC Chairperson Summit in Angola, Zuma, in his capacity as the SADC Chairperson, and Angolan President Joao Lourenco, also Chairperson of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation, should travel to Zimbabwe to assess the situation on behalf of SADC on Wednesday. In light with the latest development in Zimbabwe, the visit has now been postponed until further notice, presidential spokesperson Bongani Ngqulunga said in a statement. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 16:20:20|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close TOKYO, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- At least two people were missing after a U.S. C2 cargo aircraft crashed into the ocean southeast of Okinawa, according to local media on Wednesday. Ten or eleven crew members were onboard the aircraft before it crashed around 2:45 p.m. local time (0545 GMT), said local reports. Eight of the crew members have been rescued, though it was not clear yet whether they were injured, said the reports. The aircraft belonged to the USS Ronald Reagan and was in training when it crashed, according to the reports. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 16:25:21|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close DUBAI, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The initial listing price of Emaar Development, the property development business of the biggest United Arab Emirates (UAE) real estate company Emaar Properties, fell sharply at the start of its first listing day on Wednesday. It traded initially at 5.73 dirham (1.56 dollar) per share at the Dubai stock exchange DFM, well below the offer price of 6.03 dirham (1.64 dollar) per share. Emaar Development's month company Emaar Properties is the developer of the world's tallest building, the 829 meters tall Burj Khalifa, located in Dubai Business Bay. Taking into account the offer price of 6.03 dirham (1.64 dollar) per share, Emaar Development was valued at 24.1 billion dirham (6.56 billion dollars) market capitalization, marking the first major initial public offering (IPO) since Emaar listed in October 2014 its shopping center division Emaar Malls on the DFM. Emaar Chairman Mohamed Alabbar, who is also chairman of Emaar Development, rang the opening bell at the DFM but he was not available for media interviews. Instead, Alabbar submitted a statement filed on the website of the DFM, saying that the IPO was "successful" and that regional and international investors are "excited" by Emaar Development's "proven business model." Emaar Properties received shareholder approval to float 30 percent of Emaar Development, but preferred to float only 20 percent of the firm on the market. Emaar Development had a backlog of 41 billion dirham (11.17 billion dollars) and delivered 34,500 residential units since 2002, added Alabbar. Earlier in the week, Emaar denied media reports which wrote about rumors that the anti-"corruption" clampdown on corruption in Saudi Arabia allegedly led to a regional liquidity crunch in relation to the IPO. Scores of Saudi princes and top executives have been detained by the Saudi government since earlier this month, initiated by Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman, sad they have been accused of "corruption." Among the detained who are not allowed to leave the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Riyadh is Saudi investment tycoon and billionaire Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal. Through his Kingdom Holding, he holds shares in social media channel twitter, Citigroup and many other globally operating firms. "Despite recent events in Saudi Arabia, the company still received strong interest from regional investors," said Emaar in a filing to the DFM on Monday. When asked earlier in the month, if he considered the current market environment favorable, Alabbar said "of course, otherwise we would not go ahead with the IPO. Emaar Development is part of our long-term strategy." Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 16:30:24|Editor: liuxin Video Player Close NANCHANG, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Freight train services have been launched between Nanchang City in east China's Jiangxi Province and Hanoi in Vietnam. A train loaded with auto parts and office equipment departed from Henggang Railway Station in Nanchang Wednesday morning, marking the launch of the service. The train will pass through Pingxiang Pass in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and travel to Vietnam. The total length of the route is more than 1,700 kilometers. The journey will take around five days, 15 days less than the original route through sea. The cost is only half that of road transport. The train service will become regular next year. "The new service will promote economic and trade cooperation between landlocked Chinese provinces, such as Jiangxi, with Southeast Asia," said Ma Zhihui, an economist with Jiangxi Provincial Academy of Social Sciences. By launching freight train and flight services, landlocked Chinese provinces can exploit the potential of the Belt and Road Initiative and become international logistics centers. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 16:35:26|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close ISLAMABAD, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- A Pakistani military officer was killed during a raid on a terrorist hideout in the country's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, the army said on Wednesday in a statement. The security forces were conducting a search operation in Kulachi area of Dera Ismail Khan district in the province when encountering terrorists in a hideout. "In exchange of fire Major Ishaq embraced 'shahdat' (martyrdom)," the army's media wing the Inter-Services Public Relations said in the statement. The country's Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and senior military officers attended Ishaq's funeral, the statement said. This is the second army office who has lost life in anti-terrorism operations in the country in two days. Another officer, Nasir Mehmood, was killed when the military raided a terrorist hideout in southwestern Balochistan Province on Tuesday, according to the army. The anti-terrorism operation is part of the major intelligence-based operations that have been launched since February targeting terrorists' hideouts, sleeper cells and their sympathizers. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 16:40:28|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close WASHINGTON, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. Navy aircraft with 11 people on board has crashed into the ocean near Okinawa, Japan, the U.S. Navy said Wednesday. "A United States Navy aircraft carrying 11 crew and passengers crashed into the ocean southeast of Okinawa at approximately 2:45 p.m. today," the U.S. Seventh Fleet said in a statement issued on behalf of its commander. The aircraft was en route to the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, which is currently operating in the Philippine Sea. The cause of the crash is not known yet. The USS Ronald Reagan has began search and rescue operations. The next of kin of those on board are being notified, the statement said. The crash adds to the series of mishaps suffered by the seventh fleet this year, including multiple fatal ship collisions. A recent U.S. government report said the fleet is operating beyond its capacity and its service members lack sufficient training and rest. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 16:50:31|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close DHAKA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- A Bangladeshi tribunal Wednesday sentenced six people including an ex-lawmaker to death for committing crimes against humanity during the country's war in 1971. The International Crimes Tribunal, led by its Chairman Justice Md Shahinur Islam, found the former Jamaat-e-Islami party Lawmaker Abu Saleh Mohammad Abdul Aziz Mia and five others guilty of the charges brought against them. The charges include rape, murder, confinement and torture of unarmed civilians. The court indicted the six suspects on Jun 28, 2016. One of the accused Abdul Latif, who was in police custody, was taken to the tribunal for verdict delivery at 10:30 a.m. local time Wednesday. The remaining five of the accused including ex-lawmaker Aziz have been absconding. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 17:00:36|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close SEOUL, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. nuclear-powered submarine made a port call Wednesday to South Korea's southern resort island of Jeju, according to Yonhap news agency report. The USS Mississippi arrived at the naval base in the Jeju island earlier in the day for the rest of about 150 crew members and the loading of supplies, Yonhap quoted the South Korean navy as saying. The USS Mississippi is a Virginia-class attack submarine, which is 114.9 meters long and 10.3 meters wide. The 7,800-ton submarine can sail at the maximum speed of 25 knots, or 46 km per hour, in the maximum underwater depth of 250 meters. It is equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles and MK 48 torpedoes. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 17:10:40|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close HAIKOU, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- A Singaporean ship was fined 40,000 yuan (6,000 U.S. dollars) for illegally discharging garbage into the sea, local authorities said Wednesday. The ship Tai Hung San illegally discharged household garbage into nearby waters of Baohujiao Beach in Wenchang City in southern China's Hainan Province on December 20, 2016. The local maritime safety administration investigated the case and punished the owner of the ship, Hua Xin Shipping PTE Ltd, with fines of 40,000 yuan in accordance with China's law on marine environment protection. The company entrusted an agency to sign relevant legal documents with the local maritime safety administration, accepted punishment and paid the penalty last week. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 17:15:43|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close RIYADH, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura urged here Wednesday the Syrian opposition to send to Geneva a stronger delegation that represents all Syrians, Al Arabiya local news reported. His remarks came during the opening of the Conference for the Syrian Opposition held in the capital Riyadh, where the UN envoy called on all Syrian politicians to work at a solution to the crisis of their war-torn country. Meanwhile, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir highlighted his country's dedication to supporting Syrians and seeking a just solution. Ahmed Ramadan, head of the Information Department at the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, told Al Arabiya that the conference would discuss a political settlement, which includes a term that asks Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to relinquish power. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 17:15:44|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close NEW DELHI, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- India will launch its first-ever mission to the Sun in the next two years, the country's top space official has said. "Aditya-L1, India's maiden mission to the Sun, will be launched in 2019. The main aim of the mission will be to resolve some of the long-standing queries in solar physics," head of the state-owned Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) A.S. Kiran Kumar told media Tuesday. Aditya-L1, which will be launched through the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) from the southern spaceport of Sriharikota, will carry six payloads. According to ISRO, the satellite will be launched into the halo orbit around the Lagrangian point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system, which will enable the continuous viewing of the Sun without any occultation or eclipses. India had earlier successfully launched its maiden mission to the Moon and Mars. And in February this year, India created history by successfully launching 104 satellites on a single mission, overtaking the previous record of 37 satellites launched by Russia in 2014. Over the past two decades, India has become a key player in the lucrative commercial space market offering a low-cost alternative. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 17:25:50|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close JINAN, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Textile companies have long been dependent on crude oil when making common synthetic materials such as nylon or polyester but that could soon change, with companies turning to biomass fibers. Hismer Bio-Tech Co. Ltd. based in Ningyang County, Tai'an City in east China's Shandong Province, is making biomass fiber from a very unusual source: shrimp and crab shells. In the backyard of the company's workshop, piles of shrimp and crab shells permeate the air with their strong odor. But after going through the company's processing machine, the shells are turned from food waste to chitosan fiber, basically indistinguishable from other synthetic fibers. "The biomass fiber can wean textile companies' off their reliance on crude oil," said Hu Guangmin, Hismer's chair. Hu said Hismer collects 10,000 tonnes of the shell waste from seafood processing companies in China's ports of Qingdao, Yantai, Dalian and Ningbo a year for the production of some 6,000 tonnes of biomass fiber. It has become the world's largest marine renewable producer. The fibre is then used by a variety of garment producers. When fashion lovers buy a stylish anti-bacterial underwear from lingerie producer Embry Form, they could hardly link it to shrimp and crab shells. The fabric is not only used for making socks, underwear, bedding but also medical products such as masks and sanitary pads as well as special cloth used in aerospace planes, Hu said. He said innovation has saved the textile company from going bankrupt. The factory had trouble in business due to rising cost at home and stagnant export market. Hu said the company of 800 employees had to lay off some 200 people when the business was bad. Five years ago, the textile producer placed its bet on developing the production technology and equipment for making the biomass material. Hu said Hismer has set up production cooperation with 70 companies including Toyota and German firms of Freudenberg and Medovent for developing fabric products for medical use. It also makes product development in partnership with Taiwan-based tech firm BenQ and Hong Kong-based lingerie producer Embry Form. Hu said in the past, there were 500 workers in its yarn spinning workshop. However, the current production only requires 75 workers, as most processing is done by automated equipment. The company has developed materials used in China's "Shenzhou" manned spacecraft and "Tiangong" space lab, as they are mildew-proof and resistant to fire, static electricity and odor. Hismer is not the only company introducing innovation to China's textile industry. BMSG, a bio seaweed substance processing firm, has been turning seaweed into biomass fibers for cloth that can be safely used for surgical dressings. "A tonne of seaweed can be bought for just 8,000 yuan (1,207 U.S. dollars). However, after turning into fabric sodium alginate, it is 80,000 yuan per tonne. If further processed into surgical dressing, it is worth 2.4 million yuan," said Xu Yuqiang, secretary of the board of the BMSG, based in Qingdao, Shandong Province. Jiang Shicheng, a member of Chinese Academy of Engineering, said that the development of biomass textile materials is still at an initial stage, but it is the future of textiles. Only when a new material industrial cluster has taken shape, can it bring vitality to the overall industry, Jiang added. Sun Ruizhe, director of the China National Textile and Apparel Council, was also positive about the future of biomass materials, saying that green textile products have become the new trend in the textile industry. Textile producers should develop environmentally friendly textile materials and make the whole production process pollution free, he said. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 17:45:55|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Brunei's trade balance in September amounted to 204.4 million Brunei dollars (151.17 million U.S. dollars), a 36 percent year-on-year decrease, local economic planning authorities said on Wednesday. According to their latest statistics, the exports amounted to 634.1 million Brunei dollars (468.96 million U.S. dollars) in September, while imports were valued at 429.7 million Brunei dollars (317.79 million U.S. dollars). Mineral Fuels recorded the highest contribution of total exports with 602.0 million Brunei dollars (445 million U.S. dollars) followed by Machinery and Transport Equipment and Chemicals. The highest exports market was Japan with 29.4 percent of total exports, followed by South Korea (15.6 percent), India (14.4 percent), and Malaysia (13.3 percent). In September 2017, imports of goods increased by 62 percent year-on-year from 265.3 million Brunei dollars (196.2 million U.S. dollars) in September 2016 to 429.7 million Brunei dollars (317.8 million U.S. dollars). The highest imports came from Germany with 30.0 percent of total imports, followed by China (19.3 percent), Singapore (13.9 percent) and Malaysia (12.5 percent). Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 17:55:58|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close HARARE, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The African Union (AU) and European Union (EU) have welcomed the resignation of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Tuesday. Tuesday's decision will go down in history as an act of statesmanship that can only bolster President Mugabe's political legacy, said Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairperson of the AU Commission in a statement later Tuesday. Mugabe resigned on Tuesday after pressure from the military and Zimbabweans, ending his 37-year grip on power. His resignation was greeted with wild scenes of celebration by Zimbabweans who now look forward to a new political dispensation in the country. President Mugabe will be remembered as a fearless pan-Africanist liberation fighter, and the father of the independent Zimbabwean nation, AU's statement said. Faki Mahamat noted that AU recognizes that the Zimbabwean people have expressed their will that there should be a peaceful transfer of power in a manner that secures the democratic future of their country. He said he is confident that the people, together with all their leaders, will remain steadfast in their commitment to fulfill their legitimate aspirations. The AU looks forward to Zimbabwe continuing to play a leading role in the affairs of the African continent, as a democratic and prosperous state meeting the aspirations of its people, he said, adding the Southern African country has AU's full support in the period ahead. In a statement, the EU said Mugabe's resignation had shown that he has listened to the voice of the people. EU high representative Federica Mogherini said the new government must now work on consolidating constitutional order and ensuring that inclusive dialogue is established to encourage acceleration of key reforms in the country. "An orderly and irreversible transition towards genuinely democratic elections is our shared objective. The consolidation of the constitutional order and respect for fundamental rights and freedoms are key," said Mogherini. She said the EU stands ready to assist Zimbabwe in achieving a more prosperous and democratic future in cooperation with the AU and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 18:01:01|Editor: ZD Video Player Close NICOSIA, Nov 22 (Xinhua) -- Cyprus can play a substantial role in efforts to normalize the situation in Lebanon, government spokesperson Nicos Christodoulides said on Wednesday Christodoulides said this hours after Saad al-Hariri, the Lebanese prime minister who resigned unexpectedly earlier this month during a trip to Saudi Arabia, stopped at the eastern Mediterranean island in transit and had a conversation with Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades. Christodoulides said Hariri arrived from Cairo just before midnight and had a 45-minute talk with Anastasiades at the Larnaca International Airport as he was waiting to fly on to Beirut. "Cyprus can play a substantial role in the Lebanon crisis, making use of its status as a member state of the European Union and its good relations with Arab countries," Christodoulides told the state radio. He added that there will be concrete initiatives in the next few days which will help normalize the situation in Lebanon. He did not go into details, but said that Hariri's conversation with Anastasiades overnight was not a chance event and tweeted that it was warm and very constructive. Anastasiades was one of the few world leaders who spoke with Hariri when the latter was in Saudi Arabia, saying he called the Lebanese leader as a friend to inquire about his welfare. Hariri had paid a visit to Cyprus a week before, discussing with Anastasiades economic, cultural and military cooperation between the two countries. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 18:01:03|Editor: ZD Video Player Close A worker from the Foreign Languages Press puts the second volume of Chinese President Xi Jinping's book "Xi Jinping: The Governance of China" in order, in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 7, 2017. The second volume of Chinese President Xi Jinping's book on governance has been published in both Chinese and English, the publisher said Tuesday. (Xinhua/Chen Yehua) BEIJING, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Inside a spacious factory building in the southern outskirts of Beijing, printing machines have been roaring and running around the clock for two weeks to publish a new book by Chinese President Xi Jinping. "About 500 of us workers have been working extra hours since Nov. 4," said Zhao Qing, an employee at Beijing Shengtong Printing. The company was contracted to print 1 million copies of the second volume of "Xi Jinping: The Governance of China," a collection of 99 of Xi's speeches, conversations, instructions and letters, as well as 29 photos of the Chinese leader from between Aug. 18, 2014 and Sept. 29, 2017. Since the Chinese and English versions of the book hit the market on Nov. 7, major bookstores in Beijing, including those in the city's busiest shopping areas of Wangfujing and Xidan, have displayed them prominently. "The first print run is about 5.46 million copies," said Xu Bu, president and chief editor of Foreign Languages Press, the book's publisher. "In the past few days, orders have flooded in and we expect more to come." Sales are likely to exceed those of the first book, which was published in September 2014 and has sold about 6.6 million copies worldwide in 24 languages. In addition to Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese, Arabic, Spanish, Russian and Portuguese versions from the Chinese publisher, another 15 languages versions of the first book were translated and published by local publishing houses, with Chinese editors supervising the final draft. Cooperation with local publishers helped make the book suitable for diverse cultures and traditions, Xu said. "Such a global promotion plan is rare for books by Chinese leaders. The second volume will follow suit," he said. According to Xu, Foreign Languages Press has worked with international publishing house Lagardere Services to distribute the book through bookshops at major international airports and will promote it through Chinese embassies and other Chinese organizations abroad. "We would also like to attract foreign readers who live in China or travel here," he added. Although they have the same title and almost identical covers, the second volume comes at a different time -- "a new era." For David Ferguson, English editor of both books with Foreign Languages Press, the fundamental difference is that the second volume has been brought under a single overarching philosophy: Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. "Western audience sometimes do not quite understand how important aphorisms and axioms are in Chinese political discourse," he said. "When a Chinese leader comes up with a new idea, it matters to everybody in the Party and the wider society." Citing the subtle difference between "for a new era" and "in a new era," Ferguson said that the former suggests China is in control, while the latter indicates that it is reacting to something imposed by external forces. Robert Lawrence Kuhn, U.S. expert on China studies and chairman of the Kuhn Foundation, shared Ferguson's observation about China's political discourse, noting that articulation between theory and practice in China is greater than other major countries. "A founding theory of the Party is needed to develop certain specific policies that emerge out of it," he said. The two books by Xi have offered outsiders a resource to understand China's new guiding philosophy. "Within the books, you can see the historical development of Xi's idea," Kuhn said. "You can see it inducing itself as these ideas come together, building up to what has been crystallized as Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era." The two books give readers "a rich exemplification" of the specific elements that compose the thought, Kuhn added. "The new book is not only well received by our institutional clients but by many ordinary readers," said Xu Jin, employee at the Beijing Xidan Book Building. "I am touched by General Secretary Xi Jinping's words in this book. I find some of his expressions appealing, and the language he uses is charming, gentle and approachable," a college student surnamed Lyu told Xinhua at the Xidan bookstore. Although the two books are mostly collections of Xi's speeches and written instructions, they are organized by topic and include only the most important articles or the most essential excerpts, with footnotes helping foreign readers to understand the cultural context, according to editors. "The main reason why foreigners should read these books is that they are the first time that a Chinese leader has sought to capture his whole philosophy and communicate it to the international audience in so many languages," Ferguson said. "There is everything you need to know about where China is now and where China is trying to go." Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 18:06:06|Editor: ZD Video Player Close CAIRO, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Egyptian prosecution ordered on Wednesday the detention of 29 people over charges of spying for Turkey against the Egyptian national interests, official MENA news agency reported. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 18:11:10|Editor: ZD Video Player Close DHAKA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the government of Bangladesh on Wednesday signed agreements for 300 million U.S. dollars in loans to help upgrade the Dhaka-Northwest international trade corridor in Bangladesh. Kazi Shofiqul Azam, secretary of Bangladesh's Economic Relations Division (ERD), and Manmohan Parkash, country director of ADB, signed the loan agreements on behalf of Bangladesh and ADB respectively, at a ceremony in Dhaka on Wednesday. The assistance forms the first tranche of 1.2 billion U.S. dollars multitranche ADB loans for the Second South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) Northwest Corridor Road Project, said the Manila-based lender in a statement. "This project will help boost trade along the second busiest road artery in the country, and further strengthen regional connectivity," said ADB Country Director Manmohan Parkash. "This will also help bring down transport costs, make the sector more competitive, and make transportation between Dhaka and north-western Bangladesh more efficient." ADB has been supporting the Bangladeshi government in improving the Dhaka-Northwest road corridor since approval of the landmark Jamuna Bridge Project in 1994. The first SASEC Northwest Corridor Road Project was approved in 2012 to improve 70-km Joydeypur-Elenga section of the road. It also improved operational efficiency of Burimari and Benapole land ports that provide gateways to Bhutan and India, respectively. The second project continues ADB's support to the corridor by improving the 190-km section from Elenga through Hatikurul to Rangpur district, some 304 km off capital Dhaka. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 18:16:14|Editor: ZD Video Player Close HARARE, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwean advocacy group, the Election Resource Center (ERC), said on Wednesday it welcomed Mugabe's resignation but highlighted the efforts Zimbabweans must make to ensure a democratic election and a democratic government. "The ERC insists that a smooth transition must be characterized by a clear road map towards democratic elections in Zimbabwe," it said. Zimbabwe is due to hold national elections no later than September 2018. Mugabe resigned Tuesday following military takeover of government and protests by Zimbabweans for him to resign. The resignation brought to an end Mugabe's 37-year grip on power and was received by wild celebrations by Zimbabweans. The new government, the ERC said, must focus on strengthening state institutions such as the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission and the Zimbabwe Republic Police. The new administration must also immediately align electoral laws with the Constitution of Zimbabwe and create a secure political environment that allows citizens to freely express themselves, it added. "Only then can the current transition truly benefit Zimbabweans who have been yearning to freely express themselves in democratic processes without fear or favor. "Zimbabweans must not only register to vote in the ongoing Biometric Voter Registration process but continuously engage and hold those in authority accountable," it said. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 18:31:21|Editor: ZD Video Player Close KUNDUZ, Afghanistan, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- A Taliban local commander and four more militants were killed during airstrikes in the northern Kunduz province on Tuesday night, an army spokesman in northern region, Ghulam Hazrat Karimi, said Wednesday. "The aircraft targeted a Taliban base in Dasht-e-Archi district of Kunduz province last night, killing Mullah Jawid, a Taliban key commander along with his four more fighters," Karimi told Xinhua. Two more militants sustained injuries in the raids, the official added. Taliban militants have yet to make comments. Afghan forces have speeded up military operations against armed insurgents in several parts of the country to dismantle militants' hideouts and gain more grounds ahead of winter. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 18:31:21|Editor: liuxin Video Player Close KUNMING, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Twelve people have been detained for trafficking 55.6 kg of heroin in southwest China, according to police in Yunnan Province. In early September, police received a tip-off that a man from Sichuan Province had contacted drug dealers in Myanmar, planned to transport heroin to Sichuan via Yunnan, which borders Myanmar. An investigation followed, and last week, two suspects were caught in Yunnan's Dehong prefecture. Another ten suspects were then caught in other parts of Yunnan and Sichuan. The investigation continues. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 18:31:22|Editor: ZD Video Player Close by Hummam Sheikh Ali DAMASCUS, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- In 2015, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad made his first visit to Russia during the crisis to discuss with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin the war development in Syria. In 2017, Assad met again with Putin, but this time to discuss the solution to the crisis after the victory achieved in the fight against the Islamic State (IS), analysts say. In September 2015, Russian forces started operations against IS in Syria and in October, people woke up to the news of Assad's first declared visit to Moscow during his country's crisis. At the time, the IS was controlling large swathes of territories in Syria, as activists said more than 50 percent of the country was under IS control. The 2015 visit also signalled a transition to the strong alliance between Assad and Putin at a time when Western and some Arab powers had been urging for Assad's departure as a prelude to the political solution. From that year, the Syrian government forces started advancing in the battles against IS and other ultra-radical rebel groups in Syria, clawing back significant swathes of territories with the help of Russian special forces and air strikes. The government forces with the help of the Russians and Iranian-backed groups, mainly the Lebanese Hezbollah, stripped IS of key strongholds in Syria, mainly the ancient oasis city of Palmyra and key IS hubs and hideouts in the desert region in the eastern countryside of Homs Province near the Iraqi border. But the most significant achievement was retaking the eastern city of Deir al-Zour from IS militants and defeating them this week in their last stronghold in the city of al-Bukamal near Iraq. In parallel with the Syrian forces, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by the U.S., stripped the IS of its de facto capital of Raqqa in northern Syria. Even though these operations were carried out separately amid tension between the SDF and the Syrian forces, they have dealt a fatal blow to IS. At this particular time, IS militants' self-styled caliphate has fallen, ushering in a new phase in Syria, which is to find a solution to the over six-year war as the most dangerous and powerful terror-designated group has become homeless in Syria and hiding in pockets in northeastern Syria and in the south. So here comes the second meeting of Assad and Putin in November 2017. Photos of the surprising meeting on Tuesday showed both leaders exchanging warm greetings and hugs, the kind of congratulatory welcome that is usually extended for those who have overcome one of the life's hardest trials. State news agency SANA said Assad met with Putin and a number of top Russian officials during his visit to the Russian city of Sochi, with the aim of discussing the political process with Putin, his country's main international ally. SANA said the meeting was a "summit" between Assad and Russian top leaders. The Syrian president said the Russian military support to the Syrian army has achieved important results on different issues, mainly the humanitarian, military and political ones. Assad said Syria is ready to hold dialogue with all those interested in the solution for Syria's long-running crisis, according to SANA. Meanwhile, Putin said the Syrian president is ready to work with whoever desires peace and stability for Syria. According to the report, Putin heard Assad's judgment of the current situation and his government's vision of the political solution in Syria. They also discussed the steps that will be taken and the role of the UN in the solution. Putin said the aim of the visit is to consult and coordinate between Moscow and Damascus ahead of the Tripartite meeting between the leaders of Russia, Turkey and Iran in Sochi on Wednesday. The Wednesday summit is preceded by a meeting on Sunday in Turkey's resort city of Antalya between the three countries' foreign ministers. Meanwhile, the Russian leader also congratulated Assad on the victories in Syria, stressing that the Syrian people are close to a full-blown triumph over terrorism. Analysts in Syria and the region say the summit is very important in terms of its timing, as it came right after the army defeated IS in its last stronghold in Syria. Osama Danura, a Syrian political analyst and a member of the Syrian government delegation to the peace talks in Syria, told Xinhua that it was "the summit of the victorious." The changes that have taken place recently and the need to draw the features of the next phase in Syria led to the meeting between both presidents, Danura added. For his part, Hmaidi al-Abdullah, another political analyst, said the upcoming phase in Syria will be "sensitive," adding that the Syrian government and its allies will be facing other challenges in this phase. He told Xinhua that foreign military forces have already entered Syria with the pretext of fighting terrorism without the consent of the Syrian government, such as the Turkish and U.S. armies. "This phase demands high coordination between the allies that have fought the war on terror to focus their efforts on the political solution," he said. After the meeting, President Putin informed several world leaders, including his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump, of the outcome of his talks with Assad. U.S. President Donald Trump said he had a "great" phone conversation with Putin, just a day after the rare visit of Assad to the Black Sea resort city of Sochi. "We had a great call with President Putin," Trump told reporters on Tuesday, noting that the over one-hour phone conversation covered topics such as "peace in Syria," North Korea and Ukraine. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 18:36:24|Editor: ZD Video Player Close MOGADISHU, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo has congratulated Muse Bihi Abdi on his election as a president of the republic of Somaliland. In a statement issued in Mogadishu on Tuesday evening, Farmajo praised the peaceful elections conducted in Somaliland, saying the Nov. 13 presidential polls enhanced reputation and honor to Somali people in general. "I am thanking all parties and candidates who competed in the democratic way. I was closely watching registration procedure, election campaign and vote casting that showed civilization and patience," Farmajo said. Farmajo pledged to continue talks between Somalia and the Somaliland. "To the elected president Muse Bihi Abdi, I am promising that I will work with you on speeding up talks between the Federal Government of Somalia and Somaliland to restore the confidence of people," Farmajo said. His message comes hours after National Electoral Commission (NEC) declared Abdi as the winner of the Somaliland presidential election conducted on Nov. 13. Abdi garnered some 350,909 votes or 55.1 percent of the total votes cast. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 18:41:25|Editor: ZD Video Player Close ISTANBUL, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday accused Western nations of trying to implement a "dirty scenario" to destroy the unity, coexistence and wealth of Islamic countries. "Obviously, the West is trying to guarantee its own future by exporting all kinds of sick elements to the Islamic world," Erdogan said at a meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul. He said terror organizations including the Islamic State, al-Qaeda and Boko Haram have transformed the entire region into a bloodbath while the West remains unresponsive. "Islamophobia, neo-Nazism and racism have been increasingly replacing democracy, human rights and freedom in the Western world," the president said, urging Islamic nations to take actions to spoil the West's game and not to remain silent in the face of those who use Islamophobia as an instrument. "Who are the true winners of hundreds of billions of dollars of weapons ordered by Islamic countries to the West? Who earns from it?" Erdogan asked at the 33rd meeting of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the OIC. "Our countries are breaking into pieces with the creation of artificial borders. Whose benefit is it?" he added. The four-day OIC meeting, which will end on Thursday, is attended by ministerial delegations from OIC members and observers. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 19:11:37|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close MOSCOW, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Federation Council, Russia's upper house, on Wednesday endorsed a bill to list foreign media as "foreign agents," shrugging off criticism by presidential advisors. The bill was passed by 154 votes with one abstention, a live broadcast of the voting showed. It will now be sent to Russian President Vladimir Putin to be signed into law. The document was proposed in response to the latest situation of the Russian media in the United States, where RT America, the Washington, D.C.-based arm of Russia's state-owned English language news channel RT, was forced to register as a foreign agent. It was interpreted by Moscow as an obstacle to Russian media activities in the United States and a step violating the freedom of speech. In response, the State Duma, Russia's lower house, last week approved a bill vesting the government with the power to label foreign-funded media outlets as "foreign agents," and sent it to the Federation Council. The Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights, Putin's advisory body, criticized the draft law for "numerous shortcomings" and asked the Federation Council to send it back to the Duma for revision. But the council decided to endorse the bill, following the recommendation of its Constitutional Legislation Committee, which decided to reject the criticism. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 19:31:44|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close LASHKARHAH, Afghanistan, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Up to 44 alleged drug smugglers were killed after allegedly the U.S. aircrafts conducted air strikes against alleged Taliban heroin labs in southern Helmand province of Afghanistan on Tuesday night, a local official said on Wednesday. "U.S. fighters bombed the Taliban-run heroin labs in Bahramcha area of Dishu districts in Helmand province on Tuesday night, as a result 44 drug smugglers were killed and their heroin labs completely destroyed," the official told Xinhua on the condition of anonymity, saying he has no authority to talk to media. According to the official, this is the second time over the past three days that the U.S. forces planes targeted heroin labs in Bahramcha area in the poppy growing Helmand province. Provincial government officials in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah have yet to make comment on the subject. The U.S. forces in Afghanistan did not make comment on the report. Meantime, the NATO-led Resolute Support (RS) mission in Afghanistan in a statement posted on its website on Monday said that "Afghan and U.S. forces launched a new campaign to destroy Taliban's funding network" in southern Helmand province. "Over the past 24 hours, U.S. and Afghan forces conducted combined operations to strike seven Taliban drug labs and one command-and-control node in Kajaki, Musa Qalah and Sangin districts of Helmand province," the statement asserted. "The strikes are just the beginning, and it represents the U.S. and global will to defeat terror and the criminals who support terrorists," the statement quoted Gen. John Nicholson, commander of the NATO-led RS mission as saying. Afghanistan is the major producer of poppy in the world as 9000 tones of opium produced in the country in 2017, according to United Nations office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) report released on Nov. 15. Opium poppy is considered to be the main financial source of Taliban militants, who are fighting against Afghan government and the U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan. "It's an illegal economy worth up to 60 billion U.S. dollars in street value, it's estimated that more than 200 million U.S. dollars of this economy goes straight into the Taliban's bank accounts," the RS said in the statement. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 19:46:50|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close HARARE, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe's governing Zanu-PF party has paid tribute to former President Robert Mugabe for his contribution to the Southern African nation before and after independence. Spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo told The Herald newspaper Tuesday that people must "acknowledge that he did so much for the liberation of Zimbabwe and indeed as Prime Minister and President post independence." "He deserves to rest and I believe every Zimbabwean agrees with this position," Moyo said, wishing Mugabe well. Mugabe, who has led Zimbabwe since it attained independence from Britain in 1980, resigned on Tuesday following military intervention into government affairs. At independence, Mugabe came up with policies of education, health and housing for all and ensured that more schools and health institutions were built for the previously marginalized majority blacks. Because of his education policy, Zimbabwe is considered to have the highest adult literacy rate in Africa. Chairman of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat welcomed Mugabe's decision to step down, saying that the decision will go down in history as an act of statesmanship that can only bolster his political legacy. "It (AU) looks forward to Zimbabwe continuing to play a leading role in the affairs of the African continent, as a democratic and prosperous state meeting the aspirations of its people," Mahamat said. Mugabe will be remembered as a fearless pan-Africanist liberation fighter, and the father of the independent Zimbabwean nation, he said. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 19:51:54|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close SRINAGAR, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- An Indian army trooper and a militant were killed, while as two troopers wounded Wednesday after army foiled an infiltration bid along Line of Control (LoC), dividing Kashmir, officials said. The infiltration bid as per Indian army officials was foiled in Keran sector of frontier Kupwara district, about 130 km northwest of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir. According to Indian army spokesman Col Rajesh Kalia, a group of militants were attempting to infiltrate deep inside Indian-controlled Kashmir. "An infiltration bid was foiled today in Keran sector of Kupwara district killing one militant," Kalia said. "One soldier was killed and two others were wounded fighting them." According to Kalia, the operation was going on in the area. LoC is a de facto border that divides Kashmir into India and Pakistan controlled parts. A Chinese worker (R) works closely with an Ugandan worker at the construction site of the Entebbe-Kampala Expressway Project at an area along the Entebbe Express highway in Uganda, Nov. 17, 2017. The Entebbe-Kampala Expressway, which is under construction by China Communications Construction Company Ltd (CCCC), is a 350 million U.S. dollars project linking Uganda's capital Kampala to Entebbe International Airport. (Xinhua/Zhang Gaiping) WAKISO, Uganda, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- When war broke out in neighboring South Sudan in 2013, Gabriel Omiat became jobless and had to return to Uganda, with nothing much left. The 27-year-old told Xinhua in a recent interview that after several months of trying to get serious employment, he finally landed a job at a Chinese company contracted to build Uganda's first ever expressway. The 350 million U.S. dollar project linking Uganda's capital Kampala to Entebbe International Airport has been a blessing to Omiat and thousands of other semi skilled youths in the east African country. Step by step, after following instructions from his Chinese supervisors, Omiat has grown to be one of the best welders at the expressway project of China Communications Construction Company (CCCC). "The Chinese are not selfish people in terms of transferring knowledge and skills. When they give you an assignment, they first show you how to do it," said Omiat. An Aerial view of the longest bridge in East Africa along Entebbe express highway in Uganda, November 15, 2017.(Xinhua/Joseph Kiggundu) Thousands of locals who work on the expressway project had similar experiences. Micheal Adipa, 24, dropped out of school when his parents could no longer afford the tuition fees. He did not possess any skills for a decent job apart from being a casual laborer. Through a friend, Adipa managed to travel to the capital Kampala, over 300 km from his hometown. Since Adipa got a job at CCCC about five years ago, life has not been the same again. Thanks to the training received and his own diligence, he has quickly risen through the ranks to become a laboratory assistant. Adipa's Chinese supervisors are proud of him, saying he is exceptionally good at learning. CCCC Senior welder Omiat Gabriel (L) shows his junior how to make fabrication while at their workshop in Kajjansi along Kampala-Entebbe road, about 16 kilometers south of Kampala, capital of Uganda, November 15, 2017. Omiat said Chinese have helped to teach him all the fabrication work at CCCC using high-tech machines.(Xinhua/Joseph Kiggundu) "I have learnt mostly about material work on road construction. I have learnt how to control materials in road construction according to the design and specification of the project," Adipa said. Chinese companies, especially those in the infrastructure sector, are employing thousands of Ugandan youths and helping the country to tackle unemployment. At the peak of the ongoing construction of the expressway, CCCC employed more than 2,000 locals. Other major Chinese infrastructure development projects such as the construction of Karuma Hydro Power project and Isimba Hydropower project also have huge number of locals on its payroll. Figures from the World Bank show Uganda has one of the youngest and most rapidly growing populations in the world. About 53 percent of Uganda's population is younger than 15 years, well above Sub-Saharan Africa's average of 43.2 percent. About 500,000 people are expected to enter the labor market every year. Currently, 64 percent of the unemployed are aged 24 and under. Chinese Engineer (R) works closely with Ugandan Engineer during the construction of some of the areas along Entebbe Express highway in Uganda, Nov. 17, 2017. (Xinhua/Zhang Gaiping) For the lucky ones who are employed like Omiat and Adipa, they have something to smile about. "Some of the money I earn from here I use it to pay school fees for my sisters and brothers in the village," Adipa said. Another plus for Adipa, according to him, is that even when the Chinese project comes to completion, he will still have his skills that he can use elsewhere to earn a living. With the skills acquired when working with the Chinese, Omiat plans to set up his own welding workshop. The photo taken on Nov. 15, 2017 shows an aerial view of one part along Entebbe expresses Highway, in the south of Kampala, capital of Uganda, November 15, 2017.(Xinhua/Joseph Kiggundu) Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 19:56:56|Editor: liuxin Video Player Close BEIJING, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Chinese legal scholars acknowledged the significance of the inclusion of the "right to dignity" in the report to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). The Party congress report pledged to protect "people's personal rights, property rights, and right to dignity." Yang Lixin, professor of Renmin University of China, said inclusion of the notion in the report reflects the Party's fundamental purpose of wholeheartedly serving the people, in an interview with People's Daily. The interview, involving three professors, was published Wednesday. "This is also the CPC's response to the new 'principal contradiction'," said Liu Shiguo, professor of Fudan University in Shanghai. According to the CPC congress report, the principal contradiction facing Chinese society has evolved into one "between unbalanced and inadequate development and the people's ever-growing needs for a better life." "The rapid development of science and technology has posed new challenges to the protection of people's right to dignity," said Yang, noting that the Internet, big data and Artificial Intelligence have made people more vulnerable to the leaking of personal information and other violations for their rights. Abuse of public power could also infringe on their rights in this regard, said Liu Kaixiang, professor of Peking University. The professors called for more specific measures for protecting the right to dignity. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 20:12:01|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close WASHINGTON, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. military aircraft with 11 on board has crashed into the ocean near Okinawa, Japan, the U.S. Navy said Wednesday in a statement. The crash adds to the series of mishaps suffered by the Seventh Fleet this year, which a U.S. government report has blamed on undertrained personnel. Below is a summary of all the mishaps sustained by the Seventh Fleet this year. On Jan. 31, U.S. Ship (USS) Antietam ran aground near the U.S. naval base in Yokosuka, Japan, damaging its propellers and spilling 1,100 gallons of oil in the water. No one was injured. A probe found the ship's captain Joseph Carrian "ultimately responsible." On May 9, guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain collided with a South Korean fishing boat in the Sea of Japan. No one was injured. On June 17, destroyer USS Fitzgerald was rammed by a Philippine-flagged container ship near Yokosuka. The incident took place in the middle of the night, when the crew were mostly asleep, causing seven deaths and considerable damage to the destroyer. The U.S. Navy later fired the ship's commanding officer, executive officer and senior enlisted sailor for alleged mistakes that caused the crash. On Aug. 21, destroyer USS John S. McCain collided with a commercial vessel near the Strait of Malacca, causing the death of 10 U.S. sailors.The destroyer was en route to the Port of Singapore when the incident happened. USS McCain sustained significant damage to its hull and had to undergo repairing in Yokosuka. Initial investigation reports suggested confusion at the steering wheel as the helmsman assessed the direction of the ship wrong. On Nov. 18, guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold collided with a Japanese commercial tugboat in Japan's Sagami Bay, causing minimal damage and no injury. The tugboat had reportedly lost propulsion and drifted into the U.S. warship during a towing exercise. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 20:12:02|Editor: liuxin Video Player Close BEIJING, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- A shortage of a life-saving blood cancer drug has prompted the Chinese health authorities to act on shortages in such much-needed medicines. Shortages in domestically-made mercaptopurine, a drug used to treat children with acute lymphocytic leukaemia, were recently reported across the country. As of Monday, a batch of 2.95 million tablets had been produced and were being delivered, an effort described as an emergency response by the National Health and Family Planning Commission. Zhejiang Zhebei Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. told Xinhua Wednesday that it has expedited production of 15,000 bottles of mercaptopurine tablets, which would reach hospitals across the country within a week. The company based in Deqing City, east China's Zhejiang Province, is the only one of six authorized makers of the medication still making the drug. Tan Guojun, deputy general manager of the company, described the demand in China as "small": around 50,000 bottles a year. "Sales generate only about 1.5 million yuan (230,000 U.S. dollars), around 2 percent of our total revenue," Tan said, noting that the company's tablets sell for one fifth of imported medication. He said the company had paused production to build a new production line for the pills. On Friday Nov. 17, production resumed and by Tuesday evening, 15,000 bottles of tablets had been loaded for delivery. "The company will continue to produce the medicine according to demand and ensure a stable supply of the drug," said Tan. Reports of shortages in medicine in China are not unusual, most involving essential supplies of low-priced medicine, specialized or first-aid drugs. "The quick resumption of mercaptopurine production is due to improved monitoring of drug shortages," said Zhang Feng, deputy director of the department of drug policy and essential medicine of the National Health and Family Planning Commission. The health authorities had identified early warning signals for a mercaptopurine shortage earlier this year and sped up approval for companies to produce the medicine. Zhang said resumption of the supply would have taken about six months without the early warning. Niu Zhengqian, vice president of the Chinese Pharmaceutical Enterprises Association, said medicines with low prices and small demand faced shortages when production costs rose and profit margins fell. "When the hand of the market does not work, government intervention is needed," said the commission's Zeng Yixin. From Wednesday, several government agencies, including the commission and Food and Drug Administration, will consult pharmaceutical manufacturers on ways to handle 27 drugs on the shortage list. In the meantime, the government will extend monitoring from 500 medical institutions to include production and distribution entities. "Shifting the focus from users to producers will be helpful," said Xiao Lu, deputy director of the Science and Technology Development Center of Chinese Pharmaceutical Association. The government should accelerate implementation of a system which requires pharmaceutical manufacturers to give early notification if they plan to suspend production, Xiao said. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 20:17:04|Editor: liuxin Video Player Close LHASA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Construction of a large hydropower station on the upper section of the Yangtze River, the Suwalong project, is going smoothly, local authorities said Tuesday. On Tuesday, the sluice gate on the Jinsha River was closed in preparation for further building work. The Suwalong project is located at the junction of Mangkam County of Tibet Autonomous Region and Batang County of Sichuan Province, in southwest China. It will be the largest power station in Tibet upon completion. With a total cost of nearly 18 billion yuan (2.77 billion U.S. dollars), the station is undertaken by China Huadian Corp. A total of 1,462 people need to be relocated for the project, and 631 of them have moved, said Hu Guiliang, chairman of Huadian Jinsha River Upstream Hydropower Development Co., Ltd. The power station has a designed capacity of 1.2 million kilowatts and will be able to generate about 5.4 billion kwh of electricity per year. A 112-meter-high dam will be built to form a reservoir that can store about 674 million cubic meters of water. Generators are expected to start operations in 2021. Suwalong project is a major project to send electricity from the west to eastern areas in China, said Wang Zhengtao, director of Qamdo City resources development and relocation bureau. It will make the energy structure greener, reduce pollution and raise incomes for local residents, Wang said. Located in an arid valley, the land along the upper section of Jinsha River has a fragile ecology so the Chinese government requires a thorough environmental impact assessment of a hydropower station. It takes around 10 years to conduct surveys, map out designs and assess environmental impacts of the Suwalong project, the first hydropower station on the upper section of Jinsha River. Construction of further hydropower stations will not be allowed within 12 km of river around the Suwalong station. Facilities will be installed to let fish pass and a fish breeding center has been set up to increase the fish reserve in the river. Hu said that the company has also reached an agreement with government to improve local employment. "We asked our construction firms to hire at least 40 percent of labor force from within the region," said Hu. Duan Shichang, Party secretary of Surdeshod Township, pointed out that residents in two villages of the township earned more than 14 million yuan from employment by the project last year. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 20:17:05|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close THE HAGUE, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Ratko Mladic, former commander of the Bosnian Serb army, has been convicted to life imprisonment at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) here Wednesday. After a long break, his defense team had asked for suspension or an immediate verdict for health reasons, but judge Alphons Orie denied that request. He continued reading out the verdict and Mladic became so angry that the judge ordered him to be removed from the courtroom. Without him being present in the courtroom, the now 75-year-old Mladic was acquitted of the first count of genocide in several Bosnian municipalities. He was found guilty for the genocide related to the Srebrenica massacre, when around 7,000 to 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed in Europe's worst atrocity since World War II. In addition, Mladic was found guilty of five counts of crimes against humanity (persecutions, extermination, murder, deportation, inhumane acts) and four counts of violations of the laws or customs of war (murder, terror, unlawful attacks on civilians, taking of hostages) during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina from May 1992 to late 1995. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 20:17:05|Editor: liuxin Video Player Close ZHENGZHOU, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Sanmenxia apples are ready to be sent to Peru, where authorities recently gave the green light to imports of the fruit produced in central China's Henan Province. Peru joins Canada, the United States, and Chile among the overseas markets where Sanmenxia apples are sold. Kong Weidong, deputy director of Sanmenxia Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau, said apple exports were just the start for the city. "Representatives from some countries have come to our city to inspect our products recently. We are very confident about the quality of our farm produce and believe it can be presented on tables across the world," Kong said. On Funiu Mountain, located in Xixia County in Henan, Wang Haixian's mushrooms are in demand in Japanese markets. Wang, 56, plants mushrooms in a remote village. His mushrooms will be dried and sent to the county's mushroom trading market and eventually be sold in supermarkets in Japan. There are many villagers like Wang, whose mushrooms have connected the small county with the world economy in recent years. Xixia mushrooms have been exported to Germany, Russia, Mexico and countries along the Belt and Road. Statistics showed that the amount of mushroom exports in Xixia County increased to 4.38 billion yuan (660 million U.S. dollars) in 2016 from 2.5 billion yuan in 2014. Xixia has grown into the largest dried mushroom distribution hub in China, as well as the largest mushroom information exchange center and price formation center. The success of Xixia's mushroom industry is attributed to a strategy pushed forward by the provincial government to encourage exporting food and farm produce. Henan Province, sometimes called the "granary of China," ranks in the top three nationwide for its total output of grain, cotton, cooking oil and meat. However, it wasn't until a strategy was implemented in 2015 that it could make the most of its advantages. The strategy has inspired counties across the province to develop their own exports, which has been called "one county, one export" or "one county, multiple exports." After repeated discussions and surveys, 14 products, including mushrooms, meat products, food additives, vegetables and fruit juice, have been grown as key exports from the province. Henan's food and farm produce exports in 2016 hit a record high to more than 20 billion yuan, becoming the engine of the province's exports. So far, 30 national food and farm produce quality safety demonstration zones have been established in the province to improve the quality of farm produce and strengthen management of farm produce in the zones. China's farm produce has a long history of going beyond the country's borders. According to the General Administration of Customs, the value of farm produce exports from January to October reached 405.6 billion yuan, up by 6.3 percent year-on-year. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 20:32:09|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close MADRID, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy insisted on Wednesday that whoever wins the Catalan regional elections on Dec. 21 must "respect the law." Rajoy himself called the elections at the end of October after invoking article 155 of the Spanish Constitution, suspending the region's autonomy following the Oct. 27 declaration of independence in Catalonia. Pro-independence groups now view the new elections as a plebiscite over the independence of the region. And the polls show it will be very close between those in favor and those against separating from Spain. However, in an interview in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Rajoy had a message for the pro-independence movement. "The first thing anyone who is elected has to do is to respect the law," said Rajoy, who insisted he could not "negotiate national sovereignty" and "can't authorize the celebration of a referendum over (Catalan) independence." "Spain will be what all of the Spanish decide, not just one part," continued Rajoy, who nevertheless believes that the situation in the region has "improved" in recent weeks. The Spanish Prime Minister explained that he was "willing to speak" about a reform to the 1978 Spanish Constitution. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 20:52:14|Editor: liuxin Video Player Close HONG KONG, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The government of Chinas Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) announced Wednesday a grant of 3.376 million Hong Kong dollars (about 0.43 million U.S. dollars) from the Disaster Relief Fund for flood victims in the Indian state of Assam. The HKSAR government has accepted the advice of the Disaster Relief Fund Advisory Committee and approved from the fund a grant to Habitat for Humanity Hong Kong for providing relief to flood victims in Assam, the HKSAR government said in a press release. The grant will be used to provide temporary shelter materials and tools as well as household items, a government spokesman said, adding that the committee hopes the grant will facilitate the provision of timely relief to the victims and help them restore their normal living. The grant, together with those approved earlier, will take the accumulative value of grants for flood victims in India to 14.765 million Hong Kong dollars (about 1.89 million U.S. dollars). To ensure that the money is used for the designated purposes, Habitat for Humanity Hong Kong will be asked to submit an evaluation report and an audited account on the use of the grant after the relief project has been completed," the spokesman said. Former Bosnian Serb Army chief Ratko Mladic appears at the court of the International Criminal Tribunal of the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague, Netherlands, on Jan. 28, 2014. (Xinhua/ICTY) THE HAGUE, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Ratko Mladic, former commander of the Bosnian Serb army, has been convicted to life imprisonment at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) here Wednesday. After a long break, his defense team had asked for suspension or an immediate verdict for health reasons, but judge Alphons Orie denied that request. He continued reading out the verdict and Mladic became so angry that the judge ordered him to be removed from the courtroom. Without him being present in the courtroom, the now 75-year-old Mladic was acquitted of the first count of genocide in several Bosnian municipalities. He was found guilty for the genocide related to the Srebrenica massacre, when around 7,000 to 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed in Europe's worst atrocity since World War II. In addition, Mladic was found guilty of five counts of crimes against humanity (persecutions, extermination, murder, deportation, inhumane acts) and four counts of violations of the laws or customs of war (murder, terror, unlawful attacks on civilians, taking of hostages) during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina from May 1992 to late 1995. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 21:02:18|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close GAZA/CAIRO, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of Palestinian factions and political powers, who convene in Cairo for two days, have agreed on a full implementation of the Egyptian-brokered reconciliation deal reached in October 12, a senior official said Wednesday. Jamil Mezher, member of the Palestinian left-wing Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), who is participating in the comprehensive dialogue, said in a press statement that the agreement was reached on Tuesday. On Wednesday, leaders of the factions, including rival Hamas movement and Fatah Party of President Mahmoud Abbas resumed their broader dialogue, for the second day in a row, on finalizing an end of ten years of internal division. "It was agreed on Tuesday that the Egyptian security intelligence would send a special team to Gaza soon to observe and follow up the implementation of the reconciliation agreement signed in Cairo in October 12," the statement said. Leaders of rival Fatah and Hamas agreed in Cairo to transfer power to the Palestinian consensus government, including running ministries and crossing points on the borders either with Israel or with Egypt. On Tuesday, leaders of 13 factions and political power leaders started their broader dialogue in Cairo. The session lasted for 11 hours, where they discussed the finalization on all the reconciliation agreements and understandings reached in the past. Meanwhile, Sallah al-Bardaweel, a senior Hamas official and member of the Islamic movement's delegation to the dialogue in Cairo said in a short news briefing emailed to reporters that the broader dialogue is scheduled to finish later on Wednesday. He expressed hope that the factions will go back to Gaza with an agreement on a time schedule. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 21:17:23|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close TEHRAN, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday that the imminent summit with his Russian and Turkish counterparts in Sochi of Russia should pave the way for a subsequent Syrian national dialogue congress about the future of the Arab state, Tasnim news agency reported. The summit would be of great significance, given the successful results of a series of Syria peace talks brokered by Iran, Russia and Turkey, which have been in progress in Astana over the past months, Rouhani told reporters before departing for Sochi. The Sochi Summit is taking place between two major events, he said, adding that it follows recent key victories against the so-called Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Iraq, and precedes a planned congress for talks on the future of Syria. "It is important that consultations would be held in this summit about that congress, which should be in the Syrian people's interests eventually," Rouhani was quoted as saying. He also expressed the hope that the final statement of the Sochi Summit would prepare the ground for a good future in Syria, stressing that the Arab country's fate should be only decided by the Syrian people, not the foreign parties. The summit of Russian, Iranian and Turkish presidents in Sochi on Wednesday follows the three states' ceasefire initiative in war-torn Syria through Astana process. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 21:22:24|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close MUSCAT, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Oman's fiscal deficit dropped 32.2 percent to an equivalent of 7.74 billion U.S. dollars in the first three quarters of 2017, down from 11.42 billion dollars last year, shows an official report released on Wednesday. A major recovery in crude oil prices contributed to the reduction of deficit, according to the latest monthly report released by National Centre for Statistics and Information. The average price of crude oil surged 30.2 percent from 38.9 dollars to 50.6 dollars during the nine-month period, which generated a robust 34.8 percent growth in net oil income to 8.53 billion dollars from 6.33 billion dollars last year. Additionally, the government revenue rose 20 percent to 15.4 billion dollars, while outlays only moved up 4 percent to 23.14 billion dollars. In January, the Omani government announced its budget proposal for 2017, with a total estimated income of 22.45 billion dollars, an expenditure of 30.19 billion dollars and a deficit of 7.74 billion dollars. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 21:37:28|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close NEW DELHI, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Indian Minister for Home Affairs Rajnath Singh will visit Russia next week to discuss security cooperation and other issues of mutual concern, a government spokesman said Wednesday. During the visit on Nov. 27-29, Singh will talk with Vladimir Kolokoltsev, Russian minister for Internal Affairs and other senior Russian officials to discuss bilateral, regional and international matters of mutual interest, the spokesman said. The two sides are expected to sign a comprehensive security agreement on cooperation in combating terrorism and organized crime, enabling them to share information, expertise, best practices in curbing terrorism, a home ministry official said. A joint action and implementation plan for cooperation in the areas of drugs and disaster management is also expected to be signed. The Indian government Wednesday gave its approval for signing an agreement on cooperation between India and Russia in the field of combating all forms of terrorism and organized crime. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 21:42:30|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close TEHRAN, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Iran has turned to customers in Europe to shore up its crude oil exports, Financial Tribune daily reported on Wednesday. Iran is in negotiations to secure new buyers in Europe, Iran's first deputy Petroleum Minister, Marzieh Shahdaei, was quoted as saying. "Our approach is to raise oil exports to European countries," Shahdaei said, adding that "some of our customers in Asia have reduced imports, but that does not undermine Iran's crude exports." India has persistently cut imports in recent months in retaliation for Tehran's hesitation to hand over an offshore gas project to Indian companies. India's oil imports from Iran declined by about two-fifths from a year ago to 467,600 barrels per day (bpd) in October. Currently, Iran's export of crude oil and condensate stands at 2.6 million bpd, nearly 40 percent of which are sent to Europe, according to officials at government data. Refiners in Italy, France, the Netherlands, Greece and Turkey are the biggest customers of Iranian crude in Europe. "As negotiations with European countries bear fruit, the share of Europeans from Iran's oil exports will rise," Shahdaei said. A pedestrian walks on the snow-covered street in southern London, Britain, Dec. 2, 2010. (Xinhua/Bimal Gautam) LONDON, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Figures released by the Office for National Statistics Wednesday revealed how deaths in England and Wales increased by more than 20 percent between winter and summer months. Their provisional figures for the months between December and March show estimated 34,300 excess winter deaths in England and Wales, giving an excess mortality rate of 20.9 percent, the second highest level over the last five winter periods. The peak for the higher death rate comes in January and is linked to victims of a dominant strain of influenza, coupled with lower than average weather temperatures. On Jan. 9, 2017 alone, almost 2,000 in England and Wales died. That compares with the August summer holiday season when just over 1,200 people died each day. Females and the elderly were most affected by excess winter mortality in the 2016 to 2017 winter period, with over one-third of all excess winter deaths caused by respiratory diseases in 2016 to 2017. The figures also show that all of the English regions observed significant increases in the excess winter mortality index between winter periods of 2016 and 2017. The town of Rossendale in northern England registered the highest number of winter deaths in 2017, with a level of 34.9 percent compared to deaths in summer months. In comparison, said ONS, Northampton had the lowest excess death level between winter and summer months of just 2 percent. Jodie Withers, Health Analysis and Life Events at ONS, said: "While there has been an increase in excess winter deaths making the total the second highest over the last five winter periods, the number does not exceed the peak that was observed in the 2014 to 2015 winter period. The increase is likely due to the predominant strain of flu prevalent during the 2016 to 2017 winter which had greater impact on the elderly than the young." The figure of more than 34,000 excess deaths last winter, is much lower than the extra number of people who died in the winter of 1950 in Britain when more than 100,000 people died above the average death rates. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 21:47:33|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close RAMALLAH, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian sources said on Wednesday that Israeli forces demolished residential and herding structures in several areas in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. A local activist who monitors the settlement activities in Hebron area said Israeli forces, supported by bulldozers, demolished a residential structure and a barracks used as a shelter for herds in the southern Hebron town of Masafer Yatta. Another residential structure and a herd barn were demolished in Jiftlik and three other structures in Froush Beit Dajan in the Jordan Valley, as well as a structure under construction in Battir Village, near Bethlehem. Israeli forces also tore down two houses belonging to Palestinians in East Jerusalem town of Issawiyye earlier on Wednesday. Israeli sources said the demolitions are all based on the lack of construction permits. According to UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Israeli authorities approved only 1.5 percent of building permits applied by Palestinians. Hanan Ashrawi, a member of Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Committee, accused Israel of "ethnic cleansing" against Palestinians. "Israel is seeking to isolate Jerusalem completely and disconnect it from the West Bank, taking advantage of the international silence toward its actions that undermine the two-state solution and the establishment of the state of Palestine,"Ashrawi said in his statements to Xinhua. Two days ago, Palestinian sources said Israeli army issued an eviction order to the Palestinian Bedouin community in Pope Mountain near Bethany, East Jerusalem, before demolishing their residences. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party said the Israeli plan to evacuate Palestinians from the periphery of East Jerusalem is "a declaration of the death of the two-state solution and waging a comprehensive war against the Palestinian people." Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 21:52:34|Editor: Mengjie Video Player Close Photo taken on Nov. 22, 2017 shows the scene of an official handover ceremony of Chinese rice in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka on Tuesday thanked the Chinese government for donating 1,000 tonnes of rice for the drought struck victims in the island country. (Xinhua/Ajith Perera) COLOMBO, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka on Tuesday thanked the Chinese government for donating 1,000 tonnes of rice for the drought struck victims in the island country. Disaster Management Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa, speaking at the official handover ceremony of the rice, said Sri Lanka had this year experienced the worst drought in recent years with over 1 million people affected in 11 districts. He said most of the lands affected were agricultural lands which could not continue to be used for agricultural purposes now. He said China had been prompt in helping Sri Lanka and said this donation further strengthened the strong friendship between the two countries. "We have come to know that in many occasions when we need help, the Chinese government has always helped us. China has always delivered everything on time and they have helped us to overcome a lot of difficulties," Yapa said. The minister further said China had also assisted victims of the recent landslide disaster in Sri Lanka and conveyed his gratitude on behalf of the government. Speaking at the ceremony, Austin Fernando, secretary to President Maithripala Sirisena, said that when the drought initially struck many districts, 576,000 families were affected and later, the number going up to 800,000 families. "It was the government's responsibility to support these people. Therefore we thought we had to tap all the sources to see who could help us," Fernando said. Fernando added that China had always assisted Sri Lanka in time of need and appreciated this strong friendship. Sri Lanka has been suffering one of its worst droughts in 40 years due to a delay in monsoonal rains and poor rainfall in the drought affected areas. China's Ambassador to Sri Lanka Yi Xianliang said the Chinese government and its people would always continue to assist the island country. This donation has been made in a year which marks the 65th anniversary of signing of the rubber and rice pact, Ambassador Yi said. He said China would in total donate 2,700 tonnes of rice for the drought victims and while the first 1,000 tonnes had arrived on Tuesday, two more shipments would arrive later. Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) welcomes Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during a meeting in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia November 20, 2017. Picture taken November 20, 2017. (Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS) by Hummam Sheikh Ali DAMASCUS, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- In 2015, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad made his first visit to Russia during the crisis to discuss with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin the war development in Syria. In 2017, Assad met again with Putin, but this time to discuss the solution to the crisis after the victory achieved in the fight against the Islamic State (IS), analysts say. In September 2015, Russian forces started operations against IS in Syria and in October, people woke up to the news of Assad's first declared visit to Moscow during his country's crisis. At the time, the IS was controlling large swathes of territories in Syria, as activists said more than 50 percent of the country was under IS control. The 2015 visit also signalled a transition to the strong alliance between Assad and Putin at a time when Western and some Arab powers had been urging for Assad's departure as a prelude to the political solution. From that year, the Syrian government forces started advancing in the battles against IS and other ultra-radical rebel groups in Syria, clawing back significant swathes of territories with the help of Russian special forces and air strikes. The government forces with the help of the Russians and Iranian-backed groups, mainly the Lebanese Hezbollah, stripped IS of key strongholds in Syria, mainly the ancient oasis city of Palmyra and key IS hubs and hideouts in the desert region in the eastern countryside of Homs Province near the Iraqi border. But the most significant achievement was retaking the eastern city of Deir al-Zour from IS militants and defeating them this week in their last stronghold in the city of al-Bukamal near Iraq. In parallel with the Syrian forces, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by the U.S., stripped the IS of its de facto capital of Raqqa in northern Syria. Even though these operations were carried out separately amid tension between the SDF and the Syrian forces, they have dealt a fatal blow to IS. At this particular time, IS militants' self-styled caliphate has fallen, ushering in a new phase in Syria, which is to find a solution to the over six-year war as the most dangerous and powerful terror-designated group has become homeless in Syria and hiding in pockets in northeastern Syria and in the south. So here comes the second meeting of Assad and Putin in November 2017. Photos of the surprising meeting on Tuesday showed both leaders exchanging warm greetings and hugs, the kind of congratulatory welcome that is usually extended for those who have overcome one of the life's hardest trials. State news agency SANA said Assad met with Putin and a number of top Russian officials during his visit to the Russian city of Sochi, with the aim of discussing the political process with Putin, his country's main international ally. SANA said the meeting was a "summit" between Assad and Russian top leaders. The Syrian president said the Russian military support to the Syrian army has achieved important results on different issues, mainly the humanitarian, military and political ones. Assad said Syria is ready to hold dialogue with all those interested in the solution for Syria's long-running crisis, according to SANA. Meanwhile, Putin said the Syrian president is ready to work with whoever desires peace and stability for Syria. According to the report, Putin heard Assad's judgment of the current situation and his government's vision of the political solution in Syria. They also discussed the steps that will be taken and the role of the UN in the solution. Putin said the aim of the visit is to consult and coordinate between Moscow and Damascus ahead of the Tripartite meeting between the leaders of Russia, Turkey and Iran in Sochi on Wednesday. The Wednesday summit is preceded by a meeting on Sunday in Turkey's resort city of Antalya between the three countries' foreign ministers. Meanwhile, the Russian leader also congratulated Assad on the victories in Syria, stressing that the Syrian people are close to a full-blown triumph over terrorism. Analysts in Syria and the region say the summit is very important in terms of its timing, as it came right after the army defeated IS in its last stronghold in Syria. Osama Danura, a Syrian political analyst and a member of the Syrian government delegation to the peace talks in Syria, told Xinhua that it was "the summit of the victorious." The changes that have taken place recently and the need to draw the features of the next phase in Syria led to the meeting between both presidents, Danura added. For his part, Hmaidi al-Abdullah, another political analyst, said the upcoming phase in Syria will be "sensitive," adding that the Syrian government and its allies will be facing other challenges in this phase. He told Xinhua that foreign military forces have already entered Syria with the pretext of fighting terrorism without the consent of the Syrian government, such as the Turkish and U.S. armies. "This phase demands high coordination between the allies that have fought the war on terror to focus their efforts on the political solution," he said. After the meeting, President Putin informed several world leaders, including his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump, of the outcome of his talks with Assad. U.S. President Donald Trump said he had a "great" phone conversation with Putin, just a day after the rare visit of Assad to the Black Sea resort city of Sochi. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 22:07:41|Editor: Mengjie Video Player Close Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee Wang Chen presides over the first plenary session of the Conference for Electing Deputies of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) to the 13th NPC in Hong Kong, south China, Nov. 22, 2017. The plenary session, attended by 1,462 members of the electoral conference, elected a 19-member presidium, which will preside over the future meetings of the electoral conference. (Xinhua/Wang Xi) HONG KONG, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Conference for Electing Deputies of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) to the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) convened its first plenary session on Wednesday in preparation for electing 36 deputies to China's top legislature. The plenary session, attended by 1,462 members of the electoral conference, elected a 19-member presidium, which will preside over the future meetings of the electoral conference. The 19 presidium members, including HKSAR Chief Executive Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, as well as two former chief executives, Tung Chee-Hwa and Leung Chun-ying, then held their first meeting and elected Lam as the executive chairwoman of the presidium. According to a bulletin released by the presidium, the nomination for deputies to the 13th NPC will start on Nov. 24 and end on Dec. 4. Election for the deputies representing HKSAR to the 13th NPC will be held at the electoral conference's second plenary session on Dec. 19. The presidium bulletin also made clear that Hong Kong residents of Chinese citizenship aged 18 or above are eligible to contest for the candidacy of the NPC deputies. They need to obtain at least 10 nominations from the electoral conference members for their registrations to be effective. According to the bulletin, the maximum number of the nominees by each electoral conference member will be 36. Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of the NPC Standing Committee Wang Chen called in a speech at the first plenary session for "comprehensively and accurately implementing the 'one country, two systems' principle and ensuring the right direction of the election." Stressing the central government's "zero tolerance" for "Hong Kong independence" remarks and deeds, Wang said the election for HKSAR NPC deputies must be guided by a strong sense of "one country" and firmly observe the principle of "one country." "Any attempt to endanger national sovereignty and security, challenge the power of the central government and the authority of the Basic Law of the HKSAR or use Hong Kong to carry out infiltration and sabotage activities against the mainland is an act that crosses the red line, and is absolutely impermissible," Wang said. The bulletin said, according to NPC deputy election methods, candidates shall declare in their registration forms that they uphold China's Constitution, the HKSAR Basic Law and the "one country, two systems" principle, bear allegiance to China and the HKSAR, and have not received directly or indirectly any form of funds in relation to the election from any foreign institution, organization or individual. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 22:12:38|Editor: liuxin Video Player Close People visit an embroidery township in Suzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province, Nov. 22, 2017. Suzhou strengthened the development of its embroidery industry in recent years. At present, there are some 400 embroidery workshops and more than 40 related stores in Suzhou. (Xinhua/Li Bo) Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 22:12:43|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close TEHRAN, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- BGF Retail Company, the operator of South Korea's largest convenience store chain CU, announced the opening of a store in Iran's capital Tehran, Financial Tribune daily reported on Wednesday. The launch came about four months after the Korean company signed an agreement with Iran's Entekhab Investment Development Group. It is the first convenience store in Iran and the first overseas outlet by a South Korean convenience store operator, BGF said. "Iran is the largest market in the Middle East with over 80 million people," said Hong Jung-kuk, vice president of BGF. "We will accelerate our global expansion after making a successful landing in the Iranian market," he added. South Korean convenience store operators have been trying to expand to foreign markets, as the local market, dominated by three chains CU, GS25 and 7-Eleven, has become increasingly saturated. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 22:42:53|Editor: yan Video Player Close WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Despite worldwide worries over the mounting tensions in the Korean Peninsula, the U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday sanctioned one individual, 13 entities and 20 vessels in relation with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), in a bid to disrupt the nation's funding of "unlawful nuclear and ballistic missile programs." U.S. SANCTIONS In a statement, the department said the sanctions targeted "persons with long-standing commercial ties" to Pyongyang and the transportation networks that facilitate its revenue generation and operations. Washington was "steadfast" in its efforts to maximize economic pressure on the DPRK and to isolate it from outside sources of trade and revenue, said U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. Earlier on Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump announced to pull the DPRK back into the list of state sponsors of terror, from which it had been removed in 2008 by the Bush administration. Trump also vowed to slap sanctions against the Asian nation. However, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said later on the same day that the sanctions were "very symbolic" and "practical effects may be limited," noting that Pyongyang has "an enormous capacity to withstand a lot." PYONGYANG VOWS SELF-RELIANCE For its part, the DPRK's official media reported Tuesday that Kim Jong Un, the nation's top leader, has called on his nationals to display a spirit of self-reliance in their endeavor for economic development. The DPRK has been under tough UN sanctions adopted to check its nuclear and missile development. Chinese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday called for more efforts to ease tension on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue and settle the issue through dialogue and consultation. Given the complex and sensitive situation on the peninsula, China hopes all parties will do more to ease tensions and return to negotiations, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang. U.S. EFFORTS LIKELY FUTILE As there are already many sanctions on the DPRK, Trump's announcement and further sanction were "largely symbolic," said Dan Mahaffee, senior vice president and director of policy at the Center for the Study of Congress and the Presidency. Mike Mazarr at the U.S.-based think tank RAND Corporation was also likeminded. "I see no reason to believe that the result will make life more difficult for the North Korea," he told Xinhua, noting that "This specific action need not preclude a future resolution of the issue." "It is not clear where this pressure, including the terrorism designation, is leading, except for a new crisis when the United States must choose whether to escalate, possibly to military action, or back off its demands and suffer severe damage to its credibility," Mazarr said. The U.S. latest decision "does ratchet up tensions at a time when some are arguing for dialogue," Mahaffee added. Analysts argued that re-designating Pyongyang won't solve anything, rather, it could trigger a new round of harsh response from the Asian nation, when peace-making efforts to reduce tensions in the Peninsula are badly needed. (Matthew Rusling in Washington contributed to the story) Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 22:42:55|Editor: yan Video Player Close JUBA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The UN senior relief official for South Sudan said Wednesday foreign aid workers operating in the East African country would pay the hiked work permit fee. Alain Noudehou, the Humanitarian Coordinator for South Sudan, told reporters that though the increased work permit fees may reduce aid agencies' ability to deliver, aid workers will pay the fee to enable them to operate legally. "It is something that is of great concern to humanitarians because of the level of fees. At the same time it is also important to recognize that this is the law of the country and it is important that people abide by it in order to make sure that we are here working legally," Noudehou said. In March, South Sudan increased work permit fees for foreign workers from 100 U.S. dollars to 10,000 dollars for professional/business class, 2,000 dollars for blue collar jobs and 1,000 dollars for casual laborers. The South Sudanese finance ministry said at the time that the hiked fee would raise vital revenue for the cash-strapped government to fund its activities. But the fee hike prompted an outcry from humanitarian agencies who described it as a way of restricting work of foreign aid workers in the war-torn nation, forcing the government to suspend the policy the following month. The Ministry of Labor and Public Service late October announced revised annual work permit rates for foreigners ranging from 500 to 4,000 dollars. Under the new fee structure, consultants and managers will pay 4,000 dollars, professionals charged 3,000 dollars and technicians 2,000 dollars. The directive does not affect members of the diplomatic corps. Skilled workers will pay 1,000 dollars and casual laborers will be charged 500 dollars. Defaulters will be charged an extra 200 dollars in fines. South Sudan's relief agency said early this month that it identified more than 1,000 illegal expatriates working with humanitarian organizations in the east African nation, and gave them a one-month ultimatum to acquire work permits or face the law. South Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC) early this month ordered the foreign workers to obtain work permits by Dec. 4. "I know all my colleagues in the humanitarian sector are committed to abiding by the law and making sure that they get the work permit in due time," Noudehou added. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 22:42:56|Editor: yan Video Player Close BEIRUT, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri said on Wednesday that he put off his resignation upon the request of President Michel Aoun. He made the announcement after a meeting with Aoun at the Presidential Palace. Hariri said the president asked him to put his resignation on hold "to allow for more consultations." The prime minister also thanked Aoun and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri for their keenness to protect Lebanon's stability, and their respect for Lebanon's Constitution and laws. Berri joined the early part of the meeting between Aoun and Hariri before exiting in advance. This was the first face-to-face meeting between Aoun and Hariri after the latter announced his resignation in a televised statement made in Saudi Arabia on Nov. 4. Aoun had not officially accepted Hariri's resignation, saying he would not decide before meeting the latter in Lebanon. Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri greets his supporters upon his arrival at his home in Beirut on November 22, 2017. (AFP PHOTO) BEIRUT, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri said on Wednesday that he put off his resignation upon the request of President Michel Aoun. He made the announcement after a meeting with Aoun at the Presidential Palace. Hariri said the president asked him to put his resignation on hold "to allow for more consultations." The prime minister also thanked Aoun and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri for their keenness to protect Lebanon's stability, and their respect for Lebanon's Constitution and laws. Berri joined the early part of the meeting between Aoun and Hariri before exiting in advance. This was the first face-to-face meeting between Aoun and Hariri after the latter announced his resignation in a televised statement made in Saudi Arabia on Nov. 4. Aoun had not officially accepted Hariri's resignation, saying he would not decide before meeting the latter in Lebanon. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 22:47:59|Editor: yan Video Player Close WINDHOEK, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Namibia has successfully captured five of the eight lions that were involved in the killing of over 200 livestock in the Torra Conservancy Kunene recently, a government official said on Wednesday. The lions initially killed a total of 86 goats and sheep but days later killed about 171 livestock on a private farm in the same area. In an interview, the ministry's spokesperson Romeo Muyunda said that staff members from the ministry are still on the ground tracking the remaining three lions for possible capture. He said that the ministry takes Human Wildlife Conflict (HWC) seriously and denied allegations that the ministry is not acting in the interest of wildlife conservation. Muyunda could neither confirm nor deny reports that the remaining three lions had been killed by farmers in the area. HWC is a problem in Namibia and currently the country is working to find ways to control the situation. The ministry is currently finalizing the review of the National Policy on Human Wildlife Conflict Management which has been endorsed by cabinet and will now go to parliament for final consideration and approval. The captured lions will soon be relocated. File Photo: A soldier from the U.S.Navy walks on board of the USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19), the command flagship of United States Seventh Fleet in Manila, the Philippines, March 18, 2014. (Xinhua/Rouelle Umali) WASHINGTON, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. Navy aircraft with 11 people on board has crashed into the ocean near Okinawa, Japan, the U.S. Navy said Wednesday. "A United States Navy aircraft carrying 11 crew and passengers crashed into the ocean southeast of Okinawa at approximately 2:45 p.m. today," the U.S. Seventh Fleet said in a statement issued on behalf of its commander. The aircraft was en route to the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, which is currently operating in the Philippine Sea. The cause of the crash is not known yet. The USS Ronald Reagan has began search and rescue operations. The next of kin of those on board are being notified, the statement said. The crash adds to the series of mishaps suffered by the seventh fleet this year, including multiple fatal ship collisions. A recent U.S. government report said the fleet is operating beyond its capacity and its service members lack sufficient training and rest. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 22:53:01|Editor: yan Video Player Close NAIROBI, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations (UN) in partnership with the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM), and trade ministry on Wednesday launched the Second Manufacturing Summit and Expo. Under the theme "Driving Local Competitiveness to Make Kenya a Manufacturing Hub for Africa", the three-day Summit and Expo seeks to promote Buy Kenya, Build Kenya, showcase local content, establish market and financial linkages and promote innovation in industry. KAM Chairperson Flora Mutahi said in Nairobi that the event is an opportunity for industry and stakeholders to deliberate on transforming the nation through industrialization and promoting local industries for industrial growth, job and wealth creation. "With over 1000 participants and over 90 exhibitors, the conference will enhance dialogue between manufacturers, policy makers and development partners to transform Kenya's industrialization agenda," Mutahi said. She said that growing the manufacturing sector's contribution to 15 percent of the Gross Domestic Product remains a focus for the industry. "This expo is therefore an opportunity to drive our sector towards this goal, and ultimately increase the competitiveness of locally manufactured products in local, regional and international markets," added Mutahi. The first Kenya Manufacturing Summit, held in 2016, showcased the need to strengthen government's engagement and partnership in addressing the challenges identified by the National Development Blueprint Vision 2030 and the Kenya Industrial Transformation Program (KITP) towards Kenya's industrial transformation. Adan Mohamed, Ministry of Industry and Trade Cabinet Secretary, said that the government is keen on growing Kenya's economy by providing high quality jobs and enhancing Kenya's wealth creation objectives. "The Vision 2030 sets apart the manufacturing sector as a key actor for the development of the country's economy, which has seen Public-Private Partnerships as one of the ways in which Kenya can achieve sustainable competitiveness," Mohamed said. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 22:58:03|Editor: pengying Video Player Close MANILA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Chinese nephrologist Wang Yaoxian was awarded the Philippine Gusi Peace Prize for 2017 on Wednesday during a ceremony in Manila for his "contributions in the field of medicine." Wang is now a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine, dean of the Beijing Dongzhimen Hospital and director of the Nephrology Institute of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine. Manson Fok, president of the Gusi Peace Prize Foundation, said Wang "played a demonstration and leadership role in the development of traditional Chinese medicine which makes you highly recognized as a prominent leader in China's healthcare reform by domestic and international medical communities." "All your significant contributions, accomplishments and achievements have made you a living paradigm for others to emulate, not only in China, but throughout Asia, and the international community," said Fok. After the ceremony, Wang told Xinhua that winning this Gusi Peace Prize is not only a reward for himself but also a demonstration that the international community now is accepting the traditional Chinese medicine. "The traditional Chinese medicine is the treasure of China, which solidified thousands of years of medical experiences. Now we can feel the whole world needs traditional Chinese medicine. I think in the future more and more foreign patients will be willing to accept Chinese medical treatment," said Wang. More than 10 other experts from different countries also won the Gusi Peace Prize for 2017. The Gusi Peace Prize, founded in 2002, is given by Manila-based Gusi Peace Prize Foundation. The Gusi Peace Prize Foundation said the prize aims to give honor and awards to distinguished individuals or groups worldwide with contributions to peace and developments in scientific discoveries, performing arts, literature, medicine or physiology, economics and others. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 22:58:04|Editor: yan Video Player Close ISTANBUL, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Bomb alerts were issued on Wednesday for two Ukraine International Airlines passenger planes at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport. The planes, bound for Ukraine's capital of Kiev and southern city of Odessa respectively, were hauled to the parking zone for searches, according to the press office of the Turkish Airlines. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 22:58:05|Editor: yan Video Player Close MANILA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte threatened on Wednesday to arrest armed Leftist rebels and all the "legal fronts" supporting them. "I will simply declare you all terrorists. I know that even the legal fronts are terrorists. Let's not fool each other, I've been there," Duterte said in a speech in a military camp in Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija, a province north of Manila. "We will treat you as a criminal... And we will arrest everybody connected with the legal fronts," Duterte said. He accused the leftist groups of sowing terror in an effort to topple the government. "You are helping each other, conspiring to topple or whatever, to sow terror. I'll declare all of you as a terrorist group," Duterte said. Duterte's fresh threat against the Leftist rebels came a few hours after presidential adviser on peace process Jesus Dureza announced that the government had decided to scrap the peace talks with the communist rebels. "I told Dureza and (government chief negotiator Silvestre) Bello,'Tell the idiots, I am no longer talking to them,'" Duterte said. Last Saturday, Duterte bared his plan to craft a proclamation categorising the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) as a terrorist group. The Duterte administration revived the talks with the communist rebels in August last year. But the talks have since bogged down due to a series of attacks launched by the rebels against troops and civilians. Since 1986, the government has been trying to reach a peace deal with the communist rebels but failed to make any headway. The communist rebellion began in 1969 and reached its peak in 1987 when it boasted 26,000 armed guerrillas. However, the movement has since dwindled due to differences in strategy and tactics and the arrests of many of its top leaders in the late 1980s. At present the military estimates the communist rebels at around 4,000. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 23:13:09|Editor: yan Video Player Close TIRANA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Albania will enhance its military presence in Afghanistan by around 60 percent next year, Albanian ministry of Defense informed Wednesday in a press release citing Minister Olta Xhacka who visited Kabul Nov. 21-22. The decision on troop expansion in Kabul and Herat is the best response on behalf of strategic partnership with the United States which comes in the light of our support for the U.S. government strategy in South-East Asia, Albanian defense minister declared from Kabul. Currently, the Armed Forces of Albania have deployed a staff of 83 forces in Afghanistan, namely in Kabul, Herat or Mazar e-Sharif. Albania has given a significant contribution with troops in Afghanistan since 2002 while it has been involved in many international operations along with other NATO allies. Photo released by Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Aug. 25, 2016 shows top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un (C) guiding a test-firing of a strategic submarine-launched ballistic missile. (Xinhua/KCNA) WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Despite worldwide worries over the mounting tensions in the Korean Peninsula, the U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday sanctioned one individual, 13 entities and 20 vessels in relation with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), in a bid to disrupt the nation's funding of "unlawful nuclear and ballistic missile programs." U.S. SANCTIONS In a statement, the department said the sanctions targeted "persons with long-standing commercial ties" to Pyongyang and the transportation networks that facilitate its revenue generation and operations. Washington was "steadfast" in its efforts to maximize economic pressure on the DPRK and to isolate it from outside sources of trade and revenue, said U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. Earlier on Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump announced to pull the DPRK back into the list of state sponsors of terror, from which it had been removed in 2008 by the Bush administration. Trump also vowed to slap sanctions against the Asian nation. However, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said later on the same day that the sanctions were "very symbolic" and "practical effects may be limited," noting that Pyongyang has "an enormous capacity to withstand a lot." PYONGYANG VOWS SELF-RELIANCE For its part, the DPRK's official media reported Tuesday that Kim Jong Un, the nation's top leader, has called on his nationals to display a spirit of self-reliance in their endeavor for economic development. The DPRK has been under tough UN sanctions adopted to check its nuclear and missile development. Chinese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday called for more efforts to ease tension on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue and settle the issue through dialogue and consultation. Given the complex and sensitive situation on the peninsula, China hopes all parties will do more to ease tensions and return to negotiations, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang. U.S. EFFORTS LIKELY FUTILE As there are already many sanctions on the DPRK, Trump's announcement and further sanction were "largely symbolic," said Dan Mahaffee, senior vice president and director of policy at the Center for the Study of Congress and the Presidency. Mike Mazarr at the U.S.-based think tank RAND Corporation was also likeminded. "I see no reason to believe that the result will make life more difficult for the North Korea," he told Xinhua, noting that "This specific action need not preclude a future resolution of the issue." "It is not clear where this pressure, including the terrorism designation, is leading, except for a new crisis when the United States must choose whether to escalate, possibly to military action, or back off its demands and suffer severe damage to its credibility," Mazarr said. The U.S. latest decision "does ratchet up tensions at a time when some are arguing for dialogue," Mahaffee added. Analysts argued that re-designating Pyongyang won't solve anything, rather, it could trigger a new round of harsh response from the Asian nation, when peace-making efforts to reduce tensions in the Peninsula are badly needed. (Matthew Rusling in Washington contributed to the story) Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 23:33:15|Editor: yan Video Player Close ISTANBUL, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Wednesday called on Asian parliamentarians to develop closer cooperation so as to better cope with regional and global problems. The premier said more common projects and tighter business alliances should be developed in the region, with focus on railways, highways and other infrastructure projects. "So that Asia's growing and expanding economies will not be interrupted by any kind of problems, crises and chaos," he said at the 10th plenary session of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly being held in Istanbul. Yildirim described the modern Silk Road project as a good example of close business association. "Through China's Belt and Road Initiative, Asia once again has become the focus of the world's economic and trade relations," he said. China's Belt and Road Initiative, or the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-century Maritime Silk Road, seeks to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along and beyond the ancient trade routes. "Turkey attributes great importance to the projects and initiatives contributing to the revival of the Silk Road," Yildirim said. Speaking of the newly opened railway linking Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, he said "these projects aim to reduce conflicts between Asia and Europe, increase opportunities and contribute to regional and global peace." Founded in 2006, the Asian Parliamentary Assembly is aimed at promoting peace, reconciliation, security, development and integration in Asia. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 23:38:17|Editor: yan Video Player Close ZAGREB, Nov. 22, (Xinhua) -- Members of the ruling parties in Croatia boycotted on Wednesday Parliament's Investigative Committee on Agrokor, arguing the Parliament's inquiry was finished after the investigation of the indebted company was officially opened on the court. Five out of nine members of the committee, representing the majority, have signed a joint statement stating that the management body designed for Agrokor crisis should end its work. "It is an absolute usurpation of the Parliament's power. It is a violation of the constitution, a violation of the law that must be heard in the Parliament," Croatian news agency Hina quoted Orsat Miljenic, the committee chairman, as saying. On Monday, an investigative judge at Zagreb County Court confirmed the opening of an investigation of Agrokor owner Ivica Todoric and rejected the appeals of all suspects. This allows the state attorney to start official investigation in criminal acts at Agrokor and its subsidiaries. Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Tuesday also urged the end of the investigative committee on Agrokor in line with the law. But the opposition voiced against the end of the committee, worrying the government would cover up its earlier connections with Agrokor and its owner Todoric. The opposition accused the conservatives who have ruled the country for the most time since Croatian independence in 1991 of enabling Agrokor to grow to become too big to fail and turning a blind eye for possible misconducting of the company. Agrokor is the largest food producer and retailer in the Balkans. The company employs 60,000 people in the region and its revenues was equivalent to about 15 percent of Croatia's GDP in 2015. In January, Agrokor was hit by a debt crisis, so Croatian parliament voted for a special law and appointed a committee to save the economy from Agrokor's possible fallout. Fifteen people are the subject of the investigation that Chief State Prosecutor's Office launched after the management exposed hidden debts and serious irregularities in the management of business books. The founder of the company Ivica Todoric, one of the most powerful man in Croatia, is in exile in London where he is waiting for an extradition. (L-R) Somalian Deputy Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management Elmi Omar Ainsane, Chinese Ambassador to Somalia Qin Jian, and UNICEF Somalia Representative Steven Lauwerier pose for photos during a donation ceremony in Mogadishu, Somalia, on Nov. 21, 2017.(Xinhua/Chen Cheng) MOGADISHU, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Chinese government on Tuesday donated 2 million U.S. dollars to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) to help reach 15,000 young children suffering from severe acute malnutrition in the southern and central regions of Somalia. Chinese Ambassador to Somalia Qin Jian said Beijing was committed to supporting humanitarian response in Somalia to ensure that the needs of the most vulnerable group, mainly children and women, are met. "Through UNICEF, we hope to reach the affected populations, especially those in remote places, with lifesaving services," Qin said during a ceremony held in Somali capital Mogadishu. He said the money will be used to procure therapeutic food and medicines for the vulnerable people including 15,000 children who are affected by the current drought and who suffer from severe acute malnutrition. "We are pleased to be working with UNICEF to ensure the needs of the most vulnerable group -- children and women -- are met. Together, we can help the Somali people go through this difficult time," Qin added. According to the UNICEF, the Horn of Africa nation faces humanitarian crisis, which was sparked by the failure of rainy seasons that resulted into massive displacement, disease outbreaks and malnutrition with 6.2 million people now in need of humanitarian aid. Four million of them are children. It also estimates that there could be more than 230,000 children with severe acute malnutrition in the next year. UNICEF Somalia Representative Steven Lauwerier lauded the Chinese government for the timely donation, saying the Chinese assistance to Somalia is a concrete manifestation of China's role as a responsible major country. "The timely aid from the Chinese government and the Chinese people will go a long way toward saving children's lives. We hope this will be the beginning of a long and productive partnership between China and UNICEF in Somalia," Lauwerier said. (L-R) Somalian Deputy Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management Elmi Omar Ainsane, UNICEF Somalia Representative Steven Lauwerier, and Chinese Ambassador to Somalia Qin Jian pose for photos during a donation ceremony in Mogadishu, Somalia, on Nov. 21, 2017.(Xinhua/Chen Cheng) "Thanks to the joint response by the international community, we have managed to avert a famine so far," he said, adding that sustained assistance is needed throughout 2018 to prevent the loss of lives and collapse of livelihoods. Deputy Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management Elmi Omar Ainsane thanked China for providing such humanitarian assistance. "We are very grateful and thank the Chinese government for helping us during this hard time. It is a big contribution and help to the humanitarian crisis here in Somalia. We also thank UNICEF for its role in caring for the children and mothers," Ainsane said. Since the beginning of 2017, the UN Children's Agency, in collaboration with its partners, has provided treatment for severe acute malnutrition to over 200,000 Somali children, nearly all of whom recovered. However, the needs remain immense. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 23:43:20|Editor: yan Video Player Close MOSCOW, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that the breakdown of Syria has been prevented, and that the stage has now been set for a possible transition to political settlement in the war-torn country. He made the remarks while the leaders of Russia, Iran and Turkey held a trilateral summit in the Russian city of Sochi, discussing the current situation and the future of Syria. "Large-scale military operations against terrorist gangs in Syria are coming to an end. I should note that thanks to the efforts of Russia, Iran and Turkey, it was possible to prevent the disintegration of Syria and conquest by international terrorists, as well as to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe," Putin said at the summit. "It can be stated with certainty that we have reached a new stage that opens the door to a real political settlement process," he said. The fight against the Islamic State terrorist group in Syria will possibly be over by the end of the year and Russia may be able to withdraw its air forces, Frants Klintsevich, first deputy chairman of the Russian Federation Council's Defense and Security committee, said Tuesday. The armed conflict in Syria broke out in 2011 and Russia started to participate in the anti-terrorist operations in Syria in September 2015. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 23:53:25|Editor: yan Video Player Close GUANGZHOU, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Police in south China's Guangdong Province said Wednesday that six people have been detained for underground bank trading, suspected to be worth 20 billion yuan (about 3 billion U.S. dollars). Police said they started to look into a bank account which was opened in Shaoguan, a city in Guangdong, in July. The account was used to process money for a suspect surnamed Shen. In a short period of time, transactions through the account reached 98 million yuan. As investigation expanded, a total of 10,000 people and 148 accounts are suspected of being involved, police said. The suspects allegedly made profits using exchange rates between Chinese currency Renminbi, or the yuan, and Hong Kong dollars. Seven people have been detained and the investigation is continuing. Masfiqur Sohan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Secretary of State Rex Tillerson described the violence against the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar's Rakhine state as ethnic cleansing for the first time on Wednesday. Tillerson did not use the term during his brief visit to Myanmar's capital, Naypyidaw, on Nov. 15, deciding only after visiting and analyzing the situation to describe the situation that way. What does declaring the violence ethnic cleansing do in effect? In reality, the new descriptor does not immediately accomplish much. Ethnic cleansing is a term that is not legally defined by U.S. or international law. A declaration does not trigger any sort of obligation or consequence. For now, State Department officials said they are looking into targeted sanctions against individuals who may have carried out violence if the specific allegations can be confirmed. Some sanctions placed on Burma in 1998 due to anti-democratic activities of a military junta were lifted in 2016. State officials said they expect the determination to "increase pressure" on the civilian government and military in Myanmar to reach an agreement on repatriating the 600,000 or so Rohingya who have fled as refugees into neighboring Bangladesh. Who is perpetrating the ethnic cleansing? Though ethnic cleansing has been declared, the perpetrator has not been defined as the Myanmar military. State Department officials said there are a number of "potential sources" of conflict, including both military forces and vigilante groups. What will happen to the victims of the violence? The State Department is focusing on returning the Rohingya who have fled to Bangladesh as refugees back to their homes. Even still, officials acknowledge that repatriating even a few hundred Rohingya per day would mean the process could last for years -- a huge logistical challenge at this point. The department will focus on voluntary repatriation, meaning they realize many Rohingya might not want to return to their former homes. Last week, Tillerson announced an additional $47 million in humanitarian assistance for those affected, bringing the total amount spent to aid the victims since August of last year to $87 million. Why aren't broader sanctions being imposed? Broader sanctions remain a challenge, as State Department officials are wary of hindering the fragile civilian government in Myanmar, which has shared power with the military as laid out in the Burmese Constitution about 18 months ago. Transition of power to the fledgling civilian government is a delicate process and could benefit all the persecuted civilian groups in Myanmar -- if it can be accomplished. What is Aung San Suu Kyi doing about the crisis? The State Department had little to say about the role of the de facto civilian leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who many have criticized for not doing enough to stem the violence. State Department officials look to Suu Kyi's leadership but did not lay out a specific goal or role for her to play. Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-22 23:58:27|Editor: yan Video Player Close PARIS, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The stability of Lebanon remains a priority for Paris, Frederic Charillon, French political science professor said in a recent interview to Xinhua. Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Wednesday returned to Lebanon in the midst of a political crisis that began two weeks ago with the surprise announcement of his resignation. He had been received by French President Emmanuel Macron in mid November for a three-day visit, perceived by many observers as a way to negotiate an exit from the crisis. Such French interventions are not new, Charillon said: "France has always been very involved in Lebanon, a francophone country that it knows well." "France involved itself very much in 1996 during the Israeli bombardments of Cana, in 2006 during the war between Israel and Hezbollah, in 2007 during the institutional crisis, then for the reconstruction of Lebanon," he added. Charillon explained France "cannot accept a destabilization of Lebanon by foreign powers." Lebanon is an "important barometer of balances and tensions in the region" because "it's the theater where exterior forces (Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Israel) meet and if Lebanon explodes, a regional war could ensue, he added. While some commentators accuse France of a "diplomatic sleep" in the Middle East over the last 10 years, Charillon does not agree. "The French strategy in recent years has raised many questions in the region which has sometimes made it difficult to understand the strategy from Paris. Between military interventionism (in Syria, after Libya), tensions on religious subjects, the struggle against terrorism, France had significant activity, but its strategy was less clear. That is what Emmanuel Macron is attempting to remedy today. For France as for others, it will be difficult to have a single strategy in a region so plural," he explained. The strategy of the French head of state consists, according to him, in "talking to all the actors, not positioning oneself as a giver of lessons, but to concede nothing regarding principles." "In Lebanon, we have seen that strategy at work," said the French expert. "France does not have the means by itself to solve the problems of the Middle East but it could untangle this Lebanese episode in getting Saad Hariri out of Saudi Arabia, without antagonizing Riyadh," underlined Charillon. Approximately two weeks ago, Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri announced a surprise resignation from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He then traveled to Paris on the invitation of the French president. From the French presidential palace, Hariri declared he would next return to Lebanon, where Lebanese President Michel Aoun refused to accept his resignation. The two leaders will speak after a national holiday on Wednesday. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a meeting of the ruling Justice and Development Party in Ankara Nov. 17, 2017. (Xinhua/Mustafa Kaya) ISTANBUL, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday accused Western nations of trying to implement a "dirty scenario" to destroy the unity, coexistence and wealth of Islamic countries. "Obviously, the West is trying to guarantee its own future by exporting all kinds of sick elements to the Islamic world," Erdogan said at a meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul. He said terror organizations including the Islamic State, al-Qaeda and Boko Haram have transformed the entire region into a bloodbath while the West remains unresponsive. "Islamophobia, neo-Nazism and racism have been increasingly replacing democracy, human rights and freedom in the Western world," the president said, urging Islamic nations to take actions to spoil the West's game and not to remain silent in the face of those who use Islamophobia as an instrument. "Who are the true winners of hundreds of billions of dollars of weapons ordered by Islamic countries to the West? Who earns from it?" Erdogan asked at the 33rd meeting of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the OIC. "Our countries are breaking into pieces with the creation of artificial borders. Whose benefit is it?" he added. The four-day OIC meeting, which will end on Thursday, is attended by ministerial delegations from OIC members and observers. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-23 00:03:29|Editor: yan Video Player Close TRIPOLI, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Libyan Ambassador to Burkina Faso denied attacks in Ouagadougou by demonstrators against reports of African migrants slave trade in western Libya, Libyan news agency reported on Wednesday. Ambassador Al-Hadi Khamada stressed that "all reports about being attacked are untrue," calling on media to "seek accuracy and truth from the sources." Khamada also expressed appreciation for the cooperation with the authorities in Burkina Faso. He held a press conference on Tuesday addressing the "issue of illegal immigration and its negative effects on Libya in the first place and the world in general." Khamada called on the African Union and the European Union to help Libya in "addressing this phenomenon," and stressed that "Libya with its limited capabilities, will not be able to stop this human flow." A recent CNN report showed auctions in different parts of Libya, where stranded African migrants were sold as slaves for as little as 400 U.S. dollars. Libya's eastern-based House of Representatives (Parliament) Speaker, Agila Saleh, on Tuesday condemned slave trade in western Libya, ordering investigation into the incident. The Tripoli-based Government of National Accord of Libya also condemned migrant slave trade in the country, and also confirmed opening an investigation into the incident. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-23 00:03:31|Editor: yan Video Player Close LJUBLJANA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Slovenia suggested again on Wednesday that it could potentially withdraw its soldiers from Iraq, with defense minister Andreja Katic explaining to the parliamentary defense committee about her earlier statement about this possibility. On Nov. 6, Katic said on national TV that she would be in favor of a withdrawal from Iraq any time the lives of members of the Slovenian Armed Forces were in peril, according to the Slovenian Press Agency (STA). Katic outlined for parliament a likely proposal for Slovenia's withdrawal from Iraq, and to instead put a stronger focus on other international operations and missions that Slovenia is already taking part in. She mentioned her earlier reply to local press about the deteriorating situation in Iraq's Kurdistan region, saying: "I'll support a withdrawal any time a journalist asks me what will happen if the situation in a region worsens to a degree that the lives of Slovenian army members are in peril." Katic briefed parliamentary members on the situation in Iraq, arguing that in helping train Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, Slovenia had contributed significantly to national goals and the goals of the coalition regarding the liberation of territories controlled by the Islamic State (IS), especially in the Mosul area. The Slovenian Armed Forces has been taking part in Operation Inherent Resolve in northern Iraq since Sept. 5 of last year. Six contingent members are located in the Kurdistan Training Coordination Centre (KTCC) in Erbil, according to the defense ministry. Katic believes the Slovenian army has been successful and effective in meeting its goals, and said Slovenia was discussing with partners the possibility of redirecting its contribution in Iraq so as to put it under NATO's wing. "It is, however, a fact that a long-term stabilization of Iraq will require additional efforts, which is also being acknowledged by the European Union (EU) and NATO," Katic was quoted by STA as saying. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-23 00:08:33|Editor: yan Video Player Close PARIS, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Marine Le Pen, the head of France's far-right National Front (FN) party, said Wednesday she would lodge a complaint against Societe Generale and HSBC banks for closing her personal and party accounts. "We will file a complaint for political discrimination. I appeal to our party's members, to my 11 million voters, and more generally, to all French people who defend democracy, to draw all the consequences of this banking fatwa of which we are victims," Le Pen told reporters. "After being the victim of massive judicial persecution, we are witnessing a new stage in the persecution of the National Front: banishment from banking," she said. Le Pen, an advocate of nationalism, said the move was "an attempt to suffocate an opposition movement" and denounced the fact that "financial oligarchies who feel protected, even encouraged by a kind of impunity, are therefore tempted to intervene more and more in the course of democracy in France." The FN leader said that French bank Societe Generale had asked the party to close its accounts, while HSBC's French boss Thomas Vandeville told her earlier in the day that the personal account she had held for 25 years was being closed "without any justification." In a statement, Societe Generale, one of France's main banks, said its "decisions on opening or closing a bank account depend purely on banking reasons and in respect of all regulatory requirements, without taking into account any political consideration." Le Pen, who lost the French presidental race in the spring, repeatedly spoke out during the campaign about French and foreign banks' decisions to not award loans to her party. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-23 00:13:37|Editor: yan Video Player Close ADDIS ABABA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia has received 103,263 new refugees in the first ten months of 2017, pushing the total number of refugees living in the country to 889,071, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) revealed on Wednesday. Kisut Gebreegziabher, Assistant Communication Officer at UNHCR, told Xinhua the refugee arrivals in 2017 are dominated by South Sudanese numbering 73,857, followed by Eritreans at 20,700 and Somalis at 6,600. "Refugees from South Sudan fled to Ethiopia to escape civil war, Eritrean refugees mentioned indefinite military conscription and human rights violations for their flight while Somalis mentioned a combination of conflict and drought for fleeing to Ethiopia," he said. "The South Sudanese refugees' total population has reached 419,000, close to half of total refugee population in Ethiopia," he said, adding the South Sudanese refugees are mainly sheltered in Gambella and Benishangul Gumuz regional states. Gebreegziabher further said UNHCR is giving basic social services to the 889,071 refugees living in 26 refugee camps in six regional states of Ethiopia. The social services in the refugee camps include education, health, water and sanitation, food, nutrition support and community empowerment. Participants attend the opening of Shenzhen Outbound Alliance (SOA) Africa branch office in Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, Nov. 21, 2017.(Xinhua/Michael Tewelde) ADDIS ABABA, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- China's tech hub city Shenzhen has consolidated economic partnership with Ethiopia by opening its Shenzhen Outbound Alliance (SOA) Africa branch office in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa on Tuesday. SOA is a non-governmental organization formed to help Shenzhen companies to engage in outbound investment and cooperation. Speaking at the SOA office inaugural event, Sun Tianlu, vice chairman and secretary of the Alliance said with the city's total economic output expected to hit 2 trillion yuan (302 billion U.S. dollars) in 2017, owing largely to high-tech products and services, it was natural that Shenzhen wanted to impart its successes to overseas destinations. Shenzhen is home to internationally known high tech companies including Huawei, ZTE and Shenzhen Energy Group. The presence of a large number of high-tech companies headquartered in the city has given it the nickname "Silicon Valley" of China. Berhane Keleta, Director General of Ethio-ICT industrial park said Ethiopia has already been a beneficiary of IT services from companies like Huawei and ZTE, and invites more Shenzhen based companies to create alliance with local investors to create ICT partnership. Participants follow proceedings during the opening of Shenzhen Outbound Alliance (SOA) Africa branch office in Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, Nov. 21, 2017. (Xinhua/Michael Tewelde) The Ethiopian government is building an ICT park in Addis Ababa at a cost of 250 million US dollars aimed at boosting IT services with the aim to make the country a premier IT hub in Africa. Sehul Tirusew, Investment Attraction Advisor at Ethiopia Investment Commission (EIC), said it's critical to have business partnerships with foreign partners and the EIC is committed to insuring that Chinese investments are successful and thriving in Ethiopia. "We will do all we can to make sure that we assist," said Tirusew. Tirusew said Ethiopia has a demographic advantage for companies who want to hire a large labor force, adding Ethiopia has 54 million citizens considered to be an active workforce. Enditem Photo provided by Dalati & Nohra shows Saad al-Hariri after his resignation as Lebanese Prime Minister returning to Beirut, capital of Lebanon, on Nov. 21, 2017. Saad al-Hariri arrived in Beirut Tuesday evening after his sudden resignation in a televised statement he read from the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh on Nov. 4. (Xinhua) BEIRUT, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri said Wednesday that he is putting his resignation on hold after President Michel Aoun asked him to reconsider it pending consultations. Hariri said he discussed his resignation with the president, who asked him "to wait before submitting it and allow for more consultations." Hariri said so to reporters after a closed-door meeting at the Presidential Palace with Aoun and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. He also extended his appreciation for the president's affection. "I thank Aoun for the affection he had shown towards me, and also I express appreciation to all the Lebanese throughout the past period," he added. He also thanked Berri for "wise commitment to the constitution." Hariri's announcement came during national celebrations of Independence Day, hours after his return to Beirut following almost three weeks absence since his resignation on Nov. 4 from the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh. President Aoun had said he would not consider the resignation of Hariri until he hears from him in person. Hariri resigned in a televised statement he read from the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, saying he was protesting the meddling of Iran and its Lebanese ally, Hezbollah, in Arab affairs. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-23 00:33:43|Editor: yan Video Player Close ADDIS ABABA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Intergovernmental Authority on Development's (IGAD) council of ministers together with the IGAD Special Envoy to South Sudan on Wednesday called on the immediate realization of South Sudan's revitalization process. Noting the efforts made so far and the progresses achieved, Hirut Zemene, Ethiopian State Minister of Foreign Affairs, stressed that it is "very crucial to continue acting together and speaking with one voice for the realization of the revitalization process." "All South Sudanese political forces should silence the guns as soon as possible and they also should support the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (ARCSS) which will be revitalized through an inclusive consultation," Zemene said. Zemene also called on the international community to continue its support in the effort to implement the revitalized ARCSS and towards the reconstruction of South Sudan. Ismail Wais, IGAD's Special Envoy to South Sudan, in his report compiled on the activities undertaken since the IGAD Assembly of Heads of State and Governments on June 12, also called for the realization of the revitalization process. According to Wais, inclusive consultations with a big turnout of participants from different sectors including estranged groups and individuals was made in four cities; Addis Ababa, Pretoria, Khartoum, and Juba. James Pitia Morgan, Ambassador of South Sudan, also reaffirmed the commitment of the South Sudan's government in Juba toward the revitalization process. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-23 00:38:46|Editor: pengying Video Player Close Georgian security forces take part in a counter-terrorist operation in Tbilisi, Georgia, Nov. 22, 2017. Three suspects were killed and one captured as a result of a counter-terrorist operation by the Georgian security forces, said Georgia's State Security Service Wednesday. (Xinhua/Avtandil) TBILISI, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Three suspects were killed and one captured as a result of a counter-terrorist operation by the Georgian security forces, said Georgia's State Security Service Wednesday. "The special operation organized by Georgia's State Security Service has completed at Gabriel Salosi Street, Tbilisi. One member of the criminal group was arrested while the other three criminals were killed", said Nino Giorgobiani, head of the Service's press-office, at a news briefing in Tbilisi. One was killed and four injured among the Security forces during the operation, added the official. Giorgobiani said that none of the criminals was Georgians, but did not disclose more details of the alleged group. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-23 01:03:57|Editor: yan Video Player Close GABORONE, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Botswana has promised to continue supporting Zimbabweans' endeavors to rebuild the country's political and economic status. Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi, Botswanan Minister of International Affairs and Cooperation, said here on Wednesday that Botswana will hold up its support to Zimbabwe. The minister said Botswana will always be available to provide support for the Zimbabwean people's "new democratic journey of opportunity". Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's 37 years' rule came to an end on Tuesday with his resignation. Meanwhile Botswana has lifted a travel embargo on its citizens intending to travel to Zimbabwe. "Botswana wishes to inform citizens that it is lifting its advisory on travel to Zimbabwe issued a week ago," said the minister. Last week, Botswana issued a travel ban to citizens travelling to Zimbabwe following reports of a military takeover in that country. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-23 01:08:59|Editor: yan Video Player Close ABUJA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The situation of sanitation in Nigeria is alarming, as the West African nation ranks third among the countries of the world where people still practice open defecation, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said Wednesday. UNICEF's chief of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) in Nigeria Zaid Jurji said one-third of the country's population still practices open defecation. "It does not go well to know that open defecation is being practiced widely in various communities in a strong country like Nigeria. "So, we need to do something about that beyond the traditional approach to improve on the situation," Jurji said. The UNICEF official urged local leaders and other stakeholders to intensify efforts toward enlightening people on the dangers associated with the ugly trend. According to him, eradicating open defecation would also assist to improve sanitation, being one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He also noted that eradicating open defecation would assist to reduce diseases by about 50 percent. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-23 01:54:16|Editor: yan Video Player Close DAMASCUS, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday Syria welcomes the outcome of the trilateral talks on Syria's crisis solution in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, according to state news agency SANA. The final statement of the trilateral talks between the leaders of Russia, Iran, and Turkey comes in the context of the summit between President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Sochi two days ago, the Syrian ministry said. It said the support of Damascus signals the government keenness on supporting the political work to end the Syrian crisis. Putin, Turkish President Erdogan and Iran's President Rouhani, met Wednesday in the Russian city of Sochi to discuss the Syrian crisis. At the end of their meeting, a final statement was made, in which the three leaders supported a comprehensive dialogue in Syria. The joint statement stressed the three states' resolve to continue their cooperation to eliminate the Islamic State (IS) in Syria. The three countries also stressed on the ongoing coordination to reduce violence in Syria and provide help for the Syrians to restore the unity of the country. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-23 01:59:18|Editor: yan Video Player Close CHICAGO, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Former U.S.A. Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar pleaded guilty on Wednesday to multiple charges of sexual assault under the guise of medical treatment. Nassar, 54, made the admission for the first time in Ingham County Circuit Court, Michigan state, local media reported. Each of the counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct is punishable by 25 to 40 years in prison. Nassar worked as a team doctor for the Michigan State University Gymnastics and served as the U.S.A. Gymnastics physician through four Olympic Games. More than 100 victims of the disgraced doctor have reported sexual assaults to police, including several Olympic medalists from the team of American gymnasts. Many of the victims were teenagers when they were sexually abused by Nassar, with his hands, during medical treatments. Following the disclosure of the scandal, the former head of U.S.A. Gymnastics resigned and the organization adopted a series of measures this year in order to prevent future cases of abuse. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-23 01:59:20|Editor: yan Video Player Close NAIROBI, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan on Wednesday launched a 2.5 million U.S. dollar laboratory complex that will ensure international agricultural standards are attained as part of efforts to increase exports to the European markets. Deputy President William Ruto, who opened the laboratory complex constructed by Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate (KEPHIS) and the European Union, said the facility will also be used to test genetically modified (GMO) foods and relieve Kenyans of fears associated with them. "The factory will help the government to access the international rules for seed, fertilizer and water testing that promote trade between Kenya and EU among other countries," said Ruto. He said the facility will also ensure seeds, soils, fertilizers and water are tested before farmers use them as well as ensure healthy plants, safe trade and sustainable agro-environment for the development of the agricultural sector. Ruto said the government is putting more emphasis on the development of the agricultural sector, which remains the engine of economic growth, by coming up with initiatives aimed at adding value to farmers' produce. According to Ruto, the complex will ensure the country has good quality seeds, fertilizers and tested water and soils that will improve production for domestic and commercial purposes and thus results in higher exports to European markets and others across the world. "The value of the laboratory will be measured by what we achieve in exporting food products and access to markets outside the country for our tea, coffee, flowers and other farm produce," he said. Hubert Perr, EU Delegation Head of Development and Cooperation, said the government through KEPHIS has put in place measures to ensure high quality produce hits EU markets. Perr also promised to deepen ties with the organization to ensure more of its agricultural produce reaches markets. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-23 02:04:23|Editor: yan Video Player Close GENEVA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Many Swiss are uneasy about taking to the streets in driverless cars, but elderly people who do work on public transport express an interest in them, a Swiss study showed Wednesday. "Use of Automated Vehicles in Everyday Life -- Potential Applications and Effects in Switzerland" is the first study to examine the attitude of the population towards such futuristic means of mobility. A total of 653 households in French- and German-speaking Switzerland were questioned, the Swiss Telecommunication Association, which commissioned the study, said on Wednesday. Consultants EBP Switzerland carried out the study, saying that automated driving "introduces numerous opportunities for cities and cantons, including the more efficient use of available parking spaces, better use of road capacity." It also offers enhanced traffic control, platforms for combining various public and private transportation services and improved access to transportation networks and destinations. Automated cars (where the driver can intervene if necessary) enjoy wide acceptance among the Swiss public, the study found. However, only a quarter of respondents thought autonomous vehicles, or those that don't need a driver, made sense, although this figure is still an increase on previous years. Elderly people -- who would remain mobile -- could benefit most from autonomous cars, respondents said. However, almost seven out of ten people thought such cars would result in additional traffic and congestion, since the vehicles could for example drop a person off at a station and then return home empty. On the other hand, 56 percent of respondents thought automated cars could optimize traffic management and thus reduce jams. The authors said that that Switzerland could play a pioneering role in the management of automated vehicles and public transportation. Switzerland already has experience of driverless vehicles. In October, the Swiss city of Sion said it planned to expand its pioneering autonomous bus service, doubling the length of its route to the train station and extending the offer to the end of 2018. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-23 02:19:28|Editor: yan Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- A UN official on the prevention of genocide has welcomed the conviction of Ratko Mladic, a former Bosnian Serb military commander, for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Mladic was found guilty of the crimes and was sentenced to life imprisonment by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague on Wednesday. Adama Dieng, the UN secretary-general's special adviser on the prevention of genocide, expressed satisfaction at the verdict against Mladic for his role in the 1992-1995 Bosnian War. "Today is a historic day. The verdict by the ICTY against Ratko Mladic sends a clear message that there is no space for impunity and that justice will prevail," Dieng said in a statement. Dieng paid homage to the victims of the crimes committed by Mladic, honored their courage and perseverance in the pursuit of justice and expressed solidarity with them. "This verdict renders justice to those who suffered as a result of the atrocity crimes committed by Mr. Mladic. Nothing can erase the horrors of the past, but they can now have the comfort of knowing that Mr. Mladic will face punishment appropriate to the crimes he committed. This verdict provides victims with some measure of redress so that they can move forward with their lives." Dieng stressed that criminal accountability is not only about the past but is also about the future. "Accountability constitutes a critical component of prevention and also an important step on the path to reconciliation. ... I hope that this verdict, as well as past decisions by the ICTY, will encourage the region to think about what happened, learn the lessons of the past and chart a future that fully acknowledges those lessons." The verdict against Mladic means the conclusion of the work of the ICTY after issuing 161 indictments. Ghassan Salame (C), special representative to the Secretary General of the United Nations for Libya, gives a press conference in the Tunisian capital Tunis on October 1, 2017, accompanied by Abdessalam Nasiya (L), chairman of the Libyan parliamentary dialogue committee, and Musa Faraj (R), chairman of the government dialogue committee. (AFP Photo) TRIPOLI, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Libyan army officers have reached an agreement for the future head of state to be the supreme commander of the armed forces, Libyan eastern-based army spokesmanon said Wednesday. Ahmad Mismari told a news conference in Benghazi on Wednesday that army officers gathered in Cairo, have unanimously agreed that the country's future head of state is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, confirming that the agreement was "a result of previous dialogue meetings of army officers." Mismari also revealed that a meeting between army officers will be held in Cairo, without specifying the date of the meeting. "The Libyan people suffer from the state's destroyed institutions. We say to the people that the military institution will unite for the benefit of the country, and that no party should be held responsible for failure due to interference of the army in the political dialogue," Mismari said. The announcement came following adoption of UN-proposed amendment of the Libya political agreement by the eastern-based Parliament on Tuesday. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-23 02:24:30|Editor: yan Video Player Close NAIROBI, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Some years ago, Kenyans seeking bargains for various merchandise that include mobile phones, shoes and clothes would walk from one shop to another. In the capital Nairobi, citizens would look for the items in shops on River Road and Tom Mboya Streets, which are famed for good prices. Others would travel to Eastleigh, a suburb on the outskirts of Nairobi inhabited by mainly Somalis. But that is in the past, today all the citizens have to do is visit online shops, a majority of which are currently offering 'crazy deals' ahead of Christmas, luring thousands. The online shops which are currently being flocked by thousands of Kenyans include Kilimall, owned by the Chinese, and Jumia. The two are the most popular in the East African nation and are recording a huge traffic, thanks to their Black Friday offers. A lot is up for grabs, from handbags to jewellery, dresses, shoes, mobile phones, baby diapers, computers, fridges, TVs and watches. And the prices have been dropped considerably during the promotion, whetting Kenyans appetite for shopping. Men's shirt, for instance, on one of the sites is going for 9 U.S. dollars down from 29 dollars while watches go for 15 dollars, down from 25. Prices of mobile phones, fridges and computers have been reduced by between 2 dollars and 50 dollars, offering consumers best deals. Black Friday is regarded as the first day of the Christmas shopping season, on which retailers make many special offers. While in many countries Black Friday promotion is only a day, in Kenya the online shops have sweetened the deals for consumers by offering 30 days of shopping. "I have become such an addict of online shopping that I no longer go out to buy. Most of my things currently I am now buying from the virtual shops, from lipstick to clothes and shoes," Mary Ambani, a communication officer with a local firm, said Wednesday. Ambani has taken advantage of the ongoing Black Friday promotion to buy a fridge, a number of dresses, shoes and a mobile phone. "I looked at the prices of the goods online and checked in the shops and did not even think twice. I saved 40 dollars on the fridge I bought from the online shop and they delivered. Why can't I be happy?" she said. Victor Mwangi, a marketer in Nairobi, termed the online shops as the best thing to have happened to the Kenyan consumer market after the malls. "I have embraced the online malls fully, switching from the physical malls. I buy online everything I need save for food because it is not offered. The latest thing I bought on Wednesday is a phone charger, which they dropped at the office," said Mwangi. Jumia Kenya Managing Director Sam Chappatte last week said that their Black Friday promotion, which started on Nov. 13, had attracted more than 3 million customers in about two weeks, logged to secure deals. The growing e-commerce trade in the East African nation is luring several players to join the market, with the latest being leading telecom Safaricom. Safaricom on Tuesday launched its e-commerce platform named "Masoko" as it seeks to offer its customers online shopping experience. The platform is modelled after retail e-commerce giants Alibaba (Chinese) and Amazon (US), and is offering more than 20,000 items from 160 vendors. "We view this as part of our ongoing initiatives to drive value for our customers. Masoko will form part of the 320 million dollars we are investing on our platform this financial year," said Safaricom Director-Strategy, Joe Ogutu. "Several things are boosting e-commerce on the online malls among them great bargains, booming mobile money use, convenience, free delivery especially in Nairobi and the concept of pay upon receiving goods," said Bernard Mwaso, a consultant with Edell IT Solution. He noted that trust in e-commerce was low when pioneers insisted on paying first before receiving goods, but this changed. Kenya has some 40 million mobile phone subscribers, about 30 million of whom are using mobile money, according to the Communication Authority of Kenya. The surging numbers point to better times for e-commerce ahead. However, as e-commerce booms, Gibert Wandera, a computer dealer in Nairobi said that the online shops have disrupted their businesses. "The shops are offering lower prices for laptops that they are denying me market. I am hoping that another Black Friday would not come soon," said Wandera. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-23 02:24:31|Editor: Mengjie Video Player Close A doctor from the Chinese naval hospital ship Peace Ark examines a child at the Kurasini Children's Home in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Nov. 21, 2017. A team of Chinese doctors from the Chinese naval hospital ship Peace Ark on Tuesday visited the Kurasini Children's Home (KCH), a government-owned center established in 1968 to look after abandoned, lost and abused children, where they provided free medical care and donated school bags and toys. (Xinhua/Li Sibo) DAR ES SALAAM, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- On a cloudy Tuesday Afternoon, Susan Emmanuel Mahaligewi, a mother of four children, walked out of the Chinese naval hospital ship Peace Ark wearing a broad smile. "I have undergone free medical check-up conducted by Chinese doctors in the ship and they have told me I have a clean bill of health," said 37-year-old Mahaligewi after disembarking the ship with a length of 178 meters, a beam of 24 meters and a height of 35.5 meters. "For quite some time I have been through nightmares thinking I was a victim of breast cancer since I started feeling pains in one of my breasts in April this year," she told Xinhua in an interview. Chinese naval hospital ship Peace Ark arrived on Sunday morning in Tanzania's commercial capital Dar es Salaam, starting an eight-day humanitarian mission of providing free medical services to local residents. Since arrival of the ship, crowds of Tanzanians have swarmed to the Dar es Salaam port and sign up for medical check-ups. "The visit by the Chinese doctors to provide free medical care is a blessing to me. I have been seeking treatment in various hospitals since April without getting proper diagnosis," said Mahaligewi. Apart from getting free medical check-ups, Mahaligewi was also given medicines without being charged. Mahaligewi was among more than 6,000 Tanzanians who have lined up for treatment by the visiting Chinese doctors. On the same day, a team of about 11 Chinese doctors from the ship visited the Kurasini Children's Home (KCH), a government-owned center established in 1968 to look after abandoned, lost and abused children, where they provided free medical care and donated school bags and toys. The children wore faces of joy on seeing their Chinese visitors, who also entertained them with Chinese martial arts. More than 40 of the home's 75 children underwent free medical check-ups and were given free medicines. Aurelia Michael, a nursing officer at the KCH, told Xinhua that a good number of the children were suffering from malaria, skin diseases, HIV/AIDS, pneumonia and diarrhea. The nurse thanked the Chinese doctors for their kindness in extending a helping hand to the poor children staying at the home, which is running out of medicines and depends on donations to survive. "We are very grateful for the visit by the Chinese doctors. Your visit shows how much you love us," said Beatrice Lawrence Mgumio, KCH officer in charge. The arrival of the Peace Ark, its second visit to the East African country in seven years, was received with much joy. At the welcome ceremony held at the Dar es Salaam port, Task Group Commander of Peace Ark Guan Bailin said the crew will carry out free medical services, humanitarian assistance and medical training to promote friendly relations and deepen professional exchanges between China and Tanzania. Tanzania Navy Commander Richard Mutayoba Makanzo thanked China for sending the Peace Ark to Tanzania again. In 2010-2015, the Peace Ark visited 29 countries and regions in Asia, Africa, the Americas and Oceania. A total 120,000 people received free on-board medical and humanitarian services. The current tour has taken the ship to Djibouti, Gabon, Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola and Mozambique in Africa, prior to Tanzania. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-23 02:29:32|Editor: yan Video Player Close AMMAN, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- King Abdullah II of Jordan on Wednesday called for more efforts to preserve the interests of the Arab nation, the state-run Petra news agency reported. King Abdullah made the remarks at a meeting with Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit, stressing Jordan's keenness on increasing efforts to enhance joint Arab action to serve the causes of the Arabs. Discussions also focused on efforts to revive the peace talks through launching effective and serious peace talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis on the basis of the two-state solution and the 2002 Arab peace initiative that offers Israel normal ties with the Arabs in return for withdrawal from territories it occupied in 1967. The king stressed on the need to coordinate stances to serve the interests of the Arabs and attain Mideast peace, highlighting the key role played by the Arab League in this regard. They also looked into efforts to combat terrorism and the need for a holistic strategy in this regard. Also Wednesday, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi met with the Arab League official and discussed developments in the Middle East including the situation in Syria, Libya and Yemen. The Arab League official underlined the key role played by Jordan in addressing various issues in the region. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-23 02:29:33|Editor: yan Video Player Close CAIRO, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry rejected on Wednesday the statements of his Sudanese counterpart that Egypt used some of Sudan's Nile water quota for many years. In statements published by Egypt's official MENA news agency, Shoukry said that Sudan's annual Nile water quota had been, for some time in the past, far more than its capacity, thus any surplus would normally flow to Egypt through the river. Sudan's Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour said during a recent interview with Russia Today that Egypt had used some of Sudan's water quota for many years. Meanwhile, Shoukry wondered how Sudan could have possibly stopped the normal flow of water when it was totally out of its hands. This "unexpected" surplus had been "a burden on and a threat to" the Aswan High Dam in Egypt, which could not store extra amounts of water especially in times of floods, said Shoukry, adding that Egypt had to vainly discharge this part of Sudan's unused water to the Toshka Lakes behind the dam. Shoukry said he was surprised that Ghandour would put it as a "creditor-and-debtor" relationship, which is impossible where natural resources are concerned. The Egyptian FM questioned the reasons and motives behind such "inaccurate" statements in this time. The Sudanese minister's statements came days after Egypt's negotiations with Ethiopia and Sudan failed to approve an initial study on the effects of the Ethiopian Grand Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the downstream states. The irrigation ministers of Ethiopia and Sudan did not approve the consultant company's introductory report of the studies despite Egypt's initial approval, while asking for amendments that would affect the studies and make the report contentless. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn are scheduled to meet in Cairo next month to discuss the deadlock. Egypt is worried about its annual share of 55.5 billion cubic meters of the Nile River water amid the GERD's rapid construction. Egypt's ties with Ethiopia have seen ups and downs since the latter started the dam project since April 2011 as Egypt has been suffering from turmoil following an uprising that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak. When President Sisi took office in 2014, he showed understanding of Ethiopia's aspiration for development through the GERD that would produce around 6,000 megawatts of electricity to the country. In March 2015, the leaders of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan signed an initial cooperation deal on the principles of sharing the Nile River water and the construction of the GERD, which will be Africa's largest dam upon completion. Earlier in 2010, an agreement was signed among some Nile Basin states in Uganda's Entebbe about the sharing of the Nile River water, but it was rejected by Egypt and its downstream partner Sudan, citing the deal affects their usual annual share of the Nile water. On the other hand, relations between Egypt and Sudan have been tense over the past years on various issues. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-23 02:34:39|Editor: yan Video Player Close RIYADH, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Syrian opposition parties started Wednesday a meeting in Riyadh to unify position ahead of peace talks backed by the United Nations to end the country's six-year civil war, Al Arabiya local news reported. The opposition meeting is set to last until Friday when a joint statement is expected. Several rounds of UN talks in Geneva between the Damascus government and the opposition have made little progress since the Syria conflict erupted in 2011. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told representatives of the Syrian opposition meeting that the only solution to the crisis in Syria was through a consensus that would achieve the demands of the Syrian people. UN peace talks mediator Staffan de Mistura urged the opposition figures gathered for the conference in Riyadh to have the "hard discussions" necessary to reach a "common line." "A strong unified team is a creative partner in Geneva and we need that, one who can actually explore more than one way to arrive to the goals that we need to have," he said in opening remarks. The summit, which Saudi Arabia called "expanded," was opened to more than 140 opposition figures from the Turkey-based coalition and mainstream Free Syrian Army factions as well as independents including about a dozen women. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-23 03:04:48|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close Zimbabwe's incoming president Emmerson Mnangagwa (L, center) makes a public address at ZANU-PF headquarters in Harare, capital of Zimbabwe, on Nov. 22, 2017. Zimbabwe's incoming president Emmerson Mnangagwa arrived at ZANU-PF headquarters on Wednesday as he made his first public appearance after he was back into the country. (Xinhua/Chen Yaqin) HARARE, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe's incoming president Emmerson Mnangagwa on Wednesday thanked Zimbabweans and the military for their support. In his first public address to supporters upon his return to Zimbabwe from exile, Mnangagwa said he was humbled by the outpouring of support after he was sacked by former president Robert Mugabe two weeks ago. He immediately pledged to serve the people, saying all Zimbabweans need to unite and grow the economy for employment creation. "We want peace in our country, we want jobs for our people," he said. Mnangagwa, due for swearing in on Friday, said Zimbabwe needs the support of the international community in order to rebuild its battered economy. He said he had already begun to receive pledges of support from several foreign countries. Zimbabwe, he said, was witnessing the founding of new democracy after the military helped to depose long-serving former president Mugabe from power. He also praised the military for the peaceful manner in which it handled its operation that culminated in Mugabe resigning Tuesday, ending 37 years of his grip on power. He said he had survived many attempts on his life by Mugabe's administration, including his poisoning in August while at a ZANU-PF rally. "Exactly 16 days ago, I received a letter firing me from the government of Zimbabwe as Vice President. Within two hours I was informed about plans to eliminate me. Realizing that on the 12 of August this year I was subjected to poisoning which resulted in my being airflifted to South Africa and again I thank you Zimbabweans for your prayers. I survived that poisoning," Mnangagwa told hundreds of cheering supporters at the ZANU-PF headquarters in the capital. He also thanked the Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda for resisting pressure from some quarters that wanted to derail the process of ousting Mugabe from power. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-23 03:40:01|Editor: yan Video Player Close TRIPOLI, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Libya's Higher Council of State on Wednesday rejected amendment formula of the Libyan political agreement, and discussed possibility of holding early elections. "The Higher Council of State denies agreement with the House of Representatives on this formula during the Tunis negotiations. We confirm that the council is not concerned with the voting of the House of Representatives," the council said in a statement. It added that it commits to "the provisions of Article 12 of the Additional Provisions, which oblige the UN mission to agreement of both the Higher Council of State and the House of Representatives on the amendment formula." "The council discussed a proposal to hold early elections within six months under the supervision of a miniature caretaker government of technocrats to be formed to supervise the elections," the statement added. Libyan eastern-based House of Representatives on Tuesday adopted a UN-proposed formula for amendment of the Libyan political agreement. The amendment is a part of an action plan proposed by Ghassan Salame, special representative to the Secretary General of the United Nations for Libya, in September that aims to end the state of political division. Egypt on Wednesday rejects Sudan's accusation that Egypt used some of Sudan's Nile water quota for many year. (AFP Photo) CAIRO, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry rejected on Wednesday the statements of his Sudanese counterpart that Egypt used some of Sudan's Nile water quota for many years. In statements published by Egypt's official MENA news agency, Shoukry said that Sudan's annual Nile water quota had been, for some time in the past, far more than its capacity, thus any surplus would normally flow to Egypt through the river. Sudan's Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour said during a recent interview with Russia Today that Egypt had used some of Sudan's water quota for many years. Meanwhile, Shoukry wondered how Sudan could have possibly stopped the normal flow of water when it was totally out of its hands. This "unexpected" surplus had been "a burden on and a threat to" the Aswan High Dam in Egypt, which could not store extra amounts of water especially in times of floods, said Shoukry, adding that Egypt had to vainly discharge this part of Sudan's unused water to the Toshka Lakes behind the dam. Shoukry said he was surprised that Ghandour would put it as a "creditor-and-debtor" relationship, which is impossible where natural resources are concerned. The Egyptian FM questioned the reasons and motives behind such "inaccurate" statements in this time. The Sudanese minister's statements came days after Egypt's negotiations with Ethiopia and Sudan failed to approve an initial study on the effects of the Ethiopian Grand Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the downstream states. The irrigation ministers of Ethiopia and Sudan did not approve the consultant company's introductory report of the studies despite Egypt's initial approval, while asking for amendments that would affect the studies and make the report contentless. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn are scheduled to meet in Cairo next month to discuss the deadlock. Egypt is worried about its annual share of 55.5 billion cubic meters of the Nile River water amid the GERD's rapid construction. Egypt's ties with Ethiopia have seen ups and downs since the latter started the dam project since April 2011 as Egypt has been suffering from turmoil following an uprising that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak. When President Sisi took office in 2014, he showed understanding of Ethiopia's aspiration for development through the GERD that would produce around 6,000 megawatts of electricity to the country. In March 2015, the leaders of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan signed an initial cooperation deal on the principles of sharing the Nile River water and the construction of the GERD, which will be Africa's largest dam upon completion. Earlier in 2010, an agreement was signed among some Nile Basin states in Uganda's Entebbe about the sharing of the Nile River water, but it was rejected by Egypt and its downstream partner Sudan, citing the deal affects their usual annual share of the Nile water. On the other hand, relations between Egypt and Sudan have been tense over the past years on various issues. Russia's President Vladimir Putin speaks during a joint news conference with his counterparts Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, and Hassan Rouhani of Iran in Sochi, Russia, November 22, 2017. (REUTERS PHOTO) MOSCOW, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that the breakdown of Syria has been prevented, and that a new stage has been reached for the possible transition to a political settlement in the war-torn country. He made the remarks while the leaders of Russia, Iran, Turkey held a trilateral summit in the Russian city Sochi, discussing the current situation in Syria and further joint steps to restore peace and security in the country. "Large-scale military operations against terrorist gangs in Syria are coming to an end. I should note that thanks to the efforts of Russia, Iran and Turkey, it was possible to prevent the disintegration of Syria and conquest by international terrorists, as well as to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe," Putin said at the summit. According to Putin, the regime of the cessation of hostilities is observed in Syria, four de-escalation zones are functioning in key regions of the country and hundreds of thousands of refugees have begun returning to their hometown. "It can be stated with certainty that we have reached a new stage that opens the door to a real political settlement process," he said. Underlining that the political settlement must be formalized within the framework of the Geneva process, Putin suggested developing a long-term "comprehensive system for the revival of Syria." He said the success of the forthcoming reforms largely depends on the solution of the social and economic problems of Syria, as well as the restoration of industry, agriculture, infrastructure, health and education systems. In particular, the president highlighted the importance of speeding up the implementation of the Syrian National Dialogue Congress and proposed to discuss the parameters of the forum with the other two heads of state. "It is obvious that the process of reform will be difficult, will require compromises and concessions from all its participants, including the Syrian government. I hope Russia, Iran and Turkey together will make the most active efforts to make this work as productive as possible," he said. The Syrian National Dialogue Congress, proposed by Moscow in late October at Astana talks in Kazakhstan for Syrian settlement, is expected to bring together opposition and pro-government forces, as well as representatives of all Syrian ethnic and religious groups to work for the peace process in the country. On Tuesday, first deputy chairman of the Russian Federation Council's Defense and Security committee Frants Klintsevich said that the fight against Islamic State terrorist group in Syria will possibly be over by the end of the year and Russia may be able to withdraw its air forces. The Syrian armed conflict broke out in 2011 and Russia started to participate in the anti-terrorist operations in Syria in September 2015. Palestinian factions agreed in Cairo Wednesday to hold the general elections by the end of 2018. (AFP Photo) CAIRO/GAZA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of Palestinian factions and political powers who were convening in Cairo for two days agreed Wednesday to hold the general Palestinian elections by the end of 2018. They wrapped up Wednesday evening a broader dialogue. Hamas movement and President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party and other factions stressed the necessity to fully implement the Egyptian-brokered reconciliation reached in October between Fatah and Hamas movements. A statement issued at the end of the two-day dialogue said the factions call on the Central Election Commission and all other concerned parties to complete all their preparations for the holding of the presidential and legislative elections and the National Council maximum by the end of 2018. The statement called on President Abbas to set a date for holding the elections after consultation with all other national and political powers and factions. It stressed the need "for the faithful and accurate implementation of all the agreement's provisions in order to carry out the full responsibilities and duties of the consensus government." "The participants stressed the necessity of speeding up the steps of developing and activating the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in accordance with the Cairo Declaration," said the statement. The last parliamentary election was held in the Palestinian territories in 2006 when Hamas movement defeated Fatah party of Abbas who was elected president in 2005. A year later, Hamas militants routed forces loyal to Abbas in Gaza and seized the seaside enclave. The takeover led to rival governments, with Hamas controlling Gaza and Abbas in charge of autonomous enclaves in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The statement also called on the legislative council, the parliament of the Palestinian (National) Authority to implement what has been agreed upon activating the legislative council and resuming its normal activities. The factions stressed on the support of the steps of President Abbas to join the international institutions and conventions to follow up the crimes of Israel in the International Criminal Court. On the peace process with Israel, the Palestinian factions refused any peace settlement deals that are based on temporary borders, declining to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. "The participants also appealed to the Arab and Islamic countries and their institutions to support the struggle of our people and abide by their financial commitments in accordance with the decisions of the reconstruction conference held in Cairo in 2011," said the statement. The statement called on all factions and media institutions to immediately stop the exchange of accusations and media interference and to instill in the spirit of hope and optimism of national unity and strengthening it. The meeting agreed to convene again at the beginning of next February "to complete the status of the practical steps and mechanisms to complete all the files in all the above, in coordination with the Egyptian leadership." Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-23 05:10:28|Editor: Mengjie Video Player Close Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko (2nd R) meets with delegates from a Chinese consortium in Kiev, Ukraine, Nov. 22, 2017. A consortium of two Chinese companies on Wednesday signed a cooperation agreement with the city of Kiev on building a fourth metro line in the Ukrainian capital. Under the cooperation agreement, the Chinese consortium will build a metro line with a length of about 20 kilometers linking Kiev residential district of Troyeschyna with the central business district. (Xinhua/Chen Junfeng) KIEV, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- A consortium of two Chinese companies on Wednesday signed a cooperation agreement with the city of Kiev on building a fourth metro line in the Ukrainian capital. Under the cooperation agreement, the Chinese consortium will build a metro line with a length of about 20 kilometers linking Kiev residential district of Troyeschyna with the central business district. Consisting of 13 stations, the line is set to reduce the traffic jam in Kiev and ease the movement for about 500,000 Troyeschyna residents or 17 percent of the city population. The deal was inked by Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko, vice board chairman of the China Pacific Construction Group Guo Qing and deputy head of China Railway International Group Song Guangsen during a ceremony in Kiev City State Administration. The agreement followed a Memorandum of Understanding signed by the two sides in May during the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing. Addressing the signing ceremony, Klitschko hailed the international experience of the Chinese companies in railway and tunnels construction, expressing the hope for the successful implementation of the subway line project in Ukraine. "We have an understanding and a common desire to work. I am confident that there will be a result, there will be a success, and this project will be implemented," Klitschko said. Meanwhile, Guo said the Chinese consortium is pleased to carry out the project, which will improve the lives of Kiev residents and further promote China's Belt and Road Initiative in Europe. "Our two companies turn their attention to Europe and start building projects in Europe in line with the Belt and Road Initiative," Guo said. Worth about 2 billion U.S. dollars, the project on building a metro line in Kiev is expected to start at the end of 2018 and finish within four years. The Kiev administration will provide 15 percent of the funds for the project. The city hopes to attract the rest of the sum as a loan from Chinese financial institutions under the Ukrainian government guarantees. Kiev currently has three subway lines with a total length of 69.6 kilometers, which provide services for about 1.32 million passengers per day. Palestinian factions reject Israel as a Jewish state in Cairo reconciliation meeingon Wednesday. (AFP Photo) CAIRO/GAZA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of Palestinian factions and political powers agreed Wednesday to hold the general Palestinian elections by the end of 2018 and rejected Israel as a Jewish state. On the peace process with Israel, the Palestinian factions refused any peace settlement deals that are based on temporary borders, declining to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. "The participants also appealed to the Arab and Islamic countries and their institutions to support the struggle of our people and abide by their financial commitments in accordance with the decisions of the reconstruction conference held in Cairo in 2011," said the statement. The statement called on all factions and media institutions to immediately stop the exchange of accusations and media interference and to instill in the spirit of hope and optimism of national unity and strengthening it. The meeting agreed to convene again at the beginning of next February "to complete the status of the practical steps and mechanisms to complete all the files in all the above, in coordination with the Egyptian leadership." Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-23 05:15:31|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close A man casts his ballot at a polling station in Algiers, Algeria, on Nov. 23, 2017. Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika on Wednesday called upon his people to vote massively at the local elections due on Nov. 23, to choose their representatives at municipal and prefect assemblies. (Xinhua) ALGIERS, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika on Wednesday called upon his people to vote massively at the local elections due on Nov. 23, to choose their representatives at municipal and prefect assemblies. Bouteflika chaired a Council of Ministers, as he hailed the role of Thursday's elections in terms of "rising up the efficiency of public service sector, given that municipal and prefect assemblies are the main tool for developing public resources for the benefit of citizens." Some 23 million Algerians are eligible to vote, according to recent figures of the Interior Ministry. The figures show that nearly 165,000 candidates, representing 50 political parties, four alliances and independent lists, are running to be represented at the 1,541 municipal assemblies. Some 18 percent of candidates are women, while 51 percent of them are under the age of 40. More than 16,000 candidates are competing to grab seats at the existing 48 prefect assemblies, 28 percent of whom are women. As many as 12,457 polling centres and 55,866 polling stations are established for Thursday's polls, the Interior Ministry said. Army troops are due to be deployed inside the poll centers to ensure that the elections take place in good conditions. 180,000 police officers are also mobilized to secure the polls, while the National Gendarmerie said its elements are due to be present at 7,722 voting centers, nationwide. Candidates has campaigned for three weeks, as Head of the Independent High Commission for Election Monitoring Abdelouahab Darbal said the campaign was conducted in calm and acceptable conditions. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-23 05:35:41|Editor: yan Video Player Close COPENHAGEN, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Denmark's opposition Social Democrats party has made big gains in Tuesday's local elections, official data showed on Wednesday. With all votes counted, the Social Democrats party headed by Mette Frederiksen gained 32.5 percent of votes, up three percentage points from the 29.5 percent in the 2013 elections, while the ruling Liberal Party's support rate declined from 26.6 percent to 24.1 percent. Meanwhile, the four biggest Danish cities' administration still remains under the control of Social Democrats. Frank Jensen from Social Democrats succeeded in re-election for the mayor of Copenhagen, the capital of the country. Copenhagen has only had a social democrat mayor since the position was created in 1938. The five regional councils election around Denmark was also held on Tuesday. Welfare and healthcare are the main focuses of regional councils. Social Democrats grasped four out of five regional council chairman posts, while the Liberal Party gained only one. The voter turnout was 70.8 percent, slightly lower than the record high of 71.9 percent in 2013. On Tuesday, Danes went to 1,387 polling stations across the country to elect representatives of local parliaments and city councils. More than 11,000 candidates contested 2,432 seats in 98 municipal councils and 205 seats in five regional councils through two elections on the same day. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-23 05:35:43|Editor: yan Video Player Close DAMASCUS, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said Wednesday that the visit of President Bashar al-Assad to Russia signals Russia's support to Syria. Mekdad made the remarks during an interview with the state-run Syrian TV, a day after the official SANA news agency declared the surprising visit of Assad to the Russian city of Sochi, where he met with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. "The visit of President Assad to Russia and his meeting with President Putin and top military commanders was one of the most important visits and it's a message that Russia stands by Syria and consults with it," Mekdad said. Further hailing the Russian role, Mekdad said "Syria's allies will not accept any encroachment upon the sovereignty of Syria and we in Syria fought the war that was imposed on us out of dignity." The remarks of Mekdad came hours after Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, met Wednesday in the Russian city of Sochi to discuss the Syrian crisis. At the end of their meeting, a final statement was made, in which the three leaders supported a comprehensive dialogue in Syria. The joint statement stressed the three states' resolve to continue their cooperation to eliminate the Islamic State (IS) in Syria. The three countries also stressed on the ongoing coordination to reduce violence in Syria and provide help for the Syrians to restore the unity of the country. Syria's Foreign Ministry later welcomed the outcome of the trilateral talks between the three powers. In a statement, the ministry said the final statement of the trilateral talks came in the context of the summit between Assad and Putin. Meanwhile, Mekdad apparently made clear some points his government is clenching on for the next phase in Syria, mainly the elections. He said that the Syrian administration will not accept to discuss its constitution except with constitutional mechanisms adopted in the current Syrian constitution. "The elections in Syria run according to a constitutional mechanism and ballot boxes," he said. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-23 06:00:50|Editor: yan Video Player Close HOUSTON, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Greater Houston area, Texas is the second in the United States for housing in 2017, the Houston Public Media reported Wednesday. Through the third quarter of 2017 the Greater Houston saw the production of almost 28,000 new homes during the previous 12 months. That's 13 percent behind Dallas, about 400 km north Houston. The Houston Public Media quoted Lawrence Dean, regional director of Metrostudy, a national housing and research firm, as reporting that the changes in building codes constitute a major factor in the small percentage of new construction effected by the Hurricane Harvey. While Houston's ever-growing population certainly helps, Dean credits two factors for the growth in new homes. Retirees downsizing, and those in their twenties and thirties entering the market. He predicted that the new housing market could be affected by Harvey victims who are seeking to purchase new homes by early 2018. Harvey blew ashore on Aug. 25 as the most powerful hurricane to hit Texas in more than 50 years, displacing more than 1 million and damaging some 200,000 houses in a path of destruction that stretches for more than 480 km. The Houston area was hit by severe flooding, after receiving heavy rain. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-23 06:05:52|Editor: yan Video Player Close ABUJA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from a suicide attack inside a local mosque in the northeastern Nigeria town of Mubi on Tuesday has risen to 58, a senior health official said on Wednesday. Ezra Sakawa, principal medical director of Mubi General Hospital, told reporters that the hospital received 48 victims, eight of whom died while receiving treatment. Local police put the death toll at 50 on Tuesday, saying the dawn attack was perpetrated by an unidentified teenage boy who set off the suicide vest he wore to the mosque in a suburban town of Mubi in the northern state of Adamawa. The teenage attacker detonated the bomb immediately after the prayers inside the local mosque. Nigerian leader Muhammadu Buhari condemned the suicide bombing, describing it as "very cruel and dastardly." No group has so far claimed responsibility for the suicide blast, but terror group Boko Haram is being suspected to have carried out the attack. In October 2014, Mubi was captured and under the control of Boko Haram. Less than a month later, government forces conquered Boko Haram in the town and recaptured the town from them. The attack early Tuesday was the first in the town since it was recaptured from Boko Haram three years ago. Boko Haram has been blamed for the death of more than 20,000 people and displacement of 2.3 million others in Nigeria since 2009. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-23 06:10:54|Editor: yan Video Player Close CHICAGO, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- World's largest fast food chain McDonald's has announced to demolish its Store No. 1 Museum at suburban area of Chicago, which is a replica of its first restaurant. The restaurant in Des Plaines of Illinois state opened in 1955 by Ray Kroc, who is considered by the corporation to be the hamburger chain's founder, and it was torn down in 1984, the same year Kroc died. Kroc franchised the brand from the original owners, Richard and Maurice McDonald. The museum, opened in 1985 with the original restaurant's sign out front, was once popular with tourists. However, tourist numbers have declined due to repeated flooding of the site since 2008, which led the museum to close off interior access in that year. "The re-created restaurant... has not regularly welcomed visitors since closing to the public 10 years ago," McDonald's said in a statement. "This combined with the building's location and feasibility to reopen and maintain it led us to this decision." McDonald's plans to tear down the museum next month and donate the land to the City of Des Plaines. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-23 06:10:55|Editor: yan Video Player Close ANKARA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- A total of 8,570 Gulen-linked personnel have been dismissed from the Turkish military since last year's defeated coup attempt, Turkey's Defense Minister said on Wednesday. They include 150 generals, 4,630 army officers, 2,168 sergeants, 1,211 specialized sergeants and 411 civil servants, Nurettin Canikli said in a meeting of the parliament. Fethullah Gulen, the U.S.-based preacher, is accused by Ankara of orchestrating a failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016, which left at least 250 people killed and over 2,000 people injured. The Turkish government declared a state of emergency and launched a massive crackdown on Gulen's supporters in the aftermath of the coup attempt. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-23 06:10:56|Editor: yan Video Player Close ALGIERS, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Algeria announced on Wednesday deal with China's CITIC to finalize the remaining 84 km eastern section of the east-west highway near the Tunisian border, reported APS news agency. Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika approved the contract between the Algerian Motorways Agency (AAA) and the Chinese construction firm of CITIC, the source said. A statement of the Council of Ministers specified that Bouteflika instructed the government to finish the mega project as soon as possible. In October of 2014, the Algerian government cancelled the contract with the Japanese public work consortium Cojaal over delay in the completion of a 84 km section part of the east-west motorway. By then, the government said the completion works would be assigned to other companies, noting that works would be done at lower cost than that proposed by Cojaal. In 2006, Cojaal, a group of Japanese companies, snatched a 5 billion U.S. dollars worth contract to establish 359 km section part of the east-west highway, from the eastern province of Bourdj Bou Arreridj to the Tunisian border, within a 40 months term. However, the Japanese group required additional payments to complete the project but the government rejected. Algerian highway authorities have issued two formal warnings to Cojaal about the growing delays plaguing the project. In response, the Japanese consortium decided to take a legal action against the Algerian government at an international arbitration court. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-23 06:20:58|Editor: yan Video Player Close COPENHAGEN, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Denmark's opposition Social Democrats party has made big gains in Tuesday's local elections, official data showed on Wednesday. With all votes counted, the Social Democrats party headed by Mette Frederiksen gained 32.5 percent of votes, up three percentage points from the 29.5 percent in the 2013 elections, while the ruling Liberal Party saw support rate declining from 26.6 percent to 24.1 percent. Meanwhile, the four biggest Danish cities' administration still remains under the control of Social Democrats. Frank Jensen from Social Democrats succeeded in re-election for the mayor of Copenhagen, the capital of the country. Copenhagen has only had a social democrat mayor since the position was created in 1938. The five regional councils election around Denmark was also held on Tuesday. Welfare and healthcare are the main focuses of regional councils. Social Democrats grasped four out of five regional council chairman posts, while the Liberal Party gained only one. Despite the election defeat, Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen said on Tuesday night that he was satisfied with the result. "Everything suggests that we have had a sound election. Looking at the percentages we are at pretty much the same level as we had last time, where we got around a quarter of the votes," said Rasmussen. The voter turnout was 70.8 percent, slightly lower than the record high of 71.9 percent in 2013. On Tuesday, Danes went to 1,387 polling stations across the country to elect representatives of local parliaments and city councils. More than 11,000 candidates contested 2,432 seats in 98 municipal councils and 205 seats in five regional councils through two elections on the same day. Passengers without their pants wait on a underground platform during the "No Pants Subway Ride" in Kiev January 12, 2014. (REUTERS PHOTO) KIEV, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- A consortium of two Chinese companies on Wednesday signed a cooperation agreement with the city of Kiev on building a fourth metro line in the Ukrainian capital. Under the cooperation agreement, the Chinese consortium will build a metro line with a length of about 20 kilometers linking Kiev residential district of Troyeschyna with the central business district. Consisting of 13 stations, the line is set to reduce the traffic jam in Kiev and ease the movement for about 500,000 Troyeschyna residents or 17 percent of the city population. The deal was inked by Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko, vice board chairman of the China Pacific Construction Group Guo Qing and deputy head of China Railway International Group Song Guangsen during a ceremony in Kiev City State Administration. The agreement followed a Memorandum of Understanding signed by the two sides in May during the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing. Addressing the signing ceremony, Klitschko hailed the international experience of the Chinese companies in railway and tunnels construction, expressing the hope for the successful implementation of the subway line project in Ukraine. "We have an understanding and a common desire to work. I am confident that there will be a result, there will be a success, and this project will be implemented," Klitschko said. Meanwhile, Guo said the Chinese consortium is pleased to carry out the project, which will improve the lives of Kiev residents and further promote China's Belt and Road Initiative in Europe. "Our two companies turn their attention to Europe and start building projects in Europe in line with the Belt and Road Initiative," Guo said. Worth about 2 billion U.S. dollars, the project on building a metro line in Kiev is expected to start at the end of 2018 and finish within four years. The Kiev administration will provide 15 percent of the funds for the project. The city hopes to attract the rest of the sum as a loan from Chinese financial institutions under the Ukrainian government guarantees. Kiev currently has three subway lines with a total length of 69.6 kilometers, which provide services for about 1.32 million passengers per day. Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-23 07:06:06|Editor: pengying Video Player Close by Alessandra Cardone ROME, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Italians on Wednesday followed with high interest the first hearing of a European court discussing former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's public office ban. Major media outlets and political analysts kept a watchful eye on the case, which might considerably affect the country's next political campaign, as elections are due by May 2018 at the latest. Lawyers of the four-time PM and media tycoon argued before the Gran Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) against Berlusconi's ejection from the senate, which occurred in 2013 after a definitive four-year conviction for tax fraud. Under an Italian anti-corruption law approved in 2012 -- called "Severino Act" -- anyone sentenced to more than 2 years in prison is banned from holding public office or standing in elections for at least six years. The ban for Berlusconi would stay in place until 2019. Yet, according to his lawyers, Italy applied that rule in a retroactive way, since the conviction referred to a crime committed between 1995 and 1998, some 15 years before the approval of the Severino Act, Ansa news agency reported. As such, Berlusconi lodged an appeal with the ECHR in Sept. 2013, claiming Italy violated some principles of the European Convention on human rights. More specifically, Berlusconi alleged a violation of Art. 7 (breach of principles of legality and proportionality of criminal penalties), of Art. 3 (right to free elections), and Art. 13 (right to an effective remedy), the court said in a statement. Before the panel of 17 judges in Strasbourg, magistrate Maria Giuliana Civinini -- co-agent for the Italian government at the ECHR -- argued Italy did not breach any European rules, Italian media reported. "The government has respected the Convention, and no violation can be blamed on it," Ansa news agency quoted her as saying at the court. "The decision on his (Berlusconi's) removal from the senate, and on him being ineligible was not an arbitrary one, but resulted from a judicial path that abided by all of his rights," Civinini said. Italian media pointed out the Court takes several months before issuing its rulings on average, and its decision on "Berlusconi vs. Italy" case might come too late for impacting on the looming campaign. A further relevant factor to consider, analysts observed, was that the ECHR rulings are not immediately enforceable in a European state. The Court is in fact a body of the Council of Europe, and not of the European Union (which has its own Court of Justice). As such, its rulings have an "indirect executive effect" only, meaning that a specific provision by the national government involved is needed to have them enforced. However, speaking with La Repubblica newspaper on Wednesday, Berlusconi vowed he would keep campaigning for his center-right Forza Italia (FI) party, regardless of the sentence and his eligibility to run. The former premier did not attend the hearing in Strasbourg, but declared on Twitter he felt "very calm and confident" that the court would accept his appeal. Kjell Espmark, former chairman of the Nobel Committee for Literature, speaks during a literature forum held at Beijing Normal University, Beijing, Nov 17, 2017. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] "The list of laureates (for the Nobel Prize in Literature) should be a canon for the literature of the contemporary world," said Kjell Espmark, former chairman of the Nobel Committee for Literature and life member of the Swedish Academy. Last week, Espmark made his ninth visit to China and shared his insights on this distinguished literary honor with an audience in Beijing. How Nobel Prize laureates are chosen Founded by Swedish philanthropist Alfred Nobel, the Nobel Prize in Literature is annually conferred to an author from any country who has created "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction". Every year, the Swedish Academy, which awards the Nobel Prize in Literature, shortens the list of about 200 nomination proposals down to five candidates. Then after four months of reading and reviewing, the committee names the Nobel Prize recipient of the year. According to Espmark, each new generation of the academy has its own interpretation of Nobel's will. "Starting from 1978, the idea is that the prize should be given to a master who is unknown to the world in order to give the world a new writer they would otherwise not hear of, and give the writer the audience he or she deserved," he said. "In this way, the prize can better contribute to the canon of world literature." As for the language barrier between the Nobel Committee members and the works with various cultural origins, Espmark introduced the Academy's solution. "A work does not need to be translated into Swedish to come to question," he said. "We read many languages, including Italian, Spanish and Russian. Among 18 panel members, we have one of the world's leading Chinese experts, Goran Malmqvist." If there are no translations provided in English, French, or German, the academy can order translations of their own, which include cultural and social references of the nominated book. "We do as much as we can, to understand literature as it is understood where it was written," he said. When my dad was a young boy, he worked in the cornfields in the summer. He would wake up before the sun rose and prepare for some tiring work. From morning to noon, he would painstakingly detassel ears of corn. Sweat would pour off him as the sun glared down upon him. His hands became callou Click the photo to write a caption and have a chance to win a free subscription to the Norfolk Daily News. Battered by falling oil and gas revenues, Algerias foreign exchange reserves are expected to further shrink to $97 billion, down from $193 billion in 2014, official data shows. With the slump in oil prices, the rest of the Algerian economy cant generate the foreign exchange needed to pay for imports as oil and gas represent 94% of Algiers exports. Therefore, the government has taken measures to restrict imports of 30 goods, such as cars, some food products and raw materials. It targeted a reduction of $15 billion this year. As a result of the recent cuts, imports reached $38.18 billion in the first 10 months of 2017, down just 1.8 percent from the same period in 2016. Food imports actually rose, by 4.5 percent to $7.12 billion. However, analyst see the governments import restriction policy as doomed to fail due to the lack of domestic production. The new import policy has failed because it is an ill-considered and improvised decision. It was taken without preparing alternatives, Larbi Gouini, business consultant and economics professor at Algiers university, told Reuters. Importers are warning that limiting imports on such vital products such as medicine will result in serious shortages. Queues already started in front of some pharmacies where citizens line up to buy rare medicine. A C2-A Greyhound aircraft. Photo: Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Zach Sleeper/U.S. Navy A U.S. Navy plane carrying 11 people crashed in the waters off of Okinawa Wednesday, the Navy said in a statement. Eight of the passengers were quickly recovered and in good condition, but the remaining three are still missing. Our entire focus is on finding all of our sailors, Navy Rear Admiral Marc H. Dalton said in a statement. U.S. and Japanese ships and aircraft are searching the area of the crash, and we will be relentless in our efforts. The C2-A Greyhound transport plane was flying a routine mission, carrying crew and cargo from a base in Japan to the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan. The aircraft carrier is in the Philippine Sea and participating in U.S.Japan naval exercises. President Trump tweeted prayers for all involved Wednesday as rescue teams from both the U.S. and Japan searched for the missing passengers. The cause of the crash isnt yet known, though Japans defense minister told reporters that engine troubles may have been the culprit. This crash is at least the fifth accident involving the Seventh Fleet, which lost 17 sailors in 2017. The most deadly incident occurred in August when the U.S.S. John McCain collided with an oil tanker, killing ten. The commanded of the Seventh Fleet, Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin, was relieved of his duties following the accident, which the Navy has said was avoidable. Hes already in too deep. Photo: Pool/Getty Images In news that will shock no one, Jared Kushner is not going to rewrite all of Americas trade agreements, modernize technology throughout the federal government, remodel workforce-training programs, and end the opioid epidemic. Now hes just focusing on solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and it doesnt sound like thats going very well either. In the first few months of his administration, President Trump seemed to dump just about every thorny task he encountered onto his son-in-law, who has no government experience. But on Tuesday, Vanity Fairs Gabriel Sherman reported that Kushner lost a tremendous amount of influence as new White House chief of staff John Kelly sought to bring order to the Trump administration. Kelly has clipped his wings, said a source close to the White House. Though searching for an end to the decades-old conflict in the Middle East seems like the kind of thing that could keep Kushner out of Kellys hair, he still managed to anger the chief of staff. Kelly was reportedly displeased by a report that during his recent trip to Saudi Arabia, Kushner stayed up until 4 a.m. strategizing with Saudi crown prince Mohammad bin Salman. This occurred just days before the prince seized power by conducting a purge within the royal family, sparking questions about whether the administration was aware of what was about to take place, or even helped plan it. (The White House denied this.) President Trump is said to be frustrated by Kushners political advice, and concerned that his son-in-law and daughter Ivanka are being damaged by negative press. Hes reportedly pressuring them to go back to New York, but at this point, giving up on their dream of being a moderating force in Trumps White House probably wouldnt solve their problems. Thanks to his heavy involvement in Trumps operation since the campaign, Kushner is involved in various matters under investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller. Now The Wall Street Journal reports that Muellers team is asking questions about Kushners interactions with foreign leaders during the transition, including even a dispute last December over a United Nations resolution that condemned Israels construction of settlements in disputed territories. Israeli officials said that they reached out to Trump officials to help block the resolution. Trump posted a Facebook message saying it should be vetoed, but the Obama administration opted to let it go through. Under the obscure Logan Act, Americans are prohibited from attempting to influence a foreign nation involved in a dispute with the U.S. Investigators are also looking into Kushners many contacts with foreign governments. Kushner initially listed no such contacts on a government form required to obtain security clearance. He said that was an administrative error and updated the form at least three times, listing more than 100 contacts with 20 nations. The Journal noted that many questions come up during the course of an investigation, and inquiries dont necessarily indicate suspicion. But Kushners in deep enough that the Mueller probe would follow him, even if he were to assume a more traditional role for the husband of the presidents daughter, i.e. limiting his White House visits to major holidays. Is health care really more important than tax cuts? Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images Senator Lisa Murkowski was praised on the left when she became one of three Republicans to vote down the Obamacare skinny repeal in July. But on Tuesday, she explained that doesnt mean shes opposed to ending the Affordable Care Acts individual insurance mandate, which would lead to 13 million fewer people having health insurance and drive up premiums for a significant number of Americans by 10 percent, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Senate Republicans included a repeal of the Obamacare mandate in their tax reform plan, since they need a way to pay for corporate tax cuts. Once again, they can only spare two votes, and it appears Murkowski will be crucial. Senator Susan Collins, who joined Murkowski in opposing skinny repeal, said she wants to see changes in her partys legislation and called the repeal provision the biggest mistake. In a surprise move, conservative Senator Ron Johnson declared he could not support the bill because tax cuts for pass-through businesses arent generous enough. Johnson has hinted that he may come around, as he did on Obamacare repeal, but deficit hawks have been complaining about the bill, too. In an op-ed for the Daily News-Miner, an Alaskan newspaper, Murkowski laid out her reasons for supporting a repeal of the Obamacare mandate. I have always supported the freedom to choose. I believe that the federal government should not force anyone to buy something they do not wish to buy in order to avoid being taxed, she said, noting that Alaskans paid $21 million in penalties to the IRS in 2014 and 2015. Eliminating this tax would allow Alaskans to have greater control over their money and health care decisions, she added. The senator went on to claim that getting rid of the individual mandate just restores to people the freedom to choose and does nothing to people who want to keep Obamacare ignoring that the entire system starts breaking down if younger, healthier people decide to go without insurance. This is an encouraging sign for Republicans, who are rushing to pass tax reform before a Democrat or an unpredictable, scandal-plagued Republican claims an Alabama Senate seat next month. However, a Murkowski spokesperson told Politico that this doesnt necessarily mean the senator will support the tax legislation. Senator Murkowski said on Friday that she will be reviewing the work of the Finance Committee over the Thanksgiving holiday and plans to look at the entire package before coming to any conclusion on the legislation, the spokesperson said. Republican senators will probably be on edge this Thanksgiving, but with all the legislative drama recently, theyre probably used to it. Bad to the Cohn. Photo: Kevin Dietsch-Pool/Getty Images President Trump loves a sycophant. And while Gary Cohn, the White Houses director of the National Economic Council, is typically a reliable bootlicker, he has occasionally strayed off course. In August, for example, Cohn annoyed Trump by criticizing his response to the white-nationalist protests in Charlottesville. Unlike Trump, who saw good people among both the neo-Nazis and those protesting them, Cohn, who is Jewish, condemned only those who wore swastikas. This reportedly annoyed Trump, who allowed Cohn to keep his job but nixed him from consideration for a new, more prestigious one. Now we have another story about Cohn straying from the light, and it comes courtesy of Senator Tom Carper. Speaking on CNN Wednesday, the Delaware Democrat recalled a recent conversation about tax reform between several administration officials, Cohn among them, and a handful of Democratic senators. During the meeting, Trump called in from Asia and began talking, Carper said. After listening to the president ramble for far too long, Carper wanted to get back to the matter at hand. Fifteen minutes later the president is still talking and I said to Gary were all sitting around this big square table and I said, Gary, why dont you do this, why dont you just take your cell phone back and just say Mr. President, youre brilliant but were losing contact and I think were gonna lose you now so good-bye. And thats what he did, and he hung up, Carper said. CNNs John Berman asked for clarification. Did Cohn actually pull the old bad reception trick and hang up on Trump? Well, I wouldnt I dont want to throw him under the bus, Carper said. Then he did exactly that, adding, But yes. The government has released Shs 102 billion through the Uganda Road Fund (URF) for the maintenance of public roads, bridges and ferry operations. In a statement dated October 31, URF said its second quarter disbursement went out to designated agencies such as Uganda National Roads Authority (Unra), Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), municipalities and local governments. However, the Fund has been hit by a shortfall which is likely to affect planned works. In this quarter, the Fund has experienced a shortfall of Shs 26,008,284,397 amounting to 6.39 per cent of the agency annual roads maintenance budget, the statement reads in part. Most of the road works and bridges shortlisted for maintenance this quarter were located in the northern parts of the country. The disbursement reflects 25.59 per cent of URF annual roads maintenance budget of Shs 406 billion for the financial year 2017/18 whereby the cumulative release by the Fund currently stands at Shs 177 billion since the financial year begun. According to the statement, UNRA will absorb the lions share of the funds totalling up to Shs 66 billion. This year, the roads authority planned to maintain 3,780km of paved roads, 17,267km unpaved roads, 94 bridges and 13 ferries. It also plans to install street lighting measuring 50km on selected national roads. KCCA will maintain 1,444km of paved roads and 120km of unpaved roads as well as road markings and junction maintenance under its road safety programmes. Districts will maintain 26,610km of roads and four bridges in this quarter. A total 4,190km of Municipal council roads and one bridge will be marinated in this quarter. The URF said it adheres to timely disbursements of road maintenance funds to avoid delays in execution of planned programmes of its agencies. alitwaha@observer.ug An unknown number of counter-terrorism unit (CTU) police officers yesterday evening besieged the main office of Red Pepper Publications Limited in Namanve, Mukono district. According to officials at this publication, Frank Mwesigwa, the Kampala Metropolitan Police commander, led the raid which saw the papers premises surrounded just after 5pm and declared a scene of crime. Revealing a search warrant from court, the officer ordered all staff to hand over their smartphones, laptops and any other personal electronic device before ordering them to exit the building. Police vehicle parked outside Red Pepper premises Breaking: The Red Pepper is currently under siege by the CTU of the Uganda Police and Kampala Metropolitan police, revealed Arinaitwe Rugyendo, the papers editorial director. A few hours into the search, Mwesigwa ordered that no one leaves the premises and officers were told to expand the search to staff residences. Police officers under the command of Kampala Metropolitan commander Frank Mwesigwa have arrested all Red Pepper staff, confiscated their phones and ordered a search of all their homes. No one is allowed to leave the premises. No production is allowed, reported Red Peppers official Facebook page at 6:40pm. According to a search warrant issued by a Buganda Road Magistrate, the document gave permission to Deputy Assistant Inspector of Police Henry Peter Walya to search for electronics and documents related to news published on Monday, November 20. On the said date, the Red Pepper ran a series of stories about the relationship between Uganda and Rwanda. The warrant stemmed from an earlier Criminal Miscellaneous Application (M/A 166/17) filed by D/AIP Walya. In his submission, the officer claimed that Red pepper published information prejudicial to security under Criminal Investigations Department (CID) headquarters (GEF/1074/3017). He asked court to grant him permission to search the publishers premises as part of the investigations. Things to be searched include laptops, desktops, Central Processing Units(CPUs), computer accessories (electronics and any other document related to Red Pepper news publication Vol. 17 no. 152 of Monday 20, 2017, noted part of the application which lacks a date on which it was filed. In 2015, the paper was raided on the same day with Monitor Publications Limited for running stories about former intelligence coordinator, Gen David Sejjusa. abumay1988@gmail.com The executive director of Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI), Dr Jackson Orem, has assured the public that the new Cobalt 60 radiotherapy machine will be pressed into service by mid-December, raising the hopes of many long-suffering patients. Orem told journalists yesterday as he unveiled the machine to the public that the official launch is scheduled for January next year, by which time radiation tests are expected to have been approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The new radiotherapy machine will start operations in December We are in advanced stages of testing the machine to make sure our radiation levels are within acceptable limits. Last Friday, we sent some tests to Vienna for inter-comparison and once its all done, we shall start treatment. We are now waiting for approval from IAEA to confirm if our radiation doses are at international standards, he said. Dr Awusi Kavuma said the machine is safe because the bunker where its located is about 1.3metres thick, which means that all the radiation emitted while treating patients is absorbed within the wall. Even the radiation worker who is in the control area is safe because of the thickness of the wall and the tests we did confirmed that radiation leakages were almost zero around the area where the machine is located. It is also safe to public, since we made sure all the radiation levels are within acceptable limits, he said. Dr Daniel Kanyike, the head of radiotherapy, observed that: There are passwords for treatment of patients in this machine, which we couldnt do in the old machine. If I authorise a treatment, I must put in my password as this patient. Nobody can treat a patient without authorisation of the doctor concerned, Kanyike said. zurah@observer.ug Forum for Democratic Change vice chairman Proscovia Salam Musumba has said that the ruling party and two opposition parties are trying to influence who should be FDCs next president. The countrys largest opposition party convenes for a scheduled general delegates conference on November 24 at Namboole Stadium to elect a new leader for the 12-year-old organisation. Speaking to The Observer at FDC headquarters in Najjanankumbi yesterday, Musumba said the party faces multiple threats, both internal and external, as they near to election day. FDC vice chairman Proscovia Salam Musumba I have received complaints from delegates that they are receiving calls from NRM, DP and UPC advising them on who the suitable candidate for president would be, Musumba said. That, to me, is a threat because our party is not up for sale; that people from without should determine for us and set the agenda for the party. We are watching with keen interest the external threats to our internal procedures and we are going to mitigate against them. Fierce competition is between the incumbent president, Maj Gen (rtd) Mugisha Muntu, who is running for his second and last five-year term, and three-time Kumi MP Patrick Amuriat Oboi. Fringe candidates are Dan Matsiko and Moses Byamugisha. Two weeks ago, Kawempe south MP Mubarak Munyagwa stood down in favour of Amuriat. Musumba did not reveal the identities or reported preferences of whoever is calling FDC delegates. Those threats are real and are bigger than Im mentioning to you, she maintained when pressed for details. It looks to me like the allegations of Russia interfering with the elections in the [us] using computer manipulation. However, during a phone interview, Democratic Party president general Norbert Mao described Musumbas accusations as nonsensical and ridiculous. I dont know where she gets that opinion from which has no basis. We are too busy with our internal issues to interfere with the internal workings of FDC, Mao said. Meanwhile, NRM secretariats spokesman Rogers Mulindwa rubbished the claims saying they have better things to do than interfere in FDC elections. FDC has no ideology; they survive on people leaving the NRM to cross to their side, Mulindwa said. He claimed that some elements within FDC are trying to taint the image of their opponents to gain more votes. We are winning A fortnight ago, Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda, the chairman of the Muntu re-election taskforce, said he had no doubt his candidate would win a second term as FDC president despite the perception that party strongman, Dr Kizza Besigye, and his supporters are against him. I have participated in this nature of a campaign supporting the Hon Nandala Mafabi in 2012 [for party presidency] and I actually thought we were going to defeat Muntu. The Besigye group doing publicity on social media may think creating an environment that forces people to support a candidate of their choice will work but they are going to be shocked However, Harold Kaija, FDC deputy secretary general and one of Amuriats strategists said Muntu will not prevail this time This is a sure win; not even a witchdoctor can take the money of the enemy camp to tell them they are winning, Kaija said. He added that after the 2016 presidential flag bearer race and other internal party elections, it was obvious that the popular strategy in FDC is the defiance option, which Amuriat has embraced. Our opponent believes that you can massage Museveni but all Ugandans across the board, including those in the NRM, believe that we must hold Museveni by the collar and that is what Amuriat believes in. I can confidently tell you that on November 24, Patrick Amuriat Oboi will be the president-elect of FDC, Kaija said. Efforts to speak to Gen Muntu were futile as he neither picked, nor returned our numerous calls and messages to his known telephone number. bakerbatte@observer.ug Fourteen days after military intelligence agents violently re-arrested some of the suspects accused of murdering AIGP Andrew Felix Kaweesi, the Attorney General on Wednesday told court he doesnt know where they are. State attorney Allan Mukama surprised the court with this claim when an application of habeas corpus came up before Justice Stephen Musota. The four suspects had been granted bail at Nakawa Grade One magistrates court but were snatched off the streets shortly after and bundled into unmarked cars which sped off to unknown destinations. One of the suspects Ahmed Ssenfuuka being rearrested shortly after being granted bail The Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) and police kept the public guessing over what could have become of them. Mukamas claim before Justice Musota flies in the face of the polices recent admission that the four are being held at the notorious Nalufenya police detention facility. The attorney general isnt in possession of the applicants, Mukama said. The attorney generals office is not in the know that its servants or agents are in possession of the applicants. Mukamas submission came as a shock since on November 13, 2017, Asan Kasingye, the then police spokesperson, had admitted that the suspects were at Nalufenya where they were detained after being handed over by CMI. On November 7, Umalu Maganda, Ahmed Senfuka, Ibrahim Kisa, and Abdul Majidu Ojeger were granted bail by Nakawa Grade One magistrate Noah Ssajjabbi only to be re-arrested as they headed home. Shabbily dressed men brandishing guns first trailed the suspects from court before pouncing on them at the Spear Motors junction along the Kampala-Jinja highway. Two days later, through Wameli & Company Advocates, the four applied before the civil division of the High court to be released unconditionally. Mukama told the judge that the attorney general, who is the governments principal legal adviser, wasnt opposed to the application. The attorney general is willing to assist this court to find out whether they are [being] held legally or not, Mukama said. Wameli had asked the judge to compel the attorney general to produce the four since they have been held incommunicado beyond the constitutionally laid out timeline of 48 hours. Its very clear now that they are being held unconstitutionally, Wameli said. Yet there no signs that they will be charged in court soon. Though Wemali passionately argued, Justice Musota told him that his case, though unopposed by the attorney general, seemed to be dead on arrival. Musota pointed out that Wemali had filed the application wrongly since each of the four applicants should have filed a separate application. These are different individuals who might have different issues, Justice Musota said. Its the practice here that you file each of the applications separately. You are ordered to file four different applications and this case will be heard tomorrow [Wednesday] at 3pm, Musota said. dkiyonga@observer.ug As the debate on presidential age limits rages, President Museveni has denounced some ruling party MPs opposed to amendment of Article 102(b) of the Constitution as parasites. The 73-year-old president who would be an immediate beneficiary of such a constitutional change, removing the 75-year age cap for presidential aspirants, is facing stiff opposition from a significant portion of the population. Critics warn that if the article is scrapped, the floodgates to life presidency and all its associated ills would be flung open. Museveni has written back to the NRM 'rebel' MPs His denunciation in a three-page letter dated November 7 is part of a reply to an earlier letter MPs Theodore Ssekikubo (Lwemiyaga), Monicah Amoding (Kumi Woman), Barnabas Tinkasiimire (Buyaga West) and Patrick Nsamba Oshabe (Kassanda North) wrote to him on October 4. The MPs challenged Museveni to dissociate himself from what they said is a divisive, opportunistic and isolationist constitutional amendment process. They reminded Museveni that he is obliged under the oath of president to protect and defend the constitution. But he has, instead, accused them of being part of the reason why the country is grappling with poverty and unemployment. Many of you who talk negatively have not contributed to the ideology of patriotism, to the liberation of the country, to the recovery of the economy and the country, to the consolidation of peace or to the great developments that we have achieved yet you benefit economically and otherwise. We call this parasitism and that parasitism will be resisted and defeated, he wrote. Museveni copied his letter to his vice president Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi, Prime Minister Dr Ruhakana Rugunda, NRM secretary general Justine Kasule Lumumba, government chief whip Ruth Nankabirwa and all NRM caucus members. MPs Barnabas Tinkansimire and Sam Lyomoki Besides the four MPs to whom Museveni addressed the letter, five other MPs: Felix Okot Ogong (Dokolo South), Sam Lyomoki (Workers), Gafa Mbwatekamwa (Kasambya), John Baptist Nambeshe (Manjiya) and Alex Ruhunda (Fort Portal Municipality) signed the October 4 letter. Museveni, seemingly angered by the MPs letter, referred them to his October 13 address to the NRM caucus, giving the genesis of the writing of the bill that was controversially tabled by Igara West MP Raphael Magyezi on October 4 following chaotic scenes in Parliament on September 27. ALPHA & OMEGA The MPs reacted angrily to Musevenis letter, telling him to stop looking at himself as the know-it-all. He should stop looking at himself as the only contributor to the liberation and development of the country; he should drop that spirit of self-aggrandisement, Nambeshe said by phone yesterday. The Manjiya lawmaker also accused Museveni of suffocating free speech within the ruling party, saying it is the reason why they were thrown out of the October 13 caucus meeting. He called us spies and threw us out of the caucus meeting and is now calling us parasites which is a big insulthe must justify his statements, Nambeshe said. We are not there to sing praises for him all the time. For Tinkasiimire, the real parasite is Museveni himself because of his appointment of his wife, Janet, and in-law Sam Kutesa, to cabinet and son, Muhoozi Kaineruga, as his advisor. He is trying to attack us to dodge the major question that we asked him. We asked him when he is retiring but he has not made any response to it, Tinkasiimire said. While Ssekikubo is happy that Museveni, at last, responded to their letter, the Lwemiyaga MP said that Museveni should not hide behind Magyezi. He avoided the question on transition but the events in Zimbabwe are a clear pointer to what is likely to happen here, Ssekikubo said. For how long must we pay as a country? What price must we pay to the so-called liberators? Ssekikubo wondered. Museveni letter in full 7th November, 2017 To honourable Theodore Ssekikubo, Monicah Amoding, Barnabas Tinkasimire, Patrick Oshabe Nsamba RE: CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT OF ARTICLE 102(B) TO LIFT THE AGE LIMIT FOR PRESIDENT I have received your letter of the 4th of October, 2017, concerning the Age Limit debate. As I said in my address to the Caucus on October 13, 2017, this debate was not new. Hon Anna Maria Nankabirwa had raised the issue at Kyankwanzi last year in the month of July. I advised her to concentrate on the immediate issues of this Kisanja. The issue of the Age Limit could be addressed later, if necessary. About three months ago, however, the concerned MPs like Hon Raphael Magyezi, came to see me and pointed out that the Supreme Court had put deadlines on some of those constitutional issues. Rebel MPs addressing the media recently Back-bench MPs taking the initiative is not necessarily a problem if it does not involve spending money on a regular basis. The NRM has always been a mass party. Sometimes, ideas come from the top; but, sometimes, ideas come from the bottom. It is both ways. The idea of, for instance, restoring monarchs in Uganda, came from the community in some areas - clan leaders in Buganda led by Kibaale Nadduli. We took it up later on the request of the clan leaders. Even the idea of reintroducing multi-party politics. It was not us who were insisting on this issue. It was, actually, the anti-NRM that were pushing it until we said: Mubaleke bageende tubejekko Let them go. The crucial thing is to discuss peacefully and calmly without violence, insults or lies. Therefore, the back-benchers taking the initiative, sometimes, is not wrong nor is it new. Swearing to defend the Constitution in the present five years, honourable members, included amending the Constitution, if necessary, in the manner prescribed in the Constitution. The organs of NRM have now, indeed, been convened and they have supported the amending of Article 102(b). These are CEC and NEC in addition to the NRM parliamentary caucus and the cabinet. The mistake on your side was not only to attack the proposal but do so using violent and unconstitutional methods - violence, intimidation, lies, insults, etc. Whose views were you putting forward? Besides, you put your views to the parliamentary caucus and they were not accepted. Why, then, did you persist in your minority stand? You should have held your peace until the consultation time. It is wrong to also manipulate the consultation process like some of you have been doing - going to the bus park and asking people you find there whether they support the amendment or not. There are structures - the committees of the NRM. You should consult those. Then, with the committees, you can go to the public in the local areas. Uganda was liberated by freedom fighters, supported by the masses. NRM has ensured peace in the country, ensured economic recovery and development. Many of you have benefitted from that work, literally and metaphorically. It is your duty to contribute to that process and not to undermine it. There are still problems of poverty (19 per cent now from 56 per cent in 1989) and also inadequate jobs. This, partly, is due to the obstruction by some of you. Nevertheless, with or without you, the loyal NRM leaders and cadres have created a base to deal with jobs and poverty by ensuring peace, improved infrastructure, ensuring the integration of the African markets, creating the wealth funds, youth fund, etc. Many of you who talk negatively have not contributed to the ideology of patriotism, to the liberation of the country, to the recovery of the economy and country, to the consolidation of peace or to the great developments that we have achieved. Yet you benefit economically and otherwise. We call this parasitism and that parasitism will be resisted and defeated. I hope you find this information useful. Yoweri Museveni President Copy to: HE the Vice President Rt Hon Prime Minister Rt Hon Secretary-General Government Chief Whip NRM Caucus members sadabkk@observer.ug Uganda Foreign Affairs minister Sam Kutesa, with the help of his wife Edith Gasana, allegedly solicited the $500,000 bribe from Chinese investors, according to the complaint sworn before a US Magistrate Kevin Fox. Thomas McNulty, a Special Agent with Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), swore the complaint before US Magistrate Kevin Fox on November 16, 2017 following the arrest of Chi Ping Patrick Ho, Hong Kongs former Home Secretary, and Cheikh Gadio, a one-time foreign minister of Senegal over bribery allegations. With what the prosecutors call The Uganda Scheme, it all began in October 2014 when Chi Ping Patrick Ho aka Patrick C.P. Ho met Sam Kutesa who has just began his term of office as president of the UN General Assembly. During the year, according to the criminal complaints, Ho and Kutesa discussed a strategic partnership between Uganda and the Energy Company (which befits descriptions of China Energy Fund Committee, CEFC) for various business ventures, to be formed once Kutesa completed his term as president of the UN General Assembly president in 2015. Sam Kutesa and wife with Edith Gasana and Pope Francis at the UN In or about February 2016, according to the complaint, when Kutesa had returned to Uganda after the expiry of his term, he reportedly then solicited the payment from Ho, purportedly to a charitable organization that he wished to launch. The $500,000 was then wired to Kutesas account in Uganda through a bank in New York. In his communications, Ho variously referred to this payment as a donation to the reelection campaign of President Yoweri Museveni, the statement says. However, by the time the money was sent, Museveni had already been reelected for a fifth term in office. In reality, this payment was a bribe to obtain business advantages for the Energy Company in its efforts to secure contracts and ventures in Ugandas financial and energy sectors, says the complaint. According to the complaint, as soon as Kutesa became president of the UN General Assembly, in September 2014, Ho cultivated a relationship with Kutesa, focusing on his ability to connect him and the Energy Company to President Museveni and, thereby, assisting the company to obtain lucrative energy and financial opportunities in Uganda. Shortly after his term ended as PGA, Kutesa reportedly travelled to China and appointed the chairman of the Chinese company as a Special honorary Advisor to the PGA and obtained a promise that the company would provide the donation. On September 29, 2014, Ho emailed the Chef de Cabinet or Chief of Staff, introducing himself as the deputy chairman and secretary general of the Energy NGO. He described this NGO as a Chinese think tank registered in Hong Kong and also in the USA as a public charity and that it has been granted special consultative status from UNs Economic and Social Council. Ho then requested a meeting with Kutesa to introduce oursel[ves] to the PGA , and to extend to his Excellency personally our invitation to him to visit us in Hong [Kong] and in China. The next day, the chief of staff responded that [w]e will make arrangements for the meeting and also reportedly provided his cellphone number. On October 10, 2014, Ho emailed the chief of staff saying Thank you for arranging the luncheon with PGA todayI introduced the background and the past work of [the Energy NGO], especially its collaborations and cooperations with the UN. He also said in the email that he extended an invitation to the PGA to join the high level Steering Committee [of a UN-related award that the Energy NGO sponsors] and the PGA kindly accepted, the sheet notes. He went on to say that he exchanged views on the importance of energy development for Africa, and we agreed that there could be tremendous potential of investment joint ventures to develop Ugandas hydropower with a consideration of implementing a smart super-grid to share electricity throughout the region. On November 21, 2014, Ho received multiple Chinese documents from the Chairman of the Energy Company titled Report on the meeting with 69th PGA [Kutesa]. In the email, it was revealed that on October 19, 2014, Ho met Kutesa for nearly three hours in his PGA office in New York. He persuaded Kutesa to make an official PGA trip to China during his one-year term. Kutesa also reportedly agreed to stay an extra day to visit the Energy Company, the Energy NGO and the chairman. During the meeting, Kutesa reportedly told Ho that if his energy company wished to form long-term strategic partnerships in Uganda in its energy, hydroelectric and financial industries, he was more than happy to arrange for a meeting with the president of Uganda in the shortest possible time. About three months later, on March 12, 2015, Ho again met with Kutesa who promised him that he would support the Energy NGOs activities at the UN including a forum on China that the Energy NGO wished to host. Kutesa told Ho that he was planning to visit China in April 2015. Kutesa was to be accompanied by his wife and that the Energy NGO would coordinate all [his] unofficial activities, which include a visit to the Energy Company in Shanghai and in Hong Kong. Kutesa expressed willingness in assisting the Energy Company to form a strategic partnership in Uganda to make investments in the countrys four known oil fields, national bank, hydropower grid, highway and railway constriction. Kutesa boasted that he could make an arrangement on short notice for the chairman to meet with President Museveni who is my brother in-law. Foreign Affairs minister Sam Kutesa On March 17, 2015 Kutesas wife emailed Ho saying: Dear Patrickit was so nice to have such quality time to talk and discuss about different opportunities of investing in East Africa and in Uganda in particular. Thank you so much, we enjoyed having you. She further stated: recaps that concerned her including; [W]e talked about banking sector with the possibility of acquiring a bank and also engaging Bank of Uganda in a deeper reflection about creating a direct link between our currencies, a project for which I would be happy to facilitate and we should discuss this further when we meet in HK [Hong Kong]. I expressed the strong wish to meet with a particular Chinese Company, which offers mobile payment services, to discuss the possibility of franchising their technology in Uganda or find any other arrangement for my company to use their system to provide e-ticketing to the transportation system. In addition, Ihave asked if you could help my company find an investor. Concluding: I hope and wish that my message finds you well and thank you again for your time, the gifts and willingness to help me. On April 20, 2015, the Energy NGO organised a conference at the UN in New York, which was moderated by HO and officiated by Kutesa as the president of the UN General Assembly. Concerning the my company (MCash or MobiCash) that Ms Kutesa referred to was cashless mobile financial platform where she is the CEO, Ho arranged for a meeting with Ms Kutesa and the Chinese company whose technology she was interested in. SOLICITING BRIBE In February 2016 based on review of emails, Kutesa, aided by his wife Edith, solicited for a bribe from Howhich he characterised as donation/contribution for a foundation that Kutesa wished to launch. Kutesa reportedly linked the request to a promise by the chairman during his visit to China in August 2015. Upon making the payment, Ho emphasised that the Energy Company expected assistance from Kutesa with respect to major projects, from infrastructure, energy, agriculture to finance and banking in Uganda. Kutesa and his wife reportedly assured Ho that President Museveni would meet the Energy officials and would work together on various projects, including the potential sale of a Ugandan bank to the Energy Company. On February 24, 2016, Ms Kutesa wrote to Ho with a subject line Reconnection. She said: We can now relax and reprogram the projects we discussed about with your chairman when we were in Hong Kong last August. [Kutesa] would like in particular to catch up with you regarding his foundation which he wishes to launch as soon as possible and would appreciate to receive the contribution/donation promised by the Chairman. Ms Kutesa then went on to provide the bank wiring details in the name of a charitable foundation, the Ugandan Foundation. On February 28, 2016, Ho replied saying in part: I think it would be a wonderful gesture if an invitation could be sent to the chairman to be a VIP guest at the inaugural or similar ceremony when the president ascends into the new term, with a note of thanks to the chairman for the support which he will then make good. This is only my personal suggestion to facilitate the exchange. On February 29, 2016, Ms Kutesa wrote: Would it be possible for you to confirm the contribution to his Foundation so that he can launch it not so late after the campaign. It was one of our commitment to job creation for youth in our constituency and as you know, youth are impatient. Adding: By the way Global [Trust] Bank in Africa is soon quitting the continentconsidering the growing trade between China and Africa, this is a great opportunity in [the banking] sector in Africa. In a March 26, 2016 email, Ho emailed Kutesas wife stating: Yes, the chairman will make good his pledge of donation to support [the PGA]. Adding: We are also awaiting news of the VIP invitations to witness the Presidents inauguration in May, as the chairman and I need to make travelling plans. We will also bring an entourage of CEOs to Uganda to directly dovetail with your heads of businesses. Just give me a list of all the major projects, from infrastructure, energy, agriculture, to finance and banking and we will bring the relevant heads to your country to kick-start each project. If that happens, we would expect to be received warmly by [the Ugandan Foreign Minister] and other heads of government, including the president. On May 5, 2016, $500,000 was transferred to Kutesas account. GIFTS TO MUSEVENI On My 8, 2016 an email from an Energy NGO employee stated: Shanghai wants us to suggest what kind of gift to the President, [Kutesa], China Ambassador and the other for spare, then they will purchase tomorrow. On May 9, 2016: Ho emailed Kutesa and his wife detailing their travel plans and stating that they would be presenting two gifts to President Museveni and Kutesa himself. In another email exchange on the same date, Ho emailed another unnamed individual, copying in Kutesas wife, with the subject line Urgent request. Ho said: As we are about to board the plane to Uganda, we are preparing to bring with us some very nice gifts to your president and to the [Foreign Affairs minister Kutesa] to celebrate the occasion. We shall require special assistance with your customs procedure. Please assist in whatever way you can, otherwise we will make other plans. The email was then forward to Kutesa. Ms Kutesa reportedly replied: We will be there at your arrival. ENTER CRANE BANK Although the complaints do not state the bank that Ms Kutesa proposed to the Chinese, the description befits that of Crane bank. On October 13, 2016, Ms Kutesa emailed Ho under subject line: Opportunity to invest in Banking Sector The Central Bank official you met during your visit has contacted us to inform you about the possible acquisition of a local Bank but as you may know, selling a bank is a very confidential and urgent process. According the complaints, Ms Kutesa provided the website of the said bank and instructed Ho to send a letter to the deputy governor of Bank of Uganda Loius Kasekende. It is imperative that the letter is sent by close of business today through emailin the meantime, I would love to talk to you on phone. Ho obliged and sent the email to Kasekende as asked, according to the complaints. In his submission, Ho says, according to press reports, on October 20, 2016, the central bank took over a Ugandan bank. Essentially this was Crane bank. On October 25, 2016, Ho received an email from a Ugandan bank official asking if his company was still interested in acquiring a bank in Uganda. Eventually, dfcu acquired Crane bank in January 2017. On November 21, 2017, Ugandas Foreign Affairs ministry released a statement dismissing claims against Kutesa as erroneous to insinuate or infer that Kutesa, from references made to him and CEFC in the said media stories, is linked to the bribery allegations. The ministry said Kutesa interacted with Ho in his official capacity as the President of the UN General Assembly. Kutesa, the ministry explained, in the course of his work as PGA during his 69th session in 2014/15, interacted and engaged with numerous organisations including civil society, media and the private sector. This engagement, a role undertaken by all the presidents of the General Assembly, is necessary for promoting the core objectives of the UN in the areas of development, peace and security as well as human rights. A section of Members of Parliament have demanded for the immediate resignation of Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa following allegations that he received a bribe of Shs 1.8 billion while serving as president of the United Nations General Assembly. Speaking to journalists at Parliament, legislators including Ntungamo Municipality MP Gerald Karuhanga, Kumi Woman MP Monica Amoding, Lwemiyaga County MP Theodore Ssekikubo and Jie County MP Moses Bildad Adome expressed dismay at the allegations levelled against the minister, also brother-in-law of President Museveni. "Now we must recall that shortly before Honourable Sam Kutesas appointment or election to the presidency of United Nations, a number of us were here opposed to that appointment. One of the things we mentioned was that this man is so incredible; he is so wrong, so grossly wrong that he may even sell chairs of the United Nations. And people thought we were joking and now time has come to vindicate. Time is the best judge. Listen to what he did, said Karuhanga. Sam Kutesa (L) before the MPs recently Karuhanga said it is sad that very soon the country will see arrest warrants issued for Kutesa. According to details of a criminal bribery case being prosecuted in the United States, minister Kutesa received $500,000 payment to help a Chinese firm obtain business advantages in the energy and banking sectors including potential acquisition of a Ugandan bank. This allegation is contained in a complaint against the head of a Hong Kong-based NGO Dr Chi Ping Patrick Ho, and the former foreign minister of Senegal Cheikh Gadio. The duo is accused of bribing high-level officials to help a Chinese oil and gas company to gain business advantages in Africa. Gadio was arrested in New York on Friday afternoon while Ho was arrested on Saturday. The two were charged in a Manhattan Federal Court on Monday with violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, international money laundering and conspiracy to commit both. Ho allegedly paid a $500,000 (about Shs 1.8 billion) bribe via wires transmitted through New York to an account designated by Minister Kutesa in Uganda. The bribe was paid on or about May 6, 2016, after Kutesa finished his term as president of the U.N. General Assembly, the complaint said. Ho also provided the Ugandan official with gifts and promises of future benefits, including offering to share the profits, the compliant further states. Prosecutors said the bribe was meant to secure business advantages for the energy company, which was not identified in court papers, and potential acquisition of a Ugandan bank [seemingly Crane bank] . The Foreign Affairs ministry yesterday explained the circumstances under which Kutesa interacted with Ho. According to the ministry, it's erroneous to link Kutesa to the bribery allegations saying that the minister interacted with Ho in his official capacity as the President of the General Assembly. But even with this clarification statement by the ministry, MPs are still not convinced with Karuhanga recounting the 2012 oil bribery allegations in which Kutesa, former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi, and former internal affairs minister Hilary Onek were accused of receiving bribes from oil companies. The ministers, however, denied any wrongdoing and were later cleared by the parliamentary adhoc committee that investigated the bribery allegations. With the new bribery allegations, MP Karuhanga says that Kutesa should resign and give Ugandans at least a chance of cleansing their country. He is probably the most corrupt individual that this country has witnessed in recent times. This man is at the core of this regime, this man is in deep cohorts with president Museveni then this is the time to think twice if you had any doubt. It is obvious that for a long time we have been seeing a racket and maybe this is a tip of the iceberg. A racket of swindling money from money from Ugandan taxpayers, a racket of receiving money from international corporations basically to avail or provide influence to the disadvantage of Ugandans and finally to the disadvantage of United Nations. If you thought that this was an issue of Uganda, now you realise that it is an issue of also of the United Nations, Karuhanga said. Ssekikubo also weighed in, demanding for Museveni's explanation following revelations that he received gifts and re-election support from a Chinese company that was seeking to gain business advantage in Uganda. The deal was reportedly brokered by Kutesa, and his wife, Edith Gasana. Kutesa reportedly sourced the support partly while serving as President of the United Nations General Assembly, during a visit to China in 2015. Ssekikubo wondered if the president is a beneficiary of money laundering when the law requires that political parties must account for the sources of funding. The MP said that the happenings do not only impact on President Museveni and Kutesa alone, but the image entire country. It is now up to the president, did he campaign with money laundered from foreign countries. Money laundering by President Museveni through Kutesa? Why am I putting this to the president? He has seen it all coming right from Chogm [Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting]. Remember honourable Kutesa was implicated on supply of bogus vehicles for the Chogm, the advertisement for Chogm, then the oil bribery scandal, it is now here with us again by the same person. So there must be a link. Actually this is not only a parasite, there must be shared interest because why for instance is all this happening and the president doesnt raise his finger. Unfortunately now all of us are indicted because our Foreign Affairs minister now with my little, Ssekikubo said. Jie County MP Adome said Kutesa is a simply a victim of his own greed and family impunity. In 1998 Kutesa, then serving as state minister for Investment, resigned as parliament prepared to censure him accusing him of benefiting from the sale of the former Uganda Airlines. His colleague, then primary education minister Jim Muhwezi was censured for mismanaging Universal Primary Education. The two were, however, never prosecuted and returned to cabinet after the 2001 elections. Dear doctors, my name is Michael Woira, a Ugandan patriot from a family with many health workers. I have read your demands and agree that the salary you get is little compared to what doctors get in other countries. It takes years of study to become a doctor. It is thus legitimate to seek higher pay. But I must divert from your company and methodology and denounce you for the means you have chosen to have your demands fulfilled. A sit-down strike is a conduct unbecoming of a doctor. On graduation, you all took a Hippocratic Oath. What you are doing now violates that sacred oath, which puts you on a higher pedestal in any society a role model for all. Think: who goes to government hospitals? It is the poor and deprived who constitute the majority of our population. They are suffering and dying because of your actions. Tell me, are they the ones who will make decisions about your demands? Certainly not! So, why have you targeted them? What harm have they done to you? Can you not see that by targeting these poor and deprived, you are alienating those whom you should be bringing to your side for sympathy? If this isnt political, then there is no reason for you to continue striking yet you even still want your jobs back in case the issue is sorted. Will you be willing to forfeit the salary for the days you have not worked? I dont think so! Your actions have proven that there is moral decline in Uganda. I am very sure in the earlier days of independence, health workers never behaved like you have done. Cant you think of protesting in a different way that doesnt harm the poor and disadvantaged? Go back to work, see these patients, make them aware of your plight, and gain their trust. I know some of you are benefitting from this strike. I have a doctor friend who told me that since the strike started, private hospitals, clinics and pharmacies are making a kill. Many of you own these private facilities and are busy milking poor Ugandans who cant access services at public hospitals. This is not right. It must stop! Michael Woira Patriotic Ugandan. Referendum is the answer to article 102(b) Whenever the NRM government is challenged with replacing President Museveni, it resorts to parliament to amend the Constitution so that he remains in office. I wonder why a party claiming to have a massive following and has spent 30 years in power has failed to find an alternative to its supreme leader. But the current bill to amend the Constitution to remove age limits for presidential candidates has created lots of debate across the country. Since the bill has become very contentious, I suggest that we all support Pastor Abed Bwanikas bid to have the idea subjected to a referendum. I highly doubt that there is any place where the opposition cant have agents to monitor the voting process. In 2005, it was parliament alone which scrapped the article concerning presidential term limits after MPs had been bribed. We cant repeat the same mistake because the paymaster is still alive. Let Ugandans decide. Geroge William Kasule, Ggomba. letters@observer.ug Desperate times, indeed, call for desperate measures. With the confusion in Harare continuing to unfold, Zimbabweans have been caught between a rock and a hard place. Having had to put up with Robert Mugabes 37 years of authoritarian rule, there was a sigh of relief last week when the army seemed to have taken over in what has been widely termed as a peaceful coup. Just like the situation is in Uganda and many other African states, especially those that have had to deal with long-serving rulers, there has not been any grooming in Zimbabwe. Power has been concentrated in one mans hands for 37 years in Zimbabwe as has been the case in Uganda for the last 31 years. These long-serving autocrats only focus on their grip on power and forget mentoring any good and fresh leaders who might succeed them when time to exit, especially under such circumstances, comes. This has been the cry for many Ugandans to President Museveni and the NRM to mentor a leader who would succeed the old man. All these cries have fallen on deaf ears and Zanu-PF of Zimbabwe provides us with a perfect example. Time comes when all disgruntled Africans want to see is change and they care less about who is coming in provided its the price they should pay to see a new face of leadership. This is really sad given that, in most cases, we end up with equally bad or worse leaders. In Zimbabwe, it is shocking how masses have taken to streets, cheering Emersson Mnangagwas name as their desired new head of state. This is basically because he is the closest person to the presidency after Mugabe, and the Zimbabweans believe hes the only one capable of shaking Mugabe to loosen the grip! Mnangagwa has been known as the Crocodile (Ngwena) owing to his ruthlessness that he employed to terrorise the country in 2008 after the first round of presidential elections in which Mugabe lost to Morgan Tsvangirai. Getting rid of Mugabe and ushering in Mnangagwa is just as good as leaping from a red-hot frying pan, only to land in blazing flames. He has been Mugabes iron hand since 1980 and has had numerous public political scandals since 2004 when he openly fought for the vice presidency. His power struggles with the already-ousted First Lady, Grace Mugabe, have also not been a secret. This is a person who even, more than Mugabe (the commander in chief), is believed to have close ties with the army. No wonder, thanks to the military, things are falling into place for the crocodile. The fear should then be: how ruthless will the crocodile be, backed by the presidency and the army? This could mark the end of opposition politics, tolerance and, at worst, sanity in Zimbabwe. If it all goes as planned, there is surely no way the 75-year-old is going to just relinquish power after enjoying the seat for just months since elections are due in 2018. At 93, Mugabe doesnt have any malice left in him. He has done it all and if a world needs a selfless leader, that should be a man like him. He is not ambitious anymore, the grip is to protect himself and his family from persecution for the things he did while still a crocodile himself. So, bringing in a younger crocodile would mean a leader who is going to rewrite all Mugabes atrocities or even worse. The same happened here in 1971 when Ugandans, for lack of a better alternative, welcomed Idi Amin with open hands. Little did they know that the crocodile had just emanated and it was later realised that Milton Obote had been somewhat human compared to his right-hand man. If the transition goes on as planned, Zimbabweans are headed for the same and before you know, you could have a Mugabe II that is if time allows! aggreynyondwa@gmail.com The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) goes to polls this Friday (November 24) for the fourth time in 14 years to elect its leader. With Kawempe South MP Mubarak Munyagwa out of the race, four candidates remain: Maj Gen Gregory Mugisha Muntu (current president), Patrick Oboi Amuriat, Malcom Mastiko and Moses Byamugisha. Gen Muntu and Amuriat are the frontrunners. In the interest of fairness, let me declare right from the onset that as co-chairman of Muntus campaign team, I am going to be truthful but obviously biased in favour of my candidate. I have never supported Muntu in any FDC internal elections largely because of his brand of politics and the fact that he hails from the same region as FDC founding president, Dr Kizza Besigye. I am a strong believer in rotational politics. That is why I supported Nathan Nandala Mafabi in 2012 who offered me my aspirations. Nandala was from Eastern Uganda and he practiced confrontational politics which, unfortunately, Gen Museveni has entrenched in our country. To win an election, you must assemble some sort of militia to fight outright rigging and force the Electoral Commission to declare you victorious. I was impressed with Nandala in 2011 when he put on a pair of shorts on election day and exchanged some kicks with UPDF soldiers deployed in his Budadiri constituency to steal his victory. I must, however, confess that even when I campaigned and voted for Nandala, I remained a strong admirer of Gen Mugisha Muntus personality. I have met very few people with such a rich profile who are as modest and genuine as Muntu. Unfortunately, it is this modesty and humility that some of our FDC people are selling as a weakness. It is this modesty and humility that Muntu has deployed to manage the FDC in the last five years. Some of our colleagues, including those in senior positions, have menacingly squeezed and undermined the man, but he has remained steadfast. FDC owes its unity and togetherness to this man. His patience has been stretched to the limit. With no privileges or salary paid, very few can brave the Najjanankumbi insults. Yet each time he was confronted with such experience, he remained calm and asked the rest of us working with him to keep learning how to manage people and to build institutions. His emphasis on building institutions through transparent processes as opposed to building personalities and relying on them will remain his biggest contribution to the FDC. And that is the choice we will be making this Friday. Throughout these campaigns, I have asked FDC leaders to tell me why they continue drinking Coca Cola or Pepsi yet they dont know their managers. We dont know who the managers of Airtel or MTN are yet we are addicted to their products. Building FDC into a brand with known values is what we should strive for as opposed to cult leaders. You dont have to know Muntu for you to be a member of FDC. You must be attracted by what FDC stands for. That is what I have told delegates throughout this campaign. I remember Hon Winnie Byanyima telling us in one of our meetings at Najjanankumbi that all we have as FDC is Besigye. True, Besigye is a treasure to have, but he is human. We must use him to build a political party that will outlive him or any other person. This is more important in a country like Uganda where those heading political institutions have turned them into personal enterprises. In developed democracies, trust in politicians is increasingly being eroded because their behaviours are more or less the same. That is how America has ended up with Donald Trump. In Uganda, and Africa in general, it is what we have been experiencing. I think there are fewer Ugandans who genuinely believe that we, the opposition, will make their lives better when we replace Museveni. Yes, they want Museveni to go but it is also possible that they dont trust us. And for me, that is most painful. We cannot afford to be just an alternative. We must be a better alternative. In an article at the beginning of our campaign, I said that some of our FDC leaders, given an opportunity, would be worse than Museveni. Predictably, they rolled me in the mud and accused me of being a mole. One commentator went an extra mile and accused me of pocketing money from Henry Tumukunde to destroy Besigye. To him, Besigye is beyond criticism and attempting to do so is criminal. Anyway, the campaigns have ended and on Friday the FDC will announce its leader. My appeal to all FDC delegates is to elect Gen Muntu so we continue benefiting from his experience. The FDC cannot be built by an individual, but all of us. That is why our campaign slogan has been Building the FDC Together. And together we will: God willing! semugs@yahoo.com The author is Kira Municipality MP and spokesperson of FDC. All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), a coalition of 184 farmer organisations, will begin a nationwide campaign to ensure minimum support price (MSP) for farmers' produce. The decision was taken at the end of a two-day Kisan Mukti Sansad, a mock-parliament, in New Delhi on November 20 and 21. Over 50,000 farmers from across the country had congregated in Delhi to be part of the event. The AIKSCC officer bearers said the mock parliament saw the passage of two Bills - Farmer's Freedom From Debt Bill and Guaranteed Remunerative Price for Farm Produce Bill - by 545 women who represented the Parliamentarians. These draft legislations will now be presented in the Parliament as private bills by Raju Shetty, an MP from Maharashtra and an active leader of the AIKSCC. "AIKSCC will get back to the farmers across the country for their feedback on the Bills before presenting it as Private Bills in the Parliament," a spokesperson of the coalition said. There is no precedence of Indian Parliament legislating a private member's Bill, except on one occasion. However, AIKSCC hopes to make this a political agenda to compel established political parties to reveal where they stand in terms of farmers' interest. The Kisan Mukti Sansad started after the completion of Kisan Mukti Yatra of more than 10 thousand kilometers by AIKSCC in 19 states. The Sansad paid tribute to the farmers martyred in Mandsaur and other police firings, farmers who had committed suicide, and to farmers of Yavatmal, who died due to pesticide poisoning. While addressing the women's parliament, noted social activist Medha Patkar said this is a historic moment when women from all over the country have gathered for putting forward the bill to Kisan Mukti Sansad, aimed at bettering lives of farmers, peasants, farm workers, adivasis, landless, tenant farmers and fishworkers. She said that the government has displaced more than 10 crore farmers all over the country, including farmers of the Narmada Valley, without rehabilitation. Putting forward the need of an alternative development policy, she declared the current policy disastrous for farmers, workers and others. AIKSCC's country wide campaign will begin from Bardoli in Gujarat on November 26, the day Indian constitution was finalised, and end on January 26, the day when the constitution was approved, the leaders said. Chinese tech comany Xiaomi announced that it has entered into a deal with Hipad Technology to sublet manufacturing of its power banks to a third party in India. This new contract-manufacturing unit un Noida is third such facility by the company in the country. The compnay also launched 10,000 mAh Mi Power Bank 2i and 20,000 mAh Power Bank 2i here today. Unlike the previous two facilities in Andhra Pradesh, this new facility will dedicatedly work on powerbanks. The localisation of production will help the company bring the prices down without sacrificing on quality. Spanning an area of over 2.3 lakh sq ft, the facility will initially employ over 500 people and this number will be increased with passing time. The new manufacturing unit has a capacity to make seven power banks a minute, Xiaomi India Head Manu Jain told reporters here. The recently launched 10,000 mAh Mi Power Bank 2i and 20,000 mAh Mi Power Bank 2i will be made at the facility, he added. Jain, however, did not divulge details of the capital being invested in the facility. "We have seen phenomenal growth in a short span of time and a key reason for that has been our commitment to India. We want to bring the best quality technology at an affordable rate and local manufacturing helps us in that," Jain said. The two other third-party manufacturing facilities in Andhra Pradesh make smartphones for Xiaomi in partnership with Foxconn. These have provided employment to over 5,000 people with 90 per cent being women, Jain said. "Today, more than 95 per cent of our smartphones sold in India are assembled locally... We are open to expanding capacity as well as setting up new factories if there is a requirement," he added. According to research firm IDC, Chinese handset maker Xiaomi caught up with industry leader Samsung to share the top spot in India's smartphone market for the September quarter with each player accounting for 23.5 per cent share. Talking about the power bank market in India, Jain said there is no third-party data available for the market. "However, the potential is huge. A major challenge is fake power banks flooding the market. We are trying to address this by adding hologram security markers to help customers know they have bought a genuine product," he said. The hologram sticker has a scratch card that reveals a set of numbers that can be checked online to know if the product is genuine. The 10,000 mAh power bank manufactured in India will be priced at Rs 799, while the 20,000 mAh variant will be available for Rs 1,499. China is confident in working with Pakistan: Chinese Foreign Ministry ISLAMABAD: China has reiterated support for Pakistan in the execution of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and expressed the hope that acceptance of multi-billion dollar communications, transport and infrastructure project by regional countries would grow. China is confident in working with Pakistan to ensure the sound development of the CPEC and uphold the economic and trade cooperation between the two countries, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said in Beijing. His comments were shared by the Chinese embassy in Islamabad with the local media on Tuesday. The spokesman was responding to the claim by Pakistani officials that India had set up a special cell to undermine the CPEC. RAW has established a new cell with a special allocation of over $500 million in 2015 to scuttle CPEC projects. We cannot close our eyes to these blatant facts, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Gen Zubair Hayat said at a seminar last week. Security is believed to be the major challenge in the CPECs execution. Pakistani authorities say that convicted Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav is proof of Indian designs to sabotage the CPEC. The Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said that Beijing had noted the relevant reports. Mr Lu recalled that the project would benefit not only Pakistan and China but also the region at large by promoting regional connectivity and common prosperity We hope that the CPEC will receive wider approval and support among the regional countries and the rest of the international community, the spokesman said. A senior Pakistani general had last year proposed to India to give up its opposition to the CPEC and join the project. The proposal was welcomed in Beijing, but was ignored by New Delhi. Meanwhile, new Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Yao Jing called on Army Chief Gen Qamar Bajwa. The army chief also met Chinas Assistant Foreign Minister and Special Envoy on Korean Peninsula Affairs Kong Xuanyou. During the meeting matters of mutual interest, including regional security, were discussed. Visiting dignitaries also acknowledged and appreciated Pakistan Armys contributions for peace and stability in the region, the ISPR said. Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said on Tuesday that Pakistan and China shared the vision of a peaceful neighbourhood and would continue to work together for the development and progress of the both nations. Talking to Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou who led a delegation here at the PM Office, the prime minister expressed resolve to further strengthen Pakistan-China strategic cooperation. He expressed satisfaction at the close cooperation between Pakistan and China on all issues of bilateral importance, including high-level interactions, the CPEC, trade, security and situation in the region and Afghanistan. Mr Abbasi noted that projects related to the CPEC, energy and infrastructure were progressing smoothly and attaining timely completion. He emphasised the need to further intensify cooperation on other CPEC-related projects, including human development and livelihood, education and health so that CPECs benefits could trickle down to the common man. The Chinese assistant foreign minister, who is visiting Pakistan for the eighth round of Pakistan-China Strategic Dialogue, conveyed Prime Minister Abbasi the best regards of Premier Li Keqiang. He appreciated Pakistans support to China on its core issues and thanked the prime minister for his letter of congratulations to the Chinese leadership on the success of 19th CPC Congress. JCC of CPEC approved LTP 2017-30 22 November, 2017 Related News Imran Khan distributed loan cheques under Kamyab Jawan Programme PTI govt to face all challenges coming its way: Imran khan More on this View All Tips for Taking Incredible iPhone Travel Photos Top 2021 Accessories We Know You Will Love Types of Casino Payment Methods Best Poker Hands ever played on a Casino Are Slot Developers Important for players? Hand Wash and Toiletries in Pakistan And the Role of DUPAS in Reshaping the Industry Woke Bingo ISLAMABAD: The Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) approved on Tuesday the Long-Term Plan (LTP 2017-30) envisaging broad parameters for future cooperation, but could not conclude agreements on development projects and special economic/industrial zones. Informed sources said the Chinese delegation complained about the political instability in Pakistan that would negatively impact on the pace of CPEC progress. The two sides took almost four hours longer than the scheduled time to conclude the 7th JCC meeting as they struggled over acceptable phrases and language to sign off minutes of the meeting. They also could not finalise taxation issues and stood short of final agreement on inclusion for financing of special economic zones. A lot of time was also consumed over Chinese insistence on prioritising the Hattar Industrial Estate in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in view of its ready infrastructure instead of Rashakai near Peshawar, but it was finally agreed that the provinces priorities would be honoured in this respect. After the conclusion of the meeting, Minister for Interior and Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal lamented that a political partys sit-in ahead of the Chinese presidents visit to Pakistan in September 2014 had delayed the CPEC launching and that tradition was carried forward today ahead of the 7th JCC meeting. He said Pakistan had to move beyond these sit-ins and become an economic power, but the protesters were earning a bad name for the country. He alleged that various methods and attempts were being made to crash Pakistans economic takeoff. Mr Iqbal, who is Pakistans focal person for the CPEC, said the LTP had been under preparation for several months involving consultations among all stakeholders in Pakistan and China. Today we have reached the agreement and approved the LTP that will encompass bilateral economic cooperation until 2030. He said the CPECs first phase involved removing energy and infrastructure bottlenecks in Pakistan to make them enablers of economic growth and hence $35 billion out of $46bn portfolio went to the energy sector, resulting in $27bn worth of projects now in implementation stage. The minister said the LTP had now finalised a comprehensive framework for bilateral cooperation, particularly towards industrialisation, value-addition and job creation. Under the framework, he added, investments would now flow to the special economic zones, while a joint working group (JWG) on agriculture had been created because China had made great progress from moving out of low value commodities to technological advancements in agriculture output. He said that in view of the growing water scarcity, the JWG would work on drip irrigation techniques and transfer of technology from China. He said the two sides had approved feasibility studies of some projects cleared by the 6th JCC meeting held in December last year and those pending would be taken up when their studies were finalised. The meeting agreed to expedite work on the Gwadar Port and Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi would inaugurate the Gwadar Eastbay Expressway project on Wednesday. Mr Iqbal said the 19km expressway also included a 4.5km bridge over the sea that would link the Gwadar Port with the Eastern side. He said the two sides also agreed that work on the Gwadar airport should start by the middle of next year. Its design is now being examined by the Chinese side would provide a grant for its construction. He said the two sides exchanged views on issues of taxation and security and formulated a working group to settle issues of taxes in a comprehensive manner. Mr Iqbal said the presence of all chief ministers and their representatives also gave a strong message that the nation was united on progress and development of the country. He said the feasibility studies on all nine industrial zones cleared at the 6th JCC meeting had been shared with China which would review them and respond. Pakistan also asked the Chinese to appoint a full-time expert of its industrial sector who should be available for liaison with the Board of Investment. Responding to a question, the minister said there was no harm in making public the LTP so that people could know what opportunities were coming up like the government had been publishing all its development plans, but declined despite repeated questions when it would be announced. In reply to a question, he did not agree that the Karachi Circular Railway project had been dropped, saying that its original feasibility was prepared by the Japanese who claimed its intellectual property rights and hence its fresh feasibility study would be vetted by the China Railway Institute for subsequent inclusion in the CPEC framework. Likewise, he said, the feasibility study of the Mainline Railway project was reviewed and decided that its cost estimates would be completed in two to three months and operationalised at the earliest after completing formalities. Responding to a question about currency exchange, Mr Iqbal said the State Bank of Pakistan would examine an arrangement for treatment of Chinese equipment related to the CPEC against the Chinese currency. He said two hydropower projects of a joint capacity of 180MW in Gilgit-Baltistan had been made part of the CPEC framework. KP Chief Minister Pervez Khattak said he was surprised how the Hattar Industrial Estate came up on the agenda when the provincial government had acquired 2,000 kanals of land at Rashakai for an industrial zone. He said the provincial government could not compromise on its priority given the fact that China was providing loan, and not grant, for the industrial zone. Nawaz Sharif,Maryam,Muhammad Safdar appeared before NAB Ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law retired captain Muhammad Safdar appeared before an accountability court in Islamabad on Wednesday as trial resumed into the corruption references filed against them by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). A number of senior PML-N leaders were present at the court to welcome Sharif. Accountability Judge Mohammad Bashir had last week granted Sharif a seven-day exemption from personal appearance while his daughter Maryam was exempted for a month. However, the duo appeared before the court today due to a change in their plans. The exemption was granted on the grounds that both wanted to see the ailing Kulsoom Nawaz, who is undergoing treatment in the UK, as well as security reasons. Maryam has now filed an application in the court requesting a change in the exemption period, seeking to be absent from December 5 to January 5, 2018. The Sharif family members left the court after two prosecution witnesses recorded their statements. Two new witnesses testify NAB prosecution presented two new witnesses against the Sharifs today: Mohammad Rasheed and Mazhar Raza Khan Bangash, who belongs to RIAA Barker Gillette law firm. Both witnesses recorded their statements in the Avenfiled flats reference. Sharif's counsel Khawaja Haris cross-examined Rasheed and is now cross-examining the second witness. In his statement, Rasheed testified that he had received a letter from NAB Lahore on September 5. He appeared before the bureau and handed over the required documents to the investigating officer. NAB prosecutor Afzal Qureshi exchanged hot words with the counsel as the former accused the latter of trying to confuse the witness. Haris objected to what he called was "unnecessary intervention" from the NAB prosecutor. "Khawaja sahib can ask anything and we stay quiet?" the prosecutor responded. The witness stated that he had no personal connection with the documents he had submitted. Bangash, the second witness, stated that he appeared before NAB Lahore on August 30 and submitted the requisite documents to the investigating officer. He verified the copy of his affidavit submitted to the court by NAB. He said the documents submitted to NAB had been provided by his company but he could not comment or give his opinion on the document. Objecting to Haris's comment that it is easy to speak the truth but "telling lies is different", the NAB prosecutor remarked: "It is inappropriate to call a witness a liar before the court." At the last hearing, NAB prosecution had presented its first two witnesses in court Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) Joint Registrar Sidra Mansoor and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Inland Revenue Department representative, Jahangir Ahmad both of whom recorded their statements in the references against the Sharif family. NAB references A five-member bench of the Supreme Court on July 28 had directed NAB to file references against Nawaz and his children in six weeks in the accountability court and directed the trial court to decide the references within six months. The Supreme Court also assigned Justice Ijazul Ahsan a supervisory role to monitor the progress of the accountability court proceedings. NAB had filed three references on Sept 8 against Sharif and his family, and another reference against Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. The three references against the Sharif family are related to the Flagship Investment Ltd, the Avenfield (London) properties and Jeddah-based Al-Azizia Company and Hill Metal Establishment. PML-N again defeated opposition in NA voting 22 November, 2017 Related News Imran Khan distributed loan cheques under Kamyab Jawan Programme PTI govt to face all challenges coming its way: Imran khan More on this View All Tips for Taking Incredible iPhone Travel Photos Top 2021 Accessories We Know You Will Love Types of Casino Payment Methods Best Poker Hands ever played on a Casino Are Slot Developers Important for players? Hand Wash and Toiletries in Pakistan And the Role of DUPAS in Reshaping the Industry Woke Bingo ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Tuesday put all speculations about a possible split within the party to rest when it defeated a Nawaz Sharif-specific opposition bill seeking to restore the bar on a disqualified person from holding party office in the National Assembly. NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq announced the result of the 163-98 vote in a charged assembly hall, amid heavy sloganeering from both sides of the aisle. The only minor embarrassment for the ruling party was the defiance of former prime minister and government ally Zafarullah Khan Jamali, who openly voted with the opposition benches when the speaker ordered a headcount. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) also voted with the opposition. Both the government and opposition parties had taken special measures to ensure the presence of their respective members on private members day, in anticipation of a vote on the bill seeking an amendment to the Elections Act 2017. The amendment aimed to remove clause 203 from the act, which allowed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to reclaim his position as the president of the PML-N following his disqualification by the Supreme Court in the Panama Papers case. The bill, which has already been passed by the opposition-dominated Senate last month, was submitted to the National Assembly by Syed Naveed Qamar and Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). As the bill has already been passed by the Senate, the government will now have to place it before a joint sitting of parliament for a final vote. In order to ensure the presence of maximum members, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi hosted a luncheon for party legislators before chairing a meeting of the parliamentary group. Privatisation Minister Daniyal Aziz later told reporters that 167 MNAs were present in the meeting, adding that such a large turnout proved that the PML-N was united under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif and that all reports of rifts and forward blocs within the party had been proven wrong. Long before they sought leave to introduce the bill, opposition members sensed their impending defeat, as was evident from the sarcastic remarks passed by Leader of the Opposition Syed Khursheed Shah and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insafs Shah Mehmood Qureshi at the outset of the session. Pointing towards the brimming treasury benches, Mr Shah observed that it was nice to see faces that had never been seen in the house before. Similarly, Mr Qureshi said that he was happy to see such high attendance in the house, terming it a pleasant change. What has brought these members back to the house? Perhaps it is due to the blessings of Clause 203, the sumptuous meal and development funds [they were promised], Mr Qureshi taunted the treasury members. PML-N MNA Rajab Baloch, who has been battling cancer, took the floor and refuted reports that the police had been activated to forcefully bring ruling party members to the house. He said no one had asked him to attend the session, and he had come to attend the parliamentary meeting of his own free will. Arguing in favour of the bill, Naveed Qamar said it did not seem appropriate to see a disqualified person dictating policy to parliament. He termed the law against the essence of Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution, saying that such person-specific legislation had proven detrimental to the country. Despite opposition from treasury members, the speaker also allowed PTIs Shah Mehmood Qureshi to make a speech, even though he was not a mover of the bill. However, his remarks were not audible in the galleries due to constant interruptions and sloganeering from both opposition and treasury members. He said the clause in question was undermining the sanctity of parliament as a whole, since the Senate, which represented the federation, was refusing to endorse it, and both houses were in direct conflict with each other on the issue. This conflict between parliament and the Supreme Court was disturbing the balance of power between various organs of the state, he said, and regretted that a party that had governed for three decades could not find a single individual who could head the party and meet the standards of qualification set out in Article 62 of the Constitution. Opposing the bill, Law Minister Zahid Hamid criticised the PPP for moving the legislation, which had been thrown out by their founding chairman Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1970s. He said the provision was re-introduced by former military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf in 2002 since he wanted to keep Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif out of politics. He claimed that none of the parties objected to the clause when a committee and a subsequent sub-committee looking into election laws had suggested the removal of the provisions related to disqualification. He claimed the law was not person-specific as the draft had been prepared in 2014, long before the Panama Papers issue surfaced. In fact, he said, it was oppositions bill was Nawaz Sharif-specific. Mr Shah also launched a personal attack on Mr Hamid, saying that his last job was to defend the military dictator Gen Pervez Musharraf as his law minister. Railways Minister Saad Rafique also made a fiery speech, alleging that the opposition was doing all this at the behest of someone else. If you dont like Nawaz Sharif, we cant help that. But for Gods sake dont try to bring laws on the basis of the doctrine of necessity and prejudice, which will ultimately weaken democracy in the country, he said. Want to know how many turkeys were raised on U.S. farms and where those farms are? You've come to the right place! First up, the following chart shows how many millions of U.S. turkeys have populated U.S. farms in each year from 1970 through 2017. The following map indicates the 14 states in which nearly 88% of those turkeys lived in 2016! Are you ready to meet this year's flock? Just in case you came to this post searching for information about the population or demographics of Turkey, well, go here instead.... GLENS FALLS Glens Falls Hospital has received the Mission: Lifeline Bronze Receiving Quality Achievement Award for implementing specific quality improvement measures outlined by the American Heart Association for the treatment of patients who suffer severe heart attacks. Glens Falls Hospital earned the award by meeting specific criteria and standards of performance for the quick and appropriate treatment of STEMI patients by providing emergency procedures to re-establish blood flow to blocked arteries when needed. Eligible hospitals must adhere to these measures at a set level for at least one consecutive 90-day interval. Glens Falls Hospital is dedicated to improving the quality of care for our patients who suffer a heart attack, and the American Heart Associations Mission: Lifeline program is helping us accomplish that goal through nationally respected clinical guidelines, said Barbara McDermott, director of Cardiac and Critical Care Services for Glens Falls Hospital, in a news release. FORT EDWARD General Electrics old dewatering plant for its completed Hudson River dredging project has been suggested as a site for developers who want to turn waste into fertilizer. Hampton Supervisor David OBrien said the property has access to the water and a rail line. John Dowd, a partner with Smart Terra Care, wants to build a factory that can take biomass waste from paper plants and biosolids waste from wastewater treatment plants to create biochar, a type of charcoal that can be used as fertilizer. It can also be used for treatment of wastewater and sewage, drinking water treatment, air and water filters and renewable bioenergy. Dowd toured sites in the area, including parcels in the industrial park near the Warren County airport. He pitched his idea to the Warren-Washington Counties Industrial Development Agency Executive Committee last week and appeared before the full IDA board on Monday. Were not particular to a place. Were particular to making sure we dont have a problem, he said. Dowd said the plant would be relatively small about 10,000 to 12,000 square feet. The goal is to reduce the amount of waste going into landfills and giving off methane gas, he said. Our whole goal is to create a situation where waste is used in a positive way that is beneficial to society, he said. In the process, one bunker is set up for sludge from paper plants and one for the wastewater. The waste is put through a dryer that takes out moisture. Then it goes throw a thermal reactor that heats the mixture up to 600 to 700 degrees. The heat breaks down chemicals in the biosolids, and the gases are captured. Theyre fed back in as fuel, he said. The end product is the biochar. The plan is to run the plant 24 hours a day about 6 days a week, according to Dowd. You can only make so much, he said. He estimated the operation would require 18 to 20 truck trips per day. He would be working with a waste company, which would space out the deliveries, and the trucks would not be running at all hours of the night. OBrien brought up concern about PFOAs in the southern half of the county. Adjacent Rensselaer County experienced PFOA contamination in water supplies in Hoosick Falls. He also questioned whether construction waste would have asbestos in it. Dowd said he is not sure, but that is why they are bringing in an environmental consultant. Theyre going to proceed and make sure everything is done in the right context, the right procedures, he said. An audience member asked about the gases that could be released. Warren County has one of the highest rates of cancer in the state. Dowd said the business will have a laboratory to test for any gases leaving the site. He said this process would be preferable to the current situation, where garbage is breaking down in landfills and giving off methane gas. I cant see any emissions going in the air thats going to be a problem, he said. Another concern expressed was about runoff from the site or material coming off the trucks. Dowd explained that the material would be trucked directly to bunkers. Nothing is put outside the building, he said. Dowd said he is not aware that any other business is using both biomass and biosolids to make carbon. Were doing something better than whats being done right now, he said. FORT EDWARD A Kingsbury man who faces an indictment for allegedly paying boys to have sex in front of him has been charged with sexually abusing a child in a new case filed this week, authorities said. Robert N. Middleton, 63, was charged with first-degree sexual abuse, a felony, and misdemeanor counts of compounding a crime and endangering the welfare of a child, according to the Washington County Sheriffs Office. The compounding a crime count alleges a person gave a benefit to another person so they will refrain from initiating a prosecution for a crime. The charges come in addition to an 18-count indictment that was filed earlier this fall against Middleton. It was for a new victim who has come forward, Washington County sheriffs Capt. Tony LeClaire said. Police have also heard from potential victims in California, where Middleton is a part-time resident of San Francisco. We have talked to police in San Francisco about it, but some of it might be too old for prosecution, LeClaire said. Middleton, a registered sex offender in California because of a 1990 child sex conviction there, had not been accused of having sexual contact with teens locally until this week. Instead, the allegations consisted of paying boys under the age of 17 to have sex while he watched, which has resulted in charges of sexually motivated felony, promoting prostitution, attempted use of a child in a sexual performance and endangering the welfare of a child. Middleton was first arrested in April after a Washington County Sheriffs Office investigation that began when police learned of allegations that boys were having sexual contact at his Quarry Crossing home. Authorities allege he had improper sexually motivated contact with four boys, and was paying boys as young as 14 to bring new boys to his home during crimes that dated back more than 5 years. The Sheriffs Office also learned that he continued to take boys to a trampoline park and to stores around the region to buy them gifts, and may have tried to pay some to change their testimony, prosecutors said at a court proceeding earlier this month. Middleton pleaded not guilty Tuesday on the new charges before Washington County Judge Kelly McKeighan and remains free on $150,000 cash bail he posted after his first indictment in May. His lawyer, James Knox, has not returned phone calls for comment on the case. Police said the investigation against Middleton is continuing. Anyone with information in the case is being asked to call sheriffs Investigator Greg Danio at 518-746-2497. LAKE GEORGE A Lake George man was charged with driving under the influence of drugs after he was found unconscious behind the wheel of a vehicle parked partially in the traveled lane of Canada Street early Wednesday, police said. Jacob E. Wilusz, 20, was arrested after Warren County sheriff's officers approached a car that was parked illegally and found him passed out, the agency said in a news release. He failed field sobriety tests and was charged with driving while ability impaired by drugs, a misdemeanor, and noncriminal unlawful possession of marijuana, police said. Wilusz was released, pending prosecution in Lake George Town Court. CORINTH Corinth Fire Chief Andy Kelley clarified statements made on Tuesday about the origin of the fire that killed a mother and daughter. According to the preliminary documents by state and county fire investigators, the fire started Monday morning in the bedroom of the elementary school-age children and is linked to possible careless smoking, Kelley said. Anything electrical has been ruled out, he said. She (Briaunna) did not smoke. The only people that can answer are deceased, Kelley said. Kelley did confirm the timeline of events. He said that Briaunna, 15, who was upstairs, yelled to her mother, Tonya, about the fire. Tonya went upstairs, where she and Briaunna died of smoke inhalation. An autopsy was conducted Tuesday at Saratoga Hospital. First responders rescued Tonyas son, Robert Shippee III, and two young children, 18 months and 3 years of age, who were downstairs. Survivors include Slimmers husband, Jerry, and eight other children. Family and community members will gather three times this week to remember Tonya and Briaunna Slimmer. The family will receive visitors from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday at Densmore Funeral Home, 7 Sherman Ave. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at the First United Methodist Church, 243 Main St. Corinth, with the churchs pastor, Ernie Wester, officiating. In a Facebook post, family members asked those attending the Saturday service to wear tie-dye or pink and white clothing. As of 3:45 p.m. Wednesday, 133 people have donated $9,490 to a GoFundMe page to help the family with funeral costs. The goal started at $5,000 and has increased twice to $15,000. The family has asked in lieu of flowers that donations be made to the Slimmer family at any Hudson River Community Credit Union branch. For those interested in making donations in the form of goods, the First United Methodist Church at 243 Main St. is collecting items. QUEENSBURY A Glens Falls man was jailed Tuesday night after he was arrested in possession of 6.5 ounces of cocaine and nearly an ounce of heroin during a traffic stop, police said. Robert C. Delaney, 59, of North Pearl Street, was charged after he was pulled over for erratic driving in the northbound lanes of the Northway just before 6:30 p.m., according to State Police. Troopers developed probable cause to search Delaney and the vehicle, which led to the seizure of drugs and the filing of four felony charges of criminal possession of a controlled substance, police said. Police said he is from Connecticut and had come to the area in recent years when he began dating a local woman and became involved in the local drug trade. He has an extensive criminal record in Connecticut, where he was prosecuted in federal court in 2008 on charges he distributed narcotics while illegally in possession of firearms in the town of Farmington. He pleaded guilty to a felony count of possession of a firearm and ammunition by a previously convicted felon. Delaney pleaded guilty in that case, and was sentenced to 7 years in federal prison and 3 years on probation upon his release, court records show. He also had prior federal drug-related convictions in Connecticut in 1992-1993 and was being prosecuted by state prosecutors for an unspecified, unrelated crime at the time of that prosecution, court records show. However, he convinced a judge to terminate his probation early with a motion he filed pro se in U.S. District Court in March, claiming Delaney has shown exemplary post-conviction adjustment and conduct in his supervision responsibilities. Delaney wrote that he had lived in the Lake George area since 2014 and that driving to Albany to report to his probation officer was a hardship in light of the fact he had made a genuine change in my life. Among the charges filed Tuesday was a count of second-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, the states second-weightiest drug charge, which is punishable by up to 17 years in state prison. Delaney was arraigned and sent to Warren County Jail for lack of bail. Police said he was not believed to be connected with two other Connecticut residents who Glens Falls Police arrested on felony drug charges in recent months. SOUTH GLENS FALLS Six-year-old Michael Munger just loves his grandmothers apple pie on Thanksgiving. He even slips into the kitchen and steals some of her sliced apples when shes not looking. I get to help and I eat the apples, said a giggling Michael. Im sneaky. Good thing Michaels grandmother doesnt let him cook the main dish on Thanksgiving Day. He thinks the bird should go into the oven for about ten-hundred minutes. Most of the first-graders at Harrison Avenue Elementary in South Glens Falls admitted turkey was their favorite food item to eat on Thanksgiving, although desserts made by grandma seem to hold a close second to the traditional staple. But dont ask these first-graders how to cook one. Ive never cooked a turkey, said 6-year-old Carter Chaplin, his hair spiked on top of his head. I dont know, said Londynn Olmeda, 6. I dont watch my mom do it. Irene Hall, 6, who likes her turkey with just a little bit of gravy, knew what to do. First you have to wash it and take the neck and guts out and then you have to cook it, Irene explained. Even though many of them didnt know exactly how long to roast the bird, most of the kids love to eat it. Yet, some, like Brentley Phelps, cant stand turkey at all. Brentley, 6, plans to eat macaroni and cheese instead of turkey this year. He doesnt consider turkey to be a healthy food, he said. Nora Chanese, 6, said she will try turkey this year, even though its not her favorite food. First you need to get rid of the head or else itll be a headed turkey, she said. Who wants to eat a headed turkey? Nora cant wait to spend the day with her two cousins and five dogs. The children considered time with family particularly time spent playing with their cousins to be the most important part of the Thanksgiving holiday, much more important than what they are served for dinner. People usually come to my house, 6-year-old Andrew Murphy said. We just play games until the feast is ready. Leah Cosey turns 7 on Thanksgiving this year, so the day is extra special for her. Her mom just repainted her bedroom teal and put a new desk in her room. I think Im going to get a bigger bed for Christmas, Leah said. LAKE GEORGE The town is holding a public Show and Tell workshop on Tuesday about its Fort George Battlefield Project. The event will take place at 6 p.m. at the Courthouse Museum. Hartgen Archaeological Associates will discuss progress on the project to conduct a study of the military history of Fort George. The firm is doing an inventory and noninvasive exploration of sites associated with Fort George battles during the French and Indian War and Revolutionary War. Residents and historical enthusiasts are encouraged to attend and bring any artifacts, maps, journals, letters or other historically relevant items to show and share with the group. Refreshments will be served. Fort George was the site of a key battle in 1755 during the French and Indian War, in which British and Colonial soldiers defeated the French. Americans captured the site from the British in 1775, but Great Britain took it back in 1780. Hartgen, of Rensselaer, will bring a small collection of borrowed artifacts found at Lake George from the New York State Museum to present and share at the event. The town received a $50,000 grant from the National Park Services Battlefield Protection Program to perform the study. Welcome Guest! You Are Here: Welcome Guest! You Are Here: Home Regional News East The Quad-City International Airport posted its best passenger numbers in 2017 as enplanements passengers boarded surpassed the 30,000-mark for the first time in 12 months. According to the monthly statistics, released Tuesday, the 31,897 enplaned passengers in October were down 1 percent from October 2016 when the airport last hit the 30,000-mark with 32,198 enplanements. Bruce Carter, the airports aviation director, announced the monthly results during a meeting of the Rock Island County Metropolitan Airport Authority board. Total passengers enplanements and deplanements combined were flat at 63,425 in October. That was 135 passengers short of the 63,560 reported in October 2016. Officials said it also marked the first time total passengers surpassed the 63,000-mark since October 2016. The airport saw seven months in 2016 when passenger totals were in the 60,000 range, which compared to two months this year March and October. The best month of 2016 was March, when there were 66,899 total passengers. For calendar 2017, total passengers and enplanements are each down 9 percent. Total passengers as of October are 554,804, which compares to 609,004 for the same period in 2016. According to the airport's consultant, Mike Bown of Trillion Aviation, October's improvement was due to relatively improved fares and an increased seat capacity in the market. He forecast that November and December should outperform a year ago with better fares, more seat capacity growth and easier comparisons over the year. He predicted at least 5 to 7-percent growth over the two months. The airport also should see a bump from the return of Allegiant Airlines service to Punta Gorda, Florida. The twice weekly service, with flights on Monday and Fridays, resumes Dec. 15. In other business, Jeff Patterson, the airport's security coordinator and chief public safety officer, was presented with the 2017 Downstate Illinois Partnership Award by the Transportation Security Administration. TSA Federal Security Director John Hursey cited Patterson as "an exceptional security partner." Patterson was credited for his "dedication to responding to and mitigating security vulnerabilities" at the Moline airport. There wont be a Will Ferrell appearance in Circa 21 Dinner Playhouses production of Elf The Musical. But you will hear many of the lines and scenes made famous by Ferrell in his portrayal of Buddy the Elf in the 2003 movie, now considered a Christmas season staple. And youll hear them from a New York-based actor, who according to his castmates, was born to play the happy-go-lucky main character. Luke Rose, who stars as Buddy in the Rock Island theaters rendition of Elf the Musical, is well-versed in Buddys ultra-quotable lines such as, Smiling's my favorite! and Buddy the Elf, whats your favorite color? More than once, the 24-year-old Michigan native has happily drenched his spaghetti in maple syrup. He also happens to be very tall, naturally smiley and an optimist at heart. I am very similar to Buddy, Rose said. I like to find the joy and the good in everything in my daily life. Brett Hitchcock, director of audience engagement at Circa 21, has noticed the similarity, too. Hes very Elf off stage, too, Hitchcock said. Hes a playful guy who loves life and to make people laugh. What you see on stage is him. On stage, Rose hopes to stand out from the on-screen version of Elf. Thats why hes opting not to watch the movie during the musicals run. Performances are scheduled through Dec. 30. Im not going to watch it, because I already have the Will Ferrell-isms, if you will, stuck in my head, he said. Ive got those memorized. For other aspects of the show, such as the original songs, new scenes and dialogue, Rose is making it his own. I think that will help audiences to not be comparing my character to Will Ferrell the whole time, he said. It will also help that this is the area premiere of the show. Circa 21 was one of the first dinner theaters in the country to gain rights to the show, which Hitchcock calls a big win for the Rock Island venue. One of the problems is that there are not a lot of new Christmas shows, Hitchcock said. Youre always looking for something people haven't seen before. This is something new and something that will attract a younger audience. The story follows Buddy, who grows up in a family of elves on the North Pole and, until he turns 30, is unaware thats he actually a human. He goes on a journey to New York City to find his father, figure out how to use things like crosswalks and elevators and spread plenty of Christmas joy along the way. After the movies success, the musical version ran on Broadway in 2010-2011 and in 2012-2013. It has also toured the country, including a Nov. 2016 stop at the Adler Theatre in Davenport. Tickets have been selling well since the show opened on Nov. 8, Hitchcock said. Circa 21 has added three performances on Dec 14, 19 and 21. For Rose, who has lived in New York City for more than two years, hes guessing this wont be the last time he plays Buddy. There will be probably be many more, he said. Its such a fun character to play. Rose has had fun with the character behind the scenes, too. He filmed and released a five-part video blog titled Becoming Buddy the Elf on YouTube. I was in New York when I got my script, he said. I thought it was funny how much of the play was set in New York and here I am. The videos include Rose touring spots in New York City as well as his arrival in Rock Island, rehearsals, costume fittings and opening night of the show. Rose says he isn't the only one who'd enjoy becoming Buddy even just for a day. Everyone would like to be like Buddy in their daily lives, he said. He just makes you smile. Between the bin of jumbo-sized workbooks tough enough for a toddler's handling and the miniature plastic chairs sturdy enough for a four-year-old's squirming, you might think Valerie Alves's classroom at the Family Museum is just your usual preschool learning environment if it wasn't for the large index cards taped throughout the room. One reads "Las mariposas," near a glass display of butterfly taxidermy. Another: "La cocina," by a plastic play oven and stove. As for the card outside the door? "Bienvenidos a la clase de Espanol." "They're incredibly intuitive at such a young age," says Alves of her eight four-year-old students, whom she teaches for an hour on Monday and Wednesday mornings from September to May. As sponge-like as their brains may be, Alvesor "Maestra Valerie" as shes known to her studentssays she tries to not place too much on the kids: "The program is not a complete immersion. It's more of an introduction for the vowel sounds, the alphabet, the numbers, the colors." The classroom doesn't just have the look of a typical preschool. It also has the feel: as class begins, Alves helps her kids release some of that boundless preschooler energy by leading them in a stretching exercisebut in Spanish of course. "Derecha! Derecha! Derecha! Derecha!" the kids chant as they lean to the right. To the left: "Izquierda!" To the back: "Detras!" To the front: "Delante!" Alves, who has taught Spanish at the Family Museum for around 10 years, incorporates culture into her curriculum, too. Part of that includes geography: after the early-morning aerobics, Alves passes around pictures of the Mexican cities of Queretaro City and Merida, and the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza and Dzibilchaltun. Another part of the culture component: cuisine. "Tengo una sorpresa!" Alves announces. "I have a surprise!" And a tasty one at that: after the kids wash their hands, she serves them a caramel-like candy called Obleas de Cajeta, which she brought back from a recent trip to Mexico. For all the tasty treats and pictures of faraway places, it's clear that above all else Alves emphasizes the spoken word: after she has her kids count up the calendar to the days date, she finishes the hour by reading the kids a book about household chores called "Como puedo ayudar?" ("How can I help?"), with her students repeating each line out loud. "When you speak a different language, your muscles in your mouththey develop differently. So, if they develop early on, they don't have a problem with communication later." Joe Miletich of Princeton, Iowa,whose four-year-old son Liam takes the class, knows that problem firsthand: "I didn't take Spanish until high school. It was really difficult for me at that age to try and learn, so we wanted to get him going as early as possible." For Liam, early as possible meant last year, when he was three. That's the youngest age Alves teaches, on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at the Family Museum. The oldest are eighth-graders, whom she teaches at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic School in Davenport. To Alves, theres no such thing as being too young to start learning Spanish, or too old to stop: "You want to teach them a love of learning forever." A 14-year-old charged with beating and robbing a 47-year-old man in October waived his preliminary hearing Wednesday. Doryan Phynell Jackson of Davenport filed the waiver through his attorney, Barbara Maness, according to court records. During a preliminary hearing, a judge decided whether there is enough evidence for the case to move forward. The judge doesnt decide a defendants guilt or innocence. Jackson will be arraigned Dec. 14. He will be tried in adult court as a youthful offender. He faces charges of first-degree robbery, willful injury causing serious injury, and assault while participating in a felony. Jackson also faces charges of second-degree burglary, conspiracy to commit a non-forcible felony, unlawful possession of a prescription drug, a serious misdemeanor, and possession of a controlled substance, also a serious misdemeanor, in unrelated cases. Around 11 p.m. Oct. 12, Lester Norton was walking his bicycle on the Davenport bike path, the Duck Creek Trail Parkway, near Hickory Grove and Hillandale roads. Jackson and co-defendant Christopher M. Shadrick, 13, knocked him over and tried to steal his bike, according to police. When Norton tried to stand up, the teens began hitting and kicking him and stole his cellphone and sweatshirt, according to police. Norton was taken to Genesis Medical Center-East Rusholme Street, Davenport; police were called to the hospital at 11:30 p.m. He has since been released from the hospital. Shadrick also will be charged in adult court as a youthful offender in connection with the incident and other unrelated cases. He will be arraigned Dec. 7. An existing Bettendorf business will receive tax-increment financing to spur development and further the vision of the city's downtown. The Bettendorf City Council has approved a development agreement with Ascentra Credit Union by a 6-1 vote that will lead to the construction of a close to 40,000 square-foot headquarters across the street from the Quad-Cities Waterfront Convention Center. The terms of the agreement call for a 10-year, 100 percent TIF capped at $2 million that will keep Ascentra in downtown Bettendorf while also developing the property known as Town Square. "If we think we're going to rebuild our downtown without incentives, it's going to be next to impossible," Alderman Scott Webster, 5th Ward said during Tuesday's council meeting. Discussions about a development agreement began in February and while some aldermen questioned the use of a TIF for an existing business on Monday, the council ultimately deemed that it was project they could not pass on. Terms of the agreement call for the city to purchase Ascentra's current headquarters on Grant Street for $1.15 million and bury utilities on the new site and in addition to relocating the traffic signal at the corner of 21st and Grant streets. Ascentra's obligations include purchasing the north Town Square property for $750,000 and the south property for $1. After an alternative parking structure is constructed, the south property would be conveyed back to the city for $1. With job creation an integral part of TIF agreements, the new building would create 20 new jobs immediately and 40 additional jobs over the 10-year term. It would also offer free rental space for a yet-to-be-formed downtown business association over the term of the agreement. Based upon a minimum assessment of just north of $9 million, Economic Development Director Jeff Reiter said Monday that the estimated TIF payments would satisfy the agreement in about eight years. City Administrator Decker Ploehn said with the $5 debt service, it would generate more than $45,000 in taxes from day one in addition to more than $25,000 for the school district's physical plant and equipment levy. Webster called the agreement a compromise and said what the public sees as the end product was not representative of how discussions first began. Ascentra President and CEO Dale Owen echoed Webster's comments and the collaborative spirit of the agreement. On Monday, Owen also mentioned that the agreement also includes a number items that add value back to the city. "They're purchasing it for $1.1 (million), but the appraisal is $1.6 (million) and we've had inquiries for up over $2 million so that's not a true incentive handover," Owen said. "It's more that the city is getting that value in getting to keep the whole process going downtown." The city received two letters of support for the development agreement in addition to vocal endorsement from Don Keller, owner of K&K Hardware. While she praised the work and character of Owen, Alderwoman Debe Lamar, 3rd Ward, cast the lone dissenting vote. "Because this project diverges from our original intent of becoming a wow destination for our citizens and our visitors, I have to stick to my guns and vote no for this project," LaMar said. More than 14,000 Iowans had signed up for health insurance in the Affordable Care Act marketplace through the end of last week, according to new government data, exceeding the number who had done so last year at this time. The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services released third week figures for signups on Wednesday, reporting that nearly 2.3 million Americans had selected plans. Signups have been ahead of last year's pace. Last week, CMS reported that nearly 1.5 million people had selected ACA plans in the first two weeks of enrollment, which began Nov. 1. For a similar period the year before, it was just over 1 million. Wednesday's release was the first glimpse at what has been happening in Iowa this year. The report said that 14,284 Iowans had signed up in the first three weeks of this year's enrollment window, which has already surpassed the 12,099 who had done so in the first four weeks of last year's sign up period. Last year's figures were reported in two-week increments, making direct comparisons difficult. In addition, the Trump administration cut the the enrollment period this year to just six weeks, half the three months that people were given last year. Overall, 51,573 Iowans ended up selecting ACA plans last year. Iowa's individual insurance marketplace has seen a great deal of turmoil this year, as all but one company, Medica, have left the marketplace. Also, President Trump and Republicans in Congress have sought to kill the ACA. This summer, Iowa's insurance commissioner sought federal permission to revamp the ACA marketplace in the state with a temporary measure that officials said would stabilize the market. However, the state withdrew the plan late last month. One enrollment specialist in the Quad-Cities said she has seen an increase in interest in marketplace plans this year. Linaka Kain, who oversees enrollment activities regionally at UnityPoint Health, said Tuesday that about 290 people had enrolled in plans in the Quad-Cities. That is nearly three times what it was last year at this time. However, nearly all the people who were helped qualified for tax credits, which bring down the cost of premiums. Because of how insurers and state regulators responded to the administration's elimination of government payments for cost-sharing subsidies last month, many people who qualify for the tax credits are seeing lower costs this year. That has even allowed some to afford higher value plans. "This is the first year we've had so many people picking Gold plans," Kain said. People who buy outside the marketplace or don't qualify for tax credits aren't having the same experience. They're seeing higher costs. Medica's average premium in Iowa is up about 57 percent over last year. In proposing its stopgap measure to the Trump administration earlier this year, the state's insurance commissioner predicted that between 18,000 and 22,000 Iowans would lose health care coverage if the plan was not approved. In Illinois, nearly 78,000 people had selected plans in the first three weeks of this year's enrollment window, according to the new data. In the first four weeks of last year's enrollment period about 68,200 had selected plans. There may be new mental health services in the offing for the Iowa Quad-Cities. The Eastern Iowa Mental Health and Disability Services Region has submitted a new proposal to the state to reduce a nearly $14 million budget surplus that could lead to an expansion of services in the five-county region that includes Scott County. The new services in the proposal include the establishment of crisis stabilization sites, places where people who dont require hospitalization but still need around-the-clock care could go for a short period while being stabilized. In addition, the region's management team is proposing to expand mobile crisis teams to all five counties in the region. Both services would deal with people with mental health difficulties that need immediate attention. The region's governing board wont approve a budget until early next year. But Lori Elam, chief executive for the region, said this week that adding those services would improve the continuum of care in the area, as well as reduce the number of people who are sent to hospital emergency rooms or to jail. "You need crisis services to catch people before they get really bad," Elam said. Mental health regions across the state and their member counties are being forced to reduce big fund balances. The Eastern Iowa regions balance, including excess mental health funds among the counties, is at about 175 percent of the region's annual budget. By 2020, the balance for the Eastern Iowa Region must be knocked down to 20 percent. The requirement is part of a bill that former Gov. Terry Branstad signed into law in May, which allows mental health regions more flexibility to levy property taxes for mental health services. Scott County had lobbied the legislature for that ability. The county has complained a state-imposed cap did not allow it meet ongoing operational costs. And with other counties in the region levying more in taxes per capita to pay for mental health services, that has caused some friction over the past few years. The bill that lawmakers approved continued limiting how much tax money the regions could raise overall in property taxes, but it did allow for some shifting within those regions. As a result, Scott County can now raise taxes for mental health services, though doing so could make it more difficult to lower the amount of the surplus. The county currently levies $19.20 per person for mental health services. Eventually, Elam said, property taxes will need to be adjusted to pay for the new services in the long term. When that will happen and what the levy will be is not clear. The new law caps property taxes for mental health services at $30.78 per person in the Eastern Iowa region. The proposal to the state Department of Human Services forecasts spending $12.2 million in new region-wide services between fiscal years 2019 and 2022, said David Farmer, Scott County's budget director, who also acts as the fiscal agent for the region. That would be a significant increase for this area. In 2017, the region's annual expenditures totaled about $8.5 million. Elam said earlier this week she hopes to move forward soon toward finding a provider to manage the new crisis residential facilities, which would essentially be multi-bedroom homes that would be rented and staffed by professionals who would help manage the needs of residents. If all goes as she hopes, the new services could be online at this time next year. As North Korea marches toward nuclear mastery, President Donald Trump slaps the country back on an American blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism. But is it anything more than bluster? After all, former President George W. Bush removed North Korea from that same list nearly a decade ago, also in an attempt to halt its march toward nuclear mastery. Aside from a pretty good illustration of just how hopeless the decades-long effort to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions can seem, the contrasting approaches also show that the list has always been more about symbolism than substance. The top U.S. diplomat, Rex Tillerson, acknowledged as much and undercut Trump's declaration that it was part of a "maximum pressure campaign" to isolate North Korea when he called the decision a "very symbolic move" with limited practical effects. After months of nuclear and missile tests that put North Korea ever closer to completing a viable long-range nuclear arsenal that can hit the U.S. mainland, the designation has the ring of a counterpunch that's more impressive to look at than painful to feel. And since North Korea will see it as a yet another in a long list of provocations even if symbolic it likely pushes a negotiated end to the dangerous standoff on the Korean Peninsula further away. There will be angry words from Pyongyang, maybe more weapons tests, and then more angry words from Washington, and maybe more sanctions. The listing will raise animosity and speed up North Korea's nuclear development, said Hong Min, an analyst at Seoul's Korea Institute for National Unification. North Korea will also see the move as proof that the Trump administration has no genuine interest in diplomacy, considering the shame and global stigma the designation still brings, Hong said. One problem for Trump is that while North Korea cared very much about the terror list a decade ago, it may not worry as much about it now. When North Korea was taken off the list in 2008 part of a pledge Bush made in a 2007 nuclear disarmament deal that blew up within a year North Korea chafed at what it saw as an impediment to doing international business and pursuing large multilateral financial loans, analysts at the time said. But 2017's North Korea is very different from the nation that did a deal with Bush. The dictator now in charge the young Kim Jong Un, who took over after his father, Kim Jong Il, died in 2011 has so far seen little benefit to the interminable diplomatic wrangling his father dove into between so-called provocations. Kim Jong Un, instead, has pursued with breakneck speed the building of an arsenal of nuclear-tipped missiles. Granted, the messages from Washington where Trump has swung between threats of "fire and fury" and offers to talk have been mixed, but when there has been U.S. outreach, North Korea has seemed uninterested. The move by Trump will also fit neatly, from North Korea's perspective, into its long-running claim that Washington harbors "hostile intentions" that make the nuclear program a crucial part of national defense. How you see the respective moves by Bush and Trump may depend on how you define terrorism. Those who thought North Korea shouldn't be on the list a decade ago argued that it had not been tied directly to terrorism since its agents planted a bomb on a South Korean commercial jetliner in 1987. The other side saw North Korea's abduction of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s, and its alleged assassinations of North Koreans who fled to South Korea, as clear evidence of terrorism. Trump, in announcing the listing this week, mentioned an American student imprisoned in North Korea who died of injuries suffered there, and also "assassinations on foreign soil," a reference to the killing of Kim Jong Un's half brother with nerve agent at the Kuala Lumpur airport in February. Some in South Korea believe that, regardless of Washington's actions, North Korea has no intention of negotiating over its weapons until it successfully builds a working long-range nuclear arsenal, something that may happen in the next couple of years. Evidence for this could be seen when a senior Chinese envoy, Song Tao, apparently failed to meet Kim Jong Un during a four-day visit that ended Monday, according to Cheong Seong-Chang, an analyst at South Korea's Sejong Institute. The terror list designation, Cheong said, won't hurt North Korea economically as it's already so highly sanctioned. But, he said, it would have one concrete result: "A dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang is virtually impossible now." The concept of STEM is beginning to leave a footprint in the education and business sectors of southeast Iowa. Over the course of the past several years, Iowa has seen an insurgence of science, technology, engineering and mathematics engagement in primary, secondary and post-secondary education. Next steps: Growing our little pockets of excellence and engaging more champions on a broader level. I have been serving as the regional manager of the Southeast STEM region under the Iowa Governors STEM Advisory Council for the past four years, watching STEM in the region continue to grow and impact lives. In my role as the Southeast regional manager, Im charged with creating a strong STEM workforce and spurring economic growth. Iowa is a national leader in the STEM conversation, and as our approach to STEM becomes broader and more systemic, the sustainability of STEM efforts in our state becomes that much stronger. Each year, the STEM Council awards STEM BEST (Businesses Engaging Students & Teachers) schools across the state that demonstrate excellence in bridging education programs into business applications. The southeast region of Iowa was home to four out of the five awarded schools in 2014; one of the three in 2015; three of the 10 in 2017; and now five of the 19 for 2018, just recently announced. But these arent just numbers; these are relationships between local businesses and school classrooms that lead to pre-apprenticeships, internships and in-state jobs for our students and graduates. The STEM Council began in 2011 through a leadership mandate to raise awareness and interest in STEM education across the state to help keep our students competitive with peers around the world. Since its inception, the STEM Council has been able to reach nearly each school in our region, giving our students access to STEM across all grade levels. Instead of hearing stories about educators struggling to get buy-in from local businesses to offer their students a work-based learning environment, our businesses and citizens are becoming community catalysts. And our STEM story is being shared. But what does this broader approach to STEM look like? One of the ways in which the southeast region is piloting the mission and goals of the Iowa Governors STEM Advisory Council is through our Southeast Iowa STEM Innovation Fund. This fund is a financial resource pool, made available from local private donors, available to organizations with ideas for innovative STEM programs; now thats what I call buy-in. It is meant to serve as an incubator for activities outside current or past council programming. Weve awarded five programs to scale since January and will begin to evaluate these programs in December. The next step in broadening our approach to STEM and in making STEM a no-brainer for our school districts and businesses is deepening the exposure to all students. We cannot rely on test scores alone to determine the futures of our students; instead, lets increase exploratory courses in middle and high school for students of all achievement levels to gain exposure to the wide variety of STEM careers available to them. The transformation experiences I have witnessed in some students realizing there is a perfect fit for them in manufacturing, bio-tech or another STEM career field; theres nothing like it. And we need more of those moments. We have many exciting opportunities planned for the rest of 2017 and for 2018, and we want you to join us. Please reach out, get involved and stay up-to-date on STEM news in the southeast region by connecting with us on Twitter (@STEM_SE_Iowa), Facebook (STEM Hub SE Iowa) or visiting www.se.iowastem.org. If factory farms are so safe, why is the Pork Producers filing suit to block a regulation requiring a report when the toxic gases hydrogen sulfide and ammonia emitted from hog confinements are over 100 pounds per day? All Iowa counties now have either poor or very poor air quality, according to a recent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) air quality map. Hydrogen sulfide is a potent neurotoxin, and chronic exposure to even low levels causes irreversible damage to the brain and central nervous system. Children are the most susceptible to this poisonous gas, according to the Journal of Environmental Science and Health, and hydrogen sulfide is associated with hog confinements and the application of liquid manure, per Kaye Kilburn M.D. Factory farms are exempt from the Clean Air Act even though they produce large quantities of toxic emissions that have been proven to harm human health in multiple scientific and medical studies. With thousands of Iowa factory farms/CAFOs (Confined Animal Feeding Operations) that have little or no public health or environmental regulation, it's time to clean up our state so our grandchildren will inherit a safe and pleasant state. That starts with a moratorium on new CAFOs until regulations can be developed to protect our most precious resource - our children. Clean air and water are prerequisites for good health. Contact your legislators and Gov. Kim Reynolds, R-Iowa, and let them know what the majority of Iowans value, and that if they don't agree with us, they will be sent home. Joan Olive Spirit Lake, Iowa A man found guilty of a 2015 Pine Ridge murder was sentenced Tuesday to 17-1/2 years in federal prison, bringing to a close a case in which seven people were charged. A jury in June convicted Calmer Cottier, 26, of second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit assault in the death of Ferris Brings Plenty, 30. Cottier was accused of instigating Brings Plentys fatal beating in the early hours of July 12, 2015, which prosecutors said stemmed from gang rivalries on the reservation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Megan Poppen asked for a prison sentence within the 20 to 25 years Cottier was facing, citing his role instigating, planning, directing and participating in the attack. It was an act of animals, the prosecutor said. They didnt care who they got, as long as they got someone. Cottiers lawyer, on the other hand, asked for a 10-year sentence. Defense attorney Nate Nelson maintained that Cottier was only guilty of assault not murder for a one-on-one fight with the victim. And that Cottier was the one who told the group of attackers to stop. Nelson, whose request for a new trial was denied, emphasized that the jury returned the wrong verdict. Cottier just wanted to watch a fight, he said, but ended up being blamed for the attack because he had become a Pine Ridge outsider after moving to Rapid City. Five of Cottier's co-defendants have pleaded guilty and been sentenced, including three men for second-degree murder. At the Rapid City hearing Tuesday, Nelson said the men pleaded guilty to obtain deals with the U.S. Attorneys Office but didnt tell the whole truth in their sworn statements. In the written statements, the three men said Cottier incited the group to go to the home of Brings Plentys mother to fight a man with whom Cottier had earlier exchanged derogatory gang words. The group did not find the man they sought, but stumbled on Brings Plenty sleeping in a tent in the backyard. Cottier initiated the attack by throwing a cinder block at Brings Plenty when he came out of the tent, the men said. The others also assaulted Brings Plenty by kicking him in the head and face once he fell to the ground, hitting him with a bat, beating him with a stick in the head and torso, as well as striking him with a machete in the back of the head. Authorities said he died from head injuries, including a skull fracture and brain hemorrhage. Its been 28 months now, said Brings Plentys mother, Jerilyn Quiver, who found her son bleeding in her backyard. Every time I come up here, it seems like yesterday. It hurts every time. Quiver said she might be able to forgive her sons other attackers, but not Cottier, who knew Brings Plenty and shared relatives with them. She talked about her sons cheerful disposition and lack of desire for violence. I guess hes smiling for everyone in heaven now, Quiver said, then turned to Cottier with blazing eyes. I hope you go to hell. Before pronouncing Cottiers sentence, the judge said Brings Plentys murder was a very human act though a senseless killing of a completely innocent person. Given everything he knew about the case, Viken said 17-1/2 years was a just sentence for the murder. He also sentenced Cottier to concurrently serve 10 years for conspiracy to commit assault. The prison time will be followed by five years of supervised release. Viken said also that he doesnt always agree with the jurys verdict, but it is the established system in which the United States seeks to arrive at the truth when facts are in dispute. About three years ago, former state representative Al Scovel gave a homeless veteran and his baby boy a place to stay under his roof. On Tuesday at the Pennington County Board of Commissioners meeting, Scovel gave board members a poignant peek into post-traumatic stress disorder and his plan for bringing a state mental health facility to the area. The other day we were coming home from buying groceries. I noticed Luis, Scovel said of Luis Rodriguez, an Afghanistan War veteran who served as a scout and tank crewman. He was uneasy. I said, Luis, whats wrong? and Luis says, I keep seeing dead bodies along the roadside. This is PTSD. Scovel continued. We were cresting a hill, and I noticed Luis was uneasy, and I said Whats the matter, Luis? and he said Well, when youre a tanker and you start going up a hill, you dont know whats on the other side. He was sweating like a son of a gun. Thats PTSD. Scovel then asked board members to draft and support a resolution to bring a state mental health facility to western South Dakota. The board unanimously approved the idea and directed staff to draft a resolution for formal consideration in the coming weeks. Scovel said he has a meeting scheduled with Rapid City Mayor Steve Allender on Nov. 28 to discuss a similar resolution from the city. Allender, Scovel said, has already expressed support for the idea. In a Journal interview after the meeting, Scovel said he and his wife had served as foster parents to adolescents for 15 years, helping teenagers through high school and some into college including one boy who suffered from extreme seizures. With the Scovel familys help, he eventually graduated from the University of Georgia with a masters degree in computer programming. But it was a childhood experience that Scovel cited as his introduction to mental health care. Raised in Pierre, Scovels neighbor had a son who suffered from a profound mental disability. Embarrassed and overwhelmed, the neighbor sent the boy to Northeastern Mental Health Center in Redfield. Abandoned by his family, Scovel and his mother would visit the boy every few weeks, bringing fudge without nuts to the boy, who lacked teeth. During one visit, staffers attempted to prevent them from visiting the boy before being told they would need to wait a while because he needed to be cleaned. When they finally saw him, his body was littered with bruises from apparent abuse. Eventually forced to return home after the visit, Scovel still recalls the boys pleas to leave with the family as they walked from the center to their car. And all of us cried from Redfield to Chamberlain, he said. In January, Scovel hopes to bring the resolutions before the state legislature. He estimates it would take three years to get any sort of approval for the idea through the state legislature. They all give lip service to mental health, but nothing seems to get done, Scovel said of the legislature, of which he was a state representative for Rapid City from 1983 through 1986. Our state is in a crisis. Mental health is something that nobody wants to acknowledge, nobody wants to talk about it because its such a miserable topic. The time is now. Its an insult that our state has handled this mental illness problem with abject neglect. This February, Rapid City Regional Hospital stopped admitting behavioral health patients without acute medical needs to the main hospital when Behavioral Health Center is full. The hospital has also stopped admitting patients with neurodevelopmental/cognitive disorders such as dementia, Alzheimers, and autism spectrum disorder to the Behavioral Health Center if they exhibit violent behavior. Currently, buses transport area citizens suffering from mental health issues to the Human Services Center in Yankton twice per week. The center, which offers residential care for people suffering from mental illness, is about 350 miles away. Scovel says thats unacceptable. When people need help they need it now, he said. They need it right away. As long as were on this planet, it is incumbent upon all of us to help each other, particularly those less fortunate than we are. I will go to my grave trying to help because that is my purpose. A local nonprofit dedicated to preventing suicide failed to receive any grant money from the Rapid City Council on Monday night, despite a passionate plea from one alderman who claimed that Pennington County is in the midst of crisis. There have been 28 suicides in Pennington County this year a record high, according to Alderman John Roberts. The Front Porch Coalition had requested $5,000 in 2018, but was not among the agencies to receive Human Services grant funds. To Roberts, who experienced firsthand the devastation suicide wreaks on families when his son took his own life, its another year of missed opportunities. During the council meeting Monday night, members unanimously approved the allocation of $50,000 in Human Services grant monies to area nonprofits including the 211 Helpline Center ($20,000), Community Health Center of the Black Hills ($10,000), Meals on Wheels ($12,800) and the Court Appointed Special Advocate program ($7,200). But during the discussion preceding the councils decision, Roberts called Stephanie Schweitzer Dixon, executive director of the Front Porch Coalition, to the lectern to highlight what he believed was a glaring omission. I know that you saved our marriage, Roberts said to Dixon of the support the coalition offered to his family after their loss. What they do is amazing, and if we cant afford a few thousand dollars, we should be ashamed of ourselves. The coalition trains school counselors, law enforcement officers, EMTs, mental health care professionals and the general public on how to assist people who may be suicidal, as well as those affected by a suicide. A couple weeks ago, we hit the highest number (of suicides) weve had in Pennington County, Roberts said, adding that the nonprofit failed to receive any funds in 2017, either. I have a difficult time with that. Dixon said the coalition was able to support a nearly $200,000 annual budget with fundraisers in 2017 and would be forced to try and make up the difference again in 2018. A few years back I was asked to get involved with this group and I said, Why? It doesnt affect me," Roberts said, urging the community to support the coalition and its mission. It can change overnight. It did with us. So, I just want to thank you guys for being there. According to the coalitions website, it is the only agency in Western South Dakota exclusively devoted to suicide prevention. In other action, the council: Approved an ordinance crafted to regulate the ride-hailing industry in Rapid City. Though Lyft drivers have already begun operating in town, the ordinance must still go through a 20-day public notification process before it is officially in effect. City spokesman Darrell Shoemaker has made clear that the city will not cite Lyft drivers in the meantime. As part of the regulations, transportation network companies as companies like Lyft and Uber are called in city documents must pay an annual $1,500 licensing fee to the city. Approved the donation of a $1.6 million plot of city land to the Rapid City Economic Development Foundation, a local development organization which plans to build an innovation incubator on the 4.3-acre parcel at 108 E. Main St. The organization currently operates the Black Hills Business Development Center on the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology campus. Situated directly east of the citys main fire station and midway between downtown and Mines, conceptual plans for the lot include renovating and using the existing warehouse-style building on the lot which currently houses Pennington Countys 24/7 Sobriety program while also raising funds for the construction of a new, two-story facility. City leaders hope the center will attract entrepreneurs and startup companies focused on innovation and technology while also helping keep their talent and businesses in the area. Approved opening the bidding process for a $1.2 million project to remake west Memorial Park between Interstate 190 and Eighth Street, and Omaha Street and Rapid Creek. Renovations to the largely empty expanse just south of Rapid City Central High School will include drainage improvements, landscaping and the construction of a new bike path, which will trace the parks southern border just north of Omaha Street before linking with another north and south section adjacent to the sidewalk on Eighth Street. Segments of the existing bike path will also be regraded and paved, and shrubbery and trees will be installed along the park areas borders. The first phase of the project, which includes the drainage work and improvements to the existing bike path, is expected to be completed by the end of 2018. The second phase, which will see the construction of the new bike route, is expected to commence in 2019 and be completed by 2020. Acknowledged the citys sales tax collections for September, which came in at $2,215,128, a 3 percent increase compared with collections in September 2016. For the first nine months of 2017, collections are up 1.85 percent compared with 2016, at $18,927,245. Approved the citys Investment Committee recommendations for allocating Community Development Block Grant funds to area organizations. The citys Community Development division estimates it will receive about $438,500 in 2018, though the final allocation wont be known for close to a year. The greatest benefactors include Black Hills Works Inc. ($98,415), Wellfully ($75,000), Rural America Initiatives ($69,000), and Behavior Management Systems ($41,000). Approved the first reading of an ordinance that would allow artisan distilleries to operate in downtown Rapid City as a conditional use. Per South Dakota law, artisan distillery production is limited to 50,000 gallons or less of distilled spirits per year. Randal Decker, part-owner of Black Hills Contraband, petitioned the city for the ordinance as his distilling company looks to relocate from Box Elder to Rapid City and open a distillery and bar. In a Sept. 18 letter to city staff, Decker says his company is interested in moving into the building currently housing Hay Camp Brewing Company at 601 Kansas City St., though the distillery would be located in a separate part of the building with its own address. In a Journal interview earlier last week, Decker was noncommittal about that location but said they were still interested in relocating to Rapid City. Approved opening the bidding process for a project to repair and improve a section of East St. Joseph Street from East St. Patrick to Cambell streets. Improvements will include asphalt overlay and patching, curb and gutter spot repairs, pedestrian signal upgrades, and the construction of an Americans with Disabilities Act compliant intersection at East St. Joseph and East St. Patrick streets. The project, which will begin in April and is expected to be completed in June, is estimated to cost $400,000. The recently vacated Black Hills Energy building at 625 Ninth St. could soon be occupied by the YMCA and the school district, according to a plan announced Tuesday at the YMCA by several community organizations. The YMCA plans to expand its child care and preschool program into the first four floors of the building, which is across a downtown intersection from the YMCA, and the school district plans to move its administrative offices into the upper four floors. During the Tuesday announcement, representatives of the school and the YMCA expressed excitement about the opportunity to work together on early childhood education and other programs in a shared setting. Our missions align, said Lori Simon, superintendent of Rapid City Area Schools. We are both in the business of serving kids. Simon said the school district plans to move its offices out of the City-School Administration Center at 300 Sixth St. this summer and hopes to be settled in the former Black Hills Energy building by the start of the next school year. The city, in turn, plans to take over the school districts vacated space in the City-School Administration Center, essentially converting it into a city hall. Mayor Steve Allender said he will seek the city councils support for a $2.9 million buyout of the school districts ownership in the center. A Q&A document distributed at the announcement said the school district's cost to move into the Black Hills Energy building will be about $2.3 million. The district is additionally considering consolidations at the new location that could allow it to sell some other buildings, the document said. Roger Gallimore, executive director of the YMCA, said his organization has a purchase agreement and has completed its fundraising to acquire the Black Hills Energy building from the company, but he and a company representative declined to disclose the purchase price. Its very fair, Gallimore said of the price, in response to a Journal question. The Black Hills Energy building and land are valued at $6.36 million for tax purposes and were listed for sale earlier this year at a price of $7.5 million. In addition to the acquisition of the building, the YMCA is attempting to raise $2.1 million for a two-phase remodeling project. When complete, the project is expected to grow the YMCAs early childhood program by 180 children, from 205 to 385. Details of the YMCAs proposed arrangement with the school are yet to be worked out, Gallimore said, but the partnership could include joint ownership of the building. Black Hills Energy vacated the downtown building recently when the company moved to its new headquarters near the intersection of U.S. Highway 16 and Catron Boulevard. The city and school district have shared office space at the City-School Administration Center since 1987, but Allender said that the citys growth over the past 30 years has created a need for additional city and school office space that the center can no longer accommodate. Allender said the city supports the expansion of the YMCA's early childhood program, and he directed some of his comments during Tuesday's announcement to a group of YMCA-enrolled children who sat on the floor in front of the speakers podium. A lot of us worry about what kind of legacy we are going to leave when we check out of here, and Im telling you that our legacy is sitting right here on the floor in front of us, Allender said. Early childhood education is probably the best thing we can do, dollar-for-dollar, to invest in tomorrows economy and the quality of life in our city. Talk about your deceptive marketing practices. South Dakota Sen. John Thune in last Friday's Rapid City Journal repeated the dubious claim that the tax cuts being considered in the U.S. Senate "will directly benefit middle income South Dakota families." In support of his argument, Thune uses a Tax Foundation analysis that says the tax plan will result in a "$2,528 boost in after-tax income for middle-income families" and "2,700 more new full-time jobs for South Dakota workers." With all due respect to the senator, I'm skeptical about exclusively using data gathered by the Tax Foundation. The Tax Foundation's base of support comes from well-known conservative groups like The Charles Koch Institute, the foundation's second largest donor between 2012 and 2015 at nearly $500,000. Along with other conservative institutions, the Koch interests make up nine out of the 10 largest donors to the Tax Foundation. That by itself, of course, does not invalidate the Foundation's work and conclusions, but I believe that Thune could have gone to a source that is not so reliably conservative before trying to convince South Dakotans that the plan he's touting is unwaveringly good for us. At the very least, our senator could have called attention and responded to analyses that reach opposite conclusions. For one thing, Thune could have consulted Congress's in-house studies. In a report on the Senate tax bill released last week by the non-partisan congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, the full story has a less rosy cast to it than Thune's characterization. According to the congressional analysts, by 2019 Americans at every level do indeed get a tax reduction. But by 2027, anyone making less than $75,000 a year would get a tax increase, while those earning more will continue get their taxes cut. As to the senator's promise that the bill will create "2,700 new full-time jobs for South Dakota workers," I'd like to know what the heck he's talking about. We have more jobs than workers as it is. As an employer in this state who is in full contact with the situation every day, I know that we have a serious labor shortage in South Dakota. Our dairy industry is seeking workers from Puerto Rico, and our persistent problem with a shortage of construction workers is an ongoing challenge. And don't even tell me about the situation on my home turf, the tourism industry. Tax cut or no tax cut, how does South Dakota create jobs when we can't fill the ones we have? More to the specific point though, Thune's contention about job growth is pie-in-the-sky. Job growth was weak after George W. Bush's national tax cuts. Same goes for Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback's in his state during the past few years. I have yet to see a connection between business tax cuts and job creation, at least during economic expansions like the one we're in now. I challenge Thune and his supporters to find some evidence backing up that claim. Short of that, I'm calling bait-and-switch on Thune and the tax cut he's touting. First grade students in Alicia McEwens class portrayed the characters and animals of students on a field trip to Farmer Mack Nuggetts turkey farm in Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving by Dav Pilkey. Turkeys, a teacher, and an excellent narrator performed for parents and grandparents to celebrate the holiday of gratitude. The Sprinkle Pink community fundraising energies total $27,967, this October, and Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital is matching that amount bringing the total deposit of $55,934 to the Aid to Mammography Fund. The numbers were announced at a Sprinkle Pink meeting of the organizers and team leaders on Nov. 17. Sprinkle Pink is a journey that we can all embrace, said Amy James-Linton, marketing director at MDMH. It was started by the passion of our sweet Cathy Miller, our lead mammographer, who has since retired. She truly, from her heart, took care of our community for breast health. Soroptimists had started a fund to pay for mammograms for community members but after a grant fell away, the community caring fund was $80,000 in the red and about to be shut down when Miller and Linton launched Sprinkle Pink to raise community awareness and raise money for the fund. It didnt matter if you had money or not. It mattered if we cared for our community, Linton said. The Aid for Mammography Fund started seven years ago and the community caught the vision. It now has more than $300,000 due to community fundraising and Marcus Daly Memorial Hospitals matching dollars. It has cared for 989 people in the Bitterroot Valley who, according to the American Cancer Association, one in eight will be diagnosed with breast cancer - 120 people. In seven years we caught breast cancer early, on a national average, 120 times, Linton said. If you dont catch it early it is not a good outcome. You all made a difference. Linton thanked key leads for starting the Sprinkle Pink journey with her: Jean Schurman, Wendy Woods, Drew Hayward (director of the Imaging Department at MDMH), and Patrice Promack (a Soroptimist). Promack praised Lintons heart and efforts. She is nicknamed by me as General Amy, Promack said. As a former Army officer I know good leadership when I see it and Amy has supplied that in spades. She has helped us stay focused on the mission with her enthusiasm and attention to details. The category winners and their amounts: grand prize - Turn and Burn Barrel Race and organizer Jean Schurman totaled $8,303; top schools Hamilton School District with their Spirit of Pink toss and pink out volley ball game brought in $1,229, Stevensville School District brought in $695; merchant first place Farmers State Bank - $3,084, merchant second Valley Drug and Variety - $2,065, and merchant third Evens Ace Hardware and David Evans - $2,036. It is important that we all continue our mission of encouraging health, encouraging preventative screenings, because our community is healthier for it, Linton said. We are truly a stronger, more vibrant community when we are healthy. You are all on a mission and that mission is to make sure people get their screenings. Linton thanked sponsors Blue Cross Blue Shield, Quality Inn/Town Pump, Farmers State Bank and Cal Rourke Tough Enough to Wear Pink bull riding - Darby Rodeo Association. We are blessed to live in such a wonderful community, said David Evans, Sprinkle Pinks first Mammo Man. Schurman shared her journey of starting as a leader for Sprinkle Pink, starting the Barrel Racing, and then of using the Aid for Mammography Fund. She caught breast cancer early when she was diagnosed in August. The first year we had 100 barrel racers, Schurman said. It has grown and taken on a life of its own. Schurman credited Stevensville High School barrel racer Kayla Schmiedeke, who had the race as her senior project, for making this year's event so successful. Kayla went over and above, Schurman said. The thing about this year was yes I was bald, yes it was cold, and one day before my next treatment but it was the overwhelming number of women, men, and families that came. It was an amazing day and to have the support of the committee, the community, and those who traveled it was a beautiful thing. Schurman talked about her diagnosis and cancer journey. You dont know what youre getting into until youre in it, she said. When you get the diagnosis youre gob-smacked. She praised the MDMH staff for taking care of the details for her treatment and care. MDMH Board member Linda Dodds praised the Sprinkle Pink workers and what theyve done for the community. Weve touched lives together, Linton said. This journey isnt done alone - it is a community making a movement. The Paramount Network hit series Yellowstone is back for its fifth season, with politics on the Dutton family dinner table. Kevin Costner stars as the family patriarch, owner of a vast Montana ranch. Determined to to protect it against developers and others, Costner's character ran for governor. The new season of Yellowstone' opens with the election's outcome. Costner says he was attracted to the series because it highlights the work being done by modern ranchers and the beauty of its Montana setting. He's already at work on another Western epic, Horizon, planned as a four-movie saga about the men and women who settled the West. 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Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. You have permission to edit this collection. Edit Close Seguin, TX (78155) Today Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low near 40F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low near 40F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph. HARARE - The Zimbabwe Defense Forces said on Monday they are encouraged by the opening of talks between President Robert Mugabe and former vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa, who he fired two weeks ago. Army chief Constantino Chiwenga told a news conference that Mnangagwa, currently in self imposed exile, was expected back in the country soon. "Thereafter, the nation will be advised on the outcome of talks between the two," Chiwenga said. He said in the meantime, Mugabe, who was removed from the position of party leader on Sunday, had started processes toward a solution and road map for the country. "As this happens we as the Zimbabwe Defense Forces and Security Services urge Zimbabweans to remain calm and patient, fully observing and respecting the laws of the country," Chiwenga said. His appeal came as students at the University of Zimbabwe students staged demonstrations and refused to take part in examinations on Monday until Mugabe steps down. The ZDF statement came as the ruling ZANU-PF party on Sunday removed Mugabe from the party leadership and replaced him with Mnangagwa. The party has also resolved to move a motion to impeach Mugabe in Parliament on Tuesday, the same day he was scheduled to chair a cabinet meeting. Xinhua (China Daily 11/22/2017 page11) Senator Mike Lee explains how "conservative approach to lawmaking" drives his advocacy for federal sentencing reforms | Main | Louisiana justice gets a bit too candid expressing his views about capital punishment November 21, 2017 "Assessing and Responding to the Recent Homicide Rise in the United States" The title of this post is the title of this notable new report coming from the National Institute of Justice and authored by Richard Rosenfeld, Shytierra Gaston, Howard Spivak and Seri Irazola. Here is the full executive summary: Big-city homicides rose in 2015 and again in 2016, although not all cities experienced a large increase, and homicides fell in some cities. We consider two explanations of the homicide rise as guides for future research: (1) expansion in illicit drug markets brought about by the heroin and synthetic opioid epidemic and (2) widely referenced Ferguson effects resulting in de-policing, compromised police legitimacy, or both. Larger increases in drug-related homicides than in other types of homicide provide preliminary evidence that expansions in illicit drug markets contributed to the overall homicide rise. The current drug epidemic is disproportionately concentrated in the white population, and homicides have increased among whites as well as among African-Americans and Hispanics. We surmise, therefore, that the drug epidemic may have had an especially strong influence on the rise in homicide rates among whites. Current evidence that links de-policing to the homicide rise is mixed at best. Surveys of police reveal widespread concerns about increased police-community tensions and reductions in proactive policing in the aftermath of widely publicized deadly encounters between the police and African-Americans. Increases in homicide followed decreases in arrests in Baltimore and Chicago, although it is not known whether the same was true in other cities. Nationwide, arrest-offense ratios and arrest clearance rates decreased in 2015, but they had been declining for several years when homicide rates were falling. The extent of de-policing and its possible connection to the recent homicide rise remain open research questions. Survey evidence reveals greater discontent with the police among African-Americans than among whites. Alienation from the police can result in a decreased willingness to contact them when a crime occurs or to cooperate in police investigations and, some studies suggest, an increase in criminal behavior. One study has shown that calls for police service fell after a controversial violent encounter between the police and an unarmed African-American in Milwaukee. The reduction in calls for service was greater in African-American neighborhoods than in other neighborhoods. The rate at which the police are contacted is only one of several indicators needed to measure any connection between diminished police legitimacy and the recent rise in homicides. We emphasize the provisional nature of these hypotheses regarding the recent homicide rise. We recommend using city- and neighborhood-level case studies to further refine the hypotheses and develop new ones, and quantitative studies of larger samples of cases should follow. We discuss several key empirical indicators to measure changes in drug markets, policing, and police legitimacy and offer several suggestions for future research. The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) will play an important role in facilitating the necessary research. U.S. homicide rates rose substantially in 2015 and 2016. These increases were much larger than was typical of yearly homicide fluctuations over the past several decades, so they merit close attention. This paper extends a previous analysis (Rosenfeld 2016) by documenting the homicide rise in 2015 with more complete data and presenting data for large cities in 2016. The paper then considers two explanations for the recent homicide increase. The first explanation ties the increase to the expansion of illicit drug markets resulting from the heroin and synthetic opioid epidemic in the United States. The second explanation is the widely referenced Ferguson effect on crime rates, which attributes the homicide increase to reduced proactive policing, community alienation from the police, or both (Mac Donald 2016; Rosenfeld 2016). The paper concludes with recommendations for future research on the recent homicide rise. November 21, 2017 at 03:40 PM | Permalink Comments Was there a rise in homicides in cities where people can purchase untaxed liquor and marijuana? If not, then the rise in homicides might not have been due to the rise in illicit drug purchases, but the rise in taxes on legal drugs may have led to the rise in illicit drug purchases. Don't just assume taxes have no effect on human behavior. The entire point of taxes is to decrease behavior frequency. If taxes lead to decreased legal drug purchases and increase illegal drug purchases (which leads to higher homicide rates), then they are doing exactly what behavioral economists predict. Get rid of all excise taxes and see if homicide rates remain high. Posted by: Tax Broker and Fixer | Nov 22, 2017 8:42:46 AM "The city of Chicago saw 765 murders in 2016, up from 468 in 2015, and 411 in 2014" "The highest combined state-local [cigarette] tax rate is $6.16 in Chicago, IL" "The total [Chicago] tax burden for this alcohol: 28.16 percent." Coincidence? Posted by: Taxes kill | Nov 22, 2017 9:19:12 AM @taxes - if you want to show that taxes caused a change in homicide rates, you need to show a change in taxes. If taxes were constant and homicide increased, you need to consider other factors. Posted by: Paul | Nov 22, 2017 9:55:15 AM Problem with taxes theory is that some or most of the purchases of opioids -- oxycodin, vicodin, etc. -- are legal (or quasi-legal) purchases. Additionally, taxes are merely one part of the price, and I don't think the tax on beer makes opioids cheaper than alcohol. I see no evidence that people are purchasing opioids -- mostly pain killers -- because their beer and cigarettes are too expensive. I know that in my area -- despite the vast increase in the homicide rate -- there has been no change in the vice taxes or any dramatic change in the price of beer over the past three years. Rather the problem is that they get hooked on pain killers during the brief period of time when they actually have a real need for extremely strong pain killers and then can't kick the addiction. Posted by: tmm | Nov 22, 2017 10:14:28 AM https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/assets/factsheets/0275.pdf Cook County, IL, which includes Chicago, increased its cigarette tax from 18 cents to $1.00 per pack in 2004, by an additional $1.00 in 2006, and again by another $1.00 in 2013, bringing its current tax rate to $3.00 per pack; in 2005, Chicago raised its own cigarette tax from 16 to 48 cents per pack, and then by an additional 20 cents in 2006, and an additional 50 cents in 2014, bringing its tax rate to $1.18 cents per pack with the total state-local tax rate in Chicago at $6.16 per pack Posted by: IL Taxes | Nov 22, 2017 10:22:40 AM http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20131113/OPINION/131109803/guess-who-gets-burned-by-chicagos-cigarette-tax In Chicago, according to the city's 2013 financial analysis, cigarette tax revenue has declined from a high of $32.9 million in 2006 to current levels of $16.5 million while sales in Indiana and Wisconsin have skyrocketed. And when taxes are hiked excessively, they create significant illegal profit potential, which attracts criminals that will readily fill the increased demand for cheaper, illicit cigarettes sold on the black market. These cigarettes are smuggled by the carload from lower tax states, such as Missouri and Indiana. Since the Cook County tax increase, law enforcement has seized multiple cars with trunks full of smuggled cigarettes to be sold on the black market. Posted by: Smuggler's Run to IL | Nov 22, 2017 10:30:38 AM Was there some change in the system where you can put these slogan type names in the name box? I have seen an increase in such names on more than one professional legal blog lately for whatever reason. Posted by: Joe | Nov 22, 2017 10:37:57 AM https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opioid_epidemic#History_of_opiate_abuse_in_North_America While rates of overdose of legal prescription opiates has leveled off in the past decade, overdoses of illicit opiates have surged since 2010, nearly tripling.[31] Posted by: Don | Nov 22, 2017 10:55:29 AM Academics forgot: Decarceration of 3%. Posted by: David Behar | Nov 22, 2017 11:40:15 AM In Italy murders passed from 475 in 2015 to 400 in 2016. Posted by: Claudio Giusti | Nov 23, 2017 4:21:26 PM Hi, Claudio. Italians smoke a lot of marijuana. Your murder rate is a third of ours. However, our white murder rate is one fifth that of blacks. You could do better. Your overall crime rate, of carjackings, kidnappings, muggings, purse snatching is through the roof. There is a tourist travel advisory for all of Rome and for the south of Italy. Your pro-criminal government has no rule of law. They do nothing about the prostitutes, the drug dealers, ultra-violent African immigrants. All kinds of scum are running rampant in Italy. It takes 30 years to settle a tort or contract case. That is why FIAT is now an American company, and an Italian company in name only. I would suggest all Italian companies move to the US. The legal system of the US stinks, but Italy has no legal system whatsoever. Italians live like animals in the jungle. Posted by: David Behar | Nov 24, 2017 9:43:09 AM Post a comment "Assessing and Responding to the Recent Homicide Rise in the United States" | Main | Does and should anyone care about just how and where child molester/gymnastics coach Larry Nassar rots in prison? November 22, 2017 Louisiana justice gets a bit too candid expressing his views about capital punishment This local story, headlined "Louisiana Supreme Court justice recuses self from 'Angola 5' death penalty appeal over radio interviews," reports on some notable comments concerning the death penalty made by a notable public official in the Pelican State. Here are the details: Louisiana Supreme Court Justice Scott Crichton recused himself on Tuesday from the pending appeal of death row inmate David Brown in the "Angola 5" prison-guard murder case, a day after Brown's attorneys cried foul over comments the judge made about capital punishment on Shreveport talk radio. Crichton's one-sentence "notice of self-recusal" came without explanation. It leaves the remaining six state high court justices to weigh Brown's direct appeal over his conviction and death sentence in the 1999 group beating and stabbing death of Angola State Penitentiary guard Capt. David Knapps. The court could also appoint an ad hoc judge to fill Crighton's seat in the case. Brown's attorneys filed a motion late Monday claiming Crichton's commentary in recent radio interviews raised at least the appearance of bias in the high-profile capital case. Crichton, 63, mentioned the Angola 5 case on the KEEL morning show on Oct. 23 to illustrate his view that the death penalty can be a valuable deterrent. A former Caddo Parish prosecutor and district judge who rose to the high court bench three years ago, he agreed with a show host that "if you're in for life, you have nothing to lose" without it. Brown was serving a life sentence for a different murder when Knapps was killed inside a bathroom at the state penitentiary. Brown's attorneys argued that Crichton's mention of the Angola 5 case alone warranted his recusal. Crichton went further on the airwaves, however, and Brown's attorneys argued that his other on-air remarks also revealed potential bias in Brown's case, and perhaps in any capital case that reaches the court. On the Oct. 23 show, Crichton first acknowledged that he "can talk about anything other than a pending case before the Louisiana Supreme Court," then mentioned the Angola 5 case. He went on to lament the lengthy appeals process in death-penalty cases and argued for well-publicized executions. "If it's carried out and the public knows about it, I believe it's truly a deterrent," he said. "What really boggles my mind is the inmate who has committed capital murder who is on death row who is begging for his life. Think about the fact that the victim gets no due process." Crichton also suggested a workaround to problems many states have had in acquiring one of three drugs in a commonly used "cocktail" for state killings a shortage he blamed on drug companies being "harassed and stalked" by death-penalty opponents. Crichton said he favors giving condemned inmates a choice in their death: the cocktail; a new method using a single drug, nitrogen hypoxia; or another, time-tested execution method. "Firing squad is one," he said. November 22, 2017 at 03:10 PM | Permalink Comments Judge forced to recuse after stating the self evident truth, "...if you're in for life, you have nothing to lose without it..." The criminal cult enterprise reining in a member. Posted by: David Behar | Nov 22, 2017 7:56:29 PM Why, it's all about the billable hour, Clausy Wausy, the billable hour... Posted by: Mark M. | Nov 23, 2017 4:09:26 AM A Modest Proposal to Execute (KILL) Condemned Drain ALL blood Harvest EVERY USABLE organ for transplant to others Return cadaver remains to coronor/teaching Hospital for research Posted by: Docile the Kind Soul | Nov 23, 2017 7:37:14 AM Mark. True. Docile. Good utility. Redeem the worst of the worst by saving 5 lives. Posted by: David Behar | Nov 23, 2017 10:48:07 AM degli animali ... Posted by: Claudio Giusti | Nov 23, 2017 4:19:44 PM Post a comment SIOUX CITY | Our hearts sank on Monday with the news of the death of Claire O'Brien, of Sioux City, who died Sunday night, six days after suffering a stroke. She was 95. A memorial service is scheduled for 10 a.m. Dec. 1 at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Sioux City, with visitation to occur one hour prior to the service. I recently featured Claire in a story that kicked off the Journal's latest series of stories on veterans, "Serving Her Country: Women in the Military." I joined photographer Tim Hynds in seeing Claire at her home on Oct. 19, a few days in advance of the story and beautiful portrait Hynds took to accompany the piece. Claire met me at the door and gave me a hug as we renewed a friendship that began one decade ago when I wrote about her for a series on World War II veterans that went on to become one of the most popular exhibits at The Betty Strong Encounter Center on Sioux City's riverfront. That exhibit served as the template for future Journal partnerships with The Betty Strong Encounter Center, a relationship that has helped introduce our readers to more than 100 veterans from our region, including those who served in Vietnam, Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan and in other parts of the world and all across the United States. Claire O'Brien is the only veteran to have appeared in two series. She was one of two women I wrote about in the World War II exhibit. She was one of 22 women we featured in the latest exhibit, which is on display at The Betty Strong Encounter Center through May. I figured it was a natural to bring Claire back for this latest exhibit, as she helped serve as a bridge, if you will, connecting exhibits separated by a decade. She was delighted to participate. Sharing her story, I think, may have been Claire's way of showing women how much of a difference they can make in any line of work. "I'm a women's advocate, for all of us, not just those in the military," she told me. Claire's willingness to serve her country was a family trait. Her older sister, U.S. Army Nurse Corps 1st Lt. Dawn O'Brien served in World War II. Their mother, Mary Beryl O'Brien, served the military during World War I as a Yoemanette. (I'll confess: I didn't know what a Yoemanette was until I met Claire O'Brien. And now, there's also a Betty Strong Encounter Center exhibit featuring the work done by the Yoemanettes, the women's branch of the U.S. Naval Reserves, during World War I.) Claire O'Brien had earned a two-year degree at Briar Cliff University and was working for the state finance company in downtown Sioux City in July 1943 when she turned 21 and joined friend Marilyn Murphy in enlisting for service with the U.S. Naval Reserve W.A.V.E. corps. (W.A.V.E. stands for Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service.) Claire trained at Hunter College in New York then headed west across the country to work at Oak Knoll Naval Hospital in Oakland before serving the 12th Naval District Headquarters in downtown San Francisco, California. The World War II veteran logged two years, six months and 29 days of service. She would come home, head back to Briar Cliff and eventually earn degrees in history and education, adding a pair of Master's degrees at Southern Methodist University and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. "One of the best things the government ever did was the G.I. Bill," she said. "It made our middle class what it became. It paid for my education." Claire taught for 12 years and then served 18 years as a school counselor, a career spent in Wisconsin, primarily around Milwaukee. She retired 30 years ago and moved back to Sioux City in 2006. And, on Sunday, Nov. 12, she took a spot in the front row at The Betty Strong Encounter Center and winked and nodded at me as I conducted a 60-minute presentation about the lives of 22 women who have served our country. Claire told me how delighted she was to be there. "I've made at least four new friends here today," Claire said to me on her way out the door. "I'm honored, Tim. I can't thank you enough for involving me in this program." I gave her a hug, thanked her for her service and told her how honored and humbled we were to be able to share her story, one of a remarkable life so well-lived. Rest in peace, Claire O'Brien. Rest in peace. SIOUX CITY | A Colorado man was arrested in Sioux City for having 77 pounds of marijuana in his vehicle Sunday, authorities say. Darrel Allen Wait, 34, of Thornton, Colorado, has been charged with possession with intent to deliver, two counts of possession of marijuana, possession of prescription drugs and other charges. A Woodbury County Sheriff's Deputy stopped Wait's vehicle in Sioux City Sunday, according to a press release Wednesday. During the traffic stop and a subsequent investigation, deputies requested the assistance of a Sioux City Police Department K-9 unit. The K-9 showed signs of drugs being present in the vehicle, which led deputies to execute a search warrant. Approximately 77 pounds of marijuana and other related material with a street value of approximately $450,000 was found inside, the release said. Wait was arrested but is currently out on bond. The incident remains under investigation, the release said. In a plea agreement, Nhan admitted that, from late 2014 until Dec. 15, 2015, he manufactured anabolic steroids and intended to distribute some of the steroids to various customers. In December 2015, law enforcement executed a search warrant on Nhans residence and seized numerous vials containing anabolic steroids, as well as laboratory equipment, packing material, labels, and sheets of papers listing the names and addresses of individuals who had purchased or intended to purchase the steroids, the release said. CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa Only a little more than a week before Iowa Medicaid enrollees are to be shifted from departing AmeriHealth Caritas to UnitedHealthcare of the River Valley, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said it has not approved the temporary suspension of a provision that requires a choice between managed-care organizations. On Tuesday, Iowa Department of Human Services said Amerigroup Iowa one of the states two remaining insurance companies on the Medicaid program for 2018 does not have capacity to take any new members, according to a notice sent to lawmakers and obtained by The Cedar Rapids Gazette. This would leave about 213,000 Medicaid enrollees without a choice on their managed-care provider. The Affordable Care Act requires certain criteria to be met for health plans to be offered on a states program, including a guaranteed sufficient choice for providers, according the National Conference of State Legislatures. According to the DHS notice sent to lawmakers Tuesday, CMS approved a temporary suspension of (managed-care organization) choice, providing stability to the program. However, in a news release sent late Wednesday, DHS said the department has been in communication with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to keep them informed of what is happening, and will continue to do so. Julie Brookhart, public affairs specialist with CMS, said in an email Wednesday to The Gazette that the federal office has not approved a temporary suspension of choice. In a follow-up email, Brookhart did not elaborate, instead saying the communication between Iowa and CMS is not releasable. Brookhart did note that, regarding AmeriHealths exit from the Iowa Medicaid program, at this time, CMS is in a pre-decisional phase regarding this issue. Requests for further clarification from CMS were not immediately answered. AmeriHealth one of three companies chosen to run Iowas Medicaid program announced in late October it was withdrawing from the states Medicaid program at the end of this month. Both UnitedHealthcare and Amerigroup re-signed contracts with the state for next year. The approximately 213,000 Medicaid enrollees on AmeriHealth would be transferred to UnitedHealthcare and eligible for coverage Dec. 1, DHS officials announced earlier this month. Those who wished to move to Amerigroup instead could do so by March 1. DHS is currently searching for a new Medicaid insurer, which wont be available for Iowan until July 1, 2019. SIOUX CITY | A Tuesday traffic safety project conducted by the Sioux City Police Department, Iowa State Patrol and Woodbury County Sheriff's Office resulted in nearly 200 citations over an eight-hour period. Authorities stopped 120 vehicles between 2 and 10 p.m. Tuesday, resulting in 196 citations and two warrant arrests, according to a news release from the Sioux City Police Department. Police also found 19.7 grams of marijuana and found seven people operating while intoxicated with either drugs or alcohol. The release said such projects will be conducted on a regular basis, and people can contact police with any areas of concern. ORANGE CITY, Iowa | A 56-year-old Orange City man faces several charges after authorities say he sexually assaulted two minors several times over the past two years. Scott McAdam was arrested late Monday by the Sioux County Sheriff's Office following a sexual assault investigation into reports from victims that McAdam had inappropriate and sexual contact with them, according to a news release. He was charged with two counts of second-degree sexual assault, four counts of third-degree sexual assault, lascivious contact with a minor and assault. The release said deputies discovered McAdam had inappropriate sexual contact with two minors at a residence north of Orange City several times in the past two years. SIOUX CITY | Some local massage therapists have signed a petition opposing a set of proposed city regulations on their businesses. The Change.org petition, titled "Respectfully object to implementing massage therapy business licenses in Sioux City," was started Monday by Danielle Calhoon-Fischer, owner of Studio 83 Holistic Wellness, who said she believed putting new regulations on massage therapy businesses is singling them out and discriminating against the profession. "Its just basically targeting our group of massage therapists that are independent contractors ... and grouping them in with the businesses that are in question that participate in what is an organized crime," she said, adding the city shouldn't single out therapists but ignore hotels, taxis and truck stops. As of 9 a.m. Wednesday, the petition had 431 online signatures. It is addressed to City Hall and city manager Bob Padmore. Several comments, some written by practicing therapists, say the proposed ordinance is an unnecessary and potentially prohibitive over-regulation since the state already issues licenses for therapists. The council on Monday passed the first reading of a new ordinance that would require local massage therapy businesses to obtain city licenses and undergo annual reviews. The ordinance met concern from several local therapists, but the council passed a first reading with the declared intention of working with local businesses to address some of their concerns with the guidelines. Among suggested changes were removing a portion of the ordinance that prohibits businesses from seeing customers between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., and a reduction in the amount of insurance needed by the businesses. Council members said the main reason is not to enact cumbersome regulations but to separate legitimate businesses from those operating illegally or as a front for illicit activity. Calhoon-Fischer said she would be open to discussion if the city decides to take a more holistic look at stopping human trafficking. SIOUX CITY | In the early afternoon of July 10, 1916, a slew of Woodbury County officials made sure interesting Siouxland items from the prior 40 years were placed into a cornerstone box, as a new county courthouse was being constructed. On Tuesday -- 101 years, four months, 11 days and two hours later -- current county officials muscled open the time capsule in a Woodbury County Courthouse ceremony, and aired the items for a crowd of interested people. What they found was as expected, since a master list of the capsule items had been kept from 1916, just two years before the courthouse opened. That included a bunch of Sioux City newspapers, minutes from county board of supervisors meetings, foreign and domestic coins that dated from 1899 to 1915 and pamphlets from lots of men's lodge organizations, which are no longer functioning. There were also scads of photos, including of President Woodrow Wilson, a Sioux City tuberculosis hospital, downtown businesses and Stone State Park, only four years after it opened. There were lots of bemused looks as it took 15 minutes to pry open the cornerstone, then again as officials such as Sioux City Public Museum Archives Manager Tom Munson raved about what was pulled out. That came on the heels of one of Munson's first statements, that he expected so many newspapers in the capsule to deteriorate. "I think I am going to see dust, not to be pessimistic," he said. Forty-five minutes later when the unveiling was completed, Munson noted the items, some of which dated to the 1860s, showed little wear: "It is better than dust, far better than dust." A week ago, county crews extracted the time capsule from the cornerstone at a cost of less than $5,000. The iron box had to be drilled out of the granite from the northwest corner of the building to avoid structural problems caused by colder weather. The public event on Tuesday was designed in part to build excitement for the 100th building commemoration, which will be held May 1-5, 2018. Designed by famed architect William Steele, the courthouse was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1996. It's considered the largest publicly owned Prairie School-design buildings in the world. Woodbury County Building Services Department Director Kenny Schmitz and consultant Shane Albrecht took 15 minutes, longer than expected, to get the capsule open. They used a rotary tool, then big pliers, then eventually pounded on a screwdriver. Schmitz said the extra labor was necessary because there was an unexpected second seal of the capsule on the inside. Woodbury County Historical Committee members are setting the centennial celebration events. Committee member Jim Jung raved about the items as they were pulled out by Munson, who was wearing gloves so not to harm the pieces. "Pretty good shape, that is amazing," Jung said. Those items will now go into a Sioux City Public Museum display. About 30 people watched in the courthouse atrium, and another 10 from the County Attorney office and other court workers observed from the floor above. Committee member Jeremy Taylor noted the Tuesday unveiling of the capsule lacked the musical flourish that occurred with the 1916 cornerstone ceremony. "We don't have the Elks Quartet with us to sing today," Taylor deadpanned. In spite of the differing aspects of the 1916 and 2017 events, it was fantastic to watch people get excited, he added. "It was worth it to see the excitement on historians' faces," Taylor said. SIOUX CITY | Just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday, 15 Iowa Air National Guard members returned home Tuesday after a two-month deployment in hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico. Members of the Iowa Air Guards 132nd Wing in Des Moines, aboard a KC-135 from the 185th Air Refueling Wing, landed at the Sioux City airbase Tuesday night. The guard members had been in Puerto Rico since late September, providing security for relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Maria. The guardsmen then traveled to Des Moines for some rest and relaxation. During their time in Puerto Rico, members of the 132nd provided security at the San Juan airport. They were assisted by security force members form the 185th, who returned to Sioux City in October. The Iowa guard members were part of a security detail during visits to San Juan by President Trump and Vice President Pence. The 185th members returned home to prepare for another deployment. About 100 more members are scheduled to depart in December or January part of a projected deployment of 300 members by early 2018, the air guard base's largest since the Vietnam War. The deployments will range from 30 days to six months in numerous locations in the Arabian Peninsula and in the Pacific, 185th Wing Commander Col. Larry Christensen first announced in August. Once that happens, roughly a third of the unit's airmen will be deployed during that time. The largest segment of the deployments, consisting of nearly 200 members, will join members of the 133rd Test Squadron in Fort Dodge, Iowa, in six-month deployments in the Arabian peninsula, where they will be stationed in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. Members will include the 185th Construction Engineering Squadron, food services, communications, supply, security forces personnel and members of the Intelligence, Public Affairs, Finance and Chaplain's offices. Based at Sioux Gateway Airport, the 185th's main mission is to refuel planes-- while in the air-- for the U.S. Air Force, Navy and NATO with KC-135 Stratotanker refueling tankers. The unit has about 950 full and part-time members. The unit, which traces its roots to 1943 and World War II, flew fighter jets prior to 2003. This fall's deployment is the largest since the unit converted to refueling tankers in 2003, and the largest for the 185th since 1968, when the then-800 member unit was recalled to active duty and deployed to Vietnam with their F-100s jets. The 185th has had smaller numbers of airmen deployed around the globe on a nearly constant basis in recent years. SIOUX CITY | In less than three months, Seaboard Triumph Foods has hit its target of hiring 1,100 employees for the first shift at the new Sioux City pork plant, a top company official said Tuesday. In addition, a second shift, set to start next year, is now expected to add 950 workers, up 50 from earlier previous estimates, Chief Operating Officer Mark Porter said. The second shift will push total employment well past 2,000. After two years of construction in the city's Bridgeport West Business Park, the 925,000-square-foot plant slaughtered its first hogs just after Labor Day weekend with several hundred workers. The workforce now includes about 900 hourly workers and around 200 in the office. With a capacity to process about 10,500 hogs daily with a single shift, it ranks as the second-largest fresh pork plant in the world and the newest factory of its kind in the United States. The Seaboard Triumph Foods complex, a joint partnership between Guymon, Oklahoma-based Seaboard Foods and St. Joseph, Missouri-based Triumph Foods, was built on a 251-acre site. The current structures cover 22 acres, and a large addition is under construction to accommodate a second shift. Completion is anticipated for late spring or early summer next year. Once a second shift ramps up, Seaboard Triumph will become the largest Sioux City employer and the third largest in Siouxland, behind only Tyson Fresh Meats in Dakota City and Wells Enterprises Inc. in Le Mars. Porter also on Tuesday laid out likely scenarios for the plant to expand in the future. We wont expand in fresh pork, he said. Most likely, it would be case-ready or smoked meat or fully-cooked meat. We would most likely attach on to the north side or to the northwest. Porter updates came during a conversation with U.S. Rep Tom Emmer before the Minnesota Republican toured the plant Tuesday morning. Emmer visited multiple locations in Siouxland Tuesday but made a special point to see the pork plant because one of Triumph Foods' affiliated companies is Christensen Farms, a large Minnesota-based pork producer. Im just very happy Ive been given the opportunity to visit this great facility, Emmer said. The congressman said Tuesday's tours will help him relay the importance of agriculture and its role in the economy to his constituents. "Most people especially in the city they think their food comes from the grocery store," he said. "It's our job to keep it real and make sure we understand where it's actually coming from." Hundreds of thousands of enrollees in Iowas privately managed Medicaid program will not be able to choose between the two remaining providers after AmeriHealth Caritas of Iowas withdrawal from the program. The Iowa Department of Human Services said Tuesday that Amerigroup Iowa one of the two remaining companies that will manage the states Medicaid program for 2018 does not currently have capacity to take any new members, according to a notice sent to lawmakers and obtained by The Gazette. Amerigroup Iowa has informed the department they do not currently have capacity to take any new members, including those who have actively chosen Amerigroup Iowa as their (managed-care organization) after AmeriHealth Caritas withdrawal, the agencys notice reads. Department officials announced in late October that AmeriHealth, one of the three companies chosen to run Iowas Medicaid program, would withdraw from the program by the end of November. The withdrawal affects more than 213,000 Iowans who are enrolled with AmeriHealth. Department spokesman Matt Highland said the department is continuing to work with managed-care providers on the transition. We will notify members, providers and stakeholders as soon as we have finalized information, Highland said in an email. He did not comment on when Amerigroup notified the department it couldnt take the additional enrollees. As of late Tuesday, the department had not posted the notice on its website. Both Amerigroup and UnitedHealthcare have re-signed contracts with Iowa to continue their management next year. The departments notice goes against what it had initially announced in November. After AmeriHealth said it would withdraw, patients were told they would be assigned to UnitedHealthcare, but could make the change to Amerigroup. Now, patients who might have opted to switch to Amerigroup after being assigned to UnitedHealthcare wont able to do so, and must remain with UnitedHealthcare, the department said. In addition, the department said in its notice, all new IA Health Link members will be assigned to UnitedHealthcare. In the future, members again will have a choice in MCOs and will be notified when that choice is available. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has approved a suspension of a provision that requires a choice between managed-care organizations, the department said. CMS did not respond to a request for comment, and Highland did not comment as to when the department asked the federal agency for the temporary suspension. The decision does not affect Iowa Medicaid members who were enrolled with Amerigroup before AmeriHealth announced its withdrawal, the department said. Amerigroup said Tuesday its top priority is to coordinate high quality health care for our members. We are focused on ensuring appropriate and effective access to quality care to reasonably and responsibly support both current and potential future members. In addition, we continue to collaborate with state and federal officials to help identify solutions to strengthen Iowas Medicaid program, Amerigroup said in a statement to The Gazette. In its statement, UnitedHealthcare said it welcomes the opportunity to serve more than 200,000 additional IA Health Link members. We have the experience, resources and dedicated teams in place to transition our new members while maintaining the high level of service that our existing members have come to expect, UnitedHealthcare said. State Sen. Pam Jochum, D-Dubuque, said her daughter, who has disabilities, was under AmeriHealth. Jochum recently moved her daughter under Amerigroup and received confirmation from the department, she said. Now Im reading this notice from the department that we all have to go with (UnitedHealthcare). Heres the problem: How many of the doctors and providers in our state are signed with United? Jochum said. Jochum said our hands our tied in terms of whether state lawmakers could do anything to address issues with Iowas Medicaid program. Lawmakers could vote to rescind contracts with the providers, but Jochum said Gov. Kim Reynolds would likely veto the move. This really rests on the doorstep of Gov. Reynolds, she said. Brenna Smith, a spokeswoman for Reynolds, said the governor is committed to improving quality and access to care, promoting accountability for patient outcomes and creating a more predictable and sustainable Medicaid budget. Rep. Liz Mathis, D-Hiawatha, said, I dont know what kind of hoops they had to jump through to get CMS to approve this or how long this temporary fix will be and if CMS will start to take a look at this and see that it is a system that is crumbling before our very eyes. DES MOINES | The Republican leader of the Iowa Senate announced plans Tuesday to release an internal review conducted in the wake of a $1.75 million sexual harassment settlement and to enlist a former GOP senator to advise him on workplace culture. Senate Majority Leader Bill Dix, R-Shell Rock, said he was reversing course by agreeing to make public the report compiled through interviews with GOP Senate staffers following an adverse jury verdict that led to a $1.75 million payout settling a lawsuit from Kirsten Anderson, a former Republican Senate caucus employee. As this process has unfolded, it has become clear to me that we are in need of change and our employees deserve better, Dix said in a statement. Sexual harassment is a serious issue in the American workplace and Senate Republicans are going to use this regrettable incident to show Iowans and Americans how it is appropriately addressed. To that end, Dix said he has enlisted former Ambassador Mary Kramer to advise him on workplace culture. Kramer, a former West Des Moines senator and George W. Bush administration ambassador to the Eastern Caribbean who also has been a corporate human resources officer, will assist as a volunteer. Her career in human resources and as a tireless advocate for women will help ensure the legislative workplace is free of harassment and discrimination, he said. Kramer indicated she was dismayed by Andersons assertions and concluded there was a need for culture reform in the Iowa Senate. I have accepted Sen. Dixs invitation to serve as an adviser because, as a result of my conversations with him, I am convinced he is sincerely committed to ensuring that employees of the Iowa Senate work in a safe and healthy environment, Kramer said in a statement. Dix said he also plans to re-engage in efforts with the Iowa House to identify and procure human resources assistance for the Legislature. House Speaker Linda Upmeyer, R-Clear Lake, said last week she planned to go ahead with hiring a human resources director despite Dixs change of plans to forego that, at least for now. The Shell Rock senator also shifted gears Tuesday after previously refusing to release the internal review, saying before that the interviews conducted with Senate GOP caucus employees were done under an expectation of confidentiality. He now plans to release the review document by weeks end a move applauded by Gov. Kim Reynolds. I think its really positive steps in the right direction and I want to commend him on that, the Republican governor told her weekly news conference about Dixs plans to bring in Kramer and release the report. Theres been a lot that has come to light nationally and just everywhere, so I think its really important that people take this seriously and they do everything they can to make sure that everyone regardless of gender can work in a safe environment, Reynolds added. She told reporters she has talked privately with Dix about these issues, but has not seen the report Dix plans to release. Workplace rules became an issue at the Statehouse after trial testimony in the lawsuit brought by Anderson, a former Senate Republican caucus staff communications director who alleged she worked in a toxic environment and was fired in 2013 hours after complaining of sexual harassment. I absolutely condemn harassment of any type, said Senate President Jack Whitver, R-Ankeny, During my time as Senate president, I have been and will continue to be committed to ensuring the Iowa Senate is a harassment-free environment for all employees and the taxpayers of this great state. Harassment should not and will not be tolerated in the Iowa Senate. Senate Democratic Leader Janet Petersen of Des Moines, who last week called for Dix and Whitver to release the findings of the review, called Tuesdays announcement another partisan response to the serious problem of sexual harassment in the Iowa Capitol. Sen. Dix, Sen. Whitver and other Senate Republicans still have not apologized to Kirsten Anderson for the sexual harassment she experienced and they refuse to acknowledge that she was fired for being a whistleblower, Petersen said in a statement. Because the only information we have about this new proposal is coming from the news media, she noted, it is hard to assess whether this will make the Legislature a safe and welcoming environment for all employees, whether Iowa taxpayers will be protected in the future and whether the Legislature will take steps necessary to protect the rights of those who raise concerns about harassment. Iowa Democratic Party chairman Troy Price reiterated his position that Dix should step down as Senate majority leader, saying the unacceptable secrecy and pattern of mistakes make it clear that we cannot trust Sen. Dix to make the Capitol a safe working environment or manage our tax dollars. He needs to go. 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. Constance Walker Wettengel, 74, passed away suddenly at her home in Dameron, MD on November 19, 2017. Heaven gained its best and brightest angel that morning, and she would want this time to be happy, joyful and filled with stories and love. In addition to being survived by her beloved husband of 58 years, Eddie Wettengel; Connie is survived by her son, Mike Wettengel; son, Tommy Wettengel; daughter, Cindy Greb; daughter-in-law, Teena Wettengel; brother, Buddy Walker; brother, Gene Walker; sister-in-law, Linda Walker; and nine grandchildren: Bryan Wettengel, Kelsey Wettengel, Jeffrey Wettengel, Christina Wettengel, Bradley Greb, Benjamin Greb, Samantha Wettengel, Alexandra Wettengel and Lauren Heibel. Connie fell in love with Eddie when she was just 12 years old, marrying him six years later. They began their family and life adventure together in Bethesda, MD then moved to St. Mary's County in 1974. Since that time, they not only created a loving home for their three children, they created lovely homes in a beautiful community for so many new families in St. Mary's County, known as Wildewood. Connie opened her heart to everyone she met, caring for and loving them like family. Connie's greatest treasures of life were her nine grandchildren; she loved all creatures on this planet, but she held her grandchildren closest to her heart. She had nine best friends! Family will receive friends on Wednesday, November 29, 2017 from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., with a Funeral Service celebrated by Reverend Scott Woods at 3:30 p.m., at Brinsfield Funeral Home, P.A., 22955 Hollywood Road, Leonardtown, MD 20650. The family will have a Celebration of Connie's Life from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the Hollywood Volunteer Fire Hall, Hollywood, MD 20636. Interment will be private. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Ridge Volunteer Rescue Squad, P.O. Box 456, Ridge, MD 20680. Without the care, love and compassion of their team throughout the years, the family's time with Mom may have been shorter. Arrangements by the Brinsfield Funeral Home, P.A. DAHLGREN, Va. - Rear Adm. Jesse Wilson, Naval Surface Force Atlantic commander, emphasizes the importance of innovating to the strategic environment as he spoke to a group of civilian technologists and military officers at the first in a series of Surface Warfare Innovation Workshops held at the Navy's newest Innovation Lab. Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) and the Navy War College co-sponsored the event that encouraged NSWCDD scientists and engineers to throw away the rule book as they brainstormed to solve future warfighting scenarios. "The workshop enabled Navy leadership to share current and future Fleet concerns with our new and mid-career personnel to develop united, focused, and creative solutions," said NSWCDD I-Lab Director of Innovation Nelson Mills. (U.S. Navy photo/Released) DAHLGREN, Va. (Nov. 21, 2017)A new Innovation Lab is revolutionizing the Navy's thinking and collaboration about its future Fleet with events like the Surface Warfare Innovation Workshop, Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) announced Nov. 20.As scientists and engineers explore transformational ideas in the Innovation Lab, or I-LabNSWCDD officials anticipate a surge of technological advances, approaches, and capabilities to further empower the nation's warfighters to fight, win, and return home safely."The I-Lab is engaging our workforce and helping to retain talent through challenging collaborations, critical thinking opportunities, and rewarding problem solving for the warfighter," said NSWCDD Technical Director John Fiore. "It is my belief the pursuit of these types of labs will unleash the entrepreneurial spirit of our scientists and engineers to ultimately benefit our customersSailors and Marines keeping our nation secure and hoping to come home to their loved ones safe."The NSWCDD I-Labequipped with state-of-the-art equipment, services, and trained personnelopened for business over the summer as an intensive collaborative environment where NSWCDD experts work to speed up and maximize corporate innovative solutions across the laboratory."I am very excited about our new I-Lab that stimulates, promotes, and merges ideas into concepts for analysis, prototyping, experimentation, and transition as neededbut this is only the beginning," said Fiore. "We have plans to expand our free play environments to include workshops that will allow us to free play with a variety of technologies, machine tools, and 3D printers."Innovators are using gear that includes mobile networked touch screens with collaboration 'Bluescape' workspace capability, a 3D printer, Surface Pro computers, a multi-touch collaboration table, self-contained holographic glasses, mobile glass boards, and unclassified video teleconference capability.The I-Lab is reconfigurable to support large innovative workshops as well as smaller, more focused events, including classified and unclassified break-out rooms. For example, NSWCDD and the Naval War College co-sponsored the command's first Surface Warfare Innovation Workshop, Oct. 17-19."The workshop was focused on gaining a foundation for current and future warfighting concepts and requirements," said Fiore. "Presentations and panel talks provided the opportunity for our technologists, engineers, and scientists to learn from OPNAV (Chief of Naval Operations staff) strategic planners, OPNAV surface warfare specialists, and visionaries."Future world models of military-political environments, Navy missions, and warfighting requirements were featured to stimulate possible technology and functional solutions."Solutions ranged from continued employment of current functional capabilities to the use of autonomy, robotics, quantum computing, and other advances in science that can be installed in Navy ships and assets," said Nelson Mills, I-Lab's director of innovation.On the event's first day, flag officers and senior government officials spoke with 60 NSWCDD experts about surface, air, and undersea warfare."We gained incredible insights from over 20 senior leaders on a variety of surface warfare topics, challenges, and issues," said Mills. "Team members were exposed to a new brainstorming thought process. They expanded personal networks, met and worked with incredibly talented people, and further developed their ability to innovate while engaging with guest speakers and panels."Four panel sessions were conducted on surface force strategy, warfighter perspectives, unmanned systems integration, future fleet structure, digital warfare advances, emerging capability requirements, future technologies, and possible warfighting futures. Panel members conveyed their experience, concerns, issues, knowledge, and vision for the future of surface warfare.What's more, the panel discussed Navy themes related to interoperability, mission planning, enhanced weapons, and an abundance of inexpensive deployed unmanned systems in the Fleet.At one point, Naval War College professor Dr. Bundy encouraged workshop participants to "throw away the rule book," "think out of the box," "think without a box," "imagine," and perhaps most of all "have fun" throughout the workshop."The workshop enabled Navy leadership to share current and future Fleet concerns with our new and mid-career personnel to develop united, focused, and creative solutions," said Mills. "Our innovators were invigorated through motivational speakers as we identified, addressed, and overcame impediments along the way."The participantsmostly civilian scientists and engineers as well as a few active duty military officersresponded by brainstorming about technology that enables functional capabilities, including sensors, networks, command and control, weapons, distributed lethality, and battle management concepts.They broke up into groups that tackled a myriad of naval warfighting scenarios generated by the Naval War College for the 2020, 2025, and 2030 timeframes. On the final day, the break-out groups presented their culminating concepts to Rear Adm. Jesse Wilson, Naval Surface Force Atlantic commander.Wilson emphasized the importance of innovating to the strategic environment and getting new technologies into the hands of Sailors quickly. The next 25 years in the maritime security environment is going to be very different than the last quarter of a century, he told the participants, adding that it's essential to prepare for changes and challenges while innovating to ensure the Navy is ready today and tomorrow.In all, four teams of NSWCDD scientists and engineers worked with specific scenarios, approaches, and solutions by employing the IDEO (innovation, design, engineering, and organization) process while brainstorming to achieve innovative answers, potential prototypes, and integrated kill chain capabilities. A 'kill chain' refers to the process of identifying and thwarting threats, typically from reconnaissance, until the threat is eliminated. It also applies to threats in cyberspace and to the electromagnetic spectrumidentifying and eliminating intrusions in the networks.The teams' four scenarios were: Credible Combat Power in the Sea Frontier: Protection of the U.S. East Coast, West Coast, and Gulf of Mexico in 2020. Securing the Maritime Commons: Anti-piracy mission off the Horn of Africa in 2025. Maritime Strategic Deterrence: Ballistic Missile Defense type mission with 40 percent of the U.S. Navy being unmanned in 2025. Capstone: Maritime Battle Force: At war in 2030.Themes comprising autonomy, automation, artificial intelligence, and machine learning were addressed by the teams.At the conclusion of each scenarioas part of the innovative IDEO framework for the workshopthe teams described their innovative solutions acquired via brainstorming, introduced possibilities along with prototype ideas, and presented a realistic capability solution using a system integration or kill chain approach.NSWCDD is planning future Surface Warfare Innovation Workshops to be held at dates to be determined. The events will explore technology and systems development opportunities for the Navy's future Surface Combatant Fleet, potential new capabilities impacting the Navy's most technologically advanced surface combatantUSS Zumwalt (DDG 1000), and autonomy enabled by artificial intelligence and machine learning via unmanned surface ships.A workshop focusing on the Navy's future surface combatant would assess functional capabilities and alternative sensors, weapons, and control systems envisioned for the future surface combatant Fleet."NSWCDD innovators can learn what is initially planned for the Fleet and offer advances in sensors, control-networks, weapons-effectors, and other technologies," said Mills. "Sponsors for a Future Surface Combatant Workshop would include recently hired NSWCDD engineers and technologists, mid-term engineers and innovators, and OPNAV N96 invited surface warfare officers. The outcome of this workshop would provide assessments of planned and alternative payloads, sensors, and systems; create innovative solutions; and offer Fleet-perspective learning for NSWCDD staff."A USS Zumwalt capabilities workshopin cooperation with the Navy's Surface Warfare Directorate and the Commander of U.S. Pacific Fleetwould explore innovative capabilities for Zumwalt Class guided-missile destroyers. It would assess employment roles for Zumwalt Class guided-missile destroyers and explore technologies that will enable role missions, integration, and interoperability with the Fleet."Participants should include Fleet planners, Zumwalt Class guided-missile destroyer officers, OPNAV Surface Warfare Directorate personnel, Naval Operations for Information Warfare personnel, OPNAV Future Fleet Design and Architecture staff, NSWC engineers, and other participants who can contribute to the workshop goals," said Mills.A workshop featuring autonomy enabled by artificial intelligence and machine learning via unmanned surface ships could be held in cooperation with the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Unmanned Systems in conjunction with the Navy's surface and undersea warfare centers."It would explore near, mid, and far-term unmanned system integration opportunities for unmanned surface ships," said Mills. "These integration opportunities include the range of surface force employment of unmanned surface vehicles and ships. In fact, we identified one functional capability during the inaugural workshop that deserves further assessment and possible technical solutions." WASHINGTON (Nov. 22, 2017)The 10 Warfare Center Divisions and their detachments hired more than 250 veterans and Wounded Warriors in fiscal year 2017, helping NAVSEA exceed its hiring goals for the fourth year in a row. More than 700 veterans and Wounded Warriors were hired across NAVSEA and all its activities in FY17, and nearly 3,700 have been hired since the NAVSEA Veteran and Wounded Warrior Program Office (VWWPO) was established in 2009.Supporting the country's military heroes and assisting them in continuing to serve their nation in civilian life is part of the Department of the Navy (DoN) Veteran and Wounded Warrior Hiring and Support Initiative which launched in 2010. With the Naval Systems Commands and the Office of Civilian Human Resources leading the effort, the Navy hired 10,609 veterans, 3,433 of whom are Wounded Warriorscombat veterans with disabilities of 30 percent or morein 2016."These men and women are some of the hardest-working, highest-skilled and best-trained people in our country," said Warfare Center Executive Director Donald F. McCormack. "They are also brave, selfless and unquestionably part of NAVSEA's effort to have a workforce that is second to none."The initiative, which supports the "People" line of effort in NAVSEA's Campaign Plan to Expand the Advantage, matches veterans with service disabilities to employment opportunities in NAVSEA's industrial, scientific, contracting and administrative fields.In addition to holding reverse-style career fairswhich highlight the skills, talents and abilities of jobseekers, rather than those doing the hiringincluding one at the Washington Navy Yard last month, NAVSEA co-sponsors national events such as the DoN Veteran and Wounded Warrior Hiring and Support Summit in May in Seattle. The VWWPO also assists veteran employees through the Mentor, Assist, Train to Excel and Support (MATES) program."Having personally met with hundreds of transitioning service members and veterans as they embark on civilian life, witnessing first-hand their courage and motivating attitude, makes it easy to be passionate in my career," said Caitlin Williams, NAVSEA's Veteran and Wounded Warrior Program Manager. "Former NAVSEA Commander, Vice Adm. (Kevin) McCoy once said, 'Who better to serve the warfighter than the warfighter himself?' The NAVSEA Veteran and Wounded Warrior Program Office wouldn't be successful without the support from leadership and the field activities that comprise the enterprise."NAVSEA, the Navy's largest systems command, employs more than 74,000 people at 33 field activities across the country and overseas. There are hundreds of civilian occupations for Wounded Warriors across the enterprise; in this issue, timed to reflect the recent observance of Veterans Day, Soundings highlights several at the Warfare Centers. It has truly filled a gap in my heart that I had since the day they told me I would no longer be able to be in the military due to my injuries. Anthony Rico TOP: Army soldier Anthony Rico, right, at the Pentagon in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. BOTTOM: Anthony Rico, Lead Logistics Analyst for the Precision Guided Weapons section of the Battle Management System at NSWC Dahlgren Division, delivers remarks during NAVSEA's National Disability Employment Awareness Month event sponsored by the NAVSEA Individuals with Disabilities Employee Resource Group on Oct. 24 in the Humphreys Building auditorium at the Washington Navy Yard. When Anthony Rico made the transition from military to civilian, "It wasn't about the pay, it was about job security and a solid future for my family," he said. "Being a contractor or government employee was always a way to give back to my fellow warfighters, who I missed being a part of. It has truly filled a gap in my heart that I had since the day they told me I would no longer be able to be in the military due to my injuries."As Lead Logistics Analyst for the Precision Guided Weapons (PGW) section of Battle Management System (BMS) at NSWC Dahlgren Division, he is responsible for the overall logistics and maintenance support for BMS PGW equipment, which is being used on the Harvest Hawk, Harvest Hawk+, AC-J (Ghost Rider), AC-W (Stinger II), Patrol Coastal and Littoral Combat Ships (LCS), as well as other developmental platforms and projects.Rico came to NSWC Dahlgren Division by way of a reverse-style career fair hosted by NAVSEA, which he learned about from a representative of the Paralyzed Veterans of America."I had no clue what a reverse job fair was, but I was more than willing to attend," Rico said. "Of course, I was already passed the registration date, but we contacted Caitlin Williams and her team and they were able to get me into the event. Thanks to Caitlin and her team, my dream of becoming a government employee was now a reality."Rico's infantry background has served him well in his position at NSWC Dahlgren Division."Quite often in the service, you are thrust into situations where you don't always have the right tool or person to complete a mission or job. This happens in a normal office environment as well, and veterans are quite creative and are able to come up with various ways to accomplish the objective," Rico said. "The veteran brings the 'Yes, but' mentality, rather than the 'No it can't' mentality. 'This is how we have always done it' doesn't necessarily mean it's the correct or most efficient way of doing business."Veterans can provide first-hand knowledge to a program office and help understand not only how a unit works and operates, but how warfighters use the tools within their field of work."Our mission as a Warfare Center is to provide the most effective and safest systems possible to the warfighter," said Robert Snodgrass, Weapon Control Hardware Engineering and Test Branch Head and Rico's supervisor. "The veterans and Wounded Warriors on the team not only provide the perspective and operational insight of the warfighter, but they serve as a constant reminder of why we do what we do they inspire us to ensure we get it right."Gary Shearer, Lead Hardware and Embedded Software Architect and Chief Engineer for the Weapon Control Hardware Engineering and Test Branch, said the passion Rico has to serve the warfighter motivates those around him."I see the pride and I see the dedication he has to our mission, for instance, direct support to boots on the ground with our weapon systems," he said. "It helps remind me personally, of why I am really doing the job I am doing, and why it is so important. We want all the 'Ricos' to come home safe. He helps to inspire my team because we know that guys and gals just like our Rico need the absolute best systems we can provide. So it is not that he is just doing a job and happens to be a co-worker, his impact runs much deeper for us." A professional and culturally diverse work environment is what I am used to, especially having a military background, and that is what you get here. Stephanie Hueston TOP: Air Force Master Sergeant Stephanie Hueston poses with a B-52 aircraft in British Indian Ocean Territory after finishing mission paperwork for the aircraft's departure in 2009. BOTTOM: Stephanie Hueston is now a Joint Strike Fighter Integrated Product Team Deputy, Logistics Management Specialist, at NSWC Indian Head EOD Technology Division. For Stephanie Hueston, joining the NAVSEA team has been the most rewarding decision she has made since retiring from the Air Force in 2012. She served 21 years and nine months as an Air Force Active Duty Enlisted Logistics, Contingency War Planner.After eight contingency deployments, including two to Iraq, upon her retirement, Hueston said she wanted to continue to serve and contribute to the warfighter, specifically in the air operations world, which her current position at NSWC Indian Head EOD Technology Division allows."Working for the Cartridge Actuated Device (CAD)/Propellant Actuator Device (PAD) Division at NSWC Indian Head Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology Division, managing the Joint Strike Fighter Ejection Seat devices, has brought me a sense of fulfillment and accomplishment," Hueston said. "A professional and culturally diverse work environment is what I am used to, especially having a military background, and that is what you get here at Indian Head: a welcoming, accepting and supportive home. Score!"Hueston learned about the NAVSEA VWWPO from one of NAVSEA's Human Resources Specialists and received assistance in making the transition along the way. "I work with many great people, but there is one person in particular who has made my start here easier, and that person is Mr. John Constantine; he took on the responsibility of mentor and guided me through the NAVSEA indoctrination process and helped make my transition from military to civilian life as painless as possible," she said."When Stephanie came on board earlier this year, she immediately went to task of defining rules of engagement for the differing tiers of program office review," said Constantine, F-35 CAD/PAD E24 Engineering Department Transition Integrated Product Team Lead. "I attest her ability to work the issues she was given to her years of military experience, which taught her how to address problems or concerns head on, and not let these problems or issues linger."By hiring Stephanie, we have allowed her expertise and training to be used again, this time for the Warfare Centers, and mitigating months, if not years, of training a typical new employee would require," Constantine said. "Not only has this led to cost and schedule savings, but as also enhanced the position of the program to move forward at a quicker pace than expected."It is Hueston's job to ensure the ejection seat devices are available and service-ready when needed. "Our job at Indian Headlike many other jobsis vital to the success of Air Force, Navy and Marine pilots' mission success and survival," she said. "'Loggies,' like me, are part of a team of people who work daily to ensure the successful function of Air Force, Navy and Marine aircraft ejection seats."One recent illustration that stands out for Hueston was when her division director thanked her and her team for a job well done after learning that an Air Force pilot had safely ejected from his aircraft: "The devices we engineer, test and manage, worked!""Knowing when I do my job correctly contributes directly to our country's national defense makes me proud to be a part of the NAVSEA team," Hueston said.Warfare Center Division Wounded Warrior Points of Contact: NSWC Dahlgren Division/CDSA Dam Neck: Ally Regan, margaret.regan@navy.mil (new POC Shane Humphreys effective Nov. 27) NSWC Indian Head EOD Technology Division: Lisa M. Robey, lisa.robey@navy.milVisit the NAVSEA's Veterans and Wounded Warrior Program Office website: www.navsea.navy.mil/Career-Opportunities/Veteran-and-Wounded-Warrior-Program-Office/ WASHINGTON (Nov. 22, 2017)An unprecedented Trump administration decision over the summer that overruled an interstate fishing commission has drawn the ire of critics who worry that keeping a healthy and viable supply of flounder in the Atlantic Ocean is being sacrificed to commercial profits. While the fight over fish largely has been out of the public eye, it has implications for Maryland and other coastal states. Critics charge the controversy further underscores environmental backsliding by a White House beholden to business interests seeking fewer restrictions on the potentially harmful exploitation of natural resources. In July, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross overruled a recommendation by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission finding New Jersey out of compliance with proposed 2017 harvest limits of summer flounder along the Atlantic coast. The reversal marked the first time since passage of the Atlantic Coastal Act in 1993 that the Department of Commerce overruled the commission's finding of noncompliance, said commission spokeswoman Tina Berger. "It was a big surprise that the commission's authority would essentially be disregarded by the Commerce Department," said Maryland Del. Dana Stein, D-Baltimore, one of the fisheries commissioners. "I was very disappointed upon hearing about this." Former commission Chair Douglas Grout at the time said the "commission is deeply concerned about the near-term impact on our ability to end overfishing on the summer flounder stock, as well as the longer-term ability for the commission to effectively conserve numerous other Atlantic coastal shared resources." The commission, formed by the 15 Atlantic coastal states in 1942, provides a platform for states to coordinate management plans to conserve fishing stocks. Each state is represented by three commissioners, including a member of the state legislature, an industry representative and a state official. Fisheries management is a complicated and difficult field that uses a number of measurements to estimate the number of fish of a particular species in the ocean. Much of the data is collected by the National Marine Fisheries Service, a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The data includes fish size, recreational and commercial harvest amounts and assessments of the habitat and movement of species. Also measured is spawning stock biomass, defined as the total weight of male and female fish in a population that contribute to reproduction. The focus of the dispute is New Jersey's plan for summer flounder, also known as fluke, a large, flat fish that in Maryland is caught both in the Chesapeake Bay and on the Atlantic seaboard. At issue is how many fish of any species can be taken in a season without tipping the balance toward a steady decline in the overall stock, as occurred years ago with striped bass. Growing up to four feet long, summer flounder is the seventh most-fished in Maryland and is particularly prized by recreational fishermen. The flounder reach spawning age at around two years, by which time a mature fish should measure approximately 10 inches long. New Jersey proposed allowing the harvest of approximately 93,000 more fish this yearroughly double the previous quota limit. The state contended that it was possible to reduce the number of undersized flounder that die after being released back into the ocean by anglers, using an angler education program. New Jersey's "discard mortality" was rejected by the fisheries commission in its technical report as unquantifiable. But the Commerce Department said Ross accepted NOAA's judgment that New Jersey's plan would work "while also preserving jobs supported by the recreational summer flounder industry" in the state. It is unclear what NOAA told the Commerce Department. Officials with NOAA declined requests for comment. However, an earlier report by NOAA contradicts the position the Commerce Department took on the health of the summer flounder supply. In short, that report said that summer flounder was experiencing overfishing and noted that spawning stock biomass of the species decreased significantly between 2013 and 2016. The NOAA report also noted that, "as the result of the 2016 assessment update, reductions in catch and landings limits were required for 2017 and 2018." In addition, a memo from the Commerce Department to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission said that while it was possible New Jersey's proposal would result in equal conservation, it recognized that "there is some uncertainty about how effective the New Jersey measures will be." "There's a serious question here of transparency," said Molly Masterson, project attorney at the National Resources Defense Council, a non-profit organization focused on long-term management of natural resources. " We don't know, but if commerce and the technical advisors at NOAA were at odds on this that's really important for the public to know and as it currently stands we just don't know," she said. According to Kiley Dancy, program manager for summer flounder at the Mid Atlantic Fishery Management Councilone of six federally mandated regional councilssummer flounder was one of the "best assessed" species managed by the commission. "Almost all of the input into the assessment have shown pretty substantial declines of summer flounder over the years, so although there may be some uncertainties in exactly where the biomass is right now, we've seen trends in declines in these indices for almost all of the indices that are in the assessment," Dancy told Capital News Service. Her assessment was shared by Maryland officials familiar with the issue. "The flounder stock has shown a kind of extended period of decline over the last decade from a high point, you know, ten years ago, to a point in time now where the stock is approaching the threshold level for which more significant management action would have to happen," said Michael Luisi, program director at the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. But New Jersey officials say their approach was quantifiable and based on hard data. "At the end of the day, we're the Department of Environmental Protection," said that agency's assistant commissioner, David Glass. "We're a science-based agency and were able to ultimately be successful by providing sound science and data to the secretary of commerce and NOAA fisheries." "We've contracted with Montclair State Universityhere in New Jersey, to conduct a survey," Glass added. "They did a preseason survey for us, and they're doing a post-season survey to show, ultimately was our campaign effective? Did it change angler behavior? Did it help save more fish in the water?" Officials in Maryland were cautious about the approach taken in New Jersey. "It's not that New Jersey wasn't acting in the best interest of conservation," Luisi said. "They just did it in a different way and maybe it was a little less quantified based on the hard science, but it doesn't mean it was wrong." "I think there was just a difference of opinion regarding the management actions that one particular state was presenting as something that they felt was equal to that of the other states," Luisi added. The fisheries commission tends to err on the side of caution, Masterson said, noting that with a vulnerable population such as summer flounder, "it's really critical that the managers get it right based on a really robust scientific and management strategy evaluation process." Luisi agreed: "The stock is approaching the threshold level for which more significant management action would have to happenManagers need to be conservative in how they deal with quotas." A statement from the Department of Commerce maintains that the decision was in keeping with the available data and with recommendations from the National Marine Fisheries Service. "The long-term sustainability of American fishing stocks and the jobs that rely on them are of the utmost concern to Secretary Ross," said a statement provided by the department. But the matter also seems to be one of political and commercial interest taking precedence over economic and environmental sustainability according to NRDC's Masterson. She insisted that "the secretary's decision had absolutely no technical support or analysis from a conservation standpoint as to why that it warrantedoverturning the commission's decision and why New Jersey's proposal would be enough basically for conservation." The future of sustainability efforts now appears to be in a state of uncertainty, according to state fishery managers, with the strict limits imposed by the commission suddenly open to question. "There's a real concern of states coming out sort of at the last minute and saying, 'Oh, we want to do something totally different andbecause of political influence, we have the guys at the commerce that are going to support us,'" said Masterson. If others states are able to lobby the Commerce Department directly for changes to fishing regulations, as New Jersey has done, Stein said he doesn't want Maryland to lose out. "I would hope that Maryland wouldn't be the next state (to loosen regulations), but if it seems like that's the trend, Maryland would feel it'd have to defend its own interests," the lawmaker said. "The decision by Commerceit makes the whole compliance conservation equivalency a little bit gray How that translates into future management, it's yet to be determined," Luisi said. But the decision may be popular with fishermen, who contend the fisheries commission's zeal to protect the fish supply often exceeds its technical knowledge. "I'm glad to see that somebody stood up to the commission," said Robert Brown, president of Maryland Watermen's Association, which represents commercial fishermen in the state. "The best science that they say is availableit isn't such a thing," Brown said. "It's the best assessment, the best guess. There's no way you can tell how many fish are out there." Brown's elation could be short-lived. Berger, the fisheries commission spokeswoman, said that if summer flounder reaches an overfished status, more stringent federal laws could impose fishing moratoriums on the species. Deborah Ann Brooks Murder Scene Photo 1 Murder Scene Photo 2 Murder Scene Photo 3 Murder Scene Photo 4 Murder Scene Photo 5 Previous Next LA PLATA, Md. (Nov. 22, 2017)Charles County Sheriff's detectives are seeking the public's help in solving a murder that occurred 37 years ago this week. Deborah Ann "Missy" Brooks, 17, was abducted on November 13, 1980, just blocks from her house in Northeast Washington, DC. Her body was discovered the following day in a wooded area in Charles County. Her brother, Paul Brooks, said his family always thinks about Deborah and hopes one day her murder will be solved."My sister and I were exactly 364 days apart. Even though she was technically older than me, by the time we hit our teens I acted like her big brother," said Paul. "I watched out for her and took over as the big brother when our older brother joined the Army."Paul, a retired Sergeant Major with the United States Army who served overseas and did a tour in Iraq, said his sister's murder devastated their tight-knit family. "Growing up it was just my mother, my older brother, Missy, and me. Missy was a nickname my grandmother gave Deborah when she was a young girl. We were very close. I can recall, vividly, the night Missy disappeared. I remember searching for her and the intense anxiety we all felt when she was not at school the next day. I remember my mother worrying and my older brother being very concerned. Missy was sweet. She was outgoing and had many friends. That someone could kill her is numbing."Although the crime occurred in 1980, the Charles County Sheriff's Office is committed to solving the case. "We have not given up. After a review of the investigation, we started re-interviewing witnesses and using the advances of forensics attempting to solve this case," said Detective Sergeant Tim Miner, a supervisor in the Criminal Investigations Division. His partner in this investigation, Sergeant Pat Tona said, "We are hoping to get that one tip that could break open the case and help us bring justice to Deborah and her family." This is what is known about Deborah's murder:On Thursday, November 13, 1980, at approximately 8:20 p.m., Deborah came home to her residence at 1425 Monroe Street in Northeast Washington, DC, and asked her mother, Constance Canty, about a prescription that Canty had picked up for her at the People's Drug Store on 12th Street in Northeast. Deborah opened the bag and saw that the prescription had not been filled properly. She said she was going to go to the drug store to get the correct prescription, but had to hurry because the drugstore would be closing soon. It was the last time anyone in the Brooks family saw Deborah alive.About 3 p.m. the next day, two hunters were operating a four-wheel-drive vehicle in a wooded area off Sharpersville Road. When they were about three-quarters of a mile off the road, they observed what appeared to be a body lying face-up under a pile of drywall. The remains were identified as Deborah's. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore ruled her death a murder.Charles County Crime Solvers, the CCSO, and family members have increased the reward in the case to up to $10,000 for the tip leading to the arrest and indictment of the suspect(s). Anyone with information that could help solve this case is asked to contact Detective Sergeant Tim Miner or Sergeant Pat Tona at (301) 609-6481. Tipsters wishing to remain anonymous may contact Charles County Crime Solvers by calling 1-866-411-TIPS. Metropolitan Commission Announces Selection of New Chief Engineer The St. Mary's County Metropolitan Commission has selected Maria "Christy" Hollander, P.E., as its new Chief Engineer effective October 26, 2017. Hollander has been working for the Metropolitan Commission since August 2008. She has served as the acting Chief Engineer since November, 2016. She is also a member of the Leonardtown Planning and Zoning Board. Hollander's duties include full oversight of the Engineering Department, which entails development review, permitting, capital project design and management, construction and inspection, along with the administration of a multitude of service contracts. Prior to coming to the Metropolitan Commission, Hollander was employed with private engineering firms, most recently as a senior designer at Loiderman Soltesz Associates, Inc. "Ms. Hollander brings a wealth of corporate knowledge and energy to the position", said John Carey, Metropolitan Commission Board Chairman. Hollander holds a BS in Civil Engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park and is a licensed Professional Engineer in Maryland. Additionally, she holds a Masters in Project Management from the University of Maryland University College. Alice Gaskin, Metropolitan Commission Board Member said, "Ms. Hollander has gained the trust and respect of her co-workers and will be a tremendous asset to us going forward." MetCom Continues To Meet or Exceed Water Quality Testing Requirements As a part of recent upgrades to the Marlay-Taylor Water Reclamation Facility, a new state-of-the art wastewater laboratory was constructed. This full service lab meets or exceeds all Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) requirements for wastewater laboratory testing, including accuracy testing on Discharge Monitoring Report Quality Assurance (DMRQA) and Standard Methods in the Examination of Water and Wastewater. George Erichsen, MetCom's Executive Director stated that, "We are very proud of the work that our collections, distribution, laboratory and operations / maintenance staff does each and every day to ensure our facilities comply with State and Federal regulations." The Commission is also working toward obtaining a formal State Certified Drinking Water Laboratory designation from the MDE for its facility located at the Larry K. Petty Building. Drinking Water. In fiscal year 2017, approximately 1,350 drinking water samples were collected and analyzed by MetCom staff to determine compliance with the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. These samples were tested by a third party laboratory and monitor parameters such as bacteria (coliform), lead / copper (triennially), arsenic, fluoride, nitrates, metals and disinfection byproducts. pH levels are monitored monthly (612 samples) while chlorine concentrations are analyzed twice per week (5,304 samples) by in-house operations staff in each of our 28 systems that include 51 water pumping stations for submission to the MDE. MDE also conducts periodic quality assurance testing and compliance site visits. The 2016 Annual Water Quality Reports may be viewed on the MetCom website at www.metcom.org. Select the Water Quality Reports option under the Operations tab. Watershed Protection. In addition to drinking water sampling, over 25,500 wastewater analyses were conducted in FY 2017 at each of MetCom's five (5) wastewater treatment plants and two (2) additional facilities operated by MetCom to determine compliance with the federal Clean Water Act. Water quality tests are performed on water entering and leaving each treatment process at the plants and throughout the Commission's distribution system. These analyses consisted of parameters such as bacteria (coliform), bio-chemical oxygen demand, nitrogen, phosphorus, suspended solids, pH, dissolved oxygen, acids, alkalinity and chlorine concentrations. The state and federal testing and analyses requirements under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits help ensure the quality of the effluent being released into receiving surface waters. If you are interested in working in our lab and to learn more about possible internships with MetCom, please visit our website at www.metcom.org and select the Open Positions option under the Human Resources tab. MetCom to Hold Information Meeting November 29 The St. Mary's County Metropolitan Commission will hold a Public Informational Meeting on Wednesday, November 29, 2017 at 6:30 p.m. at MetCom's Administrative Offices, located at 23121 Camden Way, California, Maryland to discuss the following projects: Interceptor Sewer Rehabilitation, Pine Hill Run Road Project No. 8152SR includes the replacement of a portion of existing 33-inch diameter sanitary sewer line with new 42-inch diameter sanitary sewer line. This section of pipe runs along the alignment of Pine Hill Run Road from Forest Park Road to the Marlay-Taylor Wastewater Reclamation Facility. The proposed sewer line will provide increased capacity and provide new service life to a portion of the sewer system built in the late 1960's. King Kennedy Water System Replacement Phase 1, Production Well Project No. 3-1-W is MetCom's first phase of King Kennedy's water rehabilitation and replacement efforts. This phase of the project includes the installation of a new 150 Gallons Per Minute (GPM) Patapsco Aquifer well located on the corner of Independence Drive and King Drive. The existing 70 GPM well will remain in service as a backup in the event the new well has to be placed out of service. This new well will provide a more reliable source of public water. The plans and specifications for the referenced projects may be inspected at the time of the meeting or at MetCom's Engineering Department located at the address above, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. All interested persons are invited to attend this Public Informational Meeting to ask questions regarding these projects. Please contact the Metropolitan Commission offices at 301.737.7400, Ext. 301 or engineering@metcom.org for more information, or if you cannot attend the meeting and would like to provide comment. The local transgender community is in mourning this week over the death of Bishop S.F. Makalani-MaHee. He was 45. The popular trans activist and church goer died Tuesday, friends said. Details of Makalani-MaHees passing have yet to be confirmed by family. A memorial service is scheduled for Sunday, Dec. 3 at Sunshine Cathedral, 1480 SW 9th Avenue, Fort Lauderdale. The service will begin at 4 p.m. In a 2014 profile by South Florida Gay News, Makalani-MaHee was described as having roots in the black Pentecostal church in New York. SF was larger than life, and his spirit touched countless individuals who may have found themselves lost or in need of hope or inspiration, human rights activist Michael Rajner posted in a tribute to Makalani-MaHee on Facebook. Makalani-MaHee was on staff at Pride Center and worked in the Unity Fellowship and Metropolitan Community Church movements. SFGN listed Makalani-MaHee in its 2014 Out 50 issue. Check out the latest briefs from around Wilton Manors! Nature-In-Art-Contest The Second Annual Nature-In-Art Contest is now underway. Organizers want participants to submit photos of birds, plants, animals, insects, water and anything else nature-related. Photograph submissions must be taken within the city limits of Wilton Manors and up to five can be submitted. The deadline to send submissions is Jan. 15. Photos can be emailed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or mailed to Todd DeJesus, 2020 Wilton Drive, Wilton Manors, FL 33305. Keefe McCullough chosen as auditor At their Nov. 14 meeting, commissioners voted to hire Keefe McCullough, located in Fort Lauderdale, as the citys auditor. In response to an RFP for auditor services, six firms responded. The top three, as ranked by city staff, gave presentations at the meeting. Keefe McCullough was ranked highest by city staff. The next step is for the city and Keefe McCullough to negotiate a contract. City applies for Colohatchee boat launch grant At their Nov. 14 meeting, commissioners voted to apply for a $135,000 grant from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection through its 2018 Recreational Trails Program. The money would be used to build a boat launch at the Colohatchee Park parking lot west of Northeast 15 Street. If approved, the grant requires the city contribute a portion of the cost - $35,000. Friends of the Library Book Tent The Friends of the Wilton Manors Library will have its Book Tent on Saturday, Dec. 9 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Hagen Park Community Center, 2020 Wilton Drive. Books, videos, and audio materials are available in exchange for a small donation. Money raised by The Friends is used to fund programs and buy equipment for the citys library. At the same time, the city will kick-off its Island City Yard Sale. Space is available for rent. Call 954-390-2115 or 954-390-2130. (WB) An organization that delivers meals to people with HIV/AIDS in hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico has been without electricity for more than two months. Food and Friends in D.C. has pledged to donate between $30,000-$35,000 from its annual Slice of Life pie sales fundraiser, which ends on Thursday, to the San Juan-based Bills Kitchen. Food and Friends spokesperson Abigail Seiler told the Washington Blade on Wednesday in an email the donation will help Bills Kitchen purchase a John Deere generator that will power their facility. Food and Friends Executive Director Craig Shniderman spoke with Bills Kitchen Executive Director Sandy Torres on Tuesday night, according to Seiler. Torres told Shniderman that Bills Kitchen has not had electricity since Hurricane Irma brushed Puerto Ricos northern coast on Sept. 7. Hurricane Maria devastated the U.S. commonwealth on Sept. 20 when it made landfall on the islands southeast coast with 155 mph winds. They have been without electricity for more than 70 days, Seiler told the Blade, referring to what Torres told Shniderman. [The] power went out during the first hurricane, Irma, and never came back. Statistics from the Puerto Rican government indicate that half of the island remains without power nearly two months after Maria made landfall. Torres told Shniderman that 25 of the 28 people who work for Bills Kitchen have no electricity at home. Torres also said the small generator that her organization is using to prepare meals periodically breaks down and it cant run their (air conditioner) or walk-in (refrigerators) in any case. Its in the mid- to upper 80s with high humidity, Seiler told the Blade. Their staff are starting to experience significant stress-related anxiety and depression. Clean water is still a serious issue. Their current meal capacity is 20 percent of the pre-hurricane service. Puerto Ricans with HIV/AIDS even more vulnerable after Maria Torres and other advocates on the island with whom the Blade has spoken in recent weeks have said LGBT Puerto Ricans and people with HIV/AIDS are even more vulnerable after Maria because of the lack of power, food, medicine and other basic services. They are also among those who have sharply criticized the Trump administrations response to the hurricane. San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz told the Blade earlier this month during an interview on Capitol Hill that a clinic her citys Department of Health operates is dispensing medications to people with HIV/AIDS and providing them with food and water. She also said her administration is working with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation to provide generators to people with HIV/AIDS who need them. Cruz told the Blade that community-based organizations in Puerto Rico are also canvassing the neighborhoods and ensuring that what (people with HIV/AIDS) need is solved. Michael K. Lavers, Washington Blade courtesy of the National LGBTQ Media Association. Congo biodiversity NASA The equivalent of 85 billion tons of carbon dioxide a huge amount equal to three-quarters of the carbon stored in forests across the contiguous United States is locked in the living vegetation of one African country. Congo holds much of the second largest tropical rainforest in the world, according to new research. The study conducted by NASA, UCLA and the World Wide Fund for Nature-Germany produced the first high-resolution map of the amount and distribution of carbon stored in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). DRC is the largest country in the Congo Basin and home to a massive and largely inaccessible rainforest that is Earths second largest reservoir of carbon in vegetation, second only to the Amazon Basin rainforest. The DRCs forests cover an area four times the size of California. The DRC carbon stock estimates are based on very fine-scale three-dimensional measurements of forest structure that provide, for the first time, data for one of the most diverse tropical forests on Earth. The measurements will help scientists understand the role of this forest in the global carbon cycle and how variations in climate may influence their carbon stock and function. We learned that the distribution of carbon in the above-ground biomass of the more than 150 million hectares (about 371 million acres) of forest in the DRC is extremely variable and diverse because of the regions climate, soil types, and a long history of human presence, said Sassan Saatchi, a senior researcher at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, who led the research team. You cannot think of the Congo rainforest as this big green carpet anymore. We encountered a large variety of tree sizes and densities across the DRC, producing extremely complex regional patterns of carbon stored in the forest. Traditionally, inventories of forest carbon and biomass are done by researchers who hike into the forest and set up plots on the ground that attempt to capture the full range of terrain. These data are then catalogued, measured and revisited in the future to see how theyve changed. The Congo Basin forests, however, span five countries, and many areas are difficult to access due to the lack of infrastructure and rough terrain, which doesnt allow for comprehensive ground measurements of the forest carbon. To observe the forests, the research team took to both air and space. Using the same forestry techniques to establish inventory plots on the ground, the research team contracted a local African company to fly an airplane outfitted with a commercial Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) instrument over 216 locations covering more than 2.5 million acres (half a million hectares) of tropical forest. At each location, the LIDAR captured the height, canopy profile, and outline of treetop canopies with data points 20 inches (50 centimeters) apart, from which they derived the forest structure and carbon estimate. These data were paired with data from NASAs Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, which provided the slopes and curves of the ground surface itself; Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Advanced Land Observing Satellite Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) data; and U.S. Geological Survey-NASA Landsat vegetation observations. The combined data sets were scaled up to produce a map of the entire above-ground forest carbon stocks for each 12,000-square-yard (1-hectare) land unit. Conserving tropical forests like the Congo is a high priority for the United Nations in its efforts to defray the effects of climate change. The U.N. has a policy initiative known as Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) in nations with large forests like the DRC. The new findings and research methods, conducted in partnership with scientists and the DRC government, are the first step for DRC to establish a baseline assessment of its carbon stocks and a system for future forest monitoring required to participate in REDD+ and be eligible for compensation for preserving the forests. Saatchi says preserving forests is probably the most immediate mechanism we have to mitigate carbon dioxide accumulating in the atmosphere. A quarter of the entire amount of carbon that goes into the atmosphere globally is absorbed by Earths vegetation, so protecting and possibly increasing the amount of carbon stored in forests could have significant benefits, such as mitigating climate change and preserving biodiversity and water quality. The DRC national carbon map is a truly significant contribution to DRCs future sustainable development, said co-author Aurelie Shapiro at World Wide Fund for Nature-Germany in Berlin. This innovative product demonstrates with unprecedented accuracy the important role of Congolese forests in mitigating climate change, which is facilitating investments into emissions reductions programs. To estimate the carbon stored above ground in DRC forests, the research team developed data sets for tree height and tree cover, which vary from one end of the DRC to the other. This information is also extremely helpful to conservationists interested in quantifying the health of habitats for gorillas and other at-risk animals, said Shapiro. The new results will help test and validate the capabilities of two upcoming NASA missions: the NASA-Indian Space Research Organization Synthetic Aperture Radar, or NISAR, mission, managed by JPL; and the LIDAR observations from the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation, or GEDI, mission, managed by NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. GEDI will mount a space-based LIDAR on the International Space Station to produce high-resolution 3-D imagery of Earths forests. The study is published Nov. 8 in Scientific Reports, a Nature publication. The paper is at: www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-15050-z Text and multimedia: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2017-297 Pedal Power and Ibetyoucanwiggle pulled mild surprises to win the second-leg $20,000 Delaware Standardbred Breeders Fund (DSBF) events for two-year-old pacing fillies on Tuesday (November 21) at Dover Downs, while Theresademoninme took the $25,000 Open Trot. With both first-leg winnersGracefullyforgiven and Go Sandy Govirtually tied as race favourites, Tim Tetrick pulled Pedal Power out of third turning for home and zoomed past en route to a 1:53.4 triumph in the first of two $20,000 DSBF preliminaries. Pedal Pusher won for the fifth time in eight starts with two seconds and a third this season for owner-trainer Darrell and Leah Lewis. The Roddys Bags Again-Calico Moon bay has now won $58,443 in her rookie season. Go Sandy Go finished second in front of Gracefullyforgiven. In the second $20,000 DSBF prelim, Ibetyoucanwiggle came on to score a 1:56.4 victory, with Montrell Teague driving for trainer Clyde Francis and owner-breeder George Teague, Inc. The win was the second in 2017 for the daughter of Mr Wiggles-Betting Machine. In eight races, she has added two seconds and three thirds while earning $52,768. Studio Session (Jason Thompson) was the runner-up, and Cheyenne Zone (Victor Kirby) took third money. After the two DSBF preliminary legs are completed on Wednesday, the top eight DSBF point-earners in the four divisions will advance to the $100,000 finals for colt and filly trotters and pacers next Thursday (November 30). That day will be highlighted by the $300,000 Hap Hansen Progress Pace for three-year-olds. In the $25,000 Open Handicap Trot on the regular program, Mike Casalino and trainer Dylan Daviss Therisademoninme has been spectacularly solid in his last eight outings, and earned a 1:54 victory with regular driver Jonathan Roberts in the bike for his fastest clocking of the year. Uva Hanover (Tetrick), in his first local appearance after racing most of last winter at Dover, finished second. Celebrity Pegasus (Stafford), after spending much of the race on the outside, was third. Murmur Hanover was scratched. I Like My Boss, a one-time Delaware-sired champion, is back in a winning groove. The Don Boss Vita-Wild One gelding won his second in a row and fourth in his last five races with driver Allan Davis aboard. Owned by trainer Bob Shahan and Jim and A.M. Parsons, he has banked $83,856 of his career $471,120 earnings this season. On Wednesday, in addition to two $20,000 DSBF filly and a male trot 2nd leg preliminary, an 11-horse field will contest a single $35,000 Hap Hansen Progress Pace elimination. The first eight finishers return on November 30 for the $300,000 final. There is no live racing this Thursday (November 23) due to the Thanksgiving holiday. (Dover Downs) In a move that can only be construed as positive for the New Jersey horse racing industry, Governor-elect Phil Murphy has announced that he has appointed SBOANJ Director and Deo Volente Farms CEO Mike Gulotta to his Budget Transition Committee. According to a release by the SBOANJ, Gulotta will make recommendations on state policy, issues and initiatives as Murphys administration prepares to take office. The committees will meet over the next two months and then submit reports and recommendations to the governor-elect and his leadership team prior to inauguration. Just a few weeks ago, Murphy, a democrat, defeated Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, the Republican candidate and Gov. Chris Christies second-in-command, by a margin of 55 to 42 per cent. Murphy, a 60-year-old resident of Monmouth County and former U.S. ambassador to Germany, has shown his support for New Jersey horsemen and the equine industry. He has made it very clear that he will stand behind the states horsepeople and work to make the public aware of the value of the equine industry as a whole. A brief interview with Murphy from this past summer at the Meadowlands Racetrack appears below, and in it he conveyed his support for the states equine industry. [The Meadowlands Racetrack] is a gem in our state, and I think our best days in the racing industry whether its Standardbred, Thoroughbred, or whatever version of the sport the best days in the horse industry are ahead of us, Murphy said during the Meadowlands interview. We do need leadership that appreciates that understands what you have to do to move that needle and Im honoured to be raising my hand to do that. The SBOANJ congratulates Mike Gulotta on this amazing appointment and sees it as a positive for the New Jersey harness racing industry. (With files from the SBOANJ) On Tuesday (November 21), officials with Canterbury Park in Minnesota unveiled preliminary plans that call for a redevelopment of the tracks property that would attract $300 - $400 million in private investment in the project. According to an article by the Shakopee Valley News, the officials made a presentation to Shakopee City Council which outlined that the proposal covers four themes: live, stay, work, and play. The live component would include the introduction of an apartment complex, upscale townhouses, and a housing co-op portion designated for those ages 55 and up. The stay aspect of the project would include different types of hotels. The work portion includes office space to attract business to the location. In terms of play, then plan calls for restaurants, retail, a water park, and areas geared toward families and community gatherings. I think this is a great opportunity for Shakopee and I think its a tremendous opportunity for Canterbury, Mayor Bill Mars was quoted as saying. (With files from the Shakopee Valley News) Court Strikes Abortion Buffer Zone Law Contact: Liberty Counsel, 407-875-1776, Media@LC.org; Press Kit NEWARK, N.J., Nov. 22, 2017 /Standard Newswire/ -- A New Jersey federal court struck down a City of Englewood eight-foot buffer zone that prohibits pro-life speech near abortion facilities. Applying the U.S. Supreme Court's unanimous 2014 opinion in McCullen v. Coakley, which held unconstitutional an identically worded Massachusetts buffer zone law, the New Jersey court ruled the ordinance violates the First Amendment. The decision provides fresh optimism for Liberty Counsel's lawsuit against the City of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to strike down the twenty-foot buffer zone ordinance passed by the City at the behest of Planned Parenthood. The Harrisburg ordinance violates the constitutional rights of Liberty Counsel's clients Becky Biter and Colleen Reilly, who are Christian sidewalk counselors being prevented from telling women about alternatives to abortion they will not hear once inside Planned Parenthood. Just as in Englewood, the Harrisburg City Council failed to consider any less restrictive alternatives to its speech ban, opting instead to become enthusiastic agents for the Planned Parenthood agenda. Both New Jersey and Pennsylvania are in the same federal appellate jurisdiction, covered by the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals, where Liberty Counsel has already secured an early victory in the Harrisburg case. The Harrisburg trial court is now bound by the favorable Third Circuit ruling as the case proceeds, and should be favorably influenced by the plainly sound reasoning of its sister court in New Jersey. "The New Jersey decision is a great example of clear constitutional reasoning, uncorrupted by the 'abortion distortion' that has pervaded so many court decisions since Roe v. Wade," said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. "The decision should be an encouragement to pro-life sidewalk counselors around the country, and a warning to state and local governments who increasingly abdicate their duties to uphold the constitutional rights of their citizens in order to carry water for Planned Parenthood," 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. Saad Hariri has returned to Beirut where he has been greeting as the countrys Prime Minister. He has held a meeting with Lebanese President Michel Aoun during which he was persuaded not to officially resign as Prime Minister. Aoun has never accepted the legitimacy of Hariris forced resignation from Saudi soil and while Hariri was prepared to formally resign in Beirut, he will now look to preserve the existing coalition made up of parties from the broadly pro-Syrian March 8 Alliance as well as members of the broadly pro-western/pro-Saudi March 14 alliance which is led by Hariris Future Movement. Due to Lebanons fractious history, the countrys Premier must be a Sunni Muslim, its President a Christian (usually a Maronite) while the Parliamentary speaker must be a Shia Muslim. The fact that a political process has triumphed over clear attempts at blackmail from Riyadh, represents a pan-Lebanese victory over forces which have tried to leverage extreme wealth and a de-facto close relationship with the Israeli regime, in attempts to foment another major crisis in Lebanon, though exploiting Lebanons sectarian composition. This time it didnt work as countries ranging from Iran to many EU powers, all called for the peaceful return of Saad Hariri. While Hariri has lost some credibility due to being bamboozled by Saudi Arabia, while still not publicly confessing to the true nature of events in public, he has also became an accidental symbol of Lebanese resilience, insofar as politicians from parties who oppose Hariris policies rallied around the constitutional order which demanded the return of an effectively kidnapped head of government. If Hariri continues to utter statements made from Saudi soil that he will not accept a coalition which includes Hezbollah, chances are he may eventually be replaced as Prime Minister. However, there remains an equal possibility that he may simply step back into his old role with the existing and stills table coalition. As his children remain on Saudi soil, it is not clear how freely he feels he is able to speak at this point. Throughout the Hariri ordeal, the clear political winners have been President Michel Aoun of the Maronite Christian Future Movement, as well as Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri of the Shia Amal Movement and Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. All three men rallied around a united front during the crisis, vowing to continue the work of the coalition government. For today, Hariri is sitting beside Aoun celebrating Lebanons Independence Day from France, a country which ironically appears to have secured Hariris own independence from his detention in Saudi Arabia. Geological officials in Japan say last weeks magnitude-7.3 earthquake that hit the Iran-Iraq border has raised the ground by up to about 90 centimeters as shown by these new pictures captured by the land-observing satellite Daichi-2 from the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan. The officials say their analysis suggests the ground sank up to 30 centimeters near the epicenter. Land rose 10 to up to 90 centimeters over a stretch of about 80 kilometers south of the epicenter. The officials say the data is almost in line with analysis by the US Geological Survey. The US agency said seismic waves indicated the quake was caused by reverse faulting, in which layers of rock shift at an angle. Japanese geological official Hiroshi Yarai says the data suggests the ground swelled by about 40 centimeters in Sarpol-e Zahab, western Iran, where many buildings collapsed. He said large ground deformation appears to have caused the powerful tremor. The Iran-Irak quake is the deadliest earthquake in 2017 so far with over 500 dead and more than 7,000 injured. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter Mira Costa became the first team this season to win a set against Cathedral Catholic, but the Mustangs eventually fell in four sets in the CIF SoCal Regional final Tuesday night. A veteran weather watcher Tuesday predicted that lowland Cowlitz County will be snow-free through December, but, like last winter, the area may be vulnerable to repeated snow episodes in January and February. And, overall, the weather pattern will be excessively wet, though chances for major floods may be a little lower than normal, Phil Volker, consulting meteorologist and former Portland TV weatherman, said at a briefing hosted by the Cowlitz PUD. Lowland valleys will be snow-free through Christmas break, he told an assembly of about 50 people, which included school transportation workers, foresters and PUD employees. Volker, 64, noted that this winter will be the second in a row dominated by a La Nina weather pattern. It will be somewhat stronger than last years, though it still is considered moderate, Volker said. La Nina is the periodic cooling of the equatorial eastern and central Pacific Ocean, and it usually means colder and wetter conditions for Western Washington. Its the opposite of an El Nino pattern, which is a warming of the same areas. Both have profound effects on global weather. I can absolutely guarantee you that its going to be wet this winter, Volker said, with precipitation and snowpack ranging from 150 percent to even 300 percent above normal. And he expects the pattern to continue into June. For now, the jet stream winds are dragging storm after storm into the region from the Pacific Ocean. This is why places like Cougar near Mount St. Helens and the Bull Run Reservoir near Mount Hood already have had 40 or more inches of rain since Oct. 1, Volker said. However, based on past La Ninas, he expects the jet stream to shift southward in January and February, toward the Oregon/California border. That will allow arctic air to creep into the Northwest. That sets up a snowfall scenario if there is any slight, temporary shift in the jet stream northward. That would send moist marine air back this way. It would then collide and mix with the cold air to create snow events in the lowland of Southwest Washington and Portland Metro area, Volker said. That same pattern created a series of snowstorms that struck the region last January, causing seven snow days in the Longview School District. At the very least, Volker expects temperatures to be several degrees colder than average in January and February until the jet stream again shifts northward again in March. Last year, the flow of cold air out of the Columbia River Gorge was cold and deep enough to freeze over the channel at Hayden Island, the Portland-area neighborhood where Volker lives. For March and April, theyll still be plenty snow falling in the mountains, but there shouldnt be any in the lowlands, he said. Volker, 64, was the senior meteorologist for KOIN-TV, a Portland CBS affiliate, for 14 years, giving up that post 25 years ago. Hes the owner of ERF Company Inc. (Extrended Range Weather Forecasting), a four-employee operation that forecasts the weather for clients all over the nation, including the Cowlitz PUD. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. Trump, Putin reaffirm commitment to peacefully resolving Syrian civil war US President Donald Trump and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin supported the UN-led Geneva Process to peacefully resolve the Syrian civil war. PTI, Washington : US President Donald Trump today spoke over phone with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to peacefully resolving the Syrian civil war, the White House said. During the lengthy conversation, the two leaders also discussed jointly fighting terrorist groups in the Middle East, including ISIS and Al-Qaeda, and the Taliban in other parts, it said. "We had a great call with President Putin. We're talking about peace in Syria, very important. We're talking about North Korea. We had a call that lasted almost an hour and a half," President Trump told reporters before boarding Marine One on the White House lawns. "We're talking very strongly about bringing peace for Syria. We're talking very strongly about North Korea and Ukraine," he said. Both presidents supported the UN-led Geneva Process to peacefully resolve the Syrian civil war, end the humanitarian crisis, allow displaced Syrians to return home, and ensure the stability of a unified Syria free of malign intervention and terrorist safe havens, the White House said in a readout of the call. "The two presidents affirmed the importance of fighting terrorism together throughout the Middle East and Central Asia and agreed to explore ways to further cooperate in the fight against ISIS, Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and other terrorist organisations," it said. According to the White House, Mr Trump and Mr Putin also discussed how to implement a lasting peace in Ukraine, and the need to continue international pressure on North Korea to halt its nuclear weapon and missile programs. Mr Trump and Mr Putin spoke informally several times last week when they attended a summit in Vietnam. They agreed on a number of principles for the future of war-torn Syria. President Trump spoke over phone with the Russian president, a day after Mr Putin met with Syrian President Bashar Assad. Mr Putin hosted the Syrian president at a Black Sea resort ahead of a summit later this week with Russia, Turkey and Iran. The Kremlin said yesterday that Mr Assad was called to Russia to get him to agree to potential peace initiatives drafted by Russia, Iran and Turkey. TASS adds: The presidents expressed satisfaction with the conversation that the Kremlin press service called "businesslike and meaningful". "Putin stressed readiness to facilitate a durable political settlement process in Syria on the basis of the UN Security Council's Resolution 2254 in the spirit of agreements reached in the Astana format and provisions of the Joint Statement the two Presidents endorsed on November 11 at the APEC summit in Vietnam," the report said. "The sides stated among other things that the statement had produced an encouraging reaction in the Middle East," it said. The interlocutors also mentioned the importance of maintaining Syria's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity. This should be done in the groundwork of principles to be mapped out in the course of pan-Syrian negotiations and Russia's initiative for convening the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in Sochi later this year targets exactly this objective, it said. Putin informed Trump on the results of the November 20 meeting with President Bashar al-Assad, in the course of which the Syrian leader confirmed commitment to the political process, the constitutional reform, presidential and parliamentary election. In addition to it, emphasis was made on the trilateral talks that the Presidents of Russia, Iran and Turkey are supposed to hold in Sochi on November 22. The three Vladimir Putin, Tayyip Recept Erdogan, and Hassan Rouhani plan to coordinate step towards further normalization in Syria, the press service said. On a broader plane, Putin once again spoke in favor launching further efforts together with the U.S. to rebuff terrorism. The Russian President noted practical importance of coordinated steps between the two countries' intelligence services and Trump supported him. The presidents also discussed the situation around North Korea, Afghanistan and Iran's nuclear program, the Kremlin press service reports. Lebanon`s Hariri suspends resignation as PM, easing crisis Saad al-Hariri, who announced his resignation as Lebanon\'s prime minister from Saudi Arabia, is seen at Beirut\'s international airport in Beirut on Tuesday. Reuters, Beirut : Lebanon's Saad al-Hariri on Wednesday suspended his decision to resign as prime minister at the request of President Michel Aoun to allow for dialogue, easing a major political crisis. Hariri made his announcement after returning to Beirut on Tuesday night for the first time since his Nov. 4 shock resignation in a statement broadcast from Saudi Arabia. He said all Lebanese parties must commit to keeping Lebanon out of regional conflicts, a reference to the powerful, Iran-backed group Hezbollah whose regional role is a source of deep concern in Saudi Arabia. He said hoped his decision would open "a new gateway for a responsible dialogue". "I presented today my resignation to President Aoun and he urged me to wait before offering it and to hold onto it for more dialogue about its reasons and political background, and I showed responsiveness," Hariri said in a televised statement. Hariri's resignation pitched Lebanon to the forefront of the regional tussle between Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite Islamist Iran, which backs the powerful Lebanese group Hezbollah. Lebanese state officials and senior politicians close to Hariri say Riyadh forced him to quit and held him in the kingdom, which Saudi Arabia and Hariri have denied. The resignation took even Hariri's aides by surprise. Hariri's return to Lebanon followed an intervention by France. A long-time Saudi ally, Hariri cited fear of assassination in his resignation speech, and attacked Iran and its powerful Lebanese ally Hezbollah for sowing strife in the Arab world. Hariri was greeted by members of the security forces as he disembarked from a jet at Beirut airport, live footage of his arrival showed. Hariri, a long-time ally of Saudi Arabia, cited fear of assassination and meddling by Iran and Hezbollah in the Arab world in his resignation speech. The move caught even his aides off guard, and politicians close to him say Riyadh forced him to quit and held him in Saudi Arabia. Riyadh and Hariri have denied this. Lebanese President Michel Aoun has refused to accept the resignation until Hariri returns to present it in person. Earlier, Hariri met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo, saying after the meeting that he would announce his "political position" in Lebanon. In a Nov. 12 interview from Saudi Arabia with Future TV, a station affiliated with his political party, Hariri said he would return to Lebanon to confirm his resignation. But he also held out the possibility of withdrawing it if Hezbollah respected Lebanon's policy of staying out of regional conflicts such as Yemen. BEPZA signs deal for installation of transformer Chittagong Bureau : Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority signed a deal with reputed electrical products manufacturing company - Adex Corporation Ltd for installation of 33/11 KVA transformer at Karnaphuli EPZ in Chittagong recently . The deal was signed at KEPZ office in North Patenga on Tuesday last. Superintending Engineer of KEPZ Md.Hasanuzzaman and the Deputy General Manager of Adex Corporation Md. Kamruzzaman Milan signed the deal on respective side. Among others, Zonal- In-Charge of Adex corporation Engr. Ezaz Mahmud chowdhury, Sales Engineer Rokanuddin Chowdhury and Asstt. Engr Sa mpada Roy of Adex Corporation and the Executive engineer of KEPZ Giasuddin Chowdhury were present on the occasion. PEC exam inconvenient for children Staff Reporter : Professor Emiratus of Dhaka University Dr Anisuzzaman on Wednesday branded the Primary Education Competition examination as inconvenient for the children. "We have been asking to decrease examinations' pressure on the children. The department did not follow our instruction, rather it added examination for the 5th graders. It is unexpected and would not bring good result," Dr Anisuzzaman said. He said this at a discussion, titled "To Search Children Friendly Society" held in the Seminar Room of the Shilpakola Academy on Wednesday. Sohojpath, a child based social organization, organised the discussion. "The country's education sector is passing through critical juncture. Every student is in race to achieve first position, but not to gather knowledge. The examination based education is now causing destruction of knowledge. It should be stopped immediately," Professor Anisuzzaman said. He said, "We want a child friendly education. We want joy with education where sports, dance, songs and fine arts are available. The government must ensure it, otherwise quality education and skilled manpower are not possible." Professor Emeritus of Brac University Monzur Ahmed said, Bangladesh violates International Children Rights Convention-1989 by ignoring children's rights in the education sector. He also demanded to form a commission for the teachers like Public Service Commission. Professor Shahin Islam of Education and Counseling Department of Dhaka University said, the curriculum should be built considering the children's mind. Associate Editor of the daily Prothom Ali Anisul Haque said, "We search a child friendly society. Every child has different probabilities. We have to find out it. We must impart knowledge to them what actually they want." Nurunnahar Nupur, who works for physically challenged children, said, the children learn from their families, surroundings and institutions. But every sector's learning is different. The children are in hesitation." She said, it is enough to destroy the children as well as the state if they are imparted erroneous knowledge. "There is no need to destroy a country by the bomb, just give chance to the students to forge in the examination centre. As a result, the future physicians will kill the patients, the engineers will build risky building, the advocates will stand by the criminals and the teachers will provide wrong knowledge." The Convener of Sohojpatth Journalist Abdul Momen, Secretary Belal Siddique, Subash Singha Roy and writer Parvej Hossain addressed the function, among others. Roman Holiday with Mastercard Campaign launched in city Syed Mohammad Kamal, Country Manager, Mastercard Bangladesh, along with participants seen at a programme on launching of \'Roman Holiday with Mastercard\' campaign in Dhaka recently. Business Desk : In order to boost cross-border transaction, Mastercard has launched 'Roman Holiday with Mastercard' campaign in Dhaka recently. As part of this campaign, Mastercard users can win exciting gifts on 'everyday spends' through their Mastercard-Branded Debit, Credit or Prepaid Card for overseas retail transactions. The grand prize of the 'Roman Holiday with Mastercard campaign is an all-expenses paid trip of 4 nights and 5 days for a couple to Rome. Participants of this campaign will be able to earn 3 points by using their Mastercard-Branded Debit, Credit or Prepaid Card for any Overseas Retail Transaction of USD 20 and 2 points for any local retail or online transaction of Taka 1000 or above. Winners will be chosen based on the maximum points earned by the users, by doing more transactions using their Mastercard debit, credit and prepaid cards. This exciting campaign will be valid until January 15, 2018. Syed Mohammad Kamal, Country Manager, Mastercard Bangladesh said, "Winter is a season when cross-border spending is at its peak around the world including dining and shopping. Mastercard wants to tap this opportunity with its "Roman Holiday with Mastercard" campaign where the more the cardholders travel and spend the more they get points through their Mastercard branded Debit, Credit and Prepaid cards." US condemns ethnic cleansing of Rohingyas Call for neutral investigation Desk Report : Based on firsthand accounts of the Rohingya people living on the Bangladesh border, a US delegation led by Senator Jeff Merkley said that the Myanmar Army's clearance operation bore "all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing" and had forced huge numbers of people to flee to the neighboring country. The delegation also called for an independent investigation of the violence in northern Rakhine State before deciding whether to seek sanctions against the country, according to media reports. At the weekend, a group of US legislators and diplomats, including Ambassador Scot Marciel, traveled to northern Rakhine State to learn firsthand how the situation there had unfolded since August. 25. After wrapping up their tour, the delegation held a press conference at the Hotel Lotte in Yangon on Tuesday. "We spoke with many refugees and heard a lot of firsthand accounts. Many refugees have suffered horrific attacks, including loved ones, children and husbands being killed in front of them, wives and daughters being raped, burns and other horrific injuries. This has all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing," Merkley said. Merkley's statement echoed a description of the clearance operation by the United Nations as a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing," but was at odds with comments made by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who stopped short of using the phrase during his recent visit to Myanmar. The Myanmar government has consistently rejected such allegations from the international community. The US delegation met the members of the Rakhine State cabinet and the Arakan National Party (ANP), as well as representatives of civil society organizations and the Muslim community in Sittwe, the state capital. However, the government denied the group's requests to visit some sites, Merkley said. "We appreciate that Aung San Suu Kyi made an invitation in her speech to the United Nations in September for foreign officials to visit the camps and villages directly. We came halfway around the world in order to respond to that invitation. We are pleased that we are able to visit Sittwe, but we are saddened that permission to visit villages and camps was refused." The US lawmakers condemned reported attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army that caused death of more than a dozen government security forces on August. 25, saying that the group's attacks had caused serious suffering by a number of ethnic groups in Rakhine State. However, he said a disproportionate response by the Myanmar Army had driven out more than 600,000 Muslims to Bangladesh and caused 300 villagers to be burnt to the ground. The root causes of this horrific situation, he said, are longstanding prejudice and discrimination, aggravated by poverty. The delegates said that the segregation of communities in Sittwe resulted in discrimination, especially the limits placed on Muslims' freedom of movement since communal riots between the Rakhine and Muslim communities in 2012. The senators urged the government to address the root causes of the conflict and seek a long-term solution to the Rohingya crisis by implementing the recommendations of the Kofi Annan led advisory commission. The Myanmar State counselor has already established an implementation commission and an international advisory board. In addition, the delegates suggested restoring full access for humanitarian organizations on the ground. At present, the government is only allowing the International Red Cross to assist the World Food Programme's food distribution efforts. Merkley asked that freedom of movement be granted to the Rohingya community with "a fair path to ending discrimination" and that the security forces keeping the Rakhine and Muslim communities apart be removed. He urged the government to work with Bangladesh and the United Nations to enable conditions facilitating the voluntary and safe repatriation of refugees currently in the Bangladesh border area, including the rebuilding of structures and community facilities, as the homes of many were destroyed during the clashes. He also called for a full investigation of these atrocities. Congressman David Cicillin, a member of the delegation who joined both the Bangladesh and Rakhine trips, said, "This is a very important moment for this country and the leadership of this country to demonstrate to the world and to the people of Myanmar that they take the responsibility of democracy and the leadership of democracy seriously." Asserting that democracy cannot function unless individuals' rights are respected, he added: "Nor can [we] tolerate institutions or individuals who violate individual human rights in really horrific ways without being held accountable." The delegates also collected firsthand accounts from people seeking refuge in Bangladesh and said they would keep the footage as evidence. Diarrhoea spreading in Rohingya camps Local government authorities and different local and foreign NGOs have installed tube-wells to ensure supply of sufficient drinking water to the displaced Rohingya people. In the photo Rohingya women are seen collecting water with jars from a tube well as Staff Reporter : According to World Health Organization (WHO), 62 per cent of water supplied to Rohingya households is contaminated. Water lifted from wells in the Rohingya camps is contaminated risking adult and child health. It is spreading fast. Increase of Acute Watery Diarrhoea (AWD) has caused several deaths, said a UNICEF press release. Between 25 August and 11 November 2017, a total of 36,096 AWD cases were reported including 10 deaths. A total of 42 per cent (15,206) were in the under-5 age group. An upward trend is being observed. Truly the exact cause of increased cases of AWD remains uncertain, it may be linked to contaminated food or water. Since 25th August, about 621,000 Rohingyas arrived in less than three months,UNICEF and partners have been working to ensure the provision of safe drinking water, latrines and sanitation systems inside the refugee camps. UNICEF expressed deep concern over the high levels of bacterial contamination (E.coli) from water lifted from wells inside the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar in southern Bangladesh. Some of the tube wells inside the camps have been dug to shallow depths are very congested and do not have safeguards in place to prevent bacterial contamination at ground level. UNICEF has been working with its WASH partners to install tube wells which meet international standards by ensuring a depth of at least forty meters and by ensuring that all tube wells have an appropriate ceiling. Contamination may flow through poor hygienic practices such as the use of dirty containers, bad hygienic habits of the population in water handling. Based on an analysis of the risk, UNICEF is working with the Bangladesh authorities to urgently investigate levels of contamination, and to ensure sinking of tube wells that meet international standards. UNICEF is also distributing water purification tablets for water treatment at the household level as well as promoting good hygienic practices. The provision of safe drinking water has been one of the highest priorities for UNICEF in responding to the needs of Rohingya refugees. Though the UNICEF is distributing around 195,000 liters daily to over 50,000 people through water treatment and installed more than 420 tube wells serving some 1, 40,000 people, water borne diseases are spreading and threatening people lives. LDCs need $40b to achieve to access power : CPD Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Dr Fahmida Khatun presented the key note paper at a press briefing organized to launch the UNCTAD\'s LDCs Report 2017 on Transformational Energy Access in the city\'s CIRDAP auditorium on Wednesda UNB, Dhaka : The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) on Wednesday said the Least Development Countries (LDCs) needed up to $40 billion of investment to attain the universal access to electricity by 2030. "To achieve universal access to electricity in all LDCs by 2030, they require some $12 to $40 billion," said CPD Executive Director Dr Fahmida Khatun while presenting a key note paper at a press briefing the think-tank organized in the city's CIRDAP auditorium. Briefing was organized to launch the UNCTAD's LDCs Report 2017. CPD recommended the LDCs for harnessing international cooperation to ensure affordable, sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030. It also urged for good governance framework in LDCs to ensure transformational energy access to all. Dr Fahmida Khatun said, the LDCs will have to put more pressure on the developed countries for rendering assistance in power sector as they (developed countries) are the ones more responsible for the climate change. She said the developed countries are bound to provide technology and financial assistance to the LDCs. On Bangladesh, she said, the government has to work more to harness the international fund to meet the challenge of the country. In her key note paper she said though the urban area in Bangladesh dominates in terms of electrification rate, it is still low compared to world average adding "Only half of the rural population in Bangladesh has access to electricity." CPD Distinguished Fellow Prof Mustafizur Rahman said the country needs to increase the production of energy if it eyes to achieve the target of being a developed country by 2041. Bangladesh needs to bring socio-economic structural changes and for which the country has to come on industrial and service sectors reducing its dependency from agricultural sector for being a developed country by 2041 and for this the country has to increase the production of energy, he added. "Around 67 percent of energy in our country is consumed in household sectors while we have to reverse it and increase this amount for the industrial and service sectors," said Mustafizur Rahman. He said Bangladesh also has to reduce its dependency from gas as fuel by exploring other sources of fuel to meet the demand. CPD research director Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem, among others, spoke in the briefing. Mladic sentenced to life in prison for genocide Al Jazeera News : Former Bosnian Serbian commander Ratko Mladic has been sentenced to life in prison for genocide and war crimes during the Balkans conflicts over two decades ago. The presiding judge of the the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Wednesday found that the 74-year-old general "significantly contributed" to genocide committed at Srebrenica. Previous judgments already ruled that the massacre of about 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica was genocide. Judge Alphons Orie ruled that the perpetrators of crimes committed in Srebrenica intended to destroy the Muslims living there. The judge also ruled that Mladic carried out and personally oversaw a deadly campaign of sniping and shelling in Sarajevo. Mladic, dubbed the "Butcher of Bosnia", was accused of 11 counts - including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by his forces during the war in Bosnia from 1992 and 1995. The court said, however, it was "not convinced" of genocidal intent in six other municipalities, in line with previous judgments. The former general initially appeared relaxed as he listened intently to the verdict but was later removed from the courtroom after he shouted at the judges when he was refused an adjournment. His lawyer said Mladic needed a break for treatment of high blood pressure. Wednesday's verdict was long awaited by tens of thousands of victims across former Yugoslavia, and dozens gathered early outside the courtroom in No visible progress in probe CID again asks similar queries to victim's family members: Home boss echoes with investigators Md Joynal Abedin Khan : There is no significant progress in the investigation of the gruesome murder of Sohagi Jahan Tonu, former student of Comilla Victoria College, even after elapsing of more than 20 months since the killing on March 20 last year. The family members and locals, expressed anger and frustration as the killers are yet to be identified, said our Comilla Correspondent quoting law enforcers and relatives of the victims. The countrymen, mainly right activists also expressed their doubt over the trial as the investigators of Tonu murder case could not yet identify the killers, let alone arresting anyone in passing the long time of the incident. The second year student at History Department of the college was found dead beside the Comilla Mainamati Cantonment area. She was reportedly raped by an organized gang at the time she was going for private tuition. Her murder sparked a huge public outcry and people from home and abroad demanded justice for the college girl. Doctors at forensic department of Comilla Medical College and Hospital conducted two autopsies on her body, but their reports did not mention any clear cause of her death. In the latest, a CID team led by Special Superintendent Abdul Kahar Akand and Senior ASP Jalal Uddin Ahmed (Investigation Officer) quizzed five family members of Tonu at Malibagh Head Office from 10:00am to 8:00pm on Wednesday. Those who were present in the CID office are Tonu's father Yaar Hossain, mother Anwara Begum, brother Anwar Hossain alias Rubel, and cousins Minhaz Hosaain and Laizu Jahan . The CID officials asked them in connection with the murder respectively, CID sources said. They previously claimed that semen of three men were found in DNA test, but the officials concerned denied to make any comment over further development. Yaar Hossain repeatedly claimed that the DNA test results finally had exposed the truth. He said attempts had been made to conceal the truth in the police inquest and the first autopsy reports. "Whoever the killers are, I want their trial." "I hope that I will see the trial of my daughter's murder before my death," Anwara Begum said with tears rolling down her cheek. She said that they have little hope for proper investigation. Rubel told the New Nation on Wednesday night that the investigators quizzed them almost same questions like the previous period. He claimed that they were mainly asked about the family's relation with neighbors and Tonu's familiar persons. "The CID team repeatedly assured them of the proper investigation and justice," he said. They suggested us to be patience about justice, he added. Meanwhile, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal on Wednesday echoed with the investigators and expressed his hope that investigation would reveal the truth behind the killing Tonu. The minister said this at a time when the family members of murdered Tonu were being questioned by the officials of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters. He was talking to journalists after attending the 15th founding anniversary of Southeast University in Tejgaon Commercial Area in the city on Wednesday. "The CID is investigating Tonu murder case. I'm hopeful that the CID can reveal the truth. That is why Tonu's family members were summoned in Dhaka as part of the probe," Asaduzzaman Khan said. Earlier, Bangladesh Army has been extending full and sincere cooperation to the authorities probing the murder of Tonu, said the Inter Service Public Relations (ISPR) . Jalaluddin Ahmed, Investigation Officer of the case and senior assistant superintendent of CID police in Comilla, said they have been working to identify the killers of Tonu. He, however, did not disclose further details about the investigation. Contacted, Sushashoner Jonno Nagorik (Sujon), Comilla unit, Joint General Secretary Maimuna Akter Rubi said the country has been witnessing everyday torture on women and murder. Trial of Tonu murder is a must for preventing those incidents. The body of Tonu, 19, a second year history student of Victoria College and a member of Victoria College Theatre, was recovered from Comilla's Mynamati Cantonment area on the night of March 20, 2016. Police suspected that she was raped before the murder. Ex-Jamaat MP among 6 Gaibandha `Razakars` to die UNB, Dhaka : The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) on Wednesday sentenced six war criminals of Gaibandha, including former Jamaat lawmaker Abdul Aziz known as 'Ghoramara Aziz', to death for committing crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971. With Abdul Latif in the dock, the three-member tribunal led by Judge Md Shahinur Islam pronounced the judgment at 11:45 am. The six convicts are Jamaat leader and former lawmaker Abdul Aziz, Md Ruhul Amin alias Monju, Md Abdul Latif, Abu Muslim Mohammad Ali, Md Nazmul Huda, and Md Abdur Rahim Miah. Among them, only Abdul Latif is now in jail and the rest is on the run. They were awarded death sentences for two charges - 2 and 3 - out of three charges while imprisonment unto death for another charge - number 1. The 166-page judgment was read out by the tribunal judges in phases for 69 minutes starting from 10:36 am. "All three charges brought against them were proved," said prosecutor of the case Syed Saidul Haque Sumon. In the morning, police produced the lone defendant before the tribunal amid tight security. Earlier on October 23, the tribunal concluded the hearing of arguments from both sides and kept the verdict pending for any day. Earlier on May 9, the ICT kept the verdict pending for any day after hearing arguments from both sides. Later on October 12, the reconstructed ICT set October 22 for placing further arguments in crimes against humanity case against the six alleged Razakars. The ICT-1 on June 28, 2016, started trial of the case after indicted the accused, framing three charges of crimes against humanity against them. The accused six were facing three charges, including those for mass killing, abduction, looting and arson attack, during the 1971 Liberation War. Banks keep bleeding with bad debts for mismanagement Over Tk 18,135 crore of loans have become defaulted in the banking sector in the last nine months of 2017 as the trend continued in the third quarter (July-September). However, now the total amount of defaulted loans in our banking sector stands at Tk 8, 0307.21 crore. The situation is clear enough to suggest that the government is repeatedly failing to take control of the sector. And it is all happening under the very nose of the ruling party's deliberate mismanagement as recent rescheduling of a large amount of defaulted loans of a number of business houses yielded little success. Moreover, lax monitoring of the banks amid the impunity enjoyed by habitual loan defaulters continue rampant despite repeated shocking discoveries. The sad truth is the trend will continue until the banking sector reaches the brink of collapse as there is no strict enforcement of law in recovering the defaulted loans. The newer and dubious borrowers taking loans are becoming more encouraged to become defaulters and in the process making piling up more bad loans. On top of it, a huge number of back-log of loan cases are being delayed by stay orders from court. Recently, business in the country is not vibrant, export earnings growth have slowed down, remittances are not coming as expected and private investments have become sluggish, and yet the government has become dangerously complacent because of higher GDP growth and higher per capita income of the country. The point, however, the country's banking sector is fast pacing towards an abyss of no return. And since the government is not sincerely addressing the crisis - now it's up to the people to unite and force the government to put an end of the prevailing gross mismanagement and irregularities destroying our banking sector. No bilateral agreement without UN endorsement is acceptable: We can`t betray Rohingyas Editorial Desk : Bangladesh and Myanmar on Wednesday began their long-sought two-day talks with high hopes that it will yield outcomes to sign an MoU enabling both the countries to start the repatriation process of all the Rohingyas from Bangladesh to their homeland Myanmar, as per a report of a local daily. The international community is also watching the talks and its subsequent outcome as they want to see the safe and dignified return of the Rohingyas as quickly as possible. The meeting is primarily focusing on formation of a joint working group and related terms and conditions for it for the smooth operations of the repatriation process. Bangladesh is likely to seek a timeframe over completion of Rohingyas repatriation, as per the report. Bangladesh wants the involvement of the international community, including the UN in verification process which is yet to be accepted by Myanmar side. Amid mounting international pressure, Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday said they have planned to sign an MoU with Bangladesh this week which will enable them to start the repatriation process of all the Rohingyas from Bangladesh to Myanmar. She said the Asian and European countries are keen to help Myanmar in its efforts to bring about peace and stability in Rakhine as quickly as possible. Over 620,000 Rohingyas have crossed the border and taken shelter in Cox's Bazar district since August 25. Meanwhile, the European Union has called for steps to ensure voluntary, safe and dignified return of Rohingyas to their places of origin in Rakhine State. The EU said it remains a strong and committed supporter to Myanmar's democratic transition. The humanitarian and human rights situation in Rakhine remains extremely serious, reads the deceleration, a copy of which UNB obtained. The EU reiterated its call for the immediate end to all violence and the establishment of non-discriminatory rule of law and civilian administration in Rakhine. We wish to categorically state that the Rohingya issue is not an issue involving Bangladesh and Myanmar bilaterally. It is an international issue and therefore the active help of the UN and the major world powers are needed for a lasting solution. Just signing MoUs is not enough -- there must be active implementation of a lasting solution for the Rohingyas. It is unlikely that Bangladesh will be able to exert enormous influence over Myanmar. In such a situation there must be close supervision by the regional and world powers to ensure that Myanmar actually keeps its side of the deal. This stance is critical because regional powers like China are insisting that Bangladesh solve the problem bilaterally -- but there is no reason for us to do so as the Rohingya issue is an internal Myanmar issue which Myanmar posted upon Bangladesh through its brutal treatment of Rohingyas. We have had bilateral discussions with Myanmar but they have led to nowhere. It is not impossible to assume that the current talks may hit upon a snag somewhere. Suu Kyi cannot be trusted in reaching a settlement as she has refused to acknowledge the atrocities committed by her army on Rohingya Muslims. There is every reason to believe that she is working for the army to save them from international demand for trying some General's for the crime against humanity. Our position should be clear that any bilateral agreement with Myanmar is meaningless unless endorsed by the United Nations. Bangladesh cannot be isolated from international efforts for a solution. US to pursue targeted sanctions on Myanmar: Tillerson UNB, Dhaka US Secretary of State Rex W Tillerson has said the United States will pursue accountability through US law, including possible targeted sanctions on Myanmar, if the situation does not improve in Rakhine State. "Those responsible for these atrocities must be held accountable. The United States continues to support a credible, independent investigation to further determine all facts on the ground to aid in these processes of accountability," he said in a press statement shared by the US Department of State on Wednesday. He said they support the Burmese government's commitment to create the conditions necessary for all refugees and internally displaced people to return to their homes safely and voluntarily, and welcome recent exchanges between the governments of Burma and Bangladesh on repatriation. "Support by Burma's military for these government efforts is crucial. This is a difficult and complex situation. Many stakeholders must work together to ensure progress," he said. The US Secretary of State said they have supported constructive action on the Rakhine crisis at the UN Security Council and in the UN General Assembly's Third Committee. He visited Naypyitaw on November 15 where he met separately State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. "I reaffirmed the United States' strong commitment to Burma's successful democratic transition as the elected government strives to implement reforms, bring peace and reconciliation to the nation, and resolve a devastating crisis in Rakhine State," he said. The US Secretary of State said their first priority is to relieve the intolerable suffering faced by so many. In response to the dire situation, he announced last week an additional $47 million in humanitarian assistance for those affected by the Rakhine State crisis, bringing the total amount spent in response to this crisis to more than $87 million since August of this year. He said Myanmar's response to this crisis is vital to determining the success of its transition to a more democratic society. "As I said in Naypyitaw, the key test of any democracy is how it treats its most vulnerable and marginalized populations, such as the ethnic Rohingya and other minority populations," the US Secretary of State said. He mentioned that Myanmar's government and security forces must respect the human rights of all persons within its borders, and hold accountable those who fail to do so. "I reiterate the United States' condemnation of August 25 attacks on security forces by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA). Yet no provocation can justify the horrendous atrocities that have ensued," reads the statement. These abuses by some among the Burmese military, security forces, and local vigilantes have caused tremendous suffering and forced hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children to flee their homes in Burma to seek refuge in Bangladesh, it reads. "After a careful and thorough analysis of available facts, it is clear that the situation in northern Rakhine state constitutes ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya," said the US Secretary of State. 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. Enjoy the first large-scale museum exhibition dedicated to tramp art since 1975. More than 150 examples of tramp art, concentrating on works from the United States, with additional international examples. For Immediate Release: October 24, 2016 (Santa Fe, NM) The Museum of International Folk Art presents No Idle Hands: The Myths & Meanings of Tramp Art, the first large-scale museum exhibition dedicated to tramp art since 1975. The exhibition will present more than 150 examples of tramp art, concentrating on works from the United States, with additional examples from France, Germany, Switzerland, Scandinavia, Canada, Mexico and Brazil to demonstrate the far reach this art form has had. Additionally, the show will analyze and dismantle the myths and misperceptions about tramp art, particularly as they relate to assumptions related to class, quality, and the anonymity of the makers. Tramp art describes a particular type of chip-carved woodwork that was practiced in Europe and the United States between the 1870s and 1940s, making use of discarded cigar boxes or crates that were then notch-carved along the edges and layered. Objects made were primarily boxes and frames, but other household objects such as small private altars, crosses, medicine cabinets, wall pockets, clock cases, plant stands, and even furniture can be found. "Tramp art's place in art history has been troublesome. It has had detractorspeople who regard it as 'the ugly duckling' of folk artbut also numerous champions," said Laura Addison, Curator of North American & European Folk Art at the Museum of International Folk Art, and the show's curator. "This exhibition will erase any doubts about the quality and craftsmanship of the work and situate tramp art as a practice at the crossroads of cultural transformation at the turn of the 20th century," she said. Addison also pointed out that by juxtaposing historic pieces with those by contemporary artists working in the tramp art style, the exhibition frames this art form as an ongoing tradition that continues to capture the public's imaginationmyths and all. "The ingenious objects in the Tramp Art exhibition use recycled or repurposed wood, and highlight a moment in time a century ago when artisans, many of them immigrants to the US, created a new variety of folk art," said Khristaan D. Villela, Director of the Museum of International Folk Art. "They are a testament to the ability of untrained artists to produce objects of immense beauty and complexity," he said. For many years, tramp art was believed to have been made by itinerants and hobos, thus its name. It has been demonstrated, however, that this belief, first put in print by Frances Lichten in a 1959 Pennsylvania Folklife article, is erroneous. Nonetheless, the name "tramp art" has remained the only terminology used for this practice, and the paucity of scholarly studies to dispel the mistaken notions about tramp art have allowed the myths to persist. Whittling objects such as wood chains and ball-in-cage whimsies was a common pastime, including among railriding "hobos," and some examples of tramp art were likely by the hand of itinerant laborers or artisans. However, this style of carving was more commonly the practice of family men and blue-collar factory workers making functional domestic objects or gifts for the women in their lives. Efforts have been made in recent years to identify makers by name and unearth their biographies; these personal narratives illustrate a very different story of the makers of tramp art. As these makers and their stories come to light, it has become obvious that home and family are central to an understanding of the practice of tramp art. No Idle Hands will present tramp art objects according to four primary areas: Introduction/historical context, home & nation, frames & boxes and devotional objects. Works in the exhibition will come from the Museum of International Folk Art permanent collection as well as loans from a number of private and museum collections across the country. An exhibition publication will accompany the exhibition, with essays by Laura Addison, Curator of North American & European Folk Art, Museum of International Folk Art; Leslie Umberger, a curator in the area of folk art and self-taught art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum; and Eric Zafran, a retired curator of European art, most recently at the Wadsworth Atheneum. The Museum of International Folk Art Museum Shop is located in the museum at 706 Camino Lejo (Museum Hill just off Old Santa Fe Trail). 505-982-5186. MUSEUM OF INTERNATIONAL FOLK ART The Museum of International Folk Art is a division of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs. The Museum of International Folk Art's mission is "to enrich the human spirit by connecting people with the arts, traditions and cultures of the world." Founded in 1953 by Florence Dibell Bartlett, the museum holds the world's largest international folk art collection of more than 150,000 objects from six continents and over 150 nations. The museum's collections represent a broad range of global artists whose artistic expressions make Santa Fe an international crossroads of culture. For many visitors, fascination with folk art begins upon seeing the whimsical toys and traditional objects within the Girard Collection. For others, the international textiles, ceramics, carvings and other cultural treasures in the Neutrogena Collection provide the allure. The museum's historic and contemporary Latino and Hispano folk art collections, spanning the Spanish Colonial period to modern-day New Mexico, reflect how artists respond to their time and place in ways both delightful and sobering. In 2010, the museum opened the Mark Naylor and Dale Gunn Gallery of Conscience, where exhibitions encourage visitors to exchange ideas on complex issues of human rights and social justice. Over 90,000 national and international visitors visit the Museum International Folk Art every year. Through folk art, the museum encourages all to find a common ground upon which to craft better lives for all. Museum exhibitions and programs are supported by donors to the Museum of New Mexico Foundation and its Director's Leadership Fund, Exhibitions Development Fund, and Fund for Museum Education, as well as by the International Folk Art Foundation, also established by museum founder Florence Dibell Bartlett. CAIRO As Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza traveled to Cairo on Tuesday to deliver turkeys and hams and visit with social service providers in deep Southern Illinois, she also took a shot at Gov. Bruce Rauner. Referencing his outerwear preferences, Mendoza upped the ante in their ongoing war of words. Youve heard the saying, All hat and no cattle? Hes All Carhartt and no heart, Mendoza, a Democrat, said of the Republican governor. We can hope that maybe during this holiday season, like Ebenezer Scrooge, he will be visited by some spirit that will tell him its time to care about Southern Illinois. Mendoza made the comment to media outside Family Counseling Center Inc.s office in Cairo after delivering 60 turkeys and hams and bags of food donated by her staff in Springfield and Chicago. While in the area, Mendoza also had dinner with Mayor Tyrone Coleman and Mayor Pro Tem and Councilwoman Connie Williams on Monday evening. She said they discussed Housing and Urban Developments ongoing relocation of 400 residents from two unsafe public housing complexes, and the mayors hopes for the citys future. As well, she toured Family Counseling Center Inc. and the Cairo Womens Shelter. In response to Mendozas comments, Patty Schuh, spokeswoman for Rauner said, in an emailed statement, This sounds unfortunately like a campaign stop to attack the governor. Poorly timed for the people of Cairo and certainly not in the job description of comptroller. There is a mountain of unpaid bills that need her attention. Last week, when Rauner visited a reclaimed strip mine in Saline County near Creal Springs to announce an off-road vehicle trail, the governor was asked why he had not spoken to Mendoza personally since she was sworn in. Rauner responded by saying it wasnt necessary to talk to her directly because his team is talking to her all the time. Rauner then went on to say that Mendoza really works for Speaker Madigan. He did so in the context of saying that what Illinois needs in order to grow its economy is more balanced budgets. The discord between Madigan and Rauner that resulted in a lengthy standoff over the budget hammered the economy of Southern Illinois, particularly one of this region's largest employers, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, as well as hospitals, social service providers and others. They (Madigan and Mendoza), they just think taxes, more taxes, higher taxes are the answer. Its not the answer. We gotta grow. Grow good payin jobs in Southern Illinois. Dont tax people and push the jobs out, Rauner said last week. Mendozas spokesman, Abdon Pallasch, said the statements Mendoza made about the governor were in response to questions from a TV news reporter. Responding to the comment from the governor's office that her Cairo visit amounted to campaigning, Pallasch said the official business for the comptroller was to speak with social service providers in Cairo that had been waylaid by the states protracted budget impasse about efforts to get them caught up on the money owed them by the state, as well as deliver the donated food. Pallash provided a transcription of Mendoza's comments in Cairo to the newspaper, which was not in Cairo Tuesday. Mendoza spoke by phone to the newspaper as she traveled from Cairo to her next destination. I feel like something has to be done to breathe new life into this part of the state, she said, in the phone interview. And I think that starts with just being present and listening to people and hearing their concerns. Rauner has not visited Cairo since the housing crisis came to a head with HUDs relocation announcement on April 10. Recently, the newspaper asked Schuh, the governors spokeswoman, what the governors office had done to assist the federal government with the relocation effort or in addressing Cairos long-term recovery. As described in a recent article by The Southern, Schuh outlined items that included state officials helping with grant writing and conducting a housing inventory, and then said the state was waiting for more information from HUD that it had not been provided to determine if anything else could be done. A HUD deputy undersecretary offered to call Schuh and provide the governors office with whatever information she needed. Schuh declined to take the call, saying the governors office was working through the congressional delegation so that everyone remained on the same page. Mendoza said she doesnt have all the answers for Cairo. Still, she said showing up and listening is important, as is, she said, being truthful with people. The governor needs to stop being dishonest with the people of Southern Illinois, she said. To come to this part of the state that really has been decimated by jobs leaving this state manufacturing is gone and then give false hope and false promises to people for some votes is pretty disgusting. And I think that needs to stop, Mendoza said. We need to be honest with the people of Southern Illinois that theres problems. That we need time to fix them. But that we need a governor and I know for sure its not this guy who will focus attention, put some tender loving care into Southern Illinois. Mendoza is supporting Democratic candidate J.B. Prtizker. In Creal Springs last week, Rauner also addressed the housing and economic crises facing Cairo. Rauner said the state definitely has a role to play in helping Cairo but he said the housing situation is primarily a federal issue. Rauner mentioned the grant-writing and housing survey assistance provided to Cairo by the state that Schuh had previously noted to the newspaper. "Weve been in constant communication with the federal government on this," Rauner added. "Were pushing them to move this along." But the reality is what we need is more economic opportunity in Cairo, Rauner continued. Im not ready to announce it today but weve got several ideas that were going to do from the state point of view to help bring more economic development there. Lets you and I keep in touch and well be announcing that in the near future. BENTON With mixed results from the forensic audit his office ordered in June, Franklin County Circuit Clerk Jim Muir is ready to move on as an office. Muir said the final audit report was returned to him late last week and he came to a simple conclusion there simply was not enough information to make heads or tails of what happened in Fiscal Year 2016. We got the (2013), (2014) and (2015) audits caught up then we tried to do the 2016 audit and thats where we ran into trouble, Muir said. What the audit found was that there was a lack of information and material documents needed to finish it. Its the exact same thing that we ran into. The audit report was written by Kevin Tepen, a partner at Alton-based firm C. J. Schlosser & Co. In it, Tepen paints a plain picture of his teams findings. It appears that we ran into the same difficulty of locating pertinent information such as files, computer reports and other supporting documents that you and the audit firm encountered in trying to locate information and close out the prior audit. Without having access to the missing information and being able to locate information we cannot be certain that funds were indeed missing and it is likely to remain unknown if there was any mishandling of funds, Tepen wrote. Because of this, he said his team is not able to definitively say whether further work would find illegal financial activity in the office during Fiscal Year 16. At this point there is doubt as to whether any additional work would reveal any significant wrongdoing. This work is very time consuming and the cost/benefit doesnt appear to be on the positive side, Tepen wrote. Muir went to the Franklin County Board in June to request a forensic audit for fiscal years 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. Muir said he needed the audit to help his office establish a good footing moving forward after nearly six months on the job Muir said he was still not able to complete an exit audit. The forensic audit that was approved was estimated to cost the county between $25,000 and $35,000. At the time, Muir and Franklin County Board Chair Randall Crocker said it was possible this audit could render findings indicating more fraud from previous administrations. This is in response to the criminal charges leveled against a former Franklin County Circuit Clerk's Office employee, Kindra Eickelman, who pleaded guilty to official misconduct in 2016 for stealing more than $10,000 but less than $100,000 from the office between 2012 and 2014. She was ordered to pay $37,403 in restitution. Im not saying that there has been any wrongdoing. Im just saying that there is a mess weve got to clean up, Muir said in June, adding that it would take fresh eyes, particularly those of an auditor, to clear up any questions that are lingering about the offices previous internal record-keeping. When Muir ordered the audit in June, he sent a letter to Franklin County States Attorney Evan Owens. In it, he compiles a long list of missing or incomplete files daily bank deposit tickets for 2015 and 2016, daily vouchers for 2015 and 2016, bond reports credit card receipts/records from June through November 2016, e-pay receipts/records 2015 and 2016, monthly general ledger sheets, monthly bank reconciliation worksheets, monthly fee disbursement reports and QuickBooks transaction detail reports. I am sending this information to you to ask for your help in referring this matter to an independent investigator/prosecutor to conduct an investigation concerning the possible theft and/or destruction of government documents, Muir wrote in the letter. Owens said they complied with Muir's request and the Franklin County Court appointed a special investigator out of the Attorney General's Office. However, Owens said they said they would not move further with the investigation until an audit report was prepared from an independent auditor. Owens said now that this has been completed, he will send the information to Springfield for the AG investigator's review. Muir presented the auditor's findings to the county board Tuesday during their regularly scheduled meeting. Board Chair Randall Crocker said he was pleased with the overall experience of working with Muir on the project. He said he thinks Muir will take what we learned and making it a positive." As to the possibility of wrongdoing going unaccounted for, Crocker said this has been in the back of his mind for years and not just with the circuit clerk's office. However, he said the recent audits have put Muir in a good place to move forward. I think this here puts Jim in a lot better position to monitor all that, Crocker said. After Tuesday's meeting, Muir said he has been incredibly pleased to work with the board. He said coming in as a "novice," the board has been a pleasure to work with as he got his bearing in his new position. Muir said he and the county have done the best they could to get the office in compliance and wants to move forward. Its troubling to me what happened but we are moving on, Muir said. Muir said though he is disappointed there couldnt be a more solid result from the audit, he is proud of the work he and his office have done in the last year. Muir said the offices revenue will come in at about $161,000 for the year. We beat last year $13,500 a month, he said, adding that the comparison was apples to apples there havent been any big fee increases or the like to throw off the numbers. Muir attributed this to a competent staff and even more simply, just watching whats going on. Key to this success Muir said has been Cathy Dial, his offices bookkeeper. Shes invaluable to me, Muir said, adding the he is pleased with his entire staff and how the performed during such a stressful year. With the end of year approaching though, Muir said one thing can be counted on his audit will be very good and be done right as well as on time. Prayers and feasts of thanksgiving will be offered up this week as community organizations and churches throughout The T&D celebrate the holiday with love. A Thanksgiving meal will be served at noon Wednesday at Williams Chapel AME Church at 1198 Glover St., Orangeburg. A worship service will precede the medal at 11 a.m. Six churches have come together to make the Thanksgiving Feast and Praise event a reality. The feast will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday at St. Pauls United Methodist Church. The event is free and open to the public. Participating churches include, but are not be limited to, New Mt. Zion Baptist Church, Cornerstone Community Church, Unity Fellowship Community Church, First Presbyterian Church, Kingdom Life Ministries and St. Pauls UMC. First Baptist Church of Orangeburg will also provide a Thanksgiving meal for the community at 12:30 p.m. Thursday. Up to 400 people are expected to be served through a Thanksgiving meal to be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday at First Baptist Church of North at 405 Stafford Ave. The meal will include turkey and all the trimmings. Feed My Sheep Ministries will also be holding two community Thanksgiving Day lunches. The first community lunch will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday at St. Phillips Holiness Church, Olar. A clothes give-away will also be held. Call Denmark First Baptist Church at 803-793-3690 for more information. Shuttle bus service will be available by calling 803-571-0400. Another community Thanksgiving Day lunch will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday at Denmark-Olar High School, Heritage Highway, Denmark. A clothes give-away will also be held. Call Denmark First Baptist Church at 803-793-3690 for more information. Shuttle bus service will be available by calling 803-571-0400. T&D Region school districts will receive state money for facility improvement projects. The S.C. Department of Education announced Tuesday each of the public school districts in Bamberg, Calhoun and Orangeburg counties will receive almost $1.2 million apiece. "Many of South Carolina's schools do not have the local revenue available to make substantial safety and infrastructure improvements and these funds will go a long way in improving conditions in those areas, state Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman said in a press release. The Orangeburg County school districts plan to use the money for energy efficiency and roofing projects. In Orangeburg Consolidated School District 5, the money will be used for new roofs for Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School, Howard Middle School and Clark Middle School. In OCSD4, Edisto High School has already received a new roof and Edisto Primary School will also receive some minor roof repair, school district Superintendent Dr. Tim Newman said. Newman said the bulk of work has already been done on the high school with the work beginning on the primary school in a couple of weeks. He said the roof on the high school is about 30 years old and has never been replaced. "We have been patching it for years, unfortunately," he said. OCSD3 will also receive new roofing for various schools. The names of the schools receiving upgrades were not immediately available Tuesday afternoon. Bamberg schools will receive money to enhance energy efficiency, improve school accessibility and enhance safety. Bamberg School District 1s money will go toward gym improvements and ensuring handicap accessibility. It will also be used for upgrades to heating and cooling units, as well as fire and safety alarms. Bamberg School District 2 will see upgrades to security and access control systems. Information on the specific schools receiving the assistance was not immediately known Tuesday. In Calhoun County's school district, the money will go toward improving student and bus parking accessibility. The money is part of a $55 million package approved by the State Board of Education for 48 eligible school districts. The money was allocated by the General Assembly. "The General Assembly has shown a commitment to improving outcomes and conditions in the areas that need it most," Spearman said. "I look forward to working with them to continue this commitment into the future." The General Assembly set aside the money for school facility upgrades for any school district that was a plaintiff in the Abbeville lawsuit or districts with a poverty index of eighty percent or higher. The state says school districts were eligible and applied for funding. ORION TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) Authorities in suburban Detroit called for evacuations following a massive gas line fire. The Oakland County Sheriff's Office says the fire broke out Monday night in Orion Township, about 30 miles north of Detroit. Township Fire Chief John Pender says the blaze occurred on vacant land. Consumers Energy spokesman Roger Morgenstern says the fire eventually burned itself out. Video posted on Facebook by police in nearby Auburn Hills showed flames shooting several dozen feet into the night sky. Morgenstern says the blaze occurred after a gas transmission line ruptured, but the specific cause of the fire is unknown. Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard says the office's phone lines, including 911, were down as a result of the fire. Bouchard says no injuries have been reported. By Azernews By Laman Ismayilova Azerbaijani artist Chingiz Mehbaliyev has presented his new painting on historical subject to the society. His painting called "Construction of Shollar water-pipe" is made on canvas with oil paint. In his work, artist masterly depicted William Heerlein Lindley (on the left) civil engineer who executed the construction of Shollar water pipe, entrepreneur and philanthropist Haji Zeynalabdin Taghiyev (in the center), and translator (on the right).All three review the Shollar water pipe project. Mehbaliyev told how he came up with the idea of the painting. "When I was in search of Shollar water in Baku or in Sumgayit, I came into conclusion that it is not possible to find pure Shollar water in these cities. My failure in this adventure inspired me to think in this subject. After long thinking and research, I came into conclusion that I should pay tribute to Azerbaijani philanthropist Haji Zeynalabdin Taghiyev and English engineer William Lindley by creating painting depicting their efforts and irreplaceable work. With such ambitions I started to conduct a research on sketches, historical photos and articles," he said. In his interview with Azertac, Mehbaliyev spoke about history of the picture. "William Lindley is a proud member of Lindley family who played a vital role in technological development on a global scale. Father and son Lindleys carried out numerous important works by constructing 35 water pipes and sewage systems all over Europe," said artist. It is important to mention that despite World War I, the outbursts of cholera in Baku several times, the revolution in Russia in 1917, numerous accusation to the address of William Lindley and other difficulties, the project started in 1899 finally concluded in 1917 with success. For his efforts Lindley granted as an honorary citizen of Baku. "Zaqafqaziya" railway premises granted him with lifelong ticket because they started to use Shollar water in their plants. As an Azerbaijani citizen who drinks shollar water, Mehbaliyev paid tribute to his memory with the language of art. He dedicated this picture to 100 anniversary of the construction of Shollar water pipe. "I think, this project was the most important and vital project in the history of Azerbaijan. Regarding to the role of Haji Zeynalabdin Taghizade, I am obliged to say that his philanthropic works done for well-being of Azerbaijani people, also, his efforts for construction of Shollar water-pipe will never be forgotten and he will always live in hearts of Azerbaijani people," he said. Although 100 years passed since the construction of the pipe, there is no portrait of Lindley in Azerbaijani art treasure. Lindleys efforts along with Taghizade still had not been depicted in the face of a painting. Despite the importance of Shollar water pipe for Azerbaijani people, no painting has been made on how this outstanding project has been concluded. Taking into account all the mentioned facts, its correct to say that Chingiz's painting shall play an important role for Azerbaijani art and shall be considered being the first painting in this subject. Chingiz paints his works in the genres of surrealism, realism, and nude art. He was the youngest participant in the international art exhibition dedicated to the 800th anniversary of Mevlana Djalaleddin Rumi, organized by UNESCO in 2007. He took part in the international cartoon contest "Molla Nesreddin, Azerbaijan" and became a member of Azerbaijan Cartoonists Union. The artist was invited to Bartin, Turkey, to display his arts and after much success he became a member of SESAN ("Serbest Sanatchilar" - Free Artworkers) in 2010. His art combines Western style and Eastern colors with pieces of old elements existing in famous Azerbaijani carpets. The artist's works were already exhibited in Turkey, Russia, and Azerbaijan and were published in the international catalogs through the whole world. By Azernews By Rashid Shirinov No excessive optimism on the Karabakh talks can be expected, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a joint briefing with his Armenian counterpart Edward Nalbandian in Yerevan, Sputnik Armenia reported on November 21. He reminded that the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers have recently held meetings with the three co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group from Russia, France and the U.S. We will analyze with the American and French colleagues at what point we are and make active efforts for the settlement. But unfortunately, the whole experience of negotiations shows that the problem is difficult and the negotiations will not be completed quickly, Lavrov said. As he noted in Baku three days ago, Lavrov reiterated that the components of the talks on the conflict have long been known. They are contained in many documents that were deposited at the OSCE headquarters in Vienna in 2007, 2009 and 2011. These principles remain on the negotiating table in their entirety, Lavrov stressed. I will emphasize what I said in Baku. These components are formed into a package, and it is very difficult to take one or two of them and propose them as a basis, because then other balancing components will drop out, Lavrov said. He further expressed satisfaction with the positive feedback from the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan about the results of their last meeting in Geneva. Lavrov noted that the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs will continue to provide assistance that would help resolve the problem. During his visit to Baku on November 19-20, the Russian FM met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov. While meeting with President, Lavrov noted that Russia, as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, is interested in helping in every possible way to seek solutions and ensure the movement towards the settlement of the conflict. He also said that diplomacy can help move the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict from a dead point. Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. While the OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, the occupation of the territory of the sovereign state with its internationally recognized boundaries has been left out of due attention of the international community for years. Until now, Armenia ignores four UN Security Council resolutions on immediate withdrawal from the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, thus keeping tension high in the region. By Trend A delegation headed by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee of Pakistans Armed Forces, Army General Zubair Mahmood Hayat will pay a visit to Azerbaijan on November 22. During the visit to last until November 24 the Pakistani delegation is expected to hold meetings at the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry and the countrys other state organizations, the Ministry said in a message on November 22. By Trend Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed interest during phone talks on Tuesday in building up cooperation in various areas, including between the respective security services, Sputnik reported, citing the Kremlin press service. "The leaders expressed interest in the further expansion of mutually beneficial cooperation in various areas, including contacts between security services," the press service said. Putin and Netanyahu have also pointed out the progress in the fight against terrorism in Syria. "A substantive exchange of views was held on the prospects for the development of the situation in the Middle East region, primarily in the context of the final stage of the fight against international terrorism in Syria," the press service said in a statement. Putin, Sisi Discuss Progress of Anti-Terrorism Fight in Syria Vladimir Putin and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi discussed in phone talks on Tuesday the progress made in Syria and further efforts in the political settlement of the Syrian conflict, the Kremlin press service said. "Vladimir Putin informed the Egyptian leader in detail about the Russian assessments of the latest developments in the situation in Syria in the context of the final stages of the military operation to destroy terrorists in that country and discussed the results of the recent talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad," press service of the Russian president said. Moreover, Russian President and Egyptian Leader have discussed in phone talks on Tuesday major joint projects, including in the nuclear energy sector, press service said. "The topical issues of the bilateral agenda were touched upon, with focus on the implementation of major joint projects, including in the nuclear energy sector. The sides reaffirmed mutual satisfaction with the overall development of friendly Russian-Egyptian relations," the statement said. Russian President, Saudi King Discuss Syrian Conflict Settlement Vladimir Putin has discussed the situation in Syria in phone talks with Saudi King Salman on Tuesday. "The leaders continued the exchange of views on the situation in the Middle East region and discussed issues related to the prospects for a long-term settlement of the Syrian conflict in light of recent successes in the fight against terrorist groups there," the press service said in a statement. According to the statement, the Russian president noted that the Syrian National Dialogue Congress, to be held in Sochi, will give impetus to the intra-Syrian contacts and to the settlement of the Syrian conflict in general, as well as stimulate work under the UN aegis in Geneva. The Kremlin press service also said in a statment that Putin has informed all of his counterparts about the Monday meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad, as well as about the main issues on the agenda of the upcoming summit of the countries-guarantors of the Astana process Russia, Iran and Turkey in Sochi on November 22. By Trend Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Berat Albayrak during his visit to Sochi, Russia on November 22 will discuss energy issues with Russian Minister of Energy Alexander Novak, the Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources told Trend. The parties intend to discuss joint energy projects, including the Turkish Stream and the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant, the ministry said. The discussions will be held within Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans visit to Sochi on November 22 where he will meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Earlier it was reported that Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation hopes to obtain a license for the construction of the Akkuyu plant in Turkey no later than March 2018 to commission the first unit of Akkuyu plant on October 29, 2023 on the centennial anniversary of the Turkish Republic. An intergovernmental agreement between Russia and Turkey on cooperation in construction and operation of the Akkuyu plant was signed in 2010. Meanwhile, Turkish Stream gas pipeline project envisages construction of two branches of the main gas pipeline under the Black Sea, the capacity of each branch being 15.75 billion cubic meters of gas. Etihad Energy Services Company (Etihad Esco) has been awarded the contract for the development, and installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems at Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) water reservoirs. The installation of solar PV systems on Dewas water reservoirs will reduce the emirates carbon footprint and increase the proportion of solar power in Dubai's energy mix, said a statement from Esco. "The installation of solar PV systems at Dewa water reservoirs comes under the implementation of the vision of the Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, to transform Dubai into one of the most sustainable cities in the world. The solar PV systems will promote sustainable development, which will reinforce the UAEs position as one of the most advanced countries for alternative energy, said Ali Al Jassim, CEO of Etihad Esco. As per the contract, Etihad Esco will design the solar PV systems and install them on Dewas water reservoirs. Christos Mimikopoulos, executive director of Solar, Etihad Esco, said the company is committed to the social, economic and environmental development of the UAE. "Since its establishment, Etihad Esco has not only brought the best integrated solar solutions, but has also offered innovative solutions to address strategic gaps in this sector. The installation of solar PV systems on Dewas water reservoirs is another breakthrough, which drives us closer to achieving the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050, that aims to provide seven per cent of Dubai's total power output from clean energy by 2020, 25 per cent by 2030 and 75 per cent by 2050," he stated. The company pointed out that the total installed capacity of solar PV systems on water reservoirs could reach up to 60 Mega Watt peak. According to a report by Frost & Sullivan, the GCCs installed solar capacity is expected to reach 76 GW by 2020. Egypt is hoping to interconnect 2,650 MW of PV capacity by 2020, Morocco is aiming for 600 MW, while Jordan has 540 MW of PV projects under construction with more expected before the end of 2017. With a wave of solar projects already underway across Dubai, the Emirate is set for a green revolution with alternative energy.-TradeArabia News Service Dubai Multi-Commodities Centre (DMCC) said it has broken ground on a new 7,500-sq-m coffee unit near Jebel Ali Port harbour in co-ordination with Chinese companies Mega Capital Halal (MCH) and Yunnan State Farms Group. The DMCC Coffee Centre, a temperature-controlled facility, will offer infrastructure and services for storage, processing, warehousing and delivery of coffee, to precise specifications, it stated. Ahmed bin Sulayem, the executive chairman of DMCC, said: "There are few things more satisfactory than when a partnership of this scale with MCH and Yunnan State Farms comes to fruition, especially when it benefits our trading community here in Dubai as well as connecting right into Chinas ambitious trade programme and corridor, the new Belt and Road." "The coffee centre also marks an important milestone for DMCC and Dubai, as once it is ready in 2018, we will be the first in the UAE with the capacity to handle up to 20,000 tonnes of green coffee beans at a value of up to $100 million annually," remarked bin Sulayem. A report recently released by the International Coffee Organisation confirmed that global exports of coffee in 2016/17 increased by 4.8 per cent to 122.45 million bags compared to 116.89 million bags in the previous year. The UAE sits at the centre of a region which now accounts for eight per cent of the trade, or $6.5 billion of the $85 billion global consumer spend on coffee. According to Euromonitor International, this could increase by up to a third by 2030. Matthew Pang, the director of MCH, said: "Dubai is a key international gateway for trade as it connects the producing countries with the consumer as seamlessly as possible." "DMCC comes with a strong track record in enabling this process from infrastructure-build through to trade facilitation, and our partnership will no doubt bring a much-consumed commodity to Dubai and beyond," he added.-TradeArabia News Service Abu Dhabi future energy company Masdar has inaugurated its third wind farm in the UK, thus bringing the combined power-generating capacity of all three projects to 1 GW, enough to supply clean energy to nearly one million homes. Masdar is a 35 per cent stakeholder in Dudgeon, alongside its Norwegian partners Statoil (35 per cent) and Statkraft (30 per cent). Together with its partners Statoil and Statkraft, Masdar staged the official "switch on" of the 402-MW Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm, located 32 km off the Norfolk coast in England. Comprising 67 wind turbines, Dudgeon is now supplying around 410,000 UK homes in one of the largest deployments of 6MW wind turbines, the most powerful on the market. Dudgeon joins Hywind Scotland, the worlds first floating wind farm, which Masdar also developed with Statoil, and the London Array, still the worlds largest offshore wind farm currently in operation at 630MW. The ceremony was attended by Eldar Saetre, the president and chief executive of Statoil, Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, the chief executive of Masdar, and Steinar Bysveen, the executive VP of Wind Power, District Heating and Projects, Statkraft. Also present were Hugo Robson, the chief commercial negotiator at the UKs Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy; Mohammed Sharaf, UAE Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation for Economic and Trade Affairs; Elnar Remi Holmen, State Secretary at the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, and Kerry Robinson-Payne, Mayor of Great Yarmouth. Dr Sultan bin Ahmad Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of State and Chairman of Masdar, said: "Todays inauguration of Dudgeon highlights Masdars emergence as a global renewable energy leader and the value of international partnerships in successfully deploying large-scale renewable energy projects." "Together with London Array and Hywind Scotland, it also positions the UAE at the forefront of the UK's drive to meet its domestic power demand through clean energy sources. The increasing cost efficiency of offshore wind technology is unlocking substantial commercial opportunities for the wider energy sector, as illustrated by the success of Dudgeon," he stated. Al Ramahi said: "Today marks the completion of a three-year journey to deliver our third wind power project in the United Kingdom, but only the latest step in our collaboration with Statoil and Statkraft." "We are proud to have played a significant role in the delivery of Dudgeon, both on the operations side and in terms of financing. The teamwork among our three companies has been exceptional, a key factor in the successful delivery of this flagship wind energy project," he added. Saetre said Statoil will grow significantly in renewable energy as part of its strategy to develop from a traditional oil and gas company to a diversified energy provider. It has set up an ambition plan to invest around NOK100 billion ($12 million) over the next few years. "Dudgeon is a key part of this strategy to complement our oil and gas portfolio with profitable renewable energy solutions, as well as adding to Statoils strong UK presence," he added.-TradeArabia News Service The upcoming International Water Summit (IWS) 2018 in Abu Dhabi, which aims to promote water sustainability in the region, will have a special focus on breakthrough smart technologies that address pressing water challenges in arid regions. The sixth edition of IWS will take place from January 15-18, 2018 in strategic partnership with Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority (Adwea) and hosted by Masdar, as a part of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre. For the first-time ever, IWS 2018 will host the Smart Water Expo, a platform to demonstrate how digitalisation and automation can be leveraged for resource-efficient, flexible and competitive water management. The inaugural expo will feature experts discussing an ecosystem underpinned by big data analytics, automation and the Internet of Things, which will revolutionize the way water infrastructure is managed in the Gulf region. Such disruptive technologies within the water industry will play a critical role in helping fulfil the $200 billion water infrastructure requirement needed over the next 10 years in the Arab world, according to the United Nations World Water Development Report 2015. At IWS 2017, Adwea launched its Demand Side Management (DSM) programme Tarsheed, which is aimed at helping and encouraging its customers to use water and electricity more efficiently in line with the directives of the UAEs visionary leadership for the protection of the environment for the benefit of future generations. Abdulla Ali Musleh Al Ahbabi, chairman of Adwea, said: As the world begins to face numerous challenges around the future of water, advancements in technology means we are now strongly placed to truly transform how people access water. In line with our Demand Side Management (DSM) programme Tarsheed, at IWS 2018 we will showcase solutions for residential and public water use, industrial water use, smart metering and networks, data-driven technologies, Internet of Things (IoT), and cyber security. Through our participation we are keen to discover new partners and solutions with whom we can collaborate to create Smart Water solutions for our future. Dr Saif Saleh Asseiari, acting director general of Adwea, said: Adwea is dedicated to enhancing cooperation with all strategic partners, and our participation in Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week aims to strengthen Abu Dhabis global standing in the fields of innovation, efficiency and sustainable investment, in line with Abu Dhabi Vision 2030. Dr Asseiari went on to highlight the importance of their relationship with Masdar, which contributes to realizing Adweas goal of becoming a leading operator in the water and electricity sector by 2020. Al Ahbabi also noted that Adweas model is currently leading the regional sector in terms of privatization and attracting global investments, with 11 companies having been founded in collaboration with the private sector over the past 12 years. Naji El Haddad, group event director at Reed Exhibitions, the organisers of the International Water Summit, said: IWS 2018 will bring together policymakers, business leaders and innovators from over 100 countries to demonstrate and discover todays most innovative solutions for water related challenges of our future. Through the Smart Water Expo and [email protected], the 2018 edition of the event will act as a vehicle for disruptive technologies, showcasing innovations which will enable positive impact and long-term benefits for the water industry. The 2018 edition of IWS will feature [email protected], a competition seeking to discover the most promising smart water technologies, and will connect participants to potential clients and investors creating access to opportunity, capital and growth. This live competition, now in its fourth year, will see international finalists present world-class innovations in three categories municipal, real estate, and industrial water. The winners will be selected on the basis of excellence in the areas of uniqueness, business potential and long-term vision in resolving some of the regions most challenging water problems. TradeArabia News Service The important role of the human factor in ensuring safety and improving reliability in industrial environment was highlighted by a senior Saudi Aramco official. Speaking at the the 12th Professional Development Conference & Exhibition, organised in coordination with the American Society of Safety Engineers Middle East Chapter (ASSE - MEC) in Bahrain, Bader F Al Qadran, Saudi Aramco Executive Director of Safety and Industrial Security, said: The safety and security of our people and our industries are of great importance to both governments and our businesses. Safety is no longer just about meeting basic standards and requirements; its about the beliefs that must be instilled in peoples hearts and minds that will translate into their daily actions and behaviors. Saudi Aramco participated as a strategic partner in the event, held from November 19 - 23 under the patronage of Lt. Gen Shaikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, Bahrain's Minister of Interior, at the Gulf Convention Center in Bahrain, a statement said. Al Qadran also indicated the leading role of Saudi Aramco in managing industrial security and said: Saudi Aramco has always promoted a culture of excellence, and its strong commitment to the safety of its people, facilities, and communities, resulted in the gradual maturing of safety management systems and guidelines, as well as engineering standards and codes, to a world-class level that allowed the company to achieve the safety records it holds today. The conference provided a platform to discuss the challenges facing governments and companies in ensuring safety and industrial and environmental security around the globe, especially in the Middle East. Leaders and professionals from government organisations, academic institutions, and oil and gas industries addressed those challenges by sharing their experiences and insights from using the latest innovative techniques developed in this field. The conference covered all aspects related to the industrial security and environmental protection of oil and gas industries, in addition to the safety of people working in this field. Participants and attendees discussed several topics including risk management, the security of manufacturing industries, chemical materials storage facilities, and information security. This conference comes in line with Saudi Aramcos safety strategy where the company is keen to communicate its efforts in maintaining the safety and security of all of its facilities, as well as its information security programs with all employees and stakeholders, the statement said. - TradeArabia News Service Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), the Bahrain-based international aluminium smelter, revealed that it is a strategic partner for the ongoing 12th Professional Development Conference and Exhibition being held in the kingdom. The five-day event will conclude on November 23, and is taking place at the Bahrain International Convention Centre, Gulf Hotel Bahrain. Held under the patronage of Lieutenant General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, Bahrains Minister of Interior, the event is organised in coordination with the American Society of Safety Engineers Middle East Chapter (ASSE - MEC), said a statement from the company. The opening ceremony of the event was attended by Albas deputy chief executive officer Ali Al Baqali; Albas senior manager safety, health, and environment Mohd Khalil; and acting public relations manager Fatema Al Mohri, it said. This conference is organised by the ASSE, an independent non-profit professional organisation that brings together key health, safety and environment professionals from public and private sectors as well as the regional academic institutions, to share experience, insights and latest innovative ideas to address the HSE challenges, it added. Al Baqali said: Our company believes that safety must be primary in everything we do. Our strong safety culture is due to the continuous commitment of all our employees across the plant. Our support towards the conference is in line with our overarching goal of a safe working environment. By endorsing events such as these, we trust that we promote best practices of safety and health in the kingdom, he added. TradeArabia News Service Brazilian Defense and Security Industries Association (ABIMDE) has set up the Brazil Pavilion at the ongoing Milipol 20th edition, which is being held in Paris, France. The event, which kicked off yesterday (November 21) will run until November 24, at the Paris-Nord Villepinte Exhibition Center. Altogether, 11 associated companies will be at the fair showcasing the latest products and services in the Brazilian defence and security market, said a statement from ABIMDE. Coordinated by ABIMDE and with the support of Apex-Brasil (Brazilian Trade and Investment Agency) and the Ministry of Defense, the participation of those Brazilian companies will offer an opportunity for expanding international business, it said. Among the markets of interest are the European Union, Middle East, Africa and Asia. For that purpose, the Association has been promoting meetings to schedule visits of official delegations, military attaches and entourages of international entrepreneurs to the Brazil Pavilion. Among others, the Brazilian Ambassador in France, Paulo de Oliveira Campos, has confirmed his presence, it added. Milipol is one of the most important defence fairs in the world. In its last edition in 2015, the event hosted 949 exhibitors from 55 countries and received 24 thousand visitors, as well as 115 official delegations from 77 countries. The associated companies that are at the event and their main products and services to be presented at the fair includes: Altave: surveillance and communication aerostats, and monitoring software; Atech: command and control equipment (Arkhe line), built-in systems, cybersecurity and training; Berkana: equipment for counterintelligence and access control; CBC: military ammunition (short weapons, rifles and medium calibre); Condor: non-lethal technologies such as tear cartridges and grenades, impact ammunition and electrical weapons; Indios Pirotecnia: non-lethal weaponry; M&K: services for logistics, international representation, product development, international logistic transportation; Mac Jee: distribution of electrical and electronic components for the military sector and representation of the Armadillo TA-2, 4x4-launcher system; Poly Defensor: Spray Incapacitante PSI-PRO, non-lethal technology; Smart Power: holding that gathers the Safety Wall companies, responsible for the Ballistic Evaluation Mobile System, and Domus, which develops temporary housing; Taurus: a variety of weaponry. TradeArabia News Service Leading oilfield services provider Baker Hughes, a GE company, has signed an agreement for the provision of its proven turbine generators to PetroChina International Iraq, an affiliate of PetroChina Company Limited, in the biggest Turbomachinery & Process Solutions (TPS) agreement between the two companies. BHGE will deliver its Frame 6B gas turbine electric generator trains to support power generation for the onshore Halfaya oilfield located in the Maysan Governorate, said a statement from the company. The equipment will generate 150 MW of power for the project and leverage support from BHGE's existing local and global workforce, it said. The components of the turbo generator units will be manufactured and assembled at BHGE's Nuovo Pignone facility in Florence, Italy, it added. Rami Qasem, president and CEO, Menat and India, BHGE, said: This deal strengthens our local footprint in Iraq and further demonstrates our dedication to the region where we see great promise and have formed strong partnerships through ongoing projects and the development of local skills. The provision of our field-proven turbomachinery solutions enables international operators around the globe to safely and stably operate, all while reaching their oil production targets and staying on schedule, he said. This is especially true for this particular contract, as our turbines will provide reliable and efficient energy to the Halfaya field and further support the sustainability of Iraqs ongoing oil and gas operations, he added. BHGEs Frame 6 turbines are able to operate in extreme conditions and harsh environments across a wide range of applications, and have been proven and tested with more than 55 million operating hours, said a statement. The turbines are designed to be fully fuel flexible, possessing the ability to run on a wide range of gas or distillate liquids, including sour gas. This offers valuable cost saving to customers, as the turbines can run on the most economically available fuel for a given operation, it said. In addition to the Halfaya contract, the turbines have been used in multiple projects in the region, it added. The Halfaya oilfield was discovered in 1976 with 4.1 billion barrels in reserves and is situated in the southern part of Iraq in the countrys Maysan Governate. The field, operated by PetroChina International Iraq, currently produces approximately 200,000 barrels per day. This agreement with PetroChina International Iraq further strengthens BHGE's presence in the country, where it has contributed to several projects, including power generation support for two of Iraq's largest fields - West Qurna and Rumaila - and retains a local footprint consisting of over 70 per cent Iraqi employees. BHGE also owns and operates a technical services facility in North Rumaila, which opened in 2013 and was expanded this summer. The facility offers a wide range of testing, repair and refurbishment services and has helped to create local employment opportunities and training for more than 2,000 Iraqi professionals, it stated. TradeArabia News Service Traders Hotel, Qaryat Al Beri, Abu Dhabi, part of the Shangri-la Group, has deployed powerful new 802.11ac Wave 2 Wi-Fi technology from Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company. This will help the hotel to establish a high-density, Gigabit hotel-wide wireless network, said a statement. The implementation has resulted in 40 per cent increase in wi-fi coverage across the hotel premises, a significant reduction in help desk calls pertaining to wi-fi connectivity issues and supports the introduction of new guest e-services including tablet check-in, iPad menus and payment gateway. At the time of vendor selection, Aruba was a clear favourite. Jun Vales, IT manager, Shangri-La Hotel and Traders Hotel, Qaryat Al Beri, Abu Dhabi, commented: We already had a fantastic experience with Aruba, having deployed their solutions at the Shangri-La Hotel in HhDubai, and were aware of the numerous high-profile hospitality and retail chains in their customer base. Best of all, despite the strengths of their brand and technology, their team made every effort to provide us with the support we required. What truly set Aruba apart was that it is part of the Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) brand - a global powerhouse. Selecting Aruba would simplify our IT roadmap since we already had HPE core switches. Traders Hotels IT team decided to utilise Arubas latest Wave 2 APs in its 302 guest rooms and also installed a number of APs in the corridors, guest public areas and outdoor sections of the hotel, ensuring 100 per cent wi-fi coverage of the guest areas - representing an impressive 40 per cent improvement. We are the first hotel in the UAE to utilise this cutting-edge solution and believe the investment will ensure that we have no need to upgrade for at least the next three years, said Vales. - TradeArabia News Service Jet Aviation, together with its joint venture partner the Al Mulla Business Group, celebrated the opening of its new FBO facility in the shared terminal at Dubai South. The company hosted a grand opening at the FBO during recently concluded Dubai Airshow. We are firmly committed to our customers in Dubai and the region, which our new Dubai South FBO demonstrates, said Hardy Butschi, vice president and general manager of Jet Aviations MRO and FBO operations in Dubai. We also continue operating our award-winning MRO and FBO facilities at Dubai International Airport (DXB), and are extending our (DXB) maintenance approvals to support line maintenance services through the Dubai South FBO. The event was attended by Jurg Reuthinger, Senior VP & General Manager Aircraft Management & Charter EMEA and Asia of Jet Aviation; and Ibrahim Al Mulla and Khalid Al Mulla from the Al Mulla Business Group. As business aviation traffic is increasingly channeled through DWC, the upscale 600-sq-m FBO in the shared VIP terminal adds considerable capacity for Jet Aviation to meet customer requirements now and into the future, the company said. The new state-of-the-art facility features three customer lounges, a conference room, crew lounge and operations centre, two prayer rooms and shower facilities. - TradeArabia News Service Luke Combs is the winner of the Country Music Association Awards' coveted entertainer of the year trophy. Combs thanked the country music community for making his dreams come true. It was the second time in a row he won the show's top honor, and he also won won album of the year for Growin' Up. Wednesday's show in Nashville, Tennessee, opened with Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert and Reba McEntire playing tribute to the late country queen Loretta Lynn. The superstar trio performed a medley of Lynns hits including You Aint Woman Enough, Dont Come Home A-Drinkin and Coal Miners Daughter. Leading nominee Lainey Wilson took home two trophies and Alan Jackson accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award. Caspers city manager recently warned that the municipality will be broke in three years if it continued on its current spending path. But he had a plan to prevent this grim outcome, by using a combination of darkening vacant positions, wage freezes and a renegotiated contract. Last Tuesday night, city leaders unanimously approved City Manager Carter Napiers proposal. An amendment to the fiscal year 2017-2018 annual appropriation will almost entirely eliminate about $4 million in reserves being used in the budget. The amendment avoided layoffs and shouldnt have much of an impact on residents, Napier said. Casper City Council members, who tasked Napier with balancing the budget when he began his tenure in June, praised the city manager for finding a solution. This is a big touch down you scored, said Councilman Dallas Laird, who frequently voices his desire for a balanced budget. The amendment relies heavily on a new 20-year agreement between Casper and Rocky Mountain Power that passed its final round of voting last Tuesday night. Like the current contract, which expires Dec. 31, the new agreement will grant Rocky Mountain Power an electric utility franchise in Casper that allows the company to have a general utility easement to locate its electrical facilities in public areas, such as streets and alleys. However, under the new agreement, the city will receive a franchise fee of 7 percent of the electrical companys gross revenues derived from within the corporate limits of the city. This 2 percent increase is expected to bring in an additional $800,000 annually for Casper, according to Napier. The city manager told Council members during the first round of voting that the fee increase would likely cause the average residential customers bill to go up by about $1.50 a month. Citing concerns about burdening residents who are already financially struggling, Council members Shawn Johnson and Amanda Huckabay previously objected to the new contract. Johnson was absent last Tuesday night, but Huckabay maintained her no vote. Councilman Jesse Morgan objected to the new contract during the second round of voting, explaining that he was concerned the increased fee would never be reduced after it was raised. Given that the primary justification for increasing the fee is to help the city balance its budget, the councilman said there would no longer be a reason for the increase once the budget is fixed. As a result, council members adjusted the new contract to stipulate that the increase will only last for four years. Morgan then voted in favor of the contract. To reach $4 million, the budget amendment also factors in an unexpected sales tax revenue bump of $680,000, and $1 million in savings expected to result from a series of budget cuts that took effect in September. Those cuts include freezing city employees wages and reducing excess hours of disability time. Additionally, the amendment will permanently darken 10 city employee positions that are currently vacant. Napier previously stated that he does not believe this will have a significant impact on private citizens. Two vacant positions at the Police Department a community services officer and a criminal intel tech will not be filled, but Napier explained that should not alter public services. Those positions do not take away from patrols on the street, he said last month. Those are support positions and they wont reduce the amount of officers that we are able to deploy on a nightly basis. The city has closed more than 70 positions in the last few years. Smaller changes, such as cutbacks on training, travel expenses and office supplies in various departments, also play a role in the budget amendment. The citys economic challenges stem from low sales tax revenue and concerns over the certainty of state funding. City leaders are worried that the money they receive from the Wyoming Legislature is in jeopardy, as the state continues to take in less revenue due to weak energy prices. I met Caspers own wildlife celebrity on my second day in town. There, in the middle of Wolcott Street, stood a large male turkey. The threat of my 3,000-pound car, idling feet from his fragile bird body, didnt even appear to ruffle his feathers. I peered at him from behind my windshield. He looked back at me, his beady bird eyes surrounded by his bright red, bald head. I honked. He blinked. I honked again, and then slowly inched my car toward him. He continued to stare until my bumper was inches away. Satisfied he had held his ground, the turkey finally ambled off. The turkey, known to some as Thomas Gobbles, was a strange and ugly welcoming party to the city that I now call home. At the time, I didnt know he was a quasi-celebrity. Known for standing in the middle of busy intersections and chasing innocent pedestrians, Thomas has been profiled in the Star-Tribune, featured on Inside Edition and appeared on a Houston television channel. He warranted an individualized warning from the Casper Police Department last summer. Thomas has no common sense nor does he follow the clearly articulated statutes governing pedestrian crossing of a roadway (jay walking), Sgt. Scott Jones wrote on the departments Facebook page. Thomas also likes to play chicken, so to speak, and will chase cars down the street. Pedestrians, especially females, should take notice and avoid Thomas. For reasons unknown he is a woman chaser and has chased several ladies on the Casper College Campus. A few months after my first Thomas encounter, somebody introduced me to his Facebook page, which lists him as a public figure and has collected more Facebook likes than the governors. Dedicated fans posted photos of the large turkey strutting in traffic, snacking in their yards, sleeping on porches and peering through their blinds. One video showed Thomas enjoying one of his favorite hobbies: chasing a UPS delivery driver. This summer, however, Thomas Facebook page went quiet. For months, there were no photos. No anecdotes. Thomas fans began wondering: Where did our friend go? Thomas, where are you? one poster wrote. Miss you. And so, with Thanksgiving nearing, I put on my detective hat and went to find out. Surveillance First, I needed to survey Gobbles regular stomping grounds myself. One uncharacteristically warm fall day, I drove up to Thomas neighborhood just north of Casper College and wandered about. There were no signs of an aggressive tom turkey. I popped my head in the Werner Wildlife Museum, on the north edge of campus. If anybody would know, it would be the wildlife people. Two women sat behind the main desk and stared back at me as I explained my mission. Shoot, I havent seen him since summer, said Eileen Lemm, an assistant at the museum. Museum staff usually encountered Thomas at least once a month, she said. And while theyve seen Thomas girlfriend, distinguishable because of her limp, Mr. Gobbles has been missing for at least a few months. I stepped back into the wind and started knocking on the doors of neighboring homes. After a few attempts, a woman cracked open the heavy red door to her home and peered at me inquisitively through the 2-inch gap. Kathy Parker explained she wouldve invited me into the home where shes lived for 19 years, but just had eye surgery and wasnt supposed to expose her eyes to the light. Had she seen Thomas recently? Nope. I used to see him almost every day, she explained. But Im worried about him. I knocked on a few other doors. One man, confused by the young woman at his doorstep asking about a turkey with a name, explained hes from out of town. Im just visiting my brother, man, he said. I realized I couldnt explain Thomas Gobbles succinctly to this man. How does one encapsulate the glory and community importance of a cantankerous turkey in a few seconds without sounding loony? I thanked the man and walked away. At a blue house on Durbin, Kiki Rochelle told me she hadnt seen Thomas in about six months. He would sometimes disappear for a few weeks, she said, but has never been gone this long before. Thomas liked to sit on the welcome mat outside the front door, Rochelle said. He would leave a whole bunch of unpleasant presents, she said, toeing the now-clean mat. The day before last Thanksgiving, Thomas had decided to take up his post there. When Rochelle attempted to take a selfie with him, he charged and Rochelle ran screaming. Despite the attempted assault, Rochelle said she treasures Thomas as a charming neighborhood quirk. I hope you find him, she said as I walked away. I felt similarly. On the trail With initial surveillance unsuccessful, I started making phone calls. Previously, Casper College security would get regular calls from panicked students being pursued by the turkey. But they hadnt had any reports of T-Gobbs recently and hadnt seen him in at least six months, a security officer told me. Casper Police told a similar tale. I called Metro Animal Services, which also regularly processed reports when Thomas got feisty, and was put on hold. As the hold music played a loop of a very loud advertisement for an upcoming Judas Priest show at the Casper Events Center I pondered my career ambitions. I set out as a reporter to tell the hard-hitting stories. Thats what I told my parents when they questioned my decision to pursue journalism. How did I come to be here, in a windowless Wyoming office, calling various public officials about a turkey? I shook off the doubt. This story needed to be told. The horrific hold music ended and a Metro employee told me they hadnt had any Thomas Gobbles reports in a while, though she couldnt tell me exactly how long it had been. The animal control office used to get regular calls about Thomas, but the reports had tapered off in recent years. People realized he wasnt going anywhere so they stopped calling, she said. Over Facebook, I reached out to some of the people who regularly posted photos of Thomas to see if they had seen him. Stefanie Jackson said Thomas used to come by her house on 14th Street every day for breakfast and dinner. But he hasnt come by for his daily snack since March, she said. I have asked many people on my walk if anyone has seen him, she wrote. No one has. I miss him so much. In any good detective movie, there reaches a moment when the protagonist is stumped. By this point, I was there. Nobody knew where Thomas had gone, and nobody could confirm the worst. But I had one last source to contact. I left a voicemail. About a week later, I got the call. Pick up Thursdays Star-Tribune for the next installment in the search for Thomas Gobbles. Wyomingites are known for being generous, and this holiday season there are many ways to give in addition to financial donations. From a couple of yards of fabric to ringing a bell, there are activities to fit all schedules and levels of commitment. Since Jan. 30, 2016, a group of volunteers who meet monthly has made 506 tied fleece blankets and donated them to people in need of comfort and warmth, according to program coordinator Debbie Mestas. The group meets the third Saturday of every month. Dec. 16 is the next gathering, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at First Christian Church, 520 CY Ave. Volunteers are welcome to stay for an hour or two, or the entire time. If youre not able to craft a blanket, you might consider donating fabric two yards of patterned fleece and two yards of solid fleece are needed for each blanket. Material may be dropped off at the church office or on a crafting Saturday. The local Salvation Army in Casper is in dire need of volunteers who will ring the Christmas Bell this season for its Red Kettle Christmas Campaign. The campaign continues through Dec. 23, Monday through Saturday. There are three ways to sign up: online, registertoring.com; by phone, 234-2002, or in person at the Hope Center, 441 S. Center St. The Natrona County Library will hold a Food for Fines drive Dec. 1 to 15. Library patrons may donate nonperishable, non-expired food items to clear all late fees, but not lost or damaged fees. All collected food will be donated to Joshuas Storehouse. Mercer Family Resource Center has joined #GivingTuesday, a global day of giving. Mercer FRC will be collecting items to support the free community events it will be hosting throughout 2018, including Family Game Night and the Community Baby Shower. Items needed include new, unused diapers of all sizes, travel size baby wipes, diaper cream, sanitizing bags, travel size hand sanitizer, teething toys, receiving blankets, burp cloths, travel size tissues, night lights, baby toiletries (soap, shampoo, lotion), family board games players and family card games for two or more players. You can also donate funds for these events by visiting www.mercercasper.com. Donations can be dropped off at Mercer Family Resource Center, 535 W. Yellowstone Hwy. between Nov. 28 and Jan. 1. Iris Clubhouse, a new not-for-profit in Casper, is seeking the donation of gently used kitchen items. Please go to irisclubhouse.org for a full list or call NAMI WY at 265-2573. The clubhouse is dedicated to providing people with serious and persistent mental illness the encouragement and assistance they need to lead happy and successful lives and be fully engaged in society. Please drop items at NAMI WY, 137 W. Sixth St. In addition to specific needs and events, there are also numerous ways to help by becoming a volunteer. These groups currently are seeking volunteers. Make-A-Wish Wyoming is looking for volunteers to support its mission of granting a wish to every Wyoming child with a life-threatening medical condition. Volunteer wish granters are specially trained to work directly with children and their families to determine the childs true wish and then help plan, create and fulfill that wish. The organization is also looking for people who are interested in helping with community events designed to raise funds and awareness. To learn more, or to refer a child to the program, call 234-9474, email mburton@wyoming.wish.org or visit wyoming.wish.org. Community Action Partnership of Natrona Countys Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) has established the Rides for Vets Program and is looking for veterans in need of transportation and volunteer drivers. RSVPs Rides for Vets program helps veterans with transportation to and from medical appointments and grocery store/food pantries. Rides are free, subject to volunteer availability and must be booked at least 48 hours in advance. Some of the benefits RSVP volunteers receive include supplemental liability insurance and optional mileage reimbursement. Call RSVP director Lisa Johnson at 232-0124 or email ljohnson@natronacounty-wy.gov for more information. Are you 55 or older and interested in making a difference by volunteering? Become a Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) volunteer. Opportunities include volunteering for clerical support, food pantries, disaster action teams, hospital, veteran or meal delivery driver, schools or museums. Volunteer on a regular basis or occasionally for special events. To volunteer or for more information, please contact RSVP director Lisa Johnson at 232-0124 or by email at ljohnson@natronacounty-wy.gov. Wyoming Medical Centers Volunteer Services Program is seeking individuals who enjoy helping others. There are many ways to help in every department. For more information, please call NJ Olsen at 577-2794 or email nolsen@wyomingmedicalcenter.org. Joshuas Warehouse needs help with its new thrift store. If you need to put in hours for community service or fine conversions, or if you have time to help with a worthwhile project, we can use you. Sheet rock, plumbing, electrical work and general help needed. If you can donate any time, please contact Kim Perez, CEO, at 265-0242 or text her at 215-6683. Wyoming Food for Thought Project food of the month suggestion for December is chili. Nearly 1,000 weekend food bags are prepared by volunteers for food-insecure school students in Natrona County each week. Chili or other kid-friendly, easy to prepare food may be taken to program headquarters at 900 St. John, but its best to call ahead to 337-1703. JACKSON Rob McQueen typically just sees the aftermath, the destruction. Its rare hes on the ground before the disaster, at least not immediately prior. Its rare he sees what a functioning community looks like before it is reduced to rubble. Then he went to Puerto Rico. I remember walking into the hotel on Sept. 19, said McQueen, a Sun Valley, Idaho, native, and I remember walking out of the hotel Sept. 20 and seeing a completely different island. McQueen, the field operations director for the nonprofit Waves For Water, often spends time on the ground in areas that need humanitarian aid. The organizations main mission is to provide access to drinking water, specifically through training locals to use a specially designed filter that turns muddy and often disease-riddled liquid into drinkable fluid. Come mid-September, McQueen and a team were already in the Caribbean, cleaning up in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma. They decided to stick it out as Maria took aim at the island. The Category 5 hurricane destroyed Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory that is home to 3.4 million people. Buildings crumbled. Power poles anchored in concrete toppled. Power was out. After a few days grocery stores ran out of supplies. Water became scarce. In terms of devastation, it was horrible, said Bianca Castro, health care administrator for Puerto Rico Medical Administration Services. This is the hurricane that impacted the whole island. Every corner. There was not an inch of the island that was not destroyed. Over the past few weeks McQueen and his team have also served as a connection between areas of needs and available services, including carving a pathway for supplies from Jackson Hole to make it to San Juan, the countrys capital and the site of Puerto Rico Medical Administrative Services, the main trauma center on the island. Last week, Jacksons St. Johns Medical Center staff stuffed nearly 30 boxes with sanitizers, catheters, dressings, gauze and gloves for delivery to the island. The supplies have already been dispatched to the rural corners of Puerto Rico and its outlying islands. The idea to donate came out of the hospitals sustainability committee, a group that meets to discuss how St. Johns can continue to use its supplies efficiently and effectively. When theres an overrun of supplies or materials that need to be recycled, the committee looks for an opportunity to donate to other locations. The discussion spurred Hospital Wellness Director Julia Heemstra to consider a bigger impact than old gowns and bags of saline. She connected with Jon Rose, founder of Waves For Water, and asked for a hospital contact. Heemstra was eventually connected to Castro, who mostly requested basics. While the San Juan hospital was up and running, many rural communities lacked supplies. The hospital was well positioned to pair up supplies with traveling doctors and move the materials to the far reaches of the island. Heemstra went to St. Johns CEO Dr. Paul Beaupre and pleaded for funding. She wanted to add to the hospitals regular order and ship supplies down south. Beaupre signed off on the project and told her to get a wish list. So thats what I did, she said. Late last week 27 boxes reached the Waves For Water ground team, which handles the final miles of delivery. The shipment was shoved into the back of a Honda CRV and arrived at the hospital Friday. Materials have already started moving to outlying communities, Castro said. Nothing has stayed here, Castro said. We use it or we send it out to people in need. Packaged with the shipment were filters from the nonprofit, a supply Castro plans to channel to the many parts of the country still without water. One filter is estimated to provide clean water for 100 people for five years, according to the nonprofit. Rose estimated 5,000 filters have been distributed across Puerto Rico and seven surrounding islands. They will impact at least a few hundred thousand people, he said. Clean water is preventive medicine, he said. A lot of these places have lost their infrastructure. There are still huge parts of Puerto Rico that dont have power. The San Juan trauma center has been able to stay online, using generators when the power inevitably drops as crews work to restore electricity. One thing goes out and then something else goes out, and the next thing you know theres no electricity. Theres massive flooding, Rose said. The first couple days after everyone is in shock. Conditions are horrible. Its unimaginable. Youve lost your home. Maybe youve in a shelter, maybe youre in a friends house. All of that is real, but it hasnt sunk in yet. Its like youre at a survival camp. About a week after the initial shock wears off, emotional breaks begin. But the conditions remain the same. In many areas, electricity is not expected to be back online for six months, Castro said. At 53 days from the hurricane there is still a lot of need, Castro said. Some people in the rural areas are still without water. A lot of people havent even heard from FEMA. Heemstra said the donation was one way to combat the helplessness she felt watching the country unravel at the seams. Over the last 12 months Ive really felt helpless when it has come to making a substantive difference in the world. This effort has been the catalyst for me to really understand the difference one person can make by connecting resources, institutions and organizations, Heemstra said. I really think we are faced with a time when the only option is a call to action. I hope that this is just the beginning for Jackson. The many desert and mountain trails in the Tucson valley offers hikers an array of choices, challenges and sights. It can be your penance for a Thanksgiving pig-out. It can be a clever way to get holiday visitors out of the house for a few hours. It can be a wondrous on-foot entree into the beauty of this place where we live. Theres so much to like about taking a hike. And Thanksgiving weekend with summer snuffed out and winter still in the wings can be a perfect time to hike in the Sonoran Desert around Tucson. Dozens of routes beckon. Today, to get you started, well tell you about a few different trails to try. One is on the northwest side and quite easy great for kids and inexperienced hikers. Another is on the southwest side and moderate. The third is in Saguaro National Park East and poses a challenging trek for those who tackle its entire distance. Slather on the sunscreen. Grab your gear. Go. As the weather is (very) slowly starting to cool down, a warm bowl of soup sounds a lot more tempting. So, stuff yourself with Thanksgiving treats today, and when you need something a bit lighter tomorrow (or any other day), consider that liquid meal. Here are a few suggestions: EL SUR 5602 E. 22nd St., 748-1032. El Sur believes in variety: It offers 10 soups. Albondigas, caldo de pollo, pozole and caldo de queso are all on the menu. But owner Isela Mejia says the most popular are the chicken tortilla soup and the cocido, a beef soup. El Sur also serves menudo seven days a week. We like to have different choices, Mejia says. When Mejia made the decision to become vegan last month, she introduced El Surs first vegan soup, made with tomato broth, pasta shells, zucchini, carrots, corn, potatoes, brown rice and beans. Its very hard to find vegan soups because most soups have chicken or beef bases, she says. Mejia says the restaurant makes about three gallons of each soup every day in the winter season, and each is made with recipes passed down from Mejias mother and aunt, who are from Sonora. Soups are $7 for a small bowl, $8.50 for large. BEYOND BREAD 421 W. Ina Road (461-1111), 3026 N. Campbell Ave. (322-9965), and 6260 E. Speedway (747-7477). Beyond Bread doesnt abandon the bread with its soups: they are served in a bread bowl (or a slice of bread, if you prefer). The daily soup offerings are chicken tortilla and tomato basil soup. Seven other soups rotate on a daily schedule. All soups are $5.75. Weve had the same soup schedule since 2002, says owner Shelby Collier. We have a lot of people who come in on particular days just for a specific soup. Collier says the tomato basil, which is vegetarian, is the most popular. Were in the southwest, so the chicken tortilla is really popular, too, he adds. The soups are made daily and can take anywhere from 2 to 4 hours to make. Its all made from scratch, Collier says. FRONIMOS GREEK CAFE 3242 E. Speedway, 327-8321. Lemon lovers head to Fronimos Greek Cafe for the Avgolemono soup ($4). The traditional Greek soup is made with chicken broth, egg, lemon and rice. Fronimos serves the soup with pita bread. We chose the Avegolemono soup because Americans like lemon, owner George Fronimakis says, adding that the chicken base is what really makes the soup come together. The amount we make depends on the weather, he says. It changes big time in the winter we make quite a bit in the winter. The soup is made from scratch daily and comes from a family recipe. Fronimos only offers one soup. Fronimakis says that having only one soup is how hes able to ensure the best quality. He says there are no plans to add additional soups to the menu. MORE OPTIONS If the above restaurants just arent enough to get you through the winter, have no fear. Tucson is home to many restaurants with delicious soups to try. Among them: Bison Witches, 326 N. 4th Ave. 740-1541 Five bread bowl soups are on the menu: cream of potato bacon, cream of broccoli, Wisconsin cheese, Boston clam chowder and chili. All soups are $7.50. China Szechwan, 1800 E. Fort Lowell Road, 795-0888 The restaurant offers more than 10 soups, including hot and sour, wonton, seafood tofu and barbecue pork. Prices range from $1.75 to $9.50. Choice Greens, 2829 E. Speedway, 319-2467 The soups here include a vegan and gluten-free vegetable soup, chicken noodle, roasted garlic tomato, roasted corn chowder and broccoli cheddar. All soups are $2.60 for a small bowl, $5.20 for large. Miss Saigon, 250 S. Craycroft Road (269-6899), 47 N. 6th Ave. (884-4778), 1072 N. Campbell Ave. (320-9511) The soups here are hefty meals in themselves. There is the pho made with beef broth and rice noodles, hu tieu made with chicken broth and rice noodles and mi made with chicken broth and egg noodles. Soups range from $5.99 to $8.49. OBON Sushi, 350 E. Congress St., 485-3590 Youll find six ramen choices here. Prices range $11.50 to $12.25. St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church, 602 N. Wilmot Road, will host an International Holiday Bazaar 10 a.m to 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2 and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 3. Shoppers can browse offerings from fair trade nonprofits such as No More Deaths, Just Coffee, Ten Thousand Villages, the Tucson Samaritans and the Zambian Childrens Fund, among others, according to press materials. Regional food and Syrian sweets will be available for purchase. There will also be live performances. Architect Bob Vint and arts historian Stacie Widdifield will present on church art and architecture 11:50 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 3. PRESCOTT VALLEY Prescott Valley is now offering a $500 reward for the safe return of Police Chief Bryan Jarrell's missing handgun. The department's announcement of the reward follows its earlier disclosure that Jarrell said he last had the gun Nov. 9 but didn't realize it was lost until four days later. Jarrell says he accidentally left the handgun in a restroom stall while he was changing clothes. He had just finished attending a town council meeting at the Prescott Valley Public Library. The department-issued handgun is described as a Glock 19, 9mm in caliber and black. The serial number is YHC 944. A new statewide poll suggests Arizona voters arent ready to legalize recreational marijuana. The sample of likely voters in next years election finds 35 percent would support a measure allowing personal use of the drug. By contrast, 48 percent of the 600 people questioned in the automated telephone poll said they were opposed, with the rest undecided. Thats significant because Proposition 205, a legalization measure on the 2016 ballot, failed by just 3 percentage points. Michael Noble, managing partner of the political consulting firm OH Predictive Strategies, which conducted the survey earlier this month, said the results are not a surprise. His automated calls went only to those with landline phones. That, he said, skews the results a bit toward older voters who are more conservative. But Noble said theres another factor at work: The respondents were all people who said they intend to vote next year. In general, off-year elections those without a presidential candidate on the ballot tend to attract older and more conservative voters. Morgan Fox, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, agreed with Noble on the basic premise of why 2018 is a good year to stay off the ballot. The demographic groups that are least likely to support marijuana legalization ... are older Americans and people that are socially conservative, he said. Those are groups that are much more heavily represented during midterm elections traditionally. He said similar initiatives have tended to fare much worse in these off-year elections. Presidential elections bring out a lot of younger voters who are much more comfortable with the idea of regulating marijuana like alcohol, said Fox, whose group was behind the successful 2010 initiative to legalize marijuana for medical purposes. Not everyone is convinced that pushing a legalization measure next year is an exercise in futility. A group called Safer Arizona already started a drive to put the issue on the 2018 ballot. Organizers need 150,642 valid signatures by next July 5 to qualify. David Wisniewski, the groups executive director, said hes not buying the contention about off-year elections. Thats just a fake argument to discourage people from trying, he said. Wisniewski pointed out that the states medical marijuana law was itself approved, albeit narrowly, in 2010, which was one of those off-year elections. Anyway, he said, the controversy around President Trump should generate wider interest than normal in a midyear election. But all that may be immaterial if voters dont get the chance to weigh in next year. Safer Arizona is trying to get on the ballot strictly with volunteers circulating its petitions. At the rate were going, it doesnt look like were going to hit our goal, Wisniewski said. But were not giving up and were going to collect to the very last day, as of now. The last time Kelli Ward stopped by the Tucson Republican Club of Pima County she was a well-known conservative candidate trying to unseat Sen. John McCain. She was well-known and well-liked by the small group that meets in midtown Tucson, but when she returned on Tuesday she was greeted as the woman who forced Republican Sen. Jeff Flake to retire politically. About 60 people packed into the Sabbar Shrine Temple to hear Ward speak for about an hour, with the former emergency-room doctor and state senator telling the crowd how she became the leading GOP candidate for Flakes seat in next years midterm elections. You all know Ive been seen as an insurgent-type candidate in the past, Ward told the crowd. I think we are past that now, weve been able to have a sitting senator decide not to run again. I will certainly tell you that our campaign had something to do with that. While Flake has been a critic of President Trump even after announcing on the Senate floor last month that he wouldnt run again, Ward has praised the president. I will fight for the America first agenda that Donald Trump talked about on the campaign trail and since he has been in office, Ward said. I am disappointed because our side has not stood up beside the president and fought hard for those things that we as the electorate have cried out for. She told the audience there were three groups standing in the way of the presidents policies Democrats, some Republicans and the media. Ward spent most of the hour answering questions from the audience but outlined her support for a number of Trump policies. She supports building a new wall along the Mexico border, repealing the Affordable Care Act, cutting off all federal funding to Planned Parenthood, lowering the corporate tax rate, reforming the federal welfare system and banning transgender individuals from serving in the military. But Ward wasnt afraid to argue with the crowd, challenging a man after he suggested transgender individuals had mental problems. Regarding transgendered people, I think everyone across the board should be treated with respect, with honor, with dignity, with love. It is my job as a Christian person to love everyone, Ward said. The one name not mentioned during her hour-long speech was U.S. Rep. Martha McSally. The Congressional District 2 Republican is expected to announce that she will run for Flakes seat in the coming days after telling her Republican colleagues in the House that she was going to run a few weeks ago. On the Democratic side, U.S. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema has also announced her plans to run for the Senate seat. Concerned about Tucsonans limited access to free dental care, organizers of the Phoenix-based Mission of Mercy are extending an invitation for local residents to attend their charity event. The sixth annual dental event is scheduled for Friday, Dec. 8, and Saturday, Dec. 9, at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix. Organizers hope to help about 2,000 people both adults and children. The help is free first come, first served and no identification or other documentation is required. Arizona Dental Mission of Mercy organizers say Southern Arizonans, if they can get themselves to Phoenix, are welcome to attend and get free oral health care. Three hundred dentists have volunteered their services. People typically begin lining up the day before the event begins. Overnight camping is allowed. We read about what happened with the dentists at Hope Fest in Tucson and we felt really bad about that, said Kevin Conroy, executive director of the Central Arizona Dental Society Foundation, which puts on the annual Mission of Mercy event in Phoenix. So we want to make sure they know about what were doing. Hope Fest A free day of dental care had been part of the annual Hope Fest event in Tucson for at least 20 years. The event for low-income residents in Tucson offers free hygiene items, haircuts and medical services, among other things, and regularly attracts upward of 10,000 people. But dental services were not a part of this years Hope Fest event, which was held Oct. 28. Volunteer dentists, who say the one-day event was not enough to help everyone who needed it, pulled out this year. They are meeting next week for a Hope Fest Town Hall to discuss alternative ways to offer free, local oral health care, perhaps on an ongoing basis. Hope Fest was Tucsons largest, most comprehensive charity dental event and competition to get dental care was fierce. Arguments often broke out in the long lineups. Other low-cost and no-cost dental options in Southern Arizona are available but limited, said Alicia Thompson, manager of the dental department at El Rio Community Health Center and also coordinator of the Southern Arizona Oral Health Coalition. Thompson said while the invitation from Mission of Mercy organizers is thoughtful, getting there may not be possible for the people who need dental care the most. The populations from our county who could make it to Phoenix could probably afford to go to the dentist, Thompson said. The people who need it (dental care) the most have challenges with transportation issues as it is. Are people from Santa Cruz or Cochise County going to go all the way to Phoenix to attend Mission of Mercy? Where are they going to stay? What are they going to do when their car breaks down? Thompson stressed that dental stakeholders who were part of Hope Fest are looking to find a solution soon that is accessible to Southern Arizonans. Part of that solution will be dental health education, to increase awareness that dental health is part of overall health, she said. Cleaning and extractions The Mission of Mercy event, which offers solely dental care, is the largest charity dental event in Arizona. The event is primarily focused on adults, but children can get care, too, said Conroy, who is on the board of the national Kansas-based Americas Dentists Care Foundation, which puts on Mission of Mercy dental events in more than 20 states. They have three tractor-trailers that they load up and send to the various states. And that becomes the Mission of Mercy program. They supply equipment, Conroy said. There are some people who come to the Mission of Mercy event year after year to get a dental cleaning, who say they would not otherwise be able to afford it, Conroy said. Others need teeth extractions. Thousands of extractions were performed at the event last year, he said, noting that there were individuals who needed 13 or 14 teeth pulled in one day. We screen everybody first medically to make sure their blood pressure, blood sugars are all in check and that they can get treatment that day, Conroy said. I would say we mostly do oral surgery extractions, followed by hygiene cleanings. We also offer root canals on anterior teeth. A limited number of dentures are available, too. Theres another upcoming event where free dental care will be available to veterans, and its also in Phoenix, Conroy said. The Maricopa County StandDown is scheduled for Jan. 25 and 26, also at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum. That event, for military veterans at risk of homelessness or experiencing it already, is coordinated by the Arizona Housing Coalitions Arizona Veterans StandDown Alliance, which serves military veterans and their families. Dental services are one component of a larger event for veterans. Whatever it takes Arizonas Medicaid program, a government insurance program for low-income people, includes comprehensive dental care for children but up until this year did not offer any dental coverage for nondisabled adults. On Oct. 1, the program began offering a $1,000 per year benefit for emergency dental services to low-income adults, but that benefit doesnt include preventive care, including teeth cleanings. Dental problems are closely tied to poverty and at 19 percent, Pima Countys poverty rate is higher than both the national and state levels. Left untreated, dental health problems can cause pain and tooth loss, impede productivity and job opportunities, cause problems speaking, eating and learning, and complicate the detection of oral cancers. People without dental care are vulnerable to heart and kidney disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and even premature death. Twenty-nine percent of low-income Arizona adults reduce their participation in social activities due to the condition of their mouth and teeth, says the American Dental Associations Health Policy Institute, using data from a 2015 survey. Tucson resident Jodi Rivera, 39, said she doesnt have a car but shell do whatever it takes to get to Phoenix for the Mission of Mercy. Rivera, who is covered by Medicaid and works as a personal assistant, has no upper teeth and 11 bottom teeth. She avoids smiling, can only eat soft foods, and desperately wants upper dentures. Rivera is going to try to find a ride to the Mission of Mercy. Shed have no problem camping overnight and standing in line, she said. The girl in front of me in line at Hope Fest last year was the last one to get dentures, she said. I was counting on coming back this year. Id been looking forward to it and making plans for so long. When I found out there was no dental it ruined my whole year. As a nurse for 45 years and an educator I would like to share some facts against "pot." A physician once told me that pot in adolescents can delay their intellectual maturity by 10 years. Another startling statistic shows that pilots cannot center a plane in the 'middle' of the runway while under the influence of marijuana. Do I think that children with constant seizures need help? Yes! Do people with diseases causing severe pain and nausea need help? Yes! We have had time in the U.S. to research dosages for people. When can really ill folks have access? This should not be an issue about having fun, or raising tax revenues for every state in the union. Re: the Nov. 22 article "Conyers denies harassment settlement; ethics probe opens." As a feminist, I am outraged that Rep. John Conyers allegedly sexually harassed members of his staff for years. As a taxpayer, I am appalled that he apparently used federal dollars to pay off one of his victims by listing her as a temporary employee on payroll records, resulting in payments to her of $27,111.75 as part of a settlement agreement. At the very least, Rep. Conyers should reimburse the U.S. Treasury for that money with his own funds. I hope the House Ethics Committee also investigates whether this rises to the level of fraud, and, if so, takes appropriate action to sanction him accordingly. Laura Penny Foothills Editor's note: This story originally ran in Home + Life in the Arizona Daily Star on Sunday, Nov. 19. Roni Capin Rivera-Ashford journeyed into a magical world when Disney asked her to write a related children's adventure book for Disney-Pixar's highly anticipated animated film 'Coco,' which opens Wednesday. The 64-year-old Tucsonan, an award-winning bilingual children's book author, was accompanied in her mystical journey by her son, Aaron Rivera-Ashford, 41, a University of Arizona and American Film Institute graduate. He also was contracted by Disney through Random House, to collaborate on the book. Coco is a film about 12-year-old Miguel Rivera, a Mexican boy who dreams of becoming an accomplished musician and his adventures into the the Land of the Dead on Dia de los Muertos. He is on a mission to discover the history of his family and why he is forbidden like generations before him to stay away from music. The film was released in Mexico in late October for Dia de los Muertos. Roni and Aaron brought their family to the recent premiere at Hollywoods El Capitan Theatre. Roni spent time at the premiere with actor and director Edward James Olmos, who plays the voice of Chicharron in the film. Chicharron, named for a treat of fried beef or pork fat, is a skeletal musician in the Land of the Dead who is sadly disappearing from the Land of the Living because he is being forgotten. Other voice roles include that of Miguel Rivera by Anthony Gonzalez, Mama Imelda by Alanna Ubach, Abuelita (grandmother) by Renee Victor, Hector by Gael Garcia Bernal, Ernesto de la Cruz by Benjamin Bratt, Mama Coco by Ana Ofelia Murguia and the voice of a clerk in the Department of Family Reunions is that of Gabriel Iglesias. After reading portions of the unfinished Coco scripts last year, Roni and Aaron teamed up to write the related adventure book Miguel and the Amazing Alebrijes. The story is set in the Mexican town of Santa Cecilia in Oaxaca, a southern state in Mexico. Miguel embarks on a class project to identify eight of his favorite living creatures and he will transform them into alebrijes colorful, fantastical sculptures that were invented about 100 years ago. The sculptures, which are made from paper mache, are a mix of ancient and modern Mexican art. Roni gave characters in the story to people who touched her life deeply. Senora Sena, Miguels teacher, is based on Tina Sena, a dear friend and mentor of myself and my husbands when we were in college studying to be teachers at the University of Southern Colorado. She was a special human being who did not discriminate. She spoke English and Spanish, and we loved each other like sisters, and now she is in the land of the dead, said Roni of Sena, who died at the age of 71 in Las Vegas of rheumatoid arthritis and thyroid cancer. Also in the story is a red-tailed hawk and a butterfly that are among Miguels favorite creatures. The hawk symbolizes Ronis brother, Mark Capin, who died of tongue cancer at age 49 in Nogales in 2006. Before his death, the two spoke and Roni told him she wanted a sign of him coming to visit her after he entered the land of the dead. That sign would be him as a red-tailed hawk, and that bird, said Roni, has flown into the backyard at her southwest side home several times. The butterfly in the book signifies the migration of butterflies from Canada to the midwest on into Mexico. The legend is that the butterflies are bringing the spirits home for Dia de los Muertos, said Aaron. I was blown away when I saw the artwork, he said. The personal touches we put in the book, the butterflies and the red-tailed hawk, made the cover. Register for more free articles. Log in Sign up Aaron, a director of production and development at Pantelion Films, also wrote the read-along with CD for Coco and Roni translated it into Spanish. The read-along was straightforward. They gave me the script and I had to reduce it from 120 pages to 32 pages using as much dialogue as possible, said Aaron. It was a lot of rewriting and using more structure, and being able to fit the story into a specific space. The story was based on the artwork as well, explained Aaron, whose daily work at Pantelion deals with reading scripts, doing screenings and talking to directors about developing scripts onto the big screen. The company is a joint venture of Televisa and Lionsgate. Storytelling is in my blood, said Aaron, who left a successful restaurant business in Chicago and returned to the classroom, receiving two bachelor degrees in 2012, one in media arts and the other in English and creative writing from the UA. He then went on and earned a masters in screen writing from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles in 2015. I love creating stories and my moms expertise in childrens books combined our talents, said Aaron of their collaboration on the Coco read-along and Miguel and the Amazing Alebrijes. Roni also wrote the Spanish translation for the Coco related adventure book Miguel and the Grand Harmony written by Matt de la Pena. It won the 2016 Newbery Award. In the story, music is personified as a live character that visits a town and the whole Rivera family because music is trying to touch the familys heart, explained Roni. The retired bilingual elementary school teacher grew up in Nogales and comes from pioneering Jewish families. She embraced the culture and language of the community along the international border, which also is home to her husband, Daniel, a retired educator. The couple, who moved to Tucson nearly 30 years ago, raised three children and enjoy one grandson. Children fill Ronis life, teaching for more than 30 years in the Nogales and Tucson unified school districts and reading to children from her five books, including My Tatas Remedies/Los Remedios de mi Tata, take her to book fairs throughout the Southwest. My Tatas Remedies, which was published by Cinco Puntos Press in 2015, received nearly one dozen national, international and state awards, including two first-place bilingual awards from the International Latino Book Awards. The awards are produced by Latino Literacy Now, an organization co-founded by Olmos and Kirk Whisler. Those awards, said Roni, brought her childrens books to the attention of Disney editors. I want to continue building bridges of acceptance, communication and diversity through my stories, she said. Disney consultant Marcela Davison Aviles, also a native of Nogales, said she suggested and recruited Roni for the publishing aspect of the film. Im thrilled that Roni and Aarons perspective is a part of Cocos journey. ....I come from a family of Mexican poets, teachers and artists so having the book translated into Spanish was critical and important, said Davison Aviles. For decades, Mexican-Americans have advocated for opportunity, equitable treatment and positive representation of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans in and by the Hollywood Studio system. Many of those pioneer civil rights activists, and their second generation mentees, worked on this film. With Coco, Disney reached out to the Mexican and Mexican-American community and invited us to help shape this story in a way that has no precedent, said Davison Aviles. Help India! By Ram Puniyani for TwoCircles.net For the past couple of years around 10th November, the BJP has been undertaking a smearing campaign against Tipu Sultan. Incidentally from last 3 years Government of Karnataka has been celebrating the anniversary of Tipu. As such he is the only King, who laid down his life while fighting against the British. This year around as November 10 approached, Mr. Anantkumar, the Union Minister and a major BJP leader from Karnataka, turned down the invitation of Karnataka Government to be part of the Tipu anniversary celebration. His argument was that Tipu was a mass murderer, wretched fanatic and rapist. At places there were protests organized by BJP. Support TwoCircles Certain sections of the society also consider him a tyrant who engaged in forced conversions. He is also accused of promoting Persian at the cost of Kannada. It is also alleged that his letters to his Generals, claimed to be in British possession now, show that he believed that kafirs should be decimated. There is no dearth of such periodic controversies being raked up around his name. What is being propagated on the basis of some flimsy sources is that he destroyed hundreds of temples and killed thousands of Brahmins! Incidentally just a month ago, Ramnath Kovind, the President of India, who has a RSS background, was on a different trip. He praised Tipu by saying that Tipu Sultan died a heroic death fighting the British. He was also a pioneer in the development and use of Mysore rockets in warfare. Many BJP spokespersons, uncomfortable with this statement, undermined the President by saying that false inputs were provided to Rashtrapati Bhavan by Karnataka Government. As such there are diverse attitude towards Tipu from within RSS-BJP stable itself. In 2010, B.S. Yeddyyurappa, the BJP leader adorned Tipus headgear and held a mock sword, on the eve of elections. In 1970s RSS had published a book praising Tipu, calling him patriotic, this book was part of Bharat Bharati series. On the other side noted Kannada playwright Girish Karnad is all praise for Tipu to the extent that he supported the demand to name Bangaluru airport in his name. Karnad has also been stating that had Tipu been Hindu, he would have been accorded the same status in Karnataka, which Shivaji has in Maharashtra. One recalls that Tipu has been made popular through the 60 episode serial based on Bhagwan Gidwanis script, the Sword of Tipu Sultan, which also focuses on the fight of Tipu against East India Company. Tipu had corresponded with the Marathas and Nizam of Hyderabad to dissociate themselves from the British forces, the intrusion of which he saw particularly harmful for this region. This policy of his led to various battles against British. It was in the fourth Anglo Mysore war of 1799 battle that he lost his life. He has been immortalized in the popular memory of Karnataka people through folk songs. This is very much akin to iconization of Shivaji in popular memory in Maharashtra. Why did Tipu use Persian as the Court language? It is important to recognize that Persian was the court language in the sub-continent at that time. Even Shivaji of Maharashtra was using Persian in his correspondence and had had Maulana Hyder Ali as his Chief Secretary, for doing this. Tipu was not a religious fanatic as he is being projected by them today. Tipus policies were not driven by religion. In fact, in his letter to Shankaracharya of Kamkoti Peetham, he refers to the Acharya as Jagatguru (World Teacher). He also donated rich offerings to his shrine. When the Maratha army of Patwardhan plundered the Sringeri monastery, Tipu Sultan respectfully restored the monastery to its glory. During his reign, ten-day Dushehara celebrations were an integral part of the social life of Mysore. Sarfaraz Shaikh in his book Sultan-E-Khudad has reproduced the Manifesto of Tipu Sultan. In it, he declares that he would not discriminate on religious grounds and would protect his empire until his last breath. There is a charge that he persecuted certain communities. It is true. The reason for this persecution was purely political not religious. About these persecutions historian Kate Brittlebank comments, This was not a religious policy but one of chastisement. The communities targeted by him were seen as disloyal to the state. The communities he targeted did not just belong to Hindu stream he also acted against some Muslim communities like the Mahdavis. The reason was that these communities were in support of British and were employed as horsemen in the East India Companys armies. Another historian Susan Bayly says that his attacking Hindus and Christians outside his state is to be seen on political grounds as he at the same time had developed close relations with these communities within Mysore. As such the alleged letters in possession of British, where he is supposed to have talked of killing Kafirs and converting them, needs to be seen rationally, their genuineness apart. We have to see the person in his totality. When he has Purnaiyya, a Hindu Brahmin, as his Chief Advisor, when he is all respectful to Shankaracharya of Kanchi Kamkotipeetham, it is unlikely that he could have been on a murderous spree of Hindus. British have been harsh against Tipu on purpose as he was the one to oppose the advance of British in India and wrote to Marathas and Nizam that we should settle things among ourselves and keep British out. Due to this he was singled out by British; who vehemently demonized their opponents. There is a need to have a balanced picture of this warrior king, who took on the might of British and could foresee that British are a different power, different cup of tea; so to say, to be shunned at all the cost. In that sense he is the pioneer in Anti British resistance on this soil. The vacillations of communalists, from praising him to presenting him as an evil character are motivated attempts to uphold their communal ideology, nothing else! Help India! By TCN News A press conference was held today at the Indian Womens Press Corps in New Delhi regarding the details that have emerged over the past two days about the mysterious circumstances under which 48-year-old CBI Judge Brijgopal Harkishan Loya died. Apoorvanand, Hartosh Singh Bal, Manisha Sethi, Syeda Hameed & Shabnam Hashmi addressed the media and expressed grave concern at the findings of the investigation conducted by The Caravan. Support TwoCircles A press statement issued after the event said, Deeply troubled by attacks on ordinary people, lynching of Dalits, Muslims, killings of rationalists, journalists, activists over the past 3 years now we are suddenly faced with a new situation which forces us to ask: Would even the Judges and lawyers who refuse to tow the line be done away with? According to the facts revealed by The Caravans investigation, Brijgopal Harkishan Loyas father Harkishan, sister Anuradha Biyani and niece Nupur Balaprasad Biyani have spoken after three years of his death to Niranjan Takle about the mysterious circumstances of his death in Nagpur in the night of Nov 30 or morning of Dec 1, 2014. The panel put forward the demand for an immediate high-level Judicial Enquiry and security for the Loya family and the journalist Niranjan Takle. Loya was hearing the case involving the allegedly-staged encounter killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh in 2005. The prime accused in the case was Amit ShahGujarats minister of state for home at the time of the killing, and the BJPs national president at the time of Loyas death. According to the family members, Loya was persuaded to go to Nagpur (he was quite reluctant to go) to attend the wedding on November 30, 2014, of a colleagues daughter. On December 1, 2014, various members of the family received calls from someone who introduced himself as judge Barde informing them that Loya had a cardiac arrest and died. His post-mortem had already been conducted and his body had been sent to the ancestral home in Gategaon. They were told that he had chest pain and was taken to a private institution called the Dande Hospital in an auto rickshaw. Later, he was shifted to Meditrina hospitalanother private hospital. He was declared dead on arrival. Ishwar Baheti, an RSS worker, informed Loyas father that he would arrange for the body to reach his native place. The Press conference held today was aimed to reveal the facts towards the general public. The investigative report which has appeared in three parts in The Caravan raises questions and points out to inconsistencies in the story told so far to the world and the family by officials, said speakers. The following were a few points raised by the speakers today: : Different versions of the time of death given in the postmortem report and telephonic information given to the family Informing the family only after post-mortem was done and not immediately when he was taken ill or immediately after his death Loya was only 48 yrs with no history of any heart ailment He was in a VIP guest house, a CBI Judge, yet taken to hospital in an auto-rickshaw to an obscure private hospital the signature on every page of the post-mortem report by Maiyatacha Chulatbhau, or paternal cousin, according to the family there is no such person the wiping clean of all data from Loyas phone before it was returned to the family the presence of blood on his clothes the role played by an RSS activist in telling Loyas family about the location of his body and delivering his phone, to the family Sending Loyas body to the village unaccompanied by anyone but the ambulance driver If it was a natural death why was the post-mortem conducted Why there was no panchnama Barde had not gone with Loya, why did he call? How did the RSS man know in which hospital Sarita Mandhane was? Why did the PM report showed the clothes as Dry when there were blood stains on them? Why was the family discouraged from doing the second post-mortem? Knife related crimes are on the rise all over the UK, where in 2016 one knife crime was committed every 14 minutes. The 40,000 incidents of last year are expected to increase further in 2017. However, fewer cases are being prosecuted by the Police. Paul McKenzie, who was stabbed with a machete at 15 years old, was later sent to an institute for carrying a knife and is now an anti-violence campaigner, said that victims often hesitate to report the crimes to the police because they do not want to be involved. The situation in London is particularly concerning: only in 2016, the knife crimes were 13,000 for a total of 61 people who remained killed. In over one year to June 2017, crimes with a knife in the capital grew by 34%, despite all the efforts of the Met police to face the crisis. Another reason for apprehension is the young age of both the victims and the perpetrators, who are often teenagers. In fact, the average age of moped criminals is only 15, while 40 Londoners under 25 have been stabbed to death only in 2017. Paul McKenzie explains that young people often do not carry a knife with the intention of committing an offence but for either protection or status symbol and they are not aware of the risks associated with having a weapon. What can be the cause that made London a more dangerous city than New York? First of all, London changed its use of police forces, giving up on the bobbies patrols, allegedly to concentrate on more serious crimes. This is in part due to the terroristic threat that requires more effort from the police forces to prevent it but it has also to do with the cut to the police budget requested by Theresa May when she was Home Secretary. Finally, the increasing bureaucratisation of Scotland Yard that forces too many policemen behind a desk instead of on the streets, where their mere presence act as a deterrent for criminals, is certainly another cause of the upsurge of knife related deaths. Nevertheless, something has been done at the socio-political level to try to put an end to the massacre. The London Needs You Alive campaign This initiative was proposed by Sadiq Khan, mayor of London, with the aim to dissuade young Londoners from carrying a knife. The campaign focused on how valuable its youth is to the city London and urges teenagers to live, for their loved ones as well as to be able to use their talent to accomplish great things. Carrying a knife wont keep you safe. Help carry a new message. #LondonNeedsYouAlive #LNYA pic.twitter.com/GkOGJu6ySh Mayor of London (@MayorofLondon) November 15, 2017 To spread the message the London mayor involved a group of youth influencers including the Mobo-nominated rapper Yungen, the photographer Tom Sloan, the blogger the Slumflower and the poet Hussain Manawer. With the help of these celebrities' fans, who reposted the campaigns video on social networks, the initiative had vast resonance. The mayor of London strongly believes in the necessity to educate youth against violence. He affirmed that police enforcement alone is not enough to prevent knife crimes from happening but it is paramount that young Londoners understand that the risks of carrying a knife are not worth it. He added that these youngsters will be the citizens of the futures and they need to realize their full potential. The Beyond The Blade project Thirty-two children and teenagers have been killed in knife attacks this year says the Guardian's project Beyond The Blade, born with the intention to mark each victims death. Gary Younge and Damien Gayle are the two journalists exploring the theme of knife Crime in the UK by reporting the statistics, telling the stories of the victims and the perpetrators, and investigating the root cause of this phenomenon. On the website, you can read about fifteen-years-old Jermaine Goupall, who was talented in math and wanted to become an engineer but was attacked by three men wearing balaclavas and armed with knives and a machete. He died an hour later of a wound in his leg. Quamari Barnes had nothing in common with Jermaine Goupall except he was also fifteen when he was killed with a knife just after he left school in Willesden, north-west London. He loved DJing and favoured old-school reggae over grime and rap. Leonne Weeks was instead sixteen when she was found dead on a muddy patch of wasteland not far from her home in Dinnington. Leonne was a trainee beautician and had been repeatedly stabbed by eighteen-years-old Shea Peter Healey, who lived with his parents nearby George Soros is certainly an interesting fellow, the mere mention of his name in some quarters provokes the same vitriolic response that is reserved for some of the history's most reviled figures, while others simply go, who is George Soros? Who is George Soros indeed. George Soros recently gave a rare interview to the Financial Times in which he spoke of the "Hate Campaign" that was being waged against him by the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. In the interview, Hungarian-American Soros said that Orban was attempting to smear him in order to cling on to power in his own country. Viktor Orban has recently said that he would press the countries spy agencies to monitor groups which are funded by the billionaire investor. Viktor Orban vehemently rejects the EU's open door migrant policy and is seen as the figurehead of a growing number of Central and Eastern European politicians which are opposed to some of the doctrines of the EU hierarchy and favour a more nationalistic approach to politics. What is the truth behind the myths? Many rich men have had conspiracy theories associated with them, but none more so in recent times than the left-wing billionaire. There is not much information on this enigmatic figure, so I will present the information that is available to try to understand why George Soros is associated with such nefarious accusations. Soros has recently transferred $18 billion to his Open Society Foundation. Looking into the Open Society Foundation, it is easy to see why some people, particularly on the right associate George Soros with the "globalist" agenda. The Open Society Foundation, either directly or through its subsidiaries, funds many left-wing activist groups. The list is so long it would take an entire article just to list them all, so I will try to list the most relevant ones to try to paint the picture behind George Soros' political views. One of the groups that are funded by Soros' Open Society Foundation is the Advancement Project. The stated aims of this group are to try to unite "communities of colour" into political groups, the Advancement Project has been linked to the group Black Lives Matter and at one point it was reported that the group was considering funding the activist organization. Soros also funds the Democracy Alliance which is a group that also aims to fund left-wing activist movements. The Open Society Foundation also funds many groups which are described as "open-border" advocates. These groups include America's Voice, which calls for immigration reform and calls for an amnesty of illegal immigrants. Some of the other open border groups that Soros' Open Society Foundation funds are the American Immigration Council and The American Immigration Law Foundation. George Soros also funds a number of NGO's which have been directly linked to the migrant crisis which began in Europe in early 2015. The tentacles of George Soros' money seems to cast a wide net, from left-wing education pressure groups to Human Rights groups such as Amnesty International, the Hungarian born billionaire's name does appear to be associated with a left-wing mandated vision for the future. The reason why this is relevant because it goes some way to answering the questions behind the recent outcry over Soros in Hungary and beyond. Recently, Nigel Farage slammed the billionaire investors backing of the European project, calling his influence "really extraordinary." Looking into the groups and causes that George Soros funds, it is clear that many of the positions that George Soros advocates are at odds with these nations in Eastern and Central Europe who do not wish to co-operate with the European Union's quotas in regard to the resettlement of refugees and migrants which continue to enter the continent from the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa. It is no conspiracy that George Soros is a huge force behind the push for a more global world. The conspiracy theories of Soros' aim of a "one world government" can find their roots in his money trail. It has been said that the smear campaign being directed against the billionaire investor can find its roots in anti-Semitism, similar to what was seen during the 1930's in Europe. I cannot speak for everybody who has doubts about George Soros, we all know those repulsive anti-Semitic figures do exist in the world, but I do not believe this to be true for the majority of the people who have raised concerns about Soros' influence. For people on the right, for people who are concerned about the effects of mass-migration and for those who despise identity politics in all its forms I believe their criticisms of George Soros to be justified. George Soros has the right in a free-market capitalist society to fund whichever group and cause he wishes to, being a political centrist, I would even go as far to say that some of the groups George Soros funds, such as Amnesty International can provide a great service to the world. But while George Soros retains the right to spend his hard earned money as he wishes, the nations which are directly affected by his causes retain the right to be critical of George Soros. Is George Soros an enemy of the people in Hungary? I suppose that is a question that can only be answered by the people of Hungary. If there is anti-Semitism involved in any of the maligning of George Soros as is claimed, that is absolutely wrong and should be stamped out immediately. But in regards to the criticisms levelled at Soros by people like Nigel Farage and Viktor Orban, I'm sorry George, but as a man that is described as a defender of democracy, the anger directed at you by such people is simply democracy in action. Members of Young Conservatives (YCs) have called on the Chancellor to create more affordable homes for young people in today's Budget. Philip Hammond is expected to issue new powers to fund house-building, which include allowing more housing associations to be reclassified as private bodies to allow them to build new social houses. He is also committing the Government to a target of constructing 300,000 new homes a year. The Budget will be delivered following Prime Minister's Questions, which starts at 12pm today. Blasting News has contacted a few members of the YCs from a wide variety of different backgrounds in the Conservative Party as part of a "Budget Special" to provide their views on what policies they would like to see the Chancellor announce today. Housing seems to be the number one priority for many young Tories who were approached for comment. "A generation that are living with their parents until their 30s" Sophie Tyrrell, the Conservative candidate for Penylan ward at this year's local elections, told Blasting News: "The Government needs to provide enough money to ensure that affordable housing can be built. We're having a generation that are living with their parents until their 30s in some cases due to high rental prices. Those in the rental market are struggling to get on the properly ladder because houses are simply too expensive. "We need to increase supply in order to make home ownership more accessible to young people." She also called on the Government to invest more in infrastructure to expand single line tracks into double ones and provide more value for money. Adam Lawless, a YC member from Worcester, agrees that the Government must spend more on the housing market. But he also urged the Chancellor to consider investing more in defence spending and scrapping "pointless" schemes like HS2. "Mr. Hammond may do something to reform stamp duty" There has been widespread speculation that Mr. Hammond may do something to reform stamp duty in England, which has been criticised for penalising many first-time buyers. Estate agent Savills told BBC News the average stamp duty bill for first-time buyers is 2,700. Scotland has already amended stamp duty to enable more young people to enter the housing market. Wales is expected to introduce a similar policy from April 2018. This is a move that will be welcomed by Essex University YC member, Cameron Winstanley, who said a reduction in stamp duty is necessary, along with attempts to meet the deficit target and ensure people are living within their means. Will Taylor, Chairman for Mid Worcestershire YCs, wants Mr. Hammond to go further, and create modern prefabricated houses that are cheap for young people and built by private companies, as opposed to the Government. He said this would allow many millennials to become self-sufficient members of society. It is anticipated he will address the lack of productivity in the economy at the moment. The Chancellor said he wants to invest in driverless cars and offer discounted rail travel for people up to the age of 30. Many commentators are watching closely for any changes to the public sector pay cap, which has been in place since 2010, and the four-year benefit freeze on those claiming Jobseeker's Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance, Housing Benefit and Child Benefit. There has been little speculation as to whether "sin taxes" on cigarettes and alcohol will be changed. "Conservative principles have taught us to never ignore individuals in need" Liam Pem, a Lambeth YC member, said: "This Budget is the Conservative Party's chance to show just how good conservatism can be in the modern day. A focus on mental health, education and helping those in society that need a helping hand. "Conservative principles have taught us to never ignore individuals in need- our Budget needs to reflect this." Mr. Hammond will issue a spring statement in late February or early March, which will provide updates on the nation's finances. Philip Hammond was made Chancellor following Theresa May's appointment as Prime Minister in July 2016. British actor Rodney Bewes has died aged 79, just six days before his 80th birthday. Having enjoyed an acting career that spanned a lifetime, Bewes was best known for his portrayal of the aspiring Bob Ferris in The Likely Lads. The announcement of his death was made by his agent, who was joined by fans on Twitter sharing their favourite memories of the actor. It is with great sadness that we confirm that our dear client, the much loved actor Rodney Bewes, passed away this morning. Rodney was a true one off. We will miss his charm and ready wit. pic.twitter.com/a6ShhAo2an Michelle Braidman Associates (@TeamBraidman) November 21, 2017 Yorkshire born and bred Born in West Yorkshire, Bewes didn't let his childhood asthma stand in the way of his career ambitions. At the young age of 14, he was already a regular on the BBC, one of the few at the time to begin a career in television from a less affluent background. Bewes' studies at RADA were interrupted by National Service in the RAF. On his return, he financed his career by washing up in hotel kitchens, but it didn't take long for the star to start gaining recognition. With his Yorkshire accent, Bewes benefited from the so-called "New Wave" in British cinema, where actors with authentic regional accents were suddenly sought after for the big screen. His first film, Prize of Arms was released in 1962, followed in quick succession by Billy Liar. 'The Likely Lads' The Bewes we know today is remembered for his starring role in the sitcom The Likely Lads during the sixties and seventies. He would return to play the much-loved Bob Ferris in the sequel Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? which was watched by an audience of 27 million. Unfortunately, a fallout between Bewes and co-star James Bolam put an end to further reprisals. Although Bewes hoped to make it up with his co-star in later years, it was not to be. A family favourite A 1984 role in Dr Who, as well as appearing alongside popular childhood character Basil Brush secured Bewes' place as a British national treasure. By the late 1980s, Bewes' television career was behind him, but he remained a lively presence on stage for years after. Bewes' second wife, designer Daphne Black, passed away in 2015. He leaves behind four children and two grandchildren, who have released a statement to say they 'will always remember Dad as full of laughter and fun'. Messages of condolences and fond memories have poured in on social media, marking the legacy of a British acting legend. Basil Brush remembered his first sidekick: Oh I'm very upset to hear that Mr Rodney has passed away today. He was my very first Mr! RIP Mr Rodney. https://t.co/arj6cZmMLh Basil Brush (@realbasilbrush) November 21, 2017 Viewers acknowledged the cultural importance of The Likely Lads: Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads wasnt just comedy, it spoke with subtlety and perception about class and social change.The aspirational Bob and Thelma were part of a shift from traditional working class values. They played it beautifully RIP Rodney Bewes hilary fawcett (@bestboomer) November 21, 2017 Fans shared their favourite moments of the series: Ah, RIP Rodney Bewes. Cherish every "...Likely Lads" episode, this moment above all - Bob's discomfort, knowing what's coming... https://t.co/n7Q2VWz0Qc Aidan Radnedge (@aidanrad) November 21, 2017 One fan paid this artistic tribute: Around the holidays, Starbucks gets more publicity for its cups than it gets for what's in the cups. For the last 20 years, the coffee chain has been serving beverages in holiday cups. For the last couple of years, there have been controversies about the designs. With so many tragic things going on in the world today, one would think the design on a paper cup would not be a top priority. However, for some people, it is a major concern because they are very passionate about what they believe. People might have been looking for something to criticize about this year's starbucks' cup, and they found it. This year's cup After last year's negative reviews, Starbucks was almost sure they had gotten it right this year. So the company designed a cup thinking it would please everyone. The inscription says the holidays mean something different to everyone. The drawing shows what might be people's favorites things, including a decorated Christmas tree, presents, and snowflakes. The holiday cup that was introduced on November 1 also shows a diverse group of people that includes two cartoon women holding hands. Comments on social media suggest that the hands may belong to a pair of lesbians. Some critics see it as a way that Starbucks is promoting homosexuality. Some people didn't think the design was an issue. In fact, they didn't notice the couple until it was brought to their attention. The LGBT community did notice and celebrated it. When Starbucks was asked what the design meant, the company said it would let customers decide for themselves what it means to them. Spokeswoman Sanja Gould said the company intentionally designed the cup so customers could interpret it in their own way according to their own story. Since the design is hand drawn, customers can also color the scene on the cup the way that want it to be. Previous years The 46-year-old Seattle, Washington based coffee chain has been down this road before. The 2015 cups met with criticisms because of the words "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas." It was in the same year that Starbucks removed traditional holiday symbols such as Christmas trees, Santa Claus, and reindeer. Instead, it used the plain red cup. Some people weren't pleased with that decision either. In the past, either Starbucks' holiday coffee cups have been either too liberal for some or too conservative for others. So far, the cup controversy has been less heated this year. Of course, the holidays are just beginning. Reporting today by ABC and CNN states that more remains of Sgt. La David Johnson have been found in Niger near the site of the October 4 ambush. This is where Johnson was killed, along with Staff Sgt. Bryan Black, Staff Sgt. Jeremiah Johnson, and Staff Sgt. Dustin Write. Dana W. White, the chief spokesperson for the Department of Defense released a statement confirming these reports, stating, "The medical examiner has positively identified these remains as those of Sargent Johnson. The department continues to conduct a detailed and thorough investigation into the deaths." The Department of Defense told CNN that once their investigation is complete they will brief the families of the fallen soldiers. However, this latest reporting has many questioning what really took place during the ambush in Niger. Widow of La David asked to see his body On October 17, Johnson's widow met his casket at an airport in Miami. She told "Good Morning America" that she asked to see his body, but was met with refusal and was given the excuse, "He's in a severe wrap." Meaning that even if they opened the casket, his body would not be visible for her to see. "They won't show me a finger, a hand. I know my husband's body from head to toe, and they won't let me see anything." She told ABC in the interview. The pregnant widow wanted to see his body to find some type of closure but instead received none. She went further in the interview, noting, "I don't know what's in the box. It could be empty for all I know, but I need to see my husband. I haven't seen him since he came home." Officials are reporting to ABC and CNN that Myeisha Johnson has been informed of the discovery of additional remains. So, what really happened in Niger? When news broke that four soldiers were ambushed and killed in Niger, many Americans, including those in Congress, were surprised. The fact that Americans had been deployed to Niger was not known to many. The ambush was compared to Benghazi and Congress treated it similarly and held open hearings over the matter. US officials and a Nigerian soldier told CNN, "The Green Beret-led team was traveling with 30 Nigerian soldiers when they were attacked by approximately 50 ISIS-affiliated fighters armed with rocket-propelled grenades, mortars, and heavy machine guns." CNN reported Johnson had been missing two days following the attack before military personnel found his remains. The Department of Defense told CNN that they are investigating what took place on October 4 and a full report on their investigation should be available in January. Donald Trump finally spoke out in support of Roy Moore despite the Republican Senate candidate being accused of sexually assaulting underage girls. In response, the media didn't hold back their criticism, including the hosts on MSNBC. MSNBC on GOP It all started earlier this month when the Washington Post broke their bombshell story that accused Roy Moore of attempting to engage in sexual activity with at least four underage girls, with the oldest story dating back to 1979. The paper cited 30 sources to back up their claims, which has resulted in even more women coming forward, including at least one who says she was sexually assaulted by the GOP Senate candidate. Moore seemed primed to defeat his Democratic challenger Doug Jones in the red state of Alabama, but has watched his poll numbers drop despite denying any wrongdoing. The Republican Party has since been split in their reaction, with some defending Moore, while others have called for him to drop out of the race. The White House didn't address the allegations at first, but that all changed when Donald Trump spoke to reporters on Tuesday and gave his support for Moore's campaign by insisting that they can't afford to have Jones in the Senate. These issues were highlighted during the November 22 broadcast of "Morning Joe" on MSNBC. During a round-table discussion on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough were joined by network contributors and part-time hosts Willie Geist and John Heilemann. The panel discussed the ramifications of Donald Trump's supporting Roy Moore, and what it means for the GOP moving forward. Donald Trump doesnt believe women, but he does believe Roy Moore: https://t.co/M1bNs0Xfs8 pic.twitter.com/azZejSisT3 Slate (@Slate) November 22, 2017 "You have the president of the United States now saying clearly and out loud he takes the side of Roy Moore," Willie Geist said, to the apparent agreement of the panel. "He takes the word of Roy Moore versus the word of the nine accusers," he continued. Geist went on to note that the Republican Party will be known as "the party of a pedophile for the rest of Roy Moores term," while adding that Trump "will be saddled with that." Morning Joe: If Trump Gets Roy Moore Elected, GOP Becomes Party of Pedophiles https://t.co/f18wcQaeLK pic.twitter.com/w2oHPLLCUe Mediaite (@Mediaite) November 22, 2017 Joe Scarborough concurred, while predicting that Roy Moore will likely lose the election, despite the voting demographics being in his favor. Doubling down, John Heilemann pointed out that the worst case scenario for the GOP could be for Moore to lose the election with the president's support. "You lose the seat, and in the process of losing it youve become the party of pedophiles," Heilemann said to the gasp of Mika Brzezinski. Next up With Donald Trump lending his support to Roy Moore, the president told reporters that he was still deciding on whether or not to head to Alabama next week to help campaign. Trump's current approval rating is around just 35 percent, and only time will tell if that number drops after coming to the side of an accused sexual assaulter. The lead story on Axios this morning was Sexual Harassment. The story has taken over the news, it seems. And doubtless, some feel it is a distraction. But there is a very good argument that sees the story as part and parcel of the general state of affairs, not merely in the US but globally. If that is correct, we will see stories of abuse from every quarter for some time to come. Not only that The abuse stories may themselves be the tip of an iceberg, The iceberg is what used to be called, in French, the droit du seigneur. Originally this apposite phrase was the license given the lords of manors. It permitted them to sleep with the new brides of their vassals. If you reflect on history, you can see that the same cruelty and impunity we see today has its roots in the power to force a submission at will. Because men ruled with almost no exception, because their brute power was greater, and because women were trained to fear and submit, we have inherited a society that is only beginning to wake from this cruel patriarchal past. It is unquestionable that within the letters MAGA is a summons to return to a time when male dominance was unchallenged. But we need not go backward. Male power remains alive and largely undaunted. Still, we can and will overcome. What we are seeing is a push and pull, a battle joined. The battle is to achieve tolerance and democracy in our relationships on the basis of mutual fairness and respect. We have a long way to go but we will get there. The presidential card Sadly we have a president who is a poster child for patriarchal rule. This is the man who calls graphic accounts of violating passing female locker room talk. This man presides over a country where evangelicals who say they follow Jesus actually follow Trump. Jesus was a conspicuous and vocal opponent of abuse. There are myriad ways of attacking women indirectly or obliquely. You can do it by not paying her fairly. You can do it by taking health measures to limit her freedom to decide what she can and cannot do with her own body. Trump has started filling the US courts with white men who are a step removed from the mentality of some of the public men who have been accused of abuse, including the president. Achieving victory By championing tolerance, democracy, and helpfulness, we will achieve victory over the binary philosophy of those who commit and countenance abuse. We will see that our task is to abolish violence itself all efforts to achieve mastery over persons by force. This is the reason why universal ethical values are the key to our future. On "General Hospital" Franco's sins are ever before him. Most every resident in Port Charles is holding a grudge because of his past actions. Even though he was cleared of his crimes because he had a brain tumor, it seems those around him are not willing to forgive or forget. In every encounter with Sam or the two men who believe they are Jason Morgan, there is always friction. Both Billy Miller and Steve Burton's characters are always just a breath away from pummeling Elizabeth's boyfriend into the ground. This is tiring and fans want it to stop. If others on GH can be redeemed, then so can the son of Scott Baldwin. Franco is becoming pathetic The character of Franco is being written in a way that has him always ducking blows and cowering like a woman in an abusive relationship. He has apologized for his past errors, is working steadily and has a great relationship with Liz and her children. Jake especially loves this father figure who came into his life. Unfortunately, Sam cannot even stand to be in a room with him and always reminds Franco of how he tortured her and allowed Jason to believe she was raped. The son of Heather Weber and Scot Baldwin is becoming quite pathetic as he is always defending himself when either of the two Jasons are around. Although Carly cheated on him she blames her former fiancee for all their problems and Sonny calls him a freak. It's understandable they are angry because Franco had Michael raped in prison, but this is "General Hospital" where Laura married Luke who had raped her and he became a hero on the show. Sam, Jason, and Andrew need to move on Port Charles residents need to move forward as Franco has been doing a pretty good job of redeeming himself. Sam, Jason, and Andrew especially, should focus their energy elsewhere. Whenever they are all together in a room the tension is so thick you can cut it with a knife. Sam also is holding a strong grudge against her father Julian, which needs to end. The writers for "General Hospital" certainly can come up with something better for the Jasons and their wife to do. If Michael can forgive Sonny for killing A.J., then certainly Franco can be tolerated a little better. To be fair, Monica hated Mr. Corinthos and said that he had taken both of her sons from her, but viewers did not see Mrs. Quartermaine expressing her wrath on a constant basis. Frank Valentini the executive producer of 'GH' is capable of much better and the fans deserve more. A 6-year-old girl narrowly escaped death after being rescued from an angry mob in Papua New Guinea. The group had been torturing the small child for five days on accusations of witchcraft. The girl, who remains anonymous for her own protection, was rescued by members of a Chilean missionary and local residents. She sustained first-degree burns all over her body and is in recovery. The group used heated machetes to burn and peel away her skin. The daughter of a witch This is not the first time this girl's family has come under attack from local witch hunters. In 2014, the girl's mother was tortured and murdered by the same group of people in Enga Province. Leniata Kepari was only 20 years old when she was attacked. The sadistic mob stripped her naked, cut, and sexually penetrated her with machetes. When they were finished maiming her, they threw her onto a pile of tires and set her on fire. Kepari was accused of witchcraft after a neighbor's child unexpectedly passed away. Being the daughter of a so-called witch, this small girl was believed to have been possessed by the sanguma spirit. The group targeted and kidnapped her from her father to be tortured and killed. An epidemic of killings In the last two months, six women have been murdered on accusations of witchcraft in Enga Province in Papua New Guinea. The victims have been stoned to death, pushed off of cliffs, burnt alive, shot, or beheaded. According to Australian anthropologist Richard Eves, Papua New Guinea is home to over 800 different cultures -- many of which believe in sorcery. After Kepari's heinous murder in 2013, Parliament repealed the 1971 Sorcery Act. This law made witchcraft illegal and gave lenient sentences to murderers who claimed that their victims were witches. In 2014, a witch hunting mob raided a local village and burned down several houses, resulting in the deaths of seven people. Two of the victims were infant girls who had been ripped from their mothers' arms and hacked to death with machetes. Earlier this year, 122 males were prosecuted by the Madang National Court for this heinous act. Some of the murderers were as young as 10 years old. Breaking the cycle When a witch hunt is incited, it is difficult to stop it. However, police and missionaries are hopeful that proper education can help prevent future murders. Volunteers are attempting to teach local residents about basic medical issues, which are commonly the cause of these unexplained deaths the locals have labeled as witchcraft. Steep financial penalties are also being put into place to discourage people from acting out regarding witchcraft accusations. US Africa Command has confirmed that more than 100 al-Shabaab militants have been eliminated in the latest US airstrike. CNN reports that the target was a camp in somalia located northwest of Mogadishu, and the strike was undertaken by a manned aircraft. It was against terror groups that had links with al-Qaeda and ISIS. The Africa Command and the Pentagon have resorted to these airstrikes because the location of the targets are identified, and the strikes would bring in positive results. The increase in the number of strikes in Somalia, Libya, and Yemen, is attributed to intelligence reports. It may be recalled that in October, a double truck bomb had killed nearly 300 innocent people in Mogadishu, the capital. US presence in Somalia US troops have been positioned in Somalia to train the local forces, and extend assistance to them on various aspects of counter-terrorism activities. The number of persons have nearly doubled since March 2017, and include not only military personnel but also civilians and contractors. The US Africa Command has revealed this. According to estimates, there are thousands of al-Shabaab militants still active while the number of ISIS operatives in the country has reduced to a few hundred. Samantha Reho, an Africa Command spokesperson, has justified the US airstrikes saying that the intention is to keep up the pressure on the terror networks and take appropriate action when the situation is favorable. Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, director of the Joint Staff, has elaborated that the planners take advantage of a number of factors before launching a strike which would be within the law of armed conflict. Terror attacks must be contained The Pentagon has acknowledged that a total of 29 US airstrikes have been carried out against the al-Shabaab militants till date in the current year, and seven of these have taken place in the first fortnight of November. The decision to undertake such offensives is based on the new authority that has been granted by Donald Trump. By virtue of this authority, the commander of Africa Command can conduct airstrikes to support the local troops who are engaged in fighting terrorists in Somalia. This is a change in the US policy because previously such strikes were authorized only for self-defense of the American forces. Donald Trump is determined to eliminate terror modules affiliated to al-Qaeda and ISIS and has introduced a number of measures like the travel ban to safeguard the interests of America. In the process, he has taken certain decisions that have cornered the terrorists, and have sent them scurrying for cover. Such stern actions can help to reduce terrorism which is a matter of concern for the whole world. WINDHOEK - China's national liquor Kweichow Moutai is looking for investment opportunities in Namibia and across the SADC (Southern African Development Community) region, Chinese Ambassador to Namibia Zhang Yiming has told Xinhua. Zhang said this during a welcoming dinner for the visiting Moutai delegation held in the capital Windhoek Monday. Executives from the Moutai Group are in Namibia on a fact-finding mission, led by general manager Li Baofang. The ambassador said he was very excited to host a delegation from the Moutai group, a leading liquour maker from China with annual revenues in excess of $7.5 billion. "They (Moutai) would like to set up a distribution network in Africa through Namibia which I think should be encouraged by the ministry of trade in Namibia because this would result in more tax revenue being generated for the Government and job opportunities being created for local people. We encourage these companies to invest in Namibia and to expand their business cooperation with Namibia," Ambassador Zhang said. Namibia's Industrialization, Trade and SME Development Minister, Immanuel Ngatjizeko, said Moutai was welcome to set up shop in the country. "We have a conducive environment for their business to grow and for them to diversify their business into other areas other than liquor. They are welcome," Ngatjizeko told Xinhua. The trip to Namibia by the Moutai executives follows a similar trip to Cape Town, South Africa last week. Moutai, which predominately thrives on Chinese domestic sales, is looking at expanding its distribution network across Africa. The businesses delegation is expected to fly out to Mozambique after the Namibian leg of their trip. President Xi Jinping called for nongovernmental organizations along the Silk Road to contribute to enhancing mutual understanding and friendship between people of different countries, promoting common development and building a community of shared future for mankind. He made the remark in a congratulatory message to the First Silk Road NGO Cooperation Network Forum, which started on Tuesday in Beijing and has drawn nearly 200 representatives from more than 50 countries. Xi said the building of the Silk Road NGO Cooperation Network is an important step for strengthening exchanges and cooperation among people of the Silk Road countries and facilitating people-to-people connectivity. Song Tao, head of the International Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, read the president's message at the opening ceremony of the two-day forum. Song called for NGOs in countries along the Silk Road to contribute to promoting the development of the Belt and Road Initiative and building a community of shared future for mankind. Xi announced China would develop the Silk Road NGO Cooperation Network in May at the opening ceremony of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. The network aims to become a platform for the NGOs to share information and coordinate. It encourages the organizations to carry out projects in areas such as education and healthcare to improve people's well-being, as well as projects to enhance mutual understanding and friendship between peoples, according to the China NGO Network for International Exchanges. More than 300 NGOs from more than 60 countries and regions are in the network. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who also sent a congratulatory message, said that "civil society groups have a crucial role to play" in implementing the Belt and Road Initiative. Victor-Viorel Ponta, former Romanian prime minister, said he appreciates the idea of cooperation among NGOs to help implement the initiative. The NGOs should be able to explain to people the advantage of "having such a big vision", Ponta told reporters. Xinhua contributed to this story. The 2017 Salt Life Festival which was held by Phoenix Television in Beijing earlier this month was meant to promote a "humanistic lifestyle", a life "rich in content and quality" according to the organizers. Speaking at the event, Chen Lusheng, the former deputy director of the National Museum of China and director of the Museum of Chinese Contemporary Art, said that everyone has the capability to contribute to the aesthetics of the current times. Wang Yanling, the chairman of the Beijing 798 Cultural and Creative Industries panel, spoke about the history of the 798 art zone in the capital and added that 798 should be a communication platform for young artists around the world. Xu Gehui, an anchor from Phoenix Television, said that a 30-year-old white-collar worker in tier-one cities spend 35,000 yuan ($5,300) a year on paintings, traveling, performances and other interests. "In the future we need to help consumers establish identity and achieve a sense of belonging, especially women who need emotional interaction with products and services," she said. At the festival, a trend report was released which shows that at present, the cultural industry has gone deeply into the field of humanism. Now, consumers are increasingly focusing on experience, aesthetics and emotional resonance, not just purchasing a functional product, the report said. Quality, knowledge, personalization, interaction and experience are the five most prominent features in the field of human consumption, the report added. Meanwhile, Phoenix TV created the "salt" app at the end of 2015 positioning it as an urban humanistic consumer life platform and providing users with information on exhibitions, performances, parenting and experiences through LBS (location-based service) geographical positioning. At the festival, dozens of providers were present, offering drawing, pottery, embroidery, cocktail- making and African drum training for visitors. He doesn't want to recall when pilots lost their lives, but Jerry Chen willingly shares his Flying Tigers' stories about when the United States helped defeat the Japanese fascists. For Chen, now 92, it's important to remember history. He was recruited for the US Fourteenth Air Force (14 AF) as a mechanic in 1943 in Kunming, China's Yunnan province. The 14 AF, commanded by General Claire Chennault, absorbed the 23rd Fighter Group of the US Army Air Forces, which replaced the American Volunteer Group, known as "Flying Tigers", after it was dissolved in 1942. The 14 AF adopted the "Flying Tigers" designation and conducted highly effective fighter and bomber operations along a wide front. Because of his English language skills, Chen was sent to the University to Pennsylvania for a two-month training course and then returned to China. His job was to repair and maintain the P-40 and P-51 fighters under the instruction of the US engineers. "My first job was to learn how to maintain a fighter," he recalled. "Quite often, we saw the planes crash in front of our eyes. Then we dismantled the planes and saved the operable parts for other aircraft." The pilots went on three missions every day. The air force was always short of mechanics and spare parts, said Chen. "Japan had more pilots and more advanced aircraft than us. Due to the poor maintenance and terrible weather, the US pilots were often killed in air explosions," he said. "We could not even recover their bodies." The 14 AF was also instrumental in supplying the Chinese war effort by flying military transport aircraft over the infamous Hump, an air route over the Himalayan Mountains. The C-46 transport aircraft in service was not thoroughly tested at the time. In three months, 31 of them exploded in air because of oil leakage, so it was called a "flying coffin", Roy Dillon, a former Hump pilot, told China Daily in a 2015 interview. The C-46 was a large, twin-engine plane, and it was always loaded to maximize cargo volume. When one engine was lost over the Hump, the pilots would have to crash-land or parachute from 20,000 feet, Dillon said. Though he was a ground crew member, Chen said he was also on board the C-46 on numerous missions as a mechanic. "I was lucky to avoid dangers in treacherous conditions," he said. "Without navigation equipment, we solely depended on experience to avoid the Japanese attacks." The US military estimated that more than 4,000 Japanese planes were destroyed or damaged in the China-Burma-India Theater during World War II. The US Army Air Corps credited the 14 AF with the destruction of more than 2,300 Japanese aircraft. After the war ended in 1945, Chen became a businessman in Hong Kong and later moved to the US. For his wartime service, the Chinese Central Military Commission, China's top military body, awarded Chen a medal in 2015 on the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese people's war against Japanese aggression. He also serves as an adviser for the Flying Tigers museum in Zhijiang county in China's Hunan province. "The American and the Chinese people made great sacrifices, including their own precious lives," said Chen. "Without the American people's help, we would not win this war, and we would not have the peace today," Chen said. liazhu@chinadailyusa.combut Cui Tiankai, China's ambassador to the US, speaks at the annual gala of the National Committee on US-China Relations in New York on Monday. LIAO PAN / CHINA NEWS SERVICE Letter to group says Trump visit has led to consensus on several fronts President Xi Jinping wrote in a congratulatory letter to the National Committee on US-China Relations that the two nations' relationship "enjoys whole new vistas". The organization held its annual gala at The Plaza hotel in New York on Monday, and Cui Tiankai, China's ambassador to the US, read Xi's letter. In it, he offered "heartfelt appreciation" for the relations committee's efforts to promote China-US ties. He also congratulated the US corporations honored at the event. Microsoft Corp and Qualcomm Inc were honored for their efforts to enhance China-US relations by the way they conduct business in China. "Going forward, China will stay committed to deepening its reform, opening itself wider to the world and enhancing its friendship and cooperation with other countries," Xi wrote. "In this context, the China-US relationship enjoys whole new vistas." He added that he and US President Donald Trump, during Trump's state visit to China this month, "reached important consensuses on a broad range of issues". The leaders agreed to broaden bilateral exchanges and cooperation, strengthen communication and coordination on major international and regional issues, deal with differences on the basis of mutual respect and aim "for greater development of our bilateral relationship". "China will work with the United States to translate these consensuses into actions and deliver greater benefits not only to our two peoples but also to people across the world," Xi wrote. "I will count on your Committee and all the Chinese and American friends ... to contribute to the friendship and cooperation between China and the United States." Cui, in his remarks, agreed with the Chinese president about opportunities for China-US relations, and added, "China seeks global partnerships, not global dominance. China stands for better cooperation and communication among our major partners. China will never seek our own development at the expense of other countries." Steve Howe, US chairman and Americas managing partner of EY, formerly Ernst & Young, presented the award to Microsoft and described China's rising role in the world. "I visited China for the first time while I was a senior at Colgate University. So much has changed in the past 35 years - China has transformed itself," he said. Microsoft President Brad Smith made a video comment. "It's simply impossible to imagine the bright future for our planet that is not founded on a healthy relationship between China and the US - that's part of the reason why we are focusing on events more, just to support this vital bridge across the Pacific." At a military camp in Oregon, US and Chinese soldiers exchanged rescue methods and commands during a joint exercise on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. More than 200 people from both sides were involved. The goal was to improve response to natural disasters and deepen relations and cooperation. They also performed a confined-space rescue operation, "casualty collection point" at a rubble pile. Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page. Loading... Checking your browser before accessing the website. This process is automatic. Your browser will redirect to your requested content shortly. Please wait a few seconds. 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!) HA NOI Although Canada is a major producer of seafood, it still imports a variety of sea products from Viet Nam, especially black tiger shrimps. According to Viet Nams General Department of Customs, last year, Viet Nams seafood export turnover to Canada reached more than US$183 million. This was the highest figure for agricultural products exported to the Canadian market. In the first 10 months of this year, seafood exports to Canada have leapt significantly. Turnover so far is more than $186 million. Nguyen Nhu Tiep, director of the National Agro-Forestry Fisheries Quality Assurance Department (NAFIQAD), said Canada had one of the strictest import regulations for farm products, especially seafood. However, as it is a high value market, learning to comply with the system gives Viet Nam an advantage when selling to other countries. In terms of seafood, Tiep said Vietnamese shrimp products had the biggest sales opportunity in Canada because demand was quite large. The standard of many shrimp raising and processing enterprises in Viet Nam now meets the requirements of Canada. However, the same is not true for farming in general. In particular, Canada has shifted to management from the bottom up. Therefore, not only processing enterprises must be inspected, but also raw material areas must be assessed by Canadian authorities visiting Viet Nam to approve export licences. To promote Viet Nam shrimp exports, Canada recently backed a $15 million technical assistance project to help businesses and farmers control food safety. Nguyen uc Hoa, Vietnamese Ambassador to Canada, said Canada is a country with favorable natural conditions for agriculture and the worlds leading agricultural technology. Therefore, there is optimism that Vietnamese businesses will soon be allowed to directly invest in Canadas agricultural production. At present, a number of Vietnamese enterprises are visiting Canada to lease agricultural land. In addition, Canadian firms are interested in Viet Nams agriculture, including its adaptation to climate change. The biggest problem with the Canadian market is that information and two-way understanding between Vietnamese and Canadian companies is still limited, according to Hoa. Hoa suggested the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development should organise trips for delegations from Viet Nam to meet Canadian enterprises to seek specific co-operation opportunities. VNS HCM CITY Changes in consumer lifestyles as well as modern technology anticipating the 4.0 industrial revolution are changing the real estate market and creating new trends. Consumers are changing their buying habits, focusing on real demand, experts said at a real estate conference called "The Wise Choice" held in HCM City yesterday. Nguyen Xuan Quang, CEO of real-estate developer Nam Long Investment Joint Stock Company told the conference that five or 10 years ago consumers bought big houses which could accommodate three generations of a family. They preferred buying a house that could be used as an accommodation and office, Quang said. Now it has changed. Consumers are mostly young people who focus on choosing a house to live and they care about the living environment. And the house they buy is just for one and two generations. Another difference is the payment method, he said, adding that in the past consumers often paid in gold but now there are more methods such as bank credit. Viet Nam is undergoing urbanisation. Furthermore, the population is young so the demand is high and there is huge room to develop, Quang said. Luu Thi Thanh Mau, CEO of Phuc Khang Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company, agreed that a change has been shown in consumer demand and knowledge. Demand for a life in which there is enough food to eat and a place to live no longer exists, Mau said, adding that the world is changing and consumers perception of a living environment is different. Young, well-educated people earning higher incomes want houses with good living conditions that are friendly to their health and the environment. With such concerns growing, construction of green housing has increased in recent years in Viet Nam, although it has been occurring in other global markets for a long time. Viet Nam now has about 100 green housing construction projects, fewer than other regional countries like Singapore, according to Mau. Experts at the conference all agreed that green housing construction would continue as more infrastructure is built in the country. Co-living trends Co-living and co-working spaces are also a new trend, which is expected to boom in coming years, experts at the conference said. As more technologies are applied globally and e-commerce becomes more widely used, different kinds of living styles will be created in which people can share a common living environment. In co-living environments, consumers can use the same room, kitchen, and office. A number of co-working spaces have been developed in Viet Nam, and in the future, more living spaces and public areas may be shared. Experts at the conference urged developers who typically build offices to invest in co-working spaces. More than 100 experts from the property sector and leading real-estate developers in HCM City attended the real estate conference, which featured the theme The Wise Choice by Forbes Vietnam. VNS HA NOI Sai Gon Beer Alcohol Beverage Corporation, better known as Sabeco, will hold roadshows in two major financial markets Singapore and London in an effort to draw foreign investors to one of the biggest State capital divestments. This is the first time the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) has organised international travel to present the investment opportunity offered by the States divestment plans. The MoIT currently holds 89.59 per cent of Sabecos charter capital. At the roadshows, Sabecos representatives will discuss the companys business performance, including its financial situation in the last three years, the factory system, subsidiaries and joint ventures, distribution network and branding and marketing, as well as production and business plans for the future. On November 15, the MoIT announced its plan to sell State capital in the brewer, without disclosing the information of the time and size of the share sale, the initial selling price and the number of shares that will be offered to foreign investors. The sale will reportedly be held as a competitive offering of shares among eligible investors in accordance with the regulations set by the MoIT, which stipulate that the sale will be open to both domestic and foreign investors. MoIT said the divestment would aim to maximize transparency, ensure the highest benefits to the State, secure foreign ownership in accordance with law and propose solutions to preserve and develop the Vietnamese beers brand name. The ministry will present the detailed plan for the share sale by the end of next month. The meeting with potential investors in Singapore will take place on November 24 at the Ritz Carlton, while the event in London will be held on November 27 at Hilton on Park Lane Hotel. Trillion-ong share sale The sale is forecast to be worth up to trillions of Vietnamese ong and will attract great attention from both domestic and foreign investors given the companys industry-leading position. Shares of Sabeco (coded SAB) climbed 4.4 per cent to VN293,000 (US$12.85) per share, being the most expensive stock on the HCM Stock Exchange on Tuesday after the information about the roadshows was released. Its shares have soared 97.6 per cent this year. The companys market capitalisation was valued at about $8.24 billion, behind Vinamilk and VinGroup. Sabeco is Viet Nams largest beer producer, holding about 40.9 per cent of the nations $6.5 billion beer market. The country is among the top three countries for beer consumption in Asia. Sabecos profits have expanded steadily in the last three years with an average growth of about 24 per cent per year. Beer is the source of over 85 per cent of the companys revenues thanks to strong sales of popular brands including Saigon and 333. Sabecos net profit hit nearly VN4.48 trillion last year and is on track to reach its annual target of VN4.7 trillion by the end of 2017. VNS Viet Nam has set up a project to promote high-quality Vietnamese coffee backed by about VN170 billion (US$7.5 million). Photo vietnamnet.vn HA NOI Viet Nam has set up a project to promote high-quality Vietnamese coffee backed by about VN170 billion (US$7.5 million). The sum will be funded by the State with VN110 billion. The remainder will come from businesses and coffee growers. The project, approved by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), will run from next year until 2023. It aims to develop connections between producers and consumers. It also involves construction of large-scale, high-quality growing areas, with updated drying systems, storage facilities and processing plants. Each area will be able to grow an estimated capacity of 2.7 tonnes of Robusta coffee - the coffee that has given Viet Nam its beverage reputation - and two tonnes of Arabica (the coffee most common in Western countries) per hectare. The project is expected to improve growers incomes by adding 5 per cent to coffee values by 2020 and 7 per cent by 2023. It will also focus on building a Vietnamese coffee brand able to compete with rivals at home and abroad, and raising export prices to match other countries. The project will enable up to 20 enterprises to use wet processing technology, enzymes and micro-organisms to improve quality and reduce post-harvest losses. The models are expected to earn a total of VN2 trillion per year in the future. According to a ministry report, Viet Nam earned US$2.69 billion from the export of 1.17 million tonnes of coffee in the first 10 months of this year. This was a drop of 22.7 per cent in volume and 2.5 per cent in value compared with the same period last year. However, it is noteworthy that the average export price of coffee in the first nine months was $2,286.7 per tonne, up 27.5 per cent year-on-year. Chairman of the VietNam Cocoa Coffee Association (Vicofa) Luong Van Tu said about 90 per cent of Vietnamese coffee for export was in the form of coffee beans, the remainder was ground and instant coffee. He said the demand for coffee in the world market was still increasing. Viet Nam freely exports coffee to 140 countries and territories.. The drop in volume exported this year is not related to the difficulty of the market or the quality of Vietnamese coffee, but mainly due to a drought in 2016 that led to crops failures, said Tu. "In addition, the domestic consumption of coffee has increased in recent years. According to Tu, Viet Nam has competitive prices thanks to high yields of about 2.4 tonnes per ha, while the average world coffee yield is less than 2 tonnes per ha. It is predicted that this year, turnover from coffee exports will reach $3 billion from a total of 1.3 million tonnes. Viet Nam took 160 years to become the worlds second-largest producer and processor of coffee. In 1991, the countrys coffee output reached 1 per cent of the world market share. By 2015-16, it occupied nearly 20 per cent of the world market share. Vifoca estimates that the domestic coffee industry needs to accelerate the processing of ground roasted coffee, instant coffee and other products to reach an export value of $5-6 billion by 2030. VNS HA NOI The first Asian food fair in Israels Tel Aviv in mid-November impressed the Israeli people, especially the Saigon beer from Viet Nam. This is the first time Saigon beer was introduced in Israel. The fair is a place to promote food and beverage products from Asian countries such as India, Thailand, Japan and South Korea, as well as Tibet (China) and Viet Nam. The beer was introduced and promoted through Diplomat, one of the leading import and export companies of Israel having a system of super-wide and large restaurants in Israel. Speaking at the event, General Director of Diplomat, Roni Bornstein, said he was impressed with the products of Viet Nam at the fair. Diplomat decided to import the Vietnamese beer to the Israeli market because its one of the most famous products in terms of high-quality and design. He said his company took over two years to persuade Israeli authorities to import this beer to Israel due to barriers such as quality and food safety. Now, the entire brand on beer bottles is printed in Hebrew and maintains the Kosher standards of the Jewish people. Bornstein said that many Israeli people had known about Viet Nam and its special cuisine culture. Therefore, they also wanted to enjoy Vietnamese food and drink right in the land of Israel. At this fair, Diplomat sold off the first batch of Saigon beer imported to Israel. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Viet Nam to Israel, Cao Tran Quoc Hai, said the embassy, as a direct link to Vietnamese products on the shelves of the Israeli supermarkets, has actively supported the company with procedures to bring the Saigon beer brand to Israel, and to introduce Vietnamese beer products to the market. Hai said this food fair was an opportunity to promote the Vietnamese beverage industry in the Israeli market and a chance for Israeli businesses and customers to access the famous food and beverages of Viet Nam. The embassy is pushing and negotiating for Vietnamese-branded goods to appear in many supermarkets and restaurants in Israel. However, Vietnamese businesses need to understand the market and participate in exhibitions or fairs. The Vietnamese export products need to meet the standards of Israel," said Hai. VNS HA NOI Sakura Color Products of Vietnam Company Ltd, under Japans Sakura Group, on Wednesday inaugurated a factory producing crayons, watercolours and pens in the Viet Nam - Singapore Industrial Park II in the southern province of Binh Duong. The factory is located on an area of 1.5 ha and has investment capital of 800 million yen (US$7.14 million). The company expects to earn revenue of 100 million yen in 2018. The first batch of crayons, watercolours and pens produced will be exported to Japan and other countries in the region in February 2018. Revenue is expected to reach 700 million yen by 2021. Director of Sakura Company, Yamashita Takanori, said that Viet Nam was a country with stable social conditions that was favourable for economic investment. After joining the WTO, Viet Nams trade had been promoted and developed in addition to many economic agreements which were signed between Viet Nam and Japan. This is a good time for Japanese businesses to invest in and operate in the country. However, according to Yamashita Takanori, Viet Nam needs to focus on improving its infrastructure. The labour force in Viet Nam is young, averaging 28 years old, hard-working and skilled but the rate of people quitting jobs in localities is quite high. Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Chairman of Binh Duong Peoples Committee Tran Thanh Liem said he expected Sakura Company to introduce the local investment environment to other investors, especially Japanese businesses, so that they will invest in the province. Liem said local authorities and relevant sectors would create conditions for investors to achieve good business results during its period of operation in the province. VNS LOS ANGELES Coming-of-age tale Call Me by Your Name led the pack of independent films tipped for Oscars glory as the Film Independent Spirit Awards nominations were announced on Tuesday. Set in 1980s Italy and starring Timothee Chalamet and Armie Hammer, it tells the story of 17-year-old Elio as he begins a relationship with his fathers American research assistant, Oliver. The film was nominated in six categories, including best feature, best director for Luca Guadagnino and best lead and supporting male for Chalamet and Hammer, respectively. Breakout horror satire Get Out, written and directed by debutant filmmaker Jordan Peele and starring Daniel Kaluuya and Allison Williams, secured five nominations, including best screenplay and directing for Peele and male lead for Kaluuya. Josh and Benny Safdies heist thriller Good Time tied in second place with nods for directing, editing and three actors, including for its star Robert Pattinson. "Twilight" actor Pattinson, 31, earned the best reviews of his career for his portrayal of a New York bank robber, shedding his heartthrob looks in favor of a shaggy bleach-blond mane and a torso full of tattoos. Greta Gerwigs comedy Lady Bird and Chloe Zhaos The Rider, which picked up the Art Cinema Award at Cannes, each earned four nods. The nominations were announced on Tuesday morning by actresses Lily Collins, and Tessa Thompson, and Film Independent chief Josh Welsh at the plush Jeremy Hotel in West Hollywood. "Theres an excitement particularly because Film Independent acknowledges people that are just starting out for their first features," Thompson, who won acclaim for her recent performance in Thor: Ragnarok and for 2015s Creed, said. "Theres a hopefulness, theres something sort of -- and I mean this in the best sense of the word -- renegade about it, surprising about it." AFP MEXICO CITY Need a break from reality? In a few short weeks, you can once again get lost in a galaxy far, far away, where a great adventure will take place. For actor Mark Hamill, the man behind Star Wars hero Luke Skywalker for four decades, the blockbuster space saga offers the perfect escape. "History repeats itself. We are in a very dark era and people need that escapism," Hamill told a press conference in Mexico City, where he was promoting Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which hits screens worldwide in December. "Whether they want to go to Hogwarts or the Land of Oz or Middle Earth, its a great place to go to forget about your troubles," he added. For director Rian Johnson, the Star Wars universe created by George Lucas is one of the few things that still offers the world a positive message - and remains relevant. "No matter what the landscape is or whats happening ... Star Wars is much more powerful than any direct political analogy ever could be," he said. Addressing pressure surrounding the role, Ridley said, "Im just really lucky to play her and I dont have the fate of the galaxy resting on my shoulders. Im just in a film that makes people happy." As for Hamill, seeing young girls wanting to be like Rey is "heartwarming". "Its a great thing for the empowerment of female characters," the 66-year-old actor said. Along with Ridley, the film sees Adam Driver return as Reys nemesis Kylo Ren, John Boyega as Finn and Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron - as well as the late Carrie Fisher in her iconic role of Princess Leia. AFP Written and directed by Johnson, Star Wars: The Last Jedi - the eighth installment in the franchise - picks up where The Force Awakens left off two years ago, with Rey (Daisy Ridley) looking to Luke to teach her about The Force. Voiski, one of the leading DJs in the French music scene, will host two music shows at the HCM City Conservatory of Music on November 23 and at The Lighthouse the next day. The DJ, who has played techno for several years, will perform songs from his debut album Music for Clouds. The album was released in September, consisting of songs which Voiski wrote while taking flights around the world. The first show will begin at 8pm at 112 Nguyen Du Street in District 1. Free tickets can be picked up at IDECAF at 28 Le Thanh Ton Street in District 1. The second show will start at 9pm at 104 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street in District 1, Entrance fee is VN100,000 after 10pm. VNS Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh met Norways Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Soreide yesterday on the sidelines of the 13th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Foreign Ministers Meeting in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar. Photo baoquocte.vn NAY PYI TAW Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh met Norways Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Soreide and Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Ireland Ciaran Cannon yesterday on the sidelines of the 13th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Foreign Ministers Meeting in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar. At their meeting, Minh and Soreide expressed their delight at the positive development of the two countries relations, agreeing to boost co-operation in trade, investment, maritime economy, education and training. Appreciating Norways important contributions to realising the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the global level, the Vietnamese diplomat asked Norway to continue supporting Viet Nam in realising the SDGs, especially in health, education, clean water and environmental sanitation. The Norwegian minister affirmed that Norway attached importance to its co-operation with Viet Nam, both bilaterally and multilaterally, and would intensify cooperation in ship building, navigation, renewable energy, oil and gas, and aquatic farming. She thanked Viet Nam for backing the establishment of the dialogue partnership between ASEAN and Norway, while pledging to speed up the completion of negotiations on a free trade agreement between Viet Nam and the European Free Trade Area (EFTA). Meanwhile, Irish Minister of State Ciaran Cannon spoke highly of the multi-faceted co-operation and effective co-ordination between the two countries at multilateral forums. He said he hoped to consolidate and expand collaboration with Viet Nam in economics, trade, education and training. Minh, in turn, suggested the two foreign ministries co-ordinate closely in implementing the 2017-20 co-operation strategy. Thanking Ireland for its provision of 7.5 million euros (US$8.1 million) per year in official development assistance (ODA) for Viet Nam during 2017-20, he asked Ireland to continue helping Viet Nam reduce poverty, develop human resources and realise SGDs. VNS Viet Nams Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh meets with Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea (RoK) Lee Nak-yon during a meeting in Seoul. VNA/VNS Photo Vu Toan-Huu Tuyen SEOUL Viet Nam and South Korea are enjoying robust growth of their strategic co-operative partnership, high-level officials affirmed yesterday. The affirmation was made by Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea (RoK) Lee Nak-yon and Viet Nams Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh during a meeting in Seoul. Both officials expressed pleasure at this development. They also agreed on specific measures to enhance political trust through maintaining high-level delegation exchanges and effectively implementing existing co-operation mechanisms including the Vietnam-RoK strategic dialogue on diplomacy, security and defence, and the agreement to increase two-way trade to US$100 billion by 2020. They agreed to strengthen co-operation in other fields like culture, education, tourism, labour, and people-to-people exchanges while actively supporting and ensuring safety and legitimate rights of their citizens in either country. The two countries will further enhance co-ordination at multilateral forums, the officials agreed. Binh thanked the RoK Government for providing US$1 million to support flood victims in the central part of Viet Nam. He invited Korean businesses to increase investments in Viet Nam in hi-tech development, environmental protection, processing and manufacturing industries, supporting industries, renewable energy, infrastructure development, and hi-tech agriculture. He also welcomed the involvement of Korean firms in the process of equitising State-owned enterprises, restructuring commercial banks, and developing special administrative-economic zones in Viet Nam. He asked South Korea to facilitate the entry of Vietnamese products to its market, especially in the agro-forestry-fishery sector, as also support Viet Nam in joining the RoKs global supply chain. Binh also requested South Korea to provide non-refundable aid for technology transfer, human resources training, agricultural and rural development, and energy safety. He called for an early signing of a support agreement in civil affairs and trade and extending a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on receiving Vietnamese workers to the RoK under the Employment Permit System (EPS), which concludes in May 2018. The Deputy PM asked the RoK to apply a visa exemption policy and make it easier for Vietnamese tourists to visit the country, and increase direct flights between the two countries. The two sides should enhance co-ordination on regional and international issues of mutual concern, especially in maintaining peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region, he said. Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon spoke highly of the growth in bilateral relations 25 years of establishing diplomatic ties. The RoK Government attaches great importance to developing its strategic cooperative partnership with Viet Nam and will direct all relevant ministries and departments to effectively implement agreements reached, according to the Prime Minister. Also yesterday, Deputy PM Binh received President of the RoK-Viet Nam Friendship Association Choi Young-joo. He asked the association to continue co-ordinating with the Viet Nam-RoK Friendship Association and the Vietnamese Embassy in the RoK to promote bilateral co-operation, especially in economics and people-to-people exchanges. He later met with representatives of leading Korean businesses, including the SK Group, the KB Financial Group, and the Maeil Business Newspaper. VNS HCM CITY The Christian Fellowship Church of Viet Nam began its fifth congress at its headquarters in Thoi Tam Thon commune in HCM Citys Hoc Mon District yesterday. Around 500 pastors, licensed ministers, followers and guests from 40 provinces and cities and representatives of foreign organisations are attending the congress. At the congress, deputy head of the Government Committee for Religious Affairs, Tran Tan Hung, instructed the church to ensure that its pastors and followers practise religion according to the Constitution and laws. He hailed the churchs efforts in actively working with followers of other religions and compatriots throughout the country in hunger eradication, poverty reduction, charity work and other social activities. He called on pastors and followers of the church to continue the acts of kindness to contribute to the cause of national construction and unity. The four-day congress reviewed the churchs performance from 2015 to 2017, worked out orientations for the 201719 term, and elected a new executive board. During the new term, the church will offer theological training courses and revise its charter. The Christian Fellowship Church of Viet Nam was established in 1962 and received a certificate for religious practice from the Government Committee for Religious Affairs in 2007. The church held its first congress in 2009. VNS HCM CITY Daily Limited Company, the operator of the delayed water bus service in HCM City, said the first boats would begin plying on Saturday. The first of the two proposed routes is between Bach ang wharf in District 1 and Linh ong in Thu uc District with 12 stations in between. There will be four vessels in operation each with a capacity of 80 passengers. Route No. 2 will be from Bach ang to Lo Gom wharf in District 6 with around 10 stations. The company has completed all its preparations and checks in readiness for the start of the service. The stations will be connected with the city bus network. The company has also proposed that route No. 1 should be connected with three electric bus routes to take its passengers to tourist attractions and residential areas. The city Department of Transport has submitted the proposal to the Peoples Committee and Ministry of Transport for approval. Water buses can ease the traffic jams plaguing several places in the city and increase the use of public transport, besides utilising the Sai Gon River. VNS HA NOI - Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien said yesterday that non-infectious diseases were the leading cause of death in Viet Nam and had become a socio-economic burden. She was speaking at a national scientific conference yesterday on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases. The minister said the number of these diseases was still on the increase due to pollution, urbanisation and lifestyles. Associate Professor Nguyen Thi Xuyen, president of Viet Nam Medical Association, agreed, saying that non-communicable diseases caused as many as 73 per cent of annual deaths in Viet Nam. She added that up to 40 per cent of people died before the age of 70. Seven out of ten Vietnamese people contract non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancers, chronic pulmonary disease, Xuyen said. On average there are about 12 million Vietnamese people with high blood pressure each year. Every year, nearly three million have to deal with diabetes. Two million contract cardiovascular diseases and chronic pulmonary disease - and there are nearly 120,000 new cancer infections, she said. Although the health sector has made efforts in controlling the illnesses, the increasing number of cases in Viet Nam is at an alarming level, according to Xuyen. People are not aware of how to prevent the diseases. Forty five per cent of the male population smokes cigarettes, 77 per cent of the population drinks alcohol while the overweight and obesity level keeps rising. Vietnamese use two times more salt than recommended by the World Health Organisation. There are only a small number of cases of high blood pressure, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases being diagnosed and treated. To control and prevent non-communicable diseases, Viet Nam has launched a strategy for their prevention and control. It has also begun a strategy to prevent and control cancers, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma and other non-communicable diseases. By 2025, Viet Nam aims to have 70 per cent of adults equipped with knowledge about the impact of non-communicable diseases on their health. It plans to reduce smoking in people aged 15 and older by 30 per cent compared with 2015, reducing its prevalence to less than 3.6 per cent. It also hopes to reduce salt intake by 30 per cent per adult per day compared with 2015. - VNS The eighth National Congress of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (VBS) opened in Ha Noi yesterday. VNA/VNS Photo HA NOI The eighth National Congress of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (VBS) opened in Ha Noi yesterday with the participation of 1250 delegates including VBS dignitaries; monks and nuns; leaders and former leaders of the Party, State and Vietnam Fatherland Front and representatives of international organisations. Deputy Prime Minister Vuong inh Hue and President of the Viet Nam Fatherland Front Huynh Thanh Man also attended the event. Addressing the opening ceremony, Most Venerable Thich Thien Nhon, chairman of the Sanghas executive council, said the VBS, covering the 2017-2022 tenure, will review its activities for 2012-2017, discuss tasks for 2017-2022 and set forth amendments to VBS charter. Participants will discusses nine goals set by VBS for the tenure, including promoting the solidarity and development of the VBS through international integration, cultural exchange and people-to-people diplomacy, as well as intensifying the supervision of Buddhist activities in accordance with the VBS Charter and State legislation. They will also select members of the VBS Patronage Council and Executive Council for 2017-2022 tenure. Nhon highlighted the achievements VBS had made over the past five years, noting that the Sangha established chapters in all 63 cities and provinces nationwide. The VBS successfully hosted the 2014 United Nations Day of Vesak. Pagodas were built on Truong Sa (Spratly) Archipelago and border areas as spiritual border markers safeguarding the nations territorial sovereignty, he said. The Association of Vietnamese Buddhists has established chapters in Japan, the Republic of Korea, Angola and Mozambique while those in Laos and Cambodia have been consolidated, according to the chairman. The Sangha has carried out many humanitarian activities, including organising classes for disadvantaged children and helping local residents escape poverty and overcome the consequences of natural disasters. The VBS has mobilised VN6.3 billion (US$277 million) for social and charity work. Speaking at the event, Deputy PM Vuong inh Hue said that with 2,000 years of tradition, the Buddhist Sangha had made great contributions to the development and protection of the nation. Buddhist followers had actively taken part in socio-economic development activities and assisted the elderly, children with disabilities and people living in difficult circumstances, he said. Such charity work has strongly confirmed that VBC always respects the national patriotic tradition. The party and the State highly appreciate its role in the national resistance movement in the past as well as throughout the oi moi (renewal) process, Hue said. He expressed his hope that the Sangha would remain an important link for overseas followers of Buddhism who want to continue developing the country. On behalf of the Party and Government, Deputy PM Hue and Chairman of Vietnam Fatherland Front Tran Thanh Man presented Independence, Labour Order and Great National Unity Orders as well as certificates of merit to a number of outstanding individuals and groups who contributed to the nations growth. VNS Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien yesterday ordered the immediate transfer of critically ill infants from a provincial hospital to centrally-administered ones. VNA/VNS Photo HA NOI Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien yesterday ordered the immediate transfer of critically ill infants from a provincial hospital to centrally-administered ones. She made the order after leading a working team to the northern province of Bac Ninh to work with the provincial Department of Health (DoH) on the deaths for four infants at the provinces Hospital of Obstetrics and Paediatrics on Monday. The minister ordered the health department and the hospital to immediately transfer the infants in severe conditions to central hospitals, inspect and control the entire anti-infection process at the hospitals neonatal department and the department of internal paediatrics. She also asked doctors to remain calm and perform well their medical examination and treatment of others patients. In the future, the hospital should be more careful in examining the babies conditions to keep overloading in the neonatal department to a minimum, Tien said. She said the hospital should also ensure that the department should soon install adequate facilities and equipment and ensure sufficient human resources. Septic shock The provincial health department yesterday announced its preliminary findings on the cause of death of four infants at the Bac Ninh Hospital of Obstetrics and Paediatrics. It said four pre-term and low-weight at birth infants whose mothers had a history of obstetric and/or gynecological diseases had received appropriate obstetric treatment. All four babies had postpartum respiratory failure and despite active and prompt treatment, they suffered infections after 3 to 5 days that progressed to septicemia and septic shock. They did not respond to any of the anti-shock treatments deployed. The council of experts said the neonatal sepsis might be related to hospital-acquired infections. Dr. To Thi Mai Hoa, director of the Bac Ninh Health Department, affirmed that the hospital would be asked to take all measures to rectify its anti-infection procedures and increase the staff strength of its neonatal care, active recovery and internal paediatric units. Earlier, hospital director Le Van Nam had said that they had immediately sealed the medicine and equipment used for treating the four babies and carried out a thorough check of all related treatment devices and water sources. The hospital is currently treating a total of 700 patients including 80 infants, and 20 premature babies are on respiratory support. The doctors on duty the day the four infants died had been temporarily suspended, Nam said. According to a hospital report, all four babies were born prematurely between the 30th and 34th week of pregnancy at the hospital. The four-to-eight-day-old infants all received special care and treatment since birth. The heaviest baby weighed 2.3 kilograms at birth, while the smallest one weighed just 1.6 kilograms. VNS HA NOI People in 14 provinces across Viet Nam will get access to various financial products and services in the next three years. Seventy-five Peoples Credit Funds (PCFs) in the provinces will receive support in developing financial products and services from now until March 2021 through a collaboration project with Canada. The project on strengthening the PCFs network, known as the STEP project, was launched on Wednesday morning in Ha Noi. Its goal is to strengthen the capacity of the Cooperative Bank of Vietnam (Co-op Bank) and its network of PCFs by providing them with support and advice in the areas of credit and risk management, new financial products and services, information technology and internal control, as well as governance, gender and environment and safety fund issues. The project is funded with CAD17.7 million (US$13.9 million) by the Canadian government. It will be carried out from now until March 2021 by Co-op Bank, in collaboration with the Canadian organisation Developpement international Desjardins (DID). It targets the PFCs in Ha Noi; four northern provinces of Hung Yen, Ha Nam, Hai Phong and Ninh Binh; three central provinces of Thanh Hoa, Nghe An and Ha Tinh; and six southern provinces of ong Thap, An Giang, Kien Giang, Can Tho, Soc Trang and Tra Vinh. Speaking at the launch ceremony, Tran Quang Khanh, chairman of Co-op Bank, said that the project will greatly contribute to the process of sustainable rural and economic development of the country. By helping the PFCs to diversify financial products and services, the project will provide people in rural areas with direct and comprehensive financial access and more employment opportunities, he said. As a head unit of the nationwide PFCs network, Co-op Bank will do it best in rolling out the projects activities to the network members, he added. Ping Kitnikone, Canadian Ambassador to Viet Nam, said that the Canadian government is proud to continue to support Viet Nam in providing access to financial services to rural areas. I am pleased to see that the Vietnamese Government has recognised the importance of financial inclusion, she said. An active and stable banking system is an important foundation for sustained economic growth that affects all citizens, she added. A peoples credit fund is a type of cooperative credit institution operating on the principles of voluntary participation, self-management, and self-responsibility for its operating results, fulfilling the basic objectives of providing mutual assistance between members to develop the strength of the collective, according to the Viet Nam Economic Times monthly newspaper. The network of PCFs was set up in Viet Nam in July 1993. There were more than 1,200 PCFs in the country by the end of 2015, according to the newspaper. VNS HA NOI The capital citys Hoan Kiem Lake will be dredged and cleaned by the end of the year, according to the Ha Noi Sewerage and Drainage Company Ltd. Under the plan, approved recently by the municipal Peoples Committee, the company will dredge some 57,400cu.m of mud from the lake and take measures to clear all waste and rubbish from the lake. The work will be carried out from 11pm to 5am from Monday to Thursday and from 12pm to 5am from Friday to Sunday to avoid affecting other daily activities. The plan is estimated to cost VN30 billion (US$1.33 million) from the citys budget. During the cleaning process, the company will take measures to prevent noise and ensure labour safety and clean working areas. The company will also work with scientists and experts to implement measures to protect all aquatic animals and plants in the lake during the cleaning process. The lake is severely polluted and has lost the ability to revive itself, threatening living creatures in it, according to the company. Covering some 12ha, Hoan Kiem Lake (also known as Returned Sword Lake) is located at the centre of the capital. Apart from its spiritual and cultural values, it is considered a scenic venue and a hub for some weekend relaxation, away from the chaos and bustle of the city. VNS HA NOI An essential services package for women and girls subjected to violence was launched on Wednesday by the United Nations in Viet Nam and the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs. The essential services package forms part of the United Nations Joint Global Programme on Essential Services for Women and Girls Subjected to Violence. This programme is a partnership between the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), United Nations Population Fund, World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and aims to provide greater access to a coordinated set of essential and quality multi-sectoral services for all women and girls who have experienced gender-based violence. The programme identifies the essential services to be provided by the health, social services, police and justice sectors, as well as guidelines for the co-ordination of essential services and the governance of coordination processes and mechanism. Violence against women and girls is widespread, systemic and culturally entrenched. According to a 2013 global review by WHO, 35 per cent of women worldwide have experienced physical and/or intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence. It is estimated that one in five girls has been abused in childhood with estimates from some countries as high as one in three. In Viet Nam, the National Study on Domestic Violence against Women, released by the General Statistics Office and the United Nations in Viet Nam in 2010, showed that 58 per cent of ever-married women had experienced at least one form of violence physical, mental or sexual at some point in their lives. Some 50 per cent of victims did not tell anyone about the violence they endured and 87 per cent did not seek help from public services. Speaking at the launch workshop, Elisa Fernandez, UN Womens head of office in Viet Nam stated, Violence against women and girls is not inevitable. The good news is that there are many ways to prevent violence in the first place and to stop cycles of violence repeating. The provision, coordination and governance of essential health, police, justice and social services can significantly mitigate the consequences that violence has on the wellbeing, health and safety of women and girls lives, she said. The guidelines will help to ensure that the range of services across different sectors can provide the necessary level of support and response to everyone with no exceptions, she added. VNS HA NOI Deputy Prime Minister Vu uc am has urged the Viet Nam Red Cross Society (VNRC) and its members to continuously expand their humanitarian role and value in the domestic and international communities. am said this at a meeting in Ha Noi on Wednesday to mark the 60th anniversary of VNRCs membership of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. Weve often seen images of VNRC and its members not only in situations of war and natural disasters, but also during blood donation, livelihood and after-disaster rehabilitation, am said. The society has made its mark in most of the countrys regions and development history. Side by side with the Party and Government, VNRC has been an active member in humanitarian movements in Viet Nam and the world, the deputy PM said. Praising the contribution of VNRC and its members in humanitarian activities over the past years, Deputy PM am suggested the society continue to strengthen its role and position in the country and in international communities. Speaking at the event, Beat Schweizer, head of Regional Delegation of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent (ICRC), said VNRC played a very active role in regional and worldwide activities of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. Viet Nam has unfortunately significant experience in dealing with the consequences of armed conflict and natural disasters. This experience can be very valuable for Red Cross activities in other parts of the world, Schweizer said. Schweizer encouraged VNRC to further strengthen its active co-operation within the movement, adding that Viet Nam can count on ICRCs support to respond to all kinds of disasters and further its capacity to provide assistance to those in need. We are looking forward to co-operating with the leadership of VNRC to strengthen its legal basis and the protection of the emblem of the Red Cross in Viet Nam, Schweizer added. VNRC President Nguyen Thi Xuan Thu said VNRC had made great contributions to the two resistant wars and the countrys socio-economy development cause over the past 60 years. Thu said VNRC will focus its activities on enhancing its organisation capacity, improving communication activities and reforming methods of mobilisation of sources of help and programme implementation, such as first aid, blood donation and care of the elderly. The society will also expand its cooperation activities with local and international organisations in humanitarian programmes and propose proper policies and mechanisms to the Party and Government following seven basic principles of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. VNS HA NOI Vietnamese oncologists say there is no proof that the Cuba-made Vidatox, also known as blue scorpion venom, is effective in fighting cancer, as advertisements claim. Tran Van Thuan, director of the National Cancer Hospital (K Hospital), told the Tuoi tre (Youth) Newspaper that there were two types of Vidatox in the market medicine and supplement. The medicine, at present, is being clinically studied and cannot be circulated. "Tests have shown that Vidatox provides some pain relief, but its ability to cure cancer remains unproven," he said Other doctors and researchers have also issued warnings about this alternative medication. In June, Tran Binh Giang, director of the Viet uc Hospital, shared on social media the opinion of doctors at the Clinico Quirugico Hermanos Ameijeiras, Cubas most prestigious cancer hospital. Many leading professors in Cuba told me that they did not use Vidatox in cancer treatment. Blue scorpion venom is a traditional method which has not been clinically proven, Giang wrote. His post has received a lot of attention from medical experts. Luong Quoc Chinh from emergency department A9 at the Bach Mai Hospital in Ha Noi, who is also known as a moderator of a resident physicians forum, cited a new publication in the Nature magazine as evidence against the usage of blue scorpions venom in cancer treatment. According to the paper, this product does not have any effect in decreasing the size of liver tumours in humans; it could even increase the invasion of cancer cells. Despite the warnings, however, Vidatox remains popular. Pharmacies around K Hospital offer this product, commercially named as Vidatox 30 CH, for VN2.2 million (US$100) per 30ml bottle. On Facebook, it is sold at VN2.7 to 3.5 million ($120 to 154) per bottle and heavily advertised as an effective cure for cancer. Fakes, vague instructions The Tuoi Tre report also said that there are fake Vidatox products being sold in the market, and dubious instructions given to patients. While the owner of a pharmacy near the K Hospital said that the product could be used within ten years of the manufacturing date, it was stated in the same products instruction that the blue scorpion venom was only effective if used within 30 months. Last month, Ha Noi Police inspected a huge stock of Vidatox without any certificate of origin. Investigators concluded that Nguyen Cong Doanh, director of MIDU Pharma, had imported fake medicines from foreign countries and distributed it to pharmacies in the capital city. Since there is no official approval for the import and use of homeopathic medicine, the Vidatox products found in the market are typically hand carried by people traveling overseas. Expert advice Dr Thuan stressed that patients should consult doctors before taking any medicine or supplement. Cancer treatment is complicated and many different methods and protocols are used, based on the patients condition. Moreover, all anti-cancer medicines have toxicity and side-effects, and their misuse can be extremely dangerous, according to Thuan. Additionally, patients who use unproven medication may miss successful treatment opportunities. So they should strictly follow treatment regimens. Thuan also asked the Ha Noi Department of Health to tighten the management of pharmacies in the city in order to prevent the sale of low-quality or fake cancer medicines. VNS By Kieu Van A proposal by a National Assembly deputy that some civil servants and other State cadres be allowed to work from home, saving office overheads, has generated a lively, timely debate. Timely because there is a lot of talk these days about the changes that the fourth industrial revolution will impose on us. Ngo Duy Hieus proposal is that the work-from-home option be tried out on a pilot basis first, with some of the civil servants visiting the office just one or two days a week, and doing the rest of their work from home. His argument is that this would reduce costs (less travel, electricity and water consumption), reduce office space, and use of office equipment, save time, and increase efficiency because working from home would enable greater concentration. Hieu has clarified that his proposal would not apply to all agencies and positions, only certain selected ones like research institutions, universities, and those engaged in intellectual work like formulation of policies, programmes and plans, and some administrative work. He also hinted, though not in as many words, that working from home instead of being cocooned in offices and officialdom would help officials connect with people and their real concerns. Not far fetched Given the digital advances that have taken place in the last few decades, and the connectivity afforded by the Internet and smart phones, this proposal is not far fetched. Already, Party and Government leaders are holding online conferences where they can speak to local authorities and vice versa. This proposal can be seen as a logical extension of this. Take my own profession - journalism. More and more people are getting their news online, and every news publication has an online version. Online shopping and payments are on the rise, too. If less people hit the roads for work and leisure, we can see it as a factor in reducing traffic congestion. An editor, company accountant, an IT programmer, all these are jobs that can be done from home, to a whole or a large extent. Work can be co-ordinated, assigned by email and supervised online. Luong To Quyen, a 36 year old accountant, has worked for four companies from home for the last three years. Higher income, convenience and the ability to take timely initiatives are the advantages of working from home, said the mother of three children. The naysayers Professor Nguyen Minh Thuyet, former Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Committee on Culture, Education, Youth and Children, said there was no way civil servants could be allowed to work for home. "A public agency directly communicates with people, directly serves and solves affairs of the people. If civil servants are at home, how will people come to know who to work with?" Thuyet asked. His argument was echoed by Dr.Nguyen uc Thanh, director of the Viet Nam Institute for Economic and Policy Research (Ha Noi University). Civil servants are hired by the people who pay their wages through taxes. They have to serve the people whenever and wherever needed, he said, adding: "It is impossible to apply the model of business to a State administrative agency. The operational mechanisms, the need for effective supervision and the quality of work are entirely different." Meanwhile, Dr. Vu Hoang Linh, lecturer and co-ordinator of the Public Policy Master Programme (Viet Nam-Japan University of Ha Noi University), felt the idea would be difficult to implement in practice and could even prove counterproductive, Linh said. He explained: "A lot of administrative work requires interaction with people and businesses to support them in production and business. It is very difficult for civil servants to work at home; it can lead to many negative issues including corruption. " Adding to this argument was inh Duy Hoa, former director of the Administrative Reform Department under the Ministry of Home Affairs. The bond with colleagues, especially direction of superiors is still very large and important," Hoa explained. Well get there Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Thang Van Phuc was bit more receptive, saying the proposal should be studied further, but felt its application lay in the future when the IT infrastructure develops synchronously, the staff are well-trained, administration is modernised, e-government works well and smart cities are established. It is said that in 2015, the United States had nearly half a million federal employees allowed to work remotely after former President Barack Obama signed the Employment Compensation Extension Act in July, 2010. In June, 2014, the UK decided all workers had the right to apply for flexible working hours (including home-based work). In Sweden, civil servants of national and local administrations can work part-time or at home. Since October 2017, the Singapore government has encouraged flexible working-time policies, including working from home. Viet Nam might not be there now, but it seems inevitable that well get there, sooner rather than later. VNS HARARE Robert Mugabe resigned as Zimbabwes president on Tuesday, finally swept from power as his 37-year reign crumbled within days of a military takeover. The move looks set to end Zimbabwes worst political crisis since it won independence from Britain in 1980. The bombshell announcement came at a special joint session of parliament convened to impeach Mugabe, 93, who has dominated every aspect of Zimbabwean public life for decades. On the streets, the news sparked wild celebrations, with car horns being honked and people erupting into ecstatic cheers and frenzied dancing. The letter that ended Mugabes tumultuous tenure was read out not by the man himself but by parliamentary speaker Jacob Mudenda. "I, Robert Gabriel Mugabe... hereby formally tender my resignation... with immediate effect," it said. "My decision to resign is voluntary on my part," he said, speaking of his "concern for the welfare of the people of Zimbabwe and my desire to ensure a smooth, peaceful and non-violent transfer of power". In a highly symbolic scene, a man removed a portrait of Mugabe from a conference room where MPs had gathered. Another bystander replaced it with an image of former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa, Mugabes fired deputy. He was once a key Mugabe ally who had been Grace Mugabes chief rival to succeed him and his dismissal on November 6 triggered the crisis. The ruling ZANU-PF party indicated Mnangagwa could swiftly be named interim president as the country charts a way through the turbulence. "Mnangagwa... will come back in the next 24 hours or so and he will be the one who will be sworn in to be president for 90 days," said party spokesman Simon Khaya Moyo on Tuesday. Outside the building used for the impeachment hearing, a man held up a smiling new-born baby dressed in white, drawing rapturous cheers from the crowd. It capped an unprecedented week in which the military seized control and tens of thousands of ordinary Zimbabweans took to the streets in an extraordinary show of defiance to demand that Mugabe leave. Mugabe had ruled Zimbabwe almost unopposed since independence -- but efforts to position his wife Grace as his successor triggered fury in the military that had underpinned his regime. His monolithic grip was shattered last week when armoured military vehicles took to the streets, blockaded parliament and soldiers placed the president under house arrest -- an operation that had all the hallmarks of a coup. But the generals stopped short of forcing out Mugabe. As the crisis grew, the ruling ZANU-PF party, an instrument of Mugabes decades-long rule, removed him as party leader and began parliamentary proceedings to have him impeached. "Mugabe might have been hoping that the impeachment process would not succeed, that it might stumble in getting the numbers together," said Innocent Gonese, chief whip of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change party. But it was quickly obvious that things had gone beyond that. "When he saw the turnout (of lawmakers), he probably realised hed better jump before he was pushed," said Derek Matyszak, an analyst at the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies. Following Mugabes stunning departure, army chief Chiwenga called for Zimbabweans to "exercise maximum restraint and observe law and order to the fullest." Mnangagwa in the wings Analysts agree that Mnangagwa is Mugabes most likely successor -- and Grace has not been seen since the start of the crisis. However, under Zimbabwes constitution, it is second Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko who would ordinarily take over as head of state. "I think were going to see Emmerson Mnangagwa sworn in very quickly... As far as I understand Mphoko is not in the country. Then the cabinet should meet if theres no president or vice president and appoint one," said Matyszak. Gonese agreed, suggesting that the ruling party could appoint a successor in "less than two hours". The European Unions diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini called for a solution that "respects the aspirations of the people of Zimbabwe for a more prosperous and democratic future". AFP WASHINGTON The United States on Tuesday unveiled new sanctions targeting North Korean shipping and Chinese traders doing business with Pyongyang, again raising the pressure on the pariah state to abandon its nuclear programme. The measures came a day after President Donald Trump declared North Korea a state sponsor of terrorism, a spot on a US blacklist Pyongyang had shed nearly a decade ago. "These designations include companies that have engaged in trade with North Korea cumulatively worth hundreds of millions of dollars," US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said. "We are also sanctioning the shipping and transportation companies, and their vessels, that facilitate North Koreas trade and its deceptive maneuvers." On Monday, Trump had said the sanctions announcement would be the first in a series of moves over the next two weeks that would reinforce his "maximum pressure campaign" against Kim Jong-Uns regime. As had been expected, the Treasury measures make use of existing US directives against North Korean trade, but expand their scope to take in more companies and individuals. Most importantly, they expand the list of Chinese firms accused of doing business with the North despite promises from Beijing that it will honor UN-backed punitive measures. Trump met Chinas President Xi Jinping earlier this month and is bullish about the US-China relationship, but concerns remain that Beijing is not ready to take tough measures against Kim. More should be done In particular, China has been reluctant to cut off oil supplies through a pipeline to North Koreas lone refinery, fearing that regime collapse could lead to chaos on their common border. And, according to US officials, some Chinese-based banks and trading firms continue to do business with the North in defiance of UN sanctions and US threats of unilateral measures. "We still hope all relevant parties can contribute to easing tensions," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Tuesday, after the US terror designation. "More should be done in that regard," he added. China has pushed for a "dual track approach" which would see the US freeze its military drills in South Korea while North Korea would halt its weapons programmes. Washington has rejected that approach. According to Mnuchin, the sanctions would not only increase Pyongyangs isolation but also expose "its evasive tactics." In all, the new measures add one individual, 13 trading entities and 20 ships to US sanctions lists. Any property or assets of the firms involved that are found to be in areas under US jurisdiction are to be frozen, and Americans are banned from trading with them. Three Chinese firms -- Dandong Kehua Economy and Trade, Dandong Xianghe Trading Company and Dandong Hongda Trade -- are said to have sold computers, minerals and ore to North Korea. Chinese businessman Sun Sidong and his company Dandong Dongyuan Industrial are accused of exporting vehicles, machinery, radio navigation and "items associated with nuclear reactors." In addition to slapping sanctions on the firms and North Korean ships, the Treasury added the Korea South-South Cooperation Corporation to its sanctions list. The firm is alleged to have sent North Korea guest workers to China, Russia, Cambodia and Poland. Foreign workers are a major source of income to the regime. The White House has said it will not tolerate the Norths testing or deployment of an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead to US cities. Experts believe Pyongyang is within months of such a threshold, having carried out six nuclear tests since 2006 and test-fired several types of missiles, including multi-stage rockets. Both Trump and Kim have previously raised fears of open conflict as they exchanged insults and threats of devastating military strikes. But US officials say their main goal is for Pyongyang to back down, in the face of what they now hope will be inexorable Chinese-backed economic and diplomatic pressure, and agree to discuss disarmament. AFP SOCHI President Vladimir Putin discussed Syria on Tuesday with his US counterpart Donald Trump, with both speaking of the need for progress toward a peace settlement following the Russian leaders surprise summit with Bashar al-Assad. Putins talks with Assad were part of Moscows effort to reboot the Syrian peace process, after military successes on the ground. Putins flurry of diplomacy also included phone talks with Saudi Arabias King Salman and the leaders of Egypt and Israel, ahead of a trilateral summit with the presidents of Turkey and Iran on Wednesday. Putin informed Trump of "the main results" of his meeting with Assad, held in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Monday, "at which the Syrian leader confirmed his commitment to the political process, (and) conducting constitutional reform and presidential and parliamentary elections," the Kremlin said. During the phone call with Trump, the Kremlin said Putin stressed the "need to keep Syrias sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity intact." A political settlement in Syria should be based on principles to be worked out during an all-inclusive "internal negotiating process". The White House called for the need to ensure "the stability of a unified Syria," a statement said. The aim is "to peacefully resolve the Syrian civil war, end the humanitarian crisis, allow displaced Syrians to return home and ensure the stability of a unified Syria free of malign intervention and terrorist safe havens," it added. But there was no mention of Assads future. The Syrian presidents fate remains a huge stumbling block, preventing global players from reaching a peace settlement over the six-year war. In his talks with the Saudi king, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Putin touted Moscows recent initiative to bring Assads regime and its opponents together for a "congress." Different factions of the Syrian opposition will meet from Wednesday in Riyadh in talks hosted by Saudi Arabia. The aim of the Saudi-backed High Negotiations Committee is to reach consensus on a strategy for UN-backed talks in Geneva, which will focus on a new constitution for Syria and fresh elections. You won in Syria Earlier on Tuesday, Putin told visiting Czech President Milos Zeman that Assads troops controlled more than 98 per cent of territory. "You won in Syria," Zeman told Putin. Analysts say that Russias decision to intervene militarily in Syria in 2015 appears to have saved Assads regime but a peace settlement seems ever more elusive. Billed as a "working visit", the meeting between Putin and Assad in Sochi was their first meeting in two years, after the Syrian leader travelled to Moscow in 2015 to thank Putin for his decision to intervene in Syria. "As for our joint work in the fight against terrorism in Syria, this military operation is coming to an end," Putin said in comments released Tuesday. Syria has been saved "Thanks to the Russian army, Syria has been saved as a state. Much has been done to stabilise the situation in Syria," Putin said. Assad said he wanted to advance negotiations. "We dont want to look back and we are ready for dialogue with all those who want to come up with a political settlement," Assad said in translated comments. Russias army chief of general staff, Valery Gerasimov, was quoted by national news agencies as saying that "despite the fact that there remains a raft of unresolved problems" the military stage "is coming to its logical conclusion". Putins Wednesday summit with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Irans President Hassan Rouhani will take place ahead of parallel UN-led talks in Geneva set for November 28. The meeting comes as Ankara, Moscow and Tehran cooperate with increasing intensity on ending the civil war in Syria that has claimed some 330,000 lives and made millions homeless. The trio are cooperating despite Turkey still officially being on an opposite side in the Syrian conflict from Russia and Iran. Russia, Iran and Turkey have backed negotiations in the Kazakh capital Astana that have brought together the representatives of the opposition and the regime. The talks led to the creation of four so-called "de-escalation zones" that produced a drop in violence, but fighting and bombardments continued. Moscows military intervention in Syria in 2015 is widely seen as tipping the balance in the conflict. Since then the Syrian army has reclaimed the ancient city of Palmyra from the Islamic State and driven rebels out of their northern bastion Aleppo. This week regime forces ousted IS from its last urban stronghold in the country, Albu Kamal. AFP Its safe to say that we have all been watching the Commemorative Air Forces valiant efforts to resurrect the D-Day veteran Douglas C-47 Thats All Brother. The venerable cargo plane has been undergoing refurbishment with Basler Turbo in Oshkosh, Wisconsin for the past couple of years, and we have learned that she is just a few short months away from her maiden flight. The CAF has released an update on their progress, and we have reproduced it below, with permission, for your enjoyment. This is arguably the most significant restoration project in the world today, and easily one of the most significant ever, so be sure to contribute if you can by clicking HERE. CAF Nov.21, 2017 Press Release for Thats All Brother A great deal of progress has been made on the aircraft since our last update. Those who visited the airplane at her most recent public display this July at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin may have noticed that the control surfaces had been installed, the wiring inside the airplane was almost completed, and her cockpit was shaping up nicely with a number of the instruments overhauled and installed. Thanksgiving is a special time of year. For the Thats All, Brother restoration team, it is a time to reflect on the challenges the project has faced and a time to be thankful for your support which has allowed us to undertake this one-of-a-kind restoration. Through the dedication and commitment of our supporters, and the passion of our team, we are now within striking distance of the first flight. The team had hoped that the airplane would make its first flight in the fall of 2017, however, the commitment to authenticity and making sure the work is done right, means that the first flight date has been pushed back. We now expect that the airplane will fly early in the New Year. Thanks to the many donors who contributed to our June campaign aimed at supporting the engine overhauls, the engines are now completed, plumbed and installed on the airplane. We are just a few short weeks away from running Thats All, Brothers engines for the first time since this restoration started in 2015. We are on the home stretch at Basler Turbo Conversions, as the first phase of restoration ends with the first flight of the airplane. In the subsequent months, we will be working to complete the interior restoration with a team of dedicated volunteers in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The exterior will also be completed in the first half of 2018, with paint and coatings provided by Stits Polyfiber. Arrangements are still being made for the engine run and, following the successful test, an announcement will be made regarding the first flight. Stay tuned for additional information, including how you can get in on the action! WATERLOO The mother of a Waterloo burglary suspect came close to joining her son in jail after she began cursing at a judge following sentencing Monday. Latasha Todd said she doesnt think her son, 21-year-old Maliek Todd-Harris, received a fair trial when he was found guilty of second-degree burglary during a September trial. She also worries about treatment and care for stab wounds he received from the burglary incident. On Monday, those concerns boiled over as Maliek Todd-Harris was sentenced to 10 years in prison, and his mother yelled at Judge George Stigler from the gallery. I hope something like this happens in your family, Latasha Todd yelled, dropping the F word a number of times and triggering additional deputies being sent to the courtroom. Stigler came close to finding the mother in contempt at one point having deputies place her in handcuffs and telling her she would have to spend a day in jail before she apologized and admitted she was out of control. Her sons sentencing came a week after the man who stabbed him, Durius Antwan Davis, pleaded to federal gun charges. Maliek Todd-Harriss case stems from a 2009 incident where Davis shot Todd-Harris cousin, Corvelous Caston, on Mulberry Street, seriously injuring him. Davis was sentenced to prison in the shooting and an unrelated liquor store robbery. Davis was released from prison in December 2016, and Latasha Todd said her family was harassed and terrorized after that. A Western Avenue home Caston was frequenting was the scene of gunfire twice the following month. Once, a passing car opened fire striking a parked vehicle outside house. Another time, on Jan. 31, two bullets tore through the picture window and other rounds struck the siding while Caston was inside, according to police reports. No one was injured in the second shooting, and police found .40-caliber shell casings. Witnesses reported seeing a Pontiac leaving the shooting scene and briefly parking at a Locust Street apartment building where someone ducked under a staircase. Officers went to the Locust Street address and found a Springfield XD pistol under the stairs. Court records show in the days before the second shooting, police had intercepted phone and text conversations where Davis had discussed buying a .40-caliber XD, and officers had searched the Locust Street address where Davis had allegedly stayed and found .45-caliber ammo and an empty box for .40-caliber ammo. Authorities allege months later, on April 17, Todd-Harris went to a West Mullan Avenue home and began chasing Davis. Prosecutors claimed Todd-Harris was armed with a gun and attempted to shoot, but the weapon wouldnt fire. Davis allegedly stabbed Todd-Harris during the incident. A jury would later discount the attempted shooting allegation and acquit Todd-Harris on a weapons charge, although jurors found him guilty of burglary. During sentencing Monday, Stigler said Todd-Harris had attempted self-help retribution by going after Davis in the Mullan Street incident. You almost died because of some notion in your head you were going to get even, Stigler said. Assistant County Attorney James Katcher called Todd-Harris a danger who has a criminal history filled with violence. Court records show he had earlier been sent to prison in a 2011 shooting outside a nightclub that injured a 17-year-old. Defense attorney Matthew Hoffey asked the court for probation, saying Todd-Harris had learned his lesson. This was a life-changing event for him. He was stabbed, and he didnt know if he was going to make it, Hoffey said. But in imposing the 10-year sentence, Stigler said suspending the prison time would only send a message that what Todd-Harris did was right. Davis was never charged in the stabbing, and it wasnt until July he was indicted on federal firearm charges for possessing the .40-caliber Springfield XD and the ammo. He pleaded guilty to charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids on Nov. 13. Sentencing will be at a later date. CEDAR RAPIDS Members of Iowas congressional delegation spent part of their Thanksgiving recess spreading holiday cheer to United States military personnel in overseas postings. Sen. Joni Ernst led a bipartisan congressional delegation that included Iowa 3rd District Rep. David Young to Afghanistan, Iraq and Kuwait to thank service members for their efforts Nov. 16-21. Ernst, chairwoman of the Senate Armed Services Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee, Young and the others also met with senior military and diplomatic leaders in the region to receive updates on continued anti-terrorism efforts, including the fight against ISIS and the Taliban. As subcommittee chairwoman, Ernst coordinated classified briefings so the delegation could hear directly from special operators and their chain of command about battlefield realities. She also led diplomatic discussions regarding stability efforts concurrent with operations Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Resolute Support in Afghanistan, and follow-on strategies. Ernst, a former company commander in the Iowa National Guard and veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, also visited with approximately 35 Iowa Army National Guard soldiers stationed at Kandahar Air Field in Afghanistan and others throughout the region. It was an honor to visit with the service members who are away from their loved ones at the holidays, and to thank them for the sacrifices they make and those of their families to protect all that we hold dear, Ernst said. Young called the service personnel the bravest among us and said it was an honor to meet them, hear their stories and collect messages to send back to their loved ones. CEDAR RAPIDS As more information comes out about sexual harassment by members of Congress and their staffs, Sen. Chuck Grassley wants to improve the protocols for reporting and handling those allegations. Grassley, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, recently co-sponsored a resolution with Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., requiring members of Congress and staff members to complete previously voluntary sexual harassment training within 60 days. Our legislation was simply to make sure that it was mandatory in every office, so at least you would do what prevention you can do, said Grassley, who has required the training for all of his staff members. The resolution, which was unanimously adopted, requires a certificate of completion to be published on the Secretary of the Senates website. Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst, a co-sponsor of the resolution, said its critical that Congress has zero tolerance for such inappropriate behavior. Since passage of the training requirement, however, Grassley said what hes learned makes him think the process for reporting sexual harassment is flawed. The process they have to go through is ridiculous and works against the interest of the victim, he said. I think youve got to assume everyone is innocent until they are proven guilty, but right now it looks pretty ridiculous for the victim. He also was critical of the way sexual harassment claims have been kept from the public through confidentiality agreements and a secret congressional fund reportedly used to pay $17 million in settlements for sexual harassment and other claims over the past 20 years. You have to sign a nondisclosure statement just to get justice? It doesnt make sense, Grassley said. Thats what were going to have to look into. He agreed with Iowa Republican Rep. Rod Blum and Democratic Rep. Dave Loebsack the secret fund should be abolished and the settlements, including names of sexual harassment perpetrators, be made public. This sort of behavior is outrageous and cant be tolerated, he said. We have to fight sexual harassment wherever it comes up. According to RollCall.com, which pulled numbers from the congressional Office of Compliance for the past 10 years, the highest number of harassment or hostile workplace complaints was 113 in 2011. That was roughly one-third of the 333 complaints in that time frame. There were 15 harassment or hostile work environment complaints discussed during the OOCs formal complaint process in fiscal 2016 the lowest annual total of the years Roll Call analyzed. Overall, 83 complaints were filed last year. They include training, leave, discipline as well as harassment. Nineteen came from employees in the Architect of the Capitol, 18 from Capitol Police and a total of eight from the House and Senate. DES MOINES -- Hundreds of thousands of enrollees in Iowas privately managed Medicaid program will have just one choice of provider when AmeriHealth Caritas of Iowas withdraws from the program this month. The Iowa Department of Human Services said Tuesday Amerigroup Iowa one of two remaining providers for 2018 cant take on any new clients. Critics warn some patients doctors are not covered by the one Medicaid provider left to them UnitedHealthcare. Amerigroup Iowa has informed the department they do not currently have capacity to take any new members, including those who have actively chosen Amerigroup Iowa as their (managed-care organization) after AmeriHealth Caritas withdrawal, the agency notice reads. Officials announced in late October AmeriHealth, one of the three companies running Iowas Medicaid program, would withdraw from the program by the end of November. The withdrawal affects more than 213,000 Iowans. Both Amerigroup and UnitedHealthcare have re-signed contracts to continue management next year. After AmeriHealth announced its withdrawal, patients were told they would be assigned to UnitedHealthcare but could make the change to Amerigroup. Now, patients who wanted to switch to Amerigroup wont able to do so and must remain with UnitedHealthcare. In addition, the department said in its notice, all new IA Health Link members will be assigned to UnitedHealthcare. In the future, members again will have a choice in MCOs and will be notified when that choice is available. Department spokesman Matt Highland said DHS continues to work with managed-care providers on the transition. We will notify members, providers and stakeholders as soon as we have finalized information, Highland said in an email. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has approved a suspension of a provision that requires a choice between managed-care organizations, the department said. The decision does not affect Medicaid members who were enrolled with Amerigroup before AmeriHealth announced its withdrawal. Amerigroup said Tuesday its top priority is to coordinate high quality health care for our members. In its statement, UnitedHealthcare said it welcomes the opportunity to serve more than 200,000 additional IA Health Link members. We have the experience, resources and dedicated teams in place to transition our new members while maintaining the high level of service that our existing members have come to expect, UnitedHealthcare said. State Sen. Pam Jochum, D-Dubuque, said her daughter, who has disabilities, was under AmeriHealth. Jochum recently moved her daughter to Amerigroup and received confirmation from the department, she said. Now Im reading this notice from the department that we all have to go with (UnitedHealthcare). Heres the problem: How many of the doctors and providers in our state are signed with United? Jochum said. Jochum said lawmakers hands our tied in terms of addressing issues with Iowas Medicaid program. Lawmakers could vote to rescind contracts with the providers, but Jochum said Gov. Kim Reynolds would likely veto the move. This really rests on the doorstep of Gov. Reynolds, she said. Brenna Smith, a spokeswoman for Reynolds, said the governor is committed to improving quality and access to care, promoting accountability for patient outcomes and creating a more predictable and sustainable Medicaid budget. Rep. Liz Mathis, D-Hiawatha, said, I dont know what kind of hoops they had to jump through to get CMS to approve this or how long this temporary fix will be and if CMS will start to take a look at this and see that it is a system that is crumbling before our very eyes... . Its just one more indication that this is a terrible idea gone awry. WATERLOO City Councilman Tom Lind is calling for a review of the downtown convention center sale following reports the developer was sued by a business partner on a hotel project in Omaha, Neb. Lind contends he was unfairly criticized for asking questions about Leslie Hospitality and owner Edwin Leslie when the Omaha-based firm came before the city this year seeking to take ownership and renovate the Five Sullivan Brothers Convention Center. I was accused of leading a witch hunt when this deal first came to Waterloo, Lind said in a news release. My name was drug through the mud for simply asking questions and asking for documentation. As a representative of the people of Waterloo I have an obligation to ensure that their tax money is protected and that agreements the city enters into on their behalf are upheld, he added. This recent lawsuit is alarming, and we owe it to our citizens to make sure that Mr. Leslie doesnt allow something like this to happen in Waterloo. Council members voted Aug. 29 to approve an agreement giving the convention center and $1 million to Leslie Hospitality in return for a $6 million renovation. Leslie Hospitality is acquiring the adjacent Ramada Hotel from a private owner and will receive tax rebates for its renovation too. Sullivans sale OK'd again in Waterloo WATERLOO The full City Council is now behind the sale and renovation of the Five Sullivan The Omaha World Herald last week reported Century-Omaha Land, of South Dakota, had sued Leslie Hospitality over a $40 million renovation of The Hotel RL and adjacent Coco Key Water Resort and Omaha Convention and Conference Center. Century-Omaha Land had claimed Leslie Hospitality, which acquired a 51 percent stake in the project, had missed payments and caused $6.4 million in financial damage to the project. Leslie countered in court records Century-Omaha had misrepresented their ownership position in the property by claiming the property was free of liens when it actually had undisclosed outstanding loans. Leslie said he was barred from talking about the confidential settlement agreement the parties reached. This was a partnership dispute over a real estate transaction, he said. The settlement is something we feel was very much to our benefit. Leslie also said the case had no bearing on the Waterloo project, which is in final design and set to begin construction in January. Our Waterloo plans are moving forward with no delay, he said. We have a great set of partners on the project and lenders that are committed to working with us to move this all forward. UPDATE: Convention center buyer calls for fair treatment WATERLOO A developer buying Waterloos downtown hotel and city-owned convention center is Lind was not clear whom should review the development agreement or what that review would entail. But he said it should not be handled by City Hall because Mayor Quentin Hart, Councilman Pat Morrissey and Sharon Juon, who defeated Lind in the last election and will take his seat in January, were endorsed by Leslie during the campaign. Leslie said he was fine with a further review of the development agreement. I have nothing to hide, he said. If Mr. Lind feels there should be an investigation Ill turn over all my records and the other council members can turn over all of theirs. Im even willing to contribute the cost of having someone do it. Leslie sent information to Hart about the Omaha World Heralds report, which Hart then forwarded by email to all council members. We dont have any reason to believe this will have any bearing on the Waterloo project, Hart said. Resource fairs set in Waterloo WATERLOO -- Two resource fairs focused on programs providing income-based services have been scheduled over the next month. Waterloo Community Development, Neighborhood Services, Operation Threshold and Waterloo Community Schools will host the meetings. Information about the event will be distributed through the Waterloo Schools ConnectEd services. The first fair is scheduled for 6 p.m. Nov. 30 at Irving Elementary School, 1115 W. Fifth St., while the second event will be 6 p.m. Dec. 14 at Lincoln Elementary School, 302 Cedar Bend St. Organizations with services for low-income families are invited to attend the fairs to share information and materials about their programs. Organizations wishing to participate can contact Felicia Smith-Nalls at 291-9145 or Felicia.smith@waterloo-ia.org. School career program named WATERLOO -- Waterloo Community Schools announced sustainable construction as its ninth career program set to be offered in fall 2018. The program will join others at the Waterloo Career Center housed in Central Middle School. Sustainable construction will cover the fundamentals of blueprint reading, estimating, building codes and ordinances, frame construction, interior and exterior finishing and concrete work. Digital interactive media, marketing management and web programming and development are the other three career programs that will start next year. Recently the Board of Education unanimously approved a plan to move forward with bids on a nearly $14 million remodeling project at the center. The 80,000-square-foot project includes a new 2,500-square-foot entrance. This fall three new pathways (advanced manufacturing, early childhood education and information technology-networking) were added to the available career options (nursing and digital graphics), bringing the total number of programs to five. With the addition of four new programs next fall, a total of nine career pathways will be available for high school students to pursue by attending classes at the center for part of their school day. Eventually the remodeled space will host 15 pathway programs. The career center renovation and expansion will be paid for with existing district funds available through the 1 percent sales tax funding stream. Tax reforms DAN WIETHORN DECORAH As the CFO of a growing business with 300 employees, I write to express my support for the tax reforms now under consideration in Washington. The most important pieces for us are the cuts in corporate and business taxes. We are in a business that requires large investments in heavy equipment, so allowing us to immediately expense those investments will allow us to buy more equipment. That means we can hire more people and the equipment manufacturers and their suppliers will hire more as well. Like most businesses our size, we plow almost all of our profits back into the business. So, the corporate cuts proposed will greatly benefit as well with faster expansions and capital projects. I understand critics say it will cost more than a trillion dollars. But what will it really cost if American companies repatriate the trillions they have sitting off shore and put that capital to work here? And perhaps more importantly, what will it cost if we dont make our business taxes competitive with the rest of the industrialized world? Permit me to commend Congressman Rod Blum. He understands Americans can spend and invest their money far better than Washington can spend. Traffic cameras BILL HENNINGER ELK RUN HEIGHTS Will the traffic violations records cited by camera be turned into the state? If so, this can affect insurance rates, etc. Cedar Rapids speed camera violations do not go to the Iowa Department of Transportation. This can make a big difference as to acceptance by the public. Editors Note: As we have reported, these are civil citations, not criminal citations, so they do not go on your driving record. Taxation PAUL HIGGINS WATERLOO Responsible societies traditionally develop a safety net for fellow citizens whom are inherently mentally/physically disabled, innately disadvantaged or otherwise inarguably incapable of providing for their own most basic needs. Fortunately in America, there are not 155 million such folks. Yet 47 percent pay zero income tax. American citizens have absolutely zero responsibility to subsidize American corporations. Individual responsibilities end with being the most honest, productive and responsible employees possible. The responsibility for developing and administering a tax system fair, equitable and above reproach rests squarely with those elected to represent citizens. As one, I am damned tired of congressional deceit, half truths and financial abuse. Pandering, spineless politicians (exception, Grassley) clamor incessantly about middle class, while deceitfully endeavoring to impose additional tax responsibilities on said 53 percent by abolishing deductions, while providing zero transparent dialogue on net tax effects anywhere. Congress needs a spending liposuction, a lobotomy and truth lessons. Taxpayers need a drastically different D.C. paradigm. MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Tex. A Texas man, Daniel Kirksey, was arrested Thursday in the 2015 murder of his former boyfriend Marc Pourner, known as Axel in the Pagan community. As we reported previously, Pourner was a solitary Wiccan practitioner as well as the co-founder and facilitator of the popular Pagan Facebook forum the Cauldron a Mixing Place for Witches, Druids, and Pagans. He went missing in November. 2015, and several days later he was found dead in his car. On Nov. 12, 2015, Pourner reportedly received a late-night phone call. After a tense conversation, he abruptly left his apartment and never came back. That Friday, Pourners family contacted Randalls, Pourners place of work, and found that he had never reported for his shift. Over the next day, through local outreach, family members received a tip on where Pourners truck might be located and called the sheriffs department. The tip proved accurate, And deep in some thick woods, officers found not only the vehicle, but also Pourners body. Within 24 hours of finding the truck, the sheriffs department had a suspect and, in coordination with Tippecanoe county sheriffs office in Indiana, the suspect David Brown, Jr. was arrested. In a February 2016 grand jury hearing, more was revealed about what actually happened that night. Brown and Kirksey called Pourner from Kirkseys home to tell him that someone was following Kirksey and wanted to kill him. When Pourner arrived at the home, he and Brown had a heated argument [] It was there that Brown punched Pourner several times and then bound and gagged [him]. Using Pourners truck, Brown then took Pourner to a remote location, where he strangled him and torched the truck. The court records also indicate that Kirksey witnessed the entire act. Brown remains in jail with a trial date set for Dec. 18. His indictment lists his charges as capital murder with a felony, which includes his alleged kidnapping of Pourner. Kirksey was not charged with anything at that point. However, this changed last Thursday, when the the Montgomery county SWAT team arrested Kirksey at his home for assisting in the kidnapping. He is also reportedly being accused of burning Pourners bag and cell phone in an effort to dupe detectives. At the time of Browns indictment, Pourners mother Jolena Pourner told The Wild Hunt: We knew from the beginning that Daniel was possibly involved because his explanations didnt add up. Wed been concerned because we felt Daniel was using Marc. According to reports, Kirksey was witness to the entire series of events that took place Nov. 12, including the murder: Kirksey initially told investigators that [in the apartment was] the last time he saw Pourner alive but later told them he was in the truck with Brown and Pourner, according to court documents. He said he saw Brown take Pourner out of the truck once they arrived at Firetower Road before hitting him again and then strangling him to death, detectives said. Kirksey, who was originally set to testify against Brown at the upcoming trial, is now facing first-degree felony aggravated kidnapping and third-degree felony tampering with physical evidence charges. In a Facebook post within a group titled In Loving Memory Of Marc Pourner, Jolena Pourner wrote that she was doing the happy dance. She added, The man who betrayed you by helping (or at least watching) David Brown murder you was arrested today. Daniel Kirksey was arrested this afternoon for felony kidnapping & tampering with evidence. He just thought he was going to walk away free by testifying against David Brown. Im glad the state realized he wasnt a credible witness & will proceed with the trial next month without Daniel. Jolena Pourner said that she will be at Browns first court appearance in December, along with friends. Members of the online Pagan community who knew Marc through his various forum administration roles have said that they will be sending their energy and support to the Pourners over the next month as the case continues to unfold. past daily news Sep 13 (1) Sep 09 (15) Sep 06 (12) Sep 04 (10) Sep 03 (10) Aug 31 (17) Aug 29 (14) Aug 26 (13) Aug 22 (11) Aug 21 (12) Aug 19 (21) Aug 14 (6) Aug 13 (10) Aug 10 (10) Aug 08 (9) Aug 07 (10) Aug 06 (10) Aug 05 (8) Aug 03 (8) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (7) Jul 31 (14) Jul 29 (1) Jul 27 (7) Jul 25 (5) Jul 24 (10) Jul 22 (11) Jul 19 (16) Jul 17 (6) Jul 16 (10) Jul 15 (13) Jul 12 (7) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (8) Jul 08 (8) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (5) Jul 05 (8) Jul 04 (11) Jul 03 (8) Jul 02 (7) Jul 01 (5) Jun 30 (8) Jun 28 (7) Jun 27 (8) Jun 26 (7) Jun 25 (8) Jun 24 (6) Jun 23 (6) Jun 22 (9) Jun 20 (5) Jun 19 (9) Jun 18 (8) Jun 15 (9) Jun 13 (13) Jun 11 (11) Jun 09 (19) Jun 06 (10) Jun 04 (10) Jun 03 (8) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (5) May 30 (5) May 29 (6) May 28 (7) May 27 (7) May 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11 (9) Nov 10 (15) Nov 09 (9) Nov 08 (9) Nov 07 (12) Nov 06 (8) Nov 05 (4) Oct 29 (1) Oct 01 (1) Jul 29 (1) May 11 (1) Jul 11 (1) Yes, you can transfer your domain to any registrar or hosting company once you have purchased it. Since domain transfers are a manual process, it can take up to 5 days to transfer the domain. Domains purchased with payment plans are not eligible to transfer until all payments have been made. Please remember that our 30-day money back guarantee is void once a domain has been transferred. For transfer instructions to GoDaddy, please click here. It was inaugurated last Wednesday, October 15 by the Portuguese Prime Minister, the House of Architecture in Matosinhos, Portugal. This work marks the importance of architecture in the national panorama, at a time so troubled by the profession, when we fight for an architecture made by architects. Image Rui Duarte Silva Image Rui Duarte Silva That is why the words of the Prime Minister, Antonio Costa, were so important and reinforced the confidence that the architecture will be done by the architects and not by the engineers. "... architectural projects are the exclusive competence of architects." "... no other profession, no matter how useful it is to construction, replaces the hand, the drawing and the unique knowledge that only an architect knows," says Antonio Costa. Matosinhos is already a municipality marked by great architectural projects, such as the "Piscina das Mares" or the "Casa de Cha da Boa Nova" by Siza Vieira and now takes on a greater importance by receiving the "House of Architecture". Image Nelson Garrido The new House of Architecture with an area of 4.700-square-metre, takes advantage of the ruins of Companhia Real Vinicola, located in Matosinhos and is signed by the architect of the municipality, Guilherme Machado Vaz. This is also a good example of an architecture project, executed, directed and planned directly from within a City Council. The old buildings that now give the body to a new soul, belonged to a former factory facility of the Meneres & Company Society, destined for the Real Companhia Vinicola, an industrial complex of English tradition. It was also a concern of the architect from the beginning of the creative process to maintain the original characteristics of the building. Image Nelson Garrido Image Nelson Garrido "My concern was to maintain the original characteristics of the factory, an industrial complex of English tradition," explains Machado Vaz. The project is part of a strategy of urban regeneration, where are planned as a set of works for cultural and social facilities that the Chamber has thought for that area that until then was forgotten. The property is integrated in the Urbanization Plan of Matosinhos Sul, by the architect Alvaro Siza Vieira. Image Nelson Garrido The new House will be prepared to host exhibitions and presentations, will be equipped with library, shop and documentation center. "The first Portuguese museum exclusively of architecture that has archives and exhibition spaces in the same building," explains Nuno Sampaio executive director of the House of Architecture. Image Nelson Garrido The opening ceremony of the Casa da Arquitetura program was held on November 17 at 12 noon and extended for another two days where the program included the inauguration of the exhibitions: 'Poder Arquitectura', curated by the architects Jorge Carvalho, Pedro Bandeira and Ricardo Carvalho, and the X Ibero-American Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism, as well as debates, performances, films, book launches and animation for the families that have been there. Its action involves not only architects, but people and entities from various cultural and social areas who encourage and believe in the value of Architecture. Image Nelson Garrido Image Nelson Garrido Image Nelson Garrido As a mission, the Architecture House highlights some forms of action, such as conferences, workshops and other activities related to the debate, reflection and promotion of Architecture and the Arts. Several diverse programs will be arranged to create a collection of iconographic and emblematic works of the national and international architectural culture, encourage exchanges with national or international counterparts and to foster cooperation with educational institutions, museums, organizations and cultural or business associations and promote activities of a playful, tourist, cultural and social character of the most varied public. I conclude by saying that architecture has won. Top image: Casa da Arquitetura. Image Nelson Garrido > via House of Architecture Nov 22, 2017 | By Tess 3D printing company Aleph Objects, known for its LulzBot brand 3D printers, has just announced a slew of ten new 3D printing products it plans to release in the near future. Among the new products are software, tool heads, filament, and various 3D printer accessories compatible with the company's range of LulzBot 3D printers. Software The first product, which is available as of today, is the new Cura LulzBot Edition software. The new program, which users can download for free, offers an improved user-interface, as well as a number of new or improved features. These include an updated automatic support material generation tool, as well as various new slicing options geared to advanced makers. Aleph Objects says its new Cura LulzBot Edition software will carry over existing features from previous software programs, including printing profiles for the company's 30+ filaments, as well as settings for various LulzBot 3D printer models and tool heads. Next up are the new hardware releases, which were developed to address "three key requests from the LulzBot user community: geometric freedom, improvements to ease of use and maintenance, and expanded versatility." 3D printer tool heads The first, which was officially released on November 21, is the LulzBot TAZ Dual Extruder v3 Tool Head. This product, aimed at improving geometric freedom, enables users to 3D print parts using specialized support materials, such as soluble supports, and adds a number of improvements to its earlier version. LulzBot TAZ Dual Extruder v3 Tool Head Notably, the dual extruder tool head is smaller and more lightweight than Aleph Object's preceding version, and eliminates the need for nozzle leveling and offset calibration, making it easier to use. Other improvements include an updated heat sink and part cooling capabilities. The tool head is available for $495. The company has also announced two other tool head 3D printer parts: the LulzBot Mini Aerostruder Tool Head and its LulzBot TAZ counterpart. The new tool heads integrate the E3D Titan Aero Extruder and Hot End, and are built for both rigid and flexible materials. Both Aerostruder Tool Heads will be released soon. 3D printing materials In terms of new 3D printing materials, Aleph Objects will soon be releasing water-soluble Polydissolve S1 Filament. The new material is set for release in December 2017. Chroma Strand ABS filament This past October, the company also released the new Chroma Strand ABS Filament, which is described as a "premium ABS filament with terrific color richness and consistency." The filament, by Chroma Strand Labs, is available in twelve different colors and is priced at approximately $43 per kg spool. 3D printer accessories To meet user demands for 3D printer maintenance, Aleph Objects is introducing four new 3D printer accessories. The firstreleased yesterdayis the LulzBot Mini Modular Print Bed System, which improves and simplifies maintenance for the LulzBot Mini's heated print bed, as well as "enables easy experimentation with after-market build surfaces." Also for the LulzBot Mini, the company is soon releasing the LulzBot Mini Graphical LCD Controller, which will reportedly make it easier for users to operate their LulzBot Mini 3D printers (the latest-generation) without the need of a computer connection. The upcoming product will also make it possible to 3D print directly from an SD card. The third product is the LulzBot TAZ Modular Print Bed System, a similar maintenance system to the LulzBot Mini Modular Print Bed, only compatible with the LulzBot TAZ 3D printer line. This print bed system is expected for release in December 2017. Nylon LulzBot 3D Printer Enclosure by GalaxG Design World Released in October 2017, the Nylon LulzBot 3D Printer Enclosure was developed by GalaxG Design World as a lightweight protection solution for LulzBot TAZ and LulzBot Mini 3D printers. As an enclosure, the product is designed to keep out dust and drafts while printing. The product is available on Aleph Objects' website for $80. "Free, Libre, and Open Source development respects user freedom, drives better products, accelerates innovation, and strengthens user communities. With these new products, the LulzBot ecosystem offers users more evolved tools to make everything," concluded Harris Kenny, President of Aleph Objects. Posted in 3D Printer Maybe you also like: Randy wrote at 11/26/2017 4:32:11 PM:@ craig billings It has two stepper motors, it's nothing like the Dondalo. Your insinuation that they "ripped it off" shows a general lack of understanding of the way Aleph and LulzBot operate.craig billings wrote at 11/22/2017 6:34:09 PM:They ripped off the Dondalo extruder. Nov 22, 2017 | By David The 2017 edition of the formnext 3D printing conference was bigger than any previous edition, welcoming more than 20,000 attendees. The event demonstrated how additive manufacturing is moving more and more towards production from its rapid prototyping roots. Held in the German city of Frankfurt, the 2017 edition of the formnext additive manufacturing conference took place last week, November 14-17, welcoming more than 20,000 visitors through its doors. The event showed just how big a global phenomenon 3D printing is becoming. Starting with the facts and figures, formnext 2017 hosted 21,492 visitors, more than the 13,384 who attended in 2016 and more than double the 8,982 who joined the inaugural event in 2015. That increased attendance was reflected by an increased number of exhibitors. 470 3D printing companies set up booths at this years event, up on 307 from the previous year and 203 in 2015. The increased interest also meant that formnext 2017 utilized 28,129 square meters of exhibition space, making it double the size of the inaugural event. But if the increased size of the event showcased a growing global interest in 3D printing (and global it was: 46 per cent of visitors came from outside of Germany), then the nature of the actual 3D printing technology on show proved something rather different: that the industry is moving from prototyping to production. A major factor contributing towards this gradual industry-wide shift, from using 3D printing as a rapid prototyping solution to adopting the technology in final-stage production, is the increased automation of post-processing techniques. 3D printed objects would previously require all kinds of technical manual work in order to finish them off, such as cleaning, heat treatment, grinding, polishing, and cutting. Many, if not all, of these processes can now be carried out automatically by extra modules integrated into a 3D printing system, which makes the technology much more feasible as an option for large-scale, series production of commercial products or industrial components. Some of the most high-profile 3D printing systems on show at formnext 2017 fit the narrative that this is an industry focused on attempting to tackle the production of end-use parts, not just the fabrication of disposable prototypes. GE Additive, for example, used its presence at the Frankfurt-based conference to unveil its large-scale Concept Laser metal 3D printer, the first product in its A.T.L.A.S (Additive Technology Large Area System) project. Described as scalable and customizable, the GE 3D printer has a huge build volume (1.1 x 1.1 x 0.3 m) suitable for small-scale production in the aviation, automotive, space, and oil and gas industries. It's this kind of boundary-pushing size that could put 3D printing on the map as a tool for the production of large batches of potentially very large end-use parts. SLM Solutions also unveiled its own large-scale 3D printing system, the 500 x 280 x 850 mm SLM 800, and we also saw a few other major players debuting new production-ready modules or machines that could soon revolutionize the way 3D printing technology is used in manufacturing. Dutch 3D printing company Additive industries announced the official world premiere of the brand new Product Removal Module, demonstrated as part of its popular MetalFAB1 system, as well as an Application Development Tool. The Eindhoven-based companys new module will automate the final stage of the metal AM process, as the finished metal part is cut loose from the machine. This module makes use of 4-full-field lasers in order to improve the efficiency of the process, and it will also cut costs and speed up production by eliminating the need for manufacturers to intervene manually or bring robotics into their production lines. MetalFAB1 is set to be one of the first fully-integrated metal AM systems on the market, and this should give it a serious competitive edge. Other 3D printer manufacturers and service providers demonstrating at the conference included Desktop Metal with its single pass jetting (SPJ) 3D printing technology and metal injection molding (MIM) powder, EOS with its P 500 powder bed fusion 3D printer that is 30 per cent cheaper and twice as fast as the P 396, Mass Portal with the Dynasty AMS, and XJet with its Carmel 1400. Another sign that 3D printing is entering the age of production is the introduction of established manufacturing companies from outside the AM field, such as Trumpf and HP. German machining firm Trumpf has a turnover of 3.1 billion euros ($3.6 billion), and is looking to expand even further by helping to bring 3D printing into series production. Building on its expertise from the development of CNC laser cutting and other sheet metal working techniques, Trumpf now offers five different 3D printing systems for manufacturers to implement into their large-scale production process. The company is already aiming high with the new TruPrint 5000 3D printer, which it claims can meet the stringent quality requirements for aerospace and the medical sector. Trumpf is also pioneering the laser-cladding process, whereby 3D structures are welded onto existing products. This is particularly useful for the renewal of wear layers on gears and drill bits. HP is also throwing its hat into the 3D printing ring in a big way, after decades of success with more traditional consumer electronics. Its HP Jet Fusion 3D 4210 printing system, which is designed for industrial-scale 3D manufacturing environments, has been generating some serious buzz. The system should be capable of lowering overall operating costs for manufacturers, while increasing production volume capabilities. The break-even point for large-scale 3-D manufacturing will apparently be raised to up to 110,000 parts (5-cu.-m parts), and the Jet Fusion printers advanced thermoplastics manufacturing technology offers a cost per part of up to 65 percent less than the average cost of comparable FDM and SLS printers. But while these big machinesfrom companies both new to 3D printing and vastly familiar with itare making the most serious contributions to 3D printing as a means of production, further evidence of changing trends in the additive manufacturing industry can be found with companies on the opposite end of the spectrum to GE and SLM Solutions: smaller 3D printing companies that made their name in desktop 3D printing but which now seem to be aiming for production-ready systems. Italys Roboze is a good example. Known for its beltless Roboze One FDM 3D printer, the Bari-based company offered a completely new solution at formnext. That new 3D printer is the ARGO 500, whose ability to print carbon-reinforced PEEK and other materials makes it suitable for the fabrication of end-use parts in a variety of industries. With formnext 2018 already in the works, it remains to be seen just how big a leap 3D printing can make from prototyping to production, but major advancements in design, materials, 3D printers, post-processing, any other technologies mean that additive manufacturing is staking its claim as a viable production technology of the future. Integrated factories with systems that can increase automation and speed up production times will only help 3D printing's cause, helping additive manufacturing tackle further industries beyond its current reach. Over the next few years, we're likely to see the 3D printing and finishing process become increasingly industrialized, and the major trend seems to be towards AM being an everyday option for manufacturers for full-scale series production. Posted in 3D Printing Applications Maybe you also like: Taylor Plimpton at The Paris Review: Perhaps no modern writer has experienced as much political turmoil and upheaval as the great Polish storyteller Ryszard Kapuscinski. Take, for instance, his claim that during his time serving as a reporter and war correspondent, he witnessed twenty-seven coups and revolutions and was sentenced to death four times. One might expect Kapuscinski to have a particularly informed response to the question that seems to be on so many peoples minds these days: What, if any, is the social or political responsibility of the artist? Or, to put it another way: Should writers be writing for a cause? Penned thirty-five years ago, Shah of Shahs is Kapuscinskis retelling of the most notorious revolution that he ever experienced firsthandthe Iranian Revolution of 1979. The book is a brilliant, nuanced portrait of a country and its corrupt leader in the tumultuous days leading up to and following his removal from power. Yet, upon close examination of the text, it seems that the authors allegiance isnt to any political party or ideology or causehe is as harsh a critic of the powers that toppled the Shah as he is of the Shah himself. Instead, his allegiance is simply to art, and to the truth. more here. The Marker is the quintessential downtown San Francisco social event space. From casual cocktail receptions to upscale weddings, and everything in between, The Marker is your social event destination. With catering provided by Tratto Restaurant, your night in the heart of San Francisco is set to be nothing short of memorable. The AAA Four-Diamond, award-winning boutique hotel features over 12,000 square feet of event space and 13 beautiful and flexible venues. Luxury Boutique Hotel in Union Square Housed in a turn-of-the-century building in the heart of downtown San Francisco, The Marker, a Joie de Vivre Hotel, is located just steps away from the historic beauty of Union Square. Distinct among San Francisco's lifestyle hotels, the signature warmth permeates the property from the service to the design of the interiors. Surrounded by the city's top theaters, restaurants, museums and shops, the urban boutique hotel features 208 newly renovated, vibrant and stylish guest rooms. Bellevue Room at The Marker San Francisco Tratto is a spirited, bar-driven restaurant serving rustic Italian fare with modern sensibilities. Tratto means the stroke of a pen in Italian, a nod to the neighborhood's artistic history. A flavorful menu of simple, delicious and shareable dishes coupled with casual, communal-style dining creates a friendly, neighborhood bar experience inspired by the Italian happy hour tradition of "aperitivo." // To book your next meeting or event at The Marker San Francisco, call 415.292.8130 or visit themarkersanfrancisco.com. Altona is a cashed up ASX listed company with a record of shareholder returns. It is focussed on the Cloncurry Copper Project in Queensland, Australia. The Cloncurry Copper Project has resources containing some 1.65 million tonnes of copper and 0.43 million ounces of gold. The first development envisaged is the 7 million tonnes per annum Little Eva open pit copper-gold mine and concentrator. North Portia MOU Gives Impetus to Copper Growth Strategy Adelaide, Nov 22, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Havilah Resources Limited ( ASX:HAV ) (Havilah) is pleased to advise that it has signed a binding Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Consolidated Mining and Civil Pty Ltd (CMC), its mining partner at the Portia Gold Mine (Portia) with respect to the North Portia Copper-Gold deposit (North Portia). This MOU will give CMC an exclusive option to develop the North Portia mine, which lies 500 metres north of Portia on the same mining lease. North Portia is one of the key assets identified in Havilah's Copper Growth Strategy. HIGHLIGHTS - Implementation of an agreed and jointly funded work program to complete a PFS and required permitting. - CMC granted an exclusive option to develop the North Portia Copper-Gold deposit. - Exclusive option expires on 30 June 2018 to enter into a development agreement on terms to be agreed. - Important positive step forward in execution of Havilah's Copper Growth Strategy. The management teams of both CMC and Havilah consider that there are many potential advantages in this logical next step in development of the Portia district having regard to the extensive shared experience gained through mining Portia over the last three years. This knowledge and the infrastructure already in place means that there will be considerable efficiencies that can be applied to the development and operation of North Portia. Under the exclusive option, CMC will have until 30 June 2018 to enter into a development agreement for North Portia on terms to be agreed. During the exclusive option period, CMC and Havilah have agreed on a shared work program that is designed to provide the key information to assist CMC and Havilah to determine a mutually acceptable arrangement that will result in the development of North Portia, namely: 1. The parties will jointly undertake the completion of a pre-feasibility study (PFS) and detailed mine design. 2. CMC will be responsible for funding and engaging the relevant technical specialists to complete the detailed metallurgical testwork on drillcore samples and process design studies. 3. Havilah will be responsible for funding and delivering a JORC Measured and Indicated Resource, the independent verification of the North Portia copper-gold resource, and for securing all permitting required. The timing of the objectives of this work are: - Complete the PFS by the end of June 2018. - Negotiate and agree on a development arrangement for North Portia by the end of June 2018. - Commence overburden removal at North Portia by July 2018. The initial mining target will be approximately 5 million tonnes of free digging secondary saprolite gold and copper-gold material above 150 metres depth. It is expected that all of this material will be able to be processed in the Portia gold plant, with the addition of a flotation circuit to recover the finer free gold and the copper sulphides. Commenting on the future co-operation for the advancement of North Portia, CMC Managing Director, Mr Steve Radford, OAM said: "We are very excited to be at this point with Havilah entering into a MOU for the advancement of the copper gold deposit at North Portia. "CMC is honoured to be involved with this new project and has proven to Havilah that it can deliver excellence and has the ability to take North Portia to the next level. "CMC are passionate to deliver positive outcomes for not only Havilah and its shareholders, but also Broken Hill, surrounding communities and other stakeholders. "The opportunity for CMC to develop North Portia made perfect sense after having laid such a solid successful foundation already working with Havilah on the current Portia Gold Mine. "We intend to build upon and value add to the infrastructure we currently have on site, whilst using the vast knowledge and learnings from the many challenges faced and overcome so far to drive further mining opportunities. "It is suggested that North Portia may have a ten year mine life (subject to completion of a PFS and an independent verification of the North Portia copper-gold resource) which we will incorporate in the mining and processing of the North Portia ore. "CMC see's Havilah's "Copper Growth Strategy" as a timely opportunity with the global demand for certain commodites set to increase . "Should the North Portia PFS show favourable signs then we will make it happen because that's what we do", he said. Commenting on the North Portia MOU, Technical Director, Dr Chris Giles said: "We think it makes a lot of sense for CMC and Havilah to jointly conduct the PFS for the development of North Portia. "We both have a lot of hard won knowledge from the Portia operation that is directly applicable to North Portia and which will greatly enhance our planning and execution ability. "The site infrastructure established for Portia, such as the processing plant, camp, workshop and many other assets, can be used for North Portia and will save considerably on capital expenditures. "CMC have proven themselves to be very competent mine and plant operators and they would certainly be capable of developing and operating North Portia. "The Portia open pit itself might prove to be of considerable benefit as an environmentally acceptable storage area for the North Portia sulphide tails and waste. "The impetus that will be given to North Portia via this MOU we see as one of the key steps in the execution of our Copper Growth Strategy ", he said. About North Portia North Portia contains a JORC Indicated and Inferred Resource estimate of 11.3 million tonnes of 0.89% Cu, 0.64 g/t Au and 500 ppm Mo (refer to ASX announcement of 23 November 2010), based on Havilah's resource drilling that followed up on Pasminco's discovery drilling. The deposit consists of a primary chalcopyrite dominant sulphide zone below about 150 metres depth with encouraging earlier Pasminco diamond drilling results that include 74 metres (true width) of 1.06% copper and 1.2 g/t gold. Above this occurs a secondary enriched zone of copper and gold mineralisation in saprolite material that has been the objective of Havilah's drilling over the last eighteen months in order to improve confidence in this part of the resource and elevate it to Measured status. A re-estimate of the resource will be completed once latest drilling results are received, but present indications are that there is of the order of 5 million tonnes of economic grade gold and copper-gold material above this level, which will be free digging. This drilling has clearly delineated a gold enriched cap that sits on top of the underlying copper sulphide mineralisation, which can be processed in the existing Portia gold plant, with some upgrades to recover the finer free gold that is present. The secondary copper sulphide mineralisation is dominated by chalcocite. Owing to the high abundance of fine clay component it has been found that an initial de-sliming step can reduce mass of material by 50% for negligible loss of copper, which would reduce The additional definitive metallurgical work based on drillcore samples that is planned to be conducted with CMC is designed to produce a fully costed process flow sheet. To view tables and figures, please visit: http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/E2064QKT About Havilah Resources Ltd Havilah Resources Ltd (ASX:HAV) is a debt free South Australian gold producer having recently financed and developed its first gold mine at Portia in north-eastern South Australia. It plans to follow on with three copper-gold-cobalt mining developments at North Portia, Kalkaroo and Mutooroo, which are underpinned by a JORC resources mineral inventory of over 1.4 million tonnes of copper, 3.6 million ounces of gold, and 18,000 tonnes of cobalt. Infill Magneto-Telluric Surveying to Proceed at Maslins Adelaide, Nov 22, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Investigator Resources Limited ( ASX:IVR ) is pleased to announce it will be participating in a magneto-telluric ("MT") geophysical survey over the Maslins iron oxide copper gold ("IOCG") target in the Carrapateena district of South Australia (see Figure 1 in link below). This will advance the understanding of the Maslins target at a small cost to the Company and will assist a decision to drill the target during 2018 while Investigator is focussing on drilling the Paris silver extensions and the Nankivel porphyry copper-gold target. During 2006 to 2014, researchers recognised an upwards plume of MT conductivity beneath the giant Olympic Dam IOCG deposit. This provided the breakthrough concept of deep-seeing MT being able to map metal tapping structures as vectors to undiscovered IOCG deposits. A national (AusLAMP) survey on coarsely spaced MT stations subsequently showed a deep MT conductivity corridor connects the Prominent Hill, Olympic Dam and Carrapateena IOCG deposits and extends southwards into the Maslins area (see Figure 1 in link below). The Maslins area was pegged by Investigator as the revised and under-explored extension of the Olympic Dam IOCG belt. The Maslins target was modelled from existing gravity data as a large body of the right size and density to be a substantial IOCG target with an acceptable depth to top of about 600 metres below the surface (IVR ASX announcement: 15 February 2016). Investigator perceives from the coarse AusLAMP data that there is potential for a prospective upward MT vector towards Maslins similar to the well-defined vector directed towards Olympic Dam (see Figure 1 in link below). The Maslins target has the potential to fill the substantial gap in sizes between the Olympic Dam deposit and the smaller Prominent Hill and Carrapateena IOCG deposits. Government agencies Geoscience Australia ("GA") and the Geological Survey of South Australia ("GSSA") are preparing to undertake an infill MT survey within the next two months of the Carrapateena section of the MT corridor that includes the Maslins area. To fast-track the evaluation of the Maslins IOCG target, Investigator will undertake a small amount of additional MT surveying in January to ensure the interpreted target vector is adequately detailed to advance the assessment of the Maslins gravity target. To view figures, please visit: http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/32ET490O About Investigator Resources Ltd Investigator Resources Limited (ASX:IVR) is a metals explorer with a focus on the opportunities for greenfields silver-lead, copper-gold and other metal discoveries in South Australia. The Company's priority is progressing the development pathway for the Paris silver project with the preparation of a pre-feasibility study. The Paris Mineral Resource Estimate is 9.3Mt @ 139g/t silver and 0.6% lead, comprising 42Moz of contained silver and 55kt of contained lead, at a 50g/t silver cut-off. The resource has been categorised with an Indicated Resource estimate of 4.3Mt @ 163g/t silver and 0.6% lead for 23Moz contained silver and 26kt contained lead, and an Inferred Resource: 5.0Mt @ 119g/t silver and 0.6% lead for 19Moz contained silver and 29kt contained lead. The Company has applied an innovative strategy that has developed multiple ideas and targets giving Investigator first-mover status. These include: the Paris silver discovery; recognition of other epithermal fields and the associated potential for porphyry copper-gold of Olympic Dam age; extending the ideas developed at Paris-Nankivel and using breakthrough government Magneto-Telluric surveying to rejuvenate targeting with the Maslins IOCG target as the next priority drill target. FULLY UNDERWRITTEN A$35.6M FUNDING PACKAGE Sydney, Nov 22, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Lithium Power International Limited ( ASX:LPI ) ( LTHHF:OTCMKTS ) ("LPI" or "the Company") is pleased to announce the completion of a heavily oversubscribed placement of new fully paid ordinary shares to institutional, existing and new sophisticated investors ("Placement"). The Placement is fully underwritten by Canaccord Genuity (Australia) Limited ("Canaccord"). Canaccord has also agreed to fully underwrite the exercise of all quoted LPIO options which are due to expire this Friday, 24 November 2017. Highlights - LPI completes heavily oversubscribed A$15m underwritten Placement and announces underwritten ~A$20.6m option package. - LPI is fully funded to complete Maricunga JV earn-in and undertake pre-construction activities prior to a development decision at Maricunga. LPI's shares will resume normal trading on ASX at the commencement of trading on 22 November 2017. Completion of Underwritten Placement The Company announces completion of the Placement, which will raise A$15 million before costs. The Placement was undertaken at an issue price of A$0.55 per share, representing: - a 15.4% discount to the last closing share price of LPI shares on Friday, 17 November 2017 of $0.65; and - a 9.7% discount to the 10 day volume weighted average price of LPI shares trading on ASX up to and including 17 November 2017. The Placement will result in the issue of approximately 27.27 million new shares and is being conducted using the Company's available capacity under ASX Listing Rule 7.1. The Company expects to issue the new shares under the Placement on Wednesday, 29 November 2017. The Company is pleased to advise that the Placement was heavily oversubscribed with funds allocated to high-quality domestic and international investors, the majority of whom will be new shareholders of the Company. The significant enhancement of LPI's share register is an important milestone for the Company ahead of pre-construction development work at Maricunga. Underwriting of LPIO Options In conjunction with the fully underwritten Placement, on 22 November 2017 LPI and Canaccord entered into an underwriting agreement with regard to the exercise of all of the listed LPIO options ("Options"). The Options have an exercise price of A$0.55 per share, being the same issue price as the Placement, and will expire on Friday, 24 November 2017. There are approximately 37.53 million Options on issue and accordingly a total of approximately A$20.6 million (before costs) will be raised through the exercise and underwriting of the Options. This will result in the issue of 37.53 million new shares. Option holders who have validly exercised their Options are expected to be issued shares no later than Wednesday, 29 November 2017. Shares representing any shortfall in the exercise of Options are expected to be issued on or around Monday, 4 December 2017. In consideration for agreeing to underwrite the exercise of all the Options, LPI will pay to Canaccord: - a management and selling fee of 1.5% of the gross proceeds of the exercise of the Options, where the gross proceeds is calculated by multiplying the total number of Options on issue by the Option exercise price of $0.55; and - an underwriting fee of 3.5% of the shortfall proceeds of the underwriting of the Options, where the shortfall proceeds is calculated by multiplying the number of Options which were not validly exercised by the Option holders by the Option expiry date (ie the shortfall) by the Option exercise price of $0.55. On completion of the Placement and underwriting of the Options, LPI will have approximately 260.7 million fully paid ordinary shares on issue. LPI Fully Funded through to Development Decision The Company will now be fully funded through to the Maricunga project final investment decision. Specifically, funds raised through the Placement and the exercise and underwriting of the Options will be applied to: - Expedite payments of the remaining US$7.5m earn-in which will finalise LPI's 50% ownership in the Maricunga Joint Venture. The payments are due in three instalments up to September 2018; - Contribute to pre-construction programs within the Maricunga Joint Venture; - Other strategic initiatives associated with the Maricunga Joint Venture; - Exploration activities at LPI's Western Australia tenements; and - Provide general working capital. LPI's Chief Executive Officer, Martin Holland, commented: "We are pleased to announce the successful capital raise via an institutional placement of A$15m along with the full underwriting of LPIO Options for the value of A$20.6m. The calibre of new investors on our share register provides the Company with a strong support base ahead of the Maricunga project development decision. Funds raised will be used to complete the outstanding earn-in payments required for LPI to finalise its 50% interest in the Maricunga Joint Venture. We will also apply funds to pre-construction work programs and other strategic initiatives associated with the Maricunga development. LPI will also engage in additional exploration at its Western Australian, Greenbushes tenements in calendar year 2018. We wish to thank Canaccord for their assistance in the process leading up to the Placement and for the underwriting of both the Placement and Options issues. Finally, the Board of LPI wishes to thank both existing shareholders for their continued support and welcome the new shareholders to the Company, as we take the next exciting steps in the development of LPI's flagship Maricunga project, Chile's next lithium mine. Development of high quality, strategic assets such as the Maricunga project is an important part of providing real lithium supply to the market to allow the paradigm shift from petrol to electric to occur. We are now a company that is responsible for this execution". About Lithium Power International Ltd Lithium Power International Limited (ASX:LPI) is a pure-play lithium explorer and developer, focusing on developing and fast-tracking to production the high-grade Maricunga lithium brine project in Chile. LPI has a well-known performing technical team with the experience to take the Maricunga project all the way through the development stages to production. The regions that LPI is currently focused on are: 1. Maricunga JV (Chile) - Located within the "Lithium Triangle", Maricunga is Chile's highest grade and most advanced lithium project outside the Salar de Atacama. The project lies 170 km northeast of Copiapo and 250 km from the port of Caldera. 2. Pilbara (Western Australia) - LPI has three granted exploration tenements covering 203 km2 in the Pilbara region of northern Western Australia. The largest granted exploration tenement is the Pilgangoora tenement which is 2-3 km west of the Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) and Altura Mining (ASX:AJM) lithium deposits. 3. Greenbushes (Western Australia) - LPI has two granted exploration tenements covering 400 km2 in the Greenbushes area of southern Western Australia. The tenements are adjacent to the world's largest hard rock lithium mine owned and operated by Tianqi/Talison. 4. Centenario (Argentina) - Through its Argentinian subsidiary, Lithium Power holds a total of seven granted tenements in the Centenario lithium brine salar within the Salta province of the Puna Plateau. In total, the seven granted tenements cover an area of 68.46 km2. With the exception of the Maricunga JV, all tenements are 100% owned by LPI or LPSA (including rights to the Centenario tenements). Chairman's Address to Shareholders Sydney, Nov 22, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Thomson Resources Ltd ( ASX:TMZ ) provides the Chairman's Address to Shareholders and CEO's presentation at 2017 Annual General Meeting. Thomson continues a quality exploration program with its principal focus being on tin opportunities in New South Wales. Given its historic production and prospectivity, New South Wales continues to be one of the best places for tin exploration in Australia. The Company's principal focus over the year has been the Bygoo project, near the old Ardlethan tin mine in southwestern New South Wales. Thomson conducted two additional drilling programs over the period at Bygoo North and Bygoo South. All drilling programs to date have revealed substantial high-grade tin intersections with clear evidence that the Company has discovered an important new tin district to the north of NSW's largest tin deposit. In addition, the Company expanded its coverage of potential mineralised systems in the Ardlethan region with the grant of EL 8531 which covers the southern end of the tin-bearing Ardlethan Granite, including historic tin workings which have not benefited from modern exploration methods, including Bald Hill and Frews. Also included are gold occurrences at Mallee Hen and Harry Smith. This exploration licence is part of the Bygoo farm-in agreement and will be funded as such. Thomson has interests in 15 granted ELs covering a total of 1316 square kilometres. Ten of these ELs have been farmed out in joint-venture arrangements with a range of companies including, Kidman Resources ( ASX:KDR ), Silver City Minerals Limited ( ASX:SCI ), Silver Mines Limited ( ASX:SVL ) and Variscan Mines Limited ( ASX:VAR ), plus private investors. I am happy to confirm that staged payments under the Bygoo Farm-In agreement signed with Canadian investors (BeiSur OstBarat Agency Ltd. or its nominee) to support our tin exploration have continued, albeit with variations to the schedule. Payments totalling $790,000 have now been received allowing preparations for the next drill campaign to commence. Delays in obtaining regulatory approvals and associated fund raising in Canada, resulted in changes to the payments schedule, in turn delaying on-ground activities in Australia. Receipt of the latest instalment of $420,000, allows the next drill campaign at Bygoo to get underway. Further staged payments are due monthly through to end February 2018, with a final payment to reach the cumulative $3 million due on or before June 30, 2018. At that point an option is available to contribute an additional $22 million to earn a further 25% interest, exercisable until 1 October, 2018. During the year, Thomson was awarded two drilling grants by the State Government under the NSW Government's New Frontiers Cooperative Drilling Scheme. The Company, however, has elected not to proceed with this drilling for the time being given its main focus being on the Bygoo project. These are exciting times for the Company with an excellent tin project, good exploration projects, and a significant source of funding. Clearly, the Ardlethan area offers an immense opportunity for further discoveries of substantial tin resources. The Board is extremely grateful for the strong shareholder support of the Company and also recognises the outstanding technical capacity of our CEO, Mr Eoin Rothery. To view the release, please visit: http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/L844X60B To view AGM Presentation. please visit: http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/65035NJ9 About Thomson Resources Ltd Thomson Resources Ltd (ASX:TMZ) is an NSW active mineral explorer. Thomson has several tin projects (including an advanced project near Ardlethan), as well as gold, copper and zinc targets in a range of settings. Thomson has a good record of discovery, with multiple new Intrusion-Related Gold (gold with copper, lead, zinc, molybdenum, tungsten) systems discovered in the Thomson Fold Belt in the NW of the state. Final 2017 JORC Resource Update Including Auer and Auer North Sydney, Nov 22, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Hastings Technology Metals Limited ( ASX:HAS ) advises that the final JORC Resource Estimate for 2017 has been completed establishing total resources of 21.0 million tonnes at 1.17% Total Rare Earths Oxides (TREO) including 0.4% neodymium oxide plus praseodymium oxide (Nd2O3+Pr6O11). These figures include the first Indicated Resources at Auer and expanded Indicated Resources at Auer North from the final drilling results of the 2017 drilling programme. HIGHLIGHTS - Successful infill drilling at Auer and Auer North deposits - Updated JORC Resources of 21.0 million tonnes at 1.17% TREO including 0.40%Nd2O3+Pr6O11 - New JORC Resources include first Indicated Resources at Auer of over 260,000 tonnes - New JORC Resources include expanded Indicated Resources at Auer North of over 300,000 tonnes - Final assay results from diamond drilling at various deposits in line with expectations - Diamond drillhole at Simon's Find returns high grade 5.45m at 5.30% Niobium Nb2O5 FINAL 2017 JORC RESOURCE ESTIMATE Following the completion of the 2017 exploration drilling programme at the Yangibana Project, an updated JORC Resource estimate has been assessed by independent consultants Widenbar and Associates Pty Limited that provides a marginal increase to the resources reported in the ASX release dated 12th October 2017. The updated resource estimate incorporates results from recent drilling at the Auer and Auer North deposits as detailed below. Total Resources now stand at 21.0mt as shown in Table 1 (see link below). Note that resource tonnes in the following tables are rounded to the nearest 100,000 tonnes. These resources include those within tenements held 100% by Hastings (see Table 2 in link below) and those held in joint venture with Hastings holding 70% interest (see Table 3 in link below). AUER AND AUER NORTH RESOURCES Recent reverse circulation (RC) infill and depth-extension drilling at the Auer and Auer North deposits was concentrated on Zones 2 and 3 at Auer (see Figure 1 in link below) and at Zone 1 at Auer North (see Figure 2 in link below). Best intersections returned from this programme are shown in Table 4 (see link below). Due to the steep nature of the mineralisation at Auer and Auer North, true thicknesses are approximately 50% of intersected thicknesses. Drillhole parameters are provided in Appendix 1 (see link below) and detailed assays for the selected intervals are provided in Appendix 2 (see link below). Incorporating these results, independent consultant Widenbar and Associates Pty Limited has estimated JORC Resources at Auer and Auer North as shown in Tables 5 and 6 (see link below) respectively, rounded to the nearest 100 tonnes. Figure 3 (see link below) provides a longitudinal section covering both Auer and Auer North deposits showing the m%Nd2O3+Pr6O11 accumulations. The grade and mineralisation-style are compatible with the proposed processing route and these new Indicated Resources will extend the life of the Yangibana operation. Additional drilling is required to further expand and upgrade resources at both deposits. DIAMOND DRILLING RESULTS Final results have been received from the Company's 2017 diamond drilling programme with best intersections as shown in Table 7 (see link below). NIOBIUM As reported in the ASX announcement of 9th October 2017, highly anomalous niobium assay results have been received from drilling at the Simon's Find prospect. Recent diamond drill results include the exceptional interval in SFDD002 from 27.55-33.0m of 5.45m at 5.30%Nb2O5. To view tables and figures, please visit: http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/79K3WLTP 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. GKN Aerospace's Fokker business has obtained the Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) from EASA for the introduction of the ADS-B Out modification on the Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 fleet. Early this year Fokker has been selected by Air Iceland Connect for the ADS-B Out installation on its entire Dash 8 fleet. After having obtained the STC for the Dash 8 Q200 a few months ago, Fokker is now introducing new ATC Transponders on the Bombardier Dash 8 Q400. The new Transponders are a form-fit replacement for legacy Transponders which in most cases need to be replaced. In the meantime, Fokker has also applied for the FAA STC which is expected later this year. GKN Aerospace has succesfully obtained an EASA STC for the ADS-B Out modification on the Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 ADS-B Out (Automatic Dependent Surveillance - Broadcast) is a common system onboard many aircraft that automatically broadcasts relevant data from the aircraft towards air traffic management organizations. ADS-B Out data includes the identity of the aircraft, the GPS location and direction of flight. A new ADS-B Out system will become mandatory in June 2020 in Europe and the USA. The new ADS-B Out mandate involves an upgrade or replacement of two major cockpit systems: the ATC Transponder and GPS Receiver. This will enable optimization of the airspace and minimize the use of ground radar stations. In the next decade, most of the airspace throughout the globe will be using ADS-B as the primary means of surveillance, replacing radar. This will include the oceanic environment (Satellite ADS-B). Erik Lous, Product Manager ADS-B Out at Fokker Services: We are pleased to have obtained the STC for ADS-B Out modification with the new Transponders. It will allow customers to modify the aircraft with a minimum of downtime. The STC was obtained in the shortest possible time thanks to our engineering team, our airworthiness department and support by EASA and Air Iceland Connect, the lessons learned in this project form a solid basis for our other ADS-B out certification projects for a wide range of aircraft types, both regional as well as narrowbody aircraft. Leifur Gumundsson, Technical Director at Air Iceland Connect: We are pleased to be an early adaptor of ADS-B Out which enables us to navigate more accurately and gives more frequent updates of the aircrafts position than radar. Furthermore, the system allows a reduction of aircraft separation and reduced separation means less restriction on aircraft routing and altitude compared to oceanic separation, leading to reduced fuel consumption and reduced CO2 emission. With a sharp fling back response to Bharatiya Janata Partys Bihar president and MP from Ujiyarpur Nityanand Rais controversial remark to chop off the fingers and hands of people who voice criticism against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Rabri Devi hit back adding there are many in Bihar who will slit Modis neck and chop his hands. Soon after Rais address to a summit of the OBC communities of Vaishya and Kanu in Patna on Monday, widespread condemnation started that pushed him to apologise and calling it a colloquial idiomatic expression in Hindi. This is one of the myriad instances in recent times when Indias ruling party has shown their violent front making distasteful comments. Adding to the list, BJP has again made their strict Hindu extremism evident in Balia, Uttar Pradesh when the police asked a Muslim woman in Adityanaths rally to remove her burqa. As agencies report, police were instructed to keep an eye that no one shows black cloth to UP CM. The video went viral. It shows three policewomen approaching a burqa-clad woman and the woman is seen taking it off after a fleeting dispute. On the same line this video too was criticised by many and created uproar on social media. And the queue doesnt end here. The impatient, aggressive and threatening image of BJP grabbed the focus with Haryana BJP leader Surajpal Singh Amu allegedly announcing Rs 10 crore reward to anyone beheading Bollywood filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali and actor Deepika Padukone for improperly depicting characters in upcoming magnum opus Padmavati. Surajpal Singh Amu also went on to threaten Ranveer Singh to break the legs, who plays the role of Alauddin Khilji, the Delhi Sultan obsessed about the legendary 13th Century Queen of Chittor. Politicians and controversies are not new to us, but these days the intolerance has grown to a level that ruling party leaders started restoring to violence. Recently, Bharatiya Janata Partys Bihar Chief Nityanand Rai issued a statement threatening to all dissenters of Modi, stating that the fingers or hands raised against the Prime Minister will be broken or chopped off. Rai is unfazed by criticism of the apparent threat. Only those who are anti-national and anti-poor will object to the statement. The comment comes close to a huge hullabaloo over a BJP leader in Haryana, Surajpal Amu, announcing a bounty of Rs 10 crore for the heads of actor Deepika Padukone and director Sanjay Leela Bhansali in the middle of Rajput protests against their film Padmavati. Another example is Anurag Thakur, he called Sonia Gandhi a witch and accused her of many things but later on he denied saying that the account is fake and he has no idea about the post. But this is not the first time the party has been left red faced due to vicious, offensive and venomous statements by some of its leaders. Let it be in rallies or in the Parliament, BJP leaders always let lose their tongue. Moreover, social media had its fair share of fun. Whatever comments minsters make, there is one section that is of their supporters and another section is of opponents. Within no times things go viral. How can we forget BJPs UP vice presidents remark comparing BSP supremo Mayawati to a prostitute that did not go down too well with the BJP, which immediately sacked the leader. But his wife was not only given seat but she is one of the cabinet ministers in UP government. Sakshi Maharaj also courted his fair share of controversies. For him Gandhis assassin, Nathuram Godse was a patriot and martyr. During a rally in Meerut in 2015, he asked Hindu women to produce at least four children to protect Hinduism. Defending Ghar Wapsi, he had also argued for death sentence for anybody indulging in cow slaughter or religious conversion. Remember, Yogi Adityanath saying that Shah Rukh Khan should remember that if a huge mass in society would boycott his films, he would also have to wander on streets like a normal Muslim. He also called the actor a terrorist. These comments came at a time when the intolerance debate had gripped the country in November 2015. Sadhvi Prachi, a Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader is not directly related to the BJP, but her pro-Hindutva rhetoric has been an embarrassment to the party. She has called for making India Muslim-free, announced a reward of Rs 50 lakh to any person who will behead Islamic preacher Zakir Naik and wishes to boycott Shah Rukh Khan, for being, well, a Muslim. In the light of Dadri lynching, Prachi openly legitimised such action against anybody who consumes beef. She also thinks anybody who does not chant Bharat Mata ki Jai does not have any right to live in India. It was at a rally in West Delhis Shyam Nagar, that BJP Union Minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti asked voters to choose between Ramzaade or Haraamzaade. The venomous rhetoric not only embarrassed the BJP, it was indicative of how easily a leader can get away with deeply disturbing polarised hate speeches. In August 2015, she also urged Hindu women to never marry out of their community as it disrupts religious equilibrium. Giriraj Singh is a prominent BJP face in Bihar. But he created quite a storm when he called Modis detractors Pakistanis. Those who want to stop BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi will soon have no place in Indiabecause their place will be in Pakistan. Babulal Gaur and his (obnoxious) understanding of rape came into light when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was discussing the discourse of womens safety at Red Fort on Independence Day. Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Babulal Gaur was enlightening people with his warped understanding or rape. For Gaur, rape is a social crime that is sometimes right, sometimes wrong. He also believes a government cannot ensure womens safety or whether they get raped. The talk of leaders and vicious remarks will be incomplete without mentioning BJPs parent organisation RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. Bhagwat feels India is a Hindu nation and Hindutva is its identity. Hindustan is a Hindu nation. Hereafter we will call this kind of member parliamentarians as member of butchers. Let him understand there are several leaders rose from even from the worst levels than PM. BJP, which has only 10 MLAs in the House of 147 members, however, expects 120 MLAs in the next general elections in 2019. Will BJP National President Amit Shahs calculations come true if BJP ignores the interest of the people? BJP claims that it has been fighting for the people of the state, but it needs to prove its credibility. For BJP or any other political party, things are not that easy as the saffron brigade believes. One has to win the confidence of the people before getting their votes. Naveen Patnaik has done it to certain extent by introducing cheap rice and several pro-people schemes. A group of leaders in the state have landed the saffron party in trouble for not having adequate field experience in reading the peoples pulse. BJP leaders need to understand peoples perception, which is very important. When saffron brigade is out to dislodge a deeply rooted faith in PM, their distance from peoples cause will turn a stumbling block to achieving their goal. (Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@afternoonvoice.com) The Russian parliaments upper house on Wednesday backed a law that would require international media outlets to register as foreign agents, following US pressure on the Kremlin-backed RT television channel. The legislation, which parliaments lower house, the State Duma, unanimously backed in a fast-tracked vote last week, would allow Moscow to target foreign media outlets in a similar way it has gone for NGOs that receive international funding. Many NGOs have closed in response to the intense scrutiny. Under the new legislation, US and other foreign media would have to present themselves as such on all paperwork and submit to intensive scrutiny of staffing and financing. Senators voted through the law in a morning session, the state TASS news agency reported. The legislation will come into effect when it is signed by President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlins council for human rights had recommended the Senate reject the bill, saying it was vaguely worded and difficult to reasonably enforce. Any foreign media could be labelled a foreign agent quite arbitrarily by the justice ministry of the Russian Federation, the council said in a statement on Monday. Russias justice ministry said last week it had already contacted the US-funded Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty to inform them they might have to start labelling themselves as foreign agents. RT television, which is funded by the Kremlin to give a Russian point of view on international affairs, confirmed this month it had registered as a foreign agent in the United States, meeting a deadline from the US Department of Justice. Washington considers RT a propaganda arm of the Kremlin and told it to register its American operation under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which is aimed at lobbyists and lawyers representing foreign political interests. Web Toolbar by Wibiya Recently appointed and Ottawa-based Superior Court Justice Sylvia Corthorn now faces criminal obstruction of justice charges. She is scheduled to be arraigned sometime early January 2018 in the Ottawa courthouse at 161 Elgin Street. Justice Corthorn has been linked to a cesspool of on-going apparent corruption in the Civil Division of the Superior Court of Justice. However, only Madame Corthorn was bold enough to expose herself to the prospects of criminal charges. R. Samuels had filed Statement of Claims to the Ottawa Courthouse. One was against his father for having lied to the Ottawa Police that he suffers from mental illness in order to deflect Police from investigating his fathers role is perpetuating abuse against his Mom which has resulted in her not being able to walk, talk and write. Another Claim was against the Ottawa Police for their illegal activities which including harassment against R. Samuels. Justice Beaudoin, one of the ethical Judges at the Ottawa Courthouse had approved R. Samuels bringing a Motion to the Court to get Sylvia Corthon kicked-off of presiding any further over specious Defence Motions for Summary Judgement and Vexatious Litigation filed by Bell Baker John E. Summers, Defence Counsel of the abusive father. The corrupt activities of Sylvia Corthorns orchestrated Kangaroo Court against R. Samuels was just too voluminous for J. Beaudoin to ignore. When Justice Sylvia Corthon received news of the Recusal Motion that R Samuels had filed and that J. Beaudoin approved, she became fearful that her plot to conspire with John Summers and the Ottawa Police in a separate court proceeding would be threatened by the Recusal Motion. So, Justice Corthorn then decided she was simply going to ignore due process of law that R. Samuels was entitled, and quickly rule in favour of John Summers and the Ottawa Police by endorsing Summary Judgement and declaring R. Samuels a Vexation Litigant so that she could also throw out R. Samuels harassment claims against dirty cops at the Ottawa Police Service. These include Detective Robert Griffin Jr and his co-conspirators who are responsible for also denying the rights of R. Samuels mother who has remained subjected to worsening spousal abuse since January 2014. Justice Corthorn was feeling quite happy after doing her dirty deeds for John Summers and the Ottawa Police Service. Problem is that Justice Corthon forgot the fact that no one is above the law and that includes her. As a Judge, she may be protected from civil charges but not criminal prosecution for her obstruction of justice and conspiracy. And now, she faces criminal charges for her role in a macabre plot which has resulted in R. Samuels mother having been held hostage and abused for more than two years; and her conspiracy to use a Vexatious Litigant declaration as a means to both assist her friend John Summers and her friends at the Ottawa Police. Justice Corthorn was appointed to be a Judge on 23 June 2015 having been an alumnus of the University of Ottawas Law School and having worked as a lawyer for Kelly Santini law firm which is interestingly enough, quite close to where her friend John Summers that she helped works at Bell Baker. John Summers is also an alumnus of the University of Ottawa. That is confirmed by Linkedin profiles. Justice Corthorn continued to maintain the Linkedin profile and we, at The Canadian, have included with this article as a screenshot. The maintenance of this profile by Sylvia Corthorn further questions her judgement. It is apparent that Justice Corthorn sought to seize the file associated with R Samuels so that she could pursue a malevolent Kangaroo Court agenda in which the arrogant rookie Judge that she is, has now exposed her to criminal charges. Justice Corthorns engaged in all kinds of illegal tactics in the courtroom against R. Samuels which were supposed to be scrutinized in a Recusal Motion against her that was endorsed by the Court. But the corrupt Judge that she is apparently, has now created the basis of a mini-Watergate scandal at the Ottawa courthouse. Contact AgoraMedia.ca to learn where and when Justice Corthorn is scheduled to be arraigned in Ottawa on criminal charges. Origins of Ordinary Things: Eyewear The Assyrian Nimrud lens is 3,000 years old and is believed to have been used as a magnifying glass or as part of a telescope. ( British Museum) Eyewear is a common sighting in the modern society. There are several types, serving different purposes majorly vision correction and eye protection during certain activities. For example, sunglasses which most people wear as an accessory in order to make a fashion statement are actually designed to protect the eyes against damage from ultraviolet light that comes from the sun. The invention of eyewear cannot be attributed to a particular person because there is no documentation of the same. What's evident is that the use of eyewear is a process that evolved over several centuries. As early as 700BC, ancient Assyrians, Egyptians, Babylonians, Romans and Greeks were using different objects for magnification. For example, according to Glasses Crafter an eyewear company, ancient Assyrians used polished crystal while ancient Romans and Greeks filled glass spheres with water. There are also recordings of the use of corrective lens in form of an emerald from the first century. The Roman Emperor Nero is said to have held the emerald in front of one eye to watch gladiatorial games. This is according to Glasses Direct, an eyewear company. The first step towards making wearable eyeglasses, according to web-based Glasses History, occurred in Italy during the late 13th century. The frames of those first eyeglasses were made of metal or bone while the lenses were made from quartz since technology was not advanced enough to make glass lenses. After Italy, eyewear spread to European countries such as Germany, Spain, France and England. Up to this point, people were only making convex lenses which magnified objects. According to Zenni Optical, an eyewear company, the target market for such eyeglasses was people over 40. For instance, when an English company Worshipful Company of Spectacles was formed in 1629, their slogan was: "A blessing to the aged." Concave glasses were later developed in order to correct farsightedness. Given that 1300-1700 was the Renaissance, a period during which classical art and intellect were held with high regard, glasses were seen as symbols of intelligence and prosperity. Up to this point, it was not possible for eyeglasses to stay in position. But in 1731, English optician Edward Scarlett made stiff side pieces that were attached to frames and pressed against the temples above the ears to hold glasses into position. This is according to Glasses Direct. The next significant development happened during the 1870s when American inventor Benjamin Franklin developed bifocal glasses so that he didn't have switch glasses for different activities. By 19th century, eyewear was still made by hand and it was therefore available in limited quantities. According to All About Eyes, an eyecare company, mass production started during the industrial revolution. During this time, accurate prescriptions became possible. Since then, there have been several developments and improvements. Eyewear is not one-dimensional anymore. People can now be stylish while also dealing with their eye defects. Assyrians Urge U.S. and Iraq to Prevent Genocide El Cajon, California -- Some 300 members of El Cajon's large Chaldean community gathered at Prescott Promenade in downtown El Cajon on Thursday afternoon to vent their frustrations that the U.S. government is not doing enough to protect ethnic Chaldean Christians who still live in war-torn Iraq and face new persecutions now, even after ISIS has been routed from their homeland. The rally was sponsored by the Chaldean League of California, local Chaldean associations, and the Chaldean Catholic Diocese of St. Peter. Several speakers called for the Iraqi constitution to be amended to assure equality for Muslim and Christian Iraqis and asked for there to be a separation of church and state in Iraq. According to a flyer distributed by the Chaldean League, since the defeat of ISIS, Iraqi Christians have started to return to their overrun towns and villages, yet are once again being forced to flee again when Iraqi and Kurdish forces clash. "Look at the suffering of those people. They have no one to defend them," said Bishop Emanuail Shaleeta of the St. Peter Chaldean Catholic Church in El Cajon. "We are here to support them. We are here to back them. We are here to pray for them. And we are here to talk on their behalf. That's why we are asking the government of Iraq -- the politicians of Iraq and the U.S. government which is present there and in the Kurdistan area. We would ask them to please do not forget about those people. Do not forget their suffering," he said to the crowd of concerned Iraqi immigrants. Bishop Shaleeta said that the present Iraqi government has done little to address this fermenting issue facing the citizens of Iraq. "The Iraqi government and Kurdistan area is making the simple and poor people victim[s] of their politics," he said. Besma Coda, an Iraqi born in the oil-rich area of Basra and educated at Baghdad University, is the co-founder and Chief Operations Officer of Chaldean Middle Eastern Social Services, one of the first non-profit social services for Chaldeans and Arab communities in the United States. The social service agency serves recently arrived Chaldeans in El Cajon. Coda described the plight of the Chaldeans in Iraq. She said that Iraqi Christians are been treated poorly and are being brutalized by Iraqi Muslims and Kurds, who aim to take advantage of their plight. "The Chaldeans are being kidnapped; women and children are terrified to walk the streets at night or even during the day. They are without water, electricity, gas, education and other environmental basic needs," she said. "When people want to take action into their hands and try to hold their towns [from the armies], they are stalked. Hard punishments are taken against them. Iraqi Christians and other minorities need to be become part of the solution to help rebuild their country," she told the crowd. According to organizers of the rally, Iraq is considered by some to be the birthplace of Christianity with the Chaldean, Assyrian, and Syriac communities that are the original architects of Mespotamia, what is thought to be the cradle of modern civilization. In 2017, estimates indicate that due to decades of war, the Christian population of Iraq is now about 200,000 people, down from 1.5 million in 2003. While Arabic and Kurdish are the official languages of Iraq, Turkmen (a Turkish dialect), Syriac (Neo-Aramaic), and Armenian are official in areas where native speakers of these languages constitute a majority of the population, according the Central Intelligence Agency World Factbook. Today, 99 percent of the country is Muslim, followed by Christian,Yazidi and other communities that together amount to less than one percent. Many Christian families have fled to northern Iraq, Recent reports, the protestors say, indicate that the overall Christian population may have dropped by as much as 50 percent since the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime in 2003, with many fleeing to the Middle East Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and the United States. Among the other speakers at the rally, El Cajon City Council member Steve Goble shared his sentiments about the current situation in Iraq, but also credited El Cajon's large Chaldean community for bringing renewed vibrancy to the city. "The Chaldean community has added a lot of value to the El Cajon community. Their arrival have kicked out a lot of the bad elements in El Cajon and chased them away. It is important to support people who contribute to your community. And one of the things that is important to them is peace in their homeland," Goble said. 'Ahmed', a local El Cajon businessman, who didn't want his name revealed (like many others at the rally) said to ECM, "We are here today because many of our people are in pain because of the pressure being put on them on the Iraq and Kurdistan government and we don't need them to be in the middle of this war. We are trying to give voices to people who have no voice." While many of the rally participants in their hearts yearn to return to their country and are concerned about current conditions, albeit sympathetic to the situation, Ahmed is decidedly concentrating on providing a good life for his family in El Cajon since they arrived here in 2003. "I had only $500 dollars in my pocket," he recalled. "I come and am working hard because Chaldean people are hard workers. They work for their families. They work for their kids to help build their future. But there is no future for me back in my country," he concluded. The European Court of Justice has turned down British Airways attempts to have its fine for its alleged role in the air cargo cartel overturned. In a complex ruling, which can be found here, Europes highest court dismissed the airlines appeal to fine the carrier 104m for operating a price-fixing cargo cartel on fuel and security surcharges between 1999 and 2006. In a statement, British Airways parent IAG said: "We note the decision and will be reviewing our position." In total, 11 air cargo carriers were fined a total of 776m. British Airways was not the only airline to appeal the decision, in March it was revealed that 11 airlines planned to contest the fines. Background In November 2010, the EC imposed fines of nearly 800m on 11 air cargo carriers that had participated in an alleged price-fixing cartel between December 1999 and February 2006. The carriers had all been operating in the airfreight services market covering flights from, to and within the European Economic Area. According to the EC, the cartel arrangements consisted of numerous contacts between airlines, at both bilateral and multilateral level, to fix levels of fuel and security surcharges. The companies fined in 2010 were Air Canada, Air France-KLM, British Airways, Cargolux, Cathay Pacific Airways, Japan Airlines, LAN Chile, Martinair, Qantas, SAS and Singapore Airlines. A 12th cartel member, Lufthansa, and its subsidiary, Swiss International Air Lines, received full immunity from fines. All but one of the companies (Qantas) subject to the 2010 ruling challenged the decision before the EUs General Court. And, in December 2015, the General Court annulled the Commissions decision against the 11 cartel participants that appealed, concluding that there had been a procedural error. However, it did not rule on the existence of the cartel. However, the decision was then overturned again in March 2017, leading to the latest round of appeals. Share this story By Susan Swagler It's sometimes hard to be mindful. To be in the moment more often than not. Dale Kennington's paintings remind us of what that effort is worth. Her works of contemporary American realism draw from the very essence of everyday life--the in-between moments we so often overlook. A new book from The University of Alabama Press, "Grandeur of the Everyday: The Paintings of Dale Kennington," celebrates Kennington's view of commonplace, familiar subjects with 85 images of her vibrant, beautiful easel paintings on canvas and her freestanding, wooden folding screens. Even with a focus on the ordinary, her paintings offer a bigger picture of the extraordinary life Kennington lived. With this issue's emphasis on women, I think it's fitting to feature this woman--an Alabama artist who created beautiful art for others while, at the same time, making a name and a place for herself in this world. Kennington, who lived in Dothan most of her life, described her art as "merged memories." And indeed she did combine photography, memory, and imagination to create paintings that mix contemporary elements with magical realism. Many of her paintings are in private collections; others hang in notable museums and public spaces around the world. Here in Birmingham, her art can be found at Children's of Alabama, the Birmingham Museum of Art, and the Federal Reserve Bank. They also can be found in museums in Huntsville, Montgomery, Dothan, and Mobile, as well as the United States Embassy in Paris and the Smithsonian American Art Museum in D.C. Her work is in the personal collection of King Carl Gustaf XVI of Sweden. She was selected to represent our state as an ambassador for the arts in Italy. Kennington's path to this acclaim was lifelong. In art historian Daniel White's introduction to this book, he shares that, as a child, Kennington papered her room--and even her closet--with her art. At the time she attended Huntingdon College, majors for women were limited to nursing, teaching, home economics, and art. Kensington chose art. She later transferred to The University of Alabama and graduated with a degree in art history and design. She began painting in earnest while raising her family in Dothan. She found she was "bored to tears" by social clubs and bridge games and knew there was a better way to fill her free time. She asked all the mothers in her neighborhood to bring their children over to sit for a portrait. White writes: "This was not done out of joyful charity, it was to bring her painting skills back to the level she knew they needed to be." Soon she had commissions from people in town and out of town. White says she followed this strict schedule: "paint one child per month, completing 12 portraits in a year, all from sitting, no photography. Although it created more work for her, she had more confidence in the observation process, and could more accurately record the personality of the child from direct sittings." Fifteen years later, as Kennington painted the last of these child portraits, she continued to rely upon local subjects for her art--people in barbershops, bars and restaurants, on subways, at gospel concerts, and in motel rooms and even nursing homes. She no longer confined her work to sittings though. She bought a camera and went out in the world to take photos of what interested her and what she thought might make a good painting. The photos became the basis for sketches. At a time well before Photoshop, Kennington incorporated elements from multiple photos into one painting. She said she always distorted the faces in her paintings so that "they become someone other than the person in the original photograph." Even so, people sometimes came to gallery openings declaring they were the person in a painting--even if they lived in another state and Kennington had never laid eyes on them. The paintings depicted on the pages of this book are treasures--so are the personal narratives included here. A Q&A between Kennington, who died in May of this year, and Kristen Miller Zohn is especially enlightening regarding how Kennington "built" her paintings and titled her works. She talked about how seeing a folding screen on display at the New Orleans Museum of Art led her into an entirely new creative direction. A series of screen paintings took her mind off the loss of her husband. Sort of. "I did not realize it at the time," she told Zohn, "but looking back, I see that death was a theme throughout the whole series." In her artist statement for this book, Kennington said: "What I'm striving for when I paint is a feeling. Is the painting happy looking or sad? ... Are the people fresh or tired looking? Are their lives complicated or running smoothly? These things are what give 'the story' to the painting. I almost never get the same story when viewers are telling me about their interpretation of the work. My paintings require both the artist and the viewer. I cannot fulfill both positions." One thing is certain: Kennington's story of a woman who created her own path is worth contemplating. This book--filled with images of her life's work--is a lovely way to do that. Thinking About Gift Giving Fiction, history, and poetry (a couple here you can bundle!) make the perfect gift. The Floating World by C. Morgan Babst (Algonquin Books) Goodness knows we've seen history-making hurricanes this year, but Hurricane Katrina always will be a touchstone event. This debut novel, by a New Orleans native, though fictional, is the Katrina story that still needs to be told. The Boisdores are a Creole family whose roots stretch back almost to the founding of New Orleans. This story of class and race is told from the point of view of several family members. When the storm approaches, Joe Boisdores, an artist who is descended from freed slaves, and his white "Uptown" wife, Dr. Tess Eshleman, flee, but their elder daughter, Cora, refuses to go. What happens next leaves their marriage in shambles and Cora catatonic. Something mysterious and violent happened to Cora, but she can't remember if she's the victim or the perpetrator. Cora's sister, Del, comes back home from New York City to find New Orleans and her family in ruins. As she tries to understand what happened to Cora during the storm, she also has to come to terms with the history of her city and its legacy of forgotten residents. New Orleans is a beautiful and complicated place. It always has been, and the storm magnified that in many ways. The author says that after Hurricane Katrina, "if you were blind, suddenly you saw." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Odd Child Out by Gilly Macmillan (William Morrow) Gilly Macmillan's fans will recognize several of the characters in "Odd Child Out" because they first met them in her debut novel, "What She Knew." The first novel explored a mother's desperate search for her missing son. It was a search that paralleled an intense, but at times, hapless, police investigation. All efforts were hampered by social media scrutiny, and there were lots of victims by the end of that story. In "Odd Child Out," another taut psychological thriller, detective Jim Clemo is on a case involving a young man named Noah Sadler who is found floating unconscious in a canal. Noah and Abdi Mahad have been inseparable friends for years--their otherness perhaps being what holds them together. Noah has battled cancer for most of his young life. Abdi is a refugee from Somalia. Abdi knows what happened to Noah (or thinks he does), but he's not talking. The longer he stays silent, the more intense the media (and social media) coverage becomes. Life is getting dangerous for Abdi, as his family and Noah's both fight for the truth, and none of this is making Detective Clemo's job any easier. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Alabama: The Making of an American State by Edwin C. Bridges (The University of Alabama Press) Edwin Bridges, the director emeritus of the Alabama Department of Archives and History, tells the history of our state--its people, places, and events--with a richly-illustrated tour of Alabama from its infancy to modern day, from small town to big city, from Cheaha Mountain to the Gulf Coast. This is the story of Creek warriors, slaves and their descendants, inventors and entrepreneurs, cotton mill workers, auto makers, politicians, rocket scientists, educators, builders, civil rights heroes, and many more. Bridges once gave a tour of the Alabama Archives to celebrated scientist and Alabamian E.O. Wilson who asked him if he thought "Alabama's history might actually be as powerful an epic as those of Greece and Rome." Bridges knew that our state's history is extraordinary, but, he says: "Dr. Wilson's query helped me realize that the stories I found so rich might appeal to people who are not history buffs. We might not have Socrates or Caesar, but, as a whole, our story really is a drama of epic proportions." What's more, our state's history is the history of our country--from the Stone Age to the Space Age. "And on more than a few occasions," Bridges writes, "events in Alabama helped shape the course of American history." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ milk and honey & the sun and her flowers by Rupi Kaur (Andrews McMeel Publishing) Kaur's "milk and honey" is wildly popular. A New York Times international bestseller, more than two million copies of the poetry collection have sold in the past two years. The book had an excellent head start; Kaur has a huge social media following, and she self-published "milk and honey" in 2014 before McMeel acquired the book and republished it. Kaur's themes include love and loss, trauma and healing, with elements of femininity woven throughout. Her highly anticipated second collection of poems and humble line drawings, "the sun and her flowers," was released in October. Divided into five chapters, readers will find verse on wilting, falling, rooting, rising, and blooming; this translates into themes of growth and healing, honoring ancestors, and finding a home within yourself. To be sure though, some of the themes Kaur tackles are tough--violence, rape, alcoholism. But in this collection, like the other, the poems are extremely accessible, always thoughtful, and beautiful in simple and elegant ways. This story appears in Birmingham magazine's November 2017 issue. Subscribe today! It will be sometime next year before work begins on the next phase of Mercedes-Benz's Tuscaloosa expansion. The company's electric battery plant, announced in September as part of its $1 billion expansion, is expected to break ground sometime in 2018. The battery plant will be the company's fifth plant globally and set up electric vehicle production in Tuscaloosa. The expansion announcement stated the company plans to produce its EQ-brand SUV, which will feature some elements of automated driving. Most of the $1 billion to be spent in Tuscaloosa is slated for the electric vehicle push. Not much is known currently about the project, but some facts can be discerned by Mercedes-Benz's recent moves on electrification and how it fits into the overall plans for the Tuscaloosa expansion. Production isn't even set to begin at the 1-million-square-foot battery plant until "the beginning of the next decade," the company stated. Back in September, during a groundbreaking for neighboring logistics and parts facilities in neighboring Bibb County, MBUSI President Jason Hoff said the details and location of the battery plant were still being worked out, but that it would be built near the Vance plant in Tuscaloosa County. Currently the Tuscaloosa plant produces the GLE, GLS and GLE Coupe SUVs and the C-Class sedan. Last year, it turned out more than 310,000 vehicles, and this year the company completed a $1.3 billion expansion, with a new body shop geared toward the next generation of SUVs. But the battery plant is part of a shift not only for Mercedes, but globally among automakers, toward electric cars. Rising emissions benchmarks in Western countries is one factor driving the move. But big investments among competitors is another. Tesla says it plans on eventually building 500,000 electric vehicles a year, while General Motors wants to launch 20 electric models by 2023. The VW group, Ford, Volvo, Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi have also announced plans for electric vehicles and tens of billions in investment. At the same time, Tesla, LG, Panasonic, Northvolt and Dyson are all making moves in the battery business. Mercedes' Tuscaloosa battery plant will be part of a global production network. In May, Mercedes' parent company Daimler began construction on a $1 billion battery plant outside Dresden that is expected to begin operation next year. Then later this summer, the company announced it will build a similar $740 million facility in China, producing battery modules and packs, with outsourced battery cells. At the same time, Daimler has pumped $60 million into an Israeli start-up, StoreDot, which is researching technology to allow environmentally-friendly lithium-ion batteries to recharge in about five minutes. This goes with the company's strategy of developing plug-in hybrids and 48-volt battery systems. The just completed previous expansion of the Tuscaloosa plant, company officials said earlier this year, will allow the company to quickly begin U.S. production of EQ models. In all, the company plans to offer an entire electric portfolio of Mercedes vehicles by 2022, with an electrical alternative for each model. That means more than 50 electrified vehicles. These moves, Mercedes officials say, will allow the company to "react flexibly and efficiently to market demand." New York-based Katz Properties has announced that it has acquired Vestavia Hills City Center for $60.25 million. The 392,000-square-foot shopping center occupies 18.4 acres on Montgomery Highway. The three phase development is home to Publix, AMC Cinema, Planet Fitness, Starbucks, Rite Aid and SteinMart, as well as a broadcast booth for the Rick & Bubba radio show and other tenants. Katz Properties specializes in the acquisition, operation and repositioning of retail shopping centers on the East Coast. Daniel Katz, principal of Katz Properties, said the company is excited to continue expanding into the south. The company has made a string of acquisitions in North Carolina and Georgia earlier this year. "The Birmingham market and Vestavia Hills in particular represent the kind of steady demographics that continue to drive retail sales nationwide," he said. Tom Smith, the National Director of Leasing for Katz Properties, said the company is "eager to put some energy behind the leasing efforts in order to re-invigorate this center." In a nation that's built on but torn over the issue of immigration, the story of America's first Thanksgiving holiday offers some important lessons. The Native Americans welcomed the arriving immigrants and helped them survive. Then they celebrated together, even though the Pilgrims considered the Native Americans heathens. The Pilgrims were devout Christians who fled Europe seeking religious freedom. They were religious refugees. They were Calvinists who wanted to be distinct from the state Church of England. The 1559 Act of Uniformity made it a crime not to attend services with official Church of England congregations. Some Separatist leaders were even executed for sedition in 1593. So, the Pilgrims left England, first for Holland, then for the New World. Headed for Virginia, they went off course and landed and settled in what would become known as New England. The Mayflower pilgrims arrived at Plymouth Rock in 1620 after a difficult voyage, then met with hardships in their first winter. They held a ceremony of Thanksgiving in the fall of 1621. The Native Americans they celebrated with did not share their religious views, but joined in celebrating a successful harvest with plentiful food to survive the winter. Thanksgiving, from its very beginning in America, has been an interfaith holiday about faith, food and gratitude to God. Aboard the Mayflower on the way to Plymouth Rock, the 44 religious dissenters separated themselves from the 66 English adventurers on the trip. They called themselves "saints" and the others "strangers." Of the 110 passengers, fewer than 50 survived a harsh winter and were alive in the fall of 1621. By then, they had all been humbled by burying friends and relying on the natives, who helped them find enough food to live. The distinction between saints and strangers faded. They dropped their holier-than-thou attitude toward the other Mayflower passengers. They all became known as pilgrims. They cared less about converting the natives to Christianity, and more about thanking them for their assistance. That story makes Thanksgiving a truly American holiday, appreciated by people of all faiths. "It's one of the enduring narratives of America's founding," said Ann Berry, executive director of the Pilgrim Society, which was founded in 1820 to commemorate the memory of the Mayflower pilgrims who arrived at Plymouth Rock in 1620. "In the fall of 1621, they had a harvest feast," Berry said. "It's the foundation of this holiday we're about to celebrate. Over the centuries, it has become a very American tradition that has been shaped by a lot of other things in our history." During the 1500s, the Puritans had tried to abolish Christmas and Easter and other feast days of the Roman Catholic Church, but began proclaiming days of "thanksgiving." That first American Thanksgiving in 1621 was probably in late September or early October, to reflect on surviving their first winter. Some of the older traditions reasserted themselves at the first Thanksgiving, with games and feasting. The Pilgrims were firing off their weapons. That may have summoned the natives, who had a treaty to help protect them, Berry said. "If they heard pilgrims shooting guns, they may have thought they needed assistance," Berry said. "King Massasoit of the Wampanoag tribe came with 90 men. They went out and killed five deer, which was part of the feast." The Wampanoag tribe outnumbered the Pilgrims, about 90 to 50. The natives may have seen it as a diplomatic gathering, affirming their association with the new tribe of Englishmen. Edward Winslow wrote in 1622, "Our harvest being gotten in, our men went fowling." Four pilgrims went out to shoot ducks or other birds, possibly turkeys. Plymouth Colony Gov. William Bradford wrote later that there was a "great store of wild turkeys." There was also cod, bass and other fish, Berry said. There was probably more venison and fish than turkey. Though that first Thanksgiving was more of a harvest feast, at some point the very devout Pilgrims would have offered a prayer. In the later 1600s and early 1700s, they began calling a day of Thanksgiving on a regular basis, later in the year, usually the first week in December. They were not harvesting anything at that time of year, but they were visiting and exchanging gifts. After the Civil War ended, President Abraham Lincoln declared a day of Thanksgiving that evolved into the modern observance on the fourth Thursday in November. A $10,000 reward is being offered for information that will lead to the person responsible for the death of a 27-year-old Clanton woman, the Shelby County Sheriff's Office announced. Investigators have chase down every lead since Melissa Ann Cleckler's body was found on Egg Road and Butler Road on Nov. 2. Sheriff John Samaniego said her body was at the location for a couple of days before discovery. It is unknown how she was killed and her body was sent to the Alabama Department of Forensic Science for an autopsy. Samaniego is offering a $5,000 reward for information to help bring the case to a close. Crime Stoppers is offering an additional $5,000. "Please help us bring closure to Ms. Cleckler's family and friends," Samaniego said. "I will gladly pay the reward for the knowledge that the person who did this is in jail and going to face prosecution for what they did." If anyone has any information about Cleckler's death please call 205-254-7777 for Crime Stoppers, which will pay both rewards. Authorities said citizens can remain anonymous if they so choose. An inmate who escaped the Coosa County Jail Sunday was recaptured in Georgia overnight. Shane Anthony Vernon was recaptured without incident in DeKalb County at approximately 10:17 p.m., the Coosa County Sheriff's Office posted on social media. Vernon is being held in the DeKalb County Jail awaiting extradition back to Alabama. Vernon, 27, was originally in jail on charges of burglary and theft. He previously escaped in October, and once captured he was charged with unlawful imprisonment, first-degree robbery, theft of a motor vehicle and second-degree escape. Coosa County Sheriff Terry Wilson said while on the run, Vernon was considered armed and extremely dangerous. On Sunday, police said Vernon broke into a Rockford home, tied up the homeowners, and stole their Ford Fusion. He dumped that car in a wooded area in Elmore County. According to Elmore County Sheriff Bill Franklin, "The majority of the car was covered if you were looking for it by air.'' Monday, Franklin said the escapee again broke into a home-- this time in Wetumpka-- and sat in a chair while waiting for the homeowner to arrive. When the victim arrived home from work, he was kidnapped. "We can only imagine what happened next,'' Franklin said. "But they started on the trek that took them to Douglasville." About 7 a.m. Tuesday, Vernon released the victim. The victim went to a nearby gas station for help, and the second stolen vehicle was found soon after. Deputy U.S. Marshal M. Dante Gordon said on Tuesday at approximately 11 p.m., the DeKalb County Police Department received a call of a suspicious person walking on Flat Shoals Road. When officers arrived, the man initially identified himself as Jeremiah Vernon--but officers soon discovered he was the escaped inmate from Alabama. A .380 pistol and drug paraphernalia was recovered from Vernon. When David Luker took the reigns of the Jefferson County Public Defender's Office in September 2016-- after the former director had left amid controversy within the office-- he wanted the office to be the best in the South. It's been a long road to get to that point, but he's quick to say, it's all worth it. "This is a big machine," he said. When Luker, an experienced criminal defense attorney in Birmingham, was appointed as the Director of the Public Defenders in September 2016, he had big ideas for the office. The public defender's office was still fairly new: It was created in 2012, and the first director left in July 2016. "I wanted Jefferson County's Public Defender's Office to be the best in the state-- the best in the South, even... Lets make it the best it can be," Luker said. Luker was hired by the Office of Indigent Services in Montgomery, after the Indigent Defense Advisory Committee of Jefferson County selected three finalists for the job and submitted those names to the office director. He was brought in to boost the PD's office, and Luker said he laid out his vision from the start. When he entered the position, Luker said he wanted to provide the best possible service for clients who cannot afford private attorneys and to teach the younger, less experienced lawyers already working in the office. His first priority was to bring in seasoned defense attorneys to help train those young employees. And he did-- soon after becoming the director, Luker had several lawyers in the office who had more than 20 years of experience in the courtroom and in and criminal defense work. Luker himself has experience to match. He practiced law for over 35 years as a defense attorney, along with his wife Kathy. Over his career, he has defended people in 17 capital murder cases. None of those defendants received the death penalty. When asked if he ever saw himself as the county's public defender's director, he just chuckled. "Oh Lord, no," he said. Caseload Currently there are 40 public defenders in the office, making it the largest in the state. The number might seem large, but Luker said that's the number of attorneys it takes to handle the office case load. The Jefferson County Public Defender's Office accepts an average of 450 cases a month, and around 5,000 a year. "It takes a lot of attorneys to handle that many cases," he said. To qualify for attorneys from the Public Defender's Office, clients must show they can't afford a private attorney. Once the client proves that, district judges appoint a public defender at the client's 48 or 72-hour hearing. Jefferson County Presiding Judge Joseph Boohaker, who is also the head of the Indigent Defense Advisory Committee of Jefferson County which nominated Luker for the position, said all judges must appoint indigent cases to the Public Defender's Office, unless there is a conflict of interest or the office is overwhelmed with cases. Boohaker said Luker has already assured him and the judges that the Public Defender's Office is not overworked and can take any case it receives. In the situations where the office cannot take a case, judges may appoint private attorneys. The office does not take cases out of the Bessemer Division of Jefferson County-- private attorneys are appointed to all indigent clients there. For his next task as director, Luker wanted Jefferson County judges to have faith in the office. Some judges did not believe there were enough "qualified attorneys to adequately represent" defendants charged with felonies, one judge stated in a early 2016 court order. The Alabama Department of Finance's Administrative Code has a chapter for the Office of Indigent Defense Services, which oversees the Jefferson County Public Defender's Office. A section of that code specifies the qualifications for attorneys who represent indigent offenders: Each attorney must be a member of the Alabama State Bar, be in good standing, and complete at least six hours of continuing legal education credits per year. There are separate, more advanced qualifications for lawyers who can represent defendants in capital murder cases as either lead or associate counsel, and for Class A felonies, Class B felonies, and Class C felonies. Luker said it was imperative to make sure judges knew his public defenders were available and qualified to meet their needs and take on more serious cases. And it worked. "They started having confidence in this office again," Luker said. 'It's about them, not me' In the month of January 2016, public defenders were handed 28 percent of Class A felony cases. But in August 2017, the public defenders were handed 76 percent of the Class A felonies. "[Luker] has done a great job. They're doing a great job," Boohaker said. It's a perception that public defenders may not be the best attorneys in a room, Luker said, but he doesn't agree with that thought. "Our lawyers are excellent lawyers and well-trained," he said. A wall in the lobby of the office displays law degrees from out-of-state schools like Berkley, New York University, and Princeton-- but also shows degrees from the University of Alabama, Cumberland School of Law at Samford University, and-- where Luker earned his law degree-- Birmingham School of Law. The public defenders are always learning and improving, too. Luker hosts twice a month training sessions, and has mock trials in the office. He encourages his employees to sit in and watch trials across the courthouse, and has the senior attorneys guide the younger ones after they try a case. "You learn by doing... and you learn from your mistakes," Luker said. Just because he is the head of the office doesn't mean Luker isn't in a courtroom, though. He goes to court everyday, and takes cases himself. "My case load is just as high as anyone else in this office." Boohaker agreed. "He's on the front lines with his people," he said. Luker estimates 60 percent of his job is practicing law; the other 40 percent is administrative work. The most rewarding though, is two-fold: Doing a good job for clients, and training his employees. "These people are dedicated," he said about his lawyers."It's about them, not me." A Georgia couple was arrested after leading Cherokee County deputies on a police chase. Sheriff Jeff Shaver said the Tuesday pursuit began on Alabama Highway 9 north of Cedar Bluff after the authorities tried to stop the vehicle for not having a license plate. They later determined the vehicle was stolen from Georgia. The chase ended at the intersection of Georgia Highway 20 near Plant Hammond, and the two suspects were taken into custody with the help of Floyd County Police department. He identified the suspects as Nicholas J. Ashley, 25, and Catherine G. Sartin, 26, both of Rome, Ga. He said illegal drugs were found inside the vehicle. Ashley was arrested on an outstanding Georgia warrant. Sartin was arrested on theft charges. They pair is being held in the Floyd County Jail pending extradition back to Cherokee County. Shaver said both face additional charges of receiving stolen property, attempting to elude, unlawful possession of a controlled substance and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia. Year after year, I have been recording the testimonies of people whose loved ones were killed in Srebrenica by Serb forces. All my children were killed. Six sons, two brothers and finally my sister was hanged. My four brothers and my father is the fifth they never came back I only have my mother left, nobody else I lost my brother, my two nephews my five grandchildren, my two sons When I add it up, 24 of them were swallowed up by Srebrenica Year after year, one testimony follows another. I have been recording them for over two decades. They are the testimonies of mostly women and some male survivors of the Bosnian war, whose loved ones were killed in the genocide committed in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica in July 1995, by the Serb forces led by General Ratko Mladic. The survivors are now anxiously awaiting news from The Hague, where a first-instance verdict is due to be pronounced against Mladic before the International War Crimes Tribunal. Mladic was indicted and charged with genocide in Srebrenica and six other municipalities in Bosnia Herzegovina, in addition to ethnic cleansing; killings; inhumane actions; destruction of mosques and Catholic churches; and the siege of Sarajevo. Those how have lost people dearest to their heart see Mladic as a symbol of the project of evil, designed and prepared so as to enable the perpetration of genocide, a symbol of the system that hid traces of crimes and consequences of genocide and continues to hide them in mass graves across Bosnia and Herzegovina. I have spent hundreds of days and nights in the company of those who have spent years searching for the mortal remains of their loved ones. Searching for their bones, buried deep in the Bosnian soil. I witnessed their enormous grief. I watched mothers caress the only recovered bone belonging to their sons, talking to that piece of skeleton as if it were a living man. I was moved by their stories, both as a journalist and a human being. They are my most important source of information, my key method of preparation. For they speak without calculations. They speak the truth. And on the day of the pronouncement of the verdict against Mladic, their words will be the loudest. Giving them a chance to speak means practising journalism in the only right way: Giving a voice to the voiceless! In conclusion, there is no balance and neutrality in reporting on crimes. There is no even distribution of media time between criminals and victims. Criminals and their representatives must not be given an opportunity to promote crimes under the guise of objectivity, which is not the same as neutrality. Ed Vulliamy, a British-Irish reporter who covered the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina and has been credited with discovering Serb concentration camps in northwestern Bosnia, wrote in his book on the war in Bosnia: I believe that there are moments in history when neutrality is not neutral, but becomes complicit in the crime. Im not neutral between the camp guards and the prisoners, between the raped women and the beasts who raped them. These words should be reiterated. They are important. Follow Adnan Rondic on Twitter @AdnanAJB Though Mladic will spend the rest of his life behind bars for genocide, his idea of a Serb-only statelet is now a reality. The UN-established International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, better known by its acronym, ICTY, sentenced former General Ratko Mladic to life in jail. Mladic, the former army chief of Bosnian Serbs, has since 1992 symbolised the worst that human beings are capable of. As a Bosnian Muslim (Bosniak) who was forced to flee Sarajevo from the onslaught of marauding Serb soldiers, I feel no satisfaction with the verdict whatsoever. Many fellow Bosnian Muslims would agree. The reason is simple: though Mladic will spend the rest of his life behind bars, his idea lives on and the Serb-only statelet that he and Radovan Karadzic fought for is now a reality. It is a legal part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, highly autonomous, makes up 49 percent of Bosnias territory, and has been threatening to secede and join neighbouring Serbia for the past 10 years. Bosnian Serb leaders Ratko Mladic and Karadzic, with overt political, military and financial support of neighbouring Serbia, led a military campaign to forcefully rid significant areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina of hundreds of thousands of Bosnian Muslims. They knew exactly what they were doing from the very start. Flashback to 1991. {articleGUID} In October of that year, seeing that Yugoslavia (where Serbs dominated in politics) was breaking up, and emboldened by rising nationalism among the masses and an ever-assertive Orthodox church, the Bosnian Serb leadership (in coordination with Belgrade) decided to embark on establishing its centuries-old idea of having an ethnically pure Greater Serbia. This would include significant parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where Serbs constituted considerable numbers. In order to carry out their plan, they established illegal parallel political institutions known as Serb Autonomous Regions, which were tasked with implementing the Serbian Democratic Partys (SDS) notorious genocidal policies on a local level. In August 1991, the SDS, Karadzics party, began boycotting Bosnian state presidency meetings, and, by October, it had removed all its deputies from the Bosnian parliament and set up its own Assembly of the Serbian People of Bosnia and Herzegovina, first in Sarajevo, then in Pale. Having parallel political institutions on the local and state level, along with the already Serb-dominated police force, Bosnian Serbs embarked on their plan. In May 1992, Karadzic presented to his fellow Bosnian Serb politicians in the Serb Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina a document titled Six Strategic Goals of the Serbian People in Bosnia and Herzegovina. One of their strategic goals was, in their own words, the separation from other ethnic groups on the territory rightly claimed by Serbs, by force if necessary. For such a radical plan to be implemented in an ethnically mixed country, with its capital, Sarajevo, having the highest percentage of inter-ethnic marriages in former Yugoslavia, it could only mean one thing utterly destroying the Muslim and Croat populations, either through killings or mass expulsions. Mladic stood up, not to disagree, but rather to make sure the entire Bosnian Serb leadership was on the same page. We cannot [ethnically] cleanse, we dont have a sieve to sift so that only Serbs can stay, and others leave, he said. I dont know how Mr Karadzic and Mr Krajisnik will explain this to the world. This is genocide, people. Everyone present agreed this was the way forward. Having the necessary political backing, the self-proclaimed Army of the Serb Republic, as well as Serb police forces, proceeded to implement their plan. What took place over the following four years was a systematic campaign of death, terror, and destruction straight out of the Nazi handbook. Bosnian Muslim women were systematically raped, as was well documented by the UN during the war. Muslim men and young boys were locked up in concentration camps such as Omarska, Trnopolje, and Keraterm. Ed Vulliamy from the Observer was one of the first western journalists to discover Serb-run concentration camps. Here is how he described what he saw: the bones of their elbows and wrists protrude like pieces of jagged stone from the pencil-thin stalks to which their arms have been reduced. Their skin is putrefied, the complexions have corroded. [They] are alive but decomposed, debased, degraded, and utterly subservient, and yet they fix their huge hollow eyes on us with [what] looks like blades of knives. In the town of Visegrad in eastern Bosnia, so many Muslim men were slaughtered and tossed off the beautiful Ottoman-era bridge into Drina river that Milan Josipovic, then a Visegrad police inspector, received a macabre complaint from the manager of a nearby hydroelectric plant, asking whoever was responsible to please slow down tossing dead Muslims into the river as they were clogging up the culverts in his dam. Muslim houses in areas under Serb military control were burned to the ground, so they would have nowhere to return after the war. Those who did return after 1995 were attacked, threatened, and their mosque vandalised. Such a policy continues to this day. Under Mladics policy of spreading death and terror, Sarajevo was shelled for nearly four years while the Bosnian towns of Trebinje, Foca, Prijedor, Banja Luka, and Visegrad were ethnically cleansed of their non-Serb populations. Mladics forces stand accused of killing more than 100,000 people, mostly Bosnian Muslims, between 1992 and 1995, and raping more than 20,000 Muslim women. The war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, waged against Bosnias multiethnic but predominantly Muslim government, ended with the signing of the Dayton Agreement in the United States, which effectively divided the country into two autonomous political entities: the Bosniak-Croat Federation and the Serb Republic for Bosnian Serbs. {articleGUID} After Karadzic was sentenced to 40 years in jail last year, for genocide and crimes against humanity carried out against Bosnian Muslims, former General Mladic is the highest-ranking military leader to be imprisoned for the same crimes. This means that two of the highest-ranking Bosnian Serb leaders, who are credited with establishing the Serb Republic, have been found guilty by a UN-established court of committing the worst of crimes against humanity. This falls in line with the existing Bosnian Muslims stance that the autonomous Serb Republic was created through genocide and as such has no legitimacy. Mladic has systematically denied all charges levied against him, describing them as obnoxious since his first appearance in court in 2011. He claims to have been defending Bosnias Serbs against radical Muslims. Will such a verdict change anything in Bosnia and Herzegovina? Hardly so. Take Visegrad as an example. Before the war, there were more than 13,000 Bosnian Muslims living in that eastern Bosnian town. Today, less than 1,000, mostly elderly, Muslims remain. Only 7.69 percent of the prewar Muslim population returned to live in Visegrad. Once these Bosnian Muslim men and women, now in their 60s, 70s, and 80s pass away, hardly any Muslims will be left in Visegrad. Almir Salihovic, a Bosnian Muslim who fled marauding Serb soldiers from Srebrenica in 1995 and returned to the town in 2014, speaking of the Mladic verdict told Reuters: For most Serbs he will remain a hero, for others he will be the butcher and criminal, and we will continue to live in our folds, side by side, not together. The Bosnian Serb political idea of creating an ethnically pure Serb statelet has been a success. So no verdict, no matter how harsh, will change facts on the ground. Bosnian Serbs achieved what they envisioned in the 1990s. Ratko Mladic is one of the 161 individuals indicted by a UN court for committing war crimes during the Balkan conflict. Ratko Mladic, a former Bosnian Serb commander, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Wednesday for committing genocide and other war crimes during the Balkan war. Mladic is one of 161 individuals brought to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), a temporary United Nations court set up to prosecute individuals responsible for war crimes committed after 1991 in the territory of former Yugoslavia. This graphic looks at how the Tribunal has dealt with the 161 accusations. To the casual visitor or tourist driving through the occupied West Bank or Jerusalem, Israeli settlements may appear as just another set of houses on a hill. The middle-class suburban style townhouses, built fast and locked in a grid of uniform units, stand like fortified compounds, in direct contrast to the sprawling limestone Palestinian homes below. Settlement homes, mostly constructed of cement with a cosmetic limestone cladding, tend to fashion a similar look: American-style villas topped by red-tiled roofs and surrounded by lush, neatly trimmed green lawns. By 2018, there were 611,000 Israeli settlers living in 250 settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in contravention of international law. The largest settlement, Modi'in Illit, houses more than 70,000 Israeli Jews in the occupied West Bank. The mega-settlement has its own mayor, as well as schools, shopping malls and medical centres. Some settlements even have their own universities. Today, between 600,000 and 750,000 Israelis live in these sizeable settlements, equivalent to roughly 11 percent of the total Jewish Israeli population. They live beyond the internationally recognised borders of their state, on Palestinian land that Israel occupied in 1967, comprising East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Since then, the Israeli government has openly funded and built settlements for Israeli Jews to live there, offering incentives and subsidised housing. So why have these housing compounds caused so much rancour and been called a threat to the prospect of peace in the Holy Land? Follow this journey to find out. Fears about German instability are overblown. A transition to a post-Merkel Germany might not be bad news for Europe. Political uncertainty has crossed the Rhine, French academic and Emmanuel Macron adviser Jean Pisani-Ferry declared. The New York Times, which has put its bets on German Chancellor Angela Merkel as the new leader of the free world, warned that the collapse of coalition talks in Germany portends a period of serious uncertainty for all Europe and the West. Indeed, Germany faces the challenge of coming to terms with a more fragmented landscape of political parties. But this is not necessarily all bad news for the rest of Europe. This is hardly a big crisis In the words of German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the current political limbo is unprecedented in post-war German history. Never before have coalition talks collapsed without a clear, alternative governing majority in sight. But its important to not overdramatise the situation. This is not a full-fledged political crisis. Germany has an acting government that is working just fine for the time being. And political gravity may well pull the Social Democratic Party (SPD) into another coalition with Merkels Christian Democratic Union (CDU) without the uncertainty of new elections. Or Germany might experiment with a minority government that would be less stable, but not necessarily inherently unstable. Merkel's ability to mediate and broker compromises within the EU has been seriously compromised. by And this it not a constitutional crisis. On the contrary: it is the built-in, corrective mechanism against parliament dissolving itself and calling snap elections, and the strong role of the president in such a situation who is guiding the drawn-out negotiations. In many ways, the current limbo is the result of Germans electing a seven-party parliament that requires parties to move into untested and unfamiliar territory, in terms of coalition configurations across traditional ideological lines. These new coalitions are already being tested at the subnational level. At the national level, they are naturally harder because more is at stake. {articleGUID} Then there is the added Merkel factor: During Merkels 12 year-reign, not a single coalition partner has emerged strengthened out of a coalition with the chancellor. So, small wonder that the pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the SPD are both traumatised by dramatic electoral defeats following an alliance with Merkel, and are very hesitant to enter another coalition with her. But this will normalise again in a post-Merkel Germany. Medium-term German politics is likely to be more volatile, but without descending into an Italy-style, rapid succession of unstable governments. The bigger danger is that the compromises necessary to form governing coalitions, in a more fragmented party system, will not lead to the necessary reforms that Germany needs to undertake, in the face of the digital transformation of its industrial base, competition from the US and China, as well as the demographic strain on its social systems. In the short term, domestically, Merkel may well emerge stronger and be the solid rock to cling to in times of political uncertainty. A post-Merkel Europe At the same time, the current situation gives the rest of Europe the opportunity to prepare for a post-Merkel Germany, which, in four years at the latest, is bound to become a reality. And while many foreign observers (especially those misty-eyed about Merkels power to lead the free world) have lacked the ability and willingness to imagine such a world, this must not all be bad news for the rest of Europe. To be sure, Merkels experience and stature as a crisis manager would be a big loss. During the Ukraine crisis, her political standing and her ability to bridge the divide between anti-Putin and more accommodating forces within the EU were key to managing the situation. This allowed Europe to play a crucial role in the crisis. {articleGUID} But Merkels ability to mediate and broker compromises within the EU has been seriously compromised by her refugee policy stance, which has turned her into a red rag for many Eastern Europeans, and her orthodox eurozone policy, which has alienated many Southern Europeans. In addition, with French President Emmanuel Macron, there is now a clear alternative political leader within the EU that can step in for Merkel. That is good news for Germany. The perception of German dominance, that is partly a result of Merkels longevity as the most experienced leader, has not done Germany much good. A recalibration towards joint leadership with France is good for everyone. There is also little reason to think that Merkels departure will lead to very different foreign policy stances. The foreign policy priorities of a new German government are likely to be quite stable on the key issues of Brexit, European security, as well as dealing with US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The biggest foreign policy mistake a new German government could make would be to close the door on Macrons proposals for reforming the eurozone and the EU. In Germany, the only two parties clearly positioned against Macrons eurozone proposals are the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the FDP. No other party wants to enter a coalition with the AfD. And given that the FDP triggered the collapse of the last coalition talks and is unlikely to be part of the next coalition, there is less chance of a new government opposing Macron. That should be very good news for all those who care about the future of the eurozone and the European project. And all those panicking about a post-Merkel Germany and Europe should take a deep breath and think again. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy. Ratko Mladic, war-time Chief Commander of the Army of Republika Srpska, has been found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995, and genocide committed in the city of Srebrenica in July 1995. The judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) said that Mladic has been found guilty for some of the most horrendous crimes known to humanity. And he will spend the rest of his life in prison. This verdict will not change anything in the lives of people in Bosnia, or those living in the diaspora around the world. But at least we can comfort ourselves that some kind of justice does exist in this world and that those who are responsible for such horrific crimes, sooner or later, will end up in prison. At least, that is how I felt, while sitting in the courtroom and listening to the judge reading the verdict. But there is still one question that bothers me: What did we learn from the Yugoslav wars, if we learned anything at all? Ratko Mladic and war-time Republika Srpska President Radovan Karadzic (sentenced to 40 years in prison by the ICTY) started their bloody campaign in 1992. Under their command, people were mercilessly killed, raped, tortured, expelled from their homes, burned alive, and mutilated. All that was happening in the heart of Europe, while the European Union and its institutions were being established, celebrated, and praised as something that would bring hope, peace and stability for all. A new Europe was born and people were promised to live in unity and solidarity, under the rule of law, in respect of human and civil rights. However, that Europe was not wise or brave enough to find a way to prevent, or, at least, to stop the killings in its very heart. While they were lying to themselves that it can only happen to us, in the Balkans, they were closing their eyes to the growing, far-right movement. by European and other Western leaders were hesitant, back then, to call Mladic and Karadzic war criminals, or name what they were doing a genocide. They did not want to compare their killing campaign to Nazi mass murders, or to call their ideas fascist. Instead, they were trying to find a way to negotiate with murderers, while using gentle terms to describe what was going on in Bosnia, like ethnic cleansing, conflict, or civil war. It took them a long time to even recognise that war crimes were committed. Then, it took them almost four years to act and stop the war, four years that cost us over 100,000 lives and more than 2 million refugees. When they finally stopped the war, making all these people with blood on their hands sign a peace agreement, it took years again to find a way to prosecute them. The processes were long and dreadful, and some, like the one for Slobodan Milosevic, former president of Serbia, never really ended; he died before the verdict was pronounced. People from Bosnia suffered a lot because of this, and we still live the consequences of European hesitation. But these consequences I can see now everywhere around the world. By not reacting on time to stop mass crimes being committed, Western leaders sent a message to everybody in the world that it is OK to kill other people, and to promote dangerous, ultranationalist ideas. That it is OK to commit genocide, and the world will pretend it is something else, just a small regional conflict among some tribal people. That it is OK to be a fascist, but just call it something else. While they were lying to themselves that it can only happen to us, in the Balkans, they were closing their eyes to the growing far-right movement and rebirth of fascism all over Europe and the world. {articleGUID} If the Karadzics and Mladics of the Balkans had been stopped on time, and their ideas proclaimed dangerous, it could have been a clear message to all those who support ultranationalist and fascist ideas. But, everybody forgot the lesson we should have learned in the 1990s in Yugoslavia that fascism is like a disease; it spreads easily and can infect anyone. And in my own country, Bosnia and Herzegovina, it seems we also havent learned anything for the past 25 years. Nothing, after all the pain we lived and continue to live through. We did not learn not to trust nationalist politicians. They still rule the country, while constantly keeping old fears alive and reminding us all that we are nothing else but victims. The word survivor has not been introduced to our post-war lives yet. We did not learn how not to have confidence in the international community, whatever is meant by that term. Today, most Balkan people still expect salvation to come from the outside. We still think we are unable to do it ourselves. We are still unable to stop being victims and become survivors, and move on with our lives. Or start from the beginning. Anything, just to move forward. After years of waiting, one more monster Ratko Mladic has been punished for what he did. But, unfortunately, I cannot say that his doings and his ideas have been eliminated in the process. They are not even defeated. On May 28, 1992, I was wounded by shrapnel at my home in Sarajevo. That day, Mladic had ordered his soldiers to use all available ammunition to shoot at our city; Blow their minds away, he told them. He not only blew our minds away, but he also left a time-resistant ideological crater in the heart of Europe. There was nobody to stop him and put him in prison years ago, so his ideas spread like a drug-resistant bug, adjusting to different circumstances and times. I can hear Mladic and Karadzic in the words of many far-right leaders in Europe and around the world today. I can hear them in the words of people who are justifying wars and war crimes. I can hear them in policies of closed borders and national security. However, unlike many others in todays Europe, I can hear them and recognise them. And, unlike many others, that makes me worried. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy. Just like a decade ago, when the UK led the international campaign against violence in Myanmar, it must do the same now. A decade ago, the military government in Myanmar cracked down on peaceful protests for economic and political reform, killing an estimated 100 monks and triggering a wave of international diplomatic activity to curb the violence. In preceding years, the UKs Labour Party had been lobbying within the EU, successfully securing tighter sanctions on the Myanmar military. The UK was instrumental in bringing a debate on Myanmar for the first time to the UN Security Council, a path to binding resolutions. When the military started killing the monks in 2007, Gordon Brown led the world in the international effort to de-escalate the situation. He expended political capital by lobbying the US president and Chinese premier to take diplomatic action and made representations directly to influential people within Myanmar itself. David Miliband, the then foreign minister, coordinated EU leaders into a unified bloc against the military government. Fast forward and Myanmar civilians are suffering a considerably graver human rights catastrophe at the hands of the same military. But this time they will find no help in Britain. Last week, David Mepham, the UK director of Human Rights Watch, told the International Development Committee that the British response is ragged and insufficient compared to previous human rights crises. This is, sadly, of no surprise. The top Foreign Office civil servant has said the government has deprioritised human rights for its so-called prosperity agenda. And Tory infighting has rendered the government sclerotic and unwilling to respond to the violence, which the UN has called a textbook case of ethnic cleansing. We have heard credible and corroborated reports, since August, of mass killings, rape, arson, looting and extortion. Thousands have been killed, hundreds of villages have been destroyed and some 600,000 Rohingya have been forced to flee to Bangladesh. The UK government has responded to these crimes against humanity by announcing an aid package and sending out a handful of Foreign Office staff on a fact-finding mission. {articleGUID} Yes, aid is important, but it is only politics that will stop the killing, and the UK government seems to be demonstrating a distinct lack of political will over the slaughter of the Rohingya. We should be leaning on Israel, a major supplier to the military government, to end the trade of light arms and vehicles which are being used to commit war crimes. If Israel were to rightly argue that Britain should perhaps end its own material support of the Saudi bombing campaign and maritime blockade of Yemen, Labour would happily agree with them. Neither of us should be profiting from war crimes. We should be rallying international actors, especially China and India, both bilaterally and through the UN, to stop the slaughter and to allow unfettered humanitarian access in Rakhine state. While we are still in the EU, we should be using our membership to build support for the banning of any sales of equipment to the Myanmar military, and calling for a UN-mandated global arms embargo to stop unscrupulous nations from profiting off these war crimes. And we should be openly calling for a referral to the International Criminal Court of those involved in this campaign of ethnic cleansing, wherever that may lead. These steps will not, alone, end the violence, but they will help, and, at the very least, they will show the military government, the Rohingya and the world where the UK stands. The government is also labouring under the delusion that Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmars top civilian leader, will rescue the Rohingya any day now. The theory goes that putting pressure on the military government would risk snuffing out the post-2011 reforms that they allowed, ceding limited power to her democratically elected party. This is why Britain supported, with GBP10m ($13m) in finance and political support, a census which omitted the Rohingya as a minority an ugly and significant step to ethnic cleansing, but one which the government made as a concession for the wider reforms. The whole point of supporting constitutional reform in Myanmar was to help reduce human rights abuses. But those have instead dramatically increased, and Aung San Suu Kyi has not used her current power to release political prisoners or change a 1982 law, which stripped the Rohingya of citizenship. Instead, she has dismissed reports of ethnic cleansing in her country as fake news. The military government is not interested in reversing the piecemeal reforms. They know that they have won international sanctions relief and that this provides a shield to international action, allowing them to kill their own people with impunity. Our deadly silence has proven them right. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, the lady has drawn condemnation for her handling of the Rohingya crisis. Myanmars de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 in part for striving to attain ethnic conciliation by peaceful means. Yet after she rose to power in Myanmar decades later, Aung San Suu Kyi has drawn international condemnation for her response to the militarys brutal use of force against the Muslim Rohingya minority. Rise to power International education. Born in Rangoon (now Yangon) in 1945, Aung San Suu Kyi is the daughter of Myanmars liberation movement leader Aung San, who was assassinated in July 1947. Aung San Suu Kyi had a talent for learning new languages. She speaks Burmese, English, French and Japanese. She completed high school in India following her mothers appointment as ambassador to the country in 1960. Aung San Suu Kyi went on to study philosophy, politics and economics in the United Kingdom at the University of Oxford. Democracy in Myanmar. Upon her return to Myanmar in 1988, Aung San Suu Kyi was elected secretary-general of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party. House arrest. In 1990, the party won elections, but the military government annulled the results and arrested Aung San Suu Kyi. She spent much of her time between 1989 and 2010 in some form of detention, most of it under house arrest. In 1991, while under house arrest, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The 2011 film, The Lady, told of the love story between Aung San Suu Kyi and her British husband, Michael Aris, and the long separation they suffered because of her detention. State counsellor. In 2012, Aung San Suu Kyi registered to run for a seat in Myanmars parliament. In November 2015, the NLD won 80 percent of the available seats. But she was prevented by Myanmars constitution from taking up the post of president because she was married to a non-Myanmar citizen. Today, Aung San Suu Kyis official title is state counsellor, a post created in 2016 to give her control over the presidents office, the foreign ministry, the energy ministry, and the ministry of education. Despite Aung San Suu Kyi being the de facto head of state, the current commander-in-chief of the Myanmar Armed Forces, Min Aung Hlaing, still maintains a great degree of power in the country. Rohingya crisis Textbook ethnic cleansing. In August 2017, a fierce military crackdown sent more than 600,000 Rohingya fleeing Myanmars northern Rakhine state. The United Nations described it as textbook ethnic cleansing. I dont think there is ethnic cleansing going on, Aung San Suu Kyi told the BBC in April. I think ethnic cleansing is too strong an expression to use for what is happening. It is a matter of people on different sides of the divide, and this divide we are trying to close up. The mostly Muslim minority is not recognised as an ethnic group in Myanmar, despite having lived there for generations. Rohingya have been denied citizenship, effectively making them stateless. Shielding the military. While Aung San Suu Kyi has limited control over the military, she has been criticised for failing to denounce the violence in Rakhine. Myanmars constitution gives 25 percent of parliamentary seats to unelected military officers, effectively giving them a veto over constitutional changes. Speaking to Al Jazeera, James Gomez, Amnesty Internationals regional director for Southeast Asia, said: It almost came across that she was shielding the military. What is the role of the military if she says there have been no attacks since September 5 in Rakhine state, then why is the burning going on? Pope Francis visit. Pope Francis arrived in Myanmar on November 27 to meet religious leaders, Myanmars army head General Min Aung Hlaing and with Aung San Suu Kyi. The pope has repeatedly spoken out from afar about the crisis, standing up for what he has called his Rohingya brothers and sisters. Prosecution: In March 2018, a group of Australian human rights lawyers filed a private prosecution application against Kyi. We have launched a private prosecution application in the Magistrates Court of Victoria accusing Aung San Suu Kyi of crimes against humanity, specifically the crime of deportation and forcible transfer of people, human rights lawyer Alison Battisson told Al Jazeera. Nobel Prize Struggle against oppression. Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, but it was not until 2012 that she was able to deliver her acceptance speech at Oslos City Hall. In awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to Aung San Suu Kyi, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced in 1991, it wished to honour this woman for her unflagging efforts and to show its support for the many people throughout the world who are striving to attain democracy, human rights and ethnic conciliation by peaceful means. Aung San Suu Kyi, the committee added, was an important symbol in the struggle against oppression. Petition to revoke Nobel. More than 400,000 people have signed an online petition in 2017 to strip her of the peace prize. When a laureate cannot maintain peace, then for the sake of peace itself the prize needs to be returned or confiscated by the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, the change.org petition reads. In November 2017, Oxford City Council voted to strip Kyi of the Freedom of Oxford award she received in 1997. Amnesty says musicians Sting and Peter Gabriel and whistle-blower Edward Snowden signed open letter making the call. A group of more than 70 musicians, artists, activists and politicians have called on Turkey to drop terrorism charges against 11 human rights activists. Amnesty International said an open letter making the call was signed by musicians Sting and Peter Gabriel, whistle-blower Edward Snowden and artist Ai Weiwei among others. {articleGUID} Their demands included the release of Taner Kilic, Amnesty chairperson in Turkey, whose trial, alongside the others detained, was set to resume on Wednesday. The open letter called the accusations towards the rights activists outlandish and politically motivated. Kilic was detained in June in the western city of Izmir for using ByLock, an encrypted communication software which the government says is used by members of an outlawed group led by Fethullah Gulen, a US-based self-exiled religious leader who the government blames for last years coup attempt. The other activists, who were taken into custody a month later in Istanbul, were accused of supporting terrorist organisations, such as the Gulen group and Kurdish separatist factions. The suspects and Amnesty International strongly deny the accusations against them. Last month, a court in Istanbul merged Kilics case with that of the other 10 activists. {articleGUID} The judge presiding over the case also released eight of the 10 accused until the start of the trial. The group, which includes a German and Swedish citizen, had spent the previous four months in prison. The remaining two accused were released in July pending the trial. However, Kilic was remanded in custody. The second trial of the suspects was scheduled to commence at an Istanbul court on Wednesday. Local and international rights groups, as well Turkeys European allies accuse Ankara of using the coup attempt as a pretext to silence opposition in the country. Governments view The government says that the purges and detentions are aimed at removing Gulen elements from state institutions and other parts of society and has emphasised the independence of Turkeys judiciary. Ravza Kavakci Kan, a deputy chairperson of Turkeys ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), said that the trials and investigations that followed the coup attempt fell within the bounds of the law. Turkey is a country of rule of law. We, as politicians, follow the developments in this trial or other trials as other outsiders follow it. We have no jurisdiction over them, she told Al Jazeera. We do not accept the accusations made [against Turkey] We have been particularly closely monitoring the investigations and trials that were launched after the failed coup in order for them to be carried out within the rule of law. Turkey should be congratulated for these efforts, she added. Umut Uras is on Twitter, follow him on @Um_Uras Thousands have crossed into Canada from the US in search of asylum this year, a trend local groups say will continue. Canada is preparing for new waves of asylum seekers from the United States, a trend local groups say is being fuelled by the Trump administrations recent decisions to end visa protection for foreign nationals from countries in the Caribbean and Latin America. Thousands of asylum seekers many of whom were from Haiti have already walked across the border into the province of Quebec without visas since the start of the year to make asylum claims in Canada. On November 20, the Trump administration announced it would lift Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian nationals, who will now have 18 months until July 22, 2019 to formalise their status in the US or leave the country. {articleGUID} That decision will lead to a new wave of arrivals at the US-Canada border, said Frantz Andre of the Non-Status Action Committee, a community group in Montreal that supports newcomers from Haiti. The new wave has already started, Andre told Al Jazeera in a telephone interview on Wednesday. Asylum seekers already living in the US cannot make their claims for protection in Canada at a formal border crossing because of a bilateral agreement between the two countries, the Safe Third Country Agreement. That deal makes it impossible for asylum seekers who first land in the US, and whose demands for protection are denied, to seek asylum in Canada, and vice-versa. That has pushed families to cross into Canada on foot; once they are in the country, they can have their asylum claim heard. According to Andre, while the Canadian government has said it is preparing to handle a new influx of irregular border crossings, the system is still improvised. Were again denouncing this lack of a system to treat each request in a way that will be efficient and really give a chance to the asylum seeker, he told Al Jazeera. Currently, thats not the case. 437,000 TPS visa-holders In the US, TPS visas were extended to foreign nationals living in the country who the government decided could not safely return to their home countries due to war, violence, natural disasters and other reasons. As of October, 437,000 foreign nationals from 10 countries held TPS immigration status. This week, Elaine Duke, the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, announced the US had determined that Haitians who received TPS coverage after a 2010 earthquake devastated the country and led to a humanitarian crisis, could safely return home. Significant steps have been taken to improve the stability and quality of life for Haitian citizens, and Haiti is able to safely receive traditional levels of returned citizens, the department said in a statement. Haiti has also demonstrated a commitment to adequately prepare for when the countrys TPS designation is terminated. The Haiti decision comes after the US announced it would lift TPS coverage for about 2,500 Nicaraguans, who will now have until January 5, 2019, to leave the country. About 57,000 Hondurans with TPS visas are also living in limbo, as the US government said it would extend their coverage until July while it makes a final decision on their coverage under the programme. Thousands arrived The US government created uncertainty in Haitian communities in the US earlier this year when it hinted that TPS may be cancelled for Haitians as early as January 2018. As rumours swirled about pending deportations, thousands of Haitians fled to the Canada-US border. {articleGUID} More than 5,500 people crossed into Quebec without permits in August, many of them Haitians, according to Canadian police figures. Overall, more than 15,000 people have crossed the border irregularly to claim refugee status in Canada so far this year, Reuters reported. Under the law, anyone claiming asylum in Canada has the right to due process, said Remi Lariviere, a spokesperson for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, the federal department of immigration. However, there are no guarantees that an asylum seeker will be allowed to stay in Canada at the end of this process, Lariviere told Al Jazeera in an email. In September, 5,390 asylum seekers crossed into Canada irregularly, according to data collected by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB), an independent body that rules on asylum and refugee claims. Of the 177 refugee claims that were finalised that month, 114 were accepted, IRB figures show. Thats an acceptance rate of 64.4 percent. Rumours swirling A tweet posted by Justin Trudeau, Canadas prime minister, earlier this year also gave many families hope that they would easily be granted asylum once they reached Canada To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, Trudeau wrote. To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) January 28, 2017 However, the newcomers quickly saw they would have to begin a new and lengthy immigration process on the Canadian side of the border. These people find themselves in an overloaded [immigration] system, Andre said. Canada ended its temporary deportation protection known as a Temporary Suspension of Removals for Haitians in 2014, citing improved conditions in the country. Since then, acceptance rates for Haitian nationals asylum claims in Canada have remained low. In 2016, only 50 percent of finalised asylum applications were granted to Haitian claimants, up from 40 percent in 2015, according to IRB figures. {articleGUID} Andre told Al Jazeera that activists are calling for Canada to give refugee claimants two years to properly prepare and file their applications. That will allow the government to set up a better system, he said, and take away some of the anguish and the stress families are feeling as they navigate the immigration system. No free ticket When they cross into Canada, asylum seekers are first intercepted by the RCMP, Canadas federal police. When they say they want to apply for asylum or refugee status, they will be transferred to the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) for an interview on their eligibility. If deemed eligible, they will then be released pending an interview with the IRB. Asylum seekers can prove a need for protection based on several criteria, including religious, racial or political persecution. Gloria Nafziger, a refugee campaigner at Amnesty International Canada, told Al Jazeera the human rights group expects ongoing arrivals at the border, but its just impossible to know how large that [number is] going to get. She said the arrivals appear to be fuelled by US immigration policy announcements, which make people feel insecure. They look for options, and Canada is one of those options, Nafziger said. Amnesty is calling on Canada to rescind the Safe Third Country Agreement, which would allow people to make asylum claims at a formal border crossing and avoid potential dangers of crossing on foot, she said. Particularly as winter comes and people may try to take more dangerous routes into Canada, the risks increase substantially, Nafziger said. After the first major waves of asylum seekers began arriving, Ottawa sent MPs to the US to discourage would-be refugee claimants especially those from Haiti and Nicaragua, who have been impacted by the TPS decisions from attempting to come to Canada. That outreach appears to be continuing and Lariviere said Ottawa is in continuous contact with the US government on this issue. He said the federal government is aware that the potential exists for more people crossing the border. To be clear, entering illegally is not a free ticket into Canada, Lariviere said. There are rigorous immigration and customs rules to be followed and make no mistake we enforce them to safeguard our communities against security risks. David Heurtel, Quebec immigration minister, is expected to attend a meeting with representatives of the federal government on Thursday in Ottawa to discuss the issue. While he told French-language Montreal newspaper La Presse that Quebec does not expect a new wave [of asylum seekers] right away, Heurtel said the province will do everything [it] can to limit a surprise. Several Open Internet advocacy organisations have come out against the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pais plans to end net neutrality. Pai unveiled on Tuesday his aim to repeal the FCCs 2015 Open Internet rules that protect net neutrality, stopping Internet service providers from blocking or throttling consumer access to web content. The repeal will be voted on by three Republicans, who are generally against net neutrality, and two Democrats. Pai told reporters that the FCC will no longer take a heavy-handed approach to regulating the business of Internet service providers (ISP). The end of the 2015 order will be pro-competitive, he said. But many fear that allowing ISPs such as Comcast, Verizon and AT&T some of the largest companies in the US to choose what their customers can see, and how quickly they can see it, will have the opposite effect. {articleGUID} The FCC is proposing to trade the free and open Internet for a future where only the largest Internet, cable, and telephone companies will survive, while every startup, small business, new innovators are crowded out, and the voices of nonprofits and ordinary individuals are suppressed, Corynne McSherry, legal director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a nonprofit that works to protect civil liberties online, told Al Jazeera in an email. Without net neutrality, ISPs could create Internet fast lanes, wherein companies would pay to have their products or services more prominently featured. ISPs could also create website packages, charging more money for access to more websites. Evan Green, the Campaign Director of Fight for the Future, a pro-privacy, anti-censorship nonprofit, told Al Jazeera that ending net neutrality will allow ISPs to block or throttle without accountability. They could choose to slow down or block apps or services that compete with ones they own. Green gave the example of Comcast slowing down Netflix, one of the most popular video streaming services in the world, in favour of their own streaming services. But the concerns expand beyond anti-competitive business practices. ISPs could cave to pressure from the government to block websites that express dissenting viewpoints, Green said. There are also concerns over FCC Chairman Pais ties to the telecommunications industry: Pai was a lawyer for Verizon, which has sued the FCC to end net neutrality, until 2003. Pai has chosen to champion the interests of the deep-pocketed industry that once employed him, Mark Stanley, Director of Communications and Operations at Demand Progress, a grassroots organising group, said in a statement delivered to Al Jazeera. Groups in favour of net neutrality point to the widespread, bipartisan support for an open Internet. A July poll conducted by Washington, DC-based Freedman Consulting firm found that 73 percent of Republicans, 80 percent of Democrats and 76 percent of independents want to keep the 2015 FCC rules that protect net neutrality. Suspects allegedly opened fire on special forces during large-scale operation on the outskirts of the capital, Tbilisi. At least three gunmen and one security officer have been killed in a nearly 24-hour special operation in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, as counterterrorism units stormed a multi-storey apartment building on the outskirts of the city. By 5pm local time (13:00 GMT) on Wednesday, the operation was confirmed completed. Nino Giorgobiani, deputy head of administration at Georgias state security service, said later on Wednesday at a news conference that one suspect was arrested during the operation and three others were killed. One security officer was also killed and four others were wounded, she said. According to the information at hand, the criminals were not Georgias citizens. They had been under surveillance over the last several weeks, she said. An investigation is under way within the framework of international anti-terrorism cooperation to confirm their identities and to determine their criminal links. She did not clarify their nationality, saying more information would be provided in the coming days. It is important to note that Georgias counterterrorism department has been conducting negotiations with them for several hours about surrendering but they rejected it, she said at a previous news conference. The members of the criminal group opened fire from an automatic rifle and threw hand grenades. Government criticised The Georgian government held a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, but did not make public statements on the security situation. The prolonged operation prompted criticism of the government from its political rivals. Todays events point to the crumbling of the security system in the country. How come these people with such a big stash of weapons that are not even sold in Georgia have gone unnoticed for two years [of their residency in the apartment], said Nika Rurua, a member of National Movement opposition party, told Al Jazeera in a phone interview. It is also very concerning that the special operation lasted 22 hours. 22 hours should not be necessary to kill three people in a country, he said. I hope now the incident will be investigated thoroughly and the public will find out who these people were and how so much weaponry was amassed by them. With reporting by Tamila Varshalomidze As news of Robert Mugabes resignation spread, people in Zimbabwes capital Harare took to the streets to celebrate. Harare, Zimbabwe Honking cars, loud music and dancing crowds. These were the jubilant scenes in Zimbabwes capital on Tuesday, as the news of President Robert Mugabes resignation triggered a wave of wild celebration across the city. Singing and cheering, many Harare residents said they are delighted Mugabe had stepped down after 37 years. They also expressed hope that this could signal the start of a different and better leadership for the country. Here is what some of the people Al Jazeera met on the streets of Harare had to say about the historic events taking place in Zimbabwe: Tendai Mupfumira, 30, vendor (right) I am so happy that Mugabe is gone, we have been suffering so much under his rule. I work as a vendor and every day I wake up early and go to bed late just so I can get something to feed my children. I sell DVDs here every day, but its not easy, so I hope the next person we get will be able to make this a better country where we can also survive. Tellmore Gorereza, 34, touter I hate that guy, I really hate that guy for what hes done to Zimbabwe, and Im so glad he and his wife are no longer in power. If they had stayed, I was going to march to their Blue Roof house and tell them to get out. Weve really had enough of them; now we have our country back. Rachel Ziyaya, 27, medical doctor Im just so happy that we now have a free Zimbabwe where people dont have to be scared that they dont want someone in power. Im so glad hes gone, he was a cruel man. I hope we get someone better so we can have a Zimbabwe where people can get jobs and help their families. Im glad hes gone for good. Tinashe Masunda, 25, fifth-year medical student Hes done so much to kill this country, and as students, his policies have made things very hard for us. The fees were increased this year by more that 30 percent, and the administration have no sympathy for us, but the university doesnt care because Mugabe is the one who created this system of taking money from the people. I really hope we can start again and get someone who really cares about the people. Michael Mbalame, 40, plumber I have no doubt that hes gone, others may doubt, but I dont. Its a new start for Zimbabwe, and I dont know if people will actually miss him, but we have to look forward to better times without him. I hope we have a new leadership that can also understand the needs of our generation and take us forward. Regina Mushaya, 21, Political Science Student I didnt expect him to resign, but Im happy that he did, we needed him to go. We had a lot of problems with him as students, especially at the University of Zimbabwe, and Im glad that our protest yesterday sent a message to say we dont want him any more. Now we can get back to our exams and work hard because we have a brighter future without him. Tendai Chiweshe, 30, street vendor Im dancing because Im happy Im happy that the old man is gone now we can be free. We struggle to survive as vendors, but he used to send police to beat us and chase from the streets, but since the army went to his house we dont see the police any more. I hope it will stay like that and I hope we get someone who understands that we need to earn something to survive. All photographs taken by Tendai Marima. Follow her on Twitter: @i_amten Shrill campaign against man behind Open Society Foundations seen by critics as part of wider crackdown on civil society. Rights groups and watchdogs say a Hungarian government campaign against investor and philanthropist George Soros has reached fever pitch, and it is being used to further a crackdown on civil society. Soros, an 86-year-old who was born in Hungary and is of Jewish descent, has been the focal point of attacks by Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his Fidesz party and other far-right nationalist outfits for years. Yet, recent months have seen a surge in anti-Soros rhetoric, that critics say is rooted in a desire to deflect attention from what they describe as a government crackdown on rights groups and civil society. Much of the antipathy stems from the policies advocated by the Open Society Foundations, a Soros-founded organisation that campaigns for strengthening civil society, advancing human rights and combating corruption. {articleGUID} In Eastern and Central European countries, the Open Society Foundations has pushed for greater acceptance of refugees and migrants, putting it at odds with right-wing governments and far-right political parties. In July, the Hungarian government accused Soros of attempting to Muslimise Europe. Earlier this year, Orban, who is facing re-election in April 2018, led a campaign to shut down the Central European University (CEU), which was founded by Soros. On Monday, the Open Society Foundations pushed back, alleging in a statement that Orban and his political allies are orchestrating a campaign of distortion and lies about him, pointing to seven of Orbans statements that attacked Soros. Among those were claims that Soros hoped to resettle a million refugees in the European Union and allot them thousands of euros each. Balint Bardi, a Budapest-based Hungarian journalist, says the anti-Soros campaign is part of a broader strategy to exploit the xenophobic feelings of many Hungarians in order to gain popularity for the government. The government has been using this strategy since the beginning of the refugee crisis, Bardi told Al Jazeera by phone. They say there is a threat from our country from the migrants, from the politicians in Brussels or George Soros and that the government is the only one that can defend Hungarian society. He said the overwhelming focus on Soros compounds the anti-refugee propaganda and hostility towards international journalists and press outlets that do not support the government. This is very bad for Hungarian society, Bardi said. Attacking Hungary openly At a press conference on Monday, Gergely Gulyas, leader of the Fidesz parliamentary group, accused Soros of a full frontal attack on Hungary. So far, George Soros has attacked Hungary and the Hungarian government through the organisations he funds, the European Parliament and his allies in Brussels; but he has now entered the battle in person, Gulyas said, referring to the Open Society Foundations statement on Monday. George Soros is now attacking Hungary openly because in its immigration policy Hungary continues to stand its ground against the forces supporting immigration. Gulyas said Hungary must not become an immigrant country. {articleGUID} Contacted by Al Jazeera, the Hungarian governments International Communications Office declined to comment on the issue. The campaign against Soros has been unfolding alongside an apparent crackdown on civil society, including organisations affiliated with Soros and several that are not linked to him. In October, the Orban administration ordered the countrys intelligence services to investigate what it called an empire of Soros-backed institutions that work in Hungary. Nora Koves, a Hungarian human rights expert, said the government has increasingly targeted civil society institutions since 2013. Now its just continuing with Soros. Its not only the nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) being targeted and not only the migrants, said Koves, who works for the Budapest-based Eotvos Karoly Policy Institute, which has received funding from Soros-supported foundations. He is the perfect enemy because he is invisible and the Hungarian people will never meet him personally. In July, the parliament passed a law imposing strict rules on NGOs that receive foreign funding, requiring those that receive more than $26,000 a year from international sources to be registered as foreign-supported. Last critics standing With the strongest opposition groups being an increasingly fractious Socialist Party and Jobbik, an ultra-nationalist party accused of having neo-Nazi roots, Koves is holding out little hope for political pushback against the governments clampdown on civil society. Basically, we are the last critics standing in Hungary. The opposition is completely useless; people dont believe in them, she said. But civil society is a whole different thing. We are the professional criticism of the government. They want to demolish it. If you want a perfect autocracy, then obviously you need to do this. Many in Hungary say the charges levelled at Soros, who survived the Holocaust, have an odour of latent anti-Semitism. The government is denying that is anti-Jewish propaganda against Soros, but many people think this is the case, Koves said. {articleGUID} For years, governments across Central and Eastern Europe have blamed Soros for unrest and protests. Earlier this year, Romanias ruling party claimed that anti-corruption protests were orchestrated by Soros. In Poland, Jarosaw Kaczynski, leader of the Law and Justice Party and a former prime minister, accused Soros-funded organisations of advocating societies without identity. Anti-Soros measures and rhetoric have also become part and parcel of politics in countries including Serbia, Bulgaria and Slovakia. In the US and Europe, white supremacists and far-right commentators have pushed the widely debunked conspiracy theory that Soros was a Nazi collaborator, an officer in the German Schutzstaffel (SS) paramilitary and helped confiscate Jewish property for the Nazis and their allies during the second world war. Meanwhile, the Hungarian government, which has stridently opposed EU quotas on refugee distribution throughout member states, has styled itself as the defender of Christian Europe in the face of Muslim refugees, supposedly encouraged to come to Hungary by Soros and others. Lydia Gall, a Central and Eastern Europe researcher at Human Rights Watch, said that much of the anti-Soros rhetoric is reminiscent of Nazi propaganda from the 1930s. Anti-Soros hoardings Gall alluded to government-funded anti-Soros hoardings visible across the capital and in small villages in the countryside, which often show images of Soros depicted as the traditional grinning Jew and play on stereotypes that have been floating around against Jews for aeons of history. The government is creating external enemies by linking refugees and asylum-seekers to terrorism, and claiming they are encouraged to come [to Hungary] by NGOs, which are in turn financed and supported by Soros, she told Al Jazeera. Referring to the anti-Soros tone of political discourse in Hungary, Serbia, Macedonia and Poland, among other countries, Gall said it should prompt some action on behalf of the EU as a whole. In Hungary, she said, the strategy has been largely effective. An opinion poll published earlier this month found that the ruling Fidesz party maintains a 61-percent support rating, as reported by Hungarian Free Press. When we see these types of illiberal and authoritarian tendencies in Europe and in the middle of the European Union, alarm bells should be ringing, Gall said. Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics denies Israeli claim the arrested officials were operating in East Jerusalem. Israeli police have arrested several Palestinians, including members of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas political party, Fatah, and accused them of carrying out a population census in occupied East Jerusalem. Muhammad Mahmoud, a lawyer representing some of the detainees, told Al Jazeera that five Fatah members, including Hatem Abdel Qader, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council for the Jerusalem district, were arrested and had their detention subsequently extended because of their illegal work with the PA [Palestinian Authority]. An Israeli judge extended the detention of Aseel Hasoneh, Issam Khatib and Musab Abbas to November 27, Mahmoud said. Hatem Abdel Qader and Arafat Musa were given house arrest for five days and ordered to pay a $570 bail. Abdel Qader was imprisoned by Israeli police for five days in July on grounds of incitement. In a statement released late on Tuesday, Israeli police said it detained and arrested 17 suspects on suspicion of working with the PA following close and secret investigations carried out over the last few weeks, targeting Jerusalemites suspected of violating the Interim Agreement and taking part in activity related to a population census by the PA. INTERACTIVE: Israels settlements 50 years of land theft explained Khalil Tufakgi, a Palestinian expert on the Oslo Accords, said that, in accordance with the Interim Agreement, PA activity is not allowed in East Jerusalem. The Interim Agreement between the Israeli government and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), commonly known as the Oslo II Accord, created, in 1995, Areas A, B and C in the West Bank. The PA was given some limited powers and responsibilities in Areas A and B and a prospect of negotiations on a final settlement based on UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338. Oslo II followed the Oslo I Accord agreements of 1993, which had envisioned the establishment of a Palestinian interim self-government in the Palestinian territories but fell short of the promise of an independent Palestinian state. Activity denied The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) is currently conducting a population census and is believed to have included East Jerusalem in the count. According to some reports, a few individuals were seen in East Jerusalem with a questionnaire related to a population census. Through a spokesperson, the PCBS denied operating in East Jerusalem, contradicting the Israeli police statement. INTERACTIVE: Broken homes A record year of home demolitions in occupied East Jerusalem Speaking to Al Jazeera, Louay Shehadeh said: We have been preparing to conduct a population census in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip since June, but we have been operating only in the suburbs like Abu Dis, al-Ram and Ezariya. He said the Israeli detentions targeted Fatah members and had nothing to do with the population census. Shehade said the next phase of the census will begin on December 1 and will last until December 24. Amjad Abu Asab, a Palestinian activist who follows prisoners affairs, told Al Jazeera the detentions are a message [from Israel] to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics not to operate in East Jerusalem and a message to the PA that they are being targeted. Al-Aqsa connection Adnan Gheith, a Fatah member, says the arrests are part of a campaign to limit the PAs activities in East Jerusalem. So far, we have no information on the reason for their detention, but the Israeli occupation works to curb the presence and activities of the PLO and the PA inside Jerusalem, he told Al Jazeera. The Israeli occupation is working to exert more control on al-Aqsa Mosque. Israel occupied East Jerusalem in 1967 and proceeded to annex it, in breach of international law. The Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of their hoped-for state, which is home to Jewish, Christian and Muslim holy sites. Over half a million Jewish settlers live in illegal settlements in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem. Israelis consider East Jerusalem settlements neighbourhoods like others in the city, but the international community does not recognise Israels annexation of the area and rejects the settlements there as illegal. It took several months and tens of thousands of dollars to build. But on Wednesday, Jamal Abu Khdeirs dream of housing his 27-member family under the same roof came crashing down in just a few minutes. More than 40 Israeli officers and two bulldozers arrived shortly after dawn to demolish Abu Khdeirs brand new home in the neighbourhood of Shufat in occupied East Jerusalem, witnesses said. As soon as the destruction started, scuffles broke out. A 73-year-old cousin of Abu Khdeir said he tried to intervene to break up the clashes, but ended up being assaulted by Israeli forces. When the Israeli occupation forces were demolishing the home, the boys and men of the family started shouting at them, Ishaaq Saeed Abu Khdeir, the 73-year-old, told Al Jazeera. The Israeli forces started beating them and it turned into a physical fight. I went to break them up so that the boys dont get hurt, he added. As soon as I turned my back, one of the soldiers, with all his force, pushed me to the ground on one of the bushes. I couldnt get up and Im still in pain. Ishaaq said that Israeli forces also beat and arrested two other family members. The two were later released, he said. {articleGUID} Blood, sweat and tears The family said they received no prior warning about the demolition, which occurred due to the fact that the house had been built without a permit. Under Israeli law, Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem are required to have a building permit from the government to erect new homes. But Israel has consistently rejected the majority of permit requests. According to a report on the Israeli daily Haaretz, between 2010 and 2015, of the 11,603 building permits issued, only 878 were allocated for Palestinian neighbourhoods. Speaking to Al Jazeera, Jamal, the owner, spoke about the heartbreak of seeing the house, which reportedly cost the family $85,000, torn to the ground. It is beyond my ability to explain what it feels like to watch your own house be demolished before your eyes your own blood, sweat and tears, the 67-year-old told Al Jazeera. He said the building they live in now is not big enough to accommodate his family. I wanted to divide the house from inside so that all 27 of us could live together spaciously under one roof. The Israeli police denied having any knowledge of the incident. Im not familiar with any home demolition in Shufat, Micky Rosenfeld, police spokesman, told Al Jazeera. Im not familiar with any disturbances or riots that happened there. {articleGUID} Al Jazeera also contacted the Jerusalem Municipality, but could not receive a response in time for publication. Jamals home was one of two houses demolished on Wednesday. According to local journalists, Israeli forces also demolished the home of Sharif Muheisin in the Palestinian neighbourhood of al-Issawiya. Although East Jerusalem is a part of the occupied Palestinian territories under international law, Israel annexed the area in 1967 and extended Israeli civil law there. The Palestinians who live there, however, do not have Israeli citizenship. Using the pretext of building illegally, Israel demolishes houses on a regular basis to restrict Palestinian expansion. Only 13 percent of the total land area of East Jerusalem is allocated for the construction of Palestinian homes, while the rest is under Israeli state and settler control. Some 200,000 Israeli Jews live in occupied East Jerusalem, on land that falls outside the internationally recognised borders of their state. In 2014, Israeli settlers abducted a member of the Abu Khdeir family, 17-year-old Mohammad, from a storefront in Shufat, and burned him alive in a Jerusalem forest. As Lebanon celebrates 74th Independence Day, Saad Hariri delays his resignation in televised speech from Beirut. Saad Hariri has deferred his resignation as Lebanons prime minister and has vowed to work with the countrys president, Michel Aoun, to protect the country and maintain its security. Today, I presented my resignation to the president and he urged me to hold onto it for more dialogue about its reasons and its political underpinnings and I accepted, he said during a televised speech at the countrys presidential palace on Wednesday. I will do so in hopes that it will renew talks to strengthen our unity and resolve internal conflicts we have and how they reflect in our relations with our Arab brothers, Hariri added. At this time, Lebanon needs exceptional efforts from everyone in the face of upcoming challenges I look forward today to a real partnership with all of the political parties to put Lebanons interest on top of anything else. {articleGUID} Hariri addressed the nation after holding a private meeting with Aoun in the capital, Beirut. Earlier, various leaders in Lebanon, including Aoun, attended an annual military parade that commenced the 74th Independence Day celebrations in Beirut. Hariris return to Lebanon comes two weeks after he announced his shock resignation as the countrys prime minister in a televised speech from Saudi Arabia. In his resignation speech, Hariri blamed Irans meddling in the country and its Lebanese ally, the Hezbollah movement for his decision, adding that he feared an assassination attempt. The sudden move plunged Lebanon a country with fragile political stability into an ongoing period of uncertainty, raising fears of a potential war between Saudi Arabia and Iran with Lebanon on the front lines. Officials in Lebanon had alleged that Hariri was being held hostage by Saudi authorities, an allegation Hariri denied in his first public statement following his resignation speech. The Sunni Muslim politician and Saudi ally has been promising to return home since. {articleGUID} Lebanese officials previously said they would only accept his resignation if it was delivered on Lebanese soil. Hariris political rival, Hezbollah, also refused to acknowledge the resignation. In a televised speech, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah accused Saudi Arabia of forcing Hariri to quit and holding him against his will. The Lebanese unity government that Hariri formed a year ago includes Hezbollah members. Al Jazeeras Zein Khodr, reporting from Beirut, said that Hariris tone has shifted since he gave his resignation speech two weeks ago. He (Hariri) didnt even mention Hezbollah or Iran He even said that hes looking forward to a partnership with all political parties in the country What is clear is that there has been intensive discussions behind closed doors, she said. The resignation was an attempt by Saudi Arabia to curb Hezbollahs influence That attempt backfired Hariri was conciliatory in his message. There have been international calls for stability in Lebanon, with the US warning regional powers against using the country for proxy conflicts. The UN, too, is calling for stability in Lebanon. On Saturday, Hariri made his way to Paris to meet French President Emmanuel Macron. There, he announced that he would be partaking in Lebanons Independence Day celebrations. UN judges to hand down verdict to 74-year-old Ratko Mladic, accused of worst massacre since Holocaust. Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina UN war crimes judges at The Hague are delivering Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic his verdict on Wednesday, more than 20 years after the Bosnian War ended. The verdict, which will be handed down by a three-judge panel, began at 9:00 GMT. Mladic, the 74-year-old dubbed the Butcher of Bosnia, is accused of 11 counts including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by his forces during the war in Bosnia from 1992 and 1995. As proceedings began, Mladic said he was feeling unwell. He went for a blood pressure test. When he returned, he started shouting in court and was removed by a judge. Proceedings paused and then continued, without Mladic in court. The first count of genocide he faces is for killing more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the town of Srebrenica, a UN-declared safe haven at the time. It was the worst genocide to occur on European soil since the Holocaust. He faces a second count of genocide in six other Bosnian municipalities and is also accused of ordering the siege of Sarajevo, in which his troops surrounded the city for 46 months and carried out a campaign of sniping and shelling at the civilian population aimed to spread terror amongst them. With an average of 330 shells pummeling the city daily, more than 10,000 people were killed in what is known as the longest siege of a capital city in recent history. Just before a great Serb holy day, we give this town to the Serb nation, Mladic said to the camera, in a video filmed in Srebrenica on July 11, 1995. After the uprising against the Turks, the time has finally come to take revenge against the Turks (Muslims) in this area. {articleGUID} Another conversation between Mladic and a Serb artillery colonel in Sarajevo was publicised after it was intercepted and recorded in the spring of 1992. Fire on Velesici and Pofalici [neighbourhoods], Mladic ordered. There arent many Serbs there. Shell them so that they cant sleep. Make them lose their minds. Hundreds of thousands killed Mladic is additionally accused of removing Bosnian Muslim and Bosnian Croat inhabitants from Bosnia to establish a Greater Serbia and of taking UN peacekeepers hostage. An estimated 100,000 to 200,000 people were killed during the war in Bosnia, while as many as 50,000 women were raped. War crimes prosecutors from the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) claim Mladic played a key role in the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and have called for a life sentence. Prosecutors say Mladic, along with former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, were among the key players that formed the joint criminal enterprise to create a Greater Serbia. After 530 trial days, nearly 600 witnesses and nearly 10,000 exhibits admitted in evidence, Mladics judgment is one of the most important since the ICTY first set up in 1993 and among the last case to be held as the court prepares to close in December. Mladic: Charges are obnoxious Mladic was arrested in May 2011 in a village in northern Serbia, after 16 years in hiding. His health had already deteriorated at the time, with one of his arms paralysed due to a series of strokes. Mladic denies the charges, calling them obnoxious and monstrous. At the start of his trial six years ago, Mladic made eye contact with Munira Subasic, a woman who lost 22 relatives to Bosnian Serb forces in Srebrenica and made a throat-slitting gesture as she watched on from the public gallery. {articleGUID} I defended my people, my country now I am defending myself, he reportedly told the judges at his first appearance. At his second appearance, he was reportedly removed from the courtroom for repeatedly interrupting the judge and trying to communicate with the public gallery. Many of the war criminals, either they weren't even indicted or prosecuted, or if they were prosecuted, their sentences were very short. by Marko Attila Hoare, historian Due to his ailing health, he has prolonged his trial on several occasions. For the past two decades, the ICTY filed indictments against 161 people, most of them high-ranking Serb officials. The tribunal is the first court to charge an acting head of state, Milosevic, of genocide and other crimes. However, along with Croatian Serb leader Goran Hadzic, a key wartime leader, Milosevic did not live long enough to hear the verdict. Milosevic died in 2006, after suffering a heart attack in his cell in The Hague. Last year Karadzic, 72, was found guilty of genocide in Srebrenica along with nine other charges and sentenced to 40 years in jail. While finding Bosnian Serb leadership guilty of genocide in Srebrenica is a significant achievement for ICTY, the tribunal still falls short in delivering justice for war victims, explained Marko Attila Hoare, historian at Londons Kingston University. The number of perpetrators convicted and the sentences they received were unsatisfactory. Many of the war criminals, either they werent even indicted or prosecuted, or if they were prosecuted, their sentences were very short. Many of them are out already, people like Biljana Plavsic for example. You cant call it justice, Hoare told Al Jazeera. Plavsic, former president of Republika Srpska is the highest-ranking Bosnian Serb politician to be sentenced for war crimes along with Karadzic. She was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2003, but was released six years later after serving two-thirds of her sentence. Another Bosnian Serb leader, Momcilo Krajisnik, was released in 2013 after serving two-thirds of his 20-year sentence for war crimes. He was welcomed back as a national hero in his hometown of Pale, about 18km east of Sarajevo. Several thousand people sang nationalist songs and waved flags as Krajisnik made a speech in the towns main square. Addressing causes of atrocities is a social process, not legal Thirty of 50-year-old Fikret Bacics family members were killed in the war, including two of his children. Bacic, from Prijedor, Bosnia, still has not found his childrens bones. For years, he has been campaigning to set up a memorial to commemorate the 100 children executed in Prijedor by Serb forces, but his efforts have continually been rejected by the Bosnian Serb municipal authorities. {articleGUID} Looking at my kids peers, I really dont see a future for them here. You need to dig and pull out the root [of the problem] in order to be able to live normally, Bacic said. Meanwhile, dozens of monuments have been erected in Prijedor, honouring Serb soldiers killed in the war, some of whom were eventually indicted for war crimes. Addressing the root causes of mass atrocities is a social process, not a legal one, political scientist Jasmin Mujanovic told Al Jazeera. And one in which youth, broadly understood, have a key role to play, especially in rejecting their parents toxic norms, values, and politics. This has yet to happen in Bosnia. Politics of ethnic division and supremacy that employed mass atrocities in the first place are still very much alive and supported by neighbouring Serbia and Croatia, Refik Hodzic, a Prijedor-based journalist and expert on transitional justice, told Al Jazeera. If the same dehumanising, inciteful politics of ethnic supremacy and discrimination continue, another conflict will inevitably occur, Hodzic said. State broadcaster says former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa will take up role following Robert Mugabes resignation. Former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa will be sworn in as president on Friday, according to Zimbabwes state broadcaster. The report by the government-controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) said Mnangagwa would arrive in the capital, Harare, later on Wednesday. Mnangagwa, 75, had not been in the country since November 6 when he was sacked by Robert Mugabe, his former ally. {articleGUID} Mugabe resigned as president on Tuesday evening after a week of intense pressure following a military takeover. Much of that pressure stemmed from Mugabes decision to remove Mnangagwa, who is seen as close to the Zimbabwean armed forces. At the airport where Mnangagwa was due to arrive, large crowds were gathering to welcome the former vice president. Ezekiel Gadzi, 52, told Al Jazeera he was elated at Mnangagwas return because Mnangagwa had promised that he would return to make Zimbabwe a more democratic country. A new era is about to begin, and I look forward to Mnangagwa becoming leader of Zimbabwe. Had it not been for him and the support he got from the war veterans and the army, we would still be under the yoke of Robert Mugabe. But Mnangagwa is now returning to lead a new dispensation, he said. Tatenda Chari, an unemployed teacher in his mid-twenties, shared Gadzis sentiments and said that he hoped the incoming leader would improve Zimbabwes economy. Im very happy because I see the possibility of a new Zimbabwe with Mnangagwa. Ive been sitting at home with my parents, and I cant even put bread on the table because of Mugabe, so I place my hope in this new president that he wont let us down, she said. Shortly after being sacked, the former vice president fled the country claiming that he and his family had been threatened by Mugabe. The former presidents wife, Grace Mugabe, called Mnangagwa a coup plotter and a coward in a speech shortly after his sacking. That incident was also said to have ruffled feathers within Zimbabwes ruling establishment. Mnangagwa, like Mugabe, is a veteran of the struggle for independence from Britain. He is considered by the military to be an appropriate replacement for the former president, who at 93 was Africas oldest leader. Grace Mugabes ambitions for the presidency were fiercely opposed by the armed forces, who warned that they would not allow someone who had not fought in the independence war to take the helm of the country. Despite their relationship taking a sharp turn in recent months, Mnangagwa and Mugabe had once been strong allies, even sharing a cell during their imprisonment. Mnangagwa had been a member of Mugabes cabinet since the countrys independence, and vice president since 2014. Additional reporting by Tendai Marima. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @i_amten The United States has for the first time called Myanmars campaign against the Rohingya ethnic cleansing, saying specific sanctions against those responsible are being considered. The comments were made on Wednesday by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who, last week, visited Myanmar, where a fierce military crackdown has sent more than half a million Rohingya Muslims fleeing to Bangladesh since August. These abuses by some among the Burmese military, security forces, and local vigilantes have caused tremendous suffering and forced hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children to flee their homes in Burma to seek refuge in Bangladesh, Tillerson said in a statement, using an alternative name for the country. Al Jazeeras Kimberly Halkett, reporting from Washington, DC, said use of the term ethnic cleansing by Tillerson comes with legal ramifications, and also puts the US on what many view is the right side of morality. {articleGUID} The United Nations has also described the militarys actions against the persecuted minority as a textbook case of ethnic cleansing. Atrocities Myanmars army began its violent campaign against the Rohingya in late August, following a series of alleged attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army military posts in Rakhine state. Fleeing Rohingya refugees accused the security forces of responding with a campaign of arson and murder in a bid to force them out of Myanmar. These allegations are supported by rights groups monitoring the situation. Those responsible for these atrocities must be held accountable, Tillerson said of the violence. US legislators proposed specific sanctions and travel restrictions on military officials in early November. Myanmar is a majority Buddhist nation, with Christian, Hindu and Muslim minority populations. The Rohingya are predominately Muslim. Described as the worlds most persecuted minority, the Rohingya have suffered decades of discrimination and abuse at the hands of Myanmars army, and have been denied citizenship since 1982. Aung San Suu Kyi, state counsellor and de facto leader of Myanmar, came to power in 2015 following decades of nonviolent struggle against the countrys army. But Aung San Suu Kyi, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, has also been criticised for neither condemning nor taking steps to halt the military violence against the Rohingya minority. The Rohingya are not among Myanmars 135 state-recognised ethnic groups. Aung San Suu Kyi and others refuse to refer to them as Rohingya, instead calling them Bengali, a term which suggests they are foreigners. Lashkar-e-Tayyaba founder Hafiz Saeed, blamed for deadly 2008 attacks in India, released from house arrest in Pakistan. Islamabad, Pakistan Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) founder, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attack, has been set free by a Pakistani court, his spokesperson has said. Indian authorities suspect Saeed to be the mastermind of the deadly Mumbai attacks. He is likely to be freed by Thursday. Saeed, a United Nations designated terrorist whom the United States has placed a $10 million bounty on, had been placed under house arrest in the eastern city of Lahore in January by the provincial government, under anti-terrorism laws. {articleGUID} On Wednesday, a judicial review body of the Lahore High Court rejected a government request to renew his detention for a further 90 days, his spokesman Nadeem Awan told Al Jazeera. When the government was not able to present any evidence to justify [Saeeds] continued detention, the court ordered his release when his current detention order expires [on Thursday], said Awan. He will be a free man. Four of Saeeds JuD colleagues Abdullah Ubaid, Zafar Iqbal, Abdul Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Niaz were released last month when a similar review board deemed the governments evidence for their continued detention to be insufficient. UN sanctions list Saeed, founder of the LeT, has long distanced himself from the group, and denies any link to the gun and bomb attacks in Mumbai that killed at least 160 people. He says that he now only runs the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) organisation as a charity. Both the UN and US have designated JuD as a front for LeT, and many of its leaders remain subject to UN and other international sanctions. In 2002, Pakistan banned the LeT as a terrorist organisation, and, since 2008, authorities say they have been abiding by UN sanctions that subject JuD to an assets freeze, arms embargo and international travel ban. JuD, however, continues to operate freely across the country, and is often seen at the forefront of humanitarian relief efforts following natural disasters. It also runs a network of seminaries, and releases several periodical publications. The law under which the men were imprisoned required the government to renew the orders to maintain their house arrest every 90 days, but those orders remained subject to judicial review. In August, JuD launched a political party, the Milli Muslim League (MML), announcing that it would compete in upcoming elections. While the countrys election commission has so far not ratified the partys registration, its candidate, standing as an independent, finished fourth in a recent Lahore by-election in the ruling PML-N partys political heartland, bagging 4.6 percent of the vote. Asad Hashim is Al Jazeeras Web Correspondent in Pakistan. He tweets @AsadHashim. Former Bosnian Serbian commander Ratko Mladic has been sentenced to life in prison, for genocide and war crimes during the Balkan conflict more than two decades ago. The presiding judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Wednesday found that the 74-year-old general significantly contributed to genocide committed at Srebrenica. Previous judgments of the tribunal in the Netherlands already ruled that the massacre of about 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica was genocide. Judge Alphons Orie ruled that the perpetrators of the crimes committed in Srebrenica intended to destroy the Muslims living there. He also ruled that Mladic carried out and personally oversaw a deadly campaign of sniping and shelling in Sarajevo. The crimes committed rank among the most heinous known to humankind, he said. The former general initially appeared relaxed as he listened intently to the verdict, but was later removed from the courtroom after he shouted at the judges when he was refused an adjournment. His lawyer said Mladic needed a break for treatment of high blood pressure, but the judge continued reading the verdict after Mladics removal from court. Wednesdays verdict was long awaited by tens of thousands of victims across former Yugoslavia, and dozens gathered early outside the courtroom, many clutching photos of loved ones who died or are among the 7,000 still missing. The court said, however, it was not convinced of genocidal intent in six other municipalities, in line with previous judgments. Were sad and disappointed because Mladic wasnt declared responsible for the genocide in Prijedor and in the other five municipalities that were listed, Sejida Karabasic, from Prijedor, said. 3,176 people [killed] in Prijedor isnt enough in order to prove that there was a mass killing. So, more than 10,000 of us should have been killed in order to prove that genocide happened there, Karabasic said. There were mass rapes, killings, concentration camps. They found the largest mass graves in the Prijedor region, none of that was enough for the verdict to include genocide. Munir Habibovic, a Srebrenica resident, said he was satisfied with the punishment. We werent expecting anything less, he said, while agreeing that Mladic should have been found guilty of genocide in the six additional municipalities. {articleGUID} Speaking on behalf of the Association for Parents of Children Killed in Besieged Sarajevo, Fikret Grabovica told Al Jazeera that no such punishment exists for Mladic to get what he deserves. But we can be a partly satisfied with this verdict. Its very important that he received a life sentence what Im particularly glad about is that the indictment confirmed the terrorising and sniping of the civil population of Sarajevo, in which 1,600 children were killed, Grabovica said. Mladic, dubbed the Butcher of Bosnia, was accused of 11 counts including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by his forces during the war in Bosnia from 1992 to 1995. Many Bosnian Serbs, however, view Mladic as a national hero who helped Serbia through the war that broke up former Yugoslavia. Serbian daily newspapers on Wednesday featured photos of Mladic on the front page with captions reading, Im innocent; they cant take my soul and Im not guilty. Al Jazeeras Marko Subotic, reporting from Serbias capital, Belgrade, said support for Mladic there is still widespread. The media in Serbia never reported on what the Serbian army, under the command of Mladic, committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Because of this, researchers say residents are confused because they dont know why Mladic is standing trial at the tribunal in the Netherlands, Subotic said. A study in 2012 concluded that 42 percent of residents in Serbia dont know why Mladic is being tried at all. They know more about what went on while he was in hiding; they know that he was looking for strawberries when he was arrested in Serbia in 2011. Mladics trial was the last before the tribunal, and came as the court in The Hague prepared to close its doors next month. Humanitarian agencies call on Greek authorities to ensure that no refugees are in tents as winter weather approaches. With winter weather nearing, 20 humanitarian groups have warned authorities in Greece that lives will be lost unless asylum seekers stranded in cramped and unsafe island camps are allowed to relocate to the mainland. In a joint statement on Wednesday, the Greek and international organisations said thousands of people faced the bleak prospect of being forced to endure freezing temperatures in summer tents. This remains a matter of life and death, Jana Frey, Greece country director for the International Rescue Committee, said in the statement. There is absolutely no excuse for the conditions on the islands right now thousands of people crammed into overcrowded and desperately under-resourced facilities, she added, calling for asylum seekers to be allowed to move, in an organised and voluntary fashion, to the mainland. Hotspots on the islands of Lesbos, Samos and Chios were hosting 7,000 more people than they were designed to accommodate as of November 20, according to the human rights and aid groups. Nothing can justify trapping people in these terrible conditions on the islands for another winter, said Eva Cosse, Greece researcher at Human Rights Watch (HRW), in the statement. End containment policy In March 2016, the EU and Turkey reached a deal to stem the flow of refugees from Turkey to Europe, while countries across the Balkans sealed their borders. Those measures have led to a build-up of more than 60,000 refugees and migrants in Greece. Barring emergencies, asylum seekers are banned from travelling to mainland Greece, where better conditions and services are available, until their asylum process has been completed. Following the EU-Turkey statement, asylum seekers may wait for lengthy periods to complete procedures, in some cases over a year, Boris Cheshirkov, spokesman for the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), told Al Jazeera. These delays have contributed to the present overcrowded conditions in the hotspots and the effects of the geographical restriction which keeps asylum seekers on the islands for extended periods must be considered. {articleGUID} In their statement, the prominent groups called on Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to end the containment policy and take the necessary precautions to ensure that no asylum seekers are sleeping in tents before severe winter weather arrives. The Greek Ministry of Migration did not reply to Al Jazeeras request for a comment. Among the groups that signed the statement were IRC, HRW, Amnesty International, ActionAid, Help Refugees and others. Open-air detention camp Their warning comes amid soaring tensions on Greek islands, where the presence of refugees has become the subject of protests by locals and measures by law enforcement. In Mytilene, the capital of Lesbos, police on Tuesday reportedly evicted several people when a group of hunger-striking refugees camped out in the towns square refused to be transferred to another area outside the centre. Also on Tuesday, local media reported that at least seven refugees were arrested in the Moria camp, a closed facility, for arson, attempting to cause bodily injury, disruption of the peace and other violations. The arrests came a day after residents of Lesbos went on strike against the presence of more than 8,500 asylum seekers on the island. Spyros Galinos, the mayor of Lesbos, insisted that the islands inhabitants have struggled day and night for months on to shelter people who suffered from the consequences of war throughout the last three years. Around a million refugees passed through the island during that period, he added. {articleGUID} Today though, we feel abandoned and forgotten by both the Greek government and the European Union, as both our community and the refugees are getting punished, he told Al Jazeera on Wednesday. For months now, I kept appealing to both Athens and Brussels to take action as the refugee crisis is intensifying again. Galinos added: Lesbos, an island of democracy, humanity, and culture, is slowly turning into an open-air detention camp, a large jail where refugees are living under abhorrent conditions, and our community is coming under unbearable pressure, risking falling prey to extremist and populist rhetoric. Dangerous for children More than 25,000 refugees and migrants have crossed the Aegean Sea to Greek islands from Turkey so far this year, according to the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR). Of that total, children make up more than 37 percent. The majority of arrivals have fled war in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Cheshirkov, the UNHCR spokesman, explained that the humanitarian situation on the islands has rapidly declined amid increasing refugee arrivals. On Lesbos, more than 6,000 people are crowded in the Moria camp, which was designed to hold less than 2,000. Right now, it is dangerous for children, families, and vulnerable people to stay in Moria. Conditions could still deteriorate if overcrowding persists and as colder weather sets in, Cheshirkov told Al Jazeera by email. {articleGUID} In Vial, a camp on Chios, more than 2,000 people live in a space meant to hold 1,000, he added. On Samos, more than 1,600 are crammed in a camp equipped for 700, according to Cheshirkov. Speaking to the Greek daily Ekathimerini earlier this month, Migration Minister Yiannis Mouzalas defended the Greek governments policy towards asylum seekers and the EU-Turkey deal. Despite the difficulties of [the deal], which has gray areas Europe must clarify, it is a useful agreement for Greece, he said. Migration and refugee flows of this magnitude have to be dealt with, with agreements of this sort. Summit expected to be held in Black Sea resort of Sochi will bring together government and opposition figures. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said his Iranian and Turkish counterparts have supported a proposal to hold a Syrian peoples congress that will bring together government and opposition figures. The Russian leader on Wednesday hosted Hassan Rouhani and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, just as some Syrian opposition groups met in Riyadh, Saudi Arabias capital, before United Nations-sponsored talks in Geneva. The congress will look at the key questions on Syrias national agenda, Putin told reporters at the summit in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, sitting alongside Rouhani and Erdogan. First of all, that is the drawing-up of a framework for the future structure of the state, the adoption of a new constitution, and, on the basis of that, the holding of elections under United Nations supervision. The congress is expected to also take place in Sochi before the next round of Geneva talks on November 28. However, no details about the exact date or who will be invited to attend were released. In a joint statement, the three leaders underlined the need for all warring sides to release all prisoners and hostages, hand over bodies and create the conditions for a lasting truce. They also urged the international community to provide humanitarian aid, clear Syrian territory of mines and restore infrastructure wrecked by the long-running conflict. Now in its seventh year, the war in Syria has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced more than 12 million. Iran is a major ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who made a surprise visit to Sochi on Monday, while Turkey has backed some of his opponents. The three countries, however, have joined forces to sponsor talks between the government and the opposition in Kazakhstans capital, Astana, as well as act as guarantors for the establishment of four de-escalation zones across Syria. Putin on Wednesday said he believed a new stage had been reached in the Syria crisis. He warned, however, that achieving a political solution would require compromises from all sides. Al Jazeeras Rory Challands, reporting from Sochi, said that Erdogan had, until now, appeared reluctant to back Putins idea for a congress of a national dialogue. {articleGUID} Essentially, he is concerned that Kurdish groups are being invited, which he considers to be terrorist organisations, he said. Here, they all gave their support to it, but I still feel that Erdogan is a little bit lukewarm about it. An interesting development at the leaders press conference, Challands said, was a suggestion by Rouhani that the planned congress could prepare the ground for a new constitution for Syria. Some people have said that what Putin is trying to do with the Congress idea is bridge the gap between the Astana talks, which are about ceasefires and technical matters, and the much-stalled Geneva talks, which are about a grand political settlement, said Challands. This congress would sit in the middle, but it suggests that Putin is trying to shape the future of Constitution of Syria ahead of any future Geneva talks, he added. Aid and rights groups say unless the Kingdom allows unfettered commercial access, millions will continue to go hungry. Saudi Arabias decision to ease its blockade on Yemen does not go far enough, with aid and human rights groups warning the spectre of mass famine will continue to loom over the impoverished Arabian Peninsula country. The Kingdom said it will ease its blockade on rebel-held parts of the country from Thursday, and allow urgent humanitarian and relief materials to pass through the Red Sea port of Hodeidah and the capitals Sanaa international airport. Saudi Arabia, which has been conducting an air campaign in Yemen since 2015, intensified its embargo on the country on November 5, closing all of Yemens land, sea and air ports after Houthi rebels fired a ballistic missile towards the capital, Riyadh. The Kingdom said the blockade was a necessary precaution aimed at preventing weapons being smuggled into Yemen by Saudi Arabias regional rival, Iran. Iran has repeatedly rejected allegations of arming the Houthis, calling them malicious, irresponsible, destructive and provocative. Prices are ridiculously high. Petrol, cooking gas, everything has shot up. The Saudis are not just blockading the Houthis, they're blockading us, they're blockading every man, woman and child. by Ahmed Alsharabi, Sanaa-based maths teacher Save the Childrens Caroline Anning told Al Jazeera that any opening for humanitarian agencies was welcome, but it wouldnt be enough to avert a potential famine. Were still waiting to see exactly what this announcement means, she said. Saudi Arabia has not specified when or if it would ease a blockade on commercial access. At the moment, we welcome any opportunity to get life-saving aid into Yemen. However, the reality is it shouldnt have taken more than two weeks of an arbitrary blockade for this to happen, Anning said. {articleGUID} During this time the humanitarian situation has worsened. Aid agencies such as ours and the UN are only able to provide a fraction of the food, fuel and water that is needed. Its imperative that commercial supplies are able to get in as well. Yemens southern port city of Aden, which is under the Saudi coalitions control, re-opened its port for aid deliveries and commercial trade last week, but aid agencies say it lacks the means to transport large volumes of goods to northern areas. According to UN estimates, 71 percent of the nearly 19 million Yemenis who need assistance are in Houthi controlled areas. The strategic seaport of Hodeidah, about 175km west of Sanaa, used to be a key conduit for much-needed food and medicine imports prior to Houthi rebels taking the city over. Before the war, Yemen imported around 90 percent of its wheat and all of its rice to feed its population of about 28 million, and around 70 percent of these imports passed through Hodeidah. But imports have since dwindled, leaving millions unsure of when their next meal will come. No cause for celebration Prices are continuing to go up, with families having to choose between buying clean water for their children or buying bread that day, Anning told Al Jazeera. Were facing a critical situation where theres only a small amount of food supplies left in warehouses and theyll only last the next 4-8 weeks. The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET), a USAID-funded organisation that monitors food security issues, recently reported that even if throughput [through Aden] improved significantly, famine will remain likely [as] very large shortfalls in the availability of food, fuel, and medical supplies cannot be met by humanitarian assistance alone. Paolo Cernuschi, the Yemen director for the International Rescue Committee (IRC), a New-York based relief group, said the easing of access restrictions was no cause for celebration. Even though tomorrows reopening of ports to humanitarian traffic will ease the flow of aid, it will still leave the population of Yemen in a worse situation than they were two weeks ago before the blockade started, he said. Humanitarian aid alone cannot meet the needs of Yemenis who are unjustly bearing the brunt of this war. Access by commercial shipments of food and fuel must be resumed immediately, otherwise this action will do little to turn Yemen back from the brink of famine and crisis. Full unfettered access Amnestys Yemen researcher Rasha Mohamed told Al Jazeera that humanitarian imports alone did not meet the needs of the civilian population. Yemen needs monthly food imports of approximately 350,000 metric tonnes for survival, of which humanitarian imports are about 75,000 metric tonnes, she said. {articleGUID} This is far from sufficient to meet needs of the population. Full unfettered access for people and goods, commercial as well as humanitarian, is needed. Yemen has been devastated by more than two and a half years of war, after Houthi rebels, believed to be backed by Iran, captured Sanaa and overthrew President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadis government. A Saudi-led coalition was formed in March 2015 to fight the Houthi rebels and army troops allied with them. The coalition of Sunni Arab states has so far, failed to dislodge the fighters from Sanaa and their northern strongholds. According to the UN, at least 10,000 people, more than half of them civilians have been killed, and millions forced to seek food assistance. Everyone is suffering The price of flour has more than doubled since the start of the blockade, Ayham Alghopari, a student at Sanaa Universitys faculty of dentistry, told Al Jazeera. You can no longer buy car petrol on the open market, the price has more than doubled. It used to cost YR4,000 ($16) to fill up a small car; it now costs YR9,000 ($35). The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says the war has had a debilitating effect on the civilian population, with about 2.5 million people having no access to clean water and one in every 12 being severely malnourished. I cant give the most simplest of things to my family, Ahmed Alsharabi, a 40-year-old maths teacher in Sanaa, told Al Jazeera. Prices are ridiculously high. Petrol, cooking gas, everything has shot up. The Saudis are not just blockading the Houthis, theyre blockading us, theyre blockading every man, woman and child. Since the start of the war, the Saudi-led coalition has been repeatedly accused of failing to mitigate the impact of its operations on civilians. In August last year, a US official said the Arab coalition had deliberately bombed a main bridge linking Hodeidah to Sanaa, despite it being on a US no-strike list. The Yemen Data Project, which uses a range of open-source data to document the number of airstrikes, says just over one in three air raids between June and August this year hit civilian sites such as schools, hospitals, markets, mosques and economic infrastructure. According to the survey conducted by a group of the academics and human rights organisers, there were at least 427 attacks on military targets, while another 186 hit civilian objects. Follow Al Jazeeras Faisal Edroos on Twitter: @FaisalEdroos Draft resolution of Riyadh meeting says Syrian leaders departure at start of transitional period vital for ending war. Syrian opposition groups meeting in Saudi Arabia have renewed their demand for the removal of President Bashar al-Assad in a draft resolution obtained by Al Jazeera. The groups said that a solution to the war in Syria can only be achieved with the departure of Assad at the start of the transitional period a position held by the Syrian opposition since the start of the war, now in its seventh year. The participants agreed that the goal of the political settlement is to establish a state based on the principle of citizenship, which enables the Syrians to draft their constitution without interference and to choose their leaders through free, fair and transparent elections in which the Syrians participate inside and outside Syria under the supervision of the United Nations, the draft reads. {articleGUID} The 140-delegate summit in Riyadh, which kicked off on Wednesday, is expected to be a two-day affair. The demands made in the draft resolution are a reiteration of the 2012 communique formulated in the first round of negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland. The communique stipulates that a transitional governing body could include members of the present government and the opposition and other groups and shall be formed on the basis of mutual consent, but does not make any specific mention as to who exactly from the current government should stay on. {articleGUID} While the Syrian government has said that it will abide with all UN resolutions that confirm the need for a transitional government, the vague language of the communique has made the details of a transition a sticking point in negotiations. Achieving political transition in the country has long been considered the most challenging part of ongoing diplomatic efforts to end the war that started in 2011 as a peaceful uprising demanding Assad step down, amid widespread uprisings in the Arab world. The Syrian government has refused to entertain the prospect of Assad stepping down. Single negotiating delegation Saudi Arabia, a backer of the Syrian opposition, said the aim of the expanded conference was to unify the groups in the run-up to the next round of negotiations in Geneva on November 28. While the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), the largest opposition bloc, is clear with regard to its position on Assad, other opposition groups have a softer stance. {articleGUID} Due to the differences between the groups, they previously refused to enter into negotiations as a single entity. But according to the draft resolution, the participants agreed to form a single negotiating delegation in its structure, unified in its positions and reference, with the aim of negotiating with the representatives of the regime The head of the HNC for the past two years, Riyad Hijab, resigned on Monday in advance of the Riyadh meeting. Political analysts close to the Syrian opposition told Al Jazeera that Hijabs move was prompted by the attempt to unify the opposition despite stark disagreements between them on the way forward. Citizens should carefully consider travel due to terrorist threats and cross-border violence, State Department says. The US State Department has cautioned its citizens to carefully consider travelling to Saudi Arabia, citing persisting terrorist threats and a spillover of violence from Yemen across the border. The travel warning, issued on Tuesday, warned of the threat of ballistic missiles fired by rebel groups from Yemen into the kingdom. In the past year, rebels have fired several long-range missiles into Saudi Arabia capable of reaching the vicinities of Riyadh and Jeddah, and they have publicly stated their intent to continue doing so, the State Department said. The most recent missile fired into Saudi Arabia landed north of the capital, Riyadh, on November 4 and caused debris to fall near the King Khalid International Airport. Saudi Arabia has been leading a coalition at war in Yemen since March 2015, when the oil-rich kingdom intervened to push back Houthi rebels and reinstate the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. The State Department also banned US government employees and their families from travelling to any area within 50 miles of the Saudi-Yemeni border, including the cities of Jazan and Najran. Yemeni forces also routinely fire artillery at Saudi border towns and launch cross-border attacks against Saudi military personnel, it said. As a result, the US Missions ability to provide consular assistance in this region is limited, and US citizens should not travel to this area. Furthermore, the warning restricted US citizens from going to several volatile areas, such as Qatif in the eastern province and the Al Ahsa region, where Saudi forces are in regular confrontation with the Shia minority residents there. Zimbabweans pour out into the streets to celebrate the downfall of President Mugabe, who served as leader for 37 years. Thousands poured out into the streets of the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, after Robert Mugabe stood down following days of political turmoil. The former president ruled the country for nearly 37 years, first as prime minister and later as president, after years spent leading the struggle for independence from Britain, which saw him both imprisoned and sent into exile. {articleGUID} While Mugabes downfall marks the end of an era for the southern African country, what follows remains unclear. Who will fill the void left by the veteran leader? Will the military, whose intervention one week ago on November 15, brought about Mugabes fall, play an active and visible role in the countrys political scene? Below we answer some of the most pressing questions: Whats happening right now? After the jubilation that followed Mugabes resignation, Zimbabweans are returning to their ordinary lives. Parts of the country remain desperately poor after years of economic mismanagement and corruption under Mugabes rule. Who takes over now that Mugabe is gone? The interim leader of the ruling ZANU-PF party, former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa is due in Harare this afternoon. State media has said that he will be sworn in as president on Friday. {articleGUID} Mugabes falling out with Mnangagwa brought tensions with the military to the fore, and lost the former president the support of some of his core constituencies, including many in his own party. War veterans, who fought alongside Mugabe during the 1970s struggle for liberation from Britain and spearheaded the repossession of white-owned commercial farms in the 2000s, have long claimed their president has betrayed the revolution. Over the past week, they upped their call for Mugabe to resign. What happens to Mugabe? He resigned with immediate effect on November 21, but its unclear whether there will be an investigation into some of the allegations against him and his wife, former First Lady Grace, who is accused of usurping her husbands executive powers. However, though it turned against him, the ruling ZANU-PF has paid tribute to Mugabe for his 40-year leadership of the party. How are Zimbabweans reacting? Most people are jubilant, and some are still in a celebratory mood, but there are those whose happiness is tainted by the fear that Mugabes government may resurface. Wellington Moyo, a 36-year-old news vendor, told Al Jazeera hes pleased the army has done its job and hopes the promises of a new Zimbabwe made to the people will be upheld by those who take over. Im very happy that the will of the people has been heard and the army has done a great job. The bigger part of the job has been done now, and I look forward to the new leaders keeping their promises to listen to the peoples wishes, he said. {articleGUID} Im nervous that that system of oppressing might never end, but we as people can never return to that style of Mugabe, it really has to be over. How have Zimbabwes neighbours and the international community reacted? South Africas President Jacob Zuma cancelled a planned visit to Harare in the aftermath of Mugabes resignation but has not provided a reason for doing so. President Ian Khama of Botswana, a longtime Mugabe critic, was filmed dancing as news of Mugabes resignation played in the background. The clip has been circulating on social media, but its authenticity could not immediately be verified by Al Jazeera. Khama urged Mugabe to step down in an open letter published Tuesday. Further afield, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has issued a message of congratulations and described the event as a historic moment for the people of Zimbabwe. Carvell Wallace talks to Americans grappling with the state of the union while dealing with his own fractured history. How a legendary Cairo brass band gave birth to an entire musical genre, which still resonates with Egyptians today. Filmmaker: Karim Midhat More than 150 years ago, a musician started a band in Cairos Mohammed Ali Street, a hub for Arab musicians, belly dancers and instrument makers, near the opera house, cinemas and theatres. Mohammad Hasaballahs brass band became so popular that it gave birth to an entire musical genre, which still resonates with Egyptians today. Hasaballah was a clarinet player in a military band at the time of Abbas Helmi, a Khedive of Egypt under the Ottoman Empire. He was taught by Italians and when he retired from the army, he set up his own band. Classically trained, his players were skilled at picking up tunes, and Hasaballah (the band) turned popular Egyptian love songs into a style that became hugely popular at weddings, parties and national festivities, even spreading to other parts of the Arab world. Celebrated as the peoples music, Hasaballah was an important development, says Mohammed Shabana of the Popular Performance Department at the Academy of Arts. They transformed music from its formal, western-style into popular music. The first Hasaballah transformed himself from a bandleader to a legend, story and trademark. by Yahia Tadros, historian There were two types of music, one for social celebrations and the other elite music, says Ayman Mahmoud, of the Faculty of Literature at Suez University. Elite music was played in Mohammed Ali Pashas family palaces whereas popular music was played in weddings and popular celebrations. Hasaballah adopted both styles. Following Mohammad Hasaballahs death, several Hasaballah-styled bands appeared. We didnt study music or notation, says 69-year-old Izzat Fayoumi who started his own Hasaballah-style band in 1970. We learn by listening. We hear the music once or twice and then we play it. While musical styles and preferences have evolved over the past 100 years, Shabana believes Hasaballah will always satisfy certain needs. It interacts with and presents what appeals to Egyptians musical taste. It spreads joy among those who invite them and make them part of their celebrations and happy times. Its an open space, enabling interaction between the performer and listener and among neighbours and friends who take part in the celebrations together. Hasaballahs halcyon days are over and its no longer performed in palaces for the upper echelons of Egyptian society or in movies but many Egyptians still have a soft spot for it today. A new generation of musicians has picked it up and found new ways to keep Hasaballah alive by adapting it with new instruments and rhythms. It keeps the street style but gives it a modern twist. We adopted the [Hasaballah] line-up of trumpet, trombone, bass and snare drums but have just added the jumble, says Abdel Azim Mohammed, a member of the Hasaballa Marching Band. Everything we play is jazz. Different rhythms create different styles of music, like funk and salsa. We play funk and salsa. Shabana says that the legendary Hasaballah managed to carve his name and his band into the collective Egyptian, artistic memory. A look at the Trump administrations regulations cull and the consequences for health, safety and the environment. Since US President Donald Trump entered the White House, there is one achievement he cant be denied. He has made good on a campaign promise to repeal hundreds of job-killing federal rules, often following recommendations from powerful industries. My administration is putting an end to the war on coal and clean coal, really clean coal. With todays executive action, Im taking historic steps to lift the restrictions on American energy, to reverse government intrusion and to cancel job-killing regulations, Trump said. Entitled A New Foundation for American Greatness, the most notable changes in the first budget under the Trump administration were severe cuts and regulatory rollbacks to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a government body created to protect health and the environment. The havoc that has been wreaked in environmental protection is going to take a decade or more to undo. by Betsy Southerland, former EPA employee EPAs new chief is Scott Pruitt, a climate-denying politician from Oklahoma who is backed by the fossil fuels industry and who under the Obama administration sued the EPA 14 times on behalf of many of the polluting industries he is now supposed to regulate. Since under Pruitts patronage, the EPA has reversed a proposed ban on a pesticide linked to autism and developmental delays in children, reconsidered rules on coal ash disposal, and repealed the Obama administrations signature plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The US has also pulled out of the Paris Climate Agreement, essentially breaching the promise to curb planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions. Betsy Southerland was a senior official at the EPAs Office of Water for 30 years. When the Trump administration decided to roll back regulations on coal waste pollution produced by energy companies, Southerland left the agency. Within weeks of vacating her position, Scott Pruitt announced he would consider repealing a rule Southerlands team had enforced regarding wastewater discharges from power plants. Pruitt attributed the repeal to job loss and economic impact. I dont know why he said that, because at that point we had never briefed him once on the rule. We could have definitely shown him in great detail that there was not going to be any big job loss or any big economic impact, says Southerland. [Its] heartbreaking because we know that that rule was so necessary to protect public health. In this episode of Fault Lines, we look beyond the smoke and the scandals, and travel to North Carolina and Californias Central Valley, where communities have cautionary tales about what this rollback could cost. Robert Mugabe led Zimbabwe ever since the country was born 37 years ago. The African nationalist supported the fight for freedom from British colonial rule, then was a political prisoner during white minority rule in the 1970s. After independence was achieved in 1980, the prime minister-turned-president implemented social and economic policies for better or worse. Critics say he has been a brutal dictator who rose to power when the country was known as the jewel and breadbasket of Africa and has left it in economic ruins. His resignation provoked mass celebrations. The worlds oldest head of state finally accepted it was time to go as members of parliament debated his impeachment. But what difference will the historic events and a new leader make? Presenter: Adrian Finighan Guests: Tino Bere Human rights advocate Chude Jideonwo African affairs analyst and author of How to Win Elections in Africa Heike Schmidt Associate professor of modern African history, University of Reading For 10 minutes, Bo Diddley Community Plaza was filled with nothing but the sound of more than 300 names. As the names were read, some bowed their heads as others gazed at the photos leaning against the stage. Holding flickering candles, the crowd solemnly listened to the names of all the transgender individuals who lost their lives to transphobic violence in the past year. On Monday evening, about 100 people gathered on the plaza to participate in Transgender Day of Remembrance. Attendees listened to local transgender speakers and poets, participated in a candlelight vigil and held a moment of silence for transgender individuals around the world. This was the first public Transgender Day of Remembrance held in Gainesville, said Chloe Goldbach, lead organizer of the event. Its important to highlight that these are all people that lost their lives just for being who they are, she said, They didnt do anything wrong. Mayor Lauren Poe read a proclamation and offered words of support to Gainesvilles transgender community. We in Gainesville want to make sure that every single person knows that they have a safe and loving place where they can live and work and play and be surrounded by people that care about them, Poe said. Beatrice Siggers, a resident of Longwood, Florida, stumbled across the event while walking through downtown Gainesville, but she believes God led her there. She said she never realized violence against transgender individuals was so frequent. That was somebodys daughter or son, they were somebody, the 58-year-old said. Siggers said she never really understood the daily struggles the transgender community faces until she attended the event. Its just so sad, she said. Why do you have to die just because of who you are? jgiles@alligator.org @jessica_giles_ Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Police, Mr. Francois Beukman, has proposed eight measures to strengthen the ability of law enforcement agencies to combat gender violence. Mr. Beukman made the proposals in a speech today during the debate on the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children campaign in the []http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Appa-sourceTheAfric... Seattles City Council made national headlines earlier this year when it enacted a city income tax aimed at high earners. Immediately, politicians crowed that they had planted a flag of resistance to the forces of Trumpism. In a court hearing last week, the city defended its war on wealth against several legal and constitutional challenges. The briefing from both sides exposes an inconvenient reality for the levys defenders: its real, ultimate victims arent necessarily the plutocrats they claim to be targeting. In fact, just the opposite. Some background: there are few precedents from other parts of the country for a city income tax of any kind, whether aimed exclusively at the successful or not. But for the Evergreen State, it is definitely a first-of-its-kind gambit. In fact, the citys action was in direct defiance of the Washington State Supreme Court. That court has repeatedly held that the states constitution -- specifically, its mandate for equal treatment of all private property -- prohibits targeted income taxes, like Seattles decision to impose a 2.25% tax on total income in excess of $250,000 per year. The courts cannot overturn the constitution -- so, what is Seattles strategy? It is to convince a court to redefine a persons income as something other than property, such that income would lose its constitutional protection. Seattles legal briefing argues that income does not look like a typical piece of property. For many of us, income flows in and out of our possession without us ever really having a chance to capture it or hold it for longer than it takes to write a check. Thus, the city concludes that income should not be characterized as property. But, in making this argument, the citys legal team painted itself into a corner. You see, not only has the Washington Supreme Court recognized income as a form of property, there are decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court that agree. Thus, the city, in an effort to win by any means necessary, refined its argument to point out that those cases involved income derived from assets like bank accounts or real property. Seattle argues that income should only constitute property if an individual invests it in some hard asset, like stocks or real estate or a business. According to Seattle, the state constitutions protection for property should not protect anyone who lives paycheck-to-paycheck. The citys argument in this regard is dangerously short-sighted. Ownership of the fruits of ones labor is at the very heart of personhood. One need only recall Frederick Douglasss account of being paid wages for the first time in his life: To understand the emotion which swelled my heart as I clasped this money, realizing that I had no master who could take it from me -- that it was mine -- that my hands were my own, and could earn more of the precious coin... I was not only a freeman but a free-working man, and no master stood ready at the end of the week to seize my hard earnings. Its no secret, though, that Seattles decision was spurred on by a sense of resentment against wealth and achievement. Indeed, supporters celebrated the proposal by waving tax the rich signs, while bill cosponsor, councilmember Kshama Sawant, declared that the decision to impose a tax on Seattles rich is part of a larger battle against wealthy citizens and is motivated by her belief that the capitalist class actively works to undercut the policies that she supports, and should be compelled to pay for them. But at what cost? The only way for the city to win this tax fight is to deprive the poor and middle class of the protections guaranteed by the states constitution. Doing so would have broad ramifications. Indeed, in the 1930 case, Culliton v. Chase (the very decision Seattle wants reversed), the Washington Supreme Court explained that, if income is not property, then anyone can use our incomes who has the power to seize or obtain them by foul means. So, who has the most to lose? The poor and middle class of Seattle and the entire State of Washington. Once again, a progressive plan turns out, in practice, to operate more like the Sheriff of Nottingham than Robin Hood. Brian T. Hodges is a senior attorney with Pacific Legal Foundation. PLF represents four Seattle residents in a constitutional challenge to Seattles income tax law. Earlier last week, Fox contributor John Huddy reported that the Palestinian Authority will withdraw from the peace process if President Trump closes its diplomatic mission in Washington. The failure of Palestinian Arabs to pursue peace can be traced back 100 years with defiance to any form of Jewish sovereignty. The Palestinians could have had peace and their own state had their leaders recognized Israel's overtures by bargaining in good faith, renouncing violence and recognizing Israel's right to exist but did not. They had no less than seven opportunities to do so but did not. Instead, they acted with reckless abandon to bring about the destruction of the Jewish state and Jewish people. The first was in 1917, when the Balfour Declaration not only declared a Jewish homeland, but also mandated that nothing be done to prejudice or disrupt any exiting Arab communities. But that changed with the Nebi Musa riot in April 1920, when, in Jerusalem, Palestinians from nearby towns poured in and fomented jihad against the Jews: the mayor of Jerusalem (who is himself a Muslim) was quoted as saying: "If we don't use force against the Zionists and against the Jews, we will never be rid of them." Many in the crowd shouted back: "We will drink the blood of the Jews!" The mobs vented their anger, burning, pillaging, and beating up Jews and Arab police officers alike wherever they went. The second came in 1937, where the Peel Commission under Chaim Weizmann pressed for a two-state solution. The Jews were offered an even smaller territory on the coast from Tel Aviv up through the north, making up about one fifth of the remaining mandate territory. The Palestinians, for their own state, would take the remaining four fifths. This did not satisfy them, and they summarily rejected the plan. The Palestinians again resorted to jihad, which the British subsequently quelled. After WW2, Britain ceded authority of the mandate to the U.N. Third, in May 1948, the U.N. recommended still another partition plan to the General Assembly. It would have divided the territory almost equally. The Zionists, in goodwill, made their acceptance known almost immediately. But true to form, the Palestinians retorted that any partition plan would be met with "rivers of blood," and the newly formed Arab Liberation Army was sent to annihilate the Jews. Thankfully, the Jews won a decisive victory, and the Palestinians ended up with nothing and became refugees. Never did it occur to the leaders of Egypt or Jordan to accord the Palestinians a state. The Jews did! Fourth, in 1993 in Oslo, the Palestinians could have gotten everything they wanted, complete with mutual letters of recognition. Arafat proved unfaithful. Fifth, in 2000 at Camp David, Ehud Barak agreed to borders proposed by Bill Clinton. The agreement would have established a West Bank-Gaza Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital. Again Arafat proved refractory by walking out and starting the Second Intifada. Sixth, in 2005, Israel P.M. Ariel Sharon decided that it was neither economically nor militarily feasible for Israel to govern 1.1 million Palestinians in Gaza. For his part, Sharon dismantled all settlements and recalled the Israeli army back to the 1967 borders between Israel and Gaza without land swaps while, at the same time, leaving behind donated greenhouses, which the people could have used to create an agriculture export industry to jump-start their failing economy. True to form, the Palestinians didn't comport. The Palestinians destroyed the greenhouses and proceeded to launch an interminable array of rocket attacks against civilian targets in Israel to no avail. Seventh, in September 2008, Ehud Olmert presented Palestinian president Abbas with still another partition plan his own. It was to have been a detailed map of a future Palestinian state with what would have been mutually agreed land swaps. The Palestinians would have gotten all of the West Bank and Gaza prior to the '67 war. Olmert also proposed to divide Jerusalem. Abbas took the map of the plan back to his office for further consideration and never returned. That was the last time negotiations were held with any alacrity. Each time, Jewish overtures were met with violence. Each time, Israel's detractors cowered behind the shields of anonymity and political correctness when negotiations failed. History is rooted in objective fact and can be clearly discerned through an honest reading of the historical record. However Israel's detractors sympathize with terrorists and cheerlead for the destruction of Israel, they must consider that there exists no country in the Muslim world where Christians and especially Jews enjoy the same freedoms in frequency and in magnitude as Muslims do in Australia, all of Western Europe, the Americas, and especially Israel. These missed opportunities reveal the consistent manipulation of the so-called peace process through decades of malicious intent of the Arab negotiators as pretexts for hastening Israel's destruction. The economic prosperity that peace could have conferred on both Israelis and Palestinians is the biggest casualty of all. They play the race card. If that doesn't stick, they toss out the gender card, as they have with Judge Moore. If the opponent survives these attacks, then it's the class card, as it was with Mitt Romney. If none of this works, it's the LGBT card. Then there's the "E" card just "too extreme," as with Barry Goldwater and Judge Bork. When all of these fail, as they did against candidate Donald Trump and all of them were played the left freaks out and starts throwing things. All of these attacks are versions of the same logical fallacy: the ad hominem argument. Ad hominem attacks are called "fallacies" because they have nothing to do with logic per se. They intentionally deflect the discussion from ideas to personal issues instead of policy ideas or questions about one's ability to perform the job. The fact that Mitt Romney's wife owned two Cadillacs, something clueless Romney cited as evidence of her unpretentiousness (Cadillac, not Mercedes get it?), was held up as damning evidence that the candidate was out of touch. In one poll, two thirds of respondents stated their opinion that Romney "doesn't care about people like me." It was over after that, all without discussion of a single idea. By its very nature, ad hominem is an "impure" form of debate. It shifts the argument to the level of schoolyard accusations: "I don't like you because you're not nice." "No, you're the one who's not nice." That pretty much sums up the Democratic Party's line, especially since the 2000 election. (Don't vote for Bush he's a "cowboy," and his supporters are "bushies." Does that make sense?) Actually, in the case of Judge Moore, as it was with Clarence Thomas, "I don't like you because you're not nice" presupposes that one's opponent actually, in some respect, is not nice. In the case of Judge Moore, it's "I don't like you because you may have made advances to young women 38 years ago, although no compelling evidence of such exists." In other words, it's not just ad hominem, but ad hominem based on a personal failing that may or may not exist. The clincher in the Moore case is the accusation, first published in the Washington Post, that he once made advances on a fourteen-year-old girl. The idea of an adult male molesting a fourteen-year-old girl touches a primal nerve. It violates a sacred taboo and evokes a primitive response. It is all too easy to jump from accusation to condemnation without considering the facts or applying logic. Several facts in the Moore case need to be considered. The charges of sexual misconduct relate to events that supposedly took place 38 years ago. Why were no charges made public until now, just weeks before a critical U.S. Senate race? How is it that a man charged by four accusers with making advances on them, all but one of legal age at the time, has maintained his reputation and his marriage for so many years without scandal? Why is it that only at this moment have several women have come forward claiming sexual impropriety? Logic would tell us that the charges against Judge Moore are not just "related" to the Senate race they are the result of his candidacy in a race that may decide control of the Senate in 2018. Unless more convincing evidence can be produced of criminal activity or of a serious moral offense and the only accusation of this so far comes from one woman relating two incidents Moore must be presumed innocent until proven guilty. There is also the question of the reliability of witnesses. One of Moore's accusers has links to the Hillary Clinton campaign. What about the others? The chief accuser in this case says she "thought about" coming forward years ago but chose not to. Why has she chosen to come forward now, only after being contacted and repeatedly interviewed by investigative journalists from the Washington Post? The charges against Moore stand in stark contrast to those against Al Franken. Everyone has seen the photograph of a smirking Franken fondling the sleeping Leeann Tweeden. One photograph may or may not be grounds for expulsion from the Senate, but is there other incontrovertible evidence of sexual misconduct of a criminal nature? In fact, there are other accusers coming forward, one of them claiming she possesses evidence of stalking and harassment. In Moore's case, it is one person's word, corroborated by hearsay, against another. In Franken's, it is right before your eyes. Liberals are masters at using ad hominem and other cheap forms of attack. In their book, every conservative is automatically a racist, a sexist, a homophobe, or a madman ready to unleash a nuclear war until proven otherwise. Conservatives are by nature hesitant to use this kind of tactics, partly, I suppose, because they are too proud to stoop that low. For the record, I believe that if the allegation of sexual conduct with a fourteen-year-old girl is proven, Moore should step down immediately just as I believe that there may also be a good case for expelling Al Franken from the Senate. Hopefully, the people of Alabama will stand up and reject the left's ad hominem attacks on Judge Moore. Perhaps the guilty party in the Alabama Senate race is not Judge Moore, but those who have drummed up the charges against him. Until proven otherwise, Judge Moore must be presumed innocent. If the left is successful in defeating Judge Moore, this will usher in a new phase of debasement in American politics. From that moment on, it won't be necessary to bring charges and prove them. All that will be required is to concoct the most salacious account of personal misconduct and find those willing to repeat the tale. If we enter this new phase of politics, Judge Moore and Al Franken won't be the last of it. Every candidate for public office will put his reputation at risk. Elections will be fought on the basis of who can concoct the most sensational story. We will have moved so far beyond logic that ideas will become irrelevant and character a mere figment of the imagination. Jeffrey Folks is the author of many books and articles on American culture including Heartland of the Imagination (2011). The Sunni equivalent of the pope, the grand mufti of Saudi Arabia, a revered figure in half the Muslim world, has just declared that it is forbidden to kill Jews. This is the culmination of years of delicate diplomacy between Israel and Saudi Arabia, with the active aid and support of Egypt, Jordan, and other peaceful forces in the world, including the United States. This high-level Islamic declaration of peace comes as a climax after a thunderous avalanche of strategic events, culminating in the Saudi purge by King Salman and his heir apparent, Mohammed bin Salman, which has kept opposition figures like billionaire Alwaleed bin Talal locked up in a hotel, along with dozens of other power-holders in Arabia, to force them to give vast amounts of money to the kingdom, which is facing economic disaster with the fall of oil prices. The militant war faction in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states is under attack from within, and it may be crumbling. This entire strategic event has been carefully planned and orchestrated by the duly elected president of the United States, one Donald J. Trump, with the active help of Israel, Egypt, and some Saudi royals. Even as you read this, Donald Trump is still hated and pursued by a posse of corrupt leftists in Washington, D.C., now holding an empty bag. In this major, strategic campaign Trump was diplomatically aided by Egypt's President El-Sisi, who has openly declared the need for deep reform in Islam. The current tremendous opening for peace in the world has been consistently opposed by the Obama-Hillary Democratic Party, which is now being exposed by one sexual criminal charge after the next, so that even Bill Clnton's 26 trips on the Lolita Express with underage girls, run and sponsored by billionaire Jeff Epstein, is finally getting exposure in the corrupt media. This means total panic for the bad side. It means that Saudi Arabia, the traditional leader of Sunni Islam, is now aligned again with the United States, Israel, and the West against the aging and doomed gerontocracy of Iran, which is closely allied with terrorist gangs like Hamas, Hezb'allah, Qatar, and the Muslim Brotherhood. These rejectionist forces are now facing the prospect of extinction. Trump and his allies in the Muslim world, in Israel, and in the saner parts of Asia and the West have worked this strategy based on his decades of experience and deep intelligence in the international hotel business, where survival depends on accurate knowledge. Good business and peace go together. On the Muslim side, King Salman of Saudi Arabia and his son and now heir, Mohammed bin Salman, have mobilized modernist forces in the Sunni world, finally talking the most radical elites, the Sunni priesthood, including Wahhabis and Salafists, into a practical peace agreement. One likely incentive was Trump's and Secretary Mattis's unambiguous statement that the United States would finally eliminate the known Sunni chain of command of murderous jihad attacks on innocent children, girls, boys, and women marked for sexual slavery, and similar crimes against humanity, in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and the rest of the world. Crimes against humanity are forbidden in every long human tradition, even the ones that are double-faced. SecDef Mattis has been particularly clear on this point. In Trump's recent trip to China, President Xi received him in the historic Forbidden City, an unsurpassed symbol of the greatness of ancient China. The Forbidden City has not previously been opened by the Chinese communists to visiting heads of state. In China, Russia, and the Middle East, history is alive in the present. Trump's reception in China and Da Nang (Vietnam) was filled with real meaning. What we are seeing is a rationalization of forces. This is not some sentimental symbol of the kind Obama specialized in. When Obama bowed low to the emperor of Japan and the president of China, those people laughed at him, because an empty suit is funny. Trump is not an empty suit. In his historic speech in Da Nang, Vietnam, he told a truth everybody knew but was not ready to say out loud: that Asia has an extraordinary historical tradition and that it is building toward a magnificent future, but that the spread of nuclear weapons to crazy ideologues is a clear and present threat to everyone. Under Trump, the United States wants to work with China and Vietnam, among other Asian powers, to obviate that threat. That is in the American national interest, but it is also in their vital interest. Behind the scenes, in spite of Washington madness about the empty "Trump dossier," Vladimir Putin is an authoritarian with common sense. To Russians, the Great Patriotic War is a living memory, but also an enormous sacrifice never to be repeated again. Putin may be a new tsar, and the tsars were never suicidal. Ballistic missiles from North Korea and Iran now threaten the existence of every nation on earth. Nukes and missiles in the hands of suicide-proclaiming regimes serve no sane nation in the world. Trump's triumph is also a unified world weapon aimed at rejectionist forces in North Korea and Tehran. That is the fundamental strategic reality. The threat of uncontrolled nukes should be obvious to every intelligent person in the world, but somehow the Democrats since Jimmy Carter have denied that reality. Instead, they kowtowed to the forces of primitive desert jihad, a military suicide cult similar to Imperial Japan in World War Two. Such suicide cults exist, but they are utterly incompatible with nuclear weapons and worldwide delivery vehicles. Donald J. Trump has traveled the world on business for decades, holding conversations with business leaders and politicians. As Trump has shown with his pitch-perfect visit to China, he has deep respect and sympathy for the family traditions that hold China together. His young granddaughter's performance of classical Mandarin children's songs touched ordinary people in China, because it signaled respect and shared values between three thousand years of Chinese tradition and a United States that has rediscovered its own values. China is very familiar with revolution and redemption. So is Vladimir Putin, who has brought back the Russian Orthodox Church as his major ideological source of support. Ordinary Russians and Chinese are not necessarily religious in the traditional way, but they know who is on their side and who has sown destruction and chaos in the last century. National suicide serves only suicidal fanatics. France's Emmanuel Macron has watched all this happen very intelligently and has joined in the Saudi breakthrough to peace, something the European Union (which is still stuck in Marxism) has been unable to do. But now they will have to follow the new correlation of powers, whether they like it or not. Trump described the new shared doctrine of peace and national sovereignty for all nations in his speech in Da Nang. When we are confident in ourselves, our strength, our flag, our history, our values other nations are confident in us. And when we treat our citizens with the respect they deserve, other countries treat America with the respect that our country so richly deserves. This is not some kind of homogenized "globalism." It is global patriotism, national love and pride, and peace, in the face of unimaginable weapons of mass destruction, weapons that do not deliver victory, but only suicide. It could be called the art of the deal the one where everybody wins. Donald Trump deserves our support. Turn on the news to hear about the latest powerful man, almost to a man Democrats, accused of sexual misconduct. Hollywood moguls and actors, media political commentators, and now elected officials. The sole accused Republican, however, seems to be garnering the most attention: Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore. After the smart-set cable news panels play compare and contrast between Roy Moore and Al Franken, they pivot to the Republican tax cut plans, currently limping through Congress. Democrats trot out their hackneyed tax cuts for the rich mantra despite marginal tax rates staying put under both House and Senate plans. What do these two current events have in common? Roy Moore isnt in the Senate yet and cant vote on tax cuts. Yet these two unconnected issues are a pivotal moment for the GOP. Will it be their Waterloo or their Yorktown? Defeat or victory? Roy Moore is clearly unpopular with Democrats. Yet the Republican establishment doesnt want him either. Ask Mitch McConnell, Mitt Romney, John McCain or Cory Gardner. Hes another Donald Trump, opposed by the establishments of both parties, but perhaps not by the voters. The same pollsters predicting Moore crashing and burning also predicted a Clinton landslide victory. We know how that turned out. What happens if he does lose? Moore would be a solid Republican vote in a closely divided Senate. Without him, the Senate would be one seat closer to a Democrat majority. Tax cuts are a no brainer. A perennial GOP campaign promise. But so was repealing Obamacare, building the wall, shrinking government and enforcing immigration law. Now almost one year into the GOPs once-in-a-generation control of Congress and the White House, little has happened. Congress is incapable or unwilling to act on any of President Trumps signature campaign issues. Which most Republicans also campaigned on, but once elected, are running away from. All to hurt Trump and his agenda. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face. The House passed a tax cut in name only, buying into Democrat talking points of it being a tax cut for the rich, which its not. Unlike a real Reagan style tax cut, the GOP proposals are nothing more than rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. The Senate is dithering, defections looming. Senator Ron Johnson is willing to scrap it all over a single provision he opposes. Flake, McCain and Corker may vote no just to spite the President. What do they care? They are on their way out, one way or another. This may be the last chance for the GOP. If they dont pass a meaningful tax cut by Christmas, its on to campaign season. Legislation will cease. They can run on their lack of accomplishment and squandered opportunities. How will that play with the GOP electorate? Republican voters are likely to stay home next November. They wont vote for Democrats, but instead will throw up their hands in exasperation. Why bother voting for a party that accomplishes nothing, despite all their promises and big talk? How easy it would have been for Republicans to repeal Obamacare, cut taxes and build the wall. They would have controlled Congress for a generation. Leaving the Democrats wandering in the wilderness. A lost opportunity for the GOP. Elections have consequences. Suppose the House flips to Democrat control? If it does, you can bet that they will vote to impeach President Trump on day one. Articles of impeachment, however nonsensical, have already been drawn up. Unlike the Republicans who promised to repeal Obamacare on day one, the Democrats wont dither. This will be a campaign promise the Democrats will honor. Before the end of January 2018, the Senate will be gearing up for an impeachment trial. Will the Senate flip? Less likely but every seat counts, even in Alabama. Two-thirds of the Senate must convict and remove a president. Which is why every vote matters. Even Roy Moores. Its not inconceivable to find 15-20 NeverTrump GOP Senators voting to remove Trump from the White House. McCain, if healthy enough, would vote that way. Moore would not. His current electoral opponent Doug Jones undoubtedly would. The Senate trial would drag on, much like the Robert Mueller Russia collusion investigation, casting a cloud over the White House and any Trump initiatives. Even if not removed from office, Trumps term would effectively be over. Judicial appointments, especially to the Supreme Court would be held up under the premise that a president who may soon be removed from office shouldnt be making lifetime appointments to the bench. Same with any significant legislation. Trump would be placed in a box that even his force of personality couldnt overcome. Could an impeached President Trump win a second term? Would he even try? Why would he bother? Who follows Trump? Third times the charm for Hillary? Handsy Joe Biden? Al Franken, if he skates on his predatory activities as Bill Clinton did? Pocahontas Warren? This is make or break time for the GOP. Can they get their act together and get something done after a year of shooting blanks? Will the GOP work to defeat Roy Moore over 40-year-old dodgy allegations? Giving another Senate seat to the Democrats? Is this how the GOP wants things to play out? Incompetence or deliberate? If tax cuts crash and burn like everything else this year, I will conclude that this is deliberate. Its not hard to figure out. If I get it, surely lifetime members of Congress see it too. Are Republicans so blinded by hatred of the outsider Donald Trump that they are willing to crash their party, and the country, just to keep teach uppity outsiders a lesson and keep their donors happy? We should have our answer in the next few weeks. Brian C Joondeph, MD, MPS, a Denver based physician and writer. Follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. An SEIU official in California was fired after it was revealed that he had been dismissed for several sexual harassment incidents in Boston. Pedro Malave became the fifth SEIU employee to be let go following charges of workplace harassment. Politico: The Service Employees International Union faced questions last week over how a former staffer fired for inappropriate workplace conduct at a Boston local found work at two other SEIU locals in California. The labor website Payday Report reported last week that Pedro Malave, a former assistant director at 32BJ SEIU District 615, was fired in 2014 after allegations of sexual assault. Malave then found work at two California locals, SEIU-UHW and SEIU-USWW. The locals dismissed Malave after Payday Report inquired about the allegations last week. "SEIU USWW has zero tolerance for sexual harassment or sexual violence, and had we had prior knowledge of any misconduct or harassment allegations against Mr. Malave, we would never have hired him," USWW spokesperson Stephen Boardman said in a written statement. The union said it was unaware of the allegations until last week. SEIU locals, which are separately incorporated, each have their own human resources departments, and no centralized system exists to share records, a union official told Morning Shift. Malave could not be reached for comment. Malave is the fifth SEIU official in recent weeks to leave the union following allegations of misconduct, after the October resignations of Executive Vice President Scott Courtney and Chicago Fight for 15 leader Caleb Jennings; the resignation earlier this month of Fight for 15 Organizing Director Kendall Fells; and the firing earlier this month of Mark Raleigh, who ran Fight for 15's Detroit chapter. Why haven't we heard more sexual harassment claims from union employees, whose leadership is historically heavily male? POLITICO's Ian Kullgren last week addressed the question of why unions haven't figured in recent sexual harassment stories coming out of Hollywood and the news media, given that both industries are heavily unionized; policing management abuses of union members is a significant portion of what unions do. One possible answer, Kullgren wrote, was labor unions' own internal difficulties with sexual harassment. Harassment "has been an ongoing problem for unions, especially those that were initially heavily male," Wilma Liebman, a former union attorney who served on the National Labor Relations Board, told Kullgren. "It's been a hard issue to deal with." These latest revelations don't make it any easier. Little has been made of the dearth of female labor executives over the years. Feminists see unions as a natural ally and have rarely criticized their hiring practices. Sexual harassment may be a different story. Denying women jobs because of their sex is one thing. Assaulting, abusing, and harassing them in the workplace is quite another. The current trend of exposing harassment may be altering the dynamics of the liberal-labor coalition, causing friction at a time when it's imperative for the left to have all hands on deck to unite against Republicans. Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri arrived back in Lebanon two weeks after he announced his surprise resignation while in Saudi Arabia. Within hours of landing at Beirut International Airport, Hariri shocked the country by announcing he had put his resignation "on hold" while talks with Hezb'allah and other political factions are underway. Hariri withdrew his resignation temporarily or not at the request of Lebanon's Christian president, Michel Aoun. According to Al Jazeera, there were intense behind-the-scenes discussions between the Hariri camp and other Lebanese leaders. Al Jazeera's Zein Khodr, reporting from Beirut, said that Hariri's tone has shifted since he gave his resignation speech two weeks ago. "He [Hariri] didn't even mention Hezbollah or Iran[.] ... He even said that he's looking forward to a partnership with all political parties in the country "What is clear is that there has been intensive discussions behind closed doors," she said. "The resignation was an attempt by Saudi Arabia to curb Hezbollah's influence[.] ... That attempt backfired[.] ... Hariri was conciliatory in his message." What is going on? Whatever influence Saudi Arabia was exercising over Hariri has weakened since he left the kingdom. Before returning to Lebanon, Hariri had meetings with several leaders, including Macron of France and el-Sisi of Egypt. France has a keen interest in what happens in Lebanon, since the tiny nation is a former French colony. And as a Sunni regional power, Egypt is on the front lines of resisting the spread of Iran's influence. Those "intense discussions" almost certainly included Hezb'allah. Given that Hariri cited threats against his life by pro-Iranian and pro-Syrian factions in Lebanon as a primary reason for his resignation, it is possible that some sort of backroom deal with the terrorists was struck that gives certain assurances to Hariri regarding his personal safety. For Hezb'allah, part of that deal could have included Hariri promising to back away from Saudi Arabia. Whatever is going on behind the scenes in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia appears to be a big loser. Ten days ago, it looked as if war was coming between the Saudis and Hezb'allah. Today, that prospect is less likely. Lebanese Sunnis may view the Saudis as a benefactor, but they won't blow up their country to satisfy the crown prince's ambitions. If Hariri stays on, it will represent another victory for Iran, who has won in Syria, is winning in Iraq, and is bleeding the Saudis in Yemen. The mullahs are on a roll, and increasing their already considerable influence in Lebanon via their proxy, Hezb'allah, is just icing on the cake. Yesterday, November 21, at 10:17 A.M. EST, the press release went out from Fox News in New York: FOX News Channel (FNC) has signed nationally syndicated radio talk show personality Mark Levin as host of Life, Liberty & Levin, a new weekend primetime program debuting in February 2018, announced Suzanne Scott, president of programming. The addition of Levin, an iconic figure in the 21st-century conservative movement, to the Fox News regular lineup should please the channel's core audience. Until recently, FNC's commitment to a fair and balanced conservative viewpoint had appeared uncertain with the ignominious dumping of long-term popular "no-spin" host Bill O'Reilly last April and the elevation to higher-profile status of progressive hosts and contributors like Juan Williams, Shepard Smith, Jessica Tarlov, and Marie Harf, among others. One month ago, however, Fox News reinforced its M-F prime-time schedule with the addition of Laura Ingraham's show The Ingraham Angle at 10 P.M., capping what is now the strongest right-of-center prime-time lineup in the channel's 21-year history. Mark Levin. Levin's show is set to premiere in February in its time slot on Sundays at 10 P.M. EST. He will continue to do his three-hour daily nationally syndicated radio talk show, which is rated #3 in the country, behind Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. Levin, who turned 60 on September 27, also hosts a nightly online subscription-based television show, LevinTV, on CRTV, a channel that features programs by Michelle Malkin, Deneen Borelli, and Stephen Crowder. Levin is an attorney who served in the Reagan administration as chief of staff to Attorney General Edwin Meese. He got his start in radio two decades ago by appearing as a guest legal analyst on Rush Limbaugh's and Sean Hannity's radio shows. In 2002, Levin was given a program of his own: weekends on WABC AM 770 in New York. In 2003, he moved to the 6-9 P.M. M-F slot on WABC, Hannity's flagship station, immediately following Hannity's show. In 2006, The Mark Levin Show, which continues to air live at 6 P.M. EST, went into national syndication. Although Levin on the air can come across as acerbic and argumentative, he is a serious and articulate constitutional scholar, and his legal and political expertise is reflected on his show. He is also the author of over half a dozen New York Times bestseller nonfiction books. The most successful one, Levin's Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto, was released in 2009 and became a #1 New York Times bestseller for eleven weeks and was rated #2 on Amazon.com's list of the bestselling books of 2009. The Nov. 21 Fox News announcement noted: Life, Liberty & Levin will explore the fundamental values and principles undergirding American society, culture, politics, and current events, and their relevance to the nation's future and everyday lives of citizens. The hour-long program will feature Levin's lively in-depth and long-form interviews and powerful debate style with consequential guests covering history, philosophy, and economics. Levin will also capitalize on his extraordinary knowledge and compelling perspective as a constitutional lawyer to discuss the American founding, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution. In making the announcement, [FNC president of programming Suzanne] Scott said, "Mark's passion for the principles found in the Constitution and success in talk radio has made him a distinct figure in the media landscape. We look forward to adding this spirited program to our weekend lineup." Levin added, "I am honored to join FOX News, a network I have enjoyed appearing on as a guest for quite some time. As a proud citizen of the United States, I am delighted to share the significance of American values with such a wide audience and look forward to engaging with important guests about crucial topics." Most of the mainstream press saw the announcement of Levin joining FNC as Fox News reinforcing its perceived pro-Trump tilt. Politico, for example, noted: "It's clearly another step in Fox News Channel's evolution to a more Trump-friendly series of programming," said Dan Shelley, executive director of the Radio Television Digital News Association. "It's right in their current wheelhouse." ... The network has stuffed its lineup of opinion hosts with consistent cheerleaders for the president. Former mainstay Megyn Kelly was known for feuding with Trump, and even Bill O'Reilly who was forced out by the network in April amid sexual harassment accusations would break with him occasionally, but Fox's current prime-time lineup of Hannity, Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham rarely criticizes Trump, and goes to great lengths to defend him. Levin fits into that mold. The 10 p.m. Sunday time slot is not a high-profile one, though it could lead to bigger things, according to Brian Wieser, a senior analyst at Pivotal Research. "If someone is getting a Sunday 10 p.m. show, it's safe to say that's a trial run," he said. If viewing levels build or the show develops well, he said, "then it can be given a time slot which is more likely to get greater viewing." Shelley also noted that the move locks in Levin a highly established name in conservative media from joining other competitors. The MSM have a vested interest in spinning Fox News as a one-voice, pro-Trump propaganda mouthpiece. The reality is that progressive leftists are represented throughout the day on the channel. And even in prime time, when conservative hosts rule the 8-11 P.M. time period, progressive guests are regularly heard in fact, every night without fail on Tucker Carlson's show at 8 P.M. and also often on Hannity at 9 and The Ingraham Angle at 10. Levin himself was not initially pro-Trump, and in fact, he opposed his candidacy until September 2016. Lately, Levin has been more sympathetic to the Trump administration, especially in the face of the Deep State's overwhelming resistance to the Trump agenda, but not without criticizing it from time to time. Peter Barry Chowka is a veteran reporter and analyst of news on national politics, media, and popular culture. Follow Peter on Twitter at @pchowka. The Detroit Free Press, Michigan's largest circulation newspaper, published an editorial this morning calling on embattled Rep. John Conyers to resign. Conyers, one of the most powerful Democrats in Congress, has been accused of sexually harassing a woman and covering it up using taxpayer dollars. House minority leader Nancy Pelosi, among other Democrats, have called for an investigation by the ethics committee into Conyers's behavior. John Conyers Jr. has a long and complicated legacy in southeast Michigan and the U.S. Congress. He has been an undisputed hero of the civil rights movement, a legislator of uncommon influence and power, and an aging icon whose felonious wife and sometimes-wandering pace have confounded his place in history. But the revelations of Conyers' alleged sexual harassment scandal and his documented use of taxpayer dollars to bury that scandal, in violation of congressional ethics rules, is less ambiguous. It is the kind of behavior that can never be tolerated in a public official, much less an elected representative of the people. And it means that whatever Conyers' legacy will eventually be, his tenure as a member of Congress must end now. He should resign his position and allow the investigation into his behavior to unfold without the threat that it would render him, and the people he now represents, effectively voiceless. Conyers made a deal that kept the sexual harassment of a staffer quiet in exchange for what amounts to taxpayer funded hush money. After the alleged victim made a formal complaint through the U.S. Congress Office of Compliance, Conyers' office endorsed an alternative route. If the woman dropped her complaint and signed a legal document attesting that Conyers had done no wrong, and if she agreed never to disparage him or make subsequent claims, she'd be re-hired as a temporary "no-show" employee and paid $27,111.75 over the course of three months. She accepted the terms. Conyers' office defended the arrangement Tuesday as a means to avoid "protracted litigation" and defended the sum as a "reasonable severance payment." Conyers also continues to deny the woman's claims. But the House's ethics rules are clear: A House member can't retain an employee who isn't performing work commensurate with the pay, and regardless, can't give back pay for work that stretches further than a month. It's a rule Conyers has flouted before. He continues to battle an ethics complaint alleging that he violated House rules by keeping a former chief of staff on payroll after she was fired; Conyers' lawyers contend that the representative's office has the right to pay severance to its employees at will. Nor is Conyers the only member of Congress who has come under fire for paying what they've described as severance. What makes this payment different? It looks an awful lot like hush money. It's unclear whether Conyers can survive this blow. As the editorial mentions, he's skated on ethics complaints before. But this morning, BuzzFeed is reporting that another female staffer claimed she was sexually harassed by Conyers and would have taken him to court except that the judge refused to seal the complaint. A former scheduler in the Conyers' office attempted to file a sealed lawsuit against him this February in the US District Court for the District of Columbia that alleges she suffered unwanted touching by the Democrat "repeatedly and daily." She abandoned the lawsuit the next month, after the court denied her motion to seal the complaint. The woman was not involved in the 2015 sexual harassment and wrongful dismissal complaint that Conyers settled in 2015, which was revealed Monday by BuzzFeed News, and is now under investigation by the House Ethics Committee. The lawsuit centered on behavior that took place later, from 2015 to 2016, but involves similar allegations. The woman said that shortly after she started to work for Conyers he began to make sexual advances in the form of inappropriate comments and touching. "These behaviors and actions were so common and pervasive that they created a hostile work environment," she alleged. Conyers's denials that he acted inappropriately with anyone ring hollow. But is it enough to force him out? John Conyers is the most powerful black politician in America. He survived corruption charges relating to his wife, who is now serving time in jail. But this is different. The powerful Detroit Free Press calling for him to step down is a blow not so much to his electoral prospects in 2018 he is secure even if he goes to jail but in the House itself. If he stays, he is likely to be stripped of his committee chairmanships and still might be expelled once the ethics committee gets done with him. His power has been broken, which may be the deciding factor for him to step down. I imagine there are several perhaps many congressmen sweating right now. I don't think there's any doubt that Conyers is not the only member who has been accused of sexual harassment in the past and paid someone to keep it quiet. I don't think this is a matter of partisanship both sides will have members who are guilty. Where will that leave Congress when all of this comes out? In even more of a mess than it is now. A New York Times opinion piece argues that climate change "catastrophe" is the result not of careless individuals, "immoral companies," or "foundering" reforms, but rather of "the rampant stupidity of capitalism" "the overwhelming unintelligence involved in keeping the engines of production roaring" in the face of looming climate change (emphasis original). The writer, Benjamin Y. Fong, who holds a Columbia University Ph.D. in religion, argues that the idea of solving the climate change "disaster" through more intelligent voters or better technical solutions is a fallacy: Put differently, the hope that we can empower intelligent people to positions where they can design the perfect set of regulations, or that we can rely on scientists to take the carbon out of the atmosphere and engineer sources of renewable energy, serves to cover over the simple fact that the work of saving the planet is political, not technical. In other words, says Mr. Fong, "[t]he intelligence of the brightest people around is no match for the rampant stupidity of capitalism." For Mr. Fong's "anti-capitalist struggle" to address climate change, picking out "bumbling morons to lament or fresh-faced geniuses to praise is a missed opportunity" for "structural change." Mr. Fong is less clear about his alternative to capitalism. Moving through the piece, Mr. Fong refers to "foundering social Democratic reforms," a "democratic socialist society," and "socialists" who have been "defensive for centuries," followed by a link to Communism for Kids, translated from the original German and published by MIT Press. The "Overview" of the Communism book begins with: Once upon a time, people yearned to be free of the misery of capitalism. How could their dreams come true? This little book proposes a different kind of communism, one that is true to its ideals and free from authoritarianism. And as the "workers" take control: At last, the people take everything into their own hands and decide for themselves how to continue. Perhaps volume two will discuss Stalin's Russia, Mao's China, Castro's Cuba, and the latest worker's paradise in Venezuela. Such thoughts do not trouble Mr. Fong, who concludes that "the burden of justification" is not on the those promoting socialist alternatives, but rather on those defending capitalism. As Steven Hayward writes at powerlineblog.com, "as long as leading, celebrated climatistas talk about it as a reason to smash capitalism ... there is every reason for conservatives to reject the whole racket as a hustle for political power." This is exactly what happened in the last election, when a president was elected to prime the "engines of production" to produce jobs and economic growth and, by the way, exit the Paris climate agreement. The anti-capitalist struggle will have to wait. Kudos to the Riverside County (California) District Attorney's Office for bringing justice to a crime committed in the name of politics. Prosecutors have limited resources and a lot of crimes to prioritize. But political crime is a serious matter today. And the incident leading to the charges has already had tremendous visibility on conservative media (if not the MSM yet) and on social media, thanks to YouTube. A cause celebre may be brewing, and that's a good thing. Jennifer Kabbany reports in The College Fix: A UC Riverside student who stole a peer's Make America Great Again hat off his head and refused to give it back now faces steep legal consequences. A criminal complaint provided to The College Fix by the Riverside County District Attorney's Office states that Edith Macias has been charged with one misdemeanor count of grand theft for the September 27 incident. The next court date on the matter is slated for March, and the maximum penalty Macias faces if convicted as currently charged is one year in county jail, a spokesman for the DA's office told The Fix. Macias's defense team (and I do not doubt that she will have access to high-powered leftist lawyers, gratis) faces a slight obstacle in that video of the incident, taken by the victim, has garnered millions of views on YouTube. As briefly summarized by Kabbany, it shows: Macias stormed into a student services office with the hat and declared: "UCR is letting people wear this [s---] on campus? Make American Great Again, really? There were lynchings and genocide and mass deportations. ... I [f------] hate this country. ... And I am not leaving. ... We need to get rid of all ya'll." After [the victim] Vitale demanded his hat back she replied: "[F---] your freedom of speech boy, your freedom of speech is literally killing a lot of people out there, your hats like these that promote laws and legislation that literally kill and murder people of color," she continued. For those who have not seen the appalling theft and verbal harassment, four minutes of it is embedded here: The victim, Matthew Vitale, handled himself with poise and dignity throughout and waited until university officials failed to apply any discipline to Machias before filing a criminal complaint with authorities. That complaint has now been acted upon by the D.A. By stealing the hat directly off the person of her victim, Macias opened the door to serious charges. There was talk of felony charges earlier, but instead, it has been classified as misdemeanor grand theft, which, so far as I know, usually is for the theft of particularly expensive items, not trucker hats. Jonathan Turley writes on his blog: Initially, the charge of "grand theft" seems excessive for a hat. This is a "wobbler" crime that can be charged as either a felony or a misdemeanor. However, the provision below drops the $950 threshold value criteria when property is taken off a person's body: CHAPTER 5. Larceny [484 502.9] ( Chapter 5 enacted 1872. ) 487. Grand theft is theft committed in any of the following cases: (a) When the money, labor, or real or personal property taken is of a value exceeding nine hundred fifty dollars ($950), except as provided in subdivision (b). (b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), grand theft is committed in any of the following cases: ... (c) When the property is taken from the person of another. (d) When the property taken is any of the following: (1) An automobile. (2) A firearm. (Amended by Stats. 2013, Ch. 618, Sec. 7. Effective January 1, 2014.) As a first offense, jail is rare as opposed to informal probation for up to three years. Nevertheless, it is surprising to see a formal charge over a hat. Yet, the video has gone viral and prosecutors may have felt the need to deter such violent and intolerant conduct on campuses. In my view, crime committed in the name of political causes is a graver offense than the underlying offense would be if done out of greed. Political violence, unpunished or mildly punished, begets more political violence. And once political violence becomes the norm, the consequences can be fatal to the stability of the polity and society. There are people openly calling for revolution and arming themselves. This is an existential threat to our democratic republic the cause for which our armed forces have fought and died throughout our history. I suspect that if Macias is handed a sentence including more than a weekend of jail time, some will portray her as a martyr. Let them. I think that the more exposure the public has to Macias, the better. Her comrades on the left, especially those on campus, need to follow the same rules everyone else does. If she is convicted, I hope she is handed a stiff sentence but that the judge offers her an alternative: release with an ankle bracelet on the condition that she attend and receive a passing grade from a course on the history of the American Republic, civil liberties, and civil society. If judges can make abusive spouses attend nonviolence training, why not a comparable course for democracy-abusers? Digging through court documents, the Washington Examiner has found an admission from Fusion GPS that it did indeed pay journalists who covered the Trump-Russia collusion "narrative" that Fusion GPS was "researching" and spreading for the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign. WashEx reports: Newly filed court documents confirm that Fusion GPS, the company mostly responsible for the controversial "Trump dossier" on presidential candidate Donald Trump, made payments to three journalists between June 2016 until February 2017. The revelation could be a breakthrough for House Republicans, who are exploring whether Fusion GPS used the dossier, which was later criticized for having inaccurate information on Trump, to feed anti-Trump stories to the press during and after the presidential campaign. The three journalists who were paid by Fusion GPS are known to have reported on "Russia issues relevant to [the committee's] investigation," the House Intelligence Committee said in a court filing. Fusion GPS justified its payoffs by saying it paid these reporters only for "research" as if it couldn't get what it wanted any other way and somehow only these people could help research what the company wanted for its DNC and Clinton campaign clients. Kind of like the way they hired Christopher Steele? It's an odd inversion of the fact that a media company, the Washington Free Beacon, paid Fusion GPS for "research" on Trump at the initial stage of the dossier's assemblage. Think of the weird implication: Media Company A can't get the info it wants, so it pays Fusion GPS to get it, since Fusion GPS supposedly has much better researchers than the Free Beacon's reporters. Fusion GPS in turn pays off reporters from either the same or another media organization for the research because those reporters are supposedly much better researchers than Fusion's hacks. Then, research in hand, it theoretically could have gone back to Media Company A. Incest, anyone? What we are seeing here is excuse-making. Fusion GPS paid off journalists for "research" just as surely as if it had paid for commissioned stories. It represents a lawyerly deception to think otherwise. What likely happened is that Fusion GPS bathed these reporters in a "narrative" of "research" the Hillary Clinton campaign and the DNC wanted out there and then asked them their opinion or something to fulfill the "research" justification. With this media practice going on, and I doubt Fusion GPS was the only practitioner of such "research" with the journos, is it any wonder the press coverage narrative was so uniform? And more to the point, did the public deserve this? The public was deceived into thinking the mainstream press reports it read about Trump and Russian collusion were reported without fear or favor. Turns out there's fear of exposure for what were a lot of favors in this Fusion GPS situation in the ever consolidating and increasingly uniform mainstream media. Is it any wonder that with this the general practice, the public trusts the media less than ever? And that a major reason it turned to Trump was that it felt that the press was not giving Trump a fair shake? The sooner the miscreants who took the Fusion GPS cash for research are exposed and their stories examined, the better. There's a reason Fusion GPS didn't want the reporters' names exposed, and that's the fact that the public would want these people fired if the truth got out about their side dealings. But if there is ever something the public has a right to know, it's the identities of reporters who take payoffs, decline to tell the public, and then go reporting on the very topics they claim to be objectively examining. Roy Rochlin/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- CBS and PBS have fired veteran journalist Charlie Rose after multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct. In a statement to staff posted on Twitter, CBS said Rose was terminated "effective immediately." "This followed the revelation yesterday of extremely disturbing and intolerable behavior said to have revolved around his PBS program," the statement read in part. "Despite Charlie's important journalistic contribution to our news division, there is absolutely nothing more important, in this or any organization, than ensuring a safe, professional workplace." Shortly thereafter, PBS released a statement of its own: "In light of yesterdays revelations, PBS has terminated its relationship with Charlie Rose and canceled distribution of his programs. PBS expects all the producers we work with to provide a workplace where people feel safe and are treated with dignity and respect." Rose's dismissal came after multiple women shared their personal stories with The Washington Post and Business Insider. The Post reported that Rose's accusers either worked with or aspired to work with him on his PBS show, "Charlie Rose," from the late 1990s to 2011. At the time of the alleged incidents, the women ranged in age from 21 to 37, according to the paper. Business Insider featured three women, all former Charlie Rose interns, who also accused Rose of inappropriate behavior, speaking to the site on the condition of anonymity. Before being fired on Tuesday, Rose's "CBS This Morning" co-anchors Gayle King and Norah O'Donnell addressed the situation, calling for an end to the alleged behavior from Rose or anyone else in a position of power. "Let me be very clear, there is no excuse for this alleged behavior," O'Donnell said. "It is systematic and pervasive and I've been doing a lot of listening. ... Women cannot achieve equality in the workplace or in society until there is a reckoning and a taking of responsibility." Rose issued an apology to the Post after the allegations first broke and later, he shared it on Twitter. In my 45 years in journalism, I have prided myself on being an advocate for the careers of the women with whom I have worked, he said in a statement to the newspaper. Nevertheless, in the past few days, claims have been made about my behavior toward some former female colleagues. It is essential that these women know I hear them and that I deeply apologize for my inappropriate behavior. I am greatly embarrassed. I have behaved insensitively at times, and I accept responsibility for that, though I do not believe that all of these allegations are accurate. I always felt that I was pursuing shared feelings, even though I now realize I was mistaken," he continued. "I have learned a great deal as a result of these events, and I hope others will too. All of us, including me, are coming to a newer and deeper recognition of the pain caused by conduct in the past, and have come to a profound new respect for women and their lives. Kyle Godfrey-Ryan, a former assistant to Rose in the mid-2000s and one of the three accusers who spoke to the Post on the record, claimed that Rose walked nude in front of her at one of his homes in New York City and called her in the wee hours to describe fantasies of watching her swim naked. She said that she reported his calls to Rose's longtime executive producer, Yvette Vega, who apparently told her, "That's just Charlie being Charlie." Vega told the Post and later confirmed to ABC News that she regretted not doing more for Godfrey-Ryan and others who mounted similar complaints. I should have stood up for them, she said. I failed. It is crushing. I deeply regret not helping them. Godfrey-Ryan said that ultimately, Rose fired her, and she later left journalism. He took me out to lunch and told me how embarrassed he was, how he didnt treat me like that, she said. It was really about how I got it wrong, and, obviously, I couldnt work there anymore. Reah Bravo, who worked alongside Rose beginning in 2007, claimed to the Post that she was groped -- sometimes forcefully -- by Rose on more than one occasion. In 2008, she said that as she prepared to accept a new job, Rose offered her a position in Washington, D.C., and the opportunity to live in his Georgetown residence. She declined. I was leaving because I was getting away, she said. I would never want to live someplace where he had keys. Megan Creydt, the third woman who spoke to the Post on the record, overlapped with Godfrey-Ryan when she worked as a coordinator on Rose's show from 2005 to 2006. Creydt claimed that Rose put his hand on her thigh, which alarmed her. "I dont think I said anything, she said. I tensed up. I didnt move his hand off, but I pulled my legs to the other side of the car. I tried not to get in a car with him ever again. I think he was testing me out. In a statement to ABC News, Yvette Vega, executive producer on Charlie Rose, said: I should have stood up for them. I failed. It is crushing. I deeply regret not helping them. In a story published later Monday evening by Business Insider, three other women, all former Charlie Rose interns, also accused Rose of inappropriate behavior, speaking to the site on the condition of anonymity. One, an intern in 2010, said Rose touched her legs in a car while his driver took them back to her college dorm. She said months later he invited her to his hotel room to discuss a potential job. She ended up not going and never heard from him again, she said. The two others said he opened the door to his home wearing nothing but his bathrobe and invited them in, according to Business Insider. One, looking for job advice in 2005, said accepted but felt uncomfortable as she waited downstairs for him to get dressed. They had dinner together that night and shared a bottle of wine, but the intern said she ended up having to foot the bill. She ultimately found a job elsewhere. The other said she declined when invited in in 2008. She said she was shocked and didnt know who to report him to. "He was the star of the show," she told Business Insider. "Who do you go talk to about the star of the show?" A Rose spokesperson declined to comment further to Business Insider or ABC News when asked about the allegations. Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Award-winning documentary filmmaker and fine-art photographer Miguel Gandert shows his work highlighting his mestizaje heritage, and the fusion and tension of the relationship between Spanish Colonial and Native Cultures of the Americas. Runs through 12/29. Querer means to want, to desire, to be in a place, with its people. In folk terminology, querencia is such a place, the center space of desire, the root of belonging and yearning to belong, that vicinity where you first beheld the light. Querencia, in collective terms, is homeland. ~Enrique Lamadrid, Nuevo Mexico Profundo Miguel Gandert tells stories. He tells stories of his homeland, New Mexico (and beyond), its people and the cultural practices that distinguish communities from each other while simultaneously revealing their kinship. You will have to form your own words, however. Ganderts stories are told through penetrating, black and white photos. A primary focus of his work is his own mestizaje heritage and the fusion and tension of the relationship between Spanish Colonial and Native Cultures of the Americas. Miguel Gandert, a native of Espanola, NM, is an award-winning documentary and fine-art photographer and filmmaker. His photographs have been shown in galleries and museums throughout the world and are in numerous public collections including the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the National Museum of American History and Art at the Smithsonian. Querencia: Rituals of the Rio Arriba opens Friday, October 6 at the New Mexico Humanities Council, 4115 Silver Ave SE, Albuquerque. An artists reception will be 6:00 pm 8:00 pm with an artist's discussion at 7:00 pm. The exhibit closes December 29, 2017. (ANSA) - Brussels, November 22 - The European Commission has warned Italy not to water down its 2018 budget bill in a letter to the government in Rome, EC Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis told ANSA on Wednesday. "We recognise that Italy has made many efforts recently for competitiveness and growth, (but) it is crucial that the 2018 budget is adopted without the main measures being watered down," said Dombrovskis, who wrote the letter to Italy along with Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici. "It should be applied in a rigid way to hit the target of a structural (deficit reduction) of 0.3% of GDP". The Commission said Wednesday that it had written a letter to Rome saying that it intends to reassess Italy's compliance with the debt reduction benchmark in spring 2018 on the basis of validated data for 2017 and in the light of the final budget to be adopted by the Italian Parliament in December 2017. The Commission said that Italy was one of five EU countries, along with Belgium, Austria, Portugal, and Slovenia, whose 2018 budget plans risk a "significant deviation" from the adjustment paths towards their medium term targets. It added that "in the case of Italy, the persisting high government debt is a reason of concern". (by Cristiana Missori) CAIRO - Palestinian director and two-times Oscar candidate, Hany Abu Assad, presented his latest movie The Mountain between US (with Kate Winslet) on the opening night yesterday of the 39th edition of the International Film Festival in Cairo. ''Without Egyptian cinema, Arab cinema would not exist'', he told VIPs and stars at the conference palace of Al Manara, in the new administrative capital which has been recently inaugurated by President Al Sisi. Chaired by Magda Wassef and directed by Youssef Rizkallah, the event will present to the public over 175 films from 53 countries in eight sections. Meetings and seminars have also been organized as part of the event. The festival is being held across an increasing number of locations ''to enable the Egyptian public to grow'', Rizkallah, who has directed the festival for years, told ANSAmed. Along with the prestigious opera House, the cinemas Odeon and Mall of Arabia (in the district October 6), Zamalek Cinema, Nile City Hall and American Cairo University will host the screenings. Nevertheless, the region's oldest film festival is languishing without an Egyptian film in the opening night or the official competition. ''Egyptian non-commercial movies are in crisis'', Rizkallah said, with no State funding for new films nor for post-production. Egyptian directors, he stressed, are moving to Dubai for financial reasons, as well as attend the new Festival of Gouna (on the Red Sea), which held its first edition in September. ''Gouna stole a couple of films that we wanted to show for the first time''. These include Sheikh Jackson (2017) by Amr Salama, which has been shortlisted for an Oscar in 2018 for Egypt. The movie tells the story of an imam with a secret passion for pop icon Michael Jackson. Recently released in Egypt, it will be screened in the section dedicated to new Egyptian cinema (that includes eight films). The few novelties in Egyptian cinema include the thriller by director Marwan Hames whose previous feature films include Yacoubian Palace (2006) and Al Asleyeen (The originals, 2017). Two films presented in the section dedicated to Arab cinema focus on the conflict in Syria: Rain of Homs by Joud Said and The Bees way by Abdellatif Abdelhamid; while the comedy directed by Lebanese filmmaker Sophie Boutros, Solitaire (Mahbas), focuses on the love-hate relationship between the Syrians and Lebanese. Overall, 17 Italian films will be at the festival. Sergio Castellitto's Fortunata will be in the official competition for an award while different sections will include, among others, Qualcosa di nuovo (something new) by Cristina Comencini, La Tenerezza (tenderness) by Gianni Amelio, In Guerra per Amore (at war for love) by Pif and Tommaso by Kim Rossi Stuart. Australia will be guest of honor this year with a special window as the festival's call is to get the Egyptian public acquainted with the social and cultural context of other countries. Cinema in Egypt is one of the most influential 'soft powers', said at a press conference the CEO of broadcaster DMC, Hisham Sulliman, sponsor of the event. ''It contributes to the development of culture, it is an extraordinary means of growth and orientation for society and has an important role also in the fight against terrorism and extremist ideologies''. Culture Minister Helmy Al Namnam also spoke about the issue last night, stressing the importance of art and culture ''to fight obscurantism, persecutions and terrorism''. The festival is also focusing on the world of women, starting with an icon of Egyptian movies, actress Shadia, who is in hospital due to her poor health. This year's festival is dedicated to her. Another Egyptian star, Youssra, will also be under the limelight as the honorary president of the festival. A special section has been dedicated to new women in French films while a seminar open to the public on November 25 will be held for the International day for the elimination of violence against women, an event marked for the first time last year by President Abdel Fattah al Sisi. The festival will end on November 30, possibly with a touch of glamour during an edition that has not been attended by international stars for financial reasons. ''For the closing ceremony our main sponsor is trying to take US actor Ben Affleck to Cairo'', said Rizkallah. Egypt: Cairo Film Fest opens Against extremism. Egyptian filmmakers fleeing to Dubai (by Cristiana Missori) (ANSAmed) - CAIRO, NOVEMBER 22 - Palestinian director and two-times Oscar candidate, Hany Abu Assad, presented his latest movie The Mountain between US (with Kate Winslet) on the opening night yesterday of the 39th edition of the International Film Festival in Cairo. ''Without Egyptian cinema, Arab cinema would not exist'', he told VIPs and stars at the conference palace of Al Manara, in the new administrative capital which has been recently inaugurated by President Al Sisi. Chaired by Magda Wassef and directed by Youssef Rizkallah, the event will present to the public over 175 films from 53 countries in eight sections. Meetings and seminars have also been organized as part of the event. The festival is being held across an increasing number of locations ''to enable the Egyptian public to grow'', Rizkallah, who has directed the festival for years, told ANSAmed. Along with the prestigious opera House, the cinemas Odeon and Mall of Arabia (in the district October 6), Zamalek Cinema, Nile City Hall and American Cairo University will host the screenings. Nevertheless, the region's oldest film festival is languishing without an Egyptian film in the opening night or the official competition. ''Egyptian non-commercial movies are in crisis'', Rizkallah said, with no State funding for new films nor for post-production. Egyptian directors, he stressed, are moving to Dubai for financial reasons, as well as attend the new Festival of Gouna (on the Red Sea), which held its first edition in September. ''Gouna stole a couple of films that we wanted to show for the first time''. These include Sheikh Jackson (2017) by Amr Salama, which has been shortlisted for an Oscar in 2018 for Egypt. The movie tells the story of an imam with a secret passion for pop icon Michael Jackson. Recently released in Egypt, it will be screened in the section dedicated to new Egyptian cinema (that includes eight films). The few novelties in Egyptian cinema include the thriller by director Marwan Hames whose previous feature films include Yacoubian Palace (2006) and Al Asleyeen (The originals, 2017). Two films presented in the section dedicated to Arab cinema focus on the conflict in Syria: Rain of Homs by Joud Said and The Bees way by Abdellatif Abdelhamid; while the comedy directed by Lebanese filmmaker Sophie Boutros, Solitaire (Mahbas), focuses on the love-hate relationship between the Syrians and Lebanese. Overall, 17 Italian films will be at the festival. Sergio Castellitto's Fortunata will be in the official competition for an award while different sections will include, among others, Qualcosa di nuovo (something new) by Cristina Comencini, La Tenerezza (tenderness) by Gianni Amelio, In Guerra per Amore (at war for love) by Pif and Tommaso by Kim Rossi Stuart. Australia will be guest of honor this year with a special window as the festival's call is to get the Egyptian public acquainted with the social and cultural context of other countries. Cinema in Egypt is one of the most influential 'soft powers', said at a press conference the CEO of broadcaster DMC, Hisham Sulliman, sponsor of the event. ''It contributes to the development of culture, it is an extraordinary means of growth and orientation for society and has an important role also in the fight against terrorism and extremist ideologies''. Culture Minister Helmy Al Namnam also spoke about the issue last night, stressing the importance of art and culture ''to fight obscurantism, persecutions and terrorism''. The festival is also focusing on the world of women, starting with an icon of Egyptian movies, actress Shadia, who is in hospital due to her poor health. This year's festival is dedicated to her. Another Egyptian star, Youssra, will also be under the limelight as the honorary president of the festival. A special section has been dedicated to new women in French films while a seminar open to the public on November 25 will be held for the International day for the elimination of violence against women, an event marked for the first time last year by President Abdel Fattah al Sisi. The festival will end on November 30, possibly with a touch of glamour during an edition that has not been attended by international stars for financial reasons. ''For the closing ceremony our main sponsor is trying to take US actor Ben Affleck to Cairo'', said Rizkallah. (ANSAmed). UNIS - The tenth Conference of Islamic culture ministers held in Khartoum, Sudan, at the presence of culture ministers from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and international experts working in the cultural sector has elected Tunis ''Capital of Islamic culture for 2019''. Tunisian Culture Minister Mohamed Zine El Abidine stressed that ''this tenth conference took place at a time when the Muslim world needs stronger cooperation between countries and governments for the implementation of a cultural strategy of the Muslim world focusing on development and the fight against terrorism''. Zine El Abidine then stressed the importance of giving culture a vital role as the ''driving force for development and bulwark against extremism and terrorism''. The conference on the theme ''Towards a sustainable cultural development of cities of the future in the Islamic world'' was organized by the Islamic organization for education, sciences and culture (Isesco) in cooperation with the ministry of culture of the republic of Sudan and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The conference focused on the definition of the ''draft document on the orientation for culture and the city'', the ''project to study cultural indicators of development'', the ''draft of the Islamic declaration on the protection of cultural heritage in the Islamic world'' and on the ''project of a modified version of a cultural strategy for the Islamic world''. Morocco bans bitcoin due to 'hidden' nature Virtual money payments outlawed (ANSAmed) - RABAT, NOVEMBER 22 - Morocco has banned virtual currency and holds the bitcoin to be a 'hidden currency'. 'Focus on the Use of Virtual Currencies', published by a division of Morocco's Ministry of Finance, has stated that the ''Office des Changes wishes to inform the general public that the transactions via virtual currencies constitute an infringement of the exchange regulations, liable to penalties and fines provided for by [existing laws] in force''. The decision came a week after an announcement by the Morocco Trade and Development Service (MTDS) that it had approved bitcoin use. The Moroccan exchange institute said that the ban was due to the fact that there is no bank behind the currency, which thus cannot count on any institutional support. Thus, Rabat said, the bitcoin is a hidden system of payment that might not comply with the laws in force, which are very strict concerning foreign currencies. Virtual currencies like the bitcoin, which was created in 2009, are fluctuating and linked to demand and supply. After the ban, anyone who makes use of them will be subject to up to five years in prison and fines of about 2,000 euros for those who ''produce, issue or distribute currencies other than official ones''. (ANSAmed). BRUSSELS - The European Union should invest similar resources to those used for the Balkan route in order to close the migrant corridors of the central Mediterranean, foster stability and fight terrorism, European Parliament president Antonio Tajani said on Wednesday. ''These funds should be spent in Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Niger, Chad and Mali,'' he added in his opening remarks at a high-level EU-Africa conference. ''We can no stand by and watch the waves of uncontrolled migration flows, thousands dying in the desert and sea, merchants of human beings and the desperation of those who are unable to feed and take care of their children in the 21st century,'' he said, calling for the first step to be ''strengthening border control, and managing asylum requests and repatriations better.'' The president of the European Parliament went on to say that ''deploying large security measures along internal borders is not useful. It is only propaganda. What is instead needed are adequate funds for FRONTEX and the new EU Coast and Border Guard, which must deploy more men and means. The European satellite systems Galileo and Copernicus and the joint development of new security technologies, must be used to this end . It is also necessary to harmonize asylum and repatriation conditions, which must be rapid and effective.'' ''In the last session in Strasbourg,'' he said, ''the Parliament voted with a wide majority in favor of wide-ranging reform of the Dublin Regulation in order to render it more fair, and effective. It is now up to the (European) Council to take a position.'' Tajani wants 'concrete results' from Abidjan summit . To relaunch relations between EU and African leaders BRUSSELS - European Parliament president Antonio Tajani opened the 'A New Partnership between the European Union and Africa' conference on Wednesday by stressing that the Abidjan summit the following week should result in a clear plan. ''I will straightaway say that that Summit must be different from the others, and must yield tangible results and a clear and precise roadmap,'' he said. ''This clearly shows that the European Parliament wishes to establish a direct high-level dialogue with the leaders of African countries. I have always said that we must look at Africa through African eyes, and this calls for frank and direct peer-to-peer dialogue,'' he said. ''We have launched that dialogue by inviting the Chairperson of the African Union Commission and the President of Cote d'Ivoire to address the plenary. We will continue in the same vein,'' he added. He said that ''for many years, the Union failed to give Africa the attention it deserves. Often we looked the other way, heedless of the emergencies - humanitarian or linked to climate, security or stability - which Africans have to deal with every day. We failed to recognise that we have an overriding strategic interest in what happens in Africa. Europe's approach was a piecemeal one, with individual countries falling over one another in pursuit of their own interests and agendas. The result was a road paved with good intentions, but there were many missed opportunities and few successes along the way. We failed to exert any real political and economic influence on the future of Africa.'' He added that ''It is time to put our relations on a new footing, before it's too late. Our links go beyond mere geographical proximity. We have common interests and face common challenges''. (ANSAmed) - BEIRUT, NOVEMBER 22 - Lebanese Premier Saad Hariri said Wednesday that President Michel Aoun asked him to reconsider his decision to step down. Hariri spoke a short while ago from the presidential palace of Baabda in a speech broadcast live by Lebanese media. ''I presented my resignation to the president and he said he hoped there would be time to reflect on the causes'' of the resignation. ''I responded to this wish, with the hope that dialogue will be reached and that the country's problems will be solved''. Hariri on Wednesday attended national day celebrations for the 74th anniversary of independence in downtown Beirut just a few hours after his return to the capital. Hariri, who travelled back to Lebanon 17 days after stepping down as premier while in Riyadh, is scheduled on Wednesday to meet with Lebanon's President Michel Aoun and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. Hariri flew into Beirut from Paris last night, after a trip that also took him to Cairo and Cyprus. Shortly after landing in Beirut at around midnight, Hariri went to Martyrs' Square to visit his father Rafiq Hariri's tomb. Rafiq Hariri was killed in an attack in 2005 in which 22 others died. Five members of Lebanese Shiite military and political movement Hezbollah are being tried in absentia by a UN special tribunal for the attack. Hezbollah, an ally of Iran, is part of the current Lebanese government. The premier motivated his sudden resignation on November 4 by saying that Hezbollah, which is engaged in the war in Syria and in other countries in the region, had violated an agreement not to engage in conflicts in the Middle East thanks to which the current cabinet was created. President Aoun said he could not accept resignations announced from a foreign country that is Iran's main rival in the region and asked the premier to come back to confirm them or not, or ''possibly to discuss the reasons'' that determined them. (ANSAmed) Our aim in Libya is to close detention centers, Mogherini 'Help 15,000 people return home and save lives' (ANSAmed) - BRUSSELS, NOVEMBER 22 - European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini commented in Brussels at the 'A New Partnership between the European Union and Africa' conference on Wednesday on the issue of migrants sold as slaves in Libya, which garnered international attention recently due to a video released by CNN. She said that ''we cannot ignore the inhumane suffering of migrants in Libya'' but added that the situation ''has been like this for years and the European Union has long been working to save these people and to dismantle this criminal network''. ''We have heard many stories of slavery, from the tales of women arriving on Lampedusa. As Europeans we must deal with this dramatic situation that our African brothers and sisters are experiencing. Our aim is to shut down the detention centers, and this has always been the EU's position,'' she said. ''At the end of the year there will be 15,000 people who have been helped to go back to their home countries with financial support. This is only a drop in the ocean but it is the first time that we have done this,'' she said. Mogherini added that the EU ''is working with UN agencies to be able to work inside Libya and - thanks in part to our support, they are saving many lives.'' (ANSAmed). Tajani wants 'concrete results' from Abidjan summit To relaunch relations between EU and African leaders (ANSAmed) - BRUSSELS, NOVEMBER 22 - European Parliament president Antonio Tajani opened the 'A New Partnership between the European Union and Africa' conference on Wednesday by stressing that the Abidjan summit the following week should result in a clear plan. ''I will straightaway say that that Summit must be different from the others, and must yield tangible results and a clear and precise roadmap,'' he said. ''This clearly shows that the European Parliament wishes to establish a direct high-level dialogue with the leaders of African countries. I have always said that we must look at Africa through African eyes, and this calls for frank and direct peer-to-peer dialogue,'' he said. ''We have launched that dialogue by inviting the Chairperson of the African Union Commission and the President of Cote d'Ivoire to address the plenary. We will continue in the same vein,'' he added. He said that ''for many years, the Union failed to give Africa the attention it deserves. Often we looked the other way, heedless of the emergencies - humanitarian or linked to climate, security or stability - which Africans have to deal with every day. We failed to recognise that we have an overriding strategic interest in what happens in Africa. Europe's approach was a piecemeal one, with individual countries falling over one another in pursuit of their own interests and agendas. The result was a road paved with good intentions, but there were many missed opportunities and few successes along the way. We failed to exert any real political and economic influence on the future of Africa.'' He added that ''It is time to put our relations on a new footing, before it's too late. Our links go beyond mere geographical proximity. We have common interests and face common challenges''. (ANSAmed). If youre considering a subscription to the Disney Plus streaming service, you may be wondering how much it costs. The service is available on both The event will feature two new co-located events, Air Traffic Control Forum, Airport Security Middle East, in addition to CAPA-Centre of Aviation Global Airport Leaders Forum (GALF) and Women in Aviation. The Middle East aviation industry is witnessing an exciting time with the region recording the second highest passenger traffic growth rate and continuing with its multi-billion-dollar airport expansion and modernisation programs. Whether it is the latest scanning technologies, passenger experiences or robot baggage handlers the regions airports are investing in the latest of technology and concepts and stay ahead of competition. This exciting time, said His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Chairman of Dubai Airports, Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline and Group and Patron of Airport Show. The new ATC Forum will offer the air traffic management professionals a dedicated exhibition and conference, aimed at senior level decision-makers from ANSPs, CAAs, airports, airlines and the military. Airport Security Middle East features a dedicated conference and exhibition hosting top officials from regional airport security departments and facilitating over 1,000 pre-scheduled meetings for airport security exhibitors. The worlds largest annual aviation event expects to bring together more than 300 exhibitors from over 90 countries under one roof to showcase their innovative and game-changing products offered to key decision-makers across the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia (MENASA) aviation industry, which is witnessing a massive growth. The show is supported by International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO), Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA), Dubai Aviation Engineering Projects (DAEP), Dubai Airports, dnata, Contractors Association and Shipping and Cargo Logistics Group (SCLG). The iconic B2B show will occupy an exhibition space of 10,860 square metres at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre (DICEC), with larger participation expected by country pavilions from Germany, France, UK, Italy, Switzerland, USA and China. With an expected growth of over 10 per cent, Reed Exhibitions, the organisers are confident about the show being a complete sell-out once again. Daniyal Qureshi, Group Exhibition Director at Reed Exhibitions Middle East, said: The Middle East region has been recording a phenomenal growth in terms of passengers as well in infrastructural investments. This has generated a tremendous interest from global aviation players and Airport Show provides an ideal platform bringing companies, organisations and decision-makers from all over the world on this platform to explore the latest technology as well as information. Global interest in the Middle East aviation has remained strong given the excellent growth record. According to International Air Transport Association (IATA) global passenger traffic results for 2016 Middle East carriers had the strongest regional annual traffic growth for the fifth year in a row at 11.8 per cent compared with the global average of 6.3 per cent. In Dubai, the planned $32 billion expansion of Al Maktoum International will help accommodate that rapid growth with an ultimate capacity to handle up to 240 million passengers upon completion. According to a new CAPA research, US$255 billion is being invested in new (greenfield) airport projects around the world. Together with the investment at existing airports in projects such as new runways and terminal buildings, runway and terminal extensions and miscellaneous ones (USD845 billion), which means that USD1.1 trillion in airport infrastructure projects are planned or under way within a timescale that continues for four decades into the future. The leading industry body for bankers and treasurers has named Boukadida Treasury Professional of the Year, acknowledging his leadership for developing and implementing new policies and procedures to drive greater cost efficiency across the airline group. Boukadida, who received the accolade at the Association of Corporate Treasurers Middle Easts annual awards in Dubai this week, is responsible for group-wide corporate treasury, as well as insurance and risk management. In addition, he has overall responsibility for corporate finance, governance, group taxation, as well as payment and anti-fraud solutions. Ricky Thirion, Etihad Aviation Group Interim Group Chief Financial Officer, said: Adam has been a tremendous leader, supporting the many different business units across Etihad Aviation Group to successfully drive greater cost efficiency, particularly over the past 12 months during extremely challenging times for our industry. His experience, leadership and innovative approach are commendable and the fact that his peers within the treasury and banking community across the Middle East have voted for him as the first recipient of this individual award demonstrates their confidence in his business acumen and high standards of professionalism. Over the past 12 months, Mr Boukadida has spearheaded the completion of a cost-reduction global cash management project with Citibank and secured a unique USD1.5 billion sukuk transaction, a landmark debt capital market deal in the aviation sector and Islamic markets and the largest of its kind in the Middle East. He also launched Abu Dhabis first treasury graduate scheme for Emiratis at Etihad Aviation Group, and introduced new payment and fraud prevention solutions. Boukadida said: I am honoured to be recognised for this award. Credit goes to my team that has worked tirelessly to implement the many policies and procedures over the past 12 months to provide a stronger framework for our business. IAAF will be organised under the official patronage of Ministry of Transport, Iraq Civil Aviation Authority, Iraqi Airways and hosted by Baghdad International Airport. IAAF 2018 will provide the excellent business opportunity to get in touch with senior procurement officials those are involved in various airports and aviation projects in Iraq with MOT, Iraq Civil Aviation Authority, Iraqi Airways, Airport Heads, Consultants and Contractors with ongoing and future airport projects in Iraq, said Ram Muthaiah, event director with Saram International FZE. This event will be a definite procurement source ground to the officials who are involved in the infrastructure development programs at various levels in Iraq and will be a platform to get exposed to the modern technologies, new products, competitive services and to share the expertise and knowledge with the global company representatives and potential investors and I am confident that in view to the current improved political scenario and enhanced bilateral trade relations with its neighbours and other countries. IAAF will receive an overwhelming response from the global suppliers and investors to exploit the existing and future business opportunities from the airport expansion programs taking place at Baghdad, Basra, Najaf, Nasriyah, Erbil, Sulaimaniyah airports and investment opportunities at Dohuk, Kirkuk, Mid-Euphrates and Diwaniya airports added Ram Muthaiah. This two-day event will feature over 70 exhibitors those are involved in airports, aviation and aerospace industry segments who will showcase their capacities and capabilities including new products and innovative technologies The concurrently held conference will host 200 delegates and 1500 trade visitors from over 16 countries . This milestone occurred less than one year after the A350-1000s maiden flight on November 24, 2016 from Toulouse-Blagnac Airport, where the A350 XWB final assembly line is located. With its airworthiness Type Certificate approval formally presented today by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Airbus is targeting the first A350-1000 delivery before year-end to launch operator Qatar Airways. High commonality between the A350-1000 and A350-900 More than half of the major A350 XWB customers have ordered both the A350-1000 and the shorter-fuselage A350-900 versions, which is the case for Qatar Airways (acquiring 37 A350-1000s, along with 39 A350-900 versions). Demonstrating the A350 XWB Familys flexibility, the A350-1000 and A350-900 feature a high level of commonality with 95% common system part numbers. Like the A350-900, the A350-1000 is the latest member of Airbus leading widebody family; it brings together the very latest in aerodynamics, design and advanced technologies as well as new levels of operational efficiency and passenger comfort. Differences with the A350-1000 version include higher-thrust Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 engines and enhanced main landing gears with six wheels. The A350-1000s seven-metre-longer fuselage translates into greater capacity, accommodating 366 passengers in standard 3-class configuration. This is 40+ more seats than the A350-900, responding to market needs for larger cabin zones with premium-type seats. With its additional passenger-carrying capacity and its same range as the A350-900, the A350-1000 is well suited for some of the airline industrys busiest long-haul routes. To date 11 customers from five continents have ordered a total of 169 A350-1000s. Combined bookings for both the A350-1000 and A350-900 stood at 858 from 45 customers as of 31 October. The A350-900 first entered airline service in January 2015; today more than 120 of these jetliners have been delivered to operators around the world. The lounge received the "Excellence Award" of 2017 presented by Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), the largest construction industry trade association in the USA. Hosting over 180,000 guests per year over an area of 550 square meters, the lounge welcomes passengers of Turkish Airlines and Star Alliance member airlines, as well as Priority Pass, Lounge Buddy and TAV Passport Card holders. The lounge has a seating capacity of 120 guests with a wide variety of open buffet offerings and Wi-Fi, kids play area, prayer and resting areas. Turkish Airlines Chief Commercial Officer Mehmet Akif Konar said: I would like to thank TAV Operation Services for this precious collaboration on behalf of Turkish Airlines family. As the airlines flying to the highest number of countries worldwide, Turkish Airlines is proud to be honored with an excellence award in one of the most important destinations in the world. This award that we are presented in Washington proves that Turkish hospitality has an indulgence beyond the borders. Turkish Airlines endeavors to enable a perfect travel experience to its passengers not only during the flight, but also in pre- and post-flight periods. Being awarded for these efforts motivates us to achieve better. We are confident that we will continue to provide new excellences in the following periods in the projects that we will carry out with the collaboration of TAV Operation Services". TAV operation services general manager Bora Isbulan said: We are more than happy to carry our collaboration abroad with Turkish Airlines, the flag carrier of our country, from Kenya and Nairobi to Washington and being awarded for our Washington project. Today, TAV Operation Services annually provides services to approximately 4.5 million guests at its 57 lounges at 25 airports, in 15 countries. We closely follow the changing requirements and expectations of our guests and create solutions accordingly. We harmonized the know-how and experience that we have gained so far with traditional Turkish hospitality in the lounge project in Washington and created a privileged area. We plan to expand our collaboration with Turkish Airlines and carry this collaboration to various countries in the following periods. Congress has agreed to give Patidars reservations under section 31, and provisions of section 46, Patel said. Patel said Congress will introduce a bill in the Gujarat Assembly for the reservation, if they win the forthcoming elections. (Photo: ANI | Twitter) Ahmedabad: Days ahead of the crucial Gujarat Assembly election, Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) convener Hardik Patel on Wednesday broke his silence on the tie-up with the Congress. Hardik Patel said the Congress has assured him of reservation for his community in educational institutions and jobs at par with the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) if voted to power in Gujarat. Patel, while addressing the media at Ahmedabad in Gujarat, said the party will introduce a bill in the Gujarat Assembly for the reservation, if they win the forthcoming elections. "Congress has accepted our issues. Congress has agreed to give Patidars reservations under section 31, and provisions of section 46," he said. "Draft has been prepared between us and the Congress. Formula is not restricted to Patidar community alone," he added. Read: Cong gave 'lollipop' to Hardik Patel, 50 per cent reservation not possible: Guj Dy CM Further clearing the air on the ticket distribution, the Patidar leader said, they have never asked for any ticket from the Congress party to contest the Assembly polls and there is 'no conflict within the PAAS' regarding the same. He said his outfit has never appealed anyone to vote for the Congress Party; but since the latter is talking about the rights of the Partidars, the voting decision will be left to the people. Hardik also said that he has not joined the Congress, but asked his supporters to vote against the BJP in the Gujarat Assembly elections. "The Patidars have always been victimised. There is no disagreement between the Congress and Patidar leaders. BJP is trying to divide the Patidar community," he said. Hardik had kept the Congress on the edge after postponing his media interaction twice in the last few days. He was slated to hold a press conference in Ahmedabad on Tuesday morning to clear his stand over Congress quota proposal for the Patidars and announce if the community would extend support to the party. Late on Monday night, the Gujarat Congress, in an attempt to placate the furious Patidar leaders, released a second list of 13 candidates. This included nine new names and four others, who were replacing candidates from the first list released on Sunday. Three out of these four are PAAS nominees, who Hardik and his supporters have backed vociferously. The first list had triggered violent clashes between Congress and PAAS workers on Monday, with the latter taking a strong objection to the 77 names. On November 20, the PAAS workers protested against Congress Party in Ahmedabad and Surat, expressing dismay over the ticket distribution for the assembly polls. (With inputs from ANI) Amarinder slams threats to films actor and director. Chandigarh: Punjab CM Amrinder Singh on Tuesday distanced himself from controversy surrounding the movie Padamavati by clarifying that he is not supporting the ban after his statement no body has right to distort history did rounds in the academic and creative circles. The Pujnab chief minister made it clear that he was not supporting a ban and was completely opposed to the threats being issued to the films actors and directors. He had only said that those who were protesting against the film Padmavati had every right to a peaceful agitation, he clarified. I cannot ask for a ban on the movie without even watching it. I am reiterating that people have the right to peacefully agitate against the movie if they feel hurt by distortion of history. In a civilised and democratic set-up there is space for peaceful agitation and disagreements, but no person has the right to issue threats merely because they disagree with someone, however strong the reason may be. I totally condemn all people who are issuing threats, Mr Singh said, adding that law will take its course against those issuing such threats. The CM had on Monday said that he himself is a military historian and strongly feels that nobody had the right to distort history. I have myself studied history and even been to Chittoor, said Captain Amarinder, adding that cinematic license did not give anyone the right to twist historical facts. Those feeling hurt by distortion of facts had the right to protest, he had said, adding that protests were a justified recourse in a democratic system. However, many educationist differed with CMs statement. According to educational psychologist D. Tarlok Bandhu, History does not mean that one history should be taught there are histories. There is a paper in in JNU titled the histories of partition. Similarly, there can be different perspectives on most historical subjects. According to a historian Dr, Paramajeet Singh, an expert on medieval history, Rani Padmini is taught at graduate level, it winds up in quarter of a page with reference to Allauddin Khiljis conquets. He says that a lot of written word even controversial is much like wikilileaks better buried in libraries. But we need to get it out and filmed. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has also dismissed reports about the presence of ISIS in the state. Mughees Ahmed Mirs body was wrapped in an ISIS flag at his funeral, which was attended by thousands of mourners. (Photo: HU Naqash) Srinagar: Has the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, succeeded in making inroads in Kashmir? The authorities in Srinagar said a categorical no when sought a reply. I dont think ISIS has any footprints here, said Jammu and Kashmirs Director General of Police, Shesh Paul Vaid. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has also dismissed reports about the presence of ISIS in the state, saying the Indian Muslims would never allow such outfits to have a base in the country. Earlier, the central government sought to downplay ISIS' claim over a shootout in which a police officer and a militant were killed in Srinagar on November 18. ISIS, in its official news agency 'Amaq', had claimed the responsibility for the attack. There is no authoritative information about the presence of ISIS in Jammu and Kashmir, a senior home ministry official had said. On November 18, three men, travelling in car, opened fire at a police party in Srinagars Gulab Bagh area. The cops returned fire as the car sped away through a makeshift check-point laid by police following specific information about the movement of militants in the area. The police was not sure if the retaliatory fire caused any casualties among the car-borne militants. However, a couple of hours later, the bullet-riddled corpse of a militant, Mughees Ahmed Mir, arrived at his residence in Srinagars Parimpora and soon it was learnt that he was among the trio travelling in the car. Initial reports had said that he was an associate of Zakir Musa, a militant commander who revolted against Kashmirs frontline indigenous outfit Hizbul-Mujahideen earlier this year. He was subsequently appointed by al-Qaida as the head of its newly created cell in Kashmir named Ansar Ghuzwat-Ul-Hind. But Tehrik-ul-Mujahedin, another Kashmiri outfit formed during the heyday of militancy, was quick to claim that Mughees Ahmed Mir alias Omar bin Khatab was actually its district commander for Pulwama and has been replaced by Adil Ahmed after his martyrdom. Next day, Mirs body was wrapped in an ISIS flag at his funeral, which was attended by thousands of mourners, the photographs of which went viral on social media. Mughees Ahmed Mirs body was wrapped in an ISIS flag at his funeral, which was attended by thousands of mourners. (Photo: HU Naqash) Apparently, this prompted ISIS to claim responsibility for the Gulab Bagh attack. Tehrik-ul-Mujahedin spokesperson Dr. Abdul Haq termed it ridiculous. He doubted the intention behind wrapping ISIS flag on the body of Mir and pointed his finger at our enemies who want to give our just struggle for freedom a bad name. In July this year, ISIS flag was draped over the casket of a Hizbul-Mujahideen militant Sajjad Ahmed Gilkar in Srinagars Malaratta-Nowhatta area, raising few eyebrows in the separatist camp. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) gained global prominence in early 2014 when it drove Iraqi government forces out of key cities in its Western Iraq offensive. It has since been designated a terrorist organisation by the United Nations and by many member countries individually. The flags of the ISIS and al-Qaeda had first appeared in Kashmir during protests and stone-pelting incidents in Srinagar, precisely outside the citys historic Grand Mosque in 2014. Masked youth held these flags before the glare of cameras and were quickly surrounded by locals, mainly youth, apparently to ensure no harm comes to them. During one such display, the security personnel swung into action and chased them into nearby dark alleys but no serious attempt was made to capture the masked youth carrying ISIS flag. The then chief minister, Omar Abdullah, had shrugged these incidents off saying it was being done by some stupid youth and that ISIS or al-Qaeda has no presence in Jammu and Kashmir. An inquiry launched by local police had revealed that a local small-time cleric was involved in encouraging ISIS flag-waving at protests, particularly outside the Grand Mosque. A reporter with a news channel was also under scanner for his role in the past. Weve reports that he actually knows beforehand where such flags will go up, a police officer had told this newspaper. However, the activity did not last long. The draping of Mirs corpse with ISIS flag and the terror groups claim over the attack in which he was involved have revived the debate around the crucial question has ISIS succeeded in making inroads into Kashmir? Muhammad Yusuf Shah alias Syed Salahuddin, the chief of United Jihad Council, an amalgam of militant outfits including Tehrik-ul-Mujahedin, reacting to ISIS claim said that the Kashmiri freedom movement is indigenous and has no global agenda. Salahuddin, who is also the supreme commander of Hizbul-Mujahideen was in June declared a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the US State Department, the tagging which had led to shutdowns and protests in Indian Kashmir. Later in August, the Hizb was declared as foreign terrorist organisation under Section 219 of the (US) Immigration and Nationality Act. Tej Pratap said that the Deputy CM had invited him to attend the marriage ceremony of his son which is scheduled for December 3. Patna: RJD Chief Lalu Yadav's elder son Tej Pratap Yadav on Wednesday stoked a major controversy by saying that he will disrupt the wedding ceremony of Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modis son. Tej Pratap Yadav gave the controversial statement while addressing a public meeting in Aurangabad. He said that the Deputy Chief Minister had invited him to attend the marriage ceremony of his son which is scheduled for December 3. He had telephoned me and invited me to attend the wedding of his son Utkarsh. He wants to insult me during the wedding event but he doesnt know that I am a different kind of person. I along with my supporters will disrupt the wedding session and beat him up and also hold a public meeting inside the venue to expose him, Tej Pratap Yadav said while addressing the public meeting. Reacting sharply to the controversial statement Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi said, This kind of language was not expected from Tej Pratap Yadav who is the son of Lalu Yadav. I urge Lalu Yadav to stop his sons from making statements like these. According to Modi, family members of Lalu Yadav have been targeting him ever since CBI raided their house and registered FIR in connection with the railway hotels tender scam case. Nitish Kumar had resigned as Chief Minister of the Grand Secular Alliance government in July after Lalu Yadavs younger son Tejaswi Yadav repeatedly refused to give explanations about corruption charges he has been facing. Within 24 hours of his resignation, Kumar was sworn in as Chief Minister of the NDA government along with BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi who took oath as Deputy Chief Minister. It was Sushil Kumar who had earlier raised a string of corruption charges against Lalu Yadavs family. He had accused the family of laundering money through various shell companies to purchase properties in Patna and New Delhis high profile location at a throwaway price. I want Lalu Yadav and his family to attend the marriage ceremony of my son Utkarsh. Tej Pratap Yadav is angry with me because he thinks it was due to me he lost his chair, Sushil Kumar Modi said. Earlier, a militant was gunned down by the security forces during a cordon-and-search operation in a neighbouring area, the officials said. The soldiers retaliated and in the exchange of fire, one of them identified as Sandeep Singh sustained grievous injuries, the source said. (Photo: PTI) Srinagar: An Army jawan was killed while foiling an infiltration bid from across the Line of Control (LoC) in Keran sector of Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday. Earlier, a militant was gunned down by the security forces during a cordon-and-search operation in a neighbouring area, the officials said. In two more clashes reported from Kupwara during the past two days, three militants suspected to be Lashkar-e-Tayyaba cadres and one Army jawan were also killed. According to army sources, the militants attempted to breach the line of control (LoC) fence near Chunkan Post in Keran sector to sneak into Jammu and Kashmir from Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir PoK at 7.30 am (another report said the incident took place at 1.45 pm). But their attempt was foiled by alert Indian troops and in the exchange fire one Army jawan was killed. One terrorist is also reported to have been killed, said a police source. It added that two soldiers were injured during the clash. The police sources also said that the soldiers of the Armys 9 SIKH LI were patrolling the area near the Chunkan Post when they came under barrage of fire from infiltrating militants. The soldiers retaliated and in the exchange of fire, one of them identified as Sandeep Singh sustained grievous injuries, the source said. Following this, he was shifted to a military hospital nearby Drugmulla where doctors declared him brought dead. The Congress has already released its first and second lists in which it had accommodated some PAAS leaders. New Delhi: After hectic parleys Patidar leader Hardik Patel, convenor of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), on Wednesday finally announced his support to the Congress for the coming Gujarat Assembly elections. Mr Patel added that the Congress had agreed to provide reservations for the Patidar community under a special category if it comes to power in the state. Addressing a press conference in Ahmedabad on the Patidar reservation issue, Mr Patel said: As per the formula, without touching the 49 per cent quota (now provided in the state) to Schedules Tribes, Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Classes, the Congress has decided to provide quotas for communities that have not benefited from reservations so far under Article 31(C) and Article 46 of the Constitution. Asked how that was possible given that total reservations cannot exceed 50 per cent, Mr Patel said: In our Constitution, there is no mention of a 50 per cent cap on reservations. I am of the firm opinion that reservations can be given over 50 per cent. Hitting back at the Hardik-Congress alliance, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley said from the statements coming so far, the Congress-Hardik club appeared to be one of mutual deception. He added: The law of the land is very clear and is laid down by the Supreme Court, and only reaffirmed last week in Rajasthans case that the 50 per cent reservation cap cannot be breached. You can deceive the people and yourself, but in elections only those promises can be made to each other and the public that can be implemented. The Congress thanked Hardik Patel for forging the alliance to end the 22 years of misrule by the BJP in the state. Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal, who was instrumental in sealing the deal with PAAS, launched a scathing attack at the BJP. He said the BJP in the state had been hatching conspiracies, imposing sedition cases on Patels for leading the quota campaign and misleading the community during its rule. Though Mr Sibal did not reveal the contours of the proposed reservation formula, he said: I want to ask the BJP if they know anything... They have got nothing to do with the Constitution, which they have never followed. So the less they talk about the Constitution, the better it is. The Congress has already released its first and second lists in which it had accommodated some PAAS leaders. Some differences had cropped up between PAAS and the Congress over allocation of seats, that led to vandalism at the Congress offices in Ahmedabad and Surat. Mr Patel, however, on Wednesday denied that there were any differences with the Congress over seat-sharing. He said: We had not demanded any seats, but we had asked the Congress to put up candidates of our community who have a strong character. The home minister would also be accompanied by a team of senior security and intelligence officials. New Delhi: India and Russia are all set to finalise an agreement on cooperation in tackling all forms of terrorism, including circulation of fake currency, cyber crime and narcotic smuggling. The pact would be signed during Union home minister Rajnath Singhs three-day visit to Russia starting November 27. The Union Cabinet, at its meeting on Wednesday, cleared the draft agreement of increased cooperation between the two countries with specific focus on counter-terror and organised crime. Both countries have a long history of close cooperation on the issues of mutual interest at various international forums. Now, in the wake terrorism and organised crime becoming a global phenomenon it is important that we work together and have a greater understanding on these issues, a senior home ministry official said. The new agreement would replace the agreement of October 1993, which in turn would help both India and Russia collaborate more on issues of security and threats from terror groups affecting both nations and the region. During his visit, the home minister will meet Vladimir Kolokoltsev, minister for internal affairs, and other senior Russian leaders and hold discussions on issues of common security threats. In addition, the talks would also focus on other matters of bilateral, regional and international of mutual interest. Mr Singh will also sign the joint action/implementation plan for increased collaboration in areas of drugs and disaster management with his Russian counterpart. The home minister would also be accompanied by a team of senior security and intelligence officials, Initially, Mr Singh was to visit Russia on September 18 last year, but the scheduled trip was cancelled in the wake of a terror attack on an Army unit in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir, in which 19 Army soldiers were killed. The security forces had also eliminated the four militants involved in the attack on the Army installation. Sudip Datta Bhaumik was reportedly killed inside the battalion headquarters of Tripura State Rifles (TSR) in RK Nagar. Sudip Datta Bhaumik was allegedly shot dead on Tuesday in Tripura's RK Nagar. (Photo: Fcaebook/Sudip Datta Bhaumik) Agartala: Commandant of 2nd Tripura State Rifles Tapan Debbarma was arrested on Tuesday night in connection with journalist Sudip Datta Bhaumik's alleged murder on Tuesday. He is to be produced in the court on Wednesday. President of Tripura Journalists Union, Syed Sajjad Ali, speaking about the incident said, no one exactly knows what happened. "Fact of the matter is that he was shot dead and we understand he was shot dead inside the chamber. He was fired in a meticulous way. Also, there were other follow up measure they took to hush up the evidence by taking away the body to a distance. His phone was also missing," Ali said. "Yesterday's incident is more horrific as it was executed by the security force," Ali added. He also said it was "unfortunate" that this incident is not receiving coverage from the mainstream media. "Unfortunately the incident has not made a dent in the national arena and mainstream media is quite reluctant to give it coverage," said Ali. Sudip Datta Bhaumik was allegedly shot dead on Tuesday in Tripura's RK Nagar. He was reportedly killed inside the battalion headquarters of Tripura State Rifles (TSR) in RK Nagar. "Sudip's was a cold-blooded murder. He was killed inside the Circle Officer's room," Bhaumik's brother said. Earlier, on September 20, a journalist, Santanu Bhowmik, was killed allegedly while he was covering a road blockade agitation of the IPFT. Another journalist, Gauri Lankesh, was shot dead point blank outside her residence on the outskirts of Bengaluru, Karnataka on September 6, triggering protests in many parts of the country. It was said Lankesh was targetted for her work against right-wing Hindu extremism. Congress has agreed to give Patidars reservations under section 31, and provisions of section 46, Hardik Patel said. Patel said Congress will introduce a bill in the Gujarat Assembly for the reservation, if they win the forthcoming elections. (Photo: ANI | Twitter) Ahmedabad: Patidar quota stir leader Hardik Patel on Wednesday declared his support to the Congress for the Gujarat Assembly elections, saying that the opposition party has accepted the demand of giving reservation to his community in a "special category". The Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) leader said that reservation formula given by the Congress for his community will be over and above the 50 per cent quota for the SC, ST and OBCs. On the 50 per cent reservation cap set by the Supreme Court, he said that it is just a "suggestion". Hardik said if the Congress comes to power, it will conduct a proper survey for providing reservation. The party will bring a Bill in the state Assembly and give reservation, he said. Read: Kapil Sibal thanks Hardik Patel, says their united fight will dethrone BJP "My fight in Gujarat is against the BJP and that is why we will directly or indirectly support Congress (in the elections) as it has accepted our demand for reservation," he added. "Congress has promised to include our demand in its manifesto," he said. "The percentage of reservation under a special category to be given to us will be decided after the survey conducted by the commission to be formed by the government." "As per the formula, without touching the 49 per cent quota (now provided in the state) to the Schedule Tribes (ST), Schedule Castes (SC) and Other Backward Class (OBC), the Congress has decided to provide quota to the communities, who have not got the benefit of reservation so far under Article 31 (C) and Article 46 of the Constitution," he said. Article 46 of the Constitution says the State shall promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people, and, in particular, of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, and shall protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation. Article 31 (C) has two parts. The first part protects a law giving effect to the policy of the state towards securing the principles specified in Articles 39 (b) and (c) from being challenged on the ground of infringement of the Fundamental Rights under Article 14, 19 and 31. The second part of Article 31 (C) originally sought to oust the jurisdiction of the courts to find out whether the law in question gave effect to the principles of Articles 39 (b) and 39 (c). When pointed out that the Supreme Court had "restrained" the Rajasthan government from taking any action on conferring the benefit of reservation resulting in crossing the total reservation beyond 50 per cent, Hardik said, "This (50 per cent cap) is just a suggestion of the Supreme Court." "In our Constitution, there is no mention of 50 per cent cap on reservation. I am of the firm opinion that reservation can be given over 50 per cent," he said. Hardik also said that there were no differences with the Congress over seat-sharing. "We had not demanded any seats, but we had asked the Congress to put up candidates of our community, who have a strong character," he said. Asked what will he do about the PAAS members who have filed nomination papers to contest elections, Hardik said that they will no longer be members of the organisation. Hardik also accused the BJP of trying to buy PAAS members by offering Rs 50 lakh. The Congress, which has mounted a hectic campaign to dislodge the long-ruling BJP in the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and saffron party chief Amit Shah, has been wooing the Patel stir spearhead for quite some time. Elections in Gujarat will be held on December 9 and 14. Yadav was the Uttar Pradesh chief minister during Ram Janmabhoomi movement spearheaded by the VHP. The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said 28 people had lost their lives in the police firing at Ayodhya on October 30, 1990. (Photo: File) Lucknow: Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav on Wednesday justified his order to open fire on kar sevaks marching towards Ayodhya in 1990, saying if even more people were required to be killed for the country's unity and integrity, the security forces would have done it. He was addressing the SP headquarters where his 79th birthday was celebrated in a grand manner, sending a message of all-is-well in the party. "Desh ki ekta ke liye aur bhi maarna padta toh suraksha bal maartey (if even more people were required to be killed for the sake of country's unity and integrity, the security forces would have done it)," he said. The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said 28 people had lost their lives in the police firing at Ayodhya on October 30, 1990. Yadav said that during a discussion with Atal Bihari Vajapyee, the former prime minister had said that 56 persons were killed in Ayodhya. "I had arguments with him. In reality 28 were killed. I came to know the toll six months later and I helped them in my own way," he said. On the VHP's call, a lakh kar sevaks from across the country had assembled in Ayodhya for the construction of a temple at the disputed Ram Janambhoomi-Babri mosque site. The firing had earned him the nickname of 'Mullah Mulayam' by the Muslim community, which accounts for nearly 20 per cent of the state's population and is considered a force to reckon with by major political parties. "A number of Muslims had taken up arms saying if their place of worship ceased to exist, then what would remain in the country," he said, justifying his action to save the Babri Masjid. Claiming that the SP still enjoyed the support of Muslims, Yadav said, "Muslims still support the SP...it is the fault of our men that we did not get them for vote. They are still voting for the party and not against it. It's the shortcoming of our youth." "It's matter of shame that we won only 47 of the 403 Assembly seats this time," he said, adding that even after ordering firing "when the opposition termed me as a hatyara (killer)", the SP succeeded in winning over 100 seats in 1993. Yadav was the Uttar Pradesh chief minister during Ram Janmabhoomi movement spearheaded by the VHP. The petition has sought an audit of the schools accounts from 2011-12 till date and demanded the takeover of its management by the DoE. The counsel for the parents association claimed that the school was raising the fees every year without the approval or sanction of the DoE or any authority. New Delhi: The Delhi high court was on Tuesday informed by the Delhi government that an enquiry was being conducted on the issue of fee hikes by a private city school, raised by about 600 parents of its students. The government said that after the enquiry was completed, a comprehensive report would be provided by its Directorate of Education (DoE) to the parents within six weeks. A bench comprising justice Siddharth Mridul and justice Deepa Sharma disposed of the petition filed by the parents and granted them liberty to approach the court if they were aggrieved by the views of the DoE. The court was hearing the petition in which the parents have alleged that a school in Greater Kailash-2 in South Delhi was charging tuition, development and incremental fees in excess of what was permitted in the law and sought a takeover of its management by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government. The counsel for the parents association claimed that the school was raising the fees every year without the approval or sanction of the DoE or any authority. He said a communication was also made to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in this regard. Delhi government standing counsel Ramesh Singh submitted that a full-fledged inqury has been ordered to be conducted by the regional director regarding the grievances raised by the parents and a report would be given to them. The petition, filed through advocate R.B. Arora, alleged that the school was charging for books and uniforms and taking Rs 1,500 to Rs 1,700 every year for stationery but there was no improvement in the standard of education and infrastructure. The petition has sought an audit of the schools accounts from 2011-12 till date and demanded the takeover of its management by the DoE. The directorate had also sought a refund of the excess fee along with interest. Patients family charged nearly Rs16 lakhs; hospital refutes charge. New Delhi: Union health minister J.P. Nadda sought a detailed report from Gurgaon-based Fortis Hospital, which allegedly charged the family of a seven-year-old dengue patient, who later died, nearly Rs 16 lakh for spending 15 days in the ICU. The Union minister also assured necessary action in this connection. The family of the child, Adya Singh, alleged that doctors continued her treatment in the ICU, in full knowledge that her condition has worsened. The father of the girl said that they were billed about Rs 15.6 lakh for the two-week hospital stay, including for 660 syringes and 2,700 medical gloves. Following the allegations, Mr Nadda on Tuesday termed the incident very unfortunate and sought a detailed report and said the government would take action based on it. The government has taken cognisance of the case. Ive enquired from the hospital authorities and asked them to submit a detailed report to the ministry, he said. Meanwhile, the Union health secretary has written to Haryana health secretary to initiate an enquiry into the incident. Adya was referred to Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurgaon, on Aug. 31 after she was diagnosed with dengue and her condition deteriorated. She was put on ventilator and dialysis the next day for 15 days. The doctors had first said that she should come off life support in 24 hours. But that did not happen and after three to four days, we were told that there might be some brain damage. But instead of conducting an MRI, they continued with the treatment. She was taken off ventilator after suffering 70 per cent to 80 per cent brain damage, said Jayant Singh, the girls father. The incident came to light after a friend of the bereaved father posted on microblogging site Twitter. Charged for 660 syringes. They pumped a 7-year old with an average of ~40 syringes a day. Parents kept insisting on MRI/CT Scan to check if she was even alive since she was on ventilator since day 5, (sic) read the tweet. Meanwhile, Fortis Hospital on Tuesday refuted allegations that it had overcharged the family of a 7-year-old girl who died of dengue, claiming the patients kin was informed about the bill on a daily basis. It said in a statement that there was no medical negligence and all standard protocols were followed in the treatment of the patient at the hospital. The statement, which came after the Union health ministry asked the Haryana government to order an enquiry into the incident, said the hospital had followed all clinical guidelines. Gautam was sent on leave for 15 days, sparking off the demand for Mr Dhavses removal from the CMO. Mumbai: After action on Information Technology (IT) principal secretary Vijay Kumar Gautam, the opposition is now demanding that Mr Kaustubh Dhavse, officer on special duty to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis be sacked. Mr Dhavse was heading the loan waiver implementation team from the chief ministers office (CMO). Member of Parliament Raju Shetti has called for a probe into Mr Dhavses role whereas the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has called him a digital dalal. Everybody is now waiting to see what action the chief minister takes. On Monday, Mr Gautam was sent on leave for 15 days, sparking off the demand for Mr Dhavses removal from the CMO. NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik called for action against Mr Dhavse. If you are taking action on a senior officer then why are you protecting Mr Dhavse. It shows that there is something suspicious, he said. The Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant also demanded an inquiry into Mr Dhavses role. The entire loan waiver scheme is itself a mess. We have been saying this from day one. There should be an inquiry into the implementation, he claimed. Mr Dhavse first came under fire when Mr Shetti levelled serious allegations against him. The state government has brought private company for the loan waiver implementation scheme. But this company is believed to have relations with Mr Dhavse. CM Fadnavis should investigate this, Mr Shetti had demanded two weeks ago. The gaps in the implementation of the farmers scheme has become a source of embarrassment for the state government. The duplication of AADHAAR numbers against farmers names and other issues has been controversial. The Prime Ministers office has taken cognisance of the issues and has sought an explanation from the CMO. Maharashtra. Meanwhile, the government has denied that action has been taken against Mr Gautam. The chief minister clarified that Mr Gautam has gone on leave for personal reasons. Mr Fadnavis also said that the technical hurdles in implementing the scheme have been cleared now and government stands by its November 25 deadline for completing the loan waiver process. Born to Jayantibai and Janardhan in present-day Mumbai, she was married off when she was 11 to Dadaji Bhikaji. She enrolled in the London School of Medicine and qualified as a doctor in 1894 (Photo: Google) Online search engine Google today dedicated a special doodle to Dr Rukhmabai Raut to mark the 153rd birth anniversary of India's first practicing lady doctor. Rukhmabai, who was born in 1864 and lost her father at a tender age, is hailed as a pioneer in the field of medicine and women's rights in the 19th century, an era of curtailed freedom for women. Born to Jayantibai and Janardhan in present-day Mumbai, she was married off when she was 11 to Dadaji Bhikaji, 19, after her father's demise. "When Rukhmabai was still in school, her husband, Dadaji, insisted that she come and live with him in his house. Rakhmabai, not one to blindly follow convention, refused," according to the information curated by Google alongside the doodle. Dadaji soon moved court for a case that would span four years. Although the case went in Rukhmabai's favour, an appeal went in Dadaji's favour. The case also caught media's attention bringing to fore significant issues of child marriage and women rights. It was instrumental in the drafting of the Age of Consent Act in 1891. In the run up to the trial, Rukhmabai wrote several articles, under the pseudonym 'A Hindu Lady', which were published in newspapers and even discussed internationally for highlighting the pressing issues of the time under colonial rule in India. "This wicked practice of child marriage has destroyed the happiness of my life. It comes between me and the things which I prize above all others study and mental cultivation. Without the least fault of mine I am doomed to seclusion; every aspiration of mine to rise above my ignorant sisters is looked down upon with suspicion and is interpreted in the most uncharitable manner," she wrote in one of her letters. After the case, as records state, Rukhmabai decided to pursue medicine study and went to the UK on sponsorship. In the UK, she enrolled in the London School of Medicine and qualified as a doctor in 1894. She then returned to India and worked as the medical officer for women in Surat for 22 years and then in Rajkot for 12 years. Hailed as a pioneer in the field of medicine and women's rights in pre-independence India, Rukhmabai passed away at a ripe age of 91 in 1955. Chinese social media users flooded Sina Weibo, akin to Twitter in the country, lauding the 20-yr-old medical student Manushi Chillar. On November 18, Manushi won the coveted Miss World 2017 crown at a grand event at Sanya City Arena in China, ending India's 17-year-long dry spell at the contest. (Photo: File) New Delhi/Beijing: After conquering the globe, newly-crowned Miss World Manushi Chhillar is winning the hearts of Chinese netizens, who have praised the Indian beauty for giving a tough fight to other contestants at the pageant. On November 18, Manushi won the coveted Miss World 2017 crown at a grand event at Sanya City Arena in China, ending India's 17-year-long dry spell at the contest. Chinese social media users flooded Sina Weibo, which is akin to Twitter in the country, lauding the 20-year-old medical student, who edged out top five contestants from England, France, Kenya and Mexico. "Manushi Chhillar, 20-year-old, is a student majoring in medicine. She was crowned the new Miss World from among 118 candidates. I am looking forward to seeing what she will do during her tenure," wrote a netizen. Some praised Indian women in general for their beauty, the state-run Global Times said in a report. "Of course they are beautiful! They were born from the water of the Ganges River, which ensures balanced nutrition and is good for their health," another user Rengongjiangyu Taijishi. "I admit, Indian women are pretty indeed," said netizen Lilibanshangcao. One of the users also shared a post highlighting India's triple victory in 2000, which saw Bollywood actors - Lara Dutta, Priyanka Chopra and Dia Mirza winning the titles of Miss Universe, Miss World and Miss Asia Pacific (then) respectively. "It is worth noting that India once won Miss World, Miss International and Miss Asia in the same year! It must have been a world record. It is true that India is a country full of beauties!" wrote netizen Antivirus. Justice Bhandari has already been at the ICJ for five years, having succeeded an incumbent who resigned to assume political office at home. Justice Dalveer Bhandaris election at the United Nations earlier this week for a fresh nine-year term at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague has brought jubilation to South Block and to India. Indias permanent representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin correctly shared the credit with the political leadership in New Delhi, bureaucrats being best served by avoiding the limelight. Justice Bhandari has already been at the ICJ for five years, having succeeded an incumbent who resigned to assume political office at home. As per the statutes of the ICJ, appended to the UN Charter, five vacancies are filled every three years. Unlike an election to the UN Security Council, no regional distribution is mandated and the statute only specifies that candidates be chosen to provide representation of the main forms of civilisation and of the principal legal systems. Conventionally, however, a distribution system has evolved reserving five seats for Western Europe and Other Countries (which include the United States, Australia etc), three each for Asia and Africa and two each for Eastern Europe and Latin America. Also, as a majority is required by each candidate in both the UN General Assembly and the Security Council, the Permanent Five (US, Britain, France, Russia and China) have always cornered one seat each. Thus, since Chinas entry into the UN, one Asian seat goes to it, leaving two for others in Asia. The UK has continuously held a seat since 1946, when the court was constituted. The European group having cornered five slots can ensure a majority on the bench with three more judges, thus providing a fail-safe mechanism despite the jurisdiction of the court not being mandatory. The actual election begins with a list of aspirants presented to the UNGA and UNSC. This year the first ballot was held in early November. Those obtaining the support of a simple majority (97 votes in the UNGA and eight in the UNSC) are declared elected. In the first ballot, where one Asian seat was up for grabs, Lebanons permanent representative to the UN actually beat Justice Bhandari and was declared elected, along with the candidates of France, the courts sitting chairman, and of Somalia and Brazil. That left the fifth seat open to contest, although as per convention it was for the European group and should normally have gone to the UK, a permanent member of UNSC. India had a call to make to either withdraw from the race, the Asian seat having already been filled, or to go after the last seat and thus break a convention. India chose the latter. In repeated balloting, the UK retained an edge in the UNSC vote while lagging far behind in the UNGA, with India polling near a two-thirds of the majority in each ballot. That India could best a permanent member of the UNSC in the General Assembly is not a surprise as the bulk of its members resent the privileges of the former. The current success must not eclipse the fact that Lebanon did beat India for the Asian seat. The United States too finds it difficult to get the UNGA on its side, particularly on questions that involve Israel. Indias weakness at the UN while seeking elective positions has been its inability to develop a solid bock of votes. For instance, Africa operates on a consensus basis at the UN. Thus, once by rotation a country or its candidate has been selected, the entire block of 50-odd votes are cast in its favour. Similarly, the overlapping groups of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Conference would largely align behind one of their members. In addition, the antagonisms in South Asia get Pakistan and some others to unthinkingly oppose India. The Non-Aligned Movement used to be Indias natural support group, but as the group has expanded to constitute literally two-thirds of the UN membership, it is no longer a cohesive entity. The only remaining natural allies are the members of the Commonwealth, who share with India a colonial past and Anglophone affinity. With a deadlock for the last ICJ seat, there were some murmurs that Britain may invoke an archaic provision in the ICJ statute for a joint mechanism, with three nominees of each organ, to find a solution. However, with Indias brute majority in the UNGA, moral pressure began building on the UK and it withdrew its candidate. Britains foreign secretary, in his parliamentary intervention, extended India a handshake and felicitations, thus ending the matter for now. However, the British media are berating their government for the obvious loss of prestige. It is possible that Britain decided not to use the statutory loopholes to negate Indian support in the UNGA, fearing this might impact its relations with India. Whether Britain nurses a hurt or not will become evident by its handling of billionaire fugitives like Vijay Mallya and Indian extradition requests, or its stance at the UN on Kashmir. Undoubtedly Pakistan would have worked overtime with its friends and allies to block India as the Kulbhushan Yadav case is currently before the ICJ. Ironically, the UK is the only Permanent Five member which accepts the compulsory jurisdiction of ICJ. While there is some prestige attached to having a judge on the ICJ, in reality he is not expected to lobby for India, nor is India likely to be hauled before the court as it does not accept the courts compulsory jurisdiction. To claim that somehow Indian success in beating a P-5 member is a prelude to India being able to now mount a charge to reform the UNSC is pure humbug. A skirmish won is far from a victory in war. Greater credit would be due if India had succeeded in beating Lebanon for the Asian seat in the first round of balloting. Chest-thumping is best replaced by modest clapping. The ostracisation of Qatar has paid no obvious dividends. The trend in Syria does not conform to Saudi wishes. Harare and Hariri have dominated the international news cycle in recent weeks. The Zimbabwean capital has witnessed a drama in which the 93-year-old incumbent president, Robert Mugabe, is refusing to resign after 37 years in power, despite pointed indications from the military, the ruling party and the broader populace that his time is up. The considerably younger Lebanese leader Saad Hariri, meanwhile, tendered an unexpected resignation at an unlikely venue after having served for less than a year in his latest stint as Prime Minister. There was little indication that it was anything other than a routine summons from his Saudi sponsors that took him to Riyadh at the beginning of the month. Apparently, he was effectively taken into custody on arrival, and made to read out a dictated resignation speech in which he spewed out the standard Saudi line on Iranian interference and cited a threat to his life. No corroborating evidence has emerged for the latter claim, and while Hezbollah, widely seen (with reasonable cause) as an Iranian proxy, exercises considerable influence in Lebanon and constitutes a part of the ruling coalition, there have been no notable indications of a recent change in its role or attitude that would justify a tantrum at the top. It is far more likely that the power play was orchestrated by the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, although his precise intentions are uncertain. It may partly have been an attempt to distract attention from his simultaneous domestic machinations, which have involved the detention of a dozen princes and hundreds of Saudi businessmen on the grounds of corruption a laughable ploy, given that the very foundations of the House of Saud are built on the arbitrary appropriation of national resources. The primary motivation for provoking regime change in Beirut, however, almost certainly has more to do with the regional tussle against Iran. Hezbollah and its allies have been instrumental in decimating Sunni extremists in Syria and Iraq, and appear to have become increasingly involved in Yemen after the Western-backed Saudi-led coalition blundered in to teach the Houthis a lesson. Meanwhile, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria is viewed as a threat by Israel. Strategically, especially vis-a-vis Iran, the Saudis and Israel have been on the same page in recent years, their unofficial alliance lately confirmed by a Saudi media interview with Israels military chief, which must have been sanctioned at the highest levels in Tel Aviv and Riyadh. The trouble with the Saudi heirs initiatives, however, is that they have floundered on every front, notwithstanding the Netanyahu-Trump endorsement. Yemen is a depressing humanitarian disaster zone where more than 100 children are dying every day, cholera keeps spreading and avenues of aid delivery are routinely blocked. The ostracisation of Qatar has paid no obvious dividends. The trend in Syria does not conform to Saudi wishes. And the last thing Lebanon needed was a blow to its invariably delicate balance of power. French President Emmanuel Macrons intervention may have helped to rescue Hariri from Riyadh (even though, like his assassinated father Rafik Hariri, he is a dual Lebanese Saudi citizen with lucrative interests in the kingdoms construction industry), and he is expected back in Beirut today to mark Lebanons independence day and, ostensibly, offer an explanation for why he quit, following a meeting with President Michel Aoun, who refused to accept a resignation tendered in Riyadh. No one seriously expects him to come clean, though. And what the future holds for Lebanon remains unclear. One can only hope that civil strife can be avoided, as well as any incident that provides Israel with an excuse to repeat its devastating excesses against this particular neighbour. Equally, one must fervently wish that Mohammed bin Salman fails in his evident desire to somehow provoke a confrontation with Iran that draws in Israel and the US. The horrendous consequences of such an outcome would make themselves felt for decades to come. The crown prince could, though, do his nation, the region and the world a huge service, were his disruptive endeavours to undermine the House of Saud which is, after all, built on sand. The crown prince hadnt yet been born in 1979, which may help to explain why he imagines the kingdom was a repository of moderate Islam before the Iranian Revolution. His determination to sideline his troublesome cousins may, however, prove to be just the impetus for implosion that the kingdom requires. Orthodox elements have always been fuelled by the black gold at their disposal. The oil is not exactly running out just yet, but its reduced value has helped to unleash a desperate bid for alternative sources of wealth and power. Dont hold your breath, but the end and a new beginning may eventuate sooner than anyone expects. By arrangement with Dawn Lens was first introduced back in May and made available within Google Photos last month as part of the Pixel 2 launch. The company says Lens will only improve as it learns more about our surroundings and any manner of other things in the real world. Last month, Google had introduced its newest smartphone the Pixel 2 and boasted about how Lens builds on Googles advancements in computer vision and machine learning. Now Google is bringing its artificial intelligence-powered Lens tool to all Pixel phones in few weeks as part of an update to Google Assistant. Google Lens is a computer vision system that lets users point their Pixel phone's camera at an object and get information in real time, as the AI-powered algorithm is capable of recognizing real-world items. Lens was first introduced back in May and made available within Google Photos last month as part of the Pixel 2 launch. The feature can also be used on photos or screenshots you have already taken. The company says that this feature is rolling out slowly but it will be coming to all Pixel phones in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, India and Singapore. Once the feature is live, users can see the Google Lens logo in the bottom right corner of the Assistant screen. Until now, the only way to use Lens was through Google Photos on the Pixel phone. Google says that it can save information from business cards, follow URLs, call phone numbers, recognize addresses and landmarks. It can also show information about movies and books by just looking at the spine or a poster and scan barcodes. The company says Lens will only improve as it learns more about our surroundings and becomes more adept at identifying people, objects, and any manner of other things in the real world. (Source: Deccan Chronicle) Samsung plans to showcase the smartphone, which is rumoured to be named Galaxy X, in January at CES. Samsungs bendable smartphone have been doing rounds in the rumour mill for quite some time now. And if the latest reports are to be believed, we might not have to wait much longer before the long-rumoured smartphone sees the light of day. Samsung plans to showcase the smartphone, which is rumoured to be named Galaxy X, in January at CES, according to a report in Yahoo News. The report comes after a company support page for the product surfaced on Samsung's website. It was first spotted by Dutch site Mobilekopen, the support shows a smartphone model number that's previously been linked to the Galaxy X. Companys president of mobile business Koh Dong-jin previously confirmed to media that the company will launch a bendable smartphone sometime in 2018, according to Yahoo. How the final product will shape up is yet to be discovered, but we still have an idea how it could work, thanks to patent images that surfaced in October by the Korean Patent Office. The images show a smartphone with a hinge in the centre of the phone that enables user to fold the device in half, similar to a flip phone. Its not clear whether the final product will look like the patent images, of course, but the good news is we wont have to wait longer for the device to arrive. Abortion is illegal in Brazil, home to the world's largest Catholic community, except when pregnancy is due to rape. Thousands of women took to Brazil's streets early November to protest against the bill, which is supported by increasingly influential evangelical Christian groups. (Photo: File/ AP/Representational) Rio de Janeiro: More pregnant women could die in Brazil if it passes a law banning all abortions on Tuesday, including in cases of rape or when the mother's life is in danger, critics said. Thousands of women took to Brazil's streets early November to protest against the bill, which is supported by increasingly influential evangelical Christian groups. "It's intentional fraud from fundamentalist congressmen who think that their religious dogmas have greater weight than the democratic state," said congresswoman Erika Kokay, who opposes the constitutional reform bill. "It's absurd and is a huge setback against legislation on women's rights in force since the 1940s," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Abortion is illegal in Brazil, home to the world's largest Catholic community, except when pregnancy is due to rape, endangers the mother's life or if the fetus has anencephaly, in which a baby is missing parts of the brain and skull. More than 1 million abortions take place in clandestine clinics each year and thousands of women end up in hospital as a result of botched procedures, according to government estimates. A Congressional committee, which voted by 18-1 in favour of a bill to ban abortion under all circumstances early November, is voting again on certain sections on Tuesday with the aim of securing a unanimous vote. Kokay - the committee's only female member and the only one to oppose the bill in the earlier vote - said she and other politicians will oppose it in Brazil's top court, if necessary. Conservative lawmakers say that life begins at conception and laws must protect the unborn child's rights at all costs. The move to criminalise all abortions is part of a trend by a growing evangelical caucus in Brazil's Congress to roll back women's rights on social issues, campaigners say. "We want congress to guarantee more rights, not to remove them," said Jurema Werneck, Brazil director of Amnesty International, which has launched an online campaign against the bill with about 40,000 signatures collected so far. The bill requires two-thirds of the votes in both chambers of Congress to become law as part of a constitutional amendment. It would then need to be approved by the Senate and signed into law by Brazil's conservative President Michel Temer. The law could win votes as part of a trade-off for other legislation the governing coalition seeks to pass, such as pension reform to plug a gaping budget deficit, analysts said. Deborah Duprat, a prosecutor for citizen's rights in the Office of the Attorney General, said the bill was unconstitutional and a "violent act" against women that puts their lives at risk. "The World Health Organization states that unsafe abortion is one of the main causes of death among women that could be avoided," she said. Rejecting the government's plea to extend his detention for another three months, the board ordered Saeed's release. In October, the board had allowed a 30-day extension to the detention of Saeed which will expire next week. (Photo: AFP/File) Lahore: A Judicial Review Board of Pakistan's Punjab province on Wednesday ordered the release of Mumbai attack mastermind and banned Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed, who has been under house arrest since January. Rejecting the government's plea to extend his detention for another three months, the board ordered Saeed's release. "The government is ordered to release JuD chief Hafiz Saeed if he is not wanted in any other case," the board said. In October, the board had allowed a 30-day extension to the detention of Saeed which will expire next week. The board's order paves the way for Saeed's release. On January 31, Saeed and his four aides - Abdullah Ubaid, Malik Zafar Iqbal, Abdul Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Hussain - were detained by the Punjab government for 90 days under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 and the Fourth Schedule of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997. Saeed's four aides were set free in the last week of October. The US has offered a USD 10 million bounty for Saaed. The JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) which is responsible for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai attack which killed 166 people. Saeed, however, has repeatedly denied involvement in the attacks. The teacher had already confessed, according to police, and the police report said he was found with the boy. Yet he swore his innocence in court. Kausar Parveen comforts her child who was allegedly raped by a religious cleric in Kehror Pakka, Pakistan. (Photo: AP) Kehrore Pakka, Pakistan: Kausar Parveen struggles through tears as she remembers the blood-soaked pants of her 9-year-old son, raped by a religious cleric. Each time she begins to speak, she stops, swallows hard, wipes her tears and begins again. The boy fidgets with his scarf and looks over at his mother. Did he touch you? He nods. Did he hurt you when he touched you? Yes, he whispers. Did he rape you? He buries his face in his scarf and nods yes. Sexual abuse is a pervasive and longstanding problem at madrassas in Pakistan, an Associated Press investigation has found. But in a culture where clerics are powerful, it is seldom discussed or even acknowledged in public. It is even more seldom prosecuted, according to the investigation, based on police documents and dozens of interviews with victims, families, officials and aid groups. Police are often paid off not to pursue justice against clerics, victims families say. And cases rarely make it past the courts, because Pakistans legal system allows the victims family to forgive the offender and accept what is often referred to as blood money. A tally of cases reported in newspapers over the past 10 years of sexual abuse by maulvis or clerics and other religious officials came to 359. That represents barely the tip of the iceberg, says Munizae Bano, executive director of Sahil, the organisation that scours the newspapers. In 2004, a Pakistani official disclosed more than 500 complaints of sexual assaults against young boys in madrassas. He has since refused to talk. Two officials familiar with the madrassas said sexual abuse there happens all the time. They asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution from militant groups. One compared the situation to the abuse of children by priests in the Catholic Church. There are thousands of incidences of sexual abuse in the madrassas, he says. This thing is very common... I am not sure what it will take to expose the extent of it. Its very dangerous to even try. Religious affairs minister Sardar Muhammad Yousaf dismisses the suggestion that sexual abuse is widespread, saying such talk is an attempt to malign the religion, seminaries and clerics. He acknowledges that it could occur occasionally because there are criminals everywhere. The interior ministry, which oversees madrassas, refused repeated written and telephone requests for an interview. More than 22,000 registered madrassas or Islamic schools in Pakistan teach at least two million students, often among the countrys poorest, who receive food and an education for free. Thousands more madrassas are unregistered and operate without scrutiny, like the one attended by Parveens son. Unlike the Catholic Church, which has a clear hierarchy, there is no central religious authority that governs madrassas. When offending mullahs pay police off, they refuse to even register a case, according to the victims families. The families involved are often poor and powerless. The top police officer in the district centre of Multan, deputy inspector general police Sultan Azam Temuri, denies that pressure from clerics or powerful politicians prompts police to go easy in such cases. He says cases are investigated when allegations are made. Temuri says his department is trying to tackle child abuse in general with the introduction of gender and child protection services. Victims and their families can also choose to forgive an assailant because Pakistans legal system is a mix of British Common Law and Islamic Shariah law. A similar legal provision was changed last year to prevent forgiveness of honour killings, where victims are murdered because they are thought to have brought shame on their families. Honour killings now carry a mandatory sentence of life in prison, but clerics in sexual abuse cases can still be forgiven. Victims and their families often come under intense pressure to forgive the crime, or essentially settle for money. Many do, partly because they dont believe they have the power to do anything else. Sahil offers families legal aid to pursue such cases. Last year, Sahil found 56 cases of sexual assault involving religious clerics. Yet none of the families accepted Sahils offer of legal assistance. The story of Parveens son, who says he was raped by his teacher in Kehrore Pakka, shows how difficult it is to get justice in cases of sexual abuse at madrassas. At the courthouse in Kehrore Pakka, the former cleric waited his turn to go before a judge. A half dozen members of the radical Sunni militant organisation Sipah-e-Sahabah were there to support the teacher. They scowled and moved closer when an AP reporter sat next to the teacher, who was shackled to a half dozen other prisoners. The whispers grew louder and more insistent. Its too dangerous here, said one person, looking over at the militants nearby. Leave. Leave the courthouse, they can do anything here. The teacher had already confessed, according to police, and the police report said he was found with the boy. Yet he swore his innocence in court. I am married, why would I do this? he said. In the end, the mother, Parveen, forgave the cleric and accepted $300, according to police. The cleric was set free. The Scottish-born Sikh was in Jalandhar with his family for his wedding in October when he was reportedly arrested. The Punjab government has claimed that Johal is among a group of suspects arrested on allegations of fanning communal disturbance in the state. (Photo: Youtube Screengrab) London: The UK government on Tuesday said that it would take extreme action if any British citizen is being tortured as the case of a Scottish-born Sikh man, Jagtar Singh Johal, who has been jailed in India, was raised in the House of Commons. Jagtar Singh Johal alias Jaggi, a British citizen, has been in a Punjab jail since his arrest early November by the states police for his alleged role in targeted killings in the state. Local MP Martin Docherty-Hughes of the Scottish National Party (SNP) asked the UK foreign office what representations were being made to the Indian government on reports of his alleged torture in custody. We take any allegation of torture very seriously, as indeed would the Indian government, foreign office minister Rory Stewart told Docherty-Hughes. It is completely unconstitutional, it is offensive to the British government and we will work very closely to investigate and, of course, we will take extreme action if a British citizen is being tortured, he said. Now Diljit Dosanjh broaches Johals torture in Punjab target killings case The minister of state in the foreign office stressed that the issue was being taken very seriously and that the deputy high commissioner of the UK had managed to gain access to hold a meeting with Johal. Read: Sikh MP in UK, threatened, accused of not addressing communitys problems The issue was raised in the parliament a day after British Prime Minister Theresa May was confronted by the BBCs Asian Network to comment on Johals arrest in India. I am aware of the concern that has been expressed about Jagtar Singh Johal. Representatives from the foreign office have met with him and are pursuing the case, watching what is happening with concern and will take necessary action , she said. Johals MP, Docherty-Hughes, has been campaigning for his freedom and has also written to Downing Street seeking a meeting for his UK-based family with the Prime Minister. The Scottish-born Sikh was in Jalandhar with his family for his wedding in October when he was reportedly arrested by plainclothes police officials in the city. Sikh Federation UK, a representative group leading a #FreeJaggiNow social media campaign, has quoted his lawyer Jaspal Singh Manjhpur as saying that Johal has been subjected to physical and mental torture in jail. The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for British Sikhs, led by Labour MP Preet Kaur Gill, had earlier written to UK foreign secretary Boris Johnson urging him to protect Johals rights as a British citizen. The Punjab government has claimed that Johal is among a group of suspects arrested on allegations of fanning communal disturbance in the state. People unknown knocked down crosses and tombstones, including those of Mother Teresa's nuns, killed in March 2016. For Mgr Hinder, this is serious, confirming the countrys ongoing difficult situation and violence." The Saudi blockade puts at risk the survival of people. Sana'a (AsiaNews) In recent days "the Christian cemetery in Aden was desecrated," including the tombs of the Sisters of Mother Teresa killed during the attack against the retirement home they ran, said Mgr Paul Hinder, apostolic vicar of southern Arabia (UAE, Oman and Yemen), speaking to AsiaNews. The economic, social and humanitarian situation in Yemen is disastrous, the prelate noted. For some groups, things are "particularly problematic" with "different imperatives" in different parts of the country. What is more, for Mgr Hinder, the blockade imposed by Saudi Arabia is a "major problem". "The attack on the Christian cemetery in Aden occurred two nights ago, Mgr Hinder noted. The attackers, whose identity is still unknown, damaged crosses and tombs," including the tombs of the four Sisters of Mother Teresa killed on 4 March 2016 during an attack by a local extremist group. Only one nun managed to survive the attack during which the terrorists abducted Fr Tom Uzhunnalil, an Indian Salesian missionary in Yemen. The clergymen was released only recently after a long captivity, also thanks to the intervention of Omani officials. "This is not the first time that such a thing happens, but the damage to a cemetery is a serious thing. Of course, such episodes of violence do not only affect Christians, but they confirm the ongoing difficult situation and violence." Since January 2015, the Arab country has been involved in a bloody civil war opposing the Sunni administration of former President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, backed by Saudi Arabia, and Houthi Shia rebels, close to Iran and Hezbollah. In March of the same year, a Saudi-led Arab coalition launched air strikes against the rebels, which the United Nations criticised because of the casualties they caused, including civilians and children. UN sources have put the number of dead at almost 9,000, 60 per cent civilians, and 45,000 wounded. Some 20 million Yemenis (out of 28) need humanitarian aid to survive. At least seven million are on the brink of famine, with 2.3 million malnourished children. Making matters worse, the country has been hit by the worst cholera outbreak in the world, which, according to the International Red Cross, has already affected 900,000 people. The already critical situation has been made worse by a land, sea and air blockade imposed by Saudi Arabia two weeks ago, which is preventing the arrival of food and humanitarian aid. NGO Medecins sans frontiers (Doctors without Borders) has slammed Saudi Arabia for sealing its borders, thus aggravating the suffering of an already exhausted population. International NGOs and groups have sounded the alarm of a possible "unprecedented deterioration" of the food situation. About 80 per cent of the countrys food is imported and Yemenis cannot survive without foreign aid. "One of the main problems is represented by the blockade that prevents aid, whether food or medicines, from entering, Mgr Hinder explained. We need to act to provide humanitarian assistance, which is vital for the survival of the population." (DS) Various dioceses, shrines, basilicas and universities spread throughout the country. Even the faithful invited to dress in red, in the context of the campaign #RedWednesdayPH campaign. Among the goals are educating the public on the vastness of persecution and encouraging the defense of the faith. Manila (AsiaNews) - As a sign of solidarity with millions of persecuted Christians around the world, some churches and universities in the Philippines "are tinged" red today. According to the CbcpNews Episcopal Conference site, worship sites and research centers will illuminate their facades throughout the day, while prayers and services are celebrated in the afternoon. The initiative, the promoters explain, is part of the "Red Wednesday" campaign and social networking through the hashtag #RedWednesdayPH campaign. On this day, the faithful are also invited to dress in red i, in solidarity with those who suffer because of their Christian faith. Echoing Pope Francis, Jomar Luciano, national director of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) Philippines, the lead organizer of the said campaign said:" I hope that through this campaign, more Filipinos will be made aware of the reality and the severity of persecution of their fellow Christians and that this awareness leads to concrete actions of support through prayer, information, and charity. According to a briefer released by ACN Philippines, the #RedWednesdayPH campaign aims to achieve the following goals: Educate the public including the youth about the nature and scale of Christian persecution;Create awareness among Filipino Christians of their membership within a bigger global Christian family; Encourage Christians of all ages and traditions to stand up for faith and freedom and the right of Christians to practice their faith without fear or obstruction. The international campaign also involves other nations, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, Italy and France. In the Philippines, the initiative is supported, among others, by the archdiocese of Manila, Zamboanga, Palo, Jolo apostolic vicarage, the diocese of Baguio and Antipolo, the basilica of the Black Nazarene and several shrines scattered throughout the country. by Paul Hung Quoc For critics, Vietnams education is too politicised and centred on producing graduates, and not enough on the moral training of younger generations. Forced by the regime to think a certain way, young people are unable to develop creative thoughts. The economic impact of an education at the service of the Communist Party is negative. Hanoi (AsiaNews) Vietnams schools today marked the 35th Teachers Day (20 November 1982 - 20 November 2017), an event centred on the countrys traditional cultural norm of reverence for teachers and morality (Ton Su Trong ao). Despite the country's recent achievements in developing its school system, its educational approach is too politicised and focused on producing graduates, ignoring the moral training of younger generations. The focus should instead be on the human development of students whose creativity is limited by a rigid communist doctrine. "If students get a high school education, but their morality is lacking, they will be of little help to their families and society, university lecturer Hoang Anh T told AsiaNews. They will only learn about consumerism and selfishness, he lamented. Conversely, if we want to make progress in the educational field, we must first pay attention to the human being." According to government data released today, there are 236 universities in Vietnam with 73,000 lecturers and more than 16,000 professors. The total number of university students is 1,767,879 in the current academic year, 105,801 of whom are master students and 15,111 are in PhD programmes. About 20 million pupils attend pre-school, elementary and high schools. Vietnamese students are required to study the philosophy of Karl Marx and the thought of Ho Chi Minh, but the government denies them the opportunity to study other philosophies. The purpose of socialist schools is to serve the government and what the schools teach is the "communist ideology". Forced to follow the regimes way of thinking, students are unable to develop creative ideas and understand the governments misdeeds. This has a major impact on the development of the country, whose economy is currently stagnating. "Vietnam's educational system is in a state of crisis that is affecting the philosophy of education and the methods of school management, said Prof Nguyen Khac Mai, director of the Minh Triet Centre. Students, teachers and administrators are confused, he added. So, it is very difficult for Vietnam to develop its talents. Such a system will not help to develop positive elements for the nation." For scholars at some universities in Ho Chi Minh City, "Education in Vietnam will only develop strongly when it truly respects human rights and the transfer of knowledge. The aim of education is to meet the needs of students. This is the core of respect for human rights to build love of the country and the creativity of a nation." Canada will invest about $18 million for projects addressing Filipino womens reproductive health services just as the Philippines thumbed its nose at its powerful Catholic church to and began distributing contraceptives that do not cause abortions. The announcement marked a victory over the influential Catholic church which counts most of the Philippine population as followers and opposes all forms of artificial contraception. Health Secretary Francisco Duque said 51 types of contraceptive pills, coils and injectables could now be distributed to the public after the Food and Drug Administration certified they did not cause abortions, defeating a petition filed by a Catholic group. It is now all systems go for us in the Department of Health to implement the (Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health) law, Duque told reporters. For years, the Church has waged a bruising battle against government efforts to promote birth control despite the countrys widespread poverty and ballooning population. The reproductive health law granting access to contraceptives was passed in 2012 despite strong Church opposition. However, abortion remains illegal. A religious group filed a case with the Supreme Court charging that many of the government-issued contraceptives were abortifacients and therefore banned. This prompted the court to issue in 2015 a restraining order on the 51 contraceptives pending a finding by the FDA. The Philippines is now rushing to distribute about US$5 million worth of old stocks of contraceptives before their expiration date. Government stocks of the contraceptives, acquired before this court order, are now being delivered to health offices and development groups to ensure they can be distributed before they expire, Duque said. President Rodrigo Duterte, a fierce critic of the Catholic church who was elected last year, has promised to deliver the free contraceptives to women as part of his reproductive health push. Despite Church lobbying to cut funding for contraceptives, Duque said the government had budgeted 4.2 billion pesos ($82 million) for implementation of the law this year. The head of the governments Population Commission, Juan Antonio Perez, said the two years that the court order was in place had likely resulted in 500,000 unplanned pregnancies. I think we have a good number of people who may be asking for these implants, said Doctor Juan Antonio Perez, executive director of the Commission on Population. Perez said the two years that the court order was in place had likely resulted in 500,000 unplanned pregnancies. Perez said that the Philippines had 20 million women of reproductive age, six million of whom were already using contraceptives. He added a million more were expected to start using contraceptives each year now that the ban had been lifted. As the rush to distribute the old contraceptives began, Canadas Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that his country will invest a total of $17.8 million over five years for projects addressing Filipino womens reproductive health services. I am pleased to announce that Canada will be investing in sexual health and empowerment projects that will be implemented by Oxfam, Trudeau said during a press briefing at World Trade Center in Pasay City. Trudeau hoped the funding of the Canadian government would improve access to sexual and reproductive health services to more than 85,000 women and girls living in rural areas in the country. When we invest in women and girls, we help entire families, communities, and societies succeed, he said, while in the Philippines for the 31st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit. The Catholic church, as expected, denounced the moves to increase access to contraceptives. A top official of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). Fr. Jerome Secillano questioned the wisdom of funding the procurement of family planning commodities while millions of Filipinos dont have access to medicines when they fall ill. Is it really sound to pour in billions for the procurement of pills and condoms while many Filipinos dont even have access to real medicines when they get sick? asked the priest. Secillano is the executive secretary of the CBCPs permanent committee on public affairs. One of RH laws most vocal critics is the Catholic Church, which has repeatedly opposed moves to legalize abortion and the purchase and distribution of contraceptives. Can these non-abortifacients be an alternative for food and shelter which the Filipinos truly need? the Catholic priest added. Guest Commentary By Stewart Muir It's common mythology that B.C.'s traditional natural resource economy has reached its end-game and is being replaced by a "new economy" based on technology and innovation. The iconic logger has been replaced in our imagination by a computer programmer, miners supplanted by lab techs. As is usually the case with such convenient scenarios, the truth is not that simple. In fact, B.C.s old sectors like forestry and mining are driving technological innovations that are being put to work here and exported around the globe. Resource-based expertise from this province is pouring into the global knowledge economy, creating employment and opportunities for people from Vancouvers Howe Street to downtown Fort St. John. This is being driven by smaller companies at the cutting edge of value-added fields like filtration, satellites, GPS, and digital analysis and simulation. They are partnering with larger resource firms to create innovations that have already made B.C.s resource companies a beacon of green, diversified expertise Some of our home-grown companies are working in surprising places. The cold, grey waters of Howe Sound and the sunny, tropical fishing ponds around Danang, Vietnam, are connected by the thread of B.C. innovation spun by West Vancouver-based Hatfield Consultants. They're using technology and expertise first developed 30 year ago for B.C.s pulp and paper mills to help today's Vietnamese government grapple with the deadly legacy of Agent Orange. Hatfield Consultants President and Senior Environmental Chemist Grant Bruce says not only are companies like his exporting high-tech and green solutions to an international market, they're also exporting our environmental rules and regulations. He cites Indonesia, which has recently developed an environmental assessment process based on the Canadian model. You can also look at Surrey-based SOFTAC Systems Ltd., which has always been on the cutting edge of forest industry technology. Now the B.C. firm is making waves around the globe as an innovator in seismic detection and water treatment technologies. Or you can look up way, way up - at the satellite system being launched by Burnaby's Helios Wire, which will allow tracking and communication with up to five billion devices worldwide and make the Internet of Things more affordable for small, medium and large organizations alike. Bruce, Scott Larson of Helios Wire, and SOFTAC Systems' Tom Jansen will each tell you that while the province is home to a host of innovative firms nearly 200 small and medium-sized companies that support the resource industry in key technology fields alone they also say more needs to be done before B.C. can become a high-tech hub rivalling San Francisco. Government can always do more to assist high-tech firms, especially at the start-up phase. More high-tech infrastructure and increased access to markets would also help. They'll get their chance to engage in that conversation with Fazil Mihlar, B.C.'s Deputy Minister of Jobs, Trade and Technology, in Vancouver on Nov. 29 at the "Naturally Resourceful: B.C.'s Export Future in Natural Resources Tech" luncheon at the Hyatt Regency. Mihlar will be the keynote speaker at the event, which will also feature a panel of leading thinkers in resource sector innovation and technology, and recognize emerging technology companies like Hatfield, Helios Wire and others. The divide between rural and urban B.C. has never seemed wider. We may agree that we all want both environmental sustainability and a strong economy, but we disagree - often vehemently on how to get there. Resource Works hopes that "Naturally Resourceful" will be the beginning of a new conversation about how we can continue to benefit from B.C.s natural resources while meeting ambitious environmental goals, about how we can hone our high-tech competitive edge to ensure our shared prosperity and a healthy planet. Stewart Muir is executive director of the Resource Works Society. Tickets for the Naturally Resourceful lunch event Nov. 29 are available through Eventbrite or at www.resourceworks.com. At a live event at TELUS Harbour in Toronto last evening, TELUS announced the winner of the TELUS Pitch , a small business competition that awarded $100,000 to one entrepreneur to fuel their companys growth. After shortlisting to three incredible finalists, iMerciv Inc. was ultimately announced as the grand prize winner. Dedicated to improving the confidence and independence of individuals living with vision loss, iMerciv Inc. works to create smart wearable technologies that improve the overall quality of life of the blind and partially-sighted. Bin Liu, CEO and Co-Founder of iMerciv, pitched his business along with nearly 3,000 other entrepreneurs, many of whom delivered their pitch in a life-size travelling TELUS Pitch elevator at small business conferences across the country. Liu is an engineer by trade and was inspired to found the company following his fathers vision loss and diagnosis of inoperable glaucoma. iMerciv recently launched its first product, the BuzzClip, a wearable mobility tool that helps people with vision loss better avoid collisions. The device uses ultrasound to detect obstacles that may lie directly in one's path. It then notifies the user of these obstacles through intuitive vibrations, allowing the user to safely navigate around any objects that they may encounter, particularly at head level. Each of the finalists are exceptional entrepreneurs who have dedicated their lives to solving very important but vastly different problems, said Arlene Dickinson, CEO of District Ventures Capital and Dragon on CBCs Dragons Den. iMerciv took home the grand prize because the team is working to create life-changing technologies, and they have a defined plan for how theyll use the $100,000 to expand their business and offerings. I cant wait to watch their progress and growth. The iMerciv team will be using the $100,000 prize to ramp up their sales and marketing efforts by hiring a sales team to generate new leads and expand their presence in the 11 countries where the company currently has a customer base. By allocating the prize money towards growth, iMerciv hopes to generate additional revenue in order to more easily build new products. The company will also use the prize money to supplement the research and development costs associated with a second product they are currently in the process of creating that will help further improve the lives of those living with partial vision loss or blindness. "Being selected as the winner of the TELUS Pitch contest out of thousands of talented, dedicated small business owners from across the country is incredible. Were grateful for this opportunity and so thankful to TELUS for hosting a contest to support Canadian startups and the judges for believing in our team and product, said Liu. "Building technical solutions to complex problems can be extremely difficult with a limited budget, and this $100,000 is going to allow us to grow and help so many more people. This year's other semi-finalists included Flashfood and JamStack , who each received a $10,000 prize. TELUS also awarded one "Most Promising Startup" prize to Emma Harris, CEO of Healthy Pet, a telehealth company that connects local veterinarians with pet parents through video so pet owners can access affordable pet healthcare on demand from the comfort of their homes. This prize consisted of $5,000 of Samsung technology and $5,000 of mentoring and marketing services from startup marketing firm Eighty-Eight. TELUS also presented a Community Impact award to Jennifer Turliuk, CEO of Maker Kids which runs childrens programs, camps and parties teaching coding, robotics and Minecraft. This award consisted of $ 10,000 plus an additional $10,000 for the winner to donate to a charity of its choice. TELUS is proud to recognize these Canadian entrepreneurs as true innovators who are not only reshaping traditional industries, but also giving back to their communities in a meaningful way, said Suzanne Trusdale, vice-president, Small Business Solutions, TELUS. "Entrepreneurs are the heart of Canada's economy, and as a company whose culture is built on a philosophy of we give where we live we are encouraged to see smaller companies doing the same and we are excited to support their success. By Catherine A. Sas Q.C., Special to The Post Canadas immigration program has changed dramatically for international students since the introduction of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) in June of 2002. Previously students could only work on campus and the only options to gain work experience were the standard options to obtain a work permit. However, with the steady increase of international students, there was a fundamental recognition that gaining a Canadian education led to a better-quality immigrant. Suddenly there was an appreciation by the government that international students were to be encouraged to succeed within Canadas immigration program, and steps were taken to enhance a students opportunity to obtain permanent residence from within Canada. This led to the introduction of the Off-Campus Work permit in 2005 and the Post Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) in 2006. 2008 also saw the introduction of the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) as a category of economic immigration that provided an opportunity for students to qualify for permanent residence after completing two years of post-secondary education (or more) in Canada and obtaining a diploma or degree. While the criteria for obtaining permanent residence under the CEC has changed since the introduction of Canadas Express Entry immigration program, the PGWP remains a remarkable tool for students to qualify for Canadian permanent residence. The first most significant factor for consideration by an international student keen on obtaining permanent residence in Canada is the selection of the school where they will study. (WEBLINK: http://canadian-visa-lawyer.com/studying-in-canada-as-a-path-to-permanen...). Most schools in Canada are recognized as a Designated Learning Institution (DLI) which enables an international student to obtain a study permit. But not all DLIs enable a student to qualify for a PGWP. You need to choose your school wisely if permanent residence is your ultimate goal. Dont rely on the advice of the school. Many schools advise students that they will be eligible for work permits whether they are Co-op work permits or PGWPs. They are not the same thing and a Co-op work permit will not necessarily provide to a path for permanent residence. If you select a school that is not eligible for a PGWP - you will need to continue your studies at an eligible school to be able to qualify for both the PGWP and permanent residence. This will have significant cost implications so be certain at the outset that your school qualifies you to obtain a PGWP. Dont rely on an agent to assist with the selection of your school and program of study. Most agents receive a commission from the school for the placement of students at a school. Frequently an agents focus is on their own best interests and not yours. If you have any doubts as to whether your chosen school will entitle you to a PGWP, it is recommended that you make several cross checks with a variety of immigration professionals before you proceed with registering. Also, most provinces provide a list of eligible educational institutions which lead to PGWPs. Generally, a qualifying school will not be the cheapest school as you will be obtaining a diploma or degree at the end of your studies. Take the time to be sure. The second factor for a student to appreciate is that you must comply with all the laws pertaining to a student permit they are NOT set out on your study permit. For example, you are only eligible for a PGWP if you have been continuously studying on a full-time basis. If you reduce your program of studies to part-time, you are no longer eligible for a PGWP. Furthermore, students no longer obtain work permits. You are entitled to work in Canada with a study permit, but you must be familiar with the criteria for working while studying and if you breach these terms, you will not be eligible for the PGWP. Virtually every student I meet is aware that they are able to work in Canada up to 20 hours per week while they are studying. What many students are not aware of is that they must ALWAYS be in full time attendance in order to be able to work and they can only work a maximum of 20 hours per week. If a student works more than 20 hours a week while going to school, they are ineligible for a PGWP. It is recommended that you meet with a qualified immigration professional as soon as you arrive in Canada to review and determine what your study permit entitles you to do (and not do) and the specific requirements for both a PGWP and for obtaining permanent residence. The third most important factor for consideration is that you can only get ONE PGWP. I will repeat - an international student is only eligible to obtain a PGWP once. This harsh reality applies even in situations where IRCC has issued a PGWP in error. Yes, the PGWP process is so confusing that even immigration officials issue PGWPs to students in error. A PGWP will be issued for either one year or three years depending upon your program of study. If you have completed a qualifying diploma or degree program you will be issued a PGWP valid for three years. Use those three years wisely. You must obtain at least one year of full time work experience in a qualifying occupation or you will not be able to meet the criteria for permanent residence either in the CEC category or as a Federal Skilled Worker. The PGWP provides a unique opportunity within Canadas immigration program for students to be able to qualify for permanent residence. However, there are many steps to this process and students need to be familiar with every aspect of this process. Utilize the PGWP opportunity to maximize your ability to obtain Canadian permanent residence by gaining valuable work experience after graduation. Students are well advised to familiarize themselves upon arrival in Canada of what will ultimately allow them to achieve permanent residence in Canada after completing their studies. Catherine Sas, Q.C. has over 25 years of legal experience. She provides a full range of immigration services and is a leading immigration practitioner (Lexpert, Whos Who Legal, Best Lawyers in Canada). Go to www.canadian-visa-lawyer.com or email casas@shaw.ca. Commentary BY Mona Mashhadi Rajabi in Tehran, Iran New Canadian Media I am among the thousands of folks waiting in queue immigrate to Canada. This wish was triggered after my previous experience of having lived in Canada as an international student. I moved to Canada in August 2015 with a student visa. I decided to pursue my PhD in economics as I was aware of the exceptional educational system in Canada. But it was not all. Many people ask me why I am still considering immigrating to Canada, as my initial 5 month stay consisted of studying for one semester before withdrawing from the program and then returning to Iran. After all the disappointments that I felt and all the failures that I encountered, they wonder why I want to return to Canada, this time as a permanent resident. My answer to this question is simple. I feel good about Canada. I think this country can give me the opportunity to live and work in a more developed environment. Besides, I get the chance to meet people from different cultures which is very attractive for me. I also think my daughter can have a brighter and safer future in Canada because of the advanced educational system in the country. Canada offers more opportunities and better environment for children to grow and gain the skills that make them better prepared to lead a fruitful life. My five months of stay in Canada as an international student was not easy. It was filled with many new experiences, the good and the bad ones, hopes and disappointments and failures and success. But all of them made me a more rational, responsible and powerful person because I had to stay in control of my circumstances and deal with various issues one at a time. Those experiences opened my eyes to a different world and showed me new realities. In that new world, I felt like a human who could fail or succeed. A human who lived, worked and struggled with different challenges and was still hopeful about the future. A human who thought better things were on the way and the only thing that helped her to defeat the challenges was her own hard work. A human that was independent, strong and was treated fairly. On the other hand, people in Canada were so open to new things, new people or even a new normal. People lived the way they were happy about and at the same time, accepted others the way they were. This was good because it helped me feel welcome in society and be able to participate in my communitys activities. In my experience, Canadians think about their society as their own family. In a family every member can live, grow, prosper and become a healthy individual. In this way, everyone feels safe, secure and protected by the family. This is the way Canada works. It allows people to immigrate to Canada, gives them opportunities, and gives them the chance to study and work based on their abilities. At the end, Canada accepts them in the society and protects them legally in this society. For me, immigration means a lifelong learning, starting fresh, spending time to get familiar with the new living and working environment, and networking with new people to get a good job. That is what I like about life. Immigration is like having the chance of living a new life in a new environment and that is so exciting. I always loved to live in Canada to get the chance of meeting new people with new cultures because I am an adventurous person. I was always curious about how the society in a multicultural country like Canada works and how it educates people to be respectful of others. Besides, exploring the world and experiencing new things is what I like the most. I think there is always more to see in the world, more to experience and more to have. There are also many risks, challenges, and setbacks. But at the end of the day, persistence pays off and smart hard work leads to success. In fact, the curiosity and adventurous characteristics that led me to the world of journalism, is now encouraging me to pursue my wish to immigrate to Canada and hopefully make the most out of my life. I plan to succeed. This piece is the third part of a mini-series within New Canadian Medias Mentorship Program. The writer was mentored by Alireza Ahmadian. Mona Mashhadi Rajabi, a business journalist, holds a Masters degree in economics. See http://newcanadianmedia.ca/component/k2/42702-why-i-am-still-considering-immigrating-to-canada Amazon expected to launch in Australia this week After months of speculation Amazon Marketplace is expected to launch in Australia by the end of this week. According to Lifehacker Australia, Australian Amazon Marketplace will soft launch Thursday 23 November 2017. This will mean the site will be live for online discount shopping day, Black Friday, which will be held on Friday 24 November 2017. Australian Food News contacted Amazon to confirm the launch of Amazon Marketplace Australia but did not receive a response prior to publication of this article. Amazon Marketplace is an online platform that allows businesses to list and sell their own products alongside Amazon goods. Sellers who list on Amazon Marketplace must give a percentage of their sales to Amazon. The arrival of Amazon in Australia has been a hot topic throughout 2017 with marketing agency, Datasauce, saying in October 2017 that Australian retailers are completely unprepared for Amazons arrival. After surveying the countrys current retail businesses, Datasauce said 10 per cent of its survey respondents were not even aware Amazon was on its way to Australia. In September 2017, the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman wrote to Amazon asking them to ensure they comply with Australias unfair contract terms legislation. At the time, Ombudsman Kate Carnell said Amazon Marketplace contracts with businesses in the US would not be compliant in Australia. Under US terms, Amazon reserves the right to refuse service, terminate accounts, terminate rights to use Amazon services, remove or edit content, or cancel orders at its sole discretion. This may be considered unfair as action can be taken by one party, Amazon, but not the other party, the vendor, to terminate the contract, Carnell said. Related articles Coeliac Australia accredits first completely gluten free cafe A Melbourne cafe is the first completely gluten free cafe to be accredited by Coeliac Australia. The cafe is also the first gluten free business accredited by Coeliac Australia to join UberEATS. The Brunswick located cafe, Cafe Henkel, had to meet stringent accreditation requirements that included an on-site audit, staff training and laboratory testing of menu items. Part-owner of Cafe Henkel, Maria Stamelos, said the accreditation gives customers confidence in their gluten free food. Even though our food is prepared in a 100 per cent gluten free environment, we want our customers especially those with coeliac disease to know we really understand best practice for gluten free food preparation, Stamelos said. Since opening in May 2017, customers have travelled from across Victoria to eat at the gluten free cafe, which also offers dairy free, soy free, vegan and low FODMAP foods. In a statement, Coeliac Australia said eating out is one of the biggest challenges faced by people with coeliac disease. Coeliac Australia has developed resources to help restaurants, cafes and caterers prepare meals that are free from gluten, said Michael Bell, Coeliac Australia President. Were urging the hospitality industry to embrace our food service programs and help people with coeliac disease dine out with confidence. According to Coeliac Australia, one in 70 Australians have coeliac disease, but 80 per cent are undiagnosed. Related articles By Scarlett Howard, PhD candidate, RMIT University from www.shutterstock.com When a human looks at a distant skyscraper, it appears small to the eye. Its a visual illusion, and we use other contextual information to know the building is actually tall. Our new study shows, for the first time, that honeybees see size-based visual illusions too. Whether a size illusion is seen, or not, depends on how a target object is viewed. These new results help us understand how visual illusions evolved in different species over time. Read more: Three visual illusions that reveal the hidden workings of the brain How humans experience illusions Humans see lots of different illusions such as mirages, illusions of shape, length, size, and even colour (remember that dress?). Provided by Scarlett Howard Visual illusions are errors in your own perception which can allow you to process the very complex visual information you see more easily. One of the strongest geometric illusions we humans see is an illusion of size, called the Ebbinghaus Illusion. Provided by Scarlett Howard Interestingly, species such as bottlenose dolphins, bower birds, domestic chicks, and redtail splitfins see this illusion in the same way as humans. However, animals such pigeons, domestic dogs, and bantams see the opposite illusion to what we see, and baboons do not see an illusion at all. To understand why different species see size illusions in such different ways, and how an insect with a miniature brain might view a size illusion, we developed an experimental design using honeybees. Read more: Want a better camera? Copy bees and their extra light-sensing eyes Why do animals perceive illusions differently? Its intriguing that some species view size illusions the same way as us, and some animals do not. Why is it that a baboon does not see any illusion when looking at the Ebbinghaus Illusion? Why do pigeons and dogs see the opposite illusion to us? Our team decided to look into the methodology of the past studies that had shown these differences. When baboons, pigeons, dogs, and bantams were tested, they were looking at the illusion from either a set distance or from a forced close-range distance. For example, dogs had to touch the correct option with their noses, and birds had to peck the correct option meaning these species were viewing the illusion at a very close distance. Baboons, on the other hand, were viewing the illusion at a set distance, unable to move closer than a certain distance from a screen that presented the illusionary pictures. With this knowledge, we decided to test honeybees using two study conditions: a free-flying set-up where bees could fly at any distance from the size illusion before making decisions, and a constrained viewing set-up where bees could only view and make decisions about the illusion from one set distance. How does a bee view size illusions? To determine if bees could perceive size illusions, we first had to find a way to ask them. We trained one group of bees to always choose the larger black square on a square white background and another group of bees to always choose the smaller black square on a square white background. When bees had learnt to either choose larger or smaller sized black square targets, we manipulated the size of the background, thus trying to induce the perception of a visual illusion (similar to the Delboeuf Illusion). Provided by Scarlett Howard We ran this experiment using our free-flying, unrestricted viewing condition and also using a restricted viewing condition where independent bees were unable to choose their own distance to make decisions. Eureka! Training conditions explain why different animals see illusions differently. Bees in the unrestricted viewing condition perceived illusions, while bees in the restricted viewing condition did not see size illusions. Now, we are interested in whether some past study results were due to experimental set-up: maybe more or even all animals could perceive illusions like humans, depending on the context in which they are viewing these illusions. What does this mean for the evolution of vision? Visual illusions are useful because they allow us to process complex scenes, with multiple pieces of information, as a whole by using context as a cue. Since different animals see size illusions, understanding how this works could help us learn more about how vision itself evolved. One explanation of why such different animal species, from humans to bees, see size illusions is because an ancient ancestor had this ability, and it has been conserved throughout evolution. However, a more likely scenario is that the evolution of visual illusion perception is due to convergent evolution. This occurs when different species evolved the ability to perceive illusions separately. The ability of bees to perceive a size illusion in a free-flying environment also has implications for flower evolution. Flowers could have evolved to exploit the ability of bees seeing illusions to make nectar areas look more appealing. One genus of flower, Wurmbea, appears to have illusionary properties such as differently sized flowers with patterns reminiscent of size illusions such as the Ebbinghaus and Delboeuf Illusions. http://ro.uow.edu.au/asj/vol5/iss1/7 A very important lesson from this study is that viewing context can make scenes appear very different to reality. This is very important to remember when working on vision in humans or any other animal. Scarlett Howard receives funding from Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship (RTP). Adrian Dyer receives funding from The Australian Research Council to study bee vision and flower evolution. Originally published in The Conversation. (JegasRa/Bigstock.com) (JegasRa/Bigstock.com) Employment, a welcoming community and opportunities for young people are the key elements for the successful settlement of migrants and refugees in Australia, a conference has heard.What people want the most is a sense of belonging, equal opportunities, recognition, inclusion, trust and legitimacy, the Advancing Community Cohesion Conference at the University of Western Sydney was told.'Internationally we are often cited as a good example of a multicultural society that welcomes diversity. But if we're honest, many of us are aware that a lack of inclusion, a lack of acceptance of difference, does exist in Australian society,' said Cath Scarth, chief executive officer of refugee and migrant settlement agency AMES.'Popular wisdom and the experiences of many would also suggest that our smaller rural, largely white 'Anglo' communities are the least inclusive and offer fewer opportunities for migrants and refugees to get ahead,' she added.She cited the examples of Nhill and Bendigo, two towns in regional Victoria where considerable work has been put into ensuring successful settlement outcomes. She explained that in Nhill with a population of just 2,200 the arrival of a large community of refugees brought benefits for everyone.'The settlement of a community of Karen refugees in Nhill clearly demonstrates social cohesion in a diverse community and where there is social inclusion, including both economic and social opportunities, trust and leadership in both communities and opportunities to get ahead socially and economically,' she explained.'When people have access to work, they can rebuild their lives, educate their children and secure their futures. They are also perceived by the local community as contributing and adding value to the community,' she added.Other key factors contributing to the cohesiveness of the diverse community in Nhill included strong leadership in both communities, community acceptance, appropriate and affordable accommodation, and support for whole families, including access to education.She said that in the case of Bendigo, which has a larger host community, inclusive settlement may take longer. 'But it can still benefit both communities socially and economically if approached in the right way,' Scarth told the meeting. Korte Donlen has embraced mobility as a service for some commercial fleets, and has set up an internal team to offer carsharing, ride-hailing, short-term vehicle rentals, and other products, the company's mobility leader told Automotive Fleet. The company is pulling closer to its corporate parent, Hertz Global Holdings, to position itself to meet these emerging mobility trends. Donlen unveiled a new corporate logo on Nov. 20. Hertz acquired Donlen in 2011. In the past few months, Donlen has begun laying the groundwork to enhance its mobility services. In June, the company appointed John Korte as vice president of mobility business development. He had served in a client relations role. At the same time, the Bannockburn, Ill.-based company set up a mobility team under Korte that includes associates from sales, product, customer service and consulting functions. "We feel that while the end goal to manage fleets in the mobility-as-a-service space remains to capture and share actionable data to control fleet costs, the products required and services demanded by these new fleets benefit from a dedicated team across all functions of Donlen," Korte said. Donlen is also looking to develop technology partnerships with third-party providers of solutions that provide greater mobility options to fleets, including potentially developing mobile apps that would allow corporations to reserve vehicles for shorter term use. Donlen is meeting emerging market needs such as mobiltiy with an approach described internally as "deal-based innovation," Korte said. Korte expects Donlen to include mobility services into traditional enterprise fleet in the coming years. Companies could ultimately offer employees a monthly mobility budget managed by the fleet company that allows for multiple modes of transportation including access to a company vehicle, he said. By offering mobility services, Donlen can help corporations with vehicles that are deemed to be underutilized. This would allow fleets to operate more efficiently and control costs in the future. Mobility solutions have been slower to find their way into the commercial fleet industry, but have found fertile soil among government agencies who manage motor pools with underutilized vehicles, including New York City; Norfolk, Va.; Samford, Conn.; and Gila County, Ariz. over the past year. Zipcar has been partnering with municipal fleets since 2009. Korte discussed Donlen's mobility plan at the Fleet Forward Conference that took place in Miami from Nov. 7 to 8. Harold Pierce covers education and health for The Californian. He can be reached at 661-395-7404. Follow him on Twitter @RoldyPierce Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism. The Uhuru Kenyatta win in the supreme court has not been recognized worldwide as the high dignitaries refused to send congratulatory messages. The Foreign affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed and her Principal Secretary Monica Juma have been soliciting for congratulatory messages from diplomats.Kenya was on Tuesday caught in a diplomatic storm following claims that it was soliciting congratulatory messages from foreign countries after the re-election of President Uhuru Kenyatta.From where we sit, the Supreme Court win is a re-affirmation of President Kenyattas August 8 win. Generally, everybody is commending the country for following the course of the rule of law. That is the general reaction. Actually, many of them (countries) are saying: Lets move on, said Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Ms. Monica Juma,The respected London-based Financial Times(FT) reported Tuesday that Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed had asked her UK counterpart Boris Johnson to recognize the re-election of Mr. Kenyatta following the Supreme Court dismissal of the petitions he had faced.The heads/diplomats of countries that send congratulatory messages include Burundi and Uganda. This action has worried the foreign cabinet secretary Amina Mohamed as most of the countries blame and criticizes the legitimacy of the win and President Kenyatta re-election bid which was upheld by Supreme from only 30-39% of registered voters. Tanzania President John Pombe Magufuli sworn- in Simon NyakoroSirro as the country's new Inspector General of Police (IGP). PHOTO | FILE Dar es Salaam Tanzania government has arrested six police officers who allegedly to trailing NASA leader Raila Odinga. The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr. Simon Sirro said that the Kenyan Police officers were locked in aPolice post until the main reason for being in Tanzania illegally is established that is when they will be deported to the country.It comes after Tanzania diplomats allegedly to be evacuated in Nairobi due to a diplomatic row between the two neighbouring countries. The Foreign affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed has threatened to close the Tanzania embassy in Kenya.The row started when almost 5000 cattle were auctioned in Tanzania when the pastoralists were searching for pasture in their country.The Tanzania President Pombe Maghufuli has said that the neighbourhood should be respected otherwise he will evacuate all Kenyans living in Tanzania. The President also said that his people are doing a greater job by not allowing neighbours infiltrating their country haphazardly. Photo of Raila Odinga with Sasha Mbote in Zanzibar SPA hotel. PHOTO | FILE The political unrest and plans to have a parallel swearing-in ceremony between NASA and Jubilee led the former prime minister Raila Odinga to flee to Tanzania as claimed by Raila Odinga spokesman Salim Lone.The unrest pushed Mr. Odinga out of the country. He left Kenya on Sunday night. He is now in Zanzibar, off the coast of mainland Tanzania, said Lone.A social media user, Sasha Seraphine Mbote, posted photos with Raila at Park Hyatt hotel emerged online.The social media user has already got a new contract with Danke Schon where she will be marketing Tanzania just immediately after the photos of her and Raila Odinga trend."I celebrated Zimbabwe with Baba," the caption read after Robert Mugabe resigned as the President of Zimbabwe on Tuesday night.Mbote, a Kenyan who runs a spa at the hotel, said she ran into Raila and decided to take photos with him. She said that Raila Odinga is a nice person who has valued the democracy in Africa."I knew that those photos were to be taken ill by Kenyans, but the fact remains that I love Raila Odinga as most Kenyans do. It was just a chance of interacting with the most influential person in World." Mbote said."I believe Kenyans has a precious gift that they have not yet used. I have an SPA hotel in Zanzibar and the majority of international guest stay here. Only I chose to post Raila Odinga because I know Kenyans how they behave." she added. Zimbabwe Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko hit out fears of being thrown to jail in Zimbabwe and is seeking refuge in Zambia, Kenya or Mozambique. He said that he has fears of being arrested when he returns home in Zimbabwe.Former President Robert Mugabe immediate VICE-President Phelekezela Mphoko, who was in Japan when the military took control of the levers of power on Tuesday last week, is reportedly making plans to seek refuge in either Zambia or Mozambique as he fears arrest if he returns home.He was supposed to be back in Zimbabwe by Friday, from Tokyo, Japan. But through the OPC, he has requested that his tickets be changed so that he lands either in Zambia or Mozambique. We know he fears arrest because he is wanted for obstruction of justice and corruption, the source said.I dont know how she thought I could help her, but a minister who had Mnangagwas ear before he was fired asking me to talk to shefu (Mnangagwa) so that she cant be arrested, how does that work? In any event, anyone with a crime should face the music, he said.He asked me to tell Mnangagwa that he was sorry for allowing himself to be used by the G40 cabal and because he was a young naive politician, he fell for the trap, the source said.The Vice president who is still in Japan is worried for his life and life of his family when the former sacked vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa will be sworn in next Friday. "He has been engaging with Diplomats across Africa so that he may be allowed to stay in those countries. " sources said. The Hernando County Sheriff's Office is investigating a fatal shooting. Shooting occurred at home on Villa Road Brad Anthony Scott found dead at scene Case still under investigation Deputies responded at about 8:15 p.m. Monday to Villa Road in response to at least two 911 calls. Brad Anthony Scott, 27, was found dead near the front door and kitchen window area of a home. Authorities said Joseph Correa and Karen Correa were the residents of the home. "In fear for their own personal safety, one of the residents shot Scott," the Sheriff's Office said in a news release. "The shooting is an isolated incident, and there is no danger to the community," authorities said. A Tampa Bay area couple is trying to save their beloved treehouse, and they're taking their case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Lynn Tran, Richard Hazen built large treehouse on property Holmes Beach mayor says it has to be taken down Couple is appealing their case to the US Supreme Court What was built as a place for relaxation has caused many sleepless nights for Lynn Tran and Richard Hazen. For the past six years, their treehouse has towered over Holmes Beach, a spectacle for people who pass by. "We can't imagine it not being there," Richard Hazen said. A year after the treehouse was built, the city ordered them to take it down, citing code violations and a lack of permits. The mayor of Holmes Beach said the treehouse was not allowed to be built there and needs to come down. But the couple is fighting to keep it. "It has gone through the circuit court, it has gone through the district court, the Florida district court. The district court refused to hear us, so now we end up in the U.S. Supreme Court, waiting for the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether they will hear us or not," Lynn Tran said. It may seem like a lot of effort to fight for something so simple, but the couple said they have done everything the city has asked to keep the sanctuary up. At this point, they said, the appeal is about proving a point. "We're a small property owner, and we didn't do anything wrong. It is our property rights, it is our petition rights," they said. After surviving Hurricane Irma, the couple said they won't let anyone or anything push them around. The U.S. Supreme Court's website states the high court takes cases with national significance. On average, about 7,000 cases are submitted for review, and the high court's justices take on about 150. Kids are making their holiday gift wish lists, but here is a memo for parents. All Children's Hospital releases 'Trouble in Toyland' report 250,000 children visit ER each because of toy injuries Link: Read the 32nd annual toy safety report There are toys on shelves that could be dangerous or toxic to your children. Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital hosted the release of this year's "Trouble in Toyland" report that lists toys that are toxic, pose as choking hazards or are too loud. This year, experts are also warning about toys that connect to the internet and can record conversations. "The collection of a child's personal information, combined with a toy's ability to connect to the internet or other devices through Bluetooth poses a problem for privacy and physical safety, said Susan McGrath, Florida Consumer Action Network Executive Director. Each year, more than 250,000 children visit the emergency room for a toy-related injury in the United States. Florida Governor Rick Scott made an impromptu stop in Seminole Heights Nov. 21 to thank first responders for their continued efforts in tracking a killer believed responsible for four recent shooting deaths in the neighborhood. Gov. Scott shook hands with first responders at Seminole Heights Baptist Church Scott recently assigned 20 FHP Troopers to assist in area patrol efforts Governor also met with family of one of the victims In a packed parking lot at the Seminole Heights Baptist Church in Tampa, the governor got to shake the hands of first responders from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Tampa Police and The Florida Highway Patrol. He also met with Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn and Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan. The big thing is that I want to thank all these individuals of law enforcement for what theyre doing, Governor Scott said. I want to thank the mayor and the police chief for what theyre doing, and I just want to do the same thing the mayor is doing ... hes here constantly to tell the people that live in this community that the local level and state level were providing whatever resources are necessary. This visit comes on the heels of the governor sending in 20 additional FHP troopers to patrol Seminole Heights. Chief Dugan says the resources the governor is providing are vital for the city. "We have to protect the rest of the city, so by giving us these additional resources it allows us to continue to protect the rest of our city, because we have a huge responsibility. And its not just about one neighborhood -- its about the entire city of Tampa, Dugan said. During his visit, Gov. Scott also met Robert Gene Hoffa, whose niece, Monica Hoffa, was the second of the four victims murdered by what appears to be a serial killer. Robert told us he cant thank local and state leaders enough. Benjamin, Monica, Anthony and Ronald, nobody deserved any of this -- they were all innocent," Robert said. "We just want the community to know that were supportive of all of our resources and we want to thank the governor very much for allocating all of these resources for this." Officials said they wont stop until this killer is found. A local charity organization, Polk County Christmas Angels, has been providing gifts for foster children for 48 years straight, but just over a month before Christmas their bank account is empty. Charity's $27,000 balance stolen Charity founder reported her personal accounts wiped out, as well Police, bank working to recoup funds The charity's founder, Sandy Toledo, filed a report with Lakeland Police on Tuesday. She says she tried to purchase a few Christmas gifts over the weekend and say the Christmas Angels' bank account was overdrawn by over $3,000. She says she got on the phone her bank and had her fears confirmed, the charity's $27,000 was gone. A bank representative told her the entire account balance had been spent at a Chinese gaming company. Who could do it? Who could take money from foster children who dont have anything to begin with? Toledo said. The charity was planning to purchase the bulk of their gifts on Black Friday, but no longer have the money to do so. Toledo reported the thieves had her social security number as well, and managed to wipe out her personal account. Its heartbreaking on my personal account, but the Christmas Angels account is devastating -- I was physically ill," she explained. While police are working closed with the bank to recoup the money, Christmas is getting closer. Toledo said there's no time to waste, and is doing everything she can to provide gifts to the local foster children who rely on Christmas Angels. It doesnt matter because these children think Santa Claus is coming, and he has to come. Theres no question about it, and we have to make sure that he comes," she said, through tears. If you'd like to lend a hand please contact: Polk County Christmas Angels P.O. Box 4 Lakeland, Florida 33802 Get Your Cameras Ready: It's Oregon Coast King Tides Time Again Published 11/21/2017 at 7:25 PM PDT - Updated 11/21/2017 at 7:55 PM PDT By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff (Oregon Coast) The second round of this winter's King Tide Project is now at hand and officials are asking the public to contribute photographs of the year's highest tides. The current focus is on the set of extreme high tides - known as king tides - arriving December 3 - 5. (Above: king tide photo in Nehalem, by Gretel Oxwang.) The first round of the project took place in November; the last series of tides to be photographed will rise January 2 - 4, 2018. Through the King Tide Project, photographers can trace the highest tides of the year, showing how they intersect with man-made objects as well as natural formations, such as roads, seawalls, trails, bridges, or cliffs or wetlands. Anyone with a camera can participate. At high tide on these days, find a good location, snap photos, and post them online. More information on the project, a link to tide tables, and instructions for posting photos, can be found on the website, http://www.oregonkingtides.net/. There are a number of events associated with the project that offer background information, instructions, and a chance to team up with other volunteers, offered up in December and January at various locales around the Oregon coast. See the King Tides website, or the CoastWatch site, https://oregonshores.org/coastwatch. King Tide photos can be taken anywhere affected by tides, whether on the outer shoreline, in estuaries, or along lower river floodplains, said CoastWatch director Phillip Johnson. Photos showing high water in relation to infrastructure (roads, bridges, seawalls, and the like) can be particularly striking, and reveal where flooding problems threaten. Even shots of marshes or other habitats being inundated by water, or coastal shorelines subject to flooding and erosion, are useful as well, Johnson said. There are long-term goals to the project where the aim is to document the highest tides that regularly happen in a location, useful for comparative study over many years. Those shutterbugs participating are also urged to return to those spots to take comparison shots at ordinary high tides. Oregon Coast Hotels for this - Where to eat - Maps - Virtual Tours Check the event listings for several opportunities to get together with other King Tide volunteers for an orientation session and guidance on choosing locations. There are King Tide meet-ups December 3 in Cannon Beach, December 4 in Pacific City, and December 5 in Newport (the first two hosted by CoastWatch Volunteer Coordinator Fawn Custer, the third by Meg Reed of the Department of Land Conservation and Development's Coastal Management Program, a partner in organizing the project). Meanwhile, the Oregon Coast Visitors Association is hosting a King Tide Photo Contest. http://visittheoregoncoast.com/winter-waterways-photo-contest/. More About Oregon Coast hotels, lodging..... More About Oregon Coast Restaurants, Dining..... Coastal Spotlight LATEST Related Oregon Coast Articles Back to Oregon Coast Contact Advertise on BeachConnection.net All Content, unless otherwise attributed, copyright BeachConnection.net Unauthorized use or publication is not permitted This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The oil industry is in an increasingly bullish mood, but the ongoing push-pull between U.S. oil producers and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries isnt over yet. Jeff Quigley, director of energy markets for the consulting and research firm Stratas Advisors, said that the outlook for the U.S. oil industry is upbeat, but noted that OPEC members are well positioned for 2018, too as long as they can keep shale drillers in the U.S. a little off balance. Quigley, who spoke at last weeks Hart Energy DUG Eagle Ford Conference in San Antonio, said he expects some volatility on the horizon. OPEC has really been emboldened by what has happened up to this point, Quigley said. A lot of the conditions were seeing now, they really couldnt have written the script any better. Much has been made about a showdown between U.S. shale producers and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, the cartel that formed in 1960 to influence oil prices. Millions of barrels of new production coming out of U.S. shale fields the last few years has disrupted the world oil market, though, and helped create a world awash in crude oil. The International Energy Agency this month said in its latest World Energy Outlook that the U.S. is set to become the undisputed global oil and gas leader. The production boom will turn the U.S. into a net exporter of fossil fuels. OPEC last November agreed to cut its production by 1.2 million barrels a day, the first reduction by the group since 2008. Other countries, including Russia, pledged in December to cut an additional 558,000 barrels daily. The move immediately boosted oil prices. The stability in oil prices late in 2016 and early in 2017 in large part thanks to the OPEC cuts sent U.S. shale drillers into the field. Billions of investment dollars flooded into West Texas Permian Basin, where production grew even during the lowest points of 2016, and the number of drilling rigs started to recover from oil bust lows in South Texas Eagle Ford Shale. The next OPEC meeting is Nov. 30, and most people expect last years production cuts to be extended. Quigley, though, doesnt expect any clarity out of this or any other OPEC meeting. He expects OPEC to delay any agreement to its next meeting in March 2018, or to start to talk about how it might unwind the deal. Uncertainty benefits OPEC, but hurts shale producers, Quigley said. Right now the only way they win is to keep volatility high, he said. The market, though, expects the OPEC deal to be extended, so prices could dip if theres no deal extension, Quigley said. OPEC is happy with current oil prices, but is in something of a jam. Its members need the revenue that will come from rising oil prices. But if prices rise too high, U.S. drillers will rush to produce more oil and flood the market. The benchmark West Texas Intermediate closed just under $57 per barrel Tuesday, while the international benchmark Brent crude closed at $62.60. Its quite a needle they have to thread, Quigley said. In the U.S., the roller coaster oil industry went through all the emotions this year. Its only been 11 months since January, but the way we talk about the market has shifted in an incredible way. Earlier in the year, OPEC had just announced that they were going to cut production which was a little bit a surprise, Quigley said. Then all of the sudden there was this talk about how the year was going to look, and it wasnt super rosy. Exuberance at the OPEC cut soon turned to thoughts that the world had reached peak oil demand, and the idea that shale would come back with such force that it would overwhelm the market with oil, depressing prices. You actually had this really macro view, this long-term view that demand for oil was actually going to go away. If you look up the term peak demand from the second quarter to the third quarter of this year, it became an enormous topic, Quigley said. He called it a confluence of negativity. Starting in July, the sentiment improved. A lot of that has totally shifted. Now were in a very bullish mind set about global demand, Quigley said. Quigley said U.S. operators will have to figure out how to respond to oil price volatility, but he expects to see increasing activity in the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas next year. jhiller@express-news.net | Twitter: @Jennifer_Hiller This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Young local artists will have new supplies with which to create their masterpieces after a Nebraska charity on Tuesday delivered barrels filled with crafts to students affected by Harvey. During the August tropical storm, Kelsey Espinosa-Thibodeaux hosted art workshops at Port Neches and Port Arthur shelters for kids rescued with their families from the floodwaters. "Parents were stressed out and they had just lost everything," she said. "Everyone was soaking wet. I just wanted to keep the kids preoccupied." The seventh-grade art teacher at Groves Middle School said she felt compelled to comfort the children. "Art to me serves as a kind of therapy, especially after a traumatic event," Espinosa-Thibodeaux said. She could only find minimal supplies in a church closet, so she put out a call for help on her Facebook page. Joana Hyatt, a professor at Lamar University, saw the post and got in touch with Lorinda Rice, a committee member at the Hildegard Center for the Arts in Lincoln, Nebraska. The Hildegard Center is a non-profit organization that promotes arts and education across the Cornhusker state. In response to the storm, the group launched Art Breaks, a community project that worked with Lincoln Public Schools and local sponsors to collect art supplies for students in Southeast Texas' Region 5 schools. Large plastic barrels were placed at Lincoln craft and art supply stores for shoppers to drop off their contributions. "It wasn't a typical marketing strategy, where we could educate the public on what we were trying to do," said Kim Einsphar, the co-founder and president of the Hildegard Center for the Arts. "It was very much a 'here and now' project that had a very positive response from the Lincoln community." After about six rejections from shipping companies, FedEx agreed to ship all of the supplies for free because they loved the project's mission, Einsphar said. It's been more than two months since the plan was first put into motion, but on Tuesday the nine barrels finally made it to their destination - The Art Studio, where they will be stored and sorted for drop-off at area schools. "It's like Christmas," said Greg Busceme, owner of The Art Studio, as he helped a FedEx driver roll the donations inside. Espinosa-Thibodeux contacted art teachers from all over Southeast Texas to see what supplies were in demand. Some lost their classrooms and supplies while others are feeling the impacts of budget cuts. "Even without a natural disaster, there's always a need for actual art supplies in schools," Espinosa-Thibodeaux said. There were numerous post-Harvey school supply drives, but none that specified materials like sketch books, acrylic paint, watercolor sets and oil pastels, she said. Inside the barrels were letters to each of the educators and handmade notes decorated by Nebraska students. Some of the students included messages like, "Texas, are you ok?" and "Live a happy life." "It was a real teaching moment for the kids here in Lincoln," Einsphar said. "It was a way to teach empathy and to show them that great things can happen when we come together." MGstalter@BeaumontEnterprise.comTwitter.com/morgGstalt Sound echoes inside Carolyn Modica's home as she walks. The rooms are empty, except for one bedroom, and the new sheetrock on the walls is bare. Modica and her husband, PJ, exhausted their initial FEMA assistance having their Tram Road house gutted and the walls rebuilt after floodwater rose almost to the ceiling. "We figured we'd rebuild, one room at a time, as we could," she said. Though she usually hosts family at her house for Christmas, she told her granddaughter they couldn't this year, because she didn't expect the place to be finished in time. A new program launched by the General Land Office and FEMA could have the house ready much faster, if all goes according to plan. The Modicas are the second family in Texas to qualify for the Direct Assistance for Limited Home Repair, or DALHR, program, which provides up to $60,000 for repairs to homes with "moderate damage," or those with repairs determined to be less than half of the house's value. It's one of five housing assistance options operated by the GLO, and one the agency believes is cheaper and more effective than the "FEMA trailers" provided in past disasters. GLO has agreements with contractors who assess eligible homes and determine what work can be done to make the home safe and habitable for between $17,000 and $60,000. DALHR money isn't used for aesthetic improvements, but can pay for electrical and plumbing work, as well as walls, floors and ceilings. GLO Commissioner George P. Bush, who visited the Modicas' house Tuesday, said the program has been well-received because it keeps people in their homes, without having to live elsewhere during repairs. GLO's Jet Hays, who toured the house with Bush, said DAHLR projects are cheaper than providing an RV or trailer while work is done. Contractors told the Modicas Tuesday that they expect to be done with the work in two weeks, if not sooner. Bush said the program has previously only been used in northern Alaska. The first Texas household to receive DAHLR funds was in Rockport. Hays said that FEMA considered DAHLR a lower priority option for housing help, but the state believes it will work better for homeowners. Asked about the speed of the agency's response and the availability of housing options, Bush said that while "it can never be fast enough," the GLO has provided assistance "a full month faster than last year's East Texas floods." Trailers and other manufactured housing options have been slow to arrive, which Bush said is due to a shortage. "Those units are being deployed," he said. The agency did not respond Tuesday when asked how many have been distributed. Bush projected that about 8,000 people will qualify for short-term housing assistance, including DAHLR, manufactured housing, and other options. Carolyn Modica said she applied first for FEMA assistance, and received money for repairs, as well as for a hotel stay in Silsbee. She and PJ both use walkers and power wheelchairs, which were destroyed in the flood, and decided to return to the partially finished home because commuting from the motel to their home was difficult. "I don't know how we were chosen for this program," she said. "It's amazing." Some of the repairs will make the home more accessible for them as well. They've already installed wider doors that will accommodate their chairs, once they're replaced. The GLO is operating housing programs with FEMA, and administering them locally through Councils of Governments, including the Southeast Texas Regional Planning Commission. According to an analysis by the Episcopal Health Foundation, residents in eastern parts of Port Arthur had the highest number of requests for FEMA assistance of any zip code affected by Harvey, and residents of eastern parts of Orange County, including Vidor and Rose City, had the highest number of requests for homeowner assistance. FEMA spokesman Ken Higginbotham said that as of Monday, more than 2,500 Southeast Texas households are still checked into hotels using vouchers from the agency, while thousands more are staying with friends and relatives or in tents and trailers on their properties. LTeitz@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/LizTeitz The Texas and Jefferson County historical commissions will once again celebrate Texas Archeology Month with a museum exhibit in Beaumont. The exhibit, located at the Jefferson County Historical Commission Mini-Museum on the first floor of the county courthouse, is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Hafiz Saeed, co-founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), gestures outside a court in Lahore, Pakistan, after a court rejected the government's plea to extend his house arrest for three months, Nov. 22, 2017. A Pakistani courts decision Wednesday to set free the alleged mastermind of the deadly 2008 Mumbai terror attack left people in India expressing shock and outrage. Pakistani national Hafiz Saeed, co-founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and its offshoot Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD), has been under house arrest in Lahore since January and will likely walk free on Friday, two days before the anniversary of the third-deadliest terror assault in India. Saeed, 68, is accused of masterminding a series of shooting and bomb attacks that began on Nov. 26, 2008 and lasted four days across Mumbai Indias financial hub and killed 166 people. He has, however, repeatedly denied involvement in the terror strike. Saeeds release was a slap in the face of the Indian government and victims of the attack, said Tarun Sethi, 35, who survived the attack. After Pakistan dropped terror charges against him in October, it was expected that he would be released soon. But it is still shocking and extremely upsetting to know that he will be a free man come Friday, while we continue to bear the trauma of the attack for the rest of our lives, Sethi, who was at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbais main railway station, when gunmen opened fire there during the November 2008 attack, told BenarNews. On Wednesday, the Federal Review Board rejected a request from the government of Pakistans Punjab province to extend Saeeds detention by three more months, saying there was insufficient evidence to keep holding him, according to the Press Trust of India. The government is ordered to release JuD chief Hafiz Saeed if he is not wanted in any other case, the board said, adding, [The] concept of justice cannot be brutalized and terrorized in the name of fight against terrorism. The board last month had withdrawn terror charges against Saeed, who has been declared a globally designated terrorist by the United Nations, the United States and India, but was kept under house arrest under the Maintenance of Public Order Act. That detention period expires Thursday. Amita Raichand, an actor who was trapped inside the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel when the attackers stormed the five-star property, said the Indian government should put pressure on Pakistan to ensure that Saeed is not released. They [Pakistan] are showing us the finger. We [India] should do something about it. Releasing him just days ahead of 26/11 is like rubbing salt on our wounds, Raichand told reporters. The 2008 Mumbai attack is commonly referred to in India as 26/11. Linked with Kashmir In a video uploaded on social media by Saeeds supporters following the courts verdict, the JuD chief said India had pressured Pakistan to detain him because of his association with Kashmir, a disputed Himalayan region claimed in its entirety by both India and Pakistan. A separatist insurgency in Indian-administered Kashmir has claimed more than 70,000 lives since the late 1980s. It is because of Kashmir that India is after me, but all her efforts have been in vain and Allah has set me free. This is a victory of Pakistans freedom and, God willing, Kashmir will also be freed because I am fighting for it, Saeed said. Public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, who argued successfully for the death sentence for Ajmal Kasab, the only one of the 10 Mumbai attackers caught alive, described Saeeds release verdict as befooling. Kasab was hanged in 2012. Now, America should notice this matter since it designated Hafiz Saeed as [a] global terrorist, Nikam told the Times Now news channel. Prakash George, a former Anti-Terrorist Squad officer of Mumbai police, said he was hardly surprised at Pakistans decision to free Saeed. He was placed under house arrest only because of the pressure India and the international community had built up on Pakistan to crackdown on terror cells operating on its soil. It was just eyewash, George told BenarNews. Following the 2008 attack, we had submitted clinching evidence, including Kasabs confessions, of Saeeds involvement. But Pakistani officials kept on demanding more. It seemed that they didnt want to believe any evidence we supplied to them, he said. Activists said Saeeds likely release on Friday would be a major setback to peace in the sub-continent. Saeed is accused of orchestrating several terrorist attacks, not just the Mumbai attack, Jatin Desai, general secretary of Pakistan-India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy, told BenarNews. His release will have an adverse impact because he is known for spewing venom against India in his inflammatory speeches that he delivers routinely in Pakistan. Myanmar President Htin Kyaw (right), speaks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during their meeting at the President House in Naypyidaw, Nov. 19, 2017. The Bangladeshi government has not endorsed a plan by China calling on Bangladesh and Myanmar to resolve the Rohingya refugee crisis bilaterally, foreign ministry officials in Dhaka said Tuesday, contradicting a Chinese assertion that both countries backed the plan. During visits to Bangladesh and Myanmar in recent days, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi proposed a three-phase solution for the bilateral resolution of the crisis and both countries agreed to it, a spokesman for Beijings foreign ministry said Monday. This solution not only seeks to address the immediate situation, but also offers a final and fundamental solution to resolve the root cause of the Rohingya issue, Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a news conference, according to an official transcript. [T]his three-phase solution has been agreed by both Bangladesh and Myanmar. Faisal Ahmed, the director general in charge of the East Asia and Pacific desk at the Bangladeshi foreign ministry, denied that Dhaka agreed to the three-phase proposal to end the crisis. It has seen as many as 621,000 Rohingya Muslims cross into southeastern Bangladesh since Aug. 25 as they escaped from a surge of violence in Rakhine, their home state in neighboring Myanmar. We have not given any reaction confirming that we have endorsed the Chinese proposal. Silence does not mean that we have endorsed it, Ahmed told BenarNews. And, according to a director at the ministry who is involved on the Rohingya issue but who spoke on condition of anonymity, Bangladesh has not decided what it will do with the plan presented by Beijing. We have yet to take a decision on the Chinese proposal. The essence of Chinese proposal is that we resolve the Rohingya problem bilaterally with Myanmar. The Chinese proposal is almost similar with Myanmars. Myanmar wants to resolve the issue bilaterally, the director told BenarNews. Basically, China wants Bangladesh to stop putting international pressure on Myanmar through the U.N. and other international bodies. They [China] want to dictate the Rohingya issue, he said. 1 million refugees He expressed skepticism that repatriating about 1 million Rohingya refugees who are sheltering at camps in southeastern Bangladesh could be resolved through bilateral efforts alone. It is very difficult to realize something [with] Myanmar bilaterally. This is because they breach their commitments very easily, as we have seen from our previous experiences, the director said. A spokesman for the foreign ministry was unavailable for comment on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Bangladeshs foreign minister and the ministrys director general were in Myanmar, where they were to hold bilateral talks later this week with Burmese officials concerning the Rohingya crisis. The latest and unprecedented influx of Rohingya refugees into Bangladesh began three months ago when the Burmese military launched a crackdown following deadly attacks on police and army posts blamed on Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) insurgents in northern Rakhine. On Sunday, after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met in Naypyidaw with Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, Beijings foreign ministry issued a statement outlining the three-phased plan for a bilateral solution. The first phase would consist of a ceasefire in Rakhine so that the people can live in peace without being homeless. With the joint efforts of all parties, the goal of this phase has [been] achieved fundamentally and what matters most is to avoid the recurrence of the situation, especially the war, the statement said. The second phase calls for all parties and the international community to encourage Bangladesh and Myanmar to keep in touch and strengthen communication so as to find out feasible approaches to this issue. The two parties have reached a basic consensus on a repatriation agreement at present and it is hoped that this agreement can be signed and implemented as soon as possible to achieve visible results, the Chinese foreign ministry said. The third and final phase of Beijings proposal calls for giving priority to solving poverty in Rakhine state because that is the root cause of this issue. [T]he best approach to solve the issue of the Rakhine State remained is to find an acceptable solution for both Myanmar and Bangladesh through bilateral consultations, Wang Yi said, according to the statement. I just concluded my visit to Bangladesh and the country clearly expressed its willingness to continue the bilateral consultations with Myanmar and Myanmar took the same stand. This was the important consensus reached by China, Myanmar and Bangladesh, he added. Indian journalists stand by the body of slain crime reporter Sudip Datta Bhowmik during his funeral in Agartala, Tripura, Nov. 22, 2017. Indian police said Wednesday they had arrested a paramilitary officer and his private bodyguard in connection with the killing of a Bengali-language journalist in the northeastern state of Tripura a day earlier. Sudip Datta Bhowmik, a crime reporter for the leading Bengali daily Syandan Patrika, was shot dead when he went to interview Tapan Debbarman, a commandant at the Tripura State Rifles (TSR), at the headquarters of the counter-insurgency paramilitary force, about 30 km (18.6 miles from) state capital Agartala, police said. We arrested Tapan Debbarman this morning. His personal bodyguard, Nanda Reang, who allegedly fired at Bhowmik with his AK-47 was arrested yesterday, Tripura Superintendent of Police Abhijit Saptarishi told BenarNews. The state rifles are attached to the police force. Reang claimed he opened fire because the journalist tried to snatch his rifle, Saptarishi said. [Bhowmik] was shot dead inside the TSR commanders office by Reang after the two had an argument and scuffled over some issue, he said. But Bhowmiks killing appeared to be pre-meditated, said Syandan Patrikas editor, Subal Kumar Dey. He demanded a high-level probe into the incident that has led to protests across Tripura, where Bengali-speaking immigrants are looked down upon by local tribes. Bhowmik had done a series of exposes on corruption in Tripuras police battalion, which seemed to have irked the TSR commander, who enjoys the support of the states ruling left-wing government, Dey told BenarNews. Bhowmik went to meet Debbarman at his office about noon after obtaining an appointment. During the meeting, both of them had an altercation regarding a news item published in our paper, following which Debbarman ordered his security guard to open fire, Dey alleged, while citing information obtained from his sources. Growing violence against journalists Bhowmiks killing followed on the heels of the killing of another Tripura-based journalist, Shantanu Bhowmick (no relation), who was allegedly mutilated by a mob on Sept. 20 while covering clashes between police and the states warring political groups, near Agartala. Even though the two incidents are unrelated, they indicate a common trend of growing violence against journalists. The intolerance toward what journalists write is growing. And we feel a lot of pressure if we want to publish the truth, Mannosh Paul, executive editor of the Tripura Times, told BenarNews. At least 10 journalists have been killed this year alone in India, the worlds most populous democracy, which ranks 136 among 180 countries on the latest World Press Freedom Index. At least 40 journalists have been killed in India since 1992, according to date released by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). In September, senior journalist Gauri Lankesh was gunned down by unidentified men outside her home in Bengaluru amid widespread speculation that she was targeted for her outspoken criticism of rightwing politics. No arrests have been made in the case so far. No government in India has been an ardent champion of press freedom. Small-town journalists, even if a handful, [who] work for big media, will often find themselves alone and abandoned when trouble strikes, the CPJ said in a 2015 report. A Malaysian policeman stands next to a banner for the 3rd Counter-Terrorism Financing Summit, in Kuala Lumpur, Nov. 22, 2017. Australia along with Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations have formed a new group to disrupt funding sources for Islamic State (IS) and other terror groups operating in the region, Australian Justice Minister Michael Keenan said Wednesday. He made the announcement during the Counter-Terrorism Financing (CTF) Summit in Kuala Lumpur, three days after Thailand hosted a parade of Southeast Asias naval firepower in an event that also included bilateral meetings on regional security threats. Keenan said the new alliance the South East Asia Counter Terrorism Financing Working Group would directly target and disrupt the funding lifeline of terrorist groups, including IS. The stability and security of South East Asia is of critical importance to Australia, and the Coalition Government is committed to defeating the threat posed by terrorist groups, he said. The new group, which representatives from across the region have endorsed, will be co-led by Australias financial intelligence agency and regulator, Austrac, and the Philippine Anti-Money Laundering Council, Keenan said in a news release. Other members will include the financial intelligence units from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and the new grouping will get support from a $4.6-million package, which the Australian government will fund over a three-year span, he said. Intelligence generated through this initiative will harden our financial system from the threat of terrorism financing, said Kennan, who also holds the ministerial rank as Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbulls adviser on counter-terrorism. 35 countries The four-day summit, which began Monday, is aimed at sharing insights on the latest counter-terrorism strategies. More than 350 specialists from 35 countries and international groups are attending it, organizers said. Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told summit participants that Kuala Lumpur would monitor all transactions suspected of providing financial lifeline to terrorist organizations. If you kill one terrorist, another terrorist will be born, he said. But if you cut off the funds and other economic resources, you can put an end to the entire operation. Muhammad Ibrahim, the governor of Malaysias central bank, told the conference that his country had begun working on a structure to regulate and secure transactions involving digital currencies such as bitcoin from money-laundering and terrorism financing, according to Reuters. The number of suspicious transaction reports (STRs) from financial institutions had increased this year in relation to terrorism financing, he said. In the first half of 2017, Malaysian authorities had received 346 STRs related to terrorism, which led to 34 disclosures to law enforcement agencies, compared with 93 reports in 2015, Reuters quoted the banks governor as saying. Indonesias security affairs minister, Gen. Wiranto, was also at the meeting. Jakarta was monitoring every organization in the country, and it would be impossible for sympathizers of terrorists to provide suspicious funding without being traced, he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur. Show of force Earlier this week, more than 40 modern ships, including 26 from the Southeast Asian region, went on display for the International Fleet Review southeast of Bangkok. During related events leading up to the fleet review and spread out over 10 days, naval commanders held bilateral meetings and discussed regional security threats. The display of naval firepower took place a month after Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines launched trilateral air patrols to bolster a three-month-old joint maritime effort to rid their shared borders of threats from extremists linked to the so-called Islamic State. The increased concerns over regional security threats were an offshoot of the five-month battle against IS-backed militants in the southern Philippines city of Marawi, during which 930 militants, 165 soldiers and policemen and 47 civilians were killed. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday called off peace talks with communist rebels ahead of their likely inclusion on a terrorist watch list, the governments chief peace adviser said. The Duterte administrations decision to end talks with the National Democratic Front (NDF), the political wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), came after its armed wing, the New Peoples Army (NPA), launched deadly attacks last week in the southern region of Mindanao. These killed two people, including a baby girl, and wounded at least three officers and six civilians, according to military officials. We are hereby announcing today the cancellation of all planned meetings with them in line with the Presidents directive that there will be no more peace talks, Jesus Dureza, the governments peace adviser, said. Recent tragic and violent incidents all over the country committed by the communist rebels left the President with no other choice but to arrive at this decision. The negotiations aimed at settling a 48-year communist insurgency bogged down in February when both sides accused each other of violating a truce agreement. President Duterte has taken unprecedented steps and has walked the so-called extra mile to bring peace. However, the communist party and its armed elements have not shown reciprocity, Dureza said. There will be no peace negotiations anymore with the CPP/NPA/NDF until such a time as the desired enabling environment conducive to a change in the governments position becomes evident. We will closely watch the developments, he added. The CPP has been waging a Maoist rebellion since 1969, in one of Asias longest running insurgencies. Its New Peoples Army (NPA) is known for hitting government targets in the countryside. Military estimates placed the NPA strength at more than 5,000 guerrillas scattered in more than 60 fronts throughout the country. Despite this setback, we remain steadfast and undeterred in our unrelenting journey for sustainable and just peace, he said. Vigorously pursue operations Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the military would keep pursuing operations against their armed components vigorously, and hit the communist rebels because of their penchant for double talk and mounting ongoing attacks. We strongly suggest to the NPA to lay down their arms, surrender, return to society, and be part of the real change espoused by the national leadership, Lorenzana said. Earlier, President Rodrigo Duterte had said he planned to classify the NPA as a terrorist organization. He said the rebels had lost their ideology and morphed into a plain bandit group over time. Sen. Panfilo Lacson agreed it was about time that the rebel group was labeled a terror organization. They burn, destroy, kill innocent civilians to terrorize; they terrorize to sow fear and harass helpless civilians; they harass to extort under the guise of revolutionary taxation, Lacson said. Apart from killing two people and wounding nine others during last weeks spate of attacks in Mindanao, NPA rebels also captured two policemen who were manning a highway outpost. The guerrillas also torched two trucks along the same road connecting the provinces of Bukidnon and Lanao del Norte, the military said. Duterte: Stop paying revolutionary taxes In 2004, the peace talks between the government and the leftists also stalled after the United States listed the NPA and its parent body as foreign terrorist organizations. On Tuesday, Duterte also warned mining firms operating in the countryside who give illegal revolutionary taxes to the guerrillas to stop the practice or be shut down. He said it was almost a public knowledge that mining companies are contributing to the taxation of the NPAs thereby giving them also strength, money to buy arms, and bullets and all in their desire to topple down the Republic of the Philippines. For those who cannot resist (to fork over money), then you better close up, Duterte said, adding that it was a dangerous tendency of capitulating to the pressure of the rebels. He said negotiating with the rebels was like an endurance contest, and that terminating the talks also meant categorizing them as terrorist group, Duterte said. Its not an entity anymore worth talking to, Duterte said. Mark Navales in Cotabato City contributed to this report. The family of a first-year cadet who died last month at Thailands most prestigious military preparatory school asked the government Tuesday to explain why their own autopsy revealed that some of his vital organs were missing. Pakapong Tanyakan (also known as Moei), an 18-year-old cadet at the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School in Nakhon Nayok province, died on campus Oct. 17. Officials listed the cause of death as heart failure. After his body was released to his parents, Pichet and Sukanya Tanyakan, for cremation, they contracted for an autopsy, which found that his brain, heart, stomach, bladder, as well as a lung and kidney were missing, and he had a broken rib. During a press conference on Tuesday to respond to the familys concerns, Gen. Tharnchaiyan Srisuwan, the supreme commander of the Thai military, which oversees the school, ordered an investigative committee to determine the cause of death and report on why Moeis organs were missing. Our family is glad that the school admits that. The organs were removed, and that showed that the family did not lie, a family member who asked to remain anonymous told BenarNews. The military supreme commander previously said that the organs were not removed. The family asked why the organs were not there on the day they delivered the body. If the family had cremated it then, everything would be gone, wouldnt it? the family member asked. Moeis family contacted the school on Nov. 8 and asked for the organs to be returned along with a completed death certificate. After receiving no response, they contacted the media. The family is going to find out what caused the death. Not just heart failure as we were told without other explanations, the family member said. We need those organs back to be able to send to the institution for an autopsy. Previously, the family requested the school return the organs with a death certificate, but we received no cooperation. Discipline led to hospitalization Moeis family alleged that he was subjected to discipline that led to an emergency hospitalization on Aug. 23 after he had been forced to stand on his head for a long time. On Oct. 12, just days before his death, Moei stumbled and complained of pain in his left ribs during a visit to his home in Chonburi province near Bangkok, but said he had fallen down a flight of steps. He returned to school on Oct. 15 and died two days later. Moeis friend showed a text message where he wrote that his heart stopped beating once while being discipline, but the doctor saved him in time, the family member said. He asked his friend not to tell anyone about this. Pathologist explains findings Lt. Col. Narut Thongsorn, the pathologist at Phramongkutklao Medical Center who performed the autopsy, also took part at the press conference at the Royal Thai Army headquarters in Bangkok, where the militarys supreme commander spoke. Narut confirmed that the cadets organs were kept to determine the cause of death. His report was sent to the inquiry officer two weeks ago. We received his body on Oct. 18. We found no external injuries, but found broken ribs and bruises on the right chest and the left side of his abdomen, Narut said. We did not have sufficient information to determine the cause of death so we had to test more and needed to keep the organs. There are signs that tend to show heart disorders, so the cause of death on certificate was listed as sudden heart failure. Wanna Suansan, a suspect in the deadly 2015 Erawan Shrine bombing in Bangkok, receives a medical examination at Royal Thai Police headquarters following her arrest, Nov. 22, 2017. A Thai female suspect in a bombing that killed 20 people at Bangkoks Erawan Shrine in 2015 was arrested on Wednesday as she arrived in Thailand from Turkey, the deputy national police chief said. Wanna Suansan, a native of Pang-nga province in southern Thailand, allegedly rented apartments in Bangkok suburbs for suspected militants to construct bombs. Two Uyghurs who were arrested shortly after the attack on the Hindu shrine, a popular tourist destination in the Thai capital, are to return to a military court before years end for the resumption of their trial. They could face the death penalty, if convicted. We were informed by immigration officers that Wanna was coming to Thailand via Suvarnabhumi Airport, so we arrested her using the warrant. She is the third suspect captured, Police Gen. Srivara Ransibrahmanakul told reporters at the national police headquarters. Wanna and her Turkish husband, Emrah Davutoglu, fled to Turkey following the Aug. 17, 2015, deadly blast at the shrine in central Bangkok where more than 120 people were injured. They were accused of having roles in the terrorist plot. Wanna, who faces five criminal charges including first-degree murder and possessing war weapons, was being held for questioning at headquarters, only 100 meters from the site of the bombing. Police said she was not traveling with her husband and she identified herself when presented with the warrant. Following the blast and a small pipe-bomb attack on the Sathorn passenger pier in Bangkok the next day, police issued warrants for 17 suspects including Thais and foreigners. Adem Karadag (also known as Bilal Mohammed) and Yusufu Mierali, who identified themselves as Uyghurs from Urumqi in Chinas Xinjiang region, were arrested a few weeks after the bomb attack. Srivara said investigators are searching for the other 14 suspects. Malaysia: Escapee captured Meanwhile, Malaysian authorities arrested a Uyghur man in northern Kedah state who is believed to have crossed into Malaysia after escaping from a Thai immigration detention center on Monday morning, an official said. Kedah Police Chief Asri Yusoff said the man, in his 30s, was found Wednesday near a military post in Bukit Tangga. He said the suspect was detained by citizens, who alerted soldiers at the post before police were called. It is believed that the suspect was walking alone when he was found about eight kilometers (five miles) from Sadao, and checks revealed that he did not have any travel documents, Asri said. Previously, Thai police Capt. Surasak Siripan told reporters that 20 Uyghurs who had been held for two years at a detention facility in the southern province of Songkhla, near the border with Malaysia, escaped from their cells at about 2 a.m. Monday. Maj. Gen. Jessada Yaisoon, the chief of the Thai immigration polices 6th Region based in Songkhla, told BenarNews police from both nations have cooperated in the search for the Uyghurs. Jessada identified the escapee as Abdul Kayum, 28. We joined with Malaysian police to recapture Abdul. We took him to Sadao police station, Jessada told BenarNews by phone. We are looking for the rest and we suspect they are still in rubber plantation on Thai soil, or crossed into Malaysia. We have warrants [for] all of them. Hareez Lee in Kuala Lumpur and Fairuz Mazlan in Alor Setar, Malaysia, contributed to this report. Thai security officers inspect the site of a roadside blast in Ban Saikaew village in Yala province, Nov. 21, 2017. Updated at 6:57 a.m. ET on 2017-11-22 A roadside bomb exploded in Thailands Deep South on Tuesday, killing a border police officer and wounding two people in what investigators believed was an attack by insurgents, officials said. The attackers detonated a 10-kilogram (22-lb) improvised explosive device (IED) as six officers on three motorcycles were patrolling Ban Saikaew village in Bannang Sata, a district of Yala province, said Capt. Thamarat Paraperng, the districts deputy police chief. Another police officer and a civilian were wounded in the explosion. It was the sixth incident of violence this month in Thailands troubled southern border region. Militants claimed responsibility for Tuesdays bombing, which apparently was carried out in retaliation for the killings of two militants during a shootout in Saiburi, a district in neighboring Pattani province, earlier this month, Thamarat said. The attackers sprayed graffiti to claim responsibility, Thamarat told reporters, explaining that the insurgents spray-painted the word "Fatoni," the Malay term for "Patani freedom fighter" on the asphalt road near the blast site. They ambushed in retaliation for the deaths of their two fellow insurgents in the Nov. 8 shootout, he said. The following week, at least two civilians died and two others were injured in three separate insurgency-related incidents in the Deep South, officials said. On Sunday, a nurse in Bannang Sata district was shot and seriously wounded. Soldiers arrested the suspected gunman, Subree Jewae, a day later, officials said. Police said Subree was believed to be a member of the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (the National Revolutionary Front), a rebel group known by the local acronym BRN. They said Subree was under the command of insurgent leader Abdullah Tapoto, whose cell members were believed to be behind the bomb blast on Tuesday. Abdullah was expected to launch bomb attacks after security officials received intelligence about his plans, Col. Suchart Sa-id, chief of the Betong district police station, told BenarNews. Since 2004, almost 7,000 people have been killed in violence associated with the separatist insurgency in the predominantly Muslim and Malay-speaking Deep South. Simmering violence Violence in the region has remained steady during the past few months as a result of tighter security, conflict analysts said. Assistant professor Srisompob Jitpiromsri of Deep South Watch, a nongovernmental think-tank that monitors the violence in the region, told BenarNews last week that informal peace talks with rebels in the insurgency-torn south could be one reason for the low level of violence. The situation was steady, no worse, no better, Srisompob said, comparing the situation in the region with the same period last year. We do hope the government could have patience and follow the course of peaceful solution through negotiations. Since 2015, Malaysia has facilitated informal peace talks between the Thai government and Mara Patani, a panel that claims to represent Deep South insurgent groups and factions. Violence hit a record low in 2015, with about 674 incidents compared with about 1,000 yearly since the militants stepped up their bombing and shooting attacks 13 years ago, according to Deep South Watch. It said most of the casualties involved civilians who died at the hands of both insurgents and security forces, with an annual average of 550 throughout the conflict. The insurgents are seeking greater autonomy from Buddhist-ruled Thailand, which annexed the southern border region that was part of a Malay Muslim sultanate in 1909. In February, the government announced that it had reached an agreement with MARA for setting up a safety zone or a ceasefire in one district of the Deep South. But local media reports questioned the viability of the peace process after the two sides failed to finalize the agreement during the peace talks held in Kuala Lumpur in September. An earlier version incorrectly stated that a police officer died and two other people were wounded in the Nov. 8 shooting.This update also fixes a conversion of kilograms to pounds. Moncks Corner, SC (29461) Today Partly cloudy skies this evening will give way to occasional showers overnight. Low 42F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies this evening will give way to occasional showers overnight. Low 42F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%. We attempted to send a notification to your email address but we were unable to verify that you provided a valid email address. Please click here to update your email address if you wish to receive notifications. Otherwise, you may click here to disable notifications and hide this message. For Immediate Release, November 22, 2017 Contact: Gabby Brown, Sierra Club, gabby.brown@sierraclub.org Jared Margolis, Center for Biological Diversity, (802) 310-4054, jmargolis@biologicaldiversity.org Jackie Prange, NRDC, (415) 875-6181, jprange@nrdc.org Mark Hefflinger, Bold Alliance, (323) 972-5192, mark@boldalliance.org Federal Lawsuit Challenging Keystone XL Approval Will Move Forward Court Stops Trump Administration From Flouting Environmental Laws GREAT FALLS, Mont. A federal judge ruled today that a lawsuit brought by environmental and landowner groups over the Trump administrations approval of the cross-border permit for the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline can proceed. The decision rejects attempts by the administration and TransCanada, the company behind the proposed pipeline, to have the suit thrown out. The lawsuit was filed in March by the Northern Plains Resource Council, Bold Alliance, Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth, Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club. It challenged the U.S. Department of States and other agencies inadequate and outdated environmental review of the pipeline, which relied on a dated environmental impact statement from January 2014 and failed to consider key information on the projects impacts. The administration and TransCanada had argued that, in approving the pipeline, the federal government was not required to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act or the Endangered Species Act, two of Americas bedrock environmental laws. In todays ruling the court rejected the administrations argument that presidential authority bars judicial review of the approvals. Earlier this week, the Nebraska Public Service Commission rejected TransCanadas preferred route for the pipeline through the state, instead approving an alternative route, which has not been studied by the federal government for its environmental impact. This development makes it all the more important that a new environmental review be conducted on the project. Once again, the courts are serving as a critical backstop against this administrations attempts to flout the law for the benefit of corporate polluters, said Sierra Club Senior Attorney Doug Hayes. The American people will not stand by as the administration tries to bypass critical environmental laws that exist to protect our land and our clean water. Keystone XL is a threat to our land, water, wildlife and climate, and we will continue fighting, in the courts and in the streets, to ensure that it is never built. This is a key step toward holding the Trump administration accountable for recklessly approving this dirty and incredibly dangerous pipeline, said Jared Margolis, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. Keystone would be a catastrophe for endangered wildlife and our climate, and we'll keep fighting until its dead and buried. Our environmental laws should never be undercut by the interests of a private foreign company, and the courts decision today solidifies that. Keystone XL directly threatens the land, water and livelihood of all Nebraskans, and were confident the courts will continue to side with those who the laws protect, and not with corporate interests, said Hannah Adams, deputy director of Bold Alliance. Our concerns about the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline were validated today. Judge Morris ruled against TransCanadas and the Governments motion to dismiss our case. We continue our commitment to stop this pipeline once and for all, to protect Montanas land, water and people, said Dena Hoff, landowner and spokesperson for Northern Plains Resource Council. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) will relocate to Amsterdam in the Netherlands. This decision was taken today by the EU 27 Member States in the margins of the General Affairs Council (Art.50). The Agency now has just over 16 months to prepare for the move and take up its operations in Amsterdam on 30 March 2019 at the latest. We welcome todays decision on the new location of EMA. Now that we finally know where our journey is taking us, we can take concrete actions for a successful move, said EMA Executive Director Guido Rasi. Amsterdam ticks many of our boxes, he continued. It offers excellent connectivity and a building that can be shaped according to our needs. I am very grateful that the Member States took into account our requirements for business continuity and gave priority to the protection of public and animal health. Our internal surveys have shown that a large majority of EMA staff would be willing to move with the Agency to Amsterdam. However even in this case, our activities will be impacted and we need to plan for this now to avoid the creation of gaps in knowledge and expertise. EMA has to relocate due to the United Kingdoms decision to withdraw from the EU. Amsterdam was one of 19 offers to host EMA submitted by the Member States at the end of July 2017. Todays decision on EMAs new location follows an assessment of the bids by the European Commission and EMA. My staff and I are very honoured that so many Member States showed an interest in hosting EMA, Professor Rasi commented. The huge effort invested by the bidding countries to put together their proposals is a reflection of the Agencys important role in the protection of public and animal health and the stimulation of a vibrant and innovative pharmaceutical industry. The decision today marks the official start of a challenging joint relocation project that will have to be delivered within extremely tight timelines whereby the relocation has to be completed by 30 March 2019. Effective collaboration between EMA and the Netherlands on the basis of the commitments made in its offer to host EMA is essential to ensure a successful move and the continuation of EMAs operations with minimal disruption. EMA and the Netherlands will kick start their collaboration by establishing a joint governance structure to steer and oversee the relocation project. Because of its important role to safeguard public and animal health in the EU, EMA is committed to giving stakeholders and the public full visibility of the relocation project. In early December, the Agency will make available a monitoring chart on its website that will allow to track the progress made. NAIROBI, Kenya - Pan-African entrepreneurial training program, seed fund, and incubator Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST), intends increasing its expansion on the African continent and launching more incubators in key African markets later in 2017. Matthias Ziegler via 123RF MEST has just announced a partnership with Metta Nairobi to offer incubator space for Kenya-based MEST alumni, as part of efforts to strengthen its presence across the continent. MEST alumni in Nairobi will receive access to working space, events and Mettas global network. In the past few years, MEST has expanded the recruitment for its training program beyond Ghana to include Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and, Ivory Coast. MEST has also invested in over 40 African startups. The Nairobi space will act as an extension of the flagship Accra incubator, offering support to graduates beyond the MEST training program. MEST's scope and resources for incubator companies and alumni has been focused on Pan-African expansion and scaling. This partnership with Metta only adds to that value proposition, enabling a clear network effect with a like-minded African ecosystem player that has global roots, said Katie Sarro, MEST director of partnerships. We're extremely excited to put our combined expertise together to support MEST alumni currently doing business in Nairobi or those looking to expand to East Africa in the near future. Metta is a global entrepreneur network that connects people, ideas, and resources. So far, it has branches in Hong Kong and Nairobi. In order to offer MEST companies and alumni a similar level of support to what they had at MEST Accra in their respective countries, MEST has doubled down on its expansion plans for its incubation arm to the rest of the continent. Additional incubator launches are planned in key African markets later in 2017. For decades, Ikea has filled homes across the world with bookcases, beds, cardboard boxes and countless tea lights. The company's business model, based on huge production runs of identical stock, allowed it to export Scandinavian style at an affordable price. Its products are so popular and so ubiquitous, that you might find yourself in a friends home sitting on a sofa that is very similar to your own, looking at a bookcase that matches yours and eating with very familiar looking cutlery. Ikea created a reasonably priced way for customers to express themselves at home, and while it may also have helped build a world of indentikit interiors, it opened consumers to what was otherwise expensive design. As a product design specialist I applaud Ikea for how they have developed their business and invested in design to bring great products to the masses, including the use of materials to drive down prices look inside one of their coffee tables and youll find a hollow core supported with card. Ikea trades on the idea of family connections and aims for an emotional connection with customers. Instead of relying on numbers, for example, products are named after Scandinavian islands, names of people, birds and berries. They continue to innovate in materials and production techniques which drive prices lower and lower. When the first UK store opened in 1987 (the company is celebrating its 30th British birthday) the cost of a loaf of bread was around 40p, and the classic Lack coffee table retailed at 18. Today, three decades on, that same table costs 14. Ikea are widely considered as the kings of flat pack furniture, having cleverly exploited the potential of DIY assembly. Being able to visit a store, pick a wardrobe, chuck the cleverly packaged parts into the boot and drive home proved to a very popular approach, avoiding waiting weeks for delivery and simple even if the accompanying instructions arent always as simple as they look. Social media is full of insights about Ikea-instigated arguments over how to construct furniture (or even just trying to navigate the stores pathways). But the company remains highly thought of. Scando-chic Ikeas Scandinavian roots and design DNA made it stand out when it arrived in the UK (it was already well established in Germany, France, Japan and Australia). Along with Habitat, Ikea spearheaded a clear departure from chintz and overly decorative furniture and homeware. The new shopping experience of choosing from rooms set up with Ikea goods excited customers who came from far and wide to visit the distinctive blue and yellow box-like stores. Ikeas range of products has expanded and evolved in the last 30 years but some items like the famous Billy bookcase, continue to sell as they have done for decades. The Billy is a beautifully simple product that can be transformed with hundreds of options, whether you want to change the colours, add doors, or expand the size of your collection. The popularity of Ikea means so many people have the same furniture, bedding and accessories in their homes. But it also means a lack of individualism in the very places we like to think most reflect our personalities. Nevertheless, some aim to customise: Ikea hackers turn colanders into lamps or shelves into headboards, producing unique pieces from mass-produced products. Modern design Ikea itself has not become lazy or complacent when it comes to design. The PS 2014 pendant lamp, one of their most famous recent additions, is an engineering masterpiece. Closed, the lamp forms a white sphere with a jigsaw style pattern. But with the simple pull of a string the sphere opens, revealing its interior copper colour and increasing the brightness of the light emitted. It works beautifully and offers a great user experience. It is something to show off, and a real talking point. Other parts of its range demonstrate great Scandinavian design at a much higher price point. In my own home, I have a Malm bed, assorted cushions, candles, bedding and cutlery simple, stylish and good quality. And they didnt cost the earth. I dont know anyone who doesnt own at least one Ikea product. From its humble and fitting beginnings on a kitchen table in Sweden in 1943, Ikea has transformed the modern design world. With the AdFocus Awards only a few hours away, current chairperson Craig Page-Lee, reflects on the Awards' entries this year. Despite a rather limited number of highlights for the 2017 submissions, he says there were most definitely some aspects that stood out and deserved commendation. The first is the entries for the inaugural independent media agency category. What delighted me was the effort that the independent agencies put in to their submissions. I am convinced that this category is going to grow from strength-to-strength and hopefully these agencies will continue to give the bigger agencies a good run for their money. This is the first year that the media agency category was split to cater for international group-owned agencies and independent owned agencies (those with absolutely zero percentage ownership by an international agency group). Key highlights and lowlights of 2017 FM AdFocus Awards' current chairperson Craig Page-Lee. A clear stand-out is in the large and medium-sized advertising agency categories. With a further highlight being the fact that a once-legendry super-sized agency that almost disappeared off the radar, reappeared with a solid submission and an incredible story to support their new positioning, new wins and commitment to the future of the industry in South Africa. While other key highlights of 2017 submissions for him were in the small advertising agency and specialist agency categories, the biggest highlight was the introduction of the transformation award soliciting incredible conversation and signaling an important milestone for not only the FM AdFocus Awards programme, but for the industry as a whole. When it comes to the lowlights of 2017, he says there was an abundance of more of the same submissions in relation to evidence of work submitted by agencies, duplication of awards won (specifically in respect of listing awards that fell out of the period of evaluation), insincere effort put into genuine transformation (% ownership/shareholding, directorship, senior and junior management) and agencies still looking for the easy way out by refusing to share more accurate details on value of accounts gained, lost or retained. Transformation is important A clearer demonstration of financial performance can be achieved with narrower revenue bands, without showing ones hand. Accuracy and honesty in reporting performance needs some serious attention by some agencies. Transformation is really important in the industry, so it is really sad that we have to introduce a specific award to drive transformation across the industry. Especially as we all clearly understand where we have come from, and more-so, clearly understand where we need to be as a society in South Africa. Transformation should therefore be at the epicenter of all we do in the industry, which it unfortunately is not, he says. Page-Lee says the panel of 2017 was definitely the most participative, interrogative and contributing group that he has judged with in the past three years. That said, I cannot discount the single-minded pursuit of establishing a platform for change that the panel of 2016 enabled, emanating in the Transformation Award being introduced this year. There was a real representation of the broad spectrum of industry sectors on the 2017 judging panel and this most definitely brought another level of conversation to the table, he adds especially the contribution made by representatives of the PR industry and having a world-class media-mind and digital-mind join the main judging panel this year. Page-Lee thanked David Furlonger and Jeremy Maggs again for the opportunity of representing the industry the past few years and to thank each jury member for their valued contribution. The FM AdFocus Awards 2017 takes place this evening, 22 November, at The Empire, Hill on Empire in Johannesburg, Gauteng. #FMAdFocus2017: Judging the Student of the Year category The AdFocus Awards, taking place tonight (Wednesday, 22 November) will honour agencies and individuals, not just for their creative and marketing skills, but for their all-round business acumen. One of the special awards will go to the Student of the Year, sponsored by Coronation Fund Managers. Current chairperson of the FM AdFocus Awards, Craig Page-Lee. This year's nominees include Jason Walden, a visual communications student at Vega School of Brand Leadership Johannesburg, Keagan Clack, an art direction student at the Stellenbosch Academy and Raquel Ribeiro, a communication design student at the University of Johannesburg. I caught up with a few of the judges, Jessica Everson (senior copywriter at FCB), Veli Ngubane (founding partner and chief creative officer at Avatar), Nic Kostouros (creative director and exco member at Promise), Claudi Potter (creative director at Joe Public) and current chairperson, Craig Page-Lee who all commented on the overall quality of the work this year and what they were specifically looking for from this years entries. Eight judges from a broad range of agencies sat on the Student Award jury this year. Page-Lee says he was impressed by the calibre of the judges that accepted the invite to participate in the judging and was also impressed at the level of scrutiny, conversation and critique applied to each of the entries. #FMAdFocus2017: Top student nominee: Raquel Ribeiro By Juanita Pienaar 20 Nov 2017 #FMAdFocus2017: Top student nominee: Keagan Clack By Juanita Pienaar 21 Nov 2017 #FMAdFocus2017: Top student nominee: Jason Walden By Juanita Pienaar 22 Nov 2017 There were over 20 entries received this year, however, in line with this years theme of transformation in the industry, he says he was quite taken back at the low number of entries that supported the theme. He says it could be any of the following reasons: Lack of adequate bursaries or funding, the industry losing its sparkle as a must-be-in-it career option, the larger international agency groups (which employ the majority of staff in the industry) just paying lip-service to the pillars of BBBEE in their report card, the design schools not being compelling enough to attract talent or a combination of all the above. That said, this was an important part of the conversation, and all participants agreed that something has to change at this entry point for the industry to become more inclusive. What were you looking for from the student finalists while judging the submissions received for this year's awards? What were you looking for from the student finalists while judging the submissions received for this year's awards? Page-Lee: While the entries covered a broad range of specialisations, from multi-media design to visual communications and copywriting to design and art direction; we were looking for not only stand-out across any of the areas of focus, but specifically how the idea translated across multiple medium and consumer touch-points. We were also very interested to see how the students interpreted the ideas to be more relevant in the digital world. There were a group of finalists that clearly understood how to articulate their ideas and how to package their submissions and this definitely gave them the edge. Everson: As a judge, the first thing you always look for is the idea you wished you had done something new, exciting, simple and perfectly crafted. I know thats a really hard ask so there were some other, more attainable criteria as well. Namely, I wanted to see students who had the ability to go beyond doing once off executions by showing campaignable thinking that brought the big idea to life across multiple mediums. And if one of these mediums was on a digital platform, then that was an added bonus! Being able to think on a digital level is a must in modern advertising, so I was very keen to see ideas that embraced this reality. Ngubane: Judging students is a different art to judging agency work. In its nature, the work is more conceptual, unpolluted by the realities of budget and strategic direction of the brands. What I was looking for, was the quality of the idea and how that core idea was executed, I was also interested in the students ability to develop a core market insight into a great creative. Kostouros: Brave work with purpose. Its important at this level for students to be confident enough to showcase their beliefs and ideals and have the conviction to communicate these ideas in a smart, well-thought thorough way. Great craft should really just be a by-product of this. Potter: Strong conceptual thinking. In the age of Instagram, InDesign and Pinterest, there really isnt any excuse for bad design or poor photography. Inspiration is everywhere and the right tools are easy to come by. A strong, original concept immediately sets a creative apart from others. Once the concept is there, you hope for great execution, attention to detail and stunning craft. The work also needed to be brave as a student you dont have any clients to answer to, so there is no excuse for making safe, predictable pieces of work. However, brave and ballsy should not be confused with brash or offensive. Note to students: The f-word doesnt give you instant street-cred or an edge, it just makes you look angry. Comment on the overall quality of this years entries. Comment on the overall quality of this years entries. Page-Lee: The overall quality of work submitted was not necessarily to the level that we expected, with a number of submissions just not being packaged well enough, and where there were team submissions, the respective individuals specific contribution to the submission was not well articulated. A key concern for me was that the standard of submission varied considerably across the same design schools from different regions. There seems to be a lack of ruthless consistency of courses and specialisations offered across the respective schools, and this is impacting on the delivery of ideas in meeting the concept of integrated communications. That said, there were clear stand-out submissions. Everson: Thankfully, all of the above-mentioned criteria were met by this years students. While some portfolios were obviously stronger than others, a majority of them did include digitally-led ideas and the thinking was fleshed out across multiple executions. It was really great to see, as Ive been worried that schools arent pushing the importance of this kind of thinking strongly enough, resulting in interns and juniors who werent as well prepared for agencies as they could be. Im also extremely happy to note that there were even some I wish I had done that ideas in the portfolios. Its a great (albeit unusual) feeling to be envious of a students work it makes the future of our industry a really exciting one, and I cant wait to see where these bright young minds take us in the years to come. Ngubane: The concern is the lowering standard and general skill in copywriting, the impact of this decline affected the quality of the creative submitted. Our industry, especially the creative departments, lack transformation. It was concerning that there were few black students entering if we are to catalyse transformation, we need more black graduates entering the job market. Kostouros: The overall quality submitted was good, with a few great standouts. A mix of nice craft and some ideas skewed toward doing good, which was great to see. Its evident that the tertiary institutions are encouraging the use of technology which is important, however, we did feel that the more traditional pieces that tend to showcase distilled, conceptual ability - such as print- should not be forgotten at student level. Potter: I really wished that there were more writers and that the quality of submissions from the copywriters would be better. I think the advertising schools really need to make an effort to improve the calibre of their writers and pay more attention to the craft. There were some incredible designers, and I thought that several of the students had portfolios that many industry professionals would be envious of. Great quality overall. Jason Walden, a visual communications student at Vega School of Brand Leadership Johannesburg, was recently announced as one of three finalists in the student category of the 2017 AdFocus Awards. I caught up with Walden to find out what he is expecting from the gala evening taking place on this evening, Wednesday, 22 November 2017 in Johannesburg. Jason Walden, a visual communications student at Vega School of Brand Leadership Johannesburg. Walden says the nomination gave him more confidence in himself and his work than he has ever had before. It honestly means the world to me because it's assured me that I'm entering into the right career choice because I was a pretty directionless student coming out of matric, he says. AdFocus is also the perfect platform to propel my name out into the industry so its going to be an invaluable experience. Walden entered a total of five projects from his second and third years at Vega and says his work is very honest. For example, my self-branding project titled, Overdose is all about the medication I take to help me deal with my chronic anxiety levels. I like to challenge the norms of society too. One of my projects titled Foil Hat concerns itself with the unrealistic beauty standards that the media places on women, and another project titled The Dumbest Project is all about the world not taking the teacher crises seriously enough. A love for the power of digital technology He says his focus at Vega has always been integrated campaigns, and thus the majority of his projects, like the ones mentioned above, are always transformed into campaigns with three or more different elements. I have a love for the power of digital technology and its influence too. I always try to cleverly use already existing platforms like Twitter (for example, tweeting from prison (My How to rob a bank campaign)), fake click bait (The Dumbest Project) and virtual reality technology (Jack). He says he is inspired by his peers. I love seeing other peoples work, which pretty much blew mine out of the water. It inspires me to be better and better. I'm an incredibly competitive person; so naturally, other students in the same situation, inspire me. Walden says his mom is also a big inspiration. We're such polar opposites, but the support that I've gotten from her over the years, when I've been melting down over stress and deadlines, have really been invaluable to me. Design icons In terms of whom he admires the most in the industry, Walden shares that he practically worships Stefan Sagmeister. He's based in New York, but his work is just absolutely mind blowing. I hope to one day be on the level that he's at, because he has, without a doubt, had an amazing impact on the advertising industry and influenced many, many people. Another of Waldens icons is design legend, Susan Kare. She knows how to sell herself, he says. For example, when Apple asked her to design the original Mac icons, they asked her if she had any knowledge on icon design. She replied yes, a vast knowledge; meanwhile she had never designed an icon before in her life. And she pulled it off in the end. That to me is really inspiring. My entire second year portfolio was a tribute to her. Walden shares that his ultimate goal would be to eventually become a senior art director in a hot shot agency. But says he knows that will only come later. For the time being, all I really want to do is slowly climb the ladder like other newbies in the industry whilst making some kick ass work that hopefully has the power to influence people and change the world for the better. Netcare planned to restructure its UK business after buying out minority shareholders, CEO Richard Friedland said on Monday after the private hospital network reported that it had written down the value of its operation in the UK by R5.6bn amid tough trading conditions. BMI Healthcare hospital "We want to go through a very comprehensive and well thought out restructuring programme and we want to be in a position to re-establish the operating base," Friedland said. BMI Healthcare, Netcare's majority-owned UK business, made an operating loss of 20.6m in the year to September, from a profit of 28.7m in 2016. He said this was largely due to "demand management initiatives" by private medical insurers and the cash-strapped National Health Service. Subject to conditions, Netcare would buy out minority shareholders in the UK within "a few weeks". The deal would have no immediate cash value but would give Netcare "the keys to the business. We want to be able to implement our own enterprisewide IT systems that we are accustomed to in SA - that will take at least two to three years," he said. Friedland said that certain back-office functions could be moved from the UK to SA. Investec Asset Management portfolio manager Andrew Joannou said that although Netcare's South African business was outperforming its peers, the UK unit "is becoming critical". It was no longer generating operating profits, while its interest payments were relatively high and the business required greater capital expenditure, Joannou said. "It's starting to drain cash and now that they're having to fund it from SA I think shareholders are going to start taking a much more critical view of the UK business and what's being done there." He said that with full management control, Netcare "can startto enact some change and I guess the obvious place to start is with the rental agreements" because rental costs were abnormally high relative to revenue. Netcare's share price slipped 2.8% to close the day at R22.36 in Johannesburg on Monday after the healthcare company reported a loss for the year - including the UK writedown and other one-off items - of R2.7bn. The bill providing for the implementation of a tax on sugary beverages - the health promotion levy - was passed by the National Assembly on Tuesday. The adoption of the measure, which will be introduced in April 2018, came after extensive public hearings by Parliament's finance and health committees as well as negotiations within the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) on an implementation plan. An interdepartmental committee consisting of the Treasury and the departments of economic development, agriculture, trade and industry and labour also worked on a mitigation strategy to limit the effects of the levy on sugary beverages. A task team will monitor the implementation of the health promotion levy to assess its effect on job losses. It will also look at a range of government programmes to provide support to the industry. Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba said there could be no trade-offs between health and economic growth. He stressed that a national effort was required to get growth off its current low growth path. Nothing could be sacrosanct in this effort and tax increases would also have to be considered. Gigaba noted that SA's fiscal position had become "more precarious" and a balance would have to be struck between raising taxes and economic growth. The Treasury made significant concessions in the design of the health promotion levy during the course of the deliberations. In terms of the bill adopted by the National Assembly, the tax will be imposed at a rate of 2.1c/g of sugar beyond a threshold of 4g of sugar per 100ml. The sugar industry opposed the levy on the grounds that it would contribute to the loss of jobs, but the Treasury and the Department of Health argued it was necessary to deal with obesity and the epidemic of noncommunicable diseases. The levy is provided for in the Rates and Monetary Amounts and Amendment of Revenue Laws Bill, which was adopted despite DA opposition. Other money bills - the Taxation Laws Amendment Bill and the Tax Administration Laws Amendment Bill - were also adopted by the National Assembly on Tuesday. Source: Business Day It is very obvious that my generation failed dramatically, worldwide. The next generation want change. Mostly simply change away from what my generation achieved. In the UK the new generation unexpectedly voted for Brexit. In the USA they voted against the Obama policies again unexpectedly. In France they voted for a new young party from the right. In all these instances there was a lack of loyalty to the political party. In South Africa the latest municipal elections surprised many with the swing away from the ANC. Again it was a mistake for the ANC to assume great party loyalty based on what the party did 30 years ago. Even in Zimbabwe we saw change from a 37-year regime with the army not being loyal to the president who relied on their loyalty. Against votes All of these were against votes. In the UK it was a vote against being part of Europe, and against foreign labour. In the USA it was a vote against Obama Care and Mexico. In France it was a vote against the way things were done and their refugee problem. In our municipal elections it was a vote against corruption. Research failed to predict these changes because it asked the wrong question: Who will you vote for? When research should have asked Who will you vote against? The question should not be Who did you support last time? and then assuming there is some form of loyalty out there. There can be no more dramatic evidence of the failure of my generation to set up structures that satisfy the need of the incoming generation than all these votes against what my generation achieved and the lack of loyalty that we expected as a result of what we achieved. Why did we fail? We failed because we assumed that what we wanted is what the new generation wants. We viewed people as a cohesive unity that wants what we thought is good. We thought that candidate Trump was blowing in the wind when he said that people want change any change. The ANC (and Robert Mugabe) still believe, and uses it in their party campaigns, that South Africans honours freedom fighters and what they achieved in the 1970s and 80s. More than 40 years ago. The words The New South Africa is still used by politicians, despite the fact that the word New refers to 33 years ago and as a brand the New has lost its glitter. This is as a result of a fundamental problem in democracy. A political party makes promises and is voted in. Then they spend four years to implement their promises. When the next election comes, they still believe that what people want is just more of these changes they voted for four years ago. Politicians assume that because people voted for them in the last election they will be loyal and vote for them again this election and therefor the same promises is all that is needed. It is a mistake to assume that there is great party loyalty. Measuring brand loyalty It is not just in politics that this dissatisfaction with what my generation achieved shows. In the Currie Cup the Blue Bulls and Sharks played their semi-final in a nearly empty stadium. This is in Pretoria where Blue Bulls loyalists are rabid fanatics. The current generation is just not interested in being loyal supporters. Even at the final there were empty seats. This extends to brands in a big way. The Ehrenberg-Bass Institute analyse big data bases from around the world and for many product categories. Professor Byron Sharp wrote up their conclusions in his book How Brands Grow. In this he argues that marketers almost always overestimate the extent that brand loyalty exists for their brand. (In fact, it would appear that politicians also overestimate the extent that party loyalty exists.) I wanted to see whether I can develop a question that measures and model brand loyalty. I selected the beer category because it is a badge brand category where the brand is consumed publicly and says a lot about the user. It is a category where one expects good brand loyalty. Ultimately the only way to test loyalty is to ask people what price users will pay for the brand. The best way to do this is to use a price trade-off question If these brands sold at these prices which one would you buy? From this it is easy to derive brand loyalty curves. Low brand loyalty The first point on this chart indexes the number of respondents that would choose the brand, if all brands sell at R50 per pack, at 100%. The second point shows the percentage of these that will remain loyal to that brand if it sells at R55. The third point shows the percentage that would be loyal if their brand sells at R60. Etc. For most of the brands between 1/3rd and of the respondents that would buy it at parity price is not loyal when the price increase by even 10%. This low loyalty for a category that should have better brand loyalty than most is in line with the findings of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute. It also reflects what is happening on the world political stage. For more analysis of the beer brand loyalty see my YouTube video: Despite all the talk about nuclear builds, renewables and fracking, the local energy sector will remain static until regulatory and political stability return. This lack of investment is particularly troubling because energy capacity and economic growth are so tightly intertwined. Noor Kapdi, Africa chief executive officer & South Africa managing partner at Dentons law firm Energy infrastructure requires long-term investment, and so is particularly dependent on investors confidence in the countrys stability, and the forward trajectory of its economy. Unfortunately, South Africa is ticking neither of those boxes at the moment," says Noor Kapdi, Africa chief executive officer & South Africa managing partner at Dentons law firm. Policy uncertainty With three energy ministers in the past year, integrated and energy resource plans that are not finalised and overall policy uncertainty, our energy sector is not an investment magnet. To complicate matters, any economic growth that takes place will be reliant on there being enough capacity to meet increased demands for energy. Getting this balance right is hard enough at the best of times, and particularly difficult under present conditions. Policy uncertainty, particularly as regards the energy mix, is particularly counterproductive because it deters even those investors who might be willing to assume greater risk. At present, there is no certainty as to the relative importance of nuclear, solar, wind, coal and gas in energy account. No investor will commit capital to a project whose inclusion in the national energy strategy is doubtful or uncertain. The effects of this failure to provide a confirmed energy strategy can be seen in the lacklustre investor interest in the proposed gas pipeline from the Mozambican offshore fields and shale gas exploration in the Karoo, Kapdi says. Sorry state of SOEs A further drag on investment is the disarray at most of the key parastatals. Eskoms current oversupply and oscillating attitude towards renewables is one example, as is the delay in commissioning its new coal-powered power stations. Another is the uncertainty related to the contribution of natural gas to the energy mix and economy. The initial considerations and excitement created around the importation of LNG, the migration to a regional gas feed supplied by a pipeline and eventual exploitation of shale gas seems to have lost momentum. This ambitious but achievable natural gas endeavour would require several SOEs to be aligned, most importantly Transnet, who has to provide both the receiving harbor infrastructure and pipeline development and operations. South Africas political and economic travails prompted downgrades from the ratings agencies, with more a real possibility. The downgrades have raised the cost of capital, thus placing further constraints on energy investment. If another downgrade occurs, Kapdi points out, capital costs will rise yet more, placing investment in energy infrastructure still more at risk. All of these are problems that are largely of our own making. But, we must also not forget that investment in our energy sector is also affected by global issues. One is the reduction in foreign direct investment (FDI), he says. Foreign direct investment FDI is one of the drivers of economic growth, and when it goes down, our economy feels it. For example, Britain remains one of our leading providers of FDI to South Africa, but investment interest are subdued in the wake of Brexit. And, of course, other sources of FDI are deterred by our political and economic woes, he argues. While its very difficult to pinpoint one factor as fundamental, I would say that in the end it all comes down to the economy: if there is growth, investors will want to be a part of it. So while all the issues noted above need to be addressed, I believe the starting point must be to get our economy back in line with the National Development Plan, and on a growth trajectory. Once that is happening, we can begin to address the other issues. Given South Africa's melting pot of cultures, insurance companies need to take nuances, particularly with language, into account when considering a disputed insurance pay outs, says long-term insurance ombudsman, Judge Ron McLaren. Judge Ron McLaren, Judge ombudsman for long-term insurance The case In a matter where Sanlam declined a funeral claim as the life covered was a second cousin and did not meet the definition of cousin in terms of the policy, McLaren said in certain cultures, the term includes second cousins as there is no word for that relationship in some languages and such a person is included in the term cousin. The policy, a Solutions Funeral Essential Plan, commenced with effect from 1 December 2011. The complainant submitted a funeral claim for a wider family member who passed away on 17 April 2015. The cover at the time of death amounted to R17,250. The deceased was insured as the complainants cousin. Cousin is defined in the policy as: Cousin who is the child of the policyholders aunt or uncle. At the time of claiming against the policy, it was established that the deceased was in fact the complainants second cousin by virtue of the fact that the complainant and the deceaseds grandmothers were sisters. Sanlam declined the claim and relied on the definition of cousin as contained in the policy and the fact that the onus was on the complainant to familiarise herself with such definitions. The insurance company refunded the premiums contributed in respect of the deceased. The complainant alleged that at application stage, the broker was aware that the deceased was her second cousin and averred that the broker had advised her that the deceased could be covered as a cousin. The complainant claimed she had contributed towards and borrowed money from a relative for the funeral. Provisional determination The matter was discussed at a meeting of adjudicators on 3 December 2015 under the chairmanship of McLaren, and a provisional determination was made on the basis that while contractually Sanlam may decline the claim, the complainant had assisted financially with the funeral and the term cousin included second cousins in certain cultures. It was provisionally determined that policyholders would not necessarily check a definition of a common usage term such as cousin before insuring a life. The expectation of a reasonable, honest man or policyholder in the same circumstances would be that a person thought of as a cousin, but whose actual relationship was that of second cousin, would be covered in terms of the policy, the adjudicators said. The meeting agreed that in terms of fairness, the claim should be reconsidered and paid. Argument against determination Sanlam disputed the provisional determination. It argued that: The application form was designed in such a way that it was inserted inside the terms and conditions of the policy. That at sales stage, the complainant had been given the terms and conditions of the policy. That the terms and conditions clearly stated what Sanlam considered a cousin to be. That whilst they agreed that in certain cultures a second cousin may be a cousin, this was not the case with Sanlam and hence the reason why the definition of cousin had been defined in the terms and conditions. That consensus existed between the complainant and Sanlam. That the complainant, at application stage, had declared that the information provided by her was true and complete and that she had acknowledged receipt of the policy document. That the complainant had, by way of the compliance check list, confirmed that the broker had disclosed the type, extent and limitation of the benefits. That Sanlam was committed to treating its customers fairly and for that reason, was unable to ignore its policy terms and conditions. Dispute settlement The matter was again discussed at a meeting of adjudicators on 11 March 2016. The meeting agreed to refer to the matter to the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services (Fais) ombud to investigate the advice given at sales stage. However, the Fais ombud dismissed the matter. An attempt to resolve the matter telephonically with the insurer was made on 1 August 2017 during which the insurer maintained that whilst research and trends, towards the end of 2015, early 2016, had identified the need to expand the definitions of wider family, this did not extend to second cousins, as in terms of insurable interest, the basis on which Sanlam determined which lives could be insured, the interest/relationship was too remote. The insurer confirmed that the training provided to agents and brokers had been enhanced and a family tree had been devised to assist with the explanation and classification of family relationships. Nonetheless, the insurers stance on the payment of the claim remained unchanged. The matter was again discussed at a meeting of adjudicators on 25 August 2017 and the provisional determination was unanimously upheld. In addition to other aggravating factors, the meeting concluded that the fact that research and trends at the end of 2015, early 2016, showed a need for the definitions to be extended together with enhanced training and training aids, an inference could be drawn that since the complainants policy was sold in 2011, it was likely that at that time the training had been inadequate and, therefore, the sale would have been done without the necessary guidance regarding relationships. Based on this point, the complainants version of events, when balanced against that provided by the insurer, was more probable. The adjudicators held that in terms of fairness and equity, the claim should be paid. Equity juridiction The rules of the ombud provide that where a claim cannot be upheld in law, it may exercise equity jurisdiction. In such a case, the prejudice to the insurer is taken into account and weighed against the prejudice suffered by the complainant to decide if an equity decision is justified. A common misconception is that treating every policyholder exactly the same means that the insurer is acting fairly. Equity has to take account the individual circumstances of a particular policyholder or complainant, said Judge McLaren. In a final determination, he ordered Sanlam to pay the claim of R17,250. Sanlam paid the claim, less the premiums already refunded. RABAT, Morocco: Morocco's currency regulator has announced a ban on transactions in bitcoin and other virtual currencies, in a country where foreign exchange flows are tightly controlled. "Transactions via virtual currencies constitute a breach of regulations, punishable by penalties and fines," the Offices des Changes said in a statement on its website. The announcement came a week after Moroccan digital services company MTDS said it would accept payment in bitcoin. MTDS said it was the first time the regulator had taken a clear position on bitcoin payments. MTDS head Karl Stanzik said the company had dropped its proposal in order to "comply with Moroccan law" but that it would be "very difficult to control" bitcoin transactions due to the currency's secretive nature. Unlike physical currencies, bitcoin and other so-called crypto-currencies are not backed by states or regulated by central banks. Instead, they derive their value from decentralised ledger systems known as blockchains for verifying transactions and the contents of virtual wallets. "As secretive payment systems not backed by financial institutions... virtual currencies involve significant risks for their users," the Offices des Changes said. It added that all of Morocco's financial transactions with foreign countries must go through intermediaries approved by the authorities and be carried out in foreign currencies listed by Bank Al-Maghrib, the country's central bank. Local media outlets have estimated that virtual payments worth around $200,000 (170,000 euros) pass through Morocco each day, although an exact figure is extremely difficult to verify. One bitcoin was worth over $8,200 (7,000 euros) on Tuesday, up from less than $1,000 at the start of 2017. Source: AFP Mechanisation of agriculture has become a priority across many African countries as the continent gears up to exploit its well-recognised potential to become the world's food basket. This comes on the back of the fact that African farming systems remain the least mechanised of all continents. 70% of the farmers cultivate parcels of less than two hectares by hoe. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation, Africa has less than two tractors per 1000 ha of cropland. This number has sharply increased in all other continents, reaching ten tractors per 1,000 hectares in South Asia and Latin America. Mechanisation can help unlock underutilised agricultural potential. The challenge is to develop arrangements that enable smallholder farmers who cant afford to buy their own equipment to access equipment like tractors. We looked at mechanisation efforts in Ghana. We wanted to get a better understanding of the challenges involved in government and private sector efforts to promote mechanisation among smallholder farmers. Our study shows that alongside well-known problems like access to spare parts and credit, mechanisation is constrained by the fact that there arent enough skills being developed. This includes people who can operate tractors as well as technicians. Other constraints include the fact that the private sectors involvement is severely hampered because of government resistance and corruption that affects imports of tractors and machinery. The findings suggest that instead of focusing on supplying subsidised machinery for example by simply giving farmers tractors it would be better if governments invested in building institutions that can deliver skills as well as innovation in the sector and that they opened the door to private sector initiatives. But we found that governments tend to provide private goods, such as tractors, rather than public goods such as training. This is because private goods can be targeted to large and influential farmers who are often political supporters and can generate media attention. Lessons learned Whats the best way of promoting mechanisation for small-scale farmers? According to the Food and Agricultural Organisation, past state-led and donor-backed mechanisation efforts have failed miserably. For example, most of the 30 mechanisation schemes set up before 1980 in sub-Saharan Africa collapsed. The programmes failed because of governance challenges such as rent-seeking and lack of access to spare-parts, qualified operators and technicians. Are todays state-led mechanisation efforts more successful? We looked at one of them in Ghana. The government provides tractors at subsidised rates to entrepreneurs who run 89 centres that rent out and service tractors. The approach could be a promising model of a public-private partnership. But we found several challenges. The distribution of machinery by state agencies opened opportunities for political misuse. For example, 82% of the centres were established in districts aligned with the same party as the ruling government. In some districts, centres never actually opened up even though they were officially registered and tractors disappeared. Another challenge was the fact that due to donor requirements, the government had to select from whom they sourced stock from lists of pre-selected machinery producers. This precluded the selection of the most appropriate brands and also led to frequent shifts of brands, making private investment in spare parts difficult. Combined with a lack of maintenance and the absence of qualified operators and technicians, this resulted in frequent and long breakdowns and, consequently, a decline in the acreage served by the centres. One of the centres studied ploughed 200 ha with nine tractors in its first year, 2008, but only 40 ha with the only two tractors that remained functioning in 2014. Community organisations such as cooperatives can also provide machinery, but they also face challenges. In Ghana, farmers raised the concern that group members will dispute who can use machinery first. Also, experiences from countries such as India have shown that wealthy farmers often dominate farmer-based organisation while smallholders have less of a voice. Private sector is the key Given these challenges, could private actors do better? The rise of medium-scale farmers in Africa suggests that there may be many opportunities for the private ownership of tractors. But we found that private tractor owners were reluctant to provide services in areas where farms are small and scattered because of the high servicing costs involved. Policymakers thus need to find ways to nudge tractor owners to serve smallholders and to reduce servicing costs. Organising smallholders in groups or promoting mobile tools, which allow smallholders to hire nearby tractors, may help improve access to mechanisation. But all models of mechanisation, from state- to market-led, need a supportive environment to thrive. This is particularly true when it comes to knowledge and skills development. In Ghana, more than 80% of tractor-owners regularly face long machinery breakdowns because they dont have adequate mechanical knowledge. Governments should play their part by stepping in and training operators and technicians. Next steps To exploit Africas potential to become the worlds food basket and to safeguard that profits are made by African smallholder farmers requires careful consideration of how different actors interact. Governments, private actors, community-based organisations and development partners can all contribute. Such a combination would help to create the appropriate checks and balances for mechanisation. Instead of focusing on the supply of subsidised machinery, governments should provide public goods and services to support the emerging private markets. Such support includes strengthening the capacity of the education and training domain, improving the customs process, maintaining market stability, and focusing on institutional solutions for smallholders. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Monsanto Company recently announced at COP23 that they have made significant progress toward getting its operations carbon neutral by 2021, a commitment it made in December 2015. This is done by making operational improvements and utilising climate-smart modern agriculture tools and practices. Monsanto has already reduced its carbon footprint by more than 200,000 metric tonnes, a reduction that is roughly equal to burning 200 million pounds less coal. The company expects the rate of these reductions to accelerate over the next several years and is collaborating with farmers, NGOs and global partners to encourage the adoption of climate-smart practices across the agriculture industry. Monsantos approach to achieving carbon neutrality focuses on three main areas: internal operations, including seed production; breakthrough products; joint efforts with farmers and global partners. Adapting to climate change A common denominator across Monsantos approach is the role of crops and healthy soil in adapting to and mitigating climate change. Working with outside experts in data science on extensive modelling, Monsanto has demonstrated that certain modern agriculture practices and innovations can reduce emissions and enable crops to be grown in a way that absorbs and stores greenhouse gases in the soil in amounts equal to or greater than the total amount of gases emitted from producing those crops. Many of the practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions are quite beneficial for preserving natural resources, enhancing the efficiency of utilisation of nutrients and positively impacting water and air quality, says Debbie Reed, Executive Director of the Coalition on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases. Increasing soil health and soil carbon is one major way that we can reduce greenhouse gases, and agriculture clearly has a role to play there. Its related not only to natural resources but our ability to feed and sustain growing populations all over the world. Theres an interconnectivity there that is fairly unique to the agricultural sector. More information on Monsantos commitment to becoming carbon neutral. Developer Sakhisizwe will break ground in December on the first phase of the multi-billion rand Florida Heights integrated housing development in Nelson Mandela Bay. According to Sakhisizwe, more than 10,000 direct and indirect jobs will be created during the five-year roll-out of the first integrated development housing scheme for the Eastern Cape, on a hill overlooking Despatch, along the R367 across the Swartkops River. The government-backed scheme one of the catalytic projects identified by the national Department of Human Settlements throughout South Africa is also set to be an economic injection for Despatch and neighbouring Uitenhage. Attracting low to middle income residents, phase one will see 1,020 housing units developed alongside community and mixed-use facilities, with phase two which is in the planning stages and is set to be completed in about 15 years time to include a further 12,030 residential opportunities. The entire project is set to accommodate approximately 45,000 residents. Florida Heights will be profiled at the provincial housing indaba next month. Thorough research carried out This is a critical and much-needed project for the Bay, and one we are excited to break ground on, said Sakhisizwe chief executive William Charles, whose company was also involved in the development of the Port of Ngqura. As founders and proponents of the Sakhisizwe Trust, Sylvia Charles and I have spent many years thoroughly researching integrated developments abroad especially those in Germany and the Netherlands and tailoring this project to fit the needs of local low to middle income residents, said Charles. Sakhisizwe chief executive William Charles stands on the site of the R1bn phase one Florida Heights integrated development, overlooking Despatch. (Image: Brian Witbooi) The Bay has a total housing backlog of over 80,000 units, according to the national Housing Development Agencys technical assessment framework report for the Florida Heights scheme. Of the development, the agencys report also outlines intended benefits such as: Economic growth: The construction sector will benefit from a development of this scale. The future incomes earned by these employees will translate into spending power benefiting businesses and entrepreneurs, not only in the area but the surrounding economies. The construction sector will benefit from a development of this scale. The future incomes earned by these employees will translate into spending power benefiting businesses and entrepreneurs, not only in the area but the surrounding economies. Traffic: The existing road network will be upgraded in order to accommodate the additional traffic generated by the proposed development. The existing road network will be upgraded in order to accommodate the additional traffic generated by the proposed development. Property values: The area is well located in terms of places of employment and main transportation routes. This will also contribute to secure property values. It can be concluded that the proposed development will have a positive impact on property values in the area. Phase one will comprise 1,020 housing units and will include: Commercial and mixed-use development opportunities, including space for a mall and other retail outlets, Landscaped public spaces, and Community facilities including schools, churches and clinics. The development will be located on 50ha of land 23ha of which will remain undeveloped. Of the phase one units, 740 will be social housing apartments or walk-ups for rent; 100 will be Finance-linked Individual Subsidy Programme (FLISP) residential units homes sold to residents with government subsidies on the bonds; and 180 will be RDP homes and military veteran units for those living below the poverty line. Shift away from RDP housing schemes Integrated developments such as Florida Heights are the first concrete moves away from governments RDP housing schemes a result of the Social Housing Act of 2009. Whereas RDP developments were relegated to the outskirts of cities far from clinics, major employment hubs and convenience stores integrated developments include such convenience and social facilities, as well as secure access, public transport nodes and landscaped public spaces. According to one of the urban designers on the project, Clayton Johnson-Goddard, the move was a seismic shift in the governments approach to addressing the housing backlog, and also to maximising limited resources within cities. At all times, integrated developments should focus on the users it serves. This approach is fundamentally different from previous planning notions, said Johnson-Goddard, adding that, Integrated developments should create neighbourhoods and communities that serve and benefit each aspect of a persons livelihood whether it be work, live or play. In order to deliver the high-quality workforce South African businesses need to thrive, we need to increase investment in developing local talent. This is according to a new study by the World Competitiveness Center at global business school, IMD. Rabia Elif Aksoy 123RF.com The annual IMD World Talent Ranking assesses the methods countries use to attract and retain talent. Among the BRICS countries, South Africa ranks in the middle position 48th performing better than India (51st) and Brazil (52nd) but lagging behind both China (40th) and Russia (43rd). The IMD World Talent Ranking is based on countries performance in three main categories investment and development, appeal and readiness. The three categories assess how countries perform in a wide range of areas. These include education, apprenticeships, workplace training, language skills, cost of living, quality of life, remuneration and tax rates. The IMD study draws on an in-depth survey of thousands of executives from 63 different economies, and more than two decades data from the IMD World Competitiveness Center. South Africas strengths are in total expenditure on education (4th), cost-of-living index (1st), personal income tax rate (2nd) and labor force growth (7th). Its main weaknesses are in the pupil-teacher ratio (primary education, 61st), implementation of apprenticeships (61st), availability of skilled labor (60th), capacity of the educational system to meet the talent needs of the economy (60th) and emphasis assigned to science in schools (60th). Beyond the above weaknesses, other indicators that may also help us understand the countrys low ranks are health infrastructure (52nd), worker motivation (57th), brain drain (58th), attracting foreign highly-skilled personnel (52nd) and availability of competent senior managers (50th). The top economies in the IMD World Talent Rankingwith European countries holding 11 of the top 15 spotsshare similar attractiveness indicators. They invest significantly in their outstanding educational systems, they offer a superior quality of life, and they offer substantial opportunities for career advancement throughout the entire professional life span. Besides Mongolia and Venezuela, which capture the last two positions in the IMD World Talent Ranking, the lower places are dominated by Eastern European countries like Croatia, Romania, and the Ukraine. While the decline in the latter is due to the investment and development of domestic talent in addition to the political crises that characterize the area, Croatia and Romanias decline is partially explained by the decrease in the appeal and readiness factors. See the full breakdown of the IMD World Talent Ranking 2017 The annual Tiso Blackstar AMARA Recruitment Awards (AMARA's) celebrated the country's leading HR and recruitment professionals at The Empire Conference and Event venue in Parktown, Gauteng on 18 November. Publisher's Award winner, Jimmy Wayland with Reardon Sanderson, GM group sales and marketing at Tiso Blackstar Group. Reardon Sanderson, general manager of group sales and marketing at Tiso Blackstar says, The AMARAs have grown to become the most sought after accolade in an industry that faces enormous challenges in South Africa. The responsibility the HR industry carries in matching employers and employees in mutually beneficial relationships is immense and often goes unacknowledged. This is why Tiso Blackstar is committed to honouring those individuals and agencies that contribute so much to the development and success of SAs human capital. SAs leading HR professionals adjudicated the entries in both the public and private sector. Alan Hosking (HR Future publisher) chaired the panel which included Mateboho Green (Manager Corporate Communications at Higher Education South Africa), Nikki Munsie (Business Director at Independent Agency Search & Selection), Ross Mengel (Managing Director at DMA People), and Welile Mabaso (Human capital Consultant). The AMARA winners for 2017 are: Best Recruitment Advertising Agency Winner Gear Advertising 1st runner up Basadzi Personnel 2nd runner up Strategy Recruitment Marketing Best Newsprint Creative: Private Sector Winner Human Communications for Group 5 1st runner up Human Communications for Debswana 2nd runner up Human Communications for Impala Platinum Mining Best Newsprint Creative: Public Sector Winner Basadzi Personnel for the National Treasury 1st runner up Human Communications for National Health Lab Services 2nd runner up Siyafika Communications for Landelahni SAA Best Newsprint Creative: Education Sector Winner Goodbye Boring for Henley Business School 1st runner up Gear Advertising for Diocesan School for Girls 2nd runner up Human Communications for University of the Free State Jimmy Wayland from Gear Advertising was the recipient of the prestigious Publishers Award, while Whoodoo Media Advertising received the Rising Star Award. Whereas in past years, recruitment ads appeared to be treated as 'routine' advertising, its becoming clear that some recruitment companies are now starting to exercise creativity in order to attract the right talent for their clients. This is evident in the concepts, wording, and visuals being used, said Hosking, commenting on the 2017 award winners. South African mobile phone giant MTN is in talks with Benin's telecoms regulator after its subsidiary was slapped with a bill of more than $200m. Andrea De Martin 123RF.com The regulator (Arcep) wants MTN Benin to pay 134.4 billion CFA francs - the equivalent of $213m - in frequency fees for 2016 and 2017. But the company has called the fees "excessive". MTN Group spokeswoman Karen Byamugisha told AFP on Tuesday, 21 November, that talks were "on-going" to try to find an amicable solution to the issue of outstanding payments. At the same time, Benin's interior ministry has ordered the head of MTN Benin Stephen Blewett to leave the country by Friday. The government accuses him of having conducted "activities detrimental to security and public order", without elaborating. MTN has said Blewett, a South African national, would leave Benin by the end of the working week but contested the government's allegations. He had "discharged his duties as directed by MTN Group with the utmost integrity and in according with the laws of Benin", the company said in a statement. "MTN has taken note of the government's concerns, however refutes these allegations." MTN has the largest mobile phone network in Benin with more than four million subscribers but its relations with the government have deteriorated in recent months. The company has been repeatedly criticised for the poor quality of its services, which in June last year saw it fined 492 million CFA francs. The fine - the equivalent of 0.3% of its sales - was for "persistent failure to meet its obligations on standards of service", according to Arcep. MTN ran into difficulties in Benin's giant neighbour Nigeria, when it was fined $5.2bn in December 2015 for failing to cut off 5.1-million unregistered SIM cards. Security was cited as being behind the move over fears Boko Haram Islamists were using unregistered SIMs to plan and execute attacks. The fine was later reduced. Source: AFP JLL released its South African market reports for the office markets in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town; the industrial markets in Johannesburg and Durban; and an outline of the South African retail market for Q3 2017. The improved activity in the financial and business services sector of the economy, which is a key driver of office demand, has positively impacted the Cape Town and Durban office markets. Johannesburg is experiencing a short-term oversupply of stock and some rental contraction. It appears that the gradual introduction of new accommodation is key to mastering the balancing act of supply and demand in this market. Office market A closer look at the Johannesburg office market reveals a two-track trend unfolding: healthy developer interest continues but the city is battling a high vacancy rate. Johannesburg recorded the highest vacancy rate at 12.6% (the second time in two consecutive quarters) compared to the other large metros. It is suggested that the current pressure will be short-lived as the city remains the business hub of South Africa and most nodes in Johannesburg offer sought-after high quality office accommodation. The Cape Town office market saw a decline in the vacancy of all the major asset types, including Grade C accommodation. This is an excellent indicator of overall confidence in the business climate of the city, from large to small and medium sized enterprises. The most impressive decline was in Grade P accommodation which recorded a vacancy rate of 7.7% from 9.4% in Q2 2017. The Durban office market experienced a notable drop in its vacancy rate in Q3 2017, declining to 11.7% from 12.3% in the previous quarter. The Umhlanga node contributed most significantly to this decline. With the Durban CBD also making a positive contribution, it is clear confidence is gradually returning to the sector among business decision-makers. Add to this a rise in rental rates, and the environment points to a landlord market developing. Industrial sector A review of the overall industrial property sector requires a close eye on consumer confidence as one of the major drivers of activity in the logistics and warehousing property market. While this remains weak, export growth has been encouraging, and the manufacturing sector finally broke out of decline. In the Johannesburg industrial market, vacancy rates remain largely unchanged at 4.0%. However, it is the spread of these vacancies that is of interest. Historically, southern Johannesburg has struggled to fill older buildings even at low rental rates. However, the South is now showing one of the lowest vacancies. The nodes of Southdale/Booysens and Germiston, Alrode and Alberton are of particular interest. Durban industrial nodes continue to enjoy significantly low vacancy rates. However, there is considerable variance between nodes. Industrial properties located in the north are performing well, recording low vacancies and fetching higher rentals. Depressed consumer confidence is not deterring industrial investors, indicating confidence in the citys long-term outlook, especially in accommodation located near the international airport and the Port of Durban. Retail report Lastly, JLLs South Africa Retail Market Report reveals that neighbourhood and community centres have continued to perform well during the quarter, with an average 2.75% increase in trading density. Vacancy rates ended the quarter at an average of 6.0% and 3.0% respectively, while super-regional malls saw a 1.1% increase, sitting at an average vacancy rate of 4.1%, the highest level yet. This is unlikely to improve in the short term, with Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba painting a bleak economic outlook and concerns of sovereign downgrades reignited. Continuing on its international growth strategy, Club Med has announced four new destinations in Quebec, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and the Seychelles. This on the eve of the official opening of its new mountain resorts of Grand Massif Samoens Morillon in the Haute-Savoie region of France and Tomamu Hokkaido in Japan. Olivier Hannaert, managing director of Club Med Southern Africa, notes that these resort openings are fully consistent with the international development strategy of Club Med with the ambition to open between three and five new resorts per year, internationally, between now and 2020. Our mission is to innovate constantly and find new ways to provide clients with a worldwide playground to rediscover, recharge and just reconnect, either alone or with loved ones. Us opening these new resorts is but one way of remaining true to this mission, says Hannaert. Le Massif de Charlevoix, Club Med opens its 1st Resort in Canada Le Massif de Charlevoix (Image Supplied) Club Med plans to open a new resort in 2020, Le Massif de Charlevoix in Quebec. This new resort represents an investment of CAD 120m (80m). Not only will this be the first Club Med resort in Canada, but also a Club Med destination that reinvents the all-inclusive format in North America. With 300 rooms, this resort will have an Exclusive Collection space and will be the first Club Med mountain resort to be open all year round. Designed to convey the authentic Quebecois spirit at every stage of the guest experience (from its architecture to its spa concept, activities, excursions and dining offering), this new Club Med will celebrate its natural environment to the full. The opening of this new resort will create 350 direct jobs and 400 indirect jobs, making Club Med an active and substantial contributor to local activity, especially in terms of energising key areas of the hospitality industry, including catering and services. Two new destinations in South-East Asia: In this part of the world where Club Med has been operating for a long time (the brand opened its first village here at Cherating Beach in Malaysia in 1979) Club Med is building on the success of its most recent upgrades - Bali and Bintan Island in Indonesia, and Kani in the Maldives - to strengthen its regional presence in premium resorts. Opening in 2021 - the Club Med Ho Tram resort close to Ho Chi Minh City in the south-east of Vietnam Opening by summer 2019 - the Club Med Ceylon resort in south-western Sri Lanka The first Club Med in Vietnam Vietnam (Image Supplied) With its rich cultural and natural heritage, Vietnam is an ideal destination for the opening of this all-new Club Med: the first in the country. The south-eastern region of Vung Tau is renowned for its beautiful unspoiled landscapes, making this an idyllic location for a completely immersive experience of Vietnamese tradition and culture. Just 90 minutes from Ho Chi Minh international airport, the future Club Med Ho Tram will welcome international family guests and MICE groups from around the world. With 300 rooms, from Deluxe to Suite, it will offer a range of childcare facilities (4 months to 11 years) and leisure activities. For this project, Club Med is working alongside Dynasty Investment, a boutique private equity investment fund managing a diverse portfolio of real estate, education and tourism assets. This new opening will contribute to promoting tourism in Vietnam, with a particular focus on international target groups, and will benefit the local economy through the creation of direct and indirect jobs. Club Med Ceylon in Sri Lanka Sri Lanka - Ceylon (Image Supplied) Located in the south-west of Sri Lanka, 90 minutes from Colombo International Airport, the new Club Med Ceylon will be designed for families, working-age couples and corporate guests. Its exceptional setting surrounded by luxuriant vegetation borders a white sandy beach with crystal clear turquoise water. The new resort will offer 372 rooms and a full range of childcare services. The resort will reflect Sri Lankas unique culture and cuisine, vibrant traditional colours, bustling lifestyle for guests to experience and will be the starting point to the discovery of the surrounding breath-taking landscapes, rich wildlife and brilliant heritage sites of Sri Lanka. First Club Med in the Seychelles This new 5 Trident Exclusive Collection Resort on Sainte-Anne Island in the Seychelles archipelago will launch in 2020 and will be open all year round at the heart of the Sainte-Anne Marine National Park. Just 30 minutes from Mahe International Airport, this future Club Med Resort will be accessible for international guests, the majority of whom are expected to come from Europe and Asia. The new resort will boast 295 rooms from Club to Suite and offer its family guests the full range of childcare facilities from Petit Club to Juniors Club. For this new project, Club Med is working alongside NMH (New Mauritius Hotels), the largest and longest-established hotel group in Mauritius, where it operates all the Beachcomber hotels on the island. Beachcomber Hotels also operates the Beachcomber Seychelles Sainte Anne Resort and Spa hotel, which currently has 87 rooms. The Club Med proposal to take over the hotel under a new leasing arrangement with NMH will see the capacity of the hotel infrastructure significantly expanded. The opening of the new Club Med Resort will represent a total investment of around 70m for NMH - an investment that will boost its capacity to around 300 rooms, and make a valuable contribution to local economic development through the creation of several hundred direct jobs and an equal number of indirect jobs. Henri Giscard d'Estaing President of Club Med declared: Im particularly happy to see Club Med secure a base in the Seychelles, one of the three most luxurious destinations, alongside the Maldives and Mauritius." The African Development Bank (AfDB), has called for bold actions to improve connectivity, market access, and cost reduction in Africa's aviation sector. AfDB Vice-President for Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialisation, Pierre Guislain, made the call at the third ICAO World Aviation Forum in Abuja. albert22278 via pixabay The AfDB is partnering with the Nigerian Government, the African Union Commission (AUC), and the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), to co-host the third ICAO World Aviation Forum from 20-22 November in the Nigerian capital. The Bank has also reiterated its commitment to partner with stakeholders to boost the continent's aviation sector. Guislain emphasised the critical role aviation can play to boost economic growth by integrating the continent's fragmented markets. Low level of connectivity remains a challenge despite investments made "In the past 10 years, AfDB has provided about $1bn to the African aviation sector. We have invested in airport construction or expansion in Morocco, Tunisia, Cape Verde, Ghana or Kenya, and in the improvement of air safety and navigation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and West and Central Africa," he stressed. "We have also provided financing for aircraft acquisition by Ethiopian Airlines and Air Cote d'Ivoire." He argued that despite Africa's fragmentation with major economic centres geographically far from each other, the low level of connectivity and absence of significant airline hubs remains a real challenge for business people and ordinary Africans. "We all know that travelling in Africa remains inconvenient and costly. Today, a two and half hour flight from Lilongwe and Johannesburg costs three times more than a similar flight from Rome to London, for example," he noted. Opening intra-African aviation and lifting remaining traffic restrictions is still a priority nearly 20 years after the Yamoussoukro Decision signed by 44 countries. Liberalisation of the aviation industry can spur regional integration and trade The AfDB VP considers private sector financing and investment as critical and canvassed a level playing field where there is an open and reliable access, as well as private airlines competing with state-owned operators. Liberalisation of the aviation industry can spur regional integration and trade by bridging the 54 fragmented African markets, he maintained, while identifying more open visa policies as another way to stimulate integration and foster regional passenger traffic. According to the AfDB, the African aviation industry is hampered by high costs. Therefore, sustained growth of the sector would require a tough look at ways to cut costs related to high taxes, fees and charges and airport levies. They also include high costs especially for airlines, due in part to higher country and company risk as well as the small size of many African airlines. Nigeria's Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika, described aviation as the way to go to foster economic development. The SHOUT Foundation, a philanthropic organisation founded by popular South African artists Danny K and Kabelo Mabalane have done it again. In raising awareness of childhood literacy the organisation opened two libraries at Tembisa and Soshanguve primary schools on 13 November 2017. After the bold call to action in 2016, Steers and the SHOUT Foundation partnered in a bid to make a Real Difference by calling on the public to help sell a million burgers. Consumers responded in their numbers with proceeds from the sales going towards building S.E.E.D libraries that are now erected to support high levels of childhood illiteracy in disadvantaged communities. This is with a desire to empower the youth through the power of books. SHOUT, has not only raised the awareness against crime in SA, but also embarked on the journey to uplift communities through the power of education. The SHOUT S.E.E.D library programme was designed to liberate and inspire new futures and have extended its reach with the R2m in funds received from Steers. This has been an incredible time for us in terms of drawing the attention of the wider public towards the real issue of childhood illiteracy. Steers was the perfect partner in this journey as they are committed to youth development and investing in the future leaders of tomorrow said SHOUT co-founder Kabelo Mabalane. The campaign was led by the SHOUT co-founders Danny K and Kabelo Mabalane who engaged with the youth on the day of the library opening by delivering a narrative inspired by the importance of childhood development through literacy. In todays age, as business we need to invest back into the communities we operate as this offers you a license to operate. For this reason we are passionate about giving back to the community in which we operate, and being involved in the investment of our future consumers, employees and brand influencers. We believe in igniting the passion of SAs youth. Through this library, we hope to create a safe space for young people to dream, learn and be inspired about the future of this amazing country we live in. We are hoping this will at least inspire a single pupil to become the future teachers, artists, engineers, astronauts, or doctors. Said Adolf Fourie, Steers Marketing Executive. Two libraries now stand in the communities of Soshanguve, at Mafumbuka Primary School and at Tembisa, in Tlamatlama Primary School. From this we seek to one day speak of the leaders that have grown in these communities and have grown to inspire those that come behind them. SHOUT is supported by key stakeholders including CSX, Breadline Africa, Abacus space solutions and Network BBDO. Primedia's Broadcasting and Outdoor divisions have come together to offer an exciting, responsive multiplatform client campaign that will be a South African first. Called Radio to Road the innovative offering enables an advertiser to create a campaign that reaches motorists in their cars, on two major platforms: Radio and billboards, simultaneously. As the radio promo starts to play, it triggers the same campaign creative to roll out on digital billboards across the region in which the station broadcasts. We know that our stations: 702 and 947 in Gauteng, and Kfm 94.5 and CapeTalk in the Western Cape have very high incidences of in-car listening in the regions we broadcast to*, said Primedia Broadcasting CCO Mark Jakins. So our listeners are actively tuning in when they drive, and this is an opportunity to directly amplify an advertisers message with audio and visual reinforcement in the same moment, a great innovation by the team he explained. Primedia Outdoor Sales and Marketing Executive Peter Lindstrom is equally enthusiastic about the effectiveness of the new offering: Synchronising radio spots with digital slots on our urban digital network, which boasts unique monthly audiences of more than one million**,not only ensures complete audio-visual dominance but also introduces a dynamic aspect to campaigns which maximises impact. The first campaign will roll out with Mini through their agency, Vizeum, from 20 November in Gauteng and Cape Town. Watch the rollout of the first execution in Gauteng: "In our ongoing quest to innovate and strengthen the relationship between media owners and our clients; I am very excited to test this first-to-market marriage of radio and digital OOH," said Kelvin Storey, MD Vizeum. On our journey to continuously be relevant and fit into the already crowded, business schedule of our consumers we are proud to launch MINI communications via radio and digital OOH in a real-time, simultaneous message. The world around us is grasping the concept of digital and the role thereof, so its not just about being mindful of digital channels, but of being mindful of digital intertwined within the traditional space. Vizeum is always seeking to digitise the traditional world and we are happy to be pioneering this partnership between two great brands. Primedia Broadcasting noted that this was the first of many new offerings on the cards, Whats really exciting about this is that it marks the first of what we hope will be many cross-divisional campaigns which broadens our reach and impact for clients across cinemas, malls, on line, and our many other platforms within the Primedia Group, Jakins said. *BRC Ram, Jan - June 2017 ** OMC ROAD 2015 Visit www.primediabroadcasting or email az.oc.aidemirp@melilubaj for sales enquiries. South Africa College High School (SACS) in Cape Town has installed a solar system at its Rosedale Boarding House. Barry van Selm, deputy headmaster at SACS explains that installing a solar system at the school was an easy choice. SACS has become very aware of its carbon footprint, so a renewable energy option was important to us. In the past five years we have also seen huge increases in electricity tariffs so we needed to find a sustainable way of bringing those costs down. The solar system was installed by Energy Partners Home Solutions, part of the PSG group of companies. According to Cala van der Westhuizen, head of marketing and sales at the company, schools like SACS, with boarding houses and plenty of activity over weekends and holidays, are the perfect place to install solar systems as these types of properties consume most of their energy during the days peak solar hours, and can therefore maximise the financial benefits of a renewable energy solution. In-depth analysis into requirements Van der Westhuizen explains that the Energy Partners team started off with an in-depth analysis into the requirements of the boarding house. This involved taking the generation capacity that regulations would permit the team to install, into consideration. According to our findings, we could install a 25KW inverter at the boarding house, which is the maximum size allowed under NRS regulations for the specific infrastructure of the site. With the actual solar array we had a bit more leeway, so we installed 30.88kWp of multicrystalline solar panels. This enables the system to produce at the converters maximum level for as long as possible during peak hours and also produce excess power that the school will be able to possibly sell back to the City of Cape Town, says Van der Westhuizen. Van Selm says that as part of the system, the school received a tracking tool that allows them to monitor the system in real time. Being able to track the systems energy production is very interesting and allows us to see the results. Our first electrical bill has not arrived yet, but based on what we have seen from the monitoring tool, our use of electricity from the grid has been cut by about one third which amounts to a saving of around R75,000 at the current electricity tariffs. GreenCape and the South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) recently hosted the second annual Atlantis Career Expo, an educational event designed to drive awareness and interest among Atlantis students about career opportunities in renewable energy. It was held in conjunction with the Windaba wind energy conference and took place at the South Africa Renewable Energy Career Incubator (SAREBI) offices. The event included 150 high school students from various Atlantis schools including Atlantis School of Skills, Atlantis Secondary High School, Saxonsea High School, Robinvale Secondary High School and Proteus Secondary High School. Students spent the afternoon meeting and networking with renewable energy professionals, and learning from various interactive stations about the benefits of choosing a career path in renewable energy. Green technology innovation Among the exhibits at the event was Durban University of Technologys Energy Drive Bus. A custom-designed bus that serves as an experiential climate change and renewable energy mobile education station. Its equipped with ten solar photovoltaic panels, a 600-watt wind turbine, a biodigester, a solar hot water display unit and a battery bank. "With the recent progress in establishing Atlantis as a green technology innovation and manufacturing hub, now is the perfect time to engage our youth in that goal," said Patricia de Lille, executive mayor, City of Cape Town. "The young people participating in the Atlantis Career Expo and Renewable Energy Challenge are the future leaders who will drive the green economy forward. I commend the partners in this project for realising this and for stepping up to empower our young people. I put my faith in our youth and I encourage them to grab this opportunity and make the most of it so that they can take the green economy to even greater heights." Atlantis Renewable Energy Challenge winners During the event, GreenCape and SAWEA also held an award ceremony to announce the winners of the Atlantis Renewable Energy Challenge. The competition, now in its second year, challenged students grades nine and 11 to tackle various hands-on renewable energy related projects such as building wind turbines from recycled materials and creating educational posters and videos. Student teams participating in the challenge previously presented their projects to a panel of adjudicators from the renewable energy sector, who ultimately selected the winning projects. Amongst other prizes, winning teams were awarded a visit to the Windaba conference and exhibition. Its critical to educate young people about the benefits and opportunities within the renewable energy industry, said Jana Jordaan, GreenCape analyst. Were not only introducing students to a rewarding, future-proof career path, were also inspiring the next generation that will lead South Africa towards a sustainable, low-carbon future. Green Technology Special Economic Zone The Career Expo is part of broader efforts for Atlantis, a previously disadvantaged community, to tap into the economic and development benefits of the green economy. With combined efforts from the Department of Trade and Industry (dti), Western Cape Government, City of Cape Town and GreenCape, Atlantis was recently earmarked to be designated as a Green Technology Special Economic Zone (SEZ). Once the SEZ is designated, incentives will be offered to green technology companies from around the world to invest and establish manufacturing plants in Atlantis. Where are you most likely to find the winners of this year's National Business Awards - known as the 'Oscars of South African business' - a year from now? Well, dominating the 2% of South Africa's economy that is forecast to grow in 2018. National Business Awards winners Data analysis from the last 15 years of these awards points to both finalists and winners recording sustained growth in the months and years following their accolades; particularly the mid-size organisations. The large corporates, including Woolworths Holdings Limited, Discovery, Coca-Cola SA and Old Mutual this year, utilise the awards more to enhance recognition of their strides in a particular area, like sustainability. The winners own strategic and operational prowess aside, some of this growth has to do with the awards themselves. Indeed, a number of independent studies have compared the financial performance of award-winning companies against similar peers in their sectors. In one study, 120 award winners were tracked for 11 years. They showed improved financial performance a year after winning. After three years, their sales had risen by 17% and share value by a staggering 36%. After a decade, these companies were still growing sales nearly 80% more than their peers. This phenomenon in mind, Thursdays awards held at Emperors Palace were as much a celebration of the sustained success likely to follow for those recognised as they were a recognition of achievements past. So who took top billing on Thursday night? Before the evenings climax, in which business icon Sol Kerzner was honoured as the years Lifetime Achiever, 15 winners had their time in the sun: Woolworths Holdings Limited outpaced six co-finalists to take the Corporate Citizenship Trophy, in the same year that it marks a decade of its Good Business Journey. Microsoft SA hit all the right buttons with judges to win the Customer Focus Award and Belgotex floored them with its array of eco-friendly measures (read more here) to scoop the Sustainability Award from heavyweights Coca-Cola and Hyundai. In tune with 2017s most trending topic, #digitaldisruption, two new award categories were added to the slate this year. The first, Innovation through Technology, went to LexisNexis South Africa, with multinational AECOM being honoured as the Highly Commended runner-up. The second new tech-focused trophy, Digital Company of the Year, went to Liquorice one of Africas leading digital marketing concerns. In the Public Service award category, 83-year old Mintek crossed the finish line briskly ahead of 11 strong competitors, with Joburg City Parks & Zoo close on its heels. In the individual categories, Stadium Management South Africas CEO, Jacques Grobbelaar, was named Business Leader of the Year, while property titan Xoliswa Daku was crowned SAs Top Performing Entrepreneur. Veronica Motloutsi of Vodacom answered the call to accept her Top Young Entrepreneur trophy, reserved for high achievers under 40. The evenings most prestigious award, National Business of the Year, went to distance learning pioneer Richfield Graduate Institute of Technology, with Stadium Management SA being Highly Commended. For a decade and a half, South Africa's National Business Awards has recognised outstanding achievements by private and public sector organisations across a host of focus areas: sustainability, customer focus, tech innovation, infrastructure development and more. Top Media and Communications founder, and then-CEO, Richard Fletcher launched the awards in 2002 yet they began life on the page, rather than the stage, with Top Media and Communications researching the performance of some 10 000 South African companies. Of those, roughly 2,500 qualified to list in the first edition of annual prestige-format Top Performing Companies publication; based on methodology developed in collaboration with Morne Oosthuizen at UCTs Development Policy Research Unit. Top Media and Communications then launched the awards to showcase the very best of its published companies, along with SAs most accomplished individual business leaders. At the time, Fletcher drew upon the Graduate School of Business to help engineer stringent awards qualification criteria, for both its top performing companies and other external entrants. All qualified finalists were then assessed by an independent panel of judges: industry experts, CEOs, academics and association partners. This pioneering recognition model has since been repeated and refined over the past fifteen years of the National Business Awards, and has also been applied to Top Media and Communications other recognition platforms - Top 500, for example. In the same space of time, South Africa has seen a host of similar awards ventures being launched, to mixed success. However, few have matched the fifteen years of prestige built up by the National Business Awards. That prestige was enhanced this year by the awards three iconic speakers: the keynote speaker was Norman Mbazima, Deputy Chairman of Anglo American and main interview subject for this years Top Performing Companies; VIP speaker Professor Emeritus Brian Kantor, author of Get South Africa Growing, also graced the stage and group co-CEO of The Creative Counsel, Ran Neu-Ner winner of last years Top Performing Business Leader trophy rounded out the high-powered trio. Top Media and Communications CEO Ralf Fletcher, who gave the welcome address, commended the calibre of this years finalists saying, in my 20 years of immersion in the science of best business performance, I have seldom seen such a powerhouse armada of new tech innovators, job creators and economy drivers, all together on the same roster. The independent panel of judges, comprising several industry heavyweights, also emphasised the high number of quality of entries received this year. Potential adverse factors aside like slow global growth, the potential ripples of Decembers ruling party elective conference, jittery Zimbabwe, it would appear that South Africas economic growth prospects for 2018 are in good hands. Top Media and Communications would like to thank the National Business Awards judges, honourable speakers, category sponsors, lifestyle sponsors, media partners and VIP & corporate guests. Most of all, thank you to the awards 100+ esteemed finalists for sharing their inspiring journeys of success with South Africa. For 2018 entry, sponsorship or media enquiries email az.oc.sdrawassenisublanoitan@gnitekram or call 0860 009 590. On 9 November 2017, the Exhibition and Event Association of Southern Africa (EXSA) and the International Federation of Exhibition and Event Suppliers (IFES) held an association meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa. What made this a landmark event was the signing of a reciprocal membership agreement between the two organisations, which will benefit them as well as EXSA's members. Doug Rix, the EXSA Chairperson, says, "IFES is a global collaboration network of professional, quality, focused exhibition and event industry suppliers, and it therefore makes perfect strategic sense for EXSA to join this global partnership and align ourselves accordingly. He adds, The Federations motto, support and be supported, speaks to the vision and ethos of EXSA #transformation which is the current transition we are making into a new and more robust association. Uta Goretzky, the Executive Director at IFES, adds, This partnership helps IFES to widen its network around the globe and welcomes EXSA and its members into the IFES family. Whenever a question within the EXSA membership arises, the IFES network will help to find the right solution. EXSA members can now join IFES at a discounted rate; the once-off application fee of 1,000 will be waivered and an additional 50 discount will be applied to the annual membership fees. Rix adds, Our IFES membership will enable our supplier and venue members to be provided with the platform for international co-located events, co-ordination on joint working groups, reciprocal guest member attendance at Industry events, and an integrated approach for the sharing of information, knowledge and resources of our respective organisations. Justin Hawes is the current IFES Vice President/Treasurer and the Managing Director of Scan Display a member of EXSA and IFES. He welcomes the new collaboration, and says, Being a member of these two organisations has helped Scan Display to grow tremendously over the years. We have learnt so much from both professional bodies, and we have also generated direct business from our IFES membership. I believe this is a fantastic opportunity to develop the industry and our businesses. EXSA will also receive a 100 payment for every ten of its members who join IFES, providing a new revenue opportunity to invest back into the association. EXSA is the 10th national association to become a member of IFES, says Goretzky. Meanwhile EXSA has forged a number of partnerships with other international industry bodies, including: UFI, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry; IAEE, the International Association of Exhibitions and Events (USA); AOE, the Association of Event Organisers (UK); and ESSA, the Event Supplier and Services Association (UK). EXSA is also a founding member of the Event Greening Forum, a South African association that promotes sustainable growth and development to the industry. For more information, please contact: Doug Rix | EXSA Chairman | az.oc.low@xirguod | +27 82 579 7071 or +27 11 805 7272 Visit: www.exsa.co.za | www.ifesnet.com Vega and the Advertising Media Association of South Africa (AMASA) has developed a new media management in brand building short course. The course will be available at Vega's Johannesburg and Cape Town campuses from 2018. The short course is aimed at providing a deeper understanding of the principles of media strategy, channel and media planning, online and social media in relation to building effective brand strategies. It consists of 25 three-hour contact sessions along with an assignment, a test, and a campaign brief. Researchers surveyed more than 300 ad agencies and marketers and found that 59% are spending more on digital marketing this holiday season. About half of those are upping the digital spend to find more customers, 44% are investing in digital hoping to tie in to native ad formats, and 40% are pushing for word of mouth and viral take-offs. And for the results? A full 60% of agencies believe increasing their digital spend will create brand lift, with 50% believing it will increase their sales. With all those digital campaigns, where should advertisers be putting their budget dollars? In video and around the entire holiday season, finds new research from Strike Social. Their new report indicates that some budgets are spent on the wrong holiday dates and on the wrong targets. Strike Social researchers found that YouTube advertisers, especially, may not be spending enough on parent-targeted advertising. Parents begin hitting YouTube and other sites to find holiday gift ideas by Thanksgiving Day, but research shows only about 50% of ad campaign dollars are focused on parents. Comparatively, advertisers push nearly two-thirds (63%) of their budgets to non-parents beginning on Christmas Eve. Advertisers are going to miss out on a huge revenue opportunity if they continue to devote less time and money to parents this year. With online shopping becoming increasingly popular for parents and non-parents alike, YouTube advertisers need to make sure they are devoting the right ad dollars to each audience segment, said Jason Nesbitt, VP Media & Agency Operations, Strike Social. Although this may be the most lucrative time of year, brands shouldnt discount the power of post-Christmas holidays. People are itching to spend their gift cards and exchange gifts for the items they really wanted in that week after Christmas. Advertisers would be smart to save a portion of their holiday budget for this week. Just how big a deal is the after-Christmas budget? Consider this, New Years Eve and New Years Day shows a 20% higher view rate on YouTube than either Black Friday or Cyber Monday, and yet those advertising on YouTube only put about 5% of their budgets on New Years spends. PR Newswire CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Nov. 21, 2017 CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Nov. 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- On November 15, a delegation from China Kweichow Moutai dedicated to promoting Moutai's liquor culture in response to the Chinese government's One Belt, One Road initiative arrived in Africa, and was warmly welcomed by hundreds of fans. This is the first time that Kweichow Moutai has launched an official branding initiative on the African continent. Moutai's market value now exceeds US$120 billion, the highest among alcoholic beverage producers worldwide. In the past two years, Moutai has launched branding events in Moscow, Milan, San Francisco and Hamburg, with each event having proven successful in vastly raising the visibility of the brand. More recently, the group rolled out a new branding strategy for overseas markets. South Africa was selected by Moutai as the first destination for its roadshow following the conference, demonstrating the importance the group attaches to the African market. "It is increasingly clear to us that in order to achieve healthy cooperation, we cannot solely depend on one-way exports, but also adopt a bi-directional balanced strategy based on mutual benefits, leveraging each other's advantages and achieving common development goals," said Li Baofang, Party Secretary and General Manager of Moutai Group and head of the delegation. "For 2017, Moutai's total exports are expected to reach 2,000 tons, an increase of 15% year-on-year. Countries and regions along the Belt and Road initiative's route will be a huge stage upon which Moutai can showcase its cultural charm." The "Meeting in Africa through the Unique Aroma -- China Kweichow Moutai the Belt and Road Branding initiatives" event held by Moutai Group at Cape Town International Convention Centre on November 17 included a spectacular party at which guests enjoyed a wide selection of Moutai cocktails and were impressed by the glamour of the Moutai liquor culture. Moutai presented the bespoke Entering Africa commemorative liquor as a gift in celebration of the 20th anniversary of Sino-South Africa relations. Moutai and a dozen Chinese-invested companies with operations in Africa, including Huawei, Hisense and Sinosteel, signed the Proposal for Africa-China Enterprises "Belt and Road" Common Development Alliance. The China Kweichow Moutai "the Belt and Road" South Africa Trip Business Meeting held on the same day brought together several of South Africa's government and business leaders. At the gathering, the government of Cape Town presented a "Key to the City", a symbol of good fortune and hope, to Mr. Li. On the 19th, Tukwini Mandela, the granddaughter of former South African president Nelson Mandela, congratulated the delegation and gave Moutai a bottle of wine that bears the signature of her mother Makaziwe Mandela, the eldest daughter of Mr. Mandela. Moutai also presented her a bottle of Moutai commemorative liquor as a gift in return. The Moutai road trip will continue next onto the neighbouring countries of Namibia and Mozambique. View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/china-kweichow-moutais-belt-and-road-branding-initiative-makes-its-debut-on-the-african-continent-300560826.html SOURCE Kweichow Moutai Co.,Ltd The husband and wife team behind one of Corks most successful businesses in modern times have been honoured at Cork Chambers annual Dublin dinner, which also heard calls for a high-speed rail between the cities. Dan and Linda Kiely of Voxpro were honoured with the Outstanding Achievement in Business award, having begun life above a pub in Cork City 20 years ago, before recently selling to Canadian giant Telus International for an estimated 150m. Voxpro has grown from a six-employee team to a powerhouse employing almost 3,000 in Cork and Dublin, California and Georgia in the US, Bucharest, Romania, and Manila, Philippines. The Dublin dinner saw more than 600 from across the two regions hear Cork Chamber president Bill OConnell call for a high-speed rail link between Cork and Dublin. We believe that Cork and the southern region are to Ireland what Manchester and the northern powerhouse are to the UK, he said, before calling for investment in a game-changing one-hour train journey between Cork and Dublin. Mr OConnell said regional ambition had not gone far enough in the corridors of power, pointing to the initial Government 2040 paper which set out how growth should be promoted outside of Dublin. He said regional ambition set out by Government was to alleviate pressures in the greater Dublin area and to create more opportunities elsewhere. Against this objective, Cork Chamber does not consider the draft growth targets for cities other than Dublin to be ambitious enough, said Mr OConnell. With the current proposed figures, existing economic imbalance across Ireland will perpetuate, which has a real risk of threatening the attractiveness of our country for future investment and jobs growth. Mr OConnell said restrictions on building heights has to be examined in light of the homeless and rental accommodation crises. If the high-density, vibrant cities of Ireland 2040 are to become a reality we must quicken our pace and grow up rather than out. We call on the Government to actively stimulate brownfield development which is key to the vision of sustainable high-density urban growth, yet all but absent in its development, he said. Mr OConnell identified Corks Docklands was identified as an area with unique potential in the city by Mr OConnell. He said the 220-hectare land possessed unique potential, not only in an Irish but an international context, Its development will prove the vision of Ireland 2040 and showcase the collaboration between Government and industry to make Ireland and Cork the most attractive location to live, set up, and invest, he said. A woman who claims she was sexually assaulted by a Tinder date has told his trial he looked like a "monster" during the alleged assault. The man, who is in his 30s and can not be identified for legal reasons, denies forcing himself on her after parking up at the UCD campus in 2014. The woman matched with the accused on Tinder after arriving in Ireland from South America during the summer of 2014 to learn English. They arranged to go on a date a few weeks later and on July 23 2014, he picked her up and told her he would take her to the best coffee shop in Dublin. She said he looked very friendly and was smiling. The court heard he then drove her to a secluded part of UCDs campus where he stopped the car and switched off the engine. She said she became very scared when she heard the doors lock. She said he changed completely and no longer looked like the smiling man who picked her up. She told the jurors he looked like a "monster". She said he started touching her legs and pulled her dress up. She said her breast became exposed at one point during the struggle. She said she managed to escape after he punched her in the head, and she met a passerby who helped her flag down a taxi. The woman will continue her evidence tomorrow morning. An American doctor who was accused of sexually assaulting a patient at his surgery in county Cork amid claims that he touched her vagina and asked her about the size of her breasts after she went to the surgery with cramps was found not guilty by a jury today, writes Olivia Kelleher The jury in the trial of Dr Michael Obrowski were unable to come to an unanimous verdict in the case. However, when Judge Sean O'Donnabhain gave them the option of returning a majority verdict the jury of eight men and four woman cleared the doctor of all wrongdoing. The jury were discharged yesterday morning (Wed) and concluded their deliberations mid afternoon. Dr Obrowski (59) had denied a single charge of sexually assaulting the woman at his surgery in Midleton, Co Cork on March 29, 2012. The young woman said in evidence on Tuesday that she had gone to the doctor at Corrabey Court in Midleton complaining of stomach pain and diarrhoea. She testified that the doctor proceeded to conduct an examination of her vagina, breasts and rectum. When the trial started the woman said : "I would like to withdraw my complaint." She told Judge O'Donnabhain that withdrawing her complaint would close a chapter in her life that she didnt want to think about any more. The Judge asked her if she was refusing to give evidence. She said : "I am not refusing, no." She told the court that she was perplexed by what occurred when she told the doctor of her symptoms. He said he would examine me for breast size. He also did a vaginal examination and a rectal examination. He said, Have you shaved for me? And I said no. He told me to lie down on the floor. He did a vaginal examination and a rectal examination with no reason, she said. The woman said at a previous appointment with Dr Obrowski in late 2011 at his previous clinic in Cork city the GP had examined her like a gynaecologist. "He put his finger inside my vagina, and then he put his finger inside my rectum, she said, adding that he wore gloves during the examinations. The GP's barrister, Donal O'Sullivan, asked why she hadn't mentioned the rectal examination in her first garda statement. The woman, who is in her mid twenties, said she was too ashamed to mention it as she was being interviewed by a male member of the Force. Mr O'Sullivan said it was his client's contention that he couldn't have treated her on March 29, 2012 as the surgery was being painted that day. Dr Obrowski denied any suggestion that he examined the woman vaginally or rectally and that he did not recall having her as a patient in his clinic. He produced a computer calendar that marked the clinic as being painted on March 28, 29 and 30. A painter, Adam Paulik, confirmed that he worked at the clinic towards the end of March 2012. However, he could not say if he was present onsite on March 29th. Commenting on the allegations made by the woman Dr Obrowski said "There is no truth to it at all." By Louise Roseingrave Gardai are investigating new lines of inquiry into the death of conservationist Michael McCoy following a family appeal on Crimecall. The 64 year old father of three from Ballinascorney Upper, Brittas, Co Dublin was found dead after he went out for a walk with his dogs near his home. His body was discovered at Blackhill Forest in the Dublin Mountains on September 30 2016. Garda pictured searching the Blackhill Forest in the Dublin Mountains The cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, an autopsy found. A number of people came forward with information following the Crimecall broadcast on RTE last September. Detective Inspector John Walsh of Tallaght Garda Station told a resumed inquest into the mans death that gardai wish to explore this information further. Following the Crimecall appeal a number of people have come forward with information that we would like to follow up on, DI Walsh said. A full file was submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions earlier this year but the direction was for insufficient evidence for a criminal prosecution. DI Walsh sought a 12 month adjournment of the inquest to allow time for further investigation. The inquest, which first opened in December 2016, previously heard that Mr McCoy was formally identified using DNA. He left the family house early on the morning of September 29 2016 intending to walk his two boxer dogs in the hills around his home. The alarm was raised when he failed to return home and a comprehensive search of the area commenced. Mr McCoys body was found on a forest track around 5.30am the following day. On Crimecall on September 24 his eldest daughter Rachel urged anyone who knows the identity of the murderer not to protect them. She said: We dont have our dad and thats not fair. So if someone knows something just tell... dont protect someone. Mr McCoys wife Catriona McCoy and two of his daughters attended the short inquest into their fathers death at Dublin Coroners Court. Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane adjourned the inquest for 12 months for further mention on November 8 2018. By Ann O'Loughlin A grandmother who was discharged from the Midland Regional Hospital when she allegedly still had a post operative infection died 10 days later at home, the High Court has heard. Christine Doyle could barely walk and had to be helped by her husband and daughter when she was discharged from Midland Regional Hospital after a routine gallbladder operation. The 69-year-old mother-of-four and grandmother passed away 10 days later as the family waited for an ambulance to arrive. Senior Counsel Richard Kean told the High Court Mrs Doyle died from hypovolemic shock as a result of a delayed post-operative haemorrhage. Mrs Doyles widower and her family today settled their High Court action against the HSE over the care of Mrs Doyle at Midland Regional Hospital, Mullingar, Co Westmeath. The settlement which was without admission of liability, included a letter from the HSE offering its "sincere sympathies" and expressing "sorrow" on the tragic death of Mrs Doyle on September 16, 2013. The terms of the settlement are confidential. A photo of Christine Doyle is desplayed outside the court today by a mamber of her family. Pic: Courtpix Outside court, Mrs Doyles daughter Dympna Cromb on behalf of the Doyle family said, although the HSE had passed on their condolences, the Doyles are disappointed it has not given details of measures put in place to prevent such a thing happening again. The emotional torment we have endured as a family over the last four years is completely unacceptable and needless, she said. Mrs Doyle's husband Colm Doyle of Ballinalee, Longford had sued the HSE over the care his wife received in 2013. Mrs Doyle attended the hospital in July 2013 and was found to have symptomatic gallstones which required surgery. Surgery was carried out on August 28, 2013, and afterwards Mrs Doyle developed an infection and was treated with intravenous antibiotics. Despite the presence of the ongoing infection, it was claimed Mrs Doyle was discharged from hospital and subsequently died on September 16, 2013. It was claimed there was an alleged failure to bring an infection Mrs Doyle developed post operatively under control and an alleged failure to establish the nature of a 4cm collections seen on the abdominal ultrasound scan. It was further claimed Mrs Doyle had been recommenced on Warfarin therapy on August 31, 2013, and continued her on warfarin therapy from that point despite her demonstrating signs of sepsis and infection. Mrs Doyle was discharged from hospital on September 6, 2013 when it was alleged she was unfit for discharge and when her infection was allegedly not adequately under control. It was further claimed there was an alleged failure to heed Mrs Doyles ongoing complaints of abdominal pain and her condition on the date of discharge when she was hardly able to walk. The claims were denied. Richard Kean SC with Esther Earley BL told the court the case arose from the tragic and disturbing death of Mrs Doyle who was much loved. He said Mrs Doyle had gone into hospital for a straightforward gallbladder operation. She was in hospital for 10 days. He said the discharge of Mrs Doyle from hospital was a major issue in the case. He said it still troubled the family that they had to wait one hour and 20 minutes for an ambulance on the night she died. Approving the settlement Mr Justice Kevin Cross extended his sincere sympathy to the Doyle family. A man who took part in the robbery of a takeaway in which the owner was bound and stabbed with a screwdriver later fled the country after informing gardai he would not be present for his trial, writes Brion Hoban. Bashkim Osaj (39), of Coultry Avenue, Ballymun, Dublin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to robbery and false imprisonment at Thorncastle Street. Ringsend, Dublin on February 26, 2012. Judge Melanie Greally sentenced Osaj to seven years imprisonment with the final 18 months suspended on the condition that he keep the peace and be of good behaviour upon release. Garda Brian Hunt told Fiona McGowan BL, prosecuting, that two men, one of whom was Osaj, entered the home and business of Nunzio Del Duca in Ringsend. A third man, who was known to Mr Del Duca, had convinced him to have a party in his house so that the men could easily enter the premises. Mr Del Duca was bound and gagged by the two men. Water was poured down his mouth as the two men tried to force him to reveal the location of the key to a safe located in his takeaway restaurant. He was stabbed with a screwdriver in the ear and the leg. He sustained permanent loss of feeling in part of his face due to a small nerve being severed during the incident. Osaj was arrested and released on bail pending a trial. He later called gardai and said that he would not appear for the trial, but that he was sure they would catch him later. He fled the country and took refuge in Belgium. In July, 2016 he submitted to the arrest warrant and was brought back to Ireland where he pleaded guilty. Osaj has 26 previous convictions. These convictions include five for burglary, two for possession of an article during a burglary, and one count of robbery and false imprisonment arising from an incident in which he tied up a woman during a burglary. He was sentenced to two years imprisonment for the robbery and false imprisonment charges with the entirety of the sentence suspended. Conor Devally SC, defending, said Osaj had been forced to flee his home country Kosovo due to war and became a refugee in Germany. He came to Ireland in 1997 and became an Irish citizen in 2003. Mr Devally said Osaj accepted he had taken part in the robbery but said that he had not wielded the screwdriver which injured Mr Del Duca. He said it had not been Osajs plan but that he was the muscle in the operation. Judge Greally described the violence as being of a particular nasty nature and said she saw little distinction in culpability between Osaj and the man who organised the robbery. She said the mitigating factors in the case were his guilty plea, his difficult background, that he was a foreign national serving a custodial sentence in a foreign country, and the fact that he has three children. Update 4.30pm: Louise James, who lost her partner Sean and four family members in the tragedy, has spoken of how she felt something was not right on the day that her family were hit by tragedy. In a statement which was read at the inquest she said she was about to fly home from a hen weekend in Liverpool when the incident happened. At 6.55pm she rang her daughter Jodie and she said they were in Buncrana at a play park by the shore. A short time later Ms James said: "I got a feeling that something was not right. "I tried to contact Sean and Jodie but their phones would not connect." She rang her brother Nathan, asking had her mother come home, and he said she had not. When her plane landed in Belfast her brother Joshua told her what happened. She went directly to a hotel in Derry, saw her baby and was taken to identify the victims. The inquest has also heard this afternoon that post-mortem results for the driver of the car show he may have been three times over the drink-driving limit. A pathologist who examined Sean McGrotty's body says the results of the post-mortem indicate there may have been an element of intoxication. Pathologist Dr Catriona Dillon said that on examining the body Dr Dillon found 159 milligrams per decimetre of alcohol in Mr McGrotty's blood. The legal limit is 50 milligrams per decimetre. The pathologist told the inquest she couldn't indicate if the alcohol-impaired Mr McGrotty's driving as it depended on a number of factors including whether he was a habitual drinker. But she said the levels of alcohol found might indicate an element of intoxication involved. Mr McGrotty was behind the wheel when his car entered the water at Buncrana pier last year, in an incident that saw him, his two sons, their grandmother and her daughter to lose their lives. The inquest also heard it would have cost 400 to clear algae from Buncrana Pier, an expert report said. The treacherous bloom was as "slippery as ice" when the family car slid into the water last year, an eye witness said. No barrier prevented people from accessing the slipway and no signs were displayed warning specifically of the danger. A risk assessment had not been carried out for 15 years, lawyer Keith O'Grady said. File image of Buncrana Pier He added: "In 2016 you have open access to a slipway covered in algae and in 2017 you have the slipway power-washed, cleaned, in excellent condition, and the gate closed and nobody can go down." John McLaughlin, a director at Donegal County Council, said the purpose of cleaning the slipway was to facilitate a ferry which used it during the summer but not in the winter. The council commissioned consultants to draw up a report following last year's tragedy. Mr McLaughlin added: "The 400 talks about removing it (algae) once but it does not say the frequency of removal so that will be a matter for Donegal County Council and the total cost but certainly 400 seems low." He said during winter the slipway was rarely used. He added that drivers using the flat section of the pier had a good view of the algae closer to the watermark. Following an investigation the intention is to keep the gates open. They were installed to control boarding of the ferry. He said the council was doing everything in its power within its budget to ensure no repeat of the tragedy. Update - 1.15pm: Former footballer Davitt Walsh, who swam out into the harbour in an effort to save the six occupants of the Audi Q7, said he had been aware that the algae would be slippery, but that a stranger would not have been aware of the dangers. When he realised the situation he swam straight to the car. As he arrived, Mr McGrotty smashed a window in the car. The father handed him the baby then sat out of the vehicle on the window ledge, his head and shoulders were out and his hands on the roof - but his legs were still inside, Mr Walsh said. At that stage water which had been seeping in turned into a surge. Mr Walsh said: "It was like a wave rushing in...it gushed in." He added: "I saw a young boy inside the car trying to clamber out past the driver. "I reached in and grabbed the wee boy, I tried to pull the wee boy out but he seemed to get stuck on something. "When the driver sat on the window ledge I remember the car tilted and the water then started to gush into the car. Davitt Walsh, who swam out into the harbour in an effort to save six occupants of an Audi Q7 that plunged off a pier, arrives at the Lake of Shadows Hotel in Buncrana, Co Donegal, for the inquest. "Just as I was trying to pull the wee boy out of the car the water rushed in and I had to let go. "The father climbed back into the car, looked back and me and said 'save my baby'. "The water gushed in and the car went under the water." He added: "I had to let go because I was struggling as hard as I could to avoid getting sucked into the water." When he made it back to the slipway and handed the baby to his girlfriend, he collapsed with exhaustion and had to be helped from the slippery surface. He said: "I could hardly breath, I was so tired." It was freezing cold and he suffered cuts to his feet which he was treated for in hospital. File photo of a Garda at the pier last year after the accident. Garda Sergeant Mark Traynor said gardai were on the scene within four or five minutes of the call but by that stage there was no sign of the car. He said gardai were at the back gate of the station when they received the call. He added that the RNLI responded within a similar time as its members were returning from an exercise. Coroner Denis McCauley said: "It is a really short time." Garda Traynor also agreed that the algae was thick and very slippy on the pier and that his colleagues were also very aware of this. Solicitor for Donegal County Council, Mr Michael Staines, said that almost every pier had algae on it. "The algae was very evident," added the Garda. During cross examination, Sgt Traynor told the inquest that a file had been prepared on the incident and sent to the Director of Public Prosections. He said the recommendation from the DPP was that nobody was to be prosecuted as a result of the tragedy. The inquest was told that the gate leading down to the slipway was open at the time and cars were freely allowed to enter onto it. The only signage on the day was warnings not to swim within 15 metres of the pier. Sgt Traynor said a life buoy was used during the incident. Since then additional buoyancy aids have been installed and a gate prevents cars from parking on the slipway, lawyer Keith O'Grady told the inquest. He said it appeared tyre marks on the slipway were those of the victims' vehicle. No prosecutions were taken in the case. Mr O'Grady said the only sign at the time was one warning people not to swim within 15 metres of the slipway. Sgt Traynor said additional signage had since been installed. Update - 12.05pm: Emergency services called after a car plunged off a pier in Buncrana arrived within 12 minutes, an eyewitness has said. By the time the RNLI lifesavers reached the scene the Derry family's car had disappeared into Lough Swilly and the victims were floating in the water, Francis Crawford told an inquest into the tragedy. There was no suggestion the speed of the response was inappropriate. He added: "The car was floating, bobbing in the water, 10 to 15 yards from the slipway, and slowly floating, bobbing off to the right of the slipway. "I could still hear people and the child screaming from the car, all the time the car must have been taking on water. "I was hoping that the emergency services would arrive and the car would not go down." Witness Francis Crawford arrives at the Lake of Shadows Hotel in Buncrana, Co Donegal, for the inquest into the deaths of five family members after their Audi Q7 plunged off a pier last year. He added: "I could hear sirens, the nose of the car dipped...and the car sank to the bottom." Mr Crawford had called the Coastguard for help after Sean McGrotty urged him to seek emergency assistance. He asked for the coastguard service and was immediately put through to the Malin Head Coastguard Station. He told the coastguard member, Mike Mullin, that a car was in the water off the pier with a family in it and that a tragedy was about to happen. The witness said it took 12 minutes for the RNLI to arrive. Mr Crawford added that during that time he heard the squeals and crying of children inside the car. Then a man and a woman arrived on the scene. Mr Crawford asked the man, who later turned out to be Davitt Walsh, if he could swim and he replied he could. He pleaded with Mr Walsh to try and swim out to the car. Mr Walsh, who was along with his girlfriend Stephanie Knox, stripped down to his boxer-shorts, and swam out to the troubled car. Mr Crawford said he continued to hear screaming from those inside but he soon saw Mr Walsh coming back to the slipway with a baby in his arms. He said Mr Walsh told him that he tried to get another boy out but that his leg had got caught. He added that he hoped Mr Walsh would be able to return to the water but that he was simply exhausted. Mrs Kay Crawford gave similar evidence to that of her husband. She added that she noticed there were tyre marks on the slipway but she said she could not say if it was from Mr McGrotty's vehicle. Green algae had covered the slipway. The first witness to the inquest in Buncrana added: "It was treacherous to walk on, slippery as ice." Update - 10.46am: The inquest into the Buncrana pier tragedy has opened in Co Donegal, writes Stephen Maguire. A large attendance of Gardai, members of the RNLI, family members, members of the legal profession, members of Donegal County Council and others are present at the Lake of Shadows Hotel in the seaside town. The inquest, which will hear evidence from 12 witnesses on the tragic events, is expected to last two days. Five family members drowned on March 20, 2016, when the Audi Q7 car they were in slid off the pier and into the water. Those who lost their lives were Sean McGrotty, his sons Mark, 11 and eight-year-old Evan, his mother-in-law Ruth Daniels and her teenage daughter Jodie-Lee Tracey. Baby girl Rionaghac-Ann was saved when her father passed her out the window to local man Davitt Walsh who bravely tried to come to the familys aid. Over the next two days, the inquest will try to establish exactly what happened on that evening. Louise James, who lost her partner Sean and four family members in the tragedy, has said she is hoping the two days will pass soon so she and her baby girl can get on with life. Louise told her priest, Father Paddy O'Kane in Ballymagroarty, that she is taking each day as it comes. Father O'Kane said he called with Louise a few days ago and revealed how Louise, from Derry, said she wanted to then get on with her life along with her baby Rioghnach. Coroner Denis McCauley will oversee the inquest hearing today, where a jury will be sworn in to hear evidence from 12 depositions. Before the inquest opened, Dr McCauley took the jury to a separate room to address them on their duties. He opened the inquest by addressing those present and explaining the format the inquest will take. He said those present had an important and solemn duty to do. Coroner Dr Denis McCauley (second from right) with Irish Water Safety CEO John Leech and Garda Siochana members Inspector David Murphy and Sgt Mark Traynor at Buncrana Pier today where the tragedy happened. Pic: North West Newsxpix He asked the media to be very sensitive and to report the inquest in the most honest and non-sensational way. No running order of witnesses has yet been given. However, among those who will take the stand are Francis and Kay Crawford, Davitt Walsh, Garda Sgt Mark Traynor, John Leech of Irish Water Safety, Louise James, Garda Seamus Callaghan, Garda Damien Mulkearns, Robert Gray from Audi Ireland and John McLaughlin from Donegal County Council. The inquest will also examine reports by Donegal County Council into their piers and slipways, with input from Irish Water Safety Authority and the Road Safety Authority of Ireland. A report from Volkswagen Ireland has also been prepared for the inquest. A large media presence has gathered at the inquest for the hearing. Earlier: The inquest into the Buncrana pier tragedy will begin this morning. The Coroner for Donegal says they will aim to establish exactly what happened on the day five members of one family lost their lives. On March 20, 2016, a car slid off Buncrana pier and into the waters of Lough Swilly. Five members of one family were killed in the incident - 49-year-old Sean McGrotty, who was driving the car, his sons 12-year-old Mark and eight-year-old Evan - their Grandmother Ruth Daniels and her 14-year-old daughter Jodie Lee. Former footballer Davitt Walsh swam out into the harbour in an effort to save the six occupants of the Audi Q7. Sean McGrotty handed his four-month-old baby daughter Rionaghac-Ann to Mr Walsh through the broken driver's side window just moments before the vehicle sank. Mr Walsh has been awarded a gold medal for bravery at sea. The inquest into their deaths starts this morning with 12 witnesses due to give evidence. It will try to establish exactly what events led to the tragedy. The inquest at a hotel in the town also intends to look into the conditions of all piers and slipways in Donegal, and at guidelines for people whose cars end up in the water. The Coroner Dr Denis McCauley has described what happened there as one of the worst family tragedies on the Irish coast in living memory. A man who took part in the robbery of a taxi driver and was caught using a tracker on his victim's mobile phone has been jailed for three and a half years, writes Fiona Ferguson. Carl Cullen (30), who has a number of relatives that work as taxi drivers, apologised to his victim. He said the robbery had occurred during a "night of absolute madness". Cullen, of Dingle Road, Cabra, Dublin pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to robbery at Tolka Valley Road on February 27, 2017. He has 40 previous convictions. Garda Barry Hehir told Fiona Murphy BL, prosecuting, that Cullen and a co-accused jumped into the taxi at about 6am and asked to go to Finglas. The driver became concerned at the men's behaviour. At Tolka Valley Road the man in the passenger seat pulled up the handbrake. The driver asked him to stop but the man then began pulling at the steering wheel. Cullen, who was in the back, also began grabbing the steering wheel. The taxi driver, fearing they would crash, stopped the car. The men were acting aggressively and he got out of the car, fearing for his own safety. He went to take his phone with him but Cullen grabbed it out of his hand. Cullen chased the victim and tried to punch his head, but missed landing a punch on his shoulder. The taxi driver stayed about 40 metres away from his car. CCTV footage showed the two robbers rummaging through the taxi before running off. A number of items were taken including a phone, MP3 player and bag of coins. Gardai were alerted and the victim was able to tell them the location of his phone using a find phone setting. Gardai brought him to the location given and the victim pointed out Cullen and his co-accused walking along St Helena's Road in Finglas. Garda Hehir agreed with Pieter Le Vert BL, defending, that some of the items had been strewn along the side of the road but that most of the stolen belongings had been recovered. Mr Le Vert said Cullen, a father of three, had been living at a hostel at the time, where he met his co-accused, and this offence occurred at the end of a three-day drinking session. He said his client described it as a night of absolute madness. Counsel said his client has a number of relatives who work as taxi drivers and knows how hard it is. He said Cullen, who began drinking and using cocaine following a bereavement, had shown promise as an athlete. He submitted his client was of a certain age and was not without prospects. Judge Martin Nolan said this was a particularly frightening episode during which the taxi driver had been confronted by two intoxicated and violent men. He took into account Cullen's guilty plea, remorse and his athletic promise. He also noted his previous record of offending and his propensity for violence. He imposed a three and a half year sentence. The UK is failing to offer credible answers to the "hard questions" Ireland and the EU are asking about the fate of the border post Brexit, the Foreign Minister Simon Coveney has said. Mr Coveney rejected suggestions by Brexiteers that politicians in Dublin and Brussels are seeking to exploit the uncertainty over Northern Ireland's position to strengthen the EU's hand in the negotiations. "We are certainly are not seeking to exploit anything," Mr Coveney said on a visit to Belfast. "We are trying to protect a peace process that so many people from all backgrounds, unionist and nationalist, have worked so hard to create." The Fine Gael minister added: "What's happening here is we are asking the hard questions and unfortunately we are not getting credible answers, which is why I think some people seem to be uncomfortable." This week Democratic Unionist leader Arlene Foster accused Dublin and Brussels of acting "recklessly" in regard to Northern Ireland and claimed they were trying to use the North as a bargaining chip. She was reacting to increasingly stark warnings from the EU side that a Brexit with Northern Ireland operating outside the rules of the customs union and single market would have dire consequences for the island's economy and the cross-border provisions of the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement. Europe is calling for a solution that would see Northern Ireland continue to adhere to the EU's regulatory framework, to enable the retention of a free-flowing border. This has angered unionists, who insist the North cannot be treated differently to the rest of the UK. After addressing a Brexit-themed business breakfast hosted by the SDLP, Mr Coveney said he did not want to comment on the specific remarks made by Mrs Foster. However, he stressed that the Irish government's position had been consistent throughout. "I think what maybe has changed is that people are beginning to realise that the Irish government, and the indeed the EU negotiating team, are insisting on credible answers in terms of how we are going to deal with the Irish border issues in the future in the context of Northern Ireland and Britain leaving the EU," he said. "And we are very serious on that because we do not want the relationship between Ireland and Britain, and in particular the relationships on the island of Ireland, to go backwards. "And if there is regulatory divergence between the two jurisdictions on the island of Ireland, well then, in my view, that creates real problems in terms of the need for checks on the back of that regulatory divergence. "So we have been consistent on that and I think the Irish government's position is very credible." Lottie Ryan has spoken about her wedding day, saying her father was greatly missed on the day, writes Denise ODonoghue. Lottie tied the knot with her long-term partner, Fabio Aprile, in Italy earlier this year, and they were legally married in Dublin a few weeks before the ceremony. Her father, broadcaster Gerry Ryan, passed away in 2010. She says she believes her dad would have loved the occassion. "Obviously its emotional but not in a negative way," she told the RTE Guide. "He would have been outrageously happy and he would have loved the day that we planned and loved every second of it." Lottie says it was the hottest day of the year, which came as a surprise as it rained for two days beforehand. "It lashed rain the two days before the wedding and when I woke up on the morning of, it was the hottest day of the year. "I was like Thank God, you have to be useful for something up there." Lottie says she believes he was with her for her wedding. "There was no negative thinking, he was definitely there in whatever capacity it was." Lottie is the eldest of five children and her two sisters, Bonnie and Babette, were her bridesmaids. Her brother, Rex, walked her down the aisle. Previously, Lottie spoke on Breakfast Republic about the ceremony. It was very Italian but that was the reason I wanted to go to Italy. I wanted my side of the family to experience the Italian culture. USA Gymnastics has said it is "very sorry" that young athletes were abused by its former national team doctor Larry Nassar on the day he pleaded guilty to seven counts of sexual assault. Having already pleaded guilty to federal charges for possessing child pornography, Nassar told an Ingham County circuit judge in Michigan on Wednesday that he was also guilty of abusing seven victims during his time as a doctor and osteopath at Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics. The real number of his victims, however, could be far higher, as he also faces sexual assault charges in neighbouring Eaton County next week and is being sued by more than 140 girls and women for alleged abuse that goes back decades. Dr Larry Nassar, 54, appears in court for a plea hearing. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya) Sentencing for the Ingham County charges will take place in January, the court confirmed to Press Association Sport, with sentencing for the federal child pornography charges scheduled for December. The 54-year-old Nassar was involved with America's world-beating gymnastics programme from the 1980s until July 2015, when the sport's national governing body sacked him. In a statement released to Press Association Sport, USA Gymnastics said it "is very sorry that any athlete was harmed by Larry Nassar". It explained that it reported him to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and fired him when it first "learned of athlete concerns" in 2015. It added: "We note that affected women contacted by Michigan prosecutors supported resolution by plea, and USA Gymnastics also views Nassar's guilty plea as an important acknowledgement of his appalling and devious conduct that permits punishment without further victimisation of survivors." Earlier on Wednesday, the governing body praised three-time Olympic champion Gabby Douglas for becoming the most recent high-profile gymnast to say she had been abused by Nassar. The 21-year-old, who was a member of the so-called 'Fierce Five' which dominated at the London Olympics, made the announcement via a post on Instagram on Tuesday. She wrote: "I didn't publicly share my experiences as well as many other things because for years we were conditioned to stay silent and honestly some things were very painful." USA Gymnastics responded by saying it was now trying to "promote an environment of empowerment that encourages speaking up" and was "committed to further developing a culture that has safe sport as a top priority". The organisation, however, has been strongly criticised for its handling of the affair this year, particularly when it did not send a representative to take part in a US Senate hearing on safeguarding in sport. There was also an outcry against the pay-off its former president Steve Penny received when he quit following claims he had been slow to respond to complaints about Nassar. Three of Nassar's accusers - including two he admitted assaulting - held a news conference after the hearing. They accused officials at Michigan State, USA Gymnastics and the US Olympic Committee of inadequately investigating reports of abuse, leading to more girls being molested. "We have yet to hear the truth" from those institutions, said Rachael Denhollander. "Officials who kept Larry in power for decades. Officials who ignored repeated reports of sexual assaults. Officials who brushed the victims off as unable to tell the difference between a medical exam and sexual violation." Michigan State, USA Gymnastics and the US Olympic Committee are all subject to lawsuits in the case. There was no comment from MSU, USA Gymnastics or the US Olympic Committee. Zimbabwe's incoming leader has said his country is a "new and unfolding democracy" as he returned from a brief exile. Emmerson Mnangagwa thanked the people "in the name of Our Lord" in his first public speech since President Robert Mugabe announced his resignation. He addressed a huge crowd outside ruling party headquarters and described what he said were recent attempts to kill him. Mr Mnangagwa said the pressure to "derail the process" of getting Mr Mugabe to step down was intense but "the will of the people will always, always succeed". Mr Mnangagwa spoke hours after returning to the country. He fled earlier this month after his firing by Mr Mugabe who then installed his wife Grace as his preferred successor. Mr Mnangagwa was introduced as "president-in-waiting" by a speaker who praised Zimbabwe's military as "the most disciplined army in the world" during the past week's events. Mr Mnangagwa will be sworn in on Friday following Mr Mugabe's stunning resignation after 37 years at the helm. Chief whip Lovemore Matuke confirmed Mr Mnangagwa was meeting Politburo members at party headquarters for a briefing "on what has been happening in his absence". AP Update 2.59pm: Ratko Mladic, the former commander of the Bosnian Serb army, has been sentenced to life imprisonment after a United Nations special court found him guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity that it labelled as some of the "most heinous" in human history. Mladic, 75, was found guilty by the UN's Yugoslav war crimes tribunal of leading forces responsible for crimes including the worst atrocities of Bosnia's 1992-1995 war - the three-year siege of the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, and the 1995 massacre of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the eastern enclave of Srebrenica, which was Europe's worst mass killing since the Second World War. Former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic has been sentenced to life in prison for the genocide of Bosnian Muslims and other war crimes. pic.twitter.com/eDoCq7JiXI AJ+ (@ajplus) November 22, 2017 "The crimes committed rank among the most heinous known to humankind," Presiding Judge Alphons Orie said when reading out the court's judgment. Mladic's lawyers said they planned to appeal. The convictions were hailed as a victory for international justice by the court's prosecutor and rights groups. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein called Mladic "the epitome of evil" and described the prosecution as "the epitome of what international justice is all about." #Mladic conviction: Todays verdict is a warning to the perpetrators of such crimes that they will not escape justice, no matter how powerful they may be nor how long it may take. They will be held accountable - #Zeid https://t.co/QcfCzuG1KT pic.twitter.com/hk26Kre9VS UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) November 22, 2017 The verdict, he added, should serve as a warning to other perpetrators of atrocities "that they will not escape justice, no matter how powerful they may be nor how long it may take. "They will be held accountable." A three-judge panel at the court, formally known as the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, convicted Mladic of 10 out of 11 counts in a dramatic climax to a groundbreaking effort to seek justice for the wars in the former multi-ethnic federation. Presiding Judge Orie read key parts of the judgment after ordering Mladic out of the courtroom for the final verdict over an angry outburst. Ratko Mladic gave an angry outburst before The Hague convicted him of genocide and crimes against humanity. pic.twitter.com/mrn46nFrAt NBC News (@NBCNews) November 22, 2017 Survivors known as the Mothers of Srebrenica, clapped when the convictions were read out. Mladic's son Darko dismissed the convictions, saying: "I'm not surprised". "The court was totally biased from the start." Mladic's son said judges obstructed defence lawyers in presenting evidence exculpating his father. "This judgment is wrong, it does not achieve anything ... and will be an obstacle to future normal life in the region," he said. Bosniaks and Serbs watched from near and far as the long-awaited climax approached. Today's judgment marks the end of the final trial at the tribunal, which was set up in 1993, while fierce fighting was still raging in Bosnia. The court will close its doors by the end of the year. Tens of thousands of victims of conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina have been waiting more than 20 years for justice. But today former war leader #Mladic has finally been convicted for genocide. Impunity will not be tolerated! https://t.co/v03HSlXRTu pic.twitter.com/Y14YyN3fmb Amnesty International (@amnesty) November 22, 2017 Emotions ran high outside the courtroom, with a small skirmish reflecting lingering tensions between Serbs and Bosniaks over the trial and the war. Despite ailing health, Mladic looked relaxed, greeting lawyers, crossing himself and giving a thumbs-up to photographers in court. He nodded regularly as Orie read out descriptions of atrocities by Bosnian Serb forces, one by one. But midway through the hearing Mladic's lawyer, Dragan Ivetic, asked for a delay because the general was suffering high blood pressure. The judge refused, and Mladic burst out with criticism and was manhandled out of the room by guards to watch the rest of the hearing in a separate room via a video link. "I was not impressed," Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz said. "I think that many of the survivors in the courtroom and seeing him had also very high blood pressure and, as you have seen when he left, when he started speaking, it was not about his health but much more I think trying to insult the judges." Judge Orie said the court confirmed that "genocide, persecution, extermination, murder and the inhuman act of forcible transfer were committed in or around Srebrenica" in 1995. Previous judgments have said it was genocide. However, Judge Orie said the court is not convinced of genocidal intent in six other municipalities, in line with previous judgments. Mr Brammertz said he would study the lengthy written judgment before deciding whether to appeal the single acquittal. Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz. AP Photo/Peter Dejong The conflict in the former Yugoslavia erupted after the country's break-up in the early 1990s, with the worst crimes taking place in Bosnia. More than 100,000 people died and millions lost their homes before a peace agreement was signed in 1995. Mladic went into hiding for around 10 years before his arrest in Serbia in May 2011. Mladic's political master during the war, former Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadzic was also convicted last year for genocide and sentenced to 40 years. He has appealed against the ruling. The man widely blamed for fomenting wars across the Balkans, former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, died in his UN cell in 2006 before tribunal judges could reach verdicts in his trial. In Lazarevo, the small Serbian village where Mladic was arrested in 2011, residents dismissed the guilty verdict against him as biased. Villagers said they do not recognize the tribunal, which they say has sought to solely blame Serbs for the crimes of the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s. Igor Topolic said he was horrified by the convictions, calling Mladic a "Serbian national hero." For a former prisoner of Serb-run camps in northwestern Bosnia who was in The Hague to see justice in action, the verdict was sweet relief. Fikret Alic, who became a symbol of the horrors in Bosnia when his skeletal frame behind barbed wire in a Bosnian Serb camp was featured in front-page photos published in Time magazine in 1992, said: "Justice has won, and the war criminal has been convicted." AP Ediba Salihovic raises her hands as she reacts along with other Bosnian women upon hearing the sentence at the end of former Bosnian Serb military chief Gen. Ratko Mladic's trial. Pic: AP Photo/Amel Emric Update 12.54pm: Ratko Mladic is to appeal against his war crimes tribunal convictions, his defence lawyer said. Update 11.13am: A UN war crimes tribunal has convicted Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic of genocide and sentenced him to life imprisonment. Update 10.42am: A UN judge has adjourned the reading of the judgment against Ratko Mladic and ordered him to be removed from court after an angry outburst by Mladic. Update 10.31am: The United Nations' Yugoslav war crimes tribunal has confirmed that genocide occurred in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica, but has yet to rule on whether Bosnian Serb military chief General Ratko Mladic was responsible. The court found that "genocide, persecution, extermination, murder and the inhuman act of forcible transfer were committed in or around Srebrenica" in 1995, said presiding judge Alphons Orie. Alic, a Bosnian man who became a figurehead for the suffering of Bosnians during the war when he was photographed as an emaciated prisoner behind the wire of a Bosnian Serb prison camp, was among those waiting to watch the hearing. Pic: AP Photo/Phil Nijhuis Previous judgments said the massacre of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the eastern town was genocide. But the court in The Hague has now said it is not convinced of genocidal intent in six other municipalities, in line with previous judgments. The court will rule later on whether Mladic is guilty of genocide and other crimes during Bosnia's 1992-95 war. He insists he is innocent. Supporters of Mladic have put up posters in Bosnia praising him. Posters in the eastern Bosnian town of Bratunac carried a photo of Mladic in military attire with the words "you are our hero" written above. Some former soldiers who fought under him came together to watch the pronouncement of the tribunal on whether he is guilty of genocide and other crimes during Bosnia's 1992-95 war. And survivors of the massacre gathered at the memorial centre to also watch the live TV broadcast from the courtroom. Update 9.01am: The United Nations' Yugoslav war crimes tribunal is set to pass judgment on former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic, who is accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes during Bosnia's devastating 1992-95 war. Mladic, who faces 11 counts, stands accused of commanding forces responsible for crimes including the worst atrocities of the war - the deadly three-year siege of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, and the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the eastern enclave of Srebrenica, which was Europe's worst mass killing since the Second World War. Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic, center, greets members of his defense team as he enters the Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands this morning A three-judge panel at the court formally known as the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia will rule on whether the 75-year-old former general is guilty or innocent. If they convict him, they will immediately pass sentence. Prosecutors have sought a life sentence, while Mladic's defence lawyers say he should be acquitted on all counts. The judgment marks the end of the tribunal's final trial. The groundbreaking court was set up in 1993 while fierce fighting was still raging in Bosnia. The conflict in the former Yugoslavia erupted after the break-up of the multi-ethnic federation in the early 1990s, with the worst crimes taking place in Bosnia. More than 100,000 people died and millions lost their homes before a peace agreement was signed in 1995. Mladic's political master during the war, former Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadzic, was convicted last year for masterminding atrocities in Bosnia and sentenced to 40 years. He has appealed against the ruling. The man widely blamed for fomenting wars across the Balkans, former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, died in his UN cell in 2006 before tribunal judges could reach verdicts in his trial. Mladic went into hiding after the war and remained a fugitive until his arrest in Serbia in May 2011. Long before the hearing in The Hague started today, survivors began gathering outside the court. Fikret Alic, a Bosnian man who became a figurehead for the suffering of Bosnians during the war when he was photographed as an emaciated prisoner behind the wire of a Bosnian Serb prison camp, was among those waiting to watch the hearing. "I expect justice and truth and that he is convicted ... for genocide," Mr Alic said. AP Update 5.45pm: Zimbabwe's incoming leader has said his country is a "new and unfolding democracy" as he returned from a brief exile. Emmerson Mnangagwa thanked the people "in the name of Our Lord" in his first public speech since President Robert Mugabe announced his resignation. He addressed a huge crowd outside ruling party headquarters and described what he said were recent attempts to kill him. Mr Mnangagwa said the pressure to "derail the process" of getting Mr Mugabe to step down was intense but "the will of the people will always, always succeed". The new leader spoke hours after returning to the country. He fled earlier this month after his firing by Mr Mugabe who then installed his wife Grace as his preferred successor. Mr Mnangagwa was introduced as "president-in-waiting" by a speaker who praised Zimbabwe's military as "the most disciplined army in the world" during the past week's events. He will be sworn in on Friday following Mr Mugabe's stunning resignation after 37 years at the helm. Chief whip Lovemore Matuke confirmed Mr Mnangagwa was meeting Politburo members at party headquarters for a briefing "on what has been happening in his absence". AP Update 5.05pm: Hundreds of people have gathered in expectation of a speech by Zimbabwe's incoming leader Emmerson Mnangagwa after his return to the country. The crowd gathered outside the ruling party headquarters where Mr Mnangagwa is being briefed. He will be sworn in on Friday following Robert Mugabe's stunning resignation after 37 years. Chief whip Lovemore Matuke confirmed that Mr Mnangagwa is in the capital, Harare, and will meet Politburo members at party headquarters for a briefing "on what has been happening in his absence." Mr Mnangagwa fled the country after former president Robert Mugabe fired him earlier this month, leading the military to step in. Mr Mugabe resigned yesterday amid impeachment proceedings after an outpouring of opposition to his 37-year-rule. AP Supporters await the arrival in Harare. Pic: AP Photo/Ben Curtis Update 2.12pm: Zimbabwe's fired vice president was set to return to be sworn in as the new leader, after Robert Mugabe announced his stunning resignation during impeachment proceedings against him. The state-run broadcaster said Emmerson Mnangagwa would arrive at Manyame Air Base in the capital, Harare, at 6pm. The Parliament speaker said he would be sworn in on Friday after the ruling party notified him of its nomination of Mr Mnangagwa to replace Mr Mugabe until the end of the term next year. Several hundred people gathered singing and cheering outside the base in anticipation of Mr Mnangagwa's arrival. A man in the crowd, Godwin Nyarugwa, who has several university degrees but no job, said Zimbabwe has been through "crisis after crisis" and Mr Mnangagwa seems best suited to lead the country forward. "We have to try him and see," he said. "If he doesn't come up with something, we need to change him as well." Zimbabweans cheered and danced in the streets of Harare late into the night after the resignation, thrilled to be rid of a leader whose early promise after the end of white minority rule in 1980 was overtaken by economic collapse, government dysfunction and human rights violations. Now the focus turns to Mr Mnangagwa, Mr Mugabe's long-time deputy who was pushed aside earlier this month as unpopular first lady Grace Mugabe positioned herself to replace him and succeed her husband. It was reported that Mr Mnangagwa would be met on arrival by army commander Constantino Chiwenga and ruling party officials and was expected "to meet Mugabe for a briefing." "Everyone was engulfed with excitement and they are looking for a better future, a brighter future with work," said Patrick Musira on the streets of the capital. AP A supporter at the Manyame Air Force Base in Harare waits for the expected arrival of Zimbabwe's recently fired vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa. Pic: AP Photo/Ben Curtis Update 10.18am: Zimbabwes recently fired vice president is set to return to be sworn in as the countrys new leader after Robert Mugabe announced his resignation in the middle of impeachment proceedings against him. It is thought that the new president will be sworn in on Friday. Zimbabweans erupted in response yesterday, cheering and dancing in the streets late into the night, thrilled to be rid of a leader whose early promise after the end of white minority rule in 1980 was overtaken by economic collapse, government dysfunction and human rights violations. Now the focus turns to Emmerson Mnangagwa, Mugabes long-time deputy who was pushed aside earlier this month as unpopular first lady Grace Mugabe positioned herself to replace him and succeed her husband. Mr Mnangagwa fled the country, claiming to have received threats on his life. That led the military to step in a week ago, opening the door for the ruling party and the people to publicly turn against the president. It is not clear what 93-year-old Mugabe and his wife will do next. Mugabe, who was the worlds oldest head of state, said in his resignation letter that legal procedures should be followed to install a new president "no later than tomorrow". The speaker of parliament is expected to speak to reporters on the way forward. Zimbabweans woke up to the first day in 37 years without Mugabe in power. With some nursing hangovers, they looked over newspaper headlines such as "Adios Bob and Ta-ta President". "I think this change of government is like a new breath of fresh air right across the country," said Patrick Musira on the streets of the capital, Harare. "Everyone was engulfed with excitement and they are looking for a better future, a brighter future with work." Zimbabwes new leaders are faced with a once-prosperous nation whose economy has collapsed, sending well-educated but frustrated young people into desperate work as street vendors, while many have left the country. Mr Mnangagwa is a former justice and defence minister who served for decades as Mugabes enforcer, a role that earned him the nickname "Crocodile". Many opposition supporters believe he was instrumental in the army killings of thousands of people when Mugabe moved against a political rival in the 1980s. So far in the current political turmoil, Mr Mnangagwa has used inclusive language, saying in a statement hours before Mugabes resignation that all Zimbabweans should work together to advance their nation. "Never should the nation be held at ransom by one person ever again, whose desire is to die in office at whatever cost to the nation," Mr Mnangagwa said. AP Marine Le Pen, head of Frances far-right National Front, has said the partys long-time bank, Societe Generale, has closed its accounts. She said the move amounts to a "banking fatwa" to suffocate the party. Ms Le Pen claimed at a news conference today that the move is purely political and endangers the democratic process. She said a legal complaint would be filed against Societe Generale, one of Frances largest banks, as well as against HSBC, her personal bank, which also allegedly shut her out. Societe Generale denied in a statement that the closing of National Front accounts was political, saying such moves "depend purely on banking reasons". It gave no reason for the closing of the party account and related accounts. Ms Le Pen refused to disclose how much money was in the accounts, which she said included those of about 15 National Front federations around France. What Ms Le Pen called the "banishment" of her party from the banking system is the latest in a multitude of financial, judicial and political woes for the National Front, which was refused loans for campaigning for French and legislative elections this year. Following Front National press conference: Societe Generale groups decisions on opening or closing a bank account depend purely on banking reasons and in respect of all regulatory requirements, without taking into account any political consideration.https://t.co/ULknXZ5Wng Societe Generale Group (@SocieteGenerale) November 22, 2017 Ms Le Pen lost the May presidential election to centrist Emmanuel Macron, with whom she raised the banking issue during a meeting this week as he received party leaders. The National Front was able to reopen an old account at Credit du Nord bank, a subsidiary of Societe Generale. However, it is deprived of cheque books, members and supporters are unable to pay dues or donations on the party site and it cannot make automatic withdrawals, such as to pay officials, Ms Le Pen said. Such measures have upset "the normal functioning of a party ...", Ms Le Pen said. "We are in the presence of an attempted suffocation of an opposition movement." AP The United States is declaring that the violence against Rohingya Muslims in Burma constitutes ethnic cleansing. More than 600,000 Rohingya from Burmas Rakhine State have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh amid the violence, seeking refuge from what the military called "clearance operations." Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, acting on a recent recommendation from the State Department, has now said: "No provocation can justify the horrendous atrocities that have ensued" for which he blames Burmas forces and "local vigilantes". He added that those responsible "must be held accountable." US lawmakers and rights groups have been urging the Trump administration to call the violence ethnic cleansing. Secretary Tillerson today on #Burma: After a careful and thorough analysis of available facts, it is clear that the situation in northern #Rakhine state constitutes ethnic cleansing against the #Rohingya. https://t.co/BPTxdwti3C Department of State (@StateDept) November 22, 2017 The declaration is likely to increase pressure on the Trump administration and Congress to move toward new sanctions on Burma. The crisis started in August, when Rohingya insurgents attacked Burmese security forces, leading to a brutal crackdown in which soldiers and Buddhist mobs killed men, raped woman and burned homes and property to force the Rohingya to leave. Mr Tillerson travelled to Burma last week in the highest level visit by a US official since President Donald Trump took office. He met with the countrys civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and powerful military chief, Min Aung Hlaing. Aung San Suu Kyi He said the US would consider targeted sanctions against individuals deemed responsible for the violence, but he was not advocating broad-based economic sanctions against the entire nation. Sanctions on the south-east Asian nation were eased in recent years as the country made steps towards democracy. Although the "ethnic cleansing" label does not carry specific legal requirements for the US, it is likely to intensify calls for the Trump administration and Congress to move toward new sanctions on Burma. Earlier this year the US restored restrictions on granting visas to members of Burmas military, and the State Department has deemed units and officers involved in operations in Rakhine state illegible for US assistance. AP Latest News MFAA elects board members One re-elected, two newcomers welcomed ANZ raises fixed rates Forty other lenders have hiked at least one fixed rate in the last month, data shows Fintech firm Carrott has expanded its micro-savings app into the home loan space to help consumers use small payments to pay off their mortgages faster.Originally built around superannuation and assisting people when saving up for their retirement, the company decided to expand out into home loans and HECS at the beginning of November.Carrotts a micro-savings platform. What we do is round up your everyday transactions from your debit card or credit card to the next dollar, Christian Raftery, CEO of Carrott, told Australian Broker.The firm decided to move into debt instead of focusing solely on superannuation because customers wanted to see the micro-payments having tangible effects on their financial wellbeing in real time instead of something in the distant future, he said.How the app currently works is small payments are made until they accumulate to $5. They will then be debited from the individuals account and later deposited as specified into a particular home loan, super fund or HECS debt at the end of the month.The app itself is aimed at those who want to put a little bit extra aside each month to pay off their home loans but who dont have the time to do this, he said.They want to find that extra way to pay it down a little bit quicker, having an impact on their lifestyle. Thats the whole theme throughout Carrott. We want to help stop lazy cash but we also want to be a financial wellness company that looks after you and helps you build your financial future.Raftery said that brokers should recommend the app to their clients because it shows an interest in the customers wellbeing.As some broker clients may not be ready to take out a home loan, Carrott can help them transition to a more prepared stage by helping them get rid of debt such as HECS faster. Those who get approved for a loan will also have access to the mortgage feature of the app so they can pay off their debt even faster, he said.For the broker, this shows that theyre committed to their client and they want to help them. It builds up rapport.This could positively affect repeat business when customers come back and refinance in the future, he added.While Carrott cannot legally implement a referral scheme and remuneration at present, Raftery said the firm will be looking into this especially if it can gain an AFS licence in the future. Latest News MFAA elects board members One re-elected, two newcomers welcomed ANZ raises fixed rates Forty other lenders have hiked at least one fixed rate in the last month, data shows Andrew Matthews, a former mobile banker with National Australia Bank ( NAB ), has appeared before the Melbourne Magistrates Court charged with falsifying home loan documents and attempting to defraud the bank.According to ABC News, Matthews faces 49 counts of obtaining property by deception, one charge of attempting to obtain property by deception, one charge of conspiring to defraud and three counts of possessing proceeds of crime.Overall, his activities and the commission gained allegedly netted him $825,000 in cash as well as a Ferrari.Matthews has been accused of getting dozens of customers to sign documents falsifying they had been referred to NAB through its Introducer Program between 2012 and 2016. He was also accused of conspiring with a second individual to split any commissions gained.A NAB spokesperson said the bank identified the alleged scam through its own internal checks and balances.We immediately reported him to Victoria Police, and have cooperated fully with their investigations.Matthews was named NABs mobile banker of the year for regional Victoria in 2015 before the bank terminated his employment in July last year, the spokesperson added.ABC News reported that the accused is now on bail and will face the Melbourne Magistrates Court again in February.This matter is separate to last weeks incident which saw 20 NAB bankers fired and 2,300 home loan customers remediated. A 24-year-old man is facing a slew of felony charges for illegal straw purchase of 21 guns at gun stores, almost exclusively in Bucks County. Leonard Truesdale was arraigned on Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022, on 21 counts each of making false statements on firearm purchase forms, criminal conspiracy to make false statements on firearm purchase forms and selling or transferring... latest news October 31, 2022 Buddy TV In November, there are hundreds of new and returning TV showsit can be overwhelming to try and choose what to watch. That's why we've selected some of the best options... Last time on NCIS, Gibbs was visited again by the ghost of Mike Franks while working on a case, and McGee received some life-changing news Delilah is having twins! This episode of NCIS, titled Ready or Not, focuses on the hunt for an international arms dealer. Oh, and Delilah goes into labor three weeks before her due date. Is NCIS Hinting at a Health Scare for Gibbs?>>> Thanksgiving Plans The episode kicks off in a convenience store, where an unhappy customer named Andre is complaining about the coffee. The customers friend takes a phone call from his mother back in Kiev. Andre reminds him that he was supposed to leave his phone off until the job was completed. Andre walks outside and is greeted by an MI-5 agent named Nigel Ford. Ford has tracked Andre there, and he asks Andre if he has reached him in time. Andre replies that Ford is too late, and a moment later, both men fire their guns at each other. Andres friend comes out of the store, and Andre shoots him before limping away. Ford takes out his phone and calls Jack Sloane. It is Thanksgiving, and Bishop is helping to coordinate Duckys potluck Thanksgiving feast. Reeves is bringing canned cranberries because cooking is not one of his skills. Torres deflates Reeves enthusiasm for his first Thanksgiving by telling Reeves to bring as many tins as he wants because Torres is going to prepare fresh cranberries. McGee comes in, and he is tired. He has been up all night putting together the second crib, and he has three pieces left over. See, NCIS agents are just like all the rest of us. McGee and Delilah are also stressed about finding a name for their babies. The boys name has already been narrowed down to Han, Harrison or Indiana. Reeves remarks, Poor kid! Jack Faces a Loss Gibbs comes in and tells the team about the dead MI-5 officer and that he is one of Jacks friends. Gibbs arrives and finds Jack kneeling by her friends body. Reeves knows that Ford is a great officer and Ford was legendary at the training academy. Jack and Ford worked together on a joint operation two years earlier. They connected again when Ford came to town the previous week. Ford was pursuing international arms dealer Andre Yorka. Andre was the case that Ford and Jack had worked on, and Ford had tracked Andre back to DC, even though Andre had entered the country thanks to a fake visa. Jack was planning to drop off her old files so that she and Ford could figure out where to find Andre. McGee comes back with a still picture from the video surveillance. The clerk has identified Andre as the shooter. The other victim lying in the parking lot is Victor Lopuchin, who lived in Baltimore and worked in food delivery. Torres notices a blood trail that leads up to some tire marks. Abby calls McGee and tells him not to panic. She is driving Delilah to the hospital, and her water has broken. Gibbs sends McGee to meet his wife at the hospital. McGee is panicked when he reaches the hospital and a security guard, Morgan Cade, shows him the way. Cade tells McGee that his life is about to change forever. You can say that again, Cade. Abby is waiting for McGee. He wants to see Delilah but is told that he needs to wait because the doctor is examining her. Where is the Bomb? In the squad room, Reeves is giving a report on Ford. Ford joined MI-5 in 2010 and was an undercover officer. Andre was dishonorably discharged from the Serbian army. Andre was also associated with a hate group before entering the arms trade. He has many enemies and has been banned from several countries, including Romania. Lopuchin had ties to the Russian mob before he immigrated to the United States. Andre usually hires local people and then leaves his associates to answer for his crimes. Gibbs goes to autopsy after Bishop reluctantly shares Jacks whereabouts. Jack is sitting next to Fords body, while Ducky and Palmer are starting to work on Lopuchins remains. Jack is emotional, and it is obvious how much Ford means to her. Jack wants nothing more than to see Andre brought to justice. Palmer notices an unusual odor on Lopuchins hands, and it is the aroma of plastic explosives. Abby and McGee go in to see Delilah, and the doctor confirms that she is ready to deliver in the next couple of hours, as early labor is common with twins. McGee has brought Delilahs comfort kit to the hospital, and it consists of all the necessities: a portable mini fan, an aromatherapy bear and her favorite comic books. Since her husband is nervous, Delilah sends him off in search of an ice-cold grape soda, even though she cant drink anything while she is in labor. Abby is also nervous, but her task is to feed Delilah ice chips. McGee goes to see security guard Cade because he needs to find a soda machine. As McGee walks by a waiting area, he sees Andre sitting in a chair. Quiz: Who is Your TV Boss?>>> Drama in the Emergency Department Lopuchin checked in to a local hotel, the Westcott, two days ago and never checked out. Could the hotel be a target? McGee calls Gibbs, and Gibbs put him on speaker, anticipating information about Delilah and the babies. McGee tells the team that Andre is at the hospital, and he tells Cade to keep an eye on the suspect until backup arrives. Cade spooks Andre, and the security guard struggles with Andre when he tries to leave. Andre shoots him. McGee pulls his gun as Andre threatens the crowd. He wants to get medical attention, and he wants it now. Andre grabs a woman as she makes a break for the door. McGee puts down his gun and slides it over to Andre. Cade, who is wounded, makes a grab for the gun. Andre orders McGee to go and find a doctor, but McGee doesnt want to leave Cade and the woman behind. Gibbs, Bishop and Sloane head to the hospital, and Reeves and Torres go to the hotel. The agents enter the hospital and overhear Andre yelling at McGee. Jack reminds them that they must not show their guns, as Andre will kill everyone unless he feels in control. Gibbs enters with his hands up, and Bishop comes out on the other side. Andre orders the female hostage to search Gibbs and Bishop for weapons, and she hands over all the guns and knives that the agents have on them. Gibbs identifies them as NCIS agents and asks Andre to let Cade and the other hostage go in exchange for himself and Bishop. Andre wants the bullet out and transportation out of the country. McGee is putting pressure on Cades gunshot wound, and Abby calls him. Cade asks Andre to let McGee go because his wife is ready to deliver his babies. This nugget piques Andres interest, and he asks if this is true. Gibbs and Bishop try to throw Andre off the scent by saying that Cade is losing blood and is delirious. Andre tosses the female hostage to the chairs, and Andre points his gun at McGee and threatens that McGee wont get to meet his new babies unless Andres demands are met. Yikes! Abby isnt sure what is going on, and Bishop and Jack are in a treatment room trying to get a doctor to work on Andre when Abby calls. They video chat, and Jack holds up the phone to the window, giving Abby a glimpse of Andre holding a gun on McGee. Abby is going to have to handle Delilah on her own. Torres beeps in and tells Bishop that there are traces of both men in the hotel room. They left behind a train schedule, bomb plans and bomb parts. Jack tells Reeves and Torres that Andre is not a traditional terrorist, in that he needs a personal reason to drive his motives. A Terrorist Plot Jack and Bishop decide to make their move. Bishop storms into the waiting room and demands to know where Andres bomb is. Gibbs gets angry and scream at her for throwing away all the leverage that they have on the case. Andre again demands a doctor, and Gibbs goes to find one. They are having no luck finding a real doctor, so Jack decides to dress up as one. She also has some ketamine to put Andre out of commission. Abby returns to Delilah, but Delilah is watching the news and she knows what is happening in the emergency department with her husband. Meanwhile, Reeves is checking through a laptop in the hotel room and finds a file about the International Coalition for Peace, which placed an order for food through Lapuchins business. The group is comprised of dignitaries from around the world, including Romania. Hello, motive! The food delivery was for a brunch at the Westcott Hotel that is about to begin in minutes. They also finally get surveillance footage of the parking lot and discover that Andre made his escape in Lapuchins business van, but someone else was driving. Back in the emergency room, Jack shows up with a gurney. Jack wants to inject Andre with a local, but he refuses any painkillers. As Jack is looking at the wound, Gibbs grabs a leg brace and starts across the room. The female hostage sticks a gun in his back. Jack tries to cut Andres pant leg off, and Gibbs takes the opportunity to send Cade and McGee out of the room. McGee waits with Cade for a doctor, and Cade tells McGee, just before he dies, You go now. Be a great daddy. That is so sad. A Special Delivery (or Two) At the hotel, Reeves and Torres race to the function room that is holding the brunch. Hotel security is confident that there are no bombs, as Homeland Security did a sweep that morning. Torres and McGee want to check themselves. They dont find any explosives in the room but check the carts that are bringing in the food from the kitchen. The first cart is clean, but the second has plastic explosives along the bottom. The agents hurriedly evacuate the room before engaging in an amusing exchange about which wire to cut to disable the bomb. They decide to cut both and run. They leave the room, and the bomb stops ticking. Andre screams in agony as Jack digs around in his leg for the bullet. She finally removes it. Andre demands his transportation, and Gibbs takes a call from Torres, telling Andre that it is regarding his demands. Gibbs informs Andre that his bomb has been disabled and that he is of no use anymore. Jack jams her finger into Andres gaping leg wound, while Gibbs punches his accomplice in the face. Jack starts repeatedly punching Andre in the face until Gibbs pulls her off. Jack walks away after screaming at the arms dealer that he had killed her friend. McGee gowns up just in time for Delilah to start pushing. Soon, the babies are welcomed into the world. Abby tells the elated new parents that the situation with Andre is over. Abby plans to send the team up for a visit and proclaims this to be the best Thanksgiving ever! The couple discusses baby names, and Delilah suggests John after McGees father. McGee has a suggestion for their daughter: Morgan. Welcome, little Morgan and Johnny! I enjoyed this episode of NCIS with its blend of tension and humor and, of course, the arrival of McGee and Delilahs babies. Were you surprised that the female hostage was an accomplice? Did you think that Abby was uncharacteristically anxious while she was taking care of Delilah? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below. NCIS season 15 airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on CBS. Want more news? Like our Facebook page. (Image courtesy of CBS) Unlock 30+ premium stories daily hand-picked by our editors, across devices on browser and app. Full access to our intuitive epaper - clip, save, share articles from any device; newspaper archives from 2006. Curated newsletters on markets, personal finance, policy & politics, start-ups, technology, and more. Pick your 5 favourite companies, get a daily email with all news updates on them. 26 years of website archives. Stocks of and Retail (ABFRL) have not been a favourite on the bourses but brokerages remain bullish, hoping the network expansion of Pantaloons will bring growth. Days after revised the wages in the company, its employees are protesting against the disparity of wage structure in with other public sector utilities. The employees have also alleged that the executive staff has increased its salary at par with other Maharatna PSUs such as ONGC but that of non-executive staff continues to be low. Cellular operators' body has asked the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) for more time to operationalise new modes like OTP for Aadhaar-based re-verification of mobile subscribers' SIMs. The current deadline is December 1. "We are not ready. We have told the UIDAI and the Telecom Department that timeframe which has been given to the operators from UIDAI is unrealistic in terms of implementation that is being proposed," Director-General of Cellular Operators' Association of India Rajan Mathews told PTI. is also pushing for SMS-based, One Time Password to be included as part of the new mechanism, in which web-based and IVRS-based processes have been accorded the green signal. Besides, it has flagged that Customer Acquisition Form (CAF) will need suitable modification under the new system, and operators will require at least 4-6 weeks after a key issues have been decided. "Considering the technical changes that the telecom operators have to undergo, the timelines for implementation of any such process should be realistic, at least 4-6 weeks from the date of the process being finalised and implementation orders issued by Department of Telecom (alongwith the new eCAF)," Mathews said in a letter dated November 20 to the UIDAI. COAI, which represents telecom majors like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, and Idea Cellular, said that the present customer acquisition form will need to be modified as "it would not be possible for the telecom service providers to fill many of the mandatory fields in the CAF in an OTP-based process". It said that modified CAF is required to be issued by the DoT and "the same would need to be developed by the telecom service providers and incorporated in their apps pan India". The government announced last month that it would simplify the Aadhaar-based verification of existing SIMs by enabling OTP-based authentication. Telecom service providers have been instructed to initiate a scheme to use OTP based re-verification of mobile subscribers using IVRS or mobile app. While the authentication of mobile phone number with Aadhaar, a process called re-verification, by visiting stores of telecom firms will continue, the government has also ordered the companies to carry out the exercise at the doorsteps of the disabled, chronically ill and senior citizens. The Haryana government on Tuesday ordered a probe into an allegation that Fortis Hospital in Gurgaon overcharged the family of a seven-year-old girl, who died of dengue, hours after the Centre asked it to initiate an urgent inquiry into the case. The private hospital has denied the charge, saying the patient's kin was informed about the bill on a daily basis. State Health Minister Anil Vij said a senior officer would investigate the case. Directions have been issued to the officer to submit the probe report at the earliest so that strict action could be taken against the guilty, he said. He said no hospital in the state would be allowed to play with the health and sentiments of the people. The health ministry earlier asked the Haryana government to take "exemplary" action against Fortis if "overcharging, negligence or malfeasance" were established in the case of the dengue patient. The case relates to the death in September of the dengue patient, Adya Singh, who was admitted to Fortis Memorial Research Institute (FMRI), Gurgaon, a multi super-speciality care hospital, for 15 days. The hospital billed her family almost Rs 16 lakh. The episode was highlighted recently on Twitter by a friend of the girl's father, who alleged the hospital charged a huge sum of money for the treatment, and the patient later died. The Twitter posts went viral, in the wake of which Health Minister J P Nadda took cognisance of the case. Terming the incident "very unfortunate", Nadda earlier in the day had asked Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan to look into the case. She in turn wrote a letter to the principal secretary of Haryana's health department, asking for an action-taken report within two weeks, following which the state government initiated the probe. The hospital in a statement refuted the allegation and said there was no medical negligence and all standard protocols were followed in the treatment of the patient. "Patient Adya Singh was admitted at FMRI on August 31 at 11:16 am with an initial diagnosis of severe dengue. At the time of admission, the child's condition was serious and deteriorating," the statement said. After an MRI (brain) of the patient on September 14, her family was again explained about the critical condition of the child, after which "they took the decision to take the child Leave Against Medical Advice (LAMA)", the hospital said, adding she succumbed the same day. A total of 750 pairs of gloves and 600 syringes during a 15-day stay is "justifiable and acceptable" when the patient is in an ICU setting. Syringes are being misrepresented as "injections" which are very different from each other, it claimed. The hospital had yesterday claimed that an itemised bill "spread over 20 pages was explained and handed over to the family" at the time of their departure from the hospital. All consumables are transparently reflected in records and charged according to actuals, it had claimed. "Ventilator usage, CRRTs (continuous renal replacement therapies), multiple blood transfusions, ICU rent also add on to the cost to the patient. The total bill for the 15-day duration of hospitalisation was Rs 15,79,322. "An amount of Rs 5,21,433 was paid by the insurance, and the balance Rs 10,37,889 was paid by the family of the child," the statement added. "All standard medical protocols were followed in treating the patient and all clinical guidelines were adhered to," the hospital had yesterday claimed. Asked by reporters if he was intimated regularly about the bill through text on mobile phone, Adya's father Jayant Singh alleged, "Yes, I was getting the bill and one day when I asked for a break-up of it, they said, 900 gloves were used in 6-7 days. And, when I questioned that, the number of gloves were reduced." Congress leader Deepender Hooda hit out at Vij, alleging, "The minister is occupied with putting comic tweets. He was not elected to entertain people, and he should rather focus on his department." Indian Medical Association President Dr K K Aggarwal said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) should take over the case. "Questions we need to ask is, whether it was a case of unnecessary treatment? Has the hospital charged for something for which it should not have? If it is a fraud, let it be investigated. But, first let the probe be done," he said. The fate of Adani Groups A$16.5-billion ($12.4-billion) Australian coal mine hinges on weekend elections in Queensland state, as voters weigh the promise of new jobs against a potential environmental threat to the Great Barrier Reef. This Saturday, Queenslanders will go to the ballot box for an election. One of the biggest issues is the controversial Carmichael coal mine proposed by Indian mining giant Adani. Heres what it means for Queensland, Australia and the world if the mine goes ahead. Mercedes-Benz, the country's biggest luxury car maker, will start introducing vehicles meeting the stringent Bharat Stage VI (BS-VI) emission standards in India from next year. It is the first in the segment to say so. The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday again rapped debt-ridden Jaiprakash Associates (JAL), directing the company to repay all dues to buyers of its home properties and warning its directors and promoters from alienating their properties or assets of their kins. Struggling ride-hailing firm Uber faces a fresh regulatory crackdown after disclosing it paid hackers $100,000 to keep secret a massive breach last year that exposed personal data from around 57 million accounts. Discovery of the US company's cover-up of the incident resulted in the firing of two employees responsible for its response to the hack, said Dara Khosrowshahi, who replaced co-founder Travis Kalanick as chief executive in August. "None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it," Khosrowshahi said in a blog post. (http://ubr.to/2AmxlQt) Britain's data protection authority said on Wednesday that concealment of the data breach raises "huge concerns" about Uber's data policies and ethics. "Deliberately concealing breaches from regulators and citizens could attract higher fines for companies," James Dipple-Johnstone, deputy commissioner of the UK Information Commissioner's Office, said in a statement. Current British law carries a maximum penalty of 500,000 pounds ($662,000) for failing to notify users and regulators when data breaches occur. The stolen information included names, email addresses and mobile phone numbers of Uber users around the world, and the names and license numbers of 600,000 US drivers, Khosrowshahi said. Uber declined to say what other countries may be affected. Khosrowshahi also said Uber had begun notifying regulators. The New York attorney general has opened an investigation, a spokeswoman said. Regulators in Australia and the Philippines said on Wednesday they would also look into the matter. Long known for its combative stance with local taxi regulators, Uber has faced a stream of top-level executive departures over issues from sexual harassment to data privacy to driver working conditions, which forced its board to remove Kalanick as CEO in June. In recent months, London's transport regulator stripped Uber of its license to operate citing the company's failure to deal with public safety and security issues, although Uber is appealing against the decision and the new CEO has held talks with Transport for London to resolve the stand-off. The agency said it was seeking more information from Uber. "We are pressing them for the full details of what has happened so that we can be satisfied that all the right protections are in place for the personal data of drivers and customers in London," a Transport for London spokesman said. Britain's National Cyber Security Centre said it was working with other national authorities to determine how UK citizens may have been affected, but added that it has no information, so far, that customer financial details had been compromised. WHO KNEW WHAT WHEN? The breach occurred in October 2016 but Khosrowshahi said he had only recently found out about it. Bloomberg first reported the data breach on Tuesday. But Kalanick learned of the breach in November 2016, a month after it took place, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. At the time, the company was negotiating with the US Federal Trade Commission over the handling of consumer data. A board committee had investigated the breach and concluded that neither Kalanick nor Salle Yoo, Uber's general counsel at the time, were involved in the cover-up, another person familiar with the issue said. The person did not say when the probe took place. Uber said on Tuesday it was obliged to report the theft of the drivers' license information and had failed to do so. "There is no question that the previous management and security team at Uber failed in their responsibility to their drivers, to regulators, to justice and above all to customers," said Rik Ferguson, vice president of security research at software firm Trend Micro. "That's a pretty long list". There is no evidence of fraud against passengers as a result of the data breach, while drivers whose license numbers had been stolen are being offered free identity theft protection and credit monitoring, Uber said. Two hackers gained access to proprietary information stored on GitHub, a service that allows engineers to collaborate on developing software code. There, the two people stole Uber's credentials for a separate cloud-services provider where they were able to download driver and rider data, the company said. A GitHub spokeswoman said the hack was not the result of a failure of GitHub's security. "While I can't erase the past, I can commit on behalf of every Uber employee that we will learn from our mistakes," Khosrowshahi said. FURTHER FALLOUT Uber is negotiating with a consortium led by Japan's SoftBank Group for fresh investment that could be worth up to $10 billion, sources told Reuters earlier this month. SoftBank declined to comment on whether the security breach could lead it to renegotiate terms of its proposed deal. Uber said it had fired its chief security officer, Joe Sullivan, and a deputy, Craig Clark, this week over their role in the handling of the incident. Sullivan, formerly the top security official at Facebook Inc and a federal prosecutor, served as both security chief and deputy general counsel for Uber. Sullivan declined to comment when reached by Reuters. Clark could not immediately be reached for comment. Kalanick, through a spokesman, declined to comment. The former CEO remains on the Uber board of directors, and Khosrowshahi has said he consults with him regularly. Although payments to hackers are rarely publicly discussed, US Federal Bureau of Investigation officials and private security have told Reuters that an increasing number of are paying criminal hackers to recover stolen data. Uber has a history of failing to protect driver and passenger data. Hackers previously stole information about Uber drivers and the company acknowledged in 2014 that its employees had used a software tool called "God View" to track passengers. Khosrowshahi said on Tuesday he had hired Matt Olsen, former general counsel of the US National Security Agency, to restructure the company's security teams and processes. The company also hired Mandiant, a cybersecurity firm owned by FireEye Inc, to investigate the breach. The new CEO has traveled the world since replacing Kalanick to deliver a message that Uber has matured from its earlier days as a rule-flouting startup. "The new CEO faces an unknown number of problems fostered by the culture promoted by his predecessor," said Erik Gordon, an expert in entrepreneurship and technology at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. A year ago Delhi was choking, as smog in the Indian capital soared to 16 times the governments safe limit for particulate pollution. Now the same thing has happened again. From criticism to protests to the life-threatening bounty placed on the cast and crew of the movie Padmavati has attracted all sorts of controversies, with the latest being Maharashtra Tourism Minister Jaykumar Rawal demanding a ban on the screening of the film in the state. The vice-chancellors of the Delhi government-funded universities will soon be able to carry out works that cost up to Rs five crore, a move which Deputy Chief Minister described as a "major reform" to ensure "autonomy" of these institutions. An official said that Sisodia, who also holds the finance portfolio, has written to the department directing it to ensure immediate delegation of power. The official said that VCs of these universities earlier did not have such financial powers and they were dependent on the government for sanction of works that they might need to undertake on an urgent basis. Delhi Technological University and Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University are among the universities that are fully funded by the Delhi government. "This is a major reform for ensuring the autonomy of universities funded by the Government of NCR of Delhi. The vice-chancellors of the universities can now take up new works up to Rs five crore. "Further, for repair and maintenance, they will have full financial powers, if it is carried out through PWD," Sisodia said in a written communication to the finance department. He also said that if some other agency performs the repair and maintenance, it is allowed up to Rs one crore per annum. "The department should ensure immediate implementation of this delegation of financial powers," the deputy chief minister also said. Becoming the first practicing female doctor to being at the centre of a landmark legal case that led to the Age of Consent Act in 1891, fought against all odds at a time when women in colonial India hardly had any rights to speak of. Russia today congratulated India for Dalveer Bhandari's re-election to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and said it demonstrated the strength of the global community. "First of all congratulations. My satisfaction is that the global community has demonstrated its strength. India's victory has added strength to the international court," Russian Ambassador to India Nikolay Rishatovich Kudashev said. He was speaking to reporters after meeting Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju here. The UN Security Council and the General Assembly Monday voted overwhelmingly in support of India. Judge Bhandari received all 15 votes in the UN Security Council and 183 of the 193 votes in the UN General Assembly. Bhandari, 70, will have a nine-year term at the ICJ beginning early next year. The government on Wednesday approved signing of an agreement between India and the Philippines on cooperation and mutual assistance in customs matters. The decision was taken in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The agreement will help in the availability of relevant information for prevention and investigation of customs offences, an official statement said. It added that the pact is expected to facilitate trade and ensure efficient clearance of goods traded between the countries. "This agreement shall enter into force after the necessary national and legal requirements have been fulfilled by both the countries," it said. The pact would provide a legal framework for sharing of information and intelligence between the customs authorities of the two countries. The government also said the agreement would help in proper application of customs laws, prevention and investigation of customs offences and facilitation of legitimate trade. The bilateral trade between the countries increased to $1.98 billion in 2016-17 from $1.92 billion in the previous fiscal. The National Capital Region (NCR) has witnessed a three- to five-per-cent decline in average per-square-foot property prices over the past one year (July-September 2017 from 2016), a report said on Tuesday. With less than a week left for Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES), India is getting decked up for the delegates from 150 countries, especially US President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump. Standard & Poors (S&P) has noted that India has the lowest level of prosperity among all investment-grade economies, explaining why it has not upgraded its ratings. Despite reports that Tamil Nadu is losing out on industrial investments due to political uncertainities, the state has seen the value of investment proposals hit a four-year high, with a potential investment pipeline of Rs 19,033 crore, according to a research by real estate consultant JLL India. The state has seen over 46 investment proposals worth a cumulative Rs 37,381 crore since 2015, it said. Following the Global Investors Meet held in September 2015, Tamil Nadu was initially not very active in promoting industrial investment. However, the Department of Industries and Guidance and Export Promotion Bureau are now diligently engaging with industries from across the globe who are willing to set up shop in the state. The 42nd ICMM World Congress on Military Medicine in New Delhi has reached the half way mark today. The proceedings during the opening sessions for the day included a plenary session onwhich saw extensive and heartening exchange between member nations. Delegates from 75 member nations of the ICMM are participating in the event.. . Scientific sessions till now include deliberations on current topics like High Altitude Medicine, Aerospace Medicine, Marine Medicine, CBRN Medicine, Infectious Diseases, Operational Planning & Medical Logistics and Military Medicine Training. Ethics in Military Medicine were deliberated upon extensively, especially in the backdrop of the bane of terrorist attacks the world over. Casualty Evacuation in the scenario of Counter Insurgency/Counter Terrorism Operations was also discussed with active participation of delegates from many member states. The delegates also thronged the scientific exhibition featuring the latest state-of-the-art equipment and cutting edge technology. . . The National Medicinal Plant Board of AYUSH Ministry along with the Medicinal & Aromatic Plants Stakeholders jointly organized a one day review meeting to examine the draft of National Policy of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants in New Delhi today. Addressing the inaugural session of the review meeting, the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for AYUSH, Shri Sripad Yesso Naik said that the Medicinal Plant Sector is an ancient as well as a sunrise Sector and it provides diverse opportunities to the country. He said that India could play a leading role in the global market of herbal product and herbal drugs. . . On this occasion, the Minister also said that quality of medicinal plants based raw material is also one of the most important aspects. This being largely a perishable commodity, quality deterioration starts almost immediately after harvest especially in case of herbs and shrubs, he added. Shri Naik informed that NMPB has already started a major initiative by involving Joint Forest Management Committee / Self Help Groups and other similar agencies for proper drying, storage and primary processing of fresh produce at their doorsteps so as to ensure quality assurance. This scheme would give opportunity to farmers, collectors, traders and other stakeholders to get their raw material certified, Minister further said. . . The AYUSH Minister further explained that More than 80% Medicinal plants are sourced from the forest and this area have the potential of generating lot of employment opportunities. He said that the fringe areas of rich biodiversity sites are inhabited by the poorest of the poor, whose incomes can be augmented by a comprehensive strategy aimed at capacity building, provision of value addition facilities and structuring an interface between the community and industry. . . Shri Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary Ministry of AYUSH; former Secretary of AYUSH Shri Ajit M Sharan; Ms. Shomita Biswas CEO, National Medicinal Plants Board were also present on this occasion. . . During the Inaugural session the Minister also launched the Voluntary Certification Scheme of Medicinal Plants Produce (VCSMPP)", designed by NMPB through Quality Councils of India (QCI). . . The important areas of Medicinal Plants Sector like Forest & Conservation, Infrastructure, Marketing & Trade, Cultivation, Sustainable Harvesting & Post harvest Management, Quality & Certification, Research & Development, Regulatory & Legal framework, Networking & IT/Space Intervention, Finance and Information, Education & Communication and Capacity Building are covered in the 8 sessions by specialists from all over the country. . . The main outcome of the excise shall be the final Draft Policy on National Medicinal Plants of India which will be reviewed by the Ministry of AYUSH. . . The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for expansion of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao for a Pan India reach covering all the 640 districts (as per census 2011) of the Country to have a deeper positive impact on Child Sex Ratio. Expansion under BBBP has been approved based on the successful implementation in 161 districts. . . The Scheme was launched by the Prime Minister on 22nd January, 2015 at Panipat, Haryana as a comprehensive programme to address the declining Child Sex Ratio (CSR) and related issues of empowerment of women over a life-cycle continuum. The CSR, defined as number of girls per 1000 boys in the age group of 0-6 years, declined sharply from 976 in 1961 to 918 in Census 2011. However there was no systematic response or comprehensive advocacy strategy to arrest and curb this disturbing trend. The Government recognized the challenge of declining Child Sex Ratio (CSR), as a telling indicator of gender discrimination towards girl child, requiring immediate attention and action and launched BBBP scheme in 2015. . . Currently the scheme is being implemented as a tri-ministerial, convergent effort of Ministries of Women and Child Development, Health & Family Welfare and Human Resource Development with focus on awareness and advocacy campaign, multi-sectoral action in select 161 districts, enabling girls' education and effective enforcement of Pre-Conception & Pre Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC&PNDT) Act. The specific objectives of the scheme include preventing gender biased sex selective elimination; ensuring survival and protection of the girl child and ensuring education and participation of the girl child. At the Central level, Ministry of Women and Child Development is the nodal ministry for the programme. At the State level, Chief Secretaries heads the State Task Force (STF) with representation of Department of WCD, Health and Education to monitor the implementation of the scheme. The District Collectors/Deputy Commissioners (DCs) lead and coordinate action of all departments for implementation of BBBP at the District level. . . The programme will be completing 3 years shortly and in this short duration, BBBP has been well-received and favourable trends are visible in many of the districts. The latest reports as per HMIS data of MoHFW for 161 BBBP districts indicate that for the time period between April-March, 2015-16 & 2016-17, an improving trend in Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) is visible in 104 districts, 119 districts have reported progress in first trimester registration against the reported Anti Natal Care registrations and 146 districts have reported improvement in institutional deliveries. . . Looking at the encouraging results of implementation in 161 districts and magnitude/criticality of the problem and its spread across the country, it has been realized that no district can be left out of BBBP ambit if a real dent is to be made on overall CSR. Accordingly, the Cabinet has approved the expansion for Pan India Coverage with a proposed outlay of Rs. 1132.5 Crore from 2017-18 to 2019-20, to be funded 100% by the Central Government. Out of 640 districts, BBBP is currently getting implemented in 161 districts. The expansion would include Multi sectoral intervention in 244 districts in addition to existing 161 districts. 235 districts are to be covered through Alert District Media, Advocacy and Outreach, thus covering all the 640 districts of the Country. . . Cabinet approves expansion of umbrella scheme "Mission For Protection And Empowerment For Women" and introducing a new scheme ' Pradhan Mantri Mahila Shakti Kendra' The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for expansion of the schemes of Ministry of Women and Child Development under Umbrella Scheme "Mission for Protection and Empowerment for Women" for a period 2017-18 to 2019-20. CCEA has also given approval to the new scheme called Pradhan Mantri Mahila Shakti Kendra', which will empower rural women through community participation to create an environment in which they realize their full potential. Expansion under Beti Bachao Beti Padhao has also been approved based on the successful implementation in 161 districts. The financial outlay during 2017-18 to 2019-20 will be Rs.3,636.85 crore with a Central Share of approximately Rs.3,084.96 crore. Benefits of the Scheme: The approved sub-schemes are social sector welfare schemes especially for care, protection and development of women. It will also aim at improvement in declining Child Sex Ratio; ensuring survival. & protection of the girl child; ensuring her education, and empowering her to fulfil her potential. It will provide an interface for rural women to approach the government for availing their entitlements and for empowering them through training and capacity building. Student volunteers will encourage the spirit of voluntary community service and gender equality. These students will serve "agents of change" and have a lasting impact on their communities and the nation. Major activities of the Umbrella Scheme: The new scheme "Pradhan Mantri Mahila Shakti Kendra (PMMSK)" is envisaged to work at various levels. While, National level (domain based knowledge support) and State level (State Resource Centre for Women) structures will provide technical support to the respective government on issues related to women, the District and Block level Centres will provide support to PMMSK and also give a foothold to BBBP in 640 districts to be covered in a phased manner. Community engagement through Student Volunteers is envisioned in 115 most backward districts as part of the PMMSK Block level initiatives. Student volunteers will play an instrumental role in awareness generation regarding various important government schemes/ programmes as well as social issues. More than 3 lakh student volunteers from local colleges will be engaged in this process, while association with NSS/NCC cadre students will also be an option for contributing to nation building as responsible citizens. This will provide an opportunity to Student Volunteers to participate in the development process by bringing change in their own communities and ensuring that women are not left behind and are equal partners in India's progress. The outcome based activities of student volunteers will be monitored through web based system. On completion, certificates for community service, will be displayed on national portal for verification and can also be used as resource /asset for the participating students in future. Expansion and intensification of efforts have also been approved for Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) through sustained nation-wide Advocacy and Media Campaign in 640 districts and focused multi-sectoral action .in selected 405 districts. All low CSR districts shall be taken up in the first year itself under BBBP. To provide support to working women 190 more Working Women Hostels to accommodate approximately 19,000 additional working women will be set up. Additional Swadhar Grehs have been approved to provide relief and rehabilitation of approximately 26,000 beneficiaries. To provide comprehensive support to women affected by violence, One Stop Centres (OSCs) will be established in 150 additional districts during the period. These one stop Centres will be linked with women helpline and will provide 24 hour emergency and non-emergency response to women affected by violence both in public and private space across the country. A unique initiative involving engagement of Manila Police Volunteers (MPVs) on a voluntary basis in States/UTs will. also be done to create public-police interface, which will be expanded to 65 districts covering all States /UTs. Monitoring and Evaluation of the Scheme: One common Task Force shall be created at National, State and district level for planning, reviewing and monitoring all the sub-schemes in this Umbrella, with the objective of ensuring convergence of action and cost efficiency. Every scheme shall have a set of clear, focussed target set forth in the guidelines, aligned with SDGs. Mechanism for monitoring of outcome based indicators for all the sub-schemes as suggested by NITI Aayog will be put in place. The schemes will be implemented through the States/UTs and Implementing Agencies. All the sub-schemes have inbuilt monitoring structure at the Central Level, State, District and Block level. Russian Ambassador to India, Mr. Nikolay Rishatovich Kudashev called on Shri Kiren Rijiju, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs. While remembering his visit to Sochi in Russia in 2015 during the Immigration Ministers meeting, Shri Rijiju emphasized on the time-tested, friendly and strong relations between India and Russia. Shri Rijiju assured to extend all possible cooperation in further strengthening the ties so that the strong bilateral relations can be leveraged to build partnership and collaboration in multifaceted dimensions. . . While reiterating that the relations reflect the aspirations of two growing economies, the Russian Ambassador impressed upon the need to build on strong people to people contacts. He said that bilateral cooperation is on the rise with enhanced level of cooperation in multi-lateral fora like Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and BRICS. He envisaged more opportunities for cooperation in future between the two countries. . . Shri Rijiju said that India and Russia are facing the threat of Fundamentalism and Terrorism in various forms and asserted that both the countries stand together in the global fight to address the menace of terrorism. He reiterated that concerted efforts by cooperation of global community are important to eliminating this menace. . . On the issue of internal security, Shri Rijiju apprised about the multipronged approach of the Indian Govt. in handling the security situation in the country. The efforts of the Govt. of India in strengthening the internal security and discouraging the centrifugal forces have been given boost by decision of demonetization by Prime Minister by checking fake currency and flow of money among the anti-social elements. He said that NDA Government has demonstrated strong resilience in last 3 years in containing the insurgency. He said despite being home to second largest population of Muslims, the effect of ISIS is minimal in India due to the wisdom of the community leaders and the parents. However, the Govt. is also carrying out de-radicalization and counter-radicalization programme. . . While Russian Ambassador mentioned about the proposed agreements on cooperation between the two countries, both the sides accepted the necessity of cooperation in the fields of border security, facilitating international trade etc. . . Union Home Secretary chairs review meeting on women safety Centre initiates Safe-City Plans for women in Eight Metropolitan Cities The Union Home Secretary chaired a meeting to kick start the process of formulating comprehensive safe city plans for women in eight metropolitan cities of the country Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Lucknow and Hyderabad. Municipal Commissioners, Police Commissioners, senior State Government officials and Civil Society representatives attended the Steering Committee meeting constituted by the Ministry of Home Affairs under the Chairmanship of Union Home Secretary which was notified on Ocober 31, 2017. During the meeting, the Home Secretary took a comprehensive review of the progress made and steps taken by the police and civil administration of these eight metropolitan cities regarding womens safety. Various issues reviewed included 33% reservation of women in police, installation of CCTV cameras, deployment of women in police stations, emergency response system, police verified public transport, prevention of cyber crime, infrastructure issues, mapping of dark spots & crime-prone areas and involvement of educational institutions, among others. The initiatives taken by these cities for womens safety were also discussed in detail. These initiatives include Himmat App, All Women Patrol Van, Shishtachar programme of Delhi police; SHE teams, Hawkeye Mobile App & Bharosa programme of Hyderabad police; Suraksha App of Bengaluru police and Power Angels of UP police. The steps taken by other metro cities including mobile counselling vans for hearing the grievances of women, lighting in the sub-urban railway station areas, complaint boxes in the colleges, dedicated helpline for women, awareness programmes organised by the police, setting up of shelter homes for women and making provisions for street lighting were also discussed. During the meeting, it was brought to the notice that police representatives are taking steps in the direction of implementing the target of 33% reservation of women in police and gradually moving towards the set target. It was informed that more than one lakh women are using Himmat App, which has been made bilingual by Delhi Police. The use of social media platforms for womens safety was also emphasised during the meeting. The representatives also discussed various measures which can reduce the response time and thus ensure better results. The setting up of norms for standardisation of luminosity for CCTV cameras was also discussed by the participants. The Home Secretary said that independent analysis and feedback system should be institutionalised to assess the perception of women on ground regarding their safety issues. Their feedback and suggestions on various issues can also be incorporated after independent survey and our approach to womens safety can thus be fine tuned. Shri Rajiv Gauba emphasised on targeted intervention by the police and civil administration, which will have larger impact on womens safety. Shri Gauba emphasised on Integrated Command and Control Centres and on collaborative monitoring by police and privately installed CCTV cameras. This integration should be in a time-bound and phased manner, he stressed. It was decided that the police and municipal corporations of these eight cities will frame a plan of action. The plan will be forwarded by the respective State Level Committee headed by the Chief Secretary of the state. The plan of action to be submitted by these cities within a month will be assessed by the Steering Committee headed by the Union Home Secretary, which will make suitable recommendations. The representatives of Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways were also present during the meeting. China today rejected new United States sanctions targeting Chinese traders doing business with North Korea as "wrong", and urged the US to share any "solid" evidence. "We consistently oppose any country adopting unilateral sanctions based on its own domestic laws and regulations and the wrong method of exercising long-arm jurisdiction," foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters. In February, Facebook said it would step up enforcement of its prohibition against discrimination in advertising for housing, employment or credit. Air China has suspended flights to North Korea, further limiting the secretive state's links with the outside world, in what the government said was a business decision with no political motives. The suspension comes shortly after US President Donald Trump visited Beijing and pressed his counterpart Xi Jinping to do more to rein in North Korea's nuclear programme. China sent a special envoy, Song Tao, to the North last week but his four-day trip ended with no direct statement on the crisis, after Pyongyang's series of nuclear and missile tests triggered a global alarm. Air China last cancelled flights to North Korea in April, citing low customer demand, but resumed them soon after. A customer service representative for the airline said there were no flights scheduled for the Beijing to Pyongyang route through June. China has denied any political motives behind its flag carrier's suspension of the route. "The airliners just work out their own operation plans based on the state of operation and the market," foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a press briefing on Tuesday when asked about the apparent move. Passengers flying from Beijing to North Korea are now left with just three regularly scheduled flights each week, on the North Korean state airline Air Koryo. Air Koryo also operates flights from the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang to Pyongyang, though it halted flights from the Chinese border city of Dandong earlier this year. Beijing is Pyongyang's only major ally and biggest trade partner, though in August China said it would abide by new UN sanctions which heavily curtail the North's exports of its most profitable goods. The US on Tuesday unveiled new sanctions targeting North Korean shipping and Chinese traders doing business with Pyongyang, again raising the pressure on the pariah state to abandon its nuclear programme. The top US antitrust regulator has sent a chilling message to dealmakers with his opposition to AT&T Inc buying Time Warner Inc : Companies do not have to be competitors for their merger to hurt competition, and there are no simple fixes to get such deals approved. The Department of Justice's lawsuit to block the AT&T purchase could be a negative sign for other so-called "vertical" mergers - where the companies do not compete but one supplies the other - such as pharmacy operator CVS Health Corp's plan to buy insurer Aetna Inc . Investors had thought AT&T's acquisition of Time Warner, if not a slam dunk, would be approved by the Justice Department and its antitrust division chief Makan Delrahim with relatively few asset sales or conditions. Delrahim dashed those hopes on Monday when the Justice Department sued AT&T, arguing that the US No. 2 wireless carrier would use Time Warner's content to force rival pay-TV companies to pay "hundreds of millions of dollars more per year for Time Warner's networks." With the case headed to court, traders are upping their bets that similar mergers awaiting approval will not be endorsed by regulators even though it has been decades since the Justice Department last successfully sued to stop a vertical merger. Shares of Time Warner have fallen 10 percent since word first leaked in early November that the Justice Department might challenge the AT&T purchase. Market confidence in the deal closing went from around 80 percent to around 30 percent, according to Samir Kapadia of VogelHood Group, which uses public data to predict future US government actions for investors, industry groups and others. "Investors were shocked and the market responded," said Kapadia. "Everyone on Wall Street feels like they're missing something here." Traders who watch mergers and acquisitions closely had concerns about other deals that had not yet closed, in addition to the proposed CVS acquisition of Aetna. "People see the DoJ (the Justice Department) under Trump as less predictable (than) they thought," said a trader, who spoke on condition of anonymity to protect business relationships. CLASSIC VERTICAL CVS made an offer to acquire No. 3 US health insurer Aetna for more than $200 per share, or over $66 billion, people familiar with the matter said in late October. German drugmaker Bayer's plan to buy Monsanto Co for $63.5 billion including debt could also be affected by the Justice Department's revived interest in vertical transactions. The focus of the merger review so far has been on the few areas of overlap - like canola seeds - but the main thrust of the merger is to combine Monsanto's seed business with Bayer's expertise in crop protection, a classic vertical transaction. Germany's Fresenius Medical Care's $2 billion deal to acquire a supplier, US dialysis equipment maker NxStage Medical Inc , has also started to struggle in the market. Since doubts about the AT&T-Time Warner deal began to build, NxStage shares have weakened from the price offered by Fresenius Medical. Previously they traded at about a 10.5 percent discount to the $30 a share takeover price; that discount has mushroomed to nearly 14 percent. To be sure, the negative antitrust response to AT&T's purchase of Time Warner may not be a clear indicator of a broader shift in approach. The deal has been unusually politically charged since Donald Trump attacked the deal on the campaign trail last year. As president, he raised his opposition again on Tuesday, saying it was "not a good deal for the country." CLOSELY MONITORED In antitrust circles, the court fight between the government and AT&T will be closely monitored since the Justice Department has not successfully litigated against a vertical deal since the 1970s. That said, the Justice Department has compiled a winning record in challenging mergers since 2011, when it sued to stop AT&T from buying rival T-Mobile USA. It has stopped at least one vertical merger by threatening to sue, specifically Lam Research Corp's bid to buy KLA-Tencor Corp, which was abandoned under Justice Department pressure in 2016. It had been widely expected that the AT&T deal would be approved by limiting how it managed content, known as a "behavioral" remedy, rather than asset sales. Delrahim, in a speech at the American Bar Association last week, said that he opposed those sorts of remedies because they smacked of regulation and were ineffective and a drain on government resources. "Behavioural remedies presume that the government should serve as a roving ombudsman of the affairs of business; even if we wanted to do that, we often don't have the skills or the tools to do so effectively," he said. Delrahim is not alone in those concerns. "One reason for more concern about vertical deals is that behavioral remedies are falling out of favour because they do not work well," said Steven Salop, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center. Bangladesh and Myanmar on Wednesday began talks on starting the repatriation process of the Rohingya refugees. According to The Daily Star, the long pending talks began with an expectation of signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) enabling both countries to start the repatriation process of all the Rohingyas from Bangladesh to their homeland Myanmar. Bangladesh Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque leading the delegation as the talks began between the senior officials of the two countries. The final meeting between Bangladesh Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali and the Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi will take place in Naypyidaw on Thursday. "If things go well at the meeting, both sides will sign the MoU on Thursday," a Bangladesh official said. ALSO READ: SC to hear plea of Rohingyas against deportation on December 5 A study prepared by the New York-based Amnesty charged the Government of Myanmar with promoting and practicing a form of "apartheid" against the Rohingya population in that country's northern Rakhine state. In its study, Amnesty said that this suffocating control of the Rohingya population amounts to "apartheid", even as it continues with its probe into the root causes of a crisis that has sent 620,000 refugees fleeing to Bangladesh and other countries in the South Asian region. There is global outrage over the distressing plight of dispossessed Rohingya in Bangladeshi camps currently. A majority of them left the Rakhine state at the end of August this year, recounting incidents of murder, rape and arson at the hands of the Myanmar Army. Till now, Myanmar and Bangladesh have agreed in principle to repatriate some Rohingyas, but are in disagreement over the details. More than 5,00,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh since the Myanmar security forces launched an operation in response to the alleged attacks by militants on August 25 against 30 police posts and a regimental headquarters. In October, Bangladesh Foreign Minister A H Mahmood Ali had said that a total of 3,000 Rohingya refugees were killed since the army crackdown. On October 12, a United Nations' report based on interviews conducted in Bangladesh found that brutal attacks against Rohingyas in the northern Rakhine state have been well-organised, coordinated and systematic, with the intent of not only driving the population out of Myanmar, but preventing them from returning to their homes. The Rakhine state is home to the Rohingya community of Myanmar, ethnic Muslims, who have long faced persecution in the Buddhist-majority country, especially from the extremists. The United States has slapped a plethora of new sanctions on North Korea. The move is part of a rolling effort to deprive Pyongyang of funds for its nuclear and missile programmes and leave the rogue nation isolated. In total, this action targets one individual, 13 companies and 20 vessels that have engaged in trade worth hundreds of millions of dollars with North Korea, according to CNN. "This designation will impose further sanctions and penalties on North Korea and related persons and supports our maximum pressure campaign to isolate the murderous regime," said Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. North Korea is known to employ deceptive shipping practices, including ship-to-ship transfers, according to the Treasury Department. This comes a day after US President Donald Trump redesignated North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism. North Korea was removed from the list by President George W. Bush in 2008. It is one of only four countries in the world with that label. The others include Iran, Sudan and Syria. In September, the US proposed a range of United Nations sanctions against North Korea. The top US telecom regulator unveiled a formal plan on Tuesday to roll back the "net neutrality" rules adopted in 2015 aimed at treating all online traffic equally. The announcement by Federal Communications chairman Ajit Pai marked the latest twist in a decade-old political dispute with both sides claiming to represent a "free and open" internet. Pai unveiled a "Restoring Internet Freedom" order to be voted on at the FCC's December 14 meeting, scrapping a hotly contest rule which barred broadband firms from shutting out rival services or creating online "fast" and "slow" lanes. Pai said his plan would return to a "light-touch regulatory approach" which has allowed the internet to flourish. He said the 2015 rule had "depressed investment in building and expanding broadband networks and deterred innovation." "Today, I have shared with my colleagues a draft order that would abandon this failed approach and return to the longstanding consensus that served consumers well for decades," Pai said in a statement. "Under my proposal, the federal government will stop micromanaging the internet." The dispute over net neutrality has been the subject of several court battles, with backers arguing rules are needed to guard against powerful broadband firms like Comcast and AT&T acting as "gatekeepers" which can punish rivals. Matt Wood of the consumer group Free Press said the new initiative was a "massive giveaway to the handful of media conglomerates" which control broadband. "The most-hated and worst-rated companies will be free to block, throttle and discriminate against your speech on the internet if Trump's FCC chairman gets his way," Wood said. "Companies like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon will be free to censor online speech and manipulate economic activity to their favour, while taking away the educational opportunities and political-organizing tools essential to millions of people across the country." But Jonathan Spalter, chief executive of the industry association USTelecom, welcomed the move. "The removal of antiquated, restrictive regulations will pave the way for broadband network investment, expansion and upgrades," Spalter said in a statement. (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.) November 2017 will go down in the history of Zimbabwe as the beginning of the end of Robert Mugabes 37 year tyranny. A tumultuous week finally culminated in his resignation on November 21st. One cannot understate the widespread jubilation at the demise of Mugabe and his desire to create a dynasty for himself through his wife Grace. In a matter of few days, has announced the approval for the launch of three key generic drugs in the US market, which has boosted its share price. Recent apart, even in the past few months, has been among the top performing pharmaceutical stocks. While getting approval for the launch of respiratory inhalation product in the US was the reason for Friday's cheer, the gains this week follow the announcement of approval of generic version of cancer drug, Dacogen. Given the company's low base of US business, plans to ramp up its product pipeline for launch in the worlds largest healthcare market (US) and business prospects in other key markets, investors have been bullish on the companys long-term prospects, and this interest is likely to remain high. Asias swelling ranks of mega-wealthy are proving to be a mixed blessing for . The firms Asian private banking unit has boosted assets under management and revenue this year, according to Vincent Chui, who oversees the business. But because top bankers keep getting poached by family offices set up by the richest people, a plan to increase headcount has fallen flat. Less than a week after two women stepped forward to accuse Senator Al Franken of sexual misconduct, the female staffers of 'Saturday Night Live' penned a letter saying they were "compelled to stand up" for the former-cast-member-turned-politician. Signed by 36 female members of the NBC show's cast and crew, the letter begins, "We feel compelled to stand up for Al Franken, whom we have all had the pleasure of working with over the years." It goes on to say that what Franken did was "stupid and foolish" and that "it was appropriate for him to apologize." "In our experience, we know Al as a devoted and dedicated family man, a wonderful comedic partner, and an honorable public servant. This is why we are moved to quickly and directly affirm that after years of working with him, we would like to acknowledge that not one of us ever experienced any inappropriate behavior; and mention our sincere appreciation that he treated each of us with the utmost respect and regard," the letter further reads. The letter has already received backlash on Twitter, with many users pointing out that the fact Franken didn't sexually harass those women doesn't mean he didn't sexually harass others. "A letter literally "sending gratitude" to a man's entire family bc that man didn't grope the letter writers. Ok," wrote one, while another tweeted, "What benefit do you get by informing the public that a man did not harass YOU? This is exactly how some women become a part of the problem." Another Twitterer shared, "Congrats on this harmful, distracting, useless statement, @nbcsnl. It's LITERALLY "family men," "comedians," & "honorable public servants" being revealed as harassers. Progressive men can mistreat women too, and it's dangerous to imply otherwise." Earlier, former model and Los Angeles radio news host Leeann Tweeden accused Franken of forcibly kissing her and grabbing her breasts while on a USO tour to the Middle East in 2006, two years before he was elected to the Senate. Franken apologized to Tweeden and said he was "ashamed" of his behavior. Later, Lindsay Menz came forward to say the lawmaker grabbed her by the buttocks, leaving her feeling "uncomfortable" and "gross," during a photo shoot in 2010 at the Minnesota State Fair. Franken said he was sorry he caused Menz to feel "disrespected." Since then, a number of Republican lawmakers and women's groups have called for Franken to step down. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Minister of State for Tourism and IT KJ Alphons on Wednesday refuted allegations that a flight was delayed because of the VIP movement at the airport in Imphal. Alphons' statement came soon after a woman was seen blasting him, in a viral video, for her flight getting delayed because of his arrival at the airport. Speaking to ANI, Alphons said, "I don't think there is any controversy at all. I saw this lady in distress and I went up to talk to her. She said she has to attend a funeral in Patna. I told her that there is a protocol when the president or the prime minister is landing no flight can take off." "Apart from the prime minister and the president, there is no protocol for any minister. The woman had to talk to someone; it is fine with me that she vented her anger on me," he said. Following the incident, the airport director said, "Yesterday, no scheduled flight was diverted or cancelled. But three scheduled flights were delayed by around two hours due to the president of India's flight movement." "We heard that one passenger who was travelling from Imphal to Patna argued with Union Minister KJ Alphons," he added. Earlier in the day, apart from lashing out at the minister, the woman asked Alphons to give it in writing to her that her flight wouldn't be delayed further. The woman in the video was seen screaming at the minister and few others present at the scene, while Alphons was seen trying to calm her down. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Bhupendra Singh on Wednesday said, the Bhopal gang rape victim will be given an award for her bravery, adding, it is yet to decide whether the award will be named after Rani Padmavati or not. "She (the rape victim) faced all that bravely and confidently narrated her ordeal later. She definitely deserves an award for it," state Home Minister Singh told ANI. However, he added that it is yet to decide on which award will be given to her. "We will make a decision on which award is to be given to her," Bhupendra Singh said on if Rani Padmavati award will be given to Bhopal gang rape victim. Speaking on the issue of rape, the state home minister said, they are going to propose death by hanging for those who rape minor girls. "We are asking for death sentence for those who rape minor girls and will be presenting the same in the cabinet today as well. This will be presented in the Vidhan Sabha too. Madhya Pradesh will be the first state in India to implement something like this, especially with Prime Minister Modi's save daughters, educate daughters' agenda," Singh said. Earlier this month, a 19-year-old civil services aspirant was allegedly abducted by four men and gang-raped near the Habibganj Railway Station in Bhopal. All the four accused are in custody. Following their arrest, two doctors of Madhya Pradesh's Sultania Women Hospital were suspended on November 11 after they produced an erroneous medical report stating that the victim indulged in consensual sex with the accused. The Jabalpur High Court then ordered the state government to file a report in the case citing actions taken in the regard. The court also raised questions over the role of police and doctors. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The world's fastest supersonic cruise missile, BrahMos, has been successfully tested for the first time from a Sukhoi-30MKI fighter of the Indian Air Force (IAF). Confirming the news, the defence ministry said in a statement today that the anti-ship missile was gravity-dropped from the Sukhoi-30MKI or Su-30 from fuselage, the two-stage missile's engine fired up and propelled towards the intended target at the sea in Bay of Bengal. The ministry further said the test-flight will significantly bolster the IAF's air combat operations capability. The BrahMos is now capable of being launched from land, sea and air, completing the tactical cruise missile triad for India. Earlier, BrahMos could only be fired from ships or ground-based launchers. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the signing of an agreement between India and Russia on cooperation in combating terrorism and organised crime. "We signed an important agreement with Russia on combating terrorism and combating organised crime," Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, while addressing a press briefing. The Cabinet meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The agreement is proposed to be signed during the upcoming visit of the Indian delegation, led by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, to Russia from November 27-29, 2017. India and Russia have a long history of close cooperation at the international fora on matters of mutual interest. The agreement will reinforce the relationship between India and Russia through exchange and sharing of information, expertise, best practices and will help in curbing terrorism and enhancing the security in the region. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the wage policy for the 8th round of wage negotiations for workmen in the Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs). The decision on the wage policy was taken at the cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi. "The Cabinet has approved the wage policy for the 8th round of wage negotiations for workmen in the Central Public Sector Enterprises," Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, during a media briefing along with Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. "No budget support for any wage increase shall be provided by the government. The entire financial implication would be borne by the respective CPSEs from their internal resources," he added. Jaitley further said, "The management of the CPSEs would be free to negotiate wage revision for workmen where the periodicity of wage settlement of five years of ten years have expired generally on December 31, 2016 keeping in view the affordability and finance sustainability of such wage revision for the CPSEs concerned. The management of the concerned CPSEs have to ensure that negotiated scales of pay of executives/officers and non-unionised supervisors of respective CPSEs. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma sparked controversy on Tuesday by saying that Cancer and accidents suffered by people are "divine justice" served for their past sins. Speaking at an event in Guwahati, Sarma said, "God makes us suffer when we sin. Sometimes we come across young men getting inflicted with cancer or young men meeting with accidents. If you observe the background, you will come to know that it's divine justice, and nothing else. We have to suffer that divine justice." The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader further elaborated, saying that the sins could be of this lifetime or previous life, or could be of the parents for which the person has to pay. "That divine justice always will be there. Nobody can escape the divine justice that will happen," he added. Lashing out at Sarma, Congress leader P Chidambaram tweeted, "Cancer is divine justice for sins' says Assam Minister Sharma. That is what switching parties does to a person." Notably, Sarma left the Congress Party to join the BJP in 2015 over ideological differences. He received flak from few other politicos as well, who called him out for his insensitivity. Taking to the micro-blogging site to reply to Chidambaram's jibe, Sarma issued a clarification linking his controversial statement with Hindu ideology of 'Karmic Law'. "Sir, please do not distort. Simply I said that Hinduism believe(s) in karmic law and human sufferings are linked to a karmic deficiency of past life. Don't you believe that too? Of course in your party I do not know whether Hindu philosophy can be discussed at all," Sarma replied to Chidambaram. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba on Wednesday chaired a meeting to kickstart the process of formulating comprehensive safe city plans for women in eight metropolitan cities including - Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. The plan will be implemented in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Lucknow and Hyderabad. Municipal Commissioners, Police Commissioners, senior state government officials and civil society representatives attended the steering committee meeting constituted by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). During the meeting, the Home Secretary took a comprehensive review of the progress made and steps taken by the police and civil administration of these eight metropolitan cities regarding women's safety. Various issues reviewed included 33 per cent reservation of women in the police, installation of CCTV cameras, deployment of women in police stations, emergency response system, police verified public transport, prevention of cyber crime, infrastructure issues, mapping of dark spots and crime-prone areas and involvement of educational institutions, among others. These initiatives include Himmat App, All Women Patrol Van, Shishtachar programme of the Delhi Police, SHE teams, Hawkeye Mobile App and Bharosa programme of the Hyderabad Police; Suraksha App of the Bengaluru Police and the power angels of the Uttar Pradesh Police. The steps taken by other metro cities included mobile counselling vans for hearing the grievances of women, lighting in the sub-urban railway station areas, complaint boxes in the colleges, dedicated helpline for women, awareness programmes organised by the police, setting up of shelter homes for women and making provisions for street lighting were also discussed. It was also brought to the notice that the police representatives were taking steps in the direction of implementing the target of 33 per cent reservation of women in police and gradually moving towards the set target. The use of social media platforms for women's safety was also emphasised during the meeting. The representatives also discussed various measures which can reduce the response time and thus ensure better results. "Independent analysis and feedback system should be institutionalised to assess the perception of women on ground regarding their safety issues. Their feedback and suggestions on various issues can also be incorporated after independent survey and our approach to women's safety can thus be fine tuned," the union home secretary said. He also emphasised on 'targetted intervention' by the police and civil administration, which will have larger impact on women's safety. It was decided that the police and municipal corporations of these eight cities would frame a plan of action, wherein, it would be forwarded by the respective state level committee headed by the chief secretary of the state. The plan of action to be submitted by these cities within a month will be assessed by the Steering Committee headed by the Union Home Secretary, who will make suitable recommendations. The representatives of the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Women and Child Development, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways were also present during the meeting. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The alleged suicide of a student at Chennai's Sathyabama University triggered violent protests across the campus on Wednesday, with over 300 students participating in it. Ragamonica hailing from Andhra Pradesh was a student of first year at the university. She committed suicide in her hostel room after she was caught cheating and was scolded and insulted in the exam hall for it. When the incident came to light, the students of first year took to violence, and were later joined by other students. The police pacified more than 300 students and sent them back to the hostel. In addition,armed police were also deployed for security outside the college. In the wake of the incident, the college management will be announcing whether or not the classes will be suspended by tomorrow morning. A case has been registered under section CrPc 174 (unnatural death), and further investigation is underway. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute & Research Centre, Delhi hosted "Celebrating Life 2017" with its focus on raising awareness among the childhood cancer survivors about ways to stay healthy after beating it. The event was marked with an introductory note on "Staying Healthy after Childhood Cancer" by Dr. Sandeep Jain, Consultant - Pediatric Hematology Oncology at RGCI. Childhood cancer is curable and is quite different from cancers in adults. Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute & Research Centre, Delhi has a dedicated department of Pediatric Hematology Oncology under the dynamic leadership of Dr. Gauri Kapoor. "As more and more children overcome their illness and get back to normal lives, the focus shifts to ensuring that they lead a long and healthy life. It is therefore important that the childhood cancer survivors and their parents understand that there may be long term effects of the primary disease as well as its treatment," said Dr. Gauri Kapoor, Director Pediatric Hematology Oncology & Medical Director, RGCIRC, Niti Bagh. The get together was designed with the intent of bringing the survivors together and giving them an opportunity to share and connect with those who have been through the same experience, as also to increase awareness. This created an environment of trust and support for the children who have survived this disease. "A child who has survived cancer has their entire life ahead of them and it is important that they receive the right care and counseling for a wholesome recovery. According to PBCR reports for 2012-2014 the proportion of childhood cancers relative to cancers in all age groups varied between - 0.7% and 4.4% which is lower than previous reported proportion of 0.5 - 5.8% for 2006 - 2011," said Dr. Shalini Misra, Consultant Pediatric surgical Oncologist at RGCI. The event was marked with a series of dance performances by children, a career counseling session, life skills session by a professional, and a musical performance. The survivors and their families received knowledge and information in an environment of fun and relaxation in stalls that offered Body & Nail Art, Tattoos, Selfie clicking, and a Career Counseling desk to help them explore options for a bright future. The cultural program ended with an exhilarating fashion show where the participating children and young adults walked the ramp with fervor and confidence; defying all odds. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister on Wednesday said the Congress party is misleading Hardik Patel, the convenor of Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) in the name of reservation. The Deputy Chief Minister's remark came after the Patidar leader claimed that the Congress party has agreed to give reservation to the Patidar community if the party comes to power in Gujarat. Nitin said that Hardik has not discussed alliance with the Congress Party with the members of Patidar community. "Hardik Patel is aware that over 50 percent reservation is not possible. In the name of reservation, Congress has given a 'lollipop' to Hardik. He should not mislead the people," the Deputy Chief Minister said while addressing a press conference here. "A fool made a request and another fool accepted it, and they say others are a fool," he added. Nitin even accused the Congress Party of bargaining with Hardik Patel and trying to divide the Patidar community. Earlier, Hardik Patel, while addressing the media, said the Congress Party will introduce a bill in the Gujarat Assembly for the reservation if they win the forthcoming elections. "Congress has accepted our issues. Congress has agreed to give Patidars reservations under section 31, and provisions of section 46," he said. "Draft has been prepared between us and the Congress. The formula is not restricted to Patidar community alone," he added. On that note, the Patidars constitute 16 percent of the state population and play an important role in swinging the voters' mood. The Congress is counting on the Patidar votes to sway the election results of Gujarat polls in their favour and uproot the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has been in power since 1995 in the state. The multi-billion dollar China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) not only poses a threat to any community, but to the entire region, says Ali Akbar Mengal, a Baloch activist. Beijing believes this economic corridor is important link to its larger Silk Road Initiative to enhance economic cooperation between Asia and Europe. However, in Pakistan's Balochistan province the locals are opposing the project by calling it a strategy to exploit the resources and destroy the ethnic culture. Balochistan is the home to the deep water port of Gwadar - the key strategic interest behind the construction of road and rail infrastructure that will connect China's Xinjiang - home to the oppressed Uyghurs - to the Arabian Sea. Ali Akbar Mengal, a Baloch activist said, "The total population of Gwadar is around 20 thousand. Since its forceful occupation over Balochsitan, it remains Pakistan's policy not to open any technical training or educational institutions to keep them backward and occupy their resources. In Gawadar, the Baloch are not well educated. We fear that China and Pakistan wants to capture the entire region by expanding the China Pakistan Economic Corridor. Not only Baloch, the CPEC raises an alarming bell for all countries in the entire region". Balochistan is one of the resource-rich regions in South Asia but its inhabitants live in abject poverty. The province has natural resources worth over a trillion dollar including gold, copper, black pearl, oil, coal, natural gas and other reserves. Despite all, the human development index of Balochistan is lowest in all over Pakistan. There are no hospitals and colleges for the welfare of indigenous people. "In entire Balochistan province there is only one university, where as in Punjab's one city there exists 7 to 8 universities. Baloch youth have realized that they have no future in Pakistan. Now, Baloch are mobilized to take freedom from Pakistan. Since they have got mobilized, Pakistan has started 'kill and dump policy'. Now, female Baloch students are coming forward to demand freedom as they have realized that their future in Pakistan is not safe", said, Mengal. Pakistan's campaign to implement CPEC has been ruthless, with local inhabitants forcefully cleared and any voice of dissent silenced. Paramilitary and state agencies have for years systematically violated human rights, among which numerous cases of enforced disappearances, abductions and extrajudicial killings. Alongside the Pakistani authorities crushing anything interpreted as dissent, locals are increasingly concerned about the massive influx of Chinese military in the region, initially announced as for the protection of the Chinese personnel on the ground. Furthermore, despite authorities advertising CPEC as a project that will benefit the local population significantly, the project is in fact under complete control of the authorities in Beijing and Islamabad, without any local governance. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) candidate Thiruparankundram Sarvanan raised doubts over the death of former Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa, claiming that Apollo Hospital had given contradictory reports on her 75-day-long treatment. "I have appeared before the commission and given the explanation. I have highlighted that there are contradictions between the actual condition of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa as presented by the Apollo Hospital found on the official website and various press releases given by the hospital over the due course of over 75 days of treatment," Sarvanan told ANI. He added that there are a lot of contradictions between the actual health state of former CM in the press release of Raj Bhawan and the condition which was explained to the public. "Tomorrow, I am submitting some important documents regarding the fingerprints and forged signatures, and the commission will continue its investigation as well," he said. Earlier on November 3, the Supreme Court dismissed a plea challenging the enquiry commission constituted to probe former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's death. Earlier on October 30, a probe relating to the death of former the Tamil Nadu chief minister begun. In September, Retired Madras High Court judge, Justice Arumugasamy, was appointed to head the probe into the death of Jayalalithaa, following Chief Minister E Palaniswamy's announcement in this regard. The Tamil Nadu government had set up the inquiry commission in September to investigate Jayalalithaa's death. Report is to be submitted in three months. This decision of the state government comes after Tamil Nadu's Minister for Forests Dindigul Sreenivasan revealed that all ministers of the state had lied to the people about hospitalisation and death of the former AIADMK general secretary and said that only former confidant V K Sasikala and her family had access to see ailing Jayalalithaa. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Hansraj Ahir on Thursday said efforts were being taken up by the government to bring the youth back to the right track in Jammu and Kashmir. Ahir's statement has come in the wake of reports of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) asking the Mehbooba Mufti-led government in Jammu and Kashmir to consider withdrawing cases against first-time offenders involved in stone-pelting incidents in the valley. Hansraj Ahir told ANI, "We are taking up measures so that the youth, who have digressed from their paths come back on the right track. Those who have resorted to stone-pelting for the first time will be brought to mainstream." "This is not hidden that Pakistan provokes the youth of Kashmir and funds all the wrongdoings. Since the NIA raids were conducted in various offices of the separatists, these people have not been funded," added Hansraj. It was reported yesterday that the Centre was keen on announcing the amnesty scheme for stone-pelters in the Kashmir Valley on the suggestion of its special representative Dineshwar Sharma, and reportedly, over 4,500 cases against the youth involved are likely to be dropped. Jammu and Kashmir went through a phase of stone-pelting, for almost four months, after the killing of Hizbul Mujahidin militant commander Burhan Wani in July last year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Franklin Templeton Investments on Wednesday announced the appointment of Naganath Sundaresan as the president and CIO of its alternatives in India. Naganath will join the firm on November 23, and will be based at Franklin Templeton's Mumbai offices. He will be responsible for introducing and growing the firm's efforts in the alternatives space in the country and will report to Mat Gulley, executive vice president and head of alternatives at Franklin Templeton Investments. "Assets in Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) have seen robust growth over the past few years amidst strong demand from high net worth individuals and family offices. Naganath is a highly regarded leader acknowledged by various industry stakeholders and peers for building a robust asset management . We are delighted that he has chosen to join Franklin Templeton and look forward to establishing and growing our alternatives in India under his leadership," said MD, EMEA and India, Franklin Templeton Investments, Vivek Kudva. "I am delighted to lead the alternatives business for Franklin Templeton in India. The AIF industry has witnessed significant growth momentum in the past two years and I am confident that the best is yet to come. Franklin Templeton Alternatives plans to provide a wide selection of AIF products over time, to domestic as well as international investors," said Naganath. Naganath brings with him, over 30 years of financial services experience and joins Franklin Templeton Investments from DSP Blackrock Investment Managers (DSPBR) where, as President and CIO, he led an experienced team of professionals to create a highly successful asset management business. Affluent investors in India have long been keen on exploring alternative investment options to diversify their portfolio. The SEBI initiative to introduce AIF Regulations in 2012 and the ongoing process by the Government to streamline taxation rules for such products have paved the way for AIFs gaining credence in the country. With Franklin Templeton's strong global investment franchise, brand and distribution strengths, the firm is well positioned to capture significant market share in this burgeoning asset class. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Goa Police arrested a Kazakhstan here on Wednesday on charges of illegally staying in India. The 35-year-old woman, identified as Nailya Pilts, had been staying illegally in Goa without possessing valid visa or any travel document. Police said they received information that a foreign had been staying in Calangute's Gauravado area without travel documents. On investigating the same, it was found that the woman had been illegally staying in Goa for the last two years. An offence has been registered under sections 7(1) (iii) of Foreigners Order Act, 1948 R/w section 14 of Foreigners Act, 1946. The woman has been sent to judicial custody. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A girl has been rescued from a renowned hotel here after police raided the place over inputs of prostitution activity being conducted there. Two alleged customers have also been arrested in the raid. Police said on Wednesday that reliable information was received from sources that some girls were being supplied to prospective customers for prostitution purpose at a hotel in Calangute area. Based on the information received, the raiding team apprehended a pimp from outside the hotel and interrogated him. Soon, the police reached the victim girl and arrested two customers from the room. During the raid, four mobile phones and Rs. 55,000 were seized by the police from the possession of the pimp and the customer. After the raid, police have sealed the hotel. The victim girl has been sent to a protective home after obtaining order from the sub divisional magistrate. An case under Section 3, 4, 5 and 7 of Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act, 1956 and Section 370 of Indian Penal Code has been registered. Furthr investigation is underway. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Film director and Panorama Jury Head of the 48th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) Rahul Rawail expressed solidarity with the makers of the upcoming movie 'Padmavati' on Tuesday. Comparing the movie with the yesteryear classic, 'Mughal-e-Azam', which was also a variation of history, Rawail reasoned that 'Padmavati' did not warrant protestation. "Anarkali is a completely fictitious character. Anarkali does not exist in history. If today Mughal-e-Azam is released, will they ban it? They will not," Rawail told reporters here. "Bhansali has made Padmavati with a lot of conviction and hard work. He is not going to play around with history, but as a filmmaker, he will have his own take without disturbing history," he added. Rawail said that the issue should have been tackled in a better way, adding, "I admire Bhansali and Viacom for agreeing to postpone the release because, in these circumstances, it could have created a lot of violence." Sanjay Leela Bhansali's period drama, starring Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor, has been mired in a slew of controversies for allegedly tampering with historical facts. On Monday, the producers voluntarily postponed its release date in the face of the absence of requisite clearances. (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.) Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani criticised the Congress party on Wednesday for the derogatory meme, put out by a Congress-linked magazine, on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Speaking to ANI, Irani said, "It is for the Congress party to introspect that the man they call 'chaiwalla' is the same gentleman under whose leadership the 'Ease of Doing Business' has seen such a huge increase through the World Bank's eye. It is the same leadership of Narendra Modi through which the sovereign ratings of India, through Moody's perspective, has seen such a huge increase after 13 long years." The union minister's comments come a day after Yuva Desh, the Indian Youth Congress's online magazine, tweeted a disparaging picture, mocking Prime Minister Modi for having been a tea seller in his earlier days. The tweet drew severe flack and has since then been deleted. Irani said citizens of India have "reassured the Congress party that their dynastic politics is no acceptable to them, their mockery of prime minister's position is not acceptable to them." A similar comment ahead of 2014 general elections, by senior Congress party leader Mani Shankar, had given political ammunition to the Bharatiya Janata Party for dubbing the Congress as elitist and anti-poor. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has approved the Long-Term Plan (LTP 2017-30) without agreeing on development projects and special economic zones. The Dawn quoted sources as confirming that Chinese delegation was unhappy due to the political instability in Pakistan. The delegation thinks that it would negatively impact on the pace of CPEC progress, the Dawn reported. After the meeting, Pakistan's Minister for Interior and Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal said, "Today we have reached the agreement and approved the LTP that will encompass bilateral economic cooperation until 2030." China came up with its One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative in 2013. The project comprises a network of railways, roads and pipelines that would connect Pakistan's port city of Gwadar in the province of Balochistan, with the Chinese city of Kashgar in landlocked Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). The human rights activists have, time and again, spoken about and highlighted the growing atrocities of Pakistan on the indigenous people of Balochistan and deteriorating human rights situation as a result of the CPEC. Earlier this month, on the day the supreme body of the Communist Party of China met for its 19th Congress in Beijing, the Baloch leadership in exile issued a strong warning to China to stop the CPEC or face the ground consequences. The CPEC passes across the disputed territory and is rejected by the Baloch as a "tool for exploiting the Baloch land. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court on Wednesday decided to hear the plea by Hadiya's father, seeking in-camera proceedings of the case on November 27, when Hadiya will appear before the court, in connection with the Kerala 'love jihad' case. Earlier on November 21, Hadiya's father moved a fresh application in the Supreme Court seeking direction for in-camera proceedings of the hearing on Monday. The 24-year-old Hadiya has been in the headlines after she became a Muslim following her marriage to Shafin Jahan. Earlier on Monday, the Chairperson of Kerala Women Commission was again denied permission to meet Hadiya, whose marriage to a Muslim man set off a legal war - famously known as Kerala 'love jihad' case. Last week too, Hadiya's father did not allow Commission chairperson M. C. Josephine to meet her. The chairperson had visited to ensure Hadiya's safety during her journey to Delhi for the hearing in the Supreme Court on November 27. The commission has now sought a report from the district police chief regarding her travel arrangements and safety measures. As of now, the 24-year-old, Hadiya, is with her parents, who have alleged that her marriage to a Muslim man is a case of 'love jihad'. The case is under consideration of the apex court now, which had ordered the Investigation Agency (NIA) to look into it. Jahan filed a plea in the Supreme Court on September 16 and requested to call off the NIA probe, alleging that the investigation agency "is not being fair". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Three suspected terrorists, who were arrested here yesterday, have been sent to police custody till December 5 by a local court. On Tuesday, the alleged terrorists were arrested by a special task force team from Kolkata railway station. Some Al Qaeda-related documents were also recovered from their possession. The terrorists, identified as Montosh Dey (46), and two Bangladeshi nationals - Sanshad Miya (26) and Rizaul Islam (25), are all members of Anshar Bangla Team, a banned terrorist outfit in Bangladesh and other countries. Kolkata Special Task Force (STF) Deputy Commissioner Murlidhar Sharma told media that the suspected terrorists had been living illegally in India for last one and a half years and were arrested on the basis of inputs provided by the Intelligence Bureau. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri has said that he is suspending his resignation which he announced two weeks ago from Saudi capital, Riyadh, citing threat to his life. Hariri said that President Michel Aoun had asked him to "put it on hold ahead of further consultations." Aoun had said he would not accept Hariri's resignation unless he presented it in person. The Lebanese President had said at the time Hariri was being held against his will in Riyadh, a claim Hariri denied. The two men held talks at the presidential palace, a day after Hariri flew back to Beirut. "Our nation today needs at this sensitive time exceptional efforts from everyone to protect it against danger. We must dissociate from wars, external struggles and regional conflicts," CNN reported Hariri as saying. Earlier in the day, Hariri attended an Independence Day military parade in Beirut He finally returned to Beirut late Tuesday (local time), where his first stop was the grave of his slain father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The Lebanese PM eventually paid visit to Paris, Cairo and Cyprus before landing in Beirut. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A judicial body of Pakistan on Wednesday ordered the release of Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed from house arrest, rejecting a request from the government of Punjab to extend his detention by three months. The decision by the Punjab Judicial Review Board of Pakistan has come a day after the government expressed concern over possible sanctions from the international community. The LeT chief was produced before the review board by Pakistan's Punjab government on Tuesday. According to reports, a government official told the board there were enough evidences against Saeed to justify his detention. The review board had earlier allowed a 30-day extension to Saeed's detention, which is set to expire in the last week of this month. Hafiz Saeed is an accused of masterminding the 2008 attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The owner of the Ludhiana factory, Inderjit Gola, was arrested on Wednesday in connection with the building collapse where 13 people lost their lives. Earlier on Tuesday, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh for the families of the people, who died after a building collapsed here on Monday. "It is an unfortunate incident. I hope firemen, stuck in debris, come out alive. We have formed a commission to probe the incident," the chief minister told the media. The chief minister also announced jobs for next of kin of the deceased firemen. The fire broke out at around 8 am near the Sufia Chowk in Ludhiana on Monday morning and 10 fire tenders were rushed to the spot. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) As part of efforts to create greater visibility for its haulage range of vehicles, MAN Trucks India has undertaken a unique customer outreach. Named 'The MAN Expedition', the activity comprises five haulage trucks starting from Pune, Dhanbad and Kochi respectively that will traverse the country over 22 days. Collectively these five trucks, helmed by 10 Master Drivers, will travel more than 9,000 kms and converge at the company's factory at Pithampur, near Indore. MAN's dealer partners have organised various customer engagement programmes at 29 locations across India. The Pune to Pithampur route was flagged off and the vehicles are already in Gujarat. The CLA Evo series trucks in this drive include 40.250, 49.250 and 49.300 tractors and 31.300 rigid truck. All these vehicles are carrying rated payload to demonstrate performance in true operating conditions. Two tractors are equipped with semi-wall trailers; one with a flat-bed trailer; and one with container trailer. These vehicles will stop at dealer locations as well as at transport nagars and dhabas. Engagement activities for customers and drivers will be conducted at all locations. Joerg Mommertz, Chairman and Managing Director, MAN Trucks India, said, "MAN is well established as a manufacturer of Reliable, Efficient and High-performance vehicles. Our trucks have become the benchmark of product lifecycle and TCO, be it tractors, rigids, on-road and mining tippers. The MAN Expedition provides an opportunity for customers to study our vehicles and to interact with us. We believe that our haulage range consists of the right solutions to meet customers' operational demands. The implementation of GST has already had a positive impact on the logistics and transportation . With an MAN, customers can further enhance their efficiencies and profitability." The MAN CLA Evo haulage series offers unique benefits such as highest payload in its categories; best-in-class fuel efficiency; unmatched 20-hour duty cycle; and maximum product reliability and lifecycle. Offered along with After sales customer solutions such Repair Maintenance Contracts, lubricants and coolant, customers get the best value proposition. The established TCO concept is the ultimate benefit that MAN customers have experienced over the years. Some of the earliest vehicles sold by MAN Trucks in India are still operations. These include tractors that transport over dimensional cargo (ODC) having clocked nearly 10 lakh kilometres and continue to do so. The MAN CLA EVO range The New CLA EVO series trucks are powered by the proven MAN D-0836, turbo charged, inter-cooled engine, that is rated for 250HP and 300HP. Mated with 6- and nine speed gearboxes, the trucks are adapted for specific operational purposes. The electronically-controlled Common Rail system makes the engine high on reliability and fuel efficiency, besides being more environment friendly. The crawler gear in long haul trucks helps the engine run within the optimal rpm range, thereby reducing fuel consumption. Strong rigid front axle, hypoid rear axles provide superior traction and grade ability, and unmatched reliability. The tippers feature MAN's planetary rear axle with hub reduction, which provides high ground clearance and has proven its effectiveness in varying conditions. The inter axle and differential lock imparts superior traction. The driver environment offers best-in-class ergonomics, visibility and control. The objective is to provide drivers high levels of comfort for significantly reduced fatigue and enhanced safety. The aerodynamic cabin with heat and sound dampeners and an optional AC helps maximise man and machine performance. MAN After sales and Service MAN Trucks India offers service and support to ensure maximum uptime, all the time. MAN Services offers include warranty schemes, RMCs, on-site support and 24x7 helpline service. MAN Services also offer new solutions like lubricants that can improve the engine performance. Along with MAN genuine parts, always recommended to operators, the vehicle life cycle gets a boost - whether it is in engine hours for tippers or kilometres clocked for long haul trucks. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Shocked Tripura journalists on Wednesday expressed disappointment with media for showing "lack of interests" in the killing of journalists in the northeast. On Tuesday, a Tripura journalist, Sudip Datta Bhowmik was allegedly killed by a Tripura State Rifles (TSR) guard. Seeing little coverage in the media following the incident, Syed Sajjad Ali, President of Tripura Journalist Union, told ANI, "Unfortunately, this murder has not made a dent in the arena. The mainstream media is quite reluctant to give it prominence that the coverage demands." He, however, also rued that even the northeastern media were also reluctant to highlight Bhowmik's murder. "Our fraternity members in northeast media are not in a mood to make it a big issue and work with us to make the demand harsh against such injustice, such crime, such brutality, such infringement of media freedom," said Ali. Sujit Chakraborty, eminent journalist and ex-secretary of Agartala Press Club, also echoed Ali's sentiments. "The killing of Sudip didn't get prominent coverage by the national media. Except some small news items, they ignored the heinous crime. Had it happened in major cities, it would have got wider publicity by both national print and electronic media. "Not only media, but national leaders, except Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju, have also not reacted so far," Chakraborty added. However, Tapas Dey, former MLA and editor of a local newspaper, criticised Manik Sarkar-led government and said Bhowmik's killing was a result of intolerance. "I will describe Sudip's killing as a result of intolerance (on) of the government (part) as well as of the administration. They don't like to face the media reports highlighting corruption. The easiest thing is killing as the perpetrators get backing or non action of the government (sic)," Dey said. "The government is responsible for failing to provide security to media personnel. It is the new phenomenon to kill journalists in order to stop negative media coverage. Corruption here is institutionalised. First, the efforts are made to purchase media, but when it fails then they are awarded death," the former MLA said. Bhowmik, 49, was working for a vernacular daily Syandan Patrika and was also contributing to local television channel News Vanguard. He was allegedly shot dead when he went to battalion headquarters on Tuesday. Ali, the chief of Tripura Journalist Union, said, "Sudip Datta Bhowmik went to the chamber of the commandant Tapan Debbarma, who is heading the second battalion of Tripura State Rifles. After that we don't know what exactly happened." He further added: "But, he was shot at in a meticulous way so that he doesn't survive. They (TSR) took follow up measures to hush up the evidence by taking away the body to distance, burning down papers he was carrying, and his mobile phones were also missing." He said it was the first incident that a journalist was murdered by a security force. "We have witnessed the killing of journalists in other northeastern states like Manipur and Assam but those murders were committed either by insurgents or anti-social elements but killing of Sudip (Bhowmik) was horrific in a sense that it was committed, perpetrated, and executed by the security force. The Commandant himself is the guilty of committing the crime as the guard opened fire on Sudip did so on his orders," Ali said. He also said the union was not satisfied by the Crime Investigation Department (CID) enquiry ordered by the state government "as the CID is a part or tool of the state police, so it can't probe the case wherein a senior security official and his team were involved". Tapan Debbarma, the Commandant of 2nd Battalion TSR, in whose office and on his direction the killing allegedly took place has been arrested. His death occurred nearly two months after young television journalist Santanu Bhowmik died after he was attacked while covering a road blockade agitation of the IPFT. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will visit Russia from November 27 to 29 and discuss entire gamut of bilateral, regional and international matters of mutual interest. During his three-day visit, Singh will be holding discussions with Vladimir Kolokoltsev, Minister for Internal Affairs and other senior Russian leaders. Rajnath is also likely to sign a comprehensive security agreement on cooperation in combating terrorism and organised crime with the Ministry of Interior of the Russian Federation. According to an official statement, he is also expected to sign joint action or implementation plan for cooperation in areas of drugs and disaster management. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) With a view to recognise the sterling contributions made towards skill development in the Rubber value chain including both plantation and manufacturing segments, Rubber Skill Development Council (RSDC), the sector skill council in Rubber celebrated the 2ndAward Ceremony at New Delhi recently. As one of the prominent gatherings in Rubber sector, the award ceremony brought together a large number of stakeholders from all the parts of the country. Welcoming the guests, Chairman of RSDC, Vinod Simon said, "RSDC has cast its net wider in the last one year and is making its presence felt in all the places where skilling could provide better employment, ease the lives of people, enhance competitiveness and bring a sense of pride by making skills aspirational. According to Simon, RSDC has already tied up with 10 State Missions besides 11 universities. Overall 70,000 people have received trainings under the aegis of RSDC so far." Manish Kumar, MD and CEO of National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and Chief Guest on the occasion received huge applause from the audience when he stated that demographic window of opportunity for India is currently open and could lead to country's turnaround if exploited well. Citing examples of South Korea and China, Kumar stated that per capita incomes in these countries have gone up manifold in the last two to three decades as these countries made the most of the available opportunities through emphasis on skilling. Guest of Honour Satish Sharma, Chairman Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association (ATMA), said "India is undergoing tremendous change perhaps something never experienced earlier. Technological adaptation is taking place at a fast pace leading to large scale changes in the way we live, travel or do . According to him, India has decided to move from BS IV to BS VI emission norms in three years while worldwide this transition took place in 15-20 years. Skilled workforce is a must for this technological leap." Prof. Anjan Kr. Ghosh, Vice Chancellor, Tripura Central University and Guest of Honour emphasised on more academia - industry interaction so that students pursuing polymer and rubber technology could be encouraged. He invited the industry to visit Tripura to get a first hand exposure to the courses being run by the University. In breakthrough initiatives and firsts by any Sector Skill Council in India, RSDC launched Stimulated e-learning content and Mobile app to provide the ease in connecting with the target segment by introducing the courses online and benefit the students and those looking for up skilling in rubber across the country. Best Training Partner award was received by Rubber Board of India, Dr. Rani Joseph was adjudged as the Best Trainer. Mettl received the award as Best Assessment Agency while Best Assessor award went to Sarvana Kumar. Anjitha A M were conferred the best trainee award in manufacturing, whereas in Plantation best trainee award was shared between three candidates, Prasad Sing, Sunil A and Udaya P S, respectively. Under the special category awards Best University Award went to Kamraj College of Engineering & Technology. RSDC also introduced another Special Category for honoring the Best State Skill Development Mission Award which was bagged by Additional Skills Acquisition Programme (ASAP) Kerala. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Captain (Retired) Muhammad Safdar appeared before an accountability court here on Wednesday in connection with corruption references filed against them by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). According to the Dawn, several Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders were present in the court to welcome Sharif. Last week, the accountability court had granted Sharif a week's exemption from appearing personally and a month's exemption for Maryam due to security reasons and because they had to be in London to attend to an ailing Kulsoom Nawaz. Last Thursday, the Pakistan Supreme Court had dismissed Sharif's appeal to merge the references. On Tuesday, Sharif had challenged the accountability court's November 8 decision not to merge the three references filed by the NAB in the Islamabad High Court. At that time, Sharif's lawyer, Azam Tar, said the court had taken the decision in a hurry. Tar said replies submitted to the court were not taken into consideration by it. The Pakistan Supreme Court had asked the NAB to file references against the Sharif family in connection with their Avenfield and other properties on July 28 and directed the trial court to decide the references within six months. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Sunni Waqf Board is a puppet in the hands of India's enemies, Wasim Rizvi, Shia Waqf Board chairman, said on Wednesday. He made this comment while alleging that the Sunni Waqf Board was getting foreign funding to keep the Ramjanambhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute alive. Talking to ANI, Rizvi demanded a probe into the funding of Sunni Waqf Board. "The Sunni Waqf Board fought this case from the High Court to the Supreme Court. Will the Sunni Waqf Board show how much fees did it give to lawyers? When the Shia and Sunni Waqf Boards don't have money to distribute salaries, where did money come from to engage prominent lawyers? Who is funding you? The Sunni Waqf Board is only a puppet and can't even sign a paper without green signal from their foreign bosses," Rizvi said. He further said that many skeletons would fall from the closet if the Centre and the UP Government conducted a probe into the funding of the Shia Waqf Board. He further asked if anybody knew how much money was collected in the name of Babri Masjid. "If money is coming from foreign countries then why is it coming? The money which is coming is from enemy countries like Pakistan," Rizvi asserted. The Shia Central Waqf Board has released a draft on the resolution of the Ayodhya dispute, in which it argued that Ram Mandir be built at the disputed property while a mosque should come up in Lucknow. The draft has also been submitted in the Supreme Court. "We have submitted a draft in front of the Supreme Court, not the Sunni Waqf Board or the Muslim Personal Law Board. These people are trying to ruin the nation's atmosphere. The country's largest court is advising you (Sunni Waqf Board) to sit and discuss, but you are ignoring it too. What do you want? How many more people you would get killed? More than 2,000 people have been killed and more than 74 communal riots have taken place," Rizvi said. He reiterated that those who were opposing the amicable solution to the Ramjanambhoomi-Babri Masjid problem were actually hell bent upon orchestrating riots and they were betrayer of the country and were hand in glove with India's enemies. Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute was a century-old point of tussle between the Hindus and the Muslims. The mosque was demolished by Hindu Karsevaks on December 6, 1992 in Ayodhya. The country witnessed massive riots in which over 2000 people were killed. The Hindus claim that it is the birthplace of Lord Rama where a mosque was built in 1528-29 CE (935 AH) by Mir Baqi. Since the mosque was built on orders of the Mughal emperor Babur, it was named Babri Masjid. It is notable that the Supreme Court will hear the 13 appeals in the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute on December 5, 2017, the eve of the 25th anniversary of the demolition of the 15th century mosque. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Online food ordering and delivery platform Swiggy on Wednesday announced the launch of its platform in Ahmedabad. After continued success in Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad, and Kolkata, the online delivery service platform, Swiggy is now on an expansion spree in Ahmedabad. Continuing with its superior consumer experience that has become synonymous with the brand, Swiggy is bringing the choicest food options at the doorsteps of Amdavadis. These include a range of legendary eateries, trendy new cafes, multi-cuisine food trucks and national and international Quick Service Restaurants (QSRs) across areas such as Prahladnagar, Vastrapur and Navrangpura. Around 300 of the city's restaurants are already available on the food ordering and delivery platform. "In just three years, Swiggy has become the most reliable one-stop solution for consumers' food needs in the country. Given the love and passion for food among Amdavadis, this expansion is another step towards our vision of 'Changing the way India eats'. We have already partnered with over 300 of the best restaurants in the city, and look forward to bringing more variety on the platform and delighting our users with Swiggy's superior consumer experience," said vice president - marketing at Swiggy, Srivats TS. Adding to this he said that the Amdavadis are passionate about their food, which is as rich and vibrant as the city itself. "With Swiggy's lightning fast and hassle-free ordering and delivery service, food-lovers in the city can now enjoy food from the best neighbourhood restaurants with just a touch of a button," added Srivats. The platform will connect foodies with the choicest restaurant options, including over 300 of the best restaurants in the city, including Cafe Coffee Day, McDonalds, Zen Cafe, No Mad Baker, Melt in and Mad by Tomato's. To ensure consumers have access to the best restaurants in the city, Swiggy will deliver from a wider radius of as much as six kms. Consumers can not only order from these restaurants without any restrictions on the minimum order value, but also track their orders live on the Swiggy app. Swiggy for Restaurants: Swiggy provides city-restaurants with the tools and technology to reach new customers. In addition to driving order volumes through the platform, partner restaurants can strengthen their delivery services, brand equity and recall value by coming on to the online delivery platform. Switzerland on Wednesday rejected the request of the exiled leader of the banned Baloch Republican Party (BRP), Brahumdagh Bugti, to seek a political asylum after more than seven years. Bugti took to Twitter to inform of the development. "After more than seven years of waiting Switzerland has now rejected my application for political asylum," he tweeted. The application of the outlawed BRP leader had earlier also been turned down by the Switzerland immigration authorities. Bugti was, however, informed at the start of this year that his case "remains in the process" and "no time frame can be given." It was also reported that Bugti had, on September 19, 2016, formally asked the Indian government to grant him an asylum and Indian nationality so that he could live in India and move around the to campaign against Pakistan. The report was later denied by the Indian Government and the BRP. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At least 16 terrorists belonging to the Taliban group, including three key commanders, were killed in an operation by the security forces in Maidan Wardak province of Afghanistan. According to the Tolo News, the Wardak police on Wednesday said in a statement that a joint clearance operation was carried out by the Afghan police, the army, special forces and commandos, in which three other terrorists were wounded. Qari Yousof, Qari Mustafa and Qari Farid were the three key commanders, who were killed amongst the other terrorists, the statement further said. The killed commanders got their military training in Pakistan, it added. No security personnel or civilian war harmed during the operation. Earlier in October, at least seven Talibanis were killed and five others wounded following clashes with the Afghan security and special operations forces in the province. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) United States President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, spoke over the phone for a little over an hour, discussing a range of international concerns. Syria, Iran, North Korea and Ukraine were on the agenda, the White House said. The two leaders discussed the situation in Syria and terrorism more broadly, as well as the state of affairs in Afghanistan, Ukraine and North Korea, reported CNN, quoting the White House. Trump called it a "great call". Noting the length, he said he and Putin spoke "very strongly about bringing peace to Syria" and "very strongly about North Korea." This comes a day after Putin met with Syrian President Bashar Assad where the two leaders spoke about military operation and the need to launch political processes in the country, according to a Russian government statement. Putin hosted Assad at a Black Sea resort of Sochi ahead of a summit later this week with Russia, Turkey and Iran. The trilateral talks are scheduled for November 22. Putin and Trump had lately met on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Vietnam. The two leaders, earlier, had issued a joint statement on the Syrian conflict that stated that they "agreed that there is no military solution to the conflict in Syria," and pledged to work to develop an "ultimate political solution" to the conflict. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Uber suffered a massive data breach exposing the personal data of 57 million customers and drivers last year, which the company concealed for more than a year. According to a Bloomberg report, two people outside the company accessed the personal information of 57 million Uber users including names, email addresses and phone number. The company said more sensitive information, such as location data, credit card numbers, bank account numbers, social security numbers, and birth dates, had not been compromised. Company failed to notify the incidents to individuals or to affected customers, but instead paid $100,000 to "hackers" to get rid of the data in order to keep the breach under wraps, according to the report. However, Uber had not confirmed that it paid this ransom. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a statement that he recently learned of the breach. Khosrowshahi, who became CEO in August, said that the company is now notifying regulatory authorities. "None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it. While I can't erase the past, I can commit on behalf of every Uber employee that we will learn from our mistakes," Khosrowshahi said in a statement. It's the latest blow to Uber, which is trying to improve its public image. This week, the company was fined almost $9 million for background check issues in Colorado in the United States. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The United States military has confirmed that over 100 Islamist militants were killed in an airstrike launched against the al-Shabaab group in Somalia. A U.S. defense official said that the strike on an al-Shabaab training camp was carried out by a manned aircraft, CNN reported. The military's Africa Command said that the strike was carried out on a camp 125 miles northwest of the capital, Mogadishu. The Defense Department now has 500 personnel, including military, civilians and contractors, in Somalia. The personnel are part of the effort to support African forces fighting al-Shabaab as well as the ISIS forces there. Al-Shabaab has pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda and is dedicated to providing safe haven for terrorist attacks throughout the . According to the reports, Al Shabaab is fighting to topple Somalia's Western-backed transitional federal government and impose its own rule on the Horn of Africa country. There have been 29 strikes acknowledged by the Pentagon so far this year. Seven of those strikes took place between November 9 and 14. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A United States Navy plane carrying 11 people crashed into the Pacific Ocean off Japan on Wednesday. The Washington Post quoted the US Navy's 7th Fleet, as saying, that eight people were found and the search for remaining three was underway. However, it was not clear whether the people found were dead or alive. The C-2 Greyhound aircraft was travelling to the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier, which is currently operating in the Philippine Sea. The ship had participated in Annual Exercise 2017 (AE17), a bilateral field-training exercise with the Japanese Navy conducted in waters off Japan. Japanese Minister of Defence Itsunori Onodera told reporters in Tokyo that the accident occured due to the engine malfuntion. "The Maritime Self-Defense Force is currently searching with US forces," Onodera said, according to public broadcaster NHK. He added, "We received information from U.S. Forces that the cause is possibly engine malfunction." The accident is the latest in a series of disasters in 2017 for the 7th Fleet, including two collisions involving guided-missile destroyers that left 17 sailors dead. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Westin Kolkata Rajarhat has announced appointment of Vikram Singh Chauhan as its new General Manager. With a career spanning 18 years, Vikram brings a wealth of experience in hotel operations, sales, and marketing and has worked across six countries. He has led the pre-opening teams of seven hotels including the launch of Starwood's Le Meridien brand in Bhutan and Bangladesh. In his current role, Vikram will manage the operations and will be responsible for the profitability, guest experience and strategic initiatives for the hotel. He will also work with the Westin global and regional brand teams at Starwood Hotels and Resorts in the development and implementation of brand standards in operations and service. Entirely focused on maintaining high standards both for himself, his team and his hotels, Vikram has a record of service excellence and his teams have outperformed in their respective markets. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hardik Patel, the convenor of Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), has said that his organisation will continue to fight against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Gujarat. "The Patidar communities have been victimised by them (BJP)," Patel told mediapersons here. Patidars or Patels are an important group in Gujarat, who enjoy great political dominance in the state. Often regarded as the deciding factors in the elections, the community has largely voted for the BJP since 1990s, but a section is miffed over a lack of quota in government jobs and education. "Do not waste your vote by voting for BJP. They believe people are stupid," said Hardik Patel in Wednesday's media interaction. "Several horse-trading attempts being made with our conveners in North Gujarat, Rs. 50 lakh being offered," he claimed. Patel also claimed that the Congress party has agreed to give reservation to the Patidar community, if the party comes to power in Gujarat. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Zimbabwe's former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa will be sworn in as President on Friday. "Today we are witnessing the beginning of a new and unfolding democracy," said Mnangagwa in his first public remarks, who returned from Johannesburg at a military airbase in Harare on Wednesday. He had fled to South Africa two weeks ago following his sacking by Robert Mugabe, citing threats to his life. "We want to grow our economy, we want jobs," he added. Many supporters carried placards thanking Mnangagwa for his "resilience and endurance", reported the Guardian. Mugabe sacked Mnangagwa as vice president two weeks ago to smooth a path to the succession for his wife Grace. 75-year-old Mnangagwa's sacking triggered a political crisis that culminated in the resignation of 93-year-old Mugabe on Tuesday. The news that Mugabe was stepping down sparked wild celebrations across the country late into Tuesday night. Mnangagwa, who is known as "the crocodile" for his fearsome reputation and political shrewdness, will be the nation's second-only leader. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the signing and ratifying of an Agreement between India and Philippines on co-operation and mutual assistance in customs matters. The Agreement will help in the availability of relevant information for the prevention and investigation of Customs offences. The Agreement is also expected to facilitate trade and ensure efficient clearance of goods traded between the countries. This Agreement shall enter into force after the necessary national legal requirements for entry into force of this Agreement have been fulfilled by both the countries. Background: The Agreement would provide a legal framework for sharing of information and intelligence between the Customs authorities of the two countries. It would help in the proper application of Customs laws, prevention and investigation of Customs offences and the facilitation of legitimate trade. The draft text of the proposed Agreement has been finalized with the concurrence of the two Customs Administrations. The draft Agreement takes care of Indian Customs' concerns and requirements, particularly in the area of exchange of information on the correctness of the Customs value declared and authenticity of certificates of origin of the goods traded between the two countries. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given its approval for signing an Agreement on Cooperation between India and Russia in the field of combating all forms of terrorism and organized crime. The Agreement is proposed to be signed during the upcoming visit of Indian Delegation, led by Home Minister, to Russia from 27-29 November, 2017. Background: India and Russia have a long history of close cooperation in international fora on matters of mutual interest. With the rise in terrorism and organized crime across the world, it is imperative for countries to work together to combat all forms of terrorism. The proposed Agreement, which will replace the Agreement of October, 1993, is a step towards consolidating the benefits accrued in the field of security and seeks to jointly fight the new and evolving risks and threats. The Agreement would reinforce the relationship between India and Russia through exchange and sharing of information, expertise, best practices and would help in curbing terrorism and enhancing, security in the region. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Key indices were trading with small gains after regaining positive terrain in mid-morning trade. At 11:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, advanced 45 points or 0.13% at 33,523.35. The Nifty 50 index rose 1.35 points or 0.01% at 10,328.25. Firmness in Asian stocks supported gains on the domestic bourses. The market had opened higher on firm Asian stocks. However, stocks soon pared gains and slipped into the red. Indices regained positive terrain in mid-morning trade. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index declined 0.31%, underperforming the Sensex. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.19%, outperforming the Sensex. The breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On BSE, 1,201 shares fell and 1,156 shares rose. A total of 122 shares were unchanged. Most auto stocks gained. Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) (up 1.2%), Maruti Suzuki India (up 0.51%), Bajaj Auto (up 1.14%), Hero MotoCorp (up 0.09%), Tata Motors (up 0.9%) and TVS Motor Company (up 1.12%) gained. Ashok Leyland (down 1.96%) and Eicher Motors (down 0.22%) declined. Cement stocks also gained on renewed buying. ACC (up 0.61%), Shree Cement (up 1.12%), Ambuja Cements (up 0.59%), and UltraTech Cement (up 0.25%) gained. Grasim Industries advanced 0.91%. Grasim has exposure to the cement sector through its holding in UltraTech Cement. Strides Shasun rose 0.48% after the company said it received US drug regulator's approval for Acetazolamide tablets. The announcement was made during trading hours today, 22 November 2017. Strides Shasun announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Strides Pharma Global has received approval from the United States Food & Drug Administration (USFDA) for Acetazolamide tablets USP, 125 milligram (mg) and 250 mg, a generic version of Diamox tablets. According to IMS data, the annual US market for Acetazolamide tablets is approximately $53 million. The approval, which was received in a short span of 11 months, demonstrates company's strategy of building a niche portfolio in regulated markets, having limited competition. The product, to be launched immediately, will be marketed by Strides Pharma Inc. in the US market. Acetazolamide tablets is used to prevent and reduce the symptoms of altitude sickness. Acetazolamide is also used with other medications to treat a certain type of eye problem (open-angle glaucoma). Overseas, Asian shares joined a global rally as strong world growth and rising corporate profits lured hordes of investors into equities. US stock-market indexes ended at records and near session highs yesterday, 21 November 2017, finding support on another round of strong earnings, with technology shares leading the way. The Chicago Fed national activity index rose to 0.65 in October from 0.36 in September. Sales of previously-owned homes jumped to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 5.48 million in October. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmer Welfare, Shri Radha Mohan Singh has said that during the current financial year 2017-18 NCDC not only continued its excellent performance, but also registered a record by surpassing its annual target in first 6 months. Shri Radha Mohan Singh informed the members that during 2016-17 NCDC sanctioned Rs. 25270 crore and disbursed all high time assistance Rs.15915 crores. Shri Singh further said that in the last three years, the Corporation also registered a significant growth of 254% in releasing its financial assistance to the cooperatives. This was stated by Union Agriculture Minister in 82nd meeting of General Council of NCDC held on 21st November, 2017 at Krishi Bhavan, New Delhi. Union Agriculture Minister said that Net NPA of Corporation was maintained at zero level and its loan recovery rate is more than 99.66%. The Corporation during the current financial year, 2017-18 not only continued excellent performance, but also registered a record by surpassing its annual target in first 6th month. Shri Singh appreciated the performance of NCDC and expressed hope that NCDC would continue to post commendable results and achieve greater heights and standard in the years to come. Shri Singh emphasized the role of cooperatives in ensuring remunerative income for farmers and invited people to invest for creation of direct supply chain and develop post harvest infrastructure to ensure better income for farmers in line with the resolve of Government of India to double the income of farmer by 2022. In this regard he said that NCDC will continue to play a pivotal role in development of cooperatives in the larger interest of the farmer and rural population. Shri Radha Mohan Singh solicited wholehearted support from members of GC to accelerate the progress of cooperative movement and said that NCDC would continue its efforts to make its assistance more attractive and affordable for cooperatives in agriculture and allied sectors. Shri Singh also informed that it has been decided to upgrade NCDC Training Institute situated at Gurugram (Haryana) as a national level institute and rename it as Laxmanrao Inamdar Academy for Cooperative Studies and Human Resource Management. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) On 19 November 2017 Hindusthan Urban Infrastructure announced that on 19 November 2017 a blast occurred in one of firing oven (Kiln No 1) at insulators plant of the Company at Mandideep, Bhopal. The Company has also informed its customers for the possibility of some delay in dispatches for some period. This incident is not expected to have any significant impact on the Business operations of the Company. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Offshore support vessel 'SCI Ratna' sinks on 21 November 2017 Shipping Corporation of India announced that SCI Ratna an Offshore Support Vessel owned by the Company sank off coast of Mumbai on 21 November 2017. All the 16 shipboard personnel who were on board the vessel have been rescued and are safe. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Three persons, including two members of Bangladesh-based Islamist group Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) and a local arms dealer, who were arrested by the city police, were sent to 14 days in police custody on Wednesday, a senior officer of Kolkata Police said. The three were arrested by the Special Task Force (STF) of the Kolkata Police from the Kolkata Railway Station on Tuesday afternoon when they allegedly met to seal an arms deal. "All three of them were produced in the city sessions court today (Wednesday) which has remanded them to 14 days of police custody till December 5," Muralidhar Sharma, Deputy Commissioner of Kolkata Police (STF), told IANS. The Police had said on Tuesday that two of the three accused -- Shamsad Mia alias Tanveer alias Tushar Biswas and Riaz alias Riazul Islam -- hailed from Bangladesh and are members of the ABT, a front for Al Qaeda in the Indian subcontinent, while the third man Manotosh Dey alias Mona Da is suspected to be an arms dealer from North 24 Parganas district's Basirhat. The officer also revealed that the two members of the Bangladeshi militant group entered India illegally one and a half years ago and travelled to a number of cities apart from Kolkata. "Their documents reveal that they have been to Hyderabad, Patna, Ranchi and Pune in the last one and a half years. The purpose of their visit is yet to be ascertained," Sharma said. He said the STF officers were also interrogating the two wives of arms dealer Dey to get details about his past activities and connections. --IANS mgr/nir/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Journalist Sudip Datta Bhowmik, who was shot dead by a trooper in Tripura, was cremated on Wednesday, the final rites attended by hundreds of journalists and other professionals. Bhowmik's cremation took place at Battala. Earlier, after paying rich tributes at the Agartala Press Club and other offices, a silent rally of journalists and other professionals was taken out in the city with the body of the 50-year-old journalist. According to police, Tripura State Rifles (TSR) Second Battalion Rifleman Nandu Kumar Reang on Tuesday shot dead Datta Bhowmik, 50, at Radha Kishore Nagar, 25 km from Agartala. Reang was the bodyguard of Second Battalion Commandant Tapan Debbarma. The slain journalist had gone to meet Debbarma at the battalion headquarters. Police have arrested both the trooper and the Commandant. Chief Judicial Magistrate Sharmistha Mukherjee sent them to 10-days police custody, West District police chief Abhijit Saptarshi told IANS. While the cortege was moving towards the crematorium ground, a large group of agitated journalists strayed from the procession and staged a demonstration in front of Chief Minister Manik Sarkar's official residence. As a mark of protest, the journalists took off the safety jackets given them earlier by the police and set those on fire. The persons also raised slogans against the Chief Minister as well as the TSR. Security around Sarkar's residence has been beefed up. --IANS sc/nir/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The outlawed Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) on Wednesday claimed that the two arrested volunteers of Art of Living were authorised by the Indian government to open peace parleys with it in Bangladesh. But Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said his organisation has "never acted on behalf of government agencies". On Monday, Meghalaya Police arrested Khroo Lamsalanki Pariat and Samir Jolly from the Dawki police checkpost near the India-Bangladesh border when they were trying to meet HNLC rebel leaders in Bangladesh's Sylhet district. The HNLC is a secessionist group fighting for a sovereign Khasi homeland in the eastern part of Meghalaya. The outfit operates from its hideouts in Bangladesh. Meghalaya shares a 443-km border with Bangladesh, a part of which is porous, hilly and unfenced and prone to frequent infiltration. "Pariat and Jolly were not authorised to hold parleys with an organisation banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Their motive to visit Bangladesh is suspect and merits further investigation," said Vivek Syiem, the district police chief of West Jaintia Hills. Ravi Shankar tweeted: "We have never acted on behalf of government agencies. Our efforts have always been purely on human grounds." In a series of tweets, the spiritual leader said: "Youths who have strayed into militancy need a healing touch. They need assurance of justice and trust in peaceful coexistence. Art of Living volunteers have been helping youths shun violence and bring them to the mainstream by providing skills training and other means of livelihood." Describing the arrest of the two volunteers as "illegal", HNLC spokesperson Sainkupar Nongtraw said: "They were doing a good deed but the police have always impeded whenever efforts were made by the HNLC to come forward for peace talks." Nongtraw said Pariat and Jolly were not HNLC members but were persons of the central government from New Delhi. "They have been authorised to meet the HNLC leaders in order to move the peace parleys forward." He pointed out that the Congress government in New Delhi did not take any initiative even when the HNLC was ready for peace talks since 2004. Further, he claimed that the incumbent Meghalaya United Alliance-II government had sent some individuals in May to seek the HNLC's help in the upcoming 2018 Assembly polls. Nongtraw expressed his gratitude to the BJP government and to the Art of Living for their readiness to bring the HNLC to the negotiating table. --IANS rrk/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Key Indian equity indices on Wednesday traded in the green during the mid-afternoon session, extending gains for the fifth consecutive session, as positive Asian markets and higher auto stocks buoyed investors' sentiments. According to market observers, index heavyweights on the BSE like State Bank of India, Adani Ports, Mahindra and Mahindra, Tata Motors and Bajaj-Auto pulled the equity indices higher. Around 1 p.m., the wider Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) traded higher by 20.80 points or 0.20 per cent at 10,347.70 points. The barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 33,569.07 points, traded at 33,592.47 points -- up 114.12 points or 0.34 per cent -- from Tuesday's close. The Sensex has so far touched a high of 33,624.49 points and a low of 33,465.23 points during intra-day trade. The BSE market breadth was slightly bullish -- 1,256 advances and 12,55 declines. "Indian equities opened in sync with Asian indices in the early morning trade, but gave up all gains post an hour in trade. Markets await the minutes from the US Fed's latest policy meeting, which will be out on Wednesday," Dhruv Desai, Director and Chief Operating Officer of Tradebulls, told IANS. On Tuesday, the benchmark indices closed on a higher note due to strong buying witnessed in stocks of healthcare majors like Dr. Reddy's Lab, Sun Pharma, Cipla and Lupin, as well as a strong rupee. The NSE Nifty50 rose by 28.15 points or 0.27 per cent to close at 10,326.90 points, while the BSE Sensex closed at 33,478.35 points -- up 118.45 points or 0.36 per cent. --IANS ppg/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) BJP MP Paresh Rawal hit back with a tweet at the Congress over the "chai-wala" jibe aimed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier on, but the move backfired and led to him apologising for the potshot. The actor-turned-politician, who is an MP from Ahmedabad East, on Tuesday night tweeted: "Our chai-wala is any day better than your bar-wala", in response to a meme posted on the official Twitter handle of the Indian Youth Congress online magazine 'Yuva Desh'. Rawal deleted the tweet late on Tuesday night and admitted it was in "bad taste". "Deleted the tweet as it's in bad taste and I apologise for hurting feelings," Rawal said. Congress leader Randeep Surjewala on Wednesday demanded an apology from Modi over the tweet by the BJP MP. "Will the BJP MPs from Gujarat now resort to this cheapness and dirt. Is this the BJP's definition of respecting women. Modiji should apologise and take action," Surjewala tweeted. A meme by 'Yuva Desh' on Tuesday targeted Modi and created a controversy, forcing Congress youth wing chief Amarinder Singh Raja to later apologise for it though he maintained the Twitter handle was operated by volunteers and not by the youth body as such. The meme -- in which British Prime Minister Theresa May was portrayed as asking Modi to "go sell tea" -- was deleted after it was reported by the media. It also drew disapproval from the Congress and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah and strong condemnation from the Bharatiya Janata Party. --IANS vn/ps/tsb/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) After a gap for over 80 years, the black bear has returned to Nevada's Great Basin in the US through conservation with their population believed to be over 500, a new study said on Wednesday. The study from Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the Nevada Department of Wildlife and the University of Nevada-Reno finds that conservation efforts have resulted in successful re-colonisation of black bears into portions of their historic ranges. In addition to habitat regeneration, public education, investing in bear-proofing communities, reducing conflict rates between carnivores and people and reduced human-caused carnivore mortality rates were the steps initiated jointly by the WCS and the Nevada Department of Wildlife for 20 years to bring them back from certain extinction. As a result of the efforts, a once negative population growth rate for bears in urban-interface areas became an average annual growth rate of 16 per cent for more than a decade, and re-colonisation of historic ranges in the mountains of the Great Basin ensued. "This study represents a great partnership between wildlife management and geneticists," an official statement said quoting Jason Malaney, lead author of the genetic study. "Wildlife managers deploy long-term field surveys of black bears, collect tissue samples along the way that are then used to better understand the complexities of re-colonisation. This results in improved management outcomes." The authors of the study conclude that based on their results, black bears in the western Great Basin appear to currently maintain levels of connectivity between various mountain ranges that are sufficient to prevent genetic bottlenecks following recolonisation. Further, black bears in the western Great Basin best represent a genetic metapopulation, a group of populations separated but of the same species with individuals that interact with other populations. As the human-footprint expands over time in the region, this level of genetic connection among various mountain ranges may not last without conservation efforts to maintain connectivity, says the study. "The recovery of large carnivores is relatively rare globally yet this is the goal of conservation," said WCS Conservation Scientist Jon Beckmann. "Understanding the mode of recolonisation and its genetic consequences is of broad interest in ecology and critical to successful conservation programs." The study 'Natural rewilding of the Great Basin: Genetic consequences of colonisation by black bears (Ursus americanus)' appears in the current edition of Diversity and Distributions. --IANS vg/in (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved the signing and ratifying of an agreement between India and Philippines on co-operation and mutual assistance in customs matters, an official statement said. "The agreement will help in the availability of relevant information for the prevention and investigation of customs offences. The agreement is also expected to facilitate trade and ensure efficient clearance of goods traded between the countries," the Finance Ministry said in a statement. This agreement will enter into force after necessary national legal requirements for entry into force of this agreement have been fulfilled by both the countries, it said, adding the agreement would provide a legal framework for sharing of information and intelligence between the customs authorities of the two countries. It would also help in the proper application of customs laws, prevention and investigation of customs offences and the facilitation of legitimate trade. The draft text of the proposed agreement has been finalised with the concurrence of the two customs administrations. The draft agreement takes care of Indian customs' concerns and requirements, particularly in the area of exchange of information on the correctness of the customs value declared and authenticity of certificates of origin of the goods traded between the two countries. --IANS mm/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Union Cabinet on Wednesday accorded permission to the Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) to negotiate wage revision with their employees, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said. Announcing the decision after a meeting of the Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said: "There are over 320 CPSEs with over 9.35 lakh unionized and non-unionized employees. The Cabinet has approved to give power to the CPSEs to negotiate the wage revision with their employees." The 320 CPSEs actually have about 12.34 lakh employees, but out of these, about 2.99 lakh are Board-level and below Board-level executives and non-unionized supervisors. The remaining employees belong to the unionized workmen category and wage revision for them is decided by trade unions and managements of CPSEs in terms of guidelines issued by the Department of Public Enterprises for wage negotiations. An official statement said management of the CPSEs would be free to negotiate wage revision for workmen where the periodicity of wage settlement of five years or ten years has expired generally on December 31, 2016, keeping in view the affordability and financial sustainability of such wage revision for the CPSEs concerned. No budgetary support for any wage increase will be provided by the government. "The entire financial implication would be borne by the respective CPSEs from their internal resources," the statement said. --IANS ao/him/vd (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.) Senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram on Wednesday hit out at Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Bihar BJP Chief Nityanand Rai for their recent remarks, saying "that is what an intolerant political party does to a person". "Cancer is divine justice for sins' says Assam Minister Sharma. That is what switching parties does to a person," said Chidambaram on Twitter, citing Sarma's comment on the dreaded disease. "Cut off hands of PM Modi's critics' says Bihar BJP Chief. That is what being in an intolerant political party does to a person," Chidambaram added. Rai had said in Patna: "Any finger or hand raised against the PM, we should get together to either broken or, if need be, chop it off." --IANS sid/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The former head of the Cyberspace Administration of China has been investigated for corruption, the Chinese Communist Party's anti-corruption watchdog, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, said on Wednesday. Lu Wei, 57, whose last public appearance was on September 30, was suspected of "grave violations of discipline", a euphemism often used by the commission to indicate charges related to embezzlement, bribery and other forms of corruption, Efe news reported. As chief of China's top Internet regulator during 2013-2016, Lu played a crucial role in the cybersecurity policy, launching measures to put forward strict online censorship in the country. Websites such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram are all blocked in China. Lu accompanied Chinese President Xi Jinping on his official visit to the US in 2014, where he met tech magnates including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. His sudden departure from office in June 2016, while remaining as the deputy head of the Propaganda Department of the Communist Party of China, had fuelled speculation about his possible fall into disgrace in the regime. --IANS umer/soni/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Rome, Nov 22 (IANS/AKI) The Italian government is listening to youth, women and the business community ahead of the Forum MED - Mediterranean Dialogues summit taking place in Rome next week, Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano said on Wednesday. He also said that now more than ever, dialogue is needed to resolve the various crises in the Mediterranean region. "There are preparatory meetings on young people, women, business, overseas aid, religion, sport, media... all help set the agenda for the Mediterranean. "They create a kind of community made up of leaders and experts from civil society who discuss and reflect on the opportunities in the wider Mediterranean area," said Alfano, adding that the Italian Foreign Ministry strategy to stabilise the current crises in the Mediterranean is putting an emphasis on building a positive agenda for the region. "There is a shared lexicon made up of ten keywords - commitment, responsibility, inclusion, opportunity, development, partnership, culture, rights, resilience and order," Alfano told journalists. Presenting the Forum MED summit taking place from November 30 to December 2 at the Foreign Ministry, Alfano also said: "We are in an especially tense moment in the Mediterranean and dialogue is indeed the watchword." "The summit is proof of Italy's integrated approach to the Mediterranean region. We don't just concern ourselves with one issue but we link various central themes, which if, taken in isolation, would not show the complexity of the Mediterranean today," he said. Over 400 heads of state and government, cabinet ministers, businessmen, bankers and international organisations, academics and experts from around 50 countries will attend next week's summit, according to the Italian Foreign Ministry. --IANS/AKI vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Patidar leader Hardik Patel on Wednesday announced his support to the Congress in the Gujarat Assembly election after it reached an understanding with him by promising job quotas to the agitating Patel community if it comes to power. Hardik Patel made the much-awaited announcement on behalf of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) at a crowded press conference here and said the PAAS was formally accepting the "workable formula" advanced by the Congress. "The Congress has accepted our demand for reservations with a formula that provides for benefits equivalent to OBCs constitutionally, without disturbing the present 49 per cent quota for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and OBCs," Patel said. "We are accepting the formula given to us by the Congress party." Neither Patil nor Congress gave out details of the understanding reached on the reservation formula. Senior Congress leader and former union minister Kapil Sibal, who had held discussions with Patel and other PAAS leades, said Hardik Patel would reveal the details of the formula at an appropriate time. Sibal merely said that his party's suggestions on providing quotas to Patidars in poll-bound Gujarat was "as per the Constitution". But Finance Minister and BJP leader Arun Jaitley mocked the agreement calling it an exercise at "deception of each other". "From the statements that I have seen so far, the Congress-Hardik club is one of mutual deception. The law of the land is very clear and that is laid down by the Supreme Court and only last week in the Rajasthan case it has been reaffirmed that the 50 per cent cap cannot be breached. "They can continue to mutually deceive each other and deceive the public by saying that we will devise a methodology by breaching the cap. Legally and constitutionally it is not possible as the law stands today," he said. Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel lashed out at Hardik Patel for accepting the Congress formula on job quotas and supporting it in the Assembly polls, calling him a "fool". "Fools have given a formula and fools have accepted it," a fuming Nitin Patel said. "I have not seen a more foolish person than Hardik. He is young boy. He may have got some love from the community but they are going to perish soon." Flanked by other leaders of the PAAS, which has been campaigning for job quotas for the Patels, Hardik Patel brushed aside allegations by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that he was "a Congress agent". "The Congress has accepted our demands though it is in opposition and has promised to even include it in its manifesto," he said. "In this situation, when the BJP tortured our youth and slapped false cases, including those of sedition, there is nothing wrong in supporting the Congress. "Let the BJP call me a Congress agent. I am nobody's agent, except that of the people. The BJP doesn't have a land title to Gujarat, six crore people own the state." Hardik Patel said the Congress had said that if it won the Gujarat elections, it would pass a proposal for reservations under Articles 31-C and 46 of the Constitution. He insisted that the Constitution nowhere said more than 50 per cent reservations could not be given. "The Supreme Court has only given suggestions on this. There is neither any law nor provision in the Constitution." He said a new Gujarat government would talk to all the stakeholders and set up a separate Commission. "The Congress has promised that a survey would be carried out within Patel or any other forward community as per the provisions of the OBC Commission and on this basis parameters of economic, social, educational or employment would be used to extend reservation benefits to Patels and other forward communities," Patel said. He claimed that since 1994, many states, including Gujarat, had given quotas beyond 50 per cent and in states as Tamil Nadu and Karnataka such reservation had been in existence for 15 to 17 years. Patel said he was accepting the formula not just on behalf of PAAS but after speaking to several community leaders and key religious organisations - Khodaldham and Umiyadham. However, heads of both these bodies denied having received any details about the Congress formula. --IANS desai-bns-vsc/mr/hiso (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Reacting to the release of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Saeed from Pakistan's jail, the Congress on Wednesday took a dig at Narendra Modi government, asking "where is the 56-inch chest and strong diplomacy now". The party said Pakistan was a principal conspirator in 2008 Mumbai terror attack, so it would not punish the "co-conspirator". Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said in Twitter: "The reason is clear. Pakistan is the protector of nefarious terrorists. Where is the 56-inch chest and strong diplomacy now." "I am certainly not surprised. I would have been surprised if the consequence would have been the opposite of what you said," said another Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi. "Pakistan has never and is never going to learn this lesson. Pakistan is in active collusion and the principal conspirator cannot punish the co-conspirator. It can never happen," he added. Singhvi further said: "Pakistan does not have even a medium-term vision to realise that this will lead to the implosion of itself. "India must be relentless in its pursuit of the programme to expose Pakistan in each country of the United Nations with material, evidence, CDs, documents and dossiers to show that this is the utmost limit of hypocrisy by Pakistan," he added. A Pakistan court on Wednesday ordered the release of LeT founder Hafiz Saeed who had been under house arrest since January this year. --IANS sid/nir (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Wednesday said that his party's suggestions on providing quotas to Patidars in poll-bound Gujarat was "as per the Constitution" and PAAS leader Hardik Patel will make the announcement of the formula at an appropriate time. Talking to reporters here after Patel announced that Congress has accepted the community's demand for quotas in jobs and college admissions if voted to power, he said the party had given its suggestions after a lot of thinking. "As far as formula is concerned, he (Hardik Patel) will himself speak about it... how will we move ahead in the coming days. Whatever suggestions we have given are after a lot of thinking and as per the Constitution," he said. Sibal said that the Congress was happy that a new front would fight against the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Gujarat assembly polls on December 9 and 14. "We need to struggle, win polls and implement whatever promises we have made. We are not among those who make big promises and do nothing and present wrong statistics in order to win the elections," he said. Questioning the work done by BJP governments in the state over the past 22 years for the Patidars, he said they had only filed sedition cases against the PAAS leader. "I want to know what have they done for the Patidar community. What have they done other than filing sedition cases. The BJP has betrayed their trust. "I want to ask the BJP... who arrested Hardik in a sedition case? They (the BJP) have nothing to do with the Constitution. The lesser the BJP talk about constitution, the better it is," he said. --IANS rup/ps/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress' Manipur unit on Wednesday submitted a memorandum to President Ram Nath Kovind, seeking that the Narendra Modi government make public the framework agreement signed with the NSCN-IM in August 2015. Though the Central government has been assuring all sections of people and state government in Manipur that this agreement will not compromise the territories of Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, there have been "celebrations" among some Naga groups, party leaders said. Kovind was on a two-day visit to the state from Tuesday. "We pointed out to the President that the BJP boasts of being transparent. Our simple demand is to disclose the details of the agreement since there is a growing fear that territories of these three states shall be usurped," said state Congress President T.N. Haokip. "Personally the President was in agreement with our stand," he added. Former Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh said: "If the agreement does not covet the land of other states, we will welcome the final settlement. If there is nothing objectionable why is the Central government reluctant to disclose the details. When the Congress led government signed the Punjab and Assam accords, we put all the cards on the table." He also said that his party is not represented in the all political party drafting committee which is preparing a memorandum to the Prime Minister to demand disclosure the details of the agreement. The NSCN-IM is all for the Naga unification. When the ceasefire with the Naga outfit was extended on June 14, 2001 "without territorial limits", there was mayhem in Manipur on June 18 during which 18 persons were killed. NGOs are threatening a repeat of the campaign if "Manipur's land with a written history of over 2,000 years" is sought to be compromised. Meanwhile, the Congress has been organising sit-in protests all over the state demanding disclosure of the details of the framework agreement. --IANS il/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A court here on Wednesday remanded a man, arrested on forgery and cheating charges for claiming tax refund in 2008, to judicial custody till November 25. Chandershekhar, who was arrested on Monday, was presented before Metropolitan Magistrate Kapil Kumar on the expiry of his two-day police custody. A news vendor in east Delhi, the accused had surrendered in the court on Monday after a sessions court on November 9 dismissed his anticipatory bail plea. Chandershekhar, now aged 40, was accused of getting a PAN Card prepared in the name of Banwari and obtaining income tax refund from the Income Tax Department although he was not entitled to do so. He was booked for forgery and cheating. Chandershekhar's counsel Vishal Vimal and Ram Avtar opposed his custodial interrogation, saying no purpose would be served as the case was old and the accused had joined investigation whenever required. --IANS akk/tsb/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) With stubble burning increasing in neighbouring states and wind speed dropping, air quality in Delhi and NCR worsened further on Wednesday with all active monitoring stations of SAFAR now recording "very poor" air quality. According to the experts from Supreme Court-appointed Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA), the air quality may deteriorate further as fog formation is likely due to drop in temperature and lowering of wind speed towards November 23 and 24. "Met has predicted that temperature and the wind speed will drop due to which their will be fog in the region. This may increase the air pollution, however the air quality will not reach the severe plus or emergency levels," Usman Naseem, researcher at the Centre for Science and Environment and member of the EPCA, told IANS. On Wednesday, 25 active monitoring stations of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) recorded "severe plus" or "emergency" Air Quality Index (AQI) at Delhi Technical University (DTU) in north Delhi, Anand Vihar in east Delhi and Ghaziabad. Punjabi Bagh in west Delhi recorded "severe" air quality while all remaining 21 stations recorded "very poor" AQI at 7 p.m. The monitoring agencies however abstained from proving the hourly index values of AQI, rather proving only concentration of the major pollutant PM2.5 and PM10, or particles with diameter less than 2.5 and 10 micrometers. At 7 p.m., the PM2.5 value at Ghaziabad was recorded at 322, at Anand Vihar, it was 341 and at DTU, it was 310 -- 12 to 13 times higher than the safe limits as per international standards. Weather analysts said that due to the low-speed northerly and northwesterly winds entering the national capital from Punjab and Haryana, the national capital and the surrounding regions are likely to inhale toxins for a few more days more. "External emissions do have the impact on the air quality though it's difficult to access the percentage," A. Sudhakar, Member Secretary of the CPCB, told IANS. According to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), the air quality of Delhi-NCR is likely to worsen over the next three days, with share of average PM2.5 set to increase from 154 on Wednesday to 163 on Thursday and 183 after three days. The average PM2.5 in Delhi-NCR according to SAFAR was recorded at 146 on Tuesday. As per SAFAR, all its nine active monitoring station including Dhirpur, Pitampura, Delhi University in north Delhi, Pusa and Lodhi Road in central Delhi, Mathura Road, Ayanagar in south Delhi, Noida and Gurugram had PM2.5 readings ranging between 307 to 344. Meanwhile, satellite images from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on Tuesday showed further stepping up of stubble burning in parts of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and almost all districts of Punjab. This came even as the National Green Tribunal on Wednesday ordered the Delhi government and the neighbouring states to come out with a "definitive workable solution" against it. The green court also ordered the Union Agriculture Ministry to hold a meeting with the states including Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajashtan on the issue on November 28. --IANS kd/him/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Egypt's air forces destroyed 10 vehicles laden with smuggled weapons and ammunition on the country's western border with Libya, military spokesman said on Wednesday. The move comes as part of the continued efforts by the air forces in cooperation with the border guard to secure the country's borders at all directions and to thwart cross-border infiltration and smuggling attempts, the statement read, Xinhua news agency reported. Since May, the Egyptian air force has destroyed more than 100 vehicles loaded with arms while attempting to cross the Egyptian-Libyan border. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi recently said that Egypt destroyed 1,200 vehicles loaded with arms, ammunition and fighters at borders with Libya over the past 30 months. Egypt is concerned about its 1,200 km western border with eastern Libya that has been a smuggling destination of arms and militants over the past few years. The country has been working with Libya's neighbouring states to reach a political settlement in Libya, which is torn by a civil war and run by two rival administrations, one in the capital Tripoli northwestern the country and the other in Tobruk city in the northeast. Egypt sees Libya's stability necessary for maintaining its own national security, secure its western border and uproot the cross-border terrorism. --IANS ahm/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Eight people have been rescued after a US Navy aircraft carrying 11 crew and passengers crashed off the coast of Japan on Wednesday, the Japanese Defence Ministry said. Rescue operations were being conducted jointly by the US military and the Japanese Self-Defence Forces. Preliminary US military reports indicated that engine failure may have caused the crash. Japanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera said that he hoped the remaining three people would be rescued soon, reported state broadcaster NHK. The C-2 Greyhound plane was heading towards the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan stationed in the Philippines Sea, when it crashed at 2.45 p.m. local time on Wednesday, the US Navy's 7th Fleet said in a statement earlier. "Personnel recovery is underway and their condition will be evaluated by USS Ronald Reagan medical staff," the statement had said, adding that the US navy USS Ronald Reagan strike group will be leading the rescue efforts. More than 60 different types of planes and helicopters operate from the USS Ronald Reagan, according to the carrier group's website, including fighters, early warning aircraft, electronic attack planes, transports planes and multi-purpose helicopters. The US military is strongly deployed in the western Pacific, with tens of thousands of troops and billions of dollars' worth of hardware in the region. The Ronald Reagan is one of three US aircraft carriers operating in the region alongside Japanese and South Korean warships as tensions rise between the US and North Korea. The 7th Fleet has had two fatal accidents in Asian waters earlier this year, leaving 17 sailors dead and prompting the removal of eight top Navy officers from their posts, including the 7th Fleet commander. The USS John S. McCain and an oil tanker collided near Singapore in August, leaving 10 US sailors dead. Seven sailors died in June when the USS Fitzgerald and a container ship collided off Japan. --IANS soni/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Polling began on Wednesday to elect chairmen of local bodies in 24 districts of Uttar Pradesh, and the mayor of Agra along with 100 corporators, officials said. In the three-phase election, 24 districts of Uttar Pradesh are going to polls on Wednesday, while 25 districts would go to the polls on November 26, and 26 districts on November 29. Twenty-four districts of Uttar Pradesh with 1.09 crore voters would elect 4,325 candidates for various positions in the local bodies polls. The mayors of five corporations including Agra would also be elected. Despite the misty morning chill, long queues of anxious voters turned up at 364 polling booths in the district. "The expectation level is high and the contest is fierce, as all major political parties have put up formidable candidates for the post of Agra mayor," said insurance agent Sudheir Gupta, at the Vijay Nagar colony polling booth. The results would be announced on December 1. The Agra mayor seat is being hotly contested by the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Navin Jain, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate Digambar Singh Dhakrey, Rahul Chaturvedi of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Vinod Bansal of the Congress. The Aam Admi Party (AAP) has fielded Rajesh Gupta. The votes are likely to be divided among 13 mayoral candidates. A district official told IANS 4,200 policemen, 1,000 home guards, eight companies of Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) and two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) companies have been deployed for poll duty. The poll process would be supervised by 8,000 state government employees. The Agra Municipal Corporation has 12,67,595 voters. --IANS bk/pgh/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Five members of a dacoit gang have been arrested from a West Bengal district bordering Bangladesh and weapons were seized from them, police said on Wednesday. The five were arrested from South 24 Parganas's Hili on Tuesday, an officer said. "Several sharp weapons and firearms have been seized from them." Hili, a town under Balurghat subdivision of the district, is a border checkpoint on the India-Bangladesh border. Police said the five, all Indian residents, gathered near a village fair in Hili few days back with the motive of dacoity. "The five dacoits were produced before a Balurghat court on Wednesday where they have been remanded to 14 days judicial custody," the officer added. --IANS mgr/him/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel lashed out at Patidar leader Hardik Patel for accepting the Congress formula on job quotas and supporting it in upcoming Assembly elections, calling him a "fool". "Fools have given a formula and fools have accepted it," a fuming Nitin Patel said. "I have not seen a more foolish person than Hardik. He is a young boy. He may have got some love from the community but they are going to perish soon." Launching a vicious attack against the young Patel leader for almost 10 minutes, the Deputy Chief Minister appeared uncontrollable and unstoppable. "They are like black stars who will extinguish. Many leaders like you (Hardik) have come and gone into oblivion. This is all temporary. "In the past such leaders emerged during Nav Nirman agitation and other agitations. Now even their neighbours do not know about them. You will all vanish. "The community will take revenge... They will hunt you and take revenge. Your name will be written in black letters in the history of the community and you won't be able to show your face," Nitin Patel thundered. He also came down heavily on Hardik Patek for using Sardar Patel's and Bhagat Singh's names during the Patel agitation. "If you want to take the name of Rahul Gandhi, do so but you have no right to take the name of Sardar and Bhagat Singh... You are being cheated by people around you. You are dumb." He alleged that Hardik Patel was responsible for the infighting within the Patel community. "The Patel community was strong and united. All because of you, now the Patels are fighting within. You have worked to destroy its reputation. is fine, the government is fine but you have put our community to shame." "Elections will be over on December 18 but the seeds of poison you have sown, the community will have to reap its harvest for long," the Deputy Chief Minister said. Nitin Patel, who is a candidate from the Patel stronghold Mehsana, appeared so worked up that he asked Hardik Patel to go back to his hometown and ask elders how "Nitinbhai" had helped people there. "We have been appealing to you despite you insulting us, despite you breaking our offices. Do not think that we cannot retort. Just because we are in power, we have to maintain dignity. In 55-60 years of my political career, I have seen many like you," he added. (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.) Google on Wednesday dedicated a special doodle to mark the 153rd birth anniversary of medico Rukhmabai Raut, who proved instrumental in getting the obnoxious practice of child marriages banned not only in colonial India but the entire British Empire. The Hindu woman also excelled as one of the first practicing woman medicos during an era when even sending girls to school was considered taboo -- and emerged victorious from the clutches of her child marriage herself. The colourful Google doodle depicts a confident "Dr." Rukhmabai with a stethoscope around her neck, hair tied in a bun, with a halo around her head, amid a bustling women's hospital, three women patients and two nurses, trolleys of medicines and flowers, a nurse giving an injection to a patient, a patient reading and another speaking to a nurse. However, the historic legal and medical achievements did not come easy for Rukhmabai, who was born on November 22, 1864 to a Maharashtrian carpenter family of Janardhan Pandurang and Jayanti. She lost her father when she was eight, and three years later (age 11), she was married off to 19-year old youth Dadaji Bhikaji Raut, while her mother (Jayanti) remarried a widower medico, Sakharam Arjun. Refusing to move in with her husband after marriage, Rukhmabai continued living with her mother and stepfather for some years and immersed herself in self-education with books borrowed from a local church library. When her husband Raut initiated legal action against the family for preventing his wife (Rukhmabai) from joining him and to restore his conjugal rights, her stepfather Arjun supported her decision - and this resistance would later create legal history in India and the British Empire. Adopting a tough stand against her husband, Rukhmabai created public opinion through media and launched a passionate debate on juvenile marriages and women's rights, and even expressed a desire to become a doctor, like her stepfather. In the meantime, the court cases progressed with Raut demanding his legal conjugal rights on Rukhmabai, and finally the controversial judgment ordering her to go to the husband or to jail for six months. The bold Rukhmabai preferred jail - creating a huge social-political upheaval and massive discourses on: Hindu laws versus British laws, ancient customs versus modern laws, internal and external reforms, in which Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Max Mueller argued from the opposing sides. Undeterred by legal setbacks, Rukhmabai finally wrote directly to Queen Victoria and narrated her plight - at one time, writing a gutsy line to the monarch: "So far, dear lady, I have dwelt on your patience, for which an apology is necessary." Using her sweeping powers, Queen Victoria intervened to get the court's verdict overruled and granted dissolution of her unhappy marriage in 1887 - significantly, in the historic Golden Jubilee year of her accession to the world's most powerful throne. This landmark divorce left a deep impression on the country's social psyche, boosted feminism in England and finally resulted in the historic passing of "Age of Consent Act, 1891", which banned child marriages not only in the tradition-steeped India but the entire British Empire. During the pendency of this divorce litigation, in May 1883, a 13-year old boy, Mohandas, married a 14-year old girl, Kasturba, in Porbandar (Gujarat) and decades later, he was revered around the world as 'Mahatma Gandhi'. A turning point came for Rukhmabai a year later, in July 1888, when Raut consented to forego his claim on her for a princely sum of Rs 2,000 and she rekindled her deep desire to become a medico. To help achieve her dream, donations poured in from India and abroad, a fund was created to enable her travel to England in 1889 for a five-year medical degree course at London School of Medicine for Women. She was wholeheartedly encouraged in her endeavour by many, including Mary Edith Pechey-Phipson, the then head of Cama Hospital in Mumbai (one of the sites of 26/11 terror strike), who fought many a battles in England to become one of the earliest women doctors in that country. After her return in 1894 as India's earliest and first practicing woman doctor, Rukhmabai plunged into medical practice in hospitals, initially in Surat and from 1918 in Rajkot, in the erstwhile Bombay Province. Prior to Rukhmabai, three other Indian women -- Kadambini Ganguly, Chandramukhi Basu and Anandi Gopal Joshi - had achieved the honours as qualified medicos in 1886 from India and the US. The battle-weary divorcee finally retired as a Chief Medical Officer in the late 1920s and settled down in Bombay (now Mumbai) and continued her work in social reforms and influencing opinion through writings, till her death here on September 25, 1955. (Quaid Najmi can be contacted at q.najmi@ians.in) --IANS qn/in/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Google's plan to de-rank two Russian media outlets RT and Sputnik in its search results has prompted Moscow's telecom regulator to threaten retaliatory action against the search giant, media reported. Speaking at the Halifax Security Forum over the weekend, Eric Schmidt, the Executive Chairman of Google's parent company, Alphabet, said that the company would de-rank RT and Sputnik in its search results, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday. Schmidt's announcement came in the midst of the ongoing investigation into the alleged Russian meddling of the 2016 US presidential investigation. The Russian telecom regulator, Roskomnadzor, took note of Schmidt's comments and said that it intended to push back if it discovers that Google is acting in an "unfriendly" way. The head of the agency, Alexander Zharov, said it would ask Google to explain the concept of ranking as it is applied to RT and Sputnik, the Post reported. Margarita Simonyan, the editor of RT, said she considers Google's actions discriminatory. "If that's not censorship, I don't know what is," she told Russian television. Russian-affiliated media is facing censorship from other technology giants as well. Microblogging site Twitter last month announced that RT and Sputnik would not be allowed to buy advertisements on its platform. But Google's action could prompt Russian authorities to enact censorship rules for American media. Russian is in the process of making a law that would allow authorities to force any foreign media organisation to register as a "foreign agent" after RT was forced to register under a similar statute in the US. A group of Greenpeace activists demonstrated here to commemorate the people murdered in the Amazon region, according to the environmentalist organisation. During the demonstration on Tuesday, the activists also demanded an end to impunity for the perpetrators of those crimes that are bound to reach a record number this year. Under slogans like "Save Amazonia" and "Enough illegal timber", the demonstrators gathered in front of Congress to display an enormous green map of Brazil's Amazon region stuck with crosses bearing the names of people killed in the area, Efe news reported. "We take our stand in front of Congress to show politicians the damage caused by their failure to take action and fight the illegal felling of our forests. The destruction of the Amazon region is responsible for the violence in the woodlands. We want peace in the jungle," Greenpeace said in a statement. The organisation recalled the "Colniza massacre", which occurred last April when "four men armed with knives, revolvers and shotguns" roamed the wilderness in Mato Grosso state "bent on killing and terrorising the local population". The attack was motivated by the "greed" of timber thieves stealing resources of great value in a region known for highly prized tree species used to make high-end furniture, according to the environmentalist organisation. Authorities point to Valdelir Joao de Souza, known as the "Polish Woodworker" and the owner of wood companies, as the mastermind behind these crimes. Souza is in hiding, but his companies are currently operating in a completely normal way processing wood that is then sold on the domestic and international markets, according to a Greenpeace report. --IANS amit (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Wednesday declared that the his government would not allow release of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's "Padmavati" in the poll-bound state. "There is a lot of sensitivity in Kshatriya and Rajput communities with regards to certain depiction of history. We respect their feelings and with elections on the anvil, the state government does not want any controversy. Besides that the law and order is also our responsibility, so we have decided that we will not allow release of movie 'Padmavati' in Gujarat," he said. Rupani also said that the ban was not only limited to the state assembly polls which will be held in December "but till the controversies subside". Asked by media whether he had seen the controversial movie or not before taking such a decision, he said that it was not required. "I have met several people who have expressed anguish and anger against the movie. It has hurt their sentiments bad and we respect their point of view." "Padmavati", starring Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor and directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, has been in controversy since its making. Earlier, the Karni Sena in Rajasthan had vandalized the sets of the movie during its shooting, protesting the depiction of the queen. Several organizations across the country have been opposing the release of the movie, whose release has been deferred. Earlier, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had held that the film had "distorted facts" about Rajput queen Padmavati and would not be allowed to be released in his state, even if it gets censor board certification. His Uttar Pradesh counterpart Yogi Adityanath had held the movie director responsible for hurting sentiments of Rajput community, while Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje government had sought edits in the film to remove objectionable sequences. Asked whether this announcement by the Chief Minister of banning the film amounted to violation of the model code of conduct which is in effect in the state, state chief electoral officer B.B. Swain said: "I don't know. I will have to check the matter and decide." --IANS amc/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) To keep a check on cases similar to the case of over-billing that took place in Fortis Hospital, Gurugram, Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij said on Wednesday that he would speak to Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda for bringing a proposal under which no private hospital could over-charge patients. Vij said that he had set up a three-member committee under the chairmanship of Additional Director General, Health, to investigate the Fortis matter and submit its report at the earliest. "The team will visit the hospital and seek detailed information about medicines, treatment given to the girl by doctors, reasons for her death, bill details, and also find out whether the girl had dengue or not. Strict action would be taken if the hospital was found guilty in the report," Vij said here in a statement. He pointed out that the treatment of dengue was free of cost in all the government hospitals in Haryana, and its treatment even in private hospitals could not cost up to Rs 16 lakh. He said that he will not allow the private hospitals to loot patients like this and necessary action would be taken in this direction. The Fortis Hospital in Gurugram had handed over a bill of nearly Rs 16 lakh to the parents of a girl, Adya, who died due to dengue after being admitted in the hospital for 15 days. --IANS js/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A court in Jhajjar town in Haryana has sentenced a woman to 30 years imprisonment for brutally murdering her husband by cutting him into eight pieces. Additional Sessions Judge H.S. Dahiya sentenced Puja for murdering Baljeet, 38, in April last year in Asanda village in Jhajjar district, court sources said on Wednesday. The court, however, acquitted four other people named in the case, saying only Puja was responsible for the brutal killing. Police investigations revealed that the woman murdered her husband as she had an extra-marital affair with another man and wanted to get rid of her husband. Baljeet's brother Kuljeet had complained to the police on April 26 last year that his brother had gone missing. The brother claimed that he and his sisters had gone to their brother's house and his wife (Puja) did not give satisfactory replies on his whereabouts. His sisters felt some foul smell from another room. On checking, they found the smell coming from a suitcase. On opening it, they recovered the headless body of their brother. Later, they found that Puja had cut Baljeet into eight pieces and had hidden them at different places in the house. Baljeet's head was buried by digging the floor of the house. The court on Tuesday held Puja guilty of brutally murdering Baljeet and sentenced her to 30 years imprisonment. Jhajjar town is around 55 km from Delhi and 285 km from Chandigarh. --IANS js/mr/him (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to entertain a PIL filed against Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi alleging he put himself in danger by skipping SPG security cover given to him. The court, while dismissing the plea filed by Mumbai BJP spokesperson Tuhin A. Sinha, said it is for the government to decide the security aspects and the court was not the appropriate forum for the issue. Sinha had sought a direction to Gandhi and the Central government to ensure that the Congress leader does not violate the Special Protection Group Act and put himself in danger by giving a slip to the SPG. "We are not going to decide on security. Even for our security, we depend on the government. We rely on their assessment. We are not entertaining this plea, it's the responsibility of government," said the court, adding that petition is not maintainable. Advocate Anil Soni, appearing for Central government, told the court said the government was also concerned about Gandhi's security and his skipping security cover was "irresponsible" behaviour. The plea said that several times Gandhi has travelled skipping SPG and put himself in danger and he should be asked to submit an affidavit to the court that he would not travel without taking SPG cover. In August this year, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had said that Gandh hasn't taken SPG security on six foreign trips over the last two years. He had blamed Gandhi for the attack on his car in Gujarat, saying the Congress leader "did not follow security protocols". Gandhi was paying a visit to the flood-affected areas in Gujarat when stones were thrown at his car and his convoy by black flag waving protesters. --IANS gt/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) With the successful testing of an air version of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile on Wednesday, the Indian Air Force has become the first one in the world to achieve this feat, official sources said. The air version of BrahMos missile is a 2.5 tonne supersonic air-to-surface cruise missile with range of more than 400 km. It is a lighter, smaller version of a nuclear- capable missile jointly developed by India and Russia. "The IAF is the first air force in the world to have successfully fired an air- launched 2.8 Mach surface attack missile of this category," a statement from the Indian Air Force said. It is lighter than the land and sea versions of the missile, which weigh over 3 tonnes. "The capability of the missile, coupled with the superlative performance of the Su-30 aircraft, gives the IAF a strategic reach and allows it to dominate the ocean and the battlefields," an IAF official said. Sukhoi-30MKI fighter jet, from which the BrahMos air version was gravity dropped on a target in the Bay of Bengal, has been modified by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to accomplish the task. The Su-30MKI, considered the most potent fighter jet with India, was the choice for fitting the Brahmos missile having an airframe of titanium and high-strength aluminium alloys, fit for a high-speed terrain following profile. The integration on the aircraft was very complex involving mechanical, electrical and software modifications on the aircraft. The IAF was involved in the activity from its inception, officials said. The software development of the aircraft was undertaken by the IAF engineers while the HAL carried out mechanical and electrical modifications on aircraft. One of the major challenges overcome by scientists of Research Centre Imarat, Defence Research and Development Organisation, in the missile development was optimisation of transfer alignment of inertial sensors of the missile. The BrahMos-A missile provides IAF the capability to strike from large stand-off ranges on any target in sea or land with pinpoint accuracy by day or night and in all weather conditions. The Indian Navy also played an active role in the testing, ensuring availability of the target and a large number of monitoring ships to ensure range safety clearance. "The rich experience of the IAF flight test crew ensured that the integration was smooth. The dedicated and synergetic efforts of the IAF, DRDO, BraMos Aerospace Pvt Ltd and HAL have proven the capability of the nation to undertake such complex integrations on its own," the IAF statement said. On Wednesday, the missile was fired by the test crew comprising Wg Cdr Prashant Nair and Wg Cdr K.P. Kiran Kumar. The chase aircraft was flown by Gp Capt Badrish N. Athreya and Sqn Ldr Angad Pratap. According to informed sources, there have been talks on developing smaller versions of BrahMos for deployment on the Navy's Mig-29s, as well as Rafale fighter jets, 36 of which are being bought by India under a government-to-government agreement. However, a final decision on this is pending. The proposal for fitting the Su-30MKIs was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Security in October 2012, with the decision that the IAF will get over 200 air-launched versions of the BrahMos missiles. The plan is to have at least 40 Su-30s fitted with BraMos missiles. The BrahMos missile project is a joint venture between DRDO of India and Federal State Unitary Enterprise NPO Mashinostroyenia (NPOM) of Russia. It is a nuclear capable short- range supersonic cruise missile that can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft, or land. --IANS ao/tsb/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Leading Swedish home furnishings retailer IKEA will offer over 7,000 products at its first India store opening here next year, it said on Wednesday. The product range will be affordable and will offer something for every home with almost 1,000 products priced below Rs 200, said company officials. Ahead of the store launch planned in the spring of 2018, IKEA opened its experiential centre, providing a sneak peek into its products and solutions. Designed for six months, IKEA Hej Home has come up in Forum Mall in Kukatpally near Hitec City. Officials said the products here were only for display. The customers can touch, feel and experience some of the products which will be available at the store and start preparing their wish list. Headquartered in the Netherlands, IKEA designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture, kitchen appliances and home accessories, and is considered to be the largest furniture retailer in the world. The four lakh square feet store is coming up on a 13-acre site in Hitec City, the Information Technology corridor, with an investment of Rs 1,000 crore. It will create direct jobs for 800 people; half of them, the company promises, will be women. The store will also have a 1,000-seat restaurant, the largest in IKEA's global network of over 400 stores. It will offer both Indian and Swedish cuisine. Ulf Smedberg, Country Marketing Manager, IKEA India, said they plan to open 25 stores in India by 2025. The next store will come up in Mumbai in 2019. This will be bigger than the Hyderabad store with five lakh square feet. It has also purchased land in Bengaluru and Delhi-NCR for opening the stores. Smedberg said they were looking at both metropolitan and tier-II cities for setting up stores. Marie Lundstrom, Creative Director, Home Furnishings, IKEA, said they were sourcing some of the products like mattresses and sofas from local suppliers to cut the cost. IKEA has been sourcing from India for the last 30 years and it plans to double its sourcing volumes by 2020 for sales at its stores in the country and also abroad. It currently has 53 suppliers in India and the number is expected to go up with the opening of more stores. Around 45,000 people work directly for IKEA suppliers in India and about 400,000 in the extended supply chain. Company officials said they were also exploring the opportunity to manufacture the products, especially in the fabrics segment. IKEA Foundation, the company's philanthropic arm, is currently training 100 women in retail skills in Hyderabad. John Achillea, Store Manager, IKEA Hyderabad, said the number would be increased to 300 and some of the trained women will be placed in the Hyderabad store. Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary, Industry, Commerce and Information Technology, government of Telangana, said that the state government has given three incentives to IKEA. These include 100 per cent reimbursement for stamp duty, a discount of Rs 1 for each unit of electricity consumed for the next five years and part reimbursement for training women. IKEA currently has 403 stores in 49 countries with a sales volume of 38.3 billion euros. About 783 million customers visited IKEA stores in FY17 and more than 2.3 billion people visited IKEA online. --IANS ms/him/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India and Russia are likely to sign a comprehensive security agreement on cooperation in combating terrorism and organised crime during Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh's three-day visit to Russia next week, an official statement said on Wednesday. During his visit from November 27 to 29, the Home Minister will discuss bilateral, regional and international matters of mutual interest during discussions with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Kolokoltsev and other senior Russian leadership. "Rajnath Singh is likely to sign a comprehensive security agreement on cooperation in combating terrorism and organized crime with the Ministry of Interior of the Russian Federation which would reinforce the relationship between India and Russia through exchange and sharing of information, expertise, best practices and would help in curbing terrorism and enhancing security in the region," a Home Ministry statement said. He is also expected to sign a joint action or implementation plan for cooperation in areas of drugs and disaster management, the statement said. As both the countries have long history of close cooperation on matters of shared security concerns, this visit will provide an opportunity to further cement and strengthen the mutually beneficial bilateral ties between both the countries, it added. --IANS rak/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A CBI court here on Wednesday sentenced former Chief Secretary of Jharkhand Sajjal Chakravarty to five years' imprisonment in a multi-million Animal Husbandry Department (AHD) scam, popularly known as fodder scam. Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Court judge Shambhulal Sahu pronounced the quantum of sentence after hearing the arguments of the CBI and Chakravarty's counsel. The court also fined him Rs 4 lakh. The court had on November 14 convicted Chakravarty in the case related to the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 37 crore from Jharkhand's Chaibasa treasury. As per the charge, Chakravarty was the Deputy Commissioner of West Singhbhum (Chaibasa) when the fraudulent withdrawal took place and he did nothing to prevent it. He accepted a laptop from fodder suppliers to maintain silence over the withdrawal. Chakravarty was appointed the Chief Secretary of Jharkhand in October 2014 and removed from his post in January 2015. The Rs 950-crore fodder scam surfaced in 1996 in undivided Bihar. The case was handed over to the CBI on the directive of the Patna High Court. Lalu Prasad had to resign as Chief Minister of Bihar in 1997 following allegations of involvement in the fodder scam case. He was sent to jail and later convicted in another fodder case. --IANS ns/nir/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A group of civil society activists and academicians on Wednesday alleged that CBI Judge Brijgopal Harkishan Loya, who was hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh case, had died in "mysterious circumstances" in 2014 and demanded a high-level judicial inquiry into the matter. Addressing a press conference here, civil society activists Shabnam Hashmi and Sayeeda Hameed, academicians Apoorvanand and Manisha Sethi and Hartosh Singh Bal, Political Editor of Caravan magazime, said they were dismayed at the "chilling details" that have emerged recently over the death of the judge. They said that Loya's father, sister and niece have spoken to a journalist of the magazine, about death of the judge in Nagpur on night of November 30 or December 1 morning. The activists said the media reported that judge had died of a heart attack but his sister had said there was blood on his collar, his belt was twisted in the opposite direction, and the pant clip was broken. They said Loya's father also said there were blood stains on the clothes. Citing the family, they said all pages of the post mortem report were signed by a paternal cousin, "who no one knows from the family". They said investigative report which has appeared in three parts in The Caravan raises questions and points "to inconsistencies in the story told so far to the world and the family by the officials". The activists said Loya was 48 years with no history of any heart ailment and raised questions over "wiping clean of all data" from phone before it was returned to the family. "We demand an immediate high-level judicial inquiry and security for the Loya family and the journalist Niranjan Takle," they said. --IANS ps/vsc/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Karnataka assembly on Wednesday here passed a bill to regulate the functioning of private hospitals across the state. "The Karnataka Private Medical Establishments Act (Amendment) Bill 2017 has been passed in the Assembly by voice vote after discussion on its various provisions by lawmakers of the ruling and opposition parties," state Health Minister K.R Ramesh Kumar told reporters here. The Bill was tabled in the lower house on Tuesday after the state government modified some of its provisions as demanded by the private doctors, who went on a five-day strike last week, affecting thousands of patients across the state. "We are planning to set up a regulator, headed by a retired judge, who will oversee the functioning of the private hospitals and ensure quality healthcare for the people across the state," Kumar said during the debate on the Bill. Opposition BJP and JD-S members, however, expressed concern over the quality of healthcare in the state-run hospitals, shortage of doctors and medical equipment, which force patients to seek treatment in private hospitals at prohibitive cost. "A provision has been made to ensure private hospitals and their doctors will attend to emergency cases without insisting on advance payment from patients or their family," Kumar reiterated. The Bill has excluded the provision to form the Grievances Redressal Committees at the district level as demanded by the private doctors. Aggrieved patients can approach the District Health Officer or the Karnataka Medical Council under the provisions of the existing act. Penal provision to jail doctors or pay hefty fine for medical negligence was also dropped from the Bill, which has a provision to display the cost of treatment, including surgeries, operations and diagnostic tests in all private hospitals. "Patients can also question the private hospitals, nursing homes, clinics and diagnostic labs if they are charged more than the specified cost and complaint to the DHO or KMC," Kumar assured the members. The Bill has provision to enable the state government fix the treatment cost for BPL (Below Poverty Line) patients referred to private hospitals under its health insurance scheme. In the case of Above Poverty Line (APL) patients, the state government will bear 30 per cent of the treatment cost in private hospitals. Of the registered 1.25 lakh doctors in the state, about 10,000 of them are employed in the state-run hospitals, while over a lakh work in about 40,000 private hospitals, nursing homes and clinics across the state. The 10-day winter session of the state legislature is being held here since November 13. --IANS fb/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday flayed his Congress predecessor Bhupinder Singh Hooda for suggesting offer of a plot and Rs 6 crore to honour state-born Manushi Chhillar for winning the Miss World 2017 title. "What the former Chief Minister said is his temperament, as his thinking is confined only to plots and cash. One should think above all this," Khattar said. Hooda had said that the Haryana government should offer the young woman a plot of land and cash for her achievement. Khattar praised Manushi for bringing laurels to the country and said her answer to the last question that helped her bag the title reflected her thoughts and mindset. He said her reply was in consonance with the Indian culture and traditions. "I was very happy with her reply at the Miss World contest final when asked which profession deserves the highest salary, and why? "Her reply was 'I don't think it is just about cash. But I think it is about love and respect. All mothers sacrifice so much for their kids. Therefore, I think the profession that deserves the highest salary is that of mothers'," Khattar said. The Chief Minister, who said he might meet Manushi next week, said his government would happily offer whatever office she would like to hold or ask for any incentive/reward/help so as to promote her views in Haryana. --IANS js/tsb (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke about Syria with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a telephonic conversation, a media report said. The talks took place a day after Putin's meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. According to the Hebrew-language Ynet news site, an Israeli official said that Netanyahu and Putin spoke over the phone on Tuesday night for "about half-an-hour" and discussed Iran's attempts to gain a foothold in Syria, Xinhua news agency reported. Putin held several talks over the phone with leaders to update them on his Monday meeting with al-Assad, including with US President Donald Trump and King Salman of Saudi Arabia. The talks came a day after al-Assad held a surprising visit to the Russian city of Sochi to discuss political process in Syria. According to the Kremlin, that joint military operations in Syria are "coming to an end," with the focus shifting to a political process. Israel has been lobbying Russia and the US against the establishment of permanent Iranian bases in Syria. However, according to local media reports, a ceasefire agreement promoted by the US and Russia does not include a ban on Iranian military presence in Syria. Israel and Syria share a disputed border in the Golan Heights, a territory that Israel seized from Syria in the 1976 Middle East War and annexed it later in a step never recognised by the international community. Israel has been carrying out occasional airstrikes against Syrian army positions, usually in response to errant fire from the six-year war between the Bashar Assad regime and rebel groups. --IANS amit (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The US Attorney's office has announced that a grand jury has decided to charge the New York terror attack suspect with 22 counts after he killed eight persons on Halloween. Sayfullo Saipov also injured 12 others as he mowed down a bike path on October 31, Efe news reported. The jury charged Saipov with eight counts of murder and 12 counts of attempted murder, one count of providing or attempting to provide material support to the terrorist group Islamic State (IS) and another count of violence and destruction of a motor vehicle, the prosecution said in a statement. The 29-year-old Uzbek immigrant, who currently remains in prison, was shot and arrested by police after committing multiple hit-and-run attacks in lower Manhattan. He was initially charged with two counts: one of providing resources and material support to the IS, and the other of violence and destruction of a vehicle, but these charges have now been extended to 22. During the trial process, evidence is sent to a grand jury, which has the authority to drop or extend charges against a felony suspect, which occurred in this case. Saipov, resident of the neighboring state of New Jersey, arrived in the US in March 2010. On October 31, Saipov, who allegedly began planning the attack a year ago, plowed a rental truck into pedestrians and bicyclists on a bike lane in Manhattan to "kill as many people as he could". He committed the crime possibly inspired by IS videos on his mobile phone, according to the authorities. Saipov allegedly chose October 31 as the date of the attack believing that it would cause more deaths as there was a traditional Halloween parade in the city. According to the authorities, the Uzbek immigrant left the truck yelling "Allah is great" in Arabic and supposedly wanted to carry the IS flag, but gave up because he did not want to attract too much attention to himself. One of the mobile phones seized from Saipov contained videos distributed by the IS, as well as about 3,800 images, many of which appeared to be propaganda for this terrorist group. According to the statement, Saipov could face a minimum of ten years in prison for attempted murder, and a maximum of life imprisonment or capital punishment. "Like so many terrorists before him, Saipov will face justice in an American court," said Joon H. Kim, acting US attorney for the Southern District of New York, adding that "we expect justice in this case will be swift, firm and resolute". --IANS in/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Zimbabwe's incoming President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Wednesday thanked Zimbabweans and the military for their support. In his first public address to supporters upon his return to Zimbabwe from exile, Mnangagwa said he was humbled by the outpouring of support after he was sacked by former president Robert Mugabe two weeks ago, Xinhua news agency reported. He immediately pledged to serve the people, saying all Zimbabweans need to unite and grow the economy for employment creation. "We want peace in our country, we want jobs for our people," he said. Mnangagwa, due for swearing in on Friday, said Zimbabwe needs the support of the international community in order to rebuild its battered economy. He said he had already begun to receive pledges of support from several foreign countries. Zimbabwe, he said, was witnessing the founding of new democracy after the military helped to depose long-serving former president Mugabe from power. He also praised the military for the peaceful manner in which it handled its operation that culminated in Mugabe resigning Tuesday, ending 37 years of his grip on power. He said he had survived many attempts on his life by Mugabe's administration, including his poisoning in August while at a ZANU-PF rally. "Exactly 16 days ago, I received a letter firing me from the government of Zimbabwe as Vice President. Within two hours I was informed about plans to eliminate me. Realizing that on the 12 of August this year I was subjected to poisoning which resulted in my being airflifted to South Africa and again I thank you Zimbabweans for your prayers. I survived that poisoning," Mnangagwa told hundreds of cheering supporters at the ZANU-PF headquarters in the capital. He also thanked the Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda for resisting pressure from some quarters that wanted to derail the process of ousting Mugabe from power. --IANS ahm/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Pakistan court on Wednesday ordered the release of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Saeed, blamed for the horrific 2008 Mumbai terror attack, from house arrest that began in January this year. A Judicial Review Board consisting of judges from the Lahore High Court rejected a plea from Punjab province to extend Saeed's detention after a senior Finance Ministry official failed to convince the board that his release would lead to diplomatic and other problems for Pakistan. The Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief will be freed on the midnight of November 24 after the expiry of the house arrest order. Saeed and his four aides had been under house arrest since January under the Anti-Terrorism Act. Following the decision, Saeed told media that an end to his detention was tantamount to the victory of truth and called the decision "a serious blow" to India's demands that he be kept in custody and punished for the 2008 massacre, Dawn online reported. Following the decision, Saeed supporters chanted slogans and showered him with rose petals. The court had warned the government last month that it would end Saeed's house arrest if enough evidence was not submitted against him. Saeed's advocate AK Dogar earlier said the JuD leaders had been detained merely on the basis of allegations, without any substantial evidence against them, and called the call for extending the detention "illegal" and a "violation of basic rights". Dogar alleged that the government had placed Saeed under house arrest to oblige the US. Seeking an end to his detention, Saeed argued that his captivity without any legality amounted to a violation of the Constitution and his human rights. In previous proceedings, the Punjab Home Department argued that if Saeed was freed, his activities would pose a serious threat to public safety and public order. The department also said that his release may warrant international sanctions against Pakistan. However, the board rejected the plea to extend his detention on the grounds of insufficient evidence. Saeed is accused by India of masterminding the Mumbai terror attack of November 2008 which left 166 Indians and foreigners dead. New Delhi has repeatedly urged Islamabad to punish him for the killings. Samsung India on Wednesday signed a MoU with the Uttar Pradesh government to add 20 new "Smart Healthcare" centres across the state to provide affordable and quality healthcare to needy patients. As part of the agreement, Samsung will provide advanced and innovative healthcare equipment such as ultrasound and digital radiology (x-ray) machines manufactured by the company along with LED TV, air conditioner and refrigerator to select government hospitals. "We are committed to offer affordable healthcare facilities for the people of Uttar Pradesh and welcome the support from Samsung India in helping hospitals cater to the community's needs for quality healthcare," Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh said. "Through this collaboration, we aspire to provide many more people in the state easy access to advanced healthcare facilities," added Deepak Bhardwaj, Vice President, Samsung India. Since 2015, Samsung has collaborated with 18 government hospitals across to country for the "Smart Healthcare" programme, including one at Lucknow. With the new addition, the total number of such centres reached 21 in Uttar Pradesh and 38 in India. --IANS rt/na/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Japan's Cloud-based business card management service provider Sansan Inc on Wednesday launched a contact management app "Eight" in India. The app implements artificial intelligence (AI)-driven technologies and lets the users contact business connections by converting analogue business card information to digital. "'Eight' is the biggest professional network in Japan with double the number of LinkedIn users but it was limited only to Japanese market. Now, we are opening up to the Indian market," Chika Terada, CEO, Sansan, told IANS here. The people can use their smartphone cameras to digitise business cards, manage contacts by digitising business cards and connect with contacts over the app. "We decided to launch 'Eight' internationally starting with India because the users are aspirational and very young. Our target audience is anybody who has a business card and who looks to build their network aggressively," Terada added. Sansan's "Eight" app combines business card scanning features with social media functionality to connect users and enable them to connect on a networking platform. "Users can manage business cards in 'Eight' by scanning cards into the app and we digitise all the business cards. Then you have a complete database on the cloud of business cards and that is not a contact list. It is a complete network," the senior executive said. Unlike LinkedIn, this app lets the user add anybody to their network. "We have continuously enhanced our transcription process to reach 99.8 per cent accuracy, and to transcribe more than 200 million business cards a year in a secure way. Utilising data with AI technologies will help us provide new opportunities for our users," said Edward Senju, Executive Producer of 'Eight'. The company will also launch a business card scan partner programme in India soon. In Japan, the app has two million users with 5,000 daily downloads and it also digitises around 3,00,000 business cards every day. --IANS ksc/na/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A second federal judge has blocked the US administrations proposed ban on transgender troops, saying President Donald Trumps announcement of the ban earlier this year was "capricious, arbitrary, and unqualified". In a preliminary injunction, Judge Marvin J. Garbis of Maryland on Tuesday halted a policy that would have discharged all current transgender troops and barred prospective ones from enlisting, saying it likely violated equal protection provisions of the Constitution, the New York Times reported. Judge Garbis's order went further than a similar ruling in October by Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of Columbia, which also said the ban likely violated the Constitution. "There is absolutely no support for the claim that the ongoing service of transgender people would have any negative effective on the military at all," the ruling said. But while Judge Kollar-Kotelly did not specifically block a Trump administration policy prohibiting gender-reassignment surgery for service members at the government's expense, Judge Garbis's order does. The ruling leaves in place an Obama-era policy, announced in 2016, that allows transgender troops to serve openly and receive the required medical care for their gender transition through the military. Shortly after the ruling the Trump administration appealed last month's decision, signalling it would continue to press for the removal of transgender troops. In July, Trump said on Twitter that the military could not afford the "tremendous medical costs and disruption" of transgender troops and that the government "will not accept or allow them to serve in any capacity in the US military". A presidential memorandum released in August said all transgender service troops would be discharged. A number of service members immediately filed suit, arguing the new policies were discriminatory. There are an estimated 2,000 to 11,000 active duty transgender service members, according to a 2016 RAND Corporation study commissioned by the Pentagon. The American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the suit on behalf of six service members, said the ruling was a victory over what it called in a statement "uninformed speculation, myths and stereotypes". "Today is a victory for transgender service members across the country," said Joshua Block, who represented the service members. "We're pleased that the courts have stepped in to ensure that trans service members are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve," he said. --IANS soni/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Ratko Mladic, the former commander of the Bosnian Serb Army, has been sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity by a UN tribunal here. Known as the "Butcher of Bosnia", Mladic led forces during the massacre of Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks) in Srebrenica and the siege of Sarajevo. The UN tribunal convicted him on 10 of the 11 charges. The tribunal found that Mladic "significantly contributed" to the genocide in Srebrenica in 1995 where more than 7,000 Bosniak men and boys were murdered, the worst atrocity in Europe after World War II, the Guardian reported. He was also deemed responsible by the chamber for inciting terror during the Siege of Sarajevo (1992-96) -- where Serb troops had carried out a campaign of indiscriminate sniper fire against civilians. The death toll was more than 10,000. "The crimes committed rank among the most heinous known to humankind and include genocide and extermination as a crime against humanity," presiding judge Alphons Orie said while reading the verdict. Orie read out many crimes committed by troops under Mladic's command including mass rapes of Bosniak women and girls, keeping Bosniak prisoners in appalling conditions - starving, thirsty and sick - and beating them, terrorising civilians in Sarajevo by shelling and sniping, deporting Bosniaks forcibly en masse and destroying Bosniaks' homes as well as mosques. The chamber rejected mitigating circumstances proposed by the defence team and handed Mladic a life sentence, bringing to a close a 530-day, four-year landmark trial at the UN International Criminal Tribunal. Before the verdict could be read, Mladic had to be removed from the room after he launched into a sudden outburst of angry shouting in a bid to halt proceedings by claiming that his blood pressure was too high, the BBC reported. The reading of the verdict resumed after a brief adjournment. The tribunal was created especially to try war crimes committed during the Yugoslav conflicts that tore up the Balkans in the 1990's. The chamber detailed that during the massacre of Srebrenica, Bosnian Serb troops separated men and boys from women being loaded onto buses to evacuate the Muslim population from the enclave. Those males were then subject to torture, humiliation and beatings before being executed. Mladic is still regarded as a war hero by many in Serbia and the decision is likely to prompt backlash. The verdict comes a year after former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadic was found guilty of genocide over the 1995 massacre in Srebrenica and sentenced to 40 years in jail. --IANS soni/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir will begin a four-day official visit to Russia in response to invitation by his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, a media report said. Sudan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that al-Bashir would during the visit hold talks with Putin and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on enhancing bilateral ties in political, economic, cultural and military fields, Xinhua news agency reported. They would also discuss cooperation in commercial and communication domains and mutual exchange in the various fields. The ministry described al-Bashir's visit to Moscow as a qualitative shift in the procession of relations between the two sides. A number of contracts, agreements and MoUs namely in fields of mining, oil exploration and peaceful utilization of energy as well as the diplomatic, cultural and military domains are expected to be signed on the sidelines of the visit. --IANS amit (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Rome, Nov 22 (IANS/AKI) War-wracked Syria will be on the agenda at the Forum Med - Mediterranean Dialogues summit taking place in Rome next week, Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano said on Wednesday. "The transition process can only conclude with democratic elections in which the Syrian people will choose their new leaders," Alfano told reporters. The so-called 'Astana Process' of peace talks organised by Iran, Russia and Turkey are "an effective instrument for a ceasefire", he said, adding that it will be the United Nations backed negotiations in Geneva that will stabilise Syria and bring lasting peace to the country. Over 400 heads of state and government, cabinet ministers, businessmen, bankers and international organisations, academics and experts from around 50 countries are due to attend this year's Forum Med - Mediterranean Dialogues summit being held at the Italian Foreign Ministry from November 30 to December 2. --IANS/AKI vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tamil Nadu has the highest number of women entrepreneurs in India, followed by Kerala and West Bengal, reveals a new report. Nearly 80 per cent of women entrepreneurs in India are self-financing their businesses, with little utilisation of the various government schemes that provide financial aid to them, according to the state-wise analysis of state of women entrepreneurship in the country by Sheatwork, a knowledge hub for women entrepreneurs. Goa, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Rajasthan, and West Bengal have emerged as top five states offering the maximum number of schemes for women entrepreneurs, it said. "While significant efforts have been made by the Central and state governments as well as independent agencies through the years in India, there still exists a huge gap in awareness and promotion levels of women entrepreneurship," Sheatwork.com founder Ruby Sinha said in a statement. The education sector has the maximum number of women entrepreneurs followed by financial services, insurance, livestock, forestry and lodging, showed the findings based on information available online. "Our objective is to understand where women entrepreneurship in India stands today, how the existing ecosystem and the various government schemes for women entrepreneurs can be better utilised and enhanced further to encourage more and more women to start their own ventures," Sinha said. Although the numbers of women entrepreneurs in the northeastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Nagaland are not impressive, the ratio of male to female entrepreneurs in these state strongly favours women, said the report released this week. --IANS gb/him/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Students of Satyabama University near here on Wednesday late evening set on fire their hostel beds late on Wednesday and engaged in acts of vandalism, said a Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services Department official. "The students have set fire to some beds in their hostel. They started stoning our vehicle. There is no major fire," the fire services official told IANS. The immediate reason for student resorting to violence is the suicide of a first year female student, he added. According to available information, the female student was caught copying in the exam and was admonished. Upset at this, the girl committed suicide. --IANS vj/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy will submit a report to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on the killing of a journalist by a Tripura State Rifle (TSR) trooper on Tuesday. "I am going to Delhi today (Wednesday) and would meet Home Minister Rajnath Singh to give a report on the killing of the journalist Sudip Datta Bhowmik by a TSR rifleman," Roy told the before leaving for Delhi. He said: "I would see the end of the killing. How a journalist was killed by a TSR personnel within the battalion headquarter complex?" According to police, TSR Second Battalion Rifleman Nandu Kumar Reang on Tuesday, following an altercation, opened fire from his AK-47 assault rifle, killing Datta Bhowmik, 50, on the spot in Radha Kishore Nagar, 25 km from Agartala. Reang was the bodyguard of Second Battalion Commandant Tapan Debbarma. The slain journalist went to meet Debbarma at the battalion headquarters. Police arrested both the TSR trooper and commandant Debbarma. They would be presented in the court on Wednesday. The state government has handed over the case to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). Union Minister of State for Home Kiran Rijiju has also strongly condemned the killing of the journalist. Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, condemning the killing, has asked the Director General of Police to probe the incident. Bhowmik, who was a reporter with "Syandan Patrika" and television channel "Vanguard", is survived by his wife, a government teacher, and two children. To protest the killing, both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress called a 12-hour and 24-hour statewide shutdown on Thursday respectively. "Chief Minister Manik Sarkar should step down immediately," BJP state President Biplab Kumar Deb told the demanding a judicial probe into the crime. Various journalists organisations in the northeast, including the Tripura Working Journalists Association, Tripura Journalists Union (TJU) and the Agartala Press Club, denounced the killing and demanded a high level probe into the incident. The TJU has also demanded the resignation of the Home Minister. The portfolio is held by the Chief Minister. On September 20, a television journalist, Santanu Bhowmik, 28, was killed allegedly by some activists of a party in Mandai, 35 km from here. --IANS sc/pgh/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President Donald Trump spoke with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin over phone for more than an hour about the conflict in Syria, the anti-terrorism fight in Central Asia and the Middle East as well as the nuclear threat posed by North Korea. In a statement, the White House said that the two leaders on Tuesday reaffirmed their support for the joint declaration they both adopted during the recent Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Danang, Vietnam, in which they committed to work together defeating the Islamic State terror group in Syria. Trump and Putin stressed the importance of implementing UN Security Council Resolution 2254 to "peacefully resolve the Syrian civil war, end the humanitarian crisis, allow displaced Syrians to return home and ensure the stability of a unified Syria free of malign intervention and terrorist safe havens", Efe news reported. The conversation took place shortly after Putin received Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday in the Russian Black Sea city of Sochi, a visit that was organised in secret but reported on Tuesday. The White House statement did not allude to the efforts to push for a new peace process in Syria that, according to the Kremlin, Putin revealed to Trump and other international leaders, including Saudi Arabia's King Salman, with whom he also spoke over phone. Upon leaving the White House for his Palm Beach, Florida, residence for the Thanksgiving holiday, Trump briefly told reporters about his talk with Putin, whom he said spoke very seriously about bringing peace to Syria. Trump and Putin also discussed the "importance of fighting terrorism together throughout the Middle East and Central Asia and agreed to explore ways to further cooperate in the fight against IS, Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and other terrorist organisations," the White House said. Both leaders spoke about "implementing a lasting peace in Ukraine as well as the need to continue international pressure on North Korea to halt its nuclear weapon and missile programmes", the statement added. On Tuesday, the US Treasury imposed sanctions on 13 entities charged with engaging in maritime and terrestrial shipping with North Korea, one day after Trump returned Pyongyang to the US list of countries considered to be "state sponsors of terrorism". --IANS umer/soni/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh has sent a proposal to United Nations for declaring 2018 as "International Year of Millets" to raise awareness among consumers, policy makers, industry and research sector, it was announced on Wednesday. "Promotion of production and consumption of millets through conscious efforts at global level is likely to contribute substantially in the fight against targeted hunger and mitigate the effect of climate change in long run," he said in his letter to the global body. Popularizing millets would benefit future generations of farmers as well as consumers, he said in the letter dated November 10. Millet is a common term to categorise small-seeded grasses that are often termed nutri-cereals or dryland-cereals, and includes sorghum, pearl millet, ragi, small millet, foxtail millet, proso millet, barnyard millet, kodo millet and other millets. --IANS spk/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A US Navy aircraft with 11 people on board crashed into the sea off the coast of Japan on Wednesday while on its way to the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, military officials said. The Japan-based US 7th Fleet said in a statement that a search and rescue operation had been launched from the carrier. It said the ship was operating in the Philippines Sea when the crash happened at 2.45 p.m. Japan time (5.45 a.m. GMT). The cause of the crash is not yet known, NBC News reported. "Personnel recovery is underway and their condition will be evaluated by USS Ronald Reagan medical staff," the statement said. "The names of the crew and passengers are being withheld pending next of kin notification." No further information was immediately available and the Navy did not release the type of aircraft involved. The 7th Fleet has had two fatal accidents in Asian waters earlier this year, leaving 17 sailors dead and prompting the removal of eight top Navy officers from their posts, including the 7th Fleet commander. The USS John S. McCain and an oil tanker collided near Singapore in August, leaving 10 US sailors dead. Seven sailors died in June when the USS Fitzgerald and a container ship collided off Japan. --IANS soni/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Mark Green will visit India this month to participate in the eighth annual Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) here. Over 1,500 entrepreneurs, investors and supporters of innovation from 150 countries will be attending GES, beginning on November 28. He will meet female entrepreneurs and discuss how women can become more active in the economic development of their communities. USAID Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator and Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment Michelle Bekkering will accompany him to the GES, said a statement from the US Consulate General here on Wednesday. During his India visit from November 28 to December 1, Green will also visit several USAID programmes and meet senior Indian officials. He will then travel to New Delhi to discuss strengthening the US-India strategic partnership. He will conclude his visit in Mumbai, where he will participate in an event to commemorate World AIDS Day on December 1. USAID is a US government agency that works to end extreme global poverty. --IANS ms/him/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Robbie Keane was missed when ATK played a goalless draw against Kerala Blasters against Kerala Blasters in Kochi in Indian Super League (ISL)'s opening match, club's Portuguese midfielder Zequinha said on Wednesday. The 30-year old, who was part of the 0-0 draw and played full 90 minutes, went on to add that not having the mercurial former Tottenham Hotspur and LA Galaxy forward was not a feel-good factor for the players. "All the players of ATK are good. Robbie Keane is of course a big player. He played many years in England and went to America and won four titles. He is a big player and everybody knows this. We missed Robbie Keane," Zequinha told reporters days ahead of ATK's first home game against FC Pune City on Sunday. "If he plays, the team feels better. When you look at him, he is an inspiration," Zequinha added. Keane is expected to miss the first 2-3 matches for the defending champions due to injury which forced the Ireland player to head home. Zequinha started his youth career with Victoria FC and Portuguese giants Porto. He climbed through the ranks by playing for Porto's B side. He has several stints with Portuguese clubs such as Tourizense, Penafiel, Gondomar and Gil Vicente and made a permanent move to SC Olhanense in the Portuguese League itself. In 2011, he moved to Greece to play for AEL FC, followed by a move to Panthrakikos FC in 2013. He returned to Portugal to play with Victoria FC, FC Arouca and CD Nacional. He has also played for Portugal in their U-20 side. --IANS dm/pur/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Zimbabwe's former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa returned to the country on Wednesday and will be sworn in as President on Friday, succeeding friend-turned-foe Robert Mugabe. "It's done. President Mnangagwa will be sworn in on Friday," Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF party said on Twitter. "The new era has arrived, our new President," the party added, attaching a photo of Mnangagwa, 75. Earlier, state-owned Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corp (ZBC) said the ruling party had selected Mnangagwa to replace Mugabe, the nonagenarian who had been in power since 1980 but was finally forced to quit after military intervention and mass protests. Advocate Jacob Francis Mudenda, a ZANU-PF member, said Parliament informed the Chief Secretary to the Office of President of Mnangagwa's nomination, the Guardian reported. Mnangagwa fled for safety to South Africa two weeks ago when he was sacked by Mugabe, triggering a political crisis that culminated in the resignation of the 93-year-old autocrat on Tuesday. Mnangagwa touched down at a military air base in Harare on Wednesday on a flight from South Africa. Car horns and celebrations greeted the motorcade believed to be carrying Mnangagwa as it passed through the Zimbabwean capital on the way to the ruling party headquarters. Mugabe, who ruled the country with an iron grip for 37 long years, finally caved to popular and political pressure hours after Parliament launched proceedings to impeach him. He had refused to leave office during eight days of drama and uncertainty that began with a military takeover last week. Harare was quiet on Wednesday morning after a night of joyous celebration. Traffic was normal and many people were going to work. "It's a new day for Zimbabwe. We are smiling," said Lovemore Simbeli, 19, as he sold newspapers with frontpages splashed with headlines announcing Mugabe's departure. Attention now turns to Mnangagwa, once one of Mugabe's closest aides and one of the most powerful officials within the ruling Zanu-PF party. Mugabe sacked Mnangagwa in a bid to clear the way to power for his ambitious but unpopular 52-year-old wife Grace Mugabe and her G40 faction. It is unclear whether Mugabe and his wife will remain in Zimbabwe, where both would be seen as a potential threat to Mnangagwa or any other new leader and could face prosecution. Mnangagwa on Tuesday night congratulated the people of Zimbabwe "on reaching this historic moment". "Together we will ensure a peaceful transition to the consolidation of our democracy and bring in a fresh start for all Zimbabweans and foster peace and unity." --IANS soni/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pune is one of the fastest-growing real estate destinations today. Being one of the leading information technology (IT) and IT-enabled services (ITeS) hubs in India, the city has attracted IT-related professionals from across the country. Positioned on the eastern side of Pune, Magarpatta City is an integrated township which is a self-contained residential and commercial settlement, created on agricultural land by making the landowners shareholders in a development company. Samajwadi Party (SP) founder today justified his order to open fire on karsevaksmarching towards Ayodhya in 1990, saying if even more people were required to be killed for the country's unity and integrity, the security forces would have done it. He was addressing the SP headquarters where his 79th birthday was celebrated in a grand manner, sending a message of all-is-well to the party. "Desh ki ektakeliyeaurbhimaarnapadtatohsurakshabalmaartey (if even more people were required to be killed for the sake of country's unity and integrity, the security forces would have done it)," he said. The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said 28 people had lost their lives in the police firing at Ayodhya on October 30, 1990. On the VHP's call, a lakh karsevaks from across the country had assembled in Ayodhya for the construction of a temple at the disputed Ram Janambhoomi-Babri mosque site. The firing had earned him the nickname of 'Mullah Mulayam' by the Muslim community, which accounts for nearly 20 per cent of the state's population and is considered a force to reckon with by major political parties. "A number of Muslims had taken up arms saying if their place of worship ceased to exist, then what would remain in the country," he said, justifying his action to save the Babri Masjid. Yadav said that during a discussion with Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the former prime minister had said that 56 persons were killed in Ayodhya. "I had arguments with him. In reality, 28 were killed. I came to know the toll six months later and I helped them in my own way," he said. Claiming that the SP still enjoyed the support of Muslims, Yadav said, "Muslims still support the SP...it is the fault of our men that we did not get them for the vote. They are still voting for the party and not against it. It's the shortcoming of our youth." "It's matter of shame that we won only 47 of the 403 Assembly seats this time," he said, adding that even after ordering firing "when the opposition termed me as a hatyara (killer)", the SP succeeded in winning over 100 seats in 1993. "They (youths) now are not like those we had in 1993. When a leader could not ensure victory on his village booth, what will be the party's fate. I want to see a strong party and leaders should also mend their ways by ensuring better connect with the masses. Yadav was the Uttar Pradesh chief minister during Ram Janmabhoomi movement spearheaded by the VHP. In a mid-night drama, veteran actor and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP wrote and deleted a tweet regarding the 'Yuva Desh's derogatory meme. However, he later issued an apology for 'hurting feelings'. In the tweet that is now deleted, he wrote, "Our Chai-Wala is any day better than your Bar-Wala !" The 67-year-old actor-turned-politician was responding to the 'Indian Youth Congress' online magazine 'Yuva Desh,' where they tweeted a picture of Prime Minister Modi in conversation with US President Donald Trump and UK Prime Minister Theresa May. However, later he issued an apology and wrote, "Deleted the tweet as it's in bad taste and I apologise for hurting feelings." For the unversed, 'Yuva Desh's meme showed a picture of Prime Minister Modi in conversation with the United States President and UK Prime Minister, asking them if they were aware of the various 'memes' on him, which have been circulated on social media by the Opposition. Hours after the tweet was put out, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani took notice and asked if Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi would approve of such a jibe at the country's head. The Congress disapproved and rejected its online magazine's derogatory tweet, saying that the party's culture imbibed respect for the prime minister and all political opponents. Yuva Desh's original tweet, however, now stands deleted. On the same note, this is not the first time that the Congress has referenced the prime minister's beginning as a tea vendor. (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.) As a run up to Navy Week - 2017 celebrations, about 100 Special Children and several senior citizens were hosted at the naval base here today. About 100 special children from special schools and many senior citizens were provided a glimpse of activities at naval base through a guided tour which lasted more than three hours, a Defence release said. The visitors were taken on-board and conducted around Indian Naval Ships Tir and Sujata. The children were entertained by a magic show on board INS Tir. Besides, a naval exhibition and screening of a film on the Navy were organised for the visitors. The children and the senior citizens also witnessed a precisely executed 'Continuity Drill' performed by naval personnel from the gunnery training establishment of Southern Naval Command (SNC), INS Dronacharya. At the Naval Aircraft Yard, the visitors were provided an opportunity to see and feel different types of aircraft operated by the Navy, available at SNC. Meanwhile, naval hospital INHS Sanjivani,Kochi,organised a voluntary Blood Donation camp on today in association with Indian Medical Association as a run up to Navy Week 2017 celebrations. The camp was inaugurated by Rear Admiral R J Nadkarni, Chief of Staff, Headquarters Southern Naval Command at INHS Sanjivani. The personnel of naval base Kochi, which included defence and civilian, as well as their families, contributed towards this noble cause, the release said. All blood units collected have been handed over to IMA Blood Bank. The occasion wasused to spread awareness among personnel on the dire need for voluntaryBlood Donation as a lifesaving activity in society. The opportunity was also utilized to spread awareness about the concept of Organ Donation, the release added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Nurimaro Park, 26, is one of about 800,000 people who had benefited from an Obama-era program that extended protections to immigrants brought illegally to the US as children. While he knew the significance of the protection he received under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, he had one problem: he didn't have the money to pay the USD 495 registration fee required to renew his participation in the program for two more years. Park worked as a private tutor, and money was tight in the late spring and summer months when school was out. He figured he could re-enrol at the end of the year -- the rules of the program allowed people to renew lapsed registrations as long as a full year hadn't passed. In September, though, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the Trump administration is phasing out the program. Those who were enrolled in the program would be eligible to file for one last two-year extension if their registration was close to expiring. But those like Park, whose registration had lapsed, were barred from renewing. "I had planned to (renew) it but Trump did not give me enough notice," Park said at a conference yesterday. Now Park and a 19-year-old Salvadoran immigrant, Jonathan Alvarenga Recinos, have filed a lawsuit in federal court in Alexandria seeking the right to apply for one more two-year extension under the DACA program. Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg with the Falls Church-based Legal Aid Justice Centre, which filed the lawsuit on the men's behalf, said there have been several lawsuits challenging the decision to end the DACA program, but this is the first focused on the 50,000 people whose registration had lapsed but were still eligible to renew it. "This is completely unfair," Sandoval-Moshenberg said. "The government has to give people fair notice that they're going to change the rules." Steve Blando, a spokesman for US Citizenship and Immigration Services, which administers the DACA program, declined to comment on the lawsuit, but confirmed the estimate that about 50,000 of the 800,000 who had ever registered for DACA had failed to renew their status by the time the Trump administration announced plans to phase out the program. Sandoval-Moshenberg said he recognises that the lawsuit, if successful, gives only a temporary reprieve to those affected but he said an additional two years of protected status can be important for those who receive it. They can earn money legally, possibly develop skills that would allow them to stay on a work visa, or maybe find another way to stay, possibly through marriage. Park, who came to the US from South Korea when he was 9, said northern Virginia is the only place he knows at this point. He admitted that he was scared that filing a lawsuit and speaking out at a press conference might put a target on his back for immigration enforcement, but said he felt compelled to speak up. "I'm tired of telling myself I can't do what my peers around me are doing," he said. "I'm tired of postponing my right to the pursuit of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Congress has been considering legislation that would put DACA protections in federal law, but Park said he's worried that the pace of progress is too slow. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Indian mining giant Adani is close to securing loans from China to build a 388-km railway in Queensland for its controversy-hit $16.5 billion Carmichael coal mine project, a media report said on Wednesday. According to the report, days ago, a director of Adani Mining, an Australian subsidiary of the Adani Group's flagship company Adani Enterprises, told industry figures that the company had secured Chinese funding for the mine and the rail project between Abbot Point and Galilee basin in Queensland. "Adani Group is close to securing finance with an announcement expected in coming weeks that Chinese state-owned enterprises, banks, and export credit agencies are backing the venture," the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported. The company, however, rejected the claim in a statement saying, "There have been incorrect reports in the media this morning stating that Adani is no longer seeking a loan from the NAIF". It said that Adani has not sought to become a subject of contention in the current Queensland election campaign and that it has held productive meetings with a wide-range of financiers for the Carmichael Mine and associated infrastructure. The ABC report claimed the director had said that Adani would not need the loan from the Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) to fund the 388-kilometre railway. It claimed a formal announcement of "financial close" was imminent and that "China's money will come at the cost of local jobs". "However, this does not negate the need for support from the Federal and State governments including a NAIF loan every cent of which will be repaid by Adani with interest," the company said. "The purpose of NAIF is to provide loans for economic infrastructure and, again, every cent of this loan will be repaid with interest. The infrastructure Adani is building will be common user infrastructure and will be able to be used by other projects creating opportunities for further jobs and investment," it said. The company reiterated its commitment to Queenslanders, particularly regional Queenslanders which it said remained "rock solid". "Unlike some who are reducing their presence in regional centres, Adani will never tradeoff local jobs for short-term benefit. In fact, Adani's regionalisation strategy has cost the company money, not saved money," the company said. Meanwhile, protesters opposing the project continued to stop the construction work by trying to occupy Adani's Townville office. Last month, it was revealed that Australian federal ministers had written a formal letter to the Chinese government to confirm that the controversial coal project had passed all necessary environmental approvals. Adani and the Queensland government have highlighted that the mine, which after its completion will be Australia's largest coal mine, will prove beneficial for the region. Adani has claimed the massive project will create 10,000 direct and indirect jobs in central Queensland. The company, which has managed to clear 200 stringent conditions for the project and several legal challenges from environmental groups, is aiming to start exporting coal via its Abbot Point coal terminal in 2020. Afghanistan's Ambassador to India Shaida Mohammad Abdali today met Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and discussed the potential for promoting business and trade between the war-torn country and Punjab. Abdali proposed the revival of the Amritsar-Kabul air corridor and a pilot project for 1,500 tonnes of cargo trade to further boost Afghanistan's traditionally close ties with Punjab. Singh said the two share historical relations and presented to the envoy a book 'Baba Ala Singh' by Kirpal Singh, founder of Patiala state. The book traces the Afghan connection with Punjab, which Amarinder showed keenness to strengthen further through trade and other avenues. The Indian and Afghan association goes back to centuries and we need to strengthen it further to complement each other's progress, Singh said, pointing out that both Punjab and Afghanistan had a similar economy, focused on agriculture. The ambassador suggested opening a trade corridor through a cargo trade pilot project with pharmaceutical goods, engineering products, woolens, dairy items, fresh and dry fruits, meat, processed food and milk powder. He also suggested that Punjab should import meat products from Afghanistan. The chief minister expressed interest in the proposal and directed his officials to hold further discussions with Afghanistan and work out the modalities for the pilot project, which would contribute to Punjab's efforts to promote industry in the state. The Afghan envoy, who has already visited Amritsar and plans to go to Sirhind tomorrow, also saw huge potential for education for his country's youth in Punjab. There were at present around 16,000 Afghan students in India, he said, adding that he found the university education in Punjab to be good. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Sri Lankan author Anuk Arudpragasam, who won the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature on Saturday, has now bagged the Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize 2017 for his debut novel "The Story of a Brief Marriage", set in the backdrop of the civil war. The jury of Kamila Shamsie, Rohini Mohan and Margaret Mascarenhas chose Arudpragasam's book over Prayaag Akbar's "Leila", Hirsh Sawhney's "South Haven", "How I Became a Tree" by Sumana Roy, Tripti Lahiri's "Maid In India" and "These Circuses that Sweep Through the Landscape" by Tejaswini Apte- Rahm. Now in its tenth year, the prize was set up in 2008 in memory of young writer Shakti Bhatt to encourage authors from the sub-continent. The prize is a cash award of Rs 2 lakh and a trophy. The award ceremony will take place on December 20. "The Story of a Brief Marriage" presents the civil war in Sri Lanka like never before. Writing from within the debris of Tamil lives, Arudpragasam's protagonists find dignity as they piece together strategies of survival. The story is about the human spirit in the most desperate of times. It sings not as testament of glory but as a dirge of despair, according to the jury. The novel, published in India by HarperCollins, won the USD 25,000 DSC Prize at the just-concluded Dhaka Lit Fest. Sharing his sentiments on the win, Udayan Mitra, Publisher (Literary) at HarperCollins India said, "Anuk Arudpragasam's novel 'A Story of a Brief Marriage' is a work of extraordinary sensitivity and imagination: a short novel that unfolds over a small time span during the final battle between the Sri Lankan army and the LTTE in 2009, it has a ripple effect that resounds and ricochets in the reader's consciousness, for it is an unforgettable work about life and the human condition." Two and a half decades into the devastating civil war, Sri Lanka's Tamil minority is pushed inexorably towards the coast by the advancing army. Among the evacuees is Dinesh, whose world has contracted to a makeshift camp where time is measured by the shells that fall around him like clockwork. Alienated from family, home, language, and body, he exists in a state of mute acceptance, numb to the violence around him, till he is approached one morning by an old man who makes an unexpected proposal: that Dinesh marry his daughter, Ganga. Marriage, in this world, is an attempt at safety, like the beached fishing boat under which Dinesh huddles during the bombings. As a couple, they would be less likely to be conscripted to fight for the rebels, and less likely to be abused in the case of an army victory. Thrust into this situation of strange intimacy and dependence, Dinesh and Ganga try to come to terms with everything that has happened, hesitantly attempting to awaken to themselves and to one another before the war closes over them once more. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Insurers for defendants including American Airlines and United Airlines have agreed to pay USD 95 million to settle claims that security lapses led planes to be hijacked in the September 11 attacks. The settlement was described in papers filed yesterday in Manhattan federal court. Developers of the new World Trade Center buildings had once demanded USD 3.5 billion from aviation companies after hijacked planes destroyed three skyscrapers on September 11, 2001. Developer Larry Silverstein and World Trade Center Properties have collected over USD 5 billion from other defendants through numerous lawsuits. The money has aided the reconstruction of buildings on the 16-acre lower Manhattan site. Earlier settlements included USD 135 million paid to a financial services firm that lost two-thirds of its employees. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Starting January 1 next year, any citizen from around the world, including India, holding a valid passport, can enter Rwanda by air, sea, or road, by getting a visa-on-arrival, its envoy said here today. The facility is currently available only to African countries and a few countries outside of the continent, Rwanda's High Commissioner to India Ernest Rwamucyo said. "With India we already have good bilateral relations, which was elevated to a strategic level. And, during India's (former) Vice President Hamid Ansari visit to our country in February, an agreement was signed to allow the two countries to mutually exempt visa requirements for diplomatic and official passport holder," he said. That agreement has been "ratified" and so will come into effect soon. But, our government recently took a very bold decision on relaxing visa regime for all travellers, he said. "From January 1 next year, any citizen from around the world, holding a valid passport, can enter Rwanda by air, sea, or road, and get a visa stamped on their arrival. So, we are really opening up our borders to people globally," Rwamucyo said. The Rwandan High Commissioner was interacting with journalists at the Foreign Correspondents' Club here on India-Rwanda ties and later fielded a number of question on various subjects. "The visa-on-arrival would be applicable for 30 days under the new relaxed visa regime. The entrants would need to pay a fee where applicable. "As of now, the visa-on-arrival facility is available only to African countries and few other countries like the US, the UK, Germany, Singapore. Also, for some countries in Africa, no visa fee is charged," Rwamucyo said. On the new Indian mission proposed to be opened in its capital city Kigali, billed one of the cleanest and the safest cities globally, he said, "Work is going on, on that as well." On the new RwandAir service that was launched on April 3 this year, in pursuant of Ansari's visit, from Mumbai to Kigali, he said, the response so far has been "good". The envoy also congratulated India on winning a seat in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as Dalveer Bhandari, was re-elected to the post. Asked if India or the US should feel worried about China operating a military base in Djibouti, he said, "Africa is attracting every one. And, for Rwanda, I can say, as long as the entering country brings good deal to us, they should be welcomed. That good deal means, bringing business, jobs and helping in addressing poverty." On other question about its Commonwealth status, the envoy said, "We became a member of the Commonwealth in 2009. It is good for us." Nicknamed the 'land of a thousand hills', Rwanda is a country blessed with mountains, rain forest, and is also home to gorillas. The country saw a traumatic period in 1994 when it suffered a terrible genocide, but rebuilt itself and today stands as a country that is attracting attention of both the investors and travellers, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Army today foiled an infiltration bid by militants near the Line of Control (LoC) in Keran sector of Jammu and Kashmir, killing an ultra, but lost a soldier while two other security personnel were injured. "An infiltration bid was foiled by alert soldiers in Keran sector this morning, resulting in killing of one militant," a defence spokesman said here. He said a soldier laid down his life during the encounter while two others sustained injuries. A search operation is going on in the area, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Art of Living Foundation, whose members were arrested on charges of conspiracy and having links with a banned insurgent group in Meghalaya's West Jaintia Hills district, today said that they were on a "peace mission." The foundation issued a statement here following the arrest of two of its members at Dawki near the Meghalaya-Bangladesh border on November 20. It said they were on a "peace mission" to convince members of the outlawed Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) members to eschew violence and join the mainstream. "Senior Faculty Samir Jolly accompanied by Khroo Lamsalanki Pariat were on a peace mission to establish contact with the misguided youths who are operating in the area and convince them to eschew violence and join the mainstream," the Art of Living Foundation said in a statement here. West Jaintia Hills district Superintendent of Police Vivek Syiem had told PTI yesterday that the two had valid visas to travel to Bangladesh but not the legal mandate or the permission of the state government to hold parleys with the HNLC leaders. They were charged under Sections 10 and 13 of UAPA. The statement said, the activities of the members were a part of Sri Sri Ravi Shankars vision of engaging the misguided youth of the region and facilitating the process of making them come over ground. The Art of Living foundation claimed that similar intervention in Manipur had led to the recent homecoming of 68 militants where it also trained and rehabilitated cadres from United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) and those in Manipur. HNLC sent a statement to the media during the day in which it lauded the NDA government at the Centre and the Art of Living Foundation for trying to negotiate peace in the state. "The organisation expressed its gratefulness to the BJP Government and the AoL for their willingness to bring the HNLC to the negotiating table," HNLC spokesperson Sainkupar Nongtraw said in an e-mail. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Popular Assamese film and theatre actor Biju Phukan died this evening in a private hospital here following cardiac ailments, his family said. He was 69. The hero of Assamese film industry was admitted to the ICU of the hospital with breathing difficulty around 4.30 pm and passed away around 6.45 pm, his family sources said. The actor who was ailing for sometime and had undergone treatment in hospital recently also, his family sources added. He was born in 1948 in Dibrugarh, where he studied in Kanoi College before shifting to Guwahati to start his film career. Phukan appeared in more than 80 Assamese feature films till his death, cinema industry sources said. He also acted in a anumber of plays. His first movie was 'Dr Bezbarua' in 1970 and his first role as a leading actor was in 'Baruar Songsar' followed by 'Aranya' in 1971 which established him as a 'hero' in 1971. 'Aranya', which was directed by Samarendra Narayan Dev was adjudged the best regional film at the National Film Awards. He acted in popular movies 'Ajoli Nobou', 'Buwari', 'Bristi' and 'Ghar Sangsar'. The song 'Mon Hira Doi' from the film 'Bowari' of 2015 which showed him singing the it topped the music charts. Nip Baruah-directed 'Anthony Mor Naam' in 1986 made the actor a cult figure in Assamese cinema. Biju Phukan had also acted in four Bengali movies - Hotel Showfox, Aparajita, Doishyu Ratnakar and Gajamukta and was a former jury member of Indian Panorama. His last released film was 'Dur', which hit the screens in 2016. Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal condoled Biju Phukan's death and said he would be cremated at Nabagraha crematorium tomorrow with state honours, his media advisor Hrishikesh Goswami told reporters. Governor Jagdish Mukhi condoled Phukan's death and said I am deeply saddened by his death who hugely contributed to popularise Assamese cinema. With his death a void will be created which will be hard to fill. "I extend my condolences to the bereaved family and his fans, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At least 30 people were killed when farmers attacked herdsmen in northeast Nigeria's Adamawa state, police said today. State police spokesman Othman Abubakar said farmers from the Christian Bachama ethnic group stormed four settlements of Muslim Fulani herders in Numan district on Monday, hacking residents and burning homes. "We have so far recovered 30 bodies from the affected villages but the toll is not conclusive as rescue teams are still combing the bushes in the area for more bodies," he said. A man-hunt had been launched for the assailants, he added. "The deputy governor visited the villages and an investigation has commenced to unravel the cause of the attack and bring the perpetrators to justice," he said. Fulani community leaders gave higher tolls from the incident, the latest in a long-running series of clashes between farmers and herders across Nigeria. Mafindi Danburam, head of the herders' union in Adamawa, said the farmers stormed the villages of Kikan, Kodomun, Shafaran and Ketowal at about 1:00 pm (local time) on Monday, "killing women and children" and burning homes. "From our estimation more than 60 women and children were slaughtered in the attack, with some of them pursued inside the bush and killed while they tried to flee," he added. The Fulanis had taken their cattle for grazing while others had gone to the market when the villages were attacked. Aminu Yakub, in charge of Numan's central mosque, said 47 bodies were buried on Tuesday in line with the Muslim tradition. "We claimed 47 bodies of women and children from the morgue at the general hospital for burial, including months- old babies," he said. Numan, which lies on the Benue River some 70 kilometres west from the state capital, Yola, is Adamawa's farming and herding hub, with fertile land and fresh water. Disputes over grazing and water rights have persisted between the indigenous Bachama farmers and settler Fulani herders, leading to periodic violence. Reports of Monday's attack came a day after at least 50 worshippers were killed in a suicide bombing in a mosque in Mubi, also in Adamawa state. Although no group has claimed responsibility, the bombing bore the hallmarks of Boko Haram Islamists who are waging a jihadist uprising in Nigeria's northeast. Nigeria's central states have been riven for decades with ethnic, sectarian and religious violence linked to tensions between farmers and herders over land and water. In September, the International Crisis Group said some 2,500 people were killed and tens of thousands forced from their homes, as unrest spread southwards from central and northern states. It warned the deadly clashes threatened the country's national security. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A week after the Delhi government announced that it would procure e-buses, representatives of a leading automobile manufacturer today met Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot and made a presentation on electric vehicles. The minister, along with department officials, also inspected an e-bus, a Delhi government official said. The government has fast-paced the procurement process for 500 e-buses. "The process for procurement of the 500 buses has been expedited. Daily meetings are being held to work out the economics of the purchase and available technology to choose the best available and cost-effective buses," the official said. The decision to buy 500 e-buses was made in a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. The Delhi government has chalked out a "short-term plan" to procure 500 electric buses (e-buses). As per the one-year plan, 500 low-floor, air-conditioned e-buses would be procured. The transporter minister also met officials of the Delhi Multi Modal Transit System (DIMTS) on the matter. The government will buy the buses using the environment cess fund of about Rs 800 crore. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Bahraini appeals court today upheld a two-year jail sentence against high-profile activist Nabeel Rajab, a judicial source said, in a case condemned by rights groups. The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the court in Manama rejected an appeal by Rajab's attorneys. Rajab, a leading figure in protests that erupted in 2011 during the Arab Spring, was sentenced in July to two years in jail for press statements deemed insulting to the government. Amnesty International has called the Rajab sentencing "a flagrant violation of human rights and an alarming sign that Bahraini authorities will go to any length to silence critics". Rajab is also on trial in a second case and could face a 15-year prison term over a series of tweets criticising Saudi Arabia and its allies, including Bahrain, over their military intervention in the Yemen war. Home to a majority Shiite Muslim population, Bahrain has been ruled for more than 200 years by the Sunni Al-Khalifa dynasty. The tiny kingdom, located between Saudi Arabia and its arch-rival Iran, has been rocked by unrest since security forces cracked down on Shiite-led protests in 2011 demanding a constitutional monarchy and an elected prime minister. Authorities have since tightened their grip on all dissent. They accuse Shiite Iran of backing the protesters and inciting unrest in Bahrain, a charge Tehran denies. Bahrain is home to the US Fifth Fleet and a British military base that is still under construction. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A special Bangladeshi tribunal today sentenced to death six hardline Islamists, including a former lawmaker, for committing crimes against humanity and siding with the Pakistani troops in carrying out the genocide in 1971. A three-judge panel of Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-BD) handed down the capital punishment to the six members of the Jamaat-e-Islami saying, the charges against them were "proved beyond doubt." "They be convicted accordingly and sentenced there under to death under section 20(2) of the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act, 1973," pronounced chair of the panel Justice Shahinur Islam. The verdict came as Bangladesh nearly completed the long-delayed trial of 1971 war crimes since the high-powered tribunal was established in 2010. The tribunal is charged with the task to try persons responsible for committing genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and other crimes under international law committed during the country's 1971 Liberation War. The six men sentenced to death hail from northwestern Gaibandha and belong to fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami, the party which was opposed to Bangladesh's 1971 independence and joined hands with Pakistani troops in carrying out the genocide. But only one of the six convicts faced the trial in person while the rest, including former Jamaat lawmaker Abu Saleh Mohammad Abdul Aziz Mia, were tried in absentia as they were on the run. Under a special law, the convicts, however, could challenge the judgement before the apex Appellate Division of the Supreme Court. Bangladesh has so far executed six 1971 war crimes convicts, five of them Jamaat leaders and one Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader, the main Opposition since the trial process began in 2010. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Sebi today barred seven entities, including former promoters, from the securities market for five years and directed them to disgorge illegal gains worth over Rs 95 lakh in the case of alleged insider trading in the shares of erstwhile Bank of Rajasthan. Bank of Rajasthan (BoR) is now merged with ICICI Bank. To check possible violation of insider trading norms, the regulator had conducted an investigation into the movement of BoR shares from May 7-18, 2010. This period -- which was prior to the announcement of an agreement between the dominant shareholders of BoR and ICICI Bank Ltd for a merger -- witnessed considerable price and volume movement. In the matter, the watchdog had passed an interim order against the seven entities in January 2016. Passing the final order, Sebi has imposed a five-year ban on Rohit Premkumar Gupta, Sanjay Kumar Tayal, Navin Kumar Tayal, Jyotika Sanjay Tayal, Advik Textiles and Realpro Pvt Ltd, Kulwinder Kumar Nayyar and Azam Mohmmed Ashan Shaikh. According to Sebi, Sanjay Kumar Tayal, Navin Kumar Tayal, Jyotika Sanjay Tayal were the dominant shareholders at the relevant time. In its 32-page order, Sebi has also ordered the seven entities to "jointly and severally disgorge an amount of Rs 95,77,614... along with interest calculated at the rate of 12 per cent per annum from May 27, 2010 onwards". Sebi Whole Time Member G Mahalingam said that he is inclined to believe that Rohit who carried out insider trading was able to do it because of the support received from the Tayals. It is reiterated that despite the changes in the directorship and shareholding of Advik, the affairs of Advik were effectively controlled by Tayals namely, Sanjay, Jyotika and Navin, he noted. "Insiders ought to trade and share information, with a great degree of care and caution, as information asymmetry leads to a lot of market manipulation and illegal gains in the hands of a few insiders...," the order said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) today told the National Green Tribunal that development of biodiversity parks along the banks of the Yamuna will be carried out in a phased manner to prevent encroachments. The DDA told a bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar that the principal committee constituted by the green panel has approved its plan to develop biodiversity parks in different phases. "Counsel appearing for the DDA submits that plan prepared by Delhi Development Authority for setting up the biodiversity parks and beautification of the flood plain on Yamuna in NCT of Delhi has also been approved by the principal committee. However, they had mentioned that it could be in phased manner," the bench noted. The tribunal in January 2015 had directed DDA to develop biodiversity parks along Yamuna banks in the national capital so that the floodplains can be made spots of scenic beauty. It had said that development of the flood plains has to be strictly done keeping biodiversity intact and ensuring that no major construction activity is allowed on the flood plain. The tribunal had earlier rapped the AAP government and the Delhi Jal Board for not filing their replies to show cause notices on why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against them for delaying compliance of orders on the Yamuna cleaning project. The green panel had said that pollution in the Yamuna was of serious concern as the river was highly contaminated by industrial effluents and sewage. It had also asked Haryana and Himachal Pradesh Pollution Control Board to jointly conduct a study of water quality and the flow of Yamuna at the point it enters Haryana, and submit the list of industries located in the catchment area. The green panel had noted that almost 67 per cent of the pollutants reaching Yamuna would be treated by the two sewage treatment plants at Delhi Gate and Najafgarh under the first phase of the 'Maili se Nirmal Yamuna Revitalisation Project'. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The CPI(M) today accused BJP chief ministers of "encouraging mob frenzy", and said the protests over the film 'Padmavati' were a "sinister effort" to curb the freedom of expression. In an editorial in the forthcoming issue of party organ 'Peoples' Democracy', former CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat compared the protesters with cow vigilantes, and said "mob rule" had become one of the "hallmarks of the Modi raj". "What began as protests by Rajput organisations in Rajasthan has now been supported by the chief ministers of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh," he wrote. Referring to threats against director Sanjay Leela Bhansali and lead actor Deepika Padukone, he said no arrests had been made or cases filed against those who issued such warnings. "On the contrary, the language and the strident stand taken by the chief ministers of these states are only encouraging the mob frenzy," he said. The editorial said the effort to suppress 'Padmavati' was not just about vote bank politics. "It is a more sinister effort to curb the freedom of expression and to force cultural productions to conform to the regressive and reactionary values of Hindutva," Karat said. He also attacked the Congress, saying it was "reprehensible" that some of its leaders in Rajasthan had stridently opposed the film. "The Punjab chief minister, Amarinder Singh, also joined the BJP chief ministers in voicing his objections to the film and supporting the protests." Karat said. He urged the CBFC to certify the film for public viewing and said it was "incumbent on the state governments concerned to ensure anyone who seeks to disturb the shows is dealt with by the law". The CPI(M) politburo member took a dig at Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Yogi Adityanath, saying that the Madhya Pradesh chief minister had said the film would not be released in the state as it insults 'Rashtramata Padmavati. "This should displease (UP chief minister) Yogi Adityanath who had much earlier called for the cow being declared the 'Rashtramata," Karat wrote. The Left leader also hit out at the decision of the ministry of Information and Broadcasting to remove two films selected by a jury from the Indian Panorama section of the International Film Festival in Goa. "The BJP central government is complicit in this cultural repression," he said. The release of 'Padmavati was deferred after protests broke out in parts of the country sparked by allegations that the film depicted a romantic dream sequence between Queen Padmavati and Alauddin Khilji. Bhansali has said there is no such scene in the film. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The BJP today termed as "good" the proposal of the Uttar Pradesh Shia Waqf Board on resolving the Ayodhya issue and asked Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi to clarify the party's stand by breaking his "silence". The UP Shia Waqf Board on Monday proposed relinquishing its right over the disputed land in Ayodhya, and building a 'masjid-e-aman" in Lucknow to resolve the Ram Janmabhoomi- Babri Masjid tangle. A draft for resolving the issue, prepared by the Shia Waqf Board, was submitted in the Supreme Court on November 18. "The Shia Waqf Board has put forward a good suggestion by filing an affidavit in the Supreme Court stating that a Ram temple be built in Ayodhya and a mosque in Lucknow. It's a good suggestion to resolve the issue," BJP national spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao told reporters here. He was in the city to campaign for the BJP Assembly poll candidates. "The BJP is of a clear opinion that a glorious temple of Lord Ram be built in Ayodhya, but what the Congress wants to say? We demand that Rahul Gandhi make his party's stand clear by breaking his silence on the issue", Rao said. He said the BJP supported the Shia Waqf Board's suggestion but also wanted to hear a reply from the Congress. Rao claimed that outfits like Nirmohi Akhada have also extended their support to the Shia Waqf Board's suggestion on the Ayodhya issue. "We demand a clarification from Rahul Gandhi before the apex court begins hearing on the issue on December 5," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In a major milestone, the Brahmos supersonic cruise missile was today successfully test fired for the first time from the Indian Air Force's frontline Sukhoi-30 MKI combat jet, significantly bolstering the country's aerial prowess. The armed forces are now capable of launching the Brahmos, which has a strike range of around 290 km and is described as the world's fastest supersonic cruise missile, from land, sea and air, completing the tactical cruise missile triad for the country. The defence ministry said the missile hit a sea-based target in the Bay of Bengal from the combat jet. The land and warship versions of the missile have already been inducted into the armed forces. "Brahmos, the world's fastest supersonic cruise missile created history on today after it was successfully flight- tested for first time from the IAF's frontline fighter aircraft Sukhoi-30MKI against a sea based target in the Bay of Bengal," the defence ministry said. It said the successful maiden test firing of Brahmos Air Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM) from Su-30MKI will significantly bolster the IAF's air combat operations capability from stand-off ranges. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman congratulated the "Team Brahmos" and the scientists at Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for the "historic achievement". Giving details of the test firing, the ministry said the missile was "gravity dropped" from the Su-30 fuselage, and the two stage missile's engine fired up and straightway propelled towards the intended target at the sea. Brahmos ALCM, weighing 2.5 ton is the heaviest weapon to be deployed on India's Su-30 fighter aircraft modified by state-run aerospace behemoth Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) to carry weapons. Brahmos is a joint venture between DRDO of India and NPO Mashinostroyenia (NPOM) of Russia. Dr S Christopher, Chairman of DRDO, congratulated the scientists and engineers for the "excellent text book kind of flight test". The missile test was witnessed by Dr Sudhir Mishra, Director General (BrahMos), along with senior IAF officials, scientists and officials from DRDO and BrahMos. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) To familiarise students with the available education and career prospects in the UK, the British Council had organised 'Study UK-Discover You' Exhibition. The day-long exhibition covered varied topics, including career in bio-sciences, student visas and lifestyle in the UK. As part of the exhibition here on Monday, students and their parents, numbering around 900, were given a platform to interact with representatives from more than 48 UK institutions and get their queries regarding course choices, visas, applications and scholarships answered, a statement issued by British Council said. The participating institutes included Aberystwyth University, Aston University, University of London, Cranfield University, King's College London, London Metropolitan University, Queen Mary University of London. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress leader P Chidambaram today denounced Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for his remarks that some people suffer from life-threatening diseases because of sins committed in the past, saying "that is what switching parties does to a person". Sarma, who was with the Congress earlier, had switched over to the BJP last year. "Cancer is divine justice for sins' says Assam Minister Sarma. That is what switching parties does to a person," Chidambaram tweeted. At a function organised for distribution of appointment letters to teachers in Guwahati yesterday, Sarma had said, "God makes us suffer when we sin. Sometimes we come across young men getting inflicted with cancer or young men meeting with accidents. If you observe the background you will come to know that it's divine justice. Nothing else. We have to suffer that divine justice. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A chief sanitary inspector here was today arrested for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 20,000, Lokayukta police said. Lokayukta Superintendent of Police Dilip Soni said Mukesh Karosai, the chief sanitary inspector of the Indore Municipal Corporation's zone number-13, was arrested while accepting the bribe from a sanitary employee at his office. He said instead of sanctioning four months' outstanding salaries to 11 sanitary workers of the civic body, Karosia asked for the bribe from an employee. A case was registered against him under relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, Soni said, adding a probe was on. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) China today rebuffed US sanctions against Chinese entities for helping North Korea to evade nuclear restrictions, saying it was firmly opposed to such move by any country using its domestic laws other than the UN sanctions. The United States has imposed new sanctions on 13 Chinese and North Korean organisations accusing them of helping evade nuclear restrictions against Pyongyang, a day after President Donald Trump declared it a state sponsor of terrorism. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China has been comprehensively and strictly implementing North Korea related resolutions imposing sanctions, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told media here. "Our efforts are witnessed by all. Meanwhile, I want to stress again that we firmly oppose the long jurisdiction on Chinese entities and individuals by any country in accordance with their domestic laws because it is wrong," Lu said. He, however, said China will take action if any entity or individual is found to be involved in activities violative of Chinese laws and international obligations. "If other sides want to cooperate with China in constructive way and if they have any solid evidence in that regard they can share it with us and resolve the issue," he said. "In principle, we want to reiterate we are oppose to the unilateral sanctions and long arm jurisdiction. The US is very clear about our position on that issue," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Chinese man has been arrested by the customs for allegedly trying to smuggle into the country gold worth about Rs 35 lakh at Delhi's international airport, according to an official statement today. The 48-year-old accused was intercepted after his arrival from Hong Kong yesterday. "A detailed personal and baggage search of the passenger resulted in the recovery of gold articles in the form of beads, belt buckle and pendant, total weighing 1.187 kg," the statement said. The gold, which has been seized is assessed to be worth Rs 34.81 lakh, it said, adding that the Chinese man has been arrested. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actor-director Mel Gibson has said the "painful" accusations of sexual harassment and misconduct against disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein will lead to "healthy" change in the film industry. The 61-year-old actor, who was himself accused of domestic assault by ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva and has a history of drunk driving incidents, made the comments while promoting his latest film "Daddy's Home 2", reported The Guardian. "Things got shaken up a little bit and there is a lot of light being thrown into places where there were shadows and that is kind of healthy. "It's painful, but I think pain is a precursor to change," Gibson said. "Daddy's Home 2" is directed by Sean Anders, who also co-wrote it with John Morris. The film also stars Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Linda Cardellini, John Cena and John Lithgow. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Green Tribunal today directed the Centre and the governments of five northern states to come up with definitive workable solutions to stop stubble burning, including using crop residue in power plants. A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar asked the Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh governments to convene a meeting on November 28 to work out a clear mechanism on transportation and use of stubble as fuel in power plants. It directed that this meeting would be attended by the secretary of Ministry of Agriculture, Additional Secretary of Ministry of Energy and Energy, principal secretaries in Ministry of Agriculture of the respective states, senior scientist from Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd, Managing Director of Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd and CMD of NTPC and proper technical staff. During the hearing, the NTPC told the bench that it was willing to use crop residue in pellet form in its power plants with permissible moisture content as it would not be possible to use the residue directly as a source for fuel in these plants. The bench said the meeting shall deliberate "whether every State should or should not be directed to establish its own pelletisation plant for every agriculture residue to make it fit for utilisation as fuel in the thermal power plant run by NTPC." "It shall also be considered if the states can be granted liberty to invite private players who can establish such plants in the respective states," the green panel said. The tribunal asked them to recommend a mechanism for transportation of agriculture residue, excluding the residue left in the field for manure, and the incentives which could be provided to the farmers. "Every State would submit a list before the Secretary of Agriculture of the thermal power plants or biomass based energy plants which are being run or are proposed to be constructed in the respective states," the bench said. It asked the states to consider whether the utilisation of agriculture residue as a fuel can be effective alternative for power generation. The minutes of the meeting should be submitted to the NGT before December 6 without default and delay, it said. The NTPC, in its submissions, said in the six power plants located in North India, the demand for the thermal plants would be 8,000 to 15,000 metric tonnes per day. The NGT was hearing a plea by environmentalist Vikrant Tongad who had sought a ban on burning of agricultural waste and remnants in open fields. The NGT had earlier said, "We expect no individual, body, department, panchayat, association to directly or indirectly recommend or promote burning of crop residue in Punjab, UP and Haryana." It had said the "serious" issue of by farmers was still going on and had sought the response of the Centre and the Punjab and Haryana governments on the issue. The NGT had warned the governments of the Punjab, Haryana, UP and Rajasthan governments that it would stop payment of salaries of their officials if they failed to come up with an action plan to prevent stubble burning, which has been triggering heavy pollution in Delhi-NCR. A comprehensive 'safe-city' plan for women will soon be kicked off in eight metropolises, including Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, where a robust emergency response system and police verified public transport will come into place, the Home Ministry said today. Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba today reviewed the plans which will be implemented in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Lucknow and Hyderabad. A comprehensive review was undertaken to gaugue the progress and examine steps taken by the police and civil administration of these eight cities regarding women's safety, a home ministry statement said. The issues which have come up for discussions include 33 per cent reservation of women in police, installation of CCTV cameras, deployment of women in police stations, emergency response system, police verified public transport, prevention of cyber crime, infrastructure issues, mapping of dark spots and crime-prone areas and involvement of educational institutions, among others. Municipal commissioners, police commissioners, senior state government officials and civil society representatives attended the steering committee meeting constituted by the home ministry under the chairmanship of the home secretary. The initiatives taken by these cities for women's safety were also discussed in detail. These initiatives include 'Himmat' app, all women patrol van, 'shishtachar' programme of Delhi Police; 'Hawkeye' mobile app and 'Bharosa' programme of Hyderabad Police; 'Suraksha' app of Bengaluru Police and Power Angels of UP police. The steps taken by other metro cities including mobile counselling vans for hearing the grievances of women, lighting in the sub-urban railway station areas, complaint boxes in colleges, dedicated helpline for women, awareness programmes organised by the police, setting up of shelter homes for women and making provisions for street lighting were also discussed. It was brought to notice that police representatives are taking steps in the direction of implementing the target of 33 per cent reservation for women in police. It was informed that more than one lakh women are using 'Himmat' app, which has been made bilingual by Delhi Police. The use of social media platforms for women's safety was emphasised during the meeting. The representatives also discussed various measures which can reduce the response time and thus ensure better results. The setting up of norms for standardisation of luminosity for CCTV cameras was discussed by the participants. The home secretary said that independent analysis and feedback system should be institutionalised to assess the perception of women on ground regarding their safety issues. Their feedback and suggestions on various issues can also be incorporated after independent survey and the approach to women's safety can thus be fine tuned. Gauba emphasised on 'targeted intervention' by the police and civil administration, which will have larger impact on women's safety. The home secretary emphasised on integrated command and control centres and on collaborative monitoring by police and privately installed CCTV cameras. This integration should be in a time-bound and phased manner, he stressed. It was decided that the police and municipal corporations of these eight cities will frame a plan of action. The plan will be forwarded by the respective state level committee headed by the chief secretary of the state. The plan of action to be submitted by these cities within a month will be assessed by the Steering Committee headed by the Union Home Secretary, which will make suitable recommendations. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The national capital belongs to all citizens of India and not just to those residing in Delhi, the Centre today told the Supreme Court. Asserting its supremacy in administering the national capital territory, the Centre, locked in a legal battle with the Delhi government over the issue, said it would be "undemocratic" to say that the legislative assembly of Delhi would have the same powers as vested with the Centre. Maintaining that Delhi was a union territory and not a state, the Centre told a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra that the aid and advice of council of ministers of Delhi was not binding on the Lieutenant Governor (LG). The top court is hearing a clutch of appeals filed by the AAP government challenging Delhi High Court's verdict holding LG as the administrative head of the national capital. "The national capital belongs to the citizens of India. They (Delhi governmment) say we are an elected government. Union of India is also an elected government. It (Union) has the supremacy so far as Delhi legislative assembly is concerned," Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh, appearing for the Centre, said. He told the bench, which also comprised Justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan, that Delhi was accorded special status among the union territories but it has not got entry as a state in the states' list. "A union territory remains a union territory even if it has a legislative assembly. A union territory cannot be in the list of states under the Constitution," he said. Singh argued that it would be "undemocratic to say that the legislative assembly of Delhi will have the same power as the Union of India has". The law officer also told the bench that "disharmony" was created first and then "they (Delhi government) say please allow us to have harmony". "The national capital belongs to the nation. How can anybody say that it is only for the people of Delhi," he said during the arguments, which would continue tomorrow. Without taking names, he also said "they say we will decide whether January 26 parade will go on or not in Delhi". Regarding Delhi government's contention that it should have the authority with regard to appointment and transfer of employees working in its departments, Singh said over Rs 4,000 crore was going from the union budget to give pension to retired employees of the Delhi government. He also argued that Article 239AA of the Constitution, which deals with power and status of Delhi, was a "complete code" in itself. Dealing with the contention regarding employees of the all-India services, Singh said the Delhi government was right when they say there should not be "two masters", but it should also consider that the master in this issue is the President of India. The law officer said Parliament has made it clear that Delhi was a union territory and there was no doubt about it. During the hearing, the apex court observed that several senior advocates have argued the matter on behalf of the Delhi government but there were some "conflicting submissions". "In a constitutional matter, there is no question of concession," the bench said. The Centre had yesterday argued that Delhi government was empowered to take care of daily utilities of the national capital but the real administrative powers were vested with the Centre and the President. The Delhi government has accused the LG of making a "mockery of democracy", saying he was either taking decisions of an elected government or substituting them without having any power. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An alleged drug peddler was arrested and heroin seized from his possession in Jammu and Kashmir's Samba district, the police said today. Acting on an information, a police party arrested one drug peddler and seized 3 grams of heroin from him last night, a police officer said. A case was registered at police station Ghagwal and investigation initiated, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi Police has arrested an accomplice of middleman Sukesh Chandrasekhar in connection with the Election Commission bribery case. Chandrasekhar was held on April 16 here on charges of taking money from AIADMK (Amma) leader T T V Dhinakaran to bribe EC officials in connection with the dispute over the AIADMK 'two leaves' poll symbol. Dhinakaran and his aide were also subsequently arrested on April 25 in connection with the case. The Delhi Police Crime Branch arrested one Pulkit Kundra yesterday. Kundra is suspected to be an aide of Chandrasekhar, police said. Chandrasekhar had allegedly struck a deal for Rs 50 crore to help the AIADMK (Amma) faction keep the 'two leaves' symbol. An amount of Rs 1.3 crore was seized from his possession at the time of his arrest. It is suspected that Kundra also got a share of the bribe money received by Chandrasekhar from Dinakaran, police said. Police are questioning him to establish the money trail from Chennai to Delhi. Kundra had been questioned by the Crime Branch earlier. Further details are awaited. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Election Commission has extended summary revision in poll-bound Meghalaya till this month's end to maximize registration of new voters left-out voters, Chief Electoral Officer F R Kharkongor said today. The EC has also sought active involvement of political parties to help bridge the huge gap between the projected population and the number of voters in the state. "The Election Commission has extended the summary revision in Meghalaya till November 30 and we have requested the political parties for their active cooperation so that the 1.08 lakh voters' gap is bridged," Kharkongor told PTI. The current projected population based on Census 2011 is around 35 lakh, he said adding that the gap was 1,08,318. "After the summary revision closes on November 30, we will know the exact number of new voters," the CEO said. Kharkongor said the gap of voters arises every year when young people turn 18 and are eligible to enroll and vote. Of the current voters' gap in Meghalaya, 80,000 is in East Khasi Hills district, 55,025 in Ri Bhoi, 11,000 in West Garo Hills and 28,999 in South Garo Hills district, he said. The CEO said the total enrollment of voters in the state stands at 17.68 lakh as on September 27. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A former student of Oxford University, believed to be of Indian-origin, has sued the prestigious institution for one million pounds after 17 years, claiming that "inadequate" teaching has faded his opportunities in the job market. Faiz Siddiqui claims he received "inadequate" teaching on his specialist subject course on Indian imperial history, which led to him getting a 2:1 back in 2000. The 39-year-old, who studied modern history at Brasenose College, said the second-class degree meant a loss of earnings in his future career as a lawyer. "Whilst a 2:1 degree from Oxford might rightly seem like a tremendous achievement to most, it fell significantly short of Mr Siddiqui's expectations and was, to him, a huge disappointment," his lawyer Roger Mallalieu told the High Court at an ongoing hearing this week. "Mr Siddiqui has been badly let down by Oxford. He went there with high perhaps extraordinarily high expectations," he said. Siddiqui claims he was the "victim of poor teaching" due to staff being absent on sabbatical leave. He also alleges that medical information about his clinical depression and insomnia was not submitted to the examiners by his personal tutor. He went on to work at some leading law and accountancy firms in the UK but has been unemployed for a few years. Oxford University denies negligence and believes the case was brought "massively" outside the legal time limit. "The University of Oxford is robustly defending the claim brought by Mr Siddiqui. It is not appropriate for the institution to make any further comment while there is ongoing litigation," a university spokesperson said. The university's lawyer, Julian Milford, told the court that while Siddiqui had complained about insufficient resources, he had not noticed anything wrong with the quality of the teaching at the time except that it was "a little bit dull." "Whatever teaching he received was sufficient to enable him to do well in his mock exams. Because he did not on the day was nothing to do with teaching at all," Milford said. Justice Foskett will rule on liability in the case with any damages to be decided later if Siddiqui's claim succeeds at the end of the High Court hearing, expected to conclude by next week. The university had applied to the High Court to strike out the claim for damages last year but a judge had ruled that Oxford had a case to answer and that the arguments should be heard at a trial. The case is seen as a crucial one for educational institutions as it could lead to similar claims by students unsatisfied with the teaching they receive. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Amid allegations that Gurgaon's Fortis Hospital overcharged the family of a 7-year-old girl who died of dengue, Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan today said her parents should approach consumer court for adequate compensation. "Consumer court is there for their protection. The parents should approach consumer court which will ensure that they get compensated," the consumer affairs minister told reporters here. The case relates to the death in September of a 7-year- old girl who was admitted with dengue to the Fortis Memorial Research Institute (FMRI), Gurgaon, a multi super-speciality care hospital. The hospital billed her family almost Rs 16 lakh. However, it had refuted the charges, claiming the patient's family was informed about the bill on a daily basis and that there was no medical negligence. The Haryana government had yesterday ordered a probe into the allegations after the Centre had asked it to initiate an urgent inquiry into the case. State Health Minister Anil Vij had said a senior officer would investigate the case. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Franklin Templeton Investments today said it has appointed Naganath Sundaresan as president and chief investment officer of its alternatives business in India. Sundaresan, who will join the company tomorrow, will be responsible for introducing and growing the firm's efforts in the alternatives space in the country, Franklin Templeton said in a statement. He will report to Mat Gulley, executive vice president and head of alternatives at Franklin Templeton. "The AIF (Alternative Investment Funds) industry has witnessed significant growth momentum in the past two years and I am confident that the best is yet to come. Franklin Templeton Alternatives plans to provide a wide selection of AIF products over time, to domestic as well as international investors," Sundaresan said. ******* Policybazaar.com makes travel insurance process easy * Policybazaar.com today launched a new service for its travel insurance customers, which makes the insurance buying process a matter of minutes. To use the service, travellers can simply click a photo of their tickets, go to Policybazaar.com or use firm's app and get the travel insurance by just uploading the tickets, the insurance website and comparison portal said in a statement. Further, the system will read the journey details from the tickets, and a customer care executive will call to suggest the best insurance price. Within minutes of the customer giving confirmation, the policy will be issued to the customer. "In a couple of weeks, the service will be made much faster as the system itself will give you policy options, eliminating the need to go through the customer executive," the firm said. ******* Home Credit India raises Rs 153 cr for consumer durables loan * NBFC firm Home Credit India Finance today said it has raised Rs 153 crore by concluding a securitisation deal of consumer durables loan. According to a release by the company, it has raised Rs 153 crore "in a first-ever securitisation transaction of consumer durable asset loan receivables by the company in India". "The issue has been subscribed by DCB Bank and IFMR Capital. As part of the transaction, the special purpose vehicle (Tarini IFMR Capital 2017) issued two tranches of pass through certificates. IFMR Capital is the arranger for the issue," the statement said. The company, a part of Czech Republic-based Home Credit Group, claimed that it is also the first ever consumer durables loan securitisation deal rated by any credit rating agency in India. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Six Syrian refugees arrested in Germany on suspicion of preparing a terror attack on behalf of Islamic State have been freed because of a lack of evidence, a prosecutor said. The suspects, aged 20 to 28, were detained in dawn raids on Tuesday that saw 500 police officers swoop on residences in the cities of Kassel, Essen, Hanover and Leipzig. Media reports said they were believed to be targeting a Christmas market. But the Frankfurt public prosecutor said there was "insufficient evidence" they were preparing an attack or were in any way linked to IS, a spokesman told AFP yesterday. The six arrived in Germany between December 2014 and September 2015 at the height of a refugee crisis which has seen Germany take in 1.2 million people in the past two years. German authorities have been on heightened alert since IS claimed a lorry assault on a Berlin Christmas market last December which killed 12 people. Earlier this year a man who had had an asylum claim rejected by Germany stabbed one person to death at a supermarket and injured six others in a suspected jihadist assault. And German police last month arrested a 19-year-old Syrian suspected of preparing a "serious" Islamist-motivated bomb attack. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2017 being hosted by India along with the US is a testament to the "strong friendship" between the two countries, US President Donald Trump's daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump said on Wednesday. Ivanka, 36, is headed to India after Thanksgiving ritual. She is leading a high-powered American delegation of officials, women entrepreneurs and businessmen for the GES in Hyderabad from November 28-30. Ivanka would deliver the key note address at the three-day summit, which would be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. For the first time, in its eight editions, the summit has been themed "Women First and Prosperity for All," which "demonstrates" the administration's "commitment to the principle that when women are economically empowered, their communities and countries thrive," Ivanka said in a preview of her India trip. The summit, to be attended by 1,500 entrepreneurs from 170 countries, would have around 350 participants from the US, a large number of whom are Indian-Americans. Among prominent members of the administration joining her on the trip are US Treasurer Jovita Carranza, administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Neomi Rao, USAID administrator Mark Green, and Overseas Private Investment Corporation president and CEO Ray Washburne. Women will represent 52.5 per cent of the entrepreneurs, investors and ecosystem supporters at the GES 2017. In fact, more than 10 countries including Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Israel will be represented by an all-women delegation, the State Department said. The entrepreneurs attending the GES also reflect a very young team with nearly 31.5 per cent of them being either aged 30 or below. The youngest entrepreneur is aged 13 while the oldest one is 84. Ivanka said she "very much" looks forward to her visit. India, she said, is "a great friend and partner" in the US. The goal of the collaboration is to grow the shared economic and security partnership, she said. According to the officials, during her India visit, Ivanka is likely to spend some time on sightseeing, including a possible stop at the Charminar. She will be participating in two panels: The plenary session : "Be the Change -- Women's Entrepreneurial Leadership," on Tuesday evening and on Wednesday morning a breakout session : "We Can Do It! Innovations in Workforce Development and Skills Training. A global study on the hidden causes of deaths of children aged under five will soon be conducted in India, using "minimally-invasive" techniques and advanced laboratory methods, the ICMR chief said today. Soumya Swaminathan, Director-General of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said the study, titled Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance (CHAMPS), funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will start on a pilot-basis in a "month or two" in the country. "The idea behind this study is to try to understand the causes of death of children under the age of five. In most countries, including India, the maximum burden of premature mortality happens in children under five. "So, it is important to prevent that, in fact that whole world is now focussed on reducing that through various interventions such as vaccination, improving water, sanitation, access to antibiotics, but unless we understand what are the causes that are killing the children, we can't take preventive measures," she said. The ICMR chief, who will soon take charge as the Deputy Director General for Programmes, the World Health Organization in Geneva, said the study has already started in "South Africa, Mozambique and Mali". "It will now be done in Bangladesh and India. We will start the pilot very soon, in Safdarjung Hospital here, in a month or two, because the Ethics Committee approval, and everything, has been done," Swaminathan told PTI. As part of the study, the Centre-run hospital will act as the 'Expert Guidance Centre', where the paediatrics department's doctors will get trained, will be able to do further training. "An international team of experts will be coming, from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), Atlanta, in the US. And, the laboratory testing will be done in collaboration with the CDC," she added. This study will uses a lot of advanced laboratory methods, to uncover the "hidden causes of death", she said. "The study will be done through taking minimally-invasive tissue biopsies, tissue samples, after the child has died, like taking samples of vein, lung, liver, spleen, blood, and then do a number of microbiological and pathological investigations," the ICMR chief said. The National Institute of Pathology (NIP) at the Safdarjung Hospital will be the main institute involved i in the study. "After hospitals, we want to take it to the field areas, where there is a lot of child mortality, so that we can actually capture, ultimately the cause of deaths of children in the community. Also, we want to look at a large number of pathogens and disease conditions," she added. Swaminathan said the idea originated through discussions on global fora. "The fact that previous autopsy studies have shown quite surprising things. Most of these autopsy studies have been done in Africa. An autopsies are very difficult to do for many reasons. "And that is when they came up with this concept of minimally-invasive biopsies, which is more acceptable to the families, and easier to do also for doctors," she said. The ICMR chief, said though there is still a lot of reluctance socially, but "things are changing". "If you look at organ donation, more and more people are coming forward. So, it is the way you approach, tell the families the logic and the larger cause, that the child in the neighbourhood could be the next one, so a larger context is important," she added. According to the CHAMPS official website, "Every year, nearly six million children under the age of five die. Unfortunately, the causes of these deaths often remain a mystery due to gaps in disease surveillance, death registries and data to inform evidence-based policy, especially in low- resource countries, where mortality rates are the highest. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Goa Police have busted a prostitution racket being operated from a three-star beach resort in Calangute village and rescued a woman, an official said today. Police arrested two persons after raiding the hotel last night on specific information, said Calangute Police Inspector Jivba Dalvi. The arrested persons included a customer from Mumbai and the pimp. The woman was sent to the protection home near Panaji. An offence was registered under Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act, 1956 and under section 370 (trafficking of persons for the purpose of exploitation) of the IPC, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Goa government has decided to enact two legislations which would allow 'contract' and 'community' farming practise, state minister Vijay Sardesai said today. The Agriculture minister said his department is in the process to draft both these legislations which could revive farming activities in the stretches of fallow land. "The intention is to see that the land is not kept fallow or uncultivated. And to allow cultivation of fellow land, we have to enact contract farming law by which the government acts as a guarantor, and ensures that somebody's land is not grabbed," Sardesai told PTI today. The state government, he said, would be enacting legislations during the Budget Session of Goa Legislative Assembly that is expected to take place in early 2018. Sardesai said the issues in Goa are unique as the land holdings are fragmented and shared between different owners. "We will have to have community efforts to see that the entire contiguous block is cultivated," he said. "Along with contract, the community farming law will also be enacted in the state to encourage co-operative movement in this sector," the minister said. According to Sardesai, the two laws need to be enacted to give legal sanctity for the proposals of community or contract farming received by the state Agriculture department. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Online search engine Google today dedicated a special doodle to Dr Rakhmabai Bhikaji to mark the 153rd birth anniversary of India's first practicing lady doctor. Rakhmabai, who was born in 1864 and lost her father at a tender age, is hailed as a pioneer in the field of medicine and women's rights in the 19th century, an era of curtailed freedom for women. Born to Jayantibai and Janardhan in present-day Mumbai, she was married off when she was 11 to Dadaji Bhikaji, 19, after her father's demise. "When Rakhmabai was still in school, her husband, Dadaji, insisted that she come and live with him in his house. Rakhmabai, not one to blindly follow convention, refused," according to the information curated by Google alongside the doodle. Dadaji soon moved court for a case that would span four years. Although the case went in Rukhmabai's favour, an appeal went in Dadaji's favour. The case also caught media's attention bringing to fore significant issues of child marriage and women rights. It was instrumental in the drafting of the Age of Consent Act in 1891. In the run up to the trial, Rakhmabai wrote several articles, under the pseudonym 'A Hindu Lady', which were published in newspapers and even discussed internationally for highlighting the pressing issues of the time under colonial rule in India. "This wicked practice of child marriage has destroyed the happiness of my life. It comes between me and the things which I prize above all others study and mental cultivation. Without the least fault of mine I am doomed to seclusion; every aspiration of mine to rise above my ignorant sisters is looked down upon with suspicion and is interpreted in the most uncharitable manner," she wrote in one of her letters. After the case, as records state, Rakhmabai decided to pursue medicine study and went to the UK on sponsorship. In the UK, she enrolled in the London School of Medicine and qualified as a doctor in 1894. She then returned to India and worked as the medical officer for women in Surat for 22 years and then in Rajkot for 12 years. Hailed as a pioneer in the field of medicine and women's rights in pre-Independence India, Rakhmabai passed away at a ripe age of 91 in 1955. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An international human rights group says Indonesia's military and police continue to perform abusive virginity tests on female recruits three years after the World Health Organisation declared they had no scientific validity. Human Rights Watch said today that senior police and military officers have told it that security forces still impose the "cruel and discriminatory tests." The group called for President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to order the national police chief and military commander to ban the practice. Human Rights Watch has also documented the use of virginity tests by security forces in Egypt, India and Afghanistan and criticised calls for virginity tests for Indonesian school girls. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Gujarat government today banned the release of Sanjay Leela Bhansali film 'Padmavati' with Chief Minister Vijay Rupani claiming it was "hurting sentiments" of the Rajput community and would not be screened in the poll-bound state in view of law and order concerns. A notification banning the film's release was issued by the information and broadcasting department of the state. "In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of the section 6 of the Gujarat Cinemas (Regulation) Act, 2004, the government of Gujarat hereby imposes ban on Hindi feature film "Padmavati" produced by Viacom18 Motion Pictures and Bhansali Productions Pvt Ltd within the jurisdiction of the state of Gujarat," the notification read. Earlier in the day, Rupani had said he will not allow the film to release in the poll-bound state as it hurt the sentiments of the Rajput community. "We can't allow our history to be distorted. We believe in freedom of speech and expression but any foul play with our great culture is not tolerated," the chief minister said. There are issues with the film, our sympathy is with those protesting against the film and that is the reason we will not allow its release in the state till those issues are resolved, Rupani said in Ahmedabad. "Elections are also approaching and we do not want any row here. The matter comes under law and order situation and that is the reason we have taken this decision," Rupani said. Asked if he had seen the film, he said, "The makers of the film should screen it for those who are protesting against it and resolve the issue. Our concern is protests and law and order situation at the time of elections." Several BJP-ruled states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have expressed opposition to the film. Rupani's Haryana counterpart Manohar Lal Khattar, however, said that he would wait and watch for the censor board decision on the movie. "The government will take a call upon the screening of Padmavati after the decision by CBFC," Khattar said adding that nobody would be allowed to hurt sentiments. He distanced himself from the Haryana BJP chief media coordinator Surajpal Singh Amu's remarks about offering a bounty of Rs ten crore to anyone beheading Bhansali or lead actress Deepika Padukone. "The BJP has also issued a show cause notice to Amu," he said while also pointing to an FIR against the state leader. The row over the Bollywood flick, meanwhile, continued to simmer with the Shri Rajput Karni Sena demanding that its reels be "consigned to the flames of Jauhar". BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha waded in questioning what he called the "silence" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani. Former CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat, in an editorial in party organ 'Peoples' Democracy', compared the protesters with cow vigilantes, and said "mob rule" had become one of the "hallmarks of the Modi raj". The controversy also reached the portals of Parliament as a House panel sought a report on the film from the I&B ministry and the censor board. The matter was taken up for consideration by the Lok Sabha Committee on Petitions after two BJP MPs from Rajasthan, CP Joshi and Om Birla, filed a plea regarding objectionable content in the movie. Joshi told PTI that the movie should be shown to historians and the descendants of the erstwhile royal families, who trace their lineage to Padmavati, before release. "The panel has referred the matter to the I&B Ministry and the censor board. It has asked them to submit a report before November 30," BJP leader Bhagat Singh Koshyari, who heads the panel, said. Meanwhile, BJP MP and actor Sinha, who has often taken a stand contrary to that of his party, questioned the "silence" of the prime minister and the I&B minister. "How come our I&B Minister or our most popular Hon'ble PM (according to PEW) are maintaining stoic silence. High time!" he said on Twitter. The Patna Sahib MP did not spare Bollywood top guns either. "As 'Padmavati' becomes a burning controversy, people are asking why the legendary Amitabh Bachchan, most versatile Aamir Khan and most popular Shah Rukh Khan have no comments," Sinha tweeted. The Karni Sena, which is leading the protests against the film, continued its offensive. "Its reel should be consigned to the flames of 'Jauhar'," Lokendra Singh Kalvi, chief of the outfit, told reporters in New Delhi. He lashed at Padukone for her remarks that no force could stop the film's release. "Who is Deepika Padukone? Is she the president or the prime minister? This film will not be released at any cost," he said. Asked on what basis was he claiming that the film distorted history, Kalvi said it was his "assumption" based on an alleged statement of Ranveer Singh, who plays Alauddin Khilji in the movie. Director Bhansali recently clarified that rumours about a romantic dream sequence between Rani Padmavati and Khilji's characters were not true as he was careful in depicting "Rajput honour and dignity". Kalvi also alleged to have received "life threats" from unknown numbers, one of which "was traced back to Karachi". In Lucknow, a complaint was filed in a court seeking prosecution against Bhansali for showing the film to three journalists without the censor nod. Many groups have been protesting against the movie alleging distorting of history. Historians are, however, divided on whether Rani Padmavati even existed. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) As many as 1,703 candidates have filed nominations for the 89 constituencies to be covered in the first phase of Assembly polls in Gujarat on December 9. Yesterday was the last day for filing nominations for the first phase of elections which would cover 19 districts, mostly of Saurashtra and south Gujarat. Of these nominations, independents account for 788, while 523 candidates of national parties such as the BJP and Congress have also submitted their papers between November 14 to 21 (the stipulated period), said a release issued by Gujarat's Chief Electoral Officer B B Swain. Remaining 392 candidates either belong to state-level parties which are registered outside Gujarat (such as the AAP and JD(U)), or small non-recognised but registered parties, such as Lokshahi Satta Party, Yuva Sarkar and Insaniyat Party. For 89 seats, 193 candidates of the BJP and 196 candidates of the Congress have submitted nominations, as parties usually ask one or two 'dummy candidates' to file their papers for each seat. Dummy candidates are expected to withdraw nominations by the last day of withdrawal, November 24. The highest number of nominations -- 42 -- were submitted for the Limbayat seat in Surat, while only five nominations were filed for Gandevi (ST) seat in Navsari district. The polling for the two-phase election for a total of 182 seats will take place on December 9 and 14, and votes will be counted on December 18. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Patidar quota stir leader Hardik Patel today declared his support to the Congress for the Gujarat Assembly elections, saying that the opposition party has accepted the demand of giving reservation to his community in a "special category". The Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) leader said that reservation formula given by the Congress for his community will be over and above the 50 per cent quota for the SC, ST and OBCs. On the 50 per cent reservation cap set by the Supreme Court, he said that it is just a "suggestion". Hardik said if the Congress comes to power, it will conduct a proper survey for providing reservation. The party will bring a Bill in the state Assembly and give reservation, he said. "My fight in Gujarat is against the BJP and that is why we will directly or indirectly support Congress (in the elections) as it has accepted our demand for reservation," he added. "Congress has promised to include our demand in its manifesto," he said. "The percentage of reservation under a special category to be given to us will be decided after the survey conducted by the commission to be formed by the government." "As per the formula, without touching the 49 per cent quota (now provided in the state) to the Schedule Tribes (ST), Schedule Castes (SC) and Other Backward Class (OBC), the Congress has decided to provide quota to the communities, who have not got the benefit of reservation so far under Article 31 (C) and Article 46 of the Constitution," he told reporters here. Article 46 of the Constitution says the State shall promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people, and, in particular, of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, and shall protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation. Article 31 (C) has two parts. The first part protects a law giving effect to the policy of the state towards securing the principles specified in Articles 39 (b) and (c) from being challenged on the ground of infringement of the Fundamental Rights under Article 14, 19 and 31. The second part of Article 31 (C) originally sought to oust the jurisdiction of the courts to find out whether the law in question gave effect to the principles of Articles 39 (b) and 39 (c). When pointed out that the Supreme Court had "restrained" the Rajasthan government from taking any action on conferring the benefit of reservation resulting in crossing the total reservation beyond 50 per cent, Hardik said, "This (50 per cent cap) is just a suggestion of the Supreme Court." "In our Constitution, there is no mention of 50 per cent cap on reservation. I am of the firm opinion that reservation can be given over 50 per cent," he said. Hardik also said that there were no differences with the Congress over seat-sharing. "We had not demanded any seats, but we had asked the Congress to put up candidates of our community, who have a strong character," he said. Asked what will he do about the PAAS members who have filed nomination papers to contest elections, Hardik said that they will no longer be members of the organisation. Hardik also accused the BJP of trying to buy PAAS members by offering Rs 50 lakh. The Congress, which has mounted a hectic campaign to dislodge the long-ruling BJP in the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and saffron party chief Amit Shah, has been wooing the Patel stir spearhead for quite some time. Elections in Gujarat will be held on December 9 and 14. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Patidar leader Hardik Patel today declared his support for the Congress in the Gujarat elections next month and said the opposition party had accepted its demand for reservation for the Patel community. The Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) leader said the Congress will include the extension of reservation benefit to Patidars in its election manifesto. "The Congress has agreed to provide reservation to the Patidar community," Patel told reporters here. The Congress, which has mounted a hectic campaign to dislodge the long-ruling BJP in the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and saffron party chief Amit Shah, has been wooing the Patel stir spearhead for quite some time. Elections in Gujarat will be held on December 9 and 14. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Patidar quota stir leader Hardik Patel today pledged his support to the Congress for the Gujarat Assembly elections, in a major fillip to the party's bid to sew up a new caste combination to wrest the state from the BJP after being out of power for 22 years. The 24-year-old Patel, who was playing cat and mouse game with the Congress for the last few weeks, declared that his Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) will back the main opposition party after the latter accepted its demand for reservation for the Patel community. Hardik, who is not eligible for contesting elections due to his young age, said the Congress also assured the PAAS that it would include its promise of reservation for the Patidars in the party manifesto. The young quota agitation spearhead, who led violent protests in support of the demand that left several people dead in police action, said the promised quota would go beyond the 50 per cent cap set by the Supreme Court for the Scheduled Castes, Schedule Tribes and OBCs. With Hardik extending his support to the Congress, the party has been able to rope in three young caste group leaders in the state whose emergence on Gujarat's political firmament had roots in agitations. Earlier OBC leader Alpesh Thakor of the Gujarat Kshatriya-Thakor Sena had joined the Congress. The 39-year-old Thakor is known for his campaign against liquor in the dry state, and is believed to wield influence among youth belonging to backward classes. Jignesh Mewani, a lawyer-activist who shot into prominence after organising a string of protests against the Una incident where Dalits skinning a dead cow were flogged on the suspicion of slaughtering it, has also indicated his support to the Congress. Mewani, 37, had met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in Surat recently. Though the Dalit leader did not explicitly commit that he would campaign for the Congress, he said he would do everything possible to prevent the BJP from coming to power in Gujarat. "My fight in Gujarat is against the BJP and that is why we will directly or indirectly support Congress (in the elections) as it has accepted our demand for reservation," Hardik told reporters in Ahmedabad. Under the proposal, the influential Patels, traditional voters of the BJP, would get reservation in government jobs and educational institutions beyond the 49 per cent quotas for the SC, ST and OBCs. Referring to the Supreme Court's cap of 50 per cent on reservation, he said it was just a "suggestion". "In our Constitution, there is no mention of 50 per cent cap on reservation. I am of the firm opinion that reservation can be given over 50 per cent," Hardik said. The Patel leader said there were no differences with the Congress over seat-sharing. "We had not demanded any seats, but we had asked the Congress to put up candidates of our community who have a strong character," he said. He said PAAS members who had already filed nominations ceased to be members of the outfit. Reacting to the development, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the "Congress-Hardik club" is one of mutual deception. "The law of the land is very clear and that is laid down by the Supreme Court and only last week in the Rajasthan case it has been re-affirmed that the 50 per cent cap cannot be increased." Hitting out at Hardik Patel for declaring support to Congress, Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said the formula of reservation above the cap set by Supreme Court was something "offered by fools and also accepted by fools." "Though it is very much clear that reservation quota cannot go beyond 50 per cent in any situation, Hardik is trying to misguide the Patidar community with the formula offered by the Congress. In my opinion, this formula of reservation is a big joke," Patel told reporters in Ahmedabad. Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal thanked Hardik Patel for declaring his support to the party after it accepted the Patidar community's quota demand, and said their united fight would ensure that the BJP was dethroned. Sibal, however, held his cards close to chest when asked about the details of the formula the Congress and the Patel- led PAAS had worked out, adding the related issues would be decided later. "We are very happy that a 'sanjha morcha' (united front) will now fight against the BJP... We thank him that they (PAAS) have joined us with an ideology to contest the election by coming together... Our target is to win the election and fulfil promises made to the people," Sibal told reporters in New Delhi. (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.) Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Wednesday said he was suspending his surprise resignation, pending talks, providing a potential way out of a political crisis that has rocked the country. And in a rousing address before large crowds of supporters gathered outside his Beirut home, he pledged he would stay in the country and protect its "stability." Lebanon has been thrown into turmoil by Hariri's shock November 4 announcement from Saudi Arabia that he was stepping down, as well as his prolonged absence afterwards. The resignation was seen as a ratcheting up of tensions in the long-running rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and raised fears that Lebanon would be paralysed by regional tensions. Hours after his arrival back in Beirut, Hariri met with President Michel Aoun, who had refused to accept the premier's resignation until he returned to Lebanon. "I discussed my resignation with the president of the republic who asked me to wait before submitting it... and allow for more consultations," Hariri told reporters afterwards. "I agreed to this request." Hariri said he hoped his decision would "allow for a responsible dialogue in a serious manner... that would settle disputes." In announcing his resignation, he had levelled harsh criticism at Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah, saying they had taken over Lebanon and were destabilising the region. He also said he had been forced to leave Lebanon because of threats to his safety, invoking the 2005 assassination of his father, former prime minister Rafik Hariri. But he left the door open to withdrawing the resignation if the powerful Shiite Hezbollah group pulled back from involvement in regional conflicts. Hariri accuses the group of violating Lebanon's policy of "disassociation" from regional conflicts by fighting alongside Syria's government and assisting Huthi rebels in Yemen. Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah has said the group was open to talks, though whether any real compromise could be reached remained unclear. "When he comes, we will see. We're open to all dialogue and discussion," Nasrallah said on Monday. The decision brings down the temperature after weeks of tensions, and some analysts said it suggested a deal could be in the works to save the consensus government Hariri formed just under a year ago. "What this is saying, (is) there is still room for backroom discussions and negotiations," said Maha Yahya, director of the Carnegie Middle East Centre think tank. "Hariri would not have agreed to this (otherwise)," she added. "There's already some consensus behind it. There's a deal that is being worked out, we still don't know what the details are." There has been heavy involvement in the search for a way out of the crisis, with France stepping in to invite Hariri to Paris after weeks of speculation that he was being detained in Riyadh. Hariri, who holds Saudi citizenship and is closely allied with Riyadh, strongly denied he was being held in the kingdom, but nonetheless accepted the invitation and arrived in Paris on November 18. Before continuing to Beirut Tuesday, he stopped for talks in both Egypt and Cyprus, hinting at the various tracks under way to ease tension. "The community understands that really it's in no-one's interest to have one more failed state in this region," said Yahya. "Definitely there is an effort to... calm things down a little bit." It is unclear whether Hariri's government, which was formed in late 2016 as part of a deal across political lines, can be saved. Lebanon has long been riven by tensions between Hariri's Saudi-backed political bloc and that led by Iran-backed Hezbollah, a stalemate that left the country's presidency empty for over two years. But despite the potential struggles ahead, Hariri appeared relaxed as he first attended a military parade to mark the country's Independence Day, and then appeared at his Beirut home, where large crowds of supporters had gathered. As celebratory music played, the crowd chanted "Saad, Saad" and waved the blue flag of his Future Movement party. "I'm staying with you," Hariri said, in an emphatic speech delivered at the door of his home in the centre of the capital. "We're continuing together, to be the first line of defence for Lebanon and its stability. The Haryana government today decided to change the prescribed marks ratio for recruitment in Group C and D posts in the state. The state cabinet decided to change the prescribed ratio of 85:15 to 90:10 -- that is 90 marks for the written test and a maximum of 10 marks for experience and some objective socio-economic criteria -- in respect of recruitment to Group C and D posts in the state, an official release issued here said. A proposal to this effect was approved in the cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar here today. Five marks will be given if no person from among the applicant's father, mother, spouse, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters is, was or has been a regular employee in any department, board, corporation, company, statutory body, commission or authority of the Haryana government or any other state government or government of India, the release said. Similarly, five marks will be given if an applicant is a widow, or if the applicant's father had died before the applicant was 15 years of age, it said. Five marks will be given if an applicant belongs to a denotified tribe (Vimukt Jatis and Tapriwas Jatis) or nomadic tribe of Haryana which is neither a Scheduled Caste nor a Backward Class. A maximum of five marks have been kept for experience -- One-half (=0.5) mark for each year or part thereof exceeding six months of experience, out of a maximum of ten years, on the same or a highest post in any department, board, corporation, company, statutory body, commission, authority of government of Haryana, the release said. No marks will be awarded for any period less than six months, it said, adding that no applicant will be given more than 10 marks under any circumstances. Notably, the state government had already announced to do away with the system of interviews for Group C and D posts. Meanwhile, the state cabinet approved amendment in section 164(c) of the Haryana Municipal Corporation Act, 1994 to transfer municipal corporation immovable properties to individuals, who are in possession of shops or houses of up to 1,000 square feet. The amendment in Section 164(c) states, "The consideration for which any immovable property may be sold, leased or otherwise transferred would not be less than value at which such immovable property could be sold, leased or otherwise transferred in normal and fair competition." The government, for the last many years, was considering that the cunicipal corporations immovable properties allotted to individuals on lease, rent from last many years from which the corporations are not earning much revenue and also not able to get it evacuated, may be sold to the occupiers, so that the municipal corporation may earn some revenue out of it and also the occupiers may get ownership of the property, it said. The government has also received several requests from many such occupiers to allot the properties to them as they are paying nominal rent from last several years. The present occupant, if different from the original allottee or lessee shall submit an affidavit stating that the property is free from any ownership/occupancy litigation. If any building was constructed over the site at the time of allotment/lease then the value of the same will be the residual PWD rate. Further, the property will be free from any type of encroachment. If the area of the property is more than 1,000 square yards then the same will be done after the approval of the government, the release said. In case of area less than 1,000 square yards, the deputy commissioner or the municipal corporation will be competent to allot. If any property falls within the proposed area required for development then the alternative plot of the same value will be given to the allottee, it said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi High Court today asked the Jammu and Kashmir State Transport Corporation (JKSTC) to vacate and handover in three months possession of its office here to the Delhi government for the purpose of redeveloping the Tis Hazari Court Complex. The court said it does not find merit in the submission of the JKSTC counsel on development of infrastructure and creation of other district court complexes. "Mere putting of infrastructure does not eliminate the need for greater number of court rooms and the cadre strength (of judges)...," a bench of justices S Ravindra Bhat and Sanjeev Sachdeva said and dismissed the petition. The bench said that as on date, the high court has not been able to fill the strength of judges in the district courts in Delhi and there were inadequate number of courts. The corporation had challenged an order of the Registrar General of the Delhi High Court asking it to vacate the premises, citing a Supreme Court's 1997 order. The apex court had ordered the corporation to secure an alternative accomodation and asked it to handover the physical possession of the plot adjacent to the Tis Hazari Court in central Delhi. Advocate Sumeet Verma, appearing for JKSTC, submitted that it was in possession of the property for 50 years and pilgrims travelling Vaishno Devi and Amarnath Shrines book their tickets from here. It also needed space to park its buses. The counsel said they also faced security issues and the JKSTC was ready to vacate the premises if an alternative place was provided. Advocate Viraj Datar, representing the high court's administration, said the premises was required for the purpose of redevelopment of Tis Hazari Court complex. There were 135 rooms which have to be increased to 300 and the plot area was earmarked for mediation centre, he said. The corporation's counsel contended that infrastructure of the court rooms have been greatly augmented with the creation of other district courts and hence the JKSTC should be allowed to continue with the possession of this plot till an alternative place is alloted. The bench, however, said "the court requires the corporation to handover the possession of the plot and comply with the apex court's 20-year-old order." The court allowed the counsel's plea seeking three months to vacate the premises subject to an unconditional undertaking from the corporation that it will handover the possession of the property in three months. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Madras High Court has issued notice to Krishnagiri district police on a petition seeking transfer of the trial of a case relating to the murder of a Periyar Dravida Kazhagam activist in 2012 in that district. When the petition by the son of deceased Palani came up yesterday, Justice MS Ramesh directed the Inspector of Utthanapalli police station in that district to file a reply by December 4. The petitioner sought a direction to transfer the trial of the murder case from Additional Sessions Court in Hosur to the Principal District Sessions Court in Salem. He alleged that his father was brutally killed by a gang led by a CPI MLA Ramachandran, representing Thali constituency in Dharmapuri district, on July 5, 2012 when he and his father had gone to their farm. However, the petitioner had managed to escape from the gang. The petitioner further submitted that the MLA enjoyed much clout in the area and apprehended the possibility of witnesses being tampered with if the trial was allowed to continue in Hosur. Hence, the petitioner prayed for a court direction to transfer the case to Salem court. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Orissa High Court today took suo motu cognizance of media reports on pictures of repair work in Puris Jagannath Temple going viral and issued notice to Sri Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA). The High Court has asked the chief administrator of SJTA, which had been set up by the state government, to file a report by December 6 explaining how the pictures were in the public domain. Photos of repair work of 'Jagamohan', the hall facing the sanctum sanctorum of the 12th century shrine, were found posted on the social media. A division bench of the HC headed by Chief Justice Vineet Saran adjudicating over a PIL in this regard and monitoring the repair works undertaken by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) of the 12th century shrine expressed concern over the sensitive issue. SJTA chief administrator P K Jena had sought explanation from ASI on the matter within three days for taking further action. Meanwhile, in response to last weeks HC notice about the ongoing repair works, the Temple administration sought some more time to file the latest status report. The HC asked the temple administration to file the status report also on December six. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Madras High Court today rejected the submission of the Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University challenging an order allowing a college in Villupuram district to go ahead with counselling for admission of students for homeopathy for the academic year 2017-18. The court had on November 15 directed the SVS Educational and Social Trust, running SVS Medical College of Yoga and Naturopathy and Research Institute at Kallakurichi in Villupuram district, to go ahead with the counselling. A division bench of Justices Huluvadi G Ramesh and RMT Teekaa Raman granted the permission while passing interim order on an appeal from the Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University, challenging an interim order passed by a single judge. Justice N Kirubakaran, while passing interim order on petitions from the Trust, held that the incident of suspicious death of three girl students in January 2016 should not stand in the way of the college in admitting students for 2017-18. The judge had directed the university to include the college in the list of centres for counselling. "The unfortunate incident has been employed again and again against the institution and sought to be throttled, thereby preventing the college from functioning," the judge had observed. Aggrieved, the MGR Medical University preferred the present appeal. It contended that the college has not set right the "defects" and was not in a position to take any decision with regard to counselling. Rejecting the submission, the bench said the court is of the view that the college shall proceed with the counselling. Meanwhile, the college shall consult with the University and the Ministry of AYUSH independently to set right the defects pointed out, the bench said. "Accordingly, the college is permitted to proceed with the counselling and admit the students at the risk of the management," it said. "In the meantime, they have to comply with the directions issued by the University/Ministry of AYUSH from time to time," the bench said. It then posted the matter for further hearing after two weeks. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A 56-year-old Army colonel was arrested today for allegedly raping the daughter of a lieutenant colonel posted at the Army Training Command (ARTRAC) here, police said. The 21-year-old woman had filed a complaint on Monday and the colonel was arrested today after preliminary investigations, they said. An FIR under relevant sections of the IPC was registered after the statement of the victim was recorded and medical examination conducted, police said. Superintendent of Police Soumya Sambasivan confirmed the registration of the FIR and arrest of the colonel but refused to disclose his identity. Investigations are in progress and the accused would be produced in court tomorrow. More details of the incident are awaited. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Indian Council of Medical Research is likely to get a new regional centre in Gorakhpur soon, to carry out research on Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) child mortality and malnutrition, the ICMR chief said today. "It will be our additional 'Regional Medical Research Centre' and should be inaugurated soon," Director-General of the ICMR, Soumya Swaminathan, said. In the past few months, several children had lost their lives due to AES at a state-run hospital in Uttar Pradesh's town of Gorakhpur. Japanese Encephalitis (JE) and AES have been claiming lives of many children in the state in the last few years. The new centre, therefore, is likely to boost the health infrastructure capabilities in the state. According to the official website of the ICMR, the top research body has 'Regional Medical Research Centres' in Bhubaneswar, Dibrugarh, Port Blair, Jabalpur, Jodhpur and Belgaum. The ICMR chief, who will soon take charge as the deputy director general for programmes, the World Health Organisation in Geneva, held a press conference today on the future of medical research in the country. She also said a new two-year study will begin in January next year, seeking to "improve the system of reporting of the causes of all deaths in India". "The study is related to verbal autopsy, wherein you go to a household and record the circumstances around death, when did the person fall ill, how long was the person unwell, among other details. "The study will be started on a pilot basis in three districts. We want to evolve a system that we want that India will adopt it. So, we are just doing to demonstrate it," she said. The three states would be Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Assam, the ICMR chief added. She also shared information on tuberculosis vaccine research and clinical trials. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Allahabad High Court has asked the Uttar Pradesh government to implement CAG recommendations in respect of irregularities in PWD projects of construction, repairing and widening of roads in 17 districts of the state. Passing this order on a PIL filed by Bhupendra Singh of Sambhal, the bench of Chief Justice D B Bhosale and Justice M K Gupta also directed the state chief secretary to take appropriate action against all those persons, responsible for causing huge financial loss to the state exchequer. The court disposed of the petition with these observations. According to the petitioner, the CAG had submitted a report of the road construction, repairing and widening work in 17 districts including the state capital done by the Public Works Department from 2011 to 2016. The counsel, appearing for the petitioner, told the bench that the CAG had audited contracts worth Rs 4857.60 crore but it was found that about 40,000 villages of the 17 districts were not connected with the main roads. It was said that officers of the PWD had embezzled more than Rs 1,000 crore in awarding the contracts. The CAG had also made recommendations to take action against the guilty officers and others involved in the case. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India and Russia are facing the threat of fundamentalism and terrorism in various forms and both the countries will fight together to eliminate the menace, Union minister Kiren Rijiju said today. At a meeting with Russian Ambassador to India Nikolay Rishatovich Kudashev, Rijiju also informed about the multi- pronged approach of the government in handling the internal security situation in the country. India and Russia are facing the threat of fundamentalism and terrorism in various forms and both the countries stand together in the global fight to address the menace of terrorism, he told the Russian envoy. Rijiju said concerted efforts by cooperation of global community were important to eliminate the menace of terrorism. The Union minister of state for home said the efforts of the government in strengthening the internal security and discouraging the centrifugal forces have been given a boost by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision by checking fake currency and flow of money among the anti-social elements. He said the NDA government has demonstrated strong resilience in the last three years in containing insurgency, an official statement said. Rijiju said despite being home to the second largest population of Muslims, the effect of Middle-East terror group ISIS is minimal in India due to the wisdom of the community leaders and the parents. However, the government is also carrying out de- radicalisation and counter-radicalisation programme. While reiterating that the relations reflect the aspirations of two growing economies, the Russian ambassador impressed upon the need to build on strong people-to-people contacts. Kudashev said bilateral cooperation is on the rise with enhanced level of cooperation in multi-lateral fora like the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and BRICS. He envisaged more opportunities for cooperation in future between the two countries. Rijiju emphasised on the time-tested, friendly and strong relations between India and Russia and assured to extend all possible cooperation in further strengthening the ties so that the strong bilateral relations can be leveraged to build partnership and collaboration in multifaceted dimensions. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A leading industrialist today allegedly shot himself dead near here due to financial problems, police said. P S Belliraj, who ran an educational institution, tea factory and a marriage hall in Nilgiris and a spinning mill in Coimbatore, shot himself at his house using his own gun, in Aravenu near Kothagiri in the Nilgiris district, they said. The wife of Belliraj, in his late seventies, heard the sound of a gun shot from his bedroom and found him lying dead in a pool of blood, police said. Police personnel, who rushed to the spot, recovered the body and sent it for post-mortem to the Government Hospital in Coimbatore. Superintendent of Police Murali Rambha and other senior officials held preliminary enquiry with the family members. Police quoting initial investigations said Belliraj was stated to have borrowed money from different persons. Some persons allegedly using the name of a former DMK Minister had been issuing threats to him in the last couple of days, they said. Belliraj is survived by a wife, three daughters and a son. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney today said the arrangement linking Hong Kong with China could be a possible solution for addressing the fate of Northern Ireland after Brexit. The border between EU member Ireland and British-ruled Northern Ireland is becoming an increasing concern in divorce talks with Britain, with Dublin demanding that the frontier remain completely open, or risk endangering the peace process. Ireland fears that any divergence of Northern Ireland from EU law will automatically require the creation of cross- border controls, hitting the economy and reviving memories of when military checkpoints split the island. "Britain ... must take on their responsiblity to Northern Ireland ... and we will try to help them design that in a way that is fair to both communities," Coveney told reporters while on a visit to a community centre in the Northern Ireland city of Belfast. "This isn't entirely new by the way, there are other parts of the world whereby one country has difficult jurisdictions in terms of customs arrangements and trading arrangements," Coveney added. "Hong Kong is an example of that. I think there is probably no country in the world that defends its sovereign borders more aggressively than China does," he said. "Yet China lives with (and) functions with Hong Kong which has very much been part of Chinese territories, but operating under a different set of rules," he said. "I'm not sure whether the Hong Kong solution is appropriate, for Northern Ireland or not, but it is an example, of ironically a British-designed solution," he added. Britain -- the former colonial power in both Hong Kong and Ireland -- handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997. Since then Hong Kong has been governed under a "one country, two systems" deal which allows citizens rights unseen on the mainland, including freedom of speech and a partially directly elected parliament. The EU has given Britain until early December to make sufficient progress on three key Brexit divorce issues -- Northern Ireland, its exit bill and the rights of EU citizens living in Britain -- in order to move on to trade talks at a summit on December 14. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be on a four-day visit to India starting January 14, a little more than six months after his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi visited the Jewish state, informed sources said. Netanyahu would be only the second Israeli Prime Minister to visit India since diplomatic relations were established between the two countries in 1992. His visit next year would be happening almost 15 years after the first visit by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to New Delhi in 2003. The Israeli Prime Minister would be received by Modi in Ahmedabad on his arrival on January 14. Modi has in the past welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in his home state. Netanyahu would then be holding most of his official meetings in New Delhi on January 15 and 16. "The detailed programme is being still worked out but it will include meetings with top leadership in India", informed sources here said. The Israeli leader would also be going to Mumbai on January 17 where he would be visiting the Jewish Chabad House, a site of 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai. He would head back to Israel on January 18. There could also be a possible stopover in Agra during the visit. "In the past year, I have visited all continents besides Antarctica," Netanyahu said at the opening of the Knesset's (Israeli parliament) winter session last month. "And in January, I will make a reciprocal visit to my dear good friend, Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India, whose population is a significant part of humanity," he added. Modi's standalone visit to Israel in July this year celebrated 25 years of establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. The Indian prime minister skipped Palestine during his trip leading many analysts to say that New Delhi was changing its rules of engagement in the region. Modi's visit, the first by an Indian Prime Minister to Israel, was termed by many as de-hyphenation of New Delhi's ties with the Palestinians. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was invited to New Delhi a few weeks before Modi's visit to Israel, in what was his fifth visit to India in 12 years and the third state visit. Netanyahu had called Modi's "historic visit" a "very significant step" in strengthening bilateral relations that are on a "constant upswing". The Israeli leader has also grabbed every opportunity to emphasise on his "personal chemistry" with his Indian counterpart, including at the United Nations General Assembly in September where he shared the memories of Modi's three-day visit to Israel from July 4-6. "...We imagined the endless possibilities for Israel, India, for all humanity," he had said during his UNGA address. Modi extended an invitation to Netanyahu to visit India "at a mutually convenient time" during a July 5 press conference in Jerusalem. Netanyahu had described the invitation as "a deeply moving moment for me, both in personal, but also in national and international terms". Both the governments have taken several measures since Modi's Israel trip to strengthen bilateral ties. Some of them include establishment of a $40 million joint fund to encourage Israeli and Indian business cooperation, agreements permitting and extending incentives to Bollywood filmmakers looking to shoot in Israel, efforts to promote growth in tourism, and a joint government project in the fields of water and agriculture. The Jammu and Kashmir government today set a deadline of January 2018 for the replacement of existing treasury system to Pay and Accounts Office (PAO) system to simplify the process of government payments in the state. "The concerned officers need to expedite the process so that PAO system can be launched in the state byJanuary 18. Finance department has a huge public interface and this new system would surely help in simplifying the whole process of government payments," Finance Minister Haseeb A Drabu said. Drabu passed the directions at a meeting convened to review the progress made on replacement of existing treasury system to PAO system. The minister asked the officers to ensure that everyone working with this new system should be assigned with a meaningful role for better delivery of services. He said the operational staff should lay focus on streamlining the payment system and to ensure payments in a specified period. "There is a need to design the system in such a way that it meets the future requirements and should be functionally aligned rather than geographically demarcated, he said. Drabu said he would personally review the progress twice a week so that the required changes in the draft model including administrative reforms would be made before finally switching to the PAO system. The new system is being integrated with Budget Estimation, Allocation and Monitoring System (BEAMS) for better check of budgetary allocation and authorised expenditure. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Press Council of India (PCI) today asked for a report from the Tripura government on the killing of a 48-year-old journalist allegedly by a constable of the Tripura State Rifle (TSR). Sudip Datta Bhaumik, working with Bengali newspaper 'Syandan Patrika, was gunned down yesterday following an altercation with the TSR constable, the second killing of a mediaperson in Tripura in two months. Taking suo-motu cognisance of the issue, the PCI chairman ordered to immediately seek a report on the matter along with a reply from "the chief secretary, the secretary (Home), Director General of Police, Government of Tripura and Commandant of 2nd battalion of TSR", the PCI said in a release. Bhaumik was gunned down around 2 pm inside the headquarters of the 2nd battalion of the TSR at R K Nagar, West Tripura superintendent of Police (SP) Abhijit Saptarshi had said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The commandant of the 2nd battalion of the Tripura State Rifles( TSR), Tapan Debbarma was today arrested in connection with the killing of a journalist inside the battalion headquarters near here and remanded in police custody for ten days by a local court. Superintendent of Police (Police Control), Harkumar Debbarna said the commandant of the counter-insurgency paramilitary force was arrested for conspiring to kill the scribe, Sudip Datta Bhaumick inside the battalion headquarters at Radhakishore Nagar yesterday. TSR constable Nandalal Reang, who allegedly shot dead the journalist and was arrested last night, was also sent to police custody for ten days. He and Debbarma were produced this monring before Chief Judical Magistrate Sharmishtha Mukherjee who passed the order. Datta Bhaumick, a reporter of the local Bengali daily 'Syandan Patrika', was gunned down around 2 pm, West Tripura Superintendent of Police Abhijit Saptarshi said. He was the second scribe to be killed in the north eastern state in two months. His body was taken in a procession today by journalists and newspaper employees of the state after postmortem at the G B Hospital. The body was taken to the Agartala Press Club and the office of 'Syandan Patrika'. Editors, journalists and senior politicians like Tripura BJP president Biplab Deb, BJP MLA Sudip Barman and CPI(M) M P, Shankar Prasad Datta offered floral tribute to the slain scribe. The procession stopped near the official residence of Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and held a protest there alleging that the Left Front government has failed to provide safety and security to the journalists. The protesting journalists also burnt jackets which had been provided to them by the police for the purpose of identification. "We have burnt the jackets in protest against the government's failure to provide security to us. Within two months, two journalists were killed. The chief minister is also the home minister of the state and he cannot evade the responsibility," Pranab Sarkar, secretary of the Tripura Journalists Union told reporters. Editor of 'Syandan Patrika', Subal Kumar Dey alleged that Datta Bhaumick was killed because he had exposed the many misdeeds and corruption by the commandant. "It was a cold-blooded murder and Sudip was killed because he had written 11 items exposing the commandant," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actor Kangana Ranuat met with an accident resulting in a ligament tear in her ankle while she was shooting some action sequences for her upcoming film "Manikarnika - The Queen of Jhansi" in Jodhpur. Kangana is essaying the iconic role of Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi in the movie, which is helmed by Krish. According to sources close to Kangana, the accident took place last night when she was performing a scene at Jodhpur's Mehrangarh fort, where she had to jump off from a 40-feet-high wall with her adopted child in the film, who is tied to her back on a horse. "Kangana did not land properly and in an attempt to save the kid from any injury she ended up hurting her ankle. "She was taken to a hospital immediately and it has been discovered that it is a ligament tear. She has been advised rest for one week," sources added. The "Queen" actor already finished shooting for major action sequences last month and this was the final dangerous stunt left. Earlier in July, Kangana got severely injured during a sword-fighting sequence with co-star Nihar Pandya, when the latter's sword accidentally hit her forehead, causing a deep cut. "Manikarnika..." is scheduled to be released in April. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Amid a raging controversy over "Padmavati", a self-styled Rajput group on Wednesday vowed to stop the release of the movie at any cost. The film starring Deepika Padukone as Rani Padmavati, Shahid Kapoor as Maharawal Ratan Singh and Ranveer Singh as Sultan Alauddin Khilji was earlier scheduled to release on December 1. On Sunday, Viacom18 Motion Pictures, the studio behind "Padmavati", had announced in a statement that they were voluntarily deferring the release of the film out of "respect and regard for the law of the land" including the Central Board of Film Certification". "Its reel should be consigned to the flames of 'Jauhar'," Lokendra Singh Kalvi, chief of Rajput Karni Sena, told reporters here. 'Jauhar' was a Hindu custom of self-immolation by women to escape foreign invaders. Kalvi said the makers of the period drama were forced to defer its release due to public pressure and "directions of the government" even as he appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stop its release for good. Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat have already announced that they will not allow the screening of the movie in their states. Kalvi, whose outfit has threatened Padukone with physical violence over her assertion that no force can stop Padmavati's release, said the launch of its trailers without clearance from the Censor Board amounted t the violation of the Cinematograph Act. "Who is Deepika Padukone? Is she the president or the prime minister? This film will not be released at any cost. Its reel should be consigned to the flames of Jauhar," he told a press conference here, repeatedly harping on Rajput valour and his "royal lineage". Sources in Viacom18 Motion Pictures termed Kalvi's allegation relating to the trailer "untrue". Asked on what basis was he was claiming that the film has distorted history, Kalvi said he was basing his "assumption" on an alleged statement of Ranveer Singh. Kalvi, who claimed he belongs to the "37th generation" of a dynasty that ruled the Mewar kingdom, was non-commital on whether he will change his position if the film is screened for him. Amid rumours that there was a romantic dream sequence between Padmavati and Alauddin Khilji's characters, various Rajput and other groups have been protesting against the film, alleging it hurts the sentiments of the people. Historians are, however, divided on whether Rani Padmavati even existed. Director of the film Sanjay Leela Bhansali recently clarified that rumours about the romantic dream sequence are not true as he was careful in depicting the "Rajput honour and dignity". On Karni Sena's threats to physically harm Padukone, Kalvi said one should go by the sentiments expressed by them instead of spoken words. Kalvi singled out Bhansali as someone who is a "habitual offender" in "distorting history" and cited the examples of other films directed by him such as Bajirao Mastani, a 2015 period drama starring Singh and Padukone. He also alleged to have received "life threats" from unknown numbers, one of which "has been traced back to Karachi". The Indian Coast Guard will get 29 Are (around 0.29 hectares) land in Angamaly in Kochi to set up an Air Enclave. A meeting of the state cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, took a decision in this regard here today, an official statement said. "It has been decided to give Coast Guard 29 Are land in Angamaly village to set up its Air Enclave," it said adding that the land would be given after charging market rate. The cabinet also decided to hand over three-acre land in the custody of Infopark, the IT hub in Kochi to the Kozhikode-based Indian Institute of Management (IIM-K) for developing a satellite campus there. Among a host of other decisions, the meeting decided to appoint senior IAS officer and General Education Secretary Usha Titus as the secretary of Department of Higher Education, as part of a shuffle of civil service officials, the statement said. A Shajahan, who now holds the post of secretary, Local Self Government Department, would be shifted to the General Education Department. Jafar Malik, Additional Director (General), Kerala Tourism, would be given the additional charge of Chief Executive Officer, Norka-Roots, it said. Additional chief secretaries, Tom Jose (Labour) and P H Kurien (Revenue) would be given extra charge of Water Resource Department and Environment Department respectively, the statement added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The corporate affairs ministry has approved filing of prosecution cases by the SFIO against defaulter businessman Vijay Mallya and others in the Kingfisher Airlines matter, a senior government official said today. In its detailed report on the matter submitted to the ministry recently, the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) flagged various violations by individuals and entities related to the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines, which was owned by Mallya. The ministry has given its approval for the SFIO to file prosecution cases in the Kingfisher Airlines matter, the official said. The charges for prosecution would be filed against Mallya and others for various violations of provisions under the companies law before a special court here. Specific details could not be immediately ascertained. Sources said that a meeting of various probe agencies like the SFIO and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was recently held to discuss taking "collective action" in this case. Mallya, who has been based in the UK for a long time, is wanted in India for Kingfisher Airlines' default on loans worth nearly Rs 9,000 crore and some other matters. The ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) have already filed their separate charge sheets against the businessman and other accused. According to sources, the SFIO is believed to have recommended various actions against individuals and entities for violations in the Kingfisher Airlines matter. Among others, the white collar crime probe agency had recommended examining the role of some banks as well as bank officials in sanctioning credit facilities to the airline apart from action against promoter directors, they said. The probe agency had red-flagged a slew of violations of companies law by Mallya, Kingfisher Airlines and officials, including serious corporate governance lapses. The role of independent directors and whether they failed in discharging their duties during their tenure at the airline has come to the fore, sources had said earlier. The probe agency, which comes under the ministry, had investigated alleged diversion of funds and financial reporting frauds at the carrier, which was grounded in 2012. SFIO, which investigates violations under the Companies Act, requires the ministry's approval before filing prosecution cases. The 61-year-old flamboyant businessman wasarrested in London in October in a money laundering case filed by the Enforcement Directorate, before being released on bail by Westminster Magistrates' Court. Mallya, already out on bail on an extradition warrant executed by the Metropolitan Police earlier this year, was released on the same bail conditions as before to appear for his trial on December 4. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri today said he had agreed to suspend his surprise decision to resign, at the request of President Michel Aoun, pending talks on the political situation. The new decision came hours after the premier landed back in Lebanon for the first time since announcing his resignation in a statement from Saudi Arabia on November 4. "I discussed my resignation with the president of the republic who asked me to wait before submitting it... and allow for more consultations," Hariri told reporters after meeting Aoun. "I agreed to this request." Lebanon has been gripped by the political crisis precipitated by Hariri's resignation, including the question of whether the premier was being detained in Saudi Arabia, where he remained for two weeks after stepping down. Aoun had refused to accept Hariri's resignation while the premier was still abroad, and even accused Riyadh of having "detained" the prime minister. Hariri holds dual Saudi-Lebanese citizenship, and denied he was being held against his will by Riyadh, a close political ally, but accepted a French invitation to visit Paris, leaving the kingdom on November 18. After stops in Egypt and Cyprus yesterday, he landed in Beirut close to midnight, and today appeared at the country's Independence Day celebrations marking 74 years since the end of France's mandate in Lebanon. He appeared relaxed, at times smiling and appearing to joke with those alongside him during the military parade to mark the national holiday. In announcing his resignation, Hariri had said he feared for his life, invoking the 2005 assassination in Beirut of his father, former prime minister Rafik Hariri. He also harshly criticised Saudi Arabia's arch-rival Iran, and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah, saying they had taken over Lebanon and destabilised the region. The resignation of the Sunni leader was seen as raising the temperature in a long-running rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran that has played out across the region. In Lebanon, the political scene is deeply divided between Hariri's Saudi-backed bloc, and that led by the powerful Shiite Hezbollah group, which is backed by Iran. Hariri's decision to suspend his resignation now opens the way for discussions on a possible resolution to the crisis. He had already signalled that he could consider rescinding his resignation altogether if Hezbollah pledged to respect Lebanon's policy of "disassociation" from regional conflicts. Hariri and his allies say the group, with Iranian support, has violated this policy by fighting in neighbouring Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad's government, as well as providing assistance to Huthi rebels battling Saudi Arabia in Yemen. Hezbollah's chief Hassan Nasrallah has said the group still considers Hariri the country's prime minister and suggested it was open to talks, though whether any real compromise could be reached remained unclear. "When he comes, we will see. We're open to all dialogue and discussion," Nasrallah said on Monday. If no deal is reached and Hariri's resignation stands, Aoun has two options -- rename him premier or choose another prominent Sunni figure to lead a new cabinet. Under Lebanon's power-sharing arrangement, the country's top political posts are reserved for different sects, with the presidency set aside for a Maronite Christian, the prime minister's office for a Sunni Muslim, and the parliament speaker for a Shiite Muslim. Hariri's resignation comes less than a year after he took office, as part of a deal with Aoun, whose party belongs to the bloc led by Hezbollah. The agreement ended a two-and-a-half year stalemate that left the post of president empty and put Hariri back in the office of prime minister for a second time. His first term as prime minister ended abruptly. In January 2011, as he was meeting then-US president Barack Obama in Washington, Hezbollah and its allies withdrew their ministers and brought down Hariri's government. Hariri's resignation has been seen as part of a broader pattern of escalating tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia. On the day he resigned, the kingdom said it intercepted a ballistic missile fired at Riyadh airport by Shiite rebels in Yemen. The announcement also coincided with a purge of more than 200 Saudi princes, ministers and businessmen. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Unidentified persons shot at and injured brother of an independent nominee in fray for the local body elections in the Antu Khas area here, the police said today. Krishna Kumar Soni was shot at and injured near Mishran locality here last night, police station in-charge Paan Singh said. He was rushed to the district hospital from where he was referred to Allahabad, he said. A case has been registered against unidentified persons, Singh said. Soni's brother, Sanjay Soni, is in fray for the post of chairman Antu Nagar panchayat. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Punjab Police today arrested the owner of a multi-storey plastic manufacturing factory which caught fire and collapsed on Monday, killing 13 people including six firemen. Police Commissioner R N Dhoke said Inderjit Singh Gola, the factory owner who had gone underground, had been arrested. Divisional Commissioner of Patiala V K Meena initiated a probe into the incident, an official spokesperson said. Meena and other officials visited the site of the incident in Mushtaq Gunj here and took stock of the situation. He also visited the CMC Hospital where two injured persons had been admitted for treatment. Later, Meena chaired a meeting of senior officials of the district administration and police, the spokesperson said. Meena directed various departments, including the municipal corporation and the Punjab Pollution Control Board, to furnish records relating to the licence for usage of chemicals and the no objection certificate granted to the factory. Meanwhile, the rescue operation continued for the third day today. However, no body was recovered. The chance of recovering more bodies was very bleak, officials said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Madras High Court today directed the Tamil Nadu government to revisit the use of the stringent Goondas Act on people who may be facing charges of civil nature and usury. A bench comprising justices Rajiv Shakdher and N Sathishkumar gave the direction while quashing the detention of the son of a city-based financier under the Tamil Nadu Act 14, 1982, known as the Goonda's Act. The court was allowing a petition seeking to set aside the detention of Gagan Bothra, charged for various offences such as cheating and forgery under the Indian Penal Code and also under the TN Prohibition of Charging Exorbitant Interest Act. "The detenue may have been indulging in usury. However, that cannot lead to the conclusion that he is a goonda as defined under TN Act 14 of 1982. The state must revisit these cases and not wantonly and casually use the provisions of the act," the bench said in its order. The matter relates to the detention of the Bothra, son of film financier Mukunchand Bothra, arrested on July 25 last over his financial dealings. Later, on August 26, he was detained under the Goondas Act, challenging this his sister moved the court. The bench also said a perusal of the detaining order would show that intimation (about invocation of the Goondas Act) was not given to the relatives of the detenue. Also, all adverse cases against the detenue relates to civil transactions. The bench also directed the Registrar General of the court to communicate its order to the Superintendent Central Prison, Puzhal, through fax and further directed the Additional Public Prosecutor to place the order before the Director General of Police for circulation to his subordinate officers. It directed the release of the detenue forthwith unless his detention was required in any other case. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A diluted version of the controversial medical bill to regulate private health care was passed by a voice vote in the Karnataka Assembly today after dropping a jail-term clause for doctors. The changes were made after the original bill met with stiff resistance from doctors and owners of private hospitals and nursing homes, who had called the penal provisions for medical negligence "draconian". The government and the striking doctors had reached an amicable settlement that led to the withdrawal of the indefinite strike on November 17. Meeting a major demand of the doctors, the bill removes imprisonment provisions in case of violation of certain sections of the Act. Earlier, the bill had proposed six months to three years jail term and hefty penalty for medical negligence on the part of doctors, protesting which they struck work last week, paralysing medical services in private hospitals and nursing homes. The Karnataka Private Medical Establishments (Amendment) Bill, 2017' which makes amendments to the Karnataka Private Medical Establishments Act, 2007 (Karnataka Act 21 of 2007) was tabled by Health Minister Ramesh Kumar yesterday. It also provides for emergency treatment as per the need without insisting on payment of advance from patient or representative of the patient in specified cases and enhancing certain monetary penalties leviable under certain sections. Replying to the debate,Kumar said along with service rules and making it mandatory to list staff availability, medicine, services and equipment at government hospitals, there is a plan for an independent body as a regulator. "We are planning for a independent body, a regulator to come into force, headed by a Judge. We will bring this during the next (legislature) session," he added. During the debate, most members had raised concerns on quality of health care in government hospitals. According to the statement of objects and reasons of the bill, it was considered necessary to amend the 2007 Act to reconstitute the registration and grievances redressal authority and enhance transparency in display of rates by private medical establishments. The bill also empowers the state government to fix uniform package rates for treatment and procedures under it's health assurance schemes, specify the patients charter and private medical establishment's charter. It provides for levy of monetary penalty in case of non compliance to the patients charter or private medical establishments charter. Kumar said that for primary health care, less than five per cent go to private hospitals. For secondary care, 70 per cent was being managed in government hospitals and the rest 30 per cent go to private hospitals, he said. "We want to bring it to zero in three years," he said. The bill was first tabled in the assembly on June 13 and later sent to the joint select committee after opposition by doctors and medical professionals. The bill also stated that complaints pertaining to negligence,non-adherence to standard protocols for treatment, procedures and prescription audit shall be referred to the Karnataka Medical Council for inquiry. The doctors had called off the strike after meeting Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and an interim order by the Karnataka High Court, directing the agitating doctors to restore forthwith their medical services. Earlier, participating in the debate, Opposition BJP Leader Jagadish Shettar,JDS leader H D Kumaraswamy and several other legislators had expressed reservations about government doctors and hospitals being kept out of the bill purview. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union minister K J Alphons said today he was not responsible for delay of a flight after a purported video of a passenger arguing with him at the Imphal airport went viral. A video yesterday shows a passenger, who had to attend a funeral in Patna, complaining to Alphons about the flight being delayed due to VIP movement. President Ram Nath Kovind was scheduled to arrive at the Manipur capital to inaugurate the Northeast Development Summit and several Union ministers too were participating in it. "Three flights were delayed because of VVIP movememt as the President's flight was scheduled to arrive. Air traffic was affected for nearly two hours," an official at Imphal airport said. "I have to reach Patna. The body is waiting, otherwise the body will decay. I am a doctor, I know that. The body is still at home," a woman can be heard pleading with Alphons, who maintains his calm. According to Alphons, he approached a woman crying at the airport and could be seen in the video losing her cool. "She was crying and I wanted to know what happened. She started saying that she had to go to Patna to attend a relative's funeral which was scheduled in the afternoon. She was distraught because her flight was delayed and she feared the body will decay. "As a representative of Government of India, she wanted me to intervene," Alphons told PTI, amid allegations that he was the cause of the delay of the flight. The Union tourism minister was accompanied by Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu, Aviation Minister Jayant Sinha and senior BJP leader Ram Madhav. "I can understand her anguish but as I told her, the President's flight was landing and as per protocol no other flight can land or take off at that time. "This protocol is in place for the past 70 years and not made by this government. I tried to tell her that her flight will leave as soon as the President's flight lands, but she was really in distress," Alphons said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The two-day pen-down strike called by an organisation of state government employees and workers today affected day-to-day functioning in offices. The strike called by Federation of Mizoram Government Employees and Workers (FMGE and W) demanded implementation of the Centre's seventh pay commission recommendations. The leaders of the organisation claimed that government employees went to their respective offices but did not work. They alleged that the Mizoram government had delayed the implementation of the pay panel recommendations by constituting a pay review committee chaired by state planning board vice chairman H Liansailova. State finance minister Lalsawta said that implementation of the commissions recommendations would result in further draining the state exchequer to the tune of around Rs 800 crore per annum. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic was today sentenced to life in prison for his role in "heinous crimes" committed during Bosnia's 1990s ethnic war. "For having committed these crimes, the chamber sentences Ratko Mladic to life imprisonment," judge Alphons Orie told the Yugoslav war crimes court after finding Mladic guilty on 10 of 11 counts, including genocide for "heinous crimes against humankind". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Zimbabwe's ousted vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa flew home today and met with top government and ruling party officials ahead of his inauguration as president on Friday, an aide said. "He met the ZANU-PF politburo at Manyame airbase... He has already left State House where he was having a de-brief. Inauguration is on Friday," Larry Mavhima told AFP. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Modi government is being run on the strength of raids, the Enforcement Directorate and 'file management', the Congress said today as it accused the Centre of using its agencies to "harass" opposition parties. All India CongressCommittee spokesperson Tom Vadakkan said the recent Income Tax raids against Karnataka minister D K Shivakumar proved the point. "The BJP runs the government on the basis of raids, ED and file management...Because he (Shivakumar) was instrumental in taking the (Gujarat) Congress MLAs there (resort), you (BJP) target him. You (central agencies) are doing a political job," he told PTI here. In a move that had stirred a political controversy, the Income Tax department had in August raided various properties linked to Shivakumar, who hosted 44 Gujarat Congress MLAs at a resort on the city outskirts to thwart "poaching" attempts by the BJP ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls in that state. Ahmed Patel, political secretary to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, was contesting the elections to the Upper House from Gujarat, in which he managed to scrape through. Vadakkan alleged that the CBI had "leaked selective information" while probing the mysterious death of Karnataka Deputy Superintendent of Police M K Ganapathy last year. The CBI had registered a case against Bengaluru DevelopmentMinister K J George in connection with the case. Ganapathy was found dead under mysteriouscircumstances in a hotel room, soon after an interview to alocal channel during which he alleged harassment by then home minister (George) and two senior police officers. A clean chit by the Congress-led Karnataka government's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to the minister was set aside by the Supreme Court, which had ordered a CBI probe in the case on a plea by Ganapathy's family. Recently, media reports claimed that the CBI had found another bullet from the hotel room where the death took place. "The CBI found an extra bullet. From time to time, the central investigative agencyleaks out information to media. They give out documents and say this is what we have found. The investigation is yet to be completed. "Is the CBI (officially) saying that the bullet has been found? Is the spokesperson saying this? No! This is source-based story," Vadakkan said. "Tomorrow, the CBI can claim that a sten gun was found. The bullet can be a plant, may not be by the CBI, but by somebodyelse," he said. Notwithstanding the controversial developments, Vadakkan said the Congress would perform well in the Karnataka Assembly elections due early next year. He said the party was well-placed in the southern state and the recent by-election results reflected that. The All India CongressCommittee spokesperson added that the BJP did not have a leader with a clean image in the state. In an apparent dig at BJP Karnataka chief B S Yeddyurappa, Vadakkan said the party was led by a person accused of many wrongdoings. "People know his reputation. We have not done any perception management. He is involved in so many issues, which the people of Karnataka know," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Promising state-of-the-art facility in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU), the city-based Motherhood Hospitals, a leading network of women and children's hospitals, today said it would launch its fifth facility here early next year. Motherhood Hospitals chief executive officer Vijayarathna V said the group's multiple new hospitals are under execution across the country. "We will be launching the fifth centre in South Bengaluru by the beginning of 2018. The chain of hospitals will foray its presence in cities like Mumbai, Pune and Chennai by end of the financial year," Vijayarathna told reporters here. The company was funded by leading private equity fund TPG Growth in 2016. The need for investing in the NICU was felt in the wake of high neonatal mortality rate in India. It has invested Rs 15 crore for the expansion of NICU. The company has turned its ambulance into ICU onwheels to ferry patients from places as far as Ballari,Raichur, Chitradurga in Karnataka, Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh and regions from neighbouring Tamil Nadu also to its Bengalurufacilities. Vishal Bali, the executive chairman of Asia Healthcare Holdings and senior advisor - TPG Growth, said "Motherhood Hospitals have transformed to provide high-end obstetrics and gynaecology services." "The addition of Neonatology andReproductive Medicine enables each hospital to providecomprehensive clinical services to women and children," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A male leopard was today found dead in a well at a village under the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve (BTR) buffer zone, about 50 kms away from here, a Forest officer said. "The carcass of the leopard was found floating in the well under Patehra village panchayat in the BTR buffer zone," BTR Manpur Range Officer Dinesh Jamre said. He said Forest department had received complaints from residents of Sigudi and Patehra villages about wild animals attacking their cattle, following which forest guards were deployed in the area. "The carcass of the big cat was spotted by one such forest guard," Jamre said. He said pugmarks of the leopard were found at the spot. "We are investigating how the leopard fell into the well," he said. Meanwhile, a Forest department team trapped in a cage a leopard from the jungle near Ghatiya Khurd village of Shajapur district. Shajapur Forest Range Sub Divisional Officer (SDO) said the trapped feline had attacked some cattle in the past. "It was released in the Khivni Forest Sanctuary in Dewas district," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) China today said outgoing Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe is still its "good friend" and respect his choice to resign, lauding the contributions made by the African leader for bilateral ties during his 37-year-old authoritarian rule. "Mugabe has long been committed to friendship between China and Zimbabwe and China-Africa and made important contributions in this regard," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Lu Kang told media briefing here. "So we respect his choice to resign and he is still our good friend," Lu said. Mugabe made historic contribution to the national independence and liberation cause in Zimbabwe and an advocate of pan-Africa movement, he said. Mugabe, 93, resigned yesterday, after years of authoritarian rule following military takeover and public pressure. China last week played down the significance of the visit of General Constantino Chiwenga, commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces to Beijing ahead of his move to take control of power saying that it was part of the normal military exchanges. After Chiwenga took control, Mugabe was put under house arrest. China also denied reports that Zimbabwe Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa visited Beijing before the military take over. Mnangagwa was widely tipped to take over power after Mugabe's resignation. "I can only tell you that his visit is a normal military exchange mutually agreed upon by China and Zimbabwe", Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told media here on November 15. China is the biggest investor in Zimbabwe besides sharing extensive political and military ties during the over 37-year long tenure of Mugabe. Lu also rebuffed the calls by the US and the UK to hold free and fair elections after Mugabe's exit saying that other countries should refrain from interfering in Zimbabwe's domestic affairs. China upholds the principle of non-interference in internal affairs in other countries and we respect the choice of Zimbabwe people, he said. "We also hope that other countries could refrain from interfering in its domestic affairs," he said. About speculations that Mnangagwa could be Zimbabwe's next leader, Lu said, "We respect the choice made by the people. We will not interfere in their domestic affairs. The friendly cooperation between China and Zimbabwe is comprehensive one and it benefits the two sides." Chinese analysts said Mugabe's exit will bring Zimbabwe even closer to China. Mnangagwa, 75, has ties with Beijing as he received military training in China in the 1960's during Zimbabwe's fight for independence from colonial and white-majority rule, Hong Kong based South China Morning Post reported. He also attended the Beijing School of Ideology, run by the ruling Chinese Communist Party, it said. "Mnangagwa had a similar background to Mugabe in that he rose to power after fighting in the country's struggle for independence. Wang Hongyi, an expert at the Institute of West Asian and African Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences was quoted as saying by the Post. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) North Korea has called US President Donald Trump's decision to relist it as a state sponsor of terrorism a "serious provocation" that justifies its development of nuclear weapons. The North's official Korean Central Agency today said that the country has no connection to terrorism and "doesn't care whether or not the United States places the hat of terrorism on our heads." It said the US action shows North Korea should continue to "firmly grab the treasured nuclear sword" to protect itself from American hostility. Experts say the US decision to put North Korea back on its terrorism blacklist will have limited practical effect, but may make a diplomatic solution of the nuclear standoff more difficult. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) North Korea today called US President Donald Trump's decision to relist it as a state sponsor of terrorism a "serious provocation" that justifies its development of nuclear weapons. In the country's first public response to its return to the American blacklist, the official Korean Central Agency said North Korea has no connection to terrorism and does not care "whether the US puts a cap of 'terrorism' on us or not." It said the US action shows North Korea should continue to "keep the treasured nuclear sword in our hands more tightly" to protect itself from American hostility. "By re-listing (North Korea) as a 'state sponsor of terrorism,' the US openly revealed to the whole world its intention to destroy our ideology and system by using all kinds of means and methods," the agency said, attributing the comments to an unidentified spokesman at North Korea's Foreign Ministry. "Our army and people are full of rage and anger toward the heinous gangsters who dared to put the name of our sacred country in this wretched list of 'terrorism' and are hardening their will to settle all accounts with those gangsters at any time in any way," it said. KCNA later published a separate statement attributed to a spokesman of the Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, a North Korean state organisation, which said the move by "old lunatic Trump" has caused the North Korean army and people to explode in "hate and spirit to destroy the enemy." Experts say the US decision to put North Korea back on its terrorism blacklist will have limited practical effect, but may make a diplomatic solution of the standoff over its nuclear weapons program more difficult. A day after placing North Korea back on the list, the Trump administration yesterday imposed new sanctions on a slew of North Korean shipping firms and Chinese trading companies in an effort to increase pressure on North Korea over its nuclear program and deprive it of foreign revenue. North Korea has been accelerating its pursuit of nuclear weapons capable of targeting the United States and its Asian allies. In recent months, the North conducted its most powerful nuclear test yet and tested a pair of intercontinental ballistic missiles that could potentially reach the US mainland if perfected. The country also fired powerful new midrange missiles over Japan and threatened to fire the same weapons toward Guam, a US Pacific territory and military hub. The United States has responded by dispatching strategic assets, including aircraft carriers and long-range bombers, more frequently to the region for patrols or drills. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A special SIT court here which is hearing the 2002 Naroda Gam massacre case will watch the video of a sting operation, carried out by investigative journalist Ashish Khetan and related to the post-Godhra riots. Judge P B Desai today said that on Monday, he will watch, in open court, the CD of 'Operation Kalank', a report on which was published by the Tehelka magazine in its November 7, 2002 issue. Footage from the sting operation was also aired by some channels. The court said it wants to see the video to ascertain which parts of it may be considered as evidence pertaining to the Naroda Gam riot case. The video of the sting operation purportedly shows Babu Bajrangi, a former Bajrang Dal activist and an accused in the Naroda Gam case, stating in gory detail how he and his associates killed Muslim men and women during the riots. Khetan is one of the witnesses in the present case. He has already been examined by the court. Naroda Gam massacre is one of the nine major 2002 communal riot cases which were investigated by the Special Investigation Team appointed by the Supreme Court. Eleven Muslims were killed in Naroda Gam area of Ahmedabad in 2002 during the violence which erupted after the Godhra train burning incident. A total of 82 people are facing trial in the case, including Maya Kodnani, once a minister in the Narendra Modi-led state government. She has been sentenced to 28 years in jail in the Naroda Patiya riot case. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) Mumbai Bench, on Wednesday began the hearing on petitions filed by two belonging to Cyrus Mistry's family, demanding action against Tata Sons for "oppression" of minority shareholders and "mismanagement" of Tata Group . The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on September 21 had asked Cyrus Investments and Sterling Investments to approach the Mumbai NCLT afresh. Mistry's counsel Aryama Sundaram began arguments on Wednesday. The hearing will continue on Thursday. The NCLAT had, in September, upheld Mistry firms' plea seeking a waiver of the 10 per cent minimum shareholding eligibility criterion to be able to move the tribunal against Tata Sons. The Mistry family owns 18.4 per cent stake in Tata Sons. But the holding is under 3 per cent if the preferential shares are excluded (a point the Tatas stressed), thus not meeting the criterion of having at least 10 per cent ownership in a company for filing a case of oppression of minority shareholders under the Act. Mistry is locked in a legal battle with the Tatas since his sacking as chairman of Tata Sons on October 24, 2016, and removal as a director on February 6. The appellate tribunal had said although the Mistry companies did not meet the minimum shareholding norm, under exceptional circumstances this statutory requirement can be waived. It directed the NCLT, which had dismissed Mistry firms' petition against Tata Sons on the ground of not meeting the minimum shareholding criterion, to decide the case in three months. Nepal today geared up for the first round of provincial and parliamentary polls seen as the last step in the country's transition to a federal democracy, with all the parties making all-out efforts to convince voters by holding rallies and door-to-door campaigning. Nepal is holding provincial and parliamentary elections in two phases on November 26 and December 7. The elections are being seen as the final step in Nepal's transition to a federal democracy following a decade-long civil war till 2006 that claimed more than 16,000 lives. General Secretary of the ruling Nepali Congress, Shashank Koirala has said that people should vote for his party to safeguard democracy. He said that the Nepali Congress will emerge victorious in the elections despite an alliance forged among the CPN-UML, CPN-Maoist Centre and other fringe leftist groups. Speaking at an election rally in Solukhumbu district, he said that the Left alliance was born out of selfish interest, and it would collapse soon after the elections. "The leftist electoral alliance would endanger democracy in the country," he claimed. Meanwhile, CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli has said the upcoming elections are vital for the economic prosperity and political stability in the country and the alliance between his party and CPN (Maoist Center) is essential. Speaking at another programme in Nawalparasi district, Oli alleged that the Nepali Congress leadership could not bail the country out of the current political crisis. With stiff competition expected from the UML-Maoist alliance in the polls, the Nepali Congress and Madhes-based parties are under pressure to forge electoral alliances across the Madhes districts neighbouring India even at the eleventh hour, according to political observers. Party insiders said there was mounting pressure from local level leaders and cadres in various districts to work further on the electoral alliance. Earlier, the NC and the two Madhes-based parties had been engaged in negotiations, but could not forge an electoral alliance. Meanwhile, police arrested five cadres of Netra Bikram Chand led Nepal Communist Party (NCP) from Syangja district in western Nepal and three from Ilam district in eastern Nepal today. The police said that the NCP cadres were arrested for carrying out anti-poll activities. Around half a dozen small bombs were exploded in various parts of the country over the weekend targeting candidates, in which at least a dozen people were injured. The role of the NCP is suspected in some of these incidents. Election campaign will end on Friday mid-night, 48 hours ahead of the polls. The polls are taking place under a new Constitution passed by lawmakers in September 2015 as part of a peace process that began with the end of a decade-long civil war. The polls are a major step toward implementing the new Constitution. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today stressed on better upkeep of roads in the state to ensure trouble-free journey for commuters. Chairing a meeting of the state Road Construction Department here, the CM issued instructions for bringing state highways and other roads under the output and performance-based road maintenance contract (OPRMC). The meeting which was attended, among others, by Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi and minister for road construction department Nand Kishore Yadav, an official statement said. Briefing the Chief Minister on the occasion, Principal Secretary, Road Construction department, Amrit Lal Meena said that the centrally-sponsored "Bharatmala" scheme proposes to build 35,000 kms of roads across the country of which 1432 kms would fall in Bihar. He said this would involve construction of roads on important routes like Aurangabad-Darbhanga, Sasaram-Patna, Chhapra-Patna and Patna-Hajipur-Muzaffarpur. A video presentation was also made before the Chief Minister of the "Ram Manohar Lohia Path Chakra", an integrated movement circuit aimed at decongesting traffic in and around the state capital. The Chief Minister told the officials to keep the alignment of the proposed Patna Metro in mind while going ahead with the work on "Ram Manohar Lohia Path Chakra". Other officials who were present at today's meeting included Principal Secretary, Water Resources, Arun Kumar Singh, Principal Secretary, Power, Pratyay Amrit and Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Chanchal Kumar. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At ease with the constant changes made to his batting position, Indian wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha today said the number six slot in the Indian batting line-up is a flexible one depending on the conditions. In the first Test against Sri Lanka, Saha, who has a 40 plus average in first-class and three Test hundreds, came in at No.7 and 8 in both innings. Asked if the balance is hampered, if he has to bat at those positions, Saha replied: "It's not that I always bat at No 7 (or No 8) as I have batted at No 6 also. We (along with Ashwin and Jadeja) are being rotated as batting position depends on the strength of the opposition bowlers." While the opening slot has been shared between Murali Vijay, KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara has been a steady one down with Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane making the next two slots their own. However, post VVS Laxman's departure, the No 6 position, which requires someone to stem the rot in case of a collapse or face the second new ball with tail-enders, has not seen a permanent occupant. Saha himself has played at No 6 but in the Indian second innings at Kolkata, he came as low as No 8, not exactly common among the wicketkeeper-batsmen these days. "Favourable conditions determine the slots whether it is Nos 6, 7 or 8. It can be any position as per the team management's call," Saha made it clear that he has no fetish for any preferable slot. Like KL Rahul had said after the conclusion of the Test, Saha also felt that a few overs more could have ensured an Indian win. India had Sri Lanka on the mat at 76 for 7, chasing an improbable 231 before bad light ensured a draw. "The team morale was fantastic even though we couldn't bat as per expectation in the first innings. But we made a good comeback in the second innings. Shikhar, Rahul and Virat batted well and when you get them seven down for less than 100, it automatically boosts your morale. "May be with a bit more time at our disposal, we could have won," he lamented. The Bengal stumper felt that had a few decisions early on in the Lankan second innings gone their way, it could have been a different story. "We tried hard but initially if we could have got the first few decisions quickly, it could have been different. But time was also a constraint as we first wanted to be safe and set a score that was unattainable and then attack. That was our gameplan so that bowlers would go all out." With India going with five specialist bowlers, the glovesman knows that the onus of scoring runs in the middle and lower order rests on him, Jadeja and Ashwin. "You can only win Test matches by taking 20 wickets so preference is always given to bowlers. Now (if five bowlers are playing), you need contribution from everyone -- myself, Ashwin and Jadeja along with lower order." Once again asked whether the South Africa tour is there at the back of his and the Indian team's mind, he stressed on staying in present. "I have always believed in match by match preparation. Yes, SA series is at the back of our minds but when you win a Test match, you take that confidence into the next game and that's what we are trying to do," he concluded. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Veteran lawyer Habibullah Basha, one of the finest jurists of the Madras Bar, passed away here today after a prolonged illness. A philanthropist and founder-director of the Apollo Hospitals, 84-year old Basha died at his house, the Madras Bar Association said. Basha is survived by wife Shyamala Basha, his college-mate, a son and two daughters. During his more than five-decade long career, Basha had held various law officers post such as the central government standing counsel and Tamil Nadu Advocate General and public prosecutor. A junior of legendary lawyer Govind Swaminathan, Basha turned down a high court judgeship offered to him when he was aged just 37. In 1986, he declined a offer for direct appointment as a Supreme Court Judge. Born into an affluent family on March 8, 1933, Basha after schooling at convents here did his graduation and post-graduation in Islamic studies. Later he obtained Law degree from the Madras Law College and enrolled himself as an advocate in 1957. Basha become senior central government standing counsel ten years later and was appointed Tamil Nadu State Public Prosecutor in 1974 and went on to become the Advocate General in 1991. He had represented DMK President M Karunanidhi in a case registered against him for burning a copy of the Constitution. The veteran lawyer had appeared for late chief minister Jayalalithaa when she was involved in a bitter factional wrangle to get possession of the AIADMK headquarters here in late 1980s. Basha had moved the Madras High Court against obstructions put up in connection with the infamous wedding of Jayalalitha's then foster son V N Sudhagaran in 1995 and argued as party in person. Three of his juniors became judges of the Madras High Court. Among them is present judge Justice N Kirubakaran. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Uzbek immigrant accused of killing eight people in New York in the name of the Islamic State group has been slapped with murder charges, US prosecutors said today. A grand jury returned a 22-count indictment against Sayfullo Saipov after prosecutors initially announced only two: provision of material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization, and violence and destruction of motor vehicles. The 29-year-old from New Jersey now faces an additional eight counts of murder in aid of racketeering and 12 counts of attempted murder in aid of racketeering. His initial court appearance in connection with the indictment is scheduled for November 28. He is expected to enter a plea at that time. If convicted on the murder and vehicle destruction charges, he would face a maximum penalty of life in prison or death, prosecutors said. President Donald Trump has called for him to be executed, but a capital punishment case would be extremely rare in New York, which has abolished the death penalty at the state level. The October 31 attack was the worst in the US financial capital since the September 11, 2001 Al-Qaeda hijackings that brought down the Twin Towers. Saipov allegedly drove a rented pickup truck down a mile-long stretch of bike path in Manhattan, where children and their parents were preparing to celebrate Halloween. Of the eight people killed, five were friends from Argentina celebrating 30 years since their high school graduation. Twelve other people were wounded. The attack ended when police shot Saipov in the abdomen. He is now in federal custody. Investigators say he confessed to acting in the name of IS and told them he "felt good" about the killings. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Odisha government today decided to launch a new scheme worth Rs 635 crore to provide irrigation facility to about 55,000 hectare of agricultural land across the state. The scheme, "Nabakrushna Choudhury Seccha Unnayan Yojana", has been named after former chief minister and freedom fighter Nabakrushna Choudhury. Law Minister Pratap Jena said this after a proposal in this regard was approved at the cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today. Stating that the scheme would be implemented with an outlay of Rs 635 crore over a period of three years, Jena said it would be funded from the state's own resources. Under the scheme, 46,296 hectare command area of 14 major and medium irrigations and 284 minor irrigation projects will be revived, Jena said. The cabinet also decided to reduce the rate of VAT to 5 per cent on use of natural gas in industrial and domestic sectors while it will be 15 per cent when used as fuel in vehicles, said Finance Minister S B Behera. He said the state would receive revenue of around Rs 9 crore per annum from these commodities. The cabinet also approved amendment to the Wildlife (protection) (Odisha) Rules, 1974 for enhancement of compensation payment for human killing and death of sheep, goat and lamb by wild animals. From now, family members of someone killed in wild animal would attack get Rs 4 lakh as compensation instead of Rs 3 lakh given earlier, Additional Chief Secretary in charge of forest and environment S C Mohapatra said. The cabinet also approved a proposal to take Rs 1071 crore loan from the World Bank for development of infrastructure in 140 colleges and 11 universities. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Odisha government has decided to seek a Geographical Indication (GI) tag for 'Jagannath Rasagola' and not 'Odishara Rasagola' as was decided earlier after it lost a bitter battle with West Bengal over the origins of the popular sweet. Odisha's MSME minister Prafulla Samal said the decision to apply for GI tag on 'Jagannath Rasagola' - a variety of the syrupy sweetmeat offered to Lord Jagannath at Puri temple - was taken after consulting legal and industry experts. "If the state files for GI tag on 'Odishara Rasagola' against its Bengali counterpart, then it will not be able to get any benefit or advantage," an official at the Director of Industries said. In a letter to MSME Additional Chief Secretary L N Gupta, Director of Industries S R Pradhan said chances of successfully registering 'Odishara Rasagola' are not very bright. "Unless it can be established Rasagola from Odisha has certain unique qualities, characteristics and reputation associated with state of Odisha, the chances of successfully registering 'Odishara Rasagola' are not very bright," the letter said. The letter also pointed out that since different varieties of the syrupy dessert were being prepared across the state, justifying its uniqueness can be difficult, it said. The GI under the World Trade Organization is a sign that identifies a product as originating from a particular place. The industries department has suggested the MSME department to apply for a GI tag for 'Jagannath Rasagola' going by its unique identity and the age-old custom of offering the sweetmeat to Lord Jagannath at Puri temple. Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) or the Servitors' Association may apply for the tag on behalf of the state, Pradhan said. Meanwhile, Odisha's Law Minister Pratap Jena said the MSME department has been entrusted with the responsibility of getting the GI tag for Lord Jagannath's rasagola. Jena said the MSME officials have already visited Puri to collect evidence for the purpose. Puri collector Aravind Agarwal said the district administration would provide all support to MSME department in its endeavour. "Rasagola is being offered to Lord Jagannath for centuries. The district administration will provide all support to MSME department to secure GI tag for 'Jagannath Rasagola'," he added. West Bengal obtained the GI tag for Banglar Rosogolla' on November 12. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Over 52 per cent voting was witnessed in the first phase of the Uttar Pradesh civic polls today with voters, including in Ayodhya, Gorakhpur and Amethi, seen queueing up at the polling stations to exercise their franchise. Polling in the first of the three phases was held in 24 districts of the state in which mayoral elections were also held for five municipal corporations: Agra, Kanpur, Ayodhya, Gorakhpur and Meerut. According to the official website of the UP State Election Commission, the overall polling percentage in the first phase stood at 52.85 per cent. In the 2012 civic elections, the polling percentage in these districts was 46.1 per cent. In Ayodhya, from where Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath started his election campaign, voters exercised their rights to elect their first mayor. The Adityanath government after assuming office had constituted municipal corporations of Ayodhya and Vrindavan- Mathura. Polling in Faizabad district, which includes the newly constituted Ayodhya Municipal Corporation, was 54.08 per cent. This is almost 8 per cent higher than the 2012 mark. Gorakhpur recorded a polling of 39.23 percent, up 3 per cent compared to the 2012 polls. The highest polling during the first phase was recorded in Hamirpur, which witnessed 69.59 per cent turn out, followed by Amethi which saw 68.44 per cent polling. Agra recorded 43.11 per cent polling, while in Kanpur (Nagar), it was 44.92 per cent. Gorakhpur witnessed the lowest voters' turnout in the first phase. The districts which went to polls in the first of the three phase urban local bodies' polls are: Shamli(66.83 per cent), Meerut(54.09 per cent), Hapur(57.72 per cent), Bijnor (63.35 per cent), Badaun(60.89 per cent), Hathras(63.72 per cent), Kasganj(62.26 per cent), Agra(43.11 per cent), Kanpur Nagar (44.92 per cent), Jalaun(61.85 per cent), Hamirpur(69.59 per cent), Chitrakoot (62.19 per cent), Kaushambi(65 per cent), Pratapgarh(61.51 per cent), Unnao(62.11 per cent), Hardoi (64.14 per cent), Amethi(68.44 per cent), Faizabad (54.08 per cent), Gonda(60.39 per cent), Basti(55.57 per cent), Gorakhpur(39.23 per cent), Azamgarh(59.44 per cent), Ghazipur (57.97 per cent) and Sonbhadra(57.71 per cent). The voters' turnout in the mayoral election in Gorakhpur was 35.62 per cent, while 49.98 per cent voters turned up in Faizabad to elect the first mayor of the Ayodhya Municipal Corporation. Polling for the other two phases will be held on November 26 and November 29, while counting of votes for all the three phases would be done on December 1. Briefing reporters here, State Election Commissioner SK Agarwal said, "Polling was absolutely peaceful. Webcasting, usage of CCTV cameras and intense monitoring was done to ensure peaceful poll. Re-polling has been ordered in a polling booth in Badaun, while a case has been registered against an independent candidate for violation of model code of conduct in Shamli. Two EVMs were replaced each in Meerut and Kanpur." He also claimed that due to revision of voter list, fake voters were removed. The ongoing urban local bodies' elections involving more than 3.3 crore voters in 75 districts of UP is being seen as a test for the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government. The stakes are equally high for other parties including the Congress, SP and the BSP, which are hoping for a comeback after their drubbing in assembly elections early this year. The BSP is contesting the local bodies polls on the party symbol after 17 years. Among the early voters was Adityanath, who exercised his franchise by casting his ballot in Gorakhpur. The chief minister cast his vote at the polling centre in Kanya Primary Pathshala in ward number 68 in old Gorakhpur this morning. "The BJP will register a massive victory in these elections...The BJP candidates will win on all the seats," he said before leaving for Varanasi and Allahabad for campaigning for the remaining phases of the elections. Union minister Shiv Pratap Shukla cast his vote at the St. Andrew's College polling booth and exhorted people to use their right to vote in a big way. Shukla said that his party wanted to give more rights to Mayors of the municipal corporations for which it will also bring an amendment in the existing law. Meanwhile, in Unnao the names of sitting MP, Sakshi Maharaj, and former MP, Annu Tandon, were found missing from the voters list. Maharaj who found that his name was not present in the voters list at the Gadankheda polling booth termed it part of a conspiracy. "The DM is new but the ADM who is also looking after the election process is posted since the past government...it is not a mere lapse that the name of the MP is missing," Maharaj later told reporters. He demanded action against those guilty. Former Congress MP Tandon also hinted at some conspiracy and lodged a complaint with the district administration. Unnao district magistrate NG Ravi while terming both the cases as serious said that inquiry will be conducted and action will be taken against those responsible. Mahraj alleged that names of some others of his Gadankheda Sakshi Dham ashram were also missing. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said today that film 'Padmavati' was "hurting sentiments" and would not be screened in the poll bound state till issues were resolved even as a parliamentary panel sought a report from the I&B ministry and CBFC on the matter. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said that a call on allowing the Sanjay Leela Bhansali directed period drama in his state would be taken after the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) decides on it. The row over the Bollywood flick, meanwhile, continued to simmer with the Shri Rajput Karni Sena demanding that its reels be "consigned to the flames of Jauhar". BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha also waded in questioning what he called the silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani and leading Bollywood stars. In Gujarat, Chief Minister Rupani joined counterparts from BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan in expressing reservations about the film. The Government of Gujarat will not allow Bollywood movie 'Padmavati' to be released in the state as it is hurting sentiments of Rajputs, he announced. "We can't allow our history to be distorted. We believe in freedom of speech and expression but any foul play with our great culture is not tolerated," the Chief Minister said. He referred to the upcoming state polls and said the government had taken the decision in the interest of law and order as it did not want any row. "There are issues with the film, our sympathy is with those who are protesting against the film and that is the reason we will not allow its release in the state till those issues are resolved," Rupani said in Ahmedabad. In Chandigarh, Haryana Chief Minister Khattar, however, chose to wait for the censor board's decision in the matter. "The government will take a call upon the screening of Padmavati after the decision by CBFC," Khattar said adding that nobody would be allowed to hurt sentiments. Khattar distanced himself from the Haryana BJP chief media coordinator Surajpal Singh Amu's remarks about offering a bounty of Rs ten crore to anyone beheading Bhansali or lead actress Deepika Padukone. "The BJP has also issued a show cause notice to Amu," he said while also pointing to an FIR against the state leader. The controversy over the medieval drama also reached the portals of Parliament as a house panel sought a report on the film from the I&B ministry and the censor board. The matter was taken up for consideration by the Lok Sabha Committee on Petitions after two BJP MPs from Rajasthan, CP Joshi and Om Birla, filed a plea regarding objectionable content in the movie. Joshi told PTI that the movie should be shown to historians and the descendants of the erstwhile royal families, who trace their lineage to Padmavati, before release. "The panel has referred the matter to the I&B Ministry and the censor board. It has asked them to submit a report before November 30," BJP leader Bhagat Singh Koshyari, who heads the panel, said. Meanwhile, BJP MP and actor Shatrughan Sinha, who has often taken a stand contrary to that of his party, questioned the "silence" of the prime minister and the I&B minister. "How come our I&B Minister or our most popular Hon'ble PM (according to PEW) are maintaining stoic silence. High time!" he said on Twitter. The Patna Sahib MP did not spare Bollywood top guns either. "As 'Padmavati' becomes a burning controversy, people are asking why the legendary Amitabh Bachchan, most versatile Aamir Khan and most popular Shah Rukh Khan have no comments," Sinha tweeted. Meanwhile, the Karni Sena, which is leading the protests against the film, continued its offensive. "Its reel should be consigned to the flames of 'Jauhar'," Lokendra Singh Kalvi, chief of the outfit, told reporters in New Delhi. He lashed at Padukone for her remarks that no force could stop the film's release. "Who is Deepika Padukone? Is she the president or the prime minister? This film will not be released at any cost," he said. Asked on what basis was he claiming that the film distorted history, Kalvi said it was his "assumption" based on an alleged statement of Ranveer Singh, who plays Alauddin Khilji in the movie. Director Bhansali recently clarified that rumours about a romantic dream sequence between Rani Padmavati and Khilji's characters were not true as he was careful in depicting "Rajput honour and dignity". Kalvi also alleged to have received "life threats" from unknown numbers, one of which "was traced back to Karachi". Many groups have been protesting against the movie alleging distorting of history. Historians are, however, divided on whether Rani Padmavati even existed. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Judicial Review Board of Pakistan's Punjab province on Wednesday ordered the release of Mumbai attack mastermind and banned Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed, who has been under house arrest since January. Rejecting the government's plea to extend his detention for another three months, the board ordered Saeed's release. "The government is ordered to release JuD chief if he is not wanted in any other case," the board said. Last month, the board had allowed a 30-day extension to the detention of Saeed which will expire next week. The board's order paves the way for Saeed's release. On January 31, Saeed and his four aides - Abdullah Ubaid, Malik Zafar Iqbal, Abdul Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Hussain - were detained by the Punjab government for 90 days under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 and the Fourth Schedule of Anti- Terrorism Act 1997. Saeed's four aides were set free in the last week of October. The US has offered a $10 million bounty for Saeed. The JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) which is responsible for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai attack. (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.) JuD chief Hafiz Saeed will soon walk free after a Pakistani judicial body today ordered his release from house arrest, in a setback to India's efforts to bring to justice the perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack. The banned Jamaat-ud-Dawah head, who carries a bounty of USD 10 million announced by the US for his role in terror activities, has been under detention since January this year. Rejecting the government's plea to extend his detention for another three months, the Judicial Review Board of Punjab province comprising judges of the Lahore High Court ordered Saeed's release on the expiry of his 30-day house arrest which is going to expire in a couple of days. "The government is ordered to release JuD chief Hafiz Saeed if he is not wanted in any other case," said the board which was headed by Justice Abdul Sami Khan. Saeed may walk out free in a couple of days if the government does not detain him in any other case. India has repeatedly asked Pakistan to re-investigate the Mumbai terror attack case and also demanded trial of Saeed and Lashkar-e-Taiba operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi in the light of evidence it had provided to Islamabad. Before the board's decision, a federal finance ministry official appeared before it and submitted "some important evidence" against Saeed to justify his detention. The board, however, could not be convinced by his arguments. Earlier, the home department of the Punjab government told the board that Pakistan might face sanctions from the international community if Saeed is released. Earlier in the day, the department produced Saeed before the board and sought a three-month extension in his detention. Strict security arrangements were taken at the LHC premises during Saeed's appearance before the board. A large number of JuD workers also gathered on the courts premises. After the decision, Saeed's supporters chanted slogans in favour of their leader. Last month, the board had allowed 30-day extension to the detention of Saeed which will expire in a couple of days. Meanwhile, a source in the Punjab government told PTI that Saeed may not walk out free as the government is mulling to detain him in another case. "The government cannot afford to set Saeed free in the current circumstance. It cannot face international backlash in the event of releasing the JuD chief," the official source told PTI. On January 31, Saeed and his four aides - Abdullah Ubaid, Malik Zafar Iqbal, Abdul Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Hussain - were detained by the Punjab government for 90 days under preventative detention under Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 and the Fourth Schedule of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997. However the last two extensions were made on the 'public safety law'. The board, however, refused to give further extension to the detention of Saeed's four aides. They were later set free in the last week of October. Under the law, the government can detain a person for up to three months under different charges but for extension to that detention it needs approval from a judicial review board. Separately, the LHC today held hearing on Saeeds petition challenging his detention and adjourned the proceedings for December 6. The JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) which is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attack. Saeed was put under house arrest after Mumbai terror attacks in November 2008 but he was freed by court in 2009. Ten LeT militants killed 166 people and wounded dozens in Mumbai in November, 2008. Nine of the attackers were killed by police while lone survivor Ajmal Kasab was caught. Kasab was executed after a court found him guilty and handed down deathsentence. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Pakistan Army Major was killed in a shootout with militants today during a raid on a terrorist hideout in the restive Dera Ismail Khan district near the Afghanistan border, a senior military official said. Director General Inter-Services Public Relations Major General Asif Ghafoor said that 28-year-old Major Ishaq was killed in Kulachi of Dera Ismail Khan district. "We have a sacred duty at hand of cleansing & defending our motherland; We shall do it," Ghafoor tweeted, confirming the death of the Army officer. He, however, did not give any details about casualties suffered by militants in the operations. Ghafoor said that army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and other senior officers, including Corps Commander Peshawar Lt Gen Nazir Butt attended the slain officer's funeral. Dera Ismail Khan is a gateway to the North and South Waziristan tribal regions. These were once a base for local and foreign militants. Major Ishaq is the fourth army officer to be killed during operations against terrorists by security forces in the last three months, Geo reported. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Palestinian factions said today they agreed on the need to hold elections by the end of 2018 and praised the unity deal aimed at ending a long-running dispute between Fatah and Hamas. The call for elections was made in a joint statement at the end of two days of closed-door talks attended by representatives of 13 leading political parties. The factions called on the electoral commission to prepare for presidential and legislative elections to be held by the end of next year at the latest. They asked Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to set a date for the polls after consulting with all sides. The factions also praised the unity deal struck between the two largest parties -- Hamas and Fatah -- in October. The Egyptian-sponsored agreement is aimed at ending the 10-year rift between them, and calls on Hamas to cede power in the Gaza Strip to Fatah by December 1. The statement said the reconciliation deal between the Islamist movement Hamas and Abbas's Fatah party was a "realistic start to end divisions". It underscored the "importance of removing all obstacles in the path of the government's efforts to immediately assume its responsibilities towards our people". There have been no Palestinian parliamentary elections since Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007 from Fatah, which dominates the Palestinian Authority government in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Palestinian and international leaders hope implementation of the unity deal could help ease the hardships of Gaza's two million residents, who suffer from severe poverty and unemployment. The agreement faces significant stumbling blocks, in particular the future of Hamas's vast armed wing, which has fought three wars with Israel since 2008. Abbas has repeatedly said he would only accept one military authority in the Palestinian territories, but Hamas officials have refused to disarm. Israel -- which has maintained a crippling decade-long blockade of Gaza -- has also said it would not accept any Palestinian government that includes Hamas unless the Islamist group puts down its weapons. The Fatah-dominated Palestinian government seated in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah has also refused to remove crippling sanctions on Gaza that include reduced electricity. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The controversy over period drama Padmavati today reached the portals of Parliament as a house panel sought a report on the film from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and the censor board. The matter was taken up for consideration by the Lok Sabha Committee on Petitions after two BJP MPs, CP Joshi and Om Birla, from Rajasthan filed a plea before it regarding objectionable content in the movie. When contacted Joshi, who is also a member of the panel, told PTI that the movie should be shown to historians and the descendants of the erstwhile royal families, who trace their lineage to Padmavati, before its release. "The panel has referred the matter to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and the censor board. It has also asked them to submit a report before November 30," senior BJP leader Bhagat Singh Koshyari, who heads the panel, said. The Sanjay Leela Bhansali film starring Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh is based on Rajput queen, Padmavati. Amid rumours that there was a romantic dream sequence between Padmavati and Alauddin Khilji's characters, various Rajput and other groups have been protesting against the film, alleging it "distorts" history and hurts the sentiments of the people. Historians are, however, divided on whether Queen Padmavati even existed. Chief ministers of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh--all BJP ruled states--and Punjab, ruled by the Congress, have already opposed the release of the movie. Following this severe opposition, the makers of the movie deferred its release date. The film was scheduled to release on December 1, this year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Punjab cabinet today approved amendments to various acts to provide relief to the debt-ridden farmers by promoting agricultural diversification and rural infrastructural development in the state. The amendments relate to Section 5(1) of the 'Punjab Rural Development Act, 1987', increasing the rural development fee rate from 2 to 3 per cent, and to Sections 23 (1), 26 and 28 of the 'Punjab Agricultural Produce Markets Act, 1961', to provide relief to the debt stressed farmers, an official spokesperson said. The necessary bills related to matter would be introduced in the forthcoming Punjab Assembly session, he said after the cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. The amendments would help to secure both the produce of agricultural commodities and producers, and to utilise the rural development fund for providing relief to the farmers burdened by debts, the spokesperson said. The market fee so collected is spent on better marketing of agricultural produce and development of market infrastructure and its maintenance, he said. The spokesperson said the fee is being used for new projects, including maize dryers, grading of agriculture produce, ripening chambers and cold storage, besides repair of link roads. The amendments to the 'Punjab Agricultural Produce Markets Act, 1961', will not only help alleviate the problems of the debt stressed farmers but would also help producers get a fair price for their produce, he said. It will, in addition, help in modernising marketing mechanism to keep pace with the advanced trade practices being witnessed globally, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Haryana government today announced to provide a monthly pension of Rs 10,000 to the 'Matribhasha Satyagrahis' who took part in the 'Hindi Aandolan' of 1957, an official said. It was approved by the state Cabinet, which met here today, under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, an official spokesman said. While stating this, the spokesman said in 1957, a number of people of Hindi-speaking parts of erstwhile Punjab launched a crusade for the honour, promotion and implementation of their mother tongue. "This movement helped a lot in creation of Haryana as a separate state. During this 'Satyagrah', Sumer Singh, a resident of Naya Bans village, Rohtak district even lost his life," he said. The spokesman said the 'Matribhasha Satyagrahis' were identified by constituting committees in all the districts of the state under the chairmanship of concerned deputy commissioners. The committees got the record of the 'Matribhasha Satyagrahis' verified from the concerned superintendents of police by verifying their record from the jails. The government has already identified 194 'Matribhasha Satyagrahis'. He said a Satyagrahi, getting a pension or honorarium of any kind from any other state government, would also be eligible. However, if an otherwise eligible 'Satyagrahi' was getting a pension from any other state government for the same purpose of an amount less than Rs 10,000 per month, the entitlement of pension under this scheme would be reduced by that amount. He said that in case of the death of any of the 'Satyagrahi', the monthly pension would continue to be given to his or her surviving spouse. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has cancelled all future peace talks with communist rebels waging one of Asia's longest insurgencies, in a blow to efforts to end the half century-long conflict. In a speech yesterday night, Duterte criticised the insurgents over deadly attacks against soldiers and police while threatening to categorise them as a "terrorist" group. "I have decided to cut talks with the NPAs," he said, referring to the communists' 3,800-member armed wing, the New People's Army (NPA). The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) has been waging an insurgency since 1968 to overthrow a capitalist system that has created one of Asia's biggest rich-poor divides. Peace talks to end the conflict, which the military says has claimed 30,000 lives, have been conducted on and off for three decades. They were revived last year after Duterte -- a self- declared socialist -- was elected president, with Norway and the Netherlands hosting the negotiations. "You tell the guys there in the Netherlands: I am no longer available for any official talk. Let's just go to war," Duterte added Tuesday, referring to rebel leaders living in European exile. Duterte's government had already shelved a round of negotiations in May and informal talks in July this year, citing deadly guerrilla attacks on security forces. His peace adviser Jesus Dureza on Wednesday confirmed Duterte's latest decision in a statement but declined to say if further meetings had been scheduled. The president said a rebel ambush in the southern Philippines this month had killed a police officer and four- month-old baby. "If you behave like that and we will go to war -- even the civilians are being dragged into this -- then we should just stop talking." Last month Duterte also accused the communists of plotting with his other foes to destabilise his rule. He added Tuesday he would issue a proclamation declaring the rebels a "terrorist" organisation and order the arrest of more than a dozen rebel leaders he had freed last year. Dureza said Wednesday he had informed Norway of Duterte's decision. "This is an unfortunate development in our work for peace. Never before have we all reached this far in our negotiations with them," his statement said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pope Francis has added in a private meeting with Myanmar's military chief during his upcoming trip to the region in an indication that the Vatican views the crackdown on Rohingya Muslims as a military operation distinct from the will of the civilian government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. The Vatican also confirmed today that Francis would meet with Rohingya Muslims during an interreligious meeting in neighboring Dhaka, Bangladesh, on December 1. Myanmar's Catholic leaders have urged Francis against using the term "Rohingya," calling it "political" and "contested." Vatican spokesman Greg Burke declined to say if Francis would use "Rohingya" during the visit, which begins Monday with Francis' arrival in Yangon and ends December 2 in Dhaka. Myanmar's government and most of the Buddhist majority say the members of the Muslim minority are "Bengalis" who migrated illegally from Bangladesh and don't acknowledge the Rohingya as a local ethnic group even though they have lived in Myanmar, also known as Burma, for generations. But Francis has used the term "Rohingya" in the past, and Burke used it in a briefing outlining the visit today and said: "It's not a prohibited word." Francis' visit was in the works before the start of the latest violence, which began with a series of attacks August 25 by Rohingya insurgents against security positions in Rakhine state. Myanmar security forces responded with a scorched-earth campaign against Rohingya villages that the U.N., U.S. and human rights groups have criticized as textbook "ethnic cleansing." More than 620,000 Rohingya have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh, where they are living in squalid refugee camps. Burke declined to enter into specifics about the Vatican's view of the violence. Francis has in the past strongly condemned the "persecution of our Rohingya brothers," denounced their suffering and called for them to receive "full rights." Burke said Myanmar's Catholic cardinal, Charles Bo, had proposed during a weekend audience with Francis that he meet with Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar's powerful military chief who is in charge of operations in Rakhine. Previously, Francis was only expected to meet with Suu Kyi and deliver a speech to Myanmar authorities, civil society and diplomats, at which military leaders would be expected to attend. Francis agreed to Bo's suggestion and the meeting with the general was added in on the morning of Nov. 30, Burke said. Bo also proposed an interreligious meeting with members of Myanmar's different faith communities, and that too was added in the morning of Francis' first full day in Myanmar, November 28. Bo, the top-ranked churchman in Myanmar, has defended Suu Kyi against what he termed "unfair" criticism leveled against her internationally and says she represents Myanmar's only hope for moving toward democracy. He has said she has no constitutional right to speak out against the military and was maneuvering in the best possible way to negotiate improvements not only for Rohingya but Myanmar's other minorities, Catholics included. Catholics represent about 1.27 per cent of the population. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Kerala police chief has ordered a probe into the incident in which a Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) of the Indian Navy crashed in Kochi. Kerala DGP Loknath Behara has directed the Kochi range IGP to conduct a detailed inquiry into the incident that occurred yesterday. The inquiry has to be conducted in detail, taking all necessary assistance from the Armed forces and Intelligence agencies and covering the aspects of VVIP safety as well as public safety, a police press release said. The Israeli-made pilot less aircraft was crashed during take off on a routine sortie just outside the Naval base at Kochi. There were no casualties, a defence spokesman said. The crash was due to technical reasons, he said, adding there was no damage to the runway. A defence release also said that a Board of Inquiry has been constituted to investigate the cause of the accident. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Perturbed at the sight of fire- fighters using wet sacks and scarves on their heads in a rescue operation, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today ordered the immediate release of funds for new uniforms which, he said, would improve the functioning of the fire department. He also asked Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu to assess if the personnel could be covered under fire insurance schemes. The chief ministers instructions came at a state cabinet meeting, where he expressed concern over the state of affairs in the department, which lost six men fighting a fire that broke out in a building which collapsed in Ludhiana on Monday. Singh, who had visited the site of the collapse yesterday, said he was perturbed to see firemen with wet sacks and scarves on their heads during the rescue operations there. These men risk their lives for the sake of the people, he pointed out, adding that it was the duty of the government to ensure that they did not lack basic essentials to carry out their work. The rescue mission personnel, it is believed, tied the wet sacks and scarves to protect their heads and necks. The chief minister said he was also informed about a severe staff and material shortage faced by the department, which was trying to make do with an inadequate number of men even in emergency situations such as the Ludhiana building collapse. Singh also asked Sidhu to expedite the work on upgrading the department for efficient functioning. Sidhu claimed the previous SAD-BJP government had failed to do anything for the department and spent only Rs 13 crore on its equipment and upgradation from a budget of Rs 90 crore. The chief minister said his government was taking all possible steps to improve the infrastructure of the department. A Directorate of Fire Services was established earlier this year and 69 fire brigades were purchased and sent to the municipal corporations and municipal councils, he said. Another 27 fire brigades would be added to the fleet by December, he said. A new Fire Safety Act was under formulation and would also be ready by December, he added. The Directorate of Fire Services and the Fire Safety Act will check unauthorised buildings and those lacking fire safety measures, the chief minister said, adding that adequate equipment for the fire stations would be made available under the Fire Directorate, which will be headed by an IPS officer. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Vladimir Putin today called for "concessions and compromise" from all parties in Syria's six-year conflict as he kicked off a key summit with the leaders of Turkey and Iran aimed at reviving stuttering peace negotiations. The summit with Iran's President Hassan Rouhani and Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Black Sea resort of Sochi came two days after the Russian leader hosted surprise talks with the war-torn country's President Bashar al-Assad there. "It is obvious that the reform process will not be simple, it will require compromise and concessions from all parties, including obviously the Syrian government," Putin said. "I count on the fact that Russia, Iran and Turkey will put in their best efforts to make this work as productive as possible," he added. Putin added that there was a "real chance" to end Syria's war which monitors say has killed more than 330,000 people as he said Russia, Turkey and Iran had managed to prevent the collapse of the war-torn country. Turkey's Erdogan for his part said the three countries had to intensify efforts to try to settle the crisis. "We need to make significant progress on the political solution," he said in translated remarks. "I believe that we will make critical decisions here." Iran's Rouhani said the three countries' strategy was "based on partnership and not competition, on friendship and not on animosity" "By cooperating, our countries destroyed the decaying body of terror" in Syria, he said. Russia claims to have practically ended the military conflict through its intervention, but the various sides in Syria are far from a political agreement. Ahead of today's summit in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Putin discussed Syria with his US counterpart Donald Trump and Saudi Arabia's King Salman, among other leaders. In a lengthy phone call late Tuesday, Putin and Trump stressed the need to ensure "the stability of a unified Syria," the White House said. Syria is divided between forces loyal to Kremlin-allied strongman Assad, the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and several jihadist groups and rebel units. Multiple rounds of talks hosted by the UN have failed to bring an end to the conflict. Other initiatives including those spearheaded by Moscow have also failed to bear much fruit. Encouraged by military progress of the Russian and Syrian forces on the ground, Putin is hoping to breathe new life in the stuttering negotiations. Regime forces have gained the upper hand on the battlefield with Russia's help, including recent victories against the Islamic State group and a fresh drive against rebels near Damascus. Putin said in comments released yesterday that "thanks to the Russian army, Syria has been saved as a state." Moscow, Ankara and Tehran are cooperating with increasing intensity on ending the civil war, even though Turkey backs the rebels, at odds with Russia and Iran. The Syrian president's fate remains a stumbling block, preventing global players from reaching a peace settlement. During their phone call on Tuesday, Putin told Trump that "the Syrian leader confirmed his commitment to the political process, (and) conducting constitutional reform and presidential and parliamentary elections." Assad said he wanted to advance negotiations. "We don't want to look back and we are ready for dialogue with all those who want to come up with a political settlement," Assad said in translated comments. Today's summit comes ahead of parallel UN-led talks in Geneva set for November 28. Meanwhile Syrian opposition figures gathered in Saudi Arabia today in a bid to form an overhauled delegation to peace talks that analysts expect will be more willing to compromise on key demands. Those talks will aim to bridge divisions between the factions opposed to Assad. Russia, Iran and Turkey have backed negotiations in the Kazakh capital Astana that have brought together the representatives of the opposition and the regime. Those talks led to the creation of four so-called "de- escalation zones" that produced a drop in violence, but fighting and bombardments continued. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Legal experts today said the quota promised by the Congress to Hardik Patel for his Patidar community in poll-bound Gujarat may not pass judicial muster due to the 50 per cent cap even as the BJP dubbed the deal as a "big joke" and "mutual deception". As quota politics came to the fore ahead of next month's Assembly polls, the legal experts also said the promised reservation by the Congress if it comes to power can survive if the Supreme Court was to reconsider its 1992 landmark judgement fixing the ceiling. The Supreme Court in its verdict in the Mandal Commission case had ruled that the total reservation for SC/ST and other backward classes or special categories should not exceed 50 per cent. Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said the party will take steps on the promised quota within the "Constitutional daayra (framework)." Hardik Patel, who is the leader of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), on his part said the 50 per cent reservation cap set by the apex court, was just a "suggestion". He claimed the reservation formula given by the Congress for his community will be over and above the 50 per cent quota for the SC, ST and OBCs. Hardik said if the Congress comes to power, it will conduct a proper survey for providing reservation. The party will bring a Bill in the state Assembly and give reservation, he said. "That 1992 judgement was not just a suggestion, it was a law laid down by the SC. We cannot cross that limit. Even if the survey about the backwardness of any community is conducted, the eligible community has to be included in the existing 50 per cent quota. There is no scope of additional quota," said senior Gujarat High Court lawyer Girish Patel. In the opinion of another advocate Krishnakant Vakharia, reservation can go beyond 50 per cent only if the Parliament amends the Constitution, or someone files an appeal in the Supreme Court against the 1992 judgement. "We all abide by the interpretation of the Constitution done by the SC. In the the historical 1992 judgement, the SC interpreted the Constitution and said that 50 per cent cap is necessary to protect the principle of Right to Equality," Vakharia said, adding, "If that limit is not there, that principle becomes meaningless." Vakharia said there are two possible ways to increase the cap. "Either the Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha amends the Constitution with two-third majority under Article 368, or someone files a petition urging the SC to reverse the 1992 judgement by claiming that social fabric has changed a lot since the judgement was delivered 25 years ago," he added. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the "Congress-Hardik club" is one of mutual deception. "The law of the land is very clear and that is laid down by the Supreme Court and only last week in the Rajasthan case it has been re-affirmed that the 50 per cent cap cannot be increased." "So let them contnue to deceive each other and deceive the public by saying that they will devise a methodology to breach the gap," he told reporters in Delhi. "Legally and constitutionally that is not possible as the law stands today." Hitting out at Hardik Patel for declaring support to Congress, Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said the formula of reservation above the cap set by Supreme Court was something "offered by fools and also accepted by fools." "Though it is very much clear that reservation quota cannot go beyond 50 per cent in any situation, Hardik is trying to misguide the Patidar community with the formula offered by the Congress. In my opinion, this formula of reservation is a big joke," Patel told reporters in Ahmedabad. Nitin Patel claimed that Congress leaders like Kapil Sibal have made a fool out of Hardik by offering such formula. Reacting to Jaitley's "mutual deception" charge, Singhvi accused the BJP of fooling people everyday. "If you want to see who has fooled whom, you go and see it in Rajasthan. The BJP is a ruling party there. It fools people everyday. Sometimes they talk about Jat reservation, sometimes Gujjar reservation. They are in power, they can fulfil the promise, yet they don't," he told reporters in Delhi. "We are not in power, when we will come in power there, we will implement it staying completely within Constitutional framework. We have that capabilities to do that." Senior advocate Aman Lekhi said the quota promise was "pure power politics" where the primary aim is to grab power and the social welfare purpose behind reservation gets lost. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Rajasthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot today accused the Vasundhara Raje-led BJP government of "deceiving" youths by releasing "misleading" figures of jobs being provided to them in its four years of rule. He demanded a 'White Paper' (a government report giving information on an issue) on investment and employment in the state from the government. The claims of providing employment by various departments, including labour and panchayati raj, were "hollow", he said. The BJP in its manifesto had claimed to provide employment to 15 lakh youths in five years, but has been able to provide employment to only 89,000 in its four years of rule, Pilot said in a statement. The government also had claimed that it would provide employment to lakhs of youths in mining sector while signing 46,000 crore MoUs during 'Resurgent Rajasthan', he said, adding that only 17 MoUs were signed and investment was just 9.56 per cent. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Rajput organisation today launched a signature campaign against Sanjay Leela Bhansali directed Padmavati in the city vowing to stop its release without cuts. Similar signature campaigns took pace in Howrah as well and seven sister organisations of the Akhil Bharatiya Kendriya Samaj are taking part in the campaign. "We want the distortions of history in the film to be corrected and the romantic dream sequence involving Padmavati be deleted," a spokesman of the Akhil Bharatiya Khatriya Samaj told reporters during the signature campaign. On Sunday, Viacom18 Motion Pictures, the studio behind "Padmavati", had announced that it was voluntarily deferring the release of the film, earlier scheduled on December 1, out of "respect and regard for the law of the land" and the Central Board of Film Certification. The Akhil Bharatiya Khatriya Samaj also lambasted Bhansali for the film's trailers alleging that the visuals hurt sentiments of Rajput community members and Hindus. "We are planning to submit a deputation to West Bengal governor tomorrow so that he can communicate the feelings of the people of our community in the city to the Centre and the West Bengal government," he said. Earlier on Sunday, a group, claiming to be members of Karni Sena, staged protests before a theatre in the city for displaying posters of the film prompting its owners to inform the police. Bhansali recently clarified that rumours about the romantic dream sequence are not true as he was careful in depicting the "Rajput honour and dignity". The film starred Deepika Padukone as Rani Padmavati, Shahid Kapoor as Maharawal Ratan Singh and Ranveer Singh as Sultan Alauddin Khilji. Historians are divided on whether Rani Padmavati even existed. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A rare bank cheque, filled out and signed by former US President Abraham Lincoln in 1864, is expected to sell for USD 12,000 at an auction in the US. Lincoln had opened an account at Riggs & co shortly before Civil War hostilities began. The Civil War-dated Riggs & Co bank cheque is dated November 18, 1864 and payable to Self for USD 50. It is signed as "A Lincoln". Ten days before filling out the cheque, Lincoln was reelected to the White House by a huge electoral majority, taking 221 votes to George B McClellan's 21 votes. Lincoln's presidential cheques against Riggs & Co - the premier Washington DC bank of the time - are far rarer than his pre-presidential Springfield cheques, and are worth substantially more signed as president, according to the RR Auction in the US. The cheque is one of numerous items currently up for auction which will end on December 6. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Rashtrapati Bhavan will now be open for public viewing for four days a week -- Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday -- from tomorrow, according to an official statement today. Registration charge for the visit is Rs 50 per head, it said. Children below the age of eight years will be exempt from these charges. People can visit on these four days anytime between 9 am and 4 pm, except on gazetted holidays, the statement said. "Indian citizens are required to carry any valid photo ID cards while foreign citizens are required to carry their original passport at the time of visit," it said. Entry and exit for visitors will be through gate number 2 (Rajpath); gate number 37 (Hukmi Mai Marg) and gate number 38 (Church Road) of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Visits can be booked on-line at the website: http://rashtrapatisachivalaya.gov.in/rbtour. At present, visit to the Rashtrapati Bhavan, comprising the resident of President Ram Nath Kovind, is divided into three circuits. People can plan visit to any of these circuits on select days of the week. While circuit one is open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, circuit 2 is open on all days except Monday. The circuit 3 opens from August to March on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The sparring over a deleted meme on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'chaiwala' past continued as BJP MP Paresh Rawal took a swipe at the Congress saying the "chai-wala is any day better than your bar-wala", only to get a cutting retort from the Congress today. Rawal deleted his Twitter comment last night, saying it was "in a bad taste" and apologised for it. On the backfoot over the meme put out by its youth wing's online magazine 'Yuva Desh' on Twitter yesterday, the Congress was quick to hit out at Rawal. The party questioned the actor-turned-politician's integrity and demanded Modi to apologise and act against him. The meme by the Congress' youth wing that unleashed a political firestorm contained a photograph of Modi, US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Theresa May engaged in a conversation. Modi is seen as telling the two leaders about the opposition's memes targeting him. He mispronounces the word as "mainmain". Trump corrects him, saying the word is pronounced as "meem", while May tells him to go and sell tea. The meme was deleted later with the Congress apologising for it. Reacting on the issue, Rawal tweeted late night yesterday, "Our chai-wala is any day better than your Bar- Wala!" He deleted it and said, "deleted the tweet as it's in bad taste n I apologise for hurting feelings." Latching onto his tweet, Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala accused the MP from poll-bound Gujarat of resorting to cheapness. Though it was not clear at whom Rawal's comment was directed at, Surjewala wondered "if it was the BJP's definition of respecting women". "Modiji should apologise and take action. Whether Bhakt channels will show guts?" he asked, apparently asking a section of the media whether it will air the . Asked about Rawal's comment, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal alleged that almost all the leaders in the BJP use such language. "The prime minister (when he was the chief minister of Gujarat) would also speak such things. Now their Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister (Yogi Adityanath) talks such things. The BJP workers too talk like that. We don't do that," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Euro-VI grade and diesel will be supplied to the national capital by three PSUs from their refineries at Mathura, Bina and Bhatinda from April to help it fight the alarming levels of air pollution. "We will be able to meet the requirement of from April 1," Chairman Sanjiv Singh said here on Wednesday. "We will have to tweak the fuel production slate to produce BS-VI (equivalent to fuel meeting Euro-VI emission norm), he added. The nation's biggest firm, will source the fuel from its Mathura refinery, while Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) will do so from its joint venture refinery at Bhatinda. Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) supply the fuel from its Bina refinery. "Meeting Delhi's requirement of BS-VI grade and diesel will not be a problem," Singh said. He added however that meeting the requirement of the National Capital Region (NCR) will be a challenge as it consumes about 10 per cent of the nation's fuel. had in 2015 decided to leapfrog to Euro-VI emission norm compliant and diesel from April 2020, from the Euro-IV grade at present. While the deadline for the rest of the country stands, for Delhi, which is choking on thick toxic smog, the deadline for introduction of BS-VI - equivalent to Euro-VI grade, was last week preponed to April 2018. Euro-VI grade fuel contains 10 parts per million (ppm) of sulphur as against 50 ppm in Euro-IV fuels. consumed 906,000 tonne petrol and 1.26 million tonne diesel in 2016-17, Singh said. firms have been asked to examine the possibility of the introduction of BS-VI auto fuels in the entire NCR, which includes adjoining cities of Ghaziabad, Noida, Gurgaon and Faridabad, from April 1, 2019. In all likelihood, according to some industry players, supplies in the NCR may not begin by 2019. The BS-IV emission norm was introduced across the country from April 1, 2017. Oil refineries will need to invest Rs 28,000 crore in upgrading petrol and diesel quality to meet cleaner fuel specifications by 2020. According to IOC, for petrol engines, one of the most critical specification is Research Octane No. (RON), which has improved from 88 in BS-II to 91. It is at par with regular 91 octane gasoline (petrol) required for Euro VI emission norms. Sulphur specification for petrol and diesel will be reduced 50 times for a level of 500 ppm for BS-II fuel to 10 ppm in BS-VI. Previously, the fuels meeting EuroIV or Bharat Stage (BS)IV specifications were to be supplied throughout the country by April 2017 and BSV or EuroV grade fuel by April 1, 2020. But now the government plans to switch over directly from BSIV to BSVI auto fuels. Oil refineries had previously upgraded technology and invested over Rs 55,000 crore for production and supply of BSIII/IV fuels. (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.) Ultra-clean Euro-VI grade petrol and diesel, sourced from refineries in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab, will be supplied in the national capital from next April in a bid to combat alarming levels of air pollution. "There is no scope for any doubt or confusion. BS-VI petrol and diesel (equivalent of fuel meeting Euro-VI emission norm) will be supplied in Delhi from April 1. We have done all preliminary work on sourcing of supplies etc," Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan told reporters here. To meet Delhi's consumption of over 9 lakh tonnes of petrol and 12.6 lakh tonnes of diesel, Mathura refinery in Uttar Pradesh, Bina in Madhya Pradesh and Bhatinda in Punjab will start making Euro-VI grade fuel by mid-January so that supplies to customers start from April 1. "We will be able to meet requirement of Delhi from April 1," IOC Chairman Sanjiv Singh said. "Refineries are very much capable of producing BS-VI grade fuel and we just have to tweak the fuel production slate." Also, storages will have to be separated for BS-VI fuel from the present quality BS-IV fuel. India had in 2015 decided to leapfrog to Euro-VI emission norm compliant petrol and diesel from April 2020, from the Euro-IV grade at present. The deadline for the rest of the country stands. However, for Delhi, which is choking on thick toxic smog, the deadline for introduction of BS-VI - equivalent to Euro-VI grade, was last week preponed to April 2018. Euro-VI grade fuel contains 10 parts per million (ppm) of sulphur as against 50 ppm in Euro-IV fuels. Oil firms have been asked to examine the possibility of introduction of BS-VI auto fuels in the entire NCR, which includes adjoining cities of Ghaziabad, Noida, Gurgaon and Faridabad, from April 1, 2019. "Meeting Delhi's requirement of BS-VI grade petrol and diesel will not be a problem. But the meeting the requirement of National Capital Region (NCR) will be a challenge as it consumes about 10 per cent of the nation's fuel," Singh said. IOC, the nation's biggest oil firm, will source the BS-VI fuel to meet Delhi's requirement from its Mathura refinery, while Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) will do so from its joint venture refinery at Bhatinda. Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) supply the fuel from its Bina refinery. The current BS-IV emission norm was introduced across the country from April 1, 2017. Pradhan said: "We are committed to supplying BS-VI grade fuel all over the country from 2020." Oil refineries will need to invest Rs 28,000 crore in upgrading petrol and diesel quality to meet cleaner fuel specifications by 2020. According to IOC, for petrol engines, one of the most critical specification is Research Octane No. (RON), which has improved from 88 in BS-II to 91. It is at par with regular 91 octane gasoline (petrol) required for Euro VI emission norms. Sulphur specification for petrol and diesel will be reduced 50 times for a level of 500 ppm for BS-II fuel to 10 ppm in BS-VI. Previously, the fuels meeting EuroIV or Bharat Stage (BS)IV specifications were to be supplied throughout the country by April 2017 and BSV or EuroV grade fuel by April 1, 2020. But now the government plans to switch over directly from BSIV to BSVI auto fuels. Oil refineries had previously upgraded technology and invested over Rs 55,000 crore for production and supply of BSIII/IV fuels. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) After vetoing the renewal of a UN-led probe into chemical attacks in Syria, Russia today said it was open to establishing a new panel to investigate the use of toxic gases in the six-year war. Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told reporters that the "JIM is dead," referring to the Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) that shut down on Friday after two years of work to identify the perpetrators of chemical weapons attacks in Syria. "We are ready to talk about establishing, creating a new mechanism that would replace the JIM and do the work in a truly professional, objective and unbiased manner," Nebenzia said following a closed-door Security Council meeting. Russia last week used its veto power twice to block the renewal of the JIM, which last month concluded that the Syrian air force dropped sarin on the opposition-held village of Khan Sheikhun, killing scores of people. The April 4 attack triggered global outrage as images of dying children were shown worldwide, prompting the United States to launch missile strikes on a Syrian air base days later. Russia has rejected the findings, saying the investigation was flawed because the experts did not travel to Khan Sheikhun and relied on witnesses that it says were linked to the opposition of President Bashar al-Assad. Nebenzia said the "JIM has discredited itself completely. It cannot continue in the present form." The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is set to present several other reports from its fact- finding missions in Syria which are looking into the use of chemical weapons. A recent OPCW report has concluded that sarin was used in another incident on March 30 in the village of Latamneh and is currently before the council. "Even if we don't have a JIM, we require something whose job it is to look at those reports from the OPCW and to determine which of the parties in Syria is responsible for each use of chemical weapons," said British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft this week. "This is a crucial building block towards accountability," he said. The United States has accused Russia of shutting down the JIM with its veto to protect its Syrian ally. US Ambassador Nikki Haley said on Friday after the Russian veto that "Russia will not agree to any mechanism that might shine a spotlight on the use of chemical weapons by its ally, the Syrian regime. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The leaders of Russia, Turkey and Iran met today to discuss ways to advance a political settlement in Syria as the Islamic State group is nearing its defeat, while disparate Syrian opposition groups met in Saudi Arabia in a bid to form a united front for Syrian peace talks in Geneva. "Militants in Syria have received a decisive blow, and there is a real chance to put an end to the civil war that has raged for many years," Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the start of talks with Turkish and Iranian counterparts in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi. Putin noted that political settlement will require concessions from all sides, including Syrian President Bashar Assad's government. Assad made a surprise trip to Russia late Monday for talks with Putin, which the Kremlin said were intended to lay the groundwork for the trilateral meeting Wednesday in Sochi. Speaking after the three-way talks, Putin said that the Syrian leader pledged to conduct constitutional reforms and hold new elections under U.N. supervision. In their joint statement after the talks, Putin, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan emphasized the need for all parties in the Syrian conflict to release all prisoners and hostages, hand over bodies and search for those missing to help create conditions for lasting cease-fire and the launch of political talks. "We have reached a consensus on helping the transition to an inclusive, free, fair and transparent political process that will be carried out under the leadership and ownership of the Syrian people," Erdogan said. Even though Russia and Iran have backed Assad's government since the start of the Syrian conflict in March 2011, while Turkey has supported his foes, the three countries have teamed up to help mediate a peace settlement. They have sponsored several rounds of talks between the Syrian government and the opposition in Astana, Kazakhstan, and also have brokered a truce between Syria's government and the rebels in four areas, helping reduce hostilities. Meanwhile, the U.N. envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura spoke at the opening of a three-day gathering of the Syrian opposition in Riyadh, where various opposition groups are expected to come up with a unified delegation and a vision for the November 28 Geneva talks. De Mistura said he planned to have two rounds of talks in Geneva in December. He is set to travel to Moscow later this week. "It is our common interest that today, you elect the best and most inclusive team among yourselves," de Mistura said. "A strong, unified team is a creative partner in Geneva and we need that." The Riyadh meeting, however, has already been marred with disagreements. The notoriously fragmented opposition is divided by visions of a future role for the incumbent Syrian President Bashar Assad, the length of a transitional period as well as the constitution that will see the country move toward elections. Around 30 various opposition delegations are attending the meeting. The conflict in Syria, now in its seventh-year, has all but been frozen amid a series of cease-fires. A political solution has long been elusive. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said in opening remarks that the opposition meeting comes amid international consensus to reach a resolution. "There is no resolution to the crisis without Syrian consensus that achieves the demands of the Syrian people and ends their suffering," al-Jubeir said, adding that a resolution must be based on U.N. resolutions. Russia, which has welcomed the Saudi efforts to unify the opposition, will also be hosting a meeting in Sochi that's expected to bring the opposition and Syrian government together in early December. Russia, Turkey and Iran have pledged to help the success of that meeting. Putin, whose military intervention in the war saved Assad's government from imminent defeat, called President Donald Trump, Saudi King Salman, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el- Sissi on Tuesday to brief them on his talks with Assad and coordinate the planned peace efforts. Putin's broad outreach highlighted a key role Russia has come to play in the Syrian conflict and reflected Moscow's desire to engage all key players. Some of the opposition delegations in Riyadh are backed by Gulf countries, which had sided with the anti-Assad rebellion, while others have been backed by Russia. Another opposition group is backed by Egypt, which has also kept contacts with the Syrian government. The Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV said some members of the Russia-backed delegation withdrew from the meeting. A member of the delegation, Qadri Jamil, said they withdrew to object other delegations putting conditions on the talks, including limiting a future role for Assad. The Russia-backed opposition is promoting political reform under Assad's rule. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Russian parliament's upper house today backed a law that would require international media outlets to register as "foreign agents", following US pressure on the Kremlin-backed RT television channel. The legislation, which parliament's lower house, the State Duma, unanimously backed in a fast-tracked vote last week, would allow Moscow to target foreign media outlets in a similar way it has gone for NGOs that receive international funding. Many NGOs have closed in response to the intense scrutiny. Under the new legislation, US and other foreign media would have to present themselves as such on all paperwork and submit to intensive scrutiny of staffing and financing. Senators voted through the law in a morning session, the state TASS agency reported. The legislation will come into effect when it is signed by President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin's council for human rights had recommended the Senate reject the bill, saying it was vaguely worded and difficult to reasonably enforce. "Any foreign media could be labelled a foreign agent quite arbitrarily by the justice ministry of the Russian Federation," the council said in a statement on Monday. Russia's justice ministry said last week it had already contacted the US-funded Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty to inform them they might have to start labelling themselves as "foreign agents". RT television, which is funded by the Kremlin to give a Russian point of view on international affairs, confirmed this month it had registered as a foreign agent in the United States, meeting a deadline from the US Department of Justice. Washington considers RT a propaganda arm of the Kremlin and told it to register its American operation under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which is aimed at lobbyists and lawyers representing foreign political interests. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and BJP today urged the Punjab governor to "immediately remove" AAP legislator Sukhpal Singh Khaira from the post of leader of opposition in Punjab assembly as he has been summoned by a Fazilka court in an alleged drug case. The demand was put forward by a joint delegation of SAD-BJP to Governor V P Singh Badnore here. After submitting a memorandum to the governor, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal said that Khaira's continuance as leader of opposition in the assembly after being summoned by the Fazilka court in a 2015 drug case will "sully the August chair". "Khaira had been summoned as an accused in a drugs case with anti-national antecedents due to seizure of Pakistani weapons and SIMs by a Fazilka court," he said. Sukhbir said that the delegation urged the governor to act expeditiously in the matter as this was an "extraordinary case in which the leader of opposition had been made an accused after submission of overwhelming evidence against him". He alleged that it "appears the Congress government was getting ready to play a friendly game with Khaira". The SAD leader said despite the court order, the government has not filed a chargesheet in the case. The delegation, including senior SAD leaders S S Dhindsa and B S Bhundar, besides Som Parkash from the BJP also urged the governor to direct the Congress government to immediately implement the Rs 90,000 crore loan waiver as promised by it. The delegation told the governor that farm suicides were on the rise and farmer accounts had been declared as NPA (non performing assets) making them ineligible to take future loans, Sukhbir said. The delegation also alleged that the Congress government had deliberately not hiked the State Assured Price (SAP) of sugarcane "because its ministers were sugar barons, which was a clear case of conflict of interest". The delegation requested the governor to direct the government to hike the price to at least Rs 350 per quintal, saying even Haryana was paying Rs 330 per quintal against Rs 300 per quintal SAP in Punjab, he said. It also urged the governor to direct the government to take action against sand mining mafia allegedly being run by Congress legislators in Punjab, Sukhbir said. The delegation also requested to ensure 60:40 ratio of officers between Punjab and Haryana in UT Chandigarh administration besides enforcing Punjabi as the official language of the UT, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Mumbai attack mastermind and banned Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed is a terrorist leader designated by both the United Nations and the United States, the Trump administration said today, hours after a Pakistani court ordered his release from detention. The banned Jamaat-ud-Dawah head, who carries a bounty of USD 10 million announced by the US for his role in terror activities, has been under detention since January this year. "The US is aware of media reports that Pakistan (court) ordered release of Lashkar-e-Taiba leader Hafiz Saeed from house arrest," a State Department spokesperson told PTI when asked about the decision of the Judicial Review Board of Punjab province which refused to extend Saeed's detention. As such, Saeed is all set to be released from house arrest after the expiry of the detention order tomorrow. Responding to a question, the State Department was quick to express its displeasure over the potential release of Saeed from house arrest. In May 2008, the United States Department of the Treasury designated Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under Executive Order 13224, the spokesperson said. "Saeed was also individually designated by the United Nations under UNSCR 1267 (UN Security Council Resolution) in December 2008 following the November 2008 Mumbai attack," the official said. LeT and several of its front organisations, leaders, and operatives remain under both State Department and Treasury Department sanctions, the State Department official noted. "The US reiterates its stance that LeT is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organisation responsible for the death of hundreds of innocent civilians in terrorist attacks, including a number of American citizens," the spokesperson told PTI. The JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) which is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attack. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Mumbai terror attacks mastermind and JuD chief Hafiz Saeed's release order by a Pakistani judicial body shows how Pakistan is "hoodwinking" the international community on the issue of terrorism, government sources said today. It is also reflective of Islamabad's "duplicity" in tackling terrorism, they said and asked Pakistan to "walk the talk" on its assurances to the international community over dismantling terror infrastructure and not allowing its soil to be used for terror acts. The sharp reaction came within hours of the Judicial Review Board of Punjab province comprising judges of the Lahore High Court ordering Saeed's release on the expiry of his 30-day house arrest which is going to expire in a couple of days. Saeed's release may also coincide with the anniversary of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks in which at least 166 people were killed. "The release order only shows that Pakistan provides free space to terrorists to indulge in acts against other countries. And in case of Saeed, a designated terrorist, it also shows how Pakistan is hoodwinking the international community on the issue of terrorism," a source said. Pakistan keeps giving assurances to the international community that it is making all efforts to tackle terrorism but it never implement its assurances in reality and this (Saeed) is one example, another source asserted. The banned Jamaat-ud-Dawah head, who carries a bounty of USD 10 million announced by the US for his role in terror activities, has been under detention since January. "The government is ordered to release JuD chief Hafiz Saeed if he is not wanted in any other case," said the Pakistani board which was headed by Justice Abdul Sami Khan. Saeed may walk out free in a couple of days if the government does not detain him in any other case. India has repeatedly asked Pakistan to re-investigate the Mumbai terror attacks case and also demanded trial of Saeed and Lashkar-e-Taiba operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi in the light of evidence it had provided to Islamabad. The JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) which is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attacks. Saeed was put under house arrest after Mumbai terror attacks in November 2008 but he was freed by court in 2009. Ten LeT militants killed 166 people and wounded hundreds in Mumbai in November, 2008. Nine of the attackers were killed by police while lone survivor Ajmal Kasab was caught. Kasab was executed after a court found him guilty and handed down deathsentence. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Japanese firm Sansan today announced its foray into the Indian market with 'Eight', a business card management solution and said it expects to onboard one million users over the next six months. The 'Eight' app - available for Android and iOS phones - allows users to scan and store contact details from business cards. It also offers networking features between Eight users. "In August, we raised funding of USD 38 million, which is primarily for international expansion. We see huge potential in the Indian market. We hope to get 1 million registered users in the next six months," Sansan Chief Executive Officer Chika Terada told PTI. The company had raised USD 38 million with participation from new investor Future Creation Fund (backed by Toyota Motor Corp and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp) as well as DCM Ventures and Salesforce.com. Apart from Eight (consumer solution), Sansan offers a CRM-like solution to enterprises in Japan. Asked about the company's monetisation plans, Terada said: "Eight has been in Japan from 2012 and it is now that we are starting to monetise. The focus with regard to the Indian market right now is to build a userbase". He added that for Asian professionals, the business card is a vital tool for networking and progression. "More than 10 billion business cards are exchanged a year, and with Eight, we plan to not only streamline this process, but also add more value to it so that every connection counts for an individual," he said. In Japan, Eight already has two million users, 5,000 daily downloads and digitises around 3 lakh business cards every day. Besides, Sansan plans to launch a business card scan partner programme in India. "We will partner with co-working spaces, chain shops etc where Eight users can bring their large pile of exchanged business cards and get them digitised," Terada said. While the company did not disclose its investment plans for India, he said the Sansan will launch a campaign '#TogetherMade' to showcase how successes, even those 'self- made', are a result of chance encounters and contacts. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Tri-Nation Unity & Heritage Motorcycle Expedition of the Assam Rifles concluded today after covering Bangladesh, Myanmar and all the North Eastern region. The rally which commenced on Sardar Patel's birth day on October 30 with 33 riders of the Assam Rifles, had traveled almost 2700 km in 23 days. Assam Riffles Director General Lt Gen Shokin Chauhan expressed satisfaction on successful completion of the Tri-Nation Expedition and congratulated the team members on their strength, determination and courage. He said the expedition would remain in the hearts of the people of NE for long and foster good relations amongst the border guarding forces of India, Myanmar and Bangladesh. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court today directed 13 directors, including five promoters of embattled Jaiprakash Associate Limited (JAL) not to alienate their personal properties and asked the firm to deposit Rs 150 crore and Rs 125 crore by December 14 and December 31 respectively. The bench accepted a demand draft of Rs 275 crore by the real estate firm today. A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud further restrained the directors from alienating the properties of their immediate family members also and cautioned that any violation of its directive would hold them liable for criminal prosecution. Meanwhile, the bench-appointed lawyer Pawan Shree Agrawal as amicus curiae and asked him to set up within a week, a web portal, which would contain all details including grievances of the hassled homebuyers. Senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Ranjit Kumar, who appeared on behalf of the directors including independent and promoter ones, said they have filed affidavits in pursuance of earlier direction asking them to give details of their personal properties. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the real estate company, said adequate time should be given to the firm for arranging money or otherwise it may go the Sahara way. The bench has now posted the plea of homebuyers for further hearing on January 10 and directed all the directors to appear again before it on that date. Homebuyers including one Chitra Sharma had moved the apex court saying that around 32,000 people had booked their flats and are now paying installments. The top court had on September 4 stayed insolvency proceedings against the real estate firm at National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). Flat buyers, under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code of 2016, do not fall in the category of secured creditors like banks and hence they can get back their money only if something is left after repaying the secured and operational creditors, Sharma, in her plea, said. Hundreds of home buyers have been left in the lurch after the NCLT, on August 10, admitted the IDBI Bank's plea to initiate insolvency proceedings against the debt-ridden realty company for defaulting on a Rs 526 crore loan, the plea said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A second federal judge today ruled against President Donald Trump's ban on transgender military personnel, further undermining his order by saying Pentagon-funded sex reassignment surgeries can continue to go ahead. Trump in July sent out three tweets decreeing that transgender troops could not serve "in any capacity," citing "tremendous" medical costs and disruption. The tweets, later followed by a formal White House memorandum, set off a roar of protest -- with several service members and rights groups quick to sue. Trump's predecessor Barack Obama took the historic decision to allow openly transgender troops to serve in the military, a move that was due to go into full effect in July this year. Today, US District Judge Marvin Garbis said the "lack of any justification for the abrupt policy change," coupled with the "discriminatory impact" on troops in question "cannot possibly constitute a legitimate governmental interest." The ruling follows a similar move on October 30 by US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who ordered the government to "revert to the status quo" that was previously in effect. The most recent ruling came in a case filed by Brock Stone and other transgender personnel. Stone, who is 34 and has served 11 years in the Navy, has been undergoing hormone therapy as a medically necessary part of his transition, court documents state. Trump stressed to Defence Secretary Jim Mattis that the Pentagon should no longer cover the costs of medical treatment associated with the sex reassignment surgery of those troops already serving. He gave the Pentagon until March 23, 2018 to craft a new policy on transgender service members. Garbis's ruling prevents the government from denying funding for sex reassignment surgeries. The ruling features screen grabs of Trump's tweets and states these "did not emerge from a policy review, nor did the Presidential Memorandum identify any policymaking process or evidence demonstrating that the revocation of transgender rights was necessary for any legitimate national interest. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Copra office Alappuzha, copra office Kozhikode and copra edible Mumbai firmed up at the spices market here today following rising demand from stockists and retailers. Meanwhile, copra Rajapur Mumbai slipped owing to sluggish demand from stockists and retailers. Rest of the other spices ruled steady in the absence of necessary buying activities. Copra edible Mumbai climbed by Rs 500 per quintal to Rs 15,500 from Tuesday's close Rs 15,000. Copra office Alappuzha rose by Rs 300 per quintal to Rs 14,000 as against Rs 13,700 yesterday and copra office kozhikode gained by Rs 200 per quintal to Rs 13,800 from Rs 13,600. However, copra rajapur mumbai declined by Rs 100 per quintal to Rs 17,400 as compared Rs 17,500 yesterday. Following are today's closing rates (in Rs with previous rates in brackets): Black pepper (per kg) 405/480 (405/480), ginger unbleached (per kg) 130 (130), copra office Alappuzha (per quintal) 14,000 (13,700), copra office Kozhikode (per quintal) 13,800 (13,600), copra Rajapur Mumbai (per quintal) 17,400 (17,500), copra edible Mumbai (per quintal) 15,500 (15,000). (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Bombay High Court today reserved its order on a plea filed by former media baron Peter Mukerjea, one of the accused in the Sheena Bora murder case, seeking the case diary from police. Details of probe are recorded daily by police in case diary. The matter is under investigation by officials of the Khar police station. He has also sought access to the personal diary maintained by sub-inspector Ganesh Dalvi, a prosecution witness who was also part of the team that arrested prime accused Indrani Mukerjea's driver, Shyamvar Rai, who later turned an approver. Shrikant Shivde, Mukerjea's lawyer, argued that his client has the right to defend himself by pointing out any contradictory statements that might have been made by Rai after his arrest. He also said the case diary which Mukerjea has sought to see relates to an earlier case registered under the Arms Act against Rai before the Sheena Bora murder case. It was after his arrest in that case that Rai spilled the beans about the murder of Sheena, the daughter of Indrani from an earlier relationship. "Our viewing its contents will not harm the ongoing trial (in the Sheena Bora murder case)," he said. The CBI, however, opposed the petition, saying that there is no legal provision which allows an accused access to case diary, unless the person already knows of a wrong statement made by a witness or informer, and wants to corroborate the same. "In the present case, however, the accused (Peter Mukerjea) has no idea whether or not there is any contradiction in Rai's statement....how can he make such request based simply on a roving suspicion?" said Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, who appeared for the CBI. The case diary contains some crucial details of the probe and making them public could risk both the investigation and the well-being of witnesses and informers, Singh added. Justice Anuja Prabhudessai, who heard Mukerjea's plea, also asked how could he demand access to the case diary on mere suspicion that there could be some contradictory material in it. "The court can't give you the case diary to check whether a contradictory statement has been made and then confront the approver. The issue is not whether your viewing the diary will harm anyone....what this court has to see is whether you are entitled to make such a demand," the judge said, and reserved the order. Earlier this year, the trial court had rejected Mukerjea's plea seeking access to the case diary. Mukerjea, the husband of Indrani, then moved the high court. Rai was arrested in 2015 for illegal possession of fire arms. During the interrogation, he told police about the Sheena Bora murder, which took place in April 2012. He also led police to the spot in Raigad district where her body had been dumped. Subsequently, police arrested Indrani Mukerjea, her former husband Sanjeev Khanna and later Peter Mukerjea, her current husband. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Kerala Police probing the abduction and sexual assault case of a south Indian actress today filed a supplementary charge sheet against five persons, including Malayalam actor Dileep. The SIT submitted the around 1,500-page charge sheet in the judicial magistrate court at nearby Angamaly. It had earlier filed a charge sheet against seven others including prime accused Pulsar Suni. Dileep, who faces charges including conspiracy, has been named the eighth accused. Four other persons have also been arraigned in the charge sheet, taking the number of accused in the case to 12. Dileep's former wife and Malayalam actress Manju Warrier, whose statement was recorded by the police in connection with case, is a witness. The actor was granted bail by the high court on October 3 with stringent conditions, 85 days after his arrest. The court had directed Dileep, arrested on July 10, to surrender his passport, deposit a bail bond of Rs 1 lakh and two solvent sureties for the like amount. The police have charged Dileep with hatching the conspiracy with other accused to abduct and assault the actress in a moving car and film the act. In their remand application after the arrest, police had claimed that Dileep developed a grudge against the actress for letting his former wife know about his alleged 'affairs' and had hatched a conspiracy to take revenge way back in 2013. The actress, who has worked in Tamil and Telugu films, was abducted and allegedly molested inside her car for two hours by the accused, who had forced their way into the vehicle on February 17 night and later escaped in a busy area here. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration(SJTA) today sought explanation from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) over the leakage of photographs of the under repair 12th century shrine in Puri in the social media platform. Photos of repair work of 'Jagamohan', the hall facing the sanctum sanctorum of the 12th century shrine, were found posted on the social media. "It is a matter of great concern to note that a scientist from CMFRI (Central Mining and Fuel Research Institute) engaged by the ASI to advise on improving the ventilation system inside 'Garavgriha' (sanctum sanctorum) of Shree Janagannath Temple, Puri, has posted some photographs of the inside of 'Garavgriha' in the public domian in face book," SJTA chief administrator P K Jena wrote to the Superintending Archaeologist, ASI. He sought explanation of ASI on the matter within three days for taking further action. Stating that this has resulted in a lot of hue and cry in the media, among the priests and in public, Jena said, "This is a serious issue relating to safety and security of the temple." Only ASI has been authorised to take photographs inside the temple premises which are required for the conservation and repair work and is aware those will be used for documentation and not for sharing in the public domain. No other organisation or person are allowed to take any such photograph without prior permission of the temple administration, Jena said. The SJTA wanted explanation from the ASI on the circumstances in which the photographs were taken by the CMFRI scientists and not by the authorised photographer of ASI and who allowed the CMFRI team to share the pictures in public domain. "What action have you (ASI) taken for such serious lapse ofthe CMFRI team, which creates droubts in the minds of the people on the action of ASI in compromising the safety and security of the temple?" the letter said. Jena also sought to know from ASI what mechanism it has put in place to restrict such lapses in future as many organisations of national repute and experts in monument conservation are being engaged by it to advise on the restoration of this historic temple. Asked about the particular scientist, who posted the picture, Jena said the scientist who posted the picture has been identified and has apologised to all devotees of Sri Jagannath Temple. Meanwhile Justice B P Das Commission of Inquiry for Reforms in Srimandir has sought a report from the state law secretary, SJTA, Puri collector and superintendent of police after photos of repair works of the Jagamohan were found posted on social media. It directed the authorities to submit a detailed report in connection with the incident within 10 days. The Commission also said that the recommendations made for strengthening security at the temple are not being followed and persons who have posted the pictures on social media should be identified and be arrested if required. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In the biggest such haul, the Customs officials today seized foreign currencies of seven different countries equivalent to Rs 3.96 crore at the international airport here after foiling a smuggling attempt. Two persons, including a passenger, were arrested for allegedly attempting to smuggle out the foreign currency. "Based on a specific intelligence, the officials of the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of the Customs intercepted a passenger when he was about to board a flight to Dubai after passing immigration and Customs counter," said Principal Commissioner of Customs (Hyderabad Commissionerate) A K Jain. He said the passenger had placed the currency in six bundles in the checked-in bag which was sent for loading by the airline staff. The bag was retrieved from the baggage belt of the airlines and the passenger was picked up for questioning, the principal commissioner said. "On examination of the baggage, foreign currency worth Rs 3.96 crore was recovered. This is one of the biggest seizures of foreign currency at the airport," Jain said. He said another person was held from outside the airport for allegedly arranging the foreign currency for the passenger. The operation was conducted by the Customs in coordination with the Hyderabad Police and with the assistance of CISF personnel, Jain said, adding that further investigation is underway. In a separate incident at the international airport, Customs officials last night seized 216 grams of gold, worth Rs 6.57 lakh, from a passenger who had allegedly concealed it in a mobile phone box. The passenger, who had arrived from Muscat, was intercepted by the AIU officials and during questioning it was found that he had concealed two gold bars in the mobile phone box and passed through green channel with an intention to evade payment of Customs duty, an official said. Further investigation is on. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) "Dangal" filmmaker Nitesh Tiwari believes there is a lack of good cinema for children in the country because producers are unwilling to invest their money in such projects unless a superstar is onboard. Nitesh said if big stars volunteer for children's films, things will change for better. "It is difficult to pinpoint why we make less children films. But I think there are two main reasons why children's films are not getting made. "One is the commercial point of view and the other is the creative problem, there aren't too many people who want to back children's film," he said at a panel discussion at the 48th International Film Festival of India (IFFI). The director said when they finished writing "Chillar Party", they approached many filmmakers but nobody was willing to direct the movie. "They said there are 10 kids and one dog, there is no star. It was left to us to make the film. "Unfortunately, a film's budget is decided not on the basis of the script, but on the basis of the star. The same script with a bigger star will have a much higher budget, the same script with a lesser known star will have a low budget." Nitesh said films like "Mr India", "Koi... Mil Gaya" and "Krrish" were successful despite being children's films. He said more such movies are needed to make this genre viable. "Producers in their mind start thinking about their recovery even before the film starts (goes on floors). If stars start acting voluntarily in children's film things will change... If big names attach (themselves) to children films and promote them, everything will be in place." The session, 'Children's Films in Indian Cinema', was moderated by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) chairman Prasoon Joshi. The panel also comprised Devika Prabhu, associate director and head of programming for Disney, Jetix and Hungama and, Rajiv Chilaka, founder-CEO of Green Gold Animation. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A court here today remanded two suspected members of banned Bangladeshi group Ansarullah Bangla Team and their Indian accomplice in 14 days of police custody, rejecting their bail prayers. The trio, who were arrested by the Special Task Force of the city police from Kolkata railway station here yesterday, were sent to police custody till December 5 by Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Satya Arnab Ghosal. Seeking their remand, public prosecutor Pijush Kanti Mondal submitted that Bangladeshi citizens Samsad Mia and Rizaul Islam were suspected members of Ansarullah Bangla Team, while their Indian accomplice Manotosh Dey was an arms dealer. He submitted that all the three were arrested when they met at Kolkata station in the northern part of the city to discuss an arms deal. Mondal stated that documents related to terror outfit al Qaeda were recovered from the two Bangladeshis, who were also allegedly in possession of some Aadhaar cards. The three persons have been arrested under the Arms Act and accused of forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy. Defence counsel K K Tiwari prayed for bail of the three persons claiming that documents recovered from the Bangladeshis cannot be said to be related to al Qaeda for certain and that no arms were recovered from Dey. Hearing both the parties, the court rejected the bail prayers and sent them to police remand. Samsad Mia and Rizaul Islam hailing from Sylhet and Khulna respectively in Bangladesh, had entered India one-and-a -half years ago, STF deputy commissioner Muralidhar Sharma said yesterday. Samsad, who is an engineer, had a PAN card in his possession bearing the name Tushar Biswas. Fifty Aadhaar cards and handwritten chits with names of areas in the city, like Dharmatala and Park Street were found from them, he said. Manotosh Dey, an alleged arms dealer, is a resident of Basirhat in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Suspected explosive weighing nearly two kg has been seized from a person travelling in a government bus in upper Assam's Tinsukia district today, police said. The man, who was travelling from neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh, was apprehended with the suspected explosives from an Assam State Transport Corporation bus at about 7.45 am during routine check at Jagun. The man was identified to be a resident of Yanman in Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh and was travelling from Miao when he was nabbed, the police said. Investigations are on, the police added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Syrian opposition figures met in Saudi Arabia on today in a bid to form an overhauled delegation to peace talks that analysts say may be more willing to compromise on key demands. The meeting came as Iran, Russia and Turkey held a summit in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, pressing their diplomatic dash to resolve Syria's six-year conflict with a new round of UN-brokered peace talks set to open in Geneva next Tuesday. Russian President Vladimir Putin said he and Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iran's Hassan Rouhani had agreed to a "congress" of Syrian regime and opposition forces in Sochi, aimed at boosting the Geneva process. The Riyadh meeting was co-chaired by the UN's Syria envoy, Staffan de Mistura, and Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, who said the aim was to reach a "fair solution" to the conflict. De Mistura said the goal was to give momentum to next week's talks in Geneva by forging a unified opposition delegation, as long demanded by the Syrian government. He said he would travel to Moscow on Thursday for talks with Russian officials. "I'm always optimistic... especially in this moment," he said. The 140 or so delegates from a wide range of opposition platforms are under heavy pressure to row back on some of their more radical demands after a series of recent battlefield victories that have given President Bashar al- Assad's regime the upper hand. Absent are several former leading figures who were seen as unwilling to compromise. Among them is Riad Hijab, who stepped down as leader of the Saudi-backed opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) ahead of the meeting complaining that there were "attempts to lower the ceiling of the revolution and prolong the regime". Multiple rounds of talks hosted by the UN have failed to bring an end to the war in Syria, which has killed more than 330,000 people since 2011 and forced millions from their homes. Factions opposed to Assad have been plagued by divisions throughout the maelstrom. Participants in the Riyadh meeting include members of the Istanbul-based National Coalition as well as of rival Cairo- and Moscow-based groups seen as more favourable to the regime, and independent figures. Qadri Jamil, who heads the Moscow-based group, today announced he would not be attending the talks, citing what he said was the Syrian opposition's inability to agree on "the bases and principles" of their stance at the Saudi summit. The National Coalition meanwhile said Jamil had pulled out after "disagreement over an article on Bashar al-Assad stepping down and the start of a transitional phase" in Syria. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he expected that the withdrawal of Hijab and other hardliners in recent days would "help the Syria-based and foreign-based opposition unite on a constructive basis". Observers said it could clear the way for a new negotiating team that would water down some of the opposition's longstanding demands, notably Assad's immediate ouster. His fate has been one of the chief obstacles to progress in peace talks, with the opposition demanding he step down at the start of any transition. "The Saudi pitch to the Syrian opposition has been that denial will only make the situation worse, and that they have to rethink their strategy," said Hassan Hassan, a fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy in Washington. "The problem... is that the political opposition does not see it that way, and most activists are still struck in the 2012 thinking, that Assad has to be toppled." Ahead of the meeting, dozens of prominent civilian and armed opposition figures appealed to participants not to compromise on the "ouster of Bashar al-Assad and his gang". "No one should back down or quietly circumvent" it, they said in an online statement. HNC member Yehya al-Aridi acknowledged some participants, notably the Moscow platform, were more flexible on the president's future. But they "do not represent the choices of the revolution or the Syrian people," Aridi told AFP. And Hisham Marwah, another National Coalition member, said his group's "positions toward Assad have not changed". "Whoever is betting on the Riyadh conference to legitimise the presence of Assad is delusional," Marwah told AFP. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actor Prakash Raj today requested the government to take a firm decision on providing protection to the film industry, which did not have proper safeguards, as seen by a producer's suicide. The Government should take a firm decision on the matter as despite paying taxes, the film industry has no proper safeguards, he told reporters at the airport here. He said the suicide of Tamil film producer Ashokkumar was a clear indication of the real condition in the film field. Expressing regret over his death, he said it also raised many questions and nobody should take such a decision (to commit suicide). Such suicides had occured earlier also, but no one noticed them, he said. The producer allegedly committed suicide at his house in Chennai, with a suicide note recovered from the spot blaming a Madurai-based film financer for pushing him to take the extreme step. Kumar reportedly accused the financier of charging exorbitant interest on some loans obtained by him, and harassing him over the same. On the controversy surrounding release of Padmavati, Prakash Raj said it was not right for the government to remain silent on the matter. Asked about actor Kamal Haasan' tweets, critcising the government on issues, he said some ministers were blaming him for speaking without having any proof. If so, it is their duty to produce proof against it. They should resort to legal action, instead of holding out threats, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Telangana Deputy Chief Minister K Srihari has asked the state officials to complete all arrangements for the implementation of Telugu as a compulsory subject from the first standard to intermediate from the next academic year. Srihari, who handles the education portfolio, yesterday held a meeting with the officials and the members of the sub-committee appointed over the implementation of Telugu as a compulsory subject, a government release said. The sub-committee was formed following the orders of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao to implement Telugu as a compulsory subject. The sub-committee studied the implementation of mother tongue as a compulsory subject in Tamil Nadu and Punjab, the release said. The members of the panel informed Srihari in the meeting yesterday that they had spoken to concerned officials on implementation of Telugu as compulsory subject in the CBSE and ICSE schools. The officials of CBSE and ICSE told the sub-committee that they have no objection in implementation of the move, the release said. The CBSE and ICSE had rules for the implementation of mother-tongue as a compulsory subject, but those rules are not being implemented effectively in schools, the sub-committee members said. It would suffice if those rules are implemented effectively, they said. Srihari directed that Telugu be developed as an "interesting and high scoring" subject for students. The language should be implemented as a compulsory subject in a way that did not burden the students. There are 1,370 schools in Telangana, where Telugu is not taught and there would be no problem to make the language a compulsory subject from first standard to Intermediate from the next academic year, the officials said. Srihari said the sub-committee would be converted into an advisory panel for implementation of Telugu language, the release added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Three suspected members of a gang, who were on the run after allegedly killing a man in southeast Delhi's Ambedkar Nagar area, were arrested here, police said today. The South District police was keeping a tight vigil on the gangs procuring illegal firearms from other states to commit crimes in the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR), they said. During investigation, it emerged that the alleged members of the Shakti Naidu gang killed one Kanakrattanam alias Vickey in Madangir over dominance in the area in August. They were absconding since then, the police said. Yesterday, the police learnt that the accused -- Ajay Nagarwal alias Surit Puri, Shiv Raj alias Sulli and Singha Ram -- were wanted in connection with the killing of Vickey, would come to execute their plan of killing rival gangsters, they said. A trap was laid near the Valmiki Mandir in Vasant Gaon here to nab the accused, the police said. The accused alighted from a car and were waiting for someone. However, after they sensed the police' presence, they tried to get into the car and escaped, they added. However, they were surrounded by the police team and subsequently overpowered, the police said. A sophisticated pistol made in Japan with five live cartridges, was seized from Nagarwal, they said. A sophisticated pistol made in England with five live cartridges was seized from Shiv Raj and another pistol, made in Italy, with two live cartridges was seized from the accused, the police said. Eight other firearms were seized from the car in which the accused were travelling, they said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Justice A Arumughaswamy Commission of Inquiry,constituted by the Tamil Nadu government to go into the circumstances leading to former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's death, commenced its hearing here today. Madurai based DMK functionary P Saravanan, who recently submitted his petition, including an affidavit, deposed before the Commission. Speaking to reporters outside the commission's office here, the DMK functionary said said he brought to the panel's notice alleged discrepancies in press releases and the final discharge summary of the hospital where Jayalalithaa received treatment. Jayalalithaa was admitted to Apollo Hospital on September 22 last year and passed away there on December 5, 2016. Saravanan said he would submit further documents in respect of Jayalalithaa's signature and her thumb impression with the Commission tomorrow. The DMK functionary, who unsuccessfully contested the Tiruparankundram bypoll in November 2016, had petitioned the Madras High Court against the victory of AIADMK candidate A K Bose. He had questioned the Election Commission over its acceptance of the left thumb impression of Jayalalithaa on documents authenticating the nomination of the AIADMK nominee. In September 2017, the Tamil Nadu government constituted the panel under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952. The panel's terms of reference was to inquire into the circumstances and situation leading to the hospitalisation of Jayalalithaa (on September 22, 2016), and treatment provided till her demise on December five last year. The Commission had invited all those having "personal knowledge and direct acquaintance" in the matter to furnish information to it till today. Following Jayalalithaa's death, suspicion on the circumstances leading to her demise was raised by several persons, including the present Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and his followers. Then a rebel party leader,Panneerselvam and his followers had demanded a probe into her death, either a judicial inquiry or a CBI probe. After the unification of the factions led by Chief Minister K Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam, the government notified constituting the panel. The probe was a key precondition put forth by the Panneerselvam panel for merger. DMK President M K Stalin had batted for a CBI probe and also raised the issue during campaigning for the RK Nagar bypoll in April, which was subsequently cancelled. According to Commission sources, so far approximately 70 petitions and 15 affidavits have been received in respect of Jayalalithaa's death, which were being looked into. Petitions were received today as well, they said, adding an advocate, R Krishnamurthy submitted an affidavit seeking examination of 30 persons on oath including jailed AIADMK leader V K Sasikala, her husband M Natarajan, and Prathap C Reddy of Apollo Hospital. Depositions are likely to be scheduled for tomorrow as well, the Commission sources added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President Donald Trump today spoke over phone with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to peacefully resolving the Syrian civil war, the White House said. During the lengthy conversation, the two leaders also discussed jointly fighting terrorist groups in the Middle East, including ISIS and Al-Qaeda, and the Taliban in other parts, it said. "We had a great call with President Putin. We're talking about peace in Syria -- very important. We're talking about North Korea. We had a call that lasted almost an hour and a half," Trump told reporters before boarding Marine One on the White House lawns. "We're talking very strongly about bringing peace for Syria. We're talking very strongly about North Korea and Ukraine," he said. Both presidents supported the UN-led Geneva Process to peacefully resolve the Syrian civil war, end the humanitarian crisis, allow displaced Syrians to return home, and ensure the stability of a unified Syria free of malign intervention and terrorist safe havens, the White House said in a readout of the call. "The two presidents affirmed the importance of fighting terrorism together throughout the Middle East and Central Asia and agreed to explore ways to further cooperate in the fight against ISIS, Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and other terrorist organisations," it said. According to the White House, Trump and Putin also discussed how to implement a lasting peace in Ukraine, and the need to continue international pressure on North Korea to halt its nuclear weapon and missile programs. Trump and Putin spoke informally several times last week when they attended a summit in Vietnam. They agreed on a number of principles for the future of war-torn Syria. Trump spoke over phone with the Russian president, a day after Putin met with Syrian President Bashar Assad. Putin hosted Assad at a Black Sea resort ahead of a summit later this week with Russia, Turkey and Iran. The Kremlin said yesterday that Assad was called to Russia to get him to agree to potential peace initiatives drafted by Russia, Iran and Turkey. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Four persons have been arrested in connection with the Monday's elevator collapse incident in an underground tunnel in which eight labourers were killed, the police said today. The arrested persons included the elevator operator and three supervisors, a Pune Rural Police official said. The incident occurred after the cables of the elevator snapped when the labourers were coming out of the underground tunnel, which is said to be more than 100 feet beneath the surface. The tunnel was being constructed near Akole village as part of the Nira-Bhima river-linking project on the outskirts of Indapur town, 120 km from here. "We have arrested four persons, including the operator of the elevator and supervisors, who were entrusted to monitor the work, under section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC," Bhigwan police station sub-inspector B N Pawar said. The accused, identified as Rambahadur Pal, Navin Kumar Sharma, Murali Krishna Methala and Shreedhar Valeshwarrao Vezdhala were produced in the court and remanded to police custody for two days, he said. He said the operator and the supervisors did not carry proper maintenance of the elevator and did not provide security measures to the labourers. "During the investigation, it was revealed that all four accused were responsible to look after the safety measures, so a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder case was registered," Pawar said. The river-linking project, launched under the Krishna Bhima Stabilisation scheme, involves the construction of 24.8 km-long Nira-Bhima Link 5 tunnel. The project, which began in 2012, is designed to take water from water-rich rivers to scarcity-hit areas and expected to be completed by 2020. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The editors and directors of one of Uganda's most popular tabloid newspapers have been detained over what authorities called a fake story about a political plot implicating the president. The offices of the privately-owned English-language Red Pepper, and its vernacular sister publications, were raided and eight employees arrested, police said. The story in question, published on Monday, said President Yoweri Museveni was plotting to overthrow his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame. Besides being false the story was a threat to regional security, police spokesman Emillian Kayima said. "The Uganda police force initiated investigations into the serious statements and insinuations in that story, that have grave implications on national and regional security and stability," Kayima added. The article, a version of which first appeared in Rwandan media, was carried by the Red Pepper and other publications owned by the publisher, and claimed a Ugandan plot to destabilise neighbouring Rwanda. The newspaper's lawyer Dickens Byamukama said the eight directors and editors are being detained at Nalufenya prison outside the capital Kampala. "Their phones, laptops were confiscated, plus other official and private equipment," Byamukama said, adding that the Red Pepper's premises have been cordoned off. The newspaper did not appear on newsstands today. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The UK government today announced that it is setting aside an extra 3 billion pounds over the next two years in preparation for Britain's exit from the European Union (EU) after last year's referendum in favour of . In his much-anticipated Budget speech, UK Chancellor Philip Hammond was cheered in the House of Commons as he announced that the government will stand ready to allocate further sums in preparation for "every possible outcome" in the tough negotiations with Brussels. "While we work to achieve this deep and special partnership [with the EU] we are determined to make sure the country is prepared for every possible outcome," Hammond said. "We have already invested almost 700 million pounds in preparations and today I am setting aside over the next two years another 3 billion pounds and I stand ready to allocate further sums if and when needed. No one should doubt our resolve," he said. The finance minister designed his Budget as a vision for a "Global Britain" after Brexit, which will have a "prosperous and inclusive economy where everybody has the opportunity to shine wherever in the UK they live, whatever their background". And he described this Global Britain as an "outward looking, free-trading nation, a force for good in the world, a country fit for the future". His announcements will help curb some of the brewing rebellion within the ruling Conservative party ranks, where many of Hammonds colleagues believe his pro-EU views have prevented him from being proactive on financially preparing for Brexit. The Budget announcement is also an indication to the EU that the UK is prepared for a worst-case, no-deal scenario ahead of crunch talks at a summit in Brussels next month. Britain has been pushing EU leaders to move on to post-Brexit trade discussions, while Europe has been insisting that no such talks can begin until the so-called divorce bill of the money owed by the UK to EU is finalised. This weeks Budget statement was seen as a "make or break" scenario for Hammonds future as Chancellor in British Prime Minister Theresa May's Cabinet and many of his Brexit related announcements will see him through a major hurdle. Among some of the other populist measures include the abolition of stamp duty for most first-time buyers in the UK. The change, effective immediately, will mean those buying properties worth up to 300,000 pounds or up to 500,000 pounds in more expensive areas will save 5,000 pounds. With housing singled out by Theresa May as the key crisis facing the country that her government pledged to address, the Chancellors statements have been widely welcomed. He also allocated an additional 44 billion pounds investment as part of the government's drive to deliver 300,000 new homes a year. Hammond promised to spend an extra 2.8 billion pounds on the state-funded National Health Service (NHS) up to 2022 and pledged support for electric cars including a 400 million pounds towards charging infrastructure fund. The senior Cabinet minister claimed the UK economy "continues to confound those who talk it down" and revealed that the UKs Office for Budget Responsibility predicts 1.5 per cent growth for 2017, which is lower than the 2 per cent forecast in the March Budget but predicts borrowing to be lower than it did in March, at 49.9 billion pounds. (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.) The United Nations envoy for Syria urged Syrian opposition groups at the opening of a meeting hosted in the Saudi capital today to come up with a united delegation for the Geneva talks later this month. Staffan de Mistura spoke at the opening of the three-day meeting for the Syrian opposition in Riyadh, where they are expected to come up with a unified delegation and vision ahead of the Geneva talks on November 28. But the meeting has already been marred with disagreements. The notoriously fragmented opposition is divided by visions of a future role for the incumbent Syrian President Bashar Assad, the length of a transitional period as well as the constitution that will see the country move toward elections. The conflict in Syria, now in its sixth-year, has all but been frozen amid a series of cease-fires. But a political solution has long been elusive. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said in opening remarks that the opposition meeting comes amid an international consensus to reach a resolution. "There is no resolution to the crisis without Syrian consensus that achieves the demands of the Syrian people and ends their suffering," al-Jubeir said, adding that a resolution must be based on UN resolutions. The meeting is intended to come up with a unified vision ahead of the new round of peace talks in Geneva on November 28. Russia, which has welcomed the Saudi efforts to unify the opposition, is also hosting a meeting expected to bring the opposition and Syrian government together in early December. On Wednesday, Russia president is meeting with Iranian and Turkish counterparts to discuss the Syria conflict, amid a diplomatic push from Moscow to reach new resolutions. Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted Syrian President in Sochi a day earlier, in which he discussed with him potential new initiatives. Iran and Russia are main backers of Assad; while Turkey has supported the opposition. Disparate opposition delegations are attending the meeting in Riyadh. Some of them are backed by Gulf countries, who had sided with the anti-Assad rebellion, while others have been backed by Russia. Another opposition group is backed by Egypt, which has kept contacts with the Syrian government. The Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya Al-Hadath TV said some members of the Russia-backed delegation withdrew from the meeting. A member of the delegation Qadri Jamil said they withdrew to object other delegations putting conditions on the talks, including limiting a future role for Assad. The Russia-backed opposition is promoting political reform under Assad's rule. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Putting pressure on Myanmar, the US today declared as "ethnic cleansing" the violence against Rohingya Muslims in the country and warned that the Trump administration could impose new penalties on it. More than 600,000 Rohingya from Myanmars Rakhine State have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh, creating one of the worlds most dire refugee crisis. US lawmakers and human rights advocates had called for Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to act on the recommendation of the State Department and declare the situation ethnic cleansing. Tillerson, in a statement, said that the Trump administration would "pursue accountability" through US law, including "possible targeted" sanctions. However, senior administration officials ruled out a broad based sanctions against Myanmar, noting that the democracy in the country is in its nascent stage. Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has moved toward civilian government in recent years after decades of military rule, though the military retains significant power. At this time "there is no determination of crime against humanity or genocide", a senior administration official told reporters during a conference call, adding that the US will continue to further watch the situation, but there is no other action as of now. "After a careful and thorough analysis of available facts, it is clear that the situation in northern Rakhine state constitutes ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya," Tillerson said, demanding that those responsible for these atrocities must be held accountable. The US continues to support a credible, independent investigation to further determine all facts on the ground to aid in these processes of accountability, he said. "We have supported constructive action on the Rakhine crisis at the UN Security Council and in the UN General Assemblys Third Committee. The United States will also pursue accountability through US law, including possible targeted sanctions," Tillerson said. Reiterating US' condemnation of the August 25 attacks on security forces by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), Tillerson said yet no provocation can justify the horrendous atrocities that have ensued. Officials in Myanmar, a mostly Buddhist nation, deny accusations of a systematic offensive against the Rohingya and claim the military intervened in Rakhine to battle Muslim insurgents. "These abuses by some among the Burmese military, security forces, and local vigilantes have caused tremendous suffering and forced hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children to flee their homes in Burma (Myanmar) to seek refuge in Bangladesh," Tillerson said. Tillerson was recently in Naypyitaw where he met separately with State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces General Min Aung Hlaing. "I reaffirmed the United States' strong commitment to Burma's successful democratic transition as the elected government strives to implement reforms, bring peace and reconciliation to the nation, and resolve a devastating crisis in Rakhine State," he said. "Our first priority is to relieve the intolerable suffering faced by so many. In response to the dire situation," he said. Last week, Tillerson announced an additional USD 47 million in humanitarian assistance for those affected by the Rakhine State crisis, bringing the total amount spent in response to this crisis to more than USD 87 million since August of this year. Later in a conference call, a senior administration official said the US is looking at additional "individual" and "targeted" sanctions. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Delegates from the United States, Mexico and Canada today wrapped up a fifth round of talks on renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement -- but pushed off some of the thornier issues to later meetings. Their efforts, this time held in Mexico City, are aimed at reforming their NAFTA pact enough to head off US President Donald Trump's threats to scrap it. The latest round focused on trade remedies, rules of origin and matters related to agriculture, Mexico's chief technical negotiator, Kenneth Smith, told reporters. More complicated subjects "are going to be left for the following meetings," he said. Various US proposals were put on the table, as were some Mexican ones, while specific questions were raised in other areas, Smith explained. Meanwhile, "some concepts that are unacceptable" were put forward regarding rules of origin in the automobile industry, he said. The US wants to see domestic US components in cars rise to 50 per cent, to the ire of Mexico and Canada. Trump, who espouses an "America first" policy, views the US trade deficit with Mexico in particular as a "disaster" for American jobs and prosperity. "I've been opposed to NAFTA for a long time," Trump said last month, as he hosted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the White House. "If we can't make a deal, it'll be terminated and that will be fine," he said. The US Chamber of Commerce and other business voices, however, say NAFTA has greatly benefited the US economy in its 23 years of existence. Trade has tripled in that time, and withdrawal could badly hurt American farmers. For Mexico, preserving the pact is vital, as 80 per cent of its exports go to the United States. Negotiations on changing the accord are expected to go on into early next year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Military investigators are probing whether three soldiers who worked in the White House had "improper contact" with foreign women on President Donald Trump's recent Asia trip, The Washington Post has reported. Officials familiar with the situation told the Post that the three non-commissioned officers allegedly broke a curfew during Trump's Vietnam visit. The service members had been working for the White House Communications Agency, a specialized military unit that helps provide top officials with secure communications, the Post said. Pentagon spokesman Mark Wright confirmed the probe. "We are aware of the incident and it is currently under investigation," Wright told AFP, without providing additional details. The investigation is the latest headache for US security detail accompanying top officials on overseas trips. The Post said that four troops from the same White House team faced allegations around accompanying women, stemming from a trip to Panama in August with Vice President Mike Pence. In another incident in 2012, Secret Service agents in Cartagena, Colombia were caught soliciting prostitutes. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The United States is warning Americans travelling to Saudi Arabia about the risk of ballistic missile attacks from neighbouring Yemen. A new US travel warning follows a Houthi missile attack in early November near the international airport in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. The missile was intercepted. Both the US and Saudi Arabia say the Houthis got the missile from Iran. The Houthis are Shiite rebels who control much of Yemen. The travel warning says several long-range missiles have been fired from Yemen at major cities in the last year. It also says terrorist attacks "can occur without warning anywhere" in Saudi Arabia. The State Department also says that US government workers and their families are prohibited from travelling to the areas of Qatif and Hofuf in Saudi Arabia. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Mark Green will participate in the eighth annual Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) here beginning November 28. During his visit till December 1, Green is scheduled to meet senior officials of Indian government. "He will participate in the eighth annual Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES), which will begin in Hyderabad on November 28," a release said here today. USAID's Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator and Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment Michelle Bekkering will accompany Green to GES, it said. Green will also visit several USAID programmes, and meet with senior officials of the Government of India. While at GES in Hyderabad, he will meet with female entrepreneurs, and discuss how women can become more active in the economic development of their communities, it said. He will discuss strengthening the United States-India strategic partnership with Central government officials in Delhi. He will also visit a USAID project site focused on water, sanitation, and health. Green will conclude his visit to India in Mumbai, where he will participate in an event to commemorate World AIDS Day on December 1, the release added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Venezuela failed to make repayments totalling USD 237 million on two loans, which have overrun their 30-day grace period, ratings agency S&P announced today. The oil-rich, cash-poor South American country failed to make the payments on bonds due 2025 and 2026, S&P said in a statement. The ratings agency also warned of a "one-in-two chance that Venezuela could default again within the next three months." "Two additional coupon payments are overdue, but within their grace period. We could lower the ratings on the following issues to 'D' if the government fails to pay within the stated grace period," it said. Global ratings agencies had already declared Venezuela and state-owned oil company PDVSA to be in "selective default" due to the late payments on multiple bond issues. Struggling under an estimated debt burden of USD 150 billion, Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro said earlier this month that he wants to restructure Venezuela's sovereign debt as well as that of PDVSA. PDVSA is the primary source of income for Venezuela, a country that sits atop the world's biggest oil reserves. S&P said it would "very likely" consider any Venezuelan restructuring equivalent to a default. "In addition, in our opinion, US sanctions on Venezuela and government members will most likely result in a long and difficult negotiation with bondholders," it said. The sanctions from Washington, which has labeled the Maduro regime a dictatorship, prohibit US individuals and banks from buying new Venezuelan bonds, a requirement for any debt resolution. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Superstar Shah Rukh Khan said the worst thing to happen in today's age is any form of violence against women. The 52-year-old actor attended the 'Lalkaar Concert' last night, as part of the 'Bas Ab Bahut Ho Gaya - Enough is Enough' campaign to end violence against women and girls. The concert was held in association with Population Foundation of India, actor-director Farhan Akhtar's MARD and filmmaker Feroz Abbas Khan. "I know that all of you here, boys and girls and ladies and gents, believe that violence of any kind is bad and if there is any term as 'baddest', then violence against women is even 'badder' and is the 'baddest' thing to happen. Thank you for being here to support this cause," Shah Rukh said. The "Jab Harry Met Sejal" actor said sometimes men, including him and Farhan, are often mocked for being sensitive and courteous towards women but should not be considered as a weakness. "Farhan and I are normally not considered manly because we are a bit gentle, quiet, shy and we treat women well, in our hearts, souls and I have been told to say 'equally'," Shah Rukh said. "(But) I am sure all the people present here feel women are superior than us and are even scared of them. I believe that there is no shame in being scared of a woman, of our daughter, sister, mother, wife and girlfriend," he added. Shah Rukh also recited a poem by noted screenwriter- lyricist Javed Akhtar. At the concert, apart from Farhan, other artistes like Salim-Sulaiman, Armaan Malik, Papon, Neeti Mohan, Harshdeep Kaur, Sukriti Kakar and Prakriti Kakar also performed. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Director Vinod Kapri, whose Hindi film "Pihu" opened the controversy-hit Indian Panorama segment at IFFI 2017, today came out in support of Sanjay Leela Bhansali, saying his biggest worry is that "fringe" sections are becoming the mainstream now. The release date of Bhansali's period drama "Padmavati" has been deferred following country-wide protests by Rajput groups and politicians, who have accused Bhansali of "distorting historical facts". Many groups have been protesting amid rumours that there was a romantic dream sequence between Rajput queen Padmini and Allauddin Khilji, a charge repeatedly denied by the director. Kapri said what is happening to Bhansali is scary. "What is happening with 'Padmavati' is really unfortunate. My biggest worry is that fringe elements are becoming mainstream. "Earlier, there were two or three groups or outfits who were disturbing our cinema or filmmakers. I am scared as a filmmaker because whatever happened to Bhansali can happen to anyone," Kapri told PTI on the sidelines of the 48th International Film Festival of India (IFFI). The director, whose film "Pihu" replaced the opening film "Nude" (Marathi) in the Panorama section, said he was not the right person to comment on the controversy. "I don't know what to say (on the controversy) as I was not a part of the jury. I don't know what conspires between the jury and the ministry. I feel I am not the right person to comment," he said. In a controversial move, the I & B ministry overruled the 13-member jury's recommendation and excluded "Nude" and "S Durga" from the line-up of the Indian Panorama segment. The exclusion led to the resignation of jury chairman Sujoy Ghosh and members Apurva Asrani and Gyan Correa. "S Durga" director Sanal Kumar Sasidharan had moved the Kerala High Court challenging the decision. Yesterday, the court ordered the ministry to screen the Malayalam movie at the ongoing festival. When asked about the HC's decision, Kapri said, "High Court has allowed the film ('S Durga') to be screened. I believe every filmmaker has the right to show his film to the audience or in a festival. "My heart goes out to the directors of 'Nude' and 'S Durga'. But at the same time we are here with 'Pihu' and we are celebrating 'Pihu'. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress today took on the BJP for its Bihar unit chief saying that any finger or hand raised against the prime minister would be chopped off and asked if Narendra Modi or party president Amit Shah would apologise for the comment. Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala also hit out at a section of the media and asked if "bhakt channels" would hold discussions on Bihar BJP president Nityanand Rai's comments on Monday. "Will hands and fingers now be chopped off for asking Modiji questions? Will Amit Shah dare act against his Bihar BJP chief?" Surjewala asked on Twitter. "Will Modiji, Amit Shah apologise? Will bhakt channels hold discussions on this?" he added. Rai had said at a function on Monday that the prime minister is the son of a poor man and should be honoured. "Any finger or hand raised at him should be either broken or chopped off," he had said. Yesterday, he expressed his deep regret if the comment caused any hurt and said he withdrew it. "I used a 'muhavra' (idiom) to express my sentiments. My words were not to be taken literally. However, if it has caused any hurt, I express my deepest regret and withdraw my comment," Rai told reporters in Patna. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The district administration here has ordered a magisterial probe into the incident of a woman being forced to take off her burqa in public at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's rally, officials said on Wednesday. A video showing the woman taking off her black burqa minutes before the chief minister makes an appearance at the rally yesterday has gone viral. "The city magistrate has been asked to conduct an inquiry into it and action will be taken against those found guilty," District Magistrate Surendra Vikram said. The chief minister was here yesterday to address an election meeting ahead of the local body elections. The woman, who identified herself as Saira, later said the women constables on duty asked her to remove the black burqa, the outer robe worn by women in some Islamic traditions, which she did. She said she was a BJP worker and had come to the rally from her village wearing her "traditional dress". The police have also ordered an inquiry. Superintendent of Police Anil Kumar said the video footage has been received and a departmental inquiry ordered in this connection. "The Deputy SP (City) has been asked to conduct an inquiry in this connection," the SP said. "We had instructions that there should be no black flags shown at the rally. I will get this looked into," he said. Three days ago, black flags were shown to the chief minister in Meerut, where he had gone to address an election rally. In the scuffle that followed, BJP supporters thrashed a man. Union minister K J Alphons was confronted by an enraged woman passenger at the Imphal airport over the delay in her Kolkata-bound flight she was taking to rush to Patna to attend a funeral of her relative. Alphons on Wednesday said he was not responsible for the delay of the flight due to VVIP security protocol after a video footage of the passenger identified as a lady doctor arguing and directing her ire at him on seeing the minister at the Imphal airport went viral. The video of the incident that happened on Tuesday showed the woman complaining to Alphons about the flight being delayed due to VIP movement. Alphons, who is Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Tourism, had come to Imphal to attend the Northeast Development summit which was inaugurated by President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday. President Kovind's aircraft was due to land in Imphal around the time of departure of the Kolkata-bound aircraft. "I have to reach Patna. The body is waiting, otherwise the body will decay. I am a doctor, I know that. The body is still at home," the woman can be heard pleading with Alphons, who tries to soothe her anger. She was also heard asking Alphons to give in writing what time her flight would take off. The woman was booked on an IndiGo flight from Imphal to Kolkata from where she had to take a connecting flight to Patna. On her repeated insistence to give her in writing as to what time the flight would depart, the minister is heard saying he does not have the authority to do so. When contacted, Imphal Airport Director S K Panigrahi told PTI over phone at Kolkata that three flights were delayed due to the visit of President Kovind to the state on Tuesday. "The commercial flights were delayed since the President's flight was scheduled to arrive," he said, adding none of the flights were cancelled. The airport director said the three commercial flights were delayed between 90 minutes and two hours. According to Alphons, he approached a woman crying at the airport and who could be seen in the video losing her cool. "She was crying and I wanted to know what happened. She started saying that she had to go to Patna to attend a relative's funeral which was scheduled in the afternoon. She was distraught because her flight was delayed and she feared the body will decay. "As a representative of the government of India, she wanted me to intervene," Alphons told PTI, amid allegations that he was the cause for the delay of the flight. He was accompanied by some of his ministerial colleagues. "I can understand her anguish but as I told her, the President's flight was landing and as per protocol no other flight can land or take off at that time. "This protocol is in place for the past 70 years and not made by this government. I tried to tell her that her flight will leave as soon as the President's flight lands, but she was really in distress," Alphons said. The minister also said that he "was not in favour" of protocols that encourage VIP culture and that he has also informed officials that a pilot jeep should not be assigned for him. Iraqi officials said they found another mass grave in the northern Sinjar region today containing the bodies of dozens of members of the Yazidi minority killed by the Islamic State group. "The mass grave contains the bodies of 73 people, men, women and children executed by the Islamic State group when they controlled the region," local official Chokor Melhem Elias told AFP. He said Iraqi security forces made the latest discovery in the Rambussi area near the town of Qahtaniyya. In 2014, IS killed thousands of Yazidis in Sinjar and kidnapped thousands of the community's women and girls as sex slaves. The United Nations estimates 3,000 of them are still being held captive. Kurdish fighters backed by the US-led coalition recaptured Sinjar from IS in November 2015 before Iraqi security forces took control of the region in October. As government troops have advanced across Iraq they have uncovered dozens of mass graves holding hundreds of bodies in areas that fell under the jihadists' brutal rule. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Zimbabweans waited today to discover when their new leader would be appointed after president Robert Mugabe's resignation brought a sudden end to a 37-year reign of authoritarian rule. Mugabe's tenure ended in an announcement at a special joint session of parliament where MPs had convened to impeach the 93-year-old who dominated every aspect of Zimbabwean public life for decades. On the streets, the that his long and often brutal leadership was over sparked wild celebrations on Tuesday evening. Car horns honked and large crowds erupted into ecstatic cheers and dancing. The likely next president is Emmerson Mnangagwa, who Mugabe sacked as his deputy earlier this month in a move that pushed infuriated army chiefs to seize power and force Mugabe's exit. Mnangagwa was once a key Mugabe ally, but he was also chief rival of the president's wife Grace in a bitter succession battle that erupted publicly in recent months. "I, Robert Gabriel Mugabe... hereby formally tender my resignation... with immediate effect," said the letter which was read out by parliamentary speaker Jacob Mudenda. "My decision to resign is voluntary," he said, speaking of his "concern for the welfare of the people of Zimbabwe and my desire to ensure a smooth, peaceful and non-violent transfer of power". A man removed a portrait of Mugabe from a room inside the conference centre where MPs had assembled for the extraordinary session to impeach the defiant president. Another bystander replaced it with an image of Mnangagwa, who critics accuse of being a ruthless hardliner guilty overseeing years of state-sponsored violence. The ruling ZANU-PF party said Mnangagwa, who fled Zimbabwe after his sacking, could swiftly be named interim president as the country charts a way through the turbulence. "Mnangagwa... will come back in the next 24 hours or so and he will be the one who will be sworn in to be (interim) president for 90 days," said party spokesman Simon Khaya Moyo yesterday. The resignation capped a week in which the military seized control and tens of thousands of ordinary Zimbabweans took to the streets in an unprecedented show of dissent against Mugabe. "I am so happy that Mugabe is gone, 37 years under dictatorship is not a joke. I am hoping for a new Zimbabwe ruled by the people," Tinashe Chakanetsa, 18, told AFP. As the began to sink in, crowds gathered brandishing national flags and often praising army chief General Constantino Chiwenga who led the military's power-grab. Mugabe had ruled Zimbabwe almost unopposed since independence in 1980 -- but efforts to position Grace Mugabe, 52, as his successor prompted intervention from the military that underpinned his regime. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Zimbabwe's incoming president Emmerson Mnangagwa told adoring crowds in Harare today that they were witnessing "unfolding full democracy" as he returned to take power after Robert Mugabe stepped down after 37 years in power. It was his first public speech since Mugabe fired him on November 6 over a succession tussle with the former first lady, a move that prompted the military's intervention to force Mugabe from power, leading to his resignation yesterday. Mnangagwa, who has close ties to the army and the security establishment, will be sworn in as president at an inauguration ceremony on Friday, officials said. "Today we are witnessing the beginning of a new and unfolding full democracy in our country," he said in front of hundreds of supporters, some wearing shirts emblazoned with images of the 75-year-old leader. "We want to grow our economy, we want jobs... all patriotic Zimbabweans (should) come together, work together," he said. He was surrounded by a large security detail and arrived at the headquarters of the ruling ZANU-PF party in a presidential-style motorcade. Two young men held a stuffed crocodile above their heads, a reference to Mnangagwas's nickname, earned for his reputation for stealth and ruthlessness. He had flown in earlier to Harare's Manyame airbase from South Africa, and met key ZANU-PF officials before heading to the State House, the nerve centre of Zimbabwe's political establishment, for a briefing. "Great speech all round, can't describe how I felt seeing him after what he went through. All I want is job creation," said Remigio Mutero, 30, an unemployed IT graduate. Mugabe's iron grip ended yesterday in a shock announcement to parliament, where MPs had convened to impeach the 93-year-old leader who dominated every aspect of Zimbabwean public life for decades. He had last been seen in public on Friday and had given a televised address on Sunday, but neither he nor his wife Grace have been seen since, with their whereabouts unknown. On the streets, the that his long and often brutal leadership was over sparked wild celebrations which lasted late into the night, with crowds dancing and cheering amid a cacophony of car horns. A former key Mugabe ally, Mnangagwa had fled the country after his dismissal, saying he would not return without guarantees of his safety. His sacking was the result of an increasingly bitter succession battle with first lady Grace, who had been pushing to take over from her ageing husband. In a highly symbolic scene shortly after his resignation, a man took down a portrait of Mugabe from a wall inside the building where MPs had assembled for the extraordinary session to impeach the defiant president. Another person replaced it with an image of the ousted vice president. But critics describe Mnangagwa as a ruthless hard-liner who was behind years of state-sponsored violence, warning that he could prove just as authoritarian as his mentor. Rinaldo Depagne of the International Crisis Group said Mugabe's departure "does not necessarily mean more democracy". Mugabe's resignation capped a chaotic week in which the military seized control and tens of thousands of Zimbabweans took to the streets in an unprecedented show of dissent against Mugabe, who left behind an economy in ruins. "We hope to be able to access our money from the bank come December and the US dollar must come back," said Talent Chamunorwa, 37, a brick seller. He was referring to Zimbabwe's chronic shortage of cash and a mistrusted scheme for "bond notes" whose value is supposed to be linked to the US currency, but which trade at a much lower rate in reality. Mugabe had ruled Zimbabwe almost unopposed since independence, and eventually became the world's oldest serving head of state. But efforts to position his 52-year-old wife Grace as his successor were his undoing. Although Mugabe's fate remains unknown, the ZANU-PF has said he deserves to be treated with respect after leading the country for nearly four decades. Last week's military takeover had all the hallmarks of a coup, but the generals stopped short of forcing Mugabe out, and Mnangagwa thanked army chief General Constantino Chiwenga during his speech today. As the crisis grew, the ZANU-PF, an instrument of Mugabe's brutal reign, removed him as party leader and began parliamentary proceedings to have him impeached. The international community hailed Mugabe's exit as a chance to reshape Zimbabwe's future, with the US and Britain calling Mugabe's resignation an "opportunity for Zimbabwe". The government of China, a major political and economic backer of Zimbabwe, described Mugabe as a "good friend of the Chinese people". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) (Corrects first paragraph in Nov. 20 story to say tripled, not quadrupled) By Sudarshan Varadhan NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's coal imports from North America tripled to 2.1 million tonnes in October from a year ago, the highest since at least January 2015, Thomson data showed, and buyers are looking to boost purchases amid a domestic shortage of the fuel. A ban on the use of petroleum coke, a dirtier but better-burning alternative to coal, is spurring expectations India will buy even more coal from the United States in coming months. Petcoke has been banned in some states around the Indian capital New Delhi which is battling heavy smog. But rising pollution in other Indian cities could lead to tougher restrictions such as a nationwide ban on use and imports of petcoke, with environmentalists requesting other states in the country to consider banning the use and import of the dirty fuel. Indian imports of North American coal, including supplies from Canada, stand at about 1.5 million tonnes from Nov. 1 to 20, ship tracking data on Thomson Eikon showed, already more than 70 percent of last month's purchases. "Every cement company is looking for an alternative to petroleum coke, and all of them are scrambling for U.S. coal," a senior executive from one of India's top three cement companies told . The executive had sold 70,000 tonnes of U.S. coal to a client, of which the client had paid for 30,000 tonnes. But the executive said he later took back the 40,000 tonnes that was still unpaid, after realising his own company might need it. Cement companies account for nearly 75 percent of India's annual petcoke demand of 27 million tonnes, according to trade data, and small industries such as lime manufacturers are also considering the use of U.S. coal, which is almost as efficent as petcoke. A tonne of 6,900 kcal/kg U.S. coal now costs up to 8,200-8,300 rupees ($126-$128) on online coal marketplace CoalShastra, up from 7,100-7,200 rupees two weeks ago, said its founder Puneet Gupta. The petcoke ban may deter Prime Minister Narendra Modi's plan to cut India's coal imports, which have risen in the past two months. Vessel-tracking and port data compiled by Thomson Reuters Supply Chain and Commodity Forecasts show that India imported 17.4 million tonnes of coal in October, up from September's 16.1 million tonnes and the highest monthly total this year. ($1 = 65.1000 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan; Editing by Manolo Serapio Jr.) (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) By Rania El Gamal, Osamu Tsukimori and Dmitry Zhdannikov DUBAI/TOKYO/LONDON (Reuters) - Iraq has hired Japan's Toyo Engineering to help build a gas pipeline to Kuwait and a related petrochemical plant as Baghdad looks to reduce flaring and finish paying reparations owed for its 1990 invasion of its neighbour. The project, details of which have not been reported before, would allow Kuwait to diversify its gas imports in the wake a political crisis between Gulf states and major supplier Qatar. It would also deal a blow to Royal Dutch Shell, which aimed to be the dominant gas player in Iraq before relations with Baghdad soured following Shell's exit from large oil projects. "Iraq needs to urgently reduce gas flaring as it trails behind all targets it has promised the World Bank," said a senior industry source working on the project but not allowed to discuss it publicly. "The Kuwaiti gas project is a quick fix and an easy way to monetise gas resources." The World Bank, which has repeatedly made reducing gas flaring a condition of lending to Baghdad, did not respond to a request for immediate comment. Toyo is proposing to construct a gas pipeline and start deliveries after 2019, industry sources said. Toyo's chief financial officer, Kensuke Waki, told that talks about a pipeline and a petrochemical plant were ongoing but a final investment decision had not yet been made. Kuwait is very keen on the project and has offered a sovereign guarantee for up to 80 percent of the costs, industry sources said. No total cost has been announced. Kuwait's oil ministry did not respond to a request for immediate comment. Oil minister Issam Al-Marzouq said last month that talks between Kuwait and Iraq were focused on a proposal to use gas to help pay Baghdad's final $4.6 billion in war compensation payments. Iraqi oil ministry spokesman Asim Jihad said talks were focusing on price and confirmed that supplies could be used to help pay off reparations. DIFFERENCES OVER PRICE, PLANT Industry sources told the talks have faltered over price, however. They said Kuwait is pushing for a price of less than $3 per mbtu (million British thermal unit), in line with U.S. Henry Hub prices. But that is less than half what Iraq pays in the north when importing gas from neighbouring Iran. "The price of gas remains the key sticking point for now," one of the sources said. He also said both Iraq and Kuwait were pushing to have the petrochemical plant built on their territory to further capitalise on gas deliveries. Discussions with Iraq are ongoing, a senior Kuwaiti oil industry source with knowledge of the project said, adding that it was not yet clear if gas would come from West Qurna 2 operated by Russia's Lukoil or from Rumaila, operated by BP. Iraq used to supply Kuwait with gas from Rumaila. Volumes reached as much as 400 mcf per day but stopped shortly after the 1990 invasion. More than a million claimants in Kuwait have been paid as part of Baghdad's $52.4 billion reparations bill for the invasion. But Iraq, hurt by the 2014 fall in oil prices and its war with Islamic State militants, requested a delay on the last and largest tranche, which is due this year. CHALLENGE TO SHELL Kuwait, although one of OPEC's leading oil producers, has struggled to meet growing domestic gas demand. The shortfall has been estimated at 500 million cubic feet per day and is being covered mainly by LNG imports, including from Qatar. A decade ago Kuwait tried to build a pipeline from Qatar, but the move was blocked by Saudi Arabia. With relations between Riyadh and Doha worsening this year, Kuwait is looking to diversify its gas imports. Last year, Kuwait said it would be ready to buy up to 200 mcf/day of gas from Baghdad. Iraqi oil ministry spokesman Jihad said volumes could start at 50 mcf/d rising gradually to 200 mcf/d. Iraq's gas reserves of 3.7 trillion cubic metres rank as 12th largest in the world but represent only a tenth of those of Iran, the world's largest. It extracts large quantities of gas together with oil, however, and that gas is currently being flared. Iraq's gas development plans have long focused on the Basra gas company, a $17 billion, 25-year project in which Iraq has 51 percent, Shell owns 44 percent and Japan's Mitsubishi Corp 5 percent. The project was designed to aggregate gas from fields in the south including West Qurna 1 operated by Exxon Mobil Corp, Zubair operated by Italy's ENI and BP's Rumaila. "Shell's main aim was always to develop an LNG terminal and ultimately a petchem complex in Iraq," said a Shell insider who worked on the gas project. With Iraq refusing to agree on a gas price with Shell, the project has hit a major impasse, industry sources said. Talks have also been complicated by Shell pulling out of the Majnoon oil fields earlier this year. "Iraq is furious at Shell and prospects don't look that great for the Basra gas company," one Iraqi industry source said. Asked about the negotiations, both Shell and the Iraqi oil ministry said discussions were ongoing and both sides remained committed to the project. (Additional reporting by Aaron Sheldrick and Ahmed Rasheed; writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov; editing by Jason Neely) (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The company also said one of its executives in the Gulf region had resigned and another was on administrative leave, without giving further details. SAP operates in more than 180 countries, selling business planning software that many of the world's top multinationals rely on to manage their far-flung business operations. It is a big supplier of corporate compliance software. A source familiar with the matter said the individuals referred to by SAP were Tayfun Topkoc, the company's country manager for the United Arab Emirates, and Oman country manager Przemek Oledzki - whose LinkedIn profile identifies him as chief of staff for the UAE, Iran and Oman region. The source added SAP's investigations related to the company's dealings with Iran, which are overseen by its Gulf States offices in Dubai. Topkoc and Oledzki did not immediately respond to requests for comment via their email and social media profiles. "We are currently investigating business activities in the region," SAP told in a statement, without specifying whether the matter concerned Iran. "SAP is committed to the highest standards of business ethics and we always strive to operate with transparency and integrity. Please understand that we cannot say more while the investigation is ongoing," it said. GLOBAL COMPLIANCE CRACKDOWN Last month, SAP promised to make sweeping changes to its sales practices around the world after the company revealed it was the subject of a U.S. corruption probe tied to its South African business. (http://reut.rs/2jNUIey) (http://reut.rs/2z8By9x) A spokesman declined to comment on whether the issues in the Gulf had arisen after the company put in place additional compliance and due diligence controls worldwide on the use of sales agents and resellers to win SAP contracts. In April, SAP warned customers and sales partners that U.S. sanctions continued to restrict its dealings with Iran and the sale of the company's software there. Despite the lifting of some sanctions by the European Union and the United States in early 2016 following a multinational nuclear deal, severe penalties could result from violating the remaining U.S. sanctions, the company said at that time. In October, an SAP board member told that an internal probe by the company had found faults in its compliance and due diligence controls on how it conducts sales in South Africa and in other countries. In response, SAP said it no longer would pay sales commissions on public sector deals in nations where risks of corruption in government contract awards remained high, such as Brazil, China, India, Russia, Iran and South Africa. Last year, SAP was fined $3.9 million by U.S. securities regulators for failing to maintain internal controls to prevent a bribery scheme by a former sales executive who won lucrative contracts from the Panamanian government. (https://reut.rs/2vcPOIp) (Reporting by Tom Arnold in Dubai and Eric Auchard in London; Editing by Greg Mahlich and Mark Potter) (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) By Sudarshan Varadhan NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's coal imports from North America are likely to surge as buyers are looking to boost purchases amid a domestic shortage of the fuel and a regional ban on petroleum coke, traders and cement company officials said. Shipping data from Thomson showed that India's coal imports from North America tripled to 2.1 million tonnes in October from a year ago. Other trading sources put this figure lower, at 1.47 million tonnes, and they said coal imports for Nov. 1-20 have reached 1.14 million tonnes. Indian imports of North American coal, including supplies from Canada, stand at about 1.5 million tonnes from Nov. 1 to 20, Thomson data showed, already more than 70 percent of last month's purchases. A ban on the use of petroleum coke, a dirtier but better-burning alternative to coal, is spurring expectations India will buy even more coal from the United States in coming months. Petcoke has been banned in some states around the Indian capital New Delhi which is battling heavy smog. But rising pollution in other Indian cities could lead to tougher restrictions such as a nationwide ban on use and imports of petcoke, with environmentalists requesting other states in the country to consider banning the use and import of the dirty fuel. "Every cement company is looking for an alternative to petroleum coke, and all of them are scrambling for U.S. coal," a senior executive from one of India's top three cement companies told . The executive had sold 70,000 tonnes of U.S. coal to a client, of which the client had paid for 30,000 tonnes. But the executive said he later took back the 40,000 tonnes that was still unpaid, after realising his own company might need it. Cement companies account for nearly 75 percent of India's annual petcoke demand of 27 million tonnes, according to trade data, and small industries such as lime manufacturers are also considering the use of U.S. coal, which is almost as efficient as petcoke. A tonne of 6,900 kcal/kg U.S. coal now costs up to 8,200-8,300 rupees ($126-$128) on online coal marketplace CoalShastra, up from 7,100-7,200 rupees two weeks ago, said its founder Puneet Gupta. The petcoke ban may deter Prime Minister Narendra Modi's plan to cut India's coal imports, which have risen for the first time in the past two months after falling in the past few years. ($1 = 65.1000 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan; Editing by Manolo Serapio Jr.) (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) By Nidhi Verma NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian Oil Corp is considering buying Venezuelan crude for the first time in at least six years, in a move that could help the crisis-struck South American nation settle unpaid bills with another state-owned Indian energy firm. The OPEC-member's economy has collapsed since crude prices plummeted in 2014, forcing it to delay payments for oil services and fuel supplies. Venezuela depends on oil for more than 90 percent of its export revenues. Venezuela's national oil company PDVSA has missed debt payments to ONGC Videsh, the foreign investment arm of Indian explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp, for six month and wants to settle $449 million dues using existing and new Indian clients. In a letter reviewed by Reuters, Venezuelan Oil Minister Eulogio del Pino wrote to the chairman of Indian Oil Corp, Sanjiv Singh, last week "to evaluate the possibility of a new Venezuelan crude oil supply and refining agreement" with IOC. IOC chairman Sanjiv Singh confirmed he had received a letter from Venezuela seeking to sell crude. "All routes are open for us. We need to look at pricing and quality before taking any decision," Singh told on Wednesday. PDVSA did not respond to a request for a comment. The letter said Venezuela has a supply agreement for more than 360,000 barrels per day (bpd) with Indian companies. It is not clear, however, whether Venezuela could supply more oil to overseas customers. To meet its highly subsidized domestic needs, PDVSA is said to have been siphoning off crude from cash-paying joint ventures with foreign firms. Venezuela's crude production in October fell below 2 million bpd, its lowest in almost three decades, according to figures provided to OPEC. Currently, only private refiners Reliance Industries and Essar Oil currently buy Venezuelan oil. IOC, which is India's biggest fuel refiner, has not processed Venezuelan oil for years as its crude is heavy and has a high sulphur content. However, IOC's ability to process such cheaper grades has improved after an upgrade of its 300,000 bpd east-coast Paradip refinery last year. PDVSA and its Indian partners together produce around 40,000 bpd from joint ventures in Venezuela's Orinoco belt. (Reporting by Nidhi Verma in NEW DELHI; Additional Reporting by Alexandra Ulme in CARACAS; Editing by Henning Gloystein and Richard Pullin) (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the ban on use of petroleum coke in and around New Delhi as the country battles to clean the air in its capital, one of the world's most polluted cities. India is the world's biggest consumer of petroleum coke - a dirtier alternative to coal composed mainly of carbon - which emits 11 percent more greenhouse gases than coal, according to the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy. Burning it also emits several times more sulphur dioxide, which causes lung diseases and acid rain. "Keeping in view the fact that pollution is increasing, we are not lifting the ban on use of petcoke and furnace oil in these industrial units in three states," a Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Madan Bhimrao Lokur said in its order, referring to polluting units. The ban, which covers the states of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, came into effect on Nov. 1. Record levels of smog earlier this month in New Delhi and other major centres have piled pressure on the government to tackle a growing public heath crisis. Sulphur-heavy petcoke and other cheap, highly polluting fuels such as furnace oil are widely used by cement factories, dyeing units, paper mills, brick kilns and ceramics businesses. India's annual demand for the fuel, which is more energy efficient than coal, has nearly doubled over the past four years to more than 27 million tonnes. Indian health ministry data shows that respiratory issues killed about 10 people per day in the year ended March 2017 in the National Capital Region - a rapidly urbanizing and polluted area around New Delhi that is a third the size of New York state, but houses 2.5 times more people. The continued ban on the sale and use of petcoke could hit the country's small and medium scale industries, which employ millions of workers and operate on thin margins. (Reporting by Suchitra Mohanty; Wriiting by Malini Menon; Editing by Manolo Serapio Jr.) (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Uber Technologies Inc failed to disclose a massive breach last year that exposed the data of some 57 million users of the ride-sharing service, the company's new chief executive officer said on Tuesday. Discovery of the company's handling of the incident led to the departure of two employees who led Uber's response to the incident, said Dara Khosrowshahi, who was named CEO in August following the departure of founder Travis Kalanick. Khosrowshahi said he had only recently learnt of the matter himself. The company's admission that it failed to disclose the breach comes as Uber seeks to recover from a series of crises that culminated in the Kalanick's ouster in June. "None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it," Khosrowshahi said in a blog post. According to the company's account, two individuals downloaded data from a web-based server at another company that provided Uber with cloud-computing services. The data contained names, email addresses and mobile phone numbers of some 57 million Uber users around the world. The hackers also downloaded names and driver's licence numbers of some 600,000 of the company's US drivers, Khosrowshahi said in a blog post. Bloomberg News reported that Uber's chief security officer Joe Sullivan and a deputy had been ousted from the company this week because of their role in the handling of the incident. The company paid hackers $100,000 to delete the stolen data, according to Bloomberg. Though such payoffs are rarely discussed in public, US Federal Bureau of Investigation officials and private security have told Reuters in the past year that an increasing number of have made payments to criminal hackers who have turned to extortion. None have previously come to light that aimed to suppress breaches that would have required public disclosure, such as those involving protected personal information. Sullivan did not immediately return messages seeking comment. Sullivan, formerly the top security official at Facebook Inc, is a former federal prosecutor and one of the most admired security executives in Silicon Valley. Kalanick learnt of the breach a month after it took place, in November 2016, as the company was in negotiations with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission over the handling of consumer data, according to Bloomberg. Uber representatives did not respond when asked to comment on the Bloomberg report. Khosrowshahi said he had hired Matt Olsen, former general counsel of the US National Security Agency, to help him figure out how to best guide and structure the company's security teams and processes. "While I can't erase the past, I can commit on behalf of every Uber employee that we will learn from our mistakes," he said. "We are changing the way we do business, putting integrity at the core of every decision we make and working hard to earn the trust of our customers." (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) By Jim Finkle and Heather Somerville (Reuters) - Uber Technologies Inc paid hackers $100,000 to keep secret a massive breach last year that exposed the personal information of about 57 million accounts of the ride-service provider, the company said on Tuesday. Discovery of the U.S. company's cover-up of the incident resulted in the firing of two employees responsible for its response to the hack, said Dara Khosrowshahi, who replaced co-founder Travis Kalanick as CEO in August. "None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it," Khosrowshahi said in a blog post. (http://ubr.to/2AmxlQt) The breach occurred in October 2016 but Khosrowshahi said he had only recently learned of it. The hack is another controversy for Uber on top of sexual harassment allegations, a lawsuit alleging trade secrets theft and multiple federal criminal probes that culminated in Kalanick's ouster in June. The stolen information included names, email addresses and mobile phone numbers of Uber users around the world, and the names and license numbers of 600,000 U.S. drivers, Khosrowshahi said. Uber passengers need not worry as there was no evidence of fraud, while drivers whose license numbers had been stolen would be offered free identity theft protection and credit monitoring, Uber said. Two hackers gained access to proprietary information stored on GitHub, a service that allows engineers to collaborate on software code. There, the two people stole Uber's credentials for a separate cloud-services provider where they were able to download driver and rider data, the company said. A GitHub spokeswoman said the hack was not the result of a failure of GitHub's security. "While I can't erase the past, I can commit on behalf of every Uber employee that we will learn from our mistakes," Khosrowshahi said. "We are changing the way we do business, putting integrity at the core of every decision we make and working hard to earn the trust of our customers." Bloomberg first reported the data breach on Tuesday. Khosrowshahi said Uber had begun notifying regulators. The New York attorney general has opened an investigation, a spokeswoman said. Uber said it had fired its chief security officer, Joe Sullivan, and a deputy, Craig Clark, this week because of their role in the handling of the incident. Sullivan, formerly the top security official at Facebook Inc and a federal prosecutor, served as both security chief and deputy general counsel for Uber. Sullivan declined to comment when reached by . Clark could not immediately be reached for comment. Kalanick learned of the breach in November 2016, a month after it took place, a source familiar with the matter told . At the time, the company was negotiating with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission over the handling of consumer data. A board committee had investigated the breach and concluded that neither Kalanick nor Salle Yoo, Uber's general counsel at the time, were involved in the cover-up, another person familiar with the issue said. The person did not say when the investigation took place. Uber said on Tuesday it was obliged to report the theft of the drivers' license information and had failed to do so. Kalanick, through a spokesman, declined to comment. The former CEO remains on the Uber board of directors, and Khosrowshahi has said he consults with him regularly. CRIME PAYS Although payments to hackers are rarely publicly discussed, U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation officials and private security companies have told that an increasing number of companies are paying criminal hackers to recover stolen data. "The economics of being a bad guy on the internet today are incredibly favorable," said Oren Falkowitz, co-founder of California-based cyber security company Area 1 Security. Uber has a history of failing to protect driver and passenger data. Hackers previously stole information about Uber drivers and the company acknowledged in 2014 that its employees had used a software tool called "God View" to track passengers. Khosrowshahi said on Tuesday he had hired Matt Olsen, former general counsel of the U.S. National Security Agency, to restructure the company's security teams and processes. The company also hired Mandiant, a cybersecurity firm owned by FireEye Inc, to investigate the breach. The new CEO has traveled the world since replacing Kalanick to deliver a message that Uber has matured from it earlier days as a rule-flouting startup. "The new CEO faces an unknown number of problems fostered by the culture promoted by his predecessor," said Erik Gordon, an expert in entrepreneurship and technology at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. (Reporting by Jim Finkle in Toronto and Heather Somerville in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Joseph Menn and Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Stephen Coates) (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.) (Reuters) - Cab operator Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL] said on Tuesday two hackers accessed personal data of its 57 million users and drivers. The attack, which occurred in late 2016, gave up names, email addresses and phone numbers of its users and drivers, the company said. (http://ubr.to/2hIO2tZ) (Reporting by Diptendu Lahiri in Bengaluru) (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) 1. In 1928, thousands of workers were murdered by military forces in Colombia. The workers were protesting the bad working conditions in the company plantations. Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez depicted a fictional version of this in his novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude, and the inhuman impact that this particular company had in Colombia. Name the company and the incident. 1. The Banana massacre. It was a massacre of workers for the United Fruit Company that ceased operations in 1970. One of its famous brands Chiquita bananas remains KKR, one of the largest global investment firms, is looking to acquire a non-banking financial company (NBFC) in the country to bolster its lending business, said a source in the know. 1. This company was founded by a couple in 1859. It handled the baggage of all the delegates attending the Republican Presidential convention at Chicago in 1860 when Abraham Lincoln was nominated. It also helped promote the sale of US War Bonds during World War II. Name the company. After partially exiting e-tailer Flipkart, management is eyeing its second major exit in India from cab aggregator Ola. In both cases, Japanese internet giant SoftBank is buying Tiger Globals stake. In August, SoftBank Vision Fund agreed to invest $2.6 billion in Flipkart, half of it in buying existing investors such as and Accel. now plans to sell 10-12 per cent of its 12-15 per cent stake in Ola for $400-500 million to SoftBank. Here's a snapshot of Tiger Globals investments and exits in India The quest to have a larger screen lead to bigger sized smartphones. There was a time when a 5.5inch smartphone was uncomfortable to hold, forget about using it with single hand. But thanks to edge-to-edge displays, also referred as bezel-less screens, smartphones with even bigger displays are now comfortable to hold. The thick band that separated the display from the body shrunk, resulted in a bigger screen size for content consumption in an ergonomically compact design. For instance, the iPhone 8Plus with a 5.5inch display is taller and wider than the 5.8inch display on iPhone X. While these new age smartphones are aesthetically appealing, the displays running towards the size make them prone to accidental damages. Here are some of the best bezel-less phones you can buy. Samsung Galaxy Note 8: Rs 67,800 Samsung's Galaxy series always had a 5.5inch plus displays and with the Note 8, Samsung crossed the 6inch mark. Thanks to the company's infinity display, Samsung has managed to pack in a 6.3inch Super AMOLED display in a 162.5mm tall device. With very minimal bezels visible on the sides, there is a sleek band on the top which mounds sensors and front camera. The fingerprint scanner that usually rested at the bottom band in previous generation Note devices has been moved to the rear. The Note 8 is a flagship smartphone powered by Exynos 8895 Octa-core processor paired with 6GB of RAM and 12MP dual camera with 2x optical zoom and live focus. Apple iPhone X: Rs 89,000 Apple too joined the bandwagon of bezel-less smartphones but did it in its own style. Referring it to an all-screen iPhone, Apple has even done away with the thin bands on the top and the bottom bezels too. There is only a notch at the top centre of the 5.8inch screen that packs in the TrueDepth camera powering FaceID for unlocking as Apple has completely done away with the fingerprint scanner. It is powered by company's A11 bionic chip with neural engine and packs in 12MP wide-angle and telephoto cameras with dual optical image stabilisation at the rear. The front selfie camera module can also capture great portrait selfies. Google Pixel 2XL: Rs 73,000 The new Pixel XL features a 6inch 2k bezel-less display, which it even more economic to hold over the first generation Pixel XL. About the screen burn and blue-tilt issue being reported on the Pixel 2XL, we didn't encounter the former whereas the latter is visible at certain angles. Google has put forward its best with a 12.2 MP rear camera powered by artificial intelligence which can detect edges and capture stunning portrait shots with depth effect. Google has also introduced an AI-based virtual search tool that appears in the Photos app just before the delete icon. Using machine learning, it recognises objects and landmarks. There is also an Active Edge feature that activates voice assistant, when the phone is squeezed from the sides, and also silences incoming calls.73,000 and the iPhone X 64 GB will retail for Rs 89,000. The hardware and performance of both the phones are top-notch, but if your budget allows, veering towards the iPhone X is a good idea. Xiaomi Mi Mix 2: Rs 35,999 Mi Mix 2, the successor to Xiaomi's concept phone launched last year, has a 5.9-inch bezel-less display with 2,160x1,080p resolution that offer great colours on screen. With the bezel-less display offering a bigger screen estate, the on-screen capacitive keys can be turned off and a quick-ball for screen controls can be activated from the settings. The scratch-proof ceramic rear looks stunning, but attracts fingerprints easily. Mi Mix 2 features a single 12-MP camera with Sony IMX386 that captures good images. It runs on MIUI8 based on Android 7.1.1, is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor paired with 6 GB RAM and 128 GB onboard storage. The phone performs everyday tasks with ease. LG Q6: Price: Rs 14,999 This new trend isn't restricted to flagship smartphones only. LG's Q6 is a mid-segment smartphone with a 5.5inch bezel-less screen. It is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 processor paired with 3GB of RAM and features a 13MP rear camera and a 5MPP front facing camera. The device packs in a 3000 mAh battery. Micromax Canvas Infinity: Rs 9,999 The Indian handset manufacturer, Micromax, too announced an affordable bezel-less smartphone - Canvas Infinity. It has 5.7-inch display with sleek band running on the top and bottom of the display. It is powered by Snapdragon 425 processor and has got 3GB of RAM and a 2900 man battery. Along with being a bezel-less device, this is also a selfie phone with a 16MP front camera and a 13MP rear camera. Coca Cola has launched a new variant of Thums Up after 24 years of acquiring the brand from Parle in 1993. 'Thums Up Charged' is part of the company's strategy to make the home-grown cola drink a billion dollar beverage brand in the next two years. The company claims the new variant to be "packed with even more thunder" which essentially comes from the high caffeine content in the beverage. Vijay Parasuraman, Vice President, Marketing, Coca-Cola India & South West Asia said that the plan is to make Thums Up an even bigger brand in the country. Thums Up is currently a Rs 5,000-crore brand in terms of sales revenue. The launch of more variants is to offer more choice to consumers, said Ishteyaque Amjad, Vice President, Public Affairs and Communications, Coca-Cola India & South West Asia. Thums Up Charged is available in seven different packs-180ml can, 200ml Can, 300ml Can, 330ml Can, 250ml PET, 400ml PET, 500ml PET. The product launch will be supported through an integrated marketing campaign, including television, digital, radio, outdoor, social media and retail advertising. Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh is the brand ambassador for the Thums Up brand in Hindi-speaking states and Mahesh Babu will be the face of the beverage maker in the other non-Hindi speaking markets. The Central Board of Secondary Education will be conducting the Class X and XII exams in the first week of March. Unlike what was planned earlier, the exams will not be rescheduled to February. The board is also trying to wrap up the exams within the duration of a month, instead of carrying it on for 45 to 50 days, a report in Hindustan Times said. Students appearing for the Class X and XII boards might be a bit concerned with this move as it will leave them with smaller gaps between exams. Earlier this year, the board was processing a proposal to reschedule the exams to February in order to give examiners more time to check the answer scripts. This move was discussed as part of reforms focussed on "error-free" evaluations. However, various CBSE-affiliated schools voiced their concerns regarding the rescheduling of the exams by a month, to which the board said that no decisions would be taken without the consultation of various stakeholders. The duration of the exams is yet to be announced. Sources also mentioned that shorter duration of the exams implies that the results would also be declared earlier than usual. "We are hoping to start the exams by March first week. Due to Holi the exam might not start from March 1 but these things are being finalised. We are trying to conduct the exam in a shorter time period to give the evaluation process more time," the HT report quoted a senior CBSE official saying. According to a report in The Indian Express, a total of 10.76 lakh students registered for the exams, out of which 10.20 lakh appeared, and were cleared by 8.24 lakh students. Next year's exams will also include Class X students, who no longer would be able to choose between board exams and school assessment and will have to appear mandatorily to move to Class XI. In what might appear to be a scene from a poorly-directed Bollywood potboiler, a train carrying around 1500 farmers to Maharashtra landed up in Madhya Pradesh. If you are scratching your head trying to figure out how can a train travel 160 km in the wrong direction, trust us, you are not alone. The farmers were on their way to Kota, but are now stranded in Banmore station near Gwalior and the authorities have no idea what to do with them. The farmers were returning from the Kisan Mukti Sansad, according to multiple reports. The special train was arranged from Maharshtra for these farmers. The train had 1,494 farmers, including 200 women. The farmers had booked the train themselves for an amount of Rs 39 lakhs. According to the News18 report, in a bizarre turn of events, the train received a wrong signal at Mathura station, and made its way to MP instead of its destination. News18 quoted a passenger who said that went to sleep at night and when they woke up at 6 am, they were at Banmore station. Another passenger told News18 that they are likely to reach Maharshtra on Thursday. When the passengers approached the station master, he said that he had no knowledge of the route plan and refused to give a green signal. After one and half hour, the increasingly impatient passengers created a commotion by stopping a goods' train. The Kisan Mukti Sansad or the farmers' liberation parliament was attended by thousands of farmers who were demanding a one-time total farm debt waiver. Hyderabad police, in an attempt to make the city "beggar-free", is removing all beggars from the city streets. Telangana Prisons Department, in coordination with police and the civic body, has picked up and admitted 235 male beggars and over 130 women beggars to Anand Ashrams (special homes) since October 20. In an unprecedented development, two middle-aged women, who speak English and claim to have worked in western countries, are among those caught while begging on city streets recently. "Two women, aged 50 and 44, both natives of Hyderabad, were among some 30 women caught begging near a dargah in Langer Houz. Police took them to Anand Ashram on November 11," a senior official said. The elder of the two told the staff that she had an MBA degree, and once worked as accountant in London before returning here. Her son, who was contacted by the authorities subsequently, confirmed this. The younger woman said she was a Green Card holder and had worked in the US, said K Arjun Rao, superintendent of the Cherlapalli open-air jail and the Ashram in-charge. "The fifty-year-old woman, who had lost her husband and was facing certain problems, approached a godman, and on his advise started begging near the dargah. Her son is an architect based in the US," he said. The younger woman claimed that she started begging after her relatives cheated her out of her share of the ancestral property, he further added. The official said that the women were handed over to their relatives once they gave the undertakings that they would not beg again. There are still some 12 women in the Ashram, he said. The drive began after the Director General (Prisons and Correctional Services) V K Singh told the government that the prison department will take care of the rehabilitation of beggars, on the lines of measures taken for the rehabilitation of prison inmates. However, the drive was postponed after media reports sought to link it to the scheduled visit of US President Donald Trump's daughter, Ivanka Trump, here for the Global Entrepreneurship Summit starting November 28. Ivanka Trump is leading a high-powered American delegation of officials, women entrepreneurs and businessmen for the GES in Hyderabad from November 28-30. Ivanka would deliver the key note address at the three-day summit, which would be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The summit is set to be attended by 1,500 entrepreneurs from 170 countries and would have around 350 participants from the US, a large number of who are Indian-Americans. Ivanka said she "very much" looks forward to her visit and is likely to spend some time on sightseeing, including a possible stop at the Charminar. The drive would resume once the summit is over, Singh had said. (With agency inputs) There seems to be no end to troubles for the ride-service provider Uber. Latest in a series of faux pas, which include lawsuits, criminal proceedings, boycotts and an executive exodus, is a report that says Uber Technologies Inc paid hackers around $100,000 for not disclosing the details about 57 million accounts after a massive data breach last year. Uber plans to roll out new features, 'Request for Guest' that lets users book trips on behalf of someone, in India, and such reports emerging at a time when the company is trying to dominate the ride-sharing market is not a good news for it, say experts. Though the incident reportedly happened last year when Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick was at the helm of affairs, new chief executive officer (CEO) Dara Khosrowshahi, who joined the company in August, fired two employees of the company responsible for its response to the hack. "None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it," Khosrowshahi said in a blog post. The breach occurred in October 2016 but Khosrowshahi said he had only recently learned of it. The hack is another controversy for Uber on top of sexual harassment allegations, a lawsuit alleging trade secrets theft and multiple federal criminal probes that culminated in Kalanick's ouster in June. The stolen information included names, email addresses and mobile phone numbers of Uber users around the world, and the names and license numbers of 600,000 U.S. drivers, Khosrowshahi said. Uber passengers need not worry as there was no evidence of fraud, while drivers whose license numbers had been stolen would be offered free identity theft protection and credit monitoring, Uber said. Two hackers gained access to proprietary information stored on GitHub, a service that allows engineers to collaborate on software code. There, the two people stole Uber's credentials for a separate cloud-services provider where they were able to download driver and rider data, the company said. A GitHub spokeswoman said the hack was not the result of a failure of GitHub's security. "While I can't erase the past, I can commit on behalf of every Uber employee that we will learn from our mistakes," Khosrowshahi said. "We are changing the way we do business, putting integrity at the core of every decision we make and working hard to earn the trust of our customers." Bloomberg News first reported the data breach on Tuesday. Khosrowshahi said Uber had begun notifying regulators. The New York attorney general has opened an investigation, a spokeswoman said. Regulators in Australia and the Philippines said on Wednesday they would look into the matter. Uber is seeking to mend fences in Asia after having run-ins with authorities, and is negotiating with a consortium led by Japan's SoftBank Group for fresh investment. SoftBank declined to comment. Uber said it had fired its chief security officer, Joe Sullivan, and a deputy, Craig Clark, this week because of their role in the handling of the incident. Sullivan, formerly the top security official at Facebook Inc and a federal prosecutor, served as both security chief and deputy general counsel for Uber. Sullivan declined to comment when reached by Reuters. Clark could not immediately be reached for comment. Kalanick learned of the breach in November 2016, a month after it took place, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. At the time, the company was negotiating with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission over the handling of consumer data. A board committee had investigated the breach and concluded that neither Kalanick nor Salle Yoo, Uber's general counsel at the time, were involved in the cover-up, another person familiar with the issue said. The person did not say when the investigation took place. With Reuters inputs With Bharat 22 ETF issue delivering a robust push to the Narendra Modi government's Rs 72,500-crore divestment target this fiscal, top bourse BSE has said its mutual fund platform has contributed to over 90 per cent subscription for BSE Bharat 22 ETF's new fund offer (NFO). BSE's e-platforms BSE StAR MF and BSE BiMF have garnered Rs 4,630.60 crore of the Rs 14,500 crore raised through the Bharat-22 Exchange Traded Fund (ETF), comprising 22 companies. "In the just-concluded government stake divestment through Bharat 22 ETF offer, BSE's e-platforms (BSE StAR MF and BSE BiMF) garnered Rs 4,630.60 crore contributed by 1,12,780 applications, predominately in retail category," the BSE said. BSE StAR MF saw a growth in orders on year-on-year basis to Rs 65.5 lakh in FY16-17 from Rs 33 lakh in FY15-16. Watch video: Decoding Bharat 22 ETF In terms of value, the StAR MF has grown to Rs 75,000 crore in FY16-17 from Rs 44,000 crore in FY15-16. BSE StAR MF processed over 86.5 lakh orders aggregating to Rs 62,157 crore on the platform till November 20 of FY17-18, which is close to 20% of the total mutual fund purchase in India. On November 14, the ETF comprising 22 companies received robust response from anchor investors. The issue attracted bids with the portion reserved for them getting subscribed six times to the tune of Rs 12,000 crore on the opening day. ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund-managed Bharat 22 ETFs new fund offer (NFO) had a size of over Rs 8,000 crore. LIC, Bank of India, SBI Pension Fund, EPFO and HDFC Ergo Insurance among others put in bids for the issue. As much as 25 per cent of total issue size, or Rs 2,000 crore, was reserved for anchor investors who put in bids worth about Rs 12,000 crore, ICICI Prudential MF said. The NFO received subscriptions from across the board including mutual funds, foreign portfolio investors, insurance and retirement funds. Xiaomi is taking its top position in the Indian market pretty seriously. The company has launched a new smartphone exchange programme. The Chinese company has paired hands with Delhi-based Cashify, a company which deals with used smartphones. The user will only be able to sell used devices and receive the exchange discount on new Xiaomi smartphones. The company is at par with industry leader Samsung in terms market share for the third quarter according to a report by IDC. This new facility to exchange old phones for new Xiaomi devices will come in handy for people wanting to switch to Xiaomi devices as their daily drivers. The Mi Exchange programme can be availed from Mi Home store directly where the user can return the old smartphone and buy a new Xiaomi device after deducting the price determined by Cashify's protocol. A member from the Cashify team will evaluate the device before quoting the price. For customers who want to evaluate the price of their own device before going to a Mi Home centre, use the Cashify application to get an approximate price of the device. Once the evaluation is completed, the user can either choose to go to the store or request for a pickup. In this case, the user will have to pay the entire amount for Xiaomi's new device. However, the old handset's value will be returned by Cashify later. In a community forum the company said, "In collaboration with Cashify, we have introduced a new programme - Mi Exchange which lets you exchange your old smartphone for a new Xiaomi smartphone. What you need to do is simply bring your old smartphone to a nearest Mi Home." Since the launch of its first smartphone Mi 3 in India, Xiaomi has made leaps in terms of sales and has even managed to catch up with giants like Samsung. The festive season sales helped the company reach the top position. Redmi Note 4 was the company's best-selling device and is expected to receive it's upgrade anytime soon. Earlier today, we reported that Redmi Note 5 was spotted on China's social networking site, Weibo. Redmi Note 5 is expected to feature an all-new 5.99-inch 18:9 screen which will also feature a FullHD+ resolution. Xiaomi has officially released a list of devices that will stop receiving updates after MIUI 9. During the launch event of MIUI 9, the Chinese company has boasted of being the only company that was providing updates to devices dated back to 2012. However, few of these devices will stop receiving support after the roll out of MIUI 9. Xiaomi is popular for not being updated with the latest Android version. However, the company does incorporate most features in its MIUI updates which come with extreme modifications to stock Android. The MIUI 9 is based on Android Nougat 7.1.1. The update was launched earlier this year but started rolling out to Xiaomi devices in India this month. Xiaomi will be stopping support of Mi 4i, Mi 2/2S, Redmi Note 4G, Redmi 2, Redmi 2 Prime and Mi Note. Most of the Xiaomi devices in the list were launched in India in 2015 or before. However, Xiaomi has still kept the Mi 3 out of the list. Xiaomi Mi 3 was the first device from the company that was launched in India. The MIUI 9 update was launched earlier this year but started rolling out to Xiaomi devices in India this month. MIUI 9 will bring a host of new features to the Xiaomi devices. The company began circulating the stable update to Redmi Note 4 and Mi Mix 2. The new software was launched alongside the Xiaomi Redmi Y1 and Redmi Y1 Lite, which will also recieve the update by mid-november. Considering that these new low-specked devices will get the update early, most other Xiaomi devices might also recieve the update within this month. During the launch event the company compared the MIUI 9 with Samsung's TouchWiz on J7 Max. The MIUI 9 was able to open and close 34 apps in comparison to Touch Wiz's 16. Samsung J7 Max was also compared to measure lag-times in between switching apps. Xioami claims the Samsung device takes 45 per cent higher time than the Redmi Note 4 that was operating on MIUI 9. The company even claimed to be as fast as Android stock version. The MIUI 9 makes changes in the notifications shade. The user will have multiple styles of notifications. The notifications will also be bundled in accordance with the application. The user will be able to interact with updates within the notification shade. The split screen can be initiated by using the open applications page. Icon animations have been integrated to the new MIUI 9. Features like Smart Photo editing will let the user edit background distractions within images without much hassle. MIUI 9 also has a shortcut page on the left of the home page. Similar to the Google Now launcher, the user will just have to swipe right to open the shortcuts. Mi Video App now supports popular video formats and also facilitates automatic grouping of videos. Xiaomi has also introduced various India-centric features in the new MIUI 9. IRCTC text messages with ticket details will be received in a card format. Indian festivals have also been included on the Mi Calendar application. The company has also launched stickers specially made for India along with a new Limitless theme. These are the devices that will receive the new MIUI 9: 2017 MI Mix 2, Mi Note 3, Mi 6, Mi Max 2, Redmi Note 4, Redmi Note 4X, Redmi Note 5A, Redmi 4, Redmi Y1, Redmi Y1s 2016 Mi Mix. Mi Note 2, Mi 5, Mi 5s, MI 5s Plus, Mi Max, Mi Max Prime, Redmi Note 3, Redmi 3, Redmi 3s, Redmi 4, Redmi 4A 2015 Mi Note, Mi 4i, Redmi 2, Redmi 2 Prime, Redmi Note 4G, Redmi Note 2 2014 Mi 4, Redmi Note 4G 2013 Mi 3 2012 Mi 2 LOGAN Thanksgiving means a lot to Saboor Sahely. He has fond memories of that Thanksgiving he had more than 40 years ago, when he was alone and broke and had just arrived in Logan from his home country Afghanistan. It was that Thanksgiving when someone invited him to share their turkey dinner. Now Saheely, the owner of Angies Restaurant tries to give back by inviting those who cant afford a meal or who dont want to eat alone to come to Angies for dinner free of charge. Those who come are invited to make an optional donation to charity. Were excited because this years charity is the Cache Food Pantry, he said. Saheely said the hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thanksgiving Day, and that is organized chaos getting ready. If you drive by the restaurant you will see the number of people walking through the door, he said. But it is a fun day. The employees are excited, I am excited and we look forward to it. He said that logistically, feeding so many people pushed the restaurant and its crew to the max. But do you know what? Weve been working on it and weve been doing it for so many years, he said. Were hoping and praying that everything will work out all right and well be able to take care of our customers that day. Saheely came to Logan for a degree but said it wasnt long before he knew Cache Valley was the place he wanted to call home. Since then he has helped family members and others come as well. Wednesday: At 7:00 AM ET, The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) will release the results for the mortgage purchase applications index. At 8:30 AM, The initial weekly unemployment claims report will be released. The consensus is for 240 thousand initial claims, down from 249 thousand the previous week. Also at 8:30 AM, Durable Goods Orders for October from the Census Bureau. The consensus is for a 0.5% increase in durable goods orders. At 10:00 AM, University of Michigan's Consumer sentiment index (final for November). The consensus is for a reading of 97.9, up from the preliminary reading 97.8. At 2:00 PM, FOMC Minutes, Meeting of October 31- November 1, 2017 NYU Stern's "In Conversation with Mervyn King" Series Presents Janet Yellen, Tuesday, November 21, 2017 | BY Ricki Green | With just over a month until Christmas, Facebooks new head of SMB for Australia and New Zealand, Kaylie Smith (left), has put together her top 10 tips for small businesses wanting to ramp up/kick-start their marketing ahead of the 25th. 1. Target those last-minute shoppers Havent started your Christmas promotions yet? Well, you can be sure that a large number of customers havent given Christmas shopping a second thought. Use this to your advantage. Target this audience group with relevant messaging and imagery, make life easier by providing solutions to common Christmas shopping troubles (e.g. Christmas gifts for your mum/nephew sorted!) and use promotions like free express delivery to help lighten the load for your customers. 2. Think GLOBAL Did you know that nearly 210 million people are connected to a business in Australia on Facebook? While this is only one platform where you can target your customers, it shows us that theres no need to limit your promotions to a local audience. Based on our research, the top countries who are engaging with Aussie businesses are from the US, UK, Canada, India and Pakistan, so consider leveraging Facebooks multi-country and multi-city targeting tools, as well as our dynamic-language tools, to increase the opportunity to build new customers this holiday season. 3. Its all about you Theres no denying that any large retailer entering Australia may impact your competitor set, but its important to remember whats unique and exciting about your brand and promote it accordingly. Youll also need to be smarter about who youre targeting and how. There is a wealth of data available via online platforms to help you better target your audience, and you should constantly be testing and evolving your approach (for example, running A/B tests of static ads vs. a more immersive video format) to make sure that your promotions are being effective. 4. Use your budget wisely While broadening your audience is a great way to create new opportunities, one of the most cost-effective ways to advertise during the peak holiday season is focusing on people who are already familiar with your brand to drive them to purchase in store, online or in your mobile app. Use your existing subscriber lists and social media platforms to connect with these audiences. 5. Get even more creative Youll already know how hard it can be to cut through the clutter and the Christmas rush doesnt make this any easier. There are so many creative tools available for businesses to take a simple product and make it pop. Plus, with creative apps like Instagrams Hyperlapse and Boomerang, great natural light, a simple tripod, and backdrops that contextualise your product or service, you can turn any space into your creative studio. Facebooks Mobile Studio is also a good place to start if youre looking to push your content development further. 6. Get on mobile Last year was the first time wed ever seen more products sold on Facebook on mobile vs. desktop (53%). And its not just us research is consistently showing that were entering a new era of mobile-first shoppers, whether its researching and deciding on a product to buy in-store, or buying directly from mobile. In fact, this year 51% of people expect to complete a majority of their holiday purchases on a mobile device. Businesses should make sure that their websites are compatible on mobile and that they are using the social media platforms available to target and engage relevant customers. 7. Dont forget about your in-store customers We know that mobile is where people are, and that advertising on mobile drives purchases online, but purchases will still happen in-store. We also know that purchases in-store have been influenced along their purchase journey by mobile advertising. On Facebook, you can use the ad formats (Store Visits) that have been created specifically for these potential customers, to advertise the store nearest to their physical locations, send them into your stores and ultimately to the cash register. 8. Tell your story with video Video is becoming a key marketing tool for businesses of all sizes. Based on our research, most people scroll through their Facebook or Instagram feeds on-the-go and as a result, videos are often viewed without sound. Because of this, try to incorporate captions, logos and products, so your message comes across clearly without sound. Instagram tools like Hyperlapse, Rewind and Boomerang can also help you to create videos that impress your online community. 9. Stuck for stories? Leverage your customers Thinking about what kind of content will engage your audience can be tricky, but if you have existing brand advocates there is no better time than the holiday period to tell their stories. Has someone had a great experience with your brand or used your product in a creative way? Share their stories and invite your broader community to do the same. 10. Its not all over after 25th December | BY Ricki Green | Isentia has teamed up with Australias leading hackathon for social good, Random Hacks of Kindness (RHoK), to sponsor its summer 2017 event. Held twice a year, RHoK hackathons connect volunteer techies with charities, community groups and social enterprises looking for a digital solution to their biggest challenges. Its 2017 summer hackathon commenced this month, with its major Hackathon Weekend taking place in Sydney on Saturday 25th November to Sunday 26th November. Says Richard Soencer, chief marketing officer, Isentia: Were proud to be supporting RHoK and its ambition to solve social challenges through the power of technology. Isentia understands digital is the language of the next century and we want to do our part to improve literacy among organisations and their people. The RHoK volunteers are experts in a range of digital disciplines and include software developers, business analysts, UX designers, content writers and marketers. Along with its sponsorship, a number of Isentia employees are also offering their skills to the initiative. Isentias commitment to digital literacy and support for RHoK comes from its broader Access Project, which aims to provide an even playing field when it comes to technologies by allowing all people to access the social and economic benefits of digital literacy. The project follows the United Nations vision of digital literacy as a key part of its Sustainable Development Goals. Isentia has developed a range of strategies designed to improve digital literacy, using its expertise in this area to improve lives. Says Spencer: This is part of a broader ambition of Isentia to drive organisations to get the best out of their technology. | BY Lynchy | With last years Zika outbreaks and an increasing number of dengue cases, Singapore has been looking for new ways to reduce mosquito populations. These range from identifying areas most at risk using data and machine learning to releasing bacteria-carrying male mosquitoes that mate with females to produce eggs that do not hatch. Now, in an effort to prevent illnesses and protect communities, Manulife Singapore has taken an unexpected new step in the fight against mosquitoes with the Life Saving Pots the worlds first plant pots that double as mosquito repellents. Mosquitoes breed in stagnant pools of water. In tropical countries like Singapore, these pools can often be found in overwatered plant pots. To deny mosquitoes their favourite breeding ground, each Life Saving Pot is coated in a special paint that contains permethrin, a non-toxic insecticide that repels mosquitoes. The paint has been tested to repel up to 80% of mosquitoes, including Aedes mosquitoes, which carries dengue and Zika viruses. The paint works by disrupting the nervous systems of mosquitoes, knocking them unconscious when they attempt to land on the pots. Manulife Singapore worked with TBWA\Singapore to create handcrafted plant pots in three different sizes with three unique designs. The creation melds art, age-old traditions and technology to combat a long-standing concern in Singapore. The pots are first fired at The Dragon Kiln, one of the last surviving wood-fire brick kilns in Singapore. Unlike modern day gas and electric kilns, the ashes from the wood react to create unpredictable finishes that make each pot one-of-a-kind. Once the pots have cooled, they are layered with two coats of the mosquito-repelling paint. Each Life Saving Pot is then brought to life by traditional ceramic artist, Shee Bee Heo, formally trained at Ming Village Ceramics. Over several months, she painstakingly painted the designs on each pot by hand. Her swift and elegant ink strokes come from over 30 years of experience and dedication to ceramics and traditional Chinese painting. At first glance, the pots appear to be intricately painted, traditional Chinese-style works of art. A very different story is revealed on closer inspection: the delicate flowers upon the long, fine branches depict fallen mosquitoes, with their upturned wings resembling petals. Kwek-Perroy Li Choo, Chief Customer Officer of Manulife Singapore says, Given our climate and population density, Singapore is uniquely vulnerable to mosquito-borne diseases. We believe in encouraging our customers to actively take precautions with their health. We wanted to get to the root of the problem by preventing the mosquitoes from breeding in homes in the first place. The creation of these Life Saving Pots is a simple and elegant solution that helps Singaporeans to keep their homes safe. With the help of its employees and agents, Manulife Singapore distributed 80 Life Saving Pots to senior communities in Singapores Punggol neighbourhood. Ms Sun Xueling, Member of Parliament, Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC was present to help distribute the Life Saving Pots, and provide advice and precautions to the residents of the Punggol neighbourhood, who have been affected by dengue and Zika outbreaks in recent years. Manulife Singapore will also be hosting a contest on its Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/manulife.singapore/) to give away Life Saving Pots to the public. Credits Creative Agency: TBWA\Singapore Gary Steele, Executive Creative Director Hagan de Villiers, Executive Creative Director Jimmy Neo, Creative Director Tattoo Yar, Creative Group Head Kenneth Choong, Senior Writer Claudia Ribeiro, Senior Writer Weicong Chong, Art Director Nastasha Gotangco, Account Director Artists Shee Bee Heo, porcelain artist, Ceramic House | BY Lynchy | MullenLowe Malaysia has picked up two new clients with appointments to work with Themed Attractions Resorts & Hotels and Schneider Electric Malaysia following a competitive pitch. The agency will roll out Themed Attractions Resorts & Hotels (TAR&H) plan for one of the worlds biggest waterparks, Desaru Coast Adventure Waterpark. The agency will be responsible for the branding and launch for the premium integrated destination resort. In addition, global specialist in energy management and automation, Schneider Electric Malaysia, has appointed MullenLowe Malaysia to work on creative duties. MullenLowe Malaysia Managing Director, Adrian Sng (pictured) says the wins are a great way to round off 2017. Its exciting to end the year on a high and this new business puts us in a positive position as we move into the New Year. We are very pleased to be the agency partner for such well-respected organizations in Malaysia, and were looking forward to working with both TAR&H and Schneider Electric Malaysia to launch their respective products into the market, he continued. MullenLowe Malaysia Head of Creative Eddy Nazarullah, says the new clients are testament to the hard work of the team. We are honoured to bring these clients into MullenLowe Group, and the wins certainly demonstrate how the hyperbundled team at MullenLowe Malaysia is able to translate the value of creativity to give our clients an unfair share of attention. House goes Red; Senate GOP sticks with Mitch McConnell as leader: Live Updates Republicans neared control of the House, as their GOP Senate counterparts were set to pick a new leader between Rick Scott and Mitch McConnell. Wednesday, November 22, 2017 at 12:14AM We know that Android 8.1 Oreo is coming to both the OnePlus 5/5T devices as well as the OnePlus 3/3T. The latter is especially welcome news. There is no specific time table for the updates yet. But we find out more information about it. One of the newest pieces of information we got is that the company will not support Project Treble, a feature that aims to bring faster updates to Android devices. This does this by separating the operating system code from the vendor code, letting vendors push key OS updates to the phones without the need to re-optimize their own codes. OnePlus Staff Member Adam Krisko, who was doing an AMA on the OnePlus Forums, broke the news but he didnt say why they didnt intend to support Treble for these devices. Source: Android Authority As for the deal to buy the paddle boat hire lease, Mr Garrisson said, "If one looks at it in totality, it was untidy and from a process perspective certainly my prefernece would have been for it to have proceeded in a different way", but he said the sale had been part of a much bigger project. Last month, Ms Carnell said big spending government departments should require their contractors to pay supply chain businesses within 30 days, writing to seven departments and agencies including Defence, the Australian Tax Office and Human Services as part of consultation on contract terms and conditions, the use of special project bank accounts and 30-day payments. 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. Canada is preparing to hit back at proposals made by the U.S. to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). As negotiations between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico continue over the agreement, Plant reports that negotiators for Canada are planning a presentation which will highlight how the proposal could devastate its domestic car industry. Proposals made by the United States consists of four main parts which could impact the car industry. First, it would require at least half of a cars parts are from the U.S. to avoid a tariff. From there, the proposal includes increasing the amount of content required from North America, making methods of calculating parts percentages more stringent, and forcing car companies to introduce these changes within a year. What theyve put forward is completely unworkable. It doesnt even achieve their own goals. We intend to walk them through that in extreme detail, a Canadian official said. NAFTA talks are currently being held in Mexico City between officials from the three North American countries. It is reported that Mexico is working on a counter-offer to the U.S. proposal on the issue of auto parts. PHOTO GALLERY A deputy from the Pinellas County Sheriffs Office came incredibly close to being involved in a plane crash on Sunday as the officer was on North Keene Road when a single engine aircraft used the roadway to make an emergency landing. According to the Sheriffs Office, two deputies were in the area for unrelated service call when an airplane flew directly over them and crashed into the ground at approximately 10:23 a.m. Following the close call, the deputies raced to the scene and discovered both the pilot and his passenger were uninjured. The pilot, Marc Benedict, told deputies he was returning to the Clearwater Airpark after refueling at the Zephyrhills Municipal Airport earlier in the day. As Benedict was flying over Clearwater, Florida he said the plane started to experience engine problems and didnt believe he would be able to make it to the airport. Benedict started looking for a safe place to land and thats when he noticed the two police vehicles on North Keene Road. After waiting for an opening, Benedict brought the plane in for landing but it clipped a tree which caused to plane to spin and crash. Video Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance chief executive Carlos Ghosn says he has no interest in reintroducing Renault to the U.S. market. In an in-depth interview with Automotive News, Ghosn said Renault is already chasing the emerging markets of China and Russia and doesnt need to compete in the United States. Im not thinking about that. There is no opportunity for it in this midterm plan. The biggest priority for Renault in this plan is in China and Russia. Renault will be selling 70,000 cars in China this year and should be selling 550,000 by the end of the plan. In Russia, Renault needs to make sure to concentrate on the recovery of Russia. For me, there are already enough engines for growth not to need to add another one, Ghosn said. Renaults most direct French rival, Peugeot, is taking a different approach. Led by Carlos Tavares, the automaker is slowly plotting a return to the United States. Fortunately for the Alliance, rolling out Renault models to the U.S. isnt a necessity. Both Mitsubishi and Nissan sell a plethora of models stateside and Ghosn cites China, Russia, and Brazil as the three markets thatll have the biggest impact on increasing Alliance sales by 40 per cent between now and 2022. PHOTO GALLERY Photo: Contributed Simon Rypiak The police investigation of an alleged Kelowna pimp spanned almost a full year. Now, a year after charges were first laid, he's back in court. Simon Walter Rypiak, 33, is alleged to have recruited young girls from across Canada for his Kelowna escort business, using social media. He was charged in August 2016 with 13 offences, including sexual assault, procuring sexual services of a person under 18, assault causing bodily harm and benefiting from sexual services. When charges were first laid, police said their investigation into Rypiak, who went by the name Simon Ross, began in September 2015 and spanned across B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan and Quebec. Police said they had identified nine victims, between the ages of 15 and 20. Investigators also believe that the accused used physical violence to maintain control of his victims, whom he forced to work as escorts for him, Const. Jesse ODonaghey said in August 2016. Rypiak is in court this week for a preliminary inquiry, during which the court will hear the Crown's case to determine if there is sufficient evidence for a Supreme Court trial. Evidence heard at a preliminary inquiry is protected under a publication ban, to ensure potential future jury members are not tainted. Rypiak's preliminary inquiry, which began Monday, is expected to finish Thursday. Photo: The Canadian Press Auditor General Michael Ferguson The federal government's chronic salary struggles will take more time and more dollars than the three years and $540 million projected to fix the snafu-stricken Phoenix public service pay system, the auditor general warned Tuesday an escalating "fiasco" that the governing Liberals laid squarely at the feet of their Conservative predecessors. Auditor Michael Ferguson even went so far as to warn that the government may be "in a similar situation" to Australia, where a comparable problem has already cost more than $1.2 billion over the last eight years and still isn't completely fixed. Ferguson's review of the disastrous Phoenix pay system detailed just how many and how often public servants are either being overpaid and underpaid, how badly federal officials gauged the size and the scope of the problem, and how the government under-reported the number of outstanding pay problems even as issues grew. In all, there were 150,000 employees with pay problems that needed correcting at the start of summer, and a value of over $520 million worth of mistakes. The Liberals will provide a full and detailed cost estimate to fix the system, but not until next May, with plans to finalize by next month a preliminary road map of dozens of projects aimed at fixing Phoenix. Photo: The Canadian Press The City of Kelowna believes it has the law on its side. Local pot dispensaries claim they are defending morality and people's right to choose. A Kelowna court will choose who is right early in the new year. The city filed suit in Kelowna Supreme Court Friday against five of eight storefront operations selling medical marijuana in Kelowna. Corporate and protective services director Rob Mayne says the city is seeking an injunction to shut down all five because they are operating without a business licence. Those named include Trichome Valley RX, Green and Hill Industries, TLC Herbal Meds, Brendan Pogue with the Kelowna Compassion Club, and Richard Bell with Starbuds. While dispensaries have been operating for several years, the city is just now taking stronger measures to shut them down. "We finally got enough resources available to do investigations and gather the information and put it forward," said Mayne. "When we started this, there were five or six operating, now there are eight. We didn't like the trend. They are operating a business contrary to the law. It's not lawful to distribute, by way of dispensary, medical marijuana." Mayne said there are ways of legally obtaining medical marijuana through the mail from distributors approved by Health Canada. Despite the civil action, those named in the suit remain open. "We are going to fight it. It's our opinion that these laws are unjust and immoral," said Rob Lindsay, manager of Trichome Valley RX. "They are keeping people from having safe access to cannabis. It's obscene to me they are able to do that." Photo: RCMP Richmond RCMP have released a forensic sketch of a suspect in a suspicious incident near Whiteside Elementary School. Shortly before 11:30 a.m. Nov. 15, police responded to a field near Whiteside Elementary School to investigate after a 10-year-old student was allegedly grabbed by a male in his forties or fifties. This male was allegedly photographing the area with his cellphone prior to this occurring. The student was running a lap near the field directly south of Whiteside Elementary School. As she was running towards the male, he allegedly grabbed her on the arm, said Cpl. Dennis Hwang. Though the student advised our investigator that she did not feel threatened, the incident is considered unusual and the motive unclear. The police would very much like to locate this individual and speak with him. The man is described as an Asian male, five-foot-seven to five-foot-10, with a medium build, clean shaven and with black hair. He was wearing brown pants and a black and blue sweater Anyone with information is asked to contact Const. Jason Pickering at 604-278-1212. Photo: The Canadian Press B.C. Premier John Horgan, right, shakes hands with Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee. Washington state's governor took aim at President Donald Trump in a speech to the B.C. legislature Tuesday, saying travel bans on immigrants and refugees have caused economic and moral wounds in the United States. Gov. Jay Inslee said people are questioning whether the U.S. will continue providing leadership around the world as a result of Trump's presidency. "With everything happening in our White House in Washington, D.C., I know many nations have questioned our nation's leadership on some very important issues and have questions whether my nation will remain a shining city on the hill," said Inslee, who is a Democrat. Inslee drew a standing ovation when he mentioned Washington state's decision to join a lawsuit to prevent Trump's administration from deporting thousands of young immigrants brought to America as children and who live in the United States illegally, often referred to as "dreamers." "They are not a danger," he said. "They are dreamers." Inslee is the first governor from Washington to address the legislature since 1984. He also held meetings with B.C. Premier John Horgan during his visit. "I want to assure this assembly that no matter who is in the White House, it won't affect Washington state's relationship with Canada or British Columbia," he said. "It cannot stop us from moving forward on climate change." "We cannot be daunted by this particular president," he told a news conference. "I don't want people in B.C. for one second to think about not travelling to Washington state because they are concerned about the president of the United States. Maybe as a show of defiance you ought to come twice as often." Photo: CTV A Vancouver Whitecaps star player has been questioned by police in Peru following the death of a teenager. Peruvian newspaper El Comercio reports that Whitecaps striker Yordy Reyna spent several hours at a police station, then left without saying much to local journalists. Alessandra Chocano, a 16-year-old volleyball player, was found dead at an apartment building days earlier. Much about the circumstances remain a mystery. According to the victim's lawyer Reyna is not considered a suspect. A Whitecaps spokesperson says Reyna attended the same party Sunday, the day the victim died. Local media is reporting that Chocano spent Saturday night with friends at a club in Miraflores, an affluent suburb of the capital city of Lima. The party continued into a high-rise apartment, where the teenager's body was found covered with blood on a bedroom floor around 5 a.m. Sunday. Peruvian news previously reported Reyna was friends with Chocano, but his lawyer said that isn't the case. - with Files from CTV Photo: CTV A snowplow operator in southeastern British Columbia is being praised for his role in saving the life of an elderly woman. Vern Radloff rushed to assist first responders in Cranbrook reach the 73-year-old who had fallen at her isolated home several days earlier, but had finally managed to reach her phone to call for help. Radloff, a plow operator for the City of Cranbrook for nearly 30 years, says he couldn't believe what awaited him at the rural property. He says about 25 centimetres of untouched snow blanketed the meandering, 2.5-kilometre driveway leading to the house where the injured woman awaited rescue. But within about 15 minutes Radloff had cleared a path for the ambulance and fire department, prompting an email to the city from an impressed fire chief, who says Radloff's speedy response was vital to the successful rescue. Chief Wayne Price says the patient was in poor condition when paramedics reached her and further delays could have led to a different outcome, but Radloff says it was all in a day's work. "If they need help, we go and help them. That's always been the case for the city here," he said. And the plow operator didn't stick around after his literal 15 minutes of fame. "I just got out of there and let those guys continue on with their work." Photo: Skylar Noe-vack Penticton Fire Department attended a small structure fire in the Penticton Industrial Park on Wednesday morning. A small electrical fire broke out at a Penticton manufacturer on Wednesday morning, just as employees were getting ready to start their work day. The Penticton Fire Department was called to Boundary Machine on Commercial Way just before 7:30 a.m. for reports of visible smoke and a possible structure fire. The fire was out upon the arrival of fire crews, who determined that the fire started from an electrical box outside of the shop's main entrance. A witness said staff was quickly evacuated when the fire started, and said "the fire was lucky not to have spread into the building." Penticton Electrical was at the shop at 8:00 a.m. to deal with the electrical box. Photo: File photo Police in Clearwater shot and killed what appeared to be a starving cougar that they say had little fear of humans. RCMP Sgt. Grant Simpson says the animal was shot Tuesday after it was seen prowling through a subdivision in the municipality in B.C.'s North Thompson. Police were told an animal had killed a house cat, and Simpson says his members determined the cougar posed a significant risk to the public. When the cougar entered a home under construction, Simpson says officers moved in and shot it. He says tranquilizing the cougar was not an option because it appeared unhealthy and starving. A necropsy will be done on the animal's body that could determine why it was in such poor condition. The Penticton Indian Band heads to the polls today in a deeply controversial byelection to fill five open council seats. The seats were vacated by resignations, with opponents of Chief Chad Eneas calling for an entirely new election. The dissident group aligned with former Chief Jonathan Kruger say the PIB government has collapsed and no longer has quorum with just four of nine original members of Chief and Council remaining. Longtime electoral officer Valerie Baptiste was removed from her post shortly after she called for an entirely new election and replaced with Westbank First Nation legal counsel Julia Buck to remove any perception of bias. The man (Eneas) used to be out in the community a lot. We would see him in community activities, luncheons, funerals, Baptiste said. We haven't seen him once. He stopped being a part of the community when he was voted in. I say hes not my Chief. The federal government has stated it will not be getting involved in the disagreement, citing the First Nations custom election code. The Penticton Indian Band released a statement Tuesday, ensuring the current Chief and council is not involved in the running of the by election in any way. It is important for all voting members to have the right to access the polling station, unimpeded, without duress. We have taken measures to ensure the protection of this non-bias, democratic process, Eneas said. Security was already on site when the small group of protesters showed up Wednesday morning and attempted to block the front door. Some voters simply went around the protest, and used the band hall's side door. RCMP eventually arrived, and protesters began allowing voters through the front door. We want to get a full governance table and begin the community mediation process so all membership has the chance to have their ideas and opinions considered, Eneas continued in his statement. Eneas has been receiving calls for his resignation since the spring from dissidents in the community. In October, the PIB filed lawsuit against six former councillors for allegedly blocking band business. Eight community members put their names forward for election. Results will be released Thursday. Photo: CTV An undercover sting by the B.C.'s conservation service has ended with a conviction and fine for a man charged with trafficking in bear parts. Cache Creek resident Hong Hui Xie appeared in provincial court in Kamloops on Monday and was fined a total of $18,000 for purchasing bear paws and gall bladders. Court documents show the undercover operation targeting the 48-year-old man began in October 2015 and resulted in nine charges. Three of the counts were later stayed. Det. Sgt. Darcy MacPhee with the conservation officer service says poaching for animal parts is a global problem but abundant wildlife in B.C. makes the province especially vulnerable. He says if the trafficking continues it could harm the provincial bear population. MacPhee also says poachers should not be confused with licensed, law-abiding hunters. "These (poachers) are harvesting wildlife specifically for commercial use for their parts. It's a for-profit venture," he says. Photo: Penticton Yacht Club Modern docks installed at the club last year The Penticton Yacht Club will have to compete with the market to keep its home on Okanagan Lake, after city council voted to issue a request for proposals on the marina's sublease in 2018. Council approved a one year extension of the clubs existing lease Tuesday, but balked at directing staff to negotiate the long-term lease requested by the club to acquire financing for needed upgrades. Although the Penticton Yacht Club has operated the Okanagan Lake marina for decades, Coun. Helena Konanz pointed to the Skaha Marina fiasco as proof they need to take the offer to the public. From what Ive heard, there is a very large part of this community that do not want a 20 year lease for anything, Konanz said. Coun. Judy Sentes disagreed, stating the yacht clubs stewardship of the marina warrants an extension. Our community needs to understand that if we are going to have what we all desire which in this case is an upgraded, safe marina which actually anchors the Okanagan Lake time has to be part of that factor, she said. Lending institutions dont look at anything that has less than a 20-year lease, Sentes added. The current agreement sees the club pay the city 10 per cent of gross revenue from all docks or $60,000, whichever is greater. The province owns the land and leases to the City of Penticton, who sublets it to the yacht club. The citys lease with the province will expire in nine years, but will be renewed early in advance of the sublet being put out to market. Maybe we can package two marinas up in one, and have a proposal come forward at that point, Coun. Andre Martin said, referring to the Skaha Marina lease set to expire in 2019. The Skaha Marina is in need of $1.85M in taxpayer-funded repairs in the absence of a long-term lease there. Chino, CA (91710) Today A clear sky. Low around 45F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Stronger winds in and below canyons and passes.. Tonight A clear sky. Low around 45F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Stronger winds in and below canyons and passes. Some of the Facebook and Instagram ads linked to a Russian effort to disrupt the American political process released by members of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee. (Jon Elswick / AP) Facebook is creating an online tool to allow users to determine if they might have been exposed to Russian disinformation during the 2016 presidential election and its fractious aftermath, the company announced Wednesday. The new tool, which the company said will be available by the end of the year, is the latest move by Facebook to respond to public and political pressure to reveal the extent of the Russian disinformation campaign waged on its social media platform and on Instagram, which Facebook owns. Advertisement Together nearly 150 million Facebook and Instagram users may have had pieces of Russian disinformation content both paid ads and free posts reach their accounts, the company has said, though it also has said there is no way to know how many actually saw that content. The new tool will be an online portal, available through Facebook's "Help Center." It will allow users to see if pages or accounts they "liked" or followed between January 2015 and August 2017 were created by the Internet Research Agency, a St. Petersburg troll farm that Russian operatives used to pump divisive content on race, religion, gun rights, immigration and other issues into the American online political conversation. Advertisement Some of the Russian pages and accounts explicitly called for the election of Republican Donald Trump or denigrated his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, and some others called for real-world political rallies many heeded those calls by showing up at the time and places dictated by the Russian trolls. "It is important that people understand how foreign actors tried to sow division and mistrust using Facebook before and after the 2016 US election," Facebook said in its announcement Wednesday. "That's why as we have discovered information, we have continually come forward to share it publicly, and have provided it to congressional investigators. And it's also why we're building the tool we are announcing today." Several Democratic lawmakers including Sens. Jack Reed of Rhode Island and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, as well as Rep. Teri Sewell of Alabama had pushed Facebook to find a way alert its users about their exposure to Russian disinformation. Blumenthal sent a letter calling on Facebook to find a way to alert its users, setting Wednesday as a deadline for the company to take action. Sewell, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, asked Facebook's General Counsel Colin Stretch in a hearing on Nov. 1 whether the company had "an obligation to notify" its users. Stretch replied, "We have tried to notify people about the issue broadly through information on the website through our white paper last April and hard questions blog and working with the committee we're open to all of this information being released publicly. It's a much more challenging issue to identify and notify reliably people who may have been exposed to this content on an individual basis." The Washington Post's Ellen Nakashima contributed to this report. Arsen Avakian, founder and CEO of Argo Tea, talks about the growth of his company on Nov. 3, 2017, in Chicago. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune) (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune) When Starbucks bought Teavana for $620 million in 2012, some experts predicted trouble for Chicago-based Argo Tea. But in July, Starbucks announced it would close all 379 Teavana locations. Meanwhile, Chicago-based Argo keeps steadily growing with an eye toward the future. Advertisement We never really had an ambition to build a thousand-store chain for tea. Our ambition and dream was always about bringing tea, a tasty, quality product, and revolutionizing the beverage industry, said Argo Tea CEO Arsen Avakian, a 41-year-old Armenian immigrant who co-founded the company in 2003 with two friends. Argo is using its 40-plus locations as test labs to learn from customers, promote the brand and drive its growing bottled tea business. The plan is focused on young consumers: Roughly a third of the locations are on college campuses, mostly through license agreements with large food-service providers. Advertisement Eight Argo cafes are testing a cashless system. The new location opening next year on Loyola Universitys lakeshore campus will make nine. Avakian declined to provide exact revenue figures for the privately held company, but said sales have about tripled from $20 million in 2013. The number of locations has grown, too, from 27 to 48, but the bottled tea business is whats driving the most revenue growth, he said. Avakian lives in the Gold Coast neighborhood with his wife, Mika Ishida, and their two young children. The following interview has been edited for length and clarity. What was behind the decision to shift resources and focus more to the consumer packaged goods side of the business? We view our store base as the X-factor, something that Pepsi or Coke would never be able to do. Its a business, we make money on our stores but its an opportunity to tell our brand story. (We) made a significant decision, when in 2008, 2009 we realized the capital availability given the economy, the difficulties in the economy, and it forced us to think about less capital intensive strategies. Did your board push back on that decision at the time? I joke that if my board could have fired me a few times in the history they would have. Thank God, they couldnt fire me. In hindsight, everybody feels very good about things. Advertisement Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 5 A dog waits for its owner outside an Argo Tea store in the 800 block of North Wabash Avenue in Chicago's Gold Coast neighborhood on Nov. 3, 2017. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune) Is there a goal for how many stores you want to open? Our stores, organically with the partners, will continue to grow with most of the focus truly placed on the college and university segment. One, the concepts make a ton of money. Its just like were in the bulls-eye of my customers with a captive audience. But then two, which is even more valuable for our (consumer packaged goods) business, we get access to this incredible consumer focus group, if you will, on a large scale. Argo has faced some criticism lately for going cashless in some of its stores. Some people feel that it discriminates against low-income people who might not have credit cards or smartphones. Whats your reaction to that? Look, I wasnt born in this country. I came into this country as a kid with $300-some dollars in my pocket. I built this company, created all these jobs and look at America as the greatest country in the world. Im as patriotic as, I will challenge, any other American. And some of the comments that are basically talking about symbolic elements heres a dollar bill, why isnt it accepted? Well, were politicizing an issue as a patriotic issue that has nothing to do with patriotism No. 1. No. 2, were the greatest country in the world because we are finding innovative ways to create value and productivity in our economy and in our industries. Cashless has been happening already in our economy for many decades. You cant buy airline tickets, you cant buy anything on Amazon with cash. For some reason, the restaurant or the retail business is, at least by some politicians, being demonized as discriminatory on the cash side. Our customer base is young, technologically savvy. And our customer is asking us: We want faster, efficient, seamless transactions. Advertisement What do you say to the person who walks into an Argo cafe, has a few bucks but not a credit card? We have an Argo policy: We always say yes. Anybody who walks into Argo will get taken care of, even if they dont have the money. Anyone walking into Argo. We will never refuse them the service because they dont have a credit card. We will give them the drink for free. In fact, were asking our customers to transition to the Argo app program which gives them $5 for free right to begin with, with no obligations. Is this part of Argos generational strategy? Consumers want to have personalized services. They want to feel that this is what theyre looking for and this is whats being delivered. And technology is allowing you to do that for them. And the cashless (system) becomes an impetus for a lot of customers to join our app. We have more than quadrupled our app registration in our cashless stores. Who do you consider to be Argos main competition now? On the (consumer packaged goods) side, all of the big boys Coke, Pepsi, Lipton theyre all after the high-end, premium. The competition is heating up, simply said, but their ships or boats or whatever you want to call it are too big to be turned around and realign quickly enough. And by the time they realign, the tide will be somewhere else already. Theyre going to be slow and inflexible and thats going to be their Achilles heel. And were going to exploit that, of course, as Argo. Advertisement On the retail side, you saw what happened with Starbucks and Teavana. But we dont declare victory ever, right? We look at this as an evolution and we have to keep remembering what works for our brand. Would Argo consider selling to a larger consumer packaged goods or retail company? Our belief is there are smart CPG companies, smart retail companies, that have long-term visions and philosophies that could align with ours. Absolutely. ... Have we found one? Obviously, no. Were still an independent company and were frankly kind of proud of that. gtrotter@chicagotribune.com Twitter @GregTrotterTrib MORE EXECUTIVE Q&A SESSIONS [ Macy's CEO: 'There's room for other retailers and Amazon' ] [ Racial disparity is major component of poverty, Shriver Center president says ] [ From stage to conference room: Audio equipment-maker Shure seeks new markets ] The following items were taken from Glencoe Public Safety Department reports and press releases. An arrest does not constitute a finding of guilt. Possession of cannabis Advertisement Eskindir A. Tsege, 22, of the 3300 block of Balmoral Avenue, Chicago, was charged at 10:22 p.m. on Nov. 13 with possession of cannabis after being stopped on the 400 block of Sheridan Road, police said. Under a village ordinance, he could either pay a $120 fine or appear in court. Dinarrion Delk, 29, of the 200 block of Sherman Place, Waukegan, was charged at 12:47 p.m. on Nov. 14 with possession of cannabis after being stopped on the 500 block of Green Bay Road, police said. Under a village ordinance, he could either pay a $120 fine or appear in court. Advertisement Theft An individual from the 300 block of Hazel Avenue reported at 9:45 a.m. on Nov. 8 that someone switched a genuine diamond necklace with a fake one, police said. It was not known when the theft occurred. The necklace had an appraised value of $53,000 in 2008. Daniel I. Dorfman is a freelancer for Pioneer Press. On Nov. 7, 2017, Sabina Noel took her first steps since March 24, 2015 with assistance from a harnessed machine on a treadmill at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago. (Sabina Noel) (Sabina Noel) On March 24, 2015, Sabina Noel lost her ability to walk. And to move her arms. And her legs. And to care for herself in any way. She didn't lose her determination, which ended up saving her life, doctors say. Advertisement That day, the Hebron wife and mother of two had just completed her first radiation treatment to prepare for an upcoming bone marrow transplant. The life-saving procedure was scheduled in response to the acute lymphoblastic leukemia attacking her blood, but her already-frail body couldn't handle all the treatments designed to make her well. "I became a quadriplegic, dependent for all my care," said Noel, a licensed practical nurse. Advertisement Her primary physician, Dr. Sunita Nathan, a hematologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, knew it didn't look good for Noel while she was hospitalized off and on for several months. "Her symptoms progressed negatively, and we feared a poor outcome," Nathan said. In medical jargon, a poor outcome means death. Noel and her family were told to make arrangements for hospice care. Noel insisted on palliative care. By Christmas that year, photos showed an elderly woman, yet she was only 44. "She looked like she was on death's doorstep," said Tifani Williams, of Kouts, her best friend since nursing school. "She was broken, but not beaten. You could tell she still had the fight in her." After two years of being bedridden and wheelchair-bound, Sabina Noel, 46, of Hebron, took her first steps again at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago. (Jerry Davich / Post-Tribune ) That fight began soon after she suffered near total paralysis in the hospital. And after she later lost consciousness. And after her weight went from 160 to 114 pounds. She woke up one day and blurted out to doctors, "I will walk again!" At the time, she didn't know where that proclamation came from. She now believes it came from God. "I took that as a promise to myself to not give up. It was a gift from God," Noel said. "But, to be honest, I didn't realize how bad of a shape I was in." Noel had always been a strong, healthy "farm girl" without any serious illnesses or medical problems. In January 2014, she began experiencing unexplainable fatigue and lightheadedness. Soon afterward, she felt her spleen sticking through her abdomen. Advertisement "I knew it was serious," she said. She went to St. Anthony Medical Center in Crown Point, where doctors referred her to Rush Medical Center in Chicago. There, she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the most common childhood cancer. "At Sabina's age, her unique condition is not very common and it didn't respond positively to initial treatment," Nathan said. Noel lost the feeling in her feet, then her legs, forcing her to use a walker. She underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatments before being placed on a bone marrow transplant list. "For a while there, I was in complete despair," Noel said. Within two weeks, she had a donor. Coincidentally, or fatefully, her 27-year-old donor was born and raised in New Castle, in downstate Henry County, the same town where she was born and raised. She calls it a "God-wink," a divine coincidence. Advertisement "The donor, who's in the Navy, saved my life," Noel said. "I hope to meet him soon." After the procedure and a bad experience at a nursing rehab center in Illinois, she came home in January 2016. She has had to relearn how to feed herself, comb her hair, use a phone, and every other basic function. She is visited daily by a caregiver from a Valparaiso-based home health care agency who helps her bathe and with other necessities we take for granted. Close friends and church members have rallied around her. "When she came home from the nursing home, it was hard to see her," said Williams, who drives Noel to therapy appointments. "I want to be there to see the miracles happen." On Nov. 7, she took her first steps since March 24, 2015. Whether a miracle or modern medicine, she did it with assistance from a harnessed machine on a treadmill at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, formerly the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. Her first attempt lasted seven glorious minutes. Advertisement "I was ecstatic," Noel said. "I was able to move my feet on my own." (Watch a video of Noel taking her first steps at www.post-trib.com/opinion.) "I cried when I saw the video of her taking her first steps," Williams said. Noel has since walked one more time, with plans to walk again next month with leg braces. "I can't wait," said Noel, who greeted me at her front door in a wheelchair. "My doctors call me their miracle patient. I tell them I'm just stubborn." Nathan last saw Noel a month ago. "I was blown away by her progress," he said, noting the upcoming three-year anniversary of her transplant. "It portends well for her prognosis." Advertisement Post Tribune Twice-weekly News updates from Northwest Indiana delivered every Monday and Wednesday > "Our medical team guided her, but she took on her disease and a lot of her success should be credited to her," Nathan said. "She always had a smile on her face, no matter what circumstance." The muscle memory in Noel's legs is slowly coming back. She can now stand on her own with little assistance, though not for long. Yet, long enough to give her more hope. "I'm just as determined to walk on my own as I was when I was a quadriplegic in that hospital bed," Noel said. Her goal is to do it by April 1, her 47th birthday. Noel's doctor won't be at all surprised. "She's a remarkable example of resiliency and determination," Nathan said. "Sabina has a tremendous story to share with others who may need to hear it." jdavich@post-trib.com Advertisement Twitter@jdavich The City of Hammond scored higher than the national average on an annual report released last month on anti-discrimination policies for LGBT employees. The Municipality Equality Index report on more than 500 cities nationally is a project of the Human Rights Campaign, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group. It graded cities on 44 criteria covering anti-discrimination policies, employee protections, municipal services, police policies and the mayor's offices' relationships with local LGBT communities. Advertisement Hammond scored 69 out of 100. The report noted city non-discrimination policies for employment, housing and public accommodations, and Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr.'s outspoken support and lobbying for the LGBT community. The city missed marks on health care policies, including benefits geared toward transgender employees, non-discrimination ordinances for city contractors, the presence of a LGBT liaison in the mayor's office, and a LGBT police liaison or task force. Advertisement "We've made it very clear that we are a welcoming community," said Hammond City Council President Janet Venecz. "I think that we've been pretty clear with not only resolutions, but the ordinances that we have passed as well." Venecz said she would be open to examining issues raised in the report such as ordinances for city contractors once she consulted with the city attorney. "I would not have any objection to that," she said. In Indiana, nine cities were evaluated: Bloomington (100), Indianapolis (88), South Bend (78), Evansville (70), Hammond (69), West Lafayette (57), Muncie (55), Fort Wayne (42), Terre Haute (41). The average national rating was 57, according to the report. "I can tell you from our experience dealing with the city, I believe the outreach the mayor and the council has made is very strong," said Dave Ryan, executive director of the Lakeshore Chamber of Commerce. "He meets with the community every month, which says something." Organizations may look for "more answers (on smaller issues), but it takes time," he said. Hammond was one of the first local communities to pass an LGBT non-discrimination ordinance. The April 13, 2015, ordinance included sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes and empowers the Hammond Human Relations Commission to investigate, hear complaints, enter into consent decrees and seek judicial enforcement. Advertisement The city's move came less than a month after former Gov. Mike Pence signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) into law. McDermott said the ordinance passed unanimously and without much opposition. "Things don't often pass unanimously on the council," McDermott said then. "The late Councilwoman JoAnn Matonovich was an advocate for same-sex couples who worked for the city to receive benefits about five years before RFRA came up. "Obviously, we're part of the Chicagoland area, and if same-sex couples want to live here, we want them to know that they're welcome." mcolias@post-trib.com Twitter @meredithcolias The City of Hammond scored higher than the national average on an annual report released last month on anti-discrimination policies for LGBT employees. The Municipality Equality Index report on more than 500 cities nationally is a project of the Human Rights Campaign, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group. It graded cities on 44 criteria covering anti-discrimination policies, employee protections, municipal services, police policies and the mayor's office's relationship with local LGBT communities. Advertisement Hammond scored 69 out of 100. The report noted city non-discrimination policies for employment, housing and public accommodations, and Mayor Tom McDermott's outspoken support and lobbying for the LGBT community. The city missed marks on health care policies, including benefits geared toward transgender employees, non-discrimination ordinances for city contractors, the presence of a LGBT liaison in the mayor's office, and a LGBT police liaison or task force. Advertisement "We've made it very clear that we are a welcoming community," said Hammond City Council President Janet Venecz. "I think that we've been pretty clear with not only resolutions, but the ordinances that we have passed as well." Venecz said she would be open to examining issues raised in the report like ordinances for city contractors once she consulted with the city attorney. "I would not have any objection to that," she said. In Indiana, nine cities were evaluated: Bloomington (100), Indianapolis (88), South Bend (78), Evansville (70), Hammond (69), West Lafayette (57), Muncie (55), Fort Wayne (42), Terre Haute (41). The average national rating was 57, according to the report. "I can tell you from our experience dealing with the city, I believe the outreach the mayor and the council has made is very strong," said Dave Ryan, executive director of the Lakeshore Chamber of Commerce. "He meets with the community every month, which says something." Organizations may look for "more answers (on smaller issues), but it takes time," he said. Hammond was one of the first local communities to pass an LGBT non-discrimination ordinance. The April 13, 2015, ordinance included sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes and empowers the Hammond Human Relations Commission to investigate, hear complaints, enter into consent decrees and seek judicial enforcement. Advertisement The city's move came less than a month after former Gov. Mike Pence signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) into law. Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. said the ordinance passed unanimously and without much opposition. "Things don't often pass unanimously on the council," McDermott said then. "The late Councilwoman JoAnn Matonovich was an advocate for same-sex couples who worked for the city to receive benefits about five years before RFRA came up. "Obviously, we're part of the Chicagoland area, and if same-sex couples want to live here, we want them to know that they're welcome." mcolias@post-trib.com Twitter @meredithcolias A charcutere board at Tempesta Market displays some of the cured meats the new Italian market and restaurant will sell on West Grand Avenue. (Paul Beaty / Chicago Tribune) Tempesta Market, a new restaurant, deli and grocer dedicated to cured Italian meats, will open Dec. 1. The project comes from the father-and-son team of Agostino and Tony Fiasche, the same duo behind Nduja Artisans Salumeria. That company is best known for producing the spicy, spreadable cured sausage called nduja, a specialty of the Calabrian region of Italy. While thats still its most well-known product, the company has expanded to include other meaty options. Advertisement Though Nduja Artisans will continue to produce its acclaimed charcuterie in suburban Franklin Park, Tempesta will focus on putting those cured meats to use. Tony Fiasche describes Tempesta as a multiconcept project, with a deli stocked with meats and cheeses, a small grocery of mostly Italian goods, plus a small restaurant. The full menu for the restaurant will be released next week, but Fiasche did let me know that it will offer six sandwiches, two salads and three appetizers. "We want to keep it kind of small at first," says Fiasche, though he hopes to expand the offerings in the future. Advertisement One sandwich sure to be on the menu will be the Dante, which is a variation on the classic Italian sub you can find at other delis around Chicago. Tempestas version features no less than six of Nduja Artisans' meats (porchetta, mortadella, coppa, finocchiona, hot soppressata and an aioli featuring nduja). Fiasche also claims that the shop will roast porchetta every day. We'll be serving a play on a French dip with the porchetta," says Fiasche. "The meat will come on Publican Bread sourdough with a cup of very seasoned au jus on the side. It will be great for the winter months." The menu also includes a few of his family's Italian recipes. "My mother makes these amazing marinated eggplants, which you can eat with just some crispy toasted bread," says Fiasche. "They are just beautiful on their own; they don't need anything. Needless to say, we've been marinating a lot of eggplants lately." Tempesta Market co-owner Tony Fiasche says the deli, grocery and restaurant will launch with a small menu, offering six sandwiches, two salads and three appetizers (Paul Beaty / Chicago Tribune) Eat. Watch. Do. Weekly What to eat. What to watch. What you need to live your best life ... now. > In the deli section, expect the complete lineup of Nduja Artisans products, along with a range of pates, terrines and fresh sausages that will be made in the West Town shop. You'll also be able to find meats from other top quality producers in the Midwest, like Smoking Goose from Indianapolis. Fiasche also says that the market will sell pasta, meatballs and sauces, though only to take home. "We have guanciale if you want to make a perfect carbonara," adds Fiasche. While Fiasche admits that there are a lot of moving parts to Tempesta, he swears that he's "trying to take it slow" at first, even though he eventually wants to offer delivery, catering and private events. It should be noted that this isn't the first restaurant for the family. They've been running the perennially packed Ristorante Agostino on the Northwest Side since 1985. In fact, they found the West Town space thanks to an old connection. "The landlord is a longtime friend of my dad," says Fiasche. "He used to sell him fish." Fiasche also sees the area as a great place to open a place for this kind of project. "We really like the area," says Fiasche, noting that this stretch of Grand Avenue has a great history of Italian shops and it's close to the burgeoning West Loop scene. Tempesta Market, 1372 W. Grand Ave., www.tempestamarket.com nkindelsperger@chicagotribune.com Advertisement Twitter @nickdk [ Guide to Chicago's Northwest Side Italian food, with owners' stories and must-have orders ] [ Craving: Italian -- A month of pasta, pizza, entrees and more ] [ You can cook risotto in a pressure cooker, but should you? ] Selena Rosa Mexicana restaurant in Manhattan is serving a Thanksgiving turkey infused with 160- and 151-proof vodka before and after roasting. The Mexican restaurant is bringing their roasted Devil's Spring vodka-infused 20-pound turkeys tableside to diners, who then get to choose what Georgi vodka flavors they would like injected into their bird. They have the option of pineapple, apple cider, green apple, French vanilla, or coconut. "We like doing fun and creative things," Sam Musovic, a bartender at Selena Rosa, told the New York Daily News. "The drunken turkey was an off-the-wall idea that stuck." The creative move was clearly a success, as the restaurant revealed to The Daily Meal that as of today they have sold 50 turkeys. And with the festive fowl scheduled to remain on the menu until November 26, that number will continue to increase even after the holiday. Advertisement Besides offering two-sides with their $39.99 turkey, the restaurant is providing a free taxi ride home to any of the five boroughs for anyone who orders this liquor-laced affair. Prefer a teetotaling turkey? Here are 25 ways to cook a turkey, and most of them don't include booze! RELATED STORIES: Advertisement Mr. Thanksgiving Advice Man returns with some last-minute tips 14 Blackout Wednesday specials to help you pregame Thanksgiving DIY and dine: 10 build-your-own, customizable foods in Chicago For the 46 years that Richard Stern taught creative writing at the University of Chicago becoming a Hyde Park fixture, his classroom a regular stop for acclaimed poets (Robert Lowell, John Berryman), playwrights (Samuel Beckett) and fiction writers (Flannery OConnor, Ralph Ellison), his former students including journalists Seymour Hersh and David Brooks Stern was better known for his lack of fame than his books or friends. He was always the writer who should have been a star, but as he told his classes, aspire to be distinctive, not famous. He had a regular speech a bracing splash of cold reality he gave to new students: He told them the world didnt need their work, to leave if they werent ready to accept rejection, and that if they could not find a way to offer their own unique touch, there was no point in taking his class or even writing. He said this year after year, decade after decade. Advertisement You have to wonder how close to home those speeches hit. Stern was rejected himself often. Twenty years into his time in Chicago, he reached his commercial peak with the zeitgeisty 1973 novel Other Mens Daughters and still, the book was not a best-seller. It tells the story of a college professor and doctor who meets a young female student and soon his marriage collapses, his children drift away and he reshapes his life. It was a story pulled from his own history, and the book was met with cautionary praise: The New York Times warned sniffily of the destructive folly of publishing a novel about a post 40-year-old Harvard physiologist abandoning his wife and four children for a carnal liaison with a 20-year old ...; the Tribune felt the wife and children read thinly, as a vague blur compared with the professors newfound liberation. That blur, of course, was intentional. Advertisement The book ends with the professor still with his mistress, hiking a trail, nearing a peak, arriving at clarity The depth of love after loss. The way of human beings ... Love, family, Cambridge, mentality. Linkage. Transmission. Evolving. Its a 60s new-age, live-in-the-moment brand of clarity in those last pages an ending that today recalls the spiritually tinged cliff-side ambiguity of the Mad Men finale. And yet, the book also carries a palpable feeling of being unmoored, one that resonates loudly with the social upheavals of 2017. Other Mens Daughters was just reissued by New York Review of Books with an introduction by Philip Roth, who writes that the novel is a microscope on its place in time, illustrating a decisive turning point in American mores ... when the vast assault upon convention, propriety and entrenched belief began to challenge authority, high and low, and of the wreckage that caused. He also quotes from his own 1973 review, that Sterns book is as if Chekhov had written Lolita. Yet, success didnt take for Stern. Despite many more novels and essay collections, a medal from the Academy of Arts and Letters (and a 1995 Heartland Prize from the Tribune), Stern had long settled into a dreaded backhanded reputation: He became a writers writer. Meaning, he remained obscure to the public and didnt sell many books but he had important admirers (among them Norman Mailer, Joan Didion and Anthony Burgess) who delivered hosannas that didnt sell books, either. His career became somewhat of a literary equivalent to that famous line about the Velvet Underground, that they sold only a few thousand records but every person who bought one started a band. Stern, who retired from the U. of C. in 2002 and died in 2013, taught many future novelists and journalists across 50 years in Chicago. But of himself, he often said he was a has-been before Id been a been. He was arguably less important as a writer than as a rallying point: The Chicago literary scene, once an afterthought for big coastal authors, burgeoned with renowned visitors during his decades in Hyde Park. Roth, a close friend of Sterns who also taught in the U. of C.s English Department in the late 1950s, met his great mentor (and rival) Saul Bellow in the back of a Stern class. Roth, in delivering Sterns eulogy, recalled a lunch at the University Tavern at which he told Stern about his adventures with a beautiful New Jersey gentile: Dick said, Write that, for Gods sake. Write that story.' It hadnt occurred to me. That became the heart of Roths classic Goodbye, Columbus, his first book. Conversely, in Still on Call, his 2010 collection, Stern a man who could conceal little, Roth eulogized recalls how Norman Maclean, another colleague, once asked for editing advice: Maclean asked me to treat his manuscript as I, rather notoriously, treated student papers, so I marked it up with queries, arrows and exclamations of disgust. He thanked me, then, apparently, put it away forever. That book later became the best-seller (and Robert Redford movie) A River Runs Through It. It was Macleans first book. He waited until he was 72 to publish. For years, Stern stayed furious with himself for being so harsh. After all, his own work was naggingly obscure. He wrote novels about the influence of TV (Golk, 1960) and death (Natural Shocks, 1978) and people growing irrelevant (Pacific Tremors, 2001). These were not sexy books. Even Other Mens Daughters, his (sort of) sex novel, has a deeply clinical protagonist: Her hair waterfalled to the top of the thoracic vertebra, her tanned flesh issued from a laundered yellow corolla. Sterns books were about smart people, but they often left you with an uncertain morality. Indeed, the only thing you are sure about in Other Mens Daughters is that change is coming, the 60s are becoming the 70s, clearing cobwebs from the 50s. The professors children are not bothering to come home for Thanksgiving; and when their large Waspy domicile is sold and the family splits apart, its new resident is the incoming dean of Radcliffe, a black woman. But the novel isnt mournful or nostalgic. Its resigned, even buoyant. You imagine Stern doubting he would ever be a canonized Dead White Male author, the kind he taught and schools teach less now. Advertisement You suspect he found comfort in anonymity. In his last essay, he wrote of himself: I believe that Ive never needed to write; Im not a driven writer. I wrote because I wanted to. Even when the work was difficult, even agonizing, whatever was necessary to keep going was there for me. Now it wasnt. I wrote a few small pieces, kept writing my notebook, read even more than usual, saw my friends, enjoyed the leisure of an undemanding life. And that was that. cborrelli@chicagotribune.com Twitter @borrelli [ RELATED: An intimate conversation with photographer behind 'Obama: An Intimate Portrait' ] [ Kevin Young goes deep on the art of the hoax at Chicago Humanities Festival ] [ Newberry Library's 'Book of Magical Charms' is the 'stuff of nightmares ] If she could, Lois Smith would give her faraway mid-20th-century self three pieces of advice. One: Be on time. At this one she laughs, and Smith has a wonderful laugh, hearty and easy. Advertisement Two: Be lucky. At that one she takes a long pause, before and after saying it. Its clear shes thinking more than shes saying, which is the hallmark of our best screen actors. As a bonus, three: The work, Smith tells me, has to come from you. Of course thats a tricky thing with actors. Yes, theyre playing someone, but it has be them. One thing Ive learned over many years well, I dont audition much anymore, but sometimes I do, and when I do, I think about the part Im auditioning for. What does she look like? What should she wear? But finally the most important thing is being comfortable. Then you can deal with the text, the situation, anything. And youre not getting hung up on wearing the right hat. Advertisement A couple of hours after we talked the other morning, Smith, 87, received news of an Independent Spirit Award nomination in the best supporting actress category for Marjorie Prime, a canny film version (now streaming on various VOD platforms) of Jordan Harrisons Pulitzer-shortlisted 2014 play. Marjorie Prime takes place in the near future, and it concerns a woman struggling to retain hold of her mental clarity; a hologram (or Prime) of her late husband designed for companionship; and the uneasy slipstream of memory. Smith is having a fine career moment. In addition to accolades for Marjorie Prime, she has received widespread praise for a small role in Greta Gerwigs beautiful, funny, plaintive Lady Bird, now in theaters. She plays Sister Sarah Joan, the wise and encouraging nun who reminds the protagonist that love and attention can be synonymous. For six decades, Smith has been paying close attention to the women she has played, on stage (she made her Broadway debut in 1952, in a successful but now-forgotten comedy Time Out for Ginger), on screen (Elia Kazan cast her as the barkeep in the 1955 epic East of Eden, opposite James Dean) and all sorts of series television, dating back to the live-TV heyday in the 50s. The longtime Steppenwolf Theatre Company ensemble member, who makes her home in New York City, has popped up in her share of popcorn blockbusters, too, from Fatal Attraction to Twister to Minority Report. The last handed Smith a terrific scene with Tom Cruise set in a greenhouse. Its largely expository, with Smith cranking out reams of narrative-critical information. But the way its acted, and staged by Steven Spielberg, it becomes a master class in making exposition not just digestible but compelling. Some excerpts from our conversation follow. The basics: Smith chalks up her good fortune in the industry, she says, to the Stanislavsky basics: concentration, relaxation. Being present. Whatever the medium is. Doing Steinbeck: Smith received a Tony Award nomination for her portrayal of Ma Joad in adapter/director Frank Galatis Steppenwolf production of The Grapes of Wrath, seen in Chicago, La Jolla, Calif., and London, in addition to New York. This was in the late 1980s; decades earlier, in 1955, Kazans film version of the Steinbeck novel East of Eden introduced Smith to movie audiences. I had been in New York for a couple of years. I was sort of on the radar, I guess. I think every young actress in town was sent to see Kazan about playing the role Julie Harris got. But he asked me if I wanted to play the barmaid. And I did. I vividly remember getting ready to shoot my first scene, the first shot of the first scene. So much attention being paid; so many people fixing my hair and this and that, and telling me this and that. And then suddenly everyone just receded. And there I was. Unready. Unfocused. Boy, that was a lesson. Now Im experienced, so I know what to do about that feeling. Im more relaxed. Relaxed and present. Advertisement On Greta Gerwig and Lady Bird: Oh, my. That film is 100 percent loved. And its making money! Shes quite something, that Greta Gerwig. Theres simply no static with her. Soaps and parenthood: My daughter was born in 58. What I remember is living in New York, not married, raising my daughter, and thinking there were very few ways I could work Mondays through Fridays during the daytime. Soap operas were very useful when my daughter was in school, when she was 12, 13, 15, 16. Not my favorite thing to do, but boy, they were useful. Chicago: Smith worked all over the country, on stage and screen, before making her Chicago debut in a 1975 Ivanhoe Theater staging of Hugh Leonards Summer. In 1988 she returned for The Grapes of Wrath at Steppenwolf. The actress was born in Topeka, Kan., before moving with her family to St. Joseph, Mo., and then to Seattle, where she attended the University of Washington after high school (and before New York). She considers The Grapes of Wrath to be a theatrical highlight of her career. We got to rehearse that thing fully, three times, each time building on the time before. It didnt really come together until La Jolla. But it came together, all right. The subject of the moment: I asked Smith about women, harassment and secrets long hidden, finally coming out. Its so important for it to be not OK, not necessary, not even possible to hide it anymore. Its going to require a cultural re-education. And it should be done in the spirit of generosity and truth. I dont think any of us want to live in a world where its not safe to wink at somebody. You know? Flirtation, you dont want to get rid of. But each of us is different. And the worst behavior out there has become such a huge, delicate, dreadfully important subject. Predation based on power is so prevalent. And awful. Its time for a change. Advertisement Michael Phillips is the Chicago Tribune film critic. mjphillips@chicagotribune.com Twitter @phillipstribune [ RELATED: Michael Phillips review of "Lady Bird" ] [ Review of "Marjorie Prime," starring Lois Smith and Jon Hamm ] [ 'Call Me by Your Name' leads Spirit Awards nominations ] Several varieties of Lebkuchen none of them heart-shaped are for sale at Neef Confiserie Cafe in Nuremberg. (Amy S. Eckert / Chicago Tribune) Youve seen the German gingerbread hearts hanging from ribbons, frosted with the words Ich liebe dich (I love you) and Frohe Weihnachten (Merry Christmas). Nurembergs bakers wish you hadnt. Advertisement We dont make them here, says Ingrid Neef, a sixth-generation Nuremberg baker, with polite but palpable disdain. Those hearts look pretty, but theyre hard. You cant eat them. We make real Lebkuchen here. German gingerbread, or Lebkuchen, became synonymous with Nuremberg in the Middle Ages, thanks to the citys location at the crossroads of European trade routes. Nuts and spices were exotic in those days, often costing more than gold. Advertisement Nurembergs trade status kept the citys bakers well-supplied with those rare ingredients. Just as important, their wealthy patrician customers had no difficulty paying for them. The basic ingredients of Nuremberg gingerbread havent changed much since the cakes introduction in the 14th century. Almonds, hazelnuts and an array of spices and fruit peels are commonplace, with some bakers adding candied ginger or chocolate for good measure. Sold in cellophane bags and colorful tins, in cookie form and in larger cakes, Nurembergs Lebkuchen has become part of German Christmas tradition. Some 80,000 tons are produced annually, most being consumed within Germany. Lebkuchen Schmidt, Nurembergs most famous baker, has been producing gingerbread since 1601. From its location on the citys Hauptmarkt, where Nurembergs famous Christmas market takes place each year, Schmidt forms the cookies by hand. Bakers spread a mixture of crushed nuts, eggs, sugar and flour on a thin base resembling a communion wafer before adorning the treats with almonds and baking them in a wood-fired oven. Lebkuchen go into the wood-fired stone at Lebkuchen Schmidt in Nuremberg. The treats are a Christmas tradition in Germany. (Amy S. Eckert / Chicago Tribune) Schmidt wont bake gingerbread hearts, either, instead selling varieties ranging from the original, called Elisen, to those containing cashews, dried fruits and chocolate. At Neefs bakery, Neef Confiserie Cafe, half a dozen gingerbread varieties are stacked on the bakerys shelves: hazelnut, walnut, chocolate, ginger even cookies sprinkled with real gold shavings. Theyre rich, flavorful and chewy. Just dont ask for a gingerbread heart. Amy S. Eckert is a freelancer. [ Related: 'Luther Country' in Germany marks 500th anniversary of Protestant Reformation ] [ Best German Christmas markets ] [ In Europe, shop for memories -- not stuff ] I booked a flight on British Airways from Cairo to Houston in June using Expedia. I canceled it within 24 hours and requested a refund. I was told it may take up to six weeks to process. Now we are way beyond the six weeks, and nothing has appeared in my account yet. Advertisement I contacted Expedia and it claims the ticket was refunded three months ago. But my bank denies that the refund has happened. Can you help me get my $750 back? Ahmed Abdulrahim, Cairo Advertisement A: British Airways shouldn't have made you wait nearly four months for a refund. But let's take a closer look at why that wasn't allowed. Even though you're located in Cairo, you made your purchase through an American online travel agency for a flight to the United States. The Department of Transportation has two relevant rules. First, the 24-hour rule, which says that under most circumstances, if you book a ticket and cancel within 24 hours, you're entitled to a full refund. You can find details on that rule in the department's Fly Rights brochure, which is available on the dot.gov website: transportation.gov/airconsumer/fly-rights. The second DOT rule says that when a refund is due, the airline must forward a credit to your card company "within seven business days" after receiving a complete refund application. "However," it notes, "the credit may take a month or two to appear on your statement." You were well past that two-month mark. It was time for action. I publish the names, numbers and email addresses for the executives at Expedia and British Airways on my consumer-advocacy site: http://www.elliott.org/company-contacts/expedia/ and http://www.elliott.org/company-contacts/british-airways/. You could have reached out to one of them and cleared this up. Instead, you contacted me. And I agree with you, you've been more than patient. This foot-dragging with refunds is endemic to airlines and online travel agencies, and it's absolutely infuriating. I got in touch with Expedia, which asked British Airways about your refund. The airline claimed that a refund had been processed back in July, which still would have meant that it didn't follow the DOT requirement of a seven-day refund. I have a better idea: If the government gives us 24 hours to cancel a ticket, it should give airlines the same amount of time to refund the money. No exceptions. If they fail, they should face stiff fines, perhaps doubling the refund. That should fix the problem of sluggish refunds permanently. But one step at a time. You're received your refund. 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. Donald Trump crosses the Wabash Avenue Bridge to observe the start of the demolition of the Sun-Times building in Chicago on Oct. 28, 2004. The site later became the location for Trump International Hotel and Tower. (Scott Strazzante / Chicago Tribune) Chicagoans may have become almost as desensitized to President Donald Trump bashing their citys violence problem and leadership over the last couple of years as they have to the violence itself. But there was a time when Trump had only nice things to say about Chicago: way, way back in the 1980s and 1990s, when the homicide rate was, er, almost as high or higher than the 762 people killed in 2016. Advertisement Chicago is a first-class, first-rung, first-rate city. It is a great honor to be in this incredible city, Trump told reporters in 1988, a year in which 660 Chicagoans were killed and in which he hosted a fundraiser for Mayor Eugene Sawyer. Trump, of course, donated $50,000 to Mayor Rahm Emanuels campaign fund before they had a falling out and Trump started claiming to have met a mystery biker cop who could solve Chicagos crime problem overnight. But a Thanksgiving week trawl of the Tribune archives shows Trumps kindness toward Chicago and its leaders had previously been unaffected by annual homicide rates as high as 943. Advertisement Mayor Harold Washington was among the unlikely recipients of Trumps praise in 1987 (691 homicides), when Trump praised Washington for cutting the citys debt. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > And Trump said he wanted Chicagos own Oprah Winfrey to be his running mate in 1999, when he was toying with a presidential run as a Reform Party candidate (Winfrey in May hinted she was considering a run against Trump in 2020). While puffing the plans for Chicagos Trump Tower in 2004, he buttered up Mayor Richard M. Daley by praising hizzoners taste in architecture, cooing that they are more design conscious in Chicago than they are in Manhattan. Though its true that Trump sued Pulitzer prize-winning Chicago Tribune architecture critic Paul Gapp in 1984 (the case was dismissed), and the mega-wealthy Pritzker family in 1993, both disputes were over New York City properties. The White House did not respond to requests for comment, leaving it open to conjecture as to what happened during Barack Obamas presidency to awaken Trumps concern for Chicago crime victims. kjanssen@chicagotribune.com Twitter @kimjnews RELATED [ Trump now says mystery cop claimed he could fix Chicago crime immediately' ] Charlie Rose has been fired by CBS and PBS in the wake of sexual harassment allegations by several women. (Scott Olson / Getty) Creepy old Charlie Rose has been fired, another in what appears now to be a never-ending line of older, more powerful men sexually harassing young women. Rose, famed but now terminated PBS and CBS broadcaster, is of a generation of celebrity geezers who thought status could shield them from consequences. Advertisement But now Rose is done. He was the liberal voice of Beltway conventional wisdom and full of himself. All you had to do was watch him for five minutes making those faces, pursing his lips, his mock concern, his theatrical gravitas, to know it. The same goes for so-called conservative Bill OReilly, who prided himself on being old-school. Like Rose, he was an untapped reservoir of natural gas. Hes done, too, for the same reason. Advertisement They couldnt keep their hands off women at work. And they loved themselves so much that their narcissism was a hot poker in their own eyes. They blinded themselves to reality. And reality bit them. The Washington Post broke the Charlie Rose story with the accounts of eight women who said they were groped, grabbed, rubbed and subjected to other unwanted sexual advances even a wrinkly Rose leaving his bathrobe untethered. In a follow-up the other day, the newspaper quoted Rose in a 2015 commencement address to graduates of Georgetown University. Think ahead to the end of your life," Rose told the graduates. "And think about what you would like to be remembered for at the end of your life. It's not honor. It's not prestige. It is character. It is integrity. It is truth. It is doing the right thing. It's hard to imagine or think about that when you're 22. It's easy when you're 73." Truth. Character. Integrity. Whats the word for walking around with your bathrobe open in front of young women? Because thats in the Charlie Rose story, too Rose thinking that young women in his employ women who wanted careers in journalism might find a wrinkly old man with his bathrobe flapping open attractive. People like Rose use words like integrity and truth as if they are fabric. They make costumes from such cloth and play dress-up and lets pretend. Advertisement But you put your hands on a young woman, and chances are that young woman has brothers, a father, cousins. In the best of possible worlds, those fathers, brothers, cousins, husbands put their hands on you. And you end up crawling on the floor, unable to breathe. Yes, I suppose its sexist of me to think of it this way, or old-fashioned or patriarchal or ethnically tribal or some other sin or thought crime that I havent figured out yet. But thats how many of us were raised, to treat every young woman with respect, and to remember that she has a family, with brothers and cousins. And that she and her family are as worthy of respect as your own. And so it would have been satisfying if some cousins or brothers beat the living crap out of Rose, and OReilly before him. Nothing homicidal, just a tuneup, enough so Rose would heave his breakfast on his carpet and crawl panicky on all fours, his open bathrobe flapping in the wind, gasping for air, Rose making funny sounds, pleading. Once in the homicide unit, a sergeant was on the phone, said a retired Chicago police detective. He was Italian, and so his free hand was flying around and he was upset. He ended the call and one of the guys asked, What's wrong Sarge? He said Some SOB is bothering my daughter. Advertisement Four detectives jumped up at once. Well take care of it. The sergeant held both hands up, palms out, No, no, no, the sergeant said. It's not that serious. Violence is never an appropriate answer. My editors tell me so, and therefore it must be true. And Im not advocating violence. Im not a violent person myself actually Im more of a complete fraidy-cat who couldnt punch his way out of that proverbial wet paper bag but it is something to consider. Because at bottom, what drives these cowardly men in Hollywood and in politics and journalism is that they love themselves so much, they think theyre untouchable. Women dont want to run to their fathers or brothers when something like that happens, said a female friend of mine. We want to keep our jobs. We dont want a big blowup at work. Another woman told me that at another job years ago, a supervisor at a steel mill put his hands on her. She slapped the hand away but didnt tell her husband or her brothers. You tell them, then they come down and it gets out of hand, she said. Somebody gets killed. For what? For a piece of garbage? Advertisement Of all the hideous things Rose was accused of doing to young women in his employ, there was also his ridiculous statement. I do not believe that all these allegations are accurate, Roses statement read in part. I always felt that I was pursuing shared feelings, even though now I realize I was mistaken. Shared feelings? Youre an old geezer with saggy skin, your bathrobe flapping open, and you think young women shared your feelings? Remember that at the 2015 Georgetown commencement address, Rose asked the graduates to think of what they wanted to be remembered for at the end of their lives. Youll be remembered, Charlie Rose. Advertisement Dont worry. Youll be remembered. Listen to "The Chicago Way" podcast with John Kass and Jeff Carlin at http://wgnradio.com/category/wgn-plus/thechicagoway. jskass@chicagotribune.com Twitter @John_Kass RELATED [ CBS News and PBS cut ties with Charlie Rose following sex misconduct allegations ] [ CBS co-hosts on sex misconduct allegations against Charlie Rose: 'He doesn't get a pass' ] [ Charlie Rose: The rise and plummet of a man who preached 'character' and 'integrity' ] An Aurora shop owner who sold a teen synthetic marijuana hours before his death now won't be sentenced until the new year. Cigar Box owner Ruby Mohsin and employee Mohammad Khan both pleaded guilty in February agreements to conspiracy to distribute the synthetic drug, which Aurora college student Max Dobner, 19, bought at the store inside the Fox Valley Mall in 2011 and smoked with a friend before he crashed his car into a North Aurora house. Advertisement Mohsin and Khan each face a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000. Mohsin's sentencing began last week and was scheduled to continue Nov. 28, but Judge Charles R. Norgle Sr. has agreed to postpone it until Jan. 4, according to an order entered Tuesday. Court documents do not explicitly indicate why the sentencing was pushed back. Khan is still scheduled for sentencing Nov. 28. Advertisement In their pleas, Mohsin and Khan said they sold products including iAroma, Zero Gravity and Head Trip, which were labeled as potpourri and not for human consumption, knowing customers were buying them to get a marijuana-like high. In June 2011, Mohsin sold three single-gram packages of such products to Dobner and a friend for $20. Later that day, Dobner crashed his car, ultimately driving into a house. The next month, Khan sold two small packages of Head Trip and Kush Potpourri at the Cigar Box for $30 to an undercover law enforcement officer, according to his plea agreement. During Mohsin's first sentencing hearing, federal defender Piyush Chandra asked the judge for permission to withdraw the guilty plea, disrupting the courtroom by refusing to take no for an answer, repeating his request many times, and ignoring Norgle asking him to sit down until he was physically escorted back to his seat. Norgle told Chandra he could file a written motion but that he would not accept it verbally. Suliman Tanus, who pleaded guilty in December to knowingly and intentionally distributing a substance containing synthetic marijuana knowing it was intended for human consumption in both Aurora and North Carolina, was scheduled for sentencing this month. Tanus bought the synthetics in wholesale quantities from Kevin Seydel, of Bettendorf, Iowa, who made the drugs and sold them to customers in other states, including Louisiana, North Carolina and Illinois, according to court documents. Seydel mixed synthetic marijuana with acetone and put the mixture on marshmallow leaf, then added flavoring and dried it, according to court documents. He bought some of the chemicals he used from China, wire transferring money from a bank in Iowa. In May 2011, after Seydel was arrested in Iowa, he gave Tanus his formula for making synthetic marijuana and customer list in return for a share of the proceeds from future sales, according to court records, which state Mohsin was among those customers. Advertisement Seydel pleaded guilty in December to charges including conspiracy to distribute the synthetics and conspiracy to transmit and transfer money from the U.S. to another country with the intent to promote the importation, possession and distribution of controlled substance analogues. Seydel was sentenced in June to four years in prison followed by two years of supervised release and fined $25,000. hleone@tribpub.com Twitter @hannahmleone Three teenagers arrested this week in two recent carjackings may be connected to a spree of robberies this month, Chicago police said. The recent spate has added to the more than 700 carjackings that have been reported in the city so far this year, outpacing last year's total of 663, which was nearly double 2015 levels, the Chicago Tribune reported in a front-page story earlier this month. Advertisement In the most recent arrests, two 15-year-old boys and a 16-year-old boy, were suspected of taking part in a series of carjackings on the South Side, police said. One of the 15-year-old boys appeared Wednesday in Cook County juvenile court in connection with a carjacking Sunday night in the Morgan Park community. Advertisement Calling him a threat to the community, Judge Colleen Sheehan ordered the teen held in custody at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center on charges of aggravated vehicular hijacking, armed robbery, vehicular hijacking, aggravated robbery, robbery, possession of a stolen motor vehicle, identity theft and criminal trespassing. "Why (can't I) go home?" the boy, clad in a jail-issued brown sweatshirt and navy blue pants, asked before being escorted out of the courtroom. The boy's mother had suggested to the judge that her son lets others take advantage of him. "People can be a bad influence on him," she told Sheehan in a somber tone. "He's hanging with the wrong people the wrong crowd." About 6:40 p.m. Sunday, the boy was driving a stolen Hyundai Accent with three others when they spotted a Kia Sorento in the 2300 block of West 115th Street with a man and a woman sitting inside, according to prosecutors. One of the passengers jumped out, displayed a black semi-automatic handgun and ordered the two out of the car, Assistant State's Attorney Johanna Ojo said in court. The gunman jumped into the Kia and drove off, Ojo said, while the 15-year-old fled in the Hyundai. One victim had left her purse containing credit cards in the Kia. About an hour later, police spotted both two stolen cars on surveillance video at a gas station in the 1400 block of East 87th Street, about 8 miles from the carjacking scene, according to the prosecutor. The 15-year-old boy was seen using one of the victims' credit cards, Ojo said. Police rushed to the scene, touching off a high-speed chase of the stolen vehicles, but both managed to elude police, Ojo said. Advertisement Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > An officer investigating a string of carjackings, though, later recognized the 15-year-old from the video surveillance, according to the prosecutor. On Tuesday, police arrested the boy at his high school in the Washington Heights community, Ojo said. The prosecutor said the boy admitted knowing one of his passengers had a gun and of his intentions to rob the occupants in the Kia. He also admitted using a victims credit card at the gas station, Ojo said. Prosecutors could not provide any information about the other individuals who participated in the carjacking. But police said the two other teens also arrested were placed into custody Tuesday. Those two face charges ranging from possession of a stolen motor vehicle to identity theft, police said. jgorner@chicagotribune.com mabuckley@chicagotribune.com Chicago police Officer Brian J. Hansen was cited by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability for more than 60 rule violations, including inflammatory Facebook posts. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune) Chicago's police oversight agency has cited a veteran officer for more than 60 rule violations, blasting him for repeatedly posting insensitive racial and religious comments on Facebook and promoting violence against police protesters, Muslims and others. In addition to the Facebook posts, Officer Brian J. Hansen allegedly parked his Chevrolet Equinox outside the Central District police station at 1718 S. State St. with a bumper sticker on the back windshield showing a truck running over fleeing protesters beside the words: All lives splatter. Nobody cares about your protest. Advertisement In a 95-page report obtained by the Chicago Tribune through an open-records request, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability used unusually strong language to condemn Hansens actions, leaving little doubt that it favored his firing even though it publicly declined to give its position. In its conclusion to its findings, COPA made clear that it had no faith in Hansen carrying out fair and impartial law enforcement to everyone in Chicago, regardless of their ethnic and sociological backgrounds. Advertisement There can be no doubt, based on PO Hansens Facebook activity and vehicle decals, that PO Hansen cannot live out this mission, the investigators wrote. Neither Hansen nor the lawyer representing him in the COPA proceedings returned telephone calls. But COPA said in interviews with investigators, Hansen tried to laugh off his postings as an indication of his sense of humor and insisted his off-duty comments were protected by the First Amendment. In a footnote in its report, however, COPA said courts have routinely held that officers can be fired for bigoted speech without violating the First Amendment. Hansen, a 25-year department veteran, has been stripped of his police powers and assigned to paid desk duty since August, according to the COPA report. Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson has up to three months to decide if he will recommend Hansens firing to the Chicago Police Board, which would then decide his fate. Since becoming a Chicago police officer in 1992, Hansen has been named in at least 57 complaints, with allegations ranging from excessive force to minor personnel violations, according to Police Department records. Fewer than 1 percent of the officers who started that same year have more complaints, according to a Tribune analysis of the department records. He was suspended at least four times an unusually high number of times, the analysis shows but for no more than five days at a time. He has also been named, records show, as a defendant in at least four federal lawsuits, including one that settled for $85,000 and another for $14,750 involving allegations, the plaintiff lawyer said, that Hansen beat a protester with a retractable baton on the Magnificent Mile in June 2012. A post from Chicago police Officer Brian J. Hansen's Facebook page pairs an image from the movie "The Blues Brothers" with the words, "Hey Muslims say cheese." (Brian J. Hansen Facebook page) An ABC 7 news editor tipped Chicago police to Hansens Facebook posts in mid-2015, prompting an investigation by COPAs predecessor, the Independent Police Review Authority. But it wasnt until more recent months that the investigation heated up. Hansen was first interviewed by IPRA investigators in April 2016, but despite knowing of the nature of the investigation, he continued to post what COPA called distasteful, abusive, racist, xenophobic, Islamophobic and discriminatory comments and posts. Advertisement Last August, a member of the public complained about the bumper sticker on Hansens vehicle showing a truck running over protesters while it was parked outside the South Loop police station where he worked. Another sticker on his windshield depicted a hand pointing a gun in a shooting position. Inches away, Hansen advertised his membership in the Fraternal Order of Police union. COPA sustained 62 allegations against Hansen an unusually high number for violating myriad department rules and regulations, including bringing discredit to the department and making public statements that can jeopardize public confidence in the department. COPA also cited a Police Department general order that prohibits officers from using social media to post content that is disparaging to a person or group based on race, religion, sexual orientation, or any other protected class. The 62 allegations mostly involved Facebook comments he posted between June 2015 and August 2017. The postings included a cartoon of a boy urinating on the word Allah, a reference to African-American children as wild African kids and a warning to activists from the Black Lives Matter movement that theyre f------ dead if they come near his family, according to the COPA report. Alarmingly, PO Hansen also openly advocated for civil war, encouraged people to settle their differences through violence, and even publicly supported the code of silence, the COPA report said. Advertisement He ended another posting by saying, In the name of the Jesse, the Al, and the Holy Pfleger, Amen apparent references to civil rights activists the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton and activist priest the Rev. Michael Pfleger. In August, Hansen commented on a video on Facebook of men of apparent Middle Eastern descent falling off a truck. Ha ha I hope those that fell off a (sic) paralyzed, COPA quoted him as responding. The examples go on for about 20 pages in the COPA report. It turns out that Hansen had come to the attention of the U.S. Department of Justice during its investigation of the Police Department, according to COPA, after some of his Facebook comments drew media interest in 2015. The scathing 164-page report issued by the Justice Department found that Chicago officers routinely violated the constitutional rights of citizens. Advertisement Without naming Hansen, the Justice Department report noted how an officer called for a race war on social media. COPA said the Justice Department was referring to Hansen. CPD will not be able to convince residents in these (marginalized) neighborhoods that it cares, no matter how earnestly it launches community policing initiatives, if it does not take a stronger, more effective stance against unnecessarily demeaning and divisive officer conduct, the Justice Department report said. COPA reached a similar conclusion in its report and even raised concerns about the impact of Hansens remarks within the department itself. PO Hansens speech has the potential to create problems in maintaining the discipline and harmony in the department, COPA wrote. Department members are as diverse as Chicago itself and include many of the same groups PO Hansen openly disparages including black people and Muslims. In interviews with investigators from Chicagos police watchdog agency, Hansen maintained that the Facebook posts were merely a reflection of his sense of humor, according to the COPA report. But COPA said it did not find Hansen credible on that point and concluded that he wasnt joking in many instances. Advertisement The nature and frequency of PO Hansens Facebook posts and comments suggest that he was expressing his genuine views, the report said. COPA said Hansen tried to clarify during his interviews that his vitriol toward Muslims was limited toward radical Islam, another claim investigators did not find credible. With the exception of one post, the investigators noted that Hansen did not label his Islamophobic posts as specific to radical Islam and that he posted countless horrific images and posts espousing the belief that all Muslims should die. Hansen repeatedly defended his comments as protected speech under the First Amendment. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > But COPA, citing legal precedent, said police officers are subject to greater First Amendment restraints than most other citizens. Edwin Yohnka, a spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, said government employees, including police officers, have the right to speak out on issues of public interest, especially when theyre doing so on their private time. But he said certain government employees critical to instilling public trust, such as police officers and teachers, can be disciplined for making statements even while away from work if their language undermines that trust. We think that agencies ought to be very cautious before they discipline someone in that circumstance and it ought to be really extraordinary and demonstrable, Yohnka said. Advertisement Chicago Tribunes Jennifer Smith Richards contributed. jgorner@chicagotribune.com Twitter @JeremyGorner RELATED [ State's attorney to dismiss 18 convictions tied to former Chicago police sergeant ] [ Chicago cop given 5 years in prison for shooting at car, wounding two teens ] [ Timeline: Chicago police controversies during Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration ] A 13-year-old boy has been charged with a hate crime after threats were aimed at a student at Marlowe Middle School in Lake in the Hills. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune) A 13-year-old boy from Huntley has been charged with a hate crime and other felony offenses after threats and racial statements were made through the online gaming network Xbox Live, police said Tuesday. The alleged statements apparently targeted a student at Marlowe Middle School in Lake in the Hills. But Huntley police said the juvenile offender was not the same boy who was charged just last month with a hate crime amid allegations that he racially taunted an African-American Marlowe student and then posted a threatening video on social media. Advertisement Neither juvenile defendant has been named. But the Huntley boy in the most recent case is charged with disorderly conduct for threats made to the school, hate crime and harassment by electronic communication all felonies plus misdemeanor disorderly conduct and obstructing a peace officer. Police said the charges closes the case. The boy was being held at the Kane County Juvenile Detention Center as of Tuesday. Advertisement Last week, Huntley School District 158 Superintendent John Burkey sent an email to parents, alerting them that in recent years, the district has dealt increasingly with threatening, bullying and disruptive messages on social media. During their investigation, Huntley police found that threats had been made to two individuals, but referenced a threat to the general student population. Huntley police found no evidence of plans to act on the threats, the superintendent wrote last week. Police said they executed a search warrant, seized pertinent materials, and interviewed numerous people. As a result, police increased their presence at district schools. Any individual who makes a threat against a school in this District will face the absolute strictest school discipline and criminal consequences allowable by law, the superintendent wrote. The intention of the threat does not matter. rmccoppin@chicagotribune.com Twitter @RobertMcCoppin RELATED [ Police investigate more racial threats against another student in Lake in the Hills ] [ Mom of 13-year-old boy targeted with racial slurs, threats: 'Some of his innocence is gone' ] [ Lake in the Hills student charged with hate crime after threatening video posted ] Guadalupe Fernandez Valencia, left, one of the highest ranking female operatives under Sinaloa Cartel boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, right, appeared in a Chicago courtroom Wednesday to face sweeping conspiracy charges. (AP) One of the highest ranking female operatives under infamous Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, just extradited from Mexico, appeared in a Chicago courtroom Wednesday to face sweeping conspiracy charges alleging she coordinated the distribution of thousands of pounds of narcotics in Illinois and across the country. Guadalupe Fernandez Valencia, 57, who allegedly reported directly to one of El Chapos sons, was arrested in February 2016 in the northwestern city of Culiacan in the state of Sinaloa, where Guzman had been recaptured a month earlier. Advertisement After more than a year and a half of extradition proceedings, Valencia, whose nickname, La Patrona, is Spanish for The Boss, was flown to Chicago on Wednesday for an initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Cole. She listened though a Spanish interpreter as a prosecutor detailed the charges and the possible penalty of life in prison. Valencia answered, Yes, sir, in Spanish when Cole asked if she understood the proceedings. Advertisement Valencia was added in 2015 to a sweeping indictment against the notorious Mexican cartel that has been described as the most significant drug case in Chicago's history. The indictment, which also names Guzman and several of his top henchmen, alleged the cartel used jumbo jets, submarines and tunnels to smuggle massive amounts of drugs into the U.S., much of which was later distributed in wholesale quantities through a network built by Chicago twins Pedro and Margarito Flores. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > Valencias brother, Manuel Fernandez Valencia, who was charged as part of the same overall conspiracy, was sentenced in Chicago last December to 27 years in prison. The charges allege that Guadalupe Valencia was a lieutenant for El Chapo's son, Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar, helping to coordinate vast shipments of drugs into the U.S. for distribution. The cartel members then laundered billions of dollars in proceeds back to Mexico, according to the charges. To protect their lucrative drug trade, cartel members, including Valencia, used any means necessary, including bribing corrupt public officials, committing kidnappings and extortion, and threatening or committing violence against rival drug dealers as well as members of law enforcement, according to the charges. Valencias extradition comes a week after prosecutors dropped charges against another defendant in the case, Jorge Mario Valenzuela Verdugo, who was found tortured and killed in Mexico. Guzman, meanwhile, was extradited to the U.S. earlier this year after he was captured in January 2016 in a firefight between his bodyguards and Mexican marine special forces. His trial in New York on charges including drug conspiracy and murder is set for April. jmeisner@chicagotribune.com Advertisement Twitter @jmetr22b A former teacher has been charged with sexually abusing a student while she worked at a charter school on the Southwest Side of Chicago, according to police. Megan Kotarski, 28, is charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse. She is accused of having sexual contact with a boy older than 13 but younger than 18 between June 16 and 18, police said. Advertisement At the time, Kotaski was a teacher at the Horizon Science Academy Southwest, at 5401 S. Western Ave. in the Gage Park neighborhood, according to the school. The school said "allegations of gross misconduct" between her and a student were brought to its attention this month. Kotarski, a high school teacher since 2014, was placed on unpaid administrative leave until Nov. 10, when she resigned, the school said. Advertisement The school said it contacted Chicago police and the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services about the allegations. Kotarski, who lives in the 9800 block of South Pulaski Road in Oak Lawn, was scheduled to appear in court Wednesday. Chicago police have decided to take another look at the case of a man who died after struggling with Walmart security guards on the Northwest Side over the summer. Area North detectives decided Tuesday night to reopen the investigation after the Cook County medical examiner's office found that the primary cause of Donnell Burns' death was "stress and asphyxia during restraint," according to top police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. "They want to interview the medical examiner, and apparently there are videos that may exist that show the incident,'' Guglielmi said. Police had already reviewed one video but want to examine "all angles'' of any new videos. "They want to look at every single possibility,'' Guglielmi said. Detectives also will interview the person who performed the autopsy. Based on the autopsy results, the medical examiner's office concluded this week that Burns, 23, died from his struggle with the guards in the parking lot of the store July 25. The office also found that toxic levels of the drug phencyclidine, or PCP, and cardiac abnormalities, including an anomaly of the left main coronary artery, were contributing conditions to Burns' death. Burns and a woman had been stopped by security officers around 4:30 p.m. after they tried to return stolen merchandise for cash at the store in the 4600 block of West North Avenue, police said at the time. They resisted and police officers were called, police said. Officers arrived and found Burns handcuffed on the pavement and "experiencing a health issue," police said. Burns was taken to Norwegian Hospital, where he later died. The medical examiner's office has ruled the death a homicide, but that doesn't necessarily mean it was criminal and requires charges. When a person dies, the office determines both a cause what physically led to the death and the manner of death: natural, homicide, suicide or accident. The manner can be undetermined or pending further investigation. The Police Department initially said Tuesday it did not plan to seek criminal charges in response to the autopsy report. "The medical examiner's office said it is a homicide. We've determined the homicide is noncriminal in nature," police Sgt. Michael Malinowski said. Malinowski, quoting a family member, said Burns was aware of his heart condition and a doctor had warned him that continued drug use could be fatal. Phone calls to family members were not immediately returned. Malinowski said the term "homicide" can cause confusion because the connotation implies there was malice or intent to harm. But it only means death at the hands of another. "Did he die at the hands of another person, or was this something chemically inside the person?" Malinowski asked. "The combination of drugs he was on and the fact that he himself engaged in that action to run from security guards where does the fault lie?" Malinowski said there was no way the security officers could know about Burns' heart condition or drug use, or what could happen when they tried to detain him. Police said Burns and the woman had gone to the store that day with stolen property and attempted to return it for cash. Security guards tried to stop them, but they fled and the guards chased them. A video widely circulated on social media appears to show several people pushing down on a man in an attempt to restrain him. "CPD responded to a call of a battery in progress, so this guy was obviously fighting," Malinowski said. "These security officers, based on the use-of-force guidelines and the tools at their disposal, they chose to not use tools that they could've used. ... I don't know how they were taught, but the old phrase used to be, 'Use the force that is necessary.' And you may have to keep going up until it actually works." Malinowski said twice in his career he has encountered people on PCP, and in his experience, it gives people the ability to tolerate pain and makes them harder to restrain. "It's good they didn't use impact weapons because it would've caused damage to his body but it wouldn't have felt like anything to him and he would've kept going," Malinowski said. "When he's on PCP, where fight-or-flight really kicks in and pain doesn't slow you down, they could've been more aggressive, and it sounds like they just used sheer body weight to make the arrest." Dr. Samuel Grief, a doctor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said the drug does activate the fight-or-flight response. Coupled with paranoia and delusions, it could make a person inclined to run from anyone giving chase and resist arrest or restraint. The Arkansas-based director of communications for Walmart, Ragan Dickens, cited an ongoing police investigation and would not answer a reporter's questions. He would not say whether the security officers still work for Walmart or comment on Walmart's policies for chasing suspected shoplifters. A former "60 Minutes" producer accused her supervisors of sexual harassment in a complaint she filed last year with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The producer's complaint was one of 19 discrimination complaints logged with the federal agency against CBS between March 2015 and October 2016, according to a disclosure the company filed with the city. Advertisement The producer also accused the hallowed news show of journalistic ethical violations. She said in her EEOC complaint that her bosses retaliated against her when she complained about sexual harassment and the unethical behavior. Advertisement The ex-"60 Minutes" producer whom the Daily News is not identifying declined to comment. The investigative show entered its 50th season this September and is considered the crown jewel of CBS News with an all-star team of reporters. The producer's complaint was filed in August 2016. The agency dismissed the complaint in January after it was unable to determine if a violation occurred. After the dismissal, the producer had 90 days to file a lawsuit. CBS said that she never sued and it never settled with her. The 19 other EEOC complaints involving allegations of either sex, race, age or disability discrimination were summarized in a mandatory disclosure that CBS made to the city as a prospective contractor earlier this year. The city requires a contractor to disclose whether it has been the subject of a government investigation in recent years. The EEOC investigates employee allegations of workplace discrimination. The CBS disclosure said three of the 19 complaints have been settled. One of the settled complaints involved unequal pay based on gender at a Dallas radio station. Eight of the complaints remained open at the time of CBS' filing.The eight other complaints were either dismissed and closed or they were closed after the statutory time to file a lawsuit expired. Advertisement One of the dismissed complaints was a sexual harassment allegation by an employee in Hawaii. The complaint did not involve the CBS news side. The network has been reeling since Monday when the Washington Post reported its "CBS This Morning" show co-host Charlie Rose had harassed and made unwanted sexual advances on at least eight women. CBS fired Rose on Tuesday. The broadcaster was also cut from his PBS talk show. CBS News declined to comment. "We are not going to comment for this story, but as we have said, and has been reported in the Washington Post, CBS News did not receive any sexual harassment claims about Charlie Rose," a CBS News spokesman told The News. But a former CBS employee said that sexual harassment at the Tiffany Network has been a problem for years. "There's been a culture for a long time," the employee said. "They know. Everyone knows. They turn a blind eye when it comes to important men and their treatment of women in their 20s and early 30s." Amocachy Jeune, right, does homework Nov. 15, 2017, as his mother, Marianne, a Haitian immigrant staying in the U.S. through the Temporary Protected Status program, sits nearby at their Boston home. The U.S. administration said Nov. 21 it is ending a temporary residency permit program that has allowed almost 60,000 citizens from Haiti to live and work in the United States since a powerful earthquake shook the Caribbean nation in 2010. (Steven Senne / AP) MIAMI Yolnick Jeune couldn't sleep for days, anxious over the fate of a program that has staved off the deportations of both herself and tens of thousands of other Haitians in the U.S. Then, President Donald Trump's administration this week announced one last 18-month extension of the Temporary Protected Status that has allowed her to work and provide for her five children, including a 7-year-old, U.S.-born girl. Advertisement "I can breathe a little and get some rest. This buys me time to figure out what's next," Jeune said Tuesday in Miami's Little Haiti community, standing next to her daughter Lagranda. But at the same time, Jeune is upset that the government on Monday said she and nearly 60,000 Haitians must return home July 2019, ruling out any further extensions of the immigration benefits given to Haitians who came before and in the aftermath of the Caribbean country's 2010 earthquake. Advertisement "I am very depressed to know that within 18 months, I have to go back," she said. Having been in Miami since 2009, Jeune has not returned to Haiti but hears from her sister and other relatives back in her native Port-de-Paix that conditions have not improved for those whose lives were upended by the earthquake. In Little Haiti, the mood was of both relief and anger. Many of the dozens lined up to receive turkeys at the cultural center ahead of Thanksgiving were confused over whether the program was in fact extended or ended and were hesitant to speak about immigration. "This decision has thrown these families in complete whirlwind," said Marleine Bastien, executive director of the advocacy group Haitian Women of Miami, at a press conference Tuesday in Little Haiti. "President Trump you did promise when you were campaigning that you would be Haiti's best champion," she said. "Is this your idea of being our champion? I beg to differ." The Department of Homeland Security said on Monday that conditions in Haiti have improved significantly since the earthquake. The announcement came 60 days before temporary status is set to expire, but many in Miami were expecting a shorter extension because in May the agency had only given six months instead of the usual 18. The program protects from deportation some 435,000 people from nine countries ravaged by natural disasters or war, who came to the U.S. legally or otherwise. Days after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake devastated Haiti in January 2010, President Barack Obama granted the 18-month protection status for Haitians in the U.S. who would otherwise have had to go home. He renewed it every time it ran out. Ira Kurzban, a lawyer who has represented former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in the U.S., called the Trump administration's decision "ill-advised" and "morally bankrupt" and said he would challenge it in court. Although it remains one of the poorest nations in the world, Haiti has made advances spurred by international aid since the quake. The United Nations last month ended a peacekeeping mission in Haiti that, at its peak, included more than 10,000 troops. Advertisement But Kurzban said people from the Caribbean nation still deserved temporary protection, because of political instability and other natural disasters such as Hurricane Matthew that tore through southern Haiti in October 2016, killing more than 500. Haiti wasn't the first country to be canceled. Trump has ended temporary permit programs for people from Sudan and Nicaragua. He postponed a decision until next July on how to deal with 86,000 Hondurans. About 300 people rallied a mile away from Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort on Tuesday before his scheduled arrival, demanding residence for those immigrants under the refugee programs. Jeune and others are hoping these 18 months are enough for Congress to find a permanent solution for Haitians. Maryland Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, along with fellow Democrat Dianne Feinstein of California, last week unveiled new legislation to protect undocumented immigrants living under temporary protected status. But Kurzban said the likelihood of legislation passing before the 2019 deadline is small. It's also not easy for refugees to change their temporary immigration status to a permanent one on their own, with only certain circuit courts in the nation allowing it, and not the appeals court that rules over Florida, Georgia and Alabama. Florida is the state with the most program holders of Haitian nationality. The Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, estimates 32,500 Haitians in Florida have temporary protected status, with 18,800 U.S.-born children living in those households. But there are also thousands in states like New York and Massachusetts. In Massachusetts, where about 4,700 Haitians enjoy the protected status, Marianne Jeune said Trump's decision was a welcome development. The longtime health care worker said she will have enough time to hopefully make arrangements to remain in the U.S. with her three children, one of them born in the U.S. Advertisement "This is good news. Very, very good news," she said. She plans to marry the father of her 5-year-old daughter, who has U.S. citizenship, and seek permanent residency. In Little Haiti, Ronyde Christina Ponthieux, a 10-year-old fifth-grade student, was devastated. She cried on her father's shoulder on Tuesday when contemplating the possibility her parents may lose their immigration benefits. "I have trouble sleeping at night sometimes, because I know that here's a possibility me and my family may be deported," Ronyde said. "A couple of months ago, my dad, he had high blood pressure. People are stressing because knowing that there may be a possibility of them being deported is a huge thing. I love my dad, I love my parents, and all of these people, they are important to me." Associated Press writers Terry Spencer in West Palm Beach and Philip Marcelo in Boston contributed to this report. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks during a news conference Nov. 1, 2017, at One Police Plaza in New York in the wake of a truck attack on a bike path that killed eight and injured several others near One World Trade Center. (Craig Ruttle / AP) Federal prosecutors on Tuesday expanded and upgraded the charges against the 29-year-old Uzbek immigrant who they say plowed a rented truck into people on a New York City bike path, killing eight, and for the first time accused him of murder in aid of a criminal enterprise. In a 22-count indictment, prosecutors said that the Islamic State was an enterprise engaged in organized crime and that Sayfullo Saipov perpetrated the attack for the purpose of gaining membership. Advertisement The Paterson, New Jersey, man was charged with eight counts of murder in aid of racketeering, 12 counts of attempted murder in aid of racketeering, one count of providing and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State and one count of violence and destruction of a motor vehicle resulting in death. Each of the murder charges, along with the motor vehicle charge, carries a possible death sentence, though the Justice Department must still take other steps to pursue that penalty. Advertisement "As alleged in this indictment, Sayfullo Saipov murdered eight innocent people and injured many more in a calculated act of terrorism in the heart of one of our great cities," Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement announcing the indictment. "People have a right to safety walking down a sidewalk or riding a bike, and we will not change our resolve to confront these threats both at home and abroad." Saipov was shot and wounded by police and arrested after his Halloween attack, and he has been in custody since. He was initially charged with providing support to a terrorist organization and violence and destruction of a motor vehicle resulting in death. By prosecutors' telling, the 29-year-old had been plotting an attack for the Islamic State for more than a year and chose Halloween so he could hit more pedestrians on the street. They say he emerged from his truck shouting "Allahu akbar" - God is great - and investigators found near the vehicle a note in Arabic text saying "No God but God and Muhammad is his Prophet" and "Islamic Supplication. It will endure." Saipov said he was proud of what he had done and even requested to display the Islamic State flag in his hospital room, federal authorities have alleged. This undated photo provided by St. Charles County Department of Corrections via KMOV shows the Sayfullo Saipov. (AP) While the indictment indicates prosecutors may seek the death penalty, there is a process for doing so that takes months. First, the U.S. attorney must make a formal recommendation that they would like to seek the death penalty in the case, then that recommendation would have to be approved by the attorney general. In the Saipov case, such deliberations will be complicated because within days of the attack, President Donald Trump publicly called for Saipov to get the death penalty, tweeting: "NYC terrorist was happy as he asked to hang ISIS flag in his hospital room. He killed 8 people, badly injured 12. SHOULD GET DEATH PENALTY!'' Saipov's defense attorneys are likely to seize on the president's statement to argue it has unfairly colored the proceedings as they try to prevent his possible execution. A defense lawyer did not immediately return a message seeking comment Tuesday. A weekend conference organized by white nationalist Richard Spencer was shut down after the owners of the Maryland farm he rented discovered he was behind the event. The think tank that Spencer leads, the National Policy Institute, hosted the conference for about 100 people at Rocklands Farm, a winery and events venue outside Washington in Montgomery County. Spencer said in an interview that a third-party logistics company contacted Rocklands Farm on behalf of the National Policy Institute this month and didn't reveal that white nationalists were affiliated with the event when they booked it. The company told the farm's management only that it was a "corporate" gathering, according to Spencer. Advertisement The conference started about 11 a.m. Sunday and was scheduled to continue until 8 p.m. Caterers at Rocklands Farm served brunch, and participants recapped 2017. At about 4 p.m., Spencer said, someone working the event learned that Spencer was there, and management told everyone to leave. "We didn't lie, we didn't deceive, and we certainly did not break any rules while we were there," Spencer said. "We had sharp words and were obviously disappointed, but there was no confrontation of any kind." Advertisement The farm refunded the group's money after asking it to leave. The owners of Rocklands Farm didn't comment on the incident beyond a statement on their website Monday, which says it proudly does "business according to family values, including welcoming people of all backgrounds, race, ethnicities, cultures, and religions." The statement continued: "Throughout our history of hosting private events, we have never had to ask a group to leave. However, yesterday, November 19, we discovered that a private event held here was, in reality, a gathering of an organization that is strongly in opposition to our values. We immediately and politely asked the group to leave. We are grateful that the group agreed to peacefully leave." The National Policy Institute booked space at Rocklands Farm after the property manager at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, a federal facility in downtown Washington, told the organization that it couldn't host its conference at the building. The two sides had been in communication for months before a private management company rejected the request over safety concerns. Spencer's public appearances have been a lightning rod in recent months, both for the content of his speeches and questions over free speech. His events often attract large numbers of protesters. The University of Florida reluctantly agreed last month to allow Spencer to speak on campus after initially rejecting his request. Spencer and his lawyer challenged the initial decision, citing First Amendment concerns. The university paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for security at the event. Spencer described the Rocklands Farm gathering as a policy conference, in which attendees paid $225. Spencer said before the event that it was to feature Daniel Friberg, the European editor of AltRight.com, and Kevin MacDonald, described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as "the neo-Nazi movement's favorite academic." The organizers didn't publicly disclose beforehand that the event would be held at Rocklands Farm, Spencer said. Instead, organizers arranged for vans to pick up attendees at various locations and drive them to the farm. Advertisement After Rocklands Farm management told them to leave, those vans then shuttled the conference attendees to another private space outside Washington before they then went to dinner at a restaurant, Spencer said. "I'm not mad, but if I were a business owner, I would not do that," Spencer said. "If communists came to my establishment, but they were civilized, I couldn't imagine kicking them out. So I'm certainly disappointed, but we are not going to retaliate. It's just life in 2017 for us." Spencer was one of the leaders of a white-nationalist rally in Charlottesville in August. The march at the University of Virginia - with participants chanting "Jews will not replace us!" - touched off violence between demonstrators and counterprotesters that turned deadly the next day when a man drove into a crowd, killing one woman and injuring others. Two police officers who were monitoring the protests died when their helicopter crashed. A demonstrator holds a sign during a protest ahead of the arrival of President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Nov. 21, 2017. (Saul Martinez / Bloomberg) President Donald Trump's vision of a "big, beautiful" wall along the Mexican border may never be realized, and almost certainly not as a 2,000-mile physical structure spanning sea to sea. But in a systematic and less visible way, his administration is following a blueprint to reduce the number of foreigners living in the United States those who are undocumented and those here legally and overhaul the U.S. immigration system for generations to come. Advertisement Across agencies and programs, federal officials are wielding executive authority to assemble a bureaucratic wall that could be more effective than any concrete and metal one. While some actions have drawn widespread attention, others have been put in place more quietly. The administration has moved to slash the number of refugees, accelerate deportations and terminate the provisional residency of more than a million people, among other measures. On Monday, the Department of Homeland Security said nearly 60,000 Haitians allowed to stay in the United States after a devastating 2010 earthquake have until July 2019 to leave or obtain another form of legal status. Advertisement "He's building a virtual wall by his actions and his rhetoric," said Kevin Appleby, migration policy director for the Center for Migration Studies, a nonprofit think tank. Trump administration officials say they are simply upholding laws their predecessors did not and preserving American jobs. Previous Republican and Democratic administrations were too soft on enforcement, they say, and too rosy in their view of immigration as an unambiguously positive force. "For decades, the American people have been begging and pleading with our elected officials for an immigration system that's lawful and serves the national interest," Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in Austin last month. "Now we have a president who supports that." Bob Dane, executive director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which has pushed for many of the Trump administration's main goals on immigration, said the president has "really scaled back this expansive view of immigration that occurred under the Obama administration." The new restrictions could significantly reduce the number of foreign-born workers in the U.S. labor force, but demographic experts say there is little chance they will alter the country's broader racial and ethnic transformation, which Trump's critics say is his goal. Census projections show the United States will no longer have a single racial or ethnic majority by mid-century, according to the Pew Research Center. Still, by erecting tougher, taller administrative hurdles for foreigners seeking to move to the United States or remain in the country after arriving illegally, the White House is attempting to shift the country back toward the tighter controls on immigration in place before the 1960s. "Within the administration there are a number of key players who are just looking for every opportunity, every program ... every administrative or regulatory leeway they have to restrict entry into the United States," said Linda Hartke, president and chief executive of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, which resettles refugees. Even as they fight court orders seeking to halt parts of Trump's immigration agenda, Sessions, White House senior adviser Stephen Miller and other key players are finding ways to shrink the immigration system. Miller was an aide to Sessions before both men joined the administration; in less than a year, their immigration policy prescriptions have moved from the realm of think-tank wish lists to White House executive orders. Advertisement In October, the White House in a plan led by Miller said it had conducted a "bottom-up review of all immigration policies" and found "dangerous loopholes, outdated laws, and easily exploited vulnerabilities in our immigration system current policies that are harming our country and our communities." Trump has endorsed GOP legislation to cut annual, legal immigration by half, reducing the number of green cards issued annually from about 1 million to 500,000. More weight would be given to immigrants with job skills, as opposed to those with extended family in the United States. The president cut the number of refugees the United States is willing to accept annually from 110,000 to 45,000, the lowest level since 1980, and ordered the implementation of a time-consuming "extreme vetting" system that could mean the number of refugees cleared each year is much lower. In October, 1,242 refugees arrived in the United States, down from 9,945 in October 2016. Trump also eliminated a smaller program specifically for refugees fleeing violence in Central America. The Pentagon, citing concerns about vetting, suspended a recruitment program offering skilled foreigners a fast track to citizenship if they serve in uniform. Muzaffar Chishti, the director of the Migration Policy Institute at the New York University School of Law, said nearly 350,000 of the newcomers who arrive legally to the United States each year are the spouses and minor children of U.S. citizens and permanent residents. Since barring those arrivals is not under consideration, Chishti said, the government would have to eliminate or sharply restrict almost all other avenues to reduce the annual number of immigrants to 500,000. In addition to this week's decision on Haitians, the government earlier this month declined to renew Temporary Protected Status, a form of provisional residency, for about 2,500 Nicaraguans. The State Department says conditions in Central America and Haiti that had been used to justify the protection for as long as two decades no longer necessitate a reprieve. Decisions on more than 250,000 Hondurans and Salvadorans with the provisional residency permits are pending. Advertisement Trump is also ending Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, the Obama administration program that granted work permits to 690,000 young immigrants brought here as children. Trump's administration is expanding immigration courts and detention centers and has ratcheted up deportations from the interior of the United States, where millions of undocumented immigrants with U.S.-born children and no serious criminal records held little fear of expulsion under President Barack Obama. Arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement are up more than 40 percent this year, and the agency wants to more than double its staff by 2023, according to a federal contracting notice published this month. ICE is calling for a major increase in workplace raids and has signed more than two dozen agreements with state and local governments that want to help arrest and detain undocumented residents. "If you're in this country illegally and you committed a crime by entering this country, you should be uncomfortable," Thomas Homan, the top official at ICE, told lawmakers this year. "You should look over your shoulder. And you need to be worried." The president and his aides have pressed forward despite an outcry from advocates and Democratic lawmakers, who in states such as California and Illinois have instructed police and public officials to shun cooperation with ICE. The Trump administration has threatened to strip such "sanctuary" jurisdictions of federal funding in an escalating legal standoff. Trump's tough talk alone appears to be one of the administration's best bulwarks: Illegal crossings along the border with Mexico have plunged to their lowest level in 45 years, and U.S. agents are catching a far greater share of those attempting to sneak in. Applications for H-1B skilled visas and new foreign-student enrollment have also declined. William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, said that until now U.S. immigration rates have largely spared the country from the challenges facing advanced industrial nations such as Japan and Germany that can't replace aging workers fast enough. By slashing immigration, Frey said, the country could end up with labor shortages and other workforce issues. Advertisement But although some of Trump's most fervent supporters see curbing immigration as a way to turn back the United States' rapid racial and ethnic transformation, Frey said it is an unrealistic goal. By 2020, census projections show minorities will account for more than half of the under-18 U.S. population, because of higher birthrates in nonwhite populations. And by 2026, the number of whites is projected to begin declining in absolute numbers, he said, as deaths exceed births. "You can slow the rate of Latino and Asian immigration, but it won't make the population whiter," Frey said. "It will just become less white at a slower pace." Trump continues to insist his administration will build a border wall, despite exorbitant cost projections and senior DHS officials saying a 2,000-mile structure is impractical. His supporters say they admire the president for plowing ahead in his overhaul efforts and see a historic, generational shift underway. "There is more than one way to get to the goal," Dane said. "Legislative solutions are all great, but clearly the administration has done things behind the scenes. ... The results have been dramatic." Photo provided by Frank Abrams shows what historians believe is a photo of outlaw Billy the Kid, second from left, and Pat Garrett, far right, taken in 1880. (AP) Experts now believe a photo purchased at a flea market for $10 shows Billy the Kid standing with the lawman who ultimately killed him, making the snapshot potentially worth millions. Frank Abrams, a North Carolina attorney, first spotted the tintype photo in Asheville in 2011. The self-described history buff said the group picture of five men was part of a set and sat on his wall for several years. Advertisement "Now, it's in a safe deposit box," Abrams told The Associated Press in a phone interview Tuesday. "I don't travel with it." After seeing a TV program in 2015 about the discovery of a photo of the outlaw playing croquet, Abrams was inspired to research him further. That's when he thought he recognized Pat Garrett, Billy the Kid's former friend and the sheriff who gunned him down. Advertisement Abrams approached Robert Stahl, a retired professor emeritus at Arizona State University who is no stranger to the history of Billy the Kid. In 2015, Stahl filed a petition in New Mexico Supreme Court in pursuit of a death certificate for the Kid, also known as William Bonney, from the state's medical examiner. Stahl said he thought it was a "high probability" that it was Garrett in the photo, but he wasn't sure if another man was Billy the Kid. "I told him 'The biggest thing you could do right now is get the picture out and let people look at it and give you feedback,'" Stahl said. "To me, it's one of the most intriguing and historically significant of those tintypes of the Old West." Abrams, who lives in Arden, told Albuquerque's KRQE-TV that he spent the next several months consulting various forensic experts. Several said the tintype was likely taken between 1879 and 1880, which coincides with the Aug. 2, 1880, date someone had written on the photo, Abrams said. A Los Angeles forensic video expert said facial recognition software indicates that it is most likely Garrett and Billy the Kid in the picture, according to a signed declaration. A handwriting expert in Texas compared a signature from Garrett on the photo with 10 documents with his known handwriting. He declared them matching in a notarized letter in September. The Kid and Garrett were close friends until Garrett became Lincoln County sheriff. Garrett ended up fatally shooting the outlaw in Fort Sumner in July 1881. The photo of the Kid discovered in 2015 has since been estimated to be worth $5 million. Experts believe a picture that shows the New Mexico outlaw with Garrett would be worth much more. However, Abrams isn't interested in finding out anytime soon. "One day it may end up at an auction house somewhere. We'll see what happens," Abrams said. "Right now, that is not the first thing on my mind. I've always been somebody who's interested in history and background." Many parents and caregivers are still placing babies in unsafe sleeping environments. Could that be considered abuse and neglect? (Yuliia Yakovyna/Fotolia / TNS) She was 9 months old, described only as Baby H in a report compiled by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services inspector general. She was congested when her mother gave her Tylenol before bed and placed her on a pillow in her crib. Three hours later she was dead, lying in the same position. While there were no signs of trauma and her cause of death was unclear, DCFS launched an investigation into the family. Placing a pillow in the babys crib created an unsafe sleep environment and subjected the mother to an abuse and neglect investigation. Advertisement Was that investigation warranted? A controversial DCFS policy that took effect in July 2015 under then-Director George Sheldon mandated that the agency investigate all child deaths reported to the DCFS hotline that involved unsafe sleep environments. Parents who slept with their babies in the same bed, parents who placed blankets near them, or mothers who fell asleep while breastfeeding and accidentally smothered their children would be subjected to a DCFS probe in addition to the customary scrutiny from law enforcement and health professionals, usually the first responders in such emergencies. Advertisement DCFS probes are lengthy, can disqualify parents from working if their jobs involve children, and can lead to families being split apart. Being under investigation for possible abuse and neglect is a disturbing prospect for anyone, let alone grieving parents whose child died accidentally in their bed. The American Academy of Pediatrics estimates that around 3,500 infants die of sleep-related deaths annually. The academy in 2016 updated its recommendations for safe sleep by including warnings on co-sleeping. Babies should sleep in the same room as their parents for the first few months of life but on a separate surface such as a bassinet or crib. The DCFS policy change was due in part to increased awareness nationally of the dangers of co-sleeping. A multi-year study published in the journal Pediatrics in 2014 suggested that nearly three-fourths of deaths of infants younger than 4 months involve bed-sharing. But as any sleep-deprived parent knows, co-sleeping is a tempting alternative and in some families, the only way baby and parents can get much-needed rest. More than half of parents report co-sleeping with an infant at some point during the first year post birth. The question is, should child welfare officials start classifying co-sleeping, or putting a pillow in a crib or placing an infant near a comforter, as abuse or neglect? Should doctors, who are required by law to call the DCFS hotline with child abuse suspicions, be required to call if a mom acknowledges sleeping with her newborn? That was the concern of DCFS Inspector General Denise Kane when the agency intensified its response to what it considered unsafe sleep environments. In memos between her office and Sheldons, she argued coroners and other first responders were well-equipped to determine whether abuse or neglect contributed to a childs death. If their evidence-gathering turned up questionable circumstances the babys body showed signs of trauma or the parents used drugs or alcohol that would trigger a full DCFS investigation. But absent that evidence, parents who accidentally rolled on a newborn or put a quilt in a crib should not be subjected routinely to an intrusive DCFS probe, she argued. Investigating parents for abuse and neglect solely because a child died unexpectedly during sleep is intrusive and harmful to families and should not be allowed, Kane wrote to Sheldon and Gov. Bruce Rauner in 2015. Parents and siblings are grieving when DCFS knocks on the door to announce they are investigating the family for causing the infants death by neglect. Advertisement The change, she said, also wasted scarce agency resources and should not have been implemented without a legislative hearing process. Because of the policy change, a DCFS child protection investigator went to the home of Baby H nine hours after her death. The mother was distraught and unable to answer questions, according to a report. So the investigator questioned the 7-year-old and 12-year-old siblings, asked them about the home environment and discipline, and quizzed school officials and the family pediatrician. Kane considered that unnecessary and a waste of resources. All of this occurred after the coroner had already interviewed the mother, x-rayed the child, and reported there were no concerns, she wrote. Under new DCFS Director Beverly B.J. Walker, the agency is continuing the policy that began under Sheldon. When a child sleep death is reported to the DCFS hotline usually by law enforcement or a coroner even if the caller indicates there were no signs of abuse or neglect, DCFS opens an investigation. In most cases, the parents do not end up being flagged for abuse. But in some cases a little more than 6 percent of sleep deaths in fiscal 2016 evidence emerged during the DCFS investigation that led to a finding of neglect, even though it wasnt apparent to first responders, a DCFS spokesman said. The deeper probe turned up additional evidence. Thats why the policy has stayed in place. Kane says the policy should, at the very least, be reviewed by the legislatures Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, an oversight body that reviews policy implementation throughout state government. Advertisement The state is only permitted to intrude into a familys home when there are exigent circumstances warranting such intrusion, Kane wrote. The joint committee in June 2016 sided with Kane and called for a hearing, but DCFS officials and the governors office disagreed, saying they had the authority to implement the new protocol. The policy change also led investigators to the home of a couple whose 4-month-old died while sleeping with them and their 2-year-old. The family did not have a crib and slept on blankets on the floor. There were no signs of trauma or alcohol or drug abuse, just distraught parents. But because of the new policy, the parents were questioned, DCFS considered removing the sibling from the home and the agency continued to monitor the family. DCFS says its investigators treat each unsafe sleep death with care. Cases should be closed quickly if there are no signs of abuse and neglect, and families, the agency says, often appreciate the resources DCFS can offer. But we agree with Kane here: Parents who co-sleep or accidentally roll on a child or put a pillow in a crib should not be investigated and flagged as neglectful parents if there were no additional circumstances, such as drug or alcohol use, during the event. Yes, co-sleeping comes with risks. Those risks are worthy of a heightened, national education campaign for parents. Arm them with information. But dont persecute them for a tragic mistake or happenstance. In Illinois, hospitals are required to send new parents home with materials addressing the dangers of unsafe sleep conditions. That seems the right approach. More education, not more investigation. Advertisement And this bottom line cannot be stated enough: DCFS is an agency itself under duress. Many investigators are overwhelmed with caseloads of documented abuse parents who dont properly feed their kids, who send them to school with bruises and broken bones, and in some tragic cases, who starve or beat them to death. Thats the reality. The Tribune has exposed numerous cases where DCFS was involved with a family and still a child died of horrific violence. Those cases should take precedence over families who engage in questionable sleep practices. Overworked investigators should not be probing into otherwise stable families. A longstanding complaint about DCFS has been its inability to prioritize its caseload. This seems like a good place to start fixing. Parents like the mother of Baby H, whose only mistake might have been propping her baby on a pillow, should not be dragged through unnecessary governmental scrutiny and pain while coping with the loss of a child. Move on. Some large companies like Google, Uber and Zappos encourage sleepy employees to take a power naps and in some cases even provide nap pods like the one shown. (Handout / Photo courtesy of MetroNaps) The secret of adult life lean in closely now is that you dont have to stay awake for everything. And this isnt true only in the gentle twilight after a holiday meal. On non-holidays, its especially true in those interminable midafternoon meetings at work. As colleagues or guests drone on in dimly lit, overly warm conference rooms, who hasnt let the eyelids slip to half-mast and yearned for a soft pillow and a few moments of silence? That was our first thought when we read recently about The Case of the Napping Judge. Advertisement The facts: During an Illinois murder trial in 2014, lights were dimmed in Judge Jeffrey OConnors Whiteside County courtroom so jurors could watch security camera footage on a monitor. When the video ended, an attorney asked the judge to turn on the lights. No response from the judge until a clerk allegedly poked him awake. The jury later convicted the defendant but lawyers appealed, arguing the judge repeatedly fell asleep during the trial. But the appellate court said judges could doze, so long as they didnt miss crucial evidence or motions. An inadvertent catnap wasnt enough to reverse the verdict. That decision wasnt a shot in the dark; theres a century of precedents, dating to a five-minute Illinois judicial siesta in 1899. Advertisement In that case, the appellate court sympathized that the trial occupied eight or nine days, and may have been conducted in such a manner as to exhaust almost anyone compelled to listen to it, as was the presiding judge. In other words, who can blame him for a brief snooze? We can think of many more venues corporate, judicial and personal that would fit into that category. Our firm conviction based on years of blissful napping experience: A brief snooze is an elixir of the soul far more powerful than guzzling a dozen ventis. Theres plenty of scientific research, as weve reminded Tribune bosses over and over again, concluding that a short doze can leave a worker in a far more productive and less grumpy mood. Alas, too many American employers still frown on grabbing a few winks at work. Nevertheless, were happy to see that some companies encourage a power nap vibe: Google, Uber, PwC, Zappos and Ben & Jerrys all encourage them and in some cases provide nap pods, according to Inc.com. Air traffic controllers in France, Germany, Australia and Canada are allowed to take naps during breaks in their work shifts. We also would remind doubters that the Power Nappers Hall of Fame reportedly includes John F. Kennedy, Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher, Thomas Edison, Salvador Dali and Albert Einstein. Former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft was so renowned for his ability to take five in high-level meetings that President George H.W. Bush bestowed a Scowcroft Award to honor the American official who most ostentatiously (falls) asleep in a meeting with the president, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in 2010. The president evaluated candidates on three criteria. First, duration how long did they sleep? Second, the depth of the sleep. Snoring always got you extra points. And third, the quality of recovery. Did one just quietly open ones eyes and return to the meeting, or did you jolt awake and maybe spill something hot in the process? Sleep-deprived zombies everywhere sympathize. And so do U.S. corporate honchos. Insomnia cost American business $63 billion in lost productivity, according to a September 2011 study in the journal Sleep. Employees werent missing work because of sleeplessness, researchers reported. They just didnt accomplish as much because they were tired. Could taking a few authorized winks on the job improve national productivity? And just make us all less tetchy? Well sleep on it and get back to you. This video from a dashboard camera of a Chicago police squad car shows Officer Marco Proano shoot at a moving car, wounding two teens inside it, on December 22, 2013 near 95th and LaSalle streets in the Princeton Park neighborhood. (Courtesy of the Chicago Reporter) (Chicago Tribune) Mr. Proano was not maintaining the thin blue line that separates us from anarchy and chaos and violence. He was bringing the chaos and violence. U.S. District Judge Gary Feinerman, sentencing Chicago police Officer Marco Proano to five years in prison Advertisement No, Marco Proano is not a scapegoat. No, he is not a victim of anti-police hysteria. Advertisement The 11-year police veteran was convicted of excessive force for firing 16 times into a car full of teenagers in December 2013. It took a jury less than four hours to reach a verdict after a weeklong trial. Video of the shooting, captured on a police dashboard camera, shows Proano walking quickly toward a stolen Toyota, raising his gun and firing as the vehicle backs away. He continues to fire even after the car hits a light pole and stops. Two of the five teens inside the car were wounded. Jurors watched the video several times. Defense attorney Daniel Herbert argued that Proano acted exactly as hed been trained to do and was sacrificed to the furor that engulfed Chicago after the release of a different dashcam video in November 2015. That would be the video, released by court order, that shows Officer Jason Van Dyke firing 16 shots at teenager Laquan McDonald. It led to months of street protests, a U.S. Department of Justice investigation and promises still unfulfilled to overhaul Chicagos police department and its feeble disciplinary system. Herbert also represents Van Dyke, who is charged with first-degree murder. Proano was charged nine months later. On Monday, Herbert asked the judge to sentence Proano to probation. The indictment resonated throughout the Chicago Police Department, Herbert said, and sent a loud and clear message to cops that their behavior was being scrutinized closely. He hinted that it has already caused officers to do their jobs less aggressively for fear of being charged with a crime. That got a rise out of both the judge and prosecutor. Feinerman said Proanos actions were extremely unjustified and an insult to police officers who perform professionally. Assistant U.S. Attorney Georgia Alexakis said it was wrong to say Give him a light sentence because otherwise police officers might not do their jobs. At trial, prosecutors showed that Proano had violated his training, left and right. Officers are taught not to fire into a crowd, not to fire at a target they cant clearly see, not to keep firing after a threat is eliminated. Jurors didnt buy the argument that Proano fired at the car to protect one of the teens, who was hanging out the window of the moving car. Advertisement If Proano feels singled out, its because Chicago has a long history of failing to hold police officers accountable for misconduct. But he was tried and convicted on the evidence. This was not a close call, the judge said. Mr. Proano engaged in criminal armed violence. Proanos actions were way over the line. Hes not going to prison simply for doing his job. The good cops thats almost all of them know it. One November day in 1926, locals gathered in Highland Park to dedicate a statue in honor of the 363 residents who served in World War I. A band played patriotic songs and schoolchildren marched. Then life went on. Before long, there would be more wars to commemorate. If you know where to go in the Chicago area, youll discover statues and other tributes in memory of those who fought and died in the Great War. They arent hidden away but are easy to overlook. Some in fine condition, some weather-worn, these memorials are part of the landscape, totems in recognition of sacrifices made 100 years ago. Among the many: the Winnetka Cenotaph Memorial, the Victory Monument in Bronzeville and the Doughboy Statue in Morton Grove. Advertisement Does anyone even give these historical markers a thought? Yes, thankfully. With the wars centennial at hand, there is a worthy project underway to repair and protect these statues and the legacy they represent. The program, called 100 Cities/100 Memorials, provides matching grants of up to $2,000 for the restoration and upkeep of World War I memorials. The project is a partnership of Chicagos Pritzker Military Museum and Library and the United States World War One Centennial Commission, with support from the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars. Advertisement The 100 Cities/100 Memorials program is seeking applications from community groups and others for grant money that could be put toward repairs, landscaping or other uses. The organizers awarded 50 grants in September and will award 50 more in April, which means theres time for more Illinois groups to get involved and work to preserve more local monuments. Illinois Landmarks is doing a separate World War I monument survey and grant program, also funded by the Pritzker Military Foundation, and its also accepting applications. Look around your own town or neighborhood. Do you know of a World War I memorial that could use some attention? There were six Illinois memorials named in the first 100 Cities batch: Winnetka, Bronzeville and Morton Grove, plus the Gold Star Memorial at Guthrie Park in Riverside, the Wheaton World War I Obelisk and a doughboy statue in downstate Glen Carbon. Were hoping these towns will rededicate these memorials in some kind of public fashion and educate their citizens on the repercussions of World War I, Kenneth Clarke, president and CEO of the Pritzker Military Museum, told us. The Great War started in 1914 but did not embroil the United States until the spring of 1917. The first Americans died in France 100 years ago this month. The U.S., entering in support of its European allies, defeated Germany and the other Central Powers in November 1918. The war was complex and brutal, fought from trench to trench, but its purpose and power from an American perspective were straightforward: to defend liberty. The world must be made safe for democracy, President Woodrow Wilson declared. The doughboys, as American soldiers were known, went over there to free occupied territory from the Central Powers. Its a very idealistic war, Clarke said. About 4 million soldiers served with the American Expeditionary Forces, half overseas. Approximately 117,000 U.S. service members died. In the years after the war, veterans in towns across America erected memorials to honor the participants and fallen. For example, the Highland Park memorial features a heroic bronze female figure, the names of the participants and the inscription For your tomorrow they gave their today. Locals recently corrected the spelling of two soldiers names. While towns remembered their own, large-scale World War I anniversary commemorations were overshadowed by succeeding conflicts, Clarke said. The 25th anniversary of the end of World War I took place in the middle of World War II, and the 50th anniversary occurred in 1968, when the U.S. was enmeshed in the Vietnam War and anti-war protests at home. So now there is this important opportunity at the centennial to reflect on the past and remember the sacrifices, even if the doughboys are all gone. In Washington, progress is being made on construction of the National World War I Memorial, designed by Chicago architect Joe Weishaar. Across Illinois, monuments and markers dot the landscape, some requiring attention to ensure that they will last for more centuries. Advertisement Information on the 100 Cities/100 Memorials program can be found at www.worldwar1centennial.org. For information on the Landmarks Illinois program, go to landmarks.org. Love a great deal, but dont want to endure the mall madness of Black Friday? Youve got options. Black Market Chicago gives shoppers an opportunity to support both small and black-owned businesses on the opener of Christmas shopping season. Advertisement The immediate goal is to provide community-based businesses with an opportunity to gain exposure and business on a day where many people usually take their business to larger companies, Justin Sankara, Black Market Chicago founder, wrote in an online message. This is particularly important because Black-owned businesses are heavy employers of Black people, and its important for Black people to succeed as entrepreneurs and leaders, not just employees. Sankara says the long-term goals for the event include building awareness of business growth in the black communities of Chicago. Advertisement I think that a lot of people think shopping Black means theyll have to settle somehow because the quality isnt at the level of a major company, he wrote. I can say from the experience of doing this event that that simply isnt true. Black Market Chicago will highlight black businesses in a black-owned space the #LetUsBreathe Collectives Breathing Room, a home and resource on the South Side for artists and activists. The lineup of vendors is diverse, featuring a variety of items like clothes, jewelry, art and food. Sankara shared a couple of cant-miss businesses: ILAVA: It Can Be Done is an African-style clothing vendor that works with women in Kenya and Tanzania to help them gain economic security. The handmade clothing and accessories these women make is sold by ILAVA, and the proceeds from their business often help charitable causes. Last year they used 25 percent of their proceeds to buy bikes for young people in Kenya and Tanzania to help them get to and from school. Eat. Watch. Do. Weekly What to eat. What to watch. What you need to live your best life ... now. > Mobicolor is one of our new vendors this year. Its a coloring book company that I'm very excited to have in the event because the young man that runs the company is a great example of a young entrepreneur. When I met him, he was networking at an event and I wouldn't be surprised if he exchanged numbers with every person in the room. The energy he brings to his work was truly contagious, and I think the artistry I saw in his work will have a lot of success at Black Market Friday this year. Local producer DJ Lisa Decibel will curate the sounds for the night, and the event also includes performances from MC Ace da Vinci and Tweak Harris. Sankara said he wants to provide a space filled with love and affirmation where Chicagoans can support the community while having fun. The work we do for Black progress doesnt always have to be hard and heavy on the soul. Black Market Chicago, Free Advertisement 1-6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 25 at Breathing Room 1434 W. 51st St. @SadeMichelle | smcarpenter@redeyechicago.com [ Looking for more to do in Chicago? ] The Believe in Yourself Project donated dresses to Chicagos Pedersen-McCormick Boys and Girls Club in March 2017. (Believe in Yourself Project / Handout ) In a world of Photoshopped images everywhere you look, it can take a Herculean effort to maintain a healthy self-image. The struggle follows many of us into adulthood, but young girls face a special kind of pressure. Advertisement The founder of the Believe in Yourself Project, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit launched in January 2017, hopes to ease some of this stress by donating dresses for school events to underprivileged teens. Being in the retail industry, I see designers come up with new clothing every season and everyone will be running ads, said founder Sam Sisakhti. Theres always pressure on young people to stay in style. Advertisement Sisakhti created boutique clothing website UsTrendy. He says he got lots of extra samples, and started dropping off boxes of clothing to Boys and Girls Clubs in different cities. In March, Sisakhti donated dresses to Chicagos Pedersen-McCormick Boys and Girls Club. His goal is to expand the program in a more formal way to help lower-income families. Sisakhti says he wants to return to Chicago in 2018 with bigger donations and an added mentorship component. Pedersen-McCormick Boys and Girls Club. (Believe in Yourself Project / Handout) We saw how much body-shaming and bullying was going on. Bullying was a problem at my school, but it wouldnt follow the kids home, he said. Now, (with social media) its following the kids home. Believe in Yourself is looking for speakers and mentors to share stories about overcoming bullying and overcoming adversity. The organization also wants speakers who can discuss tips for promoting a healthy body image. At this time, Sisakhti only donates new, unworn dresses, but the foundation will accept monetary donations that will go toward purchasing more. Those interested in volunteering as a speaker or mentor should email info@believeinyourself.org. @SadeMichelle | smcarpenter@redeyechicago.com [ Looking for more to do in Chicago? ] The Fox Valley Orchestra will perform its Colors, Bold and Soft concert 3 p.m. Dec. 3 at the Crimi Auditorium on the Aurora University campus. ( Fox Valley Orchestra/HANDOUT ) It's a rare opportunity for an orchestra to perform a piece with the composer in the audience. Such will be the memorable case when the Fox Valley Orchestra presents its "Colors, Bold and Soft" concert 3 p.m. Dec. 3 at the Crimi Auditorium on the Aurora University campus. Advertisement "One truly special feature of this program is that the first half of the concert showcases works by two great living composers, one of whom will be attendance at the concert," said Conductor and Music Director Brian Groner. That composer is Dr. Gustavo Leone. The orchestra will be performing his work "Como Un Sueno," which translates to "As in Sleep." Advertisement "'Como Un Sueno' is an atmospheric showpiece for the harp," Groner said. "Its evocative, soft colors and shifting moods seem to invite the listener into a peaceful space." Born in Buenos Aires, Leone is a professor of music at Loyola University in Chicago and co-artistic director of the Chicago Latino Music Festival. He will be available for a "meet the composer" gathering immediately after the concert. Guest harpist Faye Seeman will join the orchestra for "Como Un Sueno." She is principal harpist for the Chicago Sinfonietta Orchestra. "She is one of the most respected harpists in the nation," Groner said. "She is not only a fine musician but a wonderful person. I can't wait for the audience to hear her and this amazing work." Of course, performing with a harp does change things up a bit for the orchestra. "Working with a harp soloist does make the issue of balance critical, as the harp is not the loudest of instruments," Groner explained. "One of the reasons that the piece on which we are collaborating is so great is that the composer has been exceptionally careful is his writing to make sure that the harp can be heard." The first half of the program also features Libby Larsen's 1994 "Overture for the End of a Century," which Groner described as "a short and charming work with great rhythmic energy." The second half of the concert is Jean Sibelius's "Symphony No. 2." Completed in 1902, the piece is one of the best known and most frequently performed works by the late romantic Finnish composer. Advertisement "It is set in the typical four movements with one of the most heroic finales in all the literature it has a huge range of expression," Groner said. "At times one can imagine the dark, deeply chilled winters, and then in the finale we hear inspiring melodies that fully warm the soul." True to its title, the program covers plenty of musical ground, bold and soft. "There are so many unique sounds and styles that will be presented at this concert," Groner said. The pieces were selected to provide great musical contrast. "I hope that the audience feels immersed in each of the different musical cultures on this program to me that is the greatest thing about music," Groner said. "For the duration the concert, we allow ourselves to be part of someone else's experience, hearing and feeling how they see the world. That's a beautiful thing." Advertisement Concert tickets purchased online are $14 for adults, $12 for students and seniors, and $9 for kids 8 and under, plus a 75-cent ticket service charge. Tickets purchased at the door are $16.50 for adults, $14.50 for students and seniors, and $10 for kids 8 and under. Subscriptions also are available. Jen Banowetz is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News. Fox Valley Orchestra's 'Colors, Bold and Soft' concert When: 3 p.m. Dec. 3 Where: Crimi Auditorium, 407 S. Calumet Ave., at Aurora University Tickets: $9-$16.50 Teresa Herrera, a junior in the Food Science and Technology pathway at the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences, tops plates with gravy at the Ag School's fifth annual Thanksgiving feast for seniors on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017. (Zak Koeske / Daily Southtown) Hundreds of seniors from the Far Southwest Side feasted on locally-sourced turkey with all the fixings Tuesday courtesy of students at the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences. The farm-to-table meal, held annually at the Mount Greenwood high school in celebration of Thanksgiving, capitalizes on the school's claim as the site of Chicago's last working farm. Advertisement Over the past few months, Ag School students have been raising the birds, growing the vegetables and even creating the wooden turkey-shaped centerpieces that adorned each dining table at the event. Their hard work culminated Tuesday, an all-day affair in which students, working in coordination with local chefs, dressed and carved the turkeys, prepared the side dishes and desserts, and set up the school's gymnasium for the evening's smorgasbord of fresh, local fare. Advertisement "Literally from 4 in the morning until (7 p.m.), these kids are working," said Ald. Matt O'Shea, whose 19th Ward office assists in planning the ambitious annual endeavor. "Organizing, getting the room set up, preparing the food. "It's the kids giving back and the seniors just appreciate it." The idea for the event came a few years ago, when students approached the school's administration asking to raise turkeys, Principal Bill Hook said. "We raised chickens already, they wanted to raise turkeys, and I said, 'What do you want to do with them?'" Hook said. "They had several ideas, one of which was to have a dinner, so I called Matt (O'Shea) and I said, 'It's a great idea, let's get on it.' And here we are five years later, 320 seniors and everything's farm-to-table." The food, from all accounts, is delicious and the experience students get working with professional chefs is valuable, but what Hook said he most appreciates about the event is watching the teens and older adults connect. "The best part is when you see the interaction between the seniors and the kids," Hook said. "It's phenomenal." Added O'Shea, "(There's) nothing more I love than standing by that door when people are leaving and a little old lady walks up and she says, 'That was the best meal I ever had,' or 'The kids are so nice,' because the kids, they really do engage." Barbara Gochee, a senior student in the food science and technology track, is one of those kids. Advertisement The Mount Greenwood resident, who helped prepare the turkey and pumpkin pie beforehand and snapped photos for the yearbook during the meal, said she enjoyed seeing many of the older adults, including ones she knows from church, out and about socializing with friends. "I loved talking to everybody. The stories that they tell, they're amazing," she said. "It's such a great activity that we have at this school. It's something I hope continues for many more years. It helps a lot of people get out of the house, talk to friends, and it's just such an overall great experience." For Judy Sterling, a retired educator and Beverly resident who has attended the event as a guest the past four years, the feeling is mutual. "I love it," she said of the dinner. "It's just so nice to see kids that are so involved in what they're doing." Sterling recounted a conversation she'd had with one of the students earlier in the evening, a junior who was beginning to think about college. "I was a counselor," she said, "so I jumped right in and asked her her plans." Advertisement Ima Eno, a first-year food science teacher at the school, said that planning and preparing for the massive feast was exhausting, but that her students' energy and excitement kept her going. "It's just been a really, really good experience seeing all the students want to be so involved for an event like this," she said. "The fact that they want to be here to serve someone else's grandparents, I think that's awesome." Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday > Tuesday's feel-good feast was not without a little "fowl" play, however. Each year, the school "pardons" one of its turkeys, which is allowed to live out the rest of its days rather than being taken to slaughter for the Thanksgiving meal. "Lucky," as the pardoned bird is always called, expressed its gratitude by attacking Hook. "I went to pick it up and I got it halfway out of the cage and it kind of clawed me a little bit," he said. "I let go a little bit and his wing got up and smashed me, gave me a nose bleed. Advertisement "We pardoned the wrong one," he laughed. zkoeske@tribpub.com Twitter @ZakKoeske Palos Township officials halted Monday's board meeting prematurely and called police after a group of activists strode to the front of the packed boardroom and confronted trustees seated behind the dais. "All the girls wearing hijab, come to the front, please," one woman shouted to resounding cheers and claps. "Let's show this board what community they're trying to kick out." Advertisement The confrontation was the latest in what has become a monthslong standoff between activists and Trustee Sharon Brannigan, whose controversial Facebook comments about Middle Eastern immigrants have ignited calls for her resignation. The activists' chants of "Hey hey, ho ho, Sharon Brannigan has to go!" gave way to calls of, "We'll be back!" as the trustees adjourned the meeting and exited through a side door into a private area. Advertisement Monday's meeting marked the fourth time in five months that activists have protested a Palos Township board meeting en masse to demand Brannigan's resignation. The controversy started in late June after social media comments surfaced in which Brannigan, a former Republican congressional candidate, suggested that local schools were filling with undocumented Middle Eastern students. Palos Township, which encompasses all or portions of Bridgeview, Hickory Hills, Orland Park, Palos Heights, Palos Hills, Palos Park, Worth and Willow Springs, has one of the largest Arab populations in the state. In other Facebook posts unearthed by activists, Brannigan has expressed her aversion to movies made by "very wealthy liberals" who support Democrats like "Barack Hussein Obama"; criticized Rep. Dan Lipinski for not doing more to restrict Middle Eastern immigration; and expressed pride that neither Melania Trump nor Ivanka Trump donned headscarves during a May trip to Saudi Arabia with the president. "Am particularly proud that our women are not wearing the headscarves," she posted on Facebook following the president's trip. "We American women are being represented with dignity!" Met by 100 protesters at Palos Township's July meeting, Brannigan was defiant in defense of her comments, citing her First Amendment right to free speech and concern over the community's growing tax burden. She later apologized for the remarks, calling them "poorly crafted" and saying they "inadequately expressed" her feelings, but remained steadfast in her refusal to resign. Brannigan's apology, which came in September after three months of protests, did not appease activists, who have said they will accept nothing less than her resignation. Advertisement The township board's only respite from anti-Brannigan protests came last month when it canceled its regular meeting, citing an inability to accommodate the expected crowd. Unbeknownst to activists and news media, however, officials convened a special meeting on Oct. 30 that, unlike past meetings, was not advertised on the township website, and went unattended. Activist groups, which claim to call the township office daily and stop by in person every few days to get the latest meeting news, said that when a member inquired with the township by phone on the day of the special meeting, he was told that no meeting was scheduled. Incensed by what activists perceived as the township's attempt to skirt public scrutiny last month, protesters weren't backing down at Monday's meeting. "We're here to interrupt business as usual," organizer Bassem Kawar told protesters as they entered the boardroom. "They're not going to meet as long as she sits on this board." After a shaky start in which Supervisor Colleen Grant-Schumann threatened to cancel the meeting if the crowd didn't get under control, protesters quieted down long enough to permit trustees to get through their agenda and open the meeting to public comment. Advertisement During the audience participation portion, activists not only voiced their familiar demands that Brannigan resign, but also raised questions about the board's spending practices, provision of services and administrative costs. "We're watching all of you, and we're going to dig up every single thing," said Tammy Georgiou, of Southwest Suburban Activists, one of a number of people who have filed Freedom of Information Act requests with the township in an effort to shed light on board spending and uncover any financial impropriety. Terry Heafey, a Palos School District 118 board member and anti-Brannigan activist, followed Georgiou by questioning whether the Republican-dominated board's actions really aligned with the GOP's tax-cutting, small government stance. "If we're trying to reduce the amount of government and reduce the cost and burden on the taxpayers that you care so deeply about, I'm concerned that that's not happening here," he said. Emily Biegel, founder of Southwest Suburban Activists, used her three minutes to ask board members why they wouldn't engage with protesters despite repeated attempts to initiate dialogue, and Bill Beaulieu from Southsiders for Peace asserted that by not denouncing Brannigan, the board was enabling her. "When you do protect one of your own, the same dirt that is on that person is going to get on you," he said. "You can't protect somebody like that and say, 'Well, we're not racist, but one of my best friends is a racist.' It doesn't work. Advertisement "You can either stand up to her or you can enable her by allowing her to sit there and speak," he said. "Everybody knows what she stands for." The meeting spiraled out of control after one of the audience members asked all Arab women to come to the front of the boardroom. "Look around you," the woman shouted at the trustees, as dozens approached the dais. "We will not be silenced." Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday > Moments later, the police were called and trustees adjourned the meeting, retiring to the board's private quarters while activists clapped, jeered and activated sirens. Afterward, Brannigan said she'd had to summon the police because one of the activists had threatened to strangle her with the scarf she was wearing. "It turned into a mob scene with this Southwest Suburban Activists Group," she wrote in an email Tuesday. "I'm not sure why they are turning Township local business into national political issues when this board has no control over any of that." Advertisement Brannigan reiterated Tuesday that she had no intention of resigning despite the continued protests, and denied the financial allegations activists had levied at the board during the meeting. "There are no fiscal improprieties if you look a little closer," she wrote. "We follow the law." zkoeske@tribpub.com Twitter @ZakKoeske Associate Judge Marmarie J. Kostelny keeps Forrest, a facility dog, at her home when hes off duty. (Gloria Casas/The Courier-News ) The English Labrador Retriever confidently walked down a hallway in the Kane County Judicial Center, getting quizzical looks quickly replaced by smiles as he padded to Drug Rehabilitation Court. "Hi Forrest," said a court participant, rubbing the 2-year-old's head before snapping a selfie with him. "I love Forrest. He's a good dog." Advertisement Forrest started working with the Kane County 16th Circuit's Drug Rehabilitation Court in late October. He is the county's first facility, or support, dog. "He's an amazing dog," said Randy Reusch, one of his four handlers. "He has the best temperament in the world. He's done so much already." Advertisement The idea for a support dog came from Chief Judge Susan Clancy Boles, who approached Drug Rehabilitation Court's presiding Judge Marmarie J. Kostelny about it. It took about two years for Boles to get Forrest to Kane County. Support Dogs, a nonprofit based in St. Louis, Mo., donated Forrest after he was trained to provide support and reduce anxiety for people appearing in court, Kostelny said. Over 50 percent of drug court participants have mental health disorders, primarily depression and anxiety, Kostelny said. The court works to provide alternative therapies, like art therapy, book clubs and annual parties, to help them in recovery and to deal with any mental health issues, she said. Many people in drug court have had traumatic experiences that led to drug addiction, she said. "Those things manifest themselves when you take the drugs away," said Alicia Klimpke, court program coordinator. Dogs can help by making people happy and easing depression and anxiety, Kostelny said. Trainer Philip Wessel notices Forrest attracts a lot of attention around the Kane County Judicial Center from visitors and county employees. (Gloria Casas/The Courier-News ) "As presiding judge, I will do anything I can do to help my people. I will absolutely do anything if it gives them just a boost in their success," she said. Forrest can accompany participants during their weekly interviews with probation officers, plus he attends treatment alternative court and has visited the Kane County Juvenile Justice Center, Reusch said. Advertisement He also may be used in other specialty courts, including veterans' court, which starts next year. Getting Forrest to Kane County was a long process that included officials sending videotaped interviews to Support Dogs, personal interviews, home inspections and trainers attending a one-week training session. Reusch, a retired Kane County probation officer who now volunteers with drug court, and the other handlers had to become certified by two different agencies. Inmates in a downstate Illinois prison helped Support Dogs train Forrest, which cost about $27,000, he said. Forrest is trained to sit or lay down on command, put his head on laps while distributing his weight so he doesn't scare anyone and can open drawers. He is considered a "facility dog" similar to a service or therapy dog, Reusch said, but does not smell out drugs. "It's a very different type of training. He is trained to be a comfort dog. When he puts his vest on, he knows he's working," Reusch said. "He's playful like any other 2-year-old puppy, but when he puts on his vest, it is business." Advertisement Forrest provides support to people during court appearances or while talking to court officials in Kane County. (Gloria Casas/The Courier-News ) With Alex, Forrest put his head on his lap as the drug court participant, a recovering heroin addict, talked to his probation officer about a new step in his recovery. Forrest sat obediently, with Reusch reinforcing his good behavior by whispering "good dog, good dog." At the end, Forrest rolled on his back and let Alex give him his favorite thing, a belly rub. Trainer Philip Wessel recently took Forrest to work with a man in treatment alternative court who was recounting a traumatic experience. The man focused on Forrest while talking with court officials, and the dog remained at the man's feet. "We hear people saying, 'I need some Forrest time,'" said Kostelny, who volunteered to have the dog live in her home and to take care of his food and grooming. "When I take him home at night, he can be a dog, but I can't break his training," she said. He shares a home with an 11-year-old cat named Pepper. Their first week together was a bit shaky, but "she's the boss. She will lay where she knows he wants to go, and he will not go around her," the judge said. Advertisement "I think he is very well trained," Kostelny said. "He loves meeting people. He is excited but not aggressive. He can be a naughty dog when he's off leash, but I expect that. He likes people. We call it his super power." Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News. District officials present a proposal to the U46 school board members calling for the expansion of the districts Spanish/English dual language program. Nov. 20, 2017. (Rafael Guerrero / The Courier-News ) Dual language English/Spanish programs are set to expand into all five high schools of School District U46 next school year, district officials said Monday. While no vote was taken at Monday's U46 school board meeting, administrators are committed to growing the program, which is already set up in several elementary and middle schools, they said. Advertisement "We have chosen to continue on this path because we fundamentally believe to our very core that this is the logical next step for our students," English Language Learners director Annette Acevedo said. Acevedo and other administrators presented their high school plan to the board Monday night. According to the proposal, dual-language programs in which some classes are taught just in Spanish would expand into all five high schools next year with a projected enrollment of more than 730 students total. Advertisement The number of students district-wide would likely increase in 2019-20 to more than 850 students, before dropping back to 2018 levels, according to district projections. The number of potential students in the high school programs mirror the current number of middle school students; the district's dual-language middle school services are provided at five of the seven schools. Under the structure of this model, students in dual-language instruction would take three or four classes in Spanish per semester. The expansion would also impact English as Second Language students, whose first languages are not Spanish. South Elgin and Bartlett high schools would house the secondary ESL programs beginning next school year. English Language Learners initiatives coordinator Patricia Makishima said the two were chosen because most of these students reside within the boundaries of South Elgin and Bartlett. Since 2011, U46 has expanded Spanish/English dual language from preschool classrooms to more than 30 elementary and middle schools. Last school year, the program marked its entry into the middle schools, with five of the seven now providing services. While district officials and a majority of the board have praised its expansion, board member Jeanette Ward remains one of its most outspoken opponents. Earlier this year, Ward voted no on the expansion of the middle school program while saying some remarks in Spanish. While she said she has no issue with students learning other languages, Ward questioned Monday whether the program prevented Spanish speakers from becoming fully fluent in English. Many employers, including hers, communicate only in English, despite it having employees from multiple countries, she said. "There is no such thing as global citizenship," she said. Advertisement Other fellow board members, though, defended U46's ambitious expansion. Traci O'Neal Ellis said students should not "live in a tiny bubble," and welcomed students to learn and immerse themselves in Spanish. From her perspective as a human resources director, Ellis said she knows job candidates versed in Spanish and English are attractive to employers. Earlier in the presentation, Acevedo shared how the number of online job listings in the Elgin seeking bilingual candidates was 40 percent higher than in the average metropolitan area. Board member Melissa Owens recalled applying to her current job as program coordinator at an Elgin-area nonprofit. The job qualifications for her current job may not have specified bilingual fluency, but many of the other jobs she applied for did. "There are components to my job that would be infinitely easier if I had those skills," she said. raguerrero@tribpub.com Dr. Oana Nisipeanu performs a routine checkup at the Lake County Health Departments clinic in Zion in this undated photo. The existing clinic is set to be demolished following the renovation of a nearby space donated by the Cancer Treatment Centers of America. ( Lake County Health Department ) A $3.5 million renovation is set to transform a former Cancer Treatment Centers of America facility in Zion into a new Lake County Health Department clinic, officials said. The new clinic will allow the Health Department to offer new and expanded services closer to where patients live, said Jerry Nordstrom, the department's director of business operations. Advertisement The Health Department has been looking for an alternative to its existing Zion facility for years, said Nordstrom, who said he's been involved in the process for at least seven years. A community-needs assessment conducted a few years ago found that the towns from which the Health Department expects to draw patients at the new clinic Zion, Beach Park and Winthrop Harbor are home to about 12,000 people who will likely qualify for services due to their income, Nordstrom said. Advertisement The existing facility at 1819 27th St. is too small to house everything the Health Department would like to offer, Nordstrom said. Many of those people from the Zion area are currently traveling to Waukegan to get medical services, he said. The hope is that patients with chronic conditions will be more likely to keep up with their health care if they're nearby and will therefore stay out of the emergency department, Nordstrom said. The new clinic space at 1911 27th St., which was donated by Cancer Treatment Centers of America last year as the company completed projects at its main hospital and other locations, is about a half-block west of the existing clinic, Nordstrom said. The renovated 16,000-square-foot first floor will eventually house a Women, Infants and Children clinic; community rooms; seven primary-care exam rooms; five dental exam rooms; three labs; and eight rooms that are flexible in design, according to county documents. The one-stop shop model seeks to provide nutrition, mental health, smoking cessation and dental services in addition to regular medical care, Nordstrom said. Dental services for both children and adults, including dental surgery, will be one of the additions made possible by the new space, he said. Renovations began in October and are expected to continue through the winter, Nordstrom said. The goal is to complete the work in April or May so that demolition of the existing clinic can follow to make way for an expanded parking lot. Advertisement The work is being funded in part through $1.5 million in federal and Illinois Child Healthcare Foundation grants, Nordstrom said. The remainder is coming from Health Department reserves and the county's capital improvement funds. emcoleman@tribpub.com Twitter @mekcoleman A Waukegan man claims in a lawsuit filed last week that a CVS employee stole his winning $1 million Illinois Lottery scratch-off card. Carlos Figueroa claims in the suit filed in Cook County Circuit Court that he bought the winning ticket on Oct. 30 from a CVS Pharmacy in Waukegan. The address of the store was not immediately available. Advertisement The suit states that Figueroa said he purchased the "Merry Millionaire" instant scratch-off through a vending machine that had cut it in half due to a malfunction. Figueroa then claims that he was "coerced" by a CVS employee into handing him half of the ticket under the ruse of checking if it was a winner. Advertisement Figueroa alleges that about 20 minutes later, the employee handed him back half of a different lottery ticket that was not a winner. He said he made repeated demands at the store for the return of his winning ticket. Figueroa is hoping for a temporary restraining order and injunction against the Illinois Lottery Board to prevent it from paying out winnings to the CVS employee. "(Figueroa) is in need of immediate relief in that unless the (CVS employee) and the Illinois Lottery Board is restrained he will suffer immediate and irreparable harm," the lawsuit states. Attempts to reach CVS representatives and Illinois Lottery officials about the lawsuit were not successful. Figueroa is also pursuing an order for the lottery board to recognize him as the rightful owner of the ticket. It is unclear why he filed the lawsuit in Cook County rather than in Lake County, but his complaint states CVS does business in Chicago. A court hearing on the case has been set for March 19. Frank Vaisvilas is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun. Chicago Mayor Harold Washington joins a group photo at the International Folk Fair in Donnelley Hall in September 1985. (Chicago Tribune) Thirty years ago, Harold Washington's sudden death during a holiday week triggered a bout of deja vu for Chicagoans who could easily recall the sudden death of Richard J. Daley during a holiday week. That eerie coincidence was nearly all those two titanic political figures had in common. To this day, the respect or polarization you will find during a discussion of either man depends on where you're having that discussion. Advertisement Twenty years ago this week, a younger version of myself tiptoed into that minefield of race in Chicago and/or America to recall the Thanksgiving eve when Washington was felled by a massive heart attack at age 65. A look back at that 1997 column reflects the memories of someone who was a teen growing up in a divided city and wondering why the divisions were so stubborn that they made otherwise good people say and do regrettable things. With that preamble, let me take you back to Nov. 25, 1997, and its recollections of Nov. 25, 1987: Advertisement We were out buying a turkey at Dominick's when we heard that Harold Washington was dead. That was 10 years ago today. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 46 Harold Washington greets supporters while campaigning in the Loop only days after winning the Democratic nomination for mayor. (Charles Cherney, Chicago Tribune) Some might say I am tremendously unqualified to comment on the man, since I happen to be white. I also spent the grand majority of the Washington years in DeKalb, distanced and spared from the brunt of Council Wars by the carefree days of college life. But I was, technically at least, one of his constituents, and that is qualification enough. I was a high school junior in February 1983, when Harold Washington became the very definition of the split-vote phenomena. In retrospect, I fail to see why anyone was surprised when Fighting Jane Byrne and a pubescent Richard M. Daley neatly split the white vote and Washington steamrolled into the pole position. But you could feel the shock. Advertisement This was not business as usual in a city that had grown accustomed to a chubby white man in the mayor's office for 21 of the previous 28 years. I maintain to this day that most of the initial backlash against Washington was produced by that simplest and greatest of prejudicial forces: fear of the unfamiliar. It was this fear that turned Bernie Epton, a Republican who otherwise couldn't have been elected hall monitor, into a Great White Hope. There was about a month between the primary and the general election that year, and it had to be the longest, coldest month in the city's history. Then Washington was in, and the days of shame continued. The Twin Eddies and the stone-faced Washington squared off at 20 paces, and the City That Works no longer did. Maybe it wasn't about race, since politics is ultimately about who gets the jobs and the contracts and the parking spaces. Advertisement But the net result was a city not just divided, which was the stubborn norm, but a city standing around ready to boil over on itself. My personal memories of the time aren't always comfortable. I remember a guy down the street, a peace-loving, church-going man, bitterly saying that he would sell his corner bungalow and move out of state if Washington got re-elected. Both events came to pass. But otherwise I managed to view it all from a safe distance. Away from the heat, I mostly saw Harold Washington as an entertaining pop culture personality, with his occasional fits of bluster and his penchant for unleashing his immense vocabulary ("It's time to castigate the scurrilous lump-lumps"). Advertisement I remember the Daley Center pep rally for the 1983 White Sox, where Washington introduced Tony LaRussa as "Tony LaRusso." I remember the homecoming parade for the Super Bowl Bears, where the rotund Washington was so bundled against the cold he looked like an oversized toddler. I also remember seeing him in person, at a graduation ceremony of some sort, and the cool looks he got when he bailed out before the end. I recall that he looked a little smaller in person, but the fact is his weight eventually told on him, cutting off his life as he simply bent to pick up a pencil. Lake County News Sun Twice-weekly News updates from Lake County delivered every Monday and Wednesday > And now we're a decade removed from that cold November day. Steel yourself for everyone to sound off about legacies and offer their own takes on the events sketched above. You'll notice that no one will be able to offer any solutions for the problems we faced then and now. Advertisement All that can be said, without argument, is that Harold Washington wasn't a mere tremor on the political and social scales. He shook up our world. danmoran@tribpub.com Twitter @NewsSunDanMoran Naperville City Council members night directed city staff to draft ordinance options with stronger language when it comes to ensuring pets sold at stores like Petland do not come from breeders that treat the animals inhumanely. (Erin Hegarty / Erin Hegarty/Naperville Sun ) Naperville's newly proposed pet protections ordinance has bark but no bite, officials said. After lengthy discussion Tuesday night, Naperville City Council members directed staff to come back with options that would put more teeth in a proposal that, in part, aims to ensure pet stores source puppies from humane breeders and not puppy mills. Advertisement The Animal Protection Act proposes city enforcement of the Illinois Animal Welfare Act when it comes to prohibiting pet stores from working with commercial breeders defined as a facility with five or more breeding dogs that have received citations or violations from the USDA during facility inspections. The goel is to stop puppy mill dogs from reaching Naperville. But some council members and people familiar with the pet industry say the state's Animal Welfare Act doesn't do enough to stop breeders with inhumane practices from working with Naperville pet stores. Advertisement "The state law went into effect in August and maintains the status quo," Naperville resident Sherri Oslcik said. The proposed city ordinance will have no impact on where pet stores source their animals, Oslick said. Concern stems, in part, from quality and transparency issues with the USDA's breeding facilities inspections and reports. The USDA in February removed inspection reports for dog breeding facilities among other information from its website. In order to obtain the information, including if action was taken against someone who violated the Animal Welfare Act, a Freedom of Information Act request must be filed. "Inspection reports are very very weak, and I don't put a lot of faith in them," said Councilman John Krummen, citing a lack of details when it comes to the reports made available to pet store owners. A City of Chicago ordinance that took effect in 2015 prohibits pet stores from selling puppies from large commercial breeders, limiting pet sourcing to animals from rescue shelters, humane societies and government pounds. Following Chicago's lead is one option the city has when it comes to giving its animal protection act more bite, though it could have an impact on two Naperville pet stores that source dogs from commercial breeders. "If we go with Chicago model, we're saying you can only buy rescue dogs, and that seriously affects Happiness is Pets and Petland," Krummen said. "If we go with the state ordinance, I'm not sure it has enough teeth to even affect anything." Naperville Petland owner Carl Swanson said the breeders he works with provide the store with USDA reports, and the business refuses to purchase a puppy if reports for the last two years are unavailable. Reports are given to customers upon purchase of a puppy, Swanson said. "I have videos in the store for customers to see where these puppies are coming from," Swanson said. Petland works directly with breeders and through brokers. Greg Gordon, owner of Dog Patch Pet and Feed, another pet store in Naperville, said his business switched from offering dogs from breeders to only selling rescue dogs years ago. Advertisement "Please stand for something, don't just throw something out there that doesn't matter," Gordon said. Naperville Mayor Steve Chirico said he knows the ordinance will likely not please everyone. "There are people out there who prefer we do not regulate at all, and some who would like us to go further in our regulation," he said. "Some reasonable regulation is appropriate, and a step in the right direction." The ordinance also proposes required microchipping of pets and prohibits pet owners from leaving their animals outside or in vehicles during extreme weather conditions. City Council members will consider staff's additional proposals at a future meeting. ehegarty@tribpub.com Police arrested a Schererville man Monday who they believe is connected to a string of robberies in Lake County in recent weeks, a spokesman said. Dionysios T. Doukas, 33, surrendered to police after reportedly robbing a Subway restaurant Sunday and leading police on a chase that reached speeds of 95 mph, according to Emiliano Perez, Lake County Sheriff's Department spokesman. Advertisement Doukas was charged Tuesday with attempted robbery, robbery and resisting law enforcement, with his bail set at $80,000, Lake County court records show. Police said Doukas matched a description from recent robberies across the county in the past few weeks. Valparaiso police are also are talking with Lake County detectives to see if the suspect is connected with recent robberies at a Subway on Morthland Avenue on Sunday afternoon and at Fro Play Yogurt Wednesday, said Sgt. Michael Grennes, department spokesman. Advertisement At about 9 p.m. Sunday, officers were dispatched to a report of an armed robbery at Subway in the 2900 block of East 181st Avenue in Lowell, Perez said. The suspect fled by the time police arrived. The man was wearing a dark hoodie pulled over a hat with dark pants and a cloth covering his face so only his eyes were visible, Subway employees told police. An employee told police she was about to lock the front door of the store when a man walked inside, according to court records. She told the man the store was closed "and in response he pointed an object wrapped in a plastic bag at her," which she thought was a weapon, police said. "She stated he yelled, 'I need all the money in the register' and began yelling louder when she advised him that she did not have access to the register," Perez said. A second employee getting his coat from a back room came to see what was going on, and the female employee "took that opportunity to escape via a back door and run to a nearby McDonald's for help," Perez said. The male employee "walked to the front counter where the suspect started yelling for him to get the money out of the register and vault and give it to him," Perez said. The suspect also took $104.17 from a change machine and the employee's wallet, according to police. A Crown Point officer near Interstate 65 heard the dispatch about the Lowell robbery and was aware of the string of robberies, "all of which appeared to be performed by a male subject who covered his face with some type of bandana and who drove a dark colored GMC Terrain," according to police and court records. Advertisement The officer then saw a GMC Terrain with its lights off driving north on I-65 with at about 95 mph, police said, and Lake County Sheriff and Merrillville police joined the Crown Point officer. The GMC swerved across four lanes of traffic to enter the U.S. 30 off ramp, a report said, "and the officers all activated their lights," Perez said. The GMC stopped near one of the Southlake Mall entrances and the suspect started to open his door, giving officers a "good look" at the man before he fled east on U.S. 30 toward Valparaiso, hitting a vehicle, police said. "The black GMC Terrain sped over a set of railroad tracks just as a train was crossing them, barely missing getting struck in the process," Perez said, causing officers to lose the vehicle. Lake County police ran the plate and found it was registered to Paragon Restaurant in Hobart, court records state. Police discovered the vehicle was driven by Doukas, grandson of the restaurant's owner, Perez said. Police called Doukas, and he agreed to meet the officers at his condominium in Schererville, "willingly" going with police in a marked car Monday morning, court documents said. Advertisement Doukas "denied committing any robberies or being the driver of the GMC terrain," Perez said. He reportedly told police he left the GMC in a Denny's parking lot in Portage and must have lost the key Friday evening before going on a "three-day drinking binge over the weekend" with a stripper in Illinois, court records state. "He stated whoever found the key must have stolen the vehicle," according to an affidavit. Police were able to find the damaged GMC at an apartment complex in Chesterton through OnStar, according to Perez. rejacobs@post-trib.com Twitter @ruthyjacobs Dear Mr. Bradshaw. What makes the San Francisco Bay Area attractive to so many technology companies? If I am interested in a tech career, is this where I should concentrate my college search? Advertisement Sincerely, Tech Student Advertisement Dear Tech Student, The area known as Silicon Valley is sandwiched between the University of California-Berkeley on the north and Stanford University on the south. It is alive with the scent of eucalyptus trees and is close both to Napa Valley wine country, beautiful San Francisco, and Monterey County for camping among 2,000-year-old redwoods. This area is the center of the tech universe and attracts some of the best minds in the world. If you have an idea that borders on changing the world, you will be taken seriously here. And no one cares how young are, or how much experience you have. If you have what it takes, there will be serious money to back you up. Not all students will gain admission to Stanford and Berkeley, and although these universities are heavily represented at most technology companies, they are by no means in the majority. Where else do these companies find their talent? You might be surprised to learn that it comes from all over the country and many parts of the world. The international flavor of Silicon Valley makes it a haven for students who want to be around the best and brightest. Only diversity of the highest level can produce this kind of culture. Let's start at the top of the pecking order with Stanford and Berkeley. Both have strong computer programs and powerful business schools with influential alumni. The combination of talent and the ability to create and sell innovative ideas that abounds in these institutions quite often leads to the making of young millionaires. Consider that Stanford is a stone's throw from Facebook, Hewlett-Packard and Google. You might even say these companies are an extension of Stanford's campus. Berkeley is a few miles north and famous not only for funneling scientific talent into Silicon Valley, but also for the Hass School of Business, one of the nation's best. However, it is important to note that you do not have to attend Stanford or Berkeley to find your way into a major Silicon Valley company or become part of a scrappy start-up. Santa Clara University, located near Stanford, is also a top producer of tech talent. Many of SCU's graduates are employed by tech companies. Santa Clara also might appeal to students who are leaning toward Notre Dame, Georgetown or Boston University because it has less stringent admissions requirements. Santa Clara's admissions rate of 48 percent make it an attractive choice. Of particular interest might be its Leavey School of Business, which ranks highly among undergraduate business schools. Silicon Valley is a magnet for people who think differently, who are smart and can act independently on their ideas. The area is saturated with talent and rewards creativity, which is a good reason to concentrate your college search there if technology is your career choice. While nationwide there are close to 3,000 colleges to choose from, I tell my clients not to be intimidated by an elite school's admissions standards. The overall application process is the same for Stanford and Berkeley as it is for Purdue or Columbia. The key is to prepare well for your ACT and SAT and have a study/career goal well in mind so that your application essays and interviews will impress the admission decision-makers. Gerald Bradshaw is an international college admissions consultant with Bradshaw College Consulting in Crown Point. Advertisement gerald_bradshaw@post.harvard.edu Philip Potempa examines the Sellers Hoosier Cabinet in the kitchen of the Kaske House on Ridge Road in Munster. ( Carolyn Jacobs ) Thanksgiving weekend is a time of year when families gather in the kitchen, which by today's modern architecture trends often is treated as an expansive great roomas a favorite place to socialize. The kitchens of yesteryear were built and designed with a primary and practical functions: cooking and food preparation. This meant a limited size for kitchens, since families preferred to spend any leisure time in the comfort of a living room or parlor, away from the heat of ovens. Advertisement Indiana has a place of honor in kitchen history books because of the 1800s creation and launch of a popular design of functional furniture that promised modern convenience to cooks. Hoosier Cabinets were celebrated for providing storage for frequent-use large pots and pans, as well as hidden home for spice racks and key ingredients. Signature features of Hoosier Cabinets were an attached tin flour sifter and storage bin, along with an enamel work surface. I recently spent time with Carole Cornelison and the women of the Munster Historical Society, who serve as stewards for keeping our region's history and recipes alive and available to the community. I joined them for a gathering in the kitchen of the landmark Kaske House, at the corner of Ridge Road and Columbia Avenue in Munster. Kaske House is operated as a museum by the Munster Historical Society. Advertisement It was Wilhelmina Kaske who moved back to the Kaske House, built on the site of the family's former inn. The Kaskes' daughter, Helen Bieker, and her husband, Lawrence, eventually inherited the house and surrounding acreage and in 1986. Helen sold the property to the Munster Park Board with the stipulation that she be allowed to remain in her home until her death. When she died in 1988, the property became Heritage Park. The kitchen of the Kaske House still includes a Sellers Hoosier Cabinet . The first Hoosier-style cabinets were made and sold by a furniture manufacturing company named Sellers in 1898 in Elwood, Ind. The company later moved to New Castle. According to the Indiana State Museum, as demand and popularity increased, between 1898 and 1949 there were dozens of competing manufacturers of Hoosier-style cabinets around the state. After World War II, as kitchens became more modern with new home construction, built-in wall cabinets and surrounding mounted countertops made Hoosier cabinets obsolete. Until the late 1980s, my mom's mother, my Grandma Green still prized her Hoosier Cabinet in her small kitchen of her Rensselaer home, which I still recall with affectionate memories and many shared Sunday meals. From 4 to 7 p.m. Dec. 2, guests can visit the Kaske House for the annual Munster History Museum Holiday Open House. The event is free, with donations always accepted, and complimentary cookies and hot chocolate will be served. There also are free family photos with Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus in the Kaske House parlor. The event also welcomes carolers. Parking is free at the Munster Schools' Administration Building south of Ridge Road on the west side of Columbia Avenue behind Bieker Woods. In 2007, the staff and volunteers decided to create a cookbook, compiled by JoAnne Shafer, to showcase and share the history and heirloom recipes of the Kaske Family and Munster residents. Titled "The Brass Tavern Cookbook," named for the pub located inside the former inn, it is available for $20 at the Munster Historical Society office at the Munster Town Hall or from the Indiana Welcome Center on Kennedy Avenue. The book is is filled with hundreds recipes, as well as interesting facts about area history. Advertisement On page 250 is a favorite recipe from Cornelison. Her recipe for homemade Snickerdoodle cookies is easy, delicious and appetite inviting. "One of my own favorite childhood memories was my mother, Norma Stoltz Cornelison, baking this Snickerdoodle recipe," she said. "We couldn't wait to eat one while they were still hot from the oven." Columnist Philip Potempa has published three cookbooks and is the director of marketing at Theatre at the Center. Mail questions to: From the Farm, P.O. Box 68, San Pierre, IN 46374. pmpotempa@comhs.org Carole Cornelison's Snickerdoodles Makes 6 dozen cookies Advertisement 1 cup shortening, softened (can also use partial butter) 11/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons white granulated sugar (divided use) 2 large eggs 2 and 3/4 cups flour 2 teaspoons cream of tartar 1 teaspoon baking soda Advertisement 1/4 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. 2. In large mixing bowl, cream shortening and sugar, then stir in eggs, mixing thoroughly. In a separate bowl, combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Mix together the dry ingredients with wet ingredients. 3. Form into balls the size of a small walnuts and roll in a mixture of 2 tablespoons of white sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon. 4. Place 2-inches apart, onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. People crowd into the Common Council chambers to express their thoughts about a proposed smoking ban at the casino in Gary. (Gregory Tejeda / Post-Tribune) A Gary councilwoman removed her name Tuesday from a controversial proposed ordinance expanding the state's smoking ban to the Majestic Star Casino, effectively killing the measure before there could be a vote. Common Councilwoman LaVetta Sparks-Wade, D-6th, said she never supported the ordinance or asked to be involved. Advertisement So before the Gary Common Council could even begin debate on a 15-page ordinance, Sparks-Wade insisted she be removed as the measure's sponsor, largely based on how a ban could result in loss of jobs at the casino. "I cannot see us voting for this at this time," she said. Advertisement When no other member of the Common Council was willing to assume sponsorship, council President Ronald Brewer declared the measure lost due to lack of sponsor. The defeat pleased the dozens of people who were jammed into the council chambers wearing T-shirts with the Majestic Star Casino logo many of them employees who had been told that smoking restrictions would harm the amount of business and could result in layoffs. About one-third of the casino's employees live in Gary, according to Majestic Star officials. Sparks-Wade said she takes those claims seriously, and did not want her name attached to anything that could cost people their jobs. "I wouldn't want to cause anyone to lose a job," she said. Sparks-Wade said she thinks it would be wrong for the city to impose differing restrictions on the casino than the rules that casinos in nearby East Chicago or Hammond face. "I don't have a problem with this because I don't go to casinos," she said. "It's not about me personally. You have to be able to see both sides of this issue." Majestic Star officials have said they think restricting smoking would drive down revenues and possibly cut Gary's tax revenue from the casino by about $3 million annually. "To approve something that would only apply to Gary would be devastating to us," Sparks-Wade said. Advertisement Sparks-Wade also said she thinks if a smoking ban at casinos is ever to come about, it ought to be done by the Indiana General Assembly to apply to all casinos similarly. Although state law permits local communities to impose different rules on the issue, Sparks-Wade said, "this really is a state issue." Councilwoman Rebecca Wyatt, D-1st, said she dreams of a time when the Common Council can advance such an ordinance without succumbing to the pressure of casinos. "I'm hopeful that day will come," she said. Other council members declined to elaborate on the lack of Common Council action, although James Cunningham, a Gary resident who was among a few people present to support the Smoke-Free Indiana effort, was upset. "This was a complete waste of time, this was a set-up from the beginning," he said. Gregory Tejdea is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune. When fire struck India Jones' Merrill Street home in Hammond Oct. 24, she thought she had lost everything. Jones had no insurance and no way to rebuild the bungalow that had been in the family for more than six decades. She reached out to community organizer Leroy Howard, who ultimately led her to tell of her plight during an October Mayor's Night Out event. Advertisement "My grandpa worked really hard to get this house and have it right. I thought I was going to be the one to lose it," said Jones, a substitute teacher at Hammond's Lincoln Elementary School. But some community members stepped up to help Jones and her two beloved beagles, Leonidas and RiRi. Dave Hein, a city of Hammond building inspector and a union electrician, began organizing volunteers and supplies for repairs. Advertisement "You need to be the change you want to see in the world," Hein said. He worked with the Northern Indiana Public Service Co., to determine what repairs needed to be done so heat could be turned back on. Jones and her aunt Patricia Scott, with whom she's been living, recently were at the house while Hein and others demolished what remained of the kitchen. With such extensive damage, Hein originally thought it would take until late December to make the home habitable again, but with help from A Go Fund Me page, he expects it can be done by around Thanksgiving. Jones has been overwhelmed by the way the community has come to her aid. Township Trustee Frank Mrvan provided emergency funding for lodging at the Super 8 in the immediate aftermath of the fire. Nick Farrell of Hammond helped repair the kitchen and roof. "If I couldn't help myself or my family was ever in this predicament, I'd hope someone would help me," Farrell said. Abel Bautista and Omar Buenavides with Caoba Properties of Hammond were other volunteers. Bautista, whose father, George, owns the company, says the business does a lot of work in Hammond so it is important to give back to the community and ensure the stability of the neighborhood. "It's a good feeling," Bautista said. Buenavides said he feels blessed to have a house to live in. Advertisement "Why not help out someone who needs one. We can't always just go be greedy," he said. Carrie Napoleon is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune. President Donald Trump walks away from the podium after speaking in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House on Nov. 15, 2017. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP ) Powerful men with long histories of alleged sexual harassment or assault are finally being held accountable except one. That would be President Trump. From movie mogul Harvey Weinstein to television host Charlie Rose to Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore to veteran Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., prominent men are accused of using their status to take advantage of women in unconscionable ways. To my knowledge, however, only one of the alleged assailants has been caught on tape bragging about his misdeeds. Advertisement "I've got to use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her," Trump said on the "Access Hollywood" tape, referring to a woman he had just spotted. "You know, I'm automatically attracted to beautiful I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. ... Grab 'em by the (vagina). You can do anything." Thirteen women have gone on the record to say that is how Trump operated, according to a tally by The Washington Post. Eight of them who say that Trump kissed them, groped them or both, without invitation or permission have corroboration, meaning they told other people about the incidents before going public. Similar stories told by the other five accusers are not corroborated. Advertisement Trump won election despite the allegations, but his victory did not erase his history. Now, virtually overnight, the paradigm for thinking about and dealing with sexual harassment has changed. A kind of Judgment Day has arrived for men who thought they had gotten away with their misdeeds. Last week, Rose was one of the most lauded and respected figures in journalism. Today he is disgraced and out of a job. Instances of sexual harassment are all deplorable but not all identical, and society's punishment should fit the crime. One of the major factors that should be taken into account is whether the perpetrator has shown a pattern of such behavior. Dozens of women who worked closely with Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., have attested that they never knew him to behave like a pig. By contrast, dozens of women have accused Weinstein of vile assaults, and New York police have reportedly launched a criminal investigation. In Trump's case, there is a pattern. He described it himself on the tape, and the accusers corroborate his confession. Trump is trying to tread this altered landscape lightly, at least by his own somewhat oafish standards. He did post a couple of mocking tweets last week about Franken, whom he called "Al Frankenstein," but for the most part he remained uncharacteristically silent about what looks like a major cultural shift. Trump even went so far as to change the subject, fake-sparring on Twitter with bombastic entrepreneur LaVar Ball in the rhetorical equivalent of professional wrestling. But ultimately the impending special election in Alabama for a crucial Senate seat forced Trump's hand. Moore, the Republican candidate, is credibly accused of molesting a 14-year-old and prowling the local mall for teenaged girls when he was in his 30s; he denies the molestation and creepily says he never dated a girl without her mother's permission. Post Tribune Twice-weekly News updates from Northwest Indiana delivered every Monday and Wednesday > Trump backed Moore's GOP opponent in the primary. He steered clear of the contest between Moore and Democrat Doug Jones until Tuesday, when he jumped in by parroting the line that Moore's supporters in Alabama have used to try to discredit the accusers: Why did they wait so long to make these charges? "I do have to say, 40 years is a long time," Trump told reporters. No, it's not, given what we know about sexual harassment. Women often fear, quite rationally, that they will not be believed and that, in the end, they may well have their lives ruined while the powerful men who abused them go merrily on their way. Trump did mention that most of Moore's accusers "are Trump voters," which sounded like a slight hedge. Surely he realizes that by siding with Moore clearly the net effect of his remarks he invites a re-examination of his own alleged transgressions. Advertisement That re-examination must now begin. If Congress is going to probe the conduct of members such as Conyers and Franken, it must also investigate the multiple, believable allegations of sexual misconduct against Trump. If they are true, the president must be censured. The GOP leadership would be wise to realize that attitudes have changed. On this issue, to quote Bob Dylan, you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. Eugene Robinson is a columnist for the Washington Post. In this April 4, 2017, file photo, Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., speaks during a hearing of the House Judiciary subcommittee on Capitol Hill in Washington. Buzzfeed, a news website, is reporting that Conyers settled a complaint in 2015 from a woman who alleged she was fired from his Washington staff because she rejected his sexual advances. (Alex Brandon / AP ) What's Quickly? It's where readers sound off on the issues of the day. Have a quote, question or quip? Call Quickly at 312-222-2426 or email quickly@post-trib.com. Trump thinks Democratic Senate candidate Doug Jones is "terrible on crime". That must be because he prosecuted two Ku Klux Klan members for a murderous church bombing. Advertisement As if there was ever any doubt, Trump has proven yet again that he has no moral grounding. He would like to have an accused sexual predator of teens in the Senate just to pass legislation he wants. This dustup between LaVar Ball and Donald Trump only proves that what Alice Roosevelt Longworth said of her father, Theodore Roosevelt, is even truer of Trump: "He wants to be the bride at every funeral, the corpse at every funeral, the baby at every christening." Advertisement Because of political bias some people do not believe Roy Moore's accusers. But there is the proven fact that he was banned from the Gadsden Mall while in his 30s for harassing and preying not praying on teenage girls that worked and hung out there. Too many people have the "not in my backyard" attitude. They don't care about any issue until it actually affects them. By then, it is too late to try to fix it. What is wrong with a country who consistently holds actors and news personalities to a higher standard than our elected officials. Charlie Rose is out, but Roy Moore is endorsed by our president. Kellyanne Conway has twice broken the law by illegally using her position as a member of Trump's administration to endorse (1) Ivanka Trump's line of clothing, and (2) Roy Moore in the Alabama Senate election. And she has the nerve to say that Moore's opponent is "weak on crime"? Post Tribune Twice-weekly News updates from Northwest Indiana delivered every Monday and Wednesday > If Quickly keeps beating the Roy Moore story into the dirt, will that keep people from finding out about the growing list of Democrats that are having the same problem? Congress has a slush fund to cover up allegation of sexual abuse by there members for the last 20 years, to the tune of $17 million dollars of the taxpayers money, and members of congress don't even know about it. Do we need term limits? Look no further than John Conyers who has used the fund to silence his accuser and let me know! Of course Trump would endorse Roy Moore. It's how people in a powerful position operate. "Who would believe you?" They taunt. It's why victims don't come forward. It's too humiliating, and people won't believe you. I know, I'm a victim too. What happened to the museum on the Cedar Lake Town grounds? Boarded up windows with plywood, Little shack Barber Shop next to it, what a eyesore. Nice parking lot though. Stay classy Cedar Lake. Advertisement There are so many witch hunts going on in Washington, that it makes your head spin. Not a single one of them adds any value to society. Why can't the two political parties call a truce on these witch hunts, abort all of them, and instead focus only on issues that better the USA and our standard of living/quality of life issues. No more political posturing for three years. Then in 2020, they can start the political process all over for the next elections. As it stands now, our process is broken. I would love to express how I feel about the Trump cadre and their supporters in Quickly, but hardly any of those words can be printed in a newspaper. Read more at www.post-trib.com/quickly. All votes in the CO-3 election won't be counted until the end of this week You are here: Home Lu Wei, former deputy head of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, is being investigated for suspected "severe disciplinary violations," according to the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection website. President Xi Jinping called for nongovernmental organizations along the Silk Road to contribute to enhancing mutual understanding and friendship between people of different countries, promoting common development and building a community of shared future for mankind. He made the remark in a congratulatory message to the First Silk Road NGO Cooperation Network Forum, which started on Tuesday in Beijing and has drawn nearly 200 representatives from more than 50 countries. Xi said the building of the Silk Road NGO Cooperation Network is an important step for strengthening exchanges and cooperation among people of the Silk Road countries and facilitating people-to-people connectivity. Song Tao, head of the International Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, read the president's message at the opening ceremony of the two-day forum. Song called for NGOs in countries along the Silk Road to contribute to promoting the development of the Belt and Road Initiative and building a community of shared future for mankind. Xi announced China would develop the Silk Road NGO Cooperation Network in May at the opening ceremony of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. The network aims to become a platform for the NGOs to share information and coordinate. It encourages the organizations to carry out projects in areas such as education and healthcare to improve people's well-being, as well as projects to enhance mutual understanding and friendship between peoples, according to the China NGO Network for International Exchanges. More than 300 NGOs from more than 60 countries and regions are in the network. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who also sent a congratulatory message, said that "civil society groups have a crucial role to play" in implementing the Belt and Road Initiative. Victor-Viorel Ponta, former Romanian prime minister, said he appreciates the idea of cooperation among NGOs to help implement the initiative. The NGOs should be able to explain to people the advantage of "having such a big vision", Ponta told reporters. A former deputy security chief of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for corruption, including taking bribes and arranging jobs in the legal system, according to China Judgments Online (wenshu.court.gov.cn) on Monday. Xie Hui accepted about 42.3 million yuan ($6.4 million) in bribes, ignored his duty, held property worth about 49.8 million yuan from unclear sources and caused economic losses of 127 million yuan, the judgment said. Urumqi Intermediate People's Court sentenced Xie and confiscated property worth 4.5 million yuan on Nov 6. Some 221 workers in Xinjiang's justice and prison systems paid Xie about 8 million yuan in return for promotions or job transfers during his time as deputy head of the region's Public Security Department, the judgment said. Xie, who is of Han ethnicity, was born in Altay in 1963 and was admitted to the Communist Party of China in 1986, according to his resume published on the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection website. He had a long career in Xinjiang's prison system, starting in 1986. He was named head of the Xinjiang Prison Management Bureau in 2010, a position he held until his promotion in 2013 to deputy head of the public security bureau of the autonomous region. Xie was suspected of corruption and placed under investigation in July 2015, the CCDI said on its website. He was placed in criminal detention in December 2015 and arrested in January 2016, and was expelled from the Party and removed from office the following month. Xie's case was heard in April this year. The cases of seven workers in Xinjiang's prison system were transferred to judicial departments, with allegations of malfeasance, while another 42 in Xie's case were punished by administrative and Party disciplinary agencies, according to a report in China Discipline Inspection Daily on March 23. From 2002 to 2013, 174 projects in Xinjiang's prison system went forward without open bidding under Xie's influence. Xie directly designated contractors for some projects, according to the report. The investigative team in Xie's case told China Discipline Inspection Daily that Xie's disciplinary violations seriously undermined the political ecology of Xinjiang's justice and prison systems. Chinese legal scholars acknowledged the significance of the inclusion of the "right to dignity" in the report to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). The Party congress report pledged to protect "people's personal rights, property rights, and right to dignity." Yang Lixin, professor of Renmin University of China, said inclusion of the notion in the report reflects the Party's fundamental purpose of wholeheartedly serving the people, in an interview with People's Daily. The interview, involving three professors, was published Wednesday. "This is also the CPC's response to the new 'principal contradiction'," said Liu Shiguo, professor of Fudan University in Shanghai. According to the CPC congress report, the principal contradiction facing Chinese society has evolved into one "between unbalanced and inadequate development and the people's ever-growing needs for a better life." "The rapid development of science and technology has posed new challenges to the protection of people's right to dignity," said Yang, noting that the Internet, big data and Artificial Intelligence have made people more vulnerable to the leaking of personal information and other violations for their rights. Abuse of public power could also infringe on their rights in this regard, said Liu Kaixiang, professor of Peking University. The professors called for more specific measures for protecting the right to dignity. Flags of the United Kingdom and the European Union [File photo] As Brexit talks resume between the United Kingdom and the European Union, British officials are warning Brussels not to jeopardize the U.K.'s constitutional and economic integrity with regard to Northern Ireland. A recently leaked negotiating document suggests that the EU wants to avoid "regulatory divergence" on the island of Ireland, meaning that the rules of the EU single market and customs union would be maintained for Northern Ireland. By keeping the entire island under EU regulations and not installing any physical border or customs between the two states the Irish Republic will be able to continue trading and engaging with the north as usual. However, this would push customs checks to the ports of Northern Ireland, effectively instituting a trade border separating it from the rest of the U.K. British Brexit Secretary David Davis argued that while a single market on the island is important, it shouldn't come at the cost of the U.K.'s territorial integrity. Meanwhile, the EU is drawing up contingency plans for the possible collapse of dialogues related to Britain's departure. Michel Barnier, the Brexit negotiator representing Brussels, says that while theres no intention to let the talks fall apart, there's always the possibility. "Everyone needs to plan for it, member states and businesses alike. We too are making technical preparations for it. On 29 March 2019, the United Kingdom will become a third country," he recently told French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche. This comes at a precarious time for British Prime Minister Theresa May. There hasn't been a Tory-led government this unstable since the days of John Major in the early '90s. May is barely hanging on to her post, and the Tories have lost the will to fight in a battle they are somewhat reluctantly leading. The majority of the cabinet is confused as to what they want, and rebel Tories who are actually closet liberals on trade want to stop Brexit altogether. European Parliament Brexit coordinator Guy Verhofstadt stated that the interests of Ireland should outweigh those of the British Conservative party. "I hope the British government will do what is right for all the people of Northern Ireland. The peace process should transcend domestic party politics," he said. Currently, there are discussions on whether making Northern Ireland into a special economic zone, with its own trade regimes and rules, which would be acceptable to the EU. Such a designation may be the only way out of the difficult border dispute. The British are not too concerned about the specifics of Irish trade; the only thing the U.K. worries about is the breakdown of the peace process, which is unlikely but not impossible. A return to violence has been ruled out by all sides, but it may not take long for conflicts to emerge. If EU laws are applied to Ireland, then a border will be erected between the province and the rest of the U.K., which will only raise more sovereignty and customs issues. This possibility must be discarded immediately. The fundamental priority is that the peace process be maintained, which is not a difficult task. If the problem of Greece could be solved, so too can the British exit. Prime Minister May simply needs to show some backbone and curtail the hard Brexiters in her own party. Sumantra Maitra is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit: http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/SumantraMaitra.htm Flash Chinese Premier Li Keqiang meets with a Japanese delegation from major Japanese enterprises in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 21, 2017. The delegation was headed by Chair of the Japan Business Federation Sadayuki Sakakibara, President of the Japan-China Association on Economy and Trade Shoji Muneoka, and Chair of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry Akio Mimura. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei) Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Tuesday voiced hope that Japan's business community will continue to work for the improvement and development of Sino-Japanese relations. Li made the remarks while meeting with a Japanese delegation of more than 250 business leaders from major Japanese enterprises. The delegation was led by Chair of the Japan Business Federation Sadayuki Sakakibara, President of the Japan-China Association on Economy and Trade Shoji Muneoka, and Chair of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry Akio Mimura. The healthy and stable development of China-Japan relations accords with the common interests of both sides, said Premier Li. This year marks the 45th anniversary of the normalization of China -Japan diplomatic relations, and next year marks the 40th anniversary of the signing of the China-Japan Treaty of Peace and Friendship. The key to improving China-Japan relations is mutual trust and the foundation lies in the friendship of the two peoples, said Li. Trust may be impaired because of a certain incident at a time, but its reconstruction requires sustained efforts by all walks of life, said the premier. He hoped that both sides could cherish and consolidate the positive momentum of improvement in China-Japan relations and push the bilateral ties forward and along the right track. The development of Sino-Japanese relations can not be separated from the promotion of economic and trade cooperation, said Li, hoping that Japanese business community would carry forward their fine traditions and exert their own influence to boost exchanges in humanities, youth and local affairs so that peace, friendship and cooperation will become the consensus of all walks of life in Japan over the general direction of the Sino-Japanese relations. He urged concerted efforts to promote the stable and long-term development of relations on the basis of the four political documents signed by both countries and in the spirit of drawing lessons from history and facing up to the future. Li briefed the Japanese business leaders on the current economic situation in China. Noting that China's economy will continue to maintain a stable and positive trend, Li said China will further expand its opening up to the outside world and provide non-discriminatory and fair business environment to Chinese and foreign enterprises. He hoped that China and Japan will truly regard the other's development as each other's opportunities, giving full play to their complementary advantages and advancing their development through innovative cooperation, so as to achieve reciprocal and win-win results and serve the building of the East Asian economic community. China and Japan should work together to safeguard economic globalization, speed up the negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and free trade area talks between China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea, so as to contribute to the stability and prosperity of the region and the world, said Li. Japanese business leaders welcomed the positive momentum of improvement in Japan-China ties. Given achievements made in China's economic restructuring, they expressed confidence in strengthening economic and trade cooperation with China. While noting that Japan-China cooperation has great potential, the Japanese business leaders believed Japan and China can achieve mutual benefit through enhanced economic cooperation and make contribution to the economic growth in Asia and the world. They hoped that negotiations on Japan-China-ROK free trade area and the RCEP will produce desired outcomes, striving to build an open international economic and trade system. The Japanese business leaders were also confident that this year and the next bode important opportunities for improving and growing Japan-China ties, and pledged to continue making unremitting efforts in increasing exchange and cooperation between the two countries. Flash Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier appealed to German parties on Tuesday to assume their responsibility towards voters and avert a re-run of federal elections. CDU politician and German chief of staff of the Chancellery Peter Altmaier rejected calls to either form a minority government or hold re-elections after the collapse of "Jamaica" coalition negotiations after no single party has won overall majority in the Sept. 24 elections. "We cannot just go away and hide ourselves in the bushes following an election," Altmaier told public broadcaster ZDF. His comments were widely interpreted by media as a stab at the Free Democratic Party (FDP) which triggered the collapse of official talks between them late on Sunday night. As a consequence, Germany now finds itself in the midst of a political crisis as it lacks a legislative majority to form the country's next government. Re-elections could cost up to 92 million euros (US$108) based on the cost of the last national poll in September, according to Spiegel newspaper's estimates. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier similarly opposed immediate re-elections and instead urged parties to assume their responsibility to form a government. Steinmeier reminded the political factions represented in the new Federal Parliament, including his own German Social Democratic Party (SPD), that they were obliged to advance the common good. Steinmeier has been in and out of several urgent talks with party representatives over the past two days in a bid to overcome the current impasse. Nevertheless, the SPD reiterated once again on Tuesday that it was not available to form another "Grand Coalition" with the CDU and CSU. SPD parliamentary faction leader Andrea Nahles said on ZDF that it was Merkel, and not her party, which had the mandate to form a government. Nahles added the SPD would not "shy away" from re-elections, although she also called on the "Jamaica" parties not to impose too much pressure on themselves in terms of time limits as they sought to resolve the situation. While the current situation was "very difficult", the SPD politician refused to speak of a "crisis." In this regard, Nahles was seconded by now Parliamentary President Wolfgang Schaeuble who said that the current situation was a "test, but not a state crisis." Schaeuble further urged German parties to make compromises in order to enable them to form a stable government. Both politicians and voters would be wrong to view such consensus-seeking measures as weakness. "We all share responsibility for our country," the CDU politician said during the second session of the Federal Parliament since its constitution. He noted that this responsibility extended to Europe and the wider world as well which expected Germany to act as a stabilising factor. "It is clear that we must govern," Schaeuble added. Flash Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom Tuesday denied that its facilities had caused a slight increase in the volume of the radioactive element ruthenium-106 in Russia and other parts of Europe between September and October. There have been no lapses in equipment operation or any violation of operational safety at any of Rosatom facilities, it said in a statement. The radiation situation around all Russian nuclear facilities is normal and corresponds to the natural radiation background, it said. On Oct. 8, the German Federal Office for Radiation Protection and the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety said in a joint statement that a slight increase in radioactive ruthenium-106, which posed no threat to public health, was detected in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy. It said the increase originated from the southern Urals region on the border between Russia and Kazakhstan and could be the result of an accident at a nuclear facility. Russia has one of its largest nuclear facilities in the region, namely Mayak, housing plutonium production reactors and a reprocessing plant built between 1945 and 1948 as part of the Soviet atomic bomb project. "In 2017, there was no production of ruthenium-106 sources at the Mayak Production Association," said Rosatom, owner of the facility. Russian meteorological service Roshydromet and Russian consumer safety watchdog Rospotrebnadzor confirmed an excessive level of ruthenium-106 in various Russian regions between Sept. 25 and Oct. 6. But both said the volume was still well below a dangerous level. "The published data do not allow us to establish the location (country) of the pollution source," Roshydromet head Maxim Yakovenko said. So far, it remains unclear what caused the pollution. Flash U.S. President Donald Trump spoke by phone with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, with Syria, fighting terrorism, Ukraine and other hotspot issues on the agenda. Both leaders stressed the importance of implementing UN Security Council Resolution 2254, and supporting the UN-led Geneva Process to peacefully resolve the Syrian domestic conflicts, end the humanitarian crisis, allow displaced Syrians to return home, and ensure the stability of a unified Syria free of malign intervention and terrorist safe havens, the White House said in a statement. Earlier Tuesday, the Kremlin said Putin informed Trump of the outcome of his meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Russia's Sochi on Monday, when the Syrian leader reaffirmed his commitment to a political process, constitutional reform and presidential and parliamentary elections. Putin and Trump also discussed a trilateral summit of Russian, Iranian and Turkish presidents on Syrian political settlement to be held on Wednesday in Sochi, according to the Kremlin. The White House also said the two presidents affirmed the importance of fighting terrorism together throughout the Middle East and Central Asia, and agreed to explore ways to further cooperate in the fight against the ISIL, al-Qaida, the Taliban, and other radical organizations. Trump and Putin also discussed how to implement a lasting peace in Ukraine, and the need to continue international pressure on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to "halt its nuclear weapon and missile programs," according to the White House statement. Flash Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), a major U.S. TV news outlet, fired its veteran journalist Charlie Rose on Tuesday following accusations of sexual misconduct. "Despite Charlie's important journalist contribution to our news division, there is absolutely nothing more important, in this or any organization, than ensuring a safe, professional workplace - a supportive environment where people feel they can do their best work," said CBS News President David Rhodes in a note to staff. "I'm deeply disappointed and angry that people were victimized - and that even people not connected with these events could see their hard work undermined," he said. The firing is effective immediately. Rose was a co-host of CBS program This Morning and a contributing correspondent for its long-running Sunday night news magazine "60 Minutes." The "Charlie Rose" show was broadcast on PBS and Bloomberg TV. The Washington Post reported on Monday that eight women accused Rose of making unwanted sexual advances between the late 1990s and 2011. His misconduct included making lewd suggestions during phone calls, walking naked in front of female employees and groping their breasts or genital areas. Rose, 75, said in a statement on Monday that he had "behaved insensitively" at times, but said that some of the allegations were not accurate. Rose is the second major media news figure to be suspended from work on Monday in the face of allegations of sexual improprieties. The New York Times, earlier in the day, suspended one of its star reporters, White House correspondent Glenn Thrush, after several women accused him of unwanted kissing and touching. Flash Chinese government on Tuesday donated US$2 million to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) to help reach 15,000 young children suffering from severe acute malnutrition in the southern and central regions of Somalia. Chinese Ambassador to Somalia Qin Jian said Beijing was committed to supporting humanitarian response in Somalia to ensure that the needs of the most vulnerable group, mainly children and women, are met. "Through UNICEF, we hope to reach the affected populations, especially those in remote places, with lifesaving services," Qin said during a ceremony held in Somali capital Mogadishu. He said the money will be used to procure therapeutic food and medicines for the vulnerable people including 15,000 children who are affected by the current drought and who suffer from severe acute malnutrition. "We are pleased to be working with UNICEF to ensure the needs of the most vulnerable group -- children and women -- are met. Together, we can help the Somali people go through this difficult time," Qin added. According to the UNICEF, the Horn of Africa nation faces humanitarian crisis, which was sparked by the failure of rainy seasons that resulted into massive displacement, disease outbreaks and malnutrition with 6.2 million people now in need of humanitarian aid. Four million of them are children. It also estimates that there could be more than 230,000 children with severe acute malnutrition in the next year. UNICEF Somalia Representative Steven Lauwerier lauded the Chinese government for the timely donation, saying the Chinese assistance to Somalia is a concrete manifestation of China's role as a responsible major country. "The timely aid from the Chinese government and the Chinese people will go a long way toward saving children's lives. We hope this will be the beginning of a long and productive partnership between China and UNICEF in Somalia," Lauwerier said. "Thanks to the joint response by the international community, we have managed to avert a famine so far," he said, adding that sustained assistance is needed throughout 2018 to prevent the loss of lives and collapse of livelihoods. Deputy Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management Elmi Omar Ainsane thanked China for providing such humanitarian assistance. "We are very grateful and thank the Chinese government for helping us during this hard time. It is a big contribution and help to the humanitarian crisis here in Somalia. We also thank UNICEF for its role in caring for the children and mothers," Ainsane said. The UN children's agency, in collaboration with its partners, has provided treatment for severe acute malnutrition to over 200,000 Somali children, nearly all of whom recovered. However, the needs remain immense. A dockworker supervises the unloading of iron ore at Qingdao Port in Shandong province. [Photo provided to China Daily] Editor's Note: The Communist Party of China concluded its 19th National Congress in Beijing last month. China Daily asked business leaders from major multinational companies for their views on economic developments here and the country's global leadership role. Pioneering spirit has helped fuel the country's achievements in the past five years Jean-Sebastien Jacques is the first French-born CEO of Rio Tinto, a leading global mining group, which was founded in 1873 and is based in London. What has been China's biggest achievement during the past five years and its most notable change? The country's economic achievements during the past five years are extremely impressive, contributing about a third of global economic growth. Its share of global GDP (gross domestic product) was about 15 percent in 2016. For a country with the diversity and complexity that comes with a large population, and vast geographic landscape, this is an achievement that should not be underestimated. It is an impressive success story. Every time I go to China, I am surprised by the dynamics hidden behind the stunning economic statistics. As chief executive officer of Rio Tinto, I am really happy to see the breadth of infrastructure building and improvements wherever I go. On behalf of our 50,000 employees, it makes me proud that the metals and minerals we supply to China have contributed in no small way to the country's economic and social progress. Success has many drivers and there are other factors at play. But there is little doubt strong leadership has been crucial with President Xi Jinping at the core. The stability of the country and the ongoing reform policy to open up China to the world have also been vital. What three words would you use to describe China today? People. Prosperity. Potential. The people are the foundation of the nation, while prosperity is the common goal pursued by China's government and society. Potential will be something the whole world will witness as the country strives to deliver those aspirations. But there is another "P" word I would like to use ... pioneer. China's achievements are filled with many firsts. At Rio Tinto, we are proud to be pioneers in mining and metals. We have operated with a pioneering spirit during the past 145 years to develop some of the world's largest and best quality mines. We have established partnerships in new markets, especially in China, where we have been operating for more than 100 years. We have also tried to pioneer technological innovation in the way we do things. I believe China's many firsts have been driven by a pioneering spirit. That ethos has brought the country to where it is today and sets a platform for a brighter future tomorrow. Jean-Sebastien Jacques, CEO of Rio Tinto. [Photo provided to China Daily] What were your impressions of the major economic and industrial policies that came out of the 19th CPC National Congress? With President Xi re-elected as the general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, we can expect continuity of the country's major policies. These include the emphasis on quality development and the gradual progress toward a more market-driven economy. There were also further moves toward openness and cooperation, as well as the promotion of the Belt and Road Initiative. All of these policies are very relevant to our business. President Xi also said in his report to the congress that China would significantly ease market access, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of foreign investors. This is all good news for the international business community, including Rio Tinto. China is Rio Tinto's largest customer, accounting for more than 40 percent of our global revenue. It is also one of our biggest shareholders. We want to work with China to realize its long-term strategic goals through sustainable business operations. As pioneers in mining and metals, we produce materials essential to human progress. Rio Tinto's metals and materials, including aluminium, copper, diamonds, gold, industrial minerals, iron ore, coal and uranium, essentially make up the world around us. In particular, we are closely following China's supply-side structural reform, and the Belt and Road Initiative. They will have a huge impact on demand for the high-grade products which we supply to our customers. Can China's experiences, or practices, be used to solve global problems? In many ways, China's tremendous growth and development acts as an inspiration to the rest of the world. During this year's congress, President Xi shared the country's experiences in overcoming underdevelopment. In presenting the "China Way", or the "China Approach", President Xi was not promoting the nation as a model to be followed, but rather talking about the experience. He called on people to look at the unique circumstances and challenges, as well as the innovative solutions that suit the culture and the conditions. In other words, "seeking truth from facts" (shi shi qiu shi, a popular Chinese saying) is the essence and direction that we can apply when tackling problems. I believe this approach provides ideas for business leaders, as well as for policymakers confronted with international issues around the world. These include my colleagues who help run Rio Tinto. What will China be like in five years and what is the country's long-term future? Rio Tinto remains very confident about China's long-term economic development. As supply-side reforms continue, the country will be rewarded with a healthier industrial structure. There is no doubt that China's economic momentum will remain the key factor in driving sentiment around commodity markets for the foreseeable future. With that demand impetus, Rio Tinto is ready to supply the metals and materials that power Chinese economic development and urbanization through our long-term commitment to the country. At Rio Tinto, we want to be the nation's preferred supplier, preferred customer and preferred partner in our sector for many years to come. What is your impression of President Xi Jinping? I had the honor of sitting in on President Xi's speech at the opening ceremony of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) Business Forum in Xiamen in September. Clearly, he is a leader with vision, insight and wisdom. I expect there will be a lot of academic research on President Xi's "Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era", and I will be interested in reading some of the analysis. He is certainly a global leader who is determined to leave his mark on the world as he endeavors to deliver for the Chinese people. What is the most unforgettable experience you have had in China? In the year or so since I became CEO of Rio Tinto, I have visited China many times with quite a few unforgettable experiences and moments to mark various milestones for Rio Tinto. Our newly established partnerships with SASAC (State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission) and Minmetals are all important in Rio Tinto's rich history in China. So is our long-term joint venture with Sinosteel and Baosteel (now China Baowu Steel Group Corp Ltd) and our enduring relationship with Chinalco (Aluminum Corporation of China Ltd). I also had the honor of attending a few international events in the country, as well as being co-chair of the B20 Infrastructure Taskforce in Hangzhou in September last year. I was also chair of a panel discussion, The Belt and Road Initiative: A New Chapter of Open Integrated Development, at the China Development Forum in Beijing in March. Then in September, I attended the BRICS Business Forum in Xiamen. These are important global leadership opportunities. During these events, I was able to engage with government, business and academic leaders from around the world to discuss China and development issues in a very open and practical way. I received the impression that the country was transforming into a global leader. As a CEO of a Fortune 500 company, which sectors do you think offer the most opportunities for development in China? I noticed that President Xi highlighted the importance of building a strong real economy in China, a goal relevant to the metals and materials Rio Tinto produces. A strong economy is a catalyst for demand. Our products of iron ore, aluminium, copper, diamonds and industrial materials are widely used in aircraft, cars, smartphones and hospitals, and, of course, throughout our homes. We are closely watching the growth of China's real economy in areas such as infrastructure, transportation and telecommunications. The whole world is also looking at the car industry and trying to determine how it will be transformed by electric vehicles. With China playing an increasingly important role in the global economy, any development in the country can create opportunities for businesses big and small across the globe, including companies such as Rio Tinto. What opportunities will the Belt and Road Initiative throw up for China and the rest of the world? I chaired a panel discussion on this very topic at the China Development Forum in March. Infrastructure is fundamental to global growthit underpins communities and builds nations. China has shown the world what can be achieved. No matter where I am, a lack of infrastructure is a hot topic. Roads, rail lines, transport links and power generation are all part of the infrastructure story. They can drive economic growth by creating jobs, increasing investment and enhancing productivity. Policymakers should look a lot closer at the productivity, economic and social dividends generated by a massive global infrastructure push. China's infrastructure boom provides lessons for the rest of the world. Chinese authorities are pragmatic about infrastructure and have placed the Belt and Road Initiative at the center of the policy agenda. They are already looking at how China, the Asian region and the world can cooperate and make better use of bilateral and multilateral approaches to deliver all important regional infrastructure. Policymakers are considering how to best harness the financial expertise of the private and public sectors. This is very important, not only to China, but also to the many countries that can directly benefit from the vision of the Belt and Road Initiative. At Rio Tinto, we see this potential. We are pioneers in mining and metals, and produce materials essential to human progress. These materials are needed for the Belt and Road infrastructure program. And it is not just companies like Rio Tinto that are interested in the initiative. Multilateral groups, such as the B20 as you can imagine, are watching the progress closely. China is known as a manufacturing giant, but what will the nation's "calling card" be in the future? Rio Tinto has been expanding its business buying from China. In the past ten years, we have purchased more than $7 billion in goods and services from the country for use in our global operations. Chemicals, raw materials, fabrications, engineering services, electrical products and heavy equipment are all on our shopping list in China. By working closely with local suppliers, we have witnessed rapid progress in safety and health awareness, and increasing stability of product and service quality. We have also seen an improvement in innovation tailored to customer needs, as well as an expanding "after sale" services. This has all led to greater sourcing from China, demonstrating our faith in the country's excellence in manufacturing and underlining our commitment to the market. Editor's Note: The Communist Party of China concluded its 19th National Congress in Beijing last month. China Daily asked business leaders from major multinational companies for their views on economic developments here and the country's global leadership role. Raj Bhan is vice-president and China managing director at Westinghouse Electric Corp, a major nuclear energy company based in the United States. Raj Bhan, vice-president and China managing director at Westinghouse Electric Corp. [Photo provided to China Daily] What has been China's biggest achievement during the past five years? I have been working here since 2011, and I am so happy to have had the opportunity to witness and experience the rapid development of China. You can see this every day. I take a high-speed train from Beijing to Shanghai, and use WeChat to communicate with my colleagues. I even pay bills on my phone. I always share these exciting experiences with my friends back in the US. At the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, I noticed President Xi Jinping called for accelerating reform of the ecological civilization system in order to build a beautiful China. By doing this, the country needs to advance the development of clean energy and continue to combat climate change. That is why China continues to promote the role of nuclear in the energy mix. This provides opportunities for nuclear energy companies, such as Westinghouse, to play an important role in this initiative. What three words would you use to describe China today? Stability. Vitality. Competitiveness. They are the three key words I would use to describe China. Its economic development has been stable during the past several years. China's GDP (gross domestic product) has increased by 48 percent from 54 trillion yuan ($11.05 trillion) to 80 trillion yuan across this period. In terms of vitality, the service-oriented industry is racing along with the development of e-commerce. Infrastructure, such as the railroads and highways, brings more interaction between cities across the country. The inclusive business environment also creates more opportunities for foreign investors and young people, who are willing to start their own businesses. From the news, I understand China is forging international collaboration opportunities to export its industrial products and value-added services. It has shifted from manufacturing low-end commodity goods to being a high-tech services provider. Westinghouse is working with its partner here, the China State Nuclear Power Corp, to seek opportunities in the global nuclear energy market. What is the biggest challenge China faces? As President Xi mentioned at the 19th CPC National Congress, China should focus on innovation and aim for cutting-edge technology. From my perspective, it takes time to achieve this goal. To leverage the expertise from countries, China can accelerate this progress with regard to intellectual property rights. And I think China has recognized it and has started working toward this direction. For example, the Chinese government signed the initial four units of AP1000 contracts with Westinghouse back in 2007. Now, in 2017, the technology sharing process is almost complete. Can China's experiences, or practices, be used to solve global problems? Certainly our collaboration model with the Chinese State Nuclear Power Corp has been successful. It is recognized by the management teams from both parties and we are considering utilizing this model in future business opportunities in global markets. What will China be like in five years and what is the country's long-term future? China will continue its steady growth and play a vital role in the global market. Its efforts in fighting climate change will make it a great place to live and work. I am optimistic about the objectives set by President Xi. As he said, China will further open up its service sector, and protect the legitimate rights and interest of foreign investors. A Ping An Bank employee (left) addresses queries from a customer on credit and loan services at a financial expo held in Beijing. [Photo/for China Daily] Insurance company to invest $7.54b in development of innovative products Ping An Insurance Group Co of China Ltd is planning to spin off and list its technology and internet units separately and set up more financial services platforms as part of a strategic transformation plan, the company said on Monday. Jessica Tan, deputy chief executive and the chief operating officer and chief information officer, said Ping An is transforming by applying biometrics, big data, artificial intelligence and blockchain and iCloud technologies to empower four business ecosystemsfinancial services, healthcare services, automobile services and real estate finance. Tan said Ping An has invested more than 50 billion yuan ($7.54 billion) internally on research and development to develop innovative projects including financial technology, medical technology, artificial intelligence and externally exported socialized services. Financial technology is expected to lift potential returns on bank earnings by as much as 44 percent. Ping An said the four ecosystems are estimated to reach a market size of as much as 550 trillion yuan by 2022. Tan said the fifth ecosystem would be on city life but it would take time to establish this new business. Jason Yao, chief financial officer and chief actuary, said the Chinese mainland's insurance market was far from saturated compared with that in other developed countries. He pointed out that Ping An will consider spinning off the listing of technology and internet subsidiaries in the near future but gave no timeline. He also mentioned that Ping An has been doing internet insurance business for 15 years including the launching of Lufax business and has been focusing on technology for seven years. Ping An now has more than 22,000 technology staff, with 40 percent coming from internet companies and 20 percent possessing masters degrees, 500 big-data scientists and 2,000 global patents. Tan said their team is expected to expand in the future. Discussing competition from internet companies entering the insurance industry, Yao said insurance technology is a trend and Ping An is open to cooperation with them. Li Yuan Siong, deputy chief executive and chief insurance business officer, said the company is conducting an asset-light approach, adopting a "finance plus technology" strategy that will consistently improve profit and value, though the company's share price has not fully reflected its value yet. Ping An's net profit in the first six months of this year rose 6.5 percent year-on-year to 43.43 million yuan. The company's core finance businesses had an overall individual customer base of 143 million, increasing 9.3 percent year-on-year; it has 403 million internet users. Ping An's shares closed at HK$86.2 ($11) in Hong Kong on Tuesday, up 8.84 percent from Monday's closing price. Frankfurt-based China Europe International Exchange announced on Monday that it will launch a new share market in 2018 to help Chinese companies raise funds for expansion in Europe and economies involved in the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative. The so-called D-share market will help blue chip Chinese smart and advanced manufacturing companies raise funds from European investors and strengthen their visibility and branding in Europe by raising investor awareness. The funds raised by Chinese companies from their Frankfurt listings can then be directly used for their overseas expansion and acquisition activities. Their fast overseas expansion plans are also expected to generate attractive returns for European investors. "Chinese companies are going out for international business, seeking partners globally. This creates the need for more diversified financial services," said Chen Han, co-CEO of the exchange, which uses the acronym CEINEX. "Banks, intermediaries and other financial services shall develop multiple financial connectivity levels to serve the real economy. CEINEX brings these participants from finance and the real economy together and develops innovative products to support them," Chen said. A spokesman for CEINEX said several Chinese companies are now in the pipeline preparing for D-share listings. Trading could begin in early 2018. The D-share market launch announcement comes at a time of growing overseas investors' interest in buying Chinese shares, following the US index provider MSCI's decision to include China's A-shares in its emerging markets index starting June next year. Funds tracking the MSCI index as a benchmark are expected to buy more Chinese stocks. Companies seeking D-share listing must be already listed on China's A-share markets. CEINEX has not imposed minimum requirements on the companies' scale or trading history, but will vet the companies seeking listings to ensure they satisfy Deutsche Borse's reliability and transparency of information requirements. The trading of the D-shares is open to all investors who have accounts with Deutsche Borse. The D-share market will be operated as a part of the Deutsche Borse main board and be traded within the Frankfurt time zone. CEINEX is a joint venture between Deutsche Borse, the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the China Financial Futures Exchange and was established in 2015 with support from the governments of both China and Germany. Currently, it lists 65 bonds and 15 exchange-traded products, all of which include underlying China-related assets. These products give investors valuable exposure to China's vast capital market opportunities. SHANGHAI - The Shanghai-based New Development Bank approved two infrastructure and sustainable development projects in India and Russia with loans of $400 million. The loans will be used to rehabilitate the Indira Gandhi canal system in India and to build a toll transport corridor connecting Ufa city center to the M-5 federal highway in Russia. "The NDB was established to mobilize resources for infrastructure and sustainable development in BRICS and other emerging economies and developing countries, and the two projects approved today are fully in line with the bank's mandate and national development plans of our member countries," said KV Kamath, the NDB President. The NDB was set up with an initial authorized capital of 100 billion dollars after leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa agreed on its establishment during the 6th BRICS Summit in Fortaleza, Brazil, in 2014. It officially opened in Shanghai in 2015. NDB approved seven projects in 2016 with a total worth of $1.5 billion. The bank said sustainable infrastructure development will be the primary emphasis of the bank's operations in the next five years. SHENZHEN - Two Boeing 747 Freighters were auctioned off Tuesday on Taobao, the shopping platform of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. The aircraft were purchased by leading Chinese air express carrier SF Airlines for more than 320 million yuan ($48 million), according to the Intermediate People's Court of Shenzhen city. Three Boeing 747 aircraft went up for auction on Monday. One of the auction attempts failed because only one buyer registered to bid, the court said. The freight planes were owned by Jade Cargo International, the first Chinese cargo carrier with foreign investment. The company was founded in 2004, but the joint venture later filed for bankruptcy with the court in 2013. The three Boeing freighters had been put up for auction offline six times since October 2015, but failed to find buyers. "Online auctions are a good way to handle the property of bankrupt firms," said Long Guangwei, the court's vice-president. "This successful auction of the Boeing 747s sets a good example for judicial auctions of aircraft in China in the future." Almost all Chinese courts have registered on Taobao's judicial sales platform since the service was launched in 2012. It is the first time Boeing cargo aircraft have been the subject to a Taobao judicial auction. NEW YORK - Stable Sino-US relationship has fostered technological innovation in the past and a healthy bilateral relationship in the new era will continue to fuel global technological growth and benefit people around the world, said US industry leaders here on Monday. "It's simply impossible to imagine a bright future for our planet that is not founded on a healthy relationship between China and the United States," said Brad Smith, president of Microsoft Corporation. In a pre-recorded speech delivered at the annual Gala Dinner held by the National Committee on US-China Relations (NCUSCR) Monday evening, Smith recalled Microsoft's technological development in Chinese market after the company founded Microsoft Research Asia in Beijing in 1998. "Thanks to Chinese talents and their country's innovative spirit, this world-class research hub has continually pushed the limits of computing," said Smith. The research center has produced groundbreaking technologies that have fueled Microsoft's long-term strategy and its vision for the future, he said. "That's part of the reason we've been focused on doing even more to support this vital bridge across the Pacific (China-US relationship)," said Smith. Following Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Microsoft in the Seattle area in 2015, the company has deepened its collaborations with the Chinese government at different levels, and with business and academic partners, he added. Echoing Smith, Paul Jacobs, executive chairman and chairman of the board of chip-making giant Qualcomm Incorporated, said Chinese enterprises have long been very valued partners of Qualcomm as reciprocal collaborations and activities have spanned more than two decades. Since entering the Chinese market, Qualcomm has contributed to China's development in areas including device manufactures, equipment providers, software developers, operators and chipset foundries, said Jacobs. Over the years, the company has fostered long-term relationships with China's leading smartphone makers including Xiaomi, Vivo and OPPO. With an agreement on a deal worth $12 billion reached during the course of US President Donald Trump's state visit to Beijing earlier this month, the company expects to cement cooperation with the three Chinese companies to help promote their global expansion efforts. During Trump's visit to China, the two countries signed deals worth 253.5 billion dollars, consisting of 34 cooperation agreements and letters of intent. Looking into the future, Qualcomm sees an absolutely tremendous opportunity to work with its partners in China to shape the future of the Internet of Things, said Jacobs. "We've established several joint ventures and innovation labs in China to accelerate these opportunities benefiting industries and companies in China and around the world," he said. Stephen A. Orlins, president of the NCUSCR, is quite optimistic when he looks ahead to the future of the bilateral relationship. He hopes to see Chinese investment and technology help upgrade the country's railway so that a trip from New York to Baltimore would be less than 40 minutes. "The investment would be a bright shining example of Chinese investment materially improving the quality of life for millions of Americans including me," said Orlins. Ruth, a 22-year-old woman from Nairobi, Kenya, who studies at Tianjin Normal University, tastes food and gives her comments on a food review video in Tianjin. [Photo/IC] "Why do Chinese people love instant noodles? We would not eat such food in Kenya because it is so long that we have to cut it with scissors." Ruth, a 22-year-old woman from Nairobi, Kenya, gave this comment in a food review video starring her. Her full name is not available. She needed to taste those "weird" foods she was offered in front of the camera and comment on them. Sometimes a tiny bite of spicy food would make her burst into tears. This is Ruth's second year in China. She is a junior student in Tianjin Normal University and her teacher named her "Ruoxi" in Chinese, the name of a character in a famous TV series, when she just arrived here. In her free time, Ruth, or Ruoxi, was invited by a Chinese video platform startup to take part in recording online videos twice a week. To become an internet celebrity, she even studied crosstalk and traditional Chinese opera. The internet celebrity economy, having developed a new business operation mode, is one of the highlights of China's internet development last year, according to a report released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The scale of internet celebrity industry reached 52.8 billion yuan ($7.98 billion) last year and is expected to surpass 100 trillion yuan in 2018, with a compound annual growth rate of 59.4 percent from 2015 to 2018, according to a report by market research company Analysys. JINAN Textile companies have long been dependent on crude oil when making common synthetic materials such as nylon or polyester but that could soon change, with companies turning to biomass fibers. Hismer Bio-Tech, based in Ningyang county, Tai'an city in East China's Shandong province, is making biomass fiber from a very unusual source: shrimp and crab shells. In the backyard of the company's workshop, piles of shrimp and crab shells permeate the air with their strong odor. But after going through the company's processing machine, the shells are turned from food waste to chitosan fiber, basically indistinguishable from other synthetic fibers. "The biomass fiber can wean textile companies' off their reliance on crude oil," said Hu Guangmin, Hismer's chair. Hu said Hismer collects 10,000 metric tons of the shell waste from seafood processing companies in China's ports of Qingdao, Yantai, Dalian and Ningbo a year for the production of some 6,000 tons of biomass fiber. It has become the world's largest marine renewable producer. The fibre is then used by a variety of garment producers. When fashion lovers buy a stylish anti-bacterial underwear from lingerie producer Embry Form, they could hardly link it to shrimp and crab shells. The fabric is not only used for making socks, underwear, bedding but also medical products such as masks and sanitary pads as well as special cloth used in aerospace planes, Hu said. He said innovation has saved the textile company from going bankrupt. The factory had trouble in business due to rising cost at home and stagnant export market. Hu said the company of 800 employees had to lay off some 200 people when the business was bad. Five years ago, the textile producer placed its bet on developing the production technology and equipment for making the biomass material. Hu said Hismer has set up production cooperation with 70 companies including Toyota and German firms of Freudenberg and Medovent for developing fabric products for medical use. It also makes product development in partnership with Taiwan-based tech firm BenQ and Hong Kong-based lingerie producer Embry Form. Hu said in the past, there were 500 workers in its yarn spinning workshop. However, the current production only requires 75 workers, as most processing is done by automated equipment. The company has developed materials used in China's "Shenzhou" manned spacecraft and "Tiangong" space lab, as they are mildew-proof and resistant to fire, static electricity and odor. Hismer is not the only company introducing innovation to China's textile industry. BMSG, a bio seaweed substance processing firm, has been turning seaweed into biomass fibers for cloth that can be safely used for surgical dressings. "A ton of seaweed can be bought for just 8,000 yuan ($1,207). However, after turning into fabric sodium alginate, it is 80,000 yuan per ton. If further processed into surgical dressing, it is worth 2.4 million yuan," said Xu Yuqiang, secretary of the board of the BMSG, based in Qingdao, Shandong province. Jiang Shicheng, a member of Chinese Academy of Engineering, said that the development of biomass textile materials is still at an initial stage, but it is the future of textiles. Only when a new material industrial cluster has taken shape, can it bring vitality to the overall industry, Jiang added. Sun Ruizhe, director of the China National Textile and Apparel Council, was also positive about the future of biomass materials, saying that green textile products have become the new trend in the textile industry. Textile producers should develop environmentally friendly textile materials and make the whole production process pollution free, he said . He Yu, CGN chairman. [Photo/China Daily] Chinese power giant will continue to invest in the British nuclear industry China General Nuclear Power Corporation has confirmed its investment in the United Kingdom's nuclear industry as Britain's regulator began the second stage of the process to assess China's third-generation nuclear power technology. Speaking in London on Tuesday, He Yu, who is chairman of the company that is also known as CGN, said the enterprise will continue investing in the UK's nuclear sector as part of the globalization of China's nuclear sector. "The successful completion of the first stage of the UK regulator's assessment of our technology signifies the UK regulator recognizes that CGN has sufficiently prepared itself for the assessment," He said. The UK nuclear authority's assessment process is considered to be one of the most rigorous in the world. China's third-generation nuclear technology, the Hualong Pressurized Reactor 1000, which is also known as HPR1000, was submitted for assessment in January. CGN estimates the process will take five years. Gavin Edwards, Hualong generic design assessment officer at General Nuclear System, said his team takes a longterm view in taking HPR1000 technology to the UK. General Nuclear Systems is a joint venture between CGN and French company EDF that will liaise with the UK government on HPR1000's assessment. Once HPR1000 receives full approval, CGN and EDF will use the technology at the UK's Bradwell B nuclear power station, which will become the first-ever Chinese-designed nuclear power station to be built in a mature economy. CGN's reaffirmed confidence in the UK's nuclear sector follows the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, during which the government set the future direction for the country, which includes a focus on the development and globalization of China's high-technology sector. CGN and EDF are investing in three UK nuclear reactors: Hinkley Point C, Sizewell C, and Bradwell B. The package of deals was signed between the Chinese and French partners in October 2015 during President Xi Jinping's state visit to the UK, and received formal approval from the British government in September 2016. The first reactor, the 18 billion pound ($23.82 billion) Hinkley Point C, involves one-third investment from CGN. It will deliver 7 percent of the UK's electricity when it starts generating power in 2025. He from CGN said: "We wish to make nuclear collaboration a model example of the UK-China partnership during our 'golden era' of relations, and under the Belt and Road Initiative." Nakhulo Khaimia (from left), marketing manager, Huawei Device, Derrick Alenga, retail manager for Huawei Kenya and Sanaz Abaie, the head of category for mobile and tablets, Jumia Kenya, showcase the Huawei Mate 10 series during its launch in the Kenyan market in Nairobi, Kenya, Nov 22, 2017. [Photo provided to China Daily] Huawei Mobile Kenya and Jumia, the largest local online retailer, officially launched the Huawei Mate 10 mobile device on Wednesday in the Kenyan market. Jumia Kenya will exclusively sell the phone series online for two weeks before it gets into retail stores across the country. The new Huawei Mate 10 features a 64GB memory and will retail at Ksh79,999 ($774) and the Mate 10 pro that comes with 128 GB memory is priced at Ksh 89,999 ($871). It also features a long-lasting battery life while integrating New Leica dual camera technology. Speaking during the launch in Nairobi, Adam Lane, Huawei Technologies' senior director for public affairs, termed the Huawei Mate 10 series as a device that gives users a seamless experience. He noted the artificial intelligence processor is adaptable with one's surroundings is a key feature of the phone, making it stand out in this competitive market. We delighted to partner with Jumia for this launch as part of a commitment to diversify our distribution channels to include popular e-commerce platforms," he said. "Moving forward, we intend to increase our market share through strategic partnerships with Mobile Network Operators, device retailers and distributors in our quest to reach untapped markets. On Jumia, we are hoping to push through more than 2,000 devices annually, he said. The phone comes with the world's first artificial intelligence processor, offering users a faster, stronger and seamless experience. Owing to the powerful Kirin 970 with a built-in neural processing unit (NPU), the Huawei Mate 10 can analyze and adapt to its surroundings while offering a fast and strong performance. Speaking about the partnership, Jumia Kenya Managing Director Sam Chappatte said the company was delighted to have Huawei Mobile Kenya on board and strongly believe that the partnership will go a long way in ensuring that their growing customer base accesses various devices sold by Huawei Mobile. Derrick Aelnga (from left), retail manager for Huawei Kenya, Adam Lane, director, public affairs for Huawei Kenya and Velma Delila use the Huawei Mate 10 phone during the launch of the product into the Kenyan market, Nov 22, 2017 in Nairobi, Kenya. [Photo provided to China Daily] "We intend to have a long-lasting partnership with Huawei by ensuring that all its devices that are available online have a warranty and that its customer service provides solutions to any arising concerns from our customers," he said. With the rise of online shopping, Chappatte said the company strongly believes they will play a key role in increasing the market share for Huawei Mobile. The Huawei Mate 10 series also will be available in Safaricom shops, among other open market stores across the country. The Huawei Mate 10 and Huawei Mate 10 Pro are the first devices powered by the new Kirin 970 processor and deliver AI enhancements for a faster, more customized mobile experience. The Kirin 970 is built using an advanced TSMC 10nm semiconductor manufacturing process, and features an octa-core ARM Cortex CPU, a first-to-market Mali-G72 12-core GPU and the first NPU designed specifically for a mobile device. The Kirin 970 also has a new dual ISP for AI-powered intelligent photography. The specialized NPU, combined with Huawei's innovative HiAI mobile computing platform, means the Kirin 970 delivers 25 times better performance and 50 times greater energy efficiency for AI-related tasks, compared to four Cortex-A73 cores. With an all-new Huawei full view display, the HUAWEI Mate 10 features a 5.9-inch screen with a 16:9 display, barely-there-bezel and HDR10 to support vivid colors. The 6-inch Huawei Mate 10 Pro features an 18:9 Oled display, high screen-to-body ratio and HDR10 for dynamic video viewing. The devices feature a 3D glass body, symmetrically curved on all four sides for an ergonomic hold. The back of the devices feature a reflective band design to highlight the New Leica Dual Camera. The phone is also IP67 water and dust resistant. Beijing's financial district has attracted major international banks and finance houses. [Photo/China Daily] Major change in overseas ownership rules in China will increase investment and boost competition China's financial industry will become more competitive in the wake of the government's decision to further open up the sector to foreign competition. Major new rules announced earlier this month by Zhu Guangyao, deputy finance minister, will give global investment banks and insurance companies unprecedented access to the world's second largest economy. Foreign financial firms will be allowed to own up to 51 percent in mainland fund managers, securities ventures and brokerages from the current 49 percent. Spread over a three-year period, a "no limit" clause kicks in after that. "Following years of opening up and reforms, China's competence in the financial sector has been significantly improved and is able to face more competition from the global market," said Wang Jun, chief economist with Zhong Yuan Bank, a commercial lender based in Zhengzhou, Henan province. During the past 15 years, red tape in the financial sector has been cut and regulations tweaked from 33 percent foreign ownership to the present 49 percent. In the insurance sector, China plans to lift the overseas ownership cap to 51 percent for three years and remove the limit after five. Already this series of far-reaching decisions by the government is being hailed as a positive and progressive move by economists and analysts. "The country's financial sector is now operating in a stable manner, which provides excellent conditions for further opening up the industry," said Lian Ping, chief economist with Bank of Communications Ltd, one of the biggest lenders here. "Market liberalization will help to meet foreign capital demands and attract more foreign capital to China in the long term," he added. Liberalization will also encourage Chinese-owned financial firms to become more competitive. Customers can expect a new array of products while management structures will be streamlined. "The move was unprecedented and far beyond market expectations," Wang, of Zhong Yuan Bank, said. Smaller commercial lenders, such as Zhong Yuan Bank, Wujiang Bank, Bank of Wuxi and Zhangjiagang Rural Commercial Bank, are the sort of financial service providers that would be open to foreign investment. Overall, the new policy is expected to be "credit positive" for the country as it will encourage foreign capital to flow to financial firms and strengthen their risk management capabilities. "This is in alignment with the regulator's target to enhance overall risk management in the financial sector," Moody's Investors Service stated in a note. But one area of the industry which will not be affected involves the big State-owned banks. Combined assets of China's top five lenders were 92.1 trillion yuan ($13.88 trillion) by the end of September, 2017. "It is very unlikely that foreign enterprises would take major ownership stakes in big State-owned banks as they are often included in State-owned strategic capital," Minsheng Securities stated in a note. Overseas companies will probably focus on increasing their presence in China's insurance, securities and fund-management industries. This has "significant room for development", Oliver Rui, professor of finance at the China Europe International Business School in Shanghai, told Bloomberg News. Naturally, foreign financial firms have applauded the decision with major players, such as JPMorgan Chase & Co and Morgan Stanley, announcing they are committed to China. "We welcome this milestone policy change which we believe will bring further investment to China and create new business momentum for the financial services industry," a Morgan Stanley spokesperson said. "Morgan Stanley is committed to growing our businesses in China and we see this policy change as an important step in the further development and opening-up of China's capital markets," the spokesperson added. Still, this latest move is in line with other key policies during the past few years to increase foreign capital in the country's markets. The Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprises, or WFOEs, pilot program was rolled out in selected free trade zones in the country, allowing foreign firms to have access to various financial sectors. Since last year, more than 10 WFOEs have applied to launch private fund management firms with at least half up and running by the fall. In November, three more WFOEs, Invesco Finance Plc, Neuberger Berman Group LLC and Value Partners Group Ltd, were approved by the regulator to operate in China. "A higher number of WFOEs would mean the capital market will have more options and a wider range of products," a research note from China Merchants Securities stated. "(This will) create more opportunities for investors to hold assets in a diversified manner." In the long term, brokerages, insurance companies, fund managers and banks look certain to benefit from this latest round of market liberalization, Shenwan Hongyuan Securities pointed out. "Opening up will come at its own pace and generate its own momentum with risk management and control as the bottom line," Shenwan Hongyuan Securities stated in a note. "Both foreign (firms) and Chinese financial services providers are going to be patient (during this period). But the trend is irreversible," the research note added. As Chinese people's consumption trends have changed from the procurement of basic needs to finding reliable brand names, quality service and memorable experiences, these new habits bring investment opportunities. Internet startup service provider 36Kr highlighted the top 10 investors in this area. The full list features 45 candidates and is based on such factors as investment performance and participation level in projects. The top 10 investors are as follows: Feng Weidong TuSimple Inc demonstrates minds-off automated driving using two modified trucks in Shanghai International Automobile City. [Photo provided to China Daily] TuSimple, a Chinese autonomous truck startup which develops technology for autonomous long-distance freight delivery, has raised $55 million in fresh funds to maintain its edge in the autonomous driving sector. TuSimple's latest funding round is led by Chinese social media company Sina and others like venture capital funds Composite Capital and Trinity Investment. In August, the company raised $20 million from Sina and other investors including US graphics chip maker Nvidia. "The new investment will be used to strengthen the company's research and development capabilities and conduct more tests," said Chief Executive Chen Mo. So far, most of the attention in self-driving technology has been on passenger cars. But the recent debut of Tesla's electric, semi-autonomous truck has helped shift the focus to freight vehicles designed for long-haul shipments. In China, trucks transported 76 percent of all the freight in the country last year, according a report from Beijing-based Zhiyan Consulting Co. Self-driving vehicles have the ability to reduce accidents, traffic and emissions, as well as increase fuel economy. TuSimple, founded in 2015 and based in Beijing, aims to improve drivers' working conditions to reduce truck accidents on highways by up to 75 percent. Its ecosystem also decreases fuel waste by as much as 7 percent, according to the company. Zhao Xiang, a senior analyst at Beijing-based internet consultancy Analysys, said: "Commercial use of autonomous trucks is getting mature. Compared to public roads, the road conditions in industry parks are less complex, which would accelerate the pace of operating driverless trucks." However, Deng Feng, co-founder of Northern Light Venture Capital, said: "It's difficult to predict the timeline of driverless vehicles' mass production. Some Chinese companies are getting ready to wheel out their vehicles, but the schedule may be delayed due to policy issues rather than technology lag. Another big problem is that hackers may enter the vehicles' operating system. Deng made the comments on the sidelines of a tech summit organized by media outlet ifeng.com. Having obtained a license for testing autonomous vehicles on California's public roads, TuSimple ran a self-driving test ride in June. The driverless truck, using camera data primarily to navigate the highway route, cruised successfully between San Diego, California and Yuma, Arizona, which spans 200 miles (322 kilometers). TuSimple said it could achieve "centimeter-level" accuracy for positioning, even when driving inside a tunnel, and its in-house decision-making machine intelligence makes for safe route navigation. Scientists in the United Kingdom and China are working to create a future built on graphene, the "super material" that may soon be used for a range of things, including charging smartphones in seconds and filtering salt out of seawater. At the first UK-China graphene conference last week in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing, British scientists demonstrated the latest breakthroughs in the commercialization of the highly conductive, incredibly strong two-dimensional material made of carbon. Researchers from the Manchester-based National Graphene Institute demonstrated the filtration capabilities of ultrathin, graphene-oxide membranes. The technology could be used to separate particles from solvents in the manufacture of medication, and to transform seawater into clean drinking water. Graphene could play an important role in the development of wearable electronics, and scientists at the conference demonstrated the use of graphene in flexible, battery-like devices printed directly onto textiles. Researchers around the world are using graphene in a number of developing technologies, including smartphone batteries that charge in less than a minute, and ultrathin antennas that transfer a terabyte of data in a second. China's interest in British research into the commercial application of the material was highlighted by President Xi Jinping's visit to the National Graphene Institute during his 2015 state visit to the UK. At the conference, UK Trade Minister Rona Fairhead and Tian Shihong, director-general of the standardization administration of China, agreed to work together to establish an international organization for standardization in graphene research. Creating common standards for scientific research increases efficiency and cooperation in international study, said Rebecca Jiang, science and innovation officer at the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office. "Collaborating on graphene standards will therefore reduce technical barriers to trade and joint research and development in an area that is a strength for both countries, with huge market potential," Jiang said. She noted that China and the UK are "natural partners" when it comes to graphene research and commercialization. The UK has become a world leader in the study of graphene, investing 61 million pounds ($80.8 million) in the National Graphene Center and a further 60 million pounds in the Graphene Engineering and Innovation Centre, which is set to open next year. The graphene market in China is forecast to be worth $200 million during the next three years, making it the largest market in the Asia-Pacific region. As of September, 2,950 Chinese companies said they were exploring the use of graphene in their businesses, according to government statistics. An image of an astronaut in the space capsule in the display hall at China Academy of Space Technology in Beijing, Nov 21, 2017. [Photo by Tan Xinyu/chinadaily.com.cn] Editor's note: The article is part of a program to visit State-owned enterprises and better understand their study and implementation of the report delivered by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, at the opening of the 19th CPC National Congress. And the second stop is China Academy of Space Technology on Tuesday. Landing spacecraft on Mars is full of complexities, with generally a less than 40 percent success rate in the world, Lin Yiming, senior vice-president of China Academy of Space Technology, said Tuesday. However, China plans to land Chinese spacecraft on Mars in 2021 to have a closer look at the planet, he added. In addition to this plan, Xie Jun, chief engineer for the third-generation Beidou satellites at the academy, said that the third-generation Beidou satellite must remain China-made to ensure the project won't be delayed due to lacks of parts made abroad. On Nov 5, the first two third-generation Beidou satellites were launched atop a Long March 3B carrier rocket from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province, marking the beginning of its global coverage. Beidou is the world's fourth navigation satellite system, following GPS in the United States, GLONASS in Russia and Galileo in the European Union. According to Xie, China will launch 18 third-generation Beidou satellites into space to offer navigation services to countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative. And the whole global network is planned to be completed based on 35 satellites before the end of 2020. The China-proposed initiative comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, which aim to build trade and infrastructure networks connecting Asia with Europe and Africa on and beyond the ancient Silk Road routes. Meanwhile, Xie also said that there is much work to be done in terms of improving signal services and product quality as well as popularizing Beidou-matched ground devices. Established in 1968the academy is the birthplace of many "firsts" in space, such as China's first artificial earth satellite, first manned spacecraft and first lunar probe. And its first president is Qian Xuesen, father of China's rocket and satellite development. Over recent decades, China has made progress in space development, from artificial earth satellites and cargo spacecraft to space labs. Let's take a close look at some of their models and real objects at the display hall at CAST. Local residents ride Mobike's shared bikes in Berlin, Germany. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] Chinese bike-sharing titan Mobike Technology announced Wednesday its operations in Berlin, Germany, meeting the company's ambitious goal of expanding to 200 cities globally by the end of this year. Mobike founder and President Hu Weiwei said Mobike will add value to German cities with its collaborative and sustainable approach, enabled by the internet of things and custom-engineered bikes. "Bicycles mean less air pollution and more climate protection, a better quality of life in our cities, improved health through exercise, greater economic potential for local businesses and improved mobility for all." The Beijing-based company will initially operate the GPS-enabled shared bikes on Berlin's road, where users are able to take rides by simply scanning the QR code via downloaded apps. The company said it will soon pedal to more cities in Germany. Chris Martin, vice-president for Mobike's international business, said Berlin is an ideal location to introduce the bike-sharing service in Germany, as the bicycle was invented in Germany 200 years ago. "We look forward to delivering on our mission to improve city residents' quality of life. " Currently, Mobike has deployed more than 7 million orange-hued dockless bikes in 200 global cities and has over 200 million registered users, according to company figures. Mobike's archrival Ofo Inc is hatching a global expansion too, as it previously announced plans to enter 200 cities in 20 countries around the globe by the end of this year. Ofo's yellow shared bikes are now crowding the roads in more than 200 cities across 18 countries. Premier Li Keqiang meets with a delegation of Japanese business leaders on Tuesday at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. FENG YONGBIN / CHINA DAILY Premier Li Keqiang urged Japan on Tuesday to get China-Japan relations back on the right track by continuing to improve bilateral ties and avoiding interference. A healthy and stable relationship is in line with the common interests of both countries, Li said in a meeting with a Japanese business delegation. Mutual trust is the key to improving bilateral ties, and grassroots exchanges are fundamental to the process, he said. Economic and trade cooperation are vital aspects of China-Japan relations, the premier said, and the Japanese economic community is expected to continue the tradition to help make peace, friendship and cooperation a consensus for all Japanese people. Li said he hopes the two countries can work together to promote ties, based on the four political documents. These were signed between 1972 and 2008 and were confirmed as abiding principles by both countries in 2014. This year marks the 45th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic ties between the two countries and the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between China and Japan is next year. Li met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Manila last week at the East Asia Summit. Japan had a 110 billion yuan ($16.9 billion) trade surplus with China last year, according to the General Administration of Customs. The administration also said trade volume hit 1.82 trillion yuan last year, a year-on-year increase of 5 percent. The Chinese economy will continue its stabilizing and positive trends, and further opening-up and reform will be carried out to provide domestic and foreign enterprises with a business environment of equal treatment and fair competition, Li said. The premier said it is hoped both sides can really take each other's development as an opportunity and help build the East Asian community while promoting their own growth via cooperation in innovation and healthy competition. By doing so, mutual benefit and win-win outcomes can be achieved and can contribute to regional and global stability and prosperity, he said. The delegation has a record number of more than 250 businesspeople and entrepreneurs from the island neighbor, who left Tokyo for Beijing on Monday to start their annual visit to China. Among the delegates were business heavyweights such as Shoji Muneoka, president of the Japan-China Association on Economy and Trade. Delegates agreed that the improving ties between the two nations are welcome in Japan's economic circles. They vowed to continue the commitment to boost the constant development of bilateral relations by furthering economic cooperation and grassroots exchanges. They also said economic cooperation between China and Japan is expected to bring new opportunities to both nations and also other Asian countries. Liu Xinting A brave Alibaba employee who saved four people from drowning in a Hangzhou lake has been rewarded with a lifetime supply of fish heads. Liu Xinting, 42, leapt into action after he saw a car carrying two men and two women plunge into Thousand Island Lake at around noon on Sunday. He was traveling back to Hangzhou with colleagues and their family members in a convoy of cars after a lunch of fish headsa local delicacyin neighboring Quzhou, he said on Tuesday. To reward his bravery, Hangzhou Qiandao Lake Development Group, which operates several fish restaurants, announced on its WeChat account on Monday that it would provide Liu free fish heads for life. Liu said he was traveling in the opposite lane when he saw a blue pickup truck rear-end a red car while attempting to change lanes, causing the car to lose control and plunge downhill about 10 meters into the lake. Liu ran down the hill with the driver of the pickup truck and shouted to his colleagues to call the police. The red car was floating about 20 meters offshore with its windows open when Liu reached it, and it sank soon after Liu tugged the four people out. "It was actually really dangerous because I jumped into the lake with my clothes and shoes on," Liu said. "But it was an emergency, it was too dangerous to leave them in the water." The four were tourists from Shanghai who had come to visit Thousand Island Lake. Local traffic police told Hangzhou Daily that the tourists had all returned home in good condition. "I never thought my colleagues and I would experience something like that," Liu wrote on WeChat Moments. "It was a relief to save the four visitors. I heard that the driver of the red car felt guilty, but it was not her fault. I hope they can get over the trauma." Liu, a product manager for Alibaba Cloud, received a thumbs-up from Jack Ma, chairman of Alibaba Group, through the company's internal network after learning of his bravery. He Wei in Shanghai contributed to this story. The Long March 6 blasts off at Taiyuan Satellite Lauch Center in Shanxi province, Nov 21, 2017. [Photo/IC] China launched a Long March 6 carrier rocket on Tuesday to send three small Earth-observation satellites into space. The Long March 6 blasted off at 12:50 pm at Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Shanxi province and put three Jilin 1-series satellites in orbit, according to a news release from China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, the major contractor of China's space programs. It was the second mission for the Long March 6, a new-generation liquid-propellant rocket, the release said. The three-stage rocket's first launch was in September 2015, when it put 20 satellites into orbit, setting a record for most satellites launched by a single Chinese rocket. Development of the Long March 6, the first of China's new generation of carrier rockets, began in 2009 at the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, a subsidiary of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. The 29.3-meter rocket can place about a metric ton of payload into a sun-synchronous orbit 700 kilometers above Earth. Its main propulsion is a 120-ton-thrust engine that burns liquid oxygen and kerosene. Chinese engineers have produced four new types of carrier rocketsLong March 6, Long March 11, Long March 7 and Long March 5since 2015. No other nation has put as many new rockets into service within such a short time. The male giant panda Baxi is pictured in the wild at the Mount Tiantai or Tiantai Mountain in Chengdu city, southwest China's Sichuan province, 25 July 2017. [Photo/IC] A pair of giant panda will be released into the wild on Thursday. Ying Xue and Ba Xi will be released after a final physical examination, equipped with GPS trackers. China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in southwest China's Sichuan Province said the captive-bred pair, a male and a female, had been in survival training for two years at Wolong. Ba Xi, the male, was born on July 26, 2015, and Ying Xue is just 14 days older. Ba Xi weighs 65 kg and is 107 cm long, while Ying Xue weighs 59 kg and is 89 cm long. The pair are both in good health. They will be the second pair released into the wild. In October last year, three-year-old Hua Yan and two-year-old Zhang Meng, also both bred in captivity, were released into Liziping Nature Reserve in Sichuan. The second pair will also be released at Liziping. The International Union for Conservation of Nature reclassified the giant panda species as "vulnerable" rather than "endangered" last year, thanks to decades of protection. According to the China giant panda breeding technology committee, the population of captive giant pandas has reached 520 worldwide. However, captive stock lacks genetic diversity. China plans to improve the wild population by creating a giant panda national park, releasing more pandas into the wild, and through more research. Boutique hotel doubles as cultural center promoting ethnic group Yunnan province has long been a magnet for travelers looking for a taste of China's exotic ethnic cultures. Few, however, have followed their passion as far as Brian Linden. For a decade, he has devoted himself to promoting the arts, crafts and way of life of the Bai people. Visitors come from far and wide to stay at his Linden Center, an institution he has dedicated to the ethnic group in the small town of Xizhou. Along the way, he has forged links with top universities in both China and his native United States. "Even though I'm a foreigner, I have always dreamed of finding a way to learn, share and discover Chinese culture," Linden said. "The Linden Center allows me to do just that." Linden's road to Xizhou was a long one. It started in 1984 when he was working as a carpet cleaner in his homeland and took up a friend's invitation to go to China. Once there, he was impressed enough to travel widely. He supported himself by taking several film roles, as well as working as a photographer. He returned home, but in 2004 he sold his house in the US to bring his wife and two sons back to China and embark on a two-year odyssey across the country. "My sons needed to study, so hotels and trains became classrooms," Linden said, explaining that the family bought standing tickets when seats were hard to come by. "We just wanted to show the kids how important it is to follow dreams and make those dreams come true." From the northwest to the far south, it was Xizhou that captivated the family enough to settle. The town is close to Erhai Lake and Cangshan Mountain, making it a "land of idyllic beauty" in the words of writer Lao She. Yunnan is home to 26 of China's 56 ethnic groups. Among them are some 2 million Bai, who live mainly in the western Dali Bai autonomous prefecture. Xizhou township in Dali is quintessentially Bai, and contains many protected heritage sites. Of particular interest to the Lindens was the "Yang family compound", a building with many distinctive features of Bai architecture. It was built in 1948 and listed under State protection in 2001. Linden wanted to turn the compound into a boutique hotel. After four years of negotiations with the local government, he was given permission. The family decided against outside contractors, preferring to renovate the building themselves. "Just the cost of fire safety measures and rewiring exceeded 1 million yuan ($151,000)," Linden said. During the renovation, he spent half his time at the construction site, and the other half in the village talking to people, making friends and explaining what he was doing. "If the Linden Center really wants to be part of Xizhou, the support of local people is very important," he said. Around 100 people were involved in the renovation, and the center now has about 50 staff members. "We could keep the ball rolling with just half of them actually, but I want to help local employment," he said. In 2008, after almost nine months of work, the Linden Center opened with the structure of the original compound and delicate wood carvings intact. Since then, it has been more a place of cultural exchange than just a hotel. When it opened, Linden invited dozens of foreign painters to work there. The property today comprises five big courtyards and 16 guests rooms. Besides accommodation and catering, visitors can take part in all kinds of cultural activities, including textile dyeing and cookery lessons. One of the courtyards has become a place of education, receiving groups from around the world. Linden has hosted students with affiliations to Shanghai's Fudan University and Yale and Stanford in the US. "In the Linden Center, I have found my way to learn, share and explore Chinese culture," he said. Xinhua Beijing court and the People's Liberation Army established a working system on Tuesday to help resolve civilian-military disputes. "The system will not only help us efficiently handle a rising number of disputes brought by ongoing military reform, but also improve our communications with military courts," said Wu Zaicun, president of Beijing No 1 Intermediate People's Court. China began a massive reform of its military two years ago. It has included merging departments to optimize efficiency, and putting restrictions on commercial activities to safeguard security and prevent corruption. "As the reform is being pushed forward, some disputes have arisen between civilians and the military," said Sun Guoming, vice-president of the court. For example, the court has handled several lawsuits brought by business owners evicted from properties owned by the armed forces, he said, adding that the court has had an increase in military-related cases in the past two years. Since 2015, the court has concluded 106 military-related cases, and the number of new cases is rising, according to the court. It concluded 39 such disputes last year, and the figure has reached 52 this year. "While facing the boom, we've met difficulties in handling cases, which is why we urgently need the system," Sun said. "For example, we had to spend much time to verify whether a company or institute subject to a lawsuit is actually a military department, because sometimes it looks like an ordinary company, but actually it belongs to a military authority," he explained. "Besides, we often struggle to access military documents and are denied access to military properties for on-site investigations." The working system should solve such problems, he said, adding the quick verification of military departments will also protect civilian litigants, helping them to clearly know what kind of cases or defendants they will confront. Li Weihai, a law professor at China University of Political Science and Law, applauded the system, saying similar working mechanisms between civilian and military courts, such as liaisons, are common in developed countries. A pharmaceutical company has resumed supplying leukemia medicine for children after a severe shortage triggered widespread panic among the families of patients. Premier Li Keqiang urged all involved parties on Monday to take swift action to ensure availability. "The lack of medicine will make it tougher for families whose children have leukemia," he was quoted as saying on the State Council's website. "We should stand in their shoes, attach great importance to the problem and take effective steps in this special case to ensure the supply of the low-priced domestic medicine, so as to lessen the pain of those families." The medicine - mercaptopurine - is the main medication for acute lymphocytic leukemia in children. Zhebei Pharmaceutical, one of the certified producers of the medicine, has promised to provide 60,000 bottles to its national distributor and made available in hospitals and pharmacies within the next few days, according to news website Zhejiang Online. The company delivered 15,000 bottles on Tuesday, according to the WeChat account of Deqing county, where it is located. Six pharmaceutical companies nationwide are certified to produce the medicine, but five of them ceased production long ago. Zhebei halted production in March - but only temporarily - because of a production line upgrade, according to Tan Guojun, the deputy manager, who was quoted by Zhejiang Online. The new production line was approved on Friday, and the company resumed production of the leukemia medicine immediately. Tan said most companies are reluctant to produce the medicine because of the relatively small market, the rising cost of ingredients and its inflexible price cap. The dwindling supply had caused a panic among parents of children who had the lymphatic disease. A search of the online forum for leukemia on Baidu showed more than 100 posts since 2013 asking where the medicine can be bought around the country. Yuan Xiaojun, a doctor at Xinhua Hospital in Shanghai, told Shanghai news website thepaper.cn in an earlier report that while the original price of a bottle of medicine was about 40 yuan ($6), the market price has risen to more than 140 yuan in some places, and the hospital has been short of supplies for five months. Since the medicine has been hard to find, many parents have bought it online, and some asked their friends to buy it overseas. Yu worried about the quality of the product purchased through unofficial channels. The medicine shortage has rung an alarm bell for authorities, underlining the need to work together to ensure supply of domestically made low-priced medicine. In June, the National Health and Family Planning Commission, together with seven other related government organs, issued a guideline on improving the availability of medicines in short supply. He stirred people up and influenced them to hate legal system, court says Former lawyer Jiang Tianyong was convicted of inciting the subversion of State power and sentenced to two years in prison in Changsha, Hunan province. Jiang, 46, was also deprived of his political rights for three years, according to Changsha Intermediate People's Court. He pleaded guilty during the court hearing and decided not to appeal. According to the court, Jiang made a large number of statements attacking or defaming Chinese government departments, judicial authorities and the national legal system under the influence of anti-China forces abroad. He often went overseas to learn about overthrowing State power, and solicited funds to support speculation on "sensitive cases", according to the court's ruling. In 2013, Jiang set up a service group with other lawyers, ostensibly to protect lawyers' rights, though the group was noted for exaggerating hot issues under the guise of protecting rights, the court said. The court said that since 2015 Jiang deliberately distorted the facts of a case involving Zhou Shifeng, a lawyer who was sentenced to seven years for subverting State power and incited others to illegally gather and make trouble in public places. Jiang was found guilty of using public opinion to stir up people to hate the government, defaming the nation's political and legal system and inciting others to overthrow State power. He posed a serious threat to national security and political stability, the court said. In October 2016, Jiang asked Xie Yang - a lawyer criminally detained for attempting to overthrow State power - along with his wife to make up a series of stories claiming Xie was tortured by police during detention. The faked stories were forwarded by many foreign media, according to the court. Jiang exaggerated facts on the internet and incited others to transmit them, inflaming the public's hatred of judicial departments and the legal system, the court said. "Because Jiang actively confessed his crimes and expressed regret for his behavior during the court hearing, we have issued a lenient punishment," the statement from the court said. On Tuesday morning, 48 people, including lawmakers, political advisers, legal experts, lawyers and news reporters attended the hearing. Six officials in Hunan province have been fired for their handling of two tuberculosis outbreaks in their county. Zhou Desheng, chief of Taojiang county's health and family planning commission; Huang Zhigang, chief of the bureau of education; and Wen Fuqiang, chief of the center for disease control and prevention, were among the six fired on Tuesday, a statement from the county government said. Meanwhile, the local government suggested the county's education commission remove the principal of Taojiang No 4 Middle School for failing to effectively cope with the public health incident. A total of 29 students from the school had been diagnosed with tuberculosis as of Friday. As of Friday, 37 students from two schools been diagnosed in Taojiang county, the county government said. The eight additional cases were confirmed at Taojiang Occupational Middle School. The first was discovered in October, the statement said. The county government will continue its investigation and punish violations such as dereliction of duty, it said. The county will treat infected students and monitor and test those who had close contact with them, it said. The outbreak at Taojiang No 4 Middle School, which occurred in August, was confirmed by the Taojiang government on Thursday. It said the government immediately carried out an emergency response plan after the outbreak and reported the incident to the CDC in Yiyang - which governs the county - and to the Hunan provincial CDC. On Monday, the Hunan Health and Family Planning Commission said eight students at Taojiang Occupational Middle School in Taojiang had been diagnosed with tuberculosis. The first case at the school was confirmed by the county CDC on Oct 12, the commission said. Wang Jianguo, deputy head of the county, was quoted by CCTV as saying the initial investigations showed the two outbreaks to be unrelated, as the two schools are nearly 40 kilometers away from each other and their students did not have close contact. Three male students from a senior class at Taojiang No 4 Middle School were asked to leave school on Aug 6 because of TB. Other students in the class developed coughs over the next few days and asked to be checked, according to Beijing Youth Daily. The three males had been taking medications for months, but the other students had no idea what diseases they had, the report said, quoting students in the class. The school began sterilization measures in its classrooms around Aug 8, and it organized a blood test covering all students in the senior class on Aug 10. Seven more students were diagnosed and asked to leave school, the report said. Employers must report confirmed or suspected cases of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis to local centers for disease control or to medical institutions in a timely manner, according to China's Law on Infectious Disease Control and Prevention. Government officials who conceal or delay reporting outbreaks of infectious diseases, or who do not take timely measures, face administrative or criminal punishment if serious consequences occur, according to the law. Companies asked to take safety precautions during final weeks While China saw fewer total workplace accidents and deaths this year compared with 2016, the top work safety authority is asking enterprises to take precautions against risks that could grow in the year's final weeks as companies hurry to meet output targets. According to the State Administration of Work Safety, both the number of accidents and the death toll in the first 10 months this year have decreased. About 40,000 accidents occurred during the period, a decline of 26.9 percent year-on-year. Workplace accidents killed 29,000 people, down 20.4 percent from 2016. The country saw 21 major accidents in which more than 10 people died, five fewer than last year. The death toll in those accidents also decreased by 110 to 293. The declines are the result of tightened site inspections and stricter punishments, the administration said. January to October saw year-on-year increases in fines collected from coal mines (93.1 percent), other mines (63.4 percent), hazardous chemical enterprises (65.1 percent) and industrial and trade enterprises (102.9 percent) for violations of safety regulations. The administration, however, didn't disclose the amount of the fines. "The general situation for production safety in most industries and regions is stable, but the situation is not optimal for some industries," the administration said. Despite the decline in total accidents, major accidents increased in the mining sector. Six major mining accidents occurred in October. Both the death toll and the number of major accidents increased from January to October, compared with last year, the administration said. Specific numbers were not disclosed. "As the end of the year approaches, many enterprises speed up their production to finish tasks. At the same time, many areas are frequently hit by extreme winter weather. All this increases risks," it said. While calling for government departments and enterprises to take precautionary measures, the administration said it will carry out both open and secret inspections to prevent accidents. On Oct 31, the administration held a national conference on coal mine production safety in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, a major coal-producing region in China. Huang Yuzhi, head of the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety, called on mine operators to use more automated processes to improve safety. When members of the Communist Party of China applied to set up a branch of German medical supplier Fesenius Kabi, one manager asked a lot of questions: "How does a Communist organization coexist with a German enterprise? Will it affect our business?" The questions were raised by Chinese-German Yang Zhiming, manager of the Nanchang subsidiary of the company. "Chinese and German people have different cultures, customs and ways of thinking," Yang said. "We were afraid that Party activities might interfere with our business." What changed their minds was the performance of the CPC members working at the subsidiary. In response to a labor shortage, Party members there mobilized the entire staff to pitch in on recruitment. They also took the initiative to help resolve disputes within the company. The German management team has found CPC members to be more self-disciplined and willing to undertake challenging tasks. They take on more responsibility and appear focused on he business. In 2016, a Party branch was set up at the subsidiary, with the approval of the German head office. "CPC membership is not only a political identity but a symbol of excellence. Moral integrity and competence in one's work are both necessary criteria for membership. That's what makes the CPC different," said Zheng Changzhong, an expert on Party building at Shanghai's Fudan University. In a Nanchang shopping mall owned by German retailer Metro Group, management's attitude toward Party members underwent a similar transition. "Once we had a big order to fill, but our forklift broke down," said Chen Siying, head of the Party branch at the company. "Some CPC members worked nonstop for more than 10 hours, loading the freight by hand." CPC membership is now a preferred qualification for prospective new employees. According to the CPC Constitution, members should be a vanguard fighting for the Chinese working class. They should serve the people wholeheartedly and be ready to make any personal sacrifice. CPC members must separate public and private interests, put the public interest first and work selflessly. They must champion simplicity and guard against extravagance. The CPC has increased its presence in the private sector in the past few years. Foreign-funded enterprises and joint ventures are a key part of the expansion. The constitution stipulates that the Party exercises overall leadership over all areas of endeavor in every part of the country. The principle was reaffirmed by the recent 19th CPC National Congress. A major campaign on the spirit of the congress has been launched, involving all Party members. For CPC members at Sedrin Brewery Co - the Nanchang subsidiary of Belgian brewer AB InBev - the spirit of the congress is obvious. With 18 members, the Party branch in Sedrin has a clear organizational structure and a set of internal regulations. "To help people have a better life, we need both technology and craftsmanship to raise the quality of our products. That's how we will implement the spirit of the congress," said Zheng Wenqing, head of the company's CPC branch during a Party theory class. On Oct 18, CPC members at the company watched the opening session of the 19th CPC National Congress. After the congress they discussed the report and the revised CPC Constitution. In Nanchang, Jiangxi province, CPC branches at foreign enterprises organized more activities since the congress. Some Party members have been given more time for study and discussions. In some companies, noncommunist senior executives even attended the discussions. Of more than 100,000 foreign-funded enterprises in China, 70 percent had Party organizations at the end of 2016, according to Qi Yu, deputy head of the CPC Central Committee Organization Department. "It has been decades since foreign enterprises started operating in China. They have recognized that Party organizations can play a positive role in business development and generate benefits," Fudan University's Zheng said. Xinhua HANGZHOU -- Starting 2016, Chen Xuefen, a "garbage sorting instructor" in East China's Zhejiang province, has been giving her trash talks with the help of her smartphone. She scans the QR code on any garbage bag in trash can, and immediately knows who threw it away. "We get free garbage bags from our community committee. Every household is given bags with different QR codes," said Chen. If residents do not sort the waste correctly, instructors come to their homes and show them how to do it properly. "In the past, we had no idea who had thrown what away," said Chen. Chen is one of the hundreds of "garbage sorting instructors" in Huachuan community where she and another 10,000-plus residents live. As volunteers, the instructors are meant to help residents manage household waste, especially kitchen waste, which accounts for 50 percent of all household waste. "In Huachuan, currently more than 90 percent of residents know how to sort household waste," said Chen, noting it was very different from the situation in 2012. Built in the 1980s, Huachuan generates about 1,500 liters of garbage a day, which was previously dumped, taken away, burned and buried. Though Zhejiang introduced garbage sorting in 2010, progress was less than satisfactory. Since 2012, Huachuan's public dustbins have been allocated to "kitchen waste," "recyclables," "hazardous waste" and "other." Every year, the community spends about 300,000 yuan ($45,000) on bins and bags to encourage residents to separate their own waste. In 2016, the sacks with QR codes appeared. Yu Fuling, the Party secretary in Huachuan, said sorting household waste is of great importance. "If trash is not sorted, waste cannot be fully reused or recycled, and the disposal process is harder," Yu said. According to Yu, Huachuan community workers write brochures and give lectures on how to sort out garbage, and organize volunteers to provide door-to-door guidance. Currently, the rate of household garbage sorting in Huachuan is about 70 percent, said Yu. In Zhejiang Province, 11 cities have run household waste sorting campaigns and the harmless disposal rate of urban household garbage has reached 99.3 percent. The province has 110 disposal facilities for household garbage and more than 1,800 garbage transfer stations. Another 16 disposal facilities are under construction and will be operational by the end of this year, increasing the province's garbage disposal capacity to 70,000 tonnes each day. "Garbage sorting is improving our living environment. It is not only beneficial for us now, but for our future," said Chen. "The security of Tian'anmen Square is of great symbolic significance to national stability." As political commissar of the tenth detachment of the Chinese People's Armed Police Force Beijing division, Wang Jianhua is fully aware of the importance of his job. Wang's detachment is in charge of security around Tian'anmen Square, the world's largest city square, the geographic and symbolic center of Beijing. The security of Tian'anmen Square, the Palace Museum and the National Museum of China are all the detachment's responsibility. "Tian'anmen Square is a place of utmost importance because of its political significance. This poses a tremendous challenge to our work," said Wang. HIGHEST STANDARD Wang's detachment has every reason to be on full alert. Being the heart of the People's Republic of China, Tian'anmen Square has been the site of many milestone events in Chinese history, including the founding of the republic. Since the 1980s, more than 300 million people have come to Tian'anmen Square to watch the flag-raising ceremony. On the walls of the dormitory of the National Flag Guard, part of the tenth detachment responsible for the escorting, raising and defending China's national flag in the square, hangs a banner that reads "Out of this door is the No 1 sentry post of our homeland". China's No 1 sentry post demands the best armed police force. Efforts of the detachment have contributed to the success of marquee political events in China, including national congresses of the Communist Party of China, annual sessions of the National People's Congress and state visits of foreign leaders. This year's CAPF Beijing combat capability competition was won by the detachment's special operations squad. A new soldier with the National Flag Guard has to practice marching steps for tens of thousands of times everyday. After two years of training, his march will cover a distance of more than 13,000 kilometers on average. The region around Tian'anmen Square and the Palace Museum is home to some of Beijing's most famous architecture. Construction of new buildings is generally not allowed, so the detachment has to make do with old buildings. "Our dormitories may not be the best, but our morale is unrivalled," said Du Zeheng, logistics head at the detachment. PUBLIC FACE The detachment works in the public eye. "People see in us the image of Chinese military, so we always keep our boots highly polished and our uniforms spotless," said Zhang Haizhou, a squad leader with the detachment. "Sometimes tourists and their children salute us. That always makes us proud," said Zhang. Zhang recalled a policeman from Australia who asked for a photograph with him while he was on duty. After Zhang told him it was against the regulations, the policeman praised Zhang for his sense of duty. In case of important international meeting or gathering, such as the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, the soldiers act as guards for state guests. Soldiers with better English help those who are weaker in the language to learn simple dialogues. "Newer soldiers generally have better education and are better at English," said Liu Yu, 23, who scored 130 points out of 150 in the English test of China's college entrance examination before joining the military. "What's interesting is when foreigners try to talk with us in simple Chinese," added Liu. BEIJING -- A healthcare official said Tuesday that 4,529 organ donations took place in China this year, a 30 percent increase year on year. The counts for 2015 and 2016 were 2,766 and 4,080, respectively, according to Guo Yanhong, an official with the National Health and Family Planning Commission. Guo disclosed the figures while addressing the launching of a campaign to promote donor registrations. A previous survey found 94 percent of participants willing to register for organ donation, while 46 percent of those who said no were just "unable to access or complete the complicated registration." China banned the use of organs from executed prisoners in 2015 and made voluntary donation the only legitimate source. A manhunt has been launched for a suspect accused of carrying out a mass gunfight that left three dead and six injured in Raoping county in eastern part of Guangdong on Tuesday night. The incident unfolded when local police hotline received a report about shooting at 19:53 pm. When police officers rushed to the scene they found two dead on the spot while another succumbed to injuries in hospital. Police are hunting for a suspect who ran away after the shooting, according to a statement issued by Raoping public security bureau. The statement added that no other details will be provided as an investigation is currently underway. A special task force has been set up to focus on the case and police urged locals and any witnesses to tip off police the whereabouts of the suspect. A Chinese writer has recently penned an article to describe middle-aged men as greasy and dirty, generating public discussion over the past weeks on social media. Feng Tang, a former doctor who became a writer now known for his works on youths, published an article titled "How to Avoid Becoming a Greasy, Dirty Middle-Aged Man" Oct 27 on his Sina Weibo account, China's Twitter-like social media. The self-mocking article called out his contemporaries for being youni greasy and blamed them for being overweight, talking about sex in public, preaching to the younger generations and failing to maintain personal hygiene. Feng also offered 10 pieces of advice for men in their midlife to avoid becoming one of the weisuonan, or sleazy men, he derides. Feng's article resonated with both ordinary Weibo users and celebrities. Songwriter and music producer Gao Xiaosong posted his own advice on Weibo, suggesting middle-aged men should be honey-mouthed and not picky. In China, middle-aged men have been labeled as wearing strings of Buddhist rosary beads on their wrists, carrying thermoses of hot water mixed with red dates and goji berries, packing a bulging paunch, and donning gold neck chains. In August, Zhao Mingyi, 50, the drummer in the rock 'n' roll band Black Panther, was photographed taking a tea cup, and many web users marveled that "our rock star since childhood is entering his middle age". Social observers said the flare-up reveals that rapid changes in an age of growing gender equality, consumerism and globalization have created new and various standards for middle-aged men. They said the wide and still growing generation gaps in Chinese society formed because of a lack of mutual understanding, and it is time for different age groups to interact with each other to encourage better mutual understanding and respect. A man dressed as Santa Claus stands in front of a snow sculpture on Nov 18, 2017. [Photo provided to China Daily] The Christmas Village Disney Snow Sculpture Park in Beiji Village, known as China's "Arctic village" in Mohe, a county in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, welcomed its first visitors on Saturday. The main snow sculpture, Santa Claus, which is 50 meters long and 13 meters high, creates a strong Christmas atmosphere. Mohe, as the coolest tourist attraction in the country, is warming up for a record influx of visitors eager to sample the latest lures in this hotspot of the cold season. Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau and the French Embassy to China hosted a seminar from Nov 21 to 22 on the protection of culture and heritage at Danfeng Museum in Xi'an, the capital city of Northwest China's Shaanxi province. The Exchange and Inspiration: Chinese and French Cultural Heritage Protection Seminar was attended by more than 200 cultural relic experts to discuss methods and experiences in the protection and management of cultural relics. Topics for discussion at the seminar included policies and principles on heritage protection, protection of archaeological sites and typical cases of heritage protection in China and France. With the aim of deepening mutual understanding and seeking opportunities to cooperate with each other for mutual benefit, the seminar contributed to the protection of cultural relics in China, France and the world. The Research Institute of Preservation of Cultural Relics in Shaanxi province and the Cultural Heritage Foundation in France have pledged to cooperate in protecting the colored wood carvings of Gongshutang, a cultural relic site under state key protection. Both sides are also considering a program for the protection of stone sculptures at Xi'an Maoling Mausoleum, the tomb of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 24). The mausoleum is called "the Chinese Pyramid" as, among all emperor mausoleums constructed during the Western Han Dynasty, it is the largest and holds the richest collection of burial artifacts. The construction of the mausoleum took the longest time - 53 years. By By Tian Xuefei and Zhou Huiying in Harbin | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2017-11-22 15:50 Sanitation workers have free lunch at the noodle restaurant in Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang province. [Photo provided to China Daily] Since its opening in December 2016, a noodle restaurant in Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang province has provided more than 20,000 free bowls of noodles to sanitation workers. "In fact, I was not sure about it when I got the news about the free lunch," said Jiang Zhenxing, 61, a sanitation worker working nearby. "To my surprise, I was warmly welcomed by the waiter when I came into the restaurant to confirm it." After having three bowls of noodles, Jiang left the restaurant with incredible gratitude. "The selfless contribution of such a business and good service by the waiters can make people feel the restaurant is filled with great love," Jiang wrote in his letter of thanks. "Our boss' mother was a sanitation worker before," said Liu Zhenliang, the manager of the restaurant. "He has deep experience with their hard work. Therefore, he wants to repay society in such a way." According to Liu, every day about 50 customers enjoy the free noodles, which cost them about 600 yuan. "Every time I come to have lunch, I can find several sanitation workers here," said a customer surnamed Liu. "We really want to see more such businesses provide help to those in need." Workers are finishing up construction of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, the world's longest bridge-tunnel complex. It stretches a total of 55 kilometers. [Roy Liu/China Daily] HK says 'project of the century' will exceed plan by 10 billion yuan The government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region said on Tuesday that the main section of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge is expected to exceed its budget by 10 billion yuan but that's "acceptable" according to a legislator who represents the engineering sector. Hong Kong's Transport and Housing Bureau said on Tuesday that the overrun is the result of increasing labor and material costs, as well as design and construction refinements. Additional costs are expected to be financed by Hong Kong, Macao and mainland authorities, as well as through bank loans, the bureau said. The government will report to Hong Kong's Legislative Council as soon as the details are confirmed, and seek LegCo's approval for the required additional funding. Construction of the main bridge a 22.9-kilometer-long deck and a 6.7 km underwater tunnel is progressing well, the bureau said, as the bridge and tunnel section have been connected. Work on the tunnel interior, including the road; buildings on artificial islands; other roadways; and traffic controls continues. The 55-km-long bridge, work on which began in 2009, is 95 percent complete, according to Lin Ming, the chief engineer of the island and tunnel section of the bridge. The project is expected to be completed by the end of this year. Lawmaker Lo Wai-kwok, who represents the engineering sector in the city's legislature, told China Daily that the difficulty of the construction is making it "the project of the century", and cost overruns are to be expected. For example, the tunnel section of the main bridge, which is formed by 33 submerged tubes, each 180 meters long, is by far the longest and deepest underwater tunnel in the world. "With that kind of difficulty and complexity, the overrun is acceptable," Lo said. Lo said the commissioning of the bridge will not only increase the efficiency of travel between the three cities, but also bring a lot of business opportunities to Hong Kong. "These are the indirect gains from the bridge that people might overlook," he said. Also on Tuesday, the Guangdong Development and Reform Commission announced an upcoming hearing, set for late December in Zhuhai, to gauge the views of operators, consumers and other parties on the necessity, feasibility and advisability of tolls. carrieqiu@chinadailyhk.com BEIJING -- The State Council, China's cabinet, said Wednesday that penalties for IPR infringement will be increased to reduce the cost of safeguarding such rights. IPR protection will be improved by internet tracing of sources, real-time monitoring and online identification of infringements, according to a statement following an executive meeting presided over by Premier Li Keqiang. Punitive fines will be imposed on IPR infringement and new, low cost ways of safeguarding IPR must be found, the statement said. China will take severe action against a batch of IPR infringement and counterfeiting cases to make law breakers aware of the heavy price they must pay and to improve the business environment, it said. Focus will be put on IPR infringement occurring during online shopping and foreign trade, and more must be done about fake or shoddy goods, according to the statement. The government itself will be fined if companies suffer losses from the government's bad faith. "With strong and effective property rights protection, China will raise the confidence of market participants to invest and start businesses," the statement said. The statement also said the government will provide better protection of property rights and help recover the losses of property owners with better legal assistance. Head of the Chinese Mission to the European Union, H.E. Zhang Ming, delivers a speech as part of the opening ceremony of the China-EU Film Festival on Nov 17 in Brussels, Belgium. [Photo/People's Daily] The China-EU Film Festival concluded its third installment in Brussels on Tuesday, and those in attendance felt it was the best one yet. As part of the China Arts Festival in the EU, the film segment is aimed at strengthening bilateral relations by helping others gain a better understanding of Chinese culture through film. At the opening ceremony, head of the Chinese Mission to the European Union, H.E. Zhang Ming said, "In Europe and China, movies are an important part of people's life. They are also an ideal platform to communicate throughout the continents. In a way, they allow us to have a glance on each other's cultures." For the opener, guests were treated with a screening of Born in China, directed by Lu Chuan, one of China's leading auteurs. A reception followed, with Lu in attendance, providing guest with an opportunity to meet the Chinese director. "As one of the festival hosts, we were very proud and delighted to gather positive reactions from European audience, who even asked for more Chinese films through our platform," said Julie Patterson, chairwoman of the Committee of the China Arts Festival in the EU, during her opening address on Nov 17. This year, a total of four Chinese films were handpicked including, Running Like Wind, directed by Zhong Hai, a story about human courage and overcoming challenges. Other screenings included the mega-blockbuster Wolf Warriors 2, directed by Wu Jing, a story about brave people who fight for peace. Wu's film was shown both Saturday and Sunday. "Chinese cinema yields very high-quality films every year, but suffers from a lack of visibility in Europe. We hope that the current China-EU Film Festival can help create a bigger interest in Chinese cinema from Europeans. Paths of the Soul, a documentary directed by Zhang Yang, closed the festival on Nov 20. "The films selected this year are not only a chance for viewers to discover the latest Chinese films, but most importantly, they are a reminder of the universal nature of human beings and a tribute to our mother nature,"said Patterson. This year's four-day film extravaganza was held at Flagey, a cultural hub of Brussels celebrating music, film, and art. Tien with some of rural girls she has helped financially.[Photo provided to China Daily] Tien Ching founded Educating Girls of Rural China in the belief that educating women is the key to a better society. Xing Wen reports. Studying abroad was a long-standing dream of Ma Feng, but it seemed unattainable to a girl born in a remote village in Yuzhong county, Northwest China's Gansu province. However, in 2008, after taking her college entrance exam, Ma was recommended to the organization Educating Girls of Rural China by her teacher and received 5,000 yuan ($760) annually from the organization for the next four years, enabling her to attend college and get a degree. In the belief that educating women is the key to creating a better society, Chinese-Canadian Tien Ching founded EGRC in 2005, to help impoverished girls from western China gain higher education. Generally, EGRC provides grants for students' living expenses. Tien holds that guaranteeing the basic necessities for the students enables them to fully enjoy university life. "If they rush between classes and part-time jobs to make money to pay for their living expenses, they will be outsiders to the colorful life available on campus as they will not have any time left to join the student union or participate in clubs. Even worse, they might be distracted from their studies," says 65-year-old Tien. After graduating from the China Women's University in Beijing in 2012, Ma worked at a private equity fund in Shanghai for five years, before applying for a loan from EGRC to fulfill her dream of overseas study by undertaking a postgraduate program in finance and investment management at the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom in 2016. Ma described EGRC as "a warm family" and Tien "the head of the family" who tries to utilize all the resources she has. Tien guided Ma to participate in various activities, which helped her "broaden the horizon and become clear about her future". Miao embroidery reaches Malta ( chinadaily.com.cn) Updated: 2017-11-22 Maltese visitors appreciate the handmade silver ornaments at the Exhibition of Guizhou Intangible Cultural Heritages, held in the Saint James Cavalier in Malta. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com] Southwest China's Guizhou province promoted its local embroidery of the Miao ethnic group during the Exhibition of Guizhou Intangible Cultural Heritages, held in the Saint James Cavalier in Malta. Taking place at the end of September, the event was organized by the Chinese culture center in Malta and Guizhou's culture bureau with the aim of strengthening the cultural exchanges between the two regions. Liu Min, a seamstress from the province, attended the exhibition to present her exquisite embroidery artworks, drawing the attention of many visitors. Maltese locals learn how to make Miao embroidery at the Exhibition of Guizhou Intangible Cultural Heritages, held in the Saint James Cavalier in Malta. [Photo/gzdsw.com] Liu, a native of Qingshan village an inhabitation for people of the Miao ethnic group in Xifeng county, is a heritor of Miao embroidery, one of the provincial-level intangible cultural heritages. She established an embroidery cooperative that produces and sells embroidery works. In an effort to promote local ethnic culture, the village's local schools have opened embroidery classes to train more than 400 young people. The local government has also organized different activities and competitions to keep Miao embroidery alive. Xi Jinping delivers a report to the 19th CPC National Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Oct 18, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua] The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China approved an amendment to the Party Constitution to enshrine "Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in a New Era". The congress also produced a blueprint for China's development until 2050, one that reflects the changes that economic reform and opening-up have brought to the country. With that in mind, the 19th Party Congress charted a new road map, based on the "two centennial goals" inherited from the 18th Party Congressto build a "moderately prosperous society" (xiaokang) by 2021, and to transform China into a "fully developed and advanced nation" by 2049. The 19th Party Congress went some way toward marking the path between these two goals, asserting that once the first centennial goal is realized, the next task will be to modernize Chinese society by 2035. Such a modern China would be a world leader in innovation, with a clean environment, a large middle-income group, and a much narrower gap between rural and urban growth, public services, and living standards. Achieving these goals will require the Chinese leadership to understand where in the development process China is. It is promising therefore that the leadership acknowledged at the 19th Party Congress that China is and will remain in the primary phase of socialism. China must, therefore, sustain economic growth to solve the country's problems. Given this, China's top leaders promised that they would continue implementing structural reforms and advancing economic liberalization. This builds on a resolution, adopted at the Third Plenum of the 18th CPC Central Committee in 2013, to give the market the "decisive role" in allocating resources. As the 19th Party Congress acknowledged, honoring these commitments will require China to protect private property rights and entrepreneurship. The importance of this is highlighted by the fact that the private sector contributes more than 60 percent of China's GDP, 50 percent of its taxes, 70 percent of its technological and product innovations, and 80 percent of its jobs, despite accounting for less than 40 percent of the inputs. As for liberalization, China is committed to implementing policies to open further its markets to trade and foreign investment, while protecting the legitimate rights and interests of foreign investors. As part of this effort, the government is authorizing further free-trade zones, and exploring the possibility of free-trade ports in selected locations. China seems to be on track to achieve its goal of becoming a high-income economy by 2035. But it will have to sustain labor productivity growth of at least 5 percent annually for the next 15 to 20 yearsan outcome that will depend on rising urbanization and deepening technological progress. To achieve success, China has to effectively adapt to changing internal and external conditions and manage the risks that have accumulated in recent decades. For example, it must tackle growing income inequality, driven largely by the massive disparity between urban and rural incomes. According to China Household Financial Survey data, China's Gini coefficientthe most common measure of inequalityclimbed from 0.283 in 1983 to 0.474 in 2012. Though the Gini coefficient dropped to 0.465 by 2016, it still exceeded the 0.24-0.36 range for major developed economies. If China fails to contain inequality, its long-term growth could suffer. But with a clear development blueprint and a powerful leader whose political clout all but guarantees continued reform, China might be in a strong position to address the challenges it faces and sustain its unprecedented economic success. Yet even if China achieves its goals for 2050, the challenge will not be over, because it will then have to contend with an aging population. By 2050, 36.5 percent of China's population is expected to be above 60, according to the 2017 revision of the United Nations' World Population Prospects. The median age may be as high as 49.6, higher than in the Sweden, the United Kingdom, the European Union as a whole, and the United States. This makes it all the more crucial for China's leaders to make the right decisions and put the country on a stable footing by 2050. The author is a professor of Economics and director of the China Center for Economic Studies at Fudan University. Project Syndicate International students come to China to study in Sino-foreign joint-venture universities. [Photo provided to China Daily] Minister of Education Chen Baosheng said at a news conference during the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China last month that the country will be the most attractive global destination for higher education by 2049. But for that to happen, improvements on many fronts have to be made. Last year, the number of foreign students in China was just over 440,000, but the number of Chinese students studying abroad was 544,500. Although the tuition fees for more than 90 percent of the overseas Chinese students are paid by their families, a high percentage of the foreign students in China receive scholarships. Many Chinese youths studying overseas choose science and engineering majors, while a majority of the foreign students in China choose to study the Chinese language or traditional Chinese medicine. In addition, before getting admission to foreign universities, Chinese students are strictly tested, which means they have to be good at studies. But China does not have a standard academic test to select foreign students. As a result, not all the foreign youths studying in China are exceptionally good in their subjects. To change the existing situation, China has to make improvements in several areas. First, it has to win international recognition for its higher education, which is a relatively lengthy process. From the early 1800s to the 1920s, the global center of higher education was Europe thanks mainly to the Industrial Revolution and its effect on the world. In those days, many American professors and scientists studied in European universities. From the 1930s, however, the center of global higher education gradually started shifting from Europe to the United States, partly because of the Second Industrial Revolution. This shows China has to master innovative science and technology to become an attractive destination for foreign students. Second, China's education philosophy has to win the recognition of the international community. Some Chinese people believe American and Chinese universities are not much different from each other. What they forget is that higher education in the US is diverse and competitive. To become an international center of higher education, China has to build a diversified and competitive education system. The medium-and long-term education reform and development plan from 2010 to 2020 discourages universities from following homogeneous curriculums and systems. The need is to give universities more autonomy and allow them to be run according to the "law of education". Only this way can the standards of Chinese universities be raised to a level where they can attract quality students from abroad. Scholarships are important, but not necessarily the best way of attracting exceptionally talented students. And third, Chinese universities should be allowed to recruit faculty members from across the world, as their US counterparts have been doing for decades. But how do we establish a modern university system? The 2010-20 education plan aims to establish a modern school system that is run according to the "law of education", managed independently and supervised democratically with social participation. That is fine, but we should also build new types of relationships between governments, schools and society. International experiences show the countries that attract high numbers of foreign students to their universities have excellent primary and secondary education systems, too. So to attract more foreign students, China has to improve the quality of its school and college education in terms of contents, facilities and regulations. The nature of education in different stages, however, varies. Compulsory education is more like a public product, while vocational and higher education has stronger commodity property. But a key area that China should improve is the threshold of foreign students. In other words, China must raise the existing low threshold of admission for foreign students to a higher level. Many domestic colleges admit foreign students simply through registration and without any strict requirements. Also, the requirements for some foreign students' scholarships are low. Therefore, it is time China adopted a unified standard for foreign students' admission. The author is a researcher at the National Institute of Education Sciences. US President Donald Trump addresses the 72nd United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters, targeting DPRK, Iran in his 1st UN speech in New York, US, Sept 19, 2017. [Photo/Agencies] Despite his war of words with the leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Kim Jong-un, US President Donald Trump expressed his preference for a diplomatic solution to the Korean Peninsula nuclear crisis during his recent trip to Asia. Yet in a move that seems to go directly against this professed intention, Trump put the DPRK back on the United States' terrorism blacklist on Monday. The designation of the DPRK as a state sponsor of terrorism will only further alienate the country. It makes the prospects for talks much dimmer, and may even eliminate the possibility of any talks. The move comes at a time when the Korean Peninsula had become calmer. For more than two months, Pyongyang has refrained from conducting any missile and nuclear tests. The US' designation of the DPRK as a state sponsor of terrorism could lay waste to the efforts of China and Russia to bring the DPRK back to the negotiation table. Instead, it could be used by Pyongyang as a pretext to renew its weapons tests, thus restarting the vicious circle of escalating tensions on the peninsula that had seemed in danger of spiraling out of control. Besides whether the DPRK meets the legal requirements for being relisted as a state sponsor of terrorism is questionable, even at the US State Department. Trump has based the designation on the alleged killing of Kim's half brother Kim Jong-nam by DPRK agents at Kuala Lumpur airport in February. But even if this proves to be the case, lawyers say there has to be more than one terrorist incident to substantiate the claim. The designation seems more like an excuse for the US to seek the highest level of sanctions against Pyongyang as part of its proclaimed "maximum pressure campaign". But the DPRK has already been under crushing sanctions imposed by the United Nations and other countries, which restrict its oil imports and ban most of its exports, aimed at depriving it of funds for its nuclear and missile programs. It takes time for such sanctions to bite, there is no evidence that further sanctions will achieve more immediate results in constraining Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions. Even US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson admitted the designation is a "very symbolic move" and their "practical effects may be limited". The DPRK has justified its pursuit of nuclear weapons with its existential concerns, insisting the weapons will help it better defend itself from the threat of a US invasion. The latest US move only serves to fan that feargiven what happened to Iraq and Libyaand does a disservice to easing the already tense situation on the peninsula. Instead, as China said on Tuesday, "more should be done" to resolve the crisis through dialogue. The State Council, China's Cabinet, recently approved Aug 19 being designated as Chinese Doctors' Day. The National Health and Family Planning Commission and related departments will be in charge of this, with the first Chinese Doctors' Day to be observed next year. Chinese Doctors' Day is the fourth statutory professional holiday in China, after national Nurses' Day, Teachers' Day and Journalists' Day, which marks the significance of doctors in safeguarding people's health. Chinese Doctors' Day will be observed on Aug 19 because the first National Hygiene and Health Conference in the new century was held in Beijing on Aug 19, 2016. The conference was a milestone for the health cause in China. At the conference President Xi Jinping clarified the important position of hygiene and health work in the whole picture of the Party and the country's cause, as well as presenting guidelines for the country's hygiene and health work in the new era. The establishment of Doctors' Day is conducive to enhancing the status of doctors in the eyes of the public, and will help promote harmonious relations between doctors and patients. Myanmar's State Counsellor and Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi and visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi meet for talks in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, November 19. 2017. [Photo/Xinhua] At his meeting with Myanmars State Counsellor and Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi on Sunday, visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi proposed a China-Myanmar economic corridor, which will start from Southwest Chinas Yunnan province and extend to the central Myanmar city of Mandalay, and then east to Yangon and west to the Kyaukpyu Special Economic Zone. The plan, Wang said, will be made in accordance with Myanmars national development plan and actual needs to strengthen the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries. Given the complementary economic nature of China and Myanmar, the proposal, if realized, will serve as a flagship project of the Beijing-led Belt and Road Initiative. For China, the economic corridor would open its less developed southwestern region to overseas markets, contributing to the local economy and Chinas poverty alleviation efforts. The proposed China-Myanmar economic corridor, which can build synergy with the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar economic corridor, has the potential to expedite trade between China and the regions beyond Myanmar, including Bangladesh and India, even the Middle East via the sea route, while enhancing Chinas land connectivity with the Bay of Bengal. Its effects could further boost global confidence in the Belt and Road projects and give rise to closer transnational cooperation under the framework. Myanmar, too, is expected to greatly benefit from Chinas proposal in terms of infrastructure and poverty alleviation. Myanmars underdeveloped infrastructure which among other things is responsible for power shortage, ill-maintained roads and sky-high logistics costs has kept many investors away. That could change if the bilateral economic corridor that prioritizes connectivity is implemented. Paying equal attention to Myanmars Yangon-Mandalay economic belt and its underdeveloped western states like Rakhine, the China-Myanmar economic corridor will seek to strike a balance between revamping economic engines and targeted poverty alleviation programs. The latter, in particular, will help ease the conflicts between local Buddhists and Muslims in the Rakhine state, which has forced hundreds of thousands of Rakhine residents to flee the country. The consequences could have been less serious had Myanmar effectively reduced poverty and distributed social resources in a fairer manner. The China-Myanmar economic corridor could also help secure regional stability, which is key to nipping terrorism and extremism in bud. China and Myanmar also have a lot to gain from cooperation on the economic corridor projects. On the one hand, an increasing number of Chinese enterprises have felt the urge to invest in overseas markets and strengthen production capacity cooperation with the countries in need, and developing economies such as Myanmar are an ideal destination. On the other hand, Myanmar needs Chinese investment to bolster its lackluster industrial sector, especially because many Western investors are reluctant to venture into the Myanmar market. Besides, closer ties with the Chinese market of more than 1.3 billion people and increased people-to-people exchanges will be more than a bonus for Myanmar. An important fact to note is that the economic corridor is not exclusive, and welcomes other countries to join it. The opportunities should not be missed by other countries, because with more participants on board, the project could expand and become more mutually beneficial. Sufficient funding, for one, is a necessity and should be provided by multiple parties, including the governments and enterprises of China and Myanmar as well as international organizations, through multiple channels. Of course, the security risks require deft handling as the economic corridor will extend to the region near the conflict-prone states and the Golden Triangle straddling Thailand, Laos and Myanmar, where opium smuggling and human trafficking are still rampant. The author is an associate professor of Southeast Asia and South Asia studies at China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations. Tianjin Binhai Bird Watching Festival was held Nov 17 at Dagang Grand Theater in Tianjin Binhai New Area. [Photo by Zhang Xingjian/chinadaily.com.cn] Co-organized by the Department of Wildlife Conservation and Nature Reserve Management of Chinas State Forestry Administration and the Peoples Government of Tianjin Binhai New Area, the opening ceremony of the Third Tianjin Binhai Bird Watching Festival was held Nov 17 at Dagang Grand Theater in Tianjin Binhai New Area and Beidagang Wetland Nature Reserve respectively. With a theme of ecological nature in Tianjins Binhai New Area, the festival calls attention to the importance and significance of protecting migratory birds and wetlands. The overall ecological condition of the Beidagang wetland nature reserve shows a positive trend after a series of measures having been taken in the past year. My team has conducted the survey recently and found that the diversity of migratory birds in this area has grown and the wetland has become more suitable for birds to stay, said Zhang Zhengwang, professor from Beijing Normal University, at the Tianjin-based International Symposium on Coastal Wetlands and Waterfowl Protection. Beidagang wetland nature reserve [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] The Beidagang wetland nature reserve in North Chinas coastal city Tianjin has witnessed more than 70,000 migratory birds this year. The wetland, covering 348.87 million square meters, is a stop for birds migrating from Inner Mongolia to the Bohai Gulf in the eastern part of China. It is a key component of one of worlds eight bird migration routes. Since early November, birds including swans, wild geese and about 100 endangered Oriental white stork have arrived at the wetland, said Yang Jiwen, director of the Beidagang Wildlife Protection Station. According to Yang, over one million birds of 200 species stop over in Beidagang wetland every year. About 500 volunteers are working with the station to feed the birds and protect them from poaching. Wang Jianmin, a volunteer, told Xinhua News Agency they havent found illegal hunters. We will cast fish feed to make sure the birds have enough food for winter. Tianjin Binhai Bird Watching Festival was held Nov 17 at Dagang Grand Theater in Tianjin Binhai New Area. [Photo by Zhang Xingjian/chinadaily.com.cn] Meanwhile, the Tianjin Binhai Wetlands Conservation Entrepreneur Alliance is one of the highlights of the festival. Lu Xue, director of the Dagang Branch of the Tianjin Agricultural Bank, said that enterprises have strived to utilize the advantages of most enterprises platforms to protect Beidagang wetland nature reserve. Enterprises can pool resources and connect people from all walks of life, which can help more people understand the necessity of protecting our nature. The 2017 Tianjin Binhai Bird Watching Festival lasts until May 10, 2018. During the festival, a variety of events including photography exhibitions, cultural shows and voluntary activities will be held in turns. World Bank has always been led by a US citizen since 1945 World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim believes the next head of the agency should be decided on merit rather than nationality. The global financial institution, formed in 1945, has always been headed by a US citizen, just as the International Monetary Fund is always headed by a European. The unwritten rule has drawn sharp criticism, especially from developing countries. While saying that he has no influence over who will be the next president, Kim said the board should choose the best candidate. "I think leadership could come from anywhere," said Kim, who became the 12th World Bank president in 2012. The bank's main mission is to tackle global poverty and health issues. Born in South Korea in 1959, Kim immigrated with his family to the United States at the age of 5 and grew up in Muscatine, Iowa. He served as the president of Dartmouth College from 2009 to 2012 before becoming the World Bank president. Before that, he worked at the World Health Organization. He was a co-founder and executive director of Partners In Health and chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Kim believes the issue has to be resolved despite the informal division of positions in the world in the past 70 years. "I think that no matter what your citizenship is, if you care about these issues, if you care not to learn languages, if you care not to spend time in Africa, South Asia, that whatever your nationality, your ability to embrace the entire world, should be the top criterion for becoming president of the World Bank," he said on Monday at the National Press Club in Washington after giving formal remarks on global economic trends. In the Cold War era, the World Bank was used as a tool by the US to counter the Soviet Union, and the US also by far had the largest investment in the bank. But the Cold War is long over, and the US paid-in-capital also has dropped from 74 percent in 1950 to 18 percent in recent years, according to Michael Clemens, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Center for Global Development. Clemens and many others have supported Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who served as Nigerian finance minister and also managing director of the World Bank, to become the institution's president. "If this problem is left unresolved, it will threaten the relevance and legitimacy of the world's leading development institution," Clemens wrote in September last year, when it was announced that Kim would receive a second five-year term, starting on July 1. chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com A new group of Chinese peacekeepers wave goodbye last week to children in the SOS Children's Village in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo, after providing supplies and medical care. Chinese forces have offered assistance to the area for 12 years. LIAN QING/ XINHUA BUKAVU, DR Congo - For the past 12 years, Chinese peacekeepers have been providing assistance to the SOS Children's Village in the city of Bukavu in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Over the years, every contingent of the Chinese peacekeepers dispatched to the conflict-torn region would follow a tradition of visiting the village, bringing aid supplies and providing free medical services. Eight-year-old Melissa said that she and many other children have been living in the village since they were born. After classes, teachers would live together with the children. For them, the village is not only a school but their home. Statistics from the UN Children's Fund show that among the 1.4 million people displaced in conflicts in the DRC over the past year, more than 850,000 were children. Bukavu, where the Chinese peacekeeping mission is based, lies on a hillside overlooking Lake Kivu in South Kivu province, which has long suffered from attacks targeting civilians and security institutions by local and foreign militant groups. Thousands of civilians were killed in the region last year, according to the UN. Village director Ciranee Cisika said the children are divided into 15 families, each of them with a "Mama", who takes care of 10 boys and girls of different ages. The village, which was founded in 1989, is equipped with facilities like a school, medical center and vocational training center that are typical of ordinary family communities, where the children grow up until they become adults, said Cisika. The village suffers from a chronic shortage of water and electricity. Frequent thefts by those displaced in regional conflicts add to the challenges facing the community, where there are only three security personnel. Doctor Zhang Jian, a psychologist with the Chinese peacekeeping mission, offered the children a show of Chinese calligraphy. To his amazement, a boy named Daniel learned to write down a Chinese motto, "Study well and make progress every day", on the first attempt. Eye specialist Yang Xia said the children were initially timid during their examinations but have gradually grown in confidence and remind her of her 4-year-old son. With help from the SOS Children's Village and the Chinese peacekeeping mission, the living conditions of the children will be constantly improved, Yang said. Cisika said as well as supplies and regular medical services, the peacekeepers have introduced the children to the world of Chinese culture, which has broadened their understanding of life. The children may have yet to grasp what China is really like, but they are already showing signs of attachment to the peacekeepers. With continuous help, the medical condition of the villagers has also improved, said Cisika. Xinhua Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during a meeting in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, Nov 20, 2017. [Photo/Agencies] Focus in 6-year civil conflict now switching to political solution MOSCOW - Russian state TV reported on Tuesday that President Vladimir Putin has met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi. The report said the two leaders held bilateral talks on Monday evening and then met with Russian military chiefs. During the meeting, Putin congratulated his Syrian counterpart on Damascus' results in fighting terrorist groups, the Kremlin said on Tuesday. The two leaders agreed that the focus in the Syrian conflict was now switching from military operations to the search for a political solution. "I would like very much to discuss with you the main principles for organizing the political process, and the holding of a congress of the peoples of Syria, that is supported by you," Putin told Assad. "I would like to hear from you your assessment of the state of affairs today, and the prospects for the developments of the situation, including your view of the political process, which, in our view, must ultimately be carried out under the aegis of the United Nations." Assad, wearing a dark suit and sitting across a small coffee table from Putin, told the Russian leader: "At this stage, especially after we achieved victory over terrorists, it is in our interests to move forward with the political process. ... We count on the support of Russia to ensure the noninterference of outside players in the political process." For the meeting in Sochi, Assad stayed on Russian soil for a total of four hours, RIA news agency quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying. It was the second time Assad has traveled to Russia to meet with Putin in the course of the country's six-year civil conflict. The first was in October 2015, shortly before Russia launched its military campaign against extremists. Russia has now withdrawn the majority of its troops from the war-torn country since December, leaving air forces to back Syrian troops. On Wednesday, Putin was scheduled to meet the leaders of Iran and Turkey, two other powers with major stakes in the Syrian conflict. He said he would follow up his talks with Assad with phone calls to US President Donald Trump and to Middle Eastern leaders. "What is important now is the move into the political process in Syria and Russia is working with all sides in this regard," Syria's state news agency SANA quoted Putin as saying. The meeting came two days after Syrian troops and their allies captured the eastern town of Boukamal, the last major inhabited area held by Islamic State in Syria. The meeting also came a week before UN-sponsored peace talks are to resume in Geneva. Ap - Xinhua - Reuters - Afp China on Tuesday called for more efforts to ease tension over the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue and settle it through dialogue, after US President Donald Trump designated the Democratic People's Republic of Korea as a state sponsor of terror, moving the country back into a list which also includes Iran, Sudan and Syria. "Currently, the situation on the Korean Peninsula is complicated and sensitive," Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a news conference in Beijing on Tuesday. "We hope all relevant parties can do more to ease the tension and do more that is conducive to returning to the correct path of negotiation and consultation to resolve the peninsula's nuclear issue," he said. Trump said in Washington on Monday that "we will be instituting a very critical step, and that will start right now. Today, the United States is designating North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism". "It should have happened a long time ago. It should have happened years ago," said Trump, accusing the DPRK of "threatening the world by nuclear devastation" and repeatedly supporting "acts of international terrorism, including assassinations on foreign soil". White House officials previously blamed Pyongyang for killing a man in a Malaysia airport and murdering the US citizen Otto Warmbier, both denied by Pyongyang. Warmbier was a US university student who, while visiting the DPRK as a tourist in January last year, was arrested and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment. He was released in June and died six days after he returned to the US. "As we take this action today, our thoughts turn to Otto Warmbier, a wonderful young man," Trump said, vowing to impose further sanctions and penalties on Pyongyang and related people. Trump also said the US Treasury Department will announce measures on Tuesday to slap an additional "large" sanction against the DPRK. The DPRK "must be lawful", he said, adding that "it must end its unlawful nuclear and ballistic missile development, and cease all support for international terrorism - which it is not doing". Largely symbolic However, US experts and officials argued on condition of anonymity that Pyongyang does not meet the criteria for the designation, which requires evidence that a country has repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism. The move will be largely symbolic, as Pyongyang has already been heavily sanctioned, the experts said. Washington has sent three aircraft carrier battle groups earlier this month to the waters near the peninsula, the first of such scale in 10 years, to conduct a military exercise. For its part, Pyongyang on Friday said that instead of urging the DPRK to return to talks, Washington should repent its action that put the peninsula in danger of a nuclear war. The DPRK was removed from the list by then-US president George W. Bush in 2008 to assist resolution of the nuclear crisis. Xinhua contributed to this story. German Chancellor Angela Merkel looks on during a session of the Bundestag in Berlin, Germany, Nov 21, 2017. [Photo/Agencies] BERLIN - Germany's president was scheduled to lead a push from Tuesday to save the EU's top economy from the political turmoil sparked by the collapse of Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition talks. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who takes center stage because he can call snap elections, was to use his diplomatic skills as former foreign minister to persuade parties to return to the negotiating table. The head of state, who has spoken with Merkel already, plans to meet the Greens on Tuesday and the Social Democrats, or SPD, Wednesday, and also schedule talks with the Free Democrats, or FDP, to remind all sides of their responsibility toward the electorate. "Germans are not natural fans of instability, minority governments or immediate repeat elections, to put it mildly," said Berenberg Bank chief economist Holger Schmieding. After the shock failure of the monthlong coalition talks, "we now have to watch the reaction of the various parties and their political bases", he said. Merkel, who has been in power for 12 years, now serves only as caretaker chancellor after she failed to win a clear majority in the Sept 24 elections, largely due to the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, party. Her problems were compounded when the second-placed SPD, after humiliating ballot box losses, refused to serve another term as her junior coalition partners and vowed to go into opposition. German Chancellor Angela Merkel attends a meeting of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group at the Bundestag in Berlin, Germany, on Monday. President Frank-Walter Steinmeier called for more talks to form a government before seeking elections. AXEL SCHMIDT / REUTERS Unprecedented situation Steinmeier, the mainly ceremonial head of state, in a televised address implored all mainstream parties to rethink their positions and be mindful of their responsibility, including his own SPD. Underlining the duty of lawmakers, Steinmeier said: "We have before us an unprecedented situation in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany, that is, in the last 70 years." SPD chairman Martin Schulz was, however, quick to reiterate that the labor party was "not available to form a new grand coalition" with Merkel's conservatives, vastly complicating the picture. Germany now faces weeks, if not months, of paralysis with a lame-duck government that is unlikely to take bold policy action at home or on the European stage. Merkel said on Monday that she favors running in new elections, which likely wouldn't be held before February, to the shaky proposition of trying to govern with a parliamentary minority. Afp - Xinhua - Ap HARARE - The Zimbabwe Defense Forces said on Monday they are encouraged by the opening of talks between President Robert Mugabe and former vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa, who he fired two weeks ago. Army chief Constantino Chiwenga told a news conference that Mnangagwa, currently in self imposed exile, was expected back in the country soon. "Thereafter, the nation will be advised on the outcome of talks between the two," Chiwenga said. He said in the meantime, Mugabe, who was removed from the position of party leader on Sunday, had started processes toward a solution and road map for the country. "As this happens we as the Zimbabwe Defense Forces and Security Services urge Zimbabweans to remain calm and patient, fully observing and respecting the laws of the country," Chiwenga said. His appeal came as students at the University of Zimbabwe students staged demonstrations and refused to take part in examinations on Monday until Mugabe steps down. The ZDF statement came as the ruling ZANU-PF party on Sunday removed Mugabe from the party leadership and replaced him with Mnangagwa. The party has also resolved to move a motion to impeach Mugabe in Parliament on Tuesday, the same day he was scheduled to chair a cabinet meeting. Xinhua Premier's talks to include building Belt and Road in visits to Hungary, Russia China will enhance cooperation with Central and Eastern European countries under the Belt and Road Initiative during Premier Li Keqiang's upcoming visit to the region, senior Chinese officials said on Tuesday. The visit, which comes after the conclusion of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, bears great importance for promoting cooperation and relations with countries that will take part in the meetings he will attend, they added. During the five-day trip, which will begin on Sunday, Li will attend the sixth meeting of heads of government of China-Central and Eastern European Countries in Budapest and make an official visit to Hungary. He will also fly to the Russian city of Sochi to attend the 16th meeting of the Council of Heads of Governments (Prime Ministers) of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. China expects to deepen mutual trust, further promote trade liberalization and facilitation of investment, and to upgrade the 16+1 mechanism for cooperation between China and the 16 European nations during the China-CEE meeting, said Vice-Foreign Minister Wang Chao at a news briefing on Tuesday. During the meeting, the premier will discuss the results of the CPC congress and discuss in depth with other leaders their countries' development paths and governance experiences, Wang said. According to Li Chenggang, assistant minister of commerce, infrastructure and connectivity will remain as highlights of China-CEE cooperation, with the planned China-Europe Land-Sea Express Route and the Hungary-Serbia railway being priority projects. China is willing, together with CEE countries, to make 16+1 cooperation an important support for the Belt and Road Initiative to promote involvement in European economies, Wang said. Li's visit to Hungary will be his first since he became premier in 2013, and also the first since the two countries established a comprehensive strategic partnership this year. During his stay, he will meet with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and exchange views on bilateral ties, the Belt and Road Initiative, China-CEE cooperation and other issues of common concern, Wang said. The two countries will sign a series of governmental and commercial cooperative agreements involving strategic integration, trade and economy, ecommerce, finance and production capacity, he said. Two-way trade volume between China and Hungary in the first nine months of this year reached $7.4 billion, a year-on-year increase of 14.2 percent, Li said, and Hungary is the largest destination of Chinese investment in Central and Eastern Europe. Contact the writers at mojingxi@chinadaily.com.cn The Bataan Death March is well known to Americans, but what happened to those who survived it is not. A traveling exhibition in San Francisco tells the less known story of how Allied prisoners of war ended up in one of the Japanese Army's most notorious prisoner camps in Mukden (today's Shenyang), China, their darkest days there and their tenacious struggle against Japanese oppression. The exhibition, Forgotten Camp, offers a glimpse into the hardships endured by more than 2,000 Allied prisoners, 1,200 of them Americans, at the Shenyang World War II Allied POW Camp, from 1942-1945. A visitor is studying the photographs of Allied prisoners of war on Tuesday at an exhibition titled "Forgotten Camp" on view through Dec 5 in San Francisco, the first stop of the traveling exhibit in North America. ZHANG YUAN/ CHINA DAILY On view from Tuesday through Dec 5 at the WWII Pacific War Memorial Hall, the exhibition assembles 250 historic photographs and 42 pieces of duplicate artifacts from the permanent collection of the Site Museum of Shenyang POW Camp of WWII Allied Forces. The camp held prisoners from six countries the US, UK, Canada, France, Australia and the Netherlands but the US had the largest number of prisoners and the largest death toll. "More than 200 young and vibrant American soldiers weren't able to live to the moment of victory. Their names were inscribed on a memorial wall of the museum," Fan Lihong, curator of the exhibition and director of the Site Museum of Shenyang POW Camp of WWII Allied Forces, told guests at the opening ceremony on Tuesday. "Every inch of the soil at the camp was soaked by the prisoners' blood, sweat, hope and struggle. This history should not be forgotten," she said. Yet this camp and its story went unremembered for half a century until scholars uncovered it in 2003. A historic site and museum today, it is the best preserved of the more than 200 POW camps established by Japanese forces in the Asian-Pacific Theater during the war. It stands as a historical testament to Japan's violation of international conventions on humanitarianism and forced use of POW manpower and to the misery and suffering Allied prisoners endured, she said. Jackie Huss Hallerberg (left), daughter of Walter Huss, a POW in the Mukden camp during World War II, and Jeff Reicheri, nephew of Walter Huss, show the medals and jacket of Walter Huss on Tuesday at the exhibition in San Francisco. LIA ZHU / CHINA DAILY The prisoners were treated with relentless brutality. In the freezing winter, frostbite was not uncommon. Food and medical supplies were scarce. They were also forced to hike five miles a day to work in a factory that manufactured weapons and parts for Japanese aircraft. Among those notable inmates were US Lt. Gen. Jonathan Wainwright, commander of Allied forces in the Philippines who would receive the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroics during the Fall of Bataan, and Maj. Gen. Edward King, who led the Battle of Bataan during the Japanese invasion of the Philippines. "While we have the opportunity to look back and revisit that part of history, there are lessons to be learned and spirits to be carried on," said Chinese Consul General in San Francisco Luo Linquan. "Even in the dark days of harsh living conditions, inhuman torture, ubiquitous hunger and pervasive disease, the allied POWs didn't give up hope." Photos of drawings made by the prisoners on display show their sense of humor, such as training fleas to stand at attention and do thorough cleanup on their days off. Guests attend the opening ceremony of the traveling exhibition titled "Forgotten Camp" in San Francisco.[Wu Xiaoling/Xinhua] The exhibition also depicts the friendships that took root between the prisoners and the local Chinese workers who risked their lives to help them. There are photos showing some POW veterans returned to Shenyang years later to reconnect with their old Chinese friends who used to smuggle them food and medicine. It's the second time the exhibition has traveled overseas since it visited Liverpool, England, in 2015. The show was sponsored by the Chinese Consulate General in San Francisco, China Daily, the Site Museum of Shenyang POW Camp of WWII Allied, Shenyang Municipal Bureau of Culture, Broadcasting, Television, Press as Publication, and presented by China Daily USA. "China Daily US edition is dedicated to facilitating better understanding and greater cooperation between the two countries. And we believe it's our responsibility to bring this forgotten, or less known, chapter of history to our readers in the US," said Ji Tao, president and editor-in-chief of China Daily USA. The exhibition is important as it offers first-hand accounts of the sufferings and memories of the POWs, said Florence Fong, co-founder and honorary curator of the WWII Pacific War Memorial Hall, said at the ceremony. "If we don't learn from the past, we can't plan the future successfully," Fong said. Jeff Reicheri, nephew of Walter Huss, shows the medals of Walter Huss on Tuesday at the exhibition in San Francisco. [Wu Xiaoling/Xinhua] Jackie Huss Hallerberg, daughter of Walter Huss, who spent nine months in the Mukden camp till he was liberated in August 1945, said the exhibition made her teary. She said she doesn't remember how many times her father told her about his survival guilt. "That trauma can be passed on through many generations. It's important to keep it in mind when we move forward. There are many people who will be affected by the WWII, whose family members are POWs," she said. "It doesn't just end when the war ends or the person dies. It's already imprinted in some way." Another value of the exhibition is to educate the public, especially the younger generations, said Darryl Lau Kai Mun, consul-general in Singapore, who also attended Tuesday's opening. "It is the darkest chapter of human history that so many people perished," he said. "To those who were born after the war, it's a reminder of the horror, suffering and anguish of war. Young people should take the lessons to heart." NEW YORK - The suspect in New York City's deadliest terror attack since 9/11 was indicted Tuesday on murder and terror-related charges, said the U.S. Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY). Sayfullo Saipov, the suspect in the New York City truck attack, is seen in this courtroom sketch appearing in Manhattan federal courtroom in a wheelchair in New York, NY, U.S., November 1, 2017. [Photo/Agencies] A grand jury in the Southern District of New York returned a 22-count indictment against Sayfullo Saipov in connection with his alleged terrorist attack in lower Manhattan on Oct. 31, which killed eight people and injured 12 others.Charges against the 29-year-old Uzbek native include eight counts of murder and 12 counts of attempted murder, both in aid of racketeering, and one count of providing and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State (IS) group, among others."Like many terrorists before him, Saipov will now face justice in an American court. And like New York City's response to his alleged attack, we expect that justice in this case will be swift, firm, and resolute," said SDNY Acting U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim in a press release.According to the indictment, Saipov allegedly told authorities he was inspired to carry out the attack by IS videos he had watched on his phone. LONDON - British Prime Minister Theresa May's government averted a rebellion in parliament on Tuesday over plans to ditch the European Union's Charter of Fundamental Rights, promising to review its approach and make changes if needed. Parliament is debating legislation which will enact Britain's exit from the EU in March 2019 and copy EU law into British law - described by officials as "one of the largest legislative projects ever undertaken in the UK". The bill is testing May's ability to govern effectively after she lost her parliamentary majority in June, leaving her leading a fragile minority government and in charge of a Conservative Party divided on how best to manage the split from the EU. On Tuesday, the focus of an eight-day debate which has already forced May's ministers into some concessions, fell on the government's plan not to include the Charter of Fundamental Rights in its mass "cut and paste" of EU law. The government, which says there is no need to copy across the EU charter because all it does is codify rights that exist through other legal instruments, headed off a potential rebellion by promising a review and possible technical changes later in the lawmaking process. "We do recognise the strength of views... and we are prepared to look again at this issue to make sure that we are taking an approach which can command the support of this house," said the government's Solicitor General Robert Buckland. That was enough to dissuade dissatisfied members of May's party from joining forces with opposition lawmakers to force an outright U-turn on scrapping the charter. The government still intends to scrap the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, but says citizens will not lose any of the existing rights the document sets out. During the debate, critics - including members of May's own party - argued that abandoning the charter was an unnecessary risk and in its current form diluted some citizens' rights and created uncertainty over the protection of others. The rights charter came into force in 2009 through the EU's Lisbon Treaty and brings together the fundamental EU-protected right in a single document. It is one of only a handful of exceptions contained within the government's Brexit blueprint which sets out to preserve EU law after Britain leaves the bloc to give businesses certainty that they won't face overnight rules changes. The bill is currently at an early stage in the lawmaking process. The government has so far avoided any defeats, but has had to make last-minute concessions on several points. Tuesday's concession concerned a technical issue around how certain types of EU law should be treated after Brexit. The toughest test of May's authority, set to centre on the issue of fixing the date and time of Britain's EU exit in law, is yet to come. No date has been set yet for the remaining five days of debates that make up the current stage of the bill's passage. The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan steams the Philippine Sea during Annual Exercise 2017, joint military training between the US Navy and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, in this handout photo taken November 20, 2017.[Photo/Agencies] A United States Navy aircraft carrying 11 crew members and passengers crashed into the sea southeast of Okinawa at about 2:45 pm on Wednesday, according to the US 7th Fleet. The names of the crew and passengers are being withheld pending next of kin notification. According to NHK, eight crew members have been rescued while the other three remain missing. The recovery mission is underway and physical condition of personnel will be evaluated by USS Ronald Reagan medical staff. The aircraft was en-route to the US Navy aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), which is currently operating in the West Pacific Ocean. USS Ronald Reagan is conducting search and rescue operations. The cause of the crash is not known at this time. The crash adds to the series of mishaps suffered by the Seventh Fleet this year, which a US government report has blamed on undertrained personnel. Below is a summary of all the mishaps sustained by the Seventh Fleet this year. On Jan. 31, US Ship (USS) Antietam ran aground near the US naval base in Yokosuka, Japan, damaging its propellers and spilling 1,100 gallons of oil in the water. No one was injured. A probe found the ship's captain Joseph Carrian "ultimately responsible." On May 9, guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain collided with a South Korean fishing boat in the Sea of Japan. No one was injured. On June 17, destroyer USS Fitzgerald was rammed by a Philippine-flagged container ship near Yokosuka. The incident took place in the middle of the night, when the crew were mostly asleep, causing seven deaths and considerable damage to the destroyer. The US Navy later fired the ship's commanding officer, executive officer and senior enlisted sailor for alleged mistakes that caused the crash. On Aug. 21, destroyer USS John S. McCain collided with a commercial vessel near the Strait of Malacca, causing the death of 10 US sailors.The destroyer was en route to the Port of Singapore when the incident happened. USS McCain sustained significant damage to its hull and had to undergo repairing in Yokosuka. Initial investigation reports suggested confusion at the steering wheel as the helmsman assessed the direction of the ship wrong. On Nov. 18, guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold collided with a Japanese commercial tugboat in Japan's Sagami Bay, causing minimal damage and no injury. The tugboat had reportedly lost propulsion and drifted into the US warship during a towing exercise. China is expected to step up its efforts in upcoming years to inject positive energy into global economic integration following the 19th National Congress of the CPC last month, said analysts at an economic forum on Tuesday in Beijing. The congress elected the new CPC Central Committee and mapped out a new blueprint for the nation's development in the coming decades. To further intensify global economic cooperation, Chinese entrepreneurs need to contribute their wisdom and exercise their vision amid a global economic downturn, Xiang Bing, the founding dean of the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB) and professor of China business and globalization at CKGSB, said at the CKGSB's 4th China Economic Symposium. The Beijing-headquartered business school that Xiang established 15 years ago with the support of the Li Ka Shing Foundation is the country's first privately-owned business school to foster start-ups and entrepreneurs. "Chinese entrepreneurs need to play an active role in addressing global economic issues if they want to be widely recognized," Xiang said. He added that the nation is expected to shoulder a large share of the responsibility of reviving the sluggish global economy, as more and more rising entrepreneurs who might be equal in achievement to British economists Adam Smith and David Hume have sprung. China has encouraged one-stop financing and investment services for medium and small-sized enterprises (SMEs) to expand their funding channels, and enhance credit support for enterprises in technology and science, according to a guideline issued by China's cabinet, the State Council. Despite these efforts, Tom Orlik, chief Asia economist for Bloomberg, said he hoped the country could provide as many privileges as State-owned enterprises have enjoyed to SMEs. In addition, Xiang said China is in urgent need of the spirit of Japan's ingenuity and the US' innovation. Using a 260-year-old Japanese restaurant as an example, Xiang said the time-honored brand is always improving its service and cuisine. It is the same case for Chinese enterprises that need to specifically focus on fostering creativity around their core competence. In today's global economy, what counts now more than even in building and sustaining a successful enterprise is how well its innovation system can be created, said Gan Jie, a professor of finance at CKGSB. Please contact the writer at liuhui1@chinadaily.com.cn Ratko Mladic, former commander of the Bosnian Serb army, reacts in court at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the Hague, Netherlands in this still image taken from a video released by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Nov 22, 2017.[Photo/Agencies] THE HAGUE -- Ratko Mladic, former commander of the Bosnian Serb army, has been convicted to life imprisonment at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) here Wednesday. After a long break, his defense team had asked for suspension or an immediate verdict for health reasons, but judge Alphons Orie denied that request. He continued reading out the verdict and Mladic became so angry that the judge ordered him to be removed from the courtroom. Without him being present in the courtroom, the now 75-year-old Mladic was acquitted of the first count of genocide in several Bosnian municipalities. He was found guilty for the genocide related to the Srebrenica massacre, when around 7,000 to 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed in Europe's worst atrocity since World War II. In addition, Mladic was found guilty of five counts of crimes against humanity (persecutions, extermination, murder, deportation, inhumane acts) and four counts of violations of the laws or customs of war (murder, terror, unlawful attacks on civilians, taking of hostages) during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina from May 1992 to late 1995. WASHINGTON -- A US military aircraft with 11 on board has crashed into the ocean near Okinawa, Japan, the US Navy said Wednesday in a statement. The crash adds to the series of mishaps suffered by the Seventh Fleet this year, which a US government report has blamed on undertrained personnel. Below is a summary of all the mishaps sustained by the Seventh Fleet this year. On Jan. 31, US Ship (USS) Antietam ran aground near the US naval base in Yokosuka, Japan, damaging its propellers and spilling 1,100 gallons of oil in the water. No one was injured. A probe found the ship's captain Joseph Carrian "ultimately responsible." On May 9, guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain collided with a South Korean fishing boat in the Sea of Japan. No one was injured. On June 17, destroyer USS Fitzgerald was rammed by a Philippine-flagged container ship near Yokosuka. The incident took place in the middle of the night, when the crew were mostly asleep, causing seven deaths and considerable damage to the destroyer. The US Navy later fired the ship's commanding officer, executive officer and senior enlisted sailor for alleged mistakes that caused the crash. On Aug. 21, destroyer USS John S. McCain collided with a commercial vessel near the Strait of Malacca, causing the death of 10 US sailors.The destroyer was en route to the Port of Singapore when the incident happened. USS McCain sustained significant damage to its hull and had to undergo repairing in Yokosuka. Initial investigation reports suggested confusion at the steering wheel as the helmsman assessed the direction of the ship wrong. On Nov. 18, guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold collided with a Japanese commercial tugboat in Japan's Sagami Bay, causing minimal damage and no injury. The tugboat had reportedly lost propulsion and drifted into the US warship during a towing exercise. Beijing reaffirmed its opposition to "long-arm jurisdiction" after Washington imposed sanctions on Tuesday against three Chinese companies and a Chinese individual for engaging in trade with Pyongyang. "China has always strictly followed and implemented all United Nations Security Council resolutions, and our efforts are obvious to all," Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Wednesday. In all, one person, 13 trading entities and 20 vessels from various countries were sanctioned by the US Treasury Department, it said on Tuesday. They are accused of engaging in trade with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea worth hundreds of millions of dollars, it said. "We are opposed to a certain country's wrongdoing in carrying out unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction in accordance with its own domestic laws," Lu told a daily news briefing in Beijing, adding that the United States is clear about China's position. US officials announced the action a day after US President Donald Trump put the DPRK back on a list of state sponsors of terrorism. Lu also said China will look into citizens and entities that conduct activities in Chinese territory violating China's domestic laws as well as China's international obligations. "If other countries do have information and are willing to cooperate with China, they could definitely share the information with us and appropriately solve the issue," he said. Da Zhigang, director of the Institute of Northeast Asian Studies at the Heilongjiang Academy of Social Sciences, said, "This is contradictory to the signal that Washington sent out earlier, and will not help with cooperation on this issue." Contact the writers at mojingxi@chinadaily.com.cn Foreign Minister Wang Yi meets Kang Kyung-wha, his Republic of Korea counterpart, at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on Wednesday. WANG JING / CHINA DAILY Foreign minister urges sustained efforts on resolving THAAD issue Foreign Minister Wang Yi has used the Chinese saying "commitments must be honored" in urging Seoul to make sustained efforts to tackle the issue of deployment of a US anti-missile system in the Republic of Korea. Wang made the comment when meeting with his ROK counterpart Kang Kyung-wha in Beijing on Wednesday amid public focus on progress in handling the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, which has X-band radar capable of covering part of China. China attaches great importance to Seoul's recent pledges, including that it will not join a US-led anti-missile network, it will allow no additional deployments of THAAD, and it has no intention to damage China's security interests, according to Wang. Kang is making her first China visit after taking office in June, shortly after the two sides arrived at a consensus on some points in tackling THAAD, according to a joint statement on Oct 31. Kang told Wang on Wednesday that Seoul greatly cherishes the joint statement, and it is working to repair the two nations' ties at an early date. President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang met with ROK President Moon Jae-in this month on the sidelines of international meetings. Wang said both countries should boost mutual understanding, minimize their differences and create conditions for fully restoring the development of their relations. The two sides should take the 25th anniversary of the bilateral ties' establishment as well as future high-level exchanges as opportunities to sum up lessons and do strategic planning for the future development of ties, Wang said. Kang said the ROK is ready to act on the joint release and the latest consensus of the leaders, further boost high-level interactions, and promote cultural and people-to-people exchanges. Ruan Zongze, vice-president of the China Institute of International Studies, said Seoul should seriously turn its latest pledges regarding THAAD into actions so as to boost two-way efforts in repairing the ties that plummeted for more than a year and to seek further improvement. Also on Wednesday, the two ministers talked about the Korean Peninsula situation. China and the ROK have common interests in achieving denuclearization of the peninsula through dialogue and consultation and in maintaining the peninsula's peace and stability, Wang said. Both sides should continue to strengthen strategic communication and make active efforts to that end, Wang added. Kang said pressuring Pyongyang and imposing sanctions are not the ultimate goal, and all parties should work together to resolve the DPRK nuclear issue through dialogue and negotiation. Jerry Chen, a member of the famed Flying Tigers, attends the opening ceremony on Tuesday of an exhibition in San Francisco on Japan's notorious Mukden POW camp for Allied prisoners in what is modern-day Shenyang, China. LIU DAN/CHINA NEWS SERVICE The Bataan Death March is well known in the United States, but what happened to those who survived it is not. A traveling exhibition in San Francisco tells the lesser known story of how Allied prisoners of war ended up in one of the Japanese Army's most notorious prisoner of war camps, in Mukden (today's Shenyang), China, their darkest days there and their tenacious struggle against Japanese oppression. The exhibition, Forgotten Camp, offers a glimpse into the hardships endured by more than 2,000 Allied prisoners, 1,200 of them from the United States, at the Shenyang World War II Allied POW Camp, from 1942 to 1945. On view through Dec 5 at the WWII Pacific War Memorial Hall, the exhibition assembles 250 historic photographs and 42 artifact replicas from the permanent collection of the Shenyang WWII Allied Prisoners Camp Site Museum. The camp held prisoners from six countriesthe US, UK, Canada, France, Australia and the Netherlandsbut the US had the largest number of prisoners and the largest death toll. "More than 200 young and vibrant American soldiers weren't able to live to the moment of victory. Their names were inscribed on a memorial wall of the museum," Fan Lihong, curator of the exhibition and director of the Site Museum, told guests at the opening ceremony on Tuesday. "Every inch of the soil at the camp was soaked by the prisoners' blood, sweat, hope and struggle. This history should not be forgotten," she said. Yet this camp and its story went unremembered for half a century until scholars uncovered it in 2003. A historic site and museum today, it is the best preserved of the more than 200 POW camps established by Japanese forces in the Asia-Pacific Theater during the war. It stands as testimony to Japan's violation of international conventions on humane treatment and forced use of POW labor and to the misery and suffering Allied prisoners endured, she said. The prisoners were treated with relentless brutality. In the freezing winter, frostbite was not uncommon. Food and medical supplies were scarce. They were forced to hike five miles a day to work in a factory that manufactured weapons and parts for Japanese aircraft. "While we have the opportunity to look back and revisit that part of history, there are lessons to be learned and spirits to be carried on," said Chinese Consul General in San Francisco Luo Linquan. "Even in the dark days of harsh living conditions, inhuman torture, ubiquitous hunger and pervasive disease, the allied POWs didn't give up hope." ABC/Image Group LAWhen Portugal. The Man walked the red carpet at the American Music Awards last weekend, the male members of the group went for a jeans-and-sneakers casual look. And while they changed for their performance of "Feel It Still," they still kept it casual. According to the band, they're just being true to themselves. "We arent trying to compete for best look...we have to be us," frontman John Gourley tells Billboard. But that doesn't mean the band doesn't care about fashion -- they just have a different approach to it. "Ive always been into thrifting, he tells Billboard. "Im a fan of finding unique pieces and having them tailored or altered. Sure, there are more steps, but it can be more affordable than buying something new..I also get stuff embroidered." "On top of that, I keep an eye out for clean vintage glasses and have new lenses put in," he adds. "Its much cheaper than buying designer glasses. Just find what you like and customize. When he's not combing thrift shops, Gourley says he and his band mates are rocking looks from other well-known labels. We grew up in Alaska and will rep The North Face all day long, he said. The band, now based in Portland, also enjoys wearing an eco-friendly label called Older Brother. "They dye their clothes with beets, coffee, and turmeric, says Gourley. Its great fits and an amazing name. You cant go wrong with it." Portugal. The Man have some one-off dates from now until the end of the year, including one December 17 in Portland, but they'll kick off a new leg of their tour in support of their current album Woodstock in February. Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Some years ago Francis Quinn, then Roman Catholic bishop of Sacramento, and I were talking about evangelicals who were converting to Catholicism. I was a Presbyterian minister at the time, serving a small church in Sacramento. I cant remember the occasion of our conversation, but I do remember one his remarks. He said that when evangelicals move into Catholicism, I hope they bring Jesus with them. We Catholics need more Jesus. Catholics certainly dont ignore Jesushe hangs crucified at the front of most of their churches, after all. And they believe it is his very body and blood that they receive in every Mass. But as the good bishop noted, Jesus isnt necessarily at the center of most Catholic daily piety. For many Catholics, that place would be occupied by the Virgin Mary or perhaps one or more of the saints. Other Catholics are enamored with the magisterium or the churchs tradition. But it would be hard to argue that the Catholic faith is Jesusy. That term was coined by writer Anne Lamott soon after her conversion. In a period of dark despondency, one night she lay in bed, when I became aware of someone with me, hunkered down in the corner. The feeling was so strong that I actually turned on the light for a moment to make sure no one was thereand of course, there wasnt. But after a while, in the dark again, I knew beyond any doubt that is was Jesus. For the next few days, she says, I had the feeling that a little cat was following me, wanting me to reach down and pick it up, wanting me to open the door and let it in. A week later, she found herself in church crying uncontrollably at the singing of hymns. She left before the benediction and raced home and again felt like the little cat was running at her heels. I opened the door to my house, and I stood there a minute, and then I hung my head and said, F[orget] it. I quit. I took a long, deep breath and said out loud, All right, You can come in. Jesus has been at the center of her faith since, so much so she said in an interview in Christianity Today, her friends roll their eyes at me because Im really Jesusy, theres just no way around it. As she stood before a mostly evangelical audience at Calvin College in 2000, she exclaimed, Well have the Jesusiest time ever! Lamott, by her own admission, is anything but an evangelical Christian. But Jesusy is not a bad way to sum up what is distinctive about the lived faith of evangelical Christians, in both their conversions and subsequent spirituality. It harkens to the 1960s and the conversion of so many hippies, who recounted in various and sundry ways their dramatic encounters with Jesus. They were, as they came to be known, Jesus people. This is why at the heart of evangelical spirituality lies Jesus. Thus the classic phrases that sum up what one does to become Christian: One accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior or invites Jesus into your heart so that one can have a personal relationship with Jesus. And thus the classic stories that describe the born-again experience of evangelical saints, none more evangelical than that of John Wesley. One evening he reluctantly attended a meeting in Aldersgate. Someone read from Luthers Preface to the Epistle to Romans. About 8:45 p.m., as he later recalled, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death. Article continues below Historian Albert J. Raboteau, in describing the key role conversion played in African American religion, quotes Baptist preacher George Liele, whose conversion occurred while he was a slave in Virginia: I was convinced that I was not in the way to heaven, but in the way to hell. This state I labored under for the space of five or six months. I was brought to perceive that my life hung by a slender thread, and I found no way wherein I could escape the damnation of hell, only through the merits of my dying Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To be sure, one cannot be a Christian without Jesus Christ playing a central role, so in this respect, Jesus belongs to every Christian tradition. But one distinctive of evangelical Christianity is that it is perhaps the most Jesusy. Most Christian traditions, while surely trying to imbibe the full counsel of God, often understand and enjoy a particular encounter with the Triune God. To contrast but two: If Pentecostals are known for having a powerful experience of the Holy Spirit, and the mystics for enjoying sublime spiritual moments with the Absolute, evangelicals are characterized by their Jesus-centered piety. The first question and answer in the Heidelberg Catechism of 1563 is not a bad summary of the existential priorities and biblical theology that drives much of evangelical spirituality: Q. What is your only comfort in life and in death? A. That I am not my own, but belongbody and soul, in life and in deathto my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven; in fact, all things must work together for my salvation. Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him. A great amount of theology is packed into that paragraph, but for the purposes of this essay, two themes are worth noting. The first is that evangelicals admit they need comfort. As the Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the word, they need a feeling of relief or encouragement. This harkens to the same urgent sense the Puritans had of humankinds predicament. Evangelicals are especially troubled by a particular set of human predicaments. Working backward from the relief Christ brings (as noted in the parentheses below), the Catechism outlines what I believe evangelicals wrestle with most deeply: [blockquote] Guilt and shame (forgiveness of sin) Spiritual slavery (set me free) Insecurity and anxiety (He watches over me) Fear of death and annihilation (assures me of eternal life) Meaning and purpose (ready now to live for him) It can certainly be argued that many human beings coming from many different places wrestle with such things, but Id argue that evangelicals seem to be especially concerned about them, and they respond to them in certain characteristic ways. But more of that in later essays. For now, the key thing to note is that for evangelicals, Jesus Christ is their only comfort, the only one who has adequately dealt with the core human predicaments. In the words of the catechism, Jesus has fully paid for my sins. Jesus has set me free. Jesus watches over me. And so on. Again, more later on how evangelicals theologically understand how Christ has done that. For now, its important to note that evangelicals see that Jesus Christ has made all the difference. Article continues below But the Heidelberg Catechism is not satisfied merely with saying what Jesus Christ did for us long ago or what he does for us from far above. It describes the believers ongoing relationship to Christ. He is our comfort not merely because he has done something for us but because we belongbody and soul, in life and in death to Jesus Christ. This idea of belonging to Christ is repeated in the answer and given definitive emphasis in the opening phrase: I am not my own. Evangelicals are especially moved by the way the apostle Paul talks about this: I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me (Gal. 2:20). I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ (Phil 3:8). Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Cor. 5:17). Such sayings go hand in hand with Pauls repeated affirmation that we are in Christhe uses that phrase over 200 times in his letters. Evangelical Christians do not merely believe truths about Christ; we do not merely believe that God forgives because of Jesus death and resurrection. The distinctive thing is this: We are in Christ and Christ is in us. It is a lived, dynamic, and personal experience. A popular contemporary Christian song celebrated in evangelical churches that gets at this is Christ Alone, whose last verse is: No guilt in life, no fear in death This is the pow'r of Christ in me; From lifes first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny. No powr of hell, no scheme of man, Can ever pluck me from His hand; Till He returns or calls me home Here in the powr of Christ I'll stand. The key line is: the powr of Christ in me. This is not a song just about Christs historic work on the cross, but an inward reality. This prompts a response in us as expressed in classic hymns like Take My Life and Let it Be whose last verse is: Take my will, and make it Thine; it shall be no longer mine. Take my heart, it is Thine own; it shall be Thy royal throne. Take my love, my Lord, I pour at Thy feet its treasure store. Take myself, and I will be ever, only, all for Thee. This devotion to Jesus crosses cultural and racial lines. Some of the most well-known African American hymns and gospel songs include Jesus Is My Rock, and Jesus, Jesus, Oh, What a Wonderful Child. From across the world we have Jesu, Jesu, Fill Us with Your Love (Ghana), O Christ the Great Foundation, (China), and Christ Is Living! (Argentina). One might suspect writers, both biblical and contemporary, of being a bit neurotic about Jesus. Maybe so. As the Catholic writer Brennan Manning put it in his The Ragamuffin Gospel, Those who have the disease called Jesus will never be cured. For better or worse, evangelicals are victims of this disease (which they happen to think is really the cure). As the quotes from Manning and Lamott suggest, they arent the only Christian ones so afflicted. And evangelical theology and hymnody surely appeals to other dimensions of the faith. But as evangelical composers Bill and Gloria Gather put it in one song, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, there is something about that name. We might say, Evangelicalstheres something Jesusy about that movement. This does not mean that all evangelicals are Jesusy in a more evocative, emotional sense. Im certainly not. For some, Jesusy means firmly Christocentric. One reason so many evangelical scholars are attracted to theologian Karl Barth is precisely because he grounds his theology so firmly on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. But what about Jesus especially and uniquely resonates with evangelicals? Our lived theology hinges on two descriptors of Jesus. We accept him as our Lord and Savior. Evangelicals live in the tension that phrase suggests, a tension that leads to some uncomfortable moments for us, but also one that brings a great deal of dynamism to the movement. More of this in future installments. WCC Executive Committee Comments on Situation in Zimbabwe Contact: Media Office, World Council of Churches, +41 79 507 6363 AMMAN, Jordan, Nov. 22, 2017 /Christian Newswire/ -- At its meeting in Amman, Jordan on November 17-23, the WCC Executive Committee issued a "Minute on the situation in Zimbabwe" as developments in Zimbabwe have led to the resignation of President Robert Mugabe after 37 years in power. The WCC Executive Committee, together with the ACT Alliance, welcomed and affirmed the joint statement of the Zimbabwe Council of Churches, Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference and Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe, issued on 15 November, as reflecting the clear common mind and witness of the churches of the country. "We affirm and endorse the call of the churches of Zimbabwe for prayer for the nation, for calm and peace, for respect for human dignity and rule of law, for a transitional government of national unity to oversee the transition towards free, fair and credible elections, and for an inclusive process of national dialogue to capture the aspirations of all sectors of Zimbabwean society and for building a democratic state under the rule of law," the minute reads. Read full minute on the situation in Zimbabwe Zimbabwe heads of churches issue statement (WCC press release of 16 November 2017) WCC Executive Committee emphasize peace, justice and unity (WCC press release of 19 November 2017) WCC Executive Committee to convene in Amman (WCC press release 16 November, 2017) The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 348 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 550 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, from the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. home World Algeria shuts down church for allegedly printing Bibles and other Christian literature Algerian authorities have shut down a church in the north-western town of Ain Turk for allegedly printing Bibles and other Christian materials. A church affiliated with the Protestant Church of Algeria (known as EPA, its French acronym) was closed on Nov. 9 after the authorities in Oran claimed that it is being used to "illegally print Gospels and publications intended for evangelism." The notice also claimed that the church did not have state approval, but EPA President Rev. Mahmoud Haddad has denied any wrongdoing, and insisted that the justifications for shutting down the church were "unfounded." "Firstly, this community is indeed affiliated to the Protestant Church of Algeria, which has been officially recognised by the government since 1974 and is accredited with both the Ministry of the Interior and the local government," he said, according to World Watch Monitor. "Also there is no printing activity of Gospels or Christian publications inside these premises," he added. Haddad also disputed several "anomalies and falsehoods" in the notification, such as the claim that the church of AAn Turk belonged to a man named "Rachid," who serves there as a pastor. "This is not the case," he said, adding that the accusations were "unjust and false." A board member of the church, identified only as Youssef, said: "I am very saddened by this injustice and persecution we are facing in Algeria. The notification of the Prefect is based on false motives." World Watch Monitor noted that Algeria recently passed a new Constitution that establishes the freedom of religious worship. But despite the guarantees provided by the Constitution, several churches have been ordered to cease all religious activities on the grounds that they were in violation of a 2006 law which regulates non-Muslim worship. Haddad had previously stated that the 2006 law is being used as a tool of persecution by the authorities. Several Christians have been fined and sentenced to suspended prison terms since the law was adopted. In 2008, a Christian teacher named Habiba Kouder drew widespread media attention after he was charged under the 2006 law for illegal possession of Bibles. Haddad contended that "the situation of Christians in Algeria will not improve until the outright law, which is no longer justified, is repealed." Open Doors USA has ranked Algeria as the 36th worst nation in the world when it comes to persecution of Christians. According to the charity, the law prohibits public assembly for purposes of practicing faith other than Islam, but Catholic churches and one Protestant church are allowed to conduct services without government interference. The year isn't over yet, but it looks like air travelers are having fewer things to complain about in 2017, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. From January to September of this year, passengers filed 1,434 complaints related to customer service. That's 52 less than in 2016. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate MENLO PARK, Calif. - The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission set out Tuesday to scrap rules around open internet access, a move that would allow giant cable and telecom companies to throttle broadband speeds and favor their own services if they wish. Ajit Pai followed through on a pledge to try to repeal "net neutrality" regulations enacted under the Obama administration. The current rules treat internet service providers such as Comcast, AT&T and Verizon as if they were utility companies that provide essential services, like electricity. The rules mandate that they give equal access to all online content and apps. Pai said those rules discourage investments that could provide even better and faster online access. Instead, he said new rules would force ISPs to be transparent about their services and management policies, and then would let the market decide. "Under my proposal, the federal government will stop micromanaging the internet," Pai said in a statement. Pai distributed his alternative plan to other FCC commissioners Tuesday in preparation for a Dec. 14 vote. Pai promised to release his entire proposal Wednesday. Although the FCC's two Democrats said they will oppose the proposal, the repeal is likely to prevail as Republicans dominate 3-2. The vote for net neutrality in 2015 was also along party lines, but Democrats dominated then. Equal treatment for all web traffic has been a fundamental principle of the internet since its creation, but companies have increasingly put their thumb on the scales of access. AT&T, for example, doesn't count use of its streaming service DirecTV Now against wireless data caps, potentially making it seem cheaper to its cellphone customers than rival TV services. Rivals would have to pay AT&T for that privilege. Regulators, consumer advocates and some tech companies are concerned that repealing net neutrality will give ISPs even more power to block or slow down rival offerings. A repeal also opens the ability for ISPs to charge a company like Netflix for a faster path to its customers. Allowing this paid-priority market to exist could skew prices and create winners and losers among fledgling companies that require a high-speed connection to end users. Pai, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, said in an interview on Fox News Radio that Trump did not have any input on his plan. Asked whether deregulation would result in higher prices and put speedy internet access out of the reach of blue-collar Americans, Pai said, "It's going to mean exactly the opposite." "These heavy-handed regulations have made it harder for the private sector to build out the networks especially in rural America," Pai said. The attempt to repeal net neutrality has triggered protests from consumer groups and internet companies. Among those that will be hit hardest are startups that depend on high-speed internet connections for growth, said Colin Angle, co-founder and CEO of iRobot, maker of the best Roomba robot vacuum cleaners. Google said in a statement that net neutrality rules "are working well for consumers, and we're disappointed in the proposal announced today." Other tech companies were more muted, with some referring instead to their trade group, the Internet Association. Netflix, which had been vocal in support of the rules in 2015, tweeted that it "supports strong #NetNeutrality" and opposes the rules rollback. But the streaming-video company said in January that weaker net neutrality wouldn't hurt it because it's now too popular with users for broadband providers to interfere. AT&T executive vice president Joan Marsh said new rules requiring ISPs to disclose their management practices will keep them honest. "Any ISP that is so foolish as to seek to engage in gatekeeping will be quickly and decisively called out," she said in a statement. Comcast said its commitment to consumers will remain the same. "We do not and will not block, throttle, or discriminate against lawful content," Comcast's senior executive vice president David Cohen said. One of Houston's favorite rock clubs, Rockefeller's, is celebrating the one-year anniversary of its revival. For nearly two decades, it was a wedding and events venue, when there were only memories of Stevie Ray Vaughan and other artists making the walls of the old bank sweat like the outside of a Lone Star bottle. That spark was reignited last year when the owner of the building since 1999, Star Pizza's Hank Zwirek, and venue manager Mike Pittman decided that it needed to get loud again. RELATED: Explore Houston's favorite live music venues "It has been a generation since the original Rockefeller's hosted live music, the mid-'90s. It was like starting from scratch after our first concert event," Pittman says. "Many of the patrons we have now had no idea what Rockefeller's used to be." When it was purchased in the late '90s, that was the original plan, but moving the old Heights Star Pizza to the former Leo's Mexican Restaurant spot on the corner of the property took precedence. So the venue was soon rented out to sisters Lisa Porter and Cindy Porter Davis. When the Porter sisters moved in, one the first things they did was remove the old stage. While pulling the sides off to start cleaning underneath, the first thing they found was a handwritten set list from Roy Orbison. That was just an echo of the kind of magic that happened under that roof, where local bands dreamed of opening for legends. It's said that SRV's "The House Is Rockin' " is about a killer night at the club, which was home to many Double Trouble gigs after opening in 1979. At one point, Rockefeller's was part of a vibrant row of venues on Washington Avenue, which included The Vatican/The Abyss, Club Hey Hey and the Fabulous Satellite Lounge. It fell victim to Houston getting larger, more high-tech concert venues. Rockefeller's closed in 1997. Now Playing: With the launch of Fender Digital, the company aims to foster the next generation of artists. Video: Fortune In late 2016, it returned with a gig by Texas Flood, an SRV tribute act, to rechristen the venue as a rock club. The response from the Houston music community to have this landmark back as a venue has been positive. "From the day we decided to get back in the pool, we've received nothing but smiles and welcome backs from the community," Pittman says. "Everyone has a Rockefeller's story. If you are over 45, you had a cool concert experience there. If you are under 45, you saw your friends get married there." Texas rocker Jesse Dayton has his own stories from the venue. "I smoked a joint with Merle Haggard on his bus out back after opening two nights for him there," he says. "I saw so many great shows there I can't count them all. It's a toss-up between Ray Charles Albert Collins. I took my parents to see and meet Kris Kristofferson there once." Pittman says that while the room was used for private events it was very well cared for. The new regime tried to keep the room as similar to the way it was as a venue before. "We were immediately reprimanded by original customers of Rockefeller's for not replacing the heavy curtains that adorned the huge arched windows. Those are going back in now," Pittman says. RELATED: A Houstonian answers Google auto-complete questions about Houston A new PA system, hardwood flooring, and an upgraded stage came with the 2016 remodel. The former bank's vault still serves as the green room for artists. "Several artists who performed on the original stage have come back to play, Ian Moore being one, and he was overwhelmed to be back in the old dressing room again," Pittman says. A Dec. 2 show, featuring blazing Austin guitarist Eric Tessmer, will serve as the venue's "new" anniversary bash. That same night, photographer Tracy Hart will be on hand showing off some of the images she captured at the club over the years. She points to an August 1982 Fabulous Thunderbirds gig - with Jimmie Vaughan on guitar - as the high water mark of her Rockefeller's experiences. "This show meant so much to me, to my photographic career and expertise, then just getting underway, and to my ideal of what a live band on a hot sweaty night in Houston should be," she says. Craig Hlavaty is a reporter for Chron.com and HoustonChronicle.com. He's an intolerable native Texan with too much ink in his skin and too much brisket stuck in his teeth. This weekend, the Houston Symphony is offering the trip of a lifetime, and there's no need to pack a suitcase. Sail through crashing seas with Sinbad, waltz alongside the budding romance of two young royals and dance to the sprightly melody of a festival in Baghdad in the symphony's "A Scheherazade Thanksgiving" at Jones Hall. The concert features Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's "Scheherazade" alongside an interpretation of Shostakovich's "Violin Concerto No. 1" by Grammy Award-winning violinist James Ehnes. "Both pieces are extremely colorful and emotionally thrilling," Ehnes said. They also are both written by Russian composers, but while the violin concerto is more abstract, he explained, "Scheherazade" is vividly pictorial. Written in the late 1800s, the four-movement symphonic suite is inspired by a collection of Middle Eastern and South Asian folktales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age known as "The Thousand and One Nights." Also called "The Arabian Nights," the stories are pieces to a larger puzzle - a ploy by Scheherazade, who would become the legendary Persian queen, to escape the sultan's murderous rampage. More Information 'A Scheherazade Thanksgiving' When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sunday Where: Jones Hall, 615 Louisiana Information: $23-123; 713-224-7575, houstonsymphony.org See More Collapse Angered by his wife's betrayal, the untrusting King Shahryar vowed to kill a new wife each day. In an act of heroism, Scheherazade married the sultan, and for 1,001 nights, she would begin to tell him a riveting story, her voice represented by the sweet, pure sound of a solo violin. From Aladdin to Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, she ended every tale with a cliffhanger that she would not resolve until the following night. The anticipation she provoked not only saved her life, it ultimately healed the king's heart. The storyline behind the collection of folktales greatly contributes to the music's ability to spark an imaginative and personal response from each listener, but the music itself sets a particular mood, even if one is unaware of the underlying motivation. A highly charged crescendo can immediately shift a calming tune into one of turbulent anxiety, triggering the heart to race a little faster and the palms to sweat. It's the sound of waves as they collide into cliffs; their crests plunging back toward the sea and rocking Sinbad's ship from one direction to the next. "People hear music in different ways," said Ehnes, who first performed with the Houston Symphony about 20 years ago and has returned every two or three years since. "My experience with music is not visual, but my wife's often is." They both, however, find music to be emotionally transporting. The "heart" of the piece, for Ehnes, is the large cadenza that links the last two sections. "It is a journey of absolutely searing intensity and leads to the catharsis of the final movement." Whether or not a score is connected to a story, the music is not intended to be an exact translation of its inspiration, Ehnes said. It is supposed to ooze pathos, adding to and deepening its emotional impact. Shostakovich's violin concerto does just that. "It has a tremendous range of expression, from the most intimate to the most extroverted, and I think has a very special and profound impact upon the listener," Ehnes said. The powerful and ominous piece was written for Russian-Jewish virtuoso David Oistrakh during the brutal reign of Stalin. Due to the oppressive political climate, however, the composer withheld it for years. The piece finally premiered in 1955 with the Leningrad Philharmonic. "It is so difficult to talk or write about the emotional impact of music," Ehnes said. "If one could use words to convey the same emotions and ideas, we wouldn't need music in the first place." A 30-year-old Houston man is charged with kidnapping a woman who was the mother of his two children and his former coworker at the U.S. Postal Service after allegedly shooting her in the head and abandoned her uncovered body in the woods, according to a criminal complaint filed by the U.S Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas. Don Gaines is scheduled to appear Wednesday morning in federal court on kidnapping charges for taking the body of Gayla Roy from Texas to Louisiana, according to the complaint. He could possibly face the death penalty if convicted. The federal complaint charges that he "did unlawfully seize, confine, kidnap, abduct, and carry away Gayla Roy, without her consent, from Texas to Louisiana for a purpose, namely, to dispose of her body or to kill her." Gaines also was accused in June of assaulting a family member in an unrelated case. "This is sad," wrote a former coworker of Roy and Gaines on Facebook. "I used to work with both of them I'm just loss for words Gayla Roy was such an beautiful and outgoing person...My prayers for her sons and her family....I just can't believe this happened." The Postal Service in recent decades has been hit with violent incidents, often tied to mass slayings in the workplace Roy's death comes after James Wayne Ham, of Coldspring, killed a postal worker in May 2013. The man shot Eddie "Marie" Youngblood multiple times and eventually set her on fire inside her Jeep Cherokee. He was reportedly upset with Youngblood because he thought the postal worker was keeping his mail and re-routing it to his estranged wife, who at the time also was a mail carrier. Ham's trial was continued indefinitely until President Trump's administration can review the case, according to court documents. In March 2018, both parties are to report the status of the case. Federal prosecutors a year ago also renewed their intent to seek the death penalty. In the latest local case, Roy, a 28-year-old former postal worker, was reported missing in September by family members after she failed to show up for work at the USPS plant on Aldine Bender Road for two days. "Our hearts are broken," a post read on a Facebook page titled 'Bring Gayla Roy Home' "Rest In Peace, beautiful girl." Her body was found after Gaines told investigators he left her in the woods off the feeder road of Interstate 10. He told federal agents that on Sept. 11 he choked the woman inside her car and thought he killed her, the complaint states. Roy regained consciousness at some point on the drive and Gaines eventually pulled over on the Interstate 10 feeder road in Louisiana. He took Roy into the woods and shot her in the head with a firearm and abandoned her body, according to the complaint. Investigators from the Houston Postal Division reviewed surveillance video from the workplace and saw both Gaines and Roy leaving the building on Sept. 11 around 6:50 a.m. Gaines told investigators that he rode inside Roy's black 2011 Lincoln MKZ. Family members of the young postal worker also told investigators that Roy had been physically assaulted in the past by Gaines, according to the complaint. A couple days after Roy went missing investigators also met with Gaines' mother and stepfather. They learned from his mother, Marcia Powell, that on Sept. 11 she saw Gaines enter the house he shared with Powell her husband. She also saw Roy's car in the driveway, but his mother did not go into the house. Powell said that at one point she noticed both her son and Roy's car were gone, the complaint stated. The last time she saw Gaines was when he asked the next evening to borrow his stepfather's car, a Toyota Scion. GPS records show that Roy's car traveled on Sept. 11 from Gaines' home to somewhere near Iowa, Louisiana, but eventually returned back to Houston. The car was recovered by investigators in the 3300 block of Yorktown on Sept 14. Investigators were able to track the man's location after reviewing his cell phone data records and observing the Toyota Scion captured on a camera in a Kroger parking lot in Atlanta, Georgia. They set up surveillance at the location and saw Gaines walking to this car. He was arrested Sept. 18 in connection with the June assault on a separate woman. Gaines confessed to investigators after his arrest the details of killing Roy. He said during the drive with the former postal worker, they would argue on and off, but at one point were apologizing to each other, according to the complaint. Investigators were able to recover Roy's body based on interviewing Gaines and the GPS data from her vehicle. He also admitted to not covering her body up in the woods. "I should have, but I didn't," he told investigators. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate It's hard to imagine, but there was time not so long ago when hospitals would call area residents in the middle of the night for blood donations and if you needed an ambulance, you'd call a local funeral home. Montgomery County Hospital, the first public hospital in the region, opened in 1938. The 35-bed facility, located on First Street in Conroe, replaced the privately owned Mary Swain Sanitarium that provided healthcare during the 1920s and into the Depression era. "The Mary Swain Sanitarium was the start of organized healthcare in Conroe," said current Conroe Mayor Councilman Toby Powell, whose grandmother and great aunt launched the facility. "They were committed to serving the needs of the community." Powell himself was born in the facility in 1941. The hospital served the needs of the community whose population swelled with the job opportunities that came from the sawmills and oilfields throughout Montgomery County. With the new Montgomery County Hospital providing more modern facilities, the Mary Swain Sanitarium closed in 1943. "When the hospital closed my grandmother took all of the accounts receivables and burned them," said Powell. "It was hard times in Montgomery County because of the war and she forgave all of the outstanding debts people had." The new Montgomery County Hospital was a welcome addition to the community, according to Dr. Walter Wilkerson. The hospital was expanded in 1953 to include more beds and again in 1967 when new patient wings, x-ray center, labs and an emergency room were added. "In the 40s and 50s there was no blood bank available here for operations or emergencies," said Wilkerson. "If there were time, we'd call the Red Cross in Waco to request blood." In an emergency, Wilkerson recalled a Red Cross staffer by the name of La Vera Kelly would call area residents and ask them to come in and donate blood. She even kept track of who had particular blood types so she knew would be a viable donor in an emergency. Wilkerson said they were also limited by what they could do back in the day. If a person had a heart attack, they'd put an oxygen tent over the person's bed and give them medication for pain. "That was about it," he said. "There wasn't much else you could do." He said people didn't go into Houston often, except maybe for the most serious injuries. "We used to make a joke, the oxygen isn't any different in Houston than it is in Conroe," Wilkerson said. One of his favorite things was when young medical students would come up from Houston. Sometimes they'd live in his house as they served six weeks in the practice. Then came an expansion for Montgomery County Hospital which provided Conroe with significantly better, more efficient capabilities, according to Wilkerson. People would come from miles around to take advantage of one of the most modern facilities in the region, he said. "Sam and Heddi Alford were lab technicians at the County Hospital who did a great job," said Wilkerson. "They worked really long hours night and day and did a lot to make the hospital better for patients and doctors alike." The expanding hospital brought a greater range of services as well. In the early days, there was no 911 service. In the event of an emergency if an ambulance was required, people called a local funeral home for transporting the sick and injured if they were unable to handle the situation themselves, Wilkerson recalled. They'd transport the injured party to the hospital, however, there was no medical intervention along the way like there is today. Medical and technical advances in diagnostic equipment and techniques played a big role in improving patient outcomes, said Wilkerson. Early medical treatment was often handled through educated guesswork. New imaging and testing procedures gave doctors more specific and accurate ways to treat patients. Local healthcare was not without controversy, however. According to Rigby Owen Jr. the emergency room at Montgomery County Hospital required patients to put up cash in 1953 before they would be admitted to the hospital for treatment. Only a privileged few got in without demonstrating an ability to pay. The 1970s brought a major change to medicine in Conroe with the opening of Doctor's Hospital. Doctors Hospital, a 104-bed hospital that was attached to Dr. Deane Sadler's clinic, opened in 1971, across the street from Conroe High School. It was such a successful venture that in 1996 it was bought by a hospital company along with Conroe Regional Medical Center. Since it was decided that the town could not support two hospitals, Doctors Hospital was closed and Sadler Clinic moved to the Conroe Regional Medical Center campus. The Doctors Hospital building was vacant for about a year and was then sold to Conroe ISD to use as its Administration and Technology Building. By the 1970s, there was a demand for better medical services in the growing county, particularly for the indigent. In 1977, the Commissioners Court supported legislation creating the Montgomery County Hospital District. This lead to the creation of the Conroe Regional Medical Center - and the end of treatment at the original County Hospital. The building sat idle for some time due to the cost of remodeling and the removal of asbestos. In recent years, the East Texas Dream Center opened as a facility that helps at-risk women and children in need. "We provide housing, food, clothing and more to women and children going through difficult times and challenges," said Shawn Nelson, who founded the organization five years ago with the help of his wife, Shannon. The center provides ministry, 12-step programs, educational support and life-skills lessons free of charge to help women and families take control of their lives. The Montgomery County Hospital, an important factor in the growth of Conroe and Montgomery County, continues to serve the community and make this area a better place to live. This article written by Brad Meyer was originally published by The Courier in March 2015. Atascocita High School animation/video production students were selected to join high school students from all over the world at the 2017 All American High School Festival in New York City. Each year the film festival reviews hundreds of high school student film and production work to be screened and judged by professional actors and producers in the film industry. Atascocita High School AV/Production students had seven works accepted for screening during the film festival. Accepted works included two animations, one animated documentary, two music videos and two photographs. The film festival offers high school students interested in film an opportunity to attend workshops, panels and network with other high school students. The event also hosts a college fair where students are able to speak with recruiters about film opportunities at the college-level. Prior to the film festival, the students had an opportunity to apply for the three-day shoot and edit film invitational. To compete in the Film Invitational Experience, the students were tasked with filming a movie while in New York City. The students edited and produced the film, "The Last Episode," in Brooklyn, New York with the help of their classmates from home. The movie was filmed in only 56 hours. Joey Hunt, Atascocita High School senior, directed "The Last Episode" with the help of his team members Mary Jane McCain, Antonio Campos, Omar Angel Medina, Casey Anders, Amanda Golla, and Maddi Laurento. Alexis Erdo and Garrett Houghton were not able to travel to New York City but helped with pre-production. The students managed all aspects of the short film which included script writing, location scouting, casting, shoots and more. The team was named the runner up out of 31 films. "I'm proud of our students and they are motivated to get started on their next big projects," said Ann Wehrman, Atascocita High School animation and game design teacher. After receiving positive feedback in New York City the students are now looking forward to submitting new work to the SXSW High School Film Festival. Helen Sloan U.S. officials are charging an Iranian hacker in the theft of 1.5 terabytes of data from HBO in May, an attack that tormented executives and included the release of several unaired programs and scripts. Behzad Mesri, who went by the pseudonym of "Skote Vahshat," was charged with computer fraud, wire fraud, extortion and identity theft, according to an indictment unsealed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in New York City. But he remains in Iran, and officials acknowledged that it would be difficult to detain him. WASHINGTON - The fifth round of talks among the United States, Mexico and Canada over the North American Free Trade Agreement drew to a close Tuesday with negotiators still at odds over the pact's future. Over a week of meetings in Mexico City, officials hammered out more technical details of the trade agreement, but barely broached the yawning gaps among the three countries on the most contentious issues. Those include rules for manufacturing automobiles, resolving trade disputes and issuing government contracts, as well as a "sunset clause" that would require NAFTA to expire every five years unless the parties voted to continue it. The top negotiators for each country sat out this round of talks, deciding instead to let staff work out some of the details. At the last round of negotiations, in Washington in October, proposals introduced by the United States on the main areas of contention raised tensions and provoked fears of NAFTA's demise. At the conclusion of the round, the United States called for a monthlong hiatus and extended future talks into the first quarter of next year to defuse tensions and keep lawmakers in Washington focused on a tax overhaul. 'Rules of origin' NAFTA negotiators have come close to finalizing agreement on topics including state-owned enterprises and customs procedures. But the Mexico City round did not elicit much progress on issues like "rules of origin," which governs the amount of a good that needs to be manufactured in North America to qualify for NAFTA's zero tariffs. Canada and Mexico have not yet made specific counterproposals to the U.S. requests, including on automobiles, people familiar with the talks said. The U.S. had called for raising the auto production threshold to 85 percent, up from 62.5 percent previously, to qualify for the tariff-free treatment. And it had asked for a new requirement that 50 percent of the value of a car be manufactured solely in the U.S. - a provision at odds with American automakers, which fear it will drive up their costs and make them less competitive globally. Procurement issue On another thorny topic, government procurement, Mexico made a proposal that a person familiar with the talks said would effectively block U.S. companies from supplying goods and services to the Mexican government. The United States has proposed limiting the amount of American government contracts that Canadian and Mexican companies are able to win, capping the level dollar-for-dollar to the total size of Canada and Mexico's much smaller markets. In return, Mexico proposed linking its government contracts to the size of deals that Mexican companies have actually won under NAFTA, a person familiar with the talks said. Since Mexican companies have won few contracts, that would largely prevent U.S. companies from winning Mexican government contracts. Q: I'm wondering if there are any special financing programs for veterans who own small businesses. My bank turned me down for a loan and now I could use some help. A: The U.S. Small Business Administration has programs that can help you connect with lenders or reduce your upfront borrowing fee when you take out certain types of loans. Lender Match is an online program that anyone can use to help find a lender. It's easy to use: Submit information about your business and your financing needs, and if they are interested, lenders will contact you within two days. You can then compare fees, rates, terms and more, and submit a loan application to the lender of your choice. You can probably use the documentation you submitted previously to your lender, but you might want to take a fresh look to make sure it's all in order and accurately reflects how much money you need and what you'll use it for. You'll also need a decent credit score, so if you have a problem with yours, take steps to improve it before applying for another loan. Websites like myfico.com or bankrate.com offer free advice on how to improve your score. There are no guarantees that you'll be approved for a loan with Lender Match, but it does give you access to a wider group of potential lenders. Veterans Advantage Lending is an SBA program that helps veterans and their family members save money on the cost of borrowing by reducing loan fees. Honorably discharged veterans, service-disabled veterans, active duty members who are eligible for the Transition Assistance Program, Reservists and National Guard members are all eligible for this program. Depending on the type and amount of the loan, there is either no upfront loan fee or the fee is reduced by 50 percent. The loans are SBA guaranteed loans, which means that if you default on the loan, the SBA will cover a percentage of the payback amount, making the loan less risky for the lender. For more information, visit the SBA's website at www.sba.gov/veterans. Also take advantage of the SBA's resource partner, the Small Business Development Center. Business advisers at the UH Bauer College SBDC in midtown Houston can help you determine your financing needs and assist with putting together the documentation for a loan application, as well as connect you to some of the community lenders who might be willing to work with you, all free of charge. You might also want to attend one of the SBDC's affordable workshops such as Making Sense of the Numbers or Business Plan Basics to help you get prepared to apply for a loan. Go to www.sbdc.uh.edu for more information. Oil climbed to a two-year high as U.S. industry data showed crude stockpiles resumed declines and investors awaited a decision by OPEC on extending output cuts. January futures rose as much as 2.2 percent in New York, the highest since mid-2015. U.S. inventories fell by 6.36 million barrels last week, the American Petroleum Institute was said to report. That's more than forecast in a Bloomberg survey, which shows a drop of 2.2 million barrels ahead of government data later Wednesday. Oil has risen this month on speculation that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners will decide to prolong supply cuts beyond March when they meet in Vienna next week. Saudi Arabia, OPEC's de facto leader, has been reducing exports as well as production, with shipments in September dropping to the lowest since March 2011, according to official data submitted to the JODI global database. "It does appear the only way is up for oil," said Michael McCarthy, a chief strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney. "A lot of traders are speculating about the potential outcome of the OPEC meeting. Expectations are high and that could lead to disappointment if OPEC and its partners don't deliver, but it doesn't seem many are prepared to take the risk of that happening." West Texas Intermediate for January delivery gained as much as $1.22 to $58.05 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, and was at $57.81 as of 12:04 p.m. London time. The contract advanced 41 cents to $56.83 on Tuesday. Brent for January settlement increased 57 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $63.14 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange after climbing 0.6 percent on Tuesday. The global benchmark traded at a premium of $5.35 to WTI. U.S. crude stockpiles at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for WTI and the biggest oil-storage hub, dropped by 1.8 million barrels last week, the API said, according to people familiar with the data. Gasoline inventories expanded by 869,000 barrels, API data show. Oil-market news: Andy Hall, the veteran crude trader who closed his hedge fund this year, will brief OPEC officials on the outlook for U.S. shale oil, according to a copy of the agenda seen by Bloomberg News. The front-month contract for WTI futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange just turned more expensive than the second-month contract. The market hasn't settled in that structure, known as backwardation, since November 2014. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Humble Independent School District once again was rewarded for energy efficiency through the CenterPoint Energy and CLEAResult SCORE program, announced Melissa Crizer, the district's energy manager. Humble ISD partners with CenterPoint Energy and CLEAResult to maximize energy efficiency in the district. CenterPoint Energy incentivizes districts with financial rewards, which can then be used to fund future projects. "This year, by completing roof upgrades at Kingwood Park High School and maintenance center as well as major HVAC renovations and upgrades at AHS and by installing energy-efficient chillers and lighting at our newest campus, Groves Elementary, we have earned $62,423.81," Crizer said during the Nov. 14 school board meeting. Humble ISD has earned a total over $460,000 through its partnership with the SCORE program. The school district also participated in another CenterPoint Energy initiative called the Commercial Load Management Program. "This requires the district to basically reduce consumption during peak hours of our summer months, during the hottest times of our year, in order to avoid blackouts and brownouts for our community," Crizer said. "In return for doing that, CenterPoint pays us incentives. This money we turn around and again pay back into projects that help us install more energy-efficient equipment in our buildings." Humble ISD was awarded a check for $43,612.18 during the school board meeting for its participation in the Commercial Load Management Program, bringing the total amount earned through that program to over $227,000. "I want to thank them for allowing us to participate in these programs and help us make our buildings more efficient," Crizer said. AVID program Sally Wagner, coordinator of the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program for Humble ISD, announced during the Nov. 14 board meeting that Timberwood Middle School has been revalidated as an AVID National Demonstration School. AVID focuses on instilling students with college readiness by encouraging them to take the most challenging courses, like advanced placement or honors courses. Timberwood became a validated AVID National Demonstration School in 2014, earning the distinction for a three-year period. Now, in 2017, an AVID National Validation team gave Timberwood Middle School the designation for another three years after visiting the school Oct. 25. "Currently, there are only 38 demo(nstration) schools of the 1,200 AVID schools in the state of Texas, so this is quite the accomplishment," Wagner said. Timberwood Middle School received its second AVID-awarded banner to hang at the campus proclaiming the school's accomplishment. "I'd like to say congratulations to the entire Timberwood faculty and staff," Wagner said. "It is a huge accomplishment - something they've been working for for the past three years, since they got their very first banner." District super-staffers District campuses and departments nominate individuals as super-staffers each month for helping advance student achievement. Three super-staffers are chosen through a drawing to be recognized during the school board meeting each month. These three super-staffers also receive a gift card. Arnetta Miner, from Groves Elementary School, was awarded as November's elementary super-staffer for her positive impact on students at Groves Elementary. November's secondary super-staffer was Diana Aston, campus IT for Kingwood High School. Aston was awarded for her hard work to ensure all teachers have technology they need to operate in a new setting. Support staff member super-staffer for November was Crystal Carter, accounts payable manager for Humble ISD financial services. Carter was lauded for being a team player who is willing to go beyond the scope of her responsibilities in order to help others. For more information about Humble ISD, visit www.humbleisd.net. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate As the bombardment of flashy Black Friday advertisements seems to increase every year, it is difficult to remember a time before Thanksgiving became a national shopping day. According to History.com, the retail industry transformed the Friday after Thanksgiving into a shopping event in the 1980s. In recent years, as more and more consumers camped out in store parking lots, others rebelled by celebrating #buynothingday, according to USA Today. People often take issue with stores opening for Thanksgiving because employees then must work instead of celebrating the holiday with family. Debate continues over the morality of requiring employees to work on holidays, but rarely are the employees themselves able to join the conversation. Some Houston employees at stores closing for Thanksgiving in 2017 discussed what having the day off means to them. Nancy Bobyk, the Design Center Manager for a Houston area Ethan Allen, said giving employees Thanksgiving off maintains positive morale in the workplace. "I think everyone is very appreciative of having this special day off," Bobyk said. "I think it would be very difficult to schedule people that day with so many varying personal commitments." Having worked Thanksgiving Day in years past at a previous grocery store job, current Costco supervisor Tami Morse said she missed family time because of work. "You lose the holiday when everybody is working and stressing out about shopping the very next day," Morse said. "That's not what it's about." Thanksgiving Day has slowly become a stage for controversy, as retailers and consumers alike choose between participating in and abstaining from so-called Black Thursday shopping. One of the few retailers to choose such a solution, REI executives decided in 2015 to close stores for Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday as part of their #OptOutside campaign. Ann Bewley, Houston outdoor programs and outreach market coordinator for REI, said it is important to give employees days off on holidays. "Retail, especially during holiday seasons, can be stressful," Bewley said. "Why not let them have that time to relax, spend time with their friends and families, or recreate as they'd like?" Genna Riggens, a visual merchandiser for Houston's IKEA, said there should be a balance between work and your personal life. "I come from a really large family so it's hard for us to get together during the year," Riggens said. "Thanksgiving is definitely one of the times where it's possible for us all to gather and celebrate, share food and stories and reminisce, so it's definitely more than just another day off." Some assert retailers closing stores on Thanksgiving is a marketing tactic rather than a moral epiphany, according to the Atlantic.com. However, Meghan McCain, a head cashier at a Houston area Barnes & Noble, said that getting holidays off impacts her work ethic. "It definitely has a positive impact on the way my coworkers and I work, and it also demonstrates Barnes & Noble's commitment to being a family company," McCain said. District Manager for Mattress Firm Sarah Mourer said having the holidays off is a benefit to her team. "When employees believe their company cares about them, they feel more appreciation at work which in turn can make employees happier at work," Mourer said. Macy's spokeswoman Holly Thomas cited "significant, ongoing customer interest" as a reason for opening Thanksgiving Day, according to USA Today. However, according to the National Retail Federation, Thanksgiving Day shopping increased by one percent in 2016 from previous years. Costco supervisor Nathan Lilly said most customers view Costco in a positive light for giving its employees the day off. "People respect the fact that Costco takes care of its employees," Lilly said. While some companies pay their employees during holidays stores are closed, a holiday off may mean a day's worth of income lost for employees without paid holidays. Bobyk said that most Ethan Allen employees don't see having the holiday off as a financial burden, however. "It has never been an inconvenience or hardship, and I know this sentiment is shared by all my fellow employees," Bobyk said. With Hurricane Harvey still affecting the lives of many Houstonians, this holiday season will be unique for many, to say the least. Mattress Firm District Manager Ben Del Bosque recalled a saying about natural disaster recovery. "People who have endured disasters like this have a saying: 'It's not about surviving the storm; It's about surviving after the storm,'" Del Bosque said. "For many families, this will truly be a year of giving thanks for the blessings we have in our lives." The Houston Fire Department responded to a building fire at about 7 a.m. Wednesday just northwest of Space Center Houston. The fire is near the intersection of El Camino Real and Sea Lark, in a block of restaurants and businesses just off Bay Area Boulevard. While Deputy Justin Gay is undergoing rehabilitation after being shot earlier this month, his colleagues at the Harris County Precinct 4 Constable's Office is pitching in to help. To help support Gay and his family with medical bills, the constable's office will be hosting a barbecue fundraiser on from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dec. 6 at the Enchanted Cypress Ballroom, 12603 Louetta Road in Cypress. Each plate of food will cost $10. While responding to a disturbance call on Nov. 5, Gay was shot in the legs by a suspect and then underwent an 18-hour surgery at Memorial Hermann Red Duke Trauma Institute. "He was shot seven time at point-blank range," said Pct. 4 Constable Mark Herman. "It's going to take months of rehab to get him back to where he was." Gay has been bedridden since his injury and had both of his knees totally replaced, Herman said. Gay was released from the hospital recently and is in a rehabilitation center, according to a press release. Herman said that Gay is now in a wheelchair and hopes to learn to start walking on his new knees in a couple weeks. "He's looking to make a full recovery," Herman said. The constable's office will also be collecting donations at the fundraiser. Checks can made to Deputy Justin Gay and mailed to 18482 Kuykendahl Road, #191, Spring, TX 77379. Gray, who has been with Precinct 4 since 2015, was shot after responding to a call in the 9000 block of Walnut Glen Drive. Constantine Argyrion, 38, has been charged with attempted capital murder and is in the Harris County jail. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Opera in the Heights is trying something new for the first time in 22 years. For the first time in its 22-year history, Opera in the Heights produces its first Houston premiere with a bilingual and family-friendly holiday opera, Evan Mack's "Lucinda y las Flores de la Noche Buena" (Lucinda and the Christmas Eve Flower). The opera is a coming of age Mexican Christmas folktale revealing the moral that any gift is beautiful because it is given, featuring Mexican folk tunes and traditional Christmas carols. It is performed in English and Spanish with bilingual subtitles. "Lucinda is a beautiful opera that demonstrates the love between a mother and a child; good vs. evil; and the true meaning of giving from the heart," said Edith Maldonado, a Houston native who will portray the role of Lucinda. The opera is composed by Evan Mack with libretto by Joshua McGuire. "This production reflects the diverse and family-focused community in Houston, as well as celebrates the rich cultural and artistic achievements of Hispanics or Latin-Americans," said Paige Myrick, Executive Director. "I'm thrilled to see Lucinda come to life, with a range that suits both intimate theaters such as Houston's Lambert Hall or grand performing art centers such as San Francisco Opera, one of the country's most prominent opera houses," Mack said. Two shows are scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 2, at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. The opera will be presented at Lambert Hall, 1701 Heights Blvd, Houston, TX 77008. General admission is $10 for children and $20 for adults. For tickets call 713-861-5303 or visit www.operaintheheights.org/lucinda. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate AUSTIN - Texas abortion providers will not have to comply with a state-law restricting the most common second-trimester abortion procedure after a federal judge ruled Wednesday that Senate Bill 8 was unconstitutional. Texas officials announced immediately they will appeal the decision. In his ruling, issued Wednesday afternoon, U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel said a law restricting the abortion procedure "intervenes in the medical process of abortion...in an unduly burdensome manner" Earlier this year, the Republican-led Legislature passed a set of comprehensive abortion regulations that banned dilation and evacuation - a medical procedure used to remove a fetus using surgical tools - unless the fetus is deceased. It is the most common method used to perform an abortion in the second trimester. Under SB 8, doctors would face criminal charges for violating the ban, except in a case of a medical emergency. The law was set to go into effect Sept. 1, but Yeakel blocked its implementation. Yeakel's ruling permanently bans the state from enforcing the law. The decision deals a blow to state lawmakers looking to further regulate and challenge abortion access in the state. "During a five-day trial this month in district court, we created a record unlike any other in exposing the horrors of dismemberment abortions. No just society should tolerate the tearing of living human beings to pieces," Texas Attorney General Paxton said in announcing the state's appeal. "Through extraordinary evidence and expert witness testimony, we established that Senate Bill 8 is lawful, treats the unborn with dignity and respect, and protects the integrity of the medical profession. We will defend Senate Bill 8 all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, if necessary," he added. During a dilation and evacuation procedure, doctors use surgical instruments to remove the fetus. Proponents of the law, including the state's attorneys, called the method inhumane and refer to it as "dismemberment abortion." Whole Women's Health, Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers sued the state, arguing the law would further limit access to abortions. They said the methods used to cause fetal demise have not be adequately studied, are not medically necessary and would require that most providers receive additional training. Throughout the five-day trial, state attorneys disputed that the law was intended to limit second-trimester abortions. They claimed the law is only meant to afford a "more humane" manner of death to a fetus. Several witnesses for the state testified that there were safe and straightforward methods doctors can use to kill a fetus prior to an abortion, including injecting the fetus with digoxin, a drug used to treat heart disease in adults. Warning: The following content may be graphic for some audiences. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate "All of us have lived through seven days that none of us will ever forget," newly sworn-in President Lyndon B. Johnson told Americans on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28, 1963. A week earlier, John F. Kennedy had been shot and killed in Dallas while campaigning. While Nov. 22 is mainly marked by Kennedy's death, the 24-hour period following his assassination may be equally important to history. Less than an hour and a half after the president's death, Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn into office aboard Air Force One. Attending the short ceremony was a widowed Jacqueline Kennedy, whom Johnson insisted be present to establish his legitimacy as president. EYEWITNESS TO HISTORY: Only a few people remain from the motorcade in which JFK was assassinated 54 years ago Now Playing: On Thursday night, President Trump allowed for a release of more than 2,800 files regarding the public assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. Here are some of the key takeaways: FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover felt that the American public would doubt Lee Harvey Oswald's guilt Hoover also thought that Jack Ruby had ties to the Chicago underworld President Lyndon Johnson thought Kennedy's assassination was retaliation for killing the Vietnamese president The KGB thought that President Johnson might have been behind the assassination The CIA was investigating Oswald possibly meeting the the KGB in Mexico Video: Brandpoint Around the same time, police were arresting Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin of the president. Two days later, Oswald would be shot and killed while being relocated to a more secure county jail. The same day as Kennedy's death, his body was moved from the White House to the Capitol Rotunda, drawn by six grey horses and a riderless black horse. From there, hundreds of thousands of Americans would visit Kennedy's body, which lay at the rotunda for roughly 21 hours until it would be moved to its final resting place. Above: See rare photos of the hours leading up to and following the death of JFK. Fernando Ramirez is a reporter for Chron.com and the Houston Chronicle. You can read more of his stories here and follow him on Twitter at @fernramirez93. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Last week, Montgomery police arrested a trio of suspects accused of drugging and shocking a 14-year-old special needs child for multiple weeks. On Tuesday, police arrested Keyonna Gunner, 22, the fourth suspect in the household where the drugging death of the special needs victim occurred. The caretakers for the girl, Tommieretta Gunner, 43, and Marreissa Jones, 28, were arrested and charged with a first-degree felony injury to a child last Tuesday after police said the duo gave the special-needs teen two different high blood pressure medications over a three-week period in 2016. MORE DETAILS: Trio drugged, shocked Montgomery County girl before her death Now Playing: Missouri City man arrested, charged with online solicitation of a minor Video: Fox 26 Houston Surveillance video from within the household shows the girl struggling with the effects of both medications, which were not prescribed by a medical professional, according to Montgomery County Sheriff's Office. During this time and prior, the victim's father, 42-year-old Anthony Jackson, used a stun gun on his child seven times and threatened the girl at least fifteen times over a period of several months, police said. He was also arrested last week and faces a third-degree felony injury to a child charge. Authorities said the newly arrested suspect, Keyonna Gunner, also used a stun gun on the child while at the residence. She has been charged with felony injury to a child and taken to a county jail. Above: See the most dangerous cities in Texas, according to FBI data. Police in North Texas are investigating the death of a 21-year-old college senior who was found shot Sunday. Amanda Clairmont, a senior at the University of North Texas, was found shot in her car in a vacant parking lot on an Interstate 35E service road in Corinth, a Dallas suburb, NBC reported. President Donald Trump's eldest son is headlining a fundraiser in Kansas next week for Republican gubernatorial hopeful Kris Kobach, marking the Trump family's entrance into a crowded race on behalf of a high-profile leader of the president's controversial voter fraud commission. Donald Trump Jr. is scheduled to appear in Overland Park, Kan., on Tuesday at a dinner and reception benefiting Kobach, currently Kansas's secretary of state. Kobach serves as vice chairman of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, which Trump launched in the wake of his baseless claim that illegally cast ballots cost him the popular vote in his election last year against Democrat Hillary Clinton. Vice President Mike Pence chairs the commission, but Kobach - who has aggressively pursued voter fraud cases in his state - is the driving force behind the 11-member panel and has presided over the substantive discussions at its meetings. The Trump family's involvement in the 2018 Kansas governor's race is also notable because it is likely to include a Republican incumbent. Kansas Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer is preparing to take the reins from Gov. Sam Brownback who was nominated by Trump in July to serve as ambassador at large for international religious freedom. Brownback plans to step down as governor once his appointment is confirmed by the Senate. The White House did not immediately respond to questions about whether Trump Jr.'s appearance in Kansas next week signals that the president will also support Kobach over Colyer in a primary that includes a host of other Republican contenders as well. Individual tickets for Tuesday's fundraiser start at $200, according to Kobach's campaign website. For $1,000, donors can attend a "VIP reception" and have their picture taken with Trump Jr. The voter fraud commission has proven a magnet for controversy, and it remains unclear when it will meet again. The panel is the subject of multiple lawsuits, including one from one of its Democratic members. In a court filing Monday, a judge referenced a Justice Department lawyer's representation that the commission had no plans to meet again by the end of the year. It previously has met publicly twice, in Washington in July and in New Hampshire in September. The lawsuit from Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap, one of the commission members, alleges that he has been kept in the dark about commission's operations, rendering his participation "essentially meaningless." Kobach has sought to refute Dunlap's allegations, calling them "baseless and paranoid." The commission has also encountered other turbulence. At the September meeting, New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner, another Democrat on the panel, chastised Kobach for a piece he wrote for Breitbart News in which he alleged out-of-state voters could have tipped the U.S. Senate race in New Hampshire last year. The commission's work was also hindered by the arrest of a staff member last month on charges of possession of child pornography. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate DETROIT - Longtime Michigan Rep. John Conyers acknowledged Tuesday that his office settled a harassment complaint involving a former staffer but said he "vehemently" denies the allegations against him. His office "resolved the allegations" "for an amount that equated to a reasonable severance payment," the 88-year-old Detroit Democrat said in a statement. The leaders of the House Ethics Committee said in a statement Tuesday afternoon that the panel was opening an investigation into the allegations, including whether Conyers used official resources for impermissible personal purposes. Conyers said he would fully cooperate. Staffers' affidavits BuzzFeed reported that Conyers' office paid a woman more than $27,000 under a confidentiality agreement to settle a complaint in 2015 that she was fired from his Washington staff because she rejected his sexual advances. BuzzFeed also published affidavits from former staff members who said they had witnessed Conyers touching female staffers inappropriately - rubbing their legs and backs - or requesting sexual favors. One former staffer said one of her duties was "to keep a list of women that I assumed he was having affairs with and call them at his request and, if necessary, have them flown in using congressional resources." Buzzfeed reported Tuesday that a second staffer who worked as a scheduler claimed she faced daily harassment and filed suit against Conyers. She later abandoned the suit after a court denied her request to keep it sealed. When questioned at his home Tuesday morning by the Associated Press, Conyers denied settling any harassment complaint and other allegations of inappropriate touching of staffers. The reporter repeated to Conyers the claims made in the BuzzFeed report. "I have been looking at these things in amazement," Conyers said, referring to allegations of sexual harassment and assault being made against politicians and others. A statement from Conyers' office said he was under the impression the AP reporter was speaking Tuesday of "recent allegations of which he was unaware of and denied." "In this case, I expressly and vehemently denied the allegations made against me, and continue to do so," Conyers said later Tuesday. Conyers is the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee and the longest-serving current member of the House, having arrived in 1965. "As members of Congress, we each have a responsibility to uphold the integrity of the House of Representatives and to ensure a climate of dignity and respect, with zero tolerance for harassment, discrimination, bullying or abuse," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said in a statement. Updating policies House Speaker Paul Ryan labeled the BuzzFeed report "extremely troubling." Ryan said the House is updating its policies for handling complaints of workplace harassment and discrimination, which have been criticized as too weak. "People who work in the House deserve and are entitled to a workplace without harassment or discrimination," Ryan said. BuzzFeed said it received the documents from right-wing activist Mike Cernovich, but had independently confirmed their authenticity. Cernovich said he gave the documents to BuzzFeed News because Democrats would "try to discredit the story by attacking the messenger" if he published them himself. Cernovich also is an author and attorney who promoted a conspiracy theory about Democrats running a child-sex slavery ring from the basement of a Washington pizza restaurant. Partial remains of Army Sgt. La David T. Johnson were found about five weeks after he was killed in an ambush in Niger last month, the Pentagon said Tuesday, raising more questions about the operation that led to the deaths of four elite U.S. soldiers. An investigation team from U.S. Africa Command discovered the remains Nov. 12 at the site where Johnson's body was initially found outside the remote village of Tongo Tongo, where he and the other soldiers were killed during a fierce attack by as many as 50 Islamist militants. Along with Johnson, Staff Sgt. Bryan C. Black, Staff Sgt. Jeremiah W. Johnson, Staff Sgt. Dustin M. Wright and five Nigerien soldiers were killed. About 12 U.S. soldiers and about a platoon of Nigerien troops were involved. The announcement of Johnson's remains, which were somehow missed in the initial sweep, comes after the Washington Post reported that Johnson was found by villagers with his hands bound and a gaping wound in his head, raising the possibility that he was captured alive and later executed. His body was discovered two days after the attack. It is unclear what remains the team uncovered or whether they produce additional evidence indicating a capture. Pentagon spokesman Dana White disclosed the information in a written statement. The Pentagon has not provided additional details. The announcement also paints a clearer picture in the saga over Johnson's remains and what his widow, Myeshia, described as the military's decision to block her from viewing them. "Why couldn't I see my husband? Every time I asked to see my husband, they wouldn't let me," Myeshia Johnson said in an interview with ABC's "Good Morning America." "They told me that he's in a severe wrap - like I won't be able to see him. I need to see him so I will know that that is my husband." "They won't show me a finger, a hand. I know my husband's body from head to toe, and they won't let me see anything. I don't know what's in that box. It could be empty for all I know, but I need to see my husband. I haven't seen him since he came home." The Pentagon has said that the soldiers were on a routine reconnaissance mission. Under U.S. military rules, American troops in Niger are not supposed to go on combat missions in the country, but they can "advise and assist" on missions with local forces in which the chance of enemy contact is low. Air support from French Puma helicopters and French jets took an hour or longer to arrive. The incident, still under investigation, has put pressure on the Pentagon to explain whether U.S. troops in remote postings like Niger have acceptable levels of air support and medical evacuation capabilities. There are about 800 U.S. service members in Niger - part of a contingent of 6,000 American troops in Africa. They include Special Forces soldiers, who began arriving in 2012 to provide counterterrorism training, as well as others who work on a drone base in the remote desert. About 4,000 French troops also are based in the region. Three military personnel have been reassigned from their White House jobs amid allegations that they had improper contact with foreign women while traveling with President Donald Trump on his recent trip to Asia, according to officials familiar with the situation. The service members all worked for the White House Communications Agency, a specialized military unit that helps provide the president, vice president, Secret Service and other officials with secure communications. The military is scrutinizing three Army noncommissioned officers who allegedly broke curfew during Trump's trip to Vietnam this month, officials said. Mark Wright, a spokesman for the Defense Department, confirmed that the Pentagon is examining the behavior of personnel during the visit to Vietnam. "We are aware of the incident, and it is currently under investigation," Wright said. Trump visited Vietnam as part of a 12-day swing through Asia. The episode comes after four military personnel on the same White House team faced allegations related to their behavior during a trip to Panama in August with Vice President Mike Pence. Those men - two from the Army and two from the Air Force - are accused of taking foreign women into a secure area as they were preparing for Pence's arrival, officials said. They were all flown home before Pence arrived and stripped of their White House assignments pending the findings of the investigation, officials said. Army Col. Amanda Azubuike, a military spokeswoman, said an investigation into the Panama case has been closed and the findings forwarded to senior military officials for review. She said she was not aware of the final conclusions or any disciplinary action. NBC previously reported that military members on the Panama trip had been removed from White House duty. Service members with high-level security clearances are expected to report contacts with foreign individuals to ensure that their interactions do not compromise national security. The mission of the White House Communications Agency is to prevent eavesdropping on presidential communications and to ensure that White House officials can be securely reached worldwide at a moment's notice. If found guilty, the service members face the risk of losing their security clearances or could be subject to administrative discipline or courts-martial. Spokesmen for Trump and Pence declined to comment and referred questions to the office of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate MOSCOW - On a surprise trip to Russia, Syria's Bashar Assad discussed potential new peace initiatives for postwar Syria with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who declared that Russia's two-year military campaign in Syria is wrapping up, the Kremlin said Tuesday. Moscow released footage of Assad warmly embracing Putin, who hosted him in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Monday, ahead of a summit between Russia, Turkey and Iran and a new round of Syria peace talks in Geneva later this month. The meeting was unannounced and the Kremlin did not make it public until Tuesday morning. "I passed on to (Putin) and all Russian people our greetings and gratitude for all of the efforts that Russia made to save our country," Assad told Russia's top brass in televised remarks. Assad has only ventured outside his war-ravaged nation twice since the conflict began - both times to Russia. This week's visit to meet Putin is his second since the crisis began in March 2011, leading to a civil war that has killed some 400,000 people and resulted in millions of refugees. Three-hour meeting The meeting in Sochi, which lasted three hours, preceded a summit between the presidents of Iran, Russia and Turkey set for Wednesday at the same venue. Iran and Russia have been Assad's main backers while Turkey supports the opposition. Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian president had previously assured the leaders of Turkey and Iran that "Russia will work with Syrian leadership to prepare the groundwork for the understandings that could be reached in Sochi on Wednesday and to make sure that agreements that could be reached would be viable." It wasn't immediately clear if the Kremlin put any pressure on Assad to accept a new deal brokered by Russia, Turkey and Iran - or whether that deal would involve Assad staying on as president once the war is over - but Assad signaled his intention to hold his ground in future Syria peace talks. "We count on Russia's support to keep foreign players from interfering into the political process," he said during the talks with Putin. Assad is believed to have left Sochi after the meeting and returned to Damascus. Asked whether Putin and Assad have talked about the Syrian president's future in postwar Syria, Peskov said "possible options for political settlement have been discussed" and added that "only the Syrian people could determine Assad's role." Calling other leaders Despite pressure from other nations that Assad step down, Moscow has insisted that it is up to the Syrian people to vote him in or out. Putin later called President Donald Trump to inform him about the talks with Assad, emphasizing that the Syrian leader said he would abide by a political settlement for Syria, including constitutional reform and the holding of parliamentary and presidential elections. Putin also called Saudi King Salman to inform him of the main issues on the agenda of the Russia-Turkey-Iran talks on Wednesday. They also discussed "long-term prospects for a Syrian settlement," according to the Kremlin. Putin noted that Syria talks planned in Sochi and a meeting of Syrian opposition in Riyadh should help future talks in Geneva. The Russian leader also later phoned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to brief them on the talks with Assad and the planned trilateral meeting. To prepare for Wednesday's mini-summit, military chiefs of Russia, Turkey and Iran met in Sochi on Tuesday and agreed to coordinate their efforts in Syria. Russia's defense ministry said the military chiefs discussed "concrete steps to complete the elimination of the remaining ISIS and Nusra Front formations" in Syria, referring to Islamic State fighters and Syria's al-Qaida affiliate as it was formerly known. 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. Primeste notificari pe email Nota bene: Adresele email cu extensia .ru nu sunt acceptate. Contractare si Achizitie Bunuri Anunturi de Angajare Granturi - Finantari Burse de studiu Stagii Profesionale Oportunitati de voluntariat Toate Articolele AKRON, Ohio -- The city of Akron's Howard Storage Basin project was given the U.S. EPA's PISCES Award. The Howard Storage Basin is one of only 28 projects to be recognized in the country, and one of five rated exceptional by the U.S. EPA for excellence and innovation under the Ohio EPA's Clean Water State Revolving Fund, said Ohio EPA Director Craig Butler, who presented the award on Tuesday. The Howard Storage Basin is part of the $1.4 billion Akron Waterways Renewed!, whose centerpiece is the Ohio Canal Interceptor Tunnel, currently being dug by Rosie, Akron's massive tunnel-boring machine. Sewer-separation projects and storage basins, like the Howard Basin, also are part of the project to keep sewage from mixing with storm water and contaminating the Cuyahoga River, Lake Erie and other bodies of water. The Howard Storage Basin is a 2.4-million-gallon tank that was put in service three months prior to the EPA mandated deadline. As a result, 4.7 million gallons of combined sewer overflow was kept out of local water sources, on top of the anticipated 41 million gallons of capture per year. "I would stack our recent progress up against anyone in the country in terms of what we have constructed, the money we have been able to save, and the amount of overflow we have been able to capture - much of it ahead of schedule," said Akron Mayor Daniel Horrigan at a presentation. "I would also like to thank the Akron Engineering Bureau and our entire team for their outstanding work in making this project a success." Butler thanked the city for working to clean the environment while remaining fiscally responsible by using longer-term financing through the Ohio EPA's revolving loan fund, which is for projects that address human health and failing drinking water infrastructure needs. "The city of Akron was the first community in the state to take advantage of our new, innovative programs to help communities manage their complex wastewater issues while helping make changes more affordable," Butler said. The Ohio EPA offers two financing programs: Water Supply Revolving Loan Account for drinking water and Water Pollution Control Loan Fund for wastewater. Since 1998, Akron has been awarded 82 loans totaling $744 million - $36 million for drinking water and $708 million for wastewater Since 2011, Akron has been awarded 58 loans -- $9.2 million in drinking water funds, and $657 million in wastewater funds By borrowing funds through the Water Pollution Control Loan Fund, Akron has saved an estimated $100 million in interest versus borrowing at market rates. Akron's Ohio Canal Interceptor Tunnel project is the second largest loan ever awarded from the Water Pollution Control Loan Fund at $254 million. As part of Ohio EPA's Water Pollution Control Loan Fund, Akron also participates in the Water Resource Restoration Sponsor Program, which helps counter the loss of ecological function and biological diversity of Ohio's water resources. Through the program, a portion of the payments Akron makes on the loan for the Howard Basin project sponsors three Ohio water projects: Cackley Swamp Acquisition and Restoration in Jackson County Scioto River Reserve Acquisition in Pickaway County Williamsburg Low-Head Dam Removal in Clermont County Akron Waterways Renewed! has deployed other components of the project ahead of schedule as well. The Main Outfall Interceptor Sewer was completed a year ahead, saving $30 million; Forge Field Storage Basin was put into service four months ahead of schedule, capturing 7.3 million gallons of combined sewer overflow; and Camp Brook Storage Basin went into service two months early, capturing 7.5 millions gallons of combined sewer overflow. Over the last seven years Akron, has inspected and cleaned all of its 4.5 million feet of sanitary sewer pipes and 19,000 manhole covers. For more information on the projects, visit Akron Waterways Renewed! Want more Akron news? Sign up for cleveland.com's Rubber City Daily, an email newsletter delivered at 5:30 a.m. Monday through Friday. AKRON, Ohio - Summit Metro Parks naturalists will host two programs in December that will offer park visitors the opportunity to learn about, and see, the supermoon. "Supermoon," a term used to describe the moon's larger-than-usual appearance, happens when the moon is at or near its closest distance to the Earth in its orbit, according to a Summit Metro Parks news release. It happens about every 14 full moons. Programs are: Saturday, Dec. 2: Join park naturalist Joe Malmisur for a supermoon hike on Liberty Park's Bluebird Trail and adjacent meadow from 7 to 9 p.m. After the hike, there will be a fire and hot chocolate. Liberty Park is at 9999 Liberty Road, Twinsburg. Sunday, Dec. 3: Join a park naturalist for a hike under the supermoon at Munroe Falls Metro Park at 7 p.m. Munroe Falls Metro Park is at 1088 North Ave., Tallmadge. For a full list of the park's December programs, visit the Summit Metro Parks website. Want more Akron news? Sign up for cleveland.com's Rubber City Daily, an email newsletter delivered at 5:30 a.m. Monday through Friday. AKRON, Ohio -- Azteca Restaurante Mexicano Inc. in Akron and its owner have reached an agreement with the Labor Department to pay $118,354 for violating federal labor laws, including paying employees less than the minimum wage. The restaurant and its owner, Salvador Alatorre, agreed to pay $59,177 in back wages and an equal amount in damages to 21 employees to resolve violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, or FLSA, according to a Labor Department news release issued Wednesday. The government found the restaurant and its owner failed to comply with labor laws, including those governing minimum wage, overtime and recording-keeping. The Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division also assessed a civil penalty of $9,646 for "willful and repeated violations." "A 2011 investigation by the Division disclosed minimum wage, overtime and record-keeping violations at Azteca," the release states. "The restaurant then paid back wages, liquidated damages and a civil money penalty." The Plain Dealer left a telephone message at the restaurant for a response, which has not yet been returned. With the current case, investigators found the restaurant paid kitchen staff fixed salaries -- ranging from $550 to $675 per week -- regardless of the number of hours they worked, the release said. The restaurant also illegally deducted 3 percent from servers' tips when customers paid with credit cards. This resulted in some servers receiving less than the minimum wage. The company illegally computed overtime for servers based only on their cash wages instead of the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. The company also violated overtime laws requiring employers to record and then pay employees for all of the hours they worked. In addition to paying back wages and damages, Azteca Restaurante Mexicano has agreed to use a computerized time-keeping system. "Failing to pay workers a legal wage is not only wrong, but it allows companies to gain an unfair advantage over competitors who abide by the law," George Victory, the Wage and Hour Division district director based Columbus, said in the release. "Wage violations can be avoided, and we encourage companies to reach out to us for guidance." Follow: @OPinfo EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio - The city of East Cleveland agreed to report arrests of undocumented immigrants to federal authorities when it applied for Justice Department grant money that will be used to hire two new police officers, officials said. The Justice Department on Monday awarded more than $425,000 in grant money to the city, which requested the funding to combat street gangs. The city will use the money, from the Community Oriented Policing Services' Hiring Program, to pay 75 percent of two full-time police officers' salaries and benefits for three years. The Justice Department gave special consideration to grant applicants who agreed to report undocumented immigrants in police custody and let federal immigration agents into local jails. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said roughly 80 percent of the 179 police departments that received funding agreed to cooperate with federal immigrant agents. Opponents have argued that cities and states are not required to enforce federal immigration laws, and that local enforcement of immigration laws can create a distrust of police within communities. East Cleveland officials said Tuesday that the city is among that 80 percent of grant recipients that agreed to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. Mayor Brandon King "supports following the laws of the U.S. and the state" if doing so allows the city to "put more police officers on the street," his chief of staff said in a statement to cleveland.com. King added that he does not believe East Cleveland has an "immigration issue," his chief of staff said in the statement. East Cleveland police Chief Michael Cardilli was out of the office Tuesday and could not be reached for comment. But his executive assistant, Vanessa Veal, said she cannot recall any prior instances of the police department reporting the arrest of an undocumented immigrant to federal authorities. The police department does keep arrests records that show when a detainee is an undocumented immigrant, and those records are shared with the FBI, Veal said. The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment on the East Cleveland grant. The city is expected to keep the two new police officers on staff for at least four years - or at least a year after the grant money dries up, Veal said. The cash-strapped city could apply for additional grant money if it does not have the budget to keep the officers, she said. The East Cleveland Police Department used COPS grants to hire police officers in each of the last two years. City officials used $366,434 to hire two school resource officers in 2016, and $472,446 to hire three police officers to combat gun violence in 2015, records show. The Justice Department on Monday announced more than $98 million in grants to hire 802 police officers at 179 law enforcement agencies across the country. In Ohio, 58 agencies applied for grant money, with seven receiving approximately $2 million in total. The Justice Department said it gave special consideration to applicants who asked for money to address "violent crime, illegal immigration or homeland security." Earlier this month, the Justice Department notified 29 states, counties and cities that they could lose access to federal funds if they did not share information with immigration agents. But a federal judge on Monday blocked President Donald Trump's executive order threatening to withhold federal money from so-called sanctuary cities. Few, if any, Ohio cities call themselves sanctuary cities, but some have policies or laws that discourage police officers from helping federal authorities with immigration enforcement. East Cleveland is not listed in the Center for Immigration Studies' list of sanctuary cities. If you'd like to comment on this story, visit Tuesday's crime and courts comments section. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Violent death, deadly disease, gruesome disfigurement and painful divorce: This is award-winning Irish playwright Martin McDonagh's idea of a rip-snorting comedy. And he's very good at it. He puts the dark in dark comedy like no other contemporary writer today. In "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri," he turns his jaundiced eye to the rural Midwest, where Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand) is unhappy with the lack of progress made by Ebbing Police Chief Bill Willoughby (Woody Harrelson) in the investigation of her teenage daughter's rape and murder seven months earlier. Willoughby, married with two young children, by the way, has Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Divorced, single mom Hayes has spent $5,000 to rent three billboards just outside of town to denigrate the police force. The police, and most of the town, are not happy with her very public displeasure. Even the local TV station has taken notice. Sam Rockwell plays Jason Dixon, a dimwitted officer serving under Willoughby. He's an alcoholic and racist who lives at home with his alcoholic, racist mother. But he is feverishly devoted to his ailing boss. All the performances are outstandingly genuine, from McDormand, Harrelson and Rockwell on down. They all ride on McDonagh's laserlike character development and crackling dialogue. McDormand shines as the feisty Mildred, who will take no guff from cops, the local priest or snotty, ignorant high school kids. But the emotional pain she feels over her daughter's violent death haunts her every line of dialogue and expression. It's important for audiences not to expect a Hollywood-style police procedural from McDonagh. It's not there. He writes about flawed people under extreme emotional conditions. There are no "good" or "bad" people in his writing world. He fleshes out characters and gives them room to move either way within the moral universe. That's why his stories are so emotionally satisfying. Especially when they are backed up with the powerhouse cast of "Three Billboards." I've seen two of his plays: "The Beauty Queen of Leenane" and "The Cripple of Inishmaan." Both are brilliant, morbid and hilarious examinations of the human soul based in rural Irish culture. They are not to be missed. He brings that same keen eye and razor-fine writing to his American cousins in Ebbing, Missouri. He treats them with a similar cruel but deep affection. Plays are not movies. They are different art forms. But McDonagh has found a way to bring the best gifts of his stage work over to the silver screen. And we, the movie audience, are all beneficiaries of his effort. "Three Billboards" is a shining example. REVIEW Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Who: With Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Peter Dinklage, John Hawkes, Caleb Landry Jones and Abbie Cornish. Written and directed by Martin McDonagh. Rated: R. Running time: 115 minutes. When: Opens Wednesday. Where: Area theaters. Grade: A CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Cleveland man is accused of fatally shooting a Brook Park man in the head at Kirtland Park. Ervontay Gilner, 21, is charged with aggravated murder in the Nov. 5 death of 40-year-old Damien Schwartz. Gilner was arrested Tuesday, shortly after a warrant was issued for his arrest. A court date has not yet been set. Schwartz's body was found about 7:30 a.m. at the park, which is on East 49th Street just south of Interstate 90. He was face down at the bottom of a hill with a gunshot wound to the back of his head, police reports say. Police also found blood stains on bench at the top of the hill and noted it appeared that Hill rolled down the hill after he was killed. Gilner has two felony convictions since 2016, but none of them landed him in prison. Gilner on Dec. 30, 2016 punched his girlfriend in the face while she held their then-11-month-old daughter. He then slammed the woman to the ground, pinned her down and repeatedly punched her in the face. He pleaded guilty to domestic violence and was sentenced to three months served in the county jail. In 2015, Gilner was sentenced to one year on probation after he and a woman broke into his pregnant girlfriend's home through a window and attacked her. Gilner held the woman down, choked her and repeatedly punched her in the face. The other woman stomped on the girlfriend's stomach while saying she was not going to have Gilner's baby. To comment on this story, please visit our crime and courts comments page. It might sound impossible to anyone living in the year 2017, but once upon a time, there was a thing called a "slow news day." Before we had the technology to beam every world leader's most deranged thoughts directly into our phones, it sometimes seemed like there was nothing newsworthy going on in the world. So enterprising journalists took matters into their own hands and made newsworthy shit happen, whatever the cost ... 6 An Australian TV Crew Found A Lost Hiker, Delayed Getting Him Treatment So They Could Film An Interview In 1999, American tourist Robert Bogucki decided to trek across Australia's Great Sandy Desert in search of spiritual enlightenment, which is a bit harder to find in, like, a nice suite at the Marriott. Since the Great Sandy Desert is exactly what it sounds like, Australian police subsequently got the chance to seek some spiritual enlightenment of their own while mounting a massive search-and-rescue operation for Bogucki's lost ass. The search effort became a media sensation in Australia -- and that may have saved Bogucki's life. After 43 hellish days, long after the authorities had given up and assumed he was eaten by scorpions or something, Bogucki was spotted by a helicopter carrying a Channel 9 camera crew to the search camp. The crew landed near the starving, sunburned hiker ... and immediately started rolling. Instead of contacting the police and rushing Bogucki to a hospital, Channel 9 kept him in the desert to film an interview and some footage of him stumbling around and drinking muddy water. Leaked footage of the interview shows that it went on for at least 17 and a half minutes before he got a drink of clean water (shit, we get dry lips just saying a full sentence). Unsurprisingly, Bogucki wanted to get the hell out of there as fast as possible, but the crew insisted on dicking around in the desert for a while. Time travel is likely confined to questionably structured sci-fi movies for the foreseeable future. But while we may all be doomed to experience the future in stupid, boring real time, there are more exciting ways we can experience the past. And we're not talking Colonial Williamsburg here. By court order, we're never allowed to talk Colonial Williamsburg again. We're referring to how ... 5 We Actually Have Photographs Of People Who Fought In The American Revolution The American Revolution occurred almost 250 years ago, long before the camera was invented and several decades before The Big Bang Theory started airing. Without a way to document them, images of the Revolution will forever remain shrouded in the mists of time. Wait, we have paintings. Uh ... those don't count. There is another source, however. In 1864, Reverend E.B. Hillard got it into his head to track down every surviving Revolutionary War veteran and photograph them before it got creepy. Amazingly, a few were still up and kicking. Accompanied by two photographers, Hillard traveled throughout New England to interview all six known survivors. That included one Lemuel Cook, who was present at the British surrender at Yorktown, and rockin' a spritely 105 in this photo. There are so many positive things to say about Pixar's Coco. We don't get many Hispanic good times in animation, and the team behind the movie has tried its very best to see Mexican culture portrayed as accurately as possible in a movie that also has magical skeletons. But despite being so colorful, warm, and hopeful, Coco is also one of the most terrifying, nihilistic, and soul-crushing animated movies to have ever been slapped with a PG rating. We're speaking, of course, of its depiction of the afterlife. Set during Dia de los Muertos, a day of remembrance when the dead can return to be with their loved ones, Coco follows the story of Miguel, a boy who loves music but whose family has banned it like they're living in a Mexican Footloose -- or Suelto de los Pies, if you will. In secret, Miguel learns to play the guitar from watching the movies of the late great balladeer Ernesto De la Cruz, a man he believes to have been his great-great-grandfather who abandoned the family to pursue his love of song. 109-minute story short, Miguel steals a guitar that belonged to De la Cruz and ends up cursed and stuck in the Land of the Dead, a place where the dead live out their afterlives and outdoor party lighting is apparently always on sale. Applications & OS News Hitachi Vantara Delves Deeper Into Streaming Data Analytics With Pentaho 8.0 Release Rick Whiting Share this Hitachi Vantara has begun shipping Pentaho 8.0, a new release of the company's business analytics software with advanced connectivity to streaming data sources for real-time business analytics. As past practices of analyzing historical data give way to analyzing data in real time or near-real-time, businesses are increasingly demanding that their business intelligence tools be capable of handling streaming data from Internet of Things networks, social applications and cloud systems. Market researcher IDC forecasts that the volume of generated data will increase by a factor of 10 by 2025. More importantly, 25 percent of that data will be real time with 95 percent of that data streaming from IoT systems. [Related: Hitachi Vantara Looks To Widen IoT Appeal With New Exec Team, Channel Friendly Appliance] "A lot of businesses have come to the conclusion that data is relevant. But they have also discovered that they don't know how to integrate data, analyze it and use it to gain insights," said Dennis Wilbrink, a data and analytics consultant at Incentro, a Netherlands-based solution provider and longtime Pentaho partner. Anticipating the growing demand for ways to derive value from all that data, Hitachi acquired business analytics software developer Pentaho in 2015. The company recently combined the Pentaho business with its Hitachi Data Systems and Hitachi Insight Group operations within Hitachi Vantara, a wholly owned subsidiary. "Pentaho 8.0 is really all about improving connectivity to these real-time data streams," said Arik Pelkey, senior director of Pentaho product marketing, in an interview with CRN. Pentaho 8.0 offers improved connectivity to streaming data sources, most notably the Kafka Streams publish/subscribe messaging system that handles large data volumes in a growing number of IT organizations. The 8.0 edition specifically enables real-time processing with specialized steps that connect Pentaho Data Integration to Kafka. The new release also fully enables stream data ingestion and processing using either the software's native engine or the Spark in-memory processing engine. Those new capabilities will help meet the demands that Incentro is seeing from customers for the ability to handle streaming data from IoT systems, automotive systems and financial service systems, said Wilbrink in an interview with CRN. "The notion of streaming data is becoming increasingly important to critical business operations," Incentro's Wilbrink said, pointing to use cases in financial services and telecommunications. While Wilbrink said Pentaho 7.1 offered some real-time analytical capabilities, "with the release of 8.0, they have a done a lot of development on the streaming data side." The new Pentaho release builds on its enterprise-level security for Cloudera and Hortonworks platforms by supporting the Knox Gateway for authenticating users for Hadoop services. The 8.0 edition also provides a number of new features and functions to help IT optimize data processing resources. Adaptive execution, which matches workloads to the most appropriate processing engine without rewriting data integration logic, was introduced in Pentaho 7.1. The 8.0 release makes it easier to set up, use and secure adaptive execution. It also makes adaptive execution available for the Hortonworks platform. The 8.0 release allows IT managers to utilize additional compute nodes and spread workloads across all available computation resources to match demand. It also supports the popular Avro and Parquet big data file formats. Wilbrink said the enhancements move data processing closer to where the data resides, significantly speeding up processing times. The Incentro data and analytics consultant said he has been evaluating the community edition of Pentaho 8.0, which came out earlier, and has been waiting for the general availability of the commercial release. Another focus of the 8.0 release is speeding up the development and implementation times for business analysis projects. "There's a shortage of big data developers. So you want to get the most out of those resources," Pelkey said, noting that between 60 percent and 80 percent of business analysis projects' time is spent on data preparation. Data center News HPE Blockbuster: Whitman Is Stepping Aside As CEO, Neri Set To Lead Company Into The Future Steven Burke Share this Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Meg Whitman, who reignited the innovation engine at the one-time Silicon Valley behemoth and split the company into two, is stepping down as CEO as of Feb. 1, 2018. HPE President Antonio Neri, the driving force behind the company's charged up software-defined enterprise portfolio, will take over as CEO. Whitman, meanwhile, will remain a member of HPE's board of directors. [RELATED: Partners: Whitman Restored HPE's Channel Commitment; Neri Needs To Continue The Momentum] "I'm incredibly proud of all we've accomplished since I joined HP in 2011," Whitman said in a prepared statement. "Today, Hewlett Packard moves forward as four industry-leading companies that are each well positioned to win in their respective market Now is the right time for Antonio and a new generation of leaders to take the reins of HPE. I have tremendous confidence that they will continue to build a great company that will thrive well into the future." Partners said Whitman accomplished a miraculous turnaround of the company which had $12.5 billion in debt and a demoralized partner network when she took over as CEO in September 2011. Raymond Tuchman, CEO of Experis Technology Group, a Potomac, Md., HPE partner, said Whitman did a great job for partners and customers, but the time is right for Neri to become CEO. "The company had no focus when Meg became CEO," he said. "She saved the company by splitting HP Into two and making HP Enterprise a more nimble and agile company. Meg has left the company in great shape. I think Antonio is going to bring a lot of good energy and take the company to the next level and accelerate the growth of HPE." Tuchman said his HPE business grew 32 percent this year and he expects it to grow at least 20 percent in 2018. "During the past six years, Meg has worked tirelessly to bring stability, strength and resiliency back to an iconic company," said Pat Russo, Chairman of HPE's Board of Directors. "Antonio is an HPE veteran with a passion for the company's customers, partners, employees and culture. He has worked at Meg's side and is the right person to deliver on the vision the company has laid out." Whitman said she always believed the next CEO should come from HPE. "The board unanimously agreed that Antonio should be my successor," she said. Neri, 50, joined Hewlett Packard Co. in 1995 as a customer service engineer in the EMEA call center and has worked in nearly every part of the business. He took over the Enterprise Group in 2015 and was named President in June. "The world of technology is changing fast, and we've architected HPE to take advantage of where we see the markets heading," said Neri in a prepared statement. "HPE is in a tremendous position to win, and we remain focused on executing our strategy, driving our innovation agenda, and delivering the next wave of shareholder value." Data center News HPE Partners: Neri's Technology Vision, Proven Channel Track Record Make Him 'Perfect Choice' For Next CEO Steven Burke Share this Solution providers are cheering the appointment of Hewlett Packard Enterprise President Antonio Neri a 22-year HPE veteran known for his technology vision and channel commitment -- as the "perfect choice" by outgoing CEO Meg Whitman and the board of directors to be the next leader of HPE. "Antonio has a strong technical background, which is going to help with what is going on in the industry,and he is a known quantity in the channel," said Kelly Ireland, founder and CEO of Orange, Calif.-based CB Technologies, an HPE Platinum partner and No. 245 on the 2017 CRN Solution Provider 500. "Antonio is channel-strong. He always has been. He is the perfect choice. Meg would not pick a person to be CEO who does not share her channel vision. We had six years of of Meg doing a phenomenal job. I think Antonio will continue down that path." [Related: Whitman On Her Future Plans, Her HPE Board Role, Neri's Channel Commitment, The 'Seamless Transition' And Why She Will Not Run For Public Office Again] HPE said Tuesday that Neri, who has been the driving force behind HPE's next-generation software-defined portfolio, will take the CEO job effective Feb.1, 2018. Whitman will become a member of HPE's board of directors. Neri's technology background will be critical as the channel moves to deliver new software-defined services and products from key acquisitions including Aruba Networks, SimpliVity and Nimble Storage, said partners. "Antonio's technology vision is extremely important because of where we are at in the industry right now," said Ireland. "Meg did a phenomenal job coming up to speed on technology when she took over. It is a huge advantage for partners to have Antonio taking this job. " Whitman, for her part, told CRN that Neri is "exactly the right person at the right time" to lead HPE into the future. "I think Antonio is super capable of taking this company to the next level," Whitman said. "Antonio is as committed, if not more so, than I am to the partners and the channel. He wants to do exactly what is right for the partners and our joint end customers. "Antonio was right there at the beginning, encouraging that pivot back to the channel," said Whitman. "He has lots of deep relationships. He knows not only the VARs, but the distributors, the SIs [systems integrators], the ISVs. It was an important criteria. We would never have picked a CEO who was not committed to the channel." Frank Vitagliano, CEO of Houston-based Computex Technology Solutions, No. 121 on the 2017 CRN Solution Provider 500, said Neri has a proven channel and technology leadership track record that makes him an outstanding choice as the next CEO. Neri's major role in the acquisitions of Aruba, SimpliVity and Nimble have been critical in establishing HPE's robust software-defined portfolio, said Vitagliano. "Antonio has really strengthened HPE's position as a technology company with great acquisitions," said Vitagliano. "He understands the technology business at a deep level. There is no doubt he has the technology chops to lead HPE." Vitagliano praised Neri's leadership in integrating the acquistions, particularly Aruba, which has been a blockbuster mobile-first, cloud-first hit for HPE, giving the company the leading position in the growing intelligent edge market. "You have to give Antonio and HPE credit for maintaining the Aruba vision and commitment," said Vitagliano. "They have seamlessly integrated it and have taken advantage of the strength HPE brings to the table, which is unbelievable enterprise relationships. It has worked. Some other folks might have tried to force it. It is very clear Antonio has had a major role in that and is driving that." Vitagliano said Neri's channel commitment is without question and is well known within the partner community. "There are some leaders that have a few channel buzzwords and think that is all they have to say and do," said Vitagliano. "Antonio absolutely gets the channel. It is not just the few catch phrases. HPE has had a strong commitment for years to the channel. Meg reinforced that and drove that hard. I think Antonio will maintain that. He is the right person to lead HPE going forward." Dan Molina, chief technology officer at San Diego-based Nth Generation Computing, one of HPE's top enterprise partners and No. 359 on the 2017 CRN Solution Provider 500, said Neri's vision in developing a next-generation software-defined portfolio with R&D breakthroughs like Synergy composable infrastructure and smart technology acquisitons have been key to driving partner sales growth. "He has both the technology and channel track record to lead HPE," said Molina. "We are extremely happy. It's a great choice to lead an innovative company like HPE. Antonio has made sure that HPE continues to lead the industry in its three pillars -- hybrid IT, intelligent edge and the services to bring it all together." Molina said he has experienced firsthand Neri's deep technology knowledge and that "rare attribute" of being able to drill down on specific technologies that makes a difference for customers. "I admire that," he said. "I see him continuing to leverage his technical background to make strong decisions around acquisitions like SimpliVity and Nimble." The digital transformation that is reshaping every customer's business demands an executive with Neri's technology expertise, said Molina. "The technology is moving at the speed of light; you need to be able to move very fast," he said. "To do that you need to make wise technology decisions as Antonio has done. Having a leader with that knowledge across the hybrid IT world is very important. That gives HPE a competitive edge." With Neri taking the helm, Molina said he expects Nth Generation's HPE sales to continue grow at double digits next year. "We are very optimistic," he said. "I see strong growth this year with Antonio leading the charge. We have an amazing opportunity to take the newest components of the portfolio to market. We are already seeing important synergy with Synergy and we are executing sales with the platform. That is a great example of HPE innovation." Steve Tepedino, CEO of IT Partners, a Tempe, Ariz.-based solution provider and one of HPE's top enterprise partners, said partners are "grateful" for Whitman's leadership that led to an HPE turnaround and are now looking forward to working with Neri to drive sales growth. "It's pretty cool that HPE has groomed a successor who has held many different jobs inside Hewlett Packard," said Tepedino. "The channel got to know Antonio when he ran services and the many jobs he has had since then. Antonio is no stranger to us as channel partners. There is a great degree of comfort in that. He has been a real friend to the channel. I got to know him as a channel partner and former distributor executive. It is a very positive move. I am very excited about it. And it's a good time to make the CEO change with the inflection point of the reorganization put in place toward the end of the last fiscal year " The major restructuring along with the acquisitions of SimpliVity and Nimble are poised to drive sales growth, said Tepedino. One of the keys to the new fiscal year is going to be making sure the employees from those two acquisitions are pumped up to help lead the channel charge in the new HPE, he said. "There was a lot of uncertainty in the field at the end of this year," said Tepedino. "Some very good people came to HPE with the acquisitions. My ask of HPE is to make sure it continues to be the company that those excellent people want to be a part of. With all of the changes and unknowns from the restructuring, there has been some discomfort that we have felt as partners that our brethren at HPE have also felt. My message to the HPE team is there is nothing but opportunity in front of us. Let's get out there and capture that opportunity." Networking News Justice Department Sues AT&T To Block Monster Time Warner Deal Gina Narcisi Share this The U.S. Department of Justice is suing telecom giant AT&T in an attempt to challenge the carrier's plan to acquire media giant Time Warner. AT&T first disclosed its intent to acquire Time Warner in October 2016 for $85.4 billion. The deal was poised to add several media properties to AT&Ts portfolio, including CNN, HBO, HBO Now and popular streaming service HBO Go. The Justice Department''s lawsuit, which was filed in federal court Monday, claimed that the deal "would result in fewer innovative offerings and higher bills for American families." [Related: Partners: Monster AT&T-Time Warner Deal Could Add Value Beyond Connectivity If It Wins Approval] For its part, AT&T immediately responded to the lawsuit Monday evening, saying in a statement that the claim was a "radical and inexplicable departure from decades of anti-trust precedent." The carrier called its planned acquisition a "vertical merger" that could benefit consumers, without removing a competitor from the market. The lawsuit comes at time in which the Republican-led Justice Department and Federal Communications Commission have been viewed as being more merger-friendly than the former Democratic administration's regulation bodies. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai earlier this fall declined to review the merger between the two companies. At the time AT&T revealed its merger plans, the provider said that Time Warner would represent about 15 percent of the combined company's revenue. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said the Justice Deparment's claim that the deal would take away competition or cost consumers more money was not valid. "I've done a lot of deals in my career, but I've never done one where we have disagreed with the Department of Justice so much on even the most basic of facts," he said. "The rule of law is at issue here." Michael Bremmer, CEO of TelecomQuotes.com, a telecom consultancy firm and solution provider based in Moreno Valley, Calif., said that carriers like AT&T and Verizon have been scrambling to add more value beyond their basic connectivity services. "I'm not sure the Time Warner purchase will affect the channel since it's a media asset, but as a consumer I don't think it's good for more media consolidation," Bremmer said. During the 6th EU-Africa Business Forum to be held on 27 November 2017 in Abidjan, Cote dIvoire, CTA will be leading a session on integrating ICT innovations into agribusiness. The session will highlight the opportunities that ICTs can offer young entrepreneurs and help not only to transform agriculture in Africa but generate higher incomes and jobs. With the overarching theme Investing in job creation for youth, the EU-Africa Business Forum (EABF) will look at the challenges and opportunities for investment in Africa in four strategic sectors renewable energy, agribusiness, infrastructure and the digital economy and will aim to provide solutions, particularly for the growing number of young male and female entrepreneurs. CTA will lead a session on: 'How to integrate innovative ICT technologies into agribusiness. The event will involve young ICT4Ag innovators, service providers, farmer organisation representatives and policymakers, who will share their perspectives and experiences and explore opportunities for accelerating digitisation as a major vehicle for transforming African agriculture. The session will place particular emphasis on showcasing successful examples of where CTA has played a leading role in supporting young entrepreneurs working on ICT4Ag, and demonstrate how crucial ICTs are for transforming African agriculture through improving productivity, market access and catalysing youth entrepreneurship. Enabling policy environment' ICT4Ag is a game changer in agricultural transformation in Africa, and young ICT4Ag entrepreneurs are making a difference for smallholder producers, said CTA Director Michael Hailu. Therefore an enabling policy environment is needed to support greater ICT innovation in African agriculture and such innovations also need to be scaled up to improve smallholder agriculture and build farmers resilience against climate change. This requires that governments and development partners invest more in rural digital infrastructure and digital literacy for farmers,' he said. The EABF, integral part of the Joint Africa-EU strategy, concludes a series of business-related events held in Africa and Europe throughout 2017, including at the European Development Days in June 2017 on bridging the digital divide in Africa, and innovative agriculture for next-generation farms. Discussions from the focus will feed into the 5th EU-Africa Summit to be held 29-30 November, also in Abidjan. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate We should all be thankful on Thanksgiving that even though some companies are fleeing Connecticut, at least two want to spend hundreds of millions of their own dollars here, if the government lets them. They are the gambling purveyors, MGM Resorts International and MMCT, the joint venture of the tribes that run Foxwoods Resort and Mohegan Sun casinos. True to the holiday season, they cant stop bickering. Listening to the latest in a nonstop series of spats, Id say its time for both sides to knock it off, go to their rooms, hunker down and work on their own projects and stop trying to undercut the other guys with public insults. This one is about what MGM CEO Jim Murren did, or did not, say on a Nov. 8 quarterly conference call with investors and financial analysts. What he said was that MGM is pretty much done for the time being building large-scale casinos in the United States. Along with a huge, planned resort in Tokyo, and opening MGM Springfield next year, the company will focus on upgrades on the Strip in its hometown of Las Vegas, Murren said. No mention of Bridgeport? Wasnt Murren just here in September, arm-in-arm with the mayor and the masters of the harbor redevelopment, declaring that Bridgeport and Tokyo were MGMs top two projects in the world? MGM is so focused on Bridgeport that in its quarterly report to shareholders the idea of a Bridgeport casino didnt even cross Mr. Murrens mind when discussing prospects for the coming years, MMCT spokesman Andrew Doba snapped. Referring to the Sept. 18 event at the site, Doba said, You would think that after a glitzy PR stunt that the CEO of MGM would think to mention it. The tribes accusation since September has been that MGM isnt serious about Bridgeport, it only rolled out the plan as a desperate measure to kill the East Windsor casino that was approved by the state as a way to siphon customers off Interstate 91 who might drive up to MGM Springfield. The view from Las Vegas, naturally, is quite different. Murren was talking about projects that are approved or in construction, MGM says and Bridgeport isnt approved yet. The tribes are merely taking what was said in one context and trying to twist it into a different context, Uri Clinton, MGM senior vice president and legal counsel, said in a written statement. Doing so is wrong on the facts. Period. Clinton reiterated that MGM is fully committed to Bridgeport, as evidenced by intense lobbying to win legislative approval for it in 2018, and the fact that Murren is slated to return to the Park City for a high-profile event Dec. 5. But he didnt stop there. Just as the tribes are pushing the idea that MGM is desperately fighting to kill the East Windsor plan with no real interest in Connecticut, MGM wants to portray the tribes as too cash-poor to build a new casino, hopelessly bumbling even if they had the money. And MGM insists the East Windsor plan wont get the federal approval it needs. The differences between project plans for East Windsor and Bridgeport could not be more stark: the East Windsor casino proposed by the Tribes is rapidly losing steam, while MGM Bridgeport is gaining substantial momentum by the day, Clinton said. Were not losing momentum, we are moving forward with the project and expect to see some serious movement on this site in the near future, Doba said, declining to say whether that means site work will start in the six weeks remaining in 2017. We could parse every one of these issues, and more. We could conclude that, yes, Murren failed to mention Bridgeport and maybe it was because of the context but it still would have been nice to hear a shout-out. As we all know by now, Murren is from Bridgeport and Fairfield and his mother and other family members still live here. We could conclude that MMCT has moved rather slowly in the three years since the Hartford-area casino idea first surfaced. If it was going to be most effective, it should have opened by now, well ahead of MGM Springfield. But what we think, and what they tell us, doesnt matter anymore. What matters are the facts: The tribes have state approval for East Windsor and a statewide duopoly on casinos, but no clear federal approval to build. MGM, for its part, has plenty of money to do what it says it will do, and it has a deal for the best, most logical casino location in Connecticut. It has no approval and it will have to persuade lawmakers to break a deal with the tribes. Let the lawsuits fly, let the shovels dig where money and approvals are in hand and let both sides, and the state, negotiate toward a solution that works for the whole state. Beyond that, lets all have Thanksgiving in peace and not worry about the bickering forces. dhaar@hearstmediact.com This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be in a car with a Connecticut State Police trooper on one of the busiest travel days of the year? No need to wonder anymore. You wont be in the car with troopers, but state polices Bridgeport troop Troop G is hosting a tweet-along on Twitter Wednesday evening. The tweet-along was scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. and continued until the trooper signed off from his shift around 11:30 p.m. on Nov. 22. Trooper Mansfield who has worked for Troop G for two years drove the cruiser participating in the tweet-along. Before becoming a trooper, Mansfield was in the U.S. Navy for six years. As some unsuspecting motorists learned....his cruiser is sneaky, a tweet said Wednesday night, showcasing his black, unmarked cruiser. The first call for the tweet-along took place minutes before 5 p.m. Starting the shift and heading to a disabled vehicle in the right lane on the Q bridge, the tweet said. The disabled car was cleared around 5:15 p.m., but state police were en route to the next two calls immediately after. The second tweet said there were two crashes on Interstate 95 northbound between exits 54 and 55 one right behind another. Police said a two-car crash took place directly behind a three-car crash. All cars stopped on the left shoulder, the tweet said. No injuries. Leave space when traveling in heavy traffic. #MoveOverCT The hashtag at the end of the tweet references the states Move Over Law that tell drivers in the state to move over one lane and slow down when approaching emergency response vehicles pulled over on the highway. Around 6:30 p.m. Mansfield stopped a car that was traveling 85 mph. The car pulled over on the left shoulder of the highway, and state police want you to know thats not following the law. State motor vehicle law says to stop on the RIGHT shoulder, the tweet said. Mansfield issued the driver a speeding ticket. Around 9 p.m., Mansfield responded to a call for another disabled vehicle. The car was on I-95 southbound near exit 55. The car was stopped on the right shoulder with its hazard lights on and the occupants stayed in the car until the trooper and tow truck arrived to which state police gave the occupants a thumbs up emoticon. Check out #CSPtweetalong for insight into the calls state police went on Wednesday evening. Connecticut State Police received a donation of first responder winter bags for the homeless. The bags were donated by the Massachusetts State Police and Bob The Bike Man Charland of Springfield, Mass. Charland, who is terminally ill, founded a non-profit organization earlier this year called Pedal Thru Youth that provides bicycles to less fortunate children. Since its inception, the organization has provided over 300 bicycles to children in Massachusetts. But Charland also had the idea to create first responder winter bags for the homeless. The bags contain hats, gloves, socks, foot and hand warmers, toothbrushes and toothpaste, soap, lotion, baby wipes, food, meal replacement shakes and blankets. Some bags contain feminine hygiene products. Massachusetts State Police and Charland traveled to Middletown to donate 80 first responder winter bags for the homeless to Connecticut State Police Headquarters. The bags will be distributed to troopers at Troop A in Southbury, Troop G in Bridgeport and Troop H in Hartford. Troopers at these locations will carry the bags in their cars and offer them and additional social services to those in need that they come into contact with this winter. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate BRIDGEPORT Mayor Joe Ganims administration Tuesday insisted it has not sold out the citys immigrant community to the Trump White House in exchange for a federal grant. The Justice Department announced Monday in a news release that Bridgeport police was among 179 law enforcement agencies nationwide awarded grants to hire more full-time cops. Bridgeport received $1.8 million. The bottom line is theres no secret agreement between the city and (the U.S.) Department of Justice to go find undocumented people, said Av Harris, a Ganim aide, in response to accusations leveled by the nonprofit immigrant rights organization Make the Road Connecticut. But the organization that lobbied for Bridgeport to become a welcoming city for immigrants, documented and undocumented sees it differently. So differently, in fact, that Make the Road held a rally Tuesday night outside City Hall Annex at 999 Broad St. We found that the city had done some (grant) paperwork that one of the incentives was: if you comply with some of the federal laws around immigration, youll potentially get the grant quicker, said Make the Road Connecticuts State Director Julio Lopez Varona. This is extremely concerning to us because we passed the welcoming city resolution and we want to make sure our people are protected, Varona added. In May, Bridgeport debated becoming a sanctuary city that specifically limits its cooperation with the federal government over enforcing immigration law. But Ganim, a Democrat, was concerned about Republican President Donald Trumps threats to strip such municipalities of federal funds. So instead Bridgeport passed a watered down resolution to make the city a welcoming place for immigrants, emphasizing that, while the city would cooperate with the federal government, local police would not be immigration enforcers. But Attorney General Jeff Sessions when announcing the law enforcement grants Monday said that recipients have agreed to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. We reject that spin that this is ... some new type of cooperation between the city and (U.S.) Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Harris said. And as far as we know, there are no strings attached other than normal reporting requirements when you win a federal grant and have to document how youre spending the money. A copy of the citys grant application obtained by Hearst Connecticut Media shows it was signed by Bridgeport Police Chief Armando Perez and Ganim on Sept. 19 and mentions compliance with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The form that troubles Varona titled Certification of Illegal Immigration Cooperation requires the police department to implement rules and policies to give advance notice as early as practicable (at least 48 hours, where possible) to the Department of Homeland Security regarding the scheduled release date and time of an alien in the jurisdictions custody when DHS requests such notice in order to take custody of the alien. To me, that reads as a breach of the (welcoming city) resolution that we passed, said City Councilman-elect Kyle Langan, who joined the Make the Road protestors at the City Hall Annex. When Bridgeport passed the resolution in May, it stated the police department does not, and will not ... stop, detain, arrest or transfer individuals based solely on real or perceived immigration status. There is an infinitesimally small percentage of arrests that Bridgeport police make or calls they respond to that has anything to do with someones immigration status, Harris said. To start inquiring about immigration status would be outside the scope for Bridgeport police. Varona said Make the Road will further dig into the grant and what it means for the city: We want to review the grant. If we feel like the grant goes beyond the bare minimum, were going to ask the mayor to rescind the grant. BRIDGEPORT - A Superior Court judge on Friday issued a warning to the administrators of a Hamden senior housing facility to be wary of the activities of a woman who runs a deli there. Judge John Kavanewsky Jr. issued the warning in regards to former Fairfield deli owner Carmella Jamshidian, who was convicted in 2014 and sentenced to 9 years in prison for fleecing three elderly siblings out of their savings. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate TRUMBULL After cinching the victory in the race to be Trumbulls first selectman, Democrat Vicki Tesoro is prepping for the change in tone in town politics and filling the seat of her former political opponent and current gubernatorial candidate Republican Tim Herbst. Tesoro was elected to Trumbulls town office with 4,718 votes, or about 45 percent of the total. Herbst, who served eight years as first selectman, chose not to run to have more time to campaign to be Connecticuts next governor. The political relationship between Tesoro and Herbst hasnt always been the friendliest. Tesoro narrowly lost to Herbst two years ago when he was running for re-election, and both have made their disagreements with each other clear. Still, both said they are committed to making the transition as seamless as possible. Herbst called Tesoro to congratulate her on election night and said he would set up meetings with different department heads. More News Democrat elected to Trumbull First Selectman spot Tesoro is assembling her transition team in preparation for Dec. 4, when she will be sworn into office. She said she doesnt have any concerns about working with Herbst as she assumes his former job. I believe Tim's a professional and I'm sure he has the best interests of our community in mind and would be willing to work with us and make the transition as smooth as possible for the residents of the town, Tesoro said. He certainly did speak to that when we spoke (on election night). Tesoro said during her campaign that her administration was going to be transparent, inclusive and civil, and said she hopes that residents see the difference after the transition period. That type of good government process, I would hope would be pretty apparent immediately.it's certainly going to be a transition period to move from one administration to another, so all those changes will take time to be apparent, but that's certainly what we will be focusing on, Tesoro said. But Herbst, who called himself a Trumbullite before a Republican, said he hopes that any changes Tesoro makes dont affect what he sees as his administrations forward momentum. I just think that for the last year we've been hearing about process, process, slowing things down and I just hope things aren't slowed down to the point that we don't make progress, Herbst said. He attributed his political rivals victory to Republican satisfaction and that Democrats were better at getting voters to the polls this year. People are very content and very happy with the town and complacency was the biggest enemy for Republicans, Herbst said. He also had some advice as Tesoro moves into her new role. She seems to be somebody who likes to make decisions as a group, Herbst said. But I think that she underestimates that sometimes you have to be the one to make the decision by yourself and sometimes you have to make them quickly. And sometimes when you make a decision, oftentimes it's right, sometimes it'll be wrong, but that's leadership. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate For any animal owner, the ideal scenario is being able to travel with your pets, but often that is not the case, which means people have to go through the hassle of finding a good place to board them. The holiday season is here, finding the perfect "hotel" for your pet has likely taken priority, and with so many pet hotels in Southwestern Connecticut, the task seems rather daunting. Kennels can be a good solution for people when theyre traveling so the animals dont have to go through the stress of travel, said Annie Hornish, Connecticut state director for the Humane Society of the United States. But I would suggest that people do their homework when it comes to kennels. They should be licensed and should have that license posted somewhere. Pet owners can also call Connecticuts Department of Agriculture to make sure the facility is fully compliant with the states laws and regulations. The Humane Society of the United States recommends that pet owners visit a boarding place before making arrangements and pay attention to cleanliness and ventilation. They should check if the facility is maintained at a comfortable temperature with enough light. Some of the best boarding places will have an indoor-outdoor run where pets can exercise and socialize. Its important that they are very careful to make sure that the dogs get along with each other, Hornish said. Some places will also allow for playtime, usually for a few extra dollars and thats always a nice thing to do. Kennels should also require pets to be current on their vaccinations. Hornish suggests pet owners ask what would happen if an animal needs medical care and whats the boarding kennels average response time. Reputable places will have someone they can reach out to in case of an emergency, Hornish said. Their emergency vets should have your contact information so they can communicate if a medical emergency occurs. CAUTION: These people foods could cause your pet some serious health issues Of course, pet owners only want the absolute best for their pet, so with the help of Yelp, we have pulled together a list of the best pet boarding places in the region, along with their rating, location, phone number and website. Now Playing: From blueberry facials to Rolls-Royce-pickups, these are the fanciest dog hotels in the country for your pup to vacation in. Video: Redbook Just remember, these places will fill up fast for the holidays, so the sooner you book, the better. Take a look through the gallery above to see some of the best places to board your pet in Southwestern Connecticut. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Thanksgiving Eve, Blackout Wednesday, Drunksgiving whatever you call it, the night before Thanksgiving is considered one of the biggest drinking occasions of the year. People travel from all corners of the country to converge on their hometowns in time for the holiday, hit up the local bar scene with high school buddies they haven't seen in years, and wax nostalgic over drinks. While celebrating Thanksgiving Eve is a tradition for many, it can be especially pronounced for college students. Many are home for the first time since the semester began and have some serious catching up to do with their hometown friends. Related: Report Lower Fairfield County is Connecticut's drunkest metro area Some are 21 or older, some aren't which leads to an issue synonymous with Thanksgiving Eve: underage drinking. "Underage drinking is an issue we grapple with in Connecticut," Diana Lejardi, spokesperson for the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS), said. She acknowledged the increase in drinking rates in college-aged students (legal or not) when they come home for Thanksgiving and get together with old friends. More troubling is the rate of alcohol use in high school students at any time of year. According to the DMHAS Connecticut School Health Survey, one in three Connecticut high school students drink alcohol. Half of those students report they binge drink that is, consume five or more alcoholic drinks in a row. Trooper Kelly Grant of the Connecticut State Police concurred underage drinking is "a major concern of ours," specifically drinking and driving, and especially during the holidays. If you're under 21, she reminded, the penalty for drinking and driving is much harsher than people of age arrested on DUI charges. Related: You've been warned State Police roving patrols, DUI checkpoints While car crashes are the leading cause of death in teenagers, only 32 percent of underage drinking fatalities are drunk-driving related, according to statistics presented by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). Alcohol poisoning, suicide, homicide and other causes make up the majority (68 percent) of underage drinking fatalities. Additionally, some research shows that heavy drinking during the teenage years "may cause lasting impairments in brain functions such as memory, coordination and motor skills," according to information from DMHAS. Youths who start drinking before age 15 are six times more likely to develop alcohol dependence later in life, per MADD. Knowing that underage drinking is prevalent in Connecticut what's a parent to do during this heightened time of holiday drinking? "Parents need to be constantly aware of their surroundings," said Johanna Krebs, program manager for the Connecticut chapter of MADD. Underage revelers may turn to their parents' liquor cabinets no doubt stocked up Thanksgiving at a time when adults are distracted, busy prepping for dinner the next day. "If you're hosting Thanksgiving, be extremely mindful and monitor the alcohol don't just stick it in a fridge in the back of the garage," Krebs said. She suggests the host appoint another adult to keep watch over the alcohol stash so teens don't have access to it. "It's about safety and it keeps us financially and legally whole as well," Krebs added. Read Connecticut's Social Host Law here. On the other hand, there are some parents who acknowledge their teens drink alcohol and they prefer the drinking be supervised. "The idea that as long as it's happening in my house, it's all right that can lead to a lot of misconceptions about alcohol," Krebs said. "Just because you're taking away the keys, doesn't mean you're taking away the risks." She added that parents should be mindful of Connecticut's Social Host Law, which holds anyone in control of a property responsible for any underage drinking that occurs there. Parents can also be held responsible if a teen who was drinking leaves a house party gets involved in crash, Trooper Grant said. "It's not just parents who need to be mindful," Grant added, "but friends coming home from college even if they're 21, 23, 30 years old anyone of age who supplies alcohol to a minor, period. It's illegal." He may soon be out as governor of New Jersey, but Chris Christie continues to have an impact on one of his favorite topics: the legalization of marijuana. Hes not for it. He made that clear once again this month. As chairman of a committee appointed by President Donald Trump to make recommendations on dealing with the nations opioid crisis, Christie took the opportunity to again attack cannabis legalization. In a letter submitted with a report from the Trump-appointed Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis, Christie compared legalization of marijuana to the expanded use of opioids in the 1990s and early 2000s. The Commission urges that the same mistake is not made with the uninformed rush to put another drug legally on the market in the midst of an overdose epidemic, he wrote. Related: Entrepreneurs See Opportunity Addressing Consumer Demand for Pesticide-Free Cannabis Trump commission On Oct. 26, Trump declared the opioid crisis a national public health emergency. The numbers are indeed staggering. According to the commission, 175 people die every day in the United States from drug overdose. If a terrorist organization was killing 175 Americans a day on American soil, what would we do to stop them? Christie wrote. We would do anything and everything. The commission made a number of recommendations. They include: A national multimedia campaign teaching children about the dangers of drugs and potential for addiction Placing more nurses and counselors in elementary, middle and high schools to help at-risk students Block grant federal funding for states to pay for anti-opioid programs Providing incentives for drug companies to develop non-opioid pain management drugs While marijuana has emerged as a possible alternative to opioids for pain management, the commission does not recommend its use. In his letter, Christie cited the National Institute on Drug Abuse research that found marijuana use led to a 2 times greater chance that the marijuana user would become an opioid user and abuser. The commission found this very disturbing. Others, however, have found the commissions attack on marijuana itself disturbing. Related: New Jersey Voters Likely Just Approved Legalized Marijuana Dueling statistics Dr. Chinazo Cunningham, a professor of medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, told CNN that I was surprised to see negative language about marijuana in the opioid report. Cunningham also said that actual research does not back up the claim in the report that marijuana use increases the chances of opioid addiction. Cunninghams own research has found that in states where marijuana is legal, opioid overdose deaths fell by 25 percent. Cunningham noted that the continued illegality of marijuana under federal law has kept doctors and scientists from doing thorough research on the potential medical uses for marijuana. Sanjay Gupta, the chief medical correspondent for CNN, also said there is little evidence marijuana leads to abuse of harder drugs. However, alcohol and nicotine have proved to be indicators of future drug abuse, he said. To stay up to date on the latest marijuana related news make sure to like dispensaries.com on Facebook Related: The Evidence Says Legal Marijuana Reduces Opioid Deaths But Chris Chistie Won't Believe It Entrepreneurs See Opportunity Addressing Consumer Demand for Pesticide-Free Cannabis New Jersey Voters Likely Just Approved Legalized Marijuana Copyright 2017 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com 21 Kasm 2017 Sal, 15:23 Osman Kavala was arrested one month ago and then thrown in jail. He is now being held on his own in a cell in Silivri Prison Number 9. As things stand, he is charged with attempting to change the constitutional order and overthrow the government. This charge is based on two allegations. First, engaging in intense discussions with Henri Barkey, accused of being the international leg of the 15 July coup attempt. Second, financing and organising the 2013 Gezi events that were classified by the judiciary as being an attempt to overthrow the ruling party four and a half years after they had transpired. It is known that the regime media took to accusing Henri Barkey of organising and coordinating the 15 July 2016 coup attempt while he was at a meeting devoted to Iran attended by local and foreign think-tank people on Buyukada on 15-16 July 2016. At the time Osman Kavala was arrested and detained for having discussions with him, there was as yet no apprehension order for Henri Barky, accused of organising the 15 July 2016 coup attempt. This apprehension order was issued ten days after Osman Kavala had been detained. Subsequently, on 15 November, a news report was published in the regimes main media outlet: Osman Kavla spoke to Henri Barkey using his and his wife, company employees and cousins phone for a total of 93 hours 34 minutes and 1 second. Given that confidentiality of investigation is breached by the regime media, there was no objection to investigating the matter and this is what I did. The conclusion is that the allegation is groundless. There exists no HTS record to support this allegation and what is in fact involved is base station overlapping. The civil society organisation of which Kavala is the founder, Anatolia Culture Foundation, was in the hotel area of Taksims Elmadag and, since you would have used the same base station as people staying in nearby hotels, by this logic, you would have also have spoken to them. The only explanation for the affair is that Henri Barkey may have stayed at the hotels in Elmadag. We are greeted with a similar logic when it comes to the day trip that Kavala made to Diyarbakr on 26 June 2016. Barkey went to Diyarbakr two days after Kavala had returned and these two people used the same base station and the news is thus reported that they spoke in Diyarbakr. Kavala is accused of coming together with Henri Barkey in a restaurant in Karakoy three days after the coup attempt on 18 July. This, in common with the others, is an unfounded accusation. In fact, Barkey and Kavala were not there for a meeting and just ran into one another and had a brief stand-up chat and did not dine together. If you look at the facts, there was no occasion in the periods in question when Osman Kavala got an appointment and met Henri Barkey. There is also no concrete evidence whatsoever that Kavala organised and financed Gezi; no money transfer record is involved. Osman Kavala has been thrown in jail on unjust, unfounded, hollow accusations that are devoid of logic and reason. He is a civil society leader. What could Kavala have to do with overthrowing the government and changing the constitutional order? The Anatolia Culture Foundation of which he is the Executive Board Chair is a civil society organisation that is also sensitive to Kurdish and Armenian issues. Osman Kavala was the most effective and most important connection between Turkeys civil society and the outside world. Could it be that these are Osman Kavalas real crimes? All these attributes may have made him a person who needs to be rendered ineffective in certain eyes. Kavala has been targeted. It is clear that, following newspapers, the turn has come of Turkeys civil society to be annihilated. For, the most important role of civil society, which is an indispensable part of a healthy and participatory democracy, is to monitor and limit the ruling partys power. Civil society organisations are by definition independent of the state and ruling party and pressurise those in power and force them to give account over issues such as the environment, urbanisation, culture, health, the economy and sexual equality. Civil society organisations have the potential to influence the conduct of people and voters. Strong civil society organisations do not leave decision making in the hands of a small group and bring the people down from the stands onto the field. It is clear that, in the runup to 2019, the ruling party has no tolerance for the least modicum of any of these things I have listed and has put Osman Kavala in prison as a consequence of this. Writing a letter to Santa is a time-honoured childhood tradition, but how many of us have ever actually received a reply from the big red man himself? Well, now you can. Thanks to Australia Post, children can write Santa a letter or a postcard, track its journey and receive a reply in their letterbox. Australia Post's Head of Media, Michelle Shekan, said children writing to Santa this year, who would like a response, just need to make sure they address their letters to Santa Claus at the North Pole, and include the postcode 9999. Letters to Santa: Children can write letters to the jolly red man, track their letter's journey and receive a reply in their letterbox (stock image) Last year young Australians sent Santa over 130,000 letters and wish lists (stock image) 'Writing a letter to Santa is an easy way to encourage children to practise their letter writing skills and how to address, stamp and post a letter,' she said. 'Its a fun approach to letter writing at home or the classroom, but if you get stuck, Australia Post has some helpful letter writing tips and templates on our website.' Last year young Australians sent Santa over 130,000 letters and wishlists. Reminder to parents: Letters should be addressed to the North Pole, 9999 and don't forget to add a stamp Children can pick up free Christmas postcards and write to Santa on the spot at selected post offices. To make sure Santa receives the letter, envelopes will need a 65 cent stamp and should be posted in specially marked boxes located in Australia Post stores or any red post box. There's also a reminder to include a return address on the back of the envelope so Santa can respond. All letters sent to Santa will receive a reply and Australia Post's interactive mail tracker shows the whereabouts of the letter en route to the North Pole Australia Post's website has a dedicated Santa mail page that helps children create the perfect letter as well as a range of fun holiday resources. There's also access to the Santa Mail interactive mail tracker which shows whereabouts the letter is on it's journey to the man himself. While Australia Post will be doing all they can to make sure Santa gets his mail, the latest date letters can be sent is December 15. Advertisement Rural England is not typically associated with modern architecture - being better known for quaint cottages, ramblings farmhouses, or sprawling country piles. But the awe-inspiring countryside properties in the running for the Royal Institute of British Architects' House of the Year Award have all been designed with contemporary flair. Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud explored the rural homes long-listed for the prestigious award in the latest special episode of the series, including a rustic treehouse with a surprisingly plush interior, a striking home built on a cantilever, and a zinc covered new build nestling in Ayrshire's rolling hills. Woodworker Guy Mallinson spent 150,000 building a treehouse that he could call home in Dorset. The end result, which is accessed via a rope bridge and help up by stilts of sweet chestnut, manages to be both understated and luxurious - with the simple exterior masking a sauna and free-standing jacuzzi bath inside. Nestled in the hills of the Isle of Purbeck is the ultra modern Quest House, so-called because it took Charles Denton and his wife 20 years to find the perfect spot to build it on. The ambitious property home is built on a cantilever using a clever balancing trick. The Newhouse in Ayrshire, Scotland, is a striking building covered in blue zinc, creating a corrugated barn effect that belies the state-of-the-art interiors. Meanwhile architect David Shepherd and his GP wife transformed an old cattle barn in Devon into Cob Corner, a fabulous - and ultra modern - family home, while retaining traditional aspects of the building he remembered from his childhood. Walls within the property still retain marks left by the tongues of cows that fed in the barn in years gone by. THE WOODSMAN'S TREEHOUSE Woodworker Guy Mallinson wanted to 'celebrate' wood and created a treehouse in the middle of the Dorset woods Woodworker Guy Mallinson built his treehouse in Dorset as a 'celebration' of wood, using Douglas fir, cedar and oak to create his dream home. Built in a gap between oak trunks, the property stands on stilts made of sweet chestnut - which proved to be a difficult labour of love as Mallinson strove to be 'respectful' to the surrounding trees. The supports were eventually put in at angles to work around the oak roots, which can grow in any direction. Visitors approach the property via a rope bridge and enter through a submarine door, which opens onto - somewhat surprisingly given the rustic surroundings - modern luxury. Mallinson installed a sauna, an outdoor hot tub, a pizza oven and even a slide to make his treehouse even more unique. The house is built on stilts made of sweet chestnuts and is built around the oak tree's roots so as not to 'disrespect' the tree Architect Michelle Ogundehin called the 35 sq m home a 'glamorous woodland funfair' as she marveled at the property on Grand Designs. Michelle said: 'This is so much more luxurious than I imagined it would be. It's got a sense of escapism; it all feels quite unexpected.' The treehouse proved a struggle to build as no heavy machinery could access the boggy woodland setting, so everything had to be made by hand. The logs making up the distinctive exterior of the property took four weeks to complete, with Mallinson enlisting his son and friends to help. The home cost 150,000 in total to build, which Mallinson admitted was 'very expensive for him'. He said: 'Wood is such a fantastic material. I spend my entire life working with wood, and so the treehouse is really a celebration of what wood could do.' Visitors approach the house on a rope bridge that leads up to a submarine door, which hides a luxurious interior Most of the house is circular and has surprising features like a private sauna and an outdoor jacuzzi that overlooks the woods THE QUEST HOUSE Film producer Charles Denton and his wife Penny spent 20 years searching for the perfect piece of land to build their dream house on. They finally found it on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, hidden in the hills, and spent 750,000 building a striking modern home that is as far removed from a traditional English farmhouse as could be. The land had previously been home to a traditional bungalow. Charles said: 'Primarily what I wanted, and what Penny wanted, was a site that would give us a peaceful setting and a house that could complement the extraordinary countryside we were sitting in. 'We wanted something special.' The Quest House is so-called because it took film producer Charles Denton and his wife Penny 20 years to find the perfect land to build on The property is built onto a cantilever, which architects created by building a concrete foundation underneath the side of the house that was set on the ground to balance with the side that was built onto a stone wall The home features lots of windows to allow the couple to enjoy the views of the surrounding countryside The 250 sq m property is built onto a cantilever, which architects created by building a concrete foundation beneath the side of the house that was set on the ground, to balance with the side built atop a stone wall. Inside the house is even more striking, and features huge windows that allow sunlight to stream in and offer views of the rolling countryside. The spacious living room is eight metres wide, and judges complimented the couple on the simplicity of the room's design. The vast space is the property's only reception room, but the couple asked architects for two studies so they could each have their own haven. The interior has a very modern feel and the couple enjoy the space of and eight meter wide living room The couple wanted somewhere peaceful that would also 'compliment' the countryside surroundings THE NEWHOUSE In Ayrshire, retired GP Mike Law and his wife Sally built the Newhouse on old farm land at Auchengree, which they styled to look like an updated barn. The building has blue zinc cladding and features shutters to the windows to give the property a farmhouse feel. The Newhouse is a series of three buildings that have been connected together; with one building housing the master bedrooms, the other a kitchen and living room, and the third used as an outhouse for guest bedrooms and storage. The couple, who are passionate about the outdoors, spent 600,000 building the home after the keen runners spotted the land was for sale on one of their daily jaunts. The Newhouse in Ayrshire, Scotland cost 600,000 for retired GP Mike Law and his wife Sally to build on old farmland The building has blue standing seam zinc cladding and features shuttered to windows to give the property a farmhouse feel It stands in the middle of the countryside which the outdoorsy couple loved after they spotted the land was up for sale with just an old bungalow occupying it Mike said: 'A phrase our architect once used was ''Your house will stand like a sculpture in the landscape.'' I think that's pretty true.' The farmhouse style of the building is functional as well as striking, with the barn doors bolting shut during stormy Scottish weather to act as windbreakers. The couple also said they liked that the interior was spacious enough for their children and grandchildren to visit, while also providing them with flexibility as they get older and less mobile. The couple said their architect wanted their home to look like a 'sculpture in the landscape' They wanted the interior to spacious enough so their large family could visit, while also leaving them enough room for their retirement COB CORNER Architect David Shepherd and his GP wife Sally modernised an old cattle barn to create their dream home in Devon. David remembered the old barn from time spent in the area in his childhood, so wanted to maintain aspects of the building that held a special place in his heart. He said: 'I used to play not far from here and it's still the same as when I was a child of seven. It hasn't really changed much and I think that has a great influence on me being an architect.' The couple retained the shuttered exterior of the barn to keep the style of the property traditional, and used traditional methods to refurbish the rest, adding all the benefits of a modern home. The Cob Corner house in Devon is a converted barn that architect David Shepherd and his GP wife Sally wanted to refurbish The property took the couple some 14 years to complete and included work like excavating old cow dung from the old barn The builder used the cobbing method to repair the crumbling building, which involves using subsoil, water and fibrous organic material to create walls. They kept some of the interior walls untouched - even leaving behind marks that cows had made with their tongues while they were feeding in the barn. It took 14 years to refurbish the old barn, not to mention significant financial outlay, including 11,000 to install the 250 timber shutters on the windows alone. David did much of the work himself, including excavating layers of old cow dung to lay down the flooring during the arduous refurbishment process. David had played by the barn as a young child and wanted to keep it like how he remembered it as a boy The architect has his own studio in the luxurious building, which he used traditional methods like cobbing to complete The couple even kept the original walls that were damaged by feeding cows to keep its old barn feel Grand Designs: House of the Year airs Tuesdays on Channel 4 at 9pm Tess Holliday has hit out at famous curvy models who have denounced the term 'plus-size' after building their careers off of the now-controversial term. Although she didn't name names, the size 22 model appeared to be calling out Ashley Graham, who has famously shared her disdain for the term following her rise to fame. 'If someone googles "model" they're going to see Bella Hadid, or Gigi. If they google "plus-size model" they're going to see me,' Tess, 32, told Paper magazine. 'I think it's incredibly frustrating that all these women capitalize off a marginalized group and when they become famous they are too good for it.' Take that: Size 22 model Tess Holliday has slammed plus-size models who have denounced the term that helped make them famous Guessing game: Although she didn't name names, Tess (left) appeared to be calling out Ashley Graham (right), who has famously shared her disdain for the term 'plus-size' 'One of them was just in a Lane Bryant campaign,' she added, seemingly referencing Ashley, one of the plus-size lingerie brand's most famous models. Ashley has made it clear that she prefers the terms 'curvy' or 'curve,' and she isn't the only model who feels that way. Fellow Lane Bryant stars Candice Huffine and Denise Bidot have also stated that they hope the term 'plus-size' will become obsolete. However, Tess stressed that she has no interest in replacing plus-size with any cutesy terms. 'How can you build your career from taking money from plus-size women and then turn around and say the term's not good enough for you?' she asked. Opinion: 'I don't want to be called "curvy sexy-licious," that's ridiculous. It's insulting!' Tess said of some models' desire to be called 'curvy' instead of plus-size Wish: Tess, who is pictured on the SimplyBe 'Curve Catwalk' during London Fashion Week in September, said she wants to see more plus-size models above a size 14 on the runway Body positive: The 32-year-old frequently shares sexy photos of herself with her 1.5 million Instagram followers 'I don't want to be called "curvy sexy-licious," that's ridiculous. It's insulting! We can't even be who we are. I get the whole "not being into labels," but it's for a plus-size woman being like "I'm plus-size, she's plus-size, I'm fat, she's fat." It's not a hate-term, it's how I describe my body.' As an advocate for body positivity, Tess explained that she would like to see women who are 'bigger than a size 14' being represented at fashion week. The social media star, who has more than 1.5 million Instagram followers, noted that models who are 'past a certain size or dark-skinned' rarely get cast for runway shows. And while she agreed that curvier stars such as Kim Kardashian have changed the standard of beauty, she pointed out that it is still a standard that is 'unrealistic' and 'unattainable' for the average person. Upsetting: Tess, who stars in a new ad campaign for plus-size brand Eloquii, griped that luxury fashion houses don't make clothes in her size Tough: Tess explained that it is disappointing that she can't wear designer clothes even though she can finally afford it. She is pictured with her husband, Nick Holliday Mom and her boys: Together, Tess and Nick are raising their one-year-old son Bowie Juniper and her 11-year-old son Rylee from a previous relationship 'Kim Kardashian has had a lot of work to get that body and that's fine, I have Dolly Parton tattooed on me, do whatever you want,' she explained. 'But again, they're still praising unrealistic body types. Beauty just has to be more diverse.' Tess also griped that most luxury houses don't make clothes for plus-size women, so she is unable to wear the labels she loves, including Gucci, Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen. The star noted that she grew up feeling like that sort of fashion wasn't attainable to her because of the money, but now that she is a successful model, she can't buy the clothes she wants in her size. Tess and her husband, Nick Holliday, are raising their one-year-old son Bowie Juniper and her 11-year-old son Rylee from a previous relationship together, and the model tried to be optimistic about all the money she is saving on designer clothing. 'It's frustrating, but maybe it's just saving me money so that I can retire,' Tess said. 'If Gucci made my size, we would be living in a shack down by the river for the rest of our lives.' After a group of roommates went viral with their 'basic' Christmas card in 2016, they knew that they had to do everything to make 2017's even better. And it looks like Denver-based Austin Liberato, 30, and his roommates Daniel Carrig, 25, and Lizzy Braun pulled it off and then some after gaining online fame once again, this time by parodying an image of raps most famous stars. Back in 1996, the members of the Death Row Records family were shot for a dramatic portrait for Vibe Magazine. Cool customers: Denver roommates Austin Liberato, Daniel Carrig and Lizzy Braun and their dog Theodore parodied the Death Row Records rappers for their Christmas card The original: Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Tupac, and Suge Knight were shot for the portrait for Vibe Magazine back in 1996 The original image centers on four famous faces: Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Tupac, and Suge Knight. Each appearing with just their faces, jewelry and a hand here or there. For their new Christmas card, Austin, Daniel and Lizzy decided to take their own run at the classic portrait, even displaying some bling to match. At the top of the card is Daniel, who mimics Dr. Dre's pose by peering out the side of his eye as his face just emerges from darkness. Austin takes the place of Tupac, complete with a bracelet and necklace, resting his face against his hand. The bottom of the image is occupied by Lizzy's version of the morose Suge Knight, giving off a stern look with a thumb against her chin. Although all of the roommates nail their respective poses, it is the final participant - their dog Theodore - who truly takes the cake. Previous success: Austin and his previous male roommates gained some attention last year for their 'basic' get-ups The pooch appears professionally stoic, strategically placed in Snoop Dogg's area of the image, sporting a golden chain for his dog tag. Part-time photographer Austin subsequently shared the image on Reddit, writing: 'This years Christmas card with the roommates turned out better than the expected.' 'I posted it around 10pm my time and fell asleep,' Austin told Yahoo. 'I woke up to 50,000 upvotes on Reddit and about 20 texts from different friends asking if it was me in the photo. It was a fun morning!' While not going quite as huge, Austin's effort last year, featuring an image of himself and his two male roommates wearing 'basic' clothes such as a crop-top, puffy vest and 'Namastay in Bed' shirt. The card went viral after it was picked up and shared by the @brosbeingbasic Instagram account. She is already famed for one much-derided hairdo, the Croydon facelift, named after her home town. Now Kate Moss has attracted criticism for promoting another style designed to combat the effects of ageing. The 43-year-old supermodel has revealed that she ties her hair into braids tight enough to pull her skin back, helping make her face look wrinkle-free. But as with the Croydon facelift scraping the hair so tightly into a ponytail or bun that the face is pulled back experts warn that it can do so much harm wearers risk causing bald patches. Miss Moss spoke about her anti-ageing tips to Vogue magazine. 'A great trick they do on photoshoots is doing these little braids underneath your hair to pull your skin up, like a little lift,' she said. Kate Moss (pictured) has revealed that she ties her hair into braids tight enough to pull her skin back, helping make her face look wrinkle-free 'That's another old Hollywood trick. I think they had to know all that stuff before there was retouching, they had to do it all by hand. It's amazing.' But trichologists hair and scalp experts criticised the method. 'It's about the worst thing you could do for your hair. I can't believe she said that,' said Steve O'Brian of the London Centre of Trichology. 'It's a terrible bit of advice. It's just a ridiculous thing to say because if you care at all about your hair then that's the last thing you'd want to do.' Eleanor Richardson, trichologist at Fulham Scalp and Hair Clinic, warned that the pulled-back style could result in traction alopecia, a type of gradual hair loss. 'The tension caused by pulling the hair really tightly, so tight in fact that it will pull the skin up, actually puts a lot of pressure on the follicle,' she said. Commenting on the supermodel's age-defying advice, Steve O' Brian of the London Centre of Trichology said: 'It's about the worst thing you could do for your hair. I can't believe she said that' 'And so you have hair starting to give up and essentially you get hair loss where you've been pulling it really tight.' As well as pulling the hair out at the root, braiding can cause it to weaken and snap. 'This is definitely not a good thing to do in terms of long term health of your hair and your scalp,' she said. 'Use other options or embrace the wrinkles but the braiding of the hair is a pretty dodgy advice.' The Croydon facelift style has also been criticised for its potential to damage hair growth and cause hair loss. The influx of fitness gurus and Instagram stars sharing their bounce-back pregnancy photos with online can affect new mums and their perception of their bodies. But Byron Bay model Ruby Matthews, 23, has shared a message online encouraging all women to love themselves because everyone is different. 'To all the mums out their stressing about how they look, this is your reality check to worry a little less how you look on the outside and to focus a little more on what's on the inside,' she wrote in her caption. 'To be thankful for your health and your babies health, and remember that we are all different and the "goal" of motherhood isn't a six pack it's healthy babies.' Byron Bay model Ruby Matthews, 23, (pictured) has shared an inspiring message online Ruby regularly documents her daily life of parenting her sons Rocket and newcomer Mars on social media and has amassed 197,000 followers as a result. 'I never in my wildest dreams did I think I would share this photo with anyone,' Ruby said.. 'But I think its important to highlight that everyone looks completely different after having a baby. There is no ''normal" or "real" type of woman.' 'We are all different and we all jiggle in different places (my body currently jiggles everywhere).' 'To all the mums out their stressing about how they look , this is your reality check to worry a little less how you look on the outside and to focus a little more on whats on the inside,' she wrote in her caption Ruby regularly documents her daily life of parenting her sons Rocket and newcomer Mars on social media and has amassed 197,000 followers as a result 'We are all different and we all jiggle in different places (my body currently jiggles everywhere),' she said Ruby also highlights the changes that women's bodies go through so that they can bring a beautiful baby into the world. 'We get stretch marks in different places, and for some lucky bitches they get none at all,' she continued. 'I dont own scales, and by doing that Ive freed myself from a number. For now the health of my babies and myself is priority.' Before both pregnancies Ruby had a slim and toned body but she is in no rush to get back to this shape Ruby also highlights the changes that women's bodies go through so that they can bring a beautiful baby into the world Under advice from her doctors Ruby isn't yet able to exercise but she explained that that is also something she doesn't want to be doing either. Her posts aims to encourage other women to love their own bodies and appreciate them for the amazing thing that they have accomplished. 'It took me nine months to grow this baby, and I give myself nine months to whip this booty into shape, I gained around 25 kilos this pregnancy.' Her posts aims to encourage other women to love their own bodies and appreciate them for the amazing journey of giving birth 'It took me nine months to grow this baby, and I give myself nine months to whip this booty into shape, I gained around 25 kilos this pregnancy,' she said Previously Ruby had opened up about the horrifying moment she thought she lost Mars, which she now calls her 'miracle baby'. 'I thought I was safe in my second trimester. Early Thursday morning as I was driving Rocket and myself up the coast I felt this odd popping sensation and then a massive gush of fluid and blood,' she shared in a previous Instagram post. 'My car seat was filled with bloodily fluid. I turned around and headed straight for Byron hospital, I was then taken by ambulance to John Flynn as I started to lose too much blood.' Previously Ruby had opened up about the horrifying moment she thought she lost Mars, which she now calls her 'miracle baby' Ruby's obstetrician began to prepare her for surgery but she continued to 'bleed' for another 12 hours before it stopped almost as suddenly as it had started. 'I was 100 per cent sure we lost the baby. A quick ultrasound revealed the baby still had a heart beat but I was told it only had a 5 per cent chance of making it through the night as they couldn't tell how much amniotic fluid was left around the baby.' Now baby Mars is happy, healthy and a giggly bundle of joy. You know those mornings, when you're feeling lethargic, tired and lacking in motivation to go to the gym? Well, it turns out even fitness stars have them. Workout queen and creator of the Bikini Body Guide, Kayla Itsines, recently shared her own transformation snap - detailing the time several months ago when she lost 'motivation' to work out following the death of one of her dogs. Workout queen, Kayla Itsines , recently shared her own transformation snap (pictured) - detailing the time several months ago when she lost 'motivation' to work out This was following the death of one of her dogs - and she said 'mentally I was in a bad place as a result of some sadness in my life' The 25-year-old said that she was 'so upset' that 'I didn't really know how to deal with this' 'I post so many stories of the girls who use my program, and people often ask me for a transformation photo of myself,' Kayla prefixed her before-and-after comparison. 'To be completely honest, I don't have a transformation story or photo, but instead I have posted above a progress photo showing change in my body over the last few months.' Kayla then explained that at 'the start of the year I lost one of my dogs'. 'Now to some of you this may not seem like a big thing, but I was honestly so upset I didn't really know how to deal with this,' she said. Kayla who is known for her workouts - said she stopped 'exercising' for a short period of time, while trying to just eat well In May, Kayla (pictured with her dogs) said she sat down and said 'I'm not going to do this to myself' - so she got fitter and stronger than ever, hence the after photo The 25-year-old said 'for a short time I stopped exercising regularly and just kept up my walking and a session where possible'. While Kayla said she still ate well, 'I had minimal motivation to do anything else because I was too sad about what had just happened'. In May, Kayla said she sat down and said: 'I'm not going to do this to myself'. 'I got stronger in every way possible and I know little TJ would be proud of me. 'So here's some of my own personal progress... There's nothing wrong with how I looked before, but mentally I was in a bad place as a result of some sadness in my life.' 'There's nothing wrong with how I looked before, but mentally I was in a bad place as a result of some sadness in my life,' she explained Kayla Itsines is the mastermind behind millions of fitness transformations around the world, and the pioneer behind the before-and-after Instagram snaps you see all over the Internet This year, she was named as number 40 on the Young Rich List, and it is estimated that she has some AUD $63 million in the bank (pictured with one of her dogs) She concluded her post by saying 'I'm stronger on the inside, which made me stronger on the outside. 'Oh! And I weight 2kgs more. This is a good reminder that we are all human, we all have ups and downs.' Kayla Itsines is the mastermind behind millions of fitness transformations around the world, and the pioneer behind the before-and-after Instagram snaps you see all over the Internet. This year, she was named as number 40 on the Australian Financial Review Young Rich List, jumping eleven places from the previous year where she placed at 51. It is currently estimated that Kayla has some AUD $63 million in the bank. If someone special in your life has been more naughty than nice, there's something you can give them with a bit more spice. Or, should we say, herb. Australian company Dessert Boxes is offering the perfect package for the Grinch in our lives, swapping coal for the dreaded coriander. The $29 box comes with a bunch of the controversial herb as well as a cinnamon donut, which just happens to be flipping the bird. Australian company Dessert Boxes is offering the perfect $29 package for the grinch in our lives, swapping coal for the dreaded coriander Two candy canes have also been tucked into the box, giving it a festive flair. Dessert Boxes owner Samantha Khater said she wanted to come up with the perfect gift for that 'one Grinch in the family who hates Christmas'. 'We thought it was time to bring coal into the 21st century,' she told Daily Mail Australia. And Samantha felt nothing would be more appropriate then what she calls the 'devil's herb'. For the alcohol lover in your life there's the $55 Drunk Santa box, which features two Coronas along with Christmas donuts, a candy apple, a ganache pop, and a Nutella jar 'Coriander is so overpowering and not necessary,' she said. 'It's a waste of stomach space.' 'All the naughty kids are getting coriander this year!'. Samantha believes the gift - appropriately named 'The Grinch' - would be perfect for that person who turns down Mariah Carey in the car, or can appreciate a good joke. And for those family members and friends that you actually like, Dessert Boxes - which delivers throughout Sydney - has a slew of Christmas packages full of treats. The $55 Naughty or Nice? Box features a Christmas themed donut, a brookie, candy apple, fudge pop, mini Nutella jar, and a marshmallow There's also the Ultimate Christmas Box for people who have families visiting for the holidays. The $125 package includes donuts, fairy floss, bon bons, a Toblerone, and much more The $34 Kris Kringle Box features a Christmas-themed donut, brookies (half brownie, half cookie), a 220g jar of Nutella, and a chocolate snowball. For the alcohol lover in your life there's the $55 Drunk Santa box, which features two Coronas along with donuts, a candy apple, a ganache pop, and a Nutella jar. Samantha suggests the Ultimate Christmas Box for people who have families visiting for the holidays. The $125 package includes Christmas donuts, brookies, fairy floss, popcorn, Christmas bon bons, a 360g Toblerone, and a personalised Nutella-filled syringe. If you want to take your pranking to the next level, you can even get your loved one a box of coal disguised as designer jewellery. Yellow Octopus has designed a line of Christmas prank coal, aptly named, 'Joque Coal, tucked away in a deceptively stylish box for this Christmas Perfect for 'coal-hearted' grinches, the prank coal costs $20 and has been aptly named 'Joque Coal' to give off a high-end vibe Yellow Octopus has designed a line of Christmas prank coal, aptly named, 'Joque Coal, tucked away in a deceptively stylish box. 'Joque Coal is a piece of coal (yes, coal) impeccably packaged in a gift box with silver leaf embossing, the whole shebang cleverly crafted to resemble a high end gift,' the website reads. 'The (un)lucky recipient will be impressed with the elegant, designer look of their gift box, eagerly lifting the lid on what theyll expect to be something thoughtful, expensive and altogether not a piece of coal. 'And there, nestled in delicate silver tissue will be a primo piece of flammable black rock, the stuff of stocking-filler legend.' A new series of The Crown claims that there was underlying tension between the Queen and Jackie Kennedy - because the royal was jealous of the First Lady's flirtations with Prince Philip. At the heart of the spectacular new series of the Netflix-original drama, which chronicles the life of Queen Elizabeth, lies a visit from Jackie Kennedy that allegedly sent the Queen into a jealous fury with her husband. The scene re-imagines the night that the royal couple, who are celebrating 70 years of marriage this year, hosted the Kennedys at Buckingham Palace in 1961. The new series of The Crown documents a visit to Buckingham Palace in 1961 from Jackie Kennedy that sent the Queen into a jealous fury with her husband, Prince Philip According to The Telegraph, the scene sees the Duke of Edinburgh tell the Queen that Jackie has asked him to give her a tour of their home. In response to her husband's remark, the Queen sharply replies: 'It's my house so I'll do it.' While the guests at the banquet are making small talk, and the Queen sits a few feet away, the Prince, played by Matt Smith, is engaged in some serious flirting. He turns to Jackie and, eyes twinkling, asks: 'So, what star sign are you?' The Queen then hears rumours from her equerry, Lord Plunkett, that Jackie has been speaking ill of her behind her back. Lord Plunkett claims that Jackie dubbed her 'a middle-aged woman so incurious, unintelligent and unremarkable that Britain's new reduced place in the world was not a surprise but an inevitability.' The Netflix drama, which launched last year, deals with the ongoing struggles of the Queen (Claire Foy) to reconcile her public and private selves and sees the tension between her and Jackie Kennedy unfold The scene sees the Duke of Edinburgh tell the Queen that Jackie has asked him to give her a tour of their home, which leaves her jealous In the scene, which was imagined by writer Peter Morgan, Lord Plunkett explains that Jackie also describes Buckingham Palace as 'second rate, dilapidated and sad, like a neglected provincial hotel.' The comments leave the Queen with tears in her eyes but in a steely manner, she adds: 'Well, we must have her again soon.' As The Telegraph notes, in reality, Cecil Beaton did write in his diary how Mrs Kennedy had spoken poorly of the Queen and her home. Cecil wrote that the First Lady was underwhelmed by Buckingham Palace's interior design, as well as the Queen's style. The relationship between the Queen and First Lady gets off on the wrong foot, even before they meet There were other reports at the time, including one from writer Gore Vidal, that Mrs Kennedy described the Queen as 'heavy going' and felt 'resented' by her. Later scenes show the First Lady requesting a private audience with the Queen after she discovers she's found out about the backhanded comments. She blames the drugs she was prescribed by her doctor and calls her comments 'foolish'. The show claims that the Queen's visit to Ghana in November 1961, which was hailed as a triumph, was a way of proving Mrs Kennedy and her 'foolish' comments wrong. When JFK is assassinated, we see the Queen reach out to Jackie. Caroline Kennedy (centre), daughter of President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy (left), wipes a tear from her eye at a ceremony dedicating a memorial to her father. Jackie Kennedy and Queen Elizabeth II sit in front of her The Netflix drama, which launched last year, deals with the ongoing struggles of the Queen (Claire Foy) to reconcile her public and private selves. And while it has been showered with critical praise, it has also stirred up much controversy, by reigniting rumours of Prince Philip's supposed roving eye. The trailer for the new season sees the Queen say: 'I have learnt more about humiliation in the past few weeks than I hoped I would in a lifetime,' and according to the show's creator, Peter Morgan, season two features 'a lot more' of the suggestion that her husband was sometimes distracted. Certainly it does nothing to dispel the reputation of the Prince as a seasoned flirt with Balfour's Jackie Kennedy playing a pivotal, and receptive, role. 'The Queen and Jackie don't get off to a good start in the series because of Philip,' Balfour told Event magazine. 'The Prince is just a flirt [with her] and I don't think there's any intention behind it, but he's going through a phase of liking a lot of women, as is [her husband] JFK.' The scene takes place in episode eight of the new ten-part season, which covers the three-year period between the election of President Kennedy (Dexter's Michael C Hall) and his assassination in 1963, and centres on the Kennedys' visit to Buckingham Palace in June 1961. The second series of The Crown will be available to watch from December 8 on Netflix. TV presenter Sian Williams has taken to Twitter to blast a man who made 'sexist' remarks when she bent down to pick up a ticket at a train station. The Channel 5 presenter and journalist, from London, explained that the man said 'that's what I like to see: a woman on her knees' as she bent down. Sian took to Twitter to blast the man using the hashtag #everydaysexism and explained how she told him that she found that quote offensive. However, he 'couldn't see why'. Presenter Sian Williams has taken to Twitter to slam a 'sexist' man who told her he 'likes to see a woman on her knees' after spotting her bending over at a train station to pick up a ticket Explaining the scenario further on her social media, Sian wrote: 'He said he'd mistook me for his friend who "has a sense of humour".' She then shared a photo of a dog posing in a car window with the caption: 'And then I walked past this and it made me laugh. 'Different sense of humour to his friend, I guess..' Explaining the scenario further on her social media, Sian wrote: 'He said he'd mistook me for his friend who "has a sense of humour"' She then shared a photo of a dog posing in a car window to show how their senses of humour differed Sian's followers were quick to share her opinion, saying his comments were 'disgraceful'. One woman praised Sian for putting the man in his place, while another said being on her knees 'makes it easier to punch him in the delicate area'. A man responded to her tweets to congratulate her for not breaking his nose, and another said the man's behaviour was 'really disgraceful'. Sian's followers were quick to comment on the incident, with many saying his comments were 'disgraceful' Sian has been keeping a fairly low profile over the last few months. In the summer, Sian presented an award to nurse Shirley Day. It was Shirley, who is lead clinical nurse specialist at University College London Hospitals breast clinic, who helped Sian through breast cancer, and the event was the first time the presenter has talked publicly about the vital role the nurse played during her treatment. Sian presented Shirley with one of the Inspirational Women of the Year Awards for the Daily Mail, explaining: Being told I had cancer was one of the biggest, scariest things that had ever happened to me. But every day Shirley deals with frightened cancer patients for whom this seems like the end of the world. And she manages to make each and every one of us feel cared for and protected. And I know that, while Shirley is immensely special to me, she is one of a million nurses doing a difficult job day in, day out. The Duchess of Cornwall tried her hand at embroidery on Wednesday as she met the experts sworn to secrecy when working on the Duchess of Cambridge's wedding dress. Camilla, 70, showed off her sewing skills when she visited the Royal School of Needlework (RSN) at its Hampton Court Palace headquarters. The embroidery experts were hard at work when Camilla, who took over the RSN patronage from the Queen in January, arrived with the Duchess of Gloucester - the institution's president. The Duchess of Cornwall tried her hand at needlework today as she visited the Royal School of Needlework The Duchess looked her elegant best in a teal coloured knee-length dress with pleated fabric and a white collar detail. She was introduced to Mandy Ewing who was part of the team that created the bespoke lace on Kate's wedding dress, veil and shoes designed by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen. Ms Ewing, who said the group had to sign a confidentiality agreement, added: 'We knew who it was for, but it was very secret - we had net curtains up and cleaners were not allowed into the room and the code on the door was changed. Camilla was joined by The Duchess of Gloucester (right) as she met with staff and students to view the innovative and beautiful hand embroidery work being created Camilla (pictured with a student) joked that she would be leaving the embroidery 'to the experts' after giving it a go 'The dress was all in the news, but nobody knew who was doing it. When you're working you just focus on it and try not think about what's in the news. 'But it was an exciting event and everybody loved working on it - it was a once in a lifetime opportunity.' Sarah Burton sourced a series of lace motifs to create a unique design, applied by the RSN and arranged to fit each part of the dress perfectly following her creative vision. Camilla was introduced to Mandy Ewing who was part of the team that created the bespoke lace on Kate's wedding dress and veil (pictured left and right) Ms Ewing says that those working on Kate's dress were sworn to secrecy over the designs. Pictured: The Duchess of Cambridge on her wedding day in April 2011 Each lace motif - some as small as a five pence piece - was applied with minute stitches every two to three millimetres. During the visit, Camilla sat down and tried her hand at embroidery under the watchful eye of tutor Jacqui McDonald. The Duchess put on a pair of glasses and peered closely at the needlework, which was part of a floral pattern - and after gently poking a needle through the material, she joked 'I think I'll leave it to the experts'. If all you want for Christmas is a pair of 685 gold boots by Saint Laurent then you're probably heading for a December 25th disappointment. However, Primark, true to form, has produced a version of the on-trend gold boots at a much more wallet-friendly price. The stacked heel gold patent chelsea boot by the French luxury fashion house comes in textured leather with a golden hue - and a price tag that might wipe out your festive budget in one fell swoop. Golden ticket: Saint Laurent's on-trend Loulou boot costs a handsome 685 Or, for the same price, you could buy 50 pairs of a similar gold-heeled chelsea boot from Primark While the modestly-priced version doesn't scrimp on the gold, it opts for a slightly paler colour. The real indicator for those without an eagle eye for designer fashion comes with a YSL symbol on the heel of the shoe, which alone ramps up the value by hundreds of pounds. Meanwhile Primark - a past-master at producing believable copies of high end couture - would have to sell 50 pairs of the boots to make the same amount of money. Primark's eye for a couture style has seen budget-conscious shoppers flocking to their stores to enjoy catwalk designs at low prices The high street chain certainly knows how to tap into a trend and leaves no stone unturned when it comes to offering Champagne tastes at lemonade prices. In September, the brand branched out into fragrance territory, selling a luxury range of six unisex fragrances. The cheapest item in the 'super chic' range is just 3 for a 20ml purse spray, while the smallest bottle of upmarket brand Jo Malone is 44 for a 30ml bottle. Parents who welcomed twin girls after only 23 weeks of pregnancy are now helping other families of preemies by sending them an unexpected gifta Mr. Potato Head doll. Eric and Kristin Moan, of Anoka, Minnesota, had their daughters Dylan and Haden five years ago. A NICU nurse at the time suggested they use a stuffed animal to compare it to the tiny newborns, as a way to track their growth over time. Eric, 39, bought a pair of Mr. Potato Head toys, and he and Kristin, now 37, assigned one to each girl. The dolls became a useful way for them to see how their babies were progressively becoming bigger and stronger. Family: Eric and Kristin Moan, of Anoka, Minnesota, had their daughters Dylan and Haden five years ago after 23 weeks of pregnancy and used Mr. Potato Head toys to track their growth. Dylan is pictured as a newborn next to her doll Idea: A NICU nurse who suggested Eric and Kristin use a stuffed animal to keep track of their daughters' size, and the parents ended up using a pair of Mr. Potato Head dolls. Haden is pictured with her toy as a newborn For four months, the parents took photos of the twins next to their Mr. Potato Heads and showed the resulting pictures to their loved ones. 'It gave us something to look forward to,' Kristin told Today. 'People were curious how the girls were doing, and it was our way to share with everyone how they were growing.' Now, Dylan and Haden are healthy five-year-olds who will begin kindergarten next year. Their parents have started The Potato Head Project, a non-profit organization that aims to help other parents of preemies, by sharing the tip that worked so well for them. Together, they send Mr. Potato Head dolls, much like the ones they used with Haden and Dylan, to families of premature babies around the country. All grown up: Dylan (left) and Haden (right) are now healthy five-year-olds who will begin kindergarten next year and have long outgrown their Mr. Potato Head dolls Useful: For four months, the parents took photos of the twins next to their Mr. Potato Heads and showed the resulting pictures to their loved ones. The twins are pictured as babies with Mr.-Potato-Head-themed pajamas Since creating The Potato Head Project in 2013, they have provided more than 1,000 packages to fellow parents. 'It gives them a sense of hope,' Kristin said. 'It gives them something to look forward to while they're waiting to know when they'll be able to bring their babies home.' The parents occasionally still take photos of Haden and Dylan with their Mr. Potato Heads, showing how they can now hold between their hands the same toys that were roughly their size when they were born. But the twins also appear in pictures next to dozens of other Mr. Potato Head dolls, since they are now old enough to help with the project. 'They know what isolettes are,' Kristin said in reference to a brand of incubators used to keep premature babies in a controlled environment, 'and they know these babies are really sick. They don't know a world that's different than everything they went through themselves.' Supportive: Eric and Kristin have started The Potato Head Project , a non-profit organization that aims to help other parents of preemies, by sharing the tip that worked so well for them. Haden and Dylan are pictured helping with the project Comparison: The parents found the Mr. Potato Head dolls were useful to fully realize how much their daughters were growing. Dylan is pictured as a baby with her toy Evolution: Over the months, the girls ended up outsizing the toys that were once roughly their size. Haden is pictured as a baby with her doll Lending a hand: Haden and Dylan now understand the dire conditions in which they were born, Kristin said, but do not yet realize the impact they have had through The Potato Head Project On The Potato Head Project's Facebook page, Kristin and Eric also share photos of other babies who have now joined what other members sometimes call the 'potato head family', and send them supportive messages. Once a year, Kristin also tries to share photos of Dylan and Haden as newborns with their Mr. Potato Head dolls, to remind other parents, as well as herself, how far her daughters and other preemies have come. She described Dylan and Haden as 'two little one-pound babies (barely the size of a Potato Head) who in a few short months will turn FIVE years old' and provided a vivid insight into the lives of preemies and their parents, writing: 'Dozens of blood transfusions, hundreds of pokes and all of the scars to prove it. 'Specialists all over the State we see often, and while daily reminders of where we have been get fewer and further between, it is what the future holds for our little girls that keeps us forging on.' Kristin, who said she and Eric fund The Potato Head Project through, among other methods, financial donations and toy drives, thanked the organization's supporters and looked back on her daughters' role in shaping the initiative. 'While they know of their tragic birth, they know no different,' she wrote. 'They know we help the babies, they know the photos and packages well, but what they do not know yet is the impact they have made over just their first few years.' Thanksgiving is all about the classics: Turkey. Mashed Potatoes. Macaroni and cheese. Cranberry sauce. It is hardly the time to get experimental with new recipes, especially ones that substitute bread for a controversial vegetable. So when the New York Times tweeted out a recipe suggestion this week, recommending that readers add Brussels sprout sliders to their holiday menus, many of their followers lost their minds and questioned the publication's judgement. Scandal: The New York Times tweeted a link to this recipe for Brussels sprout sliders this week. The recipe has been on the site for several yeas but was suggested for Thanksgiving Especially if those fingers were dipped in mac and cheese! Twitter users were not impressed The outcast at the potluck: Many expressed disgust and disapproval Not cool, guys: Others accused the newspaper of trying to ruin readers' Thanksgivings A link to the recipe was included in a tweet from the official Twitter account for The New York Times on Monday. 'Your new favorite Thanksgiving appetizer: brussels sprouts sliders,' it read. The vegetarian recipe, which actually first appeared on the site several years ago, was submitted to Well blog columnist Tara Parker-Pope by someone named Marla Rose from Berwyn, Illinois. 'A creative and fun way to enjoy a great fall and winter vegetable: crunchy "buns" of roasted brussels sprouts with a tasty middle a confit of caramelized onions, tangy mustard and savory tempeh,' reads the description. Marla Rose described them as 'dreamy bites of pure umami goodness.' The recipe calls for Brussels sprouts, cut in half to look like burger buns and marinated and baked in a mix of olive oil, tamari, pressed garlic, cumin, cayenne, and liquid smoke. Who, me? Some thought it was funny that the tweet called the recipe 'your new favorite' Blech! Several shared gifs to illustrate their disgust No, just no! The recipe was submitted by a reader and has received a few positive reviews on the website Not popular: However, the vegetarian combo of tempeh, onions, and sprouts is clearly a niche item Not at MY Thanksgiving! Hundreds of people were upset at the suggestion The tempeh is also marinated and baked before it is placed on the Brussels sprout 'buns' with caramelized onions and mustard. It seems, though, that hundreds of the Times' Twitter followers didn't need to try making it themselves to pass judgement. 'I would rather eat my own fingers,' wrote one quite simply. 'Perfect way to get uninvited to future gatherings,' said another. Quite a few shared gifs expressing disgust, disbelief, confusion, and horror, sharing refusals like 'hard pass' and 'I don't think you know what "favorite" means.' 'Why y'all trying to ruin Thanksgiving?' asked one. Disappointed: This person joked that the section clearly 'didn't know her at all' after suggesting it would be 'your' favorite Right to the point: Quite a few wasted no words in vetoing the idea But... Some people have tried the recipe, though, and it appears on a few food blogs, including one by Pamela Salzman While some people said that they quite like Brussels sprouts, most saw no need for such a dish, especially at the holiday dinner table. Despite the negative reaction, it's clear not everyone is anti-sprout slider in fact, several Times commenters have tried the recipe and written about it in the article comments. One said a group of six she cooked for loved them, and another said they were 'quite tasty.' 'I made these on a whim, and they are actually really good, my 3 year old is gobbling them up!' wrote one. 'They are officially a family favorite.' 'These were super delicious, even my veggie and Brussels sprout hating Dad liked them (we didnt tell him what it was),' wrote another. Shell to pay: Last week, Twitter users mocked a suggestion from Ivanka Trump's brand's Twitter account that a giant clam shell stuffed with driftwood be used as a centerpiece A capital idea: This user said that Ivanka Trump had become 'the garbage god' thanks to her brand's fascinating use of bits of dead things found lying on beaches Spaced out: This person joked that the piece looked like something Martha Stewart would make if she were hallucinating in a dollar store Last week, Ivanka Trump faced similar mockery after her website offered holiday decorating tips. Sharing a link to an article called 'An Interior Decorator's Thanksgiving Tablescape,' the Ivanka Trump HQ Twitter account made a suggestion for decorating the table for the holiday. Pictures show a large antique clam shell stuffed with pumpkins, wood, pinecones, and brambles sitting in the middle of a table. Many found the centerpiece ugly and ridiculous and said so. One wrote: 'Fill a giant clam with garbage from the woods you are the garbage god now [sic].' Another joked that this is the result of Martha Stewart shopping in a dollar store while high on the hallucinogenic drug ayahuasca. People posted their own recreations, one of which included potatoes and cocktail umbrellas in a large bowl. Do it yourself: This user made his own attempt with an empty bourbon bottle, cocktail umbrellas, and dirty potatotes Creep: This user offered up a promo pic from the TV series Hannibal (starring Mads Mikkelsen as the titular cannibal Hannibal Lecter) as a possible inspiration If at first you don't succeed: Despite the attention and care put into the real clam design, this user felt it betrayed very much the opposite level of investment in a Thanksgiving spread Got wood? The clam-heap was compared unfavorably to this pile of braches There may have been snow on the ground in the city of Uppsala on Wednesday but that did not stop Crown Princess Victoria from showcasing her eye for style. The Swedish royal arrived at the university in the Swedish city in an elegant two-tone suit consisting of a baby blue cropped jacket and a pair of high-waisted royal blue trousers. Despite the colder weather the mother-of-two opted for just two layers with an elegant white blouse with a ruffle detail peeking out from her jacket. There may have been snow on the ground in the Swedish city of Uppsala on Wednesday but that didn't stop Crown Princess Victoria showcasing her eye for style She may have been faced with wintery conditions but the 40-year-old slipped into a pair of stiletto court shoes for her engagement today. She swept her brunette locks into a low chignon, a signature style for the princess showcasing a pair of metallic feather motif earrings. She kept her remaining accessories to a minimum in the form of a black leather bag with chain strap. Victoria, 40, looked elegant in a two-tone blue suit and a pair of metallic feather earrings She swept her hair into a classic chignon as she attended an Anders Wall lecture at the city's university Victoria was met by officials at the university who lead her into the warmth of the historical lecture hall. The royal, who is first in line to the Swedish throne, performed her engagement alone today with her husband Prince Daniel remaining at their home in Stockholm. However, Victoria was not without company as she was seated with university lecturers before students at the university. The princess participated in an Anders Wall lecture on entrepreneurship where she handed out awards to students and listened to the seminar. Sweden's first in line to the throne listened to a seminar at the lecture which occurs annually The mother-of-two also presented certificates to prize-winners at the annual lecture Every year the Anders Wall lecture gathers around 2,000 students and guests. The event has become Swedens largest meeting between students and industry and features well-known and successful speakers. Students, entrepreneurs and others interested are invited to take part in an afternoon with inspiring lectures, panel discussions, music, and prize ceremony. The purpose of the annual lecture is to inspire entrepreneurship among students, scientists and teachers at Uppsala Universitys different faculties. Her tour of the Middle East has kept Sophie Wessex on her toes for the last few days so it was no wonder she was in need of a seat at her latest engagement. The Countess of Wessex, 52, could be seen relaxing in a large armchair after touching down in Qatar for the next section of her busy tour. Sophie is currently on a solo trip of the Middle East, in her capacity as Patron of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness meeting with those affected by poor vision as a result of diabetes. On Wednesday the mother-of-two met the CEO of Qatar charity and the team at Obis UK at the headquarters of Qatar Charity in Doha. Sophie Wessex, who has been on a solo tour of the Middle East for several days, was in well in need of a sit down after touching down in Qatar on Wednesday The two charities are both working to tackle the rate of blindness in children. Sophie looked her elegant best in a satin teal dress with a floral print, which she paired with a chic black blazer and a small golden brooch. She kept her accessories to a minimum in the form of a tan coloured suede pump and earrings studded with a green stone. Her long blonde tresses were pulled into a low bun and she opted for a rose coloured blush and a slick of neutral lipstick. The meet signified the launch of the Orbis UK and Qatar Charity's campaign to raise QR 4 million to reduce blindness in children in Bangladesh. The Countess of Wessex met with the CEO of the charity and the rest of the team at the headquarters of Qatar Charity in Doha She was given a tour of some of the eye related artwork on display at the Orbis headquarters Prior to her visit to Dora she was in Bangladesh where she met patients in a hospital in a local village as well as crew aboard a flying air hospital. In Bangladesh, nearly 10 per cent of the population have diabetes, and the number of people going blind from the disease is set to double by 2030. Sophie has been a patron of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness since 2003 and is a global ambassador for Vision 2020, an initiative aiming to eliminate avoidable blindness over the next five years. As Vice-Patron of The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust (the Trust), the Countess is visiting programmes funded by the Trust. Sophie shares a joke with the CEO Yusuf Al Kuwari at the headquarters of Orbis eye care The royal looked elegant in a printed satin dress paired with a tailored blazer and pointed heels This is a cause close to Sophie's heart as she has previously spoken about how her daughter Louise's sight problems has inspired her to campaign for the visually impaired. Louise, now 14, was born prematurely in 2003, causing a condition called strabismus, which left her with a 'profound' squint. The teenager has since had the problem corrected and now has perfect eyesight. The mother-of-two had her hair pulled down into a low bun and added a bit of glamour with a pair of drop earrings On the whole, men tend to assume that trends in fashion and grooming are womens business. Liquid lipsticks and contouring largely pass us by. But when I read a recent Femail piece that looked at more than 100 years of womens fashions, I was intrigued and decided to open up the Deedes family album to see how things have changed for men. My mother was delighted to help, sending me a deluge of photos and quirky stories. But could I pull off any of the top mens styles of the past 100 years today? With clothes advice from Russell Howarth, head cutter at City tailors Graham Browne, and hair and make-up from wig expert Amanda Clarke, I found out which trends have stood the test of time . . . Henry Deedes (pictured today) recreated the iconic styles of each decade with the help of images from his family album to discover which trends have stood the test of time VICTORIAN MAJORS WHISKERS I must say, Im a fan of this 19th-century look. Im no hipster, and normally hate wispy beards but, styled with a gentlemans morning suit, these whiskers add gravitas. I wear something similar to this outfit to Ascot each year anyway, so it is a look that has lasted. My friends do say I dress like someone from a past century perhaps its no surprise Im a fan! My mother was gleeful when she dug out this be-whiskered picture (inset) of her great-great-grandfather, Major Herbert Mackworth Clogstoun she insists we look alike. He received the Victoria Cross, Britains top award for gallantry, in the Indian Mutiny in the 1860s, before being killed in action. Henry (pictured right) says he wears a similar suit to the ones worn in the 19th century to Ascot each year, however today's material is lighter according to tailor Russell Howarth He had great facial hair. Beards were big back then, a trend that started in the Army during wars in India a bushy beard was a sign of authority. To get the look, wig expert Amanda Clarke plastered on custom-made whiskers, with my hair parted just off centre. Tailor Russell Howarth says: Light merino wool didnt come in until the Fifties, so a typical suit [of this time] might weigh 19oz compared with 10oz today and have the texture of sandpaper. Ouch! SLICKED-BACK HAIR OF ROARING 20S With my hair slicked back, I could be in a P. G. Wodehouse novel. Its easily my favourite look: masculine, smart, but not stuffy. Id happily dress like this now, and I think its appealing to women, too. My great-great-uncle Wyndham Deedes, Colonial Secretary in Palestine in the 1920s, certainly adopted the hairstyle although worn with sober, formal clothing for official duties. Henry (pictured right) believes the slick-back hair of the 1920s can still be worn today Prince Edward (later Edward VIII) inspired a generation of dandies in the Twenties, says Russell Howarth. A dapper chap, he developed a taste for sharper tailoring and pleated trousers a new invention considered daring. Being clean-shaven was the norm: the disposable razor, patented in 1904, meant beards came to be seen as unhygienic. Brilliantine oil made mens locks glossy wives knitted doilies to cover the backs of chairs and protect against greasy heads. Although he wasnt born until decades later, I think I look a bit like my dad here. Hes been gelling his hair like this for years. GRANDPAS GLOSSY MOUSTACHE Theres a definite resemblance here to my mothers father, Major Elwin Gray, pictured in his Army uniform in the Thirties with a manicured moustache and glossy hair. He looks very dashing. But can I really get away with this tache? It was certainly the look of the decade. The Hollywood studio system was churning out such immaculately dressed icons as Cary Grant and Gary Cooper. Henry (pictured right) questions if the thin moustache trend would be seen as out of place in today's style Men followed suit with gelled hair, side partings and thin moustaches that made a film-star scowl all the more dramatic. It was a groomed look, says Amanda. Facial hair was limited to a pencil moustache. But the ensemble makes my mother giggle and I think Id get teased even more for being old-fashioned if I tried to grow a moustache. I dont think I can carry off a military uniform. But the shirt and braces Im wearing instead arent that far from my usual office attire. This was the start of a golden age for tailoring, says Russell. Yarns were finer, creating beautiful suits with flowing shapes. TANK TOP IN DECADE STYLE FORGOT The Forties were the decade fashion forgot, thanks to clothes rationing. This Fair Isle jersey looks like the stuff of style nightmares though I notice theyre all the rage in shops at the moment. Somewhat disconcertingly, a female friend says: You do actually look quite dapper. Meanwhile, without pomade, my hair has resumed its natural springiness and my clean-shaven face suddenly looks about five years younger. My paternal grandfather, Bill Deedes, served in the Kings Royal Rifle Corps throughout World War II and was awarded the Military Cross in 1945 after an enemy attack in the Netherlands. Henry (pictured right) believes popular clothes from the forties are all the rage at the moment Hes wearing a Lieutenants uniform in this picture, although he later made it to the rank of Major. I cant imagine him in a jumper like this he was a formal dresser all his life but my grandmother kept sheep and was an avid knitter, so its safe to assume he wore a few in his time. Women on the Home Front were encouraged to knit for the troops, which, says Russell, was the start of Britains obsession with the chunky sweater. Up until this point, gentlemen wore waistcoats, but knitwear became more prevalent and you started to see woollen tank tops. The Army required soldiers to be clean-shaven, but many were growing their hair longer and wearing it without pomade. Rationing meant most men clung onto suits from the previous decade. BLOW-DRYS AND BRYLCREEM This quiff is magnificent but, at 39, I think Im a little old to be dressing up as Elvis! Still, in the Fifties, this look was de rigueur as the post-war baby boom led to the birth of teenage culture in Britain. The clothes, on the other hand, could be from a modern-day shop. Young people began embracing U.S. trends such as denim jeans originally designed for American cowboys and miners and leather jackets, as well as the cotton T-shirt, inspired by James Dean and Marlon Brando in films such as Rebel Without A Cause and The Wild One. Henry (pictured right) says the clothes of the fifties could be still worn today however the hairstyle is questionable Even respectable junior ministers my grandfather Bill had, by now, given up his officers togs for a role in Government experimented with new looks such as this rather fabulous shawl-collar sheepskin coat. But, thankfully, he stuck to a less fussy hairstyle. Elviss personal stylist Larry Geller has revealed he used to shampoo and massage his scalp every day, before brushing his hair 50-60 times. To have that rockabilly look, hair needs plenty of body, so men would have it blow-dried before combing it back, explains Amanda. Brylcreem became more mainstream around now, so it was possible to style hair, but leave it feeling soft. MAGNIFICENT BEATLES MOP TOP When I left Eton in 1996, the country was gripped by Britpop fever, with bands such as Oasis sporting the shaggy haircuts of the Sixties. I let my hair grow out for a few years, and the result was not too different to this. Of course, the first time around, the Sixties mop top was inspired by the Beatles, with every teen boy in Britain following suit. Except, that is, my father Jeremy. Henry (pictured right) says he previously grew his hair similar to this sixties style in the 90s In this photo, my dad wears a buttoned-up shirt, V-neck jumper and skinny tie clearly still channelling the clean-cut look of the previous decade. The Deedes clan has never been big on teenage angst. In terms of fashion, people started going for the mod look, says Russell. Zips were popular and merino wool was readily available, so suits were comfier. Sadly, this polo neck is doing nothing for my jawline. SEVENTIES STRIPES AND DODGY HAIR Amanda has done a wonderful job recreating a typical disco-inspired hairstyle but, dear God, I am dying with embarrassment at the result! One look at this cringe-inducing picture and I think we can all agree its a look to consign to history. While long hair on men had previously been considered a sign of decadence, in the Seventies it became as common on middle-class men as on hippies. Even senior politicians began sprouting bushy sideburns. Henry (pictured right) believes the styles of the seventies should be left in history My family approached this madness with caution. This photo of my father shows him with undeniably longer hair than usual (its even hanging over his collar), but nothing like the extravagant bouffant Im modelling. His stripey shirt, however, is pure Seventies and matches the shiny one Ive got on remarkably well. He looks masculine, though, whereas I think mine could have come from the ladies section of a bargain basement. Russell says this was a tough time for tailors. Before, most men would have a couple of suits made a year at Easter and Christmas. But Seventies lads just wanted to go down the Kings Road and buy jeans and a few colourful tops. LORD SAVE US FROM THE EIGHTIES! I think I resemble Duran Durans Simon Le Bon with this hair. His image adorned every teenage girls wall even Princess Diana was a fan. But, lets face it, the style has dated badly. The T-shirt under a blazer look, however, is here to stay its not to my personal taste, but you can find the style wandering down any British High Street on a Saturday night. Growing up in the Eighties, I recall my father smartening himself up in the mirror each morning before leaving for work in Fleet Street. Henry (pictured right) says although the t-shirt under a blazer fashion style is still popular, the hairstyles of the eighties now appear dated With his hair slicked back with Royal Yacht lotion, business suits and sometimes two-tone shirts, he was more Michael Douglas in the 1987 film Wall Street than George Michael. The thought of Dad boarding the 7am train to Paddington in the Eighties with a mullet like this makes me chuckle. Its almost two haircuts in one, says Amanda. You have all these layers on top, but also the mullet at the back. To tame those layers, mousse and gel were popular and, for the first time, men were openly getting highlights and dyeing their hair. This was also the start of designer stubble the Eighties have a lot to answer for. As for suits, it was all about shoulders, says Russell. I remember cutting jackets with a 42 in chest and nearly a 7 in shoulder. Everyone wanted to look like Don Johnson in Miami Vice. As a former journalist Queen Letizia no doubt felt nostalgic as she attended a journalism awards ceremony on Wednesday. The Queen of Spain dazzled in a sparking mini-dress as she arrived at the Journalist Award 'Francisco Cerecedo' in Madrid which is now in its 34th year. Letizia, 45, showcased her enviable legs in her thigh-skimming gown consisting of layers of white frilly fabric decorated with glittering sequins. Queen Letizia of Spain wowed in a thigh skimming mini-dress as she attended the Journalist Award 'Francisco Cerecedo' in Madrid on Wednesday The flapper style dress had thick black straps, reminiscent of those seen in the 20s, showcasing the royal's slender arms. She slipped into a pair of patent black stiletto heels adding to the glamour of tonight's events. The mother-of-two wore her hair in loose waves which had been coiffed to perfection with the help of a blow dry. Normally favouring more neutral palettes Letizia showcased a more dramatic beauty look this evening in the form of a smokey eye and shiny glossed lips. Having opted for a statement dress the royal kept her accessories to a minimum settling on small diamond earrings. Joined by husband King Felipe VI, the Queen of Spain made sure all eyes were on her at the annual awards ceremony The flapper style dress had thick black straps, reminiscent of those seen in the 20s, showcasing the royal's slender arms She joined her husband King Felipe VI at the lavish location of the Ritz Hotel in the Spanish capital. Felipe, 49, looked his dapper best in a pin stripe navy blue suit, a crisp white shirt and a cobalt tie. The event held at the Ritz is an annual occurrence, which sees a journalist honoured by the Association of European Journalists. Letizia, whose father Jesus Jose Ortiz Alvarez and stepmother Ana Togores are both journalists, enjoyed a lengthy career in TV and newspapers before marrying Felipe in 2004. King Felipe VI looked his dapper best in a pin-stripe navy suit and cobalt tie As a former journalist herself tonight is bound to bring back memory memories for the Queen of Spain After a stint at Asturian daily paper, La Nueva Espana, she went on to work for ABC, a popular national newspaper that enjoys the third largest circulation in Spain. Next came a stint at Spanish news agency EFE before a move to Guadalajara in Mexico saw her take on a role on local paper, Siglo 21. Back in Spain a year later, she worked for the Spanish version of Bloomberg, a news channel and agency specialising in economics, before moving to CNN+. By the time she met her husband-to-be, Letizia was working for popular TV channel 24 Horas, where along with anchoring the popular Telediario 2 evening news bulletin, she reported on a wide range of breaking news events, among them the 2000 US presidential elections and the 9/11 attacks. Perhaps as a result of her reporting background, Letizia is one of the most enthusiastically pro-newspaper royals in Europe and regularly turns out for journalist charities and awards ceremonies. It is the most wonderful time of the year - and it appears first lady Melania Trump is already full of the festive spirit. The 46-year-old mother-of-one began preparations for Christmas at the White House this week, first receiving the official tree on Monday, along with her 11-year-old son Barron, and then beginning the all important task of decorating it - and the building itself. Melania shared pictures of herself, taken across a couple of days, on Twitter in which she can be seen hanging ornaments on a tree, putting some finishing touches to a bow on a wreath, and admiring the traditional gingerbread White House along with the official pastry chefs who are responsible for preparing the tasty creation each year. Scroll down for video Christmas is coming! On Wednesday afternoon, Melania Trump tweeted images of herself decorating the White House in preparation for the holidays The beginning touches: The pictures showed the 46-year-old decorating a small tree, putting a bow on a wreath, and generally just preparing for the festive season Chilly? Interestingly, Melania was pictured wearing a coat in several of the snaps, despite being indoors, including this one where she was shown the official gingerbread White House Tasty! She put a tiny wreath on the sweet creation, which is made every year by the White House pastry chefs in celebration of the holidays - and will receive many more decorations Celebrating: Melania shared the images on her official Twitter account on Wednesday, presumably tweeting from Mar-a-Lago where she is spending the holidays with her family Melania even managed to maintain a suitably-wintry outfit while decorating, opting to keep a warm coat on, despite being inside the White House. Some of the pictures, which show Melania admiring the gingerbread house, and then decorating it with a tiny wreath made of icing, appear to have been taken shortly after she and son Barron oversaw the arrival of the official White House tree. In them, Melania is wearing the same festive red turtle-neck sweater, black trousers, and knee-high leather boots she was pictured in when the tree was delivered to the White House - as well as the same warm red-and-blue plaid coat she had on to keep out the winter chill. Others show FLOTUS in a chic beige dress as ties a bow on a wreath, and puts up official White House-themed decorations on a small tree - which she does while wearing a matching collared coat, again despite being indoors, with her hair left in loose waves around her shoulders. Melania shared the images on her official Twitter account, along with the caption, 'Preparations are underway to celebrate holidays at the @WhiteHouse.' It has certainly been a festive week for the Trump family; on Tuesday, the president and his wife hosted the annual National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation during which he pardoned a turkey called Drumstick as is tradition in the White House. While addressing the crowds at the event Trump, standing alongside Melania and Barron, pointed out that in his first ten months in office he's worked to overturn the executive actions of his predecessor, President Obama. Tradition: On Tuesday, and her 11-year-old son Barron, joined President Trump at the National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation, where he pardoned a turkey, Drumstick Fall favorite: Melania donned autumnal colors and a leather skirt for the occasion Ready to go! The family then headed to Mar-a-Lago where they will spend the holidays 'However, I have been informed by the White House counsel's office that Tater and Tot's pardon cannot, under any circumstances, be revoked,' the president joked, name-dropping the heir and the spare of last year's turkey pardon. For this event, Melania once again ensured her outfit matched the very fall-focused occasion, wearing a brown skirt and a rust-colored turtle neck, while donning a brown floral jacket around her shoulders for warmth. The coat featured several large flower-shaped patterns in autumnal rusts, reds, and creams. Shortly after the ceremony, the Trump family headed to celebrate the holidays at the president's exclusive Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, where he traditionally hosts family, friends and close contacts for a lavish dinner in celebration of Thanksgiving. But before that - and before the turkey pardoning fun - Melania and Barron had their own festive responsibility, welcoming this year's official White House Christmas tree. Barron, who is Trump's youngest son, and his only child with Melania, hasn't been spotted much since moving to Washington, though President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama often enlisted the help of daughters Sasha and Malia around the holidays. Monday's appearance by the two Trumps, however, was short and sweet. First, a horse drawn carriage pulled up this year's tree, which will eventually be situated in the Blue Room. More festive fun! On Monday, Melania and Barron oversaw the arrival of the official White House Christmas tree She's a beauty! Barron, who has grown taller than his mother in heels, was seen surveying the Wisconsin-grown Christmas tree arriving at the White House Monday afternoon Stylista: The first lady kept it casual with a red top, jeans, heeled boots and a plaid jacket, pulled over her shoulders - a style she seems to adore Mother-son fun! Melania and Barron looked happy and relaxed in each other's company as they enjoyed the festive tradition together The White House's giant Christmas trees almost always fill the entire room. This year's tree was provided by the Chapman family of Silent Night Evergreens, located in Endeavor, Wisconsin. They were the winners of the National Christmas Tree Association national tree contest. The winners of the contest have provided the official White House Christmas tree since 1966, the White House said. Melania stepped onto the North Portico, sporting the same black slacks, heeled boots, red turtleneck sweater and plaid trench coat she wore in the images later shared on her Twitter account. A dressed-up Barron was wearing a white button down shirt and a jacket and slacks with boots. The two Trumps greeted the horse-drawn carriage and spent about a minute surveying the tree before going to meet and take pictures with the Chapman family. Diesel fumes could harm male fertility, research suggests. Men living in areas with high levels of air pollution were found to have distorted sperm, a new study reveals. Experts analysed exposure to sooty particles which are particularly linked to emissions of old diesel cars. These particles - called PM2.5 - are so fine that they are breathed into the lungs and enter the blood stream. Poorly-shaped sperm may not be the end of the world: Recent research has shown that sperm shape is not as important as once thought Scientist found men at high levels of this pollution were far more likely to have sperm of an abnormal size and shape. Just last month World Health Organisation data revealed 43 of 50 large towns and cities in Britain have dangerously high levels of PM2.5 particles. More than 40,000 people are thought to die early every year in the UK because of air pollution, which is known to contribute to heart problems, lung disease and dementia. Male fertility is as at-risk as for women The new research suggests it could also have a major impact on mens ability to start a family. The study, published in the BMJ journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, warned ambient air pollution may serve as a risk factor of male reproductive health. The data comes as experts are increasingly warning fertility is not just a womens issue. MALE FERTILITY IMPLICATED IN 49 PER CENT OF IVF CYCLES Portrayals on TV of couples seeking a child through IVF suggest it's mostly a woman's concern. However, research over the last few decades have recorded a dramatic decline in the quantity and quality of sperm. Dr Catherine Hood, a consultant in psychosexual medicine, said: 'Women are often quick to blame themselves if they don't get pregnant, and overlook the fact that it is increasingly likely that the problem lies with their partner.' As a result, many women may seek fertilisation therapies for themselves, when a problem conceiving may not be down to them but their partner. Doctors recommend using less invasive treatments like intracervical insemination (ICI) the use of a cervical cap to hold sperm close to the cervix and intrauterine insemination (IUI), before resorting to IVF. Advertisement While women have been blamed for decades for the UKs dwindling fertility rates, official statistics show 49 per cent of IVF cycles carried out in Britain are now linked to male fertility problems. The new study, led by researchers from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, examined sperm samples collected from 6,500 Taiwanese men aged 15 to 49. The researchers also measured PM2.5 exposure at the participants homes over two years. Higher pollution was associated with a significant drop in normal sperm shape and size - also known as sperm morphology. Men who were exposed to more pollution were at a 26 per cent increased risk of being in the bottom 10 per cent of normal sperm size and shape. However, higher levels of ambient air pollution were also linked to a significant increase in sperm numbers, which the researchers suggest is possibly as a compensatory mechanism to combat the detrimental effects on shape and size. The authors wrote: Infertility is a global public health concern. It was estimated that 48.5 million couples worldwide were infertile in 2010. We found a robust association between exposure to PM2.5 air pollution and low percentage of sperm normal morphology in reproductive-age men. Although the effect estimates are small and the significance might be negligible in a clinical setting, this is an important public health challenge. 'The jury is still out' Professor Allan Pacey, an expert in male fertility at the University of Sheffield, said he was not convinced by the findings, because sperm shape is not as clinically important as people once thought. He added, however: Air pollution probably does have the potential to negatively influence male reproductive health. But the jury is still out about quite how and to what extent this impacts on male fertility, rather than measurable and small interesting changes in semen quality. Kevin McConway, emeritus professor of applied statistics at The Open University, said: This is an interesting study, but its important to be aware of its limitations. If I were young enough to worry about my fertility, I wouldnt put moving to an area with cleaner air at the top of my list of actions - though there are certainly many other health-related reasons to live in cleaner air. The stress of modern life is taking its toll on the health of young women. That's according to a study that reveals twice as many females nowadays are at risk of burnout compared to almost 30 years ago. In 1990, 8.5 per cent rated their health as being worse than peers in their own age group. By 2014, this trend had increased to 20 per cent of women. In contrast, men rated their health as better at the end of the study period compared to the start. Scientists say the findings could have implications for their long-term health as they are more likely to develop disease as they get older. The finding came from a long-term study of 1,811 people aged 25 to 34. The pressure on young women today to 'manage everything' including their jobs and their families is making their health suffer (stock photo) THE REASONS WOMEN'S HEALTH IS SUFFERING According to the study authors, possible causes for a negative health trend among young women may be: Tougher working conditions in female-dominated professions such as in healthcare Increased risk of burnouts (stress-related exhaustion disorder) and stress of conscience General societal expectations such as pressures to be successful, socially active and physically attractive Basing their self-confidence on achievements and expected patterns of consumption Lack of equality in ones private life Mens violence against women Two conflicting but coinciding norm systems in society equality and traditional gender roles where women must fulfil expectation related to both (that is 'manage everything') Advertisement Women's risk of burnout Women are suffering as they are expected to 'manage everything' including their jobs and their families. They are also under general pressure from society to be successful, socially popular and physically attractive, say researchers. They blame tougher working conditions in female-dominated professions such as healthcare. Other factors include increased risk of stress-related exhaustion and lack of equality in their private life. They are also more likely to suffer violence at the hands of men. Equal home life good for men They suggest men are happier today because they are still valued more highly in the workplace than women despite having a lower level of education. A more equal responsibility for children and the household is beneficial for mens health, it is claimed, and the equality norm opens up for more variation in the so-called 'masculine role'. The study also suggests they have fewer ties to 'rigid masculine norms' in the local community through the Internet. Health risks Dr Annika Forssen, a GP and lecturer at Umea University in Sweden which conducted the study, said: 'Self-rated health is a widespread method of assessing health in populations.' She said an independent predictor of future illness including heart attacks, risk of diabetes, depression, rheumatic disease and sick leave, medical care utilisation and mortality. The results also showed more people of both genders report suffering with obesity, anxiety and dissatisfaction with their personal wealth these days. 'In recent years public debate has raised the issue of increased illness and sick leaves among women,' she added. 'Our study now shows for the first time there are corresponding health trends also among young women.' The study, published in PLOS ONE, analysed answers from participants in the MONICA study in Northern Sweden. Though experts argue similar patterns can be seen in the rest of the Western world. 'Our study shows deteriorating comparative self-rated health in young women despite Sweden being a strong welfare state,' said Dr Forssen. 'The rates of unemployed young adults compared to other countries are low. 'Large shares of young adults have post-secondary education and a high level of physical activity. This should make self-rated health better.' Co-author Dr Goran Waller suggested 'the promotion of equal rights to health for men and women need significant revisions'. The Madagascar plague causing 'the worst outbreak in 50 years' may have arrived in Europe 4,000 years earlier than the 14th century epidemic, new research reveals. Yersina pestis bacteria, which has killed 195 people in the east African country, first entered Europe in the Bronze Age, not the historical Black Death pandemic, a study released today by Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Germany, found. Genetic analysis of bone samples suggest ancient civilizations from Siberia may have fled to Europe in order to escape the plague, but actually brought the infection with them, the research adds. The same bacteria is responsible for 2,267 people being struck down by the 'medieval disease' in Madagascar; a rise of 64 casualties since the 2,203 cases reported last Friday, according to World Health Organization (WHO) statistics. International aid workers are desperately battling to contain the 'crisis', which has been described as the 'worst outbreak in 50 years' and has prompted 10 nearby African countries to be placed on high alert by the WHO. Experts have expressed fears doctors are so focused on controlling the plague epidemic, they may neglect to participate in nationwide vaccination programmes against polio, which may trigger an outbreak of the paralysing condition. Doctors and nurses may also be unable to treat plague patients if they themselves become infected, which would inevitably cause the outbreak to spiral further out of control, experts add. The Madagascar plague causing 'the worst outbreak in 50 years' may have arrived in Europe 4,000 years earlier than the 14th century epidemic, new research reveals The researchers analysed the genes of six plague-causing Yersinia pestis bacteria from 4,800 to 3,700 years ago. They also investigated more than 500 tooth and bone samples from Germany, Russia, Hungary, Croatia, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia and screened them for Y. pestis. Based on DNA evidence showing the movement of people during this period, plague appears to have arrived with the migration of people from Siberia during the Bronze Age up to 4,800 years ago. Study author Johannes Kraus said: 'The threat of Y. pestis infections may have been one of the causes for the increased mobility during the late Neolithic-early Bronze Age period.' In an effort to escape injection, migrants may have brought plague to Europe. The findings were published in the journal Current Biology. Schools and universities have been shut in a desperate attempt to contain the respiratory disease, with children known to come into contact with each other more than adults, and the buildings have been sprayed to eradicate any fleas that may carry the plague The deadly plague epidemic in Madagascar that is at 'crisis' point will trigger an outbreak of polio, according to Dr Derek Gatherer from Lancaster University, who fears aid workers will so focused on the 'medieval disease' they will forget nationwide efforts to prevent polio cases. He told MailOnline: It could derail the polio vaccine campaign, which would be a setback for eradication. 'If [the] Madagascan health service is bursting at its seam coping with plague, then getting the polio vaccine programme running to plan will be something of a challenge. Professor Allen Cheng, an infectious disease expert at Monash University, warned of the dangers of the plague and said this year's outbreak has been 'unusual' - because it is airborne. He wrote in a piece for The Conversation: 'Its not possible to eradicate plague, as it is widespread in wildlife rodents outside the sphere of human influence.' Plague, caused by the Yersina pestis bacteria, killed hundreds of millions of people in three devastating outbreaks, including the Plague of Justinian in the 6th century. It is easily treated with antibiotics in the current climate - however, experts are still concerned it will cause eternal havoc because it is constantly mutating. Kyle Harper, a professor of classics and letters at the University of Oklahoma, said biological evolution is 'cunning and dangerous'. Professor Harper, author of The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire, told Project Syndicate: 'There still is no vaccine; while antibiotics are effective if administered early, the threat of antimicrobial resistance is real. 'That may be the deepest lesson from the long history of this scourge. Biological evolution is cunning and dangerous. 'Small mutations can alter a pathogens virulence or its efficiency of transmission, and evolution is relentless. 'We may have the upper hand over plague today, despite the headlines in East Africa. 'But our long history with the disease demonstrates that our control over it is tenuous, and likely to be transient and that threats to public health anywhere are threats to public health everywhere.' Two thirds of cases in Madagascar have been caused by pneumonic plague, which can be spread through coughing, sneezing or spitting and kill within 24 hours. It is strikingly different to the bubonic form, responsible for the 'Black Death' in the 14th century, which rocks the country each year and infects around 600 people. Others worry it will eventually hit the US, Europe and Britain, leaving millions more vulnerable due to how quick it can spread through populations. And with the plague season expected to run until April, scientists believe there will be another spike of cases in the coming months. Scores of doctors and nurses have already been struck down with the disease, and there are growing fears hospitals will be unable to cope if it continues its rampage. But local officials are adamant the outbreak is slowing down as the number of new cases is on the decline. WHAT DOES THE STUDY ON PLAGUE SHOW? Yersina pestis bacteria, which has killed at least 195 people in Madagascar, first entered Europe in the Bronze Age, not the historical Black Death pandemic, a study released today by Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Germany, found. Genetic analysis of bone samples suggest ancient civilizations from Siberia may have fled to Europe in order to escape the plague, but actually brought the infection with them, the research adds. The researchers analysed the genes of six plague-causing Y. pestis bacteria from 4,800 to 3,700 years ago. They also investigated more than 500 tooth and bone samples from Germany, Russia, Hungary, Croatia, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia and screened them for Y. pestis. Based on DNA evidence showing the movement of people during this period, plague appears to have arrived with the migration of people from Siberia during the Bronze Age up to 4,800 years ago. Study author Alexander Herbig said: 'Y. pestis was possibly introduced to Europe from the steppe around 4,800 years ago, where it established a local reservoir before moving back towards Central Eurasia.' Co-author Johannes Kraus added: 'The threat of Y. pestis infections may have been one of the causes for the increased mobility during the late Neolithic-early Bronze Age period.' In an effort to escape infection, migrants may have brought plague to Europe. Such migrants, who may have encountered Y. pestis before, could have had immunity to fight infection. By mating with native Europeans, this may have created the region's current gene pool. The findings were published in the journal Current Biology. Advertisement Scientists are growing increasingly concerned this year's outbreak has reached 'crisis' point HOW THE PLAGUE HAS ESCALATED DATE OF REPORT October 4 October 9 October 12 October 17 October 20 October 26 October 31 November 6 November 9 November 14 November 17 November 20 INFECTED/DEAD 194/30 387/45 684/57 849/67 1,297/102 1,309/93 1,801/127 1,947/143 2,034/165 2,119/171 2,203/192 2,267/195 Advertisement Malawi was added to the growing list of nations placed urged to brace for a potential outbreak last weekend, becoming the tenth. South Africa, Seychelles, La Reunion, Tanzania, Mauritius, Comoros, Mozambique, Kenya and Ethiopia have already been told to prepare. Paul Hunter, professor of health protection at the world-renowned University of East Anglia, was the first expert to predict the plague could travel across the sea. He previously told MailOnline: 'The big anxiety is it could spread to mainland Africa, it's not probable, but certainly possible, that might then be difficult to control. 'If we don't carry on doing stuff here, at one point something will happen and it will get out of our control and cause huge devastation all around the world.' Adding to the fears, he has previously warned there is a risk the disease could spread 'globally'. Officials in Madagascar have warned residents not to exhume bodies of dead loved ones and dance with them because the bizarre ritual can cause outbreaks of plague However, he was adamant that it would be easy for an economically developed country to contain the treatable disease in its current form. Professor Hunter's concerns echoed that of dozens of leading scientists, many of whom have predicted the 'truly unprecedented' outbreak will continue to spiral. Professor Jimmy Whitworth, an international health scientist at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, described it as the worst outbreak in 50 years. And Professor Johnjoe McFadden, a molecular geneticist at Surrey University, said that the plague is 'scary' and is predominantly a 'disease of the poor'. Speaking exclusively to MailOnline two weeks ago, he also said: 'It's a crisis at the moment and we don't know how bad it's going to get.' Professor McFadden added: 'It's a terrible disease. It's broadly caused more deaths of humans than anything else, it's a very deadly pathogen. 'It is a disease of poverty where humans are being forced to live very close to rats and usually means poor sewage and poor living conditions. HOW DID THIS YEAR'S OUTBREAK BEGIN? Health officials are unsure how this year's outbreak began. However, some believe it could be caused by the bubonic plague, which is endemic in the remote highlands of Madagascar. If left untreated, it can lead to the pneumonic form, which is responsible for two thirds of the cases recorded so far in this year's outbreak. Rats carry the Yersinia pestis bacteria that causes the plague, which is then passed onto their fleas. Forest fires drive rats towards rural communities, which means residents are at risk of being bitten and infected. Local media reports suggest there has been an increase in the number of blazes in the woodlands. Without antibiotics, the bubonic strain can spread to the lungs - where it becomes the more virulent pneumonic form. Pneumonic, which can kill within 24 hours, can then be passed on through coughing, sneezing or spitting. However, it can also be treated with antibiotics if caught in time. Madagascar sees regular outbreaks of plague, which tend to start in September, with around 600 cases being reported each year on the island. However, this year's outbreak has seen it reach the Indian Ocean island's two biggest cities, Antananarivo and Toamasina. Experts warn the disease spreads quicker in heavily populated areas. Advertisement In Madagascar, a sacred ritual sees families exhume the remains of dead relatives, rewrap them in fresh cloth and dance with the corpses 'A TICKING TIME BOMB WAITING TO DECIMATE THE WORLD' Credible experts have warned that there is no threat to the UK, however, some have warned the plague outbreak will reach the UK. Richard Conroy, founder of Sick Holiday, has sent a chilling warning to UK authorities - saying it's 'only a matter of time' before the disease arrives on British soil. Mr Conroy warned it is inevitable due to the vast movement of people across the globe its inevitable that plague will continue its march. He told MailOnline: 'I believe that it's 100 per cent likely that plague will arrive in the UK once more - it's just a question of 'when', not 'if'. 'And it's not an exaggeration to say that this is a real threat - a ticking time bomb that's waiting to decimate the world. 'With the current outbreak still remaining treatable with antibiotics, however, the current risk is low.' Advertisement 'That's the root cause of why it's still a problem in the world. If we got rid of rats living close enough to mankind then we wouldn't have the disease.' Professor McFadden warned in countries such as Madagascar 'people often need to walk more than a day to receive proper medical treatment'. He added: 'Fortunately in plague, it has not developed much antibiotic resistance. If that kicks in, the plague will be far, far scarier. 'If you throw more and more antibiotics at patients, antibiotic resistance is more less inevitable.' Commenting on previous WHO figures, Professor Robin May, an infectious diseases expert at Birmingham University, told MailOnline the outbreak was 'concerning definitely'. Dr Derek Gatherer, from Lancaster Universitys biomedical and life-sciences department, told MailOnline the country would struggle to cope if cases continue to spiral. He said: If it wasnt for the international aid coming in things, would definitely be much worse for them [Madagascar]. Amid concerns the plague had reached crisis point two weeks ago, the World Bank decided to release an extra $5 million (3.8m) to control the rocketing amount of cases. The money will allow for the deployment of personnel to battle the outbreak in the affected regions, the disinfection of buildings and fuel for ambulances. The latest World Health Organization figures come days after aid workers on the ground revealed that police are having to seize the corpses of plague victims. Charlotte Ndiaye, of the WHO, described the situation as being 'terrible', with many traditional families unwilling to part with their loved ones. Hundreds of families are confused about what they should do with the dead bodies, Ms Ndiaye told South African's Mail & Guardian newspaper. If officials suspect someone to have died from pneumonic plague, an officer armed with chemicals will be disposed to kill any bacteria on the corpse. They are then placed in a sealed body bag and placed in a common grave - but the practice goes against the traditions of the Malagasy culture. In the culture, there is an annual celebration to honour the dead - and aid workers previously warned this would fuel an increase in cases. All Saints Day, otherwise known as the 'Day of the Dead', is a public holiday which takes place on November 1 each year. Crowds often gather at local cemeteries. WHY DID THE 'GODZILA' EL NINO TRIGGER THE WORST PLAGUE IN 50 YEARS? Experts also believe last year's natural phenomenon El Nino - dubbed 'Godzilla', triggered an increase in rat populations in rural areas, sparking the beginning of the epidemic which has so far infected at least 1,300 people. Forest fires have also driven the rats and their plague-carrying fleas towards areas inhabited by humans, local reports state as a reason behind the surge in cases recorded this year. But Professor Matthew Bayliss, from Liverpool University's Institute of Infection and Global Health, suggested floods and heavy rains triggered by Cyclone Enawo, may also be to blame. Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, he warned the particularly aggressive El Nino of 2016 may be behind the aggressive start of this year's outbreak, which has seen it hit two heavily populated cities for the first time, including the capital Antananarivo. '2016 was the strongest El Nino on record, and was nicknamed by some 'Godzilla',' he said. Some have suggested the growing burden of climate change was to blame. 'It is a change to the movements of water in the Pacific Ocean which then has an effect on climate in many parts of the world, including east and southern Africa. 'Our own research suggests that El Nino played a role of the Zika outbreak, but it is also possible that the conditions have facilitated this large scale plague outbreak.' Experts believe the natural phenomenon dubbed 'Godzilla' triggered an increase in rat populations in rural areas of Madagascar, sparking the beginning of the epidemic Professor Bayliss, alongside colleagues including climatologist Dr Cyril Caminade, were behind a 2014 study that found outbreaks of plague in Madagascar are linked to the naturally occurring climate event in the tropical Pacific Ocean. Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they found large outbreaks tend to coincide with the fluctuation of air pressure and sea surface temperature, partly driven by El Nino. It was based on 48 years worth of data. They were also behind another study, released in the same journal in December last year, which found El Nino fuelled the Zika outbreak in South America. It went on to strike more than 70 countries and caused a surge in the number of babies born with abnormally small heads. What is El Nino? El Nino, along with its little sister La Nina, are part of a recurring shift in climate that occurs as warm water shifts from one side of the Pacific to the other. It is caused by a shift in the distribution of warm water in the Pacific Ocean around the equator. Usually the wind blows strongly from east to west, due to the rotation of the Earth, causing water to pile up in the western part of the Pacific. This pulls up colder water from the deep ocean in the eastern Pacific. However, in an El Nino, the winds pushing the water get weaker and cause the warmer water to shift back towards the east. This causes the eastern Pacific to get warmer. But as the ocean temperature is linked to the wind currents, this causes the winds to grow weaker still and so the ocean grows warmer, meaning the El Nino grows. This change in air and ocean currents around the equator can have a major impact on the weather patterns around the globe by creating pressure anomalies in the atmosphere. Advertisement 'In that type of situation, it may be easy to forget about respiratory etiquettes,' Panu Saaristo, the International Federation of Red Cross' team leader for health in Madagascar, previously told MailOnline. Concerned health officials have also warned an ancient ritual, called Famadihana, where relatives dig up the corpses of their loved ones, may be fueling the spread. To limit the danger of Famadihana, rules enforced at the beginning of the outbreak dictate plague victims cannot be buried in a tomb that can be reopened. Instead, their remains must be held in an anonymous mausoleum. But the local media has reported several cases of bodies being exhumed covertly. Despite the serious risks publicised by the authorities, few in Madagascar question the turning ceremonies and dismiss the advice. People in Madagascar believe the ritual honours their dead relatives, who can be 'turned' every five, seven or nine years Willy Randriamarotia, the Madagascan health ministry's chief of staff, said: 'If a person dies of pneumonic plague and is then interred in a tomb that is subsequently opened for a Famadihana, the bacteria can still be transmitted and contaminate whoever handles the body.' Experts have long observed that plague season coincides with the period when Famadihana ceremonies are held from July to October. Last week MailOnline revealed the 'Godzilla' El Nino of 2016 has also been blamed for the severity of this year's outbreak by causing freak weather conditions. Plague season hits Madagascar each year, and experts warn there is still six months to run despite already seeing more than triple the amount of cases than expected. Usually the country sees cases of bubonic plague, which is transmitted by rat flea bites and was responsible for the 100 million fatalities from the 'Black Death' in the 14th century. If left untreated, the Yersinia pestis bacteria can reach the lungs. This is where it turns pneumonic described as the 'deadliest and most rapid form of plague'. Health officials are unsure how this year's outbreak began, but local media report that forest fires have driven rats towards rural communities. This year's worrying outbreak has seen it reach the Indian Ocean island's two biggest cities, Antananarivo and Toamasina. AID WORKER ON THE GROUND REVEALS SCALE OF THE PROBLEM A senior aid worker on the ground in Madagascar has provided MailOnline with an exclusive snapshot of what is happening on the island. Panu Saaristo, the International Federation of Red Cross' team leader, has revealed thousands of infected adults are unwilling to seek help because they are scared of hospitals. Mr Saaristo said the cultural stigma associated with seeking medical help was masking the true scale of the problem as it means many of those who are infected are failing to be diagnosed. At the same time there is also a growing shortage of life-saving tests which can provide a rapid diagnosis. Speaking about the decline in plague cases reported today by Madagascan health officials, Mr Saaristo said he feared this is not really the case and that the true scale of the problem growing. He told MailOnline: 'No-one is happier than us, if that is indeed the case'. 'Fear of the fact if they get diagnosed with the infection and the long time they would have to spend in hospital' could be a factor in many not seeking treatment because they connect 'hospitals to death', he added. 'People start avoiding healthcare that may lead to a situation where people start dying.' He warned this year's outbreak has been 'truly unprecedented', and is 'not the plague as usual'. Figures show that at least 1,300 cases of the plague have been reported so far in this year's outbreak, with 93 official deaths recorded. However, UN estimates state the toll could be in excess of 120. Mr Saaristo warned more deaths are expected unless the urgent shortage of rapid diagnostic tests is immediately addressed, as the majority of plague cases spreading through Madagascar can prove fatal in just 24 hours. Advertisement Experts warn the disease spreads quicker in heavily populated areas. It is estimated that around 1.6 million people live in either city. The first death this year occurred on August 28 when a passenger died in a public taxi en route to a town on the east coast. Two others who came into contact with the passenger also died. This year's outbreak is expected to dwarf previous ones as it has struck early, and British aid workers believe it will continue on its rampage. Olivier Le Guillou, of Action Against Hunger, previously said: 'The epidemic is ahead of us, we have not yet reached the peak.' The most recent WHO figures dispute claims by Dr Manitra Rakotoarivony, Madagascar's director of health promotion, that the epidemic is on a downward spiral. He previously told local radio: 'There is an improvement in the fight against the spread of the plague, which means that there are fewer patients in hospitals.' THE OPENING OF THE RED CROSS' FIRST MAKESHIFT PLAGUE CLINIC Concerned humanitarians have opened a clinic attached to a major hospital in the country's capital in a desperate attempt to contain the plague outbreak. The International Federation of Red Cross has set-up a makeshift treatment clinic at the Andouhatapenaka Hospital in Antananarivo. Twenty beds are available to be used in the clinic, but it is unsure how many patients are currently being treated at the makeshift centre. Aid workers stress it will be able to offer 24/7 treatment to those infected, as officials continue their attempts to clamp down on cases. An international team of doctors are also providing supervision and training on plague treatment Advertisement The ceremony sees the wrapped remains carried out into the open and carefully placed on a mat where they are rewrapped, or 'turned' in the new shrouds WHAT IS THE FAMADIHANA RITUAL? The unique custom, originating among communities that live in Madagascar's high plateaux, draws crowds every winter to honour the dead and to honour their mortal wishes. 'It's one of Madagascar's most widespread rituals,' historian Mahery Andrianahag told AFP at a festival in Ambohijafy, a village outside the capital Antananarivo. Relatives invite all their fellow villagers to attend the ceremony and to take part in the procession as well as musical and food festivities, but the wrapping of the body is a purely family affair. The dead may be 'turned' more than once but only every five, seven or nine years, and can be wrapped in several shrouds if different parts of the family or loved ones want to honour them. The customary ritual, rather than a religious rite, is a celebration accompanied by music, dancing and singing, fuelled by alcoholic drinks. As soon as it is over, the mats on which the bodies are laid are pulled up. Many participants store them under their mattresses in the belief it will bring them good luck, harboring bacteria. Advertisement The WHO, which issues a new report into the outbreak every few days, also remains adamant that cases are on the 'decline in all active areas' across the country. The plague outbreak in Madagascar tends to begin in September and ends in April. Tarik Jasarevic of the World Health Organization confirmed it would be no different this year. He said two weeks ago: 'After concerted efforts of the Ministry of Health and partners, we are beginning to see a decline in reported cases but there are still people being admitted to hospital. 'At this time we cannot say with certainty that the epidemic has subsided. We are about three months into the epidemic season, which goes on until April 2018. 'Even if the recent declining trend is confirmed, we cannot rule out the possibility of further spikes in transmission between now and April 2018.' A WHO official added: 'The risk of the disease spreading is high at national level because it is present in several towns and this is just the start of the outbreak.' International agencies have so far sent more than one million doses of antibiotics to Madagascar. Nearly 20,000 respiratory masks have also been donated. However, the WHO advises against travel or trade restrictions. It previously asked for $5.5 million (4.2m) to support the plague response, which has now been issued. Despite its guidance, Air Seychelles, one of Madagascar's biggest airlines, stopped flying temporarily earlier in the month to try and curb the spread. Schools and universities were shut in a desperate attempt to contain the respiratory disease, with children known to come into contact with each other more than adults. The buildings have been sprayed to eradicate any fleas that may carry the plague. Dilys Morgan, head of emerging infections and zoonoses at Public Health England, said: 'The risk to people in UK is very low, but the risk for international travellers to and those working in Madagascar is higher. 'It is important that travellers to Madagascar seek advice before travelling and are aware of the measures they can take to reduce the risk of infection. 'The UK has robust systems in place for assessing illness in persons returning from travel or work overseas. 'Plague is no longer the threat to humans that it was centuries ago, as antibiotics work well if treatment is started early.' For Madagascans, the famadihana ceremony is an intense celebration accompanied by music, dancing and singing, fuelled by alcoholic drinks Dr Tara Lynn Frankhouser never would have hurt her first son, but in the throes of postpartum depression she was afraid to hold him too long. The doctor never expected that the postpartum depression shed watched her patients suffer through might strike her too. Dr Frankhouser was shocked by her own ability to continue to conceal and deny her agony, even on her most desperate days, and now sees that her patients probably try to hide their symptoms from her too. Six years after her first son was born, Dr Frankhouser has been able to face those fearful times and write an account and analysis of her own the debilitating condition to help doctors like herself identify the often hidden signs of postpartum depression. Dr Tara Frankhouser struggled with postpartum depression after her first son (pictured together above, along with her husband Charles) was born in 2011. Six years later, she has published an account and study of her experience to help herself and other doctors empathize with what women go through after childbirth Depression has blurred many memories of the first several months of her eldest sons life, but Dr Frankhouser bravely recounts the horrors of feeling like a danger to her own child and overcoming shame and denial. A lot of women put on a really good show, Dr Frankhouser says. PPD is something you want to hide. We are perfectly capable of pretending for an hour that we have it all together for dinner with the family or a doctors appointment. I was perfectly capable of that, she told Daily Mail Online. Dr Frankhouser says that the standard questions at follow-up obstetrical and pediatric doctors appointments - So, hows mom doing? - are not always adequate. For months, I would always say Yeah, Im fine, Im great, and they took that at face value, she says. In reality, once her husband, Charles, went back to work, she found herself petrified by being alone with an often crying newborn in a house steeped in alien baby bottles, diapers and breast pumps. Outside the door to her sons nursery, Dr Frankhouser writes that she remembers thinking what mother cannot soothe her own child for fear of her own actions? That sort of self-blame is exactly what the doctor and other clinicians have to try to combat with new mothers, who want to be super-moms she says. 'You really cant take what [patients] are saying at face value, when theyre coming to see you every week and not getting better. Dr Frankhouser went over and over to her doctor in the months following her first sons birth, complaining of headaches. Finally, she writes, she had the out-of-body experience of telling her husband and then her doctor what she was going through, after crying herself empty. Dr Frankhouser and her husband, Charles now have three children and both practice medicine in Statesville, North Carolina. Charles was the first person Dr Frankhouser told about the fears that accompanied her PPD When her doctor asked if she had thought about hurting herself or her baby, Dr Frankhouser remembers her agonized reply: I wouldnt hurt him. I dont want to hurt him. I just put him down and walk away when I feel like I cant take it anymore. But thats not the mother I feel like I should be. That fear, of society labeling a woman as a bad mother can lead to shame and avoidance in seeking treatment, Dr Frankhouser writes. About three million people develop PPD each year in the US. The condition shares similarities with other forms of depression, but the hormonal changes and poor sleep common to new mothers can exaggerate symptoms like insomnia, irritability and difficulty bonding with the baby. These clinical descriptions of symptoms just dont do justice to what women like Dr Frankhouser go through, as she recalls in her research. Feelings of aggression nor antipathy toward their new baby can be a symptom of more sever forms of PPD, but theyre only made worse by a depressed mothers guilt and fear of stigma. His first six months were kind of a haze, she told Daily Mail Online. In writing about her PPD, she says she got back some of those memories for better or worse. When Dr Frankhouser's daughter, now four, was born in 2013, she caught the early warning signs of her PPD and started back on antidepressants, an option she says patients should be aware they have Now that she has gotten past her own, Dr Frankhouser has used her experience as motivation to destigmatize postpartum depression (PPD), empathize with patients, and screen every new mother that comes into her office in North Carolina to be sure they get the mental health care they need. Dr Frankhouser was used to addressing the many stresses of pregnancy and new motherhood while she was doing her osteopathic residency in family medicine. But when she got pregnant with her first child in 2013, Dr Frankhouser found she had to change her role to be a patient. In a newly-published account and ethnographic study of her experience, she writes of the clear memory of being forever changed by bringing my son into the world, and the joy of bringing a happy baby home. Through examining her own PPD, she identified four themes in the cultural ideologies of intensive mothering and the stigma of mental illness: essentialism, failure, shame, and avoidance. She says that the essentialism of the intensive experience of early stages of mothering is perhaps under-addressed. A big one for mothers is how connected they are with breastfeeding. It was never successful for me, says Dr Frankhouser. Dr Fankhouser's youngest son was born in November of 2015. Now, she knows how to keep her postpartum depression under control For the first month after her first baby was born, she hardly slept, pumping every three hours around the clock, just trying to be able to feed her son with her own milk. 'Its terrible to feel like you cant pull it off, when society tells you [that] you should be able to. Even if they dont want to watch you in public, they still expect you to be able to do it, says Dr Frankhouser. Most estimates say that about five percent of women are physically unable to breastfeed, but in one recent study more than 90 percent of mothers had trouble breastfeeding, at least immediately after their babies were born. Finally, I gave myself permission to stop, Dr Frankhouser says. Now I see moms that come in and beat themselves up. I tell them that they can supplement, their baby can have a bottle and its okay. Once Dr Frankhouser accepted that it was okay to experience PPD and to bottle-feed her baby, she got the help she needed and started taking antidepressants. Fast-forward six years, and Dr Frankhouser and her son are happy and healthy. She now has another son, age two, and a daughter, age four. She says that when they came along, she and her husband quickly recognized when PPD started to creep back into their lives. She returned to her antidepressants. I think sometimes its scary to think about putting something extra in your body when youre pregnant, but everything we do and feel affects the baby and its all a matter of weighing the pros and cons and having the conversation with your doctor, she says. Now, Dr Frankhouser screens every new mother - and many fathers - she sees for PPD, even if they say theyre doing great. I dont know if theres a perfect question to ask, she says. I think the best thing we can do is ask open-ended question and give the parents - cant exclude fathers from that either - give them the space to talk. They say cash is king - but for how much longer? Shoppers are increasingly ditching notes and coins for tap-and-go payment cards and smartphones. Some countries, such as Sweden and Canada, are quickly turning into so-called cashless economies, where shops and restaurants only accept cards and mobile payments. Were a long way from that here in the UK. But we are spending 27 times more on contactless cards now than three years ago. Shoppers are increasingly ditching notes and coins for tap-and-go payment cards and smartphones We spent 100,255 a minute on contactless cards in June, up from just 3,668 in June 2014, according to banking trade body UK Finance. Experts believe that even if cash doesnt disappear entirely in Britain, the trend towards digital currency is here to stay. Matthew Tonge, manager of the Liontrust Special Situations investment fund, says: Nearly everywhere you go its as simple as tapping your card or using your smartphone. There may even be people who are born now or in the near future who go through their entire lives without ever touching money. So can you profit from the cashless spending revolution? Many firms are racing to develop technologies to make it easier to pay by card or by phone. For example, technology giant Apple lets you pay for goods online using just your thumbprint with its so-called Apple Pay technology. You simply hold your thumb over the sensor on your smartphone at a retailers online checkout page and the payment goes through. Experts believe there may even be people who are born now or in the near future who go through their entire lives without ever touching money In the U.S., Amazon has launched a supermarket with no cashiers or tills. Instead, the store is kitted out with sensors that make a log of the items you have picked up. When you leave, the bill is totted up and the money automatically debited from your bank account. The Liontrust Special Situations fund invests in a Cambridge-based firm called Bango, which lets mobile users add the cost of music and app downloads to their monthly bills. In June, Bango signed a deal with Amazon in Japan so shoppers can do the same with larger items such as books, clothes or kitchen utensils. It also has major deals with Google and Samsung. IT'S A FACT! In the Eighties, Canada Trust bank branded its cashpoints Johnny Cash Machines and hired the country legend to do adverts. Liontrust Special Situations owns 8.7 per cent of Bango, which is worth around 160 million. The fund has turned 10,000 into 18,822 in five years. Chinese shoppers are ditching cash faster than most of Europe and North America. The UN predicts that cash will be used in less than a third of purchases in China by 2020, compared with more than 60 per cent in 2010. And payments made with smartphones are set to rise nearly 500 per cent to 300 billion in four years. Social media giant Tencent, which is worth 386 billion, is one of the countrys leading smartphone payment companies. It owns messaging service WeChat, which allows its 900 million users to pay for goods by scanning a barcode generated by the till with their smartphones and tapping in their passcode. The money is then taken from their account as if a debit card had been used. Darius McDermott, of broker Chelsea Financial Services, tips Fidelity Asia for savers wanting to cash in on Tencents success. The social media giant is the funds biggest stock pick, accounting for 6.93 of every 100 of savers cash. The fund has turned 10,000 into 20,980 in five years. PayPal, which launched in 1998, is one of the worlds largest internet payments companies, used by 20 million British internet shoppers every year, and 218 million worldwide. It links your online PayPal account to your debit and credit cards so you can buy goods online by just typing in your password. You can also use it to transfer money to family and friends. Since it split from internet auction site eBay in July 2015, PayPals share price has rocketed nearly 125 per cent to $77.93 (58.82). Social media giant Tencent, which is worth 386 billion, is one of Chinas leading smartphone payment companies Jason Hollands, of investment firm Tilney, recommends Lindsell Train Global Equity. It invests 5.21 of every 100 of savers cash in PayPal, and has turned 10,000 into 27,330 in five years. Another pioneering payments firm is iZettle. Its technology allows small businesses, market traders and taxi drivers to accept card payments without having to fork out for expensive equipment. Since October 2016, all London black cabs have been forced to accept card payments. Many are choosing iZettle as a cheap option. Instead of a monthly fee, business owners give the firm 1.75 per cent of every sale, or 1.75 for every 100. Shop owners can also use the small contactless card readers to log what has been sold, so they can keep track of stock. The Stockholm-based firm is not listed on the stock exchange, so its difficult for savers to invest in. But Ben Yearsley, of adviser Shore Financial Planning, says you can buy into iZettle through a fund called HarbourVest Global Private Equity, which invests in start-up firms. The fund has turned 10,000 into 17,583 in five years. Dozens of travel companies, insurers, car dealers and even local councils are charging rip-off fees for paying by credit card - even though the Government says this is unacceptable. A Money Mail investigation found customers are having to fork out as much as 3 per cent extra to pay by credit card. In some cases, they are being charged 150 more than they would if they paid by debit card. Dozens of travel companies, insurers, car dealers and even local councils are charging rip-off fees for paying by credit card - even though the Government says this is unacceptable These fees have been branded a rip-off by ministers and are being banned under new laws. Firms have been given until January 13 to get rid of so-called credit card surcharges. Today we name and shame the firms hanging on until the last moment to make the changes. Among the offenders are holiday giant TUI (formerly Thomson), Ryanair, Centre Parcs and Ealing Council in London. While none of these organisations is breaking the law, our research shows some could be making a profit. Many firms claim they face extra costs for processing payments if you choose to pay by credit card rather debit card. But Money Mail understands that these should be no more than 1.5 per cent, while many firms are charged less. That means they could be lining their pockets if theyre charging customers anything higher. James Daley, founder of consumer group Fairer Finance, says: Its shocking that companies and councils are brazenly hitting customers with these fees, which they know full well are unacceptable. If theyre charging any more than 1.5 per cent then theyre either lying about their costs, or theyre not driving a good enough deal from their bank, which is a betrayal of the trust that customers and taxpayers put in them. Many are just making excuses so that they can keep on milking customers for extra profits until the final hour James Daley, founder of consumer group Fairer Finance Many are just making excuses so that they can keep on milking customers for extra profits until the final hour. Customers are being hit hardest when they make big purchases such as holidays and cars because the fees are a percentage of the price. Money Mail found insurers charging 3 per cent, cruise operators and local councils and wedding venues taking 2.5 per cent and car dealers charging 2 per cent. One customer was slapped with an extra 79 fee when she fell ill with pneumonia on a TUI cruise and ran up a 3,950 medical bill. Another was told to cough up an extra 100 to pay a 5,000 car deposit by credit card at Mill Volvo, a dealership in Newcastle. Motorpoint, a car sales website charges 2 per cent on anything over 1,000. Among the offenders are holiday giant TUI (formerly Thomson), Ryanair, Centre Parcs and Ealing Council in London We found a wedding venue Orsett Hall in Essex charging an extra 150 for a 6,000 catering and room-hire package. Councils such as Ealing, South Cambridgeshire and West Dorset are hitting residents with an extra 40 on a typical 1,600 council tax bill. Among travel companies, CityJet has the highest charges at 3 per cent. Cruise & Maritime Voyages, Cruise1st and booking website Travelbag all charge 2.5 per cent, while Hays Travel charges 2.25 per cent. Thomas Cook, TUI, Ryanair, Virgin Holidays, Centre Parcs and Trainline charge 2 per cent. Insurers that impose fees include Swinton, Endsleigh and Debenhams Personal Finance, which all charge 2.5 per cent. Admiral imposes a flat fee of 5.95. Meanwhile, the DVLA charges a flat fee of 2.50 on car tax payments. Many companies have been charging these fees for years. This is because banks have historically charged retailers 2 per cent or more to process credit card payments. So if someone made a 100 purchase by card, the retailer had to give the bank 2. In 2013, the Government banned firms from passing on more than a fee representative of the cost of processing the payments. But consumer groups say the rules were too vague and didnt solve the problem. Then in 2015, the EU curbed the so-called interchange fees banks could charge retailers. Now banks can charge no more than 0.2 per cent to the retailer if you paid by debit card and 0.3 per cent if you paid by credit card. However, the banks are able to add on a merchant service charge, which covers the cost of renting a card machine and other expenses. This uncapped fee is usually no more than 1.2 per cent, experts say. So in total, the cost to retailers of processing card payments should be no more than 1.5 per cent. A separate Brussels ruling called on all EU countries to ban charges on Visa and Mastercard payments. In Britain, ministers went further, including charges for using American Express, PayPal and Apple Pay in the January 13 ban. Some organisations have stopped taking credit card payments altogether. HMRC, which currently charges up to 0.6 per cent to pay by card, will only take debit cards from January 13. A South Cambridgeshire District Council spokesman says it received 15,843 in card charges from taxpayers over the year to April, but had to pay out 15,140 to Capita to process these payments. A spokeswoman for Ealing says its charge is to cover the fees of up to 1.89 per cent charged by banks to the council for processing these payments as well as covering internal processing costs. It is reviewing its charges and will look at whether it is possible to reduce them, she adds. A spokesman for CityJet says it is reviewing its charges and points out it is one of the few carriers to offer free seat selection, free checked bag and complimentary drinks and snacks on all flights. A separate Brussels ruling called on all EU countries to ban charges on Visa and Mastercard payments. In Britain, ministers went further, including charges for using American Express, PayPal and Apple Pay in the January 13 ban Admiral and Rail Discoveries, which charges 2 per cent, say they are abolishing credit card charges within weeks. Cruise & Maritime Voyages says it has no control over the fees its trade partners charge for credit cards. It says its current fees do not cover its costs and all charges will be scrapped on January 13. Cruise 1st says it doesnt charge booking fees or make a profit from card fees, which will be scrapped from December 1. Motorpoint is also removing its charges then.The Travel Network Group says fees for small tour operators, which it represents, can be up to 2 per cent. The DVLA says it does not profit from credit card fees. Swinton says it is in the process of removing credit card charges in time for the January deadline. Holidaycottages says this year it has suffered a loss overall on the cost of processing credit cards but will remove its 2 per cent fee soon. Centre Parcs, Endsleigh, Hays Travel, Trainline, Ryanair, Virgin Holidays and West Dorset District Council say they will meet the January deadline. Mill Volvo says its policy is not to charge fees for cards and has emailed sales staff to make this clear. Debenhams Personal Finance says it is fully compliant with industry legislation. TUI and Thomas Cook say Fees say fees are capped at 95. Thomas Cook says its fee covers its costs. Thousands of Lloyds Bank Avios credit card holders have been affected by fraud Fraudsters are guessing credit card numbers to steal cash from unsuspecting customers. The crooks, who have discovered a way to work out the details of some cards, are making payments to themselves through fake shop accounts. Thousands of Lloyds Bank Avios credit card holders have been affected, as we revealed last week. UK customers found cash was being spent on their Lloyds cards in U.S. stores even though they hadnt travelled to America. While the payments appeared on customers bank statements alongside the names of real shops, they were actually going to fraudsters accounts. A Lloyds Bank spokeswoman says: We apologise to customers for any inconvenience. The small number of impacted customers will receive a full refund of monies taken fraudulently. Last week we reported how customers with a Lloyds Avios Rewards credit card were urged by an industry expert to check their statements after reports of a string of fraudulent activity. Rob Burgess, founder of credit card website Head for Points, had a spate of people contact him after seeing fraudulent transactions appear on their statements. The cards are the American Express version of Lloyds Avios credit cards and the majority of the fraud appears to be in the form of contactless payments in the US. Mr Burgess told This is Money: 'The extent of the fraud came to light after our readers started to post comments about transactions that were appearing on their cards from stores in the USA. More than 50 readers posted their experiences. 'The Lloyds Avios Rewards card is popular because it is the only rewards credit card in the UK to offer 0 per cent FX fees when travelling and reward points on top. 'It isn't clear if Lloyds, American Express or a third party is responsible, but Lloyds is certainly responsible for not automatically notifying all cardholders of a potential breach.' Familiar pattern: Many of the fraudulent payments have been made in New York Earlier in the year, This is Money revealed how some customers who use the card, enticed by the bank's offer of Avios points that can be redeemed for flights, saw balances vanish and were told it will take fully six months to rectify. After the recent spate, one customer told Head For Points 'About a week ago my wife's Lloyds Avios Amex card was used fraudulently by someone over in New York for a few different things so we called Lloyds to talk about this and get the card cancelled and a replacement sent out. 'Logged into her account yesterday to find that my supplementary Amex was also used fraudulently earlier this week, also in New York. 'As my card has been sitting in a drawer at home and my wife's has been in her purse the whole time, certainly haven't been nicked and cloned or anything like that.' There can be no celebrating the departure of the European Banking Agency (EBA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) from London. But the losses may not be that significant. President Macron regards the capture of the EBA as an enormous success for Paris. The bigger question is: what is the EBA for? When it conducted its stress tests of Europes banks in the immediate aftermath of the financial crisis, it failed to spot that Italian banks had up to 1 trillion of rotten loans, that Greek banks were effectively bust, that Germanys regional Landesbanken needed bailouts and that Deutsche Bank was a basket case. A key medicine agency has left Britain as the Brexit relocation begins It is no accident that the Frankfurt European Central Bank, alarmed by the lack of focus on stability, aped the Federal Reserve and Bank of England and became the lead institution for euroland banking regulation. Meanwhile, Europes rescue fund the European Stability Mechanism became the go-to institution for euroland countries in trouble. More critical for Britain will be the exit of the 700 experts at the EMA. Together with Britains respected MHRA, the two agencies have been gatekeepers for approval of new medicines across Europe, winning similar status to the US Food & Drugs Administration. There will be some relief at Britains big pharma companies GSK and AstraZeneca that Amsterdam rather than Bratislava is the winner. The latter could have resulted in an exodus of talent. Eastern Europeans who backed Bratislava will feel cheated that the Western Europeans continue to pick the plums making them look like poor relations. Britains big pharma would like to see the EMA and MHRA have mutual recognition status to avoid an extra regulatory hoop. With the departure of the European Banking Agency (EBA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) from London, top experts in both fields have left the city There is a belief that the MHRA could become the more important agency if, like the FDA, it has a fast track in vital disease treatments. The only way this can really work is if the NHS is able to resume the role it once had as a test bed for new medicines. There will be no point in the Chancellor backing R&D in todays Budget if new treatments cannot be trialled and brought to market. The vulnerability of the NHS to unscrupulous pharma is illustrated by Canadas Concordia which jacked up the price of thyroid drug liothyronine by 6,000 per cent between 2007 and 2017. Truly shocking. That experience reinforces the need for NICE as an economic enforcer. But NICE also needs to make sure that the UKs excellence as a drug, vaccine and devices innovator is not undermined. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt please note. Trust busters America has a long history of breaking up monopolies and trusts dating back to the early 20th century. In recent decades the powers have been infrequently exercised allowing the rise of the digital giants such as Google, Apple and Amazon, which have huge pricing power and impact every corner of commerce. Against this background the decision by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) to bring a lawsuit to try and block AT&Ts 65.5 billion takeover of Time Warner comes as a shock. Critics of Donald Trump suggest the case is motivated by the Presidents disdain for CNN, part of Time Warner. Yet the 23-page complaint by the DoJ makes the reasonable case that such a deal would grant AT&T monopoly power to charge rival pay-TV firms exorbitant prices for movies, sport, news and other content. It also suggests that by entrenching traditional media it will slow development of online video streaming as offered by Netflix and Amazon. The DoJs intervention will be closely watched by the creative arm of Rupert Murdochs 21st Century Fox, which is thought to be up for sale, with cable group Comcast, telecoms group Verizon and Disney all in the chase. It is fanciful to think that Trump would challenge his telephone buddy Rupert who he chats to regularly. Great to have friends in high places. Revenue surge With so much on todays Budget elsewhere, I was determined this would be a Philip Hammond free zone. But one small observation. The main reason borrowing is set to come in below the target set in March is that tax receipts are buoyant with all categories including VAT, income tax, levies on dividends and stamp duty rising. That only happens in a growing economy. Austerity. What austerity? Four Seasons is 24 days away from being potentially banned from taking on any elderly residents unless it strikes a deal over its debts. The care homes chain, which has 17,000 beds across its 324 homes, owes 525 million and has warned it cannot afford to pay a 26 million interest payment due on December 15. It is in talks with key creditor H/2 Capital Partners, the US hedge fund, to defer the interest, and cut debt. Four Seasons is 24 days away from being potentially banned from taking on any elderly residents unless it strikes a deal over its debts (above, an example of one of its properties) But talks appear to have stalled and if it misses the interest payment on December 15, the Care Quality Commission could step in and prevent it from taking on new residents. WHO IS GUY HANDS? Guy Hands is one of the most prominent power brokers in the City, and has made more than 40 billion of deals. His Terra Firma private equity business also owns garden centres, developers and a power company. Guy Hands is one of the most prominent power brokers in the City The Oxford-educated wine buff worked for Goldman Sachs before starting Terra Firma in 2002. Hands, 58, also owns Ettington Park hotel in Stratford-upon-Avon. The tycoon, worth an estimated 265 million, is notorious for his disastrous takeover of record firm EMI at the height of the financial crash which cost terra Firma around 2 billion. The fate of Four Seasons now hangs in the balance amid the bust up between British financier Guy Hands, who runs the chains owner Terra Firma, and the boss of H/2 Capital Partners, Spencer Haber. H/2 Capital Partners, which owns most of Four Seasons debt, has put forward a plan under which it would cut debt in return for control of the business. Terra Firma has said it likes the deal. But the pair are battling over whether an extra 24 valuable care homes should be added to the chain of 324 being handed to Terra Firma. A paperwork mistake has led to H/2 believing it should be entitled to the homes, while Terra Firma disagrees. The High Court is due to rule on the case next year. The row appeared to deepen yesterday when H/2 accused Four Seasons of rejecting its restructuring plan. It also urged it to accept its offer to defer interest payments. Four Seasons owners insisted they had been working with the hedge fund to defer the payments while negotiations continue. Each week, Money Mail rounds up some of the week's personal finance news. Here, it updates on cold-calling scandals and unhelpful hikes by credit card companies, among other stories. Cold-calling fine A telecoms firm exposed by Money Mail for cold-calling the elderly has been fined 300,000. True Telecoms staff promised savings on phone bills - only to lock customers into three-year contracts with exit charges of up to 600. Last month the firm went into administration, but watchdog Ofcom says it will have to pay the fine and reimburse customers. A telecoms firm exposed by Money Mail for cold-calling the elderly has been fined 300,000 Debt risk Borrowers are being encouraged to take on more debt by credit card companies hiking their limits without permission, Citizens Advice warns. It suggests 6 million people had limits raised, with customers given 1,481 extra credit on average; a third were already struggling. Cash evolution Paper 10 notes will cease to be legal tender on March 1, 2018. The Darwin notes are being replaced by the polymer notes featuring novelist Jane Austen. Youll be able to exchange them at the Bank of England in person or by post. Pensions dodge A bus company boss has admitted deliberately denying employees a workplace pension in the first prosecution of its kind. Alan Stott, of Stotts Tours in Oldham, pleaded guilty to 16 offences of wilfully failing to follow rules requiring companies to enrol staff in a pension scheme. Housing sale Home-sellers are slashing prices to tempt buyers before Christmas, experts say. The asking price for 37 per cent of properties has been cut since being listed the highest proportion since January 2013, according to Rightmove. Home-sellers are slashing prices to tempt buyers before Christmas, experts say Advice failings Advice firms are making false claims about qualifications, says consumer group Which? More than six in ten firms on unbiased.co.uk which claimed to employ certified financial planners - an indicator of competence - did not have a single adviser at this level. Seven of 24 firms wrongly claimed to have Society of Later Life Advisers accreditation. Bailiff danger Councils are setting debt collectors on residents more often. Money Advice Trust, a debt charity, says 2.3 million council debts were passed to bailiffs in the year to April, compared with 2.1 million two years earlier. Childcare letdown More than nine in ten nurseries and childminders cannot afford to offer the Governments new 30-hour scheme for free, according to the Champagne Nurseries On Lemonade Funding group. Many have hiked fees and now charge for extras such as lunch, nappies and wipes. Premium pain Younger drivers are hardest hit by tax hikes on insurance cover policies, according to Comparethe market, which says insurance premium tax adds 165 to average annual premiums of 17-24-year-olds - for older drivers, its 67. The power struggle gripping the London Stock Exchange escalated last night after a leading investor accused the company of mistreating departing chief executive Xavier Rolet. In a furious letter to chairman Donald Brydon, Sir Chris Hohn - founder of The Childrens Investment (TCI) fund - said that Rolet is being improperly threatened by the board with severe reputational damage. Hohn, who has a 5 per cent holding in the LSE, also warned that Rolet faces a possible character assassination in a dossier due to be published by the firm in the coming days. Departing: A leading investor has accused the LSE of mistreating departing chief executive Xavier Rolet Warning Brydon that legal action could follow if you were to put your personal interests before the interests of the LSE as a whole, he even called on the governor of the Bank of England and regulators at the Financial Conduct Authority to order the board to find a new chairman. The intervention marks yet another twist in a bitter row that has erupted at the top of the LSE in the wake of its failed 21 billion merger with German rival Deutsche Boerse. Rolet, who has run the LSE for more than eight years, transforming it from a business worth 800 million to a 14 billion titan, announced plans to quit last month but refused to say why. The departure of the 58-year-old Frenchman has caused a feud at the LSE with hedge fund tycoon Hohn blaming Brydon and calling for him to be sacked as chairman. The intervention marks yet another twist in a bitter row that has erupted at the top of the LSE in the wake of its failed 21 billion merger with German rival Deutsche Boerse He also called on regulators to instruct the board to appoint a new chairman who should be tasked with solving this corporate governance crisis. But behind the scenes the LSE has been putting together a dossier on Rolets behaviour to defend itself about allegations that it had forced him to leave. The LSE last night confirmed that the dossier would be sent to shareholders ahead of an extraordinary general meeting called by Hohn to determine the future of Rolet and Brydon. Sir Chris Hohn sent an explosive letter to LSE chairman Donald Brydon demanding that he explain why Rolet was leaving In a letter to Brydon, Hohn said: It appears to us that Xavier Rolet is being improperly threatened by the board with severe reputational damage unless he immediately steps down or publicly confirms that he does not want to remain as chief executive. It would be inappropriate for the board to undertake a character assassination of Xavier Rolet in the shareholder circular required for the upcoming general meeting. Such an approach will only serve to deter any senior managers from wishing to serve under you or the current board. Hohn, who believes Rolet has been gagged, said: His silence speaks loud and clear to shareholders that he wants to continue. Hohn, 51, also accused Brydon of briefing against Rolet in the newspapers. Ramping up pressure on Brydon, Hohn said: The relationship between the chief executive and chairman has now deteriorated to such an extent that it is impossible for you both to have an effective working relationship. An LSE spokesman said: In requisitioning the EGM, TCI triggered a process which we are now adhering to. 'The next step in that process is to issue a circular, in order that all shareholders have the same amount of information at the same time. As regards regulatory oversight, we have kept regulators abreast of developments throughout. Parents should have the legal right to supervise their teenagers' social media after a pupil boasted online about murdering his teacher before killing her, a coroner said yesterday. Social media firms should be required to set up a 'supervision contract' with parents of children aged 13 to 18 to prevent further atrocities, Kevin McLoughlin said. The Wakefield coroner's recommendation follows an inquest jury's ruling that 'missed opportunities to share and record problem behaviour' were a contributory factor in the unlawful killing of teacher Ann Maguire, 61, by Will Cornick, then 15. Speaking after her inquest, Mrs Maguire's husband Don warned more teachers could be killed because no pupil was ever asked why they didn't raise the alarm when Cornick boasted about having a knife - meaning lessons could not be learned. Ann Maguire was repeatedly stabbed by Will Cornick in the first murder in a British classroom HUSBAND WARNS MORE DEATHS LIKELY After Anne Maguire's inquest her husband Don Maguire said: 'The jury has now started the process of learning lessons which should have been started three and a half years ago. 'We want to thank the jury for their careful consideration of the evidence presented. The next step has to be to dig deeper and find out more. 'We still believe there is more to learn and we are disappointed that there is still evidence that has not been heard. 'During the inquest, we have heard teachers, police officers and OFSTED inspectors all trying to speculate why no student reported the fact of a 34cm knife being brought into school accompanied by threats to kill a teacher. None of those adults have been able to explain why it was not reported. 'We don't seek to blame anyone, simply to understand what went wrong on that day to prevent it happening again'. Yogi Amin, a Partner at Irwin Mitchell representing the family added: 'The family remain committed to finding out exactly what happened on the day she was killed and the lead up to it. 'They believe it is the only way that lessons will be learned from the incident. They will consider the coroner's recommendations and hope that they will be consulted by the Secretary of State and any other agencies the coroner has decided to contact. They would like to ensure that proper policies, processes and systems are put in place for all schools and that there is a widespread change in culture to prevent a similar murder taking place. 'The family will be considering their next steps over the coming weeks the jury clearly believes that there is more to investigate.' Advertisement After the inquest Mr Maguire said: 'We still believe there is more to learn and we are disappointed that there is still evidence that has not been heard. 'During the inquest, we have heard teachers, police officers and OFSTED inspectors all trying to speculate why no student reported the fact of a 34cm knife being brought into school accompanied by threats to kill a teacher. 'None of those adults have been able to explain why it was not reported. 'We don't seek to blame anyone, simply to understand what went wrong on that day to prevent it happening again'. The jury also found the school did not follow its own safeguarding policy by failing to record Cornick's use of alcohol, which was reported to a teacher. Cornick told ten other pupils of his intention to attack Mrs Maguire on the morning of her murder. He showed four of them a 13in knife before killing her in a Spanish lesson at Corpus Christi Catholic College in Leeds in April 2014. The inquest heard some kept silent because they were scared and others didn't think he was serious. He also threatened to stab head of year Andrew Kellett in the throat, and knife teacher Sinead Miley 'in the stomach because she was pregnant and wanted to kill the baby instead of her'. In the event, Cornick, now 19, never attacked Mr Kellett or Miss Miley. But none of the pupils has ever been asked why they didn't report concerns to staff, it has emerged. Police were told not to ask the question when taking statements from pupils in case it made them feel responsible. Neither the school or an independent expert carrying out a 'learning lessons' review for the local authority has spoken to the children about what happened. Mrs Maguire's sisters Denise Maguire (left) and Shelagh Connor (right) spoke after her inquest The coroner also refused to allow the children, now all aged over 18, to be questioned at the inquest. After the hearing at Wakefield Coroner's Court, widower Don Maguire said the jury had gone where the police, city council and social services had 'failed to' and had 'started the process of lesson learning'. He said there had been speculation from teachers, police and Ofsted inspectors about Cornick not being reported when he showed his knife to other pupils but 'none of those adults have been able to explain why it was not reported'. In an account of 'contributory factors', the jury of six women and five men recorded that: No student reported that Cornick had a knife, or his intention to use the knife, to an adult; Cornick 'expressed his intent to kill by stabbing to other students days before and on the day of the incident' and had 'expressed a grudge' against Mrs Maguire; The school had no written rule or policy on knife possession or reporting the possession of a knife; 'Overall communication leading up to the incident was inadequate'. The coroner also called for further measures as a result of the murder the first in a British classroom of a teacher by a pupil. He will urge the Department for Education to recommend a nationwide campaign to promote the reporting of knives in schools by pupils, using a slogan such as 'See a knife, tell a teacher'. Mr McLoughlin said he would also contact Ofsted about making concerns of weapons being brought into schools a mandatory part of all inspections. Anne Maguire's husband Donald, left, and daughter Kerry, right, arriving at her inquest this week As well as the 13in kitchen knife used to stab Mrs Maguire to death, the inquest heard that Cornick also had smaller knife that may have been bought through Amazon. The coroner said he made no criticism of Amazon but he would ask it to enforce a ban on children buying knives online. The inquest heard how Cornick posted sinister messages on Facebook about his desire to kill the teacher up to four months before the murder. Corpus Christi's headteacher Steve Mort spoke after the jury returned a conclusion of unlawful killing He offered a friend 'a tenner' to kill her and in another post he wrote: 'I want power. 'I want the capability or choice in a sense to be able to get told off by Maguire and for me to turn around with skill, pride and power and axe her f****** cockles with a long and shiny blade.' Other similar threatening messages followed and Mr McLoughlin said he would be asking Matt Hancock, the minister responsible for digital media, to raise concerns about the need for parental supervision of child social media accounts. He said: 'Parental responsibility on social media transcends any teenager's entitlement to privacy.' Mr McLoughlin said a contract between parents and social media companies such as Facebook, Instagram and SnapChat was required 'to keep children safe and not go astray'. Speaking out about the dangers of knives, he said the message must go out that 'carrying a knife could cost you your freedom and maybe your life'. In November 2014, Cornick was jailed for at least 20 years at Leeds Crown Court after admitting Mrs Maguire's murder. A man who bashed his wife in the head with a shovel while she was breastfeeding their child will be sentenced next month. Garrett Juan Daniels, 31, pleaded guilty to charges after the incident on June 8 when he became enraged over jealousy issues while drinking at a unit in John Stokes Square, Darwin. After threatening his wife, who was defenceless as she was breastfeeding their child, he found a one-metre-long shovel and began to strike her on the back of the head a number of times. A man bashed his wife with a shovel while she was breastfeeding their child at a unit in John Stokes Square, Darwin (pictured) Daniels attempted to evade police several hours later by jumping out of a unit window (pictured) at a Parap residence but he was arrested She was able to grab the weapon from him, despite suffering a number of gashes to her head. Her father arrived at the premises shortly after and found his daughter 'bloodied and shaken' and took her away in a taxi with his grandchild. Daniels desperately tried to stop the taxi from leaving by punching the side of the car, yelling through the window and lying down in the middle of the road. The driver was eventually able to escape and headed straight to Nightcliff Police Station and the woman was taken to hospital. Despite attempting to evade officers by jumping out of a unit window at a Parap residence several hours later, he was arrested. A taxi driver was able to take the woman, her daughter and her father to Nightcliff Police Station (pictured) She was taken to hospital (pictured) with a number of lacerations to the back of her head The cowardly attacker was due to be sentenced on Wednesday. However, his lawyers were given more time following a request from his lawyer for Daniels to be allowed to return home in southern Arnhem Land for supervision after showing remorse. Justice Greg Smith said the case was an opportunity to send a message about domestic violence, but was open to ideas from his defence about rehabilitation from Aboriginal elders. 'The prevalence of this sort of violence is so high,' he said. 'I want some clarity about this I want to hear from people in the community about what they're going to do to rehabilitate.' Daniels will appear in court for sentencing in December. A second federal judge Tuesday ruled against President Donald Trump's ban on transgender military personnel. District Judge Marvin Garbis said the 'lack of any justification for the abrupt policy change,' coupled with the 'discriminatory impact' on troops in question 'cannot possibly constitute a legitimate governmental interest.' He also ruled in a Maryland case that Pentagon-funded sex reassignment surgeries can continue to go ahead. The federal judge's ruling is the latest against President Donald Trump's ban on transgender personnel in the military Angry: Trump's decision angered protesters, and came after conservatives pressured him. They were concerned about the July 1, 2017 date Obama set for letting in transgender people Trump in July sent out three tweets decreeing that transgender troops could not serve 'in any capacity,' citing 'tremendous' medical costs and disruption. The tweets, later followed by a formal White House memorandum, set off a roar of protest with several service members and rights groups quick to sue. Trump's predecessor Barack Obama took the historic decision to allow openly transgender troops to serve in the military, a move that was due to go into full effect in July this year. The Tuesday ruling came in a case filed by Brock Stone and other transgender personnel. Stone, who is 34 and has served 11 years in the Navy, has been undergoing hormone therapy as a medically necessary part of his transition, court documents state. New rules: Barack Obama (pictured with transgender Staff Sgt Logan Ireland, right) lifted the DADT rules in 2016. A survey suggested just 29-129 of up to 6,000 transgender members would be rendered non-deployable by transitioning Trump stressed to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis that the Pentagon should no longer cover the costs of medical treatment associated with the sex reassignment surgery of those troops already serving. He gave the Pentagon until March 23, 2018 to craft a new policy on transgender service members. Garbis's ruling prevents the government from denying funding for sex reassignment surgeries. The ruling features screen grabs of Trump's tweets and states these 'did not emerge from a policy review, nor did the Presidential Memorandum identify any policymaking process or evidence demonstrating that the revocation of transgender rights was necessary for any legitimate national interest.' It follows a similar move on October 30 by US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who ordered the government to 'revert to the status quo' that was previously in effect. The words Charles Manson said during his last believed phone call from prison have been revealed. Longtime friend Ben Gurecki told The Sun that he received a phone call from the 83-year-old just after 10.30am on November 12, two days before the cult leader was taken to the hospital. In the last 60 seconds of the telephone call, Manson stated: 'Gone in the sky the dead but never die' before declaring he has 'love for all'. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO 'Gone in the sky, the dead but never die' are reportedly the words cult leader Charles Manson (pictured, left in August 2017, and right in October 2014) said during his last believed phone call from prison on November 12, two days before he was taken to the hospital The call was made to his friend of 23 years, Ben Gurecki (pictured), who often discussed his relationship with the cult leader on his YouTube channel Manson's Underworld Production's Gurecki (pictured) said Manson was not scared of death and believed he would be reincarnated as a scorpion or a crow TRANSCRIPT OF MANSON'S LAST CALL 'Gone in the sky the dead but never die. 'Not yet found just a dream of hearsay. 'Whos, whats, whys, for what? 'We each can makeup our own dreams with the story line as soon as we are no where we can change. 'As soon as I get up, out, around me will become a team. 'The beast, a priest, midnight and not as much as all. 'Nothing with everyone and everything over and gone to start backwards again and again to nowhere and nothing again. 'To where you know it all as forever and some more, nothing again to where you know it all as forever and some more. 'Love for all. You are or could maybe and more. Not at... Call is cut out by Corcoran State Prison, California Advertisement Before the call was out by Corcoran State Prison, California, according to Gurecki, Manson appeared to be delivering a bizarre prophecy. 'As soon as I get up, out, around me will become a team. The beast, a priest, midnight and not as much as all,' he says. 'Nothing with everyone and everything over and gone to start backwards again and again to nowhere and nothing again. Gurecki, who had been friends with Manson for 23 years and often discussed his relationship with the cult leader on his YouTube channel Manson's Underworld Production's, said Manson was not scared of death and believed he would be reincarnated as a scorpion or a crow. 'He has always been one to know reality and call it what it is - he was not scared of death,' he told The Sun. 'The whole conversation was him just talking like normal and rambling but the last 60 seconds is quite profound I think.I believe in retrospect he was talking about his own demise. Gurecki added that he had tried to fill out paperwork to have Mansons body released, but it wasn't completed in time so it was likely the prison system would just dispose of his body. Manson died on Sunday at 8.13pm aged 83. The news of Manson's death was confirmed by Debra Tate (left), the sister of one of his victims - pregnant actress Sharon Tate (right) It comes on the news that some of Manson's final words would be revealed in a new documentary on the cable network REELZ. Set to be released on December 3, it features phone conversations with Manson from prison in which he declares: 'I'm the most famous human being not only that is alive but the most famous human being that has ever lived. And I'm not even dead yet.' He ominously adds: 'What do you think is gonna happen when I die?' In another conversation Manson denies responsibility for the murder of his seven victims. He says of his cult members who carried out the acts: 'I never ordered nobody to do anything. They were always free to leave.' Charles Manson is being escorted to his arraignment in 1969 and remained behind bars until his death Manson says that in his years behind bars he has been able to reflect on himself and his actions - but he shows no remorse. He explains: 'I've been deep in thought in solitary confinement for almost 40 years thinking what the hell does all this mean, who does that fit, where does that work? 'And the stuff that I've come up with man it's just unbelievable.' The teaser, first obtained by TMZ, concludes with Manson saying: 'You are for you. I am for me. I'm for Charlie.'. Actress Sharon Tate was brutally killed aged 26 by three of Manson's followers while eight months pregnant with film director Roman Polonski's baby. Charles 'Tex' Watson, Susan Atkins and Patricia Krenwinkel stabbed Tate sixteen times at Roman Polanski's LA home on August 9, 1969 while another follower Linda Kasabian kept watch. Atkins died in jail of cancer while Watson and Krenwinkel remain behind bars. Kasabian was given immunity after she agreed to testify. In June, commissioners denied parole for Krenwinkel, after a six-month inquiry into allegations that she had been abused. Manson, the psychopathic cult leader who had been behind bars for 48 years, died of natural causes at 8.13pm on Sunday at a hospital in Kern County, California aged 83. Victims: (top row left to right) Voytech Frykowski, Sharon Tate, Stephen Parent, (middle row left to right) Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger, Gary Hinman, (bottom row left to right) Leno LaBianca, Rosemary LaBianca, Donald Shea. Manson had been taken to hospital from Corcoran State Prison with an undisclosed illness last week. A statement released by the Association of Deputy District Attorneys of California on Monday morning quoted Vincent Bugliosi, the prosecutor in the trial who died two years ago. It said: 'Manson was an evil, sophisticated con-man with twisted and warped moral values. 'Manson's victims are the ones who should be remembered and mourned on the occasion of his death.' Prison officials say it's 'undetermined' what will happen to Manson's corpse as he has no next of kin. State law says that if no relative or legal representative surfaces within 10 days, it's up to the department to determine what happens with the body. It's unclear if Manson requested services of any sort. Manson was rushed to a Bakersfield hospital last week for emergency medical treatment (picturing in his younger days, arriving for court in 1971) Manson was rushed to a Bakersfield hospital last week for emergency medical treatment. Witnesses said he looked 'ashen', was covered in blankets and was not expected to last much longer after his health had been steadily declining for months. In January, he was rushed to Mercy Hospital in Bakersfield for severe intestinal bleeding and a sigmoid lesion. Doctors wanted to operate immediately but Manson had refused. By the time he changed his mind and was ready for the operation, doctors determined he was too weak for surgery, and he was sent back to jail. A source at the time said: 'He's not good. His health is failing.' The 83-year-old had been behind bars for more than four decades, since 1969, after he ordered members of his cult - which he dubbed 'the family' - to go on a murderous two-day rampage. Three of his followers, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkle and Leslie Van Houten, killed seven people: pregnant actress Sharon Tate, Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowski, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, Steven Parent and Jay Sebring. He had ordered his family members to slaughter Tate, who was eight-and-a-half months pregnant, and three of her friends at her home above Beverly Hills. Stephen Parent was a fifth unfortunate victim that night. He had driven to the property to see if caretaker William Garreston wanted to buy his AM/FM Clock radio, and had stayed on for a beer at the guest house. He was shot multiple times when he wound down the window at the electric gate as he left. Manson and three of his followers, Susan Atkins (left), Patricia Krenwinkle (center) and Leslie Van Houten (right) killed seven people: pregnant actress Sharon Tate, Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowski, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, Steven Parent and Jay Sebring 1971: Charles Manson, with a swastika on his forehead, walks to court in Los Angeles Charles Manson sits in the courtroom during his murder trial in 1970 in Los Angeles, California 1970: Charles Manson arrives for court with a shaven head, an open shirt, and a swastika carved in his forehead 'Family' members: Patricia Krenwinkle (left) makes a face as Leslie Van Houten and Susan Atkins (right) smile in August 5, 1970 on the way to court Susan Atkins (left, with Patricia Krenwinkle and Leslie van Houton) took part in several of the slayings, including those at the Tate residence, where she tasted Sharon Tate's blood and used it to write 'Pig' on a house wall The following night the Family butchered small business owners Leno and Rosemary La Bianca, in their home in Los Angeles. The murders were carried out in upscale, mostly white neighborhoods of Los Angeles in order to blame the crimes on African Americans, in the hope of sparking what he termed a 'Helter Skelter' race war. Manson was also later convicted of the slayings of musician Gary Hinman and stuntman Donald 'Shorty' Shea. During the trial he was convicted of leading a cult in which disaffected young people living in a commune followed his orders and were ultimately turned into killers. Sharon Tate's sister Debra told People she never wished ill of any of the convicted killers. She said: 'Each one of these people and myself now have are spirits or our wills are slightly entangled.' Manson, Atkins, Krenwinkle and Van Houten were convicted of murder and initially sentenced to death for the killings. Manson, who was not actually present but ordered the killings, applied for parole in 2012 but was denied release and was not eligible to apply again until 2027. The cult leader continued his life of crime behind bars after being locked up, with more than 100 infractions during his time in prison, for charges including assault, making voodoo dolls and hiding a hot air balloon order catalog in his cell. The murders were carried out in upscale, mostly white neighborhoods of Los Angeles in order to blame the crimes on African Americans, in the hope of sparking what he termed a 'Helter Skelter' race war. Manson is pictured in 1969 during a preliminary hearing Coroner's office personnel wheel the body of film actress Sharon Tate from her home in Bel Air, California, August 9, 1969 Speaking to People, retired Los Angeles County prosecutor Stephen Kay, who helped convict Manson of the 1969 murders, said: 'He threw hot coffee on a guard and spit on a guard's face. He had a saw blade in the sole of a shoe. 'He was making little dolls, but they were like voodoo dolls of people and he would stick needles in them, hoping to injure the live person the doll was fashioned after. 'He said his main activity was making those dolls.' Manson was also targeted by other prisoners - on one occasion a Hare Krishna poured lighter fluid on him and set him on fire. And prior to being moved to Corcoran in 1989, prison guards at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville found a hacksaw blade, marijuana and LSD in Manson's cells according to a report in the LA Times. The California Department of Corrections said he had spent the past 27 years incarcerated in the Protective Housing Unit at Corcoran, which houses inmates whose safety would be endangered by general population housing. Before that Manson had also been housed at San Quentin State Prison, California Medical Facility, Folsom State Prison and Pelican Bay State Prison. LA County coroner's office take notes and look at the bodies found on the lawn of the Sharon Tate-Roman Polanski home During the trial he was convicted of leading a cult in which disaffected young people living in a commune followed his orders and were ultimately turned into killers. He is pictured being taken to jail in 1969 by a group of police officers Manson even managed to maintain a love life inside, and was recently engaged to 29-year-old Afton 'Star' Burton until she called off the wedding. Afton, who changed her named to Star a decade ago, crossed the country at the age of 18, leaving her home on the Mississippi river and moving to Corcoran to be closer to the jail. She struck up a relationship with Manson when she started writing to him after a friend chose him as the subject of a school project. In a trio of tweets, Hillary Clinton gushed about her book tour and the fact that her tome, 'What Happened,' topped Time magazine's best of 2017 list at the same time her husband's sexual misdeeds were being brought back up in the news. 'Wow. I wasnt sure how letting my guard down would go...but its been cathartic & rewarding,' Clinton wrote Tuesday evening. 'I loved writing this book, & Im honored to be in such great company on this list!' She linked to a new NowThis Politics interview where she regaled tales from the tour, including when Clinton talked to a woman who had thought about committing suicide but was inspired by the first female nominee to keep going and another male supporter, who channeled Clinton's strength when coming out as gay. Scroll down for video Hillary Clinton took to Twitter Tuesday to tout her book, What Happened, topping Time's 2017 non-fiction book list, while sharing details about the tour While Hillary Clinton has been engaged in her book tour, her husband's record with women is being re-examined thanks to men in politics, business and entertainment being exposed daily for sexual harassment and assault In the first in a series of Tuesday night tweets, Clinton talked about how she let her guard down to write, What Happened, which landed in the No. 1 spot on Time's non-fiction book list In a second tweet, Clinton pointed to a new NowThis Politics interview. In it, she talked about a woman approaching her and thanking Clinton for giving her strength, as she contemplated taking her life In a third tweet, Hillary Clinton showed off some of the Hillary-inspired and liberal fashion people chose to wear to come to her book signings 'The book, it was not only catharsis for me, it turned out to [be] catharsis for lots of people,' Clinton told NowThis News' Nico Pitney. In the interview, Clinton shared a moment from a book tour stop in Montclair, New Jersey when a young woman came up to her and gave her thanks. The woman, Clinton said, told the ex-Democratic nominee she 'had a very hard time in the last year or two' and 'didn't think I wanted to keep living.' 'But then I would see you and all of the stuff you were taking and I thought to myself, "you know, if she can do it, I can do it,"' Clinton recalled the woman saying. 'And I just grabbed her hands and by then I had tears in my eyes and she had tears in her eyes and I said, "Never quit on yourself, never, ever quit." And she said, "Now I won't, I won't,"' Clinton remembered. The ex-Democratic hopeful said a lot of what she heard on her book tour, which she launched in September, was like that. 'Or, you know, a young man came to my book signing who basically said, "You gave me the courage to have a conversation with my parents about being gay,"' Clinton recalled. 'And I said, "Well, how'd it go?" And he said, "It went OK."' Linking to the interview from her tweet, Clinton praised her supporters, and readers, 'activism, their courage, & their resilience.' In a third tweet on Tuesday, Clinton inserted a photo collage showing off some of the most colorful Hillary fashion. 'And on top of that, you cant beat a little book signing wardrobe fun,' Clinton wrote. She included photos of two girls, who looked like twins, wearing identical shirts splattered with Clinton's face and she featured another supporter wearing a t-shirt that said, 'stop pretending your racism is patriotism.' Clinton's latest postings come during a week that her husband's sexual misdeeds from the 90s have entered the political dialogue once again. As allegations have come out about Republican Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore and Democrats, Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota and Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, some Democrats have dredged up Bill Clinton's past, especially the allegations of rape and sexual harassment that flew under-the-radar when first reported. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat and potential 2020 presidential hopeful, said President Clinton should have resigned over the Monica Lewinsky affair. Instead he was impeached, though not voted out of office, and stayed in power until his term was done. Rep. Jackie Speier, the Democrat from California who has been spearheading moves to make sexual harassment more easily reportable on Capitol Hill, said on Sunday's Face the Nation that Bill Clinton's 'victims,' as she referred to them, 'should have been believed because, as I pointed out, most people who come forward are telling the truth.' Additionally, left-leaning Morning Joe host Mika Brzezinski attached Hillary onto Bill's baggage too. 'You guys, I'm sorry but I'm not sorry, actually,' Brzezinski said Monday. 'Hillary Clinton needs to stop, she needs to stop talking about this topic unless Bill Clinton wants to come forward and apologize for being a sexual harasser, for settling with women,' the host said. Lebanon's prime minister Saad Hariri returned to his home country on Tuesday after a nearly three-week absence dominated by his surprise resignation. Hariri stepped down from his post in a televised address on November 4 from Saudi Arabia and then remained in Riyadh amid rumours he was being held hostage. His plane touched down at Beirut international airport shortly before midnight and head of independence day celebrations on Wednesday, his office said. Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri touched down in Beirut on Tuesday night, marking his return to the country after a nearly three-week absence Hariri has promised to 'clarify' his position after he tendered his resignation while visiting Riyadh amid rumours he was forced into it and being held hostage Hariri had promised to clarify his position once he returned to his home country. Earlier on Tuesday he travelled to Cairo to see Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, whom he thanked for his support for Lebanon. Hours later, Hariri flew from the Egyptian capital Cairo to Larnaca in Cyprus where he met late at night with President Nicos Anastasiades. After a brief visit he flew on to Beirut, where he is expected to take part in the independence day military parade early Wednesday and the customary reception at the presidential palace. Hariri's Future Movement called on supporters to gather at his home in downtown Beirut on Wednesday afternoon. A dual Saudi citizen who has previously enjoyed Riyadh's backing, Hariri resigned in a mysterious broadcast from the Saudi capital, accusing arch-rival Iran and its powerful Lebanese ally Hezbollah of destabilising his country. Hariri's arrival came just hours before Lebanon starts independence day celebrations in which he will play a key role But President Michel Aoun has yet to accept Hariri's resignation, insisting that he present it in person once back in the Lebanese capital. During Hariri's two-week stay in Riyadh, Aoun accused Saudi authorities of holding him 'hostage' and demanded that he enjoy freedom of movement. After mediation efforts by Egypt and France - which held former mandate power over Lebanon - the 47-year-old premier left Riyadh on Saturday. He had headed to Paris for talks with President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday. Hariri's resignation from outside the country is unprecedented in Lebanese history. Questions remain over whether the resignation will stand, forcing negotiations on a new government, or if he might withdraw the decision. Under Lebanon's constitution, the president is bound to accept a premier's resignation however it is tendered, constitutional expert Edmond Rizk said. Although it is not outlined in the constitution, Rizk said, custom dictates 'this resignation is supposed to be submitted to the president of the republic'. A resignation brings down the government, and the president then engages in consultations to select a new prime minister to form a cabinet. In Lebanon, divided for more than a decade between a pro-Saudi camp and a Tehran-backed alliance, that process typically takes months of political wrangling. But the discussions also aim to strike a balance between the country's diverse religious communities. As part of Lebanon's presidential-parliamentary system, the premier must be a Sunni Muslim, the president a Maronite Christian and the speaker of parliament a Shiite. Uncertainty reigns over Hariri's position after President Michel Aoun refused to accept his resignation, insisting he must present it in person Earlier in the day Hariri had visited Egypt (pictured) before flying to Cyprus and arrived in the Lebanese capital shortly before midnight More than a week ago, Hariri said he could walk back from his resignation if Hezbollah withdrew from regional conflicts, including Syria. Hezbollah, whose forces are fighting in neighbouring Syria along government troops, said it still considers Hariri the current premier. 'When he comes, we will see. We're open to all dialogue and discussion,' its chief Hassan Nasrallah said on Monday. But if Hariri stands firm, Aoun has two options: either rename him premier or choose another prominent Sunni figure to lead a new cabinet. 'If Hariri's consultations lead to a new government, that would be a way out,' said Rizk. Aoun tipped Hariri as premier in 2016, as part of a deal across political lines that ended a two-and-a-half year stalemate in Lebanon. Hariri's two terms as prime minister have both ended abruptly. In January 2011, as he was meeting with then-US president Barack Obama in Washington, Hezbollah and its allies withdrew their ministers and collapsed Hariri's government. His unexpected resignation earlier this month was seen as part of an escalating power struggle between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran, which back opposing sides in the conflicts in Syria and Yemen. On the day Hariri resigned, the Saudi kingdom said it intercepted a ballistic missile fired by Tehran-backed Huthi rebels in Yemen at Riyadh. The announcement also coincided with a purge of more than 200 Saudi princes, ministers and businessmen. A grand jury on Tuesday returned a 22-count indictment against an Uzbek immigrant accused of killing eight people during an ISIS-inspired truck attack on a bike path in New York City. Sayfullo Saipov, 29, of Paterson, New Jersey, was charged in Manhattan federal court with providing material support to ISIS, along with eight counts of murder and 12 counts of attempted murder in aid of racketeering. If convicted of the most serious counts, he could face life in prison or the death penalty. Saipov was arrested after people were run over by a vehicle October 31 in a midday attack that authorities immediately labeled terrorism. Of the eight people killed, five were friends from Argentina celebrating 30 years since their high school graduation. A Belgian woman, a New Yorker and a New Jersey man also lost their lives, and 12 others were injured. Scroll down for videos Indicted: A grand jury on Tuesday returned a 22-count indictment, charging Sayfullo Saipov with murder, attempted murder and terrorism counts Police said Saipov used this pickup truck to mow down people on the West Side Highway in Manhattan on October 31 in the name of ISIS A snapshot from social media shows Saipov trying to run away from the scene after the attack Suspect down: NYPD officers apprehended the suspected terrorist after shooting him in the stomach, but not fatally The October 31 attack was the worst in the US financial capital since the September 11, 2001 Al-Qaeda hijackings that brought down the Twin Towers His lawyer did not return a message seeking comment. Saipov's initial court appearance in connection with the indictment is scheduled for November 28. He is expected to enter a plea at that time. In a release, Attorney General Jeff Sessions called the attack a 'calculated act of terrorism in the heart of one of our great cities.' Acting US Attorney Joon H. Kim said 'scores of videos and images on his cellphone' will be part of the evidence in the case against Saipov. 'Like many terrorists before him, Saipov will now face justice in an American court,' Kim said. 'And like New York City's response to his alleged attack, we expect that justice in this case will be swift, firm and resolute.' William F. Sweeney Jr., head of New York's FBI office, said the indictment should signal 'that the rule of law will always prevail.' 'When Sayfullo Saipov carried out his brutal attack last month, his intentions were to inflict significant damage, death and injury to innocent victims and terrorize this city,' Sweeney added. Victims: Five members of this group of Argentinian friends were also killed. They are Hernan Diego Mendoza (far left), Alejandro Damian Pagnucco (second from left), Ariel Erlij (third from left), Diego Enrique Angelini (second from right) and Hernan Ferruchi (third from right) New Yorker Nicholas Cleves, 23 (left), New Jersey resident Darren Drake, 32 (center) and Belgian tourist Ann-Laure Decadt, 31, were also killed in the attack Saipov was shot by police during his arrest, but his injury was minor enough that he was able to appear in court in a wheelchair on November 1 (pictured in a sketch) 'We announce today's indictment with the understanding that nothing can ever reverse the unfortunate events of that day, or alleviate the pain and sorrow of the victims' families.' TERRORIST'S ACTIVITIES SINCE MOVING TO THE U.S. March 2010: Immigrates to the U.S. from Uzbekistan. Stays with the Abdusamatov family in a Cincinnati suburb for his first two weeks. April 2011: Gets a traffic violation in Hartford County, Maryland and lists an address in Fort Myers, Florida May 2011: Starts Sayf Motors Inc., registering the business to the Abdumastov's home address April 12, 2013: Marries Nozima Odilova in Ohio August 2012: Gets a ticket in Pennsylvania and lists a Paterson, New Jersey address Sometime in 2012: Meets friend Kobiljon Matkarov in Florida, is allegedly living there at the time. Matkarov says Saipov lived in Fort Myers until 2014 August 2013: Starts Bright Auto LLC in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio March 2015: Gets ticket in Pennsylvania and gives officers a Paterson, New Jersey address April 2016: Gets a traffic violation in Missouri and gives cops an address for Tampa, Florida Late 2016 - Early 2017: Saipov's mother visits him for about two months Around April 2017: Starts working for Uber in NJ September 2017: Saipov tells a friend that he's thinking of moving back to Uzbekistan Advertisement Saipov, held without bail, was charged with using a rental truck to mow down cyclists and pedestrians on a bike path. Authorities said he made statements after his arrest about his allegiance to ISIS, which later took credit for the deadly attack, and told investigators he 'felt good' about the killings. Saipov was shot in the abdomen by a police officer after crashing the truck into a school bus. His injury was minor enough that he was transferred to a prison facility in Manhattan two days later. The terror suspect came to the US legally in 2010 from Uzbekistan, where officials say he had no history of trouble with the law. He first lived in Ohio, where he was a commercial truck driver, then in Florida. He most recently lived in New Jersey with his wife and children, and worked as an Uber driver. Authorities said in court papers that Saipov told investigators he was inspired to carry out the attack after watching a video of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi questioning 'what Muslims in the United States and elsewhere were doing to respond to the killing of Muslims in Iraq.' Evidence against him includes what was found on two of his cell phones, according to court documents. Investigators said one phone contained 90 videos and other Islamic State propaganda, including one of a beheading and another of a tank running over a prisoner. The other phone showed a search for truck rental outlets. President Donald Trump has called for Saipov to be executed, tweeting a day after the attack: 'NYC terrosit was happy as he ased to hang ISIS flag in his hospital room. He killed 8 people, badly injured 12. SHOULD GET DEATH PENALTY!' A capital punishment case would be extremely rare in New York, which has abolished the death penalty at the state level. Prison officers are catching one drone every five days trying to smuggle drugs, weapons and mobile phones into jails. A specialist squad set up to tackle the problem has recovered 120 remote-controlled devices flying contraband into prisons since January last year. It has led to 17 people being convicted, and they are now serving jail sentences totalling more than 50 years. The new unit is spearheading a national crackdown on drones targeting prisons, where the trade of illicit goods is fuelling violence, self-harm and disorder among inmates. In May, two men who used this drone to fly drugs into prisons were jailed for a total of more than ten years Prisons minister Sam Gyimah said he is determined to halt the flow of contraband into prisons Drones either fly over high walls and barbed-wire fences and drop packages where they can be picked up by inmates, or hover outside cell windows where the goods can be grabbed. Working with law enforcement chiefs and HM Prison and Probation Service, the 40-strong team of prison and police officers uses the recovered drones to identify and track down the criminal gangs trying to smuggle in contraband. Ministers are concerned the problem is being driven by crime gangs who can rake in tens of thousands of pounds for sneaking illicit items to prisons. Prisons minister Sam Gyimah said yesterday: I am determined to stem the flow of drugs into our prisons. Our vigilant prison staff work hard to prevent contraband getting into establishments and these figures show their efforts are working. We are clear that those who peddle drugs in an attempt to thwart reform should face the full force of the law, which means police investigation and extra time behind bars. The Ministry of Justice said it was vital to disrupt the flow of drugs and mobile phones, which hinder attempts to create safe prisons where offenders have the chance to turn their lives around through rehabilitation. Tomas Natalevicius (left) and Dalius Zilinskas (right) were sentenced at Luton Crown Court after admitting smuggling the prohibited items Natalevicius was also charged with an incident on August 14, when officers patrolling HMP Pentonville in Islington, north London, saw a drone crash (pictured) The drone was recovered during searches of cells, alongside a package of cocaine, a cling film-wrapped parcel of cannabis and other items including mobile phones (shown) In May, two men who used drones to fly drugs into prisons were jailed for a total of more than ten years. Tomas Natalevicius, 35, of no fixed address, was sentenced to seven years and eight months imprisonment and Dalius Zilinskas, 33, of Luton, got two years and eight months behind bars. They had tried to fly contraband including cocaine and cannabis into HMP Pentonville in north London and HMP The Mount in Bovingdon, Hertfordshire, last year. Meanwhile, a joint operation between police and prison officers led to the conviction of Remo White-Channer and Romaine Gayle, both 24, from London. In April, White-Channer was jailed for six years and six months and Gayle for four years and four months for trying to flood prisons across Hertfordshire, Suffolk and Kent with contraband worth 48,000. Last year, Mr Gyimah raised the prospect of eagles being deployed to intercept drones after the birds of prey were used successfully in Holland. Police in North Carolina recovered a hefty amount of cash and illicit drugs during a dramatic bust over the weekend. Residents in Charlotte reported to patrol officers about suspicious activity in the vicinity of Hatton Cross Drive in Steele Creek, leading to the arrest of three men Friday afternoon. The suspects taken into custody include Socrates Jhoneril Gomez, 32, Anthony Joseph Espinal, 30 and Jesus Manuel Rosario, 24. Police are still searching for a fourth said suspect in the bust, Christian Nunez, 21. Scroll down for video (Lef to right) Socrates Jhoneril Gomez, 32, Anthony Joseph Espinal, 30 and Jesus Manuel Rosario, 24 were arrested in the drug bust. Police are searching for a fourth suspect Inside the Charlotte, North Carolina home, police found $500,000 in cash wrapped in duct tape and dunked in grease During the bust, $100,000 worth of drugs was recovered, which included 'cocaine wrapped as bricks,' opiates and marijuana Inside the home, authorities found more than $500,000 in cash wrapped 'in duct tape, dunked in grease and kept in metal containers' as well as $100,000 worth of drugs - including 'cocaine wrapped as bricks,' opiates, marijuana and two weapons according to WCNC. Neighbors in the area said watching the arrests play out were like watching a 'movie' in the normally serene neighborhood. 'The (officers) were introducing themselves as CMPD and the next thing I know they're busting through the door, witness Rob Wyatt told the local newspaper. 'I think they had a battering ram ... Almost scripted like a movie,' Wyatt said. The arrests took place in what neighbors described as the normally serene neighborhood of Hatton Cross Drive in Steele Creek Sgt. Danny Meyers said 'people get shot over small amounts and this is a huge amount' Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Sgt. Danny Meyers credited locals for their help in cracking the criminals. 'If the neighborhood didn't speak up and tell us what was going on, these individuals would still be out there,' Meyers said. 'People get shot over small amounts and this is a huge amount,' he added. All three men were 'charged with conspiracy to traffic in cocaine greater than 400 grams, felony possession of cocaine, trafficking in opium/heroin/opiates,' according to WSBTV. They were also charged with 'possession with intent to sell/distribute marijuana, felony possession of marijuana, maintaining a dwelling, misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia not for marijuana.' The police department is offering a $1,000 reward for anyone with clues leading to the arrest of Nunez. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department shared photos that offer a sneak peek into the drug bust A child rapist who was spared jail because of his high cholesterol joins a long list of paedophiles let off the hook from serving jail time despite being convicted in recent years. New South Wales Opposition leader Luke Foley slammed the suspended sentence handed down to a Dubbo man, 55, who pleaded guilty to historic sex offences. The man, known as TM, joins several other paedophiles who have been allowed to walk away scot-free without jail time for astonishing reasons. A child rapist who was spared jail because of high cholesterol joins a long list of paedophiles let off the hook in recent years (pictured in NSW Opposition leader Luke Foley) 'If you rape children you belong in prison,' said Mr Foley, The Daily Telegraph reported. 'I don't care if this bloke suffered high cholesterol or suffered drought on his farm, he belongs in prison.' Mr Foley demanded NSW Attorney General Mark Speakman appeal the sentence, saying he has the authority to order an appeal immediately. 'This would be a rare use of the power, but I can't think of a greater argument for the use of that power than this case here,' he said. New South Wales Opposition leader Luke Foley slammed the suspended sentence handed down to the Dubbo man known as TM (pictured is Peter Andrews, given a suspended sentence on the Gold Coast) Victims were outraged at District Court Judge John North list of bizarre reasons for letting TM escape prison time despite pleading guilty to historic sex offences. Judge North spoke of TM's 'good character' and naivety because of his lack of sex education, as well as his sleep deprivation over the case. Poll Do you think the suspended sentence given to Dubbo paedophile TM was fair? Yes No Don't know Do you think the suspended sentence given to Dubbo paedophile TM was fair? Yes 11 votes No 246 votes Don't know 0 votes Now share your opinion The judge noted TM's diabetes, high cholesterol and chronic kidney disease would be difficult to treat in prison, where he would have to be contained in isolation. The Dubbo child rapist's suspended sentence is the latest in a series of cases in which paedophiles have walked free around Australia. In May a judge gave Peter Andrews, 64, a similar suspended sentence after the accused said he had terminal cancer, Nine News reported. Andrews, who lives metres from a childcare centre, was found guilty of sexually abusing a 9-year-old girl after luring her to his home with video games and a dog. A Victorian judge gave Franco Abad, a security guard at the Melbourne Children's Court, a two-year good behaviour bond in November 2016, News.com.au reported. A jury found Abad guilty of sexual penetration of a child under 16, but Judge Christopher Ryan called his actions 'understandable' because his victim was 'nubile'. TM, 55, joins several other paedophiles who have been allowed to walk away scot-free for astonishing reasons (pictured is serial paedophile Philip Carey) The court heard the girl, 14, told Abad she was 17, but he had sex with her after police warned him she was underage. Also in Melbourne, music teacher Sigmund Sokolowski escaped jail in 2014 despite molesting 16 female students over two decades, The Herald Sun reported. He pleaded guilty to committing indecent assault and committing an indecent act with a child under 16 between 1987 and 2006. Judge Philip Coish gave Sokolowski a two-year suspended sentence, even though he was found guilty of similar offences in 2008. During sentencing, Judge Coish noted Sokolowski has not offended since successfully completely a sex offenders program. In South Australia, serial paedophile Philip Carey breached a restraining order when he attended a library used by children, The Advertiser reported. Magistrate Terry Forrest sentenced Carey to a three-month suspended sentence despite noting the breach 'occurred against a background of very serious offending involving the risk of harm or actual harm to children'. Carey is a serial pedophile with a criminal record dating back to 1961, including sex offences committed against young boys and child pornography offences. The FBI has reason to believe Democratic Rep. Bob Brady unlawfully concealed a $90,000 payment made by his campaign to get an opponent to quit a 2012 primary race. Court documents that confirm the Philadelphia Democratic lawmaker is under investigation in a widening campaign finance probe. At issue is $90,000 in transfers to fellow Democrat Jimmie Moore, who challenged Brady in 2012 only to end his campaign. In unsealed court documents made public Monday, the FBI requested a search warrant and has obtained data from an email account belonging to Brady. The FBI agent who filed the warrant wrote that there is probable cause Brady violated contribution limits and produced false documents, and there is evidence that he and others knowingly circumvented campaign finance rules. The FBI has reason to believe U.S. Rep. Bob Brady unlawfully concealed a $90,000 payment made by his campaign to get an opponent to quit a 2012 primary race, according to court documents made public Monday Brady has not been charged with a crime. His attorney, James Eisenhower, said that the congressman already has given the emails to authorities and that Brady has done nothing wrong. 'The congressman has not been charged and we have not been informed that he's even a target,' Eisenhower said. The primary opponent and a former aide already have pleaded guilty to concealing the payment. Two political consultants also have been charged in the case. Representative Robert Brady speaks during Day 1 of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 25, 2016 Brady is being investigated for payments that allegedly went to his primary opponent The warrant, which was executed earlier this month, states that Brady and his primary challenger agreed that the payment 'would be disguised' and that the deception would include hiding some of the money under the purchasing of a political poll. 'The evidence shows that these concealed payments were made for the purpose of removing Brady's primary opponent from the race and willfully undermining various provisions of the Federal Election Campaign Act in the process,' according to the filing. 'The payments were routed in this manner so that the FEC reports filed by the Brady and Moore campaigns would not show that Brady had made a payment to his primary opponent in violation of FECA [Federal Election Campaign Act] contribution limits,' according to the affadavit, the Daily Beast reported. A filing by U.S. Attorney Eric Gibson says Brady attempted to interfere with a witness during the investigation. The payments were concealed through third parties - from the campaign itself to businesses owned by his aides, according to the FBI. Then it got transferred to a Moore aide who had done campaign work. He pulled off the most brazen prison escape in Australian history when his Russian lover hijacked a helicopter and plucked him from the country's biggest jail. But after spending nearly half his life behind bars, John Killick says he deeply regrets breaking out of Sydney's Silverwater jail and his subsequent notoriety. 'Young guys tend to look up to me, but I spent 30 years in jail,' Killick, now 75, told KIIS FM's Kyle and Jackie O on Tuesday. 'I'm hardly a role model. To do these things there is a heavy price. The price is not just for me but the people involved - the pilot.' John Killick (pictured in 2015) says he deeply regrets breaking out of Sydney's Silverwater prison and his subsequent notoriety Killick pulled off the most brazen prison escape in Australian history when his Russian lover hijacked a helicopter and plucked him from the county's biggest jail Lucy Dudko who hijacked the helicopter, is pictured being released from jail in 2006. She held a gun to the head of pilot Timothy Joyce The bank robber's girlfriend Lucy Dudko held a gun to the head of Timothy Joyce as he took her on a joy ride over Sydney Olympic Park as it was being constructed in 1999. 'I looked over my shoulder... and as I looked back she had pulled a pistol out of her purse and she put it to the side of my head and said "this is a hijack",' the pilot said. Dudko forced Mr Joyce to land in the grounds of the prison before Killick jumped aboard and the aircraft took off. Remarkably, Killick said his former partner should never have been jailed for her crimes. 'With Lucy's trial, she should probably never have been found guilty - there wasn't a lot of evident against her,' he said. 'We look at it now and we know she was guilty, but you know what the law is. 'The law is that the best liar wins in court and quite often guilty people get off. She had to represent herself in a High Court and that's tough.' Timothy Joyce (pictured in 2001) was to land in the grounds of the prison before Killick jumped aboard and the aircraft took off 'I looked over my shoulder... and as I looked back she had pulled a pistol out of her purse,' the pilot said Meanwhile, Killick recalled how police dismissed the pilot's Triple-0 call as a prank, while the man who arrested him was bewildered the pair pulled it off. 'The arresting cop said to me ''how did you get her to do that? I can't even get my wife to drive me to the railway station'',' he said. 'We just wanted to be together. It turned out foolish. I got hit fairly heavy - I got five years for the escape and seven years for what happened to the pilot.' Mr Joyce flew Killick and Dudko about seven kilometres from the facility, before he was forced to land and was tied up. The pair spent 45 days on the run before being captured in a caravan park at Bass Hill, in south-west Sydney. Killick was released from prison in 2015, Dudko in 2006. They are no longer together. A young woman from New Zealand has tragically died, with friends claiming she fell from a window while taking a selfie. Toni Kelly, who is described as 'happy and beautiful', died in London on life support after suffering a serious brain injury. Friends understand she fell out of a second-storey window while attempting to take a photo of herself, but that has not been confirmed by her family or UK officials. Toni Kelly (pictured) who is described as 'happy and beautiful' died in London on life support Friends and family are now raising money to bring her home and have set up Givealittle page 'Bring our Toni home'. They said Tonis organs have been donated to 'help save other lives in the UK'. The money raised will help the family bring Toni home and pay for any extra expenses. More than $33,400 had been raised by Wednesday morning. Paige Hourigan, who was best friends with Toni in primary school and kept in touch through the later years, told Daily Mail Australia 'the girl who was always smiling' was 'the most fun' to be around. Toni's family have traveled to the UK to bring her body back to New Zealand Friends understand she fell out of a window but that has not been confirmed by UK officials or family 'When we were young Toni was one of those people that never had anything bad to say about anyone, she was super girly, laid back and fun which I loved. 'I remember just laughing and giggling with her all the time about nothing. She was a beautiful girl that will definitely always be remembered - especially for that smile.' Tributes have poured in for Toni with friends, family and strangers pledging their support for the cause. 'So so tragic. The hardest thing ever to experience. Much love to all of you. Another beautiful angel watching over us all. xx,' wrote Lisa Hankinson. 'Id hope this will help get your gorgeous girl home,' wrote a guest donor. Money raised on a Givealittle page will help Toni's family with the high costs of bringing her body back home to New Zealand Others shared their condolences and offered well wishes as well as prayers. Her sister Stacey Kelly thanked girls on Facebook who had set up the page to bring her cherished family member home. 'I just wanna say thank you from the bottom of my heart for the endless support so far. 'Also a huge thank you to the girls who thought of & created this beautiful page for our baby girl. 'We are completely lost for words & can't wait to be home.' Of all the memorable TV sitcom theme songs over the years, it was the most melancholy, its words the most haunting: Oh, what happened to you, whatever happened to me? What became of the people we used to be? Rodney Bewes, one half of the hit BBC show Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads, who died yesterday aged 79, asked himself those questions every day of his life for 40 years. His acclaimed double act with co-star James Bolam had ended in an acrimonious telephone call in 1976, after an ill-judged joke sparked an almighty row between them. Scroll down for video Rodney Bewes (second right), one half of the hit BBC show Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads, died yesterday aged 79. He is pictured with co-star James Bolam (second left), Janet Kelly (right) and Kate Story (left) Bewes's acclaimed double act with Bolam had ended in an acrimonious telephone call in 1976, after an ill-judged joke sparked an almighty row between them The two most famous on-screen pals in Britain were no longer on speaking terms and, despite Bewess repeated pleas, there was never to be a reconciliation. The pair are pictured with Brigit Forsyth The two most famous on-screen pals in Britain were no longer on speaking terms and, despite Bewess repeated pleas, there was never to be a reconciliation. This one-sided feud cost Bewes dearly, as Bolam refused to sanction re-runs of Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads, denying him years of TV repeat fees of up to 4,000 an episode that would have radically changed his financial circumstances. In 2010, he commented sadly that here he was, an old man in his 70s, still with a mortgage and an overdraft which could have been wiped out by a single run of their 26 classic Seventies episodes together. (Only eight episodes of the original mid-Sixties series, simply called The Likely Lads, survived.) To stop other people earning money is cruel, he said. But, despite the bad blood, Bewes, born in Bingley, Yorkshire, in 1937, always insisted that he was a jolly chap who wanted to be everybodys friend. His nature was in sharp contrast to his Likely Lads character. Bewes played earnest social climber Bob Ferris, a humourless, but kindly, soul who was henpecked by his wife Thelma (Brigit Forsyth) and who sometimes yearned for his carefree teenage days in the Sixties. Bolam was the feckless Terry Collier, a scrounger and a ladies man, always on the lookout for a free pint and the chance to taunt Bob over his middle-class aspirations. This one-sided feud cost Bewes dearly, as Bolam refused to sanction re-runs of Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads, denying him years of TV repeat fees of up to 4,000 an episode that would have radically changed his financial circumstances Bewes played earnest social climber Bob Ferris, a humourless, but kindly, soul who was henpecked by his wife Thelma (Brigit Forsyth) and who sometimes yearned for his carefree teenage days in the Sixties Bolam was the feckless Terry Collier, a scrounger and a ladies man, always on the lookout for a free pint and the chance to taunt Bob over his middle-class aspirations. The pair are pictured with the late Wendy Richard and Wanda Ventham There was a dark edge to the sitcom, by Ian La Frenais and Dick Clement. It had started out as a more carefree comedy in 1964, about the escapades of a couple of apprentice electricians in a Newcastle factory. It came to an end in 1966 when the boys decided to join the Army but Bob was rejected because of flat feet while Terry was accepted. When the show relaunched in 1973 as Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads, Bob had a career and a home, while Terry was a bitter ex-squaddie who felt short-changed by his mate . . . and life. At the time, viewers never suspected the resentment might be real. Yet to watch the show now and some episodes are timeless its possible to detect a genuine nastiness in Terrys jibes. Bolam did his oblique best to hint at his dislike for Bewes. He told one interviewer: Just because one played great friends, it doesnt mean that you are great friends. When fans called out in the street, Hey Terry, wheres Bob? Bolam would snarl: Hes dead! Bewes never understood it. He truly thought they were friends, recalling with fondness how they would go out for meals together with their wives after the show. When fans called out in the street, Hey Terry, wheres Bob? Bolam would snarl: Hes dead! Bewes is pictured with Basil Brush Bewes never understood it. He truly thought they were friends, recalling with fondness how they would go out for meals together with their wives after the show. He is pictured with Forsyth The end of The Likely Lads in the mid-Seventies came as a serious blow to Bewes. He is pictured in 'Dear Mother.....Love Albert' as Albert Courtnay The catastrophic break came after an interview in which Bewes revealed that Bolams actress wife was expecting a baby. Bewes had four children with his second wife, Daphne a daughter, Daisy, and triplet sons Tom, Billy and Joe. The way Bewes told it was that Bolam heard he was to be a father himself while driving with his wife, Susan Jameson. You know Daphne had three babies at once . . . well, Im just having the one! she told him. According to Bewes, Bolam nearly crashed the car. It was a good story, even if Bewes had embellished it slightly, and he was baffled when Bolam slammed down the phone on him after it appeared in print. That would be the last time they spoke. Even when Daphne died following a stroke two years ago, Bolam did not get in touch. The end of The Likely Lads in the mid-Seventies came as a serious blow to Bewes. He adored being famous he had shared a flat with actor Tom Courtenay in the Sixties, hung out with Mick Jagger and laughed at himself for being starstruck when he met Omar Sharif. So handsome, hed joke, youd want to jump into bed with him. He commanded big fees for voiceovers, for Birds Eye TV advertisements among others, and at his peak earned 250,000 in a year nearly 2 million today though back in the mid-Seventies, the taxman took nearly all of it. Bewes is pictured with his wife Daphne and their daughter Daisy and triplets Joe, Tom and Billy Even when Daphne died following a stroke two years ago, Bolam did not get in touch. The pair are pictured in 2013 Bolam went on to great critical acclaim with When The Boat Comes In and The Beiderbecke Connection, before in 2003 taking a lead role in BBC1s New Tricks, which ran for 12 years He loved flashy cars, including a Porsche convertible and a Bentley limo. But, whereas Bolam itched to tackle more serious roles, Bewes was content to ride his fame. He never found another role that gave him so much so easily, and his screen acting career quickly wound down. Bolam went on to great critical acclaim with When The Boat Comes In and The Beiderbecke Connection, before in 2003 taking a lead role in BBC1s New Tricks, which ran for 12 years. It was when he got this role that he decreed there should be no more Likely Lads repeats, perhaps to avoid over-exposure. Bewes couldnt forgive that. Im not a pain-in-the-a**e serious actor who thinks: Oh God, arent I important and is ashamed of an absolutely brilliant show I was in more than 30 years ago, he said. He loved to talk about himself, though. In 2005, he wrote his autobiography and complained that the publisher cut more than 1,000 pages of his favourite stories. Many of these he would tell in his one-man show in which he toured the country, often meandering on for hours on stage before settling down to sign autographs and swap anecdotes with fans. Above all, he liked to reminisce about the heady days when he and Bolam were pals. We had such fun . . . on the night before recording wed be on the p***, wed get to the studio and the first thing wed do is ask for the nurse to get us some headache pills. We were such good friends. What, indeed, became of the people they used to be? The EU is insulting Britain by demanding a huge upfront payment before talking about trade, a senior German politician said tonight. Hans-Olaf Henkel said EU negotiator Michel Barnier was trying to get Britain to name a price without knowing what you are going to get for it. Mr Henkel, an MEP and former head of the Federation of German Industries the equivalent of the CBI said its view was that Britain should have the best deal possible. Hans-Olaf Henkel says the EU is insulting Britain. He was formerly head of the Federation of German Industries His comments came as Eurosceptic MPs urged Theresa May to suspend negotiations if the EU refuses to discuss trade. At a Brexit sub-committee meeting on Monday night, senior cabinet ministers agreed to offer billions more in divorce payments. Mrs May will not put a figure on the additional payments, it is understood. But she will set out a formula for how Britains remaining obligations to the EU could be calculated. Hans-Olaf Henkel says Michel Barnier (pictured) is trying to get Britain to name a price without knowing what you are going to get for it That money will be on top of the estimated 20billion she pledged in her Florence speech and estimates suggest it could add another 20billion to the bill. Yesterday David Jones, a former minister in the Department for Exiting the European Union, said Mrs May must insist at the meeting of the EU Council next month that trade talks begin without further delay. He added: If the Prime Minister does not receive confirmation the EU will now start talking seriously about the future relationship, we should tell them we are suspending negotiations until they are ready to do so. The German politician said the EU was insulting Britain. Pictured: German Chancellor Angela Merkel at Germany's parliament 'There is nothing to be gained by continuing to flog a dead horse. Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said Mrs May should say she is not prepared to discuss any further about money until the EU engages properly on trade. At a conference of European Conservatives and Reformists in London, Mr Henkel said: The EU wants from your Prime Minister a price, before the EU is willing to negotiate on trade. Well if you go into a shop you dont name a price without knowing what you are going to get for it. Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith says Mrs May should state she's not prepared to discuss any further about money until the EU engages properly on trade 'So I think it should be enough if your PM says we will fulfil our financial obligations. If a French commissioner doesnt accept it I think its insulting an entire nation. The Federation of German Industries represents 150,000 companies, including major motor manufacturers. Meanwhile, the EU has been accused of using Northern Ireland as a tool of blackmail in Brexit talks. DUP leader Arlene Foster, whose Westminster MPs give Theresa May a Commons majority, accused Brussels and the Irish government of recklessly trying to use Northern Ireland for their own objectives. She accused Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar who has threatened to veto a Brexit deal of being reckless. Mr Varadkar has suggested Northern Ireland should stay in the customs union after Brexit to avoid a hard border with the Republic of Ireland if the rest of the UK leaves. The pristine waters of the Arctic are turning into a floating rubbish dump posing a threat to marine life, scientists warn. One of the densest areas of plastic rubbish anywhere in the worlds seas has been discovered north of Norway and Russia. Miles from civilisation, the amount of plastic waste in the Barents Sea on the margins of the Arctic Ocean has risen almost 20-fold in just ten years. The detritus, which included plastic bags and fishing nets, was discovered more than 8,000ft below the waters surface. A piece of plastic from Scottish company Caley washed up on the coast of Svalbard, in the Arctic circle. One of the densest areas of plastic rubbish anywhere in the worlds seas has been discovered north of Norway and Russia The Daily Mail is leading calls for the Government to take action to stop the tide of plastic rubbish engulfing the seas. The litter was logged at two polar research stations between Greenland and the Svalbard archipelago found half way between Norway and the North Pole. The data was recorded by researchers from Germanys Alfred Wegener Research Institute and published in the journal Deep-Sea Research I. In one area, the amount of waste had risen from 346 pieces per square kilometre in 2004 to 6,333 in 2014. Scientists now fear the region has become one of the worlds biggest floating rubbish dumps, alongside other zones in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Air pollution 'harms sperm' Diesel fumes could harm male fertility, research suggests. Men living in areas with high levels of air pollution were found to have distorted sperm, a study revealed. Experts analysed exposure to sooty particles which are particularly linked to emissions of old diesel cars. These particles called PM2.5 are so fine that they are breathed into the lungs and enter the blood stream. The team found men exposed to high levels of this pollution were far more likely to have sperm of an abnormal size and shape. The research, published in the BMJ journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, was led by the Chinese University of Hong Kong. They examined sperm samples from 6,500 Taiwanese men aged 15 to 49. Men who were exposed to more pollution were at a 26 per cent increased risk of being in the bottom 10 per cent of normal sperm size and shape. Just last month World Health Organisation data revealed 43 of 50 large towns and cities in Britain had dangerously high levels of PM2.5 particles. Advertisement The team said the figures were comparable to one of the highest litter densities ever reported at Cap de Creus Canyon, off the east coast of Spain. It comes after David Attenboroughs Blue Planet II this week shocked viewers with reports of plastic pollution, including a haul of 7,000 rubber ducks which were accidentally dumped into the Arctic Ocean in the 1990s. Biologist Mine Tekman said of the findings: Litter levels in the Arctic deep sea have risen rapidly in the past few years. The scientists made observations at a depth of more than 8,000ft with an Ocean Floor Observation System. The OFOS uses cameras suspended roughly 5ft above the seafloor at a depth of 8,200ft. There they take a photograph every 30 seconds. The plastic was sampled at research stations in the Fram Strait and it is now believed the rubbish maybe getting frozen into the ice The seabed plastic was sampled at 21 research stations in the Fram Strait, between Greenland and Svalbard. The photographs are also used to enable deep-sea biologists to document sea creatures such as sea cucumbers, sea lilies, fish and shrimps. At the institutes northern research station in the Fram Strait, the team found the highest rise in the level of plastic pollution. Scientists previously thought ice acted as a barrier to plastic litter movement in the Arctic. However, they now believe the rubbish may be getting frozen into the ice, which then moves due to transpolar drift, before melting elsewhere, depositing debris in their survey areas. Dr Melanie Bergmann, co-author of the study said: We should be very concerned. Whats happening in the Arctic, the plastic rubbish there, has been produced by us. She said she had seen identifiable bits of plastic from countries including the UK, Germany, Norway and Russia washed up in coastlines in the Arctic circle. A far-Left campaign group which has been accused of bullying advertisers to boycott newspapers including the Daily Mail has admitted that it wants to impose its views on the media. Richard Wilson, who heads the so-called Stop Funding Hate lobby group, told BBC2's Newsnight that his campaign is trying to force newspapers to follow its editorial line on controversial issues. In a fiery exchange with the deputy editor of The Sunday Times, Sarah Baxter, he insisted that he does not want to put newspapers on his hit list the Mail, the Daily Express and The Sun out of business. But he boasted: 'The end point for us is a media that does the job we all want it to.' Debate: Richard Wilson with Sarah Baxter on Newsnight Miss Baxter whose newspaper is not one of Stop Funding Hate's targets branded Mr Wilson 'arrogant'. 'You and your activists want to decide what people in Britain can read or not,' she told him on Newsnight. 'That's very arrogant and self-appointed and very, very wrong for democracy.' Stop Funding Hate is a small group of hard-Left pro-Remain Corbynistas, who use social media to pressure advertisers to stop doing business with popular newspapers that do not share their political views. It has run campaigns against companies such as John Lewis, Marks & Spencer and Waitrose for advertising in the Daily Mail, The Sun and the Daily Express. Its threats against big retailers have had no success but it has recently begun targeting smaller companies with less experience of hostile social media. Mr Wilson appeared on Newsnight on Monday after greetings card and gift-wrapping chain Paperchase became one of the few retailers to succumb to his supporters' attacks on social media. The company became a target after it ran a promotion in Saturday's Daily Mail, offering readers two free rolls of wrapping paper. Stop Funding Hate posted a message on Twitter asking Paperchase whether 'a Daily Mail promotion is really what customers want to see' after a 'torrid few weeks of divisive stories' about trans people. It posted an image of a column about the transgender lobby, written by Sarah Vine, but did not explain what in particular it took exception to. Nor was there any explanation of why the campaign, which had previously focused on articles about migration, had switched to transgender issues. Fewer than 500 people endorsed the message over the weekend, either by sharing the message on their own Twitter and Facebook pages, or by posting similar messages of their own. However, it was enough to panic Paperchase bosses into issuing a grovelling apology. The retailer told customers on Monday: 'We've listened to you about this weekend's newspaper promotion. We now know we were wrong to do this we are truly sorry and we won't ever do it again. 'Thanks for telling us what you really think, and we apologise if we have let you down on this one. Lesson learnt.' However, last night John Lewis said it would not bow to pressure and would continue advertising with the newspapers. A spokesman said: 'Withdrawing advertising on the basis of editorial coverage would be inconsistent with our democratic principles, which include freedom of speech and remaining apolitical.' And Paperchase quickly faced another backlash this time from angry customers and commentators furious at the retailer's response, which was described as 'cowardly' by critics. Julia Hartley Brewer, the TalkRadio presenter, said she would lead a boycott of Paperchase 'for making this absurd grovelling apology simply for advertising in a national newspaper'. Times columnist Iain Martin accused the chain of turning to 'mush' and vowed never to shop there again. Meanwhile Christian May, editor of the financial newspaper City AM, branded Paperchase 'total cowards'. He added: '[They] seem to have panicked after looking at their social media account and have since grovelled for advertising in the Mail.' Miss Baxter told Newsnight that the stationery chain had 'blundered' into accepting the word of 'a few Twitter trolls' that the millions of readers of the Daily Mail on Saturday 'are somehow racists, bigots and hate-mongers'. 'It has bowed to the wishes of a small number of people, against what is quite possibly a silent majority,' she said. 'This is a company bullied by a small army of Twitter and social media trolls using activism as a weapon against the free Press. It's a very, very sad day for an independent media.' Saturday's edition of this newspaper was read by around four million people. The campaign started off as a relatively simple Facebook group urging people to petition Virgin Media to stop advertising with The Sun, led by Mr Wilson and Rosemary Ellum, a former charity worker. But within months, it had broadened its targets to include the Daily Mail and the Express. A spokesman for the Mail said last night: 'All newspapers should be deeply concerned at this sinister campaign by a tiny group of internet activists to use social media trolling to shut down legitimate debate in order to impose their own views on the Mail and other newspapers. 'Anyone who values freedom of expression should be disturbed by Stop Funding Hate's attempts to apply commercial pressure to newspapers' advertisers and business partners in order to influence their editorial decisions. If big business was using this tactic, liberal commentators would rightly be outraged.' A high-flying scammer has fleeced $209 million from hundreds of investors while living a life of luxury, in Australia's biggest ever Ponzi scheme. Sydney man Toni Iervasi is alleged to have duped 780 creditors, including small business owners, mums, dads, and war veterans who invested in a syndicate run out of an office in Bondi Junction's Westfield Tower. Mr Iervasi, the alleged mastermind behind the illegal scheme, is a 53-year-old who moved out of his family home two years ago and started a relationship with Nina Girsa, a Latvian-born beautician. Sydney man Toni Iervasi (pictured with partner Nina Girsa) is alleged to have duped 780 creditors, including small business owners, mums, dads, and war veterans who invested in a syndicate run out of an office in Bondi Junction's Westfield Tower Mr Iervasi, the alleged mastermind behind the illegal scheme, is a 53-year-old who moved out of his family home two years ago and started a relationship with Nina Girsa, a Latvian-born beautician The couple have been pictured living a life of luxury in five-star resorts across the world, including Las Vegas, Dubai, Hawaii and Venice. Mr Iervasi and Ms Girsa boasted of their exploits on social media, posting photos in first-class, enjoying resort swimming pools and sprawled out on beds surrounded by expensive brand-name shopping bags. Also posing in front of super cars and the back of yachts, the pair appeared more than willing to share their extravagant lifestyle with friends, family and followers. There is no suggestion Ms Girsa was involved in the business, or knew of its operations. Mr Iervasi's business Courtenay House and Courtenay House Capital Trading Group, claimed to trade in foreign currency exchange markets and promised investors huge returns of up to 25 per cent Mr Iervasi's businesses Courtenay House and Courtenay House Capital Trading Group, claimed to trade in foreign currency exchange markets and promised investors huge returns of up to 25 per cent. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) started investigating the companies in late 2016, The Daily Telegraph reported. Tony Iervasi was banned from operating financial services until further notice and prevented from leaving Australia. ASIC also freezed company assets and bank accounts and appointed public accountancy firm Grant Thornton to liquidate. The couple posed at events and high society parties across Sydney Mr Iervasi and Ms Girsa boasted of their exploits on social media, posting photos in first-class, enjoying resort swimming pools and sprawled out on beds surrounded by expensive brand-name shopping bags Grant Thornton's Said Jahani said $51 million was seized from company bank accounts. Speaking to Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday, Mr Jahani described the business as a 'Ponzi scheme'. 'It was purported to be an investment scheme, but the reality was there was none, or very little investment activity,' he said. The nature of a Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent operation which generates returns for earlier investors with money paid by new investors, rather than from profit made through legitimate trading. The nature of a Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent operation which generates returns for earlier investors with money paid by new investors. There is no suggestion Ms Girsa was involved in its operation Courtenay House allegedly used 90 per cent of $209 million invested, to pay its own interest and capital returns. Mr Jahani told Daily Mail Australia the company kept no legitimate books or records which made investigations more difficult. 'We have to recreate a lot of the records, it's quite painstaking,' he said. 'But we're far enough into it that it gives us confidence to make the statement it's a Ponzi scheme.' ASIC told Daily Mail Australia it was unable to comment on the investigation because it was before the court. ASIC told Daily Mail Australia it was unable to comment on the investigation into Mr Iervasi's company because it was before the court Sutherland Shire Mayor Carmelo Pesce revealed he was one of the scheme's hundreds of alleged victims. The Liberal politician said he plunged $975,000 from his family trust into the scheme after a school friend's recommendation. 'I have lost a million dollars,' Mr Pesce told The Daily Telegraph while adding his brother also lost $250,000. Another investor who claimed they were too embarrassed to be identified, was a war widow. The woman lost her husband's entire pension payout after investing it in Mr Iervasi's business. The Hinkley Point power station deal will add up to 15 to every energy bill in the country due to grave errors by the Government, MPs will say today. Consumers have been dealt a bad hand by the Government over the 20 billion nuclear station which will cost many times the original estimate. MPs are set to voice concerns that billpayers are locked into an expensive deal lasting 35 years, asking why the terms were not revisited following the deal in 2013. MPs will voice concerns that billpayers are being locked into an expensive deal that lasts 35 years Earlier this year it was revealed that the projected bill for building the new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point had soared to almost 20billion and could rise further. Following a review by its senior executives, energy giant EDF said the cost of the controversial project in Somerset has risen by 1.5 billion to 19.6billion. The French state controlled firm also warned the project could be delayed for up to 15 months. This would result in an another 700million in costs, meaning the bill would smash through the 20billion barrier. It would also mean Hinkley Point C would not start delivering power to the national grid until 2027 a decade after the first start date proposed by EDF. Today, the Public Accounts Committee will say the interests of energy consumers were not being protected by the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station deal. They are to criticise the deal to agree a so-called strike price of 92.50 per megawatt hour of electricity generated by the power station, which will be operated by French energy giant EDF. The average annual household electricity bill will increase by an estimated 10 to 15 to support the new power station up to 2030, they warned. This could disproportionately impact on the poorest households, the MPs say, and are demanding to know why the deal hadnt been reassessed. The Government agreed provisional terms in 2013, with the Business Department forecasting that consumers will now pay 30 billion in top-up payments over the contracts 35 years. This is five times more than the 6 billion expected four years ago, the report says. Labour MP Meg Hillier, who chairs the committee, will say: Bill-payers have been dealt a bad hand by the Government in its approach to this project. Labour MP Meg Hillier is expected to say: Bill-payers have been dealt a bad hand by the Government' Its blinkered determination to agree the Hinkley deal, regardless of changing circumstances, means that for years to come energy consumers will face costs running to many times the original estimate. The Government made some grave strategic errors here and must now explain what it will do to ensure these are not repeated. She also says the Government had not spelled out what UK workers and business gained from the Hinkley project. The committee urged the Government to firm up its vague promises of the benefits of the project. The MPs also believe there is uncertainty over whether the project will be completed on time, warning that if there is a delay, energy security would be put at risk. The other projects using the same reactor technology as Hinkley Point C - in France, Finland and China - have seen significant cost and schedule overruns, the report added. Brexit could also have implications for the project due to withdrawal from Euratom, the pan-European atomic energy regulator, and the risk of people with nuclear engineering and science skills moving abroad. EDF is funding two-thirds of the plant, which is expected to create more than 25,000 jobs, with China investing the rest. EDF Energy said in a statement: The cost of Hinkley Point C for customers has not changed and they will pay nothing for its reliable, low carbon electricity until the station is completed. The man accused of killing Queens jogger Karina Vetrano asked to see a picture of her after he confessed to her murder. Chanel Lewis's request came as he was being transported to central booking in February 2017, according to NYPD Detective Christian Quezada. 'During the ride he asked me if the victim's family was watching on the news, and he asked me if he could see a picture of her,' Quezada testified on Tueday at a pre-trial hearing in Queens Supreme Court. He added: 'I said: "No". I didn't say anything to him.' Quezada also said during the hearing that after he put Lewis in his cell, the 21-year-old said: 'Tell my mother I'm sorry'. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO The man accused of killing Queens jogger Karina Vetrano (left and right) asked to see a picture of her after he confessed to her murder Chanel Lewis's (pictured) request came as he was being transported to central booking in February 2017, according to NYPD Detective Christian Quezada. Lewis, who's accused of beating Vetrano's face so badly her teeth broke after snatching her off a swampy running path, didn't press the issue and sat silently for the rest of the ride. On Monday, Vertrano's parents, Cathie and Philip, sat in court and wept as they watched Lewis's videotaped confession of the August 2016 killing. Police claim the Lewis murdered Vetrano, 30, while she was on a run in Spring Creek Park in Howard Beach, Queens. 'I was mad, I saw red,' Lewis told cops in the video. The tape was recorded in February and played for the family on Monday during a pre-trial hearing to determine if it is admissible as evidence. Philip and Cathie Vetrano (pictured, Tuesday exiting Queens Criminal Courthouse) sat in court as Lewis calmly confessed to the brutal beating and strangulation of their daughter on video Police claim the 21-year-old murdered Vetrano, 30, on August 2, 2016, while she was on a run in Spring Creek Park in Howard Beach, Queens (Pictured, Lewis being ttaken into the 107th Precinct when he was arrested on February 5) Lewis told them he grabbed Vetrano as she was jogging past him in a marsh-swamp area of Queens. He said she clawed at his face as he beat her five times, knocking her unconscious and breaking her teeth. 'She didn't yell,' the accused killer said in the video, with not even a flicker of emotion on his cold face. 'She was finished. I finished her off, I strangled her. She fell into the puddle and drowned. I got up and wiped off the blood. And she was calm, she was in the pool of water.' Lewis told police he grabbed Vetrano as she was jogging past him in a marsh-swamp area of Spring Creek Park in Howard Beach, Queens The map above shows a map of where events occurred: (1) Karina Vetrano, 30, leaves her home in Howard Beach for a jog, (2) She is filmed on surveillance camera entering Spring Creek Park (3) Karina's body is found in marshes in the park, and (4) Suspect Chanel Lewis, 21, is arrested at his home in East New York on February 5 He then gestured at his face and explained that her head was completely submerged in the water. Shockingly, as he finished telling cops how he ended her life, he asked if there was a 'restitution program.' He seemed to think he could pay his way out of murder charges. 'I can straighten out my stuff?' he asked the prosecutor. 'Well you're the DA right? Where do we go from here? Is there a restitution program or something?' In the tape he also insisted he didn't molest her - as was suggested by cops, who found her with her jogging shorts around her ankles. 'I didn't do any of the stuff they said, sexual assault and stuff like that,' he said in the tape. He said that after hurting her he was 'shaken up,' and started to walk home to get some napkins to stop the bleeding from where she'd scratched his face (Pictured, Lewis being taken into the 107th Precinct when he was arrested on February 5) He said she clawed at his face as he beat her five times, knocking her unconscious. He then said that he strangled her and then watched as she fell into a puddle and drowned Philip Vetrano (pictured, left, with his daughter) told the New York Post that he lashed out at Lewis' family when he saw them at the courthouse on Monday He said that after hurting her he was 'shaken up,' and started to walk home to get some napkins to stop the bleeding from where she'd scratched his face. Lewis told the police in the interview that he killed Vetrano because 'a guy moved into my house and neighborhood.' Police weren't sure what that meant. Lewis confessed to the crime after watching cartoons in a precinct all night. He was arrested on February 4, and initially refused to speak to police, asking instead to watch TV, a detective said in court on Monday, according to the New York Daily News. 'He said he wanted to see cartoons, so we put cartoons on him through the night. He said he couldn't sleep,' Detective Barry Brown explained. Philip Vetrano told the Post that he lashed out at Lewis' family when he saw them at the courthouse on Monday. 'His family left the courtroom,' he said, explaining why he became so angry. 'They couldn't listen to his confession. We know where the coward got his cowardliness from. 'The truth hurts. It's pathetic. It's just so tomorrow they can say their offspring is not guilty.' Schools will be offered a 600 bounty for every extra pupil taking A-level maths to improve Britain's skills after Brexit. Philip Hammond will unveil a package of measures in today's Budget designed to boost education and skills, as he warns that improving Britain's productivity is essential as the UK prepares to leave the EU. Mr Hammond, nicknamed 'Eeyore' by critics for his gloomy view of Brexit, will also attempt to strike a more upbeat note about the UK's prospects as he fights to save his job. Philip Hammond will announce his Budget on Wednesday and is expected to pledge 180million to improve maths teaching as part of an initiative to improve workplace skills The Chancellor will also promise billions for housing with a target to build 300,000 new homes per year and plans to make it easier for councils to build Setting out his vision for a new 'global Britain', he will say the UK has the chance to become 'an outward-looking free-trading nation, a force for good in the world, a country fit for the future'. Relations between the Treasury and 10 Downing Street have been strained in the run-up to the Budget, with fresh speculation that the Chancellor could be sacked in a New Year reshuffle if today's package unravels in the way his March Budget did. Even one ally of the Chancellor last night conceded that his statement today could 'make or break' his political career. The Treasury briefed last month that Mr Hammond was planning a 'bold' Budget to reconnect with voters in the wake of this year's election setback for the Tories. But, following warnings from party whips about the difficulty of pushing through radical measures, he has opted for a more cautious package. One Cabinet minister told the Mail last week the Budget looked set to be a 'car crash'. The Chancellor is expected to: Announce billions to tackle the housing crisis, including a new target to build 300,000 homes a year and measures to make it easier for councils to build; Confirm that the national debt is on course to start falling as a proportion of GDP for the first time since the financial crisis; Introduce measures to help younger voters, including a possible cut in stamp duty for first-time buyers, and the extension of the young person's railcard to all under-30s; Insist that public sector workers must improve their productivity in return for an easing of the 1 per cent pay cap; Announce a 40 per cent increase in research and development spending to make the UK a world leader in areas such as driverless cars and robotics; Stick to his plan to wipe out the deficit left by Labour by the middle of the 2020s. Mr Hammond will warn that the UK needs to 'embrace change, meet our challenges head on and seize the opportunities for Britain' as we prepare to leave the EU in March 2019. And he will say the UK needs to improve its flagging productivity, which has been flatlining for a decade, putting a brake on living standards. He will announce a 180million investment in maths teaching, arguing that better workplace maths skills are essential to ensure the UK 'remains a competitive force in the global marketplace'. Schools and colleges will receive an additional 600 for every extra pupil studying maths A-level, allowing them to invest in better provision. More help for young voters will come in the extension of the young person's railcard to everyone under the age of 30. The current cut-off is 25 Teachers in underperforming schools will be offered training grants worth up to 1,000 each to improve their skills. Mr Hammond will set aside more than 80million to train an extra 8,000 computer science teachers. The Chancellor has been warned that Eurosceptic MPs will seize on any slip-ups in today's Budget to make life difficult for him. Mr Hammond faced humiliation in March when he was forced to drop a Budget raid on the self-employed within days following a ferocious backlash. MPs have urged him to drop plans to increase diesel duty by a penny a litre and drop the VAT threshold for small businesses. The Chancellor indicated last night he will reject calls to abandon austerity, saying the Budget would be 'balanced'. Labour has demanded large-scale investment in infrastructure to boost manufacturing, new cash for the public services, a major housebuilding programme and a pause in the Government's flagship Universal Credit welfare reform. For five centuries, the word 'betrump' has languished on the scrapheap of forgotten English words. But now the term meaning to deceive or cheat could be set for a return after winning a poll to choose our favourite long-lost word. Whether or not it is a reflection on our opinion of the current occupant of the White House is unclear, but the use of President Trump's surname to signify a liar won hands-down, attracting more than four out of ten votes. The campaign to highlight how long-lost words are still relevant today was devised by a team of language experts. They selected a long-list of 30 obscure terms which were then put to the public vote, with the winning word being submitted to the editors of the Oxford English Dictionary in the hope of being included. Whether or not it is a reflection on our opinion of the current occupant of the White House is unclear, but the use of President Trump's (pictured) surname to signify a liar won a poll of Britain's favourite long-lost word hands down A whopping 42 per cent of people voted for betrump, which had not previously featured in the English language since the 16th century almost six times the number of votes for the runner-up. That was apart from a single newspaper article which suggested the word's origins are in fact from the Scots dialect and poked fun at the irony that President Trump himself has Scottish ancestry. Trailing in second place with a mere 7.5 per cent was the colourful concept of 'ear-rent' - meaning the figurative cost of listening to trivial talk. In third place was 'rouzy-bouzy' meaning boisterously drunk, followed by 'slug- a-bed' - one who lies long in bed through laziness and 'merry-go-sorry', meaning a mixture of joy and sorrow. Dr Dominic Watt, senior lecturer in language and linguistic science at the University of York, said: 'The word 'betrump' had almost completely fallen out of use for nearly 500 years, until it's very recent re-emergence as the nation' s favourite 'lost word'. 'The Lost Words campaign has allowed us bring back an interesting but - until this year - exceptionally obscure word.' His team spent three months scouring historic texts and etymological dictionaries to find forgotten terms which they felt would fit into today's English. The word betrump can be traced back to the Oxford English Dictionary in the 16th century but the team were unable to find any further examples of its use until this year. It also features in a dictionary of Old Scots which quotes from a 1513 translation of Virgil's Aeneid the reference 'betrumpit suythly Hyr spows, hir son, and all the cumpany'. A whopping 42 per cent of people voted for betrump, which had not previously featured in the English language since the 16th century almost six times the number of votes for the runner-up 'The premise of our research was to find lost words that were still relevant to modern life and it appears that 'betrump' has captured the imagination of the nation and allowed people re-engage with language of old,' Dr Watt added. Words which didn't make the top five include 'losenger' meaning false flatterer or lying rascal and 'fumish', meaning hot-tempered. Others were 'wlonk' which comes from Middle English and could mean proud, 'snout-fair' meaning comely or handsome and a 'dowsabel' or sweetheart. Dr Watt has now written to Dr John Simpson, Chief Editor at the Oxford English Dictionary, to advise him of the result and petition for betrump's re-inclusion. The project was organised by Privilege home insurance. Christian Mendes, head of Privilege, said: 'We are constantly presented with new additions to the English language, but we rarely discuss the words that are leaving and becoming obsolete. 'That's why the Lost Words campaign became so important it allows us to understand the constantly evolving nature of the English language, with as many words entering as leaving. 'The nation's choice of word is interesting, relevant, and fitting with the world we currently find ourselves living in.' Why was Boris Johnson so cheerful yesterday? The Foreign Secretary was markedly upbeat during an hour of Commons questions to his department. Gone was that slightly dry-snouted, beagle-eyed Boris we saw earlier in the month when the Establishment was ganging up on him over his Iran prisoner slip. Instead we saw a man determined to look on the bright side of life. Maybe he has been getting some sleep and eating better. Maybe he was buoyed by Monday nights Commons vote on us leaving the EUs Customs Union, which the Government won by a stonking 311 to 76 (Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell voted with the Government). Perhaps Boris Johnson has simply remembered that optimism is lifes best medicine and his natural strong-suit Maybe the German crisis has made Mr Johnson feel less got-at by life on the basis that Londons Government may have its problems but Berlin does not even have a government. Or maybe he has simply remembered that optimism is lifes best medicine and his natural strong-suit.The Foreign Office ministerial team in the Commons yesterday, in order of seating, was as follows: Rory Stewart, Boris, Sir Alan Duncan, Alistair Burt. Messrs Stewart and Burt answered questions without making reference to notes. They just stood at the despatch box and ad-libbed. The more senior Boris and Sir Alan preferred to hold on to their official files. Sir Alan has lost some of his merriment of old. Since the EU referendum he has often looked rather cheesed-off, his mouth forming a downward crescent and a clipped tone entering his voice. Sir Alan Duncan and Boris seemed 'to rub along happily enough' despite being on opposite sides of the EU referendum He was a stern opponent of the Leave campaign which was led with such gusto by the man who is now his Secretary of State. Yet Boris is not a person to glower. Though he must be aware that Sir Alan can be a prickly cactus, he declines to give him the satisfaction of being treated badly. Yesterday the two men appeared to rub along happily enough. The usual dacoits lurked in the Chambers byways. At the far end of the House sat Europhile Tom Tugendhat (Con, Tonbridge & Malling), chairman of the foreign affairs select committee and an unamused critic of Boriss efforts to cheer up the British electorate. Mr Tugendhat, 44 going on 60, sat in the place normally occupied by Eurosceptic Jacob Rees-Mogg. He stayed long enough to ask a scratchy question about British policy on Iran there is none! Mr Burt was stung by this and firmly replied that the Governments policy on Iran was actually very clear. Mr Tugendhat fumed. By just over half-way through the session, however, he had gone. For once Emily Thornberry didn't ask the Foreign Secretary to resign, though she 'banged on about the Irish border' Opposite Boris, rigid with her customary froideur, brooded his shadow, Emily Thornberry. She has so often called for Boris to resign that it is nowadays a surprise when she does not do that. Yesterday she banged on about the Irish border and demanded to know if Boris would quit if the matter was not settled to his satisfaction. Miss Thornberry had by this point been told to get a move on by Speaker Bercow and her peroration was thus rather ruined. The House took little notice of it and several MPs cheered sarcastically when it realised that she had again sought Boriss departure from Government. Another moment of note came when Robert Jenrick (Con, Newark) lamented Britains failure to secure a judge on the UNs International Court of Justice. Londons legal illuminati are gravely offended by this. No doubt several career paths have been wrecked. Mr Jenrick, himself a lawyer, went in sharper than expected, saying it reflected a major failure for British judiciary (and therefore, by implication, for British diplomacy). Boris, who had already been asked about it by a Scots Nat, replied with a smile that he congratulated India on getting its candidate elected to the court at our expense. Be big in defeat. Its a lesson Remainers could learn. But Mr Jenrick shook his head and did not look impressed by Boriss attitude. It can be observed that Mr Jenrick is parliamentary aide to the Home Secretary, Amber Rudd. Britain plunged deeper into the red last month as the country was forced to pay 8million an hour servicing the mammoth national debt. Bleak figures published on the eve of the Budget showed the government borrowed another 8billion in October - 500million more than in the same month last year as it continued to spend more than it receives in tax. The deterioration in the public finances came as debt interest payments jumped by 25 per cent to 6billion in October alone or around 8million an hour. The national debt stands at almost 2trillion as figures show government borrowing hit 8billion in October alone as payments to service the UK's debt hit 6billion The spiralling cost of servicing the national debt which now stands at a record 1.79trillion having tripled since the turn of the century is leeching much-needed resources away from Britain's creaking public services. The figures, from the Office for National Statistics, pile pressure on Philip Hammond to get a grip on the nation's finances in the Budget today [weds]. The deficit has fallen sharply under the Tories, from a record 152.5billion in 2009-10 under Labour to 45.7billion last year. But the Chancellor is struggling to return Britain to the black by the middle of the next decade leaving Britain facing the longest period of deficits since Napoleonic times. He is facing a barrage of demands for extra cash to increase funding for the NHS, give public sector workers a pay rise, ease the burden on students and kick-start housebuilding. Howard Archer, chief economic advisor to the Ernst & Young Item Club, said Mr Hammond is 'getting squeezed on both sides' amid conflicting pressures to balance the books and ditch austerity. Philip Hammond is expected to reiterate government pledges to eliminate the deficit by the mid 2020s, after which the debt can be reduced 'The Budget is not going to be easy for the Chancellor,' he said. Despite the deterioration in the public finances last month, borrowing so far this year has totalled 38.5billion, some 4.1billion less than in the same period last year. The Office for Budget Responsibility, the Treasury watchdog, is today [weds] expected to cut its borrowing forecasts for this year as a whole. But downgrades to the outlook for the economic growth are likely to mean more borrowing in later years, raising fresh questions over when Britain will finally return to the black. Paul Hollingsworth, UK economist at Capital Economics, said: 'Despite deteriorating in October, the general trend in the public finances this year has still been an improving one. 'Nonetheless, the expected downward revisions to economic forecasts will probably mean that the Chancellor has no room for significant Budget giveaways.' Drinking red wine makes people feel relaxed and amorous while vodka or whisky boosts energy and aggression, a study suggests. Research involving 30,000 people has found drinkers have significantly different emotional responses to different alcoholic drinks. The study, led by experts at Bangor University and King's College London, found red wine was likely to make people feel sexy and relaxed - but also tired and tearful. Drinking spirits was linked to feelings of aggression and restlessness - but also gave people a boost of energy and confidence. Beer increased both relaxation and confidence. Research involving 30,000 people has found drinkers have significantly different emotional responses to different alcoholic drinks White wine was seen to have a similar impact as red wine - but far less pronounced. The data is taken from the Global Drug Survey, an online questionnaire of 18 to 34-year-olds conducted in 11 languages in 21 countries around the world. The authors, writing in the BMJ Open journal, said: 'Understanding emotions associated with alcohol consumption is imperative to addressing alcohol misuse, providing insight into what emotions influence drink choice between different groups in the population.' Professor Mark Bellis of Bangor University, who is also Public Health Wales' director of policy, research and international development, said: 'For centuries, the history of rum, gin, vodka and other spirits has been laced with violence. 'This global study suggests even today consuming spirits is more likely to result in feelings of aggression than other drinks. The study, led by experts at Bangor University and King's College London, found red wine was likely to make people feel sexy and relaxed - but also tired and tearful 'In the UK, a litre of off-licence spirits can easily be bought for 15 or less, making a double shot only 75 pence. 'Such prices can encourage consumption at levels harmful to the health of the drinker and through violence and injuries also represent a risk to the people around them.' Alcohol itself - known by the scientific term of ethanol - is chemically identical regardless of the beverage it is in. But Professor Bellis said the way people drink it is partly responsible for the different emotional responses. He said: 'Spirits are often consumed more quickly and have much higher concentrations of alcohol in them. 'This can result in a quicker stimulating effect as blood alcohol levels increase. 'They may also be consumed in different social occasions so people may be drinking them deliberately to feel the drunken effect quickly while other types of drink are more likely to be consumed slowly or with food. Drinking spirits like vodka was linked to feelings of aggression and restlessness - but also gave people a boost of energy and confidence. Beer increased both relaxation and confidence 'As people get the kick from escalating alcohol levels, the same increases reduce the brain's ability to suppress impulsive feelings or to consider the consequences of acting on them.' But he added: 'It is worth also bearing in mind that there are compounds apart from alcohol in different drinks. 'Although these are part of the difference in taste between drinks little consideration has been given to what other effects they may have on the drinker.' People's preconceptions about drinks also play a role - for example if people drink red wine to relax they will probably end up more relaxed, and if they drink vodka to party they will probably end up feeling energised. Marketing plays into this, Professor Bellis said. 'There is a lot of content in alcohol promotion to suggest people will get those positive emotional responses they may be seeking.' A leaked email has confirmed speculation that Amazon Australia will launch ahead of the famous Black Friday sales. The email, obtained by Lifehacker, informs sellers the marketplace giant will open for business at 2pm on Thursday. Amazon have contacted sellers to be prepared with pricing and stock ahead of the 'testing phase', with a select number of customers being able to trial the systems and begin making orders. 'Dear Seller, to prepare for the launch of the Amazon Marketplace in Australia we will start an internal testing phase with a small number of customers on Thursday 23 November 2017, 2pm AEST,' the email reads. The news will be well received by Aussies, with Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales beginning in the coming days. A leaked email has confirmed speculation that Amazon Australia will launch ahead of the famous Black Friday sales The email, obtained by Lifehacker on Tuesday, informs sellers the marketplace giant will open for business at 2pm on Thursday Australians can already buy Amazon products from offshore, but having a warehouse locally cuts sometimes sizable international shipping cost The email was sent to an unknown number of sellers in what appears to be a soft launch for the company. 'Once you have passed Seller Identity Verification you will be part of this testing phase and you should be prepared to receive orders from this point onward ... We are very excited to have you on board during this testing phase. Let's Make History!' Sellers are required to have all their shipping and bank details ready to go so customers can begin purchasing their products immediately. Since confirming plans to open in Australia in April, Amazon has signed up 'many thousands' of sellers, boss Rocco Braeuniger said, who relocated from Germany to take up the role Since confirming plans to open in Australia in April, Amazon has signed up 'many thousands' of sellers, boss Rocco Braeuniger said, who relocated from Germany to take up the role Since confirming plans to open in Australia in April, Amazon has signed up 'many thousands' of sellers, boss Rocco Braeuniger said, who relocated from Germany to take up the role. Australians can already buy Amazon products from offshore, but having a warehouse locally cuts sometimes sizable international shipping costs, adding to pressure on retailers already struggling with the overheads that come from maintaining shopfronts and employing checkout staff. Earlier this month, Australia's top department store chain Myer Holdings Ltd cut its growth targets, citing weak trading conditions. Rival David Jones recently contributed to the first profit decline in eight years for its owner, South Africa's Woolworths Holdings. In a sign of further headwinds for offline retail, Mr Braeuniger said Amazon planned to bring more services to Australia, from the outset, than it had previously flagged. The site for Amazon's first Australian distribution centre in Dandenong, Australia While Amazon said earlier that it would offer Australia its Marketplace service, he said the company would also run its own retail unit, ordering and shipping its own product. He suggested Amazon would wait, however, before taking on Australia's grocery market. The firm took years to offer the service in other countries and 'it's really, really complicated to make fresh food delivery a great customer experience.' Amazon, among the latest tech heavyweights to expand in Australia, has snapped up a sprawling nine-floor office in Sydney's financial hub, with sweeping views of the Harbour Bridge and Hyde Park. In August, it said it had picked a distribution warehouse in Melbourne, also on the east coast - where about four-fifths of the country's 24 million people live. Two toddlers were violently snatched from their father's home when it was allegedly stormed by a group armed with metal poles. Up to six intruders forced their way into the house in Beerwah on the Sunshine Coast and snatched the three-year-old girl and her one-year-old brother, police said. They threatened their 31-year-old father and a 35-year-old woman living there, before hitting the woman in the head. A three-year-old girl and her one-year-old brother were snatched from their home on Greber Road (pictured) in Beerwah on the Sunshine Coast The four to six attackers, including at least two men and two women, one of whom was the children's biological mother, made off in two cars about 9.30am on Tuesday and may have headed for Toowoomba. Police said they knew the identities of those involved, but declined to provide photos of the children or others involved to help locate them. Daily Mail Australian understands the children were removed over a custody dispute. The 35-year-old woman suffered a laceration to her head that required hospital treatment when she was hit with the pole. The four to six attackers, including at least two men and two women, made off in two cars including a 2009 red Holden Commodore sedan (stock pictured) Officers said all those involved were known to each other but wouldn't reveal how. 'The adult victims were absolutely traumatised and so would have the children,' Acting Senior Sergeant Dave Harbison told a press conference. 'It could have been done in a non-confrontational matter. 'As a result a female victim received a gash to the head by a steel rod. It is alleged she was hit in the head. Taking kids in such a violent manner is not right.' The two getaway cars were a 2006 black Holden Astra sedan with NSW registration BPS 38Q and a 2009 red Holden Commodore sedan with Queensland registration 484 VNN. The other getaway car was a 2006 black Holden Astra sedan (stock pictured) Both missing children were described as Aboriginal with slim builds, brown hair and brown eyes. One of those allegedly involved was described as a 30-year-old Aboriginal about 159cms tall with a slim build, brown hair and brown eyes. The other was described as a 49-year-old Aboriginal woman about 150cms tall with a solid build, dark brown hair and brown eyes. One of the men allegedly involved was described as a 17-year-old Aboriginal about 155cms tall with a slim build, short black hair and brown eyes. Karl Stefanovic has suffered an embarrassing blooper on live TV when his attempt to stitch up Malcolm Turnbull over the national debt ended in confusion. Interviewing the prime minister on the Today show, Stefanovic revealed a ticker at the bottom of the screen incorrectly titled 'National government debt'. He then challenged Mr Turnbull - who was unable to see the ticker - over the number, asking him if he knew what it was. Scroll down for video Karl Stefanovic (pictured, left) has suffered an embarrassing blooper on live TV when his attempt to stitch up Malcolm Turnbull (pictured, right) over the national debt ended in confusion But when Turnbull's response was much lower than rapidly-rising number on the screen, Stefanovic looked confused by the disparity and backed down. 'How can you offer tax cuts for middle-income battlers when the debt of this country is spiralling out of control, let's have a look at the debt right now,' said Stefanovic on the Today show. 'That's the national debt, right where you are, PM, you can't see it where you are, any idea what that number is?' 'The net debt is around $360 billion,' replied Mr Turnbull, as the on-screen display read $6,515,286,300,335 - more than 6.5 trillion dollars. Interviewing the prime minister on the Today show, Stefanovic (pictured) revealed a ticket at the bottom of the screen incorrectly titled 'National government debt' Rather than question the prime minister over the seemingly-incorrect response, Stefanovic made an awkward comment about the 'distracting' number instead. The figure on the ticker appears to have been the total Australian debt, which includes both government and private sector debts. According to budget estimates Australia's net national debt at $347billion for 2017-18, rising to $356billion in the next financial year. The net national debt is calculated by subtracting some government assets from the gross debt. A One Nation candidate running in a marginal seat appeared to joke that obese women offer good protection in a tsunami and has compared wives to hand grenades. Former bankrupt developer Malcolm Charlwood stands a chance of taking the Townsville seat of Mundingburra off Labor at this Saturday's Queensland election. The real estate agent, whose main opponent is a woman, has a Facebook page in his name that also features a series of memes that mock women. However, he insists the posts on the Mal Charlwood Facebook page, promoting his company Blue Fuel Management, weren't written by him and says he doesn't endorse those kind of 'rubbish' views. Scroll down for video Former bankrupt Malcolm Charlwood appears to have controversial opinions on women 'They're on a company page of which I'm a shareholder - the company's in New Zealand,' he told Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday. 'I don't do the stuff on the Facebook page. It's all done by the IT guys in New Zealand. 'I've been told about it. I haven't even seen it.' He also insisted he wasn't bigoted after his Facebook page had a meme insinuating that Muslims were part of a 'barbaric cult' that sought to turn Australia into 'a pile of rocks and goat s***'. 'My partner is Indian. How can I be racist?,' he told Nine News. One Nation candidate Malcolm Charlwood insists he's not racist because his partner's Indian One Nation candidate's Facebook joked an obese woman would make him 'feel safe in a tsunami' In May, a Facebook page in his name had an image of a worried man with the headline: 'What does your wife and a hand grenade have in common? 'Remove the ring and your house is gone.' Last year, it shared another joke about women next to an image of an obese female on top of a man at the beach. 'I would feel safe in a tsunami,' it said, under a meme with the phrase: 'Sun block. SPF 400.' Mr Charlwood, who moved to Townsville from Sydney in 1979, was also declared a bankrupt between 1995 and 1998. Malcolm Charlwood's Facebook had this meme on Facebook likening wives to hand grenades Undischarged bankrupts are ineligible to serve as members of the Queensland parliament. However, Mr Charlwood was discharged from his bankruptcy on 8 June 1998, making him eligible to serve. Since 1986, he has been involved in failed plans to develop artificial islands, marinas and hotels at Mission Beach in far north Queensland. Australian Securities and Investments Commission records he was first appointed a director of Mission Beach Marina Pty Ltd in August 1986. He has also been a director and shareholder of Mission Beach Harbour Pty Ltd which was finally deregistered in August 2017, with none of the grand Mission Beach projects ever being built. A document from the Australian Financial Security Authority shows he was a bankrupt between May 1995 and June 1998, having been discharged on 8 June 1998. One Nation candidate Malcolm Charlwood was a bankrupt between May 1995 and June 1998 While One Nation is polling strongly in Queensland, with 16 per cent support across the state in a Newspoll survey, the party has been plagued by dubious candidate choices. Last week, another One Nation candidate in Townsville, Mark Thornton, confirmed to reporters he owned a sex shop. One Nation senator Pauline Hanson was angered as a 7News reporter asked the Thuringowa candidate about Cupids Cabin, an adult shop in Aitkenvale, managed by his wife which had a questionable Facebook post. 'Good sex should be in the grey area between tickle fight and domestic violence,' it said. Fellow Townsville One Nation candidate Mark Thornton (left) confirmed to reporters his wife ran a sex shop, as Pauline Hanson looks on awkwardly In July, One Nation disendorsed John Cox as its candidate for the seat of Redcliffe, north of Brisbane, after he posted and backed conspiracy theories about the September 11 attacks on Facebook. In January, One Nation sacked Shan Ju Lin as its candidate for the the Ipswich seat of Bundamba after she said on Facebook that gay people should be 'treated as patients'. A day later, Senator Hanson issued a media release saying she made 'no apologies for being tough on candidates'. A few days later her party dumped its candidate for the far north Queensland seat of Mulgrave, Peter Rogers, for suggesting the 1996 Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania was a hoax and that the dead three-year-old Syrian boy, photographed on beach in 2015, was alive and well. A suspended magistrate accused of sexually abusing a teenage boy in the early 1980s has had his matter adjourned to next year. Graeme Bryan Curran, 67, was charged in October with nine counts of indecent assault on a young male, who police allege he knew, between 1981 and 1983 in NSW. Curran did not enter a plea when he faced Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday. Graeme Bryan Curran, 67, was charged in October with nine counts of indecent assault on a young male Curran did not enter a plea when he faced Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday He was excused from appearing when the matter returns to court on January 24. The well-known magistrate met detectives at Burwood Police Station before last month by agreement. The offences were allegedly committed in Sydney's Balmain and Bega on the New South Wales south coast. The 67-year-old was excused from appearing when the matter returns to court on January 24 JB Hi-Fi has debuted same-day and rush delivery ahead of the long-awaited opening of Amazon Australia. A leaked email has confirmed speculation that Amazon Australia will launch ahead of the famous Black Friday sales. The email, obtained by Lifehacker, informs sellers the marketplace giant will open for business at 2pm on Thursday. In preparation, the country's top electronic retailer has announced it will offer online customers same-day delivery for $9.99 and three-hour rush delivery for $14.99. JB Hi-Fi has debuted same-day and three-hour rush delivery ahead of the long-awaited opening of Amazon Australia (stock image) A leaked email has confirmed speculation that Amazon Australia will open for business at 2pm on Thursday, ahead of the famous Black Friday sales In preparation, the country's top electronic retailer has announced it will offer online customers same-day delivery for $9.99 and three-hour rush delivery for $14.99 (pictured) The new delivery options are available to 'customers living in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide'. Orders must be made by 1pm for same-day delivery, which is not available on weekends or public holidays. Amazon have contacted sellers to be prepared with pricing and stock ahead of the 'testing phase', with a select number of customers being able to trial the systems and begin making orders. 'Dear Seller, to prepare for the launch of the Amazon Marketplace in Australia we will start an internal testing phase with a small number of customers on Thursday 23 November 2017, 2pm AEST,' the email reads. The news will be well received by Aussies, with Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales beginning in the coming days. A leaked email has confirmed speculation that Amazon Australia will launch ahead of the famous Black Friday sales The email, obtained by Lifehacker on Tuesday, informs sellers the marketplace giant will open for business at 2pm on Thursday Australians can already buy Amazon products from offshore, but having a warehouse locally cuts sometimes sizable international shipping cost The email was sent to an unknown number of sellers in what appears to be a soft launch for the company. 'Once you have passed Seller Identity Verification you will be part of this testing phase and you should be prepared to receive orders from this point onward ... We are very excited to have you on board during this testing phase. Let's Make History!' Sellers are required to have all their shipping and bank details ready to go so customers can begin purchasing their products immediately. Since confirming plans to open in Australia in April, Amazon has signed up 'many thousands' of sellers, boss Rocco Braeuniger said, who relocated from Germany to take up the role Since confirming plans to open in Australia in April, Amazon has signed up 'many thousands' of sellers, boss Rocco Braeuniger said, who relocated from Germany to take up the role Since confirming plans to open in Australia in April, Amazon has signed up 'many thousands' of sellers, boss Rocco Braeuniger said, who relocated from Germany to take up the role. Australians can already buy Amazon products from offshore, but having a warehouse locally cuts sometimes sizable international shipping costs, adding to pressure on retailers already struggling with the overheads that come from maintaining shopfronts and employing checkout staff. Earlier this month, Australia's top department store chain Myer Holdings Ltd cut its growth targets, citing weak trading conditions. Rival David Jones recently contributed to the first profit decline in eight years for its owner, South Africa's Woolworths Holdings. In a sign of further headwinds for offline retail, Mr Braeuniger said Amazon planned to bring more services to Australia, from the outset, than it had previously flagged. The site for Amazon's first Australian distribution centre in Dandenong, Australia While Amazon said earlier that it would offer Australia its Marketplace service, he said the company would also run its own retail unit, ordering and shipping its own product. He suggested Amazon would wait, however, before taking on Australia's grocery market. The firm took years to offer the service in other countries and 'it's really, really complicated to make fresh food delivery a great customer experience.' Amazon, among the latest tech heavyweights to expand in Australia, has snapped up a sprawling nine-floor office in Sydney's financial hub, with sweeping views of the Harbour Bridge and Hyde Park. In August, it said it had picked a distribution warehouse in Melbourne, also on the east coast - where about four-fifths of the country's 24 million people live. He has spoken openly about losing his father to dementia. And now John Humphrys has admitted he is himself terrified of losing my marbles. The 74-year-old BBC Radio 4 presenter also said the single thing that would improve the quality of his life would be more time. Asked what his greatest fear was, Humphrys told The Lady magazine: Losing my marbles. There is nothing more sad than watching somebody you have known for years turning into another person when dementia begins to take hold. The broadcaster lost his father, George, to dementia in 2003 after he had battled the disease for years. John Humphrys lost his father, George, to dementia in 2003 after he had battled the disease for years. Following the ghastly death, Humphrys called for the legalisation of euthanasia. He said his father had tried to kill himself while he battled the disease but was revived and kept alive with drugs. Writing for The Guardian in 2009, he said: It was watching my father die that persuaded me we need to change the law. He lost the will to live with the death of my mother and, in the years that followed, set about trying to kill himself. His poison of choice was whisky, at least a bottle a day. When he finally collapsed and was on the brink of death, the doctors fought valiantly to bring him back. Why? They succeeded, but could do nothing about his developing dementia. He spent the remaining years of his life in a variety of homes, including one hideous Victorian mental institution. The presenter hosts BBC2 quiz show Mastermind as well as the 'Today' programme I am still haunted by the sound of that once proud, fiercely independent man shouting, sometimes for hours on end: Help! Help! In his final home, he had the help he wanted from an enlightened doctor who allowed him to die. He told me: He has turned his face to the wall and that is his right. Humphrys, a father-of-three, added: I hope that I have a doctor like him when my time comes and I hope that if I ask for help to end my life the law will allow it. The impact of his fathers death inspired him to write a book about attitudes to death called The Welcome Visitor, which he wrote with his GP, Dr Sarah Jarvis. Humphrys grew up as one of six children in in Cardiff. His father was a French polisher and his mother, Winifred, was a hairdresser. He is paid between 600,000 and 649,999 for his work on Radio 4s Today programme - which he has presented since 1987 - and for hosting BBC2 quiz show Mastermind. A Sydney pedophile who groomed, drugged and sexually abused a teenage girl will spend at least 24 years behind bars for his 'vile and incomprehensible' crimes. Timothy James Stewart, who represented himself at trial earlier this year, had insisted the abuse was consensual because he and the girl 'acted like husband and wife'. The Sydney District Court heard the 45-year-old filmed the abuse for his own sexual gratification and a dozen SD memory cards documenting his actions were found hidden inside the lining of a jacket. Timothy James Stewart (pictured) pleaded guilty to 99 charges relating to the abuse and a jury in July found him guilty of a further 28 offences, including drugging the girl and her mother, and assaulting a younger sister Stewart pleaded guilty to 99 charges relating to the abuse which occurred when the girl was aged between 12 and 15. A jury in July found him guilty of a further 28 offences, including drugging the girl and her mother and indecently assaulting her younger sister when she was about 11. Judge Paul Conlon said Stewart's grooming of the older sibling was 'total, complete and overwhelming'. 'This vile and indecent obsession with (the girl) ... involved an abhorrent breach of trust,' he said. 'This type of offending is simply incomprehensible.' A long list detailing the abuse was read out in court on Wednesday. Stewart showed little emotion throughout but at one point closed his eyes. Judge Conlon said the girl was 'virtually reduced to an inanimate object' when she was drugged. Prosecutors on Wednesday told the court the victims consented to Stewart's name being published. He immediately objected from the dock. Stewart (pictured), who represented himself at trial, claimed his abuse of a girl was consensual and the pair 'acted like husband and wife' 'I'm already at high risk ... of violence (in prison),' he protested. Judge Conlon replied: 'You are in that category as a result of these matters.' Stewart was sentenced to 32 years in jail with a non-parole period of 24. He will be 66 when he is eligible for release in 2038. The mother and her older daughter embraced in the courtroom after the sentence was handed down. Outside court, the older daughter said she had not expected such a long sentence. 'It's been a long time coming,' she told reporters. 'I don't think he'll be coming out anytime in my life, so I'm pretty happy.' Her mother praised her children for having the strength to speak out. 'I hope their strength and this outcome gives some comfort to other survivors of sexual abuse,' she said. 'Abuse of any kind is not acceptable ... pedophiles have no place in society.' Three US military personnel allegedly had improper contact with foreign women while traveling with President Donald Trump on his trip this month to Asia, it was revealed on Tuesday. The three Army noncommissioned officers, who worked for the White House Communications Agency, have been reassigned from their White House jobs, according to The Washington Post, which cited officials familiar with the situation. A US official, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the incident took place in Vietnam. Three US military personnel allegedly had improper contact with foreign women while traveling with President Donald Trump (pictured with Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang in Vietnam on Nov 12) on his trip this month to Asia The three Army noncommissioned officers, who worked for the White House Communications Agency, have been reassigned from their White House jobs. Trump is pictured with world leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' summit in Vietnam The Pentagon declined to provide any details but acknowledged it was looking into the matter. 'We are aware of the incident, and it is currently under investigation,' said Pentagon spokesman Mark Wright. The White House Communications Agency provides information services and communications support to the president and his staff, according to its website. Four military personnel on the same White House team faced accusations stemming from their behavior during a trip to Panama in August with Vice President Mike Pence. The four men, two from the Army and two from the Air Force, were accused of taking foreign women after hours into a secure area before Pences arrival. They were reportedly caught on tape at the time. According to authorities, the senior service members were prepping for Pence's visit to Panama when they broke the rules by bringing unauthorized people into a secure area. They were promptly removed from Pence's communications team detail, brought back to the US and reassigned back to the Army, according to White House sources. Previously, 13 Secret Service agents were placed on leave after they were accused of paying prostitutes during a trip to Colombia with President Barack Obama in 2012. Ten of those agents lost their jobs. British defence chiefs have bought a missile shield to protect the Falklands as Argentina bolsters its air force. The Sky Sabre system, which uses the technology behind Israels pioneering Iron Dome mobile air defence system, is capable of intercepting short-range rockets and artillery shells and will strengthen air defences around the South Atlantic territory. The cutting-edge kit uses radar to track missiles, then software to predict the rockets path before deploying an interceptor missile to blow up the enemy weapon mid-air. The Sky Sabre system is capable of intercepting short-range rockets and artillery shells and will strengthen air defences around the Falklands The command-and-control network will update outdated systems already stationed on the long-disputed Falkland Islands. Details of the deal came after Argentina signed a contract to buy five Super Etendard fighter jets from France. Armed with Exocet missiles, the jet was flown by Argentinian pilots during the Falklands War. Britain defends the islands with a force including Typhoon jets, an offshore patrol vessel, a ground-based air-defence system and some 1,000 troops. In 2015 the then Defence Secretary Michael Fallon announced the UK would spend 280m over the next 10 years on renewing and beefing up its defences. This included replacing the Rapier air defence missiles when they go out of service towards the end of the decade. The Sky Sabre system will replace it in 2020 and supply a key battlefield command-and-control network. It is currently used to shield Israel from hundreds of rocket attacks. The technology acts as a brain which connects different objects such as radar stations, missile launchers and aircraft together. This command and control system can then be used to manage defences and launch attacks on the enemy if necessary. Argentina has signed a deal with France to buy five Super Etendard fighter jets from France, which were used with lethal effect in the Falklands War It is part of a package of deals that were struck at the turn of the year, worth about 153m overall. It is expensive to deploy, with each battery costing about $50 million (29.8 million), and experts say each interception costs at least $30,000 (22.66). At the heart of the new system is the technology which developed Iron Dome which successfully shot down hundreds of rockets fired at the country from the Gaza Strip in 2012. Over an eight-day conflict, the Iron Dome intercepted 421 rockets which would have otherwise have hit urban areas. Of almost 1,500 fired overall, only 58 made it through the defences. The technology behind Iron Dome was created by Mprest, a company started by former Israeli military officers. The Ministry of Defence awarded a 78m contract to Rafael Advanced Defence Systems, which is working with Mprest, to put in place a similar defence on the Falkland Islands. Natan Barak, chief executive of Mprest, said it would make the islands safer. He added: This system can protect any area worldwide. It connects many sensors and other things to build a tactical picture. You have to identify, as fast as you can, which object is in the air, whether it is Great Britains or something else, and see if it is a threat. It also has to be capable of integrating with launchers and missiles. Our system is capable of doing this very fast. We are going to be part of the NATO network and we are going to integrate our system with Britains command and control system. They will be able to operate and activate our system to fire on threats. Mr Barak said the system was also adaptable and would be able to work with new defences as they are added. He added: There are so many geopolitical changes in the world. You dont really know what is going to happen in the next three years conflict and threats are changing. We want to make sure our platform will be capable of dealing with the next war we havent thought about. The Falkland Islands are among the most isolated of the UKs overseas territories It will make Great Britain more secure. The Falkland Islands are among the most isolated of the UKs overseas territories. The decision by British officials to choose Mprests product to defend the islands is said to have infuriated rival companies who reportedly bid for the work. This includes defence giants Lockheed Martin and Thales Group. Some have also expressed concerns about sharing sensitive missile information with a non-NATO country. But MoD officials have insisted the Israeli technology delivered the best value for money, according to DefenceNews. The system is capable of tracking the direction missiles are travelling in and fire missiles to intercept them at the maximum height possible, using methods that reduce the amount of debris left to fall to the ground. It also knows whether a missile is headed for an open area where it will do minimum damage and can choose to take no action. Mr Barak said the main job of Mprests system in the Falkland Islands will be to coordinate air defences and keep track of aircraft. An MoD spokesperson said: Following an open competition, we selected Rafael for a 78m contract to provide the main computer system which will link our state-of-the-art radars and new Land Ceptor launchers together to boost our defence of the Falkland Islands. Meghan McCain is officially off the market. The conservative co-host of The View, 33, wed her conservative pundit beau Ben Domenech, 35, on Tuesday evening in Arizona. 'Meghan McCain and Ben Domenech were married today at the McCain family lodge in Sedona, Arizona,' a McCain representative told PEOPLE. 'The bride's father, Senator John McCain, gave her away and they were married by John Dickerson. Following the ceremony, McCain and Domenech celebrated with dinner and dancing surrounded by their family and close friends.' Scroll down for video Meghan McCain, 33, wed her conservative pundit beau Ben Domenech, 35 (right), on Tuesday evening at the McCain family lodge in Sedona, Arizona. She was walked down the aisle by her father Senator John McCain (pictured, right, with Meghan) Members of the public were wondering if wedding bells were soon ringing for the couple. In addition to McCain being absent from The View this week, she also posted a photo on Instagram on Tuesday with a pair of slippers that read 'I Do!' (above) Members of the public were wondering if wedding bells were soon ringing for the couple. In addition to McCain being absent from The View this week, she also posted a photo on Instagram on Tuesday with a pair of slippers that read 'I Do!' '#AlmostTime,' she captioned the photo, which was geo-tagged in Arizona. On November 2, Meghan revealed on The View that she had been engaged to The Federalist publisher for a while and chosen to keep it a secret. 'We have been together for years and we have been engaged for a while and it was a secret,' she shared with her co-hosts. She revealed that the pair decided to get married after her father was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive stage 4 brain cancer, over the summer. In his own appearance on the ABC talk show earlier this month, Senator McCain gave his own stamp of approval. On November 2, Meghan revealed on The View that she had been engaged to The Federalist publisher for a while and chosen to keep it a secret (pictured) She revealed that the pair decided to get married after her father was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive stage 4 brain cancer, over the summer. Meghan said she would tell other single women to never settle. Meghan joked that her now-husband is the 'most conservative guy in the history of the world' The 81-year-old Arizona Senator joked on The View earlier this month: 'He's a jerk. 'Actually, he's a very fine man. I'm very proud and very happy that they're so happy together.' Meghan previously described Domenech as 'the most conservative guy in the history of the world' and said she would tell other single women to never settle. 'Wait for people who love strong women,' she said. 'The men who love strong, independent women, they're out there. Don't settle for anything else.' Terrifying statistics have revealed almost 15,000 convicted criminals are on parole across Australia, with one third of them likely to reoffend. Confronting figures, released under Freedom of Information laws, revealed there were murderers, sex offenders, violent attackers and drug dealers living next door to unknowing families right across the country. There were more than 6,000 people on parole living in New South Wales alone, with the largest proportion of them based in Sydney's south-west and west, according to Nine News. There were more than 6000 people on parole living in New South Wales alone, with the largest proportion of them based in Sydney's south-west and west (stock) Suburbs in Sydney's west, Liverpool, Fairfield and Parramatta housed the highest number of offenders who were on parole, each with 250 newly-released prisoners. While there were high numbers in Sydney's outer west, Sydney's more affluent areas also recorded a high intake of newly-released prisoners. There were 200 in Sydney's inner-west suburb of Leichhardt, and 218 in Sydney's inner-city. Bankstown, Campbelltown and Lismore were the hotspots for homicide offenders, while Fairfield housed the most drug offenders. Campbelltown, in Sydney's west, was also a hotspot for sexual assault offenders. According to the statistics, about 36 per cent of those criminals on parole, were likely to re-offend or breach their parole conditions. According to the statistics, about 36 per cent of those criminals on parole, were likely to re-offend or breach their parole conditions (stock) While the statistics were confronting for the general public, the people at their centre felt most unsafe. Maitland mother Tania Khouri, 27, revealed her ex-partner was about to be released from prison next month after serving time for breaching an apprehended violence order. She said his imminent release was daunting and left her fearing for her family's safety. Ms Khouri felt disregarded by the judicial system. 'I feel really let down that he has just been released and he meets the minimum standards of what they require but nothing really stops him from doing what he does which is why he keeps ending up back in court,' she told Nine News. While the statistics were confronting for the general public, the people at their centre felt most unsafe Victims of Crime Assistance League Acting CEO Kerrie Thompson called for stricter supervision of offenders, especially in the 12 weeks after their release. She also wanted newly-released prisoners to be electronically monitored. 'Naturally a lot of victims are quite concerned when they learn an offender is to be released on parole,' Ms Thompson told Nine News. 'They feel very vulnerable and there's often a level of fear they are not sure whether there's going to be a level of retribution or retaliation from the offender.' Furniture giant Ikea is still selling Malm chests and dressers in Australia, despite an eighth child death prompting a recall of 29 million items in the US. A spokesperson for Ikea Australia said Australia would not be joining in the recall relaunch announced on Tuesday. 'At Ikea, we believe children are the most important people in the world and the safety of our products is our highest priority,' the spokesperson said in a statement. Furniture giant Ikea is still selling Malm chest of drawers (pictured) in Australia, despite an eighth child death prompting a recall of 29million items in the US The death of two-year-old Jozef Dudek in California in May raised questions about whether Ikea has effectively spread the word about the recall, which was first announced in June 2016 'Ikea chests of drawers and dressers are safe when attached to the wall, as directed in the assembly instructions. Ikea provides anti tip restraints and instructions for wall anchoring with all chest of drawers and other furniture which is at risk of tipping.' CEO Lars Petersson said on Tuesday that Ikea wants to increase awareness of the recall campaign for several types of chest and dressers that can easily tip over if not properly anchored to a wall. The death of a California toddler, who was found trapped underneath an Ikea Malm dresser in May, has raised questions about whether Ikea has effectively spread the word about the recall, which was first announced in June 2016. The Swedish retailer and the federal safety regulators are asking customers to take immediate action to secure the dressers, or to return them. Ted McGee (pictured left with mom Janet) and Ted McGee (pictured left with mom Janet) were both killed in 2012 and 2014 respectively when they were crushed by Ikea dressers Petersson said Ikea has had an 'extensive communication' campaign through social media, its website and television and print ads. The company emailed 13 million people about the recall two months ago. Still, Petersson said heightening awareness of the recall is necessary 'because we think that it's so important to reach as many people as possible'. At least eight children under the age of three have been killed when an Ikea dresser fell on them, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The first death occurred 28 years ago and the others occurred after 2002. The latest death was Jozef Dudek, 2, of Buena Park, California. The toddler had been put down for a nap when his father went in to check on him and found him under the dresser. The recall, which applies only to customers in the US and Canada, includes 8 million Malm chest and dressers that were sold from 2002 through June 2016 He is the eighth child who has died from an incident involving an Ikea dresser and the fourth killed specifically by the Malm product. Alan Feldman, one of the lawyers representing the Dudek family, said Ikea's recall has been 'poorly publicized' and 'ineffective in getting these defective and unstable dressers out of children's bedrooms'. The same team of lawyers represented the families of three toddlers who died when Ikea dressers fell on them. Ikea reached a $50 million settlement with the families last December. The recall, which applies only to customers in the US and Canada, is for children's chests and drawers taller than 23.5 inches and adult chests and dressers taller than 29.5 inches. It includes 8 million Malm chest and dressers that were sold from 2002 through June 2016. Petersson said that more than 1 million dressers of have been returned for a refund or have been secured to walls with Ikea's help since 2015, when the company first offered free wall-mounting kits. Ikea said the recalled products are sold with instructions that they had to be attached to walls. Petersson emphasized the recalled units are safe when this is done. Peterson said that Ikea has stopped selling products that do not adhere to US voluntary standards. Acting CPSC chairman Ann Marie Buerkle said that people who own the furniture can take care of any potential hazards by contacting Ikea. Customers should contact Ikea for a free wall-mounting kit. The company is also offering to send crews to attach them in the home. Ikea is offering full refunds for anyone who no longer wants the furniture. Customers can bring them to a store, or Ikea will pick them up. Buerkle said Ikea has 'worked hard to make this an effective recall.' She said it presents customers with an array of options 'and is as least burdensome to the consumer as it could be.' Telstra customers have been hit by a phishing scam which asks them to pay a fake 'email bill'. The large-scale scam entices victims to click on a link which downloads harmful software onto their computer, often granting control of the device to the criminal. This fake email has tried to trick people into believing that the bill is sent from Telstra by using a sophisticated HTML design. Telstra customers have been tricked by a very convincing fake email scam NSW police were since pushed to reiterate warnings around phishing attacks online If a recipient clicks on the link in the 'bill' email they are directed to compromised website where they will be encouraged to download a .zip folder. The zip folder contains a malicious JavaScript file that acts as an agent to automatically download malware to the victim's computer, according to Mailguard. The cyber security company stress it is a 'good rule of thumb to never click on email attachments that are hidden in .zip files or have .exe or .js file names'. NSW Police posted a message to their Facebook page cautioning potential victims to be wary of the letter. If a recipient clicks on the link in the 'bill' email they are directed to compromised website and asked to download a .zip folder (pictured) Social media commenters appreciated the information while seeing the light side of the hoax. 'Has to be fake, haven't seen a Telstra bill under $100 in like 3 years,' wrote one user. 'I wonder how many people without any Telstra accounts fell for this,' said another. One woman shared a way to spot a major giveaway when the email is a scam. 'Telstra will never start an email with 'Dear Customer'. They'll actually use your name.' A man who was found on fire in San Diego is a former prisoner of North Korea who was freed with the help of former President Jimmy Carter. Police on Tuesday said the death of Aijalon Gomes appears to be either an accident or suicide. The case remains under investigation. An off-duty California Highway Patrol officer was driving westbound on Pacific Highway near Sea World Drive at around 11:30pm on Friday night. The officer spotted Gomes in an adjacent field on fire and tried to help him while he alerted the local fire department. A man who was found on fire in San Diego is a former prisoner of North Korea who was freed with the help of former President Jimmy Carter. The man has been identified as Aijalon Mahli Gomes (seen right with Carter on August 27, 2010) An off-duty California Highway Patrol officer was driving westbound on Pacific Highway near Sea World Drive at around 11:30pm on Friday night when he saw Gomes ablaze in the field above The 38-year-old Boston man had recently moved to San Diego. Gomes had been teaching English in South Korea when he was imprisoned for illegally crossing into North Korea from China in 2010. Gomes and Carter are seen left in Pyongyang on August 27, 2010. They are seen right that same day after landing at Logan International Airport in Boston Gomes' injuries, however, proved too severe. He died at the scene. The 38-year-old Boston man had recently moved to San Diego. Gomes had been teaching English in South Korea when he was imprisoned for illegally crossing into North Korea from China in 2010. He was arrested in January of that year and sentenced to eight years of hard labor for illegally entering the country. North Korea from China. He spent months in prison until Carter arranged his release. Gomes family described his eight months in captivity as 'a long, dark and difficult period,' and thanked Carter for his trip. Pyongyang authorities invited Carter to visit Gomes a month after what North Korean state media described as a suicide attempt. Gomes wrote a book about his experiences titled Violence and Humanity Carters trip was a personal and humanitarian voyage, and he did not go as an official representative of the US government. Gomes wrote a book about his experiences titled Violence and Humanity. In 2009, another former American president, Bill Clinton, made a similar trip to North Korea to secure the release of two jailed US journalists, who also were charged with illegally entering the country. Gomes' mother, Jacqueline McCarthy, told KNSD-TV that she plans to set up an online fundraising page to help cover funeral costs. 'My son was a very good human being,' she said. 'He loved people. He loved his family.' The investigation into his death in San Diego is ongoing. Anyone with information on this case can reach out to the SDPDs Homicide Unit at (619) 531-2293 or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477. Mom Jennifer Craig (left) is shown with her son, Kameron Craig, on Facebook. Jennifer killed her son before turning the gun on herself in an apparent murder-suicide Two people are confirmed dead after a North Carolina mother shot her son then turned the gun on herself in an apparent murder-suicide, police say. Horrified witnesses inside the Willard home at the 1600 block of Lake Road told emergency personnel late Thursday they heard 'two loud pops' and looked across the room to found 'blood running out' from underneath a door. That's when a witness opened the door and discovered Jennifer Craig, 43, lifeless on the ground and Kameron Craig, 14, in critical condition from a gunshot wound. Kameron was transported to a Burgaw hospital and later to Chapel Hill - where he died Saturday afternoon, according to local WECT, who first reported the story. It seems the mother had been paying an unfortunate visit to her son, who lived with his grandparents - likely the two witnesses at the scene. Scroll down for video Witnesses told emergency personnel late Thursday they heard 'two loud pops' then found Jennifer (shown) dead on the ground Kameron (shown) was in critical condition. He was transported to the hospital, where he died on Saturday afternoon Courtesy: WECT The newspaper reported the mother was at the home for 'a counseling session' at the time the deadly events took place. Spokesperson Captain Rowell, of the Pender County Sheriff's Office, revealed a social services associate present at the session had requested a welfare check earlier in the evening, citing something strange said during the meeting. 'The deputy spoke with all parties and it appeared as though everything was okay,' Rowell said, while adding the deputy 'did everything lawfully possible.' Details of what transpired during the conversation were not released by Rowell. The events took place inside the Willard home located at the 1600 block of Lake Road (pictured above) Kameron lived with his grandparents, while his mother visited regularly for counseling sessions The mentally-ill mother shared a chilling message to Facebook just hours before the deadly events In a chilling status shared to Jennifer's Facebook page the same day of the murder-suicide, the mother brought awareness to seasonal depression. Just after noon Thursday, the single mom wrote: 'The most difficult moment of the year for depression is coming. Depression and anxiety are very personal mental disorders.' She added: 'Everyone says: 'if you need anything, don't hesitate, I'll be there for you.' I'll make a bet, my friend's on Facebook, at least 5 will take time to put it on their wall to raise awareness of mental health problems. 'Just copy it from my wall and paste it to your wall. Be there for each other.' Jennifer is shown holding Kameron as a baby. Her daughter, Paige Romos, is shown to her left in a Facebook image Kameron was ranked student with 'the highest average in math' at Cape Fear Middle School earlier this year For years, Jennifer kept her profile picture and cover photo set to display the late son. Kameron had been ranked student with 'the highest average in math' at Cape Fear Middle School earlier this year, according to Jennifer's social media page. 'Now he is officially a high school student. I hope he makes me even more proud in the next few years by actually doing his work with some extra effort,' Jennifer wrote back in June, alongside pictures of her son at an awards ceremony. In her favorite quotations section, Jennifer said: 'I can do BAD all by myself, but I can do GREAT with the ones I love.' Rick Thorburn has been indicted for the murder of his 12-year-old foster daughter Tiahleigh Palmer in October 2015. Tiahleigh's body was found on the banks of the Pimpama River six days after she went missing while in the care of Thorburn and his family. Thorburn was charged in September 2016 with murdering the Queensland schoolgirl and disposing of her body. Rick Thorburn (pictured) has been indicted for the murder of his 12-year-old foster daughter Tiahleigh Palmer in October 2015 Tiahleigh's (pictured) body was found on the banks of the Pimpama River six days after she went missing while in the care of Thorburn and his family The 57-year-old was indicted on those two offences in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Wednesday. He will remain in custody until the case returns to court on February 16. The court heard a lengthy adjournment was needed for the case as the defence was addressing a number of 'issues'. A former Catholic priest has been extradited from New Zealand after being accused of sexually assaulting seven boys and young men aged between 14 and 20. New Zealand police arrested a 58-year-old man at his home in Hamilton, on the nation's North Island, in July. Investigators travelled to New Zealand on Wednesday to take custody of the man and return him to Australia. Scroll down for video A former Catholic priest (left) has been extradited from New Zealand after being accused of sexually assaulting seven boys and young men aged between 14 and 20 He was flown to Sydney under police guard and taken to Mascot Police Station, in Sydney's south east. The former priest was charged with a string of offences including sexual assault, indecent assault of a person under 16, and committing a gross act of indecency on a male under 16-years-old. He allegedly sexually assaulted the boys between 1987 and 1989. The 58-year-old was refused bail to appear at Central Local Court later on Wednesday. The arrest came after the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse referred the case to Australian detectives. Special police unit, Strike Force Colefax, continue to investigate. Investigators travelled to New Zealand on Wednesday to take custody of the man (centre) and return him to Australia The was flown to Australia and taken to Mascot Police Station where he was charged with a string of offences A Melbourne body builder and former security guard who was jailed for 12 months for faking his licences has been released on bail. Aaron John Purvis, 27, was spotted walking through a Bourke Street memorial wearing tactical gear and carrying a gun, just days after January's fatal rampage through the city. The former VFL player spent less than an hour in custody after his Tuesday sentencing before being bailed to appeal his case through the County Court of Victoria, his lawyer Michael Kuzilny confirmed with AAP on Wednesday. Scroll down for video Aaron John Purvis, 27, was jailed for 12 months on Tuesday for carrying an unlicensed firearm as he walked down Bourke Street Mall in January Purvis received national media attention when he was spotted walking through the mall carrying a gun just days after January's fatal car rampage. Mr Purvis was not registered to work as an armed security guard or licensed to carry a firearm at the time. Mr Purvis wiped away tears in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday as Magistrate David Starvaggi jailed him immediately for 12 months with no parole period. The unlicensed armed guard was seen strolling through crowds in Bourke Street Mall, Melbourne, just days after a car rampage killed six people The 27-year-old was photographed strolling through the iconic Melbourne mall dressed in tactical gear and carrying a handgun The 27-year-old was photographed strolling through the iconic Melbourne mall dressed in tactical gear and carrying a handgun, just days after six people were killed when Dimitrious Gargasoulas, 30, allegedly drove a car into pedestrians at the shopping district. The violent incident killed six - including a baby - and hospitalised 31 people. Three-month-old Zachary Bryant, 10-year-old schoolgirl Thalia Hakin, father Matthew Si, Sydney woman Jess Mudie, finance consultant Bhavita Patel and 25-year-old Japanese man Yosuke Kanno, all died in the rampage. It was later revealed Mr Purvis was not hired to guard Bourke Street on the day he was seen, but was meant to be working another security shift nearby. Mr Purvis wiped away tears in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday as he was sentenced to 12 months in jail, with no parole period Mr Purvis appeared troubled as he walked into Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday It was later revealed Mr Purvis was not hired to guard Bourke Street on the day he was seen The Berwick man was facing 136 charges for various offences, including 67 charges of carrying a handgun without a licence and a further 67 charges of acting as a security guard without a licence. Mr Purvis is believed to have worked as a guard for armoured vehichles in 2012, and was reportedly fired by one company in 2016. However, the sacking is believed to be related to his failure to show for shifts, and not problems with his registration as a guard or his firearms licence. A teenage boy has filmed the moment an Aldi manager kicked him out of a store because other students from his school had been caught shoplifting. Anita Duesterhaus, from Melbourne, uploaded footage of the incident and slammed the Mornington Aldi store manager for 'blatant discrimination' against her son Jai. The mother-of-nine said her son Jai had gone to the Aldi to buy lunch for a school excursion and was 'alone, well presented, polite and had a wallet full of cash.' 'He was treated like a criminal and told that students from Mornington Secondary were not welcome to shop in his store,' she said. A teenage boy has filmed the moment an Aldi manager kicked him out of a store because other students from his school had been caught shoplifting there In the video, the store manager can be seen escorting the teenager out of the store. 'How dare you record me mate. You can't record me,' he says. 'That's ridiculous. You're telling me I can't come in because I'm from Mornington Secondary College,' Jai asks. 'Yes correct,' the manager replies. 'Unfortunately like I said, tweet it, Facebook if you like, but unfortunately schoolkids have stolen from the store. Students plural.' Ms Duesterhaus said she was sent a written apology by Aldi after making an official complaint, but later received a call from the manager defending the move. 'He told me he would rather lose the custom(ers) of all 1600 families that attend mornington secondary, rather than have them in his store,' she claimed. 'I understand that they have had trouble with shoplifting in the past, however I think its utter discrimination to outright ban 1600 students just because of the actions of some. 'My son is an honest, law abiding and well respected community member. 'I have always taught my children right from wrong. None of them would EVER steal. Its wrong to punish everyone for the actions of a few.' In the video, the store manager can be seen escorting the teenager out of the store Ms Duesterhaus said she was sent a written apology by Aldi after making an official complaint, but later received a call from the manager defending the move Aldi defended the store's decision to ban students from the school and explained they did not have a blanket protocol to deal with disruptive teenage customers. 'In store locations where we identify shoplifting, disruptive or disrespectful behaviour that involves school students, our preference is to work with the local school to make the issue known,' an Aldi Australia spokesperson told Daily Mail. 'Despite the engagement and support of the local school, a handful of students continued to display inappropriate behaviour. 'As a result, the Aldi Mornington store made an independent decision to temporarily ban students unless accompanied by an adult.' The store conceded that the decision to ban unaccompanied students was 'not a viable solution to this issue' and said they had since lifted the school ban. Barnaby Joyce has been forced to hand back a $40,000 cheque given to him by mining magnate Gina Rinehart after receiving backlash from the opposition government. The disgraced former deputy prime minister was presented the novelty cheque at an event put on by Rinehart's company Hancock Prospecting celebrating National Agriculture Day. Joyce initially accepted the large sum, before tweeting Wednesday he was 'politely declining' the money, after Labor described the situation as 'very, very smelly'. Scroll down for video Barnaby Joyce (right) has been forced to hand back a $40,000 cheque given to him by mining magnate Gina Rinehart (centre) after receiving backlash from the opposition government Joyce initially accepted the large sum, before tweeting Wednesday he was 'politely declining' the money, after Labor described the situation as 'very, very smelly' Rinehart herself presented the award, the newly created Agricultural and Related Industries prize, to Joyce on Wednesday evening at the Australian War Memorial and described him as a 'champion of farming'. 'All I'm thinking about now is things I'm going to do on my own farm to be quite frank,' Joyce said after accepting the award. However, immediately following the event, the decision was met with widespread criticism, particularly from within the Labor Party. 'Many questions need to be answered, and the Prime Minister, who is the acting Agriculture Minister, should be answering them today,' opposition agriculture spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon said. Immediately following the event the decision was met with widespread criticism, particularly from within the Labor Party Joyce addressed the growing issue at midday on Wednesday, saying he would now decline the money Farmers also took to social media, enraged with the decision to hand out the money to Joyce. 'What a disgusting and embarrassing farce. Incredibly distasteful,' a beef and cattle farmer tweeted. 'One ultra rich person does not speak for Agriculture.' '@NationalFarmers strongly supports #AgDay and a national industry wide celebration. We didn't, we don't & we won't support gifts to #pollies,' the president of the National Farmers Federation Fiona Simson said. Joyce addressed the growing issue at midday on Wednesday, saying he would now decline the money. 'I was very humbled to receive the National Agriculture Day award but very surprised to receive the novelty-sized cheque,' Joyce tweeted. 'I did not take any cheque from the event and as soon as office hours resumed today, I took immediate action to politely decline any acceptance.' He initially was planning to donate the money to charity, but that would entitle him to a tax deduction, so his office then announced he would simply return the money. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Hancock Prospecting for comment. The award of $25 million to the youngest daughter of the late Perth mining billionaire Michael Wright has been slashed to $6 million after his estate appealed. Olivia Mead, who was born from Mr Wright's relationship with Elizabeth Anne Mead after he divorced three wives, was aged 19 in 2015 when Master Craig Sanderson of the Supreme Court of Western Australia ruled her bequest should be increased more than eightfold. The estate argued in the WA Court of Appeal that the $3 million Ms Mead had originally inherited was adequate for her proper maintenance. Olivia Mead (pictured) will recieve $6 million after father, Michael Wright's estate appealed The award of $25 million to late Perth mining billionaire Mr Wright's (pictured) youngest daughter was slashed During the appeal, the estate took aim at the now 22-year-old's extravagant wishlist, which was submitted to estimate her future needs On Wednesday, the full bench of judges unanimously set aside Master Sanderson's orders, instead awarding the 22-year-old $6.14 million. Ms Mead's older half-sisters, Leonie Baldock and Alexandra Burt, were left most of their father's estate - about $400 million each. During the appeal, the estate took aim at the now 22-year-old's extravagant wishlist, which was submitted to estimate her future needs. Her list of demands included a diamond-encrusted bass guitar worth $250,000, a house almost five times the Perth average price, $10,000 a year to spend on fashion accessories, and a $US1.2 million limited edition, crystal-studded Kuhn Bosendorfer grand piano. She also sought an Audi, money for the upkeep of four children she plans to have - each two years apart - and thousands of dollars a year to care for four pets including an axolotl or 'Mexican walking fish'. Jane Needham, representing estate executor David Lemon, cited Ms Mead's call for 20 pairs of $300 shoes every year for the next 75 years and Pilates lessons until she was aged 97, which Justice Michael Buss labelled 'just silly', saying what might be needed was a reasonable house and income. On Wednesday, the full bench of judges unanimously set aside Master Sanderson's orders, instead awarding the 22-year-old (pictured) $6.14 million Ms Mead also sought an Audi, money for the upkeep of four children she plans to have - each two years apart The 22-year-old also sought thousands of dollars a year off her father (pictured) to care for four pets including an axolotl or 'Mexican walking fish' Ms Mead's lawyer Lindsay Ellison argued the court could take everything into account when assessing what a daughter from a wealthy family might need for the rest of her life, saying the $25 million award was large but 'minimal compared to the size of the estate'. There were also no competing claimants, he said, and the court could 'go that extra bit further, and add some cheese and jam' rather than just the essentials of life. Ms Mead was not present in court when the judgment was handed down. Ms Mead's older half-sisters, Leonie Baldock and Alexandra Burt, were left most of their father's estate - about $400 million each. Ms Mead, who was born from Mr Wright's relationship with Elizabeth Anne Mead (pictured) after he divorced three wives Ms Mead's older half-sisters, Leonie Baldock and Alexandra Burt, were left most of their father's estate - about $400 million each Ms Mead's share was only going to be available when she reached age 30 and clauses in the will included limiting her religious affiliation, which meant she could have ended up with nothing. Jane Needham, representing estate executor David Lemon, told the full bench of the WA Court of Appeal on Thursday that $3 million was adequate for the proper maintenance of Ms Mead, who compiled a lavish wishlist to estimate her future requirements. It included a $US1.2 million crystal-studded grand piano, a diamond-encrusted bass guitar, upkeep for her pet axolotl and provision for four children that she plans to have, and originally amounted to $20 million but was revised down to about $12.5 million. Ms Mead's share was only going to be available when she reached age 30 and clauses in the will included limiting her religious affiliation Master Sanderson said Ms Mead had simply let her imagination run wild the same way most teens would if asked to outline such needs, was not 'a gold digger' and awarded her $5 million more than she had initially asked for. But Ms Needham said Master Sanderson had in effect regarded the size of the estate as trumping any other factor he needed to consider and he erred in regarding his discretion unfettered. She said it was wrong to award Ms Mead twice as much as what she ultimately sought after considering 'some quite extraordinary items' - even in the revised wishlist - without accounting for her or her partner's future income. Ms Needham cited Ms Mead's call for 20 pairs of $300 shoes every year for the next 75 years and Pilates lessons until she is aged 97. Ms Needham cited Ms Mead's call for 20 pairs of $300 shoes every year for the next 75 years and Pilates lessons until she is aged 97 (pictured is Olivia with Mr Wright) Justice Michael Buss said he made no criticism of Ms Mead, but such items were 'just silly'. He asked how the judges would evaluate what was proper in the circumstances, saying a reasonable house and income might be what was needed. Ms Needham also said it wasn't appropriate to make the estate provide for Ms Mead's planned four children. But the 21-year-old's lawyer Lindsay Ellison said there was nothing that couldn't be taken into account when assessing what a daughter from a wealthy family might need for the rest of her life. 'It is a large result but it's minimal compared to the size of the estate,' Mr Ellison said. There were also no competing claimants, he said, and the court could 'go that extra bit further, and add some cheese and jam' rather than just the essentials of life. A researcher has estimated that there are nearly 2,000 serial killers at large in the United States. Archivist and researcher Thomas Hargrove has developed his own algorithm that he uses to track the habits and status of serial killers. He told The New Yorker that according to the FBI, 1,400 murders remain unsolved but are linked to other killings through DNA. Hargrove, who is a part of the Murder Accountability Project (MAP), said his estimate of 2,000 serial killers at large is the number he came to after analyzing data available. A researcher has estimated that there are nearly 2,000 serial killers at large in the United States. Ted Bundy (right in 1978) confessed to 30 killings in seven states. Charles Manson (left) who died Sunday at 83 years old was found guilty of seven killings in 1971 Archivist and researcher Thomas Hargrove has developed his own algorithm that he uses to track the habits and status of serial killers. 'Son of Sam' killer David Berkowitz is pictured in August 1977. He killed six people in New York City between 1976 and 1977 Using his computer code, which he sometimes calls the serial killer detector, Hargrove (pictured) searches for anomalies among the most common murders that result from gang fights, robberies or love triangles Hargrove collected records of murders for the last seven years, and he has a catalogue with 751,785 murders carried out since 1976, according to the New Yorker. That number is roughly 27,000 more than appear in the FBI's files. In order to obtain this figure, Hargrove needed records from each state. In some cases he had to sue states that either reported inaccurately or failed to report the murders altogether. Using his computer code, which he sometimes calls the serial killer detector, Hargrove searches for anomalies among the most common murders that result from gang fights, robberies or love triangles. He told the New Yorker that about five thousand people kill someone each year and don't get caught. Hargrove, who created his algorithm in 2010, says that a percentage of those men and women have more than likely killed more than once. Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer, also known as the Milwaukee Cannibal, was an American serial killer and sex offender, who committed the rape, murder, and dismemberment of 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991 Hargrove has been collecting records of murders for seven years and has a catalogue with 751,785 murders carried out since 1976. Aileen Wuornos (left) was convicted of killing six men & John Wayne Gacy (pictured in 1978) murdered at least 33 teen boys Hargrove said he noticed a pattern of murders in Lake County, Indiana in 2010. When he contacted police about a possible serial killer, they brushed him off. In 2014, Darren Vann (pictured) was arrested and took cops to abandoned buildings where they found six bodies The code uses data aggregation to gather killings that are related by method, place, and time, and by the victim's sex. It also considers whether the rate of unsolved murders in a city is notable. Hargrove told the New Yorker that he noticed a pattern of murders in Lake County, Indiana in 2010. Between 1980 and 2008, fifteen women had been strangled and many of their bodies had been found in vacant houses. Hargrove said he contacted local police in the area and asked them if they could possibly have a serial killer in their town. Police paid him little attention until Darren Vann was arrested for killing Afrikka Hardy at a Motel 6 in 2014. 'Over several days, he takes police to abandoned buildings where they recover the bodies of six women, all of them strangled, just like the pattern we were seeing in the algorithm,' Hargrove told the New Yorker. A grammar school has organised classes where pupils can debate Hitler's Mein Kampf and how non-Western cultures are inferior as 'an antidote to the poison of political correctness'. Simon Langton Boys School in Canterbury, Kent, says it is creating a course called The Unsafe Space for its students to help them develop their 'free thinking'. Sixth form pupils who sign up will be asked to look at 'the most beautifully disturbed and disturbing ideas, all of them presented without trigger warnings'. Lectures scheduled as part of the course include the subjects 'women versus feminism' and 'not all cultures are created equal'. The school hit the headlines last year after it cancelled a talk by ex-pupil and alt-right speaker Milo Yiannopoulos after the Department for Educations counter extremism unit stepped in. Simon Langton Boys' in Canterbury, Kent, says it is creating a course called The Unsafe Space for its students to help them develop their 'free thinking' Pupils were told about the optional classes in a PowerPoint presentation given yesterday by the school's director of humanities, Professor James Soderholm. He revealed the first session would be devoted to a controversial memo circulated by the fired Google employee James Damore, which claimed that women were innately less capable as engineers. School head teacher Matthew Baxter says Mein Kampf - which outlined Adolf Hitler's political ideology - will not be studied, but incorporated in the 'wider debate'. Mr Baxter says the course is designed to enable pupils preparing for university to discuss ideas outside of the conventional curriculum. The school hit the headlines last year after it cancelled a talk by ex-pupil and alt-right speaker Milo Yiannopoulos after the Department for Educations counter extremism unit stepped in Prof Soderholm's comments have come under fire from some pupils who say the lectures are an attack on 'left bias'. The name of the scheme is a play on the phrase 'safe space' - an area in which someone can feel confident they will not be exposed to discrimination, criticism, harassment, or any other emotional or physical harm. One online commentor said: 'Surely there is no better way to undermine the ramblings of Mein Kampf, or the words of James Damore, than by debating and analysing them? 'To challenge one must first understand. Sticking your fingers in your ears and shouting 'la la la, I can't hear you', or sweeping anything 'unsafe' under the carpet isn't a healthy response, and allows hate to prosper unchallenged.' Another said: 'An important part of history, so for better or worse, studying material like that should offer diverse extremes. 'Done right, and debated like civilized humans, it can be a powerful reminder of what went through the mind of various historical figures.' One added: 'Read Mein Kampf for my history A-level 20yrs ago. Terrible book, badly written and rambling (much like our far right commentators on here), it was a useful read in terms of context and knowing how your enemy thinks though. Certainly shouldn't be banned.' Last year, the school was criticised for inviting right-wing commentator and former pupil, Milo Yiannopoulos, to speak to pupils. But the event, which was also organised by Prof Soderholm, was cancelled following threats of demonstrations at the school. Hitler's Mein Kampf - which outlined Adolf Hitler's political ideology - will not be studied, but incorporated in the 'wider debate' to encourage free thinking Simon Langton Boys' in Canterbury, Kent, says it is creating a course known as 'The Unsafe Space' as 'an antidote to the poison of political correctness'. Sixth form pupils will be asked to look at 'the most beautifully disturbed and disturbing ideas, all of them presented without trigger warnings'. Ken Moffat, head of school at Simon Langton Boys' Grammar, said the school does not censor the pupils' reading on 'challenging' subjects - introducing them to Lenin, Mao, as well as Hitler's writing. He said: 'The phrase unsafe space is a bit of a misnomer. The Research Centre is, first and foremost, about creativity and invention. 'Don't forget, this is the school where the Institute for Research in Schools was born, where Pavegen originated and that we have a device on a satellite feeding data to CERN and NASA and a licence to modify the human genome. 'We believe in our responsibility to challenge our brightest students. We are very cognisant of our responsibility to uphold the fundamental British values and there is no tolerance of homophobic, xenophobic, racist or sexist views. 'That said, we will hear speeches by challenging speakers and read challenging texts. 'This is a voluntary part of the sixth form curriculum which students can buy into and, if they do, they can be introduced to The Communist Manifesto, Mao's Red Book, Mein Kampf and Lenin's What is to be Done? as well as other cornerstone texts. 'These are not texts we wish to protect our students from but help them to consider with proper academic guidance as ways in interpreting and understanding the 20th Century. 'The agenda is neither right nor left wing, simply free-thinking.' The talks form part of an optional series of lectures and discussions that students can opt into as part of their sixth form course in a new purpose-built facility. Paul Hollywood's wife said the 'trust was totally gone' and she had grown tired of infidelity claims as it emerged the baker has already been turfed out the couple's 1.4million mansion. The Great British Bake Off judge's split from his wife Alexandra is set to cost him up to half his 10 million fortune. His wealth has risen dramatically in the last few years thanks to the phenomenal popularity of the Great British Bake Off. But the end of his near 20-year marriage to wife Alexandra will put a squeeze on his cash. Alexandra is currently living in the couple's 1.4million farmhouse near Canterbury in the Kent countryside. They were in the process of renovating it and over the spring, they put a pizza oven outside. Alex Hollywood's wife Alexandra (pictured together on holiday in Cyprus) could get half of his 10million fortune as part of any divorce deal, lawyers have said It was thought Hollywood had moved in with his friend James Martin but the chef denied that today saying: 'He is not here. I have not spoken to him for five years.' It is the second time the couple have split they separated briefly in 2013 after he had an affair. Hollywood admitted he had been unfaithful to his wife with chef Marcela Valladolid, who is 12 years his junior and was his co-judge on the US version of Bake Off. Valladolid, an American TV chef and cookery author, has found love again since her affair with Hollywood. The mother-of-three, from San Diego, California, is now engaged to fiance Philip D. Button. Marcela Valladolid, who had an affair with the Bake Off star during his time in the US, was seen out last night for the first time since the news emerged of his split She stood alongside her fiance Philip D. Button at a cookery event in West Hollywood The divorced mother-of-three, who is a famous chef in the US, has moved on since her fling with Hollywood and found a new partner Hollywood walked out on his marriage. However, after briefly declaring himself 'single and happy', he said he 'absolutely' wanted to be reunited with Alexandra, describing his affair as the 'biggest mistake of my life'. To add to his misery, the show The American Baking Competition, was cancelled dashing Hollywood's dream of making it big in the US. He and Alexandra - a privately educated blonde who once worked as a chalet girl - celebrated their reunion with a ski holiday in France over the festive season with their son, Josh, and Paul moved back into the family's listed house in Kent. Hollywood has also been linked to cake maker Molly Robbins, 25, the daughter of actor Ted Hollywood and Robbins met in 2014 at the BBC's Good Food Show and last year were spotted checking into the same Belfast hotel Despite seemingly rebuilding their marriage, the couple have been plagued by rumours in recent weeks after Hollywood was pictured in a 'cosy embrace' with 2016 Great British Bake Off winner Candice Brown, 32, who recently got engaged. Hollywood and Miss Brown, who were accused by Bake Off fans of having a 'flirty' on-screen relationship, laughed off reports that they shared an 'intimate kiss' after the Pride of Britain Awards last month. She described it as a 'goodbye peck'. Hollywood has also been linked to cake maker Molly Robbins, 25. She is the daughter of actor Ted Robbins, a close friend of Paul. They met in 2014 at the BBC's Good Food Show and last year were spotted checking into the same Belfast hotel. A spokesman for the star insisted nothing was going on and the pair had met once socially and a handful of times professionally. Hollywood with Marcela with whom he had an affair while working on the US version of Bake Off Hollywood, 51, and Valladolid, 39 (pictured) admitted having an affair in 2013. The British baker later described it as 'the biggest mistake of my life' Hollywood has not been spotted publicly with his wife since last December. A source told The Sun: 'In the last few months, Alex had completely given up on their relationship. 'The trust was totally gone. She just didn't want to make it work any more. She feels fame has changed him. He's not the same man she fell for all those years ago.' Friends of his wife have said his ego is to blame. One family friend told the Mail: 'He is selfish, vain and an old-fashioned chauvinist.' Another commented: 'If there is another woman in Paul's life it will not be anyone 'special' because there is only one person who Paul thinks is special, and that is Paul Hollywood.' The couple (pictured on holiday in Cyprus last year) are separating after nearly 20 years of marriage, they have said in a joint statement The now-separated couple are pictured kissing at the National Television Awards in 2015 Alexandra's brother Simon Moores said he was shocked at news the marriage was over. Mr Moores, who was the best man at their 1998 wedding, said: 'It's a total shock. One thinks about the children rather than the couple at this time. 'There is a small boy involved and Christmas is coming up. They have my sympathy and it is very sad. I feel for my sister and nephew.' Alexandra is understood to be living in the couple's 1.4million house in the Kent countryside Security guards were patrolling the lanes around the couple's home earlier today Master baker Hollywood has built up his massive fortune thanks to several television and book deals. The 51-year-old earned an estimated 200,000 for each GBBO series at the BBC and has doubled his money now the show has moved to Channel 4. Hollywood has nearly 8.8million of assets in the company HJP Media LLP and 1.2million in another company called Paul Hollywood Limited. Solicitor Harold Walker who deals with high-value break-ups - revealed: 'The starting point will be a 50:50 division of all assets. 'It doesn't matter if his business interests and investments are in sole name or not. They are part of a portfolio built up within a marriage and so his spouse is entitled to share of the spoils.' In their full statement the couple vowed to focus on the wellbeing of their teenage son Josh, 14 but did not say whether any third parties had been a factor in the marriage breakdown. Happier times: Paul and Alexandra Hollywood are pictured on holiday before his fame Hollywood is pictured in 2000 when he filmed an ITV documentary called The History of Bread Hollywood and his wife said in a joint statement on Monday: 'It is with sadness that we have decided to separate. 'Our focus continues to be the happiness of our son, and we would ask the press and public to allow us privacy as a family during this very difficult time.' Born in Merseyside in March 1966, Hollywood has followed the family baking tradition. With a grandfather who was head baker at the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool, a young Hollywood worked at his father's bakery in York. Inspired by the hard-won success of his father, who had a chain of bakeries, he later became a baker at hotels around Britain including the Dorchester in London. Hollywood and newly-engaged baker Candice Brown were spotted locking lips after the Pride of Britain Awards earlier this month. They insisted it was a 'goodbye peck' A spokesman for the pair insisted it was a 'goodbye peck' and it was inaccurate to describe the moment as an 'intimate kiss' Hollywood also worked at resorts in Cyprus, and stayed there for six years after falling in love with both the island and future wife Alexandra. They met while Alexandra was working at a diving school in Paphos and he was head baker at nearby five-star hotel Annabelle. Within four weeks of romance developing, he proposed. They returned to Britain and married, in 1998. In 1999, after returning to the UK, he co-hosted digital channel Taste's Use Your Loaf alongside TV chef James Martin, who went on to present Saturday Kitchen. Hollywood also gained a reputation as an authority on bread making with his best-selling cookery book 100 Great Breads. Bake Off winner Candice Brown is pictured today leaving training for Dancing On Ice But despite his TV appearance Hollywood was still a relative unknown. That all changed in 2010 when the launch of the Great British Bake Off made him a household name. The show became a national favourite and Hollywood's chemistry with Mary Berry was seen as one of the main reasons for its success. On the back of this, he set out to conquer the US with The American Baking Competition - with Marcela Valladolid at his side as co-judge. However, the show was cancelled after one series and also led to marriage trouble for Hollywood, after he embarked on an alleged affair with Valladolid. Undeterred, Hollywood has rekindled his ambition to crack America, going to LA in September to film The Great American Baking Show - a format again based on the GBBO, and made by Love Productions, the company behind the show's UK success. Hollywood was the only member of the original line-up of Bake Off to jump ship with the show to Channel 4, saying: 'I just couldn't turn my back on all that.' He was lured to its new home by a reported 1.2million three-year pay deal. In an interview with the Radio Times he accused former Bake Off presenters and fellow judge Mary Berry of 'abandoning' the show. The 51-year old said: 'The girls abandoned it. But I was the one put under siege.' He said he 'became the most hated man in the country'. Advertisement Zimbabwe's president designate Emmerson Mnangagwa arrived back in Zimbabwe on Wednesday where he delivered a tub-thumping speech to jubilant Zanu PF supporters in the capital Harare. Mr Mnagagwa used his first public words after arriving back from South Africa to accuse the Mugabe regime of trying to poison him, and said he decided to act rather than 'wait for them to eliminate me.' He also gleefully referred to Robert Mugabe as the 'former president' to wild applause from the crowd. Mr Mnangagwa, who is known as The Crocodile from his revolutionary days, also promised a 'new democracy' for Zimbabwe along with peace, security and jobs. In an attempt to pacify early critics who said Zimbabwe was simply replacing one dictator with another, Mr Mnangagwa vowed to be a 'servant' to the country and a voice for 'the people of Zimbabwe' - a phrase he repeated dozens of times. Zimbabwe's President Designate Emmerson Mnangagwa, 75, on Wednesday gave his first speech to Zanu PF supporters since Mugabe resigned, claiming he was poisoned and decided to overthrow the dictator before he was 'eliminated' Mr Mnangagwa pledged to be a 'servant' to the people of Zimbabwe and promised a 'new age of democracy' for the country after four decades of dictatorial rule under his predecessor Mr Mnangagwa gleefully referred to Mugabe as 'the former president' to wild cheers from the watching Zanu PF supporters as he also pledged peace, security and jobs for Zimbabwe's ailing economy There were wild celebrations among Zanu PF supporters who gathered to see The Crocodile speak in Harare, following a night of jubilation over Mugabe's departure Zimbabwe's incoming leader Emmerson Mnangagwa, left, walks into an airport to board a flight bound for Zimbabwe, at Lanseria Airport, north west of Johannesburg, South Africa, today. And he is pictured right arriving in Harare Supporters of Emmerson Mnangagwa, the man expected to become Zimbabwe's new president and known as 'The Crocodile', hold a stuffed crocodile and pictures of him as they cheer at Manyame Air Force base in Harare, Zimbabwe Emmerson Mnangagwa, left, shakes hands with South Africa President Jacob Zuma during a short visit, in Pretoria, South Africa, Wednesday, November 22, 2017 Zimbabwe's ousted vice president Emmerson 'The Crocodile' Mnangagwa (pictured here in 2015) will be sworn in as successor to Robert Mugabe at a ceremony on Friday Mnangagwa was mentioned by, among others, the tycoon Roland Rowland at the time of the Gukurahundi massacres. Pictured: Mugabe (centre) and Mnangagwa (right) together Supporters of Emmerson Mnangagwa, the man expected to become Zimbabwe's new president, hold a photograph of him and cheer as they arrive to show their support at Manyame Air Force base in Harare Emmerson Mnangagwa fled the country after being fired by Robert Mugabe but is not set to take over as President of Zimbabwe after the Mugabe finally resigned Mugabe had accused his former deputy of plotting to take power from him, while his ambitious wife Grace referred to him as a snake that 'must be hit on the head' after the two clashed. Pictured right: Mnangagwa with Mugabe in 2004 'I pledge to be your servant, to serve the people of Zimbabwe, to unite all, to make Zimbabwe a better nation for investments and investors, to improve partnership with other nations and ensure development of our country. God bless Zimbabwe,' he said. He also used the speech to deliver a furious attack on his political opponents, comparing them to dogs. He said: 'Those who oppose us will bark and bark. They will continue to bark but the Zanu-PF train will roll on, ruling and ruling while they bark.' Mr Mnangagwa is expected to be sworn in as president at an inauguration ceremony on Friday and will rule the country until next year's elections. Mugabe's iron grip ended on Tuesday in a shock announcement to parliament where MPs had convened to impeach the 93-year-old who dominated every aspect of Zimbabwean public life for decades. He was last seen in public on Friday and gave a televised address on Sunday but neither he, nor his wife Grace, have been seen since, with their whereabouts unknown. But according to reports out of Zambia, Mugabe has vowed to stay in Zimbabwe and turned down an offer of exile from Zambian president Edgar Lungu. Zambia Reports quoted Mr Lungu as saying: 'I had talked to him [and said] that if the chips are down you can come here but he refused saying that his home was Zimbabwe and he will remain there.' On the streets, the news that Mugabe's long and often brutal leadership was over sparked wild celebrations which lasted late into the night, with crowds dancing and cheering ecstatically amid a cacophony of car horns. Mnangagwa, 75, was sacked by the president on November 6 in a move that pushed infuriated army chiefs to intervene, triggering a series of events which led to Mugabe's ouster. Local reports suggested top government officials welcomed Mr Mnangagwa home and that he was to meet Mugabe for a briefing. Mugabe 'has vowed to stay in Zimbabwe' Former president Robert Mugabe has vowed to stay in Zimbabwe despite offers of exile from overseas, it is reported. Edgar Lungu, the Zambian president, claimed to have offered the dictator shelter for his remaining days earlier this week, but was rebuffed. He said: 'I had talked to him that if the chips are down you can come here but he refused saying that his home was Zimbabwe and he will remain there.' Source: Zambia Reports Advertisement Last night, a Zanu-PF minister who had spoken to Mr Mnangagwa via satellite telephone told MailOnline that the new leader was very calm and was urging his supporters to remain focussed. Party chief whip Lovemore Matuke confirmed that he will be sworn in as interim leader today before it is made official at the event at the end of the week, with his term due to last until elections scheduled for 2018. The countrys constitution stipulates that the handover must take place within 48 hours of a president stepping down. It came as uncertainty continued to hang over the fate of Robert and Grace Mugabe, who are understood to have remained in their Blue Roof mansion overnight. Members of their close protection team told MailOnline that preparations were underway for the arrest of Grace and the transportation of her husband from the country, but this morning those plans were bought to be still on hold. Robert Mugabe is believed to be hunkered down in his Blue Roof mansion alongside reviled wife Grace, as the pair wait to learn their fate following the dictator's historic resignation yesterday. The 93-year-old who ruled Zimbabwe for 37 years had been rumoured to be due to leave the country for exile abroad last night, while his wife remained behind to face prosecution. But as tens of thousands of Zimbabweans danced all night to celebrate his peaceful ousting which stopped short of a military coup, Mugabe remained in hiding. Citizens wave flags and chant slogans in Harare after Robert Mugabe resigned as the country's president Celebrations continued long into the night in Harare as Mugabe finally loosed his grip on power after 37 years Men hold a mock gravestone for General Chiwenga, one of Mugabe's many nicknames, as they celebrate in Harare The military has deployed extra troops on to the streets in an attempt to keep the peace amid carnival scenes Robert Mugabe, 93, and his second wife Grace, 52, a reported to be holed up in their Blue Roof mansion as the military decides their fate Family friends of Mugabe and members of his security detail told MailOnline that the military were prepared to let the 93-year-old leave the country unharmed, but had a very different opinion when it came to his second wife - dubbed Gucci Grace because of her love of lavish shopping sprees. ZIMBABWEANS IN SOUTH AFRICA CELEBRATE Hundreds of Zimbabweans who fled to South Africa during the despotic rule of Mugabe took to the streets of Johannesburg to celebrate the resignation of the hated president. Blowing vuvuzelas, waving Zimbabwean flags and stamping their feet, Zimbabweans danced their way through Hillbrow, a cosmopolitan Johannesburg neighbourhood with a strong community of African immigrants. 'We want to go back home, even tomorrow, even now at night. I'm very happy,' Nikiwe Khumalo, 60, told AFP, 36 years after leaving Zimbabwe. Advertisement One of his Mugabe's protection team told MailOnline: 'The generals promised him he could leave safely. 'The generals were insisting that Grace must be prosecuted. It was a burning issue on Tuesday. I don't know what the outcome was, but they were insisting that they might forgive the old man but not Grace.' Mugabe was said to be 'so depressed he couldn't lift his feet' as he watched his countrymen celebrate his departure, and was said to be confessing his sins to trusted advisor Father Mukonori. One of the former dictator's security team said: 'He is depressed to the extent he is failing to walk. He is dragging his feet. 'Grace has been refusing to go outside into the open air all day as well,' he said. 'They both know the end has come and they are deeply depressed. Their greatest worry is what is going to happen to them and their family.' He added: 'The issue of Grace was a burning one. The generals were going to press ahead with prosecuting her for crimes including money laundering, capturing of state assets and interfering with government business.' It was Grace's decision to try and oust Mnangagwa from power and clear a path for her own succession to the presidency that sparked the military uprising which ultimately toppled her husband. Members of the military, whose march in Harare last week singalled the beginning of the end for Mugabe, watch as people celebrate upon hearing the news that he has resigned There were scenes of celebration on the streets of Harare as the world's oldest head of state caved in to pressure and ended a near four decades grip on power defined by brutality and economic collapse Politicians broke out into applause and chanting at a joint sitting of parliament when Speaker Jacob Mudenda announced Mugabe's resignation and suspended the impeachment procedure These were scenes of jubilation in Zimbabwe's parliament as the announcement was made Tuesday that Robert Mugabe had finally resigned after 37 years in power Harare erupted in wild celebrations this evening as dictator Robert Mugabe finally caved in to pressure and stepped down While Mugabe is still popular among Zimbabweans, the population had become increasingly concerned that his much-loathed wife Grace was preparing to take over. The announcement that he had resigned was met with wild celebrations Elsewhere on Tuesday: Constantino Chiwenga, head of the country's army, has called for restraint from all parties during handover Zimbabwe's former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said it was time to 'define a new chapter' for the country Zanu-PF's chief whip said Mnangagwa will lead Zimbabwe until the new elections which will be held in 2018 Theresa May has praised Robert Mugabe's departure and has vowed to support the country's transition period Meanwhile, US embassy called the resignation 'historic' and said it was a chance to 'set nation on new path' The operation had all the hallmarks of a coup, but the generals stopped short of forcing him out. As the crisis grew, the ZANU-PF party, an instrument of Mugabe's brutal decades in power, removed him as party leader and began parliamentary proceedings to have him impeached. 'When he saw the turnout (of lawmakers), he probably realised he'd better jump before he was pushed,' said Derek Matyszak, an analyst at the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies. A member of the Mugabe family who is close to the deposed president said: 'Bob has been holding prayers and confessing with Father Mukonori and the family. He feels depressed now the whole country is celebrating about him going.' Robert Mugabe's resignation letter to the Zimbabwean Parliament speaker I Robert Gabriel Mugabe in terms of section 96 of the constitution of Zimbabwe hereby formally tender my resignation with immediate effect. My decision to resign is voluntary on my part. I have resigned to allow smooth transfer of power. Kindly give the public notice of my decision as soon as possible. Advertisement The former dictator, who is a Catholic, has confessed to Father Fidelis Mukonori, a priest who had been mediating in his negotiations with the armed forces. Father Mukonori, a trusted aide of the former president, was the man responsible for rousing Mr Mugabe from his hunger strike, MailOnline revealed yesterday. The despot had been in a state of psychological collapse, asking for his dead first wife and son and refusing to eat, wash or speak. However, after the intervention of Father Mukonori, he regained his strength, took a shower and gave the notorious speech in which he failed to resign. Yesterday, Father Mukonori, who has been a close ally of Mr Mugabe since the Seventies, stepped in to comfort Mugabe as he released his grip on power. Zimbabwe's former prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai said yesterday: 'We need to sit down and redefine a new chapter'. The origin of Mugabe's sudden downfall lies in rivalry between members of Zimbabwe's ruling elite over who will succeed him, rather than popular protests against his rule. Thousands of people poured on to the streets of the Zimbabwean capital to celebrate. Many had previously stayed indoors, fearful that violence was about to erupt Activists who had been doubtful that Mugabe would ever leave office celebrated after he resigned following a 37-year rul But fear turned to ecstasy on Tuesday night with the news that Mugabe had left office without a drop of blood being spilled Citizens in Harare take part in an all-night party that began with the resignation of Mugabe on Tuesday afternoon Mugabe's resignation comes a week after the army and his former political allies moved against him, ending four decades of rule by a man who turned from independence hero to archetypal African strongman. The 93-year-old had clung on for a week after an army takeover and expulsion from his own ruling ZANU-PF party, but resigned shortly after parliament began an impeachment process seen as the only legal way to force him out. The US embassy in Zimbabwe has called the resignation 'historic', saying it is an opportunity for the nation to 'set itself on a new path' to free and fair elections. British Prime Minister Theresa May said: 'The resignation of Robert Mugabe provides Zimbabwe with an opportunity to forge a new path free of the oppression that characterised his rule. 'In recent days we have seen the desire of the Zimbabwean people for free and fair elections and the opportunity to rebuild the country's economy under a legitimate government. 'As Zimbabwe's oldest friend we will do all we can to support this, working with our international and regional partners to help the country achieve the brighter future it so deserves.' British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson says Robert Mugabe was 'a despot who impoverished his country' and his exit is a 'moment of joy' for Zimbabwe. Johnson says he hopes Mugabe's resignation will be a turning point and that there should now be 'free and fair democratic elections and above all not a transition from one despotic rule to another.' Wild celebrations broke out at a joint sitting of parliament when Speaker Jacob Mudenda announced Mugabe's resignation and suspended the impeachment procedure. In a highly-symbolic scene, a man removed a portrait of Mugabe from a room inside the parliament where MPs were gathering for an extraordinary session to impeach the recalcitrant president. Another bystander replaced it with an image of Mr Mnangagwa. One man jumped on a table in Zimbabwe's parliament building as Robert Mugabe's resignation letter was read out This was the scene as Zimbabweans celebrated in Harare Tuesday after the resignation of President Robert Mugab People remove the portrait of former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe after his resignation Tuesday The origin of Mugabe's sudden downfall lies in rivalry between members of Zimbabwe's ruling elite over who will succeed him, rather than popular protests against his rule. Citizens took to the streets to celebrate the resignation today People danced and car horns blared on the streets of Harare at news that the era of Mugabe - who has led Zimbabwe since independence in 1980 - was finally over. 'We are just so happy that things are finally going to change,' Togo Ndhlalambi, 32, a hairdresser said. 'We woke up every morning waiting for this day. This country has been through tough times.' After a week of political turmoil, Zimbabweans reacted with shock and unfettered joy. 'I am so happy that Mugabe is gone, 37 years under a dictatorship is not a joke,' said Tinashe Chakanetsa, 18. 'I am hoping for a new Zimbabwe ruled by the people and not by one person. 'We need leaders who are selected by the people and not rulers. I am looking forward to get a job after our economy recovers.' A man jumps for joy as others celebrate on the streets of Harare following the historic resignation Tuesday WHAT JUST HAPPENED IN ZIMBABWE? November 6: After a campaign of public insults against Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Mugabe fires his longtime deputy, later accusing him of plotting to take power via witchcraft. Mnangagwa flees the country. November 13: Army commander Constantino Chiwenga issues a rare public rebuke, saying the military won't hesitate to 'step in' to calm political tensions and criticizing the handling of the once-prosperous southern African nation's crumbling economy. November 14: Armored personnel carriers are seen on the outskirts of the capital, Harare. The military moves in overnight, taking control of the state-run broadcaster. November 15: The military announces that Mugabe is under house arrest and an operation has begun to arrest 'criminals' around him who harmed the economy. Unpopular first lady Grace Mugabe, who many feared would replace Mnangagwa and even succeed her husband, disappears from view. November 16: State-run media publish extraordinary photos of a smiling Mugabe shaking hands with the army commander at the State House amid negotiations on the president's exit as the military tries to avoid accusations of a coup. November 17: The army, which continues to refer to Mugabe as president, allows him to make his first public appearance since house arrest. He appears at a graduation ceremony to polite applause. November 18: The bulk of the capital's roughly 1.6 million people pour into the streets in an anti-Mugabe demonstration that even days ago would have brought a police crackdown. November 19: The ruling party Central Committee expels Mugabe as party leader and tells him to step aside or face impeachment. In a speech on national television, he does not announce his resignation as expected. November 20: The ruling party's Central Committee says it will begin impeachment proceedings. The military says Mugabe and Mnangagwa have made contact and the fired deputy will return to Zimbabwe 'shortly.' November 21: Mnangagwa calls on Mugabe to heed the will of Zimbabwe's people and resign immediately. The ruling party begins impeachment proceedings, which are halted so Mugabe's resignation letter can be read, to cheers. Advertisement Massive crowds gathered within minutes of the shock announcement to parliament. Men were breakdancing, women were singing and children were in tears, all brandishing national flags and praising General Constantino Chiwenga - the man who led the army takeover - as the news began to sink in. 'It's shocking, that guy is powerful, very powerful,' said Barber Wright Chirombe, one of those who joined the euphoric street celebrations. One boisterous group of women burst into an exclusive Harare hotel, snatched a portrait of Mr Mugabe and smashed it outside. The women fought off security officers who tried to stop them vandalising the premises before stealing the picture and breaking it to smithereens. They then danced on the picture before a shirtless man broke it across his knee and ran away into the traffic. Mugabe is the only leader Zimbabwe has known since a guerrilla struggle ended white-minority rule in the former Rhodesia. During his reign, he took the once-rich country to economic ruin and kept his grip on power through repression of opponents, although he styled himself as the Grand Man of African politics and kept the admiration of many people across Africa. Mugabe led Zimbabwe's liberation war and is hailed as one of post-colonial Africa's founding fathers and a staunch supporter of the drive to free neighbouring South Africa from apartheid in 1994. But many say he has damaged Zimbabwe's economy, democracy and judiciary by staying in power for too long and has used violence to crush perceived political opponents. The country faces a foreign exchange payments crisis and roaring inflation. Since the crisis began, Mugabe has been mainly confined to his 'Blue Roof' mansion in the capital where Grace is also believed to be. In his resignation letter Tuesday, Mugabe wrote: 'I Robert Gabriel Mugabe in terms of section 96 of the constitution of Zimbabwe hereby formally tender my resignation with immediate effect. 'My decision to resign is voluntary on my part. I have resigned to allow smooth transfer of power. Kindly give the public notice of my decision as soon as possible.' It comes as it emerged that the despot has been left isolated and humiliated after his demands for ministers to attend his weekly cabinet meeting were dismissed. Earlier, Angolan President Joao Lourenco said he and South African President Jacob Zuma would fly to Zimbabwe on Wednesday following talks between regional leaders on the crisis engulfing the country. '(South African) President Jacob Zuma and I have agreed to visit Harare tomorrow,' Angolan President Joao Lourenco told journalists Tuesday after a meeting of the southern African regional bloc in Luanda. The two leaders will represent the 15-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) bloc of which their countries are the leading members. SADC has sought to broker an end to the instability triggered when Zimbabwe's army took over the country after t Mugabe sacked his vice president and cleared the way for his wife Grace to succeed him. The crisis summit 'noted with great concern the unfolding political situation in... Zimbabwe', SADC said in a statement. Earlier Zanu-PF's secretary, Simon Khaya, told reporters that Mr Mugabe had been formally notified of the party's decision to impeach him. Robert Mugabe's rap sheet: Serious misconduct, failure to obey the Constitution and the inability to perform the functions of Office Robert Mugabe's rap sheet was published Tuesday by the Parliament of Zimbabwe. His charges were four-fold - serious misconduct; failure to obey, uphold or defend the Constitution; willful violation of this Constitution and an inability to perform the functions of Office because of physical or mental incapacity. With regards the serious misconduct, Mugabe is accused of eight different counts. Six of the eight counts relate to his wife, known as Gucci Grace, while the other two relate to corruption and the harbouring of fugitives. Mugabe is accused of allowing his wife to assume his constitutional mandate, access classified and privileged documents, abuse state resources, insulting the new leader Vice President Mnangagwa and threatening to kill him. He is also said to have let Grace Mugabe cause disaffection within the country's defence forces by spreading reckless and false allegations against the army. His alleged failure regarding the constitution surrounds a controversial Zimbabwean politician Professor Jonathan Moyo. Mugabe is accused of unlawfully protecting him. The 93-year-old's inability to perform his duties is spelled out in the charge sheet under two clauses. He is accused of not being able to stand up without his wife or an aide holding his hand due to his old age. Mugabe also slept through important deliberations in cabinet meetings, the rap sheet claims. These were all going to be used to oust the longstanding dictator from his position, but he stunned the world by standing down Tuesday. Advertisement The Chelsea-supporting Crocodile who talked himself out of an execution: Zimbabwe's new leader Emmerson Mnangagwa to take over from Mugabe after they spent decades side-by-side Known as 'The Crocodile', Mnangagwa, 75, is a notorious and much-feared figure in Zimbabwe, having led a vicious crackdown on opponents in the 1980s with the help of the dreaded North Korean-trained Fifth Army brigade. Thousands of civilians were killed during the Gukurahundi campaign, but Mnangagwa has always denied involvement. His reputation for cruelty is so legendary that he was one of the few leaders of Zimbabwe known to drive around the country without security. He is also known for his unpredictable darting eyes and is understood to be a Chelsea supporter due to his admiration of the club's former striker Didier Drogba. He has had a long and varied political career, leading at one point the justice, defence, housing and finance ministries as well as being the speaker of the lower house and a spymaster. Mnangagwa's reputation for cruelty is so legendary that he was one of the few leaders of Zimbabwe known to drive around the country without security. Pictured: The former vice president claps after being presented with a fake crocodile as homage to his nickname In 1983, Mnangagwa led a major crackdown in Matabeleland, in the southwest of Zimbabwe. Tens of thousands of people were killed. Pictured: Bodies found in Matabeleland after the massacre Mnangagwa was widely viewed as Mugabe's successor until he was ditched by the president last week and fled to South Africa. Mugabe had accused his former deputy of plotting to take power from him, while his ambitious wife Grace referred to him as a snake that 'must be hit on the head' after the two clashed. Mnangagwa (pictured with Mugabe), 75, has had a long and varied political career, leading at one point the justice, defence, housing and finance ministries as well as being the speaker of the lower house and spymaster But Mnangagwa, who recently survived a poisoning attempt blamed on ice-cream from Mugabe's own dairy, has been telling allies he would return rapidly and everything would soon be 'sorted'. He is a leader of the so-called 'Lacoste' faction - named after the clothes firm's crocodile logo, which matches Mnangagwa's reptilian nickname - within Mugabe's party. The group enjoys strong support among military figures. It is locked in a struggle with Grace's G40 group. With the events of the past week, the struggle between Grace and Mnangagwa to succeed 93-year-old Mugabe has shifted in the Crocodile's favour. Born in the southwestern Zvishavana district on September 15, 1942, he completed his early education in Zimbabwe before his family relocated to neighbouring Zambia. His grandfather was a traditional leader and his father a political agitator for the repeal of colonial laws that disadvantaged blacks. Zimbabweans sitting in front of Salibury prison (where Mugabe and Mnangagwa met and forged their political alliance) in 1968 after the triple hanging of James Dhlamini, Victor Mlambo and Duly Shadrack, was ordered by Ian Smith's government - despite Queen Elizabeth II issuing a royal reprieve He is a leader of the so-called 'Lacoste' faction - named after the clothes firm's crocodile logo, which matches Mnangagwa's reptilian nickname - within Mugabe's party. The group enjoys strong support among military figures. Pictured: Mugabe with Mnangagwa Mnangagwa was sentenced to ten years in jail, being kept at Salisbury Prison, Grey Prison, Khami Prison and Harare Prison. While imprisoned in Salisbury (later renamed Harare), he became close to Mugabe and other nationalist leaders. Pictured: Mnangagwa with Mugabe and Josiah Tongogara, a guerrilla commander In 1966, Mnangagwa joined the struggle for independence from Britain, becoming one of the young combatants who helped direct the war after undergoing training in China and Egypt. University of London-educated Mnangagwa has been close to Mugabe since the two were side-by-side in the struggle against racist white-minority rule in then-Rhodesia. Not long after ZANU-PF, modern Zimbabwe's ruling party, was formed in 1963 Mnangagwa was sent for military training in Communist China. He earned his 'Crocodile' nickname when he returned to Zimbabwe and led a gang of fighters called the 'Crocodile Group' during the civil war. The gang blew up several trains during their operations against the Rhodesian government and, as a consequence, Mnangagwa was arrested in 1965. He confessed to revolutionary activity and was savagely tortured, but escaped the death penalty after successfully arguing that, because he was under 21, he should not be executed. Instead, he was sentenced to ten years in jail, being kept at Salisbury Prison, Grey Prison, Khami Prison and Harare Prison. While imprisoned in Salisbury (later renamed Harare), he became close to Mugabe and other nationalist leaders. After being deported to Zambia, Mnangagwa studied law and - in the late 1970s - became a senior member of ZANU-PF. When Zimbabwe became independent in 1980, Mnangagwa was named as Prime Minister Mugabe's national security chief. Seven years later, when Mugabe made himself president, Mnangagwa was made justice minister. Members of the black nationalist guerrillas of the Zimbabwe African Liberation Army (ZALA), led by Robert Mugabe, stage a rally on February 6, 1980 Pictured: Opponents of white rule demonstrate at a rally in Zimbabwe in 1980, the same year Robert Mugabe won power and became prime minister His loyalty to Mugabe was rewarded in 2000 when, having lost his seat in parliament, he was appointed to an unelected seat and made speaker of the lower house He is a notorious and much-feared figure in Zimbabwe, having led a vicious crackdown on opponents in the 1980s with the help of the dreaded North Korean-trained Fifth Army brigade. Pictured: Mnangagwa with his wife Auxilia in January His loyalty to Mugabe was rewarded in 2000 when, having lost his seat in parliament, he was appointed to an unelected seat and made speaker of the lower house. Mnangagwa repaid Mugabe for his support during the 2008 elections, with the Crocodile said to have steered the president to victory after Morgan Tsvangirai won the first round. Hundreds of Tsvangirai's supporters were killed in the political violence blamed on Mugabe's regime, forcing Tsvangirai to step aside and giving Mugabe a clear run at the presidency. Mnangagwa was then made defence minister and, in 2013, vice president. He once remarked that he had been taught to 'destroy and kill' - although he later claimed to be a born-again Christian. Takavafira Zhou, a political analyst at Masvingo State University, previously described Mnangagwa as 'a hardliner to the core'. Mnangagwa reputedly has deep pockets should he decide to launch a political comeback. Military vehicles were seen patrolling the streets of the capital Harare after it emerged that Mugabe and his family had been arrested At least three explosions were heard in the capital, Harare, and military vehicles were seen in the streets Soldiers patrolled the streets in the centre of Harare after a 'bloodless transition' of power Checkpoint: Tanks on the streets of Harare after it emerged that the president, Robert Mugabe, had been detained Tensions over the succession of Mugabe, recently erupted into the open, and had pitched First Lady Grace Mugabe against Emmerson Mnangagwa A US diplomatic cable published by WikiLeaks in 2008 claimed Mnangagwa had amassed 'extraordinary wealth' during Zimbabwe's 1998 intervention in gold- and diamond-rich Democratic Republic of Congo. He appeared to be on course to become the country's next leader, but First Lady Grace Mugabe did not approve, Last month she warned of a possible coup being orchestrated by Vice President Mnangagwa amid a heated power struggle. She claimed his allies were threatening to kill people who did not support his bid to succeed Mugabe. Grace recently told supporters: 'In 1980 this person called Mnangagwa wanted to stage a coup. He wanted to wrestle power from the president. 'He was conspiring with whites. That man is a ravisher.' Gukurahundi atrocities of the 1980s After Mugabe won the election of 1980 and became Zimbabwe's first prime minister, there were fears a potential takeover of the country by the Ndebele ethnic minority may be afoot. In 1983, Mnangagwa led a major crackdown in Matabeleland, in the southwest of Zimbabwe. Matabeleland was the stronghold of Mugabe's political rival, Joshua Nkomo. Mugabe blamed members of Nkomo's party for a series of murders and attacks on property in the country. During the operation between 1983 and 87 - later known as the Gukurahundi (or 'the early rain which washes away the before the spring rains') - tens of thousands of civilians were killed. The agreement between North Korea and Mugabe for the training of the Fifth Brigade was signed in October 1980, when the Zimbabwean prime minister met with Kim Il Sung. Pictured: The Fifth Brigade in 1982 at Independence Day celebrations in Salisbury. The banner overhead reads: 'Let Us Lay Down Our Lives for Cde. R.G. Mugahe' The North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade was responsible for the atrocities, which also included the torture and rape of tens of thousands of in Matabeleland. Showing that they had learned from their Communist teachers, the Fifth Brigade troops summarily detained and executed Ndebele men of fighting age, who were automatically deemed guilty of subversion. Many were also marched to re-education camps, a popular tactic employed by Stalinist North Korea as well as Communist China. The North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade (pictured training in 1984) was responsible for the atrocities, which also included the torture and rape of tens of thousands of in Matabeleland On one occasion, in March of 1983, the Fifth Brigade slaughtered 55 people - apparently at random - on the banks of the Cewale River. The soldiers reportedly forced their victims to dig their own graves before being shot. The agreement between North Korea and Mugabe for the training of the Fifth Brigade was signed in October 1980, when the Zimbabwean prime minister met with Kim Il Sung. Over a hundred North Koreans arrived a year later to train the elite troops. The agreement between North Korea and Mugabe for the training of the Fifth Brigade was signed in October 1980, when the Zimbabwean prime minister met with Kim Il Sung. Pictured: The two dictators meeting in 1993 But by 1988, the reputation of the brigade - whose soldiers were identifiable by their distinctive red berets - was deemed so toxic that it was disbanded. None of the perpetrators of the atrocities has ever been brought to justice, with those implicated including Mugabe and Mnangagwa. Mnangagwa was mentioned by, among others, the tycoon Roland Rowland at the time of the massacres. He wrote to the US ambassador that Mnangagwa, as security minister, was 'fully aware' of the slaughter going on in the country's south. Advertisement A US Navy transport plane with 11 people on board has crashed into the Pacific Ocean near Japan. Eight of those aboard have been recovered in good condition and a search continues for three other missing personnel, the Navy said. The plane crashed into the Philippine Sea off the southeast of Okinawa while flying to the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan. 'Personnel recovery is under way and their condition will be evaluated by USS Ronald Reagan medical staff,' a statement from the Navy explained. The White House said the president had been briefed on the crash, and minutes later the president noted on Twitter that a search and rescue was underway. 'We are monitoring the situation. Prayers for all involved,' he said. Scroll down for video The plane was a C-2 Greyhound (shown above in a file image), which carries personnel, mail and cargo from mainland bases to carriers out at sea It crashed into the Philippine Sea off the southeast of Okinawa while flying to the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (shown above in a file image) A build-up of US forces in the area comes as tensions persist between Washington and North Korea over its missile and nuclear program. Pictured: The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson in the Philippine Sea earlier this year during a drill The plane was a C-2 Greyhound, which carries personnel, mail and cargo from mainland bases to carriers out at sea. The crew of the Ronald Reagan is conducting a search and rescue mission for those on board the aircraft. The aircraft has been in operation for more than five decades and is due to be replaced by the long-range tilt-rotor Osprey aircraft. Japanese Minister of Defence Itsunori Onodera told reporters the US Navy had informed him that the crash in the Philippine Sea may have been a result of engine trouble. The crash occurred at about 2.45pm Japan time. The White House said the president had been briefed on the crash, and minutes later the president noted on Twitter that a search and rescue was underway The names of the passengers and crew are being withheld as family are notified of the crash. The aircraft crashed into the Pacific about 90 miles northwest of Okinotorishima, a Japanese atoll, Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said. The plane was taking part in an ongoing joint US-Japan naval exercise in waters surrounding Okinawa from November 16-26. The Navy called it the 'premier training event' between the two navies, designed to increase defensive readiness and interoperability in air and sea operations. The US military has a heavy presence in the western Pacific, with tens of thousands of troops and hundreds of pieces of hardware stationed in Japan and South Korea. The USS Ronald Reagan last week was one of three American aircraft carriers that held rare joint drills in the region, joined separately by Japanese navy and South Korean warships over the weekend. The drills come as tensions persist between Washington and North Korea over its missile and nuclear program. The 7th Fleet has had two fatal accidents in Asian waters this year, leaving 17 sailors dead and prompting the removal of eight top Navy officers from their posts, including the 7th Fleet commander. In August, an American MV-22 Osprey (shown in a file image above) - a helicopter-plane hybrid used by the Navy - crashed off Queensland, Australia, and left three marines dead The USS John S. McCain collided with a tanker off Singapore in August, killing 10 sailors and injuring five others. Two months earlier in June, the USS Fitzgerald and a cargo ship smashed into each other off Japan, leaving seven sailors dead. There were also two more, lesser-known incidents. In January USS Antietam ran aground near its base in Japan, and in May, USS Lake Champlain collided with a South Korean fishing vessel. In August, an American MV-22 Osprey - a helicopter-plane hybrid used by the Navy - crashed off Queensland, Australia, and left three marines dead. It was not the first time the aircraft has crashed. After it went down, the Japanese defense minister requested that US forces ground the aircraft over concerns about its safety. The Americans did not comply. In December 2016, an Osprey crashed off the coast of Okinawa. There has been a major build-up of US forces in the area as tensions rise as a consequences of North Korea's belligerence. Pictured: North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un North Korea launched an intermediate-range strategic ballistic rocket, a Hwasong-12, in August of this year, further stoking tensions in the region There were no deaths, but two people were hurt. It comes after US marine Nicholas James-McLean, 21, was arrested late Sunday on suspicion of negligent driving resulting in injury or death and driving under the influence of alcohol. He was involved in a crash on Okinawa that left a Japanese man - Hidemasa Taira, 61 - dead. A breathalyzer test revealed that James-McLean had an alcohol level three times the legal limit in Japan, according to Kazuhiko Miyagi of the Okinawa police. As a consequence, US military personnel in Japan were banned from drinking alcohol. The US military has about 50,000 personnel in Japan, who have been there since the country was defeated in the Second World War. They have often had an uneasy relationship with their Japanese hosts, with the governor of Okinawa only yesterday saying he does not consider the US forces to be a 'good neighbor'. Takeshi Onaga, speaking about the James-McLean case, added: 'Even if we are told that you will make efforts to strengthen discipline and prevent a recurrence, we cannot trust you at all.' A British couple have spoken of their terrifying ordeal when their seaplane nosedived into the sea and the pilots swam to shore. Thomas Markey, 26, and Sebastian Marczyk, 32, had sat through two aborted take-offs due to bad weather before crashing into the ocean on the failed third attempt. The couple, from Chester, said there was 'no safety protocol' and claimed the jackets they were given were too small, second hand or out of date. British couple Thomas Markey and Sebastian Marczyk were left bobbing in the ocean after their seaplane crashed in the sea As the Island Aviation Services Limited seaplane carrying 12 passengers crashed into the ocean off the Maldives, they saw the captain and co-pilot swimming to the shore. Mr Markey told The Sun: 'They'd tied all the baggage against the designated fire exit and it was blocked. I turned round and shouted at the crew member at the back to open the door. 'Two or three minutes later everyone's in the water without life jackets. I shouted, 'Get the life jackets out'. 'But the one I was given was for a baby. The jackets were second-hand and some even expired in 2004. It's a joke. There was no safety protocol, no instructions.' The 12 passengers managed to clamber on top of the plane and its wings. The couple boarded the 1969 de Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter to main island Male last week A boat rescue arrived 20 minutes later from Dhoores Island. The couple were at the end of a ten-day holiday when they boarded the 1969 de Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter to main island Male last week. They are now suing the state-owned Maldivian Airlines, who blamed the crash on 'an unexpected set of waves upsetting the seaplane's take off'. Aviation investigators and police interviewed passengers while pilots were made to give urine samples. A spokesman for Maldivian Airlines told MailOnline: 'On November 16 a seaplane carrying 12 customers was involved in an incident during take-off. No passengers or crew were injured. 'The pilots were forced to take swift action - in accordance with airline emergency producers - due to unexpected rough weather. The incident occurred during the aircraft's first attempted take-off. 'The crew were the last to leave the scene, after overseeing the safe evacuation of passengers by the Maldivian Coast Guard to nearby Dhoores Island. Once on the island passengers were given all necessary medical treatment they required.' They added: 'All producers and protocols were followed, including an initial safety demonstration before take-off. The necessary equipment was on board, including valid life jackets appropriate to the aircraft type and customers. There were no impediments to quick evacuation from the aircraft's six exits. 'We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused to customers.' Imran Qureshi, 44, outside the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service in Manchester this week, where he was given a 12 month suspension A Pakistani doctor who molested a student nurse on a hospital ward is to keep his job after blaming the incident on 'cultural norms' in the UK. Married locum doctor Imran Qureshi, 44, grabbed the breast of the 21-year-old and told her he wanted an affair as he considered her 'sexually available' because she'd had previous boyfriends. The student nurse said she was 'shaken up and distraught' and told a tribunal the incident affected her studies and left her unable to trust male colleagues. The woman, referred to as Miss A, said Qureshi - who was working as a locum senior house officer - grabbed her chest for two seconds before trying to 'make light' of it then becoming aggressive. Qureshi admitted he made a misjudgement but said 'cultural norms' were different in the UK to his native Pakistan and he failed to spot a 'red light' warning him to make no advances towards the victim. In June 2016 the father-of-two was ordered to sign the Sex Offender Register for five years after he was convicted of sexual assault by a jury. He was also sentenced to a 12-month community order and subsequently lost appeals against his conviction. But at the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service in Manchester this week he escaped with a 12 month suspension after he offered a 'since deep hearted apology' to Miss A and insisted it was a 'moment of madness and short, brief touching.' The incident happened at Trafford General Hospital in Davyhulme, Greater Manchester, on June 3, 2015 In June 2016 the father-of-two was ordered to sign the Sex Offender Register for five years after he was convicted of sexual assault by a jury He has since attended a course on maintaining professional boundaries and his position as a doctor will be reviewed next year. Panel chairman Nicholas Flanagan told the doctor: 'The Tribunal concluded you showed a lack of empathy towards Miss A and ignored her objections to your behaviour. 'Given the length of time you had been in the United Kingdom and the fact you were fully aware of the differences in culture because of your experiences with your wife, you should have recognised Ms A's reluctance in light of your shared cultural understanding. 'The Tribunal concluded there is a low but nevertheless not insignificant risk of harm to another individual by a repetition of your behaviour.' But the tribunal said erasing Qureshi's name from the Medical Register would be disproportionate, punitive and not in the public interest. The incident happened at Trafford General Hospital in Davyhulme, Greater Manchester, on June 3 2015. The 21-year-old Muslim student, who was on a work placement, said Qureshi seemed 'excited to see her and well within her personal space'. At around 3pm she asked the doctor to retrieve some patient notes to which he replied: 'I don't want to get it yet, I want to spend some time with you'. Counsel for the General Medical Council Rebecca Vanstone, added: 'He told Miss A she was beautiful and asked whether she had a boyfriend. He then said he was not happy in his marriage and wanted an affair. 'Shortly afterwards Miss A was in the ward kitchen when he entered the room and closed the door behind him. He asked whether she had a thyroid problem before feeling her neck. 'She was backed into the corner when the registrant touched her chest at the top where her breasts start. She said he put his fingers there for a few seconds before she pushed them away. Qureshi admitted he made a misjudgement but said 'cultural norms' were different in the UK to his native Pakistan and he failed to spot a 'red light' warning him to make no advances 'Miss A says she held her hand up to signal for him to move away and told him he was a disgrace. He asked for a hug and she refused but he did it anyway. 'Then he grabbed her right breast for a few seconds. Miss A said he was laughing and trying to make light if the situation and then became aggressive and said that friends do what he was trying to do. 'Miss A reported the incident about an hour later to a friend who told her to inform her mentor and she did so. The mentor describes the account given to her and said she appeared to be nervous, shaken up and distraught.' The woman said she felt 'anxiety, anger and depression' during the criminal proceedings but the trial judge said Qureshi posed 'no risk for the future.' Miss Vanstone added: 'Miss A says she was prescribed sleeping tablets because she was struggling to sleep and since she had been wary of male doctors. 'She took three weeks off work which could delay her qualification. She feels that the incident impacted her reputation, she is a young unmarried Muslim woman.' But Qureshi's lawyer Lee Gledhill said: 'This was a moment of madness, a short, brief period of touching due to him misreading the signals. It has had a profound impact on his personal and financial life but he has had a long time to think about his actions and he is extremely remorseful. He has acknowledged the impact this had on Ms A and would like to issue a sincere apology to her and her family.' Muslim activist Yassmin Abdel-Magied has appeared on Channel 10's The Project, and compared her relationship with Australia to 'dating an abusive guy'. The former ABC host's appearance comes soon after her controversial Twitter post on Remembrance Day earlier in November. The 26-year-old tweeted '#LestWeForget', but wrote in brackets '(Manus)', referring to the asylum seekers on Manus Island. In April, she was slammed after a similar tweet on Anzac Day which read 'Lest we forget (Manus, Nauru, Syria, Palestine)'. After returning to Australia from her new base in London, Ms Abdel-Magied said her relationship with the country was 'like dating an abusive guy, you love a lot of things about them but they hurt you deep'. Scroll down for video Muslim activist Yassmin Abdel-Magied has appeared on Channel 10's The Project, and compared her relationship with Australia to 'dating an abusive guy'. The former ABC host's appearance comes soon after her controversial Twitter post on Remembrance Day earlier in November She said it was 'surreal' to look back on the criticism she received as a result of the social media posts and her appearances on television. 'I'm in a place now where they took everything away from me and I'm now someone with nothing left to lose. 'That was really bad but at the same time you don't know how strong you are until you go through something really tough. 'I went from being this young Queenslander of the year... I was the good Muslim girl... then everything exploded.' She said she struggles to explain to people overseas what forced her to leave Australia. 'I live in London now and I try to explain to people what happened and they can't understand how it became the phenomena it became.' The Project posted a photo of Ms Abdel-Magied on Instagram announcing her appearance, and it was met with both positive and negative reactions She said she misses the 'weather in Australia'. The Project posted a photo of Ms Abdel-Magied on Instagram announcing her appearance, and it was met with both positive and negative reactions. 'Just another reason not to watch tonight,' one commenter posted. 'Why would you give this individual air time.' Other negative comments read 'no thanks' and 'yawn', while one former Project viewer said 'hence why I don't watch this stupid show anymore' Other negative comments read 'no thanks' and 'yawn', while one former Project viewer said 'hence why I don't watch this stupid show anymore'. There were some positive reactions to Ms Abdel-Magied's scheduled appearance. 'Looking forward to it', one person commented while others said 'awesome' and 'love her' Faezeh Shanini, 13, from Hull, was last seen by her mother on November 14 and police fear she may have headed to Birmingham or London, where it is believed she may have links Fears are growing for a missing 13-year-old girl who disappeared a week ago. Faezeh Shanini, 13, from Hull, was last seen by her mother on November 14 and police fear she may have headed to Birmingham or London, where it is believed she may have links. Faezeh is of Iranian descent and around 5 feet 3 tall with long dark hair. She has been in contact with her parents since going missing but they are currently unaware of her whereabouts. In a statement, a spokesperson for Humberside Police said: 'We are concerned for the safety of 13-year-old Faezeh Shanini from Hull who has been missing since last week. 'Faezeh was last seen by her mother on 14 November 2017. She has phoned her parents since, but they are currently unaware of her whereabouts. 'It's believed Faezeh could have links to Birmingham and London. It's not known if she has access to money. 'She's described as of Iranian descent, around 5 feet 3, with long dark hair which she usually wears down. 'Faezeh sometimes wears glasses and she was last seen wearing a green coat, but could have changed her clothes.' Anyone who knows where Faezeh is, or has any information should call 101 quoting log 465 of 20/11/17. Gayle King has told Stephen Colbert she 'winced' through his series of jokes about 'sex pest' Charlie Rose on Monday night. The co-anchor of CBS This Morning told Colbert during an interview on his CBS late show on Tuesday: 'I was wincing at your monologue though, Stephen.' She also said she came very close to cancelling the interview following the allegations against Rose. Gayle King has told she Stephen Colbert she 'winced' through his series of jokes about sex pest Charlie Rose on Monday night On his show on Monday night Colbert joked about the Weather Chanel's viral video of a bus driving in front of the Georgia Dome explosion. He said: 'Can a bus drive in front of 2017 for a while? Or maybe just park in front of Charlie Rose.' He also commented on allegations that Rose once invited a woman to his house and suggested they watch a DVD of his show. 'What woman alive doesn't get aroused by an hour-long interview with Thomas Friedman?' Colbert quipped. But King didn't cancel on Colbert and the interview went ahead as planned. Colbert congratulated King for reporting the allegations against Rose 'as news, objectively and fully.' 'That's what you have to do,' King said. Colbert said it 'couldn't have been easy,' and she responded: 'To be honest with you, it still isn't easy. It's still very painful, it's still very hurtful.' The co-anchor of CBS This Morning told Colbert during an interview on his CBS late show on Tuesday: 'I was wincing at your monologue, though, Stephen.' She also said she came very close to cancelling the interview after Colbert made light of serious allegations against Rose Three CBS News employees came forward on Tuesday to accuse Charlie Rose of improper sexual behavior, bringing the total number of women with allegations against the veteran broadcast journalist to 16. Rose said he had committed no wrong-doing. 'Two of the women who came forward at CBS say they are not ready for the details of their allegations to be made public,' correspondent Bianna Golodryga reported on the CBS Evening News Tuesday night. 'But a third woman alleges Rose whispered a sexual innuendo while touching her inappropriately at a work-related event.' The latest allegations came just hours after Rose was fired by CBS. The Tiffany Network revealed that they have terminated the host's contract less than 24 hours after multiple women accused him of making unwanted sexual advances. Charlie Rose has now been accused of sexual misconduct by a total of 16 women, it was learned on Tuesday. Rose was fired from his job at CBS News, President David Rhodes revealed on Tuesday in an internal memo (above on Monday) No worries: Charlie said on Monday night (above) that he committed no wrongdoing upon returning to his apartment in NYC The news was revealed in an interview memo sent to staffers by CBS News president David Rhodes, who stated that 'there is absolutely nothing more important, in this or any organization, than ensuring a safe, professional workplace.' Rhodes, who is being widely applauded for his network's swift and frank response to the allegations against Rose, also said: 'I've also heard that things used to be different. And no one can change the past. 'But what may once have been accepted should not ever have been acceptable.' Rhodes went on to explain the reason behind the network's decision. 'CBS News has reported on extraordinary revelations at other media companies this year and last,' said Rhodes. 'Our credibility in that reporting requires credibility managing basic standards of behavior. That is why we have taken these actions.' Rose was initially suspended from the network Monday when the Washington Post published the accounts of eight women who claim they were sexually harassed or assaulted by the journalist. That was followed by additional allegations from five other women. He joined CBS in 2012, hosting CBS This Morning and appearing on 60 Minutes while also occasionally guest hosting the CBS Evening News. Rose had signed a lengthy contract extension in 2015 with the network. PBS quickly followed suit, stating: 'In light of yesterday's revelations, PBS has terminated its relationship with Charlie Rose and cancelled distribution of his programs.' He's out: Rose had alresady been off from the show on Monday before the allegations broke (Rose with Gayle King and Norah O'Donnell in the above undated photo) The network, which has aired Rose's show since 1991, also noted: 'PBS expects all the producers we work with to provide a workplace where people feel safe and are treated with dignity and respect.' In a lengthy statement in response to the expose, Rose did not deny all of the allegations being made by the women but said that he did not believe all of his accusers were 'accurate' in heir description of his offenses. 'It is essential that these women know I hear them and that I deeply apologize for my inappropriate behavior. I am greatly embarrassed,' stated Rose. 'I have behaved insensitively at times, and I accept responsibility for that, though I do not believe that all of these allegations are accurate. I always felt that I was pursuing shared feelings, even though I now realize I was mistaken.' Beth Freestone, lost her iPhone on a night out in Manchester A student who had her phone stolen was sent a message months later from a woman who claimed to have found it and demanded her passwords so she could use it. Psychology student Beth Freestone, from Grantham in Lincolnshire, was left devastated when her iPhone was stolen on a night out in Manchester. Months later the 18-year-old was stunned to receive a message on Facebook from a woman claiming to have found the phone and demanding Beth's iCloud passwords so she could use it herself. The unashamed message read: 'Hi, I hope you don't mind me asking but I was given this phone that I believe you lost and I'm just using it for 2 weeks whilst mine is repaired but I am unable to use it without the password for iCloud is it possible to get it so I can sign out and into my own account. Thank you in advance xx' [sic] In a further insult, when Beth sent the woman 5 after she agreed to send the phone back, she kept the cash then blocked Beth so she could no longer contact her. The 18-year-old was stunned to receive a message on Facebook from a woman claiming to have found the phone and demanding Beth's iCloud passwords so she could use it herself The woman sent a photo of her phone and promised to send it back - but kept the 5 and blocked Beth Beth said: 'I had been in Manchester and at the end of the night I realised I didn't have my phone with me. 'I had to get a new one and I think I spent about 700. It was annoying but I just thought it was one of those things and I'd never see my lost phone again. 'Five months later, in July, I'd just finished work and I saw that I had a message request on my phone. 'A person was claiming to have my phone and was honestly asking for my iCloud details so that she could use the phone properly while hers was being repaired. 'She even asked me if I wanted any pictures from the phone, like she was doing me a favour and then thanked me in advance, I couldn't believe it. 'I just thought she was so cheeky and I was stunned. I wouldn't even dream of asking someone that. I would have been asking if they would like me to send it back - not asking for passwords.' The woman has made numerous excuses for not sending the mobile back to its owner Beth added: 'At first I wanted to make sure that she definitely had my phone so I got her to send me some pictures of it and take pictures of what was on the camera roll. 'I knew it was mine then but I still didn't feel comfortable handing my iCloud passwords over because they are linked to my bank cards. 'I asked her if she could send it back and sent her some postage money over. She agreed to do it but then she never sent it. She kept making excuses. 'She blocked me on Facebook and then disconnected her mobile number so I haven't been able to get hold of her again. 'My friends also sent her a few text messages when she stopped messaging me but she still didn't send it over and was a bit aggressive.' Despite friendly messages offering to send the phone back, the woman kept it - and the 5 given to her to cover postage One message from the culprit read: 'Phoning the police would do f*** all because I haven't stolen a phone so don't try and threaten me and stop calling me off no caller ID it will cost you money when I'm away.' [sic] The woman continued: 'Unfortunately I work two jobs and am not able to get to a post office with ease so it's just how it worked out that I haven't been able to send it. 'It will get send when it gets sent its not a crime as I found it not stole it and am doing you a favour but if you continue to harass me it going in the bin so allow it.' [SIC]. Beth didn't have a tracking app to find her phone and didn't report the incident to police. After threatening messages warning her not to inform the police, Beth finally exposed the woman on social media and her post amassed some 20,000 retweets and likes. This is the heart-stopping moment firefighters showing off their acrobatic skills at a traditional parade cheat death after losing their balance and smashing to the ground. The nine men had used their ladders to form a human pyramid on top of one of their fire engines driving through the Mexican resort city of Puerto Vallarta at slow speed along streets lined with crowds. But as the vehicle neared the municipal council offices with its sirens sounding full-blast, the pyramid collapsed as the firefighters veered violently to the left and plunged several feet to the ground. The man at the top - who was fortunately wearing a helmet - could be seen desperately clinging onto his ladder before crashing through a palm tree at the side of the road. Three of the men below him missed the side of the fire engine and ended up injured on the ground. A shocked American bystander repeated 'Oh no!' over and over again in the aftermath of the shocking incident before adding 'Something terrible happened here.' Footage of the moments after the fall showed bystanders hugging each other in disbelief as other firefighters rushed to aid their companions. The video also showed the panicked gestures of a firefighter conducting the tricky acrobatics display from the top of the vehicle as he realised his friends were losing their balance and waved his arms around in a futile effort to help them restore order. The incident happened during a traditional parade to mark Mexico's Revolution Day, marking the start of a major ten-year armed struggle which transformed the country's culture and government. Balancing on their ladders, nine firefighters formed a human pyramid on top of a fire engine while it drove through the Mexican resort city of Puerto Vallarta at slow speed On Wednesday it emerged that all the men had survived and were expected to make a full recovery. Puerto Vallarta's mayor Arturo Davalos Pena was pictured visiting the injured firefighters in hospital. Four were allowed home after treatment but four, including three who suffered broken bones, remained in hospital. Despite the dramatic fall, all the men survived and were expected to make a full recovery One of the men, named locally as Maximino Castillon Andrade, was also said to have suffered a skull injury. State governor Jorge Aristoteles Sandoval added in a tweet: 'Some members of the Puerto Vallarta firefighting team were injured during the Revolution Day parade. 'I would like to inform you that they are being treated at the moment and we will be offering them and their families all our support. I will personally be keeping abreast of the situation.' Right. Lets try and not get too worked up. Were all frustrated, were all angry, but all we need to do to top the group is beat Spartak at home. Heres how the Jekyll and Hyde Reds fared individually. Starters Loris Karius (7): Got to feel for him. Some stunning saves, some really good punches yet concedes three goals he cant really do anything about. Does himself no harm in the long run but you feel that his contribution will be forgotten. Joe Gomez (5): Will get let off hugely compared to Moreno but a really poor night for Gomez. Undone a number of times as Liverpool broke clear in the first 45, which is why some will be forgotten, but if Nolito puts his chance away at 1-0 then Gomez perhaps gets knocked down to four. Dejan Lovren (6): Caught where he shouldnt be a few times but definitely the best of the back four. Bumping him up a notch because he kept his concentration after Sevillas second went in, winning a number of crucial headers. Did the meat and drink stuff well, which was what Liverpool needed during a key spell. Ragnar Klavan (5): Not as bad as the man to his left but did little to exude confidence, a lack of game-time alongside Lovren potentially an excuse. Alberto Moreno (4): Reverted back to the worst he can be for the first 15 minutes of the second half. Shouldnt be judged too heavily on it, but it was a torrid 15 minutes. Silly foul for the first. You can sympathise a little with the penalty as he gets sold down the river with the pass to him, but its still very sloppy. Jordan Henderson (4): Lack of positional defence when the opposition has the ball clearly on show, a really poor performance from the skipper who did little to calm his troops down as things went south in the second half. Looked clueless as to how to wrestle the midfield battle back in Liverpools favour, or how to enable his side to keep the ball. Gini Wijnaldum (6): Not particularly enlightening on the ball in general but produces a beautiful flick on for the first goal and bust a gut at the end closing down and denying Sevilla space, unfortunately, it wasnt enough. Philippe Coutinho (6): A quiet night for Phil but he was still important with his deliveries from corners leading to goals. Some nifty passes but the right decision to bring him off for Can when defensive discipline was needed. Mohamed Salah (6): A threat to Sevilla but just lacked that final something on a fairly quiet night for him. Sadio Mane (7): Should maybe score the one that Firmino taps in from but it doesnt really matter. A lovely header for the second. These lads must sometimes look behind them and want to cry. Roberto Firmino (8): Ruthless, a goal poacher, a proper striker. Bobby Firmino? Subs James Milner (6): Was the right decision to put him on but to say he offered anything other than not looking to foul everyone would be a lie. Emre Can (6): Showed Henderson and Wijnaldum how to keep the ball under some pressure, helped take Liverpool forward with the ball. The OX (N/A): Meh. According to her family, she sent her Snapchat message about going on a date (pictured) but 'was planning on coming home that night' A woman who has been missing for a week sent a Snapchat message saying she was 'ready for my date' just hours before she disappeared. Sydney Loofe, 24, was last seen in Wilber, Nebraska, on Wednesday and was reported missing the next day. She missed work at the Lincoln Menards, where she is a cashier, on Thursday, prompting her parents and cops to begin their search. Police have said the disappearance is 'concerning', while Loofe's family worry she may have been kidnapped, the Lincoln Journal Star reports. According to her family, though she sent her Snapchat message about going on a date with a woman she met online, she was definitely 'planning on coming home that night'. She also left her cat and car at her home in Lincoln. The family said her phone was found to have connected to a cellphone tower in the Wilber area - which is about 40 miles southwest of Lincoln - but has since been turned off. Her dad pleaded: Tell her we love her and were waiting for her to come home. Now both cops and Loofe's family have appealed to the public to help find the missing woman. She is described as being 5ft 7in tall and about 135lbs. She was last seen wearing a Columbia jacket and cream-colored shirt. Police have said the disappearance is 'concerning', while Loofe's family worry she may have been kidnapped. Pictured: Sydney Loofe Loofe also has a distinctive yin and yang tattoo on one of her arms and the word 'Believe' with a cross inside her left wrist. On her right arm, she has the words 'Everything will be wonderful someday'. Anyone who finds her is asked to call Lincoln Police Department on 402-441-6000. The confronting moment a 20-year-old hooded man stormed a Sydney newsagent and bashed the 55-year-old owner was caught on camera. CCTV footage shows the terrifying moment the hooded Mediterranean thief held a gun at the news agency's head before bashing him with a chair. The armed robbery took place after 5.40pm Tuesday at the newsagents store in Pagewood, south of Sydney, reported 9 News. The confronting moment a 20-year-old hooded man (left) stormed a Sydney newsagent and bashed the 55-year-old owner (right) was caught on camera CCTV footage shows the terrifying moment the hooded Mediterranean thief held a gun at the news agency's head before bashing him with a chair 'I had real fear that even if I gave him the money, he would still shoot if that's what his intention was,' newsagent Mark told the publication. The footage shows Mark throwing a chair towards the armed thief, attempting to knock the gun out of his hand but the other hooded thief then grabbed the chair and bashed him with it. Mark's wife gave the thieves a small amount of cash before they fled the scene. Both of the men are still on the run and were described as having a larger build and the gunman was about 170 centimeters tall. Mark received stitches in the top of his head at Prince of Wales Hospital according to The Daily Telegraph. With his neck and arms and shaven head plastered in tattoos, former bikie Robbie Maestracci doesn't look like your typical Muslim. However five years ago while he was behind bars he converted to Islam, sparking an unlikely friendship with a Muslim leader in the process. Maestracci says the community gave him a second chance, and on SBS's The Mosque Next Door the ex-bikie opened up about his friendship with Imam Uzair - who runs Brisbane's Holland Park Mosque. Scroll down for video Plastered with ink all over his neck and arms and a shaved head, ex-bikie Robbie Maestracci (left) doesn't appear like a typical Muslim (with Muslim leader friend Imam Uzair right) While spending time behind bars, the former bikie (pictured) converted to Islam five years ago An unlikely friendship was made between the Muslim leader (right) and the former bikie (left) 'I've got criminal history, I've been locked up,' Maestracci told the program. 'I'm very blessed that I've got a job working with our community here, but if our community wasn't open to me, where would I work?' Since leaving jail, Maestracci founded a support program for other Muslims in jail and is now an Islamic Council Youth Worker. There are about 100 Muslim prisoners in Queensland jails according to the documentary, many of which Maestracci has been helping through his prison chaplaincy program. Two years after Maestracci converted to Islam he was was arrested in anti-terror raids, before the charges against him were dropped due to a lack of evidence. He claims he was caught up in the raids because he had 'crim' written all over him, and spoke about the impact being falsely accused of terror offences had on his life. Another man who served time in jail was 21-year-old Jesse, who also converted to Islam behind bars and more recently changed his name to Jihad. The ex-bikie was given a second chance after doing time in jail and is helping other Muslims who were in jail including 21-year-old Jihad (right) 'I'm very blessed that I've got a job working with our community here, but if our community wasn't open to me, where would I work?,' Maestracci told the documentary Two years after Maestracci (pictured) converted to Islam he was arrested in anti-terror raids, before the charges against him were dropped due to a lack of evidence 'I stopped using drugs the day I became Muslim,' Jihad told the program. While the Muslims said they are treated like a 'gang or bike clubs' by some, the ex-bikie said the one place to find 'good practicing Muslims' is at a mosque. The documentary series about Brisbane's Holland Park Mosque, which opened in 1908, shines a light on the lives of Muslims, educating Australians they are the second largest religion in the world and is one not to be feared. A study from October shows more than almost half of Australians support a ban on Muslim immigration. A survey of more than 2000 people by Australian Population Research Institute found 54 per cent wanted a reduction in the annual migrant intake. Australian's population increased by 389,000 people to 24.5 million in the year to march mainly because of the arrival of new immigrants. Two men and a teenager suffered stab wounds after a brutal knife fight in an alleyway. Three young men, in their late teens to mid twenties, were injured during the clash in Thornton Heath, south London, just after 6.30pm yesterday. A witness said he saw one of the gang with 'blood on his face' moments before police arrived on the scene. Police and paramedics tend to the men involved in the knife fight in Thornton Heath The first victim, a 24-year-old man, was arrested on suspicion of affray in relation to the incident and has been taken to a south London police station where he remains in custody. A a 23-year-old man, and a 19-year-old man, remain in hospital in a stable condition. Witness Christopher Lee told the Croydon Advertiser: 'I saw four people; they were fighting and arguing and then just one of the guys had a lot of blood on his face. 'They looked young, in their late teens, early 20s. 'One of the guys standing up, it looked as if he punched or kicked one on the ground. Then the police arrived.' A London Ambulance Service spokesman said all three patients were conscious when they were taken to hospital. Debris and clothes are scattered across the alleyway in Thornton Heath, south London A officer stands outside the cordon at the scene in Thornton Heath, yesterday evening He said: 'We were called to London Road at just after 6.35pm. We sent a number of staff to the scene including three ambulance crews, an officer and an emergency paramedic. 'Our staff treated three male patients, who were all conscious. 'They were treated and stabilised at the scene before being taken to hospital.' No arrests have been made. A Brexit divorce deal could be hammered out in just three weeks under a 'road map' drawn up by negotiators in Brussels and London. Talks are aimed at breaking an impasse on Britain's exit bill, citizens' rights and the Irish border by December 4 ahead of a major EU summit 10 days later. Theresa May will meet EU Council President Donald Tusk in Brussels on Friday and is slated to have dinner with EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on December 4. The two sides remain far apart on money and Ireland is holding out on agreement about the border between the Republic and the UK will work. A Brexit divorce deal could be hammered out in just three weeks under a 'road map' drawn up by negotiators in Brussels and London. Theresa May (pictured in Downing Street this week) could present the next offer personally Mrs May will meet EU Council President Donald Tusk (left) in Brussels on Friday and is slated to have dinner with EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker (right) on December 4 Further official negotiations are not expected to take place between EU negotiator Michel Barnier and Brexit Secretary David Davis. But officials are working constantly below the radar and Mrs May could present Britain's latest offer at the dinner with Mr Juncker, the Financial Times revealed today. Failure to get a deal would cause further delay that threatens a second postponement of the start of trade talks at the December summit. Yesterday Mr Davis made clear Britain will not pay the EU a 40billion divorce bill unless there is a trade deal - amid an angry backlash at ministers agreeing to double the offer. Brexit Secretary David Davis (pictured in Downing Street this morning) made clear Britain will not pay the EU a 40billion divorce bill unless there is a trade deal The Brexit Secretary insisted that 'nothing is agreed until everything is agreed' as he said a financial settlement cannot be reached until future trade terms are clear. The comments lay bare the heart of the standoff between the UK and Brussels - as the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier has explicitly stated there can be no link between the divorce payment and trade. Mr Davis was giving a speech in London after Theresa May's Brexit 'war cabinet' agreed to offer billions more in divorce payments to the EU. Brussels sources had indicated they would not consider opening talks unless the UK hands over about 40billion double the amount previously suggested by the Prime Minister. The plan for an increased offer came after ten key ministers met amid tight secrecy in Downing Street, ahead of a crunch summit next month. But it has already prompted a major Tory revolt. The bizarre moment a group of teenagers break out in song asking the lord to bless them in the middle of Schoolies celebrations on the Gold Coast has been captured on camera. Schoolies is known for teenagers getting up to all sort of mischief, but one group was heard praising Jesus, perhaps because school was out forever. In the video, filmed at night on a busy Gold Coast street a group of about 40 teenagers can be heard singing: 'Bless the lord on my soul and all that is within me.' Scroll down for video In the video, filmed at night on a busy Gold Coast street a group of about 40 teenagers can be heard singing: 'Bless the lord on my soul and all that is within me' The bizarre moment a group of teenagers break out in song asking the lord to bless them in the middle of Schoolies celebrations on the gold coast has been captured on camera Some had guitars, and others were holding banners. But some Schoolies haven't been so innocent during their end of year celebrations. Schoolies is in full swing on the Gold Coast with thousands of school leavers partying all night to celebrate the end of exams. But before they venture out for the night, many pose on balconies of their high-rise apartments in precarious positions - some even hanging over or sitting on railings. The pre-drinks photo craze is just the latest in a series of events sure to worry parents back home. Several schoolies were snapped sitting on the ledge of a balcony at least nine floors above the ground at Focus Apartments on Sunday afternoon. Schoolies is in full swing on the Gold Coast with thousands of school leavers partying all night to celebrate the end of exams Teenage girls also uploaded photos of themselves and their friends sitting on the balcony railings as they got ready to party Witnesses said they were sitting on the edge of balconies throwing things to each other for more than an hour, one small slip away from death. Teenage girls also uploaded photos of themselves and their friends sitting on the balcony railings as they got ready to party. In a video uploaded to social media a boy with a blue 'tab' on his tongue, which is poking out for the camera, with text reading 'go hard or go home' over the top. A second snap showed a man breathing in air from a yellow balloon, a practice of inhaling nitrous oxide known as nangs. In other developments, police arrested 41 people on the first weekend and another 17 on Monday night, mostly for drug possession with MDMA most frequently found. Two people were arrested this week after 24,000 ecstasy pills worth $1 million were seized in the Fortitude Valley area, allegedly meant to be sold to schoolies. A second snap showed a man breathing in air from a yellow balloon, a practice of inhaling nitrous oxide known as nangs An extremely rare giant salamander has been found trapped inside a waste pipe at a village house in China. Wu Shuying, 51, claimed it was likely that the critically endangered animal had been stuck in the tiny space for as long as two years. Giant salamander is the world's largest living amphibian and is known as 'the living fossil' because it has remained largely unchanged for 170 million years. Surprising catch: Wu Shuying (right), 51, said her husband was fixing a blocked pipe when they saw the critically endangered animal trapped inside the tube in their home in Wuhan, China Ms Wu, from central China's Wuhan city, said her husband was fixing a blocked pipe when the critically endangered animal was found. She said the animal is 80cm (31 inches) long, 20cm (11 inches) wide and weighs 5.4kg (11.9lbs). Ms Wu and her husband had been suffering from slow drain pipes in their home and decided to have them changed with larger pipes, reported Wuhan Evening News. Her husband and nephew were replacing the pipes in the kitchen at around 5pm on November 18 when they discovered the animal. She said they heard noise coming from the pipe and were surprised to see the ancient amphibian, which was said to be 'completely dark' at the time. Ms Wu's husband initially thought it was a large carp, but Ms Wu disagreed. She told a Wuhan Evening News: 'It's definitely a giant salamander. I have seen a giant salamander once in 1987.' Back to nature: Ms Wu and her husband release the giant salamander into a nearby reservoir A spokesperson of the wildlife protection station said the giant salamander could have climbed into a drain pipe in Ms Wu's house from the Shagang Reservoir when it was little After catching the giant salamander, Ms Wu left it in a large sink in her kitchen before going to bed. However, she said at around midnight, she heard what sounded like a baby's cry coming from her backyard. She immediately got up and found the giant salamander had escaped into the backyard. She caught the animal and put it in a large bucket filled with water. She put a wooden board on top of the bucket to prevent the animal from escaping again. Ms Wu also recalled that she and her husband had been hearing the same cry coming from the drain pipes for about two years. The giant salamander is called 'wa wa yu' - or 'baby fish' - in Chinese because its distress call sounds like the cry of a baby. Critically endangered giant salamander (pictured) dates back over 170 million years Ms Wu and her husband handed the giant salamander to the Jiangxia Wildlife Protection Station. Staff at the station released the animal to the Shagang Reservoir at around 1pm on November 19. A spokesperson of the wildlife protection station said the giant salamander could have come from the Shagang Reservoir. The spokesperson told Wuhan Evening News that it was possible the animal climbed into a drain pipe at Ms Wu's house two years ago when it was young, and later got stuck in the pipe as it grew larger. A weathered Union Jack at least 115 years old has been found on one of the world's remotest islands in the Russian Arctic. It was discovered on Alger Island in the Franz Josef Land archipelago - but Russian experts are bewildered how it got there. The 'well-preserved' Union flag came to light in a remarkable time capsule found at the site of the base camp of a daring bid to reach the North Pole that took place between 1901 and 1902. The mystery, however, is that it is not believed that any Britons were part of the team who used the base more than 100 years ago. The 'well-preserved' Union flag came to light in a remarkable time capsule found on Russia's Alger Island at base camp of a daring bid to reach the North Pole that took place between 1901 and 1902 It was discovered on Alger Island in the Franz Josef Land archipelago, where the Baldwin-Ziegler had a base during their failed expedition to the North Pole The mission was headed by US explorer Evelyn Baldwin, a meteorologist. Russians said there were Americans and Norwegians but no known Britons on the Baldwin-Ziegler expedition (pictured above), which sailed in a vessel called America to reach Alger Island The team was expected to make it all the way to the North Pole, but failed to reach the region The mission was headed by US explorer Evelyn Baldwin, a meteorologist, and it failed to reach the Pole despite being the best-funded bid at that time. It was backed by US baking soda tycoon William Ziegler who was furious that the mission did not even get close. Russians said there were Americans and Norwegians but no known Britons on the Baldwin-Ziegler expedition, which sailed in a vessel called America to reach Alger Island. One theory as to how how the flag may have reached the region after the Baldwin-Ziegler discovered it at the base of another expedition team, whose ship had sank 20 years prior. On the way to the island, the America and its 40 or so explorers moored off Cape Flora on Northbrook Island on the southern edge of the Franz Josef Archipelago. Twenty years earlier in the same place, British explorer Benjamin 'Ben' Leigh Smith's vessel Eira sank when it became trapped between two giant ice floes. One theory as to how how the flag may have reached the region after EB Baldwin (left) and his team discovered it at the base of another expedition, whose ship had sank 20 years prior. Twenty years earlier on the nearby Cape Flora, British explorer Benjamin 'Ben' Leigh Smith's (right) vessel Eira sank when it became trapped between two giant ice floes On the way to the island, the America and its 40 or so explorers moored off Cape Flora on Northbrook Island on the southern edge of the Franz Josef Archipelago AFter the Eira (pictured) crashed, Leigh Smith and his crew of 25 were forced to spend ten months including a bitter winter in the archipelago. Leigh Smith built a shelter - and undoubtedly would have flown the Union flag This was the expected route of the Baldwin-Ziegler polar expedition, but the team failed to reach the North Pole The intrepid explorer and his crew of 25 were forced to spend ten months including a bitter winter in the archipelago. Leigh Smith built a shelter - and undoubtedly would have flown the Union flag. In 1882 he led his men in four lifeboats with sails made from salvaged tablecloths on a perilous crossing to the island of Novaya Zemlya where they were rescued. It could be that members of the Balfour expedition saw the flag at this encampment and took it, suggested The Siberian Times . The discovery of the flag among other intriguing artifacts - preserved in the polar cold - was the 'biggest surprise' of this summer's research at the base camp. 'We didn't know the Brits had tried to invade this remote place,' said one source. Researchers were 'puzzled and intrigued' about how the flag arrived at the Arctic outpost, said Yevgeny Yermolov, head of the Russian Arctic National Park's history and cultural heritage department. The discovery of the flag among other intriguing artifacts - preserved in the polar cold - was the 'biggest surprise' of this summer's research at the base camp Researchers were 'puzzled and intrigued' about how the flag arrived at the Arctic outpost along with the American and Norwegian items, including the above box that was used to hold grain Yevgeny Yermolov, head of the Russian Arctic National Park's history and cultural heritage department, said a number of items were found at the base, including the above cutlery Yermolov said they found 'tools, parts of the America boat, harnesses for dogs and ponies', as well as eye balsam (pictured above) Some 450 dogs and 16 ponies had been sailed to the island for the failed expedition. Pictured above, an element of one of the pony's harnesses He surveyed the site and also found 'tools, parts of the America boat, harnesses for dogs and ponies'. There were 'samples of preserved foods that we found very incredibly interesting as they show technologies of product canning at the beginning of the 20th century', he said. 'We found packs of dry eggs powder, grated green peas, paper boxes made of starch, which were used to keep grain, sweets and fried coffee beans,' he said. 'There were also - unexpectedly for us - multiple glass boxes with eye balsam. 'We think it was supposed to help expedition members to fight "snow blindness".' Left on the icy island were 'cutlery, metal and ceramic dishes, glasses rims, warm mittens' along with pony harnesses. Some 450 dogs and 16 ponies had been sailed to the island for the failed expedition. 'This was the most ambitious and the best-equipped expedition in the history of developing the archipelago and the Arctic,' Yermolov said. This summer's expedition of the base (pictured above) had been conducted in a rush because the site is likely to wash away in coming years In 1990, the ruined shacks built by Balfour were 130 feet from the shore. Pictured above, researchers evaluate items at the abandoned base Because of a warming climate, and melting permafrost, they are now a mere 19ft from washing into the Arctic Ocean. Pictured above, the abandoned base The British flag had preserved because it had been made to last, said Yermolov. Pictured above, the abandoned base The 1901 expedition was backed by US baking soda tycoon William Ziegler who was furious that the mission did not even get close. Pictured above, the abandoned base He added: 'Dog sleds which was a traditional Eskimo way of moving about, proved themselves to be working really well. 'As for the Siberian ponies, they didn't justify themselves as draft power and were quickly dying from cold air temperatures and strong winds.' This summer's expedition had been conducted in a rush because the site is likely to wash away in coming years. In 1990, the ruined shacks built by Balfour were 130 feet from the shore. Because of a warming climate, and melting permafrost, they are now a mere 19ft from washing into the Arctic Ocean. The British flag had preserved because it had been made to last, said Yermolov. Cape Flora was named by Leigh Smith after his cousin, nursing pioneer Florence Nightingale. It was reported that the wreck of the Eira was found at Cape Flora, and there are hopes of a dive to the site next year. After threats of an ice cream-free summer, the union representing Streets workers is claiming a victory after their parent company agreed to scrap an alleged 46 per cent pay cut. The Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union announced a boycott of Streets products in October after consumer goods giant Unilever ended an agreement at the Minto plant in New South Wales in August. The AMWU claimed the termination would cut 150 factory workers' pay by 46 per cent, but were now celebrating after Unilever withdraw their termination of the agreement. After threats of an ice cream-free summer, the union representing Streets workers is claiming a victory 'Streets workers have won. We stopped the 46 per cent pay cut. The boycott is officially over,' the union posted on Twitter on Wednesday 'Streets workers have won. We stopped the 46 per cent pay cut. The boycott is officially over,' the union posted on Twitter on Wednesday. Streets products include favourites Golden Gaytime, Paddle Pop, Cornetto, Magnum and Bubble 'O' Bill. At the time of the boycott announcement, AMWU secretary Steve Murphy said the proposed actions from Unilever 'would not be tolerated'. 'We are calling on the Australian public to boycott all Streets ice cream products. We are calling for a Streets-free summer,' he said. Streets products include favourites Golden Gaytime, Paddle Pop, Cornetto, Magnum and Bubble 'O' Bil 'The problem is bigger than Streets, every Australian worker faces the risk if their employer hits the nuclear button that they too could lose their wages/' Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Sally McManus backed the boycott, calling a potential pay cut 'un-Australian'. 'We need to send a message to multinational companies that we will not accept their greed and if they go ahead and cut workers' pay we will cut their sales.' Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri told his supporters on Wednesday he would stay with them, after suspending his resignation in a move that eased a major political crisis. 'I am staying with you and will continue with you...to be a line of defense for Lebanon, Lebanon's stability and Lebanon's Arabism,' he said to hundreds of people gathered outside his house in central Beirut. Earlier on Wednesday he said he would hold off presenting his resignation in response to a request from President Michel Aoun to allow more dialogue. 'I presented today my resignation to President Aoun and he urged me to wait before offering it and to hold onto it for more dialogue about its reasons and political background, and I showed responsiveness,' Hariri said in a televised statement. Hariri had returned to his home country on Tuesday after a nearly three-week absence dominated by his announcement of a surprise resignation on November 4 while on a trip to Saudi Arabia. Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, center, put his resignation on hold on Wednesday to allow more dialogue with President Michel Aoun Lebanese President Michel Aoun, center, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, right, and Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, left, attend a military parade to mark the 74th anniversary of Lebanon's independence from France in downtown Beirut on Wednesday He said in his announcement on Wednesday that he would take more time for consultations, 'hoping it will constitute a serious introduction for (national) dialogue.' 'Our beloved nation needs in this critical period exceptional efforts from everyone to protect it in the face of dangers and challenges,' Hariri said in a statement from the presidential palace. He reiterated the need for Lebanon to remain neutral on regional disputes and conflicts 'and all that undermines internal stability and brotherly relations with Arab brothers.' He stood down from his post in a televised address on November 4 from Saudi Arabia and then remained in Riyadh amid rumours he was being held hostage. Hariri's plane touched down at Beirut international airport shortly before midnight and head of independence day celebrations on Wednesday, his office said. Earlier on Tuesday he travelled to Cairo to see Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, whom he thanked for his support for Lebanon. Hours later, Hariri flew from the Egyptian capital Cairo to Larnaca in Cyprus where he met late at night with President Nicos Anastasiades. Lebanese Government, Lebanese President Michel Aoun, left, meets with Prime Minister Saad Hariri, at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday After a brief visit he flew on to Beirut, where took part in the independence day military parade early Wednesday and the customary reception at the presidential palace. Hariri's Future Movement called on supporters to gather at his home in downtown Beirut on Wednesday afternoon. A dual Saudi citizen who has previously enjoyed Riyadh's backing, Hariri resigned in a mysterious broadcast from the Saudi capital, accusing arch-rival Iran and its powerful Lebanese ally Hezbollah of destabilising his country. But President Michel Aoun has yet to accept Hariri's resignation, insisting that he present it in person once back in the Lebanese capital. During Hariri's two-week stay in Riyadh, Aoun accused Saudi authorities of holding him 'hostage' and demanded that he enjoy freedom of movement. After mediation efforts by Egypt and France - which held former mandate power over Lebanon - the 47-year-old premier left Riyadh on Saturday. He had headed to Paris for talks with President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday. Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri touched down in Beirut on Tuesday night, marking his return to the country after a nearly three-week absence Hariri has promised to 'clarify' his position after he tendered his resignation while visiting Riyadh amid rumours he was forced into it and being held hostage Hariri's resignation from outside the country is unprecedented in Lebanese history. Under Lebanon's constitution, the president is bound to accept a premier's resignation however it is tendered, constitutional expert Edmond Rizk said. Although it is not outlined in the constitution, Rizk said, custom dictates 'this resignation is supposed to be submitted to the president of the republic'. Hariri's arrival came just hours before Lebanon starts independence day celebrations in which he will play a key role A resignation brings down the government, and the president then engages in consultations to select a new prime minister to form a cabinet. In Lebanon, divided for more than a decade between a pro-Saudi camp and a Tehran-backed alliance, that process typically takes months of political wrangling. But the discussions also aim to strike a balance between the country's diverse religious communities. As part of Lebanon's presidential-parliamentary system, the premier must be a Sunni Muslim, the president a Maronite Christian and the speaker of parliament a Shiite. More than a week ago, Hariri said he could walk back from his resignation if Hezbollah withdrew from regional conflicts, including Syria. Hezbollah, whose forces are fighting in neighbouring Syria along government troops, said it still considers Hariri the current premier. 'When he comes, we will see. We're open to all dialogue and discussion,' its chief Hassan Nasrallah said on Monday. But if Hariri does quit in the future, Aoun has two options: either rename him premier or choose another prominent Sunni figure to lead a new cabinet. Uncertainty reigns over Hariri's position after President Michel Aoun refused to accept his resignation, insisting he must present it in person Earlier in the day Hariri had visited Egypt (pictured) before flying to Cyprus and arrived in the Lebanese capital shortly before midnight 'If Hariri's consultations lead to a new government, that would be a way out,' said Rizk. Aoun tipped Hariri as premier in 2016, as part of a deal across political lines that ended a two-and-a-half year stalemate in Lebanon. Hariri's two terms as prime minister have both ended abruptly. In January 2011, as he was meeting with then-US president Barack Obama in Washington, Hezbollah and its allies withdrew their ministers and collapsed Hariri's government. His unexpected resignation earlier this month was seen as part of an escalating power struggle between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran, which back opposing sides in the conflicts in Syria and Yemen. On the day Hariri resigned, the Saudi kingdom said it intercepted a ballistic missile fired by Tehran-backed Huthi rebels in Yemen at Riyadh. The announcement also coincided with a purge of more than 200 Saudi princes, ministers and businessmen. As'ad's Bio As'ad AbuKhalil, born March 16, 1960. From Tyre, Lebanon, grew up in Beirut. Received his BA and MA from American University of Beirut in pol sc. Came to US in 1983 and received his PhD in comparative government from Georgetown University. Taught at Tufts University, Georgetown University, George Washington University, Colorado College, and Randolph-Macon Woman's College. Served as a Scholar-in-Residence at Middle East Institute in Washington DC. He served as free-lance Middle East consultant for NBC News and ABC News, an experience that only served to increase his disdain for maintream US media. He is now professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus. His favorite food is fried eggplants. Like a scene from a grizzly horror movie, thousands of angry hornets swarmed out of the king of nests as an exterminator bashed at the giant structure with a shovel. The super-sized wasp nest had engulfed half a shed in Patterson, Louisiana, climbing up the walls, spreading over the floor and teaming with thousands of territorial hornets. Brave exterminator Jude Verret was called to the house and he filmed the extraordinary - and very close encounter - with the angry stinging hornets. Wearing a protective suit and mask, he approached the shed where the nest was built in many layers upon the shed floor and the belongings abandoned there. Wasps swarmed onto the exterminator and the camera lense as he approached the nest, and the video showed the stinging insects in horrifying detail and scale. Thousands of wasps darted out of the giant nest to defend their home as he started to dismantle it with a shovel amid a cacophony of angry buzzing sounds. Im actually not usually scared, he said before the deafening sound of swarming wasps drowned out his words. As he pulled the nest apart, the air grew increasingly frenetic with darting flecks of yellow and black as the shed was engulfed in a heaving mass of hornets. The queen could be seen for a moment before she climbed deeper into the nest to hide. The air grew increasingly dense with raging bees as he dismantled their nest. The enormous 'granddaddy' of hornets nests was found in a shed in Patterson, Louisiana Bee careful! A brave exterminator was called to the house and he filmed the extraordinary - and very close encounter - with the angry stinging hornets Horror hornets: Thousands of the wasps darted out of the giant nest to defend their home as he started to dismantle it with a shovel amid a cacophony of angry buzzing sounds He clarified on camera that the nest does not belong to honey bees they are hornets, he said definitively. The amazing video was shared online today. Hornets are a large member of the wasp family but their stings are more painful than regular wasps because hornet venom contains a large quanitity (5%) of acetylcholine. Hornets and wasps can sting repeatedly - unlike honey bees they do not die after stinging because their stingers are not barbed and are not pulled out of their bodies. Although hornets and wasps look very similar, they tend to have very different colony sizes. Wasps tend to have less than than 100 individuals in a colony while hornet colonies are much larger. Like other social wasps, hornets build communal nests by chewing wood to make a papery pulp. Each nest has one queen, who lays eggs and is attended by workers who, while genetically female, cannot lay fertile eggs. Rebecca Greatley, 25, had picked up Jamie from work after smoking cannabis The heartbroken father of a man killed in a drug driving crash in South Australia has described the trauma of losing three children in three separate car crashes. 'Jamie is not the first child I have lost in a road traffic accident... I also lost two daughters in accidents ten years apart,' David Dumbleton said in his victim impact statement read to court this week. 'I carry three wounds in my heart and they are not healing,' he added. Jamie Dumbleton, 26 (left) and Rebecca Greatley, 25 (right) were work colleagues and friends A truck ploughed into Greatley's car (pictured) when she got drove after smoking cannabis Mr Dumbleton, 56, is in Port Augusta, South Australia for the trial of Rebecca Greatley, who was driving 'high' on marijuana when she crashed her car and killed Jamie. Ms Greatley had picked her friend Jamie up from work in Port Pirie, when she failed to give way to a road train at a major intersection in May last year. The court heard how she had smoked cannabis about an hour before getting behind the wheel to pick up her friends. The truck ploughed into Ms Greatley's car killing Jamie and injuring her other colleagues Lauren Canciani and Dylan O'Donnell-Middleton. For 18 months the 25-year-old has consistently denied causing the fatal crash and has even, as they report, threatened The Advertiser with legal action over the reporting of her drug use. But on Tuesday Ms Greatley pleaded guilty to killing Jamie while high on cannabis. The 26-year-old was on a working holiday when he was killed. David Dumbleton said his son 'loved life, loved wildlife' (Jamie pictured here with crocodile) The 56-year-old father said his son Jamie (pictured) 'was the main character in our family' Greatley (pictured) changed her plea to guilty of causing Jamie's death by dangerous driving Outside the court, Mr Dumbleton told 9NEWS he remembered his son as happy, outgoing and fearless. 'He loved life, loved wildlife. The photographs we have of at home are him riding elephants, in a tiger cage, swimming with sharks, in crocodile tanks,' he said. 'He also did a sky jump which he always wanted to do... he was fearless. 'I think there was a lot more to come for Jamie but unfortunately that's not going to happen. 'He was the main character in our family... we're just so proud of him for what he's done,' Mr Dumbleton added. In a victim impact statement Jamie's mother, Angie Dumbleton, wrote: 'I can honestly say that the worst day of my life was when two policemen came to my house and told me Jamie had died... we kept praying it wasn't him,' she said. Danny Dumbleton described the anger and resentment he felt over his brother's death: 'Jamie's life is over. He is dead. He will never get the chance to live his life and have a family. He would've been a great father. 'When she got behind the wheel of the car on drugs, she didn't just kill my brother, she killed my best friend,' he said. Ms Greatley cried in the dock as she heard the impact her crime has had on the Dumbleton family. 'I just want the accused to know she has hurt so many people by taking Jamie away from me and us ... she has caused so much grief,' Stacey Dumbleton, Jamie's sister, told the court. 'It's her fault that he's dead now my daughter will never know her uncle. 'It is unfair that such a beautiful person was taken too early. Mr Dumbleton (pictured) said he carries 'three wounds in my heart and they are not healing' Jamie (pictured) was on a working holiday when he was killed in a drug driving crash in SA 'And it's because of someone else's stupid, careless actions,' she said. Craig Ethelton, the truck driver involved in the collision, told the court how he has to drive past the crash scene for work. 'Every night, I am reminded of these events,' he said. 'I know the accident was not my fault but I was driving the truck that killed a man and that will stay with me for the rest of my life.' Mr Dumbleton said he has no anger towards the truck driver: 'I think he was relieved when he said sorry and I said you've got nothing to be sorry for. You've done your job and there are three other people still alive because of it,' he said. 'To me, he's a hero.' Ms Greatley is due to be sentenced before Christmas. North Korea has denounced US President Donald Trump's decision to relist it as a state sponsor of terrorism, calling the move a 'serious provocation and violent infringement'. Trump put North Korea back on a list of state sponsors of terrorism on Monday, a designation that allows the United States to impose more sanctions and risks inflaming tension over North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile programs. In North Korea's first reaction to the designation, a spokesman for the foreign ministry denied in an interview with the state media outlet KCNA, that his government engaged in any terrorism. North Korea has denounced US President Donald Trump's decision to relist it as a state sponsor of terrorism, calling the move a 'serious provocation and violent infringement'. Pictured: North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un President Donald Trump designated North Korea a state sponsor of terrorism on Monday, following through on his administration's promises throughout this trip to Asia to make a decision soon The US designation only made North Korea more committed to retaining its nuclear arsenal, the official said. Pictured: An intermediate-range strategic ballistic rocket, the Hwasong-12, lifting off near Pyongyang earlier this year He called the state sponsor of terrorism label 'just a tool for American-style authoritarianism that can be attached or removed at any time in accordance with its interests'. The US designation only made North Korea more committed to retaining its nuclear arsenal, the official said. 'As long as the US continues with its anti-DPRK hostile policy, our deterrence will be further strengthened,' he said, referring to North Korea by the initials of its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. 'The US will be held entirely accountable for all the consequences to be entailed by its impudent provocation to the DPRK.' The North's official added that the country has no connection to terrorism and 'doesn't care whether or not the United States places the hat of terrorism on our heads.' He said the US action shows North Korea should continue to 'firmly grab the treasured nuclear sword' to protect itself from American hostility. The designation came a week after Trump returned from a 12-day, five-nation trip to Asia in which he made containing North Korea's nuclear ambitions a centerpiece of his discussions. Announcing the designation, Trump told reporters at the White House: 'In addition to threatening the world by nuclear devastation, North Korea has repeatedly supported acts of international terrorism, including assassinations on foreign soil.' In a Cabinet meeting, Trump called the designation 'a very critical step' that he said will 'start right now.' 'Should have happened a long time ago. Should have happened years ago,' Trump said. The president also said new sanctions are on the way for the 'murderous regime,' invoking Otto Warmbier, an American college student who died days after his return to the US from North Korea earlier this year. Iran, Sudan and Syria were already on the terror blacklist, with Sudan being the most recent of the three to be blacklisted in 1993. North Korea had been designated state sponsor of terrorism but George W. Bush removed it from the list in 2008. A woman in China has been taken away by the police after ranting at a hospital lobby wearing just her underwear. The middle-aged woman, reported to be emotional, was complaining that she 'had not recovered after visiting the hospital several times'. Hospital staff said the woman had undergone plastic surgery there and later filed a complaint about the results of the operation. The unidentified woman takes off her clothes in the middle of a hospital lobby in China She then started shouting at hospital workers wearing just her bra and underpants The incident occurred in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, on November 20, according to a report on People's Daily Online, citing Modern Express. Mobile phone footage shows the woman, whose name has not been revealed, shouting to a hospital worker and a security guard at the lobby. Before that, she had stripped down to her underwear in public. Mr Xue, who was waiting for his appointment, told the reporter: 'Few members of the public tried to talk to the woman and asked her to dress up, especially because the weather was code.' It's claimed that the woman was unhappy about the result of her plastic surgery at the hospital The hospital said they would try to settle the matter with the woman and find a solution However, the woman refused to dress up. She kept yelling that she had not been recovering well. The police arrived at the scene after receiving reports and took away the woman for questioning. The hospital told Modern Express that they would try to settle the matter with the woman and find a solution to her complaint. Advertisement A kind-hearted diver saved a turtle from certain death when a plastic bag became lodged eight inches down her throat. University lecturer Saeed Rashid, was on a trip to the Red Sea when he spotted two Hawksbill turtles feeding on jellyfish. After taking a few pictures, the 46-year-old realised the female was in distress and was unable to eat due to a plastic bag blocking her airways. Rashid, who works at Bournemouth university, immediately jumped into action and pulled the bag from her throat leaving the starving turtle free to eat again. His heroic act comes as the BBC documentary Blue Planet II reveals to millions of viewers the effects of pollution in the ocean. University lecturer Saeed Rashid, 46, was on a trip to the Red Sea when he spotted Hawksbill turtle that was unable to eat due to a plastic bag blocking her airways The female turtle was in distress and was unable to eat because a plastic bag had become lodged eight inches down her throat Rashid, who works at Bournemouth university, immediately jumped into action and pulled the bag from her throat leaving the starving turtle free to eat again Rashid said that the turtle was surprisingly calm as he handled her, and once she was freed from the plastic bag she was able to eat again He said: 'I got close to the female and took a few photos of her eating. 'Then I realised she had a plastic bag in her mouth and in fact wasn't able to eat, she was just nudging the jellyfish clearly in some distress. 'I've been diving for 20 years and been lucky to travel all over the world and I'm now seeing a massive increase in the amount plastic floating about, I've always collected what I can but I know it's such a small drop in the very real ocean. 'I had to try and help so I put away my camera and tried to pull the bag from its mouth. The plastic bag was not only in her mouth but also down her throat. I had to hold onto its shell and try to wrestle from her. 'The turtle was surprisingly calm and let me manhandle her a little and once she opened her mouth the bag came out. There was about eight inches down her throat and wouldn't have been able to eat. Rashid, pictured left, was taking photos of two turtles when he noticed the female was in distress. Pictured right, the turtle after being freed from the plastic as the bag floats above her Rashid said that when the turtle was freed from the bag she started eating jellyfish around her because she was 'clearly hungry' Rashid said that over the 20 years he'd been diving, he has seen a 'massive increase in the amount of plastic floating about' and said he's always collected what he's seen Rashid said that while photographing the turtles, he saw another plastic bag and grabbed it before the animals could try to eat it 'Almost as soon as I pulled the bag out she tried to eat yet another bag that floated by. I quickly pulled that bag away and she went on to eat a few of the many jellyfish around us, she was clearly very hungry.' Rashid said that after he removed the plastic, both turtles then followed him up to the surface of the water and played with him. He added: 'Strangely we encountered more turtles on this trip than I had ever seen before but they will soon die out unless we do something now. 'I want our children to see with their own eyes what I've come to love on the oceans. I often talk about plastic waste in the ocean but have never seen it's effect so close up.' BBC's Blue Planet II, seen by nearly 11million viewers, has shown the affects that plastic can have on animals in the ocean. Rashid said that after he removed the plastic, both turtles then followed him up to the surface of the water and played with him Rashid said that he saw more turtles on this trip than he had ever before, and hopes that his children can one day see the animals as well Rashid's heroic act comes as the BBC documentary Blue Planet II reveals to millions of viewers the affects of pollution in the ocean One scene featured a pilot whale carrying her dead newborn around for days, reluctant to let go. The programme suggested that the newborn might have been poisoned by its mothers own polluted milk. The footage led to an outpouring of anger from viewers, charities and campaign groups. The Treasury is expected to consider a carrier-bag style tax on single-use plastic items such as throwaway trays for ready meals. The Government has already promised to outlaw plastic microbeads in cosmetics, and introduced the 5p levy on plastic bags which has seen their use fall dramatically. But green groups, MPs and academics earlier this week called for even tougher measures to reduce the eight million tons of plastic being dumped into our oceans every year killing sealife and even ending up in the fish we eat. They suggested measures including more water fountains in public places and a ban on plastic cutlery and non-recyclable cups. A shopper was disgusted when she caught a rat scurrying between aisles and jumping off shelves inside a B&M bargain store. Kerry Dee, 28, filmed the rodent running amok inside the shop in Reading, Berkshire, and said it was so big her daughter through it was a 'bunny rabbit'. The chain, which has 500 branches across Britain, has apologised and pledged to send in pest control to deal with the issue. The rat leaps off the shelf much to the shock and disgust of shopper Kerry Dee Ms Dee said the rat was so big her young daughter thought it was a 'bunny rabbit' Ms Dee said: 'I looked to my right and saw a long tail moving across the tools. 'I bent down and saw a rat sat on top of the toolbox. 'I gasped in shock because it was right next to me and I don't like [rats], lucky my daughter thought it was just a bunny rabbit.' The mother added: 'My sister called a worker over to explain what happened and I showed him the video. 'He appeared shocked and disgusted but didn't react so my sister advised him to call a manager. 'He reappeared five minutes later but carried on working, so we waited to see if a manager was coming but nothing, so we left. 'Rat's aren't unheard of in big stores but it's what steps the establishment are taking to make sure the situation is under control, customers are safe and products are not affected and for a manager not to even come over to reassure us that measures are in place is concerning. The rat scurries across the aisle at the B&M store in Reading, before leaping onto a shelf Kerry Dee, 28, caught this rat running amok on shelves at B&M bargain in Reading 'We are just sorry we had to witness that to show how they failed to deal with the situation, it is disgusting.' A B&M spokeswoman confirmed the rat had since been removed from the store. She said: 'We take health and safety very seriously and have an ongoing prevention programme to prevent such issues, so it's disappointing that this has been seen in one of our stores. 'A pest control company have since been to the store to remove the rodent and following additional visits ensured us that there is no indication of any more in the store and further preventative measures have been installed.' Advertisement A Highland cottage formerly owned by Jimmy Savile has been left to rot four years after it was sold at auction. The once idyllic home nestled in Glencoe in northern Scotland was raided by police following the disgraced TV presenter's death in 2011 - and it is thought up to 20 people suffered abuse there. The paedophile, who is alleged to have committed hundreds of historic sex crimes, bought the house in 1998 from renowned Scottish mountaineer and founder member of the Glencoe Mountain Rescue Team, Hamish MacInnes. The once idyllic home in Glencoe in the Scottish Highlands was raided by police following Jimmy Savile's death in 2011 The paedophile bought the remote cottage in 1998 from renowned Scottish mountaineer and rescuer Hamish MacInnes Four years after it sold at auction to a couple for 212,000 - more than double the asking price - the home has been left to rot The property, called Allt-na-reigh, was used by Savile as a hideaway until his death. Now, four years after it sold at auction to an elderly couple for 212,000 - more than double the 100,000 asking price - it has been left to rot. And these images taken by Michael Buddle from Cheshire show how all of the windows have been boarded up apart from one that has been smashed - with opinion still divided over the future of the cottage. The house was also white-washed after vandals wrote 'Jimmy the beast' on the walls and damaged a door in 2012. Mr Buddle, 48, said: 'Opinion is still divided as to the future of the cottage: whether to demolish, re-develop into a family home, or convert into a museum of mountaineering. These images show how all of the windows of the property have been boarded up apart from one that has been smashed The photographer 'made time to explore and document its current condition, rather than to just drive past as per normal' Savile, pictured at the home in 2008, carried out a horrific reign of abuse dating back to 1959 when he raped a girl aged 13 'I always knew the house was there and have driven past it several times but I made time to explore and document its current condition, rather than to just drive past as per normal. 'I didn't actually look inside although I wish I had now. The graffiti a few years ago was awful. It was a blight on such an idyllic landscape.' Savile's horrific reign of abuse dated back to 1959 when he raped a 13-year-old girl, before attacks followed 'in the corridors, canteens, staircases and dressing rooms of every BBC premises'. Other vile crimes exposed included the rape of both a virgin teenager in a hotel and a 15-year-old work experience girl he met in the BBC canteen over a cup of tea. Twenty one of Savile's female victims were aged 15 or younger, the youngest being eight, while young boys - including an eight-year-old - were also preyed on by him. A search has been ongoing for missing snorkeler Scott McGuire, 29, who went missing on Sunday A man's body has been found during a search for a missing snorkeler in shark-infested waters. Police were called after the body of a man was found in waters off Robinson Reserve in Anna Bay, north of Newcastle about 4.20pm on Wednesday. The body is yet to be formally identified, but a search has been ongoing for missing snorkeler Scott McGuire, 29, who went missing on Sunday. Authorities have been searching for Mr McGuire since then after he failed to return to shore or appear at home after he went diving for lobsters. New South Wales Police said the search for Mr McGuire has now been suspended. The body will be examined and a report will be prepared for the Coroner. Mr McGuire was last seen wearing red board shorts, black flippers and goggles and a clear snorkel. Police were called after the body of a man was found in waters off Robinson Reserve in Anna Bay Police were concerned he may have gotten into trouble in the water and drowned, or been taken by a shark. His disappearance follows a shark attack on a 31-year-old surfer at the same beach last month. The surfer swam to the shore at Birubi Beach with puncture wounds to his foot. President Trump reportedly wants daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner to move back to New York. Vanity Fair reports that the president is concerned that the couple are being hit with too much negative press from the Russia investigation. Three people who have spoken to the president say he's asked Jared and Ivanka to go home. 'He keeps pressuring them to go,' one source close to Jared told the magazine. But the reason for sending the couple back to Big Apple could be two-fold because they no longer have much to do at the White House. Vanity Fair's Gabriel Sherman spoke with a half dozen Trump advisers, current and former West Wing officials and Republicans close to the administration who revealed that Chief of Staff John Kelly has significantly reduced Jared's role. 'Kelly has clipped his wings,' one high-level Republican close to the White House told the magazine. Vanity Fair reports that President Trump has asked daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner to return to New York. The couple pictured with their two eldest children at the Turkey pardon on Tuesday Sources also told the magazine that Jared's (left) role in the White House has been significantly reduced since John Kelly (right) became chief of staff When Kelly was appointed to the role in July, he sought to rein the president in, ending the Oval Office's open door policy for Jared. He also hacked away at Jared's responsibilities in the administration, which at one point included restructuring the government, reforming the VA, ending the opioid epidemic, nurturing a relationship with China and brokering peace in the Middle East. Under Kelly, Jared is now mainly focused on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And two people who spoke to Sherman said that even there he is disappointing Kelly. Kelly was apparently upset with Jared's trip to Saudia Arabia last month, which happened just days before 32-year-old Prince Alwaleed bin Talal arrested 11 royals. Bin Talal said that the arrests were for corruption but others say it was a power grab for the king-in-waiting. During Jared's trip, the two stayed up to nearly 4am 'planning strategy' which Kelly thought gave the impression that the administration not only knew about the purge beforehand, but might have had helped plan it. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has denied this. And it's not just Kelly that's been let down by Jared. Even the president has expressed displeasure with his son-in-law's political advice, according to Republicans who have spoken to Trump. That advice reportedly includes firing FBI Director James Comey (which Jared denies) and backing losing Alabama GOP candidate Luther Strange (though it saved Trump from initially endorsing the now-controversial Roy Moore). Sending Jared away may be Trump's way of trying to downplay the Russia investigation, as it nears closer to the White House. Last week, the Senate revealed that Jared had not turned over emails relating to Wikileaks, something his attorney denies. But Jared has reportedly been left unnerved by the indictments of Paul Manafort and Rick Gates. 'Do you think theyll get the president?' Jared asked a friend, according to a person briefed on the conversation who spoke to Vanity Fair. The man whose emaciated body behind the barbed wire of a prison camp became a symbol of the suffering of the Bosnian Muslims during the war in the 1990s, was today in attendance at the Hague. Images of Fikret Alic in concentration camp near the city of Prijedor in northwest Bosnia and Herzegovina sent shockwaves around the world in 1992. Today, 25 years later, he watched as Ratko Mladic, the man responsible for his suffering, was found guilty of war crimes and genocide. Survivor: Fikret Alic holds holds a copy of Time Magazine from 1992 bearing his image as he emerges after the UN tribunal found Ratko Mladic guilty of genocide and war crimes Mr Alic became an involuntary celebrity after video of prisoners in one of the Bosnian Serb camps of his were broadcast in 1992, and his gaunt face and protruding ribs appeared on the cover of Time magazine. A group of British journalists had stumbled upon a prison camp called Trnopolje, after struggling to get access to prisoners in nearby Omarska. There they met Mr Alic, who told them he had recently been transferred from another camp called Keraterm where more than 100 people had been murdered in a single night. He became a symbol of the civilian victims of the conflict, and saw thousands wake up to the reality of the war crimes being carried out on the Balkans. The images saw former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher attack the British government's lack of action, stating: 'I never thought I'd see another holocaust in my life.' Face of horrors: Alic is seen emaciated behind barbed wire of a concentration camp in northern Bosnia Herzegovina Outburst: Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic had to be removed after shouting in the Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague, but the verdict continued and he has been found guilty of genocide and war crimes The UN intervened and closed the camp. Today, Mr Alic said: 'justice has won, and the war criminal has been convicted.' He added the verdict 'means that the example will help prevent war crimes in the future.' 'I am expecting that this general in the Yugoslav army and later the Bosnian Serb army - that this criminal who committed the atrocities that happened to us - is not seen as a hero.' The United Nations ' Yugoslav war crimes tribunal today found Mladic guilty of commanding forces responsible for crimes including the deadly three-year siege of the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, and the 1995 massacre in Srebrenica. The murders of of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the east Bosnian enclave was Europe's worst mass killing since World War II. The UN has called the conviction of Mladic a 'momentous victory for justice', branding the former military commander the 'epitome of evil'. Military serviceman Narek Hoveyan, who on Tuesday was wounded in a landmine explosion in the Republic of Artsakh, is at the military hospital in capital city Stepanakert, and he is in very critical condition. November 22, 2017, 12:43 Soldier wounded in Artsakh landmine explosion is in extremely severe condition STEPANAKERT, NOVEMBER 22, ARTSAKHPRESS:The doctors, however, are not yet considering the option of having him transferred to Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia, reported NEWS.am. A clubber was left with life-changing injuries by a single punch caught on CCTV in a city centre attack. Roy Croft viciously assaulted 39-year-old Paul German at 5am in the unprovoked attack in Liverpool last November, as this horrendous footage shows. Croft, from Tranmere, was yesterday jailed for 20 months for the attack, which left his victim with a bleed on the brain. Roy Croft viciously assaulted 39-year-old Paul German at 5am in the unprovoked attack in Liverpool last November, as this horrendous footage shows A fast left hook floored children's worker Mr German, who then cracked his head on the hard concrete outside the Heaven Bar, an LGBT venue, in Victoria Street. Crown advocate Simon Duncan, prosecuting at Liverpool Crown Court, said: 'This was an entirely unprovoked attack on Paul German, who was simply about to get into a taxi with his partner, John Millar, as they were leaving the Heaven Bar, in Victoria Street. 'After the incident, Croft fled and left in another taxi. The impact of the attack was such that Mr German could not recall what had happened to him. 'A single left punch from Croft had knocked Mr German to the floor, resulting in bruising and bleeding to the brain. 'He remained in hospital for two weeks and thankfully recovered. 'However, he now has to wear two hearing aids and spectacles as a result of an attack that he had done absolutely nothing to cause.' A fast left hook floored children's worker Mr German, who then cracked his head on the hard concrete outside the Heaven Bar, an LGBT venue, in Victoria Street In an emotional victim personal statement, Mr German stood up in court and told how his life had changed forever as a result of the assault, and led to a catalogue of emotional and mental health worries. Prosecutors concluded the attack was not homophobic, but that is not a view shared by Mr German, who believes the offence against him had the hallmarks of a hate crime. Croft only came forward to hand himself in once the hunt for him was publicised in the press and a CCTV photo of the attacker went viral. He initially tried to claim the punch was sparked from an argument over a taxi, claiming he 'felt threatened', but that was rejected by Recorder Andrew McLouglin. Mr German was stretchered away in front of his stunned friends while 40-year-old Croft went on the run. He told the court: 'While being in hospital for two weeks, all I can say was, to me, it was like hell on earth, lying in bed doing nothing but worry about what could have happened. Mr German(left) was stretchered away in front of his stunned friends while 40-year-old Croft went on the run 'All I wanted to do was go home to the safety of my own home. When I got home, I then discovered I was not even me. 'I was just a shell... all the pieces of me were missing. 'I have worked in the industry as a licensee/manager for over 20 years and I have been the one making the calls to police and ambulance, never thinking I would ever be in that situation.' Mr German said he became so paranoid and scared he could not leave the house alone and had to have therapy before he could even cross a road. He added: 'I feel a shadow of my former self and that someone has dimmed out a light in me that, as hard as I try, may never come back. 'I feel there were two Pauls - the Paul before the attack, and the Paul after - and I can never have the authentic Paul I was back. 'Basically, I feel raped, but in a different way, this man has stripped me of my confidence, being sure of myself, able to help others, to be able to walk down the road at ease. 'I used to think of myself as an outstandingly strong, positive person, but the only way to describe it now is like a scared, very fragile vase, that could break or shatter at any time.' Mr German said he became so paranoid and scared he could not leave the house alone and had to have therapy before he could even cross a road. Pictured: A woman pushes Mr Croft away after the punch John Ballam, defending Croft, claimed his client was remorseful about the attack and shameful, adding: 'It was a single blow to the head of the complainant - it's clearly a misunderstanding.' Recorder McLouglin was urged to show leniency, but he told the barrister: 'This offence is so serious that I'm not prepared to suspend the sentence.' Croft, who admitted causing grievous bodily harm, was also spared paying compensation to the victim. He has past convictions for assaulting a police constable, common assault and battery, but had stayed out of trouble during the past 15 years. Huw Jones took his own life amid an investigation into claims he had child abuse images, an inquest heard A headteacher who starred in TV's Come Dine With Me killed himself as police investigated him for possessing child abuse images. Huw Jones, 51, was found dead in a church graveyard two days after allegations of possessing indecent images were made against him. An inquest into his death heard he told a woman police officer involved in a search of his home: 'I like young chaps.' School governors said he was 'visibly shaking' when was told to not attend school the next day for a meeting. Jones - described as 'well-respected' and whose school was rated as 'excellent' by inspectors - was found dead in a church cemetery the next day. He was filmed making pancakes in the Channel 4 series in 2011, in a show which has since been repeated. The Cardiff inquest heard South Wales Police had been given information by Yorkshire police about allegations of indecent images. Det Sgt Emma Hampton told how he was alone when she called with a search warrant at his home in January. She said: 'Mr Jones replied "I like young chaps" and I explained why I was at his address. He seemed slightly nervous.' Jones had previously welcomed other contestants on Come Dine With Me into his home He featured on a Shrove Tuesday special of the show and made pancakes for his guests She left Jones with paperwork with support numbers - and asked him if he would like anyone to stay with him for support. But he declined. Det Sgt Hampton said: 'He assured me he was fine.' Jones had been head at Albert Primary School, in Penarth, near Cardiff, for twelve years after working in education since he was 26. Describing a meeting with Jones after the police investigation was launched, school governor Jaqueline Elias said she informed him that he should not attend school the next day. She said: 'Huw went very red and started to visibly shake and asked about the nature of the allegations. 'He went deflated and very quiet, the opposite of what I would expect from him.' He was described as popular with staff, pupils and parents, who were shocked by his death Jones with pupils and staff at Albert Primary School, in Penarth, near Cardiff, where he worked The next day, February 1, Mr Jones was discovered on the ground in St Lawrence Church cemetery in nearby Lavernock. A note for his family was found at Mr Jones' home following a forced entry during the search for him. Det Con Mark Wonnacott said: 'He just said he was sorry for what he has done. 'He thought he would never be good enough and just thank you for everything they had done for him.' The inquest in Cardiff heard he was struggling to come to terms with his homosexuality and suffered depression. Coroner Phillip Spinney recorded a conclusion of suicide. He said: 'It's plain to me that he intended to take his own life.' He was told not to attend the school after governors were informed of the investigation For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116 123 or visit a local Samaritans branch, or see samaritans.org for details. A detective has been arrested for burning her husband's clothes because she thought he was having an affair. Marissa Sorocco, a 37-year-old detective with the New York Police Department, allegedly started a fire in her husband Paul's closet at their home in Plainview, New York. Firemen rushed there after getting a call at 10.15am on Tuesday but the fire was out when they arrived to find smoldering clothes. Marissa Sorocco (pictured with her husband) allegedly stated a fire in her husband Paul's closet at their home in Plainview, New York Sorocco was then arrested and later charged with arson in the fifth degree and criminal mischief, according to a police source. 'The detectives believe she set the fire as revenge for her husband's suspected infidelity,' the source told the New York Post. Former NYPD policeman Paul Sorocco declined to comment when contacted by the paper. A Nassau County spokeswoman declined to detail charges or confirm that Sorocco was in custody. Domestic cases are exempt from public records to protect the victim. Advertisement Incredible footage from the Second World War showing American troops capturing an island from the Japanese in the Pacific Ocean has reemerged this week, giving Britons a rare glimpse into the war in the Pacific. Video from Americas Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign shows planes falling out of the skies in balls of flames as American and Japanese squared off. Further footage shows the US bombarding the Japanese-held islands with artillery before launching a land invasion, with clips showing troops narrowly avoiding hails of bullets also featured in the footage. Incredible footage from the Second World War has been released showing American troops capturing an island from the Japanese in the Pacific Ocean The Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign was the name given to a series of battles which took place between America and Japan across the Pacific between November 1943 and February 1944. The US wanted to set up a series of bases across the Pacific to aid in future assaults on the Central Pacific, and the seizure of the Gilbert and Marshall Islands from the Japanese would be vital in providing the support they would need. Due to a tactical ploy by the Americans, the Japanese had left certain islands such as Tarawa and Makin in the Gilberts and Kwajalein, Eniwetok, and Majuro in the Marshall Islands less heavily defended, believing an attack would be launched on different islands in the area. Footage from Americas Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign shows planes falling out of the skies in balls of flames The US wanted to set up a series of bases across the Pacific to aid in future assaults on the Central Pacific, pictured here are some injured troops during the war with one appearing to be blind Knowing this, the Americans targeted the islands with air strikes, artillery and a land invasion, making significant gains and forcing the Japanese from the islands one by one as they made their way across the area. It was not without loss, though, with the attack on the Gilbert islands proving particularly costly to the US. They suffered 2,459 dead and 2,286 wounded, a high number due to the slight unpreparedness of the forces, while Japan fared far worse, suffering a total of 5,085 dead and 247 captured. The Marshall Islands campaign proved far less costly for the US, though, who used the lessons learned in the Gilbert Islands campaign and learning from them. In the Marshalls, the Americans lost 611 men, with 2,341 wounded and 260 missing, while the Japanese lost over 11,000 men and had 358 captured. The Americans targeted the islands with air strikes, artillery and a land invasion, making significant gains and forcing the Japanese from the islands one by one as they made their way across the area During the attack on the Gilbert islands the US suffered 2,459 dead and 2,286 wounded, a high number due to the slight unpreparedness of the forces, while Japan fared far worse, suffering a total of 5,085 dead and 247 captured The attack on the Marshall Islands proved far less costly for the US, though, who used the lessons learned in the Gilbert Islands campaign and learning from them In the Marshalls, the Americans lost 611 men, with 2,341 wounded and 260 missing, while the Japanese lost over 11,000 men and had 358 captured A foster dad allegedly pimped out children in his care along with a 65-year-old accomplice as they ran a prostitution ring from an apartment at a senior living facility in Massachusetts. Pittsfield police arrested 65-year-old Joseph Van Wert and 45-year-old foster dad Randy Lambach and held them without bail on charges including human trafficking. Authorities say Lambach recruited drug addicts from Pittsfield, took photos of them, and posted ads on adult websites,The Berkshire Eagle reports. Joseph Van Wert, 65, (pictured left) allgedly let Randy Lambach (right) use his apartment in a senior living facility in Massachussets to run a prostitution ring Police say he scheduled and drove the women, whom police found to be some of his foster children, to and from meetings with men, seeking clients for sexual services. He kept anywhere from 50 to 90 percent of the money and sometimes he would take the full profit and pay the woman with a few bags of heroin or some crack cocaine. Apparently Van Wert used his apartment at a senior living facility as a place to conduct the prostitution and his partner in crime, Lambach, allegedly threatened to turn the women in if they refused to work claiming police would not believe them because they were, 'drug addicts and wh***s'. After complaints regarding an apparent increase in prostitution throughout the city police began the investigation in the spring of 2017. The police conducted patrols interviewing multiple prostitutes on the streets, however many declined to say who 'tricked them out'. Police were tipped off after someone gave them the number plate of a blue station wagon, which was allegedly the vehicle used by Lambach to transport the women. One woman revealed to authorities that she was hired by Lambach for about a year and had sex with him regularly for money or to pay off a debt. The women's rates were typically $80 for 30 minutes or between $160 and $200 for an hour and men would contact Lambach via cellphone with a date, time, location. A witness told police she saw photographs of some of the women and speculated that one woman was as young 15-years-old. Authorities say Lambach (left) recruited drug addicts from Pittsfield, took photos of them, and posted ads on adult websites and used Van Wert's (right) apartment as a base Lambach would either wait outside for the women after dropping them off at appointments or watch from a closet or doorway. Police also discovered that Lambach used drugs to get the women high before having sex. Van Wert allegedly paid for sex with the women and was paid by Lambach in cash and drugs for the use of his apartment. Police decided by November that they had enough probable cause to arrest the men in question. Lambach was confronted by police November 14 and Van Wert was arrested at his apartment shortly after that. Van Wert has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit human trafficking, deriving support from prostitution, maintaining a house of prostitution and sexual conduct for a fee. Lambach has pleaded not guilty in Central Berkshire District Court to four counts of human trafficking. The investigation remains ongoing and additional charges may be coming, it has not been determined if the men have lawyers or not. The next hearing is scheduled for November 29. TripAdvisor has been accused of removing claims of rape and assault from reviews made by the website's users. The travel firm is now reportedly under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission. Senator Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat from Wisconsin, was sent a letter informing her that the FTC is investigating TripAdvisor. The travel firm is now reportedly under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission. Pictured: TripAdvisor's headquarters in Needham, Massachusetts According to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, the letter - written by FTC chief Maureen Ohlhausen - explained: 'The Commission has a strong interest in protecting consumer confidence in the online marketplace, including the robust online market for hotel and travel. 'When consumers are unable to post honest reviews about a business, it can harm other consumers whose abilities to make well-informed purchase decisions are hindered and harm businesses that work hard to earn positive reviews.' In a report by the Journal-Sentinel, one woman said that she was shocked to learn that the owner of a restaurant she visited just south of Baltimore - the Rams Head Tavern - had been charged with recording women while they were in the bathroom. In a statement, TripAdvisor explained: 'We are not aware of an inquiry by the Federal Trade Commission nor have they contacted us'. Pictured: TripAdvisor CEO Stephen Kaufer When she found out by reading a newspaper, her husband went straight to TripAdvisor to warn others about the 'Peeping Tom'. But within a day, the couple claims, the post was deleted - with the firm explaining that the review did not meet website guidelines. But TripAdvisor denied even knowing about the supposed FTC investigation. In a statement released to Business Insider, the firm explained: 'We are not aware of an inquiry by the Federal Trade Commission nor have they contacted us. 'TripAdvisor is a global user-generated content platform that enables travelers to post positive and negative reviews and forum content about their experiences. 'We receive 290 pieces of content a minute and need to ensure that information posted on our site adheres to our content guidelines to ensure the integrity of these posts. 'We stand by our publishing guidelines and how they are applied.' A waxwork of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been unveiled by a museum in Montreal and immediately become an object of ridicule at its unveiling. Although not many world leaders can boast of being depicted in wax, it's unlikely the premier will be recommending his fellow citizens to go and view his model anytime soon. The waxwork appears to show the leader looking much older than his true age along with a strained appearance on his face - not the fresh faced, handsome leader the world has come to recognize. Montreal's Grevin wax museum unveiled a statue of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, sculpted by Paris-based artist Eric Saint Chaffray Many have commented how the wax model looks nothing like the real thing, pictured here It took six months to create but the prime minister did not sit for any modelling sessions Trudeau's office co-operated in the creation of the figure by sending in photos and approving the sculpture as it took shape. But the Prime Minister did not sit for any modeling sessions which may explain why the likeness bares little resemblance to the real thing. The Canadian leader was even too busy to attend the unveiling reception on Tuesday. Users on Twitter were quick to pass judgement on the strange looking sculpture. Grevin Montreal museum Managing Director Kathleen Payette poses for a selfie next to a wax sculpture of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the unveiling ceremony Twitter users were quick to criticize the model with some amusing and pithy observations 'The Trudeau wax figure is like one of those nightmares where you think it's him from behind but you turn it around and the face is all wrong,' one correspondent wrote. 'Is it just me or does the wax statue of Justin Trudeau look more like a future Trudeau when the stress catches up with him at the end of his term and actually starts looking his age?' asked another. Paris-based artist Eric Saint Chaffray took six months at a cost of around $300,000 to complete the model before it was unveiled at Montreal's Grevin wax museum. The statues was manufactured in France by a team of about 20 people who worked on details such as the clothing, painting and hair implants. The Trudeau sculpture is dressed in a blue suit with a maple leaf pin on the lapel, a white shirt and red tie and bright red maple leaf socks. Kathleen Payette, head of the museum, said they chose the Canadian leader because of his 'modernism, his open mind and because of his world-wide popularity.' The Prime Minister was too busy to attend the unveiling of his own waxwork 'Prime Minister Trudeau was chosen because he is known and appreciated everywhere in the world,' she said. 'He put Canada on the map, whether you agree or not with his politics.' Payette said a team of people will ensure Trudeau's hair and make-up are always flawless for the 150,000 visitors the museum receives every year. 'He will stand in the hotel Grevin exhibit next to other politicians such as Barack Obama, Pierre Trudeau - his father - and Rene Levesque,' she said to CTV. In a tailored blue suit with his hands clasped gingerly in front of him, the eyes of Trudeau's wax effigy look slightly to the left of the room but many commented that his eyes appear to be staring off into space. He joins about 120 other wax figures, including Celine Dion, Michael Jackson and Lady Gaga. The daughter of an immigrant family from one of Britain's poorest areas has become the first state school student to win the individual prize at an Eton debating competition. Selina Begum, 16, was crowned best debater at the prestigious Eton Autumn Invitational, after beating off competition from 200 other pupils. The majority of the other entrants studied at top independent schools including Eton College, Winchester College and Westminster. Selina beat her rivals in motion debates on junk food and rights to privacy, before giving a prepared argument on the abolition of the death penalty in the US. Selina Begum, 16, was crowned best debater at the prestigious Eton Autumn Invitational, after beating off competition from 200 other pupils The student is studying A-level in maths, economics, politics and history at Newham Collegiate Sixth Form and hopes to study history at Oxford. She currently lives in Manor Park, east London, with her parents, where her mother is a full-time carer to her disabled father. Speaking after the win, Selina said her sixth form's dedicated debate coordinator Jerome Singh was the key to her success. Selina beat her rivals in motion debates on junk food and rights to privacy, before giving a prepared argument on the abolition of the death penalty in the US 'It was intimidating,' she said. 'The students from Eton and the other independent schools were so confident. They got up and spoke without notes and seemed like they had been doing it all their lives. 'But Mr Singh told me not to be scared, that my arguments were just as well thought out.' Selina said she had taken part in debate before, but never at that level. 'Nothing on this scale - not against pupils from schools like Eton,' she said. 'It makes me so happy to realise that, despite my background, I can compete with pupils at these types of schools. Particularly as they will be who I am up against when try to get into Oxford. 'Being at this sixth form really opens your eyes to the world outside east London. The things that you didn't think you could do, you quickly realise you actually can.' Newham Collegiate Sixth Form hit the headlines last summer when their former City Lawyer headteacher Mouhssin Ismail helped 95 per cent students win places at Russell Group Universities. He said: 'When I spoke to journalists last summer, I said there was no reason why a pupil from East Ham couldn't compete with those at Eton. The majority of the other entrants studied at top independent schools including Eton College, pictured, Winchester College and Westminster 'Not only are our students competing with these students they are actually now beating them. 'There has been lots of talk about the lack of state school students going to Oxbridge but this year we are aiming to send at least 20. 'If you give the students the right opportunities - like the chance to debate with and beat students from Eton - then there are places available. We have proved that.' Selina's family moved to the UK from Bangladesh in the 1990s. A prominent evangelical pastor is claiming that Alabama Republican Roy Moore dated 'younger ladies' for their 'purity.' The Moore friend, pastor Flip Benham, also says Moore courted women who where younger than him because 'all of the ladies' his age were taken by the time he returned from Vietnam. Benham admitted Monday on an Alabama radio show that Moore dated teen girls - yet said the U.S. Senate candidate always sought the permission of the women's parents first. Moore meanwhile said he was looking to sue the women who have come forward to accuse him of inappropriate conduct when they were minors. Pastor Flip Benham says Roy Moore courted women who where younger than him because 'all of the ladies' his age were taken by the time he returned from Vietnam The interview with Benham, head of Operation Save America, an anti-abortion group, aired Monday evening on WAPI 99.5 FM in Birmingham. Benham, who just days ago appeared at Moore campaign rally, said: 'Judge Roy Moore graduated from West Point and then went on into the service, served in Vietnam and then came back and was in law school. 'All of the ladies that, or many of the ladies that he possibly could have married were not, were not available then, they were already married, maybe, somewhere. So he looked in a different direction and always with the [permission of the] parents of younger ladies. He added, 'By the way, the lady hes married to now, Ms. Kayla, is a younger woman. He did that because, you know, there is something about a purity of a young woman, there is something that is good, thats true, thats straight and he looked for that.' The radio program's hosts, Matt Murphy and Andrea Lindenberg, interrupted him to assert that Kayla was a divorcee, deflating his 'purity' argument. Lindenberg asked directly if his testimonial is confirmation that Moore dated teens, possibly as young as 16. 'How would I know that? Benham replied. All of the ladies that, or many of the ladies that he possibly could have married were not, were not available then, they were already married, maybe, somewhere. So he looked in a different direction and always with the [permission of the] parents of younger ladies,' Benham said Benham tried to turn the tables, and asked the hosts if it would be OK for a man in his 30s to court a 14-year-old with their parents' consent. 'NO!' Murphy and Lindenberg told him. Murphy took the argument further, asking Benham if a grown man could date a 10-year-old with her parents' permission. 'What are you talking about?' Benham rebuffed. A heated discussion ensured, with Benham finally saying that conduct would not be appropriate. Benham's interview gained national attention just as President Donald Trump inserted himself into the conversation. Trump gave Moore a lifeline on Tuesday when he said, 'He totally denies it. He says it didn't happen. And, you know, you have to listen to him, also.' The president suggested he could campaign for Moore. 'I'll be letting you know next week,' he said. 'But I can tell you, you dont need somebody who's soft on crime, like Jones. ' Hours later, Moore appeared on conservative talk show host Scott Beason's Alabama Cable Network program. He said he was pursuing legal action against the women accusing him, one of whom says she was 14 when Moore instigated sexual touching. President Trump gave Moore a lifeline on Tuesday when he said, 'He totally denies it. He says it didn't happen. And, you know, you have to listen to him, also' He has also threatened to sue the news outlets reporting their stories, the Washington Post and Alabama Media Group, publisher of the The Birmingham News, The Huntsville Times and the Press-Register of Mobile. 'We are. We're talking about The Washington Post. We're talking about the women involved,' he told Beason after he asked about defamation. Moore said, 'There are things coming out in the future which I can't talk about.' And insisted, 'We're getting proof.' In a Wednesday morning tweet, Moore commented that it was 'Day 8 of attorney Gloria Allred's refusal to turn over her fake yearbook for third party examination.' It was a reference to accuser Beverly Young Nelson's claim that Moore signed her 1977 high school. She's offered it as proof that they were acquainted were she was 16. The second woman who came forward to accuse Minnesota Sen. Al Franken of inappropriate touching sat down for her first television interview on Wednesday. Speaking to Good Morning America, Lindsay Menz described how Franken grabbed her butt while the two were taking a picture at the Minnesota State Fair in 2010, two years into Franken's first term. 'So my husband steps away from us to take the photo. I stand next to Sen. Franken and he pulls me towards him and then moves his hand to my butt,' Menz, 33, recalled. 'I was shocked.' She added: 'I was surprised and kind of wondering, did that really just happen?' Scroll down for video Lindsay Menz, the second woman to come forward with sexual harassment allegations against Sen. Al Franken, sat down for her first TV interview on Wednesday EXCLUSIVE: Lindsay Menz, second Al Franken accuser, speaks out; alleges Senator groped her during a photo: https://t.co/6KSSUHpMXa pic.twitter.com/DlxJNufwNW Good Morning America (@GMA) November 22, 2017 When Menz first came forward with her allegations against Franken on Monday, the senator responded saying he did't remember the incident but feels 'badly' that she left the meeting feeling disrespected. He has refused to step down but says he will cooperate with any potential ethics investigation. Menz no longer lives in Minnesota, so she says the decision about whether Franken should remain in office is up to the voters there. She went into more detail about the encounter in her initial interview with CNN. Lensay Menz, left, claims Sen. Al Franken, right, groped her when the two took this picture at the Minnesota State Fair in 2010 It was wrapped tightly around my butt cheek. It wasn't around my waist. It wasn't around my hip or side. It was definitely on my butt. I was like, oh my God, what's happening As her husband was getting ready to take their picture, Menz says that Franken 'pulled me in really close, like awkward close' and then 'put his hand full-fledged on my rear' 'It was wrapped tightly around my butt cheek. It wasn't around my waist. It wasn't around my hip or side. It was definitely on my butt. I was like, oh my God, what's happening,' she said. She said the moment last four seconds, and that immediately after the photo was taken, she left Franken's side without saying a word. She says she then went up to her husband and told him 'He totally touched my butt!' Menz immediately told her husband Jeremy (left), who took the picture, about the groping immediate after it happened 'I was upset. I wasn't happy about it in the least,' her husband Jeremy said. 'He was already gone and I wasn't going to confront him. But yeah - I was in shock, really.' At the time, Menz posted the picture to Facebook and her own sister commented that the two were very close in the shot. Menz responded: 'Dude -- Al Franken TOTALLY molested me! Creeper!' Franken told CNN he didn't remember taking the photo with Menz, but that he feels 'badly' that she felt disrespected. 'I take thousands of photos at the state fair surrounded by hundreds of people, and I certainly don't remember taking this picture,' Franken said. 'I feel badly that Ms. Menz came away from our interaction feeling disrespected.' Menz detailed the incident on her Twitter profile last week Menz decided to speak out about the incident on Thursday, after another woman came forward with similar claims about the Democrat senator. Los Angeles broadcaster Leeann Tweeden accused Franken last week of forcibly kissing her and groping her during a USO tour in 2006, when the then-comedian was elected to the U.S. Senate. He already faces the possibility of an investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee. Menz says she doesn't think what happened to her is the same as what happened to Tweeden, which she said was much worse. 'The reason I want to say something is if someone sees that I said something, maybe it would give them the courage to say something too,' she said. Menz says she does not identify with either political party, but leans Republican. She and her husband voted for Donald Trump in the last election. She has voted for Democrats in the past, including Minnesota Senior Sen. Amy Klobuchar, and, she believes, Franken as well. The couple moved to Texas in 2014, and Menz is a stay-at-home mom to three kids. Menz decided to speak out after another woman, Leann Tweeden, spoke out about a similar incident involving Franken that happened in 2006 Tweeden (pictured) says she was forcibly kissed and groped by Franken when the two were on a USo trip to the Middle East in 2006, before he became a senator The newest claim against Franken is similar to the ones that have been made recently against former President George H.W. Bush. Several woman have come forward, saying the elder Bush president groped them while taking pictures with them. The new claims against Franken have been heralded as a victory for Republicans, who have been facing blowback for sexual misconduct allegations against members of their own political party - most notably Roy Moore, who is running for Jeff Sessions old Senate seat in Alabama. Moore has faced an onslaught of allegations that he sexually abused underage girls, but he has so far refused to drop out of the race. While President Trump is not campaigning for Moore, he has refused to definitively speak out against the Senate hopeful - all while being especially critical of Franken. Franken's office has not responded to Associated Press messages seeking comment Monday. Democratic women senators are calling for a vote on the Dream Act before the end of the year to prevent the deportation of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients, a majority of whom are women. The 11 senators, including U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, wrote a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell urging him to allow a vote on the Dream Act, which is similar to the DACA program established by President Barack Obama's administration in 2012. DACA grants temporary protected status to undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children. To be eligible for the program, they must meet educational requirements and have no serious criminal offenses on their record. The Trump administration announced in September that it would end the DACA program and gave Congress six months to reach an agreement on a legislative fix. Without the Dream Act or another legislative solution, DACA recipients will likely face deportation. Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and her colleagues noted that 53 percent of DACA recipients are women. They cited a survey that found about one-quarter of DACA recipients are parents of children who are American citizens. "The futures of these mothers and their U.S. citizen children have been thrown into uncertainty," the senators wrote. "If Congress does not act to protect them, hundreds of thousands of women will lose their status and face deportation." With Trump's decision to phase out DACA, many Democrats and even some Republicans view the Dream Act as a legislative solution to prevent the deportation of more than 800,000 DACA recipients. The Dream Act contains many of the same or similar provisions as DACA. Permanent resident status would be given to immigrants who were under the age of 18 when they came to the U.S. and have spent at least four years in the country. They must not have a serious criminal record or be a national security threat. The educational requirements would be maintained. There is bipartisan support for the Dream Act in the Senate. The bill is sponsored by U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican. The bill's nine cosponsors include six Democrats and three Republicans. The women senators the letters other signers were U.S. Sens. Tammy Baldwin, Maria Cantwell, Catherine Cortez Masto, Tammy Duckworth, Dianne Feinstein, Kamala Harris, Mazie Hirono, Amy Klobuchar, Patty Murray and Elizabeth Warren touted the benefits of the Dream Act, especially for immigrant women. A vast majority of DACA recipients more than 90 percent have jobs, according to the senators. And nearly three-quarters of those in the program were able to get better jobs once they received DACA status. "Without the Dream Act, women will face extreme difficulty making ends meet for their families," the senators wrote. There is no indication of when or if Congress will address the DACA program. One plan was to include the Dream Act or a similar measure in a larger spending bill. According to Politico, that idea has been met with resistance from conservative Republicans. If the spending bill doesn't include language to protect DACA recipients, some Democrats have threatened to oppose the legislation. An alleged wedding crasher has been caught on camera assaulting guests and restaurant staff while being asked to leave a nuptial banquet in Taiwan. The foul-mouthed woman screamed at guests, repeatedly hit the table to express her anger and splashed juice towards a waiter. Eventually she left the high-end restaurant, but not until she took with her balloons and wedding biscuits belonging to the bride. Neither the groom or the bride claimed to know the woman. Came uninvited: The alleged wedding crasher is asked to leave a lavish restaurant in Taiwan Unruly: However, the woman refuses to leave and pours juice towards a restaurant waiter Smash: Appearing furious, the woman grabs a label from the table and throws it away The woman's shocking behaviour was caught by a viral video clip which emerged on Facebook. The video is said to be filmed on November 20 in Taoyuan. In the footage, a well-dressed woman can be seen sitting at a table and playing on her mobile phone. She appeared to be in her mid-30s. A wedding emcee, who wore a red dress, approached the guest politely asking her to leave, but she was soon told by the woman 'not to touch' her. A wedding receptionist also found out that the woman's name was not on the guest list and also asked her to leave the banquet. However, the woman verbally attacked the receptionist and again refused to leave. 'Do not touch me': The woman rudely points at the wedding emcee who asked her to leave Angry: The wedding receptionist confronts the woman while holding a chopstick in hand The receptionist, wearing a suit, can be seen trying to confront the woman while holding a chopstick in his hand. The unruly woman then splashed a glass of orange juice at the direction of a waiter who tried to ask her to leave. She also violently threw a label saying 'extinguished co-workers' from the table onto the floor. She only agreed to leave when the restaurant staff were about to call the police. Insulting: The woman lashes out at a restaurant waiter before pouring juice towards him Unreasonable: The woman verbally assaults guests after being caught sneaking into the place The clip ended as the woman grabbed a bag of balloons and another bag filled with wedding cakes before rushing off. It was understood that the balloons belonged to the wedding planners and the wedding biscuits belonged to the bride. According to Taiwan news channel Era News, the cost of the wedding banquet was TWD 14,800 (372) per table and it was considered to be lavish in Taiwan. It's said that the woman left before the banquet started. Gone with the freebies: Before she agreed to leave, she took bags of gifts from the wedding Some web users have identified the woman to be Belle Wu Ya-Hui. Ms Wu admitted on her Facebook page that the woman in the video was indeed her. She said it was her auntie's wedding and she had been invited, but some wedding guests demanded she should leave. Her Facebook post also mentioned that she was a member of New Power Party, a left-wing political party in Taiwan. However, New Power Party denied the claim, saying Ms Wu was not a member. According to Sanlih E-Television News, the woman had been spotted by web users at Zhongli Train station apparently talking to air. Mr Huang, the bridegroom, told the news station that he and his partner did not know the woman. Say what? German Chancellor Angela Merkel talks to Social Democrats Party (SPD) leader Martin Schulz in Parliament yesterday Germany's Social Democrat Party is under mounting pressure to reconsider joining their former coalition partner Chancellor Angela Merkel in government, to prevent a national crisis. Talks on a potential coalition between Merkel's Christian Democratic Union and two other smaller parties collapsed on Sunday, putting Europe's biggest economy at risk of sinking into months of paralysis. SPD leader Martin Schulz has repeatedly said he would not return as the junior coalition partner to Merkel, but has now been asked to revise his position. Voices within and outside the SPD have grown louder in questioning Schulz's decision and his push for early elections. President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who is himself a senior Social Democrat, has said that this 'is the moment when all participants need to reconsider their attitude'. Steinmeier will meet with Schulz on Thursday. The president has already held talks with the leaders of parties in the failed coalition talks - the pro-business FDP - which halted the negotiations - and the Greens. And he met with the leader of Merkel's Bavarian allies the CSU on Wednesday. As the crisis shows no signs of abating, the Sueddeutsche daily reported that 'in the SPD, unease is growing over its clear refusal of a grand coalition'. 'One must speak with the president openly, without already insisting on your own point of view,' Johannes Kahrs, who leads the right-leaning wing of the SPD, told Bild daily. EU Budget Commissioner, Guenther Oettinger, also urged the SPD to reexamine its stance. 'With a view on Germany's ability to take action in Europe, the SPD should once again consider if it should not join a government,' Oettinger, a CSU politician, told Spiegel weekly. 'Resistance is growing' against Schulz, Bild reported, adding that the 'most prominent secret advocate for a new grand coalition is deputy chancellor Sigmar Gabriel'. Schulz has declared that he was ready for a snap poll, but latest surveys show that an early election would likely deliver similar results to September's - and the risk of potentially getting a worse score than the record low 20.5 percent is something that SPD members fear. Worries: Coalition talks between Merkel's Christian Democratic Union and two other smaller parties collapsed on Sunday, putting Germany at risk of political crisis 'While a majority of rank and file members is fundamentally opposed to another stint in government, parts of the party's establishment feel that throwing a life-line to Merkel could well be preferable to unpredictable alternatives,' said Michael Broening, political analyst at the SPD-linked Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. 'At the very least it would enable the Social Democrats to push for a whole list of social democratic demands and basically dictate the terms of what is widely expected to be Merkel's last government,' he added. With former finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble out of the way, the SPD could even make a play for the powerful ministry at a time when the public treasury is bulging with 45 billion euros, noted German media. Seemingly backpedalling from Schulz's snap polls call, SPD parliamentary group chief Andrea Nahles said on Monday she would not rule out backing a Merkel-led minority government. The party's rank and file are also wondering if former European Parliament chief Schulz is the best man to lead them into any new election campaign, according to media reports two weeks before the SPD's annual congress. 'Too many mistakes during the election, missteps with new appointments and - worst of all - a misjudgement of the public's current mood,' Bild said. Advertisement Residents whose lives have been blighted for seven years by a 40ft high mountain of rubbish are celebrating after it was finally removed. The 27,000-tonne mountain in St Paul's Cray, south east London, was built-up by a firm who intended to burn the waste for renewable energy. The company which had leased the site, Waste4Fuel, abandoned it after losing a High Court battle with the Environment Agency, leaving the huge pile of rubbish looming over nearby residents' homes and causing the area to stink of 'rotting corpses'. The stop-start plan to shift the waste was then delayed after contaminated waste was discovered. The site is estimated to have cost the taxpayer nearly 5million to sort out, with the fire brigade being called to the site more than 200 times. Slide me A huge mountain of rubbish behind homes in south east London has finally been removed by workers this week The mountain of rubbish was built up by a firm who planned to burn it for energy, but was abandoned after a legal dispute The site was cleared this month, with residents celebrating the end of a site which had caused them heartache for years After final work to remove it started this summer, the last pieces of waste were finally removed this month. Resident Jan Watkins, 60, who lives 100 yards from the site, said: 'I'm extremely pleased it's finally gone. We're all very relieved. 'We've had a lot of big problems - the awful smells, the almost weekly fires, the traffic. When the fires were burning we would often lose our water pressure and some people even lost their heating. 'The flies and rats were a big problem, and even though I have cats they kept bringing corpses in the house. The waste's removal will definitely improve the area and push up the house prices. 'The work was meant to finish in March but it's really dragged on and on.' Residents had to live with the mountain of rotting waste near their homes, bringing in swarms of rats and flies It has taken years to finally organise the removal of the rubbish at huge cost to the public purse. Pictured: The site this week Dennis Clark, 67, added: 'I was stuck in limbo, and if I'd wanted to sell my house, I wouldn't have been able to. 'But now I have the opportunity if I want to and it's a lot nicer here now, I can have my windows open. 'I'm a bit concerned because they haven't decided what to do with the land, but I don't mind as long as it's not big flats.' The huge mountain weighed the same as 2,100 double decker buses, or almost half as much as the Titanic. As well as blight on the local area, the rubbish would often catch fire, leading to endless calls to the local fire service Annette Rose, a campaigner for Bromley Friends of the Earth, has been working with residents for five years to have the rubbish removed and is 'thrilled' the work is finally complete. She said: 'We've worked for five or more years on this on behalf of residents, who had a horrendous time with fires and the disturbances at the site. 'The smell has been terrible, they've been forced to keep their windows shut because of the smoke from the fires, and there has been a rodent problem. 'They've had a really awful time of it so we're absolutely thrilled that it's gone - it's such good news.' Bromley Council said the waste has been processed in Kent and will now be recycled across the country according to the type of material. A loner living with his elderly mother has been jailed for posing as a modelling scout to dupe girls as young as 10 into sending naked pictures. John Kilpatrick, 24, used a 'friend finder' app to bring up a list of females' profiles, telling them his name was BeccaJane and that he worked for top London modelling agency BMA Models. If asked each victim 'have you ever wanted to be a model?' before asking for progressively revealing photographs. When he received them, he threatened to spread the images via the internet unless his 'contacts' sent him more. Stirling Sheriff Court was told he amassed a total of 19 female victims across Britain, including five girls under 13 and eight more aged 13 to 16, as he was jailed for three months and eight years. John Kilpatrick has been jailed for posing as a modelling scout to dupe girls as young as 10 into sending naked pictures He also posed as the manager of BMA models, the boyfriend and flatmate of 'BeccaJane', and as a black male, a lesbian female, and a schoolboy, as he wove his web of deceit. Police, acting on intelligence received, raided his home in Larbert, Stirlingshire, in April 2016 and seized two mobiles and an iPad. Forensic analysis of the devices 'revealed the presence of thousands of chat logs between Kilpatrick and and female children and young female adults on various social media platforms'. As well as BeccaJane, he also used the tags 'Johnkboy93' and 'Pedobear' to procure pictures, some of which were of children in school uniform. In the case of one 12-year-old girl from the south west of England, he pretended to be a boy from her own school. He uploaded naked images of one 17-year-old girl to a 'revenge porn' website, and threatened to upload others to a Twitter account he had created called 'Whores of Kik'. When one 15-year-old girl refused to comply he threatened her with Twitter before posing as his own mother and telling her he was dead. He later told police he had threatened his victims 'when he felt angry or pissed off with the world'. The court heard that when he posed as a scout from BMA and asked one schoolgirl to send him nude photos, she became suspicious, and asked him why a modelling agency would want naked pictures of a 14 year old girl. Kilpatrick, 24, used a 'friend finder' app to bring up a list of females' profiles, telling them his name was BeccaJane and he worked for top London modelling agency BMA Models He replied it was legal 'because it was art, not porn, and he wanted to check her for 'marks and scars'. He blackmailed a 15 year old girl into sending him images, stating it would cheer him up as his mother had died and a friend had been in a car crash, asked a 10 year old girl to meet him for sex, and sent his victims fake model agency forms to fill in. In one case, he extorted images from one young girl despite her threats of self harm, and another girl, aged 14, was targeted by Kilpatrick for 'many months'. Kilpatrick pleaded guilty to 24 charges including: obtaining or attempting to obtain pictures and private details of women and girls by fraud, extortion or attempted extortion, distributing indecent images of a child, causing young girls to look at indecent images and encouraging children to participate in sexual activity. After reading background reports and a risk assessment, Sheriff Pino Di Emidio imposed the 44 month jail term, and placed Kilpatrick on the sex offenders' register for life. He told him: 'Your solicitor has referred to a fantasy world. Regretably it was a fantasy world which engaged with a considerable number of young and vulnerable people. 'Those you were in contact with interacted with that fantasy world to their detriment. 'Some of those involved appear to have moved on with their lives, some were deeply affected. You had no idea how vulnerable any of them might have been at the time. 'In some cases, your interaction with them took place over a significant period of months 'Every single one of the charges you have admitted is sufficiently serious to merit a jail sentence.' Kilpatrick showed no emotion as he was led to the cells. The court was told that the director of BMA Models, Lynn Campbell-Walker, was spoken to by the police and confirmed that nobody by the name of John Kilpatrick or Becca Jane had ever worked for her company in any capacity. She added that BMA Models 'would never request nude photos as part of offering modelling work'. Procurator Fiscal for Tayside, Central and Fife, Jennifer Harrower, said Kilpatrick would also use one of his other profiles to contact the victims and befriend them and reassure them BeccaJane was genuine. Mrs Harrower said: 'Many of the John Kilpatricks' victims were extremely vulnerable and reluctant to be involved in proceedings, and it took incredible bravery in coming forward to report what happened to them. Kilpatrick showed no emotion as he was led to the cells at Stirling Sheriff Court (pictured) 'It's thanks to their courage and a painstaking, thorough and demanding effort on the part of police and prosecutors that it has been possible to bring him to justice.' Martin Morrow, defending, said: 'He created a fantasy world, with this model agency, featuring multiple characters and exotic locations, including hotel rooftops in Madrid, and social events that just simply weren't happening,. 'It was a work of fiction, and a replacement for the reality - of sitting in a back bedroom in Central Scotland - which simply got out of control.' Detective Chief Inspector Vicky Watson from the Forth Valley Public Protection Unit said after the case: 'John Kilpatrick used deception to engage with his victims, many of whom were young girls, before obtaining indecent images of them and trying to extort further images from them through the use of threats and intimidation. 'He is a predator of the worst kind and deliberately targeted victims he perceived to be either vulnerable, or susceptible to coercion.' This is the miraculous moment a man survived being hit when a huge scaffolding structure suddenly collapsed. The five-story-high scaffolding fell onto a street inches away from the pedestrian, who managed to ran away from the debris in a split second. Five people have been confirmed dead after being found buried under the debris in China on November 22. The police have detained six people in relation to the accident as investigation is underway. A man can be seen waiting by the road under the building covered by scaffolding in China As soon as he crosses, the bamboo scaffolding collapses and falls right next to him According to local news website JS118.com, building works were being carried out in the offices of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in Jianshi, Hubei Province. Dashcam footage from a passing car shows the moment the five-storey high bamboo scaffolding fell down from the building, hitting pedestrians and drivers. One man was about to cross the road and was waiting under the construction site. He miraculously survived being hit by the debris. Video shows he quickly jumping over a fence as the scaffolding collapsed just inches away from him. A thick cloud of dust can be seen after the scaffolding fell down trapping two pedestrians Onlookers gathered around the site and two people claimed to have been trapped beneath the debris (left). The five-storey high construction fell onto the road on November 22 (right) Rescuers were immediately dispatched to the site to look for injured pedestrians. Five people - three men and two women - were found buried under the debris, according to Hubei Daily. All of them were confirmed to be dead. The police have detained six people in relation to the accident. Further investigation is underway. With inflation hitting 11.1% in October - the highest rate for 41 years - the extraordinary rise in the cost of living in the UK is laid bare with the price of staples such up by 48 per cent. And to make matters worse, the cost of running a home is sky high. The Office for National Statistics ( ONS ) says there has been a 128.9% rise in the cost of gas, a 65.7% increase in price of electricity - driving up costs for families who are now paying an average of 88.9 per cent more for heating and lighting than a year ago. Joe Jackson, a consumer expert at DIYMoney, told MailOnline: 'The cost of cheese, eggs, milk and other staples has gone through the roof. Buying the basics for many households right now will feel like buying gold bullion. Even making simple meals like a cheese and ham omelette is now stretching many people's finances to the limit. For millions of people, what were once staples in larders around the UK have become luxuries. It's an extremely challenging time, especially for the lowest earners, who are being hit disproportionately hard by the current level of inflation'. Millions are now routinely paying 20p more for two pints of milk, 30p more for a packet of pasta, 30p more for six free range eggs, 40p more for a block of mature cheddar and up to a 1 more for frozen foods such as chips or prawns than they did 12 months ago. Today's official inflation figures from the ONS show there is not a single type of food or drink that has not gone up in price in October as energy bills also soar. Experts believe that by the end of the year, the average family will have spent 4,960 in the supermarket in 2022 - 380 more than 2021. A recent poll revealed that 85% of people are 'worried' or 'very worried' about the rising cost of living - up from 69% in January. This is the shocking moment an SUV driver forces a fellow motorist off the road during a botched overtaking manoeuver in Scotland. A former traffic policeman, who did not want to be named, was following a rented Hyundai Tuscon who was being held up by a German-registered truck on the A7 between Galashiels to Edinburgh. He was travelling with his wife decided to overtake both the SUV and the truck when he saw the road ahead was clear and he considered it was save to do so. A former traffic policeman was preparing to overtake this SUV and truck while driving along the A7 between Galashiels and Edinburgh in May Shortly after pulling onto the opposite carriageway to start the manoeuver, the Hyundai Tuscon pulled across the front of his car without any prior warning Within four seconds, the Hyundai pulled across the front of his car However, as soon as he was pulling alongside the SUV, the Hyundai's driver decided to overtake the truck without warning forcing the ex-traffic policeman to swerve and brake heavily. As soon as his Peugeot 207 Estate touched the grass, his car lost traction and tumbled over the edge of a ditch and rolled over several times down an embankment into a field. The entire incident was captured on his Nextbase dash cam. According to the motorist, the driving conditions at the time were perfect, with dry and sunny conditions. Also the road service was good. He made the decision to overtake both the SUV and the truck as he had enough visibility, power and space to safely complete the manoeuver. He did not hit the Hyundai which failed to stop at the scene despite causing the horrific accident. One second later, with the Hyundai completing its own overtaking manoeuver, his car was flying sideways through the fence, about to tumble down an embankment The Hyundai failed to stop even with his car clearly in terrible trouble The driver had to be cut free from the car by the emergency services. The couple both suffered neck and back injuries. Luckily, the dash cam had captured the entire incident and he was able to pass on the footage to his insurance company and Police Scotland. The police managed to track down the driver through the hire company and charged him with driving without due care and attention. He later pleaded guilty to careless driving and was fined 240 and received four penalty points. The dash cam footage also helped with his insurance claim as the hire company refused to accept full liability. However, they changed their mind once they inspected the dramatic footage. The former traffic policeman said: 'The evidence is such that they had no other option but if my Nextbase Dash Cam had not captured the footage, the other driver would have left the scene and got away "Scot-free" (pardon the pun)! 'As it is, my wife and I have still got residual neck injuries, my wife needed a long course of physio for her back and both of us have suffered PTSD-type symptoms.' According to former police sergeant John Roberts: 'The offending driver breaks two rules of the Highway Code in one sweep here. Firstly, Rule 162 states that, before overtaking, you should always make sure that road users are not beginning to overtake you. 'Secondly, Rule 163 states that you should overtake only when it is safe and legal to do so, i.e. check your blind spot before moving out. Having failed to do both of these vital things, the driver has put not only their life in danger, but also ended up seriously hurting two other people.' Richard Browning, director of Nextbase, added, 'There is the simple and scary truth here that, had Mike not had a Dash Cam installed in his car, the offending driver would have never been charged. Such reckless driving put others in danger but thanks to the footage captured, the person was punished appropriately and will think twice before being so foolish again.' Larry Nassar confessed to sexually penetrating multiple young girls who were as young as 10 during a court hearing on Wednesday. As part of his plea deal, Nassar will now face at least 25 years in prison after initially being charged with 22 counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. Nassar pleaded guilty to seven counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in Ingham County Circuit Court on Wednesday, acknowledging that he sexually penetrated the young women and that they were not old enough to give consent. He broke down in tears at one point, while his most famous victim voiced her rage at the man who allegedly assaulted her on Twitter. 'Court referring to Larry as DOCTOR Nassar. I AM DISGUSTED. I am very disappointed,' wrote Ali Raisman. 'He does NOT deserve that. Larry is disgusting. Larry is a MONSTER not a doctor.' Nassar said he hoped his plea would help 'to move the community forward and stop the hurting' before adding: 'I pray the rosary every day for forgiveness' In his statement he also said: 'I want them to heal. I want this community to heal. I have no animosity toward anyone. I just want healing. It's time.' Scroll down for video Pedophile: Larry Nassar (above) entered a guilty plea to seven charges of molesting girls as young as 10 in a Michigan courtroom on Wednesday Breakdown: He broke down in tears while he confessed to 'sexually penetrating' his victims and will face 25 to 40 years in prison for each count Victims: There are over 125 additional women who have accused him of sexual assault, including Ali Raisman, Gabby Douglas and McKayla Maroney (Douglas, Raisman and Maroney in 2012) Raisman is one of three members of the 2010 London Olympics team who has made claims against Nassar, with Gabby Douglas and McKayla Maroney also coming forward with allegations The victims of these offenses will now be allowed to speak at Nassar's sentencing hearing on January 12, which could put him behind bars for life based on the judge's decision. That means that over 125 women could be addressing the predator in court. It is not known if Douglas, Raisman of Maroney will be among them however, as it will only be those who reported incidents to Michigan State University that will be allowed to address the court. Nassar was forced to verbally confess to each offense in court, and agreed to wearing a monitoring device and have his electronic activity monitored for life as port of the plea. At the end of the hearing, the presiding judge had a few words for Nassar. 'You used that position of trust that you had in the most vile way -- to abuse children,' said Ingham County Judge Rosemarie Aquilina. 'I agree that now is a time of healing, but it might take them a lifetime of healing while you spend your lifetime behind bars thinking about what you did in taking away their childhood.' Nassar is also awaiting federal sentencing after he was found in possession of pornography and is facing additional charges in another Michigan county. LARRY NASSAR'S VICTIMS Victim A disclosed that she was 10 years old the first time she was sexually assaulted by Nassar. At Twistars, Nassar would come on Monday nights to treat the gymnasts. Nassar would use the back room at the gym to work. This particular Monday, Victim A signed up to see Nassar. Nassar was to readjust her ribs. While pressing on her back, Nassar pulled her leotard up and touched her vagina. Victim A stated Nassars bare hand and fingers went in between the flaps of her vagina. Victim A stated she felt grossed out. Nassar did not wear gloves, did not tell her he would be vaginally penetrating her nor did he obtain consent from either Victim A or Victim As parents. Victim B stated her mother would sit in front of her. Nassar would massage her buttocks, hamstrings, and IT bands. As Nassar massaged Victim B, he would put his fingers in her vagina and thumb in her anus. Victim B stated that one time, he wiggled his finger in her vagina. Nassar would penetrate her vagina and anus during the entire appointment, which was about a half hour. Victim B was under the age of 13 at the time of each of these assaults. Victim C was 15 years old when she was treated by Nassar. Victim Cs first appointment with Nassar was on February 2, 2000. Nassar evaluated Victim C. Nassar told her that her back muscles were not firing properly, causing extra back pressure. Nassar suggested myofascial release and osteopathic sports massage. While she was standing, Nassar inserted two fingers into her vagina. Victim C reported she was aware of inter-vaginal treatment, but didnt know what it looked like. Nassar did not wear gloves and did not obtain consent from Victim C or her mother Victim D stated Nassar massaged her vagina underneath her underwear and put his hand inside her vagina. Nassar did not use gloves or lubricant. Victim D and her mother were never told by Nassar that he would be vaginally penetrating her nor did they consent Victim E stated that Nassar told he was performing myofascial release on her. During the procedure, Nassar went underneath the shorts and her underwear and penetrated her vagina. Nassar moved his fingers inside her vagina for more than ten minutes. He was not wearing any gloves. Neither Victim E nor her parents were told by Nassar that he would penetrate Victim Es vagina and they did not consent. Victim F stated that when her mother was in the room, Nassar covered her with a sheet. If her mother stood up to see what was happening, Nassar stopped penetrating her. Victim F stated that the penetration became more aggressive and invasive over time. During her appointments, she would grit her teeth to prevent from yelping in pain. Nassar would anally and vaginally penetrate her for approximately 45 minutes. Nassar would also touch her breasts. Victim F stated that at times, Nassar would have one hand in her vagina with the other on her breast Victim G reported she saw Nassar weekly. Victim G stated she was vaginally penetrated during most of these appointments. Victim G stated she would take off her t-shirt and Nassar would pull down her shorts and underwear. Nassar would then vaginally penetrate her. Source: Affidavit in Support of Complaint filed on February 21, 2017 Advertisement Raisman detailed the alleged assaults that she endured for years while being treated by Nassar in her new book Fierce. She wrote that it all began when she was 15 and practicing through her pain in Australia ahead of a meet. A USA Gymnastics official suggested that she get treated by Dr. Nassar, saying that the registered osteopath who was a volunteer with the organization could help her sore heels and back pain. 'I didn't want to be labeled as uncooperative, so finally I said okay,' wrote Raisman. She immediately realized something was different than her previous treatments, but said nothing at the time. 'There was something about the massage that made me uncomfortable, but the staff member's words stuck in my head,' stated Raisman. This is the same story many of Nassar's accusers have told, alleging that he would digitally penetrate them anally and vaginally with ungloved hands under the guise of treatment. Raisman said that she will not go into specific detail about Nassar's alleged abuse. 'When I lay on my stomach to have my hamstrings worked on, towels were draped over my hips and buttocks for privacy and to ensure there was no inappropriate skin-to-skin contact. They never, ever crossed any lines in where they massaged,' wrote Raisman. 'And there was never a moment when their methods made me uncomfortable. It was different with Larry.' She went on to say: 'I would lie on the table, my hands involuntarily balling themselves into fists as his ungloved hands worked their way under my clothing. 'Treatment sessions' with him always made me feel tense and uncomfortable.' Lashing out: 'Court referring to Larry as DOCTOR Nassar. I AM DISGUSTED. I am very disappointed,' wrote Ali Raisman Raisman began to realize over the years that other girls also had this issue while attending camps around the country. It was at one of those camps that during a conversation with one girl she said: 'I feel like if it wasnt okay he wouldve already been fired. Someone would have said something it it was wrong.' That is what may have kicked off the investigation into Nassar revealed Raisman, who writes that a coach who overheard her comment told an official with USA Gymnastics. 'Alarm bells went off in her head,' wrote Raisman. 'And then she did the right thing: She spoke up.' The investigation into Dr. Nassar also caused problems for Raisman however, who said she justified his behavior. And when she asked to speak with the investigator again having realized she was being assaulted, Raisman says that USA Gymnastics asked her to stop speaking about Nassar with any other person. USA Gymnastics said earlier this month that they were 'appalled' by the allegations against Nassar, stating: 'We are committed to doing what is right, and we want to work with Aly and all interested athletes to keep athletes safe.' Douglas meanwhile came forward with her allegations on Tuesday in a statement. The Chancellor launched a new tax crackdown on firms moving cash overseas today, unveiling new rules on internet giants and multinationals. Philip Hammond said he would extend the so-called 'Google tax' to cover new tactics employed by search giants to shield revenue made from UK users. The rules could extend to multinational firms like McDonalds and Burger King as profits are moved around the world to reduce tax bills. The new change will mean Britain can collect revenues on activity carried out in the UK even if they are redirected via a third country and not just straight to a tax haven. Other reforms will mean online marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay are held responsible for paying VAT when sellers on the platforms do not collect and pay the tax. Chancellor Philip Hammond announced an extension to the so-called 'Google tax' which allows the Treasury to collect tax on profits made by internet companies on activity in the UK but via systems based overseas Treasury sources hailed the 'innovative and novel' change, designed to tackle a new tactic employed by internet firms to add an extra leg to redirecting activity off shore. They said it would help address growing public concern in the aftermath of the leak of the Paradise Papers revealing mass offshore tax avoidance by the rich and famous. The new measures on offshore money allows the UK to exploit bilateral tax agreements with more than 100 countries to lay a claim to the revenue - raising more than 800million in extra tax over the next five years. NEW VAT CRACKDOWN ON DIGITAL MARKETS Philip Hammond today revealed he would make online marketplaces responsible for paying VAT when sellers on the platforms do not collect and pay the tax. Up to 1billion may be lost each year due to such tax evasion by sellers on eBay and Amazon alone, according to an April report by the National Audit Office. Dominic Stuttaford, European head of tax for law firm, Norton Rose Fulbright, said the law needed to be updated to tackle such problems but that the actual impact was unclear. The new VAT measure is expected to raise around 30million a year. Amazon did not respond to a request for comment and eBay declined comment. Advertisement Changes to VAT policy on online market places will drag in another 50million a year by 2022, Budget papers reveal. The new tax applies, for example, if someone carries out an internet search in the UK using software based in the EU and channelled via a tax haven. When ex-chancellor George Osborne set up the tax, it was aimed at searches carried out in the UK via systems based directly in the tax haven. Announcing his changes, Mr Hammond told the Commons today: 'There is a wider concern across this House and in the business community about the tax system in the digital age. 'Along with the innovation and growth that it brings, digitalisation poses challenges for the sustainability and fairness of our tax system. 'But this challenge can only be properly solved on an international basis. 'And the UK is leading the charge in the OECD and the G20 to find solutions.' Treasury sources hailed the 'innovative and novel' change, designed to tackle a new tactic employed by internet firms such as Google (file image) Reforms established by George Osborne allowed HMRC to collect tax on revenues earned on UK digital search activity even if it was generated via software working off shore. MORE SMALL FIRMS DRAGGED INTO VAT More small firms are set to be dragged into paying VAT after the Chancellor froze the turnover threshold at 85,000. The move is better than some feared amid rumours Philip Hammond could have slashed the rate. But the Chancellor will stay face criticism for increasing pressure on small businesses. The change will earn the earn the Treasury 15million next year and 55million the following year. Advertisement Companies, including search engines such as Google and social media firms, got around the new tax by running the activity via a third country. The source admitted the third country could collect the tax themselves and stop it being returned to Britain meaning revenues decline over time. But they said the Treasury hoped the internet firms would be forced to effectively on-shore activities taking place in Britain anyway. The source said: 'This is not a silver bullet for all of the public's concerns about the digital economy. 'There is much more to do but this is a sensible and pragmatic measure.' Mr Hammond also said he would hold online marketplaces responsible for paying value-added-tax - a form of sales tax - when sellers on the platforms do not collect and pay the tax. Facebook has apologized to the family of the Italian Mafia's 'boss of bosses' for removing messages of condolences that flowed in after his death last week. Salvatore 'Toto' Riina, one of the most feared godfathers in the history of the Sicilian Mafia, was buried Wednesday in his hometown of Corleone. Riina, had been serving 26 life sentences when he succumbed to cancer aged 87 last week, and is thought to have ordered more than 150 murders. The Facebook profiles of Riina's daughter and her husband were inundated with condolences - such as 'Buon viaggio zio Toto' or 'Have a good journey Uncle Toto' - as well as denunciations for his crimes. Salvatore 'Toto' Riina, (pictured here behind bars during a trial in Rome on April 29, 1993 - one of the most feared godfathers in the history of the Sicilian Mafia), was buried Wednesday in his hometown of Corleone A Facebook spokesperson said these posts of condolences on the feed of Riina's son-in-law were removed in error. Additionally, Riina's daughter, Maria Concetta Riina, posted a photo of a woman kissing her finger with the words 'shh...' written on it. She then blasted Facebook writing: 'The background picture of my fb profile does not want to be a mobster message where the silence, but the request to respect this personal moment of pain!' Riina's daughter, Maria Concetta Riina (left), posted a photo of a woman kissing her finger with the words 'shh...' written on it. She blasted Facebook writing: 'The background picture of my fb profile does not want to be a mobster message where the silence, but the request to respect this personal moment of pain!' Her husband Antonino Tony Ciavarello posted an article on Facebook in Italian that roughly translates as 'Facebook apologizes to the family of the boss for removing messages of condolence from social media platform.' More condolence posts were written on the back of him posting the article including one friend writing: 'Goodbye Uncle Toto, you're going to the angels.' Riina's remains arrived in Sicily earlier this week following his death on November 17 in Parma. Many people wrote messages of condolence on Antonino Tony Ciavarello, Maria Concetta Riina husband, Facebook profile (pictured above) Also pictured here are sympathy messages for Salvatore 'Toto' Riina on Facebook The family buried him in a private ceremony in Corleone, the real-life mafia hotbed made famous by the 'Godfather' films and book. The private funeral - and the social media controversy - underscored the complicated mourning process for families of mafiosi. 'Toto Riina is to be considered a manifest sinner who didn't show the necessary public and true repentance for his crimes,' Archbishop Michele Pennisi of Monreale, which includes Corleone, told the local La Sicilia di Catania. While a public funeral is forbidden, a priest can lead the family in private prayer as an act of 'Christian piety,' he said. A mock public funeral poster with a list bearing the names of Mafia victims, including slain anti-Mafia magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, announces the death of Toto Riina in Ercolano, near Naples, southern Italy, on November 17 Mr Riina's remains arrived in Sicily earlier this week following his death on November 17 in Parma (a general view of Corleone pictured here) Nicknamed 'The Beast' because of his cruelty, Mr Riina was was laid to rest in the family tomb, which sits near the graves of other famed mobster chiefs. His coffin, with white flowers on top, was briefly blessed by a priest as mourners including his wife and three of his four children looked on, according to Italian media reports. The cemetery was closed to the press amid a heavy police presence. Riina's son Giovanni, who is serving time in jail for four murders, was not given permission to attend. The Church had refused to give the man dubbed 'U Curtu' ('Shorty') - who led a reign of terror for almost 20 years after taking control of the Cosa Nostra in the 1970s - a public funeral. Giuseppe Di Matteo who was kidnapped was strangled and his body dissolved in acid in a bid to stop his father from spilling Mafia secrets He continued to order hits from behind bars and was caught on wiretap this year saying he regretted 'nothing'. La Repubblica daily noted his favourite nephew Giovanni Grizzaffi, who had been named by Riina as a possible successor, was not present at the burial. Mafia experts have warned there may be a power struggle now within the organised crime group. Multi-murderer playboy Messina Denaro, one of the world's most-wanted men, is seen by many as Riina's natural heir but has been on the run since 1993. Just a few metres from Riina's last resting place lies Bernardo Provenzano - known as 'the Tractor' for the way he mowed his victims down - and volatile and vain boss Luciano Leggio, who was a young Riina's mentor. But nearby are also buried some of Corleone's heroes, including Placido Rizzotto, a trade unionist brutally murdered for standing up to the Mafia, and Calogero Comaianni, who was slaughtered for his role in bringing Leggio to justice. Corleone become synonymous with the Mafia through Francis Ford Coppola's popular 'Godfather' film trilogy, in which the central characters take their family name from the hilltop village near Palermo. Riina ordered the killings of fearless anti-Mafia judges Giovanni Falcone (left) and Paolo Borsellino The most high-profile murders 'The Beast' ordered were those in 1992 of anti-mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, who had worked fearlessly to bring more than 300 mobsters to trial in 1987. His reign of terror continued from behind bars and he also famously ordered the brutal murder of a 13-year old boy Giuseppe Di Matteo who was kidnapped, strangled and his body dissolved in acid in a bid to stop his father from spilling Mafia secrets. The boys father Santino Di Matteo made a desperate trip to Sicily to try to negotiate his son's release but on January 11, 1996 after 779 days, the boy, who by now had also become physically ill due to mistreatment, was finally strangled. The body was subsequently dissolved in a barrel of acid to prevent the family holding a proper funeral at which they could mourn and to destroy evidence, a practice known as the 'lupara bianca'. The Federal Emergency Management Agency denied New York's request to extend a Lake Ontario flooding disaster declaration to Cayuga County, according to state and local officials with knowledge of the decision. Last week, the White House announced that President Donald Trump approved the major disaster declaration for six counties along Lake Ontario. However, Cayuga and Monroe counties weren't included. U.S. Rep. John Katko's office said the claims for the two counties were still being reviewed. Niel Rivenburgh, acting director of the Cayuga County Office of Emergency Services, said he was informed late last week that the request to include Cayuga County was denied. The application was rejected because FEMA determined that the county didn't meet its threshold for disaster aid. Cayuga County's threshold for a federal disaster declaration is $288,894. Rivenburgh and Fair Haven Mayor Jim Basile said the damage exceeded that total. However, Basile explained that there may have been a clerical error which excluded damage to Fair Haven Beach State Park. Without the state park factored into the total, the damages didn't exceed the threshold for disaster aid. "If you take the state park's damage and the village of Fair Haven's damage, we're well over the number," Basile said. A federal disaster declaration would provide aid to state and local governments for emergency response costs, hazard mitigation projects and infrastructure repairs. While the state has a $45 million flood recovery program to help homeowners and municipalities, the additional aid from the federal government is needed. Fair Haven has calculated the cost of the emergency response and infrastructure repairs, but Basile declined to reveal the figures. He plans to meet with other village officials to discuss how to manage the financial impact. "If we don't get any money from FEMA we're going to have to look at our general reserve funds," he said. The situation is frustrating for local officials, especially after a months-long response to record flooding in Fair Haven. Lake Ontario water levels rose to 248.9 feet in the spring, topping the previous high set in 1952. Rivenburgh said the village of Fair Haven's Department of Public Works, which has four employees, logged many hours responding to the high water levels. The county had employees and resources on the ground. Volunteers from other communities assisted with the response. "It has put a significant burden on the local municipality," he said. Cayuga County officials await the conclusion of the appeals process. The state has 30 days to file its appeal. FEMA will then make a final determination. Kristin Devoe, a spokesperson for the state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, said Tuesday that the agency is working with FEMA and local officials to "review damage information to support the county's inclusion in the Lake Ontario disaster declaration." "The division is confident that after a review of all information, FEMA will have all the necessary data needed to add Cayuga County to the declaration," she said. Sean Spicer was never a true Trump believer, a new book suggests, revealing the now ex-White House press secretary was shopping for TV jobs even before the 2016 election. The tome, 'Let Trump Be Trump,' was written by the president's first campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, and his deputy campaign manager, David Bossie, who dub the election of President Trump the 'greatest political event in the history of our republic.' In the first chapter, they lay out who they consider Trump's friends and foes, characterizing Spicer and other Trump team members who came from the Republican National Committee, including Reince Priebus and Katie Walsh, as the latter. Scroll down for video Former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer was reportedly looking for television work before the 2016 election, predicting President Trump's loss The Spicer anecdote was found in the pages of a new book by President Trump's first Campaign Manager Corey Lewandowski (left) and his Deputy Campaign Manager David Bossie (right) The book's first chapter suggests there was a divide between Trump campaign staffers and those who joined from the Republican National Committee, chaired by Reince Priebus, who later became Trump's first chief of staff. Priebus resigned in July The book begins on election day, starting early when Trump's prospects looked bleak to after 3 a.m., when the president-elect was delivering his victory speech. Lewandowski and Bossie suggested, however, that Spicer and others considered the vote a bygone conclusion. Authors Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie say that President Trump's election was the ''greatest political event in the history of our republic' 'The truth was, some on the campaign were already jumping ship,' the duo wrote, pointing a finger toward Spicer. Spicer, working as the chief strategist for the RNC at the time, along with being a Trump campaign adviser, had called a meeting at RNC headquarters in Washington, D.C., where he and his team gave election predictions to 'tier-one network reporters,' Bossie and Lewandowski wrote. The authors noted that the information was 'strictly on background and under embargo,' which meant the source's name, only a description, couldn't be attached and that journalists couldn't report it until a certain date. 'In that meeting, the Republican data team said that Donald Trump would get no more than 204 electoral votes, and that he had little chance of winning any of the battleground states, and that even dead-red Georgia was a toss-up,' Lewandowski and Bossie said. Trump won the election with 304 electoral votes 100 more than predicted and flipped the battleground states of Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Iowa and Wisconsin, compared to the Obama-Romney map four years before. The Republican won Georgia as well, but only by 5.1 points, a smaller percentage than in 2012, when GOP nominee Mitt Romney won the state. 'On the record, Spicer and the RNCs chief of staff, Katie Walsh, did several network and newspaper briefings just before the election in which they downplayed the race at the top of the ticket and instead talked about the importance of down-ballot races and the improvement in the RNCs ground game,' Bossie and Lewandowski continued. On election night, for instance, Spicer was asked by PBS NewsHour's Hari Sreenivasan if the RNC did everything possible to put Trump in a good position. 'I dont think there is a speck of dirt left on the field, but not just for the candidate,' Spicer said, and then pivoted. 'But for the Senate, for our House members, for our governors, for down-ballot, all the way down to dogcatcher.' Bossie and Lewandowski then charged Spicer with job hunting before the votes were cast. 'But Spicer was so convinced of a Trump loss that he was actively petitioning networks for a job the week before the election,' they wrote. 'Because of these actions, Mr. Trump never fully trusted the RNC team,' Lewandowski and Bossie said. The two campaign officials said that in the coming months a 'lack of loyalty would split the new administration in two.' 'The actions of Spicer and other RNC staff helped widen that divide,' the authors charged. Spicer, Priebus and Walsh were all gone by July, with Spicer and Priebus leaving a week apart from each other in the summer month, and Walsh leaving even earlier, in March. Spicer has yet to return a request for comment from DailyMail.com. Meg Whitman has shocked Wall Street by stepping down as CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise. The former eBay boss, one the most high-profile executives in the US, said on Tuesday she would quit in February and hand over the reins to company veteran Antonio Neri. Shares in the software company fell six per cent as her decision took traders by surprise. Meg Whitman has shocked Wall Street by stepping down as CEO of Hewlett Packard Whitman said in July she was fully committed to HPE and planned to remain CEO after reports surfaced that she was being considered for the top job at Uber 'We have a lot of work still to do at HPE and I am not going anywhere. Uber's CEO will not be Meg Whitman,' she had tweeted. On Wednesday, Whitman, 61, told CNBC that talks with Uber had not been a factor in her decision to leave HPE 'at all.' Her move caught analysts off guard. HPE is in the middle of a restructuring to cut costs, invest in research and focus on high-margin businesses. Whitman was a senior member of Mitt Romney's presidential campaigns in both 2008 and 2012 and ran for governor of California as a Republican (pictured) but supported Hillary Clinton in 2016 Its mainstay server business has been struggling as customers increasingly buy non-branded, assembled servers that are much cheaper. 'We are surprised by the timing of the CEO transition given commentary at the recent analyst day that seemed to imply a CEO transition was not in the offing,' BMO Capital Markets analyst Tim Long said in a research note. Meg Whitman's career Whitman was a senior member of Mitt Romney's presidential campaigns in both 2008 and 2012 and ran for governor of California as a Republican but supported Hillary Clinton in 2016. After graduating from Harvard Business School, Whitman served as an executive in The Walt Disney Company, where she was Vice President of Strategic Planning throughout the 1980s. In the 1990s, she served as an executive for DreamWorks, Procter & Gamble, and Hasbro. Whitman served as President and Chief Executive Officer of eBay, from 1998 to 2008. During Whitman's 10 years with the company, she oversaw its expansion from 30 employees and $4 million in annual revenue, to more than 15,000 employees and $8 billion in annual revenue. In 2014, Whitman was named 20th in Forbes List of the 100 Most Powerful Women in the World. Advertisement Long added that Neri's experience running the company's Enterprise Group made him a strong fit for the CEO role. Neri is a computer engineer who has spent more than two decades with the company and is HPE's current president. His appointment is not a surprise given his increased visibility in recent months, Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty wrote in a research note. Neri began his career in Hewlett Packard as a customer service engineer in the EMEA call center. He previously led HP's technology services business and then its server and networking businesses, before taking over the whole Enterprise Group in 2015. Barclays analyst Mark Moskowitz and Morgan Stanley's Huberty expect Neri to shift gears and aggressively develop technology in-house, rather than focus on mergers. Since its split from Hewlett-Packard Inc in late 2015, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise has spent billions buying companies providing cloud software and data storage to better position itself to serve customers who are moving their operations to the cloud. HPE's shares have risen five per cent this year, compared with a 16 per cent gain in the S&P 500 index. They were trading at $13.28 in early trading on Wednesday. Rep. John Conyers made repeated attempts to touch his office aide on the way to and during a White House cultural event meant to honor 'Americas most significant artistic contribution to the world' jazz music according to court documents, it was revealed Wednesday. Video footage reviewed by DailyMail.com shows Conyers smiling and clapping during a glamorous gathering last year celebrating the nation's cultural heritage while seated seated next to a female guest. But according to a claim filed by his former D.C. scheduler, she was experiencing extreme discomfort that evening due to his repeated attempts to touch her and get her to go to his Washington, D.C., home after the program. According to a federal court filing by the former aide, the married Conyers repeatedly tried to touch, message, and corner the plaintiff. Conyers made five attempts on a single day in 2016 to 'coerce' her to come to his home, according to her legal filing, which was later withdrawn. Conyers is accused by a former aide of repeatedly touching her and inviting her to his home on the day he visited the White House for an event. He was photographed at the event with the woman, who DailyMail.com is not naming A Conyers aide noted that the lawsuit was withdrawn DailyMail.com is not naming the woman because she describes herself as a victim of sexual harassment. The House Ethics Committee on Tuesday began an inquiry into Conyers after a report that his office paid $27,000 to settle a case with another accuser. The day in question, in April of last year, Conyers invited the woman to attend a White House event with him that evening. His initial guest had cancelled, and Conyers was 'even more persistent than usual' toward the woman. According to her lawsuit, which was later withdrawn, Conyers went to his D.C. scheduler's cubicle and began rubbing her neck. She had become accustomed to his repeated attempts to touch her and make suggestive comments. President Obama lauded the contribution of jazz to the nation's cultural heritage at the event While driving to the White House, the woman rode in the back of the car with Conyers, who 'continually made attempts to hold her hand and make inappropriate comments under his breath, again requesting that Plaintiff come home with him,' according to the suit. At the event, she was seated next to Conyers, who 'continued to touch her against her wishes the entire evening.' White House schedules from the time reveal that on that night, President Obama hosted an all-star concert celebrating jazz as 'Americas most significant artistic contribution to the world.' Set up in a tent on the White House south lawn, the concert featured Herbie Hancock, Aretha Franklin, Sting, and other all star performers, and broadcast on television the following day. Video of the event shows Conyers at one point seated next to a female guest. Seated on his left are Rep. Eljah Cummings, a Maryland Democrat who like Conyers is a senior member of the Congressional Black Caucus. Cummings' wife, Maya Rockeymoore, a potential Maryland candidate for governor, is seated to Conyers' immediate left. Conyers introduced House Resolution 57, which declared jazz to be a national treasure, more than 20 years ago. He was elected to Congress in 1964 and was an original founder of the CBC. Sting performed at the all-star event at which Conyers is accused of touching an aide against her will R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Detroit native Aretha Franklin also performed. The Detroit congressman is accused of using the event to molest an aide Actor Morgan Freeman spoke at the event on the South Lawn of the White House Michigan Representative John Conyers settled a $27,000 complaint in 2015 from a woman who alleged she was fired because she rejected his sexual advances, Buzzfeed News reporter. He denies it was over sexual misconduct and represented a regular severance payment Buzzfeed first reported the lawsuit on Tuesday, after revealing Conyers had settled a harassment claim with another woman who got paid $27,000 from his taxpayer-funded office allowance. A Conyers spokesman told BuzzFeed the former staffer 'voluntarily decided to drop her case. According to the suit, the woman had 'extreme admiration and respect for his legislative work as a Civil Rights icon.' The suit also cites Conyers' 'age and failing mental capacities.' It says she was directed by her predecessor and charged with knowing Conyers' whereabouts at all times, 'ordering and maintaining meds for Congressman Conyers; waking him up every morning by phone,' as well as 'checking in with and often providing him his meds daily while in the DC offices, including weekends.' The accuser says the congressman's wife, Monica Conyers, told other staff: 'What's good about him hiring his whore' and cited her hiring in her divorce She claims that Conyers' wife, Monica Ann Conyers, who filed for divorce in 2014, cited her own hiring as a cause of action. The woman also says Monica Conyers told other staff: 'What's good about him hiring his whore.' The woman says she shared her concerns with a former Conyers staffer who replied: 'You are his type ... we've always had the same type.' She also cited the congressman's wife as part of her claim that the office was a 'hostile work environment.' She cited as fact that 'Monica Conyers is a known brawler and that she felt threatened anytime Mrs. Conyers was scheduled to be in Washington, DC.' Monica Conyers pled guilty to bribery charges and served time in federal prison. The aide says that on the day of the April 29 event, Conyers 'cornered' her in the office kitchen about coming to his house. After a meeting, he asked her to attend the White House event. 'Due to a camera phone on Plaintiff's desk, Plaintiff was able to catch some of these events on tape,' according to her suit. Rep. Conyers statement on initial allegations of harassment 'I have long been and continue to be a fierce advocate for equality in the workplace and I fully support the rights of employees who believe they have been harassed or discriminated against to assert claims against their employers. That said, it is important to recognize that the mere making of an allegation does not mean it is true. The process must be fair to both the employee and the accused. The current media environment is bringing a much-needed focus to the important issue of preventing harassment in workplaces across the country. However, equally important to keep in mind in this particular moment is the principle of due process and that those accused of wrongdoing are presumed innocent unless and until an investigation establishes otherwise. In our country, we strive to honor this fundamental principle that all are entitled to due process. In this case, I expressly and vehemently denied the allegations made against me, and continue to do so. My office resolved the allegations with an express denial of liability in order to save all involved from the rigors of protracted litigation. That should not be lost in the narrative. The resolution was not for millions of dollars, but rather for an amount that equated to a reasonable severance payment. There are statutory requirements of confidentiality that apply to both the employee and me regarding this matter. To the extent the House determines to look further at these issues, I will fully cooperate with an investigation.' Advertisement She filed a motion in February to have the suit sealed, but was unsuccessful. In March, she sought to withdraw the suit without prejudice, Buzzfeed reported. She was seeking $39,000 in lost wages, plus $15,000 for mental anguish and $50,000 in punitive damages. Her complaint also reveals disputes with the office about what had been an effort on her part to take a leave of absence under the Family and Medical Leave Act. The serious claims and sordid allegations are a stark contrast to the high-minded ideals President Barack Obama hailed during his introductory remarks. 'Jazz is perhaps the most honest reflection of who we are as a nation. Because after all, has there ever been any greater improvisation than America itself?' Obama said. A Russian-born Israeli Jew has sparked outrage on social media after sharing photos of himself displaying Hebrew words at Muslim holy sites across the world. Ben Tzion, 31, has visited mosques in Iran, Lebanon, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, where he snapped photos at Mosque of the Prophet in Medina - Islam's second-holiest site. Despite the backlash over his visits, Tzion claims he travels to holy sites out of 'respect' and 'love toward people'. Non-Muslims are prohibited from visiting Mecca and advised to avoid other parts of central Medina, where Mosque of the Prophet is located, but Tzion said that the sites he visited were open to the public. Russian-born Jew Ben Tzion, 31, has visited mosques in Iran, Lebanon, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, where he snapped photos at Mosque of the Prophet in Medina (pictured) In one photo on Instagram where he posed alongside two men in Saudi Arabia while holding a sword, Tzion wrote the caption,' #SaudiArabia is with #Jewish #People and Land of #Israel side by side to share #Friendship and #Peace in the #MiddleEast #Region among #Nation' The blogger said that traveling to Muslim holy sites is simply a hobby and he has respect for Islam and the Arab world. He's pictured above at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem The blogger said that traveling to Muslim holy sites is simply a hobby and he has respect for Islam and the Arab world. On one Instagram post he wrote: 'Praying for #Peace! Side by side with my #Arab Brothers. For Peace in the entire #MiddleEast region for all #People. 'For Peace among #Jews, #Muslim, #Christians, #Copts, #Druze, #Bedouins and for every descendant of Abraham know as Ibrahim. #Salam and #Shalom.' In one photo, Tzion, carries a satchel adorned with Hebrew writing, which carries tefillin, or boxes of Torah scrolls that observant Jews wrap around their heads and arms when praying. His posts have caused mass discussion on Twitter, with the hashtag 'A Zionist at the Prophet's Mosque' garnering more than 100,000 tweets. 'In the era of Al Saud [the Saudi royal family], the occupying Zionists, the enemies of Islam and Muslims defile the mosque of the seal of the Prophet,' one user said. Another Twitter user said: 'The current hashtag: A Zionist at the Prophet's Mosque; the next hashtag: A Zionist on the pulpit of the Prophet's Mosque; and the following hashtag: A Zionist is the imam of the Mecca Mosque.' His posts have caused mass discussion on Twitter, with the hashtag 'A Zionist at the Prophet's Mosque' garnering more than 100,000 tweets. Tzion is pictured above left at the Four Seasons Hotel in Riyadh last week While on a recent trip to Saudi Arabia, Tzion also met Germany's ambassador to the country Dieter Walter Haller (right) Tzion, pictured right with a friend in Medina, said he used a valid passport and necessary visas to enter the holy sites legally, though would not specify which passport he used to travel The huge number of angry comments has caused Instagram to suspend Tzion's account, where he writes messages of peace and tolerance, more than once. While his posts have garnered hundreds of angry messages from social media users, Tzion said that people at the holy sites warmly embraced him. ISRAELI PASSPORTS ARE BANNED FROM 16 COUNTRIES Sixteen countries do not accept Israeli passports. Those banning Israeli passports are Algeria, Bangladesh, Brunei, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Oman, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, United Arab Emerates and Yemen. Additionally, Iran, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen do not allow entry to people who have traveled to or from Israel, or those who have passports with used or unused Israeli visas. Under Israeli law, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, Libya, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen are designated 'enemy states' and Israeli citizens can only visit with special permits from the Israeli Interior Ministry. The law does not apply to people who have dual nationality. Advertisement 'No one in the Arab world ever approached me with hostility,' Tzion told The Times of Israel. He added: 'People know that I am different, they see that I wear a kippah or a different Arab garment. They come to me and ask me where I'm from. I tell them that I'm from Jerusalem, Israel. And their first reaction usually is: "Wow. Welcome".' The Russian-born Jew acquired Israeli citizenship in 2014 when he decided to move to the country. He said he used a valid passport and necessary visas to enter the holy sites legally, though would not specify which passport he used to travel. In Saudi Arabia, Israelis are banned from visiting the country, and any evidence of travel to and from the country will result in a refusal of entry. In total, 16 countries - including Iran, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia - do not accept Israeli passports. Eight of the countries also ban entry to people with evidence of travel to Israel or whose passports have used or unused Israeli visas. Tzion said that he never tries to 'create any issues in any country' and that he travels as a 'private individual'. 'When I am going to a holy site, I go there with respect, with dignity and love toward people,' he told The Times of Israel. 'Not with hatred or mockery or trying to be, in any way, shape, or form, disrespectful. This would be the last of my intentions. I go there as a friend.' Tzion was born in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, where he lived until he was 19 years old. Tzion (center) said that he never tries to 'create any issues in any country' and that he travels as a 'private individual' The Russian-born Jew acquired Israeli citizenship in 2014 when he decided to move to the country He then studied entrepreneurship at Babson College, outside Boston, before making his way to Israel. The photos come after Israeli army's chief of staff told an Arabic language online newspaper that Israel was ready to share 'intelligence information' with Saudi Arabia, saying their countries had a common interest in standing up to Iran. Lieutenant General Gadi Eizenkot told the privately Saudi-owned Elaph in what it said was his first interview with an Arabic newspaper that Israel had no plans to attack Lebanon's Hezbollah group. Saudi Arabia has ratcheted up pressure on arch-foe Iran, accusing Tehran of trying to expand its influence in Arab countries, often through proxies including the Lebanese Shi'ite Hezbollah group. Increased tension between Tehran and Riyadh has fuelled speculation that shared interests may push Saudi Arabia and Israel to working together against what they see as a common Iranian threat. Saudi Arabia maintains that any relations with Israel hinge on Israeli withdrawal from Arab lands occupied in the 1967 Middle East war. Advertisement These eerie photographs show how USSR-era space craft have been left to rust in an abandoned desert hangar in Kazakhstan. Two test shuttles were found inside a derelict Soviet warehouse near the Cosmodrome Baikonur, 125 miles east of the Aral Sea. They were both developed as part of Moscow's Buran programme which was shut down in 1993 - but neither of the craft were sent to space. In the same building, photographers pictured a vast Energia rocket, designed to propel the Buran, an unmanned space plane, into orbit. A man stands in front of the enormous Energia rocket, designed to propel the Buran, an unmanned space plane, into orbit. These eerie photographs show how USSR-era space craft have been left to rust in an abandoned desert hangar in Kazakhstan The Energia weighs in at a massive 2,400,000kg (5,300,000 lb) depsite being made of super-light metals. Here it is pictured upright in the hangar Two test shuttles were found inside a derelict Soviet warehouse near the Cosmodrome Baikonur, 125 miles east of the Aral Sea This shuttle was developed as part of Moscow's Buran programme which was shut down in 1993 - but neither of the craft were sent to space David de Rueda, who runs his own website, stands in front of a ray of light coming through the decaying hangar with the shuttle to his side The USSR designed the rocket to compete with Nasa's Saturn V, the super-lift launch vehicle that supported the Apollo mission to the moon. Like Nasa's Space Shuttles, the Buran vehicles had engines located at the back, and two wings for a controlled landing back on Earth. The Russian model had striking external similarities to the US Space Shuttle Columbia sparking suggestions Cold War espionage may have played a part in its development. Both US Space Shuttles and Buran had the same shape and size, the same vertical tail structures and even similar colours - white with a black trim. Documents that emerged in the late 1990s revealed how the KGB stole the designs for the US shuttle in the 1970s and 1980s enabling the Kremlin to build a carbon copy of the American system. Like Nasa's Space Shuttles, the Buran vehicles had engines located at the back, and two wings for a controlled landing back on Earth The USSR designed the rocket to compete with Nasa's Saturn V, the super-lift launch vehicle that supported the Apollo mission to the moon The Russian model had striking external similarities to the US Space Shuttle Columbia sparking suggestions Cold War espionage may have played a part in its development A 1985 CIA report said there was 'espionage by hostile intelligence officers, overt collection, by East Bloc officials, acquisition by scientific exchange program participants and illegal trade-related activity.' Files from US databases - much of them unclassified - were raided from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s, according to the CIA analysis, called 'Soviet Acquisition of Militarily Significant Western Technology'. The report said: 'Documents acquired dealt with airframe designs (including the computer programs on design analysis), materials, flight computer systems, and propulsion systems. This information allowed Soviet military industries to save years of scientific research and testing time as well as millions of rubles as they developed their own very similar space shuttle vehicle.' Similar claims of espionage were made in the 1960s when Russia's supersonic Tupolev TU-144 passenger jet was unveiled. It closely resembled the British-French Concorde which got off the ground two months later. Development of the Buran programme began in 1976, with the reusable spacecraft capable of performing operations in orbit before returning to Earth. But after one unmanned spaceflight of the Orbiter 1K1 in 1988, the scheme was scrapped following the dissolution of the USSR in 1993. Orbiter 1K1 was crushed and destroyed in the same complex - but in a different hangar - in 2002. The collapse killed eight workers. The rocket pictured was designed by Russia's top space agency, to act as a heavy-lift launch system and booster for the Buran spaceplane. It has been left abandoned in the disused hanger since 1991. The Energia weighs in at a massive 2,400,000kg (5,300,000 lb) depsite being made of super-light metals. The super-strong rocket ship, the rocket booster of which are pictured here, could carry 100 tonnes (100,000kg) - the equivalent of 16 African elephants - into orbit Both US Space Shuttles and Buran had the same shape and size, the same vertical tail structures and even similar colours - white with a black trim Documents that emerged in the late 1990s revealed how the KGB stole the designs for the US shuttle in the 1970s and 1980s enabling the Kremlin to build a carbon copy of the American system The super-strong rocket ship could carry 100 tonnes (100,000kg) - the equivalent of 16 African elephants - into orbit. Unusually, the Energy carried its considerable payload on its side, rather than on the top. The giant hangar that houses the rocket was actually an assembly complex and, measuring 433ft (132 metres) long by 203ft (62 metres) in height, it is the largest building at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Huge sliding gates 138 by 118ft (42 by 36 metres) would have allowed the shuttles to have been rolled out to the launchpad nearby. The rocket pictured was designed by Russia's top space agency, to act as a heavy-lift launch system and booster for the Buran spaceplane. It has been left abandoned in the disused hanger since 1991 The giant hangar that houses the rocket was actually an assembly complex and, measuring 433ft (132 metres) long by 203ft (62 metres) in height, it is the largest building at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The hangar is located near to the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which is still used to launch Soyuz rockets today To protect the shuttles from a possible shockwave if a heavy launch vehicle exploded nearby, the structure was made of reinforced steel. The room was also intended to be a 'clean room' devoid of dust when working on the orbiters, so the doors leading out of the central area could be sealed. The hangar is located near to the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which is still used to launch Soyuz rockets today. David de Rueda, who visited the site three times in two years to take the pictured told CNN: 'The space shuttles are only a few hundred meters from active facilities. Getting there was an epic adventure, we didn't know if we would make it because the Kazakh steppe is a hostile environment. 'But it was entirely worth it. This place is unreal.' An instructor who was killed in a mid-air collision between a helicopter and a light plane has been remembered as a 'truly gentle man with a great sense of humour' by his grieving workmates. Jaspal Bahra, 27, who worked at Booker Aviation flight training firm in High Wycombe, was one of four people killed in the crash above Waddesdon in Buckinghamshire on Friday. Booker Aviation said in a statement: 'Jaspal was a calm, considered, approachable and friendly instructor who thoroughly invested in his students' progress and was a role model for their future aviation aspirations.' Jaspal Bahra (left) and Saavan Mundae (right) died in the mid-air crash in Buckinghamshire Nguyen Thanh Trung, 32, was in the helicopter which crashed over Waddesdon Manor Captain Mike Green, pictured, was flying the helicopter which was involved in the fatal crash The statement added: 'He was a truly gentle man with a great sense of humour, a steadfast friend and a huge asset to our company. 'It was a pleasure and privilege working and flying with Jaspal who will be sadly missed by his colleagues and friends at Wycombe Air Park. Our thoughts are with the families of all those who lost their lives.' Saavan Mundae, 18, who was in the first year of his undergraduate degree in air transport with commercial pilot training at nearby Buckinghamshire New University, was also killed. Professor Rebecca Bunting, vice-chancellor of the university, said in a statement: 'Saavan's tutors describe him as a young man who was respected by his peers and very considerate of others. He was a thoughtful student with a keen interest in his degree. 'Saavan made a very positive contribution during his time with us at Buckinghamshire New University. 'We offer our sincere sympathy to Saavan's family, friends and fellow students at this difficult time. Our thoughts and condolences are also with those who knew the other three men who have died.' Footage from the scene showed wreckage of both aircraft on the woodland floor Police and emergency services rushed to the scene but none of those inside could be saved She said the university was offering counselling to students and staff affected by Mr Mundae's death. Trainee helicopter pilot Thanh Nguyen, 32, and veteran helicopter instructor Michael Green, 74, have been named as the other victims by Thames Valley Police. The force said the Air Accidents Investigation Branch is still investigating the crash, which took place around midday over woodland near the Waddesdon Estate, the former country seat of the Rothschild banking dynasty. Both aircraft came from the Wycombe airstrip known as Booker Airfield, which is about 20 miles from the crash site. The collision occurred 15 minutes after the helicopter took off. The crash happened in the skies over the Rothschild family's Waddesdon Manor Vietnamese authorities have said Mr Nguyen had been undertaking a helicopter training programme in the UK with Mr Green when their aircraft was hit by the light plane. The tail of the Cabri G2 helicopter was clipped by the descending two-seater Cessna 152 at a height of around 1,000ft, Vietnam's ministry of defence said in a statement. The plane involved was built in 1982 and owned by Airways Aero Associations, based at Wycombe Air Park. Thames Valley Police said in a statement: 'Our thoughts remain with the families of those involved in the accident. Our family liaison officers continue to offer support to the victims' families.' Philip Hammond finally embraced Brexit today as he pledged to pump 3billion into seizing the 'opportunities' outside the EU. The Chancellor struck his most optimistic tone yet on the UK's prospects and upped his rhetoric on the possibility of leaving 'no deal' - saying Brussels should not 'doubt our resolve'. The comments delighted Eurosceptic MPs who have been heavily criticising Mr Hammond for his 'Eyeore' attitude towards Brexit. He has been tipped as facing the chop in an expected New Year reshuffle by Theresa May. Brexiteers reacted with alarm to forecasts in the budget suggesting Britain would still be paying 3.5billion a year to the EU by 2023 - but the Treasury insisted it was only an 'academic' forecast until the Brexit deal was complete. The Chancellor struck his most optimistic tone yet on the UK's prospects during his Budget speech today Cabinet Brexiteers Boris Johnson and Michael Gove are understood to have been among colleagues frustrated by his gloomy attitude. However, he might have won a stay of execution with a crowd-pleasing turn in the Commons, as long as the Budget does not unravel. Mr Hammond told MPs that securing progress on a trade deal would be 'one of the biggest boosts we can provide to businesses and families'. BREXIT WILL MEAN LOWER IMMIGRATION The number of migrants entering Britain will fall sharply after Brexit, according to the public spending watchdog. The Office of Budget Responsibility predicts net migration the number of new arrivals minus those who leave will fall to 165,000 by 2023. According to previous estimates it was expected to fall to 185,000 by 2021. Last year net migration stood at 250,000 a year, but the government's target is to cut the number to the tens of thousands by the end of the Parliament. Officials warned that the fall in the number of migrants would mean lower GDP, employment and house prices. But it would also reduce pressure on public services, including schools and hospitals and also spending on welfare. Advertisement But he added: 'While we work to achieve this deep and special partnership, we are determined to ensure that the country is prepared for every possible outcome. 'We have already invested almost 700 million in Brexit preparations. And today I am setting aside over the next two years another 3billion. 'And I stand ready to allocate further sums if and when needed. No one should doubt our resolve.' After spotting the apparent continued payments to the EU, Brexiteers demanded reassurances from the Treasury. Jacob Rees Mogg said he hoped spotting the payment is like 'spotting an error in Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'. In his speech, Mr Hammond said that 'for the first time in decades, Britain is genuinely at the forefront of a technological revolution, not just in our universities and research institutes, but this time in the commercial development labs of our great companies and on the factory floors and business parks across the land'. 'So we must invest to secure a bright future for Britain, and at this Budget that is what we choose to do,' he will add. Philip Hammond, pictured in the Commons today, said Brussels should not doubt ritain's resolve as he tried to shed his Eyeore-ish image on Brexit Mr Hammond said he had previously set aside 26billion as a Brexit warchest, adding: 'Now I choose to use some of the headroom I established then so that as well as reducing debt, we can also invest in Britain's future, support our key public services, keep taxes low, and provide a little help to families and businesses under pressure. 'A balanced approach, that will prepare Britain for the future, not seek to hide from it.' The Chancellor effectively ended austerity in the Budget with a net cost to the public purse of 25billion. Despite the OBR fiscal watchdog slashing growth forecasts, Mr Hammond ploughed 2.8billion more into the NHS, 1.5billion into heading off anger about the new Universal Credit rollout, and paved the way for significant public sector pay rises. Mr Hammond said the tight economic landscape would not stop him being bold about Brexit and pledged to use some of the money. 'An economy that continues to grow, continues to create jobs than ever before and continues to confound those who seek to talk it down. An economy set on a path to a new relationship with our European neighbours and a new future outside the EU,' he said. 'A future full of change, new challenges and above all full of new opportunities. 'And in this Budget, we express our resolve to look forwards not backwards. To embrace that change to meet those challenges head onand to seize those opportunities for Britain. 'The negotiations on our future relationship with the EU are in a critical phase. The Prime Minister has been clear that we seek a deep and special partnership, based on free and frictionless trade in goods and servicesclose collaboration on security.' Boris Johnson (pictured left) and Michael Gove are among the ministers thought to have been frustrated by Philip Hammond's gloomy attitude to Brexit Mr Hammond admitted at the weekend that his ambitions for this afternoon did not stretch beyond presenting a 'balanced' Budget. Downing Street was so concerned about the lacklustre details briefed to journalists overnight that it stepped in to insist more information about education announcements were released. Mrs May tried to downplay the tensions this morning by tweeting a supportive message with a picture saying Mr Hammond would be setting out the government's blueprint for the future. But the Chancellor had little room for manoeuvre on the government's finances as the economy has slowed down, while productivity gains have stayed stubbornly low. Treasury aides said that Mr Hammond had arrived at the 3 billion figure in response to requests from Whitehall departments for funds to cover additional burdens created by Brexit. Departments receiving the cash will include HM Revenue & Customs, the Home Office, Environment and Transport - but no announcement has yet been made on exactly how it will be shared out. Aides stressed that the money was intended to allow the UK to 'get ready for all scenarios - deal or no deal'. Shakes the clown, whose real name is Brandon Goral, 43, is accused of squeezing women's breasts at a 'haunted barn' campground in Janesville, Wisconsin A clown has been been charged with groping two women at a haunted house attraction in Wisconsin. Shakes the clown, whose real name is Brandon Goral, 43, is accused of squeezing women's breasts at a 'haunted barn' campground in Janesville. Police were summoned to the scene following reports that women were 'touched inappropriately by a clown' according to The Smoking Gun. Two women told cops that a 'clown with green hair' first approached them and asked, 'Do you want me to Donald Trump?' while making 'a hand gesture towards their vaginas and making a squeezing motion,' the complaint alleges. Although the women say they were 'not touched at that time,' they were 'caught off guard by what the clown had said and found it inappropriate.' The Smoking Gun alleges that following the 'Trump' comment, the clown allegedly grabbed and squeezed the breast of one woman, and then did the same thing to her friend. The alleged assaults took place at a haunted house-themed barn in Wisconsin The ladies told police that they were left 'feeling violated and uncomfortable,' and stressed 'neither of them gave clown consent to grab her breast'. During questioning by police, Goral said that he 'does not touch women's breasts' unless requested to do so.' He claimed that he was 'asked multiple times by different females to grab their breasts for photos,' and stressed that he had been asked a number of times that evening. Goral was asked if he knew that haunted barn personnel were barred from touching customers, he replied he 'knows not to touch them unless they ask him to'. He has been charged with two counts of misdemeanor sexual assault and has been freed on a $2,000 bond. A Democratic senator claimed on Wednesday that Gary Cohn, director of the White House's National Economic Council, faked a bad cell phone connection as an excuse to hang up on the president during tax reform negotiations. Tom Carper of Delaware told CNN that he suggested the tactic when a long-winded Donald Trump called in to a November 7 meeting between Senate Democrats and senior White House aides while he was traveling in Asia. 'I said to Gary it was a room where we're all sitting around this big table and I said, "Gary, why don't you do this, just take the phone from, you know, your cellphone back and just say, 'Mr. President, you're brilliant, but we're losing contact and I think we're going to lose you now, so good-bye',"' Carper claimed. 'And that's what he did and he hung up.' Sen. Tom Carper, Delaware Democrat, claims the White House's Gary Cohn faked a bad connection with Trump to get rid of him during a call from Asia that interrupted tax reform negotiations Cohn, shown at right with Trump during a Nov. 16 Capitol Hill visit, leads the White House's National Economic Council The senator told the story to The Hill the day after the meeting, and joked about his recommendation, but didn't claim Cohn took him up on it. Trump 'was ready to talk and talk, and talk,' Carper recalled at the time, 'and finally, I don't know, after about 15 minutes or so I turned to Gary Cohn and I said, "Gary, you know, we're not going to have a chance to have a real conversation here. And can't you just tell the president that he's brilliant, and say 'We're losing you! We're losing the connection!' and then hang up?' The White House fired back shortly after he told an expanded version of the tale on CNN. 'Senator Carper's claim is completely false,' said White House principal deputy press secretary Raj Shah. 'Gary Cohn took the phone off speaker and continued to speak with the president privately for several minutes before they concluded the call.' Carper told the story differently two weeks ago, never saying Cohn pretended he couldn't hear the president Trump has promised to deliver a tax cut victory in Congress by the end of the year Democratic Sen. Tom Carper says White House economic adviser Gary Cohn faked a bad connection to get President Trump off the phone so they could have a conversation on tax reform without him https://t.co/qcUnSEsysl CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) November 22, 2017 But Carper's memory is different, recalling a back-and-forth discussion that could have yielded compromise if Trump hadn't stepped in the middle. 'We went back to having the kind of conversation where we needed to, where they ask questions, looking for consensus, looking for common ground, and I think we identified some of that,' he said. A CNN host asked Carper if he could say for sure that Cohn pretended he couldn't hear Trump in order to get rid of him. 'Well I wouldn't I don't want to throw him under the bus but yes,' he replied with a grin. The president has predicted that he will deliver a Senate victory to lower Americans' taxes by the end of this year. It would be Trump's first major legislative milestone, after Republican Sen. John McCain torpedoed his Obamacare repealk measure at the last minute. Most of the public comments the president has made about the tax negotiations have focused on Democrats' unwillingness to lower business rates. He has called them 'obstructionists' multiple times. A severed left arm found in waters off Copenhagen is probably dismembered Swedish journalist Kim Wall's, police have said. The arm had been weighed down with metal in a similar manner as the legs of Wall who died after boarding a Danish inventor's submarine. The arm was found on Tuesday around one kilometre from the location where the 31-year-old's head and legs were discovered earlier, Copenhagen police said in a statement. 'We have not yet determined if it is a right or left arm, or to whom the arm belongs,' Copenhagen Police deputy inspector Jens Mller Jensen said in a statement. Kim Wall (left), a Swedish freelance journalist, disappeared while interviewing Peter Madsen (left) , has now admitted to dismembering her but not killer her Police say they are working on the assumption that the arm found in water off Copenhagen is that of Kim Wall 'But we are working on the assumption that it is linked to the submarine case,' A source familiar with the investigation said the arm likely belonged to Wall but it may take weeks to confirm this. Danish do-it-yourself inventor Peter Madsen, 46, in October admitted dismembering Wall's corpse. Wall, a freelancer based in China and New York, went to interview Madsen on his homemade submarine on August 10 but never returned. Her headless torso was found floating in Copenhagen's Koge Bay on August 21, and her head, legs and clothes were recovered in plastic bags in the same waters on October 7. Search teams have been hunting for body parts since Wall's disappearance The home-made submarine 'UC3 Nautilus', built by Danish inventor Peter Madsen, a self-taught engineer Prosecutors have previously said they believe Madsen killed Wall as part of a sexual fantasy, then dismembered her body and threw her remains into the sea. Madsen, a self-taught engineer and inventor, has been held in custody since August 11 and has changed his version of events several times. After intentionally sinking his submarine early on August 11 in Koge Bay, he was picked up by a rescue vessel and told police he had dropped Wall off on land after their interview the previous evening. On September 5, he changed his story to say a 70-kilo (154-pound) hatch fell on her head, killing her, and that he threw her body overboard, intact, in a panic. Danish divers are to conduct another search on Thursday. A poll conducted by Democratic and Republican firms on behalf of a national environmental group found voters in two New York congressional districts not only oppose the GOP tax plan, but there is also strong opposition to allowing oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. A survey of voters in the 19th Congressional District found 55 percent oppose the tax plan. A little more than a quarter of respondents (28 percent) said they support the bill. U.S. Rep. John Faso represents the 19th district. He voted against the House tax plan last week because it would eliminate the state and local tax deduction in its current form. It would no longer apply to state and local income or sales taxes. Homeowners could deduct up to $10,000 of their state and local property taxes. Opposition to the tax bill isn't as strong in the 21st Congressional District, which is home to U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik. But a plurality of voters 49 percent said they oppose the plan. Thirty percent said they support the proposal. Stefanik, R-Willsboro, also voted against the GOP tax bill. Like Faso, R-Kinderhook, she cited concerns about the state and local tax deduction. The polls for the League of Conservation Voters served another purpose: To gauge voter support for allowing oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. While the House bill didn't include a provision to allow drilling, the Senate is advancing legislation linked to its tax plan. The proposal is backed by some GOP senators, including Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski. In Faso and Stefanik's districts, there is strong opposition to the drilling plan. In the 19th district, 68 percent of voters oppose opening up part of the refuge for oil and gas drilling. In the 21st district, 62 percent oppose the concept. Alex Taurel, deputy legislative director for the League of Conservation Voters, noted that the poll results show how unpopular the Arctic refuge drilling proposal is compared to the GOP tax plan. "Selling out one of our nation's most iconic wild places to Big Oil has no place in the tax debate," Taurel said. "Reps. Faso and Stefanik should listen to their constituents and commit to vote against any tax bill that includes this polar payout to the oil industry." Faso and Stefanik haven't taken a position on the Senate proposal, but it's the latest effort by the League of Conservation Voters to urge House Republicans to oppose drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Last week, the group released a TV ad targeting U.S. Rep. John Katko, a Syracuse-area Republican who voted for the House tax bill. The ad was part of a $550,000 campaign targeting Katko and two of his GOP colleagues, U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen of Minnesota and U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin of Maine. There have been previous attempts to allow drilling in a portion of the 19.2 million-acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Republicans tried to include a drilling provision in a 2005 spending bill, but some House GOP members opposed the plan. House leaders eventually removed the language from the budget measure. Saudi princes and billionaire businessmen arrested in a power grab earlier this month are being strung up by their feet and beaten by American private security contractors, a source in the country tells DailyMail.com. The group of the country's most powerful figures were arrested in a crackdown ordered by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman three weeks ago as he ordered the detention of at least 11 fellow princes and hundreds of businessmen and government officials over claims of corruption. Just last month, the Crown Prince vowed to restore 'moderate, open Islam' in the kingdom and relaxed a number of its ultra-conservative rules, including lifting a ban on women driving. DailyMail.com can disclose that the arrests have been followed by 'interrogations' which a source said were being carried out by 'American mercenaries' brought in to work for the 32-year-old crown prince, who is now the kingdom's most powerful figure. 'They are beating them, torturing them, slapping them, insulting them. They want to break them down,' the source told DailyMail.com. 'Blackwater' has been named by DailyMail.com's source as the firm involved, and the claim of its presence in Saudi Arabia has also been made on Arabic social media, and by Lebanon's president. The firm's successor, Academi, strongly denies even being in Saudi Arabia and says it does not engage in torture, which it is illegal for any U.S. citizen to commit anywhere in the world. The Saudi crown prince, according to the source, has also confiscated more than $194 billion from the bank accounts and seized assets of those arrested. Highest profile prisoner: Prince Alwaleed bin Talal was hung upside to 'send a message' after being lured to a meeting with the crown prince. He is worth at least $7 billion Round-up: Dozens of princes, senior officials and businessmen, including cabinet ministers and billionaires, have been detained in a function room of the Ritz Carlton. Now a source says they are being subjected to torture by American mercenaries Strongman: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, seen as he attended a glittering investment conference in the hotel now being used as a prison, ordered in the mercenaries, the source claimed, and takes part in interrogations personally The source said that in the febrile atmosphere in the kingdom, Prince Mohammed has bypassed the normal security forces in keeping the princes and other billionaires at the Ritz Carlton hotel in Riyadh. 'All the guards in charge are private security because MBS (Mohammed Bin Salman) doesn't want Saudi officers there who have been saluting those detainees all their lives,' said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. 'Outside the hotels where they are being detained you see the armored vehicles of the Saudi special forces. But inside, it's a private security company. 'They've transferred all the guys from Abu Dhabi. Now they are in charge of everything,' said the source. The source said that Salman, often referred to by his initials MBS, is conducting some of the interrogations himself. 'When it's something big he asks them questions,' the source said. 'He speaks to them very nicely in the interrogation, and then he leaves the room, and the mercenaries go in. The prisoners are slapped, insulted, hung up, tortured.' The source says the crown prince is desperate to assert his authority through fear and wants to uncover an alleged network of foreign officials who have taken bribes from Saudi princes. The source said that the name 'Blackwater' is being circulated as providing the mercenaries. The controversial private security company, however, no longer exists under that name and is now Academi. A spokesperson for Constellis, Academi's parent company, denied the claims. The spokesperson told DailyMail.com that it has no presence in Saudi Arabia and does not carry out interrogations. 'Constellis through Academi does not now or have we ever provided interrogative services,' they said. 'We do not provide security services in KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), we have no contact or connection with any government official or private party regarding this allegation.' When asked if Academi workers were involved in any kind of violence during these interrogations, the spokesperson said: 'No. Academi has no presence in KSA. We do not have interrogators, nor do we provide any interrogators, advisors or other similar services.' They added: 'Academi does not participate in interrogative services for any government or private customer. Academi has a zero tolerance policy for violence. We operate legally, morally, ethically and in compliance with local and US laws.' The name Blackwater, however, has previously surfaced in the Middle East in the wake of the round-up. Presence: The Ritz Carlton in Riyadh is said to be guarded by Saudi special forces but inside, the interrogations are said to be carried out by American contractors. Blackwater's successor firm, Academi, denies any involvement Lebanese link: Saad Hariri, who quit as Lebanon's prime minister, was said to be being held in Saudi Arabia by 'Blackwater' guards by his country's president - but he deleted the tweet Endorsement: The 32-year-old crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has received backing from President Trump Harsh treatment: Trump hinted at the interrogations when he tweeted his support for the arrests The Lebanese President tweeted that the country's former prime minister Saad Hariri was being detained in Riyadh by Blackwater guards, but later deleted the tweet. 'Lebanese authorities have unconfirmed information that the Blackwater firm is guarding Hariri and his family - not official Saudi security forces,' Michel Aoun, the President of Lebanon, tweeted last Wednesday. A high-profile Saudi twitter account, @ Ahdjadid, which posts what is said to be inside information, also claimed Salman has brought in at least 150 'Blackwater' guards. Saudi whistleblower Ahdjadid tweeted: 'The first group of Blackwater mercenaries arrived in Saudi Arabia a week after the toppling of bin Nayef [Salman's predecessor as crown prince]. 'They were around 150 fighters. Bin Salman sent some of them to secure bin Nayef's place of detention and the rest he used for his own protection.' The abuse claims were also raised recently in an article in the New York Times. A doctor at a hospital in Riyadh and a US official told the Times that as many as 17 detainees had needed medical treatment. But Fatimah Baeshen, spokeswoman for the Saudi Embassy in Washington, told the newspaper that the arrests were for 'white collar' crimes and that the country's public prosecutor was ensuring that the arrests are 'complying with the relevant laws and regulations'. In his name: The arrests carry the authority of King Salman, but have made his son Prince Mohammed unquestionably the most powerful man in the kingdom Among those arrested on allegations of corruption is Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, the Saudi King's nephew who is worth more than $17bn according to Forbes, and owns stakes in Twitter, Lyft and Citigroup. DailyMail.com's source claims the crown prince lulled Alwaleed into a false sense of security, inviting him to a meeting at his Al Yamamah palace, then sent officers to arrest him the night before the meeting. 'Suddenly at 2.45am all his guards were disarmed, the royal guards of MBS storm in,' said the source. 'He's dragged from his own bedroom in his pajamas, handcuffed, put in the back of an SUV, and interrogated like a criminal. 'They hung them upside down, just to send a message. 'They told them that "we've made your charges public, the world knows that you've been arrested on these charges."' After the arrests, a picture was given to DailyMail.com of the Saudi royals sleeping on thin mattresses in the ballroom of the five star Ritz Carlton Hotel in Riyadh. A US State Department source told the New York Times Salman was 'behaving recklessly without sufficient consideration to the likely consequences of his behavior, and that has the potential to damage US interests.' However, the arrests drew praise from President Donald Trump, who tweeted that he had 'great confidence in King Salman and the crown prince of Saudi Arabia' after the corruption crackdown earlier this month. Torture by a US citizen abroad has only been prosecuted in America once. In 2008 the Boston-born son of former Liberian President Charles Taylor was found guilty by a US court of horrific torture. The jury in Miami found Charles 'Chuckie' Taylor Jr. guilty on all eight counts brought against him, including allegations he and his cohorts tortured victims in Liberia by applying electric shocks to their genitals, burning them with hot irons and melting plastic and rubbing salt in their open wounds. At the time Sigal Mandelker, the then deputy assistant attorney general with the crime division of the U.S. Department of Justice, said: 'It sends a very powerful message to human rights violators worldwide that they are not welcome here.' Taylor was arrested at Miami International Airport in 2006 and pleaded guilty to a charge of lying about his father's identity on a passport application. He was later indicted for torturing victims when he was the commander of a paramilitary security force called the Antiterrorist Unit - known as the 'Demon Forces' - that protected the elder Taylor while he was president of Liberia. Thomas Millward was found unconscious and naked at Girton College on March 5 last year A Cambridge University student who took an LSD-based legal high then fell to his death from a college stairwell died accidentally, an inquest concluded. Rugby player Thomas Millward, 19, was found unconscious and naked at the foot of a stairwell after taking the drug with his girlfriend in his room at Girton College on March 5 last year, the hearing in Huntingdon was told. The engineering student died in hospital the next day of a traumatic brain injury. Cambridgeshire assistant coroner Simon Milburn said Mr Millward and his girlfriend Daniella Mieloszyk took a substance which was probably 1P-LSD, which was a legal high at the time and has since been banned. Jurors unanimously concluded that Mr Millward's death was an accident following a three-day hearing. Coroner Mr Milburn expressed his condolences to Mr Millward's parents, Brian and Maisa Millward, and his sister Izy who were at the inquest, which Mr Milburn said would have been 'an incredibly difficult experience'. Ms Mieloszyk said she had obtained the drugs through a friend who bought them on the internet and the two of them had taken two tabs each. After the drugs started to take effect they went to the room of their friend Tessa Duff, 20, to seek help. Mr Millward and his girlfriend Daniella Mieloszyk took a substance which was probably 1P-LSD, a legal high at the time which has since been banned Thomas's mother Maisa Elsdale de Millward, sister Izy and father Brian Millward arriving at the inquest yesterday Ms Duff said they 'seemed confused a little bit' and added: 'If I tried to engage with them they would partially respond then look at me, and look at each other, and say 'this is so strange, is this real?' She said she walked them back to Mr Millward's room and left them to sleep, then later heard an 'echoey bang' that sounded like someone banging a vending machine to get something out. Days after the incident she noticed a 'clear footprint in dust on top of the vending machine' at the foot of the stairwell. Another student, Harris Ryder, said in a written statement that he had previously seen Mr Millward slide down the banisters. Mr Ryder once climbed over the banisters just above the vending machines as he 'wanted to conquer the vending machines' The inquest heard Mr Millward, originally from Cheltenham, had suffered a concussion while playing rugby days earlier, and also had a knee injury Mr Ryder once climbed over the banisters just above the vending machines as he 'wanted to conquer the vending machines' and Mr Millward may have seen this, Mr Ryder added. The inquest heard Mr Millward, originally from Cheltenham, had suffered a concussion while playing rugby days earlier, and also had a knee injury. Dr Susan Paterson, head of the toxicology unit at Imperial College London, said analysis of blood samples showed Mr Millward had taken either LSD or 1P-LSD, but it was not possible to determine which substance or how much was taken. She said of the 'mind-altering' substances: 'It's possible to think you can actually fly. That's well-recorded with this drug.' She added that the exact effects were 'up to the individual' and their surroundings and mood at the time. Thomas Millward's 21-year-old girlfriend Daniella Mieloszyk (pictured), a fellow Cambridge student, was arrested on suspicion of possession of drugs with intent to supply but later released without charge Dr Susan Paterson said of the 'mind-altering' substances: 'It's possible to think you can actually fly. That's well-recorded with this drug' Following the inquest, a statement was released on behalf of Girton College. It said: 'During his time at Cambridge, Thomas Millward was a loyal friend to those who knew him, a gifted student and a talented sportsman. 'Girton College is a close-knit community and everyone was deeply affected by his death. 'The College has a strict anti-drugs policy which all students read and sign before arrival. Another student, Harris Ryder, said in a written statement that he had previously seen Mr Millward slide down the banisters. Thomas and Daniella are pictured 'This has been updated to include what were formerly called "legal highs". 'Girton also has a well-developed health and safety process, which includes regular inspections and risk assessments, and routine reporting of accidents, near-accidents and risks, with prompt follow-up. 'We again offer our sincere condolences to Thomas's family and friends and continue to offer welfare support to students and staff affected by this tragedy.' Mr Millward's family made no comment as they left the hearing. Meek Mill has quoted Bruce Springsteen's lyrics in an attempt to have a wrongful death lawsuit brought against him dropped. The 30-year-old rapper is being sued by the family of two men who were shot dead outside a Connecticut concert venue after Mill performed in December last year. The Toyota Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit filed by the families of the shooting victims Travis Ward, 31, and 20-year-old Jaquan Graves. Meek Mill, 30, is being sued by the family of two men who were shot dead outside a Connecticut concert venue after Mill performed in December last year The families have accused the Philadelphia-born rapper and the theater of negligence and misconduct over what they claim were inadequate security measures at the show. Mill quoted Bruce Springsteen's 'Sherry Darling' lyrics in an attempt to have a wrongful death lawsuit brought against him dropped They also claim Mill's lyrics incite violence. In recently filed court documents obtained by TMZ, Mill argues that it is ridiculous to blame artists or their lyrics for incidents that might occur at a concert. He quoted Springsteen's 'Sherry Darling' lyrics when asking if a woman could sue if she was injured by a drunk driver outside one of his shows. 'Could she sue Springsteen because his songs contain lyrics like, 'Well, I got some beer and the highway's free'?' he argues in the filings. He is asking the judge to drop him from the suit because he has no control over security at concert venues. A lawyer for the victims' families argued in the suit, which was filed earlier this year, that Mill's song titles, including 'Body Count' and 'Oh Kill'em', praised killing and mayhem. Mill is asking the judge to drop him from the suit because he has no control over security at concert venues and says it's ridiculous for artists to be blamed for incidents at concerts The suit argued that Mill should have planned for potentially tragic incidents given his lyrics. It also argued that the venue was 'grossly understaffed' for the December 30 concert, and subsequent efforts to beef up security at the venue came 'far too late for' the victims. The victims were shot outside the concert venue as it was closing. The incident killed Ward and Graves and left two others injured Mill is currently in prison after he was jailed this month for up to four years for breaching his parole. He was convicted of drug dealing and gun possession back in 2008. His lawyers last week urged for him to be released from solitary confinement because it is hurting his mental health. The Tories have a four point lead over Labour according to a new opinion poll - despite being hit by the sex harassment scandal and losing two Cabinet ministers in a week. The Kantar Public survey put the Conservatives on 42 per cent, ahead of Labour on 38 per cent, the Lib Dems on nine and Ukip on five. The poll suggests that despite a bruising few weeks for the Government the public still trust Theresa May to be leading the country in No10 over Jeremy Corbyn. Downing Street figures hailed the poll - which was published yesterday and before Philip Hammond's Budget - as good news. Mrs Mays chief of staff Gavin Barwell wrote on Twitter: When you're still at your desk 17 hours after you arrived at work, this is the kind of news you want to see. The Tories have a four point lead over Labour in the latest opinion poll- suggesting the party has not suffered a blow to its popularity despite recent cabinet resignations and sex scandal The Prime Minister has had a torrid few weeks in Government after several of her MPs were caught up in the Westminster sex harassment scandal. Sir Michael quit as Defence Secretary after admitting his behaviour with women had fallen below the high standards expected of the Armed Forces. And her de facto deputy Damian Green is battling for his political career amid an investigation into claims he had extreme porn on his office computer in 2008 and made an unwanted pass at a younger Tory activist. Mrs May also lost Ms Patel as International Development Secretary after the minister admitted holding secret meetings with Israeli PM and officials while on holiday in the summer. And she faces the prospect of a defeat on her flagship Brexit Bill as Tory backbenchers join forces with Labour in the Commons. The poll is welcome news for Theresa May, pictured in the House of Commons today, and suggests the public have more faith in her as PM than Jeremy Corbyn But the poll suggests that Brits not stuck in the Westminster bubble have not paid much attention to these Tory travails. And it confirmed that the Labour leader is struggling to improve on his showing at the General Election in June. The poll also found almost four in ten households say they are finding it harder to meet their household budget than they were 12 months ago, with women and the under 25s were the worst affected. It also suggests the public are increasingly concerned about the economys prospects. More than a third believe that it will be doing worse in a years time than it is now, up from 28 per cent in February. The poll surveyed over 2,400 people and was carried out between the 14th and 20th of November. The British schoolboy who has allegedly been abducted by his own mother while on holiday was excitedly sharing pictures of the Spanish villa where he was last seen just days before he disappeared. Alex Batty flew to Malaga, Spain, with his mother on a pre-arranged holiday to Benahavis, near Marbella, on September 30. But when the 11-year-old did not return home to his guardian as expected on October 8, police were alerted and are now hunting for Alex and Melanie Batty, 37. Alex Batty flew to Malaga, Spain, with his mother on a pre-arranged holiday to Benahavis, near Marbella, on September 30 An image shared on Facebook by Alex, from Oldham, Greater Manchester, on September 29 showed a property bathed in sun with a pool named 'Terry's villa' and the youngster bragged 'I'm going there in five days' It is feared they have now travelled on to Melila on the Moroccan border after he was last traced near the resort's port. An image shared on Facebook by Alex, from Oldham, Greater Manchester, on September 29 showed a property bathed in sun with a pool named 'Terry's villa' and the youngster bragged 'I'm going there in five days'. Friends told how Ms Batty had moved to Spain but had recently returned to take her son back with her. Alex - described as about 5ft white and of slim build with blond hair - attends Heathershaw College secondary school in Oldham. A classmate said: 'He's not in my class but I him from around school and he has lots of friends. 'We wondered where he had been and then we saw the news. 'I think he only saw his mum occasionally as she moved to Spain ages ago. But he came back to get him. 'We thought he went on holiday but he has been gone for quite a while. Friends told how Ms Batty had moved to Spain but had recently returned to take her son back with her Neighbours at the mother's former home in the town revealed they hadn't seen her since she and her father David were evicted from her home about 18 months ago Neighbours at the mother's former home in the town revealed they hadn't seen her since she and her father David were evicted from her home about 18 months ago. She said: 'I don't think she paid her bills then they came and got her out. 'I don't know where she went after that. I think she went abroad. 'I think her lad used to play with the other kids in the park.' Another neighbour living on her former estate said: 'We have continued to get letters for him but he hasn't lived here for about three years. 'We think the son Alex used to come and stay here. 'When we moved in the little lad had a bedroom with all his stuff in it. When they were evicted they did not take any of their stuff with them. 'The mail is mostly from debt collectors or about spiritual healing.' Police fear he may have boarded a boat in Malaga port (pictured) and could now be in Africa Detective Inspector Lindsay Booth, from Oldham's Public Protection Division, said: 'Our main priority is finding Alex and bringing him home. His guardian is understandably extremely upset and although she heard from Alex on the 8 October, she has not heard from him since and is desperate to get him home. 'We have followed extensive enquiries and we know Melanie has visited Morocco a number of times before and we believe she could have travelled with Alex to there. 'Our last known location of Alex puts him near the Port of Malaga and boats run from there to Melilla in Morocco. 'I am appealing to anyone who recognises this young boy or Melanie, or has been in contact with them, to please get in touch with us. It might be that you were staying in the same resort as them, are friends from home and have heard from them through social media or texts, or that you might have some knowledge of their plans. 'I implore you, please get in touch with us or contact police if you are abroad.' Anyone with any information should call police on 0161 856 8972 (+44 161 856 8972 if abroad) or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. Blacklisted: More than 400 professors from across the country and around the world have signed an open letter urging students to boycott the University of Rochester over its handling of a sexual harassment case involving brain researcher Florida Jaeger (pictured) Hundreds of professors from across the country and around the world have signed an open letter urging students to boycott the University of Rochester in upstate New York over its handling of a sexual harassment case involving a top brain researcher. In their 21-page missive addressed to the University of Rochester trustees, more than 400 faculty members at such prestigious institutions as Harvard, Yale, Brown and MIT accused UR President Joel Seligman of failing to 'adequately respond to claims of predatory and manipulative behavior' that were made agaisnt Dr Florian Jaeger, a researcher in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. In September, seven current and former faculty members and a graduate student filed a complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, claiming administrators mishandled allegations against Jaeger, who was cleared of wrongdoing, and then retaliated against them for reporting the behavior. 'Instead of protecting individuals who came forward and enforcing the University's values, the administration sought to diminish the reported events and created a hostile environment for the victims, their advocates and many other members of the campus community,' the open letter published last week states. Damage control: The University of Rochester in New York responded by saying it has commissioned an independent investigation Full statement from University of Rochester on open letter: The University of Rochester is deeply committed to a safe and respectful campus for everyone, free of harassment or discrimination of any kind. When complaints were brought to the attention of the administration, the University immediately launched an internal investigation, conducting more than 40 interviews and making every reasonable effort to contact anyone directly involved. Given new allegations in the complaint to the EEOC, we believe that the recently commissioned independent investigation sponsored by a Special Committee of the Board of Trustees is the best way to fully understand, address, and learn from this matter. The independent investigation is being led by Mary Jo White, a former United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and SEC Chair with a long record of integrity. Ms. White has accepted the assignment on conditions of unconditional independence and unfettered access to all witnesses, documents, and information within the Universitys control, and with the understanding that her report will be developed entirely independent of the University, its Board of Trustees, and its Administration. The fact is that many students, faculty, and administrators at the University do not recognize the institution described in the letter circulating on the internet. They are proud of our school and find it to be a welcoming and supportive learning environment. It is regrettable that the letter is signed by many people who do not have direct knowledge of the actual circumstances here. We welcome the independent investigation and look forward to its findings and recommendations in the best interests of our students and faculty. Advertisement 'The UR has abrogated its ultimate responsibility to protect and advance the interests of its most important constituency, its students, by supporting the predator and intimidating the victims and advocates in this case.' The letter goes on to say: 'In the present circumstances, we cannot in good conscience encourage our students to pursue educational or employment opportunities at the University of Rochester.' The EEOC complaint painted Jaeger as a 'serial harasser' and a 'manipulative sexual predator,' whose lack of boundaries potentially altered the career paths of at least 11 female students. Under fire: Faculty members at such prestigious institutions as Harvard, Yale, Brown and MIT accused UR President Joel Seligman (pictured) of failing to 'adequately respond to claims of predatory behavior' 'He charmed, manipulated and sometimes threatened them, becoming gatekeeper to important social and professional opportunities,' the complaint alleged. 'He flaunted numerous sexual relationships in front of graduate students, used constant and overt sexual language and behaved flirtatiously and overly familiarly with women students, including when he knew he was making the women feel unsafe.' Faculty member Celeste Kidd said she was a graduate student recruit when Jaeger began a lengthy pattern of inappropriate electronic and in-person exchanges. The researcher also allegedly hosted hot tub parties, used illegal drugs with students and sent a photo of his genitals to a student, according to the complaint cited by CBS News. In 2016, two faculty members reported Jaeger's behavior to administrators. During an investigation that ultimately exonerated Jaeger, he was promoted to full professor. President Seligman said the investigation, which included interviews with more than 30 people, determined there was no evidence to support a finding that university policy had been violated. The faculty members who filed the complaint with the EEOC claimed the university has retaliated agaisnt them for accusing Jaeger of sexual misconduct in the first place by creating 'a hostile environment for them so toxic that they are no longer welcome in their own department. They are treated as troublemakers and liars.' Student Lindsay Wrobel in September went on a six-day hunger strike over the allegations agaisnt Jaeger The sexual misconduct accusations against Jaeger sparked protests, calls for the resignation of top administrators, vows by alumni to stop donations and even a hunger strike by senior Lindsay Wrobel, which lasted six days. On Tuesday, the University of Rochester released a statement addressing what it called the 'Blacklisting' letter, defending its handling of the Jaeger case. 'When complaints were brought to the attention of the administration, the University immediately launched an internal investigation, conducting more than 40 interviews and making every reasonable effort to contact anyone directly involved,' UR spokesperson Sara Miller wrote. The statement goes on to say that 'given new allegations in the EEOC complaint,' the university has commissioned an independent investigation, which is being carried out by Mary Jo White, a former US Attorney for the Southern District of New York and SEC chair. White will be given 'unfettered access' to all witnesses and documents, and will be able to produce a report independent from the university or the Board of Trustees. 'The fact is that many students, faculty, and administrators at the University do not recognize the institution described in the letter circulating on the internet,' the press release says. 'They are proud of our school and find it to be a welcoming and supportive learning environment. It is regrettable that the letter is signed by many people who do not have direct knowledge of the actual circumstances here.' Would a butler have saved any of my four marriages from the divorce court? Quite possibly. I didnt need regular sex, or silly presents, but someone non-judgemental to run a bath, serve a simple breakfast (without smelly bacon) and put out the rubbish without a long-suffering face. A few months after our wedding, one of my husbands decamped to a hotel, with the parting shot at least room service wont answer back. Currently, four out of ten couples call it quits before their twentieth wedding anniversary, so no wonder the Queen and Prince Phillip - celebrating their 70-year union this week - inspire such gushing praise from royal-watchers A long lasting marriage seems like an impossible dream - on a par with landing on Mars anytime soon or watching Jeremy Clarkson bake a cake. Currently, four out of ten couples call it quits before their twentieth wedding anniversary, so no wonder the Queen and Prince Phillip - celebrating their 70-year union this week - inspire such gushing praise from royal-watchers. Whats their secret? In an age of short attention spans, unfriending, trolling, and sexting on social media, how can the same two people be married for over half a century? Its beyond my comprehension. Of course, theres the huge wealth (no rows about overdrafts) and palatial quarters with dozens of rooms, making it easier to avoid each others irritating habits like snoring or droning on about carriage racing or race horse blood lines. Another benefit could be dozens of servants to do the washing, press all those smart suits, choose what you have to wear and put it all away afterwards. Tired of seeing the same face on the other side of the dining table? Dont forget the Royals have got the Commonwealth, with plenty of former territories they can visit on state business and they used to own a swanky yacht for working cruises. Whats their secret? In an age of short attention spans, unfriending, trolling, and sexting on social media, how can the same two people be married for over half a century? Its beyond my comprehension. (Above, Elizabeth and Philip in 1947) In spite of council cut backs, food banks, NHS waiting lists and a lack of starter homes, theres still a Royal Train, available for a quiet night in a siding en route to the Highlands and several months stalking and shooting. Without a doubt, the Royal couple have all sorts of extras which more than partially offset the endless ceremonies and life on permanent show. For most of us commoners, though, staying married is a challenge and the divorce rate in England and Wales has risen for the first time in a decade. Theres a growing movement to facilitate easier divorce in the UK, removing the antedeluvian concept of blame. If successful, and divorce is simpler and less costly, I predict that there will be a rush to end loveless unions. The new increase in divorce comes from silver splitters - middle class elderly people younger than the Queen and Prince Philip, pensioners and parents who have seen their children leave school and university and see no reason to share the rest of their lives with a partner they secretly loathe and certainly dont want to bonk. The Queen and Prince Philip have also failed as parents by contributing to the rising divorce rate - three of their four childrens marriages failed - and these were unions that were carefully sanctioned to enhance the Royal brand at the time. Princess Diana brought huge glamour to the family, but an unstable personality. All the talk from Harry and William of modernising the monarchy and making it accessible, spells the end of the Royal business, run so brilliantly by their clever Grandmother Prince Charles was stunted emotionally, and unable to cope. Sarah Ferguson was gorgeously chatty and fun, but not someone who could fit in and be dreary. As for Princess Anne, the reasons for the end of her marriage were kept under wraps, and afterwards her children and ex-husband all seem to get on together in the no-nonsense way youd expect. Which brings us back to the enigma of the 70 year Royal Marriage. Their anniversary produced twaddle like love and humour have helped them achieve the longest-lasting marriage in British Royal History. For another view of the monarchy, I recommend Craig Browns hilarious biography of Princess Margaret, based on obserbvations by dozens of people who had the misfortune to cross her path, entitled Darling Maam. As the book reveals, it cant have been easy to have had such an unpleasant self-centred idle younger sister, whose taste in men was utterly bizarre and whose manners were atrocious. Maybe living with the whacky Margaret - existing in a state of constant damage limitation - conditioned the Queen to tolerate Prince Phillips wandering eye and prolonged absences. Avid fans of the Crown (me included) are counting the days until series 2 airs on Netflix (Dec 8th) - but like the guff written about the anniverary, this is pure fantasy. The Queen should have given herself, not Prince Phillip, a huge accolade for services to the British economy. At 91, she heads a huge business empire, said to be worth 60 billion. And instead of focusing on her marriage, we should salute this unique senior citizen, who has managed to keep her empire afloat in spite of her family. By saying very little of any note, and certainly nothing remotely controversial, she remains an enigma, a rare quality which attracts tourists, sells souvenirs, inspires TV dramas and documentaries, and allows outsiders to project our fantasies on to her. Sadly, the younger members of the Royal family, with their radio appearances, charity events and naff baby pictures are fast downgrading the Monarchy to just another app on our phones. All the talk from Harry and William of modernising the monarchy and making it accessible, spells the end of the Royal business, run so brilliantly by their clever Grandmother. An Indian health minister has claimed that young people who get cancer are being punished for their sins. Himanta Biswa Sarma, healthcare chief for Assam state, told a group of newly qualified teachers that cancer in young men and tragic accidents are a form of 'divine justice' that 'we cannot escape'. Fellow politicians attacked him over the comments, saying he only made the remarks after failing to get a grip on a cancer crisis in Assam. Himanta Biswa Sarma, healthcare chief for Assam state, said cancer and tragic accidents are punishment for sins in the past life 'which we cannot escape' Mr Sarma said: 'God makes us suffer when we sin. Sometimes we come across young men getting inflicted with cancer or young men meeting with accidents. 'If you observe the background you will come to know that it's divine justice. Nothing else. We have to suffer that divine justice. 'In this lifetime or in our previous life, or perhaps my father or mother... perhaps that young man did not do but his father has done something wrong. 'It is mentioned even in [the Bible] about the outcome of one's actions. No point in being sad... all will get the outcome of this life's actions in this life only. Mr Sarma was accused of failing to get a grip on an endemic of cancer cases in Assam, with politicians saying the remarks were proof he had 'given up' 'That divine justice always will be there. Nobody can escape the divine justice that will happen.' Aminul Islam, leader of the rival AIUDF, said the remarks were proof that he had 'given up' on trying to solve the endemic of cancer cases in the state. In the last five years 90,000 cases of cancer have been diagnosed in Assam, with only three specialist treatment centers available. After being lambasted for his comments Mr Sarma sought to qualify them, saying that he was simply stating that he believes in the Hindu principal of karmic law that states human suffering is linked to past transgressions. Texas Congressman Joe Barton has apologized for a leaked nude photo of him that is currently circulating online but says he no plans to resign over it. The Republican from Ennis acknowledged the sexually explicit photo in a statement on Wednesday saying it was taken in recent years when he was separated from his second wife. 'While separated from my second wife, prior to the divorce, I had sexual relationships with other mature adult women. Each was consensual. Those relationships have ended,' the 68-year-old said in a statement. 'I am sorry I did not use better judgment during those days. I am sorry that I let my constituents down.' Texas Congressman Joe Barton has apologized for a leaked nude photo of him that is currently circulating online but says he no plans to resign over it The nude photo surfaced this week when an anonymous Twitter user named Parker21333 posted it online and censored the image by covering Barton's penis. The user also posted a screenshot of a graphic text message Barton had sent that read: 'I want u soo bad. Right now.' The person also claims to have footage of Barton masturbating. It is not clear if Parker21333 is the person who received the text messages from Barton, but the person claims they are being 'harassed' by the congressman. Barton married his second wife Terri in 2004 before they divorced two years ago. He was married to his first wife Janet Sue Winslow from 1970 to 2003. He has four children and five grandchildren. The Republican acknowledged the sexually explicit photo and graphic texts in a statement on Wednesday saying it occurred when he was separated from his second wife His spokesman said Barton has no plans to resign over the leaked photo. Barton, who only announced his re-election bid earlier this month, told the Texas Tribune he was now deliberating it. 'You're as aware of what was posted as I am,' he said. 'I am talking to a number of people, all of whom I have faith in and am deciding how to respond, quite frankly.' Barton joined the House in 1985 and is currently the longest serving Congressman from Texas. He is the vice-chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Kellyanne Conway's conduct in an interview on Monday from the White House lawn has caught the attention of ethics watchdogs. Walter Shaub, former director of the Office of Government Ethics, and Richard Painter, the ethics chief under George W. Bush, are crying foul over comments the Trump counselor made about Doug Jones, the Democrat running for the U.S. Senate against Roy Moore in Alabama. Conway ripped Jones, a former U.S. attorney, as 'weak' on crime and 'strong' on raising taxes during an appearance on Fox & Friends after she was asked about the allegations against Moore that are sucking up oxygen in Washington. This morning, Shaub said he filed a formal complaint against Conway through his organization, the Campaign Legal Center. The White House has fired back, insisting that there was nothing illegal about Conway's choice of words. Kellyanne Conway, a top adviser to the president, contended Monday that voters should not elect Doug Jones, the Alabama Democrat running against Roy Moore for the U.S. Senate, because he'll try to raise their taxes Conway's conduct in an interview on Monday from the White House lawn has caught the attention of ethics watchdogs. She said Jones, a former U.S. attorney, is 'weak' on crime Walter Shaub, the Office of Government ethics director until earlier this year, and Richard Painter, the ethics chief to George W. Bush, are crying foul This morning, Shaub said he filed a formal complaint against Conway through his current employer, the Campaign Legal Center The Hatch Act forbids executive branch employees from using their government titles when engaging in politics 'Ms. Conway did not advocate for or against the election of a candidate, and specifically declined to encourage Alabamans to vote a certain way,' White House spokesman Raj Shah said in a statement. 'She was speaking about issues and her support for the Presidents agenda. This election is for the people of Alabama to decide.' But Shaub said he submitted paperwork to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, asking that it investigate what he says was a violation of the Hatch Act. The Hatch Act forbids executive branch employees from using their government titles when engaging in politics. In the previous administration, the special counsel's office issued a warning to Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro after the Democrat pushed politics during a media interview he gave in his official capacity as a member of Barack Obama's Cabinet. Shaub shared a copy of the letter on Twitter as an example of comparable behavior that OSC had slapped down before. 'Shes standing In front of the White House. It seems pretty clear she was appearing in her official capacity when she advocated against a candidate,' he said Tuesday. 'This is at least as clear a violation of 5 U.S.C. 7323(a)(1) as OSC identified with regard to Castro. ' He challenged the Trump administration to punish Conway, saying, 'This will be the first test of POTUSs new head of the Office of Special Counsel. Will he hold Presidential appointees in this administration to the standard to which his predecessor held Presidential appointees in the last administration?' In a Wednesday morning tweet, Shuab said he'd filed a complaint with OSC, that his organization, CLC, then seconded. 'CLC has filed a Hatch Act complaint against Kellyanne Conway for using her official White House title to advocate for a political candidate,' the non-partisan outfit said. Conway would not and did not endorse Moore's candidacy directly. 'I'm telling you that we want the votes in the Senate to get this tax bill through,' she said on Fox & Friends Painter chimed in Tuesday to say: 'This is an official interview. She has violated the Hatch Act by using her position to take sides in a partisan election. That is a firing offense. And for her this is strike two.' In a follow-up message, Painter, the vice chairman of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said that only the president and vice president are exempt from the Hatch Act. 'Political endorsements have to be in personal capacity, not official capacity. E.g,. NOT on the White House lawn! Presumptive penalty for violation: "you're fired." ' Twenty minutes later he asked, 'Why does Kellyanne have to ruin our Thanksgiving with a Hatch Act violation? Trump pardoned two turkeys yesterday. Looks like he should have pardoned a third.' Conway, a top adviser to the president, contended Monday on Fox & Friends that voters should not elect Jones, because he'll try to raise their taxes. She did not and would not endorse Moore's candidacy directly. 'I'm telling you that we want the votes in the Senate to get this tax bill through,' she said after program co-host Brian Kilmeade asked her if the message was 'vote Roy Moore.' Asked by Kilmeade a second time, she pivoted and said: 'If the media were really concerned about all of these allegations, and if that's what this is truly about, and the Democrats, Al Franken would be on the ash heap of bygone half-funny comedians. He wouldn't be here on Capitol Hill. He still has his job.' Asked by host Brian Kilmeade if the message was 'vote Roy Moore,' Conway said: 'If the media were really concerned about all of these allegations, and if that's what this is truly about, and the Democrats, Al Franken would be on the ash heap of bygone half-funny comedians' Later, at a press briefing, a reporter asked press secretary Sarah Sanders if the White House's position is that it is better to elect someone accused of sexually assaulting teenage girls over a Democrat. Sanders said that was not the White House's position Painter, the vice chairman of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said that only the president and vice president are exempt from the Hatch Act Later, at a press briefing, a reporter asked press secretary Sarah Sanders if the White House's position is that it is better to elect someone accused of sexually assaulting teenage girls over a Democrat. Sanders said that was not the White House's position, regardless of what Conway said. 'We feel the people of Alabama should make the determination of who their next senator should be,' she said, adding, after the reporter pushed back, 'I'm giving you the answer, the position of the White House.' Sanders refused to take a position on efforts to mount a write-in campaign for the position, making a similar claim about the right of the people to do decide, when DailyMail.com asked about Conway's interview. Asked if the president wants Moore to win the race, Sanders invoked the political rule that prohibits some employees in the executive branch from engaging in political activity while they're on duty. 'Look, obviously the president wants people within the House and the Senate who support his agenda, but as I've said and as the Hatch Act prohibits me from going any further,' she said. 'We certainly think this is something that the people of Alabama should decide, and I'm not going to be able to weigh in on anything further beyond those comments.' On Fox & Friends, Conway deflected when she was asked about Moore, bringing up Al Franken and Sen. Bob Menendez, the New Jersey Democrat whose corruption case ended in a mistrial last week, and asked why he gets to return to Washington. Conway also launched an assault on Jones in a shift away from the president's statement a week prior, through Sanders, that the people of Alabama should decide who represents them. 'He will be a vote against tax cuts,' she said. 'He is terrible for property owners.' She told Alabama voters 'don't be fooled' by Jones, deriding his record on crime and his position on the border. 'So vote Roy Moore,' Kilmeade asked her? She replied: 'Doug Jones is a doctrinaire liberal, which is why he is not saying anything, and why the media are trying to boost him.' Kilmeade asked her the question again, and she brought up Franken, a Democrat representing Minnesota in the Senate who apologized last week for a photo in which he could be seen smiling and putting his hands over radio host Leeann Tweeden's breasts while she slept. He is now expected to come under investigation by the Senate ethics committee. Kilmeade rebutted Conway with the Republican National Committee's withdrawn support for Moore. Many women are backing away from him, too, Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt chimed in. 'Right,' Conway responded. 'And you know what, I just want everybody to know, Doug Jones, nobody ever says his name and pretends he is some kind of conservative Democrat in Alabama. And he's not.' Fox & Friends' Steve Doocy interrupted Conway to ask if Trump would be traveling to Alabama to campaign for Moore, and she acknowledged, 'There is no plan to do that.' 'The president is going to continue traveling around the country on tax cuts and other issues, yes,' she said. Trump told reporters yesterday, as he broke his silence on the matter, that he could campaign for Moore. 'Let me just tell you, Roy Moore denies it. That's all I can say,' Trump told reporters as he departed the White House to spend Thanksgiving with his family in Florida. 'He denies it. And, by the way, he totally denies it.' The former model who accused Russell Simmons of sexually assaulting her twice in the same night sat down for her first television interview on Megyn Kelly Today. Keri Claussen Khalighi, 43, claimed in a Los Angeles Times story last week that she was forced to perform oral sex on Russell Simmons at her apartment in 1991 as Brett Ratner looked on, and then raped by the hip-hop impresario while she was showering after that first offense. She told Megyn that she was shocked at Simmons' denial of the allegations, saying that he even apologized to her after the fact. Simmons responded to that claims soon after by stating the sex was consensual and sharing three affidavits from individuals he claims were also in the apartment that weekend. All three said there was no evidence of sexual assault, a conclusion they came too based on the demeanor of Khalighi that weekend. None of those men - two of whom were anonymous and the third being Simmons' former assistant - witnessed the actual sexual acts in question between Simmons and the then-17-year-old model. Scroll down for video Interview: Keri Claussen Khalighi (above) spoke with Megyn Kelly Today on Wednesday and said that Russell Simmons apologized after sexually assaulting her in 1991 Duo: The then-17-year-old model claimed lats week that Simmons forced her into oral sex while Brett Ratner watched and then raped her in the shower (Ratner and Simmons above in 2006) 'Russell and I have actually had a face-to-face confrontation around this, weve had phone conversations, where we have had a conversation about what happened, where there was no dispute of what we were talking about,' said Khalighi to Megyn on Wednesday. 'We were both talking about what happened on that night and he actually apologized. And part of what is so confusing and retraumatizing is what he is speaking about privately with me, is completely different than what has come out publicly. ' She went on to say that the 'lies and the denial' were 'really, really upsetting, disappointing and quite honestly, just repugnant.' Khalighi had been out with the men and then gone back to see a music video at Simmons' apartment she told Megyn, the same story she had previously told the LA Times. 'As the video was playing, Russell came over and started making advances and at the time, I thought it was a joke and it became increasingly apparent that it wasnt a joke and he continued his advances and I looked over at Brett at that point for help, and I will never forget the look on his face,' said the model, who now married and expecting her third child on Monday. She said Simmons' public 'lies and the denial' were 'really, really upsetting' (above in 1995) 'It was in that moment I realized, I think this was their plan all along, there was no help that was going to come.' Khalighi said she was 'closed' and 'frozen' as Simmons made his move, adding: 'I looked over at Brett and asked to help because I thought we were friends. It was a very confusing and terrifying moment.' That initial assault was not the end of it though according to the model mom. 'Part of my story that I think is really important to talk about in this conversation that is happening right now nationally, with sex abuse coming out, after the oral sex part of the story, I stayed,' she explained to Megyn, appearing via satellite. 'I didnt run out. I stayed and I took a shower and an additional sexual assault happened there.' Simmons responded to the allegations in a lengthy letter published by The Hollywood Reporter a few hours after Khalighi's appearance on Today. 'In our meeting many years later, and subsequent conversations, Keri never accused me of what she has said publicly,' wrote Simmons. 'She insisted I was not violent. She did tell me her boyfriend and many others found out about our long weekend together and she said she was ashamed by that discovery.' He then added: 'I am sorry for the embarrassment she recounted to me.' Possible proof: Simmons again denied the incident while producing three affidavits from people he claims were at his apartment that weekend to back his claim (two affidavits above) Ally: Ratner accuser Olivia Munn showed her support for Khalighi, who is expecting her third child on Monday, in a Twitter post (above) Simmons also introduced the affidavits by stating they were proof that the 'experiences that weekend with Keri Claussen Khalighi 26 years ago were consensual.' It is unknown how these were obtained though and none give the specific dates of the encounter while, as previously mentioned, the names of two do the individuals who submitted these are unknown. Ratner meanwhile has denied all of Kalighi's claims through his attorney. Kalighi did get some social media support from Olivia Munn, who previously accused Ratner of sexual misconduct, as she wrote: 'Eloquent, powerful and 9 months pregnant. Keri Claussen Khaligi epitomizes what it means to be a woman. Im amazed by her courage and bravery to speak out against Russell Simmons and Brett Ratner. I proudly stand behind you Keri and I am so thankful for your strength.' Hillary Clinton spoke about the dangers of artificial intelligence in a radio interview with Hugh Hewitt on Wednesday. The failed presidential candidate was on Hewitt's show to promote her book, but the conversation steered towards recent advances in technology. Something that concerns Clinton is the potential for our society to become inundated with artificial intelligence - computers that mimic the human brain to complete tasks for us - such as home office assistants or even robot drones. Hillary Clinton issued a stern warning about artificial intelligence in an interview on Wednesday Amazon's Alexa device, which allows users to shop, play music and look up questions online all by voice, is one example of AI Clinton says that AI can be a good thing, but she's worried that our society is rushing into a brave new world without thinking through the repercussions. 'Yeah, a lot of really smart people, you know, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking, a lot of really smart people are sounding an alarm that were not hearing. And their alarm is artificial intelligence is not our friend. 'It can assist us in many ways if it is properly understood and contained. But we are racing headfirst into a new era of artificial intelligence that is going to have dramatic effects on how we live, how we think, how we relate to each other,' Clinton said. She pointed to the case of driverless cars as one example. 'What are we going to do when we get driverless cars? It sounds like a great idea. And how many millions of people - truck drivers and parcel delivery people and cab drivers and even Uber drivers - what do we do with the millions of people who will no longer have a job? We are totally unprepared for that,' she said. She continued: 'What do we do when we are connected to the internet of things and everything we know and everything we say and everything we write is, you know, recorded somewhere? And it can be manipulated against us?' Clinton said that if she had been elected president, she would have started a 'commission' to give opinions on what America's policy on AI should be. Republican Roy Moore's Senate campaign took a hit on Wednesday when his communications director abruptly resigned. John Rogers confirmed to Washingtonian magazine that he's stepped down. Moore's bid to replace U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions as Alabama's junior senator has hit wall after wall with nine different women saying he sexually harassed or abused them in the past mostly while they were in their teens. His chief political strategist Dean Young is staying with him, however, attacking the media and 'establishment' Republicans on Tuesday while also tarring and feathering Moore's accusers. As national outrage has grown, 60 per cent of Americans told Quinnipiac University pollsters recently that the Senate should block Moore from serving if he wins his December 12 special election. Alabama Republican Roy Moore's U.S. Senate campaign is reeling after communications director John Rogers suddenly quit on Wednesday President Donald Trump blasted Moore's opponent on Tuesday and defended the Republican, saying he has 'denied' all the claims of sexual misconduct against him Democratic candidate Doug Jones is leading in an average of polls, turning what would normally be a 'safe' Republican U.S. Senate seat into a toss-up race Moore is deadlocked with Democrat Doug Jones in the Alabama special election, Real Clear Politics' polling analytics show. The Senate seat has previously been categorized as 'safe' for Republicans to hang onto; but Moore's victory over appointed Alabama Sen. Luther Strange in the primary put the race in striking distance for Democrats. A GOP victory seemingly slipped further out of reach after a series of women accused the controversial former state Supreme Court judge of sexual harassment when he was in his thirties and they were teenage girls. The youngest of the women says she was 14 when Moore sexually touched her over he underwear in his house. He has denied all the claims and said he 'generally' did not date teens. 60 per cent of Americans say U.S. senators should keep Moore from being sworn in if he wins Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell encouraged a Republican write-in campaign to keep Moore from winning and the GOP from losing the seat. The Republican National Committee closed off its coffers for Moore a move the White House says was supported by Donald Trump. But the president seemed to back him on Tuesday, telling DailyMail.com during a press scrum outside the White House that Alabamians shouldn't support Jones, his Democratic opponent. 'We don't need a liberal person in there, a Democrat,' Trump said. 'Jones I've looked at his record, it's terrible on crime, he's terrible on the border, he's it's on the military. I can tell you for a fact we do not need somebody that's going to be bad on crime, bad on borders, bad with the military, bad for the Second Amendment.' Asked about the torrent of accusations of sexual impropriety facing Moore, Trump said flatly: 'Roy Moore denies it ... And by the way, he totally denies it.' One Moore accuser, Leigh Corfman, says he touched her over her underwear when she was 14 Beverly Young Nelson (left) has described an alleged sexual assault against her in 1977 when she was 16, by then District Attorney Roy Moore Separately, a prominent Alabama pastor claims Moore dated 'younger ladies' for their 'purity.' Flip Benham also says Moore courted women who where younger than him because 'all of the ladies' his age were taken by the time he returned from Vietnam. Benham admitted Monday on an Alabama radio show that Moore dated teen girls, but insisted the former judge always sought the permission of the girls' parents first. Moore has said he is considering suing the women who have come forward to accuse him of sexual misconduct. Indiana police said that they have arrested a couple after they allegedly gave the woman's 10-month-old daughter marijuana to treat her broken leg. Tessa Rose Murray, 23, and her boyfriend Nerrell McCoy, 20, were each charged with 'two counts of neglect of a dependent' on Monday, according to The Star Press. They are currently being held at the Delaware County jail with their bond set at $10,000 each. Tessa Rose Murray (left), 23, and her boyfriend Nerrell McCoy, 20, (right) were each charged with 'two counts of neglect of a dependent' on Monday On June 18, the infant was taken to IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital to treat a 'dislocated femur fracture', the Press reported. Muncie Police Department investigator Kris Swanson said that the hospital notified the authorities soon after the girl was admitted. During questioning, Murray told investigators that her daughter broke her leg after falling off the sofa. Muncie Police Department investigator Kris Swanson (pictured) said that the hospital notified the authorities soon after the girl was admitted Murray later changed her account, stating her daughter was injured when another child pulled on it while she was falling from a bed. After securing a warrant, Swanson said the department searched Murray's cell phone and discovered an exchange with McCoy dating to five days earlier on June 13. '(The baby) prolly(sic) needs some weed and she will be good for now,' one of the text messages, sent by by McCoy, allegedly reads. McCoy also said that he thought the child was suffering from a 'muscle or tendon injury', and said he had put her leg 'in a book splint,' according to the Press. Swanson later stated in an affidavit that the child tested 'positive for marijuana in excess of what could be attributed to second-hand smoke'. The couple admitted that they did not provide proper medical care for the small child. The girl had been taken away from Murray's custody the previous year, the Star Press noted. A paedophile who groomed, drugged and then filmed himself sexually abusing a teenage girl for years was sentenced to a total of 955 years in jail on Wednesday. Tim Stewart, who represented himself at trial earlier this year, had insisted the abuse was consensual because he and the girl 'acted like husband and wife'. A dozen SD memory cards documenting his 'vile and incomprehensible' crimes were found hidden inside the lining of the 45-year-old's jacket, a Sydney court heard. Judge Paul Conlon, known as 'Judge Dread', sentenced Stewart over 125 individual charges against the young girl as well as charges against her sister and mum. The perverted sex attacker was sentenced to a total of 955 years, but will spend 24 years in jail after being given an aggregate maximum term of 32 years. Timothy James Stewart (pictured) pleaded guilty to 99 charges relating to the abuse and a jury in July found him guilty of a further 28 offences, including drugging the girl and her mother, and assaulting a younger sister Stewart (pictured), who represented himself at trial, claimed his abuse of a girl was consensual and the pair 'acted like husband and wife' Stewart pleaded guilty to 99 charges relating to the abuse which occurred when the girl was aged between 12 and 15. A jury in July found him guilty of a further 28 offences, including drugging the girl and her mother and indecently assaulting her younger sister when she was about 11. Judge Conlon said Stewart's grooming of the older sibling was 'total, complete and overwhelming'. 'This vile and indecent obsession with (the girl) ... involved an abhorrent breach of trust,' he said. 'This type of offending is simply incomprehensible.' A long list detailing the abuse was read out in court on Wednesday. Stewart showed little emotion throughout but at one point closed his eyes. Judge Conlon said the girl was 'virtually reduced to an inanimate object' when she was drugged. A dozen SD memory cards documenting his 'vile and incomprehensible' crimes were found hidden inside the lining of the 45-year-old's jacket Prosecutors on Wednesday told the court the victims consented to Stewart's name being published. He immediately objected from the dock. 'I'm already at high risk ... of violence (in prison),' he protested. Judge Conlon replied: 'You are in that category as a result of these matters.' Stewart was sentenced to 32 years in jail with a non-parole period of 24. He will be 66 when he is eligible for release in 2038. The mother and her older daughter embraced in the courtroom after the sentence was handed down. Outside court, the older daughter said she had not expected such a long sentence. 'It's been a long time coming,' she told reporters. 'I don't think he'll be coming out anytime in my life, so I'm pretty happy.' Her mother praised her children for having the strength to speak out. 'I hope their strength and this outcome gives some comfort to other survivors of sexual abuse,' she said. 'Abuse of any kind is not acceptable ... pedophiles have no place in society.' Vladimir Putin has said that all Russian businesses must be ready to meet war-time needs at any moment. The Russian President made the remarks at a meeting of world military chiefs in Sochi on Wednesday. It comes a day after he said Russia should aim to overtake the West in terms of military technology because: 'If we want to win, we have to be better.' Vladimir Putin told a gathering of military leaders in Sochi that all 'large-scale enterprises' in the country must be ready to meet war-time needs at any moment Russia has massively increased its defense spending in recent years as it completely updates its military, and is now the third largest spender in the world Speaking on Wednesday, Mr Putin added: 'The ability of our economy to increase military production and services at a given time is one of the most important aspects of military security. 'To this end, all strategic, and simply large-scale enterprise should be ready, regardless of ownership.' Mr Putin's remarks were reported by The Independent. Russian military spending largely declined throughout the Nineties, but starting in 2000 the country has massively increased its defence budget. The amount it spent on its armed forces more than doubled between the turn of the millennium and 2004, and has shot up even faster in recent years. It is now the world's third largest military spender, behind the US and China. The Kremlin now boasts regiments of cutting-edge tanks, a next-generation armament of nuclear missiles and will soon have supersonic bombers. Mr Putin also met with Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan (right) and Iran's Hassan Rouhani (left) as they agreed the date for a summit on the war in Syria Damascus said on Wednesday that it would agree to the summit, to be held before UN-backed talks on the issue, to try and resolve the conflict in Syria Also on Wednesday the government of Syria agreed to take part in a summit to discuss what will happen to the country once the war against ISIS is over. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iran's President Hassan Rouhani had agreed to the summit, set to place before United Nations-backed talks in Geneva next week. The congress would 'gather representatives of different political parties, internal and external opposition' to discuss 'the parameters of the future state,' he said. The Syrian foreign ministry official said Syria has 'always' supported 'any political action that respects its sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, and helps put an end to the shedding of Syrian blood'. ISIS has been reduced to just a few pockets of resistance in cities in the east of the country, located along the Euphrates River. Now Syria is largely split between Russian-back government forces, which control the majority of territory, and the western-backed SDF which controls parts of the north and east. A key sticking point is likely to be the future of Bashar al-Assad, with Russia demanding that he stay in power but the West refusing to accept this. Doug Jones, the Democratic candidate in Alabama's U.S. Senate special election next month, released a scathing ad Wednesday attacking his opponent Roy Moore. The 30-second spot, titled 'Immoral,' names seven women who have accused Moore, a Republican former judge, of a range of sexual misconduct offenses when they were in their teens. And the ad includes photos of them as adolescent girls to drive the point home. Leigh Corfman, Beverly Young Nelson, Debbie Wesson Gibson, Gloria Thacker Deason, Gena Richardson, Wendy Miller and Kelly Harrison Thorp are all named and pictured. Scroll down for videos Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Doug Jones released a scathing ad against Republican Roy Moore on Wednesday, naming and picturing seven of his sexual misconduct accusers A total of nine women have claimed that Moore, a former Republican judge, fondled and otherwise pursued them in Alabama when they were teenagers Leigh Corfman alleges Moore touched her sexually over her underwear when she was 14 years old; Nelson says he touched her in a parked car when she was 16 'They were girls when Roy Moore immorally pursued them,' a narrator intones. 'Now they are women, witnesses to us all of his disturbing conduct.' The final message, meant to linger through the Thanksgiving weekend: 'Will we make their abuser a U.S. senator?' Moore's campaign was hit with a new crisis hours earlier when his communications director John Rogers abruptly quit. On Tuesday the Moore campaign's chief political strategist, Dean Young, delivered a scathing statement to the media blasting his accusers as politically motivated and unbelievable. Moore has denied every charge, including Corfman's accusation that he molested her when she was 14, and Nelson's claim that he touched her at age 16. In a new poll from Quinnipiac University, 60 per cent of Americans said the U.S. Senate should block Moore from serving if he wins. Four other women, pictured decades ago, have created a steady drip of trouble for Moore's gasping campaign Moore, a former federal prosecutor, has also used the words of first daughter Ivanka Trump against his Republican opponent; she has said she finds Moore's accusers credible Jones is a former federal prosecutor best known for securing convictions against members of the Ku Klux Klan. His campaign made news earlier this week with another ad that leveraged a statement from first daughter Ivanka Trump. 'There is a special place in hell for people who prey on children,' she had said. 'I've yet to see a valid explanation, and I have no reason to doubt the victims' accounts.' Her father, the President of the United States, seemed to side with Moore on Tuesday. Asked about the torrent of accusations of sexual impropriety, he said flatly: 'Roy Moore denies it ... And by the way, he totally denies it.' President Donald Trump talked to reporters during his departure from the White House on Tuesday, noting that Moore has denied all the claims against him and insisting that Jones would be a bad senator 'You have to listen to him also. He said, 40 years ago this did not happen,' said Trump of Corfman's allegation. The president also told DailyMail.com amid a scrum of cameras that he isn't ready to announce whether he'll campaign for Moore as the December 12 special election looms. 'I will be letting you know next week. But I can tell you we don't need somebody who's soft on crime like Jones,' Trump said. Trump, who has faced his own collection of allegations of sexual misconduct, also wouldn't say whether he believes Moore's denials. There are currently 10 Apple stores in New York City, but not one of them is located in The Bronx, which is both the poorest and most diverse of the five boroughs. And according to a new article published by the news blog The Outline on Wednesday, the tech giant's decision not to open a brick-and-mortar location in The Bronx is not a singular instance, but rather part of a pattern. Of Apple's 270 stores, 251 - or 93 per cent - are situated in majority-white zip codes. Of New York City's five boroughs, only The Bronx - which is the most diverse but also the poorest - does not have an Apple store location (nine locations are seen on the map) Of Apple's 270 stores, 251 - or 93 per cent - are situated in majority-white zip codes. Pictured: An Apple store in Palo Alto, California, on November 3 In New York City, there are seven Apple locations in Manhattan, which is almost 56 per cent white and where the median household income is just under $73,000 a year. Staten Island, Queens and Brooklyn each have one Apple outpost. The latest location opened its doors in Brooklyn's trendy and predominantly white section of Williamsburg in 2016. According to the 2015 American Community Survey, Staten Island has a population of 472,500 and is 75 per cent white with a median household income of $73,000. By comparison, The Bronx, which has a population of 1.5million, is only 21 per cent white and has a median household income of $34,000, making it the most low-income borough with the highest concentration of minorities. Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr has been trying to bring an Apple store to his neck of the woods, but so far his pleas have fallen on deaf ears. 'The bottom line is that theres so many black and Latinos and other minority groups who purchase their products, depend on their products, and depend on services that only the store can provide,' Diaz Jr told The Outline. 'When my wife has to get serviced by Apple, she goes all the way to Ridge Hill, which is a 20-minute drive north of the Bronx.' DailyMail.com reached out to Apple for comment on this story Wednesday and was awaiting a reply. Last November, nearly every elected official in The Bronx signed a letter urging Apple CEO Tim Cook to open a new location in their borough. Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr has been trying to bring an Apple store to his neck of the woods 'Few brands are as recognized and admired as Apple, and an Apple Bronx location would be another signal to the world that The Bronx is open for business,' the letter stated. 'It is time for The Bronx to get its bite of the Apple!' Diaz Jr argued that bringing an Apple store would be mutually beneficial to the corporation and its tens of thousands of its customers who call New York City's northernmost borough their home. Speaking to CNBC at the time, the borough president put it bluntly: 'We have always been pushed aside in the Bronx. We are black. We are Hispanic. I would say 75 per cent of us have Apple products.' A year later, Diaz Jr said he has not heard back from Tim Cook. An argument can be made that residents of The Bronx and other communities that do not have an Apple store can easily purchase the company's iPhones, iPads and MacBooks online, without having to set foot in a brick-and-mortar location. But not having easy access to a physical Apple outpost could mean that customers are denied the level of service enjoyed by their counterparts in majority-white zip codes. Apple is not the only major corporation to seemingly overlook The Bronx: Whole Foods Market, which was recently purchased by Amazon, has a dozen stores in New York City, but all of them are located either in Manhattan or Brooklyn. Last year, Amazon sparked an outrage when Bloomberg reported that customers living in The Bronx were not eligible for same-day deliveries. The company initially defended its policy by arguing that its warehouses were too far from The Bronx, but after facing backlash relented and extended the service. The United States declared the ongoing violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar to be 'ethnic cleansing' on Wednesday as it threatened penalties for military officials engaged in a brutal crackdown that has sent more than 600,000 refugees flooding over the border to Bangladesh. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson blamed Myanmar's security forces and 'local vigilantes' for what he called 'intolerable suffering' by the Rohingya. The Rohingya people are a stateless Indo-Aryan people from Rakhine State, Myanmar and there were an estimated 1 million of them living in Myanmar before the 20162017 crisis. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson talks to reporters during the daily media briefing in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House Monday Pictured here on Tuesday November 21 is a Rohingya Muslim women carrying blankets and other supplies they collected from aid distribution centers in Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh Washington says Myanmar's de facto civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who met Tillerson last week, has a crucial role to play in tackling the Rohingya crisis but has been careful to focus blame on the army. Although the military has accused Rohingya insurgents of triggering the crisis, Tillerson said that 'no provocation can justify the horrendous atrocities that have ensued'. 'After a careful and thorough analysis of available facts, it is clear that the situation in northern Rakhine state constitutes ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya,' Tillerson said in a statement. Taken September 20 a Rohingya refugee boy is pictured here desperately crying as he climbs on a truck distributing aid for a local NGO near the Balukali refugee camp Although the designation carries no legal obligations for the U.S. to act, Tillerson said those who perpetrated the atrocities 'must be held accountable.' He added that the U.S. wanted a full investigation and was considering 'targeted sanctions' against those responsible - but not broader sanctions against the nation. Rohingya from Myanmar's Rakhine state have been fleeing to neighboring Bangladesh, seeking refuge from what Myanmar's military has called 'clearance operations.' The crisis started in August, when Rohingya insurgents attacked Myanmar security forces, leading to a brutal crackdown in which soldiers and Buddhist mobs have killed men, raped woman and burned homes and property to force the Rohingya to leave. The declaration followed a lengthy review process by President Donald Trump's administration to determine whether the violence met the threshold to be considered ethnic cleansing. Rohingya refugees are reflected on a pond as they walk back to their homes at Balukhali refugee camp in the Bangladeshi district of Ukhia on November 22 The United Nations came to that conclusion in September, but the U.S. had held off, with Tillerson saying he needed more information even as he expressed deep concern about the crisis. Last week, Tillerson traveled to Myanmar in the highest level visit by a U.S. official since Trump took office. U.S. officials dangled the possibility of an 'ethnic cleansing' designation ahead of Tillerson's trip, potentially giving him more leverage as he met with officials in Myanmar. In the capital of Naypitaw, Tillerson met with the country's civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, as well as Myanmar's powerful military chief, Min Aung Hlaing, who is in charge of operations in Rakhine state, home to Myanmar's Rohingya population. Pictured October 9 a Rohingya refugees wades into the water while holding a child after crossing the Naf river from Myanmar into Bangladesh in Whaikhyang A Rohingya man carries an elderly woman, after the wooden boat they were travelling on from Myanmar, which can be seen in the background, crashed into the shore and tipped everyone out on September 12 Senior State Department officials said the determination was intended to ramp up pressure on the military and others in Myanmar to resolve the conflict and repatriate refugees who have fled to Bangladesh. Yet it was also likely to intensify calls for the Trump administration and Congress to move toward new sanctions. Earlier this month, a House committee passed a nonbinding resolution condemning 'murderous ethnic cleansing and atrocities' and calling on Trump to impose sanctions on those responsible for abuses. Yet sweeping sanctions targeting Myanmar's economy or its military as a whole are off the table, officials said, adding that the Trump administration had determined they would not be productive either for ensuring accountability or for promoting broader U.S. goals in Myanmar. Instead, the U.S. is considering sanctions against individuals only, said the officials, who weren't authorized to comment by name and briefed reporters on a conference call on condition of anonymity. This photo was taken June 26 showing Rohingya people push a cart loaded with fire-wood during rain in Thet Kabyin village, close to Sittwe, Rakhine state, Myanmar Broad-based U.S. sanctions on Myanmar were eased under former President Barack Obama as the Southeast Asian nation inched toward democracy. U.S. officials have been concerned that slapping back sanctions or pushing Myanmar's leaders too hard on the Rohingya violence could undermine the country's civilian government, led for the last 18 months by Suu Kyi. That could slow or reverse the country's delicate transition away from decades of harsh military rule and risks pushing Myanmar away from the U.S. and closer to China. The State Department has also examined whether the violence in Rakhine meets the definitions for crimes against humanity or genocide, but have so far made no such determinations. Both designations carry significant legal consequences. Ethnic cleansing, on the other hand, isn't recognized as an independent crime under international law, according to the United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention. This photo was taken November, showing tents in the Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh where Rohingya Muslims live, after crossing over from Myanmar into Bangladesh The ethnic cleansing term surfaced in the context of the 1990s conflict in the former Yugoslavia, when a U.N. commission defined it as 'rendering an area ethnically homogeneous by using force or intimidation to remove persons of given groups from the area.' Human rights groups accuse the military of a scorched-earth campaign against the Rohinyga, who numbered roughly 1 million in Myanmar before the latest exodus. The Buddhist majority in Myanmar believes they migrated illegally from Bangladesh, but many Rohingya families have lived for generations in Myanmar. In 1982, they were stripped of their citizenship. Already, the United States has curtailed its ties to Myanmar's military over the violence. Earlier this year, the U.S. restored restrictions on granting visas to members of Myanmar's military, and the State Department has deemed units and officers involved in operations in Rakhine state ineligible for U.S. assistance. Australia faces threats from China's growing military and 'battle-hardened' terrorists returning home from conflict zones. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop is set to release the first foreign policy White Paper in 14 years, highlighting the major threats to the nations security. Other serious concerns include cyber warfare, the environment and weapons of mass destruction. Australia faces threats from China's growing military and 'battle-hardened' terrorists returning home from conflict zones (pictured is Australian ISIS fighter Neil Prakash) Foreign Minister Julie Bishop is set to release the first foreign policy White Paper in 14 years, highlighting the major threats to the nations security (pictured are Chinese soldiers) The document warns of the major challenges expected to be faced in coming years, but stops short of making policy recommendations, The Daily Telegraph reported. While the paper does not predict China will overtake the US militarily, it warns of challenges arising from competition between the two powers. 'In parts of the Indo-Pacific, including in Southeast Asia, China's power and influence are growing to match, and in some cases exceed, that of the United States,' the paper states. 'Like all great powers, China will seek to influence the region to suit its own interests. As it does, a number of factors suggest we will face an increasingly complex and contested Indo-Pacific.' Over 200 Australian terrorists are fighting in conflict zones around the world, with many expected to return home after ISIS defeats in the Middle East and Southeast Asia (pictured is Australian ISIS fighter Tareq Kamleh) While the paper does not predict China will overtake the US militarily, it warns of challenges arising from competition between the two powers (pictured are Chinese soldiers) Over 200 Australian terrorists are fighting in conflict zones around the world, with many expected to return home after ISIS defeats in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. The paper warns of a worsening terror threat as new groups fill the gap left by ISIS and recommends planning for a mass casualty attack in the region. 'Fighters from our region may seek to return to their countries as ISIL loses territory in Iraq and Syria, and some will be battle-hardened and primed to conduct attacks,' the paper states. 'In parts of the Indo-Pacific, including in Southeast Asia, China's power and influence are growing to match, and in some cases exceed, that of the United States,' the paper states (pictured are Chinese tanks on parade) Terrorists will continue to seek access to weapons of mass destruction (pictured are North Korean ballistic missiles) and the world will face 'new proliferation challenges' over the next decade, the paper warns It also warns technological advancements are giving terrorists greater access to advanced weapons, including bioweapons, than ever before. Additional threats include cyber warfare, with the paper mentioning Russian cyber activities during last year's US election. The White Paper mentions climate change, stresses on global food and water supplies, and damage to ocean fisheries. Terrorists will continue to seek access to weapons of mass destruction and the world will face 'new proliferation challenges' over the next decade, the paper warns. A man has suffered critical head injuries after plummeting from the eighth floor of a Sydney apartment complex. Emergency services were called to Potter Street in Waterloo just after midnight on Thursday, where its believed the man in his 20s had dropped 15 metres before landing on a bitumen driveway. A crime scene has been established and investigators will assess whether the victim fell through an awning before hitting the ground. Emergency services were called to an apartment building on Potter Street in Waterloo overnight after a man fell to the ground from a sixth floor balcony Officers from the Redfern Local Area Command arrived at 12.15am to find the man suffering serious injuries to his head, as well as one of his hands. An ambulance rushed him to St Vincent's Hospital in Darlinghurst where he remains in a critical condition. Detectives are appealing for witnesses to assist in their investigation. President Obama's Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius doled out blame to both Bill and Hillary Clinton for their treatment of the ex-president's alleged victims who accused the Democrat of sexual misdeeds. 'Not only did people look the other way, but they went after the women who came forward and accused him,' Sebelius pointed out to David Axelrod, also Obama administration alumni. 'And so it doubled down on not only bad behavior, but abusive behavior, and then people attacked the victims.' Axelrod, in an interview with Sebelius for his podcast, the Axe Files, then asked Sebelius a so-called delicate question: 'Was that fair criticism of Hillary that she participated in that effort?' Scroll down for video Former Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius talked about how when Bill Clinton was accused of sexual misdeeds 'people ... went after the women who came forward and accused him' Kathleen Sebelius said 'absolutely' it was fair that people criticized Hillary Clinton (right) for helping her husband Bill Clinton (left) lead smear attacks against his accusers Kathleen Sebelius sat down for an interview with David Axelrod (pictured), who also worked for President Obama, for an episode of his podcast, the Axe Files Kathleen Sebelus (right) flanked by former President Obama (middle) and Vice President Biden (left) said what happened to Bill Clinton's accusers 'shouldn't ever happen again' 'Absolutely,' she said, not skipping a beat. 'I think it's fair.' 'And that shouldn't happen ever again,' Sebelius made known. Sebelius noted that the same criticism would be fair today, if Hillary again aided in a smear campaign, though she also noted that she wasn't sure if impeaching Bill Clinton had been the appropriate punishment. The two Obama administration officials had gotten on the topic of the previous Democratic administration when Axelrod talked about a conversation he had had with a friend about Americans who voted for Donald Trump. 'You know, I was arguing with a friend who said, "How can you, how can people have voted for Donald Trump after that Access Hollywood tape?" And I had to be honest and I said, "Look, I voted for Bill Clinton twice,"' Axelrod recalled. 'And I think he was a really fine president, a brilliant guy, committed public servant, but I knew, everyone in politics knew about his behavior,' Obama's former senior adviser admitted. 'And we looked the other way and I think there's a lot of soul-searching to be done,' Axelrod added. Axelrod, now based back in Chicago, also pointed out that sexual harassment and assault was not some sort of 'partisan defect,' as men on both sides of the aisle have been abusers. The two prominent Democrats, however, turned to the accusations over Minnesota Sen. Al Franken's behavior, a prominent member of their party. 'Now we see the Al Franken situation,' mused Axelrod. 'All of it is bad, but is all of it equal?' Sebelius suggested that it wasn't and that's in part because of how Franken reacted once the first charges came out, that he had groped and kissed a woman without her permission. 'Franken has done something different than some of the other males involved,' she began. 'He first of all admitted behavior and apologized but immediately asked for an ethics investigation on himself.' Bringing back up Clinton's behavior, Sebelius suggested that this was a start. 'He stepped forward immediately and did it, most of the others who have been accused have followed a very different path and it's a path that looks a lot more like what Bill Clinton did,' the former HHS secretary noted. A member of the Rebels bikie gang has been arrested during dawn raids at a NSW south coast home over the shooting murder of a 38-year-old man four years ago. Johnny Salafia was found dead at the front door of his home near Ulladulla with bullet wounds to his head and chest in June 2013. His wife and sons were at his home during the shooting, according to The Daily Telegraph. A member of the Rebels bikie gang (pictured) has been arrested during dawn raids at a NSW south coast home over the shooting murder of a 38-year-old man four years ago The NSW Police squad along with Strikeforce officers raided a Batemans Bay home (pictured) at first light on Thursday and took a 42-year-old member of the Rebels OMCG into custody Johnny Salafia (pictured) was found dead at the front door of his home near Ulladulla with bullet wounds to his head and chest in June 2013 Salafia was a member of the Rebels for six months. The NSW Police squad along with Strikeforce officers raided a Batemans Bay home at first light on Thursday and took a 42-year-old member of the Rebels OMCG into custody. He's expected to be charged later in the day over the murder of Salafia, police say. Young professionals Sophie Diaz and Heinrich Schroder (pictured) could save 5,000 as a result of the stamp duty cut First-time buyers were last night handed a tax cut of up to 5,000 after the Chancellor abolished stamp duty for the vast majority of them. In a boost for young people struggling to get on the housing ladder, Mr Hammond scrapped the levy for first-time buyers on properties worth up to 300,000. Meanwhile those buying homes worth up to 500,000 will pay no stamp duty on the first 300,000. Promising to revive the home-owning dream in Britain, Mr Hammond said the move would benefit 95 per cent of first-time buyers. Eight in ten will now pay no stamp duty at all. In total, more than one million young people are expected to benefit over the next five years, the Treasury said. However the Office for Budget Responsibility warned that the radical changes would simply push up house prices and leave home ownership further out of reach. The official Government forecaster predicted house prices would rise 0.3 per cent over the next year as a result of the move making existing property owners the main beneficiaries. The changes, which took effect at midnight yesterday, shave 1,739 off the tax bill for the average 211,980 first-time buyer home. A young couple buying a property worth 300,000 will save 5,000. For homes worth up to 500,000, first-time buyers will now not pay stamp duty the first 300,000. As a result, stamp duty has been halved on a 400,000 property, falling from 10,000 to 5,000. On a 500,000 property the bill falls from 15,000 to 10,000. Young professional couple: 'We were put off by extortionate fees' Young professionals Sophie Diaz and Heinrich Schroder could save 5,000 when they buy their first home as a result of the cut in stamp duty. The couple who currently rent separately in London have been looking to buy their first property together. However they were put off by extortionate stamp duty fees and the prospect of finding a large initial deposit. Their budget is up to 400,000, at which price stamp duty would have previously set them back 10,000. The couple who currently rent separately in London have been looking to buy their first property together But the Chancellors abolition of stamp duty on the first 300,000 of the propertys value now means the fee would be halved making it easier for them to get on the housing ladder. Miss Diaz, 26, who works as an assistant underwriter at Zurich, said: We knew there would be something in the Budget to help first-time buyers but we didnt expect this much of a help. It will make a huge difference and it is a relief knowing we dont have to pay the extra tax on top of the house price. Were fed up of wasting money on rent and now that the initial buying cost has been cut well hopefully be able to buy somewhere soon. Mr Schroder, 27, a financial manager at Deloitte, added: Its great news. The cuts make it a lot more affordable for first-time buyers, mostly young people like ourselves. Miss Diaz currently pays 715 per month, excluding bills, for a room in a three-bedroom flat in Tooting Miss Diaz currently pays 715 per month, excluding bills, for a room in a three-bedroom flat in Tooting, South West London. Meanwhile Mr Schroder is renting a room in a flat in East London, where he pays 750 with bills included. They have been looking for a suitable place to buy for over six months. However they had even begun to consider moving abroad as they were finding house prices in London prohibitively expensive. Mr Schroder added: Your first property is a good investment and now we can look forward to properly searching for somewhere knowing that weve been given a bit of a break. We love South West London but we might also look in places where the present costs are a bit lower but where there is a bit of growth predicted. Advertisement However, stamp duty rates remains unchanged for first-time buyers on properties worth more than 500,000. Jeremy Duncombe, a mortgage expert at insurer Legal & General, said: This is a promising move from the Government which will no doubt be welcomed by thousands of younger buyers across the country who are struggling to get their foot on the housing ladder. NUMBER OF MIGRANTS TO FALL AFTER BREXIT The number of migrants entering Britain will fall sharply after Brexit, according to the public spending watchdog. The Office of Budget Responsibility predicts net migration the number of new arrivals minus those who leave will fall to 165,000 by 2023. According to previous estimates it was expected to fall to 185,000 by 2021. Last year net migration stood at 250,000 a year, but the governments target is to cut the number to the tens of thousands by the end of the Parliament. Officials warned that the fall in the number of migrants would mean lower GDP, employment and house prices. Advertisement For too long stamp duty has stood as just another barrier to home ownership another cost to overcome but with this exemption the path to owning a home has been made just that bit easier. Jeremy Leaf, former chairman of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, said: The reduction in stamp duty is hopefully just the tonic the market needs. This should have a knock-on effect on transactions right throughout the market and the overall economy. The Chancellors stamp duty break took effect from midnight yesterday, meaning the exemption has applied to anyone completing a deal since then. Unlike the stamp duty holiday between 2010 and 2012, where first-time buyers did not have to pay on tax on homes worth up to 250,000, the new exemption is permanent. To qualify, buyers need to be purchasing a home for the first time and have never previously owned a share in a property in the UK or abroad. In cases where couples are buying together, both partners must meet these requirements. Despite the move being hailed by experts, the Office for Budget Responsibility predicted that the changes would help just 3,500 more first-time buyers get on the ladder. Mr Hammond was warmly congratulated by Damian Green (left) and Mrs May after his speech in the House Others warned that if the change pushes up house prices, it will merely serve to line the pockets of home owners selling to first-time buyers. In a separate Budget move, the Government is bringing in measures to prevent someone going through a divorce paying higher stamp duty rates that are supposed to apply to landlords and holiday home owners. Since April last year anyone buying a second home has had to pay a 3 per cent stamp duty surcharge. Couples can now apply for an exemption if one continues to live in a jointly-owned family home and the other buys a new property. Aspiring teacher: '5,000 savings will go towards my qualification' Aspiring teacher Nicola Smith says the support for young buyers is long overdue Aspiring teacher Nicola Smith says the support for young buyers is long overdue. The 26-year-old who works part-time while gaining experience in a school lives with her parents in Denton, Manchester. Rocketing house prices and stamp duty have so far prevented her from buying her own place. But she says the pledge to invest in new homes and cuts to stamp duty are just what young people have been waiting for. Its great to see that the Chancellor has thought of first-time buyers in the Budget, she said. Our generation either has to rent or live with their parents in order to make ends meet, and something needed to be done to stop that. Growing up most of us imagined wed have our own place at this age, but in reality its just not possible unless you have a large lump sum in savings to begin with. The deposit for a house is big enough as it is, without adding the extra stamp duty on top. The changes mean that people like me will finally be able to seriously think about getting our own place. Miss Smith is looking to buy a property closer to the city centre, where house prices are an average of 300,000. Changes in the Budget mean she will avoid paying stamp duty fees of up to 5,000 money she will be able to put towards a PGCE teaching qualification. She added: It might not sound like much but it will really make a difference. Im glad that there has also been an increase in tax-free personal allowance it all adds up. Advertisement Builders who hoard land are warned: Use it - or lose it By John Stevens, Deputy Political Editor Developers could be stripped of land if they fail to build homes on plots where planning has been granted. Philip Hammond said he was calling time on firms that profit from hoarding land and pledged to increase the number of homes built each year to 300,000. Big housebuilders, which have been accused of deliberately sitting on plots to restrict the supply of homes and drive up prices, immediately saw their stock market valuation fall. Mr Hammond said he was seeking the biggest annual increase in housing supply since 1970. He promised 15.3billion in financial support over the next five years taking the total to at least 44billion. This includes 1.2billion for the Government to buy land to build more homes, and 2.7billion for infrastructure that will support housing. Planning rules will be reformed to encourage better use of land in cities and towns, while also protecting the green belt. Mr Hammond announced an urgent review to investigate the problem of housebuilders snapping up land where planning permission has been granted and then leaving the sites undeveloped for years. One thing is very clear: there is a significant gap between the number of planning permissions granted and the number of homes built, he said. In London alone, there are 270,000 residential planning permissions unbuilt. We need to understand why. The inquiry, which will be chaired by former Tory minister Sir Oliver Letwin, will report back ahead of the spring financial statement. Mr Hammond said that if the review finds that vitally needed land is being withheld from the market for commercial reasons, then ministers will intervene. He raised the prospect of using compulsory purchase powers if necessary. Barratt Developments fell 3.7 per cent on the stock market, while Persimmon Plc dropped 1.9 per cent, and Berkeley slipped by 2.25 per cent. However, Mr Hammond last night faced embarrassment as it emerged a property firm he founded has been accused of failing to develop land where it has been granted permission. Castlemead Limited, which was started by Mr Hammond in 1984, builds homes, nursing homes and doctors surgeries. Mr Hammond resigned as a director before he joined the Cabinet in 2010, but a trust of which he is the main beneficiary retains a controlling stake. Castlemead Group, a company majority-owned by Castlemead Limited, was given planning consent to build four detached houses on a site near Wrexham, north Wales, in June 2010, on condition work began within five years. The company was granted a further five-year extension last year, but the site remains undeveloped. Chancellor Philip Hammond set out an optimistic view of Brexit, but admitted that growth forecasts had been slashed Local residents have complained the site has become overgrown and infested with vermin, and attracts misbehaving youths. Mr Hammond is understood to have had no direct involvement in running the company since 2010. In the years before the financial crisis, Mr Hammond and his wife were paid dividends of as much as 1.8million a year. According to the firms website, Wrexham-based Castlemead is dedicated to a single ideal the creation of luxury homes and healthcare developments of character and distinction, designed to marry the best of modern building technology with the unchanging values of traditional craftsmanship. It adds: Each development is fashioned in the uncompromising pursuit of excellence by a team of dedicated craftsman committed to the values and standards of a bygone age, while using the technology and materials of the new millennium. A spokesman for Mr Hammond said: Any shares in Castlemead are held in a trust. The chancellor has no direct influence or involvement and so is unable to comment. Castlemead did not respond to a request for comment. Government figures show that 217,350 new homes were added to the English housing stock in 2016/17 the highest since the financial crash of 2007/08. Miguel Timido Angel Lopez-Abrego, 19, a citizen of El Salvador, was arrested in North Carolina recently Authorities in Maryland say on Wednesday that as many as 10 members of the notorious MS-13 gang lured a man into a park, stabbed him over 100 times, decapitated him, removed his heart from his chest, and then threw it into a grave dug ahead of time along with the body. The grisly attack was allegedly planned two weeks in advance. One of the attacks alleged participants, Miguel Timido Angel Lopez-Abrego, 19, was arrested in North Carolina recently, according to The Washington Post. Lopez-Abrego, a citizen of El Salvador who is in the United States illegally, made his first court appearance in Montgomery County on Wednesday. He was denied bond. Authorities allege that the gang members had been planning the killing for two weeks. The victim, whose identity has yet to be confirmed, was stabbed, decapitated, dismembered, and had his heart had been excised from his chest and thrown into the grave, police say. The gang members allegedly lured the victim, a Hispanic man believed to be from Annapolis, to the area using walkie-talkie radios to communicate. Authorities in Maryland say Lopez-Abrego is one of as many as 10 members of the notorious MS-13 gang who lured a man into a park, stabbed him over 100 times, decapitated him, removed his heart from his chest, and then threw it into a grave dug ahead of time. The victim's sweatshirt is seen above Investigators believe that the killing took place sometime in early spring of this year. The official cause of death was sharp force injuries, according to the autopsy. Police first learned of the killing in early September, when an informant told detectives about it. The informant told police about the specially dug grave in Wheaton Regional Park. Police said that on the day of the murder, one of the gang members waited near the edge of the wood line with a handheld, walkie-talkie radio to alert other gang members when the victim arrived. Investigators believe Lopez-Abrego was the first attacker to stab the victim in the chest with a 15-inch knife. Police first learned of the killing in early September, when an informant told detectives about it. The informant told police about the specially dug grave in Wheaton Regional Park (seen above) Police also released a photo of blue shorts that the victim was wearing at the time in hopes of getting clues to his identity Court documents do not specify what motive the alleged killers had to commit the crime. Police said that patrol officers in Montgomery County pulled over a vehicle in which Lopez-Abrego was the passenger in late September. Lopez-Abrego denied any involvement in the mans death, according to court records. Police then tried to track down Lopez-Abrego after that initial interview, but were unable to do so until November 4. That was when he and two other alleged MS-13 gang members from the Washington, DC area were found in North Carolina. The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) released a statement addressing Lopez-Abregos legal status in the country. Miguel Angel Lopez-Abrego, a citizen and national of El Salvador, is illegally in the US and currently in immigration proceedings. On November 4, ICE lodged a detainer on Mr. Lopez-Abrego with the Avery County Sheriffs Department in North Carolina after his arrest by local authorities. Police circulated photos of a gray sweatshirt that the victim was wearing when he was killed. The shirt read First United Methodist Church Laurel on the upper left side A rosary or necklace was also found on the victims body, investigators said Police circulated photos of a gray sweatshirt that the victim was wearing when he was killed. The shirt read First United Methodist Church Laurel on the upper left side. A rosary or necklace was also found on the victims body, investigators said. Police also released a photo of blue shorts that the victim was wearing at the time in hopes of getting clues to his identity. The MS-13 gang, which has roots in El Salvador, is notorious for its links to cartels and organized crime, and its ability to access high-powered weapons. Because of unrest in Central America, many of the original gang members had guerrilla warfare experience, making them more deadly than other criminal groups. MS-13 is a 'transnational criminal organization' engaged in such crimes as drug trafficking, kidnapping, human smuggling, prostitution, murder and extortion. There are at least 30,000 MS-13 members in a range of countries, including 8,000 in the United States. Because the gang members are under the age of 18, the U.S. is unable to lawfully return them to their home countries. MS-13, also known as Mara Salvatrucha gang, which is allied with several of Mexico's warring drug cartels, has a strong presence in Southern California, Washington and Northern Virginia, all areas with substantial Salvadoran populations. Don't yet book him as warm-up man for comedian Roy Chubby Brown in Dundee tomorrow night, but Philip Hammond worked plenty of gags into his 62-minute Budget yesterday. Yes, the most boring man in British politics produced some zingers or what passes for zingers in the Commons as he sought to save his job. Spreadsheet Phil became a veritable thigh-slapper. He had the House groaning and guffawing by turns. In the process he perhaps wanted to distract our minds from gloomy growth forecasts. As ever, the Budget was a selective account of the nations finances but judged simply as political theatre, Mr Hammond performed a few notches above expectations. He certainly saw off Jeremy Corbyn, whose immediate response was an unhappy, stuttering vignette. PM Theresa May and Chancellor Philip Hammond pictured laughing in the Commons yesterday The Chancellor certainly saw off Jeremy Corbyn, whose immediate response was an unhappy, stuttering vignette Mr Hammond had to wait for PMQs to over-run by seven minutes. He glanced through his fat Budget Day text, making a few scribbly alterations on the pages. Was he nervous? Who wouldnt be? The morning newspapers had almost unanimously declared that he had lost No 10s confidence. When he opened his speech, the voice was tighter than usual. The jokes helped settle him. Early on came a moment of rehearsed pantomime hokum when he said the Prime Minister had brought some emergency cough sweets for him (echoes of her croaky conference speech, when he did the same for her). Theresa May duly produced a box of Strepsils from her pocket and plonked them on the despatch box. Quite the conjurors grinning assistant. Mr Hammond was soon taking a swipe about former Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale, currently in the ITV jungle. Corbynisms economic hopelessness meant plenty of other comrades would soon be saying Im Labour, get me out of here, said Laugh-A-Minute Phil. This was watched from an upstairs gallery by Chuka Umunna (Lab, Streatham), a Mandelsonian in misery at his partys hard-Leftism. He just clutched his handsome brow. Meanwhile, jokesmith Hammond had swipes at Lewis Hamilton (when he imposed higher tax on private jets), trade unionist Len McCluskey (when Labour failed to welcome a policy change their pal Len had demanded) and Environment Secretary Michael Gove. Theresa May duly produced a box of Strepsils from her pocket and plonked them on the despatch box Quite the conjurors grinning assistant. Mr Hammond was soon taking a swipe about former Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale, currently in the ITV jungle Naughty Mr Gove has reportedly been eyeing the Chancellorship and spouting long, economicky words in Cabinet meetings. As Mr Hammond began a passage of his speech about tax matters, he said: This is the bit with the long, economicky words in it. The Cabinet laughed merrily. Mr Gove was nowhere to be seen. David Davis arrived late and watched from the wings. Dominic Grieve (sometimes Con, Beaconsfield) stood behind the Speakers Chair and spent much of the time polishing his spectacles. Rodins thinker with a hankie. In addition to jokes, Mr Hammond packed his opening remarks with expressions of optimism. No one should doubt our resolve, he cried after mentioning Brexit. We choose the future! We choose to run towards change, not away from it. The price will be enormous. This delighted Labour MPs. Only a moment later did they realise he had in fact said prize. Resign! shouted an Opposition voice, not yet with the upbeat zeitgeist. During announcements of more money for the NHS, Labours John Ashworth kept shouting its not enough!. In addition to jokes, Mr Hammond packed his opening remarks with expressions of optimism The most shaming line of the Budget came when he reported debt forecasts, which are finally heading in the right direction There was also a Hammond joke about TVs Jeremy Clarkson but if I started to explain it, wed be here until p94. The most shaming line of the Budget came when he reported debt forecasts, which are finally heading in the right direction, and said: This is the first sustained decline in debt in 17 years. No wonder our economy has struggled. We have had years of idiotic over-spending by weak politicians. Jeremiah Corbyn indicated he would do more of that if elected. The only spark in his moany speech came when after an oikish Tory whip, who was sitting in the gangway, made one heckle too many. Mr Corbyn flew into an impressive extempore rage against poverty. Some of his MPs cheered devotedly and angrily. But the Blairites kept their counsel. James Bulger's mother Denise has accused the probation service of 'covering up' for 'vile, perverted psychopath' Jon Venables who is back in jail again after being caught with child porn. The killer was arrested and imprisoned a week ago - the second time since his release - but Ms Fergus was only told last night. She said today: 'I predicted Venables would re-offend unless they kept a very tight rein on him and I pray that now, someone from the UK government will finally listen to me.' Venables and Robert Thompson were ten when they abducted two-year-old James outside a Bootle butchers before torturing and murdering him and dumping him on a railway track in 1993. James' mother says she is 'absolutely fuming' about her treatment and said: 'Once again I'm the last to know'. Scroll down for video Jon Venables (pictured after he was arrested as a 10-year-old), one of the killers of James Bugler, is back in jail after being caught with child porn - the second time he's been recalled Venables and Thompson (left, in CCTV) were both 10-years-old when they shocked Britain by abducting toddler James (pictured), then just two-years-old in 1993 In CCTV footage that shocked a nation, Venables (seen holding the toddler's hand) and Thompson are seen leading James out of the shopping centre and towards his death Denise Fergus, the mother of James Bulger leaves the Old Bailey after Jon Venables appears in court in 2010 over child porn On hearing that Venables had reoffended once again, James's mother Denise Fergus tweeted: 'Here we go again' and said on Facebook: 'Once again I'm the last to know' She said: 'Venables has now proved beyond any doubt what a vile, perverted psychopath he has always been. How Bulger killer Jon Venables is back in jail for the second time in seven years Jon Venables is back in prison Jon Venables was first released from prison in 2001, at the age of 18, and given a new identity to protect him from the risk of vigilante attacks - but he has been returned to jail twi At the time, a psychiatrist ruled that he did not pose a danger to the public and was extremely unlikely to commit any further offences. However, he developed drinking and drugs problems, and he compromised his identity at least twice by telling friends he was a convicted murderer. When a probation officer visited his home in Cheshire in 2010 to discuss his fears that he could be in danger, he was attempting to destroy the hard drive of his computer. The hard drive was later examined by police, who discovered that it contained dozens of indecent images of children. Venables admitted that he had posed online as a 35-year-old woman who had abused her eight-year-old daughter, and was returned to prison. Advertisement 'But what hurts me most is the way the probation service has tried to cover this up. 'Venables was taken back into custody a week ago, yet I was only informed hours before it hit the press. 'But it's clear that they were trying to keep this quiet, until they got a call from the media. 'They then phoned me last night at 8.40pm, in a hurried call, with few details given, just that he had breached his terms of the licence and returned to prison that left me extremely upset, angry and feeling insulted. 'I will be taking advice from my lawyer before making a formal complaint to the probation service. 'I hope finally I might get some justice for my son James'. Venables, now 35, was arrested last week after officials making a routine visit to his home discovered the 'sickening' images on his computer and alerted police. It is the second time that the murderer has been put back behind bars having been caught with a large hoard of child porn in 2010. The killer's new identity is protected by a lifelong anonymity order and has been changed four times since his release in 2001, costing taxpayers 250,000 each time, and around 5million in total has been spent trying to rehabilitate him. His arrest has led to calls for him never to be released again and a source close to the family said: 'The question has now to be asked whether he has finally run out of chances'. The Sun reported that Venables was rushed to a maximum security prison, which cannot be identified for legal reasons. A source told the newspaper: 'Every expense has been afforded him, every expert opinion offered, every opportunity given. 'And yet here we are again. If he is found to have committed a new offence, then why should the public continue to pay through the nose to protect his anonymity any longer?' Venables is now being held for breaching the life-long licence he and Robert Thompson were given after the brutal torture and murder of James Bulger in 1993. Venables, who has not yet been charged with any offence, and Thompson were both 10-years-old when they shocked Britain by abducting James, then just two-years-old. The crime made the boys the youngest killers in modern English history and public enemy number one with millions of Brits. The duo snatched Bulger from outside a butcher's shop in Bootle, Merseyside, in 1993, while his mother popped into a store for just a few seconds. The toddler's mutilated body was found on a railway line in Walton, Liverpool, two days later. Venables and Thompson were found guilty of killing Bulger in November 1993 and were sentenced to custody until they reached 18. They were freed in 2001 after serving eight years behind bars, but by 2010 Venables was back in prison for violating the terms of his release by possessing child porn. It was revealed that he had downloaded and distributed more than 100 images of child abuse, some involving victims as young as two being raped. In one instance he messaged another paedophile claiming to be a married mother who abused her eight-year-old daughter, and offered to sell access to the child. He was freed from prison for the second time in 2013 after a recommendation from the Parole Board. At the time, Denise and Ralph Bulger said they were 'filled with terror' by the decision to grant parole to Venables. Mr Bulger said: 'It is only a matter of time before he caves in to his lust for young children again. 'Jon Venables is and always was a predatory sex killer who will never be changed. He will always be a danger to children which is why he must be locked up for life.' After Venables's conviction for child porn, a review discovered he had regularly breached a condition of his original release that he must not go back to Merseyside. The crime made Thompson and Venables the youngest killers in modern English history Thompson and Venables became public enemy number one during the trial into James's death (an angry crowd are pictured remonstrating as the pair arrive at court) The probe said he would 'certainly' have been returned to jail sooner if officials had known his movements which could have been monitored by a satellite tag. Secret new life of Venables' co-murderer Robert Thompson During the highly-publicised trial in 1993, it was Robert Thompson who the prosecution painted as the ringleader. In fact, a report by famed psychiatrist Sir Michael Rutter release said Venables posed a 'trivial risk' to the public should he be released. But while Venables quickly reoffended after getting out of prison, Thompson set about starting a quiet life in the North West, having impressed prison officials with his talents in art. He also took A-levels while behind bars and ended up in a stable relationship with another man. The pair are banned from contacting each other under the terms of their release. Thompson is thought to have stuck to the terms of the licence, so details of his new life have never been revealed in court. Reports surfaced in 2005 that he was addicted to heroin, while a childhood friend claimed to have bumped into him while he was working as a steward at a major sporting event in the North West of England. Advertisement Under strict rules put in place following his release from prison, the murderer has lifelong anonymity, meaning anyone he speaks to online will not know about his past. Only a tight-knit cabal operating under conditions of extreme secrecy are allowed to know who he really is. Under the terms of his life-long licence, one or two senior probation officers regularly visit Venables to ensure he is adhering to the conditions of his release. The terms include a ban on travelling to Merseyside, and he also faces restrictions on accessing the internet. Venables was given his first new identity when he was jailed in 1993, and a second when he was released from a sentence of indefinite imprisonment in 2001 aged 18. In May 2011, his name and background was changed once again after a 'serious breach' in the security of the identity he had been using. In 2013, officials said they would not give him another identity because he could not be trusted to keep it secret. But they were forced to change their minds amid mounting fears for his safety if he is ever outed. Pictures purporting to be of Venables were circulated on the internet in 2013, despite an injunction granting him lifetime anonymity. CCTV footage shows the final moments of James Bulger's life, as he is led to a railway track by Jon Venables and Robert Thompson The toddler's mutilated body was found on a railway line in Walton, Liverpool, two days after he was abducted Ralph and Denise Bulger, parents of James, during an emotional police press conference in the aftermath of his death The canal in Bootle, Merseyside, where it is thought Jon Venables and Robert Thompson threatened to throw James Bulger in as they toyed with how to torture him The duo snatched Bulger from outside a butcher's shop (shown) in Bootle, Merseyside, in 1993, while his mother popped into a store for just a few seconds James Bulger's funeral procession passes through Kirkby, Merseyside as neighbours watch on The parents of James Bulger (left), Denise Fergus and Ralph Bulger (right, in 1996), said they were 'filled with terror' by the decision to grant parole to Venables in 2013 Landlords breathed a sigh of relief as fears of another Budget tax raid proved unfounded - with the only buy-to-let reference a pledge to look into longer-term tenancies. Rather than announce more punitive tax measures, Philip Hammond revealed government plans to review whether landlords should be offered 'incentives' to give tenants the option to lock into tenancy agreements for more than 12 months - but he failed to be specific about what form these could take. Tim Walford-Fitzgerald, private client tax partner at the chartered accountants HW Fisher & Company, said: 'Buy-to-let landlords could be forgiven for pinching themselves. For once they've not been the whipping boys of a Budget.' The Chancellor has announced a consultation into how landlords could be encouraged to offer longer tenancies The Government is keen to help tenants and one way of doing so is offering them greater security through longer-term tenancies. The Chancellor said: 'We will launch a consultation on barriers to longer tenancies in the private rented sector, and how we might encourage landlords to offer them to those tenants who want the extra security.' The Chancellor did not add any further details about how landlords could be encouraged to offer such deals, including whether this would include tax incentives. The Budget announcement follows the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Sajid Javid indicating in his Conservative party conference speech earlier this year that more details about tax incentives for landlords offering longer tenancies would arrive in today's Budget. Some experts criticised the Chancellor for failing to address calls for tax incentives for landlords. Some are supportive of longer-term tenancies being combined with tax incentives to those who offer them, such as reversing some of the cuts to mortgage interest tax relief for buy-to-let. But they have also called for new housing courts, which would speed up the time it currently takes for a landlord to evict a tenant - one of the main concerns that landlords have about offering longer-term deals. David Smith, of the Residential Landlords Association, said: 'Today's Budget could have acted on proposals to provide tax relief for landlords prepared to do offer longer tenancies and taking action against mortgage lenders who block them being granted. 'Instead we have yet another consultation adding to the 15 already ongoing which relate to the private rented sector. Tenants cannot live in consultations.' The amount of tax relief that landlords can claim is already being reduced over four years until 2020 and replaced with a 20 per cent tax credit - a deeply unpopular measure hitting landlords' pockets hard. David Cox, chief executive of ARLA Propertymark - the trade body for the lettings industry - said reversing these tax relief cuts for landlords offering longer-term deals would act as a significant incentive to give tenants more security of tenure. Industry experts are generally supportive of longer-term tenancies being combined with tax incentives to those who offer them. But they say this should only be introduced alongside new housing courts, which would speed up the time it currently takes for a landlord to evict a tenant - one of the main concerns that landlords have about offering longer-term deals. Landlords avoided being the 'whipping boys' of the Budget this time around Jeremy Leaf, a north London estate agent, said: 'It is good news that the Chancellor did not increase the rate of tax on buy-to-let investors. 'This would have had a detrimental effect on the supply of affordable property to rent as investors have been in retreat for some time.' Angus Stewart, of mortgage brokers Property Master, said: 'The thumbscrews are still on as far as private landlords and the buy-to-let sector are concerned but at least they haven't been tightened still further.' The Google Doodle for the 22nd November pays tribute to kimchi, a traditional staple in North and South Korean cuisine. Todays date is significant for this side dish because Koreans believe salting kimchi on this day helps it reach its full potential in flavour. Consisting of napa cabbage, green onion, fish sauce, red pepper flakes, rice flour, salt, ginger, radish, carrot and garlic, as depicted by Google, kimchi is fermented in a clay pot, otherwise known as onggi, and is regarded as a delicious dish around the world. This Google Doodle celebrates kimchi, a traditional staple in North and South Korean cuisine What is Kimchi? Referenced in Korea about 3,000 years ago and then again in the 18th century, kimchi was first made with chilli peppers. However, because of the difference in regional recipes, today there are hundreds of different types of kimchi. November and December are big months for kimchi as this is when the kimchi curing, or kimjang, takes place in order to prepare for winter. During this time, cabbage is pickled and cut into smaller pieces before soaking it in brine overnight with a dash of salt. Yangnyum, or radish coated in chilli powder, is mixed with some other ingredients like green onions, dropwort, mustard leaves, ginger, garlic and fermented shrimp or anchovies. The pickled cabbage is then stuffed or mixed with the yangnyum and stored to ferment until its time to eat! Kimjang is listed by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage and is described as a time when families can gather in each others kitchens to create moments of joy and memories, as well as encourage living in harmony with nature. The Google logo on the homepage is transformed every day by illustrators called 'doodlers' How to make Kimchi? Although kimchi has an abundance of ingredients, the Korean dish is incredibly simple to make at home. BBC Good Food provides a quick and easy recipe for a kimchi side dish to serve eight. 1. Slice the cabbage into 2.5cm strips. Tip into a bowl, mix with 1 tbsp sea salt, then set aside for 1 hr. 2. Meanwhile, make the kimchi paste by blending the garlic, ginger, fish sauce (if using), chilli sauce, sugar and rice vinegar together in a small bowl. 3. Rinse the cabbage under cold running water, drain and dry thoroughly. Transfer to a large bowl and toss through the paste, along with the radishes, carrot and spring onions. 4. Serve straight away or pack into a large jar, seal and leave to ferment at room temperature overnight, then chill. Will keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks - the flavour will improve the longer it's left. Where can I buy kimchi? Korean Kimchi can be bought from Sainsburys, Amazon and Planet Organic. It is also available from Korean or some Asian supermarkets. What is a Google Doodle? Introduced in 1998 by Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the first Google Doodle featured a stickman and was created to mark their trip to the Burning Man. The transformation made to the Google logo and homepage every day were so well-received that Google now releases new Doodles on a daily basis. 'Net neutrality' regulations, designed to prevent internet service providers like Verizon, AT&T, Comcast and Charter from favoring some sites and apps over others, are on the chopping block. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, has unveiled a plan to undo the Obama-era rules that have been in place since 2015. FCC chief Ajit Pai, a Republican appointed by President Donald Trump in January, said the commission will vote at a Dec. 14 meeting on his plan to rescind the so-called net neutrality rules championed by Democratic former President Barack Obama that treated internet service providers like public utilities. End of neutrality: Ajit Pai will ask the Republican-majority FCC to vote on his plan to end net neutrality, opening the way for high-speed and slow lanes on the web WHAT IS NET NEUTRALITY? Net neutrality is the basic principle that all internet traffic should be be treated equally. Whether you're trying to buy a necklace on Etsy, stream a series on Netflix, or upload a photo to Facebook, your internet service provider has to load all of those websites equally quickly. If net neutrality is lost, internet service providers (ISPs) like AT&T and Verizon could create special 'fast lanes' for content providers willing to pay more. Customers of streaming services like Netflix could see their subscription fees rise if the company chooses to pay more. Advertisement The rules barred broadband providers from blocking or slowing down access to content or charging consumers more for certain content. They were intended to ensure a free and open internet, give consumers equal access to web content and prevent broadband service providers from favoring their own content. The action marks a victory for big internet service providers such as AT&T Inc, Comcast Corp and Verizon Communications Inc that opposed the rules and gives them sweeping powers to decide what web content consumers can get and at what price. Here's a look at what the developments mean for consumers and companies. WHAT IS NET NEUTRALITY? Net neutrality is the principle that internet providers treat all web traffic equally, and it's pretty much how the internet has worked since its creation. But regulators, consumer advocates and internet companies were concerned about what broadband companies could do with their power as the pathway to the internet - blocking or slowing down apps that rival their own services, for example. Proponents of net neutrality protest against the FCC in Washington DC (pictured). WHAT DID THE GOVERNMENT DO ABOUT IT? The FCC in 2015 approved rules, on a party-line vote, that made sure cable and phone companies don't manipulate traffic. With them in place, a provider such as Comcast can't charge Netflix for a faster path to its customers, or block it or slow it down. The net neutrality rules gave the FCC power to go after companies for business practices that weren't explicitly banned as well. For example, the Obama FCC said that 'zero rating' practices by AT&T violated net neutrality. The telecom giant exempted its own video app from cellphone data caps, which would save some consumers money, and said video rivals could pay for the same treatment. Pai's FCC spiked the effort to go after AT&T, even before it began rolling out a plan to undo the net neutrality rules entirely. A federal appeals court upheld the rules in 2016 after broadband providers sued. WHAT TELCOS WANT Big telecom companies say they don't want the stricter regulation that comes with the net neutrality rules. They say the regulations can undermine investment in broadband and introduced uncertainty about what were acceptable business practices. There were concerns about potential price regulation, even though the FCC had said it won't set prices for consumer internet service. WHAT SILICON VALLEY WANTS Internet companies such as Google have strongly backed net neutrality, but many tech firms have been more muted in their activism this year. Netflix, which had been vocal in support of the rules in 2015, said in January that weaker net neutrality wouldn't hurt it because it's now too popular with users for broadband providers to interfere. WHAT HAPPENS NEXT Pai distributed his alternative plan to other FCC commissioners Tuesday in preparation for a Dec. 14 vote. Although the FCC's two Democrats said they will oppose the proposal, the repeal is likely to prevail as Republicans dominate 3-2. The vote for net neutrality in 2015 was also along party lines, but Democrats dominated then. In the long run, net-neutrality advocates say undoing these rules makes it harder for the government to crack down on internet providers who act against consumer interests and will harm innovation. Those who criticize the rules say undoing them is good for investment in broadband networks. Producers of a Bollywood movie have delayed its release amid fears for the safety of its female star, following death threats from prominent Hindu hardliners. The quasi-historical movie, entitled Padmavati, has ignited anger among right-wing Hindu groups owing to its rumored depiction of a romantic dream sequence involving a mythical Hindu queen and an invading Muslim sultan. The filmmakers have repeatedly denied the movie includes such a scene. Much of the anger has centered on the movie's female lead, Deepika Padukone, who has been subject to a sustained campaign of abuse and intimidation. On Sunday, a member of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), Suraj Pal Amu, offered a reward of $1.6 million to anyone who beheads her, sparking an immediate outcry and calls for Amu to retract the threat. Security for Padukone, one of India's biggest movie stars, was increased earlier in November, Mumbai's joint commissioner of police Deven Bharti told CNN. It came as a member of little known right wing Hindu group, Kari Sena, publicly threatened to cut off Padukone's nose. After months of intimidation and protests, the producers of the movie, Viacom18 Motion Pictures, issued a statement Sunday announcing its December 1 release date had been "voluntarily deferred," sparking concerns over issues relating to freedom of speech in the world's largest democracy. The deferment hasn't ended the controversy, however. On Monday, the chief minister in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh -- which is ruled by the BJP -- said the movie will be banned unless so-called offensive scenes are removed. Literal interpretation Padukone plays Queen Padmavati, a legendary Hindu queen who set herself on fire to prevent herself from falling into the hands of invading Muslim conqueror, Alauddin Khilji, played in the movie by Ranveer Singh. The story of the Queen comes from a 16-century poem. While the text references the real figure of Alauddin Khilji, a former Sultan who ruled from Delhi, academics do not regard the text as a definitive record of events. "You have a mythical legendary story which is supposed to speak to (the) mystic," said Sunil Kumar, a professor of medieval history at Delhi University. The story is about seeking God, added Kumar, Padmavati stands for perfection and the other characters represent good and evil. Not everyone sees it that way. In January, members of hardline group Karni Sena stormed the movie's set during shooting and assaulted the director and crew. The right wing Hindu group, which says it represents a large and influential caste group in India, has since vandalized movie theaters and launched protests in several states across the country, alleging the movie "distorts" history. The movie's director Sanjay Leela Bhansali is known for creating visually decadent and expensive films. His work has been widely recognized in India and was also nominated for a BAFTA. "I made this film with a lot of respect and responsibility and diligence. This film honors her courage and sacrifice," said Bhansali in a press statement made earlier in November. "There is no dream sequence between Rani Padmavati and Alauddin Khilji in our film." To its devotees, it is an ancient practice used successfully for centuries to find water. And while sceptics say there is no scientific proof dowsing works, at least one important group of experts appears to be prepared to give it a try Britains water companies. They admit they still allow their engineers to use rods to divine for mains pipes. A Severn Trent water company technician was spotted using dowsing rods as a means to locate underground water. It has emerged many companies' engineers also use the method One company even said that the older tried and tested methods are just as effective as modern techniques using drones and satellites. Engineers dowse for water using L or Y-shaped divining rods as they walk the land. The rods are held out in front of the dowser and twitch to indicate the presence of underground water. Their continued use came to light when a couple called out engineers from water company Severn Trent to their home in the Midlands. They were so astonished to see a technician use dowsing rods to locate the mains pipe that they contacted their daughter Sally Le Page, an Oxford University scientist. She contacted Severn Trent, who confirmed their technicians still use the medieval method. Nine other water firms Scottish, Yorkshire, United Utilities, Thames, Southern, South West, Northumbrian, Welsh and Anglian then told her they, too, use dowsing. Miss Le Page, who is studying for a PhD in evolutionary biology, said her parents couldnt believe their eyes when the technician used two bent tent pegs to locate the mains pipe. She wrote on the website Medium: You could just laugh this off. Isnt it a bit silly that big companies are still using magic to do their jobs! Miss Le Page said there was no rigorous scientific evidence that dowsing works and called on the water firms to leave the magic to Harry Potter. She claimed the method could have dire consequences if a mains pipe was ruptured as a result of incorrect information from dowsing. But a Severn Trent spokesman said: We dont issue divining rods to our engineers but we believe some of our engineers use them. Engineers dowse for water using L or Y-shaped divining rods as they walk the land. The rods are held out in front of the dowser and twitch to indicate the presence of underground water As long as the leak is found and repaired quickly, by whatever means, were happy and so are our customers. The firm added: We use detailed mapping systems to identify where our network of pipes are, which helps us to react quickly when leaks and bursts happen. To track down exactly where leaks on our pipes are, we use an array of cutting-edge technology. Just recently weve begun using satellite data and imagery to monitor our pipes from space and we regularly use drones to spot leaks from the air. As well as detecting water, dowsers have claimed to be able to locate precious metals and even bombs. With millions of views published online every day, it can be difficult for Google to rank information correctly within its search engine. Speaking this week, Eric Schmidt, Chairman of Google's parent firm, Alphabet, explained that it is 'very difficult' for the search algorithm to weed out the truth in a sea of opposing articles. Thankfully, Schmidt believes the problem should be easy to address by tweaking the algorithm. Speaking this week, Eric Schmidt, Chairman of Google's parent firm, Alphabet, explained that it is 'very difficult' for the search algorithm to weed out the truth in a sea of opposing articles WHY DOES GOOGLE STRUGGLE? Inaccurate results are often down to Google bombing used by groups to be ranked highly. These include linking to a fake news site from several other sources and hiding text on a page that is invisible to humans but visible to the search engines algorithms. Eric Schmidt said it very hard to differentiate what is fake to what is a different viewpoint. Thankfully, Schmidt believes that the issue should be easy enough to address by tweaking the algorithm. He said: 'I view those things as bugs as a computer scientist, so if you are manipulating the information and then our system is not doing a good enough job of properly ranking it ... as a computer scientist, I can tell you, this stuff can be detected.' Advertisement Schmidt was speaking at the Halifax International Security Forum in Washington DC this week. He said: 'Let's say that this group believes Fact A and this group believes Fact B and you passionately disagree with each other and you are all publishing and writing about it and so forth and so on. It is very difficult for us to understand truth. 'So when it gets to a contest of Group A versus Group B you can imagine what I am talking about it is difficult for us to sort out which rank, A or B, is higher.' Schmidt explained that the main issue is when there are very different viewpoints around, in which case the algorithm struggles to differentiate between fact and fiction. He added: 'Now, there is a line we can't really get across.' Thankfully, Schmidt believes that the issue should be easy enough to address by tweaking the algorithm. He said: 'I view those things as bugs as a computer scientist, so if you are manipulating the information and then our system is not doing a good enough job of properly ranking it...as a computer scientist, I can tell you, this stuff can be detected.' In April, Google announced changes to its search algorithm in an attempt to combat 'fake news'. It said it would change its search rankings to 'help surface more authoritative pages and demote low-quality content'. The move was an attempt to prevent issues like the Holocaust denial results that Google saw in December. In April, Google announced changes to its search algorithm in an attempt to combat 'fake news'. It said it would change its search rankings to 'help surface more authoritative pages and demote low-quality content' The search engine placed an article from a neo-Nazi white supremacist website at the top of search results. The company has also been criticised over its Autocomplete feature, which predicts what a person is typing, as well as the Direct Answers box at the top of its search results, which answers simple questions by quoting from a website. In one example, Autocomplete suggested the phrase 'are women evil' when a user begins to type 'are women'. The move was an attempt to prevent issues like the Holocaust denial results that Google saw in December (pictured Earlier this year, Google came under fire for its search results. Danny Sullivan noticed that typing in 'is Obama planning a coup' came up with the answer yes The Direct Answer box displayed 'every woman has a little evil in her'. Inaccurate results are often down to 'Google bombing' used by groups to be ranked highly. These include linking to a fake news site from several other sources and hiding text on a page that is invisible to humans but visible to the search engine's algorithms. The company now also allow people to report inaccurate content in its autocomplete function and its Direct Answers box. Other sites, including Facebook and Twitter have been condemned for their handling of fake news but for slightly different reasons. Mr Schmidt explained that the main issue is when there are very different viewpoints around, in which case Google's search algorithm struggles to differentiate between fact and fiction Platforms like Facebook and Twitter use algorithms that rely on factors like 'friends' or 'followers' to determine what is displayed on users' news feeds, rather than ranking news based on what is true. Schmidt added: 'That is a core problem of humans that they tend to learn from each other and their friends are like them. 'And so until we decide collectively that occasionally somebody not like you should be inserted into your database, which is sort of a social values thing, I think we are going to have this problem.' Whether it's on Earth or on Mars, exploration of any terrain requires mobility which for most vehicles means good tyres. In the hope of avoiding a flat tyre during explorations of alien planets, Nasa has developed a chainmail tyre. The innovative design is made up a weave of titanium nickel, an alloy that remembers its original shape after it has rolled over something, removing the risk of dents. Scroll down for video In the hope of avoiding a flat tyre during explorations of Mars, Nasa has developed a chainmail tyre. The innovative design is made up a weave of titanium nickel, an alloy that remembers its original shape after it has rolled over something, removing the risk of dents CHAINMAIL TYRES Colin Creager and Santo Padula, Nasa engineers, have created the chainmail tyre using titanium nickel. Mr Padula said: 'The material that it's made from is an alloy based on titanium. 'This particular material doesn't deform like conventional materials. 'In those materials, when we put stress on them, we basically are stretching the bonds between the atomic structures. 'But this material has a unique characteristic that allows it to do an atomic rearrangement to accommodate deformation. 'That lets us do about 30 times the deformation we could do in a conventional material, without having permanent deformation happening. 'We could actually deform [the tyre] all the way down to the axle and have it return to shape something that we couldn't even contemplate in a conventional material.' Advertisement The tyre has been developed by experts at Nasa's Glenn Research Centre in Cleaveland, Ohio. The idea was first conceived in the mid-2000s, when Vivake Asnani, a Nasa engineer, worked with Goodyear to develop the Spring Tyre - an airless tyre that consists of several hundred coiled steel wires woven into a flexible mesh. The Spring Tyre was found to generate very good traction and durability in soft sand and on rocks, and the design was fitted on the Mars Curiosity Rover, which is currently on Mars. But in 2013, a year after the rover landed on Mars, engineers began to notice significant wheel damage, due to the unexpectedly harsh terrain. This caused concern about the ability of the rover to drive far enough to complete its intended mission. Now, Colin Creager and Santo Padula, Nasa engineers, have come up with a solution to this issue a new material. Mr Padula said: 'The material that it's made from is an alloy based on titanium. 'This particular material doesn't deform like conventional materials. The material that it's made from is an alloy based on titanium. This particular material doesn't deform like conventional materials 'In those materials, when we put stress on them, we basically are stretching the bonds between the atomic structures. 'But this material has a unique characteristic that allows it to do an atomic rearrangement to accommodate deformation. 'That lets us do about 30 times the deformation we could do in a conventional material, without having permanent deformation happening. In most materials, when we put stress on them, we basically are stretching the bonds between the atomic structures. But this material has a unique characteristic that allows it to do an atomic rearrangement to accommodate deformation Mr Padula said: 'We could actually deform [the tyre] all the way down to the axle and have it return to shape something that we couldn't even contemplate in a conventional material' THREE KEY BENEFITS Nasa highlights three key benefits to developing tyres that can perform on Mars. Firstly, they would allow rovers to explore greater regions of the surface than currently possible. Secondly, because they conform to the terrain and do not sink as much as rigid wheels, they can carry heavier payloads for the same given mass and volume. And finally, because the tyres can absorb energy from impacts at moderate to high speeds, they can be used on crewed exploration vehicles which are expected to move at speeds significantly higher than the current Mars rovers. Advertisement 'We could actually deform [the tyre] all the way down to the axle and have it return to shape something that we couldn't even contemplate in a conventional material.' After building the shape memory alloy tyre, the researchers sent it to Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Life Test Facility, where it performed impressively on the punishing track. Nasa highlights three key benefits to developing tyres that can perform on Mars. Firstly, they would allow rovers to explore greater regions of the surface than currently possible. Secondly, because they conform to the terrain and do not sink as much as rigid wheels, they can carry heavier payloads for the same given mass and volume. And finally, because the tyres can absorb energy from impacts at moderate to high speeds, they can be used on crewed exploration vehicles which are expected to move at speeds significantly higher than the current Mars rovers. It is unclear when Nasa plans to start using the tyres. The shape-shifting tyres would allow rovers to explore greater regions of the surface than currently possible Help is at hand for revellers seeking the perfect 'pop' when opening a bottle of champagne and avoiding an explosion of bubbles. An expert said today bubbly should be chilled in an ice bucket, not a fridge, for 40 minutes, until it reaches 6.7C and opened with slight hand pressure. Sheffield University mathematician Eugenia Cheng said the perfect pop of a champagne cork should be appealing to the human ear, like bird call or cymbals. Scroll down for video Help is at hand for revellers seeking the perfect 'pop' when opening a bottle of champagne and avoiding an explosion of bubbles (stock image) THE SCIENCE OF THE PERFECT POP Bubbly should be chilled in an ice bucket, not a fridge, for 40 minutes, until it reaches 6.7C and opened with slight hand pressure. In practice a typical fridge only cools a sparkling bottle to 11C. Therefore, in order to meet the optimum cork popping conditions of 6.7C, the bottle needs to be cooled in an ice bucket for 40 minutes. The perfect pop of a champagne cork should be appealing to the human ear, like bird call or cymbals. Advertisement While opening a bottle of bubbly is a universal expression of celebration, there is a fine line between a successful pop and an unwanted fountain of foam to clean up. Dr Cheng, an honorary fellow in the University of Sheffield's maths and statistics department, identified the perfect pop by using computer software, known as spectral analysis, to analyse the 'ring' it produces. The research revealed that the most desirable ring of a cork pop is at a constant level between 8,000Hz and 12,000Hz, referred to as 'brilliance' pitch by sound engineers. This appeals to the human ear because constant frequency creates sounds comparable to cymbals and bird calls, whereas pitches with fluctuating frequency intensity cause rough noises, such as nails on a blackboard. To help hosts achieve this 'perfect pop' in their own homes, Dr Cheng turned to maths, using two variables - temperature and hand pressure - to create the formula for the perfect pop. She said a bottle of bubbly must be cooled to 6.7C with minimal extraction force applied to release the cork. Dr Cheng's experiment revealed that in practice a typical fridge only cools a sparkling bottle to 11C. Therefore, in order to meet the optimum cork popping conditions of 6.7C, the bottle needs to be cooled in an ice bucket for 40 minutes. An expert said today bubbly should be chilled in an ice bucket, not a fridge, for 40 minutes, until it reaches 6.7C and opened with slight hand pressure (stock image) HOW TO BE CERTAIN CHAMPAGNE IS PERFECT You can tell if a bottle of champagne is too warm to sip - by the colour of the curl of 'smoke' when you pop the cork, researchers said last month. Bubbly experts based, appropriately, in Champagne-Ardenne have found the smoke changes colour - depending on whether it is kept in the fridge or the cellar. Bottles of the luxury fizz have a blue gas if it had been stored at room temperature giving a telltale sign it may not be quite as chilled as expected. Above 10C the wines appear 'heavier' and less bright, experts found. But you have to be quick to spot it. Led by Professor Gerard Liger-Belair, they found it has a different hue when it is 20C (68F), compared to six or 12C (54F). Gerard Liger-Belair, a chemical physicist at the University of Reims said the temperature affects the formation of the grey white cloud of fog formed on opening. Advertisement As less gas escapes, there is a more pleasant pop rather than a loud bang. Dr Cheng said: 'The sound of a cork popping is undoubtedly associated with celebration, but there is contention around whether a pop should be loud and bubbly, or quiet and reserved, and I was intrigued to see what maths could tell us about this.' Joao Rui Ferreira, chairman of the Portuguese Cork Association, which commissioned the research, said 'The pop of a natural cork is a special, unique sound, and one that should be celebrated. Dr Cheng's research is fascinating, and we hope people enjoy creating the perfect pop this festive season.' Last month researchers found you can tell if a bottle of champagne is too warm to sip - by the colour of the curl of 'smoke' when you pop the cork. Bubbly experts based, appropriately, in Champagne-Ardenne have found the smoke changes colour depending on whether it is kept in the fridge or the cellar. Bottles of the luxury fizz have a blue gas if it had been stored at room temperature giving a telltale sign it may not be quite as chilled as expected. Above 10C the wines appear 'heavier' and less bright, experts found. But you have to be quick to spot it. Led by Professor Gerard Liger-Belair, they found it has a different hue when it is 20C (68F), compared to six or 12C (54F). Gerard Liger-Belair, a chemical physicist at the University of Reims said the temperature affects the formation of the grey white cloud of fog formed on opening. U.S. ride-hailing firm Lyft has secured a permit to test autonomous vehicles in California, taking it one step further in the race with several other companies to bring self-driving cars to the masses. Lyft's permit, reflected on the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) website, comes two months after it announced plans to offer a self-driving car as a ride option in the San Francisco Bay Area. Lyft already has partnerships in place with autonomous car companies to advance its self-driving strategy. Ride-hailing firm Lyft Inc said on Monday it would launch its service in Toronto, marking the first international expansion for the U.S.-based rival of Uber Technologies Inc. A stock image is pictured FORD'S SELF-DRIVING VEHICLES Ford self-driving test vehicles will be connected to Lyft's network, but at first, customers will not be able to use them, according to Sherif Marakby, Ford's vice president for autonomous vehicles and electrification. The firm will initially put human-driven vehicles on Lyft's network, and it is unclear when the first self-driving cars will hit roads. Ford is also testing delivery services using self-driving vehicles and a van shuttle service. The self-driving vehicles Ford will deploy through Lyft will use software developed by Argo AI, Advertisement The firm struck a research collaboration earlier this year with Alphabet unit Waymo. It has also secured deals with Ford Motor Co and startup Nutonomy to incorporate self-driving cars in its fleet. Earlier this year, Lyft joined forces with Ford to deploy self-driving vehicles in 'large numbers' by 2021. Ford and Lyft teams will begin working together to design software to allow Ford vehicles to communicate with Lyft's smartphone apps. Ford will initially put human-driven vehicles on Lyft's network, and it is unclear when the first self-driving cars will hit roads. Ford self-driving test vehicles will be connected to Lyft's network, but at first, customers will not be able to use them, according to Sherif Marakby, Ford's vice president for autonomous vehicles and electrification. 'We're not building prototypes for the sake of building prototypes,' Mr Marakby said, adding Ford intends to ultimately put thousands of self-driving vehicles in use. Ford's new Chief Executive Jim Hackett is scheduled to meet with investors next weel to outline the automaker's strategy for boosting profitability. Lyft co-founder John Zimmer displays his company's 'glowstache' following a launch event in San Francisco. Mr Hackett's plans to compete for revenue from mobility services, which include car sharing and ride-hailing, will be one area of focus for investors. The Lyft partnership fills in a piece of the puzzle. Ford is also testing delivery services using self-driving vehicles and a van shuttle service. The self-driving vehicles Ford will deploy through Lyft will use software developed by Argo AI, a company in which Ford is investing $1 billion (746 million) over the next five years. Lyft's chief rival Uber secured the California permit to test self-driving cars in March. Apple Inc, Samsung Electronics, Tesla Inc and a host of automakers also have the permit. Venture capitalist Peter Thiel, Facebook Inc's first institutional investor, has sold three-quarters of his remaining stake in the social network, according to a regulatory filing on Tuesday. Thiel, who is a member of Facebook's board, now owns 59,913 Class A shares in the company after selling 160,805 shares for about $29 million. Thiel sold roughly 20 million of his 26 million Facebook shares for $400 million following its stock market listing in 2012. Thiel, who is a member of Facebook's board, now owns 59,913 Class A shares in the company after selling 160,805 shares for about $29 million. HOW THIEL BACKED FACEBOOK In his book The Facebook Effect, David Kirkpatrick outlines how Thiel came to make this investment: Napster co-founder Sean Parker, who at the time had assumed the title of 'President' of Facebook, was seeking investors for Facebook. Parker approached Reid Hoffman, the CEO of work-based social network LinkedIn. Hoffman liked Facebook but declined to be the lead investor because of the potential for conflict of interest with his duties as LinkedIn CEO. He directed Parker to Thiel, whom he knew from their PayPal days. Thiel met Parker and Mark Zuckerberg, the Harvard student who had founded Facebook. Thiel and Zuckerberg got along well and Thiel agreed to lead Facebook's seed round with $500,000 for 10.2% of the company. Advertisement The only major name in Silicon Valley to back President Donald Trump, some have called for Thiels removal from Facebooks board. Chief Executive and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg has said he should stay, citing the importance of diversity of opinion at the company. A Facebook representative called Thiels sales routine and said there was nothing new to say about the billionaire s seat on the companys board. Representatives for the venture capitalist could not immediately be reached for comment. Thiel co-founded payment service PayPal and is known for funding the Hulk Hogan lawsuit that led to the shutdown of online news site Gawker. He became a Facebook investor in 2004 with an initial investment of $500,000 at a $5 million valuation. When Zuckerberg took the company public in 2012, Thiel sold 16.8 million shares at the IPO for about $640 million. Later the same year, he sold roughly 20 million of his remaining 26 million shares for $400 million after the expiry of a lockup. He hit the market once again in 2016 to sell a little less than 1 million shares for about $100 million. Facebook shares were down 0.7 percent at $180.59 on Wednesday. In August 2004, Thiel made a $500,000 angel investment in Facebook for a 10.2% stake in the company and joined Facebook's board. This was the first outside investment in Facebook, and put the valuation of the company at $4.9 million. Facebook shares have surged 58 percent this year through Tuesday, adding $25 billion to Thiel's fortune and making him the world's fourth-richest person with $74.9 billion. Thiel has a net worth of $3.2 billion, including a stake in data analytics company Palantir Technologies Inc.. Last month he got hitched in Vienna, Austria to his longtime boyfriend. The billionaire venture capitalist tied the knot with Matt Danzeisen, Axios reported. The couple's wedding was reportedly a surprise to guests who thought they were celebrating Thiel's 50th birthday. Danzeisen works as a portfolio manager at Thiel Capital, but not much is known about his position at the company. Thiel has not commented publicly about the wedding or Danzeisen. Back in May Danzeisen spoke about the state of financial technology at a conference in Japan. 'What might explain some of the slowdown is that winners are emerging as certain business models are becoming more clearly dominant,' Danzeisen said at the time. 'So, it is cyclical, but we'll still see innovation.' PETER THIEL'S YOUNG BLOOD PLANS Top executives in Silicon Valley are turning to blood from young people in the search for the 'biological fountain of youth.' Early studies have suggested that the parabiosis procedure, which involves the transfusion of blood plasma from a young donor, can have age-reversing effects on the body - but it will cost you $8,000 (6,180). One of the most well-known executives turning to parabiosis is billionaire tech investor, Peter Thiel One of the most well-known executives turning to parabiosis is billionaire tech investor, Peter Thiel. Ambrosia was contacted last year by Thiel Capital's chief medical officer, Jason Camm, who expressed interest in the work. In an interview last year, Mr Thiel said: 'I'm looking into parabiosis stuff, which I think is really interesting. 'This is where they did the young blood into older mice and they found that had a massive rejuvenating effect.' Thiel went on to clarify that the procedure was of interest as a personal-health treatment, and said it would not require FDA approval. Still, the investor remarked then that he hadn't 'quite, quite, quite started yet' in moving forward with parabiosis, and according to Inc, this is still the case. Advertisement Thiel was a major supporter Donald Trump prior to the 2016 presidential election. But Danzeisen was 'much more moderate' in his support for Trump, Buzzfeed reported. Since Trump took over the White House in January, Thiel has kept a quite and low profile. He reportedly recently invested in a startup called 3T Biosciences with early Facebook investor Sean Parker. The startup aims to build technology to fight cancer cells. DARPA, the US military's arm responsible for developing new military technologies, is developing genetically modified plants that can detect threats and spy discreetly The program aims to engineer plants to detect certain chemicals, pathogens, radiation, and even electromagnetic and nuclear signals, and use existing hardware such as satellites to monitor these plants. The smart plants could have applications outside of the military too - for example to help communities identify undetonated landmines from previous conflicts and testing areas. DARPA's new Advanced Plant Technologies (APT) program aims to engineer plants to detect certain chemicals, pathogens, radiation, and even electromagnetic and nuclear signals, and use existing hardware such as satellites to monitor these plants GENETICALLY MODIFIED PLANTS - APPLICATIONS DARPA, the US military's arm responsible for developing new military technologies, is developing genetically modified plants that can detect threats and spy discreetly The program aims to engineer plants to detect certain chemicals, pathogens, radiation, and even electromagnetic and nuclear signals, and use existing hardware such as satellites to monitor these plants. Just some of the military applications for genetically modified plants include the detection of: Chemicals Pathogens Radiation Electromagnetic signals Nuclear threats Genetically modified plants also have applications outside of the military, including modifications for: Increased longevity Nutrient enrichment Increased yield Stress resistance (e.g. drought resistance) Pest resistance Pathogen resistance Biofuel production Advertisement DARPA's Advanced Plant Technologies (APT) program is looking to harness plants' natural ability for sensing and responding to environmental stimuli, such as light levels and air pollution, and extend them with genetic modification. According to DARPA, the military's traditional sensors are not always optimal for certain tasks, which is one of the reasons plants are at the focus of its new project. The program will also reduce risks posed to soldiers, and reduce costs associated with traditional sensors. The ATP program plans to modify the genomes of plants in order to program in specific types of sensing to trigger discreet responses in the presence of certain stimuli - all while not having a negative impact on the plants' ability to thrive. DARPA is holding a Proposers Day for APT on December 12, 2017, in Arlington, Virginia to allow researchers to suggest ideas for which plants, stimuli and modifications should be researched. Work on the program will start in contained laboratories and greenhouses, and simulated natural environments. DARPA says it will follow all federal regulations, as well as have oversight from institutional biosafety committees. And if this research is successful, field trials will be monitored by the US Department of Agriculture's Animals and Plant Health Inspection Service. Crucially, the program will rely on existing ground-, air-, and space-based technology to remotely monitor what the plants report - the APT wont fund the development of new hardware for the project. Satellite systems, for example, are already capable of measuring plant's temperature, and other systems can measure chemical composition, reluctance, and body plan. DARPA says that if the program is successful, it will deliver a new sensing platform that is energy independent, robust, stealthy and easily distributed. 'Plants are highly attuned to their environments and naturally manifest physiological responses to basic stimuli such as light and temperature, but also in some cases to touch, chemicals, pests, and pathogens,' says Blake Bextine, DARPA's Program Manager for APT. The smart plants could have applications outside of the military too - for example to help communities identify landmines 'Emerging molecular and modeling techniques may make it possible to reprogram these detection and reporting capabilities for a wide range of stimuli, which would not only open up new intelligence streams, but also reduce the personnel risks and costs associated with traditional sensors.' While current genetic modification practice tend to only pursue a minimal number of modifications, DARPA plans to change multiple and complex traits to give plants new capabilities to sense and report on multiple different stimuli. The researchers, however, will need to understand how modified plants allocate internal resources and compete in natural environments. This is because previous similar experiments have led to the reduced health of the plants by drawing off resources needed to sustain them. 'Advanced Plant Technologies is a synthetic biology program at heart, and as with DARPAs other work in that space, our goal is to develop an efficient, iterative system for designing, building, and testing models so that we end up with a readily adaptable platform capability that can be applied to a wide range of scenarios,' said Bextine. Dark matter and dark energy are among the most perplexing materials in the universe. Together, they could explain the movement of stars and the accelerating expansion of the universe but, neither has ever been observed directly. Now, a new study suggests they may not exist at all. Using a new model, an astrophysicist has found that the behaviour of the universe can be explained without dark matter or dark energy and, he argues major theories including Einsteins and Newtons ignore the properties of empty space. Scroll down for video Dark matter and dark energy are among the most perplexing materials in the universe. They could explain the movement of stars and the expansion of the universe but, neither has ever been observed directly. The dark matter map of the KiDS survey region is pictured DARK MATTER Dark matter is said to makes up roughly 27 percent of the Universe. But, it does not reflect light, making it invisible. It cannot be seen directly with telescopes, but astronomers know it to be out there because of its gravitational effects on known matter. The European Space Agency says: 'Shine a torch in a completely dark room, and you will see only what the torch illuminates. 'That does not mean that the room around you does not exist. 'Similarly we know dark matter exists but have never observed it directly.' Dark matter is thought to be the gravitational 'glue' that holds the galaxies together, while just 5% the Universe consists of known material such as atoms and subatomic particles. Advertisement Nearly 70 percent of the universe is thought to be made up of dark energy, which is driving its accelerated expansion and, dark matter is thought to account for another 27 percent. In the new study published to The Astrophysical Journal, professor Andre Maeder says a scale invariance must be taken into consideration. And, doing so could challenge the common understanding of physics and what happened after the Big Bang. In this model, there is a starting hypothesis that hasnt been taken into account, in my opinion, says Maeder, honorary professor in the Department of Astronomy in the University of Genevas Faculty of Science. By that, I mean the scale invariance of empty space; in other words, empty space and its properties do not change following a dilation or contraction. In Einsteins equation, empty space operates based on whats known as the cosmological constant and, everything else depends on this, Maeder notes. By instead applying a model based on scale invariance, the researcher found that the cosmological tests match the observations. The tests showed that the amended law can explain the high speeds of galaxies in clusters, stars in the outer reaches of a galaxy, and stars oscillating around the Milky Ways plane. The controversial findings suggest the Standard Model needs to be re-examined. Using a new model, an astrophysicist has found that the behaviour of the universe can be explained without dark matter or dark energy and, he argues major theories including Einsteins and Newtons ignore the properties of empty space. Artist's impression pictured According to the researcher, however, far more testing is needed before they can be confirmed. It isnt the first time scientists have proposed dark matter and dark energy may not exist, after decades of searching. WHAT IS DARK ENERGY? Dark energy is a phrase used by physicists to describe a mysterious 'something' that is causing unusual things to happen in the universe. 'The universe is not only expanding, but it is expanding faster and faster as time goes by,' Dr Kathy Romer, scientist at the Dark Energy Survey told MailOnline. 'What we'd expect is that the expansion would get slower and slower as time goes by, because it has been nearly 14 billion years since the Big Bang.' Coming up with an equation of state would give the researchers clues about what is making up this mysterious force. The universe is though to be expanding at an accelerated rate. And, many suspect a mysterious force known as dark energy may play a role At the moment the favourite candidate is called the 'cosmological constant' which has a relatively boring equation of state. 'But, despite its simplicity, the cosmological constant is not the 'something' that scientists are hoping for,' Dr Romer said, 'a cosmological constant then messes up other parts of physics.' 'It's like a table plan at a wedding: you think you've got it all sorted out and then you notice that, because the caterers gave you a round table instead of a long one, your Dad is now going to be sitting next to your Mum's new boyfriend.' Advertisement Another study published earlier this year claimed the conventional models failed to address the changing structure of the universe, which would mean accelerated expansion is possible without the need for dark energy. But, the controversial hypotheses are often met with backlash. The announcement of this model, which at last solves two of astronomys greatest mysteries, remains true to the spirit of science, Maeder says, nothing can ever be taken for granted, not in terms of experience, observation, or the reasoning of human beings. Samsung is set to reveal its Galaxy S9 handsets in January at the CES show, it has been claimed. The firm hopes the move, four month earlier than its usual March launches, will help it boost sales against Apple - which usually waits until September to reveal its new handsets. There are also rumours the firm will use the event to reveal it's first folding phone. Scroll down for video The firm is set to reveal the two updated handsets in January - possibly alongside its first folding phone - at the annual CES event in Las Vegas. GALAXY S9 RUMOURS - No screen fingerprint recognition - 3.5mm headphone jack - Dual-lens camera - Rear camera capable of shooting at 1,000 frames/second - Modular design - Neural engine integrated to improve AI capabilities - Facial recognition - Two versions - 5.8 inch S9 and 6.2 inch S9 Plus - Likely to cost between 689 and 779 ($916 to $1,036) Advertisement 'Samsung is planning to show off its next-generation Galaxy S handsets a bit earlier than usual, according to someone briefed on the companys plans,' said VentureBeat's Evan Blass. He claims the two phones are said to be nearly identical in appearance to their predecessors. Earlier this month Chinese leaker Ice Universe, mysteriously tweeted that the 'back of the Galaxy S9 will change a lot.' While the leaker doesn't go into detail about how, Ice Universe has a strong track record for predicting features on Samsung devices. The first tweet read: '100 per cent sure, Galaxy S9 no screen fingerprint recognition,' while the second continued: 'The back of the Galaxy S9 will change a lot.' While Ice Universe didn't reveal details about what the change to the back could be, rumours suggest Samsung may introduce a dual-lens camera to the Galaxy S9 a feature that appeared in its recent Galaxy Note 8. Yesterday, Ice Universe tweeted: 'I think the Galaxy S9 still has a 3.5mm headphone jack.' Samsung has long been rumoured to be developing a radical folding phone - and it could soon see the light of day, it has been claimed. A support page for the handset has been spotted online weeks after if was certified by Korean authorities. It is believed the handset could be unveiled at the CES show in Las Vegas in January. Scroll down for video A previous Samsung patent revealed what the handset is expected to look like, with a hinge allowing it to be folded rather like a wallet. The handset has the model number SM-G888N0 - with the NO signifying it will only go on sale in South Korea. According to Dutch site Lets Go Digital, the Samsung Galaxy X will get a flip-phone design with two displays of which one will be flexible. 'In addition to the Galaxy X foldable smartphone we believe Samsung may also work on a Galaxy foldable tablet,' the site says. Samsung has already announced that it aims to launch a foldable smartphone next year under its Galaxy Note brand. The handset has the model number SM-G888N0 - with the NO signifying it will only go on sale in South Korea. Koh Dong-jin, president of mobile business at Samsung Electronics, said earlier this year the company is setting its eyes on 2018 to release the 'the holy grail' of smartphones with a bendable display. But he said at the time there are several hurdles it has to overcome, leaving room to push back the release if those problems are not solved. SAMSUNG'S FOLDING PATENT Samsung has previously been awarded a patent for a radical design that allows a phone to fold in two. It could lead to a handset that can easily transform into a tablet - simply by unfolding it. A complex hinge allows the device to be folded in half When folded, the device resembles a wallet, patent drawings have shown The document shows a narrow Samsung device with a screen that bends and folds like an old-school flip phone handset, with a large hinge. The device is described as something that can be 'folded or unfolded semi automatically.' Advertisement Mr Dong-jin revealed Samsung's ambitious plans during a media day for Galaxy Note 8 in Seoul today. He said: 'As the head of the business, I can say our current goal is next year. 'When we can overcome some problems for sure, we will launch the product.' In the hope of getting one step ahead of its rivals, Samsung has announced that it aims to launch a foldable smartphone next year under its Galaxy Note brand. Pictured is a screenshot from a conceptual video produced in 2015 showing what the device may look like He did not elaborate what the problems are, but analysts said mass-producing a foldable phone with top tech features and a thin body will take time. When Samsung will release its first foldable phone has been a perennial question in the market since Samsung first showcased a flexible display prototype called Youm in 2013. For at least the past two years, there have been rumours that Samsung is close to showing off its first smartphones that can be folded. When Samsung will release its first foldable phone has been a perennial question in the market. Pictured is a bendable screen revealed by Samsung in 2015 Mr Dong-jin also said the company is working with auto-systems maker Harman to develop an artificial intelligence-enabled speaker that users can speak to in order to play music and conduct other tasks. Samsung acquired the Stamford-based company last year as part of its plans to expand in the emerging market for connected cars. Amazon and Google already have those always-on voice-controlled speakers in the market while Apple's Homepod is due to go on sale later this year. For at least the past two years, there have been rumours that Samsung is close to showing off its first smartphones that can be folded. Pictured is a patent filed by the firm in 2015 for a folding device In May, Samsung revealed a flexible OLED (organic light-emitting diode) screen which could stretch in both direction by as much as 12 millimetres It is not clear when Samsung's voice-controlled speaker, which will likely use the South Korean company's Bixby voice assistant, will be unveiled. Mr Dong-jin did not say when it will hit the market. Samsung's mobile president said market response to the Note 8 beat its expectations even though its price was more expensive than past models and even as the Note brand's reputation took a hit from its previous model, the disgraced Note 7 phone that was recalled twice and discontinued after it spontaneously overheated or caught fire. Koh Dong-jin, president of mobile business at Samsung Electronics, said the company is setting its eyes on 2018 to release a smartphone with a bendable display Samsung received more than a half million pre-orders - 650,000 units - for the Note 8 in South Korea before its Friday launch, Mr Dong-jin said. The Note 8 has been the most expensive smartphone Samsung has released. Its price starts at 1.1 million won ($969/733) in South Korea and $930 in the US. These stunning pictures were captured by Milosh Kitchovitch from Montreal, Canada Volcanic gas mixes with minerals in the water to cause the water to change from green to brown The three incredible lakes are part of Mount Kelimutu, on the Indonesian island of Flores Advertisement These amazing images captured at Mount Kelimutu, Indonesia, show three incredible colour-changing lakes. The crater lakes are situated on Flores Island and are all startling different colours. The lakes frequently change their hue, and visitors can never be sure what colour the lakes will be when they visit. Top of the lake: The three crater lakes in Indonesia are popular with tourists, who never know what colour they'll be Mount Kelimutu, Indonesia, attracts tourists from all the world, who take pictures of its unique natural phenomenon The colour changes are a result of chemical reactions caused by minerals contained in the lake, which is thought to be triggered by volcanic gas activity. These stunning pictures were captured by Milosh Kitchovitch from Montreal, Canada, whilst he was travelling through Indonesia. Milosh said: 'Even though they didn't change colour in front of my eyes, it was interesting to see three different craters next to each other with completely different colours. 'I've heard lots about the colour-changing lakes before, so I was really eager to see it for myself. Two tone: Despite being next door to each other the lakes change colour regularly thanks to volcanic gas and chemical reactions These stunning pictures were captured by Milosh Kitchovitch from Montreal, Canada, whilst he was travelling through Indonesia 'I couldn't believe how three crater lakes that were so close to each other could look so completely different. 'I thought it was an amazing experience to visit such an extraordinary place. 'This was the first time I visited Kelimutu and I'd love to visit again.' Milosh said: 'I couldn't believe how three crater lakes that were so close to each other could look so completely different' A bill that should soon be heading to Gov. Andrew Cuomo's desk would strengthen the rights of the average citizen to read public documents, so either the governor should sign it or the Legislature should override a veto. The legislation in question would amend the state's Freedom of Information Law so that people could more routinely be awarded attorney's fees when a court decides that the information they had been seeking had been illegally withheld. The change is an important one of behalf of the rights of the public. People should be able to look at most everything compiled by the government, but government officials are sometimes reluctant to cooperate when people ask to have a look at certain files. As it stands, government agencies often deny Freedom of Information requests simply because they know they can get away with it. Knowing that the average person doesn't have the financial means to file a lawsuit when their appeal is denied, agencies all but dare people to go to the next step and get a law firm on their side. A bill passed by the Legislature in a combined vote of 197-1 would remove that strategy from the government by making it easier to recover attorney's fees when a citizen prevails in getting an appeal overturned. New York should be doing everything it can to make it easier for people to see government documents. This FOIL amendment will go a long way to helping make that happen. The Legislature needs to get this bill to the governor now; to be honest, we're disappointed it hasn't already been delivered. When it does get there, we implore him to sign it without delay. If, for some reason, Cuomo decides to veto the measure, legislative leaders should immediately begin the process of voting on an override. The Citizen editorial board includes publisher Rob Forcey, executive editor Jeremy Boyer and managing editor Mike Dowd. Delays at an airport usually results in very disgruntled passengers. But when a Westjet flight from Pearson International Airport in Toronto to Newfoundland in Canada was late in leaving - the travellers burst into song and started partying at the gate. And their impromptu sing-a-long was captured on camera. Footage shows the passengers singing and clapping along to an accordion as they wait to board their delayed flight. Musicians Sean Sullivan and Sheldon Thornhill began entertaining passengers when their Westjet flight from Toronto to Newfoundland in Canada was delayed Fellow passengers on the service were delighted with the sing-a-long and started an impromptu party at the gate Michelle Sacrey Philpott was a passenger on the service and made her way to the gate at the Toronto airport knowing it was delayed. But rather than seeing angry passengers she saw musicians Sean Sullivan and Sheldon Thornhill playing the guitar and accordion as those nearby sang along, clapped and danced. Later, the passengers were told that the flight was ready to board and the two musicians had to put their instruments away. But when they were later instructed to stay put for another 30 minutes while they waited for the pilot to arrive - the party started once again. Other passengers took pictures of the entertainers and even cheered when the plane was delayed further so they could enjoy the music for longer Philpott, who was travelling home after a trip to Mexico, told CNN: 'Everyone cheered. We got the instruments out again and started to continue singing and dancing.' She uploaded her video of the sing song to Facebook and the clip has now been viewed almost 650,000 times. She added: 'Newfoundlanders love to sing and dance. It is such a huge part of our culture.' Cailtyn Jenner looked stylish-as-can-be while visiting her dermatologist in Beverly Hills Tuesday. The gold medal Olympian, 68, showed off her long, lean form in a striped maxi-dress paired with towering espadrilles. Caitlyn, who was known as Bruce before her transition, was both breezy and beautiful as she draped herself in the comfy navy dress which featured slim tie-dyed stripes . Face it! Cailtyn Jenner put her best foot forward Tuesday as she was seen on her way to a dermatologist appointment in Beverly Hills The Vogue cover girl added extra inches to her already long 6ft 2in form with nude espadrilles which she coordinated with a buff leather mini-backpack. Caitlyn hid her eyes with dark shades while adorning her outfit with a designer watch, lush diamond studs and a gold necklace. The bestselling author let her caramel- brown locks hand long and loose while a peachy pink mani-pedi added extra polish her look. Though Caitlyn was solo Tuesday, she's appeared nearly inseparable from galpal Sophia Hutchins as of late. Dressed to impress! The Vogue cover girl looked lovely in the ankle-length dress, adding some height with nude espadrilles and tying things together with a buff leather mini-backpack What a beaut! The bestselling author let her caramel- brown locks hand long and loose while a peachy pink mani-pedi added extra polish her look Earlier this week the pair stepped out for some retail indulgence, stopping by Polacheck's Jewelers in Calabasas, California on Sunday and stopping by the shop again Monday morning. The friends also enjoyed a night on the town with fellow trans beauty Angela Mead King and her sister Joey earlier this month. At 21 Sophia, who is also a trans woman, is 46 years Caitlyn's junior. The blonde is currently pursing a finance degree at Pepperdine University and is also a registered Republican like Jenner. Attached at the hip! Caitlyn's been nearly inseparable from 21-year-old pal Sophia Hutchins (middle right) since her birthday late October. The friends enjoyed a night on the town with fellow trans beauty Angela Mead King (far left) and her sister Joey (far right) earlier this month Cross generation friendship! At 21 Sophia, who is also a trans woman, is 46 years Caitlyn's junior. The pair are seen arriving to Kendall Jenner's 22nd birthday celebration November 2 The galpals sparked relationship rumors after Sophia joined Caitlyn to celebrate her 68th birthday in Mexico in October. The undergrad later joined the former Decathelete during daughter Kendall Jenner's 22nd birthday celebrations earlier this month on November 2. Though the duo have been nearly inseparable since, Jenner's camp has firmly denied any romance between the pair, insisting their relationship is purely platonic. Before Jenner transitioned from male to female in mid-2015, she was married three times and begot six children, including model Kendall Jenner and makeup mogul Kylie. She's is one of the most legendary supermodels in the industry, originating some of the top 90s fashion trends and going on to be a staple at fashion bashes. And Kate Moss continued to showcase her model physique on Tuesday as she attended Louis Vuitton's celebration of Ginger Nutz in Vogue in London, along with a who's who of fashion royalty. The 43-year-old rocked an understated ensemble for the celebratory bash in London, rocking an all-black sequinned look to celebrate the magazine juggernaut's December issue. Scroll down for video Legend: Modelling superstar Kate Moss, 43, showed off her legendary figure on Tuesday as she rocked an all-black look for the Louis Vuitton's celebration of Ginger Nutz in Vogue Rocking a signature Croydon facelift up-do, Kate rocked a black sequinned blazer over a pinstriped sheened shirt, and classic leather leggings. Showing off her famous legs with knee-high leather boots, Kate finished off her look with barely-there makeup as her flawless complexion was on full display. The star was seen posing with Vogue Editor Edward Enningful, as well as a slew of other stars who turned out to celebrate Vogue's latest release, which celebrates the Ginger Nutz novel. Kate finished her look with green-jewelled drop earrings allowing the statement piece of the blazer to truly make a statement. Wrinkle-free: Kate rocked a signature Croydon facelift with her stylish look, donning a black sequin blazer for the party in London Man of the hour: Kate was also seen posing with British Vogue Editor Edward Enninful, celebrating his first issue as Editor Cover girls: Kate also posed with Vogue cover newcomer, Adwoa Aboah, who appeared on the publication's December issue Stylish squad: Louis Vuitton creative director Nicolas Ghesquiere, Kate and makeup guru Charlotte Tilbury certainly made for an on-point trio Black is back: The pair rocked matching all-black ensembles for the evening Centre of attention: Kate was still the star as she exited the bash, rocking leather trousers and knee-high boots with her look Also at the bash was actress Naomie Harris, who still managed to stun even when covering up, as the star wowed in a pinafore-esque ensemble. The Moonlight star rocked a black pinafore dress with see-through skirt detailing over a white ribbed polo neck jumper. Showcasing a hint of leg in the look, Naomie kept it comfortable in Doc Marten style boots, while accessorising with a statement fuchsia pink lip. Keeping with the brand Naomie was seen donning a Louis Vuitton clutch bag as she posed with Edward inside the venue, along with Loving actress Ruth Negga. Superstar: Kate was one of the hottest supermodels of the 90s, establishing plenty of fashion trends Swanky: Since divorcing from Jamie Hince in 2016, Kate has reportedly been dating photographer Count Nikolai von Bismarck Style maven: Kate joined a who's who in fashion attending the Louis Vuitton bash Icon: Actress Naomie Harris stunned even while covering up as she rocked a pinafore-esque look at the party Dynamic duo: Posing with Edward, Naomie kept with the brand by donning a Louis Vuitton clutch Man of power: Edward looked dapper in a smart all-black look. The fashion mogul was appointed the editor of British Vogue in April Dynamic: Adwoa certainly stood out with her unique look at the party Girls night out: Naomie and Adwoa made for a fashionable duo as they posed together at the bash Screen pals: Awards darlings Naomie and Ruth Negga also made for a stand-out pair at the bash Hollywood exit: Naomie made a dramatic departure from the bash showcasing the full volume of her skirt Movie Darling: The acting superstar shared a laugh as she left the bash, with her dramatic skirt in tow Action star: Naomie's next big picture will the Dwayne Johnson- fronter thriller Rampage, set for release in April 2018 Actress Noomi Rapace chose a more rock-inspired ensemble as she rocked a stylish leather jacket and camouflage combo while posing with creative director Nicolas Ghesquiere. Looking stunning in an aqua satin slip dress was Cressida Bonas, who was seen enjoying a fun night with Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie of York. The trio were spotted posing together at the event, with the two royals rocking similarly chic floral dresses. Directional: Actress Noomi Rapace certainly stood out in a camouflage jumpsuit Perfection: Noomi and Ruth rocked VERY different looks at the bash, yet looked equally fashionable Ocean chic: Cressida Bonas looked stunning in an aqua sating slip dress as she enjoyed a night out at the party On point: Cressida also rocked a regal blue velvet coat with a leopard print collar as she posed with PR guru Amanda Sheppard Sisters night out: Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie of York rocked chic floral dresses with similarly smart handbags as they arrived at the party Jolly good! The royal duo were seen posing with Louis Vuitton creative director Nicolas Ghesquiere Posh pals: Cressida and Eugenie both made for fashion forward pair as they attended the bash Fabulous: The duo made a stylish exit from the bash in matching camel coats (though only Eugenie needed hers in the chilly night!) Floral-tastic: Eugenie went bare leg with the look and also rocked a pair of knee-high suede boots Leather-tastic: Ruth rocked a stylish embroidered leather jacket in pace with the look worn by actor Dominic Cooper Stand-out: Jazzelle Zanaughtti chose a directional silver dress, while Clara Paget went for a more relaxed dress over knit look Couples night: Jim Chapman and Tanya Burr make for a very stylish couple as they posed together at the bash White Queen: Actress Tanya rocked a chic Emilia Wickstead dress for the outing Cosmetic superstar Charlotte Tilbury showed off her ample cleavage in a sensational gold-threaded gown as she arrived at the bash. With her fiery red tresses in dramatic curls the star was seen posing with fashion maven Hikari Yokoyama. After partying it up at the Walpole Luxury Awards the previous night, Charlotte looked as fresh-faced as ever at Tuesday's bash, as she was also seen rubbing shoulders with Kate inside the venue. Gold Queen: Makeup guru Charlotte Tilbury looked totally glam in a gold threaded gown as she arrived at the party Girls night: Charlotte was also seen posing with fashion maven Hikari Yokoyama Party pals: Ruth and Dominic Cooper posed up a storm inside the event Victoria star Jenna Coleman was worlds away from her regal character as she donned an oversized shirt and bronze skirt combo for the bash. The former Doctor Who star showed off her petite frame in the look, keeping comfy in brown chunky heeled boots. Styling her chic bob into tousled waves, Jenna will soon be back on television screens this festive season in a Victoria Christmas special. In the one-off episode, fans will get to see the legendary queen celebrate Christmas in true 19th Century style, though a teaser released in October hints that Victoria's husband Albert could face mortal danger after falling into a frozen lake. Is that your beau's? Actress Jenna Coleman rocked an oversized shirt and skirt combo for the bash, keeping comfy in chunky-heeled patent boots Small screen star: Jenna will return to screens this festive season for a Victoria Christmas special Loved-up: The stunning actress has also been secretly dating co-star Tom Hughes since last year, though has remained mum on their relationship Screen Queen: Jenna gained an army of fans for her role in Doctor Who, playing Clara Oswald from 2012 to 2015 Hell for leather: Daphne Guinness was rocking a skin-tight catsuit Calling it a night: Mamma Mia star Dominic was spotted climbing into a taxi Bold and bright: Noomi Rapace sported a colour and print clashing ensemble Stepping out: Clara Paget (left) and Tanya Burr (right) headed home They've been open about their past experiences with drugs. And on Wednesday, radio stars Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O once again spoke about the topic. The KIIS FM hosts were discussing Ita Buttrose's nephew's release from jail after dealing cocaine, when Jackie's drug use was brought up. Scroll down for video 'She's never bought a bag in her life!' Shock jock Kyle Sandilands discussed Jackie O's drug use during a segment on The Kyle and Jackie O show on Wednesday 'Look out if you've ever bought from him,' newsreader Brooklyn said about Ita's nephew, who reportedly handed in a 'black book' of names he sold drugs to in exchange for an early release. Kyle cut in, asking: 'Why are you looking at Jackie for?' Jackie, 42, was also shocked, asking: 'Why me?' Cheeky! The KIIS FM hosts were discussing Ita Buttrose's nephew's release from jail after dealing cocaine, when Jackie's drug use was brought up Kyle added: 'Jackie has never bought a bag in her life!' In 2015, Jackie admitted on their radio show to having smoked marijuana in her younger years. 'I smoked marijuana,' said the mother of one. While she openly admitted to her smoking cannabis a mood-enhancing drug that's illegal in Australia Kyle was more cagey, saying of his drug use, 'I've dipped a toe'. Jackie has also spoken of her first boyfriend, revealing he was a 'drug dealer on the Gold Coast, drove a Kombi van hello.' Honest: In 2015, Jackie admitted on their radio show to having smoked marijuana in her younger years, and has said her first boyfriend was a 'drug dealer' Kyle, 46, has previously spoken of how he was exposed to drug use during his wild parties at his Terrey Hills mansion in his autobiography, Scandilands. He's previously weighed in on the medical marijuana debate, saying he was keen to chuck sickies 'for free government weed'. Kyle has also admitted to being addicted to marijuana during his late 20's while living and working in Perth. 'I was [dependent on cannabis],' he said to Seven's Mike Willesee in 2012, 'I was...engaged, having sex with six other girls that worked at the radio station at the time, smoking marijuana and an obsessive compulsive, and an insomniac.' 'You would be on the weed, too, if you were running with that,' he joked. He was the lead star of rock band INXS, that tragically passed away on November 22 1997, aged 37, from suicide. And to mark the 20th anniversary of his death, Michael Hutchence's former bandmates told AAP that their door is always open to to the late rocker's daughter, Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily. Remaining hopeful that the 21-year-old will reach out to find out more about her father, who passed away when she was just a one-year-old, Tim said: 'It's going to be an emotional thing meeting her.' 'It's going to be emotional': INXS' Tim (right) and Andrew (left) Farriss, remain hopeful that Tiger Lily will reach out to find out more about her late father Michael Hutchence, in an interview with AAP 'We don't want to push anything, it will happen when it happens,' Tim, 60, told AAP, in an interview ahead of the 20th anniversary of Michael's death on Wednesday. 'She's a young woman right now and she's probably a little nervous about meeting us, and I don't blame her, but we're accessible,' the musician continued. Brother Andrew, 58, went on to recall a past encounter with Tiger and her stepdad Bob Geldof, saying: 'I was very grateful for Bob Geldof to invite me into his home and I sat with Bob and Tiger for a little while and I talked to them. Candid comments: 'We don't want to push anything, it will happen when it happens,' Tim, 60, told AAP, in an interview ahead of the 20th anniversary of Michael's death on Wednesday Michael's daughter: 'She's a young woman right now and she's probably a little nervous about meeting us, and I don't blame her, but we're accessible,' the musician continued of Tiger Lily (left), now 21 'And I just wanted to basically say to them that "It's OK and if you guys want to reach out to us we're around". But you can cause more problems sometimes by pushing than just by being open.' Tim, who is yet to meet Tiger, had a near-miss encounter just this year in Europe. 'I missed seeing her in Italy by literally a couple of days so that was a bit disappointing but I know it will happen and happen eventually. 'It's going to be an emotional thing meeting her and being with her so from that point of view I'd be lying if I didn't say I was a bit nervous about it or anxious to some degree,' he added. Tragic passing: Michael was found dead in a Sydney hotel room on November 22, 1997, aged 37 Family: At the time, Tiger was a one-year-old toddler at her home in London with her mum, British TV presenter and writer Paula Yates Michael was found dead in a Sydney hotel room on November 22, 1997. At the time, Tiger was a one-year-old toddler at her home in London with her mum, British TV presenter and writer Paula Yates. Three years after Hutchence was found hanged in his room at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Double Bay, Tiger was left an orphan after Yates died of an accidental heroin overdose in her London home. The then four-year-old was taken in by the father of her three half-sisters and Yates' ex-husband, Irish rock star Bob Geldof. Mother's death: Three years after Hutchence was found hanged in his room at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Double Bay, Tiger was left an orphan after Yates died of an accidental heroin overdose in her London home Father figure: The then four-year-old was taken in by the father of her three half-sisters and Yates' ex-husband, Irish rock star Bob Geldof Tiger was expected to inherit a large portion of her father's fortune when she turned 21 this year, but some of his assets and intellectual property were not listed as part of his estate. Instead they are owned by a British Virgin Islands company called Chardonnay Investments. Tiger may have a battle on her hands in light of recent documents unearthed in the Paradise Papers indicating she may have missed out on royalties. Support and information about suicide prevention can be found at Lifeline on 13 11 14, Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467 or MensLine Australia on 1300 78 99 78. Hailey Baldwin bundled up in a $695 brown faux mink hooded Helmut Lang bomber while strolling through Manhattan on Tuesday. The IMG Model - turning 21 on Wednesday - paired her cropped coat with a black turtleneck, matching pants, and combat boots. The pretty presenter - who relies on stylist Maeve Reilly - accessorized her casual autumn wear with a bucket bag and dark square-framed shades. Scroll down for video Frozen Big Apple: Hailey Baldwin bundled up in a $695 brown faux mink hooded Helmut Lang bomber while strolling through Manhattan on Tuesday Hailey kept her make-up minimal for her outing and scraped her flaxen locks into a tiny top bun. Baldwin's street sighting came after she Insta-storied a mysterious snap of herself wearing an IV captioned: 'Tries not to die on 21st bday.' The Maxim Hot 100 champ has kept a tight lip on precisely how she'll celebrate the milestone, which allows her to drink alcohol legally. Perhaps the Bible-quoting blonde will invite her best friend Kendall Jenner as well as rumored flame, Canadian crooner Shawn Mendes, to her festivities. Birthday girl: The IMG Model - turning 21 on Wednesday - paired her cropped coat with a black turtleneck, matching pants, and combat boots Relies on stylist Maeve Reilly: The pretty presenter accessorized her casual autumn wear with a bucket bag and dark square-framed shades Fuss free: Hailey kept her make-up minimal for her outing and scraped her flaxen locks into a tiny top bun Hailey's original claim to fame was being the nepotistically-privileged daughter of The Usual Suspect's Stephen Baldwin and niece of SNL's Alec Baldwin. Baldwin currently co-hosts celebrity rap battle competition Drop The Mic - airing Tuesdays on TBS - alongside Grammy-winning hip-hop star Method Man. 'There was one thing I actually got in a lot of trouble for during the filming,' the L'Oreal Professionnel spokesmodel told WWD last month. 'I would be standing there, and Method would be talking, and [the producers] would be like, "Hailey smile!"' Baldwin's street sighting came after she Insta-storied a mysterious snap of herself wearing an IV captioned: 'Tries not to die on 21st bday' 'Saaaaaaaame': The Maxim Hot 100 champ has kept a tight lip on precisely how she'll celebrate the milestone, which allows her to drink alcohol legally Big party plans? Perhaps the Bible-quoting blonde will invite her best friend Kendall Jenner (R, pictured Monday) as well as rumored flame Shawn Mendes to her festivities Nepotism: Hailey's original claim to fame was being the daughter of The Usual Suspect's Stephen Baldwin (L) and niece of SNL's Alec Baldwin As for eventually following in her famous family's footsteps, the 5ft7in catwalker still isn't sure about acting. 'There's still times where I dont even know for sure that I want to act. I don't know if I will get there,' Hailey admitted. 'I think that I know when I'm ready for certain things, and I don't feel like I'm ready to act right now.' He's the radio shock jock who famously revealed that he likes to impersonate an Indian man during bedroom exploits. And Kyle Sandilands, 46, has now weighed in on the headline-making debate about whether The Simpsons' Indian Apu Nahasapeemapetilon is a racist stereotype of Indian people. 'I love Apu! I'm saying I don't think it is [racist]... but I'm not Indian,' Kyle argued during a very awkward segment on the Kyle And Jackie O Show this Wednesday. 'I love Apu!' Kyle Sandilands, 46, weighed in on whether The Simpsons' character Apu Nahasapeemapetilon is a racist stereotype of Indian people this Wednesday 'I think [demanding to remove Apu] is more racist. Removing a character that's been on a cartoon for 30 years,' he argued. 'Is it really a big deal? It's just a character,' Jackie concurred. Bizarrely, the radio duo then decided to open up the phone-lines exclusivity to Indian listeners so that they could contribute to the discussion. Controversial topic: 'I think [demanding to remove Apu] is more racist. Removing a character that's been on a cartoon for 30 years,' Kyle argued 'You're saying not all Indians sound like Apu therefore Apu shouldn't be on there?' Bizarrely, the radio duo then decided to open up the phone-lines exclusivity to Indian listeners so that they could contribute to the discussion Among the slew of callers was a woman who claimed that Apu should be removed from the show. 'You're saying not all Indians sound like Apu therefore Apu shouldn't be on there?' asked Kyle. 'No, it's just stereotyping, that's what I think it is. I think I don't sound like Apu at all,' the woman responded. Kyle hit back: 'Well you're wrong. You've got an accent! I've got to say. You don't sound exactly like Apu but I'm detecting a small accent there.' Speaking out: The Problem With Apu is a new documentary that features interviews with Indian-Americans in the media about their experiences growing up with Apu as the only representation of their culture on television The Problem With Apu is a new documentary that features interviews with Indian-Americans in the media about their experiences growing up with Apu as the only representation of their culture on television. 'This character - the only representation that we have - led a lot of kids who were born and raised here to feel non-American,' Kondabolu told AAP. 'If you don't nip racism in the bud from the beginning, it mutates and finds other ways of surviving.' She has strutted her stuff on the Victoria's Secret runway for the fourth time. And Kelly Gale has made a low-key homecoming, touching down in Australia on Wednesday, to attend Swarovski's exclusive Spring Collection Launch, Brilliance For All. The 22-year-old turned Sydney Airport's arrival area into her personal catwalk showcasing her chic, all black ensemble. Low-key homecoming! Kelly Gale has made a triumphant homecoming, touching down in Australia on Wednesday after strutted her stuff on the Victoria's Secret runway in Shanghai She teamed a black top with a thick scarf, a pair of skin tight, faux leather pants and a cropped jacket with silver. Kelly accessorised the stylish, off-duty ensemble with a matching patent handbag and dark round sunglasses. Instead of donning a pair of sky heels, the brunette beauty strided in a comfortable looking pair of black boots. The half-Indian, half-Australian stunner wowed on the annual VS lingerie runway alongside some of the modelling industry's biggest names such as Bella Hadid, Alessandra Ambrosio and Adriana Lima. Off duty look: The 22-year-old turned Sydney Airport's arrival area into her personal catwalk showcasing her chic, all black ensemble. She teamed a black top with a thick scarf, a pair of skin tight, faux leather pants and a cropped jacket with silver Chic: Kelly accessorised the stylish ensemble with a matching patent handbag and dark round sunglasses One of her raciest looks for the show included a halterneck lace bra and underwear set with with a little, sheer white dress featuring blue embroidery. At the after party, Kelly sizzled on the pink carpet as showcased her trim and toned physique in a figure hugging leather dress. Her bondage-inspired frock also featured a deep V-neck that went showcased a hint of her cleavage and toned tummy. Kelly's looks was accessorised with a pair of studded heels and a rivet-encrusted heels and a choker necklace. Racy on the runway: One of Kelly's sauciest looks for the show included a halterneck lace bra and underwear set with with a little, sheer white dress featuring blue embroidery The runway model recently revealed to Vogue she kicks her VS pre-show into high gear by cutting out sodium four weeks before the show. 'I try to stay away from all kinds of sugars except for the sugars I get from the berries in my breakfast and coconut sugar from the occasional raw vegan chocolate bar that I eat.' 'My lunch and dinner meals before the show include lots of vegetables and lean protein such as shrimps, scallops, egg whites, turkey breast and white fish.' She walked away with the Best Actress award at Cannes Film Festival 2017 for her 'powerhouse' performance in In The Fade. And Diane Kruger couldn't have looked more delighted to bring the film home to Germany on Tuesday night, as the drama premiered in Hamburg. Dazzling in a gold sequinned dress, the 41-year-old actress seemed to be heading for yet more glory with the career-defining role. Scroll down for video Uber stylish: Diane Kruger looked especially stylish on Tuesday night, as she attended the In The Fade film premiere in Hamburg Dressed to kill, she created an hourglass shape with her lithe figure in a dress that featured a structured, corset waist. And to offset the feminine effect of her sequinned skirt, the striking blonde wore chunky boots. Previously best known for roles in Troy and Inglorious Basterds, Diane proved that she'd developed a strong bond with In The Fade's German director Fatih Akin. Perfect from every angle: She rocked a pair of chunky boots with her glittering gown Proud: She displayed her close bond with the German director of the film, Fatih Akin (right) She was joined by her co-stars Samia Chancrin, Denis Moschitto and Hanna Hilsdorf but playfully draped her arms around Fatih, who has spoken widely about his new-found appreciation for Diane's acting talent. It's been just six months since the German drama, in which Diane plays lead character Katja Sekerci, was tipped for glory in Cannes. In the politically-charged film, Katja's life is turned upside after the death of her husband and son Rocco in a bomb attack. Team line-up: Diane posed beside her cos-stars (from left) Samia Chancrin, Denis Moschitto and Hanna Hilsdorf As she mourns, an eventual trial against the two suspects: a young couple from the neo-Nazi scene drives her to the edge and she finds no alternative but to get her own revenge for the hate crime. Praising the actress, director Fatih revealed that his German friends had doubts about casting 'boring' Diane, admitting that they did not take her seriously as an actress. He disagreed, telling IndieWire this week: 'Ive never worked with such a focused actress my whole career. Tipped for glory: Diane picked up the Best Actress gong at Cannes Film Festival for In The Fade in May Broken woman: Her performance is being called a 'powerhouse' after losing her son and husband in a hate crime Fighting back: In the film, the character finds herself at rock bottom and seeking revenge Being playful: Showing off her silly side, the blonde wrapped an arm around her director and stuck out her tongue Giddy: She flashed a broad smile, ahead of the film opening on Thursday 'Shes so curious and had no fear; shes not afraid to embarrass herself. Its always nice to watch someone turn the prejudice about them upside down. 'Im very proud to have been a part of that. I think she can do anything.' The film opens in German theatres on 23 November and is slated for released in the US in December. Itinerary: The duo also attended a reception at City Hall in Hamburg She often shares intimate details about her dating life. But Mel Greig recalled a very embarrassing moment that occurred during her honeymoon with ex-husband Steven Pollock two years ago. In a stomach-turning piece penned for Yahoo last week, the 35-year-old detailed a time that she 'sharted' during what was supposed to be a romantic night out with her new spouse in Hawaii. Humiliating: Mel Greig recalled a very embarrassing moment that occurred during her honeymoon with ex-husband Steven Pollock two years ago The former radio personality gorged on red meat during dinner after having deprived herself for three months for the wedding, but her stomach did not react well. 'We were walking home along the beach and it was so romantic and such a beautiful balmy night,' he wrote. 'My husband and I had been together for over five years, so a sneaky pop off here and there wasn't foreign to either of us but what happened next definitely was. She continued: 'I decided to sneak out a little fluff and it turns out it wasn't a little fluff. My bowel reacted to the red meat and I looked at my husband under the moonlight and said those three little words: 'I just sharted.' The now-single star proceeded 'to pull myself across the grass like a dog with a dirty bum to try and clean up my mess.' The unlucky-in-love blonde appears to have a habit of oversharing, after it was revealed she recently told a potential Bumble date she had gastro - only to be rejected afterwards. Desperate attempts: The now-single star proceeded 'to pull myself across the grass like a dog with a dirty bum to try and clean up my mess' 'His instant response was 'Gross I can't deal with poo talk I hope you feel better soon.' The conversation then swiftly ended,'' she wrote. Last year, Mel announced her split from husband Steven Pollock after one year of marriage. In May this year, she told The Daily Edition that they split after he allegedly cheated with multiple women. 'It absolutely broke my heart but time heals all, I've dealt with it and moved on,' she said. One picture that was missing in the Nov. 11 edition of The Citizen was that of Andrew (Andy) Lepak. Andrew served his country from 1942 until 1945, but while he served, he wrote about it. On a daily basis, when he wasnt fighting, Andy wrote about the horrors of war that he faced in Italy, France and North Africa. He wrote these accounts on onion skin paper and had preserved these papers for over 55 years. The model missed out on appearing in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show for a second year in a row this year, after walking for the brand four times in the past. And it appears Shanina Shaik was keeping busy this week, as pictures began emerging of the much-anticipated catwalk show. The 26-year-old took to Instagram from the Free People's New York office, writing: 'Love working with my @FreePeople team.' Scroll down for video Keeping busy! Model Shanina Shaik posts stunning selfie working in New York after failing to secure a spot in The Victoria's Secret 2017 Fashion Show this week Shanina has previously walked in the glamorous Victoria's Secret lingerie parade in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015. The Australian stunner wowed in the chic selfie, wearing a black Balmain jumper and striped tracksuit trousers. Her complexion was flawless, with makeup artist Jennifer Nam creating a dewy appearance with a dusting of blush and defined brows. 'Waiting patiently for my flight': Her stay in New York appeared short lived, as she soon head to the airport Her stay in New York appeared short lived, as she soon head to the airport. Shanina later posted a photo with her luggage at her feet, writing: 'Travelling for thanksgiving.' It's unclear where the model is flying to, but it is assume she will be traveling in style. Where is Thanksgiving? It's unclear where the model is flying to, but it is assume she will be traveling in style As one of Australia's most successful modelling exports, Shanina flaunted her best off-duty model look on Friday. Enjoying a dinner with friends, the 26-year-old highlighted her tiny waist and long lean legs outside the LA venue in an all-black ensemble. 'Cute little Friendsgiving dinner last night,' she captioned. Legging it! On Friday, Shanina Shaik was the epitome of a flawless off-duty model as she celebrated Friendsgiving in LA wearing a chic all-black ensemble Showcasing her bronzed decolletage, Shanina opted for a black figure-hugging scoop neck top. The beauty's high-waisted trousers also complimented her figure, drawing attention to her toned pins. Completing the chic dinner get-up, Shanina added a wash of colour with red pumps and toted a small Gucci handbag. She's the highest paid woman on television. But Sofia Vergara isn't above running errands as she hurried between offices in Santa Monica on Tuesday afternoon. The 45-year-old actress looked sensational in a silk pink kimono as she strolled through buildings in the bustling city by the beach. Scroll down for video Busy lady: Sofia Vergara isn't above running errands as she hurried between offices in Santa Monica on Tuesday afternoon Sofia scrolled through her phone as she left an elevator wearing distressed denim jeans with the cuffs rolled up around her ankles. She covered up her ample assets in a plunging silky pink tank top, revealing just a hint of cleavage. The Modern Family star added more pink into the mix as she wrapped up in a sweeping kimono which delicately grazed her knees. Walk it out: The 45-year-old actress looked sensational in a silk pink kimono as she strolled through buildings in the bustling city by the beach She added a pair of towering nude heels to her stylish ensemble, with pedicured toes peeking through. Her signature long brown hair was worn straight past her shoulders with flirty bangs covering her forehead. Sofia's set to celebrate her two-year wedding anniversary to actor Joe Manganiello on Wednesday. Happy couple: Sofia's set to celebrate her two-year wedding anniversary to actor Joe Manganiello on Wednesday The happy couple tied the knot in a lavish Palm Beach ceremony after getting engaged on Christmas day 2014 after six months of dating. And now celebrating two years together, Sofia told Ellen DeGeneres during her talk show on Tuesday: 'I was so lucky. I must have done something really, really right in my life to get that reward.' The beauty is also mum to a 25-year-old son Manolo who she shared with ex-husband Joe Gonzalez. Sofia's star power seems to only get brighter as she was the named highest-paid television actress for the sixth year in a row with earnings of an incredible $42 million in just 12 months. Her hit show Modern Family recently celebrated filming its 200th episode on the ABC network. Clowning around: Sofia was recently announced as the highest paid television actress by Forbes; seen on Instagram with Modern Family co-star Ty Burrell She recently spoke about the 'physical and psychological' demands of wearing a corset 10-hours a day for seven months. And Jenna Coleman couldn't have looked happier in her own garbs again on Tuesday night, as the queen of style headed to a celebration with British Vogue. The 31-year-old Victoria actress shimmered in a leggy bronze skirt and chunky boots as she head flew solo in London. Scroll down for video Leggy look: Actress Jenna Coleman showed off her trim pins as she attended the Louis Vuittons Celebration of GingerNutz in Vogue's December Issue Worlds away from her regal character, she looked casual in a loose-fitting shirt with a roll neck layered underneath. Leaving her corsets behind for the night, the former Doctor Who star still showed off her petite frame in the look, which put emphasis on her lithe legs. Styling her chic bob into tousled waves, Jenna completed her beauty look with complementary bronze eyeshadow and deep pink on her lips. Is that your beau's? Actress Jenna Coleman rocked an oversized shirt and skirt combo for the bash, keeping comfy in chunky-heeled patent boots Making an entrance: She carried a leather coat, so as not to detract from her chic layered look The actress, now best-loved for her regal ITV role which just wrapped on season two, will soon be back on screens this festive season in a Victoria Christmas special. In the one-off episode, fans will get to see the legendary queen celebrate Christmas in true 19th Century style. Bringing some much-anticipated drama to the festive TV line-up, the teaser - released in October - also hints that Victoria's husband Albert could face mortal danger after falling into a frozen lake. Following the success on a second season, Jenna spoke of her relief to be out of Queen Victoria's restrictive period costumes. Restrictive: Jenna (pictured as Victoria in the ITV show) spoke out about the restrictive nature of her period costumes this week Worlds away: She spoke of the psychological effects of being held back by the regal dress (pictured) She told Marie Claire this week: Ive done a lot of period drama and Ive always been very proudly like, I love corsets but having worn one for seven months for ten hours a day, psychologically its incredible what it does. 'Youre constantly restricted, like Id be, youd want to run to set and you get so far and your lungs can literally only take in so much oxygen because theyre restricted, so its really interested just thinking about women in that time. 'If youre constantly like held and restricted, what it must do and what it, in a way, what society was telling you to be demure and behave and not run upstairs, and I think Victorias the kind of girl that just wants to go and literally run in the grass. Flying solo: The brunette was without on and off screen boyfriend Tom Hughes Back soon: Following the second season of Victoria, the actress will return for the Christmas special Dazzling: Relaxed in her oversized shirt, the brunette wore one hand in her pocket Making an exit: Jenna had all eyes on her as she left the party in her stylish ensemble All-smiles: The stunning Victoria star looked in high spirits as she made her way home Legs eleven! The stunning brunette put on a very leggy display as she made her way home The New Zealand-born beauty recently strut her stuff at this year's Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, filmed in Shanghai this week. And Georgia Fowler continued to parade her enviable physique as she attended the exclusive Balmain store opening in Shanghai on Tuesday. The model, 25, showcased her trim pins in an edgy leather mini dress that skimmed at her thighs. Scroll down for video Legs for days! Victoria's Secret model flaunts her trim pins in thigh-skimming Balmain frock as she attends glamorous dinner for the brand in Shanghai The long-sleeve ensemble had large stitch-work connecting panels of red, black and white leather. The figure-hugging dress cinched in at her taut stomach and svelte waistline. Adorned with studs, Georgia put a glamorous take on rocker-chic in the daring number, which she partnered with gladiator heels. Going hell for leather! Adorned with studs, Georgia put a glamorous take on rocker-chic in the daring number, which she partnered with gladiator heels Stunning! The figure-hugging dress cinched in at Georgia's taut stomach and svelte waistline She slicked her brunette locks back into a stylish high ponytail. Georgia looked flawless with a dewy makeup complexion, highlighter on her cheekbones and a light pink pout. While at the event, she took a video selfie with fellow model Ming Xi Mengyao, who was also wearing a similar design with studs and stitches. Twinning! While at the event, she took a video selfie with fellow model Ming Xi Mengyao, who was also wearing a similar design with studs and stitches Luxe! She enjoyed a sit-down dinner by candlelight with high-rise views over the city She enjoyed a sit-down dinner by candlelight with high-rise views over the city. Georgia has been busy letting her hair down after appearing in The Victoria's Secret annual show in China on Monday's 22nd. It was the second time she has walked the catwalk at the coveted event, after making her debut for the US lingerie giant last year. He's got two young children with journalist wife, Jodie Speers. And on the weekend, Ben Fordham's youngest child, daughter Pearl, one, got up to some mischief. Ben took to Instagram to share an adorable video of his tot, who had covered herself in nappy cream when her parents weren't looking. Scroll down for video 'I swear, 24 hours later I can still smell it!' Ben Fordham's adorable daughter Pearl, one, cheekily covers herself in nappy cream 'Pearl, do you want some cream?,' Ben asks in the clip, as a woman, presumably Jodie, laughs in the background. Pearl had rubbed the cream on her face and put put it in her hair, and tells her doting father that she wants more. 'Pearl vs cream,' Ben captioned the video. Family: He's got two young children with journalist wife, Jodie Speers Journalist Ben - who hosted Australian Ninja Warrior - told Nine Honey about the hilarious incident. 'I could see her climbing up the stairs, covered in something,' Ben said. Ben revealed Pearl had put the cream on when her mother wasn't looking for 30 seconds. He said how hard it was to clean up the mess, with the cream getting on the stairs. 'Pearl vs cream': Pearl had rubbed the cream on her face and put put it in her hair, and tells her doting father that she wants more 'We had both Jodie and I on deck with a wet washer in one hand and pinning her arm down with the other hand,' Ben said. He joked: 'I swear, 24 hours later I can still smell it.' Ben and Jodie share two children together, Pearl and son Freddy, two. The couple married in 2011. Meanwhile, it's been reported that 2GB star Ben has listed his $2.4 million apartment in Sydney's Redfern. Their clan: Ben and Jodie share two children together, Pearl and son Freddy, two The property, a joint venture between the 40-year-old and his construction manager mate Steve Fadel, boasts three bathrooms and bedrooms, a sky-lit kitchen, courtyard and an industrial warehouse aesthetic. This is not the first time Ben has listed a property in Sydney's Redfern, having sold another terrace in the same suburb for $3.2million. The abode was purchased by the television personality for $1.7million back in 2010, and contains four bedrooms, three bathrooms, and a two-car garage, while the top floor features a 'master retreat' with views of the city. She's ruled the world of lingerie for nearly two decades. And Alessandra Ambrosio celebrated hanging up her Angel wings for good during a surprise party which she shared in a series of videos and photos on social media Tuesday afternoon. The 36-year-old supermodel announced her retirement from the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show earlier this week after her 17th - and final - walk down the runway for the seductive brand in Shanghai, China, on Monday. Scroll down for video Smile! Alessandra Ambrosio celebrated hanging up her Angel wings for good in a series of videos and photos shared on social media Tuesday afternoon The Brazilian beauty smiled from ear-to-ear surrounded by friends and family at the elegant affair. Alessandra donned a tight black dress with glittering sequins lining her chest and one long sleeve. Delicate straps held the garment together which showed off her supremely slender model figure. Celebrate! The 36-year-old supermodel announced her retirement from the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show earlier this week after her 17th - and final - walk down the runway for the seductive brand in Shanghai, China, on Monday Surprise! The Brazilian beauty smiled from ear-to-ear surrounded by friends and family at the elegant affair Love! Alessandra donned a tight black dress with glittering sequins lining her chest and one long sleeve The unique dress featured a long sweeping skirt over one leg which was slashed on the other side to reveal her slim pins. She wore her famously long chocolate brown colored hair straight with seductive part down the middle. A massive five-layer cake with bright blue and white icing was topped with 17 candles and splattered with gold flakes. Impressive: A massive five-layer cake with bright blue and white icing was topped with 17 candles and splattered with gold flakes Sweet: 'Forever on vacation' and the number 17 were written in gold along one layer of the decadent dessert 'Forever on vacation' and the number 17 were written in gold along one layer of the decadent dessert. Not only were friends and family on hand to celebrate the siren, Harry Styles also stopped by to support the model as she says farewell to the brand. The mother-of-two confirmed to ET on Monday that the show will be her last as she has officially quit her Angel duties. Alessandra plans to focus on family life and spending more time with her children Anja, nine, and Noah, five. Friends! Not only were friends and family on hand to celebrate the siren, Harry Styles also stopped by to support the model as she says farewell to the brand Red hot: The mother-of-two confirmed to ET on Monday that the show will be her last as she has officially quit her Angel duties; seen during her last Victoria's Secret show on Monday She's the model and television personality who juggles her career with motherhood. And Rachael Finch was very much the doting parent in a short clip captioned 'Bring baby to work day' shared to her Instagram Story on Wednesday. The 29-year-old was seen dressing her eight-month-old son Dominic, while on the set of a magazine photo shoot. Scroll down for video Hands-on: Model and television personality Rachael Finch, 29, brought her adorable son Dominic, eight, to work, while on a magazine photo shoot A precious image saw Rachael dressing little Dominic in a grey onesie as he lay on a blanket. The former beauty pageant titleholder showed off her lithe arms and a glimpse of her slender waist in a low-cut black crop top and pleated white skirt. Accessorising with silver hoop earrings and her semi-wet locks slicked back off her face, Rachael beamed for the candid moment. Finishing off the ensemble was a makeup palette consisting of a dewy complexion, defined brows, lashings of mascara and a nude lip. Too cute: A precious image saw Rachael dressing little Dominic in a grey onesie, as he lay on a blanket 'Bring baby to work day': A following image saw Rachael this time sporting a skin-tight black tank top and full-length leggings that clung to her trim pins. Changing his diaper, Dom is seen looking up at the camera in fascination A following image saw Rachael this time sporting a skin-tight black tank top and full-length leggings that clung to her trim pins. Changing his diaper, Dom is seen looking up at the camera in fascination. The mother-of-two aptly captioned the clip 'Bring baby to work day'. The posts come shortly after Rachael explained to Daily Mail Australia that her priority is to be the best mother to children, Violet, four, and Dominic, with husband Michael Miziner. Priorities: The posts come shortly after Rachael explained to Daily Mail Australia that her priority is to be the best mother to children, Violet, four, and Dominic, with husband Michael Miziner (pictured) Living her best life: The brunette said at Melbourne's Oaks Day earlier this month: 'I want energy for Violet (pictured) and Dominic, and I want to be the best wife and mum. I don't want to come to 3pm and have that slump!' She said at Melbourne's Oaks Day earlier this month: 'I want energy for Violet and Dominic, and I want to be the best wife and mum. I don't want to come to 3pm and have that slump!' 'I choose to do these things in my life in terms of health and wellness because it makes me feel good,' she added. Rachael, an avid fitness enthusiast, also shared that she doesn't believe in the idea of 'cheat days': 'I eat healthy and have fitness in my life and meditate and do those things because I want to wake up with awesome amounts of energy.' Advertisement They are the loved-up celebrity couple who are currently enjoying their one-year wedding anniversary in Thailand. And there's little denying that Jesinta Franklin and husband Lance know how to relax in style, choosing to celebrate 12 months of wedded bliss in the $1600-a-night Kata Rocks Resort in Phuket. The picturesque locale was awarded best luxury honeymoon destination for 2017 and it's not hard to see why. Cool digs: There's little denying that Jesinta Franklin and husband Lance know how to relax in style, choosing to celebrate one year of wedded bliss in the $1600-a-night Kata Rocks Resort in Phuket Luxe: For a meagre $1610-per-night, Jesinta and Buddy are currently enjoying all manner of luxe amenities including private infinity pools in each of the villas For a meagre $1610-per-night, Jesinta and Buddy are currently enjoying all manner of luxe amenities including private infinity pools in each of the villas. All villas also feature goose down bedding while the spa pool villas boast dual massage beds for extra decadence. Offering panoramic vistas of the Andaman Sea and Koh Pu Island, according to the resort's website, it makes the most of the location's natural topography to create a tranquil experience. Relaxing: All villas also feature goose down bedding while the spa pool villas boast dual massage beds for extra decadence Serenity now: Offering panoramic vistas of the Andaman Sea and Koh Pu Island, according to the resort's website, it makes the most of the location's natural topography to create a tranquil experience If lolling around in infinity pools or being waited on by the resorts 'rock star' personal concierge isn't to Buddy and Jesinta's taste, there are plenty of relaxing past-times to keep them occupied. The resort offers a luxury spa with a state-of-the-art gym and fitness centre as well as a range of wellness programs including yoga. When it comes to food, Buddy and Jestina are just as well catered for. There are a range of dining options including an in-villa BBQ experience with a private chef and the loved-up pair also have the opportunity to learn some culinary Thai secrets with personalised cooking classes. Hand and foot: If lolling around in infinity pools or being waited on by the resorts 'rock star' personal concierge isn't to Buddy and Jesinta's taste, there are plenty of relaxing past-times to keep them occupied Well appointed: The resort also offers a luxury spa boasting a state-of-the-art gym and fitness centre and a range of wellness programs including yoga Both Jesinta and Buddy, who are staying at Kata Rocks after an equally idyllic stint Phuket's Cape Panwa Hotel, have wasted no time in documenting the trip for fans back home. Jesinta took to Instagram on Wednesday to share a jealousy-inducing snap of the model's view over breakfast. The photo showed a fresh plate of fruit on a pristine white table overlooking their infinity pool and the ocean. Fancy! When it comes to food, Buddy and Jestina are just as well catered for with the resort offering a range of dining options including an in-villa BBQ experience with a private chef Jealous? Both Jesinta and Buddy, who are staying at Kata Rocks after an equally idyllic stint Phuket's Cape Panwa Hotel (pictured), have wasted no time in documenting the trip for fans back home 'Breakfast with a view,' Jesinta captioned the enviable photo. '@budy_franklin23 we might just stay here all day @katarocksphuket.' Buddy also found time to gust about the quality of the accommodation on Tuesay, sharing a photo of their villa's infinity pool. Standing proudly peside the pool, wearing an unbuttoned white linen shirt and blue shots, budly looked the picture of relaxation.' 'Seriously epic!! One of the best pools @katarocksphuket' he captioned the photo.' They are anxiously awaiting the arrival of their brand new niece/grandchild. So Paris and Kathy Hilton pulled out all the stops as they threw a beautiful baby shower for pregnant Nicky on Tuesday. The mom and daughter duo hosted the gorgeous get together at Kathy's Bel Air Mansion. 'A baby is brewing!' Paris and Kathy Hilton threw a luxurious shower for pregnant Nicky at their Bel Air mansion on Tuesday All the 34-year-old's closest friends and family members were there, including aunts Kim and Kyle Richards and their daughters, as well as their Real Housewives Of New York stablemate Bethenny Frankel. Paris and Nicky's sister-in-law-to-be Tessa Von Walderdorff who recently got engaged to their younger brother Barron was also on hand. Nicky's one-year-old daughter Lily Grace whom she shares with husband financier James Rothschild dressed in an adorable pink gown for the event, as she counted down her remaining days as an only child. Pretty: Paris wore pink honoring the fact a little girl is en route Not for a boy: Nicky meanwhie bucked the trend by rocking blue Family expansion: Paris and Nicky's sister-in-law-to-be Tessa Von Walderdorff (R) who recently got engaged to their younger brother Barron was also on hand Guestlist: All the 34-year-old's closest friends and family members were there, including aunts Kim and Kyle Richards and their daughters, as well as their Real Housewives Of New York stablemate Bethenny Frankel Wow: A delectable spread of decorative candies, cakes, macaroons and fruits were laid on that looked almost too good to eat Paris matched her in a pink dress of her own honoring the fact a little girl is en route while Nicky herself bucked the trend by rocking blue. Despite being a girls only affair, Paris's boyfriend Chris Zylka was also spotted gatecrashing on her Snapchats, but he was likely recruited for his considerable photographic eye. A delectable spread of decorative candies, cakes, macaroons and fruits were laid on that looked almost too good to eat. Big sister: Nicky's one-year-old daughter Lily Grace whom she shares with husband financier James Rothschild dressed in an adorable pink gown for the event Sis in waiting: The tot is counting down her remaining days as an only child Tree is up! Despite Thanksgiving having not yet arrived, the house was already decked out it full Christmas decor, as mom Kathy is well known by family members to have 'an obsession with decorating' Snapper: Despite being a girls only affair, Paris's boyfriend Chris Zylka was also spotted gatecrashing on her Snapchats, but he was likely recruited for his considerable photographic eye Decorations also included an oil painting of Nicky as a little girl. Despite Thanksgiving having not yet arrived, the house was already decked out it full Christmas decor, as mom Kathy is well known by family members to have 'an obsession with decorating'. According to a source close to the family, Nicky who married James in July 2015 is expecting with baby number two at Christmas. Gorgeous: Kim grabbed a few selfies with her evergreen mom on Snapchat Of course: Decorations also included an oil painting of Nicky as a little girl It's been revealed that renowned former escort Samantha X [aka Amanda Goff] fell in love with Channel 7 reporter Ryan Phelan while on the job. After finally exposing their romance over the weekend, Ryan has confirmed he first met the 43-year-old while she was working a promotional tour for her new book. 'We met when Amanda came in [to Channel 7] to promote her second book, Back On Top, and I asked her out on a lunch date,' he told The Sydney Morning Herald. Scroll down for video 'We have spent every day together since': Renowned escort Samantha X [aka Amanda Goff] fell in love with Channel 7 reporter Ryan Phelan while on the job, it's been revealed Back On Top was released on August 28, while Amanda announced she was 'hanging up the heels,' and retiring as an escort on October 24. 'We have pretty much spent every day together since [we met] I fell in love with Amanda, no one else,' he told the publication. 'And that is who she is to me, Amanda, an outstanding mother and an outstanding woman.' On the books: After finally exposing their romance over the weekend, Ryan has confirmed he first met the 43-year-old while she was working a promotional tour for her new book 'If anything she has achieved a lot in her career and given an industry a voice it didn't have before,' he concluded. In Amanda's book, she spoke of an ongoing semi-serious relationship with an unnamed man, code named 'Mr. Big.' 'I asked her out': 'We met when Amanda came in [to Channel 7] to promote her second book, Back On Top, and I asked her out on a lunch date,' In their first couple's photo on Monday, the former escort confirmed: 'Meet my love, Ryan (He is NOT Mr Big from my book!)' After Amanda made the announcement, her usually private TV star boyfriend followed suit on Tuesday. He posted a sweet flashback of their recent trip to Europe, captioned with a love heart emoji. Hanging up her heels: Back On Top was released on August 28, while Amanda, 43, announced she was 'hanging up the heels,' and retiring as an escort on October 24 The post attracted congratulatory comments from friends and fans, including Channel Nine journalist Ben Fordham, who wrote: 'Happy for you both. Good luck and good on youz (sic).' Meanwhile, the parents to four kids won't be looking to add more children to their 'brood' - likening their current situation to the Brady Bunch. 'No more kids! We're enough of a Brady Bunch as it is... As for marriage, we are very happy for now but not ruling anything out in the future,' she told Daily Mail Australia. 'No one else': 'We have pretty much spent every day together since [we met] I fell in love with Amanda, no one else,' Ryan told reporters this week The couple 'are very happy', she added, and Ryan is the one who made her realise it was time to 'close the chapter' on escorting to start their new life together. 'I knew it was time. The love we have deserved Amanda not Samantha, and I was ready to close on the chapter on Samantha,' she said. Big news: In Amanda's book, she spoke of an ongoing semi-serious relationship with an unnamed man, code named 'Mr. Big' 'Ryan and I are very much in love. He is the most beautiful man, not just on the outside but on the inside too. I've never smiled and laughed more in my life! 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The 41-year-old ensured all eyes were on her for the celebratory bash, showcasing her lithe figure in a sheer black pinafore dress. Scroll down for video Daring: Naomie Harris, 41, looked sensational on Tuesday as she attended Louis Vuitton's celebration of Ginger Nutz in Vogue in London in a sheer black dress The former bond girl gave a glimpse of her enviable long legs in the sultry dress, which featured a daring thigh split. She rocked the fashionable ensemble with patent Doc Martin style boots and a cream turtleneck. Sporting a fuchsia pink lip, Naomie complemented the look with a signature Louis Vuitton clutch as she posed inside the venue with Loving actress Ruth Negga. Naomie landed an Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe nomination for her latest role as a crack addict in award-winning film Moonlight, released late last year. Stunning: The former bond girl showed off her enviable long legs in the sultry dress, which featured a daring thigh split Movie Darling: The acting superstar shared a laugh as she left the bash, with her dramatic skirt in tow Screen pals: Awards darlings Naomie and Ruth Negga also made for a stand-out pair at the bash However, the British actress admitted she was hesitant to undertake the role as she they are enough 'negative portrayals' of 'black women' in film. In February, she told The Telegraph: 'I didn't want to play a crack addict. I feel that there are enough negative portrayals of women in general, and black women in particular. 'I grew up with this really strong mother - really intelligent, powerful, independent - and I've always admired her. 'She was part of a group of strong, powerful women as well. I very rarely saw those women represented them. So I initially said no to the role.' Dynamic duo: Posing with Edward, Naomie kept with the brand by donning a Louis Vuitton clutch Girls night out: Naomie and Adwoa made for a fashionable duo as they posed together at the bash Action star: Naomie's next big picture will be the Dwayne Johnson- fronter thriller Rampage, set for release in April 2018 Meanwhile, fashion icon Kate Moss rocked a signature Croydon facelift up-do, with a black sequinned blazer and classic leather leggings. Showing off her famous legs with knee-high leather boots, Kate complemented her ensemble with barely-there makeup as her flawless complexion was on full display Kate finished her look with green-jewelled drop earrings allowing the statement piece of the blazer to truly make a statement. Legend: Modelling superstar Kate Moss, 43, showed off her legendary figure on Tuesday as she rocked an all-black look for the celebrations Wrinkle-free: Kate rocked a signature Croydon facelift with her stylish look, donning a black sequin blazer for the party in London Man of the hour: Kate was also seen posing with British Vogue Editor Edward Enninful, as the party celebrated the magazine's latest cover Cover girls: Kate also posed with Vogue cover newcomer, Adwoa Aboah, who appeared on the publications November issue Stylish squad: Louis Vuitton creative director Nicolas Ghesquiere, Kate and makeup guru Charlotte Tilbury certainly made for an on-point trio Centre of attention: Kate was still the star as she exited the bash, rocking leather trousers and knee-high boots with her look Superstar: Kate was one of the hottest supermodels of the 90s, establishing plenty of fashion trends Swanky: Since divorcing from Jamie Hince in 2016, Kate has reportedly been dating photographer Count Nikolai von Bismarck Style maven: Kate joined a who's who in fashion attending the Louis Vuitton bash Man of power: Edward looked dapper in a smart all-black look. The fashion mogul was appointed the editor of British Vogue in April Actress Noomi Rapace chose a more rock-inspired ensemble as she rocked a stylish leather jacket and camouflage combo while posing with creative director Nicolas Ghesquiere. Looking stunning in an aqua satin slip dress was Cressida Bonas, who was seen enjoying a fun night with Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie of York. The trio were spotted posing together at the event, with the two royals rocking similarly chic floral dresses. Directional: Actress Noomi Rapace certainly stood out in a camouflage jumpsuit Perfection: Noomi and Ruth rocked VERY different looks at the bash, yet looked equally fashionable Ocean chic: Cressida Bonas looked stunning in an aqua sating slip dress as she enjoyed a night out at the party On point: Cressida also rocked a regal blue velvet coat with a leopard print collar as she posed with PR guru Amanda Sheppard Sisters night out: Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie of York rocked chic floral dresses with similarly smart handbags as they arrived at the party Jolly good! The royal duo were seen posing with Louis Vuitton creative director Nicolas Ghesquiere Posh pals: Cressida and Eugenie both made for fashion forward pair as they attended the bash Fabulous: The duo made a stylish exit from the bash in matching camel coats (though only Eugenie needed hers in the chilly night!) Floral-tastic: Eugenie went bare leg with the look and also rocked a pair of knee-high suede boots Leather-tastic: Ruth rocked a stylish embroidered leather jacket in pace with the look worn by actor Dominic Cooper Stand-out: Jazzelle Zanaughtti chose a directional silver dress, while Clara Paget went for a more relaxed dress over knit look Couples night: Jim Chapman and Tanya Burr make for a very stylish couple as they posed together at the bash White Queen: Actress Tanya rocked a chic Emilia Wickstead dress for the outing Cosmetic superstar Charlotte Tilbury showed off her ample cleavage in a sensational gold-threaded gown as she arrived at the bash. With her fiery red tresses in dramatic curls the star was seen posing with fashion maven Hikari Yokoyama. After partying it up at the Walpole Luxury Awards the previous night, Charlotte looked as fresh-faced as ever at Tuesday's bash, as she was also seen rubbing shoulders with Kate inside the venue. Gold Queen: Makeup guru Charlotte Tilbury looked totally glam in a gold threaded gown as she arrived at the party Girls night: Charlotte was also seen posing with fashion maven Hikari Yokoyama Victoria star Jenna Coleman was worlds away from her regal character as she donned an oversized shirt and bronze skirt combo for the bash. The former Doctor Who star showed off her petite frame in the look, keeping comfy in brown chunky heeled boots. Styling her chic bob into tousled waves, Jenna will soon be back on television screens this festive season in a Victoria Christmas special. In the one-off episode, fans will get to see the legendary queen celebrate Christmas in true 19th Century style, though a teaser released in October hints that Victoria's husband Albert could face mortal danger after falling into a frozen lake. Is that your beau's? Actress Jenna Coleman rocked an oversized shirt and skirt combo for the bash, keeping comfy in chunky-heeled patent boots Small screen star: Jenna will return to screens this festive season for a Victoria Christmas special Loved-up: The stunning actress has also been secretly dating co-star Tom Hughes since last year, though has remained mum on their relationship She suffered every model's worst nightmare on Monday, when she took a nasty tumble in front of thousands at the eagerly-anticipated Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in China. And Ming Xi put in a low-key appearance as she was spotted at Shanghai Pudong International Airport on Wednesday. The Chinese model, 28, who took to Instagram on Tuesday to apologise for her fall, covered her face with a surgical mask. Scroll down for video Under cover: Ming Xi put in a low-key appearance as she was spotted covering her face with a surgical mask at Shanghai Pudong International Airport on Wednesday While wearing a mask in East Asian countries has become increasingly popular since the 2002 SARS outbreak and 2006 bird flu epidemic, Ming hasn't been spotted wearing one before. The mask and oversized shades could have been an attempt to shield her face, following the tumble which left thousands of fans sympathising with the star. Teamed with a hoodie featuring an upset animated female character, along with skinny jeans and Dr Martens, the model still managed to cut a stylish appearance as she made her way through the terminal. Taking flight! She suffered every model's worst nightmare on Monday, when she took a nasty tumble in front of thousands at the eagerly-anticipated Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in China Not the first: Naomi suffered a similar fate during her famous fall for Vivienne Westwood during Paris Fashion Week in 1993 Her appearance came after she took to Instagram to apologise for her fall on the runway on Monday. Ming, who has been walking for the fashion house since 2013, was clad in an intricately designed negligee ensemble and carrying a cherry blossom-inspired display before her gladiator sandals became entangled in her sheer train as she stormed the catwalk at the Mercedes Benz Arena. Despite the epic fall, Ming impressively managed to keep her cool, smiling as she went down on the runway, before swiftly continuing her walk. Low-key: The Chinese model, 28, who took to Instagram on Tuesday to apologise for her fall, covered her face with a surgical mask Quiet display: The mask and oversized shades could have been an attempt to shield her face, following the tumble which left thousands of fans sympathising with the star But despite her calm demeanor, the model and The Warrior's Gate actress was left distraught behind the scenes. Sharing a glimpse of her upset to her Instagram, which boasts almost 1 million followers, she opened up about the incident on Tuesday. 'As many of you may already know, I fell during my 5th year walking at the Victoria's Secret show yesterday,' she wrote. WHO IS MING XI? Ming Xi was discovered after placing third in the Elite Model Look competition in 2010 and has since gone on to become one of China's most sought after models. She kicked off her international modelling career for Givenchy's 2011 Haute Spring Show, before wowing at the likes of Christian Dior, Vivienne Westwood and Kenzo the same year. Speaking of her sudden fame back in 2011, Ming told CNN: ' Even now I dont believe I am really a model, its very surreal to me.' 'I had no preconceptions about this career, I tend to just go with the flow. I never really gave (being a professional model) too much thought before. That said, I absolutely love what Im doing now,' she concluded. Advertisement 'It was no doubt one of the hardest moments I have ever had to go through in my career, especially since the show was taking place in my hometown, in front of my mother's and my people's eyes. However, the support I received from everyone yesterday was incredible and I am truly grateful to everyone who was there for me. 'Thank you for your supportive words and your continuous support throughout these 7 years,' she continued. 'Thank you for helping me up after the fall, it was a very selfless and loving act from you. Thank you to all the girls who rushed to comfort me at backstage after what had happened, you are all family to me. 'Lastly thank you to everyone who sent and left me supportive messages. I will pick myself up from where I fell, and I will keep going in order to repay all the support you all have given me!!' Ming rocketed to fame after coming third in the Elite Model Look competition in 2010. The followin gyear she kicked off her international career walking for Givenchy's Haute Spring Show, before going on to model for Dior, Vivienne Westwood and Kenzo. Speaking of her sudden fame back in 2011, Ming told CNN: ' Even now I dont believe I am really a model, its very surreal to me.' 'I had no preconceptions about this career, I tend to just go with the flow. I never really gave (being a professional model) too much thought before. That said, I absolutely love what Im doing now,' she concluded. Model behaviour: Teamed with a hoodie featuring an upset animated female character, along with skinny jeans and Dr Martens, the model still managed to cut a stylish appearance as she made her way through the terminal On Monday he was seen shooting scenes with on-screen lover Malin Akerman on the streets of New York City. But Damian Lewis swapped Malin for co-star Kelly AuCoin on Tuesday - and found himself unsure where to look as Kelly dropped his slacks in front of him. In what looked to be a comic scene in the American drama series, Kelly stood before Damian in just a pair of checked boxer shorts, on the street, in full view of anyone passing by. Scroll down for video Avert your eyes! Damian Lewis doesn't know where to look as his Billions co-star Kelly AuCoin drops his trousers in front of him on the street whilst filming new scenes in New York Eyes up: In what looked to be a comic scene in the American drama series, Jelly stood before Damian in just a pair of checked boxer shorts, on the street, in full view of anyone passing by Damian, 46, turned around and looked to the skies in the scene, as the cameras rolled around the actors capturing the humorous moment. The pair were shooting the scene outside of a parking garage, which saw Damian's character Bobby Axelrod get into a navy Porsche at the end and drive away. The scene appeared to feature some sort of tiff between Bobby and Kelly's character Dollar, resulting in the awkward trouser drop. Damien looked casual in a stone coloured hoodie, navy tee and black jeans. On location: The pair were shooting the scene outside of a parking garage, which saw Damian's character Bobby Axelrod get into a navy Porsche at the end and drive away Smart casual: Damien looked casual in a stone coloured hoodie, navy tee and black jeans Tension: Damian, 46, turned around and looked to the skies in the scene, as the cameras rolled around the actors capturing the humorous moment On Monday, he and his co-star Malik were spotted bracing the cold weather in the Big Apple. The actress, 39, bundled up in a parka while the actor rocked a wool coat as they filmed the third season of the hit Showtime drama. The show follows ambitious hedge fund manager Bobby 'Axe' Axelrod, as one of the only survivors in his company following the September 11 attacks in New York. Touch up: The scene appeared to feature some sort of tiff between Bobby and Kelly's character Dollar, resulting in the awkward trouser drop Ratings: The show debuted to record numbers for network Showtime in January 2016, and continued to bring in average audiences of more than a million each week of its 12 episode run Drama: The show follows ambitious hedge fund manager Bobby 'Axe' Axelrod, as one of the only survivors in his company following the September 11 attacks in New York Hit series: In the drama he faces Charles 'Chuck' Rhoades Jr, played by Paul Giamatti - a US Attorney who is trying to expose Axe as a financial criminal In the drama he faces Charles 'Chuck' Rhoades Jr, played by Paul Giamatti - a US Attorney who is trying to expose Axe as a financial criminal. The situation is then complicated by Charles' wife Wendy - who also acts as Axe's trusted adviser, and finds herself in the midst of their fraught relationship. Malin meanwhile stars as Bobby's devoted wife Lara, who comes from a lower-class upbringing but has left her old life behind for a lavish existence with the city worker. Finding huge success with its first two seasons, it was announced that BIllions was to return for a third series. Filming: The situation is then complicated by Charles' wife Wendy - who also acts as Axe's trusted adviser, and finds herself in the midst of their fraught relationship The show debuted to record numbers for network Showtime in January 2016, and continued to bring in average audiences of more than a million each week of its 12 episode run. Malin recently spoke to Haute Living about her character, and admitted she identifies with Lara as her rise from a humble beginning parallels her arrival in LA as a young actress. She said: 'Where we are similar is that we both come from humble beginningsLara finds herself in this new world of hedge funds and billionaires. 'For me, it was coming to the new world of Hollywood; I can relate to that, how she brought her street smarts and survival skills to get through it.' AC/DC co-founder Malcolm Young's funeral will coincide with the biggest day on the Australian music calendar. In a fitting tribute, music industry heavyweights, family and band mates will attend a service at Sydney's St. Mary's Cathedral Tuesday - the same day as the ARIAs. The Young family requested a closed service - not to be broadcast - to allow his loved ones to mourn privately, according to News Corp. Scroll down for video Fond farewell: AC/DC co-founder Malcolm Young's funeral will coincide with the biggest day on the Australian music calendar The publication also expects the extended Young family to attend, in what will be their second funeral in as many months. In October, Malcolm's older brother and Easybeats co-founded died at the age of 70. They'll pay their final respects alongside the biggest names in Australian music, including Jimmy Barnes. According to News Corp, Jimmy cancelled a book signing session 'out of respect' for the Young family. Fitting: In a fitting tribute, music industry heavyweights, family and band mates will attend a service at Sydney's St. Mary's Cathedral Tuesday - the same day as the ARIAs Back again: The service will be the Young family's second funeral in as many months, following the death of Malcolm's brother and Easybeats co-founder George in October (pictured is St. Mary's Cathedral) Australians paid tribute to the AC/DC co-founder and fellow countryman on Sunday, a day after the legendary guitarist passed away aged 64. Young, who founded the rock group with his brother Angus in 1973, died Saturday after suffering from dementia for several years, according to his family and the band. Best known for their hit song Highway to Hell, AC/DC formed produced 17 studio albums, selling more than 200 million records. Closed service: The Young family requested a closed service - not to be broadcast - to allow his loved ones to mourn privately, according to News Corp 'AC/DC were incredibly special,' Australian rock historian Glen A. Baker told national broadcaster ABC Sunday. 'They became a part of Australian music at a time when we needed heroes and people who were totally reliable, who wouldn't deviate for one second, who had a clear vision of where they wanted to go' 'The architect of that sound was Malcolm Young, the rhythm guitarist who wrote every song, every original song they did.' She's best known for playing Lady Mary Crawley on much-loved period drama Downtown Abbey. But shedding her previously demure image, Michelle Dockery shows another side to her in gritty new series Godless which is set to include graphic new scenes of the star appearing topless. And as well as stripping off, the 34-year-old actress looks far removed from the aristocratic character that made her famous as she totes a shotgun in violent scenes. Scroll down for video Graphic: Michelle Dockery shows another side to her in gritty new series Godless which is set to include graphic new scenes of the star The brunette beauty strips completely nude on camera while in character for the show, baring her breasts in both explicit and violent scenes. Netflix series Godless sees Michelle play the role of Alice Fletcher, a widow living in a 1800s New Mexico mining town which is run by women. The town gives refuge to Roy Goode (played by Jack O'Connell) as he flees terrifying outlaw Frank Griffin (played by Jeff Daniels) in the seven-part miniseries produced by Steven Soderbergh and directed by Scott Frank. Gritty tale: Netflix series Godless sees Michelle play the role of Alice Fletcher, a widow living in a 1800s New Mexico mining town which is run by women In pictures released from the new seven-part drama, Dockery's character Alice relives a 'brutal sex attack' in disturbing scenes where the corset of her dress is ripped open and she appears to be cut with a knife down the centre of her exposed cleavage and torso. Her character is seen writhing in pain throughout the ordeal, before being left on the ground. Other pictures show, Dockery's Alice getting intimate onscreen and removing her clothing to bare her naked body and reveal the scar left on her chest by the attack. Storyline: The town gives refuge to Roy Goode (played by Jack O'Connell) as he flees terrifying outlaw Frank Griffin (played by Jeff Daniels) Her shirtless male companion Roy (played by former Skins star O'Connell) traces his finger along the scar, before she passionately kisses him. The highly-anticipated series also features Stranger Things' Rob Morgan, former Game of Thrones star Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Law & Order's Sam Waterson and Argo's Scoot McNairy - which is set to hit the streaming service on November 22. Michelle, who has been nominated for three Emmys for her breakout role in Downton Abbey, had stepped out for the premiere of Godless in New York on Sunday - dazzling in a silk petrol blue jumpsuit. Helm: The seven-part miniseries is produced by Steven Soderbergh and directed by Scott Frank Cutting a glamorous figure at the event, Michelle looked worlds away from her character on the show. Her appearance in New York came after Michelle recently revealed she considers herself a widow two years after her fiance died of cancer. 'Ive never been more committed to anything in my life than to him, she revealed in an interview yesterday. I dont have the vocabulary to describe what it felt like and what it still feels like. I refer to myself as a widow, yes. We were engaged, and married at heart, and so I do consider myself a widow. Stunning: Michelle, who has been nominated for three Emmys for her breakout role in Downton Abbey, had stepped out for the premiere of Godless in New York on Sunday Michelle and John Dineen, an Irish public relations director, were engaged for a year before he died aged 34. To add to her grief as he battled the disease, Dockerys character in Downton, Lady Mary Crawley, also lost her husband. 'One of the difficult things at the time was the parallels with Mary, said the actress, 'It was just baffling, and still is to me, that my characters storyline was so similar. While over in the States Michelle had been rubbing shoulders with her former Downtown Abbey co-stars Joanne Froggatt and Allen Leech, as reports claimed Julian Fellowes' big screen adaptation of his popular ITV series has finally been given the all important green light. Slinky: Cutting a glamorous appearance at the event, Michelle looked worlds away from her character on the show The TV mogul, 67, has reportedly teamed up with Carnival Films, with production slated to begin in September. During an exhibition for the show in Singapore this summer, Michael Edelstein, president at NBC Universal International Studios, said: 'There's a movie in the works. It's been in the works for some time. 'We are working on getting the script right, and then we've got to figure out how to get the (cast) together.' A controversial new relationship may have had 'huge implications' for Channel Seven reporter Ryan Phelan's career. After he professed his love for former sex worker Samantha X [aka Amanda Goff] on Monday, network executives, fans and advertisers are said to have been left fuming. The Daily Telegraph reports that the announcement has 'raised more than a few eyebrows,' and jeopardised his 'wholesome image.' Love hurts: A controversial new relationship may have had 'huge implications' for Channel Seven reporter Ryan Phelan's career Ryan, 42 and Amanda, 43, took to social media to finally break their silence this week, but the congratulatory messages they received may not tell the whole story. Media analyst Steven Allen has added weight to the growing concern, implying to News Corp the impending backlash may be swift and unforgiving. The biggest issue with network bosses is believed to be with station advertisers, who allegedly won't hesitate in pulling ads. 'Conservative brands should be hyper sensitive about their alignment and no reputable advertiser would not be reviewing their practices,' Steven said. Daily Mail Australia have reached out to Channel Seven for comment. Fuming: After he professed his love for former sex worker Samantha X [aka Amanda Goff] on Monday, network executives, fans and advertisers are said to have been left fuming He also expects the romance to shatter Ryan's 'wholesome image', earned in part thanks to his frequent appearances on flagship breakfast show Sunrise. The publication cited comments from their own readers to highlight the impact on his career. 'I always liked Ryan Phelan. He seems like a nice fellow and is very intelligent, eloquent and handsome,' a reader wrote. The worst kind of raise: Sources have reportedly told News Corp the announcement has 'raised more than a few eyebrows,' and jeopardised his 'wholesome image' Career in doubt? Media analyst Steven Allen has added weight to the growing concern, implying to News Corp the impending backlash may be swift and unforgiving 'Each to their own, but he just plummeted in my eyes.' Following the couple's announcement, fans and even Channel Nine journalist Ben Fordham offered congratulatory messages. 'Happy for you both. Good luck and good on youz (sic),' Ben wrote. Amanda has cited her new relationship with the Seven journalist as the driving force behind her retirement, which she announced via Instagram on October 24. Under review: 'Conservative brands should be hyper sensitive about their alignment and no reputable adviser would not be reviewing their practices,' Steven said I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here viewers were left sweaty-palmed when Sunday's opening show saw four hapless celebrities complete the terrifying challenger of walking along a suspended bridge, supposedly 334ft high. But fans of the jungle have taken to Facebook in confusion, after an eagle-eyed viewer spotted an opening scene, which he claimed called the Sheer Terror challenge into question. Tom Smith posted a screengrab of the opening scene, which appears to show a woman in close proximity to the crane, implying the distance could be much less - although of course, it could simply be an optical illusion. Scroll down for video 'She's rather large': Fans of I'm A Celebrity have taken to social media in confusion, after an eagle-eyed viewer spotted an opening scene, which he claimed called into question the height of the Sheer Terror challenge His snap sees two people walking the cranes, as a woman strolls along beneath them- a stark contrast to the Sunday's challenge which saw Amir Khan, Georgia Toffolo, Vanessa White and Jamie Lomas face dizzying heights as they walked off the side of a skyscraper against the backdrop of the Australian skyline and motorway beneath. Speaking about his post, which has already garnered over 80,000 shares and comments, he told the Mirror online: 'I literally caught it out the corner of my eye, rewinded and paused it,' Tom told Mirror Online. 'I wasn't looking to expose the show I was merely pointing out that it looked suspicious'. Don't look donw! I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here viewers were left sweaty-palmed when Sunday's opening show saw four hapless celebrities complete the terrifying challenger of walking along a suspended bridge, supposedly 334ft high But despite his viral post, many have defended the show, explaining that the angle of the filming caused an optical illusion. One viewer replied: 'It is caused by the telephoto lens. It was filmed from a great distance. 'The telephoto effect these lenses have make objects, that may actually have quite a lot of distance between them, appear as if they're sat close together. The longer your focal length, the more obvious the effect will be.' And others agreed, adding: 'Pretty sure they were at the top of that building'. Horrifiying! Sunday's challenge which saw Amir Khan, Georgia Toffolo, Vanessa White and Jamie Lomas face dizzying heights as they walked off the side of a skyscraper against the backdrop of the Australian skyline and motorway beneath 'I wasn't looking to expose the show I was merely pointing out that it looked suspicious', a fan said of the screengrab he posted, questioning Sunday's challenge (pictured) 'This particular scene was definitely not fake. I work in a high rise next to it where we watched the set be built and the entire filming take place. It was filmed on top of a building called focus in the Gold Coast', a fan confirmed Another fan appeared to dispel the rumours, claiming she witnessed the filming of the terrifying scene. Allie Brown wrote: 'This particular scene was definitely not fake. I work in a high rise next to it where we watched the set be built and the entire filming take place. It was filmed on top of a building called focus in the Gold Coast'. MailOnline contacted a representative for comment. This isn't the first time I'm a Celeb has been at the centre of rumours of a 'fake set', with claims surfacing that the famous waterfall shower is in fact surrounded by rocks made out of papier mache, and the waterfall is a 'filtered water installation'. The claims also follow Jack Maynard's controversial shock exit from the show after just three days, amid accusations he sent inappropriate messages to female fans. Horror! Georgia, Conor, Amir and Vanessa were seen facing the dizzying challenge in horror What a storm! While the post went viral with 80,000 shares and comments, many took to the post to explain what had happened Contoversy: The claims also follow Jack Maynard's shock exit from the show after just three days, amid accusations he sent inappropriate messages to female fans Scott Disick and Sofia Richie's relationship is more than a fun fling. It's being claimed that the couple, who went public with their relationship over the summer, are 'very serious'. A source told People that Richie, 19, has been a positive influence on Disick, 34, who has had a party boy reputation and well-documented struggles with alcohol abuse. 'She's made a big impact': Scott Disick and girlfriend Sofia Richie are 'very serious' according to sources close to the pair 'Shes been great for him,' the insider said. 'Shes made a big impact on his life and hasnt partied at all since they met.' they said of the couple who have enjoyed vacations all over the world since they started dating. And the big age gap between the couple isn't a problem, the source adds, because Sofia is so grown-up for her age. 'His friends adore her and nobody notices the age difference. She is very mature, she grew up in Hollywood and has always been in older situations. They seem really happy.' Hot couple: Rumors first started swirling about Scott, 34 and Sofia, 19, back in May and they confirmed their relationship on social media in September. They are pictured in Miami in September 'He hasnt partied at all since they met' a source revealed and also said Scott's friends adore her and don't notice the age gap Rumors first started swirling about Scott and Sofia back in May when they were spotted cuddling up on a yacht in the south of France during the Cannes Film Festival. But in September they confirmed they were more than friends on social media and were spotted packing on the PDA on a trip to Mexico. Sofia's father Lionel Richie was not pleased about the romance originally but is coming round. So romantic: The couple have enjoyed numerous trips away together including to Venice Italy last month The teen revealed at the SAG-AFTRA Foundation Patron of the Artists Awards in Beverly Hills earlier this month: 'Hes been very cool,' she said 'Hes very supportive, whatever that means,' 'I am into her business and shes trying to keep me out of her business,' Lionel joked. Scott shares three young children with ex-girlfriend Kourtney Kardashian who he dated for nine years on and off until 2015. She reportedly begged to share a hotel room with him during TOWIE filming - amid rumours he spent the night at her house earlier this week. And Gemma Collins and James 'Arg' Argent reunited on Wednesday, as they stepped out in Suffolk to film the ITVBe show's Christmas special, with James appearing in high spirits as he threw Brussel sprouts in a game with his co-stars. The 36-year-old TV star, who sources claimed wanted to give her on/off flame James the 'night of his life', looked festive in a penguin-motif headband and silver jumper as she strolled onto the set. Scroll down for video Look familiar? Gemma Collins and James 'Arg' Argent reunited on Wednesday, as they stepped out in Suffolk to film the ITVBe show's Christmas special Styling her peroxide-blonde tresses in polished waves, she framed her features with berry lipstick and lashings of mascara. Clearly unfazed by the November chill, the Celebrity Big Brother star completed her look with a nude gilet and embellished black flip flops. Arg, meanwhile, appeared to be having a whale of a time as he hurled Brussels sprouts in a field with co-stars James Lock and Tommy Mallett. Their outing comes amid claims Gemma asked TOWIE bosses if she could share a hotel room with James on his 30th birthday - which coincides with the filming of the Christmas special. Spr-out of this world! James appeared to be in high spirits as he threw Brussel sprouts in a game with his co-stars Rumour has it: The 36-year-old TV star, who sources claimed wanted to give her on/off flame James the 'night of his life', looked festive in a penguin-motif headband and silver jumper as she strolled onto the set Glam: Styling her peroxide-blonde tresses in polished waves, she framed her features with berry lipstick and lashings of mascara Chic: Clearly unfazed by the November chill, the Celebrity Big Brother star completed her look with a nude gilet and embellished black flip flops She reportedly wanted to give her love interest a last chance to experience her 'candy' with 'one final night together' before she goes on E4 show Celebs Go Dating. 'Gemma was determined to give Arg a night to remember during filming of the TOWIE Christmas episode in Suffolk,' a source told The Sun. Bosses were reportedly 'reluctant' to give into Gemma's alleged demands - but their chemistry may have continued offscreen regardless, the insider claimed. MailOnline has contacted reps for James and Gemma for comment. Leaf it out! Arg, meanwhile, appeared to be having a whale of a time as he hurled Brussels sprouts in a field with co-stars James Locke and Tommy Mallett Saucy: Their outing comes amid claims Gemma asked TOWIE bosses if she could share a hotel room with James on his 30th birthday - which coincides with the filming of the Christmas special Oo-er: She reportedly wanted to give her love interest a last chance to experience her 'candy' with 'one final night together' before she goes on E4 show Celebs Go Dating One night only: 'Gemma was determined to give Arg a night to remember during filming of the TOWIE Christmas episode in Suffolk,' a source told The Sun The latest claims come after James was seen leaving Gemma's Essex home last week after reportedly spending the night with the blonde star as she battles a water infection. Gemma, 36, couldn't keep the smile off her face as she emerged from her house, clad in a figure-hugging all-black ensemble, with her blonde locks swept up into a messy bun. Meanwhile Arg, 29, who appeared to be clutching onto his underwear and slippers, cut a solemn figure as he bowed his head while walking to his moped, his face mostly covered by a silver helmet. Interesting: Bosses were reportedly 'reluctant' to give into Gemma's alleged demands - but their chemistry may have continued offscreen regardless, the insider claimed Got racy? The latest claims come after James was seen leaving Gemma's Essex home last week after reportedly spending the night with the blonde star as she battles a water infection Something to smile about? James certainly appeared to be in great spirits as he joined Jon Clark for filming on Wednesday The sighting comes as it was claimed James is unable to 'stay away' from her, just weeks after leaving her heartbroken on TOWIE. The pair met up as Gemma battles the infection which forced her to cancel work commitments as she was due to appear in Plug nightclub in Sheffield. While Gemma and James have been dominating TOWIE storylines, it has been claimed other castmembers could be facing the axe in a massive cull by bosses in the new year. Producers reportedly feel that some members add 'nothing' to the show and instead make money from social media endorsements - while their co-stars bring 'emotional drama' and 'huge storylines' to the series. Hmm: The sighting comes as it was claimed James is unable to 'stay away' from her, just weeks after leaving her heartbroken on TOWIE Scarlet siren: Chloe Sims rocked chic leather look leggings and red barely there heels Red hot: The reality star added a red longline coat and a simple crew neck sweater to her racy look Cheeky: Bobby Norris flashed a sultry glance at the cameras as he arrived on set in a black leather jacket and ripped skinny jeans 'The cast of the show is huge, and bosses are thinking they've got some people adding nothing to the show, while the rest of the cast bring huge storylines and loads of emotional, drama-packed scenes,' the source told The Sun. 'It's like they've forgotten what TOWIE is about they just want to appear on the show and then use that to make a fortune off-screen through other ways.' The insider claimed some cast members earn between 25,000 and 30,000 a month from their Instagram activity and appearing on other reality shows, while lesser known stars can make 10,000. Massive shake-up? Gemma and James have been dominating TOWIE storylines, it has been claimed other castmembers could be facing the axe in a massive cull by bosses in the new year Safe? Series favourites like Chloe Sims (pictured), Gemma Collins, Pete Wicks and James Locke will reportedly be kept on as they have truthfully shared any emotional moments with the cameras Living out the drama: James has been open about his romantic turmoil on the show in the past, going through an emotional break-up with ex co-star Danielle Armstrong Bosses were reportedly planning to axe members who were not prepared to 'wear their heart on their sleeve' and live out their dramas onscreen. Series favourites like Cloe Sims, Gemma, Pete Wicks and James Locke will reportedly be kept on as they have truthfully shared any emotional moments with the cameras. But newbies Maddie Hooper and Ruby Lacey are allegedly facing being dropped after it was claimed the BFFs have secret boyfriends they didn't reveal on the show - but sources said they will appear in the Christmas special. Could it be? Bosses were reportedly planning to axe members who were not prepared to 'wear their heart on their sleeve' and live out their dramas onscreen. Pictured, Chloe Lewis Over for them? Couple Amber Dowding and Chris Clark - who haven't enjoyed many storylines recently - might be left out of the new series, according to The Sun Right then: Chloe Lewis has also not had much screen time in the latest series and Bobby Norris (pictured) might be cut after appearing on Celebs Go Dating, The Sun claimed In trouble? Other cast members who might be in murky waters are Jon Clark - who has split with Lauren Pope Other cast members who might be in murky waters are Jon Clark - who has split with Lauren Pope - and couple Amber Dowding and Chris Clark - who haven't enjoyed many storylines recently. Chloe Lewis has also not had much screen time in the latest series and Bobby Norris might be cut after appearing on Celebs Go Dating, The Sun claimed. A TOWIE spokesperson said they were unable to comment on the claims but confirmed to MailOnline that 'everyone is currently filming the Christmas special'. Speculation comes as show stalwart Amber Turner was showing her cheating ex what he was missing as she arrived at filming for The Only Way Is Essex's Christmas special in Suffolk, looking glamorous as ever. The TOWIE star showed off her long legs in a pair of grey thigh-high boots and a tiny PVC miniskirt. On location: It comes after Amber Turner was showing her cheating ex Dan Edgar what he was missing as she arrived at filming for The Only Way Is Essex's Christmas special in Suffolk, looking glamorous as ever Amber was perfectly coordinated for the festive filming, matching her statement shoes to her close-fitting grey polo neck. The 24-year-old reality star ensured all eyes were on her as she hopped out of her taxi, chatting on a walkie talkie. The blonde beauty wore her hair down in loose waves and stuck to pale, pastel hues when it came to her make-up. Matching: Amber was perfectly coordinated for the festive filming, matching her statement shoes to her close-fitting grey polo neck Hello? The 24-year-old reality star ensured all eyes were on her as she hopped out of her taxi, chatting on a walkie talkie Earlier in November, the reality star was left heartbroken when she discovered her on-off boyfriend Dan Edgar had bedded a mystery woman behind her back. Coming face to face with her former flame, Amber admitted she was struggling to get over their romance and the pair agreed to cut all contact. In scenes aired on TOWIE, she said through tears: 'We can never be friends. It has to be all or nothing, and I think its best if its nothing.' Skimpy: The TOWIE star showed off her long legs in a pair of grey thigh-high boots and a tiny PVC miniskirt Leggy lady: The blonde beauty had legs for days in her fancy footwear Dan agreed that it was the right decision for 'your sake and mine', at which Amber fired back fiercely: 'Well more for my sake, as you don't give a s*** about me.' Taken aback, Dan explained of his actions: 'I do, I do, it's just not the right time.' The television star has been at the centre of scandal since her explosive first season on the show when she kicked off the series by cheating on her long-term boyfriend. Travelling light: The star was armed with a small suitcase during her stay Glamorous: The blonde beauty wore her hair down in loose waves and stuck to pale, pastel hues when it came to her make-up She had initially joined her beau of four years Jamie Reed, 34, who was making a comeback to The Only Way Is Essex after he left in 2012. But their romance didn't last when it moved to the small screen as the blonde cheated on him with Dan. Jamie soon put his heartache behind him when he moved on with brunette model Jade Lewis. Sofia Vergara has paid tribute to husband Joe Manganiello with a sweet Instagram snap as the couple celebrated their second wedding anniversary on Tuesday. The Modern Family star, 45, posted an adorable photograph of the pair gazing into each other's eyes, alongside the caption: 'I adore you @joemanganiello. Happy Aniversary!!' The actor, 40, also posted his own message to his Colombian-born wife, opting for a shot of him spinning her around the dance floor while writing a note in Sofia's native tongue. 'I adore you': Sofia Vergara has paid tribute to husband Joe Manganiello with a sweet Instagram snap as the couple celebrated their second wedding anniversary on Tuesday Translated as 'happy second anniversary my love, you are my everything', Joe wrote: 'Feliz Segundo Aniversario mi amor! Eres mi todo.' The happy couple got engaged on Christmas Day 2014 after six months of dating, before tying the knot in a romantic ceremony in Palm Beach, Florida, on November 21, 2015. During an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, which aired on Tuesday - the day of her anniversary, Sofia said she was 'so lucky' to have found true love in handsome Joe. She told Ellen: 'I was so lucky. I must have done something really, really right in my life to get that reward.' 'You are my everything': The actor, 40, also posted his own message to his Colombian-born wife, 45, opting for a shot of him spinning her around the dance floor Loved-up: The couple got engaged on Christmas Day 2014 after six months of dating, before tying the knot in Palm Beach, Florida, on November 21, 2015 (pictured in April 2015) Ellen then told her: 'But you are a very, very good person too,' before Sofia quipped back: 'He is better than me!' Joe has been equally gushing about his wife in the past, explaining he know she was 'The One' very early on in their relationship. Speaking in an interview with HOLA! USA in January, he said: 'We realized very early on that we each had to put the other person's happiness and well-being head of our own. 'Once you realize that kind of trust has manifested, you hang on for dear life. Or in my case, you go and buy a ring.' Lucky lady: During an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, which aired on Tuesday - the day of her anniversary, Sofia said she was 'so lucky' to have found true love in handsome Joe She's The One: Joe has been equally gushing about his wife in the past, explaining he know she was 'The One' very early on in their relationship (pictured together last month) Sofia added of their shared sense of humor: 'He is so funny and ever since we met, that has been really important. 'We even talk to each other all the time in this little voice that we made up, like a couple of dorks.' Sofia's star power seems to only get brighter as she was recently the named highest-paid television actress for the sixth year in a row with earnings of an incredible $42 million in just 12 months. The actress was previously married to high school sweetheart Joe Gonzalez from 1991 to 1993, with whom she shares son Manolo, 25. Doting mother: The actress was previously married to high school sweetheart Joe Gonzalez from 1991 to 1993, with whom she shares son Manolo, 25 Shanghai(Gasgoo)-Audi predicted that it will see robust sales growth in November and December, which will reverse a year-on-year sales decline of 3% in the previous ten months. Joachim Wedler, President of Audi China, expected that Audi will gain a single-digit percentage rise in full-year volumes in China. Joachim Wedler stated that Audi will be revived though it had some challenges in the first five months. Sales of Audi reached 585,000 units in China last year, and it is expected to reach approximately 600,000 units by the end of 2017. But Joachim Wedler declined to reveal a specific sales forecast for 2018, but said that the high-end vehicle market may undergo a single-digit growth, and that Audi will not drag down the average growth rate. Audi suffered sales slump earlier this year in China mainly due to Audi's establishment of a second JV with SAIC Group, which worsened the relationships with its existing dealers. According to industry insiders, the move infuriated Audi's existing dealers, which mainly sell vehicles jointly manufactured by its JV with FAW. To protest, the existing dealers stopped stocking, greatly decreasing Audi's sales in China, experts said. nother important reason that decreased Audi sales is the Audi A6, which is too old-fashioned to compete with the new Mercedes-Benz and the BMW 5 Series. Fortunately, Audi had signed agreements with the dealers in May, and their relationships has revovered since then, Joachim Wedler added. Moreover, Audi has been redesigning the Audi A6, and planned to launch the new model in 2018. But it declined to expose when it might hit the Chinese market. In addition, Audi plans to launch five locally-produced NEV models over the next few years. According to Yale Zhang, managing director of consultancy Automotive Foresight, a She's been busy on the promotional trail as she promotes her new eponymous book, which looks back over her 30 successful years in the modelling industry. And Claudia Schiffer made the final stop of her tour in London on Wednesday evening, when she attended a photocall ahead of meeting with fans who had purchased her glossy new opus. The 47-year-old supermodel looked sensational as she posed outside the Kingsman x MR PORTER Shop in a black crocheted sweater teamed, which she teamed with flattering high-waisted skinny jeans by denim brand MOTHER. Scroll down for video In demand: Claudia Schiffer attended a photcall ahead of meeting fans and signing copies of her new eponymous book at London's Kingsman x MR PORTER Shop on Wednesday evening Adding extra height to her statuesque frame with a pair of embellished black booties, while she she slung a stylish leather handbag over one of her shoulders. With her voluminous blonde locks resting about her shoulders in voluminous waves with a centre parting, the German beauty highlighted her natural beauty with a dusting of deep pink blusher, smokey eyeliner and a smudge of lipstick. Ahead of the event, the star took to her Instagram account, where she announced to her 790k followers: 'Dear London, I hope to see you at my final signing event tonight! Grab a copy of the book and meet me...' Sensational: The 47-year-old supermodel looked sensational as she posed outside shop in a black crocheted sweater teamed, which she teamed with flattering high-waisted skinny jeans by denim brand MOTHER Standing extra tall: Adding extra height to her statuesque frame with a pair of embellished black booties, while she she slung a stylish leather handbag over one of her shoulders Making waves: Her voluminous blonde locks rested about her shoulders in voluminous waves Stunner: The German beauty highlighted her natural beauty with a dusting of deep pink blusher, smokey eyeliner, a smudge of lipstick and lashings of mascara Guiding hand: A diligent security team stayed close to the star as she made her appearance The book, self-titled Claudia Schiffer and curated by the supermodel herself, focuses on her wide range of work, highlighting her favourite fashion moments. Released in early October, the book cover centres on her natural beauty, as the legendary model is pictured nude, with her hands covering her chest. Her appearance at the book signing comes a week after her footwear launch with Aquazzura in London's swanky Mayfair district. She recently took to the catwalk during Milan Fashion Week with fellow models Carla Bruni, 49, Naomi Campbell, 47, Cindy Crawford, 51, and Helena Christensen, 48, for a headline-making appearance at the Versace show. She knows how to strike a pose: Inside the venue, she posed with a copy of her book, which looks back over her 30 years in the modelling world Sign of the times: Her appearance in London came a week after she took part in a book-signing in her native Germany So happy: She appeared to be in jovial spirits as she made her arrival at the big event Special announcement: Hours before the event, she took to Instagram to announce it to fans 'It was such an emotional moment because we all worked closely with Gianni Versace,' she told Footwear News of the late designer, who was murdered outside his palatial Miami home more than 20 years ago. She added: 'As soon as we were asked by [Gianni's sister] Donatella, we all immediately said yes. She designed the dresses by looking back at what we all used to wear. Before Gianni, all the fashion shows used to be just journalists and retailers. 'Gianni was one of the first people who changed that. Suddenly, you were walking down the runway and it was a spectacle. You walked down on to an Elton John song, and he would be sitting in the front row. We lived through such interesting times together and there was a camaraderie that was created.' Busy schedule: She was also busy promoting her makeup range in London on the same day She's hinted she is keen to start a family with her new husband and was even spotted checking into an IVF clinic last week. But Kenya Moore seemed happier than ever as she jumped through waves with her husband Marc Daly in Barbados on Wednesday afternoon. The Real Housewives Of Atlanta star, 46, slipped into a bright orange bikini as the couple cooled off in the Caribbean sea amid reports they are undergoing fertility treatment on the island. Cooling off! Kenya Moore seemed happier than ever as she jumped through waves with her husband Marc Daly in Barbados on Wednesday afternoon The TV personality showed off her fantastic form in a tiny two-piece, which featured a red diamond pattern. Kenya's long curly hair was dripping wet and cascaded down her toned shoulders. The reality star seemed to need a tiny bit of coaxing before jumping into the cool water, but looked happy to be submerged with her new husband. Marc covered up his toned upper body with a light blue and grey rash guard for the ocean adventure. Hold my hand! The Real Housewives Of Atlanta star, 46, slipped into a bright orange bikini as the couple cooled off in the Caribbean sea amid reports they are undergoing fertility treatment Jump! The reality star seemed to need a tiny bit of coaxing before jumping into the cool water, but looked happy to be submerged with her new husband Later in the day, Kenya shared a photo of her killer curves to her Instagram account with the caption, 'Rebooted.' Earlier in the week, the television personality shared a lengthy Instagram post about focusing on the future, just days after being spotted leaving an IVF clinic on the island. 'Life teaches many lessons, has many twists and turns, but always seems to present opportunities for a better today and tomorrow,' she said on Instagram. 'I have looked for the wrong things in the past relationships. I have been wronged, and been hurt by others, but Ive also doled out my share of pain and mistreatment. These all stemmed from not having deep love and relationships.' Beauty: The TV personality showed off her fantastic form in a tiny two-piece, which featured a red diamond pattern 'Now, I have found love and want to start it with a clean slate. I want to put my past mistakes behind me and move foreword positively with my new life. 'No more excuses, or negativity. I now have the chance to live not only for myself, but for my own family. 'The stakes are the greatest theyve ever been in my life. Today is better than yesterday, and tomorrow will be better than today.' Kenya eloped with her businessman husband in June, tying the knot on the island of St. Lucia surrounded by family and friends after a year of dating. 'Life teaches many lessons': Kenya wrote a lengthy Instagram post to her fans on Sunday The former Celebrity Apprentice contestant and her restaurateur husband 'are down in the Caribbean doing everything they can to get pregnant through IVF treatments,' TMZ reported last week. On Sunday's episode of RHOA, the newly-married former Miss USA broke down and confessed she was worried she was heading for divorce. Tears flowed as Kenya could be heard telling production staff off camera how concerned she was about her fledgling marriage. She explained that her entrepreneur husband was still living in New York while she stayed in Atlanta and that he was struggling to deal with her fame. 'All this pressure. And it's like too much too deal with and I don't want to get divorced,' she cried. Two weeks ago, she was spotted sharing a friendly kiss with Great British Bake Off judge Paul Hollywood shortly before he announced his split from his wife. But on Wednesday night, Candice Brown, 32 - who won the televised baking contest in 2016 - appeared to put all of the drama behind her as she stepped out for a festive night on the town with her fiance Liam Macualay. Looking stylish in a black polka dot shift dress under a fluffy green jacket, she was seen lovingly cuddle up to her handsome partner as they attended the VIP launch of Hogwarts In The Snow at the Warner Bros. Studios in Watford, Hertfordshire. Scroll down for video Big night out: Candice Brown and her fiance Liam Macaulay attended the VIP launch of Hogwarts In The Snow at the Warner Bros. Studios in Watford, Hertfordshire, on Wednesday Complementing her flattering ensemble with black opaque tights and claret red booties, the culinary maestro wore her glossy brown locks in a wavy bob as she lapped up the excitement surrounding the Harry Potter-themed event. Not to be outdone, Liam also looked stylish on the night, wearing a grey blazer over a black rollneck sweater with matching trousers and leather Chelsea boots. The photogenic couple's outing came two days after TV star Paul revealed that he and his wife of 19 years, Alex, were to go their separate ways. Stepping out in style: The Great British Bake Off champ looked stylish in a black polka dot shift dress under a fluffy green jacket Flattering: She complemented her ensemble with black opaque tights and claret red booties Cuddles: She cuddled up to her fiance as the couple soaked up the excitement at the event After Candice's exchange with Paul - which saw the newly-engaged star receive a kiss on the cheek from him at London's Pride of Britain Awards - raised eyebrows, the pair both took to social media to insist their farewell was simply a friendly gesture. She was also seen toying with Paul's ear as they relaxed at the table at the Grosvenor House Hotel. After the images were released, Candice branded it a 'goodbye peck'. It came just weeks before Paul and Alex confirmed their heartbreaking split in a joint statement on Monday saying: 'It is with sadness that we have decided to separate. 'Our focus continues to be the happiness of our son, and we would ask the press and public to allow us privacy as a family during this very difficult time.' Farewell kiss: Candice was spotted sharing a friendly kiss with Great British Bake Off judge Paul Hollywood last month, three weeks before he announced his split from his wife, with both parties denying it was anything romantic Dapper gent: Not to be outdone, Liam also looked stylish on the night, wearing a grey blazer over a black rollneck sweater with matching trousers and leather Chelsea boots Fancy footwork: Candice is currently in training for the latest season of Dancing On Ice The baking guru, who is now worth 10million, split from his wife, 53, temporarily in 2013 after admitting an affair with his US co-star Marcela Valladolid, 39. The couple reconciled a few months later and he described the incident as 'the biggest mistake of my life' in an interview with BBC radio. Speaking at the time, he told the BBC he 'was shocked about the whole thing kicking off the way it did... but I deserved it and I've taken it. It was my punishment'. However a source told The Sun: 'Paul was totally into Marcela and threw himself in with both feet. When it all fell apart he went back to Alex with his tail between his legs, but in reality if Marcela had wanted to keep it going he was all for it.' Friends: After raising eyebrows with her and Paul's exchange after the Pride of Britain Awards (above) last month, which also saw newly-engaged Candice receive a kiss on the cheek from Paul, 51, the pair both took to social media to insist their farewell was simply a friendly gesture Series seven winner Candice, who recently announced her engagement to Liam, was spotted with Paul as he cupped the back of her head and kissed her goodbye following a night out at the Pride of Britain Awards in London A spokesman for the pair said it was an 'innocent kiss on the cheek', and that it was 'untrue' to describe it as an 'intimate kiss'. The representative told MailOnline: 'Following The Mirror Pride of Britain Awards last Monday, seven of us including Paul and Candice were seated outside waiting for cars home. The photograph was taken as Paul was saying goodbye to each of us.' Paul and Alex, who is also a chef, married in 1998, and have a 14-year-old son together, Joshua. It was claimed that Paul, who is worth an estimated 10million, could lose up to 5million of his fortune in the divorce. They had Lorraine viewers gushing in their droves following their promotional appearance on the daytime show on Wednesday morning. And Hollywood brothers James and Dave Franco would no doubt have proved just as popular as they premiered their new movie, The Disaster Artist, at London's Picturehouse Central later that evening. The handsome duo once again smouldered as they attended a screening for the film, complementing one another's style in leather jackets. Scroll down for video Double whammy! Hollywood brothers James and Dave Franco smouldered at the premiere of their new movie, The Disaster Artist, at London's Picturehouse Central on Wednesday evening James, 39, perfected smart, casual in a grey sweater, which was layered beneath a stylish leather jacket and paired with jeans. Dave, 32, opted for an edgier style in a quirky bomber jacket and black skinny jeans - a stark contrast to the knitted sweater and chino combination that had Lorraine viewers talking earlier today. The brothers' new movie follows the making of cult film The Room - frequently dubbed one of the 'greatest worst movies ever made'. The epitomy of bromance: The handsome duo once again smouldered as they attended a screening for the film, complementing one another's style in leather jackets Trendy: James, 39, perfected smart, casual in a grey sweater, which was layered beneath a stylish leather jacket and paired with jeans The Disaster Artist depicts the friendship of Greg Sestero and Tommy Wiseau, the actors behind The Room, and boasts a flurry of A-list stars on the bill. Zac Efron, Josh Hutcherson and Dave's actress wife Alison Brie are among the cast, while Bryan Cranston and Kristen Bell make cameo appearances. Wiseau had spent $6million of his own money to make the movie, and had paid for it to be kept in cinemas for two weeks in order for it to be eligible for the Academy Awards. Looking good! Dave, 32, opted for an edgier style in a quirky bomber jacket and black skinny jeans Speaking about the movie on Lorraine earlier today, James, who directed and produced the movie, explained the story had struck a chord with him. He divulged: 'I came to it through the book [The Disaster Artist], Sestero and Wiseau wrote a book about the making of the film and you can imagine it easily could have been a series of anecdotes... but it was a really moving story of two guys that met in San Francisco and came to LA to follow their dreams. 'In that sense, it was very universal, but in other ways it was the most absurd Hollywood story unlike any other.' Plot: The Disaster Artist depicts the friendship of Greg Sestero and Tommy Wiseau, the actors behind The Room, and boasts a flurry of A-list stars on the bill New project: James and Dave discussed their new movie during an appearance on Lorraine earlier today Dave revealed that the brothers had been 'very nervous' to premiere their movie in front of Wiseau: 'He decided that he didn't want to see our film until we premiered it. The first time he watched it, he was with a 1000 other people who were watching him watch himself onscreen.' James added: 'He was wearing dark shades, we kept looking down the row at Tommy and he just sat there with a blank face.' It's the first time the brothers have worked together on a movie, with Dave admitting he had 'always said no' to James because he wanted to 'create his own path' in the movie industry. James had asked Dave to star alongside him and claimed: 'I've always wanted to work with him!' Intrigued: James, who directed and produced the movie, based on Wiseau's book The Disaster Artist about making The Room, explained the story had struck a chord with him She's long been an ambassador for Chadstone's shopping complex in Melbourne. So it came as no surprise to see Rebecca Judd using her star power to promote Cartier's Christmas cinema on Wednesday. The 34-year-old flaunted her very trim pins in a thigh-skimming pastel pink frock by French design house Maje. Leggy lady! Rebecca Judd, 34, flaunted her very trim pins in a thigh-skimming pastel pink frock, at an event for exclusive jewellery brand Cartier, in Melbourne on Wednesday Taking to Instagram, Rebecca looked stunning in a photo that saw her posing with Cartier's concierge. The entrepreneur drew attention to her very slender legs in a pastel pink thigh-skimming shift dress, that featured slight billowing sleeves. Adding a flirty touch with a red heart-shaped Bun-Bag, also by Maje, Rebecca accessorised further with embellished Gucci sneakers, a silver statement watch and her sparkling wedding rings. Ambassador duties: The mother-of-four also took to her Instagram Story, providing her legion of followers with a tour of the Chadstone shopping complex Trim: The post comes shortly after Rebecca revealed the secret to maintaining her slender figure The mother-of-four styled her brunette locks in soft waves, and her makeup palette consisted of a matte complexion, defined brows, lashings of mascara and a nude lip. Rebecca captioned the shot: 'Filming a little Christmas magic at the Cartier cinema at @chadstone_fashion #chadstonechristmas.' The post comes shortly after the beauty revealed the secret to maintaining her slender figure. Diet secrets: Taking to her Instagram Story on Monday, the Melbourne-based personality shared a photo of her dinner - which included slices of fruit, cheese, prosciutto and wholegrain crackers Working up a sweat: The image came after Rebecca uploaded clips during a vigorous workout Taking to her Instagram Story on Monday, Rebecca shared a photo of her dinner - which included slices of fruit, cheese, prosciutto and wholegrain crackers. The image came after the television presenter uploaded clips during a vigorous workout. 'Dinner' she captioned the image of her meal, which was laid out on a wooden bread board. Genetics: While the model is known for keeping active and healthy, she is also blessed with a naturally thin frame While Rebecca is known for keeping active and healthy, she is also blessed with a naturally thin frame. 'Even in school at six-years-old, seven-years-old, eight-years-old, I was getting called skinny, same as my mum when she was in school,' she told Mamamia in 2014. 'Just naturally, have a look at my mum, have a look at my sister. It's just who we are,' Rebecca added. She's become the face of women's empowerment in Australia, following her shock resignation from the Today show last month over an equal pay dispute. And Lisa Wilkinson tweeted her support for her Today show replacement, Georgie Gardner, on Thursday. The 57-year-old had only kind words for her former Channel colleague, shortly after it was announced that Georgie, 47, would be filling her shoes. Scroll down for video Congratulations! Lisa Wilkinson tweeted her support for her Today show replacement, Georgie Gardner, on Thursday Kind words: The 57-year-old had only kind words for her former Channel colleague, shortly after it was announced that Georgie, 47, would be filling her shoes 'Warmest congratulations to my friend @GeorgieG who has just been announced as the new co-host of @TheTodayShow. She will nail it. #9today,' Lisa wrote on Twitter. Fans swiftly hailed the veteran TV presenter for what many deemed to be a 'classy' response to the news. 'Well done for being magnanimous Lisa. Its good to see not all women attack others over success xx,' one wrote. Out: Lisa abruptly quit the Today show in October after ten years, over an equal pay dispute. It was claimed that her co-host Karl Stefanovic was earning more money for doing the same work 'Way to be classy, Lisa. Nice work,' another tweet read. One fan observed: 'You're so lovely Lisa. You've always been supportive of others. Still, we miss you on The Today Show. [It] will never be the same.' Also on Thursday, Georgie revealed she and Lisa exchanged text messages before the announcement was made. Polite exchange: Also on Thursday, Georgie revealed she and Lisa exchanged text messages before the announcement was made 'I have spoken to [Lisa] and I sent her a message just before it was announced to tell her how excited I am and she and I now have this unique experience that we can share together,' she told Fitzy and Wippa. 'And once you're part of the Today show family, it's forever - there's always a place at the table at the Today show and she has left an indelible mark on the Today show landscape and I just adore her.' Fellow Today stars Sylvia Jeffreys and Richard 'Dickie' Wilkins also took to Instagram to welcome Georgie back, years after she left the show. Deborah Knight, who has been a temporary fill-in, also offered congratulations. Pleased: 'Welcome home, GG! So very excited to share my mornings with the wonderful @georgiegardner9! Happy days ahead @thetodayshow,' Sylvia wrote Welcome home: 'Shes baaaack! Thrilled to have the fabulous @georgiegardner9 back on the team on @thetodayshow. #ChristmasComesEarly,' Richard gushed Commending her colleague: 'Hugh congrats to the divine [Georgie] coming home to the Today show. All class,' tweeted Deborah 'Welcome home, GG! So very excited to share my mornings with the wonderful @georgiegardner9! Happy days ahead @thetodayshow,' Sylvia wrote. 'Shes baaaack! Thrilled to have the fabulous @georgiegardner9 back on the team on @thetodayshow. #ChristmasComesEarly,' Richard gushed. 'Hugh congrats to the divine [Georgie] coming home to the Today show. All class,' tweeted Deborah. It comes after Lisa spoke about the immense impact that her departure has had on women across Australia. 'You can see women have had enough,' she recently told News.com.au. 'Women have had enough': It comes after Lisa spoke about the immense impact that her departure has had on women across Australia 'The gender pay gap, domestic violence, homelessness is on a huge rise in this country, particularly for women over 50.' She said she believes women are beginning to feel 'the wind behind them' off the back of power moves, arguably like her own. Following her departure from Nine Network, reports suggested she left after her demands for pay parity with co-host Karl Stefanovic were not met. The veteran journalist was reportedly fed up with her rumoured $1.1 million annual salary compared to her male co-host Karl Stefanovic's reported $2million income. Speaking out: '... The gender pay gap, domestic violence, homelessness is on a huge rise in this country, particularly for women over 50,' Lisa said Power shift: The former Today show host said she believes women are beginning to feel 'the wind behind them' off the back of power moves, arguably like her own Fed up: Her comments follow her sensational defection to Network Ten after her alleged demands for pay parity with co-host Karl Stefanovic were not met by the Nine Network Since quitting, Lisa has been enjoying some time off before going back to work on Channel Ten's The Project in January 2018. She said she is enjoying sleeping in after ditching the 3.30am starts she's been doing for a decade. 'Its heavenly, Ive discovered I love sleep, I never had a problem sleeping and Im just getting a lot more these days and it feels great, she said. Earlier this month, former My Kitchen Rules star Ash Pollard hinted to Yahoo Be that she could be replacing Lisa. 'I can neither confirm or deny what will happen in the future,' she teased - adding that she would 'of course' consider the opportunity. However a spokesperson for Channel Nine told Daily Mail Australia that Ash had not been approached for the gig. He was nicknamed the 'stage five clinger' during Sophie Monk's season of The Bachelorette before being brutally dumped by the blonde bombshell in the finale episode. But Jarrod Woodgate is giving love a second chance, and has been spotted for the first time on the set of Bachelor in Paradise in Fiji. The vineyard manager was photographed flirting up a storm with former reality star Ali Oetjen earlier this month, but sadly for Jarrod the blonde bombshell only had eyes for a hunky mystery male. Scroll down for video Dumped again? 'Stage five clinger' Jarrod Woodgate, far right, flirts with Ali Oetjen, middle, on set of Bachelor in Paradise...but blonde bombshell only has eyes for mystery male, far left Milling around the island with Ali, Jarrod showed off his vacation body in a pair of blue abstract board shorts that hung low on his hips. The 31-year-old appeared to only have eyes for former Bachelor star Ali, a health and fitness professional, who debuted on television in Tim Robards' season four years ago. The blonde bombshell looked sensational, flaunting her toned figure in a neon orange two-piece. Attire: Jarrod showed off his vacation body in a pair of blue abstract board shorts that hung low on his hips, and accessorised with a thin red necklace Smitten: The Channel Ten personality looked fondly at Ali, but the beauty only had eyes for a tattooed hunk Ali's low-cut bikini top drew attention to her ample cleavage, while coordinating skimpy briefs highlighted her taut torso and lean legs. The self-proclaimed 'healthy lifestyle motivator', who called off an engagement prior to filming, sported a pair of white Nike trainers and a delicate gold necklace. Ali's locks were swept into an effortless ponytail and her makeup palette took on a glamorous touch. Antics: Jarrod appeared to show off his athletic skills with the group Impressive: However, it appeared the international contestant was giving Jarrod a run for his money Idyllic: The spin-off series is currently being filmed in picturesque Fiji Jarrod appeared to be making his move on Ali, engaging in conversation while kicking around a ball. However, his love interest appeared to only have eyes for a hunky mystery male, believed to be former US Bachelorette star Grant Kemp. Daily Mail Australia has reached out to his representatives for comment. Ali looked fondly at the international contestant, who revealed his gym-honed figure in a pair of pastel pink board shorts. What's going on here? Ali seemed to only have eyes for the hunky mystery male, presumed to have been a star on a US Bachelorette series Muscular: The international contestant, who revealed his gym-honed figure in a pair of pastel pink board shorts Flirty: The male placed one hand on Ali's slender frame The pair appeared to be getting along swimmingly, having made their way to another destination without Jarrod. Jarrod was brutally dumped by Sophie Monk in the grand finale episode of this year's season of The Bachelorette, also filmed in Fiji. In emotional scenes, Jarrod was left sobbing after Sophie told him her heart 'belonged to someone else.' Sighing, sniffling and clearing his throat, Jarrod tried to keep his tears at bay as he walked into the sunset alone. Hitting his stride: The hunk appeared carefree and relaxed And action! A member of the production crew was seen in the background A lot to talk about? Ali and her potential love interest appeared deep in conversation The camera followed the suited reality star for a noticeably lengthy time, highlighting the emotional state of the scene as he tread the shoreline without looking back at his former flame. The dumping was said to be so devastating for the Channel Ten personality, who admitted to The Daily Telegraph earlier this month that he was using work as a distraction. 'I am just focusing on work and spending time with my family,' the Victorian told the publication. Emotional scenes: Jarrod was brutally dumped in The Bachelorette's grand finale episode earlier this year. The Victorian was seen in tears, walking close to the water's edge Showing off his moves: The group took part in a volleyball session He's looking forward to spending a traditional Thanksgiving with his ex Jennifer Garner and their three children. And Ben Affleck proved he is working hard on staying sober throughout the holiday season as he headed to his Buddhist rehab center in Los Angeles on Wednesday. The troubled actor, 45, looked more polished than average, sporting a red, white and blue button-up along with a sharp navy jacket as he headed into treatment the day before celebrating the holidays with his family. Keeping to the routine: Ben Affleck proved he is working hard on staying sober throughout the holiday season as he headed to his Buddhist rehab center in Los Angeles on Wednesday The Academy Award winner looked well rested and ready for the day ahead. Ben, who is currently dating SNL producer Lindsay Shookus, 37, added dusty blue slacks, while rounding out his look with a sharp pair of leather dress shoes. Keeping comfortable, the Justice League star rocked a hearty salt and pepper beard across his chiseled jawline. Ben carried a tangle of cords, chargers and electronics in one hand while keeping his other arm free. Cleans up nicely! The troubled actor, 45, looked more polished than average, sporting a red, white and blue button-up along with a sharp navy jacket as he headed into treatment Keeping his spark! The Academy Award winner added dusty blue slacks, while rounding out his look with a sharp pair of leather dress shoes Ben was staying grounded a day before spending the holidays with his estranged wife Jennifer Garner, 45. Though the pair separated in June 2015 after 10 years of marriage, the actor still never misses a holiday with his children and is often seen attending church with his ex and their offspring. The couple share three kids, Violet, 11, Seraphina, eight, and Samuel, five. Jennifer recently said she and Ben still get along great, adding: 'We get along really well and it's not an issue. We are friends; we can manage it.' Happy co-parents: Though Ben and wife Jennifer Garner, 45, separated in 2015, the actor never misses a holiday with his kids (pictured together last month) Getting along fine: Jennifer recently said she and Ben still get along great (pictured in happier times in November 2014) Doting dad: The former couple raise daughters Violet, 11 (right), and Seraphina, eight (left), and son Samuel, five (center) together Though the pair are pals, Jennifer has been frank about the heartache the split has caused her, telling News.com.au she 'wouldn't choose to be single or in this position,' adding 'It's something we are working through.' Ben spoke about the 'special connection' he and Jennifer have while stopping by The Today Show on Monday. 'You have to be on the same page. You have to cooperate,' the actor said. 'If you recognize that you both have the best interest of the kids at heart, its quite a special connection. 'Were the only two people in the world who care this much about these three kids.' They regularly travel the world to flaunt their enviable physiques in racy swimwear at idyllic locations. And bikini babes and best friends Natasha Oakley, 26, and Devin Brugman, 27, returned home this week for a photo shoot on Perth's Rottnest Island. The co-founders of the A Bikini A Day blog gave their combined 3.8million followers a sneak peek of the shoot, writing: 'Making magic today in Perth.' Scroll down for video 'Making magic today in Perth': A Bikini A Day babes Tash Oakley and Devin Brugman share behind-the-scenes snaps from their swimsuit photo shoot on Rottnest Island The pair flew in from Bali last night and headed straight to work to promote their new Swim + Resort Series. Tash flaunted her cleavage and lithe legs while seductively posing in a robe on a yacht. She started her caption: 'I woke up like this...', before quickly completing the post with a comedic addition of words. The blonde stunner added: 'after a late night flight from Bali, an early wake up call, a team of hair and make up artists and a car and boat ride to Rottnest Island.' 'I woke up like this...' Tash flaunted her cleavage and lithe legs while seductively posing in a robe on a yacht 'It takes a team': Both bikini babes were styled for the shoot by at least five professionals, including hair and makeup artists In her Instagram Stories she showed off the prep that went into the photo, with hair and makeup artists swarming around the beauty, writing: 'It takes a team.' Tash also took a robe selfie with business partner Devin, who also had hair clips in to achieve their effortless-looking curls. Sharing another picture to their A Bikini A Day account, the pair stood in shallow water while in skimpy white bikinis and linen shirts and skirts. Looking all-white! Sharing another picture to their A Bikini A Day account, the pair stood in shallow water while in skimpy white bikinis and linen shirts and skirts 'Devin is prepared': Tash posted a clip of her pal being sun safe in between photos on set During their down time on the island, they appeared to meet the local wildlife. Devin took to Instagram to pose with a friendly Quokka. She captioned the cute animal selfie: 'The Quokkas on Rottnest Island have stolen my heart!!! (and my french fries).' 'The Quokkas on Rottnest Island have stolen my heart!!!' During their down time on the island, they appeared to meet the local wildlife 'We're happy, healthy girls who try to make the most out of life': The pair previously told Collective Hub magazine that their business model has nothing to do with 'selling sex', adding 'the majority of (their) audience is female' The pair previously told Collective Hub magazine that their business model has nothing to do with 'selling sex', adding 'the majority of (their) audience is female'. Sydney-born entrepreneur Tash said: 'They look to us because we are both relatable and aspirational. We're happy, healthy girls who try to make the most out of life.' 'Swimwear naturally has a strong presence on our accounts, however the focus is definitely on the lifestyle,' she concluded. Natasha and Devin launched A Bikini A Day in 2012 and have admitted to sharing a bed during the early days of the business. She's the Instagram sensation who recently fronted a raunchy campaign for Australian lingerie brand Bras N Things. And on Wednesday, Brooke Hogan showcased her incredible physique once again while shooting a campaign for Lorna Jane on Bondi Beach. The 24-year-old model wore a blue keyhole bikini which drew attention to her ample cleavage and gym-honed physique. Beach babe! On Wednesday, Australian model Brooke Hogan showcased her incredible physique while shooting a campaign for activewear brand Lorna Jane at Bondi Beach, Sydney She's flawless! The 24-year-old model and Instagram sensation wore a blue keyhole bikini which drew attention to her ample cleavage and gym-honed physique The patterned bikini bottoms highlighted the beauty's pert derriere and golden tan. Brooke went relatively makeup-free for the day, with her blonde hair left out in beachy waves. After striking a few poses on the beach, she then slipped into a pair of black and white bikini bottoms teamed with a bright pink top. Slender: The patterned bikini bottoms highlighted Brooke's pert derriere and golden tan Natural: Brooke went relatively makeup-free for the day, with her hair left out in beachy waves Brooke paired this look with a pair of tortoiseshell sunglasses. She later changed into a baby pink activewear crop top and shorts, which highlighted her slender waist. After the shoot wrapped, Brooke posed with Lorna Jane Clarkson herself and several crew members. Work it! Brooke looked sexy and confident while posing on Sydney's famous beach Rising star: Brooke is fast becoming a household name thanks to her fashion campaigns Quick adjustment! At one point, Brooke was seen slightly adjusting her skimpy bikini bottoms Earlier this year, Brooke spoke about her friendship with fellow Australian Instagram model Natalie Roser. 'It's a super competitive industry, but it's nice when you find girls that are just like you,' Brooke told Daily Mail Australia. 'We've been friends for quite a while, she's such a nice girl,' Brooke said of Natalie. 'She's super down-to-earth, and I love that we've made friends through a competitive industry.' Outfit change! After striking a few poses on the beach, Brooke then slipped into a pair of black and white bikini bottoms teamed with a bright pink top Pretty in pink! She later changed into a baby pink activewear crop top and shorts, which highlighted her slender waist Shanghai (Gasgoo)- On November 21, Ningbo Joyson Electronics announced that it have signed a definitive agreement with Takata Corporation. According to the agreement, the Chinese company will acquire all of Takatas business for no more than $1.588 billion, except for those related to phase-stabilized ammonium nitrate (PSAN) airbag inflators. In order to facilitate the business integration and overall optimization of global tax after the acquisition, Joyson set up a new subsidiary in Luxembourg, named Joyson KSS Auto Safety, as the asset purchasing dealer. Joyson plans to add investment to the new company through its shares in Key Safety Systems (KSS). The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Deutsche Bank will provide a syndicated loan of no more than $1 billion to support this deal. The new company is expected to attract global strategic investors to meet the requirements in global management, business integration and asset purchasing. The deal is expected to complete in the first quarter of 2018, according to KSS. Before that, it is subject to the approval of certain related departments. Yesterday, Joyson KSS Auto Safety also finished signing agreements with key automaker customers about the compensation, liability exemption and reorganization support to secure the risk isolation from Takatas recall and the sustainability of the coming orders. Joyson Electronics said that the deal will enhance KSSs technology in active and passive safety field, help to expand capacity and add new orders. Whats more, the deal will bring the company access to Japan market and Japanese carmakers supplying system, to promote the companys position in the global supply chain. Founded in 2004, Joyson Electronics has managed to acquire many overseas companies in recent years in such fields as intelligent driving, vehicle safety, new energy vehicle power management system. Its revenue grew to RMB 18.6 billion in 2016 from RMB 0.2 billion in 2006. Its ability to integrate high-quality enterprises may be the driving force for its substantial growth. In March, 2016, Joyson Electronics acquired KSS for $0.92 billion. China's former internet czar Lu Wei (L) who oversaw a tightening of online censorship during his tenure, was a powerful figure both at home and abroad, being personally received by Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and travelling with President Xi Jinping China's former internet czar, who oversaw a tightening of online censorship during his tenure, has become the latest top Communist Party figure to be ensnared in the country's anti-corruption drive. The party's anti-graft agency said in a brief statement on its website late Tuesday that Lu Wei, 57, was being investigated for suspected "severe disciplinary violations". Lu, who had stepped down from his post last year, was once named among the world's 100 most influential people by Time magazine and had rubbed shoulders with the likes of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. He had fiercely defended the country's censorship apparatus after he was appointed in 2013 to supervise controls on online expression as head of the Cyberspace Administration of China. He is the most prominent figure to fall from grace since President Xi Jinping was given a second five-year term in office at a Communist Party congress last month. Xi launched a major campaign against corruption when he took office in 2012 that has brought down 1.5 million officials since then. At the congress that consolidated his power in October, Xi vowed no let up to the campaign against corruption, which he called the "greatest threat" to the party. Lu was a powerful figure both at home and abroad, where he commanded the attention of global technology firms eager for a piece of the Chinese market. He was personally received by Zuckerberg in 2014 at Facebook's Silicon Valley headquarters, and appeared in the front row of a group photo alongside top executives from American tech giants such as Amazon and Xi when the president visited the US in 2015. Facebook is among a slew of Western websites, along with Twitter, Instagram and several news outlets, that are blocked by China's "Great Firewall" of internet censorship. Authorities closely monitor what people say, see or share online, and block any content they deem illegal or politically sensitive. Chinese nationals can face fines or even jail time for unfavourable social media posts. Under Lu's watch, cyberspace regulations grew stricter with the passage of new online "security" regulations as part of a sweeping package of laws aimed at tightening state control over a wide range of domains. While "the Chinese government has indeed expanded its power to control prominent problems online", Lu said in 2015, it has used its capabilities to control crime, pornography, and "rumours" -- a euphemism that can be applied to everything from misinformation to political speech. Authorities have further tightened internet controls in recent months, shutting down celebrity gossip blogs and probing platforms for "obscenity". Lu's investigation comes as China prepares to host its fourth World Internet Conference next month to promote its views about web policy, though the annual event has been criticised by rights groups. Russia's President Vladimir Putin embraces his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad in Sochi on November 20 Russia has been a staunch diplomatic, military and political supporter of President Bashar al-Assad since the Syrian conflict began in 2011. Here are some of the key events of its involvement: - UN vetoes - In April 2011 -- six weeks after the start of unprecedented protests in Syria -- Russia and China veto a proposed United Nations declaration drafted by Western countries to condemn Assad's crackdown on the Syrian opposition. Then in October, Moscow and Beijing block a proposed UN Security Council resolution, also initiated by the West, to impose "targeted measures" against Assad's regime. In total Russia has vetoed 11 draft resolutions to protect its Syrian ally from Western pressure. - Chemical weapons initiative - In September 2013, Russia and the United States agree in Geneva to a deal under which Syria's chemical weapons are to be dismantled. The accord defuses a crisis that might have led to US-led strikes against Syrian forces, which were accused of a chemical attack on August 21 near Damascus that left hundreds dead. - Military intervention: a turning point - In March 2015, Assad welcomes a larger Russian military presence in his country's ports. From late August, Russia has at its disposal an air base in Hmeimim in the Syrian coastal province of Latakia, an Assad stronghold. In late September 2015, Russia, at the Damascus regime's request, launches air strikes on Syria in support of Assad's troops. It is the first time that Russia has pursued major military operations abroad since Soviet troops withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989. In October 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin ratifies an accord between Damascus and Moscow on the "indefinite" deployment of Russia's air force at the Hmeimim air base. The Russian fire power effectively turns the tables in favour of the regime, which takes the upper hand, including retaking Aleppo in late December 2016. - Sponsor of Astana talks - In January 2017, Russia and Iran, as backers of the Syrian regime, and Turkey, supporting the rebels, organise the first talks in Astana, Kazakhstan, between representatives of both sides. The United States is not invited. Seven rounds of negotiations have since taken place and have led to the creation of four so-called "de-escalation zones" that produced a drop in violence, although sporadic fighting and bombardment has continued. - Assad in Sochi - Putin meets Assad in Sochi on the eve of a three-way summit between the Russian, Turkish and Iranian presidents On November 20 Putin meets Assad in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, on the eve of a three-way summit between the Russian, Turkish and Iranian presidents. Putin hails Assad for "fighting terrorists", saying "the Syrian nation is going through a very serious experience and nonetheless is approaching the final, inevitable defeat of the terrorists," the Kremlin quoted him as saying. Moscow-based former Syrian deputy prime minister Qadri Jamil (R), member of Syria's regime-tolerated opposition, seen during a meeting in Riyadh, in August 2017 Syrian opposition figures will gather in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to form an overhauled delegation to peace talks that analysts expect will be more willing to compromise on key demands. The meeting comes as Turkey, Iran, and Russia hold top-level talks in the Black Sea resort city Sochi, pressing their diplomatic dash to resolve Syria's six-year conflict. Multiple rounds of talks hosted by the UN have failed to bring an end to the war, which has killed more than 330,000 people and forced millions from their homes. Factions opposed to President Bashar al-Assad have been plagued by divisions throughout the maelstrom, but Wednesday's Riyadh summit will aim to bridge the gaps. Around 140 opposition members from a wide range of platforms will gather for three days of talks at the invitation of the Saudi foreign ministry. Riad Hijab, General Co-ordinator of the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), did not specify why he is resigning, but said he had faced "attempts to lower the ceiling of the revolution and prolong the regime of Bashar al-Assad" Among them are members of the Istanbul-based National Coalition, independent figures, and members of the Cairo and Moscow groups, who are seen as more favourable to the regime. Attendees will "form a single negotiating delegation" to UN-led peace talks, Hadi al-Bahra, a member of the National Coalition's politburo, told AFP from Riyadh. "The goal is to activate the stalled Geneva political process," said Bahra. The United Nations has called for talks in the Swiss city on November 28. - Forming 'the right opposition' - But two days before the Riyadh meeting, several key figures from the mainstream opposition High Negotiations Committee -- including its head Riad Hijab -- stepped down. Hijab did not specify why he was resigning, but said he had faced "attempts to lower the ceiling of the revolution and prolong the regime of Bashar al-Assad." Other prominent figures including Suhair al-Atassi, Salem al-Muslet, and Abdul Hakim Bashar also announced they were withdrawing from the HNC. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he expected "the retreating of radical opposition leaders... to help the Syria-based and foreign-based opposition unite on a constructive basis." The overhaul, experts and oppositionists said, will pave the way for a new negotiating delegation that could water down the opposition's traditional demands, including Assad's immediate ouster. His fate has been one of the chief obstacles to progress in peace talks, with the opposition demanding he step down at the start of any transition. "Riyadh is going to come out with a group, an agreement, on the opposition's proposal for the constitution and for parliamentary elections," said Randa Slim of the Middle East Institute think-thank. "Gone is any kind of emphasis on political transition or on Assad." The product of the Riyadh meeting would be "the right opposition that will agree to sign off on the deal that's going to be negotiated," she said. "The train is moving in that direction. It has left the station. The different pieces are being put together." - Key figures sidelined - Speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, an HNC figure said most of those who had resigned were hardliners who had not been invited to Riyadh. "A number of people who completely oppose Assad staying in a future Syria have been sidelined. Saudi's approval demonstrates that it is under Russian pressure," said the figure, who did not receive an invite to the Saudi talks. Dozens of prominent civilian and armed opposition figures have since appealed to those meeting in Riyadh to hold fast to key demands, including "the ouster of Bashar al-Assad and his gang". "No one should back down or quietly circumvent" it, they said in an online statement. HNC member Yehya al-Aridi acknowledged some Riyadh attendees, including the Moscow platform, were more flexible on Assad. But they "do not represent the choices of the revolution or the Syrian people," Aridi told AFP. And Hisham Marwah, another National Coalition member, said his group's "positions toward Assad have not changed". "Whoever is betting on the Riyadh conference to legitimise the presence of Assad is delusional," Marwah told AFP. The UN envoy on Syria's war, Staffan de Mistura, has intensified his calls in recent months to unite various opposition groups into a single body. Syrian government officials had long complained they wanted to deal with a unified delegation at peace talks. The new round comes as regime forces have gained the upper hand on the battlefield with Russia's help, including recent wins against the Islamic State group and a fresh drive against rebels near Damascus. The new US sanctions against North Korea are the latest salvo from Washington in President Donald Trump's "maximum pressure campaign" against Kim Jong-Un North Korea condemned its US terror listing as a "serious provocation" on Wednesday, warning that sanctions would never force it to abandon its nuclear weapons programme. The response came shortly after China, the North's sole ally, also rejected as "wrong" new US sanctions that targeted Chinese companies doing business with the pariah state. President Donald Trump Monday declared North Korea a state sponsor of terrorism, a spot on a US blacklist Pyongyang had shed nearly a decade ago. On Tuesday the US unveiled its fresh sanctions which also targeted North Korean shipping, raising the pressure on the North to abandon its nuclear programme. "Our army and people are full of rage and anger towards the heinous gangsters who dared to put the name of our sacred country in this wretched list of 'terrorism'," North Korean state news agency KCNA quoted a foreign ministry spokesperson as saying. Slamming Washington for behaving like an "international judge on terrorism", the spokesperson added that the US move was "clearly an absurdity and a mockery to world peace and security". Trump said that the terror designation and new sanctions would be part of a series of moves over the next two weeks to reinforce his "maximum pressure campaign" against Kim Jong-Un's regime. But the North remained defiant on Wednesday, vowing to continue building up its nuclear force in the face of repeated US sanctions and threats. "The nuclear weapons of the DPRK are the deterrence to safeguard our sovereignty," it said, using the initials of the North's official name. "As long as the US continues with its anti-DPRK hostile policy, our deterrence will be further strengthened." - 'More should be done' - The White House has said it will not tolerate the North's testing or deployment of an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead to US cities. US President Donald Trump says the sanctions announcement was the first in a series of moves over the next two weeks that would reinforce his "maximum pressure campaign" against Kim Jong-Un's regime Experts believe Pyongyang is within months of such a threshold, having carried out six nuclear tests since 2006 and test-fired several types of missiles, including multi-stage rockets. China has pressed for dialogue as regional tensions have soared, saying this week "more should be done" to hold talks to resolve the crisis. But on Wednesday Beijing lashed out at the latest sanctions, which expand the list of Chinese firms accused of doing business with the North despite promises from Beijing that it will honour UN-backed punitive measures. "We consistently oppose any country adopting unilateral sanctions based on its own domestic laws and regulations and the wrong method of exercising long-arm jurisdiction," foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a regular news briefing. Trump met China's President Xi Jinping earlier this month and is bullish about the US-China relationship, but concerns remain that Beijing is not ready to take tough measures against Kim. Trump met China's President Xi Jinping earlier this month and is bullish about the US-China relationship, but concerns remain that Beijing is not ready to take tough measures against Kim While China has backed the UN measures, it has been reluctant to take the more drastic step of cutting off oil supplies through a pipeline to North Korea's lone refinery, fearing that regime collapse could lead to chaos on their common border. And, according to US officials, some Chinese-based banks and trading firms continue to do business with the North in defiance of UN sanctions and US threats of unilateral measures. "China has been comprehensively respecting and strictly implementing (UN) Security Council resolutions and our efforts on this regard are witnessed by all," Lu said. The spokesman called on Washington to provide "any solid evidence" that Chinese companies have violated the UN sanctions. He said that if any companies or individuals have violated domestic laws, "we will severely deal with that in accordance with our laws and regulations". - Belligerent rhetoric - A Chinese special envoy also wrapped up a four-day trip to the North on Monday, during which the two sides discussed regional concerns but made no direct statements about the nuclear standoff. Beijing has pushed for a "dual track approach" which would see the United States freeze its military drills in South Korea while North Korea would halt its weapons programs. The new sanctions come a day after President Donald Trump declared North Korea a state sponsor of terrorism, a spot on a US blacklist Pyongyang had shed nearly a decade ago Washington has rejected that approach. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the sanctions would not only increase Pyongyang's isolation but also expose "its evasive tactics". "These designations include companies that have engaged in trade with North Korea cumulatively worth hundreds of millions of dollars," Mnuchin said. "We are also sanctioning the shipping and transportation companies, and their vessels, that facilitate North Korea's trade and its deceptive manoeuvres." Despite Trump and Kim's belligerent rhetoric, US officials say their main goal is for Pyongyang to back down and agree to discuss disarmament. Pakistani head of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) organisation Hafiz Saeed (C) speaks to the media after his release order outside a court in Lahore A Pakistani court Wednesday ordered the release of one of the alleged masterminds of the 2008 Mumbai attacks which killed more than 160 people, after months of US pressure on Islamabad over its alleged support for militants. Firebrand cleric Hafiz Saeed, who heads the UN-listed terrorist group Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and has a $10 million US bounty on his head, will be freed tomorrow after less than a year in detention following the decision by the Lahore High Court, a JuD official said. "The review board looking in to the case... has refused to extend his house arrest as the government failed to provide any evidence against the charges," a spokesman for the party, Ahmed Nadeen said. The horror of the Mumbai carnage played out on live television around the world as commandos battled the heavily armed gunmen, who arrived by sea on the evening of November 26, 2008. It took the authorities three days to regain full control of the city. JuD, which has operated freely across Pakistan and is popular for its charity work, is considered by the US and India to be a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the militant group blamed for the attack on India's financial capital. New Delhi has long seethed at Pakistan's failure either to hand over or prosecute those accused of planning the attacks, while Islamabad has alleged that India failed to give it crucial evidence. India has also said there is proof that "official agencies" in Pakistan were involved in plotting the attack -- a charge Islamabad denies. Analyst and retired Pakistani general Talat Masood told AFP that Saeed is given special treatment by the government "because they think that his organisation was supportive in Kashmir", the disputed Himalayan territory over which India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars. Saeed said later in a video message that he was detained because of his association with Kashmir. "It's because of Kashmir that India is after me, but all her efforts have been in vain and Allah has set me free," he said in the video released by his party's media team. "This is victory of Pakistan's freedom and God willing Kashmir will also be freed because I'm fighting Kashmir's case," Saeed added. India blames Pakistan for sending militant groups, including LeT, to foment unrest in the part of Kashmir controlled by New Delhi. However Masood said the government could seek new reasons to detain Saeed to avoid more international pressure, particularly from Washington, which has been pressuring Pakistan for months over its alleged support for militants including the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan. US President Donald Trump in August accused Pakistan of harbouring "agents of chaos", and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said last month that the Washington has made "very specific" requests of Pakistan over militancy. The US has also made several overtures to Pakistan's arch-enemy India for closer ties. Following a brief period of house arrest in 2008, Saeed led a high-profile public life and regularly delivered fiery anti-India speeches. He was placed under house arrest once more in January this year following years of foreign pressure, prompting demonstrations in several Pakistani cities. Masood said that his release could see him participate in a general election set to be held sometime next year, adding that if he won a seat in the national assembly that could be "very embarrassing internationally". Bahraini human rights activist Nabeel Rajab, a leading figure in protests that erupted in 2011 during the Arab Spring, was sentenced in July to two years in jail for press statements deemed insulting to the government A Bahraini appeals court on Wednesday upheld a two-year jail sentence against high-profile activist Nabeel Rajab, a judicial source said, in a case condemned by rights groups. The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the court in Manama rejected an appeal by Rajab's attorneys. Rajab, a leading figure in protests that erupted in 2011 during the Arab Spring, was sentenced in July to two years in jail for press statements deemed insulting to the government. Amnesty International has called the Rajab sentencing "a flagrant violation of human rights and an alarming sign that Bahraini authorities will go to any length to silence critics". Rajab is also on trial in a second case and could face a 15-year prison term over a series of tweets criticising Saudi Arabia and its allies, including Bahrain, over their military intervention in the Yemen war. Home to a majority Shiite Muslim population, Bahrain has been ruled for more than 200 years by the Sunni Al-Khalifa dynasty. The tiny kingdom, located between Saudi Arabia and its arch-rival Iran, has been rocked by unrest since security forces cracked down on Shiite-led protests in 2011 demanding a constitutional monarchy and an elected prime minister. Authorities have since tightened their grip on all dissent. They accuse Shiite Iran of backing the protesters and inciting unrest in Bahrain, a charge Tehran denies. Bahrain is home to the US Fifth Fleet and a British military base that is still under construction. At least 30 people were killed when farmers attacked herdsmen in northeast Nigeria's Adamawa state, police said At least 30 people were killed when farmers attacked herdsmen in northeast Nigeria's Adamawa state, police told AFP on Wednesday. State police spokesman Othman Abubakar said farmers from the Christian Bachama ethnic group stormed four settlements of Muslim Fulani herders in Numan district on Monday, hacking residents and burning homes. "We have so far recovered 30 bodies from the affected villages but the toll is not conclusive as rescue teams are still combing the bushes in the area for more bodies," he said. A man-hunt had been launched for the assailants, he added. "The deputy governor visited the villages and an investigation has commenced to unravel the cause of the attack and bring the perpetrators to justice," he said. Fulani community leaders gave higher tolls from the incident, the latest in a long-running series of clashes between farmers and herders across Nigeria. Mafindi Danburam, head of the herders' union in Adamawa, said the farmers stormed the villages of Kikan, Kodomun, Shafaran and Ketowal at about 1:00 pm (1200 GMT) on Monday, "killing women and children" and burning homes. "From our estimation more than 60 women and children were slaughtered in the attack, with some of them pursued inside the bush and killed while they tried to flee," he added. The Fulanis had taken their cattle for grazing while others had gone to the market when the villages were attacked. Aminu Yakub, in charge of Numan's central mosque, said 47 bodies were buried on Tuesday in line with the Muslim tradition. "We claimed 47 bodies of women and children from the morgue at the general hospital for burial, including months-old babies," he said. Numan, which lies on the Benue River some 70 kilometres (45 miles) west from the state capital, Yola, is Adamawa's farming and herding hub, with fertile land and fresh water. Disputes over grazing and water rights have persisted between the indigenous Bachama farmers and settler Fulani herders, leading to periodic violence. Reports of Monday's attack came a day after at least 50 worshippers were killed in a suicide bombing in a mosque in Mubi, also in Adamawa state. Although no group has claimed responsibility, the bombing bore the hallmarks of Boko Haram Islamists who are waging a jihadist uprising in Nigeria's northeast. Nigeria's central states have been riven for decades with ethnic, sectarian and religious violence linked to tensions between farmers and herders over land and water. In September, the International Crisis Group said some 2,500 people were killed and tens of thousands forced from their homes, as unrest spread southwards from central and northern states. It warned the deadly clashes threatened the country's national security. Driverless buses will appear on some 'quiet' roads in Singapore from 2022 as part of plans to improve mobility in the land-scarce city-state, its transport minister has announced. Singapore has so far avoided the massive traffic jams that choke other Asian cities like Manila and Jakarta by imposing road tolls, spending massively on public transport and becoming one of the world's most expensive places to own a car. It now plans to embrace self-driving technology to further reduce reliance on cars and improve how people get around. Scroll down for video Driverless buses (pictured) will appear on some roads in Singapore from 2022 as part of plans to improve mobility in the land-scarce city-state, its transport minister has announced DRIVERLESS BUSES Driverless buses will appear on some roads in Singapore from 2022 as part of plans to improve mobility in the land-scarce city-state, its transport minister has announced. The buses will be deployed in three new suburban towns -Punggol, Tengah and the Jurong Innovation District. They will initially be deployed on less crowded roads during off-peak periods. Singapore is asking for input from industry and research institutions on what is needed to implement the project. Industry proposals to be invited after May 2018. Advertisement Driverless buses will be deployed in three new suburban towns -Punggol, Tengah and the Jurong Innovation District. These towns have been designed to accommodate the vehicles for the pilot project, said Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan. They will initially be deployed on less crowded roads during off-peak periods. 'The autonomous vehicles will greatly enhance the accessibility and connectivity of our public transport system, particularly for the elderly families with young children and the less mobile,' he said at the launch of a test centre for self-driving vehicles. 'More importantly, we can gain further insights into how we can develop new towns or refurbish existing ones for the safe mass deployment of autonomous vehicles.' Mr Khaw said the technology will help Singapore 'alleviate its tight land and manpower limits that currently constrain our land transport system' and that he hopes the city-state can become a key global player in the sector. Singapore officials are asking for input from industry and research institutions on what is needed to implement the project. Driverless buses will be deployed in three new suburban towns -Punggol, Tengah and the Jurong Innovation District. These towns have been designed to accommodate the vehicles for the pilot project, said Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan Around ten local and foreign companies are currently in Singapore to test their driverless vehicle technology. An autonomous taxi turns at an intersection during a test drive in Singapore in 2016 Industry proposals to be invited after May 2018, he said. Around ten local and foreign companies are currently in Singapore to test their driverless vehicle technology, Mr Khaw said. WHY DOES SINGAPORE WANT DRIVERLESS BUSES? The country has several reasons for beginning the bus trial, including: - Prompting residents to use more shared vehicles and public transport - Improve road safety - Reduce vehicle congestion - Alleviate pollution - Address manpower challenges Advertisement Some industry players believe autonomous vehicles can ply highways and busy city streets in Singapore 'without any form of human intervention' in ten years' time, he added. Singaporean travel officials believe we will soon see a shift from owning vehicles, to paying for different mobility services tailored to different types of journeys. 'There is going to be a significant shift in the public mindset from one of ownership of transport assets - which is the mindset today - to one of procurement of transport services as and when you need them', said the Ministry of Transport's top official, Mr Pang King Keong. Earlier this year, he revealed that he is in talks with companies to start trials on flying taxis. These futuristic vehicles are part of a drive to expand the range of urban mobility options, and Singapore plans to have them ready by 2030. An image grab taken from a video released on December 7, 2016 by the Islamic State group's propaganda arm Amaq shows John Cantlie, a British journalist kidnapped in Syria in 2012, speaking to the camera in the Iraqi city of Mosul The capture by Iraqi and Syrian forces of the Islamic State group's last bastions failed to clarify the fate of several foreign hostages thought to have been kidnapped by jihadists. The Syrian city of Raqa, which US-backed forces retook in mid-October, was the group's inner sanctum and where many of the kidnapped foreigners were sequestered. Following is what we know about John Cantlie, a British journalist who was kidnapped by IS five years ago on Wednesday, and about other foreigners still believed held or missing in Syria: JOHN CANTLIE British journalist John Cantlie was detained by the Islamic State group on November 22, 2012. He was kidnapped along with US reporter James Foley, who became the first of a string of foreign hostages to be slain in gruesome propaganda videos. Cantlie however appeared in several subsequent videos released by IS in which he delivered jihadist propaganda to the camera in the style of a news report. His last appearance was during the battle for Mosul late last year. He looked very gaunt and tired. His current whereabouts are unknown and Cantlie's family have chosen discretion as a way of increasing his chances of survival. GRIGORY TSURKANU AND ROMAN ZABOLOTNY The pair, believed to be Russians, were captured in September or early October iDeir Ezzor province in eastern Syria. This undated handout picture provided by the Don Cossack Host organisation shows Roman Zabolotny, whom it identified as one of two Russian veterans captured by the Islamic State group in eastern Syria in September or early October Moscow never confirmed the identity of the two men, who appeared in an IS propaganda video. A Cossack group identified them as two veterans from southern Russia in their late thirties. Some Russian media reports said they were mercenaries for a shadowy outfit called Wagner which has been sending ex-servicemen to fight alongside Syrian regime forces. A Russian newspaper said they were executed but their deaths were never confirmed. SKY NEWS TEAM Mauritanian national Ishak Moctar and Lebanese national Samir Kassab went missing on October 15, 2013, along with their Syrian driver, near the northern city of Aleppo. They were believed held by IS but their fate was never confirmed and they are still considered missing. The pair were believed to still be alive in 2016 and held in Raqa. JUMPEI YASUDA This undated picture taken at an undisclosed location and released on May 30, 2016 shows Japanese freelance journalist Jumpei Yasuda holding up a handwritten plea for help after his abduction in 2016 Japanese journalist Jumpei Yasuda is thought to have been abducted by the Al-Nusra Front jihadist group, a former Al-Qaeda affiliate, in northern Syria in 2015. Tokyo describes him as missing. A picture of him holding a piece of paper that read "Help me, this is the last chance" was released in mid-2016 and deemed authentic. AUSTIN TICE Debra Tice, mother of US journalist Austin Tice who was kidnapped in Syria in 2012, holds a portrait of him during a press conference in the Lebanese capital Beirut on July 20, 2017. The 36-year-old American journalist was kidnapped in Syria in August 2012 by unidentified armed men after reporting south of Damascus. His kidnapping was never claimed by any organisation but his family says it has reason to believe the Texan reporter is still alive. PAOLO DALL'OGLIO Italian priest Father Paolo Dall'Oglio, who was kidnapped by the Islamic State group in 2013, is seen here walking around Deir Mar Musa, the 6th century monastery that he renovated, on 11 July, 2007 The Jesuit priest known to most as Father Paolo was a well-known figure in Syria, where he lived for years in the 6th century Deir Mar Musa monastery that he renovated, north of Damascus. He was exiled from Syria in 2012 for meeting with members of the opposition to President Bashar al-Assad's regime and kidnapped by the Islamic State group near Raqa when he returned the following year. He was reported to have been executed and his body dumped in a crevice soon after but his death was never confirmed by any party. burs-jmm/kir US President Donald Trump said restoring North Korea to the list of state sponsors of terror "should have happened a long time ago" North Korea condemned its US terror listing as a "serious provocation" on Wednesday, warning that sanctions would never force it to abandon its nuclear weapons programme. US President Donald Trump this week declared North Korea a state sponsor of terrorism, a spot on a US blacklist Pyongyang had shed nearly a decade ago. On Tuesday the US also unveiled new sanctions targeting North Korean shipping and Chinese traders doing business with Pyongyang, raising the pressure on the pariah state to abandon its nuclear program. "Our army and people are full of rage and anger towards the heinous gangsters who dared to put the name of our sacred country in this wretched list of 'terrorism'," state news agency KCNA quoted a foreign ministry spokesperson as saying. Slamming Washington for behaving like an "international judge on terrorism," the spokesperson added that the US move was "clearly an absurdity and a mockery to world peace and security". "The nuclear weapons of the DPRK are the deterrence to safeguard our sovereignty," the report said. "As long as the US continues with its anti-DPRK hostile policy, our deterrence will be further strengthened." Trump warned that the terror designation and sanctions announcement would be part of a series of moves over the next two weeks to reinforce his "maximum pressure campaign" against Kim Jong-Un's regime. China, the North's sole ally, rejected the new sanctions as "wrong" on Wednesday. Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Qoros Autos share transfer shows new progress recently. Changjiang Equity Exchange released an announcement on its official website on November 17th, stating that Qoros Auto would transfer its 25% shares with a target price of RMB 1.625 billion. The public solicitation period spans from November 17th to December 14th. It should be noticed that its the second time for Qoros Auto to transfer its shares in Changjiang Equity Exchange. Qoros Auto announced for 25.5% share transfer on July 24th with a bidding price of RMB 1.66b but failed. At present, the shareholders of Qoros are Chery and Quantum LLC, each with half of the companys shares. The joint venture is always targeting at high-end market, but its market performance is lagging behind other joint-venture brands. Data shows that it has a total sales volume of 3,816 units in Q3 this year. Its cumulative sales number reaches 11,000 units till September this year, ranking 80th among all brands. Financial data also shows that Qoross operating revenue reaches RMB 2.65 billion with a loss of RMB 1.328 billion in 2016. Its operating revenue in the previous ten months this year reaches RMB 1.198b with a loss of RMB 1.069 billion. Its quite understandable Qoros is urgent to find new investors, with Baidu, Wuliangye, Baoneng, Tencent all being involved. Information from all aspects shows that Baoneng has the greatest possibility to become the next investor. Its revealed by insiders that Qoros Auto has negotiated and discussed for a long time with Baoneng. Its also known that Baoneng has planned to invest RMB 14 billion to build a NEV production base covering an area of 2m square meters with an annual capacity of 300,000 units. The Gabba holds ghosts for most visitors, with the Australians having not lost a test there since November 1988 England's Barmy Army have moved on from the devastation of their last Ashes tour Down Under, predicting a victory for the visitors, with the vociferous choir setting their sights on Aussie spinner Nathan Lyon. Chanting was underway and the beer flowing at a packed Pig n Whistle pub on the Brisbane river Wednesday night, with the supporter group in their hundreds full of optimism on the eve of the Ashes series. "There's buzzing in the camp, just like the England camp I assume," Barmy Army operations director Chris Millard told AFP. "The pubs are packed... and we are pretty buzzing for a five-nil victory to England." A trumpeter led the chorus for the raucous mob, with chants to the backing of English classics, including the Beatles' "Yellow Submarine" and "Hey Jude". Australian cricketer Nathan Lyon said many in the England squad remain shaken by left-armer Mitchell Johnson's assault four years ago Millard, who is expecting about 600 to join the Barmy Army for day one of the first Test at the Gabba Thursday, said they have prepared songs to taunt Australian captain Steve Smith and opener David Warner. But a new villain has emerged since the support group touched down in Australia this week. "Nathan Lyon -- he's come out in the past few days," Millard said, referring to the spinner's comments this week about "ending careers" in the series. "He's come out of nowhere, abusing Matty Prior. The boys have been practising his songs for a couple of days now and we are going to get into him," said Millard. Lyon told reporters on Tuesday ahead of the first Test in Brisbane that many in the England squad remain shaken by left-armer Mitchell Johnson's assault four years ago. But supporters at the Pig n Whistle have moved on from the crushing defeat of the 2013-14 series that saw the Aussies take the Ashes in a 5-0 whitewash, leaving the English team in disarray. "I'm not sure we are worried about Nathan Lyon," Barmy Army's George Gallantree told AFP. "He can say what he likes. Let's see what he says at the end of the series." The Gabba holds ghosts for most visitors, with the Australians having not lost a test there since November 1988. Gallantree expects a louder Barmy Army this series, helping England overcome their Gabba demons. "It's a tough environment but hopefully we have a lot more support this test," he said. "We should be roaring the boys on." Israeli security forces inspect the scene of an explosion near a bus stop in Jerusalem on March 23, 2011 A young Israeli succumbed to her wounds Wednesday, a hospital announced, six years after being seriously wounded in a bomb attack. Hodaya Asulin, then 14, was seriously injured on March 23, 2011 when a bomb hidden in a bag exploded near the bus stop where she was standing in Jerusalem. A British woman was killed and more than 30 others injured in the incident, which Israeli authorities blamed on Palestinian militants. It was the first bombing in Jerusalem since 2004 and occurred at a time of increased tensions between Israel and Islamist Palestinian movement Hamas. Asulin never regained conciousness after suffering serious head injuries and was hospitalised recently as her condition worsened, Israeli media reported. In a Facebook post Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered condolences to the family. The funeral is expected to take place on Wednesday in the Mevo Horon settlement. A Yemeni child suffering from diphtheria receives treatment at a hospital in the capital Sanaa on November 22, 2017 Three people have died of suspected diphtheria in conflict-hit Yemen, doctors said Wednesday, as the World Health Organisation and International Committee of the Red Cross warned the disease was spreading. "Currently, there is an increase in diphtheria cases, due to the poor vaccination coverage for children under five years of age," an ICRC spokeswoman told AFP. The WHO also confirmed diphtheria cases had appeared in Yemen, where war and a port and airport blockade has left hospitals struggling to secure basic medical supplies including vaccines. In the port city of Hodeida, caught in the blockade by a Saudi-led military coalition fighting Yemeni rebels, paediatrician Ousan al-Absi at the Al-Thawra hospital said three people had died of diphtheria over the past 24 hours. "We were surprised by the emergence of diphtheria cases here. We diagnosed and gave them emergency care as best we could," he said. "Some of them were dying when they arrived." A Yemeni child suffering from diphtheria receives treatment at a hospital in the capital Sanaa on November 22, 2017 Local man Ibrahim al-Musbahi said he had sold all of his possessions to pay for his family to be admitted after his five children and wife came down with what doctor suspected was diphtheria. His 11-year-old daughter, Yasmin, died on Wednesday morning. She had already been battling kidney failure when the doctor diagnosed her. "The first one who got sick was Yasmin, and then her brothers and sisters. And then their mother got sick," Musbahi told AFP, adding he was also feeling some symptoms. "My financial situation is so bad I sold everything for the sake of my kids. I just wish I could find someone to take care of, to cure, my kids." Diphtheria, a bacterial infection that is preventable by vaccine, attacks the nose and throat and -- if left untreated -- the heart and nervous system. While it is treatable, the infection can be deadly, particularly for children. The US-based Mayo Clinic estimates up to three percent of those who contract diphtheria will die. Yemeni children suffering from diphtheria receive treatment at a hospital in the capital Sanaa on November 22, 2017 More than 2,000 people have died of cholera in Yemen this year, adding to the 8,600 who have died in the conflict between the Saudi-backed government and rebels since 2015. The blockade on Yemen's ports and airports, put in place after the Iranian-backed Huthi rebels fired a missile into Saudi territory, has tightened the stranglehold around Hodeida, a key conduit for much-needed food and medicine imports to Yemen. The United Nations has warned that unless the blockade is lifted, Yemen will face "the largest famine the world has seen for decades". Rohingya refugees wait after crossing the Naf river from Myanmar into Bangladesh, where more than 600,000 members of Myanmar's Muslim minority Rohingya have fled The United States on Wednesday toughened its stance on Myanmar, accusing the country's security forces of perpetrating "horrendous atrocities" against the Rohingya that amount to "ethnic cleansing" of the Muslim minority. The statement from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who visited Myanmar last week, is the strongest US condemnation yet of the military's crackdown against the Rohingya, which has triggered a major refugee crisis and escalating global outrage. "After a careful and thorough analysis of available facts, it is clear that the situation in northern Rakhine state constitutes ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya," Tillerson said in a statement. "No provocation can justify the horrendous atrocities that have ensued." More than 600,000 Rohingya have fled mainly Buddhist Myanmar for Bangladesh since the military launched a counter-insurgency operation in troubled Rakhine state in late August. While the army insists it has only targeted Rohingya rebels, refugees massing in Bangladeshi camps have given chilling and consistent accounts of widespread murder, rape and arson at the hands of security forces and Buddhist mobs. "These abuses by some among the Burmese military, security forces, and local vigilantes have caused tremendous suffering and forced hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children to flee their homes," Tillerson said. Myanmar's response to the crisis will be vital to determining the success of its transition to becoming "a more democratic society," he added. - 'Looking at' sanctions - Washington says Myanmar's de facto civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi (R), who met US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (L) last week, has a crucial role to play in tackling the Rohingya crisis but has been careful to focus blame on the army Myanmar's de facto civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi -- a Nobel peace laureate -- has been criticized by rights groups disappointed with her failure to condemn the crackdown or publicly criticize the military. Washington says Suu Kyi has a crucial role to play in tackling the crisis but has been careful to focus blame on the army. On his one-day visit to Myanmar's capital Naypyidaw, Tillerson said Washington was "deeply concerned by credible reports of widespread atrocities committed by Myanmar's security forces and vigilantes." He urged Myanmar to accept an independent investigation into those allegations, after which individual sanctions could be appropriate. On Wednesday, Tillerson said: "Burma's government and security forces must respect the human rights of all persons within its borders, and hold accountable those who fail to do so." Last year, former US president Barack Obama eased long-standing sanctions on Myanmar, reinstating preferential tariffs, to help the country's transition from being a military-run pariah to civilian government. The current administration says it does not favor a return to broad economic sanctions. But a senior State Department official told reporters on Wednesday: "We are looking at additional sanctions targeting individuals responsible for specific acts of violence." Myanmar's army and Suu Kyi's administration have dismissed reports of atrocities and refused to grant entry to UN investigators tasked with probing alleged abuses. Some world leaders had already described the scorched-earth military campaign against the Rohingya as "ethnic cleansing." Global human rights watchdogs over the past week issued reports accusing Myanmar security forces of slitting the throats of Rohingya, burning victims alive and gang-raping women and girls. The watchdogs described "mounting evidence" of genocide and spoke of "ethnic cleansing" founded on years of "apartheid." - Uptick in diplomacy - Diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis have intensified. France's Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and the European Union's top diplomat, Federica Mogherini, on Monday both visited Myanmar. The Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh -- one of several housing Muslim Rohingya who have fled Myanmar China has made a proposal to resolve the crisis with a ceasefire, refugee repatriation and poverty alleviation. A foreign ministry spokesman in Beijing said Monday that the plan had won approval from leaders in both Bangladesh and Myanmar. "We understand that both Burma and Bangladesh are close to reaching an agreement on a process for voluntary repatriations," the senior State Department official said, adding that by declaring "ethnic cleansing," the US hopes to increase the pressure for such a deal. US Senator John McCain, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, welcomed Tillerson's statement as a first step that should be followed by "targeted sanctions against the military officials responsible for these atrocities." Israeli shepherd Avshalom Yaaran tends to one of his black goats, also called Syrian goats, before walking them to graze near Moshav Nes Harim A breed of goat limited for decades by law in Israel is expected to prosper once again in the Jewish state. The black goat, also called the Syrian goat, has since 1950 been barred from forests and woodlands under a law that says they cause environmental damage. On Wednesday, parliament in a preliminary reading passed a bill to repeal that legislation, on the grounds that grazing would thin out undergrowth that can fuel forest fires, said Jamal Zahalka, the Arab Israeli MP behind the push. The government supports the bill, which should reverse the decline in the number of black goats in the country. In the forest region of Carmel in northern Israel, the number of the goats, whose scientific name is Capra Hircus Mambrica, has fallen from 15,000 45 years ago to around 2,000 today, according to Zahalka. He said repealing the law would "repair an historic injustice" especially for Arab Israeli farmers, who like to breed this species well adapted to the Mediterranean climate. "An anti-goat police fought against the Arab peasants who no longer had the right to breed these animals," Zahalka said. Black goats, also referred to as the Syrian goat, graze near Moshav Nes Harim in central Israel's Judean foothills Arab Israelis are the descendants of Palestinians who remained on their land after the creation of the Jewish state in 1948. Recent studies have shown that these goats can help reduce the risk of fire by eating flammable bushes and shrubs. Zahalka said he had the backing of the coalition government, including the far-right Jewish Home party. While not agreeing with Zahalka's criticism of Israeli policy, Jewish Home ministers Uri Ariel and Ayelet Shaked helped convince the government to back the bill. "Goats are an important factor in preventing fires," Ariel was quoted as saying in the Israeli media. "We want to encourage grazing in the appropriate areas and times." Pope Francis will meet Rohingya Muslim refugees on visit to Bangladesh Pope Francis will meet Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar in Dhaka when he visits the Bangladeshi capital next week, a Vatican spokesman said Wednesday. Francis, who has repeatedly spoken out over the persecution of the religious minority by the Myanmar authorities, will meet a small group of Rohingyas during an interfaith meeting scheduled for Friday, December 1. The Argentine pontiff's trip to Bangladesh will be preceded by a three-day stop in neighbouring Myanmar, which will now include a private meeting with the head of the country's army, General Min Aung Hlaing. The meeting with the military chief was organised on the recommendation of the archbishop of Yangon, Charles Bo, who also advised the pope not to use the term "Rohingya" during his visit, for fear of inflaming tensions in the predominantly Buddhist country. Army and government officials decline to use a term they see as giving the Muslims of Rakhine state the status of an ethnic minority, whereas the official line is that they are illegal immigrants from mainly Muslim Bangladesh. The Vatican spokesman said the pope was not forbidden from employing the term but added that he planned to follow his archbishop's advice. "The pope's visit comes at a key moment for these two countries," said Vatican spokesman Greg Burke, adding that he expects a very interesting trip. The pope will also separately meet Myanmar's de facto civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi -- a Nobel peace laureate -- as previously scheduled during the first part of his November 26-30 trip. International condemnation of Myanmar's treatment of the Rohingya has mounted in recent days with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson saying Wednesday that it amounted to ethnic cleansing. More than 600,000 Rohingya, around a third of them children, have fled to Bangladesh since the military launched counter-insurgency operations in Rakhine state in August. UN officials have also described what is happening as ethnic cleansing, while Amnesty International has said the treatment of the Rohingya has been on a par with the institutionalised racism of apartheid South Africa. The Saudi-led coalition imposed a total blockade of Yemen's ports and airports two days after the Huthis fired a missile at Saudi Arabia on November 4 The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said Wednesday it would reopen a key Red Sea port and Sanaa airport to aid, after a more than two-week blockade following a missile attack on Riyadh. The coalition said it would reopen Hodeida port to receive "urgent humanitarian and relief materials" and Sanaa airport to UN aircraft from midday on Thursday (0900 GMT). It did not specify when or if it would ease a blockade on commercial traffic. Hodeida, which is controlled by Huthi rebels backed by Saudi Arabia's arch-rival Iran, is a key conduit for much-needed food and medicine imports to Yemen. The coalition imposed a total blockade of Yemen's ports and airports two days after the Huthis fired a missile at Saudi Arabia on November 4. The missile was intercepted near Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport, sparking a war of words between Tehran and Riyadh, which accused Iran of "direct aggression" and supplying arms to the Huthis. The United Nations said Wednesday it had been notified by the Saudi authorities of the reopening on Thursday of the Yemeni ports of Hodeida and Saleef, as well as Sanaa airport. "We are monitoring these developments and we are trying to see whether that actually takes place on the ground," UN spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters at UN headquarters in New York. "Of course, if that were to happen that would be a very welcome and critically important development." Aid group Save the Children welcomed the coalition's announcement but said opening the port and airport would be "nowhere near enough to avert a potential famine in Yemen". "Humanitarian relief only provides a small portion of the essential goods needed in Yemen -- commercial supplies are critical to feed the population and keep basic services running," it said. UN aid chief Mark Lowcock called on November 8 for the blockade to be lifted, warning that Yemen would otherwise face "the largest famine the world has seen for decades". The Huthi government on Tuesday announced the country's main international airport was fully functional again a week after a Saudi-led air strike destroyed the facility's navigation system. The airport had been open to only select humanitarian flights. Allied with Yemeni strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh, the Iran-backed Huthi rebels control the capital Sanaa along with much of northern Yemen. In 2015, Saudi Arabia and its allies joined the Yemeni government's fight against the rebels. More than 8,750 people have since been killed. The country also faces a deadly cholera epidemic and millions stand at the brink of official famine. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says Yemen is highly dependent on imported wheat for its basic needs. Emmerson Mnangagwa is a veteran politician who has held multiple cabinet positions since Zimbabwe's independence in 1980 Emmerson Mnangagwa, who will be inaugurated on Friday as Zimbabwe's next president, is a political veteran and party hardliner who for decades worked closely with Robert Mugabe. Here are key dates in his career: - September 15, 1942: Born in the British colony of Southern Rhodesia but moves as a teenager with his family to Zambia, known at the time as Northern Rhodesia - 1960s: Joins the struggle for independence after military training in China and Egypt but is arrested and spends 10 years in prison - 1980: After Zimbabwe wins independence, appointed security minister in Robert Mugabe's first post-independence government. In this position, he oversees a crackdown on suspected opposition dissidents that leaves thousands dead - 1983: Directs a brutal crackdown on opposition supporters in the provinces of Matabeleland and Midlands, which leaves thousands dead - 2000: As justice minister, a post he has held since 1989, he announces moves to seize white-owned farms - December 2004: Sidelined for the post of vice president when Mugabe appoints a rival - 2008: After Mugabe loses the first round of presidential elections, Mnangagwa allegedly supervises the wave of violence and intimidation that forces the opposition to withdraw from the run-off vote - December 10, 2014: Is named vice president and deputy head of the ZANU-PF, putting him in pole position to one day succeed Mugabe - November 6, 2017: Mugabe sacks Mnangagwa on grounds of disloyalty in a dispute over succession, triggering the country's worst political crisis since independence. Two days later he flees the country - November 22, 2017: Returns triumphantly after Mugabe's shock resignation to eventually take over as president, tells crowds they are witnessing "unfolding full democracy" bur-ang-br-gw/dcr No more Mugabe, but will there be much change under his successor? Even before Robert Mugabe's resignation, many Zimbabweans tempered their yearning for his downfall with the knowledge that his likely successor has a similar reputation for brutality and corruption. Emmerson Mnangagwa, who until recently was one of Mugabe's longest-serving and closest allies, will be sworn in as the new president on Friday offering Zimbabwe the chance to open a new chapter. But his career as a hardline minister in the ZANU-PF party points to a new leader who could be just as keen to suppress opposition voices, restrict freedoms and govern with an iron fist. "It's a great relief that he is out of the way, but we shouldn't get too excited about the new guy," Patrick Moyo, a 38-year-old bank worker told AFP. "People must not forget his past." Mnangagwa's past allegedly includes two of the most infamous episodes of state-sponsored violence during Mugabe's reign -- both of which he is accused of overseeing. After independence in 1980, Mnangagwa, then the state security minister, directed the "Gukurahundi" massacres of supposed dissidents in the Matabeleland and Midlands provinces. The government, which drew most of its support from the ethnic Shona majority, unleashed the North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade on the Ndebele people leaving an estimated 20,000 people dead and deep scars on the national psyche. - 'Mugabe's enforcer' - Emmerson Mnangagwa, seen here in Harare earlier in the year, has been one of Mugabe's closest allies In the 2008 election, Mnangagwa was also seen as the architect of the wave of deadly violence and intimidation that forced the opposition to pull out of a run-off vote which Mugabe risked losing. "This is a change of a leader within the same authoritarian system of ZANU-PF backed by the military," Dewa Mavhinga, southern African director of Human Rights Watch, told AFP. "It's unlikely that there will be significant changes because Mnangagwa was Mugabe's enforcer. He is likely to continue as far as abuses, impunity and lack of democratic change are concerned. "He has to protect those who have been implicated in abuses because it is essentially the same team." Anthoni van Nieuwkerk, a politics professor at Wits University in Johannesburg, described Mnangagwa, 75, as having "blood on his hands". "He is not an angel or a democrat by any definition," Van Nieuwkerk said. "He is an old politician with significant support inside the military and inside the ruling party." Other accusations against Mnangagwa include his alleged involvement in illegal gold and diamond mining that has helped fund the ZANU-PF regime as well as made him a wealthy man. He is known as "The Crocodile" -- both for his ruthlessness and his membership of "The Crocodile Gang", a sabotage unit during the independence war against British colonial rule. - 'Another dictator'? - "We need a complete overhaul, not just the removal of one person at the top. With any elements of ZANU-PF still in power, I doubt that we will move forward," said Oscar Muponda, an office worker in the capital. "We hate ZANU-PF and we don't want to replace a dictator with another dictator." Mnangagwa was previously targeted by US and EU sanctions but is no longer blacklisted. Despite his record, international diplomats have built a working relationship with him as a likely future leader who may usher in limited reforms. He could also head a national unity government that would include opposition leaders and rule the country for some years before new elections. Many hope he could at least bring rapid economic growth after Mugabe's "indigenisation" policies and farm seizures saw investors flee, production collapse and unemployment rise to over 90 percent. Under Mnangagwa, there could be "economic proposals aimed at Zimbabwe's re-engagement with the international community," said London-based analyst IHS Markit. It is a hope that many Zimbabweans are clinging to as Mnangagwa prepares to take his oath of office. "The main concern is about the financial crisis," said Berry Makiyi, 35, an electrical engineering entrepreneur. "He should tackle this issue first." bgs-chp-sn-fj/gw/hmw Former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar admitted to seven counts of sex abuse -- and apologized to his victims in court Former USA Gymnastics team doctor Lawrence "Larry" Nassar, accused of molesting more than 100 female athletes over several decades, pleaded guilty Wednesday to multiple counts of criminal sexual conduct. Nassar -- who was involved with USA Gymnastics for nearly three decades and worked with the country's gymnasts at four separate Olympic Games -- could be sentenced to at least 25 years in prison. Nassar faced 22 criminal counts of sexual assault in Michigan for abusing athletes under the guise of providing medical treatment. As part of a plea agreement, Nassar admitted to seven counts of abuse. Three of his victims were under 13 years old, and the others were aged between 13 and 15. A handcuffed and gaunt Nassar appeared in court in an orange prison jumpsuit. Speaking softly and at times with heavy sighs, he pleaded guilty with a simple "yes" as each charge was read. He then addressed the court with a statement. He said he prayed for his victims and was "horribly sorry" for his crimes, which relate to events in Michigan that took place between 1998 and 2015. "I want them to heal. I want this community to heal," Nassar said. Judge Rosemarie Aquilina, addressing both Nassar and victims in the packed courtroom, said the former doctor's words "fall very short." "You used that position of trust that you had in the most vile way -- to abuse children," Aquilina said. "I agree that now is a time of healing. But, it may take them a lifetime of healing, while you spend your lifetime behind bars." - A 'monster' - US 2012 Olympic gold medal winning gymnastic team members (L-R) Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney, and Gabby Douglas are among those who have said Larry Nassar abused them Olympic gold medal-winning gymnasts Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney and Gabby Douglas are among those who have said Nassar abused them. Raisman reacted to the court hearing on Twitter, calling Nassar "a MONSTER not a doctor." Rachael Denhollander, the first to publicly accuse Nassar, doubted his courtroom apology. "He's a consummate narcissist. He's a master manipulator," Denhollander said at a post-hearing news conference. "I don't believe there was anything sincere in what Larry said, other than his desire to refocus the attention on the good that he believed he did today." The Michigan charges stemmed from Nassar's practice, based at Michigan State University, where prosecutors said 125 victims have come forward alleging abuse. Prosecutors told the court all of the victims had approved of the plea agreement, under which eight charges were dropped. - New 'safe sport policy' - Nassar's case was part of a wide-ranging scandal which forced the resignation of USA Gymnastics chief Steve Penny in March. Penny was accused by victims of failing to quickly notify authorities about abuse allegations. USA Gymnastics adopted a new "safe sport policy" in response to the Nassar scandal that requires "mandatory reporting" of suspicions of sexual abuse. With Nassar now being held accountable for his crimes, three of his victims and their lawyers demanded additional accountability from officials who were aware of prior accusations. Denhollander accused the university, and the US Olympics and gymnastics organizations of being "unable to acknowledge" past failures. "You have failed to hold anyone accountable for allowing a pedophile to flourish for decades," she said. A civil lawsuit has been filed on behalf of about 100 of Nassar's alleged victims. Their attorney, John Manly, estimated that the total number could be as high as 160. Manly accused Michigan State University of "stonewalling" his efforts to find out how university officials dealt with past allegations against Nassar, which had prompted a 2014 internal investigation. In a statement, spokesman Jason Cody said the university "unequivocally" denied that it had "engaged in a 'cover up'," and pointed to a law enforcement probe earlier this year -- the results of which he said were shared with federal prosecutors. "We have no reason to believe that any criminal conduct was found," he said. Nassar has previously pleaded guilty to separate federal child pornography charges. The judge in the state case set a January 12 sentencing hearing, during which victims will be given an opportunity to speak. Nassar is also scheduled to appear in a separate plea hearing Monday on the remainder of the charges against him. This Thanksgiving, several Flagstaff organizations are reaching out to the greater community with invitations to a free dinner. The free dinners are open to anyone. Living Christ Lutheran Church (6401 N. US Highway 89) is hosting a free Thanksgiving meal today, Wednesday, Nov. 22, at the church, for the homeless, the hungry and those in need of fellowship. For more information or to donate or volunteer, call 699-4553. On Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 23, free meals will be served at three locations around Flagstaff. Sunshine Rescue Mission (124 S. San Francisco St.) will serve a full Thanksgiving feast with turkey and all the fixings from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. For more information or to donate or volunteer, call 774-3512. Kingdomheirs church, (520 N. Switzer Canyon Road) invites anyone who needs a place to spend Thanksgiving to its turkey dinner from 1-4 p.m. They will also deliver meals to the homebound and provide rides to the dinner. For information, to donate or for rides, call 774-6304. Finally, the Flagstaff Family Food Center (1903 N. Second St.) will host its annual turkey dinner from 4-5:30 p.m. There will be turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole and cranberry sauce. Call 774-3188 or visit hotfood.org for more information. A modern look at a classic holiday story Acro-Yoga, aerial dance, updated choreography and costumes, and creative versions of the music by Tchaikovsky are all part of the show at Canyon Movement Companys 14th annual production of the Nutcracker Suite in Modern Bare Feet this December. Partnering with Canyon Dance Academy this year will be Velocity Dance Company, Monsoon Sisters Belly Dance and Flagstaff Aerial Arts. The show is moving back to its original home, the Clifford E. White Theater on Northern Arizona University campus. It will include new special effects, and updated choreography, new cast members, enhanced contemporary costumes, a cast of over 40 dancers, and aerial dance. This annual Flagstaff tradition uses music by Peter Tchaikovsky with some contemporary versions inserted among the traditional, and new choreographic interpretations lending a fresh look to this classical favorite. The show is set with the San Francisco Peaks as its backdrop. The party is set at Clara's home here in Flagstaff, where friends and family come to celebrate. Gifts are given, and Clara's godfather gives her a beautiful Nutcracker doll. Clara's little sister Frankie breaks the doll and Clara's heart. As Clara (Ella Moore) sleeps, her dream becomes a magical fantasy in the most beautiful place in the world where dancers from all over the world perform for her and her life-size Nutcracker prince. Canyon Movement Company dancers/choreographers include show director Cori Wall, Sarah Thomas, Stacia Simonsen, Nathaniel Haviland, Chelsea Taylor, Samantha Quintanilla, Desi Groth, Chelsea Foreman, Laurel Combs and Karli Haviland. Performances are Friday Dec. 8 at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday Dec. 9, at 11 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. Tickets are $17, $11 for children and students. Call 523-5661 for tickets or visit canyonmovementcompany.org. Members of Canyon Movement Company and the cast are also presenting a free lecture/demonstration for local students as part of their community outreach and educational programs. Former Blackwater security guard Nicholas Slatten (C), seen here in 2009, could face retrial as early as May, The Washington Post reported A former security contractor for the US firm Blackwater, whose murder conviction for a deadly 2007 Baghdad shooting was overturned last August, is to face a fresh trial. Federal prosecutors said Nicholas Slatten, who was originally found guilty of first-degree murder, will face retrial as early as May, The Washington Post reported. Slatten was part of a Blackwater Worldwide security detail that opened fire on civilians at a bustling traffic circle in the Iraqi capital in September 2007, killing 14 people and sparking international outrage. He and three other former Blackwater guards were found guilty of murder in 2014, but the appeals court ruled this year that Slatten's conviction be thrown out, arguing that he should have faced a separate trial from his co-defendants. Slatten, 33, had been accused of opening fire first during the incident, killing the driver of a van that had stopped near the Blackwater motorcade on Nisour Square in Baghdad. But the appeals court ruled that since another of the accused had confessed to opening fire first, Slatten's conviction could not stand and that he should face a retrial on his own. The US contractors shot at civilians, including women and children, with sniper rifles, machine guns and grenade launchers, killing at least 14 and wounding 17 others -- a slaughter that caused fury even in war-ravaged Iraq. Relatives of the slain called for the four US guards to be executed. Federal prosecutors in the US capital expect the trial to last around six weeks and to call around 50 witnesses, including more than a dozen Iraqis, the Post said. The first hearing to set a trial date will take place on December 14, when officials will also decide on whether to release Slatten from a federal prison in Florida, where he has been serving a life sentence. Uber is now the target of two state probes into its cover-up of a massive hack last year Two US states said Wednesday they are investigating Uber's cover-up of a hack at the ride-sharing giant that compromised the personal information of 57 million users and drivers. Uber purportedly paid data thieves $100,000 to destroy the swiped information -- and remained quiet about the breach for a year. That decision evidently came despite a promise by the firm to "adopt leading data security protection practices" in a settlement with New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman. Schneiderman and his counterpart in Connecticut, George Jepsen, on Wednesday told AFP that Uber is the target of probes in their states over the hidden hack. "None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it," Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi, who took over at the company in August, said Tuesday. Two members of the Uber information security team who "led the response" that included not alerting users about the data breach were let go from the San Francisco-based company effective Tuesday, according to Khosrowshahi. The Uber chief said he only recently learned that outsiders had broken into a cloud-based server used by the company for data and downloaded a "significant" amount of information. Stolen files included names, email addresses, and mobile phone numbers for riders, and the names and driver license information of some 600,000 drivers, according to Uber. Uber paid the hackers $100,000 to destroy the data, not telling riders or drivers whose information was at risk, according to a source familiar with the situation. Co-founder and ousted chief Travis Kalanick was advised of the breach shortly after it was discovered, but it was not made public until Khosrowshahi learned of the incident, the source confirmed. - Promise to protect - In early 2016, Schneiderman announced a settlement with Uber stemming from an investigation into the company's handling and protection of riders' personal information. The probe was prompted by word of a hack, and by reports that Uber executives were able to track the locations of riders in real-time using a tool known internally as "God View." The settlement required Uber to better protect rider data, and pay $20,000 for failing to tell drivers about the 2014 data breach in a timely manner. Schneiderman's office determined that the earlier hack took advantage of access information posted by an Uber engineer at software development platform Github. Computer security specialists interviewed by AFP said the recent breach apparently involved a similar slip with a password that was taken from Github and used to get into Uber data stored in the cloud at Amazon Web Services. "The fact that attackers were able to compromise an Amazon Web Services account and not come away with credit card numbers, social security numbers, and other highly sensitive information could mean that Uber had controls in place to keep this kind of data very well-secured," said Covata vice president of security Mike Fleck. "Its also possible that the attackers just didn't look very hard and Uber got lucky." Hackers are known to take seemingly low-value information, such as email addresses, and build on them with what they can find or steal elsewhere to prey on victims, according to McAfee vice president of labs Vincent Weafer. "On the hacker side, there is aggregation, tying disparate data sets together," Weafer said. "There is no such thing as benign information; we really have to take better care." Law firm Keller Rohrback put out word on Wednesday that it is looking into the potential for a class action suit against Uber. "By choosing not to disclose this massive data breach and attempting to mitigate the breach by paying the hackers to destroy the data, Uber has essentially rolled the dice with its customers' and drivers' personal identities," law firm partner Cari Campen Laufenberg said in a release. State law in Uber's home state of California calls on companies to disclose big data breaches without unreasonable delay, meaning the handling of the hack could herald a rough stretch of road there. Russian President Vladimir Putin (C), Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani pose during a trilateral meeting on Syria in Sochi on November 22, 2017 The government of war-ravaged Syria on Wednesday welcomed a deal between the presidents of its allies Russia, Iran and rebel backer Turkey to hold a peace "congress" of regime and opposition forces. "The Syrian government welcomes the closing statement" of the meeting in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, said a foreign ministry source quoted by the official SANA news agency. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iran's President Hassan Rouhani had agreed to the summit, set to place before United Nations-backed talks in Geneva next week. The congress would "gather representatives of different political parties, internal and external opposition" to discuss "the parameters of the future state," he said. The Syrian foreign ministry official said Syria has "always" supported "any political action that respects its sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, and helps put an end to the shedding of Syrian blood". Numerous attempts to end the war in Syria have failed. A major stumbling block is the fate of President Bashar al-Assad, whose opponents demand his immediate departure. A new round of United Nations-backed talks is set for November 28 in Geneva. Anti-government protests broke out in Syria in 2011. The government's brutal response sparked a complex civil war that has wracked swathes of the country, killed more than 330,000 and displaced millions. Closed-door talks starting November 21, 2017, were aimed at pushing ahead with Palestinian reconciliation efforts, and were attended by representatives of 13 political parties Leading Palestinian political factions agreed Wednesday on the need to hold elections by the end of 2018, they said in a joint statement issued after two days of reconciliation talks in Cairo. The factions called on the electoral commission to prepare for the presidential and legislative polls and also asked Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to set a date for them after consulting with all sides. Wednesday's statement also praised a unity agreement struck between the two largest parties -- Hamas and Fatah -- in October aimed at ending a 10-year rift between them and under which Hamas is to cede power in the Gaza Strip by December 1. The closed-door talks opened on Tuesday, aimed at pushing ahead with the reconciliation efforts, and were attended by representatives of 13 political parties. The statement said the Egyptian-sponsored unity deal between the Islamist movement Hamas and Abbas's Fatah party was a "realistic start to end divisions". It underscored the "importance of removing all obstacles in the path of the government's efforts to immediately assume its responsibilities towards our people". There have been no Palestinian parliamentary elections since Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007 from Fatah, which dominates the Palestinian Authority government in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Palestinian and international leaders hope implementation of the unity deal could help ease the hardships of Gaza's two million residents, who suffer from severe poverty and unemployment. The division between Palestinian factions has also been cited as one of the largest obstacles to meaningful peace talks with the Israelis. It faces significant stumbling blocks, in particular the future of Hamas's vast armed wing, which has fought three wars with Israel since 2008. The Fatah-dominated Palestinian government seated in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah has also refused to remove crippling sanctions on Gaza that include reduced electricity. Israeli security forces gather at the site of a car ramming attack outside the Israeli settlement of Ofra, north of the Palestinian city of Ramallah, on April 6, 2017 A Palestinian convicted of killing an Israeli soldier and wounding another in the occupied West Bank was handed two life sentences by a military court on Wednesday, the Israeli army said. "A military court sentenced Hamas operative Malek Hamed to two life sentences for killing Sergeant Elchai Teharlev and injuring another soldier," it said. The attack took place in April at an intersection near the Israeli settlement of Ofra, north of Ramallah. Hamed drove his vehicle at a group of Israeli soldiers waiting at a bus stop, killing Teharlev, 20, and wounding a 19-year-old fellow soldier, the army said. The attacker was wounded by gunfire and arrested at the scene. A wave of violence that broke out in October 2015 has claimed the lives of at least 303 Palestinians or Israeli Arabs, 51 Israelis, two Americans, two Jordanians, one Eritrean, one Sudanese and one Briton, according to an AFP count. Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, according to Israeli authorities. Others were shot dead during protests or clashes, while some were killed in Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip. A man waves the flags of Egypt and Palestine in this file picture taken in Gaza City on October 12, 2017 after rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah reached an agreement on ending a decade-long split Palestinian factions said Wednesday they agreed on the need to hold elections by the end of 2018 and praised the unity deal aimed at ending a long-running dispute between Fatah and Hamas. The call for elections was made in a joint statement at the end of two days of closed-door talks attended by representatives of 13 leading political parties. The factions called on the electoral commission to prepare for presidential and legislative elections to be held by the end of next year at the latest. They asked Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to set a date for the polls after consulting with all sides. The factions also praised the unity deal struck between the two largest parties -- Hamas and Fatah -- in October. The Egyptian-sponsored agreement is aimed at ending the 10-year rift between them, and calls on Hamas to cede power in the Gaza Strip to Fatah by December 1. The statement said the reconciliation deal between the Islamist movement Hamas and Abbas's Fatah party was a "realistic start to end divisions". It underscored the "importance of removing all obstacles in the path of the government's efforts to immediately assume its responsibilities towards our people". There have been no Palestinian parliamentary elections since Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007 from Fatah, which dominates the Palestinian Authority government in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Palestinian and international leaders hope implementation of the unity deal could help ease the hardships of Gaza's two million residents, who suffer from severe poverty and unemployment. - Hurdles on path to unity - The agreement faces significant stumbling blocks, in particular the future of Hamas's vast armed wing, which has fought three wars with Israel since 2008. Abbas has repeatedly said he would only accept one military authority in the Palestinian territories, but Hamas officials have refused to disarm. Israel -- which has maintained a crippling decade-long blockade of Gaza -- has also said it would not accept any Palestinian government that includes Hamas unless the Islamist group puts down its weapons. The Fatah-dominated Palestinian government seated in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah has also refused to remove crippling sanctions on Gaza that include reduced electricity. UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Nickolay Mladenov, told the UN Security Council on Monday that, despite the challenges, the reconciliation "must not be allowed to fail". "If it does, it will most likely result in another devastating conflict," he said. In a crucial first step, Hamas handed over Gaza border crossings on November 1, and control of a number of government ministries has also been transferred. The division between Palestinian factions has also been cited as one of the largest obstacles to meaningful peace talks with the Israelis. Previous reconciliation attempts have failed. The Cairo talks came as the US moved to close the Palestinian diplomatic office in Washington run by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Under long-standing US law, permission for PLO to maintain its mission in Washington must be renewed every six months but last week the US State Department refused to renew the permit. The factions meeting in Cairo denounced the US move, which they see a bid to put "pressure" on the Palestinians to force them to accept US demands in any future peace talks with Israel. The April 4 attack on Khan Sheikhun triggered global outrage as images of suffering children, such as these receiveing treatment, were shown worldwide After vetoing the renewal of a UN-led probe into chemical attacks in Syria, Russia on Wednesday said it was open to establishing a new panel to investigate the use of toxic gases in the six-year war. Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told reporters that the "JIM is dead," referring to the Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) that shut down on Friday after two years of work to identify the perpetrators of chemical weapons attacks in Syria. "We are ready to talk about establishing, creating a new mechanism that would replace the JIM and do the work in a truly professional, objective and unbiased manner," Nebenzia said following a closed-door Security Council meeting. Russia last week used its veto power twice to block the renewal of the JIM, which last month concluded that the Syrian air force dropped sarin on the opposition-held village of Khan Sheikhun, killing scores of people. The April 4 attack triggered global outrage as images of dying children were shown worldwide, prompting the United States to launch missile strikes on a Syrian air base days later. Russia has rejected the findings, saying the investigation was flawed because the experts did not travel to Khan Sheikhun and relied on witnesses that it says were linked to the opposition of President Bashar al-Assad. Nebenzia said the "JIM has discredited itself completely. It cannot continue in the present form." The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is set to present several other reports from its fact-finding missions in Syria which are looking into the use of chemical weapons. A recent OPCW report has concluded that sarin was used in another incident on March 30 in the village of Latamneh and is currently before the council. "Even if we don't have a JIM, we require something whose job it is to look at those reports from the OPCW and to determine which of the parties in Syria is responsible for each use of chemical weapons," said British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft this week. "This is a crucial building block towards accountability," he said. The United States has accused Russia of shutting down the JIM with its veto to protect its Syrian ally. US Ambassador Nikki Haley said Friday after the Russian veto that "Russia will not agree to any mechanism that might shine a spotlight on the use of chemical weapons by its ally, the Syrian regime." Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said the country is "in favor of peace and stability" in the troubled Korean peninsula Cuba, one of North Korea's few allies, called on Wednesday for "peace and stability" in the Korean peninsula and stressed the need for dialogue to reduce tensions between Pyongyang and Washington. Upon receiving his North Korean counterpart Ri Yong-Ho in Havana, foreign affairs minister Bruno Rodriguez said Cuba is "in favor of peace and stability," adding that "only after dialogue and negotiations can a lasting political solution be achieved," according to Cuban media. In the wake of President Trump's declaration of North Korea as a state sponsor of terror on Monday, Rodriguez also rejected what he called the United States' "unilateral certifications and dictates" on North Korea -- insisting they served as a basis for "the application of coercive measures contrary to international law." Meanwhile, Ri blamed the "increased use of imperialist military force" for the worsening situation in the Korean peninsula, and stressed the importance of Cuba-North Korea relations as "two socialism-building countries." His visit comes as Pyongyang and Washington continue to clash over North Korea's numerous ballistic missile and nuclear tests -- while US-Cuba relations, re-established in 2015 after a 50-year stand-off, have also deteriorated under President Trump. On September 23, Ri denounced Trump in a speech at the United Nations, and expressed "strong support and solidarity with the Cuban government and people." In May, President Raul Castro also expressed Cuba's solidarity with Pyongyang to visiting North Korean union leader Ju Yong-Gil. Horst Kohler (L), the UN envoy for Western Sahara, in an October meeting with Brahim Ghali (R), secretary general of the Algerian-backed Polisario Front which is pushing for an independence referendum in the disputed territory Fresh from a regional tour to discuss the dispute over Western Sahara, the new UN envoy said Wednesday he was "encouraged" but did not announce plans for new political talks. Former German president Horst Koehler was appointed in August as special envoy to lead a new UN push for talks between Morocco and the Algerian-backed Polisario Front on Western Sahara. After briefing the Security Council behind closed doors, Koehler told reporters "I am encouraged" but declined to provide details. "We know it's a very complex issue but there was a kind of constructive attitude in all the interlocutors he met," said Italian Ambassador Sebastiano Cardi, who is council president this month. The council adopted a resolution in April that calls for kick-starting talks on a settlement following a tense standoff last year between Moroccan troops and Polisario fighters in Guerguerat, a remote area in Western Sahara near Mauritania. Morocco and the Polisario fought for control of Western Sahara from 1974 to 1991, with Rabat taking over the desert territory before a UN-brokered ceasefire in the former Spanish colony. Rabat considers Western Sahara an integral part of Morocco and proposes autonomy for the resource-rich territory, but the Polisario Front insists on a UN referendum on independence. The Polisario's UN representative, Ahmed Boukhari, said the new envoy will need "stronger support" from the council if he is to make progress. Boukhari accuses France of backing Morocco in the dispute and preventing the council from putting pressure on Rabat. After traveling to Morocco, Algeria and Mauritania during his first tour, Koehler is now weighing "the next steps," said Cardi. The United Nations opened negotiations between Morocco and the Polisario in 2007 and there have been several rounds since, with the latest held outside of New York in 2012. There has been little progress however toward a settlement. Facebook on Wednesday said it will help people see if they liked or followed posts considered part of a Russian effort to meddle with last year's US election. A software tool to be released by the end of this year will allow users to see whether they engaged with Facebook pages or Instagram accounts linked to the Internet Research Agency between January 2015 and the August before last year's presidential election. The agency is seen as a Russian resource for spreading propaganda online. The new tool, which will be available for use by the end of the year in the Facebook Help Center. It will enable people on Facebook to learn which of the Internet Research Agency Facebook Pages or Instagram accounts they may have liked or followed between January 2015 and August 2017 'It is important that people understand how foreign actors tried to sow division and mistrust using Facebook before and after the 2016 US election,' the leading online social network said in a blog post. Creation of the new tool comes in the face of Congressional pressure on Facebook and other internet giants to let users know if they were exposed to Russian propaganda prior to the election. Google, Facebook and other tech firms joined global news organizations earlier this month in an initiative aimed at identifying 'trustworthy' news sources, in the latest effort to combat online misinformation. Microsoft and Twitter also agreed to participate in the 'Trust Project' with some 75 news organizations to tag news stories which meet standards for ethics and transparency. Google, Twitter and Facebook have come under fire for allowing the spread of bogus news -- some of which was directed by Russia -- ahead of the 2016 US election and in other countries. During a quarterly earnings call with analysts this month, Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg addressed criticism over allowing disinformation and manipulation during the US presidential election, just hours after the company's top lawyer faced a grilling at a Washington congressional hearing. 'Our community continues to grow and our business is doing well,' Zuckerberg said. A software tool to be released by the end of this year will show people whether they engaged with Facebook pages or Instagram accounts of the Russia-linked Internet Research Agency 'But none of that matters if our services are used in ways that don't bring people closer together. Protecting our community is more important than maximizing our profits.' Facebook told Congress that the apparent political meddling included use of its image-sharing application Instagram. Facebook general counsel Colin Stretch told a hearing that Instagram posts by suspect Russian accounts were seen by some 20 million Americans last year. The data on Instagram is on top of the estimated 126 million Americans exposed to Facebook posts from Russian entities seeking to create divisions during the election campaign. 'I've expressed how upset I am that the Russians tried to use our tools to sow mistrust,' Zuckerberg said earlier this month. 'What they did is wrong and we are not going to stand for it.' It was by chance that Eva Ramirez Rios noticed a small lump in her right breast while taking off her blouse one day in July 2015. She couldnt sleep that night, knowing what the lump likely meant. Two months later, Ramirez Rios was preparing for surgery to remove both her breasts and both her ovaries after doctors diagnosed her with invasive breast cancer. After surgery it was four months of chemotherapy, then another six weeks of radiation. There were times when she thought she couldnt do it anymore, when her hair and eyebrows were falling out and when her skin turned black from the radiation, Ramirez Rios said. But sitting next to her husband last week, more than two years after she was first diagnosed, Ramirez Rios said she wouldnt be here today without those treatments and the program that allowed her to access them. Ramirez Rios is undocumented and doesnt have insurance. She and her husband say they never would have been able to afford her breast cancer treatment on their own. Thats where North Country HealthCares Well Woman Healthcheck and Treatment Link programs come in. Together, they provide free breast and cervical cancer screening and diagnostic services as well as low-cost or free treatment for women diagnosed with breast cancer who are low income, dont have insurance and dont qualify for other sources of assistance. They are known as a payer of last resort. But after this March, the Treatment Link program will face deep financial cuts that could force it to reduce its services or put them on hold until it finds another source of money. Almost 100 percent of the programs funding for breast cancer treatments comes from the Susan G. Komen organization, which closed its doors in Arizona in July. The organization said the closure was due to declining donations and event participation. But that means an end to the $150,000 that Komen Arizona has donated to the Treatment Link program annually for at least the past 15 years, said Elizabeth Markona, North Countrys Treatment Link program coordinator. The organization already reduced its donation to $50,000 this year, but an anonymous $100,000 donation will help the program get by until its fiscal year ends in March, Markona said. The money pays for breast cancer treatment, from chemotherapy drugs to surgeries to radiation, for about 25 women each year, she said. The program can treat that many women thanks to several financial breaks. Care providers in the community donate their time or have agreed to provide surgeries and radiation treatments at Medicare rates, which knocks about 70 percent off the billed amount, Markona said. At those rates, a typical surgery costs about $4,000 and radiation treatment costs about $20,000, she said. Sometimes those Medicare prices are less than the cost to administer the treatment, but providers agree to them because they support the cause, Markona said. The providers involved in just Ramirez Rios's case, for example, included Northern Arizona Radiology, Flagstaff Surgical Associates, Arizona Oncology, the Cancer Center of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff Ob/Gyn and Plastic Surgeons of Northern Arizona. Individuals served by Treatment Link also can qualify for programs through pharmaceutical companies that provide their drugs for free if no generic version is available. Without that, chemotherapy drugs can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, Markona said. Instead Treatment Link pays just the administration costs of the drugs that run between $15,000 and $25,000. NO WAY TO PAY Now healthy and cancer-free, Ramirez Rios said she has no idea what she would have done without North Countrys services. The programs covered all of the costs involved in her nine months of treatment besides the medication she bought for pain and nausea. Ramirez Rios husband, Marco Carillo Solis, said even if he got on some kind of payment plan, he wouldnt have been able to pay back the full treatment cost in his lifetime. To be honest, we were just really lucky to get that help," Carillo Solis said. If we didnt get help from the program, she would have died. Ramirez Rios now tells all of her friends to get screened regularly in hopes they will never have to experience what she went through. But the Well Woman Healthcheck program, which provides free breast and cervical cancer screenings for all who qualify, will also see deep reductions due to the loss in Treatment Link funding. While the Healthcheck program is funded by state and federal dollars, that money comes with the condition that North Country only screen people if it can guarantee that if they are diagnosed with cancer, it can link them to and assist them with treatment costs. That is the role of the Treatment Link program. If Treatment Links services go away, then North Country staff estimate they would have to reduce the number of women they screen for breast and cervical cancer by about half, Markona said. The health center currently screens more than 1,000 women each year, she said. That's a very significant chunk of women we screen who we wouldnt be able to screen, she said. Funding for a similar program in Prescott is going away as well, which means there will be no funding for breast cancer treatment in northern Arizona, Markona said. There just aren't other grants that pay for treatment, she said. Those helped by the Treatment Link program include undocumented immigrants like Ramirez Rios, people with high deductible health insurance plans, men diagnosed with breast cancer and new immigrants because even documented immigrants will not qualify for assistance until they have been here with documentation for five years, Markona said. In terms of other resources, Northern Arizona Healthcare, the parent organization over Flagstaff Medical Center, offers $89 mammograms in Cottonwood and Sedona during the month of October and has a financial assistance program for people who don't have insurance and don't qualify for Medicaid, spokeswoman Sophia Papa wrote in an email. The American Cancer Society also helps cancer patients and their families in the Flagstaff area. But the nonprofit has no plans to take over the services formerly offered by Komen, spokeswoman Brittany Conklin wrote in an email. We recognize there are some gaps in funding and resources available in Arizona since Komen has left, Conklin wrote in the email. The American Cancer Society is working with the states Well Woman program and other hospitals and Federally Qualified Health Centers like North Country to develop a state approach for addressing these gaps, she wrote. The American Cancer Society made its own changes to cut back on costs in July when it closed its Flagstaff office and switched its two local representatives to working out of their homes. The Manus camp was closed after a PNG Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional, and some 600 refugees were told to relocate to three nearby transition centres Papua New Guinea police moved into the shuttered Australian refugee camp on the country's Manus Island Thursday in the most aggressive push yet to force hundreds of men to leave, the Australian government and detainees said. The police operation was confirmed by Australia's Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, who said Canberra was "very keen for people to move out of the Manus regional processing centre". "I think it's outrageous that people are still there," he told Sydney commercial radio station 2GB. "We want people to move." Iranian Behrouz Boochani tweeted from inside the camp earlier Thursday, writing that "police have started to break the shelters, water tanks and are saying 'move, move'". "Navy soldiers are outside the prison camp. We are on high alert right now. We are under attack," he said, adding that two refugees were in need of urgent medical treatment. Other refugees posted photos to social media sites showing police entering the camp, which Australia declared closed on October 31 after the PNG Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional. A human rights campaigner from Australian activist group GetUp Shen Narayanasamy told AFP she had heard there were buses parked outside the camp, although police "have not as yet forcibly dragged anyone" to them. Australian Federal Police said in a statement to AFP that they had one liaison officer on Manus, but no personnel were in the camp or involved in the police operation. Australia had shut off electricity and water supplies to the camp and demanded that some 600 asylum-seekers detained there move to three nearby transition centres. Around 400 of the asylum-seekers have refused to leave, saying they fear for their safety in a local population which opposes their presence on the island. They also say the three transition centres are not fully operational, with a lack of security, sufficient water or electricity. Meanwhile, PNG Supreme Court is due to hear on December 15 an appeal against its ruling earlier this month that the camp's basic services were not to be restored, lawyer Ben Lomai told AFP Thursday. - Refugees 'need help' - Canberra sends asylum-seekers who try to reach Australia by boat to detention camps in Manus Island and Nauru under a harsh immigration policy, and blocks them from resettling in Australia. PNG Police Commissioner Gari Baki on Tuesday said his officers would not use force to move the men. "The refugees will be asked politely to pack up and voluntarily leave the centre," the police said in a statement Tuesday. "(Baki) is confident the operation will be carried out successfully and in an orderly manner." Canberra has strongly rejected calls to move the refugees to Australia and instead has tried to resettle them in third countries, including the United States. But so far, just 54 refugees have been accepted by Washington, with 24 flown to America in September. Despite widespread criticism, Canberra has defended its offshore processing policy as stopping deaths at sea after a spate of drownings. The camps' conditions have been slammed by human rights groups amid reports of widespread abuse, self-harm and mental health problems. Former Australians of the Year on Thursday called for the refugees to be given immediate medical help an open letter to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and the leader of the main Labor opposition party Bill Shorten. "This is not who we are as Australians or indeed as human beings," the letter said, adding: "We believe that it is time to stop the unacceptable and internationally criticised treatment of the refugees." The Australian Medical Association on Sunday called on Canberra to allow doctors to help the refugees, warning there was a "worsening and more dangerous situation emerging on Manus". BERLIN (AP) - The collapse of talks to form a new German government has weakened Chancellor Angela Merkel and left her country, an influential European economic powerhouse, facing months more political instability. What does the uncertainty mean for the rest of the world? ___ EU REFORM German Chancellor Angela Merkel attends a plenary session of German parliament Bundestag in Berlin, Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017. (Michael Kappeler/dpa via AP) EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker proclaimed Tuesday that "Europe will not pause" with its reform efforts, despite the German political turmoil. But it may have to forge ahead without significant input from European stalwart Germany, since Merkel has indicated she isn't prepared to tackle ambitious eurozone reform ideas floated by French President Emmanuel Macron before she has formed a new government. That's bound to slow things down, Sebastien Maillard, director of France's Jacques Delors Institute think tank, told Europe-1 radio. "Emmanuel Macron cannot alone be the leader of Europe. This crisis in Germany runs counter to his plans," he said. "After the French and German elections, we were on an open road toward the European elections. Now there is clearly a delay in the ignition of the Franco-German motor." ___ BREXIT Some pro-Brexit politicians said Britain should use the opportunity to toughen its stance. Conservative lawmaker Jacob Rees-Mogg told The Times of London that the political instability gives Britain greater leverage. He argued that Germany's troubles "make it less likely that it would want to risk the damage that could be done to its industry from the U.K. imposing tariffs on its exports." But others said a weakened Merkel was bad news for Britain, because the German chancellor is one of the most pragmatic, as well as most powerful, EU leaders. The conservative Daily Telegraph newspaper said in an editorial that "the U.K. had hoped Mrs. Merkel could focus attention on Brexit and help engineer the mutually beneficial agreement" both sides need. In reality, there will probably be little impact. Berlin has consistently deferred to the EU's executive Commission on the negotiations. And Merkel has given no indication that she plans to jump deeply into the Brexit issue. ____ MILITARY DEPLOYMENTS Germany's military, the Bundeswehr, has about 4,000 troops participating in more than a dozen international missions. The longest-running has been its contribution to the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo, which started in 1999, and currently involves about 500 German troops. Germany has also played a major role in Afghanistan, where it has more than 1,000 troops. It contributes to numerous UN, NATO and other forces, including the coalition against the Islamic State group, a training mission in Iraq, and to naval missions in the Mediterranean and off the Horn of Africa. German military deployments need parliamentary approval, typically on an annual basis, but enjoy wide support and should not face any changes. On Tuesday, parliament started debating extending some of the deployments, including the Afghanistan mission, for three months as a stopgap measure. Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen told lawmakers: "In security policy, terror won't wait for us to get to the point here. Terror requires a determined response by the allies, it requires steadfastness from Germany; and you can count on the Bundeswehr and Germany being reliable." ____ UKRAINE AND RUSSIA Germany has been one of the main countries working to implement a peace deal for eastern Ukraine, after partnering with France to broker an agreement with Ukraine and Russia in 2015. At the same time, Merkel has staunchly supported European Union sanctions against Russia over its actions in Ukraine, following the annexation of Crimea three years ago. Merkel's government has been adamant that sanctions cannot be lifted without implementation of the Minsk peace accord. She may now be somewhat weakened in talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but also has majority support on that issue so isn't likely to change her stance significantly. _____ Jill Lawless in London, Angela Charlton in Paris, Geir Moulson in Berlin and Raf Casert in Brussels contributed to this report. FILE - In this July 13, 2017 file photo German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, and French President Emmanuel Macron attend a joint press conference after a French-German cabinet meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris. Germany has viewed itself as Europe's anchor of stability for a dozen years under Chancellor Angela Merkel, but the collapse of her talks to form a new government now means months of political uncertainty. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, file) FILE - In this March 16, 2015 file photo German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, and Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko, left, brief the media during a news conference after a meeting at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany. Germany has viewed itself as Europe's anchor of stability for a dozen years under Chancellor Angela Merkel, but the collapse of her talks to form a new government now means months of political uncertainty. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, file) FILE - In this July 20, 2016 file photo German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, and British Prime Minister Theresa May, left, hold their earphones during a joint news conference as part of a meeting at the chancellery in Berlin. Germany has viewed itself as Europe's anchor of stability for a dozen years under Chancellor Angela Merkel, but the collapse of her talks to form a new government now means months of political uncertainty. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, file) ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - The Latest on sexual misconduct allegations against two Minnesota state lawmakers (all times local): 7:30 p.m. A previously unidentified lobbyist who says she was sexually harassed by a Minnesota lawmaker has gone public. Sarah Walker tweeted a statement Tuesday saying that the problem of sexual harassment in Minnesota and state Capitols across the country is "a nonpartisan problem that requires a nonpartisan solution." And Walker says no one should have to accept sexual harassment "in exchange for the opportunity to work on issues in the political arena or anywhere else." Walker is the lobbyist who told Minnesota Public Radio that Republican state Rep. Tony Cornish had propositioned her for sex dozens of times and once forced her into a wall in an attempt to kiss her. Cornish said Tuesday he will resign from the Legislature as part of an agreement with Walker, which included his apology. Walker says she initially chose to remain anonymous to avoid retaliation and to continuing doing public policy work at the state Capitol. But she says she later went public in the hopes of helping "others make the tough decision to speak out regarding their own stories." ___ 6:20 p.m. A second Minnesota lawmaker accused of sexual misconduct also plans to resign. Republican state Rep. Tony Cornish said Tuesday he intends to resign around Dec. 1. Cornish said in a statement he has reached an agreement in principle with an unnamed female lobbyist who told Minnesota Public Radio News that Cornish had propositioned her for sex dozens of times and once forced her into a wall in an attempt to kiss her. Cornish says the agreement calls for him to apologize and resign. In a statement, Cornish says he apologizes for his "unwelcome behavior." Minnesota House Speaker Kurt Daudt and Majority Leader Joyce Peppin also issued a statement, saying they asked Cornish to resign. Earlier Tuesday, an attorney for Minnesota state Sen. Dan Schoen says Schoen, a Democrat, plans to resign in the wake of accusations of sexual misconduct. ___ 5:15 p.m. A female lawmaker who accused Sen. Dan Schoen of sexual harassment says his resignation won't change a problematic culture at the state Capitol. Schoen's attorney Paul Rogosheske told the Star Tribune that Schoen will announce his resignation Wednesday. It follows several allegations that the Democratic first-term senator made unwanted advances and groped one woman. Rep. Erin Maye Quade is one of several women in Minnesota politics who accused Schoen of improper behavior. Maye Quade says his departure will not do enough to change a culture of sexual harassment in the Minnesota Legislature. Maye Quade has also accused Republican Rep. Tony Cornish of harassing her and says many women who work at the Capitol have stories about other men. ___ 4:45 p.m. A woman who says she was groped by Minnesota Sen. Dan Schoen says news that the Democrat will resign does not bring her joy, but she hopes it's the start of holding people accountable for improper behavior. Lindsey Port was running for a Burnsville-area House seat in 2015 when she met Schoen at a Democratic Party event. Port says Schoen, then a state representative, made a comment about her rear end then grabbed her behind. Other women have come out with other allegations of improper conduct by Schoen. Schoen has denied some of the allegations against him and said others were taken out of context. Port tells The Associated Press that she hopes Schoen's resignation is the start of changes to the way that women are protected in the workplace. She says she wishes that Schoen had taken responsibility for his actions and apologized. ___ 4:25 p.m. An attorney for Minnesota state Sen. Dan Schoen says Schoen plans to resign in the wake of accusations of sexual misconduct. Paul Rogosheske tells the Star Tribune that Schoen plans to resign at a news conference on Wednesday. Rogosheske says that Schoen, a Democrat from St. Paul Park, doesn't feel he can be effective anymore. Rogosheske didn't immediately respond to messages from The Associated Press. Schoen, 42, was accused by a Democratic candidate for office of grabbing her buttocks in 2015. Another candidate who is now a fellow Democratic lawmaker said he sent her a string of suggestive texts, and a Senate employee said he texted her a picture of male genitalia. Schoen denied the lawmakers' allegations, saying they were false or taken out of context. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) - The Argentine submarine ARA San Juan went missing in the South Atlantic last week with 44 crew members aboard. Here's a look at the submarine and the round-the-clock international maritime search. ___ THE VESSEL Comandante Espora Argentine ship sails off the naval base in Mar del Plata, Argentina, Saturday, Nov. 18, 2017. This ship is is part of a searching crew to find a submarine that hadn't been heard from in three days. Authorities last had contact with the German-built diesel-electric sub, the ARA San Juan, on Wednesday as it was on a voyage from the extreme southern port of Ushuaia to Mar del Plata. (AP Photo/Vicente Robles) The German-built diesel-electric TR-1700 class submarine was commissioned in 1985 and was most recently refit in 2014. The retrofitting cost about $12 million and took more than 500,000 work hours. The boat was cut in half and had its engines and batteries replaced. Refits can be difficult because they involve integrating systems produced by different manufacturers, said Rockford Weitz, director of the Fletcher School's maritime studies program at Tufts University. "The cost of even the smallest mistake during this cutting phase of the operation is enormous - threatening the life and safety of the ship's crew," Weitz said. ___ LOST AT SEA The Argentine navy says it lost contact with the submarine on Nov. 15. It had sailed from the extreme southern port of Ushuaia on Nov. 8 after a training exercise and was heading for its base at Mar del Plata, about 250 miles (400 kilometers) southeast of Buenos Aires. Most submarines can deploy a location beacon to the surface that can emit emergency signals via satellite, but there is no sign the San Juan did so. The sub carried enough food, oxygen and fuel for the crew to survive about 90 days on the sea's surface, but the navy said it had only enough oxygen to last seven days if submerged. Other experts, however, said that if the sub sank but was still structurally intact, the crew could have 7 to 10 days of oxygen. The amount of oxygen would depend on when the San Juan last resurfaced to recharge its batteries and other factors. "But it is clear that time for a successful rescue operation is very, very limited," Weitz said. ___ POSSIBLE PROBLEMS The submarine's captain reported a battery failure and the vessel was on its way to the navy base in Mar del Plata when it went missing. Authorities have no specific details of the problem. Argentine naval protocol says that when a sub loses communications, it should surface. But navy spokesman Enrique Balbi said the crew might have remained submerged to protect the sub from stormy weather that has caused waves of more than 20 feet (6 meters). ___ INTERNATIONAL HELP More than a dozen vessels and aircraft are searching off the coast of the Patagonia region in southern Argentina. The sub's last known position has been combed fully, and the search area has been expanding. The effort has been hindered by the bad weather, though forecasters say conditions should improve in the coming days. Britain has sent a polar exploration vessel, the HMS Protector, and the U.S. Navy deployed its Undersea Rescue Command, which includes remotely operated vehicle and vessels capable of rescuing people from bottomed submarines. ___ FALSE ALARMS Hopes were buoyed after brief satellite calls were received and when sounds were detected deep in the South Atlantic. But experts later determined that neither was from the missing sub. A U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon aircraft spotted white flares, but the Argentine navy said they were unlikely to be from the San Juan, which carried red and green flares. The navy said a life raft that was found in the search area early Tuesday didn't belong to the submarine and likely fell off another vessel. ___ CREW AND FAMILIES The San Juan had a crew of 44, which included Eliana Krawczyk, Argentina's first female submarine officer. Worried relatives of the missing sailors have gathered at the Mar Del Plata Navy Base to receive psychological counseling and anxiously wait for news about their loved ones. "We can make up a thousand movies with happy and sad endings, but the reality is that the days pass by and not knowing anything kills you," said Carlos Mendoza, the brother of submarine officer Fernando Ariel Mendoza. "Every minute is oxygen that's worth gold." ___ Associated Press writer Almudena Calatrava in Buenos Aires and AP video journalist Paul Byrne in Mar del Plata, Argentina, contributed to this report. This 2014 photo provided by the Argentina Navy shows the ARA San Juan, a German-built diesel-electric vessel, docked in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Argentina's Navy said Friday, Nov. 17, 2017, it has lost contact with the submarine off the country's southern coast. (Argentina Navy via AP ) In this picture released by Argentina's presidential press office, navy base Chief Gabriel Martin Gonzalez, right, talks to Argentina's President Mauricio Macri, over a map at the naval base in Mar del Plata, Argentina, Monday, Nov. 20, 2017. Authorities last had contact with submarine ARA San Juan on Wednesday as it was on a voyage from the extreme southern port of Ushuaia to the city of Mar del Plata. (Argentina Presidency via AP) In this Sept. 7, 2011 photo provided by Britain's Ministry of Defense, Royal Navy Antarctic Patrol Vessel HMS Protector is pictured near Plymouth. Argentina's Navy said Saturday, Nov. 18, 2017, it was ramping up the search for a submarine that hadn't been heard from in three days, and at least six other nations said they would join in the effort. HMS Protector is expected to arrive at the area of operations according to Enrique Balbi, Argentina Navy spokesman. (Britain's Ministry of Defense via AP) Port workers prepare to load US Navy equipment on the Skandi Patagonia ship, in Comodoro Rivadavia, Argentina, Monday, Nov. 20, 2017. The SRC is being deployed in the South Atlantic during the search and rescue operation of the ARA San Juan Argentine submarine, lost at sea since last Wednesday with a crew of 44. (AP Photo/Saul Gherscovici) CANBERRA, Australia (AP) - An Australian state parliament on Wednesday stepped closer to passing a voluntary euthanasia bill, 20 years after the country repealed the world's first mercy-killing law for the terminally ill. The Victorian Legislative Council passed the bill on doctor-assisted suicide 22 votes to 18, after hours of passionate debate that ended with several lawmakers in tears. The vote was the last significant hurdle to euthanasia becoming legal in Australia's second-most populous state from 2019. The Legislative Council insisted on amending a bill passed by parliament's lower chamber, the Legislative Assembly, last month, 47 votes to 37. The amendments reduce the maximum life expectancy of an eligible patient from 12 to six months, increases the minimum age from 18 to 25 years and demands that a patient reside in Victoria for at least a year. The draft bill only required that a patient reside in Victoria, in a bid to avoid other Australians and foreigners traveling to the state to die. The Legislative Assembly is likely to endorse the amended bill next week. "This is a momentous day in the parliament of Victoria," government lawmaker Gavin Jennings told the Legislative Council after the vote. Anti-euthanasia campaigner Frances Beaumont yelled from the public gallery: "You've made a terrible mistake." "This legislation just doesn't stack up. I mean, this is sloppy; really, really sloppy and we are talking about people living and dying," opposition lawmaker Bernie Finn said. Australian Christian Lobby managing director Lyle Shelton accused the state government of sanctioning assisted suicide as an alternative to properly funding palliative care for the terminally ill in Victoria. "Euthanasia is an easy, cheap and dangerous way out of addressing palliative care funding while risking the lives of vulnerable people," Shelton said in a statement that urged other states not to follow Victoria's lead. The parliament of Australian's most populous state, New South Wales, last week rejected a doctor-assisted suicide bill by a single vote, 20 to 19. Australia's sparsely populated Northern Territory in 1995 became the first jurisdiction in the world to legalize doctor-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients. But the Australian Parliament overturned that law in 1997 after four people had been helped to die. The Australian Parliament does not have the same power to repeal the laws of states such as Victoria. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, who became a euthanasia advocate after his father died of cancer last year, has described the proposed state laws as the most conservative in the world. Laws to legalize mercy killings have been narrowly rejected by three of Australia's six states. A euthanasia bill was defeated by a single vote in the South Australian House of Assembly a year ago and similar legislation was rejected by two votes in Tasmania's House of Assembly in 2013. Under the Victorian bill, a doctor would be permitted to administer a lethal injection only in cases where patients were physically incapable of doing so themselves. BEIRUT (AP) - The Latest on Prime Minister Saad Hariri's return to Lebanon (all times local): 3:20 p.m. Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri has stood before thousands of supporters, pledging to stay in Lebanon and declaring: "Lebanon First." Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, left, arrives to attend a military parade to mark the 74th anniversary of Lebanon's independence from France in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017. Hours after returning to the country following a nearly three week puzzling absence, Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri participated in Independence Day celebrations Wednesday, his first official appearance since he suddenly announced his resignation from abroad, stunning the country. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla) In a triumphant speech outside his residence, he says: "There is nothing more precious than our country." He spoke Wednesday after he announced from the presidential palace that he was putting his resignation on hold, responding to a request from the president to give more time for consultations. Sounding very conciliatory he said he is putting Lebanon's interest above everything else. Hariri announced unexpectedly from Saudi Arabia on Nov. 4 that he was stepping down from his post, triggering a political crisis in Lebanon and leading to accusations that his Saudi patrons had forced his decision. ___ 12:50 p.m. Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri says he is putting his resignation on hold following a request from the Lebanese president to reconsider. In surprise conciliatory comments from the presidential palace Wednesday, Hariri says he is putting Lebanon's interest first and is looking forward to a "real partnership" with Lebanese President Michel Aoun. He says he presented his resignation to Aoun at the presidential palace, but then responded to Aoun's request to give him more time for consultations, "hoping it will constitute a serious introduction for (national) dialogue." Hariri announced his resignation in a televised address from Saudi Arabia on November 4, stunning the nation and plunging the country in turmoil. Top Lebanese officials accused Hariri's patron, Saudi Arabia, of forcing his resignation and detaining him in the kingdom for days. ___ 11:55 a.m. Lebanon's president is meeting privately with Prime Minister Saad Hariri in their first face-to-face meeting following Hariri's shock resignation nearly three weeks ago from Saudi Arabia. The Lebanese presidency said Wednesday the meeting was also attended by the parliament speaker. The meeting comes during national celebrations of Independence Day, hours after the return of Hariri after his absence since his resignation Nov. 4. President Michel Aoun had said he will not consider the resignation of Hariri until he hears from him in person. Hariri resigned from Saudi Arabia, saying he was protesting the meddling of Iran and Its Lebanese ally, Hezbollah, in Arab affairs. Hezbollah is a partner in the coalition government. Hariri is expected to formally present his resignation now that he is in Beirut. But it is not clear if he will do it during the national celebrations. Hariri had said he may reconsider his resignation if there is a new "settlement" that ensures Hezbollah stays out of regional affairs. ___ 10 a.m. Prime Minister Saad Hariri has arrived at Lebanon's Independence Day military parade, his first official appearance after his shock resignation nearly three weeks ago from Saudi Arabia. Hariri arrived Wednesday before the start of the parade amid applause from the attendance. He arrived to the celebrations at a seaside boulevard in Beirut amid tight security. Hariri arrived late Tuesday in Beirut after nearly a three-week absence that plunged the country into a political crisis. President Michel Aoun said he would not accept Hariri's resignation until he hears from him personally. Hariri is expected to meet with Aoun and the parliament speaker after the parade. Hariri's shock resignation from abroad sparked speculations he was forced to do it by his Saudi backers, who are feuding with Iran for influence in the region. Hariri's partners in the government are the Iran-allied Lebanese group Hezbollah. Lebanon gained independence from France 74 years ago. ___ 8:35 a.m. Lebanon is celebrating its Independence Day with a military parade attended by the president and the prime minister who resigned from Saudi Arabia earlier this month in a move that stunned the country. Wednesday's parade comes hours after Prime Minster Saad Hariri returned to Lebanon after a three-week absence that was described by Lebanese officials as forced upon him by his Saudi allies. In his televised resignation, Hariri said he was protesting meddling in Arab affairs by Iran and its Lebanese ally, Hezbollah. Hezbollah is part of the coalition government. Hariri left Riyadh on Saturday for Paris. He traveled to Cairo before returning to Beirut late Tuesday, where he said he will discuss the reasons for his resignation. It's not clear if he will keep or rescind his resignation. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - An unrepentant Ratko Mladic, the bullish Bosnian Serb general whose forces rained shells and snipers' bullets on Sarajevo and carried out the worst massacre in Europe since World War II, was convicted Wednesday of genocide and other crimes and sentenced to spend the rest of his life behind bars. Defiant to the last, Mladic was ejected from a courtroom at the United Nations' Yugoslav war crimes tribunal after yelling at judges: "Everything you said is pure lies. Shame on you!" He was dispatched to a neighboring room to watch on a TV screen as Presiding Judge Alphons Orie pronounced him guilty of 10 counts that also included war crimes and crimes against humanity. Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic waves as he enters the Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017, to hear the verdict in his genocide trial. Mladic's trial is the last major case for the Netherlands-based tribunal for former Yugoslavia, which was set up in 1993 to prosecute those most responsible for the worst carnage in Europe since World War II. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, Pool) Human-rights organizations hailed the convictions as proof that even top military brass long considered untouchable cannot evade justice forever. Mladic spent years on the run before his arrest in 2011. "This landmark verdict marks a significant moment for international justice and sends out a powerful message around the world that impunity cannot and will not be tolerated," said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International's Europe director. For prosecutors, it was a fitting end to a 23-year effort to mete out justice at the U.N. tribunal for atrocities committed during the Balkan wars of the early 1990s. Mladic's conviction signaled the end of the final trial before the tribunal closes its doors by the end of the year. But legal battles will continue. Mladic's attorneys vowed to appeal his convictions on 10 charges related to a string of atrocities from the beginning of the 1992-95 Bosnian war to its bitter end. "The defense team considers this judgment to be erroneous, and there will be an appeal, and we believe that the appeal will correct the errors of the trial chamber," Mladic lawyer Dragan Ivetic said. Mladic's son, Darko, said his father told him after the verdict that the tribunal was a "NATO commission ... trying to criminalize a legal endeavor of Serbian people in times of civil war to protect itself from the aggression." Presiding Judge Alphons Orie started the hearing by reading out a litany of horrors perpetrated by forces under Mladic's control. "Detainees were forced to rape and engage in other degrading sexual acts with one another. Many Bosnian Muslim women who were unlawfully detained were raped," Orie said. The judge recounted the story of a mother who ventured into the streets during the deadly siege of Sarajevo with her son as Serb snipers and artillery targeted the Bosnian capital. She was shot. The bullet passed through her abdomen and struck her 7-year-old son's head, killing him. In Srebrenica, the war reached its bloody climax as Bosnian Serb forces overran what was supposed to be a U.N.-protected safe haven. After busing away women and children, Serb forces systematically murdered some 8,000 Muslim males. "Many of these men and boys were cursed, insulted, threatened, forced to sing Serb songs and beaten while awaiting their execution," Orie said. Mladic looked relaxed as the hearing started, greeting lawyers, crossing himself and giving a thumbs-up to photographers in court. But midway through the hearing Mladic's lawyer, Dragan Ivetic, asked for a delay because the general was suffering from high blood pressure. The judge refused, Mladic started yelling and was tossed out of court. When he started speaking, "it was not about his health but much more I think trying to insult the judges," Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz said. The conflict in the former Yugoslavia erupted after the country's breakup in the early 1990s, with the worst crimes taking place in Bosnia. More than 100,000 people died and millions lost their homes before a peace agreement was signed in 1995. Mladic went into hiding for around 10 years before his arrest in Serbia in May 2011. Mladic's political master during the war, former Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadzic, was also convicted last year for genocide and sentenced to 40 years. He has appealed the ruling. The man widely blamed for fomenting wars across the Balkans, former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, died in his U.N. cell in 2006 before tribunal judges could reach verdicts in his trial. The ethnic tensions that Milosevic stoked from Belgrade simmer to this day. Top Bosnian Serb political leader Milorad Dodik said the tribunal only underscored its anti-Serb bias by convicting Mladic. Dodik said the court was established with the "single purpose" of demonizing Serbs. "This opinion is shared by all the Serbs," Dodik said, describing Mladic as "a hero and a patriot." Serbian President Alksandar Vucic, a former ultranationalist who supported Mladic's war campaigns but now casts himself as a pro-EU reformer, agreed that the court has been biased against Serbs but added that "we should not justify the crimes committed" by the Serbs. "We are ready to accept our responsibility" for war crimes "while the others are not," he said. For a former prisoner of Serb-run camps in northwestern Bosnia who was in The Hague, the verdict was sweet relief. Fikret Alic became a symbol of the horrors in Bosnia after his skeletal frame was photographed by Time magazine behind barbed wire in 1992 in a Bosnian Serb camp. "Justice has won," he said. "And the war criminal has been convicted." ___ Associated Press writers Jovana Gec and Dusan Stojanovic in Belgrade, Sabina Niksic and Amer Cohadzic in Sarajevo, Eldar Emric in Srebrenica and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report. Nura Mustafic, one of the Mothers of Srebrenica and other Bosnian organizations, wipes away tears as she reacts to the verdict which the Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal, ICTY, handed down in the genocide trial against former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic, in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday Nov. 22, 2017. A U.N. court has convicted former Bosnian Serb military chief Gen. Ratko Mladic of genocide and crimes against humanity and sentenced him to life in prison for atrocities perpetrated during Bosnia's 1992-1995 war. (AP Photo/Phil Nijhuis) A Bosnian woman raises her arms upon hearing the sentence at the end of former Bosnian Serb military chief Gen. Ratko Mladic's trial at the memorial center in Potocari, near Srebrenica, Bosnia, Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017. A U.N. court has convicted former Bosnian Serb military chief Gen. Ratko Mladic of genocide and crimes against humanity and sentenced him to life in prison for atrocities perpetrated during Bosnia's 1992-1995 war. (AP Photo/Amel Emric) Bosnian women react upon hearing the sentence at the end of former Bosnian Serb military chief Gen. Ratko Mladic's trial at the memorial center in Potocari, near Srebrenica, Bosnia, Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017. A U.N. court has convicted former Bosnian Serb military chief Gen. Ratko Mladic of genocide and crimes against humanity and sentenced him to life in prison for atrocities perpetrated during Bosnia's 1992-1995 war. (AP Photo/Amel Emric) FILE - A May 29, 2011 file photo shows Bosnian Serb protesters holding posters depicting former Bosnian Serb army chief Ratko Mladic, during a protest in Mladic's hometown of Kalinovik, Bosnia-Herzegovina. Ratko Mladic will learn his fate on Nov. 22, 2017, when U.N. judges deliver verdicts in his genocide and war crimes trial. (AP Photo/Amel Emric, File) FILE - In this July 12, 1995 photo, Bosnian Serb army Commander General Ratko Mladic, left, drinks toast with Dutch U.N Commander Tom Karremans, second right, while others unidentified look on in village of Potocari, some 5 kilometers (3 miles) north of Srebrenica. Ratko Mladic will learn his fate on Nov. 22, 2017, when U.N. judges deliver verdicts in his genocide and war crimes trial. (AP Photo) FILE - In this April 9, 1994 file photo, former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic, right, leaves the UN headquarters at Sarajevo airport after talks with the UN General, Sir Michael Rose and Bosnian Commander Rasim Delic. Ratko Mladic will learn his fate on Nov. 22, 2017, when U.N. judges deliver verdicts in his genocide and war crimes trial. (AP Photo/Enric Marti, File) Dragan Ivetic, lawyer for former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic, is interviewed in front of the Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal where the court is scheduled to hand down the verdict in the genocide case against Mladic, in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017. Mladic's trial is the last major case for the Netherlands-based tribunal for former Yugoslavia, which was set up in 1993 to prosecute those most responsible for the worst carnage in Europe since World War II. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) Satellite trucks and cameras are set up outside the Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal, rear center, where the court is scheduled to hand down the verdict in the genocide case against Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic, in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017. Mladic's trial is the last major case for the Netherlands-based tribunal for former Yugoslavia, which was set up in 1993 to prosecute those most responsible for the worst carnage in Europe since World War II. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) Satellite trucks and cameras are set up outside the Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal, rear, where the court is scheduled to hand down the verdict in the genocide case against Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic, in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017. Mladic's trial is the last major case for the Netherlands-based tribunal for former Yugoslavia, which was set up in 1993 to prosecute those most responsible for the worst carnage in Europe since World War II. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) Satellite trucks and cameras are set up outside the Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal, rear, where the court is scheduled to hand down the verdict in the genocide case against Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic, in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017. Mladic's trial is the last major case for the Netherlands-based tribunal for former Yugoslavia, which was set up in 1993 to prosecute those most responsible for the worst carnage in Europe since World War II. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) Bosnian Serb men watch a live broadcast of former Bosnian Serb military chief Gen. Ratko Mladic's trial in Sokolac, Bosnia, Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017. Mladic's trial is the last major case for the Netherlands-based tribunal for former Yugoslavia, which was set up in 1993 to prosecute those most responsible for the worst carnage in Europe since World War II. (AP Photo/Radul Radovanovic) Bosnian Serb men watch a live broadcast of former Bosnian Serb military chief Gen. Ratko Mladic's trial in Sokolac, Bosnia, Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017. Mladic's trial is the last major case for the Netherlands-based tribunal for former Yugoslavia, which was set up in 1993 to prosecute those most responsible for the worst carnage in Europe since World War II. (AP Photo/Radul Radovanovic) Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic flashes a thumbs up as he enters the Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017, to hear the verdict in his genocide trial. Mladic's trial is the last major case for the Netherlands-based tribunal for former Yugoslavia, which was set up in 1993 to prosecute those most responsible for the worst carnage in Europe since World War II. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, Pool) WASHINGTON (AP) - The Trump administration imposed new sanctions on a slew of North Korean shipping firms and Chinese trading companies in its latest push to isolate the rogue nation over its nuclear weapons development and deprive it of revenue. The Treasury Department also designated a North Korean corporation involved in exporting workers overseas. The action Tuesday came a day after the United States returned North Korea to its list of state sponsors of terrorism. "These designations include companies that have engaged in trade with North Korea cumulatively worth hundreds of millions of dollars," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. "We are also sanctioning the shipping and transportation companies, and their vessels, that facilitate North Korea's trade and its deceptive maneuvers." President Donald Trump points to reporters after speaking at the White House, Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017, in Washington, as he and his family were leaving for a Thanksgiving trip to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) Among those targeted were four Chinese-based companies and one Chinese individual said to have deep commercial ties with North Korea. The sanctions were imposed under a September executive order that opened the way for the U.S. to punish foreign companies dealing with the North. It bars those sanctioned from holding U.S. assets or doing business with Americans. The Dandong Kehua Economy & Trade Co. Ltd., Dandong Xianghe Trading Co. Ltd., and Dandong Hongda Trade Co. Ltd. are alleged to have exported about $650 million worth of goods to North Korea and imported more than $100 million from North Korea since 2013. The goods included notebook computers, anthracite coal, iron and other commodities and ferrous products. Also sanctioned were Chinese national Sun Sidong and his company, Dandong Dongyuan Industrial Co., said to have exported more than $28 million worth of goods to the North. The targeting of Chinese companies is a sore point with Beijing, whose help President Donald Trump is counting on to put an economic squeeze on Pyongyang. China recently sent its highest-level envoy to North Korea in two years to discuss the tense state of affairs on the Korean Peninsula. "China firmly opposes unilateral sanctions out of the U.N. Security Council framework," the Chinese Embassy in Washington said Tuesday, "especially the imposition of the so-called 'long-arm jurisdiction' by other countries in accordance with their domestic laws." As part of its effort to stymie North Korean transportation networks, the Treasury Department sanctioned North Korea's Maritime Administration and its transport ministry, six North Korean shipping and trading companies and 20 of their vessels, which are all North Korean-flagged. It accused North Korea of deceptive shipping practices, including ship-to-ship transfers, which is prohibited under U.N. sanctions that have been imposed in response to Pyongyang's rapid tempo of nuclear and ballistic missile tests. The Treasury statement included aerial photos of what it said was Korea Kumbyol Trading Company's vessel Rye Song Gang 1 possibly transferring oil to evade sanctions that have restricted fuel exports to the North. Also sanctioned was the Korea South-South Cooperation Corporation, said to have exported North Korean workers to China, Russia, Cambodia and Poland to generate revenue for the government. When President Donald Trump announced the terror designation of North Korea on Monday, he promised to intensify the "maximum pressure" campaign against Pyongyang with the "highest level" of sanctions yet - part of a rolling effort to compel it to negotiate over its nuclear program, which poses an emerged threat to the U.S. mainland. An editorial Tuesday in North Korea's ruling party newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, called Trump a "heinous criminal" who had insulted the dignity of the country's supreme leadership and its socialist system during his recent visit to South Korea. The editorial, carried by the state-run news agency, threatened "merciless punishment." It did not mention the terror designation or the threat of new sanctions. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson acknowledged Monday a two-month pause in the North's nuclear and missile tests and said there was still hope for diplomacy. With tougher sanctions in the offing, he warned North Korean leader Kim Jong Un: "This is only going to get worse until you're ready to come and talk." The terror designation, however, is likely to exacerbate sour relations between Washington and Pyongyang that have turned uglier with name-calling between Trump and Kim. North Korea shows no interest in talks aimed at getting it to give up its nukes. North Korea has joined Iran, Sudan and Syria on America's terror blacklist, a position it has occupied on and off over the years. It was designated for two decades because of its involvement in international terror attacks in the 1980s, then taken off in 2008 to smooth the way for nuclear talks that soon failed. People watch a TV screen showing an image of U.S. President Donald Trump at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017. Trump announced Monday the U.S. is putting North Korea's "murderous regime" on America's terrorism blacklist, despite questions about Pyongyang's support for international attacks beyond the assassination of its leader's half brother in February. The signs read "Threat to the world." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) FILE - In this Aug. 10, 2017, file photo, a man watches a TV screen showing U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, during a news program at the Seoul Train Station in Seoul, South Korea. With all the verbal barbs flying between Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump these days, China's decision to send its most senior official to North Korea in more than two years could be a welcome opportunity to defuse the growing tensions between Washington and Pyongyang. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File) TOKYO (AP) - The Latest on the crash in the Pacific of a U.S. Navy plane flying to the USS Ronald Reagan (all times local): 7:40 p.m. The U.S. Navy says eight people who were recovered from the crash of a transport aircraft in the Pacific are in good condition and the search continues for three other missing personnel. FILE - In this Monday, Oct. 2, 2017, file photo, the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier arrives in Hong Kong. A U.S. Navy C-2 Greyhound plane carrying 11 crew and passengers crashed into the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017, while on the way to the USS Ronald Reagan the Navy said. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu, File) The Navy says in a tweet that the eight are on board the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier. Their C-2 "Greyhound" transport plane crashed while on its way to the carrier on Wednesday in the Philippine Sea, where the U.S. and Japanese navies are holding exercises. ___ 5:15 p.m. Japan's defense minister says eight of the crew and passengers on a plane that crashed while en route to the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier have been found, but it's unclear if they're alive. The Defense Ministry says it had no information on their condition. A spokesman quoted Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera as telling reporters Wednesday that the C-2 aircraft crashed into the Pacific about 150 kilometers (90 miles) northwest of Okinotorishima, a Japanese atoll. It was taking part in an ongoing joint U.S.-Japan naval exercise. The U.S. Navy says the aircraft was carrying 11 crew and passengers. ___ 4:50 p.m. The U.S. Navy says an aircraft carrying 11 crew and passengers has crashed into the Pacific Ocean while on the way to the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan. The Japan-based 7th Fleet says in a statement that the search and rescue operation has been launched from the carrier. It says the ship was operating in the Philippine Sea when the crash occurred at 2:45 p.m. Japan time. It says the names of the crew and passengers are being withheld pending next of kin notification. TEMPE When Talia Fuentes fills out the race/ethnicity portion of the United States Census, she checks three boxes: Hispanic, Native American, and Caucasian. But up until 2000, Fuentes, and others like her, would have only been able to check one box. According to the U.S. Census, in the year 2000 about 6.8 million Americans marked two or more races, and by 2010, that number increased by a third, up to roughly 9 million. Fuentes, 32, grew up in Mesa, in a primarily white neighborhood, with a Hispanic father and a biracial mother with a Native American and white background. She said her mother often told her to suppress her mixed heritage. Everything that was Hispanic about me, she would point out and make it bad, and make it negative. So, I was always very apprehensive to even identify as what I was, because she was very negative against anything that came from my father, she said. Maxwell, Fuentes 11-year-old son, identifies as Native American, Hispanic and white. When talking about race with him, she describes their conversations as open. It seems like his generation, theyre all mixed, so theres a little more camaraderie. Because he has that privilege of being white, I try really to remind him frequently, through conversations of you need to be aware of how youre acting, or how youre respecting people, and its very much so about humanizing the person and how you treat humans in general, Fuentes said. Fuentes said her son, despite being multiracial and looking white, still holds enough Native American blood to qualify for health benefits. But her experience with the health care system there has consisted of having her sons race questioned. Ive taken him to the Indian hospital and they even look at him like, well, hes not he doesnt look Native American, she said. The topic of multiracial families is also being explored at Arizona State University. Doctoral student Annabelle Atkins is researching multiracial Americans through her Multiracial Families Project. Having grown up within a multiracial household, she already has personal experience with the subject. My mother is Taiwanese-Chinese, and my father is white, so I am multiracial, but I never thought to identify that way because it wasnt a very popular term when I was growing up, she said. Although Atkins had already looked into Asian-American parents, she thought to broaden the scope of her study. Since I was already studying socialization, I thought, maybe I need to study this with multiracial families because its important that they have an opportunity to talk about their identity with their parents, she said. In order to find families to talk to, Atkins said she plans to attend cultural events all around the Phoenix metro area. Those families would include those like first-time mother Mai-Linh Le, who identifies as Asian-American. Le anticipates talking about race with her daughter, who is almost 2 years old, will be more about teaching her to be open to different cultures. I want Claire to be open, welcoming, and understanding of where people come from, some of the differences, and understanding and appreciating those things, just so we can try to combat against this trying time that were living in, she said. Back in 2015, a Pew Research Center analysis of census data estimated that 14 percent of infants born in the United States were multiracial or multiethnic, tripling the share in 1980. While Les household includes two different cultures, its also made up of two different languages. At home, I do speak to her in Vietnamese as with my parents and my extended family, they speak to her in Vietnamese, and she speaks English at school and with my husband, Le said. Les daughter, Claire, is biracial, being half Vietnamese and half Caucasian. I think when she starts asking about why mommy and daddy dont look the same and things like that, we will definitely address that and talk about where people come from, and how people came to live in America, specifically in Arizona, Le said. According to a Pew Research Center analysis, multiracial Americans tend to be younger in age. The analysis found the median age of multiracial Americans to be 19, in comparison with single-race Americans, which is 38. COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) - Russia's ambassador to Estonia has been summoned to the Foreign Ministry in Tallinn and given a protest note after another Russian military transport aircraft intruded into the Baltic nation's airspace. The Estonian Air Force says the Ilyushin II-76 plane spent less than a minute in the country's airspace, over the island of Vaindloo, which is in northern Estonia. It said the aircraft's transponder was switched on and a flight plan had been presented to Estonian authorities. There had been no radio contact with the Estonian air navigation service. Tuesday's episode was the latest in the series of airspace violation by Russian military aircraft in the Baltic Sea region. SPARTA, Tenn. (AP) - A Tennessee judge who offered inmates less jail time if they voluntarily underwent birth control procedures has been publicly reprimanded by state judicial regulators. The Tennessean reports White County judge Sam Benningfield received a Nov. 15 letter of reprimand from the Tennessee Board of Judicial Conduct, saying he'd acted in a way that threatened public confidence in the judicial system. A public reprimand doesn't tangibly affect a judge's ability to work. In May, Benningfield signed a standing order providing 30 days' credit toward jail time for men who agreed to free vasectomies and women who agreed to free Nexplanon implants. He issued another order in July rescinding the practice after backlash. Benningfield and White County Sheriff Oddie Shoupe have been named in several lawsuits as a result of the program. ___ Information from: The Tennessean, http://www.tennessean.com MANILA, Philippines (AP) - The Philippine government is preparing to extradite to the United States a recently arrested Filipino Catholic priest who faces charges of sexually molesting two boys in North Dakota churches in the 1990s, an official said Wednesday. Chief State Counsel Ricardo Paras said Fernando Laude Sayasaya was arrested over the weekend by police in Calamba city in Laguna province south of Manila and will be flown back to the U.S., which sought his extradition under a treaty. "The apprehension of Fernando Sayasaya once again shows that the long arm of the law would reach all criminals," Paras said. "The suppression of crime is the concern not only of the state where it is committed but in any other state where the criminal may have escaped." Sayasaya is being detained at the National Bureau of Investigation in Manila and could not be reached for comment. He was charged in a North Dakota court over alleged sexual advances toward two underage siblings from 1995 to 1998, including by separately touching and making them watch pornographic videos, in two North Dakota churches, according to Philippine Court of Appeals documents that cited a U.S. investigation. Sayasaya was assigned at the Blessed Sacrament Catholic church and at the St. Mary's Cathedral, both in North Dakota, at the time, the court documents said. Amid the allegations, Sayasaya was asked to go on leave by Catholic church officials in August 1998 and was sent to the Blue Cloud Abbey in South Dakota. He sought permission to fly back to the Philippines for Christmas in 1998 and never returned, the court documents said. It was not immediately clear if Sayasaya remains on leave or has been suspended or removed from the Catholic church, Paras said. The Department of Justice in Manila won court approval in 2010 for Sayasaya's extradition, but the priest appealed the decision before the Court of Appeals, which upheld the court ruling two years later. BEIJING (AP) - The foreign ministers of South Korea and China on Wednesday affirmed their commitment to repair strained relations ahead of a visit by South Korean President Moon Jae-in to Beijing next month and amid ongoing concerns over North Korea's nuclear weapons program. The talks between Kang Kyung-wha, the South Korean diplomat, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing came shortly after a Chinese special envoy wrapped up a visit to North Korea, which China is attempting to convince to return to nuclear disarmament talks. China's relations with South Korea soured last year over the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile defense system in South Korea that Beijing fears will be able to monitor military activity in northeastern China. China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi, right, meets South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017. (Jason Lee/Pool Photo via AP) "China attaches great importance to the Republic of Korea's statement that deployment of the THAAD system will not damage China's security interests," Wang said in opening remarks, referring to the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense shield intended to thwart North Korea's missile threat. "We hope the South Korean side will continue to appropriately handle the matter," he said. Kang referred to a consensus reached between the sides to improve relations expressed through an Oct. 31 joint statement and worked out through contacts between their leaders at recent regional summits in Vietnam and the Philippines. "We both realize that continued conflict is in neither of our interests, so we have come to this outcome," Kang said. China responded to the THAAD deployment with economic retaliation, banning group tours to South Korea, pulling South Korean soap operas off the air and disrupting activities of South Korean supermarkets and other businesses within China. Visits by prominent South Koreans to China, from actors and boy bands to high-ranking government officials, also slowed. While South Korea resisted China's demands to withdraw the system, Beijing appeared satisfied with a pledge from Seoul not to expand it, among other commitments. That has set the stage for a visit by Moon, who has struggled to balance South Korea's close political and military ties with the U.S. with its economic dependency on the Chinese market. Beijing, meanwhile, has grown increasingly frustrated with North Korea over its nuclear and missile tests that have brought the threat of war and chaos to China's northeastern border. In what was seen as a bid to get relations back on track, Song Tao, the head of China's ruling Communist Party's International Department, traveled to Pyongyang on Friday to report on the outcome of the party's national congress held last month. Song, as Chinese president and party leader Xi Jinping's special envoy, reportedly met with North Korean counterparts but few details have been given about his itinerary or meetings, including whether he met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. That visit followed a stop in Beijing earlier this month by U.S. President Donald Trump, who renewed calls for China to step up pressure on North Korea to agree to United Nations demands to end its missile and nuclear programs. China is North Korea's only significant ally and main trading partner but has been tightening enforcement of U.N. economic sanctions aimed at cutting off the North's sources of hard currency. State-owned airline Air China suspended flights Tuesday between Beijing and North Korea due to a lack of demand, deepening the North's isolation amid the mounting U.N. sanctions. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea on Wednesday called U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to relist it as a state sponsor of terrorism a "serious provocation" that justifies its development of nuclear weapons. In the country's first public response to its return to the American blacklist, the official Korean Central News Agency said North Korea has no connection to terrorism and does not care "whether the U.S. puts a cap of 'terrorism' on us or not." It said the U.S. action shows North Korea should continue to "keep the treasured nuclear sword in our hands more tightly" to protect itself from American hostility. FILE- In this Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017, file photo, people watch a TV screen showing images of U.S. President Donald Trump, left, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea. North Korea has called U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to relist the country as a state sponsor of terrorism a "serious provocation" that justifies its development of nuclear weapons. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File) "By re-listing (North Korea) as a 'state sponsor of terrorism,' the U.S. openly revealed to the whole world its intention to destroy our ideology and system by using all kinds of means and methods," the agency said, attributing the comments to an unidentified spokesman at North Korea's Foreign Ministry. "Our army and people are full of rage and anger toward the heinous gangsters who dared to put the name of our sacred country in this wretched list of 'terrorism' and are hardening their will to settle all accounts with those gangsters at any time in any way," it said. KCNA later published a separate statement attributed to a spokesman of the Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, a North Korean state organization, which said the move by "old lunatic Trump" has caused the North Korean army and people to explode in "hate and spirit to destroy the enemy." Experts say the U.S. decision to put North Korea back on its terrorism blacklist will have limited practical effect, but may make a diplomatic solution of the standoff over its nuclear weapons program more difficult. A day after placing North Korea back on the list, the Trump administration on Tuesday imposed new sanctions on a slew of North Korean shipping firms and Chinese trading companies in an effort to increase pressure on North Korea over its nuclear program and deprive it of foreign revenue. North Korea has been accelerating its pursuit of nuclear weapons capable of targeting the United States and its Asian allies. In recent months, the North conducted its most powerful nuclear test yet and tested a pair of intercontinental ballistic missiles that could potentially reach the U.S. mainland if perfected. The country also fired powerful new midrange missiles over Japan and threatened to fire the same weapons toward Guam, a U.S. Pacific territory and military hub. The United States has responded by dispatching strategic assets, including aircraft carriers and long-range bombers, more frequently to the region for patrols or drills. COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) - The remains of a blazing meteorite that lit up the dark skies of the Arctic last week are believed scattered near a lake in northern Finland, amateur Finnish astronomers said Wednesday. The Ursa astronomical association says their calculations show the parts would have crashed in a remote area near the Norwegian and Russian borders. The meteorite - which Norwegian scientists said gave "the glow of 100 full moons" - was seen in northern Norway and Russia's Kola peninsula on Thursday for about five seconds. Marko Pekkola, a scientist with Ursa, said it likely landed in the wilderness almost 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) north of Helsinki. He believed it weighted between 100 kilograms and 300 kilograms (220 pounds and 660 pounds) before it entered the atmosphere, and flew at a speed of 30 kilometers per second (18.6 miles per second) - "in the low end for meteorites." Pekkola said the meteorite likely broke into pieces when it entered the atmosphere, producing a blast wave that felt like an explosion. The parts are believed to be spread over an area of about 60 square kilometers (24 sq. miles). "We don't know many pieces are out there, it is (exceptional) to find something," Pekkola said. "I can say that finding one or two pieces is possible." The group says it wants to start searching for the remains, though it hasn't set a date yet. In 2013, a meteorite streaked across the Russian sky and exploded over the Ural Mountains with the power of an atomic bomb, its sonic blasts shattering countless windows and injuring about 1,100 people. Many were cut by flying glass as they flocked to windows, curious about what had produced such a blinding flash of light. The 2013 Chelyabinsk meteorite was estimated to be about 10 tons when it entered the Earth's atmosphere at a hypersonic speed of at least 54,000 kph (33,000 mph). It shattered into pieces about 30-50 kilometers (18-32 miles) above the ground but some meteorite chunks were found in a Russian lake. BEIRUT (AP) - The Latest on Syria talks (all times local): 6:25 p.m. Turkey's president says trilateral talks with the leaders of Russia and Iran have critical importance for bringing peace to Syria. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, Russia's President Vladimir Putin, center, and Iran's President Hassan Rouhani attend a news conference in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017. The presidents of Turkey and Iran have hailed their trilateral talks with Russia on Syria's future as critical for restoring peace in the war-torn nation. (Mikhail Klimentyev/Pool Photo via AP) Recep Tayyip Erdogan, speaking after Wednesday's talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, said they agreed to help support a full-scale political process in Syria. Erdogan said the three leaders discussed ways to support another round of Syria peace talks set to start in Geneva later this month. He emphasized the need to deliver humanitarian aid to Syria. Even though Russia and Iran back Syrian President Bashar Assad's government and Turkey supports his foes, the three countries have teamed up to help broker a peace settlement. Wednesday's talks follow Assad's surprise visit to Russia Monday for talks with Putin ___ 6:20 p.m. Iran's president says trilateral talks between Iran, Russia and Turkey will help stabilize Syria. Hassan Rouhani, speaking after Wednesday's talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, hailed the talks as "very useful." He said that the three leaders supported holding the so-called Congress of National Dialogue between Syrian factions in Sochi. Even though Russia and Iran back Syrian President Bashar Assad's government, and Turkey supports his foes, the three countries have teamed up to try and broker a peace settlement. Wednesday's talks followed Assad's surprise visit to Russia on Monday for talks with Putin that the Kremlin said were intended to help lay the groundwork for the trilateral meeting of Russia, Turkey and Iran. ___ 6 p.m. Russian President Vladimir Putin says that trilateral talks with leaders of Turkey and Iran will help advance a peace settlement in Syria. Putin, speaking after Wednesday's talks in Sochi with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, said that they agreed to encourage efforts to establish a dialogue between various political groups in Syria. The trilateral meeting follows Syrian President Bashar Assad's surprise visit to Russia Monday, which the Kremlin said helped lay the groundwork for Wednesday's meeting. Putin emphasized that Assad pledged to conduct constitutional reforms and hold new elections under U.N. supervision. Erdogan emphasized that the three nations will help stage a meeting of Syrian groups hosted by Russia. Turkey has for years supported the anti-Assad opposition, while Russia and Iran have backed Assad's government. ___ 5:15 p.m. The presidents of Turkey and Iran have hailed their trilateral talks with Russia on Syria's future as critical for restoring peace in the war-torn nation. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday at the start of the talks in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi that the mini-summit "has an utmost importance for fully ending the bloodshed and putting an end to the tragedy that has lasted for many years." Iran's Hassan Rouhani noted that in less than one year since their joint peace push began, the three countries "have taken massive efforts to counter terrorism and extremism and set the ground for a political settlement of the Syrian crisis." Even though Russia and Iran back Syrian President Bashar Assad's government and Turkey supports his foes, the three countries have teamed up to try and broker a peace settlement. ___ 4:20 p.m. Russian President Vladimir Putin has opened a mini-summit on Syria's future by saying that "large-scale hostilities" against militants in Syria are drawing to an end. The summit has brought the presidents of Turkey and Iran to the Black Sea resort. Putin's remarks at the opening of the summit on Wednesday were broadcast on Russian state television. The summit follows a surprise visit to Russia by Syrian President Bashar Assad on Monday, also in Sochi. Putin says that "Russia, Iran and Turkey have prevented a break-up of Syria, kept it from being overrun by international terrorists and warded off a humanitarian catastrophe." He also expressed hope that agreements that the three countries could reach at the summit would help "strengthen the territorial integrity of Syria." Turkey has for years supported the anti-Assad opposition while Russia and Iran has backed the government, both politically and militarily. ___ 2:35 p.m. Leaders of Turkey and Iran have arrived in Russia's Sochi for the much-anticipated talks with President Vladimir Putin that are expected to focus on a political settlement for post-war Syria. Russian news agencies reported on Wednesday afternoon that both Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani had landed in the Black Sea resort. The mini-summit of the three countries - which earlier this year helped broker a truce between Syrian government troops and the opposition in several pockets of fighting across the war-torn country - comes two days after Syrian President Bashar Assad visited Putin in Sochi. Iran and Russia have been Assad's main backers while Turkey supports the Syrian opposition. The Kremlin said that ahead of the meeting with Assad, Putin had assured the leaders of Turkey and Iran that Russia "will work with the Syrian leadership" to make sure that any agreements that could be reached on Wednesday between Russia, Iran and Turkey "would be viable." It wasn't immediately clear, however, if the Kremlin put any pressure on Assad to accept whatever deal might come out of that summit. ___ 1:30 p.m. The United Nations' Syria envoy says he plans to host two rounds of peace talks in Geneva next month between President Bashar Assad's government and the weakened opposition. The talks come as Syria-friendly Russia takes an increasing diplomatic role in efforts to end the 6-1/2-year war. Staffan de Mistura made the comments Wednesday while addressing a meeting of the main Syrian opposition groups in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. He also urged them to come together in a "strong and creative" opposition for the talks. Alluding to the U.N.-mediated negotiations, de Mistura says: "We want to show and we want to show through you that this is the way the future of Syria can be decided." ___ 11:45 a.m. The United Nations envoy for Syria has urged Syrian opposition groups at the opening of a meeting hosted in the Saudi capital to come up with a united delegation for the Geneva talks later this month. Staffan de Mistura spoke Wednesday at the opening of the three-day meeting for the Syrian opposition in Riyadh. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said in opening remarks that the opposition meeting comes amid an international consensus to reach a resolution for the six-year conflict. The meeting of the notoriously fragmented opposition is intended to come up with a unified vision ahead of the new round of peace talks in Geneva on Nov. 28. Russia is also hosting a meeting expected to bring the opposition and Syrian government together in early December. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, Russia's President Vladimir Putin, center, and Iran's President Hassan Rouhani attend a news conference in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017. The presidents of Turkey and Iran have hailed their trilateral talks with Russia on Syria's future as critical for restoring peace in the war-torn nation. (Mikhail Klimentyev/Pool Photo via AP) Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, 2nd right, Russia's President Vladimir Putin, center, and Iran's President Hassan Rouhani walk after a news conference in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017. The presidents of Turkey and Iran have hailed their trilateral talks with Russia on Syria's future as critical for restoring peace in the war-torn nation. (Mikhail Klimentyev/Pool Photo via AP) From left, President of Iran Hassan Rouhani, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan shake hands at the start of the talks in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi, on Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017. The presidents of Turkey and Iran have hailed their trilateral talks with Russia on Syria's future as critical for restoring peace in the war-torn nation. (Mikhail Klimentyev, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) FILE - In this Jan. 11, 2016 file photo, former Syrian Prime Minister Riad Hijab, now coordinator of the Syrian opposition team talks to the press after his meeting with French President Francois Hollande at the Elysee Palace in Paris. Syria's opposition is gathering in Saudi Arabia hoping to close ranks ahead of new negotiations starting Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017, but they are a house divided in ways that enhance Syrian President Bashar Assad's upper hand. Hours before the meeting, a dozen opposition figures resigned. (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File) WINNSBORO, S.C. (AP) - A South Carolina county has voted to sue one of the utilities that abandoned construction on two nuclear reactors, calling the company decision a breach of contract. The Post and Courier of Charleston reported that the Fairfield County Council voted Tuesday to sue SCANA Corp. over the cancellation of the reactors in Jenkinsville, about 25 miles northwest of Columbia. Customers of SCANA's South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. have paid higher rates since 2009 for the project. Currently 18 percent, or $27 a month of the typical residential customer's bill, goes to pay for the project. The company said earlier this month it wants to reduce those rates by 3.5 percent, or about $5 a month. The county council said SCANA's decision to abandon the project violated a contract offering special tax treatment for the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station. Council members said they had borrowed $24 million, in part, for infrastructure improvements, expecting to get $80 million a year from SCANA. The utility already is the biggest taxpayer in Fairfield County because of the existing reactor at the nuclear station that opened in the mid-1980s. The county had signed a contract with SCANA when the project began that would allow the company to pay a fee instead of property taxes. "The council owes it to the citizens of our county to do whatever we can to mediate and recoup the financial losses created by SCE&G's decision to abandon the project," council chairman Bill Smith said in a statement. "The county is not looking for any kind of financial windfall. We just hope that this litigation can get our county closer to the position it would have been had SCE&G acted in good faith." SCANA spokesman Eric Boomhower said the company does not talk about pending litigation. SCANA and the state-owned utility Santee Cooper stopped construction July 31, mostly blaming the bankruptcy of principal contractor Westinghouse. Fairfield County has about 23,000 residents. The elimination of nearly 6,000 jobs has sent the unemployment rate soaring. It was 9.4 percent in October, the highest rate in South Carolina. At least half a dozen lawsuits are pending, seeking to hold the utilities accountable for the project failure. South Carolina lawmakers, state and federal authorities and Wall Street regulators are investigating the failed project. The House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday endorsed six bills to help customers recover the $1.7 billion that SCE&G has collected in interest on the project since 2009. SCE&G and Santee Cooper had spent more than $9 billion when they stopped construction on the reactors, far over budget and years behind schedule. ___ Information from: The Post and Courier, http://www.postandcourier.com ATHENS, Greece (AP) - The Latest on the flow of migrants into Europe (all times local): 8 p.m. French President Emmanuel Macron has denounced as a "crime against humanity" the auctioning of migrants in Libya as recently seen in video footage. FILE - In this photo taken on Thursday, March 16, 2017, a migrant stands between tents at the Moria refugee detention center on the northeastern Greek island of Lesbos. Authorities on Lesbos have called a for residents to strike during anti-government protests to press for a change in the European Union policy of containment of refugees and migrants on the Greece's islands which have turned Lesbos into an "island prison", according to island authorities.(AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis, FILE) Macron said Wednesday that "what has been revealed ... definitely falls into the category of trafficking of human beings." The video, broadcast last week on CNN, showed the bidding and sale of migrant men. It drew quick condemnation, including from U.N. secretary-general Antonio Guterres, who called for an investigation. Macron said he hopes a Security Council debate on the issue, which France requested and which began Tuesday, will "lead to concrete action and resolutions." French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Wednesday in parliament that Libyan authorities decided to probe the abuse of migrants. He said the investigation must go fast and warned that if the Libyans are unable to move forward "we must engage an international procedure of sanctions." ___ 6:10 p.m. A German nationalist party is urging officials to open negotiations with President Bashar Assad's government on an accord to enable the return of Syrian refugees. In one of its first motions since entering parliament, Alternative for Germany argued Wednesday that security in Syria has "substantially improved" recently. Chief whip Bernd Baumann said the Islamic State group has been "practically defeated" and it's possible for people to return to much of Syria. More than 1 million asylum-seekers arrived in Germany in 2015-2016, many of them Syrians. Baumann's party has benefited from discontent with Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to let in large numbers of migrants. He said its motion offered "an opportunity to correct, at least in part, the Merkel government's catastrophic open border policy." The motion was sent to a committee for further consideration. ___ 4:40 p.m. Spanish authorities have come under fire for putting nearly 500 newly arrived migrants in a yet-to-be-opened prison. In a statement, 22 rights and migrant aid groups rejected the measure, saying it was illegal and criminalized migrants. Spain's Council of Lawyers also condemned the move and demanded that the migrants be taken to non-penitentiary centers. The Interior Ministry said that owing to the sudden arrival of some 1,000 migrants by boat from north Africa between Nov. 17-19, judges authorized the transfer of 497 to the Archidona jail in southern Spain because its migrant holding centers were already near full. The ministry said it was an "exceptional and temporary measure" and the prison would not be opened while the migrants, mostly Algerian, were lodged there. Authorities must repatriate or free the migrants within 60 days. ___ 4:35 p.m. Twenty international and Greek rights groups and charities called on the Greek government Wednesday to end the policy of keeping migrants and refugees arriving from Turkey stuck on Greek islands. Expressing "urgent concern" over severe overcrowding, the organizations said many migrants were being forced to live in summer tents as the winter weather descends. "Nothing can justify trapping people in these terrible conditions on the islands for another winter," Eva Cosse, Greece researcher for Human Rights Watch, said in a joint press release with the other agencies. ___ 12:40 p.m. Greek police say the body of a man believed to be a migrant has been found in an abandoned building in a mountainous border area in northern Greece. Police said the man, believed to have been between 20 and 30 years old and of either African or Asian descent, was found on Tuesday in the building outside a mountain village in the Evros region. They said there were no signs of violence or that he had been killed. An autopsy would be needed to determine the cause of death. The region is on a migrant smuggling route, with people crossing the border illegally from Turkey and then trying to make their way on through the Balkans to other European countries. LANSING, Mich. (AP) - The Latest on sexual assault charges against former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar (all times local): 5:20 p.m. Michigan State University says allegations that it covered up a former gymnastics doctor's criminal sexual misconduct are "simply false" and it is "appalled" by Larry Nassar's crimes. Dr. Larry Nassar, 54, appears in court for a plea hearing in Lansing, Mich., Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017. Nasser, a sports doctor accused of molesting girls while working for USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University, pleaded guilty to multiple charges of sexual assault and will face at least 25 years in prison. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya) USA Gymnastics says it is "very sorry" any athlete was harmed by Nassar. The institutions issued statements Wednesday after victims and their lawyers criticized their handling of Nassar, who pleaded guilty in a Michigan courtroom to molesting girls under the guise of medical treatment. The victims and attorneys - who have sued the university, USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic Committee - want an independent investigation of officials who work there. The university says its campus and the FBI investigated earlier this year, and the school has "no reason to believe" that any employee other than Nassar committed a crime. ___ 1:50 p.m. Athletes who were sexually assaulted by a former gymnastics doctor say Michigan State University, USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic Committee failed to stop the abuse and allowed dozens more girls to be molested. Larry Nassar pleaded guilty Wednesday in a Michigan courtroom. Accusers and their lawyers, who have sued the institutions, spoke at a news conference afterward. Attorney John Manly criticized an internal probe being conducted at Michigan State and urged the state attorney general to reconsider not expanding his criminal probe to include school officials who allegedly knew of Nassar's misconduct. He called on the university to release documents showing "who knew what when." The Associated Press has left messages seeking comment from MSU, USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic Committee. ___ 11:10 a.m. A former Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics doctor who has pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting seven girls says he is "horribly sorry" and that he prays "for forgiveness every day." Dr. Larry Nassar entered his plea Wednesday in a Michigan courtroom. Some of his accusers attended the packed hearing. Some were crying. Nassar was charged with molesting the girls under the guise of treatment at his home and a campus clinic. All but one was a gymnast. Judge Rosemarie Aquilina told Nassar he used his position of trust "in the most vile way" to abuse children. A plea deal calls for a minimum prison sentence of 25 years. But the judge could go higher and set the minimum at 40 years. Sentencing is set for Jan. 12. ___ 10:30 a.m. A former Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics doctor accused of molesting seven girls has pleaded guilty to first-degree criminal sexual conduct and faces at least 25 years in prison. Dr. Larry Nassar entered the plea Wednesday in a Michigan courtroom. Some of his accusers attended the packed hearing. Nassar was charged with molesting the girls under the guise of treatment at his home and a campus clinic. All but one was a gymnast. A plea deal calls for a minimum prison sentence of 25 years. But the judge could go higher and set the minimum at 40 years. Nassar is still awaiting sentencing on child pornography charges. He is also being sued by more than 125 women and girls. ___ 1:15 a. m. A person with knowledge of the agreement says a former Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics doctor will plead guilty to multiple charges of sexual assault and face at least 25 years in prison. The person was not authorized to publicly discuss the agreement ahead of a Wednesday court hearing and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Dr. Larry Nassar is charged with molesting seven girls under the guise of treatment at his home and a campus clinic. All but one were gymnasts. The plea deal calls for a minimum prison sentence of 25 years. But the judge could go higher and set the minimum at 40 years. Separately, Nassar is awaiting sentencing for child pornography. He's also being sued by more than 125 women and girls. Dr. Larry Nassar, 54, appears in court for a plea hearing in Lansing, Mich., Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017. Nasser, a sports doctor accused of molesting girls while working for USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University, pleaded guilty to multiple charges of sexual assault and will face at least 25 years in prison. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya) Dr. Larry Nassar, 54, appears in court for a plea hearing in Lansing, Mich., Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017. Nasser, a sports doctor accused of molesting girls while working for USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University, pleaded guilty to multiple charges of sexual assault and will face at least 25 years in prison. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya) Dr. Larry Nassar appears in court for a plea hearing in Lansing, Mich., Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017. Nasser, a sports doctor accused of molesting girls while working for USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University, pleaded guilty to multiple charges of sexual assault and will face at least 25 years in prison. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya) NEW YORK (AP) - David Cassidy could sell the heck out of uncertainty. "I Think I Love You," the smash hit that in 1970 launched the Partridge Family musical group plus the ABC comedy-with-songs show of the same name, found Cassidy center stage delivering such lyrics as "I think I love you, so what am I so afraid of?/ I'm afraid that I'm not sure of a love there is no cure for." There was no doubt: At 20, Cassidy was the radiant man-boy to help usher young girls (and young boys, for that matter) into the untold mysteries of pubescence, adolescence, romance and rock 'n' roll. FILE - In this Aug. 8, 2009, file photo, actor-singer David Cassidy arrives at the ABC Disney Summer press tour party in Pasadena, Calif. Former teen idol Cassidy of "The Partridge Family" fame has died at age 67, publicist said Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017. (AP Photo/Dan Steinberg, File) For all that, millions knew they loved him. Within a few years, those legions of fans would outgrow him, just as Cassidy would outgrow himself, or, at least, what had made him a superstar. His cherubic looks would fade along with his popularity; his laddish proto-Farrah-Fawcett shag would thin. It needn't have shocked him or anybody else; the odds of sustaining that white-hot level of success were no less great than for his having been ignited as a star in the first place. Lightning seldom strikes even once, much less twice. Cassidy, 67, who announced earlier this year that he had been diagnosed with dementia, died Tuesday surrounded by his family. No further details were immediately available, but publicist JoAnn Geffen said on Saturday that Cassidy was in a Fort Lauderdale, Florida, hospital suffering from organ failure. "The Partridge Family" aired from 1970-74 and was intended at first as a vehicle for Shirley Jones, the Oscar-winning actress and Cassidy's stepmother. Jones played Shirley Partridge, a widow with five children with whom she forms a popular act that travels on a psychedelic bus. The cast also featured Cassidy as eldest son and family heartthrob Keith Partridge; Susan Dey, later of "L.A. Law" fame, as sibling Laurie Partridge and Danny Bonaduce as sibling Danny Partridge. "The Partridge Family" never cracked the top 10 in TV ratings, but the recordings under their name, mostly featuring Cassidy, Jones and session players, produced real-life musical hits and made Cassidy a real-life musical superstar. "I Think I Love You" was the Partridges' best-known song, spending three weeks on top of the Billboard chart at a time when other hit singles included James Taylor's "Fire and Rain" and Smokey Robinson and the Miracles' "The Tears of a Clown." The group also reached the top 10 with "I'll Meet You Halfway" and "Doesn't Somebody Want to be Wanted," and Cassidy had a solo hit with "Cherish." "In two years, David Cassidy has swept hurricane-like into the pre-pubescent lives of millions of American girls," Rolling Stone magazine noted in 1972. "Leaving: six and a half million long-playing albums and singles; 44 television programs; David Cassidy lunch boxes; David Cassidy bubble gum; David Cassidy coloring books and David Cassidy pens; not to mention several millions of teen magazines, wall stickers, love beads, posters and photo albums." Cassidy's appeal faded after the show went off the air, although he continued to tour, record and act over the next 40 years, his albums including "Romance" and the awkwardly titled "Didn't You Used To Be?" He had a hit with "I Write the Songs" before Barry Manilow's chart-topping version and success overseas with "The Last Kiss," featuring backing vocals from Cassidy admirer George Michael. He made occasional stage and television appearances, including an Emmy-nominated performance on "Police Story." Even while "The Partridge Family" was still in primetime, Cassidy worried that he was being mistaken for the wholesome character he played. He posed naked for Rolling Stone in 1972, when he confided that he had dropped acid as a teenager and smoked pot in front of the magazine's reporter as he watched an episode of "The Partridge Family" and mocked his own acting. Cassidy would endure personal and financial troubles. He was married and divorced three times, battled alcoholism, was arrested for drunk driving and in 2015 filed for bankruptcy. Cassidy had two children, musician Beau Cassidy and actress Katie Cassidy, with whom he acknowledged having a distant relationship. "I wasn't her father. I was her biological father but I didn't raise her," he told People magazine in 2017. "She has a completely different life." Cassidy himself was estranged from his father. Born in New York City in 1950, he was the son of actors Jack Cassidy and Evelyn Ward and half brother of entertainer Shaun Cassidy. David Cassidy's parents split up when he was 5 and he would long express regret about Jack Cassidy, who soon married Shirley Jones, being mostly absent from his life. David Cassidy stayed with his mother and by the early 1960s had moved to Los Angeles. Kicked out of high school for truancy, David Cassidy dreamed of becoming an actor and had made appearances on "Bonanza," ''Ironside" and other programs before producers at ABC asked him to audition for "The Partridge Family," unaware that he could sing and intending at first to have him mime songs to someone else's voice. Cassidy, who only learned during tryouts that Jones would play his mother, worried that Keith Partridge would be a "real comedown" from his previous roles. "I mean, how much could an actor do with a line like, 'Hi, Mom, I'm home from school,' or 'Please pass the milk?'" he wrote in his memoir. "I didn't see how it could do much for me. After all, I wasn't the star of it. Shirley had top billing; I was just one of the kids." Of course, that wasn't how it worked out. In the show's musical numbers, he was placed front and center, upstaging Jones, an actress whose beauty and crystalline vocals had graced the movie musicals "Carousel," ''Oklahoma!" and "The Sound of Music." Her voice was buried in the chorus of the other lesser "Partridges." And while Dey, who was 17 when "The Partridge Family" debuted, soon won a rapt following among the show's boy viewers, she, too, was eclipsed by Cassidy. It was he who could sell the chaste romanticism of "I woke up this mornin,'/ Went to sleep with you on my mind." For a glorious instant, he made mysteries clearer in the minds of his millions of fans. ___ AP National Writer Hillel Italie contributed to this report. FILE - In this Aug. 27, 2009, file photo, David Cassidy reacts to the crowd after singing the national anthem before a baseball game between the Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox at Fenway Park in Boston. Former teen idol Cassidy of "The Partridge Family" fame has died at age 67, publicist said Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017. (AP Photo/Mary Schwalm, File) FILE - This April 1972 file photo shows singer and teen idol David Cassidy. Former teen idol Cassidy of "The Partridge Family" fame has died at age 67, publicist said Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017. (AP Photo, File) FILE - In this July 13, 1993, file photo, former Partridge Family cast members David Cassidy, from left, Danny Bonaduce and Shirley Jones reunite on the Arsenio Hall Show, Los Angeles, Calif. This was the first time the three had appeared together since the popular 1970s series left the air. Cassidy performed I Think I Love You, during the taping. Former teen idol Cassidy of "The Partridge Family" fame has died at age 67, publicist said Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017. (AP Photo/Eric Draper, File) FILE - In this Nov. 11, 1997, file photo, David Cassidy, left, and brother Patrick sit on the stage of EFX at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Former teen idol Cassidy of "The Partridge Family" fame has died at age 67, publicist said Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey, File) LONDON (AP) - British media say police are investigating a second allegation of sexual assault against actor Kevin Spacey. London's Metropolitan Police force says it has received a complaint "of sexual assaults against a man" in 2005. The force didn't identify Spacey as the alleged perpetrator. British police don't name suspects until they are charged. But it said the same man was accused Nov. 1 of another assault in 2008. The suspect in that case has been widely named in British media as Spacey. The Oscar-winning actor led London's Old Vic Theatre between 2004 and 2015. The new allegation was made to police a day after the Old Vic said it had received 20 claims of inappropriate behavior by Spacey and had encouraged many complainants to go to the police. STROUDSBURG, Pa. (AP) - A Baruch College fraternity has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and other offenses for the 2013 hazing death of a pledge in a rented home in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains. Jurors announced the verdict Tuesday against the Pi Delta Psi fraternity after six days of testimony in the death of freshman pledge Chun "Michael" Deng of New York. The fraternity was also found guilty of aggravated assault, hazing, hindering apprehension and conspiracy. It was acquitted of the most serious offenses it faced, third-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter. Its lawyer told the Pocono Record the fraternity plans to appeal. Four members of the now-closed fraternity chapter previously pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and await sentencing. Authorities have said Deng was knocked unconscious and suffered a fatal head injury during a "gauntlet" ritual in which he was blindfolded and carried a weighted-down backpack across a yard in the home about 100 miles west of New York. The newspaper said Deng had to get past groups of fraternity brothers who shoved or tackled him, and witnesses said he was subjected to the most violence because he fought back. Court records indicate fraternity members tried to revive him on their own, changed his clothes and searched online for information about his symptoms before driving him to a hospital an hour later. He died the next day of a brain injury. Prosecutors are seeking a fine and a statewide ban when the fraternity is sentenced. Pledges at at least four fraternities in the country have died this year, including 19-year-old Tim Piazza of Lebanon, New Jersey. Piazza suffered fatal injuries and drank a dangerous amount of alcohol during a night of hazing in February at the Beta Theta Pi chapter at Penn State. Twenty-six people face charges related to Piazza's death. ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton on Wednesday welcomed the imminent resignations of two male lawmakers accused of repeated sexual harassment as an important first step to cleaning up misconduct in state politics. Democratic state Sen. Dan Schoen was the first to move toward an exit, planning a Wednesday afternoon news conference to announce his resignation. He faces a swirl of sexual harassment allegations, including that he grabbed a woman's buttocks during a political event and sent photos of male genitalia to a female Senate staffer. His attorney said Schoen's resignation would be effective Dec. 15. Republican Rep. Tony Cornish announced Tuesday night he'd leave his southwestern Minnesota House by Dec. 1. Cornish was accused of widespread sexual misconduct during his eight terms in the Legislature, including a lobbyist who said Cornish propositioned her for sex dozens of times and once forced her into a wall while trying to kiss her. "These are very important first steps," Dayton said of their resignations. Since those allegations first came to light, Dayton launched a review to overhaul the executive branch's training and reporting procedures for sexual harassment. Collectively, the two lawmakers faced allegations from at least six women - and Cornish was the subject of a lawsuit from the lobbyist. Cornish apologized to those women, saying in a statement: "I am forced to face the reality that I have made some at the Capitol feel uncomfortable, and disrespected." But Schoen planned to continue fighting the accusations while vacating his Cottage Grove-area Senate seat. Attorney Paul Rogosheske said Wednesday Schoen would present evidence to dispute some of the allegations, and said that the photo of male genitalia sent to a Senate staffer was intended for a different recipient. Rogosheske had previously told Minnesota Public Radio News that Schoen had never sent photos of his genitals to anyone. Schoen works as a police officer for the Cottage Grove Police Department, which assigned him to administrative duties when allegations against him surfaced earlier this month. Schoen remains on administrative duties and no complaints of misconduct have been reported in connection with the department, city administrator Charlene Stevens said Wednesday. Their departures will trigger special elections to replace them. Dayton said he planned to meet with party leaders next week to discuss the timing of those elections, and hoped to have the seats filled before the Legislature returns Feb. 20. ___ Associated Press writer Jeff Baenen contributed to this report. STOCKTON, Calif. (AP) - One of two California inmates who escaped from a courthouse two weeks ago has been captured after a chase but his partner got away, the California Highway Patrol said Wednesday. Officers in the central city of Stockton arrested Tramel McClough Tuesday night but John Bivins escaped, said highway patrol Officer Katzakian. McClough and Bivins escaped deputies escorting them at a court in Palo Alto on Nov. 6 by bolting through an emergency exit and running outside to a waiting car. FILE - This undated combination of file photos released by the Santa Clara County Department of Corrections shows Tramel McClough, left, and John Bivins, right. Authorities say McClough, one of two inmates who escaped from a Palo Alto courthouse two weeks ago, was captured in Stockton, Calif., after a chase. California Highway Patrol officers arrested McClough Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017, but Bivins escaped. (Santa Clara County Department of Corrections via AP, File) Highway patrol officers in Stockton tried to pull over a car but McClough kept driving, then stopped the vehicle and ran inside a Walmart where he was detained, the highway patrol said in a statement. Bivens then took the wheel and kept driving. Officers pursued the car and one fired his gun. Bivens got away but Katzakian said he could not provide more details. McClough and Bivins were being held without bail after they were accused of robbing a Verizon store of $64,000 in merchandise in February. Police have said they tied up the store employees, forced one to open a safe and were arrested a short time later after a car chase. ___ Information from: KTVU-TV. BRISTOL, Vt. (AP) - Vermont State Police are investigating a case of vandalism in which someone used an ax to cut holes into eight barrels of maple syrup, causing about 300 gallons to leak onto the floor of the sugar house where it was being stored. Alan Mayer of Mayer Maple Products told police another 12 gallons of syrup was stolen sometime between Monday and Tuesday. Cindy Mayer tells the Burlington Free Press there is nearly a season's worth of syrup on the floor of their sugarhouse. Cindy Mayer says she and her husband had been preparing their products for an upcoming craft fair. She says the damage appeared to have been made with an ax. Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the state police. ___ Information from: The Burlington Free Press, http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A man has been convicted of stabbing another man to death near a popular Philadelphia park because of a comment about the killer's New Jersey Devils hat. Philly.com reports Wednesday that 42-year-old Steven Simminger has been convicted of first-degree murder for the 2016 killing of 24-year-old Colin McGovern in Philadelphia's Rittenhouse Square. One of McGovern's friends testified that he said something like "screw the Devils" before Simminger stabbed McGovern 10 times. Philadelphia is across the Delaware River from New Jersey and has its own National Hockey League team, the Flyers. Simminger's attorney contends her client killed the Pennsylvania man out of fear for his own life. But prosecutors called Simminger a "ticking time bomb" who was under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Sentencing is scheduled for January. ___ Information from: The Philadelphia Inquirer, http://www.inquirer.com MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - The Alabama Democrat who was disparaged by President Donald Trump as "soft on crime" is a former U.S. attorney who prosecuted church bombers and domestic terrorist Eric Rudolph. Trump on Tuesday gave Republican Roy Moore a near endorsement in Alabama's Senate race, saying Moore "totally denies" allegations of sexual misconduct with teens. Trump then called Democrat Doug Jones soft on crime, border security and the military. "We don't need a liberal person in there, a Democrat, Jones. I've looked at his record. It's terrible on crime. It's terrible on the borders. It's terrible on the military," Trump told reporters. Trump did not elaborate on the reasons behind his assessment. FILE - In this Nov. 17, 2017, file photo, Alabama Democratic Senate candidate Doug Jones speaks during a campaign stop in Troy, Ala. The words of prominent Republicans are being used against Alabama's GOP Senate nominee Roy Moore in a campaign ad. The ad by Jones features statements made by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Sen. Richard Shelby and Ivanka Trump responding to allegations of sexual misconduct against Moore. (Aly Grice/Troy Messenger via AP, File) Here's a brief look at Jones' record and views on the subjects mentioned by Trump : ___ CAREER Jones spent 12 years as a prosecutor in the U.S. Department of Justice, serving as an assistant U.S. attorney from 1980 to 1984 and as U.S. attorney in Birmingham under the Clinton administration from 1997 to 2001. He has been in private practice since leaving the Department of Justice, and has worked as a defense attorney for some of the state's well-connected political figures in white collar cases. ___ CHURCH BOMBING PROSECUTION Jones is best known for leading the prosecution of two Ku Klux Klansmen who bombed Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham in 1963. Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr. was convicted in 2001 and remains in prison. Bobby Frank Cherry was convicted in 2002 and died in prison two years later. ___ ERIC RUDOLPH INDICTMENT Jones also helped coordinate the task force that led to the indictment of domestic terrorist Eric Rudolph. Rudolph bombed a Birmingham abortion clinic in 1998, killing an off-duty police officer. Rudolph pleaded guilty to four terrorist bombings in Birmingham and Atlanta including the fatal 1996 Olympic Park bombing. ___ SENTENCING REFORM Jones says on his campaign website that he disagrees with Attorney General Jeff Sessions "rolling back sentencing reform efforts." Jones says prosecutors and judges should be given flexibility in handling cases. While on the bench. Jones' opponent Roy Moore, also criticized mandatory minimum sentences for people he said should be considered non-violent offenders. ___ BORDER WALL It's not clear what Trump meant by his criticism of Jones' record on borders. However, Jones has said he does not support Trump's proposal for a border wall. He called it too expensive and said the money could be put to better use. President Donald Trump waves as he steps off Air Force One at the Palm Beach International Airport, Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) A group of state attorneys general on Wednesday urged the National Park Service to scrap its proposal to more than double the entrance fee at 17 popular national parks. The top government lawyers from 10 states and the District of Columbia sent a letter saying the increase could put access to the parks out of reach for many Americans. "We cannot let the most popular and awe-inspiring national parks become places for the wealthy," they said in the letter to the Park Service's acting director. FILE- In this May 2, 2013 file photo, the sun's rays strike the rocky coast of Acadia National Park on Mt. Desert Island in Maine. A group of state attorneys general on Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017 urged the National Park Service to scrap its proposal to more than double the entrance fee at 17 popular national parks. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File) All the signers are Democrats except for Arizona's Mark Brnovich, a Republican. The AGs say the increase is inconsistent with the laws governing the park system because the administration did not provide an economic analysis to support its claims that raising fees would increase revenue. The Park Service estimates that higher fees will generate an additional $70 million a year, more than half of which would be used to chip away at a backlog of maintenance and infrastructure projects. But the AGs say the increase actually could reduce the number of visitors and revenue. It would particularly hit lower-income people who already use the parks less frequently than those with more money, they said. In a separate statement, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra suggested he and his colleagues could take legal action if the Park Service moves ahead with the plan, which would boost the entrance fee to $70 per vehicle at the targeted parks, up from $25 or $30. The fee would go into effect during peak season at heavily visited parks, including Glacier, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite and Zion in the West, and Acadia and Shenandoah in the East. Five of the AGs who signed the letter represent states that include parks that would be subject to the fee increases; six do not. Raquel Coombs, a spokeswoman for Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh, said it didn't matter that Maryland does not have a park that would be affected: "Everyone should have access to our nation's national parks," she said. The letter was also signed by the attorneys general of Maine, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington. The AG's also question the rationale, saying Trump has proposed reducing the service's overall budget. The Park Service says the administration's budget calls for Congress to allocate more money for park maintenance backlogs. It has received some 65,000 comments on its proposal and has extended the public comment period to Dec. 22. ___ Associated Press writer Felicia Fonseca in Flagstaff, Arizona, contributed to this report. FILE - This Sept. 16, 2015, file photo shows Zion National Park, near Springdale, Utah. A group of state attorneys general on Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017, urged the National Park Service to scrap its proposal to more than double the entrance fee at 17 popular national parks. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File) FILE - In this Oct. 6, 2001, file photo, viewers look out on autumn foliage from an overlook in Shenandoah National Park south of Front Royal. Va. A group of state attorneys general on Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017 urged the National Park Service to scrap its proposal to more than double the entrance fee at 17 popular national parks. (AP Photo/Robert Meyers, File) FILE - In this July 10, 2016, file photo, a lone fisherman glides along on Kintla Lake in North Glacier National Park, Mont. A group of state attorneys general on Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017, urged the National Park Service to scrap its proposal to more than double the entrance fee at 17 popular national parks. (Brenda Ahearn/The Daily Inter Lake via AP, File) NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A Louisiana man detained by Guatemalan authorities since March while on a church mission trip returned Wednesday to the United States. U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy and U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson helped secure Zachary Wilson's release. Johnson told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that more than 100 friends and family greeted Wilson as he arrived at Shreveport Regional Airport. "It's been quite a day," Johnson, R-Shreveport, said. "It was just a great affirmation of faith." "It is fitting that Zachary Wilson arrives home the day before Thanksgiving," Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, said in a statement. Johnson said the expressions on the faces of Wilson's young sons when they saw their dad walk through the airport gate was "priceless." "He by all appearances is in great health and in great spirits," the congressman said. "We would have preferred (his release) to happen months ago, but what an appropriate gift at this time of the year and what a great blessing." Wilson, 38, of Keithville, was only supposed to be in Guatemala for a week but was not allowed to leave the country last March. He was detained at the airport while attempting to return to his home after authorities found old hunting ammunition in his bag and placed him under arrest. Cassidy and Johnson thanked Guatemala Ambassador Manuel Espina for his help in getting Wilson back home. Johnson said he and Cassidy worked tirelessly to ensure Wilson's return. "The U.S. State Department officials handling this case went above and beyond to ensure the safe return of Wilson and should be commended for their hard work and efforts in this matter," he said. "There were lots of moving parts on this long, long journey." GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) - A federal judge on Wednesday rejected a bid by the Donald Trump administration to dismiss a lawsuit that challenges a presidential permit for the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada. U.S. District Judge Brian Morris in Great Falls, Montana, dismissed U.S. Justice Department arguments that the court had no authority to second-guess the cross-border permit that was issued by the State Department. Morris also rejected motions by TransCanada Corp., the company behind the project, to dismiss the suit. Conservation groups and Native American organizations contend in the lawsuit that an environmental review of the project completed in 2014 was inadequate. They've asked Morris to revoke the permit, which was based on the review and issued in March. The 1,179-mile (1,800-kilometer) pipeline would transport Canadian crude through Montana and South Dakota to Nebraska, where it would connect with lines to carry oil to Gulf Coast refineries. President Barack Obama's administration rejected the project in 2015, but it was revived in March under Trump. The president insists it will create jobs and lead to greater energy independence. In seeking to dismiss the suit, government attorneys had argued that Trump had constitutional authority over matters of foreign affairs and national security. Morris rejected the notion that any potential court injunction - or even review of the permitting process - would illegally infringe on the president's authority. Morris cited a decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a case concerning a federal visa exchange program. The circuit court's decision "has made clear that the State Department cannot avoid judicial review simply by invoking its consideration of 'foreign policy' or 'security' factors," Morris wrote. Both the Justice Department and TransCanada said Wednesday they were reviewing the decision. "Our environmental laws should never be undercut by the interests of a private foreign company, and the court's decision today solidifies that," Hannah Adams, deputy director of the activist group and co-plaintiff Bold Alliance, said in a statement. On Monday, Nebraska regulators approved a pipeline route through that state, though the vote is likely to face court challenges. The route is not one preferred by TransCanada, and it could require more time for government agencies to study the changes. TransCanada has said that it would announce by early December whether to proceed with the pipeline - which would carry an estimated 830,000 barrels of oil a day - and would take into account the Nebraska decision and whether it has lined up enough long-term contracts to ship oil. Keystone XL would expand the existing Keystone pipeline network that went into service in July 2010. The current pipeline runs through North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas and extends east into Missouri and Illinois. DETROIT (AP) - A data breach and cover-up at Uber may push riders to the competition. But it's also likely that Uber's fast service and convenience will keep the passengers coming despite a long string of scandals. Hackers were able to steal data for 57 million riders and drivers, and Uber concealed it for a year after paying $100,000 in ransom for the stolen information to be destroyed. FILE - In this Wednesday, March 15, 2017, file photo, a traveler tries to book a ride with Uber at LaGuardia Airport in New York. Through a string of almost weekly scandals, Uber has managed to continue growing and hold onto the title of the world's largest ride-hailing service. In the latest misbehavior, hackers were able to steal data for 57 million riders and drivers, and Uber concealed it for a year. Riders and business experts say that hits people directly, and they won't be happy about it. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File) The customer research firm Brand Keys says its polling shows that the scandals have damaged Uber's reputation over time. The firm says Lyft is now the most trusted name in ride-hailing. But many riders say they'll stick with Uber because it responds quickly when they summon a car. Drivers say the service generates more income than Lyft. Words matter. That's one of the key messages of "Darkest Hour," in which Gary Oldman embodies - fiercely and memorably - the legendary Winston Churchill, who rallied his country with soaring oratory when Britain's very survival was at stake. But the same man who uttered indelible phrases like "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat" - and many others - was also a human being, the film argues, with fears and doubts and insecurities and flaws. "Just be yourself," Churchill's wife, Clementine (a briskly effective Kristin Scott Thomas) advises him as he heads off, full of jitters, to meet the king and become the wartime prime minister. Later, he raises a glass with Clementine, with a fervent wish: "Here's to not buggering it up." "Buggering it up" was certainly a risk - both for Churchill, and for Oldman or any actor attempting to embody the great man. It's hard enough to portray a revered real-life figure - and harder yet with such a larger-than-life persona, physically and otherwise. It won't be a surprise to fans of the skilled Oldman that he avoids mimicry or caricature, and it's an even better treat that he's able to so adeptly balance conviction with doubt, courage with fear, and gravity with humor. (Kudos are due as well to the superb makeup by Kazuhiro Tsuji, jowls and all.) This image released by Focus Features shows Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill in a scene from "Darkest Hour." (Jack English/Focus Features via AP) "Darkest Hour," directed by Joe Wright and written by Anthony McCarten, focuses on one month in 1940 that saw Churchill rise to office and face down his political foes and a wary British monarch as he navigated the threat of looming war against Adolf Hitler's forces. Though Wright is known for his sweeping filmmaking in another war film, "Atonement," here he focuses not on the beaches of Dunkirk but on dimly lit interiors like the underground war rooms at Westminster Palace, the halls of Parliament, and Churchill's own bedroom. The film is, in a sense, a companion piece - by way of timing, at least - to Christopher Nolan's "Dunkirk," released in the summer. While Nolan focused on the action, Wright focuses on the talk - specifically how Churchill, in the words of one frustrated opponent, "mobilized the English language and sent it into battle." He wasn't the first choice to be prime minister - not of his party, and certainly not of a skeptical King George VI (an excellent Ben Mendelsohn). But Parliament, as we learn at the beginning of the film, had lost confidence in the ailing Neville Chamberlain, and Churchill was a compromise solution. He enters office as France and Belgium are on the brink of falling to the Nazis, and most of the British Army is stranded at Dunkirk. The new prime minister is forced to make an agonizing decision: try to negotiate a dubious peace, as Chamberlain desired, or fight - and risk the deaths of a generation of young British men. He's hated by Chamberlain and his sidekick, Lord Halifax, and doubted by the king, who (initially) finds him scary and unpredictable. It's fun to watch the lunch meeting between the restrained king and Churchill, a man of great appetites - and a famous thirst. When the king asks how he can drink during the day, the prime minister replies: "Practice." There are many such moments of humor, including when Churchill first meets his new young secretary, Elizabeth Layton (Lily James), and inadvertently flashes his privates under his nightshirt. Or when he warns her as he exits the shower: "I'm coming out in a state of nature!" He's also shown on the toilet, shouting out that he cannot speak to the Lord Privy Seal because he is "sealed on The Privy." Despite such comic moments, which Oldman attacks with gusto, the film's mood is urgent and dire. The United States cannot help because of neutrality agreements; in a dispiriting phone call with Franklin D. Roosevelt, the U.S. president notes: "It must be late there." Churchill replies: "In more ways than you can possibly know." Ultimately - as we all know - Churchill decides to fight on, and to declare "We will never surrender." What gets him there? Partly, a ride on the London Underground. The prime minister decides to ditch his aides and take the Tube to Westminster, and on the way, to chat with some commonfolk. To a person, they agree with him that the country must never surrender to the forces of evil. There are two problems with this scene. First, it's rather corny. The second is that it never happened. The filmmakers do warn that some material has been fictionalized. But some may be disappointed to learn that one of the most pivotal scenes in the film was manufactured. Oldman's performance, though, which has launched him to the forefront of awards season chatter, triumphs over any such qualms. The last few years have seen a number of notable Churchill interpretations. Oldman has set the bar higher still. "Darkest Hour," a Focus Features release, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America "for some thematic material." Running time: 125 minutes. Three stars out of four. This image released by Focus Features shows Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill in a scene from "Darkest Hour." (Jack English/Focus Features via AP) This image released by Focus Features shows Kristin Scott Thomas as Clementine, left, and Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill in a scene from "Darkest Hour." (Jack English/Focus Features via AP) SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. (AP) - Police arrested a student at a Christian college in Arkansas, alleging he told officers he had been building small bombs and that he posted a note in a dormitory common room saying "the maniacal side" of his brain was a "fun little guy" who wanted to inflict mass casualties on society. Timothy Constantin, a 20-year-old John Brown University student from Gainesville, Florida, was arrested Tuesday and was being held pending a bond hearing Thursday morning, said the local prosecutor's office, which didn't know if he had an attorney. In an affidavit, detective Ron Coble said Constantin had built small bombs with PVC pipe and black powder collected from fireworks and ammunition. The student had written that one side of his brain "genuinely hates and actively wants to murder ever (sic) single human I come across as well as those I've never seen in my life." Police began investigating after other students said Constantin was suicidal. One student told Coble that Constantin wanted to kill himself to prevent himself from committing a terrorist attack over the upcoming winter break. Officers said they found guns and ammunition in Constantin's dorm room, including an AK-47 rifle and a Keltech 9mm carbine gun. Constantin told police in interviews that the firearms were for protection and that if he were to do a mass killing, he would use explosives. Police found no explosives in his room. Coble's affidavit said Constantin told another officer he had previously made explosives. The university released a statement saying it was increasing the number of armed guards on campus and reviewing training procedures after the arrest. "While the student indicated thoughts of harm to himself and potentially to others, to the best of our knowledge there was not a specific plan to carry out any type of campus attack nor was there a specific person targeted," the statement said. "If Campus Safety or the Siloam Springs Police determined there was immediate risk to the campus, we would have alerted campus through our crisis alert system." An arrest warrant directed officers to hold Constantin on a complaint of engaging in criminal acts involving explosives, a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. When Uber paid a $100,000 ransom so that hackers who broke into its data warehouse would destroy the personal information they stole, it allowed the ride-sharing company to keep a massive breach of 57 million user and driver accounts secret for nearly a year. Now that secret decision could come to haunt Uber. State and national governments around the world are investigating whether the company violated laws requiring the disclosure of major breaches to customers and legal authorities. It also raises questions about the ongoing practice of paying off hackers, which some experts warn encourages criminals to keep on hacking away at major corporations and the consumers who've entrusted them with their personal information. __ FILE - This Wednesday, March 1, 2017, file photo shows an exterior view of the headquarters of Uber in San Francisco. Uber paid $100,000 to hackers who stole data on the ride-hailing company's drivers and riders, then kept the massive data breach quiet for a year. This latest stain on Uber's reputation also raises serious questions about ransom payments to hackers, and legal implications as states and federal governments investigate whether Uber violated laws about notifying consumers about their stolen data. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File) IS YOUR UBER DATA SAFE? Uber spokesman Matthew Wing would not comment when asked how the company knows that the hackers destroyed the data they obtained, nor would he comment on other technical or legal issues. Instead, he deferred to new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi's blog posting announcing the breach on Tuesday. Uber has said that for riders, hackers got only names, email addresses and telephone numbers. They did not get personally identifiable information such as trip details or credit card and Social Security numbers. For about 600,000 U.S. drivers, the hackers obtained driver's license numbers, and the company has offered them free credit monitoring services, the company has said. __ HOW DID THE BREACH HAPPEN? The October 2016 hack started at the software repository GitHub, a platform where developers can go to host and review each other's code. Uber hasn't explained how its developers' private account on the site was compromised, but it likely involved some carelessness, said Kyle Flaherty of security firm Rapid7. "It's like any other account you have," Flaherty said. "Be stringent with your own credentials and be aware of other login credentials that might be inside the repository itself, whether it's in the code or elsewhere." Bloomberg reported that two Uber developers had stashed credentials for the company's data stores in their code on GitHub. GitHub said Wednesday that the breach was not the result of a failure of its own security, but declined further comment. It also reiterated that it recommends against storing access tokens, passwords or other authentication or encryption keys in code stored on the site - and warned developers who do so to use extra safeguards to prevent unauthorized access. __ TO PAY RANSOMS OR NOT While many security experts have criticized Uber for paying off the hackers with a ransom - which the company later categorized as a more acceptable "bug bounty" awarded to security researchers - others saw the $100,000 payment as a relative bargain that also successfully secured users' data. "Uber paid $100K to protect 57M people? Good," tweeted Dan Kaminsky, chief scientist at security firm White Ops. "I think people forget the goal is actually to prevent harm. Yeah, those hackers could totally have kept the data. But then, their identities were known, and they knew they might face consequences. Not ideal, welcome to the real." __ COVERING IT UP The bigger problem for Uber - and its users - is not so much the payment as the secret maneuvers to keep it hidden, Flaherty said. "Being open and honest about these types of things is usually the best way to go," he said. "That's the only way this stuff is going to change overall." Now, though, in addition to yet another hit to its reputation with consumers, Uber faces a mountain of legal hurdles as state prosecutors launched investigations Wednesday and members of Congress called on the Federal Trade Commission to take action. __ GOVERNMENT RESPONSE Many U.S. states have laws requiring that companies notify local authorities and consumers if data is stolen. As of Wednesday, attorneys general in New York, Massachusetts and Missouri had announced investigations. Massachusetts AG Maura Healey, a Democrat, said Wednesday she has requested documents and other information from the ride-hailing service, adding her office is "keeping all criminal and civil options on the table." The breach will also have repercussions outside the United States. British officials said Wednesday that any fine against Uber for its large-scale data breach will be higher than usual because the firm did not promptly disclose the hack. Britain's Deputy Information Commissioner James Dipple-Johnstone said that "if U.K. citizens were affected then we should have been notified so that we could assess and verify the impact on people whose data was exposed." ___ Associated Press writers Tom Krisher in Detroit and Bob Salsberg in Boston contributed to this report. QUITO, Ecuador (AP) - Ecuador on Wednesday again urged Julian Assange to not interfere in the affairs of other countries after Spain complained about his contacts with Catalan secessionists, though the government said the Wikileaks founder would continue enjoying political asylum in its London embassy. President Lenin Moreno is scheduled to visit Spain in December, and his government released a statement saying Assange's comments do not reflect its own views. Assange has an "obligation to not make declarations or carry out activities that could affect Ecuador's international relations, which should be preserved, as in the case of Spain, a country it is united with by historical and cultural ties, as well as links of mutual respect, friendship between its peoples and bilateral cooperation," the statement said. FILE - In this May 19, 2017 file photo, Julian Assange greets supporters outside the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Ecuador's government released a statement Wednesday, Nov. 22, once again calling on Assange to not intervene in the affairs of other countries following Spanish complaints about his contacts with Catalan secessionists, though it said the Wikileaks founder would continue enjoying political asylum in its London embassy. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File) Ecuador's message came two weeks after Spain objected to Assange's contacts with secessionist Catalan leaders from the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, where he has been holed up since 2012. The Wikileaks founder has also been active on the internet about Catalan's secession from Spain. Assange has commented frequently on international issues, at times causing problems for Ecuador and leading his host to ask him to stop it. The biggest crisis came in October 2016 when the embassy cut his internet service after WikiLeaks published a trove of damaging emails from then U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign. Ecuador's leftist government said the move violated its traditional respect for other nations' sovereignty. Earlier this year, Assange won his battle against extradition to Sweden, which wanted to question him about a rape allegation. He took refuge in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London to avoid arrest but has remained there despite Sweden's decision to drop the inquiry. UK authorities were unaware of a mass data breach at Uber that potentially saw British customers personal details fall into the hands of cyber criminals. Downing Street said the hack, which affected 57 million customers and drivers worldwide, had not been reported by the taxi-hailing firm after it hushed up the scandal. Security services and the information watchdog have been left scrabbling to asses the scale of the damage amid warnings Ubers secrecy could result in higher fines. Uber said it could not yet confirm how many customers in the UK had their details compromised. News of the hack came in an extraordinary admission by the US firms chief executive on Tuesday, revealing a third-party server had been infiltrated in late 2016. A ransom of 100,000 US dollars (75,500) had been paid to hackers so they would delete the data and keep the security lapse quiet. Stolen information included names, email addresses and mobile phone numbers, as well as the names and number plates of 600,000 drivers in the US. Prime Minister Theresa Mays official spokesman said: These are obviously concerning reports and the National Cyber Security Centre is working closely with domestic and international agencies, including the National Crime Agency and the Information Commissioners Office, to investigate if and how this breach has affected people in the UK. It is a worldwide incident and it is unclear at this stage which countries were affected by the hack. What we do know is, based on current information, we have not seen evidence that financial details have been compromised. He added that Uber did not notify individuals in the UK, the UK Government or UK regulators at the time the hack was discovered in October last year. The CEO said there was 'no indication' credit card or bank details were accessed (Yui Mok/PA) The Information Commissioners Office (ICO) warned Uber it could face fines, saying the incident raised huge concerns around its data protection policies and ethics. The tech company reportedly tracked down the hackers and pressured them to sign non-disclosure agreements so news of the incident did not become public. Company executives had then dressed up the breach as a bug bounty, the practice of paying hackers to test the strength of software security, according to The New York Times. Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi, who took over in August, said in a blog there had been no indication trip history, credit card details, bank account numbers or dates of birth were downloaded by the hackers. He wrote: At the time of the incident, we took immediate steps to secure the data and shut down further unauthorised access by the individuals. We subsequently identified the individuals and obtained assurances that the downloaded data had been destroyed. Affected accounts have been flagged for additional fraud protection, Mr Khosrowshahi said. None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it, he wrote. While I cant erase the past, I can commit on behalf of every Uber employee that we will learn from our mistakes. Data protection lawyers at the Leigh Day legal firm said a huge number of claims could be brought against Uber by its customers as a result of the security failing. Sweeping reforms to data protection laws are to be introduced in the EU next year under the General Data Protection Regulation. It will force companies to officially log data breaches in a timely manner. Failure to do so could result in a fine which can be 4% of global turnover or millions of pounds. A spokesman Transport for London, which this year announced it would not be renewing Ubers licence in the capital, said: We are working to gain clarity from Uber on whether any of the issues seen in the US have occurred here. Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic, whose forces carried out the worst massacre in Europe since the Second World War, has been convicted of genocide and other crimes and sentenced to life behind bars. Mladic, defiant to the last, was ejected from a courtroom at the United Nations Yugoslav war crimes tribunal after yelling at judges: Everything you said is pure lies. Shame on you! He was sent to a neighbouring room to watch on TV as Presiding Judge Alphons Orie pronounced him guilty of 10 counts that also included war crimes and crimes against humanity. Human-rights organisations hailed the convictions as proof that even top military brass long considered untouchable cannot evade justice forever. Mladic spent years on the run before his arrest in 2011. This landmark verdict marks a significant moment for international justice and sends out a powerful message around the world that impunity cannot and will not be tolerated, said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty Internationals Europe director. For prosecutors, it was a fitting end to a 23-year effort to mete out justice at the UN tribunal for atrocities committed during the Balkan wars of the early 1990s. Mladics conviction signalled the end of the final trial before the tribunal closes its doors by the end of the year. But Mladics attorneys vowed to appeal against his convictions on 10 charges related to atrocities from the beginning of the 1992-95 Bosnian war to its end. Ratko Mladic in court (AP) Mladics son, Darko, said his father told him after the verdict that the tribunal was a Nato commission trying to criminalise a legal endeavour of Serbian people in times of civil war to protect itself from the aggression. Judge Orie started the hearing by reading out horrors perpetrated by forces under Mladics control. Detainees were forced to rape and engage in other degrading sexual acts with one another. Many Bosnian Muslim women who were unlawfully detained were raped, Orie said. The judge recounted the story of a mother who ventured into the streets during the siege of Sarajevo with her son as Serb snipers and artillery targeted the Bosnian capital. She was shot. The bullet passed through her and killed her seven-year-old son. Bosnian women react to the sentence The war reached its bloody climax in Srebrenica as Bosnian Serb forces overran what was supposed to be a UN-protected safe haven. Serb forces systematically murdered some 8,000 Muslim males after transporting away women and children. Many of these men and boys were cursed, insulted, threatened, forced to sing Serb songs and beaten while awaiting their execution, Judge Orie said. Mladic looked relaxed as the hearing started, greeting lawyers, crossing himself and giving a thumbs-up to photographers. But half way through the hearing his lawyer, Dragan Ivetic, asked for a delay because the general was suffering from high blood pressure. The judge refused, Mladic started yelling and was thrown out of court. Fikret Alic shows a picture of himself as an emaciated prisoner outside court The conflict in the former Yugoslavia erupted after the countrys break-up in the early 1990s, with the worst crimes taking place in Bosnia. Fikret Alic became a symbol of the horrors in Bosnia after his skeletal frame was photographed by Time magazine behind barbed wire in 1992 in a Bosnian Serb camp. Justice has won, he said. And the war criminal has been convicted. Theresa May branded Jeremy Corbyn a blast from the past as she claimed she remains optimistic over Brexit. The Prime Minister also urged the Labour leader to get his own act together over his partys position on Britains withdrawal from the EU. Mr Corbyn countered by labelling the Governments approach a shambles as Brexit dominated the pairs exchanges at Prime Ministers Questions. Theresa May during Prime Minister's Questions Tories say one thing on Brexit, then do the opposite. They have no plan, no strategy and no energy to achieve a good deal for Britain. #PMQs pic.twitter.com/WXpQ78I9b7 Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) November 22, 2017 Mr Corbyn urged Mrs May to clarify how the Irish border will operate post-Brexit and accused the Government of seeking to weaken workers rights and environmental protections. He added: Isnt the truth this Government has no energy, no agreed plan and no strategy to deliver a good Brexit for Britain? Mrs May replied: The party in this Commons that has no clue on Brexit is the Labour Party. Week in and week out (Mr Corbyn) comes to this House and talks down our country and is pessimistic about our future. Well, let me tell him Im optimistic about our future. Im optimistic about the success we can make of Brexit. Im optimistic about the well-paid jobs that will be created. Im optimistic about the homes we will build. Thats Conservatives building a Britain fit for the future all he offers is a blast from the past. We have already invested almost 700m in Brexit preparations and today I am setting aside over the next 2 years a further 3bn #Budget2017 pic.twitter.com/wKGTLQsKvX HM Treasury (@hmtreasury) November 22, 2017 In lively and shorter exchanges between the two leaders ahead of the Budget, Mr Corbyn included a reference to Sarah Clarke the first female Black Rod in the House of Lords. He said: Im really pleased its a woman at last who has got that position. Mrs May, in her reply to his opening question, prompted cheers among her MPs by joking: Im glad you have welcomed the new Lady Usher of the Black Rod I hope it isnt going to take 650 years before the Labour Party has a female leader. After being questioned about Brexit, Mrs May also insisted: Were very happy to move to further detailed discussions of the customs and trade relationship we will have, not just between Northern Ireland and the Republic but between the United Kingdom and the European Union. The PM later accused Mr Corbyn of borrowing questions from the Liberal Democrats. Mr Corbyn raised warnings over the UK financial sector losing its current trading rights with Europe, adding: It seems neither the EU negotiators nor the Government have any idea where this is going. Last week, (Brexit Secretary David Davis) said he would guarantee free movement for bankers post-Brexit. Are there any other groups to whom the Prime Minister believes freedom of movement should apply? Nurses? Doctors? Teachers? Scientists? Agricultural workers? Care workers? Who? Mrs May replied: Im very interested (Mr Corbyn) has found that his appearances at Prime Ministers Questions have been going so well hes had to borrow a question from the leader of the Liberal Democrats, which he asked me last week. Perhaps the Leader of the Opposition should pay a little more attention to what happens in Prime Ministers Questions. Leicester boss Claude Puel has warned his players to be wary of a West Ham backlash. The Foxes go to the London Stadium on Friday David Moyes first home game in charge of the Hammers after he was appointed this month. Moyes lost his first game on Sunday, 2-0 at Watford, and his new side are third bottom in the Premier League having won just once in their last eight top flight games. And Puel is concerned Leicester will face a fired up West Ham at the London Stadium. West Ham fans want a reaction, he told a press conference. We know this team are at home with a new manager and we want to show good qualities. When a new manager arrives, it is always positive for the players to show their qualities and to try and win their place. It will be a strong game and it is important to keep focus. Its a difficult game for them but also for us. Leicester defender Robert Huth remains out with an ankle injury. (Mike Egerton/PA) We know it will be a difficult game. They have changed their manager like Everton did when we played them. It is a new challenge for us because we know the players of West Ham but they have had just one game played under the new manager at Watford. The Frenchman will resist the temptation to make changes for Fridays game following the 2-0 defeat to Manchester City on Saturday. Puel has no fresh injury concerns ahead of the trip to the London Stadium but remains without Puel will be without Robert Huth (ankle) and Matty James (Achilles). Claude Puel will be without just 2 #lcfc stars at London Stadium for #WhuLei on Friday https://t.co/flRMctomGA pic.twitter.com/OgWqmIADHe Leicester City (@LCFC) November 22, 2017 It will be important to make some rotation, he said. But for the moment we have some days to recover (after Friday) and we will see for this game. If we have just two or three days (to recover), it will be important to make some rotation. We may gradually look at some different players. It will be a normal thing for me, sometimes we will have tiredness and some injuries. Antoine Griezmanns phenomenal goal kept Atletico Madrids Champions League hopes alive as they grabbed a vital victory over Roma. The France international crashed in a 69th-minute overhead kick to inspire a crucial 2-0 win over the Italians at the Wanda Metropolitano stadium. Kevin Gameiro added a late second after Bruno Peres was sent off for Roma, to take Atleticos fight to qualify to the final game with their first win in Group C. Antoine Griezmann scores a stunner (AP/Paul White) Oh Antoine Griezmann!! What. A. Finish! pic.twitter.com/A9FeDa1Z5I Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) November 22, 2017 The runners-up in 2014 and 2016 must beat Chelsea next, and Gameiro said, according to Marca: We are going to keep working to get more victories. Well have chances against Chelsea and we have to win the game. Gameiro called Griezmanns strike a phenomenal goal, and added: My goal is very good for my confidence. RESULTS! Barcelona join Chelsea in the last 16 #UCL pic.twitter.com/quXTuaLVfu UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) November 22, 2017 Atletico needed victory after back-to-back draws against Azerbaijans Qarabag, and Griezmann ended an eight-game goal drought for his club when they needed it most. Roma remain in the driving seat though as they sit second, two points ahead of Atletico. The Italians face Qarabag at home in the final round of games, while Atletico head to a Chelsea side who made sure of their last-16 place with a 4-0 win in Azerbaijan earlier in the day. Chelseas Willian scored twice against Qarabag and was fouled for two penalties, which were scored by Eden Hazard and Cesc Fabregas. The Blues task was made simpler by the 19th-minute red card for home defender Rashad Sadygov, who was sent off for pulling down Willian in the box. Barcelona have won Group D but the second qualifying spot remains up for grabs after Sporting Lisbon moved within a point of second-placed Juventus courtesy of a 3-1 home win against Olympiacos. Through to the last 16 as group winners in the @ChampionsLeague just like... 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 #ForcaBarca pic.twitter.com/tGVH79FygX FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) November 22, 2017 Bas Dost scored either side of a goal from Bruno Cesar for Sporting, with Vadis Odjidja netting a late consolation. Juventus contested a goalless draw with Barcelona, who arrived in Turin already assured of their place in the knockout stages and who began the match with Lionel Messi on the bench. Paris St Germain underlined their dominance of Group B with a 7-1 thrashing of Celtic in the French capital to make it five wins from five matches. And there's still one more game to go #PSGCEL pic.twitter.com/523FFbEgTE Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English) November 22, 2017 The Scottish champions shocked most inside the Parc des Princes by taking the lead in the first minute through Moussa Dembeles strike, but that was as good as it got for the visitors. Neymar and Edinson Cavani each scored twice while Kylian Mbappe, Marco Verratti and Dani Alves also got their names on the score-sheet for the tournament favourites. Bayern Munich will finish behind PSG after winning 2-1 at Anderlecht. Robert Lewandowski and Corentin Tolisso scored for the Bundesliga side either side of Sofiane Hannis equaliser. Manchester United still have a little work to do to ensure they will qualify after losing 1-0 at Basel. Michael Langs 89th-minute winner in Switzerland lifted Basel up to second place in Group A ahead of CSKA Moscow on goal difference. Earlier in the day, a strike from Georgi Schennikov and a Vieira Jardel own goal gave CSKA a 2-0 home win over Benfica. BERLIN, Nov 21 (Reuters) - German automakers, on course for record production this year, expect further output growth in 2018 powered by strong demand in Asia, the VDA carmakers' lobby said. Producers including Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW may increase output "significantly" this year from 2016 levels to between 5.6-5.7 million units in Germany and about 10.8 million in the rest of the world, VDA President Matthias Wissmann said. "The automotive sector is and will remain a growth market," Wissmann told an industry conference on Tuesday, citing momentum in China and India. "Current projections indicate that 2018 will also be a stable year," he said, without being more specific. Separately, Wissmann said he expects demand in Germany for electric cars to show "a further significant gain" over the next three years as German carmakers plan to more than triple their offerings of purely battery-powered vehicles and plug-in hybrids to nearly 100 models from about 30 at present. (Reporting by Andreas Cremer; editing by Jason Neely) BEIRUT, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Lebanon's Saad al-Hariri arrived in Cyprus for a meeting with its president on Tuesday, Hariri said on his Twitter feed, ahead of his expected return to Beirut to take part in independence day celebrations on Wednesday. Hariri is expected to return to Lebanon in the coming hours, his first trip home since his sudden resignation as prime minister on Nov. 4 plunged the country into political crisis. "It was a 45-minute meeting which was requested earlier today through diplomatic channels," Cypriot government spokesman Nikos Christodoulides told Reuters of the meeting between Hariri and Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades. "We, and he, desire to see stability in Lebanon. He is leaving as we speak," he added. (Writing by Tom Perry; editing by Gareth Jones) By Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON, Nov 21 (Reuters) - South Dakota regulators said on Tuesday they could revoke TransCanada Corp's permit to operate the Keystone crude oil pipeline in the state if an initial probe into last week's spill finds the company violated its license. TransCanada said last week the Keystone system linking Alberta's oil fields with U.S. refineries spilled 5,000 barrels in rural northeastern South Dakota, days before neighboring Nebraska approved a proposed a route for the company's separate Keystone XL expansion project. The spill is the third to take place along the Keystone route in less than 10 years, a concern to state regulators since the pipeline's lifespan is up to 100 years. "We are waiting to see what the forensic analysis comes back with to see if any of our conditions were violated," Kristie Fiegen, chair of the three-person South Dakota Public Utilities Commission, told Reuters, adding a violation could lead to a suspension or cancellation of the permit. Chris Nelson, another commissioner, agreed. "The PUC needs to determine whether any of the permit conditions for this pipeline were violated. Those conditions were placed on the permit to ensure safe construction and operation of the pipeline," he said. "If it was knowingly operating in a fashion not allowed under the permit or if construction was done in a fashion that was not acceptable, that should cause the closure of the pipe for at least a period of time until those challenges are rectified," said Gary Hanson, the third commissioner. TransCanada has said the leak near the town of Aberdeen was contained and that cleanup was under way. It has not yet set a restart date for the pipeline. TransCanada was not immediately available for comment. The South Dakota PUC issued the permit for Keystone in 2007 with 57 conditions, ranging from construction standards to environmental requirements. It can revoke or suspend it if the company is found to have made misstatements in its application or does not comply with the conditions. The PUC expects a preliminary report about the spill from federal and state technical experts within the next 10 days. A more comprehensive analysis could take several months. Separately, the Nebraska Public Service Commission on Monday approved a route for TransCanada's Keystone XL expansion, lifting one of the last major regulatory hurdles for the long-delayed project, but leaving open questions about its economic viability after a surge in U.S. drilling since it was first proposed in 2008. (Reporting by Valerie Volcovici in Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis) JAKARTA, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Indonesia's Mount Agung volcano in Bali has let out a puff of black smoke and ash in a small eruption, prompting Singapore to advise its citizens to be ready to evacuate the holiday island at short notice amid concern about a bigger eruption. Authorities have not changed the alert status on Agung, which remains at one level below the highest and there have been no reports of flight cancellations. "Singaporeans should defer non-essential travel to the affected areas of the island at this juncture," Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a travel notice on Wednesday. "You should also be ready to evacuate at short notice." Eruptions could result in ash clouds that could "severely disrupt air travel", it said. Agung looms menacingly over eastern Bali at a height of just over 3,000 metres (9,842 feet). It last erupted in 1963, killing more than 1,000 people and razing several villages. Indonesia has nearly 130 volcanoes, more than any other country. Many of them show high levels of activity but it can be months before an eruption. A spokesman for Indonesia's National Disaster Mitigation agency, said via a text message that there had been a "phreatic eruption" late on Tuesday with black smoke reaching 700 metres (2,300 ft), followed by falling ash, gravel and sand. "These types of eruptions - called phreatic - are the product of rock that already exists being shattered violently when water heated by the rising magma under Agung quickly turns to steam," according to a blog post on the Discovermagazine.com website. The disaster agency recommended against any activity within 6-7.5 km (3.7-4.6 miles) of the crater. It said that 29,245 people were staying in 278 evacuation camps. At one stage, after authorities put Agung's alert status at the highest level of four in September, more than 130,000 people left their homes. The alert level was lowered to three on Oct. 29. Australia left its travel advice unchanged and told citizens to "monitor local media reports, follow the instructions of local authorities, and stay outside the existing exclusion zone". Bali, famous for its surf, beaches and temples, attracted nearly 5 million visitors last year, but business has slumped in areas around the volcano since September when Agung's volcanic tremors began to increase. Tourism, a cornerstone of Bali's economy, is Indonesia's fourth-biggest earner of foreign currency after natural resources like coal and palm oil. (Reporting by Jessica Damiana; Writing by Ed Davies; Editing by Robert Birsel) Following are news stories, press reports and events to watch that may affect Poland's financial markets on Wednesday. ALL TIMES GMT (Poland: GMT + 1 hour): LOCAL GOVERNMENT INVESTMENT Investment expenditure by local government increased by 44 percent year-on-year in the third quarter to 8 billion zlotys ($2.23 billion), Puls Biznesu reported. LOTOS The EFRA investment of Polish refiner Grupa Lotos will improve its margin on each barrel of oil by $2, Chief Executive Marcin Jastrzebski told Rzeczpospolita daily. He also said that starting from 2018-2019 the company will receive oil in long-term contracts from other sources than just Russia. PKN ORLEN The Lithuanian refinery of PKN Orlen is currently contributing "significant profits" to the company, PKN's board member Krystian Pater told Parkiet daily. ECONOMIC SENTIMENT The statistics office will publish its economic sentiment indexes for businesses and consumers at 1300 GMT. ****Reuters has not verified stories reported by Polish media and does not vouch for their accuracy.**** For other related news, double click on: Polish equities E.Europe equities Polish money Polish debt Eastern Europe All emerging markets Hot stocks Stock markets Market debt news Forex news For real-time index quotes, double click on: Warsaw WIG20 Budapest BUX Prague PX ($1 = 3.5902 zlotys) (Reporting by Warsaw Bureau; Editing by Toby Chopra) By Sanjeev Miglani NEW DELHI, Nov 22 (Reuters) - The Trump administration is pushing security ties between the United States, India, Japan and Australia, but the revival of the Asian "Quad" must overcome lingering mistrust in New Delhi towards its allies that hampers genuine military cooperation. Joint naval drills have been at the heart of a relationship that analysts widely see as a move to counterbalance China's rising power by binding the region's leading democracies more closely together. But while the navies of the United States, Japan and Australia can easily operate together - based on common U.S.-designed combat systems and data links - India is the outlier. Not only are most of its ships and warplanes Russian-made, its government and military remain deeply reluctant to share data and open up sensitive military communications systems. The United States has carried out more naval exercises with India than any other nation. But naval sources and experts say these are more about "cultural familiarisation" than drills for joint combat. Because India will not sign an agreement on sharing data, naval exercises are conducted through voice and text commands with rudimentary SMS-style data exchange, Indian and Japanese military sources said. "Think of it as directing your friend to your house in the 1980s. Your left may be his right, neither of you have situational awareness," said Abhijit Iyer-Mitra, a senior fellow at New Delhi's Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies who has tracked the military exercises. "What the Americans want is 2017 - drop a pin on Google maps and hit share. You know where your friend is and he knows where your house is and how to get to it." The Indian defence ministry did not respond to a request for a comment. ANNUAL DRILLS The so-called Quad to discuss and cooperate on security emerged briefly as an initiative a decade ago - much to the annoyance of China - and was revived recently, with an officials-level meeting this month on the sidelines of a regional gathering in Manila. The Trump administration has talked up cooperation with India as part of efforts for a "free, open and thriving Indo-Pacific". Describing the Indian and Pacific Oceans as a "single strategic arena", U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson described India and the United States as regional "bookends". "In concrete terms, it will lead to great co-ordination between the Indian, Japanese and American militaries including maritime domain awareness, anti-submarine warfare, amphibious warfare, and humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, and search and rescue," he said. To be sure, India and the United States have steadily been bringing more powerful ships into their annual "Malabar" drills that have been expanded to include Japan in recent years. This year the USS Nimitz carrier group was deployed for the manoeuvres off India's eastern coast, along with an aircraft carrier from India and a helicopter carrier from Japan. But a Japanese Maritime Self Defence Forces official said when Japan conducts drills with the Indian navy, communication is done mostly through voice transmission. There is no satellite link that would allow the two navies to access information and share monitor displays in on-board command centres. Communication is usually the most difficult aspect of any joint drill, he said. BUILDING BLOCKS The exercises are meant to lay the ground for joint patrols that the U.S. eventually wants to conduct with India and its allies across the Indian Ocean and the Pacific. U.S. Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Logan, a Pentagon spokesman, said better interoperability was a goal of the exercises and noted that India's enhanced role as a major U.S. defence partner would help boost the relationship. "The designation of India as a major defence partner is significant and is intended to elevate defence trade and technology sharing with India to a level commensurate with that of our closest allies and partners," he said. "As this relationship matures so will the level of interoperability." Last year, India signed a military logistics pact with the United States after a decade of wrangling, but two other agreements are stuck. The United States says the Communication and Information Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA) would allow it to supply India with encrypted communications equipment and systems. The Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement is the other pact that would set a framework through which the United States could share sensitive data to aid targeting and navigation with India. India is concerned that agreeing to the CISMOA would open up its military communications to the United States, and even allow it to listen in on operations where Indian and U.S. interests may not coincide - such as against arch-rival Pakistan, military officials in New Delhi say. RADARS TURNED OFF Captain Gurpreet Khurana, executive director at the government-funded National Maritime Foundation, said India's underlying concern was having its autonomy constrained by binding its military into U.S. codes and operating procedures. Once, the Americans proposed a portable "suitcase" communications system called the CENTRIXS which could transmit full situational awareness data to Indian ships while the two navies practised together. India refused to allow it to be plugged in for the duration of the exercise, citing operational security, according to an Indian source briefed on the planning of the exercises. Even the joint air exercises that the two countries are conducting as a follow-on to Malabar are severely restricted, the source said. India sends its Russian-acquired Sukhoi jets to the drills, but their radars and jammers are turned off. David Shear, who served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asia under President Barack Obama, said U.S. forces, particularly the Navy, were well aware of the interoperability constraints to interacting with India. "They understand what the obstacles are and that this is going to be a long-term project," he said. (Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom and Phil Stewart in WASHINGTON and Tim Kelly in TOKYO; Editing by Alex Richardson) BEIJING, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Backed by official encouragement, China's largest pig farming companies and new entrants are racing to build vast hog farms in the north-eastern cornbelt. Below are an outline of the policies that are driving the shift north and details of companies' investment plans for the sector: * August 2017: New guidelines from the Ministry of Agriculture call for the north-eastern grain basket to be turned into a national meat and dairy production base, part of a broader plan to create stronger demand for the region's main crops. The guidelines stipulated that meat output from Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning and Inner Mongolia should account for more than 15 percent of the country's output and milk output should reach more than 40 percent of national output by 2020. They also urged the integration of large-scale farms with slaughtering and processing industries, and stronger cold chain logistics. * April 2016: China's five-year hog production plan (2016-2020) issued by the Ministry of Agriculture divided the country into four zones, based on the extent to which hog production should be encouraged. They include the "major" development zone, which includes top hog provinces Henan, Shandong, Sichuan and Hebei, and a zone with "potential" for development, including the north-eastern provinces Jilin, Liaoning, Heilongjiang and Inner Mongolia. The "restricted" zone encompasses most of the populous south-east and major cities, while the north-west is categorised as a zone suited to "appropriate" development. Below are examples of companies investing in the pig farming industry in the north: * Muyuan Foods raised 3.15 billion yuan in May to build five new pig breeding bases in Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Heilongjiang and Jilin, with total output of 2.1 million pigs a year. * Chuying said in its interim report in August that it has already recruited more than 40 contract farmers in Taonan city of Jilin, where it aims to produce 4 million pigs a year, and is building a similar integrated production base (breeding to processing) in Inner Mongolia where it plans to produce 3 million head a year. * Dabeinong plans to produce more than 2 million pigs in the three provinces of north-east China, and eastern part of Inner Mongolia, by 2020, Song Weiping, vice president, told Reuters. That includes 1-1.5 million pigs in Heilongjiang. * Shenzhen Jinxinnong is building a 1-million head project in Heilongjiang, announced in October 2016. * Thai conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Foods PCL began stocking a 1 million pig project in Inner Mongolia this month, it said on its website. * Cofco Meat said in its interim report in September it has built in-house feed mills capable of feeding 1.5 million hogs in Jilin, Inner Mongolia and Hebei. * Jiangxi Zhengbang said in its first half report in August that it is planning breeding farms in Liaoning, Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang, with output of more than 1.5 million hogs a year. * Tech-bank Food is planning to produce 1 million pigs in Heilongjiang province by 2020, it said in December 2016 * Other major companies understood to be expanding in the north-east include the country's biggest pig farming firm Guangdong Wen's Foodstuff, top animal feed company New Hope Liuhe, and numerous local producers. (Reporting by Dominique Patton and Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan) PARIS, Nov 22 (Reuters) - French National Front party leader Marine Le Pen on Wednesday said she was victim of a "banking fatwa" after banks moved to close her and her party's accounts. "This is an attempt to suffocate an opposition party," Le Pen told a news conference. She said her party would file a complaint against Societe Generale and a subsidiary bank, and that she would also file a complaint against HSBC over closure of a personal account of hers. The party says that Societe Generale closed its accounts and that when the central bank ordered a subsidiary, Credit du Nord, to manage an account for her, the latter refused to process cheque and credit card payments. Societe Generale on Tuesday said it could not comment due to banking confidentiality. HSBC on Wednesday could not immediately be reached for comment. None of these banks has explicitly confirmed or denied closing the FN's accounts or Le Pen's. (Reporting by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Brian Love) By Mubasher Bukhari LAHORE, Pakistan, Nov 22 (Reuters) - A Pakistani court on Wednesday ordered the release from house arrest of an Islamist leader accused by the United States and India of masterminding attacks on Mumbai in 2008 in which 166 people were killed, a prosecutor said. Hafiz Saeed was put under house arrest in January after years of living freely in Pakistan, one of the sore points in its fraying relationship with the United States. His freedom had also infuriated its arch-foe India. Saeed, who is expected to be freed on Thursday, thanked the court judges in a video message released by his Islamist charity. "Thanks to God, this is a victory of Pakistan's independence," he said. The government of Pakistan's Punjab province had asked for a 60-day extension to Saeed's detention but the request was turned down by the court, prosecutor Sattar Sahil told Reuters. "His previous detention for 30 days is over, which means he would be released tomorrow," said Sahil. Saeed has repeatedly denied involvement in the Mumbai attacks in which 10 gunmen attacked targets in India's largest city, including two luxury hotels, a Jewish centre and a train station in a rampage that lasted several days. The violence brought nuclear-armed neighbours Pakistan and India to the brink of war. The United States had offered a $10 million bounty for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Saeed, who heads the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD). Members say the Jamaat-ud-Dawa is an charity but the United States says it is a front for the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant group. "The review board of the Lahore High Court asked the Punjab government to produce evidence against Hafiz Saeed for keeping him detained but the government failed," Saeed's lawyer A.K. Dogar told Reuters. "The court today said that there is nothing against Saeed, therefore he should be released," he added. A spokesman for India's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. India accused Pakistan of sponsoring the attacks through the LeT, which Saeed founded in the 1990s. Pakistan has denied any state involvement in the attack. It placed the LeT on a list of banned organizations in 2002. "The leader of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, Hafiz Saeed's (may God protect him) internment is over," Nadeem Awan, a media manager for JuD, wrote on Facebook after the court order. (Additional reporting by Tommy Wilkes; Writing by Saad Sayeed; Editing by Nick Macfie and John Stonestreet) SEOUL, Nov 22 (Reuters) - North Korea denounced on Wednesday U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to relist it as a state sponsor of terrorism, calling it a "serious provocation and violent infringement", North Korean state media reported. Trump put North Korea back on a list of state sponsors of terrorism on Monday, a designation that allows the United States to impose more sanctions and risks inflaming tension over North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile programmes. In North Korea's first reaction to the designation, a spokesman for the foreign ministry denied in an interview with the state media outlet KCNA, that his government engaged in any terrorism. He called the state sponsor of terrorism label "just a tool for American style authoritarianism that can be attached or removed at any time in accordance with its interests". The U.S. designation only made North Korea more committed to retaining its nuclear arsenal, the official said. "As long as the U.S. continues with its anti-DPRK hostile policy, our deterrence will be further strengthened," he said, referring to North Korea by the initials of its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. "The U.S. will be held entirely accountable for all the consequences to be entailed by its impudent provocation to the DPRK." The designation came a week after Trump returned from a 12-day, five-nation trip to Asia in which he made containing North Koreas nuclear ambitions a centerpiece of his discussions. Announcing the designation, Trump told reporters at the White House: "In addition to threatening the world by nuclear devastation, North Korea has repeatedly supported acts of international terrorism, including assassinations on foreign soil." (Reporting by Josh Smith; Editing by Robert Birsel) BOGOTA, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Colombia's state-run oil company Ecopetrol said on Wednesday it would invest between $3.5 billion and $4 billion during 2018, the majority in production and exploration projects. The company, the Andean nation's largest, said in a filing to the financial regulator it expected to produce between 715,000 and 725,000 barrels per day next year. Only 4 percent of investment would be spent abroad, the statement said, with the rest destined for Colombian projects. The company is not taking out external financing for the 2018 plan. Ecopetrol expects to spend 85 percent of its 2018 investment on exploration and production, including at least 12 exploratory wells. Refineries in Cartagena and Barrancabermeja are set to process between 350,000 and 375,000 barrels per day next year, the company added. Ecopetrol's U.S. subsidiary and Spain's Repsol recently acquired four new blocks for deep water exploration in the Gulf of Mexico. (Reporting by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Mark Potter) SANTA CRUZ, BOLIVIA, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Venezuela's state-run oil company PDVSA is in contract talks with Colombia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Aruba to export natural gas there, a company official said Wednesday. Cesar Triana, PDVSA's vice president of natural gas, speaking at the Gas Exporting Countries Forum in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, said the contracts would allow the company to export more than 610 million cubic feet per day. The company does not currently export natural gas. He also said the company is in talks with the government of Curacao to convert the island's 335,000 barrel-per-day Isla refinery into a crude upgrader. PDVSA has been operating the facility under a lease agreement for nearly a century that is set to expire in 2019. The government has also been in talks with a Chinese firm willing to modernize and operate the refinery. (Reporting by Marianna Parraga; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe) GENEVA, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said on Wednesday he wanted Brexit talks to move to the next stage in December but there were red lines and Britain needed to make commitments to the rest of the European Union, especially on finance. "We want to see us taking the decision on the next step in December but we cannot just do that without the commitments that we want," he told reporters at in Geneva. "There are of course red lines that we are watching and right now we need more clarifying on the financial commitment, for example, which is the hardest issue." A "no deal" outcome would be very bad, he said, adding that Sweden was as pragmatic as possible and had always said it wanted to retain close relations with Britain, both before and after it leaves the EU, a deadline set for March 29, 2019. But he said Sweden was not taking any steps to build up customs infrastructure to cope with potential new trading arrangements. "Were right now in a phase of the negotiations where we dont even know what the future bilateral relations will be," he said. Sweden's housing sector has been booming for two decades and the central bank called on the government on Wednesday to act on proposals to tighten mortgage repayment rules, playing down worries that heavier regulation could cause a recent fall in house prices to accelerate. Lofven said the government would decide within days. "We were given advice from the finance authority on how to handle that and we will make a decision within at the most a week. So we are right now preparing that decision," he said. (Reporting by Tom Miles; Editing by Alison Williams and William Maclean) KAMPALA, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Uganda on Wednesday denied its foreign minister had engaged in corrupt activities with a Hong Kong man who has been charged with bribery and other violations by U.S. authorities. Chi Ping Patrick Ho, 68, who heads the China Energy Fund Committee (CEFC), a charity based in Hong Kong and the U.S. state of Virginia, was charged with violating the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Ho was accused of among other issues of being involved with bribes and promises of other benefits to Sam Kutesa, Uganda's foreign affairs minister, in exchange for promises of business contracts for an unnamed Chinese firm. Kutesa is also a former president of the U.N. General Assembly. The Ugandan foreign ministry said the "interaction and engagement" that Kutesa had with Ho was "in fulfilment of his official functions as president of the U.N. General Assembly". "It is therefore erroneous to insinuate or infer that Hon. Sam Kutesa, from references made to him and CEFC...is linked to the bribery allegations," a statement said. Ho's attorney has declined to comment to Reuters on the charges. (Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; editing by Jeremy Gaunt) THE HINDU, 21st NOVEMBER, 2017- A teenage suicide bomber detonated himself, as worshippers gathered for morning prayers at a mosque in northeastern Nigeria, killing at least 50 people, police said on November 21, in one of the regions deadliest attacks in years. Police spokesman Othman Abubakar told The Associated Press they were still trying to ascertain the number of injured because they are in various hospitals. While there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing in Mubi town in the northeastern Adamawa State, the suspicion immediately fell on the Boko Haram extremist group. The group is based in neighbouring Borno state and has been blamed for scores of similar attacks over the years. Eurocars, the offici al agent of Porsche cars in Sri Lanka, in partnership with Sampath Bank PLC, hosted an exclusive event for their premium clientele under the theme, Have You Driven a Porsche? to offer the thrilling opportunity to witness and experience the Porsche model range. The event was attended by a large number of Porsche enthusiasts, many of whom experienced a Porsche car for the very first time. The Porsche Centre in Sri Lanka serves as a fully Porsche Corporate Identity-guided showroom and service facility for sales, service and branded merchandise. Porsche Centre Colombo is managed by Eurocars, a subsidiary of the IWS Holdings Group which handles a varied portfolio of companies across Aviation, Automobile, Communication and IT, Food Processing and Packaging, Industrial, Leisure, Warehousing and Logistics, Mass Media and Broadcasting. Established in 1987, Sampath Bank has become a state-of-the-art financial institution that continues to be a market leader today thanks to its constant innovation and customer focused approach to business. Its unique tailor-made solutions, superior services and convenience of access have allowed Sampath Bank to further differentiate itself from the competition and stand out as the bank of choice for many in Sri Lanka. The 1966/1969 alumni of the University of Ceylon, Colombo candidly and enthusiastically held their Golden Jubilee Celebrations in three phases. The first phase of the celebration was held in October 2016 expressing gratitude to their professors, mentors and teachers by conducting a huge felicitation ceremony. The second phase consisted of a series of religious activities including a Maha Sangha Gatha Dhakshinawa for 50 monks held in the University premises. This being the first occasion when such a meritorious act was carried out in the Universitys history This being the first occasion when such a meritorious act was carried out in the Universitys history. The final phase was held on November 11, 2017 where the alumni paid their highest gratitude to their Alma Mater by donating Rs.500,000 from the Alumni Associations funds to procure books for the Universitys Main Library. The Chief Guest at the Book Donation Ceremony, the Vice Chancellor of the University, Senior Professor Lakshman Dissanayake, in his speech, after receiving the donation, thanked all the alumni of 1966-69 who participated in this noble venture. He also expressed his sincere gratitude to the 1966-69 Alumni Association President Dr. Nimal Hettiaratchi for his able leadership and the Associations Treasurer Sarath Mayadunne for their hard work in organizing this activity and in gathering more than 150 alumni to the Colombo Universitys New Arts Theatre to witness this historical and important event. Many alumni of the 66 batch also demonstrated their commitment and dedication to the University by making personal donations of books to the value of more than Rs.2 million. Many alumni of the 66 batch also demonstrated their commitment and dedication to the University by donating books worth more than Rs.2 million The Colombo Universitys Librarian Dr. Mrs. Pradeepa Wijetunga in her address expressed her appreciation for the generosity of the 66 69 Alumni. She informed the gathering that the Library had been in desperate need of funds to procure new books to fulfil the escalating demand for subject matter and this donation had come at the most appropriate time to ensure the procurement of books that were needed. A surprise feature of the programme was the appreciating and valuing the services of one of the 1966-69 batch alumni -- the Alumni Associations Treasurer Sarath Mayadunne, who has been awarded one of eight best alumni awards of the Peradeniya University at a ceremony held at the Peradeniya University recently. The President invited the Vice Chancellor, to present the memento organized by some batch mates of 1966-69 to Mr. Mayadunne making it a surprise for him. Mr. Mayadunne expressed his thanks. Alumni Associations Secretary Upali de Silva proposed the vote of thanks. At the end of the book donation ceremony, the President invited all alumni who participated in the event for fellowship and lunch. Coleman receives compensation, claims will never return to Lanka Tourism is one of those sectors that immensely contributes to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the country. Immediately after the war, several plans were implemented to boost tourism in Sri Lanka and from then on wards, this island was marked on the world map as a tourism hot spot. Naomi Michelle Coleman was one of 144,168 tourists who visited Sri Lanka in 2014. Contrary to pleasant memories gathered while in Sri Lanka by other tourists, Naomis encounter was unpleasant and horrible. Naomi or any other tourist for that matter wouldnt have expected a sporting a tattoo of The Buddha on the right upper arm would take a foreigner to the point of being deported from the country. The Supreme Court announced that Naomi wasnt at fault and she was awarded compensation amounting to a figure between Rs. 800,000 Rs 600,000 another Rs. 200,000 to cover costs But three years later, the Supreme Court announced that Naomi wasnt at fault and she was awarded compensation amounting to a figure between Rs. 800,000 Rs 600,000 another Rs. 200,000 to cover costs. During the case, a magistrate issued a notice for her deportation without the consultation of the Subject Minister nor the Embassy. The judgment further specified that there had been a breach of fundamental rights and that a magistrate couldnt take such a decision. I dont think I will ever return to Sri Lanka as there may be people who would want to harm me, Naomi told the Daily Mirror. The incident Naomi had just arrived in Sri Lanka after travelling from India. She was expecting her friend, who was arriving from the UK. She therefore had to collect her from the airport that afternoon. According to Naomi, this incident obviously wouldnt have happened if she didnt have to obtain the services of a taxi driver, who she identified as Kelum Chaminda, and a bystander, who had picked her up. Things had got a little unpleasant when he observed the tattoo and he wanted to take her to the Police instead to the airport. But she had managed to send her friend a text which she fortunately saw when she had arrived. They were then supposed to travel to Maldives after a week in Sri Lanka. According to her, the duo had taken her to Katunayake Police Station where the Acting OIC had confiscated her passport and produced her in court without specifying charges. She wasnt afforded an opportunity to communicate nor inform the British High Commission about her arrest. She said she was introduced to an Attorney by a prison guard, but she had no opportunity to give instructions to the Attorney. However she was asked to pay Rs. 5000 as the fee. According to her, the prison guard who was in charge of her, while being behind bars at the court room, had made several lewd, obscene and disparaging remarks which were sexually inclined. When her case concluded, her attorney informed her that she would be deported, regardless of her entreaties. She was also told that she would be permitted to leave for Maldives and till then would be detained at a deportation centre in Nugegoda. I will never return to Sri Lanka -Naomi Coleman Naomi Michelle Coleman has been working as a mental health support worker in Coventry for the past 16 years. She travels on a regular basis and has attended Buddhist retreats in India, Thailand and Nepal. She has also undertaken volunteer work with disadvantaged children in these countries. Her last visit in Sri Lanka, back in 2014, was her third in the island. I am happy with the outcome of the case and it proves that I wasnt at fault. The whole situation was handled badly and I was very frightened Speaking to the Daily Mirror, Naomi shared her experience and what she felt about the verdict. Q As a tourist, how do you feel when recalling the incident and what it turned out to be in the end? I am happy with the outcome of the case and it proves that I wasnt at fault. The whole situation was handled badly and I was very frightened as I didnt know what was going to happen to me. I am glad that it has been acknowledged that the police officers are at fault and they have been asked to pay a fee. No one spoke with me in English and I was relying on a taxi driver to communicate. The next thing I knew was that I was just taken to a court after waiting for hours and seeing my passport being taken away from me. I thank the rational thinking people in Sri Lanka for their great support and the lawyers JC Weliamuna, Vishwa, Thishya and Hafeel for offering to take my case without charging legal fees and fighting the case for over 3 years. I am unsure why the verdict took so long. Initially the judge presiding over the case was taken ill and then another judge was assigned. The case had been heard over several times during the past three and a half years. Q Have you had similar encounters in other countries as well? I have never had an encounter like this in any other country. My tattoo is a symbol of peace and compassion and represents my travels to Buddhist countries and the lessons I have learned from Buddhist monks. Q Are you still being harassed? I know of one person who is making an issue out of the verdict on social media, but I know in my heart that I wasnt in the wrong and I follow a Buddhist path. These people dont know me nor do they know what kind of person I am. I know Buddhist symbols should be above the waist and thats what I have done Q What is your message to fellow tourists and Sri Lankan authorities? Sri Lanka is a beautiful country, however I wont be able to return due to the small percentage of people that would still wish to harm me. I know Buddhist symbols should be above the waist and thats what I have done as well, so Im not disrespecting the Buddhist culture. Fellow tourists, just be mindful if you have a tattoo of The Buddha as there is a small percentage of extremists who could create a huge problem. Also if you take a picture in front of a Buddha statue that seems to create an issue in Sri Lanka, but not in other Buddhist countries. Other than that the beaches and Buddhist sites are must-visit places. Police officers should follow the judgment and study the laws - Ruwan Gunasekara According to Police Media Spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara, once a Supreme Court judgment is given it becomes a binding law. From there on wards Police officers have been asked to follow the judgment and study the laws accordingly. We cant train Police officers every time a judgment is given. There are two parts to a law: Ratio decidendi the point in a case where the judgment is given and Obiter dictum a judges expression of opinion stated in courts. This isnt the official decision. So usually the Ratio decidendi becomes the law and we have trained Police officers to abide by the law during these circumstances, the police spokesman said. The dignity of a person is of utmost importance - Dr.Prathiba Mahanamahewa Dr. Prathiba Mahanamahewa, Human rights lawyer and former Commissioner of the Sri Lanka Human Rights Council, said that when the Police conduct investigations they should consider the dignity of a person. When dealing with tourists we also have to think about the countrys image. Therefore before Police officers take action regarding an issue which has legal consequences, they should consult Senior officials and carry out their investigations accordingly. We see Buddhist symbols everywhere and then in that case even wearing a Dharmachakra is an offence. People wear tattoos depending on their preferences and we cant take it as an offence. She had no intention of degrading the religion and therefore she cant be at fault. Its only if someone is intentionally defaming a religion that some action should be taken against it. In this situation, the Embassy should have been informed and they should have been consulted, but everything was blown out of proportion. The Police should learn to treat people in a humane way,said Mahanamahewa. Everybody is equal before the law - Thishya Weragoda Speaking to the Attorney-at-Law Thishya Weragoda, one of the lawyers who appeared for Naomi, said that three years is relatively an improvement when compared to other verdicts which drag on for five years or more. Regarding this incident a random person had created havoc and the Policemen seemed to have acted irresponsibly. What the Police should have done first was to disperse the crowd and made her explain what had gone wrong. They could have escorted her to a hotel, but instead they decided to deport her. I believe this is the first such case where a foreigner was involved, said Weragoda. Regarding this incident a random person had created havoc and the Policemen seemed to have acted irresponsibly Speaking further Weragoda said that everybody is equally treated by the law. We followed Articles 11, 12 and 13 which addresses freedom of speech and equal treatment to all. The Police too has misrepresented facts in court which has resulted in the story being twisted in different places. Its only if a person is convicted that a magistrate can deport him or her. I believe that the magistrate too should be more cautious and must understand the situation first. Also the Police too should train their subordinates to handle situations in a diplomatic manner without trying to earn extra bucks. Its disrespectful to see such occurrences and in this case it involved a tourist. Therefore all Police officers have to be properly trained before a badge is pinned on them. We also have a Constitution which is 40 years old and that too should be revamped immediately,said Weragoda. Dear Annie: My husband and I have both been married before, and our children are from our first marriages. My husband's daughter lives close by, and she brings her kids to our home often, which we all enjoy. The problem is that every time they show up -- even when they know we are preparing a meal for them, even prior to big holiday meals -- they get out of their car with empty bags and partially consumed beverages from a popular fast-food chain. This drives me insane! My husband just shrugs and says that there's a reason they are all overweight and that nothing we say or do will change their behavior. When his daughter asked me not to always make a dessert to accompany our otherwise healthful meals because she was worried about "how big the kids are getting," I had a heart-to-heart with her about how awful the fast food is for the kids. Her reply was that she just can't say "no" to her kids and is just too tired to cook. I told her that is why we are trying to help by making meals for them. No change. What now? -- Fed Up in Florida Dear Fed Up: It's considerate of you to cook healthful meals for your family, and it was thoughtful of you to have a heart-to-heart with your daughter-in-law about this sensitive issue. Your husband might consider periodically encouraging her to stay strong in teaching her children better eating habits, reminding her that she's the boss -- and that her children in fact need her to be the boss. But in the end, there's nothing you can do to force her to stop buying fast food. The only person you can control is yourself. The sooner you accept this the sooner you'll be able to relax and enjoy the time with your family. Dear Annie: I must disagree with your assessment that "no problem" means the same thing as "you're welcome." The phrase "no problem" carries with it the implication that if the task had created a "problem" for the server (or whoever uttered it), perhaps she might not have carried it out so nicely -- or at all. "You're welcome," on the other hand, has a much more gracious implication: that the person would have done this task for you no matter the cost to herself. Words matter, and there is no use pretending that they don't carry a lot of freight. Better to use them thoughtfully. -- English Major Dear English Major: I see no evidence that "no problem" carries that implication, but I love a good linguistic debate, so I'm printing your letter -- followed by a different viewpoint. Dear Annie: "Out of Touch" was annoyed that a popular response to "thank you" is "no problem." My husband and I were annoyed by that also, until I realized that the traditional replies in French are "jet'en prie," which is somewhat equivalent to "don't worry about it," and "de rien," "of nothing." In Spanish, "de nada" also means "it was nothing." So maybe it's not a millennial thing. Maybe it's cultural, global stuff and millennials are really sophisticated! OK, I went too far with that. -- Ann-Marie Dear Ann-Marie: Merci beaucoup for the language lesson. The Narcotics Unit of the Excise Department seized 2 kg of heroin valued at Rs. 20 million during a raid at Karukapane beach in Chilaw last night. The Department officials said a suspect was also arrested with the contraband during the raid and expressed suspicion that the drug would have been smuggled into the country from India via the sea. The arrested suspect was a resident at Kolaniwella in Chilaw and to be produced before the Chilaw Magistrate today. Video by Susantha Eric Rajapakse Opticians is celebrating 100 years, making history as one of the countrys oldest eye care brands in Sri Lanka. When Alfred Rajapakse started Colombo Optical company in 1917, there was just a handful of other optical companies in the country. Eric Rajapakse moved the premises to Upper Chatham Street, establishing himself as a leading figure in the optical industry. Rohan Rajapakse after him, opened many branches, in Colombo, Kandy, and Jaffna, expanding the business considerably. At the time, the company had a lens manufacturing plant in Ratmalana and a factory producing spectacle frames and were also agents for several prestigious retail brands such as Christian Dior, Dunhill, Pentax and Rodenstock. The company created the Eric Rajapakse School of Optometry, which has been instrumental in training many of the countrys practising opticians. Eric Rajapakse Opticians has been witness to the evolution of the optical industry in Sri Lanka. Starting out with a small number of long-established family companies, the industry has become more and more competitive with new companies entering the market. Technological progress made electronic equipment and computerised processes a must, which also changed the way how optical companies functioned. The Sri Lanka Optometric Association, which was set up in 1961, has been involved in regulating, supervising and training its members and Eric Rajapakse opticians have been strongly involved since the beginning. Brand awareness and easier distribution channels have contributed towards linking the optical industry with fashion and retail industry. The availability of all international brands has brought fashion retail into the optical business, explained Managing Director, Rajeev Rajapakse. He went on to say that the added value, however, remained in the optometric service that they provide. Understanding the customers eye care needs, eye testing, dispensing ophthalmic lenses and providing a pair of spectacles that make people see better, are the essential features of eye care service. While technology has made that service faster, and more efficient, the optometrists knowledge and experience make all the difference. Eric Rajapakse Opticians have had a hand in training, moulding and inspiring a great number of opticians in Sri Lanka. It is a great thing that many opticians, senior practitioners as well as new people, have worked with the company at some time, Rajapakse said, explaining that the importance of education and sharing knowledge was very strongly instilled in him by his father. Rajeev Rajapakse, who is the grandson of Eric and son of late Rohan Rajapakse, belongs to the fourth generation of the Rajapakse family. The company continues as an established brand in a fast evolving market, and Rajapakse states: We are proud to have had a hand in shaping the industry, as we will continue to do into the future. I have been following up on the recent articles published in the newspapers and social media relating to the new budget proposal. The proposal for the liberalization of the shipping agency and freight forwarding industries seems to be one of the most debated budget proposals this time. Unfortunately, I feel the government has been completely misled by certain advisors to believe that the shipping industry in Sri Lanka only revolves around a handful of local agents that represents global container operators, completely overlooking the large segment of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) like us, who have supported the growth of this industry through thick and thin. In fact, we, the SMEs, service twice the number of non-conventional vessels that call the ports of Colombo, Galle and Trincomalee and also serve hundreds of ships at off port limits (OPL). It is totally incorrect to imply that only a few agents are running the shipping industry in Sri Lanka. There have been malicious attacks directed on a few leading companies, accusing them of monopolizing and controlling the shipping industry. These couple of big players have been in this business for over decades. Their survival does not by any means depend on the liberalization of the industry due to their diversity and international reach. Should there be a change in the policy, it is us, the SMEs, that will have to watch the foreign companies sweep us off our feet. It is rather unfortunate that the government seems to be quite ignorant about the significant role that we, as SMEs, play. We have a huge bearing in making Sri Lanka a maritime hub in the region, which is the aspiration of the government as well. It was our entrepreneurial initiative to develop the non-conventional business in the country. The attack on the big players will not only wipe out a few hundreds of SMEs, but also open doors for fly-by-night operators to benefit, which would result in the country losing the control over the entire maritime industry. Another widely discussed topic is Maersks keen interest in expanding its footprint in Sri Lanka and its plans to move the back office operations to Colombo from India. Maersk is the only container shipping line operating in Sri Lanka with a controlling stake. The question is what prevented it from doing so all these years. All related businesses, other than the shipping agency business, are open for 100 percent foreign investment. However, up to date, they have not shown interest in exploring any of these opportunities, which would have helped the country in reaching its goal of becoming a maritime hub in the region. Terminal business is the only area they have shown a lot of interest in, of course under the current environment; even though they already had the capacity and the decision-making power to invest in any area other than the agency business. I feel we have been completely misled to believe the proposed liberalization is going to make any difference. Even though Maersks intentions are questionable, if any other shipping and logistics company is genuinely interested in increasing its footprint in the country, we should all support it. However, we appeal to the government to ensure that these business proposals are accompanied with reasonable investments and proper regulations are implemented within the industry to control the cash outflows. Policy changes and decision-making should be done whilst always being mindful to safeguard our national interest. Dr. S. Narayan urges need to bring thriving informal trade between SL and India under formal channels Informal trade between two countries has soared during last 2-3 years and is growing at an average of 12-14% By Shabiya Ali Ahlam The opportunities in boosting trade and economic ties between India and Sri Lanka are yet to be realised as the fast-growing informal trading between the two nations, which has been in practice for decades, has not received the necessary attention, a top visiting economist from India pointed out on Monday. Economist and former Finance and Economic Affairs Secretary of the Government of India Dr. S. Narayan, while pointing out that the two nations continue to hunt for new avenues to strengthen the trade agenda, noted that a blind eye continues to be turned towards the informal box trading between India and Sri Lanka. The question we need to ask ourselves is that are both the nations comfortable leaving this trade form to continue in an unorganised manner? This is a cash trade, which is tangible and can be misused in many different ways, pointed out Dr. Narayan during his lecture in Colombo, last evening. He made these observations during his address themed India-Sri Lanka Economic Relation in Modis India, an event co-hosted by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) and Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute (LKI). Sri Lanka and India have a free trade agreement in operation since the year 2000 and currently the two countries are looking at ways to expand this agreement to the services sector under the proposed Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) It was pointed out that the so-called box trade, which operates largely between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka, has shot up within the last two to three years and grows at average annual rate of 12 to 14 percent. According to Dr. Narayan, a group in Thoothukudi largely controls the said informal trading, where the interest lies in Lankan manufactured/branded goods such as cement, automobile spare parts and construction materials, along with items such as cigarettes, cosmetics and packaged foodstuff. The significant increase in this particular trade form was attributed to the increase in the number of flights between the two countries. There is a huge opportunity of converting this into a formal trade by taking it through the right channels. These opportunities are not theoretical and are real, which have increased in the last two to three years. You know the bottlenecks, so why not address them and make use of the opportunity, he said. Meanwhile, Dr. Narayan also pointed out that in the recent years, the Sri Lankan companies established in India are performing exceptionally well and in certain sectors better than the Indian entities. In certain sectors the standards of Indian products have gone up to match Sri Lankan standards. There are several stories where Sri Lankan businesses are starting to make headway in India and creating opportunities for themselves, he said. Aries (Mesha): Mercury due in your 9th House signifies worries, loss of wealth and bad luck. Sun in your 8th House indicates illness and heavy expenditure. Now you are relieved of the malefic period Ashtamaya Shani Erashtaka you have been going through. Mars in your 6th House continues to give a whip hand over enemies and rivals, financial gains and higher status. Venus in your 7th House holds out happiness and prosperity in addition to marital happiness, good health, a happy time at the workplace and cordial relations with friends and relatives being held out by Jupiter. Taurus (Vrushabha): You can look forward to financial stability and success in your endeavors when Mercury moves into your 8th House on Nov: 24. The Sun in your 7th House indicates developments that could mar your marital happiness. Given Saturns malefic influence causing from your 8th House you are advised to safeguard your health and income sources in particular. Venus in your 6th House produces the beneficial effects such as a buoyant spirit and moral integrity. Sun in the 6th House brings you power over rivals, success at contests and competitions. Gemini (Mithuna): Anxiety and anguish and physical discomforts are likely when Mercury enters your 7th House shortly. The Sun transiting in your 6th House holds out power and influence as well as an increased income and even a rise in the career if Dasas are favourable. Venus in your 5th House has made it very strong. Jupiter already in this House assures a favourable time marked by happy family reunions, festivities, matrimonial prospects and success in educational pursuits. Mars in the 4th House could cause you anxiety and tensions if you are running unfavourable Dasas. Cancer (Kataka): Mercury due in your 6th House shortly indicates an increased income, good health and a happy time at your workplace. However, those benefits likely to be reduced to some extent due to the unfavourable influence of the Sun in your 5th House. Venus in your 4th House holds out enhanced living comforts and a generally happy time. Saturn in your 6th House can give you monetary gains, career success and invincibility. Mars in your 3rd House can bring you courage and confidence as well as power and influence. Leo (Simha): Mercury due in your 5th House indicates a time ahead unfavourable for trading on the stock exchange. Digestive problems may trouble you due to the Sun in your 4th House. You are advised to pay greater attention to the security and safety of your children given the adverse influence of Saturn in your 5th House. It can also cause disputes with the spouse and business partners. Venus in your 3rd House holds out career success, financial stability and joyous short journeys. Mars in your 2nd House can make you rude and discourteous. Virgo (Kanya): A good income, success in educational pursuits and peace of mind are held out by Mercury due in your 4th House shortly. A happy time at work, good health and the ability to take bold decisions are indicated by the Sun in your 3rd House. Saturn now in your 4th House being the lord of the 5th House could bring you benefits if Saturn was strong at your birth too. Otherwise, you have to brace for health problems, financial losses, disputes and problems relating to land, vehicles and other property in the long run. Venus in your 2nd House associated with both Sun and Jupiter assures you of marital happiness and an increased income. Meanwhile, Jupiter already in your 2nd House assures wealth, an increased income and a generally favourable of state of affairs in all areas of life. Libra (Thula): Disputes with relatives and brothers and heavy expenditure are indicated when Mercury enters your 3rd House shortly. Eye problems, a drain of your financial resources and disharmony in the family may trouble you with an unfavourable in the 2nd House. However, highly favourable Lagnadhipati Venus continuing transit in your Lagna will mitigate such ill-effects to a great extent. Saturn already in your 3rd House assures the restoration of practically everything precious you have lost in the past- career, status and wealth. Scorpio (Vrushika): A happy family life and increased income are possible when Mercury enters your 2nd House shortly. You have to brace for fruitless travels, poor health and financial losses due to an unfavourable Sun in the Lagna. Venus in your 12th House with Moolatrikona strength is very auspicious for it will imbue with a keen perception, a positive outlook and an altruistic bent. The Erashtaka continues in its final phase despite Saturn leaving your Lagna for the 2nd House. Mars already in the 11th House assures you of high status, honours, increased wealth, a rise in career and happiness in the family. Sagittarius (Dhanu): You are advised not to fall victim to cheating and deceptions by unscrupulous people. The Sun in your 12th House signifies heavy expenditure, illness, loss of status and impediments to your plans. With Saturn now back in your Lagna you are technically under the Shani Erashtaka, a period when you have to act with patience, foresight and circumspect. Mars in your 10th House is favourable for your career or whatever activity you are engaged in for a living. Venus Jupiter combination in the your 11th House assures material gains, wealth, higher status, more comforts and a generally good time. Capricorn (Makara): Heavy expenditure, disappointments and setbacks are in store for you when Mercury moves into your 12th House shortly. However, good results as a happy time at work, higher status and an increase in income are held out by the Sun already in your 11th House. Your 10th House has gained immense strength from Swakshetra Venus entering it to generate the effects of Amala and Malavya Yogas envisaging a very favourable time ahead. Saturn in your 12th House could cause the loss of lifes earnings. Time is not opportune for foreign travel either. Aquarius (Kumbha): Financial gains and higher returns from investments are on the cards when Mercury enters your 11th House shortly. The Sun in your 10th House raises the prospect of a rise in your career and even gainful foreign travel. Meanwhile, Venus and Jupiter in your 9th Bhagyasthana assures you of a very favourable time ahead. Saturn in your 11th House can bring you sound health, job satisfaction and general prosperity. The Sun conjunct with Jupiter in the 9th House holds out gainful foreign travel, financial gains, high profits from business and general prosperity and generally a happy time. Pisces (Meena): Mercury due in your 10th House on Nov: 24 holds out a favourable time when whatever endeavor you embark on would succeed. However, the Sun in your 9th House holds out a series of bad effects such as humiliation, worries and a sharp dip in your income. However, Venus - Jupiter combination in the 8th House, a redeeming feature, can bring a host of benefits such as comforts, pleasures, increased gains from whatever economic activity you are engaged in and even robust health. Is Astrology a science? Part 2 Astronomy is generally believed to be the precursor of Astrology. However, if we are to believe that Astrology is part and parcel of Vedas revealed by the ancient Indian sages often referred to as Rishis or seers, Astronomy and Astrology have had their birth as twins in ancient India. Origin of Astrology in India There is a reference to a text titled Vedanta Jyotisha in Vedic literature and in fact, Indian astrologers prefer to describe the science of the sky they practice as Vedic Astrology. Ancient civilizations Modern Astronomy has developed as a science following the invention of the telescope by Italian scientist Galileo Galilei in 1609. However, there is ample historical and archaeological evidence to say that Astronomy had existed as a well-developed science in ancient civilizations in Greece, Sumer or Sumeria, Babylonia, China and India as far back as the 3rd millennium BC. Astronomy in Babylonian civilization Newly unearthed Babylonian clay tablets stand testimony to the fact that the ancient Babylonian astronomers were highly advanced observers of the night sky. It has also been discovered that the ancient Babylonian astronomers were quite proficient in Geometry and they used geometric methods to track the motions of the planets. Five of the eight planets, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn had been well known to them. Clay tablet records According to the recent historical findings, by 800 BC Babylonian astronomers had learnt the methods to fix the locations of the planets in the Zodiac at a given moment and had been regularly keeping the records of planetary movements on clay tablets. A record of a Solar eclipse Babylonian astronomers had also made it a practice to keep records of significant celestial occurrences. Another finding made by archeologists that has amazed the world is a Babylonian record that says that a total Solar eclipse on July 31, 1063 BC had turned the day into a night. Historians who have done extensive research have gathered sufficient material facts and evidence to demonstrate that the astronomers in ancient civilizations knew about Solar system and stars almost as much as unraveled by modern Astronomy so far. How could they access such vast knowledge if they had no highly sophisticated scientific instruments as those available today? Scientists engaged in this particular field of research are yet to come up with an answer to this question. A question yet to draw an answer Did the ancient astronomers identify the distant planets like Saturn and Jupiter with the naked eye? What we know is that the world had not seen a telescope until the Dutch scientist Hans Lippershey invented a refracting telescope in the year 1608. Sumerian civilization An advanced civilization had flourished in Sumer or Sumeria, one of the historical regions in Southern Mesopotamia, modern Southern Iraq about 5,000 years ago. The ancient Sumerians had known that 11 planets orbited around the Sun. We know that only five planets Mars, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn are visible to the naked eye. So how did the Sumerians spot the planets not visible to the naked eye? Archaeologists have come across what is believed to be a cylinder seal impression considered to be 6,000 years old in an area that formed part of ancient Sumer depicting 11 heavenly bodies revolving around the Sun. (Reuters Health) - Parents exposure to chemicals at work might be linked to eye cancer in their children, a report from some of the worlds leading childhood cancer experts suggests. The cancer is called retinoblastoma, because it starts in the retina, the back part of the eye. Retinoblastoma accounts for about 6 percent of cancers in children under the age of 5 and about 3 percent of cancers in children under age 15. Retinoblastoma is an embryonal tumor, meaning that it arises from tissues of the embryo, Julia Heck from the Fielding School of Public Health at UCLA told Reuters Health via email. Six to ten percent of retinoblastoma is familial where the child inherits a mutated gene from a parent. The remainder is sporadic meaning that these are new mutations that occur in a childs eye cell, which end up causing the cancer. The risk of developing sporadic retinoblastoma increased substantially when fathers and mothers were exposed to workplace chemicals such as paints, pesticides, and metals, Heck and her colleagues found. The research team studied 282 children with sporadic retinoblastoma, plus 155 of the childrens healthy friends, as well as all the parents. Fathers were asked to report all jobs held in the ten years prior to conception. Mothers reported jobs held the month prior to conception in addition to any jobs they had while pregnant. The researchers then assigned an overall exposure score to each job with regards to nine hazardous agents. Results showed that children of fathers who were exposed to workplace paint in the past ten years were more than eight times more likely to have retinoblastoma than children whose fathers were not exposed. Fathers who were at least 30 years old when they were exposed to at least one of the nine agents had a nearly seven times higher risk of having a child diagnosed with retinoblastoma. Mothers exposure to at least one of the nine hazardous agents in the month prior to conception or during pregnancy was associated with more than five times higher odds that their child would have retinoblastoma. The research was done by the Childrens Oncology Group, a National Cancer Institute-backed coalition devoted exclusively to researching and understanding cancers in youngsters. The entire report can be found online in Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Exposure to chemical agents including welding fumes, sulfur dioxides, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons is rampant among workers in agriculture, coal mining, and aluminum reduction. These agents have previously been associated with an increased risk of childhood brain cancers and leukemia. Although the most common eye cancer in children, retinoblastoma is very rare, with just one in every 200,000 births. Only 200 to 300 children are diagnosed each year in the U.S., Greta Bunin from Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, who worked on the study, told Reuters by email. Nonetheless, couples actively trying to conceive should be aware of the potential connection and, if possible, ask for a temporary reassignment from employers to avoid further exposure, at least in the short-term. What measures should be taken from an occupational or environmental policy standpoint to lessen the risks? From a policy perspective, prevention might not be so easy. Of course this cancer is rare and some may argue that it is hard to make broad policies to impact the incidence of such a rare disease, Heck acknowledged. I would say that our study contributes to the literature examining the health risks in workers and their offspring from occupational chemical exposures and provides another reason to suggest that protections are taken. The Presidential Task Force on Drug Prevention is the premier Sri Lankan interlocutor for evidence-based policy measures and community-based interventions to prevent and reduce harm caused by alcohol and other drugs. This institution comes under the purview of President Maithripala Sirisena. There is allocation from the Budget for tourist guest houses to sell beer without licences The official tourist receipts for 2016 were estimated to be Rs. 512,293 million The number of tourists who claimed that they had enjoyed alcoholic beverages was very low The Director to the President, Presidential Task Force, Dr. Samantha Kumara Kithalawaarachchi, made his comments in response to the Budget 2018, presented by Minister of Finance and Media, focusing on the reduction of tax on beer. According to Budget 2018 beer will enjoy a 40 percent reduction in tax. There is also an allocation from the Budget for tourist guest houses to sell beer without possessing licences. This proposal totally contradicts Government policy as envisaged by the Presidential Task Force for Alcohol and Drug Prevention. The Minister has claimed the following to justify this decision- 49 percent, or 1 in 2 alcohol users in Sri Lanka use Kassippu, In other countries the majority of alcohol users use beer unlike Sri Lanka where the majority use spirits therefore beer prices should be reduced, Alcohol should be freely available to become a modern country, a country which is still not in the stone age or (galyugaya), If we increase the price of spirits instead of decreasing the price of beer to move those using spirits to using beer, Sri Lanka will become like Saudi Arabia, Taxation on alcohol should be based on the alcohol content of the beverage and therefore the taxation on beer should be reduced. The Presidential Task Force on drug prevention conducted a survey this year, in collaboration with the Rajarata University to ascertain preferences of tourists visiting Sri Lanka and their attitude towards alcohol policies implemented in the country. According to recent Central Bank reports, tourism is placed in third place bypassing traditional exports, seconding it only to migrant workers and the garment industry. In other words, the official tourist receipts for 2016 were estimated to be Rs. 512,293 million as compared to Rs. 405,492 million in 2015, showing an increase of 26 percent. According to the statistics released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority, the numbers had increased to 2,050,832 in 2016. There is a 14 percent increase compared to the figures of 2015. Thus its clear that tourism plays an important role as one of the core sources of foreign exchange earners in Sri Lankas economy and this growth should be maintained for national development. There were many proposals to promote Sri Lanka as an attractive place for tourists in the lines of development of infrastructure, facilities and services available. No access to alcohol Another proposal suggested that the access that tourists have to alcohol should be increased by reducing tax and increasing access points. This proposal highlighted that the majority of tourists are experiencing difficulties with no access to alcohol, hence the country may lose tourists in the future. However this is a speculative statement and lacks evidence based information. Hence this study was conducted to collect firsthand evidence from tourists themselves about their preferences and their idea behind visiting Sri Lanka. The study also reveals the perception of foreigners for potential development and improvements to be made in the tourism sector in Sri Lanka. The geographical area covered by this study included Anuradhapura, Kandy, Trincomalee, Batticaloa/Passikuda, Negombo, Dambulla, Sigiriya, Galle and Colombo. The tourists were randomly selected for the survey from hotels, restaurants and other visiting places. Prior to asking questions, they were given a brief description of the nature of the survey. The participants at the survey numbered 302 (representing both sexes) whose ages ranged between 18 - 78 years. These tourists came from a range of 38 countries. There were citizens from Britain, Netherlands, Australia, France, China, Russia, Poland, Holland, Thailand, Belgium and USA. Startling fact Following inquiries it was found that nearly 90 percent of the tourists were attracted to natural beauty, wildlife, beaches and the opportunities to visit ancient places. In addition, some have enjoyed a variety of spicy food items. But the number of tourists who claimed that they had enjoyed alcoholic beverages was very low. According to them the main problems that plagued them were traffic and poor public transport. They also said that they were concerned about diseases and issues related to hygiene. The number of tourists who had complains regarding access to alcohol was less than 3 percent. However as much as 12 percent reported on issues relating to harassment by street vendors, problems with guides and tuk tuk drivers, lack of facilities to purchase tickets, difficulty in obtaining correct information when visiting places due to communication problems and the unavailability of basic facilities such as washrooms. More than 88 percent of tourists were optimistic about their next visit to Sri Lanka, but the rest werent. Those who were optimistic of their next visit stated that they were attracted by the natural beauty, beaches, wildlife, history and the countrys culture. A few were avaricious of Sri Lankan cuisine. Most of the participants suggested developing roads and transport facilities and a few wanted safety assurances apart from improvements in hotel accommodation. Only 7 percent suggested they wished to have better access to alcohol. Public smoking and drinking When asked for their opinion on tobacco and alcohol policies in Sri Lanka, particularly about the ban on public smoking and drinking, more than 90 percent of them gave their approval. Based on the findings of this survey, it is quite clear that tourists who visit Sri Lanka dont consider alcohol or the availability of alcohol as a cause for their visits. Illicit liquor The Presidential Task Force on drug prevention is also working closely with the Police and the Divisional Secretariats spread across the country to monitor the use of kassippu (illicit liquor) and they are presented with relevant records quarterly. According to these observations, it is very clear that the use of kassippu has significantly dropped. No person consuming Kassippu would start drinking beer and by increasing the availability of alcohol for tourists and simplifying the liquor licence system would only cause local alcohol consumption to increase. Beer is the gateway to hard drugs. Reduction in the price of beer will only result in increase in both the production and consumption of the product. This measure will not reduce the consumption of hard liquor and illicit brew or Kassippu, as people from different ages and social strata consume different brews. Increased alcohol consumption is a burden to a country as the Government has to end up spending more than the revenue it collects by way of taxes on alcohol on treating people afflicted with alcohol related diseases. Introducing the measure to cut down the consumption of hard liquor and reduce the production of illicit brew such as Kassippu, the Finance Minister in 1996, reduced the price of beer considerably. As a result of this short-sighted policy to reduce the price of beer, the consumption of beer increased by 52.3 percent over the next 10 years. During this time the population increase was only 13.8 percent. Meanwhile, the consumption of arrack also rose and the production of Kassippu too increased. It encouraged young people to drink more beer of higher concentration due to the low cost. The total consumption of beer in 2015 was 126 million litres. The policy makers of this country should know that alcohol consumption is a major health and social problem. The extent of the damage is reflected in the rising incidence of hospital admissions due to alcohol related diseases, rising incidence of road traffic accidents, violence and homicide, rising incidence of sexual abuse and violence against women and children and the deterioration of moral and spiritual values observed in the society. The Government should give priority and more consideration to do the right thing, i.e. by increasing taxes on alcohol and reducing its availability. MOSCOW AFP Nov21, 2017 - Russia on Tuesday denied there had been an incident at any of its nuclear facilities after the countrys weather service reported radioactive pollution that exceeded background levels by 986 times. A station close to the Mayak nuclear facility in the Chelyabinsk region detected extremely high pollution of the radioactive isotope Ru-106, Russian meteorologists said Monday. But a representative of Rosatom nuclear corporation told AFP there have been no incidents at nuclear infrastructure facilities in Russia, adding that the concentration detected posed little threat. The Mayak facility in the southern Urals, which is under Rosatoms umbrella, also said the contamination has nothing to do with Mayaks activities. The facility, which reprocesses nuclear fuel, said it has not produced Ru-106 for many years. And it said the level detected poses no danger to human health and lives as it is 20,000 times smaller than the allowed annual dose. Mayak was the site of one of the worst nuclear disasters in history in 1957. In what is known as the Kyshtym disaster, an explosion at Mayak broke a container holding radioactive waste, prompting the evacuation of nearly 13,000 people from the area. Russias consumer watchdog Rospotrebnadzor also said the levels registered by the weather service were safe, giving a different figure of 200 times below a level that would be considered unacceptable. The highest concentration registered by the weather service was near the town of Argayash located about 20 kilometres from Mayak, and Greenpeace on Monday pointed to the facility as the likely culprit. From left: Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) Chairman Razeen Sally, former Government of India Finance and Economic Affairs Secretary Dr. S. Narayan and Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute (LKI) Global Economy Programme Chair Dr. Ganeshan Wignaraja during the panel discussion on India-Sri Lanka Economic Relation in Modis India, co-hosted by the IPS and LKI Pic by Pradeep Pathirana By Shabiya Ali Ahlam Indo-Sri Lanka trade has the potential to reach new heights if the island nation is ready to do away with its obsession with Tamil Nadu, a top economist said, a move according to him, would also help to iron out the issues in boosting Lankan exports to the neighbouring giant. According to former Government of India Finance and Economic Affairs Secretary Dr. S. Narayan, who is a trained economist, Sri Lankas obsession with Tamil Nadu, due to historical, political and emotional reasons, is hampering its efforts in strengthening its ties with India as a whole. You (Sri Lanka) want to do business largely there (Tamil Nadu). Today, the opportunity in other South Indian states is much more, in states such as Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Bangalore. These are state governments that are calling you and are ready to welcome you with open arms, he told a panel discussion in Colombo this week. Dr. Narayan added that the opportunity to deal with South India and not just exclusively with Tamil Nadu is evident as the mentioned states are backed by the necessary political will and governments that are trade and business-friendly. As Sri Lankan exports to India under the Indo-Lanka Free Trade Agreement grapple with non-tariff barriers, it was pointed out that the South Indian states can assist in reducing the bottlenecks. If the non-trade barriers are made simpler, these states can help. They can help as a lot of them are coastal states and can help in ensuring that the ports have the jurisdiction to make clearance faster, he explained. Meanwhile, it was also stressed that it is imperative to increase the momentum in deepening the Indo-Lanka Free Trade Agreement, which has failed to progress seriously in the last 10 to 15 years. As both countries are faced with issues that are largely to do with non-tariff barriers, it was suggested the trade negotiations shift gear as the problems faced are incidents rather than issues. Often the trade negotiations happen at the level of policymakers where often they talk about tariff lines and items that should be included or excluded in the goods and services trade. But perhaps there is an opportunity to move this conversation away from tariff lines into non-tariff barriers and renegotiate seriously, professed the economist. Dr. Narayan reiterated that it is imperative to move the discussion away from the larger picture to a more business picture and to deal with the issues the businesses are experiencing and not what the governments are faced with. India is Sri Lankas largest trading partner globally, while Sri Lanka is Indias second largest trading partner in the SAARC. Anagreement between the UK and the Kandyan Chiefs of Ceylon titled, Kandyan Convention,was signed in 1815. The terms of the convention stipulated that the Kingdom of Kandy would be annexed to the British Empire, giving Britain total control over the island nation. The king of Kandy was arrested and deposed. The convention upheld many of the traditional rights, rituals and powers enjoyed by the locals. The convention also specified that the laws, customs, and establishments of the Kandyans were to be administered and maintained by the native authorities. A unique feature of the Convention was the inclusion of the Article 5, which stated: Governor Brownrigg met Kandyan Buddhists to discuss the convention and gave a special audience on February 10, 1815 to them on his own where he assured them that Buddhism and its properties and places of worship will be protected. The British colonial authorities merely wanted to please the Kandyan Chiefs and the prelates of the Malwatte and Asgiriya Chapters with this ineffectual piece of inducement. The Kandyan Chiefs and the Mahanayake Theras agreed to the Kandyan Convention as it included an article protecting their religion and privileges. The fifth clause however, it must be pointed out, extended to protecting Hinduism too. The two prelates of Asgiriya and Malwatta threatened to boycott the Independence inauguration ceremony in Kandy The religion of Buddha, professed by the chiefs and inhabitants of these provinces is declared inviolable and its rites and ministers and places of worship are to be maintained and protected. The slightly-different Sinhala version says not only the protection and maintenance of Buddhist temples but also Devagama (Hinduism) Devales or Hindu temples should be protected. D.S Senanayake vehemently opposed in 1948 Buddhism is declared inviolable and its rights to be maintained and protected. When the Colonial masters and local leaders agreed to a Dominion status, Hon D.S. Senanayake along with Sir Ivor Jennings the Constitutional expert, designed the 1948 Constitution. British rulers transferred powers of self-rule to Sri Lanka. Senanayake faced a Constitutional crisis in December 1947/January 48. In the 1948 Constitution of Independent Sri Lanka didnt give Buddhism the foremost place as of now. Senanayake was under pressure to include a special clause for Buddhism from the leading Buddhist clergy, especially the Siyam Nikaya Mahanayake Theras. The two prelates of Asgiriya and Malwatta threatened to boycott the Independence inauguration ceremony in Kandy. Constitution Making The first documented constitutional reforms, the Colebrook-Cameron proposals to satisfy the needs of the Britishers, date back to 1833. A 184-year history of constitutional reforms offers us ample lessons in formatting an innovative constitution. In 1912, Crewe-MacCallum proposed a team of advisers, with the members of Legislative Council, who dont represent the people. Then there was another short-lived reformation in 1921-1924 as proposed by GovernorManning which was followed by Mannings reforms under LG which governed Ceylon from 1924 to 1931. In 1931, the famous Donoughmore Reforms, which granted universal franchise, were introduced. It also proposed the State Council replacing the Legislative Council and provided the last stage prior to Independence. The 1947 reforms named, Soulbury Constitution was drafted by the first vice chancellor of Peradeniya University, Sir Ivor Jennings under the guidance of Senanayake, the Leader of the House, providing Independence under dominion status. Sirimavo Bandaranaike Discussing the provisions with Attorney General Victor Tennekoon and Solicitor General Rajah Wanasundera, and being mindful of Article 5 of the 1815 Kandyan Convention, she requested them to pen an appropriate clause and had directed Dr. Colvin R de Silva, who was responsible for the first 1972 Republican Constitution to provide the foremost place to Buddhism. Colvin had quipped she is thrusting the Kandyan Throne into our Constitution. This Article, The Republic of Sri Lanka, shall give Buddhism the foremost place and accordingly it shall be the duty of the State to protect and foster Buddhism while assuring all religions the rights granted by section 18 (1) (d). This was followed by J.R. Jayewardene (JRJ) in the 1978 Constitution as well. This helped her to extend her term by two years by Constitutional means. J.R.J allowed it in 1978 Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and President Maithripala Sirisena affirmed that Buddhism would be given the foremost place in Sri Lankas new Constitution. The premiers statement has made evident that the Unity Government would retain the special place given to Buddhism in the 1972 and 78 Constitutions. Therefore, the foremost place accorded to Buddhism will be preserved in its new draft as well. JRJ got himself promoted to Executive President without a mandate by Constitutional means DS and the Prelates A deputation headed by the Mahanayake Theras of Malwatta and Asgiriya and members of the laity, including prominent Kandyan representatives, proposed to wait on the Minister of Home Affairs Sir Oliver Goonetillake to urge that a declaration be made on behalf of the Government, pledging itself to honour Article 5 of Kandyan Convention of 1815.They urged that the most appropriate occasion for such an announcement will be the visit of the Duke of Gloucester to Kandy in February 1948. It was suggested that the announcement be made on behalf of the successors to the British Government, preferably by the Duke himself at the Audience Hall Kandy, where the treaty of 1815 was signed, and at the Maligawa Octagon [patthirippuwa]. A hint that the Mahanayakes of Malwatte and Asgiriya will not participate in the Independence celebrations, when the Duke of Gloucester visits Kandy, unless their demand is included in the Independence Act, was given to S F Amerasinghe, the G-Agent. The Mahanyakes Theras had the support of the Adigars, Diyawadane Nilame, Basnayakes, the Kandyan Youth League and the Kandyan National Assembly. In their view, though they had confidence in the Senanayake Cabinet, they were concerned about the future, if certain other parties assumed power. Mahanayakes to private residences The Government invited the Malwatte and Asgiriya prelates and C B Nugawela, the Diyawadane Nilame, to the Government Agents residence to meet the Prime Minister. The Diyawadane Nilame, as the lay custodian of the most sacred relic, was averse to the pontiffs of the religion being invited to private homes for conferences. He suggested that the proposed conference should be held in the Dalada Maligawa and asked for a direction to that effect. It was also decided to request that the conference should be open to representatives of the Kandyan political associations. A mandate was issued to the representatives of these associations that they should consent to cooperate during the Independence Day celebrations only if an undertaking was given that the Order in Council would contain a clause recognizing the Treaty of 1815. The secretary was directed to summon a further meeting to discuss the result of the meeting with the Prime Minister. Support from Kelaniya The high priest of Asgiriya, in the process received messages from Nayake Theras islandwide, including the incumbent of Rajamahaviharaya of Kelaniya, Ven Mapitigama Buddharakkitha Thera, [the first accused in Bandaranaike assassination a decade later] that he would receive the fullest support in his boycott of the Independence Day celebrations unless the protection of Buddhism was guaranteed. The Diyawadane Nilame wrote to the Government Agent stating that he was directed by the Mahanayakes to state that they were prepared to meet the Prime Minister at the Dalada Maligawa. At the conference were present the Mahanayakes of the two chapters, the Anunayakes, representatives of the Kandyan political associations and several others, including GA Godamune. Prime Minister DSS didnt succumb. He travelled to Kandy, didnt visit the temples, but met them at the Maligawa and convinced the two Prelates on the importance of not introducing special provisions on protection or foremost to Buddhism in the new Constitution. He said, equality is a basic tenet of Dhamma. If equality is a provision, then you cant give primacy to one religion. Senanayakes wisdom DSS was nicknamed Jungle John for his aversion to conventional book-education in school. He was by no means an intellectual, but he was a man with shining intelligence. With academic qualifications that wouldnt have made him a low-ranking public servant, he gained knowledge by doing things, managing people, perceiving them rather than interpreting of theories. His sort of indulgence couldnt be gained through books or by theoretical craming. His insightful foresight undoubtedly surpassed the intellectual capacities of the learned. Rt Hon. DS Senanayake did not fear any authority. He never sought to enthrone Buddhism in the Constitution and gain popularity. But he was a devout Buddhist. A practicing one, too. His Metta friendliness and Karuna compassion in international relations were amply demonstrated in supporting Japanese peace treaty. We should copy the Burmese Constitutions Clause no 21.4 which states, The abuse of religion for political purposes is forbidden; and any act which is intended or is likely to promote feelings of hatred, enmity or discord between racial or religious communities or sects is contrary to this constitution and may be made punishable by law. In Sri Lanka, the State is responsible only to protect Buddhism, not other religions. This unreasonable, defensive principle was derived from the 1815 Kandyan Convention. Isnt it a grave error to adapt the distinctive situation that existed two centuries ago to the present political environment? The key requirement is to bring together the people and not to divide them. From 1972 was there any special protection or improvement to Buddhism by the Government; and what harm it did to Buddhism from 1948 to 1972, during which period there was no such constitutional guarantee? The civil society has a huge responsibility to be sincerely involved in the course of drafting the proposed supreme law of the country. Parliamentarians will always see that their own personal concerns take precedence over that of the people, thereforeleaving it in their hands will only make sure of a clash of interest. The Buddha invited all to join the fold of universal brotherhood to work in harmony for the happiness of mankind. He had no chosen people and he didnt consider himself as the chosen one either. The Buddha urged people to respect all religious people in spite of the differences of opinion that existed. Finance and Mass Media Ministry Secretary Dr. R.H.S. Samaratunga signed the loan agreement on behalf of the Sri Lankan government and Asian Development Bank (ADB) Country Director Sri Widowati on behalf of ADB in the presence of Finance and Mass Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera and ADB Vice President Wencai Zhang The Finance and Mass Media Ministry yesterday entered into two loan agreements with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to borrow US $ 150 million for the development of 3400 kilometres (km) of rural roadways and US $ 200 million for the implementation of a 100 megawatt (MW) wind power generation project. The 3,400 km of rural access roads, inclusive of 340 km of national highways, will be upgraded under the agreement signed through the Second Integrated Road Investment Programme. The significance of this programme is that these roads will be developed to suit all weather conditions. Improving the capacity of road agencies with respect to safeguards, road safety, maintenance, research capacity and road design and construction is another component of the programme. The programme will be implemented in the Northern, Eastern, Uva and Western Provinces. Under the first phase of this programme, 3,108 km of rural access roads and 248 km of national roads in the Southern, Central, Sabaragamuwa, North Western, North Central Provinces and Kalutara District in the Western Province are being improved and maintained. The total investment cost of the first tranche of this project is US $ 172.1 million. ADB provides US $ 150 million and the governments contribution will be US $ 22.1 million. Meanwhile, the proposed 100 MW wind farm will be constructed in Mannar Island of the Northern Province. In addition, wind park infrastructure will be developed, including the wind parks internal medium voltage infrastructure, internal cabling and access roads, establishment of a renewable energy dispatch control centre for forecasting and controlling and managing intermittent 100 MW wind power generation. The total investment cost of this project is US $ 256.7 million, of which, US $ 200 million will be provided by ADB as a direct loan to the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) under a Treasury guarantee. The balance US $ 56.7 million will be financed by the CEB. Stax, Sri Lankas leading strategy consulting firm, recently moved into a new office within the heart of the Central Business District (CBD) in Colombo. Situated at 278/4, Access Towers II - 15th Floor, Union Place, Colombo-02, the plush new office is a spacious work space of 6,000 square-feet. Built with the intention of providing an expansive domain that encourages innovative and collaborative thinking, the new space includes ample meeting rooms. The office also features specially designed booths equipped with state-of-the-art communication tools to support in-depth primary research across the globe. Headquartered in Boston, Stax also has offices across Chicago, New York and Singapore, with Colombo serving as the base of its APAC operations. Stax, which had outgrown its previous premises, relocated its office to be closer to clients, while being able to comfortably accommodate its 70+ workforce and facilitate its future growth plans. Since commencing operations in 2005 with just seven employees, Stax Colombo has worked on multiple engagements internationally while serving numerous Sri Lankan clients, including diversified conglomerates, blue-chip industry leaders, and large family businesses. Stax utilises a mixture of proven and innovative approaches to consulting, and has gained a reputation among the local business community for inspiring companies to reach audacious goals and to complement gut-based decisions with fact-based research. The new location is in keeping with our ethos of dreaming big and offering the best services to our valuable clients from varied walks of life and industries, said Stax Senior Business Analyst Avinash Hettiarachchi. With the Court of Appeal suspending the implementation of the Gazette notification on delimitation, there is a modes of uncertainty again on the possibility of conducting the local authorities election. Let alone that the parties are in preparation for the election. Be that as it may, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) headed by President Maithripala Sirisena is in a dilemma fearing a dismal performance at the polls if conducted at any time soon. So, it seems to be the most reluctant party to go for polls according to information available in political circles at the moment. Against this backdrop, MPs including Ministers Susil Premajayantha and John Seneviratne are determined to leave no stones unturned in their effort to forge unity between the party and the Joint Opposition steered by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. There were various modalities being discussed for the two sides to join hands in view of the election. As a platform for unity, the SLFP section serving in the government proposed to contest the election together under the Peoples Alliance (PA), the one time political amalgam that led the party to victory in 1994 defeating the United National Party (UNP) that governed the country for 17 years up to then. The SLFP fielded candidates for successive elections under the PA until 2004 when the present political formation called United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) was registered. Nonetheless, the Rajapaksa group, in general, looks at the proposal with scepticism given its experience at the last parliamentary election in 2015. Among those in the Joint Opposition, the National Freedom Front (NFF) is willing to consider the latest proposal to contest under the PA favourably, but on terms and conditions to be stipulated by them. It means the SLFP government group should compromise a lot for unity to be fostered for electoral purposes at this time. Otherwise the NFF fears the group led by President Sirisena would let them down after the election as happened in the run up to the 2015 General Election. The UPFA gave nomination for Mr. Rajapaksa to contest the election, but the presidents actions and remarks caused setbacks to the partys campaign. The NFF believes the UNP will be able to capitalize on the political situation for its advantage at least in some areas if the SLFP led alliance is divided into two camps. Despite the NFF having positive thoughts, Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna(SLPP), the main political force within the Joint opposition, is not ready to consider any overtures from the Presidents SLFP at this hour. It says there is wide resistance from its rank and file over any move for any patch-up in view of the local government elections. As such, any unification is now an unlikely possibility. Likewise, it believes the SLFPs support base at grassroots level is marginal, and therefore accommodation of it on board will not bring in any significant electoral benefit. So, the party is making all arrangements to field its candidates under its Flower Bud symbol at the elections this time. It has already discussed the allocation of quotas of candidates among the parties to be aligned with it. Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP), Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP), Democratic Left Front, Communist Party and Sri Lanka Mahajana Party are among the allies of SLPP at this election. Besides, there are a number of small Tamil and Muslim political parties that are ready to throw their weight behind the SLPP-led alliance in the North and the East in particular and contest under the Flower Bud symbol. Forging unity is an arduous task. It may be made possible only if the SLFP led by the President is ready for major compromises on the Joint Oppositions terms. It is very difficult to expect the President to make any compromise as the Head of State. President seeks views of UPFA allies President Maithripala, in his capacity as the leader of the UPFA, invited its alliance partners for a meeting on Monday evening regarding the modalities for contesting the local elections. The parties such as MEP, LSSP and DLF declined to attend it saying that the current circumstances were not favourable for such a meeting at this hour. DLF leader MP Vasudeva Nanayakkara said there were stark policy differences between his party and the Presidents UPFA at this hour, and therefore talks would not serve the intended purpose. However, the National Congress led by former Minister A.L.M. Athaullah, Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) led by Jaffna district MP Douglas Devananda, the Communist Party led by D.E. W. Gunasekara and the Ceylon Workers Congress made representations to it. Athaullah, D.E.W, Douglas to seek ways and means to unite Presidents group with MR faction Mr. Athaullah suggested that the SLFP should forge ties with former President Mahinda Rajapaksa before the election. The President was not averse to the idea. Yet, he did not commit anything in this regard. Along with Mr. Athauallah, Mr. Gunasekara and Mr. Devananda were assigned to work as a committee to explore the possibility for ironing out differences between the two sides ahead of the election. Douglas complains to President about budgetary ban on Palmyrah tapping Besides, at the same meeting, Mr. Devananda brought to the notice of the President that it had been proposed in the budget to ban tapping coconut and Palmyrah trees. He said this, if implemented, would affect the livelihood of people making various Palmyrah products. The President said he knew about it only then, and he promised to look into it at the Cabinet meeting later. Relations between UNP, President strained Relationship between the President and the UNP seems to have been strained with the appointment of the Presidential Commission to investigate the Central Bank bond scam. It took a turn for the worse after the number of telephone calls between the owner of Perpetual Treasuries, Arjuna Aloysius and the UNP MPs serving in the COPE was reported to the Commission. It transpired that UNP MP State Minister Sujeewa Senasinghe had made 272 telephone calls with Mr. Aloysius. Incensed by the latest revelation that led to his credibility suffering, Mr. Senasinghe took a swipe at the President at a press conference on Tuesday. The press conference was conducted at the party headquarters Sirikotha. We are disappointed over a sinister move to bring the UNP into disrepute in this manner, he said. It is criticism directed at the President. Definitely, the relationship between the UNP and the President is not that healthy at the moment. But, both need each other for its political future. United they stand, divided they fall. Hence, the two sides will opt to stay together despite bitterness with each other. Formation of an alternate government is constitutionally impossible at this hour. For the appointment of a new Prime Minister, the consent of the current Prime Minister has to be obtained. Or else, the budget should be defeated. These are not politically realistic at this hour. As a result, despite confusions and contradictions, the government will trundle along its path. Sagala disturbed in preparations for budget debate over Gintota incident Law and Order Minister Sagala Ratnayake had to take time out of his preparation for the budget debate when he heard of tension in the Gintota area on Thursday night. He received a torrent of telephone calls about a clash between Sinhalese and Muslims in the area. The Minister hurriedly contacted Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara and instructed him to take appropriate action to douse the tension. Additional police contingents were deployed to the area. It is learnt that Presidential Secretary Austin Fernando also got involved with Minister Ratnayake in taking action. Normalcy returned by Friday noon. Yet, again on Friday night, violence broke out. In addition to Mr. Ratnayake, Home Affairs Minister Vajira Abeywardane contacted the authorities in the area. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who visited the area, said security had been strengthened. He said it would be scaled down only if Minister Sagala Ratnayake decided to do so. Oops....! We couldn't find that... 404 error Unfortunately the page you were looking for could not be found. It may be temporarily unavailable, moved or no longer exist. Check the URL you entered for any mistakes and try again. Alternatively, search for whatever is missing or take a look around the rest of our site. Mumbai: After the demonetisation of high-value notes that overnight disrupted the economy, the Centre, in its move towards a digital economy may soon ban cheques, media reports suggest. The Narendra Modi government had in 2016 banned the use of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes that seized 86 per cent of the cash in circulation. The government had done so to move towards a cashless economy, powered by digitisation. In its latest move towards the same, the government may be planning to ban cheque books. A senior official of the Confederation of All India Traders, Praveen Khandelwal told PTI recently that in all probability, the Centre may withdraw the cheque book facility in the near future to encourage digital transactions. Khandelwal, while speaking at the Digital Rath initiative, that aims to spread awareness about digital transactions, also said the government needs to incentivise payment through debit and credit cards. "The government spends Rs 25,000 crore on printing of currency notes and another Rs 6,000 crore on their security and logistics. Moreover, banks charge 1 per cent on payments through debit and 2 per cent through credit cards. The government needs to incentivise this process by providing subsidy directly to the banks so these charges can be waived, he said. This move may cause severe inconvenience for traders, 95 per cent of whose transactions are via cheques and cash. Moreover, since the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, the use of cheque books has risen. Although digital transactions have surged post demonetisation, data shows that people still prefer to use cash more. Khandelwal said only 5 per cent of the total 80-crore ATM-cum-debit cards are used for digital transactions, while 95 per cent of them are used to withdraw cash. According to Reserve Bank of India data, cash in circulation was Rs 17.9 lakh crore while that post demonetisation is Rs 16.3 lakh crore. Digital transactions rose 31 per cent from November last year to September this year. Mumbai: Zareen recently lashed out at the makers, saying that she had been initially assured Aksar 2 would be a "clean film", but was then asked to "wear minimal clothes in every frame." She also accused them of certain angles that blurred the line between sensuous and vulgarity, the longer duration of kisses, and the director Ananth Mahadevan being clueless about what he wanted after a certain point of time. She also said that they were very cautious about security during the promotions of the film, and the result she almost got molested in a mob. For her defamatory remarks, producer Narendra Bajaj is planning to take her to the court. According to a report in Mid-Day, he said, "I will legally pursue the matter after consultation with my counsel." He also said that Zareen was kept in the loop about the film, since the beginning. "A bound script was given to her and nothing since has changed. As for the clothes, she tried everything in Mumbai before we left for the schedule in Mauritius and all the clothes were approved by her. So, I don't understand her comments." Regarding vulgarity, we dont come from that school and everything was done with the consent of the actor and in the boundaries of the CBFC, he added. Aksar 2, starring Zareen Khan, Gautam Rode and Abhinav Shukla, released to disastrous response last Friday. What was to be a celebration in the memory of her late father Krishnaraj Rai who passed away in March this year turned out to be an emotional nightmare of sorts for Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. On Monday, the actress visited a childrens hospital in Mumbai, along with mother Vrinda Rai and daughter Aaradhya, to honour her father. The popular actress had sponsored the cleft lip surgeries of 100 children here. During the event, as the actress posed with her mother and daughter alongside a few other kids, the excessive chaos caused by the paparazzi irked her. And the day ended with her losing the cool. As she tried to subtly request photographers to stop clicking pictures, Aishwarya eventually became teary-eyed, before saying, Please show some respect. This is not a premiere; this is not a public event. She added, I am asking you all to keep silence. You dont need photos of all this. You and I belong to this business, but all the others present here dont. Mumbai: Sanjay Leela Bhansali's upcoming period film 'Padmavati' has been grabbing headlines since the time of its announcement. Right from disrupting shooting to vandalising sets, Karni Sena of Rajasthan has been going out and about to ensure 'Padmavati' doesn't get release. And to add to it, after Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, a third BJP-governed state, Gujarat, which chooses its new government next month, has banned Sanjay Leela Bhansali's upcoming period film Padmavati. Reports are that Kshatriya community leaders from BJP have apparently written to the Chief Election Commissioner demanding the stalling of 'Padmavati' release ahead of Gujarat elections. Vijay Rupani, the Chief Minister of Gujarat, said today, "The government of Gujarat will not allow 'Padmavati' - a movie hurting sentiments of Rajputs - to get released in the state. We can't allow our history to be distorted. We believe in freedom of speech and expression but any foul play with our great culture is not tolerated." There are elections here and there could be a law and order situation. Many sections are hurt and have opposed it too, he said. The makers of Padmavati have clarified time and again that the film has no objectionable content and has been made keeping Rajput pride in mind. The makers had shown the film to select journalists who had said that the film does not distort history. However, it did prove to be helpful to curb the protests. Mumbai: Varun Dhawan took to Instagram to share an image of himself on a pole, with Jacqueline Fernandez mentoring him. The actress recently showed her crazy dancing skills on pole in the song Chandralekha from A Gentleman. Just like many fans seems like Varun was also quite intrigued with her insane skills. The 'Badlapur' actor posted a picture where he tried his hands at working out on a pole. Dressed in a blue tank top and blue tracks, he was seen supporting himself on the pole with his hands and folded legs. Standing beside him is Jacqueline, cheering and helping him out. In the photo caption Varun acknowledges the amount of efforts it takes to do the pole dance. Varun shared the picture on his Instagram account and captioned it, Not as easy as it looks. Thanks @jacquelinef143 and @lanaroxy. Really helps build up core fitness and flexibility. You gotta keep mixing it up. Not as easy as it looks. Thanks @jacquelinef143 and @lanaroxy. Really helps build up core fitness and flexibility. You gotta keep mixing it up A post shared by Varun Dhawan (@varundvn) on Nov 21, 2017 at 1:18am PST Both Varun Dhawan and Jacqueline Fernandez, have worked together on the hit movie Dishoom earlier and post the super success of Judwaa 2, they seem to be bonding really well over fitness sessions. New Delhi/Ahmedabad/Chandigarh: Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said on Wednesday that film Padmavati was hurting sentiments and would not be screened in the poll bound state till issues were resolved. Politician-turned-actor Shatrughan Sinha also joined row on the movie. he questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Information and Broadcasting minister Smriti Irani over their silence on the issue. In the wake of growing controversy and protests by Rajput organisations and other groups. Mr Rupani joined the chorus against the films release when he tweeted that we believe in freedom of speech and expression but any foul play with our great culture is not tolerated. Mr Rupani became the fourth Chief Minister of a BJP ruled state after Uttar Pradeshs Yogi Adityanath, Rajasthans Vasundhara Raje, Madhya Pradeshs Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who have opposed the film. Another BJP ruled state Haryanas Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had also said that the state government will arrive at a decision on director Sanjay Leela Bhansalis film only after censor board clears it. Meanwhile, reiterating its stand against the film, Rajput Karni Sena said it is not against the film but against the distortion of the history. Karni Senas Lokendra Singh Kalvi said freedom of expression in terms of art cannot be tolerated when the feelings of millions of people hang in jeopardy. We Rajputs are proud of our heritage and will not tolerate any conspiracy that threatens to shake our self-respect and honour. All we want is rectification of facts and editing of objectionable scenes before it is released for audience, Mr Kalvi said. Tweeting on the Padmavati controversy, BJPs Patna Sahib MP Sharughan Sinha tweeted, How come our I and B minister or our most popular Honble PM (according to PEW) are maintaining stoic silence. High time! referring to a recent survey by the Pew, an American think tank. The actor also asked why actors Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan were quiet on the row. Padmavati in textbooks A couple of days after he announced a memorial for queen Padmavati and an award after her to felicitate those who protect the honour of women, MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday declared that Padmavati's life will now a part of state school syllabus. House Panel seeks report The controversy over Padmavati on Wednesday reached the portals of Parliament as a house panel sought a report on the film from the I&B ministry and the censor board. The matter was taken up by the Lok Sabha panel after two BJP MPs from Rajasthan filed a plea before it. Recently, Adirindi, the dubbed version of Tamil hit Mersal, became the eye of the storm for its dialogues mocking the governments GST regimen. After much controversy, although the Tamil version got a clearance, the censor board asked the distributors of the Telugu version to edit out the dialogues. Now, another film, Indrasena, is facing the same problem. Whats surprising is that the film just used the word GST in a song and there is no reference or comment whatsoever about the taxing system. However, it looks like censor officials have got clear orders from the high command to omit anything remotely close to the word. Neelam Krishna Reddy, who bought the Telugu distribution rights confirms the news: Its not even a reference of GST; we have just used the word in a song. We had to replace GST with EMI. It is believed that the producer argued with the censor officials for hours on end, but they finally got the upper hand. The actor, who plays a crucial role in the film, is currently shooting for some key scenes, says a source. Popular Tamil actor Madhavan has finally joined the sets of his first Telugu film, Savyasachi, co-starring Naga Chaitanya and Nidhhi Agerwal. Directed by Chandoo Mondeti, the shoot of the action-thriller began on November 8, with Madhavan joining the unit last week. The actor, who plays a crucial role in the film, is currently shooting for some key scenes, says a source. On the other hand, Chaitanya was very excited about Madhavans entry that he tweeted about the senior actor and said, U have no idea how excited we are to have you on board! Thanks a ton cant wait for everyone to get a glimpse of what ur up to next (sic). Touched by his words, Madhavan replied to Chaitanyas message and was all praises for him. Only heard that you are a darling bro but now I know why the whole of south loves you you r kind generous and a wonderful human being. I cant wait to work with you and lets make an outstanding film and yup my next is a demanding one (sic), said Madhavan. This is because a special pathway in the brain is heightening our emotions from pain at those sites, according to studies in mice. (Photo: Pixabay) If head and facial pain seem stronger and scarier than pain elsewhere, its because a special pathway in the brain is heightening our emotions from pain at those sites, according to studies in mice. People usually experience head and facial pain as more severe and emotionally draining than body pain, but the biological basis of this remains something of a mystery. It turns out that pain signals in the face travel to a different place in the brain than pain stimuli in other parts of the body, researchers say. Dr. Fan Wang from Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina and colleagues looked at the brain circuitry involved in pain perception in mice, focusing on differences between responses to painful stimuli to the face and to the paw. They knew already that pain signals from the face travel to both sides of a brain area called the lateral parabrachial nucleus, or PBL. The new study showed that signals traveled from there to multiple centers in the brain related to emotions and instincts. As it turns out, the brain cells in the PBL also get input from these emotion centers, the researchers explain in Nature Neuroscience. In contrast, pain signals from the paw travel through the spinal cord and end up in a different part of the parabrachial nucleus on the side of the brain opposite the side of the paw that was stimulated. Pain, especially chronic pain, is not just a sensory disorder, but also an emotional disorder, and chronic head and face pain directly and robustly affect the patients emotional suffering, Wang told Reuters Health by email. Therefore, it is important to treat the emotional suffering of chronic pain patients. Dr. Arne May from Universitaetsklinikum Hamburg Eppendorf in Germany, who has researched facial pain extensively, told Reuters Health by email, Most will be surprised that, indeed, facial pain is perceived as more threatening than (the same) pain of the arm or leg. This work starts to unravel the physiological background. Why this seemingly explicit pathway exists is still unclear, he said. Probably because the face/head is more important to the system in terms of survival. Vet William Wildgoose had to remove the eye of a goldfish to prevent tumours from regrowing, the Metro reported. The fish named Speckle was anaesthetised for the surgery that lasted eight minutes. A nurse had to pour water on his gills every three minutes so it would not suffocate. The 62-year-old vet had been treating the fish for two years. Wildgoose was forced to remove the eye because he had already removed a tumour that grew back on the pet fish. "By the time it got bigger and black it wasnt able to see anything out of eye so its not as if we could improve on that," the vet told the Metro. "These tumours quite often appear in different parts of the body, they are common in goldfish; they are not common in the eye," Wildgoose told the Metro. "The biggest issue was probably the physical size of the tumour. It can affect its swimming ability and being unable to see meant it bashed into things and that caused bits to break off," he revealed. The vet has performed this kind of surgery on a dozen fish and some don't survive. Sadly, Speckle died in 2015 a little after the surgery from an incurable disease called 'dropsy' that caused him to blow up. He was 16. However, his case has contributed to veterinary science on pet fish, the vet revealed. Wildgoose also treated Speckle for a bowel condition that caused it to swim on his side. During that time he had taken X-rays of the fish. "The X-rays show that the shape of the skull changes after the eye is removed. This is more or less proof why the artificial eyes fell out in an American study written a few years ago," he told the Metro. Speckle's owner Sophia, a psychology graduate from north London, told the Metro, while it was a said time to say goodbye to the fish she had since she was a teenager, it was a relief to know he wasn't suffering anymore. She enrolled in the London School of Medicine and qualified as a doctor in 1894 (Photo: YouTube) Online search engine Google today dedicated a special doodle to Dr Rukhmabai Raut to mark the 153rd birth anniversary of India's first practicing lady doctor. Rukhmabai, who was born in 1864 and lost her father at a tender age, is hailed as a pioneer in the field of medicine and women's rights in the 19th century, an era of curtailed freedom for women. Born to Jayantibai and Janardhan in present-day Mumbai, she was married off when she was 11 to Dadaji Bhikaji, 19, after her father's demise. "When Rukhmabai was still in school, her husband, Dadaji, insisted that she come and live with him in his house. Rakhmabai, not one to blindly follow convention, refused," according to the information curated by Google alongside the doodle. Dadaji soon moved court for a case that would span four years. Although the case went in Rukhmabai's favour, an appeal went in Dadaji's favour. The case also caught media's attention bringing to fore significant issues of child marriage and women rights. It was instrumental in the drafting of the Age of Consent Act in 1891. In the run up to the trial, Rukhmabai wrote several articles, under the pseudonym 'A Hindu Lady', which were published in newspapers and even discussed internationally for highlighting the pressing issues of the time under colonial rule in India. "This wicked practice of child marriage has destroyed the happiness of my life. It comes between me and the things which I prize above all others study and mental cultivation. Without the least fault of mine I am doomed to seclusion; every aspiration of mine to rise above my ignorant sisters is looked down upon with suspicion and is interpreted in the most uncharitable manner," she wrote in one of her letters. After the case, as records state, Rukhmabai decided to pursue medicine study and went to the UK on sponsorship. In the UK, she enrolled in the London School of Medicine and qualified as a doctor in 1894. She then returned to India and worked as the medical officer for women in Surat for 22 years and then in Rajkot for 12 years. Hailed as a pioneer in the field of medicine and women's rights in pre-independence India, Rukhmabai passed away at a ripe age of 91 in 1955. Six Czech tourists who dressed up in skimpy swimsuits made famous by Sacha Baron Cohens Borat were reportedly detained by authorities in Kazakhstans capital, Astana. Sporting lime green mankinis and black wigs, the men had hoped to take a picture in front of the I Love Astana sign. But local police took action, detaining them on Friday and fining them 22,500 tenge ($68) each for committing minor hooliganism, according to the Kazakh news website informburo.kz. When Baron Cohen got to know of this news, he posted on his Facebook: Baron Cohen, playing the fictional Kazakh television presenter Borat, sported the swimsuit in the 2006 movie Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. That film offended many Kazakhs by portraying the country as backward and degenerate. Kazakhstan threatened to sue Baron Cohen and quickly banned the DVD. However, in 2012, Kazakh foreign minister, Yerzhan Kazykhanov publicly thanked Baron Cohen for boosting tourism to the country. Two other Tamil refugees belonging to the same camp, Santharooban, 20, and Ms. Menaga, 32, who tried to rein in John, were also stabbed by him. Coimbatore: In a serious development, when a section of the National media is pushing for sending back from Tamil Nadu the Sri Lankan Tamil refugees who had fled the island in the wake of the 1983 ethnic riots as it is nearly eight years since the civil war ended there, four refugees including a woman inmate were stabbed in a fracas at the Alandurai Sri Lankan refugee camp in the suburbs of Coimbatore, on Monday night. Police said that the trouble started in the camp with John, 25, a Tamil refugee lodged there, picked up a drunken brawl and allegedly abused some neighbours in the camp. Raguvaran, 29, of the same camp had questioned his action and told him to remain calm, but John in an inebriated state picked up a quarrel with him and stabbed him with a knife, police said. Hearing poor Raghuvaran's cries, his father Peethambaram, 60, came running to rescue him, but was also stabbed by John. Two other Tamil refugees belonging to the same camp, Santharooban, 20, and Ms. Menaga, 32, who tried to rein in John, were also stabbed by him. With all the four stab victims crying in pain, virtually the entire refugee camp members came out to their rescue, even as John by then had escaped from the spot. Menaga is being treated in Pooluvapptty government hospital and the other three injured refugees were admitted to the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH). On information, Alandurai police rushed to the refugee camp, registered a complaint and have launched a search for John who is believed to be on the run. The incident took place minutes before the Chief Minister arrived at the venue. (Representational Image) Lucknow: A Muslim woman, who attended an election rally of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Ballia on Tuesday, was apparently made to remove her burqa by the police. A video clip of a woman named Saira has gone viral on social media in which she is being made to take off the burqa by the female police. Women sitting near Saira can be seen helping her to take off the garment which was later taken away by a male police official. The incident took place minutes before the Chief Minister arrived at the venue. Though the SP Ballia Anil Kumar said he had ordered a probe into the incident, junior officials said that this had been done in view of a recent incident in Meerut where some people had shown black flags to the Chief Minister. The woman, Saira, later told reporters that she and her husband were BJP members for a decade and she always attended rallies and party events in a burqa. Reacting to the incident, All India Muslim Personal Board member Maulana Khalid Rashid Firangi Mahali said that the incident was condemnable. A fake journalist and his five friends, who were selling ganja near Bhavani Nagar on Ullal Main Road, were arrested by the Jnanabharathi police. Bengaluru: A fake journalist and his five friends, who were selling ganja near Bhavani Nagar on Ullal Main Road, were arrested by the Jnanabharathi police on Tuesday morning. The accused are Kiran G., 29, a resident of Bhavani Nagar, Hemanth N., 24, Mahadeva, 23, Rohan, 21, Sharath, 22 and Padmanabha, 23. The police said the accused purchased ganja from Magadi town and sold it to the public and college students near a party hall in Bhavani Nagar on Ullal Main Road. Based on a tipoff, the police arrested the six people. One of the accused, Kiran, tried to mislead the police by showing a fake ID and told them that he was working as a reporter with a private media company. The police, however, found out that it was a fake ID and arrested all six of them. The Jnanabharathi police registered a case and seized 3 kg of ganja worth Rs 75,000 and 3,000 cash from them. After sexually assaulting and raping them he would threaten them to keep quiet about what happened. (Representational image) Hyderabad: An 85-year-old, retired railway employee was arrested by Kushaiguda police for sexually assaulting and raping a 12-year-old class VII student after luring her with chocolates on Wednesday. Police said that the man, identified as N. Satyanarayana Rao, had raped six girls over the past one year, by luring them into his house by promising to give them chocolates and cash. He was arrested on Wednesday after the parents of the 12-year-old student complained to police. The minor girl, a class VII student, complained to her parents about the sexual assault by the old man who was living in the neighbourhood. They approached us on Monday night, said Police Inspector N. Venkata Ramana. After sexually assaulting and raping them he would threaten them to keep quiet about what happened. The panicked parents booked a missing case with the Shadnagar police and a search team was deployed to trace the kids. Hyderabad: Four students of Class VIII who went missing from their school at Fatimapur after their PT teacher thrashed them in Kottur under the Shadnagar police station limit returned home on Wednesday. The students, identified as Madhusudhan, Praveen, Devi Sri Prasad and Aziz, all from class VIII of Fatima High School in Kotthur, fled the school premises after their physical education teacher beat them up for a petty issue, said the police. The panicked parents booked a missing case with the Shadnagar police and a search team was deployed to trace the kids. However, later in the evening, they came back home and told the parents that the faculty had thrashed them for a silly issue. No cases were booked against the school management. The arrest was made based on profiling of the passengers by the customs officers of the Air Intelligence Unit at the RGIA, Shamshabad. Hyderabad: Customs officials of Rajiv Gandhi International Airport seized 216 grams of gold valued at around `6.5 lakhs on Tuesday night from a passenger arriving from Muscat. The arrest was made based on profiling of the passengers by the customs officers of the Air Intelligence Unit at the RGIA, Shamshabad. The passenger had arrived from Muscat to Hyderabad by the Oman Airways flight on Tuesday. He concealed two gold bars by attaching them to mobile battery on both sides. He then wrapped it with a grey coloured tape and kept it in a mobile box and passed through the green channel with an intention to evade payment of customs duty, said the officials. Further investigations are under progress. Hyderabad: Riches to rags stories are not restricted to films, but are found in real life. Ms Farzona, 50, who was caught begging near Langer Houz on November 11, has an MBA and had worked as an accounts officer in London. Her back story unravelled at Anand Ashram, a shelter for beggars that is run by the prisons department within the Cherlapalli Central Prison. Ashram incharge K. Arjun Rao, superintendent of the Cherlapalli open-air jail, said For the past two years, she has been facing hurdles in her life. She lost her husband and was staying with her son, an architect, and his family, in Anandbagh. She went to a godman seeking a remedy for the impediments she was facing in her job and personal life. He asked her to become a beggar to overturn her tashil (ill luck). We released her after her son submitted an affidavit, he said. The staff of Anand Ashram said that during her stay there, other inmates of the Ashram would call Farzona madam. When we tried to talk to her, she was able to reply in fluent English, an inmate said. The story of Ms Rabiya Baseera, 44, is equally unusual. Fate forced this green card holder who worked in the USA for years to beg at a dargah in the city. Mr Arjun Rao said that Ms Baseera was reduced to begging after being cheated by her relatives. She speaks fluent English and when she explained her story, we had tears in our eyes. She was well-settled and owned properties in the city. But a few of her relatives cheated her out of her wealth. After she was caught begging, some of her relatives gave us a declaration that they would take care of her and took her with them, he said. A special drive has been organised to rehabilitate beggars by the prisons department in coordination with NGO, GHMC, and the police. The case relates to the death of Adya Singh who was admitted to Fortis for dengue and her family was billed an exemplary amount. (Photo: Facebook @AdyaSinghFortis) New Delhi/Chandigarh: The Haryana government on Tuesday ordered a probe into an allegation that Fortis Hospital in Gurgaon overcharged the family of a seven-year-old girl, who died of dengue, hours after the Centre asked it to initiate an urgent inquiry into the case. The private hospital has denied the charge, saying the patient's kin was informed about the bill on a daily basis. State Health Minister Anil Vij said a senior officer would investigate the case. Directions have been issued to the officer to submit the probe report at the earliest so that strict action could be taken against the guilty, he said. He said no hospital in the state would be allowed to play with the health and sentiments of the people. The health ministry earlier asked the Haryana government to take "exemplary" action against Fortis if "overcharging, negligence or malfeasance" were established in the case of the dengue patient. The case relates to the death in September of the dengue patient, Adya Singh, who was admitted to Fortis Memorial Research Institute (FMRI), Gurgaon, a multi super-speciality care hospital, for 15 days. The hospital billed her family almost Rs 16 lakh. The episode was highlighted recently on Twitter by a friend of the girl's father, who alleged the hospital charged a huge sum of money for the treatment, and the patient later died. The Twitter posts went viral, in the wake of which Health Minister J P Nadda took cognisance of the case. Terming the incident "very unfortunate", Nadda earlier in the day had asked Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan to look into the case. She in turn wrote a letter to the principal secretary of Haryana's health department, asking for an action-taken report within two weeks, following which the state government initiated the probe. The hospital in a statement refuted the allegation and said there was no medical negligence and all standard protocols were followed in the treatment of the patient. "Patient Adya Singh was admitted at FMRI on August 31 at 11:16 am with an initial diagnosis of severe dengue. At the time of admission, the child's condition was serious and deteriorating," the statement said. After an MRI (brain) of the patient on September 14, her family was again explained about the critical condition of the child, after which "they took the decision to take the child Leave Against Medical Advice (LAMA)", the hospital said, adding she succumbed the same day. A total of 750 pairs of gloves and 600 syringes during a 15-day stay is "justifiable and acceptable" when the patient is in an ICU setting. Syringes are being misrepresented as "injections" which are very different from each other, it claimed. The hospital had on Monday claimed that an itemised bill "spread over 20 pages was explained and handed over to the family" at the time of their departure from the hospital. Also Read : 7-yr-old dies of dengue, Fortis hospital Gurgaon bills family Rs 16 lakh All consumables are transparently reflected in records and charged according to actuals, it had claimed. "Ventilator usage, CRRTs (continuous renal replacement therapies), multiple blood transfusions, ICU rent also add on to the cost to the patient. The total bill for the 15-day duration of hospitalisation was Rs 15,79,322. "An amount of Rs 5,21,433 was paid by the insurance, and the balance Rs 10,37,889 was paid by the family of the child," the statement added. "All standard medical protocols were followed in treating the patient and all clinical guidelines were adhered to," the hospital had claimed on Monday. Asked by reporters if he was intimated regularly about the bill through text on mobile phone, Adya's father Jayant Singh alleged, "Yes, I was getting the bill and one day when I asked for a break-up of it, they said, 900 gloves were used in 6-7 days. And, when I questioned that, the number of gloves were reduced." Congress leader Deepender Hooda hit out at Vij, alleging, "The minister is occupied with putting comic tweets. He was not elected to entertain people, and he should rather focus on his department." Indian Medical Association President Dr K K Aggarwal said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) should take over the case. "Questions we need to ask is, whether it was a case of unnecessary treatment? Has the hospital charged for something for which it should not have? If it is a fraud, let it be investigated. But, first let the probe be done," he said. Visakhapatnam: Over 6,705 fingerprint samples were collected from crime scenes that helped to solve 676 cases in Andhra Pradesh between 2014 and 2015. The police say there is a scarcity of searchers in the fingerprint wing in the state with some of the junior experts being assigned the work of collecting the prints by making imprints on slides. The National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) Report ranks Andhra Pradesh third among all the states in cracking cases with the help of the fingerprint method in 2014 while it was ranked fourth among all states in 2015. A senior police officer, on condition of anonymity, said that there is a staff crisis in the fingerprint wing. The sanctioned strength is 29 in the state including sub-inspectors, assistant sub-inspectors and a few others whereas the number employed at present stands at only nine. These experts are employed by the criminal investigation department (CID), he added. Though identifying a person through fingerprint has become effortless in the digital world when compared with the manual system, the matching of fingerprints is an extremely technical job, said Vizag Rural Police chief Rahul Dev Sharma whose team solved a bank robbery case recently by using the fingerprint method. Fingerprints collected from crime scenes (murders, rapes, robberies) are compared with those of criminals stored in the central server for identification and these samples act as strong supporting evidence during court trials, he added. Criminals have now become aware of the technicalities and have turned tech-savvy. So nowadays there is little chance of lifting fingerprints from a crime scene because most of the criminals choose to wear gloves, said a CID officer. South India, Kerala and Tamil Nadu states have a good track record in solving cases by the fingerprint method. Since Section 45 and 73 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, bestow a lot of credibility on finger impressions, the police have to use modern technology in assessing glove prints to nab the criminals in most of the cases, say sources in the police department. BrahMos is now capable of being launched from land, sea and air, completing the tactical cruise missile triad for India. (Photo: File | PTI) New Delhi: In a major milestone, the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile was successfully test fired for the first time from the Indian Air Force's (IAF) frontline Sukhoi-30 MKI combat jet on Wednesday, significantly bolstering the country's aerial prowess. The armed forces are now capable of launching the BrahMos, which has a strike range of around 290 km and is described as the world's fastest supersonic cruise missile, from land, sea and air, completing the tactical cruise missile triad for the country. The defence ministry said the missile hit a sea-based target in the Bay of Bengal from the combat jet. The land and warship versions of the missile have already been inducted into the armed forces. "BrahMos, the world's fastest supersonic cruise missile created history on today after it was successfully flight-tested for first time from the IAF's frontline fighter aircraft Sukhoi-30MKI against a sea based target in the Bay of Bengal," the defence ministry said. It said the successful maiden test firing of Brahmos Air Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM) from Su-30MKI will significantly bolster the IAF's air combat operations capability from stand-off ranges. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman congratulated the "Team BrahMos" and the scientists at Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for the "historic achievement". India creates a world record and completes Supersonic Cruise Missile Triad by successfully testing #BRAHMOS #ALCM from Indian Air Force Sukhoi-30MKI fighter aircraft. Smt @nsitharaman congratulates Team Brahmos & @DRDO_India for this historic achievement. Raksha Mantri (@DefenceMinIndia) November 22, 2017 Giving details of the test firing, the ministry said the missile was "gravity dropped" from the Su-30 fuselage, and the two stage missile's engine fired up and straightway propelled towards the intended target at the sea. BrahMos ALCM, weighing 2.5 ton is the heaviest weapon to be deployed on India's Su-30 fighter aircraft modified by state-run aerospace behemoth Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) to carry weapons. BrahMos is a joint venture between DRDO of India and NPO Mashinostroyenia (NPOM) of Russia. Dr S Christopher, Chairman of DRDO, congratulated the scientists and engineers for the "excellent text book kind of flight test". The missile test was witnessed by Dr Sudhir Mishra, Director General (BrahMos), along with senior IAF officials, scientists and officials from DRDO and BrahMos. On November 18, Manushi won the coveted Miss World 2017 crown at a grand event at Sanya City Arena in China, ending India's 17-year-long dry spell at the contest. (Photo: Twitter/ ManushiChhillar) New Delhi/Beijing: After conquering the globe, newly-crowned Miss World Manushi Chhillar is winning the hearts of Chinese netizens, who have praised the Indian beauty for giving a tough fight to other contestants at the pageant. On November 18, Manushi won the coveted Miss World 2017 crown at a grand event at Sanya City Arena in China, ending India's 17-year-long dry spell at the contest. Also Read : After 17 years, India's Manushi Chhillar wins Miss World 2017 title Chinese social media users flooded Sina Weibo, which is akin to Twitter in the country, lauding the 20-year-old medical student, who edged out top five contestants from England, France, Kenya and Mexico. "Manushi Chhillar, 20-year-old, is a student majoring in medicine. She was crowned the new Miss World from among 118 candidates. I am looking forward to seeing what she will do during her tenure," wrote a netizen. Some praised Indian women in general for their beauty, the state-run Global Times said in a report. "Of course they are beautiful! They were born from the water of the Ganges River, which ensures balanced nutrition and is good for their health," another user Rengongjiangyu Taijishi. "I admit, Indian women are pretty indeed," said netizen Lilibanshangcao. One of the users also shared a post highlighting India's triple victory in 2000, which saw Bollywood actors - Lara Dutta, Priyanka Chopra and Dia Mirza winning the titles of Miss Universe, Miss World and Miss Asia Pacific (then) respectively. "It is worth noting that India once won Miss World, Miss International and Miss Asia in the same year! It must have been a world record. It is true that India is a country full of beauties!" wrote netizen Antivirus. Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel accused the Congress of bargaining with Hardik Patel and trying to divide the Patidar community. (Photo: ANI | Twitter) Ahmedabad: Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel on Wednesday said the Congress party is misleading Hardik Patel, the convenor of Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) in the name of reservation. The Deputy Chief Minister's remark came after the Patidar leader claimed that the Congress party has agreed to give reservation to the Patidar community, if the party comes to power in Gujarat. Nitin said Hardik has not discussed about alliance with the Congress Party with the members of Patidar community. "Hardik Patel is aware that over 50 per cent reservation is not possible. In the name of reservation, Congress has given a 'lollipop' to Hardik. He should not mislead the people," the Deputy chief Minister said while addressing a press conference at Ahmedabad in Gujarat. "A fool made a request and another fool accepted it, and they say others are fools," he added. Nitin even accused the Congress Party of bargaining with Hardik Patel and trying to divide the Patidar community. Earlier, Hardik Patel, while addressing the media, said the Congress Party will introduce a bill in the Gujarat Assembly for the reservation, if they win the forthcoming elections. "Congress has accepted our issues. Congress has agreed to give Patidars reservations under section 31, and provisions of section 46," he said. "Draft has been prepared between us and the Congress. Formula is not restricted to Patidar community alone," he added. On that note, the Patidars constitute 16 per cent of the state population and play an important role in swinging the voters' mood. The Congress is counting on the Patidar votes to sway the election results of Gujarat polls in their favour and uproot the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has been in power since 1995 in the state. The Youth Congress apologised for the meme posted on Tuesday and later removed after Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and the BJP hit out at the Congress. (Screengrab) New Delhi: The Congress has left no stones unturned to lash out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with the latest being the partys youth wing mocking Modi as a 'chai-wala' (tea-seller). On Tuesday, the Indian Youth Congress posted a crude meme on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on the official Twitter handle of the Youth Congress online magazine Yuva Desh. The meme had a photograph of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Theresa May in conversation. The blurb showed Modi mispronouncing meme and was corrected by Trump, and May dismissing the PM by stating, "You stick to selling tea." Under fire, the Youth Congress apologised and the meme was later removed after Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and the BJP hit out at the Congress. In a tweet, Rupani questioned if Rahul Gandhi supports what the Youth Congress tweeted. This blatantly classist and anti-poor Tweet by the Youth Congress shows their mindset towards Indias poor. Does Crown Prince @OfficeOfRG support this? https://t.co/gOqRqWIfL4 Vijay Rupani (@vijayrupanibjp) November 21, 2017 BJP said the offensive post exemplifies the Congress' elitist mindset and that an enraged public will punish it by ensuring the BJP sweeps in the upcoming Gujarat election. Union Law and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in a series of tweet, question Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi and said that though the meme was pulled out it exposed Congress thinking towards the poor. The arrogance of the Congress Party and shameful anti-poor stand gets exposed from the official twitter of the Youth Congress that a person born in poverty in the family of a tea vendor cannot become the Prime Minister. No lessons learnt. Insulting popular mandate. pic.twitter.com/aKxWkvvdyY Ravi Shankar Prasad (@rsprasad) November 21, 2017 Madam Sonia Gandhi & Mr Rahul Gandhi do u still believe that only u have a divine right to rule India? Country expects ur response on the tweet of the youth Congress, which is shameful & insulting to poor. U can delete the Tweet but ur thinking towards the poor stands exposed. pic.twitter.com/TKQho0lAiB Ravi Shankar Prasad (@rsprasad) November 21, 2017 Congress communication department head Randeep Surjewala said their party disapproves and reject the humour through meme. He said Congress culture imbibes respect for PM and all political opponents. INC strongly disapproves & rejects such humour through memes. Differences on policy and opinion aside, Congress culture imbibes respect for PM and all political opponents. https://t.co/RqLOugCHwh Randeep S Surjewala (@rssurjewala) November 21, 2017 Youth Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Brar tweeted saying the Twitter handle was not an official one and was run by volunteers. Although the handle @Yuvadesh is being run by youth volunteers and not by @iyc ,we do not approve of such humour and apologise. Despite political differences with the BJP & having suffered everyday abuse from their leaders, we respect the Prime Minister & all political opponents. Amarinder Singh Raja (@RajaBrar_INC) November 21, 2017 Before becoming the Prime Minister in 2014 with a thumping majority, Modi was mocked as a tea-seller who can never be a Prime Minister. In his campaign, Modi, offering his credentials as a self-made leader, stressed the fact that he sold tea as a young child on trains to help support his family. Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) convener Hardik Patel said Congress will introduce a bill in the Gujarat Assembly for the reservation, if they win the forthcoming elections. (Photo: ANI | Twitter) Ahmedabad: Days ahead of the crucial Gujarat Assembly election, Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) convener Hardik Patel on Wednesday broke his silence on the tie-up with the Congress. Hardik Patel said the Congress has assured him of reservation for his community in educational institutions and jobs at par with the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) if voted to power in Gujarat. Patel, while addressing the media at Ahmedabad in Gujarat, said the party will introduce a bill in the Gujarat Assembly for the reservation, if they win the forthcoming elections. "Congress has accepted our issues. Congress has agreed to give Patidars reservations under section 31, and provisions of section 46," he said. "Draft has been prepared between us and the Congress. Formula is not restricted to Patidar community alone," he added. Further clearing the air on the ticket distribution, the Patidar leader said, they have never asked for any ticket from the Congress party to contest the Assembly polls and there is 'no conflict within the PAAS' regarding the same. He said his outfit has never appealed anyone to vote for the Congress Party; but since the latter is talking about the rights of the Partidars, the voting decision will be left to the people. Read Also : Cong gave 'lollipop' to Hardik Patel in name of quota: Gujarat Dy CM Nitin Patel Hardik also said that he has not joined the Congress, but asked his supporters to vote against the BJP in the Gujarat Assembly elections. "The Patidars have always been victimised. There is no disagreement between the Congress and Patidar leaders. BJP is trying to divide the Patidar community," he said. Hardik Patel said, "Several horse trading attempts were being made with our conveners in North Gujarat, Rs 50 lakh being offered. BJP using its tactics as it fears defeat." Read Also : Gujarat poll: Sibal confident Cong, Patidar unity will dethrone BJP Hardik had kept the Congress on the edge after postponing his media interaction twice in the last few days. He was slated to hold a press conference in Ahmedabad on Tuesday morning to clear his stand over Congress quota proposal for the Patidars and announce if the community would extend support to the party. Late on Monday night, the Gujarat Congress, in an attempt to placate the furious Patidar leaders, released a second list of 13 candidates. This included nine new names and four others, who were replacing candidates from the first list released on Sunday. Three out of these four are PAAS nominees, who Hardik and his supporters have backed vociferously. The first list had triggered violent clashes between Congress and PAAS workers on Monday, with the latter taking a strong objection to the 77 names. On November 20, the PAAS workers protested against Congress Party in Ahmedabad and Surat, expressing dismay over the ticket distribution for the assembly polls. Gujarat will go to poll on December 9 and 14. Results will be announced on December 18. With inputs from ANI. Energy Minister D.K. Shivakumar speaks in the Legislative Council during the winter session in Belagavi on Tuesday. PWD Minister Dr. H.C. Mahadevappa is also seen. (Photo: DC) Belagavi: The much awaited House Committee report on irregularities in power purchase and other power related issues between 2004-2014, has turned out to be a mere bunch of findings, and has no concrete recommendations in it. Energy Minister Mr D.K. Shivakumar, who tabled the report, said that he would let the house debate the report and decide on what should be done on the findings. Apart from some of the deliberations of meetings, the report has observations by the CAG and a note by JD(S), pointing to losses to the tune of Rs 5895.14 crore for seven years between 2011-2018. The BJP on its part has alleged that during the last days of Mr H.D. Kumaraswamys tenure as CM, the Power Department had incurred a loss of Rs 63 crore in 2007, since the department re-tendered coal supply with M/s South India Corporation bagging the tender. Between 2004-2014, the state government had purchased over 4,49,725.29 mu power at a cost of Rs 1,11,125.8 crore. The cost of purchase from private parties during this period witnessed a steep increase from 2004 to 2014, where the government paid Rs 8.55, Rs 11.51, Rs 12.39, Rs 8.66 and Rs 7.77 per unit respectively. The state government also failed to utilise over 3844 MU power allocated by the Centre during this period. The Raichur Thermal Power Station which the panel said, should be upgraded. (Photo: DC) The committee noted that between May 2011, the government cancelled the long term tender of JSW, which had to supply power at Rs 3.812 per unit and placed an order for short term supply of power for the next three years paying a higher price. This led to excess payment of Rs 1046.03 crore between 2011-2014. Committee member Mr K.N. Rajanna expressed his suspicion that JSW purchased land by paying an exaggerated price, which is known as the Rachenahalli denotification case, registered by the Karnataka Lokayukta. The deal was between JSW and Davalagiri Enterprises, the company owned by family members of former CM and BJP state president Mr B.S. Yeddyurappa. Meanwhile, the government gave a contract to wash the coal purchased from Singareni Collieries, Mahanadi Coals Field and Western Coalfields between 2002 and 2008. During this period, the government incurred a loss of Rs 1590.31 crore. The system has been started again from 2015-16, the committee noted. In its note, the JD(S) cited a cabinet note, seeking to cancel tender for long term supply of power, citing higher cost compared to other states and a proposal to float a fresh tender. On May 5, 2011, the cabinet endorsed the proposal. Based on the cabinet decision, the government cancelled the tender of JSW and started purchasing power from the same company at a higher cost of Rs 4.26 to Rs 5.5 per unit. The long term tender cost of JSW was Rs 3.849 for 25 years. This led to a loss of Rs 5895.14 crore for seven years and this would be around Rs 29,213 crore in toto, the JD(S) letter stated. The JD(S) also expressed its reservation over revision of power purchase price by UPCL, which was originally signed for Rs 2.25 per unit, which was being purchased at a cost of Rs 4.85 per unit in 2011-12 and is now being purchased at Rs 4.90 per unit presently. The excess payment due to this discrepancy from 2010-11 and 2017-18 are Rs 9668.65 crore and Rs 8335.37 crore respectively, the JD(S) note pointed out. The committee has recommended that the RTPS was 25 year old and had to be upgraded as it was breaking down too often. Even hydro-electric projects were facing repeated breakdowns and has to be upgraded. It also wanted supply of coal to thermal power projects to be ensured. The committee wanted closure of the pact with Chhattisgarh to supply power and said the T&D loss was pegged at 23% and action should be taken to reduce it. Action should also be taken to complete power projects, so that the state need not resort to power purchase. The panel also wanted alternative renewable sources to be encouraged and recommended initiation of action on discrepancies pointed out in the report. Chhattisgarh coal pact still on: D K Shivakumar Energy Minister, D K Shivakumar clarified on Tuesday that the state government had not cancelled an agreement with the Chhattisgarh government on coal blocks . Replying to members in the Legislative Council, the Minister said he had read in newspapers about Mr Singh's statement on Karnataka cancelling its agreement with Chhattisgarh, but said it was false and baseless. "Mr Singh's statement is false and baseless. The decision on allotment of the coal block was signed by former Chief Minister, B S Yeddyurappa and the then Energy Minister, Shobha Karandlaje. The Karnataka government has already invested a lot of money and constructed the compound wall around the site. The lifting of coal from the allotted site will begin soon," he added. Mr Shivakumar said the coal situation was very grim in Karnataka and the present stock was sufficient for just half a day. Several units at the Raichur Thermal Power Plant had shut for want of coal. All thermal plants in Karnataka were badly in need of coal for power generation. Opposition Leader, K S Eshwarappa charged that the previous government at the Centre led by the Congress did not allot the coal blocks despite repeated appeals. After much persuasion, the Chhattisgarh government agreed to allot the coal block for Karnataka. Mr V Somanna of the BJP said it was a 'tragedy' that Karnataka did not do anything over the last four- and- a- half years to lift the coal from the allotted site. Mr Shivakumar sought the BJP members' help to meet the Union Minister concerned and resolve the issue. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said he has ordered the state's DGP to probe the conspiracy that led to the scandal. In picture:AK Saseendran. (File Photo) Trivandrum: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday said the state cabinet has accepted the Justice PS Antony-led Commission's report on the Mangalam channel phone chat scandal. The chief minister said he has ordered the state's Director General of Police (DGP) Loknath Behera to probe the conspiracy that led to the scandal. On its inaugural day, the Mangalam channel had released an audio clip and claimed the then Kerala transport minister AK Saseendran was allegedly speaking inappropriately with a woman and had sought sexual favours from her. Addressing a press conference here, Vijayan said, "The Cabinet has approved the Justice Antony Commission report. There was a planned conspiracy by the channel against former transport minister AK Saseendran. I have directed the DGP to probe the conspiracy." Saseendran has resigned on 'moral grounds' but dismissed the charges against him as being 'baseless'. The government had set up the Justice (Retd) P S Antony Commission to probe the allegations levelled by the channel. The report has recommended cancellation of Mangalam channel's licence and strong action against it and its CEO Ajith Kumar. Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Tuesday has posted the hearing of the petition, challenging the continuation of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the post following the alleged failure of the collective responsibility of the cabinet in connection with the former transport minister Thomas Chandy, to November 30. A division bench headed by acting Chief Justice Dominic Antony took the decision. The advocate general appeared for the case. The petition filed by RS Sasikumar, a former member of the Kerala and Cochin Universities, pleaded that a minister filing a case against another and four others staying away from attending the cabinet meeting had created a situation in which the Chief Minister had lost the Constitutional mandate to continue in power. The petitioner cited the observations made by the division bench in the writ petition filed by Thomas Chandy. The petitioner said that the division bench pointed out the failure of collective responsibility of the cabinet as enshrined in the section of 163 and 164 of the Constitution in the verdict of the writ petition of Thomas Chandy. Tamil producer Ashok Kumar was found hanging at his house in Chennai. (Photo: ANI | Twitter) Chennai: A Tamil film producer allegedly committed suicide at his house, with a suicide note recovered from the spot blaming a Madurai-based film financier for pushing him to take the extreme step, police said. The alleged suicide of Ashok Kumar has shocked the industry, bringing back grim memories of the alleged suicide of well-known producer G Venkateswaran, brother of ace director Maniratnam. A purported suicide note of Kumar, a relative of well-known actor-director Sasikumar, blamed a Madurai-based film financier for allegedly pushing him to the extreme step, police said. Kumar reportedly accused the financier of charging exorbitant interest on some loans obtained by him, and harassing him over the same. Kumar was found hanging at his house in Chennai, they said adding a case has been registered and three teams have been formed to solve the case. Police are on their way to Madurai to carry out further investigation, including possible arrest of the financier. A post-mortem on the body of Ashok Kumar was done in Chennai. The Tamil Film Producers Council (TFPC) expressed grief over Kumar's alleged suicide. TFPC President and actor Vishal alleged that this was a case of 'usury,' and said while it has affected common people so far, it has now extended to the film industry also. He gave an assurance that solutions will be provided if producers affected by 'usury' approached the TFPC for redressal. "Producers should stay united...We are struggling hard to ensure fellow producers do business without any impediments," he said in a statement in Chennai. "If there is any intimidation or threat (from lenders), please approach us (TFPC) immediately," he added. Let this be the "last death" over usury, Vishal said, and urged the police to nab the culprits at the earliest and wished such incidents did not recur. Besides Venkateswaran, who produced super hit films like 'Thalapathi' and 'Anjali,' directed by his brother Maniratnam, another well-known producer, M Kajamydeen, attempted suicide earlier. A man and his wife had set themselves and their two kids afire at the Tirunelveli Collectorate complex allegedly due to harassment by a money lender in that district in October. While the woman and her two children died on the day of the incident, the man succumbed to injuries later. Following the incident, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Palanisamy had directed district collectors and police officials to act swiftly on complaints of exorbitant interest charged by money lenders. Activists fear that after the state government entrusted the law secretary with preparing a draft Bill repealing IPC 377 in March, little has happened. So far, community consultation has not taken place, according to P.K. Prijith, Queerhythm secretary. Thiruvananthapuram: The state government had promised to introduce a Bill repealing IPC 377, which criminalises sexual relationships of gender and sexual minorities. Though the government had entrusted the state law department with drafting the Bill, it is getting delayed, say LGBTIQ activists. There have been fewer police cases in the recent past invoking IPC 377, which can result in up to ten years imprisonment for engaging in carnal intercourse against the order of nature. However, it still acts like a silent big brother, according to M.K. Balamohan, a gender activist. "The sexual minorities, be it lesbian, gay or bisexual people, are still afraid of coming out as anyone can use IPC 377 against them, they say. Activists fear that after the state government entrusted the law secretary with preparing a draft Bill repealing IPC 377 in March, little has happened. So far, community consultation has not taken place, according to P.K. Prijith, Queerhythm secretary. Diya Sana, member, Transgender District Justice Commi-ttee (Thiruvananthapur-am), says, the community will start protesting if the delay continues. However, it is not taking longer than any other government procedure, according to Anil Arjunan, founder of Chilla, an NGO. The law secretary informed us that it was sent for cabinet approval. Once it is tabled in the Assembly, a subject committee will consult stakeholders and offer recommendations. This is where the community would be consulted, he says. IPC 377 is part of criminal law enumerated in the concurrent list in the seventh schedule of the Constitution. Because of this, the state government can bring out a Bill which is repugnant to it, and if it receives the Presidents assent, the Bill will be a law. Advocate J. Sandhya says, other states have used this provision to make changes in various sections of IPC. But this would be for the first time that a state would be using it to repeal IPC 377, she adds. Chennai: The state government has informed the Madras high court that it has sanctioned Rs 462 crore to clear the amounts due to the retired employees of various State Transport Corporations in the state. Advocate general Vijay Narayan made his submission to this effect when the suo motu PIL came up for hearing before a division bench comprising Justices S. Manikumar and M. Govindaraj. He said of this total amount of Rs 462 crore, a sum of Rs 267.53 crore has been earmarked towards settlement of the statutory dues to the retired employees. The remaining amount of Rs 194.68 crore has been allocated towards second and final settlement of accident claims compensation awarded by various courts and Tribunals, he added. He said the government had directed the Under secretary, Transport department to present necessary bills with reference to the GO to the Pay and Accounts Office in Chepauk and draw an account payee cheque in favour of the Public Deposit Account number of the Tamil Nadu Transport Development Finance Corporation Limited and disburse the same to it, he added. He said on receipt of the amount from the government, the Managing Directors of all State Transport Corporation Undertakings, would deposit the compensation amount to the respective courts/ Tribunals dealing with motor accident claim cases, which in turn, would deposit the compensation awarded by the Tribunals, to the account of the claimants by RTGS or such other method. Recording the submissions of AG, the bench said all this shall be done within one week and posted to November 24, further hearing of the case. Originally, R. Mayandi Servai (82), a retired employee of TNSTC from Madurai, sent a post card to a division bench comprising Justices M.V. Muralidaran and N. Seshasayee when they were sitting at the Vacation bench at Madurai on May 16, claiming that the retirement benefits due had not been settled even after 24 years of his retirement. He also said there were hundreds of similarly placed employees. Taking note of the post card, the bench directed the Registry to treat it as a suo-motu PIL. Thereafter, the case was transferred to the the high court in Chennai. Many cities in both sides of Punjab have been blanketed by thick smog in recent weeks, with pollution affecting normal life. (File | AFP) Lahore/Chandigarh: Pakistan's Punjab province Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif has invited his Indian counterpart Amarinder Singh to strike a "regional cooperation agreement" to tackle smog and pollution that has affected people on both sides of the border. In a letter written to Singh, Shehbaz said the people of both Pakistani and Indian Punjabs have been facing the problem of smog during the months of October and November. "It goes without saying that the smog has an adverse impact on health, especially on the old and the children; on agriculture in the form of delayed sowing of wheat and damage to potato and other crops and causes traffic accidents," said Shehbaz in the letter dated November 19. Shehbaz, 66, the younger brother of ousted Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif, explained some of the causes of smog, including rice stubble burning. He also noted that the problem now affects Lahore, New Delhi and regions beyond the two cities in both countries. "I would like to invite you for entering into a regional cooperation arrangement to tackle the issue of smog as well as environmental pollution. Let us join hands for securing a prosperous future for the people of our two provinces," Shehbaz said, amidst the chill in India-Pakistan ties after a series of terror attacks launched from Pakistani soil. "You will agree with me that is essentially scientific and economic and cannot be tackled through other means," he said in the letter - a copy of which was posted on the official Twitter account of the Government of Punjab, Pakistan. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Singh were tagged in the tweet. Shehbaz said it is in the interest of people from both Punjabs that a collective effort be made towards identifying technologies and business methods that may eliminate the need to burn rice-stubble and help control smog formation. In reply, Singh's media advisor Raveen Thukral tweeted "@Capt_amarinder is extremely concerned about the issue and is actively pursuing it with the Indian government. He expects early resolution of the matter. He is, however, yet to receive the letter from @CM Shehbaz @GovtOfPunjab and will reply to it at suitable time." Recently, Kejriwal and Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had confabulations to tackle the problem of smog. Many cities in both sides of Punjab have been blanketed by thick smog in recent weeks, with pollution affecting normal life. Many flights have been cancelled or delayed in Lahore. A number of serious road accidents in Pakistan have been blamed on poor visibility due to smog. Smog, also known as ground-level ozone, is a thick yellowish black fog which suspends in the air. BENGALURU: The BJPs state media cell has lodged a complaint against the curator of a Facebook page, Jokers of BJP Karnataka, accusing the handler of spreading false information about BJP leaders and running a slanderous campaign against BJP state president B.S. Yeddyurappa. The complaint filed at the Malleshwaram police station states that the handler of the page is involved in spreading false information about the party and its leaders and that an action ought to be taken against the handlers. The page, Jokers of BJP Karnataka, is carrying out a malicious propaganda against BJP state president Yeddyurappa. He has been portrayed in bad light. One of the posts on the page stated that B.S. Yeddyurappa wears shoes that are worth Rs 1 lakh which is far from reality, the complaint stated. The page with more than one lakh likes and followers posts funny memes, often taking a dig at the BJP and its leaders. With a large impact of social media platforms, media wings of political parties have started taking the content posted on the social media seriously. The court has taken up the case following a Supreme Courts direction to chief justices of high courts over unnatural deaths in prisons across the country. (Photo: DC) BENGALURU: The High Court on Wednesday appointed senior advocate Dhyan Chinnappa as amicus curiae (to assist the court) in a suomotu case with respect to unnatural deaths in prisons. The court has taken up the case following a Supreme Courts direction to chief justices of high courts over unnatural deaths in prisons across the country. The apex court had asked high courts to register petitions on their own to find out the next kin of prisoners, who died unnatural deaths between 2012 and 2015, as revealed by the National Crime Records Bureau data, and to award them with suitable compensation if it has not been done yet. A division bench comprising acting Chief Justice H.G. Ramesh and Justice P.S. Dinesh Kumar have asked Chinappa to undertake a detailed study in respect of such deaths in prisons. The bench has further asked Chinappa to find out whether compensations were paid to the families of the deceased in such cases or not. Palike told to respond to IRC guidelines The High Court on Wednesday asked BBMP to file its response to the query of non-compliance of Indian Road Congress (IRC) guidelines in connection with the proposed steel bridge on Hare-Krishna Road at Shivananda Circle. Local residents have challenged the recent order of the Additional Chief Secretary, Urban Development Department, rejecting the representation submitted by them against the proposed steel bridge. The petitioners allege that the design of the bridge was not in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the Indian National Congress (IRC) charter. The court has asked BBMP to give a detailed response to the application filed by the petitioners. Scribes plea against Assembly diktat After the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday unanimously upheld a resolution imposing a one-year prison sentence and a fine of Rs 10,000 on editors of two Kannada tabloids for breach of privilege and rejected their plea to condone the punishment, the two journalists, Ravi Belagere and Anil Raj, have moved the High Court challenging the action. Members cutting across party lines had opposed the editors' plea on condoning the punishment and unanimously demanded immediate execution of the resolution passed by the House on June 21, 2017. Hyderabad: Hyderabad is one of the eight metros chosen by the Union home ministry for the implementation of plans to improve womens safety. The Centre has taken cues from initiatives such as She Teams, the Hawkeye mobile app, and the Bharosa Programme. Union home secretary Rajiv Gauba on Wednesday held a meeting to formulate comprehensive safe city plans for women. Chennai: Tension prevailed a Sathyabama university campus on Rajiv Gandhi Salai on Wednesday after a first year student allegedly committed suicide in her hostel room allegedly due to chiding by college staff. Following the death, the students went on a rampage setting fire to properties on the campus after a protest that lasted for several hours. Police personnel and fire and rescue services rushed to the scene to bring the situation under control. The deceased was identified as Raga Monica Reddy (18), a native of Hyderbad. The girl was a first year computer science student. Police sources said that she was caught indulging in malpractice during exams on Wednesday. The invigilator had caught her copying and had asked her to leave the exam hall around 10.30 am. She was writing the engineering chemistry paper, as part of her second semester exams, police sources said. According to sources, the student had managed to sneak in a paper into the exam hall and was copying from it when the invigilator caught her red-handed. Depressed over the chiding, the girl went to her hostel room and hanged to death. Police said that the girl had sent a text to her brother, Rakesh who also studies in the same department in Sathyabama University. Her friends rushed to the hostel to find her hanging in her room. Hostel staff and police were alerted. The body was recovered and sent to the Royapettah Government Hospital for autopsy. Semmenchery police have registered a case under section 174 of CrPC (unnatural death) and are investigating. The girls parents have been informed. Meanwhile, batchmates and other students in the university staged a protest against the college management for driving the girl to commit suicide. Later in the day, the situation went out of control with some of the students indulging in arson. A posse of police personnel have been deployed at the university to bring the situation under control, a police officer said. The city police will conduct a census in areas around Taj Falaknuma Hotel in view of the visits by Ms Ivanka Trump, advisor to the White House and daughter of US President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi and other delegates on November 28 for the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES). Hyderabad: Hyderabad is not just a venue of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit; it is the first time such a giant delegation of out-of-the-box thinkers has gathered in South Asia. The summit also marks the 70th anniversary of Indo-US relations. It is hoped that here million dollar investments by global investors and innovators will occur. The theme of the summit is women who have launched businesses. Most of the workshops and panel discussions are supposed to emphasise the theme of the summit, which is Woman first, Prosperity for all, which implies that if women do better, countries do better. Around 300 international investors, 1,500 delegates, mostly women, and investors looking to purchase ideas mainly from the field of healthcare are expected to attend. Hyderabad: US Presidents adviser Ivanka Trump will be in the city for less than 24 hours according to the schedule drawn up for her for the GES. Upon landing at the Shamsbahad airport on November 28, she will be driving straight Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC), the venue of the summit. From there, she will go to Taj Falaknuma for the dinner hosted by the Central government and will stay overnight at Westin Hotel. The next day, Ms Trump will address the morning session of the GES and leave from the Shamshabad airport by noon. Even though the city was spruced up as never before for his visit, Ms Ivankas itinerary does not include a city tour. The US delegation will be guarded by four-layer security. November 28 is being counted as Day Zero of the summit, as there would be no panel discussions or workshops, except the inaugural ceremony featuring Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and Ms Trump. Most VVIPs will leave the city on the first day. By November 30, the GES will have homegrown and a few international entrepreneurs. A breakfast meet will be held on the morning of November 30 by the state government in association with The Federa-tion of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Comm-erce and Industry (FTAPCCI). Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao is preparing for his inaugural address to the Global Entrepreneurship Summit-2017, a prestige issue as it is the first global entrepreneurs/ investors meet in Hyderabad after the formation of Telangana state, and is being attended by the whos who of trade, industry and commerce. The Chief Minister is keen to project Telangana as a progressive state that is making rapid strides in the industrial and information technology sectors, as well as a leading state for womens empowerment. The CM has been holding a series of meetings with senior officials of the departments of industry, information technology, planning and womens welfare to gather details about the achievements over the past three years that can be highlighted and what is intended for the future for global investors in these sectors. The CMs speech will be for less than 20 minutes. He wants to utilise this limited time to highlight how the youngest state of the country took giant leaps in industrial, IT, infrastructure, and womens empowerment within a short span of time and invite all global investors/ entrepreneurs to invest and join hands with Telangana, said a source in the Chief Ministers Office. In the area of womens empowerment, the Chief Minister will highlight the three industrial parks exclusively for women on the outskirts of the city, in Sultanpur, Toopran and Nandigama. Similar industrial parks spread over 100 acres each can be given if global entrepreneurs come forward to set up industries here. Information technology minister K.T. Rama Rao will address a seminar on start-ups on Day-2 and highlight T-Hub. Chennai: Actor Rajinikanth, who had asked his cadre to be prepared for war anytime earlier this year, said on Wednesday that there was no necessity at this juncture for him to take a plunge into politics. There is no necessity for that now, the superstar told reporters, when asked when he would enter politics and begin his fieldwork. During the brief interaction, the actor said shooting for his upcoming film Kala was over. The actor has been ambivalent on his possible entry into politics. Sources say he was not in a hurry to join politics, as there are no elections in the near future. New Delhi: The judges of the Supreme Court and the 24 High Courts are set to get a salary hike as the Union council of ministers on Wednesday approved a proposal in this regard. According to the proposal cleared by the Union cabinet on Wednesday the Chief Justice of India will get Rs 2.80 lakh per month and judges of the Supreme Court and Chief Justices of the High Courts will get Rs 2.50 lakh a month. Judges of the High Courts will get Rs 2.25 lakh per month, a senior government functionary added, refusing to go on record. The increased salary and pension for retired judges will be effective from January 1, 2016. Finance minister Arun Jaitley a draft of the legislation has been approved and is set to pass it in the forthcoming winter session of Parliament. Bengaluru: The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) is in the process of purchasing electric buses, and it will receive a financial assistance of up to Rs 85 lakh for each bus from the central government. BMTC Managing Director Ponnuraj said, "The tender documents are being finalised and the process is expected to be completed by November-end or first week of December. Then, the next step will be decided. The electric buses will be purchased three to four months from the date of the order. But these processes will take some time." A senior BMTC officer said that the fund support for e-buses was sought from the central government under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme of the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) 2020. "We have learnt that the central government has agreed to pay Rs 85 lakh for each bus. If we are able to use around 35 per cent of spare parts in the bus, manufactured in India, then we will get an additional Rs 15 lakh, which will be a total of Rs 1 crore. This is a good option and will help reduce the burden of financial constraints. For now, we are aiming to purchase 150 e-buses." The officer said that the battery of the bus is a big challenge, as the bus needs to travel at least 150 km per day. The higher the battery capacity, the costlier the bus becomes. If we get `1 crore from the Centre, the remaining money can be pooled in by the BMTC. The cost of each e-bus is around `2-2.5 crore. We still have to see how things will work out," he said. "E-buses are needed because of high pollution levels in the city. After seeing what happened in Delhi, we don't want a similar situation in Bengaluru. It is time we start thinking about ways to cut down pollution. The current fleet of BMTC buses contributes to air pollution as it runs on diesel. If all the BMTC buses are replaced by e-buses, around 30 tonnes of carbon dioxide can be cut down every year," said another senior officer from BMTC. Delegates coming to Hyderabad at the month-end for the GES Summit will be greeted by a beautifully prepped up city. (Photo: DC) While previous Global Entrepreneurship Summits outside US did not facilitate huge investments in host countries, experts believe that India could gain due to its mature startup ecosystem and its market size Hyderabad: The coming week all roads lead to Hyderabad in India as it hosts the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) and unveils the worlds largest Metro Rail that has come up under a hybrid model called public private partnership. While the impact of the Metro Rail under PPP mode could be seen with a long lag effect, India in general and the city in particular is abuzz about the 8th GES. The previous seven summits were hosted in Washington, Tur-key, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Malaysia, Morocco, Kenya and California. All the previous summits were conducted either in the US or in a Muslim country as the GES was initially conceptualised by the US President Barack Obama in 2009 as a platform to bring together American and Muslim entrepreneurs to share ideas and create jobs for Muslim youth and wean them away from terrorism. This is the first time that GES is being conducted outside the US and the Muslim world. Saving the US, it is the first time that the United States has partnered with a major economy for GES. Though the Centre and the state government are pulling out the stops to make a grand show and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is spending nearly a day taking a break from his electioneering in Gujarat, experts say the tangible results from GES may be not awe-inspiring going by the outcome of previous seven summits. If the US administrations track record is any indication, this celebration of entrepreneurship will be another case of empty words. The administration has failed to provide proper funding and process to promote global entrepreneurship, resulting in policy implementation similar to turning a screw with a rubber screwdriver, wrote Mr Steven R. Koltai, a former US State Department senior advisor for entrepreneurship, in Time magazine highlighting faults in the GES. While the summit is being billed as an event that will have headline worthy announcements in terms of funding, a study by the Aspen Institute claims that merely one per cent of the US governments roughly $35 billion in annual foreign aid spending goes towards entrepreneurship promotion. According to White House Fact Sheet, the total US investment that flowed into Africa from two summits conducted in 2014 and 2015 was a little over $1.5 billion which would work out to a little less than Rs 10,000 crore. To put this number in perspective, one Indian company Flipkart has raised about $3.2 billion. Malaysia, which hosted the GES in 2013, had seen deals worth RM12.65 million (over $3 million) during the two-day GES, a Malaysian online news portal quote Dr Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah, secretary-general of the Malaysian ministry of finance. Experts believe that GES 2017 would give a huge impetus to the Indian start-up ecosystem in the long run by attracting US investment. India has a fairly mature start-up ecosystem compared to previous non-US GES host countries. The summit would bring American and Indian start-ups and venture capitalists together on one platform. There-after, it would be up to the individuals or companies to take it forward depending on their synergies. So the result of this summit could be seen over the next few months after the meet, said Neeraj Jewalkar, an investor and the founder of Sugar Maths. Snippets: November 28 Ivanka Trump will land at Shamshabad Airport accompanied by a US delegation. 3:45 pm: She will be driven to HICC, the venue of the Global Entrepreneurs Summit. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will arrive earlier in the day to inaugurate the Hyderabad Metro and will join the delegation at HICC, accompanied by the Telangana Chief Minister and the Governor. 4:30 pm: Global summit will kick off with three speakers on the dais: Ivanka Trump, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is likely to talk about Indo-US relations, and TS Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao. Mr Rao will be promoting industrial growth in the state, and will speak about the ease of doing business in TS, and industrial growth with the focus on the Telangana state industrial project approval & self certification system. 6:45 pm: Inauguration likely to end. 8 pm: Invited guests and delegates will head for dinner to the Falaknuma Palace Hotel, along with a cultural programme. 1,500: International delegates to attend dinner. Telangana delegations have been skipped. Prime Minister Modi is likely to leave the same day. In case of a change in plan, two suites have been booked for him at the Taj Falaknuma. November 29 Ivanka Trump to speak at an early session (unconfirmed). She will leave India by noon. Most VVIPs to leave on day one of the summit. New Delhi: After hectic parleys Patidar leader Hardik Patel, convenor of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), on Wednesday finally announced his support to the Congress for the coming Gujarat Assembly elections. Mr Patel said that the Congress had agreed to provide reservations for the Patidar community under a special category if it comes to power in the state. Addressing a press conference in Ahmedabad on the Patidar reservation issue, Mr Patel said, As per the formula, without touching the 49 per cent quota (now provided in the state) to Schedules Tribes, Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Classes, the Congress has decided to provide quotas for communities that have not benefited from reservations so far under Article 31(C) and Article 46 of the Constitution. New Delhi: After hectic parleys Patidar leader Hardik Patel, convenor of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti, on Wednesday finally announced his support to the Congress for the coming Gujarat Assembly elections. Asked how that was possible given that total reservations cannot exceed 50 per cent, Mr Patel said: In our Constitution, there is no mention of a 50 per cent cap on reservations. I am of the firm opinion that reservations can be given over 50 per cent. Hitting back at the alliance, finance minister Arun Jaitley said, the Congress-Hardik club appeared to be one of mutual deception. He said, The law of the land is clear and is laid down by the apex court, and only reaffirmed last week in Rajasthans case that the 50 per cent reservation cap cannot be breached. Justice Dalveer Bhandaris election at the United Nations earlier this week for a fresh nine-year term at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague has brought jubilation to South Block and to India. Indias permanent representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin correctly shared the credit with the political leadership in New Delhi, bureaucrats being best served by avoiding the limelight. Justice Bhandari has already been at the ICJ for five years, having succeeded an incumbent who resigned to assume political office at home. As per the statutes of the ICJ, appended to the UN Charter, five vacancies are filled every three years. Unlike an election to the UN Security Council, no regional distribution is mandated and the statute only specifies that candidates be chosen to provide representation of the main forms of civilisation and of the principal legal systems. Conventionally, however, a distribution system has evolved reserving five seats for Western Europe and Other Countries (which include the United States, Australia etc), three each for Asia and Africa and two each for Eastern Europe and Latin America. Also, as a majority is required by each candidate in both the UN General Assembly and the Security Council, the Permanent Five (US, Britain, France, Russia and China) have always cornered one seat each. Thus, since Chinas entry into the UN, one Asian seat goes to it, leaving two for others in Asia. The UK has continuously held a seat since 1946, when the court was constituted. The European group having cornered five slots can ensure a majority on the bench with three more judges, thus providing a fail-safe mechanism despite the jurisdiction of the court not being mandatory. The actual election begins with a list of aspirants presented to the UNGA and UNSC. This year the first ballot was held in early November. Those obtaining the support of a simple majority (97 votes in the UNGA and eight in the UNSC) are declared elected. In the first ballot, where one Asian seat was up for grabs, Lebanons permanent representative to the UN actually beat Justice Bhandari and was declared elected, along with the candidates of France, the courts sitting chairman, and of Somalia and Brazil. That left the fifth seat open to contest, although as per convention it was for the European group and should normally have gone to the UK, a permanent member of UNSC. India had a call to make to either withdraw from the race, the Asian seat having already been filled, or to go after the last seat and thus break a convention. India chose the latter. In repeated balloting, the UK retained an edge in the UNSC vote while lagging far behind in the UNGA, with India polling near a two-thirds of the majority in each ballot. That India could best a permanent member of the UNSC in the General Assembly is not a surprise as the bulk of its members resent the privileges of the former. The current success must not eclipse the fact that Lebanon did beat India for the Asian seat. The United States too finds it difficult to get the UNGA on its side, particularly on questions that involve Israel. Indias weakness at the UN while seeking elective positions has been its inability to develop a solid bock of votes. For instance, Africa operates on a consensus basis at the UN. Thus, once by rotation a country or its candidate has been selected, the entire block of 50-odd votes are cast in its favour. Similarly, the overlapping groups of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Conference would largely align behind one of their members. In addition, the antagonisms in South Asia get Pakistan and some others to unthinkingly oppose India. The Non-Aligned Movement used to be Indias natural support group, but as the group has expanded to constitute literally two-thirds of the UN membership, it is no longer a cohesive entity. The only remaining natural allies are the members of the Commonwealth, who share with India a colonial past and Anglophone affinity. With a deadlock for the last ICJ seat, there were some murmurs that Britain may invoke an archaic provision in the ICJ statute for a joint mechanism, with three nominees of each organ, to find a solution. However, with Indias brute majority in the UNGA, moral pressure began building on the UK and it withdrew its candidate. Britains foreign secretary, in his parliamentary intervention, extended India a handshake and felicitations, thus ending the matter for now. However, the British media are berating their government for the obvious loss of prestige. It is possible that Britain decided not to use the statutory loopholes to negate Indian support in the UNGA, fearing this might impact its relations with India. Whether Britain nurses a hurt or not will become evident by its handling of billionaire fugitives like Vijay Mallya and Indian extradition requests, or its stance at the UN on Kashmir. Undoubtedly Pakistan would have worked overtime with its friends and allies to block India as the Kulbhushan Yadav case is currently before the ICJ. Ironically, the UK is the only Permanent Five member which accepts the compulsory jurisdiction of ICJ. While there is some prestige attached to having a judge on the ICJ, in reality he is not expected to lobby for India, nor is India likely to be hauled before the court as it does not accept the courts compulsory jurisdiction. To claim that somehow Indian success in beating a P-5 member is a prelude to India being able to now mount a charge to reform the UNSC is pure humbug. A skirmish won is far from a victory in war. Greater credit would be due if India had succeeded in beating Lebanon for the Asian seat in the first round of balloting. Chest-thumping is best replaced by modest clapping. Harare and Hariri have dominated the international news cycle in recent weeks. The Zimbabwean capital has witnessed a drama in which the 93-year-old incumbent president, Robert Mugabe, is refusing to resign after 37 years in power, despite pointed indications from the military, the ruling party and the broader populace that his time is up. The considerably younger Lebanese leader Saad Hariri, meanwhile, tendered an unexpected resignation at an unlikely venue after having served for less than a year in his latest stint as Prime Minister. There was little indication that it was anything other than a routine summons from his Saudi sponsors that took him to Riyadh at the beginning of the month. Apparently, he was effectively taken into custody on arrival, and made to read out a dictated resignation speech in which he spewed out the standard Saudi line on Iranian interference and cited a threat to his life. No corroborating evidence has emerged for the latter claim, and while Hezbollah, widely seen as an Iranian proxy, exercises considerable influence in Lebanon and constitutes a part of the ruling coalition, there have been no notable indications of a recent change in its role or attitude that would justify a tantrum at the top. It is far more likely that the power play was orchestrated by the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, although his precise intentions are uncertain. It may partly have been an attempt to distract attention from his simultaneous domestic machinations, which have involved the detention of a dozen princes and hundreds of Saudi businessmen on the grounds of corruption a laughable ploy, given that the very foundations of the House of Saud are built on the arbitrary appropriation of national resources. The primary motivation for provoking regime change in Beirut, however, almost certainly has more to do with the regional tussle against Iran. Hezbollah and its allies have been instrumental in decimating Sunni extremists in Syria and Iraq, and appear to have become increasingly involved in Yemen after the Western-backed Saudi-led coalition blundered in to teach the Houthis a lesson. Meanwhile, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria is viewed as a threat by Israel. Strategically, especially vis-a-vis Iran, the Saudis and Israel have been on the same page in recent years, their unofficial alliance confirmed by a Saudi media interview with Israels military chief, which must have been sanctioned at the highest levels in Tel Aviv and Riyadh. The trouble with the Saudi heirs initiatives, however, is that they have floundered on every front, notwithstanding the Netanyahu-Trump endorsement. Yemen is a depressing humanitarian disaster zone where more than 100 children are dying every day, cholera keeps spreading. The ostracisation of Qatar has paid no obvious dividends. The trend in Syria does not conform to Saudi wishes. And the last thing Lebanon needed was a blow to its invariably delicate balance of power. French President Emmanuel Macrons intervention may have helped to rescue Hariri from Riyadh, and he is expected back in Beirut to mark Lebanons independence day and, ostensibly, offer an explanation for why he quit, following a meeting with President Michel Aoun, who refused to accept a resignation tendered in Riyadh. No one seriously expects him to come clean, though. And what the future holds for Lebanon remains unclear. One can only hope that civil strife can be avoided, as well as any incident that provides Israel with an excuse to repeat its devastating excesses against this particular neighbour. Equally, one must fervently wish that Mohammed bin Salman fails in his evident desire to somehow provoke a confrontation with Iran that draws in Israel and the US. The horrendous consequences of such an outcome would make themselves felt for decades to come. The crown prince could, though, do his nation, the region and the world a huge service, were his disruptive endeavours to undermine the House of Saud which is, after all, built on sand. His determination to sideline his troublesome cousins may, however, prove to be just the impetus for implosion that the kingdom requires. Orthodox elements have always been fuelled by the black gold at their disposal. The oil is not exactly running out just yet, but its reduced value has helped to unleash a desperate bid for alternative sources of wealth and power. Dont hold your breath, but the end and a new beginning may eventuate sooner than anyone expects. By arrangement with Dawn Theres a new energy in our cadres: Ashish Dua, AICC member The moment for which millions of Congress workers have been waiting has finally arrived. Rahul Gandhi will be becoming Congress president next month. It is for all to see that Mr Gandhi has been making interventions all along, be it in his constituency, in the party or when the United Progressive Alliance was in power. He has been a part and parcel of the Congress family leading the party. Now his officially taking charge will further motivate Congress cadres to go amongst the people and campaign for the removal of this anti-people government. The decision has rattled the Bharatiya Janata Party and its affiliates that is why they have started targeting Mr Gandhi. The strange part is that there is a huge propaganda being carried out by saffronites that there will be no difference when Mr Gandhi takes over. If, according to the BJP, Mr Gandhi is not going to make any difference, then why are they constantly speaking about him? The fact is now the BJP is scared. Since this government has come to power in 2014, Mr Gandhi has been raising pertinent issues that are uncomfortable to the government. The suit boot ki sarkar was a fine example that made the government wake up to the issues of the poor, farmers and downtrodden. Mr Gandhi has visited remote areas to be with tribals, farmers who are under heavy debt and others. Three months back a tragedy occurred in Gorakhpur, which both the Central and state governments wanted to brush under the carpet. The death of young children and newborn was of unimaginable proportions. The Prime Minister did not go there. It was the Congress vice-president who visited the place. In the last couple of months it has become a habit of the BJP to keep saying that Mr Gandhi raises issues that are irrelevant. I would like to ask that if the issues are irrelevant, why does the government have to field a battery of Union ministers and senior BJP leaders to counter him? This happened after the address of Mr Gandhi in Berkeley. The government is on the backfoot because of the questions being raised by Mr Gandhi. That is precisely the reason it has deferred the Winter Session of Parliament. We have questions and they need to be answered. Instead of empty rhetoric and election gimmickry, this government has completely failed on all fronts. The Congress now has a young leader who is at the helm. There is no going back. The 2019 battle is still some time away and the Congress under Mr Gandhi will make our presence felt in each and every election. There is a new energy in our cadres, which is evident from the fact that in our internal elections almost all the state units passed unanimous resolutions to make Mr Gandhi president of the party. Once Mr Gandhi is firmly at the helm, there will be a major surge amongst cadres, and the impact will be there for all to see. He has proved to be a source of comic relief: Devang Dave, National in-charge of the BJP youth wing The Indian National Congress and sympathisers expect Rahul Gandhi to wave a magic wand and change the fortunes of the tumbling Congress. However, Mr Gandhi had been entrusted with this task almost over a decade ago, and we all know how that has worked in the favour of the Congress. From being the largest ruling political party in India to struggling to be the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, Mr Gandhis vice-captaincy and campaigning has already driven the Congress beyond despair. I wonder what will be the state of Indias oldest political outfit once Mr Gandhi assumes the party presidency. Agreed, Mr Gandhi is trying hard to sound funny via his speeches and tweets (thanks to Pidi), but does it really amount to anything significant? In fact, his improving sense of humour is giving stiff competition to stand-up comedians like Kapil Sharma and Bharti, instead of giving sleepless nights to his political rivals. Isnt it time the Indian National Congress admits that there are much better leaders in the Congress than Mr Gandhi, who to be brutally honest, is a byproduct of dynasty politics without merit a fact that has been agreed to by Mr Gandhi himself during his recent trip to the United States. Mr Gandhi has failed to make any positive impact on the Indian National Congress. To say the least, he has proved to be a source of comic relief for Indians. His speeches and ideologies still reek of the inundated Congress philosophy that has not done the nation any good in the past 60 years. The way the Gujarat election and campaign strategy has been spearheaded by Mr Gandhi just goes to show the Congress, even under new leadership, still believes in the age-old caste-based politics by pleasing select set groups and dividing religious sects and communities. His sudden interest and frequent trips to Gujarat temples have gone to prove that the Congress will remember and please a religion as they choose and as per their convenience and need. Moreover, his constant selfies with the public go to highlight his desperation to seek public opinion and favour rather than a genuine interest in the well-being of people. And his rising proximity with the controversial Patidar leader Hardik Patel highlights that the Congress is still relying on tried and tested, but immoral methods of using the political plank to woo voters and communities, only to disregard them later! I wonder how Mr Gandhis elevation will galvanise the Congress. If anything, it will only better the meteoric rise of the BJP. Mr Gandhis elevation will in fact prove to be the final nail in the coffin of the Congress Partys floundering hopes. The nation is wise and has already risen above cheap political tricks and has given their unanimous thumbs-up to development over mere false propaganda and division politics. The time for divide and rule is long gone in our country. I do hope that Mr Gandhi remains in the Congress for years to come. After all, we do need a comic-breather during pressure situations in Indian politics. I am neither on value judgment per se nor on appraisal or the possible repercussions on political logic, or lack of it, on the broader spectrum of the Indian nation state. I just wish to comment on the behavioural pattern of Indias ruling class on Jammu and Kashmir since its bona fide, legal, constitutional accession to the (then Dominion of) India (in October 1947). The fact that slowly unfolds as a stark revelation, somewhat shocking though as it gives rise to an unfortunate, regrettable doubt in the minds of some (not all) about the legal and constitutional status of the state. It also gives rise to the question that invariably goes unanswered. Has the collective wisdom of Indias ruling class blossomed (or bottomed) to (mis)lead us, the sporadic monumental lapses of the past seven decades notwithstanding? My concern is for the South Asian geography of J&K. Why? Because J&K is a territory, adjacent to the Indian mainland, an extension and uninterrupted continuation of the terrain of Panipat, Punjab, Pathankot and then to the Pir Panjal ranges; a region which has always been an integral part of South Asias physical geography. It consists of a benign, enlightened populace, the DNA of which cannot be anything other than that of the sub-Himalayan geo-morphology and physiology. It is a region whose safety and security are indelibly linked to, and intertwined with, that of the north-west frontier of the Indian polity, society and geography. Yet a prominent section of Indias ruling class appears to suffer from self-doubt and loss and supreme lack of self-confidence. It reveals the psyche of self-demeaning and self-defeating sections of the leadership, either suffering from an inferiority complex or arrogance. There is law, a demarcated and designated land, and yet there is a lack of vision, wisdom, aim and unity of purpose. To different people, J&K means different things. It continues to be a puzzle; to be raised, discussed, debated, fought over and defended. And doubted too! Why? Theres no foolproof answer to that. Under the Constitution of India, the J&K state constitution and Parliaments unanimous resolution, case laws of the higher judiciary, diplomatic records and United Nations documents, J&K is an integral part of the Republic of India. But then, more often than not, come strange utterances by politicians, like the erratic and defective weathervane of yesteryears. The more the status of J&K is played to the gallery, through rhetoric and demagogy, the better are the chances for decaying public faces to be in the news and float (however precariously) in the public eye. It is necessary for their declining political fortunes to try and extend their shaky shelf life to the north of the Pir Panjal ranges. Thus, for Farooq Abdullah, J&K is partly Indian and partly Pakistani as, he says, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) belongs to Pakistan, just as the rest of J&K belongs to India. The senior Abdullah, president of the National Conference, is not exactly known to possess legal acumen or the official political status and strength to change, alter, mend or amend anything on or about the geography, topography or terrain of J&K, and hence his utterances dont carry any weight at this point. His comments, at best, are random remarks that make news, but prima facie lack in substance, depth, credibility and relevance. Yet, it is news as he can jolly well turn around with a gait; and bait: How dare you... I am the senior Abdullah of Srinagar! There are implications, intended or not. In one stroke, the senior Abdullah demolishes the local azaadi brigade and various Hurriyat splinter groups to smithereens as they are all sent packing, with a rejection of all demands and dreams about independence as a third party in J&Ks polity. Also, in an India-Pakistan bilateral, it smacks of loss of face, status and prestige; in front of their home crowd, on their home ground! Clearly, whether Dr Abdullah gets bouquets or brickbats from New Delhi and/or Islamabad, he is certainly likely to get a mouthful of the choicest of expletives from the Hurriyat as it not only faces instant heat from the Indian heartland but also hostility from within the home. For New Delhi too, it comes as a total negation and rejection of Indias official stand on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). PoK belongs to Pakistan means India stands demolished on the sovereignty issue pertaining to J&K. It becomes a victory for the Sino-Pakistani axis; a strategic, geopolitical, geo-strategic and overall diplomatic rebuff (or same-side goal) scored by a major Indian politician. That is unacceptable as it smacks of a foot-in-mouth disease. Whatever the provocation or perception difference, this is a very bad idea and a self-defeating utterance. But I have another unpleasant question to ask here. Is Farooq Abdullah the first politician to make such out-of-the-box utterances without weighing the pros and cons? The answer, regrettably, is no. There have been several monumental blunders perpetrated by the rulers and leading figures in the Indian establishment in the past that not only undermined Indias politics, diplomacy and sovereignty in the worlds eyes, but also defeated or demolished Indias professed policy and positions, with Indian delegations challenging and reversing the very consistent stand of the Indian State that the whole of J&K belongs to India, being an integral part thereof. I can only refer to the Tashkent Declaration (January 1966) and Shimla Agreement (July 1972) at both the places, why did the Indian delegation, led by the then Prime Ministers, cede the hard-fought, hard-won (Indias own) land at the diplomatic table? What were the battery of high officials and advisers doing? Who are the people responsible for weakening (rather, breaking) the status of J&K as an integral part of India? Seen in this light, the utterances of Dr Abdullah, who has no official locus standi except to make an out-of-the-box statements in accordance with his mood swings, appear less grave. The actions of the Indian State in the past are unpardonable. It is true, of course, that his utterances are wrong and are against Indias professed stand on J&K, but the past actions of the Indian State were far worse. Indias rulers have themselves inflicted irreparable damage to Indias cause and stand, and made a dent on the geography and polity of Indias state of Jammu and Kashmir. There is sufficient intellect on the planet right now for us to reconsider the very fundamentals of religion on this planet. Religion is an inward step. It is something very intimate that a human being does within himself. It is not something that you organise and do on the street, it is a step towards your creator. If you just watch this body, you can clearly see that the source of creation is within you. When you say it is a step towards your creator, it is naturally an inward step, which you can only take by yourself. You cannot take a crowd of people inward. What is needed is a universal religion. When I say a universal religion, I am not talking about one religion for all. I am talking about one religion for everyone. I am talking about one religion for every one of us. There are seven billion people, so we can have seven billion religions. What is the problem? Only because it is organised, what should have been a beautiful process has become an ugly process of fanaticism. It is from this context that the Indian culture grew. We call this Sanatana Dharma, which means an eternal religion that will always be relevant. This is the only culture which allows you this freedom. You can choose your own God a man God, woman God, animal God, tree God whatever you want. This is known as Ishta Devata, which means a God of your own choice. Every individual is free to see what he can relate to best at a certain time in his life. He can create a God of his own and give himself to that process, because it is not about God. It is about bringing a certain quality in you to make you worshipful and reverential towards life. To bring this quality of reverence and worshipfulness within you is the very reason religion started at all. So you worship a monkey, and I worship an elephant. What is the problem? You are a monkey lover and I am an elephant lover, it is fine. And tomorrow, if we want to exchange our gods, we can do that too. This freedom was allowed in the culture. That is why it was referred to as an eternal religion, because it is not rigid, you can change. God with form, without form or even no God is okay, whichever way you choose. The important thing is that you learn to be reverential to life around you. Learn to sing the praise of life and bow down to every aspect of life which nurtures you, which is the basis of your existence right now. Only if this happens in the world everybody can choose his own religion, and his religion is not organised by somebody else then you can see deeply religious, but not fanatical people. Two units of the IAF in Bengaluru played a critical role in Wednesdays successful launch of BrahMos missile. While the Software Development Institute (SDI) developed the upgraded avionics for Su-30, the military jet which fired BrahMos missile was flown by ace test pilots from the Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE), Bengaluru. Bengaluru: Two back-to-back feats: Wednesday's test firing of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile by a Sukhoi-30MKI fighter jet and successful launch of 'Nirbhay' cruise missile a fortnight ago not only signify the country's superiority in the region but also open up new opportunities to enhance the capability of the armed forces to carry out deep surgical strikes on strategic targets across the borders. The lethal combination of a fighter aircraft such as the Su-30MKI, with a cruising range of 3,200 km and BrahMos missile, which rockets three times the speed of sound, could decimate targets located 270-290 km away on the ground or in the sea, thus proving an important arrow in the Indian Air Force (IAF)'s Quiver. More important, according to former IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal Srinivasapuram Krishnaswamy (Retd), it not only opens a new chapter in air superiority, but opens opportunities for development of several variants of BrahMos to arm other fighter jets such as the Rafale and the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft. I am very proud of the Indian effort as this combination (Su-30+BrahMos) can take on targets from long distance at high speeds, leaving the enemy defenceless. Lets stop criticising DRDO, and cheer them for todays achievement as it is not the end but opens up opportunities for development of new missiles. Lets also say kudos to the IAF and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) for todays success, he told Deccan Chronicle. A video grab shows the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, that was fired succesfully for the first time from a Sukhoi-30MKI fighter jet of the IAF over the Bay of Bengal. The missile was gravity dropped from the Su-30MKI from its fuselage, and the two-stage missiles engine fired up and was propelled towards the intended target in the Bay of Bengal. (Photo: PTI) Dr S. Christopher, DRDO chairman, remarked: Its another great day for DRDO. It is one of our major achievements leading to a unique weapon delivery from a fighter aircraft which even the Russians have not achieved with their own Su-30s. Wednesdays mission witnessed the BrahMos equipped Su-30 fighter jet taking off from Kalaikunda air force station, cruise over the Bay of Bengal before releasing the missile to decimate a target, an old ship provided by the Indian Navy, about 290 km away. While various units of DRDO developed the navigation, terminal guidance and other systems for the missile, HALs unit at Nashik modified the Su-30 to strengthen the fuselage, the belly station to hug the 2,500 kg missile, and a special ejection mechanism to ensure a free fall of 60-100 meters of the missile before speeding towards the target in the sea. In a statement issued after the test-firing, the IAF said, The launch from the aircraft was smooth and the missile followed the desired trajectory before directly hitting the ship target. The capability of the missile coupled with the superlative performance of the Su-30 aircraft gives the IAF a strategic reach and allows it to dominate the ocean and battle fields, the statement added. Official sources said 42 of the 240 Su-30 fighter jets would be modified to carry out deep surgical strikes simultaneously with more test-firing of BrahMos by these aircraft. The IAF said it became the first air force in the world to successfully launch a surface attack missile of this category and that the weapon provided it a much desired capability to strike from large stand-off ranges on any target in sea or land with pinpoint accuracy in all weather conditions. The successful test firing of the 2.5 ton missile, which flies almost three times the speed of sound at Mach 2.8 and has a range of 290 km, paved the way for its induction into the IAF. The range of the missile, an Indo-Russia joint venture, can be extended up to 400 km as technical restrictions were lifted after India became a full member of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) last year. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Pai says new rules would force ISPs to be transparent about their services and management policies, and then would let the market decide. (Photo: AP) The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission set out on Tuesday to scrap rules around open internet access, a move that would allow giant cable and telecom companies to throttle broadband speeds and favour their own services if they wish. Ajit Pai followed through on a pledge to try to repeal net neutrality regulations enacted under the Obama administration. The current rules treat internet service providers such as Comcast, AT&T and Verizon as if they were utility companies that provide essential services, like electricity. The rules mandate that they give equal access to all online content and apps. Pai said those rules discourage investments that could provide even better and faster online access. Instead, he said new rules would force ISPs to be transparent about their services and management policies, and they would let the market decide. Under my proposal, the federal government will stop micromanaging the internet, Pai said in a statement. Pai distributed his alternative plan to other FCC commissioners Tuesday in preparation for a December 14 vote. Pai promised to release his entire proposal Wednesday. Although the FCCs two Democrats said they will oppose the proposal, the repeal is likely to prevail as Republicans dominate 3-2. The vote for net neutrality in 2015 was also along party lines, but Democrats dominated then. Equal treatment for all web traffic has been a fundamental principle of the internet since its creation but companies have increasingly put their thumb on the scales of access. AT&T, for example, doesnt count use of its streaming service DirecTV Now against wireless data caps, potentially making it seem cheaper to its cell phone customers than rival TV services. Rivals would have to pay AT&T for that privilege. Regulators, consumer advocates and some tech companies are concerned that repealing net neutrality will give ISPs, even more, a power to block or slow down rival offerings. A repeal also opens the ability for ISPs to charge a company like Netflix for a faster path to its customers. Allowing this paid-priority market to exist could skew prices and create winners and losers among fledgeling companies that require a high-speed connection to end users. Pai, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, said in an interview on Fox News Radio that Trump did not have any input on his proposal. Asked whether deregulation would result in higher prices and put speedy internet access out of the reach of blue-collar Americans, Pai said: its going to mean exactly the opposite. These heavy-handed regulations have made it harder for the private sector to build out the networks especially in rural America, Pai said. In a Wall Street Journal editorial published on Tuesday, Pai cited a report by a nonprofit think tank, the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation that said investment by the dozen largest ISPs fell about 2 percent from 2015 to 2016, to $61 billion. The group didnt link the drop solely to the stiffer rules introduced in 2015. The attempt to repeal net neutrality has triggered protests from consumer groups and internet companies. A data firm called Emprata that was backed by a telecom industry group found in August that after filtering out form letters, the overwhelming majority of comments to the FCC about 1.8 million favoured net neutrality, compared with just 24,000 who supported its repeal. Carmen Scurato, director of policy and legal affairs for the National Hispanic Media Coalition, said ISPs ability to impose monthly caps on data use already act to raise prices and limit access. Repealing net neutrality, she said, is just erecting more barriers. Among those that will be hit hardest are start-ups that depend on high-speed internet connections for growth, said Colin Angle, co-founder and CEO of iRobot, maker of the Roomba robot vacuum cleaners. He said his own company wouldnt be dramatically affected in the near term, but the nascent robotics industry overall might. The need for these robots to consume bandwidth is certainly on the rise, Angle said. Google said in a statement that net neutrality rules are working well for consumers and were disappointed in the proposal announced today. Other tech companies were more muted, with some referring instead to their trade group, the Internet Association. Netflix, which had been vocal in support of the rules in 2015, tweeted that it supports strong #NetNeutrality and opposes the rules rollback. But the streaming-video company said in January that weaker net neutrality wouldnt hurt it because its now too popular with users for broadband providers to interfere. AT&T executive vice president Joan Marsh said new rules requiring ISPs to disclose their management practices will keep them honest. Any ISP that is so foolish as to seek to engage in gatekeeping will be quickly and decisively called out, she said in a statement. Comcast said its commitment to consumers will remain the same. We do not and will not block, throttle, or discriminate against lawful content, Comcasts senior executive vice president David Cohen said. Pais plan also restores the Federal Trade Commission as the main watchdog to protect consumers and promote competition. But Democratic Commissioner Mignon L. Clyburn said the proposal was a giveaway to the nations largest communications companies. Pais proposal on net neutrality comes after the Republican-dominated commission voted 3-2 last week to weaken rules meant to support independent local media, undoing a ban on companies owning newspapers and broadcast stations in a single market. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Google is the most popular search engine in the world. Russia will take action against Alphabet Incs Google if articles from Russian news websites Sputnik and Russia Today are placed lower in search results, the Interfax news service cited Russias chief media regulator as saying on Tuesday. Alexander Zharov, head of media regulator Roskomnadzor, said his agency sent a letter to Google on Tuesday requesting clarification on comments Saturday by Alphabet Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt about how the Russian websites would be treated in search, according to Interfax. We will receive an answer and understand what to do next, Interfax quoted Zharov as saying. We hope our opinion will be heard, and we wont have to resort to more serious retaliatory measures. Schmidt, speaking on stage at the Halifax International Security Forum on Saturday, responded to a question about Sputnik articles appearing on Google by saying the company was working to give less prominence to those kinds of websites as opposed to delisting them. The Russian government funds Sputnik and Russia Today. Both of the websites spread misinformation and published stories that were negative toward Hillary Clinton during the 2016 US presidential election, US intelligence agencies have said. Its basically RT and Sputnik that are the two, and theres a whole bunch of coverage about what were doing there, Schmidt said, according to a video of the talk posted on the events Facebook page. Google spokeswoman Andrea Faville said Schmidt was referring to ongoing efforts announced in April to demote search results that link to low quality, false and deliberately misleading content. The company said at the time it would work to highlight authoritative content. Google does not manually assign rankings to individual websites, Faville said, but analyzes a websites attributes to automatically give it a position in results. Russias Zharov said he would monitor how discriminating this measure will be in its practical embodiment, Sputnik reported Tuesday. It is obvious that we will defend our media, he said. RT had received guaranteed ad revenue from YouTube until September when the Google unit removed it as the preferred partner. We didnt see this a few years ago, Schmidt told the Halifax gathering about the propaganda. We didnt realize this could be so pervasive. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Technology changes are always just around the corner and mobile apps need to be in accordance with the latest trends/technologies so that they can reap the benefits. As faster, smarter and more affordable mobile phones become accessible to consumers across the globe, the use of mobile internet and apps have also seen an exponential growth. Internet usage on these devices is on a constant rise, and service providers are introducing newer plans with more data (internet) than talk and text services. A recent report by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India stated that as of May 2017, in India alone, there were over 1 billion active wireless subscribers. This influx of mobile phones and demand for mobile internet has further lead to an explosion in the mobile apps development market as more and more businesses are going mobile in order to tap this customer base. Ninad Chhaya, COO of WITS Interactive and COO of GoPhygital believes that current generations have adopted a new way of life since the launch of mobile apps, everything from capturing memories in the form of pictures or videos and sharing them instantly on social media platforms, to daily errands like catching a taxi or having food delivered to your doorstep, all are done with the tap of a button through an app. It's safe to say, mobile apps have now become an integral part of daily lives of most mobile users and it is hard to imagine a life without them. Its been almost a decade since the Apple App store was introduced, and when it launched, there were 500 hundred apps available to download, according to Apple Insider. In 2017, statista states that there are more than 5 million apps available across all app stores like Google Play, Apple App, Microsoft, etc. ranging from utility apps to sophisticated interactive games. According to App Annie, India surpassed the US in 2016 to become the largest market for Google Play downloads. India not only held onto the top spot in Q2 2017, but it widened its lead as it experienced the quarters largest year-over-year market share growth of Google Play downloads. Mobile apps have dominated our lives for almost decade now, so whats next? With the global hype and success generated by Pokemon Go, an Augmented Reality (AR) app based on the popular TV series and video game, Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality apps are expected to become one of the most talked about developments in the mobile app industry. Considered to be unreal promotional tools for several years, AR and VR application developments are something to watch out for in the years to come. As compared to a regular mobile app, which most businesses use as current means to engage with their users, VR and AR have the potential to give a greater emotional resonance to objects and topics. Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality, if planned and executed well, can be powerful platforms for brands to build and enhance their customer experiences. Moreover, with the soon to be released ARKit from Apple for iOS devices, developers have been busy playing around with ARKit and have already rolled out a number of cool demos. These demos give us a glimpse of whats to come, and the future looks very promising. In addition to AR and VR, there are other technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Chatbots and Machine Learning which are also considered to change the mobile app landscape. In a recent article published by The Wall Street Journal, it talks about how the next billion, a wave of newcomers to the internet and mobile devices, are avoiding texting, and replacing it with communication through voice recognition, images and videos. Technology changes are always just around the corner and mobile apps need to be in accordance with the latest trends/technologies so that they can reap the benefits. There is a growing market for immersive tech, and with the promise that Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Artificial Intelligence, Chatbots etc. applications can deliver, business should leverage these technologies as it will bring about a transformation in approaching ideas/experiences that could possibly disrupt the current business landscape. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Divya Patel of Rocky Hill in Connecticut was arrested after police discovered his one-month-old child dead in the backseat of his car on Sunday. (Photo: Connecticut State Police | Facebook) Washington: A 34-year-old Indian-origin man has been charged in the US with risk of injury to a child and evidence tampering for allegedly failing to seek medical care for his 1-month-old son after realising that the infant was unresponsive and could be dead. Divya Patel of Rocky Hill in Connecticut was arrested after police discovered his one-month-old child dead in the backseat of his car on Sunday. According to state police, it received a 911 call on November 18 from a mother stating that her one-month-old was not breathing. She told police that the child was with his father in a car parked at the Residence Inn on Cromwell Ave. When officers arrived, they were unable to locate Patel or the child. They contacted him via cell phone but he was uncooperative and would not tell police his location, nbcconnecticut reported. After about 30 minutes, Patel returned to the Residence Inn where officers located the unresponsive child. The child was taken to Connecticut Childrens Medical Centre in Hartford and pronounced dead. During their investigation, police learned that Patel was aware his child had died and did not render aid or seek emergency care. Patel is being held on a USD 1 million bond. He appeared in New Britain Superior court Tuesday and is due back in court on December 5. Police said the investigation is ongoing and additional charges are pending. Six weeks before the attacks Silverstein signed a 99 year lease for the site, which is owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. (Photo: File/Representational) New York: American Airlines and United Airlines have agreed to a $95.1 million settlement with the developer of the World Trade Center over the September 11, 2001 attacks, ending 13 years of litigation. Insurers will cover the payout to World Trade Center Properties, owned by developer Larry Silverstein, according to court papers filed Tuesday. Six weeks before the attacks Silverstein signed a 99 year lease for the site, which is owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. After the suicide airliner attacks that felled the Twin Towers, Silverstein received from his own insurers $4.55 billion in settlements after years of negotiations. But he also fought to receive damages from American and United, whose hijacked planes were used in the attacks. He initially sought $12.3 billion from the airlines and airport security companies. Now the two sides have reached a settlement that must still be approved by US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein. The September 11 attacks on the Twin Towers by hijackers loyal to Al-Qaeda killed more than 2,750 people. Another hijacked plane hit the Pentagon in Washington, while a fourth crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. Altogether around 3,000 people died in the attacks. The new allegations hail from the period following his 2001 departure from the White House, when he was working with millionaire playboy Ron Burkle. (Photo: File/AFP) It seems that controversy and former US President Bill Clinton go hand in hand. A new set of sexual harassment allegations were hurled against him recently by four women, according to highly placed Democratic Party sources. The news was also confirmed by a member from Clinton's legal team, as reported in the Daily Mail by celebrated 'Clinton Author' Edward Klein. These anonymous women are ready to take matters further legally and have demanded large sums of money in exchange for their silence, the report goes on to claim. According to the report the women are ready to go to the press if Clinton's legal team fails to negotiate with them. In such a situation, Clinton will be the newest and the most famous addition to the long list of celebrities, including Kevin Spacey and Harvey Weinstein, who have been charged with unwelcome sexual gestures in the recent past. These new allegations hail from the period following his 2001 departure from the White House, when he was working with millionaire playboy Ron Burkle. Clinton was flying around the world in Burkle's private jet 'Air F**k One' and these four women were low-level staff at the Burkle organisation at this time. However, there is no evidence that Burkle himself was in the knowing about such incidents happening at his company. The attorneys of the women are coordinating their attack but are planning to file four different lawsuits against Clinton. Bill Clinton has been accused of sexual misconduct previously on more than one occasion. Apart from his infamously clandestine affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, he also paid USD 850,000 to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit by Paula Jones, a former Arkansas state employee whose case led to Clinton's impeachment in the House of Representatives and his subsequent acquittal by the Senate in 1999. Democrats, liberals and feminists will once again have to justify themselves, having defended his actions in various similar cases before. The source mentioned in the MailOnline report has also gone on to say that "Bill is distraught at the thought of having to testify and defend himself against sex charges again. He hopes his legal team can somehow stop the women from filing charges and drag him through the mud." Hillary Clinton, who stood with her husband during the Lewinsky scandal, is reportedly furious with him being dragged into the mud again. It is said that in the past, she has reportedly silenced many women who have criticised or protested against Bill's uncontrolled sexual behaviour. She proposed to do the same this time by hiring private detectives and digging up trash from the lives of the four women but was apparently discouraged from doing the same by Clinton's legal team who requested her to not interfere. Hillary, who was the presidential candidate in the last elections in 2016 and lost to Donald Trump, wants to continue her political career as the beacon of Trump-resistance in America. She is afraid that this recent stint would mar the Clinton legacy of and in turn jeopardize her time in the political arena even though Bill and Hillary Clinton have not lived as married partners for a long time. Their relationship is more business and familial when it comes to their children and grandchildren. Hillary started living separately when it became clear that even age was not enough to discourage the 71-year-old Clinton from chasing women around. Thousands of women took to Brazil's streets early November to protest against the bill, which is supported by increasingly influential evangelical Christian groups. (Photo: File/Representational) Rio de Janeiro: More pregnant women could die in Brazil if it passes a law banning all abortions on Tuesday, including in cases of rape or when the mother's life is in danger, critics said. Thousands of women took to Brazil's streets early November to protest against the bill, which is supported by increasingly influential evangelical Christian groups. "It's intentional fraud from fundamentalist congressmen who think that their religious dogmas have greater weight than the democratic state," said congresswoman Erika Kokay, who opposes the constitutional reform bill. "It's absurd and is a huge setback against legislation on women's rights in force since the 1940s," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Abortion is illegal in Brazil, home to the world's largest Catholic community, except when pregnancy is due to rape, endangers the mother's life or if the fetus has anencephaly, in which a baby is missing parts of the brain and skull. More than 1 million abortions take place in clandestine clinics each year and thousands of women end up in hospital as a result of botched procedures, according to government estimates. A Congressional committee, which voted by 18-1 in favour of a bill to ban abortion under all circumstances early November, is voting again on certain sections on Tuesday with the aim of securing a unanimous vote. Kokay - the committee's only female member and the only one to oppose the bill in the earlier vote - said she and other politicians will oppose it in Brazil's top court, if necessary. Conservative lawmakers say that life begins at conception and laws must protect the unborn child's rights at all costs. The move to criminalise all abortions is part of a trend by a growing evangelical caucus in Brazil's Congress to roll back women's rights on social issues, campaigners say. "We want congress to guarantee more rights, not to remove them," said Jurema Werneck, Brazil director of Amnesty International, which has launched an online campaign against the bill with about 40,000 signatures collected so far. The bill requires two-thirds of the votes in both chambers of Congress to become law as part of a constitutional amendment. It would then need to be approved by the Senate and signed into law by Brazil's conservative President Michel Temer. The law could win votes as part of a trade-off for other legislation the governing coalition seeks to pass, such as pension reform to plug a gaping budget deficit, analysts said. Deborah Duprat, a prosecutor for citizen's rights in the Office of the Attorney General, said the bill was unconstitutional and a "violent act" against women that puts their lives at risk. "The World Health Organization states that unsafe abortion is one of the main causes of death among women that could be avoided," she said. Gun violence is rare in China, where the government tightly restricts ownership of firearms. There are no official statistics on gun-related deaths. (Photo: ANI/Representational) Beijing: Three people were shot dead and six others wounded in a rare episode of gun violence in China, police said Wednesday, adding they were hunting for a number of suspects. Officers were deployed after receiving reports that people were hit by apparent gun fire during a fight on Tuesday night in Chaozhou city, in southern Guangdong province. According to a preliminary investigation, two people died at the scene, one died after being sent to hospital and six more were wounded, the police said on its Weibo social media account. Police have identified the suspects and are in pursuit, the statement said. Gun violence is rare in China, where the government tightly restricts ownership of firearms. There are no official statistics on gun-related deaths. The advertisement also prompted the Indian High Commission in Canberra to lodge a complaint with the Australian government asking for its removal. (Photo: Youtube Screengrab) Melbourne: In a U-turn, Australia's advertising watchdog has ruled that a controversial advertisement featuring Lord Ganesha and other divinities promoting consumption of lamb meat violated the country's advertising standard code. The advertisement was released in September by the Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA), triggering widespread protests from the Indian community in the country as well across the globe. Members of the Hindu community of Australia filed a complaint with the Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB) at that time claiming it had hurt their religious sentiments. Read: Hindu community in Australia protests lamb ad featuring Lord Ganesha The advertisement also prompted the Indian High Commission in Canberra to lodge a complaint with the Australian government asking for its removal. Initially the ASB found that the advertisement by the MLA was not in breach of code. Considering several points of submission, the board said "after taking into account the Independent Reviewer's finding that the board gave insufficient weight to the views of complainants in regards to the Elephant Comment, the board determined that the advertisement breached section 2.1 of the Code and upheld complaints." According to the latest decision, the board noted "Lord Ganesha was a deity that signified perfection so to criticise his appearance would be likely to be seen as ridiculing the Hindu religion and by extension some followers of that faith." (Photo: Youtube Screengrab) "The majority of the board therefore considered that the Elephant comment amount to a depiction or portrayal of material which discriminated against a person on account of their Hindu religion," the ASB noted. It further noted that the reference made in the advertisement about 'elephant in the room' was a tongue in cheek way of referring to an unpleasant or negative issue. It said that the board recognised that the advertiser was known for presenting laid back advertisements with edgy Australian humour. The advertisement is no longer being broadcast. However, the MLA maintains its advertisement does not discriminate against anyone. Reacting to the ASB's latest decision, Melbourne-based Hindu community member Karthik Arsu said, "This is a Great Victory for the entire Hindu Community. The community got united and each and every one contributed to fight against a giant like Meat & Livestock Australia, we lost in the complaint process, but we stood together and persisted," "So happy to receive this good news, still not sure how it will transpire in getting that derogatory advertisement removed from online platforms, but the whole community is feeling ecstatic!," he said. "The decision reinforces the belief that no one can denigrate a community in Australia on the basis of religion, colour or the size of the community!," he added. According to Jay Shah of Overseas Friends of Bharatiya Janata Party (OFBJP), Australia "the advertisement was very hurtful and I am happy that ASB accepted my review plea and gave a decision in support of Hindu community." Describing the decision as "good", Hindu Council of Australia said "at last a genuine complaint has been addressed though it is late resolution... It would likely to set a precedent for not to use religious icons inappropriately for any purpose." Earlier, the ASB had dismissed complaints that the advertisement breached any code saying that Lord Ganesha was depicted positively and that the intent was to be inclusive. 'I don't think women should have to give money to charity just because they menstruate,' Laura Coryton said. (Photo: Facebook) London: Two years after Britain's finance minister pledged taxes from sanitary products would go to women's rights charities, the campaigner who forced his hand has criticised the way the money is distributed. "A lot of those charities are domestic abuse charities. It shouldn't be down to women's money to sort out an issue that is for all of society, not just women," feminist activist Laura Coryton said on Tuesday. With finance minister Philip Hammond due to present the UK's budget on Wednesday, British women are still waiting for legislation to support a government promise to introduce zero tax on sanitary products. The government says it is currently tied by European Union rules. Tampons were not classed as essentials when Britain joined the bloc in the 1970s and current EU rules forbid states from adding new items to an approved list of goods and services exempt from value-added tax. A spokesperson for the European Commission said by email that proposals for new rules will be made in 2018 to allow member states more autonomy in setting reduced and zero tax rates. Britain is set to leave the European Union after voting for Brexit in a referendum in 2017. "The government wants to write the exact time of Brexit in to law but they still can't tell us when the tampon tax will come to an end and they won't even commit to a target date," opposition lawmaker Paula Sherriff said by email. Sherriff said she wrote to Hammond last week to ask if the government will end tax on women's sanitary products when Britain leaves the bloc. In response, the government said it has a made a legal commitment to apply a zero rate of value-added tax to women's sanitary products as soon as legally possible. Coryton, 24, started the Stop Taxing Periods campaign in May 2014 while still a student. She said she found the tampon tax illogical and sexist after discovering things like maintaining helicopters and playing bingo weren't taxed. After her online petition attracted more than 320,000 signatures, the former finance minister George Osborne announced tampon tax revenue would be given to women's rights charities in 2015. Seventy organisations received 15 million pounds ($19.8 million) from the tax in the last financial year. Coryton said she opposed retaining the tax to safeguard the money raised for charity. "I don't think women should have to give money to charity just because they menstruate," she said. The Punjab government has claimed that Johal is among a group of suspects arrested on allegations of fanning communal disturbance in the state. (Photo: Youtube Screengrab) London: The UK government on Tuesday said that it would take extreme action if any British citizen is being tortured as the case of a Scottish-born Sikh man, Jagtar Singh Johal, who has been jailed in India, was raised in the House of Commons. Jagtar Singh Johal alias Jaggi, a British citizen, has been in a Punjab jail since his arrest early November by the states police for his alleged role in targeted killings in the state. Local MP Martin Docherty-Hughes of the Scottish National Party (SNP) asked the UK foreign office what representations were being made to the Indian government on reports of his alleged torture in custody. We take any allegation of torture very seriously, as indeed would the Indian government, foreign office minister Rory Stewart told Docherty-Hughes. It is completely unconstitutional, it is offensive to the British government and we will work very closely to investigate and, of course, we will take extreme action if a British citizen is being tortured, he said. Now Diljit Dosanjh broaches Johals torture in Punjab target killings case The minister of state in the foreign office stressed that the issue was being taken very seriously and that the deputy high commissioner of the UK had managed to gain access to hold a meeting with Johal. The issue was raised in the parliament a day after British Prime Minister Theresa May was confronted by the BBCs Asian Network to comment on Johals arrest in India. I am aware of the concern that has been expressed about Jagtar Singh Johal. Representatives from the foreign office have met with him and are pursuing the case, watching what is happening with concern and will take necessary action , she said. Read: Sikh UK MP trolled, threatened, accused of not speaking for his community Johals MP, Docherty-Hughes, has been campaigning for his freedom and has also written to Downing Street seeking a meeting for his UK-based family with the Prime Minister. The Scottish-born Sikh was in Jalandhar with his family for his wedding in October when he was reportedly arrested by plainclothes police officials in the city. Sikh Federation UK, a representative group leading a #FreeJaggiNow social media campaign, has quoted his lawyer Jaspal Singh Manjhpur as saying that Johal has been subjected to physical and mental torture in jail. The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for British Sikhs, led by Labour MP Preet Kaur Gill, had earlier written to UK foreign secretary Boris Johnson urging him to protect Johals rights as a British citizen. The Punjab government has claimed that Johal is among a group of suspects arrested on allegations of fanning communal disturbance in the state. UN judges on Wednesday sentenced former Bosnian Serbian commander Ratko Mladic to life imprisonment after finding him guilty of genocide and war crimes in the brutal Balkans conflicts over two decades ago. The trial of the man dubbed The Butcher of Bosnia was the last before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and comes as the court prepares to close its doors next month. The court found him guilty on 10 counts including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the 1992-1995 war that killed 1,00,000 people and displaced 2.2 million as ethnic rivalries tore apart Yugoslavia. But they found him not guilty of genocide in the municipalities. For having committed these crimes, the chamber sentences Ratko Mladic to life imprisonment, presiding judge Alphons Orie said, adding the crimes were amongst the most heinous known to human kind. After rumours he would not attend the hearing, the former general, 74, who once cut a swathe of fear against Bosnia, gave a thumbs-up as he entered the courtroom in The Hague. Hafiz Saeed, the Mumbai attack mastermind was detained on January 30 along with four of his associates. (Photo: AP) Lahore: Pakistan's Punjab Judicial Review Board on Wednesday ordered the release of Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed, who was in house arrest in Lahore since January 31 this year. The Pakistan government had appealed to the board to extend his detention for another three months. "The government is ordered to release JuD chief Hafiz Saeed if he is not wanted in any other case," the board said. The board's order paves the way for Saeed's release. The Mumbai attack mastermind was detained on January 30 along with four of his associates Abdullah Ubaid, Malik Zafar Iqbal, Abdul Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Hussain for their alleged involvement in activities prejudicial to peace and security. They were detained under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 and the Fourth Schedule of Anti- Terrorism Act 1997. Their house arrest was extended in September this year. Saeed had filed an application in the Lahore High Court, challenging the order for extension of his house arrest. Again in October, the board had allowed a 30-day extension to the detention of Saeed which will expire next week. Whereas, Saeed's four aides were set free in the last week of October. The US has offered a USD 10 million bounty for Saaed. The JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) which is responsible for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai attack. (With inputs from PTI) Air China has suspended flights to North Korea, further limiting the secretive states links with the outside world, in what the government said was a business decision with no political motives. The suspension comes shortly after US President Donald Trump visited Beijing and pressed his counterpart Xi Jinping to do more to rein in North Koreas nuclear programme. China sent a special envoy, Song Tao, to the North last week but his four-day trip ended with no direct statement on the crisis, after Pyongyangs series of nuclear and missile tests triggered global alarm. In a potentially self-damaging act ahead of the Gujarat polls, the Congress' youth wing today circulated a meme about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'chaiwala' past, provoking a backlash from the BJP, and prompting a red-faced Congress to distance from it. The meme that unleashed a political firestorm contained photograph of Modi, US president Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Theresa May engaged in a conversation. Modi is seen telling the two leaders about the opposition's memes targeting him. He mispronounces the word as "mainmain". Trump corrects him, saying the word is pronounced as "meem", while May tells him to go and sell tea. Though the meme was removed soon after it was put out, the Congress faced a virtual fusillade from the BJP which excoriated the opposition party for targeting the prime minister over his humble background, and demanding an explanation whether the meme had the approval of the party leadership. "This blatantly classist and anti-poor Tweet by the Youth Congress shows their mindset towards Indias poor. Does Crown Prince @OfficeOfRG support this?," Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said in a tweet. Union Ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad, J P Nadda and Piyush Goyal also hit out at the Congress over the post. The official Twitter handle of BJP chief Amit Shah retweeted all such posts put out by the ministers. "The arrogance of the Congress Party and shameful anti- poor stand gets exposed from the official twitter of the Youth Congress that a person born in poverty in the family of a tea vendor cannot become the Prime Minister. No lessons learnt. Insulting popular mandate. "Madam Sonia Gandhi and Mr Rahul Gandhi do you still believe that only you have a divine right to rule India?" Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said in a series of tweets. He said the country expects the two leaders to respond to the meme which is "shameful and insulting" to poor, he said. Moving in to contain the damage, Congress communications incharge Randeep Surjewala took to Twitter, saying "Congress strongly disapproves and rejects such humour through memes. Differences on policy and opinion aside, Congress culture imbibes respect for PM and all political opponents." An off the cuff remark by senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections that Modi can never become the prime minister, and that if he wants the party can give him a place at its convention to sell tea, had given the then BJP's prime ministerial nominee a stick to beat the Congress with. Rally after election rally, Modi targeted the Congress over Aiyar's jibe to claim the then ruling party at the Centre was anti-poor. Modi was, in fact, so enthused by the response that he got from cheering crowds while calling himself a 'chaiwala' that he even launched a campaign 'chai pe charcha' to connect with voters. Recalling the price the Congress paid for the swipe, National Conference chief and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah said the tweet is in poor taste and dubbed it as a "political suicide" for the party. "What is about elements of the Congress party that commit political suicide with such amazing regularity? This tweet is in such poor taste," he tweeted. Union minister J P Nadda tweeted: "A tweet can be deleted but not the mentality which brands masses as 'Cattle class' and 'Mango people'. They cant fathom a Chaiwala leading the nation. Gujarat Shall Answer!!." Another union minister Piyush Goyal said, "Congress has once again displayed its anti-poor mindset through such tweets. Upcoming elections will be another reality check for them." Chastised, the Indian Youth Congress, apologised for the meme. "Although the handle @Yuvadesh is being run by youth volunteers and not by @iyc, we do not approve of such humour and apologise. "Despite political differences with the BJP & having suffered everyday abuse from their leaders, we respect the Prime Minister & all political opponents," Youth Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja tweeted. In what could be a shot in the arm for the Congress in the Gujarat Assembly polls, Patel quota stir leader Hardik Patel on Wednesday declared that they are formally accepting the formula given by the Congress on the quotas sought by his community. "Congress has accepted demand for reservations not just to the Patel community but to all the other communities in unreserved category. Their formula constitutionally provides for benefits equal to the OBCs. When it comes to power, it will pass a proposal for reservations under Article 31-C and Article 46 of the Constitution without altering the current 49% quotas for SC/ST and OBC categories. We can be given more than 50% reservation constitutionally," Hardik told mediapersons. Hardik said that as per the Congress' formula, the communities mentioned in Article 46, who have not received any benefits under Article 15 (4) and Article 16 (4), would be provided all the benefits currently provided to the OBC community. For this purpose, he said, a special category for some communities may be created or some other name be given. The state government will talk to all the stakeholders and set up a separate commission. "Congress has promised that a survey would be carried out among the Patels and other forward communities as per the provisions of the OBC commission, and based on economic, social, educational and employment parameters, those provisions would be used to extend reservation benefits to those communities," he said. "The Congress will have to put their reservation formula, with details, in their manifesto," the Patidar stir leader said. When pointed out that many courts had underlined that quotas could not exceed the 50% limit, Hardik claimed that it had not been mentioned in the Constitution that quotas could not exceed 50%. "The Supreme Court has only given suggestions on this. There is neither any law nor provision in the Constitution (in this regard)," he said. He claimed that since 1994, many states, including Gujarat, have given quotas beyond 50% and in states such as Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, such quotas have been given for over 15-17 years. Hardik said that he was accepting the formula not just on behalf of his organisation, the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti, but after having spoken to several community leaders and having informed heads of the key religious organisations, Khodaldham and Umiyadham. However, heads of both these organisations denied having received any details about the Congress formula. "I expect that we should receive the formula sometime today (Wednesday) and then we will get it verified by senior constitutional lawyers and then announce our stance," Paresh Gajera, head of Khodaldham Trust, said. "This is time of elections and we are an apolitical organization. We, however, believe that reservations must be given to Patels as more than 60% of Patels are living in poverty. We are neutral and do not support any political party - only people who work for us," he said. On the other hand, chairperson of the Unjha Umiyadham Trust, Vikram Patel, said Hardik was lying and no one from his organisation had been informed or spoken to on the issue. "You cannot get reservations as per the Constitution. Though we believe that all the deserving communities must get reservations, it can be given only by those who are in majority in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha," he said. The ruling BJP rejected the formula stating that a nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court had already struck down quotas beyond 50%. "I am forecasting that in the first place, Congress will not come to power in Gujarat and even if they do, they would only say that we tried, but the Supreme Court struck down the proposal," Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel told mediapersons. "They are just trying to fool people, and these boys, who are moving around on the funds of the Congress, will not be able to fool the people of Gujarat," he said. Zimbabwe's former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa will return home on Wednesday, more than two weeks after fleeing the country following his ouster by Robert Mugabe, his aide said. Mugabe resigned as president on Tuesday, swept from power as his 37 years authoritarian rule crumbled within days of a military takeover. "Comrade Mnangagwa is coming back today," one of the former vice president's personal assistants, Larry Mavhima, told AFP, adding that he was expected to brief the media after his arrival. On Sunday, Mnangagwa was named president of the ruling ZANU-PF party in place of Mugabe, and he is expected to be sworn in as interim president of the country. On Tuesday, the 75-year-old liberation war stalwart, who has close ties with the military which helped push Mugabe out of power, announced that he had rejected an invitation by the former leader to return home to discuss the political situation in the country. He said he would only come back when he was satisfied that his personal security was guaranteed. The Karnataka Legislative Assembly has directed the Home department to arrest Bengaluru-based tabloid journalists Ravi Belagere and Anil Raj following a House resolution sentencing them to one-year imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000 for breach of privilege. The Assembly Secretariat sent a letter to the Home department on Tuesday night, after the Legislative Assembly unanimously rejected a petition filed by the two editors seeking reconsideration of the imprisonment and fine. In 2014, Ranebennur MLA K B Koliwad (now the Speaker) had petitioned the Privileges Committee taking offence to "defamatory articles" against him in 'Hi Bengaluru'. Ravi Belagere is the editor of Hi Bengaluru. In another instance, in 2017, Yelahanka MLA S R Vishwanath approached the Privileges Committee taking offence to the articles appeared in a local tabloid 'Yelahanka Voice' edited by Raj. The committee found the articles defamatory and that they amounted to breach of privilege. Wary of black flags, police officers allegedly forced a Muslim woman to take off her burqa (veil) at an election rally addressed by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Ballia, about 400 km from here. According to the sources, the woman, who had arrived at Adityanath's rally on Tuesday wearing a burqa, was asked by the officers to remove it. A senior police official said there were instructions to the local police to make sure that no one wearing black cloths should be allowed to enter the venue of the rally. Sources said that the cops were taking extra precaution after black flags were shown to Adityanath at his election rally in Meerut a few days back. The matter came to light when some reporters who were present at the rally, clicked pictures that showed the woman taking off her burqa. The pictures showed the woman, who was in the arena reserved for the ladies, speaking to police officers, who had surrounded her. The woman, sources said, identified herself as Saira Bano and told the officers that she was a supporter of the saffron party and was at the rally to listen to Adityanath. Police sources here said that a probe had been ordered into the incident. "We will try to ascertain under what circumstances the woman was asked to take off her burqa," the official said here on Wednesday. In the rally at Meerut, some farmers had reached the venue of the rally carrying black cloths and started waving them as soon as Adityanath began to speak. The BJP workers had thrashed the farmers and a video footage showed injured people being escorted out of the rally by cops. #WATCH: Woman asked by police to remove Burqa during CM Yogi Adityanath's rally in #UttarPradesh's Ballia, yesterday. pic.twitter.com/CgkQWUnXlC ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) November 22, 2017 Indian mining giant Adani is close to securing loans from China to build a 388-km railway in Queensland for its controversy-hit 16.5 billion dollars Carmichael coal mine project, a media report said today. According to the report, days ago, a director of Adani Mining, an Australian subsidiary of the Adani Group's flagship company Adani Enterprises, told industry figures that the company had secured Chinese funding for the mine and the rail project between Abbot Point and Galilee basin in Queensland. "Adani Group is close to securing finance with an announcement expected in coming weeks that Chinese state-owned enterprises, banks, and export credit agencies are backing the venture," the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported. The company, however, rejected the claim in a statement saying, "There have been incorrect reports in the media this morning stating that Adani is no longer seeking a loan from the NAIF". It said that Adani has not sought to become a subject of contention in the current Queensland election campaign and that it has held productive meetings with a wide-range of financiers for the Carmichael Mine and associated infrastructure. The ABC report claimed the director had said that Adani would not need the loan from the Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) to fund the 388-kilometre railway. It claimed a formal announcement of "financial close" was imminent and that "China's money will come at the cost of local jobs". "However, this does not negate the need for support from the Federal and State governments including a NAIF loan every cent of which will be repaid by Adani with interest," the company said. "The purpose of NAIF is to provide loans for economic infrastructure and, again, every cent of this loan will be repaid with interest. The infrastructure Adani is building will be common user infrastructure and will be able to be used by other projects creating opportunities for further jobs and investment," it said. The company reiterated its commitment to Queenslanders particularly regional Queenslanders which it said remained "rock solid". "Unlike some who are reducing their presence in regional centres, Adani will never tradeoff local jobs for short-term benefit. In fact, Adani's regionalisation strategy has cost the company money, not saved money," the company said. Meanwhile, protesters opposing the project continued to stop the construction work by trying to occupy Adani's Townville office. Last month, it was revealed that Australian federal ministers had written a formal letter to the Chinese government to confirm that the controversial coal project had passed all necessary environmental approvals. Adani and the Queensland government have highlighted that the mine, which after its completion will be Australia's largest coal mine, will prove beneficial for the region. Adani has claimed the massive project will create 10,000 direct and indirect jobs in central Queensland. The company, which has managed to clear 200 stringent conditions for the project and several legal challenges from environmental groups, is aiming to start exporting coal via its Abbot Point coal terminal in 2020. The process of establishing charging points at various depots of Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) is currently on to herald the induction of electric buses on the streets of Bengaluru, the Legislative Assembly was informed on Wednesday. Replying to query by N A Haris (Cong), Transport Minister H M Revanna said, the electric buses were being purchased under the Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles scheme of the Centre. The project was discussed at the recently held All India Transport Ministers Meet, Revanna said. Bengaluru could be the first city in India to have electric buses for public transport. The over-enthusiasm of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) to keep the city spik and span for Ivanka Trump's visit is attracting the ire of animal rights activists. The alleged poisoning of street dogs by the veterinary wing of the corporation has made the animal lovers of the city write to the White House condemning the killing of animals in the name of Ivanka's visit. The stray dogs were killed in the posh areas of Banjara and Jubilee Hills, which is in the vicinity of Madapur, the venue of the GES-2017 summit. According to Pravallika, animal rights activists and a former Blue Cross member, the killings were reported in local newspapers on Wednesday. "It is highly disturbing that the government is resorting to kill innocent animals just to make the city look 'beautiful' for that one day Ivanka Trump is visiting," she said. The activists who also wrote to the Chief Veterinary officer of the GHMC through social media said the killing of animals by poisoning is absolutely unacceptable. "These dogs live here. The city is their home. Please do not kill them in their own home for a VIP's visit," they wrote. "Please note that the killing of animals only makes the city ugly, not beautiful. So please stop this insane act of poisoning stray dogs," they wrote in a message to the concerned officers. Talking to DH, Chief Veterinarian Dr Venkateswara Reddy however said the GHMC picks up dogs only for sterilisation and vaccination. "The dogs are generally left in the same area after the procedure. There is not even 1% of truth in the allegation that GHMC has poisoned the dogs," he said. The GHMC, which had already attracted severe criticism for shifting beggars and street hawkers to rehabilitation centres, was caught this time by the residents of the areas where the street dogs suddenly started vanishing. The residents pointed out that the dogs that began vanishing have not come back. Few concerned citizens who found the dogs missing said the dogs that began vanishing have not come back as yet. Some residents, who took one of the sick stray dogs to a government veterinarian, said the doctor had confirmed that the dog has been poisoned. Infosys has reduced staff at its Israeli subsidiary Panaya two years after its acquisition. The company has reduced about 100 employees in the company which had 250 on its rolls. Infosys acquired Panaya, an Israeli automation technology firm founded by Yossi Cohen, in 2015. Panaya provides cloud-based quality management services for enterprise applications worldwide. According to sources familiar with the development, neither founders nor the top management of the company who made it a successful tech company are with the organisation. "Panaya had 250 members during its peak period and now it is brought down below 150. Infosys fired the CEO and top management after taking over and many employees quit the organisation," sources told DH. According to David Keynan, Vice Chairman of Indo-Israeli Chambers of Commerce, who introduced former CEO &MD of Infosys Kris Gopalakrishnan to Panaya during his visit to Israel in 2007, the company is really going through a bad phase in the US. "It was clear back then that the Panaya software as a service(SaaS) model was a threat to Infosys,"he said. Whencontacted,Infosys stated that there has been no systematic headcount reduction. "The reduced headcount is a result of attrition and optimisation of the sales force as the team has been integrated into the overall Infosys ecosystem," staes the company. Jake Klein, who was an investment banker and worked with Infosys as Corporate Development Vice President, later became Panaya CEO. Israely sources said it is unprecedentedan investmentbanker becomingaCEOofacompany. Panaya acquisition was a bone of contention among Infosys board and founders. Cofounder N R Naryana Murthy, whoallegedgovernancelapses and ouster of Vishal Sikka on theissue,wantedthecompany to publish whole details of the acquisition. Infosys had appointed US law firm Gibson Dunn and Crutcher, and global risk consultancy and investigations firm Control Risks to look into the issues raised by the whistle blower and founders. Infosys board headed by Chairman Nandan Nilekani gave a clean chit to the controversial $200 million Panaya acquisition by former MD and CEOVishalSikka,sayingthere was no merit in the allegations of wrongdoing. The Odisha government has decided to seek a Geographical Indication (GI) tag for 'Jagannath Rasagola' and not 'Odishara Rasagola' as was decided earlier after West Bengal got a GI tag for the popular sweet under 'Banglar Rosogolla'. Odisha's MSME minister Prafulla Samal said the decision to apply for GI tag on 'Jagannath Rasagola' - a variety of the syrupy sweetmeat offered to Lord Jagannath at Puri temple - was taken after consulting legal and industry experts. "If the state files for GI tag on 'Odishara Rasagola' against its Bengali counterpart, then it will not be able to get any benefit or advantage," an official at the Director of Industries said. In a letter to MSME Additional Chief Secretary L N Gupta, Director of Industries S R Pradhan said chances of successfully registering 'Odishara Rasagola' are not very bright. "Unless it can be established Rasagola from Odisha has certain unique qualities, characteristics and reputation associated with state of Odisha, the chances of successfully registering 'Odishara Rasagola' are not very bright," the letter said. The letter also pointed out that since different varieties of the syrupy dessert were being prepared across the state, justifying its uniqueness can be difficult, it said. The GI under the World Trade Organization is a sign that identifies a product as originating from a particular place. The industries department has suggested the MSME department to apply for a GI tag for 'Jagannath Rasagola' going by its unique identity and the age-old custom of offering the sweetmeat to Lord Jagannath at Puri temple. Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) or the Servitors' Association may apply for the tag on behalf of the state, Pradhan said. Meanwhile, Odisha's Law Minister Pratap Jena said the MSME department has been entrusted with the responsibility of getting the GI tag for Lord Jagannath's rasagola. Jena said the MSME officials have already visited Puri to collect evidence for the purpose. Puri collector Aravind Agarwal said the district administration would provide all support to MSME department in its endeavour. "Rasagola is being offered to Lord Jagannath for centuries. The district administration will provide all support to MSME department to secure GI tag for 'Jagannath Rasagola'," he added. West Bengal obtained the GI tag for Banglar Rosogolla' on November 12. The sparring over a deleted meme on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'chaiwala' past continued as BJP MP Paresh Rawal took a swipe at the Congress saying the "chai-wala is any day better than your bar-wala", only to get a cutting retort from the Congress today. Rawal deleted his Twitter comment last night, saying it was "in a bad taste" and apologised for it. On the backfoot over the meme put out by its youth wing's online magazine 'Yuva Desh' on Twitter yesterday, the Congress was quick to hit out at Rawal. The party questioned the actor-turned-politician's integrity and demanded Modi to apologise and act against him. The meme by the Congress' youth wing that unleashed a political firestorm contained a photograph of Modi, US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Theresa May engaged in a conversation. Modi is seen as telling the two leaders about the opposition's memes targeting him. He mispronounces the word as "mainmain". Trump corrects him, saying the word is pronounced as "meem", while May tells him to go and sell tea. The meme was deleted later with the Congress apologising for it. Reacting on the issue, Rawal tweeted late night yesterday, "Our chai-wala is any day better than your Bar- Wala!" He deleted it and said, "deleted the tweet as it's in bad taste n I apologise for hurting feelings." Latching onto his tweet, Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala accused the MP from poll-bound Gujarat of resorting to cheapness. Though it was not clear at whom Rawal's comment was directed at, Surjewala wondered "if it was the BJP's definition of respecting women". "Modiji should apologise and take action. Whether Bhakt channels will show guts?" he asked, apparently asking a section of the media whether it will air the news. Asked about Rawal's comment, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal alleged that almost all the leaders in the BJP use such language. "The prime minister (when he was the chief minister of Gujarat) would also speak such things. Now their Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister (Yogi Adityanath) talks such things. The BJP workers too talk like that. We don't do that," he added. A special fast-track court on Wednesday reserved the verdict in the sensational Kopardi rape-murder case till 29 November. Special Public Prosector Ujjwal Nikam had demanded death sentence for the three convicts in the case, while the lawyers of the three accused requested leniency. The three accused, Jitendra alias Pappu Babulal Shinde (26), Santosh Gorkha Bhawal (30) and Nitin Gopinath Bhailume (28) where held guilty of rape, murder and criminal conspiracy. "They deserve the maximum punishment which is death sentence... going by their disposition and behaviour, there is no guarantee that the convicted will not commit a similar crime in the future," Nikam pleaded before Ahmednagar District Sessions Judge Suvarna Keole. A 15-year-old Class IX girl, who belonged to the Maratha community, was brutally raped between 7.35 pm and 8.15 pm on 13 July, 2016 by the accused and was later throttled to death. The victim's mother said the death sentence is the only punishment that the accused deserve. "A strong message needs to go out. Henceforth, no one should do this again to anyone... today, no girl in Kopardi is ready to go to school 6 km away," she said. The High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday appointed senior counsel Dhyan Chinnappa as amicus curiae to assist the court in a suo motu case regarding custodial deaths in the prisons of Karnataka. An amicus curiae is a person appointed by the court who is not party to a case and is also not solicited by a party but is a person who assists the court by offering information that is critical to the case. A division bench of acting Chief Justice H G Ramesh and Justice P S Dinesh Kumar directed Chinnappa to undertake a detailed study of the custodial deaths in prisons and adjourned the matter to Monday. The court has taken up a suo motu case following a Supreme Court direction to chief justices of high courts over custodial deaths in prisons across the country. The apex court had asked all high courts to register petitions on their own to find out the next kin of prisoners who admittedly died unnatural deaths between 2012 and 2015 as revealed by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data and, to award them with suitable compensation where they had not been awarded as such. The bench has asked Chinappa to find out the compensations paid to the families of the deceased in custodial deaths and who are yet to be paid the compensation. The state may see additional cheaper flights connecting smaller towns under the 'UDAN' scheme soon. The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) is going ahead with the second round of bidding for regional routes and by December 21, it will announce which operator will serve the particular routes. Of the 141 proposals covering 502 routes received by the Ministry for which the counter-bidding has started, 20 either originate from these three airports or they are a stopover. Under the UDAN or regional connectivity scheme (RCS), aimed at connecting regional centres, airlines have to cap the airfare for an hour's flight at Rs 2,500. The government will provide viability gap funding (VGF) to bridge the gap, but airlines can choose not to opt for it. One of the proposals is to have a Hyderabad-Hubballi service, while another is of Chennai-Hubballi. Proposals for Bengaluru-Darbhanga, Bengaluru-Kannur and Bengaluru-Ozar(Nasik)-Hindon are also on the block. Airlines are also bidding for Hubballi-Ahmedabad, Hubballi-Tirupati, Hubballi-Mumbai as well as Hyderabad-Koppal-Bengaluru routes. Other proposals on for bidding are the Chennai-Hubballi-Pune, Chennai-Kannur-Hubballi, Kochi-Hubballi-Goa and Bengaluru-Hubballi-Chennai routes. In its presentation before the Ministry in July, the state government had identified a dozen potential air routes on which services can be started. These include Bengaluru-Kalaburagi-Bidar-Hyderabad, Bengaluru-Hubballi-Mangaluru-Bengaluru and Mangaluru-Madikeri-Mysuru-Bengaluru. It had also suggested Mangaluru-Hubballi-Pune and Goa-Hubballi-Kalaburagi-Hyderabad routes. The second round of UDAN will see the addition of more destinations from the north-east and Jammu and Kashmir. In the first round, no airline opted for services from Jammu and Kashmir. The 141 proposals received in the second round relate to 502 routes and they include 161 that fall in the priority areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal, Uttaranchal and north-eastern states. Before the second round of bidding, the Ministry had unveiled new norms to attract more airlines to operate services in Jammu and Kashmir, north-eastern states, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The aim was to increase services to these states, whose aviation potential have not been fully utilised. Decks were cleared on Wednesday for wage revision of 9.35 lakh unionised employees of 320 central public sector enterprises (CPSEs). The Union Cabinet, at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the Wage Policy for the 8th round of wage negotiations for workmen in CPSEs. However, the policy makes it clear that no budgetary support would be provided for any wage increase by the government, and the entire financial implication would have to be met by the respective CPSEs from their internal resources. CPSEs in which the government has approved restructuring or revival plan, the wage revision will be done as per the provisions of the approved restructuring or revival plan only, an official statement said. There are nearly 12.34 lakh employees of 320 CPSEs in the country, of whom some 2.99 lakh employees are board level and below-board level executives and non-unionised supervisors. According to the decision taken, the management of CPSEs would be "free" to negotiate wage revision for workmen where the periodicity of wage settlement for 5 years or 10 years "expired generally" on December 31, 2016, keeping in view the affordability and financial sustainability of such wage revision for the CPSEs concerned. The CPSE managements also have to ensure that negotiated scales of pay do not exceed the existing scales of pay of executives/ officers and non-unionised supervisors of respective CPSEs, the statement said. Dubbing Prime Minister Narendra Modi a "serial abuser" and the BJP the "mother of crass statements", the Congress today demanded the saffron party apologise for "lowering" the quality of public discourse. Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi, however, said that he did not expect the BJP to apologise as the ruling party had never done so in the past. Singhvi's attack comes in the wake of a series of controversial remarks made by BJP leaders, allegedly including the prime minister and the latest by party MP Paresh Rawal. "BJP is mother and producer of derogatory, insulting, foul language...the sheer brazenness with which BJP escapes any blame after indulging in crude, crass and coarse language is appalling...we demand the BJP apologise for lowering quality of public discourse," Singhvi told reporters. Singhvi listed several cases where the prime minister allegedly made derogatory remarks by calling his predecessor Manmohan Singh a "night-watchman", Congress president Sonia Gandhi a "jersey cow" and the party's vice president Rahul Gandhi a "hybrid calf" in the past to drive his point. Singhvi also said that the prime minister had termed the Congress a "termite". He also referred to comments made by Rawal and BJP's Bihar unit chief Nityanand Rai. Hitting out at the Congress over a controversial meme centred around the prime minister's humble background, Rawal had yesterday tweeted that "chai-wala is any day better than your bar-wala". Rawal, however, did not elaborate on whom he called "bar-wala". Rai said that any finger/hand raised against the prime minister would be "chopped off". Both Rawal and Rai have apologised for their remarks. "The prime minister is leading such a discourse...like there are serial killers, the prime minister and the BJP are serial abusers," he added. Singhvi also stressed that the Congress always maintained the quality of discourse and there was a big difference between it and the BJP. He cited the example of how the party apologised for the meme row. He said the Twitter handle where the meme was posted by the online magazine of the Indian Youth Congress was not that of the parent party. "Despite that we apologised, so did the IYC," he said, charging the BJP with never regretting controversial statements made by its leaders. Earlier in the day, Congress's chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala and senior party leader Kapil Sibal lashed out at the BJP over Rawal's remark. Surjewala accused the MP from poll-bound Gujarat of resorting to cheapness. "Modiji should apologise and take action. Whether 'Bhakt' channels will show guts?" he asked on Twitter. Asked about Rawal's comment, Sibal alleged that almost all leaders in the BJP use such language. "The prime minister (when he was the chief minister of Gujarat) would also speak such things. Now their Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister (Yogi Adityanath) talks such things. The BJP workers too talk like that. We don't do that," he added. PTI ENM SMN SK SMN After much hue and cry by the Opposition, the government is likely to convene the winter session of Parliament from December 15, a day after Gujarat votes for the second phase of the Assembly election. The session is expected to continue till January 5, the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs is understood to have decided at its meeting chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh. The Modi government is under attack from the Opposition for delaying the winter session of Parliament, fearing an adverse impact on the Gujarat Assembly elections. However, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley rejected the charges of a truncated session. "We are going to ensure that a regular winter session is held, but the dates of elections and sessions don't overlap," he told reporters here. Taking a swipe at the Congress, Jaitley said the Gujarat polls were important for the BJP and it would be busy campaigning there. "I am not sure whether the Congress would be busy campaigning or not," he quipped. The Congress and Left parties have accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "sabotaging" the winter session of Parliament that usually begins in the third week of November. The BJP had hit back, contending that the session had been delayed on several occasions during Congress regimes. Ostracizing women during pregnancy will be included as a prohibited practice under the Anti-Superstition Bill, which was passed in the Legislative Council after a three-hour-long debate on Wednesday. The Karnataka Prevention and Eradication of Inhuman Evil Practices and Black Magic Bill, 2017, seeks to ban 16 practices including human torture in the guise of religious rituals and creating pranic by threatening to invoke ghosts. "Keeping women out of villages during pregnancy will be added," Law Minister T B Jayachandra said. While several members welcomed the Bill, they raised concerns on differentiating between belief and superstition. Leader of the Opposition K S Eshwarappa opposed the Bill saying it was impractical. "How can you put an end to practices that have existed for years and that have been followed without any force," he asked, citing the examples of Mudradharane among Madhwa Brahmins, Sunat in Islam, piercing of cheeks and tongue among Lingayats and Kavadi or Harohara among Tamils. Basanagouda Patil Yatnal (Ind) opposed it, calling the Bill anti-Hindu. However, BJP's D S Veeraiah supported the long-pending Bill. "It became a reality only because Siddaramaiah is the chief minister. Maybe J H Patel, too, would have brought a Bill like this," he said. Veeraiah, Ivan D'Souza (Cong), Puttanna, Basavaraj Horatti and T A Saravana (all JD-S) demanded inclusion of televised astrology in the list of practices prohibited under the Bill. "After the 2008 polls, when I contested from Mangaluru, I was told by a Kerala astrologer that I'd win if I performed some rituals. I ended up spending Rs 1.5 lakh and I lost," D'Souza said. Don't force me to visit temple: CM During the debate Eshwarappa said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah did not visit the Sri Krishna temple while he was in Udupi recently because he was not invited. Siddaramaiah said: "I was asked if I had been invited to the temple, I told reporters that no one called me. Is it a must to visit the Sri Krishna temple every time I visit Udupi? I'll go to a temple when I feel like going. No one can force me," he said. "I started going to temples only after becoming a legislator. Still, I don't believe Gods reside in temples." A businessman travelling from Bengaluru to Dubai has complained that IndiGo refused to accept Indian currency on-board while he was hungry and wanted to buy food. The airline clarified that present rules do not allow them to accept Indian currency for on-board sales although it has approached the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in 2014 seeking relaxation. The flier, Pramod Jain, has filed a police complaint in Delhi and another case with the consumer forum. "IndiGo does not accept INR for on-board sales on its international flights in accordance with the prevailing FEMA regulations. And this is clearly mentioned in our on-board sales menu," the airline said. "We have filed a request for on-board sales in Indian currency (above Rs 25,000) with RBI on February 26, 2014 and June 05, 2014. We are in active discussions with the authorities concerned," it added. According to Jain's complaint, the incident took place on October 10. He claimed he ordered breakfast but the crew refused to take Indian currency citing regulation despite "repeated requests". He said another passenger also faced the same problem. Jain also claimed that he informed the crew that he did not have breakfast and was willing to pay in Indian currency. However, he claimed, they did not serve him food. A war of words broke out between the Congress and the BJP over uncouth remarks on social media with the Opposition party describing Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a "serial abuser". A day after it tendered an apology for mocking Modi's tea-seller background, Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi listed out a series of controversial remarks made by BJP leaders, including the prime minister, the latest by party member Paresh Rawal. "BJP is mother and producer of derogatory, insulting, foul language...the sheer brazenness with which BJP escapes any blame after indulging in crude, crass and coarse language is appalling... we demand the BJP apologise for lowering quality of public discourse," Singhvi told reporters. The Congress listed several instances where Modi allegedly made derogatory remarks by calling former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh a "night-watchman", Congress President Sonia Gandhi a "jersey cow" and Rahul Gandhi a "hybrid calf". Singhvi also recalled that the prime minister had likened the Congress to "termite" while campaigning in Himachal Pradesh. Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram referred to Bihar BJP President Nityanand Rai's threats of chopping of fingers and hands raised against the Prime Minister. Chai-wala vs bar-wala Actor-turned-Parliamentarian Rawal had hit out at the Congress for mocking Modi's tea-seller origin. "Chai-wala is any day better than your bar-wala," the Lok Sabha member had tweeted without elaborating. Later, Rawal deleted the tweet and apologised for his act. "The prime minister is leading such a discourse...like there are serial killers, the prime minister and the BJP are serial abusers," Singhvi said. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley took a swipe at the Congress over the "chaiwala" meme aimed at Modi. "It is the strength of the Indian democracy which allowed a person from a humble background defeat the mightiest; those who do politics in the name of family and dynasty," he said. "There is no big or small family in democracy today. If Congress has not learnt this lesson, it will never learn it," Jaitley said. India and Russia are set to sign a comprehensive counter-terrorism cooperation agreement during Home Minister Rajnath Singh's visit to Moscow next week. A meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved the draft of the agreement on cooperation between India and Russia for combating "all forms of terrorism and organised crime". The agreement will be signed after Singh's meeting with Russia's Internal Affairs Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev in Moscow. The agreement will replace the existing India-Russia security cooperation pact, which was inked in October 1993. The officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs said that the new agreement would be "a step towards consolidating the benefits accrued in the field of security and seeks to jointly fight the new and evolving risks and threats". The new agreement would reinforce the relationship between India and Russia through exchange and sharing of information, expertise, best practices and would help in curbing terrorism and enhancing, security in the region, said MHA officials. Singh and Kolokoltsev are also expected to sign a joint action or implementation plan for cooperation in areas of drugs and disaster management. Moscow's new envoy to New Delhi, Nikolay Rishatovich Kudashev, called on Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju, on Wednesday. Kudashev told Rijiju that India and Russia had not only been stepping up bilateral cooperation, but also enhanced the level of cooperation in multi-lateral fora like Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and BRICS (a bloc comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). Rijiju said that India and Russia were facing the threat of fundamentalism and terrorism in various forms and asserted that both the countries stand together in the global fight to address the menace of terrorism. He reiterated that concerted efforts by cooperation of global community were important to eliminating this menace. Rijiju and Kudashev accepted the necessity of cooperation in the fields of border security and facilitating international trade. In less than a month after the Chinese leadership pleaded to work towards the emergence of China as a "modern society and strong power", the gathering of the world's top leaders in Manila at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit and East Asia Summit assumed huge significance. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also on a three-day visit to the Philippines to participate in the 15th Asean-India summit and East Asia Summit. While Modi lauded the completion of 50 years of Asean, the prime minister also expressed his commitment to work with the East Asia Forum to address political, security and economic issues of the Asia-Pacific region. In fact, in the post-liberalisation era, improving ties with Southeast Asian countries has always been a priority for India and it has become more important under the Modi government's "Act East" policy. This is evident from the fact that India-Asean trade and investment relations have been growing steadily, with Asean being India's fourth largest trading partner. India's trade with Asean has increased to $ 70 billion in 2016-17 from $ 65 billion in 2015-16. Modi became the first Indian prime minister in the last 30 years to visit the Philippines, with the two countries signing four agreements to enhance cooperation in defence, trade, agriculture and foreign services. He also made a strong pitch for expanding ties with the countries of this region by inviting Asean leaders to be the chief guest at the 2018 Republic Day parade. Of course, Modi identifying terrorism and extremism as the major challenge facing the Asia-Pacific and calling on Asean member countries to work collectively to eradicate this menace was seen as an attempt to expose the dubious record of China and Pakistan on this issue. Another highlight of the Asean summit was the meeting of the representatives of the four democratic countries - the US, Japan, Australia and India - which was focused on the promotion of peace, stability and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific. In fact, the idea of the quadrilateral grouping was first launched in 2006. However, during these years this democratic grouping, also known as "Quad", did not see much engagement, except an informal meeting and a joint naval exercise in 2007. True, in the past India had its own reasons to be apprehensive about the significance of this grouping. While India did not want to antagonise China by becoming a part of any such blocks aimed at containing China, it equally believed that any of the other three countries could also hardly take a tough call against China, given their bilateral economic and other interests with Beijing. However, in the recent times, things have changed very fast. China's Belt and Road Initiative, its assertive posturing in the South China Sea, the rising tensions between Beijing and Washington, China's attempt to intensify the border dispute with India and New Delhi's deepening bilateral engagement with the US, Japan and Australia played a crucial role in the government thinking about reviving the quadrilateral association. One of the first signs was the 2014 Joint Statement issued during Modi's visit to the US. 'Natural partners' In this, Modi and Obama pledged to work together to ensure freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. The Trump administration has further expressed its earnest desire to invest in its "natural strategic partner," India. While it is too early to judge the importance of the Quad for India's strategic and economic interests, the meeting of the quadrilateral association and Modi's saying that India will try to "live up to the expectations of the US" soon after his talks with Trump clearly indicated the US' success in making India more venerable vis--vis China. In this context, it would be appropriate to remind ourselves that while the Trump administration is not forthcoming on several vital issues concerning India, including the H1B visa issue, transfer of dual-technology and others, it also strategically chose to observe silence during the Doklam crisis. Moreover, the quadrilateral meeting between the US, Japan, India and Australia has not gone unnoticed by China. The Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, in fact, said that the US, Japan, India and Australia should not target Beijing, the relevant proposal should be open, inclusive and should be conducive to the win-win cooperation and avoid politicising or excluding some relevant parties. The Asean countries have preferred not to give importance to the reemergence of this grouping. In fact, on the South China issue, China and Asean members signed an agreement on the drafting of a South China Sea code, indicating these countries are not interested in jeopardising their engagement with China. Thus, while the Modi government's efforts have expanded the engagement with Asean countries, the success of the quadrilateral forum depends on the extent to which these four countries identify not only common objectives but also take comprehensive efforts to achieve them. (The writer is a research fellow at Chennai Centre for China Studies) Vodafone users in Bengaluru were inconvenienced for more than two hours on Wednesday evening following a total blackout for about 30 minutes. The problem continued until 7 pm for several others. The problem began with the suspension of data connection followed by the total blackout. "At about 4.30 pm, I noticed the 'emergency calls only' message on my mobile phone. However, I switched from 3G to 2G and the network was fine. Around 5 pm, even that was gone. It was frustrating," Praveen Shetty, a Vodafone user told DH. Shetty had come to the Vodafone Store on the Church Street. However, the staff at the store did not have any clue about the reason behind the blackout. Many tried to find out more about the problems through social media with many tagging Vodafone to ask about the blackout. Vodafone replied on Twitter: "HI, There is a temporary network outage in your area due to which you are facing an issue. The same will be resolved." When asked, a Vodafone India spokesperson acknowledged that there was a technical glitch, but did not answer any specific questions by DH. There is a twist in the case pertaining to police high-handedness on a restaurant owner in northern Bengaluru on November 9. The Karnataka Rakshana Vedike has alleged that Rajeev Shetty, the hotelier, had refused to follow the police directive to shut the restaurant by 11.30 pm on account of Tipu Jayanti that fell on November 10. On Wednesday, KRV activists protested outside the office of the assistant commissioner of police (JC Nagar subdivision) in RT Nagar, suggesting "one-sided" enquiry against the ACP who had caned Shetty for keeping the eatery open until late night. The hotelier "needlessly" argued with the ACP, Manjunath Babu, saying the government allows him to keep the eatery open until 1 am on all days of the week, a protester said. "On November 9, the eve of Tipu Jayanti, police called a meeting with hotel associations and requested them to shut down their establishments an hour before the stipulated time but Shetty didn't care. His eatery usually remains open until 2 am," he added and demanded that the police review the CCTV footage of the past two months. "Caning the hotelier was wrong, but it's unfair to target the ACP who was just doing his duty," KRV leader Praveen Shetty said. N R Santhosh, a relative and personal assistant of state BJP president B S Yeddyurappa, is among 12 people charged by the police with attempting to kidnap Vinay Kumar, a close aide of the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council, K S Eshwarappa. The assistant commissioner of police (Malleswaram) submitted a voluminous 760-page charge sheet to the 7th additional chief metropolitan magistrate on Wednesday. Other accused are Rajendra Urs, the general secretary of the BJP's Yuva Morcha, Bengaluru unit, and history-sheeter Prashanth. The FIR was registered at the Mahalakshmi Layout police station. The charge sheet contains many documents and the call detail record that reportedly nail Santhosh. Police intend to submit a secondary charge sheet to furnish more information. The attempted kidnap is said to be the fallout of personal rivalry between Santhosh and Kumar. The latter reportedly had a CD that contained a video showing Santhosh in a compromising position with a female model. The woman handed over the CD to Kumar after her relationship with Santhosh soured. A 27-year-old woman executive with Air Mauritius was sexually assaulted by her senior manager at a hotel room in Bengaluru on November 18. The woman lodged a complaint with the Cubbon Park police, who arrested and jailed the man. The man has been identified as Rajesh Busgeet (55), a resident of Chennai and the regional manager-South India, Air Mauritius, police said. The police said the incident happened around 9.30 am at Nandhini Paradise hotel close to the Air Mauritius' Bengaluru office on St Mark's Road. Busgeet had flown in from Chennai to conduct a seminar for his Bengaluru office staff at the hotel, where he was staying. Soon after breakfast at the seminar that began on Saturday, Busgeet asked the female executive to come to his room as he wanted to discuss some work-related matter with her. When the woman entered the room, he held her and tried to kiss her, but she pushed him aside and hurried out. She later related the incident to her colleagues, who were left troubled as the man in question was their regional head. However, by afternoon, the woman mustered courage and lodged a complaint at the Cubbon Park police station. Police booked Busgeet under IPC Section 354(A) sexual harassment including unwelcome advances or gestures or sexually coloured remarks. As the offence is bailable, the manager secured bail and returned to Chennai, a senior police official said. Busgeet will present himself when the court hearings initiate, the officer added. The Torrey Pines Community Planning Board is leading an effort to create a master plan to enhance Del Mar Heights Road. Del Mar Heights Road has become a speedway and its going to get worse, said Diana Scheffler, a member of the Torrey Pines Community Planning Boards project review board at the October Carmel Valley Community Planning Board meeting. It has also, as a result of being a dangerous speedway, become a divider in our community. Its very difficult to make that north-south crossing, its dangerous for pedestrians in general and school children in particular. Because its so dangerous to walk, Scheffler said many parents choose to protect children by driving them to school at Del Mar Hills Academy or Del Mar Heights School, which only creates more traffic. Left turns from any of the residential streets onto Del Mar Heights are difficult at best and the intersection of Mango Drive, near the freeway ramps and Beachside Del Mar shopping center, is often seriously congested. The mission (of the master plan) is to reduce the amount of traffic, reduce its speed and to increase walkability and bike-ability from I-5 down to Camino Del Mar, Scheffler said. Such a planning effort will take funding and the group plans to apply for the SANDAG-sponsored Active Transportation Grant Program (ATGP). The goal of the ATGP is to encourage local jurisdictions to plan and build facilities that promote multiple travel choices and increase connectivity to transit, schools, retail centers, parks, work and other community gathering places. According to Scheffler, the city of San Diego has agreed to be the applicant for the grant as a planning group cannot. The group is working to receive support for its effort from elected San Diego county and city officials, the Del Mar Union School District, the city of Del Mar, developers Donahue Schriber and Kilroy Realty, and the Carmel Valley Community Planning Group, which granted its provisional support in October. Its a win-win for all of us because we all do use Del Mar Heights Road, Chair Frisco White said. The call for the applications to distribute $3.6 million in ATGP funds will be in December, with the application deadline in March. The Torrey Pines Community Planning Board has been working on issues on Del Mar Heights for many years. In 2016, the board considered a proposed stoplight at Mercado Drive, which had been voted down twice before in 2004 and 2007. The 2016 proposal was led by a group of parents, although many residents voiced opposition for the necessity and safety of a traffic signal at that intersection. As a result, the board formed an ad hoc committee to consider a master planning effort for the road which included not just traffic-calming measures but also beautification, potential sidewalk additions and other enhancements. Scheffler said the goals for the plan would support concepts of Safe Walks to School, Complete Streets, Smart Mobility, San Diego Climate Action Plan and Vision Zero. That means the plan would include improved pedestrian safety; a review of signalization, turn lanes and crosswalks; the possibility of separating traffic from bike lanes and sidewalks with landscaped buffer zones; and overall creating a more attractive corridor and a more livable neighborhood. Scheffler said public involvement will be incorporated at every planning step. To keep track of board meetings and the groups efforts, visit torreypinescommunity.org. Director Amal Neerad Refuses Dulquer Salmaan's Wish To Join His Father In The Upcoming Movie Heres What Rashmika Mandanna Wants To Do In Hyderabad Save my User ID and Password Some subscribers prefer to save their log-in information so they do not have to enter their User ID and Password each time they visit the site. To activate this function, check the 'Save my User ID and Password' box in the log-in section. This will save the password on the computer you're using to access the site. Note: If you choose to use the log-out feature, you will lose your saved information. This means you will be required to log-in the next time you visit our site. Digitimes Research: Global smartphone shipments to reach over 1.5 billion units in 2018 Global smartphone shipments are expected to grow 5% on year to reach 1.43 billion units in 2017 and expand another 4.8% to over 1.5 billion units in 2018, according to Digitimes Research. Replacement demand for smartphones from feature phone users in emerging markets in Southeast Asia, South America and Africa will be the main source of sales growth for smartphones from 2018-2022 with shipments to grow at a rate of 60-70 million units a year during the projected period. With the exception of Apple and HMD Global (Nokia), the rest of the world's top-20 handset brands in 2017 will come from Asia, including 11 from China and two each from Korea, India and Taiwan. China-based Huawei, Oppo and Vivo will take the third, fourth and fifth positions in the global vendors ranking in 2017. Arup Yacknowitz Arup appointed Joshua Yacknowitz Seattle Group Leader, a job held by Cormac Deavy, who is moving to the United Kingdom as Arup's Buildings West Leader. Yacknowitz will work to increase prime agency work with local clients based on his experience as Arup's Americas Region Science & Industry Business Leader. His work includes manufacturing facilities for Procter & Gamble. Arup provides planning, engineering, design and consulting services. A Pakistani court today ordered the release from house arrest of Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the alleged mastermind of the 26 November 2008 attack on Mumbai that left 166 people dead. Saeed, chief of the terrorist outfit Jamat-ud-Dawa, was put under house arrest in January following pressure from the United States, Pakistan's partner in its fight with warring terror groups. A judicial review board of Pakistan's Punjab province, however, turned down government's request for an extension of his confinement, stating there are no grounds for it and ordered the release of the 26/11 Mumbai attack mastermind. The board rejected the government's plea to extend Saeed's detention for another three months and ordered his release. The board had in October agreed to a month's extension of Saeed's house arrest and the term is due to expire next week, The Indian Express reported. "The government is ordered to release JuD chief Hafiz Saeed if he is not wanted in any other case," the board said. Saeed and his four aides - Abdullah Ubaid, Malik Zafar Iqbal, Abdul Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Hussain - were detained by the Punjab government on 31 January for 90 days under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 and the Fourth Schedule of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997. Saeed's four aides were set free in the last week of October. India has repeatedly asked Pakistan to re-investigate the Mumbai terror attack case and also demanded trial of Saeed and Lashkar-e-Taiba operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi in the light of evidence it had provided to Islamabad. Ten LeT militants killed 166 people and wounded dozens in Mumbai in November 2008. Nine of the attackers were killed by police while lone survivor Ajmal Kasab was caught. Kasab was executed after a court found him guilty and handed down a death sentence. German energy group Uniper rejects 8.05-bn takeover bid from Finland's Fortum German energy group Uniper SE today rejected a 8.05-billion ($9.45 billion) takeover bid from Finland's Fortum Oyj, saying that the offer significantly undervalued the company and lacked key commitments for its future. Uniper said that both its management and supervisory boards agree that Fortum's offer is not in the company's best interest, nor in the interest of its shareholders, employees, and further stakeholders. Klaus Schaefer, Uniper's CEO, said, "Fortum's offer is unacceptable as it does not reflect Uniper's true value. In addition, there is no recognisable contribution to a better development perspective for Uniper. The offer document also does not clearly state what Fortum's true intentions are. Now begins the time for discussions." In September Fortum tabled its 8.05-billion bid for Uniper after the Finnish group signed an agreement with Uniper's earlier parent company Eon to buy its 46.7-per cent stake in Uniper for around 3.8 billion. E.ON has the right to decide to tender its Uniper stake in early 2018, Fortum had offered to pay 22 ($25.84) per share for the remaining 53.3 per cent stake, valuing whole of Uniper at 8.05 billion. Uniper yesterday advised its shareholders to reject Fortum's offer saying that the price does not reflect the company's true value. ''The offer price is simply not attractive,'' Klaus Schaefer said yesterday in an interview with Bloomberg Television. ''There's a limited strategic benefit for us as Uniper and the intentions of what Fortum really wants to do is unclear.'' Uniper said that the average control premium for cash offers for takeovers in Europe is around 35 per cent and hence the offer price should be more than 27 per share. ''The company has performed exceptionally well since becoming independent, is financially sound and makes a significant contribution to the security of supply with gas and power in Europe,'' Bernhard Reutersberg, the company's supervisory board chairman, said in a statement. ''Fortum's offer puts the successful future development of Uniper at risk.'' Uniper was created last year by the separation of E.ON's fossil fuel assets into a separate company and was listed in September 2016. Uniper's prized assets are its hydro and nuclear power in Sweden and its gas plants in Russia and a successful deal would triple Fortum's power generation capacity and expand its assets from the UK to Russia. The High Court has approved a 15 million settlement for a four-year-old boy who was catastrophically injured during his birth at the Coombe Hospital in Dublin. The hospital apologised to Eoin McCallig from Dunkineely in Co Donegal, and to his parents Anthony and Jean, for his injuries and for the devastating consequences for the family. Eoin's father, Anthony, said the family could forgive a mistake, but they could not forgive the way HSE dealt with their family and others in such cases. He told the High Court President Mr Justice Peter Kelly that the culture and procedures needed to change. Speaking on RTE's Six One, Mr McCallig said: "Early intervention is crucial when you are dealing with kids, like Eoin, with cerebral palsy. If we had that money at the start and other kids had that money at the start, you'd be all over the world trying things to give him the best outcome you could." He said the HSE could have better spent the money used to fight challenges on improving the effectiveness and efficiencies of hospitals. An Ardara man who forged an insurance disc by altering the dates from 2014 to 2017 via photo shop, and also having a false tax disc, was told he now had a conviction under the Theft and Fraud Offences Act. 29-year-old Bruce Vial, Kentucky, Ardara pleaded guilty to a total of nine charges that occurred at the Diamond Ardara on November 12 last year and at West End, Ardara on February 14. He pleaded guilty to driving with no insurance, two counts of using false instruments, two counts of creating false instruments, having no road tax and failing to produce insurance at the Diamond Ardara on November 12 last year. He also pleaded guilty to driving with no insurance and failing to produce insurance on last February 14. The court heard that Garda Conry stopped the defendant on November 12 last year and spotted the false discs. The defendant made a brief cautioned statement that said he made up the false discs via photo shop. He had a learner permit but had no insurance, had made the changes of his own free will and had not done it for anyone else. The defendant also admitted changed the date from 2014 to 2017 on the insurance disc. And he admitted having no insurance when stopped at West End Ardara on February 14. Judge Alan Mitchell said there was a sinister element in the way the defendant had deliberately prepared documents. Defence solicitor Patsy Gallagher said the matters before the court came at a difficult time in the defendants life when finance was scarce. On the second occasion he took a chance and was stopped by a local garda. His client had made an early plea and dealt with the matter swiftly. The solicitor asked the court to consider Probation and the defendant had no previous convictions. Judge Alan Mitchell said 15 per cent of all drivers in this country are not insured - People think they can take chances. This caused the insurance premiums for the rest of the population to rise. Judge Mitchell convicted and fined the defendant E300 and banned him from driving for three months for having no insurance on November 12 last year, and took the failure to produce into consideration. He took into account all the charges relating to custody of a false instrument and using a false instrument. The judge fined the defendant E100 for having no road tax. The judge took into account the failure to produce insurance on February 14 last. He jailed the defendant for three months suspended for 18 months for the second offence of having no insurance and fined him E400. He also bound him to keep the peace on his own bond of E100. The defendant was banned from driving for four years concurrent to the first driving ban. The judge asked the gardai to record the suspended jail sentence on the Pulse system. I am not impressed, said the judge. You obviously did not learn your lesson the first time, and added that the defendant was lucky you are not going to jail but your previous clear record saves you. Judge Mitchell said: You came in here with no criminal record and you now have a conviction under the Theft and Fraud Offences Act. Donegal would fare better if it were part of the United Kingdom, John Taylor, the former deputy leader of the Ulster Unionist Party has claimed. Speaking on Ocean FM he said he was "certain" Donegal would be better off if it were part of the UK. He said population figures for counties Tyrone and Fermanagh were increasing, while the population in Donegal was in decline. Ive seen the population in Donegal dwindle since 1921. Its down nearly only half of what it was at the time of partition. Many of the people of Donegal have moved back into the United Kingdom, into the northwest or into Glasgow. He said the people in Tyrone and Fermanagh and elsewhere in Northern Ireland were better off, but Cllr Micheal Colm Mac Giolla Easbuig, a member of Donegal County Council, on the programme to debate with Mr Taylor, challenged this claim, saying there was widespread deprivation and poverty in parts of Derry, Tyrone and Fermanagh and elsewhere in Northern Ireland. Donegal would benefit from the "block rent that we already enjoy in Northern Ireland, 10 billion a year we get, Lord Kilclooney stated. He added: Oh Im certain it would because it would benefit from the block rent from London that we already enjoy in Northern Ireland, 10 billion a year we get. Mr Taylor said that Dublins government ignores Donegal. The history of Donegal since 1921 is desperate," Lord Kilclooney said. Cllr Mac Giolla Easbuig said on that point he agreed with Mr Taylor when he said Donegal was ignored by Dublin. Mr Taylor added that he loved Donegal, was a regular visitor and knew areas such as Rossnowlagh, Bundoran and Carrigart in the north of the county well. "Donegal is a beautiful county and I have often visited it," he said. You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close Their faiths were different, but their message was the same. Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews and other believers gathered at the Episcopal Church of the Nativity Tuesday night for Dothans annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Service. The event brings members of Dothans various faith communities together each year to interact with one another and to express their thanks. Father Peter Wong led the service and spoke about his personal experiences with people of other faiths and how it strengthened his own beliefs. Wong encouraged attendees of the service to reach out to people of other faiths and ways of life. Dozens of people who have come into my life have shown me that I could be more if I loved them, he said. In addition to Wongs message, the event also including readings from various religious texts. The message from each text dealt with gratitude, an appropriate message for the Thanksgiving season. Glenda Davis, a local minister, said the event and the meal afterward helped build a greater sense of community among attendees. Its nice to see everyone sharing food and mixing and mingling, she said. Guru Prakash said the event helps people see similarities rather than differences. I believe all religions have great principles and most beliefs are one and the same, he said. We need to get together to understand each other instead of fighting each other. Aslam Rana said that interfaith events help the larger family of mankind to see their shared origins. Were looking more for commonalities than differences, he said. The Interfaith Thanksgiving Service has been held for 10 years. It moves to a different location each year. Over the past two decades, Vanessa Stoykov has carved out a successful career in the finance industry as a storyteller, TV host and entrepreneur. Her first business, Evolution Media Group, has become a multi-million-dollar production house off the back of demand for its educational video content about wealth. Meanwhile, No More Practice Stoykovs e-learning service for financial advisers has attracted more than 20,000 subscribers and counts the likes of Westpac, AMP and CBA amongst its clients. Stoykov spoke to Dynamic Business about entering the world of business, amidst smoke and lasers, and her desire to see more Australians, especially Gen X, take a vested interest in their financial wellbeing. She also discussed the difference between being the visible face of business and running one, the mistakes shes made in finance that business owners can learn from, and the second season of her TV series, Learn From The Money Masters: The Investment Series. DB: What motivated you to launch both of your companies? Stoykov: At the age of 21, I landed my first journalism job at Investor Weekly Magazine. Although the people had an incredible depth of knowledge, the way they communicated finance was really, really boring. I decided to dedicate my career to making it easier for professionals and consumers to understand and engage with finance through storytelling. Im achieving this through Evolution Media Group (EMG) and No More Practice (NMP). I launched EMG in 1999, at the age of 26, using $14,000 in personal savings. Eight years later, I launched No More Practice. As of July, this year, they are separate companies with separate workforces. DB: So, you had $14,000 to launch EMG. How did you invest it? Stoykov: You want the truth? This might sound like the worst answer but I spent a majority of the funds $10,000 on the EMG launch party! I hired lasers and a smoke machine, guests drank purple cocktails and Wil Anderson, who was my flatmate at university, was the MC. If that tells you anything about my business styleits that, at the very least, I like to make an entrance! I wouldnt necessarily recommend this approach to othersbut you know what? It worked! I knew how to market myself to a room full of finance people, many of whom decided to give me a chance. DB: What about the remaining $4000 where did that money go? Stoykov: I hired a book keeper and an off-sider. I knew I couldnt do it alone and wanted to focus on building the business, including our client base. DB: Can you give a sense of the companys evolution since launch? Stoykov: Playing to my strengths in journalism, I initially did PR for finance companies, including fund managers and super funds, because I wanted to help them get their story out to the world. I then moved into print and digital advertising when a creative director named Woody, who is now my husband, joined the business. However, it wasnt until 2007, when EMG started making content for television, that our message started to resonate with a mainstream audience. DB: What circumstances led you to launch your second business NMP? Stoykov: About ten years ago, as a number of financial planning practices were being bought out by the big banks, I thought to myself, Why dont we document the stories of financial advisers seeking to exit their businesses? Seeing a great opportunity to show financial planners how to build better businesses and support their growth so I approached a friend who was pregnant and looking to sell her practice and she agreed to get involved. We ended up filming her all the way up until the birth of her baby by which time shed sold her practice for $3.5 million. Off the back of that show, we gained 8000 online. Due the success of this project, I established NMP as a means of providing advisers and accountants with educational video content. Today, the likes of CBA, BT Westpac and AMP license our video content as it assists their advisers to communicate finance concepts to their clients in an accessible manner. DB: How would you quantify the success of The Investment Series? Stoykov: The Investment Series has now aired on Channel Nine for two consecutive years. In addition to attracting 1.7 million live viewers on television, the first season had a digital audience of 2 million so, weve had 3.7 million all up. We dont have the final figures for season two, which is titled Learn from the Money Masters, because the finale doesnt air until Saturday, 2 December but I can say our numbers are bigger. Since it first began airing in October, season two has had 3 million views digitally. The focus of season two, Ex-Neighbours star Blair McDonough, has been a real boon for the show because, unlike many celebrities, hes an everyman and he been very open about his finance. Hes talked about his cash flow, shortfall and lack of financial planning like many Australians, hes trusted that it will all work out. DB: Why host the show instead of remaining behind the scenes? Stoykov: I am a storyteller and I believed that putting a face to our industry was a critical to the story I wanted to tell. DB: Has being a TV personality involved a steep learning curve? Stoykov: Being the visible face of my two businesses, through The Investor Series, has been a massively different experience from running them, behind the scenes. By putting myself out there, Ive left myself open to potential criticism. Due to a strong sense of self, however, Ive learnt to take things on the chin. Building my personal brand has assisted my businesses because Ive become someone who people can relate to and, hopefully, trust. They know that if I put my name and face to it, its going to be a reflection of my ethics and what my purpose is which is to help people make the pension irrelevant. On the topic of building my personal brand, I recently launched my own website VanessaStoykov.com. It features a free financial wellbeing diagnostic Ive been working on for a long time that assists people to identify behaviours they need to unlearn in order to succeed. At the heart of my diagnostic are my five unlearn pillars, which are designed to people become aware of behaviours around finance and work on change over time. DB: Is financial illiteracy a big issue for Australian businesses? Stoykov: It is. Its held me back too. If your passion is not accounting, then its something you have to stretch to understand. If you dont, it continues to cost you money. Through my two businesses, Ive tried to get more people interested in their financial wellbeing. My throwaway line is money is sexy finance is boring. DB: What are some bad habits business owners must unlearn? Stoykov: As Ive made all of these mistakes, I can speak from experience Spending all their time putting out fires instead of pursuing strategies for sustainable, long-term growth For example, allocating capital based on immediate need, rather than having a strategic long-term view. Its important to think about where you want your business to in 10 to 20 years and to set goals. This relates to first of my five unlearn pillars, Focus. Acting without having a plan in place for whats next What is your exit strategy? Who would buy your business? If you cant see the end at the start its going to be a lot harder to point the ship in the right direction. Its important for business owners to not only document but also benchmark their performance against their strategies? Otherwise, how else will they know if their strategy is working? This relates to my final unlearn pillar, Action. Equating what they want in their business with what they need Things like a new company car or a laptop are nice perks but they can erode your cash flow, causing you stress down the line if its money you cant spare. This relates to desire, one of my unlearn pillars. DB: What are some of the mantras you live by in business? Stoykov: I have a few Never give up Its something entrepreneur Mark Bouris once espoused to me with great passionbut its also something I learned from the example set by my father whos originally from Serbia. Like many baby boomers who immigrated to Australia with nothing, he has an incredible story of perserverance and thats what you need when youre running a business. Running a business is ridiculously hard, so if yure not resilient you wont make it. Its something entrepreneur Mark Bouris once espoused to me with great passionbut its also something I learned from the example set by my father whos originally from Serbia. Like many baby boomers who immigrated to Australia with nothing, he has an incredible story of perserverance and thats what you need when youre running a business. Running a business is ridiculously hard, so if yure not resilient you wont make it. Cut your coat according to your cloth In other words, dont spend more than you can earn. Being entrepreneurial with growth without getting into a lot of debt is the advice I would give. Cash flow is king We manage our cash flow on a daily basis still and were now a multi-million-dollar business. I always want to know where we are at and what were spending so I know we can afford to execute our strategic plan DB: What have been the defining moments in your career? Stoykov: Spending a day with author Bryce Courtenay, through EMG, for an interview were proud of. He was a master story teller, the trait I admire and aspire to most. The highlight with NMP has been reaching over 3 million Australians about a subject they havent previously engaged with. DB: Whats next? Where will you be focusing your efforts? Stoykov: Ill be doing a lot more book writing and hitting the road speaking to people about their financial wellbeing. We only have 20 years to help Generation X prepare for retirement. If they dont utilise the knowledge and tools at hand, up to 80 percent of the entire generation could retire uncomfortably. By telling stories that people can relate to I hope to help them find their way. With Amazon expected to launch in Australia on Thursday, the build up has seen mixed reactions from online retailers. While the immediate response from many has been one of fear and skepticism, theres no doubt that appetite among consumers is alive and well. A recent study by Nielsen reported that 75% of Australians aged 18+ are interested in Amazon Australia, 56% are likely to purchase from its Australian site, and 45% would even pay to become an Amazon Prime member to receive special deals, discounts and delivery perks. With this top of mind, small and medium sized ecommerce businesses should embrace Amazon as an opportunity to gain exposure to a wider, engaged audience. While there are certainly some potential challenges ahead, there are also a number of steps and principles Aussie businesses should follow to maximise the positive impact of Amazons arrival on their business. Take advantage of Amazons network Australian ecommerce businesses can utilise Amazon as a means of gaining additional exposure to a wider audience. If you break it down, this is an opportunity for retailers to sell their products on a new distribution channel. Whether they choose to use it for select items, or gradually build up to making everything available on the site, its a great way to get their brand noticed in a new way. There are additional benefits, such as leveraging Amazons logistics support to enable you to prioritise your customer experience, and utilising valuable data to pull insights and make adjustments that will improve your sales performance. Slow and steady wins the race Theres no need for retailers to go putting their entire product suite onto Amazon all at once. The safest method is to start slow and gradually expand over time. Its important that retailers invest time in researching and understanding how the marketplace operates, and sussing out key competitors. This will ensure you are properly set up to fulfil orders and arent leaving yourself in an operational nightmare. It will also give you time to optimise listings and adjust price points according to Amazons shopper preferences and any major competitors on the marketplace. Offer something unique In 2016, Amazon made US$123B in online sales, half of which came from third-party sellers. Its a crowded and competitive marketplace, and you need to first ensure you are clear on what sets you apart from other retailers. It can be a unique product, more attractive price point or superior shipping options, or even as simple as higher quality images, descriptions and cooler packaging. Smaller retailers, particularly those with unique inventory, have already proven they can do very well via Amazon in developed markets like the US. Decide which factors will make you stand out and own them, and youll get results. Dont forget who you are At the end of the day, its crucial that you stick to your brand mission and purpose, and continue to nurture your audiences needs through your own online store. There are boundless opportunities for Aussie retailers to take advantage of Amazon, but those that continue to focus on niche offerings. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is offering a reward of as much as $1,000 for information about two bull elk that were killed south of Pompeys Pillar over the Nov. 18-19 weekend and illegally left to waste. FWP game warden Courtney Tyree said someone killed the two elk on private land south of Interstate 94 and removed the heads, but left most of the rest of the animals to waste. Anyone with information about the poaching is encouraged to call FWPs 24-hour crime-reporting line at 1-800-TIP-MONT (800-847-6668). Those who call with information leading to a conviction of the people responsible for the illegal waste qualify for a cash reward of as much as $1,000. The 1-800-TIP-MONT program is a toll-free number where people can report violations of fish, wildlife or park regulations. Callers may remain anonymous. A Lame Deer man charged in a large meth conspiracy that admitted on Wednesday that he distributed the drug on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation. Thomas Spang, 36, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute meth during a hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy Cavan of Billings. Spang was charged separately as part of a large trafficking case in which prosecutors said meth was brought to the Billings area for redistribution in the community and on the Crow and Northern Cheyenne reservations. Spang admitted to trafficking meth from about 2012 until September 2016, when he got arrested in Riverton, Wyoming, and was prosecuted for having about 100 grams of meth in his vehicle. Assistant U.S. Attorney Branden McCarthy said during law enforcements investigation of Spang, Spang admitted to getting two to three ounces of meth every two weeks from Mario Martinez-Banderas, a fugitive under federal indictment since 2015. He also identified associates of Martinez-Banderas, he said. Shortly before his Wyoming arrest, Spang met Martinez-Banderas and followed his vehicle to the Crow Agency residence of Mary Rock Big Man, where Martinez-Banderas met an associate, Kevin Torres-Ochoa. Both Rock Big Man and Torres-Ochoa have been convicted in the conspiracy. Rock Big Man admitted to helping store about five pounds of meth for the organization and was sentenced to five years in prison. Torres-Ochoa is awaiting sentencing. He told investigators that Rock Big Man was his wife and admitted to working with a drug group in San Jose, California, and to receiving five or six one-pound packages of meth for delivery to others. After meeting Torres-Ochoa, Spang followed Martinez-Banderas to the Billings residence of Joshua Hagen, off of Old Hardin Road, McCarthy said. Spang waited outside until a man came out and gave him about six ounces of meth, he said. Spang then returned home to Lame Deer. McCarthy said Spang positively identified Hagen as the man who gave him the six ounces of meth and also identified a photo of Ochoa-Torres. Spang denied having identified Hagen as the man who gave him the meth. Also this week, Hagen pleaded guilty on Tuesday during a hearing before Cavan to conspiracy to possess meth for distribution as charged in an indictment for his role in the case. Hagen faces a minimum mandatory 10 years to life in prison and a $10 million fine. Spang faces a maximum 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Cavan said he would recommend Hagens and Spangs pleas be accepted by U.S. District Judge Susan Watters, who will sentence them. Hagen is on release, while Spang remains in custody. Kemp sails to second term, Republicans sweep Early County Republicans up and down the ticket won Early County with nearly 60% of the vote as Gov. Brian Kemp heads toward a second term in office. With 100% of the... The Early County Bobcats advance The Early County Bobcats defeated the Turner County Titans last Friday to advance to the second round of the GHSA 1-A Division II playoffs. The Bobcats will host Telfair County... Another 22 miles down for Mission 22 For the last eight years, members of AndrewServes, the service organization of Andrew College, have walked 22 miles, ending in Blakely, in honor of Mission 22. The Mission 22 organization... Blakely-Early County Kiwanis Club holds inaugural meeting Mr. Allen Browne could have imagined that an organization he began in 1914 in Detroit, Michigan, would continue to expand and make its way to Blakely Early County in 2022?... Chief Economist Guriev: The appetite for reform seems to have returned The EBRD has seen a welcome upturn in the pace of reform in emerging economies where the Bank invests, four years after reporting that reforms were stalling or even being thrown into reverse. In its Transition Report 2017-18: Sustaining Growth, the EBRD documents both progress and setbacks in reforms from the past year and sees many remaining challenges. But commenting on the latest findings, EBRD Chief Economist Sergei Guriev said: The appetite for reform seems to have returned to the region. In 2013, the EBRD issued a stark warning in its report Stuck in Transition?, saying that a failure to rekindle the reform process could leave these emerging economies trailing behind their more advanced neighbours for decades to come. The EBRD responded to this challenge by stepping up its own support for policy reforms in the 38 economies where it invests to promote sustainable open-market economies. The Bank made clear that engagement in policy reform was a core activity alongside investment and declared that transformative investment projects and a good policy environment were complementary and mutually reinforcing. The EBRD also unveiled a new set of investment criteria for its projects, ensuring that its countries of operations are more competitive, better governed, greener, more inclusive, more resilient and more integrated. These are the six transition qualities the EBRD believes best help to equip its economies to address the challenges of the 21st century and according to which all of its projects are measured. The new Transition Report highlights a series of key reforms listed according to the six transition qualities. Reforms aimed at making economies more competitive In the competitive category, the EBRD refers to comprehensive and far-reaching reforms, in particular in Uzbekistan, where the EBRD has begun investing again after a seven-year gap. Uzbekistan remains low on the list of overall transition successes, but the report points specifically to a move to freely convert the Uzbek currency, a step seen as a litmus test for other reforms. Similarly, Egypts decision to liberalise its exchange rate regime and remove restrictions on cross-border currency transfers is expected to ease the previous concerns of foreign investors. Several countries have made important progress in privatisation, with projects in Greece covering concessions for Piraeus port, regional airports and a sale of the railway company TrainOSE. Progress has also been seen in Slovenia, with the exception of the sale of its largest bank, NLB, and in Kazakhstan. However, Ukraines privatisation programme has largely stalled, the report says, noting that the countrys largest bank, Privatbank, had had to be nationalised. In Poland, where state control over the economy remains significant, the government has called a halt to the countrys privatisation programme. Good governance The EBRD report says that a number of countries in the southern and eastern Mediterranean (SEMED) region have recently embarked on major reforms to public administration and civil services, as part of improvements to governance, with Tunisia streamlining the civil service and Jordan reviewing the management of public investment. Governance of companies is also being improved and the EBRD is helping to implement reforms to raise standards in state-owned enterprises, in Belarus, for example, in anticipation of the privatisation of two banks, and also at Albanias main utility firm, KESH. Green transition Major progress has been seen right across the region in the area of transition to a green economy, especially as regards the development of renewable energy, often with the support of the EBRD. The Egyptian government unveiled a strategy formalising its commitment to renewable energy. The Bank followed up support for these reforms with investment in an Egyptian solar plant which is now the largest in Africa. Progress has also been seen in fossil-fuel dependent Mongolia. In Serbia, where renewable energy use remains limited, new wind farms have successfully raised the financing they needed following significant policy dialogue involving the EBRD. Inclusion The report notes efforts to promote inclusive growth are under way across the region, helping to address major challenges of youth unemployment, especially in SEMED countries and in the Western Balkans, and in the legal and regulatory barriers that prevent women from taking part in labour markets on an equal footing with men, particularly in the SEMED region, Turkey and Central Asia. Progress includes steps in Kazakhstan to address rules barring women from specific activities, with similar developments also seen in the Kyrgyz Republic. In many parts of the Western Balkans reforms are under way with the aim of improving technical and vocational education and skills. Resilience A number of countries have taken important steps to strengthen financial-sector resilience, particularly in the area of non-performing loans (NPLs) which remain a burden on economies in the EBRD regions, especially in Cyprus and Greece, where they still account for nearly half of all loans. The report points to various important legislative changes in both countries which are now showing some limited success. Elsewhere in southern and eastern Europe, the EBRD is spearheading work on NPL resolution with a number of partners in the context of the Vienna Initiative, a public-private forum for addressing financial challenges in southern, central and eastern Europe. NPL ratios are down sharply in Albania, FYR Macedonia, Romania and Serbia. In Moldova, there has been significant progress in addressing vulnerabilities in banks, again with EBRD support. In Azerbaijan, authorities have made progress with the restructuring of the countrys largest bank, IBA, in preparation for its eventual privatisation. Integration The report highlights the importance of integration for EBRD countries of operations, and cites examples of where barriers are gradually being broken down, with particular successes over the past year in southern and eastern Europe and Central Asia. It notes that Albania, FYR Macedonia, Kosovo and Montenegro have all made major progress in the area of road-building. However, important road projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina have been delayed by failure to amend the law on fuel excise duties that would allow an increase in fuel prices. 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The copper star is 5 feet tall and was fabricated by Split Mountain Metals in Belgrade. This is the first-ever copper star to be created for the Capitol tree, which was harvested from Kootenai National Forest. The tree will sit on the west lawn of the Capitol in Washington, D.C., and will be lit by an 11-year-old boy from Bozeman who was chosen by U.S. Sen. Jon Tester. Under fierce assault since the Russian invasion, one Ukraine mayor describes how EU loans helped the population reject their occupiers Nebraska regulators have approved an alternative route for the Keystone XL pipeline, opening the tap on the only thing so far to flow through the unbuilt line first proposed nine years ago: controversy. Montanans lined up on both sides of the Keystone XL ruling. Local governments along the proposed pipelines nearly 300 Montana miles liked the chances of Keystone XL actually being built. Environmentalists promised to fight the pipelines development. The pipeline builder was on the phone with local governments along the line right after Mondays ruling. We heard from them an hour after the decision, said Prairie County Commissioner Todd Devlin. They notified us what happened and they were pretty optimistic that it was a go. Theyll be making a final decision in December or January. The proposed Keystone XL pipeline crosses 284 miles of Montana, more than any other state. The project didnt draw much attention along the proposed Montana pipeline route before former President Barack Obama rejected it in 2015. Devlin said Keystone XL crosses 22 miles of Prairie County. The revenue collected from pipeline property taxes would double Prairie Countys tax base. Montanas university system would also benefit, as mills dedicated to public schools collect more revenue. But the Keystone XL is far from a done deal. Oil prices and the politics surrounding the pipeline arent favorable. Oil prices were hovering around $100 a barrel when Keystone XL was first proposed. At that price, oil companies found profit in surface mining Canadian tar sands oil, refining the crude and shipping it to the United States. The goal of Keystone XL was to deliver tar sands crude to Cushing, Oklahoma, and eventually refineries encircling the Gulf of Mexico. Those same prices sparked hydraulic fracturing of Bakken shale in western North Dakota and a small portion of Eastern Montana. There were plans for a Bakken crude onramp near Baker. But oil prices slid dramatically in October 2014 and haven't fully recovered. Production in Alberta and the Bakken has declined because of low prices. I know Keystone is actively seeking subscriptions to the pipeline, said Alan Olson of the Montana Petroleum Association. Its a real shame its taken seven to eight years to get their project going, but I think theres still a chance that theyll be able to fill the pipeline and get it going. The significant hurdles ahead for Keystone XL include right-of-way negotiations with new landowners along the approved Nebraska route, said Lena Moffitt of the Sierra Club. Those negotiations with private landowners are still needed despite Mondays ruling by the Nebraska Public Service Commission. Last weeks discovery of a 210,000 gallon leak along another Keystone pipeline helped make the case against developing Keystone XL, she said. We are disappointed. We are not surprised in some ways. This is the PSC not giving TransCanada what they asked for, which is a good thing, Moffitt said. We continue to be confident that this pipeline is never going to be built. It was a bad idea when TransCanada applied nine years ago and it still is. In March, the Sierra Club, along with the Billings-based Northern Plains Resource Council and other groups sued the federal government over President Donald Trumps approval of the Keystone XL pipeline. The groups contend there wasnt enough scrutiny before Trumps decision was made. That lawsuit filed in federal court in Great Falls is still waiting for a hearing. I hope those (Nebraska) landowners will be treated fairly and wont be forced by eminent domain if they do not want it, said Dena Hoff of Northern Plains. There is going to be damage. There are no pipelines that dont leak. When it came time to hang a robe on the shoulders of Don Harris for the first time as a judge, there wasn't one immediately available. So District Judge Michael Moses unzipped his and lent it to Harris' wife, Cheryl Harris, who placed the judicial robe. With that, Harris had been sworn in as the newest judge in the 13th Judicial District of Montana. Afterward, Harris shared a few thoughts about his judicial philosophy mixed with a bit of lightheartedness. "I know all of you here are going to roll your eyes," he said, "because I've been a judge here for like about two minutes, three minutes." Harris was appointed by Gov. Steve Bullock on Oct. 31 to fill the seat vacated by Russell Fagg, who announced his retirement in June prior to his run for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate. His last day on the bench was Oct. 13. Harris will have to run for election in 2018 to retain the seat. The position pays $132,567 a year. The 13th Judicial District is the busiest district court in the state, and is understaffed by seven judges, according to a caseload study done by the District Court Council. Two new judges were approved by the Montana Legislature in response to growing caseloads. Those judges will run for election in November 2018 and be sworn in in January 2019. Harris was a partner with Harris, Gannet & Varela PLLC. He received both his Bachelor of Arts and Juris Doctorate degrees from the University of Montana and has practiced law in Yellowstone County since 1983. The swearing-in ceremony took place in a crowded courtroom filled with attorneys, judges, friends and family. Moses presided over the event, which went on the court record, as the four other sitting district judges looked on. When it came time to speak, Harris was brief. Others had lent praise early in the ceremony. Billings attorney Randy Bishop said that when the district seeks more of its judges, it looks to people like Harris, who is a former colleague. "People who have worked with and, significantly, against Mr. Harris repeatedly comment about his extraordinary intellect, his unfailingly patient and calm judicial demeanor, his humble yet compassionate courage," he said. "The fact that he is disciplined, organized and efficient." Moses had competed against Harris when they were at competing Billings high schools. They later practiced law both against and alongside one another. "The last and only thing we need to do now is administer the oath," Moses said. "And then he'll get to work." As for Harris' remarks on judicial philosophy, he said that he relied on the Yellowstone County legal community throughout his career for advice and guidance. So it goes, he said, in parenting and in law. "I also believe it takes a community to uphold the rule of law," he said. "And we all have our part. And I look forward to working with all of the people who are engaged in this great and noble effort to uphold the rule of law." Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton are going strong after two years of dating and in a new interview, the "Used to Love You" songstress opened up about their "real" love and their adorable "tribe." As she and Shelton continue to face rumors of babies and weddings, Stefani spoke to Marie Claire magazine about their life behind the scenes. Hes my best friend, Stefani said, according to a report by Hollywood Life on Nov. 20. Stefani and Shelton began dating one another at the end of 2015 and in November of that year, they publicly confirmed their romance with a joint outing in Nashville at an afterparty for an award show in the area. Since then, they have been spending time as a "tribe" with Stefani's three children, 11-year-old Kingston, 9-year-old Zuma, and 3-year-old Apollo. Its very tribal. Blake has a sister, she comes with her kids. We cook and get muddy and dirty," Stefani revealed of life with Shelton in his hometown in Oklahoma. "There are ATVs. Being a mother of three boys, its kind of the perfect place. Everything is real now, whereas before, things didnt seem so real. Also, during her interview with Marie Claire magazine, Stefani addressed her messy split from ex-husband Gavin Rossdale, the father of her three sons. I could not understand why Id had so much heartache in my life. I have parents who are still married and in love. I had such loving role models. I didnt understand it, she said. As fans may recall, Stefani's former husband was accused of cheating on her during their 13-year marriage with their ex-nanny, Mindy Mann. According to a Us Weekly magazine report in 2015, Stefani learned of Rossdale's alleged affair from a staff member and ultimately saw proof of their plans to meet for sex in text messages sent from their family's iPad. What I learned was that my heartbreak was supposed to happen, that it was my purpose to write about and share my story, she explained. I met at least 50 to 100 people before each show on my tour and got to hear that my truth and my story translated, and I feel very lucky and honored knowing that. Although Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton are currently facing rumors, which suggest Stefani is undergoing in-vitro fertilization in hopes of conceiving their first child, they have not yet confirmed any such news. Black Friday is the biggest shopping event of the year, with retailers offering huge discounts on TVs, gadgets, and clothing among other things. Now, people can even opt for a cheap vacation with WOW Air's latest Black Friday sale and they don't even have to queue up for it. The Icelandic low-cost transatlantic airline is offering flights to Europe for as low as $99. What's the offer? The company announced last month that it would offer one-way flight tickets for $99 to seven European destinations such as Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt, Dublin, Edinburgh, Stockholm, and Copenhagen from five cities in the United States, namely Boston, Washington, D.C., New York, Pittsburgh, and Chicago. The offer also allows travelers to fly to the same European cities from Los Angeles and San Francisco for a reasonable single-way fare for as cheap as $119. The reduced fare is offered on flights departing in November through Dec. 13 and can be purchased from the company's official website. "WOW air is happy to provide some early holiday cheer to travelers in many of our U.S. destinations," Airline founder and CEO Skuli Mogensen said in a statement obtained by Business Insider. "We hope to make international travel more accessible for travel enthusiasts during the holiday season and beyond." The deal is a steal and the best part about it is that one doesn't even have to wake up early in the morning, wait in lengthy queues outside the mall and fend off fellow shoppers to make the most of the Black Friday sale. Travelers can book the flights in their pajamas right from the comfort of their home. What's the catch? The tickets might be light in the pocket but there is a catch. Travelers have to book a return flight to take advantage of the reduced fare and are only allowed to carry one personal item weighing up to 22 pounds for free. It means that the fare does not include the additional carry-on luggage cost of $39.99 and check-in luggage cost of $59.99. See the Northern Lights in Iceland As an add-on bonus, the flights will be via the Icelandic capital of Reykjavik, so travelers can choose for the WOW air stopover option, spend a couple of nights in the beautiful city, and witness Mother Nature's incredible display of the Northern Lights, which are generally visible during the fall and winter months. If travelers want to get their hands on a cheap ticket, they'll have to hurry up because there are only a total of 1,250 seats available for $99. After facing public scrutiny for her controversial photo, Kathy Griffin is still feeling the backlash for her regrettable decision. The comedian and actress has been known to stretch the bar with her lewd comments and comedic attacks against some celebrities, which actually led to her being banned from certain talk shows. Still, Griffin was a hot commodity and had a loyal fan base, who applauded the actress for her honesty and compared her to the late Joan Rivers. Unfortunately, it seems that Griffin may have gone a bit too far this time. After posting a photo of what appeared to be the severed head of President Donald Trump, Griffin received harsh criticism, with even the president and his family commenting on the photo. Even though Griffin made the photo in response to a remark Trump made toward journalist Megyn Kelly, her intentions fell on deaf ears. Griffin has pleaded for forgiveness, but it doesn't seem to be enough. The actress is now claiming she has been blacklisted in Hollywood, and no one will hire her. Griffin is currently on her world tour but states that when she returns to America, she will not have one single paying job waiting for her. After posting the controversial photo on her social media page, Griffin was dropped as the spokesperson for Squatty Potty and lost her impending gig with friend Anderson Cooper for CNN's New Year's Eve's broadcast. "For the record, I am appalled by the photo shoot Kathy Griffin took part in. It is clearly disgusting and completely inappropriate," Cooper said in response to Griffin's photo. Griffin held a press conference with her attorney Lisa Bloom, stating she never meant for the picture to be taken as a threat of violence against Trump and that the first family was trying to ruin her life forever. Griffin also stated that she was under investigation by the justice department and was put on Interpol's "no fly" list. "I just want you guys to know that when I get home I don't have one single day of paid work in front of me ... my legal bills are through the roof ... I still say the end goal is for younger women and younger LGBT folks or disenfranchised people of any kind can watch me survive, and with a sense of humor," she remarked during her tour. It was reported that Griffin has sold her Hollywood Hills home she has been an occupant of since 2004 after it spent a year on the market. Little House on the Prairie star Melissa Gilbert is coming forward and speaking on her experience with sexual harassment. In addition to recounting the horrific trauma she endured, the actress has also named the man responsible for it director Oliver Stone. Stone, the visionary who wrote the acclaimed gangster movie Scarface and directed Wall Street, Savages, and Any Given Sunday was previously accused by former playboy model Carrie Stevens. Stevens alleges that Stone grabbed her breast while he walked past her at a party. Stevens brought these accusations to light after Stone publicly announced that he would no longer film The Weinstein Company's television series Guantanamo after Harvey Weinstein was accused of sexual harassment. Stone made the announcement after he came under fire for trying to defend Weinstein without fully knowing how many women were speaking out against him. Gilbert stated during an interview with Andy Cohen that she too was harassed by the director during an audition for the movie The Doors. The former child star elaborated that she had "embarrassed" the director in a public setting beforehand, so to get back at Gilbert, Stone wrote a specific scene for the actress to perform in order to humiliate her. "He had me read a scene, and then he said 'I've written this special scene for you.' The whole scene was just my character on her hands and knees, saying 'do me baby,' really dirty, horrible. It was humiliating and horrid," Gilbert states. Gilbert said she left the audition in tears, and the role for the movie ultimately went to actress Meg Ryan. Stone is now denying Gilbert's allegations. "Anyone auditioning was told the scenes would be rehearsed and performed from a script, with my casting director, Risa Bramon Garcia, present throughout the process to ensure a safe environment for all actors who auditioned," Stone said in an official statement. The Weinstein Effect More actors and actresses are speaking out about being sexually assaulted or abused by powerful men in the industry. This follows an expose article written in the New York Times about Harvey Weinstein back in September. Since the article was published, many high-profiled actresses came forward and named Weinstein as their attacker. Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow, Lupita Nyong'o, and Ashley Judd have all spoken out against Weinstein and recounted their terrifying experiences with the Hollywood mogul. Kevin Spacey was also accused of sexually harassing Rent actor Anthony Rapp when he was a teenager back in the '80s. After Rapp, more men, some in the industry and others who wished to remain anonymous, came forward and accused Spacey of groping them or indecently exposing himself to them. Spacey has issued an apology and is now in rehabilitation undergoing treatment and evaluation. Others who have been accused are Brett Ratner, Dustin Hoffman, Ed Westwick, and James Toback. 25 years for human rights, justice and democracy "Ive long admired ETANs work. For well over a decade, ETAN has conducted some of the most effective grassroots campaigns I know. With limited resources, they helped free a nation and fundamentally changed policy toward one of the U.S.s closest and most repressive allies, Indonesia." Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now! Support ETAN Work for Human Rights and Justice! Please donate today! Join others in supporting ETAN! ETAN's work is only possible with your generous support. Become a sustainer Make a monthly pledge to support ETAN Amount : $10.00USD - monthly $5/month : $5.00USD - monthly $15/month : $15.00USD - monthly $25/month : $25.00USD - monthly $50/month : $50.00USD - monthly $75/month : $75.00USD - monthly $100/month : $100.00USD - monthly #125/month : $125.00USD - monthly Comments Mail your checks to: ETAN PO Box 1663 New York, NY 10035-1663 USA make checks payable to East Timor Action Network, Inc. for U.S. tax-deductible donations of $50 or more for ETAN's educational work, make your check payable to AJ Muste Memorial Institute, put ETAN in memo field Questions? Email or call +1-917-690-4321 Make a one-time U.S. tax-deductible donation by credit card to support ETAN's educational work: Donate by Credit Card via Paypal ( To support ETAN's political and advocacy work. These donations give ETAN the most flexibility and are not tax-deductible. ) Make a non-tax-deductible donation by check. (best deal for ETAN with the fewest fees) Make a U.S. tax-deductible donation by check, make your check payable to AJ Muste Memorial Institute, and put ETAN in memo field. Mail your checks to ETAN, PO Box 1663, New York, NY 10035-1663 USA Thank you for your support! East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) PO Box 1663 New York, NY 10035-1663 USA +1-917-690-4391 etan@etan.org Having campaigned for Timor-Leste's independence for many decades, and as President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste for the last five years, I know that ETAN (East Timor and Indonesia Action Network) has consistently supported our people during bad and good times. President Jose Ramos-Horta Gift Books Learn Tetum Order from ETAN WWW http://www.etan.org The European Union needs to reexamine its approach to the Catalonia crisis as it is slowly lurching into a new phase. Brussels and member states were right to oppose the illegal and unilateral move by the Catalan government to secede from Spain but this response is just one piece of the EUs overall strategy. The EU also supported Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy when faced with hardliner tactics, albeit constitutionally justified. While these actions were the right thing to do, the EUs support was perceived in Madrid as a blank check to follow whatever course against Catalonia. Brussels also submissively accepted the fact that it had no role as a mediator and it refrained from criticizing the Spanish government in any way. Although Madrid has managed to appease Catalonias reckless secessionist drive to some extent, this still does not mean a definitive victory. Whatever the outcome of Decembers election, the actions of the Spanish government could still intensify the hostility and frustrations in the region, deepening the discontent among many Catalans and dragging this tension out for years to come. There is also a belief that while the crisis was in the making, Spain failed to propose a well-worked alternative to the Catalans at least as a forum for positive discussions. While they are right to do so, it is disappointing that no one has put forward an original, balanced and constructive idea for how the crisis may be appeased. If the EU does not come up with a strategy to handle this serious political crisis, it will be co-responsible for its outcome. Catalonia will test the EUs identity as a political project and if Brussels fails to ease the tensions, European voters could be prone to lose their faith in the rhetoric about the importance of looking beyond the nation state. If the only thing they see is the EUs defense of national governments, it will be no surprise to find them looking up to anti-establishment parties. Although Brussels is not going to be a formal mediator, there is clearly a role for the block to play. At the core of the matter will be how to come up with some form of arrangement for Catalonia that it wont allow Catalonia to claim independence but that will give the region more autonomy than standard federalism. The EU is based on the principles of shared sovereignty and confederalism, so it would be useful to explore whether these could be used to address the Catalan crisis. Something called an autonomous member territory could be an option to grant Catalonia at least a few more rights such as representation and similar capacities that member states have in Brussels. While it is ultimately up to the Spanish government to resolve the Catalan crisis, the EU should also be actively involved in the complicated and complex process of looking for a favorable outcome. Brussels must, at the very least, help facilitate a broad debate by proposing fresh solutions that go beyond the currently popular focus on constitutional legality. EU Needs a Smarter Response to the Catalonia Crisis Op-Ed by Richard Youngs Carnegie Europe. (The Analysis can be downloaded here) *** The incoming Swedish EU Presidency (July-December 2009) may still remain in favour of Turkey's controversial EU bid, despite June 2009 EU Elections' results, but it has "very strong demands on Turkey"'s obligation to respect EU Rules, said the Head of Swedish Foreign Ministry's Press Service, Cecilia Julin, to "EuroFora", reacting to critical Press reports.- "I know (that) the link is often made also to Sweden's position on Turkey"'s controversial EU bid. Indeed, "we (Swedish EU Presidency) are very much engaged in the future membership of Turkey, but not without fullfiling all the Criteria".- "It's very clear that we (Swedish EU Presidecny) have very Strong Demands on Turkey, in a sort of concept for Future membership of the Union, ...which will be a Long Process...", she stressed.This means, in particular, "the Copenhagen Criteria (on Human Rights, Democracy and Rule of Law), and also the adaptation to the Acquis of the European Union".- "If you listen to what Mr. Bildt (the Swedish Foreign Minister) says on Turkey at different occasions, it's very clear : We want Turkey to become part of the Union, in the Future. But we want it to fullfil all the Criteria : The Acquis of the European Union. That's very clear", she concluded.The Senior Official of the Swedish Foreign Ministry was reacting to critical Press Reports, from Brussels' Journalists invited by EU Commission's secretariat to Stockholm, who claimed that Bildt was abusing of a ..."Whip" (sic !) against Cyprus, by "threatening" the presence of UNO's Peace-keeping force at the "Green line" which separates the island's Government-controlled areas from the territories occupied by Ankara's army, if Nicosia didn't accept any political solution, regardless of Turkey's demands, before the end of 2009.Governing AKEL Party's new Secretary General, Andros Kyprianou, reacted by declaring that no-one can threat the People of Cyprus : -"We shall decide for our Future, and nobody else", he reportedly said, asking to "keep calm". "In order to find a Solution soon, certain basic Principles must be respected", he stressed, calling those who feel an urgency to use their influence on Turkey. Other Political Parties were more critical.This was a reference to recently reported statements by Turkish Minister Bagis, Prime Minister Tayip Erdogan and Turkey's National Security Council (a Military-Political body), accused to push towards a partitionist "2 States" solution, contrary to UNO SC Resolutions for Cyprus' reunification.December 2009 is a crucial moment for EU's appraisal of Turkey's controversial EU bid, because EU Council has decided to review then Ankara's compliance with the European position on the recognition of Cyprus' Government, which was clearly set out by an EU reply of 21 September 2005 to Turkish Prime Minister Tayip Erdogan's claims, refusing to recognize even the existence of EU Member Cyprus, in controversial statements he made to London (former EU chair) on July 29, 2005.EU Parliament's latest Resolution on Turkey, adopted on March 2009 in Strasbourg, warned Ankara that "the non-fulfillment of Turkey's commitments... by December 2009, may further seriously affect the process of Negotiations" with the EU.In practice, the issue boils down to Ankara's "embargo" against Ships and Airplanes using Cyprus' seaports or airports at the strategic EU island, which traditionaly hosts one of the World's biggest Shipping flags. EU has already "freezed" 6 relevant Chapters in EU - Turkey Negotiations since December 2006, after Ankara refused to fullfil a commitment it had undertaken when EU had decided to open controversial "accession" negotiations with Turkey, back on December 2005.- "As far as EU - Turkey relations are concerned, it's clear that Turkey needs to fullfil its obligation of full, non-discriminatory implementation of the additional Protocol (to "EC-Turkey Association Agreement"), This is an important issue....and should be addresseed as soon as possible as it clearly affects the pace of the accession negotiations.Issues covered by the Declaration of September 2005 will continue to be followed up, and progress is urgently awaited", warned earlier in Strasbourg the out-going Czech EU Presidency (former vice-Prime Minister Alexander Vodra).But the Head of the Swedish Foreign Ministry's Press Service, Cecilia Julin, dismissed "interpretations" by "some" that Foreign Minister Carl Bildt was reportedly "threatening" Cyprus with consequences on the UNFICYP, if it doesn't accept any solution until December 2009, while Turkey is reportedly delaying in an attempt to impose a partitionist "2 States" solution.On the contrary, Julin, stressed that "Sweden has strong demands on Turkey'"s respect of "Copenhagen Criteria and EU Acquis".Meanwhile, Sweden is "concerned" about the risk of "Stalemate" in Cyprus' Talks, but is well aware that "the main responsibilities lie with the two leaders and the UNO", Europe playing only a role of "facilitator".After carefully verifying, the Head of Swedish Foreign Ministry's Press Service, stressed to "EuroFora" that Bildt's reference to UNFICYP "was not linked to a Threat", and dismissed those who "interpreted" it so.On the contrary, the Swedish EU Presidency acknowledged the fact that Peace Talks are mainly for the UN and the leaders of the Cypriot communities, EU's role being limited into that of a "facilitator".As for Turkey's reported attempts to impose a "2 States' solution", the Head of the Swedish Foreign Ministry's Press Service sharply replied by stressing that Turkey must respect the "EU Acquis" rules.In particular :- "Basically he (Bildt) underlined that it's the leaders of the two communities in Cyprus and the UN that have the main responsibilities for solving the problem", started to say the Swedish Senior Official to "EuroFora", referring to the above-mentioned "briefing".- "But the EU had a role in sort of pointing out the benefits and facilitating a little bit the outcome for the settlement of the whole Cyprus' issue", she added.- "And he did state the Fact, that the rest of the World (i.e. USA, etc) will, of course, look at the differend issues which are at the table, and the future of the UN Peace keeping force is part of what is at the table", she admitted.- "I understand that some have interpreted that as a Threat, by the Swedish Minister" "But", in reality, "it's a statement of a Fact, that, when we'll look at the differend issues, one of the issues on which we shall have to take a stand on, is the future of the UN Peace keeping force in Cyprus".Indeed, one of the questions usually raised for a Solution of Cyprus' issue is what International and/or European or other Guarantees, by a Peace-keeping force, might be needed afterwards, eventually for a transitory period.Questioned anew by "EuroFora" whether (according to critical Press Reports) this could be taken as a veiled warning that, if Cyprus didn't accept any Turkish demand for any solution whatever, it might be left alone to face Ankara's Military Invasion/Occupation, she denied :- "He (Bildt) didn't say it in that way"... "It was not linked to a threat, or anything like that", the Head of the Swedish Foreign Ministry's Press Service stressed.On the contrary, "he (Bildt) underlined that the main responsibility lies with the parties concerned on the island". "The EU can try to facilitate and show the benefits of reaching a settlement. But also, when the EU and the rest of the World (i.e. USA) will have to look at it, they will look at all the Facts on the table, and the presence of the UN Peace-keeping force is one".And "he (Bildt) didn't speak about that at all", she replied to "EuroFora" question on Turkey's reported attemps to impose, in one way of another, a partitionist "2 States solution".Asked whether Bildt's aim was to incite both parties to move forward efficiently, she agreed :- In fact, "the EU is really very concerned with the Stalemate in the situation. Yes !", the Head of Sweden's Foreign Ministry's Press Service anounced. That's why Bildt "was hoping for the two parties (i.e. for Turkey's also) to engage and break, a little-bit, the present stalemate, come to a solution of the issue" of Cyprus.But, replying to a "EuroFora"s question on the risk, denounced by several politicians in case of strict Time Deadlines, for Turkey to provoke a stalemate and wait for the time to come to impose a partitionist "2 States' solution", she reacted by pointing at Turkey's obligation to respect "EU Acquis" :- "Turkey must fullfil the EU Acquis : That's clear !", the Swedish Senior Official stressed.More details are expected when Swedish Prime Minister Reinfeldt will debate his Programme with new MEPs at EU Parliament's plenary mid-July in Strasbourg, that he has visited already in 2008.Foreign Minister Carl Bildt became familiar with Strasbourg's CoE last year, when Sweden chaired the PanEuropean organization of Human Rights. As EU chairman-in-office, he will also chair the 27-member States strong EU Group inside the 47-member States strong CoE.Minister for EU affairs, Cecilia Malmstrom is well known at EU Parliament, where she has been an active MEP of the Liberal Group for many years, following also Press Freedom issues.Both have already made various statements at "EuroFora", on differend topical matters. The European Commission is to look into claims that residency visa schemes for investors could be attracting the wrong kind of people and even some linked to fraud.The so called golden visa schemes where non-European Union investors are granted residency visas in EU countries have been growing in number and popularity, particularly in Portugal, Spain, Cyprus and Malta.They offer the chance to have residency and ultimately citizenship in return for investment in real estate or business, with a minimum amount set. Family members can also be granted residency status and they have proved popular with investors from South America, the Middle East and China.Now there are suggestions that business people linked to development scandals in South America have been investing via these schemes. The Guardian newspaper reported that several Brazilian business people has been granted permanent resident in Portugal despite being linked to scandals in their home country.The EC has now said it will investigate how the visas are granted in all member states and tighten the rules if necessary. The conditions to get and grant citizenship are regulated by national law in each member state, but always in line with EU legislation, said an EC spokesperson.The EC will compile a report next year on the policies in individual countries for awarding citizenship and residence permits to investors and more guidance to member states is likely.In Portugal and Spain investors buying property can be granted residency status which allows them to travel visa free in Europe and also move on to be granted citizenship. The top nation being granted golden visas are Chinese nationals, followed by Brazilians, South Africans, Russians, Lebanese, Turks and Egyptians.European Parliament member Werner Langen, who is chairman of the European Parliament Inquiry Committee on the Panama Papers which revealed the details of rich people and companies investing offshore, has said that he believes that in some cases it is amounting to a case of passports being for sale.Last year Portuguese member And Gomes tabled an amendment requiring countries to carry out thorough security checks on golden visa applicants, which is currently being reviewed by EU member states.The most up to date published figures show that in Spain where the minimum investment is 500,000 in property, 2 million in treasury bonds or 1 million in shares, some 2,236 investors have been accepted with three quarters investing in property.In Portugal some 4,000 golden visas have been granted for investments totalling 1.5 billion in property while in Malta 1,000 visas were issued in 2016. In Cyprus, where a minimum investment of 500,000 in property is requires, numbers from China soared by 350% last year. Ok as a quick sanity check I'm trying to a french salary/offer I have to my current US salary. I'm fully aware of the whole cost of living calculator websites but have found the to mostly be garbage when trying to compare a salary. The easiest comparison I've come to find is to calculate net unspent income in each scenario. If I take my US based job at $130k/yr. I pay 30% in taxes, leaving 91k. I then pay another $4,000 of that in health insurance per year and if I want to actually USE my health insurance I pay a $3,000 deductible plus 20% of costs after that. We've spent $8,000 in health care deductibles this year.. And the kids still have cavities as the adults have some deferred health care problems we just cant afford... That gives me 79k. Housing where I live is $30k/yr. So $49K. We need two vehicles because of a lack of public transportation so the additional vehicle costs us about $5,000/yr. If we assume food and utility costs are basically the same. That brings me to 44k. Convert to Euros and that gives me $37k euro net (supposedly). A job offer of $60k euro seems to break down to: 25% in cotisations leaves $45k. A family of 5 pays zero income tax (from what i've figured out) up to $51K.. However we gain about $3,000 euros in family contributions paid by the government to us so that gives $48k. It seems housing should cost about $18k for a family of 5 that gives me a net of $30k euro. So, it seems that $60k in france = about $120-125k in the US. Sound about right? I feel like there are other costs in the US which I am not factoring in which would narrow the gap a little. But have I missed anything in France, or do I have any underlying assumptions that are wrong? Also i'm told a family of 3+ kids gets HUGE discounts on public transportation so that is a "perk" in France I suppose. To understand the pay slip notations, it helps to understand how vacation is allocated in France. The "vacation accumulation year" runs from (I think) June 1st to May 31st. So during this time you are accumulating vacation day rights at a rate of 2.92 per month (if your employer uses the old 6 day a week system) or 2.08 days a month if they have migrated to the 5 day a week system. Each full month worked you are credited with the appropriate number of vacation days, but you can't take any of them until the following "vacation year" (i.e. after June 1st of the next year). Let's say you start work January 1, 2016. At June 1st you will have accumulated 5 * 2.08 days of vacation (the 5 day system is easier to follow), so 10.40 days of vacation. You can begin to take this time only after June 1st. Meanwhile, from June 1st 2016 to May 31st 2017, you are accumulating toward next year's holidays - which you won't be able to take until after June 1st 2017. So, the year N holiday allowance is what you are currently accruing up until the next holiday period begins - i.e. vacation days accrued, but which you can't take yet. The year N-1 holiday allowance is what you had at the start of this year's holiday season (June to May) and will have to take by May 31st of next year. Clear as mud? Yeah, it takes a bit of time to get used to the approach, but all in all it seems to work reasonably well. Cheers, Bev Not sure if you booked through a travel agency or used one of those travel websites like Travelocity, but when I went to Asia last year, I was able to add on travel insurance to my Expedia itinerary. It was like $100 for the 10 days I was there, and covered medical incidents, as well as travel hiccups/mishaps/delays. Even though I booked it through Expedia, it was underwritten by some third-party company, and it was easy to make a claim on the urgent-care visit I had to make one of the days I was there. A Lame Deer man pleaded not guilty to a murder charge during an arraignment in Billings on Tuesday. Derek Dexter Shoulderblade, 23, was indicted on second-degree murder in the Sept. 17 death near Lame Deer of a person identified in court records as O.L.W. Second-degree murder is killing with malice aforethought. Earlier FBI spokesman Travis Burrows said that a 30-year-old Lame Deer man, identified as Ozzy Lee Wilson, had died as the result of injuries after an alleged assault that occurred on Sept. 17. FBI and Bureau of Indian Affairs agents had responded on the morning of Sept. 17 to a report of a Lame Deer man who had been assaulted and was unresponsive. The man was taken to a Billings hospital for medical care and another man, who was unidentified, had been arrested by the BIA Northern Cheyenne Police and was in custody. If convicted, Shoulderblade faces a maximum of life in prison and a $250,000 fine. U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy Cavan ordered Shoulderblade to remain in custody. Chief U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen will hear the case. Hi I am in need of come advice about getting divorced in Texas and where to start. I have no clue how to go about this. Background:I'm from UK, husband from Texas. We knew each others (in person) since 2003 Married in 2012. He moved to the UK with me in 2012 and then we moved to US in 2015. Been here in Texas since. We had a son in the UK. Moved when he was 7mths old, Got pregnant with our daughter first week we were here. Had her at the end of 2015. During that pregnancy he started hanging out with old friends and drinking/smoking pot again (having been sober for years before). We split up. When our daughter was born he agreed to quit and we went to marriage counseling and got back together. Had ups and downs since then. I am now pregnant with our 3rd Child (due January). Husband is apparently not drinking any more (although i'm not sure I believe him) but he's regularly smoking pot and I think may be on something else not prescribed. He had a mental breakdown in August and got laid off from work. He hasn't been able to work since and has been seeing a psychiatrist who has him on an assortment of pills to try to find something that works. So far nothing helping. His rage and verbal abuse is too much to deal with, especially with young children and heavily pregnant so I asked him to leave (never physically violent but extremely mentally and emotionally abusive). We've been using food pantries and I've had to beg churches etc for help just to survive the last 3 months. I tried finding work but got turned down for over 50 jobs because i'm pregnant. I finally got a part time job in a grocery store and started there this week but it's not enough money to pay bills and live on. Problem is I don't drive and have no friends here. Had trouble finding any kind of help because I apparently don't qualify because of my greencard status. I want to go back home but because of kids I'm not allowed to leave the country and he and his Mum already threatened to have me arrested for kidnapping if I tried to leave and I'd get kids taken away. They hold it over me that I have a greencard and tell me they'll have me deported. I know they can't do that but don't know what m rights are. I now want to file for divorce as I don't see how we can get through this latest break up. Need to put my kids first. I don't know where to start since we have no money and have kids. He is my sponsor and signed affidavit of support for 10 years, of which there are still 7+years on that so I don't know how all that factors in either and if a cheap online divorce is possible. Any advice from anyone that's been through similar would be very much appreciated, thank you Hello all, Husband had his visa interview on Friday (Nov 17) at the US Embassy in London. Everything went smoothly, friendly staff put us at ease - we had all documents that were asked of us, we paid at the cashiers window, then went to the interview window. Again, everything was fine, a few questions were asked and then the officer handed us a sheet requesting that husband fill out an additional form - DS-5535. We asked what it was about (I was not aware that this might happen), and the officer didn't have much to say after that. Only that we needed to fill it out, that there is no timeline for how long it could take (he said it could be 2 weeks or 7 weeks)! He did say that it was up to us whether we leave husband's passport with them or take it with us, so we opted for them to hold onto it. (Hoping that this extra step WONT take long and then they would have the passport in hand to process) Has anyone else out there been asked to submit to this supplemental form? Moderators or others, do you have any insight? Any encouragement? Advice? Does anyone know how long DCF London is currently taking for 'additional processing'?? We felt so sure that we were coming away from that appt on Friday with an approval. Such a blow, a disappointing shock to us both. Thanks in advance, sjellyman I am a USC and my husband is a UKC. He is still in england and I just moved back to the states. I have already done the first part of application and was going to finish after getting a job here. I haven't been able to get a job bc my dog is having health issues and takes full time care but I don't want to keep putting off his application. Is there any way he can just move here and then we can finish things in a month or so? He will not be working but at least he can be home with the dog and I can get 1 or 2 jobs. Is that possible? Thanks for any advice! This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Americans traveling to see family and friends for Thanksgiving will spend roughly $800 million more for gas this year after prices soared in recent months. Travelers will be paying their highest prices in three years to fill their tanks this week, according to gas price tracker GasBuddy. The average U.S. price for a gallon of gas on Thanksgiving Day is projected to be $2.53 a gallon, the highest since gas hit $2.79 a gallon in 2014, the group said this week. Prices have risen 9 cents in the last month, which the company called the largest pre-Thanksgiving Day increase since 2007. This year has been unique at the pumps, said Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst at GasBuddy. Gas prices spent much of the time in the weeks approaching Thanksgiving by rising when typically, they would be on a sizable downward trend. He said Americans are paying nearly 40 cents more per gallon than last year, which comes to roughly $800 million more in extra expenses over the Thanksgiving travel period. Drivers should pay close attention to prices to avoid overpaying, he warned. AAA reported on Tuesday that Texas average gas prices were $2.28 a gallon, 36 cents a gallon higher than the same day last year. More than 3.6 million Texans will travel more than 50 miles away by car this Thanksgiving holiday, the group said. The statewide gas price average in the Lone Star state has remained steady over the last week, and Texans are still enjoying some of the cheapest gas prices in the country heading into the busy Thanksgiving travel period, said AAA Texas spokesman Daniel Armbruster said last week. Texas ranks 6th in the nation among states with the lowest gas prices, according to AAA. Drivers in Alabama are paying the least for a gallon of regular unleaded at $2.27 a gallon, the group said. Rye Druzin is an energy reporter for the San Antonio Express-News. Read more of his stories here. | rdruzin@express-news.net | Twitter: @druz_journo This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate For more than a generation, San Antonians have huddled at the Alamo the day after Thanksgiving to witness a good five stories of decorated Christmas tree beam to life with lights that herald another merry Yuletide season in ol San Antone. Now that the 33-year celebration has moved from Alamo Plaza to Travis Park, many locals still are crying, Bah, humbug! at the relocation of the big tree, what they see as an unnecessary change to a picture-perfect tradition. The bitter, often expletive-riddled complaints are all over social media and even inspired a small protest. At Travis Park on Friday, a 55-foot white fir from H-E-B will shine with more than 10,000 LED lights and custom ornaments. That tree lighting ceremony will get an extra boost with Centro San Antonios Annual Lighting of Travis Park, which boasts more than 250,000 lights and oodles of family-friendly activities in the surrounding park area. Alamo Plaza still will have a large Christmas tree, albeit an 18-footer also provided by H-E-B, and that should be up Monday. But its hardly a bright spot for those who hate to say goodbye to such a time-honored tradition at such an iconic landmark. Im glad to know theres going to be a tree there (at Alamo Plaza), San Antonian Gabriel Cantu said. But whos going to go to Travis Park for the tree that should be there at the Alamo? I tell you, Im not going to Travis Park. For almost every holiday season since around 1990 when he was in high school, Cantu has made a pilgrimage to Alamo Plaza to bask in the glow of its towering Christmas tree, the perfect Seasons Greetings backdrop to an annual family photo from the heart of his hometown. The tradition now includes his own wife and three children, two of whom have grown to adulthood. This has been a contentious issue since the move was announced in October. Right away, Cantu and others took to the My San Antonio from the Express-News Facebook page to complain about the announced move. Cantu got especially creative with his complaint, posting a postcard-worthy photo of the Alamo at Christmas time, only with the Grinch bearing Mayor Ron Nirenbergs face, along with the mugs of Julian and Joaquin Castro, and the words: Leave San Antonio Christmas Alone. One of the top Facebook comments at the time came from V. Ashley Ellis, who posted: I dont know Photos of a tree and the Alamo? Pretty iconic Photos of a tree in Travis Park will look like Every City USA. When contacted recently via Facebook, Ellis doubled down on the displeasure, adding a dig at city leaders for removing the Travis Park statue commemorating the Confederacy. The monument was taken down in early September after a 10-1 vote by the City Council. The move to put the Christmas tree there now seems like a weak consolation prize, Ellis said. There was no more iconic photo than a Christmas tree in front of the Alamo. It said Merry Christmas from San Antonio Not so if its in Travis Park. Steve Monreal was so upset about the absence of a giant Christmas tree in Alamo Plaza, he staged a little discount Christmas tree in front of the Alamo in protest. Monreals tiny Alamo tree was gone the next day, but lives on on social media. Monreal decided to continue by placing trees in other locations he feels would be better than Travis Park, placing the next one in front of San Fernando Cathedral. That festive little number lasted about a day as well, though also shines online. Monreal also plans to prop a little tree at La Villita and at Hemisfair. Dont change it if its not broke. Its tradition, said Monreal, who has worked on the River Walk for almost 18 years. To me, Travis Park is just a place where bums go. Yeah, they have movies in the park and (the JazzSALive) fest. But otherwise, its just a waste of space. Assistant City Manager Lori Houston would beg to differ. The move to Travis Park is not meant to end tradition, Houston said, but rather to carry on the tradition of the Christmas tree lighting ceremony with added, enhanced programming through the holiday season, instead of that one day after Thanksgiving. Whereas Alamo Plaza did not provide us that opportunity. And the move was bound to happen. The city noted it already had planned to relocate the Alamo Plaza tree lighting in 2018 anyway because of the Alamo Plaza construction set to start then. According to the city, the 2.6-acre Travis Park provides a larger space than Alamo Plaza to host the holiday kickoff, and comes with easier access for the public thanks to more available parking near the park. And the move comes with more to see and do throughout the holiday season, too. In addition to seeing enough lights to signal the International Space Station, visitors to Fridays Travis Park celebration also can write letters to Santa, make gingerbread cookies and frolic in a winter wonderland play area prior to the lighting ceremony at 6 p.m. And through December, the giant Christmas trees new home also will host Tuesday holiday movies in the park, Friday nights with live music and free photos with Santa, and Saturday family fun with arts and crafts and other activities. Previous Alamo Plaza tree lighting ceremonies have featured an all-female mariachi band and the Youth Orchestra of San Antonio. Houston said the city has made a concerted effort to activate downtown spaces in recent years, noting an investment of about $500,000 in Travis Park to allow for more programming. Richard Oliver, director of partner and community relations for Visit San Antonio, said San Antonio is so endearing because it loves its traditions. Yet he believes the new home for the giant H-E-B Christmas tree will win over residents as well as visitors. This landscape in San Antonio literally and figuratively is changing and evolving, said Oliver, who noted Visit San Antonio had no say-so or financial investment in the move to Travis Park. I would just tell everyone, Lets give this a chance. Back in October on the My San Antonio Facebook page, a few expressed that very sentiment. Cynthia A. Santos suggested giving the citys new mayor a chance to make a new tradition, and Sarai Gaona posted: Calm down San Antonio. Its (sic) probably a traffic issue to pack so many people at Alamo plaza (sic) with the massive crowds that gather for the tree. Plenty of space at Travis and the park needs to have the city pay more attention to it so it stops being bum park. Or Nazi park. lol. Monreal wont attend the new tree lighting Friday because, like many others hes missed, hell be working, but he will swing by Alamo Plaza to see a smaller tree after his own heart. As for Cantu, he remained adamant he wouldnt go to Travis Park but will still visit Alamo Plaza even if it means seeing less than half the holiday evergreen hes used to enjoying. In fact, Cantu may just see a brighter side to the change after all. Or at least, well, a bigger picture. We wont have to back up as much for a photo, he said with a laugh. I dont think we have a picture with the whole tree in the background. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The Air Force on Wednesday identified the pilots involved in a fatal crash of a T-38C earlier in the week during a training mission near Del Rio. The base said Capt. Paul J. Barbour, 32, of Van Nuys, California, was killed while a fellow instructor pilot, Capt. Joshua Hammervold, was treated for his injuries and released after the crash. Tragic events like this are difficult for everyone family, friends, co-workers, supervisors and our entire Air Force," said Col. Charlie Velino, 47th Flying Training Wing commander. Every day, he added, our pilots take a risk as they step into the cockpit, and every day they operate with the utmost skill, professionalism and dedication to train the next generation of flying Airmen and to ensure the safety of this great nation. So far the Air Force has said little about the crash, which occurred at 4 p.m. Monday about 14 miles from Laughlin, one of four Air Force flight training bases for novice pilots. Flight operations remained suspended and will resume at the start of next week. Flags at the base, where around 3,000 airmen and civilians work, and around the city were at half-staff. Authorities reported that the plane went down in a field that sits between two subdivisions in Del Rio northwest of the base. Hammervold, an instructor pilot for the 87th Flying Training Squadaron, ejected and was taken to Val Verde Regional Medical Center. His age, hometown and family information were not released. More Information A look at the T-38 The T-38 Talon is a twin-engine, high-altitude, supersonic jet trainer with an exceptional safety record. Air Education and Training Command is the primary user of the T-38 for joint specialized undergraduate pilot training. Air Combat Command, Air Force Materiel Command and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration also use the T-38. The T-38C uses a glass cockpit with integrated avionics displays, head-up display and an electronic "no-drop bomb" scoring system. The T-38 needs as little as 2,300 feet of runway to take off and can climb from sea level to nearly 30,000 feet in one minute. Primary function: Advanced jet pilot trainer Builder: Northrop Corp. Power plant: Two General Electric J85-GE-5 turbojet engines with afterburners Thrust: 2,050 pounds dry thrust; 2,900 with afterburners Length: 46 feet, 4 inches Height: 12 feet, 10 inches Wingspan: 25 feet, 3 inches Speed: 812 mph (Mach 1.08 at sea level) Ceiling: Above 55,000 feet Maximum takeoff weight: 12,093 pounds Range: 1,093 miles Armament: T-38A/C, none; AT-38B, provisions for practice bomb dispenser Unit cost: $756,000 (1961 constant dollars) Crew: Two, typically student and instructor Date deployed: March 1961 Inventory: Active force, 546 See More Collapse Barbour, an instructor pilot who also served as aircrew flight equipment flight commander with the 47th Operations Support Squadron at Laughlin, stayed with the plane. It was unclear if he was the command pilot on the training mission. He is survived by his spouse, mother, father and sister. Just why he didnt eject isnt clear, but Val Verde County Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez said the T-38 went down between two subdivisions, one of them a half-mile from the crash site in a remote part of the San Pedro Amistad National Recreation Area. The land consists of rolling hills, hard rock and sagebrush. I dont know what the pilot was thinking or what his thoughts were, but it could have been a lot worse had it gone into either one of these two subdivisions, said Martinez, who has been the countys sheriff for the past nine years. When asked if the pilot tried to avoid the subdivisions, the bases chief spokeswoman, Lt. Mahalia Frost, would only say the case was under investigation. No one could say if anyone saw the T-38 before it crashed. The sheriff said a hunter saw one parachute, but added that he couldnt say what accounts were given by witnesses who talked with Air Force investigators. Calls came into the county sheriffs office dispatcher from people living in the subdivisions, but Martinez didnt know what those people reported. The Air Education and Training Command, headquartered in San Antonio, said the crash involving a fatality was the first involving one of its planes since May 1, 2008, when a T-38 flying out of Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls went down. Frost didnt know when the last fatal crash occurred at Laughlin, which opened in 1947, but she said the last accident involving a T-38 at the installation was in December 2005. The pilots ejected. Martinez said the weather was clear and the wind calm when the plane went down at 4 p.m. Monday near Spur 454 and U.S. 90 in Del Rio. Investigators were at the crash scene at noon Wednesday. Our community has suffered the irreplaceable loss of one of our pilots, said Col. Charlie Velino, 47th Flying Training Wing commander. The immediate concern is to provide support and love to his family, friends and colleagues. sigc@express-news.net The Fair Oaks Ranch City Council is set to vote next week on whether to annex most of its extraterritorial jurisdiction after ironing out some last-minute details during a special meeting Tuesday. The council held the session to discuss which adjacent unincorporated land tracts to annex, and to review eight non-annexation development agreements submitted by property owners. The agreements allow people who own agricultural, wildlife management or timber land to postpone annexation, with some agreements lasting 45 years. The council will vote on annexation and the development agreements during a two-day meeting, Nov. 28-29. As laid out by state law, cities may only annex areas defined as extraterritorial jurisdiction, or zones of unincorporated land next to the city limits. In Fair Oaks Ranch, 12 areas of land totaling more than 2,000 acres are up for annexation. City Manager Tobin Maples said all 12 areas are scheduled to be annexed for now, but the council may ultimately decide to exclude parts of some areas. Related: Fair Oaks Ranch candidate suing city while running for mayor Those who oppose annexation, including many of the Fair Oaks Ranch residents in the citys extraterritorial jurisdiction, say they deserve a say in what happens to their property, opposing unilateral action by the city. Theyre looking after their interests, and thats understandable, Mayor Garry Manitzas said. I have to look at the interests of the whole community. The simple fact is, what happens in the areas around our ETJ impact residents inside our city limits. The council is operating under a tight deadline, hoping to usher through its annexation plan before a state law takes effect that will require cities to get approval from property owners before annexing. The law, signed by Gov. Greg Abbott in August, takes effect Dec. 1. State Sen. Donna Campbell, a Republican who represents District 25 where Fair Oaks Ranch is located, sponsored the bill. Mike Stewart, a resident of nearby Sable Chase who has fought against annexation in his own area, said the councils annexation schedule is not in the spirit of what the Legislature intended. The bottom line is, in Texas, you dont take things without asking, Stewart said. Theyre essentially taking private property rights. Manitzas defended the process, saying the bill disenfranchises residents of Fair Oaks Ranch by giving annexation decision-making power to the much smaller population of people who own property in the extraterritorial jurisdiction. The citys 2016 population was 8,645, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Effectively what (the law) did was address one issue, of people in unincorporated areas, and created a thoroughly undemocratic process for people in the cities, Manitzas said. Though the council didnt pass anything Tuesday, the council members gave Maples and the rest of the city staff enough direction to tee up the decision-making process, Manitzas said, ensuring the council can approve some form of annexation before the Dec. 1 deadline. The council will also vote next week on the development agreements. Manitzas said the council is supportive of the agreements, which Maples and the city attorney, Charles Zech, negotiated with residents. Read more: Comal ranks second among nation's fastest-growing counties I thought we were pretty generous in offering terms we didnt necessarily have to, Manitzas said. About 30 people were eligible for the agreements, Maples said, but only eight submitted the agreements for the council to consider. Thats not a fair cross-section, Stewart said. He added that some of the eligible property owners might not have the money to hire an attorney to help them negotiate the agreements. The agreements, if the council approves them Nov. 29, would exempt property owners from annexation in certain land tracts near the northern part of the city and along its eastern border. Some islands of unincorporated areas surrounded by Fair Oaks Ranch would also be exempt. Several council members debated Tuesday whether to annex the ETJ along the west side of the city that could soon include commercial development. Manitzas said the council should annex those areas so the city can have a say in how those areas develop by applying zoning rules. Place 4 Councilwoman Laura Koerner said she had zero interest in annexing the 10th area of extraterritorial jurisdiction area, and had questions about other nearby areas. At the end of the day, Im not going to make a decision based off potential money coming into the city, she said. jscherer@express-news.net Back in 1985, there were only 12 Democratic women among the 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives. That year saw the formation of EMILYs List, a political action committee designed to support pro-choice Democratic women seeking elective office. By 1993, the number of Democratic women in the U.S. House had swelled to 36. Its currently up to 62. EMILYs List is only one factor in this growth, but its an undeniably big factor. The group has three million members, and it uses the power of that network to bundle contributions to candidates in targeted races across the country. As EMILYs List founder Ellen Malcolm put it in 1991, prior to the emergence of the group, politically engaged women often felt excluded from the ballot because they didnt have the kind of organizational support system that men took for granted. Women couldnt begin campaigns because they couldnt get the start-up money, Malcolm said, and they couldnt get the start-up money without campaigning, so they were caught in a vicious cycle. Weve often heard 1992 referred to, in political terms, as the Year of the Woman. It was an election cycle fueled by outrage over the way Anita Hills sexual-harassment allegations against Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas were ignored by U.S senators. That November, female representation in the U.S. Senate went from two to six. With that in mind, theres reason to think that 2018 could be another epochal year for women in politics, a referendum on a cultural revolution that seems to be building force with each passing week. We saw it the day after Donald Trumps January presidential inauguration, when the Womens March drew more than two million attendees to rallies around the world. More recently, the #MeToo movement has sparked an avalanche of sexual-misconduct allegations against powerful men, including Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore, Democratic Congressman John Conyers and CBS/PBS host Charlie Rose (not to mention the 16 women who came forward last year with accusations about Trump). In the year since Trumps election, 18,000 women have contacted EMILYs List about running for office. In 2016, that number was only 920. One of the women who has been in contact with EMILYs List this year is Gina Ortiz Jones, a first-generation Filipino American, former Air Force intelligence officer, former senior adviser for trade enforcement and an out lesbian. Jones is seeking the Democratic nomination in U.S. District 23, a sprawling swing district, currently represented by Republican Will Hurd, that stretches from San Antonio to El Paso. On Tuesday, EMILYs List officially endorsed Jones, joining prominent Jones enthusiasts such as 2014 Democratic gubernatorial nominee Wendy Davis and former state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte. Im very excited about it, Jones said. This is very important for the race. I think it really symbolizes the strength of our campaign and the excitement across the state about electing somebody thats going to fight for the district. I think EMILYs List wanted to invest in an emerging leader like myself and thats what its going to take to win this seat back. Jones is competing in the primary against former federal prosecutor Jay Hulings, former teacher Rick Trevino and former Agriculture Department administrator Judy Canales. Jones has staked out an unabashedly progressive stance on key issues, joining Trevino a Bernie Sanders delegate to the 2016 Democratic National Convention in calling for a single-payer, Medicare for All health-care system. She also has touted the value of her national security experience and trade expertise. Bryan Lesswing, the director of campaign communications for EMILYs List, described Jones as a trailblazer and a very strong candidate with an amazing story. He said the impact of EMILYs List for Jones will be threefold: offering strategic advice, providing fundraising muscle by introducing Jones to the groups donor network and opening the door to potential spending on behalf of the campaign down the road. None of the candidates in the Democratic primary have held elective office, so they all face the challenge of building name recognition at the same time theyre searching for their political voices. And they all know that Hurd an affable retail politician wont be easy to beat. The EMILYs List endorsement, however, makes it clear that Jones wont be going it alone. ggarcia@express-news.net | Twitter: @gilgamesh470 The city of Casper has received fewer applications than expected for the fire chief's job, its top official said Tuesday. City Manager Carter Napier said Tuesday that 28 applicants submitted their names in response to a job listing for the position. The job posting was open for three weeks and closed Sunday. Despite the lower-than-anticipated response rate, Napier said he thought "we have some good candidates." The position will pay between $105,000 and $126,000 annually, according to the job posting. Napier said it is "probably gonna be the case" that the position will be filled in an interim capacity for about a month after Fire Chief Kenneth King steps down Jan. 2. He had initially hoped to fill the position by the time King's retirement becomes effective, but Napier said that now seems unlikely. The job requirements are roughly equivalent to those of the police chief position, for which the city is also hiring. In addition to a bachelor's degree in the field, the city called for its applicants to have five years of "increasingly responsible" experience in a Fire-EMS department, including at least three years of administrative and supervisory responsibility. The posting also specifies a preference for candidates who hold master's degrees and who have a post-graduate certification from the National Fire Academy. The next steps in the process will include a culling of the candidate field, calling applicants in for final interviews and then conducting background research. The interviews will be conducted by a panel that includes Napier. He described the panel as consisting of "people familiar with the industry," business leaders and people who come into frequent contact with the fire department. After Napier settles on a candidate, he will negotiate a contract with the new chief before making an announcement. King announced plans to retire in October 2016, just hours after apologizing for an email regarding the 2015 Cole Creek Fire. In an email to a subordinate who was collecting video evidence of the fire that destroyed 14 homes, King wrote: "Could you cut out the bad parts, and make sure that no copies are made and only DCI views?" The email was sent while the fire still blazed, but did not become public until the Star-Tribune published it a year later. King characterized the email as a "bad joke," in an interview with the Star-Tribune. WASHINGTON Two weeks after the double political explosion that rocked Riyadh, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman appears to be doing damage control in ways that may help stabilize Saudi Arabia and the region. The first bombshell was the Nov. 4 arrest on corruption charges of 201 prominent Saudis, including princes and government ministers. Now MBS, as the 32-year-old crown prince is known, is beginning a resolution process that may settle many of these cases out of court. A senior Saudi official told me Thursday that the kingdom's anti-corruption commission would follow the standard "plea-bargain process" that is "usually conducted by the public prosecutor prior to transferring a case to the relevant court." The commission's overall aim, he said, was to "send a strong message" that corruption won't be allowed, "irrespective of rank or status." The crackdown may have consolidated support for MBS among younger Saudis who resent older, wealthy princes and palace insiders. But his power play risked a backlash within the royal family because it violated the kingdom's traditional consensual politics. Resolution of corruption cases out of court may dampen such high-level dissension. The second Nov. 4 explosion was Saad Hariri's announcement from Riyadh that he was quitting as Lebanon's prime minister. Hariri's resignation, which Lebanese sources told me came under pressure from MBS, risked causing instability in Lebanon that would have enhanced Hezbollah's power there, the opposite of what the Saudis wanted. On Thursday, the Saudis agreed to allow Hariri to travel to France; Lebanese sources said he will then return to Lebanon. The Hariri episode appears to have convinced Washington and Riyadh that their interests are better served by stability in Lebanon than instability, even though that approach requires some cooperation with Hezbollah, the dominant political faction. A Saudi official told me that the kingdom plans to work with the U.S. to support Lebanese institutions, such as the army, that can gradually reduce the power of Hezbollah and its patron, Iran. MBS seems to have recognized that combating Hezbollah is a long game, not a short one. Hariri's resignation and seeming house arrest made him a hero in Lebanon and a symbol of the country's yearning for sovereignty. This may give him some new leverage when he returns to Beirut. Lebanese sources told me Thursday that Hariri's supporters may urge Hezbollah to withdraw its fighters from Yemen as a gesture of solidarity. Hariri will also campaign anew for international support for Lebanon's economy and military. MBS' sweeping arrests sent shock waves through the kingdom and the region, and surprised even some Saudis who are close to the crown prince. But the warning signals were there: King Salman said back on March 10, 2015, in his first major speech after taking the throne, that he had "directed the government to review its processes to help eradicate corruption," according to a Reuters report at the time. MBS had a reputation as a freewheeling businessman himself before joining the royal court. But he underlined the anti-corruption theme in a May 2017 interview with Al Arabiya television: "If fighting corruption is not on the top of the agenda, it means the [king's] fight is not succeeding. ... I reiterate that anyone who is involved in corruption will not be spared." As examples of the corrupt deals that led to the Nov. 4 arrests, a senior Saudi official cited a land purchase in Jeddah where the government paid roughly double the market price, to provide a big kickback to a prominent official. Another instance was the purchase by the Ministry of Education of vastly overpriced airline tickets for the hundreds of thousands of Saudis studying abroad, with payoffs for officials. Corruption has been so endemic in Saudi Arabia that many observers assumed it was part of how the House of Saud governed. After first visiting the kingdom in 1981, I wrote a series of articles for The Wall Street Journal about how payoffs were undermining the defense and oil sectors. In subsequent decades, the shakedowns became less visible, but corruption continued. MBS' purge looked to many outsiders like a high-risk political move. But a senior prince cautioned me the country isn't as fragile as it may look. One of MBS' key backers put it this way: "Corruption can't keep the country stable. Having a corruption-free country will keep us stable." That's a worthy ambition, but as MBS detonates his bombs, he must avoid blowing himself up. Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Lawrence MacAulays trade mission to China is off to a strong start, with industry groups reaching a multitude of new deals in Shanghai and Guangzhou that will boost sales, grow exports to the worlds second-largest economy, and create new jobs in Canada. These efforts will help Canada reach its goals of doubling bilateral trade with China and growing global agri-food exports to $75 billion by 2025. Shanghai and Guangzhou are key economic centres, presenting an opportunity for Canadian farmers and processors to increase sales of Canadas high-quality food products. The marquee event during Minister MacAulays visit to Shanghai was Food and Hospitality China, the largest food trade show in China specifically targeting international food and beverage suppliers for the Chinese market. Minister MacAulay received a tour of the Canada Pavilion, meeting many of the 82 Canadian exhibitors in attendance. In terms of sales, industry representatives reported some $10.3 million in on-site sales, and $42.7 million in anticipated sales over the next year. Minister MacAulay also witnessed important signing ceremonies between Canadian company Genesus and Chinese companies Aonong, TQLS, Wens and Wufang while in Guangzhou, worth an industry-estimated $7.2 million. While supermarkets remain the main distribution channels for packaged food in China, e-commerce sites are increasingly taking over, thanks to a growing middle class and more smartphone and Internet users. Seizing on this trend while in Guangzhou, Minister MacAulay met with VIP.COM, one of the countrys top-three developers of e-commerce platforms, and showcased the safe, high-quality Canadian food products available on Chinese e-commerce platforms. The Minister participated in cooking demonstrations for Chinese stakeholders organized by Canada Beef Inc., the Canola Council of Canada, and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), with the latter project supported by the governments of Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador as part of pan-Atlantic efforts to grow trade and investment opportunities for Atlantic businesses through the Atlantic Growth Strategy. In Shanghai, Minister MacAulay also helped launch the promotion of Canada Food Week at well-known grocery retail chain CitySuper to highlight Canadian food products. The ministers trade delegation departed Saturday for Beijing, Chinas capital, for multiple days of promotional events and bilateral meetings. Source: AAFC He was a founding member of the WA Livestock Exporters Association (WALEA) in 1977 where he served as chairman for five years and was involved in the formation of ALEC in 1985, which he later chaired for multiple terms. DuPont Pioneer director of regulatory product strategy, scientific affairs and industry relations, Kevin Diehl, says traditionally, plant breeders and breeding companies haven't thought much beyond the farmer as the customer but they need to see the greater public as a customer as well. During his first opportunity as the program director of IACCBA to formally speak with the Australian industry, Mr Slaney said it only had one role to see greater investment in cattle breeding in Indonesia. For those of you looking for a hotel in the centre of Reykjavik, Iceland, that reflects the historic heart and soul of the city, while also providing a comfy contemporary space and service, look no further than Sandhotel. From the citys best cinnamon buns (oh so important) to a concierge service that is rumoured to be the best in town, this is most definitely a getaway spot that needs to be on your radar. On my first night at Sandhotel, I was lucky enough to dine with not on the general manager but also the owner and the designer behind the hotel all women, by the way. This is the dream team and I wish it were feasible for every guest checking in to meet this trio of ladies. The way in which they speak about their hotel is like a mother speaking proudly of a child. Its obvious they have worked tirelessly in creating their idea of perfection in hospitality with Sandhotel. They have the room size, decoration and amenities perfectly in place to accommodate even the most picky of guests. The food is, quite simply put, on another level. The tales of the worlds best cinnamon rolls are true. And yes, I did have a doughnut eggs Benedict for breakfast. Are you starting to see why I absolutely adored this hotel? This is, however, just the beginning of the Sandhotels story. They are brand new to the scene and already stealing the stage, as far as I can see. The hotel itself is made of of historic townhouses, transformed inside to meet contemporary requirements. This is a subtle hotel, not wishing to disturb the elegance of the city street, but rather wow their guests with the surprises that lay in the common areas and guest rooms. And their respect for their neighbourhood talent is heavily reflected in the rooms themselves, from textiles to sculptures and paintings on the wall. Now a few words about must dos. First of all, make sure you spend some time shopping. Ask the concierge for tips. This hotel is made up of a group of employees that are incredibly proud of the locals that run shops, eateries and more in walking distance of the hotel. They are all too happy to tell you where you need to be for whatever your heart desires. Also, head into the bakery on site and fill yourself with pastries until you have popped the top button of your jeans. You only live once and this place is worth every calorie. And of course theres the restaurant next door, that is equally delicious. Last, but certainly not least, if you are lucky enough to stay in a suite, make sure you enjoy the spacious bath with a view of the starry sky, northern lights or all day sunshine, depending on the time of year you visit. If it werent for the fact that Iceland is simply the most magical place to visit, I would suggest never leaving the hotel at all! Yup, its that good. But again, this is Iceland we are talking about. You gotta get yourself out there! Heres a look at my adventures at the Sandhotel, Reykjavik, Iceland, and a few snapshots from the streets surrounding the hotel. Adventures in the local area: Only subscribers with PAID Print or E-Edition subscriptions enter here to gain access. If you are not a Current Paid subscriber do not go through this portal. Please return to the subscription page to purchase one of our offers. Thank you! Former Hong Kong home secretary Patrick HoThe Chinese energy company that U.S. prosecutors say benefited from millions of dollars in bribes allegedly paid to officials in Africa has denied that it was involved in any way with the corruption. CEFC China Energy Company Limited said in a statement Tuesday that it conducts its business activities in strict accordance with the law. Any activities that go against the law and discipline are strictly prohibited by the company, the statement said. The DOJ charged former Hong Kong home secretary Patrick Ho and Cheik Gadio, a former Senegal foreign minister, with bribing officials in Chad and Uganda to help CEFC China Energy win rights to natural resources. Ho and Gadio were each charged in federal court in New York with conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, violating the FCPA, conspiring to commit international money laundering, and committing international money laundering. Ho leads an NGO called the China Energy Fund Committee or CEFC. Its based in Hong Kong and Virginia and holds Special Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. The NGO is fully funded by CEFC China Energy. The DOJ alleged that Ho, with Gadios help, offered a $2 million bribe to the President of Chad. In exchange, the complaint says, the President of Chad gave the energy company the exclusive opportunity to obtain particular oil rights in Chad without facing international competition. Ho also allegedly paid a $500,000 bribe to the minister of foreign affairs of Uganda, since identified as Sam Kahamba Kutesa. He also served as the President of the United Nations General Assemblys sixty-ninth session in June 2014. CEFC China Energy said the NGO it funds is not involved in any of the commercial activities of CEFC China, and has no commercial authorization relationship whatsoever with the company. The statement also said CEFC China Energy does not have any investment activities in Uganda and does not have any of the so-called interest relationship with the Chadian government. * * * Heres the full statement: Official Statement CEFC China November 21, 2017 In response to some media reports that He Zhiping, Secretary General of the China Energy Fund of Hong Kong (hereinafter referred to as the Fund), was prosecuted by the U.S. judicial authorities, CEFC China Energy Company Limited (CEFC China) attaches great importance to the incident, and hereby makes an official statement as follows: 1. China Energy Fund, registered in Hong Kong, is a non-governmental and non-profit organization established and fully funded by CEFC China in accordance with the relevant laws. It aims to promote international energy research, conduct public diplomacy, and facilitate global energy cooperation and cultural exchange. 2. As a non-governmental and non-profit organization, the Fund is not involved in any of the commercial activities of CEFC China, and has no commercial authorization relationship whatsoever with the company. 3. CEFC China does not have any investment activities in Uganda. CEFC Chinas investment project in Uganda is only a financial investment in CPC Corporation, Taiwan. Therefore, it does not have any of the so-called interest relationship with the Chadian government. 4. CEFC China conducts its business activities in strict accordance with the law, and it operates under sound business management. With the establishment of the Board of Supervisors, the Discipline Inspection Committee and the Audit Department, the company exercises strict internal control and has a strict supervisory system in place. Any activities that go against the law and discipline are strictly prohibited by the company. We will continue to follow the latest developments of the incident, and will take necessary measures as required to safeguard our legitimate rights and interests. Thank you all for the care and support extended to our company. _____ Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog. Americas national parks have fallen into neglect and disrepair after decades of underfunding of their upkeep and operations. The National Park Service estimates that the 417 National Parks need $11.3 billion in deferred maintenance. That backlog is evident in Yellowstone National Park where popular trails remain closed for years for lack of money to rebuild, where roads wear out much faster than they are repaved, where a recent 40 percent increase in visitors brought virtually no increase in restrooms, parking, road capacity or visitor centers. The Trump administration proposed a federal budget that would slash NPS funding, including cutting 1,200 employees and reducing deferred maintenance by $34 million, according to the National Parks Conservation Association. Last month, the administration announced that it would tackle the park maintenance backlog by raising entrance fees at 17 of the most popular parks, including Yellowstone and Glacier. According to the NPS, the plan outlined would raise about $70 million a year in revenue. Thats not enough to take a bite out of the $11.3 billion backlog. It wouldnt even keep the backlog from growing. A bipartisan group of 12 senators (none from Montana or Wyoming) introduced a bill in March that would authorize using $500 million in oil and gas revenues for park maintenance every year through 2047. Thats the size of investment needed to reduce the backlog and preserve these national treasures for our children. The National Park Service Legacy Act ought to become law, but it hasnt even had a hearing yet in the committee chaired by Montana Sen. Steve Daines. Unpopular as a fee increase is, Yellowstone and Glacier need the resources to handle the surge in visitors. For the safety of visitors, the quality of their park experience and the preservation of historic and natural wonders, NPS must have money to shrink the maintenance backlog. A peak-season fee increase can be justified only if all of the proceeds stay in the park where its collected. The Interior Department proposed 20 percent would be used in other parks. Diverting any more entrance fee money from the park where it's collected is unacceptable. Every one of the 17 parks on the fee increase list has needs that greatly outstrip what the proposed fee increase would cover. However, considering the dire need to maintain our parks, a peak-season fee increase is reasonable if: Its less than the proposed $40 per private vehicle and set with public input. 100 percent of collections stays in the park where collected. Peak-fee funded projects are publicly identified. The peak-fee money is strictly accounted for. Peak-season fees arent used to supplant federal funding. Fee-free days are offered and publicized. Park visitors now pay $30 per private vehicle for a seven-day pass to Yellowstone. The NPS proposal would raise that to $70 starting in May 2018. Thats too soon and too steep. Along with the private vehicle fee increase during peak season, NPS proposed raising fees charged for visitors who come to the parks on commercial tours starting in 2019. The estimate of $70 million in peak season fee revenue includes $18 million from commercial tours, according to an NPS spokesperson. The NPS proposal notes that commercial tour entrance fees havent been raised since 1998 when they were first implemented under a federal law enacted a few years earlier. Fees charged by tour operators certainly have increased since 1998. The tour business is booming in Yellowstone. In 2016, the number of buses entering the park doubled and bus tours increased again this year. The National Park Service set a too-short comment period scheduled to end on Thanksgiving Day. The comment period was extended for 30 days, according to Daines' office, after he requested an extension. So there's still time to speak up. Go to the NPS link with this Gazette opinion at billingsgazette.com. Yellowstone and the other great Western parks need maintenance money now. Fees can help with a sliver of the need; Congress must act on the rest. Police in London are investigating a second allegation of sexual assault made against Kevin Spacey. Kevin Spacey Scotland Yard officials are looking into an allegation of an alleged incident that took place in 2005 in Lambeth, south London - the location of the Old Vic theatre, where the disgraced 'House of Cards' star was artistic director from 2004 to 2013 - and confirmed the accused is already being investigated over another incident. The Met Police said in a statement: "It is alleged a man assaulted another man (Victim 1) in 2008 in Lambeth. "On Friday, November 17 a further allegation was made about the same man. The allegations are of sexual assaults against a man (Victim 2) in 2005 in Lambeth. "Officers from the Child Abuse and Sexual Offences Command are investigating." According to Variety, it is believed the second complainant was an aspiring actor who sought career advice from Spacey. The incident was reported to police a day after the Old Vic revealed they had had more than 20 people come forward to make allegations about the 58-year-old actor during his stint at the theatre. The theatre claimed a "cult of personality" had existed around Spacey, and his status and stardom had stopped people, in particular young actors and junior staff, from speaking out about his alleged actions. They said in a statement: "Despite having the appropriate escalation processes in place, it was claimed that those affected felt unable to raise concerns and that Kevin Spacey operated without sufficient accountability. "This is clearly unacceptable and the Old Vic truly apologises for not creating an environment or culture where people felt able to speak freely." Of the 20 testimonies, all but two incidents were said to have occurred before 2009 and just one had previously made a complaint. The Old Vic also stressed that "no legal claims, formal grievances, formal disputes, settlement agreements or payments made or authorised were made at all in relation to Kevin Spacey during his tenure". The 'American Beauty' actor has yet to comment on the allegations against him. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have reportedly been given the Archbishop of Canterbury's blessing to get married. Prince Harry The 33-year-old royal has been dating the 'Suits' actress - who was previously married to TV producer Trevor Engelson - for over a year now, and engagement rumours have been circling for months. And now, according to the Daily Express newspaper, Archbishop Justin Welby is said to have confirmed to the couple that he has no objections to a possible marriage between them, clearing the way for a royal wedding which would likely take place at Westminster Abbey. Officials at the Abbey - who have previously confirmed they allow divorced people to wed there - said the couple would require a marriage licence from the Archbishop's faculty office, but other possible venues would include St Paul's Cathedral or St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. However, the Archbishop himself, as well as his office at Lambeth Palace and Kensington Palace - where Harry lives in a bachelor pad - have all declined to comment on the speculation. Whilst the pair have been dating for around 16 months, the 36-year-old star first caught the eye of the Prince two years prior to their meeting, as he had been attracted to Rachel Zane, her character on the USA Network drama. Royal expert Katie Nicholl said: "He had a crush on Rachel Zane two years before he met Meghan and the reason I know is because I was having drinks with one of his friends. "She told me she'd been on a night out with Prince Harry. He was single at the time, so she said, 'Harry, who's your ideal girl?' And he said 'Meghan Markle from 'Suits'.'" The flame-haired royal orchestrated a meeting between the pair in July 2016 through mutual friend Markus Anderson, and whilst they met up with "seven or eight" people, it was the "perfect opportunity" for the two to talk. Katie added: "He asked Markus if he could set up, not a date, but an opportunity for them to meet and that happened in one of the private rooms of Soho House. "There were about seven or eight of them altogether and it was a perfect opportunity for Harry and Meghan to come together in a really informal environment and actually talk. "She was funny, feisty, confident and she wasn't swayed or knocked by the fact that he was Prince Harry. She thought he was terribly cute." Queen Elizabeth is now the oldest reigning head of state. Queen Elizabeth The 91-year-old monarch has been handed the new title after Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe, 93, ended his three-decade reign by stepping down from the role earlier this week. Queen Elizabeth is now the oldest head of state alive today, though she is closely followed by 90-year-old Beji Caid Essebsi, who is president of Tunisia. This isn't the only impressive title the Queen can boast either, as back in 2015 she surpassed her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, as the longest-reigning monarch, having now ruled over Great Britain for a whopping 65 years. And she also takes the crown alongside her husband Prince Philip, 96, when it comes to the longest royal marriage, as on Monday (20.11.17) they celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary. To commemorate the special occasion, a new portrait of the pair was issued, which sees the couple framed on either side by portraits painted in 1781 of George III and Queen Charlotte, who were married for 57 years - the longest royal marriage until their own. In the photograph - which was snapped by Matt Holyoak of the Camera Press, which is also celebrating its 70th year - Queen Elizabeth is wearing a a cream day dress by Angela Kelly, accompanied by a gold, ruby and diamond brooch Prince Philip gave her in 1966. The Duke of Edinburgh, meanwhile, is wearing a tweed jacket and burgundy tie. The portrait isn't the only thing the couple did to celebrate seven decades together, as the Queen also appointed her spouse as Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order. A tweet from the official Royal Family account stated: "Her Majesty has appointed His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh to be a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO). "Awards in the Royal Victorian Order are made personally by The Queen, for services to the Sovereign." The honour is believed to have been awarded to the royal as a sign of Queen Elizabeth's thanks for showing her his everlasting support both publicly and privately, over the past seven decades of marriage. Qatar Airways Cargo has commenced direct freighter service to Yangon, offering additional capacity to support Myanmars exports, primarily of garments. The Doha-Yangon-Doha route is served once a week with the Airbus A330 freighter, providing more than 60 tonnes of cargo capacity. Garments destined for Europe and US markets will get a stopover at Doha.The new service will also facilitate the transit of pharmaceutical imports from Europe to Myanmar through its established QR Pharma solution, according to a press release from the airlines. Qatar Airways Cargo has commenced direct freighter service to Yangon, offering additional capacity to support Myanmar's exports, primarily of garments. The Doha-Yangon-Doha route is served once a week with the Airbus A330 freighter, providing more than 60 tonnes of cargo capacity. Garments destined for Europe and US markets will get a stopover at Doha.# We are extremely proud to be the first international airline to serve this emerging market with scheduled freighter service as we aspire to become the premier air cargo service provider in the region, Qatar Airways acting chief officer cargo Guillaume Halleux said.Myanmars air freight exports and imports have risen by 87 per cent and 58 per cent in metric tonnes since 2014. (DS) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India Members of ACIMIT, the Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers, are set to participate in the Colombiatex 2018 expo, Colombias main textile tradefair, to be held from November 23 to 25, 2018, in Medellin. 24 companies will be exhibiting their latest technology in the common area set up by the Italian Trade Agency and ACIMIT.Among Italian companies exhibiting at the common exhibition space, ACIMIT members include Beschi, Beta, Biancalani, Btsr, Caipo, Caru, Durst, Fadis, Itema, Laip, Mactec, Marzoli, Mcs, Monti-Mac, Noseda, Ratti, Reggiani, Salvade, Santex Rimar Group, Simet, Smit, and Tecnorama. Members of ACIMIT, the Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers, are set to participate in the Colombiatex 2018 expo, Colombia's main textile tradefair, to be held from November 23 to 25, 2018, in Medellin. 24 companies will be exhibiting their latest technology in the common area set up by the Italian Trade Agency and ACIMIT.# The Colombian textile and garments industry is among the most important one in America, above all with respect to the fashion sector. Thanks to a number of trade agreements undertaken with neighbouring countries, as well as with the worlds two major apparel markets (the United States and European Union), the industry has recorded further progress in recent years.Interest on the part of Italys textile machinery industry for the Colombian market comes from the ongoing demand for technological updates by local manufacturers. Italian exports to the region in 2016 rose to a value of 13 million. Over the first six months of 2017, sales of Italian textile machinery to this market exceeded 6 million. Among Made in Italy production technology most in demand by Colombian textile and garments manufacturers are finishing machinery (58 per cent of the total) and spinning machinery (16 per cent). (GK) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India A Turkish invisible fabric that radars and thermal cameras cannot detect will soon be available for sale to member countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). Developed by the Sun Textile and Research Development Centre, the fabric passed tests by the Turkish Armed Forces, and is now awaiting approval from the defence ministry for export.Invented by two scientists at Teknokent of Hacettepe University in Ankara, Sabri Unluturk, the fabric is being produced in a factory in the western Izmir province, chairman of the executive board of Sun Holding, told a Turkish news agency. A Turkish invisible fabric that radars and thermal cameras cannot detect will soon be available for sale to member countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). Developed by the Sun Textile and Research Development Centre, the fabric passed tests by the Turkish Armed Forces, and is now awaiting approval from the defence ministry for export.# The fabric spreads body heat in a way that makes the person wearing it impossible to be spotted by thermal cameras. Tests for the uniforms are currently under way. (DS) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 11/21/17 -- Torex Gold Resources Inc. (the "Company" or "Torex") (TSX: TXG) issued a statement today in response to misinformation that is being circulated by labour groups and the media. The Company was made aware of an incident that happened this past weekend in the town of Atzcala, about twenty five minutes (15Km) from its El Limon Guajes Mine (the "ELG Mine"). During this incident, two men were killed in the course of a dispute. Torex confirms that the two men were not employees of the Company. With regards to operations at the Company's ELG Mine, there is no strike. There is an illegal blockade. Operations have been shut down at the ELG Mine site since November 3rd as a result of the illegal blockade, which arose because of a dispute between the union that legally represents the Company's workers (the "CTM Union") and the union that wants to represent the workers (the "Miners Union"). A majority of the Company's non-staff employees have signed with the CTM Union. As previously disclosed, there is a government sanctioned process for the Company's workers to vote on their preferred union and thereby democratically elect the union that will represent them. Torex supports this process and will work with whichever union the workers chose. However, for reasons the Company does not know, the Miners Union chose to organize a blockade of the ELG Mine and threaten the unionized workers to stop all activities. Of the Company's unionized workers, approximately 15% have been participating in the illegal blockade. The remaining unionized workers continue to be paid at a reduced rate, but have been sent home for safety reasons. Resolution of this dispute is now in the hands of the Labour Board, which the Company believes is working to engage the parties, including the Miners Union, in the legal process established to resolve this dispute and select a date for the union vote to take place. The federal Gendarmerie continues to be present at the ELG Mine for the protection of the Company's assets. Torex is an emerging intermediate gold producer based in Canada, engaged in the exploration, development and operation of its 100% owned Morelos Gold Property, an area of 29,000 hectares in the highly prospective Guerrero Gold Belt located 180 kilometers southwest of Mexico City. Within this property, Torex has the El Limon Guajes Mine, which announced commercial production in March of 2016, the Sub-Sill Project, currently under development, and the Media Luna Project, an early stage development project for which the Company issued a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) in 2015. The property remains 75% unexplored. CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS This press release contains "forward-looking statements" and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Notwithstanding the Company's efforts, there can be no guarantee that the Company will not face unforeseen delays or disruptions. Forward-looking information also includes, but is not limited to, the availability of the government sanctioned process to resolve the labour dispute, including the vote to elect the union, the outcome of such process, the time period during which operations may be shut down and the circumstances of such shut down. Generally, forward-looking information can be can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such "purpose", "budgeted", "scheduled", "potentially", "proposed", "pending", "contemplates", "plans", "expects", "estimates", "intends", "anticipates", "believes", or "subsequent" or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "will" 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 activities of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including, without limitation, those risk factors identified in the Company's annual information form and management's discussion and analysis. Forward-looking information is based on the reasonable assumptions, estimates, analysis and opinions of management made in light of its experience and its perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, as well as other factors that management believes to be relevant and reasonable in the circumstances at the date that such statements are made, but which may prove to be incorrect. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and expectations reflected in such forward-looking information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking information because the Company can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Contacts: Torex Gold Resources Inc. Fred Stanford President and CEO (647) 260-1502 fred.stanford@torexgold.com Torex Gold Resources Inc. Gabriela Sanchez Vice President Investor Relations (647) 260-1503 gabriela.sanchez@torexgold.com www.torexgold.com WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) said that, effective February 1, 2018, Antonio Neri, current President of HPE, will become President and Chief Executive Officer, and will join the HPE Board of Directors. Meg Whitman, current Chief Executive Officer, will remain on the HPE Board of Directors. 'Now is the right time for Antonio and a new generation of leaders to take the reins of HPE. I have tremendous confidence that they will continue to build a great company that will thrive well into the future,' said Meg Whitman, CEO of HPE. Meg Whitman was appointed President and CEO of HP in September 2011. Since then, she has executed against a five-year turnaround strategy that has repositioned the company to better compete and win in today's environment. Neri, 50, joined HP in 1995 as a customer service engineer in the EMEA call center. He went on to hold various roles in HP's Printing business and then to run customer service for HP's Personal Systems unit. In 2011, Neri began running the company's Technology Services business, then its Server and Networking business units, before running all of Enterprise Group beginning in 2015. Neri was appointed President of HPE in June 2017. In addition to leading the company's four primary lines of business, as President, Neri has been responsible for HPE Next, a program to accelerate the company's core performance and competitiveness. 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. HONG KONG, CHINA -- (Marketwired) -- 11/21/17 -- Zurich Insurance (Hong Kong) (SIX: ZURN) (OTCQX: ZURVY) 54% of Hong Kong's workforce have experienced income loss due to illness or disability 50% do not have sufficient savings to cover expenses in case of income loss for more than six months Out of 11 countries/regions surveyed, Hong Kong workers feel they are most vulnerable to income loss resulting from illness or disability Collaboration between government, employers, insurers and individuals is vital to close income protection gaps A report released by Zurich Insurance (Hong Kong) today calls for greater collaboration to close income protection gaps -- as half of the local workforce lack sufficient savings to last six months without income. The global report titled 'Embracing the income protection gaps challenge: options and solutions', is the culmination of an extensive three-year study in collaboration with the University of Oxford, and provides recommendations for how governments, employers, insurers, intermediaries and individuals can work together on the issue. Hong Kong was among 11 countries/regions surveyed in the global report. The report also reveals that Hongkongers feel they are most vulnerable to income loss. Only a quarter of respondents believe they have a less than 10% chance of lost earnings due to illness or disability, versus the more confident 38% average of the 11 markets surveyed. Mr Eric Hui, Chief Executive Officer, Zurich Insurance (Hong Kong), said, "The study highlights a serious issue with income protection gaps in Hong Kong. Income protection is not a pleasant topic, and it's complex, so people often need a trigger to motivate them to act. We hope the report will stimulate debate, and help more people in Hong Kong prioritize income protection, seek professional advice, and formulate a long-term plan." Hong Kong faces significant protection gaps The findings from the second phase of the study reveal that Hong Kong workers are more likely (54%) to experience income loss in working life due to serious illness/disability than any of the respondents of the markets surveyed (average 44%). The research also shows that 54% of those surveyed had personally experienced income loss due to sickness or accident. Of those that experienced income loss, over one-third (38%) suffered income loss for longer than six months. Of those without income protection insurance, less than half (45%) said they would consider investing in protection, with most citing price as the biggest barrier. Mr Hui, said, "The lack of protection, combined with Hong Kong's increased longevity and rising healthcare costs, presents a significant protection gap challenge for the city." People working longer increases risks As people in Hong Kong enjoy a longer life expectancy, with men expected to live to 81.24 years, and women averaging 87.32 years. People are also working longer. This puts individuals at increased risk of becoming disabled during their career. Mr Hui, said "Chronic sickness, injuries or other conditions can prevent or impair a wage earner's capability. The rising cost of healthcare is also creating additional financial burden for individuals. An income protection gap could seriously deplete household budgets, savings and retirement accounts. Yet, the burden of guaranteeing long-term financial security may be simply too great for many individuals to bear alone." A collective effort in minding the income protection gaps Based on the research, Zurich recommends that government, employers, insurers, intermediaries and individuals work together to close income protection gaps. Key recommendations include: For insurers: Develop accessible insurance products to introduce via employers, with additional features available for individuals wishing to purchase them. For employers: Actively promote well-being programs for employees for healthier lifestyles. Partner with the government and employers' associations to encourage return-to-work schemes. Provide employees with ongoing financial education and training, including the use of digital tools. For governments: Regulate and certify (or trademark) approved income protection insurance products and use fiscal incentives to encourage mainstreaming of adaptation. Harness the enthusiasm and efforts of various sectors by promoting collaboration and setting common goals to improve financial education literacy. For the individuals: It is important to consider competing priorities in life and future financial security when reviewing if enough income protection is in place. For insurance distributors and intermediaries: Agents, brokers, banks, employee benefits consultants and others have important roles, not just linking supply and demand but advising and educating customers (whether employers or individuals) and feeding market and customer requirements back to insurers. Further information The first phase of the project, released in 2015, addressed themes such as how income is protected. The second study published in 2016 looked at institutional and behavioral factors influencing demand for income protection. The third phase of the project, which includes the latest study, investigates potential avenues for how the public and private sectors could work together to close IPGs. Both the second and third phase of the project included a representative sample of Hong Kong respondents -- 1,039 respondents aged 25 to 60 completed an online survey consisting of 57 questions. Supporting materials The full research report 'Understanding income protection gaps: awareness, behavior, choices, 2016' Income protection gaps: challenge and opportunity - Australia, Brazil, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the U.S. and UK. The full research report 'Embracing the income protection gaps challenge: options and solutions, 2017' Insights and solution for closing IPGs in 12 countries - Australia, Brazil, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, UAE, the U.S. and UK. Zurich Insurance Group (Zurich) is a leading multi-line insurer that serves its customers in global and local markets. With about 54,000 employees, it provides a wide range of property and casualty, and life insurance products and services in more than 210 countries and territories. Zurich's customers include individuals, small businesses, and mid-sized and large companies, as well as multinational corporations. The Group is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, where it was founded in 1872. The holding company, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd (ZURN), is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and has a level I American Depositary Receipt (ZURVY) program, which is traded over-the-counter on OTCQX. Further information about Zurich is available at www.zurich.com. Zurich's presence in Hong Kong dates back to 1961. In Hong Kong, Zurich offers a full range of flexible general insurance and life insurance products and solutions for individuals, small businesses, and mid-sized companies, as well as large corporate customers, catering to their insurance, protection and investment needs. For media enquiries, please contact: Zurich Insurance (Hong Kong) Anita Yeung +852-2977 0875 (direct) Email Contact Joyce Ho +852-2977 0181 (direct) Email Contact London (ots/PRNewswire) -ViiV Healthcare, the global specialist HIV company, majority owned by GlaxoSmithKline, with Pfizer Inc. and Shionogi Limited as shareholders, today announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Juluca, indicated as a complete regimen for the maintenance treatment of HIV-1 infection in adults who are virologically suppressed (HIV-1 RNA less than 50 copies per mL) on a stable antiretroviral (ART) regimen for at least six months with no history of treatment failure and no known substitutions associated with resistance to the individual components of Juluca.[1](Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160223/336449LOGO )Juluca is the first 2-drug regimen (2DR) comprising dolutegravir 50mg (ViiV Healthcare), an integrase strand transfer inhibitor and rilpivirine 25mg (Janssen Therapeutics, Division of Janssen Products LP), a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor.Deborah Waterhouse, CEO ViiV Healthcare said, "The FDA approval of Juluca marks an important milestone in our commitment to deliver innovative advances in HIV care by providing new treatment options that challenge the traditional approach to care. This is the start of a new era in HIV treatment. We are delighted to be able to provide the first 2-drug regimen to physicians and people living with HIV in the US, to support the reduction of long-term ART exposure as they receive life-long treatment for their chronic condition."This FDA approval is based primarily upon data from two pivotal phase III clinical trials, SWORD-1[2] and SWORD-2,[2] which showed the 2-drug regimen achieved non-inferior viral suppression (HIV-1 RNA less than 50 copies per mL) at 48 weeks compared with a three- or four-drug regimen in both pooled and individual analyses of the SWORD-1 and SWORD-2 studies (CAR 485/511 [95%], dolutegravir + rilpivirine 486/513 [95%] [adjusted difference -0.2% (95% confidence interval CI: 3.0%, 2.5%), pooled analysis]).[2] Virologic suppression rates were similar between treatment arms.[2] Drug related adverse events and adverse events leading to withdrawal occurred in low frequencies in both arms of the study, but more frequently in the investigational arm.John C Pottage, Jr, MD, Chief Scientific and Medical Officer, ViiV Healthcare, commented, "Based on the fundamental principle that no one should have to take more medicines than necessary, ViiV Healthcare has put in place a comprehensive 2-drug regimen research and development programme built around the characteristics of dolutegravir. Juluca, our new 2-drug regimen, once-daily, single pill, now provides people living with HIV who are virologically suppressed, the option to reduce the number of antiretrovirals they take, while maintaining the efficacy of a traditional three-drug regimen."Juluca is the first medicine in our 2-drug regimen pipeline, which looks to help lessen the lifetime burden of treatment for people living with HIV. Our R&D efforts are exploring the potential of two further 2-drug regimens both in phase III development, a once-daily, single pill containing dolutegravir/lamivudine for treatment naive patients, as well as cabotegravir/rilpivirine long-acting injectable for treatment-experienced and naive patients.Notes to editorsIn June 2014, ViiV Healthcare and Janssen Sciences Ireland UC, one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, announced a partnership to investigate the potential of combining dolutegravir and rilpivirine in a single tablet in order to expand the treatment options available to people living with HiV.About HIVHIV stands for the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. Unlike some other viruses, the human body cannot get rid of HIV, so once someone has HIV they have it for life. There is no cure for HIV, but effective treatment can control the virus so that people with HIV can enjoy healthy and productive lives.HIV has largely become a chronic treatable disease, with improved access to antiretroviral treatment leading to a 22% drop in global HIV mortality between 2009 and 2013,[3] but more can be done for the estimated 36.7 million people living with HIV and 1.8 million individuals newly infected each year worldwide.[4]About JulucaJuluca is a 2-drug regimen, once-daily, single pill that combines the INSTI dolutegravir (50mg), with the NNRTI rilpivirine (25mg) taken once-daily as a complete HIV regimen for people living with HIV who are virologically suppressed.Two essential steps in the HIV life cycle include reverse transcription - when the virus turns its RNA (ribonucleic acid) copy into DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) - and integration - the moment when viral DNA becomes part of the host cell's DNA. These processes require two enzymes called nucleoside reverse transcriptase and integrase. NNRTIs and INSTIs interfere with the action of these two enzymes to prevent the virus from replicating. This decrease in replication can lead to less virus being available to cause subsequent infection of uninfected cells.Juluca was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on 21st November 2017, as a complete regimen for the treatment of HIV-1 infection in adults who are virologically suppressed (HIV-1 RNA less than 50 copies per mL) on a stable antiretroviral regimen for at least 6 months with no history of treatment failure and no known substitutions associated with resistance to the individual components of Juluca. Juluca is expected to be available in pharmacies in the US from 11th December 2017.ViiV Healthcare has also submitted regulatory marketing applications in Europe, Canada, Australia and Switzerland.About the SWORD phase III program for dolutegravir (Tivicay) and rilpivirine (Edurant)The SWORD phase III program evaluates the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of switching to dolutegravir plus rilpivirine from current integrase inhibitor-, non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor-, or boosted protease inhibitor-based antiretroviral regimen in HIV-1-infected adults who are virologically suppressed with a three or four-drug regimen. SWORD-1 (NCT02429791) and SWORD-2 (NCT02422797) are replicate 148-week, randomised, open-label, non-inferiority studies to assess the antiviral activity and safety of a two-drug, daily oral regimen of dolutegravir plus rilpivirine compared with current antiretroviral therapy (full 148-week data will be shared in 2018). In the SWORD clinical trials, dolutegravir and rilpivirine are provided as individual tablets.The primary endpoint is the proportion of patients with plasma HIV-1 RNA <50 copies per millilitre (c/mL) at Week 48. Key secondary endpoints include evaluation of the development of viral resistance, measurements of safety and tolerability, and changes in renal, bone and cardiovascular biomarkers. The studies also include exploratory measures to assess change in health-related quality of life, willingness to switch and adherence to treatment regimens.For more information on the trials please visit: http://www.clinicaltrials.govJuluca and Tivicay are registered trademarks of the ViiV Healthcare group of companies.*Edurant is a registered trademark of Janssen Sciences Ireland UC.HIGHLIGHTS OF PRESCRIBING INFORMATIONThese highlights do not include all the information needed to use JULUCA safely and effectively. See full prescribing information for JULUCA (https://www.gsksource.com/pharma/content/dam/GlaxoSmithKline/ US/en/Prescribing_Information/Juluca/pdf/JULUCA-PI-PIL.PDF).JULUCA (dolutegravir and rilpivirine) tablets, for oral use Initial U.S. Approval: 2017INDICATIONS AND USAGEJULUCA, a two-drug combination of dolutegravir, a human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) integrase strand transfer inhibitor (INSTI), and rilpivirine, a HIV-1 non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI), is indicated as a complete regimen for the treatment of HIV-1 infection in adults to replace the current antiretroviral regimen in those who are virologically suppressed (HIV-1 RNA less than 50 copies per mL) on a stable antiretroviral regimen for at least 6 months with no history of treatment failure and no known substitutions associated with resistance to the individual components of JULUCA.DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION- One tablet taken orally once daily with a meal. - Rifabutin coadministration: Take an additional 25-mg tablet of rilpivirine with JULUCA once daily with a meal for the duration of the rifabutin coadministration.DOSAGE FORMS AND STRENGTHSEach tablet contains: 50 mg of dolutegravir (equivalent to 52.6 mg dolutegravir sodium) and 25 mg of rilpivirine (equivalent to 27.5 mg rilpivirine hydrochloride).CONTRAINDICATIONS- Previous hypersensitivity reaction to dolutegravir or rilpivirine. - Coadministration with dofetilide. - Coadministration with drugs where significant decreases in rilpivirine plasma concentrations may occur, which may result in loss of virologic response.WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS- Severe skin and hypersensitivity reactions characterised by rash, constitutional findings, and sometimes organ dysfunction, including liver injury, have been reported with the individual components. Discontinue JULUCA immediately if signs or symptoms of severe skin or hypersensitivity reactions develop, as a delay in stopping treatment may result in a life-threatening reaction. - Hepatotoxicity has been reported in patients receiving a dolutegravir- or rilpivirine-containing regimen. Monitoring for hepatotoxicity is recommended. - Depressive disorders have been reported with the use of rilpivirine- or dolutegravir-containing regimens. Immediate medical evaluation is recommended for severe depressive symptoms.ADVERSE REACTIONSThe most common adverse reactions (all Grades) observed in at least 2% of subjects were diarrhoea and headache.To report SUSPECTED ADVERSE REACTIONS, contact ViiV Healthcare at 1-888-844-8872 or FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088 or http://www.fda.gov/medwatch.DRUG INTERACTIONS- Because JULUCA is a complete regimen, coadministration with other antiretroviral medications for the treatment of HIV-1 infection is not recommended. - Refer to the full prescribing information for important drug interactions with JULUCA. - Drugs that induce or inhibit CYP3A4 or UGT1A1 may affect the plasma concentrations of the components of JULUCA. - Drugs that increase gastric pH or containing polyvalent cations may decrease plasma concentrations of the components of JULUCA - Consider alternatives to prescribing JULUCA with drugs with a known risk of Torsade de Pointes.USE IN SPECIFIC POPULATIONS- Lactation: Breastfeeding is not recommended due to the potential for HIV transmission.About ViiV HealthcareViiV Healthcare is a global specialist HIV company established in November 2009 by GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK) and Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) dedicated to delivering advances in treatment and care for people living with HIV and for people who are at risk of becoming infected with HIV. Shionogi joined in October 2012. The company's aim is to take a deeper and broader interest in HIV/AIDS than any company has done before and take a new approach to deliver effective and innovative medicines for HIV treatment and prevention, as well as support communities affected by HIV.For more information on the company, its management, portfolio, pipeline, and commitment, please visit http://www.viivhealthcare.com.About GSKGSK - one of the world's leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies - is committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer. For further information please visit http://www.gsk.com.References1. Juluca US label information 2. Llibre JM, Hung C-C, Brinson C, et al. SWORD 1 & 2: Switch to DTG + RPV maintains virologic suppression through 48 weeks, a Phase III study. Presented at: Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections; February 13-16, 2017; Seattle, WA, USA. 3. World Health Organization. Global Update on the health sector response to HIV, 2014. July 2014. Available at: http://apps.who.in t/iris/bitstream/10665/128494/1/9789241507585_eng.pdf?ua=1. Last accessed November 2017. 4. World Health Organization. HIV/AIDS Fact Sheet. Available at: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs360/en/. Last accessed November 2017.ViiV Healthcare Media enquiries:Patricia O'Connor, +44-208-047-5982Marc Meachem, +1-919-483-8756GSK Global Media enquiries:Simon Steel, +44(0)20-8047-3763David Daley, +44(0)20-8047-2615Analyst/Investor enquiries:Sarah Elton-Farr, +44(0)20-8047-5194Tom Curry, +1-215-751-5419Gary Davies, +44(0)20-8047-5503James Dodwell, +44(0)20-8047-2406Jeff McLaughlin, +1-215-751-7002ots Originaltext: ViiV Healthcare Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de GUANGZHOU, China, Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Zuzuche.com, China's leading outbound car rental and travel service platform, has been in the front row to observe the Chinese tourists' growing demand for car rental services in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This year, the platform has witnessed its first semester's car rental in the UAE increase 7 times compared to 2016. This growth rate largely exceeds those of the United States, Canada and Australia, which are some of the most popular destinations among Zuzuche's users. This drastic demand increase is mainly due to a recent agreement ratified on the 14th March 2016 by both China and the UAE governments, which recognizes the validity of driving licenses issued by both countries in other's territory. This agreement allows Chinese citizens holding a UAE short-term visit visa to drive in the country while in possession of a Chinese driving licenses only. To play it safe, Dubai's Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing recommends Chinese tourists planning to drive in the UAE to still apply for an International Certificate Translation of Driver's License (ICTDL) as a supplementary document, which can be obtained on http://www.zuzuche.com. With it and an original driver license, Chinese tourists can be free to rent and drive a car in the UAE. Besides, permanent residents of either of these two countries can obtain a driving permit from the other country without any additional training or tests. Mr. Zheng Chengjun, Zuzuche's Vice President, highlighted that "This policy change can be a key factor encouraging Chinese people to choose the UAE as a road-trip destination. That is the reason why cooperating with tourism bureaus worldwide and promoting their policy reformsare crucial for us." Over the past years, the growth of Chinese outbound tourism has been coupled with a shift from organized group trips to free independent travels, leading to more demand for car rental services globally. Nevertheless, Chinese driving licenses are yet to be accepted at a global scale, and regulations tend to take a significant time to be changed. Therefore, this bilateral agreement between China and the UAE can be seen as a milestone for the recognition of the Chinese driving license abroad, and also enables the UAE to open its doors to the ever-growing number of Chinese outbound car renters. Contact: LU Yin +86-183-2013-2179 lvyin@zuzuche.com ORANGE COUNTY, CA / ACCESSWIRE / November 21, 2017 / As a recognized businessman who has been very successful in California's thriving marketing industry, Nick Kohlschreiber recently shared his insights on the vital relationship between marketing and technology, explaining that a significant shift in marketing techniques is already well underway, as mobile apps and Internet users spend more time on their smartphones and computers. This has created a challenge for brands as they seek to connect with customers through all these devices in real-time, while also developing advertising campaigns that are effective across social media, display advertising and e-commerce. Sweeping technological advances and the expansive outreach of social media has permanently altered the nature of marketing as a whole, a sentiment Guardian contributor David Benady noted prior to a panel discussion with industry executives. "Real-time conversations brands have with people as they interact with websites and mobile apps has changed the nature of marketing," Benady wrote. "The modern-day marketing department needs to combine the creative side of the discipline - using powerful narratives to tap into people's wishes and aspirations - with the technical side of data, digital engineering and analytics." The potential reach of an advertising campaign has also broadened. Facebook, YouTube, online news websites, and integrated apps for smartphones and tablets now allow strong ideas to quickly spread and influence in the span of a single day. "If you come up with that nugget of an idea, you've now got such reach that you can expand that and get tremendous coverage just from a little niche idea," said Mark Singleton, head of marketing at betting brand Paddy Power. Various technological tools enable modern marketing techniques to provide a highly personalized customer experience, often through insightful analytics providing a more targeted audience. As the number of tools and options continues to grow at rapid rates, marketers are faced with increasingly complicated decisions while deciding on their strategy. Nick Kohlschreiber encourages them to carefully weigh the numerous choices available and focus on methods that best fit their brand, while offering the highest level of direct access to their targeted consumer base. Kohlschreiber also advises companies to constantly reevaluate their strategies in light of emerging entities that may ensure even higher degrees of innovative and strategic advertising. By continuing to embrace evolutions in technology, marketing experts can stay ahead of the latest trends, adapting to changes while receiving optimal results. Nick Kohlschreiber is an experienced businessman and entrepreneur, beginning his career at a young age as the head of marketing at an online wholesale product company, where he invigorated sales with his innovative approach to the online selling and direct shipping of products to its consumers. Now the owner of a media company based in Newport Beach, Kohlschreiber oversees hundreds of employees and tens of thousands of clients every day, while striving to further the connections to the modern communication platforms -- from document preparation, to online, multimedia-driven business development. In his spare time, he is a dedicated philanthropist assisting both local charities and various international non-profit organizations. Nick Kohlschreiber - Expert in Modern Marketing: http://www.nickkohlschreibernews.com Nick Kohlschreiber - Business Entrepreneur & Founder of TeleTree: http://nickkohlschreiberreviews.com Nick Kohlschreiber - Creative Marketing Solutions Expert: http://nickkohlschreibermarketing.com Contact Information: NickKohlschreiberNews.com www.NickKohlschreiberNews.com contact@nickkohlschreibernews.com SOURCE: Nick Kohlschreiber New office opens in response to increasing regional demand for world-class environmental health and safety (EHS) and IT risk management solutions DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- SAI Global, a leading provider of integrated risk management solutions, today announced the opening of an office in Dubai to help organizations throughout the Middle East enhance their risk management programs. The new office addresses increasing demand and growth the company has experienced since it first entered the region in 2015. SAI Global will build upon a solid customer base established across the region's banking, energy and oil sectors, including Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC). These businesses rely on the company's integrated risk software and learning solutions to mitigate risk through practices that bring transparency, consistency, and accountability. "The market for risk management solutions and compliance training is rapidly growing throughout the Middle East," said Peter Granat, CEO of SAI Global. "There's strong demand among companies in the region for our leading environmental health and safety (EHS) and IT risk software solutions. These companies are ambitious in their goals to be among the best managed companies in the world and our enhanced presence here better enables our commitment to these customers." According to a representative of Agility, a logistics leader in Kuwait "To protect our hard-earned brand reputation and build public trust, it's essential for us to cultivate an ethical culture across our organization. SAI Global has really helped us to create awareness, increase transparency and reduce risk. This has enabled us to align our employee conduct with our company values, as well as establish an effective, defensible compliance program with measurable results." SAI Global's Dubai office will be headed up by a locally appointed team of risk management experts responsible for evolving the company's business in the region. As referenced in Gartner's 'Magic Quadrant for IT Risk Management Solutions' (June 2017), "according to 200 inquiries in 2016 and 2017, bringing efficiencies in managing compliance and regulatory reporting for IT-related risks continues to be the primary driver to evaluate IT risk management (ITRM) solutions. We also continue to see more interest among buyers trying to answer inquiries from their boards or customers about ITRM's close link to cybersecurity initiatives. This is especially true in North America and Europe; however, the Middle East, Brazil and India are also showing signs of increased interest in ITRM solutions' capabilities." * SAI Global was positioned the highest for ability to execute and furthest for completeness of vision in the Challengers quadrant of this Magic Quadrant for its digital risk management software. Additionally, in SC Media's recent comprehensive product review, SAI Global's digital risk management software solution achieved "five stars" for the fifth consecutive year. *Source: Gartner, "Magic Quadrant for IT Risk Management Solutions," Khushbu Pratap, Jeffrey Wheatman, Matthew T. Stamper, 29 June 2017. Required Disclaimer: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 SAI Global SAI Global's world-class solutions and expertise help companies take an integrated approach to the risk management lifecycle. The company has global reach with locations across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific. For more visit www.saiglobal.com. Media enquiries: Bria Lamberton Global Channel Communications Manager SAI Global Level 38, 680 George St, Sydney NSW 2000 M: + 61 (0) 428 009 117 E: Bria.Lamberton@saiglobal.com View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sai-global-expands-middle-east-presence-with-dubai-office-300560832.html ML Gold: ML Gold erwirbt Landflachen nahe von New Nadinas Liegenschaft Silver Queen und gibt Winterbohrprogramm bekannt DGAP-News: ML Gold / Schlagwort(e): Marktbericht/Zwischenbericht ML Gold: ML Gold erwirbt Landflachen nahe von New Nadinas Liegenschaft Silver Queen und gibt Winterbohrprogramm bekannt 22.11.2017 / 08:00 Fur den Inhalt der Mitteilung ist der Emittent verantwortlich. ML Gold erwirbt Landflachen nahe von New Nadinas Liegenschaft Silver Queen und gibt Winterbohrprogramm bekannt ML Gold Corp. (TSX-V: MLG; FSE: X0VN.F) ("ML Gold" oder das "Unternehmen") gibt bekannt, dass das Unternehmen zwei separate Optionsabkommen fur Optionen zum Erwerb von bis zu 80% an insgesamt 2.136 Hektar aussichtsreicher Bergbau-Claims in der Omineca Mining Division im nordlichen Zentralteil der Provinz British Columbia unterzeichnet hat. Die Landflachen liegen ungefahr 40km sudsudwestlich von Houston (gemeinsam die "Stars-Liegenschaft"). Andy Bowering, Chairman von ML Gold sagte: "Dies war eine einzigartige Gelegenheit zum Erwerb eines soliden Landpakets in diesem sich entwickelnden Gebiet mit einer signifikanten Kupfer-Gold-Silber-Vererzung an der Oberflache, die noch nie in der Tiefe uberpruft wurde. Wir sind zufrieden, einen Platz in dem sich in jungster Zeit wiederbelebenden signifikanten Bergbaubezirk zu haben." ML Golds Stars-Liegenschaft liegt 30km nordwestlich von New Nadinas Liegenschaft Silver Queen. Die Vererzung auf New Nadinas Liegenschaft hat einen Nordwest-Sudost-Trend und liegt innerhalb einer Reihe von Lagerstatten und ehemaliger produzierender Minen einschlielich Goldcorps Silbermine Equity, die uber 77 Millionen Unzen Silber, 500.000 Unzen Gold und uber 80.000 kg Kupfer produzierte. Am Nordwestende dieses Trends beherbergt ML Golds Stars-Liegenschaft weitverbreitete Chargeability-Anomalien (Chargeability = Aufladbarkeit) und eine an der Oberflache ausstreichende signifikante Kupfer-Gold-Silber-Vererzung. Die Stars-Liegenschaft wird von Vulkaniten des unteren Juras und Sedimenten der unteren Kreide aus der Skeena Group unterlagert, in die in der Kreidezeit verschiedenartig vererzte intermediare bis felsische Intrusionsgesteine der Bulkley Suite eingedrungen sind. Die Stars-Liegenschaft ist fur Bohrungen in zwei Hauptzonen vollstandig genehmigt, die zuerst Ende der 1990er-Jahre entdeckt wurden, als Forststraen in diesem Gebiet gebaut wurden. Die Vererzung wurde durch kurze Bohrungen bestatigt und besteht uberwiegend aus Quarz-Sulfid-Gangen mit Kupferglanz, Bornit, Kupferkies und Pyrit in sehr stark alterierten vulkanischen Wirtsgesteinen. Die ausstreichende Vererzung, besonders in der Road Zone, wird als eine hochrangige Vererzung des Porphyrtyps interpretiert, was aufgrund der idiomorphen Kupferglanzkristalle mit intensiver Muskovit-Verdrangung im Nebengestein offensichtlich ist. Es ist moglich, dass diese Zone unmittelbar uber oder nahe einer angereicherten Kupferporphyrzone liegt und die benachbarten Zonen, die auf der Liegenschaft an der Oberflache identifiziert wurden, sich in der Tiefe zu einer hohergradigen Zone vereinigen. Gesteinsproben aus der Road Zone lieferten bis zu 3,3% Kupfer, 0,2 g/t Gold und 12,2 g/t Silber. Die Chargeability-Anomalien auf der Liegenschaft wurden im Jahr 2000 von einem Unternehmen der Hunter Dickinson Group entdeckt und besitzen einen Durchmesser von mindestens 3km x 3km und sind nach Norden, Suden und Osten offen. Das erste Abkommen (das "First Stars-Abkommen") ist mit Pacific Empire Minerals Corp., eine unabhangige Partei, die zurzeit 50% der Stars-Liegenschaft besitzt. Laut Konditionen des First Stars-Abkommens hat das Unternehmen die Option zum Erwerb eines 30%-Anteils an der Stars-Liegenschaft durch Folgendes: - Barzahlung von 10.000 CAD, Ausgabe von 100.000 Stammaktien nach Genehmigung der TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV") und nach Aufwendung von 500.000 CAD auf der Liegenschaft im ersten Jahr. - Barzahlung von 20.000 CAD, Ausgabe von 200.000 Stammaktien am oder vor dem ersten Jahrestag der TSXV-Genehmigung und Aufwendung von 1.000.000 CAD auf der Liegenschaft im zweiten Jahr. - Barzahlung von 50.000 CAD, Ausgabe von 300.000 Stammaktien am oder vor dem zweiten Jahrestag der TSXV-Genehmigung und Aufwendung von 3.000.000 CAD auf der Liegenschaft im dritten Jahr. Das zweite Abkommen (das "zweite Abkommen") ist mit Divitiae Resources Ltd., einer nicht unabhangigen Partei, die im Besitz von Adrian Smith, P.Geo, einem Direktor des Unternehmens, ist und zurzeit 50% der Stars-Liegenschaft besitzt. Laut Konditionen des zweiten Abkommens hat das Unternehmen die Option zum Erwerb eines zusatzlichen 50%-Anteils an der Stars-Liegenschaft durch Folgendes: - Barzahlung von 10.000 CAD und Ausgabe von 200.000 Stammaktien nach Genehmigung der TSXV. - Barzahlung von 20.000 CAD und Ausgabe von 400.000 Stammaktien am oder vor dem ersten Jahrestag der TSXV-Genehmigung. - Barzahlung von 50.000 CAD und Ausgabe von 300.000 Stammaktien am oder vor dem zweiten Jahrestag der TSXV-Genehmigung. - Barzahlung von 50.000 CAD und Ausgabe von 1.000.000 Stammaktien am oder vor dem dritten Jahrestag der TSXV-Genehmigung. ML Gold kann insgesamt einen 80%-Anteil an der Stars-Liegenschaft erwerben durch vollstandige Ausubung der Optionen im ersten und im zweiten Abkommen wie oben beschrieben. Das erste und zweite Abkommen unterliegt der Genehmigung der TSX Venture Exchange. ML Gold arrangiert Finanzierung in Hohe von 1,0 Millionen Dollar ML Gold gibt eine nicht brokergefuhrte Privatplatzierung zur Beschaffung von Bruttoerlosen in Hohe von insgesamt 1.000.000 CAD bekannt. Das Unternehmen wird 3.500.000 Einheiten zu 0,10 CAD pro Aktie (Bruttoerlose von 350.000 CAD) und 5.000.000 Einheiten von Flow0Through-Aktien zu 0,13 CAD pro Aktie (Bruttoerlose von 650.000 CAD) ausgeben. Jede Stammaktieneinheit zu 0,10 CAD setzt sich zusammen aus einer Stammaktie des Unternehmens und einem ganzen nicht ubertragbaren Optionsschein. Jeder Optionsschein ist in eine Stammaktie zu einem Preis von 0,15 CAD uber einen Zeitraum von zwei Jahren ausubbar. Jede Flow-Through-Einheit zu 0,13 CAD setzt sich zusammen aus einer Flow-Through-aktie und einem halben nicht ubertragbaren Optionsschein. Jeder ganze Optionsschein ist in eine Stammaktie zu einem Preis von 0,18 CAD uber einen Zeitraum von zwei Jahren ausubbar. Alle Einheiten in der Privatplatzierung unterliegen einer viermonatigen Haltefrist ab dem Datum der Ausgabe. Die Finanzierung wird Vermittlungsgebuhren einschlieen und unterliegt der Genehmigung der TSX Venture. Die Erlose der Flow-Through-Finanzierung werden zur Weiterentwicklung der Liegenschaften des Unternehmens in British Columbia verwendet. Die Erlose aus der Nicht-Flow-Through-Finanzierung sind fur die Liegenschaften des Unternehmen in Nordamerika bestimmt sowie fur allgemeine Betriebskapitalzwecke. Veranderungen im Management Das Unternehmen berichtet die Ernennung von Kosta Tsoutsis zu einem unabhangigen Non-Executive Director. Herr Tsoutsis bringt uber 20 Jahre an Erfahrungen an den Finanz- und Kapitalmarkten in das Unternehmen ein. Herr Tsoutsis arbeitete zuvor als ein Investmentberater bei Mackie Research, Jordan Capital Markets und Canaccord Capital Corp. Herr Tsoutsis besitzt signifikante Erfahrung mit Spezialisierung auf die Entwicklung, Umstrukturierung und Finanzierung von Kapitalbeteiligungsgesellschaften. Herr Tsoutsis hat direkt uber 30 Millionen CAD an Entwicklungs- und Risikokapital fur Aktien- und Privatgesellschaften weltweit beschafft. Qualifizierte Person Adrian Smith, P.Geo., ist gema National Instrument 43-101 die qualifizierte Person fur das Unternehmen. Er hat die in dieser Pressemitteilung prasentierte technische Information kontrolliert. Uber ML Gold Corp. ML Gold Corp. ist eine kanadische an der TSX Venture Exchange notierte Aktiengesellschaft mit Fokus auf Wertschopfung fur die Aktionare durch Entdeckungen und strategische Entwicklung von Mineralliegenschaften in Kanada und in den USA. Fur weitere Informationen besuchen Sie bitte die Webseite des Unternehmens, www.mlgoldcorp.com. Sie konnen das Unternehmen ebenfalls per E-mail, info@mlgoldcorp.com erreichen oder die Investor Relations telefonisch kontaktieren, (604) 669-2279 ML GOLD CORP. Andrew Bowering Chairman Suite 2000 - 1177 West Hastings St Vancouver, BC Canada V6E 2K3 Tel.: (604) 669-2279 Fax: (604) 602-1606 info@ mlgoldcorp.com www.mlgoldcorp.com Dies ist eine Ubersetzung der ursprunglichen englischen Pressemitteilung. Nur die ursprungliche englische Pressemitteilung ist verbindlich. Eine Haftung fur die Richtigkeit der Ubersetzung wird ausgeschlossen. / Abbildung 1: Karte der Stars-Liegenschaft / Abbildung 2: Kupferkiesbutzen in Quarzgang von Road Zone mit Malachit-Verfarbung. 22.11.2017 Veroffentlichung einer Corporate News/Finanznachricht, ubermittelt durch DGAP - ein Service der EQS Group AG. Fur den Inhalt der Mitteilung ist der Emittent / Herausgeber verantwortlich. Die DGAP Distributionsservices umfassen gesetzliche Meldepflichten, Corporate News/Finanznachrichten und Pressemitteilungen. Medienarchiv unter http://www.dgap.de 631663 22.11.2017 ISIN CA13909R2046 AXC0040 2017-11-22/08:00 KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 22, 2017 - (ACN Newswire) - For the first time, SEMICON Southeast Asia (SEMICON SEA), the region's premier gathering of the industry, connecting people, products, technologies and solutions across the electronics manufacturing supply chain, will be held in Kuala Lumpur. Taking place 8 to 10 May 2018, the conference will debut in the newly constructed Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre (MITEC).With more than 85 percent of the exhibition space already sold, SEMICON SEA 2018 will represent companies from Southeast Asia, China, Taiwan, Europe and the U.S. More than 300 companies will exhibit and as many as 8,000 visitors from 15 countries are expected to participate in SEMICON SEA. Organised by SEMI, the SEMICON SEA 2018 theme will be "Think Smart Make Smart."The Southeast Asia region is a world-class electronics manufacturing hub with end-to-end R&D capabilities, and SEMICON SEA 2018 is the comprehensive platform for the electronics industry in the region. The event will feature three themed pavilions, five country pavilions, keynote presentations, and forums that will address critical trending topics within the semiconductor eco-system. The show will connect decision makers from the industry, demonstrate the most advanced products, and provide the most up-to-date market and technology trends.Ng Kai Fai, President of SEMI Southeast Asia says, "The growth of SEMICON Southeast Asia is attributed to the rapid expansion and robust growth of the Electrical & Electronics (E&E) sector across Southeast Asia, with companies emerging as world leaders in mobile, automotive, medical and Internet of Things (IoT) supply chains. As one of the high-growth markets in the region, Malaysia contributes 44 percent of the total manufacturing output and 26 percent of the total Gross Domestic Product of the region and is forecasted to generate approximately US$ 382 billion in exports in 2018."Over the past three years, SEMICON SEA has become the annual gathering of the full regional supply chain. SEMICON SEA 2018 will feature a supplier search programme to encourage cross-border business matching as well as a technology start-up platform which will bring together Southeast Asia technology entrepreneurial resources. In conjunction with SEMICON SEA 2018, this event will also include the SEMICON University Programme which aims to encourage and promote STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) interest amongst young talent and will also include a job fair.SEMICON Southeast Asia 2018 sponsors include Carl Zeiss Pte Ltd while partners include Malaysia Investment & Development Authority (MIDA), Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB), Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) and Surface Mount Technology Association (SMTA).To register for SEMICON Southeast Asia 2018 or to explore exhibiting opportunities, visit http://www.semiconsea.org/ or contact Ms. Shannen Koh at skoh@semi.org.About SEMISEMI connects over 2,000 member companies and 1.3 million professionals worldwide to advance the technology and business of electronics manufacturing. SEMI members are responsible for the innovations in materials, design, equipment, software, devices, and services that enable smarter, faster, more powerful, and more affordable electronic products. FlexTech and the MEMS & Sensors Industry Group (MSIG) are SEMI Strategic Association Partners, defined communities within SEMI focused on specific technologies.Since 1970, SEMI has built connections that have helped its members prosper, create new markets, and address common industry challenges together. SEMI maintains offices in Bangalore, Berlin, Brussels, Grenoble, Hsinchu, Seoul, Shanghai, Silicon Valley (Milpitas, Calif.), Singapore, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.semi.org and follow SEMI on LinkedIn and Twitter.Please contact on behalf of SEMI:Acendus Communications Sdn Bhd- Michael Poh at +60 12 395 5202- Reshvinder Kaur at +60 17 275 7985Source: SEMISEMICON Southeast AsiaCopyright 2017 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved. Kirobo Mini Public Affairs Division Global Communications Department Toyota Motor Corporation Tel: +81-3-3817-9926 Toyota City, Japan, Nov 22, 2017 - (JCN Newswire) - Toyota Motor Corporation launched sales(1) of its compact and cuddlesome Kirobo Mini communication partner today through Toyota vehicle dealers across Japan.http://www.acnnewswire.com/topimg/Low_Toyota112217KiroboMini.JPGKirobo MiniKirobo Mini is a miniature communication partner developed to provide companionship. It fits in the palm of the hand and is only 10 cm high when seated. It turns its head toward the person speaking and engages in casual conversation(1) while moving its head and hands. Its compact size means it can be taken just about anywhere.Presales were launched at designated dealers in Tokyo and Aichi Prefecture in May 2017, commencing with customers looking to interact with communication partners such as Kirobo Mini. The presales launch also targeted a wide variety of users including those who have a fondness for adorable products, are passionate about trying new products, and enthusiastic about enjoying Kirobo Mini in different ways.One feature of Kirobo Mini is the ability for users to share their Kirobo Mini experience with other users on the official communication website "With Kirobo Mini Friend Park." This well-received website allows users to share personal moments with their own Kirobo Mini and exchange information to help others discover the charm of the Kirobo Mini."With Kirobo Mini Friend Park" website: https://kirobomini.jp/Furthermore, in tandem with this nationwide rollout, Kirobo Mini can now communicate based on information acquired from the cars and homes of users.(2) Details are as follows.Kirobo Mini's new abilities(3)1) Coordination with cars(4)(5)As Kirobo Mini grows up, it learns to converse based on information from connected cars.2) Coordination with homes(6)As Kirobo Mini grows up, it learns to converse based on TOYOTA HOME smart house information.(1) Unlike online orders in the presales launch in May 2017, customers can now place orders for Kirobo Mini at Toyota vehicle dealers (including Toyota, Toyopet, Toyota Corolla, and Netz stores).(2) Using standard Japanese(3) The same function is available in Kirobo Mini purchased during presales by updating the dedicated app.(4) When Kirobo Mini grows up to a certain level through communication with its users, it will be able to engage in these kinds of conversations.(5) An 11.6-inch T-Connect SD navigation system (DCM package) must be mounted on a Prius PHV (from February 2017). DCM contract is also required.(6) TOYOTA HOME's smart house (HEMS installation and TSC-HEMS service required)About ToyotaToyota Motor Corporation (TMC) is the global mobility company that introduced the Prius hybrid-electric car in 1997 and the first mass-produced fuel cell sedan, Mirai, in 2014. Headquartered in Toyota City, Japan, Toyota has been making cars since 1937. Today, Toyota proudly employs 370,000 employees in communities around the world. Together, they build around 10 million vehicles per year in 29 countries, from mainstream cars and premium vehicles to mini-vehicles and commercial trucks, and sell them in more than 170 countries under the brands Toyota, Lexus, Daihatsu and Hino. For more information, please visit www.toyota-global.com.Source: ToyotaContact:Copyright 2017 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved. The Virginia-class, fast-attack submarine USS North Dakota held a change of command ceremony at the Dealey Theater onboard Naval Submarine Base New London on Nov. 9. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and first lady Kathryn Burgum attended the ceremony in which Cmdr. Mark Robinson relieved Cmdr. Michael Hollenbach as the North Dakotas commanding officer. Burgum said the citizens of North Dakota are grateful to be connected with the USS North Dakota and its crew because of the great work and service that they provide. Burgum also spoke about his personal connection to the Navy through his father, who joined the service after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. Hollenbach said he was grateful for the close relationship that the USS North Dakota and its crew maintained with the state and its residents. The outgoing commanding officer praised the North Dakota crew as talented, dedicated and hard-working. These sailors met the challenge head on, they met every milestone they were tasked with on time, and they brought the boat out of the shipyard and back to operations," he said. MOUNTAIN VIEW (dpa-AFX) - Google plans to de-rank articles from Russian state-owned media sites, Russia Today and Sputnik, following allegations about Kremlin meddling in U.S. electoral processes. Eric Schmidt, the executive chairman of Google's parent company Alphabet, said Google would begin to reduce the presence of TV and online news organisation Russia Today or RT, and Sputnik, an online media network. The move is said to be to deal with the spread of misinformation. Speaking at the Halifax International Security Forum in Canada, Schmidt said, 'We're well aware of this one, and we're working on detecting this kind of scenario you're describing and deranking those kinds of sites.' His comments came at a Q & A session when asked about RT's use of Google's AdSense service. Schmidt continued, 'It's basically RT and Sputnik... We're well aware and we're trying to engineer the systems to prevent it.' US intelligence agencies reportedly describe RT as 'Russia's state-run propaganda machine'. Meanwhile, Google's own investigation reportedly had found no manipulation of its platform or policy violations by RT. Schmidt said, 'I am strongly not in favour of censorship. I am very strongly in favour of ranking. It's what we do. It's a very legitimate question as to how we rank, A or B, right? And we do the best we can in millions and millions of rankings every day.' Responding to Schmidt's comments, the publications, which have always defended themselves as legitimate news organisations, called the move as arbitrary and a form of censorship. RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan said in a statement published on RT, 'Good to have Google on record as defying all logic and reason: facts aren't allowed if they come from RT, 'because Russia' - even if we have Google on Congressional record saying they've found no manipulation of their platform or policy violations by RT.' US intelligence services accuse Russia of trying to favor Donald Trump by spreading fake news and hacking the Democratic National Committee networks. But, Russia has repeatedly denied claims that it interfered in the 2016 presidential elections. Recently, RT was forced to register with the U.S. government under the Foreign Agents Registration Act or FARA. The broadcaster is fighting the order in court. In October, Twitter announced that it would no longer allow advertisements from RT and Sputnik. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM -- (Marketwired) -- 11/22/17 -- ThousandEyes, the company that delivers Network Intelligence for superior digital experiences in an Internet-centric world, today announced a new engineering and sales office in London, its first office in Europe. The company's expansion comes as cloud adoption accelerates in the region, following significant growth in the United Kingdom and Europe, and increasing demand for complete network visibility and insights. Engineers in the London office will primarily focus on research and development initiatives, while the sales teams will extend ThousandEyes' customer engagement in the U.K. and Europe. "The U.K., and London in particular, is one of the central hubs of commerce and technological innovation in Europe, and we are excited to open up operations in the heart of London," said Mohit Lad, CEO and co-founder of ThousandEyes. "As more organisations in the U.K. and Europe adopt the cloud, the lack of visibility into networks outside of their control makes it difficult if not impossible to ensure a great user experience. Our innovative Network Intelligence technology helps the world's largest enterprises, organisations and service providers to improve application and service delivery between customers, partners, and employees in today's Internet-centric environment." According to IDC's July 18, 2017 press release about its Worldwide Semiannual Public Cloud Services Spending Guide, Angela Vacca, senior research manager of Customer Insights and Analysis indicates, "In Western Europe, the public cloud market is going to more than double in the 2016-2021 timeframe... The growth of the cloud market is further pushed by the rise of Digital Transformation (DX), as cloud is expected to be the default delivery mode for DX projects in Europe." The press release goes on to say that, "Western Europe and Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan)(APeJ) will be the second and third largest regions [for public cloud services] with 2021 spending levels of $52 billion and $25 billion, respectively." "ThousandEyes is continuing to build a world-class engineering function here in the U.K. that is highly collaborative and intensely customer-focused," said Nelson Rodrigues, Director of Engineering, U.K. at ThousandEyes. "As enterprises increasingly relinquish ownership of infrastructure and applications, their networks encompass the Internet and Cloud as part of a normal operating environment, yet they still own the end user experience. ThousandEyes' engineering team in London is a place where Europe's brightest minds can put their talent and experience to work, solving some of cloud computing's toughest challenges -- helping customers visualise, understand and troubleshoot issues across this new enterprise network." The new London office is located at 29 Clerkenwell Road, Floor 4, London, U.K., EC1M 5RN. ThousandEyes plans to significantly build its team across various functions in the region to align with its aggressive growth strategy. Visit ThousandEyes' career page to explore new opportunities in London and beyond: https://www.thousandeyes.com/careers. Learn more about ThousandEyes: ThousandEyes Blog Network Intelligence Follow ThousandEyes on Twitter About ThousandEyes: ThousandEyes provides Network Intelligence for enterprises and service providers to deliver superior digital experiences in an Internet-centric world. Leading companies such as ServiceNow and Twitter, as well as eBay and other Fortune 500 companies, use ThousandEyes to improve performance and availability of their business-critical applications and services. ThousandEyes is backed by Sequoia Capital, Sutter Hill Ventures, Tenaya Capital and GV (formerly Google Ventures), and has global headquarters in San Francisco, CA. For more information, visit https://www.thousandeyes.com or follow us on Twitter at @ThousandEyes. Media Contact: Nelson Bostock Unlimited +44 (0)207 229 4400 ThousandEyes@nelsonbostockunlimited.com LAUSANNE, Switzerland, November 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The website provides patients with helpful information on the company's clinical trials DebiopharmInternationalSA (Debiopharm - www.debiopharm.com), part of DebiopharmGroup', a Swiss-based global biopharmaceutical company, announced today the launch of its new clinical trials website patients.debiopharm.com. The website provides patients and their caregivers with helpful information on Debiopharm's clinical trials and studies. It also offers accessible information about the clinical trial process in general. (Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/608971/Debiopharm_International_Website.jpg ) Debiopharm's main therapeutic areas are oncology and infectious diseases. The company is currently conducting trials in multiple indications like Ovarian cancer, Head & Neck cancer and Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. Additional studies are running in patients with Advanced Solid Malignancies as well. The website contains useful information for each clinical trial such as a short description of the trial process and its purpose, main inclusion criteria, as well as a map locating the study sites (in accordance with the information contained in the EU Clinical Trials Register and the clinicaltrials.gov website). The patient can print the information to discuss with his/her doctor. "This website is intended to be a helpful tool for patients and their families", explains ChristianAeschlimann, Director of Clinical Operations at DebiopharmInternationalSA. "They can find accessible information related to our clinical trials and treatment options. The website also allows users to share links of patient associations". The website was developed in collaboration with the Superhuit agency in Lausanne. Created with the user experience in mind, the website includes intuitive design features to help patients to navigate easily and find information. About DebiopharmInternationalSA Part of Debiopharm Group' - a Swiss-headquartered global biopharmaceutical group including five companies active in the life science areas of drug development, GMP manufacturing of proprietary drugs, diagnostic tools and investment management - Debiopharm International SA is focused on the development of prescription drugs that target unmet medical needs. The company in-licenses and develops promising drug candidates. The products are commercialized by pharmaceutical out-licensing partners to give access to the largest number of patients worldwide. For more information, please visit http://www.debiopharm.com We are on Twitter. Follow us @DebiopharmNews at http://twitter.com/DebiopharmNews DebiopharmInternationalSAContact ChristellevonBuren CommunicationCoordinator christelle.vonburen@debiopharm.com Tel:+41(0)21-321-01-11 WARSAW, Poland, November 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The contract, signed with Centrica, is on a DES delivery basis and will begin in 2018. Up to 9 cargoes will be delivered during term of contract to the President Lech Kaczynski LNG Terminal in AswinoujAcie, where PGNiG recently booked additional regasification capacity. The primary source of LNG delivered under this contract shall be the North American natural gas liquefaction terminal located at Sabine Pass, Louisiana. (Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/609056/PGNiG_American_LNG_cargo.jpg ) This is the first medium-term LNG agreement signed by PGNiG Supply & Trading's branch office located in London, which is dedicated to global LNG trading. The agreement follows through on PGNiG's strategy of securing reliable and diversified gas supplies for Poland and its growing trading capability in the European market. It is also the first mid-term contract for LNG from the USA in Central and Eastern Europe. In October this year, PGNiG also took part in a binding Open Season procedure for capacity bookings from the planned 10 bcm/y pipeline corridor (Baltic Pipe), which will connect the Norwegian Continental Shelf with Poland in 2022. "Preceded by the long term contract for LNG deliveries from Qatar and several spot deliveries in 2017, this agreement shows that we are stepping into a new level of global LNG market activity. This five-year agreement for American LNG deliveries is based on gas market conditions. We look forward to working with Centrica as a partner to continue to provide diversified supply into Poland,"said Piotr WoAniak, CEO and President of the Management Board of PGNiG. "This agreement is the first of its kind in PGNiG's planned portfolio of medium-term LNG agreements. Most of these LNG supply agreements will be dedicated to the gas markets of Poland and other Central European countries in order to increase the energy security of this region, which has historically been dominated by Russian gas,"added Piotr WoAniak. "We are extremely pleased to have concluded this mid-term contract with PGNiG as part of Centrica's strategy to build our global LNG portfolio. Our reliability, experience and trading capabilities mean we are well placed to deliver LNG into an ever growing number of markets around the world. We really look forward to working with the team at PGNiG over the coming years,"commented Jonathan Westby, Centrica Managing Director of Energy Marketing & Trading. Polish Oil and Gas Company (PGNiG) is the leader of the Polish natural gas market. The company's core business includes exploration and production of natural gas and crude oil. Its subsidiaries import, store, sell and distribute gaseous fuels. They also generate and trade heat and electricity. PGNiG holds stake in 30 companies including entities that provide professional geophysical, drilling and maintenance services. PGNiG holds exploration and production licenses in Norway and in Pakistan. Centrica plc is an international energy and services company organised around two global customer-facing divisions, Centrica Consumer and Centrica Business, focused on the residential consumer and the business customer respectively. Centrica's areas of focus for growth are Energy Supply & Services, Connected Home, Distributed Energy & Power and Energy Marketing & Trading. Centrica develops new and innovative products and services for customers globally and supplies more than 27 million customer accounts mainly in the UK, Ireland and North America through strong brands such as British Gas, Hive, Direct Energy and Bord Gais Energy, supported by around 12,000 engineers and technicians. Within Centrica's Energy marketing & Trading business, Centrica LNG Company Ltd is involved in the wholesale trading and supply of LNG globally. Brooklyn-Based Startup to Relaunch as Blockchain-powered Platform to Fight Fake News VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / November 22, 2017 / 360 Blockchain Inc. ("360" or the "Company") (CNSX: CODE - FRA: C5B - OTC PINK: BKLLF) is pleased to announce it has executed a letter of intent to acquire 70% of the media directory and website Pressland (http://press.land) from Chaotic Neutral LLC, which letter of intent is subject to closing conditions usual to transactions of this type, including exchange approval. Under the direction of 360's strategic advisor, Jeff Koyen, Pressland will become a blockchain-powered platform dedicated to debunking fake news. "Before 'fake news' was a household term, Pressland was already in the business of media transparency," said George Tsafalas, 360's President. "Today, thanks to the innovative power of blockchain technology and utilizing 360's expertise and resources we have the unique opportunity to expand Pressland's mission to debunking fake news and exposing unreliable players in the media." Launched in 2015 as "Yelp for Media," Pressland offers a crowd-sourced directory of nearly 20,000 media outlets and professionals. Starting in 2018, Pressland will distribute blockchain-powered tools to the public that expose biased and unreliable media outlets and stories. "Pressland is already a fundamentally good idea that's been popular with media professionals," said Jeff Koyen. "But now that blockchain technology is more accessible and market-proven, it's a very exciting time to re-envision Pressland as a general-interest, public platform operating on trust and transparency." Pressland is fully held by Chaotic Neutral LLC, a Brooklyn-based incubator of media projects founded by Jeff Koyen. With capital from 360 Blockchain Inc., Pressland will relaunch as a blockchain-based media-transparency platform. Plans for an initial coin offering ("ICO") (or, cryptocurrency token offering) are being discussed. While no definitive documentation has yet been signed by the parties, and there is no certainty that such documentation will be signed, certain terms of the proposed acquisition include: 360 would acquire 70% of Pressland from Chaotic Neutral LLC, with the option to purchase the remaining 30% within one year's time. Purchase price to be paid by 360 to Chaotic Neutral LLC equals two tranches of 1,000,000 shares of 360 (subject to receipt of stock exchange approval), with the first 1,000,000 shares paid on closing, and the second upon the exercise of the option to purchase the final 30%. Additionally, USD $250,000 in working capital to be provided by 360 to Chaotic Neutral LLC in two tranches, with USD $125,000 given upon closing, and the balance in 4 months from closing. Using this capital, Pressland will develop blockchain technologies for the Company, enabling the monetization of its R&D efforts. Mr. Jeff Koyen, 360's strategic advisor and an integral part of the 360 leadership team, will lead Pressland's advancement. Working with the appropriate regulatory bodies, 360 may decide to stage an ICO to further develop Pressland. This proposed investment will be the third of several to empower blockchain technologies with capital and experience to create exponential value. About 360 Blockchain Inc. Our Mission : To empower blockchain technologies with capital and experience to create exponential value. Company Description : 360 Blockchain Inc. has an all-around view to accelerate the development and application of revolutionary blockchain technologies by investing capital and expertise. We are founded on the belief that blockchain technology, essentially a distributed ledger which is transparent and incorruptible, has the potential to transform the way business is conducted, delivering security, cost savings and efficiency gains not seen before in our internet connected world. 360 Blockchain will be focused on identifying and empowering blockchain technologies applying to crypto-currencies, smart contracts, eSports, data management, the internet of things, equity trading, privacy applications and beyond. For further information, please contact: Joe Bleackley Investor Relations Telephone: 1 (778) 806-5150 E-mail: IR@360blockchaininc.com Forward-Looking Statements Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding future financial position, business strategy, use of proceeds, corporate vision, proposed acquisitions, partnerships, joint ventures and strategic alliances and co-operations, budgets, cost and plans and objectives of or involving the Company. Such forward-looking information reflects management's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to management. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans," "expects," "is expected," "budget," "scheduled," "estimates," "forecasts," "predicts," "intends," "targets," "aims," "anticipates" or "believes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases or may be identified by statements to the effect that certain actions "may," "could," "should," "would," "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. A number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors may cause the actual results or performance to materially differ from any future results or performance expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of the Company including, but not limited to, the impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions and dependence upon regulatory approvals. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. The Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by securities laws. SOURCE: 360 Blockchain Inc. NIJMEGEN, Netherlands, November 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Data supporting Phase III development of KH176 in mitochondrial disease Khondrion, a leading clinical-stage pharmaceutical company focusing on small molecule therapeutics for mitochondrial diseases, today announced results from its KHENERGY study, a Phase II exploratory trial with oral KH176 in the m.3243A>G multisystem mitochondrial MELAS and MIDD syndromes and mixed phenotypes. The results of the trial were presented by Prof. Jan Smeitink, Khondrion's CEO, at the Dutch Life Sciences Conference. "The final reporting of the KHENERGY study is planned for Q1 2018, but encouraged by the results, we wanted to share these preliminary data regarding safety and efficacy now," said Jan Smeitink. The KHENERGY study is a Phase II, single-center, double blind, randomized, placebo-controlled 2-way crossover trial involving 20 patients. Patients received KH176 in a 100 mg twice-daily oral dosing schedule for one month. Efficacy endpoints included objective, quantitative assessments as well as questionnaires evaluating the mood and quality of life of patients. The study also explored biomarkers associated with mitochondrial functioning. "The preliminary findings of this study related to adverse events showed a promising safety profile. Also, the pharmacokinetic analysis of KH176 showed that the candidate drug's maximum blood concentrations remained below the pre-defined safety threshold obtained in Phase I evaluations," said Dr. Edwin Spaans, Khondrion's Chief Medical Officer. Of the functional outcomes measures, two aspects of alertness showed positive trends. All others, did not show a positive signal in thefour weeks treatment arm. With regard to clinical outcomes, statistically significant improvements were observed in the total Beck Depression Inventory score and its affective sub-domain. Positive trends were observed in the HADS depression subsection and the RAND-36 SF affective symptoms. Self-reported outcomes revealed an amelioration of migraine in three out of three affected subjects. "Given the relatively short duration of this study, these findings are encouraging," according to dr. Mirian Janssen (MD, PhD), Principal Investigator. "Based on the outcome of the Phase II study, we have decided to immediately continue with all necessary steps enabling the next phases of our KH176 development program, including all Phase III preparations," said Jan Smeitink. About KH176 KH176 is a member of a new class of potential Khondrion drugs essential for the control of oxidative and redox alterations. The Phase I trial results of this study were recently published in the Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases. About Khondrion Khondrion is a privately held leading clinical-stage pharmaceutical company. The potential of several lead compounds to serve as new treatment modalities for mitochondrial disease is currently being explored. Khondrion's KH176 has been granted Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) for Leigh disease and MELAS syndrome in Europe and for all inherited mitochondrial respiratory chain disorders in the USA. Khondrion has established collaborations with patient organizations, patient advocacy groups, university expert centers and research groups around the world as well as with small, medium and large enterprises. The company is supported by the Dutch Foundations Energy4All, Join4Energy, Road4Energy, Ride4Kids, Tim Foundation, Zeldzame Ziekten Fonds, and National and European Governments. Khondrion has a strong intellectual property position protecting its emerging product portfolio via granted and multiple, broad patent applications. Based on the outcome of the KHENERGY study the company continues preparing for a pivotal program to confirm the potential benefits of KH176 in patients with mitochondrial disease. For more information and a cautionary note regarding forward-looking statement concerning this press release, please visit http://www.khondrion.com SAN FRANCISCO, November 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The globalbuilding and construction plastic fasteners marketis expected to reach USD 485.3 million by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Growing demand for plastic rivets, cable ties, and grommets owing to their light weight and corrosion resistance property is expected to propel growth. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160524/371361LOGO ) The market is highly fragmented with the presence of many small and medium manufacturers. The industry players are expected to compete on the basis of geographical expansion, price, product quality, and design. These factors are also anticipated to ascend the competitive rivalry among the players over the next eight years. North America and Europe witnessed high product penetration owing to high spending on interiors and wooden structures in these regions. However, rapid growth of residential, commercial, and industrial buildings in Asia Pacific and Central & South America is expected to spur industry growth in these regions over the projected period. Volatility in raw material prices and strong foothold of existing players in the market are expected to be the key factors challenging the entry of new players. However, a high scope for product development in terms of design and strength is expected to open new avenues for new players, thereby ascending the threat of new entrants over the forecast period. Browse full research report with TOC on "Building and Construction Plastic Fasteners Market Analysis By Product (Cable Ties, Clips, Rivets, Grommets), By Function, By Distribution Channel, By End-use, And Segment Forecasts, 2014 - 2025" at: http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/building-construction-plastic-fasteners-market Further Key Findings From the Report Suggest: The market in China was valued at USD 55.5 million in 2016 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.8% owing to high magnitude of constructional activities in the region was valued at in 2016 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.8% owing to high magnitude of constructional activities in the region The economic recovery in European countries, including Germany , the UK, and Italy , is expected to lead to an increase in the number of constructional activities, thereby propelling the product demand , the UK, and , is expected to lead to an increase in the number of constructional activities, thereby propelling the product demand Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing region denoting a CAGR of 5.4% from 2017 to 2025, owing to the rapid growth of end-use sector activities coupled with the growing population in China , Vietnam , India , and Thailand is expected to be the fastest growing region denoting a CAGR of 5.4% from 2017 to 2025, owing to the rapid growth of end-use sector activities coupled with the growing population in , , , and Cable tie fasteners was the dominating product segment accounting over 45% of the overall market and is expected to grow at a significant rate owing to their high demand for cable management applications Direct distribution accounted for 80% of the overall distribution market in 2016 and is expected to grow owing to increasing number of plastic fastener manufacturers with their own distribution channel and wide geographic reach Investor-friendly policies and surge in construction activities in Peru , Colombia , and Argentina are expected to drive the Central & South America market at a CAGR of 5.1% from 2017 to 2025 , , and are expected to drive the Central & market at a CAGR of 5.1% from 2017 to 2025 Avery Dennison , HellermannTyton, and TR Fastening are some of the major industry players offering superior design and customized product solutions Browse related reports by Grand View Research: Waterstop Market - http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/waterstop-market Automotive Plastics for Passenger Vehicles Market - http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/automotive-plastics-for-passenger-vehicles-market Membrane Separation Technology Market - http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/membrane-separation-technology-market Basalt Fiber Market - http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/basalt-fiber-market Grand View Research has segmented the global building and construction plastic fasteners market on the basis of product, function, distribution channel, application, and region. Product Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2014 - 2025) Cable Ties Others Clips Rivets Grommets Function Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2014 - 2025) Bonding/Attaching Cable Management Distribution Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2014 - 2025) Direct Third-party Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2014 - 2025) Residential Industrial Commercial Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2014 - 2025) North America U.S. Europe Germany UK Asia Pacific China India Japan Central & South America Brazil Middle East & Africa Read Our Blog By Grand View Research: http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/building-construction-plastic-fasteners-market About Grand View Research Grand View Research, Inc. is a U.S. based market research and consulting company, registered in the State of California and headquartered in San Francisco. Thecompany provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. To help clients make informed business decisions, we offer market intelligence studies ensuring relevant and fact-based research across a range of industries, from technology to chemicals, materials and healthcare. Contact: Sherry James Corporate Sales Specialist, USA Grand View Research, Inc. Phone: +1-415-349-0058 Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519 Email: sales@grandviewresearch.com Web: http://www.grandviewresearch.com FairCom's latest release includes new search, resync and schema-change functions MILAN, Italy, Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --One of the most trusted names in the database management industry, FairCom Corporation, announced the release of the latest version of its flagship multimodel database software. c-treeACE V11.5 boasts enhancements that allow users to enjoy increased performance, dynamic schema management, full-text search, enhanced replication, robust interface support and greater data integrity for SQL, NoSQL and a combination of both database models. FairCom is a pioneer in the database software industry dating back to 1979.That tradition of innovation continues with c-treeACE: A one-of-its-kind multimodel database solution that can operate on a wide-range of platforms. c-treeACE features unique No+SQL technology that facilitates high-performance NoSQL and industry-standard SQL access within the same application, over the same single instance of your data. Due to its speed and reliability, more than 40 percent of the Fortune 100 have trusted the c-tree family of database solutions for database needs. "In today's demanding and fast-paced business environment, a fast, efficient database technology is not a luxury, it is a necessity. c-treeACE enables companies to have a database that meets their unique business challenges," said Alysha Brown, FairCom's chief operating officer. "c-treeACE V11.5 provides new capabilities to organizations that make their databases more powerful, giving them peace of mind knowing their valuable data is being processed quickly and reliably." Enhancements include: Full-Text Search : A tokenized index of a table's text fields allows users to efficiently and quickly find records containing specific words and phrases. : A tokenized index of a table's text fields allows users to efficiently and quickly find records containing specific words and phrases. Hot Alter Table : A capability that allows users to perform schema changes "on-the-fly" so multi-hour file conversions can be accomplished in seconds. : A capability that allows users to perform schema changes "on-the-fly" so multi-hour file conversions can be accomplished in seconds. Replication Extensions : User-defined functions that allow extended replication management via custom callback functions - data aggregation, conflict resolution and "on-the-fly" data manipulation such as extract, transform and load (ETL) functionality. : User-defined functions that allow extended replication management via custom callback functions - data aggregation, conflict resolution and "on-the-fly" data manipulation such as extract, transform and load (ETL) functionality. Replication ReSync: A feature that allows users to resynchronize a target "replica file" based on the current "source file" with minimal impact on the runtime. c-treeACE performance has been enhanced right out of the box. In addition to selected feature-level enhancements, numerous functions have been enhanced for developers to further gain performance within their applications without the need to manually change the system. FairCom Vice President of Engineering Services Randal Hoff said c-treeACE V11.5's benefits go beyond the speed, reliability and performance that the company has been known for since its founding. "We understand that choosing and implementing a new database is a process that should not be taken lightly. Because a database is a long-term investment, c-treeACE V11.5 is designed and built to evolve with our customers as their business needs and technologies change," said Hoff. "FairCom offers engineer-to-engineer support from the same developers who built the product, not an entry-level employee." Detailed c-treeACE V11.5 information is available at FairCom.com , sales@faircom.com and +39-035-721-321. A free trial of c-treeACE V11.5 is available at faircom.com/download-ctreeace. FairCom FairCom Corporation (FairCom.com) is a software industry pioneer. The company's history of innovation began in 1979 when it became the first company to offer a commercial package using b-tree algorithms on microcomputers. Today, FairCom maintains its sole technical focus on database technology, continuously enhancing its core database technology while keeping up with the latest industry platforms and APIs. FairCom's c-treeACE engine is the industry's most powerful solution for multimodel data providing simultaneous access to NoSQL and SQL, giving developers in companies of any size and in numerous industries the control to customize their database, and ultimately enhancing performance gains. Contact Brad Thomas brad.thomas@faircom.com The sale will be the most significant philanthropic auction ever presented LONDON, 2017-11-22 11:21 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- VistaJet, the first and only global private aviation company, announces today its worldwide sponsorship of the exhibition and tour of The Collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller, the most significant auction entirely dedicated to raising funds for philanthropic causes. The sale, consisting of numerous categories, will be conducted by Christie's, the world's leading art business, and will include a highlights exhibition tour in Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles and New York. Photos accompanying this announcement are available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c78fdce7-7651-42a8-a621-14088 da2cc86 http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/33af2489-a9a8-4bbe-b5f7-78e4c 1f29ca2 http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a16c208a-fd0f-4a59-8b1e-54cd9 7c3d8e5 "We are excited and honored to partner with Christie's to present to the world the spectacular exhibition and world tour of The Collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller," said Thomas Flohr, Founder and Chairman of VistaJet. "Since I founded the company in 2004, art and philanthropy have always had a significant role, as passions we share with many of our clients. Offering curated experiences - in the areas of art and design, hospitality, travel and culture - is a cornerstone of the VistaJet brand, and the sponsorship of such an important collection is a way for VistaJet to support not only the arts, but David and Peggy Rockefeller's philanthropic endeavors." The highlights from this collection will be unveiled for the first time in Hong Kong on November 24, marking the start of a global tour for the world's top art collectors, in addition to the general public. After Hong Kong, the exhibition will travel to Christie's flagship locations in London, Los Angeles and New York, revealing new elements of this multi-category collection with each stop. VistaJet will host an exclusive program of client events including rare experiences, art forums and a lecture series. The global tour will culminate in the auction of the collection at Christie's Rockefeller Center Galleries in New York in Spring 2018. To further enrich the global exhibition tour, VistaJet has created three exclusive experiences for VistaJet and Christie's clients. The World of Art Experience will offer customers the opportunity to travel to all four of The Collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller exhibitions in Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles and New York on-board VistaJet for a private tour at each location. By booking this multi-leg journey, VistaJet will transport clients and their art at no additional cost on flights anytime, anywhere*. Your experience will also include a year-long membership** to The Cultivist, the global arts club. Secondly, The Direct Experience will offer any guest flying with VistaJet to any of The Collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller exhibitions in Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles or New York, an invitation to receive a complimentary membership to VistaJet Direct worth $10,000. The Direct membership gives clients access to available VistaJet private flights at special rates from any mobile device, through the world's first end-to-end business jet app. The third exclusive opportunity, The Rockefeller Experience, will allow up to 10 guests travelling with VistaJet on one of its 72 silver and red jets to New York, a rare opportunity for a behind the scenes discovery tour of the Rockefeller collection, before enjoying a multi-taste feast at an exclusive Upstate New York venue. Guests will then be invited for a personal tour of The Collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller exhibition in New York, and to join the live auction at Christie's New York with leading art experts. Sales of The Collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller will be conducted in keeping with David Rockefeller's pledge to direct the majority of his wealth to philanthropy and provide for the cultural, educational, medical and environmental causes long supported by both David and Peggy Rockefeller. All the Estate proceeds will be donated to charities, directly benefiting the philanthropic missions that have been maintained by the family for decades. Find more info on how to enjoy The Collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller with VistaJet at VistaJet.com/TheArtOfFlying/Christies * Insurance and transportation terms and conditions apply. ** Membership to The Cultivist upon application. VistaJet Press Contacts: Global and EU: Jennifer Tyler | T: +44 203 617 3077 | M: +44 7834 335505 | jennifer.tyler@vistajet.com Asia: Amy Yang | T: +852 2901 0502 | M: +852 9080 3985 | amy.yang@vistajet.com USA: Michael Salamanca | M: +1 917 755 3734 | michael.salamanca@vistajet.com Christie's Press Contacts: New York: Sara Fox | + 1 212 636 2680 | sfox@christies.com London: Hannah Schweiger | +44 207 389 2664 | hschweiger@christies.com Hong Kong: Lavina Chan | +852 2978 9919 | lavinachan@christies.com About VistaJet VistaJet is the first and only global aviation company. On its fleet of silver and red business jets, VistaJet has flown corporations, governments and private clients to 187 countries worldwide. Founded in 2004 by Thomas Flohr, the company pioneered an innovative business model where customers pay only for the hours they fly, free of the responsibilities and asset risks linked to aircraft ownership. VistaJet's signature Program service offers customers a bespoke subscription of flight hours on its fleet of mid and long-range jets, to fly them anywhere and at any time. More VistaJet information and news at vistajet.com About Christie's Christie's, the world's leading art business, had global auction, private and digital sales in first half of 2017 that totalled 2.35 billion / $3 billion. Christie's is a name and place that speaks of extraordinary art, unparalleled service and expertise, as well as international glamour. Christie's offers around 350 auctions annually in over 80 categories, including all areas of fine and decorative arts, jewellery, photographs, collectibles, wine, and more. Prices range from $200 to over $100 million. Christie's also has a long and successful history conducting private sales for its clients in all categories, with emphasis on Post-War & Contemporary, Impressionist & Modern, Old Masters and Jewellery. ?Alongside regular sales online, Christie's has a global presence in 46 countries, with 10 salerooms around the world including in London, New York, Paris, Geneva, Milan, Amsterdam, Dubai, Zurich, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. PUNE, India, November 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The report"Glass Substrate Marketby Type (Borosilicate, Silicon, Ceramic, and Fused Silica/Quartz-Based Glass Substrates), End-Use Industry (Electronics, Automotive, Medical, Aerospace & Defense, Solar), and Region - Global Forecast to 2022" published by MarketsandMarkets', the market is estimated to be USD 1.49 Billion in 2017 and is projected to reach USD 1.97 Billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 5.7% between 2017 and 2022. The growth of the glass substrate market is primarily driven by the rising demand for glass substrates from industries, such as electronics, automotive, medical, aerospace & defense, and solar, for the manufacture of end-products that include semiconductors, LCDs, sensors, and solar panels. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 ) Browse74 Market Data Tables and50 Figures spread through133Pages and in-depth TOC on"Glass Substrate Market" https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/glass-substrate-market-21345916.html Early buyers will receive 10% customization on reports. Borosilicate-based glass substrates estimated to be the largest type segment of the glass substrate market The borosilicate-based glass substrates segment is the largest type segment of the glass substrate market. The growth of the borosilicate-based glass substrates segment can be attributed to the unique properties of these substrates that include low coefficient of thermal expansion, high chemical resistivity, and high surface strength. Get PDF Brochure @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownload.asp?id=21345916 The electronics industry is the fastest-growing end-use industry segment of the glass substrate market The glass substrate market in the electronics industry is projected to register the highest growth during the forecast period. Glass substrates are used to manufacture display devices, electronic components, semiconductors, MEMS devices, and information, computing & telecommunication devices. Thus, the high consumption of glass substrates in the electronics industry is contributing to the growth of the glass substrate market. Asia Pacific is estimated to be the largest market for glass substrates. In the Asia Pacific region, China is estimated to be the key consumer of glass substrates. Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan are other major countries contributing to the growth of the glass substrate market in this region. The increasing demand for glass substrates from various end-use industries, such as electronics, automotive, and medical, is expected to drive the growth of the glass substrate market in the Asia Pacific region. Key companies profiled in the glass substrate market research report are AGC (Japan), SCHOTT (Germany), Corning Inc. (US), Nippon Sheet Glass (Japan), Plan Optik (Germany), HOYA Corporation (Japan), LG Chem (South Korea), OHARA Inc. (Japan), IRICO Group New Energy Company Limited (China), and The Tunghsu Group (China). Inquiry before Buying @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_Buying.asp?id=21345916 Browse Related Reports Flat Glass Market by Technology (Float, Rolled, Sheet), Product Type (Simple Float Glass, Toughened , Coated, Laminated, Extra Clear),End-Use Industry (Construction & Infrastructure, Automotive & Transportation, Solar Energy) and Region - Global Forecast to 2022 https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/flat-glass-market-187897592.html Smart Glass Market by Technology (Suspended Particle Display, Electrochromic, Liquid Crystal, Photochromic, Thermochromic), Application (Architecture, Transportation, Consumer Electronics), and Geography - Global Forecast to 2023 https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/smart-glass-market-907.html Know More About our Knowledge Store @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Knowledgestore.asp About MarketsandMarkets' MarketsandMarkets' provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 5000 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets' for their painpoints around revenues decisions. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets' are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets' now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets' is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve. MarketsandMarkets's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. Contact: Mr. Rohan MarketsandMarkets' INC. 630 Dundee Road Suite 430 Northbrook, IL 60062 USA: +1-888-600-6441 Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com Visit Our Blog @ http://www.marketsandmarketsblog.com/market-reports/chemical Connect with us on LinkedIn @ http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets A former Mandan student sentenced to eight years in state prison after driving drunk and killing three of his friends spoke to teens at Mandan High School on Tuesday. "I want to stop you guys from making the same decision I did. I want you to learn from my mistake," said Taylor Berhow, 29. Berhow gave about a 40-minute presentation to a room packed with students, teachers, staff and administrators about his life and the events leading to Oct. 29, 2011, or what he described as "the day (his) life was turned upside down." He wore a button-down shirt and spoke calmly and with assertion to the audience. "Every single decision you make in life has a ripple effect," he told them. The crash occurred on a two-way road near the McDonald's in south Mandan. A shrine is still displayed on the tree he crashed into on the 2300 block of Third Street Southeast. A sign reading "Think before you drink" and the names of the three men who died can be seen visibly from the street. Mark Andreson, who was principal of Mandan High School in 2011, that memorial is a reminder of the lasting effects of the crash. Andreson said each year he brings in speakers to present on a variety of different topics at the school, including bullying, suicide and alcohol use. This year, he thought Berhow's presentation would have an impact on students. "My hope is just to increase awareness about choices and at-risk behavior," Andreson said. "Things can happen in a second, and it can change your life forever. Berhow talked about the choices he made in school and how he started drinking during his sophomore year. He was on the high school swim team, but was disqualified from competing his senior year after getting one count of minor in consumption and two counts of minor in possession, all within a period of about a month. At 20, Berhow said he got in trouble with the law again for drinking underage. He turned 21 and went bar-hopping with a friend, who later drove drunk and died in a rollover vehicle crash. "Usually losing a close friend like that would deter you from doing the same thing," he said. "My drinking increased and I could care less if I got behind that wheel I was invincible. Thats what was in my mind, 'Thats not going to happen to me. Berhow said six months after his friend died, he was charged with drunken driving and lost his license for six months. He got his license back, met a woman and had a daughter. They later broke up, and he began drinking again. Six months after the break-up, the Oct. 29, 2011, crash happened. Berhow had been drinking with some friends at a bar, blacked out and then woke up in a hospital. His friends and family in the hospital room wouldn't tell him what happened, and he couldn't remember. He thought maybe he hit a parked car. Later, a detective told him he was in a crash and there were three fatalities. He couldn't remember who was in the vehicle with him. (The detective) read off the names, and it was Trevor Erie, Charles Boehm and Eastman Nadeau," he said, adding that his other friend, Jarrod Turner, who also had been in the vehicle, was injured. Berhow told the students his life was forever changed. He went to two of the friends funerals and couldnt bare to face their families. I lost it as soon as they started to lower him into the ground, he said, of one of his friend's funerals. "Hes dead because of me." Berhow told the students he, too, had a speaker in high school talk about alcohol use and teen safety, but he paid no heed. "Well guess what? Look where Im at? Im standing up here saying the same thing, because it happens, he said. "Ill be that broken record and tell you this happens. Youre not invincible." Berhow was charged with three counts of manslaughter in 2012. He's currently at the Missouri River Correctional Center, and his projected release date is Aug. 27, 2019. Berhow said he knew he wanted to share his story and talk with students after he gets out. "I never thought Id be able to do this while still incarcerated," he said, adding that this is the 24th presentation he's given. The Mandan Chapter of FCCLA (Family, Career and Community Leaders of America) invited Berhow to speak at Mandan High School after hearing him give a presentation earlier this month at the FCCLA statewide conference at the Heritage Center in Bismarck. Its such a big message to get across, Amber Daniel, a MHS junior and FCCLA member. "Our students need to know that drinking and driving is not a thing to do, and theres big consequences for doing that." Julia Ressler, also a junior, said Berhow's presentation was "inspirational." She had watched a documentary on the crash, made by Kat Communications, about a few years ago while in school. Wyatt Kelim, a sophomore, said he also saw the documentary in school. The first time I saw it I cried; its hard, he said. I kind of put myself in his position, and thinking about my closest friends, if they were to pass away. Kelim said the presentation is something he will "never, ever forget." If I ever come in contact with a friend who drinks If Im ever put in the situation, of course, Ill be their sober driver if they need it," he said. FINSBURY GROWTH & INCOME TRUST PLC Legal Entity Identifier: 213800NN4ZKX2LG1GQ40 Issue of Ordinary Shares On 22 November 2017 FINSBURY GROWTH & INCOME TRUST PLC (the "Company") issued from its block listing authority of 30 May 2017 75,000 new Ordinary shares of 25p each at a price of 760.75 pence per share; these shares rank pari passu with the existing Ordinary shares in issue. The issue price equates to a premium to the cum income net asset value per share at the time of the transaction of 0.7%, such premium including a placing commission of 0.2%. Following this issue, the Company has the ability to issue a further 6,175,001 ordinary shares under its block listing facility. As a result of this issue, the total number of ordinary shares in issue now stands at 161,341,712 and the total number of voting rights in the Company is 161,341,712. There are no shares held in treasury. The above figure of 161,341,712 may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculation by which they may determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or change to their interest in, the Company under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules. Enquiries: Victoria Hale Frostrow Capital LLP Tel: 0203 170 8732 NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / November 22, 2017 / Frontline Ltd. (NYSE: FRO) will be discussing their earnings results in their Q3 Earnings Call to be held on November 22, 2017 at 9:00 AM Eastern Time. To listen to the event live or access a replay of the call - visit https://www.investornetwork.com/company/1612. To receive updates for this company you can register by emailing info@investornetwork.com or by clicking get investment info from the company's profile. About Investor Network Investor Network (IN) is a financial content community, serving millions of unique investors market information, earnings, commentary and news on the what's trending. Dedicated to both the professional and the average traders, IN offers timely, trusted and relevant financial information for virtually every investor. IN is an Issuer Direct brand, to learn more or for the latest financial news and market information, visit www.investornetwork.com. Follow us on Twitter @investornetwork. SOURCE: Investor Network WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Waddell & Reed Financial Inc. (WDR) said that Thomas Butch has stepped down as Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc. and as President of Waddell & Reed, Inc. and Ivy Distributors Inc. Brent Bloss, who has served as Chief Financial Officer of the company since March 2014, will be promoted to the role of Chief Operating Officer effective immediately. Bloss, who joined the company in January 2002 in the finance division, will continue to serve as CFO through the filing of the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017. The Board intends to appoint Benjamin Clouse, who joined the company in October 2015 and has served as the company's Chief Accounting Officer since February 2017, as CFO to succeed Bloss in 2018. Clouse is a CPA with 21 years of finance and accounting experience, formerly serving as CFO of Executive AirShare Corporation and in various leadership positions on the finance team at H&R Block, Inc. Effective immediately, Nikki Newton will become President of IDI, a subsidiary that serves as the largest distributor of the Ivy Funds. Newton, who has 25 years of industry experience and has been with the company since January 1998, currently serves as Head of Global Relationship Management for IDI, which includes National Accounts and consultant relationships, as well as institutional sales. Also effective immediately, Shawn M. Mihal will become President of WRI, a registered broker-dealer subsidiary that offers securities and insurance products and investment advisory services through financial advisors located throughout the U.S. Mihal currently serves as Chief Operating Officer of WRI after joining the company in March 2015 as Chief Regulatory Officer and Chief Compliance Officer. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de VALLEY COTTAGE, New York, November 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The global precious metal plating chemicals market is currently witnessing steady growth and is expected to reflect a noteworthy valuation by the end of the assessment year in 2027. Future Market Insights has covered a detailed analysis of the global precious metal plating chemicals market and presented the insights in a systematic and orderly fashion in its new research report titled "Precious Metal Plating Chemicals Market: Global Industry Analysis (2012-2016) and Opportunity Assessment (2017-2027)". This research includes insights on various market segments across key geographies. It also includes an in-depth analysis on various trends, drivers, restraints and opportunities in the precious metal plating chemicals market that influence the growth of the global market. The research study covers value and volume projections of the different market segments and presents future market projections based on historical data and the current market scenario. This analytical research report can assist upcoming businesses by showcasing key recommendations that can be used to gain stability given the changing market dynamics of the global precious metal plating chemicals market. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161020/430874LOGO ) Read Report Overview@ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/precious-metal-plating-chemicals-market Global Precious Metal Plating Chemicals Market: Segmental Highlights The global precious metal plating chemicals market is segmented by chemical base metal, by end use industry, by product form and by region. By product form, the solution/concentrate segment is expected to be highly lucrative. This is the fastest growing segment in this category and is projected to register a CAGR of 4.0% during the period of forecast to reach a valuation of around US$ 1,950 Mn by 2027 end. By end use industry, the electrical and electronics segment is the largest in terms of value and is expected to dominate the global market. By 2027 end, this segment is estimated to reach a value more than US$ 900 Mn. The hardware and other industrial segment is projected to grow at a comparatively higher CAGR of 4.2% throughout the forecast period. However, the electrical and electronics segment reflects higher market attractiveness and high scope for growth in the coming years. By region, Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) is a high growth regional market for precious metal plating chemicals during the forecast period. The precious metal plating chemicals market in this region is projected to grow at the highest pace compared to other regions and is expected to witness a market valuation a bit under US$ 650 Mn by 2027 end. By chemical base metal, gold is the dominating segment and is expected to reflect a 1.5x increase in revenue during 2017-2027. This segment is projected to register a high CAGR of 4.3% during the forecast period. Request Sample Report@ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-4603 Global Precious Metal Plating Chemicals Market: Aspects Influencing Growth Increasing demand for precious metal plating chemicals from the electrical and electronics sector, growing use of precious metal plating chemicals in the aerospace industry, increasing governmental support in the electronics industry ultimately pushing the demand for precious metal plating chemicals, growing automotive industry aiding the demand for precious metal plating chemicals, expanding consumer electronics market supporting the growth of precious metal chemicals and increasing demand from diverse end use industries at a global level are pushing the growth of the global precious metal plating chemicals market. Aspects restricting the growth of the market are challenges associated with raw material procurement and price fluctuations, strict regulations governing the manufacture and disposal of cyanide based chemicals and the use of alternatives such as development of non-platinum group metal catalysts. Global Precious Metal Plating Chemicals Market: Forecast The global precious metal plating chemicals market is expected to reach a valuation of more than US$ 2 Bn by the end of the assessment year from a value of below US$ 1,500 Mn in 2017. The global precious metal plating chemicals market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 3.9% throughout the period of assessment. Request for Table of Contents@ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-4603 Global Precious Metal Plating Chemicals Market: Company Profiles The report includes key profiles of major companies dealing with precious metal plating chemicals. Company details such as company overview, key personnel, strategies, key financials, SWOT analysis, key developments, product portfolio analysis and geographical spread are covered in the report. Profiling of companies such as Heimerle + Meule GmbH, JAPAN PURE CHEMICAL CO. Ltd., American Elements, Shaanxi Kaida Chemical Engineering Co., Ltd., Metalor Technologies International SA, Heraeus Holding, MATSUDA SANGYO CO., LTD., Superchem Finishers, SAXONIA Edelmetalle GmbH, UMA CHEMICALS, LEGOR GROUP S.p.A., Johnson Matthey, Umicore, Robert Chemical Co., Inc., Technic Inc., Electrochemical Products, Grauer & Weil (India) Limited, Riko Chemicals Pvt. Ltd., Micron Platers and Solar Applied Materials Technology Corporation has been done. Buy Precious Metal Plating Chemicals Market Research Report@ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/checkout/4603 About Us Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights and an aerial view of the competitive framework and future market trends. Contact Us 616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018, Valley Cottage, NY 10989, United States T: +1-347-918-3531 F: +1-845-579-5705 T (UK): +44(0)20-7692-8790 Sales: sales@futuremarketinsights.com Website:http://www.futuremarketinsights.com NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / November 22, 2017 / Ship Finance International Limited (NYSE: SFL) will be discussing their earnings results in their Q3 Earnings Call to be held on November 22, 2017 at 10:00 AM Eastern Time. To listen to the event live or access a replay of the call - visit https://www.investornetwork.com/company/2093. To receive updates for this company you can register by emailing info@investornetwork.com or by clicking get investment info from the company's profile. About Investor Network Investor Network (IN) is a financial content community, serving millions of unique investors market information, earnings, commentary and news on the what's trending. Dedicated to both the professional and the average traders, IN offers timely, trusted and relevant financial information for virtually every investor. IN is an Issuer Direct brand, to learn more or for the latest financial news and market information, visit www.investornetwork.com. Follow us on Twitter @investornetwork. SOURCE: Investor Network 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. Customers Can Design Human-Machine Interface with License-Free emWin GUI Software Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE:6723), a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, and SEGGER, a leading provider of software, hardware, and development tools for embedded systems, today announced a collaboration that makes SEGGER's powerful emWin GUI software package available for commercial use at no cost to customers using the new lineup of Renesas RX65N/RX651 microcontrollers (MCUs). Engineers that develop a human-machine interface (HMI), or any commercial system based on an RX65N/RX651 device will receive a free license to use the emWin library version, including its full suite of tools. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171122005177/en/ The emWin embedded GUI software is compatible with single-task and multitask environments using a proprietary operating system, or with any commercial RTOS such as SEGGER's embOS. Designed for ultra-low power consumption, embOS can be used in any battery-powered application. A de-facto industrial standard, emWin can be found in all market segments, including industrial, medical, consumer, smart home, white goods, and automotive. The RX65N/RX651 MCUs combine an enhanced RX CPU core architecture and 120 MHz operation to achieve processing performance of 4.55 CoreMark/MHz. The MCUs include an integrated Trusted Secure IP, enhanced, trusted flash functionality, and an HMI for industrial and network control systems operating at the edge of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). The RX65N/RX651 MCUs also include an embedded TFT controller and integrated 2D graphic accelerator with advanced features ideal for TFT displays designed into IIoT edge devices or system control applications. Selecting a display size up to WQVGA allows its large 640 KB of on-chip RAM to be used as display frame buffer, which saves external RAM to ensure a cost-optimized design. "This emWin agreement with SEGGER gives our RX65N/RX651 MCU customers a powerful and flexible GUI software to ensure their HMI design is optimized with no extra software investment," said Tim Burgess, Senior Director, Renesas Electronics Corporation. "Working closely with embedded experts like SEGGER enhances our ability to provide the flexibility, reliability, scalability and ease of use desired by customers developing the next generation of the IIoT." "Renesas' cutting-edge RX65N/RX651 MCUs are now complemented by the market-leading GUI emWin that will make software engineers even more efficient creating any kind of HMI for their applications," said Harald Schober, Director Marketing and Sales at SEGGER. "The RX65N/RX651 devices integrate a powerful graphic accelerator and floating-point unit, enabling a rich and visually pleasing graphic experience. Of course, these features are fully supported by emWin, which makes our GUI and the RX65N/RX651 MCUs a perfect match." Availability For more information and to download the emWin GUI package, please visit: emWin graphics for Renesas RX651/RX65N MCUs For more information about Renesas, follow Renesas Electronics America at @RenesasAmerica on Twitter and https://www.facebook.com/RenesasAmericas/. About SEGGER SEGGER Microcontroller is a full-range supplier of software, hardware and development tools for embedded systems. The company offers support throughout the whole development process with affordable, high quality, flexible and easy-to-use tools and components. SEGGER offers solutions for secure communication as well as data and product security, meeting the needs of the rapidly evolving IoT. SEGGER was founded in 1992, is privately held, and is growing steadily. Headquartered in Germany with a US office in the Boston area and distributors in all continents, SEGGER offers its full product range worldwide. For additional information, visit: https://www.segger.com About Renesas Electronics Corporation Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723) delivers trusted embedded design innovation with complete semiconductor solutions that enable billions of connected, intelligent devices to enhance the way people work and live-securely and safely. A global leader in microcontrollers, analog power, and SoC products, Renesas provides the expertise, quality, and comprehensive solutions for a broad range of Automotive, Industrial, Home Electronics, Office Automation and Information Communication Technology applications to help shape a limitless future. Learn more at renesas.com. (Remarks) All names of products or services mentioned in this press release are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171122005177/en/ Contacts: Americas Voce Communications, Porter Novelli Company Jessica Kerr, 408-738-7891 jessica.kerr@porternovelli.com The 3-Day ADSUM 2017 Summit will Take Place in Aspen, Colorado from December 8-10, 2017 LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / November 22, 2017 / The founders of QuickBox are pleased to announce that they will be a sponsor of the upcoming ADSUM 2017 summit. The 3-day event, which has been described as a "results-oriented mastermind for advertisers, by advertisers," will take place in beautiful Aspen, Colorado from December 8-10, 2017. To learn more about QuickBox and the services that they offer, please check out their website at http://www.quickbox.com/. As a company spokesperson noted, QuickBox has perfected the art of fulfillment. "With QuickBox Fulfillment comes efficiency, precision, and often a sigh of relief," the spokesperson noted, adding that they are devoted to keeping everything in sync and on time, so their clients' business can run smoothly. "We strive to orchestrate the systematic flow of merchandise throughout the world by leveraging our worldwide integrated network and always keeping the complex needs of our customers - large and small - at the top of our priority list." The team from QuickBox is proud to sponsor ADSUM 2017, and to be part of such an innovative and enjoyable advertiser's summit. "We look forward to making great contacts and new networking relationships on the slopes at ADSUM," the spokesperson noted. As a spokesperson for ADSUM 2017 noted, the 3-day summit is definitely not a traditional event filled with dry speakers in an overcrowded venue. As the team from QuickBox alluded, attendees will have ample opportunity to network while enjoying the winter activities Aspen is famous for, as well as attend brunches, cocktail parties and more. The event will kick off with the Tycoon Saloon, where attendees will be warmly welcomed to ADSUM 2017 at the historic Hotel Jerome in Aspen. When the 3-day summit is over, attendees will have the chance to say goodbye to their new friends on top of the mountain at the Sundeck. "You will be riding up the beautiful mountain in the Silver Queen Gondola, so bundle up," the spokesperson for ADSUM 2017 noted, adding that the three days will be chock full of workshops, networking opportunities, free time and more. "We are looking forward to bringing together the advertiser community to build connections and create business opportunities, including intimate war room roundtables to troubleshoot your biggest challenges." About ADSUM 2017: ADSUM is the premiere Advertisers Summit. The event will be held in Aspen, CO December 8-10, 2017. Learn more or register today at https://event.adsum.net/adsum2017. Contact: John Petraglia john@quickbox.com 303-800-7476 SOURCE: ADSUM CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - The Canadian dollar advanced against its major rivals in the European session on Wednesday, as oil prices advanced following an industry data showing a draw down in U.S. crude inventories last week. Crude for January delivery rose $0.98 to $57.81 per barrel. Data from the American Petroleum Institute showed that the U.S. crude inventories fell by 6.356 million barrels in the week ended November 17. Analysts had expected the crude stocks to fall by 1.545 million barrels. The Energy Information Administration is set to release its official data on crude stocks at 10:30 am ET. Oil prices were buoyed by disruption of Canadian crude supply to the U.S. TransCanada's Keystone pipeline was shut last week, as it spilled 5,000 barrels of oil on a farm field. Investors also awaited cues from the release of minutes from the latest Fed and ECB meeting due today and tomorrow, respectively. The currency showed mixed performance in the Asian session. While it rose against the aussie and the greenback, it dropped against the yen. Against the euro, it held steady. The loonie hovered at a 5-day high of 1.2740 versus the greenback, compared to 1.2778 hit late New York Tuesday. The loonie is likely to target resistance around the 1.26 region. Reversing from an early low of 1.5030 against the euro, the loonie edged up to 1.4962. The loonie is seen finding resistance around the 1.48 mark. The loonie bounced off to 87.98 against the yen, from a low of 87.72 hit at 4:30 am ET. On the upside, 89.00 is likely seen as the next resistance for the loonie. The loonie advanced to a 5-day high of 0.9636 against the aussie and held steady thereafter. The next possible resistance for the loonie is seen around the 0.95 level. Looking ahead, U.S. weekly jobless claims for the week ended November 18, durable goods orders for October and University of Michigan's final consumer sentiment index for November, as well as Eurozone preliminary consumer sentiment index for November are due in the New York session. At 2:00 pm ET, the Federal Reserve's minutes from the October 31-November 1 policy meeting are due. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de HAIFA, Israel, November 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Most Promising Start-Up for 2018 award by the China-Israel Summit has been bestowed upon HealthWatch Technologies of Kfar Saba, Israel. This award celebrates the best of Israeli start-up companies and acts as a benchmark for excellence in innovation and leadership across the whole sector.With 40 competing Israeli start-up companies, HealthWatch was found to be exceptionally refreshing, innovative, profound and professionally managed. This competition was a part of the 6th China-Israel Summit that took place in Haifa, Israel, on November 20, 2017. Dr. Gary J. Sagiv, CCO & EVP, HealthWatch LTD, who gave the winning presentation: "It is a great honor to receive the recognition of such a respectable and well-established organization and of my peers. Judged as the most promising start-up company, we are determined to make the most of this unique opportunity with our platform technology. The Master Cautionis not only a new generation medical device, it opens the mind to new possibilities that have not been available before. As the only company with a wearable 12-lead remote ECG monitoring technology in particular, and as a leader in tele-medicine in general, I see this area of medicine as the next frontier and this win is only the beginning of a great future." Mr. Israel Schreiber, CEO, HealthWatch LTD: "We are constantly inspired by the Israeli hi-tech industry and are proud to be a part of it. Lead by a professional and experienced team, HealthWatch has proven that we are true innovators and will spearhead the future of wearable and dressable technologies." About HealthWatch LTD: Founded as a response to real-life stories and the fact that lives can be lost as a result of delays on the time continuum, HealthWatch's innovative textile medical sensor technology and its in-depth patient management system, has wide market applications both within and outside the hospital environs. The Master Cautionpatented platform technology is the first and only 12-lead ECG smart digital garment that is CE/FDA-cleared and is the answer to the growing paradigm shift within the healthcare ecosystem. Master Cautionallows for the delivery of near real-time actionable data and other unparalleled medical advantages allowing for tailor-made alerts. Coupled with personalized physician supervision and an ability for a 24/7 monitoring, Master Cautioncan be used anywhere, anytime, without disturbing one's lifestyle. AL KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia, November 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- To keep up with increasing demand, eVision Industry Software today unveiled the addition of a dedicated Saudi-Arabian entity and local office. "The dedicated entity and office clearly reflect eVision's long-term commitment to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and continuously growing customer base here. The push for solutions that support the Kingdom's ascent to Operational Excellence has been such that eVision leadership has decided to increase its local presence and support significantly", says eVision CEO Peter Kortenhorst. (Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/609289/eVision_Logo.jpg ) The new eVision KSA office is essential to eVision's ambitions in the region, where it is establishing its world-class enterprise digital Control of Work platform as the standard together with eVision's strategic local Partner, Dar Al Riyadh. "Dar Al Riyadh trusts that eVision's software is going to change the way the Industry operates today. Their Integrated digital software solution with its capabilities to connect with mobile application will bring control room and field staff much closer. This will enable industries to reduce risks, increase efficiency, enhance compliance to ensure safety. Dar Al Riyadh is proud to bring finest and latest industrial technology solutions to Saudi Arabia through this partnership", says Prince Mohammed Bin Turki Al Saud, President of Dar Al Riyadh. eVision's KSA office will provide a home base for customisation, implementation and support for eVision's ONE Vision platform, the industry's first fully integrated Control of Work / EHS / Process Safety Management solutions. "We are very proud to have the opportunity to break new ground together with our Partner Dar Al Riyadh to support the road towards Excellence", concludes Kortenhorst. About Dar al Riyadh In the past 40 years, Dar Al Riyadh has evolved into a fully-integrated, value-added services company with over 3,000 staff, of which more than 1,400 qualified engineers. Through their Kingdom wide office network, Dar Al Riyadh fulfils the needs of clients across many sectors such as governmental and private sectors from oil & gas to transportation, education, and healthcare, with an array of services in engineering, construction management, industrial systems and geomatics. For more information, please visit www.daralriyadh.com About eVision eVision Industry Software creates best-in-class Control of Work software. Innovative solutions that improve the way oil, gas, chemical and other hazardous industries operate on a global and local scale. eVision enables you to increase the safety and speed of your operations, supporting you in reaching your operational excellence and safety objectives. eVision solutions are fully configurable to match your organization's wishes and requirements, while ensuring unprecedented ease-of-use and full compliance with the latest protocols and regulations. Major organisations such as Shell, Statoil, BP, Qatar Petroleum, Repsol-Sinopec and many more have selected eVision as their Control of Work vendor of choice, solidifying eVision as industry leader of its domain. With offices worldwide and partnerships with the world's leading system integrators, eVision provides high-quality delivery and support, on location, at all times. For more information, please visit www.evision-software.com SEATTLE, WA -- (Marketwired) -- 11/22/17 -- CFN Media Group ("CannabisFN"), the leading creative agency and media network dedicated to legal cannabis, announces publication of an article covering the partnership between Abattis Bioceuticals Corp. (CSE: ATT) (CNSX: ATT) (CNSX: ATT.CN) (OTCQB: ATTBF) and Emerald Health Therapeutics Inc. (TSX VENTURE: EMH) (OTCQX: EMHTF) to run Northern Vine Laboratories as a joint venture, which promises to take advantage of a growing market for lab testing and extract products. Canada's Testing Market Canada's legal cannabis industry is projected to reach up to $22.6 billion in size, according to Deloitte, driven by the legalization of recreational cannabis next year. While the base market accounts for up to $8.7 billion of that figure, the remainder of the annual revenue is expected to come from growers, infused product makers, security, and testing labs. Markets and Markets expects the cannabis testing industry to be worth $1.5 billion by 2021. According to Health Canada, there are just 33 laboratories licensed to conduct activities with cannabis compared to more than 70 licensed producers. Third party lab testing isn't currently required by Health Canada, but the agency has already required 'expanded' testing for licensed producers to ensure that pesticide and additive requirements are being met. The ongoing recall issue could lead to eventual requirements for third party testing to eliminate obvious conflicts of interest. Deloitte expects consumer cannabis demand to be at least 600,000 kilograms per year, which exceeds the capacity of licensed producers. As production scales up, the demand for cannabis testing services is expected to see a sharp increase. There are already anecdotal reports of cannabis testing activity holding up the release of product onto the market - a development that could become much worse next year after recreational legalization goes into effect. Cannabis Oils and Extracts While many observers and investors have typically thought of the cannabis market as being about cannabis flower, cannabis extracts represent the fastest growing subset of the industry. Health Canada data shows that dried marijuana sales grew 46% between Q1 and Q4 of 2016 compared to more than 275% for cannabis oils and concentrates. In mature legal (at least at a state level) markets such as Colorado, dried flower and extract sales are already roughly equal. There are many different ways to produce cannabis oils and, like many producers, Abattis and Emerald both have had their eyes on how to produce for this market, both independently and potentially in some joint fashion. But there is another angle as well. Emerald & Abattis Joint Venture Abattis Bioceuticals Corp. (CSE: ATT) (OTCQB: ATTBF) recently sold a 53% stake in its Northern Vine Laboratories business to Emerald Health Therapeutics Inc. (TSX VENTURE: EMH) (OTCQX: EMHTF) to form a joint venture. Emerald Health will contribute its strong cannabis supply and extensive life sciences industry experience. Abattis will contribute its significant lab expertise. With their respective sets of expertise and the Dealer's License, there are various business opportunities that weren't possible beforehand. Licensed Dealers have the right to prepare any manipulation, formulation, dosage form, strength, or package size of cannabis, including mixtures and other additives, controlled substances, and other substances, which gives them a critical R&D and intermediary role within the industry. This creates many possibilities for product innovation. In a recent Q&A with CFN, CEO Robert Abenante called these possibilities "staggering," pointing out that there are many different verticals that could be addressed, ranging from personal care products to pharmaceutical products. Licensed Dealers have the right to import and export oils, which Licensed Producers are not permitted to do. Wherever the product might be sourced, over the long term the joint venture would have the potential opportunity to sell oils around the world. In the near term, in a market that is expected to be supply-constrained, the flow could possibly be the other way: cannabis oils could potentially be imported by Northern Vine and sold in Canada through Emerald's Botanicals subsidiary with its Licensed Producer designation. Finally, there is the significant potential growth in the analytical testing business. Please follow the link to read the full article: http://www.cannabisfn.com/northern-vine-labs-combines-best-abattis-emerald-health/ About CFN Media CFN Media (CannabisFN) is the leading creative agency and media network dedicated to legal cannabis. We help marijuana businesses attract investors, customers (B2B, B2C), capital, and media visibility. Private and public marijuana companies and brands in the US and Canada rely on CFN Media to grow and succeed. Learn how to become a CFN Media client company, brand or entrepreneur: http://www.cannabisfn.com/featuredcompany Download the CFN Media iOS mobile app to access the world of cannabis from the palm of your hand: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cannabisfn/id988009247?ls=1&mt=8 Or visit our homepage and enter your mobile number under the Apple App Store logo to receive a download link text on your iPhone: http://www.cannabisfn.com Disclaimer: Except for the historical information presented herein, matters discussed in this release contain forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Emerging Growth LLC, which owns CFN Media and CannabisFN.com, is not registered with any financial or securities regulatory authority, and does not provide nor claims to provide investment advice or recommendations to readers of this release. Emerging Growth LLC may from time to time have a position in the securities mentioned herein and may increase or decrease such positions without notice. For making specific investment decisions, readers should seek their own advice. Emerging Growth LLC may be compensated for its services in the form of cash-based compensation or equity securities in the companies it writes about, or a combination of the two. For full disclosure please visit: http://www.cannabisfn.com/legal-disclaimer/ CFN Media Frank Lane 206-369-7050 flane@cannabisfn.com MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 11/22/17 -- Sphinx Resources Ltd. ("Sphinx" or the "Corporation") (TSX VENTURE: SFX) and its partner SOQUEM are pleased to report the discovery of extensive surface zinc mineralization as part of a stripping program on the Calumet-Sud project (the "Project"). Channel sample composite 17-04 assayed 2.37% Zn over 20.3 m, sample composite 17-06 6.0 m at 3.23% Zn, and sample composite 17-05 4 m at 3.34% Zn. The discovery area is located 2 km from the historic New Calumet Mines Limited zinc-lead-silver-gold mine (see Figure 1 attached), which produced 3.8 million tonnes of ore at a grade of 5.8% Zn, 1.6% Pb, 65 g/t Ag et 0.4 g/t Au from 1944 to 1968 (reference: Annual report New Calumet Mine 1968). The channel sampling results reported below were obtained from the Sonny and Sonny West zones which are parallel mineralized structures approximately 420 m apart. Mechanical stripping that significantly extended the mineralized areas sampled previously by trenching and tested by the first phase of drilling (see press releases of June 25, 2015 and July 13, 2017 respectively). The Project is a joint venture between Sphinx (50%) and SOQUEM (50%). Sphinx is the operator of the Project. Results (see figures 2 to 5 attached) Geological mapping of the stripped areas confirmed the stratiform and continuous nature of the zinc mineralization hosted in dolomitic marble rocks (see Figure 7 attached, the brown colour within the dotted line indicates the presence of sphalerite, the zinc mineral). Sonny Zone - Two sub-parallel horizons, each with an estimated true thickness of 3.0 m, were exposed over a strike length of 75 m in the stripped area. Mineralization is stratiform, oriented N-S with a shallow dip (10-20 degrees) to the east. It is open along strike and spatially correlated to very high zinc values in soils over 360 m (see press release December 20, 2016). The best composite intervals are: Channel 17-01: 10 m at 1.93% Zn and 5.9 m at 1.75% Zn Channel 17-02: 10 m at 1.93% Zn Channel 17-03: 10 m at 1.66% Zn Channel 17-04: 20.3 m at 2.37% Zn Channel 17-05: 4 m at 3.34% Zn Channel 17-06: 6 m at 3.23% Zn Channel 17-07: 8.7 m at 2.38% Zn Sonny West Zone (420 m to the NW) - One horizon of up to 6 m in thickness was exposed in the stripped area over a strike length of 40 m. The mineralized horizon is oriented N-S and with a shallow dip (30-40 degrees) to the east. It is open along strike and spatially correlated to very strong zinc values in soils over 1.8 km (see press release December 20, 2016). The best composite intervals are: Channel 17-01: 4.1 m at 1.75% Zn Channel 17-02: 4.4 m at 1.77% Zn Channel 17-03: 10 m at 0.53% Zn Channel 17-04: 1.4 m at 1.83% Zn Channel 17-05: 4.2 m at 0.92% Zn Individual sample results are presented on attached figures 2 and 4 and composite intervals on attached figures 3 and 5. The figures include trench samples from trenches 1, 2 and 3 which were sampled in 2014 on the Sonny Zone. Several samples terminate in mineralization where it meets overburden and where further stripping is warranted. The samples weighed 3.4 kg each, on average. All channel samples have been individually described and both geological and drone mapping of the stripped outcrops has been completed. The 12 channel samples were cut generally perpendicular to the strike of the mineralized horizons and comprise 115 individual samples with a cumulative length of 212 metres. True thicknesses may range from 25% to 50% of apparent widths at surface. Exploration potential The potential to extend the mineralization along strike of the mineralized horizons is considered excellent in both directions and is supported primarily by a SW-NE to NW-SE trend of very strong anomalous zinc values in soils (see Figure 6 attached). On the basis of the work performed to date a drilling program is being designed by the joint venture partners. The program aims to identify at depth and extend along strike the mineralization discovered by stripping on the Sonny and Sonny West zones. The new drilling campaign will begin in the following weeks. The Project is part of the larger "Ziac" zinc district. This emerging zinc play is a 40-km long northwest trending corridor defined by zinc and lead-bearing dolomitic marbles (see press release of August 8, 2017) typical of the Balmat-Edwards-Pierrepont zinc district, located in the state of New York, United States. The stripping was supervised by Explo-Logik inc. of Saint-Hyppolyte with the participation of GFX Exterior Services and Les Entreprises Brian Stanton Ltee of Bryson, and Excavation Michael Derouin of Ile-du-Grand-Calumet. The program is operated by Sphinx under the supervision of Normand Champigny and the field direction of Michel Gauthier, Ph.D. (geo, and Board member of the Corporation), both qualified persons under National Instrument 43-101. This press release was prepared by Normand Champigny, acting as Sphinx's qualified person. Analytical protocol Samples were delivered to ALS Chemex in Val d'Or, Quebec, for crushing, splitting and assaying using aqua regia digest with a finish by atomic absorption (AA46 method). Sphinx applied industry-standard QA/QC procedures to the program. About SOQUEM SOQUEM, a subsidiary of Ressources Quebec, is a leading player in mineral exploration in Quebec. Its mission is to explore, discover and develop mining properties in Quebec. SOQUEM has participated in more than 350 exploration projects and contributed to major discoveries of gold, diamonds, lithium and other minerals. About Quebec and Sphinx Quebec has established itself as one of the world's most attractive mining jurisdictions, ranking 6th globally (Fraser Institute press release, February 28 2017). The Quebec government has created market confidence by following a proactive approach to mining policy. Quebec's mining sector has also been encouraged by the clarity and certainty of the legal and regulatory framework adopted by its government. Sphinx is engaged in the generation and acquisition of exploration projects in Quebec. For further information, please consult Sphinx's website. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This press release may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and activities to vary materially from targeted results and planning. Such risks and uncertainties include those described in Sphinx's periodic reports including the annual report or in the filings made by Sphinx from time to time with securities regulatory authorities. Contacts: Sphinx Resources Ltd. Normand Champigny President and Chief Executive Officer 514.979.4746 info@sphinxresources.ca www.sphinxresources.ca WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - President Donald Trump's remarks at a White House Press Conference appears to be giving the benefit of doubt to the Republican candidate for Alabama Senate Seat Roy Moore, who is accused of preying on teenagers. Talking to reporters Tuesday at South Lawn before Marine One departure, Trump said, 'Look, he denies it. He says it didn't happen. And you have to listen to him also. He said 40 years ago this did not happen.' Five women have accused the Republican Senate candidate of making romantic or sexual advances on them when they were teenagers, in the 1970s. When asked if Roy Moore, an alleged child molester, is better than a Democrat, the president said he doubted the stories presented by Moore's accusers and questioned why things said to have happened 40 years ago were emerging now, just weeks before the election. He slammed the Democratic nominee in the special election, Doug Jones, as 'soft on crime.' Trump said he will tell the press corps if he is going to campaign for Roy Moore next week. The president breaks with other Republican leaders, who said the 70-year-old former state Supreme Court chief justice should be expelled from the Senate if he wins the election, which is scheduled for December 12. Opinion polls show Moore was trailing the Democrat candidate in the run up to the Special election. To a question, what is his message to women at a time the country is witnessing an unprecedented flurry of allegations of sexual misconduct against prominent males, President replied: 'I think that's good for our society, and I think it's very, very good for women. And I'm very happy a lot of these things are coming out, and I'm very happy it's being exposed'. During the presidential election campaign last year, Trump confronted a long line of women who accused him of harassment, but he adamantly denied the claims. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de TORONTO, ON -- (Marketwired) -- 11/22/17 -- First Cobalt Corp. (TSX VENTURE: FCC) (OTCQB: FTSSF) (the "Company") is pleased to announce shareholders of CobalTech Mining Inc. (TSX VENTURE: CSK) have approved the merger with First Cobalt, with 95% of votes cast in favour. Trent Mell, President & Chief Executive Officer, commented: "We now have approval from CobalTech and Cobalt One shareholders to finalize the three-way merger and we look forward to closing both transaction over the next 2 weeks. First Cobalt now controls approximately 45% of the prospective land in the Cobalt Camp. This historic mining camp has never seen the required land consolidation to permit district-scale exploration and we will remain very active in 2018." CobalTech assets include a mill facility in the Cobalt Camp and a land package with a rich mining history that is contiguous to Cobalt One and First Cobalt properties. The combined company will own more than 10,000 hectares of prospective land including the only permitted cobalt refinery in North America designed to produce battery materials. About First Cobalt First Cobalt's objective is to create the largest pure-play cobalt exploration and development company in the world. Upon completion of the mergers with Cobalt One Ltd. and CobalTech Mining Inc., First Cobalt will control over 10,000 hectares of prospective land and 50 historic mining operations in the Cobalt Camp in Ontario, Canada as well as a mill and a permitted refinery facility. On behalf of First Cobalt Corp. Trent Mell President & 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. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This news release may contain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (together, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable securities laws and the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, are forward-looking statements. Generally, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of terminology such as "plans", "expects', "estimates", "intends", "anticipates", "believes" or variations of such words, or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results, performance and opportunities to differ materially from those implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements include the reliability of the historical data referenced in this press release and risks set out in First Cobalt's public documents, including in each management discussion and analysis, filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although First Cobalt believes that the information and assumptions used in preparing the forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on these statements, which only apply as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed times frames or at all. Except where required by applicable law, First Cobalt disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. For more information visit www.firstcobalt.com or contact: Heather Smiles Investor Relations Email Contact +1.416.900.3891 Technavio market research analysts forecast theglobal artificial intelligence courses market for C-suite executivesto grow at an impressive CAGR of close to 36% during the forecast period, according to their latest report. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171122005327/en/ Technavio has published a new report on the global artificial intelligence courses market for C-suite executives from 2017-2021. (Graphic: Business Wire) The market study covers the present scenario and growth prospects of the global AI courses market for C-suite executivefor 2017-2021. The report also lists workshops and certification courses as the two major segments based on course type, of which the certification courses segment accounted for more than 56% of the market share in 2016. 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 market drivers that are contributing to the growth of the global artificial intelligence courses market for C-suite executives: Rising use of AI for improved and less expensive industrial operations Growing demand for executives with enhanced skillset Increasing demand for artificial intelligence-based projects Looking for more information on this market? Request a free sample report Technavio's sample reports are free of charge and contain multiple sections of the report including the market size and forecast, drivers, challenges, trends, and more. Rising use of AI for improved and less expensive industrial operations There has been an increased prominence for leveraging on the operational data generated and using artificial intelligence to make industrial operations efficient. The technology can be used to conduct effective research at a minimal cost and increase an organization's productivity. Companies such as GE are now increasingly adopting to artificial intelligence's machine learning methodologies to develop predictive-maintenance tools to reduce operational and maintenance costs in certain mining activities. This is done with the intent to increase their existing financial capital and reduce operational costs. Therefore, the need for C-suite executives to integrate artificial intelligence with their respective businesses has prompted them to register in artificial intelligence courses. Growing demand for executives with enhanced skillset As businesses, science, and mobility services adopt artificial intelligence to make their operational processes seamless, there is a need for business leaders and C-suite executives who are adaptable and flexible to change. Many C-suite executives pursue artificial intelligence certifications to have an added advantage over others and to make themselves eligible for the growing opportunities in their corporate businesses. Therefore, artificial intelligence upskilling is an accelerator for their career growth and for exploring new opportunities in businesses. According to Jhansi Mary, a lead analyst at Technavio for k12 and higher education research, "Global organizations such as Google and IBM are investing in artificial intelligence incubation centers to offer better learning and understanding of the technology with curated certifications for C-suite executives. Robotics might reduce human intervention but would necessitate human expertise for effective management of robots. This has influenced many leaders, C-suite executives, and corporations to update their skills with artificial intelligence courses to capitalize on global opportunities." Increasing demand for artificial intelligence-based projects There has been an increase in demand for artificial intelligence-based solutions and projects with the rising use of artificial intelligence's machine learning and deep learning methodologies. Prominent technology companies such as Google have disclosed that there is a shortage of machine learning expertise across many technical industries. Therefore, to overcome the resource shortage, companies are seeking to hire leaders and C-suite executives with expertise in artificial intelligence. This skill will help them in developing and driving artificial intelligence-based projects and machine learning software. "Prominent organizations such as Google have increased investments and developer resource allocations for launching machine learning-based projects such as AutoML. The automated system came up with designs which were one of the best works among the human-machine learning expertise. There has been a significant demand for researchers and C-suite executives, driving the AutoML project, which augurs well for the growth of the market," says Jhansi. Browse Related Reports: Global Instructor-led Language Training Market 2017-2021 ELT Market in Europe 2017-2021 ELT Market in China 2017-2021 About Technavio Technaviois a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 10,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. 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/20171122005327/en/ Contacts: Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media Marketing Executive US: +1 844 364 1100 UK: +44 203 893 3200 www.technavio.com PUNE, India, November 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new research report "Managed Detection and Response Market by Security Type (Endpoint, Network, Application, Cloud), Deployment (On-Premises, Hosted), Organization Size (SMEs, and Large Enterprises), Industry Vertical, and Region - Global Forecast to 2022", published by MarketsandMarkets', the market size is expected to grow from USD 419.7 Million in 2017 to USD 1,658.0 Million by 2022, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 31.6% during the forecast period. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 ) Browse 44 Market Data Tables and 31 Figures spread through 120 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Managed Detection and Response Market" https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/managed-detection-and-response-market-168039027.html Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report The major forces driving the growth of the Managed Detection and Response Market include the increase in the enterprise targeted cyber-attacks, shortage of cybersecurity practitioners, and need for compliance to various government regulations. Moreover, technological advancement and increasing adoption of technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT) across various end-use applications are some of the factors that are driving the market growth. The endpoint security type segment is expected to hold the largest market share in the Managed Detection and Response Market during the forecast period. Endpoints are usually network devices, such as servers, desktops, laptops, smartphones, tablets, and Point of Sale (POS) connected remotely to an enterprise server making them vulnerable and creating an entry point for potential cyber threats. Endpoint security type MDR services provide real-time control, visibility, and analytics of endpoints deployed across an organization. Vendors are offering advanced endpoint MDR services that leverage technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning, to proactively detect attacks, malicious activities, and respond to them before they undesirably affect the enterprises' business operations. The cloud security type segment is expected to gain traction and grow at the highest CAGR owing to the rising adoption of cloud computing across enterprises of different sizes and the increasing security vulnerabilities arising out of it. Request Report Brochure @ https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownload.asp?id=168039027 The Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) segment is expected to be the fastest-growing organization size in the Managed Detection and Response Market during the forecast period. MDR services assist both large enterprises and SMEs in protecting their business-critical applications and networks. MDR empowers SMEs to secure their valuable assets and ensure robust security across the entire business environment. SMEs are small in terms of their employee base, but they cater to a large and global clientele. Absence of a robust cybersecurity strategy and budgetary constraints make SMEs more susceptible to Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) and cyber-attacks such as malware, botnets, and ransomware attacks. The Managed Detection and Response Market for the SMEs segment is expected to grow at a higher CAGR, owing to the increasing instances of cyber-attacks and the deployment of advanced cybersecurity technologies after elimination of the traditional ones. Make an Enquiry @ https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_Buying.asp?id=168039027 North America is expected to have the largest market share in the Managed Detection and Response Market during the forecast period. North America is expected to hold the largest market share and dominate the global Managed Detection and Response Market during the forecast period. Moreover, factors such as presence of large number of cybersecurity vendors and stringent cybersecurity regulation in the region is expected to further proliferate the demand in the region. The presence of sustainable and well-established economies in the region that invest significantly in Research and Development (R&D) activities is contributing to the development of new advanced security technologies. Growing adoption of enterprise mobility and IoT, and an increase in the internal and external threats, enterprises in countries such as the US and Canada are increasingly adopting MDR solutions to protect their business environment from an ever-evolving threat landscape. There are several established players in the Managed Detection and Response Market, such as Arctic Wolf Networks (US), BAE Systems (UK), CrowdStrike (US), eSentire (Canada), FireEye (US), F-Secure (Finland), IBM (US), Kudelski Security (Switzerland), mnemonic (Norway), NetWorks Group (US), Optiv Security (US), Paladion (India), Rapid7 (US), Raytheon (US), Redscan Cyber Security (UK), and WatchGuard (US). Browse Related Report Managed Security Services Market by Managed Services (Firewall, (IDS/IPS), Vulnerability Management, UTM, DDOS, Compliance Management, SIEM, Antivirus/Antimalware and Others), Deployment Type, Organization Size, Vertical, and Region - Global Forecast To 2021 https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/managed-security-services-market-5918403.html Managed Services Market by Service Type (Managed Security Services, Managed Network Services, Managed Data Center Services), Deployment Type, Organization Size, Vertical, and Region - Global Forecast to 2022 https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/managed-services-market-1141.html Know More About our Knowledge Store @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Knowledgestore.asp About MarketsandMarkets' MarketsandMarkets' provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 5000 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets' for their painpoints around revenues decisions. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets' are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets' now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets' is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve. MarketsandMarkets' flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. Contact: Mr. Rohan MarketsandMarkets' INC. 630 Dundee Road Suite 430 Northbrook, IL 60062 USA: +1-888-600-6441 Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com Visit Our Blog @ http://www.marketsandmarketsblog.com/market-reports/telecom-it Connect with us on LinkedIn @ http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets Dentsu Aegis Network today announces that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Oxyma Group, a leading performance marketing agency in the Netherlands and Dubai. The transaction is subject to approval by the Dutch competition authority. Post-acquisition, Oxyma Group will be rebranded as Merkle, and all agencies as a Merkle company. Oxyma's footprint in the Netherlands, coupled with the company's people-based marketing skills, complement Merkle's EMEA business. Oxyma comprises a group of five specialist agencies for CRM, paid, owned, and earned media. Its capabilities reflect Merkle's core services, delivering personalisation at scale through CRM, loyalty, digital, and media capabilities to clients in the media, telecommunications, retail, travel leisure, utility, CPG, financial services and automotive industries. Julius Minnaar, CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network Netherlands, said: "We are very proud to acquire Oxyma, which will enhance the prospects of our business in the Dutch market, ensuring we continue to deliver outstanding work for our clients in digital media, nationally and internationally. We welcome the Oxyma team into the fold and look forward to working with our new colleagues to leverage the exciting opportunities of the intersection between CRM, data, technology, and performance marketing." Oxyma boasts an impressive roster of international clients, which includes industry leaders such as Air France KLM, Audi, Liberty Global, Unilever, and Vodafone. Launched in 2000, Oxyma is headquartered in Rotterdam with additional Dutch offices in Amsterdam and Breda, as well as a location in Dubai. All 300+ employees will join Merkle, adding scale to the EMEA business, which will exceed 1,000 employees. "The acquisition of Oxyma will provide global scale and a new footprint for Merkle in the Netherlands and Dubai, which is critically important in executing on our mission of extending Merkle's people-based marketing capabilities across EMEA," said David Williams, chairman and CEO, Merkle. "With a seasoned management team, world-class client base, and complementary vision, Oxyma will be a tremendous addition to Merkle and Dentsu Aegis Network." "Merkle is a perfect fit for us," said Jos van Loo, CEO, Oxyma Group. "They understand the importance of what Oxyma does helping large enterprises with digital transformations and unlocking customer value. Merkle is also part of Dentsu Aegis Network, and we are very excited about the new capabilities our combined organisations are going to be able to offer our clients. This acquisition is a fast forward for both companies to become a leading player in EMEA for data-driven, tech-enabled, people-based marketing." Notes to Editors: About Merkle Merkle is a leading data-driven, technology-enabled, global performance marketing agency that specializes in the delivery of unique, personalized customer experiences across platforms and devices. For more than 30 years, Fortune 1000 companies and leading nonprofit organizations have partnered with Merkle to maximize the value of their customer portfolios. The agency's heritage in data, technology, and analytics forms the foundation for its unmatched skills in understanding consumer insights that drive people-based marketing strategies. Its combined strengths in performance media, customer experience, customer relationship management, loyalty, and enterprise marketing technology drive improved marketing results and competitive advantage. With 4,400 employees, Merkle is headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, with 16 additional offices in the US and 11 offices in Europe and Asia. In 2016, the agency joined the Dentsu Aegis Network. For more information, contact Merkle at 1-877-9-Merkle or visit www.merkleinc.com. About Dentsu Aegis Network Part of Dentsu Inc., Dentsu Aegis Network is made up of ten global network brands Carat, Dentsu, dentsu X, iProspect, Isobar, mcgarrybowen, Merkle, MKTG, Posterscope and Vizeum and supported by its specialist/multi-market brands. Dentsu Aegis Network is Innovating the Way Brands Are Built for its clients through its best-in-class expertise and capabilities in media, digital and creative communications services. Offering a distinctive and innovative range of products and services, Dentsu Aegis Network is headquartered in London and operates in 145 countries worldwide with more than 38,000 dedicated specialists. www.dentsuaegisnetwork.com View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171122005474/en/ Contacts: Dentsu Aegis Network Netherlands Saskia Baneke Marketing Communications Manager +31 (0)20 51917 00 saskia.baneke@dentsuaegis.com or Merkle Sarah Bourdeau Associate Director, Public Relations 443-542-4288 Sbourdeau@merkleinc.com BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - The European markets ended Wednesday's session with mixed results. Trading activity was choppy throughout the day, but most markets were up ahead of the opening bell on Wall Street. Markets in Europe decline in late trade as the U.S. markets struggled in early trade. The upcoming Thanksgiving holiday is keeping a number of U.S. investors away from their desks. Early strength in Europe was sparked by rising energy stocks, as crude oil prices climbed. Mining stocks were also up, as metal prices climbed due to a pullback in the value of the U.S. dollar. Traders are awaiting the release of the minutes from the most recent policy meeting of the Federal Reserve later today. The European Central Bank will also release the minutes from its most recent policy meeting on Thursday. The UK government set aside an additional GBP 3 billion over the next two years to aid the process of the country's exit from the European Union and slashed the growth forecasts for the next few years mainly due to a significant downward revision to potential productivity growth. 'The negotiations on our future relationship with the EU are in a critical phase,' Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond said in his Budget speech, the second in his term thus far. 'We have already invested almost GBP 700 million in Brexit preparations,' he said. 'And today I am setting aside over the next two years another GBP 3 billion.' The chancellor further said the government is ready to commit more sums if and when needed. The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index weakened by 0.25 percent. The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks decreased 0.46 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, lost 0.20 percent. The DAX of Germany dropped 1.16 percent and the CAC 40 of France fell 0.25 percent. The FTSE 100 of the U.K. gained 0.10 percent and the SMI of Switzerland finished lower by 0.35 percent. In Paris, Medicrea Group surged 16.16 percent. The medical devices company announced that it has received FDA clearance for its IB3D range of 3D-printed Titanium. In London, Sage Group rose 0.90 percent after the software manufacturer reported a substantial rise in annual profit. SSP Group surged 8.57 percent after the company raised its full-year dividend and proposed a special payout. Charles Stanley fell 7.20 percent after the wealth manager warned of regulatory changes weighing on the business. Travel firm Thomas Cook sank 8.38 percent after reporting a 40 percent fall in earnings at its U.K. division in the year to September 30. Akzo Nobel increased 1.27 percent in Amsterdam after the paint maker and U.S. peer Axalta ended their merger discussions without agreement. After reporting an unexpected increase in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the previous week, the Labor Department released a report on Wednesday showing a pullback in initial jobless claims in the week ended November 18th. The report said initial jobless claims fell to 239,000, a decrease of 13,000 from the previous week's revised level of 252,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to drop to 240,000 from the 249,000 originally reported for the previous week. Reflecting a sharp pullback in orders for transportation equipment, the Commerce Department released a report on Wednesday showing an unexpected drop in new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods in the month of October. The Commerce Department said durable goods orders tumbled by 1.2 percent in October after surging up by an upwardly revised 2.2 percent in September. The decrease surprised economists, who had expected orders to edge up by 0.3 percent compared to the 2.0 percent increase that had been reported for the previous month. Consumer sentiment in the U.S. pulled back by less than initially estimated in the month of November, according to a report released by the University of Michigan on Wednesday. The report said the consumer sentiment index for November was upwardly revised to 98.5 from the preliminary estimate of 97.8. Economists had expected the index to be upwardly revised to 98.0. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de The global geomembrane marketis expected to grow at a CAGR of more than 9% during the period 2017-2021, according to a new market research study by Technavio. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171122005280/en/ Technavio has published a new report on the global geomembrane market from 2017-2021. (Graphic: Business Wire) The report presents a detailed analysis of the global geomembrane market by application (mining, water management, waste management, and tunnel and civil construction) and by raw materials (HDPE, LDPE, PVC, and EPDM). The report also determines the geographic breakdown of the market in terms of detailed analysis and impact, which includes key geographies such as APAC, the Americas, and EMEA. 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. Market driver: increasing use of geomembranes in agriculture and aquaculture Various organizations, such as Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of United Nations, work toward the economic and social welfare of countries. The aquaculture and agricultural segment in the geomembrane market has seen a gradual growth. Aquaculture farming is practiced in both developed as well as emerging economies with poor farmers as well as multinational companies contributing to the sector. In addition, the growing number of aquarists and rising interest in decorative ponds with marine life in commercial areas is also increasing. According to Hitesh Bhatia, a lead analyst at Technavio for metals and minerals research, "Geomembranes are used as covers for aerobic and anaerobic manure digesters in the agriculture industry. They are also used to secure water containment, control water quality, and prevent the spread of disease among aquatic life. Geomembranes can be used for such purposes as they have low permeability and high ultraviolet resistance properties. These can also be disinfected, cleaned and reused, making them suitable for marine life. All these factors are helping to drive the global geomembrane market." Looking for more information on this market? Request a free sample report Technavio's sample reports are free of charge and contain multiple sections of the report including the market size and forecast, drivers, challenges, trends, and more. Market trend: growing development of robust geomembranes Geomembranes are being used for a wide variety of applications, such as liners for waste, radioactive, hazardous materials, and water conveyance canals. They are also used as a cover for landfills, power plants, and provide waterproofing solutions. With the growing applicability of geomembranes, the need for strong, robust, and rigid geomembranes is rising. A Spain-based company Atarfil has launched an advanced polypropylene geomembrane ATARPOL. It withstands in extreme conditions and offers maximum resistance, durability, flexibility, and greater stability. Market challenge: fluctuation in the price of raw materials The manufacturing of geomembranes requires raw materials such as polymer resin, plasticizer, HDPE, PP, and colorants, which are imported from different countries. The final price of the products depends on prices of raw materials and their supply. The volatility in the crude oil prices globally has a severe effect on the raw material prices, which affects the final cost of geomembranes. Is your business on track for a successful future? Learn how Technavio can help Technavio helps businesses anticipate changes in their marketplace, make proactive adjustments, and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions Key vendors in the market Atarfil AGRU America GSE Environmental NAUE Solmax The competition in the global geomembrane market is moderately high due to the presence of both global and regional players. The market is dominated by global vendors such as GSE Environmental, Solmax, Atarfil, AGRU America, and NAUE. Companies are expanding their global presence to maximize product reach. They are also very competitive when it comes to offering a wide variety of choices in the geomembrane market. For instance, Atarfil offers around 13 different products and GSE Environmental offers around eight different products in the geomembranes segments. Get a sample copy of the global geomembrane market free of cost Access Technavio's continuously growing metals and minerals research library and find expert analysis on hundreds of markets. About Technavio Technaviois a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 10,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. 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/20171122005280/en/ Contacts: Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media Marketing Executive US: +1 844 364 1100 UK: +44 203 893 3200 www.technavio.com TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 11/22/17 -- Delegates of the Ontario Federation of Labour's (OFL) Power ON convention took to the streets today in solidarity, marching for fairness, unity and justice for all working Ontarians, as part of the OFL 14th Biennial Convention. "Decent work is the foundation of strong, healthy and sustainable Ontario communities," said OFL President Chris Buckley. "The simple reality is that you can't have justice and fairness for all workers without decent working conditions. Together we must Power ON and call on the government to implement fair wages, end racial discrimination, and ensure equity across the province." Bill 148, which passed 3rd reading in the Legislature today, amends the Labour Relations Act and the Employment Standards Act. This is the first review of those laws in over two decades and will set workplace standards in Ontario for all future workers - whether they are part of a union or not. "Today is a huge victory in the ongoing fight to raise the bar for all workers in this province. The passing of Bill 148 is the result of many hard-fought struggles - by workers across this province, by the labour movement, and by our community partners. The collective voice of millions demanded immediate action to modernize our labour and employment laws. That said, the law needs to go further to better safeguard decent work for generations to come. It must reflect what these workers and so many others face every day, including low wages, no access to unions and no job security. More changes are needed to support decent work," said Buckley. In its most recent submission on the Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, the OFL made several recommendations to improve the legislation for workers. The OFL's www.MakeItFair.ca campaign takes on issues of inequality in the workforce, and coincides with the province's "Changing Workplaces Review." The campaign gives voice to unions' demands for across-the-board changes to the Employment Standards Act and the Labour Relations Act that would improve standards for every worker and make it easier for them to join a union. The OFL represents 54 unions and one million workers in Ontario. For information, visit www.OFL.ca and follow @OFLabour on Facebook and Twitter. Contacts: Ogho Ikhalo OFL Communications oikhalo@ofl.ca 416.443.7654 MCLEAN, Virginia, Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --There is no better time to teach kids about cultural diversity than at the holidays and there is no better way than by having fun. That's exactly what the Hindu on the Bindu does, joining the Elf on the Shelf and Mensch on a Bench. Not only does the Hindu on the Bindu celebrate Diwali, the festival of lights, but it inspires children all year long to learn about their family traditions and share them with others. That's what motivated David Euler to create this adorable cuddly doll and impressive storybook. "I am Jewish. My wife is Hindu. I decided to make a doll that is universal and gives Hindu kids like my children something not only for just Diwali but to enjoy all year long," says Euler, a renowned acupuncturist who also co-directed and taught the acupuncture course for physicians at Harvard Medical School for 16 years. "The Hindu on the Bindu lives within all of us. He is our inner child, our spirit of imagination, and our connection to creativity and hope." Given today's digital world, imagination and the ability to interact decreases, says Euler. "It's called social media, but it's actually anti-social. Today's technology is highly addictive and changes brain chemistry and I want to counter that. It is my hope that Hindu on the Bindu will encourage children to talk and reconnect with family members, friends and neighbors." The bindu is the symbol of all beginnings, he explains, the ultimate opportunity for all creation. "If you know where you are coming from, you know where you are going," stresses Euler. His hope is the product inspires children to tap into their creativity that results in them writing stories that can then be shared through the Hindu on the Bindu website at: www.hinduonthebindu.com and then printed and published. From Friday, November 24 to Sunday, November 26, a 20 percent discount is available by using the code BlackFriday2017. Weekly net asset value ("NAV") is calculated as of the close of business on each Tuesday and posted on the following business day. In the event that Tuesday is not a business day, the Company will calculate the close-of-business NAV as of the business day immediately preceding that Tuesday. The end-of-month NAV is calculated as of the close of business on the last day of the month and posted on the following business day. For weeks that include a month-end NAV report, PSH will provide only the month-end NAV and not report the Tuesday NAV. Monthly NAVs are published in accordance with the Decree on Conduct of Business Supervision of Financial Undertakings under the Wft (Besluit Gedragstoezicht financiele ondernemingen Wft). 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. Company also announces CE Mark certification ALISO VIEJO, California, Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --RxSight, Inc. announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the RxSight' Light Adjustable Lens and the Light Delivery Device (LDD) for patients with pre-existing astigmatism of 0.75 diopters undergoing cataract surgery. This action ushers in a new era in the treatment of cataracts, as RxSight's Light Adjustable Lens is the first and only FDA approved intraocular lens (IOL) that can be adjusted post-operatively to improve uncorrected visual acuity. "Predictable and accurate refractive outcomes are essential to ensure patients are happy with their vision following cataract surgery," said Vance Thompson, M.D. of Vance Thompson Vision in Sioux Falls, SD. "Until my work as an investigator in the Phase III study of the Light Adjustable Lens, I had never encountered an IOL that consistently delivered the refractive accuracy that my premium cataract patients demand." Dr. Thompson continued, "Unfortunately, no matter what we do preoperatively with our measurements and mathematical calculations, the implant power is rarely perfect because of the variables of incision healing and the final effective lens position. With the Light Adjustable Lens, we can address these limitations for the first time ever and more predictably deliver the results patients desire. Light adjustable implants will change the way we do cataract surgery forever, and I am thrilled that I will be able to finally deliver this level of care to my patients." FDA approval was based on results of a U.S. randomized, pivotal study comparing the Light Adjustable Lens to a commercially available monofocal lens in 600 patients with pre-existing astigmatism at 17 investigational sites. Patients receiving the Light Adjustable Lens, followed by light treatment with the LDD, achieved UCVA of 20/20 or better at six months postoperatively at approximately twice the rate of patients receiving a monofocal lens. 91.8% of Light Adjustable Lens patients also achieved a result that was within 0.50 D of target manifest refraction spherical equivalent, which is similar to the refractive accuracy seen in recent LASIK studies. Study safety parameters were based on a comparison to the safety and performance endpoints for intraocular lenses (ISO 11979-7), and results showed that 100% of study eyes had a best corrected visual acuity of 20/40 or better at the six month post-operative visit.The approved device allows correction of up to 2 diopters of post-operative sphere and/or -0.75 to -2 diopters of residual postoperative refractive cylinder. "We are extremely pleased to have successfully reached this milestone with the world's first post-operative adjustable IOL," said Eric Weinberg, Chief Commercial Officer. "This is an exciting opportunity for patients, surgeons and referring optometrists who have been awaiting a true breakthrough in refractive IOL technology. We are very grateful to all of those who have been involved in this effort, including the outstanding clinical coordinators, study investigators and their staff who facilitated the study, as well as the RxSight and FDA personnel who prepared and reviewed the regulatory submission." RxSight has also received its CE mark for an expanded cylinder range (-0.5 to -3.00 diopters). Mr. Weinberg added, "In the near term, RxSight will focus on its post market study, additional indications, platform improvements and building scalable infrastructure." About Cataracts Cataracts, which occur when the eye's natural lens becomes clouded, are the most common age-related eye condition and leading cause of preventable blindness. In cataract surgery, the clouded natural lens is removed and replaced with an artificial intraocular lens (IOL). According to Market Scope, approximately 27 million cataract surgeries were performed worldwide in 2017, with 4.2 Million in the U.S., making it one of the world's most prevalent surgical procedures. Residual refractive error, even with the most modern cataract surgery technologies, is still common due to unpredictable wound healing and variations in post-operative lens position. RxSight's Light Adjustable Lens addresses this by enabling physicians to make office-based refractive adjustments to the implanted lens after the cataract is removed and the eye is stable. MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA -- (Marketwired) -- 11/22/17 -- Twilio Inc. (NYSE: TWLO), the leading communications platform company, today announced Twilio Engage Melbourne, a free event focused on the future of customer engagement. At Engage Melbourne, the second event in a global roadshow, Twilio's leadership will discuss the company's mission to fuel the future of communications and highlight how several of Australia's most innovative companies are solving business challenges through communications. Developers, business leaders, IT executives, and product managers alike will find a community at Twilio Engage to share, learn, brainstorm and code what the future of customer engagement looks like. Following the afternoon event, Twilio will host a happy hour to give attendees an opportunity to mix and mingle and celebrate creative development. Engage Melbourne will take place at ZINC at Federation Square in Melbourne on Dec. 7, 2017. RSVP here. When: Thursday, Dec. 7, starting at 1:30 PM AEST Where: ZINC at Federation Square, Studio 2 - Corner of Flinders and Swanston Street Schedule: 1:30 PM Arrive Registration, Badge Pickup, and Arrival Refreshments 2:00 PM Welcome Welcome from Angie Bell, Director of APAC, Twilio 2:10 PM Accelerate Your Customer Engagement Roadmap Join Twilio's Senior Director of Product, Ben Stein, as he discusses the company's mission to fuel the future of communications. Ben's session will dive into the importance of customer engagement and explain how leading businesses in Australia are using Twilio to solve their customer engagement challenges. 2:40 PM What Can You Do With Twilio Twilio's APAC Solutions Architect, Chris Kendall, will show you how Twilio customers have architected their voice and messaging applications. You will also see live demos on how to build bots and IVR using our latest product Twilio Studio. 3:25 PM Customer Panel Panel featuring customers including AutoGuru and OnCall Interpreters & Translators to discuss how they are using communications in innovative ways to better serve their customers. 4:10 PM Q&A Closing comments and Q&A with Ben Stein, Senior Director of Product, Twilio 4:30-5:30 PM Happy Hour Mingle with your industry movers and shakers over a glass of wine, cold beer, canapes and great conversation! Twilio Engage Melbourne is a part of a series of events that will take place through 2018. More information and upcoming dates coming soon on www.twilio.com. About Twilio Twilio's mission is to fuel the future of communications. Developers and businesses use Twilio to make communications relevant and contextual by embedding messaging, voice, and video capabilities directly into their software applications. Founded in 2008, Twilio has over 900 employees, with headquarters in San Francisco and other offices in Bogota, Dublin, Hong Kong, London, Madrid, Malmo, Mountain View, Munich, New York City, Singapore and Tallinn. Contact: Twilio Press press@twilio.com Annual innovation competition sponsored by SPIE and Photonics Media will mark 10thyear BELLINGHAM, Washington and PITTSFIELD, Massachusetts, Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --Disruptive technology for assessing chemical composition in real time, a high-resolution LiDAR system for self-driving vehicles, and a smartphone-add-on sensor for noncontact healthcare tests are among finalists for the prestigious 2018 Prism Awards for Photonics Innovation. Organized bySPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, andsponsored by Photonics Media to honor groundbreaking inventions within the high-impact industry of optics and photonics, the Prism Awards are celebrating 10 years in 2018. "The Prism Awards are shining an even wider spotlight on photonics this year, with ten categories rather than the usual nine," said SPIE CEO Eugene Arthurs. "Photonics Media has been a proud Prism Awards sponsor, with SPIE, since the beginning, and as we commemorate the Awards' 10th year, we celebrate the continued growth in optics and photonics," said Thomas Laurin, president and CEO of Laurin Publishing. Winners will be announced 31 January during SPIE Photonics West (www.spie.org/PW) in San Francisco, California. Finalist product details are at www.photonicsprismaward.com. Companies are: Detectors and Sensors NKT Photonics Princeton Infrared Technologies Xenics Environmental Monitoring Block Engineering Blue Industry and Science Daylight Solutions Illumination and Light Sources Lumileds OSRAM Opto Semiconductors SoraaLaser Imaging and Cameras Daylight Solutions Luminar Teledyne DALSA Lasers Class 5 Photonics KMLabs Optores GmbH Life Science Instrumentation neaspec Quantumcyte Tomocube Material Processing and Additive Manufacturing Han's Laser Technology Industry Group LIMO NUBURU Medical Diagnostics and Therapeutics ContinUse Biometrics Lightpoint Medical Lumedica Optics and Optomechanical Components AdlOptica Optical Systems Optotune Switzerland Spectrolight Test and Measurement Gamma Scientific Si-Ware Systems Spheryx About SPIE SPIE is the international society for optics and photonics, an educational not-for-profit organization founded in 1955 to advance light-based science, engineering, and technology. The Society serves 264,000 constituents from approximately 166 countries, offering conferences and their published proceedings, continuing education, books, journals, and the SPIE Digital Library. In 2016, SPIE provided $4 million supporting education and outreach programs.www.spie.org About Photonics Media With a collective subscriber base of more than 150,000 worldwide and more than 1 million unique website visits per year, Laurin Publishing's Photonics Media products and publications lead the industry with editorial excellence and integrity - fostering a tradition of innovation and progress by sharing knowledge, insights and a vision for the future. More information atwww.photonics.com. Contact: Stacey Crockett Media Relations Coordinator staceyc@spie.org +1 360 685 5458 Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/609666/SPIE_logo.jpg Overclock Labs, a San Francisco, CA-based developer of tools for automating distributed cloud infrastructure, secured $1.3m in seed funding. Backers included CrunchFund and a number of Silicon Valley angels. Overclock Labs today announced it has officially emerged from stealth and closed a $1.3M seed funding round from as well as CrunchFund. The company is using the funds to develop its DISCO, which automates Cloud Infrastructure orchestration, security, and fault tolerance for global deployments. Using DISCO, an acronym for Distributed Infrastructure for Serverless Computing Operations, a company can integrate multiple cloud service providers together to reduce costs and increase performance. DISCO allows customers to deploy applications between multiple Cloud providers such as Amazon, Google, IBM, Oracle, Rackspace or private clouds at any time. Users include AdTech, Media and Gaming companies, machine learning companies running big data jobs and any other organization who wants to simplify and automate their Cloud Infrastructure. FinSMEs 22/11/2017 Seedcamp, a pan-European early stage venture capital firm, held the first close of its fourth fund, at 41M. LPs include 60 corporates, venture capitalists, fund of funds and high networths from across the world. The list includes Investec, Unilever Ventures, Thomas Cook Money, MassMutual Ventures, ADV, Index Ventures, Atomico, Idinvest Partners, Underscore Ventures, Speedinvest, Ed Wray, Barry Smith and UK-government backed British Business Bank. SeedCamp Fund IV plans to invest in up to 100 startups from across the continent maintaining its sector-agnostic approach backing the next generation of European founders attacking large, global markets and solving real problems using technology. Led by co-founder and Managing Partners Reshma Sohoni and Carlos Espinal, Seedcamp will offer an increase in capital it will invest in startups at pre-seed and seed stages along with a significant amount of money held back for follow-on rounds up to Series B and approval to invest in crypto tokens. In details, it will lead with a cheque of 100k into startups at pre-seed stage and can anchor a round of up to 250k bringing in other angel investors. The fund will invest up to 400k in seed rounds of up to 2M as part of a syndicate where there is already a lead investor round the table, reserving a significant amount of money for follow-ons up to Series B. Founders will also get access to its global network, in-house team of operators and experts in residence and lifelong community of support. With the new approach, Seedcamp will no longer have application deadlines and will review all details for pre-seed companies submitted via the Seedcamp website on a rolling basis. Startups will hear back within 14 days if the firm is interested in progressing with a potential investment. Launched in 2007, Seedcamp has invested in 250 startups across 41 countries worldwide including the likes of fintech unicorn, TransferWise, Revolut, UiPath, wefox, Property Partner, Curve, Cuvva, BridgeU, Pointy, Codacy, Divido, and Winnow. In October 2017, it announced the acquisition of its first two funds by public-listed company Draper Esprit for $23M. FinSMEs 22/11/2017 Lamborghini has been putting out teaser after teaser of its Urus SUV, giving out tiny hints of what is expected to be its most important product launch in recent years. Among the many teasers, the Italian brand has shared another video online as part of its promotion for its 4 December launch. Motoring website Motor1 spotted the front fascia of the SUV in the video, which is a part of UI in the center infotainment console. While Lamborghini has already taken down and replaced the YouTube teaser with an edited one, it was clearly a bit too late and some channels managed to download and re-upload the original video to their own pages. The video showcases the SUVs Corsa or track mode that sees it manoeuvre a dusty desert track gobbling up apexes and even going off-track in certain sections (because it can). In the midst of the video our attention is drawn to the center console several times and in one instance (as shown in the first video) the SUV is revealed as a part of the UI that changes the drive mode. Indeed this could be one of the most aggressive looking SUVs ever built. There are large airscoops all over the front fascia with a large air dam below that seems to be hogging up plenty of air to keep the mammoth SUV cool. The headlamps are designed in what is now a traditional Lamborghini manner with fine slits and sharp edges giving the front a very mean and aggressive look. The same goes for the boxy, yet chunky wheel arches that showcase plenty of indents and cuts that lend to muscular, yet aggressive stance of the Urus SUV. A sloping roofline seems to complete the sporty package. Also showcased in the video is the selector switch (Anima selector) that lets the driver select the drive mode. Its a design element we clearly have never seen before; where the switches and levers stretch out of the center console to reach out to the driver. The Lamborghini Urus SUV is slated for launch on 4 December. The launch will take place at the Lamborghini home in SantAgata Bolognese, Italy. Till the launch happens, expect some more teasers to reveal a few more details about this Super SUV. FARGO -- Even for small businesses here, Black Friday could be a better day for sales than Small Business Saturday. Thats a main takeaway from a new national analysis of transactions at nearly 65,000 retailers in the U.S., including about 200 businesses in North Dakota, during the 2016 holiday shopping season. Womplys new analysis found North Dakota retailers had one of their best days of business last year on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, with revenue at 217 percent of normal daily revenue. Black Friday shopping eclipsed the revenue of North Dakota retailers on Small Business Saturday, an annual event encouraging locals to support their small businesses thats held the Saturday after Thanksgiving. On the day last year, retailers reported 156 of average daily revenue, according to the report. Revenue was 144 percent of normal on Dec. 23, the day before Christmas Eve. Nationally, Womply says the three biggest days for revenue for retailers in 2016 were Black Friday, with sales 77 percent higher than usual, Dec. 23, with sales up 48 percent, and Small Business Saturday, which saw a sales boost of 38 percent. The report also found that shoppers tend to be drawn to Black Friday and Small Business Saturday deals, then procrastinate to finish their holiday shopping until the last minute -- which is why Dec. 23 is a big day at stores. Womply, which provides insights and analysis to small businesses, said North Dakota experienced the countrys third largest Black Friday sales bump last year of 117 percent. Only Alaska (130 percent) and Maryland (117 percent) had a bigger increase on the date. Minnesota retailers also had their sales more than double on Black Friday last year, adding up to a larger impact on revenue than the 63 percent boost they experienced on Small Business Saturday. Nationally, Womply found Black Friday was a bigger sales day than Small Business Saturday in every state except Maine. In order to quicken the digitisation of the economy, the Narendra Modi government may do away with cheque books, according to various media reports. Unthinkable? For many, it could be. For one, cheque has been an integral part of our money lives. Especially, traders and small businesses are dependent on cheques, of not cash, for making transactions. According to media reports, more than 95 percent their transactions happen via cash/cheque route. Though physical cheques are a norm in India, at the back end they have transformed into whats loosely called digital cheques as banks have implemented the cheque truncation system (CTS). CTS is a project put in place by the RBI. This gives banks the freedom to avoid transporting a physical cheque from the presenting bank (where the cheque is deposited) to the drawee bank (where it is issued). As per the CTS, instead of a physical cheque, an electronic image of the cheque is sent to the drawee bank. Since the cheque doesnt actually move from one location to another, the time needed to clear the cheque is lesser. When it comes to most European countries cheque books are now rarely used or completely banned. In fact, banks in many countries discourage cheques by charging for them and making alternative cashless payment methods more attractive for customers. The UK had first planned to do away with cheques completely but a complete ban was not implemented keeping the older population in mind who are still heavy users. Instead, they adopted a cheque-photo plan, which allows people to pay in a cheque by taking a photo of it, rather than actually going to a bank to physically deposit it. Its quite possible that cheque transactions may have increased manifold since demonetisation stunted cash transactions. There is no doubt that cheques are an expensive ordeal. As explained above, banks have already moved to CTS mode of processing, which, in a way, is digitisation. So if a ban happens, nothing much changes for banks on the process front. For retail customers too, life is unlikely to be impacted too much. The reason is, at least in the urban area, most of us have already stopped using cheque leafs because there are many other means to transact nowadays. For one, for our loan EMIs, where cheques were a must until recently, we set up an ECS arrangement with the bank. For other transactions, there are other modes such as debit/credit cards, mobile payments and online payments. All these modes allow you to track transactions, just like a cheque would and at the same time be part of the white economy. Traders and small businesses are definitely going to face some teething troubles. But they never resist the government's decision. It has been so with even with the extremely disruptive GST and demonetisation. However, that doesn't mean the government can shove a cheque ban down their throat. The policy-makers will have to keep in mind that they are already suffering due to GST and demonetisation. They will need handholding in case the government goes ahead with the decision. They should be given proper training to quickly move to a new system. The cheque-photo system that the UK uses is not a bad idea when it comes to slow and steady transition from cheque to cheque-less economy. As far as this moves goes, only time will tell if it will become a reality. But given this government's track record, one cannot rule out the possibility of a sudden announcement. New Delhi: The government on Wednesday approved a policy framework for central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) to negotiate the next round of wage revision with their workmen. The move is likely to impact 9.35 lakh unionised workmen in central public sector enterprises. The decision to clear the 'Wage Policy for the 8th Round of Wage negotiations for workmen in central public sector enterprises (CPSEs)' was taken at a meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi here. There are nearly 12.34 lakh employees of 320 CPSEs in the country, of whom some 2.99 lakh employees are board level and below-board level executives and non-unionised supervisors. The remaining 9.35 lakh belong to the unionised workmen category. Wage revision in respect of unionised workmen is decided by trade unions and managements of CPSEs in terms of guidelines issued by the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) for wage negotiations. "The wage revision shall be subject to the condition that there shall be no increase in labour cost per physical unit of output. In exceptional cases, where CPSEs are already working at optimum capacity, the administrative ministry/department may consult the Department of Public Enterprises considering industry norms," an official statement said. According to the decision taken, the management of CPSEs would be "free" to negotiate wage revision for workmen where the periodicity of wage settlement for 5 years or 10 years "expired generally" on 31 December, 2016, keeping in view the affordability and financial sustainability of such wage revision for the CPSEs concerned. "No budgetary support for any wage increase shall be provided by the government. The entire financial implication would be borne by the respective CPSEs from the internal sources. "In those CPSEs in which the government has approved restructuring or revival plan, the wage revision will be done as per the provisions of the approved restructuring or revival plan only," the statement said. Besides, CPSEs must ensure that any increase in wages after negotiations does not result in increase in administered prices of their goods and services. "The management of the CPSEs concerned has to ensure that negotiated scales of pay do not exceed the existing scales of pay of executives/officers and non-unionised supervisors of respective CPSEs. "To avoid conflict of pay scales of executives/non-unionised supervisors with that of workmen, CPSEs may consider adoption of graded DA neutralisation and/or graded figment during the wage negotiations," said the statement. The validity period of wage settlement will be for a minimum 5 years for those who opted for a 5-year periodicity and a maximum 10 years for those who have gone in for a 10-year periodicity of wage negotiation with effect from 1 January, 2017. CPSEs will implement the negotiated wages after confirming with their administrative ministry or department that the wage settlement is in conformity with approved parameters. The rumour of a proposal to ban cheque use for financial transactions is most likely creating much heartburn among many given the trading communitys dependence on these instruments. Media reports say a decision to this effect is likely in the works as the government wants to give a further push to digitisation of the economy. If the proposal indeed turns out to be true, it would be a hastier decision than the GST rollout. The goods and services tax (GST) was rolled out from 1 July 2017 with a lot of fanfare amid concerns voiced over lack of dry runs on a large scale and absence of seamless internet connectivity and access across the nation. The result glitches galore that go beyond teething trouble. After demonetization and GST, the government wants digital payments to be the norm. Nothing wrong in joining the ranks of Britain and Sweden. But are we ready? If we werent ready for GST, we are woefully ill-equipped for digitisation across the nation. The limited digital payments we have witnessed has been by and large confined to urban areas and the mode of mobile wallets used mainly in the daily food basket. Rural folks brought into banking fold have been still hugging cash. In other words, withdrawing from banks and ATMs and then paying the suppliers and shopkeepers remains the nation's preferred option. In a way, therefore, we will be killing the cheque at its infancy in rural areas where large swathes of India still is. Let us start digital-payments-only regime in metropolitan branches on a pilot basis if only to send signals to rural folks that the inexorable pace of digitization sweeping the world must be welcomed by them as well. Putting the nation on notice is what Britain has done. High denomination notes were abolished at a 4-hour notice to catch crooks with their pants down. There was justification for the suddenness but the jury is still out whether the exercise has paid off. One hopes stealth and haste dont mark the burial of cheque. Ideally it should be allowed to take roots across the nation before it is buried in the manner of slaughtering a fattened goat. One hopes the nation has got itself of online payment phobia. Let India become an internet and Wi-Fi sweetspot like Sweden. Unlike GST, there is no hurry this time around. GST was crying to be ushered in given the inequities and complications in the earlier system of indirect taxation. But universal digital payments can be a leisurely exercise. Everyone must be ready and taken into confidence. Purchasers of properties including flats should be able to issue cheques and get drafts made from banks. The government must be complimented for leading from the front and by example by steadfastly insisting on digital payments alone by government departments and government companies which is having a positive impact on large private sector companies as well. Ikea on Wednesday opened its first experiential centre Ikea Hej Home in Hyderabad ahead of an official launch of its store in India. IKEA Hej HOME which has been designed for a six month time, will familiarise customers with IKEA home furnishing solutions, PTI reported Wednesday. "The first store will open in Hyderabad in spring 2018. We have ambitious plans and decided to open 25 stores by 2025. Its a very holistic expansion plan," said Patrik Antoni, deputy country manager of IKEA India. After the Hyderabad store, the second store will open in Mumbai during 2019, followed by Bengaluru and Delhi NCR. IKEA plans to bring Hej HOME to the other cities where it will open stores. The 35-billion Swedish furniture giant has indicated it will start a store in India after a gap of five-and-a-half years when the company had made a pledge for an investment of Rs 10,500 crore for India. The country offers a bigger opportunity for furniture players. At present IKEA sells its range of products -- Stenlille rugs, Kivik sofas, Kvistbro storage tables and Poang armchairs -- through its 403 outlets spread across 51 countries, the report added. The company which is the largest foreign investor in countrys single brand retail segment will inaugurate its Hej Home -- an experience centre cum a miniature version of its signature store -- in southern Indian city of Hyderabad on Wednesday. India would be lowest priced market after the launch, John Achillea, managing director, IKEA Telangana told Business Standard while adding prior to that it was Poland which was companys lowest priced market. India will be 52nd country where the company will have its store before that Serbia was its latest market. Its managing director further said the company will sale some 200 to 300 products for a price not exceeding Rs 200. The price range will vary from Rs 50 to a few lakhs as the final price range has still not been decided, Achillea added. IKEA will put on display a 786 square feet home meant for a family of four. Earlier, the company had opened its Hej Homes in South Korea, China and Japan. New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed 13 directors, including five promoters of embattled Jaiprakash Associate Limited (JAL) not to alienate their personal properties and asked the firm to deposit Rs 150 crore and Rs 125 crore by 14 December and 31 December respectively. The bench accepted a demand draft of Rs 275 crore by the real estate firm on Wednesday. A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud further restrained the directors from alienating the properties of their immediate family members also and cautioned that any violation of its directive would hold them liable for criminal prosecution. Meanwhile, the bench-appointed lawyer Pawan Shree Agrawal as amicus curiae and asked him to set up within a week, a web portal, which would contain all details including grievances of the hassled homebuyers. Senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Ranjit Kumar, who appeared on behalf of the directors including independent and promoter ones, said they have filed affidavits in pursuance of earlier direction asking them to give details of their personal properties. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the real estate company, said adequate time should be given to the firm for arranging money or otherwise it may go the Sahara way. The bench has now posted the plea of homebuyers for further hearing on 10 January and directed all the directors to appear again before it on that date. Homebuyers including one Chitra Sharma had moved the apex court saying that around 32,000 people had booked their flats and are now paying installments. The top court had on 4 September stayed insolvency proceedings against the real estate firm at National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). Flat buyers, under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code of 2016, do not fall in the category of secured creditors like banks and hence they can get back their money only if something is left after repaying the secured and operational creditors, Sharma, in her plea, said. Hundreds of home buyers have been left in the lurch after the NCLT, on 10 August, admitted the IDBI Bank's plea to initiate insolvency proceedings against the debt-ridden realty company for defaulting on a Rs 526 crore loan, the plea said. Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has sought for a ban on the Padmavati "till the controversy is resolved". He said the film's release will "spoil the poll environment" and that he will review the ban post elections, states TV reports by India Today. News18, in one of its tweets states: Padmavati will not be released in Gujarat till the controversy is resolved: Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani #PoliticalPadmavati pic.twitter.com/L9IWSnWQOe News18 (@CNNnews18) November 22, 2017 Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday (22 November), said any decision on permitting screening of Padmavati in the state will be taken only after the decision of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). He also added that nobody would be allowed to hurt sentiments of people belonging to a particular community. According to a report by news18, a parliamentary panel (Lok Sabha's petition panel) has asked the CBFC and the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) ministry to submit a report on Padmavati by 30 November. #BREAKING | Parliamentary panel asks CBFC and I&B Ministry to submit report on #Padmavati by Nov 30 | @_pallavighosh with more details pic.twitter.com/M8U7lI0Qdf News18 (@CNNnews18) November 22, 2017 Two Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs CP Joshi and M Birla had approached the parliamentary panel headed by Anurag Thakur to ensure that the movie is not released. But the parliamentary panel doesn't have a locus standi to take a decision on the film's release. Hence it has sought both the CBFC and the I&B ministry to submit a report which states their opinion on whether the film should go for further edits/cuts or be completely banned and not given a release, as stated in TV reports. Meanwhile, veteran actor Shatrughan Sinha tweeted saying that he will opine on the whole Padmavati controversy only after Bhansali speaks up and asks why Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have maintained a "stoic silence". As Padmavati becomes a burning controversy, people are asking why the legendary @SrBachchan, most versatile @aamir_khan & most popular @iamsrk have no comments..& how come our I&B Minister or our most popular Hon'ble PM (according to PEW) are maintaining stoic silence. High time! Shatrughan Sinha (@ShatruganSinha) November 22, 2017 As for me, I would & should speak on Padmavati issue only after the "great filmmaker, producer S.L.Bhansali" speaks up. I speak only when I am spoken to & I will speak keeping in mind the interests of the filmmaker as well as the sensitivity, valour, loyalty of the great Rajputs. Shatrughan Sinha (@ShatruganSinha) November 22, 2017 A few days ago, BJP leader and Chief Media Coordinator of the party from Haryana, Surajpal Singh Ammu had announced a bounty of Rs 10 crore for the heads of Deepika Padukone and Sanjay Leela Bhansali; Karni Sena had also threatened to chop off Padukone's nose if she continued her remarks against the ongoing protests. The Karni Sena Chief Lokendra Singh Kalvi said no matter what, the film has to be sacrificed in the "jauhar ki jwala" (flame of jauhar). Also read: Padmavati, the film, will burn in the flames of jauhar: Karni Sena's Lokendra Singh Kalvi tells Firstpost With the NYPD collecting evidence for the possible conviction of Harvey Weinstein, more and more women are speaking out against the producer. According to the latest report by The New Yorker, Weinstein, who is accused of sexual harassment and assault by multiple women (reports peg this number at above 80), allegedly paid off many accusers over the years, to keep the allegations at bay. Filipina-Italian model Ambra Battilana, who herself has faced sexual harassment at the hands of Weinstein, spoke to Ronan Farrow, the journalist who exposed Weinstein. In the interview, she recounted signing a nondisclosure agreement, under which she would never talk about her encounter with the producer during which he allegedly groped her and slid his hand up her skirt. She was paid a million dollars for signing the document, which she had to sign due to financial constraints. According to the report, many such payments were made discreetly by Weinstein, to silence the victims. Bob Weinstein, co-founder of Miramax and brother of Harvey, also paid 250,000 pounds to two women, who had accused Harvey of sexual misconduct. However, Bob later stated that nothing related to sexual harassment was conveyed to him while making the payment. His statement was deemed "implausible" by a senior Miramax employee, as several incidents of Harvey's misbehaviour had been reported to the company. Harvey reportedly had a network of high-profile defence lawyers and investigative companies, which extracted information from the accused under different guises and also silenced them. As per the report, Bill Cosby and the television personality Bill OReilly also used nondisclosure agreements to keep the accusations from surfacing. Movies have always enjoyed a central role in society since their introduction in mainstream media. They have been used as a medium to display creativity and spread the creators vision. Starting from influencing fashion trends to the ideals and mannerisms of many, movies have a strong presence within the populace. Motion pictures give the individual a way to understand and perceive the world, creating a way to meet their need for a meaningful experience. This link is not one-way; society influences the content of movies as the creators try to interpret what the masses want. Hence, given this strong association, it is possible to understand the pulse of the people by analysing movies this is particularly important when discussing changing social dynamics related to sex, sexuality, and gender. One tool that can help in this endeavour is the Vito Russo Test. It has the rubrics necessary to analyse and interpret the representation of the LGBT+ community in media. The Russo test was created in 2013 by GLAAD (Gay and Lesbians Alliance Against Defamation) to monitor mainstream media to further the cause of acceptance and equality of the LGBT+ community. Like the Bechdel Test, the Russo Test provides parameters by which one can interpret the current tolerance level in society in its representation of the LGBT+ community in media. To pass the test, the movie must contain a character that is identifiably part of the LGBT+ community; the said character(s) should not be predominately defined by their sexual orientation they must have unique characteristics that are commonly used to differentiate between straight characters; and the character must be tied to the plot in some way, such that they are integral and their removal will cause a hole in the plotline. These guidelines thus ensure that an LGBT+ character, if present, is fleshed out and multidimensional. This helps combat the unilateral stereotypical presentation that seems to be popular; for example Damian Leigh from Mean Girls and George Downes in My Best Friends Wedding. The test helps pave new ways of acceptance. The motion pictures often nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award are a mix of commercially successful and critically acclaimed movies, thus providing a balance between mainstream production values and unconventional subject areas. We took the nominees for best movie for the past three years (2015-2017) and checked them against criteria specified in the Russo Test. From the vast population of movies present, this sample yielded 25 movies. The selected movies were then divided according to year of nomination and viewed over a month, screening for parameters considered in the Russo test. The Test Out of the 25 movies that were reviewed, only two passed the Russo Test in all the aspects. The two movies that passed by clearing all three criteria were Moonlight (2017) and The Imitation Game (2015). Moonlight, which went on to win the Best Picture award tells the story of an adolescent boy and his growth into adulthood, facing problems of race and class, while being identifiably gay. In The Imitation Game, we see the story of Alan Turing, the gay mathematician and scientist who joins the cryptography team to decipher the enigma code and aid in the war efforts of Great Britain during the World War II. One other movie cleared two parameters but failed in one:Spotlight (2016). Although it passes the first two components it fails the last. The almost forgettable identifiably gay character (who is shown to be a victim of abuse at the hands of the church) is not essential to the plot and could easily be replaced. It should be noted however that the results of the test allow for a certain degree of subjectivity. Although the test was run with a small sample of only English feature films nominated for an Academy Award the results reflect attitudes toward diversity in sexuality. The results tell a story of a broader picture this is not even to say much about closeted depictions of sexuality in Indian cinema. Even in a specific sample, the under-representation of the LGBT+ community is apparent. This lack of visibility makes its way into the masses as well. When one community is not given its share, society as a whole suffers. The inclusion of the LGBT+ community especially in emerging countries have shown a positive relationship with the economy. An environment where the individual can be themselves and not spend effort and time in pretending to be someone else is an environment where greater productivity can be achieved. Divya Chandy is research assistant at the Department of Economics at Monk Prayogshala, Mumbai The Nandi Awards controversy now has a new twist as Posani Krishna Murali declined to receive the award for Best Supporting Actor and heavily criticised the Andhra Pradesh government. The winners' list for the years 2014, 2015 and 2016 was recently announced by the state government and allegedly, most of the winners are from one particular community. Ever since the announcement was made, renowned figures from the South Indian film industry, who were not at all happy with the jury, publicly showed their disappointment in the selection process. Posani Krishna Murali has emerged as the latest member to raise some serious questions on the issue. The popular actor has bagged the best supporting actor for his outstanding performance in Jr NTR's Temper. But he decided not to receive the award after hearing that the selection process was not a clear one, as reported by the Times of India. Posani Krishna Murali arranged a press meet on Tuesday afternoon to announce his decision to return the Nandi Award. While speaking to the media, the Temper actor insisted his decision will not change after seeing the recent reactions against the injustice. He also urged chief minister Chandrababu Naidu to cancel all these awards. He also took a cheeky dig at state IT Minister Nara Lokesh, who earlier said that critics of the Nandi award selection were NRAs. (Non-resident Andhras). "Many people feel that there is a lot of injustice in the selection process. I request CM Chandrababu Naidu cancel all the awards and redo the process through IVRC method. Even if I don't get any award, I don't mind. If he doesn't cancel these awards, I won't touch the Nandi Award again in my entire life. If the government corrects its mistakes, I would be happy about it," Posani Krishna Murali said, as per the same report. Posani Krishna Muralis career started as a script and dialogue writer and later, he became a successful film director and character artiste. He has been vocal on many social issues over the years. New Delhi: The controversy over period drama Padmavati on Wednesday reached the portals of Parliament as a house panel sought a report on the film from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and the censor board. The matter was taken up for consideration by the Lok Sabha Committee on Petitions after two BJP MPs, CP Joshi and Om Birla, from Rajasthan filed a plea before it regarding objectionable content in the movie. When contacted, Joshi (who is also a member of the panel) told PTI that the movie should be shown to historians and the descendants of the erstwhile royal families, who trace their lineage to Padmavati, before its release. "The panel has referred the matter to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and the censor board. It has also asked them to submit a report before 30 November," senior BJP leader Bhagat Singh Koshyari, who heads the panel, said. The Sanjay Leela Bhansali film starring Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh is based on Rajput queen, Padmavati. Amid rumours that there was a romantic dream sequence between Padmavati and Alauddin Khilji's characters, various Rajput and other groups have been protesting against the film, alleging it "distorts" history and hurts the sentiments of the people. Historians are, however, divided on whether Queen Padmavati even existed. Chief ministers of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh all BJP ruled states and Punjab, ruled by the Congress, have already opposed the release of the movie. Following this severe opposition, the makers of the movie deferred its release date. The film was scheduled to release on 1 December, this year. JAMESTOWN Jamestown High School Principal Adam Gehlhar received one of educations highest honors on Tuesday, Nov. 21, the Milken Educator Award. The award came as a surprise during a student assembly with Kirsten Baesler, superintendent of the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction. She credited Gehlhars energy, vision and an innovative approach to reaching students with 21st century learning. Jane Foley, senior vice president of the Milken Educator Awards of the Milken Family Foundation in Los Angeles, said Gehlhar is the only North Dakota recipient this year. The award includes a $25,000 prize and is presented annually to around 45 teachers nationwide, she said. The award goes to people who have very specific qualities, Foley said. At both Jamestown and West Fargo high schools, Gehlhar introduced project-based learning, along with integrating science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) into school curriculum, and developing collaborative internships in business and industry, she said. Gehlhar is also a role model who sets an example for young people and colleagues to follow, she said. Its not a lifetime achievement award, Foley said. When you look at that face you know that he has decades ahead of him to be a leader and to make an influence. Gehlhar was not nominated for the award, Foley said. He was identified for his leadership and creating big school opportunities for students of smaller school districts, she said. Gehlhar said the award was definitely a shock and that he was honored, humbled and grateful. He credited staff, faculty and students for stepping up and doing great things every day. It makes it really easy to lead when other people will lead if you just give them the power to do that, Gehlhar said. Recognizing past achievement is good, but there is also a need to continuously improve, he said. Working towards a vision of a better future is really what keeps me motivated, Gehlhar said. Seven former Milken Awardees from North Dakota attended the presentation Tuesday including 2006 recipient Lynnette Patrick, a teacher at Louis L'Amour Elementary School in Jamestown. Former JHS Principal Larry Ukestad, a 1997 recipient, recalled Gehlhar as a JHS student, a strong leader and the right person to lead the school as technology becomes the big step forward in education. Adam has taken that leadership role to the point where right now he deserves the award, Ukestad said. Roger Haut, president of the Jamestown Public School Board, said the award reaffirms the decision to hire Gehlhar two years ago. He is good through and thorough, Haut said of Gehlhar. I am proud of the leadership we have in our board, in our administration and just where we are taking the school system. We are always trying to do better. Diane Hanson, School Board member, said Gehlar is very well liked by staff and students. Hes got a connection there that is unique and I think it really pays off with his leadership ability, Hanson said. Robert Lech, superintendent of Jamestown Public School District, said Gehlhar has an ability to recognize the capacity for change and facilitating change in the right way. Mr. Gehlhar is very innovative, a great leader, a fantastic principal, a relationship builder and he leads a school of many other professionals that are doing a tremendous job every day, Lech said. Kolkata: At least eight organisations under the banner of Akhil Bhartiya Shakti Samaj launched a signature campaign on Wednesday in protest against Sanjay Leela Bhansali's historical drama Padmavati. "We want the scenes showing distorted version of history to be deleted before the film is released," said a member of the Samaj. The protesters said they plan to submit a deputation to West Bengal Governor KN Tripathi on Thursday reiterating their demands. "We also plan to submit a deputation to the Chief Minister (Mamata Banerjee) in this regard," the member said. The film has been mired in controversy over conjectures that it "distorts history" regarding Rajput queen Padmavati, a contention that Bhansali has repeatedly denied. Its release has been "voluntarily" deferred from its scheduled date of 1 December. Some Hindu groups have been protesting against the movie's release while some political outfits have demanded that its release be deferred in view of the Gujarat Assembly elections. The makers have also not got clearance yet from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), which said the application from the makers was "incomplete". Parvathy Thiruvothu is not one to be constrained by biases and borders. The award-winning star is at the forefront of the pioneering Women In Cinema Collective launched this year to fight discrimination in the Malayalam film industry, where she does most of her work. 2017 has been important in other ways: her Malayalam film Take Off, released in March, was a stupendous success; and this month she has been warmly welcomed by audiences and critics on her entry into Hindi filmdom with Qarib Qarib Singlle. Meanwhile, the spotlight is back on Take Off since the upcoming Salman Khan-starrer Tiger Zinda Hai in Hindi is based on the same true story. Here is Parvathy in conversation with contributing editor Anna MM Vetticad: You are acting in Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada and now Hindi films. Why do more women than men manage to have a pan-India presence by acting in multiple industries? Its great that we fit in everywhere, as any actor should. But I am also worried that there isnt a certain I have a Malayalam word for it iritham, oru orapa, to grow roots in a space and stay there to create more. Because somehow the replaceable idea is also attached to female actors, the idea that you are dispensable, people are not banking on you. In any industry, people completely bank on male superstars. That is unfortunately not yet created for women. Its bothersome that we can be everywhere but we dont seem to be able to stick to one place and create a viewership for our films. In Hindi there is a Kangna, Deepika, Priyanka. Vidya Balan is doing that beautifully. You know if she is in a movie she is definitely doing something interesting, just as you know with the Khans. I dont see that happening in Malayalam except with Manju chechi (Manju Warrier) whose films people go to watch because she is in it. Numerous producers, directors and writers have told me women dont bring in opening collections. But women are not given larger-than-life roles consistently over time, that would give them the kind of fandom that guarantees opening collections. Do you agree? I do. I have had these talks with producers, where I get the lead character in a film and at the same time, even if four or five movies have been huge hits, Im told I dont have a market value. Im like, How is that even possible, boss? You know you are pairing me with this actor, the previous one is a hit, the initial will be amazing whatever the reviews may be, the satellite right will be great. How are you still not ready to pay me what I deserve? And the more successful you become as a female actor, the less offers I am getting, because there is a fear that if you let someone be that powerful, youll lose ground. Camps have a way to protect their power. Market value humey dukaan se thhodi milta hai (you cant buy market value). We have to create it. We can only do that by giving women more characters whose dramatic need is not just to fall in or out of love, characters present in more political, thrilling, mysterious stories, characters who are present because those are characters. We need to see more of women for us to connect. Thats when market value increases. Why arent more roles written for women? I would totally put producer-director-writer combos prathikkoottil (in the dock) and ask them this. Audiences clearly arent being given this, so how will they create a market for us? I agree with you. When asked such questions, they go on the defensive and say, But I have to tell stories that come to me naturally. You cant force me to write stories of women. Im not saying you have to. Im asking, Why do stories of half of humanity not come naturally to you? Its not just that they are incapable of writing it, there is also this structure they have created in the industry so that people who do have a variety of stories wont get producers too interested because they want the formula to work. Weve cracked it here in Malayalam. In movies like Traffic and Salt N Pepper, or in Take Off, for example, though Sameera is the protagonist, we have Fahadh Faasil and Kunchacko Boban in it and it doesnt matter who the protagonist is. The story is what matters. Our producers still do worry, but at least were able to make this content here without making it larger than life and a fantasy. And our realistic films make a profit. To people who say such films do not naturally come to them, okay boss, dont write it, fine, you step aside and at least let others who are capable do it. They are not even giving space for others. So its slow, but still I feel optimistic considering the kind of movies coming now. The true story on which Take Off is based is also the inspiration for Tiger Zinda Hai in which Salman Khan is the central figure. Not that the Malayalam film industry is without faults, but what does it say about the nature of our industries that Malayalam cinema did a Take Off centred around your character because that was what the real-life story was, and Hindi cinema is doing that same real-life story but centering it around a man? Im shocked and numb by now seeing stories that are essentially of a woman made into a mans from the time I can remember in Malayalam. In Tamil too. So it doesnt surprise me. What surprises me is the lack of faith in female actors and women in general, this ridiculous notion that men cannot empathise with women and something creeps up under my skin when I hear the term female-oriented. Do you say male-oriented for male-oriented films? No. Why not? The more you degenderise human stories, the more relatable it is. So it is disappointing that they couldnt have done the movie with a female lead. That would have been refreshing and taken us to a whole different height with regard to how women are going to be in cinema. Some people say Qarib Qarib Singlle (QQS) gives a woman importance because a woman directed it. But Queen and Take Off were made by men. We do need more women telling womens stories, but where do people get this notion that men cant tell womens stories? I have no idea. Its the most beautiful thing for me to watch a movie like Queen (directed by Vikas Bahl), or Take Off (director: Mahesh Narayanan). Sameera emerged from innumerable discussions with Mahesh. She is a mix of my vision as a woman and how he views her as a man. And he can only think as a man, I wouldnt want him to force himself to think as a woman because I want to see the flavour he brings to a woman as a man. How does gender come into play? It didnt matter while Tanuja (QQS director Tanuja Chandra) directed me and Irrfan. (Laughs) Anjali (Anjali Menon who is directing Parvathy in a Malayalam film co-starring Prithviraj Sukumaran) talks to me and Prithvi in the same way. Ive been surrounded by such people, so I immediately sense the difference when a man-man talks to me as me, a woman. Those are the storytellers with a patriarchal way of looking at women and machoing up men. Im at a point, Anna, that Im tired of screaming at them and questioning them. Im like, do your thing but we will do our thing. We will not let this be an imbalanced narrative for society to watch. They believe they are right, Anna. You cannot change everyone, and youd rather use your creative juices creating something you believe is right. Your character in QQS does not match the present notion of female beauty in Hindi cinema. I dont mean to talk down our beautiful heroines, but sometimes you want to see a woman who does not look like a dolled-up model but is pretty in a pretty-person-I-might-meet-as-my-neighbour kind of way. Did Tanuja pressure you to conform? Not at all. Would you have given in to pressure, if there had been any? No. My reservation about Bollywood films before I did this one was that I didnt know how much I could be an actor and how much more they would want me to be a star, and I have no interest in being a star. That is not an area I enjoy spending my time. It disorients me to focus my energies on that. Some people thrive on it, and I acknowledge them with respect. In the beginning I was like, Why are they doing it? Its because of them that Im asked to do it too, then I realised we can all co-exist, and life became better for me. So in Malayalam, in Ennu Ninte Moideen I played the 40-year-old and 18-year-old Kanchanamala. I played a paraplegic (in Bangalore Days) and obviously with minimum mobility the top would be bulkier than the bottom because the arm and shoulder strength has to be more. In Take Off, I played a pregnant woman and I happily put on the extra kilos, got my double chin, got myself to be believable to the audience. I was heavy enough for me to virpikyafy my kumba (roughly: inflate my paunch) thats such a Manglish way of saying it by drinking about three litres of water for that scene where I lift my T-shirt to show Sameeras 4-5 months pregnant tummy on screen without using prosthetics. Kunchacko Boban touched it and said, Oh my god, thats really good work by prosthetics. Im like, Thats my tummy, man. (laughs) I can shape shift for characters. If I am to play a warrior queen, athlete or model in a movie, I will be completely groomed and fitting a certain body type. Give me a logical reason why a person is to look like that apart from you loving a certain jawline or neckline, and I am in. Malayalam heroines are not dolled up unrealistically, unlike Hindi heroines. You can even sometimes see their pimples. But there are many more solid roles for women in Hindi than Malayalam. Women keep disappearing from Malayalam. Can you explain this dichotomy? Its tricky for me, Anna, because yes, there are some interesting and strong characters in Hindi cinema, but in Malayalam I have got such characters over a period of 10 years. I havent seen that consistency in Hindi. You see a Queen (2014), then youre waiting for another Queen. Then Simran (2017) comes, it doesnt quite work out the way Queen did, but I was happy because Simran is beautifully flawed yaar. Shes crazy, and you want to see that too. Where is the next Piku? So, whether in Malayalam or Hindi, consistency is the key and we dont have it yet. We have spurts of interesting characters, but we dont have more Sameeras happening. Sameera uses Shahid, she realises the only way out of there is to marry this guy who seems to love her. You dont often see such characters. I was overjoyed to know she makes this choice. And people didnt judge her for it. If it was somewhere else (other than Malayalam), Oh my god, a woman using? Even with her pregnancy, were able to show a woman on screen talking about aborting her child because she cannot afford one, Anna. Were showing that sort of liberated woman. So Take Off is a win on many levels. And the dolling up part, yaar, what do I say? I got innumerable messages on Instagram asking, Chechi avude chennitta enda itharem makeup ittatha promotionina? (Chechi, why did you wear so much makeup for your promotions there?) For them it was a lot although for me it was just a little makeup I did to have fun during the promotions. But here (in Kerala) I go for promotions wearing my Dads shirt and just mudi molila ketti vechchitta (tying my hair on top of my head). Its not a big thing, the looks thing. So how come there is such realness in the styling of Malayalam women actors though the industry is male-dominated? Thats the winning card for us, and slowly well bring it into other male-dominated industries. For me Qarib Qarib is a step towards showing (Hindi film viewers), Hey guys, I can pass off too as a heroine. Right from Hum Aapke Hain Koun! weve immortalised costumes, makeup, curls. So (Hindi) films have been more aspirational than relatable. Malayali audiences always went for more relatable than aspirational. They never take being told, Hey, would you like to be like this? Theyd be like, Onnu poda cheruka. (Buzz off!) Probably one of the reasons is that theyll not take a benchmark given to them. We do have our superstars calling the shots on a lot of things in Malayalam, but at least theyre not caking us women up. You are 29, Irrfan is 50. Why did QQS need to make your character 35 and his 40? So that your characters are close in age to each other. This happens routinely in Hindi cinema, that men in their 50s play characters not their age and act with women half their age. Would the story have been less real if you were acting with a 30 or 35-year-old man, or if he was acting with a woman who is 40, 45 or 50? (Pause) Youre right. But there are two sides of this, knowing the team of Qarib Qarib. The truth is Irrfan was going to play Yogi, they wanted an actress who could pull off Jaya, they found me and believed I could do it. At no point did they want to make me look 35. The only reason we discussed age is, When did she get married? She must have been about 22, and Manav (the characters husband) passed away maybe two years later. I agree that apart from Qarib Qarib Singlle, everywhere else there is a dearth of actresses who are past 40-50 years old. Why? Arent they likeable and flirtable? But here it was not that. Tanuja happened to choose me, probably because she had faith in me. If Jaya had not written her age on the dating website and we skipped mentioning Yogis age in the film, it could have been a 29-year-old and a 50-year-old man. But the film did make a point of mentioning the characters ages. The writers point was that a woman her age felt the need to dial it down to 33 online. I have a problem with that being taken out of context and saying theyve portrayed a 29-year-old actor as 35. That was never the intention. But I understand the pairing of older actors with young actresses is so predominant in our industry that its natural we view this film in that context. If I am given a role of an 18-year-old, I would not like to be pointed out that hey, why wouldnt you let an 18-year-old do the job? You know, I can act. A movie came to me where my character goes from 15 to 60 years of age. I was unable to do that film, but I remember the director had already selected a 15-year-old for the younger part, but there is a very intense scene for her so I requested the director to give me 4-5 months and invest just a little money, and could I please do that? Because I would love to live that character at 15 too. Let me stretch my acting abilities. It is not that I wanted to rob that role from a 15-year-old, its truly just about wanting to perform. The problem is not with a 29-year-old woman actor being cast as a 35-year-old. The point is this business of 50-year-old men routinely being offered roles as 40-year-olds. That role you mentioned where your character goes from 15 to 60, and the director had already cast a kid to play the 15-year-old if the character was male, chances are the director would not have got another actor to play the 15-year-old, the same actor would have played the entire age range. Do you get what Im saying? I do. I read your review of Qarib Qarib Singlle, and I would clarify that from this team I have not seen that. Ive been part of films where the guys have been extremely older than me and still a romance angle was brought in, and I tried to find reasons for my character in the script. Its a very sad situation to be in and again brings up the point of the replaceable quality of female actors. But I would like to speak up for this movie the idea was not about pairing a younger actor with a much older actor and linking their age together. I didnt come across any such intention in my filmmakers and I would back them here. Could it be a hesitation to have a 50-year-old man play a 50-year-old man? I want to stick to my answer on this. If there was then there was, but I didnt come across that kind of thinking. Okay. One of the most fantastic things thats happened in Indian cinema this year is the Women In Cinema Collective (WCC) in Kerala. How did it come about? Its come about because of our colleague who spoke up for what happened to her. That gave us all a reason to reflect. Youre talking about the assault case, of course. (Note: The reference here is to the abduction and sexual assault this February of a leading female Malayalam star. Another leading star, Dileep, was arrested on conspiracy charges in the case. After about three months in jail, Dileep is currently out on bail.) Yes. That gave us all a reason to come together and say: why have we been quiet? We realised we all were made to believe it doesnt happen to everybody. We were made to believe we were alone in it and when we started talking we realised, oh no no no, were all in it all this while together, we just werent allowed to feel that. So weve found the best way to change and dignify the workspace for women in our industry, to bring in a legal system in the industry where issues are dealt with head on immediately so that it becomes a habit, for repeat offenders and everyone to note that they cannot do this, and for women to know they do not have to be submissive. The goal is also to bring more women to make films, to foray into every aspect, production, distribution, editing. Like I said, let others do what they have to do, but now we gotta do what we gotta do. WCC came at a brilliant time but Anna, I have a problem with the national media making this about Mollywoods dark underbelly. Did the national media bother to cover it at all? Oh, they didnt bother, but finally, finally when they did cover it, the headline was, the dark underbelly of Mollywood. I was like, what? If anything Im proud of Mollywood because we are creating noise. The fact that everybody else is silent means they are a bit more scared, they seem to be comfortably numb and silent about whats happening there. We have created this noise and now change is inevitable because weve made this happen. WCC is working with existing organisations, and they are responding well. Were having discussions with all the powerful men. Theyre all willing to have conversations finally. Its a great start. Are all of them willing or some of them? Uh, all of them who have been very silent are now forced to talk because they are part of those other organisations. So they are talking now. There was no other way. NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indias cabinet on Wednesday approved amendments to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, the finance minister said, changes that are designed to prevent wilful defaulters from bidding for stressed assets. FILE PHOTO: An India Rupee note is seen in this illustration photo June 1, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas White/Illustration/File PhotoFinance Minister Arun Jaitley announced approval for the amendments following a cabinet meeting but did not provide details. Local media has widely reported that the amendments will stop wilful defaulters from buying stressed assets that they previously owned. The government is striving to cut a record $147 billion of soured loans accumulated in the banking sector by making it easier to force companies into insolvency. Under Indian law, wilful defaulters are classified as firms or individuals who own large businesses and deliberately avoid repayments. The finance ministry has already asked banks to ensure that wilful defaulters are prevented from buying back assets. This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. DUBAI/LONDON (Reuters) - German business software giant SAP (SAPG.DE), which last month said its South African sales commissions were being probed by U.S. regulators, has launched an investigation into its business practices in the Gulf region, it said on Wednesday. FILE PHOTO: SAP headquarters in Walldorf, Germany, January 24, 2017. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski/File PhotoThe company also said one of its executives in the Gulf region had resigned and another was on administrative leave, without giving further details. SAP operates in more than 180 countries, selling business planning software that many of the worlds top multinationals rely on to manage their far-flung business operations. It is a big supplier of corporate compliance software. A source familiar with the matter said the individuals referred to by SAP were Tayfun Topkoc, the companys country manager for the United Arab Emirates, and Oman country manager Przemek Oledzki - whose LinkedIn profile identifies him as chief of staff for the UAE, Iran and Oman region. The source added SAPs investigations related to the companys dealings with Iran, which are overseen by its Gulf States offices in Dubai. Topkoc and Oledzki did not immediately respond to requests for comment via their email and social media profiles. We are currently investigating business activities in the region, SAP told Reuters in a statement, without specifying whether the matter concerned Iran. SAP is committed to the highest standards of business ethics and we always strive to operate with transparency and integrity. Please understand that we cannot say more while the investigation is ongoing, it said. GLOBAL COMPLIANCE CRACKDOWN Last month, SAP promised to make sweeping changes to its sales practices around the world after the company revealed it was the subject of a U.S. corruption probe tied to its South African business. (reut.rs/2jNUIey) (reut.rs/2z8By9x) A spokesman declined to comment on whether the issues in the Gulf had arisen after the company put in place additional compliance and due diligence controls worldwide on the use of sales agents and resellers to win SAP contracts. In April, SAP warned customers and sales partners that U.S. sanctions continued to restrict its dealings with Iran and the sale of the companys software there. Despite the lifting of some sanctions by the European Union and the United States in early 2016 following a multinational nuclear deal, severe penalties could result from violating the remaining U.S. sanctions, the company said at that time. In October, an SAP board member told Reuters that an internal probe by the company had found faults in its compliance and due diligence controls on how it conducts sales in South Africa and in other countries. In response, SAP said it no longer would pay sales commissions on public sector deals in nations where risks of corruption in government contract awards remained high, such as Brazil, China, India, Russia, Iran and South Africa. Last year, SAP was fined $3.9 million by U.S. securities regulators for failing to maintain internal controls to prevent a bribery scheme by a former sales executive who won lucrative contracts from the Panamanian government. (reut.rs/2vcPOIp) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group of about a dozen U.S. State Department officials have taken the unusual step of formally accusing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson of violating a federal law designed to stop foreign militaries from enlisting child soldiers, according to internal documents reviewed by Reuters. A confidential State Department dissent memo, which Reuters was first to report on, said Tillerson breached the Child Soldiers Prevention Act when he decided in June to exclude Iraq, Myanmar, and Afghanistan from a U.S. list of offenders in the use of child soldiers. This was despite the department publicly acknowledging that children were being conscripted in those countries. [tmsnrt.rs/2jJ7pav] Keeping the countries off the annual list makes it easier to provide them with U.S. military assistance. Iraq and Afghanistan are close allies in the fight against Islamist militants, while Myanmar is an emerging ally to offset Chinas influence in Southeast Asia. Documents reviewed by Reuters also show Tillersons decision was at odds with a unanimous recommendation by the heads of the State Departments regional bureaus overseeing embassies in the Middle East and Asia, the U.S. envoy on Afghanistan and Pakistan, the departments human rights office and its own in-house lawyers. [tmsnrt.rs/2Ah6tB4] Beyond contravening U.S. law, this decision risks marring the credibility of a broad range of State Department reports and analyses and has weakened one of the U.S. government's primary diplomatic tools to deter governmental armed forces and government-supported armed groups from recruiting and using children in combat and support roles around the world, said the July 28 memo. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert, questioned at length by reporters on the issue at her daily briefing, strongly defended Tillersons decision as valid and in technical compliance with the law in the way he read it. No one in the United States government likes the idea of the use of child soldiers, she said. Its abhorrent. Asked at a photo opportunity with the visiting Peruvian foreign minister about his decision, Tillerson sidestepped any direct response to the dissenting officials complaint. Reuters reported in June that Tillerson had disregarded internal recommendations on Iraq, Myanmar and Afghanistan. The new documents reveal the scale of the opposition in the State Department, including the rare use of what is known as the dissent channel, which allows officials to object to policies without fear of reprisals. The views expressed by the U.S. officials illustrate ongoing tensions between career diplomats and the former chief of Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) appointed by President Donald Trump to pursue an America First approach to diplomacy. INTERPRETING THE LAW The child soldiers law passed in 2008 states that the U.S. government must be satisfied that no children under the age of 18 are recruited, conscripted or otherwise compelled to serve as child soldiers for a country to be removed from the list. The statute extends specifically to government militaries and government-supported armed groups like militias. The list currently includes the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Mali, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. In a written response to the dissent memo on Sept. 1, Tillerson adviser Brian Hook acknowledged that the three countries did use child soldiers. He said, however, it was necessary to distinguish between governments making little or no effort to correct their child soldier violations ... and those which are making sincere - if as yet incomplete - efforts. [tmsnrt.rs/2zWGRt0]Hook made clear that Americas top diplomat used what he sees as his discretion to interpret the law. A POWERFUL MESSAGE FILE PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson answers questions during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, DC, U.S. on November 20, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File PhotoForeign militaries on the list are prohibited from receiving aid, training and weapons from Washington unless the White House issues a waiver based on U.S. national interest. In 2016, under the Obama administration, both Iraq and Myanmar, as well as others such as Nigeria and Somalia, received waivers. At times, the human rights community chided President Barack Obama for being too willing to issue waivers and exemptions, especially for governments that had security ties with Washington, instead of sanctioning more of those countries. Human Rights Watch frequently criticized President Barack Obama for giving too many countries waivers, but the law has made a real difference, Jo Becker, advocacy director for the groups childrens rights division, wrote in June in a critique of Tillersons decision. The dissenting U.S. officials stressed that Tillersons decision to exclude Iraq, Afghanistan and Myanmar went a step further than the Obama administrations waiver policy by contravening the law and effectively easing pressure on the countries to eradicate the use of child soldiers. The officials acknowledged in the documents reviewed by Reuters that those three countries had made progress. But in their reading of the law, they said that was not enough to be kept off a list that has been used to shame governments into completely eradicating the use of child soldiers. UNCONSCIONABLE ACTIONS Ben Cardin, ranking Democrat on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote to Tillerson on Friday saying there were serious concerns that the State Department may not be complying with the law and that the secretarys decision sent a powerful message to these countries that they were receiving a pass on their unconscionable actions. The memo was among a series of previously unreported documents sent this month to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the State Departments independent inspector generals office that relate to allegations that Tillerson violated the child soldiers law. Legal scholars say that because of the executive branchs latitude in foreign policy there is little legal recourse to counter Tillersons decision. Herman Schwartz, a constitutional law professor at American University in Washington, said U.S. courts would be unlikely to accept any challenge to Tillersons interpretation of the child soldiers law as allowing him to remove a country from the list on his own discretion. The signatories to the document were largely senior policy experts with years of involvement in the issues, said an official familiar with the matter. Reuters saw a copy of the document that did not include the names of those who signed it. Tillersons decision to remove Iraq and Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, from the list and reject a recommendation by U.S. officials to add Afghanistan was announced in the release of the governments annual human trafficking report on June 27. Six days earlier, a previously unreported memo emailed to Tillerson from a range of senior diplomats said the three countries violated the law based on evidence gathered by U.S. officials in 2016 and recommended that he approve them for the new list. It noted that in Iraq, the United Nations and non-governmental organizations reported that some Sunni tribal forces ... recruited and used persons younger than the age of 18, including instances of children taking a direct part in hostilities. Ali Kareem, who heads Iraqs High Committee for Human Rights, denied the countrys military or state-backed militias use child soldiers. We can say today with full confidence that we have a clean slate on child recruitment issues, he said. The memo also said two confirmed cases of child recruitment by the Myanmar military were documented during the reporting period. Human rights advocates have estimated that dozens of children are still conscripted there. Myanmar government spokesman Zaw Htay challenged accusers to provide details of where and how child soldiers are being used. He noted that in the latest State Department report on human trafficking, they already recognised (Myanmar) for reducing of child soldiers though the report also made clear some children were still conscripted. The memo said further there was credible evidence that a government-supported militia in Afghanistan recruited and used a child, meeting the minimum threshold of a single confirmed case that the State Department had previously used as the legal basis for putting a country on the list. The Afghan defence and interior ministries both denied there were any child soldiers in Afghan national security forces, an assertion that contradicts the State Departments reports and human rights activists. This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Lucknow: With a message that all was well in the faction-hit Samajwadi Party, former chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav on Wednesday said he had blessed his son Akhilesh Yadav, and would continue to do so. The father and son shared the dais in the party headquarters after a long spell, as workers gathered to wish the Samajwadi Party founder on his 79th birthday. "He is a son first and leader later," Mulayam Singh Yadav said while addressing the workers. As Mulayam walked to the dais, he was greeted by party leaders, with Akhilesh touching his feet and welcoming him with a shawl. "I have given my blessing to Akhilesh and will continue to do so. This is an issue of discussion in the country that I blessed Akhilesh. I want to say he is my son and is also in politics," Mulayam said. He conveyed his message of unity to the Samajwadi Party, which has seen a group led by his supporters rise against party president Akhilesh, as songs hailing the veteran leadersuch as "Jai Jai Jai Mulayam" and "Mann se Mulayam, iradey loha hain"played in the background. Mulayam loyalist and Akhilesh's uncle Shivpal Yadav did not attend the celebrations. But other supporters, including Samajwadi Party MLA Ashu Malik and Narad Rai, who joined the BSP during the Assembly polls, accompanied the patriarch. Giving lessons of "samajwad" (socialism) to the workers, Mulayam held them responsible for the party's poor show in the Assembly elections, in which the party won only 47 of the 403 seats. "You should all read Lohiaji. Our party always fought for the cause of women and discrimination on the basis of caste, religion and region," Mulayam said. "What is 'samajwad'," he asked the workers and told them it was about "equality" and "happiness" and advised the cadre to connect with the masses. Claiming that the BJP won the Lok Sabha polls with "false promises", including the claim that it would give Rs 15 lakh to everyone, Mulayam said the saffron party must ensure that its pledges were fulfilled. "Not fulfilling promises is corruption. They can give Rs 15 lakh in instalments. Give Rs 3 lakh every year and in five years, the promise is met," he said. He also pulled up Akhilesh for giving party positions to those who "cannot win (a seat) even at the level of their village polling booth". "Those who could not ensure the victory of the party are being given big posts in the Samajwadi Party. There are many, not just one," he said. He cited the example of a leader who, Mulayam said, had won only nine votes in his village, when his family itself had 51 members. "This is a matter of shame that we won only 47 seats despite the welfare work being done by Akhilesh," he said. Mulayam also cut a cake on the occasion and offered the first slice to his son. Akhilesh, who was unanimously re-elected the party president at the Samajwadi Party national convention in October, had claimed he had the blessings of his father, though Mulayam and his estranged uncle Shivpal Yadav had skipped the Agra event. Mulayam has not been on good terms with Akhilesh since his son ousted him from the post of the party national president in January. Mulayam was born on 22 November, 1939, in Saifai village in the Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh. A senior Tripura journalist Sudip Datta Bhowmik was shot dead by a Tripura State Rifles (TSR) jawan on Tuesday. This was the second murder of a journalist in the line of duty in Tripura since September. Sources had told Firstpost that Bhowmik was allegedly killed by the jawan following an altercation at RK Nagar inside the 2nd Battalion Headquarters of TSR. The murder came jsut two months after Shantanu Bhowmik, a local TV journalist, was abducted and later killed on 21 September, allegedly by members of the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura. According to The Hindu, the activists attacked the journalist with sharp weapons while he was covering a road blockade by IPFT, which was demanding a separate Tipraland. Journalists unions condemn killings Various journalists organisations in the North East, including the Tripura Working Journalists Association, Tripura Journalists Union (TJU) and the Agartala Press Club, denounced the killing of Bhowmik and demanded a high level probe into the incident. The TJU also demanded the resignation of the home minister. The portfolio is held by Chief Minister Manik Sarkar. The reaction was somewhat similar after Shantanu was killed by alleged IPFT activists on 21 September. A silent rally of journalists was taken out in Agartala with the body of the young television journalist, who was cremated at Jirania. Many journalists' organisations in Agartala, Kolkata, Guwahati and New Delhi had vehemently condemned the killing. But beyond the usual condemnation of such killings, the fact remains that the larger North East region has been unsafe for on duty-journalists. Militancy: the reason behind the killings? Since 1987, 31 journalists have been killed in the North East, Bhowmik being the latest casualty. While Tripura saw the murder of two journalists in the last three decades, the situation is grimmer in Assam and Manipur. Twenty-four journalists have been murdered in Assam since 1987. On the other hand, six journalists have been killed in Manipur during the same period. The common link between the killings in Assam and Manipur seems to be active militancy in these states. While in Assam, several deaths have been attributed to ULFA (United Liberation Front of Assam), the picture is unclear in Manipur. This is because the state has been reeling under multiple insurgencies. Moreover, none of the groups have ever claimed responsibility for the murders. As noted by a 2004 Frontline article, " It is a well-known fact that two (Lalrohu Hmar and Th Brajamani Singh) were killed for writing against militants." "Since 1982, six journalists in Manipur have been tortured and killed. But the police has failed to arrest any of the perpetrators. Though the press is referred to as the fourth pillar of the democracy, there is no protection offered to them." a Firstpost article noted. In Assam, the article noted that none of the investigations into the murders have been able to punish the perpetrators. "After my brother's assassination, an FIR was lodged in a nearby police station. As it was a very sensitive case, we appealed to the government for a CBI probe. In fact, we even approached the then chief minister Tarun Gogoi and also Union ministers, but nothing came out of it," the article quoted the brother of slain journalist Parag Kumar Das as saying. While Bhowmik's death was clearly a fallout of a altercation, Shantanu's murder was once again linked to the ongoing ethnic crisis in Tripura. The IPFT and the Twipraland State Party since 2009 have been agitating for upgrading the existing Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) to a separate tribal state. With inputs from agencies The farcical drama of the detention of Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) chief and 2008 Mumbai blasts mastermind Hafiz Saeed ended along predictable lines. On Wednesday, the Judicial Review Board of Pakistans Punjab province rejecting the apparently insincere and contrived plea of the government to extend his detention by three months. Significantly, the review board had been asking the government to file charges against Saeed for the past few months but the government failed to do so, which smacked of a deep-seated design to stymie the trial and set Saeed free. Saeeds main prop has been the Pakistan Army which colluded with the countrys intelligence services to give him free rein to wreak terror. This is hardly surprising for a country where the army calls the shots while the civilian governments authority is only a facade, especially with regard to relations with India. Saeeds release from house arrest speaks of the hypocrisy of the Pakistan governments position and of its abject surrender to its all-powerful army which wields power without responsibility. Last month, when the authorities withdrew terrorism charges against Saeed and the JuD and kept him under detention under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) it was a clear signal that Saeed would go scot-free. The detention was extended four times since Saeed was held in a crackdown after the government put the JuD and its charity arm, Falah-i-Insaaniyat Foundation, under sanctions and terror watch list in January. Saeed was given the tag of 'terrorist' by the United Nations, India and the United States. America placed a $10 million bounty for information leading to his arrest and conviction even as China stonewalled all attempts by the international community to bring him to book. Put under house arrest in January, Saeed challenged his detention in the high court in February, alleging he was arrested due to pressure from the United States and had never been charged with any crime. Saeed's lawyer AK Dogar urged the court to order the release of Saeed and his four aides, as no formal charges had been filed against his client even after many months of detention. Saeed was first detained for three months after the terror outfit he founded, the Lashkar-e-Taibalater re-named Jamaat-ud-Dawahwas accused of carrying out the 2001 attack on Indian Parliament. In August 2006, Saeed was detained for activities which the government said were "detrimental" to its relations with other governments, but he was released in December. Two years later, Saeed was once again placed under house arrest, this time following the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Finally, Saeed was put under house arrest in January, ostensibly due to US pressure. How the Pakistan establishment deals with Saeeds plans to spearhead a new political party remains to be seen. But the US has also shown a tendency to look the other way while parroting the line that it is determined to bring Saeed to book and to break the back of terror in Pakistan. While the US is working to track down and annihilate the Haqqani Network which poses a direct threat, the Americans seemingly couldn't care less about Saeed, a terrorist who is not a direct threat. The bounty on Saeed was announced in 2012. In the five years that have lapsed, there has been no action from the US. Pakistan continues to train and arm terrorists who wreak havoc in India, but the US establishment continues to pay lip service to combating terror. Recently, the US declared North Korea a state sponsor of terrorism. However, nothing of the sort has been done with Pakistan. The US remains dependent on Islamabad with regard to Afghan affairs. Saeed isn't India's only target. There is also Dawood Ibrahim who is comfortably ensconced in a posh Karachi locality, protected by the Pakistan Army and used by them for nefarious activities against India. With the Pakistani nuclear threat looming large, our establishment remains shy of launching an aerial mission to whisk away the likes of Ibrahim and Saeed from Pakistan to make them stand trial in India. Pakistan foreign minister Khawaja Asif admitted on the global stage a few months ago that Saeed "is a liability" for his country, one that "we need time to get rid of". But in a sharp message to the US, he said Washington considered such men as "darlings" until a few years ago. On his return to Pakistan from the US, Khwaja Asif changed his tune after the army and Saeeds men twisted his arm. Asif's comments on Hafiz Saeed followed Indian foreign minister Sushma Swaraj's blistering attack on Pakistan at the United Nations General Assembly. Addressing leaders from 193 countries, Swaraj said: "We set up IITs, IIMs, AIIMS and ISRO. What did Pakistan make? They set up Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Haqqani Network and Hizbul Mujahideen. With Saeed now a free man, he will redouble his nefarious activities to pay the Pakistan Army back. It is time for India to step up international pressure and implement punitive steps against Saeed and Pakistan. Of late, Indias campaign against Pakistan's propensity to use terror to achieve its goals has been making some headway in the comity of nations. But this unmasking of Pakistan needs to be sustained and relentless with no holds barred. New Delhi: The judges of the Supreme Court and the 24 high courts will soon get a salary hike with the Union cabinet approving a proposal, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said in Delhi on Wednesday. The minister said two bills would be introduced in Parliament to effect the pay hike. According to the proposal cleared on Wednesday, the Chief Justice of India (CJI) will get Rs 2.80 lakh per month and judges of the Supreme Court and chief justices of the high court will get Rs 2.50 lakh a month. Judges of the high courts will get Rs 2.25 lakh per month, a senior government functionary added, refusing to go on record. The increased salary and pension for retired judges will be effective from 1 January, 2016. A Supreme Court judge at present gets Rs 1.5 lakh a month in hand after all deductions from salary and allowances. The CJI gets a higher amount than this, while judges of the high courts get a lesser amount. Rent-free accommodation is provided to judges while they are in service. In 2016, then CITS Thakur had written to the government seeking a hike in the salaries of Supreme Court and high court judges. As against the approved strength of 31, the Supreme Court today (Wednesday) has 25 judges. The high courts have an approved strength of 1,079, but 682 judges are handling work in 24 high courts. The move will also benefit 2,500 retired judges, Prasad said. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the government's endeavour would be to get the two bills passed in the Winter Session of Parliament. Once the hike is effected, the salary of judges will be at par with those of bureaucrats following the implementation of the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission. New Delhi: The national capital belongs to all citizens of India and not just to those residing in Delhi, the Centre told the Supreme Court on Wednesday. Asserting its supremacy in administering the national capital territory, the Centre, locked in a legal battle with the Delhi government over the issue, said it would be "undemocratic" to say that the legislative assembly of Delhi would have the same powers as vested with the Centre. Maintaining that Delhi was a union territory and not a state, the Centre told a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra that the aid and advice of council of ministers of Delhi was not binding on the Lieutenant-Governor (L-G). The top court is hearing a clutch of appeals filed by the Aam Aadmi Party government challenging Delhi High Court's verdict holding L-G as the administrative head of the national capital. "The national capital belongs to the citizens of India. They (Delhi governmment) say we are an elected government. Union of India is also an elected government. It (Union) has the supremacy so far as Delhi legislative assembly is concerned," Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh, appearing for the Centre, said. He told the bench, which also comprised Justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan, that Delhi was accorded special status among the union territories but it has not got entry as a state in the states' list. "A Union territory remains a Union territory even if it has a legislative Assembly. A union territory cannot be in the list of states under the Constitution," he said. Singh argued that it would be "undemocratic to say that the legislative assembly of Delhi will have the same power as the Union of India has". The law officer also told the bench that "disharmony" was created first and then "they (Delhi government) say please allow us to have harmony". "The national capital belongs to the nation. How can anybody say that it is only for the people of Delhi," he said during the arguments, which would continue tomorrow. Without taking names, he also said "they say we will decide whether January 26 parade will go on or not in Delhi". Regarding Delhi government's contention that it should have the authority with regard to appointment and transfer of employees working in its departments, Singh said over Rs 4,000 crore was going from the union budget to give pension to retired employees of the Delhi government. He also argued that Article 239AA of the Constitution, which deals with power and status of Delhi, was a "complete code" in itself. Dealing with the contention regarding employees of the all-India services, Singh said the Delhi government was right when they say there should not be "two masters", but it should also consider that the master in this issue is the President of India. The law officer said Parliament has made it clear that Delhi was a union territory and there was no doubt about it. During the hearing, the apex court observed that several senior advocates have argued the matter on behalf of the Delhi government but there were some "conflicting submissions". "In a constitutional matter, there is no question of concession," the bench said. The Centre on Tuesday argued that Delhi government was empowered to take care of daily utilities of the national capital but the real administrative powers were vested with the Centre and the President. The Delhi government has accused the L-G of making a "mockery of democracy", saying he was either taking decisions of an elected government or substituting them without having any power. GRAND FORKS In early September, President Donald Trump was standing on stage in Mandan, flanked by North Dakotas top Republicans, when he said the last thing any of them probably expected. Sen. Heitkamp Senator, come on up, he said. Before long, Heitkamp, D-N.D., appeared before the cameras, the lone Democrat on stage. She stood next to Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., a potential opponent for her seat in 2018. Not far away stood Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., Heitkamps colleague and sometimes foil on key, partisan issues. Everyones saying, Whats she doing up here? Trump said. But Ill tell you what: good woman. The moment captured Heitkamps delicate position heading into 2018: a Democrat who stands to benefit from friendship with Trump. Shes the last statewide Democrat standing in a deep-red state with a constituency Trump won in a landslide. She has a dependable base, but its too small to carry her to victory alone. She has a national party to consider, but its policies are sometimes at odds with the voters she needs to stay in office. No Democrat in this state really wins by only getting Democrat votes, said Bo Wood, a UND professor of political science and public administration. That just doesnt happen." Wood compares Heitkamps track record to walking a tightrope line, balancing donors, national allies and a right-leaning constituency. But he said Heitkamp has the advantage of charisma, and polls seem to agree: Morning Consult data published in late October gives her a 55 percent approval rating. In the last year, Heitkamp has offered something for everyone. She stood against GOP plans to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act and caught heat for voting to maintain a methane emissions regulation unpopular with the energy industry. But she also voted to support Trumps EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt as well as other key Trump Cabinet members and had traveled to North Dakota with Trump on Air Force One. Former Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., held Heitkamps seat before her victory in 2012, serving in the Senate for decades. While the state once dependably sent Democrats to Washington, Conrad argued that shifting demographics including an influx of workers in the energy industry have tipped its politics. It is also clearly social issues, he said. The national Democratic brand has been damaged in a state like North Dakota that is more socially conservative. Youve also got the gun issue, which is significant in North Dakota. Heitkamps position has also made her a sought-after swing vote in the Senate, where the GOP holds a slim, two-seat majority. National reporting throughout 2017 has often mentioned her in the same breath as Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., a fellow Democrat with a red constituency whose vote the GOP now covets as a tax reform push unfolds on Capitol Hill. The 2018 race is still relatively quiet, with little active campaigning from Heitkamp and only one GOP opponent state Sen. Tom Campbell who has announced a campaign against her. Campbell, R-Grafton, has previously contrasted Trump, a doer in his words, against Heitkamp. But Sean Higgins, a campaign spokesman for Heitkamp, said shes focused less on partisanship and more on results, citing work on human trafficking, the Farm Bill and oil exports. Since day one, she's been putting party politics aside to accomplish real legislative successes by reaching across the aisle, supporting a vast majority of the president's nominees and working with him on ways to advance North Dakota's priorities, Higgins wrote in an email. And it's why she hasn't been afraid to push back when necessary. Race for the House The same forces face not just Heitkamp, but other Democrats who would represent North Dakota in Washington. Ben Hanson is readying a run for North Dakotas at-large House seat, currently held by Cramer, a staunch Trump supporter. Pressed on how he plans to navigate both national Democrats rejection of Trump and the presidents popularity in his home state, Hanson stressed that hes ready to build a relationship with the president if thats what helps voters, but notes several positions he wont yield, such as insurance protections for people with pre-existing health conditions. Asked about the pending investigation into Trumps campaigns ties to Russia, he said he takes it seriously, but wont speculate on its future, despite some in his party using the issue as a rallying cry. I have not seen what the results are, Hanson said. I will be studying (them) as a very careful observer when those come out. In the meantime, Hanson said hes not doing much different to travel the state and meet voters than a Republican would. (If) the president gets brought up, then the president and gets brought up, but it's mostly about topics you hear about all the time, he said, like workforce needs and the opioid crisis. I don't think there'd be any magic putting an R behind my name. Ahmedabad: In a strategic move, the Congress has replaced five out of the 90 candidates it had announced so far for the Gujarat polls, scheduled next month. On Monday night, the party released its second list of 13 candidates, comprising nine new candidates, apart from four replaced nominees, who were on the first list of 77 candidates. The first list was released on 19 November. The names of the five new entrants in the candidate list are: Bhikhabhai Joshi (Junagadh), Jayesh Patel (Bharuch), Ashok Jirawala (Kamrej), Dhirubhai Gajera (Varaccha Road) and DM Patel (Botad). They have replaced Amit Thummar, Kiran Thakor, Nilesh Kumbani, Prafulbhai Togadiya, and Manhar Patel, respectively. Gujarat Congress unit president Bharatsinh Solanki said the replacement was part of a strategy. "These changes are done as part of a strategy. We have to keep in mind various factors as well as the feedback we received from the party workers," he said. Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said Patel will contest from Botad seat, a Patel-dominated area where he faces senior BJP leader and state Finance Minister Saurabh Patel. After the Congress released its first list on Sunday, disgruntled party workers had held protests in Surat, Dhoraji and Jamangar on Monday over the choice of nominees. In the first list, the Congress gave tickets to only two members of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) as against the 20 seats demanded by the Hardik Patel-led organisation. Hardik's close aide and PAAS convener for Botad, Dilip Sabva on Tuesday said since the Congress has chosen Patel for the seat, he was now exploring other "options". "We (Patidars) are working hard since the last two-three years to overthrow the BJP government. When the BJP has fielded a strong candidate like Saurabh Patel, the Congress should have taken a wise decision. We may tap other options now," Sabva told reporters in Botad. The polling for the two-phase polls will be held on 9 December and 14 December. Votes will be counted on December 18. Out of 182 seats up for grabs, 89 seats will go to poll in the first phase and 93 in the second phase. Bangalore: A day after the Karnataka Assembly rejected an application to reconsider the arrest order against journalists Ravi Belagere and Anil Raj, the two newsmen have said that "they are open to being arrested". Speaking exclusively to 101Reporters, Anil Raj, editor of Yelahanka Voice, said, "I shall willingly get arrested if the police come to do so. I believe justice will stand by those who are right. And I believe I have done nothing wrong as a journalist." The Karnataka Assembly had on 21 June passed an order for the arrest of Raj and Belagere, editors of Bangalore-based local weeklies. The Privileges Committee of the Assembly had alleged that the journalists carried "defamatory articles" about Congress MLA BM Nagaraj, BJP MLA SR Vishwanath and Speaker KB Koliwad, and recommended their arrest. The Speaker, who happens to head the Committee, approved the recommendation, which amounted to giving a go-ahead for the editors' arrest. The journalists filed a "reconsideration application", asking the legislature to rethink its order. Only three MLAs argued for an undoing of the arrest and fine, while a majority approved of the penalty. On Tuesday, the Assembly rejected the review plea as well. The articles in question were written and published in the tabloids in 2014. Koliwad, who was then an MLA, had complained to the then Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa, calling it a "breach of privileges of a member of the Assembly". Thimmappa had moved the complaint to be heard by the Privileges Committee, but no decision was reached during Thimmappa's tenure. Once Koliwad was made the Speaker, he broached the issue again and later ordered a one-year imprisonment and Rs 10,000 fine for each of the journalists. Yelahanka Voice, published by Raj, is largely a one-man show that publishes Kannada articles on civic issues plaguing Yelahanka, crime snippets, and opinion pieces written by Raj himself on the activities of local politicians. In one such article in 2014, Raj wrote about the goons of Yelahanka's two-time BJP MLA SR Vishwanath creating a ruckus in the area, and troubling locals. Belagere, who runs the Kannada-language tabloid Hai Bangalore, and is a well-known figure in the city's journalism circles, published three stories highlighting the "corrupt practices of Siraguppa MLA Nagaraj and five-term MLA and now Speaker, Koliwad. While Belagere was not available for comment, the chief reporter of Hai Bangalore, Lokesh Koppad, said that Belagere had returned to Bangalore from his farmhouse on the outskirts of the city a few weeks ago. When asked whether he had commented on the recent development, Koppad said, "Belagere sir said that he is willing to be arrested as he thinks that justice will be done." Koppad added that Belagere had already spoken to his lawyer and they were planning legal remedies. "He believes that this issue has now become an ego battle for the Assembly, and personally for the Speaker. It is no longer a question of whether the article was defamatory. They only want to see a journalist behind bars," said Koppad. Incidentally, after taking over as Speaker, Koliwad had passed a notification and set up a panel to "regulate the media" which he said was indulging in "unruly behaviour" and "sensationalising trivial matters". This plan had to be abandoned after the state legislature was heavily criticised for their attempt to curtail the voice of the media. The two journalists will now approach the Karnataka High Court, even though their earlier application for the high court to "squash Assembly arrest orders" was rejected. The duo's lawyer, Shankarappa, said that while rejecting their plea, the high court had earlier advised the Assembly and the journalists to reach a solution amicably. "But this has clearly not happened. So, we will approach the court again and show them how arbitrary the orders of the Assembly are," he said. When asked if he was planning to leave the city, Raj said, "I am sitting comfortably at my house. They have my address. I have done nothing wrong to hide from them. They can come and arrest me here." The author is a Mumbai-based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters. Mumbai: In a sensational incident, an accused attacked his two co-accused with a knife in front of a magistrate during a court hearing on Wednesday in a Mumbai court, officials said. The incident happened in Bhoiwada Court Number 5 when Harischandra Shirkar, who is accused in an assault case, was brought along with two other co-accused Mahesh and Naresh. The trio was granted bail by the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate SJ Biyani after their scheduled hearing. Apparently angered by the bail granted to Mahesh and Naresh, Shirkar suddenly whipped out a knife from his pocket, lunged at them and slashed them on their heads, as the stunned policemen, judicial officers, and people looked on. A team of Bhoiwada Police, which was accompanying the accused, immediately caught Shirkar, 67, and whisked him off. He has been placed under arrest. Mahesh and Naresh were taken to the nearby KEM Hospital, where they are reported to be stable and out of danger. Senior officials are probing security lapses as to how Shirkar managed to smuggle in a knife inside a courtroom. BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanons Saad al-Hariri on Wednesday shelved his decision to resign as prime minister at the request of President Michel Aoun, easing a crisis that had deepened tensions in the Middle East. Saad al-Hariri who suspended his decision to resign as prime minister talks at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon November 22, 2017. REUTERS/Aziz TaherHariri made his announcement after returning to Beirut for the first time since he quit abruptly on Nov. 4 in a broadcast from Saudi Arabia. Top Lebanese officials have said Riyadh forced him to quit and held him in the kingdom. Riyadh and Hariri deny this. At the presidential palace near Beirut, Hariri said he hoped his move would lead to a responsible dialogue ... that deals with divisive issues and their repercussions on Lebanons relations with Arab brothers. Hariri said all Lebanese sides must commit to keeping the country out of regional conflicts, a reference to the Iran-backed Hezbollah political and military movement. Hezbollahs regional military role has greatly alarmed Saudi Arabia, Hariris long-time ally. I presented today my resignation to President Aoun and he urged me to wait before offering it and to hold onto it for more dialogue about its reasons and political background, and I showed responsiveness, he said in a televised statement. The resignation had shocked even Hariris aides. He returned to Lebanon late on Tuesday night after French intervention. Aoun, a political ally of Hezbollah, had refused to accept the resignation because it happened in mysterious circumstances abroad. He had called Hariri a hostage in Riyadh. REGIONAL RIVALRY Hariri appeared to express relief that Aoun had not accepted the resignation right away. He thanked Aoun on Wednesday for respecting constitutional norms and his rejection of departing from them under any circumstances. The resignation pitched Lebanon to the forefront of the regional rivalry between Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Shiite Islamist Iran, which backs Lebanons Hezbollah, and raised concerns of a protracted crisis. In his resignation speech, Hariri had cited fear of assassination, and attacked Iran along with Hezbollah for sowing strife in the Arab world. Hundreds of Hariri supporters packed the streets near his house in central Beirut, waving the blue flag of his Future Movement political party. The Sunni leader told them he would stay with (them) ... to be a line of defence for Lebanon, Lebanons stability and Lebanons Arabism. His presence in the country alone brings stability, said Manar Akoum, 26, as she stood with the celebrating crowd. Hariris resignation was followed by a steep escalation in Saudi statements against the Lebanese government, which includes Shiite Hezbollah. Riyadh said the government as a whole - not just Hezbollah - had declared war against it. Saad al-Hariri, who announced his resignation as Lebanon's prime minister from Saudi Arabia reacts as he talks with Lebanese President Michel Aoun while attending a military parade to celebrate the 74th anniversary of Lebanon's independence in downtown Beirut, Lebanon November 22, 2017. REUTERS/Mohamed AzakirWestern governments including the United States struck a different tone, affirming their support for Hariri and the stability of Lebanon, which hosts 1.5 million Syrian refugees - nearly one in four of the population. The United States welcomes the return of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri to Lebanon, a State Department official said on Wednesday. Washington is also encouraged by Hariris discussions with Aoun and his statement reaffirming his commitment to Lebanons stability, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Ahead of his return to Beirut, Hariri had stressed the importance of the Lebanese state policy of staying out of regional conflicts, notably Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition is battling Iran-backed Houthi fighters. Slideshow (4 Images)PRESERVING LEBANESE COEXISTENCE Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who had also called for Hariris return, said on Monday his group was open to any dialogue and any discussion. Nasrallah also issued his clearest denial yet of any Hezbollah role in Yemen. A senior source in a political alliance that includes Hezbollah said Hariris move on Wednesday would start a breakthrough in the crisis. This step is not detached from the framework of a complete solution whose features will appear in the coming days, the source told Reuters. Lebanese dollar bonds, which had fallen in response to Hariris resignation, gained following Wednesdays announcement. A government minister from the United Arab Emirates, a close ally of Saudi Arabia, said Lebanon must implement its policy of keeping out of Middle East conflicts in order to get out of its own crisis as well as regional troubles. The main problem facing that is the selective implementation of (this) principle and the functional Iranian role of Hezbollah outside the Lebanese framework, Anwar Gargash, minister of state for foreign affairs, wrote on Twitter. Cyprus, where Hariri had briefly stopped on his journey home, said it would attempt to help defuse the crisis. Our common objective is stability in Lebanon, stability in our area. Within this context ... the President of the Republic will undertake some initiatives precisely to promote this objective: stability in Lebanon, Cypriot government spokesman Nikos Christodoulides said. Hariri took office last year in a power-sharing deal that made Aoun head of state. He arrived in Beirut in time for independence day celebrations on Wednesday morning, taking the premiers seat alongside Aoun and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. Hariri said he looked forward to real partnership with all the political powers, in placing Lebanons interests high above any other interests and preserving coexistence among Lebanese. This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanons Saad al-Hariri on Wednesday shelved his decision to resign as prime minister at the request of President Michel Aoun, easing a crisis that had deepened tensions in the Middle East. Saad al-Hariri who suspended his decision to resign as prime minister talks at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon November 22, 2017. REUTERS/Aziz TaherHariri made his announcement after returning to Beirut for the first time since he quit abruptly on Nov. 4 in a broadcast from Saudi Arabia. Top Lebanese officials have said Riyadh forced him to quit and held him in the kingdom. Riyadh and Hariri deny this. At the presidential palace near Beirut, Hariri said he hoped his move would lead to a responsible dialogue...that deals with divisive issues and their repercussions on Lebanons relations with Arab brothers. Hariri said all Lebanese sides must commit to keeping the country out of regional conflicts, a reference to the Iran-backed Hezbollah political amd military movement. Hezbollahs regional military role has greatly alarmed Saudi Arabia, Hariris long-time ally. I presented today my resignation to President Aoun and he urged me to wait before offering it and to hold onto it for more dialogue about its reasons and political background, and I showed responsiveness, he said in a televised statement. The resignation had shocked even Hariris aides. He returned to Lebanon late on Tuesday night after French intervention. Aoun, a political ally of Hezbollah, had refused to accept the resignation because it happened in mysterious circumstances abroad. He had called Hariri a hostage in Riyadh. REGIONAL RIVALRY Hariri appeared to express relief that Aoun had not accepted the resignation right away. He thanked Aoun on Wednesday for respecting constitutional norms and his rejection of departing from them under any circumstances. The resignation pitched Lebanon to the forefront of the regional rivalry between Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Shiite Islamist Iran, which backs Lebanons Hezbollah, and raised concerns of a protracted crisis. In his resignation speech, Hariri had cited fear of assassination, and attacked Iran along with Hezbollah for sowing strife in the Arab world. Hundreds of Hariri supporters packed the streets near his house in central Beirut, waving the blue flag of his Future Movement political party. The Sunni leader told them he would stay with (them)... to be a line of defence for Lebanon, Lebanons stability and Lebanons Arabism. His presence in the country alone brings stability, said Manar Akoum, 26, as she stood with the celebrating crowd. Saad al-Hariri, who announced his resignation as Lebanon's prime minister from Saudi Arabia reacts as he talks with Lebanese President Michel Aoun while attending a military parade to celebrate the 74th anniversary of Lebanon's independence in downtown Beirut, Lebanon November 22, 2017. REUTERS/Mohamed AzakirHariris resignation was followed by a steep escalation in Saudi statements against the Lebanese government, which includes Shiite Hezbollah. Riyadh said the government as a whole - not just Hezbollah - had declared war against it. Western governments including the United States struck a different tone, affirming their support for Hariri and the stability of Lebanon, which hosts 1.5 million Syrian refugees - nearly one-in-four of the population. Ahead of his return to Beirut, Hariri had stressed the importance of the Lebanese state policy of staying out of regional conflicts, notably Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition is battling Iran-backed Houthi fighters. PRESERVING LEBANESE COEXISTENCE Slideshow (4 Images)Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who had also called for Hariris return, said on Monday his group was open to any dialogue and any discussion. Nasrallah also issued his clearest denial yet of any Hezbollah role in Yemen. A senior source in a political alliance that includes Hezbollah said Hariris move on Wednesday would start a breakthrough in the crisis. This step is not detached from the framework of a complete solution whose features will appear in the coming days, the source told Reuters. Lebanese dollar bonds, which had fallen in response to Hariris resignation, gained following Wednesdays announcement. A government minister from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a close ally of Saudi Arabia, said Lebanon must implement its policy of keeping out of Middle East conflicts in order to get out of its own crisis as well as regional troubles. The main problem facing that is the selective implementation of (this) principle and the functional Iranian role of Hezbollah outside the Lebanese framework, Anwar Gargash, UAE minister of state for foreign affairs, wrote on Twitter. Cyprus, where Hariri had briefly stopped on his journey home, said it would attempt to help defuse the crisis. Our common objective is stability in Lebanon, stability in our area. Within this context... the President of the Republic will undertake some initiatives precisely to promote this objective; stability in Lebanon, Cypriot government spokesman Nikos Christodoulides said. Hariri took office last year in a power-sharing deal that made Aoun head of state. He arrived in Beirut in time for independence day celebrations on Wednesday morning, taking the premiers seat alongside Aoun and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. Hariri said he looked forward to real partnership with all the political powers, in placing Lebanons interests high above any other interests and preserving coexistence among Lebanese. This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Mumbai: Maharashtra tourism minister Jaykumar Rawal on Tuesday demanded a ban on the screening of the controversy-ridden film 'Padmavati' in the state. Rawal has also written a letter to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) demanding that the movie be shown to a committee of expert historians for scrutiny. "I have written a letter to the chief minister demanding a ban on the movie if it distorted historical facts," the BJP leader said. He said any "objectionable scenes" in the movie should be deleted before its release is allowed. Rawal said he has written to the CBFC to cancel the "certificate given to the movie" and that it be shown to a committee of expert historians. "Requesting the CBFC to immediately cancel the certificate given to the movie 'Padmavati'. A committee comprising expert historians be allowed to watch the movie and edit the defamatory fantasies for the language, script and scenes which undermines, devalues and insults the great valour and sacrifice of Rani Padmavati which is being worshipped by lakhs of people," the letter read. The Sanjay Leela Bhansali film starring Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh is based on Rajput queen Padmavati. Amid rumours that there was a romantic dream sequence between Padmavati and Alauddin Khilji's characters, various Rajput and other groups have been protesting against the film, alleging it "distorts" history and hurts the sentiments of the people. Historians are, however, divided on whether Rani Padmavati even existed. Rawal said actor Ranveer Singh should not have played the character of Delhi sultan Alauddin Khalji in the movie. "He (Ranveer Singh) should have thought what role is he playing," he said. Khalji has been projected as a hero in the movie and today's generation believe in movies, he said. "Do they want them to believe that Khalji was a hero?" the minister asked. Chief ministers of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh all BJP ruled states and Punjab, ruled by the Congress, have already opposed the release of the movie. Lucknow: Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav on Wednesday justified his order to open fire on kar sevaks marching towards Ayodhya in 1990, saying if even more people were required to be killed for the country's unity and integrity, the security forces would have done it. He was addressing the Samajwadi Party headquarters where his 79th birthday was celebrated in a grand manner, sending a message of all-is-well in the party. "Desh ki ekta ke liye aur bhi maarna padta toh suraksha bal maartey (if even more people were required to be killed for the sake of country's unity and integrity, the security forces would have done it)," he said. The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said 28 people had lost their lives in the police firing at Ayodhya on 30 October, 1990. On the VHP's call, a lakh kar sevaks from across the country had assembled in Ayodhya for the construction of a temple at the disputed Ram Janambhoomi-Babri mosque site. The firing had earned him the nickname of 'Mullah Mulayam' by the Muslim community, which accounts for nearly 20 percent of the state's population and is considered a force to reckon with by major political parties. "A number of Muslims had taken up arms saying if their place of worship ceased to exist, then what would remain in the country," he said, justifying his action to save the Babri Masjid. Yadav said that during a discussion with Atal Bihari Vajapyee, the former prime minister had said that 56 persons were killed in Ayodhya. "I had arguments with him. In reality 28 were killed. I came to know the toll six months later and I helped them in my own way," he said. Claiming that the Samajwadi Party still enjoyed the support of Muslims, Yadav said, "Muslims still support the Samajwadi Party...it is the fault of our men that we did not get them for vote. They are still voting for the party and not against it. It's the shortcoming of our youth." "It's matter of shame that we won only 47 of the 403 Assembly seats this time," he said, adding that even after ordering firing "when the Opposition termed me as a hatyara (killer)", the SP succeeded in winning over 100 seats in 1993. "They (youths) now are not like those we had in 1993. When a leader could not ensure victory on his village booth, what will be the party's fate. I want to see a strong party and leaders should also mend their ways by ensuring better connect with the masses. Yadav was the Uttar Pradesh chief minister during Ram Janmabhoomi movement spearheaded by the VHP. Ryan School bus conductor Ashok Kumar, earlier the prime accused in the murder of a Class 2 student, was released from jail on Wednesday, a day after a Gurugram-based district court granted him bail, media reports said. Ashok was granted bail by the court against a bond of Rs 50,000, which was reportedly crowd-funded from his village. According to The Times of India, people from Ghamroj villagewhere Ashok lived with his familybelieved he was innocent and had been pooling in money since the time of his arrest. With Ashok's release, there is also a likelihood of him filing a defamation case against the police officers who tried to 'frame' him. We will see if a case of defamation can be filed, after Ashok is discharged: Mohit Verma, lawyer of conductor Ashok #PradyumanMurderCase pic.twitter.com/z6YlzgK88q ANI (@ANI) November 21, 2017 After Tuesday's bail order, Ashok's father Amichand expressed happiness but claimed that his son was ill-treated by the Gurugram police. "We are poor people that's why no one was listening to us," he was quoted as saying by India Today. Despite Ashok's release, he has not been given a clean chit in the murder case by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The investigating agency has, however, not found any clinching evidence against him, and is now probing the role of Class XI student who was arrested on 8 November after confessing that he committed the crime. According to the CBI's findings, the student killed the seven-ear-old to postpone a parent-teacher meeting and a scheduled examination on the fateful day. Following the teenager's arrest, Ashok's father had said that they would file a case against the SIT officers "who tortured and framed" his son, even drugging him to make him confess committing the murder before the media. Before CBI took over the probe, the Haryana Police had claimed that the child was murdered by the bus conductor after he failed to sodomise the boy. Ashok's lawyer moved the court on 16 November to seek bail. The CBI was asked to submit the status report of the case in the court after arguments by all parties on Monday, and the judge had kept the decision reserved for Tuesday. Verma had said that Ashok was granted bail under Article 21 that ensures right to life and liberty to every citizen. "There was major conflict between theories of the CBI and the Haryana Police and Ashok was granted bail on the ground of benefit of doubt," he had said. Verma also added that the court's decision merely proved that Ashok was being falsely implicated to shield the real culprit. Meanwhile, the CBI is also investigating Ashok's uncle OP Chopra's intentions behind the interaction with the accused student's family. The investigating agency summoned Chopra on Tuesday after it obtained audio clips in which he is heard saying: "We will put it on the school authorities. Let the situation mellow down." The audio clips went viral on the social media. The audio clip also recorded Chopra's conversation with a relative of the Class XI student, in which he is heard saying: "Let me get my nephew released first, after that we will find a way for you and put the whole blame on the school authorities." Chopra was grilled by the investigators for over four hours on Tuesday, during which he admitted that he had a conversation with the juvenile accused's family only to console them, India Today reported. With inputs from agencies New Delhi: The Rashtrapati Bhavan will now be open for public viewing for four days a week Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday from Thursday, according to an official statement on Wednesday. Registration charge for the visit is Rs 50 per head, it said. Children below the age of eight years will be exempt from these charges. People can visit on these four days anytime between 9 am and 4 pm, except on gazetted holidays, the statement said. "Indian citizens are required to carry any valid photo ID cards while foreign citizens are required to carry their original passport at the time of visit," it said. Entry and exit for visitors will be through gate number 2 (Rajpath); gate number 37 (Hukmi Mai Marg) and gate number 38 (Church Road) of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Visits can be booked online at the website: http://rashtrapatisachivalaya.gov.in/rbtour. At present, visit to the Rashtrapati Bhavan, comprising the residence of President Ram Nath Kovind, is divided into three circuits. People can plan the visit to any of these circuits on select days of the week. While circuit one is open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, circuit 2 is open on all days except Monday. The circuit 3 opens from August to March on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe, who once vowed to rule for life, resigned on Tuesday, succumbing to a week of overwhelming pressure from the military that put him under house arrest, lawmakers from the ruling party and Opposition who started impeachment proceedings, and a population that surged into the streets to say 37 years in power was enough. The capital, Harare, erupted in jubilation after news spread that the 93-year-old leader's resignation letter had been read out by the Speaker of Parliament, whose members had gathered to impeach Mugabe after he ignored escalating calls to quit since a military takeover. The resignation of the world's oldest head of state resonated across the international community, with many world leaders and governments reacting swiftly to the political happenings in Harare. Here are some of those reactions: Alpha Conde, President of Guinea Conde, who is also the president of the African Union (AU), said he was delighted that the political impasse in Zimbabwe had been resolved, according to Africa News. However, he expressed concern over the manner in which Mugabe had to relinquish power. "It is a shame that he is leaving through the back door and that he is forsaken by the parliament," Conde said, according to the report. About the military takeover which happened a week ago, Conde mentioned that it "resembled a coup" even though the military insisted it was not. John Dramani Mahama, former president of Ghana Calling Mugabe a patriot and a great "pan Africanist", Mahama said the resignation was a sad end for a liberation hero. A sad ending for a liberation hero, a patriot and a great Pan Africanist. I pray the dramatic events of November serve as a reboot for democracy and prosperity in #Zim. History will remember Comrade Mugabe kindly. pic.twitter.com/CZPKCOpccZ John Dramani Mahama (@JDMahama) November 21, 2017 South African political parties The Democratic Alliance, South Africa's most prominent opposition party, called Mugabe's resignation "a victory for the people of Zimbabwe", adding that the resignation is only the first step towards a new beginning for Zimbabwe, News24 reported. "The story of Robert Mugabe is not a unique one and is all too familiar on our continent. A once liberator of his people, Mugabe brought division, instability, and economic ruin to Zimbabwe as he made the unfortunate transition from liberator to dictator," a party official said. The Economic Freedom Fighters, through a statement, said, "This is a perfect outcome for peace and stability in Zimbabwe, which will allow Zimbabweans to define a post-Mugabe era," according to the report. Antonio Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General Guterres encouraged Zimbabweans to "maintain calm and restraint" after the announcement was made, Al Jazeera reported. Guterres' spokesman Farhan Haq said "the secretary-general and his predecessors have made clear that we expect all leaders to listen to their people. "That is a cornerstone of every form of government and needs to be followed in every continent and in every nation," he said. Theresa May, Prime Minister of UK May hailed the resignation on Tuesday as an "opportunity to forge a new path", and promised that Britain would help as "Zimbabwe's oldest friend", as the country emerges from 37-years of the regime, Daily Mail reported. According to the report, May said, "The resignation of Robert Mugabe provides Zimbabwe with an opportunity to forge a new path free of the oppression that characterised his rule. In recent days, we have seen the desire of the Zimbabwean people for free and fair elections and the opportunity to rebuild the country's economy under a legitimate government. Boris Johnson, Foreign Minister of UK Johnson tweeted to say that he does not regret Mugabe's downfall, calling the resignation "a moment of hope for the people of Zimbabwe". I will not pretend to regret Mugabes downfall. Today is a moment of hope for the people of Zimbabwe. The UK will support them. pic.twitter.com/AHyW5yHM30 Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) November 21, 2017 United States embassy in Zimbabwe Saying Tuesday marked a historic moment for Zimbabwe, the US Department of State, through a statement, congratulated Zimbabweans "who raised their voices and stated peacefully and clearly that the time for change was overdue". "As Secretary (Rex) Tillerson recently stated, Zimbabwe has an historic opportunity to set itself on a new path. Through that process, the United States urges unwavering respect for the rule of law and for established democratic practices. Whatever short-term arrangements the government may establish, the path forward must lead to free, fair, and inclusive elections, in which the people of Zimbabwe, free to assemble peacefully without undue interference and to voice their opinions without fear, choose their own leaders," the statement said. Ted Cruz, American senator Ted Cruz took to Twitter to celebrate Mugabe's resignation, and said that "Zimbabweans deserve true reform, justice, and free & fair elections." Rubabuddin Sheikh, brother of Sohrabuddin, who was allegedly shot in a fake encounter by the Gujarat Police in November 2005, had reportedly written to then Bombay High Court judge Mohit Shah in 2014 asking for a probe into the sudden death of judge BH Loya, who was presiding over the Soharabuddin "fake encounter" case. However, he received no response from Mohit Shah, said a report in Mumbai Mirror on Wednesday. Special CBI judge Loya, who was hearing the fake encounters case, died in Nagpur on 30 November, 2014, where he was visiting to attend a colleague's daughter's wedding. He was said to have suffered a heart attack. At the time the incident occurred, Loya had been hearing the discharge petition filed by key accused in the case, BJP party president Amit Shah. Within a month of Loya's death, Judge MB Gosavi cleared Shah of all charges, saying the BJP chief was "implicated" due to "political reasons". Following this, the Mumbai Mirror report said, Rubabuddin wrote to Mohit Shah asking if the death was entirely due to natural causes, and if there was any pressure on Loya and his family. "Sir, as you are aware, this is an extremely sensitive matter and many of the accused are police officers and high-level politicians... I would sincerely request you to institute an inquiry into the matter of the death of Judge BH Loya, to find out whether it was a natural death. Also, whether he was under any kind of pressure from anyone. Hence it is extremely important to conduct an impartial and fair inquiry. I hope and pray that an independent and time- bound inquiry under the monitoring of this court is conducted," the letter said. Firstpost rang Justice Shah's son Sahil, to see if the retired judge wished to issue a statement. "He does not interact with the media," we were told. This comes a day after a report on The Caravan had said Loya's sister Anuradha Biyani and father Harkishan claimed that the CBI judge was offered a Rs 100 crore bribe by Mohit Shah in return for a "favourable judgment". Loya was appointed to the special CBI court in June 2014 after his predecessor, JT Utpat was transferred within weeks of reprimanding Amit Shah for seeking an exemption from appearing in court. According to her, Mohit Shah "would call him late at night to meet in civil dress and pressure him to issue the judgment as soon as possible and to ensure that it is a positive judgment". According to Biyani, "My brother was offered a bribe of 100 crore in return for a favourable judgment. Mohit Shah, the chief justice, made the offer himself." Sohrabuddin and his wife Kausar Bi were allegedly abducted by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad from Hyderabad on their way to Sangli in Maharashtra. He was killed in an alleged fake encounter near Gandhinagar in November 2005, after which his wife disappeared. Tulsiram Prajapati, an aide of Sheikh and an eyewitness to the encounter, was allegedly killed by police at Chapri village in Gujarats Banaskantha district in December 2006. The Sohrabuddin killing case was transferred to Mumbai in September 2012 on the request of CBI for a fair trial. With inputs from PTI Patna: A controversy has arisen over directions to school teachers in certain Bihar districts to dissuade people from defecating in the open and click pictures of those who refused to pay heed. Orders issued by block education officers asked teachers to do rounds in various wards and panchayat areas in the mornings and evenings and ask people to use toilets. They were also directed to click photographs to shame those who insisted on relieving themselves in the open. However, teachers were not happy with the extra load of work. "Teachers are already overworked. They are used in a number of non-teaching works like census, preparation of voters' list etc. This new order on open defecation is not only an addition, it is also an insult to their dignity," general secretary of Bihar Secondary Teachers' Association Shatrughan Prasad Singh said. State Education Minister Krishna Nandan Prasad Verma, however, defended the move, saying "Teachers are intellectuals and can perform the task of convincing people not to defecate in the open much better than others." "Moreover, the teachers do not have to keep a tab on those defecating in the open throughout the day. They will have to take some time off in the mornings and the evenings. This will not affect their teaching work," he said. Achieving open defecation free (ODF) status has become a priority in Bihar in view of the Swachch Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Seven Resolves of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, both of which aim at providing every household with sanitation facility. Agartala: Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy will submit a report to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on the killing of a journalist by a Tripura State Rifle (TSR) trooper on Tuesday. "I am going to Delhi on Wednesday and would meet Home Minister Rajnath Singh to give a report on the killing of the journalist Sudip Datta Bhowmik by a TSR rifleman", Roy told the media before leaving for Delhi. He said: "I would see the end of the killing. How a journalist was killed by a TSR personnel within the battalion headquarter complex?" According to police, TSR Second Battalion Rifleman Nandu Kumar Reang on Tuesday, following an altercation, opened fire from his AK-47 assault rifle, killing Datta Bhowmik, 50, on the spot in Radha Kishore Nagar, 25 km from Agartala. Reang was the bodyguard of Second Battalion Commandant Tapan Debbarma. The slain journalist went to meet Debbarma at the battalion headquarters. Police arrested both the TSR trooper and commandant Debbarma. They would be presented in the court on Wednesday. The state government has handed over the case to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). Union Minister of State for Home Kiran Rijiju has also strongly condemned the killing of the journalist. Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, condemning the killing, has asked the Director General of Police to probe the incident. Bhowmik, who was a reporter with "Syandan Patrika" and television channel "Vanguard", is survived by his wife, a government teacher, and two children. To protest the killing, both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress called a 12-hour and 24-hour statewide shutdown on Thursday respectively. "Chief Minister Manik Sarkar should step down immediately," BJP state President Biplab Kumar Deb told the media demanding a judicial probe into the crime. Various journalists organisations in the northeast, including the Tripura Working Journalists Association, Tripura Journalists Union (TJU) and the Agartala Press Club, denounced the killing and demanded a high level probe into the incident. The TJU has also demanded the resignation of the Home Minister. The portfolio is held by the Chief Minister. On 20 September, a television journalist, Santanu Bhowmik, 28, was killed allegedly by some activists of a party in Mandai, 35 km from here. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday called the Myanmar military operation against the Rohingya population ethnic cleansing and threatened targeted sanctions against those responsible for what it called horrendous atrocities. Rohingya refugees build a makeshift school with bamboo at Kutupalong refugee camp near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, November 22, 2017. REUTERS/Susana VeraThe situation in northern Rakhine state constitutes ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a statement, using a term he avoided when visiting Myanmar, also known as Burma, last week. The United States will also pursue accountability through U.S. law, including possible targeted sanctions against those responsible for the alleged abuses, which have driven hundreds of thousands of Rohingya into neighbouring Bangladesh, he said. The United States shifted its stance in part to raise pressure on Myanmars military and civilian leaders, who have shared power for the past two years under an uneasy arrangement after decades of military rule, to address the crisis. Rights monitors accused Myanmars military of atrocities, including killings, mass rape and arson, against the stateless Rohingya during so-called clearance operations after Rohingya militants Aug. 25 attacks on 30 police posts and an army base. More than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Rakhine state in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, mostly to neighbouring Bangladesh, since the crackdown, which followed the insurgent attacks. These abuses by some among the Burmese military, security forces, and local vigilantes have caused tremendous suffering and forced hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children to flee their homes, Tillerson said. While repeating U.S. condemnation of the insurgent attacks, he added: No provocation can justify the horrendous atrocities that have ensued. Myanmars 2-year-old government, led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, has faced heavy international criticism for its response to the crisis, though it has no control over the generals with whom it shares power. Its not a situation that is completely under her authority, but certainly we are counting on her to show leadership and also to work through the civilian government with the military to address the crisis, a senior U.S. official told reporters in a conference call. The term ethnic cleansing is not defined in international or U.S. law and does not inherently carry specific consequences, a second senior U.S. official said on the call. MLADIC CONVICTED A Rohingya refugee child carries firewood in the Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, November 21, 2017. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir HossainMurray Hiebert, a Southeast Asia analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington, said the State Departments use of the term and threat of sanctions will likely have limited to no impact on the ground. It is likely to create more distrust between the United States and Myanmars military and government and push them closer to China, Russia, and its more authoritarian neighbors in Southeast Asia, he added. The U.S. move came the same day as a U.N. tribunal convicted former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic of genocide and crimes against humanity for massacres of Bosnian Muslims and ethnic cleansing campaigns, and imprisoned him for life. The second U.S. official said Washington was analyzing whether genocide or crimes against humanity had occurred in Myanmar, which would violate international law, but has made no determination on either and that this would take time to assess. In the end its a court that has to decide that, as weve just seen with the verdict against Mladic, he said. A top U.N. official in September described the military actions as a textbook case of ethnic cleansing, but the United States until Wednesday had avoided the term. Washington has sought to balance its wish to nurture the civilian government in Myanmar, where it competes for influence with China, with its desire to hold the military accountable for the abuses. U.S. officials also worry that the mistreatment of the Rohingya Muslim minority may fuel radicalism. The first U.S. official said Washington would work with Bangladesh and Myanmar to encourage the voluntary repatriation of Rohingya. We have focussed on the issue of voluntary returns, the official said. We dont want people to be forced to return to a situation in which they feel uncomfortable. Congressional pressure for a tougher U.S. response to the Rohingya crisis mounted before President Donald Trumps first visit to Asia this month to attend a summit of Southeast Asian countries, including Myanmar, in Manila. U.S. government sources told Reuters in October that officials were preparing a recommendation for Tillerson that would define the military-led campaign against the Rohingya as ethnic cleansing, which could spur new sanctions. In early November, U.S. lawmakers proposed targeted sanctions and travel restrictions on Myanmar military officials. Rights group Amnesty International called for a comprehensive arms embargo against Myanmar as well as targeted financial sanctions against senior Myanmar military officials. This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. The US and Russia congratulated India's Justice Dalveer Bhandari following his re-election to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and said it demonstrated the strength of the global community. "First of all congratulations. My satisfaction is that the global community has demonstrated its strength. India's victory has added strength to the international court," Russian Ambassador to India Nikolay Rishatovich Kudashev said. He was speaking to reporters after meeting Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju in New Delhi. Bhandari was also a congratulated by a US State department spokesperson. "We congratulate Judge Dalveer Bhandari of India for his re-election to the ICJ, as well as the other candidates who were elected or re-elected," a state department spokesperson said. The spokesperson also congratulated the UK's nominee for his service to the ICJ. The official, however, refused to comment on the 11 rounds of voting. "We're not going to comment on the prior rounds of voting. In the end, Judge Bhandari received the unanimous support of the UNSC and an absolute majority in the UN General Assembly for his re-election to the ICJ," the spokesperson said. The ICJ has a bench of 15 judges, five of whom are elected every three years for a nine-year term. To be elected, the candidate needed majority in both the chambers. Established in 1945, the role of the ICJ is to settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by states and to give advisory opinions on legal questions. In 2013, Adiyan, a community predominantly found in northern Kerala and residing in Kannur district was denied the Scheduled Tribe (ST) status by authorities (without any prior notice) on the grounds that they have lost resemblance to their counterparts in the Wayanad district. A study conducted by Kerala Institute for Research Training and Development Studies of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (KIRTADS) concluded that the Adiyan community of Kannur has lost its 'tribal or primitive' characteristics and now resembles the Hindu community of Thiyya who belong to the OBC category. The community fought a legal battle in the high court resulting in the restoration of their rightful ST status in 2015. The Vetan and Vetar communities from Kollam, Paththanamthitta and Thiruvananthapuram districts of Kerala are fighting a similar battle. The two communities have been demanding ST status since the 1960s. In the earlier days, the Vetan community lived in forests and was engaged mostly in hunting. In the course of time, many of them settled in rural areas, which gradually led to a division among the community: one section lived in forests and the other in towns. The government categorised the community as Malavetan and Vetan. While the Malavetans are categorised as ST, the Vetans are counted in the Scheduled Caste (SC) category. The Vetans are demanding ST status as they see themselves as part of the Malavetan community, and, are equally marginalised in terms of educational and economic achievements. Both these instances raise certain important questions about the complexities and dynamics of tribal identity in contemporary times, and our hegemonic conceptualisation of the same. Central to this are debates on the criteria of defining ST, reservations, marginality and backwardness as well as the ideas of geographical boundaries and the notion of contemporaneity. In both the above-mentioned cases, members of the same community but living in a particular area (urban) were denied tribal status because it was said that they did not fulfil the criteria for ST, unlike their counterparts living in the hilly/forest regions. It is important to note that Article 366 (5) of the Constitution doesnt give any criteria for specification of a community as a Scheduled Tribe. It states that "Scheduled Tribes means such tribes or tribal communities which are deemed under Article 342 of the Constitution to be Scheduled Tribes". Article 342 only specifies who has the powers to deem a community (or part thereof) as being Scheduled Tribe. The definitions and concepts of tribal communities adopted in the 1931 Census were taken into consideration while developing such rules and have been adhered to since. Later in 1965, the Lokur committee made a recommendation carrying forward the definitions followed by the colonial state to recognise the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes in India. Terms like indigenous communities, adivasi and tribes are heavily contested in India. The term 'tribe' is a colonial and Brahminical construct, which denied the contemporary and simultaneous existence of certain communities and resulted in the labelling of these communities as primitive, backward and uncivilised. By the 19th century, 'tribe' began to be considered not only as a particular society but also as a particular stage of evolution. The idea of tribe was based on the presumption that, these communities are isolated, self-contained and primitive groups that are geographically isolated and distanced from the caste or Hindu social order. Scholars have since pointed out how difficult and complicated the application of such notions are in the context of South Asia, and, particularly, in India. The particular regions and their specific historical, socio-cultural and economic milieu have shown varying patterns of migrations and social interactions. Therefore, one has to move beyond the 'white mans colonial imagination' while exploring and defining the meanings attached to the term tribe. We have to consider the nuances of the Indian society without denying the historically rooted marginalisation and injustice against tribal identities. We must begin by recognising that tribal communities are never static and they have been undergoing shifts in the socio-cultural realms of current times at a fast pace and that they continue to be in extremely vulnerable situations in terms of social development and material progress. The captive forces of the market economy, the influence of non-adivasi religions, processes like modernisation and globalisation, the resistance movements and the increasing control of the State over forests and invasion of adivasi areas and resources by the mainstream communities have played a decisive role in these changes. It should also be remembered that such changes are met with resistance and struggles from the tribal communities, aimed at preserving their identity and consciousness. In order to emphasise this 'shifting' nature of the adivasi communities, sociologist Andre Beteille had used the concept tribes in transition. Amita Baviskar rightly challenges this by pointing out that the idea of transition is an over-simplification and it stems from a linear understanding of change. Should we then reconsider our definitions in the context of wider social changes in these communities and their attempts to preserve their cultural specificities without denying them their rightful status and affirmative support from the government? Are the existing criteria sufficient to define the tribal communities in the contemporary context? How should we consider the idea of time in identifying and designating a community as a tribe? Is it more important to protect non-tribal assumptions, prejudices, and stereotypes about tribal communities or create a space for the power of tribal self-determination? It would be safe to say that unless we make space for the perspectives, histories, and knowledge of tribal communities we will continue to deny them their rights and access to justice. Lucknow: The polling for the first phase of civic polls in 24 districts of Uttar Pradesh concluded with 52.85 percent of voters exercising their franchise. The polling was held for five municipal corporations, 71 nagar palika parishads and 154 nagar panchayats. The Deputy General of Police's office said polling was peaceful in all the 24 districts but there were some minor clashes in Meerut, Kanpur and Gorakhpur in the initial hours. Voting at 3 booths in Kanpur city could not begin until 10.30 am due to technical snags in Electronic Voting Machines (EVM). BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj and Congress ex-MP Anu Tandon were upset after finding their names missing from the voters' list in Unnao. Since they couldn't vote, Unnao district magistrate has ordered the suspension of the concerned booth level officer (BLO). Several voters in Kanpur, Meerut, and Kasganj also complained that their names were missing from the voter list. In Meerut, a man claimed that votes were going to BJP even after pushing other buttons in the EVM. His claim, however, was refused by the state election commission. Five women, hailing from Campierganj area of Gorakhpur, were arrested for voting with false identities. The women told media persons they were brought to the polling booth by a man named Anoop. They have been taken into custody by the police. Most people started coming out of their homes after noon. At 12pm, Kanpur city recorded the lowest turnout at 18.5 percent while Badaun recorded the highest at 34.49 percent voters. Here is the poll percentage recorded in each of the urban local bodies in the polls: I monitored the polling myself and webcasting has played a major role in it, said Uttar Pradesh Chief Election Commissioner SK Agarwal. He informed reporters that re-polling will take place in Badau after some people tried to run away with the ballot boxes. The election commissioner also accepted faults in the voters list. He said there are discrepancies in it and the commission will rectify it soon. In all 6 percent bogus voters were deleted this time, he said. Saurabh Sharma is a Lucknow based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters. The Congress party was in hot water on Tuesday, after its youth wing's online magazine Yuva Desh tweeted out a meme mocking Narendra Modi, targetting the prime minister over his tea-selling days. The meme, which was subsequently deleted after a social media backlash, showed Modi with Donald Trump and Theresa May, whereby he mispronounces the word 'meme', leading to Trump correcting his pronunciation and May suggesting Modi stick to selling tea. Congress' online magazine tweets derogatory meme attacking PM Modi, deletes later Read @ANI story | https://t.co/4uBvxWHfBM pic.twitter.com/JhH82acg5S ANI Digital (@ani_digital) November 21, 2017 The Youth Congress later apologised for the tweet and said that the Twitter handle which posted the joke was run by party volunteers and wasn't the official party line. "The handle is not run by Indian Youth Congress but by volunteers. I still take this opportunity and apologise and strongly condemn that tweet," said Amrinder Singh Raja Brar, Youth Congress chief. The handle is not run by Indian Youth Congress but by volunteers, I still take this opportunity and apologize and strongly condemn that tweet: Amrinder Singh Raja Brar,Youth Congress Chief pic.twitter.com/5pIfT73LT3 ANI (@ANI) November 21, 2017 However, it came too late in the day, with several BJP leaders already hitting out at the Congress, saying the party is classist and "anti-poor". Vijay Rupani, Chief Minister of Gujarat, which will have Assembly elections next month, took the opportunity to slam the party and taunt Rahul Gandhi. This blatantly classist and anti-poor Tweet by the Youth Congress shows their mindset towards Indias poor. Does Crown Prince @OfficeOfRG support this? https://t.co/gOqRqWIfL4 Vijay Rupani (@vijayrupanibjp) November 21, 2017 And therein lies the problem. The party seems to have forgotten that Modi wears the "chaiwallah" tag like a badge of honour, and not an insult. He has called himself one several times in the past, and continues to do so with great pride. To highlight this isn't mocking Modi in any way, but is merely playing to his strengths. In fact, it's not only Modi but also the BJP that draws great strength from the prime minister's "humble origins". Several party leaders have highlighted this, and used it as an example of internal democracy within the BJP, saying any person anywhere in the country can ascend to the top, unlike the Congress, which has been ruled by the same family. Indeed, head of the party's IT cell Amit Malviya said as much, calling it Congress' "disdain" for a man who rose from the grassroots. Such disdain for a man who rose from grassroots.. https://t.co/xVwxTP4uFo Amit Malviya (@malviyamit) November 21, 2017 The party could do without this controversy just weeks before Modi's home state of Gujarat witnesses Assembly elections. If anything, they should have stayed away from the "chaiwallah" argument, if past history is anything to go by. In 2014, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar had made the same mistake at the All India Congress Committee convention, saying Modi was welcome to sell tea there. "I promise you in the 21st Century, Narendra Modi will never become the prime minister of the country. But if he wants to distribute tea here, we will find a place for him," he had said. Two months later, the BJP won the election by a landslide majority and the Congress' fortunes have been eroding steadily ever since. Whether or not the latest tweet by Yuva Desh hurts the party in Gujarat elections remains to be seen, but's an unsavoury controversy the party could have dearly done without. If you want to understand why Patidar youth are revolting against the BJP under Hardik Patel's leadership, think of the iconic film Deewar. Imagine for a moment that a Patidar youth is Amitabh Bachchan's character in that film, and he is having a conversation with Shashi Kapoor, a non-Patidar urban youth. This is how the conversation would progress: Patidar: I have land, I have a house in a village, I have tractors, I have agriculture income. Tumhare paas kya hai? (What do you have?) Shashi Kapoor: Mera paas wife hai. ( I have a wife). After reading this, don't get misled into believing that the Patidar agitation is just about finding a suitable girl. Yes, it is also about that. But, the quest for a wife is one of the defining results of a socio-economic upheaval that turned the lives of Patidars upside down over the past decade. Patidars were traditionally land tillers in Gujarat. In the 1970s, after the land reforms by the then prime minister, Indira Gandhi, many of them became owners of the farms they were cultivating. For around three decades, they survived on a steady farm income generated from cotton, groundnut and castor. But, once the harvest stopped yielding high returns, their youth became unemployed and, thus, restless. Dinesh Bambhania, convenor of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), says over the past decade, once farming became non-profitable, Gujarat's villages became full of youth who were un-educated, unemployable, and, thus, unmarriageable. "Girls just did not want to marry jobless youth living in villages. They wanted husbands with steady incomes living in Gujarat's towns and cities." Ambu Patel, a social worker based in Kharaghoda village of Surendranagar constituency, around 100 kilometres west of Ahmedabad, sums up the plight of the Patidars: "Villages are full of youngsters who have no education. Even those who are educated have no jobs. And girls are just not interested in them. How do you expect them to be happy with their lives?" Hardik and his reservation stir tapped this environment of joblessness and bachelorhood. Channelling this anger and unrest among the youth, talking about their insecurities and desire for better lives, he spearheaded an agitation that galvanised the Patidar youth in mid-2014. "Anamat bheekh nahin, bhagidaari hai (reservation is not alms, but participation)," Hardik proclaimed and became the voice of the angst of youth like him. The question now is can an agitation having its genesis in a quest for better life, and, of course, a suitable wife, find expression as an electoral exercise? Can a socio-political movement turn into a political revolt? In private conversations, leaders of PAAS confidently claim the BJP will lose the election in Gujarat. Their optimism is based on two factors: One, internal surveys that predict 100-plus seats for the Congress and a BJP rout in rural areas. And two, the belief that Patidar youths will vote against the BJP, leading to a 60-40 split between the Congress and BJP of the community's vote. Before the Patidar quota stir triggered anger and unrest among Patidars, they were considered a committed vote-bank of the BJP. PAAS leaders claim around 85-90 percent Patidars voted for the BJP, tilting the electoral battle against the Congress in every election since 1985. The animus with the Congress was a backlash against the Rajput (locally known as Darbaar) hegemony in the state. The Darbaars (ruling families) were zamindaars (landowners) before the reforms that gave titles to tillers. Once the land passed into the hands of Patidars, friction developed between the two communities. Since the Darbaars were powerful and politically influential because of their links to the Congress, the Patidars felt threatened by their rivals. In the early 1990s, former Gujarat chief minister and Patidar stalwart Keshubhai Patel promised them security, safety and freedom from oppression with his popular slogan of eradicating "Bhay, bhookh and bhrashtacahar (fear, hunger and corruption)." He also promised "Ram Rajya" in Gujarat, winning over Patels for the BJP. But, Hardik's movement has now triggered a drift away from the BJP. Those who have no memory of the Patidar history appear inclined to abandon the BJP and try out the Congress. They see the BJP as the oppressor now, especially after the Anandiben Patel government ordered firing on protestors demanding quota, killing 14 Patidar youth. Hardik claims there are 1.28 crore Patidar voters in Gujarat. This, according to his estimates, is almost a fourth of the electorate. His organisation believes around 70 lakh voters would vote for the Congress, leading to the BJP's decimation. His supporters argue that Patidars would not forget the murder of their youth and victimisation of their families by the government. "More than one lakh youth were booked by the police after the Patidar agitation. They faced numerous hardships and problems because of this. Do you expect them and their families to forget all this?" asks Bambhania, who started the reservation stir with Hardik. It is now clear that that Hardik and his team would now work with the Congress to beat the BJP. On Wednesday, Hardik announced that his organisation accepts the formula proposed by the Congress for giving quota benefits to Patidars. He is unequivocal in his call for defeating the BJP, saying if it indirectly benefits the Congress, so be it. The Patidar story had begun by the painful realisation of not having a wife. It has led to an ironic denouement that now allows the Congress to dream of a victory by saying: Mere paas Patidar hai. 'Patel mein taakat chhe, patthar maathi paani kaadhi sake (the Patels possess the strength to pull water even out of stone).' Today, people from this community are seen cutting-polishing diamonds and lugging around heavy piles of kaapad on tiny tempos. Wealth or even excess wealth has not changed their work ethic, precision and judgement, handed to them by their farmer forefathers. Two days ago, at the Congress office in Kamrej, a satellite town of Surat, a mob broke in and smashed up the windows and broke the chairs. When Firstpost reached the office, the Congress party workers were quick to point the finger at the BJP, accusing them of sponsoring the violence. But one strong speculation suggests that this is the handiwork of Patidar leader Hardik Patel's supporters, who were upset with the Congress for promising 12 to 15 seats in the upcoming Gujarat Assembly elections and giving only two. The 24-year-old Hardik, who was the face of the Patidar reservation agitation, is building and consolidating a Patidar voter base for the Congress. Soon after the incident, three seats in Surat changed hands. The one at Kamrej was snatched from Nilesh Khumbani and handed over to Ashok Jariwali and in Varachha, Dhirubhai Gajera (formerly with the BJP) replaced Pappan Togadiya. Lastly, heavyweight Dhansukh Rajput was replaced by Hardik-backed Yogesh Patel in Choryasi. This shift in electoral strategy is a clear indication that the Congress cannot afford to upset Hardik in a state where 45 to 52 of the 189 seats fall in Patidar-dominated regions. Explaining the rise of Hardik within the Congress, Atul Patel, spokesperson of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti told Firstpost that employment and reservation of seats in educational institutions are key issues for the Patidar community at this moment and that the Andolan is raising these demands at the right time. "In central and north Gujarat, people are still completely dependent on agriculture. People think that the Patel samaaj is rich and can take care of itself but out of the 1.2 crore strong community, five to seven percent are rich and 15 to 20 percent comprise the middle class. The rest are facing economic strain," said Patel, who toured 620 villages along with Hardik to map the social and economic scenario of the community. Narendra Modi's vikas (development) doesn't trickle down to the ground, he said. "Small-scale industries are facing problems like securing loans and big industries enjoy the ease of doing business." Patel stated that the Andolan has become successful as a result of the problems that the government isn't addressing since the last two decades. "Privatisation of education is another big issue. In Ahmedabad, 15 Mahanagar Palika schools have shut down in the recent times when there's actually a need for 30 to 40 more government schools," explained Patel. He accused the BJP of using 'saam-daam-dand-bhed' (every move in the book) to stomp over Hardik's andolan and also his image. He talks about incidents where the government has slapped Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) of 1973 on them, which empowers an executive magistrate to prohibit an assembly of more than four people in an area. He also talked about instances of his volunteers being beaten up and alleged how the BJP had made efforts to bribe Hardik out of the Congress' game. "Eventually, when everything failed, they tried to tarnish his image using social media," explained Patel. In 2012, the BJP had won all 12 seats in Surat and 28 out of the total 35 seats in south Gujarat. Ask the Patels from textile and diamond sectors of Surat what they think of Hardik and they start criticising Modi first. From blaming the current BJP government for not caring about them to calling the BJP 'chor' (thief) for charging five percent GST from poor people to saying that Modi wins only because of social media hype; the anger is visible but the historic-demographic issues aren't. The Patels are a formerly-agrarian Patidar community that thrives and survives on the strength of its will. But it isn't a homogenous lot. There's a history of demographic divisions that remains un-erased because the BJP didn't think it was necessary to do so. The Patels are divided into Leuva and Kadva (descendants of Ramayana's last generation Luv and Kush) and they belong to Saurashtra, a peninsular-fertile belt. In the last forty years, famines and industrialisation have led to a mass migration from Saurashtra to Ahmedabad and Surat. And that is when the threads of internal differences curled up in the region started to spin out like a pattern on a piece of fabric. Saurashtra's key towns are Jamnagar, Junagarh, Rajkot, Porbandar and then come the westward areas of Bhavnagar and Amreli. The latter two, which are less than 100 kilometres apart, were a part of the princely state where the Gohils were in power. Owing to the dual locational advantage, that of being closer to the sight of the Royalty and to south Gujarat, they migrated to emerging cities of Ahmedabad and Surat in the 1970s before others. The Patels from the other regions followed suit and populated the diamond, textile and real-estate industries. The Patels from Bhavnagar and Amreli are more prosperous and a quick verification of backgrounds of owners of diamond and textile industries will show you that. The Patidars from these two regions have also been politically connected. For instance, out of the elected members of the Surat Municipal Corporation during the 2015 elections, 16 were from Bhavnagar and Amreli. But, that's not where the problem lies. After the delimitation of constituencies in 2012, Vidhan Sabha seats in 12 districts of Saurashtra were reduced. Following the flow of the population, some seats were moved to Surat and some to Ahmedabad. Today, there are 12 seats in Surat city. In the current election, Patidars from Bhavnagar and Amreli have been given tickets in the constituencies of Surat Uttar, Katargam, Kamrej, Varachha and Karanj. At least in Surat, the andolan and the rise of Hardik is a concretisation of the discontent over years of democratic neglect in the minds of the five to six lakh Patidars from Junagarh, Jamnagar and Rajkot who live there. Kamrej, constituency number 158 in north Surat, is home to nearly 1.5 lakh Patidars. Dalsukh Bhai Chouvatiya, who traces his roots to Jamnagar was traditionally a BJP supporter. But, to convey the message of anger among the Patidars from eastern regions of Saurashtra, he contested the Kamrej seat in 2012 from the Gujarat Parivartan Party. Despite the Modi wave, Chouvatia received around 23,000 votes. Although his party has now merged with the BJP, the feeling of neglect among that community has remained and grown. "When people are pained, Hardiks are born. The reason why he is able to successfully consolidate them against the BJP is not really for the guarantee of anamat (reservation). People are aware that there is a constitutional limit of 49 percent and somewhere they even know that the fire of anamat was ignited by the Congress," Dalsukh Bhai said, giving the example of Katargam, where 1.5 lakh voters are from Junagarh, Jamnagar and Rajkot. "The BJP could have fielded a young face from that belt but they chose a Patidar from Bhavnagar (Vinu Bhai Moradiya) instead," he added. The frustration among the Patel voters who work and live in Surat may look like passion. But, for a community that measures the worth of human effort in carats and metres, no passion is ever without reason. After days of confusion over whose side will he pick in the upcoming Gujarat Assembly elections this year, young Patidar leader Hardik Patel announced that the Congress party has accepted their demand for reservation in education and jobs. Speaking to reporters in Ahmedabad, Hardik, the convenor of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), said that the Congress has agreed to table a bill in the Gujarat Assembly after it comes to power. Congress has accepted our issues. They have agreed to give Patidars reservations: Hardik Patel pic.twitter.com/furL87WbNR ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2017 Hardik said that the party would provide reservations without tampering with the 50 percent limit as per Indian law. He added that the PAAS and the Congress came to an agreement after seven rounds of discussions. "Congress has accepted our issues. They have agreed to give Patidars reservations under section 31 and provisions of section 46," Hardik was quoted by ANI as saying. The Patidar leader, however, did not clearly state that the Patidar leadership will support the Congress in the upcoming election. The 23-year-old denied any political ambitions when asked whether he will be joining or supporting the Congress party. I am not joining any party: Hardik Patel #GujaratElections2017 pic.twitter.com/XKWDhnJrW9 ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2017 Hardik added that he will not be joining any party for the next two and a half years. "All we want is that youth must be given adequate representation in the Assembly and the government." Hardik said. Hardik denied any split in the PAAS ahead of the election, adding that there have been no demand for Congress tickets from his side. We never asked for any ticket. Also, there is no conflict within PAAS: Hardik Patel #GujaratElections2017 pic.twitter.com/5x5V7tVHSS ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2017 "We have never appealed to anyone to vote for Congress, but since they are talking about our rights, we leave it on people to decide," Hardik said. Hardik added that the Article 16 of the Indian Constitution allows for inclusion of non-reserved categories in the quota list. A commission will be created for examining the quota demands. "We have been promised that we will get the same benefits as other OBC communities," he added. Hardik said that the Congress will add the quota formula in its upcoming party manifesto. However, he added that several states have exceeded the 50 percent limit since 1994 and that a possibility to do so needs to be examined in Gujarat too. Hardik said, "We are not demanding quota for kerosene but for employment and education for our youth." He further added that the Patidars have always been considered a well-off community by others, but the Congress has agreed to conduct a survey to know the level of socio-economic backwardness among the Patidars. Hardik lauded the Congress for giving a patient ear to the grievances of the Patidars. "We have discussed these issues with BJP leadership but their intentions were not correct. The Congress is at least listening to our demands. They have come up with a formula which we have agreed to." "As a leader of the PAAS, it is my responsibility to tell the Patidar community about our discussion with the Congress," Hardik added. Training his guns against the ruling BJP, Hardik said that his fight is against the victimisation of the Patidar community. Alleging that the BJP is trying to split the Patidar votes by luring former PAAS members to fight as Independents, Hardik said, "Rs 50 lakh rupees have been offered to former PAAS leaders. Even I have been approached in the past." He added," How can I be called a Congress agent. I was made an offer by K Kailasanathan (a key Modi aide) of 120 crore but I did not sell myself." Warning BJP of a defeat in the upcoming polls, Hardik said," You (BJP government) has killed 14 members of the Patidar community. You have mistreated our women too. You will have to pay for it." Hardik also announced that he will be holding a rally in Rajkot on 29 November, a roadshow in Ahmedabad later and another rally in Surat in the first week of December. Ahmedabad: The formula of reservation offered by the Congress to the Patidars is a "big joke" played by the opposition party, Gujarat deputy chief minister Nitin Patel said on Wednesday, and accused quota stir leader Hardik Patel of misguiding the community. Patel said any quota in government jobs and educational institutions exceeding the 50 percent cap put by the Supreme Court is something "offered by fools and also accepted by fools." He was talking to journalists after Hardik Patel declared his Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti's (PAAS) support for the Congress in the upcoming Assembly elections, saying the Opposition party has accepted his outfit's demand for reservation to the community in a "special category". "Though it is very much clear that reservation cannot go beyond 50 percent in any situation, Hardik is trying to misguide the Patidar community with the formula offered by the Congress. In my opinion, this formula of reservation is a big joke," Patel told reporters. He said there is no merit in the offer made by the Congress and accepted by Hardik Patel. "Congress leaders like Kapil Sibal have made a fool of Hardik by offering such a formula. It is evident that fools have made a proposal and fools have accepted it. People of Gujarat and the Patidar community are watching this and will never fall prey to such tactics," he said. Earlier in the day, Hardik said the formula mooted by the Congress for the community envisaged reservation for the Patels that would be over and above the quotas for the Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and OBCs. He said the cap put by the Supreme Court was just a "suggestion", and there were ways to go beyond the limit set by it. The BJP veteran leader warned Hardik that a day will come when people of the Patidar community would teach him a lesson for "playing with their sentiments". "I have never seen a fool like Hardik. Many leaders like him have emerged in the past and vanished without a trace. Hardik will meet the same fate for playing with the sentiments of the Patidar community. " Nitin Patel said. Calling Hardik "immature", an agitated deputy chief minister said,"We are not doing anything because we are in government. Otherwise, I have seen thousands of you in my career and taught them a lesson too. Don't be under any impression that you are running Gujarat." Citing various Supreme Court judgments, the BJP leader said it was not possible to exceed the cap set by the apex court. "Hardik on Wednesday claimed that he has received the proposal about reservation from Congress. On the other side, Kapil Sibal just said that Congress received a proposal from PAAS. Such contradictory statements show that one of them is lying," he added. "Who do you think you are? You are a black star, you would be extinguished. You are a fool. You are cheating the Patidars, they will hunt you and finish you. I have seen many like you come and go in my 50 years of political career." "Fools have given a formula and fools have accepted it. Top Supreme Court lawyers say reservation cant be given. You are only a graduate. I dont even know whether you passed or not." "We have given so many things, withdrew 500 cases, set up a commission for non-reserved communities, set up a committee to inquire into police atrocities, everything." "We have been appealing to you despite you insulting us, despite you breaking our offices. Do not think that we cannot retort. Because we are in a position, we have to maintain dignity." This was an unstoppable Deputy Chief Minister of Gujarat Nitin Patel panic writ large on his face going hammers and tongs against the Patidar leader Hardik Patel at a press conference minutes after the 23-year-old announced that the Congress had given a reservation formula that was workable under the Constitution. The Congress has also promised to include the deal on quota in its manifesto for the Gujarat Assembly election. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) now has a good reason to panic, because two key social organisations of the Patidars Khodaldham Trust and Umiyadham Trust have stated that the community must get reservations and the agitation by Hardik Patel was for the right cause. These organisations have a huge impact on both denominations of the Patidars Kadwa and Leuva. Two key associates of Hardik joined the BJP, while three sex videos, allegedly of Hardik, surfaced in the public domain recently. But none of these have succeeded in eroding the support base of the Patidar leader. In fact, the crowds seen at his rallies has become bigger even after those videos. The issues Hardik raises at his public meetings find an instant connect, particularly among the Patidars in the rural and semi-urban areas of Gujarat. For instance, on Tuesday night at a rally in a village near Ahmedabad, Hardik said rising unemployment, increasing cost of education, lack of adequate health facilities and dwindling infrastructure in rural areas are all instances of an anti-people government, which is on a privatisation overdrive. They ask me why do we need reservations? There are no jobs. What would you do after your child completes studies. Send them to Ford or Nano? Even outsiders are given a chance there. Not us. The firebrand leader has two USPs his age prevents him from contesting any election and he has ensured that he does not join the Congress. But Hardik's sustained agitation has fired the imagination of an entire generation of rural and semi-urban youngsters, especially among those in his core team, who are seeking political careers. This also explains why the Congress was forced to change four of its candidates to keep Hardik's Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) in good humour when the party announced its second list of 13 candidates on Monday. Congress replaced its candidates in key seats of Junagadh, Bharuch, Kamrej and Varachha Road constituencies. The bone of contention, however, remained the Botad constituency in Saurashtra region where earlier the Congress had decided to field Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) defector Manhar Patel but held it back after protests from the PAAS. Eventually, Dilip Sabwa of PAAS was given the ticket. There was a veritable stalemate and Hardik, who was to announce support of his PAAS for Congress on Monday after they had reached an understanding on reservations the previous day, but he delayed it till Wednesday. The impact of Hardik's agitation could be understood in both the key political parties in Gujarat have fielded a good number of Patels in the elections. The BJP has nominated 35 Patidars in its list of 134 candidates announced so far, while the Congress has given tickets to 24 aspirants from the community in its list of 89 contestants declared till Wednesday. Patels are 14 percent of the population and more than 15 percent of the voters in at least 71 constituencies in Gujarat. Just minutes after Patidar leader Hardik Patel announced Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) support for the Congress in the upcoming Assembly election, which will help the community to get reservations in jobs and education, the BJP slammed the Patidar leader calling him a "Congress agent". Speaking to reporters in Gandhinagar, Gujarat deputy chief minister Nitin Patel alleged that the Congress has been guiding the Hardik-led movement for the past two years. "Congress is helping the Patidar movement by funding their protests and by giving them political guidance," Patel said. "Hardik says he is striking a deal with the Congress for the sake of the community but he is actually a Congress agent. Hardik is working on the instructions of Congress," Patel alleged. Alleging that the PAAS leaders are weakening the community with their demands, Patel said that the Congress is using them for electoral benefits. "The pride of the community has been hurt," he claimed. Patel said that the whole drama was orchestrated by senior Congress leaders like Kapil Sibal, calling the quota deal as "foolish". Moorkh ne darkhwast di aur moorkh ne darkhwast maani, aur doosre ko moorkh bolte hain: Deputy CM Nitin Patel on Hardik Patel/Congress #GujaratElection2017 pic.twitter.com/8EoPuzxifb ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2017 Targetting Hardik over his alleged sex video, Patel advised the Patidar leader to not talk like an old, experienced intellectual as "every one in Gujarat knows his reality." "It does not suit him. Hardik's 'pravachan' (sermon) that he does not want tickets, is bogus. His carefree lifestyle has been witnessed by whole of Gujarat," Patel said. Claiming that it is a Congress strategy to hand "lollipop" to people, Patel said that "naive" Hardik does not understand the legality and technicality involved in breaching the 50 percent mark in reservations. "We do not even know whether Hardik is even a graduate. It is odd for a young man like him to talk like an expert. He does not understand that it is in Congress' nature to do 'chal kapat' (use devious means)." Patel added that according to the 1993 judgment in the Indira Swaheney versus the Union of India, reservations cannot exceed 50 percent of the total limit. He also advised Hardik to consult some legal experts who work at the Gujarat High Court, as well as the Supreme Court, and not to listen to leaders like Kapil Sibal and Shaktisinh Gohil. New Delhi: Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Wednesday thanked Patidar leader Hardik Patel for declaring his support to the party in the Gujarat Assembly polls after it accepted the community's quota demand, and said their united fight would dethrone the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Sibal, however, held his cards close to his chest when asked about details of the formula the Congress and the Patel-led Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) have worked out on the quota demand and added that the related issues would be decided later. The former Union minister said winning the Gujarat Assembly election was the priority so that the promises made to the people of the state could be fulfilled. Sibal, who had held meetings with the PAAS leadership on the quota issue earlier, also accused the ruling BJP of betraying the community's trust by not doing anything for it during its 22-year rule in the state. "We are very happy that a 'sanjha morcha' (united front) will now fight against the BJP...We thank him that they (PAAS) have joined us with an ideology to contest the election by coming together...Our target is to win the election and fulfil promises made to the people," Sibal told reporters. Asked about details of the formula agreed upon by the two sides, Sibal said Patel himself would talk about it. "These issues will be decided later. First, we have to fight together, win the election, then fulfill the promises made," he said. Sibal added the Congress has given the PAAS a suggestion "keeping in mind the issues they raised before us". To a question, he also made light of Gujarat deputy chief minister Nitin Patel's reported a comment that the Congress's suggestion would not hold ground constitutionally and that it would be used only to garner votes. Sibal accused the saffron party of hatching conspiracies, imposing sedition case on Patel for leading the quota campaign and misleading the community during its rule. "I want to ask the BJP if they know anything...they have got nothing to do with the Constitution which they have never followed. Gujarat is a symbol of it. So, the less they talk about the Constitution, better it is," he added. Patel on Tuesday declared his support to the Congress in the Gujarat elections, to be held in two phases on 9 and 14 December, and said the Opposition party had accepted its demand for reservation for the community. The PAAS leader said the Congress would include the extension of reservation benefit to Patidars in its election manifesto. The Congress, which has mounted a hectic campaign to dislodge the long-ruling BJP in the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and saffron party chief Amit Shah, has been wooing the Patel stir spearhead for quite some time. The rift between the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Communist Party of India (CPI), its number two partner in Keralas ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) over land encroachments has escalated into direct confrontation with both parties taking to the streets. While CPM activists supported a 12-hour strike called by the Munnar Protection Committeea joint body of merchants and building ownersin 10 panchayats of Idukki district, the CPI opposed the agitation. A fresh eviction drive was launched jointly by the CPI-controlled revenue and forest departments. The stand-off led to clashes in many places. Supporters of the strike reportedly went on a rampage, attacking vehicles and shops. A vehicle carrying tourists was stopped at Munnar town and the driver assaulted. Media persons who tried to record the incident were also attacked. The strike was called to ostensibly protect small farmers and traders who owned tiny parcels of land in Munnar and its surrounding areas. But it seems those backing the strike were provoked by the cancellation of the title deeds of 25 acres of land held by CPM-backed Independent MP Joyce George and his family at Kottakmabur in the tourist hotspot of Munnar. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who belongs to the CPM, gave a clean chit to George by asserting his ownership of the disputed land. But revenue officials found that documents furnished by Joyce were fake and cancelled the deed after George could not prove otherwise. CPM Idukki district secretary KK Jayachandran insisted his partys support for the strike had nothing to do with the action against George. He said the agitation was called by the Munnar Protection Committee after the revenue and forest officials started targeting small land owners under the eviction drive. We supported the agitation because we found their concerns genuine. The actions of the officials go against the understanding reached at the all-party meet convened by the chief minister in May. The meeting decided to spare small land holders from eviction but officials paid the decision no heed, Jayachandran said. However, CPI district secretary K Sivaraman denied this accusation. Sivaraman said the drive was directed against those who have grabbed large swathes of land by forging documents. He said the CPM was trying to protect their interests and sabotage the move to clear encroachments from Munnar. Curiously, the last drive against the encroachments was halted in April after revenue officials targeted an evangelical Christian group. Sub-collector Sreeram Venkitaraman, who led the drive, was shunted out. The drive was stopped in the wake of the demolition of a cross erected atop a hill allegedly encroached by the Thrissur-based group. Environmentalists were skeptical of the success of the drive since it came soon after the CPI took the LDF government to the brink of a constitutional crisis, a stand-off which was defused by the resignation of Thomas Chandy. A high court verdict questioned Chandy's locus standi in challenging a district collectors report confirming encroachment of part of a lake at Alaappuzha by a backwater resort he co-owned with his wife. Chandy put in his papers only after four ministers belonging to the CPI boycotted the Cabinet meeting to protest his presence in the aftermath of the high court verdict. Pinarayi Vijayan and the CPM viewed this as a serious breach of coalition dharma by the CPI. CPM leaders said that its junior partner mounted extraordinary pressure on Vijayan to seek Chandy's resignation to protect its image as a crusader against encroachment. CPM legislator AN Shamseer said the CPI used pressure tactics even after Vijayan gave sufficient indications that Chandy would resign. The young MLA wondered if the CPI was cultivating its image to switch over to the rival camp when the time was ripe. He pointed out that the CPI had a history of working with the Congress. The revenue department took on Joyce George, who is the CPM's blue-eyed boy even as the parties were training their guns on each other. Environmentalist John Peruvanthanam said Revenue Minister E Chandrashekharan should have waited until the wounds had healed. John told Firstpost the haste shown by the revenue department may thwart the drive and that the government made its intentions known by shunting out special tahsildar AJ Thomas, who prepared the blue chart for evicting those encroaching on large portions of land. The CPM has, on the other hand, started taking aim at Devikulam sub-collector VR Premkumar, who is following the footsteps of his predecessor Sreeram Venkitaraman and clearing Munnar of encroachments. While party legislator S Rajendran alleged that Premkumar passed IAS through copying, his senior party colleague and Electricity Minister M Mani called the young IAS officer 'deranged' and accused him of acting like a feudal lord. John said the CPI would never be able to end encroachments in Munnar since all political parties were hand in glove with resort owners and the real estate mafia. John added that the parties were equally culpable of grabbing large quantities of land in the ecologically fragile region. At least two CPM committee offices, one legislator and several relatives of the electricity minister figure in a list of encroachers prepared by the revenue department for eviction. Environmentalists believe that the CPM opposed the CPI move against encroachers because they feared it would ensnare the party and many of its leaders. Environmentalists said the resort lobby has been trying to grab land in Munnar because it attracts tourists from all over the world. However, they forget that tourists visit Munnar because of its unique geographical position and rich biodiversity, they added. They further warned that if the land mafia and the resort lobby continued their activities unhindered, Munnar, which is 5,200 feet above sea level, will disappear from the map. Lucknow: Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav justified his order to open fire on kar sevaks marching towards Ayodhya in 1990, saying if even more people were required to be killed for the country's unity and integrity, the security forces would have done it. He was addressing the SP headquarters where his 79th birthday was celebrated in a grand manner, sending a message of all-is-well in the party. "Desh ki ekta ke liye aur bhi maarna padta toh suraksha bal maartey (if even more people were required to be killed for the sake of country's unity and integrity, the security forces would have done it)," he said. The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said 28 people lost their lives in the police firing at Ayodhya on 30 October, 1990. On the VHP's call, one lakh kar sevaks from across the country assembled in Ayodhya for the construction of a temple at the disputed Ram Janmaabhoomi-Babri Mosque site. The firing had earned him the nickname of 'Mullah Mulayam' by the Muslim community, which accounts for nearly 20 percent of the state's population and is considered a force to reckon with by major political parties. "A number of Muslims had taken up arms saying if their place of worship ceased to exist, then what would remain in the country," he said, justifying his action to save the Babri Masjid. Yadav said that during a discussion with Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the former prime minister had said that 56 persons were killed in Ayodhya. "I had arguments with him. In reality 28 were killed. I came to know the toll six months later and I helped them in my own way," he said. Claiming that the SP still enjoyed the support of Muslims, Yadav said, "Muslims still support the SP...it is the fault of our men that we did not get them for vote. They are still voting for the party and not against it. It's the shortcoming of our youth." "It's matter of shame that we won only 47 of the 403 Assembly seats this time," he said, adding that even after ordering firing "when the Opposition termed me as a hatyara (killer)", the SP succeeded in winning over 100 seats in 1993. "They (youths) now are not like those we had in 1993. When a leader could not ensure victory on his village booth, what will be the party's fate. I want to see a strong party and leaders should also mend their ways by ensuring better connect with the masses. Yadav was the Uttar Pradesh chief minister during Ram Janmabhoomi movement spearheaded by the VHP. Auto refresh feeds Tandon said that she does not blame any single person for this error. Instead, she blamed the entire system for it. The MP said this error was part of a deep conspiracy. Ruckus at ward number 89 in Meerut. Voters have alleged that EVM machines are casting votes only for BJP no matter which button is pressed. 'EVMs casting votes only for BJP, no matter which button is pressed' Voters created ruckus in a Meerut booth over missing names from the list. There was ruckus at Ward No 81 of Summer Garden when a BJP MP tried to cut the queue and BSP leader Yogesh Varma objected to it. Police had to resort to lathicharge to disperse the crowd and bring ruckus under control. Additional State Election Commissioner Ved Prakash Verma told Firstpost that allegations regarding EVM tampering are false. He said there is no such issue. Earlier, 101Reporters team had reported that voters had alleged that EVM machines are casting votes only for BJP no matter which button is pressed. Additional SEC says EVM tampering allegations are false: No ruckus at ward number 89 in Meerut The survey also found that out of 195 candidates, 20 have criminal cases against them. A report in The Indian Express said that some mayoral nominees were found gifting voters through online portals in Jhansi. According to a survey by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), candidates in the Uttar Pradesh civic polls are giving all sorts of gifs like football, brass utensils, etc to voters. A BSP supporter claimed that while he voted for the party, lights against NOTA and BJP flashed. Voting was stopped after this complaint and was only resumed after the voting machine was replaced, Hindustan Times reported In Meeruts Ward number 70, several people claimed that their names were missing from the voters list, even as names of many who were no longer alive, figured on the list. People claimed that most discrepancies in voters list were being reported from Muslim majority areas in the city. Voter lists in Meerut contain names of 'dead' people, but not those of real voters The state election commission has arranged for webcasting at 1091 booths in 324 very sensitive polling centres. In the first phase, the poll body has identified a total of 1255 sensitive polling centres where extra security arrangements were made, Amar Ujala reported. The UP civic polls, the first electoral contest after the rout in the assembly election, will serve as a dipstick on the public mood and help the main Opposition regain lost ground with its supporters. At a time like this, it is crucial for Akhilesh to send across a message that all is well within the 'splintered' politcal family. As voters from 24 districts cast their votes in UP civic polls, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav wants to cut ice with 'netaji' on his birthday today. Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav has not been on good terms with Akhilesh since he ousted him from the post of party national president in January last year. In Meerut, the police thrashed a man at Laavad chowk after they arrested his son for allegedly trying to cast bogus vote. Following this, the locals protested in the area, alleging that police was acting under pressure from the local MLA. In Ayidhya's Hanumangarhi area, a local priest Mahantdas alleged that Samajwadi Party workers were casting bogus votes, which led to violent clashes between their supporters. According to local media reports , BSP workers clashed with the supporters of an independent candidate in Gonda after both parties alleged that the other was getting their supporters to cast bogus votes. As the clashes grew violent, the police detained BSP candidate Mohammad Israel. According to Amar Ujala, 40 percent votes were cast in Agra amid reports of clashes between supporters of various politicla parties. The police has, however, dismissed these as minor incidents. SP Rajya Sabha member Sukhram Singh Yadav unable to cast his vote as his name was missing from the voters list Why civic polls in UP are important for political parties? Amid reports of EVM snags being reported from several booths, the Samajwadi Party retweeted a news report claiming that at several places, no matter which button was pressed, LEDs against BJP flashed. The reports surfaced from Dhawai Nagar, Meerut, Kanpur etc. However,additional state election commissioner claimed that such reports were false. Gorakhpur police detained five women who were allegedly paid to cast bogus votes in the Nagar Nigam elections. The women told reporters that they were asked to caste vote by a person named Anup, who is still at large. The police is investigating the matter further and has refused to comment at the moment. In Gorakhpur, Police detains five women, who were paid to cast bogus votes He was rushed to the district hospital from where he was referred to Allahabad, Police said. A case has been registered against unidentified persons. Unidentified persons shot at and injured brother of an independent nominee in fray for the local body elections in the Antu Khas area in Pratapgarh. Yes, if you take a closer look at BJP's campaign in area. Even though the local body elections are being fought on 'development agenda' with a first ever full-fledged manifesto released by the party the BJP's promise to ensure over all cultural, and mythological development of Ayodhya makes Ram temple the fulcrum of the campaign anyway, according to The Times of India . The polling for the first phase of civic polls in 24 districts of Uttar Pradesh concluded with 55 percent of voters exercising their franchise. The polling was held for five municipal corporations, 71 nagar palika parishads and 154 nagar panchayats. In Ayidhya's Hanumangarhi area, a local priest Mahantdas alleged that Samajwadi Party workers were casting bogus votes, which led to violent clashes between their supporters. According to local media reports , BSP workers clashed with the supporters of an independent candidate in Gonda after both parties alleged that the other was getting their supporters to cast bogus votes. As the clashes grew violent, the police detained BSP candidate Mohammad Israel. According to Amar Ujala, 40 percent votes were cast in Agra amid reports of clashes between supporters of various politicla parties. The police has, however, dismissed these as minor incidents. SP Rajya Sabha member Sukhram Singh Yadav unable to cast his vote as his name was missing from the voters list Why civic polls in UP are important for political parties? Amid reports of EVM snags being reported from several booths, the Samajwadi Party retweeted a news report claiming that at several places, no matter which button was pressed, LEDs against BJP flashed. The reports surfaced from Dhawai Nagar, Meerut, Kanpur etc. However,additional state election commissioner claimed that such reports were false. Gorakhpur police detained five women who were allegedly paid to cast bogus votes in the Nagar Nigam elections. The women told reporters that they were asked to caste vote by a person named Anup, who is still at large. The police is investigating the matter further and has refused to comment at the moment. In Gorakhpur, Police detains five women, who were paid to cast bogus votes He was rushed to the district hospital from where he was referred to Allahabad, Police said. A case has been registered against unidentified persons. Unidentified persons shot at and injured brother of an independent nominee in fray for the local body elections in the Antu Khas area in Pratapgarh. Yes, if you take a closer look at BJP's campaign in area. Even though the local body elections are being fought on 'development agenda' with a first ever full-fledged manifesto released by the party the BJP's promise to ensure over all cultural, and mythological development of Ayodhya makes Ram temple the fulcrum of the campaign anyway, according to The Times of India . The polling for the first phase of civic polls in 24 districts of Uttar Pradesh concluded with 55 percent of voters exercising their franchise. The polling was held for five municipal corporations, 71 nagar palika parishads and 154 nagar panchayats. Campaigning for the first phase of the Uttar Pradesh civic body elections ended on Monday evening for districts where polling would be held on Wednesday. Polling in 24 districts, including for mayoral posts, would be held from 7 am to 5 pm amid tight security in phase one of the elections. The remaining phases would be held on 26 and 29 November, and the counting of votes for all the phases would be held on 1 December. Results would be declared on the same day. State Election Commissioner SK Agarwal said that adequate security arrangements have been made for the smooth conduct of the first phase of the polls. He also held a video-conference with district officials. The districts going to polls in the first phase are Shamli, Meerut, Hapur, Bijnore, Badaun, Hathras, Kasganj, Agra, Kanpur, Jalaun, Hamirpur, Chitrakoot, Kaushambi, Pratapgarh, Unnao, Hardoi, Amethi, Faizabad, Gonda, Basti, Gorakhpur, Azamgarh, Ghazipur and Sonebhadra. In phase one, polling would be held for five municipal corporations, 71 nagar palika parishads and 154 nagar panchayats. In total, 230 local bodies will go to polls in the first phase, which includes 4,095 wards. There are 1.09 crore voters in this phase who will exercise their franchise at 11,679 booths. In the first phase, 56 candidates are in the fray for five mayor seats, 901 for the chairperson's post in the 71 nagar palikas and 3,856 nominees for the 1,819 nagar palika wards. The civic polls in Uttar Pradesh will be a key test for Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath as they would indicate whether the priest-turned-politician has been able to ensure that the BJP continues to maintain its popularity level. Earlier this year, riding on the Hindutva wave, the party had secured a three-fourths majority in the state assemble paving way for 45-year-old saffron-clad Adityanath to become the chief minister. The civic polls are being seen as a major challenge for the Hindutva leader as the outcome would reveal the mood of the voters ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, political observers say. The BJP's victory in these polls would be seen as a stamp of approval for the Adityanath government. In 2012, the BJP had swept these polls, winning 10 of the 12 mayoral posts. Lucknow mayor Dinesh Sharma is now a deputy chief minister of the state. As many as 652 urban local bodies across the state are going to polls, the highest number so far. Adityanath had earlier expressed happiness that Ayodhya and Mathura-Vrindavan municipal corporations, constituted by his government, were going to polls for the first time. On 9 May, the Uttar Pradesh Cabinet had given its approval constitution of two new municipal corporations for Ayodhya and Mathura-Vrindavan. The idea behind the decision was to provide better amenities to pilgrims. The Ayodhya Municipal Corporation will cover the twin cities of Faizabad and Ayodhya, while Mathura-Vrindavan Municipal Corporation will look after the civic needs in the two pilgrim towns. With inputs from agencies In the latest rounds of grant giving by Alabama Humanities Foundation in major and mini-grant categories, the organization awarded $129,600 for projects, programs and activities throughout Alabama. Winners and their projects are: Alabama Blues Project Alabama Blues Project 2017-2018 Tuscaloosa, Hale, Wilcox and Bibb counties The Alabama Blues Project's After-School Camps pass on Alabama's rich blues culture to the next generation while teaching self-esteem, discipline, cross-cultural understanding and teamwork. Students learn hands-on and performance-based musical instruction and the history of the Blues. Programs are designed to give all students an in-depth understanding and appreciation of the Blues while also learning about their cultural heritage. Alabama Folklife Association Fall into Folklife Symposium: Documenting, Preserving, and Presenting Our Heritage Sumter and Tuscaloosa counties Second annual Fall into Folklife Symposium: Documenting, Preserving, and Presenting Our Heritage is a one-day event serving the general public that will generate discussion with speakers and panelists. Held at the University of West Alabama, the symposium will draw from their academic resources and programs to engage persons in dialogue about indigenous folkways storytelling, metal arts, rural folk architecture and traditional arts. Alabama Public Television The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Learning Adventure Statewide media The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Learning Adventure is a webcast interactive, collaborative experience during which 9th-12th grade students learn about the history and impact of the Vietnam War and Alabama's role in the war. Students use email, text messaging and mobile apps to question experts and participate in interactive polling. The adventure and related online resources are correlated to the state and national standards for social studies. Alabama School of Fine Arts Foundation Ron Casey Visiting Writers Series Jefferson County ASFA's Creative Writing department will partner with Nitty Gritty Magic City and Desert Island Supply Company (DISCO) to present a series of readings by acclaimed regional writers to the public. It also includes educational master classes conducted by those writers at ASFA and three high-need schools participating in DISCO's Woodlawn Writers Corp program: Oliver Elementary, Avondale Elementary and Putnam Middle School. Alabama World Languages Education Foundation WILD (Weekend Immersed in Language Development) 2018 Shelby County WILD is a statewide world language immersion experience for high school students of Spanish, French, German and Chinese led by fluent teachers and professors. The purpose of the experience is to enhance the opportunities for teachers and students to improve their spoken language skills, through the study of several humanities topics, including art, literature, music, food culture, history, theater and film study. Auburn High School Land of Freedom: The Civil Rights Movement in East Alabama Lee County This project seeks to engage both Auburn High School students and local residents of Lee County in exploring the unique story of the Civil Rights Movement in their community through a study of the Movement and production of a local exhibit highlighting the struggle for equal rights. The production and presentation of the exhibit will serve as a culmination to a student-led research project uncovering Lee County's history of this critical era. Alabama Prison Arts and Education Project, Auburn University - History and Humanities: A Project of the APAEP Stanton, Elmore, Bullock and Tutwiler prisons Birmingham Holocaust Education Center Facing History and Ourselves Teacher Workshops Jefferson, Madison, Pike and Sumter counties Four teacher workshops are offered to intermediate, middle and high school teachers in fall 2017. The primary goal is to provide educators with techniques for teaching students about the Holocaust and the crucial lessons it provides for all of humanity. The workshops will use tested methodology from the nationally acclaimed program Facing History and Ourselves to model lessons for teachers in key areas of Holocaust history, providing them with extensive resource materials and a solid foundation upon which to build their own classroom curriculum. Black Belt Treasures Cultural Arts Center - Pride of Place Monroe, Perry and Wilcox counties Pride of Place is a series of programs designed to explore the cultural heritage of Alabama's Black Belt and how it has been impacted by the unique composition of the Black Belt soil. Archaeology, geology, foodways, customs, social and political history, literature, music and art lectures and discussions on the Black Belt will be available to all who are interested in a stronger understanding of the journey that has brought us to the Black Belt we know today. Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, Auburn University Immanuel: A Symposium Lee County This symposium accompanies Leo Twiggs: Requiem for Mother Emanuel, an exhibition of nine paintings in response to the murders of the Charleston 9. Focus will be the history of the African American church and its historical and contemporary role as both sanctuary and location for political and civic activity. The symposium will include four talks and a panel discussion, and culminate with an artist talk by Dr. Leo Twiggs. Lurleen B. Wallace Community College: Our Story, Our Song Covington County The conference will survey and lead to discussion of many of the diverse cultural influences figuring into the hymns and other songs that Christian congregations in America sing. Such influences range from the theological and the musical to the literary, the historical and the political. Marion County Historical Society Marion County: Alabama's Northwest Territory. Marion County Historical Expo and Symposium Marion County Marion County Historical Society and Bevill State Community College will present the Marion County Historical Expo and Symposium "Marion County: Alabama's Northwest Territory," events celebrating the bicentennials of both the State of Alabama and the original Marion Territory on the Bevill State Community College Campus in Hamilton and at nearby historic locations. Spark Media in partnership with Montgomery County-City Public Library System First Lady of the Revolution: Library Screening and Discussion Series Jefferson, Lauderdale, Madison, Mobile and Montgomery counties This series is a multi-library screening initiative built around the documentary, First Lady of the Revolution, the remarkable story of Henrietta Boggs, a Southern belle from Alabama who, through a twist of fate in the 1940s, became First Lady of Costa Rica and influenced the progressive reforms that rocked an entire hemisphere. Screenings of the film, which was produced with AHF support, will include discussions with local humanities scholars. The Liberty Learning Foundation - Super Citizen Program Coosa, Dallas, DeKalb and Geneva counties The civics-based Super Citizen Programs teach, inspire and empower elementary students through a deeper understanding and applied practice, of their important roles as citizens. It invigorates schools and entire communities who share ownership in improving child, community and country. The Liberty Learning Foundation will present The Super Citizen Programs in very rural, lower socio-economic school districts. University of North Alabama College of Arts & Science UNA-Limestone Prison Initiative Limestone Prison Two programs will be provided at Limestone Correctional Facility: The IF Project Writers' Workshop and the Inside-Out Program. Both are national models that provide humanities-based programming to correctional settings. The IF Project is a writing therapy program that uses expressive writing and creative truth-telling to help incarcerated men and women explore their life experiences. The Inside-Out Program will bring UNA students to Limestone to study literature alongside incarcerated learners. Village of Promise, Inc. Rocket City Civil Rights: Phase 1 - Connecting Generations Madison County This project engages high school students in bringing the history of Huntsville's civil rights movement to a larger audience. These "citizen-historians" will collect and manage oral histories of the local civil rights movement, contributing important knowledge to our understanding of this under-researched era in Huntsville's history. The team will share these histories with their peers and the public and will establish a permanent digital resource on local civil rights history. Mobile Medical Museum Sally Green Clark Memorial Lecture Series Mobile County This is a series of public lectures held in conjunction with the special exhibit, Josiah Clark Nott Pathological Specimens. Three distinguished historians will come to Mobile to offer rare insight into lesser known areas of the region's medical and social history. The Ridge Macon County Archaeological Project 2017 Old Federal Road Storytelling Festival Macon County The second annual Old Federal Road Storytelling Festival at The Ridge Interpretive Center in Warrior Stand, 12 miles south of Tuskegee. The theme is "Our Story of Alabama Begins Here!" The event aligns with the 2017 Alabama 200 Bicentennial Celebration theme, "Discovering Our Places." The storytelling format is inspired by a trend by scholars to use creative narratives to attract general audiences to engage with scholarly topics. EXCEL Center - Decatur City Schools One Story, One Boy: Transforming Lives in Decatur Morgan County This program sharing the true and heartbreaking story of 16-year-old Enrique will transform the view of teachers and community of immigrant students. The book study is on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Enrique's Journey, by Sonia Nazario. It is the story of a young boy who makes the difficult and dangerous journey from Honduras to the United States to re-unite with his mother. Enrique was trying to flee poverty and dangers at home, but instead faced more difficulties as a result of his journey. Fountain of Life CDC Montgomery on My Mind: Lessons from the Bus Boycott of 1955 Through the Lens of Fred Grey Madison County Montgomery on My Mind is public reading and discussion to educate members of the Huntsville/Madison community on the important lessons that can be garnered from this monumental, historical Alabama event. Monroe County Heritage Museum Getting to Know Eugene Monroe County The program introduces Eugene Walter, Alabama's Renaissance man, in Monroeville, The Literary Capital of Alabama, by hosting a two-part program in the historic courtroom made famous by the film version of To Kill a Mockingbird. Dr. Sue Brannan Walker will discuss several themes in Eugene's published works with a focus on his first novel, selected short stories and poetry. Alabama author Carolyn Haines will then present the unique characteristics and talents of the Eugene Walter whom she knew. Tallapoosee Historical Society Cultural History of Lake Martin in Pictures Tallapoosa County A photographic exhibition depicts a cultural history of the Martin Dam/Lake Martin impact on Tallapoosa County. Pictures tell the story of the construction of Martin Dam at Cherokee Bluffs, the workers and their families who were involved. This exhibit was on display at Smithsonian's Water/Ways traveling exhibit in Alexander City. Troy University - A Conversation with Riva Schuster Hirsch Pike County Troy University will welcome Ms. Hirsch to the Troy Campus to speak on her experiences as a Holocaust survivor. Ms. Hirsch will speak at two events - a campus assembly open and promoted to the general public in the Troy and Wiregrass areas, and a workshop on the Holocaust offered to area teachers. Auburn University Department of Political Science Alabama Justice: The Cases that Changed America Statewide To coincide with the Bicentennial of Alabama statehood, this project will create a traveling multimedia exhibit of several landmark United States Supreme Court cases from Alabama and the three U.S. Supreme Court justices appointed from this state. UA Center for Public TV & Radio Alabama's Water/Ways Eufaula, Decatur, Alexander City, Spanish Fort, Jasper, Selma One sixth of the area of Alabama is comprised of lakes, reservoirs, ponds, wetlands, estuaries and flowing rivers and streams. "Alabama's Water/Ways" is an oral history video collection of the importance of Alabama's precious natural resource to accompany the Museum on Main Street "Water/Ways" exhibition. Alabama Black Lutheran Heritage Association African-American Education in the Black Belt from 1912-1960: The Work of Rosebud Native Rosa Young Selma, Sardis, Pine Hill, Pine Apple, Vredenburgh, Camden, Rosebud, Gees Bend, Snow Hill, Arlington, Oak Hill, Haynesville, Prattville, Marion A traveling exhibit documenting the work of Alabama native Rosa J. Young (b. 1890) in establishing 35 schools for African-American students in the Black Belt during the Jim Crow era. The Rosebud native built her first school in 1912. The Lutheran Church joined her in 1916. UA Department of Theatre and Dance Our Tuscaloosa Live Exhibit Tuscaloosa, Moundville This living history program will introduce aspects of local culture and history. A collaboration between UA Department of English, Moundville Archeological Park, the Tuscaloosa Historical Society, the Transportation Museum, Tuscaloosa Public library system and UA Department of Theatre & Dance. Alabama-Korea Education and Economic Partnership Multicultural Environments: Korea Montgomery A free workshop to train the general public on the objective similarities and differences between Korea, Alabama, and the United States in culture, history, language, social behaviors and expectations, and more in order to apply their knowledge for the quality of life. Central Alabama Theatre C.A.T. SCRIPTS Play Reading Series Birmingham First annual series of public play readings celebrating both the writer and the audience. Author led post-discussions explore the creative writing process and how it speaks to our heritage and molds our relationships in today's culture. Chricton Optimist Club Foundation Youth in Motion Film Festival Mobile Two public panels at the Youth in Motion Film Festival at the Gulf Coast Exploreum in Mobile will feature professionals interacting with 20 young Festival winners. Alabama Department of Archives Foundation Deep South Science Montgomery; statewide A three-part documentary series will offer historical perspective on the significant scientific discoveries, innovations, and cutting-edge research by world leading scientists at Southern Research, UAB, and HudsonAlpha. The first episode in the series will feature Southern Research. Space One Eleven Women's Exhibition and Related Panel Discussions Birmingham Panel discussions examining the significance of women's historic and current contributions to the arts. Alabama Initiative for Independent Journalism Birmingham Watch Media Literacy Demonstration Project Birmingham The Alabama Initiative for Independent Journalism [AIIJ] is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization that supports public service, investigative and explanatory journalism for Birmingham and Alabama. This project is a workshop for the general public to promote media literacy and objective journalism. USA Center for the Study of War & Memory War and Memory Podcast Series Mobile; statewide Interviews conducted by Frye Gaillard with scholars, writers, museum and memorial directors, and veterans addressing the topic of war and memory from many different angles will be recorded, promoted, and exhibited at the University of South Alabama and online through social media. Alabama School Fine Arts Foundation 2017 Young Writers Literary Awards Birmingham; statewide One of Alabama's most comprehensive student literary award competitions, the program recognizes and awards cash prizes to talented young writers in grades 6-12 from across the state. Dothan Houston County Library System Discovering Alabama: A Speak and Show Series Dothan Series designed to raise awareness of Dothan's rich culture, history, and unique places in honor of the Alabama 200 theme for 2017 - Exploring our Places. The series features selected episodes from the Discovering Alabama documentaries paired with scholars/speakers who are expanding upon the content discussed in the episodes. Marengo County Archives & History Museum The Changing of America Demopolis Public discussion program with keynote speaker Joseph McGill of "The Slave Dwelling Project" and a tour of Magnolia Grove's slave cabin. New Delhi: The Centre is contemplating convening the Winter Session of Parliament from 15 December, a day after the second phase of the Gujarat Assembly polls, government functionaries said on Wednesday. The Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs (CCPA) headed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh met in New Delhi on Wednesday to deliberate upon the dates of the session. The session would likely be held from 15 December till 5 January, sources said on the condition of anonymity. Later, briefing the reporters on the Cabinet decisions, Finance Ministry Arun Jaitley said the Winter Session schedule would be such that it did not overlap with the Assembly elections, and it would be a "regular" session. He said in a democracy when elections were on, political parties addressed the people directly. "...normally the elections and Parliament session don't overlap," he said to responding to a question. "Therefore, we are going to ensure that a regular Winter Session is held, but elections and session dates don't overlap," he said. In an apparent dig at the Congress, Jaitley said the Gujarat elections were important for the BJP and it would be busy campaigning there, but he was not sure whether its opponents would be busy in the campaigning or not. Asked whether a session which begins in December can continue in January without the customary address of the president, Jaitley said the issue was settled long back. He said if the session spilled over to January, it was not considered a fresh session. The president addressed the first session of a calendar year, the minister said. The functionaries indicated that the dates of the Winter Session would be formally announced after two ordinances placed before the Cabinet today were promulgated. An ordinance cannot be issued when the dates of the session are announced. The opposition had attacked the government for delaying the Winter Session, claiming that it was being done to avoid a debate on scams, including the Rafale deal, ahead of Gujarat Assembly election. The BJP, however, rejected the Congress's tirade as a "chorus of baseless allegations" and insisted that previous governments, including the UPA, had also scheduled sessions after state polls as politicians were busy campaigning. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar had said the Winter Session, which generally starts from November's third week, would be convened in December. IANS After going off from Google Play Store for more than a week, Alibaba-owned content aggregation platform UCWeb said on 22 November that a new version of its UC Browser is now available on Play Store. The app was de-listed from Google Play store reportedly on data security issues, which the company later denied. The new version is available for users with updated technical settings strictly in line with Google Play's policy, the company said in a statement. "During the brief absence of UC Browser on Play Store, we continued to meticulously check our technical settings while also witnessing an uninterrupted passion of our users for the product, who looked upon the alternative version, UC Browser Mini, and made it to the top of Free Apps' category on the Play Store," said Young Li, Head-International Business Department at Alibaba Mobile Business Group. With a user base share of 45 percent, UC Browser has become the most popular browser in India in terms of Internet usage on mobile platform, followed by Google Chrome, the company claimed. UC Browser has crossed 500 million downloads on Google Play Store. Last week, UCWeb dismissed reports that Google removed its app from its Play Store over data security concerns. "The exact reason for UC Browser's unavailability on Google Play is because of a certain setting of UC Browser that was not in line with Google's policy. The reason for the removal has nothing to do with alleged data security breach or malicious promotion," a UCWeb spokesperson had told IANS. "We would like to state that we have no records of anyone named 'Mike Ross' claiming to be working for UC Browser, as mentioned in some reports. The person claiming to be working for UC Browser is in no way associated with the firm nor represents the views of the company," the spokesperson added. "The allegations of misleading and malicious promotions by the said person are completely false and baseless. UC Browser new product package will be back on Google Play next week and, in the interim, users and partners can download the product from our website http://www.ucweb.com," the company said. When contacted, Google said in a statement: "Our policies are designed to provide a safe and positive experience for users. That's why we remove apps from Google Play that violate those policies." In January this year, Alibaba announced a Rs 2 billion investment to build UCWeb in India and Indonesia over the next two years. tech2 News Staff Amazon announced the second generation of Echo smart-speaker in the US back in September along with the 4K-enabled Fire TV. Amazon on Tuesday launched a new variant of the Echo in collaboration with Red. The new variant referred to as the Product Red version dons a familiar bright red colour associated with previous "Product (RED)" collaborations. For the uninitiated, Product Red is a licensed brand that seeks to engage the private sector in raising awareness and funds in the fight against HIV/AIDS across eight African countries. According to a report by GSMArena, for every Product red version of the Amazon Echo bought, Amazon will donate $10 to Red's fight against AIDS. Apart from the colour, however, the variant is the same as the original second generation Amazon Echo. The new and improved Echo 2nd Gen is smaller at 148 mm but goes wider with a bigger diameter as compared to the old model. It looks appealing too and is available in six new finishes, Heather Gray (fabric), Charcoal (fabric), Sandstone (fabric), Oak, Walnut and silver. The Amazon Echo Product Red edition is also priced the same as the regular 2nd Gen Echo speaker at $99.99. Amazon has introduced the Echo at a price of Rs 9,999 in India in October. Reuters Shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co fell 6 percent on 22 November after Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitmans decision to step down from the role took Wall Street by surprise. Whitman, one the most high-profile executives in the United States, said on 21 November she would quit as CEO in February and hand over the reins to company veteran Antonio Neri. After reports surfaced that she was being considered for the top job at Uber, Whitman reinforced her dedication to the role in July by saying that she was fully committed to HPE and planned to remain CEO. "We have a lot of work still to do at HPE and I am not going anywhere. Uber's CEO will not be Meg Whitman," she had tweeted. On 22 November, Whitman told CNBC that talks with Uber had not been a factor in her decision to leave HPE at all. But her move caught analysts off guard. HPE is in the middle of a restructuring to cut costs, invest in research and focus on high-margin businesses. Its mainstay server business has been struggling as customers increasingly buy non-branded, assembled servers that are much cheaper. We are surprised by the timing of the CEO transition given commentary at the recent analyst day that seemed to imply a CEO transition was not in the offing, BMO Capital Markets analyst Tim Long said in a research note. Long, however, added that Neris experience running the companys Enterprise Group made him a strong fit for the CEO role. The restructuring, which was announced last month and called HPE Next, was supposed to be led by Neri, a computer engineer who has spent more than two decades with the company and is HPEs current president. Neris appointment is not a surprise given his increased visibility in recent months, Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty wrote in a research note. Neri began his career in Hewlett Packard as a customer service engineer in the EMEA call center. He previously led HPs technology services business and then its server and networking businesses, before taking over the whole Enterprise Group in 2015. Barclays analyst Mark Moskowitz and Morgan Stanleys Huberty expect Neri to shift gears and aggressively develop technology in-house, rather than focus on mergers. Since its split from Hewlett-Packard in late 2105, HPE has spent billions buying companies providing cloud software and data storage to better position itself to serve customers who are moving their operations to the cloud. HPEs shares have risen 5 percent this year, compared with a 16 percent gain in the S&P 500 index. They were trading at $13.28 in early trading on 22 November. Reuters Some European Union members are resisting EU plans to raise the tax bill of tech multinationals, EU draft documents seen by Reuters show, in moves that are likely to cause a public outcry after several disclosures of corporate tax avoidance schemes. EU finance ministers are expected to seal a preliminary deal on EU digital taxes when they meet on 6 December, after pressure from large states that accuse firms like Amazon, Google, Apple and Facebook of slashing their tax bills by rerouting their EU profits to low-tax countries such as Luxembourg and Ireland. France has openly called for an equalisation tax on the turnover of digital companies, aimed at levelling up the amount of tax they pay on their earnings compared with other types of companies. The European Commission, the EUs executive arm, and the Estonian presidency of the EU have also backed a major tax overhaul. But EU envoys are gradually toning down the scale of the reform, according to documents seen by Reuters. An early draft of the finance ministers meeting conclusions, dated 6 November, said an equalisation levy could be considered as a temporary measure, before a wider tax overhaul. It also said the EU should not rule out adopting tax measures unilaterally if no deal was reached on a global level. But the most recent draft, dated 20 November, focuses on stressing the EUs preference for a global solution. Global deals on tax reforms are seen as very difficult to achieve. Critics say that linking EU reforms to global agreements would postpone them indefinitely. Smaller EU countries, like Luxembourg or Malta, have said an EU solo move on corporate tax reform would damage its economy and favour competitors. The new draft has also softened the wording on the equalisation tax. A note of the Estonian presidency included in the text said that views of delegations remain divided (..) in particular on the reference to an equalisation levy with some states calling for it to be deleted. Disclosures of tax avoidance schemes by multinationals, like the LuxLeaks, Panama Papers and the most recent Paradise Papers, have increased public pressure for fairer corporate taxation. The EUs tax commissioner Pierre Moscovici last week likened companies that evade taxes to vampires and called for quick action to counter tax avoidance schemes. The early draft of the ministers conclusions urged the development of a new method to calculate a corporate tax base so that companies with a virtual permanent establishment in a country could be taxed there. Currently corporate taxes are paid where firms have a physical presence, which allows large digital multinationals to book most of their profits in the low-tax countries where they have set up headquarters. The most recent draft said that this change should only be explored rather than developed. A note in the text said that some countries favoured a further watering down. Talks among EU countries will continue in coming days and new draft texts are likely to be prepared, EU officials said, before the finance ministers meeting in December. tech2 News Staff Net neutrality in the US could come under a cloud after the recent Federal Communications Commission (FCC) plans which were released on Tuesday. According to the FCC plans, internet service providers can determine which websites and services its customers can use and see and they have the power to prioritise internet speeds for certain services. This does away with the Obama-era ruling on net neutrality which ensured that internet service providers couldn't incentivise some websites over the others, in a way keeping the internet free of 'fast lanes'. The 2015 regulation passed by a majority Democrat-led FCC ensured that all web content would be treated equally. According to a report in The Washington Post, high-speed internet service providers in the US such as Comcast, AT&T and Verizon can be allowed to block websites which they do not like or charge higher fees for faster access to these websites over others. The decision has the sanction of FCC head Ajit Pai, who also used to be a general counsel for Verizon in the past and who was nominated by Donald Trump to head the FCC. Pai feels that the current net neutrality rules stifle innovation and was an example of government overreach. "Under my proposal, the federal government will stop micromanaging the Internet," said Pai on Tuesday. The proposal is expected to be approved by a Republican-led FCC by 14 December. This proposal has been well-received by cable, broadband and internet companies, although most claim that they would not prioritise certain services over others. According to the Post, a lot of the telcos are welcoming of this proposal as it gives them an opportunity to try different business models. Tom Wheeler, the former Democratic FCC chairman, who was instrumental in drafting the Obama-era 2015 net neutrality rules called Pai's proposal 'tragic'. "The job of the FCC is to represent the consumer...Tragically, this decision is only for the benefit of the large monopoly services that deliver the internet to the consumer," Wheeler told the Post. According to TechCrunch, the proposal which was open for public comments had attracted around 22 million comments. Majority of the comments opposed the repealing of net neutrality, but Pai did not take that into consideration. Majority of the consumers in the US who commented on the proposal said that they felt that the existing rules were quite good and removing them would affect their safety and privacy. Free Press Action Fund, an advocacy group, has said that it would organise protests outside Verizon stores in the US. According to Free Press Action Fund, Pai is doing Verizon's bidding, as he was an associate general counsel at Verizon from 2001-03. Google has also expressed disappointment at the FCC proposal that was released by Pai. Speaking to the New York Times, Facebook vice president Erin Egan expressed disappointment at the proposal. "We are disappointed that the proposal announced today by the FCC fails to maintain the strong net neutrality protections that will ensure the internet remains open for everyone," said Egan promising that Facebook will work with all stakeholders committed to net neutrality. Internet service providers will be expected to be completely transparent with consumers in case they are prioritising certain websites or services over others. Violation of this transparency rule could lead to fines by the FCC according to senior officials who spoke to the Post. Telecom companies could now be free to try out some of their business ideas which were not allowed under the current net neutrality rules. According to the Post, AT&T had tried offering discounts on internet services to its consumers as long as they gave permission for AT&T to monitor their online activity. Similarly, Verizon also tried to offer no mobile data limits if consumers used its own apps over the competition. AT&T is also in the process of acquiring Time Warner, an $85 billion purchase, which is currently under legal dispute. If all goes well, AT&T is sitting on a content goldmine which it could prioritise over existing streaming services or monetise in other ways. The proposals have also made smaller companies apprehensive. They fear that internet service providers could charge fees which would not be affordable for them, thereby leaving the field open only for bigger companies who can afford to the expenses to ensure that their sites get priority treatment. The chief executive of the Internet Association Michael Beckerman has said that the proposal represents 'the end of net neutrality as we know it'. Internet Association is a lobbying group that represents companies such as Google, Facebook, Amazon, among others. Comcast, which is the largest US broadband service, has categorically said that it will not block or throttle or discriminate against lawful content and that it will be transparent with consumers about its policies, according to the New York Times. The FCC proposal will also ensure that individual US states cannot have their own independent net neutrality laws. According to a report in ArsTechnica, state and local governments cannot impose local laws related to broadband service. Pai's staff has maintained that states cannot have jurisdiction over broadband as it is an interstate service. FP Staff She's known as India's first female practising doctor, but Rukhmabai Raut (or Rakhmabai, as her name was also spelt) was also among the country's pioneering feminists. A Google Doodle marking what would have been Rukhmabai's 153rd birthday was issued on 22 November 2017; it depicts a sombre-faced young woman, in a simple printed cotton sari, hair parted and pulled back into a bun, while a stethoscope dangles around her neck. In the backdrop, you see a hospital set-up where nurses meet with and treat patients. The Google Doodle is a fitting tribute to a courageous woman, and an exceptional human being. Rukhmabai was born on 22 November 1864. Her father passed away early on, and Rukhmabai was married at the age of 11 to a groom who was then 19. However, she continued to live in her maternal home according to the customs of the time. A change in Rukhmabai's fortunes came when her mother remarried: Rukhma's step-father, assistant surgeon SA More, encouraged her to study. He supported Rukhma when she refused to move into her husband's home. Rukhmabai's contention was that she had been a child when wed, she couldn't possibly be expected to have consented to the marriage. Also read on Firstpost: A new biopic, Dr Rakhmabai, brings the story of India's first female practising doctor to the big screen A long-drawn out court battle ensued between Rukhmabai and her husband's family it's labelled the first divorce case in India. At the same time, a series of articles began to appear in the newspapers, talking about the importance of women's rights. They appeared under the byline: "A Hindu Lady". One of the pieces decried the practice of child marriage, describing how it had "destroyed the happiness" of the writer's life, dooming her to seclusion, and condemning her "aspirations to rise above (her) ignorant sisters". Later, it was discovered that Rukhmabai herself was the author of these pieces. As the legal proceedings raged on, from 1885 to 1888, Rukhmabai finally appealed to Queen Victoria for help, and the marriage was dissolved in July of 1988. Her case would influence the passage of the Age of Consent Bill a few years later, which outlawed child marriages. Rukhma, meanwhile, was ready for the next stage of her life. With encouragement from her step-father and aid from a few staunch admirers in India and overseas, she set sail for England in 1889, where she was enrolled as a student at the London School of Medicine for Women. Returning to India in 1894, Rukhmabai worked until her retirement in 1929 at a hospital in Surat, followed by Rajkot. Her inspiring life was the subject of well-received book Dr Rakhmabai: An Odyssey by her grand-niece Mohini Varde. A biopic on Rukhmabai, starring Tannistha Chatterjee, was made in 2016. tech2 News Staff Researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory set up an obstacle course for drones in an empty warehouse. The obstacle course was to pit two years of AI drone development in collaboration with Google, against a world class drone pilot, Ken Loo. The drones used were called Joker, Batman and Nightwing, and were configured to fly at 129 kph in a straight line. However, while navigating the obstacle course, the drones could only reach a top speed of 64 kph. Loo was allowed a number of trial laps before the official timed laps. Initially, his timing matched that of the drones, but he became faster as his familiarity with the track improved. In the timed laps, Loo averaged a time of 11.1 seconds, while the AI-driven drones managed an average time of 13.9 seconds. The AI drones were fairly consistent in their runs, with less variation in the timings over several laps. Loo showed more variance in the timing and did not stick to a consistent path. Rob Reid, the task manager of the project at JPL said, "We pitted our algorithms against a human, who flies a lot more by feel. You can actually see that the AI flies the drone smoothly around the course, whereas human pilots tend to accelerate aggressively, so their path is jerkier." The AI drones were more cautious in their approach, and could not move too fast at times because the camera could not process the rapid movement. Loo had the luxury of managing the sudden burst of acceleration, but his movement around the path was less fluid. The drones could not depend on GPS for navigation and had to use cameras considering the small indoor location. The algorithms for controlling the drone were integrated with Google's Tango technology. NASA has also contributed to the development of the Tango AR platform. One of the key findings was that while human drone pilots could tire after a few runs, the AI-driven drones had the advantage over several runs as they did not experience any fatigue. The researchers at JPL believe that in the future, the AI can catch up to humans. Reid said, "Our autonomous drones can fly much faster. One day you might see them racing professionally!" Future applications for the drones include inventory checking in warehouses or providing assistance in search and rescue operations. AP An Iran-based hacker plotted to extort HBO out of $6 million by threatening to release stolen episodes and scripts of hit shows, such as Game of Thrones, at one point taunting the network with a twist on a catch phrase form that series: Winter is coming. HBO is falling. An indictment filed 21 November in federal court in Manhattan accuses Behzad Mesri of hacking into the cable networks computer system in New York. It says he stole unaired episodes from shows including Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Deuce, story plot summaries and scripts for Game of Thrones and confidential cast and crew contact lists. The hacker also stole internal HBO financial and strategic documents, and among them were home addresses and phone numbers of Game of Thrones stars. Mesri, 29, a fugitive living in Iran who used the alias Skote Vahshat, earlier this year infiltrated computer accounts of HBO employees authorized to remotely access the networks servers, the indictment says. In July, he emailed HBO executives in New York providing evidence of the hack and demanding $5.5 million in digital currency, a figure later raised to $6 million, it says. Included was an image of Game of Thrones Night King character, leader of an army of zombies, with the words, Good luck HBO. After HBO apparently refused to pay, Mesri began leaking portions of the stolen material on websites he controlled, the indictment says. One of the leaks was an unaired episode of a new HBO comedy called Barry on which he superimposed an opening credit showing the Night King and the HBO is falling threat, according to the indictment. In a statement 21 November, HBO said it is working with law enforcement but declined further comment. U.S. authorities described Mesri as a computer whiz who sometimes works with a hacker group in Iran called Turk Black Hat Security. He also has teamed with the Iranian military to conduct cyberattacks targeting military and nuclear software systems and Israeli infrastructure, they said. But there is nothing in the indictment suggesting Mesri targeted HBO on behalf of Irans government or with its financial support, said Collin Anderson, a U.S.-based internet researcher who specializes in Iran. Its also possible Mesri was acting without the knowledge of Irans government, he said. Its also not clear how he came to do hacking work for Irans military, which could have been as part of compulsory military service, Anderson said. Although Mesri is not in custody, prosecutors decided to publicly charge him and put him on the FBIs most-wanted list to send a message to outlaw hackers that U.S. law enforcement has the means to identify, track and get them arrested if they travel to countries where the United States has better relations, acting U.S. Attorney Joon Kim said. The U.S. has neither formal diplomatic relations nor an extradition treaty with Iran, meaning the U.S. cant request Mesris extradition. Likewise, if he travels internationally, he could be arrested and sent to the U.S. to face charges. Today, winter has come for Behzad Mesri, Kim said. He will forever be looking over his shoulder. And if he isnt, he should be. Rashme Sehgal The world is moving in the direction where human beings can well become inter-planetary species with the Moon becoming an intermediary base for manned missions into the outer reaches of the solar system. In an exclusive interview, ISRO chairman Dr AS Kiran Kumar spells out the many exciting challenges facing his team of scientists in the field of space research. Yesterday you mentioned in your talk at FICCI how in the very near future, private players are expected to get into the business of launching satellites. Will they be investing in this or will the government remain the major investor? Are you talking about companies within India or are you referring to international companies. In our country what we are trying to do is starta joint venture with Indian companies. The key partner will be ISRO and a consortium of industries. We are trying to set this up this mechanism though we still have a number of steps to go. What is expected is that looking at a 2020 time frame, this joint venture will be able to produce PSLV and launch satellites through the PSLV. You expect this to happen by 2020? That is our target though we still have a number of steps, formulating that and we need to get some clearances. Which are some of the companies you are looking at ? There are a number of companies. There is Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, Godrej and Larsen and Toubro and a number of others. They are currently providing inputs for the launch vehicles. In fact 80 per cent of our fabrication activity happens in the industry. Are you also seeking the help of DRDO? No. Will these companies also be providing financial inputs? They will have to do that. It will be a joint venture with joint investments by all these entities. Why is this an appropriate time for private players to enter? We have reached a stage where the number of launches for our own use is increasing. With the introduction of new technology, the opportunity of launching of other satellites has increased. We need to meet our own requirements but this is a good time for private companies to enter. You talked about other satellites. Can you elaborate on this? We have already launched 209 satellites for 28 countries. Our primary objective is putting our national satellites into space. In each of the launch vehicles, apart from the a primary satellite, there is an opportunity for carrying more satellites. We have excessive capacity, large, medium size and small satellites. We are trying to use this capacity also. Satellites are being used for a variety of purposes? Yes. Satellites are being used for making earth observations, looking at land, atmosphere, ocean observations. Satellites help in a series of activities- cyclone tracking, providing information for fishermen, water bodies monitoring, crop yield assessment, geo-spatial information, urban planning, monitoring of road construction, providing geo-spatial data on activities of MGNREGA. Of course it is of great use in the field of communication whether it be in the area of DTH, VSAt connectivity, telephony, broadband connectivity and also in location based services using navigation. People are talking about making a consortium of satellites to provide internet services. If space activities were not there, we would be leading very different lives because satellites have helped transform every aspect of our lives. You mentioned how satellites have helped map water bodies. Has ISRO provided information about our shrinking of water bodies and how we are moving in the direction of becoming a water scarce nation. NASA released a map on how we are fast losing our ground water resources? We help to map water bodies. There is a portal called WRIS (Water Resources Information Resources). The Central Water Commission is kept in the loop of the availability of water in the country and all government organisations have access to this website. The question I am trying to ask you is it was NASA that revealed images of how smog and air pollution had spread across all of north India. Why were these images not given to us by ISRO? We are also doing providing specific information. Images of pollution have been given to the Central Pollution Board. There is a website called MOSDAC which gives information on this subject. We provide information to all the respective government departments and it is up to the departments to follow it up. The Ministry of Earth Sciences and the Indian Meteorology Department are all kept in the loop. You are not in the business of issuing warnings? That is not part of our agenda. Mission Mars has been one of the great success stories of ISRO. What have images of Mars revealed so far? During these two years we have received data which we have made available to scientists and the general public at the International Space Science Data Centre located at Bangalore. The ISTRAC system in Bangalore has a deep space network that receives signals from satellites. This (deep space network) contains Chandrayan data (from the moon) and Mars data. All this data has been collected and made available to the research community. By virtue of the Mars Mission being in orbit, we are able to look at Mars in all its totality. We have more pictures of Mars as a total body compared to any other organisation. Even NASA ? They have fewer pictures. They (NASA) have gone very close to Mars. We have an elliptical orbit. We can look at its entirety. We have images of moons of Mars which are Deimos and Phobos. Based on this data, a number of pieces published in peer review journals have taken place. We have more than one lakh Indians who are willing to go to Mars? They have applied ? All their names and addresses have been put in a silicon wafer microchip and that is being taken to the Mars. People are willing to buy one way tickets to the Mars. Do you see that happening? It is only a matter of time before human beings colonise other planets. This can take 20 years, 50 years or 100 years. Only technological progress will determine when this happens but it will definitely happen. It is only a matter of time. But so far there is no life been found in any planet? So far, nowhere else is there any credible proof of life as we know it. But if something is not known to us does not mean it is not there. When is a Manned Moon Mission going to take place? China is forging ahead of us. The Chinese have invested a lot of money. They have put a man into orbit. They have the equivalent of a space mission which they have built in space. There are a number of steps we have to take before we put a man on the moon. We have to put a man in orbit and then bring him back safely. We have to ensure that all systems are in place. We have done some experiments such as the crew module recovery experiment and the space capsule recovery experiment. When a satellite comes back into earths atmosphere, it faces intense friction, have to ensure a good thermal protection system. All these are preliminary steps which we have done. We need a vehicle In order to build redundancies and robustness, all these require significant resources. But this is not a priority activity for us. We need to provide inputs for countrys activity. How much money is required for a manned Moon Mission? We need between Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 crore for a full fledged mission but this has to be sustained. We cannot do one mission, we need to have a sustained activity plan. We all have an interest but we have to balance between what we can afford at one point of time. As technologies keep changing and costs of this can come down. That is the advantage of time. Cant private players be brought into helping to finance a manned Moon Mission? Private entities need to make large investments but one cannot see immediate returns for a private entity. But take the case of SpaceX. Its CEO Elon Musk is talking about space travel and he wants to make human beings into a multi-planetary species. This sounds very interesting. For example, we have found water in the moon but can this be accessed by human beings? Right now the details have to be worked out. It can be used as a resource for habitation right there. If you want to make the moon an intermediary base for planetary travel, it can be used as a fuel and use it there. Transporting it from there to the earth will of course not be commercially viable. But setting up colonies in space will be very expensive. It will be very expensive. But when oceans became available for travel, the shipping industry started and then when an aircraft was made, aviation started and has become a huge industry. Space as a frontier will also be developed. People are willing to buy one way tickets to the Mars. There will be some people who will take advantage of this and make a business out of it. What kind of revenues will ISRO earn from launching satellites. And will a stage arrive where ISRO will not depend on government resources ? For that to happen, we have to increase capacity in a very significant way. From now, we are short of our own requirements. We dont have enough capacity to build and launch more satellites and that is why we want increased involvement of industry so numbers can be increased. This is a challenging task. Apart from launching, we are doing activities for societal good, for these things we need funding. We want industry to build capacity so they can support Indias requirements, plus market these capabilities for taking a share of the global market. They in turn can help launch satellites from other countries. Will other countries be willing to enter into collaboration with private Indian companies? We must be able to provide at effective cost because everyone wants to reduce costs, so returns are more. A lot of things going back and forth from other countries. Will launches of satellites take place from other places also? Right now we are not looking at other places. We want to ensure an optimal use of what we have. We are trying to reduce bottlenecks from current locations. It is only when we increase the number of launches that we can increase the number of locations from where launches can take place. NBC's Anachronism: Israel's 'Ongoing Occupation' of Gaza | Main | Duke University Press Criticized for Publication of Jasbir Puars Right to Maim? November 22, 2017 CAMERA Featured Letter-Writer A recent review of Reem's Bakery in the New York Times' travel section referred to convicted terrorist Rasmeah Odeh, featured in a mural on the bakery's wall, as an "activist," and failed to provide any information about Odeh's crimes. The Times subsequently appended an Editors' Note acknowledging that the story had "lacked context," and added to the review, "In 1970, Ms. Odeh was convicted by Israeli courts for her role in the murder of two students. In 2014, she was convicted of immigration fraud in U.S. federal court and deported to Jordan in 2017." However, the paper continued to refer to her as an "activist," and refused to run a correction in the print edition. Letter-writer Sara Miller wrote to the paper: Editor: Thank you for adding the information that Rasmeah Odeh is a convicted terrorist. However, it doesn't ever make sense to call someone who targeted and killed civilians an "activist." Would you call anyone who targeted civilians in another country "a controversial activist"? Shouldn't you reserve the term "activist" for people like me, who contact you repeatedly with (surely annoying) letters but would never hurt anyone? You should also run an editor's note in this Sunday's paper to make your addition/correction clear. The note should clearly state that Odeh was convicted of murdering two students and trying to kill other civilians, that she was a member of PFLP, and that she was deported from the U.S. for lying about her record. A lot of people may not realize that you added the information to the article about her terrorism, so it should be clearly stated that you did. Thank you. Sara Miller Posted by kabe at November 22, 2017 12:28 PM Guidelines for posting This is a moderated blog. We will not post comments that include racism, bigotry, threats, or factually inaccurate material. Post a comment tech2 News Staff NASA has released a breathtaking final mosaic image of Saturn, captured by the Cassini mission just two days before its final dive into the Saturnian atmosphere, where the spacecraft become a shooting star in the skies of the planet that it had studied for thirteen years. The Cassini team has released a mosaic captured by the wide angle camera on the spacecraft. The image includes some moons of Saturn, Prometheus, Pandora, Janus, Epimetheus, Mimas and Enceladus. Cassini has beamed back so many images and observations, that the science and image processing are sufficient to keep astronomers busy for at least another sixty years. The Cassini team had been planning on constructing this final view of the planet for years. The images processed into the mosaic were among the final set of images captured of the gas giant till another spacecraft goes on a mission to Saturn. For those in the Cassini team who also worked on the Voyager 1 mission, the experience of compiling the image was similar to that of obtaining the final image of Saturn captured by the Voyager 1 Spacecraft. Elizabeth Turtle, an associate at the imaging team said, "It was all too easy to get used to receiving new images from the Saturn system on a daily basis, seeing new sights, watching things change. It was hard to say goodbye, but how lucky we were to be able to see it all through Cassini's eyes!" The image has been aptly captioned, "A Farewell to Saturn." A version of the image without annotations can be seen below. However, "A Farewell to Saturn" by the Cassini team is not the only mosaic compiled from the final observation run of Saturn. The image has been processed into a farewell mosaic by others as well. This is possible the Cassini mission was delivering the raw images to anyone who wanted them, directly from Saturn to their web browsers. Ian Regan had crafted a mosaic of Saturn from the grand finale dive in October, and had captioned it the "Last Dance." Reuters Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said on Wednesday it would create an artificial intelligence (AI) research centre and strengthen an executive role to look for new business areas for all its three major business groups. The minor changes to the tech giants business structure were to quickly respond to market changes, Samsung Electronics said in a statement. The move follows last months appointment of a new generation of top managers that dispelled lingering worries about a leadership vacuum from the detention of Vice Chairman Jay Y. Lee. The new AI research centre would be under a joint research centre of the mobile and consumer electronics businesses, two of its three main businesses, the company said. However, it did not say where the centre will be located. Samsung Electronics also strengthened the business development role of Young Sohn, its chief strategy officer, to explore new business opportunities in not only components but in mobile and consumer electronics as well. Sohn led Samsung Electronics $8 billion acquisition of Harman International, which was agreed on in November last year. He oversees the Samsung Strategy and Innovation Center (SSIC) that has offices in San Jose and San Francisco in the United States, among others, according to the SSIC website. Aditya Madanapalle One of the biggest obstacle to achieving digital inclusiveness in India is the lack of regional content in local languages. Access to services and applications is simply not available in local languages, and there is very little that regional language speakers can actually do with a smartphone. Even in 2016, feature phone sales exceeded smartphone sales. Something as simple as sending messages, posting on social media platforms can be a challenge for local language speakers. One of the companies addressing this gap is Indus OS, that provides a smartphone OS and App Store in Indian languages. Another leading company active in the localisation space is Reverie Language Technologies. Their Indic Keyboard Swalekh Flip allows users to type in 22 regional Indian languages, and can be installed on any Android or iOS device. We spoke to Debashish Roy, vice president of product and innovation at Reverie Language Technologies, and Vivek Pani, one of the founders of the company, to explore more about Swalekh Flip and the advantages that it offers over other Indic language keyboards. What we found out was that a lot of thought and effort was put into the design, to allow for speed and fluidity in the typing experience, while removing the unnecessary keys from view. Debashish Roy says, We have designed the Swalekh Flip keypad keeping in mind the Indic typing experience. When I say the Indic typing experience, it is different from the English typing experience. English does not have the set of characters which you have in Hindi. So when you design a keypad (for Indic languages), you cannot just put every key in the input layout, and increase the number of rows and columns. Doing this ends up with a very bad ergonomic experience for the user. What we have tried to do is maintain the uniformity of the layout across different languages, whether it is English or any other Indic language. The number of rows remains four and the key size remains the same across all the languages. There is also a layering system, that just does not let users type junk text. Roy explains, We have implemented a unique layering system, which is based on the nature of the Indian languages. This keyboard is also special in a way that it will not allow anyone to create wrong or nonsensical formations. For example, you cannot put a matra on a consonant if the consonant already has a matra. If you already have the aa ki matra on a consonant, you cannot put oo ki matra again on the same consonant. On some other keyboards, you can append any number of matras to a consonant, or even type any number of matras even without a consonant. The abundance of input tools for Indic languages is largely driven by user-generated content. As such, if the web is filled with wrong content, then searching and sorting for such content goes for a toss. The language actually takes a hit. An example is supposed you type aam (), we know that you have to use aa () directly and then ma (). These are the two strokes we have to give. If a keyboard allows a () and also an aa ki matra () and this goes and sits on the web. The content gets created differently. If that happens, and somebody is searching for a particular content, then the user gets only the content that matches the way in which the word has been entered. That way today we have very little content in Indic languages. Tomorrow, when more content gets created, then these sorts of challenges would be inevitable. That is why on our keyboard you cannot type a matra unless you have typed a consonant, and if you have already typed a vowel, it will not allow you to type any matra on that. Another example is on many keyboards you can put a choti e matra () and put a badi e matra () also. That is a nonsense formation. So one of our USPs is to avoid that. Another user experience oriented design measure that Reverie implemented was to have a system where users see only the most used set of characters. Roy explains, So we have pairs of characters in Indian languages, such as ka kha and ga gha. The ka is called alpapran and the kha is called mahapran. There are exceptions, but in general both the alpapran and mahapran are not used together in a word. So we kept the alpapran on one layer, and all the mahapran is in another layer. Because of this, the typing becomes faster, and it allows us to maintain the size of the keyboard at four rows, and the size of the keys remain the same. This way, the typing experience in Indian languages becomes better. Similarly, on the vowel side, vowels are a aa e ee, and there are matras, aa ki matra () or e ki matra. The vowels and the matras are also represented in different layers. So, when you have not typed any consonant, you will not see any matra on the keyboard. This means that the keyboard will not even allow you to type any matra. What you would see are the consonants and the vowels. But the moment you have typed in the consonant, the matras show up, then the user can go ahead and type in the matras. Users in India are conservative when it comes to the bandwidth consumed, as well as the memory footprint of an app. Swalekh is decidedly light-weight, and does not require an internet connection to be used. Roy says, Then we have kept the keyboard as light as possible. Other Indic keyboards which provide similar capabilities have got about twenty MB, but out keyboard file size is less than 6 MB. In our keyboard we give offline phonetic typing. Phonetic typing means the transliteration typing. If you choose a particular language, say Hindi and you choose a phonetic mode that is English, you can type in English and the output is in Hindi. So if you type kya kar rahe ho in English, it will automatically start giving the output in the Devanagari script. All of this happens completely offline, so you do not need coverage for this. Vivek Pani adds, In an English keyboard usually you have ten keys in one row, and four rows in all. So that makes enough space for your thumb, and people are used to those. But every Indian language keyboard that is available other than Swalekh, they have compromised it (the layout) because Indian languages have many characters. So what they do is that they add at least eleven columns, or sometimes thirteen columns, and more than four rows, somewhere like six-seven rows. When you do that the key sizes become smaller, and also the space that you have to use the application also becomes smaller. But in Swalekh, we still have ten columns and four rows, so that is exactly the kind of experience that you get in English. The keypad adapts to what is being typed so that the users are able to type quickly and correctly. One of the strong points of the keyboard is that the keys are arranged in the sequence of the varnamala. This means that users do not have to learn the layouts used in regional language typewriters, but can instead start typing right away by following the familiar arrangement of vowels and consonants that they learned in school. Roy explains, It starts with the vowel sounds on the left and the consonants towards the right. All the main vowels and consonants are on the base layer, the matras and less used consonants are on the next layer, so the typing becomes faster. I then asked if there were any language-specific challenges that the designers experienced while crafting the keyboard. Debashish Roy said, Yes, there are specific challenges to some languages. Lets say I have to write ICICI bank in Hindi. In English, there are just five letters. But the moment you want to write that in Hindi, your I itself is two characters long, so the five characters long word would end up being eight characters long, and the characters take even more space in languages such as Malayalam. Those sort of problems occur when you translate from one language to another. We do also face a lot of UI specific problems, and we have found ways to handle those as well. We enquired about a specific comparison. One of the most commonly used tools for typing in regional language is the Indic keyboard offered by Google itself. Debashish Roy says, As I mentioned, one thing is the memory footprint. The Google Keypad is at least 20 MB in size, Swalekh is less than 6 MB. You can still type a lot of nonsense formations on the Google Keypad, but that is not possible with the Swalekh Flip. This is one of the most important advantages in terms of usability. Then comes the layout size, the Google Indic Keyboard has five rows. Swalekh has kept the keyboard height the same as the English keyboard. Ultimately, the screen size is not reduced for Indic languages. We do have autocorrect and next word prediction in Indian languages. We try to evolve the keypad according to the typing behaviour of the user. Another advantage we offer is the various modes of typing available on the keyboard. Suppose you selected Hindi or any of the 22 languages available on the keyboard, then each language provides you with three modes of typing. One is in English, the second one is your native mode using the script, and the third one is the phonetic mode. The phonetic or transliteration mode is offline. There again, you have next word prediction. Transliteration happens on the fly, so while you are typing there are suggestions on the top, which you can select from. In order to enhance the experience of the user, we keep tweaking the rankings of the suggestions in terms of frequency of use. For example, if 90 out of hundred users select a particular prediction, we increase our ranking for that prediction. This is also how we enhance the user experience by taking the feedback and improving the transliteration engine. This is completely offline, and the transliteration engine is actually Reveries greatest strength. The advantage is that it is lightweight and it sits inside the app itself. Others use online transliteration, which has a slower response. Another important advantage that Swalekh has over the Google Indic Keyboard is that Swalekh supports 22 languages, while Googles keyboard supports only 11. We asked how access to localised content and applications can transform the technology landscape for Indians. Vivek Pani says, We have seen reports by Google that the total amount of Indian language content on the internet is less than 0.1 percent. Whereas English, compared to that is at 56 percent. Which means that English content is at least hundred times more than all the Indian language content put together. But, if you look at the way people consume text-based content in India, then 92 percent of all print is in local languages. Only 8 percent is in English. All of this content, which is available only in print, will become available in the digital medium as well. People will be able to consume this content through the web as well. The objective is that the content should start becoming available, and people should start interacting with the digital medium as well. People will be able to create content on their own. Already, for every new internet user, nine out of ten dont know English at all. Perhaps, by next year it could be ten out of ten who would not be knowing English at all. That is the kind of growth that is definitely happening in Indian language content. There are other features on the Swalekh Flip keyboard as well, for example, users can customise the appearance with a theme. There is a mode switcher to rapidly toggle between two languages, as well as a cursor that allows users to make quick edits or navigate to a particular portion of a copy pasted piece of text. The languages supported by Swalekh are Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Odia, Punjabi, Assamese, Nepali, Bodo, Dogri, Konkani, Maithili, Manipuri, Sanskrit, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Urdu, Santali and English. Developers can integrate the multi-lingual keypad into their own applications by signing up on Revup, the developer portal for Reverie. Swalekh Flip is available for free for Android users on the Play Store and Apple users on the App Store Reuters The U.S. government on 22 November urged businesses to act on an Intel Corp alert about security flaws in widely used computer chips as industry researchers scrambled to understand the impact of the newly disclosed vulnerability. Homeland Security gave the guidance a day after Intel said it had identified security vulnerabilities in remote-management software known as Management Engine that shipped with eight types of processors used in business computers sold by Dell Technologies Inc, Lenovo Group Ltd, HP Inc, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co and other manufacturers. Security experts said that it was not clear how difficult it would be to exploit the vulnerabilities to launch attacks, though they found the disclosure troubling because the affected chips were widely used. These vulnerabilities affect essentially every business computer and server with an Intel processor released in the last two years, said Jay Little, a security engineer with cyber consulting firm Trail of Bits. For a remote attack to succeed, a vulnerable machine would need to be configured to allow remote access, and a hacker would need to know the administrators username and password, Little said. Attackers could break in without those credentials if they have physical access to the computer, he said. Intel said that it knew of no cases where hackers had exploited the vulnerability in a cyber attack. Homeland Security advised computer users to review the warning from Intel, which includes a software tool that checks whether a computer has a vulnerable chip. It also urged them to contact computer makers to obtain software updates and advice on strategies for mitigating the threat. Intel spokeswoman Agnes Kwan said the company had provided software patches to fix the issue to all major computer manufacturers, though it was up to them to distribute patches to computers users. Dells support website offered patches for servers, but not laptop or desktop computers, as of midday 22 November. Lenovo offered fixes for some servers, laptops and tablets and said more updates would be available Friday. An HP representative said the company would soon post fixes on its support site. Security experts noted that it could take time to fix vulnerable systems because installing patches on computer chips is a difficult process. Patching software is hard. Patching hardware is even harder, said Ben Johnson, co-founder of cyber startup Obsidian Security. As someone who loves audio and is willing to go the extra mile to fine-tune his aural experience, I go out of my way to avoid products like the Sony MHC-V50D. Without even auditioning it, its biggest sin was the fact that its a single tower speaker. As any audiophile will tell you, stereo speakers are the way to go. When Sony offered to send me the V50D, I wasnt particularly keen on it, but since Id never experienced one of these single speaker units first hand, I thought it would be worth checking out, if for no other reason than to confirm my suspicions. I am so very glad I did decide to check it out because the V50D was, in a word, spectacular. It is, however, a speaker for a more limited audience than the average audiophile. Build and Design: 8/10 For a speaker thats a little over 2.5 feet tall, the V50D isnt particularly heavy, though it does feel solid. The audio is pumped out by a total of five drivers, which include 2x 4 cm cone tweeters, 2x 8 cm cone mid-range drivers and 1x 20 cm Mica woofer. The tweeters and mid-rangers are angled outwards, probably with the intention of creating a stereo effect of sorts. More on this later. The entire upper surface is given over a control console and display and the upper rear portion hosts all the I/O ports. A large bass vent is at the bottom and all the drivers, except the tweeters, are protected by a metallic mesh. The device sits squat on the ground and is very stable. Basically, it looks like your average tower speaker. Features: 8.5/10 When it comes to features, this device is packed to the brim with everything youll need. The device can play back audio from CD, DVD, DVD DL, it supports NFC for pairing, multiple Bluetooth standards including LDAC, AAC, A2DP, AVRCP and SPP, an analogue input, a composite video out, an analogue audio output, an HDMI output, a USB port and two microphone inputs, including one for guitar. Even FM radio is supported. You can also daisy-chain multiple speakers for enhanced audio. Other fancy features include a karaoke mode, equalisers, video equalisers, bass boost, sound enhancements, flanger and isolator modes and much more. The entire list of features is too long to dive into, so simply head to Sonys product page if you want to learn more. Supported audio formats include MP3, AAC, WMA and WAV and supported video codecs include Xvid and MPEG4 up to 720x576. You also get some weird, epilepsy-inducing, responsive LED lighting modes that were so horrifying that I left them off. If youre into karaoke and parties and the like, this LED lighting might serve to enhance the atmosphere, but they didn't sit well with me. Performance: 8.5/10 Ive made my initial trepidation quite clear, and I simply wasnt prepared to be blown away by the audio quality of this thing. For testing, I didnt bother with digging out my CD collection from wherever it's buried. I simply fired up Tidal (with a subscription for the highest quality, lossless playback option) and started streaming the audio to the device. The speaker supports some very fancy Bluetooth modes, after all. I started with Mark Knofflers Dire Straits album and settled down for what I thought would be a sub-par experience. What I didnt expect was that Id spend the next several hours sitting in front of the speakers with my eyes shut and a silly little smile plastered over my face. The music that emanated from that single speaker filled the house, and it was good. Mark Knofflers guitar work is incredible and the speaker rendered the notes beautifully. Every track I played sounded amazing on the speaker. Whether it was the hauntingly beautiful voice of Sarah Brightman or Kelly Flints dulcet tones, everything sounded incredible and detailed. Heavier tracks are where the shortcomings of the speaker become apparent. Tracks like Pink Floyds High Hopes and Metallicas The God that failed, just dont have enough meat on them. The audio is room-filling, yes, but the punch from the bass is lacking and stereo separation just doesnt happen. The angled tweeter and midrange cones help in spreading the audio around the house/room, but they just cant replicate a stereo image as well as stereo speakers. Tracks with heavy vocals and guitar solos sound amazing because they can sound amazing without needing much stereo separation. Other genres do not sound that good. Dont get me wrong, I loved this speaker: I just wish there were two of them. Also, dont even bother playing back low bit-rate MP3 files on this speaker, its good enough to render all their flaws. A note on placement Being a single speaker with drivers firing out at an angle, this speaker is best placed in a corner of your house. Placing it anywhere else just doesnt work. When I placed the speaker beside my TV, 30 minutes of listening left me with the feeling that precisely one of my eardrums had worn out. Verdict and Price in India The Sony MHC-V50D is a superlative performer. Its design is limiting in that its a single speaker, but the device can truly shine in the right environment, and I can see it nestled snugly in a bedroom, studio apartment or small flat. The party features should also be great for those so inclined, but I honestly feel that it would be a waste of an incredible piece of hardware. To put the performance in perspective, Im running a pair of custom-built 150 W RMS tower speakers that are powered by a Yamaha stereo amp. This setup gets its audio directly from the TV as well as an AudioQuest DragonFly DAC. The entire setup cost me upwards of Rs 80,000. This Rs 33,000 Sony speaker is competitive with that, and less of a hassle to setup as well, thats how good it is. For true audiophiles, stereo is stereo and the V50D just cant compete. For everyone else, the V50D can be a very capable option. The only thing holding me back from recommending this speaker to all and sundry is that Apple's HomePod and Google Home Max are just around the corner. Find latest and upcoming tech gadgets online on Tech2 Gadgets. Get technology news, gadgets reviews & ratings. Popular gadgets including laptop, tablet and mobile specifications, features, prices, comparison. Dhaka: A special Bangladeshi tribunal on Wednesday sentenced to death six hardline Islamists, including a former lawmaker, for committing crimes against humanity and siding with the Pakistani troops in carrying out the genocide in 1971. A three-judge panel of Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-BD) handed down the capital punishment to the six members of the Jamaat-e-Islami saying, the charges against them were "proved beyond doubt." "They be convicted accordingly and sentenced there under to death under section 20(2) of the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act, 1973," pronounced chair of the panel Justice Shahinur Islam. The verdict came as Bangladesh nearly completed the long-delayed trial of 1971 war crimes since the high-powered tribunal was established in 2010. The tribunal is charged with the task to try persons responsible for committing genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and other crimes under international law committed during the country's 1971 Liberation War. The six men sentenced to death hail from northwestern Gaibandha and belong to fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami, the party which was opposed to Bangladesh's 1971 independence and joined hands with Pakistani troops in carrying out the genocide. But only one of the six convicts faced the trial in person while the rest, including former Jamaat lawmaker Abu Saleh Mohammad Abdul Aziz Mia, were tried in absentia as they were on the run. Under a special law, the convicts, however, could challenge the judgement before the apex Appellate Division of the Supreme Court. Bangladesh has so far executed six 1971 war crimes convicts, five of them Jamaat leaders and one Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader, the main Opposition since the trial process began in 2010. Washington: Silent for more than a week, President Donald Trump all but endorsed embattled Alabama Republican Senate nominee Roy Moore on Tuesday, discounting the sexual assault allegations against him and insisting repeatedly that voters must not support Moore's "liberal" rival. The president said he would announce next week whether he will campaign for Moore, who faces Democrat Doug Jones in a 12 December special election to fill the seat once held by Attorney-General Jeff Sessions. Trump, who won election despite facing more than a dozen accusations of sexual misconduct himself, dismissed questions from reporters about backing a Republican accused of sexual assault over a man who is a Democrat. Trump pointed to Moore's assertions that he did nothing wrong. "Roy Moore denies it, that's all I can say," Trump said. In fact, he repeated 10 times in a 5-minute session outside the White House that the GOP candidate has denied any wrongdoing. Two Alabama women have accused Moore of assault or molestation including one who says she was 14 at the time and six others have said he pursued romantic relationships when they were teenagers and he was a deputy district attorney in his 30s. Trump didn't explicitly say he was endorsing Moore, but he said with emphasis, "We don't need a liberal person in there.... We don't need somebody who's soft on crime like Jones." He also noted that the allegations came from behaviour alleged to have happened decades ago. "Forty years is a long time," Trump said, questioning why it took so long for Moore's accusers to come forward. Former Senator Sessions has said he has no reason to doubt the allegations against Moore, Republican leaders in Washington have called for Moore to leave the race, and the White House has repeatedly said Trump himself felt Moore would "do the right thing and step aside" if the allegations proved true. But Trump had been publicly silent until Tuesday when he exchanged questions and answers with reporters, shouting to be heard over the noise of his Marine helicopter, waiting to take him to Air Force One, which then flew him to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, for Thanksgiving. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan, both Republicans, have called on Moore to leave the race in light of the accusations. The Republican National Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee have pulled their support for his campaign. Trump backed incumbent Senator Luther Strange in a September Republican primary, but moved quickly to embrace Moore after he won. A White House official said Tuesday that Trump's attack on Jones did not amount to a formal endorsement of Moore, only that Trump was communicating that sending the Democrat to Washington would hamper his agenda. Republican leaders briefly explored the possibility of seeking a write-in candidate but have determined those efforts would only increase Jones' chances by splitting the GOP vote in the Republican state. Sessions has resisted pleas to mount a last-minute campaign for his old seat. The allegations against Moore come amid a national reckoning over misdeeds by powerful men in media, business and politics. Just Tuesday, longtime Michigan Representative John Conyers acknowledged that his office settled a sexual harassment complaint involving a former staffer, though he "vehemently" denied allegations in the complaint. BuzzFeed reported that Conyers' office paid a woman more than $27,000 under a confidentiality agreement to settle a complaint in 2015 that she was fired from his Washington staff because she rejected the Democrat's sexual advances. Trump said he was "very happy" that women are speaking out about their experiences. "I think it's a very special time because a lot of things are coming out, and I think that's good for our society and I think it's very, very good for women," he said. More than a dozen women came forward in the waning days of the 2016 presidential election to say that Trump had sexually assaulted or harassed them over the years. He denied it. A tape was also released catching him boasting in 2005 that he could grab women's private parts with impunity. "When you're a star, they let you do it," Trump said on the "Access Hollywood" tape. Trump, who has said all of his accusers lied, declined to answer Tuesday when asked why he does not believe Moore's accusers. Jones, Moore's senatorial opponent, served as a federal prosecutor in Alabama, where he brought charges against two Ku Klux Klan members over their roles in killing four girls in the 1963 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham. Jones began airing a new ad Monday that features statements made by Sessions, Alabama Senator Richard Shelby and first daughter Ivanka Trump responding to the allegations against Moore. Shelby, a fellow Republican, said he will "absolutely not" vote for Moore. Ivanka Trump said there's "a special place in hell" for people who prey on children. "I've yet to see a valid explanation, and I have no reason to doubt the victims' accounts," Ivanka Trump told the AP last week. The ad was the first direct assault by the Jones camp against Moore on the allegations. Moore's camp has begun firing back at the media and one of the accusers. His campaign held an afternoon news conference to vigorously question the account of Beverly Nelson, who said Moore assaulted her when she was a 16-year-old waitress. The campaign quoted two former restaurant employees and a former customer who said they did not remember Nelson working there or Moore eating there. Washington: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday spoke over phone with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to peacefully resolving the Syrian civil war, the White House said. During the lengthy conversation, the two leaders also discussed jointly fighting terrorist groups in the Middle East, including Islamic State and Al-Qaeda, and the Taliban in other parts, it said. "We had a great call with President Putin. We're talking about peace in Syria very important. We're talking about North Korea. We had a call that lasted almost an hour and a half," Trump told reporters before boarding Marine One on the White House lawns. "We're talking very strongly about bringing peace for Syria. We're talking very strongly about North Korea and Ukraine," he said. Both presidents supported the UN-led Geneva Process to peacefully resolve the Syrian civil war, end the humanitarian crisis, allow displaced Syrians to return home, and ensure the stability of a unified Syria free of malign intervention and terrorist safe havens, the White House said in a readout of the call. "The two presidents affirmed the importance of fighting terrorism together throughout the Middle East and Central Asia and agreed to explore ways to further cooperate in the fight against ISIS, Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and other terrorist organisations," it said. According to the White House, Trump and Putin also discussed how to implement a lasting peace in Ukraine, and the need to continue international pressure on North Korea to halt its nuclear weapon and missile programs. Trump and Putin spoke informally several times last week when they attended a summit in Vietnam. They agreed on a number of principles for the future of war-torn Syria. Trump spoke over phone with the Russian president, a day after Putin met with Syrian President Bashar Assad. Putin hosted Assad at a Black Sea resort ahead of a summit later this week with Russia, Turkey and Iran. The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Assad was called to Russia to get him to agree to potential peace initiatives drafted by Russia, Iran and Turkey. CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail will travel to Germany on Thursday for medical treatment and surgery and is expected to be there for three weeks, the cabinet said in a statement on Wednesday. Egypt's Prime Minister Sherif Ismail attends a ceremony in Cairo, Egypt, October 10, 2015. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh It did not specify the condition he would be treated for. The cabinet spokesman said the presidency would choose someone to perform the premiers duties in Ismails absence. This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. THE HAGUE (Reuters) - A U.N. tribunal on Wednesday convicted former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic of genocide and crimes against humanity for orchestrating massacres and ethnic cleansing during Bosnias war and sentenced him to life in prison. Mladic, 74, was hustled out of the court minutes before the verdict for screaming this is all lies, you are all liars after returning from what his son described as a blood pressure test which delayed the reading-out of the judgment. The U.N. Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) found Mladic guilty of 10 of 11 charges, including the slaughter of 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica and the siege of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, in which more than 10,000 civilians were killed by shelling and sniper fire over 43 months. The killings in Srebrenica of men and boys after they were separated from women and taken away in buses or marched off to be shot amounted to Europes worst atrocity since World War Two. The crimes committed rank among the most heinous known to humankind, and include genocide and extermination as a crime against humanity, Presiding Judge Alphons Orie said in reading out a summary of the judgment. Many of these men and boys were cursed, insulted, threatened, forced to sing Serb songs and beaten while awaiting their execution, he said. Mladic had pleaded not guilty to all charges. His legal team said he would appeal against the verdict. The Butcher of Bosnia to his enemies and critics, Mladic was the most notorious of the ICTYs 161 indictees, along with former Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic and late Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic. In its summary, the tribunal found Mladic significantly contributed to genocide committed in Srebrenica with the goal of destroying its Muslim population, personally directed the long bombardment of Sarajevo and was part of a joint criminal enterprise intending to purge Muslims and Croats from Bosnia. GREATER SERBIA Prosecutors said the ultimate plan pursued by Mladic, Karadzic and Milosevic was to purge Bosnia of non-Serbs - a strategy that came to be known worldwide as ethnic cleansing - and carve out a Greater Serbia in the ashes of Yugoslavia. ICTY Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz called the judgment a milestone. It is the last major decision by the ICTY, which plans to close its doors soon after sentencing 83 Balkan war criminals since opening in 1993. In Geneva, U.N. human rights chief Zeid Raad al-Hussein called Mladic the epitome of evil and said his conviction after 16 years as an indicted fugitive and over four years of trial was a momentous victory for justice. Todays verdict is a warning to the perpetrators of such crimes that they will not escape justice, no matter how powerful they may be nor how long it may take, Zeid said in a statement. RESPECT THE VICTIMS, LOOK TO THE FUTURE -SERBIA Aleksandar Vucic, president of Serbia whose late nationalist strongman Milosevic was Mladics patron but died in a tribunal prison before the end of his trial, said Serbia respects the victims and called for a focus on the future. I would like to call on everyone (in the region) to start looking into the future and not to drown in tears of the past... We need to look to the future...so we finally have a stable country, Vucic told reporters when asked about the verdict. Serbia, once the most powerful Yugoslav republic, is now democratic and seeking ties to the European Union. Bosnian Prime Minister Denis Zvizdic said he hoped that those who still call for new divisions and conflicts will carefully read the verdict rendered today ...in case that they are still no ready to face their past. Ex-Bosnian Serb wartime general Ratko Mladic appears in court at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the Hague, Netherlands November 22, 2017. REUTERS/Peter Dejong/PoolHe was alluding to enduring separatism in post-war federal Bosnias autonomous Serb region. Srebrenica, near Bosnias eastern border with Serbia, had been designated a safe area by the United Nations and was defended by lightly armed U.N. peacekeepers. But they quickly surrendered when Mladics forces stormed it on July 11, 1995. SREBRENICA SLAUGHTER The Dutch peacekeepers looked on helplessly as Serb forces separated men and boys from women, then sent them out of sight on buses or marched them away to be shot. A bronzed and burly Mladic was filmed visiting a refugee camp in Srebrenica on July 12. He was giving away chocolate and sweets to the children while the cameras were rolling, telling us nothing will happen and that we have no reason to be afraid, recalled Munira Subasic of the Mothers of Srebrenica group. After the cameras left he gave an order to kill whoever could be killed, rape whoever could be raped and finally he ordered us all to be banished and chased out of Srebrenica, so he could make an ethnically clean city, she told Reuters. The remains of Subasics son Nermin and husband Hilmo were both found in mass graves by International Commission of Missing Persons (ICMP) workers. The ICMP have identified some 6,900 remains of Srebrenica victims through DNA analysis. Slideshow (11 Images)While (this conviction) does not end the suffering of those relatives who have waited more than 20 years to see this day, seeing justice delivered might offer them some closure, said John Dalhuisen of rights group Amnesty International. It is also an important reminder that more than 20 years after the Bosnian war, thousands of cases of enforced disappearances remain unresolved, and victims and their families continue to be denied access to justice, truth and reparation. Mladic is still seen as a national hero by some Serbs for presiding over the swift capture of 70 percent of Bosnia after its Serbs rose up against a Muslim-Croat referendum vote for independence from Serbian-led federal Yugoslavia. In their appeal against Wednesdays verdict, Mladics lawyers will argue that Bosnian Serbs were victims of the 1992 referendum and went to war in self-defence. Mladics lawyers have said Sarajevo was a legitimate military target as it was the main bastion of Muslim-led Bosnian government forces. They also asserted that Mladic left Srebrenica shortly before Serb fighters began executing Muslim detainees and was later shocked to find out they had occurred. Mladics son, Darko, told reporters the court was biased against Serbs and alleged it had failed to pursue cases on behalf of Serb victims of Bosnian Muslim atrocities. But defence lawyers fell short in swaying the ICTY given the mountain of evidence of Serb atrocities produced at previous trials. Four of Mladics subordinates received life sentences. Karadzic was convicted of genocide in 2016 and sentenced to 40 years, and is appealing. FIVE-YEAR TRIAL Mladic was indicted along with Karadzic in 1995, shortly after the Srebrenica killings, but evaded capture until 2011. His trial in The Hague took five years in part because of delays due to his poor health and will be the last case - barring appeals - to be heard by the ICTY. Mladic has suffered several strokes, though ICTY judges rejected a flurry of last-minute attempts by defence lawyers to put off the verdict on medical grounds. The ICTY indicted 161 people in all from Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo. Of the 83 convicted, more than 60 of them were ethnic Serbs. This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. CAMERA Featured Letter-Writer | Main | The Washington Posts Hollywood Approach to History November 22, 2017 Duke University Press Criticized for Publication of Jasbir Puars Right to Maim? Jasbir Puar is the Rutgers University professor who first coined the term pinkwashing? to denigrate Israels progressive record on LGBTQ rights, and who made the baseless claim at a 2016 lecture at Vassar College that Israel harvests organs from the bodies of dead Palestinians, a modern day blood libel. Despite being called a raving crackpot? by the editorial board of the liberal-leaning New York Daily News, Puar has a new book out this month from Duke University Press. The book has generated a firestorm of controversy for the publisher as well as for Duke and Rutgers. In an Op-Ed published in the Durham, North Carolina paper the Herald-Sun, Peter Reitzes writes, In The Right to Maim,? Puar continues what appear to be thinly veiled comparisons of Israelis to Nazis. Puar wonders if Gaza is not a death camp but a debilitation camp,? asks, Is Gaza an experimental lab for the production, maintenance, and profitability of biopolitical debilitation?? and states, The understanding of maiming as a specific aim of biopolitics tests the framing of settler colonialism as a project of elimination of the indigenous through either genocide or assimilation.? Poor scholarship what one historian called academic garbage? plagues The Right to Maim.? For example, Puar quotes a professor of psychiatry from Al Jazeera America (not from a peer reviewed study) saying, Palestinian children in Gaza are exposed to more violence in their lifetime than any other people, any other children, anywhere in the world.? Puar attempts to support this allegation by citing the study, Effect of Trauma on the Mental Health of Palestinian Children and Mothers in the Gaza Strip? published in the Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal. I took the time to obtain and read this study and was surprised to see that it appears to conclude the opposite: Compared to other types of conflict in war zones, events [in Gaza] were not as acute,? it reports, and The most common type of traumatic event was seeing victims pictures on television.? Why would DUP publish a book like Puars with such poor scholarship and obvious anti-Semitic overtones? Why, in fact, has DUP brought Puar aboard as an editor? Perhaps the problem lies within bias in DUPs own staff and policies. [T]here are a large number of personnel involved with DUP who appear to selectively attack Israel and advocate for positions that delegitimize, demonize, and utilize double standards against Israel. Does DUP staff treat other countries in this manner, or is it just Israel, the only Jewish majority country in the world, which receives such treatment? Moreover, Asaf Romirowsky, Executive Director of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, has told the Duke Chronicle that he considered the book's thesis of maiming individuals in order to dehumanize a total fallacy. Romirowsky added that in conflict areas, violence exists on both sides, but Israel abides by rules of engagement.? For a certain segment of the population, there is simply no right way that Israel can defend itself from attack. Unfortunately, such individuals are increasingly finding comfortable homes in academia. Posted by kabe at November 22, 2017 04:18 PM I am beginning to understand why the German courts sentenced a German journalist to 6 months in jail for publishing a photo of a high Nazi official erroneously labeled as Hitler and a following article defining factual the esteem and relationship the Nazis held Islam in. Imagine the fall out if in anyway even extensially the connection between Nazis and Islam became more apparent and the facts more widely known. Bottom feeders like Puar seem to get away with antisemitism because they are not Nazis and her speech is free speech not hate speech. Of course its convoluted protecting anti semitism while trying to appear to be impartial and fair is always convoluted by liberal socialists. Posted by: jeb at November 30, 2017 12:13 PM Guidelines for posting This is a moderated blog. We will not post comments that include racism, bigotry, threats, or factually inaccurate material. Post a comment THE HAGUE (Reuters) - The U.N. tribunal on war crimes in former Yugoslavia hands down its final verdict on Wednesday in the genocide trial of Ratko Mladic, the ex-Bosnian Serb general accused of ordering the massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica. File picture: Former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic attends his trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) at The Hague May 16, 2012.. REUTERS/Toussaint Kluiters/Pool Prosecutors demanded a life sentence for Mladic, 74, who was the Serb army commander in Bosnias 1992-95 war and is also charged with crimes against humanity over the siege of Sarajevo in which 11,000 civilians died from shelling and sniper fire. The Srebrenica slaughter was Europes worst atrocity since World War Two. Mladic faced 11 charges in total and pleaded not guilty to all of them. He is expected to appeal if convicted. Srebrenica, near Bosnias eastern border with Serbia, had been designated a safe area by the United Nations and was defended by lightly armed U.N. peacekeepers. But they quickly surrendered when Mladics forces stormed it on July 11, 1995. The Dutch peacekeepers looked on helplessly as Serb forces separated men and boys from women, then sent them out of sight on buses or marched them away to be shot. A bronzed and burly Mladic was filmed visiting a refugee camp in Srebrenica on July 12. He was giving away chocolate and sweets to the children while the cameras were rolling, telling us nothing will happen and that we have no reason to be afraid, recalled Munira Subasic of the Mothers of Srebrenica group. After the cameras left he gave an order to kill whoever could be killed, rape whoever could be raped and finally he ordered us all to be banished and chased out of Srebrenica, so he could make an ethnically clean city, she told Reuters. The remains of Subasics son Nermin and husband Hilmo were both found in mass graves by International Commission of Missing Persons (ICMP) workers. The ICMP have identified some 6,900 remains of Srebrenica victims through DNA analysis. Mladics lawyers argued that his responsibility for murder and ethnic cleansing of civilians by Serb forces and allied paramilitaries was never established beyond reasonable doubt and he should get no more than 15 years if convicted. The Butcher of Bosnia to his enemies, Mladic is still seen as a national hero by compatriots for presiding over the swift capture of 70 percent of Bosnia after its Serbs rose up against a Muslim-Croat declaration of independence from Yugoslavia. GREATER SERBIA Prosecutors said the ultimate plan pursued by Mladic, Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic and Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic was to purge Bosnia of non-Serbs - a strategy that became known as ethnic cleansing - and carve out a Greater Serbia in the ashes of old federal Yugoslavia. In arguing for Mladic to be imprisoned for life, prosecutor Alan Tieger said anything else would be an insult to victims and an affront to justice. Mladic was indicted along with Karadzic in 1995, shortly after the Srebrenica killings, but evaded capture until 2011. His trial in The Hague took more than four years in part because of delays due to his poor health and will be the last case - barring appeals - to be heard by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). From the legal point of view we expect the court to release the general, Mladics son Darko told Reuters. During the trial we have not seen any evidence against him. What we are worried about now is his health. Mladic has suffered several strokes, though U.N. judges rejected a flurry of last-minute attempts by defence lawyers to put off the verdict on medical grounds. But his lawyers faced an uphill battle, given a mountain of evidence of Serb atrocities produced in previous trials. Four of Mladics subordinates have received life sentences, while Karadzic was convicted in 2016 and sentenced to 40 years. Milosevic, who defended himself, died in prison in 2006 before a verdict was reached in his case. Mladics lawyers argued that Sarajevo was a legitimate military target as it was the main bastion of Muslim-led Bosnian government forces. They also asserted that Mladic left Srebrenica shortly before Serb fighters began executing Muslim detainees and was later shocked to find out they had occurred. However, prosecutors argued that under war crimes law, even if Mladic did not directly order the killings, he should have known what his subordinates were doing, and would be liable for failing to punish those who committed atrocities. The ICTY indicted 161 people in all from Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo. It has convicted 83, more than 60 of them ethnic Serbs. [L8N1NL7ZT] This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. In a major boost to India's international standing, Dalveer Bhandari was elected to the last remaining seat on the International Court of Justice on Monday, after Britain withdrew Christopher Greenwood's candidacy. Bhandari is an accomplished jurist and had served on the Supreme Court of India before joining the ICJ. At the Supreme Court, he delivered judgments on comparative law, public interest litigations, constitutional law, criminal law, etc. At the ICJ, he adjudicated matters involving maritime disputes, whaling in Antarctica, genocide crimes, nuclear disarmament, terror financing, etc. And yet, when he was re-elected, the victory was termed "diplomatic". BJP president Amit Shah described Bhandari's re-election as a "huge diplomatic win" and applauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. Shah said the win is a reflection of a "strong and decisive" leadership. Swaraj, while congratulating Bhandari, made sure that she mentioned India's Permanent Representative in the UN, Syed Akbaruddin, while also hailing her ministry's team. Rosa Freedman in The Conversation recognised the importance of politics in the election. "It was politics, not candidate suitability, that determined this recent election," she wrote. Detailing how the permanent members of the Security Council have extraordinary influence over the functioning of the UN, she pointed out that an American usually heads the Department of Political Affairs, a French national traditionally leads peacekeeping operations, etc. Thus, while the permanent members are able to keep their powers by vetoing changes, reforms are taking place in other ways, including elections, according to Freedman. In this context, it's likely that the ICJ election was only the first of many challenges to their de facto powers that the permanent members will face. Further, the UK also lost support from the likes of France and Germany due to resentment over Brexit, according to Hindustan Times. Furthermore, the report added, apart for France and Germany, the US also told its mission that it was facing loss of face due to the increasing support for Bhandari. India went all in to ensure Bhandari's re-election It's clear that diplomacy played an extremely important role in Bhandari's election. PTI reported that intense efforts were made since June when India announced Bhandari's candidature for the ICJ, and support was sought from nearly 175 nations, which ultimately culminated in his re-election. According to officials, Swaraj directly spoke with her counterparts from nearly 60 countries to push Bhandari's case. In the run up to the re-election, India ran an intense campaign in favour of Bhandari. It raised the issue at every possible meeting at various levels, an official said. Even at the highest level, Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself raised the issue during meetings with world leaders. Apart from Swaraj and ministers of state in the external affairs ministry, MJ Akbar and VK Singh, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar and three secretaries in the ministry were also involved in canvassing votes, according to Hindustan Times. An official monitoring the situation in New Delhi told Hindustan Times that India had to work extra hard, as "defeating the UK in the UN Security Council is not possible because each permanent member usually supports the other". Instead, New Delhi worked on getting the numbers in the General Assembly. The Indian Express detailed how after the first round of voting on 10 December, India started building on Bhandari's 115-76 lead. A messaging group on an encrypted messaging app was created with the the foreign secretary, secretaries in the external affairs ministry, and the permanent representative at the UN. The group was used for real-time coordination and to exchange information without depending on coded and ciphered messages. India also benefited from the time-difference between New York and New Delhi, said the report. One of India's diplomats in New York was quoted as saying in The Indian Express report: "While we were sleeping in New York, New Delhi was working the phones.... When we woke up, we had to reconfirm the assurances given in New Delhi to South Block officials with the country's envoys in New York. So, while New Delhi slept, we were working, and then reporting the feedback." India's efforts worked, as after Bhandari secured 121 out of 193 votes in the General Assembly, and the UK withdrew its candidate, securing Bhandari's election. Win a sign of UK's decline and India's rise Furthermore, writing for Firstpost, former diplomat Jitendra Nath Misra pointed out that the UK is in decline and Indians know it. On the same day as Greenwood was defeated, London also lost the right to host the European Medicines Agency to Amsterdam, and the European Banking Authority to Paris. "In backing down, Britain took the pragmatic, if painful, step of adjusting to a changing world, and a new India," he wrote. "India's rise to the international high table too was a factor in Bhandari's election. The resilience of its democracy, its economic growth and its soft power attributes make India an attractive model for state engineering." Further, while UK still has the great power of the veto, Bhandari's election shows the ever shifting sands of diplomacy at the UN. The British considered invoking a little-known provision in the UN Charter which allowed for an arbitration process known as a "joint conference" to try to resolve such an impasse, the BBC reported. The UK chose not to use this process, fearing either it would not get enough support in the UN Security Council, or that the competition would become too bitter and potentially disrupt the UK's economic relations with India, according to the BBC report. With inputs from agencies BERLIN (Reuters) - Half of Germans are in favour of calling a new election after Chancellor Angela Merkel failed to reach a deal to form a new coalition with two other parties, while a fifth back forming a minority government, an opinion poll showed on Wednesday. German Chancellor Angela Merkel attends a session of the Bundestag in Berlin. REUTERS/Axel SchmidtThe poll, conducted by INSA for the Bild daily, showed 49.9 percent favouring another election. It also showed 48.5 percent think the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) are right to rule out joining a new grand coalition with Merkels conservatives, which only 18 percent would favour. The SPD lost ground in the September election after sharing power with Merkel for the last four years. The collapse of talks between Merkels conservative bloc, the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and environmentalist Greens has thrown Germany into political uncertainty and raised the prospect of new elections. The poll showed that 28 percent blame FDP leader Christian Lindner for the failure of the talks, followed by 27 percent, who blame Merkel, while only 13 percent blame Greens leader Cem Ozdemir. Four out of 10 people polled say Merkel should run again as chancellor if new elections are called, while 24 percent would prefer another candidate for her Christian Democrats (CDU), although there is little consensus on who that should be. The poll showed that most voters would prefer a coalition between the CDU and FDP after new elections, followed by a coalition between SPD, Greens and the left-wing Linke. However, the poll showed that a new election would bring little change to the results of the September vote, with the CDU down slightly on 30 percent, the SPD steady on 21 percent, the Greens on 10 percent and the FDP on 11 percent. That would still mean that the only possible coalitions with a majority would be between the CDU and the SPD or between the CDU, FDP and Greens. This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. ROME (Reuters) - Lawyers for Silvio Berlusconi will argue on Wednesday to the European Court of Human Rights against his ban on holding public office, hoping for a green light that will allow him to run for premier at Italys election early next year. FILE PHOTO: Forza Italia leader Silvio Berlusconi gestures during EPP European People's Party meeting in Fiuggi, Italy, September 17, 2017. REUTERS/Remo Casilli/File PhotoThe four-times prime minister appealed to the Strasbourg court in 2013 after a criminal conviction for tax fraud triggered his expulsion from the Senate and a bar from office until 2019. The billionaire media tycoon was widely written off after he quit as prime minister in 2011 amid a sex scandal involving his bunga bunga parties, while Italian bond yields surged to unsustainable levels at the height of the euro zone debt crisis. However, the 81-year-old Berlusconi has made a remarkable comeback after recovering from open heart surgery last year and his Forza Italia (Go Italy!) party is now the lynchpin of a centre-right coalition which leads in opinion polls ahead of the election. The Berlusconi versus Italy case will be heard by 17 judges who make up the courts Grand Chamber, which is used for particularly important and complex matters. Berlusconi has hired a top London law firm to represent him. FILE PHOTO : Italy's former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi gestures during the television talk show "Porta a Porta" (Door to Door) in Rome, Italy June 21, 2017. REUTERS/Remo Casilli/File PhotoThe court will not issue a verdict on Wednesday, and even if it eventually decides in favour of Berlusconi the ruling may not come in time for him to run in the election, which must be held by May next year. Berlusconi argues that because the tax fraud took place many years before the 2013 Italian law that bars him from running for office was passed, the legislation is being applied retroactively and is therefore illegitimate. FILE PHOTO: Forza Italia party leader Silvio Berlusconi gestures during a rally for the regional election in Palermo, Italy, November 1, 2017. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane/File PhotoBerlusconi received a four-year prison sentence in August 2013 for organising a complex scheme to illegally lower the tax bill of his Mediaset media company. Three of the four years were immediately waived due to an amnesty to relieve prison overcrowding, and he was allowed to serve the remaining year in community service, helping out in an old peoples home. With or without Berlusconi, the election is expected to produce a hung parliament. The anti-establishment 5-Star Movement leads in opinion polls with around 28 percent of the vote, followed by the ruling centre-left Democratic Party on about 25 percent. The centre-right bloc is made up of Forza Italia and the anti-immigrant Northern League, each on around 14 percent, and the right-wing Brothers of Italy, with around 5 percent. This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanons army chief told his soldiers on Tuesday to be extra vigilant to prevent unrest during political turmoil after the prime minister quit, and accused Israel of aggressive intentions at the southern frontier. Israeli soldiers patrol near the Lebanese-Israeli border as seen from the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, Lebanon November 21, 2017. REUTERS/ Karamallah DaherTroops should be ready to thwart any attempt to exploit the current circumstances for stirring strife, the armys Twitter account quoted General Joseph Aoun as saying ahead of Independence Day celebrations on Wednesday. The exceptional political situation that Lebanon is going through requires you to exercise the highest levels of awareness. Aoun called on troops to assume full readiness at the southern border to face the threats of the Israeli enemy, its violations, and the aggressive intentions it is indicating towards Lebanon. A senior Israeli official dismissed the warnings of border aggression as nonsense. Lebanon was thrust back onto the forefront of regional rivalry between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran, after its prime minister quit this month in a broadcast from Riyadh. In his shock resignation, Saad al-Hariri railed against the Iran-backed Shiite military and political movement Hezbollah, which both Saudi Arabia and Israel consider an enemy. The Lebanese president has refused to accept Hariris resignation until he returns to Lebanon. The Saudis have demanded that Hezbollah stop meddling in regional conflicts and say it must disarm. Hezbollah has long said it must keep its arsenal to protect Lebanon from Israel, and its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah accused the Saudis this month of inciting Israel to attack Lebanon. He said he could not rule out a new clash with Israel, although he described it as unlikely. In a televised speech on Monday, Nasrallah suggested the Saudis and Israelis were working together. A U.N. peacekeeper patrols near the Lebanese-Israeli border as seen in southern village of Adaisseh, Lebanon November 21, 2017. REUTERS/ Karamallah DaherTensions grew earlier this year between Israel and Hezbollah, which fought a month-long war in 2006 that killed around 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 160 Israelis, most of them troops. Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinmetz said this week that Israel has had covert contacts with Riyadh amid common concerns over Iran, a rare disclosure by a senior official from either country of long-rumoured secret dealings. ALL OUR MIGHT Israeli soldiers patrol near the Lebanese-Israeli border as seen from the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, November 21, 2017.REUTERS/ Karamallah DaherBut Israel dismissed claims that it is planning military action against Hezbollah at the behest of Saudi Arabia. We are not interested in an escalation with Lebanon, Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett, a member of the security cabinet, told Reuters about the accusation of Israeli-Saudi collusion. However, Bennett added: If rockets are fired from Lebanon at Israeli cities, then we will see that as a declaration of war by the state of Lebanon and will act with all our might. In Israel, where the 2006 war was widely seen as inconclusive, there is little in the public mood or political discourse to suggest fighting with Hezbollah is imminent. But Israeli officials have voiced deep concern about Iran and Hezbollahs expanding influence in the region. The Saudis and Israel definitely have common interests today, including the threat from Iran, Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked said in a radio interview last week. The countries coming together could serve both of them. But, Shaked said, we dont work for anyone. We first and foremost look out for our interests. This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. From the widely acclaimed liberator of his nation to a despotic dictator, Robert Mugabe's 37-year rule of Zimbabwe has been one of Africa's most controversial and influential, and his resignation as president on Tuesday shocked many around the world. It also plunged the nation into relative uncertainty, raising institutional questions over succession although the military will likely retain power for some time now. UK prime minister Theresa May hailed the development and said, "The resignation of Robert Mugabe provides Zimbabwe with an opportunity to forge a new path free of the oppression that characterised his rule. In recent days, we have seen the desire of the Zimbabwean people for free and fair elections and the opportunity to rebuild the country's economy under a legitimate government." Rebuilding democracy and economy in the country will be an uphill task, but here is what can be expected in the near future (with inputs from AFP's interview with Derek Matyszak, an analyst at the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies): What now? "I think we're going to see (ousted vice-president) Emmerson Mnangagwa sworn in very quickly... As far as I understand (second vice-president Mphoko Phelekezela) is not in the country right now. The cabinet should meet if there's no president or vice-president and appoint one," Matyszak said. The current crisis was triggered by a dispute over who would succeed Mugabe, and in his resignation letter, the 93-year-old president did not suggest who would succeed him. Whoever takes over will only be there for "an interim period" he said, noting that Mugabe's ZANU-PF had already chosen Mnangagwa as their replacement leader to stand in elections slated for 2018. "The acting president is only supposed to be there for an interim period, while they wait for (the ruling) ZANU-PF to nominate a replacement for Mugabe but they have already nominated Mnangagwa as their choice for elections in 2018." Who is Emmerson Mnangagwa? On Tuesday, erstwhile vice-president Mnangagwa, whose firing led to the military intervention, broke his silence and urged the embattled leader to resign. "The people of Zimbabwe have spoken with one voice and it is my appeal to Mugabe that he should take heed of this clarion call by the people of Zimbabwe to resign, so that the country can move forward and preserve his legacy," Mnangagwa said in a statement. Mnangagwa fled Zimbabwe shortly after being sacked by Mugabe early in November. The crisis followed a factional squabble in the ruling ZANU-PF party over the 93-year-old Mugabe's successor. Mnangagwa said he had rejected an invitation by Mugabe to return home to discuss the current political situation. "I told the president that I would not return home now until I am satisfied of my personal security, because of the manner and treatment given to me upon being fired." However, Mnangagwas role as the likely successor has raised many concerns, The New York Times reported. He was accused of orchestrating the crackdown in the 1980s in which thousands of members of the Ndebele ethnic group lost their lives. He was also accused of being behind deadly violence in 2008 a bid to rig polls in favor of Mugabe, a claim Mnangagwa denies. At least a semblance of legitimacy especially for a government led by Mnangagwa, who is known to enforce some of Mugabes most ruthless policies will be critical in gaining recognition from regional governments and international lenders. What of the Opposition? "What the Opposition should be doing is to use this moment to try and mobilise and lobby for the introduction of a more democratic dispensation," Matyszak said. In his first remarks since the military takeover, Mnangagwa had on Tuesday appeared to make overtures to the Opposition, he said. "Mnangagwa's statement did mention that he is prepared to reach out to the Opposition." Zimbabwes main Opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, described Mugabe's resignation as a "new beginning for everyone in the country", News24 reported. "Its a good moment for Mugabe too as he now gets a chance to rest. It is an irreversible moment for us as citizens. Its a fresh start for all. We would get to usher in the rule of law and build our democracy," a party official said. The official added that everyone hopes for a free and fair election to take place in 2018 as scheduled, the report said. "A free, fair and democratic election is supposed to take place in June or July next year. We are hoping that we are going to be able to stick to that mandate. We should be able to usher in a democratic government then." What about the economy? "The new leader needs to present a friendly face to the international community. The country is on the brink of an economic meltdown. If that meltdown occurs, the military won't get paid and you will have a possibility of another coup," Matyszak said. "A lot needs to be done and done very quickly." AP called Mugabe's mismanagement of Zimbabwe's economy "staggering". A piece published on the agency's platform says that the country has been transformed from one that could offer good employment opportunities to its well-educated population to a place of so little hope that people left in droves. An estimated 3 million Zimbabweans are in neighboring South Africa, and it is routine to find a former schoolteacher working as a waitress at a Johannesburg restaurant. Tens of thousands of Zimbabweans are in Britain. And the 13 million who stayed behind in Zimbabwe have coped with an unemployment rate estimated at higher than 80 percent, the report added. The industrial sector is estimated to be operating at less than 30 percent of its capacity, while tourism has dried up to a trickle. With significant deposits of diamonds, platinum, gold and chrome, Zimbabwe's mining sector has continued to function, but Mugabe's frequent threats of nationalisation significantly discouraged foreign investment. What about Mugabe's family? Several experts point out that Mugabe's downfall began the moment he tried to position his wife, Grace, as his successor. Although she was a newcomer to national politics and had no role in the nations liberation war, she made clear that she wanted to be president and ridiculed politicians who had been waiting decades to succeed her husband, The New York Times report said. Others say that Mugabe's modest tastes through the 1980s changed after his marriage to Grace. They built a 25-bedroom mansion on a sprawling property in Harare's Borrowdale suburb that became known as the Blue Roof house for its turquoise tiles imported from China. Sporting designer clothes, shoes and sparkling jewels, the first lady became known as "Gucci Grace." In the last months of Mugabe's rule, the family's lavish ways became outlandish, even to Zimbabwe's jaded public. Grace Mugabe pressed a lawsuit against a Lebanese diamond dealer in which she charged she had paid him for a 100-carat diamond but he only gave her a gem of 30 carats. One of the couple's sons posted images on social media of himself pouring champagne over his diamond-encrusted watch. Grace has not been spotted in the country since the military takeover of the government, Express reported, adding that reports suggest that she has now been arrested. "She was taken away both to prevent them colluding and conspiring, and to isolate her husband further," the report quoted a military official as saying. It is, then, safe to assume that the erstwhile first family will have no role in the political changes in Harare over the next months. With inputs from agencies WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A federal grand jury on Tuesday indicted Sayfullo Saipov on terrorism and murder charges stemming from last months truck attack in Lower Manhattan in which eight people were killed, the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement. Saipov was arrested immediately after the Oct. 31 attack in which he ploughed a truck down a New York City bike lane and has been in federal custody. The indictment charged Saipov with eight counts of murder, 12 counts of attempted murder, one count of providing and attempting to provide material support to Islamic State and one count of violence and destruction of a motor vehicle resulting in death, the Justice Department said. Saipov, an Uzbek immigrant, was hospitalized after he was shot by a police officer and arrested. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the truck attack, which was the deadliest assault on New York City since Sept. 11, 2001. Five of the victims were Argentinians who were part of a group in New York to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their high school graduation. A Belgian woman, a New Yorker and a New Jersey man were also killed. This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. GENEVA (Reuters) - The conviction of former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic for genocide and crimes against humanity serves as a warning to others such as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the United Nations human rights chief said on Wednesday. Ex-Bosnian Serb wartime general Ratko Mladic appears in court at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the Hague, Netherlands November 22, 2017. REUTERS/Peter Dejong/PoolEarlier on Wednesday the U.N. Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) found Mladic guilty of the slaughter of 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica and for the siege of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, in which more than 10,000 civilians were killed by shelling and snipers over 43 months. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad al-Hussein, who worked for the United Nations in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, told Reuters he had waited a long time for the life sentence handed down against Mladic. Mladic is the epitome of evil and the prosecution of Mladic is the epitome of international justice, Zeid said in an interview in his Geneva office. Noting that Mladic is now 74 but was in his 50s at the time of his crimes, Zeid said the case showed justice would catch up with other leaders who trampled over human rights. The passage of time is no protection. Eventually I hope all those who have authored these appalling atrocities across the world will be held accountable before a court of law and there will be justice for the victims of those particular crimes. Pressed on whether that would include Assad, he said: FILE PHOTO: U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein leaves after paying his respects to the of six Jesuit priests and two employees who were killed by government military forces during the Salvadoran civil war, at the Central American University (UCA) in San Salvador, El Salvador, November 16, 2017. REUTERS/Jose CabezasYes. Its very clear to us that what happened in Syria recently and not limited to Syria, in many parts of the world, were so grotesque that if a court of law on the basis of evidence were to prosecute senior leaders then you would expect that some of them would be held responsible. Assad and his government deny committing rights abuses and say they are engaged in a legitimate struggle against terrorist groups including Islamic State. Trials are led by evidence, Zeid said. Mothers of victims pose with photos during the trial of former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic before a court at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the Hague, Netherlands, November 22, 2017. REUTERS/Michael KoorenAnd so whatever trials are mounted in the future, if the evidence leads to the very senior rungs of leadership, then you would indeed hope this takes place. In the end there is justice, he added. U.N. war crimes investigators documenting massacres and other atrocities in Syria have accused all sides of grave crimes including the governments use of chemical weapons against civilians more than two dozen times, as well as executions, torture and rapes. Paulo Pinheiro, chairman of the U.N. Commission of Inquiry on Syria, said last year that the scale of deaths in prisons indicated that the Assad government was responsible for extermination as a crime against humanity. Syrias civil war, now in its seventh year, has killed hundreds of thousands of people and created the worlds worst refugee crisis, driving more than 11 million people from their homes. This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - A Pakistani court on Wednesday ordered the release from house arrest of Islamist leader Hafiz Saeed, who accused by the United States and India of masterminding the 2008 Mumbai attacks in which 166 people were killed, a prosecutor said. Hafiz Saeed is showered with flower petals as he walks to court before a Pakistani court ordered his release from house arrest in Lahore, Pakistan November 22, 2017. REUTERS/Mohsin RazaSaeed was put under house arrest in January after years of living freely in Pakistan, one of the sore points in its fraying relationship with the United States. His freedom had also infuriated Pakistans arch-foe, India. The government of Pakistans Punjab province had asked for a 60-day extension to Saeeds detention but the request was turned down by the court, prosecutor Sattar Sahil told Reuters. His previous detention for 30 days is over, which means he would be released tomorrow, said Sahil. Saeed has repeatedly denied involvement in the Mumbai attacks when 10 gunmen attacked targets in Indias largest city, including two luxury hotels, a Jewish centre and a train station in a rampage that lasted several days. The violence brought nuclear-armed neighbours Pakistan and India to the brink of war. The United States had offered a $10 million bounty for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Saeed, who heads the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD). Hafiz Saeed (C) reacts to supporters as he walks out of court after a Pakistani court ordered his release from house arrest in Lahore, Pakistan November 22, 2017. REUTERS/Mohsin RazaMembers say the Jamaat-ud-Dawa is a charity but the United States says it is a front for the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant group. The review board of the Lahore High Court asked the Punjab government to produce evidence against Hafiz Saeed for keeping him detained but the government failed, Saeeds lawyer A. K. Dogar told Reuters. Slideshow (2 Images)The court today said that there is nothing against Saeed, therefore he should be released, he added. A spokesman for Indias foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. India accused Pakistan of sponsoring the attacks through the LeT, which Saeed founded in the 1990s. Pakistan has denied any state involvement in the attack. It placed the LeT on a list of banned organizations in 2002. The leader of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, Hafiz Saeeds (may God protect him) internment is over, Nadeem Awan, a media manager for JuD, wrote on Facebook after the court order. This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. A judicial review board of Pakistan's Punjab province on Wednesday ordered the release of 26/11 Mumbai attack mastermind and banned Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed, who has been under house arrest since January. Rejecting the government's plea to extend his detention for another three months, the board ordered Saeed's release. The board had in October agreed to a months extension of Saeeds house arrest, which is due to expire next week, The Indian Express reported. "The government is ordered to release JuD chief Hafiz Saeed if he is not wanted in any other case," the board said. Strict security arrangements were taken at the LHC premises during Saeed's appearance before the board. A large number of JuD workers also gathered on the courts premises. After the decision, Saeed's supporters chanted slogans in favour of their leader. According to CNN-News 18, Saeed would be free until the Pakistan government files review petition in other cases against Saeed. Saeed's lawyer AK Dogar told CNN-News18 that if his client was guilty, he should be punished. "But if there is no evidence against him, the court cannot pronounce him guilty." "The government cannot afford to set Saeed free in the current circumstance. It cannot face international backlash in the event of releasing the JuD chief," an official source told PTI. However, on Tuesday, an official of Punjab Home Department had submitted before the review board that release of Saeed could lead to the imposition of international sanctions on Pakistan. "We plead the board not to order the release of Saeed as Pakistan may face international sanctions," an official of the department had requested. On 11 November, Pakistani authorities had written to the Punjab home department asking it to take stringent measures for the security of Saeed, claiming a "foreign intelligence agency" had planned to kill him. Last month, the board had allowed a 30-day extension to the detention of Saeed which will expire next week. The board's order paved the way for Saeed's release. On 31 January, Saeed and his four aides Abdullah Ubaid, Malik Zafar Iqbal, Abdul Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Hussain were detained by the Punjab government for 90 days under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 and the Fourth Schedule of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997. Saeed's four aides were set free in the last week of October. India has repeatedly asked Pakistan to re-investigate the Mumbai terror attack case and also demanded trial of Saeed and Lashkar-e-Taiba operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi in the light of evidence it had provided to Islamabad. Ten LeT militants killed 166 people and wounded dozens in Mumbai in November 2008. Nine of the attackers were killed by police while lone survivor Ajmal Kasab was caught. Kasab was executed after a court found him guilty and handed down a death sentence. The United States has offered a $10 million bounty for Saaed. The JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) which is responsible for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai attack. With inputs from PTI VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis will meet the head of Myanmars army and Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, both late additions to a tour of the two countries next week. Pope Francis waves as he arrives to lead the Wednesday general audience in Saint Peter's square at the Vatican November 22, 2017. REUTERS/Max Rossi Human rights monitors and U.N. officials have accused Myanmars military of atrocities, including mass rape, against the stateless Rohingya during operations that followed insurgent attacks on 30 police posts and an army base. Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said on Wednesday that the pope would meet army head Senior General Min Aung Hlaing on Nov. 30 in a church residence in Yangon. Myanmar Cardinal Charles Maung Bo had talks with the pope in Rome on Saturday and suggested that he add a meeting with the general to the schedule for a trip that is proving to be one of the most politically sensitive since Francis was elected in 2013. Both the pope and the general agreed. Some 600,000 Rohingya refugees, most of them Muslim and from Myanmars northern Rakhine state, have fled to Bangladesh. Burke said a small group of Rohingya refugees would be present at an inter-religious meeting for peace in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka on Dec 1. Myanmars government has denied most of the claims of atrocities against the Rohingya, and the army last week said its own investigation found no evidence of wrongdoing by troops. The pope will separately meet the countrys leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, in the capital Naypyitaw, on Nov. 28 in an encounter that was already on the schedule. Briefing reporters on the trip, Burke gave no details of how the Rohingya who will meet the pope would be chosen. A source in Dhaka said the refugees would be able to tell the pope about their experiences. Both events were not on the original schedule of the Nov. 26-Dec. 2 trip. Bo, the cardinal from Myanmar, has advised the pope not to use the word Rohingya while in Myanmar because it is incendiary in the country where they are not recognised as an ethnic group. Burke said the pope took the advice seriously but added: We will find out together during the trip ... it is not a forbidden word. This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. SOCHI, Russia/RIYADH (Reuters) - Russias Vladimir Putin won the backing of Turkey and Iran on Wednesday to host a Syrian peace congress, taking the central role in a major diplomatic push to finally end a civil war all but won by Moscows ally, President Bashar al-Assad. Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, Russia's Vladimir Putin and Turkey's Tayyip Erdogan meet in Sochi, Russia November 22, 2017. Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Kremlin via REUTERSSyrian opposition groups, meeting in Saudi Arabia to seek a unified position ahead of peace talks, decided to stick to their demand that Assad leave power, Al Arabiya television reported, following speculation they might soften their stance after their hardline leader quit. Two days after being visited by Assad in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, President Putin hosted his counterparts Tayyip Erdogan and Hassan Rouhani there. In a joint statement, the three leaders called on the Syrian government and moderate opposition to participate constructively in the planned congress, to be held in the same city on a date they did not specify. The congress will look at the key questions on Syrias national agenda, Putin told reporters at the summit, sitting alongside Rouhani and Erdogan. First of all that is the drawing-up of a framework for the future structure of the state, the adoption of a new constitution, and, on the basis of that, the holding of elections under United Nations supervision. There was no word from the leaders on who would be invited. The list of invitees has been a sticking point, with Turkey objecting to some Syrian Kurdish groups attending. Syrias civil war, in its seventh year, has killed hundreds of thousands of people and created the worlds worst refugee crisis, driving more than 11 million people from their homes. All previous efforts to achieve a diplomatic solution have swiftly collapsed, with the opposition demanding Assad leave power, the government insisting he stay on, and neither side able to force the issue by achieving a military victory. But since Russia joined the war on behalf of Assad in 2015, the balance of power has turned decisively in his governments favour. A year ago, the army forced rebels out of their last urban stronghold, the eastern half of Aleppo. In recent weeks, the self-proclaimed caliphate of jihadist group Islamic State has collapsed. Government forces now effectively control all of Syria apart from a few shrinking rebel pockets and a swathe in the north held by mainly Kurdish forces backed by the United States. STILL SEEKING ASSAD EXIT Opposition groups held their meeting on Wednesday at a luxury hotel in Riyadh, two days after the leader of the High Negotiations Committee (HNC) that has represented them at previous peace talks quit abruptly. HNC chief Riyad Hijab had been known as an uncompromising defender of the position that Assad must have no role in any political transition for Syria, and his resignation had led to speculation the opposition could soften its stance. However, a draft of the meetings final statement still included the demand Assad leave office at the start of any transition, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television reported. Presidents Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, Vladimir Putin of Russia and Hassan Rouhani of Iran meet in Sochi, Russia, November 22, 2017. Kayhan Ozer/Turkish Presidential Palace/Handout via REUTERSHaving helped Assads government reach the cusp of victory, Putin now appears to be playing the leading role in international efforts to end the war on Assads terms. In addition to hosting Assad, Rouhani and Erdogan, the Russian leader has also phoned U.S. President Donald Trump and Saudi King Salman in the past 24 hours. Iran has long supported Assad. Saudi Arabia, Irans arch rival in the Middle East and long a backer of rebel groups in Syria and advocate of the position that Assad must leave, has been the main supporter of the HNC. But after King Salman made an historic visit to Moscow a few months ago, Riyadh appears to have come around to Russias dominant role in Syria. Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan meets with Iran's President Hassan Rouhani in Sochi, Russia, November 22, 2017. Kayhan Ozer/Turkish Presidential Palace/Handout via REUTERSSimilarly Turkey, traditionally one of the Syrian leaders implacable foes, has increasingly shown willingness to work with Russia to resolve the crisis. This summit is aimed at results. I believe critical decisions will be reached, Turkeys Erdogan said in Sochi before his meeting with Putin and Rouhani. The Syrian government welcomed the final statement from the three-way Iran summit, Syrian state media said on Wednesday, quoting an official source in the Foreign Ministry. It described it as the culmination of Assads summit with Putin. The other major power with troops in Syria, the United States, has so far kept its distance. Washington has been arming, training and sending special forces to assist a Kurdish group fighting against Islamic State, angering Turkey which is fighting its own Kurdish insurgency. HARD DISCUSSIONS Still, any final settlement that keeps Assad in power will probably require the participation of some kind of opposition delegation willing to negotiate over the demand that he go. U.N. peace talks mediator Staffan de Mistura, host of the formal peace process in Geneva, told the opposition groups at the Riyadh meeting they needed to have the hard discussions necessary to reach a common line. A strong, unified team is a creative partner in Geneva and we need that, one who can actually explore more than one way to arrive to the goals that we need to have, he said. De Mistura will meet Russias defence and foreign ministers on Thursday to discuss preparations for a new round of Geneva talks, Russian news agency RIA reported. Russia said on Tuesday that the resignation of such radically minded Syrian opposition figures as HNC chief Hijab would help unite the disparate opposition factions around a more realistic platform. This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. The Hague: Former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic was on Wednesday sentenced to life for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in the final trial before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Mladic, dubbed "The Butcher of Bosnia", was convicted for crimes committed during the 1992-1995 war which killed 100,000 people and displaced 2.2 million as ethnic rivalries tore Yugoslavia apart. He was facing verdicts on 11 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes for allegedly masterminding atrocities by Serb forces. He insisted he was innocent. The United Nations judge reading the verdict said Mladic was responsible for crimes including persecution, extermination, murder in Bosnian towns. The judge also said that Mladic intended to commit genocide in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica where 8,000 men and boys were massacred. The judge also said Mladic intended to carry out a deadly campaign of sniping and shelling in Sarajevo. Following the verdict, the United Nations human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said the conviction was a "momentous victory for justice", and called the former Bosnian Serbian commander "the epitome of evil." "Todays verdict is a warning to the perpetrators of such crimes that they will not escape justice, no matter how powerful they may be nor how long it may take. They will be held accountable," Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein said in a statement. "Mladic presided over some of the darkest crimes to occur in Europe since World War II, bringing terror, death and destruction to thousands of victims, and sorrow, tragedy and trauma to countless more," Zeid added. The UN statement noted that Zeid served as a UN protection officer in the former Yugoslavia from 1994 to 1996 and experienced the conflict "first-hand". Bosnian victims and families on Wednesday said they were "partially satisfied" with the verdict. "I'm partially satisfied. It's more than for (Radovan) Karadzic. But they didn't find him guilty for the accusation of genocide in some villages," said Munira Subasic, president of the Mothers of Srebrenica association. He was earlier dragged out of his hearing, after Mladic began shouting at war crimes judges and accused them of lying. Presiding judge Alphons Orie ordered him removed from the courtroom just after denying a defence request to halt the proceedings due to Mladic's high blood pressure. "They are lying, you are lying. I don't feel good," Mladic shouted, refusing to sit down, before being hustled out of the courtroom by two UN security guards to a nearby room where he could watch the rest of the proceedings. His outburst came after the judges refused to halt the reading of the verdict at the ICTY in The Hague. After a surprise break requested by Mladic which lasted about 45 minutes, defence lawyer Dragan Ivetic returned to tell the judges that Mladic's blood pressure had been taken three times by nurses. According to British and US medical organisations, that meant that Mladic was in a "hypertensive crisis" and continuing the hearing could lead to "fatality," Ivetic said. But the judges disagreed with the findings, and refused to adjourn the hearing. With inputs from agencies Srebrenica: Bosnian Muslims who lost loved ones in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre said on Wednesday that no punishment was enough for Ratko Mladic, the ex-Bosnian Serb wartime commander jailed for life for genocide. Mladic, dubbed the Butcher of Bosnia, was convicted by a UN tribunal on 10 counts of war crimes including the siege of Sarajevo in which over 10,000 civilians died from shelling and sniper attacks, and the expulsion of hundred of thousands of non-Serbs during the 1992-95 conflict. Can there ever be adequate punishment for someone who committed so many crimes? It would be too many even for 300 years, let alone three days, said Vasva Smajlovic, 74, referring to the Srebrenica slaughter in July 1995. Her husband, son-in-law and other relatives were among the 8,000 Muslim men and boys taken away and shot dead execution-style after Mladic assured UN peacekeepers and local residents that no harm would befall them after his forces seized the town. I try to count my dead all the time. I count to 50 and then Im not able to count anymore, Smajlovic said tearfully while watching a live telecast of the Mladic verdict. No words can describe how I feel. I am angry. All this comes too late. Her sister-in-law felt, however, justice was served with Mladics conviction, even if it came 22 years after the war. Nothing can compensate for our pain but it is important that justice is done, said Bida Smajlovic, who last saw her husband when he tried to flee Srebrenica through woods in July 1995. His remains were later found in a mass grave. On 11 July, 1995, Mladics ultra-nationalist forces separated men and boys from women and took them away in buses or on foot to be shot within days. It was Europes worst single atrocity since World War II. Posters of Mladic in Srebrenica Wednesdays verdict, the last major case before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) after 24 years of work, stirred tension in a region still scarred by the 1990s Balkans conflagration. Bida Smajlovic 65, who lost her brother and husband along with more than 50 members of her close family and Vasva Smajlovic 74, who lost her husband and the husband of her daughter along with more than 30 members of her close family watch a television broadcast of the court proceedings of former Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic in Potocari near Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 22 November, 2017. Vojislav Seselj, Serbias ultra-nationalist leader who was acquitted by the ICTY, called the verdict political, (one) aimed against Serb people who fought in the war. Placards with a portrait of the once beefy and brash Mladic bearing a slogan You are Our Hero plastered the sides of buildings in Srebrenica, now a largely ethnic Serb town, and nearby Bratunac on Wednesday. No Serbs in Srebrenica were willing to comment on the verdict, but they have long considered Mladic their defender. Opinions expressed by other Bosnian Serbs and Muslim Bosniaks underscored the stillborn reconciliation process in the federal state, now divided into an autonomous Serb Republic and Muslim-Croat federation. The Hague tribunal is neither the court, nor the law, nor the justice, said Milena Komlenovic, the Serb mayor of the eastern town of Kalinovik, where Mladic went to school. The general will become a legend, and we shall continue to live as we have lived, Komlenovic said, adding that ICTY decisions over 60 of 83 defendants convicted have been Serbs had aggravated rather than healed divisions in Bosnia. Politicians in neighbouring Serbia, whose 1990s nationalist strongman President Slobodan Milosevic armed and funded Mladics forces, appealed for calm and urged all to look to the future when a now democratic Belgrade hopes to join the European Union. Our hearts are also with the victims, the victims on all sides. I do honestly feel...for all victims, but lets look towards the future, Serbian prime minister Ana Brnabic said. Zdravka Gvozdjar, whose nine-year-old son Eldin was killed in the Bosnian Serb bombardment of besieged Sarajevo, said the verdict was no surprise and partially satisfactory. He deserved a much worse punishment but I was so excited and satisfied that he was handed down a life sentence because it is the most he could get. There is no comfort for me or any other mother (but) we have learned to live with the pain. Karangasem: Thousands living in the shadow of a rumbling volcano on Indonesia's resort island of Bali fled on Wednesday as fears grow that it could erupt for the first time in more than 50 years. Mount Agung belched smoke as high as 700 metres above its summit late Tuesday afternoon, sparking an exodus from the settlements near the mountain. Nearly 1,600 people died when Mt Agung last erupted in 1963. It stirred to life again in September, prompting about 1,40,000 people to leave the area. Many returned home after the volcano's activity waned, but thousands are now fleeing again. Some 30,000 people remain displaced, officials said. "There are 13 of us and we're afraid. Our neighbours have also fled," said Nyoman Sadi, a local resident who said she was leaving with her family. Disaster officials have warned that fresh activity at Mt Agung could see it blow its top. But the head of Indonesia's volcanology centre urged people to remain calm and said the mountain's alert level has not yet been raised. "On Tuesday, there was smoke and steam as high as 700 metres, and last night there were tremors for quite a while around three hours," Kasbani, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, told AFP on Wednesday. "The mountain continues to spew smoke, but there hasn't been any big eruption so far." Mt Agung lies some 75 km from Bali's tourist areas, which attract millions of tourists every year. Flights have not been affected so far, but officials have estimated that concerns about an eruption over the past few months have cost the island at least $110 million in lost tourism and productivity as many locals moved to shelters. Indonesia lies on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", where tectonic plates collide, causing frequent volcanic and seismic activities. In 2010, Mount Merapi on the island of Java considered one of the most active and dangerous volcanoes in the world erupted after rumbling since 2006, killing more than 300 people and forcing 2,80,000 to flee. Mount Sinabung on Sumatra island which is currently at its highest alert level has been active since 2013. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday labeled the Myanmar military operation against the Rohingya population ethnic cleansing and threatened targeted sanctions against those responsible for what it described as horrendous atrocities. Rohingya refugees build a makeshift school with bamboo at Kutupalong refugee camp near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, November 22, 2017. REUTERS/Susana VeraThe situation in northern Rakhine state constitutes ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a statement, using a term he avoided when visiting Myanmar, also known as Burma, last week. The United States will also pursue accountability through U.S. law, including possible targeted sanctions against those responsible for the alleged abuses, which have driven hundreds of thousands of Rohingya into neighboring Bangladesh, Tillerson said. The United States shifted its stance in part to raise pressure on Myanmars military and civilian leaders, who have shared power for the past two years under an uneasy arrangement after decades of military rule, to address the crisis. Human rights monitors have accused Myanmars military of atrocities, including mass rape, against the stateless Rohingya during so-called clearance operations following Rohingya militants Aug. 25 attacks on 30 police posts and an army base. More than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Rakhine state in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, mostly to neighboring Bangladesh, since the crackdown, which followed the insurgent attacks. These abuses by some among the Burmese military, security forces, and local vigilantes have caused tremendous suffering and forced hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children to flee their homes in Burma to seek refuge in Bangladesh, Tillerson said. While repeating the U.S. condemnation of the insurgent attacks, he added: No provocation can justify the horrendous atrocities that have ensued. Myanmars 2-year-old government, led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, has faced heavy international criticism for its response to the crisis, though it has no control over the generals with whom it has to share power. A Rohingya refugee child carries firewood in the Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, November 21, 2017. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir HossainIts not a situation that is completely under her authority, but certainly we are counting on her to show leadership and also to work through the civilian government with the military to address the crisis, a senior U.S. official told reporters in a conference call. The term ethnic cleansing is not defined in international or U.S. law and does not inherently carry specific consequences, a second senior U.S. official said on the call. He said the United States was analyzing whether the events in Myanmar constituted genocide or crimes against humanity, which would violate international law, but said it has made no determination on either and that this would take time to assess. A top U.N. official in September described the military actions as a textbook case of ethnic cleansing, but the United States until Wednesday had avoided the term. The United States has sought to balance its wish to nurture the civilian government in Myanmar, where it has been competing for influence with China, with its desire to hold the military accountable for the abuses. U.S. officials also worry that the mistreatment of the Rohingya Muslim minority may fuel radicalism. Pressure had mounted for a tougher U.S. response to the Rohingya crisis before President Donald Trumps first visit to Asia this month to attend a summit of Southeast Asian countries, including Myanmar, in Manila. U.S. government sources told Reuters in October that officials were preparing a recommendation for Tillerson that would define the military-led campaign against the Rohingya as ethnic cleansing, which could spur new sanctions. In early November, U.S. lawmakers proposed targeted sanctions and travel restrictions on military officials in Myanmar. Democratic U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, part of a congressional delegation that visited Rakhine this week, told reporters there on Tuesday, This has all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing. This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Washington: The US has congratulated Justice Dalveer Bhandari for his re-election to the ICJ, but asserted that it is against any change in the current veto structure of the UN Security Council, even as it favours a modest expansion of the 15-membered body. India's Dalveer Bhandari was on Wednesday re-elected to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) with more than two-thirds of the UN members backing him, forcing Britain to withdraw its candidate amidst high drama in the hard-fought race to the world court. Responding to questions on reform of the 15-member apex wing of the world body, a State Department spokesperson said: The United States remains open in principle to the idea of UN Security Council reform, including a modest expansion of the Security Council. "We believe a reformed council must reflect the realities of the 21st century and be able to meet the challenges of this century with enhanced and not diminished effectiveness and efficiency. To this end, we remain opposed to any alteration or expansion of the veto," the spokesperson told PTI. The spokesperson was asked about reform of the UNSC in view of the differences that emerged between the General Assembly and the Security Council during the just concluded election to the ICJ. For the last remaining seat, the General Assembly and the UNSC had to carry 11 round of voting before judge Christopher Greenwood from Britain withdrew from the race, leaving India's nominee Bhandari to be re-elected for a nine-year term. "We congratulate Judge Dalveer Bhandari of India for his re-election to the International Court of Justice, as well as the other candidates who were elected or re-elected...," the spokesperson said, thanking Judge Greenwood for his service to the ICJ. However, the official refused to comment on the 11 rounds of voting. "We're not going to comment on the prior rounds of voting. In the end, Judge Bhandari received the unanimous support of the UNSC and an absolute majority in the UN General Assembly for his re-election to the ICJ," the spokesperson said. Washington: The United States has unveiled new sanctions targeting North Korean shipping and Chinese traders doing business with Pyongyang, again raising the pressure on the pariah state to abandon its nuclear programme. The measures came a day after President Donald Trump declared North Korea a state sponsor of terrorism, a spot on a US blacklist Pyongyang had shed nearly a decade ago. "These designations include companies that have engaged in trade with North Korea cumulatively worth hundreds of millions of dollars," US treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin, said. "We are also sanctioning the shipping and transportation companies, and their vessels, that facilitate North Korea's trade and its deceptive maneuvers." On Monday, Trump had said the sanctions announcement would be the first in a series of moves over the next two weeks that would reinforce his "maximum pressure campaign" against Kim Jong-Un's regime. As had been expected, the Treasury measures make use of existing US directives against North Korean trade, but expand their scope to take in more companies and individuals. Most importantly, they expand the list of Chinese firms accused of doing business with the North despite promises from Beijing that it will honor UN-backed punitive measures. Trump met China's president Xi Jinping earlier this month and is bullish about the US-China relationship, but concerns remain that Beijing is not ready to take tough measures against Kim. In particular, China has been reluctant to cut off oil supplies through a pipeline to North Korea's lone refinery, fearing that regime collapse could lead to chaos on their common border. And, according to US officials, some Chinese-based banks and trading firms continue to do business with the North in defiance of UN sanctions and US threats of unilateral measures. "We still hope all relevant parties can contribute to easing tensions," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Tuesday, after the US terror designation. "More should be done in that regard," he added. China has pushed for a "dual track approach" which would see the United States freeze its military drills in South Korea while North Korea would halt its weapons programs. Washington has rejected that approach. According to Mnuchin, the sanctions would not only increase Pyongyang's isolation but also expose "its evasive tactics." In all, the new measures add one individual, 13 trading entities and 20 ships to US sanctions lists. Any property or assets of the firms involved that are found to be in areas under US jurisdiction are to be frozen, and Americans are banned from trading with them. Tokyo: A military aircraft with 11 people aboard has crashed into the Philippine Sea while en route to an aircraft carrier, the US said on Wednesday, the latest accident to hit its armed forces in East Asia. "A United States Navy aircraft carrying 11 crew and passengers crashed into the ocean southeast of Okinawa," a statement from the Navy said. "Personnel recovery is under way and their condition will be evaluated by USS Ronald Reagan medical staff. "The aircraft was en route to the US Navy aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, which is currently operating in the Philippine Sea. "USS Ronald Reagan is conducting search and rescue operations. The cause of the crash is not known at this time." The US military has a heavy presence in the western Pacific, with tens of thousands of troops and hundreds of pieces of hardware stationed in Japan and South Korea. The USS Ronald Reagan last week was one of three American aircraft carriers that held rare joint drills in the region, joined separately by Japanese navy and South Korean warships over the weekend. The drills come as tensions persist between Washington and North Korea over its missile and nuclear programme. US military vessels have been involved in a number of accidents in recent months in East Asia. The USS John S McCain collided with a tanker off Singapore in August, killing 10 sailors and injuring five others. Two months earlier in June, the USS Fitzgerald and a cargo ship smashed into each other off Japan, leaving seven sailors dead. There were also two more, lesser-known incidents. In January USS Antietam ran aground near its base in Japan, and in May, USS Lake Champlain collided with a South Korean fishing vessel. JACKSON COUNTY, Miss. -- All eyes have been on the city of Ocean Springs as a back-and-forth has brewed between Mayor Shea Dobson, aldermen and constituents over the use of the state flag. When he entered office on July 3, Dobson decided to return the Mississippi state flag to display outside the Ocean Springs City Hall. That decision came with backlash in the form of protests because of the inclusion of the Confederate battle emblem within the flag. Dobson has also earned praise from those in the community displeased by his predecessor's decision not to fly the flag because of how divisive of an issue it could be within the city. Dobson recently changed his position, saying it "wasn't an easy decision" but thought it was best to take down the flag because of the effect it had on people and business. However, Ward 6 alderman Mike Impey introduced an amendment to a city ordinance that would require the flag to be flown at city hall, as well as city property. In a 6-1 vote, the ordinance passed at Tuesday evening's aldermen meeting. At Tuesday's city council meeting in Pascagoula, a Mississippi Press reporter asked the council and mayor about how they would respond to the actions approved in Ocean Springs. Their response, according to Asst. City Manager Frank Corder: "The City of Pascagoula is currently flying the United States flag and the Mississippi bicentennial flag outside of City Hall. The City is flying the bicentennial flag in recognition of Mississippi's statehood as encouraged by our state leaders. The Pascagoula City Council will address which flags to fly at City Hall at the beginning of the next calendar year." The Mississippi state flag has not flown over the city of Moss Point in quite some time and it will not under the current administration, according to Mayor Mario King. "We are all in this together, so as a close neighbor of Ocean Springs, I respect the decision of Mayor Dobson supporting the people's choice through their aldermen. I have done the same and I think the difference in demographics and historic experience of my constituents is why the flag will lay dormant in Moss Point. I respect the history of our country, state, and municipalities. However, I will not disrespect the experiences of my constituents or their families by flying the state flag that has the controversial Confederate symbol embedded in it over our buildings." PASCAGOULA, Miss. -- Investigators with the Pascagoula Police Department have suspects in custody for an apartment shooting that took place on Friday, according to Capt. Doug Adams. Police responded to Regency Wood Apartments on Friday after receiving a call stating shots had been fired. When police arrived at the scene, they found 23-year-old Josten Washington, of Gautier dead suffering from a single gunshot wound to his chest. Further investigation led police to arrest four individuals -- 28-year-old Victor Ladarrius Washington, 33-year-old Anthony C. Abston, 19-year-old Jada Williams, and 16-year-old John Washington. Each suspect has been arrested and charged with robbery with the use of a deadly weapon. The suspects are out on bond. According to Adams, Josten is the brother of Victor and John. The four suspects involved attempted to rob someone at the apartments and an exchange of fire took place police believe. Per Adams, the investigation is ongoing and it is possible that more charges could be pending. Bond has been set at $25,000 for each, except for Abston, whose bond was set for $250,000 because he is a convicted felon. Abston has been turned over to the Mississippi Department of Corrections where he had been out on parole after serving eight years of a 15-year sentence for aggravated assault and grand larceny. Microsoft today has announced that its Translator app now has support for Tamil text translation in Microsoft Translator and Office 365, along with over 60 languages worldwide. Tamil is one of the longest-surviving languages in the world and is currently being spoken by over 70 million native speakers within the Indian subcontinent and across the globe. With the new addition, users can now translate to and from Tamil through Bing Translator website, Microsoft Translator apps, PowerPoint add-ins, or API on Azure in over 60 text translation languages and ten speech translation languages. The company is also giving you an option to do Tamil translation using translate feature built into Office 365 applications like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. The Microsoft Translator app lets you quickly listen to people speaking in their own language and see the translated text in Tamil on their phone. Users can also take advantage of the feature and get directions, order food at restaurants, or greet people. It can also read text from photo or menus, signs, brochures and show the translation in Tamil. The Microsoft translator app currently supports Indian languages such as Bengali and Hindi. The app is available Android, iOS and Windows. The 2016 election season was indeed polarizing and it has done anything but cool off since the swearing in of President Donald Trump in January. But on Thanksgiving Day we all need to come together at the dinner table and give thanks for all that we have. This Baby Boomer is forever thankful for my health and my family -- which grew by one last month with the addition of my third grandson. According to Susan Weinstock, AARPs vice president of Financial Resilience programming, older Americans have a lot to be thankful for in 2017. Heres Weinstocks top 5 reasons for Boomers to give thanks this year: A Bigger Social Security COLA In 2017 retirees and other Social Security beneficiaries received word that their cost of living adjustment (COLA) for Social Security would increase by 2%, the biggest increase since 2012. Every single cent of Social Security benefits counts a great deal for most older Americans, but the adjustment of 2% next year may not cover the rising costs of prescription drugs, utilities, housing, and Medicare Part B premiums that many older Americans face. No Age Tax In legislation that passed the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this year, but did not pass the Senate, health insurance companies would have been allowed to charge Americans 50-64 an age tax of up to 5 times more than other Americans. We give thanks an age tax has not become law. An Ability to Grow Retirement Savings The stock market remained strong in 2017, and many older Americans looking to save saw their retirement savings grow. However, we know many Americans fear they wont ever have enough to retire. One reason AARP joined the Ad Council this year to launch www.AceYourRetirement.org, a free place to look in to how you can start or continue saving for retirement at any age, since its never too late or too early to start planning. In addition, web tools that make planning easier are another boon for older Americans. Working Can Bring Happiness Older workers are taking increased advantage of alternative working arrangements and the opportunities for enhanced flexibility that new technologies offer. In 2015 Uber indicated that approximately 25 percent of their drivers were aged 50 or over, while approximately a quarter of Airbnbs hosts were also aged 50 plus. A recent study from the National Bureau of Economic Research shows an increase in 55-75 year-olds engaging in alternative work arrangements from 14.4 percent 10 years ago to nearly 24 percent in 2015. And the Employee Benefits Research Institutes 2017 Retirement Confidence Survey shows that 9 in 10 retirees who continue working do so to stay active and involved. Almost all retirees who worked for pay in retirement gave a positive reason for doing so, saying they continue to work because they want to stay active and involved (90 percent), they enjoy working (82 percent), or a job opportunity came along (47 percent). A Total Eclipse of the Family This summer families and friends of all ages from all over America got to gather together and saw something spectacular that wont happen again until 2024: a solar eclipse. Gathering with grandparents, parents and children, we enjoyed the unique experience in the sky! Nov 22 (Reuters) - Connecticut is investigating a computer breach at car hailing service Uber Technologies Inc that the company said it covered up after it was discovered in late 2016, a spokeswoman for state attorney general George Jepsen told Reuters on Wednesday. "We are investigating the breach," said Jepsen spokeswoman Jaclyn Severance. Severance declined to say if other states were investigating the breach of the names, email addresses and mobile phone numbers of some 57 million Uber users around the world as well as the driver license numbers of some 600,000 of its U.S. drivers. (Reporting by Jim Finkle in Toronto; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe) The Latest on allegations against Pixar co-founder John Lasseter that have led him to take a leave of absence (all times local): 7:15 p.m. Rashida Jones is denying a report that she quit working on "Toy Story 4" because of unwanted advances by Pixar co-founder John Lasseter. Jones and her writing partner Will McCormack say in a statement first released to The New York Times on Tuesday that they left the company because of creative and philosophical differences. Their statement called on Pixar to do more to hire women and people of color for creative positions, including as directors. The statement came hours after the trade magazine The Hollywood Reporter reported that Lasseter made an "unwanted advance" toward Jones. Lasseter announced Tuesday he was taking a sabbatical in a vaguely-worded memo that cited "missteps" with employees. The statement from Jones and McCormack says "The Hollywood Reporter" does not speak for them. It applauded unnamed sources included in the Reporter's story who told the trade magazine Lasseter's actions made them uncomfortable. ___ 1 p.m. Pixar co-founder and Walt Disney Animation chief John Lasseter is taking a six-month leave of absence citing "missteps" with employees. In a vaguely-worded memo obtained by The Associated Press Tuesday, Lasseter says he knows he has made some employees feel disrespected and uncomfortable. He apologized to anyone who has received an unwanted hug or gesture and to those he has "let down." A Disney spokesperson says the company is committed to maintaining a respectful work environment and fully supports Lasseter's sabbatical. Lasseter is known for directing films like "Toy Story" and "Cars" and has produced every Pixar feature since "Monster's, Inc." He has been the chief creative officer for Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios since 2006, overseeing hits like "Frozen" and "Moana." Pixar's "Coco" hits theaters Thanksgiving Day. A federal judge on Wednesday rejected a bid by the Donald Trump administration to dismiss a lawsuit that challenges a presidential permit for the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada. U.S. District Judge Brian Morris in Great Falls, Montana, dismissed U.S. Justice Department arguments that the court had no authority to second-guess the cross-border permit that was issued by the State Department. Morris also rejected motions by TransCanada Corp., the company behind the project, to dismiss the suit. Conservation groups and Native American organizations contend in the lawsuit that an environmental review of the project completed in 2014 was inadequate. They've asked Morris to revoke the permit, which was based on the review and issued in March. The 1,179-mile (1,800-kilometer) pipeline would transport Canadian crude through Montana and South Dakota to Nebraska, where it would connect with lines to carry oil to Gulf Coast refineries. President Barack Obama's administration rejected the project in 2015, but it was revived in March under Trump. The president insists it will create jobs and lead to greater energy independence. In seeking to dismiss the suit, government attorneys had argued that Trump had constitutional authority over matters of foreign affairs and national security. Morris rejected the notion that any potential court injunction or even review of the permitting process would illegally infringe on the president's authority. Morris cited a decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a case concerning a federal visa exchange program. The circuit court's decision "has made clear that the State Department cannot avoid judicial review simply by invoking its consideration of 'foreign policy' or 'security' factors," Morris wrote. Both the Justice Department and TransCanada said Wednesday they were reviewing the decision. "Our environmental laws should never be undercut by the interests of a private foreign company, and the court's decision today solidifies that," Hannah Adams, deputy director of the activist group and co-plaintiff Bold Alliance, said in a statement. On Monday, Nebraska regulators approved a pipeline route through that state, though the vote is likely to face court challenges. The route is not one preferred by TransCanada, and it could require more time for government agencies to study the changes. TransCanada has said that it would announce by early December whether to proceed with the pipeline which would carry an estimated 830,000 barrels of oil a day and would take into account the Nebraska decision and whether it has lined up enough long-term contracts to ship oil. Keystone XL would expand the existing Keystone pipeline network that went into service in July 2010. The current pipeline runs through North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas and extends east into Missouri and Illinois. An airport in western Illinois is launching an initiative to encourage area businesses along the Illinois-Iowa border to prioritize flying local. The Fly Local Alliance program comes as the Quad-City International Airport in Moline works to increase its passenger numbers, the Quad-City Times reported . The airport is looking for ways to dissuade area travelers from choosing airports in Chicago or elsewhere. "We are actively trying to grow this airport," said Dave Heller, chairman of the Air Service Committee. "The only way we can do it successfully is for people who live, work in the Quad-Cities and choose air travel to choose to fly out of the Quad-City airport." Airport officials said participating companies won't pay a membership fee. Member benefits for endorsing the alliance include access to the airport's business lounge and on-site meeting rooms. In exchange, companies promise to communicate with airport officials about their travel spending. Businesses will also be asked to share a customer satisfaction survey and trip cost calculator tool with employees. "This is more opportunity to receive feedback," said Cathie Rochau, the airport's marketing representative. "That's where we may hear things that are important to people, but may not be related to the flight. Those are things we can fix." Inaugural alliance member W. Kenny Massey said that the importance of buying local and bringing jobs to the community applies to air travel. "More passengers using the Quad City International Airport means more air carriers will consider this region for expansions," Massey said. ___ Information from: Quad-City Times, http://www.qctimes.com Every day, Wall Street analysts upgrade some stocks, downgrade others, and "initiate coverage" on a few more. But do these analysts even know what they're talking about? Today, we're taking one high-profile Wall Street pick and putting it under the microscope... Companhia de Saneamento Basico do Estado de Sao Paulo (NYSE: SBS) isn't exactly a name that rolls off the tongue -- nor is it a household name here in the United States. And yet, according to one investment banker, this Brazilian water utility could provide a very tidy profit to investors unafraid to invest a bit farther from U.S. shores. Here's what you need to know about this upgrade. HSBC upgrades Sabesp Thanksgiving is almost upon us, and much of Wall Street is quiescent, with few upgrades or downgrades being released. Not everyone celebrates Thanksgiving, however, and this morning, TheFly.com reported that British megabanker HSBC has just upgraded shares of Companhia de Saneamento Basico do Estado de Sao Paulo (better known as Sabesp) to buy. HSBC cites "recent share underperformance" for its upgrade, but underperformance here appears to be a relative term. In fact, Sabesp shares are up 15% since the start of this year and, with their 3.7% dividend yield, have already rewarded investors mightily. That being said, over the past 12 months, Sabesp shares have underperformed the S&P slightly -- 12% gains versus 18% for the index. More expensive, but still cheap At today's share price of $10 and change, Sabesp stock is trading much closer to its 52-week high than to its 52-week low. And yet, there's an argument to be made that despite being more expensive than it once was, Sabesp stock is still objectively cheap. At its trailing price-to-earnings ratio of 9.2, the stock certainly doesn't look expensive on its face. Moreover, Sabesp spends very little cash on capital investment, with the result being its trailing free cash flow amounts to $1.04 billion over the past 12 months. According to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence, that's 15% more than the company's reported net profit under GAAP, and results in a price-to-free-cash-flow ratio of only 7.1. Growth in a developing economy And here's another thing: Here in the United States, we tend to think of utilities as staid, dependable, slow-growth businesses, right? Well, apparently, this isn't the case in Brazil. Indeed, according to projections surveyed by S&P Global, analysts expect Sabesp to grow its pro forma profits 30% next year to $1.50 per share -- then growth them another 18% in 2019 to $1.77 per share. The most important thing: Valuing Sabesp It's not often you find a company valued in the single digits by P/E but growing its earnings at double-digit percentage rates -- much less one paying a strong 3.7% dividend yield (and able to maintain that dividend with a payout ratio of only 27%). Yet if analysts are to be believed, Sabesp is one company that does cost this little, will grow this fast, and can pay that dividend. According to HSBC, this makes Sabesp stock -- which costs about $10 a share (Sabesp common stock trades as an American depositary receipt in the U.S., on a 1:1 ratio) -- a buy as it rises toward a target price of 39 Brazilian reals per share, or roughly $12 at current exchange rates. If Sabesp succeeds in growing earnings at anything like the double-digit rates that analysts project for it, I am inclined to agree: Sabesp stock is a real bargain in the utilities sector. 10 stocks we like better than Companhia de Saneamento BasicoWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Companhia de Saneamento Basico wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. Click here to learn about these picks! *Stock Advisor returns as of November 6, 2017 Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. A Florida woman was taken into custody Tuesday after being accused of stalking NASCAR star Tony Stewart and his family for more than a year. Kathi Russell, 68, of Cape Coral, Fla., was charged with stalking, terroristic mischief and intimidation, FOX59 reported. Russell told investigators she felt like she was ignored after Stewart did not sign a piece of memorabilia for her at a NASCAR race. UBER FINED MILLIONS IN COLORADO FOR USING PROBLEM DRIVERS FOLLOWING RIDER ASSAULT Russell called Stewart, his family, his business and sponsors hundreds of times from March 2016 to October 2017, court documents stated. The woman used six different phone numbers and took significant steps to hide her identity, FOX59 reported. Some of the calls were just snippets of songs including Psycho Killer by the Talking Heads. Another sound bite she played into the phone was part of a speech by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton when Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi was killed. Other phone calls would just contain silence. Investigators believed the burned fan was responsible for an anonymous tip to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) the NASCAR star's plane was holding drugs that was later determined to be false. The plane was searched in Fort Worth, Texas, following the tip. DALE EARNHARDT JR. THROWS OWN RETIREMENT PARTY ON PIT ROAD AFTER LAST RACE Russell admitted to the repeated harassment of Stewart and his family, court documents stated. She told investigators she would stop the phone calls because she didnt want to get in trouble. Stewarts mother also obtained a protection order against Russell, FOX59 reported. Stewart told the DEA that Russell called all hours of the day and night with no purpose other than to harass him. Stewart said the calls disturbed his sleep and gave him anxiety. The U.S. Department of Education has had a light touch in implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act. So far, it has approved just about every ESSA plan to come down the pikeexcept for one: Michigan. Back in August, the department told Michigan that its application, which offered three possible pathways on accountability, was missing key information . It wasnt even complete enough to examine, the agency said. The state resubmitted its application several weeks later, and the department is sending it back through the peer review. Michigan got an ESSA feedback letter last month . The big takeaway: The department appears to think that Michigans application is now thorough enough to review. That could be a signal that U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is likely to approve her home states plan. The department did flag some problems with the states application though. For instance, the state did not set long-term goals for achievement that say exactly what Michigan expects for different subgroups of students, including English-language learners, students in special education, and racial minorities. And it isnt sure that Michigans system makes it possible to compare schools across the state. There also are some problems in the states application that werent cited in the departments feedback letter to Michigan. For instance, peer reviewers didnt think Michigans application spelled out what kinds of academic gains schools need to make to no longer be considered low-performing. Want to know where ESSA approval stands across the country? Check out this map: And for a quick take on ESSA plans, head over to this explainer . Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 . Everyone will be thinking of turkeys this Thursday, but for Andy Cohen, its all about dogs. On Thanksgiving, the talk show host behind Watch What Happens Live will be looking out for Best in Show as hes the official spokesperson for The National Dog Show Presented by Purina this year. And while people across America will be tuning in to watch hundreds of pooches strut their stuff, for the 49-year-old, its personal. Cohen, whos rarely seen without his adopted beagle Wacha, will be encouraging fans to raise donations for #DogThanking, which will provide relief for people and pets affected by hurricanes in Florida, Texas and Puerto Rico. Cohen spoke to Fox News about how Wacha rescued him, the celebrity who had a rough start with his pet and which family should take a cue from the "Real Housewives": Fox News: What made you want to participate? Andy Cohen: Ive been working with Purina for a couple of years and Im helping them promote something that I believe in and its something I do every day, which is dog thanking. If you go to your social media and just post anything about what makes your pet great and hashtag it #dogthanking and tag Purina, they will give a dollar for every post for hurricane relief. So, Im really excited about it because I post about my dog every day and this seems like a great way to raise money for hurricane relief. And the National Dog Show has just become a part of my Thanksgiving ritual every year and I absolutely love it. Fox News: Im sure hes met plenty of stars. Who impressed Wacha the most and why? Cohen: Hes met a lot. He loves Connie Britton. He loves John Mayer. Fox News: And the least? Cohen: He loves Anderson Cooper, but he and Anderson had a rough start. But now he absolutely loves him. Initially he thought Anderson was trying to steal his bone. Fox News: Speaking of your celebrity circle, at heart do you still see yourself as a fan? Cohen: Oh totally. I think thats the key to Watch What Happens Live. Just that Im just as excited about the guests being there than maybe the fan watching the show is. Fox News: Who do you think should consider launching their own reality TV series? Cohen: The Trumps! Its the greatest show on earth. Fox News: And when one hears your name, the Real Housewives come to mind. In your opinion, what is it about them that continues to fascinate audiences today? Cohen: I think its replaced soap operas and its both relatable and unrelatable and shocking because its real. And I also think people love judging human behavior. And theres a lot of behavior to judge. And also, I think it makes people laugh. It has a heart. Fox News: How do you feel about Luann De Lesseps divorce from Tom DAgostino? Cohen: I just want her to be happy. I was surprised. It was fast. Fox News: Do you think shell find love again anytime soon? Cohen: I think so. She looks great. Shes got a great attitude. Fox News: How did committing to Wacha change your outlook on relationships with people? Cohen: He just really grounded me, you know? Once I opened myself up to a relationship with him, I did so with a person. Fox News: You once said you believed you were saving Wacha, but he actually rescued you. Can you tell us more about that? Cohen: Every time I look at him, he cheers me up. We see each other, to quote NeNe Leakes. Fox News: You have such a busy schedule. How has he brought a sense of stability to your life? Cohen: As irregular as my life is, and my schedule is, we are kind on a regular track together. We have a real schedule together and a vibe. Theres regularity [between us]. Were going to go to the beach this weekend and then chill. We just love hanging out together. Hes a great companion. Armie Hammer called out Hollywoods double standard on Tuesday when he questioned why Nate Parkers career suffered but Casey Affleck remained unscathed when both men faced allegations of sexual misconduct. The actor spoke to Hollywood Reporter about the 1999 rape allegation against Parker that resurfaced during last year's awards season. Hammer, who starred in Parkers Birth of a Nation, said the film was up for an Oscar before the rape claims were brought up. There was another person in the industry, who had a competing film for the Academy Awards, who decided to release all of the phone records and information. I've been told who did it by several people, Hammer told Hollywood Reporter without revealing the name of the individual. GAYLE KING TALKS WITH STEPHEN COLBERT ABOUT CHARLIE ROSE FIRING: 'IT'S STILL VERY PAINFUL' The 31-year-old actor said he believed the move was orchestrated for sure. Parker, his college roommate from Penn State and the co-writer of Birth of a Nation Jean Celestin were accused of raping a student when they attended the university in 1999. Celestin was found guilty of sexual assault, but it was overturned when the student did not testify. She later killed herself in 2012. Parker was acquitted of the crime, but was later accused of exposing himself to a female student trainer. Hammer said Parker is in directors jail after the allegations resurfaced, but noted that Casey Affleck, who was also accused of sexual assault by several women during the 2016 awards season, went on to win an Oscar for best actor. "Nate had the stuff in his past, which is heinous and tough to get beyond. I get that," Hammer said. But that was when he was 18, and now he's in directors jail. At the same time, the guy who went and won an Academy Award has three cases of sexual assault against him. 'GAME OF THRONES' STAR EMILIA CLARKE DEFENDS HER RACY NUDE SCENES: 'IT'S A PART OF LIFE' Affleck was sued in 2010 for allegedly sexually harassing two female crewmembers on the set of Im Still Here. The two cases were settled out of court and dismissed, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Hammer continued, "[Parker] had one incident which was heinous and atrocious but his entire life is affected in the worst possible way. And the other guy won the highest award you can get as an actor. It just doesn't make sense." Look, Im not saying Nate should not have been in trouble, Hammer clarified. Im saying that they got in different levels of trouble. And thats the disparity. Its like there are two standards for how to deal with someone who has this kind of issue in their past, you know? Drew Scott, who finished a strong fourth place on "Dancing with the Stars," is now turning his attention to wedding planning with fiance Linda Phan. After the Tuesday "DWTS" finale, in which he performed with partner Emma Slater one last time in an exhibition, the "Property Brothers" star told Fox News, "Now that this is done, those wedding plans are actually kicking back up again so everyone's asking us to actually set a date so we're hoping to have that done in the next two weeks here, and it will be in spring [2018]. It's going to be in Europe and it's going to be a blast. "It's going to be a week of relaxation with family and friends." However, Scott said although he has Scottish heritage and performed in a kilt on "DWTS," he won't marry Phan in Scotland because it's too cold and rainy. "I'm Scottish. I do love Scotland but as anybody who's from Scotland or knows about Scotland knows, you can't rely on the weather. "I would love to be married in a castle. I will be wearing a kilt for the wedding but you can't rely on the weather in Scotland so I think it's going to be somewhere that's a little bit more warm," he confided. As Fox News previously reported, the HGTV home expert, 39, proposed to Phan, 31, last year with an elaborate Dr. Seuss-themed proposal to reflect his beloved's favorite author. Drew has said he's in love with Phan because, "She absolutely shines and it's her smile; it's her personality. She's got the same warped sense of humor as me and she's absolutely stunning. She's one of a kind." Scott's dance partner Slater is also planning her wedding to fellow "DWTS" pro dancer Sasha Farber -- and told reporters after the Tuesday finale, "We decided we've got way too much wedding planning on our plate." Slater said, "I want to try the cake," before going on the upcoming "DWTS" tour with her fiance. "I want to try the food. I need quick decorations. There's just so much! And the list keeps getting bigger because I ask people for their advice and they're like, 'Don't forget this, don't forget the photographers.' I'm like, oh, my God. I've forgotten everything." Meanwhile, Scott has noted that his wedding with Phan will be a blend of his Scottish and her Chinese traditions. And maybe it will take place in a really historic "property," like a castle? Scott might reveal more details soon! Are you ready to see behind the design of your fixer upper? Though the final season of Fixer Upper premiered Nov. 21, Chip and Joanna Gaines arent going away anytime soon. Known for renovating homes in Waco, Texas, the couple is going to remain on TV and will appear in HGTV's Fixer Upper: Behind the Design, according to Scripps Networks Interactive, the network's parent. Heres what we know about the spin-off so far. Whats the show about? The half-hour, behind-the-scenes companion will focus on Joannas process to create the breathtaking designs shiplap and all in each Fixer Upper episode, a release says. "We have a lot of questions about the designs and what goes on on 'Fixer Upper' and how we get from point A to Z when it comes to these houses and these projects from a design standpoint," Joanna Gaines said in a March 22 Instagram video. She added that viewers will "get a more inside scoop of how we came up with a lot of the decisions and the design elements that we got to incorporate." 'FIXER UPPER' STARS CHIP AND JOANNA GAINES: MAJOR MOMENTS YOU SHOULD KNOW When does it air? Not until May 2018. However, a sneak peek episode was broadcast in March which focused on The Little Shack on the Prairie, one of the homes featured in the fourth season of Fixer Upper. If you missed out, HGTV posted a clip from the episode on Facebook. Most of the time when its the reveal, people wonder, what about the other bedrooms? Well, this is one of the bedrooms, Joanna explained in the clip. Its finished, weve got a new light fixture in here, weve got all new trim and paint. Its really pretty, except all of my stuff is in here. So typically 2-3 of the rooms you dont see in the reveal, look just like this. Viewers can expect more tidbits like this in the spring. What else should I know? You can still keep up with the couple in a number of ways, including through the Magnolia Market blog and the couple's social media accounts. Joanna Gaines recently shared photos taken during the couple's trip to Italy. The Mother of Dragons isnt interested in what critics have to say about her sex scenes. Emilia Clarke, who stars as the platinum-hued Daenerys Targaryen in HBOs hit fantasy drama Game of Thrones, has no qualms about going nude or even filming a raunchy moment for the show. In fact, the British actress cant understand why its such a big deal for everyone else. Im starting to get really annoyed about this stuff now because people say, Oh, yeah, all the porn sites went down when Game of Thrones came back on There are so many shows centered around this very true fact that people reproduce, the 31-year-old told Harpers BAZAAR for its December/January 2018 issue. People fk for pleasure its a part of life, Clarke added. The stars confidence to bare it all in front of cameras may come from overcoming her early years in Hollywood when she did questioned her talent as an actress. I think in the early days I second-guessed everyone, Clarke admitted. I mean, I do that in life anyway, but especially with fame and [becoming] successful, and strangers knowing you more than your circle of friends, I would worry about what people thought of me. Then you get to a point where youre like, You know what? Im okay. Clarke insisted she didnt possess the right look as a typical star, which only motivated her to pursue challenging characters who arent afraid to raise some eyebrows along the way. It pushed me into another casting type; forced me to be an actor, explained Clarke. Instead of playing Juliet and doing the light, airy stuff, I would be the granny who cracks wise, or a down-and-out hooker who has seen better days. And so far, its working. Since Game of Thrones premiered in 2011, shes on her way to participating in movies that further ensure her status as an A-lister. Her next role is that of Kira in Solo: A Star Wars Story, which is set to premiere in 2018. Its no wonder Clarke isnt in a hurry to fine the one. There is the one for particular parts of your life you change as you get older, said Clarke. "So when I was in my teens, there was the one for my teens, for sure, and then, you know, theres the one for the next time of your life. Theres this Buddhist philosophy that says you can only really understand yourself through your interactions with other people. Teen Vogue columnist and outspoken feminist Emily Lindin came under fire on social media Tuesday after tweeting that she was "not at all concerned about innocent men losing their jobs" over false allegations of sexual assault or harassment. Lindin explained the reasoning for her admitted "unpopular opinion" in a multi-part thread, first claiming that "false allegations VERY rarely happen, so even bringing it up borders on a derailment tactic. Its a microscopic risk in comparison to the issue at hand (worldwide, systemic oppression of half the population)." Despite immediate backlash, Lindin pressed on. "The benefit of all of us getting to finally tell the truth + the impact on victims FAR outweigh the loss of any one mans reputation, she said, adding, "If some innocent mens reputations have to take a hit in the process of undoing the patriarchy, that is a price I am absolutely willing to pay." "How many of our reputations have suffered unfairly?" Lindin continued. "How many of our lives have ALREADY BEEN destroyed because of physical violence against us? Why was that acceptable, but now one mans (potentially) unfair loss of a career opportunity is not?" The most cogent critique of Lindin came from CNN anchor Jake Tapper. "The Lead" host tweeted, "I'm guessing you didnt get a good grade for your 7th grade book report on To Kill A Mockingbird," referencing the classic novel that features the trial of a black man falsely accused of rape in 1930s Alabama. When Lindin attempted to respond, Tapper cut her off. "You said 'if some innocent men's reputations have to take a hit in the process of undoing the patriarchy, that is a price I am absolutely willing to pay.' Thats immoral, Tapper wrote. "And it's not a price *you* would be paying, btw. It would be innocent men doing that." The backlash apparently drove Lindin to make her Twitter feed private, leading to renewed social media criticism. Teen Vogue's parent company, Conde Nast, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Lindin's byline last appeared on Teen Vogue's website in July of this year. Past articles by her have born the headlines "What You Need to Know Before Sending a Nude Photo" and "6 Ways You May Be Slut-Shaming Without Realizing It." Lindin is also the founder of The UnSlut Project, a group that claims to promote "gender equality, sex positivity, and comprehensive, age-appropriate sex education for all ages" on its website. An email request for comment was not immediately returned. Fox News' Samuel Chamberlain contributed to this report. McDonalds announced on Monday that it will demolish a replica of the first-ever McDonalds restaurant in suburban Chicago. The replica stood on the site of Ray Krocs first McDonalds in Des Plaines, Ill., which opened in 1955. Considered somewhat of a museum to McDonalds, the site was a popular tourist destination after opening in 1985. The restaurant that stood on that site had been torn down in 1984, the same year as Krocs death, the Chicago Tribune reported. MCDONALD'S CHINA IS CHANGING ITS NAME According to McDonalds, the museum saw less and less traffic after barring tourists from entering the space in 2008 due to repeated flooding, though visitors were still allowed to peek into windows and take photos. The re-created restaurant has not regularly welcomed visitors since closing to the public 10 years ago, a company spokesman said in a statement, via the Tribune. This combined with the buildings location and the feasibility to reopen and maintain it led us to this decision. This property in Des Plaines will always have a special place in our companys history. The spokesman added that the company hopes to donate the land to Des Plaines after razing the museum next month. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS Ray Kroc had originally built the Des Plaines restaurant after franchising the brand from Richard and Maurice McDonald. The Chicago Tribune reports that it was actually the ninth McDonalds restaurant in the country, but considered by the company to be the birthplace of the modern McDonalds. The Associated Press contributed to this article. If the thought of kicking off Black Friday with a frenzied shopping spree makes you want to head for the hills, youre actually in luck. On Nov. 24, many national and state parks across the country will be offering free or discounted admission into their outdoor preserves. According to Travel + Leisure, on the day after Thanksgiving, state parks across Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York and Washington will waive admission fees. Likewise, parks in Arkansas, Tennessee and Virginia are hosting various celebratory events. NATIONAL PARK SERVICE CONSIDERING HIKING ENTRY FEES AT 17 PARKS California residents can also score free admission to 40 state parks, and South Carolinians can save on campsites and cabins, too. As the National Park Service partners with REI for their third annual #OptOutside campaign, the sporting-goods retailer hopes to inspire Americans to take their post-Turkey Day gratitude to their great outdoors instead of the mall. MEET THE MAN HIKING THE ENTIRE WESTERN HEMISPHERE Shuttering the doors of their 143 locations on Black Friday and giving their employees a paid day off, company CEO Jerry Stritzke told Business Insider the decision is a moral one. As todays consumers are now "looking for something more, Stritzke says that their business is about more than selling stuff. "You don't win in the long-term by pushing ... what I call rampant consumerism," Stritzke said. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS From guided hikes to fishing clinics and more, the National Park Services back-to-nature Black Friday invitations just may tempt us away from that door-buster special. Perhaps that trip to the mall isnt so urgent after all. A 6-year-old Wisconsin kindergartener bagged her first six-point buck on Sunday, one of the first children to do so after the state nixed its minimum hunting age. Tyler Harris bought his daughter Lexie a youth rifle and took her hunting in the woods near their rural Medford hoe in Taylor County, about 230 miles northwest of Milwaukee. The father-daughter duo eventually spotted the buck strolling by their wooded shelter in clear view. "She was shaking," Harris told the Associated Press. MISSOURI HUNTER BAGS 39-POINT BUCK AFTER FOUR YEARS OF TRYING The 6-year-old took her rifle, aimed and pulled the trigger, striking the buck. They later found the dead animal by tracking a blood trail. '"She looked at me right away and said, 'I'm not gutting it because that's gross,'" Harris said. The father field dressed the deer and hauled it out of the woods. "He beams," Lexie's grandmother, Karen Zubke, said describing her son. "He's so proud of her." Harris has been taking his daughter on hunting trips since she was 3, but it was only recently when Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signed a new law on Nov. 12 that the young hunter was allowed to legally shoot a deer. Hunters had to be at least 12 years old to purchase a hunting license or hunt with a gun in the state. Children as young as 10 could participate in the mentored hunt program. HUNTER BAGS TWO 'BUCKS OF A LIFETIME' IN SAME WEEK However, the new law allows anyone, regardless of age, to participate in a mentored hunt and the mentor and student are each allowed to carry their own weapon. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) featured Lexie Harris hunting success on its Twitter page, captioning it: Six-year-old Lexi sat many hours yesterday without success but today her persistence paid off. Her father, Tyler Harris, had tears of joy when his little hunting partner got her first buck & poses for Warden Randy Dunkel. Congratulations, Lexi! Zubke said she's glad her son believes his child doesn't have to be a boy to hunt. Wisconsins gun deer hunting season kicked off last Saturday, according to Wisconsin DNR. Gun-toting hunters roamed the state to take a shot at some of 1.4 million deer. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A Minnesota-based health care company reportedly fired 69 employees who failed to comply with its flu shot mandate by the Nov. 10 deadline. In response to the firings, the Minnesota Nurses Association announced plans to file grievances against Essentia Health on behalf of the terminated employees to regain employment status or recover lost pay, Fox 9 reported. Some of the nurses claim they filed for exemptions based on religious or medical grounds, but Essentia Health which counts 15 hospitals and 75 clinics in Minnesota, Idaho, Wisconsin and North Dakota had previously said it would allow for very limited medical and religious exemptions among its 13,900 employees. The nurses also claim they had proposed an alternative program that rewards employees for receiving the vaccine rather than punishing those who didnt, as well as designated sick time for those who suffer adverse reactions from the shot. VA STUDY SHOWS PARASITE FROM VIETNAM MAY BE KILLING VETS Essentia Health showed nurses they did not intend to bargain with us in good faith, Steve Strand, co-chair of the MNA bargaining unit, told Fox 9 in a statement. We tried to sit down with management, but Essentia executives told us they intend to follow through with terminations and mandatory flu shots regardless. Dr. Rajesh Prabhu, an infectious disease specialist and Essentias chief patient safety officer, told The Star Tribune that while the vaccine is not 100 percent effective, there is a greater need to vaccinate hospital workers who interact with severely ill patients. HOW COMMON ARE FLU SHOT SIDE EFFECTS? We are working in a different environment, Prabhu told the news outlet. Were taking care of patients. We have a different sort of ethical obligation. The Minnesota Department of Health does not have a policy for health care providers regarding the flu shots, but does promote the vaccine for anyone who is at high-risk for influenza or who is around other high-risk individuals. South Carolinas supreme court late last week quietly put an end to a 24-year battle with the states legislature over how it funds its most rural school districts. The string of schools along Interstate 95, located in some of the states most isolated areas, became known as the Corridor of Shame after a documentary was aired in 2005 that depicted decrepit conditions with students unable to read and write. I had stumbled into another century, the host says at one point in the documentary. Thirty of those districts argued in a lawsuit in 1993 that the state had neglected to give them with enough money to provide its students with a minimally adequate education. The states high court has gone back and forth with the legislature, the plaintiffs, and the defendants since then. On Friday, the court voted 3-2 to end oversight of the legislatures spending, arguing that it is not the role of the court to dictate how the legislature spends the states money. The General Assembly can now focus solely on our childrens education needs rather than compliance with the arbitrary standard of the supreme court, said House speaker Jay Lucas, according to the Associated Press. Chief Justice Don Beatty, who dissented, said the court should wait for the legislature should finish a study to determine how much money it would require for the districts to provide a minimal education. Unfortunately, our Court has lost the will to do even the minimal amount necessary to avoid becoming complicit actors in the deprivation of a minimally adequate education to South Carolinas children, Beatty wrote, according to the Associated Press. For many, the start of the holiday season means not only family and food, but also getting on a long-distance flight. Unfortunately, traveling through large airport security lines and getting stuck on crowded airplanes for hours at a time is a great recipe for getting sick. Since the holiday season coincides with the start of flu season in the Northern Hemisphere, it can also mean travelers have to kick off Thanksgiving or other winter holidays while also fighting off the virus. Travelers afraid of germs were likely not helped by the news that listeria was reportedly detected at a catering facility for American Airlines and other airlines. According to the Gate Gourmet, which runs the catering kitchen, the bacteria was found in a drain at the facility, and not on food preparation areas. HOW TO AVOID SALMONELLA DURING THE HOLIDAYS As part of routine inspections, we identified traces of listeria in non-food contact areas, primarily floor drains, at our LAX unit, a spokeswoman for the Gate Group, which runs Gate Gourmet, said in a statement. Immediately and in accordance with our protocols, all floor drains and surrounding areas were immediately and aggressively treated. Independent food safety agencies have confirmed that our unit adheres to food safety regulations and we are not aware of any instance where passengers are put at risk. While it may be impossible to avoid all viruses and bacteria during holiday travel, there are some key steps you can do to help ensure you dont spend the holidays sick in bed. Flu season protection Health officials say the best way to protect yourself during flu season is to simply go to your doctor to get a flu shot. The vaccine is recommended for virtually everyone over the age of 6 months. The respiratory seasonal flu virus mainly spreads via droplets made when people with flu cough, sneeze or talk, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). These droplets can infect people as far as 6 feet away. First and foremost, get your flu shot, Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert from Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told Healthline. Thats terribly important, he added, because when youre traveling in crowds, large numbers of strangers encountered in airplanes, airports wherever youre going whenever you visit your relatives There are ample opportunities to get infected with the influenza virus. The vaccine isnt foolproof. But even if you start to exhibit symptoms, theyre usually less severe than if you didnt get a flu shot. Foodborne diseases The listeria detection in Los Angeles highlights the risks people can face with foodborne illness while traveling. In some cases, the risk comes from passengers themselves. They may arrive to a flight already sick, which means they risk infecting other passengers or contaminating surfaces. SALMONELLA POISONING SYMPTOMS AND WARNING SIGNS On one flight, 26 passengers had to cope with serious symptoms of food poisoning while on a Qantas flight, according to reports. Dr. Louis J. Morledge, a general specialist in internal medicine specializing in travel medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, said there are simple measures people can take to avoid getting sick via contaminated surfaces. One of the main prevention measures is simply keeping your hands clean. Do your best to avoid touching your hands to your mouth, nose, and eyes, because these are portals of entry for infection, Morledge told Healthline. You should wash your hands regularly, preferably with hot water and soap. He also said using a sizeable amount of hand sanitizer can do the trick. About a quarter-sized amount can work in a pinch if you cant get up easily to use the restroom. The idea is for that practice to occur often, he said of handwashing. Especially after using a restroom or before meals or after youve been in a public place, you may want to be extra careful to be sure you do that, because bacteria can linger on surfaces Whether you talk about doorknobs, whether you talk about desktops and tray tables, etc. For those concerned about getting sick from the food itself, Schaffner said theres some key steps people can take although he added that the risk is minimal on domestic flights. Schaffner advises sticking with hot food and drinks that are either boiled or in factory-sealed containers. While these tips are mainly for people traveling in countries with less strict food standards than the United States, worried travelers can adopt them when traveling locally as well. When you are in the developing world, theres an old rule. Avoid salads, Schaffner said. Regarding everything else, make sure before you eat it, its heated. According to the CDC, meats like hot dogs and cold cuts should be cooked to 165F (74C) to kill bacteria like listeria. What to do if your seatmate is sick One familiar travel nightmare is boarding the plane, only to find that youre next to a sick passenger whos coughing and sneezing. Morledge said its possible that using an air vent located above passenger seats can help stop the spread of a disease via coughing and sneezing. The vents are somewhat valuable, he said. It will circulate air If there is disease around you, you are circulating things and can disrupt the spread of disease. Schaffner said theres another step passengers can take if a neighbor is clearly sick. Travel with facial tissue, Kleenex, he said. If there is someone out there coughing in your vicinity and theyre not covering themselves, with a smile and pleasant suggestion offer them the Kleenex and say, Perhaps this would help? It certainly would help protect us. Schaffner, who was getting over his own travel-acquired virus, said it may be a little uncomfortable, but giving them a hint and help with a nice smile can go a long way to keeping the peace with your neighbor and staying healthy. This article first appeared on HealthLine.com. A mother and her boyfriend were arrested in Indiana on Monday for allegedly giving a 10-month-old girl marijuana after she broke her leg, police said. Tessa Rose Murray, 23, and her boyfriend Nerrell McCoy, 20, allegedly gave her infant daughter the drug to ease her pain, the Muncie Police Department told The Star Press. Murray's baby was transported to IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital on June 18 to treat her dislocated femur fracture. Police were notified of the incident after the baby was hospitalized, the arrest affidavit stated. FORMERLY CONJOINED TWINS AT PHILADELPHIA HOSPITAL RELEASED BEFORE HOLIDAYS Kris Swanson, an investigator for Muncie Police Department, said Murray initially stated the baby broke her leg after falling from a couch. She later changed her story and said another child pulled on the infants leg while she was falling from a bed. Swanson searched through Murrays text messages and saw exchanges with her boyfriend McCoy regarding the infants injury on June 13, the news outlet reported. One of the texts McCoy sent to Murray allegedly stated: (The baby) prolly(sic) needs some weed and she will be good for now. McCoy also said he thought the child had a muscle or tendon injury and put the babys leg in a book splint, The Star Press reported. SALMONELLA POISONING SYMPTOMS AND WARNING SIGNS The child tested "positive for marijuana in excess of what could be attributed to second-hand smoke," Swanson said. The couple denied knowing how the infants leg became broken but acknowledged that they did not get proper medical care for the infant. The baby was taken from Murrays custody last summer, authorities told The Star Press. Murray and McCoy were each charged with two counts of neglect of a dependent. They were both being held in Delaware County jail. Their bond was set at $10,000 each. Editor's note: The following column originally appeared in The Resurgent. For more reasons that you might expect, I think we should all be thankful for the President. I know I am thankful. President Trump is not perfect. He was not my choice to be President. But I am thankful for him in many ways. I appreciate that President Trump has brought about the great sorting of the conservative movement. Though disappointing to see, it has confirmed for me that the nation is not as conservative as I once thought and also that there are a lot of people who have made a lot of money in the conservative movement who do not really believe in the ideals of conservatism. President Trump has made me recommit to my faith. I could be distracted by politics for the longest time, but seeing the country headed toward the darkness with many so called conservatives cheering on the dark, I have been forced to reprioritize things. I have realized how much of my politics and faith do not align and how many Christian conservatives have worked very hard to conform their faith to their politics instead of the other way around. The richest reward in the age of Donald Trump is a clearer vision of the country and a greater appreciation for the necessity of relying on God, not men. I am thankful he put Neil Gorsuch on the bench. I am thankful for many of the President's policies and stellar personnel appointments like Ajit Pai, Justice Willett, Nikki Haley, Rick Perry, General Mattis, etc. Though it has not happened to the extent I would like, President Trump's election has forced some Democrats to finally realize what conservatives were talking about when they said character counted. It has not been good on the GOP side now, but some Democrats are finally having to recognize it. Likewise, Democrats are starting to realize that defending President Obama's legacy at the expense of reality may not be the greatest thing. It will take further time for this to shake out, but from Iran to Russia to North Korea, at least privately Democrats are starting to acknowledge Barack Obama's failures. Though not an exhaustive list, there is one last thing I am thankful of because of President Trump. There are people in the old center-right coalition who I may not see eye to eye with at times, but I have a new appreciation for their willingness to stand up. Even now, we do not always agree on things, but it has been nice to see people make it through the great sorting with their integrity intact. I have always had respect and rare disagreement with people like Jonah Goldberg and Bill Kristol, but add into mix with them people like Charlie Sykes and others it is refreshing to see people focus on ideas on the right, not just the cult of personality. The richest reward in the age of Donald Trump is a clearer vision of the country and a greater appreciation for the necessity of relying on God, not men. This clarifying moment would not have come except for Donald Trump's election and it is clear the turmoil, problems, and opportunism of many were always there festering. "Your problems will be our problems, and when you look for friends, we shall be there." I thought about this promise made by Margaret Thatcher to Ronald Reagan during my official visit to London this week. The United States and the United Kingdom share a powerful alliance that is unique among nations. In my meetings with Prime Minister Theresa May, senior leaders of government, and English clergy, we discussed the need to strengthen this alliance to meet the challenges of an increasingly chaotic world. It is this friendship, this special relationship, that was the center of my conversation with Prime Minister May. Our special relationship with the United Kingdom is built on a foundation of shared values. The prime minister outlined these values best when she introduced herself to President Trump earlier this year as a fellow Conservative who believes in the same principles that underpin the agenda of your Party. The value of liberty. The dignity of work. The principles of nationhood, family, economic prudence, patriotismand putting power in the hands of the people. Prime Minister May and I agreed that these very principlesof working hard to empower the people and to leave the world a better placeshould guide our efforts in the fight against terrorism. Addressing the threat of homegrown radicalization by jihadist groups requires an approach that protects our citizens safety just as it does their liberties. Thats why MI5 Director General Andrew Parker and I agreed on the importance of creating a clear legal framework to facilitate the sharing of electronic data between our two countries. In coordination with UK officials, I am finalizing data-sharing legislation that would protect the rights of citizens while also giving law enforcement the tools they need to keep us safe. It is this type of close collaboration, driven by shared principles and shared objectives, that exemplifies the unique ability of our two countries to build a more secure and prosperous world. For many years, the United Kingdom and the United States have worked closely to fight terrorist groups overseas, ISIS being foremost among such groups. Ultimately, victory over ISIS will come with the revival of human rights, democratic principles, and freedom in the Middle East. But this revival wont happen on its own; we must speed it along by taking President Reagans approach: to use a humanitarian velvet glove backed by a steel fist of military force. This approach will help us win freedom for the people of Syria and Iraq. And make no mistake: these people desperately need our help. In my conversation with the Bishop of Southwark, the Rt. Revd. Christopher Chessun, I learned of the horrific violence perpetrated against Christians in Syria and the desecration of ancient heritage sites. Throughout his many travels to the region, Bishop Chessun has been a strong advocate on behalf of Syrias victimized communities. By partnering with UK government officials and ecclesiastical leaders, we can build alliances at all levels of society to protect the most vulnerable. The experiences of marginalized communities such as Christians in Syria remind us that the struggle for human freedom is ongoingand the need to promote individual liberty is more urgent today than ever before. Thats why I emphasized the importance of defending democracy in a special address I delivered to the students of Oxford University. The university invited me to speak in commemoration of President Reagans historic address to the Oxford Union twenty-five years ago. In my remarks, I reminded the audience that from the same podium, President Reagan had announced the formation of the National Endowment for Democracy, or NED, an initiative I am proud to have championed in Congress. The NEDs role is as important as ever in promoting peace, order, and security in troubled regions across the world. As President Reagan said, the only cure for what ails democracy is more democracy. Just as in Reagans time, our world is witness to evil ideologies that threaten the lives and liberty of innocent civilians. But the historic friendship between the United Kingdom and the United Statesand our commitment to shared valueswill ensure that the cause of freedom will prevail. Three military members working for the White House have been reassigned after having alleged inappropriate contact with foreign women during President Donald Trumps recent trip to Asia, a senior U.S. defense official confirmed to Fox News. The service members, who worked as part of the White House Communications Agency (WHCA), are being investigated for allegedly breaking curfew in Vietnam, The Washington Post reported Tuesday. We are aware of the incident, and it is currently under investigation, Department of Defense spokesman Mark Wright said. ARMY SOLDIERS REMOVED FROM PENCE DETAIL AFTER BRINGING WOMEN BACK TO HOTEL IN PANAMA The men are noncommissioned officers of the U.S. Army, working with the WHCA a specialized military unit which runs technical support for presidential and vice presidential events and provides secure communications for White House officials. The service members, according to The Post, could lose their security clearance or be court-martialed if found guilty. In August, four Army soldiers working with the WHCA were reassigned after bringing women back to their hotel room on a trip to Panama with Vice President Mike Pence. Fox News Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report. With less than three weeks to go until Alabamas U.S. Senate election, rivals Roy Moore and Doug Jones made their latest pitches to voters Tuesday night. Republican Moore appeared on a popular television program in the state, while Democrat Jones spoke at a church in Huntsville. Earlier in the day, President Donald Trump weighed in on the race, telling reporters that Jones was too liberal for the job, and would be a bad choice for a variety of reasons. Moore and Jones are vying for the Senate seat that was long held by current U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The race has drawn national attention, in part because of sexual misconduct allegations made against Moore by several women. But on Tuesday night Moore once again defended himself from the accusations. 'I don't know them' I dont know them. Ive never known them, Moore told host Scott Beason about his accusers. Ive never met them to my knowledge. I later found out that Beverly Nelson had a case in front of my court in 1999. But I dont know them. I never spoken to them. And certainly I didnt do anything to them. Moore said he was considering legal action against the Washington Post, the first organization to publish many of the accusations. Moore, a longtime Alabama state Supreme Court judge, went on to draw distinctions between himself and Jones, a former U.S. attorney. If you ask me the difference between myself and Doug Jones? Everything, Moore said. I want a wall. I wanna stop illegal aliens. Theres just so many differences, Moore continued. I believe in rights. They believe in transgender rights. Were talking about womens rights here. Who stands for womens rights? Those who stand for transgender rights, same-sex marriage? Thats undermining women. And thats violating childrens rights. And I believe in those things. I believe in traditional values that Alabamians stand for. And Ill take these to Washington, D.C., and Ill stand for them. 'Are you gonna be afraid?' Meanwhile, Jones perhaps rattled by Trumps comments earlier in the day seemed to sharpen his rhetoric against Moore. Jones urged the audience at First Missionary Baptist Church in Huntsville to trust their own judgment in deciding which candidate to support. Look past Rs and Ds, Jones told attendees, advising them not to listen to Moores supporters. Are you gonna be afraid of what theyre gonna say? Jones joked that Moore, who was twice removed from his seat on the Alabama Supreme Court, cant seem to hold a job. Twice, he violated his oath, Jones said. Now, you know, down here, we have that saying: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. I dont know what about a third one. It never gets that far. In a state where its difficult for a Democrat to get elected, Jones also made sure to praise Ronald Reagan, a GOP icon who was popular with many Democrats as well. You gotta give Ronald Reagan a lot of credit, Jones said. Well, Bill Clinton did a good job too, he added, appealing to the loyal Democrats in the audience. But Jones asserted that party loyalty wasnt justifiable in the case of Moore, given the accusations that women have made against him. Some Republicans, he said, are simply saying, Oh pay no attention to the allegations against Roy Moore, hes a Republican. By God, well vote for him anyway. That is wrong, people, Jones said. That is wrong. 'Don't need a liberal' The Democrat spoke just hours after Trump said outside the White House that Jones was a weak candidate for the job. I can tell you one thing for sure," Trump told reporters. We don't need a liberal person in there, a Democrat [Doug] Jones ... We do not need somebody that's going to be bad on crime, bad on borders, bad with the military, bad for the Second Amendment. Trump also defended Moore against accusations of sexual misconduct. Look, he denies it, Trump told reporters. He says it didn't happen, and you know, you have to listen to him also. "Forty years is a long time," the president added, noting how far back the allegations against Moore go. Alabama voters will head to the polls Dec. 12. The Senate seat is currently held by Republican Luther Strange, who was appointed to complete Sessions term after Sessions joined the Trump administration. Strange sought to win the seat outright, but Moore defeated him in the states Republican primary. Fox News Dan Gallo and Sam Chamberlain contributed to this report. The Democratic nominee in the heated Alabama Senate race once defended a man in court who has ties to the Ku Klux Klan and Holocaust deniers, complicating his record on the campaign trail as a civil rights champion. Former U.S. Attorney Doug Jones is running against Republican candidate Roy Moore for the Senate seat, which was long occupied by now-U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Amid the turmoil in the Moore campaign over sexual abuse allegations, Jones has a shot to become the first non-Republican U.S. senator from the state in more than two decades. Moore is facing claims, which he denies, that he sexually assaulted one teenager and had a separate sexual encounter with a 14-year-old while he was in his 30s. As top Republicans call on Moore to step aside, President Trump on Tuesday stressed that the GOP nominee denies these claims and blasted Jones as a "liberal." But the 63-year-old Democrat has built his campaign largely on his personal history and legal record during his stint as a U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, where he successfully prosecuted two KKK members linked to the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in 1963 that left four African-American children dead. Jones' strategy appears to be working: Not only have his chances of winning the Senate seat increased, but the media have showered Jones with positive coverage. Man Who Put KKK Behind Bars Will Now Try To Stop Roy Moore From Reaching Senate, wrote liberal HuffPost. Mother Jones magazine, meanwhile, asked their readers: He Beat the KKK. Can He Convince Alabama to Reject Bigotry Again? Defended extremist in 1980s But while Jones and the media tout his prosecution of the KKK members, his lesser-known record as a private defense attorney in the 1980s is often overlooked. In one case, he defended Tom Posey, the infamous figure during the Iran-Contra scandal, who had ties with the KKK and Holocaust deniers. Posey was a well-known Alabama right-wing extremist activist. In 1983, he founded the Civilian Military Assistance (CMA), a paramilitary group that first provided arms and training to rebels in Nicaragua, but later expanded its activities and gained notoriety in 1986 after holding 15 illegal immigrants at gunpoint after they tried to cross the border from Mexico, the Arizona Republic reported July 8, 1986. DOUG JONES DENIES BEING 'ULTRA-LIBERAL' Jones represented Posey in 1987 amid allegations of illegal arms shipping to the Nicaraguan rebels fighting the socialist government at a time when such activity was prohibited as the U.S. was not officially at war with Nicaragua. He got off the charges thanks to Jones' representation. It was no secret in Alabama that the group began as an adjunct to the KKK. United Press International reported in 1986, a year before Jones defended Posey, that the CMA is trailed by hints of shadowy connections, ranging from the CIA to the Ku Klux Klan, and members have been charged with an assortment of Latin American mischief, including gun running, drug smuggling and assassination plots. The Jones campaign ignored Fox News requests for an interview, instead releasing a statement asserting Jones progressive record on civil and human rights. "Dougs commitment to civil and human rights has been unwavering, as demonstrated by his well-documented career, the campaign spokesperson said. This case only involved Poseys activities with the Contras and these charges were dismissed by a federal judge in Florida. Doug also represented Mr. Posey when he cooperated with congressional investigators. Group member celebrated Hitler's birthday Among the most hardline members of the CMA group was Chicago chapter leader Arthur Jones, described by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) as a long-time neo-Nazi who has been involved with anti-Semitic and racist groups since the 1970s. Throughout his lifetime, he attended multiple neo-Nazi rallies, celebrated Adolf Hitlers birthday, and once said the Holocaust is a lie and nothing more than an international extortion racket by the Jews." John Matthews, a former white supremacist who was part of the CMA since 1985 and left only after becoming an FBI informant in the 1990s, told Newsweek magazine in 2011 that following the covert war in Nicaragua, he traveled the country together with Posey, meeting former Klan leaders, attending parties with the KKK and sitting in church pews with would-be abortion-clinic bombers. The Jones campaign did not respond to follow-up questions to its statement, and did not answer directly when asked whether the candidate was aware at the time of Posey's other activities. In an op-ed published Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, writes that she backs the Republican effort to repeal ObamaCares individual mandate, a position that might offer her party hope when it comes to the tax plan vote. Republican senators have said they intend on repealing the individual mandate requirement as part of their tax legislation. A spokesman for Murkowski told Politico that her column does not mean she supports the tax bill. I have always supported the freedom to choose. I believe that the federal government should not force anyone to buy something they do not wish to buy in order to avoid being taxed," Murkowski writes in the Fairbanks Daily-Miner. "That is the fundamental reason why I opposed the Affordable Care Act from its inception and also why I cosponsored a bill to repeal the individual mandate tax penalty starting as early as 2013. And that is why I support the repeal of that tax today." She explained that she didnt support the Republican efforts to repeal ObamaCare this past year because all those bills went far beyond the fundamental problems presented by ACA and would have unnecessarily taken away access to care from those who need it most." Under ObamaCare, those without coverage are forced to pay a fine of $695 -- or 2.5 percent of their household income, the Washington Post reported. President Trump is looking for his first major legislative victory and, once again, every vote in Senate counts. Politico reported that Trump can only lose two Senate Republicans on the tax legislation, and Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., has already spoken out against the bill. Murkowski said she supports repealing the individual mandate but, once again, voiced her support for a bipartisan compromise: the Alexander-Murray legislation. The Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., deal would continue the insurer payments for two years, while establishing new flexibility for states under former President Obamas 2010 law. This would allow the Senate to continue its debate about the long term of health care, but over the next two years I think Americans wont have to worry about the possibility of being able to buy insurance in counties where they live, Alexander said in announcing the deal after a closed-door lunch where he presented it to GOP senators. The Associated Press contributed to this report. An American man, freed from North Korean labor camps with the help of President Jimmy Carter in 2010, burned to death last week in California. Aijalon Mahli Gomes, 38, was found on fire late Friday by an off-duty police officer, who saw him running and then collapsing in a dirt lot in Mission Bay Park -- all while engulfed in flames, Fox 5 San Diego reported. Investigators ruled out the probability of homicide, saying the death likely resulted from either an accident or a suicide. Gomes became the subject of an international controversy in 2010 after North Korean authorities arrested him for illegally entering the country from China. They sentenced him to eight years of hard labor in the communist countrys notorious work camps and fined him $700,000. His exact motives for entering the country remain unclear, but he was teaching English in South Korea at the time and may have entered the enclosed country in support of a Korean-American human rights activist, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. I was praying each and every day, Jacqueline McCarthy, Gomes mother, told the Union-Tribune on Tuesday, recalling the 2010 events. They would not let me talk to him. McCarthy claimed her son attempted several suicide attempts while in custody, including cutting his wrists and starving himself. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter helped negotiate Gomes freedom and he was released in August 2010. "At the request of President Carter, and for humanitarian purposes, Mr. Gomes was granted amnesty by the chairman of the National Defense Commission, Kim Jong-Il," the Carter Center said in a statement at the time. McCarthy told the Union-Tribune that following his return to the U.S., her son had problems coping with the ordeal. She said it left him with post-traumatic stress disorder and he began isolating from the family. Marshalette Wise, who claims to have been a friend of Gomes, wrote a Facebook post recalling the times she spent with him and suggested he suffered from mental health issues. "I say all of this to say that we should move away from mental health issues being such a stigma in our community. If you need help or your mood isnt what you feel it should be, dont be embarrassed to seek help and if you know someone who may be suffering, offer them a kind word as it just may make all the difference, Wise wrote. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Doug Jones, the Democratic nominee in Alabamas heated Senate race, hammered Republican rival Roy Moore in a new web video that features the photos and names of the women who have accused him of sexual misconduct. In the 30-second Immoral video, released Wednesday, a narrator reads the names of the nine women accusing Roy Moore of inappropriate behavior. "Leigh Corfman, Beverly Young Nelson, Debbie Wesson Gibson, Gloria Thacker Deason, Gena Richardson, Wendy Miller, Kelly Harrison Thorp. And the list is growing," the narrator says, mentioning the two other accusers, Tina Johnson and Becky Gray, at the end of the video. They were girls when Roy Moore immorally pursued them, the narrator says. Now they are women, witnesses to us all of his disturbing conduct. The video ends with a somber statement: Will we make their abuser a U.S. senator? Corfman claims Moore initiated a sexual encounter when she was just 14 years old. Moore has denied all the allegations, and President Trump on Tuesday seemed to back him up -- saying "he totally denies it" and blasting Jones as a "liberal." Meanwhile, Moores communication director John Rogers has resigned. Rogers decision to leave the campaign comes less than a month before the Dec. 12 special election. "Unfortunately John just did not have the experience to deal with the press the last couple of weeks, and weve had to make a change," Brett Doster, an adviser with the Moore campaign, told Fox News. Doster will be taking on a larger role in communications going forward. In recent weeks, several Alabama newspapers as well as prominent Republicans including Sens. Mike Lee and Ted Cruz have withdrawn their endorsements of Moore. Trump, however, seemed to minimize the allegations of sexual misconduct on Tuesday, telling voters not to support Jones. When pressed on the allegations against Moore, some of which date back 40 years, Trump said, "Look, he denies it ... He says it didn't happen, and you know, you have to listen to him also." Trump did not rule out campaigning for Moore. "I'll be letting you know next week." Trump backed Moore's defeated opponent, Sen. Luther Strange, in September's primary runoff election. Fox News' Dan Gallo contributed to this report. Rep. John Conyers' hometown newspaper is calling for his resignation in the wake of sexual harassment allegations against the Michigan lawmaker and a questionable payout to one alleged victim. Conyers is accused of using taxpayer dollars to settle a claim in secret, after a former staffer reportedly claimed she was fired for rejecting his advances. In a scathing editorial published late Tuesday, the Detroit Free Press demanded the Democrat step down immediately. The paper called Conyers' actions the kind of behavior that can never be tolerated in a public official, much less an elected representative of the people. He should resign his position and allow the investigation into his behavior to unfold without the threat that it would render him, and the people he now represents, effectively voiceless, the board wrote. BuzzFeed reported Monday that Conyers settled a wrongful termination complaint in 2015 with a staffer who claimed she was dismissed because she did not succumb to [his] sexual advances. Conyers acknowledged in a statement that his office paid his accuser the money -- reportedly a $27,000 sum -- but vehemently denied the underlying claims. I expressly and vehemently denied the allegations made against me, and continue to do so, Conyers, who has spent 53 years in Congress, said. My office resolved the allegations with an express denial of liability to save all involved from the rigors of protracted litigation. That should not be lost in the narrative. But the Detroit Free Press, which described Conyers as an undisputed hero of the civil rights movement, took issue with how Conyers office chose to handle the issue. After the alleged victim made a formal complaint through Congress' Office of Compliance, Conyers office reportedly pushed to handle the situation on its own. If the woman dropped her complaint, signed a legal document saying Conyers had done nothing wrong and promised not to make any additional claims against him, she would be re-hired as a temporary no-show employee and paid $27,111.75 for three months, according to reports. The accuser agreed to the terms. Conyers office defended the agreement as a way to avoid litigation though House ethics rules bar lawmakers from keeping an employee on the payroll who isnt doing anything. "A House member cant retain an employee who isnt performing work commensurate with the pay, and regardless, cant give back pay for work that stretches further than a month," the editorial board wrote. While acknowledging that payoffs happen in the private sector, the board said it should never, ever happen where public dollars (and public accountability) are concerned. Calling it a public betrayal, the board wrote its impossible to know how often the practice takes places in Congress but added Conyers should have known better. Even though resigning would end his otherwise stellar career, the paper wrote that its the appropriate consequence for the stunning subterfuge his office has indulged here, and a needed warning to other members of Congress that this can never be tolerated. The House Ethics Committee announced Tuesday it has opened an investigation into the matter. The Committee is aware of public allegations that Representative John Conyers, Jr. may have engaged in sexual harassment of members of his staff, discriminated against certain staff on the basis of age, and used official resources for impermissible personal purposes, Ethics Committee Chairwoman Rep. Susan Brooks, R-Ind., and Ranking Member Rep. Theodore Deutch, D-Fla., said in a statement Tuesday afternoon. Kentucky Sen. Rand Pauls wife is accusing the media of making things worse for her husband as he recovers from an attack by a neighbor that left him badly injured earlier this month. It is incredibly hurtful that some news outlets have victimized Rand a second time as he struggles to recover, Kelley Paul wrote in a piece published Tuesday on CNN.com. Pauls neighbor, 59-year-old Rene Boucher, has been charged with misdemeanor fourth-degree assault and was released from jail on a $7,500 bond after police say he tackled Paul on Nov. 3 as he mowed his grass. Kelley Paul accused some outlets of delighting in hateful headlines like Not A Perfect Neighbor, and concocting theories about an ongoing dispute, based on nothing more than speculation from an attention-seeking person with no knowledge of anything to do with us. RAND PAUL ATTACK: NEIGHBORS NOW CASTING DOUBT ON LANDSCAPING DISPUTE STORY After the incident, The Louisville-Courier Journal ran a story titled Rand Paul is not a perfect neighbor, says community developer, though the headline has since been changed. The Washington Examiner wrote a story titled Rand Paul and neighbor had ongoing dispute about yard waste before assault, and other outlets also reported on a landscaping dispute. Kelley Paul said such characterizations are wrong. This was not a scuffle, a fight or an altercation, as many in the media falsely describe it, Kelley Paul wrote. It was a deliberate, blindside attack. The impact left Rand with six broken ribs, three displaced, pleural effusion and now pneumonia. This has been a terrible experience; made worse by the media's gleeful attempts to blame Rand for it, ridiculing him for everything from mowing his own lawn to composting. She said Paul has faced complications during the recovery, including after making a trip to Washington for votes. As we walked through the airport returning from D.C., he was shivering with a 102.5 fever, and the next morning his internist diagnosed pneumonia in his damaged lung, she said. Since the attack, Kelley Paul said her husband hasnt taken a single breath without pain. He has not had a single night's sleep uninterrupted by long periods of difficult breathing or excruciating coughing, she said. The exact motive for the attack remains a mystery. According to the police report, Paul told police that his neighbor came onto his property and tackled him from behind, forcing him to the ground and causing pain. The report also said the defendant admitted going onto Pauls property and tackling him. Matthew J. Baker, an attorney for Boucher, has told Fox News the very regrettable dispute didnt have anything to do with politics. Boucher is a registered Democrat. The unfortunate occurrence of November 3rd has absolutely nothing to do with either's politics or political agendas, Baker said. It was a very regrettable dispute between two neighbors over a matter that most people would regard as trivial. We sincerely hope that Senator Paul is doing well and that these two gentlemen can get back to being neighbors as quickly as possible. The United States on Wednesday labeled as ethnic cleansing" the Burma military operation against Rohingya Muslims that has sent over 600,000 refugees flooding into Bangladesh, and said it would consider possible "targeted sanctions." Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a statement the "horrible atrocities" by government security forces and "local vigilantes" have caused "tremendous suffering and forced hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children to flee their homes." "After a careful and thorough analysis of available facts, it is clear that the situation in northern Rakhine state constitutes ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya," Tillerson said. The secretary of state added the U.S. wants a full, independent investigation and would "pursue accountability through U.S. law, including possible targeted sanctions." "Those responsible for these atrocities must be held accountable," he said. The United Nations in September made such a declaration in September, but the U.S. had held off, with Tillerson saying he needed more information even as he expressed deep concern about the crisis. The crisis started in August, when Rohingya insurgents attacked Burmese security forces, leading to a brutal crackdown in which soldiers and Buddhist mobs have killed men, raped women and burned homes and property to force the Rohingya to leave. Rohingya from Burma's Rakhine state have been fleeing to neighboring Bangladesh, seeking refuge from what the military has called "clearance operations." Human rights groups accuse the military of a scorched-earth campaign against the Rohinyga, who numbered roughly 1 million before the outbreak of violence. The Buddhist majority in Burma believes they migrated illegally from Bangladesh, but many Rohingya, who were officially stripped of their citizenship in 1982, have lived for generations in the country. Tillerson made a trip last week to Burma where he met with the country's civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, well as the powerful military chief, Min Aung Hlaing, who is in charge of operations in Rakhine state, home to the Rohingya population. During his trip, Tillerson said the U.S. would consider targeted sanctions against individuals deemed responsible for the violence. "Burmas response to this crisis is vital to determining the success of its transition to a more democratic society," he said Wednesday. "As I said in Naypyitaw, the key test of any democracy is how it treats its most vulnerable and marginalized populations, such as the ethnic Rohingya and other minority populations. Burmas government and security forces must respect the human rights of all persons within its borders, and hold accountable those who fail to do so." Broad-based U.S. sanctions on the country were eased under former President Barack Obama as the Southeast Asian nation inched toward democracy. U.S. officials have told the Associated Press they are concerned that reinstating sanctions or pushing Burma's leaders too hard on the Rohingya violence could undermine the country's civilian government, led for the last 18 months by Suu Kyi. That could slow or reverse the country's delicate transition away from decades of harsh military rule and risks pushing Burma away from the U.S. and closer to China. The Associated Press contributed to this report. It may not take an asteroid strike to transport life from one planet to another. Fast-moving dust could theoretically knock microbes floating high up in a world's atmosphere out into space, potentially sending the bugs on a trip to another planet perhaps even one orbiting a different star, according to a new study. "The proposition that space-dust collisions could propel organisms over enormous distances between planets raises some exciting prospects of how life and the atmospheres of planets originated," study author Arjun Berera, a professor in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, said in a statement. [5 Bold Claims of Alien Life] "The streaming of fast space dust is found throughout planetary systems and could be a common factor in proliferating life," Berera added. Berera isn't the first person to propose that organisms could hop from world to world throughout the cosmos. That basic idea, known as panspermia, has been around for thousands of years. It has received renewed interest recently, however, as scientists have demonstrated that some organisms such as certain bacteria, and micro-animals known as tardigrades can survive for extended periods in space. But researchers have generally regarded comet or asteroid impacts as the only viable way to get simple life-forms off a planet and into space, whence they could perhaps blunder their way to a different habitable world. (We won't consider here the "directed panspermia" idea, which posits that intelligent aliens have seeded the galaxy with life or its building blocks.) Comet or asteroid impacts do indeed blast rocks from planet to planet. Scientists have found numerous meteorites here on Earth that were once part of Mars including one known as ALH84001, which some scientists think may preserve signs of ancient Red Planet life. In the new study, Berera examined what likely happens when bits of interplanetary dust hit molecules and particles in Earth's atmosphere. This space stuff rains down on us every day, hitting the planet at speeds of between 22,400 mph and 157,000 mph (36,000 to 253,000 km/h). He calculated that small particles floating at least 93 miles (150 kilometers) above Earth's surface could theoretically get knocked into space by this wandering dust. It's unclear if microbes could survive such violent collisions; that's an area ripe for future research, Berera wrote in the new paper, which has been accepted for publication in the journal Astrobiology. (You can read the study for free at the online preprint site arXiv.org.) And even if these micro-impacts are invariably fatal, they could still help life get a foothold on other worlds by sending its building blocks the complex molecules that make up a microbe corpse, for example out into space, he added. Originally published on Space.com. This is a rush transcript from "The Story," November 21, 2017. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated. MARTHA MACCALLUM, HOST: Thank you very much, Bret. I am Martha MacCallum, and I'm in New York and "The Story" begins here. So, tonight, breaking news from the White House where the president spoke out forcefully right before heading out for Thanksgiving. The White House evolution on Roy Moore continues tonight. The president now saying he wants a Republican in that Alabama seat, and that Roy Moore denies the allegations against him. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, he denies it. Look, he denies it. I mean, if you look at what is really going on, and you look at all the things that have happened over the last 48 hours, he totally denies it. He says it didn't happen and, you know, you have to listen to him also. You're talking about -- he said, 40 years ago, this did not happen. So, you know. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you going to campaign for Roy Moore? TRUMP: I'll be letting you know next week, but I can tell you, you don't need somebody who's soft on crime like Jones. (END VIDEO CLIP) MACCALLUM: He said quite a bit in there. Let's bring in our chief congressional correspondent, Mike Emanuel, who's live at the White House tonight with the latest. Hi Mike. MIKE EMANUEL, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Martha, good evening. Part of this could well be President Trump is counting votes for tax reform and doesn't want the Senate to have just 51 Republicans, so the White House may feel it needs Roy Moore. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: Well, he denies. I mean, Roy Moore denies it. And by the way, he gives a total denial -- and I do have to say, 40 years is a long time. He's run eight races and this has never come up, so 40 years is a long time. The women are Trump voters, most of them are Trump voters. (END VIDEO CLIP) EMANUEL: The president made a whole lot of news before leaving the White House with a first family heading for the winter White House for the Thanksgiving holiday. The president also weighed in on the recent controversies over prominent Democratic lawmakers, Democrat Senator Al Franken, and Michigan Democrat Congressman John Conyers. Franken has had women accuse him of inappropriate sexual behavior, and Conyers is facing an Ethics Committee probe after revelations he may have sexually harassed staff members and used official resources for personal purposes involving women. The president talked about this moment where women are coming forward to reveal men behaving badly. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: Women are very special, I think it's a very special time because a lot of things are coming out and I think that's good for our society. And I think it's very, very good for women. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Should Al Franken resign now? TRUMP: I don't know. Look, I don't want to speak for Al Franken. I don't know -- UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What about John Conyers? TRUMP: I don't what happened. I just heard about Conyers two minutes ago. (END VIDEO CLIP) EMANUEL: There is also outrage over the Congressional Office of Compliance, saying 17 million taxpayer dollars have been used to settle 264 claims over 20 years. The president says, he thinks Congress should open up about lawmakers who have settled sexual harassment claims. And in this case, there appears to be at least some bipartisan agreement. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONNA BRAZILE, FORMER DNC CHAIR: I think the Speaker Paul Ryan and Leader McConnell should open up the books. I think the American people deserve to understand what has been going on under the dome of the Capitol. (END VIDEO CLIP) EMANUEL: There are some suggestions -- these sexual harassment allegations are just the tip of the iceberg involving lawmakers. There's no doubt some members of Congress may be having an uneasy Thanksgiving holiday if they've been hiding secrets. Martha? MACCALLUM: Boy, no doubt. Mike, thank you very much. So, here now: Washington Times Columnist, Charles Hurt. Charlie, good to see you tonight. Thanks for being here on THE STORY. CHARLIE HURT, COLUMNIST FOR THE WASHINGTON TIMES: Hey, Martha. MACCALLUM: Boy, so, the president came out to leave for Thanksgiving, and as he often does, he gave us an earful as he was heading out to Marine One. And he chose to sort of evolved on the issue of Roy Moore. He has had 12 days, he really hasn't really said anything. What do you make of when he laid out there tonight with regards to his stance on Roy Moore, Charlie? HURT: Well, I think it was as disciplined a response as I could've ever imagined President Trump ever giving. The first thing he said was -- instead of answering the question about Roy Moore, he simply pivoted and started talking about issues, he talked about issues that are very important to Alabama voters. Talking about crime in the border and the second amendment, and he said that Doug Jones, the Democratic opponent against Roy Moore, is unacceptable to him on all of those things and he seems to call him a liberal. And then, he tried to leave it there for a minute, and then somebody pressed him further on Roy Moore and he didn't defend Roy Moore, but he also -- he didn't endorse him and he didn't really defend him except to say that he denies everything. MACCALLUM: Yes. And it's a very, very delicate dance. I want to play a little bit of the campaign manager for Roy Moore who came out today, manager -- Campaign Manager Dean Young. Watch this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DEAN YOUNG, CAMPAIGN MANAGER FOR ROY MOORE: Mitch McConnell has spent over $30 million trying to stop Judge Moore. The Washington Post and all the fake media for the last two weeks have said everything they can say about Judge Moore and tried to dig people up, put them on T.V., and say Judge Moore's a bad guy. We understand why. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Their worldviews could not be more opposite than that of Judge Moore. (END VIDEO CLIP) MACCALLUM: You know, you have such a disconnect going on here, Charlie, between Alabama and their decision about who their senator is going to be. And then, the outrage over the possibility that Roy Moore could have pushed himself on a 14-year-old girl. HURT: I have to tell you, Martha, from that first moment -- that first accusation from Lee Kaufman, I believed every word of it. Everything she said just sent chills down my spine, and I believed every bit of it. But listening to that -- to those campaign officials talking today, talking about the effort to destroy a guy, it was the most powerful argument that I have heard to date. And it does -- it brings you up short and it makes you stop and wonder. You know, we think about all of the things that you and I and others have covered over the past few years, throughout the Trump Campaign, the things that turned out to be completely false that whether it's the Russia dossier, you know, all this crazy stuff. And it starts -- and I know that you know, as a fairly sophisticated consumer of the news, it really causes me to question. I don't blame a single Alabama voter who goes out there and votes for Roy Moore for that very reason. And by the way, you know, Donald Trump is right or the White House is right: nobody can do anything to stop Roy Moore at this time. He may lose, he may win, Republicans -- MACCALLUM: They could stop him after he gets in. HURT: Right. MACCALLUM: It's very close right now. They are, you know, a couple of tenths of a point apart in the latest poll. HURT: But it's up to Alabama voters. MACCALLUM: But if he gets in, it could become a whole another episode for the GOP. HURT: Absolutely. But at this point, it is up to Alabama voters and you have to have faith in them, you know, to do the right thing and that includes evaluating all of the information and determining who's lying, who's not lying -- that's the way the system is set up. MACCALLUM: I want to quickly play the president on his Putin phone call and get a quick thought from you on that. Let's watch that. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: We had a great call with President Putin. We're talking about peace in Syria -- very important. We're about North Korea, we had a call that lasted almost an hour and a half. We just put out a release on the call, but we're talking very strongly about bringing peace to Syria. We're talking very strongly about North Korea and Ukraine. (END VIDEO CLIP) MACCALLUM: You know, it's fascinating. The president, obviously, mired in this whole Russia controversy. Sort of put that foot forward spent an hour and said, I talked to Vladimir Putin for one hour today, and I'm going to lay out for everybody what we talked about. What did you make of that? HURT: The guy is completely fearless, he doesn't care what the media is saying, he's always confident in his ability to make an argument and win an argument -- and that's what he's doing here. And the other thing, Martha, that I would point out is the fact that, you know, both Democrats and Republicans have so many of similar approaches when it comes to things overseas like how to deal with Russia. This guy comes at this with a completely fresh set of eyes and he's willing to sort of turn everything upside down and try it a different way. And quite frankly, I think that's how he won the election. MACCALLUM: Charlie Hurt, always great to see you, Charlie. Thank you very much. HURT: Thank you, Martha. MACCALLUM: So, my next guest argues that in Washington and in Hollywood, as we have seen, the principal is as he writes today "a sad matter of timing." Here now is George Washington Law, Professor Jonathan Turley. Jonathan, it's always great to have you on the show. JONATHAN TURLEY, LAW PROFESSOR, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: Thank you, Martha. MACCALLUM: You wrote this: "Many in Washington put their ethics on layaway during the Clinton presidency, and that bill is suddenly due." And you also said this: "Public figures often accept blame or cast blame when it no longer threatens personal cost for them to do so. The key is to suspend your belief in victims until your believing is beneficial." Wow. TURLEY: Well, unfortunately, it's true about Washington. Washington has one great specialty, and that's managing scandal. They are the world experts at it. They find ways of sending things to think -- for example, the Ethics Committee, to try to kick this can down the road until the public loses interest, or at least their anger subsides. But you know there's something wrong when so many politicians in Washington are standing on principle, you know they've run out of any alternatives. And so, you know, what we're seeing now is that a lot of these members really are facing a situation where the bill has come due. You know, members who say they're absolutely aghast that there was a settlement with -- for people like Conyers. You know, the public has got to really stop being such chumps. You know, this was a system designed to keep these types of settlements and allegations secret, and if members are expressing disbelief and anger now, it's not very convincing. MACCALLUM: You know, you also talk about the hypocrisy on the part of some Clinton supporters who now are sort of seeing the light, which you point out is politically advantageous for them at the moment. And Philippe Reines, who worked very closely with Hillary Clinton for a long time, tweeted in response to Kristin Gillibrand after she came out and said that Bill Clinton should've stepped down after the Monica Lewinski scandal. He said to her, you know, for more than 20 years, she "took the Clinton's endorsements, money, and seats." Hypocrite, he calls her. TURLEY: Well, I particularly love that moment because I call it in the column "transactional ethics." MACCALLUM: That's a great term, by the way. TURLEY: You know, you don't really focus on the underlying wrongdoing, you focus on the fact that once bought, you're supposed to stay bought -- and that, in Washington, constitutes an ethical principle. MACCALLUM: You know, I want to ask you thing, because what's being put out there by people like Roy Moore tonight, and the president talked about this a little bit too, is that the same thing can sometimes be true on the accusers' side, what is your thought on that? TURLEY: Well, look, I don't agree with the president's statement today. It was the void of any moral foundation. I think that the allegations against Roy Moore are very compelling. These women do not appear to be the types you go to for hit pieces, they're Republican voters largely, many are Trump voters. But their allegations are quite credible. Now, you can't just simply say, well, he denies it, because if that was the case, then all of the people who've been trying to hold Bill Clinton accountable would have to say, well, he gets the benefit of the doubt as well as long as he denies it. That's not the standard, the standard for adults is to look at the allegations and decide if they're credible. MACCALLUM: So, you think, you know, he's being overly pragmatic here, and that he's sacrificing his ethics in order to save the seat? TURLEY: I think he is. I mean, the governor of Alabama said she believes these women, but she still could've hoped for Roy Moore, because he's good on -- MACCALLUM: So, did Ivanka Trump, by the way. I mean, she didn't say she was going to vote for Roy Moore, but she said that she's found no reason not to believe these women, his daughter. TURLEY: Right. And so, but the governor of Alabama said, you know, he'll be good for the Supreme Court. Well, if you believe these women, this guy was on a watch list for the mall. I mean, if that's -- if the allegations are true, I don't see how you can morally cast that vote. But at the end of the day, the Alabama voters have to decide. But to pretend that a simple denial means that these are less than credible allegations, I think it's a bit fencible. MACCALLUM: Sadly we live in a world of "transactional ethics," especially when it comes to politics. I'm going to get that and put it on a t-shirt. Jonathan Turley, thank you. Good to see you as always. TURLEY: Thanks, Martha. MACCALLUM: So, breaking just moments ago, a second woman is now accusing Democratic Congressman and Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, John Conyers, the longest-standing Congressman in Congress right now, of sexual harassment. It's a big deal. We're learning more also about the secret hush money that's been used to settle harassment cases. And guess whose money it is, folks? 17 million in your taxpayer dollars. You deserve to know what's going on here. Also, today, CBS having to confront its Charlie Rose issue. As the longtime newsman stood accused of mistreating women. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) NORA O'DONNELL, CBS HOST: Let me be very clear, there is no excuse for this alleged behavior. (END VIDEO CLIP) MACCALLUM: Dana Loesch and Leslie Marshall join me next. Then, we told you about the U.S. Border Patrol Agent sadly found dead in a remote stretch of the Texas desert. Tonight, the latest on this mystery is next. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) VICTOR VELASQUEZ, ACTING CHIEF PATROL AGENT: The death of Rogelio marks the 125th U.S. Border Patrol agent to have died in the line of duty. (END VIDEO CLIP) (COMMERCIAL BREAK) MACCALLUM: Breaking tonight just within the last hour, there is now a second woman, she's a former staffer of the Judiciary Committee Ranking Member, John Conyers, and she's accused him of persistent sexual harassment. The only reason that this has come out tonight is because she decided to abandon her settlement talks. She claims that she suffered unwanted touching and inappropriate comments, she claims, "on a daily basis" in his office. And there are shocking revelations about how Congress has been secretly paying off accusers to sweep harassment under the rug on Capitol Hill. Reportedly, there is $17 million worth of these settlements, and you know that many come from, right? It is the U.S. taxpayer dollars, your money at work. Also, a CBS News Man, Charlie Rose, has now been fired one day after he was suspended -- PBS and Bloomberg quickly also cutting ties. Multiple women, coming forward to accuse a veteran T.V. journalist of an appropriate sexual behavior. Rose's former CBS this morning Co-Host, Gayle King and Nora O'Donnell, earlier today. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GAYLE KING, CBS HOST: I'm still trying to process all of this, I'm still trying to sort it out because this is not the man I know. But I'm also clearly on the side of the women who have been very hurt and damaged by this. O'DONNELL: This is a moment that demands a frank and honest assessment about where we stand and more generally, the safety of women. Let me be very clear, there is no excuse for this alleged behavior. (END VIDEO CLIP) MACCALLUM: We're also hearing from a PBS executive producer who worked with Rose for more than 25 years, and now says that she wishes that she had done more. She writes: "I should've stood up for them. I failed. It is crushing. I deeply regret not helping them", referring to these women. Here now: Dana Loesch, Talk Radio Host with Radio America; and Leslie Marshall, a Progressive Radio Talk Show Host and a Fox News Contributor. Ladies, welcome, good to have both of you with us tonight. I just want to want to put up on the screen, another quote with regard to the John Conyers case. This is someone who worked in his office and she said according to the affidavit, "one of my duties while working for Representative Conyers was to keep a list of women that I assumed he was having affairs with and call them at his request, and if necessary, have them flown in using congressional resources." Dana? DANA LOESCH, RADIO HOST, RADIO AMERICA: I'm stunned that taxpayer resources were used to essentially help Conyers' predation and exploitation of women. This is ridiculous. And as I understand, there's going to be an ethics investigation into him, but these are -- I mean, for the better -- usually, these are pretty toothless. It seems to exonerate more individuals than it does to actually condemn those who have committed wrongdoing. But this is insane. I mean, how many -- hardworking Americans should not be paying for the bedroom habits of John Conyers. What kind of message does that send? I mean, for crying out loud, it wasn't he settling out, Martha, with all of these women while his wife was serving prison time for taking bribes on the Detroit City Council. MACCALLUM: Leslie, you know, you look at these stories, and there are some allegations that have been made Jackie Speiers and others who will not reveal the names of people that they say did this to them. So, but the problem is, you know, that's all fine if you're dealing with, you know, a private situation, but when you have bailouts and settlements, I should say, in these cases that involve taxpayer dollars, you really don't have an option whether or not to keep that private, do you? LESLIE MARSHALL, FOX NEW CONTRIBUTOR AND PROGRESSIVE RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: I agree with you, 100 percent -- this is one time, I think, Dana, you and I have been agreeing on Twitter lately more than in the past, especially on this issue. There is no, absolutely no reason that we, the people, with our taxes, should pay for these types of settlement. When you look at $17 million spread out over 20 years, that's almost $1 million a year. How much to who? Who has paid off? What is this, hush money? This is disgusting. Further, I do want to say also, not just flying people in allegedly on our dime, but I have to say, and I've said this before, these women need to name these names on Capitol Hill because these people left or right are elected by individuals like you and me who may not know what they are doing with our tax dollars within those chambers. MACCALLUM: And they also seem to be woefully behind the times in terms of how they deal with this. I mean, they're saying we should have mandatory sexual harassment training. Like, hello, I mean, corporations across America have been doing this for years. And if you're going to do, you know, these kinds of payouts, Dana, as we're saying, you know, it just opens that door, you really cannot do this in private. Here's President Trump on this earlier this afternoon. Just so you know, I'll play this and I want to hear what you have to say. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you believe Congress should release the names of lawmakers who have settled on sexual harassment claims? TRUMP: I do, I really do. I think they should. (END VIDEO CLIP) MACCALLUM: Dana? LOESCH: Well, you know, you mentioned really quickly, Martha, the whole issue of you can't use taxpayer dollars and then tell the taxpayers to stay out of your business -- and I apply that for everything that taxpayers have to fund everything. This is our government. John Conyers works for the people. He doesn't get to take the people's money and then tell them to shut up and stay out of his business. And this lush fund, this hush money, and I think that's what Leslie had called it. I mean, we don't know what it is because we -- they make this, make this a Rube Goldberg machine of solving these issues. And to sit here and call for sexual harassment courses -- this is 2017, we don't have to teach grown adults how to behave in the workplace. And if grown adults, Martha, have to be taught how to behave in the workplace, then maybe those adults shouldn't leave their homes until they can act like decent human beings. MACCALLUM: Yes. You know, it really does come down to such simple rules. And I think, Dana, I heard you, you said this the other morning: keep your hands to yourself, right? I mean, talk about the lessons that we all learn in kindergarten. It's not that hard. It's not that hard, Leslie, but it seems like there are a lot of people out there who have a really tough time with that message. MARSHALL: I think part of the problem here, Martha, is that we have, and not just here in the United States and not just in Hollywood or on Capitol Hill, but worldwide, I think pretty much since Adam and Eve, there has just been this power that men have and have wielded over women. And that, unfortunately, women have just felt so powerless. And I think right now, they're saying we are mad as hell, we're not going to take it anymore, and this is the revolution. This has been the war on women. MACCALLUM: Thank you so much to both of you ladies. Good to have you here. Happy Thanksgiving. Thanks a lot. MARSHALL: Thank you, Marsha. MACCALLUM: So, who did approve the Uranium One deal? We've heard a lot about this. There's some brand-new evidence tonight in this story, and we're going to tell you what that is coming up. Then, what happened to the border agent who was found dead in the desert? Tonight, the FBI is revealing some of this story next. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) EMMERSON BUIE, SPECIAL AGENT-IN-CHARGE, EL PASO: We are investigating this matter as a potential assault on a federal officer. (END VIDEO CLIP) (COMMERCIAL BREAK) MACCALLUM: The FBI is now offering a $25,000 reward for any information that could lead to information and the death of this U.S. border agent. 36-year-old agent Rogelio Martinez died on Sunday after multiple injuries. His partner was also badly injured and at this point, says he does not remember anything about what happened out there. That could change. The big question still tonight remains how did this happen? Here's the FBI earlier. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BUIE: We've been out aggressively pursuing every lead that we have as well as processing the scene which we are considering a crime scene. Right now, again, we are investigating this matter as a potential assault on a federal officer. (END VIDEO CLIP) MACCALLUM: Fox's Casey Stegall live in Dallas with what we are learning tonight in this mysterious case. Good evening, Casey. CASEY STEGALL, FOX NEWS CHANNEL REPORTER: Martha, good evening to you. The FBI says that both of those U.S. Border Patrol agents suffered traumatic head injuries and had broken bones. But as you just said, how they sustain those injuries in the first place remains a mystery. And investigators just will not come out and say it. Authorities have only told us that the two agents were discovered in a covert area right off of interstate ten near Vanhorn, Texas down along the border. It's an area known for high levels of drug smuggling activities, we're told. Leaders from the union, the Border Patrol Union, have also said that the agents were attacked with rocks and beaten. However, no other law enforcement agencies will confirm that information. But as we do know, Agent Rogelio Martinez was so badly injured, he was airlifted to an El Paso hospital, but did not survive. And tonight, so many unanswered questions make this even more painful for his family. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) VELASQUEZ: The death of Rogelio marks the 125th U.S. border patrol agent to have died in the line of duty. Agent Martinez is survived by his parents, Jose and Elvia, his brothers, Enrique and Yen, his son, Sergio, his fiancee, Angela, three stepchildren. (END VIDEO CLIP) STEGALL: His fiancee, we understand he was excited to get married soon. Another U.S. border patrol agent was also seriously hurt. Officials say he went to help Agent Martinez, and tonight he remains in critical but stable condition. The national border patrol counsel, again, a union representing a vast majority of agents working out on the front line says that surviving agent, Martha, does not remember what happened, has zero recollection of the incident, which could be consistent with a head injury, as you know, which we have learned he sustained. And as you can imagine, that is only complicating this investigation as they interview him to try and find out what happened and he doesn't remember, so to be continued on this one. MACCALLUM: What a terrible loss and we hope he heals and that his memory heals as well so he can shed some light on all of this. Casey, thank you very much in Dallas tonight. So here now with more on this, and also on the president's call for a wall at the border and how that could play into the DACA question, all of this comes together in one place because there's potential for government shutdown in December over these big issues. Steve Cortez sat on President Trump's 2016 Hispanic advisory council. He's also a Fox News contributor, and Austan Goolsbee, he's professor of economics at the University of Chicago, and served as President Obama's chief economist. Gentlemen, welcome. Good to have you both here. Steve, I want to start with you because you point out something very important in this story and that is the loss of this Hispanic officer in what is such a complex issue for Americans. STEVE CORTEZ, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Right. Martha, I'm glad you brought it up because I often bring this point up on air. I think a lot of liberal politicians think that they're pandering to the Hispanic community with their misbegotten, liberal, politically-correct policies, things like open borders and sanctuary cities. And what I point out all the time is that the victims of those terrible policies, very often, the prey that suffer are Hispanics themselves. So Agent Martinez is a hero, he died trying to protect our country, whatever the circumstances of his death, and it certainly appears that it was violence from perpetrators. He is an American Hispanic who died because we have allowed a dangerous situation on our southern border. There are many examples in sanctuary cities where Hispanic-Americans died because of the pandering of liberal politicians with so-called sanctuary cities, which I don't call sanctuary cities anymore I'm starting to call them Steinle cities because that's a more accurate term, because it's not sanctuary for the cops and the victims in those places. MACCALLUM: So Austan, he's saying that people who think the way you do, in some regards, are doing a disservice to the Hispanic community. AUSTAN GOOLSBEE, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: Well, I mean, conflating this with DACA I think is kind of absurd. DACA. CORTEZ: I never mentioned DACA. (CROSSTALK) MACCALLUM: No, I did. And let me tell you the reason why, because what's going on, you know, you've got a budget bill that's coming in. You could have a shutdown of the government, which is looking like it may happen is that the president wants funding for the wall and Democrats may want to insert DACA into that in order to keep the government from shutting down. So all these immigration issues converge with this spending bill that is going to be under a lot of pressure come December, Austan. GOOLSBEE: Yeah, may be. But I kind of think you're mixing some things that probably shouldn't be mixed. I mean, the first is Republicans control both houses of congress and the White House. There has never been a shutdown in the history of the United States in which the government's all three branches were controlled by the same party. All the Republicans have to do is do their job and they can pass a budget. They don't need any Democratic votes to do that. MACCALLUM: Here's the thing though, there are a lot of Republicans and a lot of independents who believe that the DACA bill should be extended. It could be problematic on their own side of the fence. GOOLSBEE: Exactly. So that's my second point is the root of this problem is that by large majorities, the American people support extending citizenship or protection to kids that came here as toddlers and babies who are Americans. They love this country, they're working, they're important contributors to our economy. And the president of the United States made a deal with the Democrats that said he was going to extend -- he was going to pass DACA and extend protections for them and he has turned his back on that agreement. MACCALLUM: Let's get a response from Steve. Steve, you know, is Austan right about that? Is this a problem for Republicans? CORTEZ: Look, it's a problem for America. I'm actually pro-DACA, and I happen to disagree with some of my colleagues within Team Trump on that. I do believe that these are different category of people. They didn't choose. MACCALLUM: Well, the president sounds like he agrees with you. CORTEZ: Well, yeah, and I think he does, by the way. But what did he do? He very compassionately said let's do it the right way. I'm not a king like President Obama. I'm not going to wave my scepter through executive order. Let's do it the right way and get it through congress. Now the onus is on the congress. And I agree with Austan, it's on the Republicans in congress to get this done the right way, and the right way is a compromise. Let's extend DACA in exchange for more resources for the border and an end to chain migration. That's the grand bargain that makes sense for everyone. MACCALLUM: All right. Guys, I've got to leave it there, thank you so much. Austan and Steve, good to see you both tonight. So disgrace IRS official Lois Lerner, remember her? She says that her testimony that she gave behind closed doors in the tea party case can never see the light of day for the American public. She says if it does, she will be in danger. So what did she say in there that has her so worried? A woman who knows what it's like to combine fear and the IRS, next. Hillary Clinton insists that there is no scandal surrounding the controversial deal to sell U.S. uranium to Russia, so what was at work in that Uranium One deal? New information from the man who was undercover the entire time. Marc Thiessen and Zac Petkanas joins me next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNINDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your client also engaged in conversations with Russian colleagues about efforts of the Washington entity and others to gain influence with the Clintons and the Obama administration. UNINDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was telling the U.S. government all of this in 2009 and 2010, and what happen -- my client was being told by the FBI that the director of the FBI was being briefed on this, and even at the White House that President Obama was being briefed on this matter, so how could this sale have gone through? (END VIDEO CLIP) MACCALLUM: That was Victoria -- the lawyer for the confidential FBI informant in the Russia Uranium One case, raises new questions about the deal approved by the Obama administration. The Hill also reporting tonight on new documents that allegedly reveal Russia viewed the purchase of Uranium One as part of an overall strategy to try to control the world's uranium market. Here now, Marc Thiessen, American enterprise institute scholar and Fox News contributor, and Zac Petkanas a former DNC senior advisor and Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign aide. Welcome, gentlemen. Welcome to both of you. Zac, let me start with you. I know that you think that this is all nothing, right? ZAC PETKANAS, FORMER DNC SENIOR ADVISOR: I do. MACCALLUM: Why? PETKANAS: Sure. I mean, for a couple of reasons. I mean, first off, what we're talking about here is an insignificant amount of uranium. What things have we learned since this so-called scandal has broke? The American portion of uranium constitutes 1/30th of the overall uranium within the deal, .2 percent of the global output. Since this deal has been struck, only 150 tons of uranium have been extracted from the United States. Compare that to the deal the United States struck with Russia in the 1990's where the United States got 150,000 tons of uranium. So in other words, it would take 1,000 years to extract the amount of uranium out of this deal that we've got with a stroke of a pen. (CROSSTALK) MACCALLUM: Apparently, the Russians thought it was important enough that they went to great lengths to get this deal, Marc. It's Marc's turn. Go ahead, Marc. MARC THIESSEN, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Absolutely. Look, everything Zac just said is completely irrelevant because the reality is this is not a national security scandal, it's a corruption scandal. It's a Clinton corruption scandal. It keeps getting worse every day. Look, we already know that after the Russians announced their intention to acquire Uranium One, Bill Clinton was miraculously invited to Moscow to give a half million dollar speech from a Russian investment bank that was pushing Uranium One stock. The Clinton Foundation then got a $145 million from interests related to Uranium One. And now we've learned that before the Obama administration approved this deal they had a confidential informant who told them that there was criminal activity happening at Rosatom, the company, the Russian agency that was going to buy Uranium One, but they approved it anyway. And that as you say it was part of a larger Russian strategy to lock not just the American uranium market but the world's uranium market. PETKANAS: You have to get your facts right. THIESSEN: So what is happening here is there's a lot of Russian money slashing around in the Clinton Foundation in the Clinton world that is related to Uranium one. And if we want to understand Russian influence we need to get to the bottom of that. MACCALLUM: Zac, this is what I don't understand about your overall feeling about this. You're so concerned about influence from Russia, right? PETKANAS: Sure. MACCALLUM: And you are, clearly. And I think we all should be in terms of the United States election. Why would you not want to sort of follow that trail back to sort of see where some of this began, to see how some of that influence was bought in this situation, and to sort of -- you know, you have this informant, right? And he says he's telling the FBI, the entity begins increasing its financial support to the Clinton charitable project after it was hired by the Russian, according to the document. He goes on to say, he also listened as visiting Russians used racially tinged insults to boast about how easy they found it to win the uranium business under Obama according to a source familiar with Gamble plan testimony to Congress. PETKANAS: So a couple of things. First off, $140 million that keeps -- about, it actually happened before Secretary Clinton was secretary of state and part of the board. (CROSSTALK) PETKANAS: Hold on. MACCALLUM: She was running for president. PETKANAS: She was running -- sure, she was running for president. But -- wasn't involved with Uranium One at the time, so $140 million is actually irrelevant. The second piece. MACCALLUM: Wait, why would they give $140 million to the Clinton Foundation? (CROSSTALK) PETKANAS: I have no idea. (CROSSTALK) MACCALLUM: Just for the heck of it, just because it was good work. PETKANAS: Look, one, it does do -- incredible work. But the second piece has nothing to do with Uranium One. What is the relevant. MACCALLUM: All right. Marc, I want to start the question that I get asked a lot and that is why did the Clinton Foundation have -- you know, part of their base in Canada? Why would a former United States president want to have part of his charity based in Canada? THIESSEN: I have absolutely no idea. Let's look into that too. I mean, because the -- maybe it's easier to flow money through Canada than it is here. But the reality, Martha, the problem is, Zac is very interested in investigating Donald Trump, not interested in investigating Russian influence. If you care about investigating Russian influence in Washington, you've got to follow -- you've got to investigate both the Republicans and the Democrats because the reality is, none of this absolves Donald Trump or the Trump campaign, but there was Russian money slashing around in both the Republicans and the Democrats side. It was not just Paul Manafort and Rick Gates. It was the Podesta brothers. It was Bill Clinton himself. It was the Clinton Foundation. And if we want to understand truly as Americans, as we all should, how the Russians were trying to play this game. They knew what they're doing, Martha, is that they were playing both sided. They've expected Hillary Clinton to win. (CROSSTALK) MACCALLUM: Zac, you've got the first word. I'm going to leave it with Marc. We will pick it up again, guys. Thank you very much, good to see you both tonight. THIESSEN: All right. MACCALLUM: So Still ahead this evening, Lois Lerner, member of the IRS fame wants her testimony to stay under wraps. She said if it's revealed to the public, it's going to put her in danger. Tonight, Becky Gerritson who is one of the women who was targeted by Lerner has some thoughts on that coming up. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) MACCALLUM: Breaking just moments ago, we have reports now that three White House military personnel have been removed from their post. They've been reassigned after, quote, inappropriate contact with foreign women on President Trump's trip to Vietnam. According to the Washington Post, all three service members were part of the White House communications agency and they handled the secure communications for the president when he was traveling. This is the same team that these similar allegations during Vice President Pence's trip to Panama last summer when four of its members were flown home early and strip of their assignments shortly after those allegations surface. Breaking tonight, we'll get you more information on that. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNINDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've been advised by my counsel to assert my constitutional right not to testify or answer questions related to the subject matter of this hearing. (END VIDEO CLIP) MACCALLUM: Former IRS director Lois Lerner back in 2013, refusing to answer questions about here role in the agency's illegal targeting of conservative groups. Now she's pushing to make sure that that testimony that she gave behind closed doors, not what you've just saw, is never revealed. She doesn't want the transcripts of what she said or the audio, I believe there is as well, on what she's said in that room to become public. She says that she does have a right to keep it and she's pushing for that. She's a public official, of course, and she was paid by the U.S. taxpayers to do her job, so the other argument on the other side is obvious. Now, Becky Gerritson, a woman directly affected by Lerner's leadership at the time at the IRS has something to say about that, but before we hear from her, a quick little reminder of the testimony from Ms. Lerner and Ms. Gerritson. Watch. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNINDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm telling my government that you forgotten your place. UNINDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have not done anything wrong. UNINDENTIFIED FEMALE: The America that people cross oceans and risks their lives to become a part of, and I'm terrified it is slipping away. UNINDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have not broken any laws. I have not violated any IRS rules and regulations. (END VIDEO CLIP) MACCALLUM: Becky Gerritson is the founder of the Wetumpka tea party of Alabama, one of the many groups who was targeted by the IRS. Becky, good to have you back on The Story tonight. Welcome to you. She says that she is going to be targeted -- she'll get death threats if these transcripts is released of what she said to those investigators. Who would that be from? Who would be wanting to do that to her? BECKY GERRITSON, WETUMPKA TEA PARTY OF ALABAMA FOUNDER: Well, that's a good question. I really wonder if some of those death threats aren't coming from the left. It was more than just the IRS that was involved in this scandal. There were also -- the Department of Justice, the federal election commission. There were all in cahoots over this. I know there are a lot of government workers who don't want the truth to come out. But back to her testimony, you know, quote, she said, I have done nothing -- I have not done anything wrong. I have not broken any laws. And then, if that's the case, what is so damaging in this testimony that she is fearful for her life? MACCALLUM: Yeah. GERRITSON: That's what I want to know. MACCALLUM: It's a great question. You know, she claims that she was the one at the IRS that she claims that she's been posting a line. She was the one at the IRS who sort of understand what was going on. That it was all just a big mistake. That people don't have the right direction in her department. That that's why all of these requests for taxes and status were held up, and that she was the one who actually tried to shed light on it. GERRITSON: Oh, that is so not true. And months ago, we settled with the IRS and they did admit that they were targeting conservative groups. And in one of the other cases that also came out in October of this year, a multimillion dollar settlement by the IRS to groups that were targeted. So that is taxpayer money being paid out. I believe that we, as taxpayers, have a right to hear that testimony to see why -- you know, if there was nothing wrong, then why did we pay out millions of dollars for the IRS's wrongdoing? This should be public. MACCALLUM: Yeah. She's a public official, and she testified, and it seems like it should be part of the public record. And as you say, if she was just giving her excuse and her reasoning, there shouldn't be anything that she needs to worry about in the course of that. We will see. Becky Gerritson, thank you so much. Good to see you tonight. GERRITSON: Thank you. MACCALLUM: Stick around, we are coming right back with tonight's quote of the night after this. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) MACCALLUM: There is President Trump today with the first lady and his son, Baron, parting a turkey name drumstick. They were all there on hand for the big annual event before they headed to Mar-a-Lago for Thanksgiving. And last night, we shared Teddy Roosevelt's official Thanksgiving proclamation from 1901. Tonight, comes from President John F. Kennedy. It should be noted that he died six days before the Thanksgiving that he writes about here. On that day, let us gather to express our gratitude for the glorious gift of God. And let us earnestly and humbly pray that he will continue to guide and sustain us in the great unfinished tasks of achieving peace, justice, and understanding among all men and nations and of ending misery and suffering wherever they exist. Today, those quests for those goals continues. Have a great Thanksgiving with your family everybody. Tucker Carlson is up next. Content and Programming Copyright 2017 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2017 CQ-Roll Call, Inc. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of CQ-Roll Call. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. A 23-year-old man who reportedly got extremely drunk on a flight to London and attempted to bite a police officer has been granted a suspended sentence by a British court. Haydn Clarke, of Rugby, Warwickshire, had originally flown with EasyJet from Amsterdam to London on Aug. 15, and sat in his seat with no issue until near the end of the flight. But a few moments before the plane was about to land and after passengers were told to remain seated for landing Clarke stood up from his seat. A flight attendant left her own seat and managed to sit him back down, only to watch Clarke pop up again just before landing, Essex Live reports. PLANE DIVERTED, FLIGHT ATTENDANT QUITS AFTER PASSENGER THREATENED TO PEE ON FLOOR This time, however, Clarke stumbled out into the aisle and slumped over onto another passenger. He also refused to return to his seat, instead telling the flight attendant to ---- off several times, a prosecutor told the court on Tuesday. At this point, the flight crew had realized Clarke was extremely drunk, the prosecutor said. Later, they also found an open bottle of whiskey by his seat, Essex Live reports. Upon landing, police boarded the plane and removed Clarke in handcuffs and walked him through security and border patrol services en route to the police station. In the squad car, Clarke reportedly made an attempt to escape and tried to bite an officers hand. According to the prosecutor, Clarke also urinated on himself when he got to the police station. DISRUPTIVE PASSENGER ALLEGEDLY PUNCHED FLIGHT ATTENDANT, TRIED TO OPEN CABIN DOOR Clarkes attorney, meanwhile, asked the court to consider that his client had almost immediately shown remorse for his actions. Clarke, too, told the judge that he had done a very bad thing and took full responsibility for his behavior. Clarkes attorney and mother, who also appeared in court on his behalf, further explained that Clarke had been abusing alcohol since the deaths of his only two brothers. You have had appalling tragedies in your life, you have lost both your brothers, and you are, unsurprisingly, finding it extremely difficult to deal with, a judge told Clarke. But it doesnt excuse your behavior. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS Clarke was ultimately sentenced to 12 months in prison for negligently endangering an aircraft, causing fear and distress to the air steward and assaulting a police officer, though his sentence is suspended for 18 months. In the meantime, he was ordered to attend rehab and pay restitution to the victims. Scott Dozier is supposed to be Nevadas first execution in more than a decade. But his case has hit a snag over objections hes made about the selection of drugs that will be used in the lethal injection cocktail. The execution was planned for November 14, and is now delayed indefinitely after a Clark County judge issued a stay. The states Supreme Court could decide his fate. We will be back in court December 7th and may know more then. There is nothing concrete as to when it will take place, said Brooke Keast, a spokesperson for the Nevada Department of Corrections. Dozier is adamant that the execution take place, but that it happens in an appropriate manner. He and his lawyers have steadfastly objected to the combination of drugs that plan on being used, a first in the country using the strong opiate, fentanyl, and the paralytic, cisatracurium, paired with diazepam, or more commonly known as valium. None of these drugs have been used together in an execution before. Appearing via video conference in court earlier this month, Dozier said, No, Im not going to change my mind. I am still resolute and steadfast in this, and my primary goal at this juncture is to get this done. He has said he is ready to die and does not mind if there is pain involved, but his lawyers have interjected on his behalf. Recently he was put on suicide watch. Fentanyl is a deadly player in the nations ongoing opioid epidemic, but Dozier is objecting most strongly to the use of the paralytic, which he, along with civil rights groups and anti-death penalty groups, claims would mask any sign of trouble. For example, if the fentanyl or diazepam were to wear off in the middle of the execution, Dozier would be paralyzed and therefore, not be able to cry out for help if he were to feel pain, thus disguising a botched execution if it were to happen. Because of the unknown factor of what these drugs will do, and if there will be pain caused, if itll be cruel and unusual punishment, has caused the stay in this case. What were seeing is a trend in the law we basically dont have the stomach or the desire to execute people in these cases anymore, said criminal defense attorney, Ron Bamieh, who is not affiliated with the case. The state is having trouble obtaining drugs that are normally used in executions. Fentanyl, cisatracurium, and Diazepam are currently on hand at the states disposal. Options are limited when it does run out of such drugs used in lethal injections, leading officials to keep coming up with new drug combinations. The reason we have to pick different drugs that havent been used in an execution before is because every time there is an execution with a particular drug, the drug companies decide not to sell it to us again. We have no choice but to choose different drugs that are available for purchase, said Keast. The state chapter of the ACLU is readying its legal options to intervene on Doziers behalf. To date, the state has withheld information about its new execution protocol, so there is no way for the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada to verify whether Mr. Dozier will still be awake or sensate when he is paralyzed. The potential for a torturous execution is very real, the group said in a press release late last month. The drug company Pfizer is strongly against the use of their drugs in executions and in a statement to Fox News said, Pfizer makes its products to enhance and save the lives of the patients we serve. We strongly object to the use of any of our products in the lethal injection process for capital punishment. Dozier was convicted in 2007 of murdering and dismembering 22-year-old Jeremiah Miller in a Las Vegas motel room. John Hall, who ended a 41-year journalism career as director of The Associated Press' State Photo Center, has died. He was 74. Hall died Saturday at his home in Quincy, Illinois, said his widow, Marion. A cause of death was not provided. Hall worked at Texas, Oregon and Florida newspapers before he joined the AP's Washington bureau in April 2001 as assistant chief of bureau for photos. Hall served in that capacity for five years, overseeing the news cooperative's photojournalism in the nation's capital. In August 2006, he was named director of the State Photo Center, the AP's central editing hub handling the photo reports for all 50 states. Hall retired after the center closed in late 2007. "John" Ellie M. Hall was born in Jackson, Tennessee, on Aug. 23, 1943. He eloped with Marion Gordon, his high school sweetheart, on Dec. 19, 1960. He passed away one month before they would have celebrated their 57th wedding anniversary. Hall attended Tennessee State University and the University of Colorado, and worked briefly in radio before following a lifelong passion for photography that was fostered after his mother gave him his first camera when he was 6. He continued to shoot photos up until the final month of his life. He began his photojournalism career as a staff photographer at the former Colorado Springs Sun. He also worked at the Gazette Telegraph in Colorado Springs. Hall was staff photographer, photo editor and managing editor for photos and art at the Dallas Times Herald in Texas, which ceased publication in 1991. He also managed photo departments at The Oregonian in Portland, Oregon, and at the Sun Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Hall is also survived by a son, a daughter-in-law, 10 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. Marion Hall said she planned to spread her late husband's ashes in the Florida Keys, one of many places Hall liked to go sailing. ___ Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap A mounting body count in Tampa, the mysterious deaths of three women in North Carolina and clusters of unsolved murders nationwide have left both cops and citizens fearing their neighbors could be among the most rare but prolific criminal of all: The serial killer. "No more than 1 percent of all homicides are committed by serial killers, but on the other hand youre talking about a very small number of guys who are responsible for a large body count," said Jack Levin, a renowned criminologist at Northeastern University. Their backgrounds and their precise methods may vary, but they share distinct commonalities, according to the experts who study them. They are men -- 98 percent of them -- who target strangers, often in their own communities. The vast majority are sociopaths, who have no empathy for the victims with whom they become intimately involved before they murder. And they seek attention -- their killing sprees perceived as a success providing them with feelings of superiority and power. "From the killers point of view, its a tremendous accomplishment," said Levin, who in 1985 co-authored the first book profiling serial killers and who has interviewed Charles Manson as well as Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono -- known as "The Hillside Stranglers." "Hes becoming, for the first time in his life, important. Hell be in the headlines and maybe even on the cover of a magazine," said Levin. "He grew up feeling a profound sense of powerlessness and is now the focal point of conversations all over the country." "From the killers point of view, its a tremendous accomplishment." Dr. Jack Levin, professor emeritus at Northeastern University In a normally quiet, working-class Tampa neighborhood, local and federal authorities are hunting for the man who shot and killed four people seemingly at random within the past month, all within a half-mile radius. One victim was an aspiring musician and community college student, another a waitress. "All the victims have been alone and possibly distracted when the murders occurred," said Eddy Durkin, a spokesman for the Tampa Police Department. "There's a similar pattern." "We're convinced the first and fourth murders are related," Durkin told Fox News. "And right now were investigating as if theyre all connected." Levin said the Tampa suspect does not fit the profile of most serial killers -- and noted similarities between the killer and the two D.C. snipers who terrorized the Washington area with a series of coordinated shootings that killed 10 people during three weeks in October 2002. "Using a firearm is something most serial killers dont do," he said. "Most use sex as a vehicle for securing power and control and dominance over their victims. Their killing is up close and personal. The gun only distances him from the victim." Levin also said the Florida suspect lacks a sophistication seen among most serial killers by leaving the victim's body so that it can be immediately found. Police in Lumberton, North Carolina, meanwhile, are probing the deaths of three women whose bodies were found within a three-block radius of each another in the last seven months. While police have not said they believe a serial killer is at large - or even how the women died - the deaths have sparked fears in the rural community. One victim was found in a trash container. At any given time, there are between 25 and 30 serial killers operating in the U.S. -- though the numbers can vary greatly year to year -- according to Levin, who defined a serial killer as an individual responsible for killing four or more victims. Serial killings reached their peak in the 1970's and 80's, and have since been on the decline -- in part because of advancements in DNA analysis. "We're able to get people right after they commit one murder as opposed to waiting until they've committed several more murders," said Bill Daley, a former federal investigator. How does the serial killer get caught? When a "mistake" is made. "They dont get caught by a perfect profile or the tremendous investigative skills of the police or FBI. They make a mistake. They take more risks. They get bored," he said, noting that the Tampa suspect shot and killed his fourth victim with a witness nearby. "They feel superior and so they start to cut corners. "We just have to hope that when he comes back for his fifth victim, he makes even more mistakes," Levin said. Sayfullo Saipov, the man accused of driving a truck through a bike lane in downtown New York City on Halloween, was indicted in federal court Tuesday. Saipov, 29, was indicted in Manhattan on 22 counts, ranging from terrorism to both murder and attempted murder in aid of racketeering in connection to the Oct. 31 terror attack, which left eight people dead and 12 wounded. The indictment includes charges that Saipov provided material support to the Islamic State, and also includes a number of offenses that could carry the death penalty upon conviction. Sayfullo Saipov murdered eight innocent people and injured many more in a calculated act of terrorism in the heart of one of our great cities, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Tuesday. NYC TERROR SUSPECT SAYFULLO SAIPOV: WHO IS HE? Saipov reportedly rented a truck near his home in Paterson, N.J., and drove it to New York with the intent to kill as many people as he could. Saipov was shot by a police officer after he carried out his attack just blocks from the World Trade Center. Law enforcement officials said they discovered two notes, handwritten in Arabic, pledging loyalty to ISIS in and near the truck. NYC TERROR SUSPECT SAYFULLO SAIPOVS LEGAL RIGHTS In his hospital room, Saipov allegedly requested that an ISIS flag be hung. He also apparently said he was proud of what he did and bragged about the eight people he killed. Saipov is being held without bail and has remained in federal custody since his arrest. Fox News Jake Gibson and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Two states are suing to overturn an exemption from providing contraceptives to employees that President Trump granted to an order of Catholic nuns, verturning of the Obamacare abortion. The Little Sisters of the Poor, which was established in the mid-19th century to care for the elderly and sick, will be forced back to court to defend themselves against Pennsylvania and California, which aim to take away their exemption from the recent Health and Human Services rule, according to LifeNews.com. The order says that the current administration will ease regulations imposed by the preventative services mandate onto religious objectors. But the two states' attorneys general say that Christian organizations like the Little Sisters should not be able to enjoy the protections. A blocking of the ruling would effectively force the Little Sisters of the Poor to pay for abortion services. The mandate originally required that all employers, including non-church religious organizations, must cover all forms of contraception, including abortion, at no cost to their employees. On Oct. 6, Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued guidelines to all administrative agencies regarding protections of religious liberty within the federal law regarding the executive order carried out by President Donald Trump with a list of principles that could be used to ensure the religious freedoms of Americans are protected in a lawful manner. Some of the principles include: The freedom of religion extends to persons and organizations. Americans do not give up their freedom of religion by participating in the marketplace, partaking of the public square, or interacting with government. Government may not restrict acts or abstentions because of the beliefs they display. But the new lawsuits appear to be an apparent attempt by both states to block the recent order signed by President Trump. Sadly [Pennsylvania Attorney General] Josh Shapiro and [California Attorney General] Xavier Becerra think attacking nuns is a way to score political points, Mark Rienzi, senior counsel at The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, and lead attorney for the Little Sisters of the Poor, said to LifeNews. These men may think their campaign donors want them to sue nuns, but our guess is most taxpayers disagree. No one needs nuns in order to get contraceptives, and no one needs these guys reigniting the last administrations divisive and unnecessary culture war. When the Trump administration announced in October the major rollback of the ObamaCare contraceptive mandate, Republican lawmakers and faith-based groups hailed the decision as a win for religious liberty. However, Democratic officials and groups like Planned Parenthood accused the administration of attacking womens rights and groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, announcing at the time that it would file a lawsuit to challenge the change. The decision was cheered at the time by representatives for the Little Sisters of the Poor, who took their mandate challenge to the Supreme Court which in turn punted the case to the lower courts last year. Three U.S. Navy sailors remained missing Wednesday after a U.S Navy plane crashed in the Philippine Sea shortly after takeoff from Japan, as early indications pointed to an engine failure as the cause of the mishap, multiple defense officials told Fox News. Eight sailors who were on board the C-2 cargo plane were rescued in "good condition" by U.S. Navy helicopters, according to a statement from the U.S. Navy's 7th fleet. The aircraft crashed about 575 miles southeast of Okinawa as it was heading from Japan to the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan. The Japanese military is assisting in the recovery of the three who remain missing. The eight personnel who were recovered were found less than an hour after the crash occurred. They are currently being treated on board the aircraft carrier. The Pentagon said on Wednesday: "We are aware of the incident and it is currently under investigation." The Navy's C-2 Greyhound is a cargo plane that delivers passengers and supplies to aircraft carriers at sea. It is a very old aircraft, having first entered service in the late 1960s. It is scheduled to be replaced by the V-22 Osprey in the next few years. Earlier this month, the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan joined two other aircraft carriers off the Korean Peninsula for the first time since the late 60s in a show of force to North Korea. At the time of the plane crash, the carrier was training with the Japanese military. This is latest accident for the Navy's Japan based 7th fleet and comes after two separate collisions at sea this summer involving guided-missile destroyers USS Fitzgerald and USS John S. McCain, which killed 17 sailors. During the weekend, another US destroyer bumped into a Japanese tugboat after the tug lost propulsion. Nobody was injured. Fox News Ben Brown and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Police in Vermont are searching for a suspect accused of putting holes into eight maple syrup barrels earlier this week, resulting in the ruin of at least 300 gallons of the state specialty. Alan Mayer, of Mayer Maple Products, told Vermont State Police that someone entered his sugarhouse in Bristol between late Monday and early Tuesday. He claimed someone stole several gallon jugs of maple syrup as well as vandalized his sugaring equipment, according to a press release. They just went through and trashed it, basically, Alans wife, Cindy Mayer, told the Burlington Free Press, about their products. She said eight barrels of maple syrup were punctured, which caused at least 300 gallons to leak out. IS A MAPLE SYRUP SHORTAGE LOOMING? She added the contents were nearly an entire seasons worth an entire crop its on the floor over there. Cindy told the Free Press that the barrels appeared to be damaged by a disturbed individual" with an ax. In addition to bottling tanks, an evaporator and pans that were also damaged, the suspects stole 12 gallons of maple syrup which the newspaper said are worth $40 each. Vermont State Police ask that anyone with information on the incident contact Cpl. Michelle LeBlanc at 802-388-4919. A University of California, Riverside student could face jail time after she was seen in a now-viral video appearing to swipe a "Make America Great Again" hat from a fellow Highlander. Edith Macias allegedly snatched Matthew Vitales MAGA hat before going on a bizarre, profanity-laced tirade in the video, shot by Vitale. The Riverside County District Attorneys Office told Fox News that, if convicted, Macias faced a maximum sentence of up to one year in county jail. Im very excited that the DAs office took it seriously, Vitale told Fox News. We cant thank UCPD enough. According to the criminal complaint, Macias is being charged with a misdemeanor offense of petty theft in the Sept. 27 incident. A spokesman for the DAs office said the next court date is set for March. Vitale, a member of the UC Riverside Republicans, pressed charges after the incident, in which he said Macias stole his pro-Trump hat off his head during a campus meeting and refused to give it back -- before two police officers responded to the scene and intervened. According to the arrest warrant, Macias told one of the officers she wanted to burn the MAGA hat because she believed the words Make America Great Again represented the genocide of a bunch of people. The police officers were able to review video from both Macias and Vitales Facebook pages, which appeared to showed Macias physically removing the hat from Vitales head and running away with it, then repeatedly refusing to return in. Vitale eventually got his hat back -- after Macias is seen in the video giving it to university staff who then turn the hat over to its owner. CALIFORNIA STUDENT STEALS MAGA HAT, PLEADS FOR WEARER TO BE PUNISHED IN BIZARRE RANT Vitale said he was disappointed after University Chancellor Kim A. Wilcox issued a diplomatic statement noting that, coequal to our dedication to mutual respect, is our commitment to free speech and the free exchange of ideas. I get the feeling that the school didnt take it very seriously, Vitale said. Inspired by the incident, Vitale and other College Republicans in Southern California started instituting "MAGA Mondays," in which they proudly display their Trump gear on campus -- including the same hat Macias allegedly stole. I do, very proudly, wear my MAGA hat, Vitale said, though he added it was never about the $25 ball cap. Im not doing this to be punitive or see her rot in jail, he said. I want people my age to realize that things like this arent tolerated in America. We just want to have our rights guaranteed and thats what its all about. Insurers for American Airlines, United Airlines and other aviation defendants have agreed to pay $95 million to settle claims that security lapses led planes to be hijacked in the Sept. 11 attacks. The settlement was described in papers filed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court. Developers of the new World Trade Center buildings had once demanded $3.5 billion from aviation-related companies after hijacked planes destroyed three skyscrapers among five demolished buildings on Sept. 11, 2001. Lawyers said the agreement signed last week resulted from "extensive, arms-length negotiations" by lawyers "who worked diligently for months." The agreement also said the parties make no admissions or concessions with respect to liability for the attacks. "The court's approval of the settlement agreement will bring to a close this hard-fought 13-year litigation on terms agreeable to the parties," the lawyers said. Attorney Desmond T. Barry Jr., who submitted the papers to U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, declined to comment Wednesday. Developer Larry Silverstein and World Trade Center Properties have collected more than $5 billion from other defendants through lawsuits. The money has aided the reconstruction of buildings on the 16-acre lower Manhattan site. Earlier settlements included $135 million paid to a financial services firm that lost two-thirds of its employees. American Airlines spokesman Matt Miller said the company is pleased to have reached a settlement. "We will never forget that terrible day and its lasting impact including the tragic loss of 23 members of the American Airlines family," said Miller. United Airlines declined to comment. Bud Perrone, a spokesman for Silverstein, said the company is "pleased to have finally reached a resolution to this piece of post-9/11 litigation." An Arizona police chief who accidentally left his service revolver in a restroom stall inside a library is asking for the public's help in retrieving the weapon. Prescott Valley police Chief Bryan Jarrell said he went into the restroom to change his clothes Nov. 9 after a town hall meeting, but left the gun behind after he finished dressing. Jarrell said he didnt notice the gun was missing until four days later. Once he realized it was gone, he immediately reported it missing, the lost weapon, the Arizona Republic reported. The handgun is described as a black, 9mm Glock 19 with the serial number YHC 944. Authorities ask that anyone with information about the missing weapon contact Prescott Valley police at (928) 772-9267. Previously in Arizona, a student at Hamilton High School in Phoenix found and returned a police officers missing weapon that had been left in a restroom stall in the school's library, the paper reported. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Many times when there is a shooting incident in the U.S., neighbors and friends will respond with a comment along the lines of, He always kept to himself, or We never would have suspected him. But according to documents released Tuesday, California gunman Kevin Neal who was fatally shot by police after killing five people Nov. 13-14 -- was not one of those people. Over the past year, Tehama County sheriffs deputies received 21 calls either from Neal or his neighbors in relation to chronic feuding on their street in Rancho Tehama, a small town in Northern California. According to the documents, Neal and his wife told police their neighbors were cooking methamphetamine. The neighbors said Neal punched a female neighbor in the face, repeatedly shot his gun and, in January, stabbed another woman neighbor who he believed was poisoning his dog. That stabbing led to Neal's arrest but he was quickly out on bail and, despite a restraining order and a requirement that he surrender his weapons, continued to harass his neighbors and fire his weapon, according to the documents. Police never re-arrested Neal. Then, on Nov. 13, he killed his wife and the next day killed two neighbors, two others and wounded eight people during a 45-minute rampage through Rancho Tehama Reserve before being fatally shot by police. One of the wounded was a 6-year-old boy shot in the chest when Neal opened fire at an elementary school in what may have been an attempt to carry out a threat to kill the 7-year-old son of one of the neighbors who was shot to death. Another wounded victim, James Woods II, said he was driving with his father when Neals vehicle struck the back of his car. Neal then got out and shot Woods multiple times. I dont know why he did this, Woods told KRCR-TV from his hospital bed Tuesday. But Im still here, so Im just praying for the ones that are gone. "I dont know why he did this. But Im still here, so Im just praying for the ones that are gone." James Woods II, injured in a Nov. 14 shooting rampage in Northern California. Sheriff defends deputies One of Neals neighbors, Jessie Sanders, told the Sacramento Bee that he believes the Tehama County Sheriffs Department didnt adequately respond to Neals behavior in recent months. But Assistant Sheriff Phil Johnston defended his deputies handling of the situation on Bobcat Lane, saying there never was enough evidence to arrest Neal for violating conditions of his release by firing a weapon. "Not one person could say they saw Mr. Neal with a firearm," Johnston said. "No one could say they (shots) absolutely came from his residence." Neal, 44, was out on bail after being arrested in January on suspicion of stabbing neighbor Hailey Poland and accosting her and Diana Lee Steele, 68, who was killed in the rampage. A judge ordered Neal to stay away from the women and to surrender all of his firearms. But months after Neal's arrest, the women called the Tehama County Sheriff's Department several times to report Neal had been firing a gun. In one week in August, the two women called sheriff's deputies for help three times. In one of the instances, Poland told the dispatcher that she had a restraining order against Neal and that he was outside her house with a flashlight, firing at her house and car, according to an incident report. Records show police seized an AR-15 rifle from Neal when he was arrested and that once out on bail he certified that he surrendered a handgun. Johnston said investigators believe last week Neal used two homemade assault rifles and two handguns registered to someone else. Records show seven of the calls in the past year were initiated by Neal and his wife, Barbara Glisan, often reporting foul odors from what they said were neighbors cooking methamphetamine. Neal once called 911 to report that he thought Steele's adult son, Danny Elliott, had pointed a gun at him and showed sheriff's deputies surveillance video that apparently captured the incident. The deputies said in their report that the video captured Elliott moving a rifle from the front seat to backseat of his car, not pointing the gun at Neal. Another neighbor told reporters last week that Neal had threatened out loud that he was going to kill Elliott and then go to the elementary school to kill Elliott's son. Elliott was among those killed last week. Not going to speculate District Attorney Gregg Cohen said sheriff's officials never informed his office about the repeated calls accusing Neal of firing a gun but stopped short of blaming sheriff's officials. "I'm not going to speculate or make a suggestion that someone did or didn't do something," he said. "I'm not going to speculate or make a suggestion that someone did or didn't do something." Gregg Cohen, district attorney, Tehama County, Calif. Johnston said prosecutors had access to the sheriff's records and could have reached out to the victims if they were concerned, but deputies didn't have probable cause to search Neal's house to see if he still had guns. "I'll say this: Were we confident that Mr. Neal surrendered all of his firearms? No. Did we have probable cause to search (for them)? No," Johnston said. The Associated Press contributed to this story. A convicted child sex trafficker in Colorado will spend the rest of his life in prison, and then some, after receiving the longest sentence for a human trafficking case in U.S. history on Tuesday. Brock Franklin, 31, was sentenced to 472 years in prison for operating a prostitution ring that preyed on young girls and women. Franklin was found guilty on 30 counts including human trafficking, sexual exploitation of a child, child prostitution, and kidnapping by an Arapahoe County jury in March, FOX 31 Denver reported. He was originally indicted by a grand jury in 2015. Prosecutors said he used drugs and violence to control young girls and routinely forced them to have sex with him, and sold their services online. "A 400 year sentence sends a strong message across the country that we're not going to tolerate this kind of violence to women and vulnerable populations," Janet Drake with the Colorado Attorney General's office told FOX 31. FORMER SUBSTITUTE TEACHER OF THE YEAR ALLEGEDLY MOLESTED GIRL, 12, AT CAMP The crimes took place at various hotels across the greater Denver metro areas. I cant begin to even explain what he did to my life, Brehannah Leary, one of Franklin's victims, told the court. Reading it today, and speaking and actually saying how I felt, and him having hearing and have to sit there and listen and listen to me, that brought me so much joy and thats why I came today, she said. SUBSTITUTE TEACHER, 23, INDICTED FOR SEX WITH TWO TEEN BOY STUDENTS AND SENDING THEM NUDE PICS Franklin's defense team originally asked for the minimum sentence of 96 years behind bars, but victims and prosecutors pushed for more. He deserves every single minute in those walls, Leary told FOX 31. An Illinois man is claiming that a CVS employee stole his winning $1 million scratch-off lottery card after being coerced inside the store. Carlos Figueroa said in a lawsuit filed last week in Cook County Circuit Court that he bought the "Merry Millionaire" ticket on Oct. 30 at a CVS in Waukegan, but it came out cut in half due to a machine malfunction. Figueroa says he was then coerced by a store employee into handing over half of the ticket under the intention that it would be checked to see if it was a winner, the Lake County News-Sun reported. About 20 minutes later, according to the lawsuit, the worker gave Figueroa half of a different lottery ticket back one that was not a winner despite his protests to be handed the original ticket. "(Figueroa) is in need of immediate relief in that unless the (CVS employee) and the Illinois Lottery Board is restrained he will suffer immediate and irreparable harm," the lawsuit says, according to the Lake County News-Sun. He is hoping to prevent the Illinois Lottery Board from paying out the winnings to the CVS employee. Requests from the newspaper to reach Illinois lottery officials and CVS representatives were unsuccessful. The case is scheduled to be heard on March 19. Osama Alomar knew from a young age he wanted to be a writer. But Syrian writers, like him, have been arrested and eventually disappeared in his country, he said. That almost became Alomar's fate when a friend told him Syrian intelligence was looking for him because of one of his stories. "I was scared, he said. "I was so scared. He ended up finding refuge in Pittsburghs City of Asylum, a place where writers and artists from countries across the world have settled, hoping for a chance to express themselves freely. A non-profit called City of Asylum helps the artists settle there. Theyve been imprisoned, tortured, censored, put under house arrest, beaten up, you name the endangerment, Henry Reese, the president of City of Asylum, told Fox News of what the artists have endured. Reese said theyve had writers come from Iran, Syria, China, Venezuela and Bangladesh, among others. City of Asylum provides sanctuary to writers exiled during their fear of persecution, Reese told Fox News. Alomar, now one of the writers living at City of Asylum, told Fox News he remembers hearing about writers disappearing when he lived in Syria, but that didnt stop him from writing. Books were everywhere, he said of his childhood. "When I turned 15 or 16 I felt I have to be writer in my future." Alomar was able to move to the United States before the Syrian revolution found him and has since had his work translated into English. They come here because they want to be able to speak freely and write freely, Reese told Fox News of the residents. Their literary writing was the cause of their persecution. Reese says having writers from so many countries has been beneficial to the community. A self-proclaimed Nazi who attends a Florida university and allegedly shared an image of himself holding a rifle and making threatening statements will be allowed to stay in school -- with a catch. Ken Parker, 32, will be allowed to remain as a student at the University of North Florida after he was recently suspended for sharing the image on social media, the Times-Union reported. But Parker is still banned from campus for the time being. This means Parker, a Navy veteran and junior studying political science, will have to sort out ways to take his lessons off campus or online. This is going to be a special circumstance for him, Sharon Ashton, university vice president of public relations, told the newspaper. University President John Delaney said in a statement to Fox News that Parker was charged with several conduct violations, however, Delaney didn't say what the violations were. He said the reason behind lifting Parkers academic suspension but still banning him from campus was due to his personal safety. This students unsupervised presence on campus would pose a risk to his personal safety and would cause a substantial disruption of, and material interference with, the universitys learning environment, as well as the rights and safety of other students, staff and faculty, he said. Thus, he will be prohibited from entering campus, except for his next hearing, for which he will be required to have a police escort. Delaney added: This is for his own safety as well as the safety of others on campus. Parkers girlfriend, Crystal Moore, told The Times-Union that her boyfriend had no idea what conduct violations he had been charged with. A second hearing on Parker's status is set to be held before the spring term begins. A 24-year-old illegal immigrant spent several weeks trying to romantically pursue a 15-year-old Texas girl, eventually kidnapping the teen -- a distant relative -- at her birthday party and taking her to Georgia for sex, prosecutors say. Andres Castaneda-Guzman, of Mexico, pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping a minor and transporting her across state lines for the purpose of engaging in unlawful sexual activity. He was charged in the incident last week. This kidnapping and sexual assault of a minor is stunning, said U.S. Attorney Byung J. BJay Pak in a statement on Tuesday, adding that prosecuting violent crime, including child exploitation, is a top priority for the U.S. Department of Justice. The teen told investigators Castaneda-Guzman moved to Texas from Georgia in August and she said she spent several weeks turning down his advances and he had become jealous and possessive. Officials said Castaneda-Guzman's weeks-long pursuit of the teen came to head when he took her against her will from her birthday party in Terrell, Tex. on Sept. 3 at 1 a.m. The party had begun the previous evening and Castaneda-Guzman, who was allegedly a guest at the event, offered to take the teen to see some people who had been unable to attend the party, authorities said. SHERIFF: INMATE CAUGHT AFTER 2ND JAIL ESCAPE WITHIN 3 WEEKS Instead, Castaneda-Guzman drove her to Georgia, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security agent said in an affidavit. It was about an hour later the teens parents noticed she was no longer at the party and reported her missing. Party guests told responding officers the teen had been seen getting into Castaneda-Guzmans black Chevrolet Tahoe SUV. Soon thereafter, a friend told [the girls family] that Castaneda-Guzman was taking [her] to Jonesboro, where [he] had previously resided, the agent stated in the affidavit, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. CONVICTED CHILD SEX TRAFFICKER RECEIVES 400 YEAR SENTENCE The teen told investigators they stopped briefly at a trailer park in Jonesboro where Castaneda-Guzmans former in-laws live. She said one of the former in-laws caught her trying to use a cellphone to contact her family and removed the battery. Authorities said Castaneda-Guzman then took the teen to a hotel in Stockbridge on the night of Sept. 3 and forced her to have sex with him. The next day, [he] took her to the home of one of his friends, and they remained there until [he] learned that police and [the teens family] were looking for her, the Homeland Security agent stated. The next day, Sept. 4, the teens family arrived in Jonesboro and met with Clayton County police at the trailer park. Castaneda-Guzmans former in-laws allegedly contacted him and said police were looking for the teen. ANTI-TRUMP STICKER SALES GROW AFTER TEXAS CONTROVERSY Minutes later the teenager arrived by taxi. The driver told police hed picked her up at a home in Forest Park. The teens mother told federal agents she had no reason to suspect or fear that Castaneda-Guzman would take her daughter and that her daughter did not have permission to leave home with him. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A former teacher at a charter school on Chicago's southwest side was arrested Tuesday and charged with sexually abusing a 16-year-old student, officials said. Megan Kotarski, 28, is accused of having sexual contact with the boy between June 16 and 18 of this year, Chicago police told the Chicago Sun-Times. Kotarski turned herself in to police Tuesday, after an investigation began earlier this month into the alleged misconduct by the former Horizon Science Academy Southwest Chicago teacher. Christopher Murphy, director of strategic growth & PR for Concept Schools, told the Sun-Times Kotarski had worked at the school since 2014, and resigned Nov. 10. As the allegations involved a minor, the school contacted the [Illinois] Department of Children and Family Services and Chicago Police, he said. The 28-year-old is charged with a felony count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a victim between 13 and 18 years old, and will appear in court for a bond hearing Wednesday. The man accused of beating and strangling a New York City jogger in 2016 reportedly asked detectives to see the woman's photo just minutes after describing the grisly details surrounding her death, police said Monday in court. Chanel Lewis, 21, who was arrested in February, confessed to beating and strangling Karina Vetrano while she was jogging in a marshland in Howard Beach in August 2016. On Monday, NYPD Det. Christian Quezada revealed Lewis had asked to see a photo of Vetrano during a car ride to central booking in February, the New York Post reported. "During the ride he asked me if the victims family was watching on the news, and he asked me if he could see a picture of her, Quezada testified. I said, 'No. Quezada also said during the hearing that, after putting Lewis in a jail cell, the 21-year-old told him: "Tell my mother I'm sorry." Vetranos parents, Philip and Cathie Vetrano, sat in court for the pre-trial hearing and watched Lewis taped confession, where he calmly described the events leading up to the 30-year-old jogger's brutal killing, the New York Post reported. I was mad, I saw red, the alleged killer told detectives after he was nabbed at his East New York home. He added: She didnt yell. She was finished. I finished her off, I strangled her. She fell into the puddle and drowned. I got up and wiped off the blood. And she was calm, she was in the pool [of water]. Lewis said Vetrano put up a fight, clawing at his face as he beat her until she lost consciousness. Vetrano was discovered by her father and police and was so badly beaten her teeth were knocked out. Her running shorts were also pulled down, but the alleged killer insisted he didnt sexually assault her. I didnt do any of the stuff they said, sexual assault and stuff like that, Lewis was recorded saying, according to the New York Post. Lewis said he was shaken up after committing the alleged murder and attempted to get napkins to wipe away the blood caused by Vetranos scratches. He added he killed Vetrano because he was angry that a guy moved into my house and the neighborhood. Prosecutors previously said Lewis confessed to beating Vetrano to let his emotions out. Lewis also said: I never really meant to hurt her, it just happened." As they watched the tape, Cathie Vetrano, clutching a golden crucifix, sobbed in court hearing the gruesome details. Philip Vetrano told the New York Post he felt a lot of anger and said the family couldnt listen to the confession because the truth hurts. Lewis pleaded not guilty to 13 counts of murder and sexual abuse. His defense attorney said the case wasnt clear cut and there are many unanswered questions. No verdict was reached Wednesday in the trial of the homeless illegal immigrant accused of killing Kate Steinle on Pier 14 in San Francisco in 2015. The jury will resume deliberations on Monday morning, following the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. After 12 days of testimony, dozens of witnesses and two days of closing arguments in the murder trial of Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, jurors were given the case Tuesday to determine whether Steinles death was the result of an act of murder or a tragic accident. They deliberated for a few hours before leaving for the day without a verdict. Steinle was walking with her father and a family friend in July 2015 when she was shot, collapsing into her father's arms. Zarate had been released from the San Francisco jail about three months before the shooting, despite a request by federal immigration authorities to detain him for deportation. During closing arguments, Deputy District Attorney Diana Garcia argued that Zarate used a stolen gun to deliberately shoot Steinle in his own secret version of Russian roulette and said the defenses claim that the shooting was accidental was pure fiction. She said that Zarate went to the pier that day wanting to shoot the gun at people and said the Steinle family was the closest target in his line of fire. Theres no reason that gun went off other than this defendant decided to pull the trigger, Garcia told the jury. KATE STEINLE TRIAL: POLICE TESTIFY BULLET ROCOCHETED, KILLED WOMAN IN SAN FRANCISCO Defense Attorney Matt Gonzalez painted a different picture of how the events unfolded, arguing that Zarate found the gun on the pier. He said it fired accidentally when the defendant picked it up and the bullet ricocheted off a concrete walkway before fatally hitting Steinle. Zarate has admitted to shooting Steinle, but said it was an accident. Gonzalez told jurors that Zarate didnt know Steinle and had no reason to want to hurt her. Since it was also not a point blank-shot, Gonzalez asked the jury, Can you say he put his finger on the trigger and pulled it because he wanted to do her harm? He also argued the case should have only been charged as manslaughter, and the only question should have been if it was manslaughter, or not guilty based on an accident. Before concluding, Gonzalez asked jurors to make their own judgements about how they believe the events unfolded and told them that although the event was an awful accident, attempting to render a verdict that matched the awfulness of the situation was not your job. SANCTUARY CITIES: WHAT ARE THEY? The case gained national attention after Zarates immigration status in the country was revealed. The Mexican citizen had been deported five times and served federal prison time for illegally re-entering the U.S. Jurors did not hear evidence or arguments about the defendants legal status and it will not be a factor in the trail. Fox News' Jennifer Girdon in San Francisco and The Associated Press contributed to this report. A veteran lawman has stepped down as head of the Maine Sheriff's Association after he admitted sending a sexually explicit photo of himself in his office while in uniform. Oxford County Sheriff Wayne Gallant confirmed to WGME that he was the person in the photo and that he sent it to a woman who he did not identify. "I bring discredit to myself, to my uniform, my badge and the Maine Sheriff's Association," Gallant said in a statement. "The appropriate thing for me to do is not remain in a leadership position with the Association and to step down." The Maine Sheriffs' Association says it doesn't condone Gallant's "inappropriate actions." It says association vice president Sheriff Kevin Joyce will serve as acting president. Meanwhile, a representative for a union that represents deputy sheriffs tells the Portland Press Herald that Gallant made unwanted solicitations for sex from at least two of his employees, sending sexually explicit images of himself and a cellphone message. Gallant is serving his third four-year term as Oxford County Sheriff. Oxford County Attorney Bryan Dench told WGME that the county's three-person board of supervisors could file a report on the incident with the governor's office, who would then determine any disciplinary action. Click for more from Fox23Maine.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A man murdered earlier this year by the MS-13 street gang was stabbed more than 100 times, decapitated and had his heart torn out of his chest and buried with him, Maryland authorities said Wednesday. Montgomery County Police said one of the alleged killers, 19-year-old Miguel Angel Lopez-Abrego, was arrested Nov. 11 in North Carolina. Lopez-Abrego, known as "Timido," has been charged with first-degree murder and was ordered held without bond after his first court appearance. According to court documents, which cited interviews with a gang informant, up to ten MS-13 members planned to lure the victim to the Silver Spring park where he was killed sometime this past spring. The documents allege that Lopez-Abrego helped dig the grave where the victim was found, and also used a walkie-talkie to alert the other gang members to the victim's arrival. The informant also claimed Lopez-Abrego was the first to attack the victim, stabbing him with a 15-inch knife. The informant led police to the grave on Sept. 5 and "detailed the choking, stabbing, decapitating and dismembering [of] the Victim's body," according to a police affidavit. The documents do not give a motive for the killing. The victim has yet to be conclusively identified. Police describe him as a Hispanic male standing approximately 5 feet, 2 inches high and weighing approximately 126 pounds. He had short, dark brown hair and a missing lower tooth that may have been noticeable when he was speaking or smiling. After the victim's body was found in September, police released photos of the clothes and rosary he was wearing when he was killed. They included a sweatshirt with the words "First United Methodist Church Laurel, Maryland" written on the left chest. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Montgomery County Police Department's Major Crimes Division at (240) 773-5070. School officials in a Missouri community were making plans Tuesday to discipline a non-white student whom they said had confessed to writing a racial slur and the phrase White Lives Matter on a mirror inside a girls restroom at a high school. Parkway schools Superintendent Keith Marty said in a statement Tuesday that the revelation that a non-white student was involved was surprising, but it did not diminish the hurt caused by the incident at Parkway Central High School in Chesterfield. "The behavior was wrong and the student will be held accountable for this serious act according to our student discipline policy," said Marty, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "The behavior was wrong and the student will be held accountable for this serious act according to our student discipline policy." Keith Marty, Parkway schools superintendent It is important to understand why this happened and why we are often quick to assume who is responsible," he added. The racial slur was found in a girls restroom on campus last week, prompting the local community to organize and stand against racism. I was horrified, West County anti-racism activist Joy Weese Moll told KTVI last week. A lot of us in West County have a really hard time saying racism exists here. It makes me sad for the person who wrote it because they have not been taught and not learned how beautiful our society can be. Parents who have children going to the school also reacted. This is very much a white person issue that we need to tackle as white people and speak up against, parent Alexandria Lane-Detwiler said. Principal Timothy McCarthy reiterated that the student responsible will be punished and such behavior is not welcome at his school. The actions of this student are a violation of our discipline code and the student will be held accountable within the parameters of the districts discipline policy, he wrote in a statement, KTVI reported. The use of the N-word, in the context of the message on the bathroom mirror, provoked feelings of hate, not love. As I stated last week, actions and speech which degrade an individuals human dignity have no place in school; they have no place at Central High. Long Island police are searching for three suspects they believe covered the walls of a local high school with MS-13 and anti-Semitic graffiti. Nassau County police were called to Syossett High School on August 27 after a school security officer discovered that the walls, doors and windows near the school had been spray painted with hate messages. The graffiti included anti-Semitic writings, swastikas and also MS-13 written several times in various colors. Earlier this week, investigators released surveillance photos in hopes of identifying the suspects. One of the photo shows a white Acura MDX driven by a woman who police said was white with blond-colored hair. In the surveillance footage, the woman is seen picking up another woman who police described as brunette before fleeing the scene. Surveillance footage shows a third suspect, a man, on school grounds at the time of the incident. He is seen wearing a New York Giants sweatshirt. Nassau police had released photos in September of a woman wearing a dark tank top, dark jeans, black shoes and covering her face with a black costume mask. Police said they believe she is white, around 17 years old and about 5 feet, 4 inches tall. Nassau County has been on high alert of MS-13 gang activity after several members were charged in recent killings in Long Island immigrant communities. As of last September, police estimated that there are around 400 MS-13 gang members operating in Suffolk County and more than 320 of them were arrested with the help of immigration agents, the New York Times reported. Detectives have not said the graffiti is gang related and are calling it a bias incident. They request anyone with information about the above crime to contact the Nassau County Crime Stoppers at 1-800- 244-TIPS. A former president and general who helped defeat the Confederate south during the Civil War will soon get a presidential homecoming in Mississippi. President Ulysses S. Grant, who is perhaps best known for leading Union troops during the siege of Vicksburg, Miss., will soon have a presidential library in his honor. The Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library will open to the public on the campus of Mississippi State University (MSU) in Starkville later this month. Grant, who was born in Ohio and lived in Illinois and New York, spent most of his time at war in Mississippi, according to the librarys executive director John Marszalek. His connection with Mississippi is during the Civil War fighting battles here, then later after the war he passed through here on part of his world tour, Marszalek told Fox News inside the newly expanded library. Marszalek is an expert on the 18th president of the United States and also serves as the executive director of the Grant Association, which collects copies of Grants letters and other writings. Grant, who served as president of the United States from 1869 to 1877, played a pivotal role in the siege of Vicksburg in 1863. The battle split up the Confederate states and helped win the war for the Union Army. Marszalek says the Grant family became close friends with the descendants of a Confederate general named Stephen D. Lee. Lee was the first president of Mississippi State University. [Lees] family and the Grant family became quite friendly after the war was over, Marszalek said. When the statue of Stephen D. Lee was being established at Vicksburg, it was Fred Grant, Grants first born son, who gave the keynote address. Marszalek notes the decision to place the library at MSU was up to the Grant Association and its board of directors. He says the university was able to convince the association and its president, former Rhode Island Supreme Court Chief Justice Frank Williams, to move the collection of Grant artifacts to the university in 2008. Since then, the library was housed in a small space for researchers. Curators and those in charge of the museum admit that there is a sense of irony that the library is located in Mississippi but also note that it will give visitors and researchers a unique opportunity to visit historic Civil War sites in the region. Over 1,200 artifacts and manuscripts are held at the library. There are also 200,000 documents and 13,000 volumes of books related to Grant stored on-site. Curators have also added notes to many of the letters to give modern-day context to visitors and researchers. Visitors will also get a chance to try out TV-size interactive touchscreens with facts and information about Grant. As a part of the museum [weve] developed several different interactive [screens] that students will be able to use as theyre coming through the museum, said Stephen Cunetto, the associate dean for university libraries at MSU. It really gives them the history [and] the background of Grant and its actually narrated by James Earl Jones. As for any sour feelings toward President Grant after the Civil War, Marszalek says thats not really the case. Is there some hard feelings? Sure, there always are hard feelings, Marszalek said. Generally speaking, our acceptance here at Mississippi State and in the state of Mississippi [among] governors and politicians and just the average person has just been wonderful. Members of the Grant Association, Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant and guests from the United States National Archives are expected to attend an opening ceremony for the library on November 30th. The owner of Vermont's Jay Peak ski resort has reached a tentative settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in a fraud case. The Burlington Free Press reports the tentative settlement between Florida businessman Ariel Quiros and the SEC is mentioned in federal court documents filed in Miami. The documents do not provide details of the settlement, which must be approved by the commissioners of the SEC. Quiros and business partner Bill Stenger were accused of misusing more than $200 million raised from foreign investors to build projects at Jay Peak, at Burke Mountain and in Newport. Stenger settled his case with the SEC last year. Quiros is believed to have pocketed more than $50 million. Vermont's financial regulation commissioner says he can't comment on the details of the proposed agreement. ___ Information from: The Burlington Free Press, http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com Military units from two seemingly unlikely partners have carried out a joint response to a natural disaster on a base along the Oregon coast. It was only a drill, but roughly 100 soldiers from China and the U.S. and their top commanders are ready to use what they learned in a real disaster. The commander of U.S. Army-Pacific said Sunday the last day of the exercise that carrying out joint disaster responses shouldn't depend on the state of relations between the two world powers. Gen. Robert Brown says the participants found a common interest in saving lives. Maj. Gen. Zhang Jian, a senior Chinese commander who visited Oregon, said the disaster exercises evolved from academic discussions to boots on the ground in the last few years. The countries host them in alternate years. An Oregon woman was sentenced to two years in prison on Tuesday after her boyfriend died when she passed methamphetamine-filled balloons to him during a single kiss at the end of a prison visit at the Oregon State Penitentiary. Melissa Ann Blair, 46, was also ordered to complete three years of post-release supervision and to participate in drug treatment and mental health programs. Blair was visiting Anthony Powell, 41, who was serving a life sentence for aggravated murder in his mother-in-laws death, when they shared a kiss. She passed seven tiny balloons filled with meth into his mouth during the June 2016 smooch. Powell swallowed the balloons to get them into the prison, but two of them popped shortly after, killing him from meth toxicity, prosecutors said. U.S. District Judge Marco Hernandez said Powell roped Blair into the scheme he and others devised to get drugs into the prison. The judge said Powell shared responsibility for his own death. "It was tragic and sad but he shares responsibility for what happened," the judge said. Blairs attorney said his client felt coerced into the plot and was not addicted to the drug. "It was a very Svengali-type situation where he had total control over her life," attorney John Ransom said. "She had to do whatever he said." Blair did not make a statement in court. The Associated Press contributed to this report. North Korean troops briefly crossed into South Korea while chasing one of their fellow soldiers who defected earlier this month, violating the armistice that ended the Korean War, the U.S.-led United Nations command said Wednesday. At a live TV briefing, the command released dramatic video showing the unidentified soldier speeding down a tree-lined road past shocked North Korean soldiers, who begin to run after him. He crashes the jeep near the line that divides North and South in the so-called "truce village" of Panmunjom, where North and South Korean soldiers face each other at their closest distance just feet away. Soldiers from the North sprint to the area, firing their weapons at the defector; one hurries across the dividing line before running back to the northern side. South Korean soldiers then crawl up to the defector, who has fallen injured in a mass of leaves against a small wall. They drag him to safety as North Korean troops gather on their side of the line. Surprisingly, North and South Korean soldiers didn't exchange fire in the first shooting in the area in more than three decades. U.S. Army Col. Chad G. Carroll, a spokesman for the U.N. command, said the North violated the armistice by "one, firing weapons across the MDL, and two, by actually crossing the MDL temporarily," referring to the military demarcation line that bisects the Koreas. A U.N. Command statement said officials notified the North's military of these violations and requested a meeting to discuss the investigation results and measures to prevent future such violations. North Korea hasn't responded and its official media haven't reported on the case. The North has previously accused South Korea of kidnapping or enticing North Koreans to defect. About 30,000 North Koreans have fled to South Korea, mostly via China, since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. South Korea's military has said North Korean soldiers used handguns and AK rifles to fire about 40 rounds at their former comrade, who was hit at least five times. The JSA, jointly overseen by the American-led U.N. Command and by North Korea, is inside the 2.5-mile-wide Demilitarized Zone, which has been the de facto border between the Koreas since the war. Meanwhile, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that the North Korean soldier had regained consciousness after undergoing two surgeries at Ajou University Hospital in Suwon, south of Seoul. One South Korean official told Yonhap the soldier was able to talk to doctors and requested to watch television in his room. The official added that the soldier was suffering from "fear and heavy stress" from his ordeal and was being treated with "psychotherapy." A South Korean flag had "apparently" been placed in the soldier's room in an attempt to improve his mental state. Hospital official Shin Mi-jeong confirmed to the Associated Press that the soldier is conscious and is no longer relying on a breathing machine. While his condition is improving, doctors plan to keep him at the intensive care unit for at least several more days to guard against possible infections. While treating the wounds, surgeons removed dozens of parasites from the soldier's ruptured small intestine, including presumed roundworms that were as long as 10.6 inches, which may reflect poor nutrition and health in North Korea's military. The soldier is 5 feet, 7 inches tall but weighs just 132 pounds. The Associated Press contributed to this report. U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert called Tuesdays resignation of now-former Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe a historic opportunity for the countrys people but she would not say whether the military takeover was considered a coup. The people of Zimbabwe have firmly voiced their desire for a new era to bring an end to Zimbabwes isolation and allow the country to rejoin the international community, Nauert said in the briefing. The comments follow Mugabes official resignation as leader of the country, a position he held for 37 years. The countrys Parliament speaker said he received a letter from the 93-year-old leader soon after lawmakers launched impeachment proceedings against him. In the letter, Mugabe said his resignation was voluntary. ZIMBABWES MUGABE RESIGNS ENDING DECADES-LONG DICTATORSHIP Nauert echoed similar sentiments from Sec. of State Rex Tillersons statement on Zimbabwe, telling reporters that the State Department hoped for free and fair elections and that whatever choice was made regarding governing the country in the short term, they hoped for an unwavering respect for the rule of law and for established democratic practices. But when asked whether the militarys governmental takeover that subsequently led to Mugabe and his wife, Grace, being forced into house arrest was a coup, Nauert noted that the ousted leader made the ultimate decision to resign. Cries of happiness and commendation have poured in from all sides following the change of power. Immediately following Mugabes announcement, citizens started taking down all of the official portraits hanging of their former president. This is the first time that Robert Mugabe has made Zimbabweans universally happy since independence, former Zimbabwe government minister David Coltart said on Twitter. MUGABE RESIGNS AS ZIMBABWE PRESIDENT: WHO ARE THE KEY PLAYERS IN THE LEADERSHIP CRISIS? But he also voiced concern as former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa is expected to be sworn in within the next day. We have removed a tyrant but not yet a tyranny, Coltart said in a tweet. But we thank God for this day. Chairman of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat also chimed in saying the people of Zimbabwe had expressed their will and Mugabe would go down as a fearless pan-Africanist liberation fighter and father of the independent Zimbabwean nation. Todays decision will go down in history as an act of statesmanship that can only bolster President Mugabes political legacy, Mahamat said. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Emmerson Mnangagwa took over as president of Zimbabwe Friday after the extraordinary exit of Robert Mugabe. Mnangagwa served as Mugabes vice president until he was fired and fled the African nation for his safety. Mugabe resigned earlier this week as the countrys Parliament moved to impeach him. We must work together. You, me, all of us who make up this nation, Mnangagwa said at his inauguration in front of 60,000 people. He urged Zimbabweans who fled the country in recent years to come back. Military officials in Zimbabwe took control of the capital earlier this month. According to critics, that move put Mugabe in a position to promote his wife, Grace Mugabe, to succeed him. Read on for a look at the key players in the Zimbabwe leadership change. Robert Mugabe Robert Mugabe led Zimbabwe since the countrys independence from Britain in 1980. Mugabe was born in Rhodesia, which is now called Zimbabwe. After graduating from college in 1945, Mugabe taught in Rhodesia and Ghana for 15 years, according to History.com. In 1960, Mugabe entered Zimbabwe politics when he joined the pro-independence National Democratic Party and became its publicity secretary. Mugabe later left the National Democratic Party, which was re-formed as the Zimbabwe African Peoples Union in 1961, for the Zimbabwe African National Union (now known as Zanu-PF). He is still with Zanu-PF today, according to History.com. Mugabe was imprisoned in 1964 when he opposed white colonial rulers. He was freed 10 years later, according to History.com. He then fought in Rhodesia's war for independence. In 1980, he became prime minister of the newly independent country. In 1987, Mugabe became president of Zimbabwe. Mugabe, 93, led the country under authoritarian rule since 1980. Critics argue that he became increasingly authoritarian over time, while supporters say he represents Zimbabwes poor. According to the BBC, Mugabe is arguably best known for his land reform program in the 1990s that redistributed white-owned farms to black peasants. The country has experienced considerable political and economic turmoil during his rule. Mugabe recently sacked his Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa in favor of his wife. Mugabe married Grace, his second wife, in 1996. Mugabe finally resigned as Zimbabwes president this week as the Parliament was moving to formally impeach him. Grace Mugabe Grace Mugabe, who was born in South Africa in 1965, was the first lady of Zimbabwe. She is 41 years younger than her husband. The couple has three children together, according to the BBC: Bona, Robert and Chatunga. Critics have called her Gucci Grace -- a reference to her lavish shopping habits, according to the BBC. She did charity work before becoming more active in the Zanu-PF party. A polarizing figure, Grace was named the head of Zanu-PF women's league in 2014. Grace Mugabe spearheaded the ousting of former Zimbabwe Vice President Joice Mujuru in 2014, according to the BBC. Mnangagwa, whom Grace once called loyal and disciplined, later replaced Mujuru. But Grace recently called on her husband to replace him, claiming that Mnangagwas supporters were planning a coup. Prior to the military maneuvers, it was thought that Grace would become the country's vice president in December, according to the BBC. Emmerson Mnangagwa Until recently, Emmerson Mnangagwa, 71, was Mugabes vice president. He received military training in Egypt and China, but later returned to then-Rhodesia to help lead the country in its fight for independence. Like Mugabe, Mnangagwa was arrested and imprisoned for nearly 10 years. He was allegedly tortured during his time in jail. He is also one of the founders of the Zanu-PF party, and has been in government ever since the country gained independence, according to the BBC. Known in the country as crocodile, Mnangagwa is said to be politically cunning. He served as the countrys minister for national security before becoming vice president in 2013, according to the BBC. Mnangagwa fled Zimbabwe, citing threats to his life, after Mugabe fired him. He returned on Wednesday and was sworn in as the country's new leader Friday morning. General Constantino Chiwenga Gen. Constantino Chiwenga, 61, has led the countrys national army since the early 1990s, according to the BBC. Chiwenga, a close ally of Mnangagwa, joined the war for independence in the 1970s. He trained with Zimbabwe's African National Liberation Army in Mozambique. He was sanctioned by the European Union, U.S. and New Zealand in 2002 before being promoted to commander general of Zimbabwe's combined armed forces in 2003, according to the BBC. On Nov. 13, he warned that the military would step in if its historical political allies continued to be removed or targeted. The Associated Press contributed to this report. The Latest on developments in Yemen (all times local): 9:05 p.m. The United Nations says that if Saudi Arabia reopens the airport in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, and its Red Sea ports of Hodeida and Salef as the kingdom has indicated it would do, it will be "a very welcome and critically important development." U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York that senior U.N. humanitarian and political officials received information from their Saudi counterparts on Wednesday, indicating a willingness to open the airport and ports "over the next day." Haq said the U.N. is "monitoring these developments and we're trying to see whether that actually takes place on the ground." He also said the world body has "made clear the tremendous amount of needs on the ground." He also says: "We're ready to help if the ports are opened." The Saudi-led coalition fighting Shiite Houthi rebels shut down all land, sea and air access to Yemen earlier this month after the rebels fired a missile that targeted Riyadh. ___ 6:40 p.m. The U.N. humanitarian chief in Yemen says the closure of the country's main airport and two seaports by a Saudi-led coalition has threatened gains made in containing cholera and the risk of famine in the war-torn country. Jamie McGoldrick spoke to The Associated Press on Wednesday. His comments came shortly before the Saudi-led military coalition fighting Shiite rebels in Yemen announced it would reopen Sanaa airport and the port of Hodeida on Thursday for urgent humanitarian aid and U.N. aircraft. The coalition imposed a blockade Nov. 6, after rebels fired a missile at the Saudi capital. McGoldrick says 7 million of Yemen's 27 million people rely on food aid. He says that "at a time of famine and a time of cholera, it's very important" to keep all aid channels open. ___ 5:40 p.m. The Saudi-led military coalition fighting Shiite rebels in Yemen has announced it will reopen the war-torn country's main international airport in the capital of Sanaa and a vital Red Sea port to give access to humanitarian aid. Wednesday's announcement says the Sanaa airport and the port of Hodeida will reopen, starting from Thursday. It's been over two weeks since the Saud-led coalition imposed the closure of all sea, air, and land ports in the Arab world's poorest country, in response to a missile assault by the Shiite rebels that targeted the Saudi capital, Riyadh. The missile was struck down but it was the farthest a projectile by the rebels, also known as Houthis, had penetrated into the kingdom. The coalition sys the United Nations and international relief groups have demanded the coalition allow full access to hubs in Yemen so that humanitarian aid can reach those that desperately need it. Aid groups have also warned of worsening conditions for millions of Yemenis who fully depend on the aid. ___ 10:20 a.m. A New-York based relief group has urged an end to the continuing blockade that serves as a "collective punishment" of Yemenis and risks driving 500 children into malnutrition every week. The International Rescue Committee on Wednesday said the closure of Yemeni ports by the Saudi-led coalition as part of its fight against Houthi rebels creates "humanitarian misery for millions of Yemenis." The coalition announced that it's lifting the blockade after initially tightening it following a Houthi missile attack. "Sanctions and inspections should not be used as weapons of war," the group said in a statement. The IRC condemned the international community, saying its silence "is a disgrace and is enabling what could be collective punishment." Each week, the group said, 500 children join hundreds of thousands suffering from malnutrition. next Image 1 of 2 prev Image 2 of 2 A Romanian truck driver has confessed to having raped and killed a woman, who was out jogging in a forest in southwestern Germany. At the opening of his trial in Freiburg on Wednesday, German news agency dpa reported that the 40-year-old said he killed the woman out of "inexplicable aggression," but that he didn't have a sexual motive. Senior prosecutor Tomas Orschitt accused the defendant, whose name was not given because of German privacy rules, of raping and killing the 27-year-old in Endingen in November 2016. Investigators used highway toll and cellphone data to track him down. In a separate case, the defendant is also suspected of having killed a French student whose body was found in January 2014 in Kufstein, Austria. South Korea's foreign minister, Kang Kyung-wha, is meeting with her Chinese counterpart as the countries work to repair strained relations ahead of a visit by South Korean President Moon Jae-in to Beijing next month. Kang and Wang Yi met Wednesday at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing shortly after a Chinese special envoy wrapped up a visit to North Korea, which China is attempting to convince to return to nuclear disarmament talks. China's relations with South Korea soured last year over the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile defense system in South Korea that Beijing fears will be able to monitor military activity in northeastern China. China retaliated economically, banning group tours to South Korea and disrupting activities of South Korean businesses within China. Empowering women...as long as they keep their mouth shut! Rwanda government led by Paul Kagame want to empower women as long as they keep their mouths shut! Diane Rwigara and her family are being persecuted for speaking out against the regime of Paul Kagame. Victoire Ingabire is also in the same situation as well as countless other brave women and men. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIp1w9MA7eQ&feature=share COCO (PG) 3 STARS Though you wouldnt expect childrens movie about a boy visiting the Land of the Dead to be a sweet and endearing adventure, thats just what it delivers. Toss in serious messages about family, honor and following your heart, and this isnt just your average Pixar outing staged for giggles and grins. Oh, its got those too, with the ancestors populating the afterworld often played for laughs as comical skeletons that can rearrange their bones on the spot or other funny moves. The other striking and encouraging thing about the film: it's a piece of diversity, set in Mexico with characters occasionally lapsing into Spanish or referring to Mexican food and customs. The good folks at Disney pair Coco with a preceding 21-minute Olafs Frozen Adventure, with all the main characters from Frozen joining Josh Gads Olaf to seek out traditions to celebrate for the holiday. It makes you wonder: Was that added to make sure the feature had broad enough appeal to put people in the seats, or because Coco might be a bit of a gamble, an untried group of characters and an odd world of an afterlife? Who knows, though children will surely enjoy both. Like all Pixar releases, the animation is mind-blowing, with key members of the filmmaking team noting in a brief segment before the film that some of the images have millions of lights, architectural details and images. And the characters themselves, while animated, quickly pull you in and almost make you forget they arent truly human. The story: Miguel loves music, but its banned in his household because an ancestor long ago left his wife to pursue a music career, essentially ditching his family to do that. With the approach of the Day of the Dead--a holiday where families are shown honoring ancestors by putting photos and favorite things on shelves in family shrinesMiguel decides he needs to follow his passion for music. Breaking into a shrine dedicated to his famous musical ancestor, Ernesto de la Cruz (Benjamin Bratt), something magical happens when Miguel takes down his ancestors guitar and strums a chord. Suddenly, hes transported to the Land of the Dead, where he finds out that the story his family has long believed about the ancestor is a lie. Accompanied by a dog with a long, floppy tongue, Miguel meets other ancestors and finds himself with an important role to play in the righting of an old wrong. Beyond that, he finds himself facing a shrinking window of time to get back to the real world. Like all the most successful of these Pixar films, there are elements that will entertain young viewers while other moments and ideas will work better for older ones. And there are silly gags that will work for both. The thread that runs throughout the whole film, the importance of honoring family and elders, is indicated by the fact that Coco isnt the name of the young star, hes Miguel. Instead, shes a wizened old great-grandmother who plays a critical role, honored above all in Miguels family, despite her age and fading faculties. All told, this is an interesting animated tale equally adept at comedy and delivering a serious message or two. Rated PG for thematic elements. 109 min. Playing locally at Marque Southpoint 9 and Regal Fredericksburg 14. The Virginia State Board of Elections rescheduled a meeting to certify the results of a close Fredericksburg-area House of Delegates contest after Democrats filed a lawsuit to stop the process. The board had scheduled a meeting Wednesday morning, but postponed it after the House Democrats filed a lawsuit Tuesday afternoon contesting results in the 28th District because of system errors that resulted in at least 83 voters being assigned to the wrong House district. The 28th District election is one of a handful of close races that could decide which party controls the chamber after a wave election in which Democrats picked up at least 15 seats. The Democrats filed the complaint in U.S. District Court in Alexandria on behalf of three residents of the 28th District who were given ballots for the neighboring 88th District. Their suit sought an emergency order to stop the State Board of Elections from certifying the vote totals in the 28th District during a meeting scheduled for Wednesday morning in Richmond. With the Thanksgiving holiday looming and no time for the lawsuit to get into court before Wednesday morning, Elections Commissioner Edgardo Cortes said the elections board meeting had been postponed until Monday. In the 28th District, which includes parts of Fredericksburg and Stafford County, Republican Bob Thomas leads Democrat Joshua Cole by 82 votes. The district is represented by retiring House Speaker William J. Howell, RStafford. Republicans have claimed they held onto a 5149 majority in the Nov. 7 election. If one of a handful of close finishes flipped to Democrats, the House would have a 5050 party split. The additional delay in the 28th District opens the door for a possible Republican lawsuit that could seek to force the elections board to certify the numbers showing Thomas in the lead. State law dictates that the elections board must meet on the third Monday in November to certify election results, but allows for a delay of up to three days if the board cannot meet or cant determine election results for any other reason. On Nov. 20, the elections board certified the results of all statewide races and 98 House races, but took no action on the 28th and 88th District races. An attorney representing the House Republican Caucus sent a letter to the elections board Tuesday calling its decision to delay certifying the results in the two districts improper and counterproductive. The Code of Virginia does not grant this board the authority to delay certification to allow for the filing of lawsuits or to resolve issues regarding whether a vote should or should not be counted, wrote Trevor M. Stanley, a BakerHostetler attorney representing the House Republicans. The appropriate course of action, Stanley said, would be to certify the results to allow a full recount to begin. Eric Sundberg, campaign manager for Cole, said the Democrats goal is to find a fair resolution in which all votes are counted, regardless of who wins. He said Republicans have let partisanship run deep with the vote count issue. Delaying the certification, he said, will allow the board to investigate the vote tally and was the right approach to take. A Thomas campaign official declined to comment. Free LanceStar staff writer Scott Shenk contributed to this report. Should Fredericksburg move its Visitor Center and several other city offices into Executive Plaza, or demolish the building nicknamed The Big Ugly so a more functional building can go in its site? Those were among the options City Council discussed during a work session Tuesday. A third would be to leave the Visitor Center and the Department of Economic Development and Tourism in the historic brick building at 706 Caroline St. for now, but the city would still need to spend $2 million to replace the heating and air conditioning system at Executive Plaza, the seven-story building at 601 Caroline St. City Manager Tim Baroody and his staff, including director of the Department of Economic Development and Tourism Bill Freehling, have been exploring possible locations for the Visitor Center and the department for months. The Visitor Center space is small, and Freehling and his staffs offices on the second and third floor do not meet Americans with Disabilities Act requirements. The lack of professional office space does hinder economic development, Baroody said. The recommendation presented to City Council would move the Visitor Center to the first floor of Executive Plaza, which would be renovated to include a small theater where a video highlighting city attractions could be shown, as well as a 2,460-square-foot multipurpose space that could be used for lectures, meetings and small performances. The Visitor Center would also have public restrooms inside and some that could be accessed from the exterior of the side of the building facing Sophia Street and what will become Riverfront Park. Executive Plaza, which the city owns, is ideally suited for tourists, said Assistant City Manager Doug Fawcett. It is a short walk from the train station and the Sophia Street Parking Garage, and visitors would see an additional block of Caroline Street if they started their tour at the new Visitor Center. He said businesses in the 600 block complain that most people leaving the current Visitor Center turn left and never venture down their way. Economic Development and Tourism would relocate to offices on the third floor, and Community Planning and Building would move from City Hall at 715 Princess Anne St. to the fourth floor of Executive Plaza. The first and fourth floors are currently vacant. Space was freed up when the city school systems offices moved to the newly renovated WalkerGrant Center earlier this year. The moves into Executive Plaza would also mean some departments in City Hall would have more space. Renovating the first floor to create the new Visitor Center and the multi-purpose space is estimated to cost $750,000 to $900,000, Fawcett said. An additional $200,000 to $250,000 would be spent to make landscaping and facade improvements, such as a new awning and umbrella tables along the side and back of the building. Those costs could potentially be covered by the sale of 706 Caroline St. or surplus city properties. Fawcett said the total cost of making improvements and replacing the HVAC system at Executive Plaza would be around $3 million, compared to the more than $18 million the construction management firm Downey & Scott estimated it would cost to demolish it and construct a new building. That does not include any associated land acquisition costs, which could bring the total to around $20 million, he said, nor does it include the cost of relocating personnel while the construction is going on. Councilman Brad Ellis said that he was in favor of demolishing the 43-year-old building and replacing it with something that better meets the citys needs. Councilman Matt Kelly said that previous City Councils had discussed that possibility, and would like to see the old study. Kelly added that the tourism community has been hesitant about moving the Visitor Center, especially since its an historic building. He wondered if it wouldnt be better to move the economic development offices to Executive Plaza or increase Freehlings budget. He also pointed out that the city is facing a number of other big expenses, including the need for a new school and fire station. Councilman Billy Withers said that he couldnt see spending $18 million at this time, and Councilman Tim Duffy suggested that they could just replace the HVAC system. Fawcetts presentation at the work session included a proposed timeline that would have staff procuring design services in the first three months of 2018 and beginning construction by Sept. 1 with a projected completion date of March 31, 2019. Mayor Mary Katherine Greenlaw asked Baroody what he needed from City Council, and he said staff would like to have a sense of what direction it wanted them to go in a month or so. We definitely need to do a better job on our economic development office, she said. If were going to do it, lets make it look good. My Thanksgiving column ideas just werent cutting it. First, I thought about talking to chefs about what they cook for their own Thanksgivings at home. Then I considered talking to restaurants where people go to eat on the biggest home-cooking day of the year. But with the way things have been going for our collective culture, with nasty politics and divisiveness pulling us all apart at every turn, another thought was tugging to get my attention: How lucky many of us are in this land of plenty. Our good fortune is something we should use to offset and even change all the petty politics and nastiness that never stops flowing on social media and cable TV news. The idea took a more specific direction when I came across a photo taken in the summer when the Rappahannock Indian Tribe received an acre of land in Richmond County for the establishment of a lodge and educational site on the tribes ancestral land. Seeing the photo made me wonder whether people with a more fundamental connection to the land might have a more meaningful understanding of a true Thanksgiving. For those who dont know the history, Ill share an interesting bit of it: the Rappahannocks first met Capt. John Smith in December 1607 at their capital town of Topahanocke on the banks of the river bearing their name. At the time, Smith was a prisoner of Powhatans brother, Opechancanough. He took Smith to the Rappahannocks for the people to determine if Smith was the Englishman who, three years earlier, had murdered their chief and kidnapped some of their people. Smith was found innocent, and returned to the Rappahannocks homeland in the summer of 1608, mapping 14 Rappahannock villages on the north side of the river opposite their primary hunting grounds on the south. To see what sort of Thanksgiving rituals or traditions the Rappahannocks celebrate today, I called the chief, Anne Richardson, who presides at the tribes Cultural Center at Indian Neck in King and Queen County. She said that while the tribe doesnt do anything specific for Thanksgiving, the holiday, our Fall Harvest Pow Wow is traditionally our celebration of thanksgiving to the Creator for all he has given us throughout the year. She noted that the tribe also follows the cycles of nature, and celebrates the bounty that nature provides in tribal songs, dancing and rituals that also happen at a tribal Family Day at the Cultural Center in October. Richardson said that special day provides tribal members who live out of state to come home to be with family. She said the gathering, which could well be described as a day of thanksgiving, keeps us together, and keeps the kids learning about the traditions, the dances and our collective history, spending much of the day playing traditional games. Richardson said that to provide traditional thanks throughout the year for the harvest and lifes bounty, We do agricultural dances, around various foods: the deer hunter dance, the green corn dance, and others. She said the rituals and blessings are a way the tribe connects to nature, as they were traditionally done in various cycles and seasons. July is the celebration of green corn harvest, she said. Later in the year we celebrate and give thanks for the sweet potatoes, pumpkins, things we used in our lifestyle, for the surroundings we have and for the medicinals that help sustain our people. The takeaway for me here isnt that we all need to interrupt our Thanksgiving Day feasts to learn a dance honoring the sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie. But I do think that as many of us enjoy the day, it wouldnt hurt to look beyond our hectic, polarized and often materialistic existence to truly give thanks for the sort of things the Rappahannocks never forget: the bounty nature provides. As we do, we could take a page from the Rappahannock Tribes Family Day, when connections, not divisions, are the focus. It follows then, that it would be a good thing to work harder at finding connections, instead of simply extending divisions. But hey, a sweet potato dance tomorrow couldnt hurt. And it just might make more room for the pumpkin pie, which I have always been thankful for. My ritual, if you must know, is blessing dessert with an extra dollop of whipped cream. Free Freightnet Membership List your company in the Freightnet directory. It's Free, it's Easy and your company can be displayed in front of potential freight buyers within 24 hours. Having a healthy population of earthworms can help growers halt the UKs serious decline in soil health, with an estimated loss of 2.2m tonnes of topsoil each year. Earthworms key role is to process organic matter into new soil and cycle deep soil to the surface, and they spend 74-91% of their time on these activities, says Lucy Crockford, a lecturer in soil and water management at Harper Adams University. See also: Tips on how to get your soils back in to better shape Earthworm benefits 100 individuals of epigeic surface dwelling species of earthworm eject 840kg/ha a year of surface litter. Therefore, they are crucial to reversing the decline in soil health. Epigeic worms can process organic matter, such as compost and farmyard manure, into a usable form for microbes, thereby improving nutrient cycling and cutting fertiliser costs. 10-30% of nitrogen uptake by plants is in a form of the nutrient produced by earthworms. Similarly, 50% of phosphate uptake in grassland is in earthworm-produced compounds. While the epigeic species one of three species groups found in UK soils are involved in the breakdown of materials, a second type, the vertically burrowing anecic species, move soil from their deep burrows to the surface, naturally working the soil. The third type of worm, endogeic, processes organic matter found in the soil such as roots and create horizontal burrows. Healthy earthworm populations can also increase water infiltration, reducing run-off risk. About 100g/sq m of earthworms could increase water infiltration by as much as 150mm/hour. Even on well-drained sandy soils, earthworms increased water retention brought about by higher organic matter levels. How to measure worm numbers The first step to ensuring you have a healthy earthworm population is to count them. There are three simple ways to do this. 1. Add a few heaped teaspoons of powdered mustard to 1.5 litres of water. Mark out 1 sq m of soil and pour on the solution. After five minutes the earthworms should rise to the surface in an effort to escape the pungent aroma. This method is useful for counting deep burrowing earthworms, but is unlikely to reveal surface dwelling worms. 2. Dig a hole 25cm by 25 cm wide, and 10cm deep. Carefully sort through the dug-out soil for worms. This method allows the three varieties to easily be split into their groups and also allows them to be weighed. Only weigh adult worms. 3. Look for worms on the surface. Epigeic worms will be found in leaf litter or underneath rocks as they are surface dwelling. This method will not provide comparable data, but it will give an indication of numbers. A good mix of the three different types of worm is key as each perform different functions, and a high proportion of small worms would indicate that they are being killed before reaching maturity, potentially due to tilling. Adult worms are identifiable by their larger size, and also the presence of the clitellum, a noticeable thicker ringed section near the head of the worm. Providing the right environment So how do growers raise numbers? The key thing is to promote a cool and damp soil which is not disturbed very often. This can be achieved by reducing cultivations and providing organic matter to the soil. Studies have shown that when the amount of crop residue left is doubled, the number of worms increased two-and-a-half times. This is especially important in a very hot summer to help insulate the soil from the drying conditions. How to identify between the three worm groups Brexit could offer growers based on the eastern side of the country an opportunity to sell more home-grown peas to UK consumers and grow exports, according to a report by the vining pea industry. The report highlights that nearly 35,000t of peas are imported into the country on an annual basis, with the most significant volumes coming from Belgium. However, with rising exchange rates and Brexit potentially making imports more difficult, there is a real opportunity for the UK industry to sell more British peas to British consumers, it says. See also: Peas dominate new additions to pulse variety list Coral Russell of British Peas and Beans, said: There is a real opportunity to grow the British market in the post-Brexit period and we need to grasp it with both hands. There are challenges as well, but I am confident we can face these with the right support from UK governments. Productivity gains The industry will need to see productivity gains if it is to win a greater share of the UK market, says the report. This will be dependent on the ability of the industry to invest in R&D, new varieties, technical innovation and encourage knowledge exchange so growers get access to the best and most up-to-date information. A potential barrier to this happening is if pea-growing groups which have secured producer organisation (PO) status lose the ability to access grant funding once the UK leaves the EU. If a similar scheme is not available in the UK after Brexit, UK producers would be at a serious disadvantage compared to their European counterparts in terms of being able to make investments. Crop protection The report also acknowledges a reduction in the active ingredients available for crop protection is a key challenge facing the sector. For example, restrictions have recently been placed on the seed treatment Wakil XL (a co-formulation of metalaxyl M, cymoxonil and fludoxinil), which protects against yield-sapping downy mildew. Although the product has received a new licence, this restricts the period when Wakil-treated seed can be planted to after 1 April a date by which many crops have already been drilled. The report was launched by British Peas and Beans and British Growers at the UK Vining Pea and Bean Industry Conference on 21 November. UK vining pea production is focused in the east because they are suited to the climatic conditions and because of the proximity to processing facilities. Proposals for freer global trade in the sugar market could put more than 100,000 farm businesses at risk, European farming bodies have warned. The EU Commission has proposed allowing the Mercosur trading bloc countries Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela greater access to European markets, including sugar. Negotiations are expected to start at trade talks in early December but four European farmer bodies have expressed outrage at its inclusion, warning the EU Commission it will put livelihoods at risk(see box). A joint statement by the four groups said that further opening of the EU sugar market would imperil many of the 140,000 farmers, 30,000 employees, and hundreds of rural communities whose livelihoods depend on the sector. And the group issued a warning to the commission: EU sugar beet growers, sugar producers and workers stand determined we will not pay for the offensive interests of other industrial sectors or for those of the Brazilian state-supported sugar-ethanol regime, it said. The four EU farming bodies CIBE International Federation of Beet Growers International Federation of Beet Growers Copa Cogeca European Farmers and Agri Co-operatives European Farmers and Agri Co-operatives EFFAT European Federation of Food, Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions European Federation of Food, Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions CEFS European Association of Sugar Manufacturers Copa Cogeca secretary general Pekka Pesonen added that the Mercosur countries had developed sophisticated domestic support schemes and the EU was already a major net importer of their agricultural produce. We need fair and balanced trade agreements that ensure that we do not have surpluses on our market. See also: Adapt farm businesses now to thrive after Brexit EU farmers and their co-operatives should not be penalised when the EU negotiates free trade deals. They cannot afford additional income losses resulting from a trade deal which puts more pressure on the EU sugar, ethanol and beef markets in a trade deal, Mr Pesonen said. Stark warning CIBE president Bernhard Conzen said he believed the sector would hit a major and very painful crisis. The commission is actually asking beet growers and processors to make sacrifices for Brazilian interests, which is totally unacceptable. Ever higher standards for ever lower prices for us, and ultimately importing lower standards, is incomprehensible and a nonsense for farmers, said Mr Conzen. Leaders from the two other farmer bodies involved, the CEFS and EFFAT, warned that the risk of beet factory closures was high and that whole communities could suffer. CEFS president Johann Marihart said: The commission continues to dream that our sector is able to handle further opening up of the market without consequences, and continues to hide from reality. It might as well tell us which factories in the EU would have to close. And EFFAT secretary general Harald Wiedenhofer warned that the employment impact could be devastating. No more interim, Batchler named new Blacksburg football coach Once a Wildcat, always a Wildcat. Josh Batchler achieved one of his dreams when he was named the new Blacksburg High head football coach Monday evening. He had served as... Indians hit growth spurt just in time Gaffney coach Dan Jones never wavered when the Indians were blown out by South Pointe in the season opener. He never wavered when the Indians struggled to beat Hammond. He... News Public hearing on Hitchcock zoning draws angry crowd KELSEY WALLING/ The Daily News A truck drives past an area off FM 2004 near Avenue C in Hitchcock on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017. Hitchcock commissioners have fought for a plan to turn the area into an industrial corridor to attract businesses. KELSEY WALLING/The Daily News Custom Chemical Services plant at 8230 FM 2004 in Hitchcock on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017. Van Goodgame of Mako Environmental requested to create a chemical transfer facility on 17 acres to go alongside Custom Chemical Services. Tensions ran high Monday during a public hearing about city plans to rezone several parcels of land along FM 2004 in Hitchcock for industrial use. Hitchcock commissioners have fought public backlash for months over a plan to turn the area into an industrial corridor to attract businesses. Residents opposed to the plan have cited environmental and safety concerns. City officials have pursued the corridor because Hitchcock needs more commercial property on its tax rolls to lure jobs to the area and because it has more undeveloped land than the rest of Galveston County combined, said Sabrina Schwertner, executive director of economic development and foreign trade zone with the Hitchcock Industrial Development Corp. After public outcry, Hitchcock in February canceled a public hearing about a proposal to zone for industrial use a strip of land as much as a mile wide and extending 6 miles along FM 2004 from the old naval air station blimp base to the Brazoria County line. Officials at the time said they wanted to rework the plan, and they eventually decided to proceed on a case-by-case basis in hopes of lessening opposition to the rezoning. But heavy turnout to the public hearing Monday night at the Hitchcock Independent School District administration building showed the change hadnt muted the opposition. Residents at the packed public hearing voiced the most opposition to a request by Van Goodgame of Mako Environmental to create a chemical transfer facility on 17 acres he earlier purchased alongside FM 2004. The facility would hold chemicals for 10 days before they are transferred elsewhere, Goodgame said. Some residents, however, were concerned about safety. You keep describing it as no big deal, Tom Ivey said. But what happens if theres a benzene spill? The facility would start by adding about 10 jobs to Hitchcock and would hopefully grow from there, Goodgame said. This seems like selling our soul to the devil for the first shiny thing, said Heather Gardner. Is this all about money? Former school board member Ted Robinson said he opposed the plan on environmental and safety concerns. Hitchcock needs more business here, theres no question, Robinson said. But Im concerned about any harmful environmental effects. Several representatives from the citys planning and zoning commission addressed residents concerns, saying their fears were based on rumors and that Mako Environmentals facility would be safe and good for the city. Im in a situation where I evaluate these with a 12-year-old daughter, an 8-year-old son and as a business owner, said Travis Kauffman, who chairs the committee. I have got to take all of those perspectives. Its better to organize all of the industrial and chemical companies in one area of the city than it is to leave them unregulated and risk something dangerous happening, Kauffman said. We did not rush into this, said Dorothy Childress, also on the committee. The hearing ended discussion about a landowners request to rezone 1,500 acres along FM 2004 to industrial. The property owner requested the change so that he can market the land to interested businesses that want to do manufacturing, Schwertner said. If the land is ever developed, it could bring in between 200 and 500 jobs, Schwertner said. Honestly, the reason we are having some challenges is there are people with personal agendas out there that dont want us to develop, Schwertner said Tuesday after the hearing. But they are such a small, small fraction of the population. We have to make decisions based on the city as a whole, Schwertner said. We know we need jobs and businesses to come in. If you bring in some, then some people are going to lose their leases on land where they had cows and farmed. There are a few personal agendas in the room. Mondays public hearing was one of the final steps needed to continue with the rezoning requests, officials said. The city commissioners will have a meeting Monday during which they will consider whether to approve the zoning requests, officials said. For those in Malta at this years Sigma2017 the official full Day 1 kicks off Thursday Thanksgiving Day (for those who celebrate in the USA) 09:0018:00 Expo floor Time to visit all the stands and start the networking bonanza! MFCC 59 Register for your delegate pass here 09:0013:00 The European Fantasy Sports Summit This conference will explore the popularity of fantasy sport and its compelling role in the gaming markets. Detailed schedule available here. MFCC 39/Free for all delegates Register for your delegate pass here 13:3019:00 Affiliates & CMOs Conference PPC, Media Buying, M&A, SEO, Conversions and much more - a must-attend for all affiliates and marketing professionals. Detailed schedule available here. MFCC 39/Free for all delegates Register for your delegate pass here 12:3013:30 Lunch time Enjoy free lunch! A Pinch of Salt: The election is over, I think, so what now? Regional economist Pat OConnor of the Oregon Employment Department said that he considers 6 percent unemployment a benchmark for Linn County, and 4 percent a similar milestone for Benton County. When were in that territory, were really low, he added. The mid-valley is in that territory now. The last time Linn County was above 6 percent was in June 2016. The last time Benton County was above 4 percent was September 2016. Unemployment rates dropped in Linn and Benton counties in October, continuing a strong stretch of more than a year for the mid-Willamette Valleys labor market. The Employment Department released the October labor market numbers for counties on Tuesday. Its been a good expansion period for both counties, OConnor said. O'Connor said the last 18-month stretch has been the best ever for the Linn County labor market, or at least the best since the state began keeping county-by-county data in 1990. "It's certainly unprecedented," he added. In Benton County, the only period that would top it would be in the heyday of Hewlett-Packard in the mid-1990s. Benton County had the lowest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Oregon in October at 3.3 percent, down from 3.6 percent in September. Linn Countys unemployment rate dropped from 5 percent in September to 4.8 percent in October. Oregons statewide unemployment rate rose slightly, from 4.2 percent in September to 4.3 percent in October. The United States seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for October was 4.1 percent. Linn County now has 1,860 jobs more than its prerecession employment peak in February 2008. In the last year, Albany and surrounding areas have added 1,550 jobs for a 3.5 percent job growth. Benton County has added 1,450 jobs over the past year for a 3.4 percent increase. But Benton County also has added a whopping 4,700 jobs above its prerecession employment peak in November 2007. Both Linn and Benton counties are outpacing Oregon and the United States job growth. The nation has shown job growth of 1.4 percent in the last year and the state grew 2.4 percent. FORT BENTON, Mont. Leonard Higgins admits he broke into a remote Montana control facility in October 2016 and turned an emergency shutoff valve on the Spectra Express pipeline. But exactly how much harm did he do? That was the central question during the opening day of his trial on trespassing and criminal mischief charges, which began Tuesday in Chouteau County District Court in Fort Benton, Montana. The 65-year-old former Corvallis resident was one of five valve turners who took part in a coordinated action last year to close down oil pipelines in four states to dramatize what they call a climate change emergency. If Higgins is convicted of trespassing which he admits to doing he could face up to a year in jail. The criminal mischief charge, however, is a felony count that could earn him a much longer sentence up to a decade in the Montana State Prison. But under Montana law, the state must prove Higgins caused more than $1,500 in damage to get a felony conviction. Chouteau County Attorney Steven Gannon says he did. In his opening statement on Tuesday, Gannon noted that Higgins used bolt cutters to cut through four steel chains and a padlock to enter the fenced enclosure and free the wheel that operates the emergency shutoff valve, damaging an actuator cover in the process. In addition to the cost of replacing those items, the company also committed considerable resources to making sure no oil was leaking from the line and that there was no danger to the public. That included sending a pair of technicians to the scene at a cost of $43 an hour and dedicating two supervisors to the incident at an hourly rate of $100 apiece. Just the cost to the company right at this particular site is over $1,500 right there, Gannon said. The prosecutions chief witness was Mike Graham, who was the district supervisor for the Spectra Express pipeline at the time. Graham testified that the actuator cover cost $838 to replace and the chain another $100. He added that he and another supervisor each spent eight hours that day responding to the incident, while the two technicians dispatched to the facility spent six and a half hours on the task and drove 75 miles to the site in separate vehicles. In addition, Graham said, he sent eight more workers into the field to inspect other emergency shutoff stations. This affected the whole Express-Platte system, Graham said. This is 1,700 miles of pipe. Defense attorney Herman Watson IV, who reserved his opening statement until after Grahams testimony, assailed the states evidence in his initial remarks to the jury. He argued that all the employees who responded to the incident would have been paid that day even if no shutdown had occurred and that, in any case, Gannon had failed to produce time cards or other evidence documenting their wages. The only actual damage documented by the state was the cost to replace the actuator cover and the chain, Watson said, underscoring his point by writing the numbers 838 and 100 on a chalkboard. Im going to go out on a limb here and say that adds up to $938, he said. Mr. Gannon is saying that theres more there. Im saying theres not. There isnt. Watson added that Higgins was trying to make a point, not wreck the pipeline, and that he took precautions to ensure no oil was spilled and no one was endangered by his actions. It was Mr. Higgins intention to symbolically turn that valve to raise attention for climate change, and that is why were here today, he told the jury. I just want you to hear what he has to say. More than 40 of Higgins friends, family members and fellow activists from Oregon, Washington, Montana and elsewhere were in the courtroom on Tuesday to show their support. Also on hand were three of his fellow valve turners Ken Ward, Michael Foster and Emily Johnston and Steven Liptay, a codefendant in Johnstons case. The trial is set to resume Wednesday morning, when Higgins will take the stand in his own defense. Article Protecting the worlds oceans an important goal of Germanys climate diplomacy The worlds oceans are vital to our survival. They regulate the global climate and are a source of food and income for billions of people. Only a very small part of the seas enjoys legal protection, however. Our diplomats are working in New York right now to change this state of affairs. Entertainment / Music by Staff reporter MUSICIAN Jah Prayzah, who had somewhat become a villain when he left the country last week, will likely return a saint as his latest track, Kutonga Kwaro, is undeniably currently one of the most popular and loved songs during this time of political renewal in Zimbabwe.The song, the title track of his recently released 14-track offing, was initially met with mixed feelings, even before its release, with some lambasting the artiste for fanning factionalism for apparently insinuating that then Vice President, Emmerson Mnangagwa, was in power.Coincidentally, during that period, Jah Prayzah's career took a negative turn. First, he pitched up late for a show in Masvingo and subsequently failed to perform as fans pelted him with missiles. Days later, another mob was on his case after he made a grand and arrogant entrance at the funeral of his former head of security after failing to contribute anything towards the burial. Stones were thrown his way and he had to again scurry for cover.After his triumphant album launch, it seemed as if the whole world was crumbling around him. But clearly, the heavens were watching and while he was away performing in Australia last week, over a million Zimbabweans, led by the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF), poured onto the streets to march in solidarity with the army to remove President Mugabe from office. As they did so peacefully, his music, especially songs like Kutonga Kwaro and Ndin'ndamubata, became the soundtrack of the entire march as they resonated well with proceedings there.Kutonga Kwaro sounded like the new anthem of the nation as people proudly sang it to celebrate the somewhat new Zimbabwe.At the Zanu-PF Central Committee meeting that resolved to replace the president, the song was again the anthem of choice.A close listen to the album shows that Jah Prayzah was prophetic especially on the track Kutonga Kwaro which has lyrics: "Haa wo ti, tisvikewo pano, ndini Mwendamberi, ndakuchinja mutemo rasvika gamba, kutonga kwaro gambarinofadza nenherera, gamba ramakajaira, Kutonga kwaro" (Behold I am herethe soldier is rulinghe makes the orphans happythe soldier you are accustomed to).Undoubtedly, the orphans (in apparent reference to the people of Zimbabwe) were happy on the streets on Saturday as the ZDF flipped the script on President Mugabe and indeed the soldier (apparent reference to General Constantine Chiwenga) was ruling.Ndin'ndamubata with lyrics ". . . ndin'ndamubata vakomana munoda kufara ndizvo here . . . (I've caught him, do you want to be happy)" somehow narrated how the ZDF managed to weed out those in control of critical systems in the nation and in turn made everyone happy.Another track titled Masoja has lyrics: "Amai ndawona mudungwe wemagamba vachifora vachikwira mugomo. Vanga vachimhanya vakatakura zvombo, ndafunga kuti hameno kune hondo Yangova yo yo yo nemasoja (I see a troop of soldiers marching towards the mountains. They were running carrying weapons and I thought there was a war somewhere)." Last Tuesday, armed ZDF troops were spotted in the Harare CBD and many, especially those outside Zimbabwe, thought there was a war brewing in Zimbabwe, but that was not the case. Shocking as it might be, Jah Prayzah sort of pre-empted all what transpired last week on his album.The last song on the album, Muchinjiko, a praise and worship piece fits in perfectly well as he encourages people to pray and trust that God will answer their prayers and make Zimbabwe a better place to live in.Due to the march, Jah Prayzah's album is now sought after and the artiste is grateful to fellow Zimbabweans for the support. He also commended them for coming together regardless of race, tribe, creed and political differences."I'm so overjoyed to see Zimbabwe come together united as one. The last time such love and joy in one place was present, I was not yet born as it was in 1980 so I heard. And to top it all, it was all done in peace."Even though I was not there, I'm happy I was with you through my music and would like to thank you Zimbabwe for embracing my new album and letting it speak to you and your lives," said Jah Prayzah.The musician, who yesterday shone in South Africa when a song meant to unite Africans The song for Africa he featured in with greats, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Fally Ipupa, Koffi Olomide, 2 Face Idibia, Youssou N'dou and Akon was released at the African Leaders 4 Change awards, said he was looking forward to returning to Zimbabwe."I'll be back home soon. Till then, let love continue to flow among you all and be guided by God above all."He is now preparing for his concert with Davido at the HICC on December 1 which will likely serve as a mega Kutonga Kwaro party considering that the album has now been well embraced. kacylee at 22-11-2017 07:29 AM (4 years ago) (f) She always went missing after breaksVictims teacher A 30-year-old rape suspect, Mohammed Abubakar, yesterday, admitted to luring a nine-year-old primary four pupil with a N10 lollipop because the wife just gave birth. Abubakar, a commercial motorcyclist, and resident of Tudun Fulani in Bosso Local Government Area of Niger State, disclosed this while being interrogated by the Niger State Child Right Protection Agency. Abubakar said: I saw her outside her school where I had parked my motorcycle to buy sweet and she told me to give her sweet. I gave her a sweet and then lured her to an uncompleted building and had sex with her. I am a married man and we have a three-month-old baby; I have not been sleeping with my wife because she just gave birth recently and that tempted me into doing the act with the girl. I only had sex with the girl once; I am sorry. The victim Narrating her ordeal, the victim said: He usually lures me to an uncompleted building close to the school during break time. He will touch my buttocks and put his finger in my private part. He also gives me sweet and promised to give me N6,000 if I did not tell anyone about the act. Also, the victims teacher, Hajiya Saratu Salihu, who reported the matter to the agency, explained that she started suspecting the victim, following her frequent absence from class. According to her, the victim always disappears from the school during the break periods and will not return to school. Salihu said: When I started suspecting that the girl was up to something, I kept monitoring her movement until I caught her outside the school premises with the suspect. When she entered the school, I and another teacher took her to the bathroom and checked her private part; we realised the girl had been deflowered. We questioned her and even had to beat her before she told us that an Okada rider had been molesting her secretly. We then started monitoring the suspect until he was caught, while trying to lure the victim. Reacting to the incident, Mrs. Mairam Kolo, the Director General of Niger State Child Right Protection Agency, said most of the abuses meted out to children were committed during schools break times. According to her, the agency will meet with the states Ministry of Education to emphasise the need for students not to leave schools premises alone during break and closing periods. She added: We have already embarked on sensitisation campaign to let parents know the dangers involved in allowing children go out alone without monitoring. Kolo said the suspect will be transferred to the State Criminal Department, while the victim receives medical attention. She always went missing after breaksVictims teacherA 30-year-old rape suspect, Mohammed Abubakar, yesterday, admitted to luring a nine-year-old primary four pupil with a N10 lollipop because the wife just gave birth. Abubakar, a commercial motorcyclist, and resident of Tudun Fulani in Bosso Local Government Area of Niger State, disclosed this while being interrogated by the Niger State Child Right Protection Agency. Abubakar said:The victim Narrating her ordeal, the victim said:Salihu said:Reacting to the incident, Mrs. Mairam Kolo, the Director General of Niger State Child Right Protection Agency, said most of the abuses meted out to children were committed during schools break times. According to her, the agency will meet with the states Ministry of Education to emphasise the need for students not to leave schools premises alone during break and closing periods. She added: We have already embarked on sensitisation campaign to let parents know the dangers involved in allowing children go out alone without monitoring. Kolo said the suspect will be transferred to the State Criminal Department, while the victim receives medical attention. Post Reply I have been reporting for several years now and I am very interested in visual news reportage with strong inclusion of photos and video multimedia. Posted: at 22-11-2017 07:29 AM (4 years ago) | Addicted Hero News / National by Staff Reporter Zanu-PF representative in the UK, Nick Mangwana, says First Lady Grace Mugabe is still in Zimbabwe, rumours that she left the country are untrue.Mangwana told VOA the Mrs Mugabe contributed to the current situation in the country by undermining the command of the defence forces, and using youth rallies to address personal issues.Watch video below: clarajancita at 22-11-2017 01:50 PM (4 years ago) (f) Winners Chapel, founded by Bishop David Oyedepo appears to have made history by building an auditorium which has been dubbed the biggest church building in Central and Eastern Africa. The Winners Chapel Sanctuary on the New Likoni Road in Nairobis South B, is a gigantic landmark. Similar to the typical traditional communal gathering in African setting of a fireplace in the homestead, the church is built in the shape of a hexagon, giving the congregants a clear view of the pulpit at the centre of the building. Winners Chapel, founded by Bishop David Oyedepo appears to have made history by building an auditorium which has been dubbed the biggest church building in Central and Eastern Africa.The Winners Chapel Sanctuary on the New Likoni Road in Nairobis South B, is a gigantic landmark. Similar to the typical traditional communal gathering in African setting of a fireplace in the homestead, the church is built in the shape of a hexagon, giving the congregants a clear view of the pulpit at the centre of the building. As the church grew to about 10,000 members, their sanctuary at Adams Arcade on Ngong Road became too small to accommodate the swelling numbers. That is when they bought the land on which the new sanctuary is standing. According to senior pastor David Adeoye, the 15-acre land was purchased in the year 2000, and application sought for change of user from light industry to church. The Winners Chapel architectural plan is adapted from a master plan from parent church, Faith Tabernacle, a 50,000-seater church in Lagos Nigeria. According to the former chairperson of the church building committee, Samuel Kimani, a contractor by profession, the architect for the master plan was Nigerian, Pastor Azubike Nwoke who has been endorsed locally. The structural engineer was Iyk Ikechuku, who was also endorsed by local engineers. The construction started in 2005. The technical team leader Simon Njuguna says the six-sided sanctuary has a floor space of more than 17,000 square metres and sits on 2.5 acres. The strong corners act as anchorage points to support the roof, which approximately weighs 350 tonnes. The shear walls at the six corners take up the horizontal loading of the roof trusses, creating a clear span of 100 metres without any obstruction of pillars in the sanctuary. Njuguna says this is the largest clear span in East and Central Africa. The church has a sitting capacity of 12,000 but it can accommodate more people depending on seating arrangements. Thanks to engineering ingenuity, a balcony extends inward into the sanctuary as a cantilever of 5.42 metres to safely carry a load of 4,000 people. The six corners of the roof have concealed storage tanks of 40,000 litres each. Plans are underway to sink a borehole to provide efficient supply of clean water. An underground water tank will also be constructed to harvest rainwater with a capacity of 400,000 litres. Kenya Power supplies electricity, but there is also a back up generator. Plans are in place to install solar and wind alternatives to save on energy. A toilet block or what they call the executive chamber of release is a one-storey building that sits on half-acre land and houses 66 toilets for the ladies and 25 for the gents and urinals enough for 45 men at one go. The black cotton soil on the land proved a challenge to build on, so columns were sank to the rock to support the building. This created a space above the foundation, which could either be backfilled with approved soil or hard-core, which would have been expensive and the space unusable. There was a structural redesigning and a basement was created facilitating multiple utility rooms for conference rooms and Sunday school classes. There are also tunnels, which the pastors use to access the sanctuary. The basement is well lit. The doors bring in enough light and air into the basement and the opaque glass blocks on the slabs also aid in filtering more light. The church has six entrances with seven double doors at each entrance. This eases the in-flow and out-flow of the congregants. The concrete paved driveway and parking has a capacity of 700 cars and is designed to minimise the conflict between pedestrians and incoming or outgoing vehicles. It will be extended to accommodate more vehicles. The project, which would have taken two years to build if fully funded, took eight years as the church raised funds without assistance from international donors. It was officially opened in April. https://www.tori.ng/userfiles/image/2017/nov/22/chapel5.JPG As the church grew to about 10,000 members, their sanctuary at Adams Arcade on Ngong Road became too small to accommodate the swelling numbers. That is when they bought the land on which the new sanctuary is standing.According to senior pastor David Adeoye, the 15-acre land was purchased in the year 2000, and application sought for change of user from light industry to church. The Winners Chapel architectural plan is adapted from a master plan from parent church, Faith Tabernacle, a 50,000-seater church in Lagos Nigeria. According to the former chairperson of the church building committee, Samuel Kimani, a contractor by profession, the architect for the master plan was Nigerian, Pastor Azubike Nwoke who has been endorsed locally.The structural engineer was Iyk Ikechuku, who was also endorsed by local engineers. The construction started in 2005. The technical team leader Simon Njuguna says the six-sided sanctuary has a floor space of more than 17,000 square metres and sits on 2.5 acres. The strong corners act as anchorage points to support the roof, which approximately weighs 350 tonnes.The shear walls at the six corners take up the horizontal loading of the roof trusses, creating a clear span of 100 metres without any obstruction of pillars in the sanctuary. Njuguna says this is the largest clear span in East and Central Africa.The church has a sitting capacity of 12,000 but it can accommodate more people depending on seating arrangements. Thanks to engineering ingenuity, a balcony extends inward into the sanctuary as a cantilever of 5.42 metres to safely carry a load of 4,000 people.The six corners of the roof have concealed storage tanks of 40,000 litres each. Plans are underway to sink a borehole to provide efficient supply of clean water. An underground water tank will also be constructed to harvest rainwater with a capacity of 400,000 litres.Kenya Power supplies electricity, but there is also a back up generator. Plans are in place to install solar and wind alternatives to save on energy. A toilet block or what they call the executive chamber of release is a one-storey building that sits on half-acre land and houses 66 toilets for the ladies and 25 for the gents and urinals enough for 45 men at one go.The black cotton soil on the land proved a challenge to build on, so columns were sank to the rock to support the building. This created a space above the foundation, which could either be backfilled with approved soil or hard-core, which would have been expensive and the space unusable.There was a structural redesigning and a basement was created facilitating multiple utility rooms for conference rooms and Sunday school classes. There are also tunnels, which the pastors use to access the sanctuary.The basement is well lit. The doors bring in enough light and air into the basement and the opaque glass blocks on the slabs also aid in filtering more light.The church has six entrances with seven double doors at each entrance. This eases the in-flow and out-flow of the congregants. The concrete paved driveway and parking has a capacity of 700 cars and is designed to minimise the conflict between pedestrians and incoming or outgoing vehicles. It will be extended to accommodate more vehicles.The project, which would have taken two years to build if fully funded, took eight years as the church raised funds without assistance from international donors. It was officially opened in April. Post Reply I am a metro reporter on Gistmania, I have been publishing news materials for over 5 years Posted: at 22-11-2017 01:50 PM (4 years ago) | Hero felicilin at 22-11-2017 03:26 PM (4 years ago) (f) People cheered in the streets as dictator Robert Mugabe was forced to resign. People cheered in the streets as dictator Robert Mugabe was forced to resign. Theyre angry at years of declining living conditions, with a GDP per capita lower than Afghanistan. But you wouldnt know it from these photos, showing how the countrys elite are still finding plenty of wealth to go around. People cheered in the streets as dictator Robert Mugabe was forced to resign. Theyre angry at years of declining living conditions, with a GDP per capita lower than Afghanistan. But you wouldnt know it from these photos, showing how the countrys elite are still finding plenty of wealth to go around. Photos shared online, including by Mugabes sons, show a minority have been living the high life, pouring champagne on their Rolex just cause, wearing $14,000 alligator skin Giuseppe Zanotti trainers and travelling around in silver plated Rolls-Royces and private jets.The younger Mugabes, Robert Jr, 25 and Chatunga, 21, have both shared photos of their luxury lifestyle showing off their bling and expensive cars. Robert Mugabe made headlines after turning up to college in Dubai in a black Batmobile, which he bragged about to 23,000 followers on Instagram. His brother Chatunga was filmed pouring a bottle of Ace of Spades champagne on his Rolex watch at a nightclub just to show off. Their father Robert Mugabe resigned today amid scenes of jubilation in the country. Zimbabweans have been filmed celebrating in Harare with many cheering, dancing and honking car horns. And the celebrations seem to be spreading, with Zimbabweans living in South Africa also taking to the streets in Johannesburg. Zanu PF chief whip Lovemore Matuke said: I am very happy that the president had chosen to go voluntarily. This would have ended in serious embarrassment if the party was forced to impeach Mugabe, he said. Vanessa Chirongas father is property mogul and politician Philip Chiyangwa, a nephew of Mugabe Chatunga Mugabe posted this photo of his watch Sidney Hambira Jr on a private jet Vanessa and her sister Michelle are known as the Zimbabwe Kardashians Genius Kadungure is known for his parties Robert Mugabe Jrs Batmobile Preacher Uebert Angel shared a photo of his bedroom Genius Kadungure posing on his car Robert Mugabe Jr Theyre angry at years of declining living conditions, with a GDP per capita lower than Afghanistan. But you wouldnt know it from these photos, showing how the countrys elite are still finding plenty of wealth to go around.People cheered in the streets as dictator Robert Mugabe was forced to resign. Theyre angry at years of declining living conditions, with a GDP per capita lower than Afghanistan.But you wouldnt know it from these photos, showing how the countrys elite are still finding plenty of wealth to go around.Photos shared online, including by Mugabes sons, show a minority have been living the high life, pouring champagne on their Rolex just cause, wearing $14,000 alligator skin Giuseppe Zanotti trainers and travelling around in silver plated Rolls-Royces and private jets.The younger Mugabes, Robert Jr, 25 and Chatunga, 21, have both shared photos of their luxury lifestyle showing off their bling and expensive cars.Robert Mugabe made headlines after turning up to college in Dubai in a black Batmobile, which he bragged about to 23,000 followers on Instagram.His brother Chatunga was filmed pouring a bottle of Ace of Spades champagne on his Rolex watch at a nightclub just to show off. Their father Robert Mugabe resigned today amid scenes of jubilation in the country. Zimbabweans have been filmed celebrating in Harare with many cheering, dancing and honking car horns.And the celebrations seem to be spreading, with Zimbabweans living in South Africa also taking to the streets in Johannesburg. Zanu PF chief whip Lovemore Matuke said: I am very happy that the president had chosen to go voluntarily. he said.Vanessa Chirongas father is property mogul and politician Philip Chiyangwa, a nephew of MugabeChatunga Mugabe posted this photo of his watchSidney Hambira Jr on a private jetVanessa and her sister Michelle are known as the Zimbabwe KardashiansGenius Kadungure is known for his partiesRobert Mugabe Jrs BatmobilePreacher Uebert Angel shared a photo of his bedroomGenius Kadungure posing on his carRobert Mugabe Jr Post Reply Posted: at 22-11-2017 03:26 PM (4 years ago) | Hero Uber breach cover up expert comments November 2017 by Mark Sangster, VP and Industry Security Strategist at cyber security company eSentire Its fascinating that even in light of the mega breaches of 2016 and 2017, companies consider non or delayed breach disclosure as an option. The number of records compromised in the Uber hack far exceeds the entire population of Canada. Were not talking small beans, here. Unfortunately for Uber, I expect that its breach will set new precedence when it comes to regulatory compliance and disclosure mandates. Companies today have no excuse when it comes to cybersecurity controls. Tools and guidelines exist to help organizations and firms prepare and navigate breach remediation and disclosure. In Ubers case, you have a company already enduring a PR firestorm. Mix in a significant one-year old, non-disclosed breach and that storm suddenly becomes a hurricane. In light of the recent revelation about the year-old Uber breach, passengers were being taken for more than one kind of ride. Now it will be Ubers turn to navigate a labyrinth of financial and state breach notification laws given a user base spanning the globe, particularly as the European Union is set to usher in the General Data Protection Regulators (GDPR) regulations to prevent this sort of delay in breach notification. OSLO, Norway, Nov. 22, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NEXT Biometrics Group ASA (Oslo Bors:NEXT), a leader in fingerprint sensor technology, will exhibit its newest products and technologies at TRUSTECH 2017. The annual event focuses on secure transactions, authentication and connectivity solutions used in the financial services and retail industries, enterprise, security and Internet of Things applications, as well as to meet government identification requirements. NEXT advised Media and Industry representatives of its activities: What: At TRUSTECH, NEXT Biometrics will showcase smart cards using its flexible fingerprint sensor modules in addition to demonstrating a new generation of fingerprint sensor technology and scanners. Kolja Vogel, Biometric Solution Architect at NEXT, will be a featured speaker as part of the New Technologies Fostering Consumer Biometrics panel at TRUSTECH Nov. 28. For more information, please visit www.nextbiometrics.com. Where: TRUSTECH 2017 will be held at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France. NEXT Biometrics will be demonstrating its advanced flexible and rigid fingerprint sensor technologies at Booth LER C019. When: Nov. 28-30 About NEXT Biometrics: Enabled by its patented NEXT Active Thermal principle, NEXT Biometrics (www.nextbiometrics.com) offers large high-quality area fingerprint sensors in both rigid and flexible formats. The sensors can be implemented in a wide range of product formats, including smart cards, notebooks, time and attendance, USB-sensors, smart card readers, secure tokens and access control systems, and many more are targeted. NEXT Biometric Group ASA is a publicly-listed company headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with sales, support and development subsidiaries in Seattle, Silicon Valley, Taipei, Prague and Shanghai. Contacts: Tom Beermann, tom.beermann@nextbiometrics.com 408-807-9475 Brian Dobson, DobsonPR.com, BD@DobsonPR.com 203-613-2222 TORONTO, Nov. 22, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rupert Resources Ltd. (Rupert or the Company) (TSX-V:RUP) (FSE:R05) is pleased to announce the results of its recently completed Annual General and Special Meeting of shareholders. All matters submitted to shareholders, including the election of James Withall, Susan Milton, Brian Hinchcliffe, Mike Sutton and Robert Suttie as directors, were approved. Mr. Rob Suttie has joined the Board in place of Mr. Arthur Millholland, who did not seek re-election as a director of the Company at the Meeting. Brian Hincliffe, Executive Chairman said We are pleased to welcome Rob Suttie to the Board of Rupert Resources, who brings a wealth of expertise as we move the business forward. On behalf of the directors I would like to thank Arthur Millholland for his efforts over the period where Rupert completed its transformational acquisition of the Pahtavaara Project in Finland. Mr. Suttie currently works with Marrelli Support Services as its senior manager of financial reporting and compliance, possessing more than twenty years of experience, ten of which were in public accounting prior to his tenure with that company. Mr. Suttie specializes in management advisory services, accounting and the financial disclosure needs of the group's public client base. In addition to managing the group's financial-statement and disclosure team, Mr. Suttie also serves as Chief Financial Officer for a number of junior mining companies listed on the TSX and TSX-V, leveraging his skills and experience to become integral to the reporting issuers. Mr. Suttie graduated from the University of Western Ontario with a BA. About Rupert Rupert is a Canadian based gold exploration and development company that is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol RUP. The Company owns the Pahtavaara gold mine, mill, and exploration permits and concessions located in the Central Lapland Greenstone Belt in Northern Finland (see the Companys November 9, 2016 press release). The Company also holds a 100% interest in the Gold Centre property, which consists of mineral claims located in the Balmer Township, Red Lake Mining Division of Ontario. For further information, please contact: James Withall Chief Executive Officer jwithall@rupertmining.com Thomas Credland Head of Corporate Development & Investor Relations tcredland@rupertmining.com Rupert Resources Ltd 82 Richmond Street East, Suite 203, Toronto, Ontario M5C 1P1 Tel: +1 416-304-9004 Web: http://rupertresources.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. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements This press release contains statements which constitute forward-looking statements, including business activities and operating performance of the Company. The words may, would, could, will, intend, plan, anticipate, believe, estimate, expect and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are based on the opinions, assumptions and estimates of management considered reasonable at the date the statements are made, and are inherently subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other known and unknown factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. These factors include the general risks of the mining industry, as well as those risk factors discussed or referred to in the Company's annual Management's Discussion and Analysis for the year ended February 28, 2017 available at www.sedar.com. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements except as otherwise required by applicable law. News / National by Stephen Jakes Norton legislator Temba Mliswa has dispelled the suspicion that he wants to rejoin Zanu PF after he was seen in the meeting of Zanu PF members on Monday where they discussed the issue of impeaching President Robert Mugabe.Many people have insinuated that his stance shows that he wants to rejoin Zanu PF since the start of the process where the ruling party mooted efforts to remove Mugabe."So there is a narrative which is doing the rounds, which speaks to the effect that I have rejoined, or I seek to rejoin Zanu PF. I will make myself clear, I am an independent MP, and when this changes, I will give a message to that effect," Mliswa said.Mugabe late yesterday tendered him resignation. November 22nd, 2017 - Berkwood Resources Ltd. (TSX-V: BKR, FSE: BK2, WKN: A110N3) ("Berkwood" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has commenced drilling on the Zone 2 geophysical prospect at the Company's 100% owned Lac Gueret South Project. The Zone 2 target is an extensive (greater than 2 km strike length) conductive system that displays a number of geophysical similarities with the Zone 1 prospect that is located approximately 3.5 km SSE of Zone 2, where the company discovered extensive graphite mineralization earlier this year. The Zone 1 drill program featured intersections of graphite in each of the 13 holes drilled. The initial metallurgical assessment is in progress. The fall drill program at Zone 2 is located adjacent to the Berkwood / Mason Claim boundary, and has not previously been drill tested. The Company intends to assess whether Zone 2 has the potential to host commercial graphite, and will consider the results of this fall program in developing its drilling and metallurgical test work priorities. Tom Yingling, President and CEO states, "I am pleased we have embarked upon our second drill program. Having had success in every one of the 13 holes drilled to date on Zone 1 is very exciting. We are still awaiting assay results on these holes, and we expect to release these within a few weeks. The drill rig is established on Zone 2. The geophysics on Zone 2 is comparable with that of Zone 1, which we now know includes graphite (although other conductive and magnetic phases, such as pyrrhotite, were also intersected in drilling). The location of the Zone 2 prospect along the Berkwood Mason property boundary is also compelling. Drilling a second, entirely distinct target provides Berkwood shareholders two potential opportunities for success as the Company will seek to prioritize the most compelling prospect for ongoing assessment of potential for development. Our fall drill program is fully financed, and the field project is managed by the same team that discovered Berkwood's Zone 1 discovery and the Mason Graphite deposit. I am thrilled with our shareholder and financing support, and with our capital structure - we still only have approx. 32.5 million shares outstanding." The Company has completed road access and trails for the initial group of targets at Zone 2, and drill pads have been prepared for the initial suite of targeted PhiSpy conductive anomalies, located in the Zone 2 area. The Company anticipates completing up to 18 inclined drill holes (of between 60m and 120m in length) in this initial phase of work on Zone 2. Lac Gueret South Zone 1 During the recently completed 13-hole drill program on Zone 1 the Company is pleased to announce intersecting visual Graphite in every hole drilled to date. (See news release dated October 17th, 2017.) Success in this drill program confirms that a significant component of the distinct electromagnetic conductors that occur over a two (2) kilometer length and 50 meters to 600 meters in width as defined by airborne EM geophysics (see the Berkwood news release dated February 10, 2015) include graphite. Lac Gueret South Zone 2 Zone 2 is located approximately 3.5 kilometres NNW of Zone 1 and is contiguous with the southern limit of the Mason Graphite claim boundary: the anomaly presents as possibly occurring along strike from graphitic horizons defined by Mason Graphite. A total of two airborne VLF-EM and 15 PhiSpy ground geophysical anomalies indicate the occurrence of two parallel east-west trending conductors. The larger conductor extends over two kilometer in length and up to 60 meters in width. These Zone 2 anomalies were identified by the same airborne and ground surveys as the Zone 1 anomaly: Zone 1 is now drill-tested to include significant graphite mineral development. To view a virtual reality video of the spring Zone 1 drill program visit our home page at: http://www.berkwoodresources.com Edward Lyons PGeo (BC, QC, NL) is a Qualified Person under the definition of Canadian National Instrument 43-101, and has approved the technical information in this news release. He has worked extensively on the Lac Gueret Property, now owned by Mason, and neighbouring graphite properties since 2000. The Cgr analyses are carried out and certified by MS Analytical Inc. of Langley, British Columbia using a LECO furnace and an infrared detector. Lac Gueret South Property, Quebec Lac Gueret South is located in Cote Nord, Quebec, a three hour drive from Baie-Comeau in an area of very good infrastructure. The Project lies directly south of Mason Graphite's (TSX-LLG) advanced Lac Gueret Project. Mason is developing one of the largest high grade graphite deposits in the world. In 2014, Berkwood conducted an electromagnetic ("EM") airborne geophysical survey over its South Lac Gueret Property and successfully identified several anomalous zones of high conductivity. Several of these anomalies were downgraded as they are considered too small or too deep to represent economic graphite deposits. However, the Zone 1 and Zone 2 anomalies are of significantly larger size and were considered high priority targets. Thirteen holes drilled into Zone 1 confirmed the extensive development of graphite mineralization, confirming the targeting thesis. Drilling is now starting on Zone 2. About the Company: Berkwood is engaged in exploration for the commodities that enable the modern revolution in essential technologies. These technologies are dependent upon the ethical mining and supply of naturally occurring elements and minerals that enhance the performance of energy storage systems and permit the development and miniaturization of new electronics and structural components for the new suite of innovative tools. The Company is led by a team with collectively over 100 years experience and whose members have been involved with the discovery of several producing mines. On Behalf of the Board of Directors Berkwood Resources Ltd. 'Thomas Yingling' President, CEO & Director FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT: Investor Relations: info@berkwoodresources.com or 1-778-945-2935 www.berkwoodresources.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 Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information: Certain statements in this release are forward-looking statements, which reflect the expectations of management. Forward-looking statements consist of statements that are not purely historical, including any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance or developments to differ materially from those contained in the statements. No assurance can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will occur or, if they do occur, what benefits the Company will obtain from them. These forward-looking statements reflect management's current views and are based on certain expectations, estimates and assumptions, which may prove to be incorrect. Copyright (c) 2017 TheNewswire - All rights reserved. TORONTO, Nov. 22, 2017 - First Cobalt Corp. (TSX-V:FCC) (OTCQB:FTSSF) (the Company) is pleased to announce shareholders of CobalTech Mining Inc. (TSX-V:CSK) have approved the merger with First Cobalt, with 95% of votes cast in favour.Trent Mell, President & Chief Executive Officer, commented:We now have approval from CobalTech and Cobalt One shareholders to finalize the three-way merger and we look forward to closing both transaction over the next 2 weeks. First Cobalt now controls approximately 45% of the prospective land in the Cobalt Camp. This historic mining camp has never seen the required land consolidation to permit district-scale exploration and we will remain very active in 2018.CobalTech assets include a mill facility in the Cobalt Camp and a land package with a rich mining history that is contiguous to Cobalt One and First Cobalt properties. The combined company will own more than 10,000 hectares of prospective land including the only permitted cobalt refinery in North America designed to produce battery materials.First Cobalts objective is to create the largest pure-play cobalt exploration and development company in the world. Upon completion of the mergers with Cobalt One Ltd. and CobalTech Mining Inc. , First Cobalt will control over 10,000 hectares of prospective land and 50 historic mining operations in the Cobalt Camp in Ontario, Canada as well as a mill and a permitted refinery facility.On behalf of First Cobalt Corp.Trent MellPresident & Chief Executive OfficerHeather Smiles, Investor Relationsinfo@firstcobalt.com+1.416.900.3891Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.This news release may contain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (together, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable securities laws and the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, are forward-looking statements. Generally, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of terminology such as "plans", "expects', "estimates", "intends", "anticipates", "believes" or variations of such words, or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results, performance and opportunities to differ materially from those implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements include the reliability of the historical data referenced in this press release and risks set out in First Cobalts 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. WELLINGTON, New Zealand, Nov. 22, 2017 /CNW/ - Chatham Rock Phosphate Ltd. (TSXV: "NZP" and NZAX: "CRP" or the "Company") advises that we have joined Safer Phosphates, an organization created to promote the use of safer phosphates. The organization has been formed by stakeholders concerned about the potential health risks posed by heavy metal content in phosphate and includes other phosphate producers or near producers such as Arianne Phosphates, PhosAgro PJSC of Russia and Foskor of South Africa. As Chatham announced recently the EU executive proposed the limit be set at 60mg/kg, falling to 40mg after three years and 20mg after 12 years under planned rules for fertilisers carrying the CE mark. It was agreed that producers need longer transition periods before the introduction of the lower limits. These limits are significantly lower than the voluntary limit of 280 parts per million imposed in New Zealand. The European Environmental Bureau, a 140-strong network of organisations, welcomed the outcome of the vote, noting "farming remains the last major bastion of cadmium exposure". Cadmium is a carcinogen and also linked to osteoporosis, kidney failure, heart disease, and fertility problems, said Faustine Bas-Defossez, in charge of agriculture policy at EEB. "Around 910,000 adults in France alone exceed tolerable intake limits of cadmium by 90%," she said. The reduced cadmium limits will affect a significant proportion of traded rock phosphate including rock sourced from Egypt, Israel, Boucraa & Youssoufia (Western Sahara/Morocco), Senegal, Togo, Tunisia, Nauru and Christmas Island. According to Chatham Rock Phosphate managing director Chris Castle "rock from these sources will not be able to be sold in Europe unless the existing high levels of cadmium have been removed. Even if this is possible it will add another layer of costs. "The good news is that cadmium levels in Chatham Rise rock phosphate are among the lowest in the world." About Safer Phosphates Safer Phosphates is a collaboration of several current and pending producers, as well as other stakeholders, to share knowledge and address concerns about potentially harmful contaminants such as heavy metals that are present in some phosphate-based fertilizers. The goal is to improve the understanding of the potential risks and promote solutions that optimize healthier fertilizer choice to support food security and sustainable agriculture. About Chatham Rock Phosphate Chatham Rock Phosphate is the custodian of New Zealand's only material resource of environmentally friendly pastoral phosphate fertiliser. Our key role is connecting the resource with those who need it. Using this phosphate will support sustainable farming practices, including healthier soils and reduced accumulation of the heavy metal cadmium, reducing carbon emissions and dramatically lowering runoff to waterways and shrinking fertiliser needs over time. The resource represents one of New Zealand's most valuable mineral assets and is of huge strategic significance because phosphate is essential to maintain New Zealand's high agricultural productivity. New Zealand's current access to phosphate is vulnerable to economic and political events in the six countries controlling 98% of the world's phosphate reserves, with 85% of the total in the Western Saharan state of Morocco. Chatham takes very seriously the responsibility vested in it through its mining permit to use the world's best knowledge and technology to safely extract this resource to help sustainably feed the world. Our initial environmental consenting process independently established extraction would have no significant impact on fishing yields or profitability, marine mammals or seabirds. Neither the Exchange, its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined under the policies of the Exchange), or New Zealand Exchange Limited has in any way passed upon the merits of the Transaction and associated transactions, and has neither approved nor disapproved of the contents of this press release. SOURCE Chatham Rock Phosphate News / National by Stephen Jakes People's Democratic Party leader Tendai Biti has said President Robert Mugabe's legacy can not be rehabilitated due to the serious economic and political crisis he has rendered the country.This come after the military on Monday said they launched the operation to restore legacy when Zanu PF was embroiled in a serious crisis which was seeing members with liberation war background being ousted from the party."Mugabe s legacy can not be rehabilitated,resuscitated nor restored.Simple. What needs restoration and recovery is the dignity of Zimbabwe as a nation state. That restoration begins with Mugabe s unequivocal departure from office. This position is not open to compromise," said Biti.Mugabe quit presidency yesterday after mounting pressure for him to step down by citizens. Leana Wen never had her sights set on public office. She was happy working as an emergency room doctor and lecturer in medicine in Washington, D.C. And when the position of Baltimore health commissioner came open, in 2014, she was only 31 years old. But a widely respected former commissioner urged her to apply for his old job, and she decided to go for it.There was no way Wen could have imagined what she was about to get into. Just a couple of months after she moved into her new post in Baltimore, riots erupted in the city following the death of Freddie Gray, an unarmed black man, in police custody. Wen leveraged the unrest to start a conversation about police brutality and poverty as public health issues. If we care about our children and their education, she said, we should also care about lead poisoning in their homes. If we care about public safety, we should also address mental health and substance addiction and the huge unmet need there.Once Baltimore calmed down, Wen began to use her platform to introduce and bolster a wide array of new public health programs, focusing on poverty and violence. One of them, Safe Streets, uses reformed ex-felons to intervene in potentially violent situations. Vision for Baltimore gives eyeglasses to school-age children who otherwise couldnt afford them. The citys needle exchange program is now one of the most extensive in the country.As the opioid crisis began to decimate communities across the country, Wen gained national recognition by issuing a standing order to allow any Baltimore resident to get naloxone -- the lifesaving antidote to an overdose -- at any local pharmacy. This effort caught the eye of the Obama White House, and she was invited there to speak publicly about the epidemic alongside the president. She used her voice both as an emergency room physician and health commissioner to challenge the medical community, says Michael Botticelli, who served as drug czar in the Obama administration.Wens relationship with the Trump administration hasnt been as warm -- she has publicly criticized the president for cuts to family planning programs and for waiting too long to declare the opioid epidemic a state of emergency. But her peers insist that even without a close federal partner, Wen is now too far into the role of national advocate to return to anything less visible. She will continue to bring innovative programs at the local level, Botticelli predicts, but also be the voice of reason on the national level.Born in Shanghai to a family of Chinese dissidents, Wen emigrated to the U.S. when she was eight and grew up in Compton, south of downtown Los Angeles. She graduated college at 18 -- summa cum laude from California State University -- and then went on to become a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, held a clinical fellowship at Harvard, and wrote a book called When Doctors Dont Listen.Wen says growing up in a low-income, heavily immigrant neighborhood taught her how crucial physical health is to the overall well-being of any community. As a child, she watched a neighbor die during an asthma attack because she didnt have an inhaler and her undocumented family was afraid to call 911. The opposite of poverty, Wen likes to say, really is health.-- By Mattie Quinn The federal government has granted people affected by the devastating hurricanes that wracked coastal states and Puerto Rico 15 extra days to sign up for health coverage under the Affordable Care Act.But Puerto Ricans who fled to the mainland after the destruction face problems well beyond timing.Many of those Americans have complicated questions about whether the Medicaid or Medicare coverage they had in Puerto Rico will shift with them to their new locations. And for those seeking private coverage, using the ACAs insurance marketplaces will likely be a new experience because the federal health law didnt establish those marketplaces in the U.S. territory.Members of Congress from Florida said Wednesday they are concerned that many of these recent arrivals, as well as insurance companies and navigators, are confused. They sent a letter to Seema Verma, the director of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), requesting that federal officials put out a fact sheet to provide much-needed clarity and alleviate confusion among Puerto Ricans who have relocated to the States.Insurance enrollment on the health laws marketplaces ends for most people Dec. 15. In a bow to the hardships caused by the August and September storms, residents living in hard-hit areas of Texas, Florida and Georgia are allowed to sign up as late as Dec. 31. But waiting until those final 15 days means that the start of their coverage is delayed until Feb. 1.Many Puerto Ricans driven from their homes, however, are negotiating layers of red tape. In Puerto Rico, nearly three-quarters of Medicare beneficiaries are in private Advantage plans. Many have questions about whether those plans will cover them stateside.Also, the Medicaid program for low-income residents in Puerto Rico covers nearly half of the islands residents a rate higher than any state but its not clear that people moving stateside will continue to qualify because they may not meet the tighter eligibility standards. That is especially true if their new home state did not expand Medicaid under the ACA to all adults earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level (about $16,000 for an individual).At the very least, they will have to reapply for Medicaid coverage. Often the most effective route is through the ACA marketplaces. That process will show them whether they are eligible for Medicaid or perhaps a federal subsidy to purchase a private plan.According to a CMS memo released in September, they can call the healthcare.gov help line (1-800-318-2596) for help. The memo, which doesnt provide details about what documentation is needed, also says that individuals may experience qualifying events due to a hurricane that makes them eligible for a special enrollment period (SEP) to access another health plan. For example, individuals who temporarily relocated to Florida due to a hurricane and are now out of their health plan coverage area could be eligible for a special enrollment period because of the move.After the storms hit, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) designated all counties in Florida and Georgia, and 53 in Texas, to receive individual assistance or public assistance. In Puerto Rico, this category was granted to 31 of the islands 78 municipalities.Still, Anne Packham, director of the marketplace navigator project at Primary Care Access Network, an organization based in Orlando that is part of Covering Central Florida, said the focus should be on encouraging consumers to register before Dec. 15, the last day most people can sign up for coverage that begins Jan. 1.Everything is already very confusing, and we think that telling consumers that they can register until Dec. 31 during a special period is adding confusion, she said. These people need insurance right now, on Jan. 1, not February.Since the storms, more than 140,000 Puerto Ricans have arrived in the central area of Florida, according to Gov. Rick Scotts office. They may stay only for a few months or settle to start a new life. Seeking insurance and medical attention has proven arduous.Marni Stahlman, president and CEO of Shepherds Hope Inc., an organization based in Orlando that helps people find coverage and services, recalled one Puerto Rican couple that had a tough time.He had Medicare and she was a retired teacher who had insurance through her union, Stahlman said. The husbands Medicare policy was not applicable on the mainland and the wifes was not honored either, she said. Both have had to start over. He with reapplying for Medicare and she had to apply for the very first time in a marketplace. They are at this time still uninsured, something that they have never had to encounter.Maria Gotay and her sons, Edwin Rodriguez (left) and Cristian Rodriguez. They came to Orlando, Fla., two weeks after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico. Having important papers helped them through the process to obtain health care. (Courtesy of Maria Gotay)Complicating the situations for many families is the lack of records and supplies. The hurricanes not only devastated lives, homes and power, but they also took medicines, prescriptions, insurance cards and copies of tax returns.Help for everybody, but for Puerto Ricans in particular, it has to be integral because these people only arrive with their passports, said Jean Zambrano, vice president of medical operations at Shepherds Hope.Among the newcomers to Florida, there are at least 18,000 children and adolescents who need medical attention quickly because they are required to get vision, hearing and immunization screenings to attend school. Stahlman and Zambrano said there is no coordinated effort at the state level to pave the way for them.Maneuvering between the territories and the States is not a well-oiled machine, and health care can fall through the cracks which means the last resort for many needing medical attention is the emergency room.Those who arrive with their important papers help ensure success. Maria Gotay, 51, arrived in Orlando from Bayamon, Puerto Rico, with her two boys, Cristian, 17, and Edwin, 22, 10 days after Hurricane Maria ravaged the island.We keep our documents in a safe place, she said, so she had them ready when applying for coverage for her children.Navigator Doris Allen, from Primary Care Access Network, helped sign up Gotays younger son for the Childrens Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and the older one in a private insurance plan for $33 a month after a subsidy. Maria Gotay was already covered by Medicare because she has a disability from fibromyalgia.We were very fortunate to meet such supportive people, said Gotay. She recalled arriving at the health center and falling in Allens arms crying hysterically. I never wanted to leave Puerto Rico, I never imagined being at the edge of dying.During the hurricane, we were all together, our house was damaged and flooded, but it withstood Marias onslaught, said Gotay.She brought her sons to Orlando because her two daughters were already living there. Her husband stayed on the island, caring for his father who shows signs of Alzheimers, she said.She said she has enormous stress and fear following the hurricane, and has been seeing a psychiatrist in Orlando to get help. However, she will return to Puerto Rico this month, while her boys stay in Florida to begin a new life. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker signed a law on Monday requiring state insurers to cover birth control without a copay."This legislation will ensure no woman in Massachusetts, irrespective of what goes on in Washington, will worry about whether her health care services and rights will be affected here in the commonwealth," Baker, a Republican, said after signing the bill at a ceremony in the State House library.Currently, under the Affordable Care Act signed by former President Barack Obama, insurers are required to cover contraceptives without cost-sharing. But Republican efforts to repeal the ACA mean the future of that requirement is uncertain.The main impact of the Massachusetts law will be to impose a state-level requirement so that women continue to get free birth control even if the Affordable Care Act is repealed or changed. Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco gave thanks for county workers on Tuesday when he signed an executive order that raises the minimum wage for full-time employees to $15 an hour.Tedesco, riding the progressive wave that swept Phil Murphy into office earlier this month, did his part to help the governor-elect deliver on one of his key campaign promises: to nearly double the minimum wage all around the state, which now stands at $8.44. The freeholder board planned to adopt the wage hike by resolution on Tuesday night, making Bergen County the first of New Jersey's 21 counties to raise the minimum wage."Good people are essential to good government, and good managers understand that their employees need to be valued," Tedesco said at a news conference, where he was flanked by freeholders, a county union leader, and an advocate for working families. "County employees who put in 40 hours or more every week, in service to their friends and neighbors throughout Bergen County, deserve and have earned a $15 minimum wage."The wage hike, which is retroactive to Sept. 1, immediately affects 129 blue-collar and white-collar workers scattered about county government. Some are office clerks, others are drivers, and still others work for the county road department and public works. News / National by Staff reporter President Jacob Zuma will no longer be travelling to Zimbabwe on Wednesday, in the wake of the resignation of former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe."President Jacob Zuma will no longer travel to Harare in the Republic of Zimbabwe... on Wednesday 22 November 2017," the Presidency said in a statement."The SADC Organ Troika Plus SADC Chairperson Summit that met in Angola today [Tuesday], 21 November 2017, had taken a decision that the SADC Chairperson, President Zuma and the Chairperson of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation, President Joao Lourenco of Angola should travel to Zimbabwe to assess the situation on behalf of SADC."The visit has now been postponed until further notice."On Tuesday, Mugabe resigned as president with immediate effect after 37 years in power, shortly after parliament began impeachment proceedings against him.Zimbabweans celebrated outside the parliament building after hearing the news.Hooters blared and large crowds ran through the streets of Harare.Buses were loaded with people who celebrated and danced on top of the vehicles.News24 earlier reported that people made their way over to soldiers, hugging them and thanking them for their role in removing Mugabe."Soldier, soldier, soldier," they chanted whenever an army vehicle drove pass.By 22:00, cars were still racing along Samora Machel Avenue.Former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa is set to arrive in the country later on Wednesday and is likely to be sworn-in as president. Cornish asked to leave Schoen denies allegations A pair of Minnesota state lawmakers -- one a DFL senator, the other a Republican representative -- announced Tuesday that they will resign from office in the wake of sexual harassment allegations.Word of the resignations of Sen. Dan Schoen and Rep. Tony Cornish came within two hours of each other, capping a stunning sequence of events that vividly demonstrated a new awareness of what many insiders say has been a long-standing tolerance of mistreatment of women working at Minnesota's Capitol. Both men had been under pressure from leaders of their parties to resign.But in leaving, the two legislators, both with law enforcement backgrounds, struck sharply different tones. Cornish, an eight-term representative from southern Minnesota's Vernon Center, issued an apologetic statement and agreed to pay the legal bills of Sarah Walker, a lobbyist he had repeatedly propositioned for sex."As a proud former peace officer and longtime champion for public safety, I am forced to face the reality that I have made some at the Capitol feel uncomfortable, and disrespected," Cornish said in the statement. "To those individuals and specifically [Walker], I sincerely apologize for my unwelcome behavior."Schoen continued to deny wrongdoing. The St. Paul Park resident served two House terms starting in 2013 and joined the Senate at the beginning of this year.His lawyer, Paul Rogosheske, said Schoen felt he had little choice but to resign, adding that they plan to release information Wednesday that would demonstrate Schoen's innocence."He doesn't feel he can be effective anymore," Rogosheske told the Star Tribune. "And he doesn't want to work in an environment like this."The resignations end -- for now -- a jarring period in Minnesota politics, with the Capitol beset by highly charged harassment allegations similar to those sweeping the country. Politicians in Washington and other state capitals along with executives at prominent media companies and Hollywood studios have faced similar accusations in recent weeks. Two women have accused U.S. Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota of unwanted touching, for which he has apologized even as he resists calls to resign.Walker, the lobbyist who accused Cornish of badgering her for sex over a period of years, had remained anonymous until shortly after Cornish announced that he would step down. She then issued her own statement."My deepest hope is that the current conversations will lead to long-term institutional changes that will allow hardworking, dedicated, and intelligent women at the State Capitol the freedom to do their work without being subjected to harassment," Walker said.Cornish plans to resign from the Minnesota House by the end of the month. House Speaker Kurt Daudt and Majority Leader Joyce Peppin revealed Tuesday that they had asked Cornish to resign."Over the last week, it has become increasingly clear his resignation is the most appropriate course of action for him, his constituents, and our institution," they said.A high-profile supporter of gun rights who cultivated a law-and-order image, Cornish is a former DNR game warden and small-town police chief who until recently had been chairman of the House Public Safety Committee. Walker and other lobbyists told reporters from the Star Tribune and elsewhere in recent weeks that Cornish repeatedly propositioned them for sex, and was known by many women who worked at the Capitol as someone to avoid.Cornish, 66, initially denied any wrongdoing but acknowledged that he had mixed his career at the Legislature with the pursuit of women he found attractive. Cornish is divorced; the Star Tribune reported that, in 1990, his ex-wife obtained a domestic abuse protection order against him.Rep. Erin Maye Quade, DFL-Apple Valley, produced text messages in which Cornish favorably commented on her appearance on the House floor. Cornish said the texts were taken out of context and were not meant to offend.Walker, the lobbyist, recalled a scene around 2010 when she went to Cornish's office to discuss a bill. When she moved to leave, she said, he asked her not to go, and stood up."He said 'Look down,' " she said. " 'I have a raging boner. You can't leave.' "Dumbstruck, she sat back down. She said he repeated the statement. She deflected, she said, by telling him she was running late for a meeting, and left the room.In a later incident, she said, Cornish pushed her against his office wall and tried to kiss her. She said she pushed him away and left.Walker's attorney, Scott Flaherty, said Tuesday that he and Jon Hopeman, representing Cornish, started talking about a settlement last Friday. The terms of the agreement were simply that Cornish apologize, resign and pay for Walker's attorney fees, Flaherty said.Flaherty described Cornish's apology as "heartfelt.""What he did was not OK, but it was a good apology and he was sincere and he should be applauded for that sincerity," Flaherty said. He added that, "I think it reflects the changed political environment around the sexual misconduct claims."Considered Schoen, 42, had a political career that just weeks ago seemed to be on the rise. A police officer and paramedic in Cottage Grove, he was a gregarious legislator who could level a sharp partisan attack one moment but find common ground with Republicans the next. He had publicly mused about running for state auditor in 2018.The divorced father of two denied the allegations when they arose two weeks ago, calling them "either completely false or ... taken far out of context. It was never my intention to leave the impression I was making an inappropriate advance on anyone. I feel terrible that someone may have a different interpretation of an encounter, but that is the absolute truth. I also unequivocally deny that I ever made inappropriate contact with anyone."Lindsey Port, a DFL candidate for office in 2016 who is running for a House seat again next year, said Schoen commented on and later grabbed her buttocks at a Democratic National Committee meeting in Minneapolis in 2015.Port said in a phone interview that she is glad Schoen is resigning, because it means women will not have to relive their trauma had the scandal continued.Maye Quade said Schoen sent her a string of text messages when she was a candidate, inviting her to drinks, including one apparently not intended for her that read: "I almost got her. Working on her pretty hard, but I almost got her."Maye Quade released statements after news of Schoen's resignation broke, including one that said: "One senator's resignation does not change the culture. I want to change the culture."Schoen also had been called out by a Senate employee who said he sent her an unsolicited photo of male genitalia. Rogosheske said the photo was intended for someone else with whom Schoen had an intimate relationship.The allegations against Schoen quickly prompted DFL leaders, including Gov. Mark Dayton, to call for his resignation.Once Schoen and Cornish resign, Dayton is authorized to call special elections. Schoen's south metro district could yield a competitive race, with both House seats there currently held by Republicans. Cornish's district south of Mankato is solidly Republican. On Tuesday, in the morning, His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC returned to Queensland from an official visit to Sydney, and the Honourable Chief Justice Catherine Holmes ceased duty as Acting Governor of Queensland. More than $9 million raised by Dolly Parton's My People Fund Between $4 million and $5 million in donations at Boyd's Bears distribution center $3.5 million raised for Mountain Tough, including $3 million from the Dollywood Foundation More than $3.1 million worth of work done by volunteers through Volunteer East Tennessee 24,000 volunteers through Volunteer East Tennessee completed 135,000 hours of work 16,265 meals served by the American Red Cross and 22,620 snacks 3,000 to 5,000 people visited Boyd's Bears distribution center 1,831 mental health contacts made by the Red Cross 1,166 clients served by the Red Cross via open cases for assistance 451 Red Cross staff and volunteers 425 cases opened at Mountain Tough since July 1 25 homes to be built by Appalachia Service Project for the uninsured and underinsured (TNS) One day not long after the Gatlinburg wildfires last year, Roy Helton was approached by a little girl named Laura who handed him an envelope of cash."She said, 'I convinced my mom and dad to return all our Christmas presents and here's the money from that,' " Helton said. "It was that kind of thing that I saw several times a day for the first six weeks."There was the mother and daughter from South Carolina who spent nine days going on shopping trips, spending between $800 and $1,500 per day on a list of needs for fire victims.And the third-grade students from Kentucky who wrote cards for the residents of Gatlinburg, each card containing $5.Helton observed it all through his role as manager of the Boyd's Bears distribution center in Pigeon Forge, where fire victims came to collect supplies for more than two months.In the year since the fires burned through more than 17,000 acres, killing 14 people and damaging or destroying more than 2,500 structures, such stories of kindness and generosity have abounded."I knew that because of the generations that have been coming here that people loved Gatlinburg and the Great Smoky Mountains and Sevier County, but I didnt realize it was going to be as outreaching as it was," said Mark Adams, president and CEO of the Gatlinburg Convention and Visitors Bureau and Chamber of Commerce."We had well wishes from Puerto Rico and California, all across the country people wanting to know how they could assist us."In all, more than $16 million in private monetary donations came in after the November wildfires, not counting other millions of dollars in state and federal aid.Between $4 million and $5 million worth of donations were collected at the Boyd's Bears distribution center and helped between 3,000 and 5,000 fire victims over 2 months.About $3.5 million has been raised for the new nonprofit Mountain Tough, including a $3 million donation from Dolly Parton's charitable organization, the Dollywood Foundation.That's on top of the $9 million the foundation distributed directly to fire victims via monthly checks to 900 people whose primary residences were lost in the fires.Other organizations, such as the Chamber of Commerce and the East Tennessee Foundation, also collected funds in the aftermath of the fires, much of which has gone to help with small-business recovery."I think what it did was give the community and the county and the city hope," Adams said. "And it wasnt just a monetary thing; so many volunteers gave of their time, and that was invaluable as well."A total of 24,000 people volunteered through Volunteer East Tennessee, the lead volunteer group in the aftermath of the fires.The giving hasn't been without its complications. In September, five people were accused of scheming to defraud the My People Fund, making off with $12,000 before their plot was foiled by police.Some residents also complained about the pace of getting Mountain Tough started last spring, though an expert said it can take months and sometimes up to a year for such an organization to get set up.Since the organization opened its doors in July, it has taken on about 425 client cases, said Executive Director Barbara Joines, who took over in the job in October after the first director, Janice Hendrix, abruptly resigned.The effort is modeled after the Bastrop County Long Term Recovery Team, which formed in the aftermath of devastating wildfires in Texas in 2011 and is still around today.About $2 million of the $3.5 million raised will be spent on case management and an additional $1 million on cleanup and debris removal at home sites.A small amount also will be spent on home reconstruction through a partnership with Johnson City-based Appalachia Service Project, which is working to construct an initial 25 homes for the uninsured and underinsured in Sevier County.About $350,000 of the case management money has been spent so far, according to Joines. That includes short-term and immediate needs like helping fire victims with transportation needs, such as car payments; mortgages or rent; and buying medicine or supplies.About 20 sites have already been identified for cleanup, the deadline for which the city recently extended to the end of December, and Mountain Tough is estimating that about 50 more will be identified for help through the process.Joines, who had a 30-year career at the Dollywood Foundation before coming to Mountain Tough, said she doesn't see an end date in sight right now for the new organization."We're still working through the process for the clients that we have," she said, while also encouraging those who haven't sought out Mountain Tough yet to do so. "About half of (the cases) are still open. We're working with them on their goals and what theyre trying to achieve in the recovery process. It's still something thats new for us, so it's hard to say how long it will take."Meanwhile, other recovery efforts have scaled back.The American Red Cross, for example, was operating three shelters and served more than 16,000 meals in the immediate aftermath of the fires.The organization raised $1.6 million in relief efforts, about $1.5 million of which had been spent or allocated by early November, according to Bob Wallace, a spokesman for the Red Cross in Memphis. They plan to spend all the money by mid-December.Then there are local efforts by people like Sheri Robinson, a Knoxville resident who helped collect donations for fire victims after she and her husband fled a rental cabin they were staying in on the night of the fires.Robinson, who began collecting furniture, toiletries and household items in her home in March and distributing them to victims, said she didn't have an estimate for how many items she collected or how many people they went to.At one point, she was making weekly trips to a Gatlinburg church to deliver the goods."When I started I certainly didnt have any idea of the generosity of people, of strangers, absolute strangers, and I have been blessed to make some new friendships through that process," Robinson said."I feel like I've gained a lot of friendships and certainly my faith in people has been boosted. I wouldn't say restored because I have a lot of faith in people, but it certainly has been boosted."Other needs, such as furniture and help with rebuilding, remain.Volunteer East Tennessee, the main organizer of volunteer efforts, utilized 24,000 volunteers to complete about 135,000 hours of work between December and May, mostly in distribution centers and with debris removal.The organization estimates that work to be worth more than $3.1 million. And there's still more to do, particularly when it comes to rebuilding efforts, said Regional Director Melanie Vincent."I would say a good example of the need that remains is among people who decide to rebuild on their own and then they run out of money," Vincent said. "Volunteers have been helping to paint, to help lay flooring and (perform) other skills that can be taught."She said she was surprised in the aftermath of the fires at the number of people driving from across the country and Canada "just to volunteer and plug in wherever they were needed."One of those places was the Boyd's Bears distribution center, which closed in February after more than two months of distributing food, clothing, furniture, medication and other items to thousands of fire victims.At its busiest, the center run by the Pigeon Forge Rotary Club served more than 3,200 fire victims in a single day in mid-December and was staffed by over 500 volunteers. Between 12 and 15 tractor-trailer loads of items were coming in each day.At the end, leftover items and there weren't many were donated to regional charities and public entities such as Sevier County Schools and a local food ministry.Helton, who also serves on the board of Mountain Tough, said needs remain but are different. Now that homes are being rebuilt, many people are in need of new furniture."Were building these homes, and these people have nothing," he said. "The ones were helping, theyre either uninsured or underinsured and they dont have enough to meet their needs. Thats why were out there doing the things we do."2017 the Knoxville News-Sentinel (Knoxville, Tenn.)Visit the Knoxville News-Sentinel (Knoxville, Tenn.) at www.knoxnews.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. (TNS) - Richmond County, N.C., Sheriff James Clemmons held a workshop on church safety Tuesday night in response to growing concerns about the vulnerability of churchgoers following a Nov. 5 mass shooting in Texas which claimed 26 lives.He shared with the roughly 30 residents in attendance what he knew about how average people react in live-shooter situations, and offered advice on things that churches could do to prepare for such a scenario such as lockdown procedures, changing the way churches greet congregants from friendly to more like a security check and discussed the legal considerations in having armed people in the pews.Im not talking to you about these things to make you paranoid, Clemmons said. Im talking to you about these things to make you aware.Clemmons said that having a plan can help prevent a panic which could make a bad situation even worse. Some of the steps he outlined included: having able-bodied men at the front doors as greeters rather than women; keeping an eye out for suspicious individuals and having someone preemptively approach them; having a rally point for people to meet, should something go wrong; making sure that people know the possible exits; designating people who can call for a lockdown and having a safe place where a congregation can go; designating people to call the police in case of an emergency; providing law enforcement with the planning documents for the church so that they can be better prepared for a situation; and having people who are trained in first aid present at church services.On having guns in the church, Clemmons said its important to make sure that you know who has a gun, that they are legally permitted to carry that gun, and that they have the proper training and knowledge to be able to handle that gun effectively.The dialogue between the congregation and the pastor needs to be serious, it needs to be on point and you have to understand the consequences if a mistake is made, Clemmons said.Victor Robinson, a member of St. Marys Holiness Church in Dobbins Heights, said he came to the workshop out of concern over the prevalence of violence across the country. He said he wants to make sure that his churchs leadership has people positioned in the right places to be able to alert the congregation of a dangerous situation. Asked if he thought he feels his church is prepared for a live-shooter situation, Robinson said he is now.Now I (feel prepared), just by listening and thinking about things that could be done and changed while Sheriff Clemmons was talking and hearing other members who were sharing information, Robinson said. Its more to add to what we already know.Clemmons has given at least four talks on church safety in the weeks following the Texas shootings. He has future stops planned in East Rockingham, Cordova, Ellerbe, Hamlet and Rockingham whoever calls.This is the second round of talks Clemmons has given in as many years, the previous coming immediately after the shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, where a white supremacist killed nine people including the pastor at a black church in July 2015.Following that talk, Clemmons said he saw people actively talking about preparing for a live-shooter situation in a way he hadnt seen before.Ive seen that people are taking it extremely serious and its not just the churches but its life in general, Clemmons said. While this rash of violence across the country has the public more aware of the threat, Clemmons pointed out that mass shootings at churches is nothing new.Mayor Antonio Blue said he was encouraged by the turnout which showed that people in the community are taking a positive step in making sure that they are prepared for whatever kind of situation may arise in the future.Realize that this is a real live issue, Blue said. Believe me, it is going to get closer and closer to Richmond County and then one day youre going to wake up and its going to be in Richmond County so you can either get prepared mentally for it or you can go to sleep at the wheel and when the bus comes you can get hit by the bus.2017 the Richmond County Daily Journal (Rockingham, N.C.)Visit the Richmond County Daily Journal (Rockingham, N.C.) at www.yourdailyjournal.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. (TNS) - Officials yanked the equivalent of an armada from the Texas coast after Hurricane Harvey.Of the 676 boats that sank in state waters in late August, 77 sank in local ports from Seadrift to Palacios, said Robb Muil, the area manager for oil prevention and response for the Texas General Land Office.Muil told the Port Commission of Port Lavaca on Tuesday that the GLO yanked the final boat from its watery grave Nov. 11. He said in the process, the GLO, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Environmental Protection Agency prevented almost 60,000 gallons of hazardous material from spilling.In the Crossroads, the GLO was responsible for 26 surrendered boats.Most of the boats that sank were used for pleasure, but some belonged to shrimp and oyster fishers, said Rhonda Cummins, the Texas Sea Grant agent for Calhoun County.Cummins asked the Formosa Plastics Corporation and Bishop Brendan Cahill of the Diocese of Victoria for $10,000 to rent an 80-ton crane to pick up four sunken boats from the Harbor of Refuge and one boat that was grounded.Both came through with the money, but Cummins returned Cahill's check."To me, Bishop Cahill gave from his heart, and I knew Formosa gave out of their excess," Cummins said. "Ten thousand dollars from Formosa is not a lot of money, and I didn't need a lot of money. I just needed enough money. I just needed enough to help those guys who didn't have anybody else."Cummins also helped untangle the knot that the Category 4 hurricane created at the Nautical Landings Marina, where she was once a tenant.She helped Muil and Port Lavaca Public Works Director Oscar Pena track down boat owners in person, by phone or by certified mail.The Federal Emergency Management Agency gave the GLO $40 million for this task.Muil said that so far, the GLO has spent about $29 million, "so we're well within budget."The boats the GLO picked up were taken to Cove Harbor Marina in Rockport. Muil, who returned to his hometown of Olivia days after Harvey made landfall, said if they aren't claimed within 21 days, the boats will be destroyed. He stressed the GLO is not making any profit off the recovery project and has gone above and beyond, even retrieving a funeral urn off one boat for a family."The people who participated in this vessel removal program are members of the community," GLO press secretary Brittany Eck said, "so this is something that I know that they are very proud to participate in ... This program is also vital to getting the coast back to business by making the waters navigable again."2017 Victoria Advocate (Victoria, Texas)Visit Victoria Advocate (Victoria, Texas) at www.victoriaadvocate.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. (TNS) Suffolk lawmakers approved a last-minute resolution Tuesday night to borrow $7.8 million to pay off a court-ordered judgment against the county for blocking a private firm from installing solar panels in the parking lot of the Ronkonkoma LIRR station.Both Democratic and Republican legislators said they planned to investigate the decision by County Executive Steve Bellones administration to block installation of the panels.A federal court magistrate last year said the move represented a breach of contract by the county in its deal with San Diego-based EDF Renewable Development Inc. In the summer, the county made a $3 million cash payment toward the $10.8 million judgment as compensation for solar panels, steel and other equipment the developer had purchased.This is a travesty of the highest order. Somebody made the decision to breach this contract, said Legis. Tom Cilmi (R-Bay Shore), who said hed put in a bill early next year to investigate the decision.When $2 million in interest costs on the borrowing and $2.7 million in lost revenue from expected lease payments are added, Cilmi said, the decision to block installation of the solar panels cost the county more than $15 million.Legis. Kara Hahn (D-Setauket) said the county had no choice but to approve the decision, but called it a darned shame and basically its lighting $10 million plus on fire.Presiding Officer DuWayne Gregory (D-Copiague), said he would support Cilmis bill for an investigation next year into the decision by Bellone, a fellow Democrat.In 2010, Bellones predecessor, Steve Levy, signed a 20-year agreement with enXco of San Diego later bought out by EDF to lease space at seven county-owned parking lots, including Ronkonkoma.In a 47-page decision last year, U.S. Magistrate Judge Anne Y. Shields said county officials, starting in January 2012 when Bellone took office, began intentionally stalling the Ronkonkoma project and failing to communicate with the contractor by canceling meetings and screening calls to evade contact over the $120 million solar project.Bellones administration had argued the solar panels at the Long Island Rail Road station could interfere with the Ronkonkoma Hub project, a $600 million complex of 1,450 apartments, stores, restaurants and offices, which broke ground last week.Cilmi noted the land where the solar carports were planned are on the south side of the rail station, while the Ronkonkoma Hub is on the north side of the tracks.Bellones administration this fall issued a request for proposals from developers on how to use the land, which is currently a Long Island Rail Road parking lot.Tonights vote is a major step forward for the Ronkonkoma community as we move ahead with the most significant economic development project to occur on Long Island in a generation, Bellone said in a statement.County Attorney Dennis Brown said efforts made in consultation with the solar developer to find alternative locations for the panels were unsuccessful.The settlement was introduced Tuesday night as an emergency resolution.It was approved with Democratic support and Legis. Thomas Barraga (R-West Islip). The other five Republicans opposed it, saying the resolution should have gone through the public committee process. Brown, who said the final payment is due Dec. 15, added that he didnt know why the bill was introduced so late.The county has a pending lawsuit that seeks to have its insurance companies pay $7.8 million toward the judgment. The companies have refused, saying the county did not file a timely claim. (TNS) Cable provider Altice has begun laying the groundwork for a new broadband service in southwestern Connecticut that it says will allow households to tap the Internet at 10 gigabits per second or 25 times the capacity of its best broadband offering today.Over the past few months, Optimum trucks operated by Altice crews have been fanned out throughout Norwalk, stringing spools of cable along utility poles and conduits. It is not the coaxial cable the companys customers know well, however, but the fiber optic variety which pulses digital bits of information over glass strands, at transmission capacities vastly superior to that of coaxial cable or copper wire.Verizon Communications was the first company to introduce the concept of running fiber optic cable to U.S. homes on a mass scale, as part of its Fios offering introduced more than a decade ago. Norwalk-based Frontier Communications inherited a portion of that Fios infrastructure in its 2016 acquisition of Verizon territories in Florida, Texas and California.In May 2015, Altice predecessor company Cablevision sued Verizon in federal court on claims Verizon was misleading customers in promising them an all-fiber network, with the companies ultimately reaching an undisclosed settlement of the litigation.Now Altice is promising an all-fiber connection all its own with its Generation Gigaspeed offering in Optimum territories in the metropolitan New York City area as well as other parts of the country, with the company announcing the initiative a year ago. An Altice spokeswoman did not provide Hearst Connecticut Media with any expected launch date or pricing for the new service.It is one of three major technical changes Altice is undergoing under CEO Dexter Goei, along with a new Altice One device that combines the functions of the cable box, modem and wireless router. Separately, Altice reached an agreement this month to offer mobile phone service for the first time by piggybacking on Sprints cellular network, while maintaining its own phone features and billing.Broadband continues to be a key contributor here as we are seeing continued demand for higher-speed tiers, Goei said in early November during a conference call. As we invest more in Generation Gigaspeed ... we should see continued improvement in customer service metrics, reduce churn, and further efficiency savings. After the breach of credit reporting firm Equifax was made public Sept. 7, exposing the personal information of more than 145 million Americans, many state tech leaders saw it as an opportunity to bring attention to the importance of cybersecurity At the annual National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) conference in early October, Texas CIO Todd Kimbriel toldthat the Equifax incident, and similar cyberevents such as the breach on global consulting firm Deloitte, dont impact his states cyberstrategy, but they certainly shine a light on the continuing need and importance of cybersecurity and security of citizen data.Kimbriel explained that his agency makes securing citizens personal information a No. 1 priority, noting that the states consolidated data center already adheres to the FBIs Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) standards, and that Texas is working on a small blockchain pilot to track cybersecurity readiness across state agencies.Where he sees these headline-grabbing breaches impacting the public sector, however, is in terms of how different government levels securely address citizen identity. In this video, Kimbriel suggests that relying on a single federal identifier the Social Security number may not be the most reliable way for state governments to manage resident data. (TNS) Normally, when the Midland County Board of Commissioners hears the word "audit" their thoughts turn to the annual review of finances. But, at its last meeting the board was faced with an audit of a different kind -- cybersecurity."It's a new requirement that there be an IRS compliance audit to make sure that we are taking care of confidential taxpayer information," said Ken Randall, director for the Friend of the Court.At its Tuesday meeting, the board unanimously agreed to contracts with the Midland County Friend of the Court and Prosecuting Attorney's departments, each with MGT of America Consulting. The total for both contracts is $1,850."Two-thirds of our budget is paid by the state," Randall said. "That money actually is federal money funneled through the state. That's why we need to answer to the IRS."Every three years, the Friend of the Court and Prosecuting Attorney departments are required to undergo an IRS audit, which consists of two parts. The first one, which the board approved, is an equivalent and systems audit. That audit is required to be completed by the end of January 2018. Following the first audit, there will be a more detailed audit.Should the Friend of the Court or Prosecuting Attorney departments get hacked, it could mean the release of confidential information from child support payments. That information includes birth dates, Social Security and telephone numbers, addresses, and other information."When Ingham County got hacked they were down for four days. They couldn't access anything," said county Financial Director Tori Meyer.Government offices often take extra measures to ensure security."(Friend of the Court) can't share printers, each person that works for the Friend of the Court has to have their own printer and own scanner," she said. News / National by Stephen Jakes Following the freedom that was seen when the citizens marched for Robert Mugabe to step down, MDC-T deputy Chairperson Morgen Komichi has question if the Zimbabwe Defence forces will maintain that freedom after Mugabe is gone as the opposition had all along been stifled to do so.Thousands of people gathered for a massive march for Mugabe to go in Harare, Bulawayo, Masvingo and Gweru."For the last 18 yrs Zimbabwe opposition political parties have been fighting for the very same issues which the Generals are purporting to advance. However it has been difficult to break the ceiling without their involvement. We should thank them for finally coming to our rescue," said Komichi."The question is, are the Generals able to keep this promise. Remember under Mugabe we suffered serious human rights abuses. We need ZTV and radio coverage. Chiefs and headmen should stop harassing people during elections. Give ZEC full independence. Security sector should be impartial. We need the rule of law just to mention a few, the constitution has everything. Thanks Generals."Mugabe gave in to the people's demands yesterday when he resigned. (TNS) Sacramento Regional Transit restored its website Tuesday following a weekend cyberattack and began meeting with federal security experts on ways to reduce the chance of future breaches.SacRT officials said the agency has recovered 80 percent of the destroyed internal systems data so far via back-up devices, with more retrieval expected in the coming days.We dont anticipate losing much of anything, SacRT operations chief Mark Lonergan said.Federal Department of Homeland Security officials visited SacRT headquarters Tuesday to review the incident and offer analytical and security expertise, Lonergan said. The agency also filed a crime report with the Sacramento Police Department.A DHS federal spokesman, Scott McConnell, confirmed his agencys involvement, but declined comment, saying DHS work with local agencies is confidential.An initial review found that no data was stolen, Lonergan said. Train and bus service was not affected.However, Betsy Cooper, a national security expert and former DHS attorney, said it typically takes days or weeks of analysis to fully understand the nature of the attack and its impacts, including whether any data was taken.I hope it is true that no customer data was accessed, said Cooper, who is head of the UC Berkeley Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity. But it takes a bit of time to know what the hacker did.The attack was the first major cyber assault on the transit agency, Lonergan said. He described SacRTs computer systems protection layer as strong, but said the agency intends to improve the system.Once fully restored, we intend to go through a deeper forensic look to make sure we didnt miss anything, he said.Lonergan and other SacRT officials described a dramatic moment Sunday morning when their computer security system alerted officials that large amounts of data were being mysteriously erased.At about that time, the agency received a private Facebook message from an anonymous hacker demanding that SacRT pay a one bitcoin ransom, worth over $8,000 as of Tuesday.The message read: hello, I will always attack your website, we are hackers. we can do everything. Pay us now to stop attacking.SacRT officials said they did not respond to the hacker and did not pay the ransom. They were able to shut down their systems quickly to prevent further erasures. Most of the erased data had been recently backed up, Lonergan said.UC Berkeley cybersecurity expert Cooper said such attacks are growing as companies move more operations onto computers. Hackers typically go after the systems that are easiest to infiltrate, she said.Companies should expect there are going to be increasing attempts to test out their networks and see whether they are vulnerable, and they should have security built in so they arent the low-hanging fruit that hackers can attack, Cooper said.She said she recommends that companies increase cybersecurity training for employees, who sometimes allow a virus into the company system by clicking on a hackers link. She also recommends companies use two-factor authentication for all sensitive products, and that companies compartmentalize their data so that system breaches can be contained.Numerous private sector companies have been hit by major cyberattacks. Uber executives revealed on Tuesday that 600,000 names and drivers license numbers were stolen last year from cloud-based storage the company uses. Earlier this year, credit reporting agency Equifax fell victim to a hacker who reportedly obtained personal data for nearly 150 million consumers.San Franciscos bus and rail agency suffered a similar cyberattack a year ago that forced the agency to shut down its fare vending machines as a precaution.Lonergan said the cyberattack threat is pervasive. There are two kinds of businesses, those who have been hacked and those that will be hacked. (TNS) Portland Commissioner Chloe Eudaly has taken to her personal Facebook page to vent about and promote much of her work as Portland's newest commissioner.The posts have caused a public records dilemma that's drawn the attention of the city attorney's office, Portland's human resources director and Oregon state archivist Mary Beth Herkert.Eudaly's posts have condemned protesters at City Council meetings, dismissed some of the public testimony to the council, disputed the findings in news stories critical of her bureaus and discussed lobbying the Oregon State Legislature to lift the state's ban on rent control.Only people she has approved can view her private posting. Yet many of her posts have drawn upwards of 100 reactions and more than 100 comments. Others she has taken down after they drew criticism or she changed her mind.Eudaly has written multiple times on her personal Facebook page that the page is not for official city business and that anyone wishing to discuss city business should contact her office.Nevertheless, Herkert says, private Facebook posts in which Eudaly makes or receives comment on city matters are public records that the public is likely entitled to see. All should be preserved for the retention period laid out in Oregon's public records laws, she said."It is a public record," Herkert said. "She is a commissioner and she's giving her opinion on what she felt went on in the meeting, and that's part of her official business. Once she crosses that line on giving her opinion on stuff, that's part of the public persona."Eudaly's chief of staff, Marshall Runkel, said the commissioner's office does not retain copies of her posts on her personal Facebook page because they "don't believe them to be part of the public record.""It's worth digging in and knowing where exactly the rules are, and that's what we're doing," Runkel said."There's obviously no impropriety," he added.Runkel said City Attorney Tracy Reeve notified him last week that her office was looking into a complaint sent to Portland's ombudsman alleging Eudaly violated the city's social media and public records policies.Reeve told Runkel that she would look into Eudaly's social media usage and into public records laws in order to help the commissioner comply with any rules, he said."If the city attorney says, 'you need to change your practices,' we'll comply with the advice of the city attorney," Runkel said.Several people have complained about Eudaly's social media to the ombudsman's office, records obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive through a public records request show. The ombudsman's office redacted the name of the people who complained.One complaint alleged that Eudaly ran "afoul of city social media policies and public record law" by discussing city business, communicating with constituents and having "unreported contact with registered city lobbyists.""I would like to see what Commissioner Eudaly is saying about the public's business and it's disturbing to me that she's making these important statements privately to supporters and other insiders," another complaint said. "If these statements are being seen by other officials, it also occurs to me that she may be violating public records and meeting laws."Another complained about the commissioner blocking people from her Facebook page, considering that she had discussed city business on it.At least six people told The Oregonian/OregonLive that Eudaly blocked them from viewing her personal page, and city records confirm one of those accounts. She also blocked that person from her public page, records show.Reeve told The Oregonian/OregonLive in an email Monday: "It is of course the case that the Oregon Public Records Law provides 'every person' with the right to inspect nonexempt public records. ... This is true regardless of where the record is stored."She suggested, however, that this was not necessarily the case for Eudaly before declining to discuss Eudaly's usage, citing attorney-client privilege."The mere fact that a public employee posts information on a private social media page which refers to the public body does not transform that private social media page into a public record," Reeve wrote.According to the Oregon Secretary of State's official guidance for social media use as it pertains to public records law: "If a private account is used to conduct government business then it becomes public and is subject to the Oregon Public Records Law."Herkert, the state archivist, acknowledged there is a "grey area" when it comes to public figures discussing their work on their personal Facebook pages and that elected officials have the hardest time separating public verses private material.But she said that any posts or opinions on city council meetings, public testimony or citizen input or other matters related to her day job that aren't duplicated through another official record such as a press release are public records."Don't mix personal and work," Herkert said. "As an elected public official, you have a responsibility. If you're going to give out your analysis, do it in an official press release. Don't do it on your private social media account."This is not the first time that the city attorney scrutinized Eudaly's activity on social media.In May, a constituent, Nishant Bhajaria, complained to city human resources director Anna Kanwit that Eudaly had blocked him from her public Facebook page.Kanwit informed Bhajaria on May 9 that Eudaly had violated the city's social media policy, according to emails obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive."Based on the city's social media policy and the Facebook terms of use, in your case the posts that were reviewed by a city attorney determined they did not appear to justify blocking you," Kanwit wrote to Bhajaria. "The commissioner's office has been advised to unblock you from her public Facebook page until and unless you violate the terms of use for Facebook or the City's Social Media Policy."She also wrote that Eudaly may have deleted public records without retaining them. The city attorney could not find Bhajaria's comments on Eudaly's public page, Kanwit wrote, and "therefore believes they were deleted.""That is allowable; however a copy of the post should have been retained prior to removal," Kanwit wrote. "This is a new office and there are many rules and policies that every office must become familiar with. Commissioner Eudaly's office now understands the parameters around hiding versus blocking and the need to retain posts on the city commissioner's page, just as they retain other public records."Runkel said Tuesday that Eudaly's office has not retained any of her Facebook posts, including deleted ones. News / National by Stephen Jakes A Human rights activists Dewa Mavhinga has described the resignation of Robert Mugabe as President of Zimbabwe as a Golden Opportunity for Rights issues to be implemented to attracted international recognition.Mugabe tendered his resignation on Tuesday due to mounting pressure from citizens and the party for him to step down.Dewa Mavhinga, Southern Africa director at Human Rights Watch said Robert Mugabe's resignation as president comes after 37 years of authoritarian rule littered with serious human rights violations."Triggered by the November 15 military takeover and his subsequent dismissal as Zanu-PF party president, Mugabe's resignation creates a golden opportunity for improving respect for human rights and freedoms in Zimbabwe," he said."The next government should promptly carry out reforms of the military and police, which Mugabe used as tools for the repression of peaceful critics, independent organizations, and the media." News / National by Staff Reporter The Speaker of the National Assembly, Advocate Jacob Mudenda has fulfilled the constitutional requirement of informing the nation of the resignation of President Robert Gabriel Mugabe.Speaking at a press conference at Parliament Building this afternoon, Advocate Mudenda said the ruling Zanu PF party has formally notified him, in terms of the constitution, that the party has nominated former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa to replace Robert Mugabe as president of the Republic of Zimbabwe.Advocate Mudenda added that parliament has informed the Chief Secretary to the Office of President and Cabinet Dr Misheck Sibanda of the nomination of Mnangagwa in order for him to arrange for his swearing in as the president of Zimbabwe.The Speaker of National Assembly said Dr Sibanda is the marking the necessary arrangements for the swearing in which is set for this Friday.The former vice president had been out of the country after he was sacked from both party and government. Green Rivers residents have a lot to be thankful for. We live in one of the most beautiful cities in Wyoming. An absolute oasis in the southwestern Wyoming desert. Green River is filled with parks and trees. We have a Greenbelt walkway that gives us the opportunity to enjoy a leisurely stroll along the Green River. Gatherings at Expedition Island, Centennial Park and Stratton Myers Park are some of the enjoyable moments of the year, regardless of if theyre private or public. Were thankful for our easy access to recreational opportunities throughout southwestern Wyoming. Hunting, fishing, camping, snowmobiling and much, much more can be found a short drive outside of town. All it takes a 30-minute or hour-long drive to be away from it all. A majority of Sweetwater County consists of public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management and other federal agencies. While some criticism can be made about how these federal agencies conduct their business, without these agencies, much of that land would be under different ownership and likely be impossible to access. Were thankful for that management, regardless of how flawed it can seem to be. Many of Green Rivers residents enjoy good paying jobs provided by the local trona industry. Local unions have worked for decades to ensure workers are fairly compensated for their work and protected from the hazards involved with the mining industry. That isnt to say those mining companies havent supported the area, they certainly do. It isnt unusual to see a little league team sport the logo of a local mine, or to see the company listed in a group of sponsors helping provide fun events like Flaming Gorge Days or River Festival. They help make Green River more than just a place to live. At the Green River Star, were thankful for a few things ourselves. Were thankful for the continued support from our readers who pick up the newspaper week after week. Were thankful for Genesis Alkali, Solvay and the numerous residents for sponsoring our Newspapers in Education program, which allows up to send papers to the schools throughout Green River. Were thankful for the residents and businesses who place advertisements in the newspaper, as well. Were also thankful for our carriers for their diligent service, especially as the cold, winter months approach. Without any of those groups listed, it would be impossible to produce this newspaper week after week. Sandra Figenser pretends to surf during one of the more humorous skits performed by actors in "The New Medicine Show." Residents will have the opportunity to watch two one-act plays performed by Green River High School students Monday evening, giving them a glimpse at what the high school's theater students will perform at the Wyoming State Thespian Festival in Casper Dec. 1-2. The plays, "The New Medicine Show" and "Down Came the Rain," will start at 7 p.m. at the GRHS Theater. According to ticket information at http://www.showtix4u.com, seating in the orchestra section is $4 per ticket, preferred seating is $5 a ticket and mezzanine seating is $3 per ticket. Residents attending will have the opportunity to provide the high school thespians with feedback prior to their Casper performance. The first play, "The New Medicine Show" is written by Richard Johnson deals with a group actors attempting to answer why they have a social order and rank themselves within that order. The group act out hilarious and serious life situations to answer the questions posed by a director off stage. The play was named the 1993 Utah State High School Outstanding Play. The second play, "Down Came the Rain," was written by Burgess Clark and examines two brothers on a camping trip. The younger brother, Brucie, is considered mentally challenged and his curiosity begins to annoy the older brother, Michael, especially when Brucie's curiosity turns toward wanting to know more about their mother's death. News / National by Stephen Jakes ZIMBABWE Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) say it has noted with apprehension and concern some disconcerting media reports that during Operation Restore Legacy there may be some arrests and detention of people following the announcement made by Major General Sibusiso Moyo on 15 November 2017."In the event that any such arrests have indeed been made, ZLHR hereby reminds the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) of their obligation to ensure full compliance with the constitutional guarantees protecting human rights and the rule of law," said ZLHR."We draw their attention, in particular to section 50 of the Constitution which explicitly provides for the pre-trial rights of any persons who have been arrested on allegations of committing an offence. Section 53 of the Constitution also guarantees freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."ZLHR said further, Zimbabwe is a state party to several human rights instruments including the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, in particular Article 6 which provides for the right to personal liberty and protection from arbitrary arrest and which states that every individual shall have the right to liberty and to the security of his person."The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Fair Trial and Legal Assistance in Africa elaborate on the rights of those arrested and detained. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides in Article 9 that no one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile as well as Article 9 and 10 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which guarantees the right to liberty," said ZLHR."In the circumstances, ZLHR therefore urges the ZDF; To follow the due process of the law; To guarantee protection of all pre-trial rights and safety of any detainees and to grant them immediate and unequivocal access to their lawyers and family members and medical practitioners of choice ( where necessary ); To prevent any incidents of torture, or other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment; To prevent the occurrence of any enforced disappearances or in-communicado detention." News / National by AFP Mnangagwa's rise to the top comes after decades of experience under Mugabe since Zimbabwe won independence from Britain in 1980.In the early days, Mugabe appointed Mnangagwa, a young trainee lawyer, as Zimbabwe's first minister for national security.After that, he held a host of different cabinet positions - but relations between him and his political mentor were not always easy, and the younger man was no stranger to presidential purges.In 2004, he lost his post as administrative secretary in the ruling Zanu-PF after being accused of openly angling for the post of vice president.But it was during the 2008 elections that his fortunes really began to change, when he was serving as head of Mugabe's election campaign.Mugabe lost the first round vote, and Mnangagwa allegedly supervised the wave of violence and intimidation that forced the opposition to pull out of the run-off vote.In the same year, he took over as head of the Joint Operations Command, a committee of security chiefs which was accused by rights groups of organising violence to crush dissent.He was targeted by EU and US sanctions imposed on Mugabe and his close allies over the elections and the ensuing violence but was promptly handed control of the powerful defence ministry. News / National by Staff reporter The Zimbabwe President designate, Emmerson Mnangagwa has pledged to be a servant of the people and called for all progressive Zimbabweans to unite in growing the economy.Mnangagwa, who arrived in Harare today from South Africa, told thousands of Zimbabweans gathered at the ruling party's headquarters to welcome him, that he is ready to lead the country into a new dispensation."I pledge myself to be your servant. I appeal to all progressive Zimbabweans to come together so that we grow our economy, we want peace, we want jobs jobs jobs, we need the cooperation of our neighbours in SADC, Africa and the world over. I am already receiving several calls from people and nations willing to help us grow our nation," said the incoming President, who will be sworn in on Friday.Mnangagwa thanked the people of Zimbabwe for expressing their desire for former president Robert Mugabe to step down and for their prayers when he survived poisoning on 12 August.He said he decided to leave the country after receiving death threats two hours after he was fired as Vice President of the country."Within two hours after receiving a letter firing me from government, I received news that they wanted to eliminate me. That is why I had to leave and while away, you the people of Zimbabwe spoke. On 12 August, I was subjected to poisoning, I thank you for your prayers that I survived," said Mnangagwa."Nhema dzakataugwa dzakawanda kuti topwanya zimsoro iro, zvino musoro wapwanywa ndewani?" asked Mnangagwa rhetorically in reference to the former First Lady, Dr Grace Mugabe's remarks during the purported 'Super Sunday' rally with members of indigenous churches that it was time 'to crush the head of the snake,' the purported Lacoste faction in Zanu PF."Mnangagwa added that it was unfortunate that the G40 cabal had captured the executive in the form of ex-President Mugabe, but now that the people had spoken, it was time for the founding father of Zimbabwe to comply with his promise that he will step down whenever the people of Zimbabwe wish him to do so.The President designate also thanked Zimbabweans for being peaceful, saying SADC leaders are all proud of the discipline and peacefulness of the people of Zimbabwe.He also thanked the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) led by General Constantino Chiwenga for managing this transitional process peacefully.Mnangagwa also expressed gratitude to his colleagues in the Zanu PF Politburo and Central Committee as well as the Speaker of Parliament, Advocate Jacob Mudenda for the way they stood behind him and handled the process. The Greensboro Urban Loop played a cameo role Tuesday in an appeals court decision forcing the N.C. Department of Transportation to begin buying hundreds of properties in the path of a similar Winston-Salem project. The N.C. Court of Appeals ruled that state highway planners must begin appraising more than 200 properties in the planned Winston-Salem Northern Beltways right of way and paying deposits to the landowners. The ruling also affected the owners of five properties in Browns Summit whose land is needed to complete the final leg of the Greensboro project, scheduled to begin construction next year. This has been a long time coming, and it is an appeal that should never have taken place, said Winston-Salem lawyer Matthew Bryant, who represented the property owners. Bryant said the appeal could have been avoided if DOT officials simply had heeded the North Carolina Supreme Court last year when it overturned the states so-called Map Act, a law passed in 1987 to prevent land owners from developing or otherwise improving their property once it had been identified formally as being in the path of a major road project. The high court held that by tying up properties in that way, state officials essentially were taking them and should pay their owners accordingly. But the state agency appealed a subsequent October 2016 ruling in the superior courts of Forsyth and Guilford counties by Judge John Craig III, who ordered DOT to start the process of buying 211 affected properties in the path of the two projects. We think the court told the DOT what everyone knew, that these properties were taken decades ago, and they have to live up to their constitutional obligations, Bryant said of Tuesdays decision. Tuesdays 2-1 decision was authored by appellate Judge Phil Berger Jr., former Rockingham County district attorney and son of state Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Eden). The Guilford and Forsyth projects are at different stages of completion, with the Northern Beltway in mid-course and the Greensboro Urban Loop with two of its last three phases under construction. The five Urban Loop properties affected by Tuesdays ruling belong to Jo Ellen Barley and Mary B. Watson, Robert and Linda Grundman, Michael and Brenda Summers, Mark and Linda Pickard and the Felts Family Limited Partnership. They range in size from 1.28 to 17 acres and are located in the same vicinity on Hillcroft, Old Mine and Yanceyville roads. Another landowner named in the appeal, Greensboro developer Kenneth Bell, has already settled his Map Act lawsuit against DOT by selling the state several acres off North Elm Street for $1.25 million, said Bryant, who represented Bell and owners of the five other properties. Highway officials also recently reached a $4.6 million settlement in another Map Act lawsuit brought by one of Bells neighbors. Landowner Timothy McAdoo had about 40 acres in the Urban Loops way, said his attorney, Bruce Ashley of Greensboro. Tuesdays ruling, even if it is not appealed to the state Supreme Court, doesnt kick into gear a speedy process: The state would have six months to finish the process of appraisals, and landowners would have a month after getting the appraisal to decide whether to accept it. Either the state or the landowner could request a hearing in the case of a dispute over the value or what kind of property right was taken. Chuck Watts, DOTs general counsel, said he expects the state and landowners to be far apart in how much money landowners are owed for damages during the time the properties were under the Map Act. And that could take a long time, and more court hearings, to decide, he said. A former chairman of Lowes Companies Inc. and his wife have given Forsyth Technical Community College its largest donation from an individual in school history. Robert L. and Elizabeth M. Strickland gave the school $2.8 million to be used for the colleges career center. The couple, who are longtime Winston-Salem residents, wanted to make the donation to the community college to improve the lives of students so they can find meaningful careers, they said through the school. Prior to the Stricklands donation, the next-largest sized donation from an individual was about $800,000, said Gary Green, president of Forsyth Tech. The donation will be used to endow a newly created director position at the career center, Forsyth Techs first endowed position. The position will be responsible for coordinating the development and operation of all career development programs provided by the college. They wanted to invest directly in the students, not buildings, Green said. He said the Stricklands first began talking with community college officials last November about making the donation. Through conversations, the need of connecting students to employers emerged, Green said. It was a need Forsyth Tech had already identified as one it had wanted to address through its last strategic planning process. The community college currently has a career counselor and an office that helps connect students with co-ops and apprenticeships, but the donation will allow Forsyth Tech to advance its services much further, Green said. This gift will add personnel and bring everything together to one place, he said. The additional leadership position will help coordinate activities for our students and there will be a new physical location, in a renovated space. There will also be software and other services. The building in which the program will be housed, in the Oak Grove Center, will be renamed the Robert L. Strickland Center. The new position that will be hired will have a salary likely in the range of $65,000 to $80,000, Green said, with a search beginning after the holidays. Betty and I have both long believed that you dont go to college simply to learn how to make a living you also go to college to learn how to live, Bob Strickland said in a media release. It is our fondest hope that this new Career Center will be able to give our communitys students an extra boost of the guidance, information and mentoring wisdom theyll need to propel their Forsyth Tech education into exciting and productive careers and thereby, we hope, happy and fulfilling lives for themselves and their families. Although the donation was made in the name of Robert and Elizabeth Strickland, the building will bear only Robert Stricklands name at the wishes of the family, Green said. Strickland joined Lowes in 1957 as its seventh employee. He went on to serve as the board chairman, retiring in 1998. Strickland has long been an advocate of public service. He served in the N.C. General Assembly from 1961-63 and was a founding trustee at Wilkes Community College in 1965. Strickland also served on the board of trustees at UNC-Chapel Hill from 1987-1995. Green said the donation was made to Forsyth Tech because the Stricklands believed in community college education. (Bob Strickland) believes in giving people the opportunity, Green said. He sees community college as the way to do that. Cory Miller, executive director of development and the Forsyth Tech Foundation, called the gift, transformative, saying it will be, a life-changing investment in our students. The donation allows the community college to complete its Pathways to Possibilities Campaign, exceeding the $18 million goal. NEW YORK Ikea relaunched a recall of 17.3 million chests and dressers Tuesday after the death of an eighth child. CEO Lars Petersson said Ikea wants to increase awareness of the recall campaign for several types of chest and dressers that can easily tip over if not properly anchored to a wall. The death of a California toddler, who was found trapped underneath an Ikea Malm dresser in May, has raised questions about whether Ikea has effectively spread the word about the recall, which was first announced in June 2016. The Swedish retailer and the federal safety regulators are asking customers to take immediate action to secure the dressers or to return them. Petersson said Ikea has had an extensive communication campaign through social media, its website and television and print ads. The company emailed 13 million people about the recall two months ago, he said. Still, he said heightening awareness of the recall is necessary because we think that its so important to reach as many people as possible. Acting CPSC chairman Ann Marie Buerkle said that people who own the furniture can take care of any potential hazards by contacting Ikea. The recall is for childrens chests and drawers taller than 23.5 inches and adult chests and dressers taller than 29.5 inches. Customers should contact Ikea for a free wall-mounting kit. The company is also offering to send crews to attach them in the home. Ikea originally said the recall was for 29 million chest and drawers in the U.S. but has revised the figure downward to 17.3 million because the bigger figure included furniture that didnt fit the parameters of the recall. Canadian safety officials issued a similar recall last year for Ikea chest and dressers that dont meet North American voluntary standards. Ikea is offering full refunds for anyone who no longer wants the chest and dressers manufactured between January 2002 and June 2016. Those with recalled furniture made prior to that can receive a partial store credit. Customers can bring them to a store or Ikea will pick them up. At least eight children under the age of three have been killed when an Ikea dresser fell on them, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The first death occurred 28 years ago and the others occurred after 2002. The latest death was Jozef Dudek, 2, of Buena Park, Calif. The toddler was napping when his father went in to check on him and found him under the dresser, according to details released by lawyers retained by the family. Alan Feldman, one of the lawyers representing the Dudek family, said Ikeas recall has been ineffective and the recent announcement will not change that. Rather than distributing wall-mounting kits to people, Feldman said Ikea needs to get these dangerous dressers out of kids bedrooms. The Dudek family never received any additional information about the dresser from Ikea even though they bought it directly from the retailer and had given the company their email and home address to join a customer loyalty program. It sounded to me like the same lame, ineffective recall that weve had since the children were killed, Feldman said. The state did not need to try Garry Gupton for his life. I understand that he committed a brutal murder that caused unimaginable sorrow to the family of his victim, Stephen White. I believe that he deserves to be harshly punished; our societys safety depends on that. However, I also believe that seeking the death penalty only compounded the tragedy of this crime. The life without parole sentence inflicted the White family with the pain of the knowledge that the jury rejected the maximum punishment for the death of their loved one. The case was well-tried by Judge Michael Duncan, Assistant District Attorney Robert Enochs, and Guptons two court-appointed lawyers, Assistant Public Defender Wayne Baucino and Ames Chamberlain. A capital trial requires two defense lawyers which doubles the defense cost to the taxpayers. Guptons six-week trial ended earlier this month with the jury rejecting the death penalty and sentencing Gupton to life in prison with no possibility of parole. It was the fourth capital trial this year in North Carolina, and the fourth to end without a death sentence. No person has been executed in North Carolina since 2006. There are more than a dozen capital crimes found in the Old Testament. When I graduated from law school 50 years ago, we were down to four in North Carolina. First-degree murder is the only one that remains and capital verdicts have become the exception rather than the rule. It seems North Carolina juries have gotten the message that the death penalty is excessive, error-prone, and unnecessary and that life without parole is a harsh enough sentence to punish even the worst crimes. But the Gupton case had another factor that made the use of the death penalty unnecessary. The evidence, which was well-presented by each side, showed that, in addition to the grisly facts, at the time of the murder, Gupton was in the midst of a psychotic break. Experts said that, when he violently assaulted White, Gupton was delusional. He believed he was under a threat from ISIS, and that bombs had been planted in the hotel where he was staying. The police video showed Gupton outside the hotel screaming hysterically about ISIS and telling officers that the building is booby-trapped with explosives. Later, when he awakened handcuffed to a hospital bed, he didnt remember what had happened. In fairness to the state, it must be noted that Gupton refused an offer to plead guilty to second-degree murder with a 25-year prison sentence. It took the jury more than three full days of deliberation to decide that Gupton, who pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, should be convicted of murder. Then it took them only one more day to make the easier decision life without parole instead of death. Research tells us that people with severe mental illness, who commit crimes while psychotic or delusional, are incapable of fully understanding their actions or their consequences. In this way, people with severe mental illness are much like children and those with intellectual disabilities groups that are exempted from the death penalty because of their reduced culpability. For years, North Carolina lawmakers have failed to act on a bill that would also exempt people with severe mental illness from execution. Under the bill, they would be sentenced to life without parole. They would still be held accountable and firmly punished for their actions, but they would not be eligible for the death penalty. I think its time for North Carolina to become the 20th state to abolish capital punishment altogether. News / Press Release by APO Distributed by APO Group on behalf of British High Commission - Lusaka. LUSAKA, Zambia - The British High Commissioner to Zambia, Mr. Fergus Cochrane-Dyet OBE, has issued a statement about developments in Zimbabwe."This is a moment of hope for Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe squandered the immense potential of a remarkable country. While Britain recognises his role in Zimbabwe's struggle for independence, he was responsible for oppression and economic failure.""The British Government does not pretend to regret Mugabe's downfall: the UK hopes that Zimbabweans will now achieve the brighter future they deserve.""The immediate priority is to ensure that Zimbabwe has a legitimate government; the only way to achieve that goal is through free and fair elections, held in accordance with the constitution.""To this end and as Zimbabwe's oldest friend - Britain stands ready to work alongside the country's people, the international community, and partners in the region such as the Republic of Zambia under the leadership of HE President Edgar Lungu." WENTWORTH A master plan is in the works to develop a passive park slated for a vacant 100-acre parcel of wooded land in southwest Rockingham County near Belews Lake. The Rockingham County commission unanimously approved a $43,000 development deal with Raleigh-based OBS Landscape Architects to develop a master plan for the park that will define a vision for improvements, determine a base level for probable construction costs and serve as a foundation for construction documents. The development of the park is a joint-effort between the county and Rockingham County College after land was donated to the county by Duke Energy. The property will be used as a laboratory for the Duke Energy TRAILS program at RCC, which was introduced by county, college and Duke Energy officials in late April. The program, which launched fully this fall, was made possible by a $700,000 grant from Duke Energy. The donation, which is the largest single gift given to a North Carolina community college, will help build a program to jump start careers in outdoor recreation and education. The TRAILS program is the first of its kind in the region. RCC President Mark Kinlaw noted in April that college officials didnt know of one similar in the United States. Tim Johnson, who was hired in mid-August to direct the TRAILS program, says the master plan will go a long way towards building a park that will be viable for Rockingham County residents, as well as student growth. Its going to give us a plan that the TRAILS program and our students can actually implement on the property and thats important because with that plan will be public input, said the former regional trails specialist with the NC State Trails Program of the NC Division of Parks and Recreation. Hopefully we will be meeting the needs of Rockingham County, while also meeting our needs of having a place to implement that plan. Johnson added that part of the contract with OBS includes a trails plan for the property. The Belews Park master plan is a requirement of submission for grant funds through the NC Parks and Recreation Trust Fund. The application, which the community college intends to apply for, in pursuit of funding, is due by the start of May. Brian H. Starkey, who founded OBS Landscape in 1994, will serve as the project manager and lead landscape architect. OBS focuses on the design and planning of parks across the state, and has provided in site evaluation, master planning, concept design and the preparation of construction documents for several recreational, educational, community and public projects across the state. OBS was one of eleven firms to submit interest in developing the park, by submitting to a request for qualifications issued out by the county on Oct. 9. A selection committee was then formed to review submittals. The group included Gunn, Commission Chair Mark Richardson, Planning Director Tonya Caddle, Dan River Basin Association Executive Director Tiffany Haworth, Piedmont Triad Regional Council Planning Director Jesse Day and RCC Director of Occupational Extension Mara ONeill. After whittling down submittals to four firms to interview between Oct. 30 and 31, the group ranked OBS as their top firm moving forward. The committee based their decision on the vast experience OBS has in developing nearby site plans for rural parks. In 2016, OBS was contracted by the State of North Carolina to develop a master plan for the expansion of Hanging Rock State Park in Stokes County. The expansion came after the state acquired nearly 750 acres north of the current park. The company is also responsible for the developmental plan of the Caswell Community Arboretum in Yanceyville. The four phase project to create a master plan for Belews Park will begin immediately. OBS will start with assessing the condition of the property and gathering information from stakeholders and defining goals and objectives for the project. Upon the completion of phase one, the architect team will focus on preliminary planning and design, before starting the four-week draft process which will begin at the beginning of February and will conclude with a presentation to the county commissioners on Feb. 19. The final master plan document will be completed by March 7 and presented to the county commission on March 19 during their regularly scheduled meeting. Pepperidge Farm has donated 14,000 bags of stuffing to multiple charities in southwestern Connecticut on the eve of Thanksgiving, to include Bridgeport Rescue Mission and Person to Person, which has offices in Norwalk and Darien. Pepperidge Farm has its headquarters in Norwalk as a subsidiary of Campbell Soup, the Camden, N.J.-based maker of Swanson chicken stock and Bolthouse Farms carrots among other brands. Opinion / Columnist Robert Gabriel Mugabe the giant African tree has fallen. One of the most powerful African leader has resigned after ruling the country for nearly four decades.He took the country from the colonial powers from 1980. One of the most powerful dictators in Africa has finally thrown in the towel after pressure from the military was exerted on him and the country wide marches which occured on Saturday.He took over the country's leadership from the late Ian Smith when the economy was performing very well until he dragged it into deep economic morasse and quagmire.Robert Mugabe's political and physical demise came at a time when everybody was not even expecting it.Mugabe's health became deteriorating and incapacitated but despite such ailments, he even sought for a re election in 2018. His failure to groom a successor in time was the most blundering thing he did. Mugabe had overstayed his welcome.As he started manoeuvring actions to be succeeded by his wife, the army quickly intervened and swiftly stopped him to create a dynasty. He wanted to be succeded by his young wife Grace Mugabe. This riled the army and most Zanu PF members.Before the 2008 election when he pitted Morgan Tsvangirai he said "When you lose an election and are rejected by the people , that is the time to leave politics"In that year Mugabe was beaten by Morgan Tsvangirai of the labour party MDC-T and rejected by the people but he did not retire.This is the end of a tyrannical era of governance where many people suffered under Robert Mugabe with some being beaten , tried in courts and some getting killed.Mugabe became too big for everyone, too big for the country, too big for the law and too big for the government.This is a historical moment in Zimbabwe after waiting for such a long time to break through. The political geography of Zimbabwe has been changed and the people have spoken together.He used the militias to keep on clinging to power but nothing stays forever. Even his 37 years in power, Mugabe has maintained his stance on the patriotic socialist forces fighting colonialism and capitalism. Anyone who went against his views was regarded as a traitor.Everyone is now expecting a new dawn era where people will unite for a common cause and start rebuilding the country. In defining the Mugabe legacy Zimbabweans will keep on embracing he land reform programme and bring a reformed political trajectory so as to revamp the ailing economy."Roll our sleeves turn our weapons and turn them into plough shears"... To quote from Cde Robert Mugabe.This is now the time to focus life after Mugabe. The country has been damaged and brutaly bruised, the people need to put their differences aside and work together.This is the time for everybody in the country including those in the diaspora should be part and parcel of this rebuilding process. Regardless of people's political affiliations the people must aim to renew the country through sound economic policies and support the backbone of the economy the agrarian sector. There is a future for Zimbabwe and great economic opportunities.All opposition political parties have welcomed the resignation of this statesman and are now opening a new political chapter.The jubilations across the Zimbabweans living abroad celebrated the resignation of Robert Mugabe.We have been losing a lot of money through corruption and there should be a process of uprooting all corrupt individuals in order for investors to have confidence in the country. Within a year we expect to see a dramatic change in the economic sector which will drive the employment creation wheels.This is good news for Zimbabwe, Sadc region, African continent and the whole global world. Its an opportunity for people to create a new phenomenon and we need to revisit the media laws and free the airwaves. We have only one Television channel in Zimbabwe and we clamour for more so as to create a democratic environment thereby creating space for a free and fair election and formulating powerful economic policies.We have lost good some very good opportunities for the past twenty or so years. Zimbabwe has the capacity to grow and make its name popular again.ContactsFacebook - Leonard KoniTwitter. - @leokoniWhatsapp. - +27747402042Email. - konileonard606@gmail.com iciHaiti - Politic : Tax benefits for the integration of people with disabilities In the framework of a partnership between the Directorate General of Taxes (DGI) and the Office of the Secretary of State for the Integration of Persons with Disabilities (BSEIPH), Miradin Morlan, the Director General of the DGI confirmed the existence of tax benefits to specific service providers (hospitals and educational institutions) who have provided assistance to persons with disabilities in applying Articles 19 and 40 of the Act of 13 March 2012 on the integration of persons with disabilities. He states that the amounts of expenses incurred are deductible from the tax fees of the hospital or educational institution. To benefit from these tax benefits, the providers must provide supporting evidence (photos, medical papers certified by the Ministry of Public Health or the BSEIPH). The implementation of the law of 13 March 2012 on the integration of people with disabilities reflects the will of President Jovenel Moise, to work to respect and promote the dignity of human rights for an inclusive society. IH/ iciHaiti Opinion / Columnist Ken Sibanda is a South African born American Constitutional and Human Rights Lawyer. He is President of Institute for Peace and Justice in New York. Sibanda has written the following books; The Tragic Circumstances of 1948; International Law: Peace Accords and Lemba Jewish Rights. Trailer "1948." The immunity granted to President Mugabe this Tuesday, while it covers criminal and civil charges in Zimbabwe, does not cover civil lawsuits filed in foreign countries on his person and which seek to have victims of his rule compensated financially. Diplomatic immunity for Mugabe as head of State has now been lifted and this means in a real sense they can be treated as ordinary civilians in foreign courts, especially here in the United States. No nation is under an obligation to honor another country's "full immunity," provision - take for example the Nazis' in Nazi German.Of concern to us are the following instances in which the victims' families' have direct testimony of the orders of Robert Mugabe: Matabeleland Massacres of 1983, Chiadzwa diamond massacres in Mutare and Operation Murambatswina.Human rights lawyers should properly certify a class and address these actions as class actions against Mugabe. The evidence is still there. I know that the BBC's Panorama has visual video footage, entitled "Gukurahundi" that documents the shallow graves; in addition, the Catholic commission for Justice also has its evidence of Matabeleland Massacres. As for Chiadzwa, any trip to Mutare, Zimbabwe, will provide the necessary evidence to support any claim proper. For Grace Mugabe, it's the invasion of a Mazowe farm, in Eastern Zimbabwe that is one example of her human rights record.Normally a civil lawsuit would involve a family member filing a cause of action in a proper venue (South Africa, Hong Kong or United States) that has assets that can be attached.If filed in the United States under the Foreign Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C 1350, the suit would be filed in a Federal District, and any assets of Mugabe in the States would be used to fulfill that judgment. The act reads as follows:"The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States."To that end, the three countries; Hong Kong, South Africa and United States should hold the assets of the Mugabes in a constructive trust for any purported victim who files a lawsuit.This is justice, there are serious consequences which full immunity does not cover. The families of the deceased have a right to properly accuse their killers; immunity does not cover this. Immunity is a political tool merely intended to ensure peace during a political transition it does not address transitional justice.This is indeed a lesson, that justice under a repressive dictator, such as Mugabe - will be delayed and metered on foreign soil. It is of vital importance that African leaders, and dictators in general, understand that the rule of law will follow them even after they leave office, this serves as a deterrent for future abuse of power. With an ongoing commitment-both onstage and off-to fight human trafficking, this year chart-topping rockers and modern day abolitionists Remedy Drive have further increased their efforts to combat the sex slavery epidemic around the world. While band co-founder and frontman David Zach has become a frequent guest speaker on the topic at universities across the country, Remedy Drive is now offering exclusive merchandise made by-and benefitting-trafficking survivors. In addition, the band's fans have contributed nearly $350,000 to date to The Exodus Road, an organization rescuing the enslaved around the world. This year, Zach has spoken at Nashville's Vanderbilt University; the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis; the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville; and Des Moines, Iowa's Drake University, among other schools. He shares experiences from his nine deployments with The Exodus Road, where he has worked undercover alongside the organization's operatives in successful rescue missions in Southeast Asia and Latin America. Zach is also scheduled for upcoming speaking engagements at the University of University of Wisconsin campuses in Green Bay and Oshkosh, as well as Wyoming's Sheridan College and Black Hills State in Spearfish, South Dakota, among others. "There's something contagious and inspiring about spending time with college students who are not content to sit back and watch the slave trade prosper during their lifetime," says Zach. "There's a unique fire in the eyes of someone who believes, like I do, that ordinary people can put a dent in the darkness of sex trafficking and exploitation. I've seen counter-trafficking clubs and I've been part of demonstrations on campuses to shine a light on slavery. I've been moved by the passion of these students." From the beginning of Remedy Drive's anti-trafficking mission, Christian festivals have provided a vital platform for both the band's music and message. This year Remedy Drive performed and Zach spoke at Creation Northeast and Northwest, Lifest and the Big Ticket Festival, and they will make debut appearances at California's Joshua Fest and Thrive Fest North in North Dakota next year. Remedy Drive has garnered 10 Top 20 singles and released 11 critically acclaimed recordings since their inception in 1998. The band's 2014 recording, Commodity, and 2016's Hope's Not Giving Up, were inspired by their ongoing commitment to fight human trafficking. Music from Remedy Drive has been utilized on NBC, SpeedTV, VH1 and Hyundai. For further information, visit remedydrive.com or turningpointpr.com. Follow the band on Facebook, Twitterand Instagram. Tags : Remedy Drive remedy drive news human trafficking Login or sign up to follow actresses, movies & dramas and get specific updates and news Login Sign Up New Ad-free Subscriber Login Email Password Password Username Your E-mail will only be used to retrieve a lost password. Stay logged in Help Opinion / Columnist Wilton Nyasha Machimbira is a Political Analyst, Human Rights Defender and Director for Developmental Research and Consultancy. For feedback and comments can be contacted on wiltonnyash@gmail.com Zimbabweans from all walks of life ebulliently marched in Harare demanding the resignation of the recalcitrant President Mugabe. The march was a reflection of the national pulse. The exuberance, the jubilation spoke for itself. Mugabe had placed a glass-ceiling on the wishes and aspirations of the Zimbabwean populace. The big lesson is that nothing lasts forever except eternal life.Deification of a leader has its own limits. The march, expulsion from the party and the threat of impeachment became the the straw that broke the camel's back. Robert Mugabe succumbed to people power and finally resigned on his own volition amid groundswell of protests in Harare.This writer will dwell on the significance of the 18th November March.The participation of MDC and other opposition formations in the 18 November march resonated with public sentiment. In the field of politics you need to understand public opinion and the mood of the people.Politicians need not to be out of touch with the reality as the result can spell doom a political career.Dear reader the reality is that every Tom and Jerry wanted Mugabe gone. That was the national pulse at the moment. Being labelled out of touch implies that someone is removed from what's going on, they're not informed or aware or they lack connections. In the political context, to be out of touch is to be disconnected from what is happening outside of Parliament House and the rarefied bubble of politics.With regards to the 18 November march it has to be appreciated that the removal of Robert Mugabe has always been an agenda of the opposition, so it is was now the ruling Zanu-pf championing the MDC agenda.By vociferously calling for the ouster of Mugabe in party and government Zanu-pf has vindicated the opposition.Under-estimate the Zimbabwean opposition at your own peril...they are being cautious with every wording,every statement and every action.Zimbabweans need to let the gluttonous Chinamasas and Themba Mliswa expose themselves by their intransigence. Let them share the so called "Zanu-pf cake". The so called transitional authority is no brainer for it will give life to a dying vulture.Let their Emmerson Mnangagwa face Morgan Tsvangirai in the next watershed election and guess what it is this same Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa who lost parliamentary seat two times to Chebundo of the opposition MDC-T. If he lost to little known Chebundo can he then win against Morgan? Talk of ED campaigning in Matebeleland, that's a non-starter. Emmerson doesn't have a record of competence in as far as execution of government duties and responsibilities is concerned.People are celebrating the fall of the strongman and not the elevation of ED. If you mistakenly assume that its about ED then you need to brace for a rude awakening. The march was rather a combination of spontaneity and planning but at the end of the day no-one can claim credit for mobilization. The masses merely "rallied around their flag" which was under siege.The 18th of November will be remembered as the day when Mugabe was caught on the receiving end of diplomacy.The day when people across the political divide spoke with one voice against Robert Mugabe's rule that was bench-marked by corruption, mismanagement, patronage system and bigotry.Divisions are a reality in any country, but there are also forces that unite countries and strengthen the populace because of a strong love of and loyalty to their country.There exist Centrifugal forces that pull people apart and centripetal forces that bring people together. These forces can limit interaction, producing regionalism and creating dissimilarity among people of a country. A country must have centripetal forces of greater magnitude than the centrifugal forces. Countries are susceptible to forces that divide or unite them.Centripetal forces unite a country where centrifugal forces tend to divide. When the centripetal forces dominate a country, it will stand firm in the face of global challenges and struggles, as well as conflicts within their borders. When internal centrifugal forces threaten to divide the country, the central government may break down and fail. A strong and charismatic leader can mitigate this division. National institutions and symbols can also rally a country together in spite of division. Nationalism, or the strong love of and loyalty to one's country, is also a powerful centripetal force and can create solidarity among the populace.Thus 18 November march should be viewed as a reflection of the national pulse but at this juncture we want back our dignity,our decency, integrity and our credibility as a people.Our person-hood was at stake as Plutocracy and Oligarchy had become the order of the day, the hallmark of Robert Mugabe led government.If we are to make a biblical reference Isaiah 10:5 - God Himself declared that Assyria was the rod in His Hand that He used to punish hypocritical Israel. But Assyria did not know this. They were lifted up in pride and thought they had accomplished their victory by their own power, saying "By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom" (Isaiah 10:13).The Assyrians thought they were invincible after defeating Israel and so felt confident to set their sights on the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Rather than waste their strength and treasure in battle, Sennacherib, the King of Assyria, sent Rabshakeh as a messenger to secure Judah's surrender. It is here they showed their "deliberate defiance of the living God":The bigger task lies ahead dear readerCompliments for the new season Scotland sets date for minimum unit pricing By Michelle Perrett Scotland intends to introduce a minimum unit price (MUP) for alcohol on 1 May 2018 at 50p per unit. The news was unveiled on Tuesday by Scottish health secretary Shona Robison, who confirmed that a consultation on the preferred MUP of 50p, would be published next week. However, there has been some concern raised that the proposed 50p per unit price should be increased as it was proposed five years ago when the legislation was first mooted. Robison said that the Scottish Government wanted to introduce MUP as quickly as possible. There were 1,265 alcohol-related deaths last year, up 10% on 2015, while just today we see statistics showing a 2% annual increase in alcohol-related hospital stays. These numbers are completely unacceptable, said Robison. With alcohol on sale today at just 18p a unit, we have to act to tackle the scourge of cheap, high-strength drink that causes so much damage. She added that research has shown that 50p would cut alcohol-related deaths by 392 and hospital admissions by 8,254 over the first five years of the policy. I anticipate setting the minimum unit price at 50p per unit. We now want to hear from retailers, representative bodies and Licensing Standards Officers about the practicalities of implementation, she said. Meanwhile a five-year sunset clause has been negotiated by the Conservatives, which will see the legislation reviewed and dropped if it is proved not to work. Scottish Conservative deputy leader Jackson Carlaw, welcomed the move by the Government for a fast implementation but admitted there would need to be a discussion around the pricing. Not only is that figure now five years old, but will it be suitable for another five years as this policy develops? he said. We sincerely hope this legislation leads to a reduction in the number of lives lost in Scotland to alcohol. It will be challenging to monitor the impact of this, and thats something the Scottish Government will have to do very carefully over the coming years. Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie is reported to be among those to have called for a 60p minimum price. Scotland will be the first country to MUP on alcohol after the UK Supreme Court rejected a challenge by the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) and European producers on 15 November. The Scottish Parliament passed the Alcohol Minimum Pricing Bill in May 2012 but the SWA fought the move claiming that the legislation broke European law. Robison revealed that the SWA would pay the Scottish Governments costs for a recent Supreme Court legal battle. New features and venue for annual NZ tasting By Michelle Perrett The New Zealand Winegrowers is to hold its Annual Trade Tasting in January at a new venue with a range of new features. The tasting, themed Flavours of New Zealand, will offer small 30 minute focussed seminars that will explore the different varieties and styles of country has to offer. The seminars will be led by Peter McCombie, MW and Rebecca Gibb, MW and will include topics including the Diversity of Sauvignon Blanc, Unexpected Varieties, Different Shades of Pinot, and Classic Reds. There will also be a consumer discovery seminar in the evening. Another new feature will be The Masters Selection table, which will showcase 16 wines from a wide range of styles, varieties and regions. Fifteen Masters of Wine and Master Sommeliers from around the world, who have visited New Zealand recently, were asked to nominate their top three choices. This resulted nearly 100 wines being nominated and from this list the 16 were selected. We are looking forward to showcasing New Zealand wines in the new venue and welcoming the trade to one of the first major tastings of the year, said Chris Stroud, marketing manager Europe for New Zealand Winegrowers. New Zealand is as popular as ever in the UK market, so we are delighted to bring in some new features for the tasting to highlight our broad range of styles. New Zealand wines are continuing to grow in popularity in the UK market. There has been a 15% growth in volume and 14% in value (Nielsen Scantrack data WE 7-10-17). New Zealand also still has the highest average price of any country at 7.10, above the national average of 5.57. There will be over 450 wines at the event from regions across New Zealand, including Waiheke Island, Hawke's Bay, Wairarapa, Marlborough, North Canterbury, Nelson, Gisborne and Central Otago. The event will be held on Monday 15 January 2018 between 10am to 5pm at the new venue of Westminster Bridge - County Hall. Opinion / Columnist Tinashe Eric Muzamhindo writes in his personal capacity as the Head of Southern Institute of Policy Analysis and Research SIPAR TRUST, which is responsible for policy Analysis and Research. He is also an academic and researcher. He holds a BA, M.A from Solusi University, and he also holds a Masters of Development Studies from University of Lusaka, Zambia. He is currently enrolled at University of Kwazulu Natal University in South Africa (PHD in Development Studies). He can be contacted at southerninstitutepar@gmail.com I believe the most ideal thing to do as a President is to give an ear to the people and you will be the best President in Africa. African politics is characterized by the following, corruption, policy inconsistency, looting from state coffers, and bootlicking, we need real facts on the table, politics aside, and we must contribute towards rebuilding this nation.The problem is bootlicking in Zimbabwe and we have created semi gods out of this scenario and my proposal ED, should away with this. It is high time our politics should be neutralized with simplicity and humility.I hope and trust that ED can be a good president if he submits himself to the nation. Constitutionalism is very critical at this stage, and it has to be practiced, being a lawyer by profession, he may have a better definition. Mugabe' s previous cabinets were characterized by bootlickers, cadres and thieves who never practiced what was under the oath, they bunged question and answer segments in parliament and these are the same people who are trying by all means to save their faces on ED again. We need new faces in the Government.I think it would be good Mr. President designate if you would call for a stakeholder's conference or a round table with policy makers, business community, opposition, students, civic society and churches and consult on the composition of a new cabinet.Rushing to appoint people who have destroyed our economy before is not ideal and this may ruin your reputation. Be brave ED and make crucial decisions based on merit. For now you are riding on Zanu PF, Mugabe's legacy, and make a name out of this. The whole ideal for this transition should be1. Economic reforms2. Political reforms3. Electoral reforms4. Peace and reconciliation5. People driven agendaMy Proposition for a New CabinetPresident - E.D MnangagwaVice 1 - Constantine ChiwengaVice 2 - Dumiso DabengwaPrime Minister - Morgan Richard TsvangiraiDeputy Prime - Thokozani KhupeFinance - Tendai Biti / Luxon ZembeForeign Affairs - Nelson ChamisaLocal Gvt - Douglas MwonzoraEnergy - Eng Elias MudzuriTransport/ Communication - Josiah HungweLegal/Justice/ Parliamentary Affairs Thabani MpofuCommerce& Nindustry - Chris MutswangwaHome Affairs/Defence - Larry MavhimaTourism& Hospitality - Walter MzembiWomen/Gender - Priscilla MisiharambwiYouth - Mayor WadyajenaSports& Culture - Makhosini HlongwaneInformation& Publicity - George CharambaForeign Service - Victor MatemadandaState Security - Kembo MohadiMin of Higher Education/ Primary and Secondary Education - Professor Authur MutambaraWe are there Mr President to give good sound advice, what we want is to move forward as a nation, and bring sustainable results. Why Does Hawaii Hate American Workers? With occupational licensing rules that benefit favored friends, state governments raise barriers to prosperity for millions and raise costs for the rest of us. by J.D. Tuccille, Reason, November 21, 2017 In Hawaii, it takes an average of 988 days and $438 in fees to become licensed to perform one of many occupations under the thumbs of state regulators. Given that the average requirement across the United States to enter such fields as painting contractor, landscaper, or manicurist is an already burdensome year of people's lives and $267 in fees, you have to wonder what officials in the Aloha State have against people trying to make a buck. But Hawaii isn't the only offenderand in some ways it's not the worst, given that it licenses "only" 63 of 102 mostly lower-income occupations examined in a recent report from the Institute for Justice. Louisiana and Washington are both the worst offenders in this sense, imposing licensing requirements on people seeking work in 77 of the jobs examined in the report. Or you could combine the worst of both worlds, like California which licenses 76 occupations at an average of $486 in fees and 827 days in time, or Nevada which requires an average $704 in fees and 861 days for 75 jobs. Ouch. "In 1950, only about 1 in 20 jobs required a license," Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta noted during a speech to state legislators on July 21 of this year. "Today, more than 1 in 4 Americans need a license to legally perform their work." He added, "Taking up this issue is one way that you, as legislators, can have immediate, consequential and measurable impact. You have a tremendous opportunity to help create millions of jobs, without spending a dime." Acosta voiced rare bipartisan concerns in this politically tribal day and age. The preceding Obama administration was also worried about the proliferation of occupational licensing, warning in 2015, "Fewer workers means higher wages for those who secure a license, but lower wages for excluded workers and higher prices for consumers. Research finds that more restrictive licensing raises prices for goods and services provided by licensed professionals by between 3 and 16 percent." Bipartisan agreement that occupational licensing is out of control! That means we can make progress, right? Well, some. Arizona, where I live, for instance, has eliminated licensing requirements for a handful of occupations. These are "regulations that are often designed to kill competition or keep out the little guy, including the elimination of licenses for talent agents," in the words of Republican Gov. Doug Ducey's office. But explicitly eliminating licensing requirements for more jobs has been challengingthe state still licenses 68 of the 102 occupations examined in the IJ report, at an average of $612 in fees and 765 days. So Arizona has taken a new tack, this year adopting a law that eases the way for people to sue the state government over licensing requirements that restrict competition and create unnecessary barriers. Really, that's all of them, so this could be promising. Another law requires regulatory boards to justify their licensing requirements. Why the tough battle to achieve reform that enjoys bipartisan support? Apparently, so we're told, it's to save us from doom. Advocates of licensing constantly invoke health and safety concerns. Without licensing, "Any person without any formal education would be able to practice cosmetology, putting consumers at risk of injuries, burns, infections, and the spread of diseases, such as hepatitis and Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus (MRSA), due to unsanitary practices," argued Bridget Sharpe, Manager of Government Affairs for the Professional Beauty Association. Sure. Except that a 1997 study by Morris M. Kleiner and Robert T. Kudrle, of the University of Minnesota, found that "increased licensing restrictiveness did not improve dental health, but did raise the prices of basic dental services." Yes, that means that licensing hasn't improved the quality of dentistry. So the argument that it saves us from the risks of unregulated cosmetology seem a bit unpersuasive. Also illustrative is the fact that jobs licensed in some states go unburdened by such requirements in others. Florists are licensed only in Louisiana, for example. The rest of us just have to take our chances with the unlikely perils of floral anarchy. Seven states license tree trimmers. Fourteen states license locksmiths. Are the people in states that don't require licenses in these fields really in more danger? There's no evidence to suggest that's the caseunless you're talking about the "danger" of greater choice and competition. As the IJ report points out, "in 2012, Louisiana had just 32 braiders legally allowed to serve the whole state, while Mississippi had over 1,200." Unsurprisingly, Louisiana licenses hair braiders, while Mississippi does not. As you might expect, people lucky enough to hold licenses in regulated fields see the barriers to entry as a feature, not a bug. "Too often, the members of an occupation gain effective control over the quasi-public board that regulates their profession. Once this happens, private actors wield their government-granted power to block potential competitors from entering 'their' market," writes Maureen K. Ohlhausen, Acting Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, in a foreword to the IJ report. In raising barriers to competition, regulators and the industries that capture them also create hurdles to mobility between states. "When a worker has made large investments of time and money in obtaining a license from a particular state, she will be understandably reluctant to move to another state and again pay the costs of becoming licensed, even when job conditions are better elsewhere," wrote Ryan Nunn last year in a separate report for the Brookings Institution. That locks people in place, hurts prosperity, and puts two-income families in a bind when opportunity across state lines for one partner may require another round of expensive licensing challenges for the other. The Brookings report suggested interesting alternative means of addressing licensing advocates' alleged health and safety concerns. "Some are purely private: third party organizations with relevant expertise can attest to the competence of a worker, often through a private certificate or reputational markets like Yelp can help consumers share their experiences with particular workers." Good reviews and seals of approval could accomplish the screening that licensing is supposed to give us without barring go-getters from starting new jobs or denying choice to customers. Of course, established businesses could no longer bar competitors from their fields. Too bad. There aren't too many issues on which Americans agree these days. That occupational licensing is completely out of hand is one of the few points of accordwith the exception of the grifters who benefit from such barriers and don't care about the impact on other people's opportunity, choice, and prosperity. Reforming the rules is a fine means by which government officials in Hawaiiand Louisiana, and Washington, and every other state in the unioncan demonstrate that they don't actually hate American workers. They might even make life freer and better in important ways. ---30--- Related: Hawaii Professionals -- more licensing, fewer requirements m 1 March 2018, men of the WA Police Force will be able to grow beards.Under the present rules, officers are only allowed to grow beards for religious, cultural or medical reasons and must have their claim supported by appropriate evidence.Commissioner Chris Dawson announced to the Police Union's annual conference that the WA Police Corporate Board had agreed on an acceptable beard policy.For instance, the beard must be full face with moustache and must be no less than 8mm in thickness and no greater than 20mm.Goatees, excessive sideburns and small patches below the bottom lip are still banned, and no beard is allowed if the officer is attached to a specialist team that requires use of gas mask.Moreover, the beards must be grown in their own time when the officers are on three weeks leave. This is because the WA Police Force does not want people coming to work unshaven.The WA Police Union said removing the ban will modernise the Force and bring them into line with other police agencies across Australia.The union had previously argued that officers should be allowed to grow beards particularly in colder climates around the State.Members feel the police force regulations and WA Police policy regarding the wearing of beards is out of date and that it should be changed to reflect the current trends amongst the male members of the community, said the Lower South West branch.Five years ago, Victoria Police introduced a beard ban and three years later 16 of the officers challenged the ruling by taking it all the way to the Supreme Court.The officers argued the ban was unfair for a variety of reasons, including that it reduced their level of attractiveness, while another officer claimed he could not shave due to medical reasons.The Supreme Court found the ban on beards and long hair is not discriminatory.Employment lawyer Nicole Young told ABC Radio Perth that employers are allowed to have a range of rules about how their employees have to look."Rules against hair colour, piercing, tattooing if a business wants to have a rule about how you will look at work, it's usually not discriminatory unless it's based on a religious belief," she said.HRD contacted the West Australian Police Force for comment. Where is China heading for? What does Chinas rapid development mean to itself and the world? The most accurate answer may lie in the outcome of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. The congress elected a new leadership with Xi Jinping as the core, defined its new historic juncture in Chinas development, and blueprinted the overall plan for securing a decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and embarking on a journey to fully build a modern socialist China. It is a remarkable milestone in Chinas history, which is going to positively and profoundly impact the world, and will undoubtedly bring in a dynamic power pushing forward China-Finland relations. The Congress clarified the strategic vision for developing socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era. In order to realize the historic Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation and based on a comprehensive analysis of the international and domestic environments and the conditions for Chinas development, the congress charted the timetable and road-map: the period between now and 2020 will be decisive in finishing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects. From 2020 to 2035, on the foundation of moderately prosperous society, China will see socialist modernization basically realized with a further 15 years of hard work. From 2035 to the middle of the 21st century, from the basically achieved modernization, with a further 15 years of hard work, China will develop into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful. The Congress clarified that China will remain fully committed to an economic policy which suits the dimension of its national context. China will continuously deepen reform in every field, applying the new vision of innovative, coordinated, green, and open development in common interest, promoting sustained and sound economic growth, and developing a modernized economy. Chinas economy has been transitioning from a phase of rapid growth to a stage of high-quality development. It will pursue supply-side structural reform as main task, to work hard for better quality, higher efficiency, and more robust drivers of economic growth. It will accelerate the building of an industrial system, to promote coordinated development of the economy with technological innovation, modern finance, and human resources. It will develop advanced manufacturing, to promote further integration of the economy with the internet, big data, and artificial intelligence. It will promote green development and actively act on environment issues such as air pollution, water pollution and soil pollution, to intensify the protection of ecosystems, replenish environmental regulation system and solve prominent environmental problems, supporting a green, low-carbon, circular, and sustainable way of life. The Congress clarified Chinas will for major country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics. China will bear the wellbeing of mankind in mind, holding high the banner of peace, development, cooperation, and mutual benefit, to forge a new form of international relations featuring mutual respect, fairness, justice, and win-win cooperation, to create a community of shared future for mankind, and to build an open, inclusive, clean, and beautiful world that enjoys lasting peace, universal security, and common prosperity. China will remain firm in pursuing an independent foreign policy of peace, never seek hegemony or engage in expansion, standing for equality of all countries, big or small, strong or weak, rich or poor, thus to develop global partnerships and expand the convergence of interests with other countries. Confronting various global challenges, China is ready to work with other countries, to reform the global governance system towards a more equitable and legitimate way, to promote economic globalization, and to tackle climate change, protecting our planet for the sake of human survival. The Congress clarified the growth strategy of implementing the innovation-driven development, in order to become a global leader in innovation. China will prioritize innovation in key generic, cutting-edge frontier, modern engineering, and disruptive technologies, underpinning its strength in science and technology, product quality, aerospace, cyberspace, and transportation. In 2016, Chinas R&D expenditure amounted to 2.11% of its annual GDP, scientific and technological progress accounted for 56.2% of the country's economic growth. Besides the four great inventions of ancient China, which had a great impact on the development of world civilization, the four great new inventions, i.e., high-speed rail, dockless shared bicycle, mobile payment, and e-commerce, have shed new light into the phrase innovated in China. Chinas development is now, and will be powered by innovations which will provide more supports for the future of the world and generate more pleasant surprises. The Congress clarified that China will make new ground in pursuing opening up on all fronts. China will seek mutual benefit and develop with its doors open wide. With international cooperation through the Belt and Road Initiative, to achieve policy, infrastructure, trade, financial, and people-to-people connectivity and thus make new ground in opening China further through links running eastward and westward, across land and over sea. Giving equal emphasis to bringing in and going global, China will expand international trade and diversify investment, build a new platform for international cooperation to create new drivers of shared development. In order to further open up its market to the world and facilitate international trade, on 5th - 10th November 2018, the first China International Import Expo will take place in Shanghai during which companies from more than 100 countries and regions are expected to attend, showing Chinas sincerity in sharing opportunities and seeking mutual benefits. In the coming 5 years, China will import $ 8 trillion worth of goods, attract $ 600 billion of foreign investment, meanwhile outbound investment will reach $ 750 billion, outbound tourists amount to 700 million, signifying the spillover effect of its development upon the world. For decades, China values its relations with Finland. During the year 2017, which marks the 100th anniversary of Finlands independence and 67th anniversary of China-Finland diplomatic relations, the bilateral relations achieved historic breakthrough. At the invitation of President Niinisto, President Xi Jinping concluded a successful state visit to Finland, first of its kind in 22 years. The heads of states confirmed the establishment of the future-oriented new-type cooperative partnership. As a follow-up, Prime Minister Sipila visited China for Summer Davos Forum. Finnish Parliament Speaker Ms. Lohela has also accomplished her first official visit to China. The frequent exchange of high-level visits have deepened cooperation in all respects. From Januaray to August of 2017, the bilateral trade reached $4.7 billion, seeing a 9.9% year-on-year increase, which keeps China being Finlands biggest trading partner in Asia for 14 consecutive years and fifth trade partner globally. During the same period, the overnights that Chinese tourists spent in Finland increased by 39%, ranking first in growth among all countries. Besides, bilateral relations have succeeded with significant achievements in terms of investment, clean energy, environment, arctic, education, sport, etc. Stepping into the new era, Chinas vigorous development will bring in an unprecedentedly vast prospect to the China-Finland relations. Recently, China-Finland Committee for Innovative Business Cooperation was established, a new freight rail connecting Kouvola and Xian kicked off, all these endeavors will definitely invigorate new vitality to the economic bond between China and Finland. Furthermore, what we will see in the near future are new airlines opening, giant pandas coming, more interaction between twin cities, and enhanced practical cooperation at all levels. China is ready to work together with Finland for a better future of bilateral relations. Mr Chen Li Ambassador of China to Finland The City Board on Tuesday approved a proposal to grant undocumented immigrants the same rights to medicine, medical care, vaccinations and dental care as asylum applicants, instead of only to indispensable subsistence, such as food, accommodation and emergency care. The Helsinki City Board has stirred up concerns among policy makers by voting narrowly in favour of improving the living conditions of undocumented immigrants. Jussi Halla-aho, the chairperson of the Finns Party, warned yesterday that the decision could undermine the credibility of the aliens act and the asylum procedure. Free health care services are a rate treat globally. Its blatantly obvious that offering them to everyone who wants them will, firstly, encourage unsuccessful asylum applicants to stay illegally in Finland and, secondly, attract more people with no grounds for receiving international protection or a residence permit to the country, he wrote on Facebook. Prime Minister Juha Sipilas (Centre) government, he reminded, has pledged to address the issue and encourage illegal residents to return home. If Finlands largest city and the main destination for immigrants contrastively encourages them to stay, itll undermine the foundation for the governments objective. Is the government planning on interfering as the capital is attracting unsuccessful applicants to stay in the country and, thus, sabotaging the governments objective to ensure illegal residents leave the country? Mari Rantanen (PS), a councillor for the City of Helsinki, similarly voiced her concern that the proposal could undermine the credibility of the asylum system of Finland. Pia Pakarinen (NCP), a Deputy Mayor of Helsinki, urged the city to pay heed to how other countries are approaching the issue in order not to create any additional pull factors. Im of the opinion that everyone has the right to urgent care. Regardless of nationality, no one should have to die on the streets of Helsinki. When it comes to expanding the services [available to undocumented immigrants], I would keep a close eye on what other countries have decided in order to ensure we are not offering benefits you cannot get elsewhere, she wrote. She also reminded that for the city to be able to provide non-urgent care and education services to all who arrive there, the number of people who need such services must not be allowed to spiral out of control. The fate of the proposal will be decided at a later date by the Helsinki City Council. Aleksi Teivainen HT Photo: Vesa Moilanen Lehtikuva Source: Uusi Suomi Opinion / Columnist There is a growing chorus of people supporting the idea of Zanu PF inviting the opposition to form another GNU or National Transition Authority."ACADEMIC and political analyst Ibbo Mandaza says that a transitional government in the form of a government of national unity (GNU), followed by elections two years later is the way to go in resolving Zimbabwe's political crisis," reported Newsday."Speaking on a BBC television programme, Hardtalk hosted by Stephen Sackur, Mandaza said there was need to mediate the conflict and have national dialogue which includes everybody, including main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to form a transitional authority."Whilst there is good reason for some mechanism, be it mark-2 GNU, NTA or whatever, to implement the democratic reforms designed to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship and deliver free and fair elections. Only a fool who expect Zanu PF to preside over the process and get the job done.People must not be fooled; whatever GNU Mnangagwa may come up with it will not be there to implement the democratic reforms the nation has been dying for.Zanu PF rigged the July 2013 elections to get a very comfortable two thirds majority in both parliament and senate. The party has since won all but one of the by-elections since to boost its majority even further. Tsvangirai, out of spite and his usual foolishness, recalled all the seats from the break-away Tendai Biti group knowing fully well he was not going to even try to win the seats back in the by-election because his party had passed the "No reform, no election!" resolution.So, with a 75% plus majority in both houses, Mnangagwa does not need to invite an opposition members in his government. There can only be three reasons why would want a GNU, they are all for selfish gain:1) Mnangagwa, like Mugabe before, has always wanted a one-party dictatorship. When Zanu PF was forced to sign-on to the multi-party Lancaster House Constitution in 1979 they party set about to create a de facto one-party State. The principle purpose of all the Gukurahundi massacre was to completely destroy PF Zapu, their main rivalry at the time, clear the deck, and impose the one-party state. Mnangagwa played a central role in the massacre, because he, no doubt, subscribed to its principle objective.Mugabe failed to achieve his Gukurahundi objective, wipe PF Zapu off the Zimbabwe political stage, but achieved the next best thing whip the party into joining Zanu PF to form the de facto one-party state we have today.Mugabe has ruthless denied the political space to all other opposition parties accusing all opposition politicians of being puppets of the West hell-bend on disrupting the peace and unity with their regime-change agenda.No doubt, Mnangagwa will argue that he is inviting the opposition to join his government in the name of national unity the political correct euphemism for one-party dictatorship, brought in by the back door.Tsvangirai, Ncube and many others in the opposition camp will jump sky-high at the opportunity to get back on the grave train. Tsvangirai was no more than a tea-boy with the fancy post of Prime Minister during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. With no SADC leaders agenda to worry about as last time, Mnangagwa can afford to completely ignore the window-dressing opposition.A healthy and functional democracy needs a robust opposition to hold the government to account, something the corrupt and incompetent MDC politicians have failed to do. Their being co-opted into Zanu PF government will silence them completely.2) Mnangagwa knows that for him to stand a chance of winning the next elections he will need a lot more than the 8 months left of the present parliamentary term. He wants to use the creation of this fictitious government of national unity as an excuse for postponing next year's elections which must be held by the end of July 2018 at the latest. He would want to argue that the new administration has had to agree on the democratic reforms needed to take the country forward.Mnangagwa knows that there no democratic constitution in the world that would allow the seating government to postpone elections because it makes a mockery of fixed term parliament. So, for him to pull this off he is playing the same dirty trick Mugabe played during the GNU bribe the opposition, pamper them silly with the trapping of power, to buy their silence.3) If Mnangagwa cannot postpone the elections then he will have no choice but to rig the elections to hang on to his post as president. He and his Zanu PF colleagues cannot afford the luxury of holding free and fair elections and risk defeat. They cannot contemplate defeat because they will stand to lose a lot more than the right to hold public office; they will lose the power to stop the world investigating their past. For the last 37 years Mugabe, Mnangagwa and the rest of the Zanu PF cabal have looted the nation blind and committed some shocking human right violations.Even at the height of the Zanu PF factional wars, the one thing the Mujuru, Mnangagwa and G40 factional members all agreed on was that a Zanu PF faction must retain power at all cost and that is why no faction has ever supported the implementation of democratic reforms.The Mujuru faction was booted out of the party three years ago and it has paid lip-service to democratic reforms and free and fair election. She and her newly formed People's Rainbow Coalition would rather take their chance and contest flawed elections next year than demand reforms to ensure free and fair elections which could result in a democratic government. She has as much to fear from such a government as Mnangagwa and the rest in Zanu PF because she too is guilty of the wholesale looting during for 34 years in Zanu PF.So, Mnangagwa would be inviting the opposition to join him in his new administration to reassure them that they too will have a share of the spoils of power in post Mugabe Zimbabwe. He wants as many opposition parties to take part in next year's elections even if they know Zanu PF will rig the vote to stay in power. He wants them to be assured the party will allow the opposition some generous scraps.Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends had more than the balance of power in the 2008 to 2013 GNU, MDC had a numeric majority in parliament and cabinet. They also had a clearly defined task to do, implementing the raft of democratic reforms. Yet, after five years, they still failed to get even one democratic reform implemented. Only the politically naive would believe that the opposition will accomplish anything by joining a Mnangagwa led government of national unity in which they will not even be elected MP and with a vaguely defined task of implementing electoral reforms.Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends sold-out big time during the 2008 to 2013 GNU they will be joining the Mnangagwa mark-2 GNU for no other reason than to sell-out again!We need the democratic reforms implemented, there is no question that this is the nation's ticket out of the hell-hole Zanu PF has landed us in, but to think that a mickey-mouse GNU headed by someone like Mnangagwa would reform himself and his Zanu PF cronies out of office is the madness that landed us into this mess in the first place! We want a mark 2 GNU but one with competent players, not the same clowns from GNU mark 1, and a realistic chance of getting the reforms implemented.If Mnangagwa cannot deliver free and fair elections then he must stand down. If he fails to deliver free and fair elections then he will be compelled to stand down. Either way, the nation will have a chance to appoint competent men and women to form the GNU mark 2 without having to include Zanu PF and MDC politicians. The latter had the golden opportunity to implement the reforms during the 2008 to 2013 GNU; they fail and now they must go.We must not allow Mnangagwa to hold this nation to ransom the same way Mugabe has done! Our people have waited for free, fair and credible elections for 37 years now, the next elections MUST be free, fair and credible without fail and for that we must make sure we have a competent team to implement the reforms and not a team of recycled yesteryear clowns! The Secret to Small Business Saturday Success? Focus on the Customer Experience The small business Super Bowl is nearly upon us. Small Business Saturday comes but once a year, and any proprietor of a small enterprise worth his or her salt has no doubt already been preparing for months. Inventory has been stocked, staff schedules are in place, special deals and incentives are ready to go and game faces are on! As we barrel toward this all-important small business holiday/event/celebration/sales opportunity, what should small business owners be thinking about outside of logistics, sales, staffing and the like as the big day approaches? In my experience, the answer is customer experience. All too often, small businesses get caught up in trying to match the sales prices of their larger competitors to encourage patronage on Small Business Saturday and think of positive customer experience only in terms of friendly service and adequate available inventory. However, there is a lot more to it than that. And small businesses are uniquely positioned to deliver real, loyalty-building customer experiences during this crucial selling periodoftentimes better than their national competition. For instance, small businesses generally have fewer customers and are able to offer a more personalized touch on Small Business Saturday and throughout the holiday selling season than their larger competitors. This is a significant competitive advantage as three out of five Americans say theyd try a new brand or company if it meant a better customer service experience A properly executed Small Business Saturday customer experience game plan requires forethought and commitmentno easy feat considering everything else a small business must consider and juggle leading into this important day of sales. Its no wonder that many small business owners find it difficult to make customer experience a real priority in the face of so many other forces to reconcile. Nevertheless, just as a small business might utilize software to simplify the companys inventory, sales or accounting processes, there are tools, tricks, and insights that help make delivering the best customer experience easier, too. With this in mind, here are my three keys for positioning your small business for customer experience success this Small Business Saturday: 1. Commit to Small Business YogaIn other words, get flexible! 2017 customers are connected and savvier than ever, and their expectations about service are changing as rapidly as the technology that shapes and supports their buying behavior. Enhance the customer experience at your small business this Small Business Saturday by being flexible in ways that larger competitors in your space cant. For instance, grab a couple mobile payment processing dongles and help speed up check out times by taking payment anywhere in the store via mobile. Also, focus on your local ties. You know the area better than the chains and franchises you compete with so if you can tailor your product or service offerings on Small Business Saturday to meet the needs of customers in the local area during this time of year, make that happen. Or, if you know that some of your patrons on Small Business Saturday may be looking for complimentary products/services to your offerings, partner up with another local business that can offer those goods and services. They can reciprocate as well and you can help increase sales at both local small businesses while also improving the customer experience. This is a great small business value add for small business customers who would never be referred to a Target by a Best Buy even if it would improve their customer experience ten fold. 2. Dont Forget About Self-Service Lets be clearyou cant emphasize enough the value of speedy, personalized service in enhancing the customer experience, but you should also be mindful of the fact that many consumers today sometimes prefer to help themselves. In fact, research reveals that 90 percent of consumers want businesses to provide a self-service customer support portal. The key here is to present your customers with clear channels of informationhowever they choose to access it. In addition to a Contact Us page with your address, email, and phone number, be sure to offer an FAQ or troubleshooting page this Small Business Saturday so customers can find answers on their own terms. Everything they might want to research or learn should never be more than a click away from your business homepage. 3. Dont Be ShyGet in There And Connect With Your Customers! Creating a memorable, authentic Small Business Saturday customer experience is about much more than being friendly (although that certainly counts!). Instead, it requires interactions that are both meaningful and valuable to customers. In order to do that, youll need to know all about your individual customers wants, needs, preferences, and priorities. Make sure you have an accurate, up-to-date database of customer records and interactions. You can do this in an organized spreadsheet or, if you want to make your life easier, with the help of a small business-focused customer relationship management (CRM) tool like Act! from Swiftpage. This will ensure you arent wasting your repeat customers time by asking redundant or irrelevant questions, and youll always know exactly where they are in the sales cycle. Seventy-six percent of consumers say they view customer service as the true test of how much a company values themyou can help demonstrate this appreciation by staying on top of each individual customers needs, and by providing service tailored to meeting those needs. For small business owners, time and revenue are precious commodities come Small Business Saturday; and making good on the promise of exceptional service can sometimes be a challenge. However, its possible to set yourself up for success by embracing the opportunity. The local community wants to come out and support their small businesses, they just need you to make it worth their while. Delivering an exceptional customer experience can go a long way toward establishing the value of your products and services and, if properly executed, will surely translate into Small Business Saturday sales success. Game faces on, people. Its time for the Small Business Super Bowl! About the Author: H. John Oechsle joined Swiftpage in July 2012 and currently serves as president and chief executive officer. John came to Swiftpage (www.act.com) with a 30 year track record of building highly profitable and sustainable revenue growth for emerging companies and established global leaders. John is an advocate for technology and education in Colorado and has been an active contributor to the Colorado Technology Association (CTA). He has been recognized several times for his involvement in the tech industry. In 2006 and in 2009, John was awarded the Technology Executive of the Year, and the Titan of Technology awards by the CTA. John was also awarded the Bob Newman Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Community by the CTA in 2011. Edited by Mandi Nowitz United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit. DAVID K. ISHAM, Plaintiff - Appellant, v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA; STATE OF WYOMING, Defendants - Appellees. No. 17-8054 Decided: November 21, 2017 Before LUCERO, BALDOCK, and MORITZ, Circuit Judges. ORDER AND JUDGMENT * Proceeding pro se, David K. Isham appeals the district court's dismissal of his complaint for failure to state a claim. We affirm. I In 2003, Isham was convicted of being in control of a vehicle while intoxicated (DUI) and unlawfully possessing a loaded firearm in Grand Teton National Park. He appealed the DUI conviction. The government admitted that the evidence was insufficient to support the DUI conviction, so we remanded to the district court with directions to dismiss that charge. United States v. Isham, 131 F. App'x 641, 641 (10th Cir. 2005) (unpublished opinion). The district court did so, and fined Isham $25 for his remaining conviction for unlawfully possessing a loaded firearm in Grand Teton. Order on Remand and Resentencing at 1, United States v. Isham, No. 04-mj-014 (D. Wyo. Sept. 1, 2005). Almost a decade later, a potential employer ran a criminal background check on Isham and sent him a letter about the results. The potential employer asked Isham to provide information about four charges from 2003: Loaded Firearm, DUI, Trespass- Federal, and Possession Controlled Substance. R. 10. Isham believed this information was incorrect because his DUI conviction had been dismissed, so he turned to the court system for relief. Isham alleged, under 42 U.S.C. 1983 and Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388 (1971), that the United States and Wyoming, acting as one, violated his constitutional rights by failing to correct or clarify the information that appears in his criminal background check. R. 57. He asserted that he's been unable to get a job because of the inaccurate background-check information, and he asked for $675,000 in lost wages. Isham sought to proceed in forma pauperis (IFP) in the district court. See 28 U.S.C. 1915(a)(1). As such, the district court screened his complaint, see id. 1915(e)(2)(B), and found that the information in his criminal background checkas reflected in the letter from Isham's potential employeraccurately reflected the four crimes he'd been charged with in 2003. So the district court concluded that Isham failed to suggest facts to support any claim against the [g]overnment or the State of Wyoming. R. 15; see also 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii) (providing that district court shall dismiss the case at any time if it determines that the action fails to state a claim on which relief may be granted). Isham appeals. II We review de novo the district court's decision to dismiss an IFP complaint under 28 U.S.C. 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii) for failure to state a claim. Kay v. Bemis, 500 F.3d 1214, 1217 (10th Cir. 2007). In determining whether a dismissal is proper, we must accept the allegations of the complaint as true and construe those allegations, and any reasonable inferences that might be drawn from them, in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. Id. (quoting Gaines v. Stenseng, 292 F.3d 1222, 1224 (10th Cir. 2002)). On appeal, Isham seems to concede that the background check accurately reflects his 2003 charges. Nevertheless, he insists that the information is displayed in an intentionally misleading manner. But he fails to explain why the district court was wrong to conclude that he failed to state a claim against the United States or Wyoming. See Nixon v. City & Cty. of Denver, 784 F.3d 1364, 1366 (10th Cir. 2015) (noting appellant must explain to us why the district court's decision was wrong). Isham doesn't cite 1983, Bivens, or any constitutional provisions. He references two statutes in his brief on appeal, but neither applies to him. He also uses the words defamatory, defamed, and slandered, Aplt. Br. 89, but he doesn't develop any argument related to a defamation or slander cause of action. See Murrell v. Shalala, 43 F.3d 1388, 1389 n.2 (10th Cir. 1994) ([P]erfunctory complaints fail to frame and develop an issue sufficient to invoke appellate review.). Construed liberally, Isham's brief argues that he has stated a claim simply because his background check displays information in a misleading manner. To state a claim under 1983 or Bivens, Isham must allege facts supporting the violation of a constitutional right. See 1983 (providing relief for the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws); Big Cats of Serenity Springs, Inc. v. Rhodes, 843 F.3d 853, 85960 (10th Cir. 2016) (noting that Bivens allows individuals to sue federal officials for alleged violations of the First, Fourth, and Eighth Amendments). And put simply, Isham hasn't shown any constitutional deprivations. His complaint fails to state a claim under either 1983 or Bivens. Next, Isham complains about how the district court handled his complaint, stating that the district court tried to use every avenue in which to dismiss or restrict [his] access to the court system. Aplt. Br. 8. We understand that Isham may be frustrated with the district court's decision to sua sponte dismiss his complaint without a hearing. But the IFP statute requires district courts to dismiss an IFP action after reviewing the complaint, if, among other reasons, it fails to state a claim. While the IFP statute was designed to increase access to the court system for indigent litigants, it also sought to relieve an overburdened court system and preserve courts' resources for more deserving claims. See Neitzke v. Williams, 490 U.S. 319, 324, 326 (1989) (recognizing problems caused by meritless IFP complaints, including that meritorious complaints will receive inadequate attention or be difficult to identify amidst the overwhelming number of meritless complaints). Here, the district court followed the IFP statute and correctly dismissed Isham's complaint for failing to state a claim. See 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii). As a final matter, Isham also asserts that he did not have the opportunity to motion for a court[-]appointed attorney. Aplt. Br. 2. But civil litigants don't have the right to court-appointed counsel, so to the extent Isham suggests the district court erred in failing to afford him such an opportunity, this argument lacks merit. See Johnson v. Johnson, 466 F.3d 1213, 1217 (10th Cir. 2006) ([A]s a civil litigant, [defendant] has no Sixth Amendment right to counsel.). He also complains that he hasn't seen the transcripts from the original court proceedings. Aplt. Br. 2. Although it isn't clear what original court proceedings he's referring to, there were no proceedings in this case to transcribe; the district court dismissed his complaint without a hearing, as required by the IFP statute. See 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii). * * * Because Isham's complaint doesn't state a claim on which relief could be granted, we affirm the district court's dismissal of this case. Entered for the Court FOOTNOTES . After examining the appellant's brief and appellate record, this panel has determined unanimously that oral argument wouldn't materially assist in the determination of this appeal. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is therefore ordered submitted without oral argument. This order and judgment isn't binding precedent, except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. But it may be cited for its persuasive value. See Fed. R. App. P. 32.1; 10th Cir. R. 32.1. . We liberally construe pro se filings. But we won't act as an advocate for pro se litigants. Garrett v. Selby Connor Maddux & Janer, 425 F.3d 836, 840 (10th Cir. 2005). . Specifically, Isham argues that (1) it's misleading to list charges and convictions together without distinguishing which are which; (2) the phrase loaded firearm is misleading because the firearm wasn't loaded; (3) listing the firearm charge first is prejudicial because it makes the others seem worse; (4) the DUI should be OUI; and (5) more details, such as the $25 fine, should be included to minimize the seriousness of the charges. Aplt Br. 6. . Isham cites 15 U.S.C. 78r and 47 U.S.C. 217. But the former is a securities-law statute governing liability for misleading statements in securities reports, and the latter governs common carriers. Nancy L. Moritz Circuit Judge When you're a child and your face doesn't look like everyone else's, when a genetic anomaly leaves you with contorted ears and eyes that seem to be sliding down your face, and dozens of surgeries still can't really fix it, what you hope for is kindness. Your wish is that people see beyond your face. The best-selling book "Wonder," which tells the fictional tale of such a kid, has had a massive cultural impact in recent years as teachers across the country have used it as a textbook of sorts to teach empathy in schools. The movie "Wonder," starring Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson, is being released Friday to much excitement among middle graders. The story follows fifth-grader Auggie Pullman, an anti-bullying hero, as he enters a new school, and the turbulence that unfolds as he shows his classmates how his face is misshapen but he's just a regular kid. Families of kids with facial differences have embraced the credo of acceptance and kindness in the book, so much so that some along with advocates and hospitals rented out theaters around the country for advanced viewings of the film this week. Yet despite "Wonder"s important lessons, the story is not entirely relatable for some children who have Auggie's condition, Treacher Collins syndrome. "I didn't like that Auggie was ashamed of his face," said Teresa Joy Dyson, 10. "I have Treacher Collins syndrome and I'm kind of proud of my face. I'm not afraid to look at people and show who I am." Teresa Joy has attended a public school in San Jose since she was in kindergarten, and has many friends there. She is not bullied, as Auggie is in the book. * * * Zachary Muller, 12, also has Treacher Collins, a condition that leaves bones and tissues severely underdeveloped in his face, and that has left him with hearing loss. Zachary, who lives in Southern Maryland, said he liked "Wonder," but he points out that it's fiction. "I'm more awesomer than him," Zachary said of Auggie. "I'm real." Zachary's family, along with another family that has a son with a facial difference, rented out a theater Thursday night in Southern Maryland so the boys could see the movie in a space with people they select. Zachary's mother wanted him to experience the movie without the pressure of people looking at him and saying, "Oh, that's the real Auggie." "We owe it to him to see the movie before it's open to the public," Barbara Mueller said before the movie "so he's prepared if we go out to dinner and somebody says something to him." Barbara Muller said Zachary could relate as he watched the movie, in particular how Auggie uses humor to deflect negative attention and boost his own self esteem. She said the movie "hit the nail on the head" with its anti-bullying theme, but did not otherwise represent parenting a child with Treacher Collins. "It covers a very small section of what a family goes through," said Muller, whose family lives south of in Charles County.. "It only covers some of the social, it doesn't cover the medical, the scheduling your daily life around appointments." Zachary has had more than 20 surgeries - some medically necessary, some cosmetic - including two 12-hour surgeries to implant ears on his head, even though they do not improve his hearing, as he uses hearing aids for that. He was born without ears. The Mullers, both officers with the U.S. Park Police, spend about $70,000 a year in out-of-pocket expenses for Zachary's medical needs, which they say they are happy to do, even if it is challenging. They didn't think twice about renting the theater. Despite those difficulties, Muller said that she has learned that "If you handle it as 'Woe is me, oh poor me' you are doing disservice to yourself and your child." Muller said Zachary has not been bullied at school, but he does sometimes feel like he's on display when he's out and about with family. "He used to hide behind us. He used to say, 'Why are they looking at me? Because I'm different?' " Muller said. "We'd say, 'Zachary everybody is different.' " Now, she said, he's learned to handle it and sometimes will start a conversation with the people who stare. "We've taught him how to deal with them. We tell him that if people are staring, you look at them straight in the face and say 'hi'," she said. * * * Kyle Aftimos, 9, a friend of Zachary's who lives near him and whose family rented out the other half of the theater, was born with a cleft lip and palate. A year and a half ago, he had a surgery to remove a bone from his hip and place it in his palate, a procedure that caused him to miss six weeks of school. Kyle said the "Wonder" story is educating people who do not share his condition. "I'm grateful for the movie because, like, some people have heard about it but they don't bother reading the book. So if they watch the movie, they'll understand more about it and stop the bullying," Kyle said. Joy's father, Darryl Dyson, agrees that the message of the film is not intended for the people with the syndrome and their families - but for everybody else. Dyson said he's found that the book has raised awareness of facial differences, specifically that kids with these syndromes are otherwise normal. When he recently took his daughter to his office for Take Your Daughter to Work Day, another girl who had read "Wonder" went right up to Teresa Joy and made fast friends with her. "To me that was an eye-opening experience," Dyson said of his co-worker's daughter. "I believe she would have reacted completely differently had she not read the book." Erica Mossholder, executive director of the Children's Craniofacial Association, who has facial differences herself, said the book, published in 2012, has become an opportunity for kids with facial anomalies to talk about their lives if they choose to. "For many, it has been a window into their lives for their classmates, and opened up a conversation about their deep desire for people to know them as just regular kids beyond their appearance," Mossholder said. The association she leads is an umbrella group for kids with facial anomalies including Treacher Collins syndrome. Zachary and Kyle met at the group's annual retreat. The actor who plays Auggie in the film, Jacob Tremblay, attended the association retreat two years in a row, playing with the kids, getting to know them and learning from them how to play chess. Mossholder said that since last year, she's gotten about an email a week from teachers across the country saying how meaningful the book has been in their classrooms. She said it's almost turned into a handbook about accepting people as they are. "Teachers have fallen in love with this book," she said. "These are moral lessons. You can't force people to be kind. You can't really teach kindness, but you can inspire it." RICHMOND, Va. - A high-end clothing retailer in Carytown cancelled an exclusive Nike sneaker release early Tuesday morning after the shop was overwhelmed by a crowd of 500 in what one store employee described as a "bum rush." Around 2 a.m., police from around the city were called to respond to Need Supply Co., where witnesses said what had been an orderly line began disintegrating into chaos as store employees started distributing a limited number of wristbands for the event, which was scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. "The crowd kept pushing in so no one could get in or out, so they shut it down," said John Everett, who drove down from Washington D.C. for the event. The handle to the shop's front door was broken off in the crush. Need Supply had anticipated high demand for the shoe, the Nike Air Max 97/1, an early sample of which sold on eBay earlier this month for $96,000 and resellers said Tuesday they believed they would fetch as much as $2,000 on the secondary market. But a store employee, Nora Morris, said Nike and the shop underestimated the number of people who would travel from out of state in hopes of getting a pair. Nike chose Richmond for the release because it was a collaboration between the company and city-native Sean Wotherspoon, who owns Round Two, a popular vintage and sneaker shop with locations in Richmond, New York and Los Angeles. A second limited release is scheduled for Los Angeles on Wednesday. Morris said Need Supply typically doles out limited release items through an online raffle system, but Nike wanted this particular event to be handled on a first-come, first-served basis, prompting some sneaker fanatics to begin lining up on Saturday. In the end, only about 30 people who had been given wristbands before the store lost control were eventually allowed in to buy the shoes. Need Supply said it would otherwise remain closed for the day. Police individually escorted the customers back to their vehicles to avoid any potential conflicts with the large crowd that was still assembled around the store. Morris said plans to release the remaining shoes are still being confirmed with Nike. She declined to say how many pairs the shop still has. Most of the people who traveled for the event are planning to resell them for a profit, said Gene McKinnie, a reseller who said he drove to Richmond from Tampa, Fla., in an effort to get a pair. McKinnie estimated the shoe, which Need Supply and Nike were selling for $160, would go for between $800 and $2,000 on the secondary market. "I mean, it's a really nice shoe," he said. Wotherspoon's design a 90s- inspired corduroy with unfinished edges, dual pull tabs, tonal laces, removable velour insoles and VA -> LA embroidered on the sneakers heel tab won Nikes 2017 Vote Forward contest by leaps and bounds, according to a news release. Wotherspoon was scheduled to participate in the event but never appeared. On his Instagram page, he posted a photo of himself at a downtown hotel shrugging with the caption, "Heading back to LA! Its been quite the reunion Richmond!" United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit. Larry ALEXANDER, et al., ClaimantsAppellants, v. INGRAM BARGE COMPANY, PetitionerAppellee. No. 16-4264 Decided: November 21, 2017 Before Wood, Chief Judge, and Bauer and Sykes, Circuit Judges. Kenneth John Brennan, Attorney, KenBrennan Law, PC, Edwardsville, IL, for Appellants. Don K. Haycraft, Attorney, Liskow & Lewis, New Orleans, LA, Richard D. McNelley, Attorney, Simon Tonkin, Attorney, Tonkin & Mondl, St. Louis, MO, for PetitionerAppellee. At 5:33 in the evening on April 18, 2013, a 14barge tow pushed by the M/V Dale A. Heller was sucked into a powerful cross-current and broke up. Some of the barges crashed (or allided, as mariners would say) into the Marseilles Dam; some sank; some were saved. The accident happened during record-breaking rains and high water, and a day later, the nearby town of Marseilles experienced significant flooding. This lawsuit, brought by a group who call themselves the Flood Claimants, represents an effort to fix blame for the allision and to recover for their flood damage. The Flood Claimants were stymied, however, when the district court ruled that the United States, which manages the Dam through its Army Corps of Engineers, was immune from suit for its role in the allision, and that the Corps was solely responsible for the accident. The Flood Claimants believe that Ingram Barge, the company that owns and operates the Dale Heller, shares some of the blame because of its failure to follow certain inland navigation rules and its more general negligence. We conclude, however, that the facts found by the district court were not clearly erroneous, and that those facts support the court's assignment of sole responsibility to the Corps. I We have no need or desire to replicate the district court's painstaking, minute-by-minute, account of the events leading up to the allision and its immediate aftermath. We commend that court's opinion to those who are interested in the details. See In the Matter of the Complaint of Ingram Barge Co., 219 F.Supp.3d 749 (N.D. Ill. 2016). We offer here only the highlights that pertain to the arguments on appeal. Geographically, we are talking about a stretch of the Illinois River that runs from the upriver town of Channahon, Illinois, down to the Marseilles Lock and Dam, just downriver from the town of Marseilles. The Illinois River is a tributary of the Mississippi River, which it joins at Grafton, Illinois, a short distance northwest of St. Louis, Missouri. Downriver from Channahon, which is about 50 miles southwest of Chicago, several points on the river play a part in this story. Dresden Island lies six miles downstream; another 26 miles down, at River Mile 248.0, is Ballards Island. Next one comes to Gum Creek, and finally, at River Mile 247.1, is the Dam. The Lock is another 2.5 miles downriver. Vessels heading downstream must use the Marseilles Canal, which is on the left descending side of the river below the Dam. The area between the Dam and Dresden Island is known as the Marseilles Pool. The Corps regulates its depth by opening and closing eight large gates, called tainter gates, at the Dam: higher openings correspond to a reduction in water level, and vice versa. The Dam's total opening is expressed in gate-feet, which is calculated by adding together the clearance between the bottom of each of the eight gates and the riverbed. The town of Marseilles is on the right descending bank of the river. On April 16, 2013, in the evening, the Dale Heller began heading downriver from Channahon with a 14barge tow. The weather forecast indicated that periods of heavy rainfall were expected in LaSalle County, where Marseilles is located. A hydrograph sent to Ingram's shoreside personnel, as well as to the Captain of the Dale Heller, Charles White, showed that the river was expected to rise on April 17 to a crest of 11.3 feet, well below flood level, and then recede. On the morning of April 17, Captain White had the Dale Heller hold up at Ballards Island, in the hope that conditions would improve before he had to navigate past the Dam. At that point, another actor entered the picture: the M/V Loyd Murphy, under the command of Captain Anthony Ice. The Loyd Murphy had just traversed northbound through the Marseilles Canal and was heading upriver. Because of the severe weather conditions, Captain Ice radioed Captain White and asked if he could tie up at Ballards Island alongside the Dale Heller. The two agreed that this made sense, and so the Loyd Murphy (with its tow of 15 barges) shoved in with the Dale Heller. The barges were lashed together with various head and stern lines. The resulting combination was huge: 29 barges, six across and five long, which measured 210 feet wide and 1,000 feet long. Weather conditions, and thus river conditions, continued to deteriorate overnight. Around 10:00 p.m. the North Central River Forecast Center (a branch of the National Weather Service), which had been issuing increasingly gloomy forecasts, for the first time predicated that the river would reach flood stage at Marseilles. By the morning of April 18, Captains White and Ice were having trouble holding their position at Ballards Island, even though both towboats were using most of their power to stay in place. Drift (that is, floating debris of all sizes) was becoming a serious problemone that potentially could take out a propeller, stop the engines of the towboat, and set the entire flotilla loose in the fast water. The forecast had worsened from moderate flooding to just below major flooding. The captains decided to try to reinforce their mooring by strengthening the ties linking the barges and by tying the combined tow to some trees on the island. Later that day, however, the strength of the current ripped the trees out of the ground and the tow slipped a short distance downriver. The captains also called for and received assistance from several other boats, including the Nancy S. and the M/V City of Ottawa. With conditions so bad, the River Industry Action Committee and the Illinois River Carriers Association (IRCA) scheduled an emergency conference call to discuss the rapidly rising Illinois and Mississippi River levels and to come up with a plan for, among others, the Dale Heller. The call took place at 2:00 p.m. on April 18; representatives from Ingram, the Corps, and the Coast Guard, among others, participated. Given the problems that Captains White and Ice were having staying in place at Ballards Island, the group decided that the best option was for the Dam's lockmaster, Corpsman Larry Rodriguez, to lower the tainter gates so that each of the eight gates would leave a clearance of two feet between the river bottom and the bottom of the gatein other words, 16 gate-feetfor a time just long enough to permit the Dale Heller safely to enter the Marseilles Canal. (There was some dispute in the district court over the question whether Rodriguez promised to lower the gates by 16 feet or to 16 feet, but the district court resolved this in favor of the latter, and the Flood Claimants do not contest that here.) Lowering the gates would have several effects: it would reduce the outdraft (that is, the cross-current pulling water toward the Dam) enough to permit safe passage; but at the same time, because the lower a setting is, the more water accumulates in the Marseilles Pool, the risk of flooding in the town would increase. At the time of the IRCA decision, the gate settings were quite high70 feetand so the Corps's commitment to lower them to 16 feet represented a significant undertaking. Another aspect of the IRCA plan was that several vessels, including the Loyd Murphy, the City of Ottawa, and the M/V Creve Coeur, would help the Dale Heller flotilla hug the left descending bank of the river and guide it into the Marseilles Canal. Shortly after the IRCA call ended, the captains of several of the affected vessels, including Captain White, met aboard the City of Ottawa to review their various roles in the maneuvers. By this time it was clear that they were facing record-breaking high waters. Captain White continued to believe, however, that if Lockmaster Rodriguez played his part and lowered the gates to 16 feet, he could get the tow into the canal. At 5:02 p.m., Captain Ice relayed that the gates were at 76 right now, going down to 55. Captain White understood this to be an interim report; no one said that the plan had changed. He set out a minute later, moving slowly because that was the only way the group of 4 vessels and 14 barges could stay coordinated. At 5:15 p.m., Captain Ice radioed that it was still possible to abort the plan (or, as he later put it, they were at the whoa or go spot), but that he saw no reason to do so. Two minutes later, there was a garbled transmission from Captain Ice. He radioed that he was telling Rodriguez to open up a little more because some flooding in the town was starting to occur. Somehow the wrong words came out of his mouth. As he later explained, he inadvertently had repeated something that an observer from the Corps stationed on the Loyd Murphy, Jeff Griffin, had said. While Captain Ice did not actually make the call, Griffin did call Rodriguez to tell him to open the gates. After receiving Griffin's call, Rodriguez chucked the entire plan out the window: he stopped lowering the gates and instead raised them all the way up to 88 feet. This action intensified the cross-current elevenfold, causing the Dale Heller's tow to break up, some barges to allide with the Dam, and some to sink. A picture of the resulting mess tells the story: Kenneth R. Olson & Lois Wright Morton, Runaway Barges Damage Marseilles Lock and Dam during 2013 Flood on the Illinois River, 69 J. Soil & Water Conservation 104A, 105A (2014). The Dale Heller itself briefly went out of control and spun around 360 degrees, nearly capsizing. Captain White managed to recover, however, and successfully brought to safety both the Dale Heller itself and, with the help of the other towboats, several of the barges in the flotilla. Some time later, the town of Marseilles experienced severe flooding. Over two hundred residents sustained damage to their property, as did an elementary school. II This suit began as a limitation action brought by Ingram under 46 U.S.C. 30501, et seq., but it became more complex over time. At one point, it involved claims, cross-claims, and counterclaims among the Flood Claimants, Ingram, the United States (on behalf of the Corps of Engineers), and Inland Marine Service (the owner of the Loyd Murphy). The United States and the Corps dropped out after the district court ruled that the United States was entitled to sovereign immunity under the discretionary function exception to the Federal Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C. 2680(a). See also 33 U.S.C. 702c, 2. Other controversies were settled, leaving for trial only the Flood Claimants' claims against Ingram. For purposes of case management, the district court divided the proceedings into three phases: (1) liability for the allision; (2) whether the allision caused the flooding in the town; and (3) damages. It held a ten-day bench trial on the first questionwhether anything Ingram did or anything for which it was responsible caused the allision. In a 127page opinion, it concluded that the answer was no, and that the sole proximate cause of the accident was the negligence of Lockmaster Rodriguez. It also held that Ingram was entitled to exoneration and limitation of liability under 46 U.S.C. 30505. These findings rendered phases 2 and 3 unnecessary, and so the court entered final judgment in Ingram's favor. On appeal, the Flood Claimants focus on Ingram's alleged violations of three Inland Navigation rules. If even one was violated, they argue, the district court should have applied the Pennsylvania Rule (announced in The Pennsylvania, 86 U.S. 125, 19 Wall. 125, 22 L.Ed. 148 (1873)), which requires such a violator to show that its action could not have been a contributory cause of the accident. They also argue that Ingram knew enough about the allegedly negligent actions that it was not entitled to exoneration or limitation of liability. Although they say at the outset that they are largely satisfied with the district court's findings of fact, they argue that some are clearly erroneous, and that the court failed to apply the facts properly to the regulations. III The Inland Navigation rules on which the Flood Claimants rely are issued by the Department of Homeland Security (where the Coast Guard is now lodged). See 33 U.S.C. 2071. The Claimants single out three rules that they contend Ingram violated: Rule 2, the Responsibility rule, 33 C.F.R. 83.02; Rule 5, the Lookout rule, 33 C.F.R. 83.05; and Rule 7, the Risk of Collision rule, 33 C.F.R. 83.07. The district court examined each rule against the backdrop of its findings of fact and found no violation. The Flood Claimants assert that the court committed legal error in some of its interpretations of the rules, and clear error in its application of the law to the facts in other instances. Rule 2, the Responsibility rule, reads as follows: (a) Nothing in these Rules shall exonerate any vessel, or the owner, master, or crew thereof, from the consequences of any neglect to comply with these Rules or of the neglect of any precaution which may be required by the ordinary practice of seamen, or by the special circumstances of the case. (b) In construing and complying with these Rules due regard shall be had to all dangers of navigation and collision and to any special circumstances, including the limitations of the vessels involved, which may make a departure from these Rules necessary to avoid immediate danger. 33 C.F.R. 83.02. The Claimants assert that the planning behind the Dale Heller's ill-fated effort to reach the Marseilles Canal was disjointed, poorly communicated, and poorly conceived. Indeed, they accuse Ingram of behaving in a cavalier fashion about the whole situation. They find the IRCA call confused and unclear, the transit planning inadequate, and the arrangements to keep lines of communication open defective. And the Captains' meeting did nothing, in their view, to correct these deficiencies. In addition to these problems, the Flood Claimants argue that there was no process to review or double-check the plan; that the pilot of the Dale Heller, Ron Shrader, objected to the plan; that the details of the plan were never committed to writing; and that no one ever nailed down the critical question of how long the gates were to remain at 16 feet. Taken together, they assert, these failings are so severe that the district court's conclusion that Rule 2 was not violated cannot stand. As Ingram points out, however, Rule 2 calls for prudent action in the circumstances faced by the vessels. Those circumstances, as of the afternoon of April 18, were fraught with danger. The combined flotilla of the Dale Heller and the Loyd Murphy was slipping downriver despite the use of the full horsepower available to both vessels; the effort to secure the tows to Ballards Island had been thwarted when the force of the current literally pulled the trees out of the ground; and none of the options was risk-free. The participants in the IRCA call considered the possibilities and opted for the best plan possible. If it was to work, every part of the plan had to be executed as well as possible. The fact that the plan was not in writing meant nothing. As the district court found, both maritime custom and private arrangement provided Ingram the right to rely on the lockmaster's representation that he would lower the gates to 16 feet to allow the Dale Heller safe harbor in the Marseilles Canal. Confirmation in writing made no sense in any event under the rapidly developing conditions the mariners faced. Nor was there time for a risk assessment any more formal than the one the IRCA group and then the captains undertookthe transit commenced only three hours after the IRCA call began. These were all experienced people, who were well aware of the risks from the outdraft, the lockmaster's ability to raise and lower the tainter gates, and his control over the entry to the Canal. These findings were all well supported in the record. The court also found that the group made adequate arrangements for communications among the critical playersCaptain White, the captains of the assist vessels, and the lockmaster. The Flood Claimants fault Captain White for not re-confirming the lowering of the gates with Lockmaster Rodriguez while the Dale Heller was proceeding toward the mouth of the Canal with its tow, but at the time he had no reason to think this was necessary. The burden was on Rodriguez to alert the others that he had decided to change the gate settings, and Captain White was entitled to rely on that understanding. Obviously, with 2020 hindsight one can say that additional checks might have helped. But Rule 2 does not punish failures to see into the future. And, depending on when they occurred, additional communications might not have helped. At some pointpresumably the whoa or go moment Captain Ice mentionedthe Dale Heller and its tow of 14 barges would have been unable to do anything but continue downriver toward the Marseilles Canal. We consider the question whether Inland Navigation Rule 2 was violated to be one of fact: were the measures Ingram's vessel took appropriate for purposes of this rule? The district court weighed the evidence and concluded that the Claimants failed to prove a violation of that rule. We see no clear error in that assessment. Next we look at Rule 5, the Lookout rule, which reads as follows: Every vessel shall at all times maintain a proper look-out by sight and hearing as well as by all available means appropriate in the prevailing circumstances and conditions so as to make a full appraisal of the situation and of the risk of collision. 33 C.F.R. 83.05. This appears to be the Flood Claimants' principal argument, at least if number of pages in the brief is any measure. They assert that the district court committed legal error by finding (as they characterize it) that Rodriguez's verbal commitment to lower the tainter gates to 16 gate-feet eliminated Ingram's obligation to maintain a proper look-out. If that were what the district court had said, we would indeed be concerned. But the court held no such thing. Rule 5 does not demand that a vessel have a separate person whose sole responsibility is to serve as a lookout. Instead, according to testimony at the trial, a vessel captain can serve as the required lookout if he has a 360degree unobstructed view during transit. As the Flood Claimants admit, ample case law supports this proposition as well. See Marport, Inc. v. Stabbert & Associates, Inc., 771 F.2d 1216, 1218 (9th Cir. 1985) (discussing the well-settled rule that the helmsman may serve as lookout from the wheelhouse of a tug). Captain White was aware of this rule and testified that he had the necessary unobstructed, 360degree view from the bridge. If that were not enough, the court noted, Pilot Shrader was in a position to supplement Captain White's observations, as was Captain Ice in the Loyd Murphy, which was assisting in the transit operation. The Flood Claimants respond that the record demonstrates that no one on the Dale Heller's bridge had a truly unobstructed 360degree view, because the barges it was pushing were covered, and so the water ahead of the tow (some 1,000 feet, it appears) was not visible. Only a person stationed at the front of the lead barge or on one of the assist boats could have alerted the captain to the moment when the tow hit the outdraft. Such a person, they argue, would also have seen how high the gates were after Rodriguez raised them to 88 feet; the Claimants assert that the gates were literally out of the water at that point and their height was unmistakable. Once again, the Claimants' argument fails to take the entire record into account. Captain White, assisted by his pilot and the other vessels, was able to keep an adequate lookout. And he knew just where the greatest risk of outdraft was locatedapproximately 200 to 300 feet from the dam. Outdraft, he explained, is ubiquitous on the Illinois River: it is present [n]ot only just [at] this lock, but every lock. The critical fact had nothing to do with his lookout; it was instead that he was proceeding on the understanding that the outdraft would correspond to 16 gate-feet, whereas in reality he was moving into an outdraft at least 11 times stronger, associated with 88 gate-feet. The district court rejected, as a matter of fact, the Claimants' hypothesis that a proper lookout would have seen that the gates were entirely out of the water. Testimony in the record indicated that upriver mariners cannot see the gate setting at the Marseilles Dam, at least with any precision. In broad terms, mariners can tell if the gates are wide open, or largely closed. Nevertheless, after reviewing the photographic evidence, the court concluded that the position of the gates was not plain. It also commented that [T]he visibility of an 88foot gate setting by 5:27PM does not tell the Court thatwith a proper lookouta prudent mariner would have stopped the transit minutes before, having decided that the lockhouse could not get back to a 16foot gate setting in time for the tow to avoid a powerful outdraft. These findings are supported by the record and are not tainted by any legal error. We thus conclude that the district court's analysis of Inland Navigation Rule 5 was sound. Finally, we consider Rule 7, the Risk of Collision rule, which in pertinent part says: (a) Every vessel shall use all available means appropriate to the prevailing circumstances and conditions to determine if risk of collision exists. If there is any doubt such risk shall be deemed to exist. * * * (c) Assumptions shall not be made on the basis of scanty information, especially scanty radar information. 33 C.F.R. 83.07. The Claimants' arguments with respect to Rule 7 largely repeat the points they make with respect to Rules 2 and 5. Once again, they contend that Captain White and Pilot Shrader violated the rule (this time Rule 7) by failing to speak up when they realized that the transit was not going as planned. The captain should have realized, they argue, that the plan to lower the gates to 16 feet had been scrapped or at least had run into trouble. They criticize Captain White for thinking, at 5:02 p.m., that Captain Ice's statement that the gates were going down to 55 was a progress report, not a statement that 16 gate-feet was no longer the goal. Worse, at 5:16 p.m. when Captain Ice radioed that he was telling [the lockmaster] to open up a little bit more gate because they're starting to flood up into them houses already, Captain White responded, Okay. At that point, the Claimants insist, Captain White should have checked back with Lockmaster Rodriguez to find out what was happening. Rule 7 imposes a duty to take all steps to determine if a risk of collision exists. One easy such step, Claimants argue, would have been to check with the Lockmaster. Claimants conclude that his failure to do so was based on nothing more than an assumption, and such an action is forbidden by Rule 7. The Claimants point to three transmissions in support of this argument: one at 4:23 p.m., one at 5:02 p.m., and one at 5:17 p.m. The first of these, from Captain Slack of the City of Ottawa, informed Captain White that it takes them 4 minutes to shut the gates and 4 minutes to open them. So, they, they're going to shut four on the, the uh, left side and that's all. Pilot Shrader heard this and understood it to be a statement about the time it would take to move the tainter gates to 16 gate-feet. In fact, this was wrong: the gates move at the rate of one foot per minute, but there is no evidence that any of the river mariners knew this. Under the circumstances, the court found nothing unreasonable about the Dale Heller's lack of a reaction to this transmission. We already have discussed the 5:02 p.m. transmission, known to the parties here as the 76to55 message. Although a stranger to the situation might see this as ambiguous, Captain White had no reason to think that the IRCA plan, as confirmed at the captains' meeting, was not in place. A change from a 16foot gate to a 55foot gate would have been enormous, and he had no reason to think that such a significant change would be made without anyone's informing him. Tellingly, Captain White was uncomfortable with a gate setting of only 23 feet, which first prompted him to hold at Ballards Island on April 17. The court found his reliance on the earlier plan to be reasonable. That finding is not clearly erroneous. Finally, while the 5:17 p.m. open more gate transmission from Captain Ice to Captain White is certainly troublesome, the court discussed it in detail earlier in its opinion. Captain Ice explained it this way: Prior to that transmissionthat was actually a mix-up in my wordsCaptain Charlie [White] had said to me, I'm starting to get aground or I'm starting to suck down, as he's trying to come ahead on it. And I was getting ready to tell him, I'm going to pull your stern out, and just as I grabbed the radio, Jeff [Griffin] [a crane operator for the Corps who was working as an observer] said, hey, they're flooding the houses; I'm telling them to open up dam. And I just instantly repeated what he said rather than finishing my transmission. The district court credited this explanation. Importantly, it also found that neither a towboat operator such as Captain Ice, nor a crane operator for the Corps, had the authority to instruct the Lockmaster to take any actions. The Lockmaster had the exclusive authority and duty to operate the gates and to manage all traffic through the canal. 33 C.F.R. 207.300(a). Just as Rodriguez's regulatory authority supports the district court's conclusion that his actions were the sole proximate cause of the allusion, it suggests that Captain White did not violate Rule 7 by continuing after the open more gate transmission. He reasonablyalthough erroneously, as it turned outrelied on Rodriguez prudently to exercise his sole authority over the gates and passage through the canal. In addition, the court's review of other evidence, including photographs, convinced it that there was no flooding at that point to be observed. Taking all the facts into account, the district court concluded that the Claimants also failed to establish a violation of Inland Navigation Rule 7. We find no clear error in the factual finding that Ingram, and its vessel the Dale Heller, were not at fault for failing to question, mid-transit, whether everyone was still following the IRCA plan. The Flood Claimants' failure to demonstrate a violation of any Rule of Inland Navigation means that the Pennsylvania rule does not come into play. That rule, which the Claimants raised for the first time in their post-argument briefing at the district court, addresses the finding of fault when a regulatory violation has been shown: But when, as in this case, a ship at the time of a collision is in actual violation of a statutory rule intended to prevent collisions, it is no more than a reasonable presumption that the fault, if not the sole cause, was at least a contributory cause of the disaster. In such a case the burden rests upon the ship of showing not merely that her fault might not have been one of the causes, or that it probably was not, but that it could not have been. The Pennsylvania, 86 U.S. at 136 (1873). This shifts the burden of proof from the claimant to the shipowner, and it requires the shipowner to rule out all possibility that the regulatory violation contributed to the accident. But that onerous burden does not arise unless the predicate violations are proven, and they were not in this case. The Pennsylvania rule is thus of no help to the Flood Claimants. Our conclusions with respect to the Inland Navigation Rules make it unnecessary for us to address Ingram's entitlement to exoneration and limitation of liability under the Limitation Act, 46 U.S.C. 30501, et seq. We thus have no comment on this part of the district court's opinion. IV The flooding that struck Marseilles in April 2013 was terrible. It caused millions of dollars of damage to individual property owners, the City itself, and an elementary school. Whether the barge accident we have been discussing caused some or all of that flooding is an issue the district court did not reach, because it found that the accident itself was solely caused by the Army Corps of Engineers' Lockmaster Rodriguez. Because of the discretionary function exception to the Federal Tort Claims Act, the Corps cannot be sued for Rodriguez's actions, however negligent or inexplicable they may have been. The court's finding that Rodriguez was solely responsible is, like its other findings of fact in this case, supported by the record and not clearly erroneous. We thus Affirm the judgment of the district court. Wood, Chief Judge. Something went wrong, please try again later. Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign up to our daily email newsletter for all the latest news from across the country as well as breaking news delivered direct to your inbox A drug dealer was caught with 30,000 worth of heroin and cocaine after being arrested in Hatfield. Ewing Nseti, 31, from Marston Avenue, Dagenham, pleaded guilty to two counts of possessions of a Class A drug with intent to supply at Hatfield Remand Court on Friday (November 17). He was arrested the day before, on Thursday, November 16, after a member of the public informed police they had seen a man who appeared to be behaving suspiciously on South Way. Officers located a man fitting the description and searched him. Nseti was arrested and taken to Hatfield Police Station, his vehicle was also taken to the station and thoroughly searched. A specialist drugs dog took part in the search and discovered the drugs which had been hidden in the centre console in the interior of the car. Officers seized large amounts of heroin and cocaine as well as a quantity of cash. It is believed that the drugs could be worth around 30,000. Following his guilty plea, Nseti was detained in custody and will appear before St Albans Crown Court on December 15 for sentencing. Detective Inspector John Hazeldine, who leads Hatfield's Local Crime Unit, said: "We are delighted to have made this arrest and seizure and get this hugely significant amount of Class A drugs off the streets of Hatfield. "We are determined to put a stop to the possession, supply and use of drugs in Hatfield, some of which is being fuelled by offenders coming into Hatfield from London. The arrest, charge and subsequent guilty plea of Ewing Nseti is a really significant part of this and I will look forward to the outcome of his sentencing. "I would like to thank the member of the public who informed us they saw a man behaving suspiciously while my officers were patrolling. Such information can significantly help us in the fight against drugs as it has in this instance." Nseti was arrested by officers for Hertfordshire Constabulary's Operation Scorpion team who were carrying out patrols in the area to stamp down on Class A and Class B drugs offences in Hatfield and associated ASB, some of which is believed to be fuelled by offenders crossing over Hertfordshire's borders from London. HICKORY Over the last five years, the number of individuals enrolled in apprenticeship programs across the United States has significantly increased. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, there are more than 545,000 apprentices across the country, 4,800 of whom are in North Carolina. Since 2013, Catawba County employers Technibilt, Sarstedt USA, GKN Sinter Metals and ZF Chassis Components, in addition to three other advanced manufacturers from neighboring counties, have partnered with Catawba Valley Community College and the NCDOL to offer four-year apprenticeships to high school juniors called Apprenticeship Catawba. Students interested in Apprenticeship Catawba are considered by referral from their school counselors and must maintain a minimum GPA requirement and placement testing criteria. The value of apprenticeship programs is clear to both the student and the employer. Not only do these programs serve to close the skills gap, but nine out of 10 apprentices have a job upon completion of their programs, garnering an average starting salary of at least $34,000 per year. Over the four-year program, apprentices earn their AAS Degree in Mechatronics Engineering Technology or an AAS in Computer Integrated Machining Technology from CVCC, and their Journeyman Certificate, with tuition and books paid in full by their employer sponsor. In addition, they obtain 8,000 paid hours of on-the-job training provided by their employer. For the employers themselves, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, for each dollar spent on apprenticeships, job creators are reported to receive approximately $1.50 return on their investment. In order to recognize National Apprenticeship Week, along with the U.S. Department of Labor, and to reemphasize our communitys commitment to advancing apprenticeship opportunities, I would like to feature one of the Apprenticeship Catawba partners. Sarstedt, Inc., a valued Chamber Investor, successfully utilizes apprenticeships as an integral component to filling their talent pipeline.The following responses are from Peter Rumswinkel, general manager of Sarstedt, Inc.. About Sarstedt: Sarstedt, Inc., located in Newton, manufactures medical devices and laboratory automation for the diagnostic and life science field. Has your apprenticeship program helped alleviate your workforce challenges? If available, any data points on growth of the program would be helpful. We have been able to fill several technical positions through the apprenticeship program. Most recently we have filled five highly skilled positions with graduating apprentices. Is your apprenticeship program for youth, military or incumbent workers? What do apprentices gain from the program? Your organization? Sarstedts apprenticeship program is primarily for young people who are still in high school. However, Sarstedt has had adult and military apprentices in the past. The apprentices gain a college education and hands-on work experience while earning a paycheck. All their tuition and school materials are paid for by the company and the apprentices have guaranteed jobs upon graduation. The company gains motivated and skilled employees who are trained over several years in several different areas within the organization. How do you coordinate with education systems to attract, recruit and retain apprentices? Sarstedt, Inc. is part of Apprenticeship Catawba through Catawba Valley Community College with other manufacturing organizations. The apprenticeship representatives visit the local high schools every year to present the apprenticeship opportunity to students. Sarstedt also has an open house for students and their parents every year to learn more about the apprenticeship program. The open house is followed by an orientation and internship for qualified students who are interested. Why is alignment between education systems and your apprenticeship program important to be successful? On the high school level, it is important to share this opportunity with students, teachers, counselors and parents, because there are still a large number of people who are not aware of this career path. For more information about Apprenticeship Catawba, visit www.cvcc.edu or contact Kimberly Propst at kpropst@cvcc.edu. Lindsay Keisler is president and CEO of the Catawba County Chamber of Commerce. LONG VIEW Policing is often referred to as a people business. Long View Police Department took that to heart Friday by distributing food purchased from local eateries to Long View families in need. The idea was spawned by a fundraiser idea conducted by the department, according to Long View PD Chief Michael Winters. The operation, titled Helping Feed Families for the Holidays, raised an impressive amount of money to go towards these dinners, Winters said. In the first year of the fundraiser and dinner donations, Winters said the department received an overflow of offers to help from local businesses. Long View Church of God members made desserts that we sold to make some of the money, and we also had help from Fresh Air Galaxy, and Post Office Barbecue cooked the barbecue for us, Winters said. Winters and Long View Firefighter James Brinkley were hard at work packing a Long View PD SUV to distribute the food to surrounding families Friday morning. Were just doing what we can to give back to the community, Winters said. NEWTON Students in the Catawba County Schools system dont have to go to school anymore. Well, they still have to attend classes, but what that means has drastically changed recently with the launching of Online Catawba. The program will begin offering classes Jan. 24 for the spring semester, with classes lasting 13 to 17 weeks depending on if they are advance placement courses. It is opened to students in ninth through 12th grades for any course offered as long as prerequisites have been met. World History will be offered to eighth-grade students only. Online Catawba provides students the opportunity to earn high school credits at no extra charge through online classes taken anywhere at any time. This is not a new concept. Currently, students can take additional online classes through services like the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics and CVCC Distance Education, but Catawba County Schools (CCS) has sharpened this vision. It has created a program where classes are taught online by the districts own teachers. Now, a class offered only at a specific high school is open to students at any of the other schools in the district. A good example is the honors computer science course taught only at St. Stephens High. While they have those other options, now they have Online Catawba classes as well, so theyll have lots of opportunities, CCS Online Catawba Director Leslie Black said. She spent the previous couple of weeks explaining this new program to students at all the systems high schools. A reason were interested in doing it this way is because this uses our own teachers, Black said during a trip to Fred T. Foard High. We dont question the material of the other online services. They offer great courses, but this way this provides more for our students, and they actually could receive face-to-face help if they need it. With Online Catawba, there is the possibility for class meetings like labs. If theyre having a problem, when the teacher is right down the road then that makes it a whole lot easier for us, Black said. The teacher could set up an appointment and visit the student at their school, a service that wouldnt happen with the other online class programs in the state like the North Carolina Virtual Public School. Foard sophomore Lindsay Shook was excited about being able to take courses through Online Catawba when she first heard about the program. I had done world history online in eighth grade, so I know I can take online classes, Shook said. It was a good experience, and I enjoy doing stuff online. She likes being able to work through a class at her own speed. If Im working quicker on something, I can get it done, and if Im slower, I can take my time on it, Shook said. Shes interested in taking the French I and AP Literature classes in the spring. Shook admits this may not be the right path for every student, and good time management skills are a key requirement. Some people definitely work better talking face-to-face, and they need that more than staring at a screen, she said. While this is unique, CCS isnt the only system creating its own online program. Black said they looked at other districts like Pitt County and Iredell-Statesville, that are doing something similar, to get some ideas. Catawba County has teachers who are building new courses specifically for its online program. The system has received content from these other districts as well, allowing CCS to add to the classes offered. Were hoping to maybe add an additional five to six more courses in the spring, so the kids will have around 15 to 16 courses as options, Black said. Its a mix of classes as well, with both academic and some Career Technical Education classes offered. The online option allows the district to offer courses not being taught at any of the CCS high schools like psychology. Other classes offered include eCommerce, chemistry and personal finance. Fred T. Foard High counselor Brooke Ward reminded students at her school to sign up as early as they can for online courses. Only 25 students will be allowed in each class, with some like AP Literature and AP Language coming close to meeting this cap. She reminded them as well to be prepared for the demands of an online course. You have to be self-disciplined to sit at a computer and do the work, dedicate the time to it, Ward said. It has to be a subject the students are engaged in and interested in taking. Theyll be more willing to do the work then. Students have four classes now each semester, and Online Catawba will allow them to add one more for a fifth period or they can replace one of the regular four classes with an online course. To enroll in Online Catawba classes, students need to have access to Internet service and a computer to complete their courses, according to the programs website. Catawba County Schools can provide a computer for students that want to take online courses during the school day while on a CCS campus. Homeschoolers can take a class (or multiple classes) through Online Catawba, if parents pay the $500 per course fee for non-CCS students. They will be considered visiting students and can maintain homeschool status. For more information, visit online.catawba.net or call 828-464-8333. There will be meetings for parents and students interested in the program Dec. 11 at 6 p.m. at Maiden High School, Dec. 12 at 12 p.m. at St. Johns Lutheran Church, and Dec. 14 at 8:30 a.m. in the Sherrills Ford-Terrell branch library. This domain has expired. If you owned this domain, contact your domain registration service provider for further assistance. If you need help identifying your provider, visit https://www.tucowsdomains.com/ French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has clamped down on attempts to make French more female-friendly, issuing a ban on so-called inclusive writing in official texts, according to a memo seen by AFP on Tuesday. Moves to end the linguistic dominance of the masculine over the feminine have sparked impassioned debate in France, coming as a flurry of revelations about sexual harassment and assault continue to dominate global headlines. At the centre of the row is the growing use of formulations to embrace both genders in the plural form, which requires full-stops being inserted in the word -- to the horror of purists. For example, the word for a mixed-gender group of readers is usually written as lecteurs, even if the women outnumber the men, rather than with the feminine plural lectrices. Using inclusive writing, the word would be written as lecteur.rice.s. In a memo to his ministers seen on Tuesday, Philippe issued a diktat, insisting: The masculine (form) is a neutral form which should be used for terms liable to apply to women. Stressing the need to use formal language in legally binding texts, he demanded government ministries avoid inclusive writing, notably for reasons of intelligibility and clarity. The ministers were also instructed to ensure that the traditional form be used in all public services under their authority. The prime ministers office told AFP that the memo aimed to end the controversy but assured that the government was still resolutely committed to strengthening equality between women and men. French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe leaves after delivering a speech at the 100th French Mayors congress. (AFP Photo) The debate appeared set to rumble on, however, with defenseur.e.s (defenders) of inclusive writing saying the French language must keep up with changing times. Purist resistance Several ministries, universities and trade unions have recently been using the gender-neutral form, but it largely escaped public notice until it turned up in an elementary school history textbook recently. The book refers to farmers as agriculteur.rice.s and shop owners as commercant.e.s An appalled Academie Francaise -- gatekeeper of the French language -- went on the offensive, warning that the punctuated aberration would make French too complex, putting it in mortal danger. Education minister Jean-Michel Blanquer also weighed in, saying French should not be exploited for fighting battles no matter how legitimate they are. This is not the first drive to try make French more balanced -- moves that have routinely been resisted by the members of the Academie Francaise, known as The Immortals. In 2015, Frances High Council for Equality Between Women and Men issued a guide urging public bodies to avoid sexual stereotypes by, for example, using feminine forms for firefighter and author where applicable. Some critics such as philosopher Raphael Enthoven have objected to what they see as a prescriptive approach to the language spoken by some 275 million people worldwide. They say language usage should be allowed to evolve naturally over time. Laxmiben Nadia dreams of a day when a real estate developer will offer to purchase the slum she lives in Ahmedabads Hatkeshwar to erect a multi-storied building. A waste picker by profession, she says, shanty owners like her would get a bigger, better home, while the sale of remaining houses would help the builder make a neat profit. The only problem is that the builder will have to sell the rest of the houses to non-Gujaratis, because if the locals find out that we live here, they will never buy houses here, she laughs. Laxmiben is a Nadia, a Scheduled Caste. She says even in the metropolis that is Ahmedabad, Dalits are kept at a distance by the other castes. Being Dalit exposes Ratnesh in Gujarats Anand district to similar experiences. A history major, Ratnesh who does not use a surname says hes used to frequent jibes about caste-based reservation. The Una flogging, where Dalit men were beaten up by alleged cow vigilantes last year, exposed the underbelly of the developed Gujarat model, he says. Post Una As the state gears for upcoming assembly polls next month, stories of discrimination against Dalits, who make up for 7% of Gujarats population, are pervasive. Dalit groups are demanding representation in the electoral process; young leaders such as Jignesh Mevani who started the Una Dalit Atyachar Ladai Samiti have emerged challengers who seek to force mainstream parties to rejig their strategies. Discrimination continues, only how it is exhibit has changed. Now there is no untouchability, but the upper castes find ways of controlling us. For instance, only the acquiescent Dalit can become sarpanch from a reserved seat, Dalits have begun to question that, says Madhu Koradia, a social worker and a Dalit. The Dalit uprising is expected to bruise the BJPs electoral fortunes, but several voices within the SC community say the Congress cannot be absolved of blame. Mevani was recently quoted as saying that Dalits wouldnt support any party, and want an exclusive space, in the absence of a viable alternative, the Dalit vote is likely to weigh in favour of the Congress. The BJP has been in power for two decades and the Hindutva model it forces has done nothing to end discrimination, but the Congress did no better. What prevailed then is perpetuated now, says Koradia. The Congress is moving in quickly to cash in on the anti-BJP sentiment; to fight back, the ruling party has deputed 150 Dalit leaders, including MLAs and MPs from within the party fold to spend a week across Dalit bastis in the state. But many have criticised the BJPs claims of being pro-Dalit after its list of candidates had far fewer SCs, with the influential Patidars and OBCs getting a bigger share. The BJP will be biggest beneficiary of the Dalit and tribal votes. They don identify with the politics of the Congress, says BJP general secretary Bhupinder Yadav. On behalf of the BJP, its ideological fount, the RSS too is reaching out through its social harmony programmes. In Anand and Vadodara, community members say the chasm between the Dalits and the Muslims is an outcome of the 2002 riots, where Dalits were pushed to the frontlines as aggressors. They are also quick to point out that within the Hindu community, castes such as the Patidars have for long grudged the Dalits the benefits of quotas in jobs and education. Not just political The struggle to assert the Dalit identity is not limited to the political arena. In Vadodara, V Divakar, curator at the Conflictorium, of a museum in Ahmedabad where stories of conflict are narrated through different mediums, is striving to help Dalit artists take centrestage. He talks about the struggle that many of these artists endure and how in the absence of support, their work remains unacknowledged. There is Raju Patel, a gifted Tribal artist who sometimes sells mangoes to sustain. Hes been around for 14 years and had never had a solo show, he says. Divakar manages Knots, an experimental space for artists such as Patel to showcase their work. Mevanis growing clout, Divakar says imbues hope, even though many are skeptical of its outcome. Dalit entrepreneur Mukesh Makwana attributed Dalit anger to persistent social discrimination. I know Dalits who are afraid to get into the business of eateries or mineral water production; they fear that people will stay away on learning of their caste, said Makwana, president of the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DICCI), Ahmedabad. He blamed the absence of social and political support systems for keeping the Dalits on the fringes of empowerment. Recently, Rahul Gandhi at a meeting remarked why dont Dalits have an Ambani among them. How will there be Ambanis when there is no political support or social inclusion. We have only been used as a vote bank. Martin Macwan of the Navsarjan Trust, an NGO that works with Dalits, said he did not foresee any changes until a Dalit rose to a position of power. He said while the Dalits were no longer swayed by the BJPs appeasement to them on religious lines, the anti-BJP mandate couldnt be read as pro-Congress. As for Mevani, he said: political awareness among the Dalits is high. They are frustrated by their representatives in the BJP and Congress and are looking for an alternate. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The BJP is preparing to corner the Congress on the issue of Gujarati asmita or pride by making an electoral issue of a meme posted by the Indian Youth Congress with a derogatory reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modis past as a chaiwala or tea-seller. Sources in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party said the meme could become an issue in the 2017 Gujarat elections just as Congress president Sonia Gandhis merchant-of-death remarks in the 2007 state polls had turned the discourse to anti-Godhra riots. They said that the meme would be one of their poll planks in Gujarat, especially after the Prime Minister starts campaigning from the last week of November. The meme came in the form of a tweet from the official handle of the Youth Congress online magazine, Yuva Desh. It showed US president Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Theresa May with Modi and punned on May to make a reference to the Indian Prime Ministers past as a chaiwala. The Youth Congress later deleted the tweet, saying it strongly disapproved such humour through memes and that Congress culture imbibes respect for the Prime Minister and all political opponents. Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani was quick to pounce on the opportunity as he termed the meme blatantly classist, showing the opposition partys mindset towards Indias poor. Other senior BJP leaders followed soon. Madam Sonia Gandhi & Mr Rahul Gandhi do u still believe that only u have a divine right to rule India? Country expects ur response on the tweet of the youth Congress, which is shameful & insulting to poor. U can delete the Tweet but ur thinking towards the poor stands exposed (sic), Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad tweeted. Those who can not rise above mom and mam are running meme, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also wrote on the micro-blogging site. The BJP is planning to harp on Modis image to retain Gujarat, a state where it has been in power since 1998. It has planned a rally of Modi is almost every district of the western state to highlight that Gujarats son was ruling India and he should not be weakened. There is a message that if Modi loses Gujarat, it will weaken him in 2019 when the country will have the next Lok Sabha election. This is something that Gujarat will not let happen, a Union minister told the Hindustan Times. Modi is expected to start touring Gujarat after November 25 and his campaign will pick up from December 2. A similar chaiwala jibe by Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyer in the run-up to the 2014 election saw the BJP mounting a concerted attack on his party for what it called its discomfort with the rise of the son of a person from the backward community. At a Congress conclave before the Lok Sabha election, Aiyer had said that Modi would never become the prime minister and, if he wanted, he could sell tea at the Congress meeting venue. This was lapped up by Modis campaign managers and an event called chai pe charcha was conceived. Gujarat will vote in two phases on December 9 and 14 and the result will be declared on December 18. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Patidar leader Hardik Patel announced on Wednesday his support for the Congress in next months assembly elections in Gujarat, providing a shot in the arm for the opposition party trying to win the western state after more than two decades. At a press conference in Ahmedabad, Hardik said his outfit Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) accepted the formula proposed by the Congress to provide quotas for Patidars and said he would campaign against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for unleashing atrocities on his community. We will work against the arrogant BJP government, which killed our brothers and beat up Patidar people, he said, but ruled out joining active politics for at least the next 2.5 years. Comprising 12% of Gujarats population and with potential influence over 60-odd of the states 182 assembly seats, Patels have traditionally voted for the BJP but are angry over being denied quotas in jobs and education. The community launched violent protests for quotas two years ago and has made the BJP jittery about its support for the first time in decades. At least 65% of the Patidar votes will come to our party, claimed Gujarat Congress spokesperson Kailash Kumar Gadhvi. The BJP dismissed the alliance with a visibly angry deputy chief minister Nitin Patel saying, Fools(PAAS) asked(for reservation), and fools(Congress) made promises. Nitin called Hardik a Congress agent and said the opposition party would use him until the elections and then discard him. His (Hardiks) mistakes have been forgiven considering him as a son, else so many like him have come and gone. Hardiks support marks the success of the Congress efforts to stitch together a broad opposition alliance after protests by PAAS and rebels this week marred the release of the first list of candidates. Other Backward Class (OBC) leader Alpesh Thakor, who opposed the Patidar protests, has joined the Congress while Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani has pledged to campaign against the BJP. Implementing the quota might be difficult. In Gujarat, Other Backward Classes are given 27% quota in jobs and education. The scheduled castes have 7% and the scheduled tribes 15%, making a total of 49%, just under the 50% reservation cap set by the Supreme Court. An earlier formula proposed by the BJP, which gave 10% reservation to extremely backward classes (EBC) was struck down by the Gujarat high court because it violated the upper limit. Hardik said if voted to power, the Congress had decided to give quotas to Patidars under article 46, protected by article 31C of the Constitution. Article 46 is a part of directive principles of the state policy and exhorts the state to promote the educational and economic interests of weaker sections. Article 31C protects laws made to implement the directive principles even if they violate fundamental rights. Congress leader Kapil Sibal thanked Hardik for his support but refused to give details of the reservation formula. Union finance minister Arun Jaitley said the Congress and Hardik were deceiving each other and the public. The Congress-Hardik club is one of mutual deception. Legally and constitutionally that (breaching the 50% cap) is not possible as the law stands today. Hardik appeared to have budged on whether reservation would be provided under the OBC or EBC section a sore point in his negotiations with the BJP earlier this year. The Congress after coming to power will do the survey required as per the OBC commission. The beneficiary group will be given name accordingly later on, he said. But his claim of having consulted two top Patidar religious bodies the Shree Khodaldham and Umiyadham was dismissed by the outfits. Garnering Patidar support might also be difficult. Hardiks PAAS has split in recent weeks and several top leaders have joined the BJP, accusing Hardik of being a Congress agent. The agitation was to get OBC quota. The BJP government has met all other demands. So what new is the Congress offering that Hardik wants to support it?asked his former aide Reshma Patel who joined the BJP last month. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Patidar leader Hardik Patel announced on Wednesday his support to the Congress in the Gujarat elections after the party promised to give reservation to the Patel community under the OBC category.. But reservations for the community are easier said than done. Heres a breakdown of the agitation and demand for reservation: Who are the Patels? They are a leading community of Gujarat, traditionally landowners, farmers and village leaders. The Patel, or Patidar, community benefited from British land reforms during the 19th century and their wealth increased accordingly. Two major sub-castes of the Patels are the Kadvas and Leuvas. A third, much smaller group, the Anjanas, practised the barter system and were therefore considered socially backward and eligible for OBC status right from the beginning. Kadva and Leuva Patels were left out of the selection process, triggering the first protests across North Gujarat where the Anjanas are concentrated. What are the Patidars demanding? They want inclusion in OBC category for reservation. The Patidars claim that theyve received no benefits since India became independent and are seeking reservations for the community. The Patidars make up around 12% of the states population and can potentially influence the outcome in around 60 seats in a 182-member state assembly. Can Patidars be given reservation? A 1992 Supreme Court ruling says reservations cannot cross the 50% mark, and Gujarat has already reached this. Thats why the demand by the Patels to be made beneficiaries of the 27% OBC reservation has pitted them against the 146 groups which are already on the backward list and includes Prime Minster Narendra Modis community, the Ghanchis, who acquired OBC status as late as 1999. The Rabaris, Bharwads, Kolis and Thakores, amongst others, have threatened to oppose any further division of their quota. Since OBC leader Alpesh Thakor has joined forces with the Congress as well, any promise of reservation to Patels under OBC quota will lead to a backlash from the Thakore community that forms about 40% of the states population Can the Supreme Court ruling be circumvented? States such as Tamil Nadu and Karantaka have run up against the Supreme Court in the past in their bid to give quotas over and above the 50% cap. The apex court has reiterated its position that states should stick to the 50% ceiling, but theoretically, it is possible to exceed the cap by showing exceptional circumstances or amending the Constitution to put the reservation law in the 9th Schedule, as in the case of Tamil Nadu. The Tamil Nadu example The Tamil Nadu Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Reservation of seats in Educational Institutions and of appointments or posts in Services under the State) Act of 1993, passed by the state legislature, introduced 69% reservation. Under the 76th Constitution Amendment Act, 1994, Parliament enacted a legislature wherein the Tamil Nadu Reservation act was added to the IX Schedule, to give protection to the State Act under Article 318 of the Constitution superseding the decision of the Supreme Court fixing a ceiling of 50% for reservation. But the issue is still not closed -- whether the state act goes against the basic tenets of the Constitution is still pending before the SC, says this Times of India report. In the meanwhile, the apex court has been passing interim orders that direct the Tamil Nadu government to create additional seats for open category students in educational institutions. How have the BJP and Congress addressed this issue in Gujarat? In April 2016, with an eye on the upcoming elections, the BJP government announced an ordinance which declared 10% reservation for economically backward classes among the higher castes, in addition to the 49.5% reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and OBCs. The Gujarat government, however, eventually allowed the ordinance to lapse after the high court struck it down in August, calling it unconstitutional and illegal, reported Mint. It remains to be seen how the Congress, if it comes to power, will manage to implement quotas for Patidars,without touching the 49.5% reservation. Hardik Patel, during his press conference on Wednesday, said the Congress would use Article 31 and 46 to bring in a bill for non-reserved classes. The Congresss pact with the Patidar community in Gujarat marks the oppositions best chance yet to end the BJPs 22-year rule in the state, but it could upset other caste leaders or run afoul of legal ceilings set by the Supreme Court. Patidar leader Hardik Patel said the Congress has promised to give quotas to his community in jobs and college admissions by bringing a bill once elected. The formula for how it will be done will be included in Congresss manifesto, he added. We will majorly gain with Hardiks support. It will help us in 25 seats. At least 65% of the Patidar votes will come to our party, said Gujarat Congress spokesperson Kailash Kumar Gadhvi, hours after the announcement. Prakash Shah, a Gujarat-based political analyst, agreed that the Congress will gain from the understanding. Patidars, a community involved mostly in business, have traditionally backed the BJP. They make up for 12% of the states 60 million population. Patels Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) has been leading a strident agitation for the quota since over two years now. The demand, specifically, was for Patidars to be included the Other Backward Classes (OBC) a grouping that already constitutes 40% of Gujarats population and is given 27% quota in jobs and education. The scheduled castes have 7% and the scheduled tribes 15%, taking the total proportion of reserved jobs and college seats to 49% just under the 50% cap set by the Supreme Court. Not only will any move to give Patidars a share from the OBC quota lead to a backlash, but courts too will not allow it, said Vidyut Joshi, another Gujarat-based political analyst Alpesh Thakor, an OBC leader who recently joined Congress, has previously been against including Patels in the quota grouping. How the party tackles this tightrope-walk will be clearer when the manifesto, a list of policies and programmes that political parties promise to implement if voted to power, is released. The document is being prepared by a team headed by senior leader Madhusudan Mistry. Hardik Patel told a news conference in Gujarat that the Congress has promised to conduct an extensive survey to identify castes and communities that are under-represented or educationally backward, and deserve a guaranteed share in government jobs and education. This is not the first time the BJP is facing a tough contest in Saurashtra, a region dominated by Patels. In the 2012 assembly elections, the BJP overcame a stiff challenge from its former chief minister Keshubhai Patel, who then formed the Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP), to win 32 seats. The Congress bagged 13 while the GPP could manage to win just two and the NCP one. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A man has been accused of abducting and raping a minor as the girls two-year-old brother banged at his door in a village near Jabalpur city on Tuesday. Akash Yadav, 18, was arrested in Padria village as angry residents searched for him. Police said a four-year-old girl and her brother were playing outside their home when their parents were out at work and their grandmother was doing household chores. The grandmother noticed that the girl was missing and her brother was banging at Yadavs door. The woman too began knocking at Yadavs door, but he allegedly told her that her granddaughter was not in his house. The woman was not convinced and kept a watch on Yadavs house. She soon saw the girl exiting in tears and Akash slipping out in tow, its alleged. The girl told her family Yadav had assaulted her. Police have charged Yadav under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code which deals with rape and rules of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. Actor Rajesh Khattar has been a prominent name in Bollywood having been a part of big films such as Don 2 (2011), Khiladi 786 (2012) and Race 2 (2013). But what many people might not know is that hes a big name in the dubbing industry as well,considering hes given his voice for Hollywood actors such as Johnny Depp and Robert Downey Jr for the entire Pirates of The Carribean and Iron Man series. Now, its his and ex-wife, actor Neelima Azims son Ishaan Khatters turn to make a mark in Bollywood. His first film, Beyond the Clouds has been directed by Majid Majidi, and his first commercial venture, Dhadak, with Sridevis daughter Janhvi, has been creating a lot of buzz. It is an official remake of the Marathi hit Sairat, which dealt with honour killing. The poster of Rajeshs son Ishaan Khatters debut film Dhadak. Happy with the way Ishaans career is shaping up, Rajesh says, Its very important that your kids get to do what they want to, and not what you want them to do. If they are fortunate enough to go this way, you should be more than happy. People have been extremely critical of the choice the films producer Karan Johar has made for the films lead pair, stoking the nepotism debate again. Ishaans half-brother is actor Shahid Kapoor (son of actor Pankaj Kapur and Neelima), who shares a close bond with him, while Janhvis parents are actor Sridevi and producer Boney Kapoor. Karan has been at the receiving end of nasty comments, which accuse him of being partial towards star kids. Rajesh says, This doesnt make sense in this profession (acting) especially, but it exists far more in the corporate, business world. There, if the son is incompetent, you still make him the CEO, because he will be surrounded with intelligent people, the company can still run that way. But here (in Bollywood) what you are selling is yourself. You are the product yourself. If you are not accepted, where will nepotism come? There are superstars whose sons are sitting at home and are nowhere. You are a star only when the public accepts you, and it doesnt matter where you are coming from, and what kind of a launch you are getting everyone has to begin somewhere. Its just the beginning the real battle lies ahead, adds Rajesh, whos currently busy working on three web-series, out of which one will have an international appeal. Follow @htshowbiz for more The Humanities and Fine Arts Department at Chattanooga State Community College is hosting several free events this December from musical performances to theatre. All events will be presented at Chattanooga State in the Humanities Theatre and donations will be accepted at the door. The Music Department will present a recital featuring students of voice and applied instrumental study. This performance will be taking place on Monday, Dec. 4, at 7:30 p.m. The first year students of the Professional Actor Training Program will be presenting, Scenes from American Life on Friday, Dec. 8, at 7:30 p.m. The second year students of the Professional Actors Training Program on Wednesday, Dec. 13, at 7:30 p.m. will be presenting Scenes from Plays of Anton Checkov. Under the direction of Darrin Hassevoort and Nick Hartline, the Music Department presents an evening of carols and popular holiday favorites at the Holiday Choral and Band Concert. The concert features performances by the Concert Choir, Symphonic Band, and Chattanooga State music faculty and students. It will be taking place on Thursday, Dec. 14, at 7:30 p.m. For more information, call 697-2460 (Music) or 697-3246 (Theatre). Kangana Ranaut was injured while shooting for the film Manikarnika, a biopic on Rani Laxmi Bai, in Jodhpur Tuesday night. She sprained her foot while doing a stunt and was rushed to a private hospital. Kangana had a sprain in her right foot but there was no fracture. We applied a plaster cast and she was advised a weeks rest, Dr Narendra Yadav of Goyal Hospital, Jodhpur, told HT. The actor was discharged around 2 am on Wednesday and left for Mumbai in the afternoon to recover from the injury. As per reports, Kangana was shooting for a scene in which she had to jump from a wall on the top of a horse. However, she got injured after falling to the ground while attempting the scene. Kangana has been shooting for the film at Mehrangarh fort, Jodhpur, for several days. Kangana will be seen doing many action sequence in the movie and has trained in sword fighting for her role. However, this is not the first time Kangana Ranaut was injured shooting Manikarnika. Earlier in July, she was accidentally struck by a prop sword on the sets of Manikarnika. At that time, she was shooting an action scene in Hyderabad. Manikarnika is written and directed by K Vijayendra Prasad who was also the scriptwriter of SS Rajamoulis blockbuster Baahubali. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Filmmaker Vinod Kapri, whose film Pihu opened the controversy-hit Indian Panorama segment at IFFI 2017, has come out in support of Sanjay Leela Bhansali and his film Padmavati, saying his biggest worry is that fringe sections are becoming the mainstream now. Kapri said what is happening to Bhansali is scary. What is happening with Padmavati is really unfortunate. My biggest worry is that fringe elements are becoming mainstream. Earlier, there were two or three groups or outfits who were disturbing our cinema or filmmakers. I am scared as a filmmaker because whatever happened to Bhansali can happen to anyone, Kapri said on the sidelines of the 48th International Film Festival of India (IFFI). The release date of Bhansalis period drama Padmavati has been deferred following country-wide protests by Rajput groups and politicians, who have accused Bhansali of distorting historical facts. Many groups have been protesting amid rumours that there was a romantic dream sequence between Rajput queen Padmini and Allauddin Khilji, a charge repeatedly denied by the director. The director, whose film Pihu replaced the opening film Nude (Marathi) in the Panorama section, said he was not the right person to comment on the controversy. I dont know what to say (on the controversy) as I was not a part of the jury. I dont know what conspires between the jury and the ministry. I feel I am not the right person to comment, he said. In a controversial move, the I&B ministry overruled the 13-member jurys recommendation and excluded Nude and S Durga from the line-up of the Indian Panorama segment. The exclusion led to the resignation of jury chairman Sujoy Ghosh and members Apurva Asrani and Gyan Correa. S Durga director Sanal Kumar Sasidharan had moved the Kerala High Court challenging the decision. The court has now ordered the ministry to screen the Malayalam movie at the ongoing festival. When asked about the HCs decision, Kapri said, High Court has allowed the film (S Durga) to be screened. I believe every filmmaker has the right to show his film to the audience or in a festival. My heart goes out to the directors of Nude and S Durga. But at the same time we are here with Pihu and we are celebrating Pihu. Follow @htshowbiz for more The Shree Rajput Karni Sena on Wednesday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, even though silent on the Padmavati row, must have had a role to play in the deferral of its release date from December 1. As the Karni Sena continues to gather support in opposing the release of Padmavati, its patron-founder Lokendra Singh Kalvi said he was hopeful of increasing supporters from four to 14 till director Sanjay Leela Bhansali announces a new release date for his historic drama. Kalvi said even though the Padmavati makers have claimed they have voluntarily deferred the movies release, Modi would have had a role to play. The deferral of the release date has happened because of multiple roles people have played. CMs have a role, PM has a role, and most of all the social organisations who have been protesting aggressively and passionately have made it happen, said Kalvi. Padmavati is in the eye of a storm following allegations that the movie distorts history about Rajput queen Padmavati, who is known to have committed Jauhar (self-immolation) to protect the honour of her community during the siege of Chittor in 1303. At an earlier press conference here, Kalvi said he had already garnered the support of Chief Ministers of four states. I will make it from four to 14 till the next date is decided. I am meeting three more Chief Ministers in the next two days. This film will not run, he said. He said his appeal to Modi to intervene in the controversy was merely via the media. Do they plan to make a written appeal to Modi? We will make a written appeal to PM if theres a need. I havent written any appeal to any Chief Minister or the Prime Minister.... I am going to Maharashtra... They will ban it, I am confident, said Kalvi. Karni Sena has been up in arms against Bhansali since he began shooting the film and had even assaulted him on the sets of his film in Jaipur last year over fears that the movie showcases objectionable scenes. Now, it is calling for a ban. Will the Karni Sena go to the Supreme Court? Kalvi said, Theres no need. We are in the peoples court and it has a lot of strength. But the apex court has already rejected two pleas regarding the stalling of the film. Those were pleas by over-excited people who have no evidence, Kalvi said. Calling Bhansali a repeat offender, Kalvi said, He does opposite of what he says and never does what he says. Why did they leave the section of genre in the censor board application form blank? He knew whether he writes historical or fiction, he will land in trouble. Padmavati was supposed to be 2017s mega release, yet another blockbuster from Bollywoods Badshah of Baroque, Sanjay Leela Bhansali. However, in the face of mounting protests and the Central Board of Film Certification refusing to fast-track the films certification process, the Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor film is unlikely to release this year. The makers of Sanjay Leela Bhansali film have now said that Padmavatis release date will be decided only after the censor boards go-ahead, according to a PTI report. The film starring Deepika Padukone as Rani Padmavati, Shahid Kapoor as Maharawal Ratan Singh and Ranveer Singh as Sultan Alauddin Khilji was earlier scheduled to release on December 1. On Sunday, Viacom18 Motion Pictures, the studio behind Padmavati, announced in a statement that they were voluntarily deferring the release of the film out of respect and regard for the law of the land including the Central Board of Film Certification. They said a new release date will be announced once the requisite clearances are in place. Media reports have claimed that the film is now pushed till next year and the promotions have been put on hold. The source from the production house, however, told PTI that no concrete decision has been reached yet. We will decide the release date of the film after getting the certificate from the CBFC. We will wait for the censor board to give us clearance and then decide which is the best date for the release, the source said. CBFC chief Prasoon Joshi had yesterday said that the board should be given adequate time to come up with a balanced decision about the movie. A source in the CBFC on Wednesday echoed Joshis views. In CBFC, 68 days is the maximum time (to certify a film), it can be less also. We normally do it in a month or over a months time (certification). With a film like this, you need to be careful, take opinions, so it takes a little bit of time. It does not mean that nothing will happen before 68 days. If they (makers) want a certificate on time, it is advisable that they take this much time in consideration, the source said. The CBFC had initially returned the application to the makers of Padmavati, saying it was incomplete. The makers have re-applied. Joshi had said the makers didnt clarify if the film was based on historical facts or a work of fiction. The source said: We have followed the normal process. Once the application comes to us, we scrutinise it. In this case, it was incomplete so we returned it. There was no disclaimer (that it is a work of fiction)... which is required for a film like this. If the application is proper, we give them a date for the screening. We have an examining committee which will see the film. We will also have historical experts (for the screening of the film)... We are just following the procedure, the source added. When asked if the new application has been scrutinised, the source at the CBFC said, No, it takes time as we have other films (to certify) as well and Padmavati is just one of them. We have a limited staff, we cant just dump everything aside and concentrate on this. It will take the normal time. Meanwhile, the demand for a ban on the film for allegedly distorting history are getting shriller. A few states have already made their position clear that they will not allow the release of the film or will do so only after changes have been made in the film. This is my tribute to the sacrifice, valour and honour of Rani Padmavati! Sanjay Leela Bhansali @RanveerOfficial @deepikapadukone @shahidkapoor https://t.co/RfxgTzFtch Padmavati (@FilmPadmavati) November 8, 2017 The films director and cast have reiterated that there is no distortion of history and the so-called dream sequence between Padmavati and Khilji doesnt exist. A few mediapersons who watched the film have also said this but to no avail. Here is how the various states stand on Padmavati at present Madhya Pradesh Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that insult to Padmavati will not be tolerated while addressing Rajputs at a meet. Banning the film, he said even if the movie is passed by the Censor Board for release in the country, it wont make it to the screens in the state. Rajasthan Chief minister Vasundhara Raje, in a letter to Union information and broadcasting minister Smriti Irani on Saturday, had sought necessary changes in the movie before its release, so that the sentiments of any community are not hurt. The state home minister said the state is considering a ban on the movie within as per the legal framework and is seeking legal advice. Uttar Pradesh While holding Bhansali as guilty as the protesters for the Padmavati row, chief minister Yogi Adityanath said, Nobody has the right to take the law into their hands. Be it Sanjay Leela Bhansali or anybody else. I feel that if those issuing threats are guilty, then Bhansali is no less guilty...who has got used to hurting public sentiments. The UP government had a few days ago written to the I&B minister requesting deferment in the release of the film, arguing that its resources were too stretched to maintain law and order in the wake of any possible violence. Punjab Chief minister Amarinder Singh ruled out banning the film without watching it. How can I seek or support a ban on the movie when I have not even watched it, asked Amarinder, clarifying his earlier statement in which he had said if there had been any attempt to distort history, then protests against the same were justified. Nobody can be denied the right to disagree with others and protest peacefully in a civilised and democratic system, but nobody (neither an individual nor an organisation) has the right to threatens (sic) someone with whom he/she does not agree on any issue, he said. West Bengal Promising a smooth release to Deepika Padukone-starrer, the state chief minister Mamata Banerjee twitted her displeasure over the controversy around Padmavati. The #Padmavati controversy is not only unfortunate but also a calculated plan of a political party to destroy the freedom to express ourselves. We condemn this super emergency. All in the film industry must come together and protest in one voice, she wrote on Monday. Haryana Haryana health minister Anil Vij and industries and commerce and environment minister Vipul Goel wrote to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), seeking an immediate ban on the release and screening of the film. Nobody is allowed to distort history and wrongly present facts. This will not be tolerated. The movie has tried to tarnish the image of Rani Padmavati, who is a role model for women. How can they glorify a character like Khilji, Goel said. Actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha has questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bollywood stars Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan for their silence over the burning issue of Sanjay Leela Bhansalis Padmavati release. As Padmavati becomes a burning controversy, people are asking why the legendary Amitabh Bachchan, most versatile Aamir Khan and most popular Shah Rukh Khan have no comments. And how come our I&B Minister or our most popular Honourable PM (according to PEW -- American think tank PEW poll) are maintaining stoic silence. High time! Shatrughan tweeted on Wednesday. As Padmavati becomes a burning controversy, people are asking why the legendary @SrBachchan, most versatile @aamir_khan & most popular @iamsrk have no comments..& how come our I&B Minister or our most popular Hon'ble PM (according to PEW) are maintaining stoic silence. High time! Shatrughan Sinha (@ShatruganSinha) November 22, 2017 He also said that he will speak about the controversy keeping in mind the interest of filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali and the sensitivity of the Rajputs. As for me, I would and should speak on Padmavati issue only after the great filmmaker, producer Sanjay Leela Bhansali speaks up. I speak only when I am spoken to and I will speak keeping in mind the interests of the filmmaker as well as the sensitivity, valour, loyalty of the great Rajputs, he added. As for me, I would & should speak on Padmavati issue only after the "great filmmaker, producer S.L.Bhansali" speaks up. I speak only when I am spoken to & I will speak keeping in mind the interests of the filmmaker as well as the sensitivity, valour, loyalty of the great Rajputs. Shatrughan Sinha (@ShatruganSinha) November 22, 2017 In Padmavati, actor Ranveer Singh plays Delhi Sultan Alauddin Khilji, which the makers have assured is a tribute to the valour of Rajput queen Padmavati, played by Deepika Padukone. A BJP leader has announced a reward of Rs 10 crore for beheading Bhansali and Deepika. The film is in the eye of a storm following protests from conservative groups over alleged tampering with historical facts -- a contention Bhansali has denied repeatedly. The release of the film, which was earlier slated for December 1, has been deferred as the filmmakers are yet to secure a censor certificate. Follow @htshowbiz for more The Cabinet approved a policy framework for central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) on Wednesday to negotiate the next round of wage revision with their workers, said official sources. The decision on the wage policy for the eighth round of negotiations for the workers was taken at the Union Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi. According to the decision, the sources said, management of the CPSEs would be free to negotiate wage revision for workers where the periodicity of wage settlement of 5 years or 10 years expired generally on December 31, 2016. However, the government would not provide any budgetary support for any such wage increase, and the respective CPSEs would have to bear the entire financial implications from their own resources, they added. Further, the management of CPSEs would have to ensure the negotiated scales of pay do not exceed the existing scales of executives and non-unionised supervisors of the respective companies. According to the sources, CPSEs would also have to make sure any increase in wages does not result in administered prices of their goods and services. Students of Classes 10, 11 and 12 in Delhi government schools will be given one-on-one guidance in the next three months, under the third phase of the career counselling and guidance project of the Directorate of Education (DoE). The government had launched the first of its kind project, implemented by iDreamCareer.com with support from UNDP India and Central Square Foundation, in July this year. In the first two phases, around four lakh students had undergone a psychometric career assessment, which tested their aptitude, personality and interests, and individual reports were generated online. In the third phase, which began on Monday and will last until the end of February next year, the students will be given one-on-one counselling by the educational vocational guidance counsellors (EVGC). There are a little over 200 EVGCs in the 1,024 government schools. So each EVGC will have to handle around five schools, which is why the third phase will take as long, said Atishi Marlena, the advisor to education minister Manish Sisodia. The online dashboard, where the students and the counsellors can access their reports, will have information on the different career prospects that would be suitable to them based on their aptitude test results. Class 10 is pivotal, as your stream choice can impact your career choices as well. So we have started it from Class 10, so that they can make informed choices, added Marlena. As per the direction of the Delhi high court, the education department will constitute a fee anomaly committee to which parents can directly forward their grievances regarding fees or any other charge being imposed by recognised unaided private schools of Delhi. On Tuesday, a division bench of the Delhi high court issued the direction in a petition filed against a minority school. An official from the directorate of education (DoE) said that a committee on similar lines already exists but has been defunct for some time now. As per the Delhi School Education Rules, 1973, the Fee Anomaly Committee should include the deputy director of education of the district concerned, education officer, or, in his absence, deputy education officer of the zone, and a charted accountant nominated by the department. The deputy director of education of the district is in charge of all such issues and now we will include other members too, the official said. Another DoE official said that the department regularly receives complaints from parents against private schools on issues related to fee hike, fee irregularities and other charges. There is no fixed pattern but we regularly get complaints. Sometimes we get complaints every day and sometimes we do not get even one complaint in a week, the official said. Khagesh B Jha, the petitioner in the case, said that the order came after a petition was filed against a minority school but a general direction is passed for all schools of Delhi whether at DDA land/private land/minority institution. A copy of the order, shared by Jha, stated, constitute a committee to enable any parent or guardian of a student, who are aggrieved by the amount of fee or any other charge being levied by any recognised unaided school, to register a complaint either individually or collectively in this behalf; which shall be disposed off by the statutory body whilst returning definite findings on the issues referred to it. Jha said that the counsel for the government has assured that the committee will be formed within two weeks. One hundred and thirty nine. Thats the total number of men and women tasked with manning and protecting the Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR), spread over 1288 sq km. That is one person for every 9 sq km, approximately. Also, that, in a nutshell, sums up the state of affairs at the CTR, which, at the last count, was home to 215 tigers. The reserve receives 2.5-3 lakh tourists during seven months from November 15 to June 15 that it remains open for tourists. The footfall is likely to see a jump this tourism season as the CTR readies top open two more entry gates from Garhwal-Kotdwar side on November 27. The gates would be ideal for those coming from Delhi and NCR region. While efforts are being made to increase tourism inflow into the reserve, not too much effort has been put into increasing manpower in the field. Tourists at Corbett Tiger Reserve in Ramnagar. (HT Photo) Currently, against the sanctioned strength of 120, the CTR has only 79 forest guards of which nine are women. In addition, 60 daily wagers are deployed under Operation Lord, an initiative of the reserve officials where locals are employed as watchers to strengthen patrolling. Nine years ago, then UPA government at the Centre had directed 13 most sensitive reserves to constitute a Special Tiger Protection Force (STPF), which could provide at least 100 more staff to each of them to man the big cat. We faced a lot of hiccups in the constitution of the force. Recently, I wrote to the state government urging to deploy forest guards under the STPF. This way, we will not have any special brigade of people. Instead we will increase the numbers on the ground, Surendra Mehra, director, CTR, said. The initial notification for the STPF in 2008 mandates 30% reservation for forest dwellers to ensure livelihood for locals and also ensure they play a role in protecting wildlife. This, however, was turned down by the (state?) government. Thereafter, brainstorming began on whether or not the force could be armed with the Section 197 of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) that allows attack in defence. This was fine by the (state?) government and a notification was issued last year. The government, however, could not constitute the special force. The recent employment notification for over 1,200 posts of forest guards was withdrawn as we are making amendments in the rules so that more people could participate in the process, Harak Singh Rawat, state forest minister, said. The government has hinted deploying forest guards as the STPF at Corbett, yet it would take at least a years time to get the people moving in the field. Since 2012, the reserve has had limited influx of tourists after it disallowed private vehicles except those of the VIPs. However, two new gates means an additional tourist footfall. The corridors are blocked because of tourism. And Corbett had taken steps to limit tourists in past, but theres a need to strategise the inflow (of tourists), wildlife activist Prerna Bindra said. This year, of 13 tiger mortalities in Uttarakhand, six were reported from Corbett, as per official website of National Tiger Conservation Authority. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Its been more than two months since the police busted an inter-state kidney racket at a hospital near Dehradun, but three main accused in the case, including the son of the alleged kingpin, still remain at large. Being run from Gangotri Charitable Hospital at Lal Tappad in Doiwala, around 30 km from Dehradun, the organ ring was busted on September 11 by the Dehradun police. Four days later, they arrested Amit Kumar Raut, the alleged mastermind of the kidney ring, along with brother Jeevan from Panchkula in Haryana. Eventually, more arrests were made in connection with the kidney racket, taking the total number of accused nabbed by the police to 12. While the police succeeded in tracing down Raut also the mastermind behind the 2008 Gurugram kidney racket within four days of the racket getting unearthed, it is yet to catch hold of Amits doctor son Akshay Raut, who allegedly aided his father and uncle in the kidney extraction and transplant operations. Also on the run are Dr Sanjay Das and wife Sushma, who allegedly used to visit Uttarakhand all the way from Nepal to assist the Rauts in the kidney extraction and transplantation surgeries at the Dehradun hospital. Our teams have raided many places over the past weeks for catching them...we are actively pursuing the case and gathering inputs on the possible hideouts of the accused through our intelligence network, Nivedita Kukreti Kumar, Dehradun senior superintendent of police (SSP), told HT. The accused have been booked under sections 420 (cheating), 342 (wrongful confinement), 370 (trafficking) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and sections 18/19/20 of the Transplantation of Human Organs Act 1994. Last month, the Dehradun police had also slapped the stringent Gangster Act against six of the accused - Amit, Jeevan, Akshay, agent Javed Khan and doctor-couple Dr Sanjay and Sushma Das. Raut, who, reportedly is not even a qualified doctor, and his brother had carried out close to 600 illegal kidney transplants by 2008, as per a CBI chargesheet. The brothers have been in the illegal kidney business since early 90s and were arrested several times before securing bail. As per the police officials, they changed the city of operation after every arrest and used aliases to set up business in a new city. While the kidney donors came mostly from the impoverished sections of the society, the recipients were wealthy people from both within the country and abroad. The brothers had set up base at the Gangotri Charitable Hospital near Dehradun in July and by September, before the racket was busted, had performed close to 50 operations. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Stacey Isom Campbells play, Laundry at the Coin & Spin, received an Equity-approved showcase production in New York City as part of the fifth annual Collective:10 Play Festival. Ms. Campbells play, along with four other ten-minute plays, premiered Nov. 1-5 at The Collective: NY. Equity means my play meets the criteria to be considered a professional production, said Ms. Campbell, associate professor of creative writing at Lee. Its my first Equity show, and my first production in NYC. Ms. Campbells play deals with the escalating acts of violence in the country and the fear of that threat as, according to the plays synopsis, laundry takes on new meaning when two women take refuge in a laundromat. In addition to its premiere at The Collective: NY, Laundry at the Coin & Spin will be published in The Collectives fifth play anthology. Ms. Campbell joined the Department of Language and Literature at Lee in 2007. She earned a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in script and screenwriting from Regent University and an MFA in creative writing from Old Dominion University. Ms. Campbell is a fellow of the Hambidge Center, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico. She is also a recipient of the David Scott Sutelan Memorial Award. An accomplished playwright, some of Ms. Campbells plays include Letters to John Lennon, Touching Aurora, Smokin Devils, California Dreamin, On the 8s, and more. Her work has been seen or won awards at The Barter Theatre, Pittsburgh New Works Festival, The Great Plains Theatre Conference, and L.A. First Stage, among others. To read Broadway Worlds article on the Collective:10 Play Festival, visit https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/The-Collective-NY-Gets-Raw-for-Its-Fifth-Collective-10-Play-Festival-20171025# For information about the Collective:10 Play Festival on The Collectives website, visit http://www.thecollective-ny.org/5th-annual-c10/ To view Ms. Campbells work, visit http://stacey-isom-campbell.squarespace.com/. New Delhi: A city court on Tuesday issued summons to BJP MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa in a criminal defamation complaint filed by Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain. In the previous hearing, the court had issued summons to former water minister Kapil Mishra in the same defamation case. Both, Sirsa and Mishra, have been directed to appear before the court on January 20, 2018. Mishra was sacked from his ministers portfolio by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on May 6. The party said that Mishra had failed to resolve Delhis water problem. But Mishra had claimed that his removal came on the day he had shared details of the alleged Rs 400-crore water tanker scandal report with the chief minister. Jain in his petition also alleged that Mishra made a baseless and defamatory statement against him before the media on May 7. In a press conference after the sacking, Mishra had claimed that he saw Jain giving Rs 2 crore to Kejriwal. Jain accused Sirsa of defaming him on May 9 by alleging that the minister was indulging in circulating huge amounts of illegitimate money within the party. The health minister filed two criminal defamation complaints in the court against Mishra and Sirsa on May 19. The maximum punishment, if convicted for criminal defamation is 2 years. The health minister in his petition has said that making a statement on the basis of hearsay without any proof or evidence supporting it, is not only unbecoming of an MLA, but also a crime of defaming a person. Six years after a 10-year-old girl died, an FIR has been registered for causing death due to negligence in central Delhis Ranjit Nagar police station following a court order. The girls father, who approached the court, alleged that she was diagnosed with dengue and yet given antibiotics, which is prohibited under the guidelines of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). The girl, Ritu, was admitted in RLKC Hospital Metro Heart Institute near Shadipur metro station for four days between October 21, 2011 and October 25, 2011. Her father alleged that the hospital authorities told him to shift her in another hospital after her health condition deteriorated, allegedly due to their negligence. He rushed her in critical condition to RML Hospital where she died during treatment. The hospital, RLKC Hospital Metro Heart Institute, couldnt be reach for a comment as calls made to its landline number went unanswered till Wednesday night. The girls father, Pramod Kumar Chaudhary, told Hindustan Times that the court order was pronounced on August 30, 2017, following which the FIR was lodged on November 17. It has been six years since my daughter died a painful death due to negligence of the hospital. She was given wrong medicines while being treated for dengue. I ran from pillar to post to collect the medical bills and other papers to file a suit in the court. I hope no other father goes through the trauma that I have gone through, said Chaudhary. Chaudhary is an employee of New Delhi Municipal Council. He has two daughters aged 22 and 5. The victim, Ritu, was his second daughter. She had been studying in class 4 the year she died. Starting the process to fill vacant teaching positions, Delhi University has asked colleges to form a screening committee to shortlist candidates and a selection committee to conduct the interviews. The university has received 4.11 lakh applications for nearly 3,000 posts of assistant professors in about 63 colleges. The university had last initiated the appointment process for colleges in 2015 but the HRD ministry had asked the process to be put on hold as the then vice-chancellor Dinesh Singhs term was expiring in three months. The hiring process comes after the University Grants Commission (UGC) introducted new regulations for hiring. The posts have been lying vacant for years and ad-hoc and temporary faculty members are teaching students. In January, the university had started the process of hiring around 400 assistant professors in various departments. In a letter to colleges, the assistant registrar said a core committee constituted by the university had completed centralised screening of applications of some subjects. The centralised screening has been completed for Arabic, Bengali, chemistry, electronics, food technology, instrumentation, philosophy, psychology and Urdu. Colleges, which have vacancies in these subjects, will now have to shortlist the candidates at their level, a top DU official said. The compiled data will be forwarded to the colleges concerned for shortlisting. Thereafter the colleges have to send a formal request to the university for providing a nominee of the vice-chancellor, three experts and SC/ST/OBC/minority/women nominee to be associated with the selection committee, the official said. The official said interviews are likely to start in December end. We are in the process of finalising the list. We will bring out these lists one by one, the official said. At its 94th annual convocation, president Ram Nath Kovind and human resource development minister Prakash Javadekar had stressed the need to fill vacant teaching positions in the university. The university has faculty vacancies for the post of assistant professors in 41 departments such as zoology, statistics, Philosophy, Mathematics, Linguistics, Plant Molecular Biology, Electronic Science and Hindi. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON On Tuesday, 30 minutes of intermittent firing didnt just shatter a couple of windows in the quaint Shanti Park neighbourhood in Dwarka. For the local residents, the shootout also shattered the image of the neighbourhood being a peaceful one. A joint team of Delhi and Punjab Police on Tuesday arrested five members of Punjabs infamous Lawrence Bishnoi gang after a gunbattle and recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition. A man named Toni from Punjab had taken one of the flats in Plot Number 5 of Shanti Park on rent on October 21 this year, locals said. Soon, five more men moved in with him and together they presented the image of perfect neighbours nice decent boys who kept to themselves and were pleasant when they occasionally interacted. Exactly a month later on Tuesday, sounds of heavy firing and surrounding rumours led the same locals to believe that terrorists were living in the house. Later, when news broke out that the arrested men were gangsters and not terrorists, most residents said it made no difference to them. This was a safe neighbourhhood. And whoever they were, they disguised themselves really well. They would greet us and were well behaved. Had we known there was a problem, we would have reported it to the police. We are still scared about our safety, said a resident of the building where the shootout took place. His was the only family present during the shootout. The building has three floors with three flats each on every floor and a real-estate dealers office on the ground floor. The house where the alleged gangsters were residing is owned by one Inderjeet Khullar according to police. Khullar had applied for tenant verification before renting the house to Toni. Asked about the status, DCP southwest, Shibesh Singh, said they had sent his documents to Punjab Police for local verification but could not share whether a clearance had come or not. Khullar was unavailable to comment while the property dealer, who usually brokers the deals between tenants-landlords, refused to comment. Toni and his associates did nothing to raise any red flags. Amit Gandhi, a neighbour, said he used to often exchange greetings with the arrested men and sometimes even smoke hookah with them, a daily routine for the gangsters. How could we ever think that they had weapons. Even today, I was in a certain disbelief when our guard came and told us about gunshots. We locked ourselves at the DMRC office and emerged a couple of hours later only after the police had sanitised the whole building, said Aman, a DMRC staff who worked in the office that shares a boundary with the building. The chief medical officer (CMO) of Civil Hospital, Gurgaon, initiated an inquiry on Tuesday into the death of a seven-year-old dengue patient at a private hospital in Gurgaon this September. Haryana health minister Anil Vij also ordered an inquiry in the case by a senior officer and sought a report at the earliest for appropriate action against the guilty, if any. The action comes a day after Union health minister JP Nadda responded to a tweet expressing outrage about the medical bills handed to the family of the deceased child, Adya Singh. Adyas father alleged that Fortis Memorial Research Institute (Gurgaon) billed them for 660 syringes and 2,700 gloves during his daughters 15-day hospital stay. We have formed a three-member team of doctors to look into the matter of Fortis Memorial Research Institute (Gurgaon). The investigation report will be submitted to the health department in Chandigarh. We need to find out if the treatment was correct, and if the hospital has overcharged the patients family, BK Rajora, Civil Hospital CMO, said. Meanwhile, the state health minister said on Tuesday that no hospital will be allowed to play with the health and sentiments of people. Vij added that officers have been directed to submit the investigation report at the earliest. Adyas father said the hospital gave them a 20-page itemised bill that amounts to Rs18 lakh. The girl, Adya Singh, was referred to Fortis Memorial Research Institute in Gurgaon after she was diagnosed with dengue at another private hospital. She was put on ventilator within 48 hours of her admission on September 1 as her condition deteriorated. Seven-year-old Adya was brought in to Fortis Memorial Research Institute (Gurgaon), from another private hospital on the morning of 31st August. She was admitted with severe dengue which progressed to dengue shock syndrome and was managed on IV fluids and supportive treatment as there was a progressive fall in platelet count and hemoconcentration. As her condition deteriorated, she had to be put on ventilator support within 48 hours. The family was kept informed of the critical condition of the child and the poor prognosis in these situations, a hospital statement read. All standard medical protocols were followed in treating the patient and all clinical guidelines were adhered to, the hospital said. The family has cleared the bill, but said they will file a case in the consumer court. A 53-year-old man was arrested on Wednesday from Rajasthan for murdering a relative in northwest Delhis Bharat Nagar in 2016. The accused, Kundu Swami, is a history sheeter and was carrying a reward of Rs 25,000, police said. Swami, along with his other co-accused, had forcibly entered a relatives house in Wazirpur, carrying knives and sticks. He had allegedly beaten the entire family. Among the injured persons was a 24-year-old man, who had succumbed to his injuries. The deceaseds mother, who is the complainant in the case, approached police on July 8, 2016. Based on her complaint, an FIR was lodged in Bharat Nagar police station. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Dr G Ram Gopal Naik said that one of the co-accused, Narayan, was arrested on Tuesday from Nala Pusta Road near Bhalaswa landfill. After interrogating Narayan specific information was received regarding the whereabouts of the main accused, Kundu Swami. He was traced to be in Sawai Madhopur area of Rajasthan. The police team was rushed to Sawai Madhopur. The accused, Kundu Swami, was spotted near the railway station of Sawai Madhopur with the help of an informer. He was arrested, said Naik. During interrogation, Swami told police that he had run away from the capital after the murder. He had been hiding and cattle trading since then in different parts of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Punjab. He did not stay at any one place but kept on changing his location to evade arrest, police said. The National Capital Territory (NCT) belongs to the entire nation and not just to Delhi, the Centre told the Supreme Court on Wednesday, while defending the Delhi High Court verdict declaring the Lieutenant Governor as the administrative head of the Capital. Addressing a five-judge bench headed by chief justice Dipak Misra additional solicitor general Maninder Singh was critical of the Arvind Kejriwal government for its stand. He was responding to the AAP governments arguments before the bench. I wont take names. But the head of the local government says he will decide where the police commissioner will sit, where the Republic Day parade will be held, he said, wondering whether the security of the national capital and interest of the nation can be compromised. Singh asserted that the union government is also an elected government. During the hearing, the bench asked the law officer if Lieutenant Governor could assume all powers to himself?. The issue is elected government has some executive powers in respect of which they can make laws but they have to work in consultation with Lieutenant Governor, the bench noted. To this, Singh said the Delhi Government cannot take a stand to say that it will not follow a procedure and take its own decisions. Delhi was not a state and the Constitution did not vest any exclusive executive powers on it, Singh reiterated. The concept of aid and advice of the council of ministers was alien to L-Gs executive functions. But the bench appeared to disagree. Aid and advice has to have some meaning, the court told the ASG who insisted the Constitution vested the powers of union territories with the union government. During the hearing, the court expressed its concern over lawyers for the Delhi government speaking in different voices. All of you are appearing for one client and then one categorically told that they didnt subscribe to Indira Jaisings views, the bench said, without naming the senior advocate who did not support his colleagues arguments. The court also did not even say which argument of Jaising the counsel referred to. It then asked the Delhi government counsel to submit a written note to the bench. In a move that will bring relief to lakhs of property tax defaulters in unauthorised colonies, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation has decided to introduce amnesty scheme for residential properties. The scheme will provide 100% rebate on interest if property tax defaulters clear the pending dues before December 31. There are 400 unauthorised colonies in south Delhi and as per Geospatial Delhi Limited survey, there are 6-7 lakhs people living in them. But only 15 % pay property tax. We want to bring rest of the 85% people under tax net, said Kamaljeet Sehrawat, SDMC mayor. Since the civic body proves sanitation services in these colonies, it is entitled to collect the property tax, Sehrawat said. Under section 114 of Delhi Municipal Act, the civic body is authorised to collect property tax from vacant lands and buildings falling under its jurisdiction, an SDMC official said. The proposal has received approval in standing committee last week. Chairman Standing Committee, Bhupender Gupta said the scheme will include all property owners who have not submitted tax return from April 2004 or have not submitted return on regular basis. The scheme will even apply in case of residential properties where the matter is pending before Municipal Taxation Tribunal or any other court and the property owner wants to withdraw the case, the official said. Considering people living in unauthorised colonies do not have proper registry and sale deed, department will accept self affidavit from such property owners, the official said. The owners will just have to make a declaration, which will be accepted by the department. Sehrawat said the proposal will not just help SDMC in increasing its tax net but help people living in unauthorised colonies to prove their ownership right in future. We are even in talks with banks to allow residents of unauthorised colonies to raise loans if they pay property tax regularly, she said. To assess the actual number of taxpayers in its jurisdiction, the SDMC is already conducting door-to-door survey of properties, which includes unauthorised colonies too. As per GSDL survey there are 14 lakh taxpayers in south Delhi and out of them only 4.5 lakhs pay property tax. But we want to confirm the figures and include the addresses as well thats why fresh survey is being carried. By November 30, first report of the survey will be out, a senior official said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Supreme Court (SC) declined to exempt power generating government companies National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and Hindalco from its order that bans use of furnace oil and pet coke in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. A bench headed by justice MB Lokur refused to accept the submissions of the companies counsel that the ban would affect the business, and end in closure of their production units leading to a loss of jobs. On behalf of NTPC, additional solicitor general, Tushar Mehta, submitted that if the permission is not granted then there would be a blackout as power generation would get affected. We are supplying power to the entire country, Mehta said. Please do not give this argument. Please tell us isnt Delhi a part of this country and arent children part of this country, justice Lokur said, refusing to issue any order on NTPCs application seeking time to convert to alternative cleaner fuel. The court said the Union of India too had issued a notification to ban industrial use of the two fuels. Since the Centre has come out with a notification you can approach them instead of asking us to issue an order, the judge said. Similarly, Hindalcos plea was turned down. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, said the companys plant was 932 kilometers away and the PM 2.5 level in the area on November 7 when Delhi was enveloped in a toxic haze was just 25. There are 22,000 employees in the unit. The plant would have to shut down if we do not get time to switch over. At the moment, the plant is not equipped to use any other fuel other than furnace oil, he submitted. SC had on November 1 banned use of pet coke and furnace oil in the three states. The order came at a time when the pollution levels in Delhi had spiked, forcing authorities to shut down schools for primary-level students. Later the Centre and CPCB notified the ban. Last week, the apex court had asked all states and union territories to consider prohibiting the use of the two polluting fuels. According to NTPC, its plants in NCR and Uttar Pradesh require furnace oil as secondary fuel to start and shut the unit. During low load and other emergency situations, furnace oil is used for stability of combustion and safety of boiler. The plants, it said, were commissioned long back when use of furnace oil was prescribed and it was not possible to operate without the fuel. Hindalco said its plant in Renukoot, UP, uses furnace oil in calciners to maintain high temperature required for calcinations. It is also used in Anode baking furnaces. Work on the national capital regions Kundli-Ghaziabad-Palwal (KGP) Expressway has been suspended amid protest by farmers who are demanding increased compensation for their land. On Tuesday, the farmers stopped work between Palwal and Shahjanpur Khadar, the last village on the Haryana border. We were forced to stop work on Monday and Tuesday and we will not allow it on over the 30km stretch up to Uttar Pradesh border till we are fully compensated for our land, said Rajesh Bhati, president of Kissan Sangarsh Samiti. Bhati said the government has to pay an additional Rs 1,285 crore for 1057 acres of land acquired in 24 villages for the project. On Monday, the farmers had threatened to stop construction of expressway. The revenue authorities calculated this amount on the direction of the court. The NHAI which has to pay this amount to state government for onward disbursement among the farmers is causing the delay, Bhati said. Our fight will continue and we are determined to get the issue resolved, said Joginder Bhadana, a farmer who was part of the protest. The farmers have stalled work and we are requesting them to allow us resume it, confirmed Yashpal Singh, DGM NHAI. NCRs biggest 136-Km-Kundli-Ghaziabad-Palwal (KGP) Expressway was proposed to be complete by August 15, 2017. In April,Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari, had flown into Mohana village in Faridabad and later to Jalaka village in Palwal to review the work. The minister had then said that nearly 60 percent of the work on the project has been complete. He had also said that he hoped the project would be complete by August 2017, Once the project is commissioned, about 2 lakh vehicles can take this Expressway and decongest traffic in Delhi and Faridabad. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Previous Next Pilgrim Congregational Church, United Church of Christ hosted an Interfaith Service of Gratitude last Sunday. "Nineteen plus faith groups gathered to worship in gratitude for all that the Divine has provided. BahaI, Christian, Hindu, Jew, Muslim and others all coming together in thanksgiving," officials said. God created each of us as unique individuals who need community with one another in order to truly thrive, said Rev. Candace Worth, pastor of New Hope Presbyterian Church, It is especially important now, when it seems that the common movement is to find ways to divide humanity, promote fear and untruths. 'In a time where the world seems so concentrated on differences and division the service was an opportunity for Chattanoogas to come together in gratitude and be reminded of the things that unite us," officials said. Rev. Ken Carroll of The Rock, MCC stated that the service reminds us that we are one people and that there is more that unites us than divides us. There were over 150 people in attendance and at the end of the service attendees expressed the desire to do more interfaith services. Rev. Scott Williamson, senior pastor at Pilgrim Congregational Church said It was a privilege to host this service of gratitude. We have already been asked to do this again next year. This service proves that the people of Chattanooga believe that love is greater than hate and that there is still much for which to be thankful. "Chattanooga is diverse with faith but united in love," officials said. Rev. Vernon Banks of Ashland Terrace Christian Church said he was grateful to celebrate the contributions of our diverse faith communities in Chattanooga. Together, we are working to bring much good to our fellow citizens. In attendance were Ashland Terrace Christian Church, Bahais of Chattanooga, B'nai Zion Congregation, First Baptist Church, First Christian Church, Grace Episcopal, Gujarati Samaj of East Tennessee - Hindu Temple, Hope House at UTC, Islamic Center of Chattanooga, Lift Jesus Up Global Ministry, Mizpah Congregational, New Hope Presbyterian Church, Northminster Presbyterian Church, Pilgrim Congregational, Rivermont Presbyterian Church, Saint Paul's Episcopal, The Rock MCC, Unitarian Universalist Church of Chattanooga, Unity of Chattanooga and other faith groups An offering was taken during the service collecting $240 for The Chattanooga Area Food Bank. In the most visible sign of tensions reducing in Kashmir, the government of India is planning to announce an amnesty scheme for stone-pelters in the Valley, and even withdraw cases against first-time offenders, Hindustan Times reported on Tuesday. This would not be the first time amnesty is being offered, however it appears that this time it is possible to move ahead with the peace process. Conditions in the Valley have changed dramatically since July 2016 when tension because of stone-pelting reached its peak following the killing of Hizbul militant Burhan Wani. Hundreds were killed during the ensuing protests, and if today there is a silver lining visible it is because of the sustained efforts of both state and central governments. The latest in this string of positive developments is the appointment of Dineshwar Sharma, a former intelligence chief, as the interlocutor between the State and various representatives from Jammu & Kashmir. Last year 88 locals took to militancy, and it is important for the government to arrest this trend. This cannot be done through brute force. The focus on reaching out, especially to the youth in the Valley, is the right approach because winning their trust and building their confidence in the State is what will help in the long run. Sharma has said that his focus will be on the youth and on how to change their mindset because they are the ones who are angry, the HT report quoted. The J&K polices decision to not register a case against Majid Khan, a militant who surrendered following an emotional appeal from his mother, is reflective of the hope the State has in its efforts to reach out to the youth. Following Khans return, two other mothers have also appealed to their sons to return. Helplines like Madadgaar (Dial 1441), where families and well-wishers of youth who want to surrender can call, is another positive initiative. These positive developments come at a time when support for terrorists in the Valley is on the wane. Still security forces are on vigil as infiltration bids and ceasefire violations as recently as on November 17 at the Poonch sector. As winter sets in, cross-border terrorism and militancy is expected, which is also works in the governments favour. All in all, this is a golden opportunity to put an end to the cycle of unrest in the Valley, and usher in progress and development. It shouldnt come as a surprise to anyone that the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh has announced his governments decision to ban Padmavati, the controversial Bollywood movie, ahead of its release, and that Rajasthan has said it will do the same unless the Union information and broadcasting ministry does what its chief minister has asked it to. Indeed, Rajasthan has also said that it will do this irrespective of the Central Board of Film Certifications decision on the movie. It shouldnt come as a surprise because both states are headed to the polls next year and have sizeable Rajput populations. The films theme has offended the Rajputs, who believe it slights Padmini, the legendary queen of Chittor dating back to the 13th or 14th century. It isnt clear whether Padmini was a real or mythical figure, but her legend is well known, and also deeply entwined with certain Rajput practices. Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, two other North Indian states with sizeable Rajput populations, have also indicated that their sympathies are with those protesting the release of the film. While all four states are governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party, the opposition to Padmavati, cuts across party lines. In Rajasthan, the Indian National Congress is opposed to the release of the movie. And the Congress Amarinder Singh, the chief minister of Punjab, has also made amply clear his opposition to the release. India doesnt have a free-speech and free-expression law as strong as the US First Amendment, but even seen in that context, the behaviour of the chief ministers is not acceptable. Chief Ministers have to uphold the rule of the law, not kowtow to anyone, least of all groups that indulge in violent protests or issue vile threats. Theres enough legal recourse available in India too much, some would say for anyone upset or unhappy with the depiction of historical, mythical, religious, even fictional figures in books and films. Once the CBFC, which is a statutory body, issues a certificate to a movie, it is the duty of the state governments to ensure that it can be screened (and viewed) safely in their states. In some ways, the utterances of the chief ministers highlight a larger problem, and one that isnt particularly unique to India: the conflict between the political and administrative imperatives for elected representatives. It is the rare chief minister who will take on an influential electoral group even when the latter is in clear violation of the law. That, though, is what good leadership is all about New Zealand has launched an investigation after a secondary school examination reportedly left Class 11 students in tears over questions too complex for their syllabus. The New Zealand Qualifications Authority has been criticised by students, parents and teachers for the far too difficult algebra examination that was held on Monday, a Stuff.co.nz report said. Another report said the NZQA mathematics test was a disaster for the second year in a row, prompting the countrys education minister to ask for a full report on the matter. NCEA seems to be experimenting with a new format for their Tables, Equations, and Graphs paper. But 2017s Year 11 students, do not want to be guinea pigs for a National Certificate that their future schooling and careers will be based off of, New Zealand Herald quoted a teacher, Talia Thomas, as saying. Several teachers said the test included questions not covered in the syllabus and longwinded instructions. In total, out of about probably over 15 questions, I answered probably two or three like a lot of other people I talked to after. I also know a lot of people just left the paper completely blank, a student who took the test told New Zealand Herald. Here is a section of the test paper released by the NZQA and uploaded on Scribd by stuffnewsroom. 91031-exm-2017 by stuffnewsroom on Scribd An Oxford graduate is suing the university for 1m on the grounds that his failure to get a top degree 17 years ago cost him the chance of a lucrative legal career. Faiz Siddiqui alleges the inadequate teaching he received on the Indian special subject part of his modern history course resulted in him getting only a low upper second degree when he took his finals in June 2000 instead of a first or high 2:1. Siddiqui, 39, has blamed the situation on a number of members of staff being absent on sabbatical leave and a failure to find cover. He has also alleged that a tutor failed to submit medical information about him to examiners. He claims he would have become an international commercial lawyer if he had gained the top qualification at the end of his time at Brasenose College, and that his clinical depression and insomnia have been significantly exacerbated by his inexplicable failure. The legal battle between Siddiqui and Oxford has been ongoing for more than a year. Last year a judge allowed Siddiquis action to proceed to be fully argued after Oxford claimed the case had no merit and had been brought outside the legal time limit. It was decided at the time that Siddiqui had a real chance of persuading a judge that the case was not time-barred or that it would be just for it to proceed in any event. At the high court in London on Tuesday, Siddiquis barrister, Roger Mallalieu, told Mr Justice Foskett that in 2000 Siddiqui was a driven young man aiming for a postgraduate qualification from an Ivy League university before a career at the tax bar in England or a major US law firm. Whilst a 2:1 degree from Oxford might rightly seem like a tremendous achievement to most, it fell significantly short of Mr Siddiquis expectations and was, to him, a huge disappointment, Mallalieu said. Siddiquis employment history after Oxford in legal and tax roles was frankly poor and he was now unemployed, the barrister added. Mr Siddiqui has been badly let down by Oxford. He went there with high perhaps extraordinarily high expectations. He and others became the victim of poor teaching provision by the university in what was anticipated to be his favoured special subject and he, uniquely among his peers, was further disadvantaged by his personal tutor not conveying his knowledge of his illnesses to those responsible for making reasonable adjustments and for moderating his examinations. Siddiqui is bringing a loss of earnings claim of at least 1m against the chancellor, masters and scholars of Oxford University. The university denies negligence and causation and says the case has been brought massively outside the legal time limit. The university has previously admitted it had difficulties running the module in the year Siddiqui graduated because half of the teaching staff responsible for Asian history were on sabbatical leave at the same time. Siddiqui has said the standard of tuition he received from Dr David Washbrook declined as a result of the intolerable pressure the historian was placed under. In the academic year 1999-2000, four of the seven faculty staff were on sabbaticals. At the hearing last year, Mallalieu said that of the 15 students who received the same teaching and sat the same exam as Siddiqui, 13 received their lowest or joint lowest mark in the subject. If Siddiqui wins, the case could open the floodgates for similar claims from students complaining about inadequate teaching , unsuitable accommodation and poor decisions. The seven-day hearing is concerned only with liability, with damages to be assessed later if Siddiqui succeeds. (Published in arrangement with The Guardian) Vishal Raina, 24, will fly to Canada in December to study cloud computing at Lambton College, Toronto. For him, its a dream come true because hes also armed with a work visa, which means he is free to choose what direction his life takes from here. Direction was what he was most in need of in the year before he gained admission to Lambton. I knew I had potential but I just didnt know what my options were, Raina says. Then he attended an education fair. Here, the admissions processes for a range of course and countries were explained to him. I even met some of the university directors face to face and they answered some of the questions I had. The most significant advantage he gained from the education fair was advice and assistance with his work permit. With the help of the counsellors from the fair I received a study and work visa within the next two weeks, he says. The purpose of education fairs is to reach out to students with reliable information on the options that are open to them. Which course or stream, which country, what are the requirements or eligibility for a particular course, what are the ways in which you can seek funding, and what are your options after the course these are the kinds of questions you can expect to have answered. Education fairs are a great platform because students can directly meet delegates from a range of universities, and thereby get a clear understanding of how to meet their specific requirement and needs, says Naveen Chopra, director of The Chopras overseas education consultancy. PICK A COURSE, ANY COURSE Dont be afraid to pick an experimental stream either. In addition to the usual suspects engineering, the humanities, finance and business education fairs now encompass music technology, construction project management, political and terrorism studies, cyber security and so on. At the Global Opportunities education fair, students can expect approximately 400 course options each at the UG and PG levels, says Libu Thomas, business operation and strategy head for the fair. The Education in Ireland fair, in fact, has a focus on courses in hospitality and hotel management this year. With the rise in demand and popularity of hospitality and tourism courses, we will be offering more courses on hotel management, culinary arts and tourism, sats Barry ODriscoll, senior education advisor for the fair. Accordingly, universities like Shannon College of Hotel Management, Athlone Institute of Technology and Limerick Institute of Technology will be participating in the event. Events such as Education in Ireland fair are a good chance to network with alumni and representatives. BEFORE HEADING OUT Make a list of the institutes or representatives you want to find. Make a list of questions for delegates and representatives that go beyond curricula and paperwork do you want to know more about the campus or social life, sports, gyms and libraries, who will be your private tutor, when can you plan a trip home? Dont hesitate to ask. Make sure you are smartly dressed and carry all the necessary documents. These would include your original academic documents, mark sheets, certificates and passport. Carry a copy of your CV or business card as this is a good chance to network with universities, alumni and fellow candidates, says Archana Menon, marketing head at QS, a leading higher education consultancy. Dont start out by asking about scholarships. You want to make a good first impression on admissions directors; you need to stand out as a student who came well-prepared and is serious about the course and career. New Delhi The Indian Institute of Technology Ropar (IIT Ropar) will host its sixth convocation ceremony on November 28 at its sprawling 500-acre permanent new campus on the banks of the river Sutlej. The new campus, which will be operational in 2018, has been recently awarded the five-star green rating, GRIHA, for its master plan. The chief guest at the convocation will be Prof Ashok Jhunjhunwala, principal advisor to the minister of power, new and renewable energy. Established in 2008, the institute is known for its research initiatives and at present accommodates 1,100 students and 120 faculty members. One of the eight new IITs set up by the ministry of human resource development in 2008, the institute has been ranked third among the new IITs in overall and fifth in engineering category in the National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF) Rankings 2017, announced by the HRD ministry. When Yohei Fukuda left for England more than a decade ago to learn his trade as a master leather shoemaker, he could hardly have imagined that his native Japan would one day become a leader in this traditionally European art. The number of bespoke shoe workshops has been booming in Japan in the past few years, explained the elegant-looking bald and mustachioed 37-year-old, sporting a smart shirt and tie under a dark-blue work apron. There are at least 40 in Tokyo today and maybe as many as 100 in the whole country, Fukuda told AFP. Bespoke leather shoemaking has historically been dominated by European artisans but Japan developed a taste for the luxury footwear at the beginning of the 2000s and local manufacturing classes quickly took off. Fukudas own workshop is located close to the upmarket area of Ometesando in Tokyo, often described as Japans answer to the grand Champs Elysee avenue in Paris. Each pair of shoes takes between 120 and 140 hours of work and we produce around 80 a year, explains Fukuda. (AFP) A narrow staircase leads up to his old-fashioned workspace that smells strongly of leather and glue, the basic tools of the trade. There is not one machine in the whole place -- everything is done by hand, from the precise measurement of a clients feet to the delicate business of attaching the soles to the shoe. Each pair of shoes takes between 120 and 140 hours of work and we produce around 80 a year, explained Fukuda. He does not want to go at a faster pace: I want to make good shoes, he stressed. Fortunately, his customers are in no hurry and willing to pay a hefty price for the bespoke quality -- a 100-percent made-to-measure pair costs 480,000 yen ($4,200) at least. - Japanese spirit - Why Japan? Mari Yamaguchi, who teaches this meticulous trade in a private school in the trendy Harajuku area of Tokyo says that bespoke shoes speak to the Japanese spirit, with its sense of detail. At Yamaguchis school, dozens of young students are bent over workbenches, carefully learning each one of the individual painstaking steps required in the manufacturing process. When making bespoke shoes by hand, the challenge is to get close to perfection by bringing together these two imperfect but magic elements. (AFP) A foot is something very special. Each foot is unique, like each piece of leather. When making bespoke shoes by hand, the challenge is to get close to perfection by bringing together these two imperfect but magic elements, she said. Maybe Japanese people think about shoes more than in other cultures because most people put them on and take them off several times a day -- whenever entering a house, mused the 43-year-old teacher. Not for the first time, the Japanese have travelled abroad to adopt the skills and then improved them, said Jesper Ingevaldsson, Swedish author of a specialist blog on shoemaking. They have done with shoes what they have done with other things, like denim for example: they learn from the west, come home, and perfect it and evolve it said Ingevaldsson. The Japanese have developed such a good reputation in the field that Western apprentices are now heading east to learn the trade. (AFP) The Japanese have developed such a good reputation in the field that Western apprentices are now heading east to learn the trade. In Fukudas workshop, five young apprentices labour on workbenches made from old 1920s English chests of drawers. One scrutinises the quality of a new delivery of leather, another sews on a sole, making sweeping gestures with his arm every time he pulls the thread. And these interns are in turn bringing their own Japanese-inspired creativity to the ancient tradition. Clemence Rochard, a 27-year-old French apprentice, created a pair of hand-made shoes made partly of leather and partly from material from a sparkling and flowery kimono she found in Kyoto. In Japan nobody would have thought about it, acknowledged Fukuda. Follow @htlifeandstyle for more A team of researchers has developed a specific form of a mental exercise that can reduce the chances of developing dementia later in life, says a study. According to the researchers, the cognitive training, called speed of processing, showed benefits up to 10 years after the study participants underwent the mental exercise program. The findings indicated that the proportion of the participants, who underwent the training and later developed dementia, was significantly smaller than those who received no cognitive training. Study author Frederick W Unverzagt from Indiana Universitys school of medicine, said, We would consider this a relatively small dose of training, a low intensity intervention. The persistence -- the durability of the effect was impressive. The researchers, from IU, the University of South Florida, Pennsylvania State University and Moderna Therapeutics, examined 2,808 healthy adults aged 65 years and older and were randomly assigned one of four treatment groups. The first group received instructions and practice in strategies to improve memory of life events and activities. The second group received instructions and practice in strategies to help with problem solving and related issues. The third group received computer-based speed of processing exercises, designed to increase the amount and complexity of information they could process quickly. The fourth was the controlled group, whose members did not participate in any cognitive training program. Initial training consisted of 10 sessions lasting about an hour, over a period of five to six weeks. The participants were assessed immediately after training and at one, two, three, five and 10 years after training. About 1,220 participants completed the 10-year follow-up assessment. The results suggested that about 260 participants developed dementia. The risk of developing dementia was 29% lower for participants in speed of processing training than for those who were in the control group. Moreover, the benefits of the training were stronger for those who underwent booster training. Dr Unverzagt noted that the speed of processing training used computerised adaptive training software with touch screens. The research is published in journal of the Alzheimers Association. Follow @htlifeandstyle for more Hundreds of ducks, waders, terns, raptors and other species of migratory birds have started flying to the Basai wetland over the last fortnight. Every year, the wetland houses more than 30,000 birds from different parts of the world, mainly the northern hemisphere, in the winter as they move to warmer locations in search of food and shelter. The wetland is located eight kilometres from the Sultanpur National Park. At present, there are around 2,000 migratory birds in the area, according to estimates of birders. Experts said that the number will increase by the end of this month. Bird enthusiasts have also started flocking the wetland in the early morning and evening hours to observe the habits of migratory birds. Experts said that the 700-acre wetland is flooded with a number of duck species, including the gadwall, mallard, ruddy shelduck and common pochard. Birders captured pictures of various birds including the bar-headed and greylag geese, northern pintail, plovers, Isabelline shrike and the stunning green-winged teal. Some of the regular migratory species that are prominently visible in Basai wetland comprise the yellow-legged quail, song thrush, tickells blue flycatcher, marshalls iora and grasshopper warbler. Experts said that these birds make an annual visit to the wetland from Russia, Europe, Siberia, central Asia and Afghanistan. Last year, around 300 species of birds were spotted in the wetland. Surajit Ghosal, a birder, said, The Basai wetland is a delightful sight in winter as it turns into a haven for migratory birds. These birds have a pattern and they follow a specific path to travel long distances. Experts said that the Basai wetland is a blessing and it is high time that swampy areas that house birds are preserved. Migration is a complicated process as it involves many parameters. It indicates healthy ecology, said Pankaj Gupta, a birder of Delhi Bird Society. Apart from Basai wetland, the Sultanpur National Park is also witnessing an influx of migratory birds. The park is all set to welcome the birds. There is adequate food in the waterbody for the birds and we have made mounds for them to roost, said Vinod Kumar, conservator of wildlife, south Haryana. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) will commence door-to-door waste collection from December 2 in areas under wards 5 and 6, officials said, calling it a significant step in waste management. The development comes in the backdrop of Haryana governments announcement on Sunday that Bandhwari waste plant will resume operations from June 2019, after a gap of nearly six years. It was speculated that the door-to-door collection process may be delayed by a month due to the issue of logistics but MCG officials said that necessary parameters are in place. Ward 5 comprises Udyog Vihar phases 1-5, sectors 17, 18, 19, 20 and Sirhaul village, while Ward 6 comprises sectors 12 A, 14, Prem Nagar and Sanjay Colony. MCG officials said that the responsibility to collect waste from doorsteps and transport the same to designated sites via e-rickshaws will lie with the concessionaire. Prior to initiating the service, both MCG and the concessionaire Ecogreen held sessions with residents in each MCG ward for waste segregation. Residents have been asked to segregate dry and wet waste and deposit the same in different bags. Residents were informed of the guidelines of Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, and also the directions of the National Green Tribunal about waste collection. The Solid Waste Management Rules state that municipal corporations must work closely with the pollution watchdog to ensure that there is no pollution from waste. Recently, residents associations were asked by MCG to provide heaters to security personnel in the night, as they generally burn waste to make a bonfire in the winter. The NGT guidelines also ban open burning of waste, with a view to curb pollution. With procedures to restart operations of the Bandhwari waste plant, MCG is looking to streamline its waste collection process. In the next few months, all MCG wards will have the door-to-door waste collection facility, said SS Rohilla, public relations officer of MCG. On Sunday, Haryanas principal secretary (ULB) Anand Mohan Sharan, MCG commissioner V Umashankar , Gurgaon mayor Madhu Azad and Faridabad mayor Anju Bala visited the Bandhwari plant, where it was disclosed that the plant is likely to resume operations from June 2019, as a waste-to-energy plant is being built there at a projected cost of Rs430 crore. Bandhwari plant has been lying defunct since August 2013 following a fire. At present, over 1,400 tonnes of untreated daily waste from Gurgaon and Faridabad is dumped there. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Supreme Court of Tennessee clarified the law of self-defense when the person making the claim is engaged in unlawful activity at the time the need for self-defense occurred. This clarification is important because some trial courts have not allowed defendants to assert self-defense when it appeared they were engaged in unlawful activity at the time they used force to defend themselves.In the case before the Court, the defendant alleged that he was acting in self-defense when he fired his handgun, which he possessed illegally, toward a group of men standing in front of a convenience store in Memphis. He struck a young child inside the store.At his trial, the trial court instructed the jury on self-defense, but determined that the jury should decide whether the defendant was engaged in unlawful activity. According to the jury instructions, the defendants self-defense theory would fail if he was engaged in unlawful activity.The jury rejected the defendants self-defense theory and convicted him of attempted voluntary manslaughter as a lesser-included offense of attempted second degree murder; employing a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony; five counts of aggravated assault; and one count of assault as a lesser-included offense of aggravated assault. The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed his convictions, but ruled that the trial court erred in its jury instructions on self-defense. The defendant appealed to the Tennessee Supreme Court.In its analysis, the Supreme Court outlined the history of self-defense law in Tennessee, focusing on the common law duty to retreat when confronted with unlawful force, which the legislature initially abandoned when it codified the law of the self-defense in 1989. The legislature later added conditions on the statutory privilege not to retreat in 2007. In this case, the Supreme Court faced the question of whether the statutory language, not engaged in unlawful activity, was a prerequisite for asserting self-defense or applied only to the privilege not to retreat. The Supreme Court determined that the phrase not engaged in unlawful activity in the self-defense statute was a condition on the privilege not to retreat. The Court also held that the trial court, and not the jury, should make the threshold determination of whether the State showed there was clear and convincing evidence that the defendant was engaged in unlawful activity when he used force in an alleged self-defense situation.Based on the facts in this case, the Supreme Court held that the defendant, who admitted to being a felon in possession of a handgun, was engaged in unlawful activity. The Supreme Court also ruled that the trial courts jury instructions were erroneous because the instructions left the determination of unlawful activity to the jury. However, the Court found the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.The Supreme Court also ruled against the defendant on jury instructions related to the possession of a firearm as a lesser-included offense; adequate notice of an underlying felony; the defense of necessity; and the sufficiency of proof to support his conviction for assault of the convenience store owner, who was behind bulletproof glass when the shots were fired. The Court affirmed the defendants convictions.To read the opinion, authored by Justice Roger A. Page, visit the opinions section of TNcourts.gov The Juvenile Justice Board in Gurgaon sent the 16-year-old student of Ryan International School, Bhondsi, to a juvenile home in Faridabad for 14 days on Wednesday; no decision was taken on whether the accused should be tried as an adult. The juvenile, accused of murdering eight-year-old Pradhyumn Thakur of the same school on September 8, was produced before the Board after his custody ended on Wednesday. The proceedings started at 12pm and lasted for 15 minutes. He will now be produced before the Board on December 6. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials also submitted before the board a copy of an application to get fingerprints of the accused. The CBI has moved an application for taking fingerprints of the juvenile. The agency had submitted the same application to the observation home in Faridabad on Monday. The JJ Board has asked us to file a reply to the said application. The matter has been adjourned till November 29 for further proceedings, Sandeep Aneja, lawyer of the juvenile accused, said. Given the attention this case has received, the juvenile was brought in five minutes before the proceedings with his face covered. After the proceedings, he was taken to Vikas Sadan from the side gate in a police van. The father of the juvenile filed an application before the Board seeking action against CBI officials for not adhering to the timing set for questioning the accused. The father of the juvenile told the Board that the sleuths interrogated his son beyond the set time of 10am-6am during a three-day remand the CBI got on November 8. The reply has been filed by the CBI on the application moved by the father of the accused and hearing is scheduled for November 29, Aneja said. Meanwhile, Sushil Tekriwal, counsel of Barun Chandra Thakur, father of Pradhyumn Thakur, said no decision was taken during Wednesdays proceedings on whether the juvenile should be tried as an adult. On November 14, Thakur had filed a petition before the JJ Board stating: ...he knew what he was doing, his intentions were to kill. He brought a knife a day before and also researched poisons on the internet. The statements recorded by the CBI indicate that he had planned this murder to delay the exams and the parent-teachers meeting. The murder was with a motive. A social background report, prepared by Nisha Saini, legal-cum-probation officer from the district child protection unit, will be submitted before the board in 90 days. Preliminary assessment will be a deciding factor on whether the boy should be treated as an adult. Another factor will be the psychiatric assessment of the boy, which has been carried out. Pradhyumn Thakur, a second grader, was found with his throat slit outside a school toilet on the morning of September 8. His death triggered nationwide outrage and drew attention towards the safety of children in schools across the country. The Gurgaon police had arrested 42-year-old bus conductor Ashok Kumar for the crime the same day. After the case was transferred to the CBI, a Class 11 student of the same school was apprehended on November 7 and produced before the JJ Board the next day. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) in Gurgaon on Wednesday sent 16-year-old student of Ryan International school, Bhondsi to juvenile home again for 14 days. He was produced before the board after his earlier custody ended on Wednesday. The juvenile accuseds father appealed in the board that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sleuths interrogated his son beyond prescribed time. The board had fixed time of 10 am to 6 am for his interrogation during a three-day remand that the agency got on November 8. Hearing on his plea is scheduled on December 29, said a lawyer who attended the proceedings. The agency also sought permission to get fingerprints of the accused but the matter has been posted for a later hearing. There has been no decision during Wednesdays proceedings whether the juvenile should be put on trial as an adult, said Sushil Tekriwal, counsel of Barun Chandra Thakur, victims father. Pradhyumn Thakur, a second grader, was found outside a school toilet with his throat slit on September 8. His death triggered widespread outrage and brought into focus the safety of children in schools across the country. Gurgaon police arrested a bus conductor Ashok Kumar for the crime the same day, while later CBI apprehended a Class 11 student of same school on November 7 and produced him before the board on the next day. The accused boy initially confessed to the crime but later retracted saying a purported confession that investigators claimed to have was coerced. On November 14, Barun Chandra Thakur filed a petition before the juvenile justice board seeking the 16-year-old be tried as an adult, saying the crime he committed was chilling, horrific, monstrous and serious in nature. The juvenile should be treated as an adult as he knew what he was doing, his intentions were to kill. He bought a knife a day before and also researched for kinds of poison on the internet. The statements recorded by the CBI officials indicate that he had planned this murder to delay the exams and the parent teachers meeting. The murder was with a motive, said Tekriwal. A social background report prepared by Nisha Saini, legal-cum-probation officer from the district child protection unit was also submitted on Wednesday. Based on the report, a preliminary assessment will play a factor in the decision on whether the boy should be treated as an adult. Another factor will be the psychiatric assessment of the accused which has been carried out. The juvenile was last produced before the board on November 11, and remanded to judicial custody for 14 days. He has since been put up at an observational home in Faridabad. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The father of a girl who died of dengue at the Fortis Memorial Research Institute in Gurgaon two months ago intends to lodge formal complaints with the Prime Ministers Office, Union health minister and the Delhi chief minister regarding a grossly inflated bill for her hospital stay. Though the government is probing the matter, I am not sure how long I can wait. I have decided to write to everyone who can bring me justice, said Jayant Singh. The grieving parent claimed he was yet to be contacted by any investigation agency in this regard. Fortis has not called us either, although they have been publicly issuing statements, he said. I, however, have spoken to other families with similar complaints. Singh alleged that the hospital billed him for 660 syringes and 2,700 gloves during his daughters 15-day hospital stay, besides prescribing expensive medicines. The 20-page itemised bill from the hospital came up to Rs 16 lakh. Despite that, his child seven-year-old Adya Singh succumbed to the disease. The matter came to light when Union health minister JP Nadda responded to a family friends tweet of outrage over the billing. Following that, Union health secretary Preeti Sudan asked the Haryana government to conduct an investigation and submit an action-taken report in two weeks. Two directors from Haryanas health department along with chief medical officer (CMO) Gurgaon and a member from district administration will probe from Thursday the death of a seven-year-old girl because of dengue in September at a private hospital in Gurgaon. The directors reached the city on Wednesday. As directed by Haryana health minister, Anil Vij we have initiated the process for probe. We will submit a report about the Fortis Memorial Research Institute case within a week regarding the case, said BK Rajora, CMO, Civil Hospital, Gurgaon. Singh said Adya was referred to the medical institute after she was diagnosed with dengue. Her condition deteriorated on August 31, and she was put on ventilator a day later. While the doctors said she would be taken off life-support in 24 hours, they later expressed the desire to wait and see. Three to four days later, the parents were informed that there could be some brain damage. But no CT/MRI was done, and the treatment continued, the father said. The girl remained on ventilator and dialysis for 15 days. Fortis, however, said it adhered to every clinical guideline and standard medical protocol in the book while treating the patient. Seven-year-old Adya was brought into the Fortis Memorial Research Institute (Gurgaon) from another private hospital on the morning of August 31, 2017. She was admitted with severe dengue, which progressed to dengue shock syndrome, and was managed on IV fluids and supportive treatment as there was a progressive fall in platelet count and hemoconcentration (decrease in blood plasma volume). As her condition deteriorated, she had to be put on ventilatory support within 48 hours. The family was kept informed of the critical condition of the child and the poor prognosis in these situations, a hospital statement said. Singh, however, remained sceptical. When Adya passed away, we thought that at least the doctors had tried everything, he said. It was only after the doctors proposed a full-body plasma transplant (a procedure meant to remove, treat and return blood plasma) despite the brain damage that we began questioning the hospitals practices. My first question was: why perform the procedure? Will it help her? With 80% brain damage, what would her life be like? The doctors said they can save the other organs. When the family refused and requested a discharge, they were told that they would have to leave against medical advice. Singh and his relatives reportedly had to arrange for a private ambulance because the hospital authorities said they were not liable to provide one for a patient leaving in such circumstances. However, Adya died on the hospital premises before she could be transferred to another medical establishment. The family reportedly took the child to another hospital only to have them declare her dead on arrival. We had medical insurance, and I paid around Rs 10 lakh over that without even questioning them. But, after we signed the papers stating that we were leaving against medical advice, we were asked to go back and pay for the hospital gown Adya was wearing because she couldnt fit into her clothes, said Singh. So, the bill listing the use of 660 syringes and 2,700 gloves in a period of 15 days came as nothing short of a shock. We could see how outrageous this looked even though we do not come from a medical background, the girls father said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON An anonymous person has accused Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot of victim shaming them after they were allegedly raped by a common friend. The story, posted on Medium by a user known only as Ima Survivor, has since been taken down for violating the websites policies - according to BuzzFeed News it identifies people by name - but a cached version can be read here. Gal is more than a bully; she is a predator who enables predators, the piece begins. Thirteen years ago, I shared an apartment with Gal Gadot for two months in Milan, Italy. Several young girls lived in the building, all under contract with the same modeling management company. When a common, 15-year-old friend of theirs was raped, Gal allegedly said that the girl was stupid for going to the wrong club, and for trusting the man who brought her there. But soon, the writer had a similar experience with the Wonder Woman star. The author made her relationship with Gal clear. I felt safe with Gal. I did not realize then how little I knew about rape, predators, and the culture that supports them.Gal and I spent most of our free time together. We shared food, clothes, and makeup. We went to the gym. We went shopping and tanning together. We went on photo shoots together. I made her a mix CD. I sang her to sleep. I watched her smoke constantly out of the window. We shared body insecurities, and she shared sex stories. Gal Gadot arrives for the world premiere of Warner Bros. Pictures' Justice League. (AFP) The writer told the story of an assault that happened and Gals reaction to it. I woke up in Yanivs bed, naked. He had removed my clothes when I was unconscious. I remember him climbing on top of me. I could just barely say no, and this isnt right. Then I blacked out. I woke up again while he continued raping me. He was restraining my arms so I couldnt move. It was violent. There was pain. I will never forget how he looked in that dark room. I will never forget the absolute panic I felt. It was terror. I thought he would kill me next. His rape was full of hate. He did not look at me. I woke up the next morning, groggy and delirious. I asked Yaniv what happened. I wanted to hear him say it. We had sex, he said, and shrugged. I thought you knew. I told you no, I said, quietly. You told me no but your body told me yes, he said. That line still haunts my mind, 13 years later. This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Gal Gadot in a scene from Justice League. (AP) For help, the writer turned to Gal. She took me down to the basement. It was cold, mechanical, and frightening. We were alone. Then her anger exploded, the writer continued. She stood over me, intimidating and loud, blaming me for what happened. Her eyes were fire. I had already felt small and violated, but she shamed me into feeling obsolete. I felt extremely dirty. Already in shock, I disassociated from my body. I cant remember most of her words. I remember being in utter terror of her anger. She referred to the rape as your mistake, the author wrote. Gal has succeeded in a predatory industry because she is a predator. She is unafraid to destroy others in pursuit of her ambitions. Like any strong predator, she knows how to target, destroy, and consume the weakest and most vulnerable. Bill Cosby put on a sweater and built trust as a Huxtable, wrote the author, making a reference to the comedian, who has been accused of displaying decades of predatory behaviour. Gal Gadot put on a breastplate and became an icon for women. In the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, Gal publicly condemned predatory behaviour and reportedly made it a condition for her return as Wonder Woman that accused director Brett Ratner be removed from the project. Gal Gadot has not responded to the allegations. A Twitter user claiming to be the articles author posted the response they received from Medium for having removed it. Speaking to BuzzFeed, Medium provided this statement: We do have specific rules in place that we ask all members of our community to abide by, and we take these very seriously. Here's the screen cap of the email Medium sent in response to my Gal Gadot article. Do they recognize the irony of not allowing this article because of harassment and shaming? pic.twitter.com/AtpuCiEHfl Ima Survivor (@imasurvivor4eva) November 15, 2017 Follow @htshowbiz for more Coming-of-age tale Call Me by Your Name led the pack of independent films tipped for Oscars glory as the Film Independent Spirit Awards nominations were announced on Tuesday. Set in 1980s Italy and starring Timothee Chalamet and Armie Hammer, it tells the story of 17-year-old Elio as he begins a relationship with his fathers American research assistant, Oliver. The film was nominated in six categories, including best feature, best director for Luca Guadagnino and best lead and supporting male for Chalamet and Hammer, respectively. This image released by Sony Pictures Classics shows Timothee Chalamet, left, and Armie Hammer in a scene from Call Me By Your Name. (AP) Breakout horror satire Get Out, written and directed by debutant filmmaker Jordan Peele and starring Daniel Kaluuya and Allison Williams, secured five nominations, including best screenplay and directing for Peele and male lead for Kaluuya. Josh and Benny Safdies heist thriller Good Time tied in second place with nods for directing, editing and three actors, including for its star Robert Pattinson. Twilight actor Pattinson, 31, earned the best reviews of his career for his portrayal of a New York bank robber, shedding his heartthrob looks in favour of a shaggy bleach-blonde mane and a torso full of tattoos. Robert Pattinson in Good Time. Greta Gerwigs comedy Lady Bird and Chloe Zhaos The Rider, which picked up the Art Cinema Award at Cannes, each earned four nods. The nominations were announced on Tuesday morning by actresses Lily Collins, and Tessa Thompson, and Film Independent chief Josh Welsh at the plush Jeremy Hotel in West Hollywood. Theres an excitement particularly because Film Independent acknowledges people that are just starting out for their first features, Thompson, who won acclaim for her recent performance in Thor: Ragnarok and for 2015s Creed, told AFP. Theres a hopefulness, theres something sort of -- and I mean this in the best sense of the word -- renegade about it, surprising about it. This image released by Universal Pictures shows Daniel Kaluuya in a scene from, Get Out. (AP) Asked if she thought Hollywood had improved on gender equality since the last awards season, Thompson highlighted the incredible importance of getting more women to direct and write movies. Ive had a fantastic year. Ive gotten to play an incredible superhero and Ive gotten to celebrate from afar people like Gal (Gadot) who had the incredible success of Wonder Woman, the 34-year-old star told AFP. Were getting there but I think we have to have women in all realms, not just in front of the camera. Thats the thing I really feel eager about us accomplishing in the next couple of years. A still from the Florida Project. Collins, 28, picked out The Florida Project, which was nominated for best feature and director, among her favourite Spirit Awards contenders, and said she was excited for Hammer, her co-star in the 2012 Snow White movie Mirror Mirror. She told AFP she saw the ceremony, which takes place on the beach in Santa Monica, California, as totally more chill than other awards season landmarks such as the Oscars and Golden Globes. Theres just a very positive vibe that goes into this event. Everyones there to celebrate smaller films and create larger conversations out of that subject matter. The Spirit Awards are seen as a strong indicator of independent movies that could be winners on Oscars night. Five of the last six best feature winners have gone on to best picture glory at the Academy Awards, including Moonlight, Spotlight and Birdman. Were looking at lower budgeted films but its also films that have original, provocative subject matter and uniqueness of vision, Welsh told AFP. He described this years nominees as incredibly strong, singling out Get Out, The Rider and The Florida Project. The winners will be announced on March 3, 2018 -- a day before the Academy Awards. Follow @htshowbiz for more Union minister KJ Alphons said on Wednesday he was not responsible for the delay of a flight after a purported video of a passenger arguing with him at the Imphal airport went viral. A video of the incident that happened on Tuesday shows a passenger complaining to Alphons about the flight being delayed due to VIP movement. WATCH:Angry passenger shouts at Union Minister KJ Alphons at Imphal Airport after flights were delayed due to VVIP arrival schedule #Manipur pic.twitter.com/0EWHjIA30n ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2017 While most of the passengers were upset by the long wait for their flights, Nirala Singh confronted Alphons demanding a written guarantee that her flight would not be delayed beyond the two hours that made her miss a connection flight from Kolkata. Nirala was distraught because the delay would make her miss her brothers funeral. She said she had promised her parents to be on time. I was waiting and crying so I approached the Minister (KJ Alphons), thinking a minister can do everything, Nirala told ANI on Wednesday. Sabki apni life hai, sabka apna time hai. Kisi ek liye aisa nahi karna chahye. This (VVIP culture) should be stopped: Dr. Nirala, woman who shouted at KJ Alphons at Imphal Airport pic.twitter.com/uw7O9Nizl2 ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2017 President Ram Nath Kovind was scheduled to arrive at the Manipur capital to inaugurate the Northeast Development Summit and several Union ministers too were participating in it. Airport officials denied any flights were diverted or cancelled. Some flights were delayed because of VVIP movement as the Presidents flight was scheduled to arrive, an official at Imphal airport said. The Union tourism minister was accompanied by Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu, Aviation Minister Jayant Sinha and senior BJP leader Ram Madhav. I can understand her anguish but as I told her, the Presidents flight was landing and as per protocol no other flight can land or take off at that time. This protocol is in place for the past 70 years and not made by this government. I tried to tell her that her flight will leave as soon as the Presidents flight lands, but she was really in distress, Alphons said. The minister also said that he was not in favour of protocols that encourage VIP culture and that he has also informed officials that a pilot jeep should not be assigned for him. (With PTI inputs) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A day after Karnataka assembly rejected a plea by two editors of Kannada-language tabloids to reconsider jail sentences awarded to them for breach of privilege, one of the journalists on Wednesday termed the decision as an attempt to crush journalistic independence. The assembly had passed a resolution on June 21 holding Ravi Belagere, editor of Hai Bangalore, and Anil Raju, editor of Yelahanka Voice, guilty of breach of privilege and awarded them one-year jail term and imposed a penalty of Rs 10,000 each. The editors had challenged the resolution in the high court, but the court had asked them to find an amicable solution to the controversy. Subsequently, the editors had moved the speaker seeking revision of the resolution. The revision pleas were rejected by the house on Tuesday after a discussion was initiated by speaker KB Koliwad, the complainant against Belagere. Taking part in the discussion, BJP legislator S R Vishwanath, who had complained against Raju for allegedly writing defamatory articles against him, said the plea had to be rejected outright. They should have been punished by now. Their punishment should be increased, he said. MLAs cutting across party lines such as S R Mahesh (JDS), Ashok Pattan, G S Srinivas, Vijayananad Kashappanavar and Lobo, (all Congress) and B R Patil (Others) supported Vishwanaths demand. Speaking to HT, Belagere said the assembly resolution was an attempt to crush journalistic freedom. I do not know what grudge he [Koliwad] has against me, he added. Belagere, who was accused by Koliwad of publishing defamatory articles against him in September 2014, further questioned how Koliwad, being a complainant, could adjudicate on the issue There were other forums for him to challenge it (the articles). He could have filed a defamation case in the court, he added. Belagere said an independent body should look into the case, adding he would challenge the verdict in court as soon as he received a copy of the order. Raju could not be reached despite repeated attempts to contact him over phone calls and text messages. The Editors Guild of India had termed the sentence a gross misuse of power which violates the fundamental right of freedom of speech. (With PTI inputs) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Union government will set up the next finance commission, bring an ordinance to tweak Indias insolvency and bankruptcy code, and begin the procedure of increasing the salaries of Supreme Court and High Court judges, senior ministers said after a Cabinet meeting that took several key decisions on Wednesday. We have given an in-principle approval to setting up the 15th finance commission and its terms of reference, said Union finance minister Arun Jaitley. India routinely sets up finance commissions to work out the formula by which revenues will be shared between the Union government and the states. The exercise is likely to be different this time due to GST, Jaitley added, referring to the new indirect taxation system that unifies the country into a single market. On the judges pension and pay hike, Jaitleys colleague, law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, said the pay hike will be in effect from January 1, 2016 and cover 31 SC judges, 1,079 HC judges and 2,500 retired judges. Jaitley said an ordinance will be sent to the President to amend the Insolvency and Bankruptcy code, but refused to spell out any specifics. Sources earlier told HT that these tweaks could include new provisions to streamline the process for selecting buyers for stressed assets. Wilful defaulters may not be entertained and promoters with any past record of fraud could also be disqualified from such purchases, according to the proposed changes. The Union cabinet also approved a new wage policy for the 8th round of wage negotiations for workmen in Central Public Sector Enterprises, Jaitley said. NO SESSION DATES YET Finance minister Arun Jaitley did not say when the winter session of parliament will be held after a question from one of the reporters. In democracy when elections are on, parties address people directly. Elections and parliament session dont necessarily overlap. We are going to ensure a regular session and make sure dates dont overlap. I dont know about our opponents but we will be busy in campaigning. The Winter session usually begins in mid-November. Prasad also spoke of new schemes to help women empowerment, announcing the rollout of Pradhan Mantri Mahila Shakti Kendra in states and districts. The government will set aside Rs 3,084 crore for the programme, which will also involve extension of schemes meant to help women and girl children. We will involve 3 lakh student volunteers, Prasad said, explaining the new initiative will include greater participation of the public. The commandant of the 2nd battalion of Tripura State Rifles was arrested by the police on Wednesday in connection with the murder of senior journalist Sudip Datta Bhowmik, who was allegedly shot dead by a trooper on Tuesday. Sudip, who worked with a local Bengali newspaper, Syandan Patrika, and a news channel, Vanguard, as an investigative journalist had gone to the TSR 2nd battalion, located 20km from Agartala, for a news report. An altercation ensued between 50-year-old journalist and TSRs Nandagopal Reang, who is Debbarmas personal guard. Reang allegedly fired at Bhowmik from his service AK-47 assault rifle in the ensuing melee. The bleeding journalist, who was hit on his stomach, was rushed to GB Pant Medical College and Hospital, where he was declared brought dead. Several theories and claims have surfaced regarding the motive behind the murderthe second such killing of a journalist in the state after Santanu Bhowmik, 28, was hacked to death while covering a clash between two rival tribal groups at Mandai on September 20. Subal Dey, editor and proprietor of Syandan Patrika, claimed that Bhowmik was targeted by the commandant as the journalist had written 11 stories against him in the newspaper. It was a cold-blooded murder and they tried to hide the body to destroy evidence. He was killed because he had exposed the commandants corrupt practices through his pen, said Dey and also claimed that they crafted a well-designed ploy to portray Sudip as an extortionist. Police, however, claim Sudip had stolen an envelope containing money or some confidential documents from Debbarmas table while the latter was in the toilet on Tuesday. When Debbarma asked Reang to conduct a body search of Sudip, it led to an argument following which the soldier shot at him twice from point-blank range. Tripura governor Tathagata Roy has said he is going to Delhi and will submit a report to Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Sudips killing. I would see the end of the killing. How a journalist was killed by a TSR personnel within the battalion headquarter complex? he was quoted as saying by news agency IANS. With assembly polls due next year, the murder has heated up the political atmosphere in the state. Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party has called for a 12-hour strike in the state on November 23 in protest of the killing. However, the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) criticised the BJP for politicising the incident. The bandh called by BJP is totally undemocratic. It will hamper normal lives and especially, the annual examinations started in schools and revision of electoral rolls for the coming assembly polls, CPI(M) said in a statement. The Congress has demanded a high-level inquiry into the murder. Various journalists organisations in the northeast, including the Tripura Working Journalists Association, Tripura Journalists Union (TJU) and the Agartala Press Club, have also denounced the killing and demanded a probe into the incident. The TJU has also demanded the resignation of the state home minister, a portfolio held by the chief minister Manik Sarkar. Sudip is survived by his wife, a government teacher, and two children. (With agency inputs) It is the last day of Class 10 board examinations in Kashmir and clots of anxious students are gathered outside a school in Shopian district, breathlessly revising minutes before the tests begin. But one student stands out. Dressed in a maroon pheran (traditional Kashmiri overcoat) and an orange scarf, Insha Mushtaq is chatting with her friends and is confident about her last paper, Music. Her eyes are covered by thick black glasses, a reminder of the struggles of a brutal past year. The 15-year-old girl was peering out of the window of her home in Shopians Sedow village last year in July when a hail of pellets fired by security personnel hit her, plunging her world into darkness. An X-ray taken in July 2016 shows the pellet injuries the young teenager sustained. (AP File Photo) She became the face of the plight of 2,500-odd victims of the pellet gun and photos of her in black glasses sparked an international debate, triggering questions about the allegedly reckless use of the weapon to control Kashmiri crowds during protests. The chief minister offered to donate an eye to her, and a top separatist leader claimed to have adopted her. But away from the media spotlight, Mushtaq doggedly pursued her studies. And her efforts paid off on Tuesday as she completed her Class 10 board exams under the state board. My papers have gone well, all thanks to my tuition teachers and my writer, she tells Hindustan Times. Insha Mushtaq with her friends before her exams at the centre in Shopian town of south Kashmir. (Waseem Andrabi/HT Photo) Insha credits her two tuition teachers Muzaffar Bhat and Naveed Mir who have over the last year tutored her at her home. Bhat is an employee with an NGO called the National Association for the Blind whose vision is to empower and well-inform the visually challenged while Mir is a medical representative by profession, who took to teach Insha without any remuneration, since December last year. They used to read out to me and I repeated after them. Even in the examination, my helper reads out to me the questions and I tell her my answers which she pens down, Insha adds. Inshas teacher fixed a class 9 student to write her paper and got it cleared by the authorities to allow the procedure. The helper, who spoke to HT at the exam centre Mohammidya Institution in Shopian town asked not to be named. She said there was no monetary compensation but she did it out of care for the blinded girl. I get immense happiness by being able to help Insha, she said. Insha Mushtaq's mother Afroza Bano prepares her for examination in Sedow village of Shopian. (Wassem Andrabi/HT Photo) Insha took up music instead of mathematics because her visual impairment made arithmetic sums difficult. Its a new subject for me and I just hope it goes down well. The written part is only for 25 marks and then there is practical exam for 75 marks, adds Insha. She has already appeared for Urdu, Science, Social Science and English papers. Inshas inability to study Maths made her realise the harsh realities of visual impairment. For Class 12, I will take up arts. It will be easy to study with my visual impairment, she says. In March, HT was the first to report how Insha had overcome her obstacles and resumed studies. I want to study. I cant see now, but I am continuing with it in whichever way I can, she had said, expressing a strong desire to appear for her board exams. Insha, before her injury, had wanted to be a doctor. In the initial days before the realisation had dawned upon her, she had told HT that she still would be able to purse medical education. After class 10, Insha has to get admitted in a regular high school or college and continue her studies with the help of a home tutor who will read out the subject to her, said Bhat. When asked about how she felt about her daughter taking her exams, Inshas mother Afroza Bano broke down. Looking at Inshas dark goggles and wiping her own tears, she said, Whats there to feel? Its not the first time that a pellet victim has taken the board exams. Several partially blinded pellet victims wrote their Class 10 and 12 board exams in November last year and passed with flying colours. The exams are held earlier in the Valley than in the rest of the country owing to snowing and harsh conditions during the winter. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Home inspections are a standard part of the buying process throughout the state, and, in a recent case, the Tennessee Supreme Court determined whether a home inspectors liability extends to a social guest of the homeowner who was injured when a railing collapsed shortly after purchase.In 2010, Daniel Uggla purchased a home in Franklin, Tennessee, and during a housewarming party, his guest, Charles Grogan, fell through a second-story deck railing that had been improperly constructed. Mr.Grogan filed a lawsuit against the home inspector hired by Mr. Uggla to perform a pre-purchase inspection of the residence. Mr. Grogan claimed that the home inspector should have known the deck railing was constructed with interior finishing nails in violation of building codes, that the inspector failed to perform a test to determine the amount of force the railing could withstand, and that the inspector failed to report the negligent construction.The home inspector filed a motion for summary judgment to dismiss the case, which the trial court granted after finding the plaintiff did not meet the elements of a negligent misrepresentation claim. The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial courts outcome, but differed in its reasoning, choosing to analyze Mr. Grogans claim using the common law factors for negligence. The Court of Appeals found the inspector did not owe the plaintiff a duty of care, a key element in a negligence claim, and the case was properly dismissed.The Tennessee Supreme Court granted Mr. Grogan permission to appeal. A majority of the Supreme Court agreed that Mr. Grogans complaint alleged both negligent misrepresentation and negligent inspection. However, the majority determined Mr. Grogan did not meet essential elements of a negligent misrepresentation claim because he had not alleged that the home inspector affirmatively gave false information. Negligent misrepresentation requires an affirmative misstatement, not just a non-disclosure, the Court concluded. In its decision, the Court did not determine whether Restatement (Second) of Torts section 311 on negligent misrepresentation applies in Tennessee.In addition, the majority of the Court analyzed the plaintiffs negligent inspection claim under Restatement (Second) of Torts section 324A (Liability to Third Person for Negligent Performance of Undertaking). Under this analysis, a persons duty is circumscribed by the scope of the persons undertaking. The Court found, based on the statutes and regulations governing home inspections, testimony given in the case, and the agreement between the inspector and homebuyer, that a building codes inspection was not within the scope of work performed by the inspector. The Court also found, based on the agreement between the inspector and homebuyer and Tennessee statutes, that the inspector did not voluntarily assume a duty to third parties like the plaintiff, a guest of the homebuyer.Justice Holly Kirby filed a separate opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part. Justice Sharon G. Lee also filed a dissenting opinion, stating that she would reverse dismissal of Mr. Grogans lawsuit and allow his tort claims to proceed.In her opinion, Justice Kirby agreed with the majoritys decision to analyze Mr. Grogans negligent inspection claim under Restatement of Torts (Second) section 324A. However, she argued that the lack of a direct relationship does not automatically mean that the home inspector did not have a duty to a guest like Mr. Grogan. She rejected the majoritys characterization of Mr. Grogans other claim as one of negligent misrepresentation, stating that it should be viewed as negligent failure to warn, which by definition involves an omission.Justice Lee, in a dissent, determined the case is one of negligence and the home inspector owed Mr. Grogan a duty of care based on the foreseeability that a homeowner would have guests over and that injury could result if the house was unsafe. Justice Lee also found that as a matter of public policy the general public relies heavily on home inspections and it is reasonable to extend the duty to perform a thorough inspection beyond the purchaser of the home.To read the majority opinion authored by Justice Roger A. Page, as well as the opinions by Justice Holly Kirby, concurring in part, dissenting in part, and Justice Sharon G. Lee, dissenting, go to the opinions section of TNCourts.gov Hundreds of dead migratory and local birds were found floating in a lake in north Bihars East Champaran district on Tuesday, in what officials say could be a suspected case of poisoning. Motiharis divisional forest officer Baidhnath Prasad Gupta said many of the dead birds found on the Sarottar Lake are migratory and his department is segregating the carcass to find out their exact number. Gupta added that it appeared to be a case of the mass killing of birds using pesticide. However, we will know about the exact cause of death after we receive the report from the Patna Veterinary College laboratory, he said. Sunil Kumar Yadav, station house officer (SHO) of Dumarighat police station, said eight fishermen have been booked after a contractor lodged a complaint alleging that a rival fisherman had poisoned the lake to kill the birds. The lake has been leased to Jitendra Sahani for fishing. Yadav, who visited the lake on Wednesday, said police have started an investigation to find out the motive behind the incident. Sarottar Lake, about 35km south of Motihari and adjacent to world famous Kesaria Stupa, attracts migratory birds from Siberia and the Himalayan region every winter. Pochard, Red Crested Pochard, Coot, Dove, Sora, Virgina rail, Snipe, Teal and Wood Cock are among those that flock to the lake in search of food and nesting spots. The arrival of different varieties of exotic winged guests, apart from resident birds, has made the lake a birdwatchers paradise. Enraged ornithologists have blamed poachers active in the locality for the death of such a large number of birds. Alok Sharma, a local educationist, said poaching of migratory birds has continued unabated despite a ban and that bird catchers sell them openly in different markets at a price ranging from Rs 2000 to Rs 3500. Urban local bodies polls in Uttar Pradesh the biggest state in the country politically are being contested on national issues this time instead of local problems like naali, sadak, paani (sewage, roads and drinking water supply). The first phase of polling will be held on Wednesday. The state has 16 nagar nigams (municipal corporations), 199 nagar palika parishads (municipalities), and 428 nagar panchayats (city councils) that include a total of 11,995 civic wards. All major parties are contesting all the 16 mayoral seats. State-level leaders of all parties are campaigning across the state this time around making it the most fiercely contested civic election ever in the country. In a first, chief minister Yogi Adityanath has taken up the role of partys chief campaigner and will be addressing as many as 35 rallies. He launched the campaign from Ayodhya. Union home minister Rajnath Singh, deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma, and health minister Siddharth Nath Singh are also campaigning for the BJP. Though SP president Akhilesh Yadav is not holding rallies, he is attacking the states BJP government in press conferences. Mayawati too is not campaigning but all her top leaders are. Congress state president Raj Babbar is holding road shows across the state. The partys list of star campaigners includes Congress working committee member Ghulam Nabi Azad, Sachin Pilot, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jitendra Prasada, Deepender Singh Hooda, former union minister Salman Khurshid, Sri Prakash Jaiswal, and former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat. Political analyst and former head of the department of political science, Lucknow University, SK Dwivedi is critical. ...I do not see it as a good trend for democracy. Our democratic system has always remained three-tiered national, state and local, he said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON India has asked the United Nations to declare 2018 as the International Year of Millets and promote it as nutrition-rich smart food across the world. A letter in this regard has been written to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres by Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh. In the letter, Singh said there was a need to promote millets as the awareness is low among consumers, policy makers, industry and R&D sector. Sorghum, Bajra and Ragi are some popular millets in India. Promotion of production and consumption of millets through conscious efforts at global level is likely to contribute substantially in the fight against the targeted hunger and mitigate the effects of climate change in the long run, he said. The yield of millets can be increased three times and they have multiple untapped uses such as food, feed, biofuels and brewing. Therefore, millets are smart food and good for consumers, farmers and the planet, he added Considering the importance of millets ...the Government of India along with other country governments urges the UN to declare 2018 as the International Year of Millets, Singh said. This will go a long way in popularising millets which would benefit future generation of farmers as well as consumers, he added. Singh said millets are nutritionally superior to wheat and rice owing to their higher level of protein with more balanced amino acid profile, crude fibre and minerals. They are traditionally grown in resource poor agro- climatic region. President Donald Trumps America First vision is not at the exclusion of the rest of the world and the United States remain engaged with others, said a senior administration official on Tuesday at a news conference to preview White House adviser Ivanka Trumps upcoming visit to India. Most governments prioritize people of their own country, the official, who could not be identified under the rules of the briefing, added, but that doesnt mean they operate in a vacuum and arent very engaged in the rest of the globe and the US is clearly a leader in that capacity and will remain a leader in that capacity. The official was replying to a question if President Trumps America First policy clashed with Prime Minister Narendra Modis Make in India programme, in the context of the upcoming Global Entrepreneurial Summit India and the US are co-hosting in Hyderabad starting November 28. Speaking briefly in the phone call-conference, Ivanka Trump, who is leading the US delegation as adviser to the President, said she was incredibly excited about the visit, and that she looks forward to meeting Prime Minister Modi and external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj. Trump will be there with Modi at the inauguration ceremony on November 28 and then appear at two panel discussions at the summit, which is themed on women entrepreneurs, the next day on issues of innovations, skill and training. We continue to be very engaged all over the world, the official, said, adding, having an America First philosophy is not exclusive of collaboration, partnership and strong economic, security and social relationships around the world. President Trumps America First vision has been a cause of concern around the world taken to signal isolationism and unilateralism as has been reflected in the US pulling out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Paris Accord on climate change, and threatening other multilateral groupings. For India, it has meant pressure to cut trade deficit with the United States, and tightening of the rules applying to H-1B non-immigration work visa for high skilled workers and intense scrutiny on top Indian IT companies operating in the United States, in a move blessed by the White House. On questions about reports of beggars being removed by Hyderabad local authorities in view of Trumps visit, officials on the news conference call said they were surprised but added it was for the local authorities to answer. To a question about intolerance of dissent, of all kinds, officials said that the US response to that had been noted in the reports on the state of human rights and other such annual findings and that the country has a rich heritage of diversity and the matter was a subject of vigorous debate internally. After more than two-dozen security scares at airports across the country, the Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) has asked state governments to issue an advisory against carrying locally produced power banks while travelling by air. According to the ministry, situations causing alarm have been reported from various airports across the country during the screening of such devices. The scanned image of power banks is very similar to that of an improvised explosive device (IED). The ministry has observed that such power banks use putty, a clay-like substance, to give more weight to the device.And even though the clay-like substance is not classified as an explosive, authorities believe it can be used by anti-national elements. The ministry has asked state police forces to take action against manufacturers, while ordering states and Union territories to issue public advisories that create awareness about the usage of modified devices. The ministry of civil aviation, railway board, bureau of civil aviation, central industrial security force and the commissioner of Delhi police have also been informed about the situation. A power bank is a battery device that can be electrically recharged.It serves as a portable charger for electronic devices like mobile phones, tablets, laptops. In India, a desi solution seems to have drawn the MHAs attention. According to the ministry, on 28 occasions the modified power banks gave a scanning image of an IED when put through the scanners at the airports. As a result, red flag was raised and the passengers owning the device had to be held back for questioning. Out of the 28 instances, seven were found to be genuine, while the rest were disposed of and passengers allowed to go without any case getting registered. This, however, might change soon. These modified power banks are locally made with normal battery, a circuit and a putty to fill the cavity and to make it heavy. During screening, the scanned image looks liked an IED and the electronic circuit creates more panic, reads an MHA direction. The MHA further said, Although the clay-like substance inside the power bank is not an explosive, there are possibilities that anti-national elements/terrorists can use it to further their malafide intentions at airports. A senior government official told HT that the substance can be used to conceal small- to medium-sized weapons. Ankush Johar, director, Infosec Ventures, a private company specialising in telecom and cyber security, attributed the usage of locally made power banks to their low cost. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Fear of persecution by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on charges of funding rebel groups has led state government employees in Nagaland to demand an end to the agencys terror funding probe in the state. Thousands of employees under the banner of the Confederation of All Nagaland State Services Employees Association (CANSSEA) staged a rally in capital Kohima on Tuesday, seeking withdrawal of cases filed against their colleagues by the agency. Carrying banners with slogans like, NIA leave our employees alone and Forced taxation is not equal to aiding and abetting, the employees marched till Raj Bhawan and submitted a memorandum to governor PB Acharya. Accusing the state government of failing to protect interest of employees, the memorandum urged Acharya to take up the issue with the Centre. The demand by the CANSSEA, which represents 1.3 lakh of the nearly 1.6 lakh state government employees in Nagaland, follows arrests of seven employees by the NIA earlier this year on charges of diverting government funds to rebel groups. In Nagaland, various insurgent outfits, also called Naga National Political Groups (NNPGs) run parallel governments and collect tax from government employees, traders and businesses. Sometimes these taxes are diverted to the groups directly from government coffers. The undisputed reality is that payments of tax to the NNPGs are made not voluntarily or willingly, but under duress and fear of life and limb, stated the memorandum. The CANSSEA feels if the NIA continues its investigations against employees, who are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, no one would be spared. We want the NIA to stop investigations against the seven officials (who have since been granted bail) and drop all charges. If that doesnt happen, we will be forced to take steps like mass casual leaves and other measures in the interest of our safety, CANSSEA general secretary Tarachu Fithu told HT over phone. Following arrests of three officials in April, the NIA had arrested four more government employees in October on charges of contributing government funds to the banned outfit (National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang) and paying huge amount of money to other outfits between 2012 and 2016. Most of the militant outfits in Nagaland are engaged in peace talks with the Centre to end decades-old militancy in the state. Taxation and extortion are the major sources of funds for these outfits. In April this year, the Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM) halved the annual tax it imposes on the state government employees. Earlier, every employee was required to pay 24% of their one months salary to the outfit once a year. After slashing of rates, employees are required to pay 1% of their months salary (12% in a year) to the group. Resident tribes in Nagaland, who enjoy special privileges under Article 371 (A) of the Constitution, are exempted from paying taxes to the state and central governments. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Mohammed Hussain was 19 when he was caught entering India illegally from Myanmar in February 2012. His term expired six months later, but the Myanmar governments reluctance to accept him and 13 others made him spend five years more at the central jail in Sajiwa here. Hussain fled Rawayungdaung village in Myanmars Rakhine state when the violence was sporadic. I want freedom but I have no place to call home, he said. He wants to stay back in India as refugee, as do six others who had crossed over with him. Among them is Salamatullah, from Alichong in Myanmars Buthidaung district. They killed my father and six brothers. I wonder if I am lucky to have survived, said the 35-year-old, yearning to meet survivors of his family in Bangladesh. The narrative is similar for seven more Rohingyas caught sneaking in later. They want to be either sent to Bangladesh, where they can hope to meet whoever survived the carnage in Myanmar, or taken to a refugee camp in Delhi. The Manipur-based Human Rights Law Network has helped us register our jailed brethren in Imphal with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees here, but things are moving slow. We have been told to wait till the Supreme Court gives a decision in a case related to the refugees, Nizamuddin, chairman of Rohingya Refugee Committee told HT from New Delhi. Nizamuddin said there are about 17,000 UNHCR-registered Rohingya refugees in India, including some 2,200 in various jails such as Sajiwa. I am not sure how the Indian government got the 40,000 figure, making our case more complicated, he said. Officials in Manipur said they would be more than happy to let the Rohingyas go. The Rohingyas are among 22 foreigners in our jail, which has 807 inmates against a capacity of 720. Moreover, we are not getting funds to manage the jail since April this year. We are forced to keep them here as the Myanmar government has refused to accept them as their citizens, W Phanitphang, superintendent of the 105-acre Sajiwa jail told HT. The other foreigners include 37-year-old Chinese national Tian Mingchung, who was caught under the Foreigners Act for entering India without documents. He was found loitering near Imphal airport in June. We have not been able to get any information from him because of the language barrier. We know he is from Henan in China, but we are still in the dark about how he came to India, Phanitphang said. The officials hope to get some information from Mingchung through Saithunwin, a tribal prisoner from Chandel district who happens to know Mandarin. I learnt a bit of the Chinese language from my mother, who is from China. But Mingchung is difficult to talk to. The extra bit I know about him is that he practices Buddhism and had been to Lhasa, Bodh Gaya and Mandalay before landing up in Manipur, Saithunwin, lodged three months ago on a case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, said. Among the oldest of Sajiwas 807 prisoners is Muthu, who calls himself Madrasi. He was lodged in Sajiwa in March 1994 for beheading his seven-year-old son, the fourth among his six children. God made me sacrifice someone I loved most, and it was God who sent me here (jail), he said. Yangon-born Muthu, 42 when he was arrested, was among a few hundred Tamils who settled down in Moreh, a town bordering Myanmar, seven decades ago. He ran a ration shop that had a temple dedicated to Lord Karthikeya within. I have no regrets for what I have done. I was just following Gods order, he said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON School books in Rajasthan should be reviewed if incorrect facts about queen Padmini of Chittor are being taught, panchayati raj and rural development minister Rajendra Rathore said on Wednesday. HT has reported how the Class 12 history textbook of the Rajasthan state board says one of the reasons Delhis Muslim emperor Alauddin Khilji attacked Chittor was to capture Padmini. The book further goes to say that Khilji was mesmerised by Padminis beauty after he saw her reflection in a mirror and that the queen was the daughter of Gandharvsen, king of Sri Lanka. Asked about inaccuracies in the class 12 history text-book, Rathore said, It is not in my knowledge that wrong facts are being taught in government school books. But certainly, it will be reviewed. If it comes to my knowledge, I will myself apprise the education minister. Rathore, who was talking to the media on the occasion of four years of the BJP government, said, Historical facts should not be distorted and facts that are not connected to history should not be taught. Rajasthan has been the epicentre of protests against Sanjay Leela Bhansalis film Padmavati. The Shri Rajput Karni Sena with support from other outfits have staged violent protests and issued threats to Bhansali and actor Deepika Padukone for allegedly distorting historical facts about Padmini. Chief minister Vasundhara Raje too wrote to Union information and broadcasting minister Smriti Irani asking that the film not is released without the necessary changes. Denying any negative perception of the government among people, Rathore said, We will return to power with a huge mandate. We have won the highest number of seats in the assembly, Lok Sabha, panchayat and local bodies elections. This shows our government is popular. Asked about infrastructural development in Jaipur, Rathore said that the people can see what the government is doing. Jaipur is being developed as a smart city and from Dravyavati to Ring Road to sanitation, all works have been developed by this government. Regarding crop loan waivers, Rathore said a ministerial sub-committee is working on it. The committee has visited other states to study their loan waiver models. It will report to the cabinet and the chief minister and the right decision will be taken at the right time. Asked about encroachments on government land, Rathore said no regularization is being done in periphery villages. You should appreciate that we have not driven out those living on these lands for several years. But no deeds have been given on forest land or river beds. Within a few days of former railway minister Mukul Roy quitting Trinamool Congress, it seems the exit of his son and party MLA Subhranshu Roy may be just a matter of time. Bengals ruling party ministers and district leaders have mounted pressure on him alleging he is making the party weak from inside, and local leaders in his Bijpur constituency have even removed banners featuring the photo of the 31-year-old MLA. Mukul Roy, 63, joined BJP in Delhi on November 3. Just the next day, Subhranshu Roy, 34, a two-time Trinamool MLA from Bijpur constituency, said that his political loyalty lies with chief minister Mamata Banerjee. Read: Mukul Roys son to stay in Trinamool; says Mamata Banerjee is supreme leader But things started changing fast Mukul Roy, in his first public meeting as a BJP leader on November 10, raised several allegations against chief ministers nephew and Trinamool MP, Abhishek Banerjee. Roy accused Banerjee of owning Biswa Bangla brand and logo that are aggressively promoted by the state government. Ruling party leaders became furious when Subhranshu Roy stayed away from a public meeting organised by Trinamool Yuva on November 13 in Kolkata, where replying to Mukul Roys allegations was an important objective. North 24 Parganas district president of Trinamool Congress and the food minister in Mamata Banerjee cabinet, Jyotipriyo Mullick told HT staying away from the party meeting without proper reasons and intimation amounted to breach of party discipline. None can do it. Anyway, we are not taking Subhransu seriously any more, Mullick said. Read: Mukul Roy targets Mamata Banerjee, nephew; she responds at Kolkata film festival He is playing a hide and seek game with party as his father did before, alleged the minister. After remaining incommunicado for a few days, Subhransu Roy spoke to HT but did not comment on his absence from the November 13 public meeting. However, he said he was unwell and therefore, could not attend two party meetings on November 21. There were two meetings -- one of the TMC MLAs in the Assembly premises, and the other one was convened by Jyotipriyo Mullick where he invited all party MLAs in North 24 Parganas district to discuss the arrangement for the administrative review meeting of chief minister in the district on December 1. I wrote to the party that I was unwell and would not be able to attend the meeting in the Assembly. Naturally for the same reason I could not attend the other meeting, said Subhransu Roy. Read: Mukul Roys saffron robes are a mark of BJPs desperation However, even if I am not well, I will attend the chief ministers administrative meeting in Haroa in north 24 Parganas on December 1, Roy added. Arjun Singh, Trinamool MLA from Bhatpara constituency that is adjacent to Bijpur, was more critical than Mullick. Subhransu is following the tradition of his family of weakening the party from inside. The son is trying to follow his fathers footsteps. But he will not be successful, Singh said. Roys immediate neighbourhood has changed too. At Kanchrapara municipality under Bijpur assembly constituency, all posters carrying Subhransus pictures have been removed and replaced by posters carrying pictures of Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee. Mamata Banerjee is the only leader Kanchrapara knows. So party posters will not have pictures of anyone else, said Sujit Das, councillor of the civic body. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The row over Padmavati may trigger the latest round of acrimony between the saffron camp and Bengals ruling party with Trinamool Congress leaders vowing to ensure smooth screening of the film after release. Within 48 hours of members of Bharat Kshatriya Samaj, a fringe right wing outfit, agitating in Kolkata against the Sanjay Leela Bhansali film, Trinamool Congress leaders made it clear that they will not allow any muscle flexing in the name of protest. Read: Padmavati row: Madhya Pradesh bans Bhansalis movie, Amarinder backs protests, Mamata sees a plot The tone was set by chief minister Mamata Banerjee herself, who twitted her displeasure over the controversy around Padmavati. The #Padmavati controversy is not only unfortunate but also a calculated plan of a political party to destroy the freedom to express ourselves. We condemn this super emergency. All in the film industry must come together and protest in one voice, she wrote on Monday. Though she did not name any party, it was clear Mamata Banerjee was refering to BJP with which her party had a running battle on a number of issues from cow politics to demonetisation. The film is yet to obtain the censor boards clearance. Soon after the protests by Bharat Kshatriya Samaj on Saturday, a police picket was deployed in front of Navina cinema in south Kolkata, where the protest took place. Read: Padmavati row: Ranveer Singh asked not to talk about film, CM Yogi says Bhansali as guilty as protestors Bhansalis yet-to-be-released film has already generated controversy across the country with three states a few BJP-ruled states such as Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan objecting to its screening. While MP chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan has said the film wont be screened in his state, the Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje said on Monday that until suggestions given in her November 18 letter to Union I&B minister Smriti Irani are implemented, Padmavati will not be screened in Rajasthan. Punjab chief minister captain Amarinder Singh, too, has said that films distorting history will not be allowed in his state. As the protests mounted, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray spoke to director Bhansali. The party said the filmmaker should edit out offending portions. In Kolkata, the mood was different. Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha MP and actor Satabdi Roy said, no hooliganism will be tolerated in some groups try to forcefully stop the screening of the film after it obtains censor board clearance. Read: Padmavati row: Javed Akhtar implies Rajputs were pawns of British, faces threats It is not just Trinamool Congress that will resist such strong arm tactics. There will be overwhelming resistance to such hooliganism from the people of Bengal, who have always defended freedom of expression, said Roy. After Mamata Banerjees statement, a senior member of her cabinet told HT, Since the chief minister has already spoken, I would not like to comment further. But neither Trinamool Congress, nor the state government will tolerate any muscle flexing to suppress the freedom of expression. I wonder whether those protesting in Kolkata were aware of the contents of the movie. Bengal will not tolerate a culture where a handful of people will issue fatwas to kill an actress, or chop off a part of her body, Satabdi Roy added. Rajput Karni Sena, a Rajasthan-basd fringe outfit has threatened to chop off Padukones nose and behead Bhansali if the film is released. Another group, Akhil Bhartiya Kshatriya Mahasabha announced a reward of Rs 1 crore for anyone setting Deepika Padukone, who played Padmavati, on fire. They alleged the film on the legend of queen Padmavati (or Padmini) compromised the honour of the queen. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Middle Valley Church of God announced that Pastor Mitch McClure will speak on the topic, 'Thankful For His Help' in theservice on Each Sunday at 9:30 a.m. Sunday school classes are available for all age groupings. The marksheet of a student of an Aligarh-based degree college, affiliated to the Agra University, bearing the photograph of Bollywood actor Salman Khan has gone viral on the social media. The discrepancy came to light before the distribution of marksheets to students. Official spokesman of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar University, Agra, Dr Girija Shankar said he did not receive any complaint in this regard and would look into the matter if it was brought to his notice. The marksheet belongs to a BA first year student of Amrata Singh Memorial Degree College in Tejpur Java of Aligarh district. The students enrolment number is given with his name on the marksheet (2016-17 session) but the photograph is that of Salman Khan. We have verified our records which were found to be correct, Dr Shankar claimed, denying any error on the part of the university. It is the student who fills the form and pastes his photo which is forwarded by the college principal after verification. An invigilator also checks the content, he said. The incident has come to light barely a fortnight before President Ram Nath Kovind is expected to attend the universitys convocation. Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav said his son and the partys national president Akhilesh Yadav is a good boy and was a good chief minister as his 79th birthday was celebrated on Wednesday in a major sign of thaw after a long and protracted family feud. He is my son first, leader later. My blessings were with him before, now, and ever after, Mulayam said as he reached the party office and was greeted by his supporters and party workers at the partys headquarters in Lucknow. Last year, the family feud was at its peak around this time and the two factions had organised events to celebrate Mulayams birthday separately. But the celebrations were called off after the train accident near Kanpur that killed over 100 people. A senior leader of the party, Ram Naresh Yadav, died the day before Mulayams birthday. The power tussle, if not completely solved, has certainly been settled after Akhilesh was re-elected as the national president of the party early last month and both Mulayam and the rival camp leader and his uncle Shivpal Yadav had congratulated him. Two days before the re-election, Mulayam had also set aside the tentative plans to float a party and called for the strengthening of Samajwadi Party. The road to the party headquarters the Vikramaditya Marg has been decked up so is the headquarters. Sources said a large cake will be cut and folk music troupes will perform to mark the day. Mulayam was born on November 22, 1939, in Saifai village of the states Etawah district. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The decision of the Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad (UPMSP) to make Aadhaar cards mandatory for students appearing in high school and intermediate board examinations- 2018 has created panic among students. The officials, however, have asked the students that they should not panic as efforts were on to provide Aadhaar cards to them. I believe nearly 15% of the total students registered in Lucknow district do not have Aadhaar. We will set up camps and motivate students and parents to get Aadhaar registration done in the next couple of months. Two-and-a-half months are remaining for examination which is sufficient to complete the task, said DIoS, Lucknow, Mukesh Kumar Tripathi. We are trying our best to ensure all examinees get Aadhaar cards before commencement of examinations as it is a proof of their identity, he said. Examinations are scheduled in February. A total of 67,29,540 students have registered for the UP Boards high school and intermediate examinations next year. According to an estimate, around 15% (nearly 10 lakh) students do not have Aadhaar. The announcement has left students, parents and district-level education department officials in a tizzy. In Lucknow alone, more than 1.08 lakh candidates have been registered for the Board examination. The registration process was completed without the Aadhaar and they have been asked to get their cards before the examinations, an official added. Talking to the HT, UP Board secretary Neena Srivastava said the decision was taken to ensure maximum students got Aadhaar cards made as it was necessary to avail benefits under several government sponsored schemes, including scholarships. We will not stop students from taking the examination if they do not produce Aadhaar card at the examination hall. The idea is to encourage students and parents to get Aadhaar card as it is linked with several other benefits, she said. Just a few days after assuming office, the Yogi Adityanath government ordered the closure of illegal and mechanised abattoirs across Uttar Pradesh in March, affecting not only meat traders but also UPs bone craftsmen. Seven months on, the government move has put the craftsmen in a difficult situation and rung alarm bells for the 400-year-old rare trade of bone art due to a shortage of buffalo bones. Lucknow, the erstwhile city of nawabs, was known for producing the best bone art though the craft was also practised in many other districts, including Ghaziabad, Moradabad and Bareilly. The City of Nawabs leads in bone craft. The finest bone work is done here. There are over a dozen ustads, who have not only bagged the presidents award for their intrinsic art work but also represented India at the international level, said Israr Ahmed, a bone carver and national award winner who has given shape to thousands of pieces of bone art in his 40-year career. Israr, who owns a small workshop in Khadra locality here, said closure of meat shops and slaughterhouses had affected more than peoples menus in UP. Artisans are idle due to non- availability of bones, he said, sharpening a miniature chisel and other special tools designed by him to suit his carving skills. He designs and carves these tools when he is out of work. Israr said the City of Nawabs used to be the hub of bone carving with over 350 families engaged in the trade until governments order for closure of abattoirs hit the business. The order was issued on March 27, eight days after Yogi Adityanath took oath as the UP chief minister. The directive brought bone carving work to a grinding halt. In Lucknow, Hussainabad, Daulatganj, Thakurganj, Yaseenganj, Wazir Bagh, Billaujpura, Khadra and Mehbullapur used to be the hub of bone carving. Its more than seven months but the artisans have no bones to work on, said Mohammed Jalaluddin, another national level artisan from Hussainabad, Lucknow. The bone crisis in the state capital began soon after three slaughterhouses, operating in the heart of the city, were closed after the government crackdown. The Allahabad high court had ordered closure of three slaughterhouses in Motijheel, Fatehganj and Maulviganj areas of the city on March 11, 2015. But, all these kept operating illegally. However, these were shut after the state governments crackdown in March. And this led to the bone crisis. Asked why bones were still unavailable when meat shops were more or less open, Jalaluddin said shops were opening gradually as the process of issuing licenses was too slow. As a stopgap arrangement, the district administration has asked the buffalo meat sellers to buy meat from a legal slaughterhouse in Unnao, 40km from Lucknow, and sell it in Unnao. And the licenses too are being issued only to sell the meat and not for slaughter, he pointed out. The local slaughterhouses that used to serve as the bulk supplier of bones (preferably femur) are still lying closed. Meat shops sell the meat of only one or two buffaloes a day. That means only four to eight femur bones per animal a day are available. This is too little to meet the requirement of an individual bone carver who needs 3-4 quintals for two weeks, he said. He said camel bones were also carved but the artisans largely depended on buffalo bones which were less expensive. The buffalo bones too are white like the camel bones. If nothing were done to ease the shortage of bones, the 400-year-old art of bone carving would go into oblivion, the artisans said. Bone carving got maximum patronage during the Nawabi era, according to historians. Roshan Taqi, a noted historian from Lucknow, said, In those times, Lucknow used to be the centre of bone carving on ivory tusks. But the trade stopped after the ban on ivory was imposed, forcing bone craftsmen to switch to buffalo and camel bones for their survival. Dr PK Singh, city health officer with the Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC), said: The Lucknow Municipal Corporation is constructing an ultramodern slaughterhouse in Bindaua, Mohanlalganj at a total cost of Rs 110 crore, phasing out three old slaughterhouses. Construction work is expected to be completed by 2019. The craftsmen said the shortage of bones was killing the trade that was already on its last legs. Some craftsmen have shifted to other vocations, becoming carpenters or opening grocery shops in order to provide for their families. But there are a few who are still hopeful and think that the governments order is just a dark cloud and a silver lining will emerge soon. A WINNER OF MANY AWARDS Israr Ahmed, a craftsman, received the Presidents Award for his fine carvings in 2016. He is among 350 bone craftsmen from Lucknow. Ahmed learnt the art from his uncle Abdul Khalid, who used to live in Wazir Bagh locality in Old City area. I grew up seeing him (my uncle) playing with bones. Hence, I decided to try my hand at bone crafting, he said. Ahmed, who started working at the early age of 15, worked for eight years with his uncle after which he decided to start his own business. But making a mark on ones own in the bone art business was not easy. Initially, I did not receive any orders, but the lean patch didnt disappoint me. I kept on honing my skills, Ahmed said. In 2002, Ahmed got his first award from the UP government for making a unique lamp made of camel bone. It took almost five months for him to complete the lamp. In 2007, he bagged an international award for making a beautiful partition. It was my best work so far. It was a big, almost three- metre long partition and it took around 30 months to complete this work. I sold it for around two lakhs, he said. He bagged the Presidents award in 2016 for a jewellery box that he made of buffalo bone. Owing to his reputation as one of finest artisans in the state capital, he never faced a shortage of orders, largely from exporters. But, he is worried about the present scenario as he is unable to meet the orders. He said if situation remained the same, the art will fade away. AN INTRICATE ART AT A GLANCE Lucknow has 350 families still engaged in bone carving. According to a rough estimate, each artisans family buys two to three quintals either weekly or bi-weekly. Buffalo bone costs Rs 45 per kg and camel bone Rs 100 per kg. Craftsmen used to procure buffalo bones from citys three slaughterhouses that are lying closed after UP the governments crackdown. Bone art is said to be 400 years old. It got maximum patronage during the Nawabi era when ivory tusks were used. Bone craftsmen switched to buffalo and camel bone after the ban on ivory tusks. In Lucknow, Hussainabad, Daulatganj, Thakurganj, Yaseenganj, Wazir Bagh, Billaujpura, Khadra and Mehbullapur areas are the hub of bone carving trade. Bone carving is also carried out in Hyderabad, Rajasthan, Kolkata and Chennai. ABOUT THE ART The bones are first cleaned, trimmed and then boiled for at least four hours for a clean look. After that, bones are dipped in a solution of hydrogen peroxide and kept under the sun for seven hours. The pieces are then joined together using adhesive. This is followed by engraving, said Jalaluddin, a craftsman. Craftsmen make several patterns using miniature chisels, drills and special tools. The final product is then buffed, polished and painted. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Voting for the first phase of civic body elections in 24 of the 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh began on Wednesday. Over 52% voting was recorded in the first phase, with the Congress bastion Amethi logging a high turnout of 68.44% and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanaths hometurf Gorakhpur registering the lowest at 39.23%. Disruptions at some polling booths were reported due to complaints about Electronic Voting Machines (EVM). Urban local bodies polls in Uttar Pradesh the biggest state in the country politically were being contested on national issues this time instead of local problems like naali, sadak, paani (sewage, roads and drinking water supply). All major parties are contesting all the 16 mayoral seats. Here are the highlights: 7.45pm: The first phase of the civic polls ended with a moderate voter turnout of around 52%. 2:20pm: Voting stopped at Subash Balika Vidyalaya Saket Nagar in Kanpur after voters complained of darkness inside the booth. 1:35pm: Overall voting in Kanpur till 1:00pm recorded at 31%. Around 23% voting recorded till 1 pm in Gorakhpur. 1:20pm: Voters protest in Dhawai Nagar locality of Meerut after a voter complained that while pressing the button to vote for BSP, the lights on BJP and NOTA buttons flashed. Polling was stopped after that and resumed only after the machine was replaced. 1:00pm: Around 66 people clash with police officials at a ward in Kanpur after their names found missing from the voters list. 12:55pm: SP Rajya Sabha member Sukhram Singh Yadav unable to cast his vote as his name was missing from the voters list. 12: 50pm: Tension in Bilhaur town in Kanpur after former Nagarpalika chairman Noor Idreesi attacked at a polling booth by a BSP leader. 12:45pm: Voting in Pratapgarh recorded at 20.8% and in Kaushambi at 32% til 12 noon. 12:40pm: Protests in Sanigawan Chakeri in Kanpur after 1,200 names found missing from voters list. 12:30pm: Kanpur voting till 12pm recorded at 24%. 12:25pm: Police lathicharge people in Macharia, Kanpur, after protests against faulty EVMs. Ruckus in Harsh Nagar area over the issue of rigged EVMs. 12:24pm: Polling stopped since morning as EVMs could not be replaced at Kanpurs ward 62. 12:20pm: BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj and former MP Annu Tandon unable to cast votes in Unnao as their names missing from voters list. 11:55am: Kanpur police welcome voters by giving them roses. 11:48am: A disabled man casts his vote in Raipura. (HT) 11:40am: Cabinet minister Satish Mahana rubbishes allegations of EVM rigging. Such things were said during the assembly elections also.The election commission had asked such people to come up with proof and they could not.Those who have no work make wild allegations. 11:38am: Additional state election commissioner VP Verma says, Polling going quite smoothly barring some complaints about snags in the EVMs. But all such EVMs were replaced immediately. 11:32am: In Meerut, police take three people into custody after they try to force their way into a polling booth under the Sargana assembly segment represented by BJPs Sangit Som. 11:30am: Around 9-10% voters are said to have exercised their franchise in the first three hours of the polling. However, the state election commission (SEC) has said they would give official figures only after 12 pm. 11:25am: Voting underway in Pratapgarh. A total of 1.5 lakh eligible voters will elect 124 corporators and nine chairpersons. (HT Photo) 11:15am: At ward 109 in Kanpur, people protest as around 400 names missing from the voters list. 11:05am: In Kanpurs ward 102, police use force as people oppose special treatment to BJP agent being allowed to bring his voters bypassing the queue in Babupurwa. Four people taken into custody. 11:03am: At two stations -- ward 58 Tiwaripur and ward 104-- in Kanpur, people are alleging that the EVMs were rigged and their vote was going to the BJP. Voting was affected for an hour. 11:00am: Chief minister Adityanath, after casting his vote, says no party will be able to stand in from of the BJP, as they have support of the people in the state, reports ANI. 10:20am: The state election commission is using EVMs for the first time in the civic polls though their use will be restricted to only nagar nigams (municipal corporations). 10:10am: BJP Rajya Sabha member Vinay Katiyar arrives at Katra polling booth, Ayodhya. 10:00am: Voting begins in the three booths of Kanpurs Mani Ram Bagia Ward number 104 which had earlier reported glitches, reports ANI. 9% voting reported in Kanpur. 9:45am: At Madanlal Munnalal inter-college booth number 105, technical problem in EVM stops polling. Even after an hour voting could not start. Voters queue up at a polling station in Agra. 9:42am: In the first phase, polling is being be held for five municipal corporations, 71 nagar palika parishads and 154 nagar panchayats. 9:40am: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath reaches polling station in Gorakhnath to cast his vote. 9:30am: Disruptions at some polling booths due to complaints about EVM. Technical glitch reported in EVMs of three booths at Mani Ram Bagia Ward number 104 in Kanpur, reports ANI. Quick Facts: Counting of votes will be held on December 1 after voting for all the three phases is complete on November 29. Around 1.9 crore voters will exercise their franchise In 230 urban local bodies consisting of five nagar nigams (municipal corporations), 71 nagar palika parishads and 154 nagar panchayats. Shamli, Meerut, Hapur, Bijnore, Badaun, Hathras, Kasganj, Agra, Kanpur, Jalaun, Hamirpur, Chitrakoot, Kaushambi, Pratapgarh, Unnao, Hardoi, Amethi, Faizabad, Gonda, Basti, Gorakhpur, Azamgarh, Ghazipur and Sonebhadra districts voting on Wednesday. The polling for 652 urban local bodies, which includes 16 Nagar Nigam, will be held in three phases on November 22, November 26 and November 29. In a first, chief minister Yogi Adityanath has taken up the role of partys chief campaigner and will be addressing as many as 35 rallies. He launched the campaign from Ayodhya. Lucknowites experienced a whiff of winter on Tuesday when the minimum temperature dropped by 5.4 degrees Celsius. The night temperature plunged to 10.8 degree Celsius from 16.2 degrees a night before. It was the coldest day this season. The met department has issued a warning of likely cold wave conditions at a few places of Uttar Pradesh. The recent snowfall in the hills resulted in cold winds blowing across the state. This brought down the mercury sharply, the weatherman said. Last year in November the lowest minimum temperature was 9 degrees. However, the all-time lowest temperature -- 3.9 degrees Celsius -- was recorded on November 29, 1952. The day temperature too dropped in Lucknow by 3.4 degrees. The maximum temperature was 24.2 degrees Celsius while on Monday it was 27.6 degrees. North-westerly winds are sweeping most parts of the state. It has resulted in a sudden drop in night temperature, said weatherman JP Gupta. He said the night temperature may drop a little further in the next 24 hours as the winds have gathered speed. The forecast for the city is mist in the morning but clear sky in the day. The maximum and minimum temperatures would be around 24 and 10 degrees Celsius respectively. A shallow fog is likely in isolated places of the state. The day and night temperatures also fell in other parts of Uttar Pradesh up to 6 degrees celsius. Muzaffarnagar was the coldest in the state with 7 degrees Celsius, three notches below normal; Bareilly and Najibabad recorded 8.4 degrees, Sultanpur 9, Bahraich 9.2 and Kheri 10. AIR QUALITY VERY POOR The air quality continued to remain very poor. The average for the past 24 hours -- PM2.5 -- in Lucknow was recorded 317. The permissible level for PM2.5, considered to be a nasty air pollutant, is 60 micrograms per cubic metre air. The suspension of poisonous particles in air has created a bitter smog condition that is a health hazard not only for humans but for fauna too. The air has got loaded with dust and other hazardous substances that are damaging body organs and causing serious illness. said Bharat Raj Singh, director-general, School of Management Sciences, Lucknow. Singh suggested a ban on crackers and burning of waste. He said water should be sprinkled on streets and other areas and people should go for vehicle pooling. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A 22-year-old woman committed suicide after her boyfriend, allegedly on his mothers instructions, refused to marry her as promised. The Saki Naka police have filed a first information report (FIR) against the boyfriend and his mother on charges of abetting suicide under section 306 of the Indian Penal Code, based on allegations made by the victims father. The Saki Naka police said that on November 17, Ankush Ujjal, 49, a resident of Saki Naka, filed the complaint, a day after his daughter Pratiksha, who used to be employed with a private firm, killed herself. On the evening of November 16, Pratiksha hanged herself in her house in Narayan Mayekar chawl, Saki Naka, leaving behind a suicide note in which she blamed her boyfriend and his mother. Her parents and two brothers were not at home when the incident took place. Her family said they were not aware of her romantic involvement until they read her suicide note. As per the FIR, the accused and the deceased had been in a relationship for the past one year, after they met at work. The accused, who practises another religion, had promised to marry her, but his mother was opposed to it and convinced her son to get out of the relationship. A police official from Saki Naka police station, who did not want to be named, said: We are verifying the allegations made by the victims father. We have asked him to furnish all evidence he has to back his allegations. We have her suicide note as well. We will decide the further course of action based on what comes out in our investigation. A 32-year-old woman on Monday filed a complaint of molestation after a Twitter user called her fat on the micro-blogging site, police said. The complainant, a resident of Dadar in central Mumbai and whose identity is not being revealed, approached the police alleging that a Twitter contact had abused and defamed her on the social media platform, said Sunil Deshmukh, assistant commissioner of police, Dadar division. Officers said the accused, who is said to be from an African nation, had voiced an opinion to the effect that fat people dont have the right to live. The discussion went viral on Twitter, and the complainant tweeted a comment that opposed the mans opinion. The duo got into an argument, each defending their stand. The argument continued on both sides, where the woman and the accused wrote a series of comments with inputs and comments from other people as well, said an officer from Shivaji Park police station, who did not wish to be named. The chat escalated, and the accused called the woman fat, and abused her. Based on the womans statement, we have registered a case under section 354 of the Indian Penal Code [for outraging a womans modesty through gesture or words] against an unknown person, Deshmukh said. The police are now trying to determine the identity of the person from the Twitter ID given to them by the complainant. We have found out that the accused lives in Africa, but we are confirming his identity through the username and profile on his Twitter account which can be fake, Deshmukh said. We dont want to share the id and alert the accused into deleting his comments. The police will now forward the case to the cyber cell department, which will investigate it further and track down the IP address of the computer from which the accused sent the offensive comments. Saquib Nachan, 57, secretary of banned SIMI (Students Islamic Movement of India) organisation, was freed from Thane Central Jail on Wednesday morning. He had finished serving a 10-year sentence in connection with the 2003 triple bomb blast, in which dozens were killed. No one came to receive him upon his release, neither were there crowds to see him off. Nachan, a BCom graduate, was arrested for storing weapons at his house in Boriwali village in Padgha, 50km from Mumbai. He is still an accused in two cases in 2003, he was arrested under section 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty ) of the Indian Penal Code and later released. In 2007, he was arrested under section 307 (attempt to murder) of the IPC, to which sections of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999, were later added. Police said Nachan sat inside a car, which took him to Padgha. Sources said there was no one to receive him at the village either. We are unaware of his activities, but prefer to stay away from him as we do not want to get in trouble, said a resident. We will keep a close watch on him and follow the court guidelines, said Bhaskar Pukale, inspector, Padgha police station. He added that illegal structures behind Nachans house had been demolished. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Even as protests over the construction of a Metro car shed at Goregaons Aarey Colony continue, the Maharashtra Motor Vehicle Department (MMVD) has asked for around three acres of Colony land for its Borivli Regional Transport Office (RTO). A senior RTO official said they sought the land, which has a car depot and two other structures, on a lease basis to shift their office from Kandarpada in Dahisar. Reason for the shift: Although the Borivli RTO has the highest footfall among all four RTOs in Mumbai, its office building is inadequate. The plot is mostly occupied by seized vehicles. Another piece of Aarey land at Ciba Road near the Western Express Highway has also been requested to develop a vehicle test track. The Bombay high court had directed the transport department to conduct vehicle break tests on 250-m tracks. The Borivli RTOs jurisdiction lies between Goregaon and Dahisar and it has been dogged with a space crunch problem because of high footfall every day. The RTO official said the decision about Aarey is in the final stages. We expect to get the land within a few months, he said. Nathu Rathod, chief executive officer of Aarey Colony, confirmed they received two separate proposals from the Borivli RTO. The proposals have been forwarded to the government, but no final decision has been taken yet. RTO sources said the Aarey land is less than one acre, but it has two ready-made structures that will make shifting quicker and easier. Another three acres, however, is undeveloped ideal to build a 250-m break test track. Getting Aarey land for the test track, however, seems tough for the MMVD as it could trigger a fresh controversy. The decision to allot 33 hectares to the Colaba-Andhiri-SEEPZ Metro 3 corridor was met with a huge political backlash and a tussle between Shiv Sena and BJP ally. Some citizen groups and environmentalists are protesting against the construction of the metro car shed. Aarey Colony is one the few surviving green patches in Mumbai and located next to the reserved forest of Sanjay Gandhi National Park, which is the biggest green area in the city. . SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Womens Law Collective, PLLC announces Super Lawyers has recognized Amanda Jelks and Layne Gillespie as 2017 Mid-South Super Lawyers Rising Stars. Ms. Gillespie is the owner and founder of Chattanooga Legal Group, P.C. Ms. Gillespie graduated from the University of South Carolina in 2002 and the Appalachian School of Law in 2007. She moved to Chattanooga in 2008 to work for a regional consumer bankruptcy firm. After seven years working in a high-volume practice, Ms. Gillespie founded Chattanooga Legal Group, P.C. in 2015. Ms. Gillespie is admitted to practice in Tennessee as well as in the Eastern District of Tennessee. She was recently named a 2017 Attorney for Justice by the Tennessee Supreme Court. Ms. Jelks is a Chattanooga native, who attended UTC and the University of Memphis Law School. During her first five years of practice, Ms. Jelks worked with one of Chattanoogas largest law firms handling complex business matters for clients ranging from small business owners to international corporations. In 2015, Ms. Jelks launched Jelks Law, PLLC with a mission to provide peace of mind to business owners with commercial legal services and estate/succession planning. Since starting her firm, Ms. Jelks has received the Super Lawyers selection for two consecutive years. She is the chief executive officer of Womens Law Collective and is committed to giving back to her community. Some of her civic involvement includes serving on the city of Chattanoogas Health, Education and Housing Facilities Board, the Chamber of Commerces Diversity and Inclusion Committee and the Chattanooga Theatre Centres Board of Directors. The Womens Law Collective, PLLC is an association of independent woman-owned law firms with a mission to provide resources, recognition and encouragement to professional women and the men who support them. Its members are Chattanooga Legal Group, P.C., Jelks Law, PLLC, The Law Office of Corrin Fulton, PLLC, and Katie King Law. Founded in January 2017, Womens Law Collective has sponsored women and minority owned businesses in the Chattanooga Chambers Diversify Marketplace and offered negotiation training for women in business. In 2018, Womens Law Collective plans to offer a broad array of training services and networking opportunities. To support and celebrate Chattanoogas women business owners and professionals, contact the Womens Law Collective at 803-4898. After the death of Aniket Kothale in the Sangli police lock-up on November 7, Prabhat Kumar, inspector general of police (IGP), law and order, Maharashtra has asked all police units to use scientific methods and not beat up the arrested accused to get information out of them. Kothale, 26, was arrested with another man, Amol Bhandare, on November 6 for robbing a motorbike-borne man of 2,000 at knife-point, a senior police officer said. Based on the allegations of torture made by Bhandare, six men, including five policemen, have been arrested under sections 302 (murder), 330 (causing hurt to extort confession), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence), 331 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt to extort confession) and 34 of the IPC. The arrested policemen were suspended and have been dismissed from service. Seven others have been suspended for being in the police station at the time of the incident. The circular, a copy of which is with HT, asks the police to use interrogation techniques, instead of harassing the suspect physically or mentally to collect evidence. The police commissionerates and district police have been asked to immediately probe allegations of custodial torture. When an accused is arrested, the police use various techniques to get information and build evidence. The IGP has suggested use of tests such as lie detector, polygraph, brain-mapping and narco-analysis. While police commissionerates and district police have been asked to follow the guidelines issued by the DGP office and the state CID officials, senior officials have been asked to conduct workshops to educate officials Inputs from Debasish Panigrahi SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON sanjana.bhalerao1@hindustantimes.com Despite a political controversy surrounding the installation of light emitting diodes (LEDs), the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has prepared a policy to convert all streetlights across the city to LED. The first phase includes conversion of 20% of streetlights, 25,000, to LED. According to civic officials, the 1.26 lakh streetlights in Mumbai will be replaced over time. The cost of the first phase, which also includes maintenance, is Rs130 crore. The BMC currently spends Rs164 crore annually on streetlights and their power consumption. Currently, 37,045 street lights are operated by the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking; 97,347 by Reliance and 12,000 by Maharashtra State Electricity Board. Each of the 24 ward offices have submitted a list of areas where the streetlights will be replaced. Tenders have also been floated by utility companies and we are positive that 20% replacement will be completed by March 2018, said a senior civic official. In the 2017-18 budget speech, civic chief Ajoy Mehta had announced to replace at least 10% of streetlights with LEDs. The civic body had said the initiative would help conserve energy, but the high initial investment proved to be a dampener. The BJP-led government at the Centre has been aggressively promoting LEDs for streetlights as well as for households, claiming significant energy savings while the Shiv Sena has been objecting to the move. The civic body had decided to install LED lights across the city, starting with Marine Drive, in 2015 after former Union power minister Piyush Goyal met former municipal commissioner Sitaram Kunte. However, the project ran into controversy after Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray tweeted against it and claimed the BJP did not seek the Senas opinion. After the ruckus, Bombay High Court in August had asked BMC to replace the white LEDs at Marine Drive to yellow LED bulbs. At present, only Marine Drive street lights have LED bulbs. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON After receiving flak from trade unions and Opposition parties for the proposed amendment in the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, which facilitates the closure of factories and firing of workers, the Maharashtra government has decided to hold talks with representatives of central unions. At their meeting with the state government on Wednesday afternoon, the unions have decided to oppose all the proposed amendments in the Act, and also demand that the state repeal amendments made in other labour laws in the past two years. Labour minister Sambhaji Patil Nilangekar will be meeting the union representatives. The government has proposed an amendment that would make it easier for factories with less than 300 workers to close down their business or lay off workers without prior permission of labour authorities in the state government. At present, such permission is granted only to factories that have a worker strength of 100. Barring 1,365 units, around 37,000 factories in the state will benefit from this amendment, as reported earlier in Hindustan Times. Trade unions, including Bhartiya Majdoor Sangh and Bhartiya Kamgar Sena , which are workers wings of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena, respectively, have opposed the amendment. The unions have also warned the government that they would launch a state-wide protest and call for a bandh across Maharashtra, if the proposed amendments are not withdrawn. The government decided to hold talks with union representatives after realising the extent of the opposition. We have decided to oppose the proposal in toto as its going ruin workers and workers movements, said Vishwas Utagi, convenor of the Trade Unions Joint Action Committee. There are proposals to change the definition of workers, belittling him and making it akin to bonded labour. They have also proposed to limit the time period for workers dues and disputes to three years . We are opposing these proposals. The Committee will also demand that amendments made by the BJP-led government to the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act and Factories Act in the past two years be repealed, Utagi added. The police have arrested a daily wage labouror for allegedly smashing another labourors head with a paver block for hogging his sleeping space on the footpath near Dadar market. The police said that on November 8, they had found the body of a man identified as Sunil Punjabi, with head injuries. Investigations revealed that Punjabi was a resident of Kalyan and would often sleep on Dadar footpath after getting drunk. Many of these labourors spend everything they earn on alcohol, and have fixed groups with whom they drink. After drinking, they sleep on the footpath outside the shops in Dadar market, which is where we found Punjabis body, said a police officer from Dadar police station, requesting anonymity. There was a paver block near his body. Officials also discovered that on the night he was killed, he had been drinking with Shankar Nagvekar, 45, and that the duo fought over where Punjabi slept. Nagvekar wanted the same place to sleep, the officer said. The fight got ugly, and Nagvekar picked up a loose paver block from the footpath and hit Punjabi on his head. We got a tip-off that Nagvekar was seen near Kabutar Khana in Dadar, and we intercepted and arrested him, said Divakar Shelke, senior police inspector of Dadar police station. Looks like the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has tightened the noose around non-governmental organisation (NGO) Praja Foundation. The civic body on Monday declared the NGO as persona non grata [unwelcome or unacceptable because of something said or done]. Civic health officials said the municipal commissioner will now decide whether to inform those making financial contributions to the NGO abouts its decision, which could make it difficult for the organisation to sustain itself. The move comes four months after the NGO published a controversial white paper. In July, the NGO published a white paper based on the information it said it collected from the health department by filing queries under the Right To Information (RTI) Act. However, health officials alleged that the data collected by the NGO on tuberculosis (TB) and dengue was intentionally used to tarnish the BMCs reputation and mislead citizens. The randomly collected information has been misinterpreted and misrepresented without being aware of the basic knowledge of the national health programme, said Dr Shantaram Naik, deputy executive health officer. Praja Foundation had then claimed that TB patients were dropping out of government-run Directly Observed Treatment, Short Course (DOTS) programme. Its report stated that the dropout rate had increased by 10% between 2012 and 2017. The foundation also claimed that dengue deaths in Mumbai had doubled in the past five years, with a whopping 265% rise in patients testing positive for dengue. The dropout rate of TB patients for the year 2012 is calculated on the basis of total cases. While the calculation for 2016 is based on the total new cases. Hence, the figure arrived at [by the NGO] is inflated and misguiding, states a BMC notice. Health officials added that the NGO, while analysing dengue patients, indicated an increase in number of cases from 2012-13 to 2016-17. However, they failed to consider whether the cases were suspected or confirmed. Commenting on the issue, managing trustee of Praja Foundation Nitai Mehta said they will soon respond to the BMC notice legally. Its BMCs own data that we present to the people to bring more transparency in the system. The fact is that the officials hate being shown a mirror, and thus the reaction. We will respond to them in a suitable manner, said Mehta. He added that the organisation is not bothered about civic body contacting its donors. We arent a profit-making organisation. Our aim is to improve the healthcare system of the city. We will ensure our sustainability through other sources, Mehta said. Civic officials on the other hand said that they will upload all the data about communicable and non-communicable diseases on the BMC website to offer complete transparency to the public. The NGO doesnt consider new protocols or change in strategies by the health department. It interprets data based on vague numbers and statistics. Its a way of sensationalising figures and earn money through offshore donors and organisations by creating panic situations, said a high-ranking BMC official. After three women constables accused in connection with the death of Byculla Jail inmate Manjula Shetye sought bail on Tuesday, the prosecution objected to their plea on Wednesday. Special public prosecutor Vidhya Kasle said the injuries on Shetyes body resulted from the assault that killed her. She objected to the defences stance that Shetye died owing to a prolonged illness, and not because of the alleged assault perpetrated by jailers. The prosecution contended that there were more than 14 injuries on Shetyes body, enough to be tied to her death. On Tuesday, defence lawyer Vaibhav Baghade said there were discrepancies in the prosecutions case and circumstances surrounding Shetyes death. Six jail staff had moved a bail plea in August. However, on Tuesday, the bail pleas of three were withdrawn. Baghade argued that three other constables Bindu Naikade, Waseema Shaikh and Surekha Gulve must be given bail. He said the state succumbed to the pressure from the Byculla jail inmates and registered a case against six jail staff after Shetyes death was followed by inmates staging riots at the prison. The prosecution countered the defences argument that the injuries on Shetyes body were formed owing to post-mortem lividity the settling of blood under the influence of gravity, which develops early in the period after the post-mortem. The prosecution said the marks resulted from the assault. The prosecution said there was enough evidence against the accused in the form of witness statements, which were corroborated by the CCTV camera footage that depicts the accused taking Shetye away. Kasle said she had obtained CCTV camera footage of the jail passage only as no cameras had been installed in the barracks. The defence had raised questions over the validity of the CCTV camera footage, claiming that it had been doctored and was missing an audio component. The prosecution denied these claims. The court has now heard both sides. It reserved the order on the bail plea for November 28. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Three days after a 25-year-old man went missing from his Trombay residence, his body was found in a subway in Mankhurd on Tuesday afternoon. Police said Ashish Pawar left his residence on November 18 and failed to return. His family tried to trace him, but when they could not, they filed a missing person complaint with the Trombay police station. On Tuesday, the police received a call, informing them a body was found floating in a flooded subway on the Sion-Panvel highway. The body was fished out, after which the family identified it. Pawar was an alcoholic. We suspect he was also suffering from some mental problems, said Sanjay Y Vernekar, senior inspector, Mankhurd police station. The police registered a case of accidental death and trying to ascertain if there was any foul play. There are no injuries on the body, which had started to decompose. The viscera has been preserved for chemical analysis, said Vernekar. The subway has been sealed. The police are looking for eye-witnesses and are questioning Pawars friends. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Remember seeing electronic billboards at New Yorks Times Square in movies? Mumbaiites may soon get to see similar digital billboards as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) plans to revise its policy on hoardings to allow their installation in the city. The civic body considered to allow replacement of existing billboards or hoardings with digital ones after representatives of Mumbai Hoarding Owners Associations suggested it. The policy is yet to be approved by civic chief Ajoy Mehta. The civic body has also decided to implement the decision in phases to see the response. The billboards will first be put up at public places like Juhu beach and various areas in Bandra on a trial bases. According to the plan, the existing hoardings will be replaced with LED screens which will display static ads, while hoardings near highways will be the same. The civic body will also issue live updates and warnings during natural disasters and emergencies through these digital billboards. The policy will be made public in mid-December after which the BMC will set a time frame to invite suggestions and objections from citizens, said the officials. Civic officials said the trials will involve static ads only and then will move on to animated ads. A senior official said, The representatives had suggested that the hoardings be first put up at specific places to see the response. These digital billboards will not be put up near highways in order to avoid untoward incidents as they serve as distraction for motorists. We are working out details of the policy. The BMC is planning such policy after 10 years. Currently, the hoardings and billboards are largely made of printed flexboards or other synthetic material. The city has around 2,000 billboards and hoardings on public and private properties which were put up by private contractors who get pay a premium for them to the civic body. As of now, the hoardings have flexes that have to be replaced time and again, however, with the digital billboards, the advertising agencies will be able to change ads in every 10 seconds. One of the controls of the billboards will be with the agencies and the other will be with the civic body to monitor these advertisements. Khalid Batliwala, president of Mumbai Hoarding Owners Association, said, We have received a positive response from the civic body to our suggestions of digital billboards. The authority was also open to our suggestions for creative elements to be implemented to make Mumbai look more attractive. The corporation may revise the hoarding policy and issue new guidelines to control the existing disorganised illegal hoarding, banner and poster situation in the city. The civic officials said unrelated banners and posters celebrating birthdays, festivals and events will also be brought under control. In addition to this, the new policy will also revise the existing rates for advertisements. A senior civic official said, These advertisements in the city can be a great source of revenue for the civic body. We aim to change the entire advertising perspective of the city. Nine years after November 26, 2008, terrorist attacks that exposed the lack of preparedness of the police force, the state police now claims to be better prepared to face a similar challenge, thanks to a slew of newly acquired body armour and gadgets. Top sources in the state police told HT that the most important among those is the acquisition of around 4,600 state-of-the-art bullet-proof jackets for its special forces that had been formed in the aftermath of the attack. The Mumbai police had lost three of its best officers anti-terrorism squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare, additional commissioner of police Ashok Kamte and senior police inspector Vijay Salaskar who died after bullets from the terrorists assault rifles pierced through their sub-standard bullet proof vests designed to withstand the fire of only small arms. Sources said the new bullet-proof jackets were manufactured by MKU (M Kumar Udyog), a reputable manufacturer of military-grade protection and surveillance equipments based in Kanpur. The jackets were thoroughly tested before they were deemed fit for acquisition, a top state police official said. He added that they were at par with the vests used by top-notch special forces around the world. While a bulk of the vests were given to Force 1 and the quick response team (QRT) commandos, the rest will be used by the C-60 Cobra battalion engaged in anti-Naxal operations. The acquisition of the bullet-poof jackets, tenders for which were floated soon after the 26/11 strike, had been delayed owing to a scam in the bomb-suit tendering process. Bowing to criticism, the government had made an ad hoc arrangement and got around 2,000 jackets from the Central Reserve Police Force in 2011. The order for the current lot was placed in November last year. The force has also acquired around 1,500 bullet-proof helmets to be used by the special forces, commandos deployed as part of anti-Naxal operations and other commandos sent on combat assignments. The urban warfare preparedness of the police, sources said, would also get a boost with the acquisition of local wireless systems with repeaters. These are meant to ensure seamless communication in places where the official wireless signal has a poor reach. Communicating over the official wireless system becomes difficult in an underground situation, say the basement of a building, as signals become feeble. The new portable wireless device with repeater ensures a local loop with powerful signals that guarantees uninterrupted communication, sources added. Sources said that to do away with allegations of malpractice in the acquisition process, the state police signed a MOU with the State Trading Corporation (STC) of India, which undertook the tendering process. Meanwhile, Right To Information activist Anil Galgali, who had exposed the harried disposal of ATS chief Hemant Karkares bullet-proof jacket at the JJ Hospital in the aftermath of the attack with a suspected motive to cover up the substandard quality of the body armour, welcomed the new procurements. Since the protective armour and other devices have been acquired after proper quality control, they should be worthwhile. This will certainly give the force the required confidence to take on any challenge, he said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The anti-extortion cell (AEC) of Mumbai crime branch arrested gangster Ravi Pujaris associate Kamal Singh Rajput alias Kamruddin Patel for threatening a real estate consultant. Rajput was remanded in police custody till November 24. Rajput lives in Dindoshi, Goregaon (East), and was associated with Pujari for several years. He handled the gangsters finances and collected extortion money from targets in Mumbai and its neighbouring cities, said crime branch officials. He was in touch with Pujari regularly and distributed money to gang members according to his instructions. Rajputs role came to light after the crime branch arrested Vikrant Vardani, 36; Daya Jadhav, 30; and Dashrat Shinde, 50; on October 30, following a complaint registered by the consultant. The crime branch invoked charges of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act against all four accused. The complainant is a consultant of a Slum Rehabilitation Authority project in Khadagpada. A Santacruz-based developer had undertaken the project a few years ago. A survey showed that around 90 slum dwellers were eligible for rehabilitation, which the two fought over. A few months ago, the consultant went to meet the developer in his Juhu office, where Vardani was. Vardani allegedly threatened the consultant, saying he had contacts in the underworld would ensure dire consequences for the consultant if the dispute was not settled, the official said. This is the blog of China defense, where professional analysts and serious defense enthusiasts share findings on a rising military power. Ask any of the millions of women in Mumbai who commute every day or spend long hours outdoor or live in slums just how hard it is to find a restroom, to relieve themselves when they need to, to use the facility without endangering their own safety and security. Just as a woman has at least one story about being molested or sexually harassed, she would have a harrowing tale about what the lack of public sanitation did to her. It would not be out of place to say that urban planners, thinkers and policy wonks did not pay close attention to an issue that should have been central to public amenities in a city like Mumbai. Where are the public toilets for women? If they exist, they are so filthy and dangerous that women prefer to not use them. In the slums, where toilets are not made of RCC, their floors have caved in throwing women into septic tanks below and killing them. The abysmal lack of public toilets was brought into sharp focus by campaigns and study reports by research organisations in the last decade. The most noteworthy of them has been the Right to Pee campaign, a collective of more than 30 NGOs. It found ways to headline the lack of public sanitation for women and keep the pressure on the state government and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to address the gaping hole in public policy. The reality in Mumbai stinks. The Swachh Bharat Mission guidelines mandate a toilet seat for every 30-35 persons but the average in Mumbai is nearly 150 to a seat. It is a staggering 1,200 per seat in the slums, as a study showed last year. As many as 58 per cent of community toilets in slums did not have electricity, 78 per cent did not even have water, and many had no doors, according to a BMC report. Women have it tougher: The average number of toilet seats for women is less than half that for men, they pay more to use toilets than men do, safety and privacy concerns make a bad situation worse. The BMC budget makes no provisions for womens toilets and focuses only on household/community toilets which are unusable. The right to the city includes the right to pee too. Given this, how can Mumbai be free of open defecation? Remember, Mumbai, along with other cities and villages of Maharashtra, was declared open defecation free last month by President Ram Nath Kovind. Last Sunday, on World Toilet Day yes, there is a day like that mandated by the United Nations to draw attention to safe sanitation across the world the Right to Pee campaign activists believed they should call out this declaration. Supriya Sonar, Mumtaz Shaikh and a dozen of their colleagues made a collage of photographs of Mumbaiites defecating or forced to defecate in the open, marched to chief minister Devendra Fadnaviss official bungalow to show him and offer suggestions. They were repeatedly turned away because they did not have an appointment. As they persisted, the police hauled them away to the Malabar Hill police station and detained them for nearly five hours. Why did the hard-working and people-friendly CM not meet them? Perhaps because he would have had to accept that Mumbai was not free of open defecation, that the declaration was pre-mature and an image management exercise. In fact, his government had recently put the BMC in the bottom five municipal corporations in construction of toilets. Only last week did the BMC unveil a grand plan to construct 18,800 toilets seats including repair of old and dilapidated ones. It will cost Rs 376 crore and work is scheduled to begin in January. It may still not be enough but at least its a start. May the New Year bring more toilets to Mumbai, may we women pee in comfort and peace while in public places. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A crash landing emergency mock drill was conducted at Juhu aerodrome on Wednesday, wherein a fixed wing five-seater aircraft was assumed to have crash landed at the aerodrome. Experts gave the handling of situation 8 on 10, based on all the stakeholders performance. However, senior officials from the state fire department suggested that the airport authority should have more jeeps to follow vehicles to the spot during an emergency and to allow the use of a closed gate for medical purpose. During the drill, the pilot in command alerted the Juhu Air Traffic Control (ATC) at 3.23pm after which the Airports Authority of India (AAI) fire department and medical team swung into action. One passenger was assumed to be dead while four others were injured and rushed to the nearest hospital after giving first aid on the spot. State fire department, along with ambulances from Cooper and Nanavati hospitals, also rushed to the spot (end of runway 08). Police officers from Juhu, Santacruz and DN Nagar, along with Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) officials, participated in the drill. A review meeting including ATC , ONGC and officials from state disaster management was conducted after the exercise. The drill ended at 4pm. During this time, flight operations were conducted using the secondary runway. Mihir Bhagwati, president of Bombay Flying Club and chief flight inspector for DGCA, said, There has been improvements in response time as compared to last years drill. As far as general civil aviation airport is concerned,the exercise shows that juhu airport is at par with the international standards. A DGCA official said, We found the exercise to be successful and surprisingly way ahead of the expected time of response. As per standard operating procedure, medical help should reach the passengers within 90 seconds. But it was just 20 seconds during this exercise, which is commendable. Sources said the AAI officials should open the second gate, which is allegedly shut due to lack of manpower. A senior official said, The airport is equipped with good manpower since Maharashtra Security Force (MSF) has taken over the security. Juhu airport director MK Bimal said all the teams had performed well and they will implement steps to improve in case of any suggestions by DGCA. Every annual UN climate conference of parties (COP, or countries) ends on an identical note. There is an inching towards measures that may reduce the catastrophic consequences of runaway climate change; sometimes, it is one step forward and two steps back. That was what transpired in Bonn last week, where procedural decisions taken at the major conclave in Paris in 2015 were renegotiated. Contentious issues included the steps that industrial countries needed to take before 2020, as they were required to do under a UN protocol and how countries would be monitored for their voluntary reductions in carbon dioxide emissions. There was rhetoric regarding keeping the average global temperatures from rising by 2 degrees, if not 1.5 degrees. However, even if all the present commitments are observed, it will not prevent the world from crossing that threshold and experience terrible changes hot and cold spells, storms, droughts and floods, all of which are already making their presence felt in country after country. The UN negotiations may appear like countries rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, but they still remain the best chance the world has to save itself. There are two threats to the future of the planet: The first is a nuclear holocaust which, despite a trigger-happy US president, remains in the realm of the possible. The second is irreversible climate change, which for the first time in human history affects all countries, rich and poor. This is the Anthropocene, the age when humans risk extinction by their impact on the earths environment. Unless the world acts decisively to cut carbon emissions to halt warming, there is no escape from this unthinkable. There are two issues that underpin the negotiations. The first, as in all multilateral agreements, is to follow the money. At what was predicted to be a decisive UN meet in Copenhagen in 2009 but turned out to be a whimper, industrial countries pledged to provide the Green Climate Fund (GCF) $100 billion a year for developing countries to cope with climate change. By May this year, only $10.3 billion had been pledged, with only three years left. The European Union, Japan, United Kingdom, France and Germany have promised over $1 billion each. Former US President Barack Obama had pledged $3 billion, but the US has committed only a third so far and his successor has cancelled further payments. Donald Trump has scoffed at providing billions and billions and billions to poor countries as another scheme to redistribute wealth out of the US through the so-called Green Climate Fund. But on a per capita basis, the US ranks 11th among the 45 contributing countries, and as a proportion of GDP, it figures ranks 32nd. What is more, it is less than the $4.7 billion a year of federal government subsidies to fossil fuel production. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, comprising 35 richest countries) put the cat among the pigeons last year by claiming that the financial flows as aid to developing countries had already reached $66.8 billion a year. This was sleight of hand to include private investments as well, whereas India and China, as Like-Minded Developing Countries in the UN parleys, have insisted that contributions to the fund should be new and additional infusions to ongoing development aid and not include flows through capital markets, in particular pension funds and other institutional investors that control trillions of dollars that pass through Wall Street and other financial centres. The second issue, closely linked to the first, is technology to help poor countries tackle global warming. India, among others, has complained the aid estimates have been massively inflated by items like private loans to buy green technology from developed nations which resemble ordinary commercial transactions rather than foreign assistance. Here lies an opportunity: China is already the world leader in renewables and India has made a bid for its place in the sun by spearheading the International Solar Alliance, which it formed with France in Paris two years ago. It can provide solar technologies to some 120 countries, which lie between the two tropics by undercutting western manufacturers. Prices of solar power have dipped to Rs 2.44 a unit in the country. While holding rich countries accountable for causing climate change, India has to put its own house in order, as the air pollution crisis in north India reminds us. For decades, it hasnt tacked indoor pollution caused by smoky chulhas, which expose women and children to respiratory illnesses and carcinogens right in their very homes. We have both the resources and technologies to set this crisis right; only the political will to do so remains. Darryl DMonte is chairman emeritus, Forum of Environmental Journalists in India The views expressed are personal Sadkein bhi hamari, galiyan bhi hamari, raat bhi hamari, aur raat ke chand sitare bhi hamare... Remember these lines penned by the organisers of Bekhauf Azadi March? The same march that had reclaimed the city streets on August 11 this year, demanding safety for women during night. Remember the claims stating, Members of this group will create a comprehensive action plan to make the city safer for women, present it to the authorities concerned, execute it on the ground and keep the public informed? The recent gangrape of a 21-year-old woman has, however, failed to evoke any action from this group. We are not silent Meanwhile, one of the march organisers, Amy Singh, said, We are not silent over the issue. It is our way of protest. We did not start the movement to take out rallies after every rape incident and we did not say that we will end the rape cases. She added, We are working on a module of workshops for the marginalised which may take months to build up and years to implement. The Bekhauf Azadi March was a beginning point. PU bodies mum too Similarly, the student bodies of Panjab University (PU) including the National Students Union of India (NSUI), Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and Students for Society, despite having organised several open-house sessions regarding women freedom, have now gone silent. In the poll-bound varsity, these were the student bodies that took up the issues of national importance including Varnika Kundu case, Gorakhpur children issue, rape incident on Independence Day, Dera case, or Gauri Lankeshs killing. ABVP state president Harmajot Singh Gill said, We had planned a protest but an unfortunate death of one of our ABVP members held us back. SFS spokesperson Harmandeep, said, I admit that this was our drawback that we did not raise this issue but we had been busy in working on our agenda. NSUI senior president Siya Minocha, said, In those cases the investigation was unfair or there was room for bias. We are waiting for probe in this case. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Akal Takht jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh on Wednesday condemned the move of renaming Delhis Dyal Singh College as Vande Mataram Mahavidyalaya. He said the move is a disrespect to the sacrifices made by Sikh warriors and leaders who sacrificed their lives for the countrys freedom. If Pakistan can retain the original names of the institutes named after Sikh leaders, why are we disrespecting our heroes? Sikhs have sacrificed their lives for the welfare of the countrymen and thus they cant be disrespected this way. Changing the name of the college itself is a bid to destroy the historic importance of the institution, the jathedar said. He said in case the college management wants to build a new institute or university, they should build it on a new piece of land rather than changing the name of the existing institute. He warned the college management and the government of retaining the original name to avoid any law and problem and to maintain unity in the country. Anti-social elements are already looking for a chance to destroy the unity among the countrymen and such decisions may result in disasters. I appeal the government not to change the colleges name, he said. Guidelines issued by Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) regarding the sale of books will prevail, said UT education secretary BL Sharma on Tuesday. We have only agreed to sell books to parents who wish to buy them from the school, he added. On November 16, the UT education department asked private schools in the city to get consent from parents whether they wished to buy books from the school and would only provide for them. In April, CBSE issued circulars to private schools to not coerce parents into buying non-NCERT or books prescribed by CBSE after a number of parents complained about schools forcing them to buy books from them. However, in August, CBSE amended the circular and stated that schools could open tuck shops to sell stationery and other material. Sharma said, Schools gave us a representation, but we are yet to decide on that. Anyhow, they will have to comply with CBSE norms. PRIVATE PLAYERS RULE THE ROOST Several schools in Chandigarh do not recommend NCERT books. They have their own set of books published by private companies, thus burning a hole in parents pockets. However, HS Mamik, president of Indian Schools Association (ISA), blamed it on NCERT. Books published by NCERT have several mistakes that we have pointed out in the past. We even wrote to CBSE, but there has been no action on the matter, said Mamik.He added that NCERT books were used for Classes 9 to 12. But for junior classes, we have our own set of books and will continue with them. NCERT BOOKS FAR CHEAPER Books published by NCERT are far cheaper that those recommended by schools. For Classes 1 to 5, each NCERT book costs around Rs 30. Higher up, some books for Class 6 also cost Rs 15. For example, the NCERT mathematics textbook for Class 1 costs Rs 30 while Grow with Numbers (5-7 years) published by Amity for Vivek High School for 2017-18 costs Rs 360 on online shopping portals such as Amazon. Some books prescribed by schools are not even available online. The toll in the plastic factory blaze mounted to 13 on Tuesday as six more bodies were pulled out of the rubble. Here are some heartbreaking stories about the men: Father dies, son survives The father-son duo had just set off for duty from home in Shimlapuri on Monday when they were informed of the fire at Gola Plastic Factory. Sub-fire officer Raj Kumar, in his 50s, and his fireman son Ajit were quick to react and were on the job when the building came crashing down. Ajit was fortunate to have survived since he had come out of the building at that moment while his father was still inside. On Tuesday, as he was still engaged in rescue work hoping to find his father alive, the latters body was pulled out of the rubble. This came just minutes after Manjit Kaur, Ajits mother, was consoled by chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh with these words: Miracles do happen. No, that did not happen. He came for firefighting despite being on leave Fireman Rajan Bhatia was on leave on Monday. He had taken leave to get his three-year old son admitted in a private school. However, the call of duty and devotion towards the profession made him rush to the spot to help his colleagues douse the fire. As the news of his death came at mid night, his wife Rekha fainted. We were talking about our sons admission when he rushed to the site, never to return, Rekha said on Tuesday, while consoling her two daughters and a son. Rajan was the sole bread-earner in the family. Kin just get fire officers head for cremation The sorrow and shock experienced by the family of sub-fire officer Rajinder Sharma cannot be imagined as they got only his head for cremation as the remaining parts of his body were mutilated under the weight of a beam. Sharma, who is among the most devoted officers in the department, is survived by wife and two sons. His elder son, who is settled in Oman, was on his way back home after being told about the tragedy. His younger son is an engineer. Hailing from Amritsar, Rajinders wife was not told about the incident till Tuesday evening. Fireman Ajit and other family members cry after the body of his father Raj Kumar, who was also a firefighter, was found in the factory buildings rubble in Ludhiana on Tuesday. (Gurpreet Singh/HT) He got transferred to Ludhiana 3 months ago Sub-fire officer Sumohan Gill, 54, who was among the 13 people killed in Mondays tragedy, was transferred to Ludhiana from Amritsar only three months ago. He is survived by his wife and two sons. His body was recovered on Monday. Young firefighter leaves two minors orphaned Vishal Kumar, 32, a firefighter with the MC who lost his life in the tragedy, has left behind his two minor sons six-year-old Ansh and three-year-old Moksh orphaned as his wife had died last year. He was scheduled to get married again next week. Moksh, who does not know what death is, was confused to see his brother and other family members crying. All he knew was that his father was going to get married for the second time soon. Vikas Kumar, younger brother of Vishal, said that they were preparing for the wedding and now everything has ended. Vikas, who is married, said that now it is his responsibility to bring up his brothers two children. I will treat them as my own kids, but I hope we get some assistance from the government, he said. Kin still waiting for bodies to be recovered The families of Sukhdev and Manpreet, both firemen, are among those who are still waiting for the bodies of the deceased. Sukhdev has three minor daughters, the youngest only a month-old. Manpreet, 24, is unmarried. His old and frail parents were at the spot since morning, waiting for their lads body to be recovered. Others who laid down their lives in the line of duty were Puran Singh, 55, leading fireman; Manohar Lal, leading fireman; and Rajan Singh, 32, fireman; and Lachhman Dravid, in his 50s, chief sanitary inspector posted at Pathankot; Inderpal Singh, a taxi operator, factory workers Sandeep and Baldev Raj. Two other deceased were just identified as Amarjot and Ghanaiya, while another was still unidentified. With the arrest of five members of the Lawrence Bishnoi and Sampath Nehra gang, the Mohali police claim to have cracked three major cases of murder and attempt to murder in the district. The accused were held following a shootout in a residential neighbourhood at Dwarka in the national capital in a joint operation of the Punjab and Delhi police on Tuesday. Those arrested have been identified as Deepak, Sumit and Krishan of Haryana, Naresh of Punjab and Tiku of Delhi. The gang members were also involved in helping an undertrial flee from the General Hospital, Sector 6, Panchkula, on June 17. Sources said the arrests are a major blow to the Lawrence-Sampath gang, which has been increasing its influence in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. The gang members are involved in a number of cases of murder, carjacking, extortion and firing. Mohali deputy superintendent of police (DSP, detective) Kanwalpreet Singh, who led the police party from here, said: Naresh is involved in firing incidents in Morni, Muktsar and many parts of Haryana and Rajasthan. Sources said Deepak has over 18 cases, including eight of murder, registered against him. One of these is the murder of a rival gangster in Kotkapura, Punjab, in July this year, after which he managed to escape arrest in an exchange of fire. The gang members were also involved in helping an undertrial flee from the General Hospital, Sector 6, Panchkula, on June 17. Deepak Kumar, who is accused of robbery, was taken to the hospital from Ambala jail. Even shots were fired during the escape. The Mohali police claimed that the gangsters were also involved in the murder of Banur councillor Preeti Walias husband Daljit Singh Walia. The local businessman was killed while he was out for evening walk on September 6. After the crime, the gangsters allegedly took away a car forcibly in Dera Bassi. On December 30 last year, the gang members were also involved in a brawl outside a hotel in Zirakpur, during which they opened fire, said police. A case of attempt to murder was registered. With the arrest of these criminals, we will be able to solve many more cases, and are hopeful of getting crucial leads to arrest other wanted gangsters across the state, said Kharar criminal investigating agency (CIA) in-charge Kharar Tarlochan Singh. The recently-held Nandi Awards, the Andhra Pradesh state awards, which were announced after three years, has been hit by controversy since day one. The awards have been criticised by many for the jurys decisions and accused of nepotism. In the wake of such reports, the Information Technology minister of the state Nara Lokesh took a dig at Tollywood film fraternity, calling them Non-Resident Andhras. Commenting on the ruckus, he had said that only non-resident Telugus were criticising the government. Those who are sitting in Hyderabad are criticising the state government. Some leaders, who come by flight in morning hold a protest and go back to their places by evening. They have no stakes in state, reported Times of India. Now, reacting sharply to the comment, actor Posani Krishna Murali said on Tuesday that he would reject Nandi Awards. Posani, who won the best supporting actor category for his film with Jr NTR, Temper, lashed out at the state government, particularly Lokesh. How can someone be branded as non-resident Andhra for criticising the manner in which selection for Nandi awards is made? TDP president and AP chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu too had criticised the previous governments. But he was never called a non-resident. How are non-residents selected as jury members? he was quoted by The News Minute as saying. Dont Andhra people have properties and interests in Telangana? KCR never criticised the Andhra people, he always found fault with Andhra leaders. If the Telangana people had a similar mindset like Lokesh, it would be difficult to survive in that state, Posani was quoted by Times of India as saying. Many people feel that there is a lot of injustice in the selection process. I request CM Chandrababu Naidu cancel all the awards and redo the process through IVRC method. Even if I dont get any award, I dont mind. If he doesnt cancel these awards, I wont touch the Nandi Award again in my entire life. If the government corrects its mistakes, I would be happy about it, The News Minute report added. Criticism against the selection process came from all quarters. While Telugu director Gunasekhar, director of Rudhramadevi, wrote an open letter addressed to the chief minister, Race Gurram producer Nallamalupu Bujji too cried foul, alleging there way nepotism in the selection process. Thats how much lobbying they did. We didnt. All the awards Ive won so far are genuine, he was quoted by The News Minute as saying. Ram Gopal Varma too jumped in commenting: Thats how much lobbying they did. We didnt. All the awards Ive won so far are genuine. Follow @htshowbiz for more ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop Popular Assamese film and theatre actor Biju Phukan died this evening in a private hospital here following cardiac ailments, his family said. He was 69. The hero of Assamese film industry was admitted to the ICU of the hospital with breathing difficulty around 4.30 pm and passed away at around 6.45 pm, sources said. The actor who was ailing for sometime and had undergone treatment in hospital recently, the sources added. He was born in 1948 in Dibrugarh, where he studied in Kanoi College before shifting to Guwahati to start his film career. Phukan appeared in more than 80 Assamese feature films before his death and he also acted in a number of plays. His first movie was Dr Bezbarua in 1970 and his first role as a leading actor was in Baruar Songsar followed by Aranya in 1971 which established him as a hero in 1971. Aranya, which was directed by Samarendra Narayan Dev was adjudged the best regional film at the National Film Awards. Deeply Saddened to hear that Bijuda ( Phukan), one of Assam's most Loved Actors has passed away today in Guwahati. I loved his Naturalistic Acting Style. Very Charming Personality. Assam will miss him dearly. Love you Bijuda. Rest in peace and Charm every one up there. Adil hussain (@_AdilHussain) November 22, 2017 He acted in popular movies Ajoli Nobou, Buwari, Bristi and Ghar Sangsar. The song Mon Hira Doi from the film Bowari of 2015 which showed him singing the it topped the music charts. Nip Baruah-directed Anthony Mor Naam in 1986 made the actor a cult figure in Assamese cinema. Biju Phukan had also acted in four Bengali movies - Hotel Showfox, Aparajita, Doishyu Ratnakar and Gajamukta and was a former jury member of Indian Panorama. His last released film was Dur, which hit the screens in 2016. Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal shared condolences. The actor would be cremated at Nabagraha crematorium tomorrow with state honours, his media advisor Hrishikesh Goswami told reporters. Governor Jagdish Mukhi said, I am deeply saddened by his death who hugely contributed to popularise Assamese cinema. With his death a void will be created which will be hard to fill. I extend my condolences to the bereaved family and his fans. Follow @htshowbiz for more ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop The World Chinese Science Fiction Nebula Award (2017) was won by Han Song's novel Exorcism (Qu Mo) on Sunday in Beijing. Han Song's Exorcism wins the gold award for best creativity of sci-fi movie. [Photo provided to China Daily] The award was launched in 2010 by the World Chinese Science Fiction Association. And Liu Cixin's Death's End won the gold in 2011. This year's top winner Han had won silver awards for his novels Subway and High-Speed Train in 2011 and 2013. His latest work also won the gold award for creativity in a sci-fi movie. The work, Exorcism, the second part of Han's "Hospital Trilogy", is a story of a disaster that is sparked by artificial intelligence. In the book, the protagonist Yang Wei wakes up in a hospital on a ship floating in a red sea, and finds that he has lost his memory and everything aboard is controlled by algorithms. In the work, AI had taken over the hospital and tries to create a utopian world, where all humans live a long life. However, the wards are in a mess, and patients died one after another. To recover his lost memory, Yang works with other patients to explore the ship. After visiting high-tech medical treatment center, they gradually discover the secrets of the hospital ship. Yang then realizes that AI might have gone out of control, and is killing patients as the best way of treating them. Meanwhile, doctors who have been driven out of wards by the algorithm establish a shadow hospital to confront the machines. Later, Yang finds that the treatment he has received, which was supposed to remove his pain (exorcism), was actually used to plant "viruses" in his body. The award's jury's comment on the novel says: AI treats every person as a patient. How far is the distance between the future and the present? Han Song's writing creates a space that is much closer to the present one, compared with realistic writing. His linguistic labyrinth offers readers an indistinct experience of the future. Behind the enchanting vision is the unknowable truth. A Que's Goodbye Doraemon, which was inspired by Japanese animation Doraemon: Stand by Me, won the gold award for the best sci-fi novella. He Xi's short story Floating Life won the gold award for best sci-fi short story. The story is about the existence of individuals after the death of earth, when civilization exists in the form of pure energy. Best Chinese Science Fiction in the Last One Hundred Years won the gold award for best nonfiction. Cine stars from the four south Indian industries of the 1980s got together for a brief interlude this weekend and let their hair down. Called the Class of 80s, this has become something of a reunion of actors and actresses who reigned supreme in the 1980s. The event, which took place at a luxury resort in Mahabalipuram, saw a bevy of actors descend -- Chiranjeevi, Ventakesh, Radhika Sarath Kumar, Suhasini, Lizzy, Revathi, Khushboo, Ramya Krishnan, Shobana, Ambika, Sumalatha, Jayasudha, Ambika, Parvathy, Jayaram, Nadiya Moythu, Poornima, Bhagyaraj, Rahman and Radha among others -- where all seen having a gala time. Whats more Bollywood stars, Poonam Dhillon and Jackie Shroff, too joined the fun. What would life be without friends?? Our world..our happiness..our togetherness.. 80's reunion..annual ritual..already missing all of them pic.twitter.com/My5PWGvviv khushbusundar (@khushsundar) November 21, 2017 The two-day affair was hosted by actresses Suhasini Mani Ratnam and Lizzy (former wife of director Priyadarshan). All in all, the evnt saw 28 celebrities in attendance, reports The News Minute. And the best part was that it had a theme -- colour purple. Speaking about the reunion, Suhasini told Times of India, Usually, we plan much in advance, but this time, we were all caught up with work and it was a last-minute rushed thing, with no time for rehearsals. Malayalam actor Rajkumar helped out in organizing the theme this year. We connected over video calls and emails, and ensured that we didnt miss out on our two-day friendship fest. In June this year, some of the members of the club had gone to China. When asked if this two-day affair will become a permanent fixture, Suhasini said, It is nice that we got to chill for more than three hours. Jackie Shroff wants us to have the next reunion in Goa, while Naresh mooted Hyderabad. We have no idea what the next years plan will be. But we went on a vacation together in May. This year, 14 of us went to China. We will plan a trip to Europe next May. Red Class : 6th edition of the 80s stars reunion was celebrated last night celebrated at olive beach in Chennai pic.twitter.com/rg0qzmuquB TT Talkies (@TTMovieNews) August 30, 2015 Sumalatha Ambareesh, who was the sole representative from the Kannada film industry, was quoted by Times of India, saying, It was a fun gathering. We got to chill for two days. I love singing retro songs and Bhanuchander and I perform every year. We sang Bhool Gaya Sab Kuch from Julie. Since Mohanlal could not make it, his magic show was missed. There is also an energetic dance performance every year from Lizzy, Khushbu, Suhasini and team, which we look forward to. Revathys performance to Ajeeb Dastan Hai Yeh was also memorable. The reunion, which was begun by Suhasini and Lizzy in 2009, has since been hosted by many actors. Rajinikanth, Chiranjeevi, Mohanal, Ambareesh, Lizzy, Khusbhu and Suhasini have hosted previous editions, adds The News Minute. Follow @htshowbiz for more ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop Nine months after a Malayalam actress was abducted and assaulted in Kochi, the Special Investigation Team is ready to file a charge-sheet after a thorough probe. Fourteen individuals have been accused, out of which Dileep is the eighth accused. The charge-sheet also mentions 385 witnesses with 12 confidential statements. Out of the 385 witnesses, close to 50 witnesses are from the film industry. Dileeps ex-wife Manju Warrier has also been named a key witness in the case. At a meeting held to support the victim, it was Manju Warrier, who had initially pointed out that there was a conspiracy behind the incident. According to a report in Manorama Online, the first seven accused are Pulsar Suni, Vijeesh, Manikandan, Vadival Saleem, Martin, Pradeep and Charlie. They are charged with conspiracy and gang-rape charges. Dileep, Meshtiri Suni, lawyers Pratheesh Chacko and Raju Joseph, and Sunis jailmate Vishnu are charged with conspiracy. There will also be two approvers -- Anish, the cop who lent his phone to Pulsar Suni to make a call, and Vipinlal, who wrote a letter to Dileep. The report also said that a senior official from the SIT said that this was the most meticulous and conclusive charge-sheet prepared by the Kerala Policeand also said that they might suggest that the state government form a special court to handle this case. The incident occurred on February 17 and Dileep was arrested on July 10. He spent 80 days in prison before his bail was accepted. On October 3, he was granted bail on terms that he would adhere to the stipulations and not tamper with evidence. The Kerala HC also let Dileep travel to Dubai for business purposes on Tuesday. Follow @htshowbiz for more ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop Tamil Nadu BJP President Tamilisai Soundararajan on Wednesday expressed grief at the suicide of movie co-producer Ashok Kumar owing to usury pressure. In her tweet, Soundararajan said it is saddening to note the suicide of Kumar due to usury pressure. She said steps should be taken to find a solution to the problems afflicting the movie industry. On Tuesday, Kumar -- nephew of actor-director Sasikumar -- committed suicide, leaving a note blaming the pressure brought on him by a loan shark who finances movie production. According to police, Kumar had mentioned the name of Anbu Chezhian as the financier from whom he had borrowed money and had been paying interest on the loan for the past seven years. Kumar, in his note, had alleged that the financier had threatened his family members. Tamil Film Producers Council President and actor Vishal in a statement urged the movie producers to stay united, work towards mutual welfare and put an end to financiers who harass film producers. Actor Jayam Ravi tweeted: Another precious life succumbed to pressure. We must live to fight our battles. Condolences to Sasikumar sir and his family. RIP Ashok Kumar. Actor Ashok Selvan wrote: Disturbed by the death of producer Ashok Kumar. Justice should be served. My heart goes to director Sasikumar and family. Follow @htshowbiz for more ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop An Iran-based hacker plotted to extort HBO out of $6 million by threatening to release stolen episodes and scripts of hit shows, such as Game of Thrones, at one point taunting the network with a twist on a catch phrase form that series: Winter is coming. HBO is falling. An indictment filed Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan accuses Behzad Mesri of hacking into the cable networks computer system in New York. It says he stole unaired episodes from shows including Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Deuce, story plot summaries and scripts for Game of Thrones and confidential cast and crew contact lists. Iranian national Behzad Mesri, also known as Skote Vahshat, charged by US prosecutors with hacking into cable TV network HBO and stealing episodes and plot summaries for unaired programs including Game of Thrones then threatening to release the data unless he was paid $6 million, is shown in this undated photo provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in New York. (REUTERS) Mesri, 29, a fugitive living in Iran who used the alias Skote Vahshat, earlier this year infiltrated computer accounts of HBO employees authorized to remotely access the networks servers, the indictment says. In July, he emailed HBO executives in New York providing evidence of the hack and demanding $5.5 million in digital currency, a figure later raised to $6 million, it says. Included was an image of Game of Thrones Night King character, leader of an army of zombies, with the words, Good luck HBO. After HBO apparently refused to pay, Mesri began leaking portions of the stolen material on websites he controlled, the indictment says. One of the leaks was an unaired episode of a new HBO comedy called Barry on which he superimposed an opening credit showing the Night King and the HBO is falling threat, according to the indictment. US authorities described Mesri as a computer whiz who sometimes works with a hacker group in Iran called Turk Black Hat Security. He also has teamed with the Iranian military to conduct cyberattacks targeting military and nuclear software systems and Israeli infrastructure, they said. However, there is nothing in the indictment suggesting Mesri targeted HBO on behalf of Irans government or with its financial or other support, said Collin Anderson, a US-based internet researcher who specializes in Iran. Its also not clear how he came to do hacking work for the Irans military, which could have been as part of compulsory military service, Anderson said. Although Mesri is not in custody, prosecutors decided to publicly charge him and put him on the FBIs most-wanted list to send a message to outlaw hackers that US law enforcement has the means to identify, track and get them arrested if they travel to countries where the United States has better relations, acting US Attorney Joon Kim said. Today, winter has come for Behzad Mesri, Kim said. He will forever be looking over his shoulder. And if he isnt, he should be. In a statement Tuesday, HBO said it is working with law enforcement but declined further comment. Follow @htshowbiz for more Actor Romit Raj, who was in a steady relationship with actor Shilpa Shinde eight years ago, doesnt want to talk about her even after she discussed him on reality show Bigg Boss 11. Its been eight years and I have never spoken about Shilpa. Whatever happened between us happened for the best, says Romit. He adds, The minute my name was taken on the show, I was informed by my fans on Twitter. I dont want to comment on it as the contestants have been warned by Salman (Khan) sir not to get personal. And hence I expect my name will not be mentioned again. I am not watching the reality show this year. Romit, who is now happily married to Tina Kakkar for seven years, does not wish to disrespect Shilpa in a public space. Today after eight years also, whenever I read anything online or anywhere, I dont react. I just want to say I will never talk about Shilpa in the media as I dont want to disrespect her just to prove myself right, he says. Meanwhile, the actor, whose last show was Chalti Ka naam Gaadi, is on the lookout for interesting work. I am looking forward to working with Ekta Kapoor, Shashi-Sumit , JD (Jamnadas Majethia), Dheeraj Kumar and all other leading producers, he says. The actor has also worked on the way he looks to change his image in the industry. I am sporting a beard and moustache look now because I wanted to change my chocolate boy image to a more mature look like that of Ranveer Singh and Virat Kohli. I feel I look so good and different with a beard and I wanted to try it out. I want to play a negative role on TV and films and this looks fits best, he says. Follow @htshowbiz for more SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON American Airlines and United Airlines have agreed to a $95.1 million settlement with the developer of the World Trade Center over the September 11, 2001 attacks, ending 13 years of litigation. Insurers will cover the payout to World Trade Center Properties, owned by developer Larry Silverstein, according to court papers filed Tuesday. Six weeks before the attacks Silverstein signed a 99 year lease for the site, which is owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. After the suicide airliner attacks that felled the Twin Towers, Silverstein received from his own insurers $4.55 billion in settlements after years of negotiations. But he also fought to receive damages from American and United, whose hijacked planes were used in the attacks. He initially sought $12.3 billion from the airlines and airport security companies. Now the two sides have reached a settlement that must still be approved by US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein. The September 11 attacks on the Twin Towers by hijackers loyal to Al-Qaeda killed more than 2,750 people. Another hijacked plane hit the Pentagon in Washington, while a fourth crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. Altogether around 3,000 people died in the attacks. A UN tribunal on Wednesday convicted former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic of genocide and crimes against humanity for orchestrating massacres and ethnic cleansing during Bosnias war and sentenced him to life in prison. Mladic, 74, was hustled out of the court minutes before the verdict for screaming this is all lies, you are all liars after returning from what his son described as a blood pressure test which delayed the reading-out of the judgment. The UN Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia found Mladic guilty of 10 of 11 charges, including the slaughter of 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica and the siege of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, in which more than 11,000 civilians were killed by shelling and sniper fire over 43 months. The killings in Srebrenica of men and boys after they were separated from women and taken away in buses or marched off to be shot amounted to Europes worst atrocity since World War Two. Ex-Bosnian Serb wartime general Ratko Mladic appears in court at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the Hague, Netherlands November 22, 2017. (REUTERS) The crimes committed rank among the most heinous known to humankind, and include genocide and extermination as a crime against humanity, Presiding Judge Alphons Orie said in reading out a summary of the judgment. Many of these men and boys were cursed, insulted, threatened, forced to sing Serb songs and beaten while awaiting their executuion, he said. Mladic had pleaded not guilty to all charges and is expected to appeal against his conviction. Mothers of victims pose with photos during the trial of former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic before a court at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the Hague, Netherlands, November 22, 2017. (REUTERS) In its summary, the tribunal found Mladic significantly contributed to genocide committed in Srebrenica with the goal of destroying its Muslim population, personally directed the long bombardment of Sarajevo and was part of a joint criminal enterprise intending to purge Muslims and Croats from Bosnia. In Geneva, UN human rights chief Zeid Raad al-Hussein called Mladic the epitome of evil and said his conviction after 16 years on the run and over four years of trial was a momentous victory for justice. A woman reacts near a grave of her family members in the Memorial centre Potocari near Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, after the court proceedings of former Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic, November 22, 2017. (REUTERS) The prosecution of Mladic is the epitome of what international justice is all about, Zeid said in a statement. Todays verdict is a warning to the perpetrators of such crimes that they will not escape justice, no matter how powerful they may be nor how long it may take. After flying over 11,000 kilometers, Hainan Airlines Flight 497 which took off from Beijing landed at Chicago O'Hare International Airport at 12:05 pm local time on Tuesday. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner of Hainan Airlines flew with biological aviation fuel that is produced from waste cooking oil, signaling the first Sino-U.S. green route demonstration to use aviation biofuel. The use of biofuel can reduce carbon emissions while ensuring flight safety and efficiency, according to Hainan Airlines. Sun Jianfeng, President of Hainan Airlines Co., 787 Captain told Xinhua that today's flight by biofuel is as safe as ordinary aircraft with aviation oil, " after flying to a maximum height of 41,000 inches, we still found the engine runs well and aircraft performance is good and stable." Sun said Hainan Airlines has always viewed environmental protection and harmonious environment development as top priority, and it proved that Hainan Airlines has the capability to carry out cross-ocean flight using biofuel. "In the future, we will realize green flight by using more new mode aircraft and applied new computer programs to optimize flight," Sun said. Darrin Morgan, director of Sustainable Fuels Strategy at Boeing told Xinhua that today's flight by Hainan Airlines is a significant milestone, and more important, the sustainable fuel is produced by Chinese national company -Sinopec. "Boeing has been collaborating with Sinopec and many other Chinese stake holders over the years quite well in helping to create new sustainable aviation fuel supply chain and setting up new technologies to support the industry. We are looking forward to more collaboration with China in the future." said Morgan Hainan Airlines made the country's first domestic biofuel-powered passenger flight in 2015. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus long-awaited visit to India is likely to finally occur in the first quarter of 2018. However, while the Canadian government has communicated available windows for the bilateral summit, New Delhi is yet to confirm the dates. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi having a packed schedule in January in terms of hosting heads of state and government, Trudeau is only expected to arrive in New Delhi in mid-to-late February at the earliest. Trudeaus visit was expected to occur much earlier, but has been delayed several times. If the schedule that is now being discussed with the Indian government is confirmed, it may help ease some of the tension that has developed in the engagement between the two sides since a motion was passed in the Ontario legislature earlier this year terming the 1984 anti-Sikh riots as genocide. New Delhi has been miffed with the Trudeau-led Liberal Party government for not preventing such an outcome, especially since the Ontario motion was moved by a Liberal member of the provincial parliament. Ottawa, meanwhile, has repeatedly stressed that the federal Liberal Party, led by Trudeau, is different from that in the province, but India hasnt taken too kindly to that argument. A resurgence in pro-Khalistani activism in Canada since the Trudeau government assumed power in late 2015 has also been difficult to reconcile. A visit by Trudeau, though, could put the good vibes back into the relationship, one that was evident prior to the Ontario motion. The recent trip by three cabinet ministers to India, described as a historic trade mission by Global Affairs Canada, also served to set the stage for rejuvenating bilateral ties. But the proposed visit will also mean that Trudeau will have to deliver on the flash, since headline deliverables may be scant. Though Canadas international trade minister Francois-Philippe Champagne told the Hindustan Times earlier this month that a Foreign Investment Protection and Promotion Agreement (FIPPA) is nearing completion, sources said India is unwilling to sign on to that in the absence of finalisation of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). Trudeau will be travelling to China in December and there is concern that if the spring visit next year does not materialise, then the chances of the two prime ministers meeting soon may grow increasingly faint since both governments will face parliamentary elections in 2019 and will have entered lame duck territory by autumn 2018. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON China has launched a website where citizens can report any leaks of military information or news reports that insult the armed forces or target the Communist Party (CPC) leadership. The central military commission, which commands and controls the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA), announced the launch of the website over the weekend, urging citizens to provide information either anonymously or by using their real names. Illicit behaviour includes falsifying a military unit or membership, publishing information that is harmful or insulting to the military, attacking the CPC leadership over the PLA, and using online accounts without approval or revealing a soldiers personal identity, the PLA Daily reported. The reporting website is in tune with the clean cyberspace objectives underlined at last months 19th CPC congress. The purpose of the new platform is also to convey the spirit of the 19th National Congress of the CPC, create a better network management system, and maintain a clean cyberspace that is relevant to the military, the report said. The new platform classified the tip-offs in separate categories websites, new media, information that is harmful to the army, and irregular online behaviour of military members, the report said. Citizens have been urged to focus on news reports that share illicit information. Military information is most often leaked through news reports on research and meetings because of improper screening, Li Daguang, a professor at the PLAs National Defence University, told the state media. China has earlier arrested journalists for leaking state secrets. The CMC also wants citizens to look out for civilians who pose as military officers. One Sina Weibo user named junhuo hanmeimei was investigated by authorities in December 2016, when she posted photos of herself in a military uniform, claiming that she was an officer, reported 81.cn, another PLA website. The reports didnt mention whether those who report will be rewarded. Earlier this year, the Beijing City National Security Bureau offered citizens to up to $73000 for spotting foreign spies in the capital. The Zimbabwean parliament did not have time to vote for Robert Mugabes dismissal -- because the president had already resigned. But this extraordinary session served as an outlet for elected officials, who took the opportunity to denounce the excesses of his authoritarian regime. On this historic Tuesday afternoon, the chamber was not big enough to accommodate all the lawmakers and senators who rushed to initiate impeachment against the former independence hero turned pariah. After a brief interruption, everybody moved to the Harare International Conference Centre, which was large enough to accommodate all of the officials. At around 4:45 pm (1445 GMT) Senator Monica Mutsvangwa from the Zanu-PF party, got the procedure under way. I move the motion (of impeachment) in my name, she said. Mugabe showed serious misconduct, a failure to obey, uphold or defend the constitution, a willful violation of constitution and an inability to perform his duties, she said. Sitting at tables draped with white tablecloths in the immense conference centre, the elected officials listened attentively. The president abrogated his constitutional mandate to his wife (Grace Mugabe)... The president totally ignored corruption. Mugabe allowed his wife to abuse state resources, Mutsvangwa said. The senator said Mugabe allowed his wife to insult and humiliate vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa and accused him of failing to uphold the constitution by allowing Grace to threaten to kill Mnangagwa. The First Lady conducted a violent smear campaign against her opponent in the race for President Mugabes succession. On November 5, on the eve of the eviction of the vice president, she accused him of plotting conspiracies. Mnangagwas supporters even suspect that she wanted to poison their candidate -- with ice cream produced in a dairy she owns. Timeline of key events during the rule of Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, and the final days of his formal leadership. (AFP) Mutsvangwa said Mugabe allowed his wife to cause disaffection among the defence forces by making reckless statements. She said Mugabe must be impeached because of old age he is unable to represent the state with that decorum and dignity and needed his wife to stop him stumbling. We have seen our president sleeping in cabinet and in international meetings... We have seen our president even reading the wrong speech in parliament, Mutsvangwa said. We have no words to justify the so-called First Lady who goes to south Africa (and) beat up a girl, she said. In August 2017, Grace Mugabe was accused of beating a model at a South African hotel with an extension cord. The South African government granted her diplomatic immunity from prosecution. Jessie Majome, a Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) lawmaker, said: The president of Zimbabwe is guilty of serious misconduct. Everything looks like it has been ravaged by a storm but it is the way we have been governed. For the sake of Zimbabwe to move forward his excellency president Robert Mugabe must be impeached. Priscilla Misihairambwi Mushonga, also an MDC lawmaker, said supported the motion, saying: This is the man who presided over the murder of people during the land reforms in 2000. James Maridadi, an MDC lawmaker, said: Robert Mugabe had become a source of insecurity in this country. President Mugabe presided over a crumbling economy. All he was interested in was his personal power, Maridadi said. President Mugabe reduced all of us to vagabonds. Saad al-Hariri attended independence day celebrations in Beirut on Wednesday after returning to Lebanon for the first time since resigning as prime minister in a broadcast from Saudi Arabia. His resignation, made in an uncomfortable televised statement from Riyadh, set off an international political crisis involving Paris and Washington, who were left without one of their chief partners in a region swirling in conflict. Hariri left Saudi Arabia for Paris on Saturday by invitation of French President Emmanuel Macron, before traveling on to Beirut by way of Egypt and Cyprus on Tuesday. President Michel Aoun said he would not accept the resignation until Hariri delivered it in person. Hariri, looking solemn upon his arrival, was driven from the airport to pray at the grave of his father, the late Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. He then retired to his home in central Beirut. He was expected to join Aoun and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri at the armys independence day parade Wednesday. Hariri was leading a coalition government with his political opponents in the militant group Hezbollah when he stunned Lebanon by announcing his resignation on Nov. 4. He accused Hezbollah of holding Lebanon hostage and hinted there was a plot against his life. The announcement pushed Lebanon back to the forefront of a pounding regional rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which until recently appeared to have a tacit agreement to find an accord to keep Lebanon stable. It also set off speculation that Hariri had been forced to step down by the Gulf kingdom and was being held there against his will. His announcement was accompanied by a sharp intensification of Saudi rhetoric against Hezbollah, which the kingdom accuses of meddling on Irans behalf in regional affairs. Hezbollah has been fighting on the side of Syrian President Bashar Assad in that countrys brutal civil war, where many of Assads enemies are rebels backed by Saudi Arabia. The kingdom says Hezbollah is also advising Houthi rebels waging a war against Yemens Saudi-backed government. Hezbollah says Saudi Arabia has partnered with Israel to conspire against regional independence. Hariri, in his only in depth interview since announcing his resignation, told his media station Future TV that he could retract his resignation if a deal could be struck with his opponents to distance Lebanon from regional conflicts. Hariris trek back from Saudi Arabia came by way of Paris, Egypt, and Cyprus, where he met with the presidents of those countries. Egyptian President Abdel-Fatah el-Sissi and French leader Emmanuel Macron are reportedly trying to mediate a solution that would involve rolling back Hariris resignation. A dual Saudi-Lebanese national with vast business interests in the kingdom, Hariri told reporters after talks with the Egyptian leader: Inshallah (God willing), tomorrows Independence Day in Lebanon will be a feast for all Lebanese. The celebrations are traditionally attended by the president, the prime minister and the parliament speaker three pillars of Lebanons political system, with the president traditionally a Maronite Christian, the speaker a Shiite Muslim and the prime minister a Sunni Muslim. Hariri met with el-Sissi at the presidential palace in Cairos upscale Heliopolis district and a cryptic statement by the Lebanese leaders press office later said the two discussed the latest developments in Lebanon and the region. Separately, el-Sissi spoke on the telephone with Lebanese President Michel Aoun, according to an official Egyptian statement. The two leaders emphasized that preserving Lebanons national unity and the countrys national interests was a top priority, the statement said. Hariri arrived in France on Saturday at the invitation of Macron, who has been trying to calm tensions and avert another proxy conflict in the region, between Saudi-backed and Iranian-backed camps in Lebanon. After meeting with Macron, Hariri said he would return home in time for Wednesdays celebrations in Lebanon, where he said he would declare my political stance. As you know I have resigned and we will talk about this matter in Lebanon, Hariri said. Lebanons president, Aoun, has refused to accept Hariris resignation, accusing the Saudis of holding him against his will. Hariri denied this. Media reports and analysts say el-Sissi and Macron have been trying to persuade Hariri to negotiate with other Lebanese leaders on a way out of the crisis, thus preventing the countrys delicate political balance from unraveling and plunging it into a prolonged crisis that would fuel tension in the region. News of the joint Egypt-French effort was reported by Al-Akhbar, an authoritative Beirut newspaper that takes an anti-Saudi stand. It said in its Tuesday edition that French and Egyptian officials discussed Lebanons future in the Cypriot capital, Nicosia, on the sidelines of el-Sissis visit to the island nation. El-Sissi returned home from Cyprus on Tuesday afternoon. El-Sissi, a general who has been Egypts president since 2014, has forged close ties with the Saudis, who are his countrys main Arab financial backer. He has, however, managed to pursue regional policies different from those of Riyadh, particularly in Syria and Yemen, without damaging relations with the Saudis. Responding to Riyadhs escalation against Iran and Hezbollah, el-Sissi earlier this month said the region already was so fraught with tension and instability that it did not need a new crisis. But he also renewed his pledge to come to the rescue of Gulf Arab allies and benefactors if their security was directly threatened. In a U-turn, Australias advertising watchdog has ruled that a controversial advertisement featuring Lord Ganesha and other divinities promoting consumption of lamb meat violated the countrys advertising standard code. The advertisement was released in September by the Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA), triggering widespread protests from the Indian community in the country as well across the globe. Members of the Hindu community of Australia filed a complaint with the Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB) at that time claiming it had hurt their religious sentiments. The advertisement also prompted the Indian High Commission in Canberra to lodge a complaint with the Australian government asking for its removal. Initially the ASB found that the advertisement by the MLA was not in breach of code. Considering several points of submission, the board said after taking into account the Independent Reviewers finding that the board gave insufficient weight to the views of complainants in regards to the Elephant Comment, the board determined that the advertisement breached section 2.1 of the Code and upheld complaints. According to the latest decision, the board noted Lord Ganesha was a deity that signified perfection so to criticise his appearance would be likely to be seen as ridiculing the Hindu religion and by extension some followers of that faith. The majority of the board therefore considered that the Elephant comment amount to a depiction or portrayal of material which discriminated against a person on account of their Hindu religion, the ASB noted. It further noted that the reference made in the advertisement about elephant in the room was a tongue in cheek way of referring to an unpleasant or negative issue. It said that the board recognised that the advertiser was known for presenting laid back advertisements with edgy Australian humour. The advertisement is no longer being broadcast. However, the MLA maintains its advertisement does not discriminate against anyone. Reacting to the ASBs latest decision, Melbourne-based Hindu community member Karthik Arsu said, This is a Great Victory for the entire Hindu Community. The community got united and each and every one contributed to fight against a giant like Meat & Livestock Australia, we lost in the complaint process, but we stood together and persisted, So happy to receive this good news, still not sure how it will transpire in getting that derogatory advertisement removed from online platforms, but the whole community is feeling ecstatic!, he said. The decision reinforces the belief that no one can denigrate a community in Australia on the basis of religion, colour or the size of the community!, he added. According to Jay Shah of Overseas Friends of Bharatiya Janata Party (OFBJP), Australia the advertisement was very hurtful and I am happy that ASB accepted my review plea and gave a decision in support of Hindu community. Describing the decision as good, Hindu Council of Australia said at last a genuine complaint has been addressed though it is late resolution... It would likely to set a precedent for not to use religious icons inappropriately for any purpose. Earlier, the ASB had dismissed complaints that the advertisement breached any code saying that Lord Ganesha was depicted positively and that the intent was to be inclusive. A Pakistani review board on Wednesday set aside a request from authorities to extend the house arrest of Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed and ordered his immediate release. Saeed, accused of masterminding the terror attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people nearly nine years ago, had been placed under house arrest in January, largely because of pressure from the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force that tracks terror financing. The government of Punjab province had sought a three-month extension in Saeeds detention but the request was turned down by a judicial review board. Saeed, who now heads the Jamaat-ud-Dawah, is scheduled to be released on Thursday. The government is ordered to release JuD chief Hafiz Saeed if he is not wanted in any other case, the judicial review board said. During a hearing by the judicial review board on Tuesday, the Punjab government had said Pakistan might face sanctions from the international community if the JuD chief is released. The board comprises judges of the Lahore high court. Saeed, through his lawyer AK Dogar, had challenged his detention and contended that requirements laid by the Supreme Court had not been fulfilled. He had requested the court to order his release. Under Pakistani laws, the government can detain a person for up to three months under different charges but an extension in that detention requires approval from a judicial review board. On January 31, Saeed and four aides Abdullah Ubaid, Malik Zafar Iqbal, Abdul Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Hussain were detained by the Punjab government for 90 days under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997. Saeeds aides were freed in the last week of October after the Punjab government did not extend the notification for their detention under the Anti-Terrorism Act and withdrew an application pending before the federal review board. Saeed has lived freely in the city of Lahore and addressed rallies and gatherings across Pakistan despite the US offered a $10 million bounty for him in connection with the 2008 Mumbai attacks. The JuD has been described by the US and the UN as a front for the banned LeT, which was blamed for the Mumbai attacks. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who fled to Bangladesh from violence in Myanmar have been drained by the trauma they suffered during the crisis and a struggle to overcome desperate want, the United Nations refugee chief said on Wednesday. More than 600,000 Rohingya have fled Buddhist-majority Myanmar since late August this year for neighbouring Bangladesh, driven out by a military clearance operation in Rakhine State. The refugees suffering has caused an international outcry, spurring appeals by aid agencies for millions of dollars in funds to tackle the crisis. I found this was a population that had almost no response. Very passive, said Filippo Grandi, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, describing his visit late in September to camps where the refugees were staying. You almost felt there was nothing left and that everything had been drained by this, he told Reuters in an interview in his first visit to the South Korean capital. He saw the lassitude as a symptom of trauma, he added. We havent seen this kind of trauma for a very long, long time, the Italian diplomat said. Maybe I saw it in the 90s in central Africa. Grandi coordinated UN humanitarian activities in the Democratic Republic of Congo during its 1996-97 civil war. The success of aid efforts by the United Nations and non-government bodies depends on the Myanmar government to defuse the hostility facing humanitarian workers in Rakhine, Grandi said. Its not political work, its not to favour one community over the other, he said. On the contrary, its directed to all those who are in need. And when members of the Buddhist community are in need, they certainly qualify for that. I think its important that they stress that, they do that more, said Grandi. Tension had been rising between the government and aid agencies even before the spasm of violence that began in late August. Officials had accused the World Food Programme of aiding insurgents after high-energy biscuits were discovered in July at a forest encampment the authorities said belonged to a militant group, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army. Longstanding antipathy among ethnic Rakhine Buddhists - who say the UN and nongovernment bodies favour the Rohingya with aid deliveries spiked in August, with protesters demanding that aid agencies leave and the U.N. warning staff against rising hostility. Since the Aug. 25 militant attacks in Rakhine, the government has barred most aid agencies, except for the Red Cross organisations, from working in the states north, and curtailed their activities elsewhere in the state. In several cases aid deliveries have been forcibly blocked by Rakhine Buddhists. The U.N.s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has said the World Food Programme resumed some food distribution in northern Rakhine this month, but limited access meant agencies still do not know how many people were internally displaced over the last three months. Access remains restricted for most humanitarian actors in northern Rakhine, preventing them from reaching many people in need, the agency said. In central Rakhine, humanitarian organizations also continue to face access constraints. The United Nations and international agencies have warned that thousands of Yemenis could die daily if the Saudi Arabia-led coalition does not lift its blockade on the war-ravaged countrys key ports. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said this week 2.5 million people in Yemens crowded cities had no access to clean water, raising the risk that a cholera epidemic will spread. The United Nations has appealed for the blockade to be lifted, saying it could spark the largest famine the world has seen in decades. Some seven million people are already on the brink of famine. The blockade The Saudi-led coalition closed all air, land and sea access to Yemen on November 6 following the interception of a missile fired towards the Riyadh, saying it had to stem the flow of arms from Iran to its Houthi opponents in the war in Yemen. Saudi Arabia has since said that aid can go through liberated ports but not Houthi-controlled Hodeidah, the conduit for the vast bulk of imports into Yemen. The UN reported that the closure of Yemens border has halted the delivery of emergency assistance for nearly 280,000 internally displaced people, and stranded some of its staff outside the country while others lack fuel for transport. Children protest against the Saudi-led coalition outside the UN offices in Sanaa. (Reuters Photo) Who are at risk? Yemen already has 7 million people on the brink of famine, but without the reopening of all ports that number could grow by 3.2 million, the heads of the World Food Programme, UNICEF and the World Health Organization had said in a joint statement. The cost of this blockade is being measured in the number of lives that are lost, the statement from David Beasley, Anthony Lake and Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. At least one million children are at risk if a fast-spreading diphtheria outbreak is not stopped in its tracks, and the lives of 400,000 pregnant women and their babies are under threat because of the lack of medicines. There is also the risk of a renewed flare-up in cholera, which was on the wane after the most explosive outbreak ever recorded - with over 900,000 cases and 2,200 deaths in the past six months. The UN refugee agency expressed alarm at the worsening humanitarian situation, noting that at a center for displaced Yemenis in Sanaa hundreds more people are approaching the facility daily, saying they are no longer able to meet basic needs or afford medical care. A malnourished child lies in a bed waiting to receive treatment at a therapeutic feeding center in a hospital in Sanaa, Yemen. (AP File Photo) A displaced Yemeni family are pictured next to their makeshift shelter on a street in the Yemeni coastal city of Hodeidah. (AFP Photo) Politics behind the blockade Its all about the conflict between long-standing arch rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran. Both powers are waging a contest for power on several fronts across the Middle East, most notably in Yemen and Lebanon. The Saudi-led coalition began battling Iran-aligned Houthi rebels and their allies in September 2015 on behalf of Yemens internationally recognized government. But the war Saudi Arabia launched in Yemen over two years ago appears more intractable than ever, with nothing but further suffering in sight. Despite crushing air power by the coalition seeking to reinstall the countrys exiled president, Yemens Shia rebels, with the political backing of Iran, still hold large swaths of territory, including the capital Sanaa. And while the US-supported coalitions recent tightening of a blockade to include aid shipments might be intended to starve the rebels into submission, they remain dug in to difficult, mountainous and urban terrain. Newly-recruited Houthi fighters gesture as they ride a car before heading to the frontline to fight against government forces, in Sanaa. (Reuters Photo) Unlike other regional conflicts in Syria or Libya, no side is winning and peace talks are non-existent. With both sides deeply committed to victory, face-saving exits are elusive, especially with the Saudi-Iranian rivalry heating up. The war, which has killed more than 10,000 civilians and pushed millions of Yemenis to the brink of famine, appears unlikely to end any time soon. The United States on Thursday said the atrocities against Myanmars Rohingya Muslims amounted to ethnic cleansing and threatened targeted sanctions against those responsible for the situation, including some in the military and security forces. After a careful and thorough analysis of available facts, it is clear that the situation in northern Rakhine state constitutes ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya, US secretary of state Rex Tillerson said in a statement. The US will pursue accountability through US law, including possible targeted sanctions, he said. Those responsible for these atrocities must be held accountable, he added. Even though the US withdrew broad-based economic sanctions against Myanmar in 2016, it had kept some in place, especially those imposed on the military. The new targeted sanctions will focus on individuals and groups responsible for the recent attacks, which were organised, planned and systematic, a senior administration official told reporters. Hundreds of minority Rohingya Muslims have been killed and 600,000 were forced to flee to adjoining Bangladesh in one of the worst humanitarian crises the world has seen in recent years. The term ethnic cleansing comes with no obligations or punitive measures under international or domestic US laws, unlike the designations of genocide and crimes against humanity, which carry grave implications. The violence was triggered by several attacks by a militant group, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), on Myanmars security forces on August 25, which the US has condemned, but Tillerson noted that no provocation can justify the horrendous atrocities that have ensued. These abuses, carried out by some among the Burmese military, security forces, and local vigilantes, have caused tremendous suffering and forced hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children to flee their homes in Burma, he said. Tillerson said the US will continue to support a credible, independent investigation to ascertain the facts on the ground, and also consider targeted sanctions. He added that the US will also support the Myanmar governments efforts to create the conditions necessary for all refugees and internally displaced people to return to their homesvoluntarily. The US has ruled out broad-based economic sanctions similar to those it had imposed earlier to force Myanmars military junta to yield power to democratic forces, a process that started only 18 months ago and remains fragile. Last week, Tillerson travelled to Myanmar in the highest level visit by a US official since President Donald Trump took office. US officials dangled the possibility of an ethnic cleansing designation ahead of Tillersons trip, potentially giving him more leverage as he met with Myanmarese officials. In the capital of Naypitaw, Tillerson met with the civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, as well as the powerful military chief, Min Aung Hlaing, who is in-charge of operations in Rakhine state. US officials have been concerned that pushing Myanmars leaders too hard on the Rohingya violence could undermine the civilian government, led for the last 18 months by Suu Kyi. That could slow or reverse the countrys delicate transition away from decades of harsh military rule, and also risk pushing Myanmar away from the US and closer to China. Human rights groups accuse the military of a scorched-earth campaign against the Rohinyga, who numbered roughly 1 million in Myanmar before the latest exodus. The Buddhist majority in Myanmar believes they migrated illegally from Bangladesh, but many Rohingya families have lived for generations in Myanmar. In 1982, they were stripped of their citizenship. Already, the US has curtailed its ties to Myanmars military over the violence. Earlier this year the US restored restrictions on granting visas to members of Myanmars military, and the state department has deemed units and officers involved in operations in Rakhine illegible for US assistance. (With inputs from agencies) Three people were shot dead and six others wounded in a rare episode of gun violence in China, police said Wednesday, adding they were hunting for a number of suspects. Officers were deployed after receiving reports that people were hit by apparent gun fire during a fight on Tuesday night in Chaozhou city, in southern Guangdong province. According to a preliminary investigation, two people died at the scene, one died after being sent to hospital and six more were wounded, the police said on its Weibo social media account. Police have identified the suspects and are in pursuit, the statement said. Gun violence is rare in China, where the government tightly restricts ownership of firearms. There are no official statistics on gun-related deaths. You are here: Home Regulations to curb property sector risks must not be relaxed, Chinese authorities said Tuesday. Officials must not think of "taking a breather," according to a statement issued after a meeting on real estate policies in central China's Hubei Province. The meeting was held by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Ministry of Land Resources and the People's Bank of China. Since late last year, dozens of local governments have passed or expanded restrictions on house purchases and increased the minimum down payment required for mortgages. The property market was also cooled by tightened liquidity as the government contained leverage and risk in the financial system. The statement stressed continuity and stability of property controls. Priority should be given to stabilizing the real estate sector and dissolving the risk of a bubble. Funds should be prevented from flowing into the property sector illegally and the land supply should be increased. Megacities with high housing prices should have some functions moved out and be better connected with smaller cities, the statement said. Meanwhile, small cities should improve public services and steadily reduce housing inventories, it said. The statement reiterated that rental housing was needed and that work to establish a long-term mechanism to support a stable and healthy property sector must speed up. US President Donald Trump on Tuesday spoke over phone with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to peacefully resolving the Syrian civil war, the White House said. During the lengthy conversation, the two leaders also discussed jointly fighting terrorist groups in the Middle East, including ISIS and Al-Qaeda, and the Taliban in other parts, it said. We had a great call with President Putin. Were talking about peace in Syria -- very important. Were talking about North Korea. We had a call that lasted almost an hour and a half, Trump told reporters before boarding Marine One on the White House lawns. Were talking very strongly about bringing peace for Syria. Were talking very strongly about North Korea and Ukraine, he said. Both presidents supported the UN-led Geneva Process to peacefully resolve the Syrian civil war, end the humanitarian crisis, allow displaced Syrians to return home, and ensure the stability of a unified Syria free of malign intervention and terrorist safe havens, the White House said in a readout of the call. The two presidents affirmed the importance of fighting terrorism together throughout the Middle East and Central Asia and agreed to explore ways to further cooperate in the fight against ISIS, Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and other terrorist organisations, it said. According to the White House, Trump and Putin also discussed how to implement a lasting peace in Ukraine, and the need to continue international pressure on North Korea to halt its nuclear weapon and missile programs. Trump and Putin spoke informally several times last week when they attended a summit in Vietnam. They agreed on a number of principles for the future of war-torn Syria. Trump spoke over phone with the Russian president, a day after Putin met with Syrian President Bashar Assad. Putin hosted Assad at a Black Sea resort ahead of a summit later this week with Russia, Turkey and Iran. The Kremlin said yesterday that Assad was called to Russia to get him to agree to potential peace initiatives drafted by Russia, Iran and Turkey. A plane carrying 11 crew and passengers crashed into the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday while on the way to the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier, the Navy said. Eight of the people on board have been found, Japans defense minister told reporters, but it was unclear whether they were alive. The Defense Ministry said it had no information on their condition. The Navys Japan-based 7th Fleet said in a statement that a search and rescue operation was launched from the carrier. Personnel recovery is underway and their condition will be evaluated by USS Ronald Reagan medical staff, the statement said. The C-2 Greyhound aircraft crashed into the Pacific about 150 kilometers (90 miles) northwest of Okinotorishima, a Japanese atoll, Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said, according to a ministry spokesman. The Navy said the ship was operating in the Philippine Sea, which is east of the Philippines, when the crash occurred at 2:45 p.m. Japan time. The names of the crew and passengers are being withheld pending next of kin notification. The cause of the crash was not immediately clear, the Navy said. The plane was taking part in an ongoing joint U.S.-Japan naval exercise in waters surrounding Okinawa from Nov. 16-26. The Navy called it the premier training event between the two navies, designed to increase defensive readiness and interoperability in air and sea operations. The 7th Fleet has had two fatal accidents in Asian waters this year, leaving 17 sailors dead and prompting the removal of eight top Navy officers from their posts, including the 7th Fleet commander. The USS John S. McCain and an oil tanker collided near Singapore in August, leaving 10 U.S. sailors dead. Seven sailors died in June when the USS Fitzgerald and a container ship collided off Japan. The Navy has concluded that the collisions were avoidable and resulted from widespread failures by the crews and commanders, who didnt quickly recognize and respond to unfolding emergencies. A Navy report recommended numerous changes to address the problems, ranging from improved training to increasing sleep and stress management for sailors. The US is opposed to any alteration or expansion of the veto power enjoyed by the permanent members of the UN Security Council, but supports a modest expansion of the 15-member apex wing of the world body, a top official has said. The State Department spokesperson said a reformed council must reflect the realities of the 21st century and be able to meet the challenges of this century. The US remains open in principle to the idea of UN Security Council reform, including a modest expansion of the Security Council, the official said. We believe a reformed council must reflect the realities of the 21st century and be able to meet the challenges of this century with enhanced and not diminished effectiveness and efficiency, the spokesperson said. The official added that the US remained opposed to any alteration or expansion of the veto power enjoyed by the permanent members of the UN Security Council. The spokesperson was asked about reform of the UNSC in view of the differences that emerged between the General Assembly and the Security Council during the just concluded election to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Indias Dalveer Bhandari was overwhelmingly backed by the UN members for his re-elected to the ICJ on Tuesday. 70- year-old Bhandari received 183 of the 193 votes in the General Assembly and secured all 15 votes in the Security Council to fill the final vacancy on the Hague-based ICJ. In the fourth round, Bhandari had received a majority - 115 votes - in the General Assembly, while Greenwood received 76 votes. However, in the Security Council Greenwood got majority (nine) of the votes as against six votes by Bhandari, resulting in another round of votes scheduled for yesterday. India has repeatedly called for the UNSC reforms. Last year, while addressing the 71st UN General Assembly (UNGA) session, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj had said there was a need for a reformed Security Council that continues to reflect the world order of an earlier era. The vast majority of nations share the belief that the UN should not remain frozen in 1945, just to serve the interests of a few. Whether it is institutions or issues, we must come to terms with present day realities and the challenges that confront us, she had said. Swaraj had added that an expansion in the Permanent and non-Permanent membership of the Council to reflect contemporary realities was an urgent necessity. Dramatic footage of a North Korean soldiers defection released on Wednesday showed him racing across the border under fire from former comrades, and then being hauled to safety by South Korean troops. The footage also showed a North Korean guard briefly crossing the border in hot pursuit before retreating -- an incident the US-led United Nations Command described as a serious breach of the 1953 ceasefire that ended Korean War hostilities. The defector was shot at least four times in his desperate escape bid at the Panmunjom truce village on November 13, and has been recovering in a South Korean hospital. It is very rare for the Norths troops to defect at Panmunjom, a major tourist attraction and the only part of the border where forces from the two sides come face-to-face. The video released by the UNC began by showing the defectors vehicle travelling at speed along an empty road leading to the truce village before stopping near the heavily armed border. He then got out of the jeep and ran, pursued by North Korean soldiers with their weapons drawn and firing. The footage then showed the badly injured man being pulled to safety by two South Korean soldiers who crawled to reach him just south of the dividing line. UN Command spokesman Colonel Chad Carroll told journalists that one of the border guards ran across the military demarcation line for a few seconds before returning back to the north side. An investigation found that the North Korean army violated the 1953 armistice both by firing weapons across the demarcation line and by actually crossing it. The UNC has requested a meeting (with North Korea) to discuss our investigation and measures to prevent future such violations, Carroll said. Considerable courage South Korean and US service members on duty at the border did not return fire, and Carroll commended their restraint in refraining from actions that could have unleashed cross-border hostilities. They demonstrated appropriate self-discipline and sound decision-making at a time when the situation on the ground was not nearly as clear as we can see now in the video, he said. The security forces demonstrated considerable courage that day and deescalated this uncertain and ambiguous situation at the border, he said. Tensions between the US and North Korea are running high after a series of missile and nuclear tests aimed at deploying an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead to US cities. The United States on Tuesday unveiled new sanctions targeting North Korean shipping and Chinese traders doing business with Pyongyang, again raising the pressure on the pariah state to abandon its nuclear program. President Donald Trump said this week that the sanctions were the first in a series of moves over the next two weeks that will reinforce his maximum pressure campaign against Kim Jong-Uns regime. Defector conscious The doctor who operated on the defector at a hospital south of Seoul said Wednesday he has regained consciousness but was depressed and would spend several more days in intensive care. As the patient is showing signs of depression due to intense psychological stress following two rounds of major surgeries, he will undergo tests for post-traumatic stress disorder, Lee Cook-Jong told reporters. Its not like the patient will open his eyes and walk out of the hospital after surgery as you see in movies, he said. However, Lee said he had been able to have extensive conversation with the North Korean man who had told him he defected to the South of his own free will. The reason that he defected, risking death and facing a barrage of gunshots, was because he had positive hopes about South Korea, he said. In addition to his gunshot injuries, the defector was found to be riddled with intestinal parasites, an apparent result of poor food hygiene in the impoverished North. The Yonhap news agency on Tuesday cited a government official as saying that depending on medical advice, an interrogation team is expected to question the defector in four or five days time. A Pakistani review board on Wednesday ordered the release from house arrest of Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed, who pledged that he and his followers in the Jamaat-ud-Dawah will play a strong role for Kashmirs independence. The government of Pakistans Punjab province had sought a three-month extension in Saeeds detention but the request was turned down by the judicial review board just four days short of the ninth anniversary of the Mumbai attacks that Saeed is accused of masterminding. Reports said the JuD chief is scheduled to be released on Thursday. He had been placed under house arrest in January, largely because of pressure from the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force that tracks terror financing. The government is ordered to release JuD chief Hafiz Saeed if he is not wanted in any other case, said the review board comprising judges of the Lahore high court. In a video tweeted by a handle linked to the JuD hours after the board issued its order, Saeed blamed India for his detention and vowed to work for Kashmirs independence. . #HafizSaeedWon #Jud pic.twitter.com/dJel3FjfOR (@JamatUdDawaPak) November 22, 2017 The representatives and officials of the government and ministries were all saying that I should not be freed but the judges heard all their arguments and set them aside and ordered my release, he said. This is the victory of Pakistans independence and, God willing, Kashmir too will become independent because Im fighting the case of Kashmir, he added. It is because of Kashmir that India is after me but all its efforts have been in vain. I pray to God to help me andmembers of JuD that we can play a strong role for Pakistans independence and Kashmirs independence. During a hearing by the review board on Tuesday, the Punjab government said Pakistan might face sanctions from the world community if Saeed is released. Saeed, through his lawyer AK Dogar, had challenged his detention and contended that requirements laid down by the Supreme Court had not been fulfilled. Under Pakistani laws, the government can detain an individual for up to three months under different charges but an extension in the detention requires approval from a judicial review board. The review board of the Lahore high court asked the Punjab government to produce evidence against Hafiz Saeed for keeping him detained but the government failed, Dogar told Reuters. The court today said that there is nothing against Saeed, therefore he should be released. Saeed has denied involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, during which a 10-member LeT team killed 166 people when they targeted two hotels, a Jewish centre and a railway station. On January 31, Saeed and four aides Abdullah Ubaid, Malik Zafar Iqbal, Abdul Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Hussain were detained by the Punjab government for 90 days under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997. Saeeds aides were freed in the last week of October after the Punjab government did not extend the notification for their detention under the Anti-Terrorism Act and withdrew an application pending before the federal review board. Asked to comment on the order to free Saeed, a US state department spokesperson told Hindustan Times: The US is aware of media reports regarding Pakistans ordered release of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba leader Hafiz Saeed from house arrest. The spokesperson reiterated that the LeT is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organisation responsible for the death of hundreds of innocent civilians in terrorist attacks, including a number of American citizens. In May 2008, the US department of the treasury designated Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under Executive Order 13224. Saeed was also individually designated by the UN under UNSCR 1267 in December 2008 following the November 2008 Mumbai attack, the spokesperson added. The spokesperson said the LeT and several of its front organisations, leaders and operatives remain under both state department and treasury department sanctions. Saeed has lived freely in Lahore and addressed rallies and gatherings across Pakistan despite the US offering a $10 million bounty for him in connection with the Mumbai attacks. The JuD is described by the US and the UN as a front for the banned LeT. Under cover of darkness on the night of March 3, 1836, a courier departed the besieged Alamo with a bundle of letters, including another desperate plea for reinforcements. He was reportedly the last messenger to leave the doomed garrison. By sunrise on March 6 co-commander Lieutenant Colonel William Barret Travis and some 200 fellow Texian defenders lay dead after a defiant 13-day stand against thousands of Mexican soldiers under General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. Writers have since cranked out countless stories about the brave deeds reportedly done that day, leaving historians the monumental task of sifting fact from layers of myth. Attempting to reconstruct just what took place inside the Alamos walls during the siege presents an even greater challenge. Prior to the siege, numerous defenders wrote letters to loved ones back in the United States. Tennessean Micajah Autry, Kentuckian Daniel William Cloud and Pennsylvanian David P. Cummings are among those who wrote glowing accounts of their journey into the Mexican province of Texas. Their words would foreshadow their deaths at the old mission on the outskirts of San Antonio de Bexar. Yet the accounts of only a few survivors and a handful of correspondence written during the siege, including two letters by Travis dated to March 3a note to his sons caretaker, David Ayers; and a request for a parley between Mexican army commanders and James Bowie, commander of the Alamo volunteerssurvive to provide scant, yet precious details of the garrisons final days and hours. Thus the complete March 3 bundle of letters represents a potential trove for Alamo researchers. Those missives record the final, intimate thoughts of a number of Alamo defenders, who by then clearly understood the peril of their predicament. So in the spirit of historical diligence, the question arises: Do any of those letters still exist? The evidence is tantalizing. He came into possession of an old box of letters years ago, several of which were written by Alamo defenders. The letters were supposedly still in the possession of his family Retired U.S. Marshal Bob Anderson of Harlingen, Texas, is a matter-of-fact kind of man. He had to be. Andersons assignments were often a matter of life and death, particularly for those he guarded in the U.S. Federal Witness Protection Program. He once guarded John Dean, the former White House counsel who pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and turned states evidence in the Watergate scandal. Dean lived in a safe house typically reserved for witnesses against the mafia and spent his days providing information to Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox. Anderson had a front-row seat to history. Naturally, Andersons job as a U.S. marshal also required him to sniff out the occasional horse manure. Perhaps thats why his Alamo story is, if nothing else, intriguing. Several years ago while on a drive through the Rio Grande Valley between McAllen and Brownsville, Texas, Anderson encountered a traveling carnival worker who introduced himself as William Linn (ironically or intentionally, a name shared by an Alamo defender from Massachusetts). Anderson, whose family is descended from Alamo defender Andrew Kent, was wearing an Alamo Defenders Descendants Association jacket, and that sparked a conversation with Linn. He told me his grandfather was the former postmaster at Ooltewah, Tenn., Anderson recalled, and he came into possession of an old box of letters years ago, several of which were written by Alamo defenders. The letters were supposedly still in the possession of his family. As the carny told it, the letters had been left at that post office in Tennessees Hamilton County. At the time few area residents were literate, Linn explained, and his grandfather told him that after hed read the Alamo dispatches to the addressees, they returned home. Given the emotional ties such letters likely provided, its hard to imagine family members would leave them behind. That said, at least 32 Alamo defenders had Tennessee connections, including William Mills, who was born in Hamilton County (Chattanooga). Thus its not a stretch to believe a batch of letters from the Alamo may have reached Tennessee in the weeks after the battle. Linn eventually faded into the crowd, and Andersons subsequent attempts to find him failed. Could Linns family hold some of the missing March 3 batch of Alamo letters? Or was he just another carny spinning a good yarn? I believed him, Anderson said bluntly. I remember thinking, Who would come up with this kind of story out of nowhere? He had too many specific details on the spot. While the veracity of Linns story remains in doubt, what is certain is that a bundle of letters did leave the Alamo on March 3, 1836, and at least three bearing that date successfully reached their intended destinations. Travis himself wrote two of those lettersone to the president of the [Texas constitutional] convention, Richard Ellis (published in the March 12 San Felipe Telegraph and Texas Register), the other to a friend, thought to be Jesse Grimes (published in the March 24 Telegraph and Texas Register). Both provide important military details regarding the besieged garrison. In the first letter Travis described enemy entrenchments and firepower and how the spirits of his men were still high despite their having witnessed at least 200 shells hammer the compound, albeit without a single man suffering injury. Travis also noted the recent arrival of 32 volunteers from Gonzales, as well as the arrival of courier James Butler Bonham that morning. The letter to Grimes offers similar details and yet another stern plea for reinforcements. In fiery words that have defined Travis as a tragic hero of Texas history, he concludes, If my countrymen do not rally to my relief, I am determined to perish in the defense of this place, and my bones shall reproach my country for her neglect. A third letter dated March 3 was penned by Alamo defender Willis A. Moore, writing to family members in Raymond, Miss. Moore wrote three letters from San Antonio, including two pre-siege letters, dated Dec. 28, 1835, and Jan. 13, 1836. Twenty years after the battle Moores heirs presented all three letters to the Texas General Land Office as evidence of Moores service to Texas and the land he was therefore due, but none has surfaced publicly. An undated fourth letterwritten by Travis to friend David Ayersis also generally thought to have been sent March 3 from the doomed garrison and is arguably the most heart-wrenching missive of all known Alamo letters. Travis reportedly wrote it in great haste for his 6-year-old son, Charles, as the last courier prepared to bolt from the garrison. The letterlast seen in 1852was scrawled on a scrap of yellow wrapping paper, torn and ragged to the point its date was unreadable, and delivered by a courier who brought news that Travis had answered the summons to surrender with a cannon shot, and his flag still waved from the walls. The Alamo co-commanders final words regarding his son are haunting: Dear Sir: Take care of my little boy. If the country should be saved, I may make him a splendid fortune. But if the country should be lost, and I should perish, he will have nothing but the proud recollection that he is the son of a man who died for his country. Travis seldom varnished his thoughts, thus another missive reportedly written by him and delivered with the final March 3 bundle remains the holy grail of all Alamo letters. The addressee was his fiancee, Rebecca Cummings. Unfortunately, its contents have never been revealed and may forever remain a mystery. According to the remembrances of Angelina Eberly, a San Felipe boardinghouse operator, the letter to Miss Cummings arrived in town on March 6, the day the Alamo fell. Years later Eberly related her account of its memorable arrival to Mary Austin Holley, whose papers are housed in the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin. One can only imagine what Travisa man of the Romantic erarelated to his fiancee in a private letter as he stood on the doorstep of eternity. Cummings may have discarded Travis missive after marrying attorney David Young Portis in 1843, as a letter from an old flame might not serve a marriage well. Of course, that is mere speculation. A potentially interesting footnote to the Travis-Cummings romance is that Rebecca may be buried in the Odd Fellows Cemetery in San Antonio, depending on whose genealogy one believes. Cummings died in either 1872 or 1874. At the time that hilltop cemetery offered an unobstructed view of the Alamo. Coincidence? Perhaps. The March 3 batch of letters from the Alamo spurred a range of emotions across the Texas frontier. In his journal entry of March 6 Virginian William Fairfax Gray, who was in Washington-on-the-Brazos to observe the constitutional convention, noted, This morning, while at breakfast, a dispatch was received from Travis, dated Alamo, March 3. Gray was referencing Travis letter to Ellis, who read the missive aloud to the gathered delegates. At first they debated whether the Alamo was truly under siege. Doubts festered. Ellis then gathered the delegates together to assess the authenticity of the letter. In a document preserved in the Audited Military Claims collection at the Texas State Library in Austin, eyewitness Lancelot Abbotts, a printer and clerk from San Felipe, recounted the frantic scene: The veracity of the courier who carried it to Washington, and the authenticity of the signature of Travis, were questioned by some members of the Convention and by citizens. Two or three of the members were aware that I knew well the handwriting of Col. Travis, and a Committee of the Convention waited on me to ascertain my opinion on the matter. I unhesitatingly pronounced the dispatch (brief as it was) to be the handwriting of the brave Travis. A public meeting was called for the purpose of enlisting volunteers for the relief of the Alamo. At this time there was living in Washington a doctor by the name of Biggs, or Briggs, who was a big, burly, brave Manifest Destiny man. He made a speech, in which he declared his unbelief in the dispatch and the utter impossibility of any number of Mexicans to take the Alamo when defended by near 200 men. Travis letter to Ellis, of course, was as real as Santa Annas ability to overpower the Texians defending the Alamos walls. The fact that a courier successfully slipped through enemy lines with a saddlebag of letters is in itself a miracle. Mexican patrols were everywhere. One persistent story identifies John William Smith as the Alamos last courier, although evidence found by the late Alamo historian Thomas Ricks Lindley suggests someone else might have carried the March 3 letters through the Mexican lines. Lindley cited Alamo defender James Lee Ewings probate, in which Smith testified two years after the battle. It bears the following notation: He [Smith] left him [Ewing] in the Alamo on the Friday night previous to its fall. Friday night was March 4, 1836. So if Smith didnt leave until March 4, who did carry the last known batch of letters beyond the garrison gates? As many as 22 men have been identified as Alamo couriers with varying degrees of credible evidence since the famed last stand of 1836. There simply isnt enough information to know for certain who that fearless courier might have been. The historical record is clear that William Bull carried a batch of the Alamos final dispatches 110 miles from Gonzales to the constitutional convention at Washington-on-the-Brazos. He arrived on the morning of March 6 and is the courier who carried Travis letter to Ellis and whose veracity certain delegates and citizens called into question that day. Joseph D. Clements, a prominent member of Gonzales defiant militia, had paid Bull $5 for his troubles. Evidence also indicates the Alamos final batch of letters were split by March 6. Grays March 6 journal entry at Washington (noting the arrival of Travis letter to Ellis) and Eberlys recollection of March 6 at San Felipe (noting the arrival of Travis letter to Cummings) support that conclusion. The split might have occurred at Gonzales or at Moores Ferry on the Colorado River. Regardless, the letters were divided, and another unknown courier was called into service. A petition submitted decades later to the Texas Legislature lends additional weight to this scenario. In it W.D. Grady, then employed as a printer for the Telegraph and Texas Register in San Felipe, recalled when letters from Travis (perhaps the one written to Cummings) and David Crockett arrived from the Alamo. Grady doesnt mention the arrival date. Were these missives part of the March 3 bundle? As with the letter Travis reportedly wrote to Cummings, the Crockett letter Grady cited has never surfaced and would be worth a fortune if still in existence. Such a prospect is not unheard of, even in Alamo circles. Several years ago a portrait of Alamo defender Joseph G. Washington surfaced, having been in family possession in Kentucky since his 1835 departure for Texas. The importance of its discovery cant be overstated. Until the emergence of the Washington painting, only three Alamo defenders were known to have sat for portraits in their lifetime (Crockett, Bowie and Dr. Amos Pollard). A rare letter from an Alamo defender could also resurface. During the 1960s and 70s unscrupulous visitors to various state and county archives made off with thousands of Texas Republicera documents, as chronicled in W. Thomas Taylors 1991 book Texfake: An Account of the Theft and Forgery of Early Texas Printed Documents. At least 846 historic papers vanished from the Texas State Archives alone. A few brazen souls even attempted to auction off such treasures. Other documents undoubtedly turned up on the black market and remain in private hands. The letter of March 3, 1836, that Alamo defender Willis Moore wrote might fall under this category. Moores heirs presented the letter to the Texas General Land Office on Sept. 22, 1856, but it has since gone missing from his file there. State officials may have returned it and the two other letters in his file to Moores executor. Perhaps they were misfiled. Or maybe they were stolen. If still in existence, his letter and the other missing missives would be invaluable to the Alamo story, for they contain words that whisper from the grave. WW Ron J. Jackson Jr. is from Binger, Okla. He is the co-author, with Lee Spencer White, of both the 2015 book Joe, the Slave Who Became an Alamo Legend and the article The Legend of Alamo Joe, in the February 2016 Wild West. For further reading he recommends Alamo Traces, by Thomas Ricks Lindley; The Alamo Reader, by Todd Hansen; and Texfake, by W. Thomas Taylor. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. You are here: Home A Chinese airlines conducted the country's first cross-ocean passenger flight powered by sustainable aviation biofuel on Tuesday. A Boeing 787 of Hainan Airlines departed from Beijing for Chicago on Tuesday, loaded with biofuel produced by Sinopec from waste edible oil. The use of biofuel can reduce carbon emissions while ensuring flight safety and efficiency, according to Hainan Airlines. The move was part of a cooperation project on green aviation between China and the United States. Hainan Airlines made the country's first domestic biofuel-powered passenger flight in 2015. News, events, history, and other mid-week tidbits. Tuesday, October 25, 4:30 7 p.m. Orr Area EMS Open House Brats and burgers will be served. Event includes a new ambulance tour and blood pressure screenings. For more info: 218-780-3798. Orr Fire Hall 4540 Lake St., Orr Tuesday, October 25, 12 6 p.m. Essentia Health Job Fair Talent recruiters and department managers will be on-site at Essentia Health-Virginia. Candidates from all backgrounds are encouraged to attendnurses, nursing and clinical assistants, surgery technicians, radiology technicians, respiratory therapists, human resource professionals, and those interested in environmental services or nutrition services. Essentia staff will greet candidates, conduct an initial screening and filter them to appropriate hiring managers for interviews. Select candidates will be verbally offered a position before leaving. Candidates are asked to bring a resume, but its not required. Attire is business casual. For more info: www.essentiacareers.org. 901 9th St. N., Virginia In the end, its all about how you feel and how it affects you, says Benjamin Clementine, speaking about his very personal responses to war in Syria, the refugee crisis in Europe, and the rise of the far-right throughout the Western World, themes which dominate his operatic second album, I Tell A Fly. The English artist, with his striking good looks, all-knowing demeanour and effortless sense of style, looks every bit what youd expect from a man who began as a homeless teenager in Paris before rising to the status of cult-figure for his work on the Paris music and art scene. Hes now widely considered to be one of the most influential voices in modern day Britain. And there are good reasons why both national papers of record and underground musicians are looking to him as an important figure. Most schools of thought seem to acknowledge that Benjamins music combines deeply-sourced poetic expression with an original sound that is absolutely peerless in modern music. His oblique modes of expression certainly arent to everyones tastes, but they are, purely and simply, the voice of an uncompromising artist. If I dont do what I love doing, I may as well just quit it, says Benjamin in a measured, disarmingly polite voice when I ask him about his decision to move as far away as possible from the commercial route with Album No. 2. The thing thats important with being an artist is that I do what I want to do. From that he shrugs modestly, maybe I make something that will help and encourage people who want to push their love into the world. A four-day tour for experts and journalists from home and abroad opened in Zunyi, a city of southwest China's Guizhou Province, on Nov. 21, 2017. It offered a chance to review what the province has achieved under the leadership of the Communist Party over the past five years. A four-day tour for foreign and Chinese experts to exchange, entitled "Progress along the Long March of the New Era" opens in Zunyi, a city of southwest China's Guizhou Province, on Nov. 21, 2017. [Photo by Sun Tao/China.org.cn] Entitled "Progress along the Long March of the New Era," the activity attracted more than 30 foreign and Chinese experts and journalists, offering a platform for them to exchange their views on Guizhou's rapid growth through visiting historical and cultural sites, such as the site of the 1935 Zunyi Conference, the five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST) and the Big Data hub, as well as chatting with residents of Huamao Village. It was at a crucial meeting in Zunyi during the famous Long March that Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Zedong finally emerged as the highest authority of the Communist Party of China. This milestone in Party history has ensured that the place has become a pilgrimage site as well as a symbol of the communist revolution. "The first time I knew about Zunyi was when I translated an article about it. And then I was very curious about this history and always looked forward to visiting the site," said Su Li, a postgraduate from Russia who is now studying international media development at the Communication University of China. She said that, thanks to the activity, she finally had an opportunity to see the old pictures in situ, adding that, inside the Zunyi Conference Memorial Museum, one could get a better idea of Zunyi's significance in modern Chinese history. Generation by generation, the spirit of forging ahead was carried forward and encouraged more Chinese people to realize the Chinese Dream in a new era, especially for the younger generation. Conducting visitors through the Zunyi Conference Memorial Museum and delivering a commentary on the exhibits from time to time, Yuan Changjie, a 12-year-old boy who volunteered to act as a tour guide of the site, said he was very proud of his role. "I always bear in mind that a nation will prosper only when its young people thrive. The spirit I learned from the history encourages myself to aim high and bravely fulfill my responsibilities and dreams." Yuan said in a firm and confident voice. Hot Press has received a detailed response, to a series of questions asked of the Department of Defence in relation to criticisms made to the magazine by a former member of the Air Corps and the Navy recently. This response arrived after the original print deadline had passed. It addresses a number of the concerns highlighted by our source, who left service in early 2017, primarily due to inadequate pay. We asked how the Defence Forces could incentivise recruited personnel to remain active as service members if they felt payment was inadequate? Press and Information Officer Ashling Hewson supplied all of the following responses. "The long term trend is that 20% of recruits do not complete basic training and this is consistent with the current trend. The reasons why recruits decide not to remain in the Defence Forces vary and in many instances it is because they decide that a military career is not for them. White Christmases are nice, but they're also cold, so why not appreciate them through a window this December while kicking back with the latest in what Netflix has to offer. ORIGINAL SERIES Bill Nye Saves the World: Season 2: Part 1 The Emmy-nominated series returns as Bill talks sleep, drugs, internet security and more with a fresh batch of famous guests and science experts. December 29 Easy: Season 2 Returning characters and new faces navigate the ups and downs of relationships, friendships, family and more. Starring Kate Micucci, Jane Adams, Zazie Beetz, Kiersey Clemons, Evan Jonigkeit, Dave Franco, Marc Maron, Aubrey Plaza and Judy Greer. December 1 The Crown: Season 2 As a new era begins, Queen Elizabeth struggles to uphold longstanding traditions while navigating a world that's changing around her. Starring Claire Foy, Matt Smith, Vanessa Kirby, Matthew Goode, Victoria Hamilton, Michael C Hall and Jodi Balfour. December 8 The Indian Detective: Season 1 In this comedy series, a Canadian cop feels out of touch with his heritage when he investigates a murder case while visiting his father in Mumbai. Starring Russell Peters, William Shatner, Anupam Kher and Christina Cole. December 19 Advertisement The Toys That Made Us: Season 1 For the casual to the hardcore collector, Toys is an international journey through parts of our history and culture shaped by popular toys. December 22 Dope: Season 1 Filmed from the perspectives of dealers, users and the police, this vivid series offers a bracing look at the war on drugs. December 22 NETFLIX FILM Bright In an alternate present-day where magical creatures live among us, two L.A. cops become embroiled in a prophesied turf battle. Directed by David Avey, Bright stars Will Smith, Joel Edgerton, Noomi Rapace, Lucy Fry, Edgar Ramirez, Happy Anderson, Kenneth Choi, Ike Barinholtz, Andrea Navedo, Brad William Henke and Dawn Olivieri. December 22 The Foreigner When a terrorist bomb detonates in London, an unassuming father seeks retribution, and exposure of those responsible for the death of his daughter. Starring Jackie Chan, Pierce Brosnan, Lui Tao, Katie Leung, Manolo Cardona, Rory Fleck Bryne, Charlie Murphy, Simon Kunz, Pippa Bennett-Warner and Dermot Crowley. December 15 El Camino Christmas Stuck in a liquor store during an alleged robbery, a group of strangers shares hidden truths and forms an unexpected bond on Christmas Eve. Starring Vincent D'Onofrio, Jessica Alba, Dax Shepard, Tim Allen December 8 ORIGINAL COMEDY Advertisement Craig Ferguson: Tickle Fight Roguish comic Craig Ferguson reveals the world's oldest joke -- but first he has some unwholesome thoughts on beards, magic and suicidal hamsters. December 5 Judd Apatow: The Return Renowned producer, director and writer Judd Apatow makes his long-awaited return to stand-up comedy with this new special shot in Montreal. December 12 Russell Howard: Recalibrate Comedian Russell Howard brings his manic energy to a new stand-up special that tackles politics, childhood and why he's a jerk. December 19 ORIGINAL DOCUMENTARY Voyeur Legendary journalist Gay Talese investigates one of the most controversial stories of his career -- a motel owner who spied on his guests for decades. December 1 Wormwood Errol Morris reconstructs the mysterious death of a Cold War military scientist involved in a secret biological warfare program. December 15 This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate ANTIGUA, Guatemala - In this small city encircled by volcanoes, everyone greets the Rev. Linda McCarty just as "Linda." But greetings turn to hugs when McCarty enters Las Obras Sociales del Santo Hermano Pedro hospital, home to Faith in Practice, the organization and medical mission she runs. Many people in the lobby, several with limbs in casts or walking with crutches, approached her to show how well they were doing. McCarty answered in perfect, fast Spanish, "Que gusto verte tan bien; que milagro!" (How wonderful you look; what a miracle!") The "miracles," as McCarty likes to call them, are plenty for the Faith in Practice ecumenical Christian medical missions. For more than 20 years, this nonprofit headquartered in Houston has been running health programs to help the needy in Guatemala, one of the world's poorest countries. Every year, Faith in Practice organizes trips of hundreds of doctors, nurses and health care providers from Houston and other parts of the United States. They volunteer in the Central American country, paying on their own for flights and expenses. They do short-term surgical, medical, dental and educational missions throughout the year to guarantee continuous care for local people, McCarty said. The organization was founded after Dr. Todd Collier went to study Spanish in Guatemala in 1991 and met Franciscan friar Guillermo Bonilla, who was leading local efforts to provide medical services to the poor. Collier returned to Houston and enlisted Joe and Vera Wiatt, a Houston couple who sold their hardware store to devote themselves full time to build Faith in Practice. The three organized the first surgical tour of nine volunteers to Antigua in 1993 with the help of Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church and Memorial Hermann Hospital System in Houston. They turned the leadership of the organization over to McCarty in 2007. At the hospital in Antigua, Faith in Practice occupies about a quarter of the building, with a fully equipped medical clinic and surgery rooms built and financed by the organization. On a recent day, three medical teams of doctors from Texas were simultaneously performing orthopedic surgeries. "This is my team," proudly said Dr. Jay Pond, one of the leaders of that week's orthopedic mission, which included seven surgeons as well as anesthetists, nurses, physical therapists - more than 40 specialists in total. Although in his regular practice in Arlington, Pond normally does only about four surgeries per week, he performed 16 orthopedic operations in four days during this mission. This was his fifth mission since joining Faith in Practice four years ago. The mission conducted 76 surgeries on the recent trip, including hip and knee replacements, orthopedic reconstructions and amputations. Pond said he does charity work in Texas, but he feels his volunteerism in Guatemala has a greater impact on people. "Even the uninsured and underinsured at home have so much more than what people down here have," he said. Most of the surgeries the medical practitioners do are life-changing for patients. In one operating room, surgeons were reconstructing the foot of a woman who has been painfully walking on her ankle bone for eight years after her foot turned to one side as a result of a fracture. People in Guatemala, particularly indigenous populations that account for almost half of the country's inhabitants, have little access to health services, if any. The government spends only 2 percent of its gross domestic product on health programs. Comparatively, the African country of Kenya spends 4 percent of its GDP, according to the latest available data from the World Health Organization from 2014. Many of the surgery patients are referred to the hospital by Faith in Practice mobile clinics in rural, indigenous areas. That was the case of 1-year-old Victor Hernandez Sica, who was born with a malformation in his right hand and was being evaluated for reconstructive surgery. "I am so happy that they are going to fix my son's hand," said Juana Sica in K'iche', her Mayan language, while holding the little boy at the Casa de Fe, a Faith in Practice home near the hospital to host poor patients like Victor and their families when they go to Antigua to receive treatment. On average, Faith in Practice sees about 25,000 patients a year and performs between 2,600 and 2,800 surgeries. "What we do here makes a world of difference for them," said Dr. Evan Pivalizza, an anesthesiologist and professor with the UT Health system in Houston. Many of the doctors say that although they volunteer back home, their missions are life-changing experiences, not only for patients but also for themselves. The patients "are so grateful and so appreciative of what we do that it in turns makes us feel that we are truly making a difference. You realize that you are receiving as much as you are giving," Pivalizza said. Jeff Early, director of core infrastructure service at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, serves as a translator in several missions every year. "This is Evelin!" he said, excitedly showing photos on his cellphone of a patient who visited early that morning. She traveled more than two hours to Antigua to thank some of the team members who had also been there in May, when one of her legs was amputated to save her life from a growing cancerous tumor. Dr. Jack Dawson, the surgeon who operated on Evelin, wasn't there this time. "We Facetimed with (him) saying hello and thank you," McCarty said. Many Guatemalans who have been Faith in Practice's patients become volunteers themselves, like Floridana Quintanilla and Noel Perez, who were having a friendly discussion in the hospital lobby about how many hundreds of patients each one had helped to get medical services this year. They are coordinators for different areas of Guatemala and part of a network of around 900 local volunteers. McCarty said that many volunteers see their service as a Christian calling, but she emphasized that people don't have to practice a religion to be part of the missions. Dr. Cary Moorhead, an ear, nose and throat specialist at Memorial Hermann Hospital, leads a surgical team each year. He discovered that "while ministering to the poor of Guatemala, they, in turn, minister to us." Many of the volunteers, Moorhead added, find that their missions to Guatemala become a "time to refuel, reset our priorities, and see ourselves as part of a larger community and a larger plan." That perspective is what has made Faith in Practice a way of living for Dr. Philip Johnson III, a chronic conditions specialist from Houston, and his wife, Linda Johnson. They go on missions twice a year. "The exchange with these people " he exclaimed. "I always come back refreshed about being a physician, about taking care of people, about being part of this world." olivia.tallet@chron.com Twitter: @oliviaptallet Tallet and De Jesus were 2017 Adelante Latin America Reporting Fellows with the International Women's Media Foundation. #IWMF supported the production of this story. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate In the weeks after Hurricane Harvey, day laborers had no problem finding work as contractors from across Houston and the country rushed in to help homeowners and businesses rebuild. For Cristobal, a Guatemalan immigrant who asked that his last name be withheld because he is undocumented, it was a chance to make steady money -- $150 a day to tear down and replace a warehouse roof in South Central Houston. At first, Cristobal was paid every day, getting a wad of cash from the man who transported workers to the job site. But as the project neared completion, the paydays stopped coming until Cristobal was owed $1,350. He's still waiting to get paid and still trying to get the contractor to answer his phone. "All I want is the money I was promised," he said. Cristobal is not alone. More than a quarter of Houston's day laborers were victims of wage theft within the first four weeks Hurricane Harvey recovery, according to a new report commissioned by the local Fe y Justicia Worker Center advocacy group and published by the University of Illinois at Chicago. Unpaid wages ranged from $212 to $2,700, according to the findings, based on a survey of 361 day laborers in Houston. Wage theft is a common threat in the construction industry, especially in the mad dash for reconstruction work after a natural disaster, but researchers found that undocumented day laborers are particularly vulnerable. Undocumented workers are often the target of unscrupulous contractors, who hire untrained workers, cut corners on safety and steal wages, confident that the workers' fear of deportation will keep them silent. Shortly after Harvey, workers like Cristobal were hired in droves across the city, according to Rodolfo Elizalde, day laborer and board member at Fe y Justicia. Within weeks, many started reporting that contractors were delaying payments. Some contractors stopped showing up to pay workers. Others would take the workers out to grab a complimentary drink at a gas station convenience store, stranding them there without money as they drove off. Ervin, an undocumented electrician and general construction worker, said he worked two months helping to repair a nursing home in Sugarland. A week before the project was completed, the contractor stopped paying him. He's owed $920, but he fears that reporting the wage theft to police or a state agency would end in his arrest. That's left him with barely enough to pay rent after sending money to the family he left behind in Guatemala. The exploitation of undocumented workers is one of several issues facing the local construction industry as the Houston area rebuilds after Harvey's devastation, the Fe y Justicia study found. Typically, migrant workers -- typically immigrants and many of them undocumented-- flock to disaster zones to find work. But few have come to the region to ease an acute labor shortage that is slowing the recovery, researchers foundMarianela Acuna Arreaza, executive director of the Fe y Justicia Worker Center, said that policies and laws aimed at increasing immigration enforcement in the United States and Texas, may have played a role in dissuading any influx of workers from participating in Harvey recovery. She specifically noted Senate Bill 4, which allows police officers in Texas to question a detained person's immigration status. The law is being challenged in federal court. "It's creating a chilling environment for workers," said Nik Theodore, the author of the report and a professor of urban planning and policy at the University of Illinois. Supporters of SB 4, however, argue that the law is a public safety measure, aimed at protecting people from criminals here illegally. Stan Marek, chief executive of the Houston construction firm Marek Bros., said labor shortages are bad for business. Well before Harvey barreled through the Gulf Coast, the construction industry faced a shortage of skilled workers.. In August, the Associated General Contractors of America found that 70 percent of surveyed construction companies were having a hard time filling hourly craft positions. Marek said he has had to turn down projects because he doesn't have enough workers. The lack of workers, he added, has also meant that jobs that used to take a day to complete can now take two to three weeks. "One of the consequences of what's been happening on the immigration enforcement front," he said, "has been to exacerbate the labor shortage in the construction industry." Marek has long proposed a program to grant temporary legal status to undocumented workers who have lived in the city for at least five years. That would allow more contractors to hire the workers, pay them on the books and protect the workers from wage theft, unsafe conditions and other unscrupulous practices. In the meantime, groups like Fe y Justicia, have hosted their own training programs for immigrant workers and offer guidance for filing wage theft claims. The McDonald's museum in Des Plaines, Ill., a replica of Ray Kroc's first restaurant, is slated to be torn down next month. Kroc, considered by the company to be the founder of the modern chain, built his first restaurant in 1955 after franchising the brand from the original owners, Richard and Maurice McDonald. The Des Plaines restaurant was torn down in 1984, the same year Kroc died. The McDonald's Store No. 1 Museum opened the next year. Repeated flooding led the museum to close off interior access in 2008. McDonald's said visitors to the site have declined in the last decade. Flooding in the area also continues to be a problem. "We have decided to permanently close the replica of McDonald's first franchised restaurant and hope to donate the land to the City of Des Plaines," McDonald's said in a statement. "The re-created restaurant has not regularly welcomed visitors since closing to the public 10 years ago. This combined with the building's location and the feasibility to reopen and maintain it led us to this decision. This property in Des Plaines will always have a special place in our company's history." McDonald's plans to apply for a permit this week to demolish the structure. The original McDonald's restaurant in Des Plaines was the ninth McDonald's restaurant in the country, but the company considers the location to be the birthplace of the modern version of the chain, which has over 36,000 restaurants around the world today. Des Plaines City Manager Michael Bartholomew didn't immediately return requests for comment. Hackers stole the personal data of 57 million customers and drivers from Uber Technologies, a massive breach that the company concealed for more than a year. This week, the ride-hailing company ousted Joe Sullivan, chief security officer, and one of his deputies for their roles in keeping the hack under wraps. Compromised data from the October 2016 attack included names, email addresses and phone numbers of 50 million Uber riders around the world, the company told Bloomberg on Tuesday. The personal information of about 7 million drivers were accessed as well, including some 600,000 U.S. driver's license numbers. No Social Security numbers, credit card details, trip location info or other data were taken, Uber said. Now Playing: Uber's latest project is prevent travel sickness during rides. According to a new patent, the company wants to use vibrating and moving seats along with other features to help ease passengers who may feel sick. Uber said in patent The technology will be important for its fleet of self-driving cars, and it will help relax passengers as the car makes turns, brakes, or accelerates. There will also be an airflow system aimed at the passenger's head, legs, and other body parts. Video: Wibbitz At the time of the incident, Uber was negotiating with U.S. regulators investigating separate claims of privacy violations. Uber now says it had a legal obligation to report the hack to regulators and to drivers whose license numbers were taken. Instead, the company paid hackers $100,000 to delete the data and keep the breach quiet. Uber said it believes the information was never used but declined to disclose the identities of the attackers. "None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it," Dara Khosrowshahi, who took over as chief executive officer in September, said in an emailed statement. "We are changing the way we do business." Hackers have successfully infiltrated numerous companies in recent years. The Uber breach, while large, is dwarfed by those at Yahoo, MySpace, Target, Anthem and Equifax. What's more alarming are the extreme measures Uber took to hide the attack. The breach is the latest explosive scandal Khosrowshahi inherits from his predecessor, Travis Kalanick. Kalanick, Uber's co-founder and former CEO, learned of the hack in November 2016, a month after it took place, the company said. Uber had just settled a lawsuit with the New York attorney general over data security disclosures and was in the process of negotiating with the Federal Trade Commission over the handling of consumer data. Kalanick declined to comment on the hack. Sullivan spearheaded the response to the hack last year, a spokesman told Bloomberg. Sullivan, a onetime federal prosecutor who joined Uber in 2015 from Facebook, has been at the center of much of the decision-making that has come back to bite Uber this year. Bloomberg reported last month that the board commissioned an investigation into the activities of Sullivan's security team. This project, conducted by an outside law firm, discovered the hack and the ensuing cover-up, Uber said. Here's how the hack went down: Two attackers accessed a private GitHub coding site used by Uber software engineers and then used login credentials they obtained there to access data stored on an Amazon Web Services account that handled computing tasks for the company. From there, the hackers discovered an archive of rider and driver information. Later, they emailed Uber asking for money, according to the company. A patchwork of state and federal laws require companies to alert people and government agencies when sensitive data breaches occur. Uber said it was obligated to report the hack of driver's license information and failed to do so. "At the time of the incident, we took immediate steps to secure the data and shut down further unauthorized access by the individuals.," Khosrowshahi said. "We also implemented security measures to restrict access to and strengthen controls on our cloud-based storage accounts." Uber has earned a reputation for flouting regulations in areas where it has operated since its founding in 2009. The U.S. has opened at least five criminal probes into possible bribes, illicit software, questionable pricing schemes and theft of a competitor's intellectual property, people familiar with the matters have said. The San Francisco-based company also faces dozens of civil suits. London and other governments have taken steps toward banning the service, citing what they say is reckless behavior by Uber. In January 2016, the New York attorney general fined Uber $20,000 for failing to promptly disclose an earlier data breach in 2014. After last year's cyberattack, the company was negotiating with the FTC on a privacy settlement even as it haggled with the hackers on containing the breach, Uber said. The company finally agreed to the FTC settlement three months ago, without admitting wrongdoing and before telling the agency about last year's attack. The new CEO said his goal is to change Uber's ways. Uber said it informed New York's attorney general and the FTC about the October 2016 hack for the first time on Tuesday. Khosrowshahi asked for the resignation of Sullivan and fired Craig Clark, a senior lawyer who reported to Sullivan. The men didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. The company said its investigation found that Salle Yoo, the outgoing chief legal officer who has been scrutinized for her responses to other matters, hadn't been told about the incident. Her replacement, Tony West, will start at Uber on Wednesday and has been briefed on the cyberattack. Kalanick was ousted as CEO in June under pressure from investors, who said he put the company at legal risk. He remains on the board and recently filled two seats he controlled. "While I can't erase the past, I can commit on behalf of every Uber employee that we will learn from our mistakes," Khosrowshahi said in the emailed statement. Uber said it has hired Matt Olsen, a former general counsel at the National Security Agency and director of the National Counterterrorism Center, as an adviser. He will help the company restructure its security teams. Uber hired Mandiant, a cybersecurity firm owned by FireEye, to investigate the hack. The company plans to release a statement to customers saying it has seen "no evidence of fraud or misuse tied to the incident." Uber said it will provide drivers whose licenses were compromised with free credit protection monitoring and identity theft protection. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuelan authorities detained the acting president of Citgo, the state-owned oil company's U.S. subsidiary, and five other executives for their alleged involvement in a corruption scheme, officials said Tuesday. Jose Pereira, who works from Citgo's headquarters in Houston, and five Citgo vice presidents are suspected of embezzlement stemming from a $4 billion agreement to refinance company bonds, said Venezuela's chief prosecutor, Tarek William Saab. The deal provided "unconscionable and unfavorable" terms for state oil giant PDVSA and offered Citgo itself as a guarantee on repayment without prior government approval, said Saab. Saab described the Citgo executives as facilitators for U.S. international pressure on Venezuela's oil sector, "putting at risk Citgo's assets while obtaining personal benefits." Officials at Citgo distanced themselves from the arrests, saying in a statement that the company operates independently and meets the standards and regulations set by the United States. A spokesman said the company would continue to operate normally and supply its products to customers. "We are monitoring the situation very closely and are using the full strength of our resources to bring prompt resolution to this matter," a Citgo spokesman said. "Our priority is to protect the interests of our company and our employees." Citgo was founded as an American company more than 100 years ago but has operated as a PDVSA subsidiary for three decades. The company employs about 4,000 worker and contractors in the United States, including more than 800 in Houston. Citgo has about 160 branded gas stations in the Houston area, and about 5,500 stations nationwide. Citgo also owns oil refineries in Corpus Christi; Lake Charles, La.; and Illinois. Saab accused the men of acting as spies for North American interests in exchange for a few dollars. The detentions are part of an ongoing investigation by Venezuelan authorities into the country's oil sector, which has struggled in recent years amid mismanagement and declining production. Thus far, Saab's office has made nearly 60 arrests related to corruption involving PDVSA. In a televised address, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro urged employees of the state-run oil company to stand with him in the fight against corruption and attacks from the U.S. government. "While I'm working hard every day, there's a group of bandits stealing from the people," he said. "What's that called? Treason." Mark Jones, a professor of Latin American studies at Rice University's Baker Institute of Public Policy, noted that the arrests come as Venezuela is falling into a worsening economic crisis, with widespread shortages of food and medical supplies across the country. Maduro's strategy has been to try to deflect attention from the economic crisis, Jones said. "It's more a political show," Jones said. "The story they want to promote is the declining energy production (in Venezuela) is not the result of government policy. "It's the result of corruption and unpatriotic acts by members of the PDVSA and Citgo." Ethan Bellamy, an energy analyst at Robert W. Baird & Co., called the arrests of the Citgo executives appalling and politically motivated. "This self-immolation by the Maduro regime will guarantee no more foreign investment in Venezuela for a generation," Bellamy said. "How much deprivation and starvation will this man and his lackeys inflict upon the Venezuelan people to perpetuate his cabal?" Venezuela is under sanctions from United States and Europe and is signaling to creditors that it will not be able to continue payments on what is an estimated $60 billion in government debt. And the debt crisis is only likely to get worse as the country's oil production, already down more than 15 percent since 2015, continues to decline because of a lack of investment in PDVSA. The Venezuelan government and PDVSA officially defaulted on billions of dollars' worth of bonds earlier this month. The International Swaps and Derivatives Association, a group of banks and brokers that determine whether an entity like Venezuela has failed to make on-time payments on its debts, recently voted to say that Venezuela had defaulted. Two other rating agencies - Fitch and Standard & Poor's - have also determined that Venezuela's government is in default. (Fitch is majority owned by the Hearst Corp., the parent company of the Houston Chronicle.) Jordan Blum and James Osborne contributed to this report. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate CorInnova is a Houston startup passing through the Valley of Death. No, not the biblical one, the financial one. Many great efforts in the medical field end because it takes seven to 10 years to transform an idea into a product that is salable and approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The capital-devouring space between the lab and the market is nicknamed the Valley of Death because so few startups make it through, regardless of their products' merit. CorInnova stands a better chance than most, with its device that helps people suffering heart failure. And the startup's CEO, William Altman, has been building health care companies for 25 years. But it will still be a challenge to deliver a device that could save millions of lives. Some 960,000 Americans experience heart failure every year, with 26 million total cases worldwide. Failing hearts are too weak to pump enough blood to meet the body's needs, and 300,000 American die from them every year. There are ventricular assist devices designed to help failing hearts pump blood, but they have all kinds of complications because the machine comes into contact with the blood. The devices will trigger strokes in about 15 percent of patients. CorInnova's device, called EpicHeart, is inserted into the chest and opens like an umbrella to fit around the heart like a thin-film glove. A pacemaker drives a pneumatic chamber that squeezes and relaxes the heart, helping it pump blood at a normal pressure and rate. The idea came from research at Texas A&M University's Cardiac Mechanics Lab by Dr. John Criscione, who was funded by grants from the American Heart Association and the National Institutes of Health. He has since successfully used the device on sheep, which have hearts similar in size to humans. "We have a reliable increase in cardiac output from animals, 30 to 50 percent," Altman said. Criscione, who co-founded CorInnova to commercialize the device, is the chief technology officer. Altman's job is to manage the company and navigate the process of gaining U.S. and European approval to use EpicHeart on humans. Because the device fits around the heart and does not touch the blood, patients do not have the stroke and bleeding complication that come with existing devices. Once approved, the first patients will likely be people waiting on transplants, or people over 72 who often can't handle the other devices, Altman said. "It's way less invasive than an implant, and because we don't touch the blood, we can avoid many, many of the complications that can lead to rehospitalizations," he added. "It can be used on three or four times more patients than the current devices can be used on." Researchers also believe the device could be used to strengthen the hearts of people who have suffered severe heart attacks. Altman said he believes the cost of treatment with EpicHeart would lead to significant cost savings over current devices. CorInnova has another 12 to 18 months of animal testing to complete, and after that, it should be ready to implant the device in a human for the first time. Frequent readers know that I believe the Texas Medical Center should be spinning off more companies and diversifying Houston's economy so that it can thrive without depending on oil and natural gas. And we're making important steps in that direction. Startup incubators and accelerators like JLABS, which is hosting CorInnova, and TMCx are finally building enough wet-lab and office space for inventors to team with entrepreneurs to take on the Valley of Death. What's still needed are more investors and more business expertise. This is where I think Houston's philanthropists may be missing the plot. Generous businesspeople are more than happy to add a wing at a hospital or write a fat check to a charity such as the American Heart Association to finance basic research. But they are not investing in the companies that turn research into products. When a great idea fails to make it into the marketplace, the charitable donation for the research was wasted. The Wellcome Trust, a British-based foundation, has promised CorInnova a $6.1 million matching grant, which means it will match private investor dollars in the company up to that amount. It's called a translation fund, which is convertible into equity in the company if it succeeds. "We're in the Valley of Death, essentially, so they gave us a translation fund award to get our device to the point of being fundable by venture capitalists, and once we're first-in-human, I know we are venture fundable," Altman said. "They measure success by the number of things that actually make it into the clinic." If CorInnova fails, Wellcome will have contributed to very worthy research. If the device succeeds, the profits can be reinvested in other startups. That's the kind of thinking that helps Houston's medical startups succeed and an attitude more Houstonians should consider adopting. Two Texas lawmakers said Tuesday they would consider changing state law to better protect patients caught in the fight between doctors and insurers. The legislators joined a chorus this week of consumer and patient advocacy groups, along with national health policy experts, who are dismayed by a system that forces unsuspecting patients to pay significantly higher rates from out-of network doctors even at in-network hospitals. Under a multimillion-dollar business practice called balance billing, doctors can demand that patients make up what insurance companies do not pay. In some cases, emerging evidence indicates doctors may be staying out of network intentionally to charge more and increase profits. In Texas, unlike in other states, it is up to patients who feel wronged to initiate a billing mediation between warring doctors and insurers, potentially putting themselves in the middle. "There's no genuine need for them to be involved," said John Smithee, R-Amarillo, former head of the House's Insurance Committee and longtime champion of patient protection against surprise out-of-network medical bills. He said he would back a law change to remove patients from the fight. State Sen. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, issued a similar statement. "I would be happy to consider further changes to ensure that patients who go to network facilities do not have to be burdened with unexpected bills." Balance billing will be discussed at a Dec. 6 public hearing by the House insurance committee in Austin. Both lawmakers have indicated they would be open to removing patients from the mediation process after an investigation of billing practices called "Blindsided" appeared Sunday in the Houston Chronicle. 'Games being played' In "Blindsided," doctors argued that having patients involved in the reimbursement battle with insurers can help extract higher payments. Readers reacted angrily across social media in the days since publication. "Instead of medical alert tags that say DNR (do not resuscitate) we'll need one that says in-network only," tweeted one follower. "This is just not right and should not happen in our state. These out-of-network games being played in emergency rooms are costing Texans thousands of dollars and the #txlege needs to do something about it," read another. "Forcing patients to be in the middle is both cruel and greedy," said Vivian Ho, a health economist at Rice University's Baker Institute of Public Policy. She said in an interview it was using patients as "human shields." Smithee agreed. Patients are "dealing with two fairly sophisticated parties, and they are usually much less sophisticated. There's no reason for them to be there." He accused both doctors and insurers of "using patients as a bargaining tool." Florida, California, Illinois and New York have all passed laws to get patients out of the mediation process. In those states, if patients go to in-network hospitals for emergencies they are charged an in-network rate regardless of the doctors' insurance status. If doctors and insurers want to dispute the bill they do so separate from patient involvement. Not all state lawmakers, though, are completely onboard with a potential change. Dr. Tom Oliverson, an anesthesiologist and a Harris County Republican legislator who serves on the House insurance committee, is wary of any move to remove patients from the process without fuller study on how it might affect health care costs. "You could certainly do that because other states have done it," he said Tuesday. But he added, "It is hard to answer yes or no because there are so many unknowns." Three times in the past eight years, Texas lawmakers have attempted to tackle the problem of balance billing by first establishing and then expanding and fine- tuning the mediation process. In May, Gov. Greg Abbott signed the latest version. Many consumer protections have been enhanced, such as including more medical specialties and facilities, and dropping the threshold of disputed bills to $500 from $1,000. But concern remains that the process is still cumbersome for patients and adds more stress during a vulnerable time. "It's like mom and dad fighting, and we are saying the kids have to get the parents to go to counseling," said Stacey Pogue, a senior policy analyst for the Austin-based Center for Public Policy Priorities. "The kids aren't causing the problem, and the kid doesn't have the power to fix it." Smithee acknowledged that any legislative action to remove patients from mediation would face stiff headwinds from some doctors who fear they would lose advantage against the more powerful insurance industry. Oliverson falls at least partly into that camp. He sees positives in having patients involved because they can contribute to the resolution. Doctors say they balance bill patients only as a last resort to come closer to recouping their actual costs. They complain they are being shut out of narrowing insurance networks and insurers offer unrealistic "take-it-or-leave" reimbursement rates. Insurers fire back that doctors, especially those in emergency settings where patients have no way of knowing in advance who will treat them, are intentionally resisting joining networks so they can bill at higher rates. Carefully planned expenses The Chronicle reported that in Texas, 48 percent of overall claims from emergency room physicians were outside the networks of the state's three largest insurers, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, Aetna and UnitedHealthcare, according to internal claims data compiled by the Texas Association of Health Plans, the state's health insurance trade association. That compares with less than 10 percent in virtually every other specialty, with many like obstetrics-gynecology as low as 3 percent, the data showed. Economists for the Federal Trade Commission found that the likelihood of Texas patients getting an out-of-network bill after out-patient emergency room treatment is 27 percent - nearly double the national average of 14 percent. "I believe the (Chronicle) article hit home with many people living with multiple sclerosis. They have higher-than-average health care needs," said Simone Nichols-Segers, senior manager of advocacy for the national Multiple Sclerosis Society. "They face extraordinarily large health care costs, even with insurance." "Most families with MS carefully plan for their expected medical expenses each year, and getting a 'surprise' out-of-network bill from a necessary ER visit can be financially devastating for them," she said. Blake Hutson, associate director of AARP Texas, would like to see the state follow the lead of others where mediation is automatically triggered when patients get certain surprise bills. Currently only about 1 percent of Texans who could use the process do so, something he blames for the lack of awareness and difficulty navigating the system. "Texas has a good mediation process," he said, "if you can get in the door." Flash Tianjin Binhai Bird Watching Festival was held Nov 17 at Dagang Grand Theater in Tianjin Binhai New Area. [Photo by Zhang Xingjian/chinadaily.com.cn] Co-organized by the Department of Wildlife Conservation and Nature Reserve Management of Chinas State Forestry Administration and the Peoples Government of Tianjin Binhai New Area, the opening ceremony of the Third Tianjin Binhai Bird Watching Festival was held Nov 17 at Dagang Grand Theater in Tianjin Binhai New Area and Beidagang Wetland Nature Reserve respectively. With a theme of ecological nature in Tianjins Binhai New Area, the festival calls attention to the importance and significance of protecting migratory birds and wetlands. The overall ecological condition of the Beidagang wetland nature reserve shows a positive trend after a series of measures having been taken in the past year. My team has conducted the survey recently and found that the diversity of migratory birds in this area has grown and the wetland has become more suitable for birds to stay, said Zhang Zhengwang, professor from Beijing Normal University, at the Tianjin-based International Symposium on Coastal Wetlands and Waterfowl Protection. Beidagang wetland nature reserve [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] The Beidagang wetland nature reserve in North Chinas coastal city Tianjin has witnessed more than 70,000 migratory birds this year. The wetland, covering 348.87 million square meters, is a stop for birds migrating from Inner Mongolia to the Bohai Gulf in the eastern part of China. It is a key component of one of worlds eight bird migration routes. Since early November, birds including swans, wild geese and about 100 endangered Oriental white stork have arrived at the wetland, said Yang Jiwen, director of the Beidagang Wildlife Protection Station. According to Yang, over one million birds of 200 species stop over in Beidagang wetland every year. About 500 volunteers are working with the station to feed the birds and protect them from poaching. Wang Jianmin, a volunteer, told Xinhua News Agency they havent found illegal hunters. We will cast fish feed to make sure the birds have enough food for winter. Tianjin Binhai Bird Watching Festival was held Nov 17 at Dagang Grand Theater in Tianjin Binhai New Area. [Photo by Zhang Xingjian/chinadaily.com.cn] Meanwhile, the Tianjin Binhai Wetlands Conservation Entrepreneur Alliance is one of the highlights of the festival. Lu Xue, director of the Dagang Branch of the Tianjin Agricultural Bank, said that enterprises have strived to utilize the advantages of most enterprises platforms to protect Beidagang wetland nature reserve. Enterprises can pool resources and connect people from all walks of life, which can help more people understand the necessity of protecting our nature. The 2017 Tianjin Binhai Bird Watching Festival lasts until May 10, 2018. During the festival, a variety of events including photography exhibitions, cultural shows and voluntary activities will be held in turns. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Houstonians leased about 17,000 apartments in the two months after Hurricane Harvey, far more than this region leases in most years, new data show. The supercharged rental activity has led to a swift reversal in Houston's multifamily market. Landlords who were offering as many as three months of free rent before the storm are now able to raise prices, especially if they're near residential neighborhoods most affected by the hurricane. "It's almost bordering on a year and a half worth of absorption in two months," said Bruce McClenny, president of ApartmentData.com, citing the new leases logged in September and October. Yet even as landlords enjoy fuller apartment buildings and higher rents, their good fortunes may be limited. "Next year, there's a potential for 17,000 people to move out," McClenny said. Indeed, thousands of Houstonians will move back into their newly repaired homes in 2018, and there may not be enough demand to refill the vacancies. Creating further uncertainty are the 15,662 damaged apartment units being repaired and coming back online and the units still under construction. As homeowners move back into their houses, rent levels could stall or even fall back, McClenny said. Swapnil Agarwal, founder and managing principal of Nitya Capital, still has a bullish outlook on rent growth. During Houston's recent oil bust, developers put the brakes on starting new projects, and little will come online in the coming years to accommodate demand, benefiting existing properties, said Agarwal, whose company owns 29 apartment complexes in the Houston area. "All of a sudden, the demand is outpacing the supply," he said. Renters in October paid an average of $1,105 for an apartment, the highest average rate in two years, a report from Richardson-based real estate analytics firm Axiometrics shows. That's $19 more than September's rate and $30 more than October 2016. Occupancy across the Houston area increased to 93.7 percent, the highest rate in almost two years, the company said. The market's rebound is mixed, depending on location. Apartment complexes that have seen the most benefit are in Tomball, Spring, Katy and the Energy Corridor, where high-end subdivisions were flooded after the reservoir releases. "Those people up and down Buffalo Bayou in high-priced homes in well-to-do neighborhoods had the means to say, 'Hey. let's go to those apartments in CityCentre and up and down I-10 that didn't get damaged,' " McClenny said. In those areas, rental specials have disappeared. On the flip side, landlords are still offering concessions in Montrose, downtown, the Medical Center and the Galleria area. Catalyst, a new downtown tower near Minute Maid Park, is offering one month of free rent. The building is about 12 percent leased, and renters only began moving into the building after the storm. Three or four of the new renters were displaced after Harvey flooded their homes, developer Darren Sloniger said. He doesn't expect them to return to their homes for at least a year. Across Houston, a certain number of post-Harvey renters may never return to homeownership. "Our leasing agents tell us why people are looking to move and many are selling their homes and moving into apartments," Sloniger said. McClenny expects that group to be a small one. "I imagine most are going to become homeowners somewhere else (in Houston) or somewhere different than where they lost their home," he said. "I do believe most of them will leave the apartments." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 2 1 of 2 JASON HENRY/STR Show More Show Less 2 of 2 Richard Drew/STF Show More Show Less Meg Whitman is stepping down as chief executive of Hewlett Packard Enterprise six years after joining its corporate predecessor and leading a turnaround effort that split the Silicon Valley icon in two. Whitman, 61, will retire in February, the company said on Tuesday. She will be succeeded by Antonio Neri, 50, Hewlett Packard Enterprise's president. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Will Byers should not be able to push his tall-for-age-7 body through the water, swimming from one side of the pool to the other. But there he was with his father, Tim Byers, who stood chest-deep in a backyard pool in The Woodlands, beckoning for Will to swim to him. "All the way! Kick! Kick!" the 33-year-old dad encouraged. "Kick! Kick!" Will repeated. Will kicked furiously until he reached his dad's outstretched arms on the other side. "Good job, buddy!" Tim said, beaming. It was Will's fourth year taking swimming lessons, and his abilities had improved against all odds. The muscles on his slender body should be deteriorating, and his mental functions should be slowing. He shouldn't be able to learn new skills, such as swimming, or to complete a kids triathlon, like the one he finished in July. At least, according to his diagnosis. Will's mom, Valerie, watched the scene from inside the patio gate and struggled to hold back tears of sadness and anger. To think that the key to Will's progress had been yanked away from them when a clinical drug trial was canceled with no warning. To have hope stripped away just as it had begun to take root seemed like a cruel joke. *** More online To learn more about Sanfilippo Syndrome or to donate to the Cure Sanfilippo Foundation, visit curesff.org. To follow the Byers family and their journey with SanFilippo Syndrome, follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @WILLPowerMPS. See More Collapse Tim Byers and Valerie Tharp were college sweethearts. They fell in love at the idyllic, tree-lined Marietta College in Ohio as Valerie earned her master's degree in psychology and Tim completed a bachelor's in petroleum engineering. A few months after graduation, on Sept. 30, 2006, Valerie put on her "puffy, Cinderella princess" dress and married Tim in front of 300 friends and family members. In the months leading up to their wedding, Valerie and Tim participated in Pre-Cana, the marriage course required before a Catholic wedding. Under the guidance of a priest, the couple talked through how they would handle the possible challenges of marriage. What if Tim got skin cancer, like his dad? How many kids would they have? What if they couldn't have kids? They thought they had a plan for anything that could happen. But there was no way to plan for the genetic mutation that they didn't know they both carried. Or for the fact that their genes, together, had a 1-in-4 chance of passing on a rare genetic disorder with no known cure - a disorder that would mean a death sentence. On June 10, 2010, Valerie went to her doctor for a routine checkup at 37 weeks pregnant. Their long-awaited first child was due in July. After examining her, the doctor looked at her with a strange expression. "I think you're in labor." Valerie was having what she thought were Braxton Hicks false contractions, but they were real - and only five minutes apart. At 7:04 p.m. June 11, the baby was born. A boy. Eight pounds, 3 ounces. A bruiser for a child born three weeks premature. That night, when the baby was placed skin to skin on Valerie's chest, and she held him for the first time, a feeling of bliss and wonder overtook her, the pain of labor forgotten. Tim was speechless looking at their son. He was healthy. He was perfect. He was theirs. They named him William, after both Valerie's and Tim's fathers. Will, for short. Now Playing: Will Byers is seven years old. He has Sanfilippo Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder with no known cure. For three years he participated in an experimental drug trial that his family thought was helpful. The trial was cancelled in July. Video: Scott Kingsley, Houston Chronicle *** The next three years passed much the way they do for many new families. Valerie and Tim, an engineer at Anadarko Petroleum Corp. in The Woodlands, shared the joyful and challenging task of parenthood. Will cried, laughed and played just like any other baby. But when Will was 3, they noticed he was not developing the way his friends were. He couldn't hold up three fingers on one hand. He couldn't speak in full sentences. Friends and teachers reassured the nervous parents. He was a little behind, but he'd catch up. In October 2013, Tim and Valerie brought home a baby sister for Will - Samantha. The hazel-eyed parents marveled at the baby girl's blue eyes. That Halloween, the Byers family prepared for their first trick-or-treating experience as a family of four. They would all dress up as Peanuts characters: Will as Charlie Brown, Tim as Linus, Valerie as Lucy and baby Samantha as the Great Pumpkin. Before they left to trick-or-treat, Will overheard his grandmother say that she wanted a cup of coffee. The 3-year-old impulsively ran to the kitchen and pulled the pot of boiling coffee from the counter, shattering it against the cabinet and dousing himself in the steaming liquid. Will screamed in pain, and the family rushed him to the Texas Medical Center. He'd sustained second-degree burns on the right side of his body. Over the next 10 months, Valerie struggled to care for baby Samantha and Will. His impulsivity and hyperactivity were increasing. Valerie had to hold tight to his wrist in parking lots to keep him from running out into traffic. He was still falling behind his classmates in school and had trouble pedaling his tricycle. At his 4-year-old wellness check, Will missed two milestones: He couldn't stand on one foot or trace an X. The doctor sent him to a specialist, who diagnosed autism spectrum disorder. Tim and Valerie were floored. Valerie, who was a psychology professor at Lone Star College-Kingwood, had worked with autistic children before and never recognized the signs in Will. The diagnosis didn't sit right with her, but they enrolled their son in a child-development preschool program, and he started therapy. One day in February, six months after Will's diagnosis, Samantha and Will lay down for a nap at the same time - a rare occurrence. Valerie finally had some time to herself to catch up on the news online. As she was reading, she came across an article from the "Today Show" about a 5-year-old girl in South Carolina who had an extremely rare genetic condition called Sanfilippo Syndrome. Her cells were missing an enzyme that breaks down waste, allowing it to build up over time and cause severe damage. She would slowly lose the ability to talk, walk, feed herself and, eventually, breathe. She was unlikely to live past her teens. The disease's symptoms were large head size, hyperactivity, inability to gauge pressure. Valerie broke down crying. That's what Will has, she thought. Valerie called Will's pediatrician and explained her fear. The doctor agreed to test for the disorder and, the next day, Valerie took a urine sample to the same lab where she had found out she was pregnant with Will five years prior. For a week, Valerie and Tim put the kids to bed and then went over and over the symptoms, clinging to any indication they were wrong. Sanfilippo kids generally had a lot of ear infections. Will didn't. They tend to have trouble sleeping. Will slept fine. The symptoms Will displayed could just be coincidences. On the day that they expected the test results, Valerie stayed in the house all day, afraid of missing the phone call. At 3 p.m., she stepped outside for a few minutes to get Will from the school bus and when she returned, the answering machine was beeping. She called the doctor's office back immediately but was put on hold. As she waited, Valerie let Will and Samantha out into the backyard to play in the sandbox. Will laughed and dug into the sand with a toy shovel, and Valerie knew it was the last time she would look with such innocence at her boy. That night, after Valerie's fears were confirmed and Will and Samantha were in bed, she and Tim broke down in sobs on the couch. "We were so happy," Valerie repeated, over and over. Then another horrible thought hit her. What about Samantha? It took two more weeks to get results back from Samantha's test. Two weeks when Valerie couldn't sleep, fearing she'd be forced to watch both of her children die. When the result came back negative, Valerie felt a wave of relief immediately followed by guilt. How could she be happy when one child would die, even if the other wouldn't? *** Dr. Sylvester Sanfilippo, a pediatrician and researcher at the University of Minnesota, identified the genetic mutation that caused cells to form without an essential enzyme in 1963. The missing enzyme breaks down heparan sulfate - a complex sugar molecule produced by the body for communication between cells, blood clotting and the building of connective tissue, nerve tissue and skin. Without the enzyme, the heparan sulfate builds in cells as waste, gradually damaging all of the body's functions. The genetic disorder affects 1 in every 70,000 births. It often goes misdiagnosed as autism because so few medical personnel are familiar with signs of the rare disease. In the 54 years since Sanfilippo presented the research, no cure or treatment has been discovered. Most parents, upon receiving their child's deadly diagnosis, are told there's nothing they can do except go home and love them. It was a directive that Glenn and Cara O'Neill were not willing to accept when their daughter, Eliza, got the diagnosis in 2013. The couple scoured the medical community and found that a handful of researchers had been working on treatments over the years, but none had been used in humans yet. One gene-therapy treatment had progressed to pre-clinical trials and seemed to be working in mice, but it lacked funding to take it to human trials. The O'Neills raised more than $1.8 million for the gene-therapy trial, even knowing that Eliza might not be selected as a participant. Their story was reported by the "Today Show" in the article Valerie read in February 2015. The O'Neills' efforts paid off. Eliza was injected with the one-time experimental therapy last year. But they couldn't stop there. The O'Neills started the Cure Sanfilippo Foundation, an organization focused on raising money for potential treatments and supporting afflicted families. Most important, it aggressively advocates for medical research. For all of these children, there is only one hope: clinical trials. *** Valerie, who is now 36, refers to the three months after Will's diagnosis as "the dark time." She can hardly remember anything aside from grief. Almost as soon as she suspected Will had Sanfilippo, she took to social media, desperate to connect with other families. She reached out to the Davis family in Florida who had two children, Ross and Meredith, afflicted with the disease. Meredith had been accepted into a clinical drug trial for children with Sanfilippo Type B - the same type as Will - that would be conducted at the University of Minnesota Masonic Children's Hospital in Minneapolis. There were 11 slots, and they'd already filled 10. The Davis family told the doctors conducting Meredith's trial about the kid from Texas. They wanted him to join the test group. The Byers family flew to Minneapolis and met with the doctors, who explained that the trial would stretch over three years, and Will would have to travel to Minneapolis once every two weeks to receive a dose of the drug. The first year, he would receive only a half-dose to test its safety. If it was safe, he'd get two years of the full dose. Alexion, the pharmaceutical company focused on rare-disease treatments sponsoring the trial, would study the results of the drug, looking for a reduction of heparan sulfate - the waste Sanfilippo patients can't break down - and would measure the effect on neurocognitive function of the patients. Participating in the trial would mean a lot of sacrifices. Valerie would not be able to return to work if she had to fly to Minneapolis every other week. They'd have to find a baby sitter for Samantha. It wouldn't be easy taking Will on a plane so often. There was no guarantee that the drug would help at all. But they knew what would happen if they didn't do the trial, and that wasn't an option. Elizabeth Conley/Staff *** Valerie and Will fell into a routine. Every other Wednesday, they would put on their custom "Will Power" T-shirts - purple for rare-disease awareness. They'd stop at Smashburger for lunch on the way to the airport, sit through the three-hour flight, check in to the Marriott Minneapolis Downtown hotel, then walk across the street to Chipotle to get Will a quesadilla. They'd wake up early on Thursday to be at the hospital at 8 a.m. for the drug infusion. Then, it was the flight back to Houston and home before dinner. As the weeks turned into months, Will began to regress, but his parents thought it seemed to be at a slower rate than other Sanfilippo kids his age. His five- to seven-word sentences shrank to two words, but he could still speak. His hyperactivity and impulsivity continued to increase, but his organs were no longer swollen. He was still sleeping well and didn't have joint pain. He even showed some cognitive gains on one of the trial tests. The gains weren't huge, but Tim and Valerie were relieved that the drug seemed to be stabilizing Will. Maybe they'd get a few more years with him. The drug, known as SBC-103, received Orphan Drug designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which meant that pharmaceutical companies would receive incentives and grants to encourage the development of the treatment. Rare diseases falling under the Orphan Drug Act collectively affect 25 million to 30 million - or 10 percent - of Americans, according to the National Organization for Rare Disorders, and accounted for 8 percent of total drug sales in 2016. Though treatments for more common illnesses usually bring profit for pharmaceutical firms, rare-disease treatments don't have a broad enough base to generate revenue. That's why the FDA provides incentives. SBC-103 showed signs of stabilizing children with Sanfilippo Syndrome and reduced the heparan sulfate by an average of 26 percent after 24 weeks of receiving the drug, Alexion reported in March 2016. The data matched what Tim and Valerie thought they were seeing in Will - an improved quality of life. They considered themselves lucky to have the treatment. The first red flag came in late 2016. Shire Pharmaceuticals, which was sponsoring an enzyme-replacement clinical trial for more than 20 Sanfilippo Type A children, suddenly canceled it. Then, Alexion stopped releasing data from the study. Soon came the announcement that Alexion would not expand the drug trial, but the trial would continue the prescribed three years. Tim and Valerie breathed. That gave them some time to come up with a plan. Maybe another company would buy the drug and take it to market. Maybe they could work with the FDA to advance the drug. They held onto hope. On June 11, 2017, Will turned 7. Every birthday meant another year of the disease's progression - another year of not knowing how many birthdays Will had left. Another month passed, and in late July, Valerie was waiting to board a flight to Chicago for a rare visit with her high school best friend. It was there she got a message from another family in the SBC-103 trial that it had been canceled. She called Dr. Chester Whitley, the investigator on the trial. He said he hadn't heard anything about a cancellation. But hours later, after she arrived in Chicago, Whitley called back. He'd spoken with Alexion. It was true, the trial had been canceled. Valerie's mouth hung open in a silent scream. She wanted to bawl and yell and swear. She called Tim. "It's done." *** "Alexion has made the difficult decision to end the SBC-103 Program and all studies evaluating SBC-103 in patients. The lack of neurocognitive improvement in this study does not support further development therapy should be discontinued as soon as possible." Alexion released a statement on July 18 saying the changes in heparan sulfate waste levels were small at 24 weeks and not maintained at 52 weeks, and the drug would not be released for "compassionate use" since it was deemed to lack evidence of clinical efficacy. They would destroy whatever drugs remained. Valerie and Tim were heartbroken and angry. Maybe SBC-103 wasn't a cure, but they were sure it was helping. Will was still talking, he was swimming and riding his trike. Would he be able to do that without the drug? To them, any benefit was enough. Why couldn't Alexion see that? In its 2016 fourth-quarter report, Alexion reported it had accepted a loss of $85 million because of the cancellation of the SBC-103 trial. The decision was "based on a strategic evaluation of the asset, increases in the development and commercial timelines, and updated cash flows," according to the report. The trial cancellation seems to be a result of the financial incentive structure of the American pharmaceutical industry, said Jessica Roberts, director of the Health Law and Policy Institute at the University of Houston and an expert in bioethics. "Because drugs can be so lucratively commercialized here in the U.S., pharmaceutical companies may decide to abandon research that could do a lot of good in the name of their bottom lines," Roberts said. "This issue is particularly relevant for orphan diseases, where companies may forgo research into a drug with immense therapeutic potential because the market for that drug would be so small. Cases like this one raise important ethical issues for biomedical research." Alexion spokeswoman Kim Diamond said the results from the trial were not what the company had hoped for. "Alexion is disappointed for patients who have been waiting for a potential treatment," Diamond said. Valerie and Tim felt betrayed and abandoned. Will was allowed one last dose of the drug, then he and the rest of his family would fly to Minneapolis again for some final blood work. On their final trip to the Masonic Children's Hospital, Valerie sat next to Will's hospital bed in the same room where he had been dozens of times over the past two years, but this time, he wouldn't get the drug. Instead, hospital staff would draw blood as part of the exit process. Tired, heartbroken and angry, Valerie started a Facebook Live stream on the WILL Power page that she and Tim had been using to update friends and followers. "If you want to know what hard is, it's being in a hospital room, like, you know, down the hall from the pharmacy that has the drug that can help your kid and not being allowed to have it. It sucks. It sucks a whole lot." Valerie looked up at the ceiling, trying to fight off tears. "It's not right, but it is what it is, and we're going to keep moving forward." Will, whose nickname is Bubby, reached his arm around his mom and patted her on the back, comforting her, before turning back to his breakfast and cartoon. "Thanks, Bub," Valerie said, kissing him on the temple. Elizabeth Conley/Staff *** The day after Will would normally have gotten a dose of the drug, Valerie knew something was wrong. Will became lethargic. Normally, he could hardly sit still. Suddenly, he wouldn't get off the couch. He'd sleep in and take naps in the middle of the day. Previously ravenous, Will stopped wanting to eat. It took nearly an hour of coaxing to get him to take food. Within a month, he lost 5 pounds, and his parents feared they might have to put him on a feeding tube. Their joyful, energetic boy had lost his sparkle. It seemed like he'd regressed three years in just three weeks. Even as they had braced themselves for the end of the drug trial, Valerie and Tim hadn't expected the regression to happen so quickly. They wondered if they would ever see their son run or smile again. So soon, they were discussing the possibility of hospice care for Will. They were terrified. Summer was drawing to a close, and Valerie and Tim would have to decide whether they'd send Will back to school. In the month since he'd had his last dose of the drug, Will's well-being had plummeted but was slowly climbing back up. He was sleeping a little less. He ate a little more. On Aug. 19, he fed himself dinner, smiled and tried to run. In another couple of weeks, he was back to about 90 percent of where he was before the last drug dose. Will's doctors suspected he had gone through severe withdrawal. Yet again, Tim and Valerie felt a relief they knew was temporary. They were grateful that Will wasn't deteriorating so rapidly, but they knew it would happen eventually. He was still toe-walking, a sign that his joints were getting tighter. His belly, which was flat during the trial, was expanding - suggesting his organs were swelling. *** Tim and Valerie felt powerless. They were unable to get Will the drug that they believed was helping him, but they were determined not to give up. Valerie is on the board of the Cure Sanfilippo Foundation and will meet with FDA representatives to talk about changing the way that potential treatments for rare, terminal diseases are handled. She, along with other rare-disease advocates, hope to work with the FDA to change the standards for measuring the success of treatments by taking into consideration any benefits to length or quality of life. If they're successful, families of rare-disease patients in the future may not go through the same heartbreak that their family has endured. October came and brought with it the excitement of Samantha and Valerie's birthdays and Halloween. They'd promised Sam a trip to SeaWorld for the Halloween Spooktacular. After arriving in San Antonio for the Columbus Day weekend, Tim and Valerie got word that Hunter Prost, a 15-year-old with Sanfilippo Syndrome from South Dakota, had died. Instantly, they realized how lucky they were to have this time with Will. As they sat in the audience of the "Who Said Boo?!" show at SeaWorld and watched the characters from "Sesame Street" sing and dance in their Halloween costumes, Will couldn't contain his excitement. Tim clasped his fingers around Will's waist to keep him from running onto the stage. Straining against his father's grip, Will jumped and threw his arms in the air along with the music, his joy uninhibited. Valerie watched and soaked in the memory. Every moment with Will was precious, and she knew there would be far too few. By all accounts, it wasn't that great of a concert. But if you were one of the thousands of teens at the Astrodome on March 5, 1972, did it really matter? David Cassidy, well into his run as a teen heartthrob on TV's "The Partridge Family," closed out the 1972 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo with two performances. The 33,620 who attended the afternoon show set a rodeo record for the largest attendance ever for a closing day matinee. The 23,108 who showed up for the evening closer also set an attendance record. The concert though, according to the Houston Post, was apparently marred by a) a poor sound system, b) Cassidy's failing voice thanks to the flu and c) it was at the Astrodome. "It's a beautiful place, but so big," Cassidy told Houston Chronicle TV-Radio Editor Ann Hodges between shows. "It's tough playing in there. There's no way to get close to the audience to reach out and touch them." (In August 1971, Cassidy performed at Hofheinz Pavilion, a considerably more intimate venue compared with the Dome.) Cassidy, who died Tuesday at the age of 67, didn't spare a kind word when asked what he thought of Houston. "I really like this town. Houston has always been good to me. And I've never been anywhere where people were more hospitable." MCSO More than a year after a little girl's school essay outed him as a sexual predator, an elderly Conroe man was sentenced Monday to a decade behind bars for molesting her. Alexander Burleigh, 77, pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree felony indecency with a child in September, although 359th state District Court Judge Kathleen Hamilton handed down a 10-year sentence Monday afternoon. Burleigh was caught on a recorded phone call with the victim's mother admitting to forcing the girl, who was 6 at the time, to touch his genitals inside his Conroe home in 2006. President Donald Trump's vision of a "big, beautiful" wall along the Mexican border may never be realized, and almost certainly not as a 2,000-mile physical structure spanning sea to sea. But in a systematic and less visible way, his administration is following a blueprint to reduce the number of foreigners living in the United States - those who are undocumented and those here legally - and overhaul the U.S. immigration system for generations to come. Across agencies and programs, federal officials are wielding executive authority to assemble a bureaucratic wall that could be more effective than any concrete and metal one. While some actions have drawn widespread attention, others have been put in place more quietly. The administration has moved to slash the number of refugees, accelerate deportations and terminate the provisional residency of more than a million people, among other measures. On Monday, the Department of Homeland Security said nearly 60,000 Haitians allowed to stay in the United States after a devastating 2010 earthquake have until July 2019 to leave or obtain another form of legal status. "He's building a virtual wall by his actions and his rhetoric," said Kevin Appleby, migration policy director for the Center for Migration Studies, a nonprofit think tank. Trump administration officials say they are simply upholding laws their predecessors did not and preserving American jobs. Previous Republican and Democratic administrations were too soft on enforcement, they say, and too rosy in their view of immigration as an unambiguously positive force. "For decades, the American people have been begging and pleading with our elected officials for an immigration system that's lawful and serves the national interest," Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in Austin last month. "Now we have a president who supports that." Bob Dane, executive director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which has pushed for many of the Trump administration's main goals on immigration, said the president has "really scaled back this expansive view of immigration that occurred under the Obama administration." The new restrictions could significantly reduce the number of foreign-born workers in the U.S. labor force, but demographic experts say there is little chance they will alter the country's broader racial and ethnic transformation, which Trump's critics say is his goal. Census projections show the United States will no longer have a single racial or ethnic majority by mid-century, according to the Pew Research Center. Still, by erecting tougher, taller administrative hurdles for foreigners seeking to move to the United States or remain in the country after arriving illegally, the White House is attempting to shift the country back toward the tighter controls on immigration in place before the 1960s. "Within the administration there are a number of key players who are just looking for every opportunity, every program . . . every administrative or regulatory leeway they have to restrict entry into the United States," said Linda Hartke, president and chief executive of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, which resettles refugees. Even as they fight court orders seeking to halt parts of Trump's immigration agenda, Sessions, White House senior adviser Stephen Miller and other key players are finding ways to shrink the immigration system. Miller was an aide to Sessions before both men joined the administration; in less than a year, their immigration policy prescriptions have moved from the realm of think-tank wish lists to White House executive orders. In October, the White House - in a plan led by Miller - said it had conducted a "bottom-up review of all immigration policies" and found "dangerous loopholes, outdated laws, and easily exploited vulnerabilities in our immigration system - current policies that are harming our country and our communities." Trump has endorsed GOP legislation to cut annual, legal immigration by half, reducing the number of green cards issued annually from about 1 million to 500,000. More weight would be given to immigrants with job skills, as opposed to those with extended family in the United States. The president cut the number of refugees the United States is willing to accept annually from 110,000 to 45,000, the lowest level since 1980, and ordered the implementation of a time-consuming "extreme vetting" system that could mean the number of refugees cleared each year is much lower. In October, 1,242 refugees arrived in the United States, down from 9,945 in October 2016. Trump also eliminated a smaller program specifically for refugees fleeing violence in Central America. The Pentagon, citing concerns about vetting, suspended a recruitment program offering skilled foreigners a fast track to citizenship if they serve in uniform. Muzaffar Chishti, the director of the Migration Policy Institute at the New York University School of Law, said nearly 350,000 of the newcomers who arrive legally to the United States each year are the spouses and minor children of U.S. citizens and permanent residents. Since barring those arrivals is not under consideration, Chishti said, the government would have to eliminate or sharply restrict almost all other avenues to reduce the annual number of immigrants to 500,000. In addition to this week's decision on Haitians, the government earlier this month declined to renew Temporary Protected Status, a form of provisional residency, for about 2,500 Nicaraguans. The State Department says conditions in Central America and Haiti that had been used to justify the protection for as long as two decades no longer necessitate a reprieve. Decisions on more than 250,000 Hondurans and Salvadorans with the provisional residency permits are pending. Trump is also ending Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, the Obama administration program that granted work permits to 690,000 young immigrants brought here as children. Trump's administration is expanding immigration courts and detention centers and has ratcheted up deportations from the interior of the United States, where millions of undocumented immigrants with U.S.-born children and no serious criminal records held little fear of expulsion under President Barack Obama. Arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement are up more than 40 percent this year, and the agency wants to more than double its staff by 2023, according to a federal contracting notice published this month. ICE is calling for a major increase in workplace raids and has signed more than two dozen agreements with state and local governments that want to help arrest and detain undocumented residents. "If you're in this country illegally and you committed a crime by entering this country, you should be uncomfortable," Thomas Homan, the top official at ICE, told lawmakers this year. "You should look over your shoulder. And you need to be worried." The president and his aides have pressed forward despite an outcry from advocates and Democratic lawmakers, who in states such as California and Illinois have instructed police and public officials to shun cooperation with ICE. The Trump administration has threatened to strip such "sanctuary" jurisdictions of federal funding in an escalating legal standoff. Trump's tough talk alone appears to be one of the administration's best bulwarks: Illegal crossings along the border with Mexico have plunged to their lowest level in 45 years, and U.S. agents are catching a far greater share of those attempting to sneak in. Applications for H-1B skilled visas and new foreign-student enrollment have also declined. William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, said that until now U.S. immigration rates have largely spared the country from the challenges facing advanced industrial nations such as Japan and Germany that can't replace aging workers fast enough. By slashing immigration, Frey said, the country could end up with labor shortages and other workforce issues. But although some of Trump's most fervent supporters see curbing immigration as a way to turn back the United States' rapid racial and ethnic transformation, Frey said it is an unrealistic goal. By 2020, census projections show minorities will account for more than half of the under-18 U.S. population, because of higher birthrates in nonwhite populations. And by 2026, the number of whites is projected to begin declining in absolute numbers, he said, as deaths exceed births. "You can slow the rate of Latino and Asian immigration, but it won't make the population whiter," Frey said. "It will just become less white at a slower pace." Trump continues to insist his administration will build a border wall, despite exorbitant cost projections and senior DHS officials saying a 2,000-mile structure is impractical. His supporters say they admire the president for plowing ahead in his overhaul efforts and see a historic, generational shift underway. "There is more than one way to get to the goal," Dane said. "Legislative solutions are all great, but clearly the administration has done things behind the scenes. . . . The results have been dramatic." WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump gave a boost Tuesday to embattled Republican candidate Roy Moore in the Alabama Senate race, warning against a Democratic victory and emphasizing that the former judge "totally denies" allegations of inappropriate relationships with teenage girls. "We don't need a liberal person in there, a Democrat," Trump said about Moore's opponent, former federal prosecutor Doug Jones, who has led in some recent polls in the state. "I've looked at his record. It's terrible on crime. It's terrible on the border. It's terrible on military." The comments came after a week in which other Republican leaders in Washington, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Ky., had cut ties with Moore and called on him to exit the race. They also stood in contrast to Trump's own support for the Republican National Committee's decision last week to pull resources from the state, including 14 paid staffers and expertise in using party data to target voters and model the election result. There were no signs Tuesday that the RNC would reverse course, but a senior administration official said the president's comments could prompt a larger effort to close ranks behind Moore. "Normally there would be an outside group dumping $2 or $3 million attacking Doug Jones' record," the official said after the president spoke. "And now that the president has warned against having a liberal Democrat in that seat, that could be taken as signal to the outside groups." Trump spoke as sexual harassment and abuse scandals continued to roil the nation's political landscape. In Congress, new allegations of harassment emerged Tuesday against Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., released a statement calling for an ethics investigation of the matter. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., also faces an ethics probe after admitting to grabbing at the chest of a woman for a photograph while she slept before he was in Congress. Trump - who during the presidential campaign was accused by 11 women of unwanted touching or kissing and was caught on tape boasting of grabbing women's genitals without their consent - declined to comment directly on the allegations against Conyers or Franken but said he was happy that the misbehavior was becoming public. "A lot of things are coming out, and I think that's good for our society, and I think it's very, very good for women, and I'm very happy a lot of these things are coming out, and I'm very happy it's being exposed," he said on the South Lawn of the White House before leaving for Florida, where he will spend the Thanksgiving holiday. Just before the president spoke, the Moore campaign issued a statement in Montgomery, saying they had evidence that cast doubt on the allegations of Leigh Corfman, who says she was touched sexually by Moore when she was 14 and he was in his 30s. The evidence they presented did not contradict Corfman's story. Ben DuPre, a longtime aide to Moore, displayed documents he said were from the Corfman family's divorce file. The Post had obtained and reviewed a copy of the divorce file before publishing Corfman's story. He noted that her parents had concerns at the time, following a divorce, regarding Leigh's behavioral problems, a fact that is not contested. DuPre also claimed that Corfman lived nearly a mile away from the intersection of Alcott Road and Riley Street in Gadsden, Alabama, where she says Moore picked her up. It was not clear what address DuPre was referring to. Corfman and her mother told The Post they lived at the time on Whittier Street, which is just around the corner from the alleged pickup point. DuPre also pointed to a Breitbart article in which Corfman's mother is quoted saying that there was no phone in her daughter's room at the time. Both Corfman and her mother have said they had a phone on a long cord in the hallway that could be brought into Leigh Corfman's room. The RNC broke ties with Moore on Nov. 14 as the president was returning from Asia. There was, however, some disagreement inside the administration at the time about the best path forward. "All the right political people were not read into that decision," said the senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. White House Chief of Staff John Kelly knew about the decision and was part of the discussion. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders later said the president supported the decision. But over the past week, the White House position began to change. In a "Fox & Friends" interview Monday morning, presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway tacitly supported Moore by talking about the importance of keeping Jones, whom she cast as a "doctrinaire liberal," from winning Alabama's Senate seat - a message that was deliberate, one White House official said. Conway alerted Trump in advance that she planned to make the argument against Jones, and the president agreed with the strategy, saying he was eager to see what the response was, the official said. White House aides also realized that Trump had come around to that approach - stressing the importance of keeping the seat in Republican control - when he began making the argument privately. Although his comments to the news media Tuesday afternoon were unplanned, aides were not surprised when Trump made them. In recent days, Trump had also begun expressing skepticism in private about the allegations against Moore. The president pointed to the presence of Gloria Allred - a well-known lawyer for sexual misconduct cases, who is representing one of Moore's accusers - as well as the timing of the accusations, so close to the election, as indicators of a political attack on Moore. Democrats have dominated the broadcast airwaves in Alabama for weeks, spending more than seven times as much as Moore on television and radio ads, according to a Democrat and a Republican tracking the ad data. The latest ad by Jones plays back criticism of Moore that Ivanka Trump, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., gave in the aftermath of allegations that Moore made unwanted advances on teenage girls. Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter, is quoted as saying of the Moore allegations: "There's a special place in hell for people who prey on children." Sessions is quoted from a congressional hearing where he was asked about the Moore story: "I have no reason to doubt these young women." And Shelby, who has been critical of Moore, is quoted about his plan to write in another name on the ballot. The ad targets Republicans and Republican-leaning voters who make up a majority of the state. The goal is to give them permission to vote for a Democrat in the Dec. 12 special election. "Most Alabamians haven't voted for a Democrat for U.S. Senate in a generation," said Zac McCrary, an Alabama-based pollster for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. "You are butting up against a generation of Republican muscle memory," At a short Tuesday afternoon news conference, Jones smiled faintly as a reporter read back Trump's criticism of him as a "soft on crime" liberal. As a federal prosecutor, Jones obtained convictions in the early 2000s of two members of the Ku Klux Klan for their role in the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, which killed four young African-American girls. "I feel like my record speaks for itself," Jones said. "I know my record on crime and criminal-justice issues. I know my record on everything else. We've got three weeks to go, and people are going to make that judgment." Asked if he considered Moore to be a sexual predator, Jones said he was less interested in characterizing his opponent than in listening to the accusers. "I believe the women. I think that answers the question," he said. "I'm not going to call names." With three weeks to go until the vote, it is unclear if a Republican-leaning outside group will invest in the race to attack Jones. Ed Rollins, chairman of the pro-Trump Great America PAC, said that while his group has not made any decisions about what money to invest in Alabama going forward, any future ads probably would be attacking Jones rather than overtly supporting Moore. "We think it's always important that you get someone who is going to be a pro-Trump supporter," Rollins said. "Obviously Alabamians are going to make up their mind. The only advertising we've done to date has been anti-Jones. We've not made any decisions, but if we did anything else, it would be along the same lines." - - - Weigel reported from Huntsville, Alabama. Sean Sullivan and David Nakamura in Washington contributed to this report. A 30-year-old Houston man is charged with kidnapping a woman who was the mother of his two children - and his co-worker at the U.S. Postal Service - after allegedly shooting her in the head and abandoning her uncovered body in the woods, according to a criminal complaint filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas. Don Gaines is scheduled to appear Wednesday morning in federal court on kidnapping charges for taking the body of Gayla Roy from Texas to Louisiana, according to the complaint. He could possibly face the death penalty if convicted. The federal complaint charges that he "did unlawfully seize, confine, kidnap, abduct, and carry away Gayla Roy, without her consent, from Texas to Louisiana for a purpose, namely, to dispose of her body or to kill her." Gaines also was accused in June of assaulting a family member in an unrelated case. "This is sad," wrote a former co-worker on Facebook. "I used to work with both of them. I'm just at a loss for words. Gayla Roy was such a beautiful and outgoing person My prayers for her sons and her family I just can't believe this happened." The Postal Service in recent decades has been hit with violent incidents, often tied to mass slayings in the workplace. Roy's death comes after James Wayne Ham, of Coldspring, killed a postal worker in May 2013. The man shot Eddie "Marie" Youngblood multiple times and eventually set her on fire inside her Jeep Cherokee. Ham was reportedly upset with Youngblood because he thought the postal worker was keeping his mail and re-routing it to his estranged wife, who at the time also was a mail carrier. Ham's trial was continued indefinitely until the Trump administration can review the case, according to documents. In March 2018, both parties are to report the status of the case. Federal prosecutors a year ago also renewed their intent to seek the death penalty. 'Our hearts are broken' In the latest local case, Roy, a 28-year-old postal worker, was reported missing in September by family members after she failed to show up for work at the USPS plant on Aldine Bender Road for two days. "Our hearts are broken," a post read on a Facebook page titled 'Bring Gayla Roy Home.' "Rest In Peace, beautiful girl." Her body was found after Gaines told investigators he left her in the woods off the feeder road of Interstate 10. He told federal agents that on Sept. 11 he choked the woman inside her car and thought he killed her, the complaint states. Roy regained consciousness at some point on the drive and Gaines eventually pulled over on the I-10 feeder road in Louisiana. He took Roy into the woods and shot her in the head with a firearm and abandoned her body, according to the complaint. Investigators from the Houston Postal Division reviewed surveillance video from the workplace and saw both Gaines and Roy leaving the building on Sept. 11 around 6:50 a.m. Gaines told investigators that he rode inside Roy's black 2011 Lincoln MKZ. Family members of the young postal worker also told investigators that Roy had been physically assaulted in the past by Gaines, according to the complaint. Interviewed his mother Days after Roy went missing, investigators also met with Gaines' mother and stepfather. They learned from his mother, Marcia Powell, that on Sept. 11 she saw Gaines enter the house he shared with Powell and her husband. She also saw Roy's car in the driveway, but his mother did not go into the house. Powell said that at one point she noticed both her son and Roy's car were gone, the complaint stated. The last time she saw Gaines was when he asked the next evening to borrow his stepfather's car, a Toyota Scion. GPS records show that Roy's car traveled on Sept. 11 from Gaines' home to somewhere near Iowa, La., but eventually returned back to Houston. The car was recovered by investigators in the 3300 block ofYorktown on Sept 14. Investigators were able to track the man's location after reviewing his cellphone records and observing the Toyota Scion captured on a camera in a Kroger parking lot in Atlanta. They set up surveillance and saw Gaines walking to this car. He was arrested Sept. 18 in connection with the June assault on another woman. Investigators say Gaines confessed after his arrest the details of killing Roy. He said during the drive with Roy, they would argue on and off, but at one point were apologizing to each other, according to the complaint. Investigators were able to recover Roy's body based on interviewing Gaines and the GPS data from her vehicle. He also admitted he did not cover up her body in the woods. An FBI official said Tuesday that the bureau is investigating the death of a border patrol agent and injuring of another as "potential assault," but he wouldn't rule out that they could have been injured in some other way. During a news conference at the bureau's El Paso office, Special Agent in Charge Emmerson Buie Jr. said investigators are still trying to "gather the facts," but they are currently treating it as an assault on a federal officer. Rogelio Martinez, a 36-year-old U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent from El Paso, died Sunday and his partner, whose name has not been released, was seriously injured. They were found late Saturday in a culvert near Van Horn, about 30 miles from the border with Mexico. An FBI spokeswoman, Jeanette Harper, said in a news release Monday that both agents had traumatic head injuries. The agent who survived was hospitalized in serious condition. She told the San Antonio Express-News on Sunday that the agents were "not fired upon," but she didn't elaborate. A U.S. official with knowledge of the investigation told the Associated Press on Monday that Martinez was found at the bottom of the culvert and investigators believe he may have fallen. The official said Martinez's partner, who radioed for help, has no memory of what happened. The official, who was briefed on the investigation but is not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said it happened after dark in an area that's known for drug activity and where agents often look for drugs in culverts. At Tuesday's news conference, Buie and Border Patrol officials who spoke did not say why they believed the agents may have been attacked. Rush Carter, a border patrol supervisor for the region that includes the area where the agents were hurt, said that reports it was an attack were "speculation." But several elected officials, including President Donald Trump, referred to it as such. When asked about the president's remarks Tuesday, Buie said he had not briefed Trump on the investigation. 'Performing regular duties' Carter said all the agency could confirm is that the two "were injured while performing their regular duties." "We are waiting for the investigation to fully determine how those injuries happened," Carter said Monday night. Martinez's father told the El Paso Times that his son suffered serious injuries that left his head "destroyed." The agent repeatedly suffered cardiac arrest before succumbing to his injuries, an emotional Jose Martinez said. "I would tell him, 'Son, that job is too dangerous.' But he would say, 'Dad, it's the job I like. I want to defend my country from terrorists. ... I want to prevent terrorists and drugs from coming into the country,'" Martinez said. Martinez's mother, Elvia Martinez, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that she and her husband didn't yet know any details about the circumstances surrounding their son's death. Rogelio Martinez, father to an 11-year-old, joined the Border Patrol in 2013. Agent was unconscious Authorities have been slow to release information about the investigation. Kevin McAleenan, acting commissioner of CBP, said in a letter sent to border agents on Sunday that Martinez was unconscious when agents found him with "multiple injuries" to his head and body. Chris Cabrera, a spokesman for a border patrol agents union, the National Border Patrol Council, told the Associated Press that the two agents appeared to have been struck in the head with a rock or rocks. Cabrera said agents who responded to the scene described it as "grisly" and said Martinez and his partner had "extensive injuries." Gov. Greg Abbott announced a $20,000 reward Monday for information that leads to an arrest or conviction in the case. The Republican also tweeted that "resources must be increased to prevent these attacks in the future." The FBI added a reward of up to $25,000 for information that leads to a resolution in the case Tuesday. Trump took to Twitter on Sunday to insist that Martinez's death underscores the need for a wall along the border between the U.S. and Mexico. Patient safety Regarding "Blindsided by medical bills" (Page A1, Sunday), Jenny Dean has done an admirable job of describing the plight of many patients who sought care in the emergency room. Implicit in her thorough description is the reality that no one represents the interests of the patients. Doctors, hospitals and insurance companies have their well-funded lobbies to promote their respective interests. Patients have no such lobby. They instead depend on state and federal government agencies to protect them from financial surprises and unsafe care. These government agencies do not adequately protect patients. For example, state medical boards have a long record of allowing dangerous physicians to remain licensed far too long. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has failed to offer substantive rights to patients, and the Food and Drug Administration tends to approve some classes of drugs, especially expensive cancer drugs, for marketing on scanty data. As patients, we have little protection when it comes to surprise medical bills and unsafe care. There are islands of excellence in American health care, but there are no continents that I know of. John T. James, Houston School days Regarding "More elementary kids held back" (Page A1, Monday), the article was well-timed, coming at the start of a five-day school break for Thanksgiving. Students throughout Houston lost weeks of instruction because of Harvey. Wouldn't it be prudent to cut back on vacation days in order to make up instruction time? Students must be prepared for tests that are given at specific times within the school year. Without classroom instruction time, they won't perform as well. Jae F. Harris, Houston Tax plan Regarding "GOP tax plan is political, policy nonstarter" (Page A13, Monday), columnist Paul Krugman attacks the tax proposal and states "CEOs know tax rates are not a factor in investment decisions." He does not address the fact that many U.S. corporations have moved offshore to avoid U.S. tax rates. He further states that it will make richer "those that rake in investment income rather than working." That, by definition, includes all those retired Americans who are living off their accumulated investments. He twists facts with regularity to advance his deficient viewpoint. B.C. Bowen, Houston No surprise Regarding "Texas coal plant layoffs and closures moving forward with state approval" (Chron.com, Tuesday), these three plants strip mine lignite, the poorest quality coal. The rest of the world is moving away from coal, especially China. Let this go the way of buggy whips. Mark Harkness, posted via Facebook Pulpit messages Regarding "Don't turn pulpits into partisan stages" (Page A13, Monday), I support the authors' view that the Johnson Amendment should be kept in place and not be put in jeopardy with the proposed GOP tax bill so that our religious communities do not turn into "partisan soapboxes!" Maris P. Helfrich, Galveston Fun fact: Under U.S. law, sexual assault allegations are now adjudicated by political election. Don't believe me? Just ask White House officials, Republican lawmakers and right-wing pundits, who lately argue that an electoral win provides absolution for any past sexual misconduct. This troubling claim is being applied to (who else?) our president. But it also sets a terrible precedent for what happens if alleged child molester and sexual predator Roy Moore wins an Alabama Senate race. Last week, after President Trump mocked Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., for sexual misconduct, a reporter asked the White House if it was fair to investigate similar accusations against the president by more than a dozen women. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said no. Those allegations had all been nullified by the election last November. "Look, I think that this was covered pretty extensively during the campaign," Sanders said. "We addressed that then. The American people I think spoke very loud and clear when they elected this president." That's right, my fellow Americans. When you voted last November, it turns out you were actually volunteering for national jury duty. And you didn't even get your daily stipend! Sanders is not the only one making this argument. On CBS's "Face the Nation" on Sunday, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., was asked by host John Dickerson whether the country's increasing willingness to believe victims of sexual harassment and assault should cause a "re-evaluation of those who came forward" against the president. "Well, it happened in the middle of the campaign last year, John," he replied. "And the American people had their say on that as well." Meanwhile, on Fox News, MediaBuzz host Howard Kurtz questioned why the media would "resurrect" allegations against Trump in the first place. "He's called these women horrible liars. There's certainly a debate about whether they should be believed," Kurtz said. "There's about a dozen of them. But we had an election after that. And he won." To hear Trump apologists tell it, the 2016 election exonerated its victor not only of any past sexual misdeeds, but also of every possible transgression or broken norm. Such as not releasing his tax returns. On Sunday, on NBC's "Meet the Press," White House budget director Mick Mulvaney was asked why anyone should believe Trump when he claims the Republican tax agenda will raise his tax bills, since the public still has no idea what Trump's current taxes look like. Mulvaney ducked the question. "I can't speak to the president's taxes. I think that was sort of litigated by the American public during the election," he said, echoing language that White House aide Kellyanne Conway has used on this subject. These excuses are both dumb and dangerous. Dumb because, well, if the American electorate was indeed serving as jury last year, its verdict was not exactly unanimous. Or even in the right direction, for Republicans' purposes. A majority of American voters voted against Trump, as you may recall. If you buy Republicans' logic, that would mean the public found Trump guilty of sexual misconduct and wanted him to disclose his tax returns. Moreover, casting a ballot for a politician does not necessarily mean you endorse a candidate's every policy stance, character trait and action. When choosing between candidates, voters have to select one bundle of beliefs and behaviors or another. It's a combo plate. No substitutions allowed. Maybe Trump's supporters backed him because they don't believe the allegations made against him. Or maybe they supported him in spite of finding those claims credible. (They heard him admit to grabbing women "by the p---y" on tape, after all.) In any case, by arguing that victory refutes all allegations against Trump, Republicans are laying the groundwork to welcome Moore to Washington if he wins next month. Already, White House officials are ducking questions about whether Moore should be allowed to serve as senator. A mere week ago, Conway said there was "no Senate seat worth more than a child." On Monday, when asked whether Alabama voters should cast their ballots for Moore, she denounced his Democratic opponent and said, "I'm telling you that we want the votes in the Senate to get this tax bill through." Sure, some Republican senators have said they believe Moore's accusers. Some, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, have even suggested that they might try to expel him if he gets elected. But with tax cuts hanging in the balance, don't be surprised if they lose their nerve once "the voters have spoken." Rampell's email address is crampell@washpost.com. The Houston City Council signaled last week that changes are coming to Houston City Hall. A majority of the council in a closed session that lasted nearly two hours before adjourning at about 10 p.m. Monday, decided it wants new leadership in the office of city administrator. Larry Sutton, who has held the post since November 2007, was given 30 days to leave the position, which oversees the daily operation of the city and its budget and workforce, according to minutes of the closed meeting released Thursday. Suttons tenure is longer than any other person to hold the position since the city hired its first administrator in the 1980s. The council voted 4-1 to end the employment of Sutton effective in 30 days. Donnie Wilson made the motion, which was seconded by Kim Bittle. Joining them were members Jeremy St. John and Viki Narancich. Wilson, Bittle and St. John were elected April 4 and were sworn into office on April 17. Absent was Alderman Joe Honeycutt, who was out of the state. Alderwoman Sheila Walker dissented. Mayor Don Tottingham did not agree. I just feel like they should have observed things within city government for a few months before they made a decision, Tottingham said Thursday. Tottingham said a majority of the council had failed to follow the citys personnel policy that details a process of a verbal warning with counseling and eventually a written notice before termination. It says if you are not convicted, accused of something, then you should be counseled, said Tottingham. Those seeking the removal disagreed, and Mayor Pro-Tem Wilson said members were within the parameters. A statement was released Friday afternoon by the four supporting change: In the employee handbook it states under Dismissal-Employment and compensation with the City of Houston is at will in that they can be terminated with or without cause, and with or without notice, at any time, at the option of either the City of Houston or yourself, except as otherwise provided by law. And to follow with the handbook we followed Ordinance Sec 2-89 Removal-The City administrator shall serve at the pleasure of the appointing authority. The Mayor with the consent of the majority of the board of aldermen, may remove the city administrator from office with or without cause. The city administrator shall be given thirty (30) days notice or thirty (30) days pay in lieu of notice prior to the removal office. If requested, the mayor and board shall grant the city administrator a public hearing within fifteen (15) days following notice of such removal. Members met for a nearly two-hour closed session Monday to discuss legal and personnel matters that ended just before 8:30 p.m. Tottingham said there were no votes taken. Wilson also sought to terminate City Clerk Tonya Foster, but the motion failed to receive a second, according to the released minutes. Sutton and City Clerk Tonya Foster awaited the councils decision last Monday night from Suttons second floor office. Sutton, a Houston native, came to the city from the Missouri Department of Transportation in Springfield and previously worked with the Missouri Department of Mental Health and at the Missouri Department of Corrections at Licking. Sutton replaced Bill Bates, who retired. It is the second departure at Houston City Hall this year. Economic Development Head Ron Reed left in January. Sutton remains on the job after Monday nights decision, Tottingham, who made the public announcement, said. Flash People watch as Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe addresses the nation on television, at a bar in Harare, Zimbabwe, Nov. 19, 2017. [Photo/VCG] Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has resigned. His resignation was announced Tuesday by Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda during a joint sitting of Senate and National Assembly that was debating his impeachment motion. In his resignation letter Mugabe said: "I, Robert Gabriel Mugabe, in terms of Section 96 sub section 1 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe hereby formally tender my resignation as the President of Zimbabwe with immediate effect." He continued: "My decision to resign is voluntary on my part and arises from my concern with the welfare of the people of Zimbabwe and my desire to ensure a smooth, peaceful and non-violent transition of power that underpins national security, peace and stability." Mudenda immediately announced suspension of debate and said he will immediately put in place proper legal processes to install a new country president no later than end of Wednesday. The resignation came two days after the ruling Zanu-PF party deposed Mugabe as leader, and also recalled him from government over a litany of charges. The party had given Mugabe until mid-day on Monday to resign, but he ignored the deadline, prompting Zanu-PF legislators on Tuesday to start parliamentary impeachment proceedings against him. However, as the impeachment proceedings got underway, Mugabe abruptly resigned, ending almost four decades of near total dominance of Zimbabwe's political landscape. Zimbabwe Former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa persuaded Mugabe to resign and said he will not return to Zimbabwe until he is satisfied that his personal security is guaranteed. In a press statement released on Tuesday morning, Mnangagwa confirmed that he had spoken with Mugabe Monday. He called on Mugabe to resign in line with the wishes of the people who demanded his resignation as they demonstrated at the weekend in support of the Zimbabwe Defense Forces (ZDF) who took over government operations last Tuesday. He said he had told Mugabe that the current political and constitutional crisis in the country was not a matter between the two of them but between the people of Zimbabwe and Mugabe. "The people of Zimbabwe have clearly spoken on this matter. To me the voice of the people is the voice of God and their lack of trust and confidence in the leadership of President Mugabe has been expressed. "The people of Zimbabwe have spoken with one voice and it is my appeal to President Mugabe that he should take heed of this clarion call by the people of Zimbabwe to resign so that the country can move forward and preserve his legacy," he said. He said he had told Mugabe that he had two options: either cooperate with the defense forces for a peaceful resolution to the crisis which would result in the preservation of his legacy or continue to dig in and suffer humiliation because definitely the will of the people would prevail against one person. In neighboring country South Africa, traffic reportedly came to a standstill in its largest city Johannesburg on Tuesday as thousands of Zimbabweans went to the streets to celebrate following the resignation of their President Robert Mugabe. A 30-year-old teacher Yeukai Shumba said she loves the former president Mugabe, however, Mugabe made a mistake by allowing his wife to control him. "We need change in our country. We have been struggling for so long... Definitely, I would go back home. I love my country, I am proudly a Zimbabwean. I know things won't change overnight but I would like to see more jobs for our youths. I would also want to see improvement in our health sector and our education must be affordable to all people," she said. Another Zimbabwean teacher, based in Johannesburg, Sylvester Simanga Dube, welcomed Mugabe's resignation. He said many Zimbabweans are homesick having been in the foreign lands for years. "Well I don't mind who comes in as president but there are signs that we are going to have a fresh promising restart. The new leader must work on economic revival and must have an appealing voice to the international community," he said. Earlier on Tuesday, Zimbabwean state media New Ziana reported that South African President Jacob Zuma and his Angolan counterpart Joao Lourenco will travel to Zimbabwe on Wednesday to assess the political situation in the country. Subscribing to our services is a three step process. First you have to create an account and then you have to pick if you want to subscribe to digital and or print. Some people only want to be a digital subscriber to get access online and others want to also receive the print edition. If you are already a print subscriber and want online access, it is free, you simply have to create an online account and then attach your print subscription account number to the online account you create. As an existing print subscriber it is easy to get FREE access to all our online content. When you click get started below it will walk you through creating an online account to attach your print subscription number to. After your account is created it will ask you to either add a subscription for online access or click on the print subscriber button. Click the print subscriber button header and it will open a dropdown, now click on get started. The page will reload and you will be prompted to enter an account number and a zip code. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO USE THE NUMBER OFF OF THE MOST RECENT ISSUE OR ANYTHING AFTER JANUARY 28, 2019 TO GAIN ACCESS! OLD ACCOUNT NUMBERS WILL NOT WORK The account number and zip code are easily available on your most recent issue of the High Plains Journal or Midwest Ag Journal in the address fields as is shown here. Sometimes the account number has extra zero's in front of it, just ignore those. Flash Syrian government soldiers celebrate victory against the Islamic State (IS) in the eastern city of al-Bukamal in Syria, Nov. 20, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua] Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Tuesday that the victory over the so-called Islamic States (IS) terrorist group in Iraq and Syria is a defeat of the United States in the region, state TV reported. The victory over the IS is tantamount to the defeat of plots to sow division and wage a civil war in the Middle East, and it is a blow to plots by the United States and its allies who had created the terrorist group, Khamenei said. Khamenei's remarks come in response to a senior Iranian military general who announced on Tuesday the final defeat of the IS militants in Iraq and Syria and congratulated Iran's Supreme Leader on the "victory." Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), on Tuesday hailed the "great victory" over the IS. The ultimate victory was achieved thanks to the prudent leadership of Khamenei and the sacrifices of all resistance fighters in Iraq and Syria, Soleimani said. Backed by popular groups and Iranian military advisors, armed forces in Iraq and Syria have managed to flush IS militants out of their last strongholds in both countries, he said, declaring full victory over the "notorious terror group." "The notorious group's rule has come to an end with the accomplishment of a mission to liberate Syria's eastern city of Albu Kamal, near the Iraqi border," he was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency. "The victory is a result of favor of God, wise leadership of Ayatollah Khamenei, smart guidance offered by top (Iraqi) Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Seyed Ali al-Sistani, the fortitude shown by the Iraqi and Syrian governments," he said. He also praised what he called the steadfastness of the Iraqi and Syrian nations, governments, armies and popular forces throughout the counter-terrorism battles. Soleimani also expressed his gratitude to Lebanon's Hezbollah Shiite movement for its "powerful presence" and the pivotal role it played on the battlefield against terrorists in Syria. He said initial reports estimate that the damages caused by the IS militants in the two countries amount to at least US$500 billion. "By disintegrating this cancerous and deadly tumor (of IS), you (Gen. Soleimani) not only provided great service to regional countries and the Muslim world, but also all nations and the humanity," Khamenei said Tuesday. Khamenei also warned against what he called the enemy's deceit, adding that those who made huge investment to create the IS would try to re-hatch their evil plots in another part of the region or in other forms. Besides, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday lauded the victories over the IS militants in Iraq and Syria, Press TV reported. Rouhani expressed his gratitude to the armed forces and peoples of Iran, Iraq, Syria as well as Lebanon for their endeavors to set the stage for the ultimate victory over the IS. The extremist groups "brought nothing but misery, destruction, massacre and barbarism" to the region, he was quoted as saying. He also criticized some "global powers and certain reactionary states in the region" for funding and arming the IS terrorist group. "We never imagined that the criminals, supported by the West, Americans and the evil Zionist regime (of Israel), would commit such crimes in the 21st century," said the Iranian president. Rouhani also congratulated Iran's Supreme Leader over the "final defeat" of the IS militants in Iraq and Syria. Cheshire's Windsor Road Washout Fixed, Road Reopened CHESHIRE, Mass. Highway Superintendent Blair Crane said Windsor Road is officially open and issues that caused the washout have been remediated. "Windsor road reopened [Monday] at 3:30, three weeks from the day it was closed," Crane told the selectmen Tuesday. "Only two weeks of road closure and ... putting it back together I think we addressed all of these issues." During a storm last month, a portion of the road was washed out and because of the difficult terrain, Crane had to rebuild the road from the bottom up and secure it. Crane said three issues lead to the collapse of the road: topical water from the storm, drainage under the road and the brook that goes through the area. He said 25 rocks, some the size of vehicles, placed along the bottom of the washout should keep the brook from eating away at the embankment. The rocks were tied together with flowable fill to keep everything together. "It has tied all of those rocks together sealing that entire piece," Crane said. "We put 60 yards of concrete over that and all of those rocks are tied together in one giant piece." He said clay from the road's original construction was also removed and the highway crew dug down 20 feet and replaced the clay with structural gravel. "It will help the road and it gave us a chance to reshape the road and deal with any topical water that may come down and do that again," Crane said. "Any water that comes through the hillside will be able to flow freely underneath the road." He said they also cleaned and extended the culverts and extended the guardrail. Chairman Robert Ciskowski thanked Crane for his attention to the washout. "I really wanted to compliment you on the way you handled yourself on behalf of the town," he said. "The way you represented the town was very professional." In other business, the Selectmen gave Crane permission to designate limited salt-use areas near the reservoir and Sand Mill Road. Crane said with the last small snow flurry, he noted that the town used a lot of salt and he had concerns about the long-term environmental impacts. "I realized how much salt we really burn through even as small as that snow event was," he said. "That is material that does not go anywhere. It does not dissolve and if you put a ton of salt down it ends up in the environment and someday we will have to deal with that problem." He chose to designate those two areas because they feed directly into the town's water supply. "All of those areas feed into the lake and the lake feeds into the river and the river goes right into our aquifer," he said. "I have no data to say whether or not the sodium levels are high or low, I just have the experience to say that it is probably not a great thing. " Crane said he plans to purchase signs for the low-salt areas and also said the town could rely more on sand and stone dust in those areas instead of "bathing" everything in salt. He said beyond the environmental impacts this will also cost the town less money if it is more mindful of salt use. He said salt costs nearly $70 a ton. The location of the 271-year-old Fort Massachusetts is being gifted to the city by Price Chopper/Market 32 and the Golub family. The City Council will vote on accepting the gift on Tuesday. The third of an acre is in the northeast corner of the property; a 15-foot wide access runs along the east side. PreviousNext Price Chopper Donating Fort Mass Park to North Adams The first fort was surrendered to the French in 1746 and 45 prisoners taken captive. The wood structure was burnt to the ground and rebuilt the following year. Its usefulness had passed by the time of the Revolution. NORTH ADAMS, Mass. Price Chopper is making a gift of one of the city's oldest historical sites: Fort Massachusetts. The park, which includes a chimney from the1930s replica and a plaque, sits in the northeast corner of the parking lot of the closed supermarket. Neil Golub, Price Chopper/Market 32's executive chairman, said in a statement he was committed to ensuring the conveyance of the third of an acre to the city following the announcement to close the State Road market last year. "I am so pleased to make this gift to the City of North Adams, knowing that its Historic Commission is dedicated to working with local preservationists to maintain the site on which Fort Massachusetts once stood," said Golub. Mayor Richard Alcombright said on Tuesday he had been working with the Golubs and Wendy Champney, who had really spearheaded the preservation effort, in finding a way to move the process along. "I wanted to get it done before I left," said the mayor, who is leaving office in December at the end of his fourth term. Mona Golub, vice president of public relations and consumer services, had come out and walked the site with them not long ago. "They wanted to do this in a thoughtful way," Alcombright said. They surveyed and delineated a .345-acre rectangle abutting neighboring properties and carved out a 15-wide access along the east side of the property to the Friendly's property. Price Chopper had taken respectful care of the King George's War site for decades and the supermarket's closure had caused consternation at the Historical Commission and Historical Society. There was concern that whoever bought the property would remove the park or prevent access. A replica of the fort was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s as a museum and meeting place for the Daughters of the American Revolution; it was later sold as a restaurant but was vacant the last years of its existence. Golub Corp. purchased the five-acre property in 1959 and demolished the replica a year later to make way for what was then Central Market and its parking lot. It has, however, maintained the replica's chimney, and a small park and plaque marking its location for many years. "The Price Chopper employees truly understood the significance of Fort Massachusetts to the community in their upkeep over the years," Historical Commission Chairwoman Justyna said in a statement. "We appreciate the Golub's generous gift of this historic parcel to the current residents of North Adams. What an appropriate time of the year. We have much for which to be thankful on this Thanksgiving 2017." On Aug. 19-20, 1746, 900 French and natives of the St. Francois tribe under the command of Gen. Pierre Rigaud de Vaudreuil besieged Fort Massachusetts, a frontier outpost at what was then East Hoosuck. The 45 colonists surrendered the next day. Col. Ephraim Williams was charged with building and defending the fort but was absent when it was attacked. It was rebuilt in 1747. More information on the fort can be found here There has been some uncertainty as to the exact location of the fort but Champney, who has written a couple books on the subject, is convinced the DAR had the right spot. The City Council will vote on accepting the gift of land at next Tuesday's meeting. The Historical Commission will be responsible for the park. "It's a bit of a closing chapter between what was a wonderful relationship between Price Chopper and the city for 60 years," Alcombright said. "I think this is a very nice way to say thank you to our community." You are here: Home Flash At least 50 people were killed in a suicide bomb blast at a mosque in the northeastern town of Mubi, in Adamawa state, northeast Nigeria, AFP reported. "So far we have at least 50 dead from an attack at a mosque in Mubi," said state police spokesman Othman Abubakar. The attack was perpetrated by an unidentified teenage boy who set off the suicide vest he wore to the mosque, police said. Local media quoted the chairman of Mubi North Local Government Area, Musa Bello, as saying that the blast occurred in the early hours of Tuesday while worshippers were holding a prayer meeting. The teenage attacker detonated the bomb immediately after the prayers inside the local mosque. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the suicide blast, but the security authorities and local residents are suspecting terrorist group Boko Haram to have carried out the attack. In October 2014, Mubi was captured and under the control of Boko Haram. Less than a month later, government forces conquered Boko Haram in the town and recaptured the town from them. The attack early Tuesday was the first in the town since it was recaptured from Boko Haram three years ago. Boko Haram has been blamed for the death of more than 20,000 people and the displacement of 2.3 million others in Nigeria since 2009. You are here: Home Flash Yang Xiaodu, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and deputy secretary of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, meets with visiting South African Minister of Public Service and Administration Faith Muthambi in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 21, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua] China hopes to strengthen cooperation with South Africa to promote establishment of a new international anti-corruption order, a senior Chinese official said Tuesday in Beijing. Yang Xiaodu, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and deputy secretary of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, made the remarks during a meeting with visiting South African Minister of Public Service and Administration Faith Muthambi. Referring to the 19th CPC National Congress, Yang said that the Communist Party of China will continue to strengthen Party self-governance and secure a decisive victory in its anti-corruption endeavors. Yang called for enhanced bilateral cooperation to promote a new international anti-corruption order and boost ties between China and South Africa. Since next year marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral ties, South Africa hopes to further expand pragmatic cooperation in various fields including anti-corruption with China, Muthambi said. Imperial Valley News Center Unique Partnership Brings Zoo Science and Community Experience Together to Save Elephant Babies San Diego, California - A team of animal health experts from San Diego Zoo Global recently spent time in Kenya working with the Reteti Elephant Sanctuary in the Namunyak community to enhance the medical care and animal husbandry capabilities of this facility. The elephant orphanage was recently founded in the area to care for young elephants brought to the conservancy for supportive care and rehabilitation. We take care of the elephants, and the elephants are taking care of us, said Rimland Lemojong, a keeper at Reteti. Located in the northernmost regions of the NRT conservancy, the newly created orphanage was inundated this year with orphaned elephants. To assist with the challenge a team from San Diego Zoo Global including veterinarians, clinical laboratory technicians and nutritionists went to the region to bring equipment, supplies and knowledge for setting up a basic veterinary clinical laboratory to improve the survivorship of the elephants brought into the center. Some young elephants are already extremely compromised when they arrive at the center. Said Nadine Lamberski DVM, Director of Veterinary Services, San Diego Zoo Global. We were able to consult with the local Kenya Wildlife Services veterinarian and the care givers at the center to develop procedures that will allow them to make more rapid diagnosis when an elephant in brought into their care. The orphanage at Reteti is run as part of the community based programs of the Northern Rangelands Trust, drawing upon the experience of local community members to care for the young elephants being brought into the center. The center received more than a dozen youngsters this year, more than they had expected to care for placing strain on the program and its resources. The community members working at the Reteti elephant orphanage are extremely dedicated animal care givers. Said Carmi Penny, director of husbandry science, San Diego Zoo. However the sudden influx of young elephants in need created a situation where they needed additional assistance. San Diego Zoo Global is proud of our long-term relationship with NRT and our ability to immediately respond to this need by sending out supplies and experienced personnel for consultation. In addition to the creation of a medical laboratory, the San Diego Zoo Global team also worked with Kenya Wildlife Services and Namunyuk Community personnel to train staff members in basic medical procedures and tests and worked to evaluate formulas for the elephants at the center. The Northern Rangelands Trust is a community led, non-governmental organization that was set up in 2004 in northern Kenya by a coalition of local leaders, politicians and conservationists. Its mission is to develop resilient community conservancies, which transform peoples lives, secure peace and conserve natural resources. NRT is a community conservancy membership organization. The 35 member conservancies work across 4.5 million hectares of northern and coastal Kenya. Bringing species back from the brink of extinction is the goal of San Diego Zoo Global. As a leader in conservation, the work of San Diego Zoo Global includes on-site wildlife conservation efforts (representing both plants and animals) at the San Diego Zoo, San Diego Zoo Safari Park, and San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research, as well as international field programs on six continents. The work of these entities is inspiring children through the San Diego Zoo Kids network, reaching out through the internet and in childrens hospitals nationwide. The work of San Diego Zoo Global is made possible by the by the San Diego Zoo Global Wildlife Conservancy and is supported in part by the Foundation of San Diego Zoo Global. USDA Provides Tips and Resources for a Bacteria-Free Thanksgiving Washington, DC - More than 45 million turkeys are eaten on Thanksgiving Day, with a never-ending list of side dishes and desserts. The Thanksgiving meal is by far the largest and most stressful meal many consumers prepare all year, leaving room for mistakes that can make guests sick. But never fear, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is available with tips and resources to make this Thanksgiving safe and stress-free. Turkey and other meat and poultry may contain Salmonella and Campylobacter that can lead to serious foodborne illness, said acting FSIS Administrator Paul Kiecker. By properly handling and cooking your turkey, you can avoid these harmful pathogens and ensure your family has a safe and healthy Thanksgiving feast. Begin by following these five steps: Wash your hands, but not your turkey Washing your hands before cooking is the simplest way to stop the spread of bacteria, while washing your turkey is the easiest way to spread bacteria all over your kitchen. According to the 2016 Food and Drug Administration Food Safety Survey, 68 percent of consumers wash poultry in the kitchen sink, which is not recommended by the USDA. Research shows that washing meat or poultry can splash bacteria around your kitchen by up to 3 feet, contaminating countertops, towels and other food. Washing doesnt remove bacteria from the bird. Only cooking the turkey to the correct internal temperature will ensure all bacteria are killed. The exception to this rule is brining. When rinsing brine off of a turkey, be sure to remove all other food or objects from the sink, layer the area with paper towels and use a slow stream of water to avoid splashing. To stuff or not to stuff For optimal food safety, do not stuff the turkey. Even if the turkey is cooked to the correct internal temperature, the stuffing inside may not have reached a temperature high enough to kill the bacteria. It is best to cook the stuffing in a separate dish. Take the temperature of the bird Although there are various ways to cook a turkey, the only way to avoid foodborne illness is to make sure it is cooked to the correct internal temperature as measured by a food thermometer. Take the birds temperature in three areas the thickest part of the breast, the innermost part of the wing and the innermost part of the thigh make sure all three locations reach 165F. If one of those locations does not register at 165F, then continue cooking until all three locations reach the correct internal temperature. Follow the two-hour rule Perishable foods should not be left on the table or countertops for longer than two hours. After two hours, food falls into the Danger Zone, temperatures between 40-140F, where bacteria can rapidly multiply. If that food is then eaten, your guests could get sick. Cut turkey into smaller slices and refrigerate along with other perishable items, such as potatoes, gravy and vegetables. Leftovers should stay safe in the refrigerator for four days. When in doubt call the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline If you have questions about your Thanksgiving dinner, call the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline at 1-888-MPHotline (1-888-674-6854) to talk to a food safety expert. You can also chat live at AskKaren.gov, available from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday, in English and Spanish. If you need help on Thanksgiving Day, the Meat and Poultry Hotline is available from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. ET. USNS Comfort Completes Hurricane Relief Mission in Puerto Rico Norfolk, Virginia - Military Sealift Command's hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) returned to Naval Station Norfolk after providing life-saving medical care to the people of Puerto Rico. Comfort departed Virginia September 29, and had been in Puerto Rico for almost two months providing disaster relief support after Hurricane Maria devastated the island. "The ship's namesake Comfort was absolutely appropriate for what the crew was able to do, because we weren't just there to provide medical treatment, we were there for the comfort to the patient's families," said Capt. Kevin Robinson, the Comfort's mission commander. "We made every effort to bring family member escorts aboard to provide comfort to the patients as well as the family." Comfort worked with the Puerto Rico Department of Health and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to treat patients since the first day it arrived in Puerto Rico Oct 3. Since departing Norfolk to provide humanitarian relief, Sailors aboard Comfort have treated 1,899 patients, performed 191 surgeries, provided 76-thousand liters of oxygen and 10 tons of food and water. "When we first got there, there was no electricity and everything was dark. We were a bright beacon that had power," said Capt. Roger Gwinn, USNS Comfort's master. "We met people that hadn't showered in 8-9 days, hadn't had a hot meal in the same amount of time, and that made the crew realize what we were dealing with." The ship conducted nearly 200 total surgeries to include 44 general surgical procedures such as hernia repair, gallbladder removal and appendix removal; 25 major orthopedic surgical cases; 17 amputations and 15 urologic procedures. "What we saw were people with chronic conditions that had lost follow-up because either their clinics were gone or they hadn't gotten their medications refilled," said Capt. Kevin Buckley, USNS Comfort's medical treatment facility commanding officer. Several notable surgeries included a modified radical mastectomy for an advanced case of breast cancer, a complex multi-organ abdominal cancer resection, an urgent drainage and exploration of a complicated neck infection, and an emergent open repair of a ruptured aortic aneurysm which comprised the largest, most complex surgery ever performed on a hospital ship. There were two children born onboard Comfort during the hurricane relief mission. The first was a baby girl, Sara Victoria Llull Rodriguiz, Oct. 14, and the second was a baby boy, Isaias Valerio-Fonseca Nov. 3. The father of the boy was a U.S. Navy veteran. The recovery mission in Puerto Rico continues under the long-term leadership of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and U.S. military reservists and National Guard. Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the IndyArts email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Ah, to be a Dylanologist. In his 2014 book, Dylanologists: Adventures in the Land of Bob, David Kinney relates the stories of some of Bob Dylans most ardent followers. Why am I such a mess? asks one Charlie Ciceralla, who has a nervous breakdown in the queue for one of Dylans shows. Another, Bill Pagel, forks out a small fortune for the infant high chair of the 2017 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Bill had no second thoughts, writes Kinney. He was thrilled to discover it. He paid the woman and took it home. Its not on display. He tucked it under the eaves, hidden in the back of a crawl space facing a wall. Dylan himself has offered terse advice for the likes of Charlie and Bill. Get a life, please, he told an interviewer in 2001. Youre wasting your own. As far back as the 1965 song Ballad of a Thin Man to 2006s Nettie Moore, the Nobel laureate has also been sticking it to those who would hang out with the professors and have been through all of F Scott Fitzgeralds books: The world of research has gone berserk/Too much paperwork. Some illuminating but stodgy critical works, by literature professors Sir Christopher Ricks and Neil Corcoran, have shed persuasive light on Dylans poetic voice, but even the finest exegesis thus far, Greil Marcuss mythopoeic Invisible Republic, was amusingly deemed terminal by its subject. The controversy kicked up by Dylans being awarded the globes most prestigious literary accolade is likely to generate yet more searches for what David Kinney refers to as the answer key or a master code to Dylans art. Anyone looking to escape what the author of Why Bob Dylan Matters himself politely calls the excesses of Dylanology might do well to avoid Richard F Thomass take on rocks Bard. Thomas, a Harvard classics don who has taught a freshman seminar on Dylan since 2003, is, to be honest, as exhaustively terminal as Dylanologists get. But one of his central theses that Dylan is the descendant of the epic poets of Greece and Rome and the supreme artist of the English language of my time is made with grace and fluency, perhaps best reflected in a lovely dissection of the 1964 song Chimes of Freedom. He movingly makes the case for the songs vast empathy, as compelling a study as Christopher Rickss reading of the righteous fury of The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll. But, yes, Dylans affinity with ancient verse probably has nothing to do with his membership of the school Latin club, his fondness for swords-and-sandles sagas such as The Robe, and the fact that he once dressed up as a Roman soldier in a non-speaking role in a Hibbing High play about the passion of Christ. Plenty of people, being proffered the argument that Dylans shows of late have been structured as triadic dramas, might also beg to differ. There is something about being in a Dylan audience, Thomas notes. Having a beer before a show must be like getting ready for the visit of the itinerant lyre players of ancient Greece. And yet, and yet. His second thesis that Dylan is a master of intertextuality, imaginatively stealing lines from classical poetry and folk songs, a process TS Eliot saw as a mark of a great poet is similarly made elegantly, and more importantly, accessibly and enjoyably. Say what you like about other Dylan books, and to be frank, most rock books, but accessible and enjoyable they rarely are. This small book could be given to just about any member of the family for Christmas and they could all get something from it. As Thomas quotes Dylan, commenting on the people who come to his hundreds of concerts every year on his Never Ending Tour: I see a woman sometimes in evening gowns [sic], I see punk-looking girls. This is a course for everyone, not just the Dylanologists, and the teachers quirks are part of its easy charm and fun. Why Bob Dylan Matters by Richard F Thomas is published by William Collins in hardback, 12.99 Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey Get our The Life Cinematic email for free Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the The Life Cinematic email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Netflix will be releasing 80 new original films in 2018, so it's worthwhile to take stock of all that the service currently offers. With the recent release of its critically acclaimed historical drama "Mudbound," Netflix has its strongest shot yet at Oscar consideration. Netflix has also released a number of quality movies that not many people have heard of, including the Stephen King adaptations "1922" and "Gerald's Game." But then the company has had its share of critical flops as well, like the majority of its Adam Sandler films. To find out which Netflix original films are worth watching, we turned to the reviews aggregator Rotten Tomatoes to rank each release by its composite critical reception. We excluded documentaries and any film that didn't have enough reviews to receive a designation of "Rotten" or "Fresh." We used audience scores to break ties. Here are 42 of Netflix's original films, ranked from worst to best, according to critics: 42. The Ridiculous 6 0% The Ridiculous 6 was released in December 2015 CBC News Critic score: 0% Audience score: 31% Netflix description: "When his outlaw dad is kidnapped, Tommy 'White Knife' Stockburn sets off across the West on a rescue mission with five brothers he never knew he had." 41. The True Memoirs of an International Assassin 0% Critic score: 0% Audience score: 42% Netflix description: "After his publisher markets his crime novel as a memoir, a novice author finds himself forcibly recruited into a deadly political plot in Venezuela." 40. The Do-Over 5% Critic score: 5% Audience score: 42% Netflix description: "The life of a bank manager is turned upside down when a friend from his past manipulates him into faking his own death and taking off on an adventure." 39. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny 19% Critic score: 19% Audience score: 38% Netflix description: "Renowned warrior Yu Shu-Lien comes out of retirement to keep the legendary Green Destiny sword away from villainous warlord Hades Dai." Access unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows with Amazon Prime Video Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up 38. Brain on Fire 22% Critic score: 22% Audience score: 59% Netflix description: "Struck by a mysterious, mentally devastating illness, a young reporter searches for answers while battling psychosis, catatonia and memory loss." 37. Sandy Wexler 32% Critic score: 32% Audience score: 40% Netflix description: "When a hapless but dedicated talent manager signs his first client who actually has talent, his career finally starts to take off." 36. Death Note 40% Critic score: 40% Audience score: 24% Netflix description: "Light Turner finds a supernatural notebook and uses it to mete out death, attracting the attention of a detective, a demon and a girl in his class." 35. The Most Hated Woman in America 43% Critic score: 43% Audience score: 41% Netflix description: "This drama follows the controversial life of outspoken atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair, from her landmark court battles to her infamous abduction." 34. The Discovery 44% Critic score: 44% Audience score: 45% Netflix description: "A scientist whose proof of an afterlife caused a rash of suicides forges ahead with his research, while his disapproving son falls for a troubled woman." 33. Sand Castle 47% Critic score: 47% Audience score: 40% Netflix description: "After the invasion of Iraq in 2003, a reluctant soldier's platoon is dispatched on a dangerous mission to repair a hostile village's water system." 32. Mascots 50% Critic score: 50% Audience score: 35% Netflix description: "Eager contestants don big heads and furry suits to vie for the title of World's Best Mascot in this offbeat, comic romp from Christopher Guest." 31. Shimmer Lake 50% Critic score: 50% Audience score: 60% Netflix description: "Unfolding in reverse time, this darkly comic crime thriller follows a local sheriff hunting three bank robbery suspects, one of whom is his brother." 30. War Machine 53% Brad Pitt stars in War Machine India Today Critic score: 53% Audience score: 34% Netflix description: "When a proud general is tasked with winning an unpopular war, he takes the challenge head-on, not knowing that hubris may be his own worst enemy." 29. Small Crimes 58% Critic score: 58% Audience score: 30% Netflix description: "After serving a six-year prison sentence, an ex-cop tries to rebuild his life in his hometown, but gets caught up in the fallout from his past." 28. iBoy 60% Critic score: 60% Audience score: 40% Netflix description: "When shards of a cell phone get lodged in a teenager's brain, he discovers he can control electronic devices and uses his newfound power for revenge." 27. ARQ 60% Critic score: 60% Audience score: 46% Netflix description: "Trapped in a lab and stuck in a time loop, a disoriented couple fends off masked raiders while harboring a new energy source that could save humanity." 26. The Babysitter 60% Critic score: 60% Audience score: 61% Netflix description: "When Cole stays up past his bedtime, he discovers that his hot babysitter is part of a satanic cult that will stop at nothing to keep him quiet." 25. The Siege of Jadotville 60% Critic score: 60% Audience score: 71% Netflix description: "Besieged by overwhelming enemy forces, Irish soldiers on a U.N. peacekeeping mission in Africa valiantly defend their outpost in this true story." 24. To The Bone 67% Critic score: 67% Audience score: 64% Netflix description: "Ellen, a 20-year-old with anorexia nervosa, goes on a harrowing, sometimes funny journey of self-discovery at a group home run by an unusual doctor." 23. XOXO 71% Critic score: 71% Audience score: 53% Netflix description: "The lives of a budding DJ, his loyal pal, a hopeless romantic, a jaded has-been and a troubled couple intersect at an electronic dance music festival." 22. A Very Murray Christmas 75% Critic score: 75% Audience score: 36% Netflix description: "Bill Murray rounds up an all-star cast for an evening of music, mischief and barroom camaraderie in this irreverent twist on holiday variety shows." 21. The Fundamentals of Caring 77% Critic score: 77% Audience score: 83% Netflix description: "In this inspirational buddy comedy, a young shut-in and his caregiver take a road trip in search of landmarks, but end up finding hope and friendship." 20. Spectral 80% Spectral is a sci-fi thriller Netflix Critic score: 80% Audience score: 50% Netflix description: "When an otherworldly force wreaks havoc on a war-torn European city, an engineer teams up with an elite Special Ops unit to stop it." 19. Barry 80% Critic score: 80% Audience score: 54% Netflix description: "A young Barack Obama forges his identity while dealing with race, divergent cultures and ordinary life as a New York City college student." 18. Pee-wees Big Holiday 80% Critic score: 80% Audience score: 62% Netflix description: "A chance encounter with a mysterious stranger points Pee-wee toward his destiny and his first-ever holiday!" 17. Little Evil 83% Critic score: 83% Audience score: 42% Netflix description: "In this horror-comedy, a recently married man who wants to bond with his stepson begins to fear that the boy is a demon." 16. Tallulah 84% Critic score: 84% Audience score: 69% Netflix description: "While searching for her ex-boyfriend, a young drifter impulsively kidnaps a baby from a neglectful mother and pretends the child is her own." 15. The Incredible Jessica James 85% Critic score: 85% Audience score: 66% Netflix description: "Burned by a bad breakup, a struggling New York City playwright makes an unlikely connection with a divorced app designer she meets on a blind date." 14. Burning Sands 86% Critic score: 86% Audience score: 64% Netflix description: "Promising student Zurich opens his eyes to some hard truths when his fraternity's violent hazing escalates into a disastrous hell night." 13. Okja 86% Critic score: 86% Audience score: 82% Netflix description: "A gentle giant and the girl who raised her are caught in the crossfire between animal activism, corporate greed and scientific ethics." 12. 1922 88% Critic score: 88% Audience score: 61% Netflix description: "A farmer pens a confession admitting to his wife's murder, but her death is just the beginning of a macabre tale. Based on Stephen King's novella." 11. Wheelman 88% Critic score: 88% Audience score: 67% Netflix description: "The getaway driver in a botched robbery puts his skills and smarts to the test when he receives shocking orders from an unknown caller." 10. First They Killed My Father 88% First They Killed My Father was directed by Angelina Jolie Netflix Critic score: 88% Audience score: 83% Netflix description: "A 5-year-old girl embarks on a harrowing quest for survival amid the sudden rise and terrifying reign of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia." 9. Win It All 89% Critic score: 89% Audience score: 58% Netflix description: "After losing $50,000 that wasn't his, gambling addict Eddie starts to rebuild his life. But an unwelcome surprise pushes him toward his old ways." 8. I Dont Feel at Home In This World Anymore 89% Critic score: 89% Audience score: 77% Netflix description: "A timid nursing assistant gets a new lease on life when she and a neighborhood loner track down the degenerates who broke into her house." 7. Geralds Game 90% Critic score: 90% Audience score: 76% Netflix description: "When her husband's sex game goes wrong, Jessie handcuffed to a bed in a remote lake house faces warped visions, dark secrets and a dire choice." 6. Imperial Dreams 91% Critic score: 91% Audience score: 83% Netflix description: "A young father returns home from jail eager to care for his son and become a writer, but crime, poverty and a flawed system threaten his plans." 5. Beasts of No Nation 91% Critic score: 91% Audience score: 92% Netflix description: "When civil war tears his family apart, a young West African boy is forced to join a unit of mercenary fighters and transform into a child soldier." 4. The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) 93% Critic score: 93% Audience score: 74% Netflix description: "Grudges and rivalries abound as three adult siblings converge in New York to contend with their prickly artist father and his fading legacy." 3. Deidra & Laney Rob a Train 94% Critic score: 94% Audience score: 60% Netflix description: "With their mother in jail and bills piling up, ambitious small-town teens Deidra and Laney plot a series of train robberies to keep themselves afloat." 2. Tramps 95% Critic score: 95% Audience score: 73% Netflix description: "Pulled into a shady briefcase swap for different reasons, young strangers Danny and Ellie spend an eventful night together when the deal goes wrong." 1. Mudbound 97% Mudbound was released in August this year, on a budget of $10million Indie Wire Critic score: 97% Audience score: 85% Netflix description: "In racially divided post-World War II Mississippi, two men one black and one white forge a friendship based on their shared war experiences." Read more: How much the best paid workers in 20 professions earn Seven outdated mens style rules that you can now ignore 16 skills that are hard to learn but will pay off forever Read the original article on Business Insider UK. 2017. Follow Business Insider UK on Twitter. Sign up to Roisin OConnors free weekly newsletter Now Hear This for the inside track on all things music Get our Now Hear This 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 Roisin OConnors email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Legendary producer Youth (Martin Glover) recently returned from Spain after the launch of a festival at his recording studio in Granada: Space Mountain, where he hosted live artists, DJs and speakers at the three-day event. "I put on parties in the 90s for 6000 people and it was so easy. Doing a legal one today for 500 is much harder," he laughs. We had a quick catch up over the phone about his most recent projects, he thoughts on the music industry today, and why he wanted to launch his own record label. Youth Q&A On The Jesus and Mary Chain + The Verve/Urban Hymns 20th anniversary It was a great buzz to have Urban Hymns remembered 20 years later. Id had a conversation with a close associate of the band who put the original sleeve together - he was in charge of the reissue. Recommended Producer Youth on his MPG lifetime achievement award I gave him lots of extra tracks and footage, video from the sessions but in his wisdom Richard chose to keep it minimal. Its still a fantastic album, one of the ones that changed my life and one that still stands up as a classic. On rock stars The last iconic rock star we had in Britain is Pete Doherty, I think, and that was about 15 years ago. Liam Gallagher I cant think of too many young artists in rock that have that kind of presence today. Maybe thats because of the internet or the demise of the tribes, I dont know. Its a question I bring up in studios often, that maybe that was an era we wont go back to. I feel very lucky that I was born when I was, and I went through the 80s and 90s making music. Its much harder for kids to do that today. There are still great opportunities but its a whole different world. On the music industry Its exciting, underground street culture is still informing the mainstream. What worries me is in somewhere like Jamaica, the music scene there is tiny compared to what it was in the 80s when there were thousands of records and singles released. Those creative explosions still have to be nurtured or they can die. Theres some amazing music coming out of shanti towns in Johannesburg. The amazing thing today is with social media, people can blow things up from their phones - catch the publics imagination. In the past it would have been down to a few radio stations and journalists. On his new record label Suriya Recordings Its an odd time to be launching, I suppose, people are still trying to find their feet with the new industry models. Making the music has never been easier. Ive got more resources today than I had 20 years ago. This imprint is exciting because it brings a lot of people together, it creates its own energy, and hopefully collaborations will occur, alchemy will happen. It's not something I take lightly, but I hope it will promote the artists we're working with and help them develop a long, sustainable career. For more information about Suriya Recordings visit the website. Duende India Collective 'Escapology' and Indotranceltic 'Stone Horse' are out now Sign up to Roisin OConnors free weekly newsletter Now Hear This for the inside track on all things music Get our Now Hear This 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 Roisin OConnors email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Cedric Bixler-Zavala has told fans to re-read his lyrics to a song off At The Drive-In's latest album, hinting that they may allude to the alleged sexual assault of his wife by actor Danny Masterson. Masterson, who stars in Netflix comedy The Ranch alongside his former That '70s Show co-star Ashton Kutcher, is accused of rape by four women, who claim the incidents took place in the early 2000s. Earlier this month The Huffington Post reported that an LAPD investigation had inexplicably stalled despite the Los Angeles County district attorney having compelling evidence in the case. Danny Masterson (Getty) Masterson has denied the rape allegations. A representative for the actor, who is a Scientologist, recently said the false allegations appear to be motivated to boost Leah Remini's anti-Scientology television series. Bixler-Zavala's wife, actress and model Chrissie Bixler, later came forward to confirm she was one of the women who had pressed charges against Masterson. Bixler-Zavala supported her claim and said they had been harassed in the year since she filed a police report. The couple also criticised "fake feminists" - prominent women Scientologists, such as Orange Is The New Black star Laura Prepon and actress Juliette Lewis - for not speaking out against Masterson. Bixler-Zavala told fans that they might wanna go back and re-read my 'nonsensical lyrics' from his band's album Interalia. The song Incurably Innocent, which he has previously said is about sexual abuse, features the lyric: Marching to the coffins on Franklin Avenue, which refers to the location of the Church of Scientology's Celebrity Centre in Los Angeles. Sign up to Roisin OConnors free weekly newsletter Now Hear This for the inside track on all things music Get our Now Hear This 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 Roisin OConnors email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Kendrick Lamar has appeared on the cover of Variety in a rare interview where he spoke about his latest record DAMN., Compton, and political complacency in the US. Speaking on "Alright", which became the unofficial anthem of the Black Lives Matter movement and is often played before and after shows by artists such as Anderson .Paak, Lamar suggested that the song was bigger than what chart data would suggest. "What makes a hit record?" he said. "Because it has some kind of numbers behind it? Is it the amount of streams or the amount of sales or the amount of spins on the radio? Nobody can really justify which one it is, because I've heard hundreds of records from inside the neighbourhood that were quote-unquote 'hit records' and never stood a day outside the community." He argued that "Alright" was "probably the biggest record in the world" because of how many people it affected. "You might not have heard it on the radio all day, but you're seeing it in the streets, you're seeing it on the news, and you're seeing it in communities, and people felt it." Later on in the interview Lamar recalled his disbelief at Donald Trump's election as US President. "America will survive once it recognises the position it's in, and the trials it's facing," he said. "Once people stop being nonchalant and recognise it, that's when. When it's not something that's just swept under the rug because we're the quote-unquote 'greatest country in the world'." Read the full Variety interview here. Lamar will embark on a massive UK and European tour in 2018 which will see him take in dates in Dublin, Glasgow, Manchester, London, Paris and Oslo. The tour is in support of his latest record DAMN., which has sold around 2.3 million units to date. Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the IndyArts email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} In a fascinating new documentary, Barry Humphries tells a story of how, as an adolescent with a passion for performance, he once placed a freshly roast chicken and a bottle of champagne in a bin near a bus stop in Melbourne. After a queue had formed he, dressed as a tramp, started rummaging through the rubbish, extracted the delicious chicken and started gnawing at it. Then he extracted the bubbly, popped it open and took a few swigs. The onlookers were duly bemused, if not entertained, by the spectacle. This was 1920s European Dada-ism transplanted to suburban Australia in the early 1950s, a world of gladioili, cake and niceness as Humphries summarised it. Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson, the chundering Australian cultural attache to the Court of St James, were not far behind. He noted that Dame Edna herself bears a striking resemblance to a figure in a painting by the pioneering Dadaist Marcel Duchamp. How about that, possums? We learned all about Humphriess intellectual hinterland as he probed (a very Dame Edna word, that) the febrile cultural life of Europe between the First World War and the rise of fascism. Humphries stumbled across all this stuff in the unlikely setting of a Melbourne music shop in the early 1950s, when names such as Korngold, Grosz, Schreker and Krenek were rather more obscure even than they are today. Most of us do know the catchy charm of Mack the Knife, as popularised by Louis Armstrong in his 1959 hit, and maybe The Threepenny Opera (1928) whence it came, and there was much, much more where that came from. The trouble was, and is, that Hitler and the Nazis effectively buried it, and exiled or murdered its creators, leaving it for dead obscurity. It was especially poignant for me to find that the first man to sing Mack the Knife, Kurt Gerron, a brilliant actor and film director, wound up on one of the last transports to Auschwitz. Kurt Weill, who wrote the music for the opera, was also an Austrian Jew. That so many of the musicians of the time were Jewish, and specifically Viennese Jews, was brought home even more violently when Humphries examined an official Nazi directory of banned composers and performers, an embarrassingly (for the authorities) substantial affair. It was with a remarkable lack of irony that the Nazis compiled this directory of outstanding mid-century talent, just as it was when they organised, in 1937, two landmark exhibitions of un-German art and music. As Humphries commented: The rising Nazi party described it as degenerate, rather accurately because some of it is degenerate. And, paradoxically, regenerate. It represented liberation, experiment, adventure this was everything the Nazis loathed. Some fruity examples of lesbian art hanging on his wall made the point no less eloquently. Wandering around old haunts in present-day Austria, itself perhaps never adequately confronting its past, Humphries gave a vivid account of what these artists meant to him, and their value to the world, and the scale of the crimes against humanity that were committed in the Holocaust. The music and the art, summed up for a modern audience in Cabaret (itself sparked by the paintings of Berlin night life), often had that air of impending disaster, doom and decay, and thus these artists gave the impression, though only with hindsight, of being clairvoyant as well as avant-garde. A moving film supported, it must be admitted, by Sky Arts and, thus, the ultimate dirty digger of a philistine Rupert Murdoch, the nearest person that real life has given us to Sir Les. Its often the case that lots of shows that are basically variations of kids say the funniest things add a thin veneer of science to justify the schmaltzy contents. Theres no need, though. The Secret Lives of 5 Year Olds was enthralling enough, and a light dusting of child developmental psychology from a few talking heads was all that was required. Its not the Open University, darling. The cameras, hidden and otherwise, caught the activities of a gang and I mean gang of lively five-year-olds, and it was fascinating to see how much of their adult personalities were baked in by such an age. The most revealing scene came when the teacher told them to leave an ice-cream dispenser alone when he nipped out to do some chores. One group was effectively policed by a single extraordinarily conventional member, Yash, who screamed at them to leave the goodies alone. One of lifes high court judges is that boy, and a career handing down harsh sentencing to offenders surely awaits him. Access unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows with Amazon Prime Video Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up The other group had no such quasi-adult locum to give them a moral compass, so all hell broke loose. Within seconds the Mr Whippy machines had been raided, their contents consumed or chucked around the classroom in a food fight. It was little Jack who was the most intriguing personality. He had actually behaved and not eaten any of the forbidden ice cream but later bragged that he had. In the same way in another exercise he complained that he had been forced to put make-up on by the girls, when he plainly (hidden camera) was curious about it and applied the lipstick and eye shadow himself quite voluntarily, if inexpertly. In both cases he displayed a pronounced desire to protect his literally swaggering hard-man image. Id also like to see what happens to him in life, with such skills at his disposal. His personality is already quite apparent. Hed make a good Dadaist entertainer. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Government is to spend hundreds of millions of pounds encouraging people to make electric cars that drive themselves. It will spend huge amounts of money to try and incentivise electric vehicles. Then eventually those cars will start driving themselves around the country with Chancellor Philip Hammond backing a plan to have them making their own way by 2021. Jeremy Corbyn used the news about driverless vehicles to joke about having tested backseat driving in the Government, which has been bitterly divided before the Budget. Mr Hammond said the technology was being introduced because the Government saw it as the future. Some may choose to reject the future, we choose to embrace it, he said. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 16 November 2022 Emma Woolf, great niece of British author Virginia Woolf, and her son Ludovic sit next to a new bronze statue of Woolf, unveiled in Richmond, London Reuters UK news in pictures 15 November 2022 Lesley Sutcliffe shelters from the rain next to a life-sized replica of the innermost coffin of King Tutankhamun by artist Amanda Stoner as it goes on display inside a traditional red telephone box which has been converted into a museum, in Barnsley, South Yorkshire PA UK news in pictures 14 November 2022 Members of the hospitality sector demonstrate outside parliament in London. The head of the Confederation of British Industry is urging the UK government to relax immigration rules to help British companies with severe staff shortages, ahead of the chancellors autumn statement EPA UK news in pictures 13 November 2022 England celebrate winning the mens T20 World Cup in Melbourne Cricket Ground, Australia AAP Image/Reuters UK news in pictures 12 November 2022 The City of London Pride Group take part in the parade during the Lord Mayor's Show PA UK news in pictures 11 November 2022 City workers attend a Remembrance Day ceremony at Lloyd's of London, in the City of London, to mark Armistice Day, the anniversary of the end of the First World War PA 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 The Government will spend 400m on a new charging-infrastructure fund, an extra 100m on the plug-in vehicle grant, and 40m for research into charging. I know Jeremy Clarkson doesnt like them, but there are many other good reasons to pursue this technology so today we step up our support for it, Mr Hammond joked as he unveiled the new Budget. Sorry Jeremy, not the first time youve been snubbed by Hammond and May. The technology-and-automotive companies that are looking to bring driverless vehicles to the roads backed the plan, arguing that it is about to completely change the way that vehicles make their way around the streets. The Chancellors announcement to back autonomous driving by bringing it to UK roads by 2021, marks the beginning of the global driving revolution, said Intel. Our research estimates the economy created by autonomous driving will grow from $800bn (602.6bn) to $7 trillion globally, as fully autonomous vehicles become mainstream. By committing to adapt driving regulations, the UK economy will begin to witness this change and the benefits of this autonomous movement in as few as four years. Intel claims that autonomous cars will cost the public less, save money from a decrease in road traffic accidents and free up extra time as people wont have to sit in traffic as they commute. The autonomous industry will be delighted by this pledge of support for developing technologies, it said. The next challenge is trust and adoption, and we are committed to bringing safe, autonomous cars to the mainstream. In turn, we will see the UKs ambitions realised as a global hub of innovation in the future. The Chancellor also announced a range of taxes designed at encouraging people to buy more environmentally friendly vehicles. But he wouldnt apply those rules to vans, he said, in an unexplained exception. New diesel cars failing to meet the latest emissions standards will face a tax increase in April. The Chancellor said such vehicles will be subjected to a one-band increase in the first-year vehicle excise duty (VED) rate. VED is based on a vehicles CO2 emissions and the cost for the first 12 months ranges from zero to 2,000. Mr Hammond also revealed that the existing diesel supplement in company-car tax is also going up by one percentage point. He said: Drivers buying a new car will be able to avoid this charge as soon as manufacturers bring forward the next-generation cleaner diesels that we all want to see. And we only apply the measures to cars. So before the headline writers start limbering up let me be quite clear: no white-van man or woman will be hit by these measures. The levy on diesels will fund a new 220m clean-air fund to support the implementation of local air-quality plans. Additional reporting by agencies For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Google has been secretly tracking people against their wishes. The company has been collecting Android users location data, even when theyve actively disabled location services. Its an extremely concerning discovery, which means that Google can pinpoint exactly where you are even when you go out of your way to hide this information. 11 useful Google Maps features you didnt know existed Show all 11 1 /11 11 useful Google Maps features you didnt know existed 11 useful Google Maps features you didnt know existed Time travel You can see how places have changed over the years in Street View, by dragging Pegman (the small yellow figure) onto the map and clicking the clock icon. Its not available for all locations though - only the places Google has pictured for older versions of Street View - and the furthest back you can go is 2008. Its fun though, and if you look closely, youll see Pegman turns into Back to the Futures Doc Brown. 11 useful Google Maps features you didnt know existed Dive into your history You can view your Google Maps History by visiting myactivity.google.com. In the search bar at the top of the page, you can filter by lots of different products, and Maps is one of them. Doing so will show you all the Maps data has on you, which you can delete. 11 useful Google Maps features you didnt know existed Zoom with one finger Phones seem to be rowing bigger by the year, and its not always easy to use them one-handed, especially if you want to zoom in on something on your screen. On the Google Maps app, you can zoom in and out with one finger by double-tapping - but keeping your finger on the screen on the second tap - and then dragging it up and down. 11 useful Google Maps features you didnt know existed Create your own map You can create your own custom map on desktop by opening the menu and clicking Your Places, Maps and Create Map. Give your map a name and a description, and add all of your favourite places. You can also collaborate on a map with other people, ideal for when youre planning a holiday. My Maps is also available as an app, separate to Google Maps. 11 useful Google Maps features you didnt know existed Calibrate your compass This isnt an issue thats specific to Google Maps, but its incredibly annoying. Every now and then you might find yourself walking in completely the wrong direction because your phones compass has gone wrong. Fortunately, you can calibrate it by moving your phone in a figure 8 motion a few times. 11 useful Google Maps features you didnt know existed Add stops to your journey Everyone knows Google Maps can direct you from one location to another, you can add multiple stops to your journey too. On the app, after youve entered your starting point and destination, hit the menu button in the top-right corner of the screen and select Add Stop. On desktop, click Add Destination and drag and drop the addresses to reorder your journey. 11 useful Google Maps features you didnt know existed Explore You can easily find great places to hang out by tapping Explore in the main menu of the Google Maps app. Each of the sections is split into specific sub-sections (such as Keep it Cheap and Quick Bites), and every place has a rating and a description. Also, if youve ever wondered what the orange shaded bits on Google Maps indicate, theyre areas of interest Google believes to be worth exploring. 11 useful Google Maps features you didnt know existed Share the places you love If youre planning to meet friends somewhere, you can make the process much smoother by sharing the right location with them. On the app, find the location youre after, tap More Info and Share. On desktop, find the right address and click Share. 11 useful Google Maps features you didnt know existed Share your location You can track your friends or let them track you in real-time with Google Maps, so everyone knows whos on time and whos running late. In the app, hit the menu button and tap Location Sharing. 11 useful Google Maps features you didnt know existed Save data You can save mobile data (and money) by downloading offline maps for certain areas in advance. On the app, hit the menu button and select Offline Maps, then find the area you want and hit Download. You can also find Wi-Fi Only mode in the main menu of the app, which means you can only access your saved offline maps. On desktop meanwhile, you can use Google Maps Lite for when youre on a slow internet connection. 11 useful Google Maps features you didnt know existed Remember where you parked The Google Maps app can save where youve parked your car. Once youve found a spot, all you need to do is tap your blue location dot and select Save Your Parking. Google can track you even if you turn off location services, stop using apps and remove your SIM card from your device, reports Quartz. Since the start of the year, Android devices with a cellular or Wi-Fi connection have been collecting the addresses of nearby cellular towers and sending the data back to Google. It appears that this has been the case with both Android smartphones and tablets. The company says it started collecting this data to improve the speed and performance of message delivery, but that it was never actually used or stored. However, Google also decided against allowing Android users to opt out of the system. In January of this year, we began looking into using Cell ID codes as an additional signal to further improve the speed and performance of message delivery, a Google spokesperson told Quartz. However, we never incorporated Cell ID into our network sync system, so that data was immediately discarded, and we updated it to no longer request Cell ID. By the end of November, Android handsets will stop sending cellular tower location data to Google for this purpose, the company says. However, the spokesperson also told Quartz that Android's notification and messages system is distinctly separate from Location Services, which provide a devices location to apps. That leaves the door open for Google to keep tracking users in the future, perhaps as part of a different system, even when they have Location Services switched off. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A mother from Ontario, California has hit back at the women who shamed her for breastfeeding her 10-month-old son in public. Brittni Medina was at Disneyland with her husband waiting in a long queue for a ride when her son started crying. Eager not to lose her place, the mother of two decided to nurse him while standing in line. As she began to feed her child, Medina overheard two women making snarky comments behind her, criticising her for breastfeeding in public. However, instead of simply ignoring them, Medina decided to poke fun at their disapproval by asking her husband to snap a photograph of her with the two women in the background. She subsequently posted the photograph to a public breastfeeding Facebook group and her post has since been shared more than 800 times. Were pretty comfortable feeding anywhere, she wrote. Well these ladies were so angry by it my husband just had to take a picture. In an update, the mother of two explained that she hadnt posted the photograph to get attention, but to highlight the fact that she was publicly shamed for feeding her child. These women were making snarky comments so I moved from my spot to catch a picture with these characters, she added. Not for attention for me but attention to the fact NO WOMEN SHOULD BE SHAMED FOR FEEDING THEIR BABY UNCOVERED. Her post has been met with a flurry of supportive comments from fellow parents, with many mocking the two disapproving women for their reaction. Lol love it!!! Love the fact your husband is all in with you! Notice they seem to be on their own no kids. Which are ppl who usually judge. I breastfeed and have full support from my family my brother and husband always say if anyone says anything we'll jump. So power to you!!! wrote one commenter. Fyi shamers you can clearly see she is not fully exposed and children should be taught boobs aren't for sexual purposes they were ALWAYS meant to feed out children, added another. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A trove of 13.4 million leaked files from law firm Appleby over the weekend exposed the financial dealings of dozens of companies in tax havens around the world. The information, made public in the so-called Paradise Papers, pertains to some of the worlds best-known companies and top public figures. Heres a look at some of the most famous individuals that are named in the files. The Queen (Getty) (Getty Images) The papers reveal the Duchy of Lancaster which provides the Queen with a private income holds funds in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda. The papers also show that the Duchy made a small investment in the controversial rent-to-buy firm BrightHouse, which was ordered to pay back 14.8m to its customers last month after the Financial Conduct Authority said it had not acted as a responsible lender. The Duchy said its holdings in BrightHouse now equate to just over 3,000 and that it does not control how the fund acting on its behalf made decisions about what to invest in, according to the BBC. There is no suggestion that the Duchy did anything illegal or that the Queen had any knowledge of what her money was being used for. The sum is just a fraction of her estimated 500m private fortune, but Labour MP Margaret Hodge, the former chair of the Public Accounts Select Committee, said she was furious with those who advise the Queen for bringing her reputation into disrepute. Read the full story here. Wilbur Ross Wilbur Ross (Reuters) The papers reportedly show that President Donald Trumps commerce secretary had been doing business with Vladimir Putins son-in-law through a shipping venture in Russia. Wilbur Ross has an interest in Navigator Holdings, which earns millions a year transporting oil and gas for Russian energy firm Sibur, it has been claimed. When he joined Mr Trumps cabinet, Mr Ross divested his interests in 80 companies, but has been reported that he kept stakes in a number of companies, including several in the Cayman Islands that link him to Navigator. One shareholder of Sibur is President Putins son in law, Kirill Shamalov. Read the full story here. Lord Ashcroft Lord Ashcroft remains influential in British politics through his polling company (EPA) The documents suggest that Lord Ashcroft, who is a major donor to the Conservatives and the partys former deputy chairman, retained his non-dom status while serving in the House of Lords. The revelation suggests the peer continued paying tax only on his UK earnings, against his previous promises and despite attempts by parliamentary authorities to make members of the House of Lords pay their full share of tax. When he was awarded a peerage in 2000, the businessman vowed to become a permanent UK resident and drop his non-dom status. However, in 2010 he was forced to admit that he was still a non-dom. Read the full story here. Stephen Bronfman Stephen Bronfman speaks with Professor Karl Moore (YouTube/McGill University) Canadian Prime Minster Justin Trudeaus chief fundraiser and senior adviser is mentioned in the papers for reportedly having been involved in moving millions of dollars to tax havens. Madonna Madonna. Credit: Mike Coppola/Getty Images for People.com (Getty) Madonna has been named for having been a shareholder in a medical supply company in Bermuda. That company was shown to have been registered in 1997 and shut down in 2013, according to media reports. Bono Bono performs during U2's "Joshua Tree Tour 2017" (Getty) The U2 frontman used a Malta-based company to invest in a Lithuanian shopping centre, according to the papers. Read the full story here. Steve Bannon (Getty) The former White House chief strategist produced a book called Clinton Cash in May 2015, which accused Hilary Clinton of handing out favours in return for donations to her foundation. The Paradise Papers throw up questions about the funding for that book and Bannon's other attacks on the 2016 Democratic Party presidential nominee. The Guardian reports that leaked documents show the billionaire hedge fund manager Robert Mercer, who has bankrolled the Republican right, may have sheltered millions of dollars from taxation using offshore investment vehicles. Dukes of Westminster Hugh Grosvenor is Britain's youngest billionaire, at 26 (PA Archive/PA Images) The papers reportedly reveal that the Grosvenor family paid millions of pounds worth of dividends into companies in Panama and Bermuda. Amitabh Bachchan (AFP/Getty) (AFP/Getty Images) The files reportedly show that the Bollywood star was a shareholder in a digital media company that was incorporated in Bermuda in 2002. Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Health Check email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Brexit could prevent cancer patients from being treated in time, if supplies of radioactive materials used in treatments and scans are disrupted by leaving the European civil nuclear regulator, Euratom, experts have warned. Senior NHS oncologists and radiologists told the Lords EU Home Affairs Subcommittee today that close to a million patients receive radiotherapies or scans that largely depend on EU manufacturers. Many of these treatments are time sensitive and delays or disruption "significantly diminish" the likelihood that a cancer can be cured, the committee heard. This is because radioisotopes used in medicine steadily decay, so custom checks and regulatory red-tape after Britain quits the Euratom treaty could mean an order becomes unusable. Although its not part of the EU David Davis has committed to cutting ties with Euratom and setting up a UK equivalent to assure standards of trade and transportation in nuclear material. This is despite warnings that the UK could lose access to vital medical treatments, and experts said time was short to get the new body in place. The NHS uses these radioisotopes to kill tumours, but they are most widely used in medical imaging where radioactive tracers are injected to map out blood circulation or the operation of vital organs. President-elect of the British Nuclear Medicine Society, Dr John Buscombe told the committee that close to one million patients across the UK have medical imaging with radioisotopes each year. Around 80 per cent of these radioisotopes are imported from outside the UK, the majority from the European Union, he said. What experts have said about Brexit Show all 11 1 /11 What experts have said about Brexit What experts have said about Brexit Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond The Chancellor claims London can still be a world financial hub despite Brexit One of Britains great strengths is the ability to offer and aggregate all of the services the global financial services industry needs This has not changed as a result of the EU referendum and I will do everything I can to ensure the City of London retains its position as the worlds leading international financial centre. Reuters What experts have said about Brexit Yanis Varoufakis Greece's former finance minister compared the UK relations with the EU bloc with a well-known song by the Eagles: You can check out any time you like, as the Hotel California song says, but you can't really leave. The proof is Theresa May has not even dared to trigger Article 50. It's like Harrison Ford going into Indiana Jones' castle and the path behind him fragmenting. You can get in, but getting out is not at all clear Getty Images What experts have said about Brexit Michael OLeary Ryanair boss says UK will be screwed by EU in Brexit trade deals: I have no faith in the politicians in London going on about how the world will want to trade with us. The world will want to screw you that's what happens in trade talks, he said. They have no interest in giving the UK a deal on trade Getty What experts have said about Brexit Tim Martin JD Wetherspoon's chairman has said claims that the UK would see serious economic consequences from a Brexit vote were "lurid" and wrong: We were told it would be Armageddon from the OECD, from the IMF, David Cameron, the chancellor and President Obama who were predicting locusts in the fields and tidal waves in the North Sea" PA What experts have said about Brexit Mark Carney Governor of Bank of England is 'serene' about Bank of England's Brexit stance: I am absolutely serene about the judgments made both by the MPC and the FPC Reuters What experts have said about Brexit Christine Lagarde IMF chief urges quick Brexit to reduce economic uncertainty: We want to see clarity sooner rather than later because we think that a lack of clarity feeds uncertainty, which itself undermines investment appetites and decision making Getty Images What experts have said about Brexit Inga Beale Lloyds chief executive says Brexit is a major issue: "Clearly the UK's referendum on its EU membership is a major issue for us to deal with and we are now focusing our attention on having in place the plans that will ensure Lloyd's continues trading across Europe EPA What experts have said about Brexit Colm Kelleher President of US bank Morgan Stanley says City of London will suffer as result of the EU referendum: I do believe, and I said prior to the referendum, that the City of London will suffer as result of Brexit. The issue is how much What experts have said about Brexit Richard Branson Virgin founder believes we've lost a THIRD of our value because of Brexit and cancelled a deal worth 3,000 jobs: We're not any worse than anybody else, but I suspect we've lost a third of our value which is dreadful for people in the workplace.' He continued: "We were about to do a very big deal, we cancelled that deal, that would have involved 3,000 jobs, and thats happening all over the country" Getty Images What experts have said about Brexit Barack Obama US President believes Britain was wrong to vote to leave the EU: "It is absolutely true that I believed pre-Brexit vote and continue to believe post-Brexit vote that the world benefited enormously from the United Kingdom's participation in the EU. We are fully supportive of a process that is as little disruptive as possible so that people around the world can continue to benefit from economic growth" Getty Images What experts have said about Brexit Kristin Forbes American economist and an external member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England argues that the economy had been less stormy than many expected following the shock referendum result: For nowthe economy is experiencing some chop, but no tsunami. The adverse winds could quickly pick up and merit a stronger policy response. But recently they have shifted to a more favourable direction Getty The Euratom treaty offers security of supply and Dr Buscombe says there have been issues when hospitals have imported radioisotopes from further afield. We have had problems with product coming in, particularly from places like Canada, where they havent turned up, got delayed or have the wrong paperwork, he said. When this happens patients may need to be rebooked for scans, meaning already scarce NHS bed has been occupied unnecessarily, and a whole new order may be needed which can take weeks, he added. Patient treatments can be significantly delayed, he said. It wont happen with everyone, but the possibility increases if things have to go through borders and custom checks. It adds complication. Dr Jeanette Dickson, vice president of the Royal College of Radiologists clinical oncology faculty told the committee that patients with cervical or prostate cancers often require a time-sensitive radiotherapy treatment called brachytherapy. Cancer of the cervix is dependent on that for a cure, she said. Its relatively rare, 3,500 patients a year, but about half of those require brachytherapy and they require the whole treatment to be delivered in no greater than 42 days, or the cure rates reduce. If you have an interrupted supply of [radioisotope] iridium you are significantly diminishing patients chances of a cure. This is similar with prostate cancer, and these patients would otherwise need a surgical intervention or targeted beam therapies which can take 20 to 40 days instead of a one day of brachytherapy. Both experts warned the NHS lacks the capacity to switch to surgical procedures from radiotherapies or to produce enough nuclear material for the NHS in the UK. Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Health Check email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The NHS has been given 350m to see it through the winter in the Chancellors Autumn Budget, after its chief executive, Simon Stevens, asked for the 350m a week pledged by Brexit campaigners. Philip Hammond pledged an extra 2.8bn in one-off funding for the health service to cope with immediate pressures up to 2020, the bulk of which will be delivered in 2018/19. This will be broken down into 350m this year, which will be available immediately to allow trusts to plan for winter, 1.6bn for 2018/19, and the remaining 850m in 2019/20. It comes despite an unprecedented intervention from Mr Stevens earlier this month when he said the NHS needed an extra 4bn in 2018/19 something the Chancellor had already ruled out. NHS groups said there would be tough choices about what can be delivered for patients with the money available. Meanwhile, Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth said patients had been let down by a budget that wont fix the NHSs deep and severe problems. The funding will be in addition to the 9bn increase already set out for the NHS budget in the Conservatives spending plans for 2015 to 2020. This will mean the total increase to the NHS budget in 2018/19 will be 3.75bn, the Chancellor said, and should mean four-hour wait targets in A&E departments are hit next year. The NHS is under pressure right now, the Chancellor said. I am therefore, exceptionally and outside the spending review process, making an additional commitment of resource funding of 2.8bn to the NHS in England. The announcement also included a commitment to funding a pay rise for NHS nurses, midwives and paramedics, but only if negotiations on wider pay reform are successfully concluded. Mr Hammond said the nations nurses deserve our deepest gratitude and that Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt was currently negotiating changes to NHS pay scales so any wage increase would be recommended in due course. If the Health Secretarys talks bear fruit, Mr Hammond added. I will protect patient services by providing additional funding for such a settlement. Talks between Mr Hunt and staff unions began in 2014 but had been stalled by the now-scrapped cap on pay rises. There was no equivalent pledge for doctors, with any increases above 1 per cent having to be paid out of existing budgets, despite official figures showing the NHS lost 1,000 GPs last year. The final announcement was 3.5bn in new capital funding for redesigning NHS services and turning around struggling NHS trusts over the course of this Parliament. This takes the total new funding to 6.3bn. NHS and staff groups warned this was an opportunity missed with funding lower than asked for and emergency resources for winter delivered very late. While the commitment to staff pay was welcome, the Royal College of Nursing warned that his commitment must result in a meaningful pay rise or risked insulting nurses who had salaries frozen or capped since 2010. Janet Davies, chief executive of the RCN said: The NHS has been running on the goodwill of its staff for too long, and with more talk of reform and productivity, Hammond runs the risk of insulting nurses who regularly stay at work unpaid after 12-hour shifts. Their goodwill will not last indefinitely. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 15 November 2022 Lesley Sutcliffe shelters from the rain next to a life-sized replica of the innermost coffin of King Tutankhamun by artist Amanda Stoner as it goes on display inside a traditional red telephone box which has been converted into a museum, in Barnsley, South Yorkshire PA UK news in pictures 14 November 2022 Members of the hospitality sector demonstrate outside parliament in London. The head of the Confederation of British Industry is urging the UK government to relax immigration rules to help British companies with severe staff shortages, ahead of the chancellors autumn statement EPA UK news in pictures 13 November 2022 England celebrate winning the mens T20 World Cup in Melbourne Cricket Ground, Australia AAP Image/Reuters UK news in pictures 12 November 2022 The City of London Pride Group take part in the parade during the Lord Mayor's Show PA UK news in pictures 11 November 2022 City workers attend a Remembrance Day ceremony at Lloyd's of London, in the City of London, to mark Armistice Day, the anniversary of the end of the First World War PA 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 NHS Providers, which represents NHS hospitals and trusts, said any investment was welcome recognition that the Governments original spending plans for next year were undeliverable. But chief executive Chris Hopson said: It is disappointing that the Government has not been able to give the NHS all that it needed to deal with rising demand, fully recover performance targets, consistently maintain high quality patient care and meet the NHSs capital requirements. The 350m has been targeted at acute hospitals, when community and mental health services are also struggling, and he warned: Tough choices are now needed and trade-offs will have to be made. Chair of the British Medical Association, Dr Chaand Nagpaul, said recurrent funding and investment in NHS staff should have been an urgent priority and lamented the lack of bold action on public health interventions for smoking and obesity. With workforce pressures and uncertainly from Brexit looming, today was an opportunity to put the NHS on stable footing as we enter uncertain times. It was an opportunity missed, he said. NHS Englands chairman, Sir Malcolm Grant, said the extra money is welcome and would fill some of the NHS funding gap. However, we can no longer avoid the difficult debate about what it is possible to deliver for patients with the money available, something NHS England will debate at its board meeting next week, he added. Mr Ashworth said: Todays Budget wont fix the deep and severe problems facing the NHS. There was no mention of social care, no news on mental health, and astonishingly, after months of hints from the Health Secretary, there is still no detail of a pay rise for NHS staff. Instead, Tory ministers let down patients and their families today, he added. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Stupid people tend to overestimate their competence, while smart people tend to sell themselves short. As Shakespeare put it in As You Like It: The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool. That conventional wisdom is backed up by a Cornell University study conducted by David Dunning and Justin Kruger. The phenomenon is now known as the Dunning-Kruger effect. So, if youre not too sure about your own intellect, it actually might be a indication that youre pretty intelligent thoughtful enough to realise your limitations, at least. Here are some subtle signs that you are considerably smarter than you think. You took music lessons Playing an instrument can boost intelligence Oast House Archive (Oast House Archive) Research suggests that music helps kids minds develop in a few ways: A 2011 study found that scores on a test of verbal intelligence among 4- to 6-year-olds rose after only a month of music lessons. A 2004 study led by Glenn Schellenberg found that 6-year-olds who took nine months of keyboard or voice lessons had an IQ boost compared with kids who took drama lessons or no classes at all. Meanwhile, a 2013 study, also led by Schellenberg, suggested that high-achieving kids were the ones most likely to take music lessons. In other words, in the real world, musical training may only enhance cognitive differences that already exist. Youre the oldest Oldest siblings are usually smarter, but its not because of genetics, one study found. Norwegian epidemiologists used military records to examine the birth order, health status, and IQ scores of nearly 250,000 18- and 19-year-old men born between 1967 and 1976. Results showed that the average firstborn had an IQ of 103, compared to 100 for second children and 99 for third children. The New York Times reports: The new findings, from a landmark study published [in June 2007], showed that eldest children had a slight but significant edge in IQ an average of three points over the closest sibling. And it found that the difference was not because of biological factors but the psychological interplay of parents and children. For this and other reasons, firstborns tend to be more successful (but notthat much more successful) than their siblings. You're thin For a 2006 study, scientists gave roughly 2,200 adults intelligence tests over a five-year period and results suggested that the bigger the waistline, the lower the cognitive ability. Another studypublished that same year found that 11-year-olds who scored lower on verbal and nonverbal tests were more likely to be obese in their 40s. The study authors say that smarter kids might have pursued better educational opportunities, landed higher-status and higher-paying jobs, and therefore ended up in a better position to take care of their health than their less intelligent peers. Meanwhile, a more recent study found that, among preschoolers, a lower IQ was linked to a higher BMI. Those researchers also say environmental factors are at play, since the relationship between BMI and smarts was mediated by socioeconomic status. You have a cat A 2014 study of 600 college students found that individuals who identified as "dog people" were more outgoing than those who identified as "cat people," according to a test that measures personality and intelligence. But guess what? Those same cat people scored higher on the part of the test that measures cognitive ability. You were breastfed 2007 research suggests that babies who are breastfed might grow up to be smarter kids. In two studies, the researchers looked at more than 3,000 children in Britain and New Zealand. Those children who had been breastfed scored nearly seven points higher on an IQ test but only if they had a particular version of the FADS2 gene. (That version of the gene was present in roughly equal numbers among kids who were and weren't breastfed.) Figuring out the exact mechanism of this relationship between FADS2, breastfeeding, and IQ will require further study, the scientists noted in their paper on the finding. You've used recreational drugs Drug use can indicate higher intelligence according to research Getty Images iStockPhoto (Getty Images/iStockphoto) A 2012 study of more than 6,000 Brits born in 1958 found a link between high IQ in childhood and the use of illegal drugs in adulthood. "In our large population-based cohort study, IQ at 11 years was associated with a greater likelihood of using selected illegal drugs 31 years later," wrote researchers James W. White, Catharine R. Gale, and David Batty. They conclude that "in contrast to most studies on the association between childhood IQ and later health," their findings suggest "a high childhood IQ may prompt the adoption of behaviours that are potentially harmful to health (i.e., excess alcohol consumption and drug use) in adulthood." You're left-handed Left-handedness used to be associated with criminality, and researchers are still unclear as to whether and why there are slightly more leftiesamong criminal populations. More recent research associates left-handedness with "divergent thinking," a form of creativity that allows you to come up with novel ideas from a prompt at least among men. In her review of a 1995 paper, New Yorker reporter Maria Konnikova writes: The more marked the left-handed preference in a group of males, the better they were at tests of divergent thought. Left-handers were more adept, for instance, at combining two common objects in novel ways to form a third for example, using a pole and a tin can to make a birdhouse. They also excelled at grouping lists of words into as many alternate categories as possible. You're tall A 2008 Princeton study of thousands of people found that taller individuals scored higher on IQ tests as kids and earned more money as adults. The researchers write: "As early as age 3 before schooling has had a chance to play a role and throughout childhood, taller children perform significantly better on cognitive tests." You drink alcohol regularly Evolutionary psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa and colleagues found that, among Brits as well as Americans, adults who had scored higher on IQ tests when they were kids or teens drank more alcohol, more often in adulthood than those who had scored lower You learned to read early In 2012, researchers looked at nearly 2,000 pairs of identical twins in the UK and found that the sibling who had learned to read earlier tended to score higher on tests of cognitive ability. The study authors suggest that reading from an early age increases both verbal and nonverbal (e.g. reasoning) ability, as opposed to the other way around. You worry a lot A growing body of research suggests that anxious individuals may be smarter than others in certain ways, according to Slate's coverage of several different studies on anxiety. In one study, for example, researchers asked 126 undergrads to fill out questionnaires in which they indicated how often they experienced worry. They also indicated how often they engaged in rumination, or thinking continuously about the aspects of situations that upset them, as psychologist Dr. Edward Selby reported in Psychology Today. Results showed that people who tended to worry and ruminate a lot scored higher on measures of verbal intelligence, while people who didn't do much worrying or ruminating scored higher on tests of nonverbal intelligence. You're funny Making people laugh may suggest you're clever Getty Images/iStockPhoto (Getty Images/iStockphoto) In one study, 400 psychology students took intelligence tests that measured abstract reasoning abilities and verbal intelligence. Then they were asked to come up with captions for several New Yorker cartoons, and those captions were reviewed by independent raters. As predicted, smarter students were rated as funnier. You're curious In University of London business psychology professor Tomas Chamorro-Premuzi's post for Harvard Business Review, he discussed how the curiosity quotient and having a hungry mind makes one more inquisitive. Regarding the importance of CQ, he wrote that, "It has not been as deeply studied as EQ and IQ, but theres some evidence to suggest it is just as important when it comes to managing complexity in two major ways. First, individuals with higher CQ are generally more tolerant of ambiguity. This nuanced, sophisticated, subtle thinking style defines the very essence of complexity. Second, CQ leads to higher levels of intellectual investment and knowledge acquisition over time, especially in formal domains of education, such as science and art (note: this is of course different from IQs measurement of raw intellectual horsepower)." A Goldsmiths University of London study found that intellectual investment, or "how people invest their time and effort in their intellect," plays a major part in cognitive growth. You're messy A study published in "Psychological Science"by the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management's Dr. Kathleen Vohs revealed that working in an untidy room actually fuels creativity. In the study, 48 participants were asked to come up with unusual uses for a pingpong ball. The 24 individuals working in neat rooms came up with substantially less creative responses than the individuals working in cluttered rooms. So if you are a pack rat, tell everyone you're just fueling your sense of creativity and innovation the next time someone tells you to clean up your act. You didn't have sex until after high school High schoolers with higher IQs are more likely to be virgins than those with average or lower IQs, according to a study from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. The core sample looked at 12,000 teens from the 7th to the 12th grade. Not only were the teens with the higher IQs more likely to be virgins, they were also less likely to kiss or hold hands with a romantic partner. A number of explanations have been put forward by the science blog Gene Expression to explain this gap, including suggestions that smart people possess lower sex drives, are risk adverse, or simply less able to find sexual partners. You're a night owl One study published in the "The Official Journal of the International Society for the Study of Individual Differences" found that, when all other variables are factored out, night owls tend to beat out early birds in terms of intellect. It concluded that ethnographic evidence indicates that "nocturnal activities" were rarer in the ancestral environment. That means that more intelligent individuals are more likely to stay up late because smarter people are more likely to "espouse evolutionarily novel values." You don't always have to try hard This isn't to say that laziness is a sign of being smart. But it is fair to say that smart people simply don't always have to try as hard as "strivers" who fight to build up their skills at least in certain fields. In an opinions piece for The New York Times, psychologists David Z. Hambrick and Elizabeth J. Meinz cited a Vanderbilt University study of highly intelligent young people. The study tracked 2,000 people who scored in the top 1% of the SAT by the age of 13. Hambrick and Meinz wrote that, "The remarkable finding of their study is that, compared with the participants who were only in the 99.1 percentile for intellectual ability at age 12, those who were in the 99.9 percentile the profoundly gifted were between three and five timesmore likely to go on to earn a doctorate, secure a patent, publish an article in a scientific journal or publish a literary work. A high level of intellectual ability gives you an enormous real-world advantage." They concluded that while striving to be smarter is commendable, there are certain innate abilities that can't always be learned. Read more: How much the best paid workers in 20 professions earn Seven outdated mens style rules that you can now ignore 16 skills that are hard to learn but will pay off forever Read the original article on Business Insider UK. 2016. Follow Business Insider UK on Twitter. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A man who armed himself with a 10-inch knife and hunted for Muslims to stab in London has been jailed after claiming he would become a a martyr for England. Police said Mickey Sage, 24, pulled a knife on people asking them if they were Muslim in Camberwell Green in the early hours of 7 June. He was stopped and searched by officers before carrying out his plan but declared his intentions while being taken into custody, making Islamophobic comments. Sage went to claim that he would be a martyr for England and stab an imam in the neck, police said. Sage, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to threatening a person with a knife in a public place and accepted the incident was religiously aggravated. A judge at Inner London Crown Court sentenced him to two years and three months in prison. The court heard that police were called to near Camberwell Green Magistrates' Court by people reporting that a man was threatening people with a knife at 1.45am. (Home Office) Minutes later, the alarm was raised at the nearby junction between Camberwell Green and Camberwell Church Street over a man with a knife who was asking people whether they were Muslim. The Metropolitan Police said several alarmed and distressed members of the public were at the scene and directed them to Sage, telling them where he had hidden the knife nearby. Sage was arrested for possession of an offensive weapon and while being taken back to the police station, he told the arresting officer it was my knife and I was out to kill a Muslim, Scotland Yard said. Detective Constable Samuel Cafferty said: Sage set out with a large knife with the clear intention to find Muslims to stab. Hate crime like this has no place in any society. Sage poses a very clear and present danger to members of the public, particularly the Muslim community and I'm pleased that he now has plenty of time to consider his actions. Members of public confronted by Sage were not harmed but shaken by their ordeal and managed to get away from what could have been a very different ending. Scotland Yard is urging people to tell them about hate crime, which remains largely under-reported, and says it will investigate all allegations fully. Brexit racism and the fightback Show all 9 1 /9 Brexit racism and the fightback Brexit racism and the fightback Demonstrators protest against an increase in post-ref racism at London's March for Europe in July 2016 PA Brexit racism and the fightback These cards were found near a school in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, the day after the EU referendum Twitter/@howgilb Brexit racism and the fightback Getty Brexit racism and the fightback Romford, Essex, June 25 @diamondgeezer Brexit racism and the fightback A worker at this Romanian food shop was asleep upstairs at the time of this arson attack in Norwich on July 8, but escaped unharmed. Hundreds later participated in a love bombing rally outside the shop to express their opposition to racism and their support of the shop owners. JustGiving/Helen Linehan Brexit racism and the fightback This neo-Nazi sticker was spotted in Glasgow on June 26 Courtesy of Eoin Palmer Brexit racism and the fightback But after news emerged of neo-Nazi stickers appearing in Glasgow, some in the city struck back with slogans of their own. Courtesy of Eoin Palmer Brexit racism and the fightback Getty Brexit racism and the fightback More signs began to appear in some parts of the UK, created by people who wanted to show their opposition to post-referendum racism Courtesy of Bernadette Russell The case comes after reported hate crimes rocketed by almost a third in England and Wales over the past year a statistic officials said reflected both a genuine rise around the EU referendum and better recording by police. Home Office data shows spikes in racially or religiously-aggravated offences, including a series of attacks on mosques, following the Isis-linked attacks in Westminster, Manchester and London Bridge. A man accused of deliberately mowing down Muslim worshippers in Finsbury Park, leaving one man dead on 19 June, is to go on trial in January. More than a quarter of people referred to the Governments Channel counter-extremism programme were suspected of right-wing extremism in 2015/2016, with the majority Islamists, and officials expect the number to rise. National Action became the first far-right group to be banned as a terrorist organisation in the UK last year, followed by its aliases Scottish Dawn and NS131, after it supported the murder of Jo Cox. Several alleged members have been arrested on suspicion of terror offences, including a man accused of plotting to murder another Labour MP with a machete. Hate crime can be reported through 999 in an emergency, by dialling 101 in a non-emergency, directly at a police station, through the MOPAC Hate Crime app or through community reporting methods such as Tell MAMA, Galop, or the Community Safety Trust. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A manhunt has been launched for a mother suspected of kidnapping her 11-year-old son during a holiday to Spain. Melanie Batty, 37, flew to Malaga with her son Alex and other members of the family on 30 September, before heading with them to the Benahavis area near Marbella. She does not have parental guardianship of the boy from Oldham, who was due to return to England on 8 October, but never did. Detectives from Greater Manchester Police have since discovered that the family left Benahavis and may have tried to head to Melilla in Morocco from the Port of Malaga. Alex has not been seen since and although officers do not believe he is at risk of harm, they are concerned about his welfare and want to bring him home to his guardian. He is white, about 5ft, slim, has blond hair and speaks with a northern accent. Ms Batty is wanted in connection with his abduction and officers are also trying to trace her with the help of Spanish authorities. Police said Alex's guardian was "understandably extremely upset" and that although she heard from Alex on the 8 October, she had not heard from him since and was desperate to get him home. Detective Inspector Lindsay Booth from Oldhams Public Protection Division said: Our main priority is finding Alex and bringing him home. We have followed extensive enquiries and we know Melanie has visited Morocco a number of times before and we believe she could have travelled with Alex to there. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 16 November 2022 Emma Woolf, great niece of British author Virginia Woolf, and her son Ludovic sit next to a new bronze statue of Woolf, unveiled in Richmond, London Reuters UK news in pictures 15 November 2022 Lesley Sutcliffe shelters from the rain next to a life-sized replica of the innermost coffin of King Tutankhamun by artist Amanda Stoner as it goes on display inside a traditional red telephone box which has been converted into a museum, in Barnsley, South Yorkshire PA UK news in pictures 14 November 2022 Members of the hospitality sector demonstrate outside parliament in London. The head of the Confederation of British Industry is urging the UK government to relax immigration rules to help British companies with severe staff shortages, ahead of the chancellors autumn statement EPA UK news in pictures 13 November 2022 England celebrate winning the mens T20 World Cup in Melbourne Cricket Ground, Australia AAP Image/Reuters UK news in pictures 12 November 2022 The City of London Pride Group take part in the parade during the Lord Mayor's Show PA UK news in pictures 11 November 2022 City workers attend a Remembrance Day ceremony at Lloyd's of London, in the City of London, to mark Armistice Day, the anniversary of the end of the First World War PA 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 "Our last known location of Alex puts him near the Port of Malaga and boats run from there to Melilla in Morocco. "I am appealing to anyone who recognises this young boy or Melanie, or has been in contact with them, to please get in touch with us. It might be that you were staying in the same resort as them, are friends from home and have heard from them through social media or texts, or that you might have some knowledge of their plans. I implore you, please get in touch with us or contact police if you are abroad. Anyone with any information should call police on 0161 856 8972 (+44 161 856 8972 if you are abroad) or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A watchdog is investigating police officers who detained a 15-year-old boy who was left with severe injuries in London, as his mother calls for justice. Terrell Decosta Jones-Burton remains in a stable condition in hospital while the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) appeals for witnesses. A spokesperson said officers attempted to detain him as he rode through Bermondsey on Tuesday evening, following reports of a robbery. Warning: Graphic image below The cyclist came off his bicycle and sustained facial injuries, a statement added. An ambulance was called and he was taken to hospital where he remains in a stable condition. Terrells mother, Shereen Jones, said her son had been left with a split lip, lost teeth, broken jawbone, bruising on the brain and abdominal pain. Police brutality on young black boys has to stop, Terrell Jones-Burton's mother said (Shereen Jones) Writing on Facebook, she said the teenager is not a thug and had been on his way home from local shops with friends when he was approached by officers accusing him of involvement in a mugging. He has no criminal record and no involvement with the police, Ms Jones wrote, using the hashtag #JusticeForTerrell. Was all of this necessary over a phone? Police brutality on young black boys has to stop. Ms Jones alleged that her son was beaten by police but Scotland Yard and the National Police Chiefs Council said they were unable to respond to the claim at this stage of the investigation. A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said officers were called to nearby Albion Street, Rotherhithe, shortly after 9pm, adding: The female victim informed officers that her mobile phone had been stolen by a male youth who had then fled on a bicycle. A short while later officers detained a 15-year-old male youth on a bicycle in Southwark Park Road. While being detained, the male came off his bicycle and was taken by the London Ambulance Service to a south London hospital where he remains in a stable condition with facial injuries. 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 The incident comes amid persistent allegations of discrimination against young black men by the Metropolitan Police. Five police officers are being investigated for alleged misconduct over the detention of Edson Da Costa, a 25-year-old black man who died following an altercation in June. Weeks later Rashan Charles, a 20-year-old black man, died after being chased by police and restrained on the floor of a shop in Dalston. An inquest into his death will be heard in front of a jury next year. Both deaths sparked vigils and protests, including one that spilled over into isolated violence, and have reignited allegations of racial discrimination in Scotland Yard. Statistics showed the UKs largest police force used force disproportionately against black suspects, while a separate review conducted by Labour MP David Lammy showed that black convicts are proportionately more likely to be imprisoned in Britain than the US. Police are under pressure to respond to rising levels of reported crime, which rocketed by 13 per cent in England and Wales last year, including increasing knife crime, shootings, acid attacks and robberies in London. Rotherhithe, where Tuesdays incident took place, has seen a recent spike in robberies of mobile phones snatched from pedestrians by muggers on mopeds, bicycles or on foot. The IPCC is appealing for witnesses to come forward by calling 0800 029 4687 or emailing southwarkparkroad@ipcc.gsi.gov.uk. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Millions of British workers reckon they could do a better job than their boss, a study has found. Researchers found 44 per cent of disgruntled employees think they could be more effective than their current line manager if given the opportunity. Two in five believe they could improve communication channels with other members of staff, and one third would take efforts to organise the workforce so tasks were distributed more equally. A vengeful 20 per cent even admitted they would use their newfound clout to lay off inefficient members of staff. Andrew Clarke, a spokesperson for Multilotto.co.uk, said: Bosses are people too, but its difficult not to take issue when a manager malfunctions in the line of duty. A poor working relationship with your boss can have a rippling effect throughout other aspects of your life, so when things go awry it is easy to fantasise about a situation where you could take the power back and right workplace wrongs. Of course, there are better ways than others to vent this frustration, and spraying Up yours, I quit on the bosss car, like we did for a recent stunt, is probably down there with some of the least constructive methods or conflict resolution. The poll of 2,000 workers also found one in four are unsatisfied with how The Big Man runs the operation while 13 per cent went as far as to say their boss is dangerously incompetent at their job. Almost one in five think management works them too hard, and 17 per cent accused their boss of delegating too much of their own work out instead of doing it themselves. One in ten Brits say their boss takes a hands-off approach to their duties, while 12 per cent think their bosss managerial style is hectic and scattershot. It also emerged that 28 per cent have felt resentment towards their boss, most commonly stemming from an unfair punishment, while one in four hate their boss for making them work over their contracted hours. A peeved 11 per cent have had holiday requests denied by their manager and one in ten has caused their boss to lose their temper. As a result, one in ten workers confessed to quietly scheming to undermine the management in some way, while 41 per cent have stood up to their boss amid a difference of opinion. As a result, one in five employees polled by OnePoll.com admitted daydreaming about slapping their resignation notice on their bosss desk. But 22 per cent of those would prefer to make their exit more abrupt, standing from their workstation and simply walking out on their responsibilities. Some of the dislike is due to jealousy though with two in five employees admitting they are envious of their bosss pay, while nine per cent crave the respect their manager commands. The study also found one third of employees have left a job in the past as a direct result of their poor relationship with their boss, and 14 per cent are currently looking for a new position to escape their manager. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 16 November 2022 Emma Woolf, great niece of British author Virginia Woolf, and her son Ludovic sit next to a new bronze statue of Woolf, unveiled in Richmond, London Reuters UK news in pictures 15 November 2022 Lesley Sutcliffe shelters from the rain next to a life-sized replica of the innermost coffin of King Tutankhamun by artist Amanda Stoner as it goes on display inside a traditional red telephone box which has been converted into a museum, in Barnsley, South Yorkshire PA UK news in pictures 14 November 2022 Members of the hospitality sector demonstrate outside parliament in London. The head of the Confederation of British Industry is urging the UK government to relax immigration rules to help British companies with severe staff shortages, ahead of the chancellors autumn statement EPA UK news in pictures 13 November 2022 England celebrate winning the mens T20 World Cup in Melbourne Cricket Ground, Australia AAP Image/Reuters UK news in pictures 12 November 2022 The City of London Pride Group take part in the parade during the Lord Mayor's Show PA UK news in pictures 11 November 2022 City workers attend a Remembrance Day ceremony at Lloyd's of London, in the City of London, to mark Armistice Day, the anniversary of the end of the First World War PA 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 Multilotto recently sprayed a crude resignation note on the side of a white Mercedes in Leeds. Mr Clarke added: In our recent stunt we imagined an artistic way for someone to let their boss know they wont be working their notice. We hope most employee-boss issues can be resolved through a call to HR, a cup of tea and an apology. But for when they cant, theres always spray paint. You are here: Home Flash Armed criminals in Zambia's Ndola city on the Copperbelt Province have shot dead a Chinese national after raiding a plant operated by the Chinese, the police said on Tuesday. Police Spokesperson Esther Mwaata-Katongo said the incident happened on Sunday morning when masked criminals who were armed with guns and machetes and clad in military camouflaged tops entered Amania Investment in the city's heavy industrial area. She said the criminals ordered three Chinese nationals to lie down and later shot one Chinese national dead. The criminals also stole an undisclosed amount of money and a vehicle, she added. Police have since launched investigations while the Zambia-Chinese Association has offered a reward of 50,000 Zambian Kwacha (US$4,955) to any person with information that will lead to the arrest and prosecution of the criminals. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Government has been accused of failing to tackle the crisis facing UK schools after Philip Hammond announced a series of reforms that teachers said amounted to a drop in the ocean. Head teachers and politicians lambasted the Chancellor for offering no significant money for education, saying ministers had ignored the concerns of parents and evidence of the problems created by real terms cuts to schools. During his Budget speech, Mr Hammond announced there would be more investment in maths, including 600 for every A-level maths student, as well as plans to train 12,000 computer teachers and more support for adult re-training. He also announced there would be 42m over three years to provide extra training to improve the quality of teaching in a pilot project in some under-performing schools in England, with each teacher given access to 1,000 worth of training. But campaigners urged that, with schools needing 2 billion a year extra funding to restore real terms per pupil funding to 2015-16 levels and teacher recruitment and retention rates in spiralling decline, the Budget offered merely a sticking plaster to the problems faced by schools. Critics also pointed out that the Chancellor only directly mentioned children only once in his speech, prompting clams that the Government had shown little concern for the plight of young people who were not potential voters. Responding to the Budget, Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner said: The Chancellor has already overseen the steepest cuts to school funding in a generation and a cap on public sector pay that has led to teachers leaving the classroom in record numbers. If Philip Hammond was serious about addressing the challenges in our schools he would have reversed the cuts his Government have imposed since 2015, protect their budgets in real terms, and abolish the public sector pay cap so we can retain and recruit the teachers and support staff that our schools desperately need. Budget 2017: All you need to know Instead, this Budget has done nothing to address the crisis the Tories have created in our education system. The schemes announced today are a tiny fraction of the money he has cut from school budgets since 2015 and despite his spin, schools will be worse off by 2020. Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), said the Government had failed to use the Budget to invest in education, and instead opted to continue with a damaging policy of real terms cuts. He said: The Budget, with no significant new money for education, shows that the Government has chosen to ignore the anger of parents and the clear evidence of the problems being created by real terms cuts to education. Parents and teachers will be deeply disappointed. Despite the worsening teacher recruitment and retention crisis and the huge real terms cuts in teacher pay since 2010, the Chancellor had nothing to offer teachers or the profession. Instead of school staff losing jobs or seeing the value of their pay cut, the Government needs to invest in those working in education. Mr Courtney added that the Chancellors announcement of 42m for teacher training was merely a sticking-plaster solution, and urged that the only credible response to the teacher recruitment problems was to properly invest in education, including fully funded proper pay levels across the profession. He also raised concerns that the financial incentive to get more pupils studying A-Level maths could steer students towards subject choices that may not be in their interests. If this investment isn't accompanied by significant new funding for schools then it won't make enough of a difference to pupils' life chances and skills development and is a drop in the ocean compared to billions of real terms cuts to per pupil funding," Mr Courtney added. The huge economic problems we face cannot be addressed without equipping children and young people with the skills our country needs, but instead of investing in our future the Government persists with its real terms cuts to education. The National Childrens Bureau (NCB) meanwhile accused the Chancellor of failing to address mental health issues, poverty, abuse and neglect faced by children, urging that these problems create fundamental barriers to their education which funding for academic learning "does nothing to address". Anna Feuchtwang, chief executive of the NCB, said: Philip Hammond has courted young voters by extending eligibility for railcards and providing incentives for first-time house buyers, but has shown little concern for the plight of the nations children. In his budget speech, the chancellor only directly mentioned children once, aside from setting out additional support for school pupils in Maths and IT. This sends the clear message that if you arent a potential voter, the government wont make your welfare a priority. Children with mental health issues, those going to school hungry and those at risk of abuse and neglect have fundamental barriers to their education that funding for academic learning does nothing to address. Audit and tax service KPMG said that the additional funding to improve the take up of maths and the boost to teacher training in underperforming schools was a step in the right direction, but urged that additional funding must be spent on increasing the quality of teaching. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 16 November 2022 Emma Woolf, great niece of British author Virginia Woolf, and her son Ludovic sit next to a new bronze statue of Woolf, unveiled in Richmond, London Reuters UK news in pictures 15 November 2022 Lesley Sutcliffe shelters from the rain next to a life-sized replica of the innermost coffin of King Tutankhamun by artist Amanda Stoner as it goes on display inside a traditional red telephone box which has been converted into a museum, in Barnsley, South Yorkshire PA UK news in pictures 14 November 2022 Members of the hospitality sector demonstrate outside parliament in London. The head of the Confederation of British Industry is urging the UK government to relax immigration rules to help British companies with severe staff shortages, ahead of the chancellors autumn statement EPA UK news in pictures 13 November 2022 England celebrate winning the mens T20 World Cup in Melbourne Cricket Ground, Australia AAP Image/Reuters UK news in pictures 12 November 2022 The City of London Pride Group take part in the parade during the Lord Mayor's Show PA UK news in pictures 11 November 2022 City workers attend a Remembrance Day ceremony at Lloyd's of London, in the City of London, to mark Armistice Day, the anniversary of the end of the First World War PA 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 Anna Purchas, head of people at the organisation, said: Todays announcement that the Government will provide additional funding to improve the skills of the UKs future workforce is a step in the right direction for business. Bridging the skills gap that currently exists within STEM will be a positive message for business leaders, ensuring their recruitment pipeline is fit for purpose and better allowing the UK to remain competitive post Brexit as outlined in the Industrial Strategy. However the emphasis must be on increasing the quality of teaching rather than just the take up numbers. Government must provide stringent guidelines to ensure this additional funding is spent in the best way to benefit the future UK workforce. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Charles Bronson, the man dubbed Britains most violent prisoner has been refused parole, days after getting married behind bars. The 64-year-old will have to spend at least another two years behind bars after Parole Board did not recommend that he should be released or moved to an open prison, after reviewing his case. His new bride Paula Williamson, who recently married the convicted armed robber at West Yorkshires HMP Wakefield admitted that he wasnt going to be released any time soon. But the 37-year-old actress, who has appeared in Emmerdale and Coronation Street, claimed the parole hearing earlier this month had been positive. Ms Williamson recently revealed that the couple walked down the aisle to Chopins Funeral March instead of Time by Hans Zimmer. Bronson, now known as Charles Salvador, gave the warders the wrong music, she said. It wasnt the day a bride would choose, but I love him, she told the Sunday People, adding: I had to cherish every second, as we only had two hours, and it was lovely. The newlyweds usually kiss through the bars, she said. But Charlie wasnt handcuffed to a warden so we had to make the most of it while we could. The couple also exchanged rings engraved with the letters CPS, to represent Charlie and Paula Salvador and the Crown Prosecution Service. She revealed how the she danced with a lookalike of her husband at the wedding reception, as Bronson had to return to his wing inside the prison. She then flew out to Malta for a honeymoon she shared with her bridesmaids. Bronson, born Michael Peterson - now called Charles Salvador after changing his name by deed poll in tribute to artist Salvador Dali is serving a life sentence for robbery and kidnap in Wakefield prison. He has earned public notoriety with a history of violence inside and outside jail. A Parole Board spokesman said: We can confirm that a panel of the Parole Board has not directed the release of Charles Salvador. Under current legislation, Mr Salvador will be eligible for a further review within two years. The date of the next review will be set by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). No recommendation has been made to move Bronson to an open prison, meaning that any move will be a matter for the Ministry of Justice. 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 After the decision, Ms Williamson told Talk Radio that she was proud to be Bronsons wife, adding that her new husband was a very kind compassionate soul. Charlie has admitted his wrongdoings and hes served his time for every single offence that hes committed, and well over that time, and its time now for him to move forward, she said. Hes an OAP. Im under no illusion. Hes not going to be released any time soon. I know that and Charlie knows that, but he deserves the chance, like any other prisoner does, to progress. Ms Williamson has launched an online petition to give him a chance to prove he is no longer Britains most dangerous inmate, which has so far attracted more than 19,000 signatures. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Almost all of the UKs water companies have admitted their engineers use dowsing rods to detect leaks or find pipes, despite there being no scientific evidence for their efficacy. Ten of 12 companies confessed their occasional use of divining rods a form of magic that dates back hundreds of years which, in reality, relies on the same unconscious muscle reflexes as ouija boards. In dowsing a practitioner holds either two small rods or a single larger, forked one, said to lead them to water sources. Its use by employees of leading companies in the 21st century came as a shock to scientist Sally Le Page, whose parents were themselves surprised to see a Severn Trent engineer use two bent tent pegs while on the job at their home. Recommended Why bottled water is one of the biggest scams of the century In a Medium post, she documented the responses of all 12 companies after she asked whether they used the same techniques. She said: Just because the rods move doesnt mean they are moving in response to water underground. The rods move when the person subconsciously moves their hands. Every properly conducted scientific test of water dowsing has found it no better than chance. Wessex Water and Northern Ireland Water replied on Twitter that they did not use dowsing or divination rods to diagnose leaks or find pipes. While 10 others said they did, they all later tried to clarify their positions. Anglian Water On Twitter the company said: Divination isnt used but there have been occasions where weve used dowsing rods. But mainly we use our listening sticks (a device that allows us to hear the water underground). It later added: Using dowsing rods to find leaks is an oldfashioned method. We dont spend money on it, or issue rods to our engineers. Our leakage rate is the best in the sector at around half that of the rest of the industry and were using every available technology to tackle the issue; including leak detecting thermal imaging drones and specialist robots. Northumbrian Water On Twitter a representative said: We dont use them as part of training for our teams or as an official recognised tool for them BUT our field services manager tells me hes seen them used successfully before! It occurred sometimes, they added. Later, the company said: Northumbrian Water technicians do not use dowsing rods in order to locate water and water pipes but instead favour a more scientific approach based on industry best practice which involves using detailed electronic mapping systems, equipment and technology. Scottish Water The firms Twitter team said: We can advise that these are techniques that Scottish Water use to detect pipework rather than underground leaks. A spokeswoman added: Some of our water operatives use this as one way of establishing the presence of water and pipes. However, it is a very small part of the range of equipment we use for this purpose and would never be the only method. We use modern technology such as ground microphones, correlators, metal detectors and other devices to pinpoint the exact location of underground assets and leaks. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 16 November 2022 Emma Woolf, great niece of British author Virginia Woolf, and her son Ludovic sit next to a new bronze statue of Woolf, unveiled in Richmond, London Reuters UK news in pictures 15 November 2022 Lesley Sutcliffe shelters from the rain next to a life-sized replica of the innermost coffin of King Tutankhamun by artist Amanda Stoner as it goes on display inside a traditional red telephone box which has been converted into a museum, in Barnsley, South Yorkshire PA UK news in pictures 14 November 2022 Members of the hospitality sector demonstrate outside parliament in London. The head of the Confederation of British Industry is urging the UK government to relax immigration rules to help British companies with severe staff shortages, ahead of the chancellors autumn statement EPA UK news in pictures 13 November 2022 England celebrate winning the mens T20 World Cup in Melbourne Cricket Ground, Australia AAP Image/Reuters UK news in pictures 12 November 2022 The City of London Pride Group take part in the parade during the Lord Mayor's Show PA UK news in pictures 11 November 2022 City workers attend a Remembrance Day ceremony at Lloyd's of London, in the City of London, to mark Armistice Day, the anniversary of the end of the First World War PA 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 Severn Trent Water The starting point for Ms Le Pages investigation, the company told her: Weve found that some of the older methods are just as effective than the new ones, but we do use drones as well, and now satellites. The older methods are tried and tested and we do find them useful as I say, we are venturing out into other methods. But the companys Twitter account later clarified by adding: Ive been told to let you know that divining rods are not part of our everyday use, it is an old school technique that was carried out before we had reliable tracing apparatus. A spokesman said: We use detailed mapping systems to identify where our network of pipes are, which helps us to react quickly when leaks and bursts happen. To track down exactly where leaks on our pipes are we use an array of cutting-edge technology. Just recently weve begun using satellite data and imagery to monitor our pipes from space and we regularly use drones to spot leaks from the air. We dont issue divining rods to our engineers but we believe some of our engineers use them. As long as the leak is found and repaired quickly, by whatever means, were happy and so are our customers. Southern Water On Twitter the firm said: Ive just asked our technical customer services staff and they advise me, yes we do use them sometimes. A spokesman added: As well as having a proactive leakage detection team, we use drone, sonic loggers and other devices to find and fix leaks. We spend more than 14mn a year to ensure we have the most cutting-edge leakage detection technology, and are proud to be one of the best performers in the industry with regards to leakage detection. Its not company policy to use dowsing rods, although its possible some of our leakage technicians may use them. However its done, finding and fixing leaks as quickly as possible remains the most important thing to us, and we will continue work hard to drive down our leakage figures. South West Water A representative told Ms Le Page: Yes on occasions we use divining or dowsing rods to locate water mains however they are not accurate 100 per cent of the time. A spokeswoman said later: We deploy a variety of high-tech electronic methods to detect leaks, such as: drones; installing electronic devices, known as acoustic loggers, on our large pipes; and pressure monitoring across our large rural network. We do not issue divining rods, nor do we train or instruct our engineers to use them as they are not part of our standard procedures. Climate change might be worse than thought after scientists find major mistake in water temperature readings Thames Water The company said on Twitter: Some of our techs do on occasion use dowsing rods. However, we also have access to a wider range of accurate technology, which most techs find preferable. Contacted by The Independent, a spokesman said: Reducing leakage is a top priority for Thames Water and our customers, and we have significantly increased investment this year. This includes upgrading leak detection methods, installing electronic devices on our large pipes called acoustic loggers, which operate around the clock, and increasing the number of people in our leakage detection teams by 50 per cent. We do not train or instruct our engineers to use divining rods. They might use them to help find a pipe, but it would then be confirmed using other modern techniques. United Utilities Online the company said: Yes we do still use these from time to time :). Later, a spokeswoman added: Our engineers use modern electronic techniques to locate pipes and leaks and were also looking at new innovations like satellite technology. We dont issue our teams with divining rods. However, one or two of our engineers were interested enough to learn how to use them in their spare time. Yorkshire Water A representative said on Twitter: Although few and far between, some of our techs still use them! But they are only used to detect pipework and voids that may be caused by bursts or collapses! Later Dave Stevenson, its head of water distribution, added: We prefer to explore high-tech solutions to help us tackle leakage such as satellite detection, drones to survey our pipework, and thousands of acoustic listening devices that will help us identify leaks in our underground network and fix them more quickly and effectively. Divining sticks are rarely used these days with so much better, twenty-first century technology out there. A spokesman told The Independent that dowsing rods could be useful to a small degree. Welsh Water Initially the company said yes we do, accompanied by a smiling emoji. But it later deleted its tweet and said in a statement: With over 27,000km of water mains, we use a number of innovative techniques to detect and monitor leaks on our network. This includes the use of drones, thermal imaging systems, pressure-control models, and alarm systems. We dont issue or encourage the use of water dowsing as we rely on advanced leakage pinpointing technique to help us find and repair the leak quickly. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Chancellor Philip Hammond has announced that an extra 3bn will be set aside for Brexit preparations over the next two years to allow for every possible outcome. Mr Hammond kicked off the Budget with a major spending pledge for the EU withdrawal process, saying he stands ready to allocate further sums if and when needed to ensure the UK was ready for Brexit. The pro-EU Chancellor has been a focal point for anger from his Brexiteer colleagues over his reluctance to spend millions of pounds preparing for the event that Britain walks away with no deal from the EU. Recommended Follow here for live Budget updates Speaking as he delivered his make-or-break Budget, Mr Hammond said: While we work to achieve this deep and special partnership we are determined to make sure the country is prepared for every possible outcome. We have already invested almost 700m in Brexit preparations and today I am setting aside over the next two years another 3bn and I stand ready to allocate further sums if and when needed. No one should doubt our resolve. Brexit negotiations are approaching a critical phase and the best way to provide security for business and families was to make progress on trade talks, he said. Treasury aides said the 3bn figure had emerged after requests from Whitehall departments for extra cash to cope with Brexit, including HM Revenue & Customs, the Home Office, Defra and the Department for Transport. The Chancellors promise to spend billions preparing for Brexit will go down well with hardline Eurosceptics, who have been gunning for Mr Hammond over his reluctance to set aside cash in case Britain walks away from a bad deal. However the move prompted fury from pro-EU MPs, who accused Mr Hammond of pouring money down a Brexit black hole. Brexit: the deciders Show all 8 1 /8 Brexit: the deciders Brexit: the deciders European Union's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier Getty Brexit: the deciders French President Emmanuel Macron Getty Brexit: the deciders German Chancellor Angela Merkel Reuters Brexit: the deciders Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker EPA Brexit: the deciders The European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt Getty Brexit: the deciders Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May Getty Images Brexit: the deciders Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond PA Brexit: the deciders After the first and second appointed Brexit secretaries resigned (David Davis and Dominic Raab respectively), Stephen Barclay is currently heading up the position PA Labours Chuka Umunna, a supporter of pro-EU group Open Britain, said: There was no rabbit in the Chancellors hat, just a mounting Brexit squeeze which is leaving people poorer and starving our public services of much-needed funds. As the Brexit bad news mounts up, voters have every right to keep an open mind about whether leaving the EU is the best thing for our country. Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable said the public would be angry that more cash was "disappearing down a Brexit black hole" when they were promised leaving the EU would benefit the economy. He told a Westminster briefing: It doesn't deal with the massive economic dislocation which of course is a multiple of many times that. "Its the physical infrastructure costs associated with a change in the regulatory regime so it's a tiny tiny fraction of the cost associated with Brexit but even the fact that they having to pay that amount up front on the possibility that we will crash out is itself revealing and I think actually politically very damaging." Sir Vince added: "People outside just won't understand why we are spending so much money building lorry parks instead of investing it in the health service. If you talk about missteps, it's sending horribly the wrong message about what our priorities are." It comes ahead of crunch talks in Brussels this week, where the UK Government hopes to persuade EU leaders to move on to post-Brexit trade discussions. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The European Commission has given a Budget Day boost to Philip Hammond, announcing that it will be taking the UK off the list of countries with too-large spending deficits. Naming the Chancellor personally, Pierre Moscovici, the EU finances commissioner, told reporters in Brussels that the UK would be removed from the EUs Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP). The economics chief said the UK had "durably" reduced its deficit, meaning it would no longer be subject to the potential fines and economic sanctions for having a higher deficit. Recommended Tories to address public anger after seven years of deep austerity Britains austerity economy is one of the last countries to come off the list, which numbered 24 in 2011 after the financial crisis but has now dwindled to two with the UKs belated departure. On what happens to be the day on which Phil Hammond presents his 2018 budget in the House of Commons, we have good news for him we are recommending the closure of the Excessive Deficit Procedure for the UK because the country durably reduced its deficit from a peak of 10 per cent of GDP in 2009-2010 to 2.3 per cent in 2016-17 in line with he Council recommendation of 2015, he said on Wednesday, hours ahead of the UK's Budget statement. This will reduce to two the member states to two the number of member states still in the corrective arm of the pact from 24 in the spring of 2011 and hopefully zero in 2018 which proves to those who have some doubts about the implementation of the pact that it works perfectly. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty The Excessive Deficit Procedure is part of the EU's Stability and Growth Pact, which countries signed with the aim of keeping their debt and deficit levels down. When a countries is found to have breached the pact, an EDP is launched, meaning the member state must draw up plans on how to reduce its deficit and submit them to Brussels for scrutiny. Countries that do not comply can be subject to economic sanctions, such as fines. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Jeremy Corbyn has lashed out at Conservative MPs in a passionate tirade against cuts to social care budgets, after the Chancellor failed to mention the issue in his Budget speech. The Labour leader rebuked members of the Government for displaying "uncaring" and "uncouth" attitudes after Tory ministers jeered him as he warned over a million elderly people are not receiving the care they need due to funding cuts. Social care policy has been frozen since Ms May was forced to axe her election plans to make homeowners pay more for their care, after they were dubbed a dementia tax. But despite pressure from both the opposition and several senior Tory MPs for the Government to use the Budget to work towards finding a solution, there was no mention of social care in Philip Hammond's announcement. Moments after Mr Hammond finished reeling off his speech, Mr Corbyn harked: Over a million of our elderly arent receiving the care they need," prompting an MP on his side of the House to chip in: "Nothing on social care!" The Labour leader continued: "Over 6bn will have been cut from social care budgets by next march. I hope the honourable member begins to understand what its like to wait for social care, stuck in a hospital bed, while other people have to give up their work to care for them. The uncaring, uncouth attitude of certain members of [inaudible] must be called out [...] Mr Speaker, that is why social care budgets are so important for so many very desperate people in our country. While there was no mention of social care in Mr Hammond's speech, the Budget red book states that the Government will provide 42 million of additional funding for the Disabled Facilities Grant in 2017-18, supporting people to stay in their own homes, increasing the total budget for this year to 473 million. Days before Mr Hammond's speech, 90 MPs, including senior Tories and former cabinet ministers, wrote to the Prime Minister demanding cross-party action to tackle the social care crisis. One-third of the MPs who signed the letter were Conservative, including former cabinet ministers Nicky Morgan and Andrew Mitchell and Sarah Wollaston, chairwoman of the Health Select Committee. The letter came after ministers broke a promise to outline reform plans by the end of this year, shelving a consultation until next summer. It urged Theresa May to work with all parties, the public and health and care staff to find a solution, warning: The need for action is greater now than ever. While the Government has committed to publishing the long-awaited Green Paper on social care next summer, politicians and charities have warned more needs to be done to secure extra recurring money to address funding gaps, continuing service pressures and the stability of the care market. Responding to the Budget, Janet Morrison, chief executive of Independent Age, said: With nearly a quarter of the population set to be over the age of 65 by 2030, making Britain 'fit for the future' must surely include setting out plans to meet the needs of our ageing population. "The fact that the words social care didnt even merit a mention in the Chancellors budget speech is a stark omission. A country fit for the future must be fit for all [...] If we are to ensure that no one is left behind, as the Prime Minister promised when she formed the current Government, it is disappointing to see an opportunity missed to work towards the UK being the best place in the world to grow old. Margaret Willcox, president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), meanwhile said: We are extremely disappointed that the Government has not addressed the need for extra funding for adult social care. 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 "This means that this winter and throughout next year we will continue to see more older and disabled people not getting the care and support which they desperately need now." She warned that a lack of extra funding would also lead to an "even greater toll being placed on the 6.5 million family members and other carers", citing that by the end of this financial year, 6 billion will have been cut from councils adult social care budgets since 2010. The Government has committed to publishing the long-awaited Green Paper on social care next summer, but much more needs to be done to secure extra recurring money to address funding gaps, continuing service pressures and the stability of the care market," she added. Jan Tregelles, chief executive of Mencap, urged specifically that the Budget failed to deal with the sleep-in funding crisis, which has left 200 disability charities facing insolvency after the Government changed guidance clarifying that carers were entitled to the minimum wage for overnight on-call work This Budget that claimed to be investing in Britains future and that cares for the vulnerable, will leave many people with a learning disability, their families and care workers wondering if this is a Government that really cares about them," she said. The sleep-in funding crisis, caused by faulty Government guidance on overnight shift payments cannot be ignored any longer. A new enforcement process is no substitute for a funded, responsible solution. Government must urgently make clear its intention to provide critical financial support for providers, who were simply delivering, local authority commissioned care services. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A minister has been accused of giving false information to MPs grilling him on why the Home Office allegedly violated a court order to deport an Afghan asylum seeker. A High Court judge said the Government had committed prima facie contempt of court by forcing Samim Bigzad onto a flight to Kabul after receiving an injunction ordering his immediate return to the UK. But asked why the Home Office breached the order, immigration minister Brandon Lewis denied any violation took place. The Home Office was not found in contempt of court and it had followed through with exactly what was in the outline from the court, he told a Home Affairs Committee hearing on Tuesday. If I remember correctly, the court said we had to make every effort [to stop the deportation] but actually at that point the individual was already on the aircraft, the doors were shut, which goes beyond what the court was asking for. Mr Lewis claim that the doors of the connecting flight that took Mr Bigzad from Istanbul to Kabul matches neither the asylum seekers own account or a witness statement by the Home Office official in charge of his removal on 12 September. Mr Bigzad previously told The Independent the planes doors were open and stairs down when guards were notified, telling how they took him to the exit before receiving a second call ordering them to stay put. Amber Rudd criticised by asylum seeker who was sent back to Afghanistan In a witness statement submitted to the High Court, immigration returns official Martin Waspe made no claim the planes doors were shut, instead claiming there were other practical obstructions to removing Mr Bigzad as it prepared for take-off in Istanbul. Mr Waspe said contracted Tascor guards were told the deportation was being halted on legal grounds at 10.12pm and started negotiations with the planes crew to see if disembarkation was possible. His witness statement claimed that delaying the plane could cause a major operational issue for Turkish Airlines, adding: I was also aware that Mr Bigzad had checked-in baggage in my experience this would cause significant delay to the aircraft. Recommended What happened to Samim Bigzad after the Home Office deported him Mr Waspes chaotic account of events claimed that the head of Immigration Enforcement National Removals Command was not aware of the injunction but that the Home Office Command and Control Unit had received it at 10pm and called Tascor guards to request an abort. Before it was possible to enact support from Turkish Airlines given the presence of a very late injunction so close to departure, I was informed by Tascor officers that the flight had pushed back from the departure pier at 10.22pm, Mr Waspe said. Asked by Labour MP Preet Kaur Gill whether checked baggage was sufficient reason to press ahead with the deportation, Mr Lewis repeated his claim about the doors. My understanding is that the plane and the plane doors were actually shut, which went beyond what the court order was asking us to do, he said. Samim Bigzad was returned to Heathrow from Kabul on 17 September (Duncan Lewis ) (Duncan Lewis) It was the Home Offices second attempt to deport Mr Bigzad after the first was thwarted by a pilot who refused to fly with him on board and officials eliminated opportunities for lawyers or campaigners to prevent him leaving from Gatwick Airport. He was taken from the Brook House Immigration Removal Centre, where the abuse of migrants by G4S guards has recently been exposed, with no warning and forced on a morning flight to Istanbul. During the journey and wait for the connecting flight to Kabul, Mr Bigzads lawyers managed to secure an emergency injunction by 10pm half an hour before the plane was due to take off. Mr Bigzad had boarded the plane but received a message from his case worker while waiting on the tarmac at 10.10pm saying the injunction had come through and that he would be returned to the UK. I was on the plane but the door was open, he told The Independent in September. One of the guards had a call from the Home Office saying the judge stopped this guy and were turning back. After that he told me I was going back, so I said ok. We were trying to get off the plane and he had another call to say stop. I was at the top of the stairs, I was there. Then there was a second call, the Home Office said youre going back to Kabul so we went back on the plane. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 16 November 2022 Emma Woolf, great niece of British author Virginia Woolf, and her son Ludovic sit next to a new bronze statue of Woolf, unveiled in Richmond, London Reuters UK news in pictures 15 November 2022 Lesley Sutcliffe shelters from the rain next to a life-sized replica of the innermost coffin of King Tutankhamun by artist Amanda Stoner as it goes on display inside a traditional red telephone box which has been converted into a museum, in Barnsley, South Yorkshire PA UK news in pictures 14 November 2022 Members of the hospitality sector demonstrate outside parliament in London. The head of the Confederation of British Industry is urging the UK government to relax immigration rules to help British companies with severe staff shortages, ahead of the chancellors autumn statement EPA UK news in pictures 13 November 2022 England celebrate winning the mens T20 World Cup in Melbourne Cricket Ground, Australia AAP Image/Reuters UK news in pictures 12 November 2022 The City of London Pride Group take part in the parade during the Lord Mayor's Show PA UK news in pictures 11 November 2022 City workers attend a Remembrance Day ceremony at Lloyd's of London, in the City of London, to mark Armistice Day, the anniversary of the end of the First World War PA 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 Mr Bigzad was later flown back to Britain after the Home Office lost a four-hour hearing at the Court of Appeal, having spent five days in fear for his life at a hotel. His lawyers are now attempting to bring formal contempt of court proceedings against the Government and the saga prompted calls for Amber Rudd to be sacked or even jailed. Representatives of Duncan Lewis solicitors expressed surprise at Brandon Lewiss claims, arguing that the obligation to stop Mr Bigzads deportation would not have stopped even if the planes doors were closed. His solicitor, Jamie Bell, said he was concerned about the immigration ministers responses before the Home Affairs Committee, which came during a separate judicial review. It is for the courts to determine whether the Home Secretary acted in contempt of court by removing Samim, despite an order staying his removal, and by subsequently failing to return him to the UK, he added. It is not appropriate for the minister to use this platform to comment on ongoing litigation in which serious allegations have been made against the conduct of the Home Secretary. We also would stress that some of the details given by the minister are substantially different from what we have been previously told by Home Office and from what our client has told us. When challenged on the factual basis for Mr Lewis claims, a spokesperson for the Home Office said no comment could be made during ongoing legal proceedings. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Wildlife charity WWF has made an advert ahead of Christmas to highlight poaching for the illegal ivory trade. The video appears to show an elephant watching as poachers use machine guns to kill another member of its herd. The advert comes as US President Donald Trump has halted an earlier decision by his administration to allow hunters who kill elephants in Zimbabwe to bring their trophies back to America. The President backtracked hours after lifting restrictions imposed by the Obama administration. In a statement, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said he had spoken to Mr Trump and both believe that conservation and healthy herds are critical. He said the issuing of permits is being put on hold as the decision is being reviewed. Elephant populations in Africa have continued to fall, despite declining levels of poaching, it was revealed last month. In east Africa, elephant populations have almost halved over the last decade. Recommended Trump puts unpopular elephant trophy decision on hold Poaching in the region has dropped to pre-2008 levels, but the situation remains bleak in central Africa, according to a report by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. In southern Africa elephant populations are stable or increasing. In 2016 seizures of large ivory shipments hit a record high and the global illegal ivory trade remained as buoyant as in previous years, though this was credited in part to a panic sell-off of ivory as new bans come into place in various countries. Earlier last month, the UK Government bowed to pressure by campaigners to ban the sale of ivory regardless of its age. It is currently running a 12-week consultation on the ban. Current UK laws allow the trade of antiques, carved before 1947. The US, China and Hong Kong are among the key countries also implementing a ban, and the new legislation comes as the price of ivory has fallen by as much as 50 per cent in recent years. 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 According to the WWF an average of 55 elephants are killed every day. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Zimbabwes new leader has returned from exile to be greeted by a vast and enthusiastic crowd hoping for a better future, after the dark past of Robert Mugabes 37-year rule which left the country traumatised and internationally isolated. Whether 75-year-old Emmerson Mnangagwa who was an ally of 93-year-old Mr Mugabe during years in which the government was accused of abuse and corruption is the right choice to lead the nation from its troubles, is open to question. But The Crocodile as he is known is the man of the moment amid the euphoria which has followed the demise of Mr Mugabe. He will be inaugurated as President on Friday, staying in position until elections due next year. Speaking to a crowd which had been waiting for him at the headquarters of the ruling Zanu-PF party, Mr Mnangagwa began by reminding people that he had been sacked by Mr Mugabe and had fled to South Africa because of threats to his life, including an alleged poisoning three months ago. As he was being introduced, the President in waiting spoke with his wife Auxilla beside him and a semi-circle of bodyguards. He also danced a little to the music around him, before continuing to address the crowd. The people have spoken. The voice of the people is the voice of God. Today we are witnessing the beginning of a new and unfolding democracy, he said. Mr Mnangagwa declared that he would provide jobs, jobs, jobs for everyone, the pledge greeted with roared approval. He also praised the military commander who had carried out the coup which removed Mr Mugabe from power, General Constantino Chiwenga, by saying he had managed this process very peacefully. There had been efforts to sabotage the removal of Mr Mugabe, but the will of the people will always, always succeed. 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 There was little by way of an olive branch offered to the opposition. Zanu-PF was the party of the nation and down with our enemies, Mr Mnangagwa said. He continued: Those who oppose us will bark and bark, but the Zanu-PF train will roll on, ruling while they bark. The changing of the leader, beginning with the military coup, has charted a confusing and, at times, contradictory course and this is set to continue. Mr Mnangagwa had effectively accused Mr Mugabe of plotting to murder him. But according to some officials of the ruling Zanu-PF party, one of his first meetings will be with the former President for a briefing. Mr Mugabe, it has been claimed, had negotiated with the military high command immunity for himself and his wife Grace, who had allegedly instigated Mr Mnangagwas dismissal and had been accused of corruption and profligacy. The couple were expected to go into exile and there was talk that land which was acquired by Ms Mugabe nicknamed Gucci Grace and DisGrace because of her lavish spending would be nationalised. But Lovemore Matuke, the chief whip of Zanu-PF which had stripped Mr Mugabe of leadership, was remarkably emollient. Now that he has tendered his resignation, he has also saved his face. He is a man who did a lot for his country and needed to rest. He can be an advisor to the party, he said. Mugabe resigns: Zimbabwean Parliament celebrates as decision is announced Mr Mnangagwa met the South African president Jacob Zuma, before catching his flight back to Zimbabwe. After arriving at a military airbase in Harare, Mr Mnangagwa met with Zanu-PF officials to discuss what has been going on in his absence. He was then driven in a motorcade to party HQ where a crowd had been waiting for more than five hours to see him. There were placards saying Welcome Home Our Hero, Welcome Back Our President, Thank You For Your Endurance and Fortitude. There was also a conga led by a man with a large toy crocodile. Fortune Vushe, who had been blowing a klaxon, paused to cry out: You are the crocodile, we are your tears. He explained that he meant that the people grieved for what had been done to him. He has suffered and he is the man to save the suffering people here. His friend Richardson Shoniwa was keen to continue the crocodile theme. Gucci Grace likes wearing crocodile skin shoes, now Emmerson the Crocodile is going to make sure that she gets trampled, he said. But others were more cautious about what may unfold. Franklin Rwizi, a 33-year-old engineer, believed that people now have the confidence to make more changes in the future. It may be difficult for outsiders to understand, but getting rid of Mugabe was a big, big psychological thing. We got rid of him after 40 years. If Mnangagwa is a disappointment then we will get rid of him in the election next year. I am not blind to what he has done before. Mr Mnangagwa joined the freedom movement in 1966 after military training in China and Egypt. He was captured, tried and sentenced to death, but this was later commuted to 10 years in prison. The guerilla commander lost some of his lustre; however, after independence when he was widely blamed for directing a vicious crackdown in Matabeleland and Midlands, during which the notorious Gukurahundi massacre took place. Mr Mnangagwa denies this. Human rights activists warned that it will take more than replacing one man to correct the ills of Zimbabwe. Mugabe the infrastructure, Mugabe the culture, Mugabe the ideology, Mugabe the system is still there, and we need to continue the fight, said local activist Maureen Kademauga. That is important to remember. Dewa Mayhinga of Human Rights Watch wanted to stress that the military works to orders. She added: I believe they were given a command to be nice, to smile for a while, but we should not make the mistake of believing that overnight this was a revolution and everything is over. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A man who was found on fire in San Diego is a former prisoner of North Korea who was freed with the help of former President Jimmy Carter. Police on Tuesday said the death of Aijalon Gomes appears to be either an accident or suicide. The case remains under investigation. Gomes was found burning in a field late on Friday. He died at the scene. The 38-year-old Boston man had recently moved to San Diego. 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 Gomes had been teaching English in South Korea when he was imprisoned for illegally crossing into North Korea from China in 2010. He spent months in prison until Carter arranged his release. Gomes mother, Jacqueline McCarthy, told KNSD-TV that she plans to set up an online fundraising page to help cover funeral costs. AP Flash Robert Mugabe resigned as Zimbabwe's president on Tuesday, a week after the army and his former political allies moved to end his four-decade rule. The former vice president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, whose sacking this month prompted the military takeover that forced Mugabe out, will be sworn in as president on Wednesday or Thursday, Patrick Chinamasa, legal secretary of the ruling Zanu-PF party, said. Here's a timeline of the political drama that shocks Zimbabweans and the world. What now after Mugabe resignation? Robert Mugabe resigned on Tuesday, finally swept from power as his 37-year rule crumbled within days of a military takeover. The move looks set to end Zimbabwe's worst political crisis since it won independence from Britain in 1980. Speaker Jacob Mudenda made the announcement at a special joint session of parliament which had convened to impeach the 93-year-old who has dominated every aspect of Zimbabwean public life for decades. On the streets, the news sparked an explosion of wild celebration. Car horns honked and people erupted into ecstatic cheers and frenzied dancing. "I, Robert Gabriel Mugabe, in terms of section 96 of the constitution of Zimbabwe hereby formally tender my resignation... with immediate effect," said the letter which was read out by the parliamentary speaker. "My decision to resign is voluntary on my part. It arises from my concern for the welfare of the people of Zimbabwe and my desire to ensure a smooth, peaceful and non-violent transfer of power that underpins national security, peace and stability." Mnangagwa to sworn in as acting president In a highly-symbolic scene, a man removed a portrait of Mugabe from a room inside the parliament where MPs were gathering for an extraordinary session to impeach the recalcitrant president. Another bystander replaced it with an image of former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa, whose dismissal on November 6 triggered the crisis. Derek Matyszak, an Africa expert at the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies said the acting president is only supposed to be there for an interim period, while they wait for (the ruling) Zanu-PF to nominate a replacement for Mugabe but they have already nominated Mnangagwa as their choice for elections in 2018. What of the opposition? "What the opposition should be doing is to use this moment to try and mobilize and lobby for the introduction of a more democratic dispensation," said Matyszak. In his first remarks since the military takeover, Mnangagwa had on Tuesday appeared to make overtures to the opposition, he said. "Mnangagwa's statement did mention that he is prepared to reach out to the opposition." And the economy? "The new leader needs to present a friendly face to the international community. The country is on the brink of an economic meltdown. If that meltdown occurs, the military won't get paid, and you will have a possibility of another coup," said Matyszak. "A lot needs to be done and done very quickly." Where's Grace Mugabe? Robert Mugabe's wife, Grace Mugabe, who many feared would replace Mnangagwa and even succeed her husband, has disappeared from view since November 15. The 52-year-old former first lady was born in South Africa in 1965. She married to 72-year-old Mugabe at the age of 31. In 2014, she was appointed to president of the ruling Zanu-PF party's powerful Women's League and a member of its central committee, placing her high among the contenders to succeed her husband. Earlier this month, Robert Mugabe fired then vice president Mnangagwa, a move widely seen intended to open the way for Grace Mugabe's succession. What does it to China? After Mugabe's house arrest, Beijing said it is closely watching the political situation in Zimbabwe and that the "friendly cooperation" policy will not change. "The friendly cooperation between China and Zimbabwe is an all-around one and beneficial to the peoples in both countries. China's friendly policy towards Zimbabwe will not change," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said in the daily news briefing. Geng said China always build bilateral ties "under the principle of equality, mutual benefit, and win-win cooperation." "We hope Zimbabwe could maintain political stability and the relevant issues be resolved peacefully and properly," he added. China and Zimbabwe have close economic ties. China is Zimbabwe's fourth largest trading partner. Last year, trade between the two countries reached US$1.1 billion. China has become the biggest buyer of Zimbabwean tobacco. Zimbabwe imports mostly electronics, clothes and other finished goods from China. China is also the largest investor of the African country. In August, Zimbabwe's government said a Chinese company planned to invest up to US$2 billion to revive operations at Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company (ZISCO). World reactions Britain The former colonial ruler greeted news of Mugabe's departure with an offer of support as "Zimbabwe's oldest friend." Prime Minister Theresa May said: "The resignation of Robert Mugabe provides Zimbabwe with an opportunity to forge a new path free of the oppression that characterized his rule." United States The United States had been calling on all sides to show restraint. A US State Department spokeswoman called it "a historic opportunity, a historic moment for the people of Zimbabwe... to put an end to Zimbabwe isolation" adding that "the future of Zimbabwe will have to be decided by the people of Zimbabwe." France France called for a peaceful transfer of power. Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said: "We welcome this decision (by Mugabe) which must open the way for a peaceful political transition, respecting the legitimate aspirations of the people of Zimbabwe." Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The search for a missing Argentine submarine with a crew of 44 has entered a critical phase, authorities have said, as the seven-day oxygen supply was due to run out today. The ARA San Juan went missing on 15 November while it was travelling from the extreme southern port of Ushuaia to the city of Mar del Plata, about 250 miles southeast of Buenos Aires. The last known communications with the submarine were two calls - one to report a routine battery fault, while the other call has not been disclosed by the Argentine Navy. The loss of the submarine has sparked an international rescue effort, but powerful storms with waves of over 20 feet (six metres) have hampered efforts to find the craft. Authorities still do not know if the submarine rose to the surface to replenish oxygen and charge batteries, but it is thought it is unlikely to have surfaced without then being located. If underwater, then assuming the hull remains intact, estimates for how long the air supply could last range from between seven to 10 days. We are in the critical phase...particularly with respect to oxygen, Argentine navy spokesman Enrique Balbi said on Wednesday. There has been no contact with anything that could be the San Juan submarine. Capt. Balbi, added: The seven days is not dogmatic. It varies according to the circumstances. As a submariner, I am not losing hope. Hopes were briefly buoyed after satellite calls were apparently received and when sounds were detected deep in the South Atlantic. However it was later discovered neither was from the missing sub. Later a US Navy aircraft spotted flares, and a life raft was found in the search area, but authorities said they did not come from the missing submarine. The false alarms have caused further distress for the crews family members. As the search enters a critical phase, some have begun to complain that the Argentine navy responded too late. They took two days to accept help because they minimized the situation, Federico Ibanez, the brother of 36-year-old submarine crew member Cristian Ibanez, told the Associated Press. The navy has said the submarine reported a battery failure before it went missing as it journeyed to the navy base in Mar del Plata. Authorities have no specific details of the problem. I feel like authorities let too much time pass by and decisions were taken late, Ibanez's sister, Elena Alfaro, said outside the base. And yet, I still carry some hope. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty The German-built diesel-electric TR-1700 class submarine was due to arrive at the naval base in Mar del Plata on Monday. Local residents have arrived at the base carrying blue-and-white Argentine flags and bringing messages of support for relatives of the crew anxiously waiting for news. Associated Press contributed to this report Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} An FBI official said Tuesday that the bureau is investigating the death of a border patrol agent and severe injuries to another as potential assault, but he wouldn't rule out that they could have been hurt in some other way. Special Agent in Charge Emmerson Buie Jr. said during a news conference in El Paso that investigators are still trying to gather the facts, but they are currently treating it as an assault on a federal officer. The couched language comes more than two days after US Customs and Border Protection Agent Rogelio Martinez succumbed to traumatic head injuries and broken bones suffered while on duty, and after several politicians portrayed his death as the result of an attack. Martinez died Sunday and his partner, whose name has not been released, was seriously injured. They were found late Saturday in a culvert near Van Horn, about 30 miles (50 kilometres) from the border with Mexico and 110 miles (175 kilometres) southeast of El Paso. At Tuesdays news conference, Buie and U.S. Border Patrol Acting Chief Victor Velazquez did not say why they believed the agents may have been attacked. Authorities havent said whether they have any suspects. The state of Texas is offering a $20,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest or conviction, and the FBI on Tuesday tacked on an additional $25,000. Life on the US-Mexican border Show all 12 1 /12 Life on the US-Mexican border Life on the US-Mexican border Tijuana, Mexico A house stands next to a section of the border fence separating Mexico and the US Reuters Life on the US-Mexican border Tijuana, Mexico The border fence in Tijuana stretches all the way to beach Reuters Life on the US-Mexican border Tijuana, Mexico Migrants can often be spotted trying to cross the rusty barrier Reuters Life on the US-Mexican border Tijuana, Mexico Joaquin, 36, a chef from Guatemala who says he was deported from the US Reuters Life on the US-Mexican border Tijuana, Mexico A shack stands next to a section of the border fence Reuters Life on the US-Mexican border Tijuana, Mexico Tourists pose for a picture at the border Reuters Life on the US-Mexican border Tijuana, Mexico A family burns rubbish near the fence Reuters Life on the US-Mexican border Tijuana, Mexico Joaquin makes a living by selling rubbish Reuters Life on the US-Mexican border Tijuana, Mexico Neither Trump nor the wall is going to stop anyone, says Pedro Reuters Life on the US-Mexican border Tijuana, Mexico Mexicans have built homes right next to the fence Reuters Life on the US-Mexican border Tijuana, Mexico Mexican Carlos, 27, who says that he was deported from the United States, heats up tortillas at his house near the double fence that separates Mexico and the US Reuters Life on the US-Mexican border Tijuana, Mexico A girl climbs stairs near a section of the fence A U.S. official with knowledge of the investigation told the Associated Press Martinez may have fallen into the culvert. The official said Martinezs partner, who radioed for help, was still recovering in the hospital and has no memory of what happened. The official, who was briefed on the investigation spoke on condition of anonymity and is not authorized to speak publicly, said it happened after dark in an area thats known for drug activity and where agents often look for drugs in culverts. Rush Carter, a border patrol supervisor for the region that includes the area where the agents were injured, said Monday night that reports it was an attack were speculation. But several elected officials, including President Donald Trump, referred to it as such. When asked about the presidents remarks Tuesday, Buie said he had not briefed Trump on the investigation. An FBI spokeswoman told the San Antonio Express-News on Sunday that the agents were not fired upon, but she didn't elaborate. Martinezs mother, Elvia Martinez, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that she and her husband are also awaiting more information. She said she didnt yet know any details about the circumstances surrounding their sons death. He was a very accomplished person and loved his work, she said tearfully and in Spanish. Rogelio Martinez, father to an 11-year-old, joined the Border Patrol in 2013. Chris Cabrera, a spokesman for a border patrol agents union, the National Border Patrol Council, told The Associated Press that the two agents appeared to have been struck in the head with a rock or rocks. Cabrera said agents who responded to the scene described it as grisly and said Martinez and his partner had extensive injuries. Trump took to Twitter on Sunday to insist that Martinezs death underscores the need for a wall along the border between the US and Mexico. The president offered his condolences to Martinezs family. He also said Martinezs partner was brutally beaten and badly, badly hurt but that it looks like hell make it. Authorities havent said whether they think drug smugglers or people who were in the country illegally were involved. Martinez is the second agent to have died this year. The Border Patrol website lists 38 agents, not including Martinez, who have died since late 2003. Some were attacked while working along the border and others were killed in traffic accidents. Schmall reported in Fort Worth. Associated Press writers David Warren in Dallas and Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed to this report. Associated Press Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The editor-in-chief of far right site Breitbart News has claimed women have co-opted the term rape to refer to sex which they later regret. Alex Marlow argued women have exploited the word in the wake of the me too campaign which has seen a steady stream of high profile individuals come forward to allege and denounce sexual assault. The 31-year-old, whose news website has been branded misogynist, xenophobic and racist, said the definition of rape had been so far broadened it had lost all sense of meaning and this made it difficult to know whether accounts of rape were credible. Rape used to have a narrow definition. Rape used to have a definition where it was - it was brutality, it was forced sexual attack and penetration. Now its become, really, any sex that the woman ends up regretting that she had, Marlow said on SiriusXM Patriot's Breitbart News Daily. And that leaves us without a lot of clarity, because when words lose their meaning, then they can be manipulated. He added: "Rape used to mean something. We used to all know what it meant. And now we don't know what it means. And then we don't know what's credible and what's not. Later on the radio show, Marlow, whose publication has been dismissive of recent sexual assault allegations, said the slew of women who have come forward made it difficult to keep track of what is a real assault and what is not. He said: We have distorted the definition of the word rape. Now it seems to be the claims are losing some credibility because there are so many of them, which is a shame because there are many legitimate victims of brutal attacks and predatory behaviour by powerful men. Protest in Manila against Donald Trump's visit to the Philippines Show all 14 1 /14 Protest in Manila against Donald Trump's visit to the Philippines Protest in Manila against Donald Trump's visit to the Philippines Riot police block protesters during a rally near the US embassy AFP/Getty Images Protest in Manila against Donald Trump's visit to the Philippines Protesters shout slogans while displaying portraits of U.S. President Donald Trump and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte AP Protest in Manila against Donald Trump's visit to the Philippines Activists clash with riot police EPA Protest in Manila against Donald Trump's visit to the Philippines Protesters burn a banner of Donald Trump AFP/Getty Images Protest in Manila against Donald Trump's visit to the Philippines Protesters against Donald Trump's visit AP Protest in Manila against Donald Trump's visit to the Philippines Protesters deface portraits of Donald Trump and Rodrigo Duterte AP Protest in Manila against Donald Trump's visit to the Philippines Protesters clash with anti-riot police officers as they try to march towards the U.S. embassy REUTERS Protest in Manila against Donald Trump's visit to the Philippines A mural bearing the image of Donald Trump and Rodrigo Duterte is burnt REUTERS Protest in Manila against Donald Trump's visit to the Philippines Activists march on a road leading to the US embassy during a protest in Manila EPA Protest in Manila against Donald Trump's visit to the Philippines Protesters scuffle with riot police AFP/Getty Images Protest in Manila against Donald Trump's visit to the Philippines Protesters shout anti-US slogans as they burn a banner featuring the image of US President Donald Trump AFP/Getty Images Protest in Manila against Donald Trump's visit to the Philippines Activists clash with riot police EPA Protest in Manila against Donald Trump's visit to the Philippines Protesters display placards as they shout anti-US slogans AFP/Getty Images Protest in Manila against Donald Trump's visit to the Philippines Anti-riot police officers block protesters REUTERS Breitbart has defended Roy Moore - who has been accused by several women of sexual misconduct when he was in his 30s and working as a District Attorney in Alabama and they were just teenagers. Breitbart, which is run by President Donald Trumps former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, knew about the Washington Post story which broke accusations against Mr Moore ahead of publication. Prior to it even appearing online, Breitbart published a piece about Moore denying the allegations. On top of this, the site has also been attempting to cast doubt on the Post stories by hinting the paper did something unethical by approaching Moores alleged victims despite the fact the Post has made clear how it chased the story. Moore has repeatedly denied all accusations and any wrongdoing. He also said on Sean Hannitys Fox News programme that he never dated any women without gaining their mothers permission. Breitbart, founded by conservative commentator Andrew Breitbart in 2007 whom Marlow was the editorial assistant to for four years, has been implicated in a steady slew of controversies and has published a number of falsehoods, conspiracy theories, and deliberately misleading stories. During the 2016 presidential election, it promoted conspiracy theories about Hillary Clinton and her staff such as the totally baseless and spurious Pizzagate conspiracy theory which falsely alleged a Washington pizzeria was the home of a child sex abuse ring that included people such as Ms Clinton and her then campaign chief John Podesta. The site, which Bannon described as the platform for the alt-right last year, has published comment pieces titled Political Correctness Protects Muslim Rape Culture and Birth Control Makes Women Unattractive and Crazy. Breitbart, whose journalists have been described as "ideologically driven, has been nicknamed Trumpbart because of its favourable coverage of the US president. But over the summer Marlow gained headlines after a self-described email prankster appeared to dupe top Breitbart editors into believing he was Bannon who returned to his position as executive chairman of the far right site straight after leaving the White House in the summer. In the emails, Marlow promised he and several other leading editors would carry out Bannons dirty work against White House aides. He also suggested he could have Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner ousted from the White House by end of year in other emails. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Costa Ricas electricity has been produced entirely using renewable energy for 300 days since the start of January. With more than a month of 2017 to go, the Central American country is set to smash its own annual record of green energy use. In 2015 the nation went 299 days using only renewables. According to the Costa Rican Institute of Electricity (ICE), the nation of five-million people has also clocked up 201 consecutive days of total renewable energy production since 1 May. Costa Rica currently generates more than 99 per cent of its electricity using five different renewable sources; hydropower (78%), wind (10%), geothermal energy (10%), biomass and solar (1%). In contrast, the United States generated about 15 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources in 2016, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Coal and natural gas together made up nearly two-thirds of US electricity generation and nuclear power provided the remaining 19 per cent. Costa Rica's renewable energy Costa Rican clean development adviser Dr Monica Araya said earlier this year the extent of Costa Rica's renewable electricity generation is a fantastic achievement". But she added: It hides a paradox, which is that nearly 70 per cent of all our energy consumption is oil. The 99 per cent figure only refers to electricity usage, not gas used for heating or fuel used in vehicles, for example. The Complete Guide To: Costa Rica Show all 4 1 /4 The Complete Guide To: Costa Rica The Complete Guide To: Costa Rica 148240.bin AP The Complete Guide To: Costa Rica 148241.bin AFP/Getty Images The Complete Guide To: Costa Rica 148242.bin AP The Complete Guide To: Costa Rica 148243.bin AP Costa Rica hosts more than five per cent of the worlds species biodiversity despite a landmass that covers 0.03 per cent of the planet. While dams provided the majority of the countrys electricity, they can have destructive environmental and social consequences, such as affecting previously healthy rivers, disrupting wildlife and displacing indigenous communities. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Three military personnel have been reassigned from their White House jobs amid allegations that they had improper contact with foreign women while travelling with President Donald Trump on his recent trip to Asia, according to officials familiar with the situation. The service members all worked for the White House Communications Agency, a specialised military unit that helps provide the President, vice president, Secret Service and other officials with secure communications. The military is scrutinising three Army noncommissioned officers who allegedly broke curfew during Trump's trip to Vietnam this month, officials said. Recommended Trump seems to endorse alleged child sex abuser for Senate Mark Wright, a spokesman for the Defence Department, confirmed that the Pentagon is examining the behaviour of personnel during the visit to Vietnam. We are aware of the incident, and it is currently under investigation, Wright said. Trump visited Vietnam as part of a 12-day swing through Asia. The episode comes after four military personnel on the same White House team faced allegations related to their behaviour during a trip to Panama in August with Vice President Mike Pence. Those men - two from the Army and two from the Air Force - stood accused of taking foreign women after hours into a secure area as they were preparing for Pence's arrival, officials said. They were all flown home before Pence arrived and stripped of their White House assignments pending the findings of the investigation, officials said. Army Colonel Amanda Azubuike, a military spokeswoman, said an investigation into the Panama case has been closed and the findings forwarded to senior military officials for review. She said she was not aware of the final conclusions or any disciplinary action. NBC previously reported that military members on the Panama trip had been removed from White House duty. Service members with high-level security clearances are expected to report contacts with foreign individuals to ensure that their interactions do not compromise national security. The mission of the White House Communications Agency is to prevent eavesdropping on presidential communications and to ensure that White House officials can be securely reached worldwide at a moment's notice. Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Show all 30 1 /30 Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Threatening to shut down Twitter after being fact-checked After the president tweeted that voting by post would be "substantially fraudulent", Twitter attached a warning label to his tweet and referred readers to a site which explained how the claim was "unsubstantiated". Trump then said Twitter was "stifling free speech" and that he may have to shut it down, something which he would not have the power to do AFP/Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Flippantly dismissing a serious allegation of sexual assault When author E Jean Carroll accused Trump of raping her, the president responded: Number one, shes not my type. Number two, it never happened. It never happened, OK?" AFP/Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Insulting the Mayor of London as he landed in London Just before touching down at Stansted Airport for his state visit, Trump took time out to @ the London mayor Sadiq Khan on twitter. He said that Khan has done a "terrible job"as mayor and that he is a "stone cold loser" Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Taking plenty of "Executive Time" The president's official schedule sets aside the hours from 8 to 11am daily for "Executive Time". Further intermittent periods of "Executive Time" are scheduled throughout any given day, ranging from 15 minutes to 3 hours. His duties in these hours have not been officially disclosed, though Axios reports that he spends them watching TV, reading the newspapers and tweeting Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Shutdown the government for over a month in an effort to secure funding for his wall With Mexico declining to pay for the wall, the president has faced difficulty in raising the required $5bn at home. Due to his demand that the money for the wall be included in the budget, and Congress's refusal, the government partially shut down on 22 December 2018. It remained shut for over a month, the longest period in history Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Joking about the Nazi occupation of France to President Macron In this tweet from 13 November 2018, the president mocks Emmanuel Macron's suggestion of a "true, European army" by invoking the conflict between France and Germany in the world wars Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Railing against the Mueller investigation The president has repeatedly claimed that the Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, is a "rigged witch hunt" Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Contradicting a US intelligence report on Russian meddling in the presence of Vladimir Putin In the press conference that followed his landmark meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin, Trump stated that he saw no reason why Russia would have meddled in the 2016 US election. This contradicted a 2017 report by the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence that found evidence of Russian interference in favour of Trump Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Contradicting his contradiction of a US intelligence report on Russian meddling Following furious backlash in the US, the president claimed that he meant to say that he saw no reason why it would not have been Russia who meddled in the 2016 US election. As to why he would have intended to use such bizarre phrasing, he did not comment Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Colouring in the US flag wrong The president coloured in the US flag wrongly during a visit to a children's hospital in Columbus, Ohio. He added a blue stripe where in tradition, and statute, there have been only white and red stripes AFP/Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Firing a Secretary of State over Twitter The president announced on Twitter that he was appointing Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State, much to the surprise of then Secretary of State Rex Tillerson Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Quoting a catchphrase from a reality TV show when discussing police brutality While addressing the issue of black athletes not standing for the national anthem in protest of police brutality, the president made reference to his catchphrase from reality TV show "The Apprentice": you're fired! Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Calling African nations "S***hole Countries" Ever one for diplomacy, the president reportedly referred to African nations as "s***hole countries". Asked to confirm this when meeting with Nigeria's President Buhari, Trump stated that there are "some countries that are in very bad shape". Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Defending Russian President Vladimir Putin Trump appeared to equate US foreign actions to those of Russian president Vladimir Putin, saying: There are a lot of killers. You think our countrys so innocent? Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Asking for people to 'pray' for Arnold Schwarzenegger At the National Prayer Breakfast, Trump couldnt help but to ask for prayers for the ratings on Arnold Schwarzeneggers show to be good. Schwarzenegger took over as host of The Apprentice which buoyed Trumps celebrity status years ago Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Hanging up on Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull Early in his presidency, Trump reportedly hung up the phone on Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull after the foreign leader angered him over refugee plans. Mr Trump later said that it was the worst call he had had so far Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... The 'Muslim ban' Perhaps one of his most controversial policies while acting as president, Trumps travel ban targeting predominantly Muslim countries has bought him a lot of criticism. The bans were immediately protested, and judges initially blocked their implementation. The Supreme Court later sided with the administrations argument that the ban was developed out of concern for US security Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Praising crowd size while touring Hurricane Harvey damage After Hurricane Harvey ravaged southeastern Texas, Trump paid the area a visit. While his response to the disaster in Houston was generally applauded, the president picked up some flack when he gave a speech outside Houston (he reportedly did not visit disaster zones), and praised the size of the crowds there AP Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... 'Little Rocket Man' During his first-ever speech to the United Nations General Assembly, Trump tried out a new nickname for North Korea leader Kim Jong-un: Rocket Man. He later tweaked it to be little Rocket Man as the two feuded, and threatened each other with nuclear war. During that speech, he also threatened to totally annihilate North Korea Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Attacking Sadiq Khan following London Bridge terror attack After the attack on the London Bridge, Trump lashed out at London Mayor Sadiq Khan, criticising Khan for saying there was no reason to be alarmed after the attack. Trump was taking the comments out of context, as Khan was simply saying that the police had everything under control Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Claiming presenter Mika Brezinkski was 'bleeding from the face' Never one not to mock his enemies, Trump mocked MSNBCs Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski, saying that she and co-host Joe Scarborough had approached him before his inauguration asking to join him. He noted that she was bleeding badly from a face-lift at the time, and that he said no MSNBC Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Claiming the blame for Charlottesville was on 'both sides' Trump refused to condemn far-right extremists involved in violence at 'the march for the right' protests in Charlottesville, even after the murder of counter protester Heather Heyer AP Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Retweeting cartoon of CNN being hit by a 'Trump train' Trump retweeted a cartoon showing a Trump-branded train running over a person whose body and head were replaced by a CNN avatar. He later deleted the retweet Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Tweeting about 'slamming' CNN Trump caught some flack when he tweeted a video showing him wrestling down an individual whose head had been replaced by a CNN avatar. Trump has singled CNN out in particular with his chants of fake news Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Firing head of the FBI, James Comey Trumps firing of former FBI Director James Comey landed him with a federal investigation into Russias meddling in the 2016 election that has caused many a headache for the White House. The White House initially said that the decision was made after consultation from the Justice Department. Then Mr Trump himself said that he had decided to fire him in part because he wanted the Russia investigation Mr Comey was conducting to stop Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Not realising being president would be 'hard' Just three months into his presidency, Trump admitted that being president is harder than he thought it would be. Though Trump insisted on the 2016 campaign trail that doing the job would be easy for him, he admitted in an interview that living in the White House is harder than running a business empire Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Accusing Obama of wiretapping him Trump accused former president Barack Obama of wire tapping him on twitter. The Justice Department later clarified: Obama had not, in fact, done so Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Claiming there had been 3 million 'illegal votes' Trump was never very happy about losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by 2.8 million ballots. So, he and White House voter-fraud commissioner Kris Kobach have claimed that anywhere between three and five million people voted illegally during the 2016 election. Conveniently, he says that all of those illegal votes went to Clinton. (There is no evidence to support that level of widespread voter fraud.) Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Leaving Jews out of the Holocaust memorial statement Just days after taking office, Trumps White House issued a statement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, but didnt mention jews or even the word jewish in the written statement Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Anger over Inauguration crowd size Trumps inauguration crowd was visibly, and noticeably, smaller than that of his predecessor, Barack Obama. But, he really wanted to have had the largest crowd on record. So, he praised it as the biggest crowd ever. Relatedly, Trump also claimed that it stopped raining in Washington at the moment he was inaugurated. It didnt, the day was very dreary Reuters If found guilty, the service members face the risk of losing their security clearances or could be subject to administrative discipline or courts-martial. Spokesmen for Trump and Pence declined to comment and referred questions to the office of Defence Secretary Jim Mattis. The Washington Post Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A man who suspects the earth is flat has built a rocket he hopes will launch him high enough to debunk one of the world's most fundamental facts. Half a millennium of science isnt about to get between 'Mad' Mike Hughes and his dream, and he's raring to go. The 61-year-old limo driver from California plans to launch over the weekend. He built the steam-powered vessel using scrap metal and estimates it cost about about $20,000 (15,000). He plans to travel for about a mile at a speed of around 500 miles per hour, soaring through the sky above the Mojave Desert. "I dont believe in science," Mr Hughes told the Associated Press (AP). "I know about aerodynamics and fluid dynamics and how things move through the air, about the certain size of rocket nozzles, and thrust. But thats not science, thats just a formula. Theres no difference between science and science fiction." While rocket science is often upheld as the epitome of complex scientific thought, a decidedly unscientific rationale underlies Mr Hughes mission. He rejects the general consensus that the earth is spherical, and his flight is sponsored largely by a group called Research Flat 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 Hoping to prove flat Earth theory correct, Mr Hughes said his goal is to ascend high enough that he can gather evidence that disproves the widely accepted fact of a round earth. In a recent interview with the Daily Plane, a website for adherents of the flat earth theory, Mr Hughes said he arrived at the belief fairly recently. He added that another planned flight that will take him dozens of miles into space, allowing him to prove once and for all this earth is flat. It will shut the door on this ball earth," he said, adding that he hoped his revelation would uncover other secrets. SpaceX teases a rocket that could take you anywhere in the world in less than an hour This is the king of the deceptions, he said. This is it. And once this domino falls and more people come to this side, then everything else the dominos structure falls. However, this will not be the maiden voyage for Mr Hughes. He reportedly took to the skies over Arizona in 2014, which he said saw him sustain injuries that incapacitated him for weeks. But past misadventures haven't fazed Mr Hughes. If youre not scared to death, youre an idiot, he told AP. Its scary as hell, but none of us are getting out of this world alive. I like to do extraordinary things that no one else can do, and no one in the history of mankind has designed, built and launched himself in his own rocket. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} An Iranian PhD candidate said he was thrown off a Greyhound bus in the middle of the night, and he suspects it is because his name is Mohammad. Mohammad Reza Sardari, who is enrolled in the University of Texas urban planning and public policy planning programme, said he was travelling from Arlington, Texas, to Kansas City, Missouri, for an academic conference when his bus abruptly stopped around 3am. The driver demanded to see his ticket, Mr Sardari said, and initially rejected a version on his phone. After he produced a printout, he said, the driver continued to say he would need to exit the bus. In a video Mr Sardari posted to his Facebook page last week, a woman can be heard saying youre not going with me. I dont want to talk to you no more. You get off my bus, the woman says, adding that police officers are en route. Ultimately, Mr Sardari said, he had to pay for a car to take him to his destination. He told NBC News that he had to pay nearly $250 to travel the remaining 200 miles. 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 I have to mention that I am a no drama guy and I stayed calm and courteous throughout the ordeal, he wrote on Facebook. A spokeswoman for Greyhound said in an email that the company had opened an investigation. Greyhound does not tolerate discrimination of any kind and is taking these allegations very seriously, said spokeswoman Lanesha Gipson. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A federal grand jury has indicted Sayfullo Saipov on terrorism charges stemming from the New York truck attack in which eight people were killed - also expanding the allegations to include murder in aid of a criminal enterprise. Mr Saipov was arrested immediately after the October 31 attack in which he allegedly drove a truck down a New York City bike lane, and has been in federal custody. The indictment charged Mr Saipov with eight counts of murder in aid of racketeering, 12 counts of attempted murder in aid of racketeering, one count of providing and attempting to provide material support to Islamic State and one count of violence and destruction of a motor vehicle resulting in death, the Justice Department said. Recommended New York terror attack suspect named as Sayfullo Saipov As alleged in this indictment, Sayfullo Saipov murdered eight innocent people and injured many more in a calculated act of terrorism in the heart of one of our great cities, said Attorney General Jeff Sessions. People have a right to safety walking down a sidewalk or riding a bike, and we will not change our resolve to confront these threats both at home and abroad. I am especially proud today of the law enforcement officers who acted quickly and courageously to respond and to protect people from further harm. We continue to offer our assistance, our support and our prayers to the victims of this attack and to all the people of New York City. New York Truck attack Show all 6 1 /6 New York Truck attack New York Truck attack Investigators inspect the truck following the attack Investigators inspect a truck following a shooting incident in New York on 31 October 2017. Several people were killed and numerous others injured in New York on Tuesday when a suspect plowed a vehicle into a bike and pedestrian path in Lower Manhattan, and struck another vehicle on Halloween, police said. A suspect exited the vehicle holding up fake guns, before being shot by police and taken into custody, officers said. The motive was not immediately apparent. Getty New York Truck attack A paramedic looks at a body along the bike path A paramedic looks at a body covered under a white sheet along the bike path 31 October 2017, in New York. A motorist drove onto a busy bicycle path near the World Trade Center memorial and struck several people Tuesday, police and witnesses said. AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews New York Truck attack The truck driver collided with a school bus Authorities respond near a damaged school bus Tuesday, 31 October 2017, in New York. A motorist drove onto a busy bicycle path near the World Trade Center memorial and struck several people, police and witnesses said. Two adults and two children were on the bus at the time. AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews New York Truck attack A young girl reacts to the scene A young girl reacts as police officers secure an area following a shooting incident in New York on 31 October 2017. Several people were killed and numerous others injured in New York on Tuesday after a vehicle plowed into a pedestrian and bike path in Lower Manhattan, police said. 'The vehicle struck multiple people on the path,' police tweeted. 'The vehicle continued south striking another vehicle. The suspect exited the vehicle displaying imitation firearms & was shot by NYPD.' DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images New York Truck attack Police officers arrive at the scene Police officers arrive at the scene following a shooting incident in New York on 31 October 2017. Multiple people were hurt in downtown Manhattan, US media reported after police confirmed that they were responding to reports of a shooting. Police said they had mobilized to the scene in Lower Manhattan and that one person was in custody, giving no further details. DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images New York Truck attack Emergency personnel respond to truck attack in lower Manhattan Emergency personal respond after reports of multiple people hit by a truck after it plowed through a bike path in lower Manhattan on 31 October 2017 in New York City. According to reports up to six people may have been killed. Kena Betancur/Getty Images Mr Saipov, an Uzbek immigrant, was treated in hospital after he was shot by a police officer and arrested. Isis claimed responsibility for the truck attack, which was the deadliest assault on New York City since September 11, 2001. Five of the victims were Argentinians who were part of a group in New York to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their high school graduation. A Belgian woman, a New Yorker and a New Jersey man were also killed. Reuters Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Passengers waiting for a flight in Canada made the best of a bad situation by turning their airport delay into a big party. Two men armed with an accordion and a guitar led a round of songs and dancing at Toronto airport when the flights passengers discovered their journey to St Johns would be delayed by around 30 minutes. The crowd sang "Grey Foggy Day", "Sweet Forget Me Not", and "Music and Friends" together with a boy as young as 10 joining in. Recommended Delta flight delayed by two hours after fight between pilot and crew The party was caught in a series of videos uploaded by Michelle Sacrey Philpott, who told CTV News that the gathering was just Newfoundlanders having fun, enjoying each others company. Music. Culture. Thats where our heritage is from, she added. The sing-along has been described as an old-fashioned Newfoundlander kitchen party. Ms Philpott said she had received emails from locals who are homesick or away from home telling her the videos reminded them of Newfoundland. Sean Sullivan, playing the guitar, told CBC News that for his friend Sheldon Thornhill, playing the accordion in these kinds of situations is a regular occurrence. Anytime were gathered around airports like that, hes often taking out his accordion just out of the blue and starts playing for people, he said. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A handful of polio survivors who have spent decades inside so-called iron lungs, have spoken of their existence trapped in ageing machines that have all but disappeared. There are only two or three of us left, said 70-year-old Paul Alexander. Speaking from Texas, he added: Ive tried all the ventilators available and this one is the best. It feels like a more natural way of breathing. The battle against polio has been one of the great success stories of recent years. While cases of the crippling disease still occur in countries such as Laos, Syria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, it remains endemic in just three - Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria. In the US, it was wiped out in 1979, thanks to the anti-polio vaccine. In the 1950s, polio outbreaks caused more than 15,000 cases of paralysis each year, according to the Centres for Disease Control. Iron lung machines - pressurised cylinders that draw oxygen into a persons lungs by creating a vacuum - were once commonplace. Most people would only need to use the machines for a week or two until they could breathe on their own. For some polio sufferers with permanent damage to their lungs, they became an essential part of their existence. As fewer and fewer people used them, the companies who produced them urged people to use alternative breathing aids. In 2004, one of those corporations, Philips Respironics, told iron lung users they could no longer guarantee they would repair the machines. Mr Alexander said he was keen to visit Britain (Nick Isenberg/YouTube) In 2013, the Post-Polio Health International, an organisation which works to help polio sufferers, estimated there were six to eight iron lung users in the United States. Asked how many there were today, the groups president, Brian Tiburzi, said: I dont have an answer to that. I dont think anyone knows for certain. Gizmodo spoke to three people who still use the machines - Mr Alexander, 70, of Dallas, Martha Lillard, 69, from Oklahoma, and 81-year-old Mona Randolph of Kansas City, Missouri. They may be the very last individuals to rely on this outdated machinery Mr Alexander, who contracted polio in 1952 when he was six, said he spent nearly every moment in his iron lung, located in the centre of his living room. He answers the phone and types using a plastic wand attached to his mouth. Remarkably, despite his dependence on the machine, he went to law school and worked as a lawyer. National Polio Immunisation Day in New Delhi, India When I transferred to the University of Texas, they were horrified to think that I was going to bring my iron lung down, but I did, and I put it in the dorm, and I lived in the dorm with my iron lung, he told the website. I had a thousand friends before it was over with, who all wanted to find out whats that guy downstairs with a head sticking out of a machine doing here. Mr Alexander has frequently had problems with maintaining his machine and in 2015 a friend put a video of him on YouTube that explained his problems and of his search for someone who knew their way around an iron lung machine. Eventually, Brady Richards, who runs the Environmental Testing Laboratory, a Texas-based firm which tests equipment to ensure it meets environmental standards, got in touch. I looked for years to find someone who knew how to work on iron lungs, said Mr Alexander. Brady Richards, its a miracle that I found him. Polio: iron lungs, leg braces and vaccination Show all 8 1 /8 Polio: iron lungs, leg braces and vaccination Polio: iron lungs, leg braces and vaccination A hospitalised child suffering from polio shows off his biceps to a doctor in 1947 Getty Images Polio: iron lungs, leg braces and vaccination Children being given an oral vaccine for polio, known then as infantile paralysis, in Hull during the 1961 epidemic Rex Features Polio: iron lungs, leg braces and vaccination A boy suffering from polio being treated with a type of 'iron lung' in hospital. A nurse operates the equipment at the end of the bed which controls the flow of air pressure Getty Images Polio: iron lungs, leg braces and vaccination A woman sees her new born baby whilst lying inside an iron lung as part of her treatment for Polio Getty Images Polio: iron lungs, leg braces and vaccination Polio victim Margaret Dixon watching the opening matches of the 1957 Wimbledon championships from her invalid chair Rex Features Polio: iron lungs, leg braces and vaccination Young children polio patients doing physiotherapy exercises wearing calipers against their outside beds at Wingfield Nuffield Orthopaedic hospital in Oxfordshire Rex Features Polio: iron lungs, leg braces and vaccination A five year old polio victim walks into the outstretched arms of Doctor George Deaver, faculty member of the New York University College of Medicine, during a demonstration at the Institute of Rehabilitation and Physical Medicine Getty Images Polio: iron lungs, leg braces and vaccination 6 May 1956: First injections for children against polio at the Hendon clinic Getty Images Mr Richards said he visited Mr Alexander once every six months. The machine is actually the most simple thing on the planet, he told The Independent. The problem is that they no longer make the parts. Ms Lillard said she was infected with polio when she was five. Now, she spends half of every day in the machine. All the mothers were just terrified because people were just getting it right and left, she told Gizmodo of her infection. They didnt know if it was a virus or bacteria or how you caught it. Ms Randolph became infected when she was 20. She said she tells children who ask what happened to her that she was damaged by a virus because a vaccine was not available. She said she was deeply upset when she met anti-vaccine activists. Of course, Im concerned about any place where theres no vaccine, she said. I would just do anything to prevent somebody from having to go through what I have. I mean, my mother, if she had the vaccine available, I would have had it in a heartbeat. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} An Oregon woman whose inmate boyfriend died from a meth-laden kiss after a prison visit was sentenced to two years behind bars on Tuesday on a drug conspiracy charge. Melissa Ann Blair and Anthony Powell shared a long kiss at the end of a visit last year at the Oregon State Penitentiary and she passed seven tiny balloons filled with methamphetamine into his mouth. Two of the balloons ruptured in Powells stomach a short time later and he died of methamphetamine toxicity, prosecutors have said. US District Judge Marco Hernandez said Blairs actions were part of a scheme devised by Powell and others to get drugs inside the prison. There was a dispute as to whether Blair participated of her own free will, but Powell shared responsibility for his own death, Hernandez said. Recommended Mexican teenager dies after drinking liquid meth in front of officers It was tragic and sad but he shares responsibility for what happened, the judge said. The 41-year-old was serving a life sentence for aggravated murder in the stabbing death of his mother-in-law, according to court records. Besides two years in federal prison, the judge also ordered Blair, 46, to complete three years of post-release supervision and participate in drug treatment and mental health programs. She did not make a statement in court. Her sister, who attended the hearing, declined to comment. Blair felt coerced by Powell even though he was behind bars, her attorney, John Ransom, said outside court. She used methamphetamine but was not addicted, he said. It was a very Svengali-type situation where he had total control over her life, Ransom said. She had to do whatever he said. Powells close friend, Brandy Pokovich, attended the hearing and said she became pen pals with him after he wrote to her husband - a former inmate - and she replied to him instead. Over a dozen years, Pokovich said, they formed a deep bond through letters, phone calls and visits. She called herself Powells sister by choice and believed he felt remorse for his crime, she told the judge. Now, because of the choices that were made, I no longer can pick up the phone and hear his voice, I cant go on a visit and see his big cheesy smile and get the best hug in the world, she said in a victim impact statement. He was not just an inmate. He was a very loved and cared-for person who had a family that would always be there no matter what, she 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 Outside court, Pokovich said she helped Powell find girlfriends by using her social media accounts and introduced him to Blair. Four other defendants in the case, like Blair, have pleaded guilty to a drug conspiracy charge and will be sentenced in the coming weeks. AP Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A white university student accused of branding her roommate a Jamaican Barbie and smearing used tampons on her backpack is not racist, her lawyer has claimed. Brianna Brochu, a former student at the University of Hartford, Connecticut, is charged with criminal mischief and breach of the peace, but activists want the 18-year-old charged with a hate crime. Ms Brochu allegedly bragged online about her bullying, describing how she spat in Chennel Rowes coconut oil and put her toothbrush where the sun doesnt shine, reports the Hartford Courant. She was later banned from campus by a local community court judge. After 1 month of spitting in her coconut oil, putting moldy clam dip in her lotions, rubbing used tampons oh [sic] her backpack, putting her toothbrush places where the sun doesnt shine, and so much more, I can finally say goodbye Jamaican Barbie, Ms Brochu wrote on Instagram, according to court records. On Tuesday, members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) arrived outside the Hartford courthouse to demand prosecutors charge Ms Brochu with a hate crime, reports CBS News. But Ms Brochus lawyer, Tom Stevens, said he did not expect authorities to file hate crime charges and that his client regretted her actions. 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 "I think this is sort of not the case that you all have been fanning the flame on, he said outside court, according to the Courant. I think when its all said and done, what youre going to see is there was nothing racial that motivated this. "This was two students who were placed together, I think randomly who didnt like each other, like has been happening since kids went to school and became roommates. Gail Hardy, Hartfords State Attorney, said additional information was being reviewed at the request of Ms Rowes lawyer. Ms Brochu has admitted licking her former roommates plate, fork, and spoon and smearing bodily fluid on her victims backpack, but denies the other accusations she posted on Instagram, according to the local newspaper. In a Facebook post which has been viewed more than a million times, Ms Rowe said she had developed throat pain and had been unable to sleep or speak. University health workers had prescribed antibiotics but failed to work out what was causing the bad bacteria, she said. As a young African American woman I dont want to become another statistic, Ms Rowe wrote in a separate Facebook post. When it comes to college incidents/crimes and racial cases justice needs to be served. Greg Woodward, the universitys president, sent a letter to Hartford teachers and students on Tuesday, calling Ms Brochus alleged behaviour reprehensible. Acts of racism, bias, bullying, or other abusive behaviours will not be tolerated on this campus, Mr Woodward said. I pledge to do everything in my power to work with our community to address related concerns together. Ms Rowe had been quickly relocated after she reported the allegations, he added, and Ms Brochu had subsequently been arrested by the West Hartford Police Department. Speaking to local TV station Fox61, Ms Rowe said she believes the case would have played out differently if the roles were reversed, because of her race. I probably wouldve been locked up. A whole of a bunch of stuff wouldve been done quickly, she said. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trumps Justice Department is said to to be investigating the use of race in Harvard Universitys admissions policies and has accused the world-renowned Ivy League school of not cooperating with the probe. The Wall Street Journal reported that the DOJ is looking into allegations that formed the basis for a 2014 lawsuit, which claimed the universitys admissions practices discriminated against Asian-Americans and violated US civil rights law. The suit is still pending. In a 17 November letter, the department wrote that Harvard was being probed under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 due to allegations that it was using race as a deciding factor in its admissions decisions, according to the Journal. Recommended White men are benefiting from affirmative action schemes Title VI bars discrimination on the basis of race, colour and national origin for organizations that receive federal funding. The DOJ also said Harvard had failed to meet a 2 November deadline to show documents related to the university's admission procedures and policies. If it does not hand over documents by 1 December, the department said it may file a lawsuit to force Harvard to comply. Harvard has reportedly provided the documents being sought by the DOJ to the plaintiffs in the suit. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty The Department of Justice takes seriously any potential violation of an individuals civil and constitutional rights, DOJ spokesman Devin OMalley said. A Harvard spokesperson said in a statement: As we have repeatedly made clear to the Department of Justice, the University will certainly comply with its obligations under Title VI. In the process, we have an obligation to protect the confidentiality of student and applicant files and other highly sensitive records, and we have been seeking to engage the Department of Justice in the best means of doing so. US courts have long debated the controversial issue of affirmative action. In 2016, the US Supreme Court ruled in Fisher v University of Texas that admissions officials may continue to consider race as one factor among many in ensuring a diverse student body. However, at the same time, the high court did warn other universities that not all affirmative action programmes would be considered constitutional. Harvard has argued in the past that its admissions policies on race have aligned with legal precedent set over the past 40 years by the Supreme Court. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} US President Donald Trump appears to have endorsed accused child sex abuser Roy Moore for a seat in the US Senate. Speaking to reporters before boarding Air Force One with his family, Mr Trump said "we don't need a liberal Democrat" in the Alabama seat left vacant by the appointment of Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Mr Moore, 70, has been accused by several women of sexual misconduct when he was in his 30s and working as a District Attorney in Alabama and they were just teenagers. Recommended Kellyanne Conway backs Roy Moore despite child sex claims He is running for Senate against Democrat Doug Jones. Mr Trump also pointed to Mr Moore's denials. "[He] denies it," the president said. "If you look at what is really going on and you look at all the things that have happened the last 48 hours, he totally denies it. He says it didn't happen. You know, you have to listen to him also. You're talking about...40 years ago." The conservative Christian values candidate has repeatedly denied all accusations and any wrongdoing. He also said on Sean Hannitys Fox News programme that he never dated any women without their mothers permission. White House adviser Kellyanne Conway also came out in support for Mr Moore on the Fox & Friends programme, saying that Republicans in Washington want the votes in the in the Senate to get...this tax bill through," referring to the tax reform bill being crafted. Roy Moore says he doesn't 'generally' remember dating teenage girls while in his 30s However, just a week before she had said "that there is no Senate seat worth more than a child". Ms Conway also said: "if the media were really concerned about all these allegations and thats what this is truly about and the Democrats, Al Franken would be on the ash heap of bygone, half-funny comedians. [Mr Franken] wouldnt be here in Capitol Hill." Mr Franken, the Democratic Senator from Minnesota and erstwhile cast member of Saturday Night Live, has also been accused by several women of sexual harassment and misconduct. Including one photograph which newscaster Leeann Tweeden alleged showed Mr Franken groping her. In response to that allegation, Mr Franken said: "I respect women. I don't respect men who don't. And the fact that my own actions have given people a good reason to doubt that makes me feel ashamed. Though the President had not addressed the allegations against Mr Moore until today, he did respond immediately to those against Mr Franken via Twitter, writing: The Al Frankenstien (sic) picture is really bad, speaks a thousand words. Where do his hands go in pictures 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 while she sleeps? Several prominent state Republicans have come forward defending the Mr Moore and called into question the timing and motivation of the several women who told their stories. Mr Moore called famed attorney Gloria Allred - representing accuser Beverly Young Nelson - of being a sensationalist leading a witch hunt, and she is only around to create a spectacle. Ms Nelson produced a high school yearbook which Mr Moore had written in, using the signoff Love, Roy Moore, D.A. His attorney has said a handwriting analysis should be performed on the yearbook to prove if it is indeed Mr Moore's signature. His wife of 32 years, Kayla Moore, has been one of his most ardent supporters. She also said during a campaign rally the campaign and Republican supporters "are gathering evidence of money being paid to people who would come forward. Which is part of why we are filing suit! World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty In its original report the Washington Post spoke to 30 sources, four of whom agreed to go on the record, about Mr Moores alleged child sex abuse. The paper wrote: While reporting a story in Alabama about supporters of Moores Senate campaign, a Post reporter heard that Moore allegedly had sought relationships with teenage girls. Over the ensuing three weeks, two Post reporters contacted and interviewed the four women. All were initially reluctant to speak publicly but chose to do so after multiple interviews, saying they thought it was important for people to know about their interactions with Moore. The women say they dont know one another. The legal age of consent is 16 in the state of Alabama, so one particular accuser - Leigh Corfman - has caught the attention of the public since she said she was 14 when Mr Moore allegedly forced her to touch his genitals and kiss him. Supporters of Mr Moore have attacked Ms Corfman for declaring bankruptcy, being married multiple times, and her problems with drug use - all of which she herself disclosed to the newspaper. Mr Jones has been leading Mr Moore in polls ahead of the 12 December special election, however some on-the-ground reporting shows Mr Moore is still strongly supported in the Evangelical community and among many white Republican voters. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior aide, is reportedly worried that special counsel Robert Muellers investigation into links between Russia and the presidential campaign, will "get" the US leader. US intelligence agencies believe Moscow tried to help Mr Trump win by hacking and releasing emails damaging to his opponent, Hillary Clinton. Special counsel Robert Mueller is also leading an independent investigation into whether there were any links between Russia and the Trump campaign. The Kremlin and Mr Trump have repeatedly denied the charges. Trump-Russia investigation: who has been charged in the Mueller probe It emerged earlier this year that then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort, along with Donald Trump Jr and Mr Kushner attended a Trump Tower meeting with a Russian lawyer after being promised damaging information on Ms Clinton. A pair of US Senators also claimed Mr Kushner failed to disclose emails he received about WikiLeaks and "a Russian backdoor overture" in 2016. In a letter, they demanded additional documents as part of an ongoing investigation into Russia's alleged election meddling, which they said they became aware of the documents through other witnesses. A lawyer for Mr Kushner said he was "open to responding to any additional requests". Mr Kushner expressed concern after Mr Muellers investigation produced indictments for former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his associate Rick Gates, who stand accused of money laundering, according to a report in Vanity Fair magazine. Both have denied any wrongdoing. Do you think theyll get the president? the magazine reported Mr Kushner as having asked a friend, citing someone who was briefed on the conversation. The magazine also suggested that Mr Kushner has seen his responsibilities diminish under new White House Chief of Staff John Kelly. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said nothing in it is true. 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 But multiple members of Mr Trumps orbit have faced criminal penalties. In addition to Mr Manafort and Mr Gates, former campaign adviser George Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about conversations with Russia-linked emissaries and aides including Mr Kushner have surfaced in reports describing Russia-linked efforts to reach out to the campaign. More recently, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee wrote to Mr Kushners attorney to say he had not shared a document concerning a Russian backdoor overture and dinner invite. Subsequent reports found that a Kremlin-linked banker had sought to meet with Trump campaign officials at a Kentucky National Rifle Association event, an overture Mr Kushner suggested rebuffing. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} ProPublica has published the White House visitor records that the Trump administration tried to keep hidden. Recommended The 19 agencies Donald Trump plans to completely eliminate funding for The Trump administration fought in court to block public records requests by Property of the People, a nonprofit transparency group, to release the calendars as well as visitor logs from several White House offices. The information was subject to public disclosure through the Freedom of Information Act. Lawyers from the group have won their case and released the information and data to ProPublica, which has posted them in a searchable format. Donald Trump plans total repeal of net neutrality law that keeps the internet free Property of the People received information on the Office of Management and Budget, US Trade Representative, Office of National Drug Control Policy, Council on Environmental Quality and Office of Science and Technology Policy. Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Show all 30 1 /30 Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Threatening to shut down Twitter after being fact-checked After the president tweeted that voting by post would be "substantially fraudulent", Twitter attached a warning label to his tweet and referred readers to a site which explained how the claim was "unsubstantiated". Trump then said Twitter was "stifling free speech" and that he may have to shut it down, something which he would not have the power to do AFP/Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Flippantly dismissing a serious allegation of sexual assault When author E Jean Carroll accused Trump of raping her, the president responded: Number one, shes not my type. Number two, it never happened. It never happened, OK?" AFP/Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Insulting the Mayor of London as he landed in London Just before touching down at Stansted Airport for his state visit, Trump took time out to @ the London mayor Sadiq Khan on twitter. He said that Khan has done a "terrible job"as mayor and that he is a "stone cold loser" Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Taking plenty of "Executive Time" The president's official schedule sets aside the hours from 8 to 11am daily for "Executive Time". Further intermittent periods of "Executive Time" are scheduled throughout any given day, ranging from 15 minutes to 3 hours. His duties in these hours have not been officially disclosed, though Axios reports that he spends them watching TV, reading the newspapers and tweeting Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Shutdown the government for over a month in an effort to secure funding for his wall With Mexico declining to pay for the wall, the president has faced difficulty in raising the required $5bn at home. Due to his demand that the money for the wall be included in the budget, and Congress's refusal, the government partially shut down on 22 December 2018. It remained shut for over a month, the longest period in history Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Joking about the Nazi occupation of France to President Macron In this tweet from 13 November 2018, the president mocks Emmanuel Macron's suggestion of a "true, European army" by invoking the conflict between France and Germany in the world wars Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Railing against the Mueller investigation The president has repeatedly claimed that the Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, is a "rigged witch hunt" Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Contradicting a US intelligence report on Russian meddling in the presence of Vladimir Putin In the press conference that followed his landmark meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin, Trump stated that he saw no reason why Russia would have meddled in the 2016 US election. This contradicted a 2017 report by the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence that found evidence of Russian interference in favour of Trump Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Contradicting his contradiction of a US intelligence report on Russian meddling Following furious backlash in the US, the president claimed that he meant to say that he saw no reason why it would not have been Russia who meddled in the 2016 US election. As to why he would have intended to use such bizarre phrasing, he did not comment Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Colouring in the US flag wrong The president coloured in the US flag wrongly during a visit to a children's hospital in Columbus, Ohio. He added a blue stripe where in tradition, and statute, there have been only white and red stripes AFP/Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Firing a Secretary of State over Twitter The president announced on Twitter that he was appointing Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State, much to the surprise of then Secretary of State Rex Tillerson Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Quoting a catchphrase from a reality TV show when discussing police brutality While addressing the issue of black athletes not standing for the national anthem in protest of police brutality, the president made reference to his catchphrase from reality TV show "The Apprentice": you're fired! Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Calling African nations "S***hole Countries" Ever one for diplomacy, the president reportedly referred to African nations as "s***hole countries". Asked to confirm this when meeting with Nigeria's President Buhari, Trump stated that there are "some countries that are in very bad shape". Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Defending Russian President Vladimir Putin Trump appeared to equate US foreign actions to those of Russian president Vladimir Putin, saying: There are a lot of killers. You think our countrys so innocent? Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Asking for people to 'pray' for Arnold Schwarzenegger At the National Prayer Breakfast, Trump couldnt help but to ask for prayers for the ratings on Arnold Schwarzeneggers show to be good. Schwarzenegger took over as host of The Apprentice which buoyed Trumps celebrity status years ago Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Hanging up on Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull Early in his presidency, Trump reportedly hung up the phone on Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull after the foreign leader angered him over refugee plans. Mr Trump later said that it was the worst call he had had so far Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... The 'Muslim ban' Perhaps one of his most controversial policies while acting as president, Trumps travel ban targeting predominantly Muslim countries has bought him a lot of criticism. The bans were immediately protested, and judges initially blocked their implementation. The Supreme Court later sided with the administrations argument that the ban was developed out of concern for US security Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Praising crowd size while touring Hurricane Harvey damage After Hurricane Harvey ravaged southeastern Texas, Trump paid the area a visit. While his response to the disaster in Houston was generally applauded, the president picked up some flack when he gave a speech outside Houston (he reportedly did not visit disaster zones), and praised the size of the crowds there AP Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... 'Little Rocket Man' During his first-ever speech to the United Nations General Assembly, Trump tried out a new nickname for North Korea leader Kim Jong-un: Rocket Man. He later tweaked it to be little Rocket Man as the two feuded, and threatened each other with nuclear war. During that speech, he also threatened to totally annihilate North Korea Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Attacking Sadiq Khan following London Bridge terror attack After the attack on the London Bridge, Trump lashed out at London Mayor Sadiq Khan, criticising Khan for saying there was no reason to be alarmed after the attack. Trump was taking the comments out of context, as Khan was simply saying that the police had everything under control Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Claiming presenter Mika Brezinkski was 'bleeding from the face' Never one not to mock his enemies, Trump mocked MSNBCs Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski, saying that she and co-host Joe Scarborough had approached him before his inauguration asking to join him. He noted that she was bleeding badly from a face-lift at the time, and that he said no MSNBC Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Claiming the blame for Charlottesville was on 'both sides' Trump refused to condemn far-right extremists involved in violence at 'the march for the right' protests in Charlottesville, even after the murder of counter protester Heather Heyer AP Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Retweeting cartoon of CNN being hit by a 'Trump train' Trump retweeted a cartoon showing a Trump-branded train running over a person whose body and head were replaced by a CNN avatar. He later deleted the retweet Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Tweeting about 'slamming' CNN Trump caught some flack when he tweeted a video showing him wrestling down an individual whose head had been replaced by a CNN avatar. Trump has singled CNN out in particular with his chants of fake news Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Firing head of the FBI, James Comey Trumps firing of former FBI Director James Comey landed him with a federal investigation into Russias meddling in the 2016 election that has caused many a headache for the White House. The White House initially said that the decision was made after consultation from the Justice Department. Then Mr Trump himself said that he had decided to fire him in part because he wanted the Russia investigation Mr Comey was conducting to stop Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Not realising being president would be 'hard' Just three months into his presidency, Trump admitted that being president is harder than he thought it would be. Though Trump insisted on the 2016 campaign trail that doing the job would be easy for him, he admitted in an interview that living in the White House is harder than running a business empire Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Accusing Obama of wiretapping him Trump accused former president Barack Obama of wire tapping him on twitter. The Justice Department later clarified: Obama had not, in fact, done so Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Claiming there had been 3 million 'illegal votes' Trump was never very happy about losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by 2.8 million ballots. So, he and White House voter-fraud commissioner Kris Kobach have claimed that anywhere between three and five million people voted illegally during the 2016 election. Conveniently, he says that all of those illegal votes went to Clinton. (There is no evidence to support that level of widespread voter fraud.) Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Leaving Jews out of the Holocaust memorial statement Just days after taking office, Trumps White House issued a statement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, but didnt mention jews or even the word jewish in the written statement Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Anger over Inauguration crowd size Trumps inauguration crowd was visibly, and noticeably, smaller than that of his predecessor, Barack Obama. But, he really wanted to have had the largest crowd on record. So, he praised it as the biggest crowd ever. Relatedly, Trump also claimed that it stopped raining in Washington at the moment he was inaugurated. It didnt, the day was very dreary Reuters The calendar for one of Donald Trump's top cabinet officials, OMB Director Mick Mulvaney, shows that the budget czar has met with a long list of lobbyists, healthcare and Wall Street executives, Trump friend and casino magnate Steve Wynn, and a prominent member of the Catholic group Opus Dei. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The District of Columbia Council is considering legislation that would change the name of the northwest Washington street where the Russian Embassy is located to honour Boris Nemtsov, a prominent Russian opposition leader who was assassinated in Moscow in 2015. If the legislation is approved, the block of Wisconsin Avenue would be called "Boris Nemtsov Plaza." The new name would appear under the existing Wisconsin Avenue street sign, although no addresses on that designated block would change. Ward 3 council member Mary Cheh introduced the legislation and said the sign would commemorate the leader of Russia's pro-Democracy opposition and serve as a reminder of America's democratic values. She said the Russian Embassy does not have a say in whether the street name is changed. Recommended Huge Bible museum opens in Washington DC "The man was assassinated, and he was someone fighting for democracy in Russia, and he is a hero," Ms Cheh said. "But, of course, he is not being treated as a hero in Russia." Ms Cheh said she was approached by members of the Senate about changing the street name. Senator Marco Rubio is the original sponsor of Senate legislation that would change the name in honour of Mr Nemtsov. That legislation hasn't moved in the Senate, so she said senators approached her about getting the local legislation passed instead. Rubio is one of nine Republican and Democratic senators listed as sponsors of the bill. Others include Senators Christopher Coons, and John McCain. The federal government has the power to pass legislation to change a street name in the nation's capital and also can vote to overturn legislation passed by D.C. government. Mr Rubio's office didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. The Senate and D.C. Council have used street names in the past as a way to rebuke the government of a nearby embassy. In 1984, the Senate changed the name of the street in front of the previous Russian Embassy after Russian dissident Andrei Sakharov. And Texas Senator Ted Cruz is trying to rename the street outside the Chinese Embassy after Liu Xiaobo, a pro-democracy dissident and Nobel Peace Prize winner who died in a Chinese prison this year. Mr Cruz pushed a bill through the Senate on the matter in 2016, but then-President Barack Obama said he would veto it, and it died in the Senate. Ms Cheh said she expects there to be a hearing on the legislation early next year. "No matter what is going on in this country we should still be the beacon for fighting democracy," Ms Cheh said. "Once this was presented to me, it seemed so right." The Washington Post For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Kausar Parveen struggles through tears as she remembers the blood-soaked pants of her nine-year-old son, raped by a religious cleric. Each time she begins to speak, she stops, swallows hard, wipes her tears and begins again. The boy had studied for a year at a nearby Islamic school in the town of Kehrore Pakka. In the blistering heat of late April, in the grimy two-room Islamic madrassa, he awoke one night to find his teacher lying beside him. I didn't move. I was afraid, he says. The cleric lifted the boy's long tunic-style shirt over his head, and then pulled down his baggy pants. I was crying. He was hurting me. He shoved my shirt in my mouth, the boy says, using his scarf to show how the cleric tried to stifle his cries. He looks over at his mother. Did he touch you?' He nods. Did he hurt you when he touched you? Yes, he whispers. Did he rape you? He buries his face in his scarf and nods yes. Parveen reaches over and grabs her son, pulling him toward her, cradling his head in her lap. Sexual abuse is a pervasive and longstanding problem at madrassas in Pakistan, an AP investigation has found, from the sunbaked mud villages deep in its rural areas to the heart of its teeming cities. But in a culture where clerics are powerful and sexual abuse is a taboo subject, it is seldom discussed or even acknowledged in public. It is even more seldom prosecuted. Police are often paid off not to pursue justice against clerics, victims' families say. And cases rarely make it past the courts, because Pakistan's legal system allows the victim's family to forgive the offender and accept what is often referred to as blood money. The AP found hundreds of cases of sexual abuse by clerics reported in the past decade, and officials suspect there are many more within a far-reaching system that teaches at least 2 million children in Pakistan. The investigation was based on police documents and dozens of interviews with victims, relatives, former and current ministers, aid groups and religious officials. The fear of clerics and the militant religious organisations that sometimes support them came through clearly. One senior official in a ministry tasked with registering these cases says many madrassas are infested with sexual abuse. The official asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution; he has been a target of suicide attacks because of his hard position against militant groups. He compares the situation to the abuse of children by priests in the Catholic Church. There are thousands of incidences of sexual abuse in the madrassas, he says. This thing is very common, that this is happening. Pakistan's clerics close ranks when the madrassa system is too closely scrutinised, he says. Among the weapons they use to frighten their critics is a controversial blasphemy law that carries a death penalty in the case of a conviction. This is not a small thing here in Pakistan - I am scared of them and what they can do, the official says. I am not sure what it will take to expose the extent of it. It's very dangerous to even try. His assessment was echoed by another senior official, a former minister who says sexual abuse in madrassas happens all the time. He also doesn't want his name used because he too has survived suicide bombings due to his stance on militants. That's a very dangerous topic, he says. A tally of cases reported in newspapers over the past 10 years of sexual abuse by maulvis or clerics and other religious officials came to 359. That represents barely the tip of the iceberg, says Munizae Bano, executive director of Sahil, the organisation that scours the newspapers and works against sexual abuse of minors. In 2004, a Pakistani official disclosed more than 500 complaints of sexual assaults against young boys in madrassas. He has since refused to talk, and there have been no significant arrests or prosecutions. Religious Affairs Minister Sardar Muhammad Yousaf dismisses the suggestion that sexual abuse is widespread, saying such talk is an attempt to malign the religion, seminaries and clerics. He says he was not aware of even the cases reported in the newspapers, but that it could occur occasionally 'because there are criminals everywhere. Yousaf says the reform and control of madrassas is the job of the interior ministry. The Interior Ministry, which oversees madrassas, refused repeated written and telephone requests for an interview. The case of Parveen's son was one of at least three within a month in the towns of Kehrore Pakka and Rajanpur in Punjab province's deep south, according to police reports. Another incident involved the drugging and gang rape of a 12-year-old boy asleep on his madrassa rooftop by former students. And the third was of a ten-year-old boy sodomised by the madrassa principal when he brought him his meal. The cleric threatened to kill the boy if he told. The AP is not naming the children because they are victims of sexual abuse. The fear of clerics was evident at the courthouse in Kehrore Pakka, where the former teacher of Parveen's son waited his turn to go before a judge. A half dozen members of the radical Sunni militant organisation Sipah-e-Sahabah were there to support the teacher. They scowled and moved closer when an AP reporter sat next to the teacher, who was shackled to a half dozen other prisoners. The whispers grew louder and more insistent. It's too dangerous here, said one person, looking over at the militants nearby. Leave. Leave the courthouse, they can do anything here. The teacher had already confessed, according to police, and the police report said he was found with the boy. Yet he swore his innocence in court. I am married, he said. My wife is pretty, why would I do this to a kid? There are more than 22,000 registered madrassas or Islamic schools in Pakistan. The students they teach are often among the country's poorest, who receive food and an education for free. Many more madrassas - small two- or three-room seminaries in villages throughout Pakistan - are unregistered, opened by a graduate of another madrassa, often without any education other than a proficiency in the Quran. They operate without scrutiny, ignored by the authorities, say residents living nearby. Parveen's son, for example, went to an unregistered madrassa. Madrassas are funded by wealthy business people, religious political parties and even donors from other countries, such as Saudi Arabia. The teachings of the madrassas are guided by schools of Islamic thought, such as Shiite and Sunni. However, unlike the Catholic Church, which has a clear hierarchy topped by the Vatican, there is no central religious authority that governs madrassas. There is also no central body that investigates or responds to allegations in religious schools. Basic responsibility, when something happens, is with the head of the madrassa, says Mufti Mohammed Naeem, the head of the sprawling Jamia Binoria madrassa in the city of Karachi. There are between 2,000 and 3,000 unregistered madrassas, Naeem says, which makes central oversight even harder. The government has launched a nationwide effort to register madrassas. The keepers of madrassas are also notoriously reluctant to accept government oversight or embrace reforms, according to I.A. Rehman of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, which makes sexual abuse harder to prevent. This is one of those things, you know, which everybody knows is going on and happening, but evidence is very scarce, he says. He adds that the power of the people who run the madrassas has increased over the years. As the religious right has grown stronger in Pakistan, clerics who were once dependent on village leaders for handouts, even food, have risen in stature. With this rise, reporting of sexual abuse in madrassas has trickled off, said human rights lawyer Saif-ul Mulk. Mulk has police protection because of death threats from militants outraged by his defence of a Christian woman sentenced to death for insulting Islam. Everyone is so afraid of the mullahs today, he says. The fear that surrounds sexual abuse by clerics means that justice is rare. The payoff from offending mullahs to police means that they often refuse to even register a case, says Azam Hussain, a union councillor in Kehrore Pakka. And the families involved are often poor and powerless. Poor people are afraid, so they don't say anything, Hussain says. Police help the mullah. Police don't help the poor... Poor people know this, so they don't even go to the police. This is particularly true in Punjab, Pakistan's largest province, where more than 60 percent of its 200 million people live. Even Pakistan's own Punjab provincial anti-corruption department in a 2014 report listed the Punjab police as the province's most corrupt department. Police say they investigate when a complaint is made, but they have no authority to take a case forward when the family accepts money, which often happens. The family of a boy who says he was repeatedly assaulted sexually by a cleric in a Punjab madrassa talks about their tussle with police. The boy isn't sure of his age. Maybe ten or 11, he says. His voice is barely a whisper, his head bent low as he talked. He is surrounded by two dozen villagers and relatives, all men, all angry. He says the cleric threatened him with death if he told anyone. I was ashamed and I was scared, he says. He told me if I told anyone, my brother, my family, he would kill all my family and he would kill me. He says he begged the cleric to leave him alone. Once, the cleric even swore on the Quran that he would stop, but still returned. In August, when the boy was home, the thought of returning to his madrassa became too much. He pleaded with his older brother not to send him back. But his brother beat him and told him to go back. The brother, who would only give his first name as Maqsood, looks anguished. I didn't know, he says. Their elderly uncle, who looks near tears, covers his face and tries not to look in the boy's direction. The boy says another student at his seminary was assaulted by the same cleric. But police released the cleric after senior Punjab government officials intervened on his behalf, according to Maqsood. Demonstrations by villagers forced the cleric's re-arrest. Still, Maqsood says, when he went to the police, his honesty was questioned. The maulvi was sitting in the chair like he was the boss, and I was told to stay standing, he says. We are being pressured to compromise... We are poor people. Local police deny charges that they favoured the cleric or intimidated the family. They say they have consulted a local Islamic scholar about the rape allegations, and that the madrassa has not come to their attention previously for any wrongdoing. We need witnesses, evidence, says Sajjad Mohammed Khan, Vehari's deputy superintendent of police for organised crime. The top police officer in the district centre of Multan, Deputy Inspector General Police Sultan Azam Temuri, also denies that pressure from clerics or powerful politicians prompts police to go easy in such cases. He says cases are investigated when allegations are made. Temuri says his department is trying to tackle child abuse in general with the introduction of gender and child protection services. The madrassa where Maqsood's brother went, with more than 250 students, has a reputation in the neighbourhood for abuse. Two women with their heads covered hurry past, stopping briefly to warn a young Pakistani woman, Don't bring your children to that madrassa. It is very bad what they do to the children there. A sign for the madrassa is emblazoned with the flag of a Taliban-affiliated group. After persistent knocking, a blind maulvi, Mohammed Nadeem, led by a young student, agrees to speak. He denies that any abuse takes place inside the madrassa. Victims and their families can choose to forgive an assailant because Pakistan's legal system is a mix of British Common Law and Islamic Shariah law. A similar legal provision was changed last year to prevent forgiveness of honour killings, where victims are murdered because they are thought to have brought shame on their families. Honour killings now carry a mandatory sentence of life in prison, but clerics in sexual abuse cases can still be forgiven. Sahil, the organisation that scours newspapers for cases of sexual assault, offers families legal aid to pursue such cases. Last year, Sahil found 56 cases of sexual assault involving religious clerics. None of the families accepted Sahil's offer of legal assistance. In cases that are pursued, convictions do occasionally happen. In south Punjab, a cleric was convicted of sexually assaulting a minor girl in 2016 and sentenced to 12 years in prison and the equivalent of a $1,500 fine. The same cleric had in the past managed to get several families to settle over sexual abuse cases because of his close links to religious extremist groups, said local officials. This time, a local activist group known as Roshan Pakistan, or Bright Pakistan, persuaded the family of the young girl to resist. Far more often, the family gives in, as in the case of a nine-year-old girl who was raped by the maulvi of the unregistered madrassa she attended, according to a police report. Her uncle, Mohammed Azam, points across a field to the madrassa, surrounded by a high wall. The girl started working two years ago, at seven, and her only schooling was in the Quran. She spent the rest of the day sitting cross-legged on a mud floor inside a swelteringly hot room sewing the traditional shalwar kameez. Last July, a cleric forcibly took her shalwar off and started molesting her, according to the police report obtained by the AP. She screamed. Two men heard her screams and stormed into the room, and found the cleric attacking her. Seeing them, the cleric fled, and the men took the bleeding girl home, the report said. We would hear that these kinds of things happen, children raped in the madrassas, but you never know until it happens to your family, says Azam, her uncle. Yet the family settled the case out of court. He refused to say how much money they got, but neighbours say it was around $800. The family took money to not speak about it, says Rana Mohammed Jamal, an elderly neighbour. He says he believes abuses occurred predominantly in the small madrassas that spring up in poor neighbourhoods, where it is just the mullah and no one can say who he is, and he can do anything. 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 Parveen, the mother of the nine-year-old boy who says he was raped by his teacher in Kehrore Pakka, vowed that she would never give in to intimidation. But relatives and neighbors say the family was hounded by religious militants to drop the charges and take money. In the end, the mother forgave the cleric and accepted $300, according to police. The cleric was set free. AP For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Four engineers hunched before a bank of monitors, one holding what looked like a game controller. They had spent a month training for what they were about to do: pilot a small robot into the contaminated heart of the ruined Fukushima nuclear plant. Earlier robots had failed, getting caught on debris or suffering circuit malfunctions from excess radiation. But the newer version, called the Mini-Manbo, or little sunfish, was made of radiation-hardened materials with a sensor to help it avoid dangerous hot spots in the plants flooded reactor buildings. The size of a shoe box, the Manbo used tiny propellers to hover and glide through water in a manner similar to an aerial drone. Recommended Film crew reveals abandoned Fukushima ghost towns After three days of carefully navigating through a shattered reactor building, the Manbo finally reached the heavily damaged Unit 3 reactor. There, the robot beamed back video of a gaping hole at the bottom of the reactor and, on the floor beneath it, clumps of what looked like solidified lava: the first images ever taken of the plants melted uranium fuel. The discovery in July at Unit 3, and similar successes this year in locating the fuel of the plants other two ruined reactors, mark what Japanese officials hope will prove to be a turning point in the worst atomic disaster since Chernobyl. The fate of the fuel had been one of the most enduring mysteries of the catastrophe, which occurred on 11 March 2011, when an earthquake and 50-foot tsunami knocked out vital cooling systems at the plant. Left to overheat, three of the six reactors melted down. Their uranium fuel rods liquefied like candle wax, dripping to the bottom of the reactor vessels in a molten mass hot enough to burn through the steel walls and even penetrate the concrete floors below. No one knew for sure exactly how far those molten fuel cores had travelled before desperate plant workers - later celebrated as the Fukushima Fifty - were able to cool them again by pumping water into the reactor buildings. With radiation levels so high, the fate of the fuel remained unknown. As officials became more confident about managing the disaster, they began a search for the missing fuel. Scientists and engineers built radiation-resistant robots like the Manbo and a device like a huge X-ray machine that uses exotic space particles called muons to see the reactors innards. Now that engineers say they have found the fuel, officials of the government and the utility that runs the plant hope to sway public opinion. Six and a half years after the accident spewed radiation over northern Japan, and at one point seemed to endanger Tokyo, the officials hope to persuade a sceptical world that the plant has moved out of post-disaster crisis mode and into something much less threatening: cleanup. Until now, we didnt know exactly where the fuel was, or what it looked like, said Takahiro Kimoto, a general manager in the nuclear power division of the plants operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO). Now that we have seen it, we can make plans to retrieve it. TEPCO is keen to portray the plant as one big industrial cleanup site. About 7,000 people work here, building new water storage tanks, moving radioactive debris to a new disposal site, and erecting enormous scaffoldings over reactor buildings torn apart by the huge hydrogen explosions that occurred during the accident. Access to the plant is easier than it was just a year ago, when visitors still had to change into special protective clothing. These days, workers and visitors can move about all but the most dangerous areas in street clothes. We have finished the debris cleanup and gotten the plant under control, said the guide, Daisuke Hirose, a spokesman for TEPCOs subsidiary in charge of decommissioning the plant. Now, we are finally preparing for decommissioning. In September, the prime ministers office set a target date of 2021 - the 10th anniversary of the disaster - for the next significant stage, when workers begin extracting the melted fuel from at least one of the three destroyed reactors, though they have yet to choose which one. The government admits that cleaning up the plant will take at least another three to four decades and tens of billions of dollars. A $100 million research centre has been built nearby to help scientists and engineers develop a new generation of robots to enter the reactor buildings and scoop up the melted fuel. At Chernobyl, the Soviets simply entombed the charred reactor in concrete after the deadly 1986 accident. But Japan has pledged to dismantle the Fukushima plant and decontaminate the surrounding countryside, which was home to about 160,000 people who were evacuated after the accident. Many of them have been allowed to return as the rural towns around the plant have been decontaminated. But without at least starting a cleanup of the plant itself, officials admit they will find it difficult to convince the public that the accident is truly over. They also hope that beginning the cleanup will help them win the publics consent to restart Japans undamaged nuclear plants, most of which remain shut down since the disaster. TEPCO and the government are treading cautiously to avoid further mishaps that could raise doubts that the plant is under control. Fukushima: Return to the disaster zone Show all 5 1 /5 Fukushima: Return to the disaster zone Fukushima: Return to the disaster zone Pg-4-disaster3-epa.jpg EPA Fukushima: Return to the disaster zone mcneill.jpg Fukushima: Return to the disaster zone Pg-4-disaster2-epa.jpg EPA Fukushima: Return to the disaster zone Pg-4-diaster4-epa.jpg EPA Fukushima: Return to the disaster zone Pg-4-disaster1-ap.jpg AP They are being very methodical - too slow, some would say - in making a careful effort to avoid any missteps or nasty surprises, said David Lochbaum, director of the nuclear safety project at the Union of Concerned Scientists, who was a co-author of a book on the disaster. They want to regain trust. They have learned that trust can be lost much quicker than it can be recovered. The New York Times For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trumps decision to label North Korea a state sponsor of terror is a serious provocation that will only serve to make Pyongyang more committed to working on its nuclear arsenal, a senior official has warned. The US President announced on Monday that the North would join Iran, Sudan and Syria on a list of countries that have repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism. The move triggered sanctions including restrictions on US foreign assistance and a ban on defence exports and sales. Recommended Trump to declare North Korea a state sponsor of terror North Korea reacted on Wednesday by calling it a serious provocation and violent infringement of the communist regime. State media outlet KCNA accused the US of having openly revealed to the whole world its intention to destroy our ideology and system by using all kinds of means and methods. Our army and people are full of rage and anger toward the heinous gangsters who dared to put the name of our sacred country in this wretched list of terrorism and are hardening their will to settle all accounts with those gangsters at any time in any way, it said. A spokesman for the foreign ministry denied in an interview with KCNA that his government engaged in any terrorism, saying the designation was just a tool for American-style authoritarianism that can be attached or removed at any time in accordance with its interests. The official said Pyongyang was now more committed than ever to its nuclear missile programme, with the North already having conducted its most powerful nuclear test earlier this year, as well as testing a pair of intercontinental ballistic missiles that could potentially reach the US mainland. Kim Jong-un inspects weapon North Korea says is powerful hydrogen bomb Show all 6 1 /6 Kim Jong-un inspects weapon North Korea says is powerful hydrogen bomb Kim Jong-un inspects weapon North Korea says is powerful hydrogen bomb Photos released by North Korea show Kim Jong-un talking to subordinates next to a device thought to be the new thermonuclear weapon. There is no way of independently verifying the pictures STR/AFP/Getty Images Kim Jong-un inspects weapon North Korea says is powerful hydrogen bomb North Korea claims it has successfully tested an advanced hydrogen bomb which could be loaded onto an intercontinental ballistic missile AFP/Getty Kim Jong-un inspects weapon North Korea says is powerful hydrogen bomb A diagram on the wall behind Mr Kim shows a bomb mounted inside a cone STR/AFP/Getty Images Kim Jong-un inspects weapon North Korea says is powerful hydrogen bomb North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un (C) attending a photo session with participants of the fourth conference of active secretaries of primary organisations of the youth league of the Korean People's Army (KPA) in Pyongyang STR/AFP/Getty Images Kim Jong-un inspects weapon North Korea says is powerful hydrogen bomb A new stamp issued in commemoration of the successful second test launch of the "Hwasong-14" intercontinental ballistic missile KCNA via Reuters Kim Jong-un inspects weapon North Korea says is powerful hydrogen bomb A new stamp issued in commemoration of the successful second test launch of the "Hwasong-14" intercontinental ballistic missile KCNA via Reuters Referring to North Korea by the initials of its official name, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, he said: As long as the US continues with its anti-DPRK hostile policy, our deterrence will be further strengthened. The US will be held entirely accountable for all the consequences to be entailed by its impudent provocation to the DPRK. KCNA later published a separate statement attributed to a spokesman of the Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, a North Korean state organisation, which said the move by old lunatic Trump has caused the North Korean army and people to explode in hate and spirit to destroy the enemy. Mr Trump said that the decision to relist North Korea should have happened years ago, and called Pyongyang a murderous regime. He added that North Korea must end its unlawful nuclear and ballistic missile development, as well as its support for international terrorism. Trump announces intent to declare North Korea state sponsor of terror US officials said the action was partly motivated by the killing of Mr Kims estranged half brother in a Malaysian airport this year, which was defined as an act of terrorism. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson referred to the move as part of the peaceful pressure campaign, noting it was in line with Mr Trumps maximum pressure programme to get countries like Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines, Singapore, and South Sudan to cut off Pyongyang financially as well. All countries have agreed to do so in recent weeks. North Korea was last on the state-sponsored terror list in 2008, under the George W Bush administration. It was removed that year in a bid to salvage a deal halting its nuclear development. A day after placing North Korea back on the list, the Trump administration imposed new sanctions on a number of North Korean shipping firms and Chinese trading companies in an effort to reprieve Pyongyang of revenue. The US Treasury has announced that companies accused of trading with North Korea will be barred from holding US assets or doing business in America. But China the Norths largest trading partner issued a thinly veiled criticism of that policy and others aimed at halting trade with North Korea, warning unnamed governments against unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The United States has declared the violence against Rohingya Muslims in Burma to be ethnic cleansing, putting more pressure on the country's military to halt a crackdown that has sent more than 600,000 refugees flooding over the border to Bangladesh. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson blamed Burma's security forces and local vigilantes for what he called intolerable suffering by the Rohingya. Although the military has blamed Rohingya insurgents for setting off the crisis, Mr Tillerson said that no provocation can justify the horrendous atrocities that have ensued. After a careful and thorough analysis of available facts, it is clear that the situation in northern Rakhine state constitutes ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya, Mr Tillerson said in a statement. Those who perpetrated the atrocities must be held accountable, Mr Tillerson said. He added that the US wanted a full investigation and would seek justice through US law, including possible targeted sanctions. The declaration followed a lengthy review process by the administration of President Donald Trump to determine whether the violence met the threshold to be considered ethnic cleansing. The United Nations came to that conclusion in September, but the U.S. had held off, with Tillerson saying he needed more information even as he expressed deep concern about the crisis. Rohingya from Burma's Rakhine state have been fleeing to neighbouring Bangladesh, seeking refuge from what Burma's military has called clearance operations. The crisis started in August, when Rohingya insurgents attacked Burma security forces, leading to a brutal crackdown in which soldiers and Buddhist mobs have faced allegations of killing men, raped woman and burned homes and property to force the Rohingya to leave. Rohingya refugees in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Rohingya refugees in pictures Rohingya refugees in pictures A young girl and a baby wade through mud after arriving in Whaikhyang, Bangladesh from Burma on 10 September Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Rohingya refugees in pictures Rohingya refugees walk through a camp in Whaikhyang, Bangladesh after arriving from Burma Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Rohingya refugees in pictures A young Rohingya refugee gathers firewood after arriving in Whaikhyang, Bangladesh from Burma Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Rohingya refugees in pictures Rohingya refugees wait for sacks of rice to be distributed in Whaikhyang, Bangladesh Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Rohingya refugees in pictures Rohingya Muslim refugees arrive on a boat in Whaikhyang, Bangladesh after crossing from Burma on 8 September Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Rohingya refugees in pictures Rohingya Muslim refugees react after being re-united with each other after arriving in Whaikhyang, Bangladesh on a boat from Burma Getty Rohingya refugees in pictures Rohingya Muslim refugees walk along the remains of a road after arriving in Whaikhyang, Bangladesh on a boat from Burma Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Rohingya refugees in pictures Rohingya Muslim refugees wade through water after arriving in Whaikhyang, Bangladesh by boat from Burma Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Rohingya refugees in pictures Rohingya Muslim refugees wade through water after arriving in Whaikhyang, Bangladesh by boat from Myanmar Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Rohingya refugees in pictures Rohingya Muslim refugees stand in the rain after arriving in Whaikhyang, Bangladesh by boat from Burma Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Rohingya refugees in pictures Indian children hold placards and shout slogans during a protest against the alleged persecution of the Rohingya Muslims in Burma EPA/Raminder Pal Singh Rohingya refugees in pictures Supporters of the Difa-e-Pakistan Council (DPC), an Islamic organisation, listen to their leaders' speeches against Burma's persecution of Rohingya Muslims, during a demonstration in Karachi Reuters/Akhtar Soomro Rohingya refugees in pictures Hundreds of Iranians take part in a protest against violence in Myanmar after weekly Friday prayers, in Tehran EPA/Abedin Taherkenareh Rohingya refugees in pictures Indonesian Muslim activists hold placards and shout slogans during a protest against the alleged persecution of the Rohingya minority in Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia EPA/Ali Lutfi Rohingya refugees in pictures Members of an Islamic organisation shout slogans against the Burma government during a protest in Dhaka, Bangladesh EPA Last week, Mr Tillerson travelled to Burma in the highest level visit by a US official since Mr Trump took office. US officials dangled the possibility of an ethnic cleansing designation ahead of Mr Tillerson's trip, potentially giving him more leverage as he met with Burmese officials. In the capital of Naypitaw, Mr Tillerson met with the country's civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, well as the Myanmar's powerful military chief, Min Aung Hlaing, who is in charge of operations in Rakhine state. Although the ethnic cleansing label doesn't carry specific legal requirements for the US, it is likely to intensify calls for the Trump administration and Congress to move toward new sanctions on Burma. Sanctions on the Southeast Asian nation were eased under former President Barack Obama as the country made steps toward transitioning to democracy. Pressure from Congress to take punitive steps against Burma has been mounting. Earlier this month, the House passed a non-binding resolution condemning murderous ethnic cleansing and atrocities against civilians. It called on Trump to impose sanctions on those responsible for human rights abuses, including members of Burma's military and security services. Mr Tillerson, during his visit to Burma, said the U.S. would consider targeted sanctions against individuals deemed responsible for the violence, but that he wasn't advocating broad-based economic sanctions against the entire nation. Drone footage shows thousands of Rohingya Muslims fleeing Myanmar US officials have been concerned that pushing Burma's leaders too hard on the Rohingya violence could undermine the country's civilian government, led for the last 18 months by Ms Suu Kyi. That could slow or reverse the country's delicate transition away from decades of harsh military rule, and also risks pushing Burma away from the U.S. and closer to China. The State Department has also examined whether the violence in Rakhine meets the definitions for crimes against humanity or genocide, but have thus far made no such determinations. According to the United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention, ethnic cleansing isn't recognised as an independent crime under international law, unlike crimes against humanity and genocide. It surfaced in the context of the 1990s conflict in the former Yugoslavia, when a U.N. commission defined it as rendering an area ethnically homogeneous by using force or intimidation to remove persons of given groups from the area. Human rights groups accuse the military of a scorched-earth campaign against the Rohinyga, who numbered roughly one million in Myanmar before the latest exodus. The Buddhist majority in Burma believes they migrated illegally from Bangladesh, but many Rohingya families have lived for generations in Burma. In 1982, they were stripped of their citizenship. Already, the United States has curtailed its ties to Burma's military over the violence. Earlier this year the US restored restrictions on granting visas to members of Myanmar's military, and the State Department has deemed units and officers involved in operations in Rakhine state illegible for US assistance. Associated Press For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A US Navy aircraft carrying 11 crew and passengers has crashed into the sea off Japan south-east of Okinawa. The navy said the craft crashed into the Pacific Ocean as it was travelling to meet the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan. How the crash happened was not yet clear, while the names of those aboard were being withheld. Recommended Japan bracing itself for influx of North Korean evacuees Eight people have been rescued and transferred to the ship, the US 7th Fleet said in a tweet. They are "in good condition". Both Japanese and US teams are looking for the remaining three, it said. The aircraft was taking part in a joint Japan-US naval exercise that is due to end on 26 November. It crashed about 90 miles northwest of the Okinotorishima atoll and the navy said it would investigate the circumstances. It happened during what the navy described as the "premier training event" for the two forces, designed to increase defensive readiness and interoperability in air and sea operations. The Reagan was operating in the Philippine Sea when the crash took place, at about 2.45pm local time. The eight personnel on board were picked up some 40 minutes later. A propeller powered transport plane, the C-2 Greyhound carries personnel, mail and other cargo from mainland bases to carriers operating at sea. The type has been in operation for more than five decades and is due to be replaced by the long-range tilt-rotor Osprey aircraft. The 7th Fleet has had two fatal accidents in Asian waters this year, leaving 17 sailors dead and prompting the removal of eight top Navy officers from their posts, including the 7th Fleet commander. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty The USS John S McCain and an oil tanker collided near Singapore in August, leaving 10 US sailors dead. Seven sailors died in June when the USS Fitzgerald and a container ship collided off Japan. Additional reporting by agencies For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Hundreds of young adults from the UK and Ireland are being subjected to widespread exploitation in Australia, a study has found. A third of seasonal migrant workers were paid around half the minimum wage, according to the survey. The exploitation of foreign labourers was described as endemic and severe in the report by the University of New South Wales and the University of Technology Sydney. Co-author Laurie Berg said international students and backpackers encounter conditions that may constitute criminal forced labour. The report questioned 4,322 temporary migrants from 107 countries across all states and territories in Australia. This might be the least sensible thing to do while backpacking A total of 91 respondents had their passports confiscated by employers, 173 were required to pay A$1,000 (570) upfront to secure a job and 112 were asked to pay money back to their employer in cash after receiving their wages. The study also found 44 per cent of overseas workers were paid in cash, including two in three waiters, kitchen hands and food servers. Half never or rarely receive a payslip. It comes after the mother of Mia Ayliffe-Chung, a British woman killed last August while working in Australia, called for more rights for migrant workers. 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 Rosie Ayliffe told the BBC that farmers in the country are making huge amounts of money out of our backpackers and Britons are propping up their agricultural industry, in effect. Ms Ayliffe-Chung, 20, from Wirksworth in Derbyshire, was working on a farm when she was stabbed to death at a hostel in Queensland. In the first year of their trips, many backpackers choose to do 88 days of rural work, usually agricultural, to get a visa to stay in the country for a second year. Additional reporting by Press Association For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} An Australian Catholic school has covered up a statue of a saint and a child over fears it was suggestive. Blackfriars Priory School in Adelaide took delivery of the artwork only recently but bosses said it should be covered up and altered after a loaf of bread the saint is holding was deemed potentially embarrassing. Black curtains now surround the statue of St Martin de Porres, of Spain, ahead of its planned alteration by a local sculptor. Blackfriars principal Simon Cobiac said: "The sculpture is a famous depiction of the tireless work of St Martin de Porres, a Dominican brother, for the poor and downtrodden of the 16th century. "The two-dimensional concept plans for the statue were viewed and approved by the executive team in May but upon arrival the three-dimensional statue was deemed by the executive to be potentially suggestive. "As a consequence, the statue was immediately covered and a local sculptor has been commissioned to re-design it." World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty The statue provoked confusion and ridicule on social media. One Twitter user said: "Omg. WHO APPROVED THAT DESIGN?!" And another wrote: "Wasted their money.. Buy books..pay teachers more." For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Citizens and holiday makers have been warned they may have to evacuate Bali after a volcanic eruption Mount Agung began spewing black smoke and ash earlier this week and there are concerns it could lead to a bigger eruption. The volcano looms over the Indonesian island at a height of more than 3,000 metres. It last erupted in 1963, killing more than 1,000 people and razing several villages. Authorities have not changed the alert status on Agung, which remains at one level below the highest. There have been no reports of flight cancellations, although Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs is urging its citizens not to travel to Bali unless it is completely essential. "Singaporeans should defer non-essential travel to the affected areas of the island at this juncture," it said in a travel notice. You should also be ready to evacuate at short notice." Eruptions could result in ash clouds that could "severely disrupt air travel", it said. Indonesia has nearly 130 volcanoes - more than any other country. Many of them show high levels of activity but it can be months before an eruption. Travel By Numbers: Volcanoes Show all 6 1 /6 Travel By Numbers: Volcanoes Travel By Numbers: Volcanoes 358288.bin AP Travel By Numbers: Volcanoes 358290.bin Reuters Travel By Numbers: Volcanoes 358291.bin AFP/Getty Images Travel By Numbers: Volcanoes 358292.bin Reuters Travel By Numbers: Volcanoes 358293.bin Reuters Travel By Numbers: Volcanoes 358294.bin Reuters A spokesman for Indonesia's national disaster mitigation agency said via a text message that there had been a "phreatic eruption" with black smoke reaching 700 metres, followed by falling ash, gravel and sand. "These types of eruptions called phreatic are the product of rock that already exists being shattered violently when water heated by the rising magma under Agung quickly turns to steam," according to a blog post on the Discovermagazine.com website. The disaster agency recommended against any activity within 6-7.5km of the crater. It said that 29,245 people were staying in 278 evacuation camps. Two months ago, authorities put Agungs alert status at its highest level, which forced more than 130,000 people to leave their homes. The alert level was lowered to three out of four on 29 October. Recommended Bali prepares for major volcanic eruption Australia left its travel advice unchanged and told citizens to "monitor local media reports, follow the instructions of local authorities, and stay outside the existing exclusion zone". Bali, famous for its surf, beaches and temples, attracted nearly 5 million visitors last year, but business has slumped in areas around the volcano since September when Agung's volcanic tremors began to increase. It is unknown how long the volcano may erupt for and it is even possible that the activity is the last that will be seen for some time. Additional reporting by Reuters. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The family of murdered Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia who was killed in a car bomb last month has taken legal action against the police, alleging the investigation is neither impartial nor independent. Caruana Galizia had done considerable work on exposing corruption in Malta and more recently uncovering the failings of the countrys anti-money laundering outfit, the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU). Through her work on the Panama Papers leaks, Caruana Galizia was the first to break the news of the involvement of prominent Maltese politicians in the exploitation of offshore tax regimes. Her family is now suing Maltas chief of police because the investigation is being presided over by Maltas deputy commissioner Silvio Valletta, whose wife, Justyne Caruana (no relation to the journalist), is a senior member of the government. Ms Caruana was recently promoted to become the minister for Gozo, by Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. Caruana Galizia had been a vocal critic of Mr Muscat, Mr Valletta and his wife. Caruana Galizias family has claimed the numerous connections in the murder investigation could breach their right to a fair hearing. Police and forensic experts inspect the wreckage of the car bomb (Getty Images) The involvement of the deputy commissioner Silvio Valletta violates the independence and impartiality of any investigation into the loss of life, the journalists family say in their court filing. According to the Malta Independent, the deputy commissioner and his wife had both been the targets of harsh criticism by Caruana Galizia. Recommended Thousands march in Malta over journalist killed in car bomb In particular, Caruana Galizia had criticised the shortcomings of the FIAU Board after the publication of the Panama Papers. Deputy Commissioner Valletta is himself an FIAU member, a fact which Caruana Galizia had highlighted in May 2017. Caruana Galizias most explosive investigations centred around the Panama Papers leaks, from law firm Mossack Fonseca. The leaks apparently linked Mr Muscat and other senior members of the Maltese government to offshore companies. She also wrote about a web of transactions between individuals in the top tiers of the Maltese government and Azerbaijan, which has a key gas contract with Malta. In particular, she alleged that the prime ministers wife was the named owner of the offshore company Egrant and said payments from the daughter of the President of Azerbaijan had been sent through Egrant, The Guardian reports. The sons of murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia carry their mothers coffin from the church in Mosta (AFP/Getty) Mr Muscat described the allegations as fabricated, and has pointed out that no documents proving the link had been published. At the time of Caruana Galizias death he had been in the process of suing her for libel over the claims. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty In the recent court filing, the journalists family said there could be no objective analysis of evidence unless the persons involved in the investigation are completely independent from any connection which could cast a shadow over their objectivity and impartiality. The Maltese government has offered a 1m euro reward for information about the journalist's murder. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The image of Fikret Alic's emaciated figure as he stared from behind the barbed wire fence of Trnopolje concentration camp came to define the 1990s Bosnian war. Twenty-five years later, Mr Alic was one of a number of survivors who waited outside the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal at The Hague to hear the verdict against the man they consider a symbol of their suffering. Ratko Mladic the former commander of the Bosnian Serb army who was dubbed the "butcher of Bosnia" was convicted by a UN tribunal of genocide and crimes against humanity. He will be jailed for life. Recommended Ratko Mladic ejected from courtroom after angry outburst "Justice has won, and the war criminal has been convicted," Mr Alic told reporters. "That means that example will prevent war crimes in the future. Justice is satisfied." A brief altercation erupted when a man carrying a Serbian flag approached, saying he had come to show his support for Mladic. He was later removed from the area by security guards. Displaying the photo of himself, which appeared on the front of TIME magazine in 1992, Mr Alic told reporters: "I am the one in this picture, I can testify to that crime that his general [Mladic] committed." "Is he not ashamed to call him a hero?" he asked. "He should be ashamed!" Mladic, who is now 75, was convicted of leading forces in the three-year siege of Sarajevo and during the 1995 massacre of around 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the east of Srebenica. The mass killing was Europe's worst since the Second World War. "The crimes committed rank among the most heinous known to humankind," Presiding Judge Alphons Orie said when reading out the court's judgment. The convictions were hailed as a victory for international justice by the court's prosecutor and rights groups. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein called Mladic "the epitome of evil" and described the prosecution as "the epitome of what international justice is all about." The verdict, he added, should serve as a warning to other perpetrators of atrocities "that they will not escape justice, no matter how powerful they may be nor how long it may take. "They will be held accountable." A three-judge panel at the court, formally known as the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, convicted Mladic of 10 out of 11 counts in a climax to a groundbreaking effort to seek justice for the wars in the former multi-ethnic federation. 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 Presiding Judge Orie read key parts of the judgment after ordering Mladic out of the courtroom for the final verdict over an angry outburst. Survivors known as the Mothers of Srebrenica, clapped when the convictions were read out. Mladic's son Darko dismissed the convictions, saying: "I'm not surprised". "The court was totally biased from the start." Mladic's son said judges obstructed defence lawyers in presenting evidence exculpating his father. "This judgment is wrong, it does not achieve anything ... and will be an obstacle to future normal life in the region," he said. Mladic's lawyers said they planned to appeal. Associated Press contributed to this report For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A severed arm found by divers in the sea near Copenhagen may belong to the murdered Swedish journalist Kim Wall, Danish police have said. The limb was found close to the route that the submarine belonging to Danish inventor Peter Madsen took on the day of her death. We have not yet determined if this is a right or left arm or who the arm belongs to. But we are working from a perspective that it stems from the submarine case, police spokesperson Jens Moller Jensen said in a statement. Mr Madsen, the prime suspect in the murder of Ms Wall, has admitted dismembering her body, but denies killing her. The 46-year-old told police he had mutilated Wall's corpse aboard his submarine and dumped her body parts in the sea after she died of carbon monoxide poisoning. He claimed he was above deck at the time of her death. Wall disappeared on 10 August after joining Mr Madsen on his submarine as part of a feature she was writing about the inventor. On 21 August her torso was found on the Danish coast before police divers discovered her head, legs and clothing in weighted bags on 6 October. After his arrest, Mr Madsen claimed Wall had died in a terrible accident after being hit on the head by the vessels hatch, which he let go after losing his footing. A post-mortem found no fractures to Walls skull. 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 But investigators did find stab wounds around her ribs and genitals which were likely caused around or shortly after her death. Mr Madsen initially said he had dropped Wall off in Copenhagen on 10 August. After then claiming she died from a blow to the head from a hatch, police now say the inventor told them she died from carbon monoxide poisoning. Mr Madsen was arrested after his submarine sank and he was rescued. Investigators say the vessel was sunk deliberately. Police also said footage of women being tortured, strangled and beheaded were found on a computer belonging to Mr Madsen. He denied the videos were his, saying the device was used by a number of his staff, including an intern. Mr Madsen's lawyer said her client has not admitted any wrongdoing. Timeline of Kim Walls death: 10 August: Kim Wall boards submarine owned by Peter Madsen. 11 August: Madsen rescued then arrested after submarine sinks, while Swedish police declare Wall is missing. 23 August: Human torso washed up on Danish coast two days earlier announced as belonging to Wall. 5 September: Madsen testifies in court that Wall died after being accidentally hit on the head by the submarines hatch. 6 October: Bags containing Walls head, legs clothes found by police divers. 30 October: Police announce Madsen now says Wall died of carbon monoxide poisoning. 22 November: Arm discovered by divers in sea near Copenhagen. 8 March 25 April 2018: Trial scheduled to take place. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} On Tuesday morning, citizens of Luhansk, eastern Ukraine, were presented with a familiar scene. First, the armoured vehicles rolled in. Later came soldiers in unidentified uniforms, complete with automatic rifles and radio headpieces. Then, the central streets and squares were closed off. TV and radio broadcasts were pulled. Initially, the green men would not say who they were working for. By lunchtime, the local interior ministry had an answer. It was a training exercise for interior troops, they said. Spokesmen for the official leadership of the Luhansk Peoples Republic the Russian-backed breakaway statelet were less sure. They could only say everything was "under control." To all but the slowest of wits, it soon became clear an attempted coup was underway led by the head of the republic's Interior Ministry, Igor Kornet. On Monday morning, Luhansks leader Igor Plotnitsky had tried to fire his minister, but the move backfired. Most of the troops under Mr Kornets command pledged allegiance to their immediate boss and joined his coup attempt. Mr Plotnitsky could only muster the support of the military police, the prosecutors office and his personal protection forces. Luhansk front-line military formations, which are reportedly integrated into Russian high command, largely kept out of the argument. By Tuesday evening, pro-Plotnitsky forces had hunkered down in government buildings and on patrols. Mr Kornet's opposing forces were camped outside. By night-time, new convoys of military equipment had entered the city reportedly from the neighbouring Donetsk Peoples Republic. It is unclear whose side they are on. Ukrainian officials suggested that Mr Plotnitsky had fled to Russia overnight, but on Wednesday morning, the under-pressure leader published a defiant photograph of him working at his desk in Luhansk. He declared that the dismissal of Mr Kornet remained in force. In a post on his website, Mr Plotnitsky called the presence of armed men on the streets an attempted coup. "What else can you call a situation where the person fired by court from his job is attempting to conduct some operations by force? This an attempt to seize power," he said during a meeting with reporters. Many saw Mr Plotnitsky's posts as a sign the coup had failed. But later on Wednesday, forces believed to be loyal to Mr Kornet surrounded the Prosecutors office, detaining all its employees. Luhansk is well known for its inter-faction rivalries, made murkier by corruption rackets and competition for favour with Russia. In his three years in power, the separatist leader Mr Plotnitsky has been openly challenged on several occasions. He has hung on; challengers to his Russian-backed leadership have generally fallen, often ingloriously. In January 2015, Alexander Bednov, commander of the Batman battalion, was killed in Luhansk under suspicious circumstances. In May 2015, the poet commander Alexey Mozgovoi was assassinated near Alchevsk. Cossack leader Pavel Dryomov was killed in Stakhanov in December the same year. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty The Luhansk leadership blamed Ukrainian subversive groups for all three murders. Few of the mens fighting colleagues believed it was anything but an internal job. In September 2016, Mr Plotnitsky declared that there had been an attempted coup. This led to the arrest of leadership rivals, including the Prime Minister, Gennady Typkalkov, who later died in detention. The republics leadership ascribed his death to suicide. In a video address on Tuesday, Mr Kornet said that Mr Plotnitsky had staged the coup, and blamed him for the murder of his comrade Mr Typkalkov. The conflict between Mr Plotnitsky and Mr Kornet has been brewing for several months, says Andrei Dikhtyarenko, editor of the local Realnaya Gazeta newspaper. Over this time, Mr Kornet made his Interior Ministry more independent, apparently answering directly to Moscow. This concerned the republic's leader. About a month ago, Plotnitsky stepped up his efforts to remove Kornet, Mr Dikhtyarenko told The Independent. He began a propaganda campaign, alleging the Interior minister to be corrupt, and prone to using torture though that didnt cause much of a scandal in Luhansk. Eventually, a criminal case was opened against Mr Kornet for alleged corruption, and this led to yesterdays attempted dismissal. That chain of events led to todays showdown. Supported by rival Russian backers, the opposing groups have been waiting for a signal from Moscow. So far, they have failed to offer categorical support to Mr Plotnitsky. It remains a volatile situation, said Mr Dikhtyarenko, and one that could end tragically. Most of the military bases are in the city centre, nestled in among cafes, schools and residential sectors, he said. If someone were to start shooting, all bets are off and many civilians would be caught up in the crossfire. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Far-right French politician Marine Le Pen has accused two banks of launching a banking fatwa against her party after they closed accounts used by her and the party she leads. Ms Le Pen claimed the move was to silence the Front National, and also accused the banks of being biased for previously refusing to lend money to the party for campaigns. The banks have responded to say they acted within regulatory requirements, and that political factors had not been contributing reasons for the closures. The move comes seven months after the French elections saw Ms Le Pens party make historic gains at the ballot box, though it wasnt enough to win her the presidency. Emmanuel Macron, leading the newly founded En Marche party, won in a decisive run-off vote, taking 66 per cent of all votes. This is an attempt to suffocate an opposition party, and no democrat should accept that, Ms Le Pen said. She called on Mr Macron and other political parties to support her and said she would lodge complaints with the banks. She said HSBC had closed a personal account of hers, while Societe Generale closed her partys accounts earlier this month. When the central bank ordered a subsidiary, Credit du Nord, to manage an account for the party, Societe Generale refused to process cheque and credit card payments. Societe Generale rejected Ms Le Pens accusations a banking fatwa had been issued against the Front National. "Decisions to open or close a bank account depend purely on banking reasons ... without taking into account any political consideration," it said in a statement. In France it is legal for banks to close accounts with advance warning without having to state a reason. However, access to a bank account is a right, and a customer can ask the Bank of France to designate a bank that would be forced to open one. But the designated bank can choose to limit the use of the account to basic banking services. The Front National has a long history of struggling to gain financial backing. In 2014 it came under scrutiny for a 9m euro loan it received from a now-defunct Russian bank. The party spent 12.5 million euros (11.9m) on the presidential election alone this year. Party supporters have since been asked to lend it money directly. 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 At the news conference, Le Pen asked party supporters to react to the account closures. Hours later, the hashtag JeQuitteLaSG, or I Leave Societe Generale, was the top trending topic on Twitter in France. Government spokesman Christophe Castaner said the FN should be allowed to have a bank account and use it normally. But I do not know why the bank told its client, the National Front, 'Thank you and goodbye', so I cannot comment on the substance of the case, he told a weekly news conference. Reuters contributed to this report For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A search has been launched for a missing mother-of-two who has a medical emergency of which she is unaware, a family friend has said. Police in Dublin have renewed an appeal for information on the whereabouts of Ciara Farrell after she vanished on 14 November. Dublin gardai, who said they were very concerned for her welfare, described Ms Farrell as 511, of average build, with blue eyes and blonde hair. Her car was found on Friday. Recommended Missing British explorer rescued in Papua New Guinea Jean Sorohan Cosgrave, a family friend, appealed on Facebook to anyone who may have seen Ms Farrell since her disappearance. Ms Cosgrave said the 45-year-old doctor was last seen leaving St Vincents University Hospital in Dublin. In a post that has been shared thousands of times, Ms Cosgrove wrote: Ciara is still missing, so everyone we still need your help, please keep sharing for Ciara and her family. The police have taken her car (white Hyundai i20 with 151 D registration) from The Rise, Mount Merrion, Co Dublin, she continued. Ciara has a medical emergency, of which she is unaware of and needs to be found very quickly, because she needs urgent medical attention. She added: She was wearing a pink floral dress and a black cardigan when she disappeared. Her family are very concerned for her wellbeing. "Can I please ask everyone to keep sharing and those of you who haven't shared yet please do, because the more people who see this, the better chance there is in finding Ciara for her family. The missing people from Grenfell Tower Show all 23 1 /23 The missing people from Grenfell Tower The missing people from Grenfell Tower Jeremiah, son of Zainab Dean The missing people from Grenfell Tower Zainab Dean The missing people from Grenfell Tower Malek Belkadi The missing people from Grenfell Tower Tamzin Belkadi The missing people from Grenfell Tower Rania Ibrham The missing people from Grenfell Tower Jessica Urbano The missing people from Grenfell Tower Yasin el-Wahabi and Nurhada el-Wahabi The missing people from Grenfell Tower Ali Yawar Jafari The missing people from Grenfell Tower Anthony Disson The missing people from Grenfell Tower Mohamed 'Saber' Neda The missing people from Grenfell Tower Mariem Elgwahry The missing people from Grenfell Tower Hesham Rahman The missing people from Grenfell Tower Mohamednur 'Mo' Tuccu The missing people from Grenfell Tower Hamid Kani The missing people from Grenfell Tower Mary Mendy The missing people from Grenfell Tower Sheila Smith The missing people from Grenfell Tower Khadija Saye The missing people from Grenfell Tower Berikti Habtom (L) was still missing according to her sister Arsiema Alula (R) The missing people from Grenfell Tower Ligaya Moore The missing people from Grenfell Tower Dennis Murphy The missing people from Grenfell Tower Nadia Choucair The missing people from Grenfell Tower Gloria Trevisan and Marco Gottardi The missing people from Grenfell Tower Sakineh Afraseiabi and Fatima Afraseiabi Anyone who has information on Ms Farrell should contact Donnybrook Garda Station on +353 1 6669200 or call the Garda Confidential helpline on +353 1800 666 111. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb military general known as the Butcher of Bosnia, has been found guilty of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, and sentenced to life in prison. Mladic was found guilty of commanding forces responsible for crimes which include the worst atrocities during Bosnias devastating 1992-95 war: the deadly three-year siege of the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, and the 1995 massacre of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica Europes worst mass killing since World War II. The United Nations Yugoslav war crimes tribunal convicted the 74-year-old of 10 out of 11 charges. Mladic will appeal against his convictions, his defence lawyer has said. Prosecutors had sought a life sentence, while Mladics defence lawyers said he should be acquitted on all counts. Ratko Mladic, 74, was found guilty of commanding atrocities during Bosnias devastating 1992-95 war (Getty) Presiding Judge Alphons Orie read out the judgement, after ordering Mladic out of the courtroom over an angry outburst. Recommended Ratko Mladic ejected from courtroom after angry outburst The crimes committed rank among the most heinous known to humankind, and include genocide and extermination as a crime against humanity, the judge said while reading out a summary of the judgement. The mothers of Srebrenicas victims clapped when the convictions were read out. Mladics son, Darko, said: Im not surprised. The court was totally biased from the start. Despite his ailing health, Mladic looked relaxed, greeting lawyers and giving a thumbs-up to photographers in court. He nodded regularly as the judge read out descriptions of atrocities by Bosnian Serb forces, one by one. When Mladics lawyer asked for a delay because the general was suffering high blood pressure, the judge refused, and Mladic burst out with criticism and was ordered to leave the room. The mothers of Srebrenicas victims clapped when the convictions were read out (Getty) (DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP/Getty Images) Judge Orie said the court confirmed that genocide, persecution, extermination, murder and the inhuman act of forcible transfer were committed in or around Srebrenica in 1995. However, Judge Orie said the court was not convinced of genocidal intent in six other municipalities, in line with previous judgments. The long-awaited judgement marks the end of the final trial at the tribunal, which was set up in 1993 while fierce fighting was still raging in Bosnia. Emotions ran high outside the courtroom, with a small skirmish reflecting lingering tensions between Serbs and Bosniaks over the trial and the war. Bosnian Serbs, two wearing T-shirts with Mladics portrait, watch a live TV broadcast of the ruling (Getty) (ELVIS BARUKCIC/AFP/Getty Images) Zeid Raad Al Hussein, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, hailed the conviction as a momentous victory for justice. Mladic presided over some of the darkest crimes to occur in Europe since the Second World War, bringing terror, death and destruction to thousands of victims, and sorrow, tragedy and trauma to countless more, he said. His conviction is a testament to the courage and determination of those victims and witnesses who never gave up hope that they would see him brought to justice. He added: Todays verdict is a warning to the perpetrators of such crimes that they will not escape justice, no matter how powerful they may be nor how long it may take. They will be held accountable. Aleksandar Vucic, President of Serbia, said Serbia respects the victims and called for a focus on the future. I would like to call on everyone [in the region] to start looking into the future and not to drown in tears of the past... We need to look to the future... so we finally have a stable country, Mr Vucic said. Serbia, once the most powerful Yugoslav republic, is now democratic and seeking ties to the European Union. Denis Zvizdic, the Prime Minister of Bosnia, said he hoped those who still call for new divisions and conflicts will carefully read the verdict rendered today... in case that they are still no ready to face their past. His comments alluded to enduring separatism in post-war federal Bosnias autonomous Serb region. Fikret Alics photograph on the cover of Time magazine turned him into a symbol of the horrors in Bosnia (AP) (AP Photo/Phil Nijhuis) Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, said the decision showed that however hard they might try, those who perpetrate atrocities cannot outrun justice. He added: Ratko Mladics conviction for genocide in Srebrenica will not bring back the thousands who lost their lives, but it does demonstrate that the architects of their suffering will be held to account. The atrocities perpetrated in the Balkans in the 1990s marked one of Europes darkest periods. We must join together to ensure it never happens again. Lord Ashdown, who was the international communitys high representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2002 to 2006, welcomed the conviction. The former Liberal Democrat leader said: The murderer of Srebrenica has been brought to justice. Those who value the rule of law in war will welcome this. Those who bled in the Bosnian wars have retribution. Those in Bosnia who understand there is no peace without justice can now look more confidently to the future. Fikret Alic, who became a symbol of the horrors in Bosnia when his skeletal frame behind barbed wire in a Bosnian Serb camp was featured on the front page of Time magazine in 1992, said: Justice has won, and the war criminal has been convicted. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty The conflict in the former Yugoslavia erupted after the breakup of the former multi-ethnic federation in the early 1990s, with the worst crimes taking place in Bosnia. More than 100,000 people died and millions lost their homes, before a peace agreement was signed in 1995. Mladic went into hiding for around ten years, before his arrest in Serbia in May 2011. His political senior during the war, former Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadzic, was convicted last year for masterminding atrocities in Bosnia and sentenced to 40 years. He has appealed against the ruling. The man widely blamed for fomenting wars across the Balkans, former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, died in his UN cell in 2006 before tribunal judges could reach verdicts in his trial. Additional reporting by agencies For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Turkish authorities have issued detention warrants for 216 people, including former finance ministry personnel, suspected of having links to last year's failed coup attempt, the state-run Anadolu news agency said on Wednesday. It said 17 former finance ministry personnel had been detained so far and another 65 were sought over alleged links to Gulen's network, Anadolu said. Separately, authorities carried out operations across 40 provinces targeting private imams believed to be recruiting members to the network of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen from Turkey's armed forces. Ankara blames Gulen for orchestrating the 15 July coup attempt last year and has repeatedly demanded the United States extradite him, so far in vain. Gulen denies involvement. In the aftermath of the coup, more than 50,000 people have been jailed pending trial and some 150,000 have been sacked or suspended from their jobs in the military, public and private sector. In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Show all 17 1 /17 In pictures: Turkey coup attempt In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish President Erdogan attends the funeral service for victims of the thwarted coup in Istanbul at Fatih mosque on July 17, 2016 in Istanbul, Turkey Burak Kara/Getty Images In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Soldiers involved in the coup attempt surrender on Bosphorus bridge with their hands raised in Istanbul on 16 July, 2016 Gokhan Tan/Getty In pictures: Turkey coup attempt A civilian beats a soldier after troops involved in the coup surrendered on the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey, 16 July, 2016 REUTERS/Murad Sezer In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Surrendered Turkish soldiers who were involved in the coup are beaten by a civilian Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Soliders involved in the coup attempt surrender on Bosphorus bridge Getty In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wave flags as they capture a Turkish Army vehicle Getty In pictures: Turkey coup attempt People pose near a tank after troops involved in the coup surrendered on the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey, 16 July, 2016 Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish soldiers block Istanbul's Bosphorus Brigde Getty In pictures: Turkey coup attempt A Turkish military stands guard near the Taksim Square in Istanbul Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Pierre Crom/Twitter In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish soldiers secure the area as supporters of Recep Tayyip Erdogan protest in Istanbul's Taksim square AP In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Murad Sezer/Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish soldiers detain police officers during a security shutdown of the Bosphorus Bridge Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish Army armoured personnel carriers in the main streets of Istanbul Getty In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Chaos reigned in Istanbul as tanks drove through the streets EPA/TOLGA BOZOGLU In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan speaks to media in the resort town of Marmaris Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Supporters of President Erdogan celebrate in Ankara following the suppression of the attempted coup Reuters The extent of the purges has unnerved rights groups and Turkey's Western allies, who fear President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is using the abortive putsch as a pretext to stifle dissent. The government, however, says the measures are necessary due to the gravity of the threats it is facing following the military coup attempt, in which 240 people were killed. Reuters For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Lebanons Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri has said that he has put his resignation on hold pending talks with the rest of the Lebanese government a reversal which led to celebrations on the streets of Beirut. In a televised speech on Wednesday after a parade for Lebanese Independence Day, Mr Hariri said he had offered his resignation to President Michel Aoun as planned, but accepted the Presidents suggestion to postpone the decision. Our beloved nation needs in this critical period exceptional efforts from everyone to protect it in the face of dangers and challenges, Mr Hariri said from the presidential palace, vowing to remain in the country. Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigns [President Aoun] urged me to wait before offering [my resignation] and to hold onto it for more dialogue about its reasons and political background, and I showed responsiveness. By midday, around 2,000 Hariri supporters had converged on his residence in central Beirut in a spontaneous show of support, waving Lebanese flags and singing. There is nothing more precious than our country, he told the crowd. I am staying with you and I will keep going with you to be the first line of defence of Lebanon, its stability and its Arab nature. Mr Hariri repeated a phrase he has used several times since his shock resignation: Lebanon first. The Sunni Future Movement (FM) party leader arrived home in Beirut late on Tuesday night after almost three weeks abroad following his 4 November surprise decision to resign from Riyadh, a move many believe was ordered by Saudi Arabia. President Aoun had previously refused to accept Mr Hariris resignation unless it was offered in person. Last week he publicly accused Riyadh of breaking the Vienna Convention over the Prime Ministers alleged detention. Mr Hariris announcement goes someway towards easing the political crisis which tossed Lebanon to the forefront of the regional struggle for dominance between Saudi Arabia and Iran which backs Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. The reversal, however, is likely to displease the Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Saudi authorities have denied his resignation was forced or that he remained in Riyadh for so long against his free will. His decision was ostensibly triggered by fears of assassination the fate which befell his father, the much more popular Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, in 2005 and a protest against Hezbollahs growing power both at home and over the border, where it is fighting in Syrias civil war as well as Iraq and Yemen. Many observers, however, believe Riyadh has grown impatient with the Prime Ministers inability to contain Hezbollah, and seeks to derail Lebanons coalition government. Robert Fisk: Lebanon in limbo: a nation haunted by the murder of Rafiq Hariri Show all 3 1 /3 Robert Fisk: Lebanon in limbo: a nation haunted by the murder of Rafiq Hariri Robert Fisk: Lebanon in limbo: a nation haunted by the murder of Rafiq Hariri REUTERS Robert Fisk: Lebanon in limbo: a nation haunted by the murder of Rafiq Hariri EPA Robert Fisk: Lebanon in limbo: a nation haunted by the murder of Rafiq Hariri AP Putting the resignation on hold now means there is still room for backdoor negotiations to try and figure a way out of [the current crisis], said Maha Yahya, director of the Beirut-based Carnegie Middle East Centre, adding that there seems to be an international understanding not to push this country over the precipice. In Wednesdays speech Mr Hariri reiterated the need for Lebanon to remain neutral on regional disputes and conflicts and all that undermines internal stability and brotherly relations with Arab brothers. Lebanon has largely managed to avoid the bloodshed which has consumed much of the Middle East since Arab Spring protests began in 2011. His eventual return to Lebanon came after mediations by French President Emmanuel Macron. The Prime Minister flew to Paris for a few days with brief stops in Cairo and Cyprus before finally returning to Beirut on Tuesday, almost three weeks after he was summoned to Riyadh. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) has threatened to cut off all communication with the US over the Trump administrations plans to close their diplomatic mission in Washington DC. The administration announced last week that the PLO, which represents all Palestinians, had run afoul of a little-known legal provision which states it cannot operate an office in Washington if it has taken cases against Israelis to the International Criminal Court (ICC). Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas asked the ICC to investigate Israeli citizens for crimes against Palestinians in September, which State Department officials speaking on condition of anonymity to the AP said had been the determining factor in Mr Trumps move against the PLO. Trump: Israelis and Palestinians are 'reaching for peace' It is unclear when the office will close, or whether the building will have to be vacated or just closed to the public. In a video statement posted to social media senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the US decision was very unfortunate and unacceptable, and accused Washington of bowing to pressure from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government at a time when we are trying to cooperate to achieve the ultimate deal. We will put on hold all our communications with this American administration, he added. Palestinians protest the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration Show all 8 1 /8 Palestinians protest the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration Palestinians protest the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration Protesters wave Palestinian flags and carry a defaced photo of Theresa May and Arthur Balfour AP Palestinians protest the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration A young protester holds a sign reading 'UK government should hang it's head in shame...' REUTERS Palestinians protest the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration Palestinians participate in a march to protest the 100th anniversary of Britain's Balfour Declaration AFP/Getty Images Palestinians protest the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration Protesters participate in the march AFP/Getty Images Palestinians protest the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration Protesters gather in the centre of the West Bank city of Ramallah AFP/Getty Images Palestinians protest the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration Palestinians protest against the Balfour Declaration on its 100th anniversary EPA Palestinians protest the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration Palestinians protest EPA Palestinians protest the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration Palestinian protesters burn a mock of Prime Minister Theresa May and Arthur James Balfour EPA There was no immediate reaction from the Trump administration, although US officials had insisted before Mr Erekat's statement that the move wasn't aimed at increasing leverage over the Palestinians. Mr Netanyahu's office said the closure was a matter of US law. The dispute threatens to derail President Trumps bid to broker a Middle East peace deal - a task he has entrusted to his son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Suspending ties with the US, which could jeopardise millions in US aid, is a risky move for the PLO. While the Palestinian authorities are publicly supportive of renewed US-brokered peace efforts, many already believe Mr Trumps close ties to the Israeli government mean any proposed deals will not favour them. Israeli minister attempts selfie with Trump to Netanyahu's dismay However, an impasse in talks to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would complicate US efforts to get Saudi Arabia and other Arab states to unite with the US and Israel against Iran: Many states may be reluctant to get to close to the Israelis without progress on the Palestinian issue. Under US law the president has 90 days to determine whether the Palestinians are engaging in direct and meaningful negotiations with Israel. If he determines they are, the mission can reopen. News agencies contributed to this report For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Saudi-led coalition operating in Yemen has said it will re-open some vital air and seaports in rebel parts of the country to allow in desperately needed food and medicine. Hodeida, the Houthi-controlled port which processes much of Yemen's imports, will reopen at midday on Thursday, a statement carried by Saudi state media on Wednesday said. The airport in Sanaa also controlled by rebels should reopen to UN aid flights at the same time. Yemen: More than 50,000 children expected to die of starvation and disease by end of year The Arab coalition which aims to restore Yemen's exiled government closed the entire country's airspace and borders on 6 November in retaliation for a Houthi ballistic missile which was intercepted near Riyadh the previous day. The missile was struck down, but it is the furthest into the Kingdom any rebel projectile has managed to penetrate, putting the Saudis on high alert. Prices of goods immediately soared in the country, even in relatively wealthy areas. The situation in Yemen Show all 14 1 /14 The situation in Yemen The situation in Yemen Houthi supporters trample on a US flag during a gathering mobilizing more fighters into several Yemeni battlefronts, in Sana'a, Yemen EPA The situation in Yemen People carry the coffins of men, who were killed in the recent Saudi-led airstrikes during their funeral, in the Old City of Sanaa, Yemen AP The situation in Yemen Pro-government fighters give food to Yemeni children on the road leading to the southwestern port city of Mokha. Yemeni rebels are putting up fierce resistance in a key Red Sea port city where they are encircled by pro-government force Getty Images The situation in Yemen A Yemeni stands in front of a graffiti protesting US military operations in war-affected Yemen, in Sana'a, Yemen. According to reports, US Special Forces troops allegedly disembarked from US helicopters in the Yemeni town of Yakla and attacked several houses belonging to members of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda, killing three high-ranking Al-Qaeda members and nine civilians, six women and three children. One American serviceman has been killed and three injured in the attack EPA The situation in Yemen US Special Forces troops allegedly disembarked from US helicopters in the Yemeni town of Yakla and attacked several houses belonging to members of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda, killing three high-ranking Al-Qaeda members and nine civilians, six women and three children. One American serviceman has been killed and three injured in the attack EPA The situation in Yemen A Yemeni female fighter supporting the Shiite Huthi rebels, and carrying weapons used for ceremonial purposes, takes part in an anti-Saudi rally in the capital Sanaa Getty Images The situation in Yemen Yemeni female fighters supporting the Shiite Huthi rebels, and carrying weapons used for ceremonial purposes, take part in an anti-Saudi rally in the capital Sanaa Getty Images The situation in Yemen A boy shouts slogans next to pro-Houthi fighters, who have been injured during recent fighting, during a rally held to honour those injured or maimed while fighting in Houthi ranks in Sanaa, Yemen Reuters The situation in Yemen Balls of fire and smoke rise from a Houthi-held military camp following alleged Saudi-led airstrikes, in Sana'a, Yemen EPA The situation in Yemen Yemenis search under the rubble of damaged houses following reported Saudi-led coalition air strikes on the outskirts of the Yemeni capital Sanaa Getty Images The situation in Yemen A Yemeni boy looks on as Yemenis search under the rubble of damaged houses following reported Saudi-led coalition air strikes on the outskirts of the Yemeni capital Sanaa Getty The situation in Yemen A Yemeni boy sits amidst the rubble of damaged houses following reported Saudi-led coalition air strikes on the outskirts of the Yemeni capital Sanaa AFP/Getty The situation in Yemen Marine One with US President Donald Trump flies with a decoy and support helicopters to Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware, for the dignified transfer of Navy Seal Chief Petty Officer William 'Ryan' Owens who was killed in Yemen Getty Images The situation in Yemen US President Donald Trump aboard the Marine One to greet the remains of a US military commando killed during a raid on the al Qaeda militant group in southern Yemen on Sunday, at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, US Reuters While the tighter restrictions were lifted in government loyal provinces within a week, Saudi Arabia said that the UN would need to conduct comprehensive reviews on weapons smuggling in rebel areas before those air and seaports could resume operations. Wednesday's statement said that satisfactory reviews of inspection and verification procedures had taken place. The UN has warned that the so far 17-day-old blockade would cause the largest famine the world has seen in many decades if it continues. More than 20 million Yemenis two thirds of the population have become reliant on humanitarian help since the civil war erupted in March 2015. As a result of the latest blockade, the World Food Programme estimates an additional 3.2 million people have been pushed into hunger. Aid workers warn that even with the current restrictions lifted, without unfettered access to goods such as fuel generators which power hospitals and treat drinking water, the country is still on track for a large-scale famine. More than 10,000 people have died in the conflict to date as a result of violence, the world's largest cholera epidemic, starvation and other diseases. Aid agencies warn the true statistics are likely to be much higher. Yemen cholera epidemic: Worst in modern history at 360,000 cases and counting Saudi Arabia and its regional partners have justified an extensive bombing campaign on Yemens Shia Houthi rebels, who are backed by the Kingdom's regional rival Iran. The intense air strikes which in some cases have targeted hospitals and funeral gatherings have killed thousands of civilians. Western governments including the UK have been heavily criticised for selling weapons export licences to Saudi Arabia, which rights groups say are destined for use in Yemens war. Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Rail industry insiders are furious that a long-planned, small-scale trial of a 26-30 Railcard has been presented by the Chancellor as his initiative, and as a fait accompli. Philip Hammond told Parliament: I can announce a new railcard for those aged 26 to 30, giving 4.5 million more young people a third off their rail fares. As The Independent revealed last month, the Rail Delivery Group is planning a small-scale trial in the Greater Anglia area starting on 6 December. Initially 10,000 digital railcards will be on offer to eligible people living in the area. Another 10,000 cards are due to be issued nationwide in the New Year. In total, the number of eligible people will outnumber the railcards available by 225 to one. The one-year 26-30 Railcard will offer a 34 per cent discount, though between 4.30am and 10am from Monday to Friday, a 12 minimum fare will apply to all but advance tickets. The expected cost of 30 can be saved with one off-peak return trip between London and Preston. With concerns about the possible impact on ticket revenue and overcrowding on commuter services, no final decision was to be made until the trial had been assessed. But the Chancellor has now committed the train operators to a rapid nationwide roll-out. Hammond has made a land grab for a rail industry initiative and pretended it was all his idea, said one senior figure. There could be unintended consequences, which is what the trial was designed to discover. Jacqueline Starr, managing director of customer experience at the Rail Delivery Group, said: Its good news that the Government has chosen to build on the trial of a 26-30 Railcard by Greater Anglia on behalf of the wider industry. A key commitment in our long-term plan to change and improve is to boost communities by enabling more people to travel by train and thats why we developed this proposal. The aviation industry is angry that no reduction was made in Air Passenger Duty (APD), which is currently 13 for short-haul flights and, in April 2018, will increase from 75 to 78 for long-haul trips. These rates apply in economy class and are doubled for premium economy, business and first-class passengers. From April 2019, while economy APD remains the same, premium passengers will see a 10 per cent increase from 156 to 172. Flybe called APD a highly damaging tax which penalises domestic travellers. Glyn Jones, chief executive of Stobart Aviation, which owns Southend airport, said: It should be removed from smaller airports which would encourage airlines to base more flights outside the larger airports. Smaller airports need a reasonable return on the significant capital that is invariably invested. Its not difficult to see what the result of increasing costs and falling demand due to Brexit could have on these businesses. Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} British Airways parent company, IAG, has made an unprecedented personal attack on the Chancellor, calling Philip Hammond dull and uninspiring after he failed to cut aviation tax. The rebuke is the most extreme reaction from an airline industry angry that its calls for a reduction in Air Passenger Duty (APD) have been ignored. The Chancellor told the Commons: From April 2019, I will again freeze short-haul Air Passenger Duty rates and I will also freeze long-haul economy rates. Paid for by an increase on Premium class tickets, and on private jets. APD for short-haul flights has been frozen since 2012 at 13 for each flight from a UK airport, or 26 for premium classes. It will remain at those levels until 2020 at the earliest. But in April 2018, APD for intercontinental trips will rise by 3 to 78 or 156 in premium economy, business or first class. And a year later, the premium APD goes up 10 per cent to 172. Private jet passengers, who currently pay 450, will see a rise of 14 per cent to 515 over the next 18 months. IAG, which also includes Iberia of Spain and Aer Lingus, issued its scathing statement after Mr Hammond sat down. The Chancellor has said that the Government wants to keep taxes low but Air Passenger Duty, which is by far the highest aviation tax in the world, will increase next year by 4 per cent, the firm said. At a time when the country is looking to the Government for confidence and encouragement we get a dull and uninspiring budget from a dull and uninspiring Chancellor. If this tax continues, the UK will struggle to compete on the global stage, post Brexit. Budget 2017: All you need to know American Express Global Business Travel also criticised the decision. Jason Geall, Vice-President for Northern Europe, said the firm was extremely disappointed by the increase in what it called a stealth tax on trade. On one hand the government talks about forging new trade relationships with non-EU marketplaces, while on the other it increases the cost for businesses to travel and trade," he said. This is a massively shortsighted decision made by a Chancellor who purports to be pro-business. Much has been said about the post-Brexit UK being an outward-facing, export-led economy; but these words must be matched by action on airport expansion in the South East, improving transport links to regional airports and the removal of APD. Airlines UK, representing British carriers, dismissed the APD changes as sleight of hand. The bodys chief executive, Tim Alderslade, said: The total tax take from APD is not being cut currently at 3.3 billion, it will hit 4 billion a year in 2022/23 and remains the highest in the world. He said the sharp premium-rate increase threatens the viability of some long-haul services that rely on non-economy class passengers. Recommended BA passengers slam plans to make those paying least board last Flybe, which is particularly susceptible to the tax because so many links are domestic, said: Reducing APD and supporting domestic aviation would have been in line with the Government's stated aim of spreading economic growth more evenly across the UK. This is sadly another missed opportunity to act. Since it was introduced 22 years ago by the then-Chancellor, Ken Clarke, Air Passenger Duty has proved extremely popular. It costs almost nothing to collect, since the airlines are obliged to keep count of passengers starting air journeys in the UK, and then write the appropriate cheque, and it is nigh-impossible to evade. And around half the people who pay it do not vote in the UK; they are foreigners who have to stump up to leave Britain. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} In November 2017, an Austrian physicist called Erwin Schrodinger devised a thought experiment called Schrodingers rabbit. A rabbit was placed in a Chancellors hat, to be pulled out at the end of a Budget which would confirm UK growth forecasts had been slashed at a time when they were rising everywhere else in the developed world. At the moment of its removal the rabbit, which was in fact a metaphor for the abolition of stamp duty for first-time buyers, had every outward appearance of good health. But the rabbit was already dead. Not so much radioactively poisoned as shot to pieces by the Office for Budget Responsibility. Prior to the Budget, they had analysed it and concluded it would in fact force house prices up. The main gainers from the policy are people who already own property, it said. As the Chancellor went through some piecemeal reforms that were entirely overshadowed by the dismal forecasts, it would not quite be accurate to say the rabbit existed in a simultaneous state of life and death. Its life or death would not be confirmed at the moment it was removed from the hat. There were no 50/50 chances about it. It was definitely, definitely, 100 per cent dead. It was just that, at the moment it came out, it would, briefly, look alive, like some prehistoric human mummified by volcanic ash that disintegrates on first contact with daylight. And that brief moment was enough for the Tory backbenches to cheer. Phil Hammond, reaching into his hat for the powdered bloody rabbit corpse that he hoped might save the day. That was as good as it got. This Watership Down ending was revolutionary in its own way. Previous Budgets from as far back as, say six months ago, have taken up to several hours to fall apart, when it turns out the central promise in them breaks a manifesto pledge and has to be scrapped hours later. Budget 2017: Local authorities will be able to charge 100% premium on council tax on empty housing No one was expecting that to happen this time round. With a brand new manifesto in which every commitment has already been broken, Hammond should have been on safe ground. So to deliver, in such circumstances, a pre-collapsed Budget is a remarkable feat. Anyway, back to the growth forecasts. It is, how can you put this, unfortunate, that the Conservatives are fighting to relaunch their new slogan, Building a Britain Fit For The Future, right at the same time they have managed to stretch their own private internal neuroses onto the country, and in so doing absolutely hammered the prospects of the British economy. There is not a year in the next five when growth is even now expected to be more than 2 per cent, he revealed. Thats never happened before. And in recent years, even expectations have turned out to be wildly optimistic. The numbers Alistair Darling once trotted out for the years we now live in are too laughable even to repeat. There were, to be fair, some faintly acceptable jokes. After a set-up too convoluted to go into, Theresa May produced a packet of cough sweets from her pocket and handed them to the Chancellor, a self-deprecating reference to her own hell dream conference speech of last month. Harsh critics may suggest it might have worked better with a certain lightness of touch. That it would have worked better if the cough sweets had been subtly placed on the despatch box, rather than removed from her pocket and held aloft like the sword of Excalibur. Still, as pre-cooked gags on such occasions go, it certainly beat the Maos Red Book atrocity of two years ago. I have always been exceptionally cynical about Budget speeches. On several occasions, I have been known to question whether anyone alive can actually pinpoint the moment at which anything said in a Budget speech has affected their life at all. I now, formally, take this back. When the Chancellor announced that stamp duty for first-time buyers would be abolished from today social media instantly lit up with the righteous anger of first-time buyers who had bought their first house house as recently as yesterday, and who had handed over thousands of pounds in tax that a 24-hour delay would have saved them. But it wasnt all bad news. One tweeter, by the name of Siobhan, who was due to exchange contracts this afternoon, beamed with news that Budget 2017 has just saved me 600, money that would be back back in our pockets for Christmas! Over the moon. How unfortunate then, for Spreadsheet Phil, that Siobhan also has a proud Im Voting Labour picture over her profile picture and was quick to clarify her comments: It doesnt mean the current government arent the worst weve had in my lifetime. Just because Ive done well from them doesnt mean millions of others arent suffering at their hands. The rabbits dead, Phil. The rabbits dead. Stand back. Sit down. Theres nothing you can do. The Rowan County Sheriffs Office managed to capture one of three fugitives from Florida after they committed crimes in the local area. On Monday, Nov. 20, deputies received a tip that one of three fugitives from a jail escape in Wakulla County, Fla., was located at a residence on Austin Street in Rockwell. At 1 a.m. on Nov. 20 Deputies responded to this residence and were able to take Casey Brandon Martina into custody, and he was placed in jail. Deputies also located a stolen Jeep Cherokee from Virginia. Investigators from the Wakulla County Sheriffs Office in Florida joined Rowan County Sheriffs detectives in the search for the other two fugitives. During the course of this investigation, detectives determined that before Martinas arrest a 2007 Pacifica recreational vehicle was stolen from the Peeler Road area of Rowan County. All three of the Florida fugitives are believed to have been involved. This vehicle was taken out of state, and attempts to locate this vehicle continue in Virginia. This investigation also produced evidence that the three fugitives were involved in several property crimes in Georgia, Virginia and Rowan County. Law enforcement in these jurisdictions has been contacted in regards to this new evidence. The remaining two fugitivesDonald James Cotterman and Joel Teraill Cooperare possibly in possession of stolen firearms and were both in Rowan County at one point. They were last together with Casey Martina in Statesville before Martinas arrest. Cooper and Cotterman are possibly operating a white commercial work truck with unknown Georgia registration and are possible fleeing west out of North Carolina. Rowan Sheriffs detectives have obtained felony larceny charges in Rowan County for both Cooper and Cotterman. Martina remains in the Rowan County Jail and now faces these new charges. Anyone with information about the location of these fugitives is asked to contact Lt. Chad Moose at 704-216-8687 or Detective Nate Phillips at 704-216-8684 with the Rowan County Sheriffs Office or the Wakulla County Sheriffs Office in Florida at 850-745-7100. Callers can also contact Crime Stoppers at 1-866-639-5245. CBS said Tuesday that it has fired Charlie Rose, and PBS announced it had ended its relationship with the 75-year-old broadcaster, following an extensive Washington Post report that detailed his alleged unwanted sexual advances toward women. His firing was announced by CBS News President David Rhodes, who wrote in a midday memo to the network's staff that it was "effective immediately." "Despite Charlie's important journalistic contribution to our news division, there is absolutely nothing more important, in this or any organization, than ensuring a safe, professional workplace - a supportive environment where people feel they can do their best work," Rhodes wrote. "We need to be such a place." PBS also announced Tuesday it would terminate its relationship with Rose and cancel distribution of his programs "in light of yesterday's revelations." Rose's namesake interview program is produced by Charlie Rose Inc., an independent television production company. "PBS expects all the producers we work with to provide a workplace where people feel safe and are treated with dignity and respect," PBS spokeswoman Jennifer Rankin Byrne said in a statement. Rose - best known for his award-winning interview program on PBS - had co-hosted "CBS This Morning" since the show's launch in 2012 and was a contributing correspondent for the network's Sunday night show, "60 Minutes." Rose was suspended by CBS News on Monday, shortly after The Post's story published. Bloomberg also said it would halt distribution of "Charlie Rose." Eight women, who were either employees or aspired to work for Rose at the "Charlie Rose" show, told The Post that he made unwanted sexual advances to them between the late 1990s and 2011. Those advances included lewd phone calls, walking around naked in their presence, or groping their breasts, buttocks or genital areas, the women said. In a statement provided to The Post on Monday - and later posted on social media - Rose said: "I deeply apologize for my inappropriate behavior. I am greatly embarrassed. I have behaved insensitively at times, and I accept responsibility for that, though I do not believe that all of these allegations are accurate. I always felt that I was pursuing shared feelings, even though I now realize I was mistaken." The situation was acknowledged Monday on "CBS Evening News," where interim anchor Anthony Mason said "the wave of sexual abuse allegations we've been reporting from Hollywood to Washington have now touched CBS News." On Tuesday morning, in a remarkable segment, Rose's broadcast partners on "CBS This Morning" slipped out of their newswoman roles to speak as people, full of anger and bewilderment and betrayal. "This is a moment that demands a frank and honest assessment about where we stand and more generally the safety of women," Norah O'Donnell said. "Let me be very clear: There is no excuse for this alleged behavior. It is systematic and pervasive. This has to end. This behavior is wrong. Period." Her co-host, Gayle King, said she had barely slept. The Post article, King said, "was deeply disturbing, troubling and painful for me to read." She added: "I am deeply rocked by this." Rhodes, the CBS News president, wrote in his staff memo that the network's news operation "has reported on extraordinary revelations at other media companies this year and last. Our credibility in that reporting requires credibility managing basic standards of behavior. That is why we have taken these actions. "Let's please remember our obligations to each other as colleagues. We will have human resources support today and every day, and we are organizing more personal and direct training which you will hear about from senior management shortly." He added: "I'm deeply disappointed and angry that people were victimized - and that even people not connected with these events could see their hard work undermined. If all of us commit to the best behavior and the best work - that is what we can be known for." Rose was one of the best-regarded names in TV news. His 2013 interview with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad won him both an Emmy and a Peabody Award, and in 2015 he received the Walter Cronkite Excellence in Journalism Award. --- The Washington Post's Marwa Eltagouri and Amy B Wang contributed to this report. Narandra Bajaj says: "Firstly let me clarify I am the producer of the said film and there is no need to point fingers at others ..." Secondly, Zareen was kept in the loop for everything and a bound script was given to her and nothing since has changed..." About the clothes... she tried everything in Mumbai before we left for the schedule in Mauritius and all the clothes were okied by her .. so I don't understand her comments.." Delhi itinerary was given to her talent company 2 days in advance so I don't know how can she say we over committed her ??? Regarding vulgarity, we don't come from that school and everything was done with the consent of the actor and in the boundaries of the censor board." "We are a reputed film production house and have been in the industry for over 30 years having worked with the top names in the industry. Our reputation in the industry is known by all and we do not want to debate on anything or anyone doing whatever.. for reasons best known to them." Director Ananth Mahadevan says, "I work with a final edited-on-paper script that was given to all actors, hence it comes as an amusing surprise that there are allegations of confusion, extra shots etc. Every shot was explained during rehearsals and Zareen could not have had more clarity, as we worked hard on her performance. "I have repeatedly said that a few kisses do not make a film erotic and that is not the reputation me or my producer like to have. Zareen has been through the entire shoot and dubbing sessions and she was quite thrilled with the results and she happily confessed in her interviews that she excitedly looked forward to the female-oriented film." "We on our part have retained that essence and in no way tarnished the film by adding anything untoward or unnecessary to the scenes." Source says,"Zareen Khan and her team approved the entire tour schedule provided to them two days before the departure. She backed out of all her commitments leaving aside the press conference and a sponsor visit. She did not even complete a day of promotions, which troubled the makers to a point where they had to compensate a huge amount of money and were harassed and threatened till the wee hours of the morning. The bit about her almost getting molested, is absolutely untrue, as she left the venue throwing tantrums arguing with the sponsors as she did not want to stay or eat there. She left with four bodyguards and her manager in tow. She sat in the sponsor's car who she had shouted on and had an argument with. The sponsor withheld the key of the car, but the makers arranged for another car and sent her and her team to the hotel safely, after which she left for Mumbai without informing the makers. This is not the first time that Zareen has troubled the filmmakers. She has put them in a fix many times and made them suffer losses. Trumps Middle East Peace Plan: Dead On Arrival? Trump's peace plan will be highly favourable to Israel and dismissive of the Palestinians By Richard Silverstein November 21, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - From almost the first day of his presidency, US President Donald Trump bragged that he would solve the Israel-Palestine conflict. Among his claims was that he could do what no US president had done. He called it "the ultimate deal". By now, most of the world knows Trump is an empty braggart and that his boasts have almost no connection to reality. A vague plan But over the past week or so the New York Times and Israeli media have reported that a Trump peace plan is indeed taking shape. Sources have been vague about the exact contents of the plan though one common feature to every report is that the US will recognise a Palestinian state as part of the overall deal. Beyond the recognition of a state, the deal would offer Palestinians almost nothing further Last week, the Israeli news show Hadashot laid out the provisions of the peace plan that had been leaked to it. Beyond the recognition of a state, the deal would offer Palestinians almost nothing further. Jerusalem would not be accepted as Palestine's national capital. No settler would have to evacuate a single settlement, let alone an entire settlement. Israel would hit a payday in terms of getting almost all of what it's demanded and failed to get from previous US administrations. The US would recognise most of Israel's stated security needs, including for the ongoing presence of Israeli forces along the Jordan border, the TV report added. It said Netanyahu, for his part, was pushing for the retention of overall Israeli security control in all Palestinian territory. This is a position Netanyahu has publicly demanded, and which, if granted, would underline that the Palestinians would not be gaining full sovereignty. The New York Times earlier reported that under the provisions of the agreement Israel would open trade with the Arab world and its airlines would be permitted to overfly Gulf airspace. Arab states, says the Times, particularly Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan "could add their own commitments, like overflights by Israeli passenger planes, visas for business people and telecommunications links." There would be "land swaps", but considering that no settlements or settlers would be removed, it's unclear what land would be swapped and why. Or as the Times of Israel summarised the Hadashot report: "The borders, however, would 'not necessarily' be based on the pre-1967 lines." False assumptions Why, you might ask, would any Palestinian agree to such a deal? Well, apparently Trump and Netanyahu believe that Arabs are so venal that they will sell their birthright for a few billion Saudi petrodollars. Sunni Arab states and others would provide hundreds of millions of dollars in economic assistance for the Palestinians under the plan, to help encourage Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to accept the deal, the report said. I would venture to say that if you asked any Palestinian whether, if offered a choice, he would prefer to be personally wealthy over his nation achieving full recognition and sovereignty, we would know what the answer would be. Such a strategy follows a longstanding false assumption by Israel and the US that the Palestinian problem is an economic one at its root, and not political. Secretaries of state and Israeli prime ministers have touted improvements to the Palestinian economy as the way to resolve the overall conflict for many years. This is a false and insulting premise. But in case you're wondering how or why the plan was leaked now... remember that Netanyahu faces four separate corruption scandals . He's been interrogated for the sixth time by Israeli police this week. Netanyahu is desperate to change the subject. What better way to do that than by leaking to the Israeli public that he might achieve what no other Israeli leader has ever achieved: lasting peace with Israel's Arab neighbours. An op-ed published by Al Jazeera dismissed the offer to the Palestinians as not only demeaning, but also a repudiation of the Saudis' own 2002 peace plan: The Kushner deal will not do even minimum justice to the Palestinian national project. While the deal offers strategic gains to Israel, such as ending a Saudi Arab boycott, it offers only tactical gains for the Palestinians, such as financial assistance, prisoners' release, and a silent, partial freeze of settlement activities outside the large settlement blocs. The Kushner deal will practically fragment the Saudi-sponsored 2002 Arab Peace Plan that offered Israel full normalisation in return for full withdrawal from Arab lands occupied in 1967. By pressuring Abbas to accept the deal, the Saudi leadership is undermining its own initiative, accepting to partially normalise relations with Israel in exchange for an alliance against Iran. Saudi message to Abbas Though the US has suggested that one way in which its approach is different than previous peace plans is that neither party will be pressured to agree. There will be no threats. This claim has already been belied by two separate media reports of threats being made against the Palestinians if they reject the deal. In the first instance, Israeli media reported that when King Salman summoned Abbas to Riyadh for talks last month, apparently the Palestinian leader pointed out that the deal being offered was less than any Palestinian could accept. The Saudis were having none of it and presumably told him that if he rejected the deal they would make his life a living hell. He should, in that event, resign. Presumably, that would enable the Saudis to install a more quiescent figure like Mohammed Dahlan, now comfortably ensconced in Dubai, who would do their bidding. In fact, according to Al Jazeera's op-ed, none other than Dahlan himself "happened" to have been invited to Riyadh at the same time Abbas was there. The Saudi message to Abbas was clear: If we can't get you to do what we say, we'll find someone who will. We've come to see the outlines of what a Trump deal would involve: The provisions would be highly favorable to Israel and dismissive of the Palestinians Considering that they'd just successfully forced the Lebanese premier, Saad Hariri, to resign, the Saudis thought this would intimidate Abbas. But the leader of the Palestinian Authority realises if he sells out the Palestinian cause history will make a mockery of him. Never Miss Another Story Get Our Free Daily Newsletter Last week, the State Department "miraculously" dusted off an obscure 1994 law declaring that, if the Palestinians call for the International Criminal Court to investigate Israeli war crimes, the US must close the PLO mission in Washington DC . The US has noted that Abbas' speech to the UN General Assembly last autumn did just that: It called for the ICC, which now included Palestine among its members , to hold Israel accountable for the massive loss of civilian life in Gaza during Operation Protective Edge. Trump's deal: A sham Unspoken in these reports was the not so subtle threat that the US would close the mission if the PA rejected the Trump peace plan. Though Abbas isn't known for having much political spine, the PLO's former chief negotiator Saeb Erekat didn't miss a beat in responding that if the US did close the Palestinian diplomatic facility, that the PA would cut off all communication with the US. That would certainly put a crimp into Trump's peace plan. Creating a viable Palestinian state at this stage is impossible without enormous Israeli concessions and this Israeli government isn't going to do that - Prof Stephen Walt, Harvard University Through all this we've come to see the outlines of what a Trump deal would involve: the provisions would be highly favourable to Israel and dismissive of the Palestinians. The urge of the latter to summarily reject the deal would be mitigated by overwhelming pressure from the Saudi royals to accept it. Frankly, despite the near universal consensus from Israel, the US, and Saudi Arabia that this deal is a good one; and despite the enormous pressure they can bring to bear on the Palestinians to accept it - I don't see how they can pull this off. The US may be banking on the universal acclaim they expect from the world to finally see a serious peace plan accepted by almost all the parties to the conflict. But I'd bet that the world will see through the proposed agreement as a sham being perpetrated on the Palestinians. Stephen Walt, the Belfer Professor of international relations at Harvard University, told me: "It is hard to believe that Kushner, Friedman and co. are going to come up with a deal that would work, because creating a viable Palestinian state at this stage is impossible without enormous Israeli concessions (reversing 40 years of policy) and this Israeli government isn't going to do that." Iran factor Middle East observers have noted another long-term factor favouring an agreement: Iran. Both Israel and the Saudis see Iran as a far more formidable, intractable obstacle than the Palestinians are. They believe if they can solve the smaller problem (Palestine) the world will look far more favourably on their aggressive approach to confronting Iran and Hezbollah. "The Arabs and the Israelis are facing two enemies, Iran and terrorism, and they must form an alliance to confront them," a western diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "But this alliance cannot be established without resolving the Palestinian issue; Saudi Arabia cannot work openly with Israel in the face of Iran before solving the Palestinian issue, and having the Palestinians themselves involved directly in such an axis." Though Trump's negotiators have declared they won't attempt to force the parties to adhere to a timeline or a deadline to resolve the matter, a Israeli media report indicates Trump has plans to introduce the plan publicly as early as January. - Richard Silverstein writes the Tikun Olam blog, devoted to exposing the excesses of the Israeli national security state. His work has appeared in Haaretz, the Forward, the Seattle Times and the Los Angeles Times. He contributed to the essay collection devoted to the 2006 Lebanon war, A Time to Speak Out (Verso) and has another essay in the upcoming collection, Israel and Palestine: Alternate Perspectives on Statehood (Rowman & Littlefield). Palestinians 'freeze' meetings with US over office row : The Palestinians have frozen all meetings with the United States after it decided to close their representative office in Washington, officials said Tuesday. Palestinian reconciliation talks begin in Cairo: Palestine: Struggle for basic rights within binational state has begun and we will win Israel Moves to Seize Private Palestinian Land in occupied West Bank ==== Note regarding comments ICC Prosecutor Requests Investigation Into U.S. Military, CIA for Alleged War Crimes in Afghanistan Fatou Bensouda asked judges to authorize an investigation of reported human rights abuses in Afghanistan, including allegations of rape and torture by the U.S. military and CIA. By Mike Corder The Associated Press November 21, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - NETHERLANDS -The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court asked judges Monday to authorize an investigation of reported human rights abuses in Afghanistan, including allegations of rape and torture by the U.S. military and CIA, crimes against humanity by the Taliban and war crimes by Afghan security forces. The announcement marked the first time ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has gone after Americans for alleged war crimes and sets up a possible showdown with Washington. The United States is not a member state of the court, but its nationals can be charged with crimes committed in countries that are members. The U.S. State Department said in a statement that it was reviewing Bensoudas authorization request, but opposes the International Criminal Courts involvement in Afghanistan. Our view is clear: an ICC investigation with respect to U.S personnel would be wholly unwarranted and unjustified, the State Department said. More broadly, our overall assessment is that commencement of an ICC investigation will not serve the interests of either peace or justice in Afghanistan. As well as alleged crimes by American troops in Afghanistan, Bensouda wants to investigate the activities of CIA operatives in secret detention facilities in Afghanistan and other countries that are court members. Never Miss Another Story Get Our Free Daily Newsletter Bensouda said in a summary of her request that information available provides a reasonable basis to believe that U.S. military personnel and CIA operatives committed acts of torture, cruel treatment, outrages upon personal dignity, rape and sexual violence against conflict-related detainees in Afghanistan and other locations, principally in the 2003-2004 period. She added that the Taliban and its allies are suspected of crimes against humanity and war crimes as part of a widespread and systematic campaign of intimidation, targeted killings and abductions of civilians perceived as supporting the government or opposing the Taliban rebels. Afghan security forces are, in turn, suspected of involvement in systematic patterns of torture and cruel treatment of conflict-related detainees in Afghan detention facilities, including acts of sexual violence, Bensouda said. This article was originally published by The Star - ==== Note regarding comments Is Trudeau Ready for a Middle East War? By Murray Dobbin November 21, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - The world is now at the mercy of a coalition of three of the most dangerous autocrats on the planet: Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu and Saudi Arabias new absolute ruler Mohammad bin Salman, a name that will become increasingly familiar as the months go by. These three leaders are now collaborating in an incredibly reckless plan to permanently reshape the Middle East. The final outcome will unfold no matter what Canada does. But unless the government of Justin Trudeau gets a grip on reality, Canada will be drawn into this potential catastrophe by virtue of foreign policy positions it has already taken. Geopolitics is getting incredibly complex and there is little evidence that the Liberal government has a clue how to navigate through the dangers. The problem is that despite all the hype about being back, Canadas foreign policy under Trudeau and minister of foreign affairs Chrystia Freeland is still characterized by cynicism and ill-considered trade-offs on files within the broad spectrum of foreign affairs including investor rights agreements like NAFTA and the Trans Pacific Partnership. Obviously, a certain amount of realpolitik is inevitable and even necessary to protect Canadas interests. But even so it begs the question of how Canadas interests are defined. How much of the store is Trudeau willing to give away to buy favour with the U.S. on NAFTA, especially when it seems concessions like putting our troops on Russias border has gotten us nothing in return? With Trump and his redesigned U.S. empire, there is no quid pro quo. The embarrassing me too gang-up on Russia is bad enough. The Canadian version of the U.S. Magnitsky Act is a pathetic effort to please the U.S. (EU allies in NATO are increasingly uneasy about Russophobia given their own particular national interests). And Putin can hurt Canada and Canadian businesses more than we can hurt Putin and his oligarchs and he has promised to do so. And the Middle East is a whole other question. Canadas past sins, such as torture in Afghanistan, and the destruction of Libya, can be dismissed by the government as old news. Canada has thankfully avoided getting re-involved in the chaos that is Middle East politics. But with the coming to (absolute) power of the new and reckless Saudi ruler Mohammad bin Salman, Middle East policy is suddenly fraught with danger and risk for any country allied with the U.S. or with any claim to interests in the region. The new Saudi prince (who has arrested everyone who might challenge his authority) is encouraging Israel to invade Lebanon, urging the Israelis to do what they want to do, anyway: deal a crippling blow to Israels most effective foe, Hezbollah. Hezbollah basically governs Lebanon and has its own well-armed force. Funded by and allied to Iran, it fought the Israeli army to a standstill in 2006. It is this fact that prompted the Saudis to force the resignation of the Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri; he refused or was unable to curb Hezbollahs political power. The Saudi government upped the ante saying the Lebanese government would be dealt with as a government declaring war on Saudi Arabia. It ordered all Saudi citizens to leave Lebanon. For the Saudis, the ultimate target is Shiite Iran and its significant influence in the Middle East and presence, directly or indirectly, in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen. When bin Salman declared that a rocket attack on Riyadh by Yemeni rebels could be seen as an act of war by Iran, the U.S. backed him up, implicitly giving the Saudi dictator a green light for more aggressive action. Never Miss Another Story Get Our Free Daily Newsletter Given the political situations in the U.S., Israel and Saudi Arabia, all sorts of case scenarios are now being speculated , with the potential for a rapid escalation of military confrontations, to the point of risking a confrontation between the U.S. and Russia. The first would be an Israeli assault on Hezbollah and Lebanons infrastructure. That could be followed by a Saudi-led invasion of Qatar and the removal of its government. While less likely, another confrontation could see the U.S. launch a campaign to seize Syrian territory reclaimed by the Assad regime, on behalf of Israel and risking a direct confrontation with Russia. All of this could be a prelude to an attack on Iran itself and possibly the use by Israel of nuclear weapons. The rich potential for unintended consequences includes World War III. If all of this sounds fantastical, consider who currently runs Israel, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. Netanyahu is mired in his own corruption scandal and needs a distracting war to survive. Bin Salman has already demonstrated a stunning recklessness and ruthlessness: the brutal bombing of Yemen (and now a blockade of food and medicine), the blockade of Qatar, and the house arrest of another countrys prime minister. As for Trump (and some of his generals), he seems to genuinely believe that the U.S. is invulnerable, a truly suicidal assumption. All three heads of state adhere to the doctrine of exceptionalism: the normal rules of international behaviour dont apply to them. If one or more of these scenarios begins to play out just what will Trudeau do? His governments policy towards Israel is driven by political cowardice, rooted in the fear of the Israel lobby in Canada. Towards Saudi Arabia, it is driven by sales of armoured personnel carriers, and a blind eye towards gross human rights violations. With respect to the U.S. it is characterized by ad hoc efforts to predict the unpredictable. If any of this war scenario plays out, Trudeau will suddenly be pressed to come up with principled positions in response and not just political opportunism and calculated ambiguity. And he should take note: Canadians attitudes towards Israel have turned very critical, with 46 per cent expressing negative views and just 28 per cent positive views of that country . As for our proposed $15 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia, 64 per cent disapprove. While these progressive attitudes lie relatively dormant at the moment another slaughter of innocents will bring them to life. Is the prime minister prepared? Murray Dobbin, now living in Powell River, BC, is one of Canadas most popular progressive political commentators and analysts and has been a journalist, broadcaster, author and social activist for over forty years. https://murraydobbin.ca ==== Note regarding comments Syria, Russia & Iran Shift to Diplomacy, While US and Allies Push for War By Finian Cunningham November 21, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - In a big week for Syrian peace talks, President Assad was hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi, where the leaders of Iran and Turkey are also to convene. Fittingly, perhaps, the US had no input into the renewed effort for peace in Syria. Putin said that with the defeat of ISIS (Daesh, Islamic State) and other terror groups in Syria now virtually achieved, the parties to the conflict must underpin the political means to win the peace. Significantly, the talks in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi reinforce the earlier Geneva accord which assents to President Bashar Assad and his government in Damascus as the sovereign authority of Syria. The demand by Washington and its European allies for Assad to stand down has long ago expired. That void is a tacit acknowledgment the nearly seven-year covert war in Syria for regime change has been defeated or at least the covert war in its guise of Western-backed proxy militant groups. The absence of US and European officials at the peace talks in Sochi this week speaks volumes about their pernicious role in the Syrian war. While Syria, Russia, Iran, and Turkey endeavor to revamp the peace negotiations, it is significant that Pentagon chief James Mattis was last week saying that US military forces would be digging in further on Syrian territory. The reluctance of US forces to pack up in Syria despite the demise of the terror groups is perhaps best viewed as part of a regional resurgence of an American military presence. Under President Trump despite his election campaign promises the level of US forces has increased substantially in Afghanistan and Iraq. Deployment in Syria fits into this pattern of a regional buildup. The increasing level of US military strength in the region also underlines the ominous signs of Saudi Arabia and Israel ramping up hostility toward Iran and Lebanon. Last week, US Defense Secretary James Mattis said American forces would be staying in Syria despite the contradiction of terror groups being routed. Mattis' claims that US forces have a legal United Nations mandate for their presence in Syria were dismissed by Russia and Syria as a flawed understanding of international law. But even on Mattis own faulty reasoning, his claims are dubious. If US forces have a mandate to be in Syria to defeat terrorists, as claimed, then why are they there given the terrorists have been largely defeated? Mattis said the new purpose of US forces were to prevent ISIS 2.0 arising. Despite the fact that the Americans hardly ever engaged in fighting against ISIS, and indeed, as the BBC even reported , gave the militants safe passage, including helicopter airlifting commanders out of harms way. It was the Syrian Arab Army, Russia, Iran and Hezbollah who did all the heavy lifting to roll back the terror groups, which had been covertly armed and financed by the US and its NATO and regional client regimes. ISIS, Nusra, and all the other alphabet-soup terror groups were only ever a pretext for the US to deploy its warplanes and Special Forces in Syria a presence which actually constitutes foreign aggression, as the Syrian government and Russia have repeatedly pointed out. Never Miss Another Story Get Our Free Daily Newsletter And yet here we have Mattis claiming that it was the US which defeated ISIS in Syria, and warning that the specter of this American asset reemerging as ISIS 2.0 is grounds for continuing to occupy Syrian territory. The Americans handy phantom-enemy is serving twice over. That is to legitimize the US intervening in Syria; and now to justify US forces staying there just when the real victors against the terrorists, Syria, Russia, and Iran are trying to demilitarize the country. 'There never was revolution in #Syria , it was a premeditated war by foreign powers' (Op-Ed by @EvaKBartlett ) https://t.co/ISNJAQEnVS RT (@RT_com) November 3, 2017 Far from the public view, US forces are scaling up their presence in Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Politico has called it an official charade. The Trump administration and the Pentagon are going behind the American peoples backs to deploy thousands more troops across the Middle East. Much to the displeasure of Washington, Turkey disclosed last week that the US has 13 military bases in Syria. Russia, apparently, has only five bases, even though that country had a much greater military impact on defeating ISIS and other terrorist networks over the past two years. One of the biggest US bases is near Kobani, about 140 kilometers from the northern city of Raqqa. This is the location no doubt where Mattis was referring to when he said last week that US forces would be digging in. The US airbase at Kobani has been dramatically upgraded over the past year from what was a rough airfield accommodating only a select few types of aircraft to one now where every type of air frame in the Pentagons fleet can be landed, including the largest troop-carrying and cargo planes. The US base at Kobani is also part of a chain of new airfields that connect from Qayarrah West in northern Iraq, to the Taqba Dam, also north of Raqqa. Officially, there are supposed to be only 500 troops in Syria under the Pentagons Force Management Level policy. But as with Afghanistan and Iraq, the real numbers are believed to be much higher than what is officially acknowledged. A large part of the false accounting arises because the Pentagon doesnt count units which spend less than 120 days in the country. These units include engineers and troops who are charged with building bridges, roads, and landing strips. There is a direct analogy here with how US and NATO forces underestimate force levels in the Baltic and Black Sea regions by arbitrarily not counting troops, warplanes and ships described as rotating presence. But if you rotate frequently enough, the force levels in effect become permanent and are much larger in practice than is officially admitted. In addition to ensuring its proxies dont come back as ISIS 2.0 (hows that for chutzpah!), Mattis also said that the expanded US forces were there to ensure the future peace talks in Geneva, resuming on November 28, would gain traction. Were not just going to walk away right now before the Geneva process has traction, said Mattis last week while in London meeting his British counterparts. What this suggests is that Washington is using its illegitimate military occupation of Syrian territory as a way to leverage the political process. By forcibly holding on to Syrian territory, Washington is perhaps calculating that the Assad government might cede to its demands on standing down or allowing a defeated opposition more say in drawing up a new constitution. If the US were genuinely committed to a political process in Syria, then why arent its diplomats giving momentum to the Russian-brokered talks in Sochi this week in preparation for the subsequent Geneva summit? But even more sinister is the region-wide context of US force buildup largely in secret unknown to the American public. With Washingtons client regimes, Saudi Arabia and Israel, pushing for a confrontation with Iran, directly or via Lebanon and Yemen, the expanding military presence in Syria indicates war in that country is far from over. Instead, it could be but a prelude to a more devastating regional conflagration. Finian Cunningham has written extensively on international affairs, with articles published in several languages. He is a Masters graduate in Agricultural Chemistry and worked as a scientific editor for the Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, England, before pursuing a career in newspaper journalism. He is also a musician and songwriter. For nearly 20 years, he worked as an editor and writer in major news media organisations, including The Mirror, Irish Times and Independent. This article was originally published by RT - ==== Note regarding comments Home Why Are We Helping Saudi Arabia Destroy Yemen? By Ron Paul November 21, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - Its remarkable that whenever you read an article about Yemen in the mainstream media, the central role of Saudi Arabia and the United States in the tragedy is glossed over or completely ignored. A recent Washington Post article purporting to tell us how things got so bad explains to us that, it's a complicated story involving warring regional superpowers, terrorism, oil, and an impending climate catastrophe. No, Washington Post, its simpler than that. The tragedy in Yemen is the result of foreign military intervention in the internal affairs of that country. It started with the Arab Spring which had all the fingerprints of State Department meddling, and it escalated with 2015s unprovoked Saudi attack on the country to re-install Riyadhs preferred leader. Thousands of innocent civilians have been killed and millions more are at risk as starvation and cholera rage. We are told that US foreign policy should reflect American values. So how can Washington support Saudi Arabia a tyrannical state with one of the worst human rights record on earth as it commits by what any measure is a genocide against the Yemeni people? The UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs warned just last week that Yemen faces "the largest famine the world has seen for many decades with millions of victims." The Red Cross has just estimated that a million people are vulnerable in the cholera epidemic that rages through Yemen. And why is there a cholera epidemic? Because the Saudi government with US support has blocked every port of entry to prevent critical medicine from reaching suffering Yemenis. This is not a war. It is cruel murder. The United States is backing Saudi aggression against Yemen by cooperating in every way with the Saudi military. Targeting, intelligence, weapons sales, and more. The US is a partner in Saudi Arabias Yemen crimes. Does holding hands with Saudi Arabia as it slaughters Yemeni children really reflect American values? Is anyone even paying attention? The claim that we are fighting al-Qaeda in Yemen and thus our involvement is covered under the post-9/11 authorization for the use of force is without merit. In fact it has been reported numerous times in the mainstream media that US intervention on behalf of the Saudis in Yemen is actually a boost to al-Qaeda in the country. Al-Qaeda is at war with the Houthis who had taken control of much of the country because the Houthis practice a form of Shia Islam they claim is tied to Iran. We are fighting on the same side as al-Qaeda in Yemen. Adding insult to injury, the US Congress cant be bothered to even question how we got so involved in a war that has nothing to do with us. A few conscientious Members of Congress got together recently to introduce a special motion under the 1973 War Powers Act that would have required a vote on our continued military involvement in the Yemen genocide. The leadership of both parties joined together to destroy this attempt to at least get a vote on US aggression against Yemen. As it turns out, the only Members to vote against this shamefully gutted resolution were the original Members who introduced it. This is bipartisanship at its worst. US involvement in Saudi Arabias crimes against Yemen is a national disgrace. That the mainstream media fails to accurately cover this genocide is shameful. Let us join our voices now to demand that our US Representatives end US involvement in Yemen immediately! Copyright 2017 by RonPaul Institute. Never Miss Another Story Get Our Free Daily Newsletter ==== Note regarding comments You spoke and we listened. It is no longer necessary for ICH readers to register before placing a comment. This website encourages readers to use the "Report" link found at the base of each comment. When a predetermined number of ICH readers click on the "Report" link, the comment will be automatically sent to "moderation". This would appear to be the most logical way to allow open comments, where you the reader/supporter, can determine what is acceptable speech. Please don't use the report feature simply because you disagree with the author point of view. Treat others with respect, remembering that "A man convinced against his will, is of the same opinion still."- Benjamin Franklin. Please read our Comment Policy before posting - Search Information Clearing House === Click Here To Support Information Clearing House Your support has kept ICH free on the Web since 2002. Click for Spanish , German , Dutch , Danish , French , translation- Note- Translation may take a moment to load. Home The Saudi System And Why Its Change May Fail By Moon Of Alabama November 21, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - The Saudi clown prince Mohammad Bin Salman is an impulsive tyrant. But what accounts for his urge to purge the country of any potential competing power center Why does he run a such an activist foreign policy? The answer might be Iran. Not Iran the country, but Iran the system. Since the U.S. war on Iraq the sclerotic Saudi Arabia continuously lost standing in its region. The Iranian model gained ground. A decade later the authoritarian Arab systems were challenged by the so called "Arab spring". While the movements in the various countries -as far as they were genuine- have failed, they were a warning sign for things to come. Saudi Arabia reacted to the challenges by moving away from a sedate, consensual run family business towards a centrally controlled, supercharged tyranny. The move allows for more flexible and faster reactions to any future challenge. But it also increases the chance of making mistakes. To understand why this endeavor is likely to fail one needs look at the traditional economic and social system that is the fabric of the country. The fate of the Hariri dynasty is an example for it. Since Salman climbed the throne he has moved to eliminate all competition to his rule. The religious establishment was purged of any opposition. Its police arm was reigned in. First crown prince Murqrin was removed and then crown prince Nayef. They were replaced with Salman's inexperienced son. Economic and military powers were concentrated in his hands. During the recent night of the long knives powerful family members and business people were detained. The Wall Street Journal reports of a second arrest wave. More higher ups have been incarcerated. This round includes senior military commanders and very wealthy business people. As the prison for the arrested VIPs, the Ritz-Carlton hotel, is fully booked, the next door Mariott is now put to use . Qualified staff was hired to handle the prisoners: As many as 17 people detained in the anti-corruption campaign have required medical treatment for abuse by their captors, according to a doctor from the nearest hospital and an American official tracking the situation. ... The former Egyptian security chief, Habib el-Adli, said by one of his advisers and a former Egyptian interior minister to be advising Prince Mohammed, earned a reputation for brutality and torture under President Hosni Mubarak. After the torture reports spread due to employees of local hospitals, a medical unit was established in the Ritz itself. My assertion in earlier pieces, that one motive of the arrest wave was to fleece the prisoners, has been confirmed . The arrested rich people are pressed into "plea deals" in which they give up their assets in exchange for better treatment and some restricted kind of freedom. The aim is to "recover" up to $800 billion in so called "corruption" money. Thousands of domestic and international accounts have been blocked by the central bank of Saudi Arabia. They will eventually be confiscated. But Saudi billionaires have long been looking for ways to park their money outside of the country. The accounts which were blocked are likely small change compared to their total holdings in this or that tax haven. Historically the recoveries of such assets is problematic : Asset recovery programs never really go quite to plan. They are beset by obstacles -- most often in the form of wealth squirreled away offshore and political infighting over wealth seized onshore. Most likely, Saudi Arabia will obtain a sliver of these assets -- say in the tens of billions of dollars -- a useful, but temporary, gain. What happens after that depends on how Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman re-sets relations with business. The financial success of the MbS raids will be small. The financial damage he causes with his jihad against his own family members will be significant. It ruins his plans for attracting foreign investment: Half my Rolodex is in the Ritz right now. And they want me to invest there now? No way, said one senior investor. The wall of money that was going to deploy into the kingdom is falling apart. One can not steal money from some people and then expect other people to trust assurances that such could never happen to them. MbS's big plans for Neom, a $500 billion artificial city financed by foreign investors, will fall apart. To accuse princes and high officials of "corruption" is a fancy excuse. "Corruption" is how business is done in Saudi Arabia. It is tightly connected to the traditional ruling system. The king and his son are trying to change both: Foreign investors tend to enter the Saudi market via partnerships with established business franchises or princes as they seek to exploit their domestic clout to navigate a complicated bureaucratic landscape. The same goes for any state tender. To contract for building a road or public housing a company will have to find a prince or high official with the necessary clout. To get a tender signed it will have to promise, or pay upfront, a share of the expected profits. When the job is finishes it will need to come back to its protector to get its bill paid. No money will flow for the delivered work unless another bribe is handed over. Contracts are calculated with 40% on top to compensate for these necessary lubricants. The systems works. The Saudi State has enough money to compensate for such distribution. The system is only problematic when a contractor delivers shoddy work, but can still bribe his patron into accepting it. Drainage man-hole covers in Saudi streets without the necessary drainage tunnels below them are a well known and despised phenomenon. Rafic Hariri, the father of the Lebanese premier minister Saad Hariri, built a construction empire in Saudi Arabia by paying the right people. He knew how to work within the system. He was also a capable manager who ran his business, Saudi Oger, well. He was also the Saudis man in Lebanon and did his best to fulfill that role. His son Saad never got a grip on the business site. By 2012, seven years after Rafic Hariri had been assassinated, the family business in Saudi Arabia ran into trouble : Almost a year ago, the Saudis began keeping an eye on Hariris company, which reeked of corruption. Several high-ranking officials some close to Saad Hariri were accused of theft and extortion. But Hariri could not find a solution to the crisis, nor was he able to restore the confidence that the company lost in the market. So he began a major pruning operation, laying off lower-level employees without any indication of objections to their job performance. The dismissals did not even spare Saudi nationals, leading to widespread dissent. ... The Saudis once treated the company with care, providing it with contracts in the regions biggest oil economy. Now, the company is suffering from internal disputes and theft. It became closer to a scrapyard for the Kingdom. Saad Hariri had the wrong contacts, bribed the wrong people and delivered shoddy work which made his company an easy target. He also failed to be a reliable Saudi asset in Lebanon. There the Shia Hizbullah gained in standing while the Sunnis, led by Hariri, lost political ground. The Hariri company took up large loans to finance its giant construction projects for the Saudi government. But by 2014 oil prices had fallen and the Kingdom simply stopped paying its bills. It is said to own $9 billion to the Hariri enterprises. Other Saudi constructions companies, like the Bin Laden group, also had troublesome times. But they were bailed out by the Saudi government with fresh loans and new contracts. No new contracts were issued to Hariri. No new bank loans were available to him and his bills were not paid. The Saudis demanded control over Lebanon but Hariri could not deliver. In July, after 39 mostly successful years, Saudi Oger went out of business . The Hariri family is practically bankrupt. Hariri's two youngest children, 16 and 12 years old, are kept hostage in Saudi Arabia. After the recent trip to Paris his wife also returned to Riyadh. The French President Macron had intervened and Hariri was allowed to leave Saudi Arabia. But Macron failed (intentionally?) to free him from Saudi influence. Hariri's financial means and his family are under control of the Saudi tyrant. He is not free in any of his political, business and personal decisions. Hariri is pressed to now drive a political hardline against Hizbullah in Lebanon. He knows that this can not be successful but his mischievous Saudi minder, the Minister for Gulf Affairs Thamer, does not understand this. His boss, MbS, believes that the whole world can and should be run the same way he wants to run his country. Bloomberg's Erik Schatzker has long observed how business is done in Saudi Arabia. He had portrait the Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. His recent observations at a nightly desert picnic explains how the wider al Saud family used to run the country: It was almost midnight when the prince held a Majlis, a traditional Bedouin ceremony in which tribesmen come to pay their respects and ask for charity. A line of men in white robes and red-and-white Arab headdresses stretched into the darkness. One by one they approached, removing their sandals, bowing and handing him pieces of paper. Some recited poetry. The prince scribbled on each cover sheet and put the papers on a stack. Saudi Arabia used to run on such patronage : Saudi society is divided by tribe, region, sect, degree (or nature of religiosity), and class. Although these various groups are only rarely organized in formal structures outside of the state, many developed special connections with specific state bodies, turning the sprawling state apparatus into constituencies of sorts. ... Middle East expert Steffen Hertog has aptly described how the Saudi state emerged in the oil era: leading princes carved out structures they could dominate; state institutions worked in silos and coordinated poorly; and networks of beneficiaries, contractors, and influence brokers populated various bureaucracies. The Saudi state expanded rapidly into an uncoordinated group of what Hertog goes so far as to call fiefdoms. High up princes take care of lower ranking ones. Each has common folks, clans or whole tribes he is supposed to take care of. Obedience is bought by controlling the "social" spending that trickles down through this pyramid. The princes make their money by having their fingers in, or "taxing", all kind of state businesses. It is this money that sponsors their luxurious life as well as the benefits they distribute to lower folks. This was never seen as corruption as it is understood in the west. For decades these tribute payments were simply owned to the princes. They had a birth-right to them. Never Miss Another Story Get Our Free Daily Newsletter MbS "corruption" ride is destroying that system without him having a replacement. Saudi Arabia has been run as a family business. Decisions in recent decades were taken by consensus. Every part of the family was allowed to have its cash generating fiefdom and patronage network. The rule of King Salman and his activist son are trying to change that. They want to concentrate all business and all decisions in one hand . But what will replace the old system? Mohammad bin Salman's view of the world is that of Louis XIV - "L'etat, c'est moi" - I am the state. In his own view MbS is not just a crown prince or the future king of the state of Saudi Arabia. He, and he alone, is Saudi Arabia. He is the state. He let this view known in an interview with the Economist in January 2016: [W]e have clear programmes over the next five years. We announced some of them, and the rest we will announce in the near future. In addition to this, my debt-to-GDP is only 5%. So I have all points of strength, and I have the opportunities to increase our non-oil revenues in many sectors, and I have a global economic network. As I remarked at that time: The young dude not only thinks he owns the country, he actually thinks he is the country. He has debt-to-GDP, he has ten million jobs in reserve, he has all women of Saudi Arabia as productive factor and he has scary population growth. Does the guy understand that such an attitude guarantees that he personally will be held responsible for everything that will inevitably go wrong with his country? Saudi Arabia and its state apparatus have for decades been build on an informal but elaborate system of personal relations and patronage. MbS expects that he can take out one part of the system, the princes and businessmen, and the rest will follow from that. That he will be the one to control it all. That is a doubtful endeavor. The ministries and local administrations are used to do their business under tutelage. Eliminating the leadership caste that controlled them will not turn them into corruption free technocracies. Seeing the exemplary punishments MbS hands out at the Ritz the bureaucracies will stop working. They will delay any decisions out of fear until they have the okay from the very top. Ten-thousands of tribal and clan leaders are bound to and depend on the patronage system. The hundreds of people who sought audience with Alwaleed bin Talal at the desert picnic will turn whereto? Who will take up their issues with higher authorities? Who will provide them with hand outs and the "trickle down" money they depend on? Another target of Mohammed bin Salman's activities have been the religious authorities. Some critical sheiks have been incarcerated, others are held incommunicado. The Salman "revolution from the top" extends into their judiciary role: Historically, Saudi leaders have propounded the view that the sharia is the countrys highest law and the overall legal system operates within its bounds. ... the domination of the religious establishment in law is ending. The king and crown prince are clearly favoring (and fostering) religious figures who repudiate some long-standing official views. Bin Salman is purging the religious establishment, the military, the competing members of the families, the business people and the bureaucracy. He wants to run the state on his own. He demands the right to review any decision in the legal, business and foreign policy realm. He has authority to punish people responsible for decisions he dislikes. Under his system any personal initiatives will become extinct. The country is too big for one person to control. MbS can not take all decisions by himself. No large system can work like that. The people will soon become unhappy with his centralized and unresponsive control. That centralization does not work well is already visible in his failing foreign policy. MbS wants to be seen as the indisputable "leader of the Islamic world". His hate for everything Iran originates there. The Iranian system of a participatory and democratic Islamic state is a living alternative to the autocratic model he wants to implement in Saudi Arabia. The western model of a "liberal democracy" does not adapt well to the historic social models that are prevalent in the Middle East. But the Iranian system is genuine and fits the local culture. It is the sole competition he fears. It must be destroyed by any means. But all his attempts to counter Iran (even where it was not involved) have been unsuccessful. Saudi interventions in Yemen, Qatar, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon have been disastrous. Over the weekend the Arab League delivered the usual criticism of Iran but decided on nothing else. Half of the Arab League states, including the powerful Egypt , are not willing to follow the aggressive Saudi course. Mohammed bin Salman's grand scheme of using Israel and the U.S. to fight Iran in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iran itself is unraveling . The Saudi response to the competition of the Iranian system is a move towards more authoritarian rule. This is hoped to allow for more agile policies and responses. But the move breaks the traditional ruling system. It removes the sensible impediments to impulsive foreign policies. It creates the conditions for its very failure. Please Support This Poor Poet : Moon of Alabama provides news and analysis that mainstream media cover late, or not at all. ==== Note regarding comments You spoke and we listened. It is no longer necessary for ICH readers to register before placing a comment. This website encourages readers to use the "Report" link found at the base of each comment. When a predetermined number of ICH readers click on the "Report" link, the comment will be automatically sent to "moderation". This would appear to be the most logical way to allow open comments, where you the reader/supporter, can determine what is acceptable speech. Please don't use the report feature simply because you disagree with the author point of view. Treat others with respect, remembering that "A man convinced against his will, is of the same opinion still."- Benjamin Franklin. Please read our Comment Policy before posting - Search Information Clearing House === Click Here To Support Information Clearing House Your support has kept ICH free on the Web since 2002. Click for Spanish , German , Dutch , Danish , French , translation- Note- Translation may take a moment to load. The Greatest Dangers in the Middle East Today are Jared Kushner and Mohamed bin Salman The sort of Neo-con and right-wing think tankers, who in 2003 were saying that a war with Iraq would be a doddle, are back in business in Washington, pushing for war with Iran and are stronger than ever By Patrick Cockburn November 21, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - I was in my room in the Baghdad Hotel on al-Sadoun street last Sunday evening, writing about the chances for stability in Iraq taking hold, when the walls and floor began to shake. They jerked sideways and up and down several times as if my room was the cabin of boat in a rough sea. My first confused thought was this being Baghdad that there must have been some huge bomb explosion, which would explain the rocking motion of everything around me. But almost simultaneously, I realised that I had not heard the sound of an explosion, so a better explanation was that there was an earthquake, though I had never thought of Baghdad as being in an earthquake zone. The jerking movements of the walls and floor of my room were so spectacular that I wondered if the building was going to collapse. I looked under the desk where I was sitting, but the space was too small for me to crouch in. I got down on my hands and knees and started to crawl towards the bathroom which is meant to be the safest place in the event of a bomb explosion, and I supposed the same must be true of earthquakes. I had got about half way there when the shaking stopped. The lights were still on which seemed a good sign. I got back on a stool and googled Baghdad earthquake on my laptop and read a series of alarmed tweets confirming that was indeed what had just happened. It was a 7.3 magnitude quake centred 19 miles from Halabja, a small city in Iraqi Kurdistan 150 miles north-east of Baghdad and close to the Iranian border. Nine people had been killed in Iraq, but the catastrophic damage was in Iran where 530 people had died. In earlier times, an earthquake like this would be taken as an omen: a warning of bad times to come. Shakespeare is full of such grim portents which commonly precede assassinations and defeats in battle. This would be a pity in the case of present day Iraq because, for the first time since Saddam Hussein started his war with Iran in 1980, the prospects look positive. The central government is stronger than before, defeating Isis in the nine-month long siege of Mosul and ending the move towards secession of Iraqi Kurdistan by peacefully reoccupying Kirkuk and other disputed territories. Substantial successes these certainly are, but what has really changed the political landscape of Iraq is that there is no longer a community, party or faction fighting the central government with financial and military aid from foreign backers. For once, Iraq has good relations with all the neighbouring states. The earthquake may not herald more domestically-generated violence in Iraq, but in the real world it is a useful reminder that the country, along with the rest of the Middle East, is vulnerable to unexpected and unpredictable events. Of course, these are always a possibility anywhere, but never more than at present because of the strange character change of two traditionally conservative powers in the region: the US and Saudi Arabia. Previously committed to preserving the political status quo, both have become mercurial and prone to saw off the branch on which they are sitting. Shortly before the earthquake in Baghdad, I was making the above point about Iraq stabilising to a European diplomat. He said this might be true, but that real danger to peace comes from a combination of three people: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Trumps son-in-law and Middle East envoy Jared Kushner, and Bibi Netanyahu in Israel. Never Miss Another Story Get Our Free Daily Newsletter Probably, the Saudis and the Americans exaggerate the willingness of Netanyahu and Israel to go to war. Netanyahu has always been strong on bellicose rhetoric, but cautious about real military conflict (except in Gaza, which was more massacre than war). Israels military strength tends to be exaggerated and its army has not won a war outright since 1973. Previous engagements with Hezbollah have gone badly. Israeli generals know that the threat of military action can be more effective than its use in maximising Israeli political influence, but that actually going to war means losing control of the situation. They will know the saying of the 19th century German chief of staff, Helmuth Von Moltke, that no plan survives contact with the enemy. But even if the Israelis do not intend to fight Hezbollah or Iran, this does not mean that they would not like somebody else to do so for them. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told me in an interview earlier this month that his greatest fear was a US-Iranian confrontation fought out in Iraq. This could happen directly or through proxies, but in either case would end the present fragile peace. On the optimistic side, US policy in Iraq and Syria is largely run by the Pentagon and not the White House, and has not changed much since President Obamas days. It has been successful in its aim of destroying Isis and the self-declared caliphate. The wars in Iraq and Syria already have their winners and losers: President Bashar al-Assad stays in power in Damascus, as does a Shia-dominated government in Baghdad. An Iranian-backed substantially Shia axis in four countries Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon stretches from the Afghan border to the Mediterranean. This is the outcome of the wars since 2011, which is not going to be reversed except by a US land invasion as happened in Iraq in 2003. The great danger in the Middle East today is that Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman and Jared Kushner appear to have a skewed and unrealistic understanding of the world around them. Inspector Clouseau seems to have a greater influence on Saudi policy than Machiavelli, going by the antics surrounding the forced resignation of Saad Hariri as Prime Minister of Lebanon. This sort of thing is not going to frighten the Iranians or Hezbollah. The signs are that Iran has decided to go a long way to avoid confrontation with the US. In Iraq, it is reported that it will support the re-election of Abadi as prime minister which is also what the US wants. Iran knows that it has come out on the winning side in Iraq and Syria and does not need to flaunt its success. It may also believe that the Crown Prince is using anti-Iranian nationalist rhetoric to secure his own power and does not intend to do much about it. Nobody has much to gain from another war in the Middle East, but wars are usually started by those who miscalculate their own strengths and interests. Both the US and Saudi Arabia have become wild cards in the regional pack. The sort of Neo-con and right-wing think tankers, who in 2003 were saying that a war with Iraq would be a doddle, are back in business in Washington, pushing for war with Iran and are stronger than ever. The wars in the Middle East should be ending, but they could just be entering a new phase. Leaders in the US and Saudi Arabia may not want a new war, but they might just blunder into one. This article was originally published by The Independent - ==== Note regarding comments Dont Just Give Thanks. Pay It Forward One Act of Kindness at a Time By John W. Whitehead As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. - John F. Kennedy November 21, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - Its been a hard, heart-wrenching, stomach-churning kind of year filled with violence and ill will. Its been a year of hotheads and blowhards and killing sprees and bloodshed and takedowns. Its been a year in which tyranny took a step forward and freedom got knocked down a few notches. Its been a year with an abundance of bad news and a shortage of good news. Its been a year of too much hate and too little kindness. Now we find ourselves approaching that time of year when, as George Washington and Abraham Lincoln proclaimed, were supposed to give thanks as a nation and as individuals for our safety and our freedoms. Its not an easy undertaking. How do you give thanks for freedoms that are constantly being eroded? How do you express gratitude for ones safety when the perils posed by the American police state grow more treacherous by the day? How do you come together as a nation in thanksgiving when the powers-that-be continue to polarize and divide us into warring factions? Its not going to happen overnight. Or with one turkey dinner. Or with one day of thanksgiving. Thinking good thoughts, being grateful, counting your blessings and adopting a glass-half-full mindset are fine and good, but dont stop there. This world requires doers, men and women (and children) who will put those good thoughts into action. It says a lot (and nothing good) about the state of our world and the meanness that seems to have taken center stage that we now have a day ( World Kindness Day ) devoted to making the world more collectively human in thoughts and actions. The idea for the day started after a college president in Japan was mugged in a public place and nobody helped him . Unfortunately, you hear about these kinds of incidents too often. A 15-year-old girl was gang raped in a schoolyard during a homecoming dance. As many as 20 people witnessed the assault over the course of two and a half hours. No one intervened to stop it. A 28-year-old woman was stabbed, raped and murdered outside her apartment early in the morning. Thirty-eight bystanders witnessed the attack and failed to intervene. The woman, Kitty Genovese, died from her wounds at the locked doorway to her apartment building. A 58-year-old man waded into chest-deep water in the San Francisco Bay in an apparent suicide attempt. For an hour, Raymond Zack stood in the shallow water while 75 onlookers watched. Police and firefighters were called in but failed to intervene, citing budget cuts, a lack of training in water rescue, fear for their safety and a lack of proper equipment. The man eventually passed out and later died of hypothermia. Eventually, an onlooker volunteered to bring the body back to the beach. A homeless man intervened to save a woman from a knife-wielding attacker. He saved the woman but was stabbed repeatedly in the process. As The Guardian reports , For more than an hour he lay dying in a pool of his own blood as dozens walked by . Some paused to stare, others leaned in close. One even shook his body and then left, while someone else recorded a video of the entire proceeding. This is how evil prevails: when good men and women do nothing. By doing nothing, the onlookers become as guilty as the perpetrator. If I were to remain silent, Id be guilty of complicity, declared Albert Einstein. It works the same whether youre talking about kids watching bullies torment a fellow student on a playground, bystanders watching someone dying on a sidewalk, or citizens remaining silent in the face of government atrocities. Theres a term for this phenomenon where people stand by, watch and do nothingeven when there is no risk to their safetywhile some horrific act takes place (someone is mugged or raped or bullied or left to die): its called the bystander effect. Psychological researchers John Darley and Bibb Latane mounted a series of experiments to discover why people respond with apathy or indifference instead of intervening. Their findings speak volumes about the state of our nation and why we the people continue to suffer such blatant abuses by the police state. According to Darley and Latane, there are two critical factors that contribute to this moral lassitude. First, theres the problem of pluralistic ignorance in which individuals in a group look to others to determine how to respond. As Melissa Burkley explains in Psychology Today, Pluralistic ignorance describes a situation where a majority of group members privately believe one thing, but assume (incorrectly) that most others believe the opposite. Second, theres the problem of diffusion of responsibility , which is compounded by pluralistic ignorance . Basically, this means that the more people who witness a catastrophic event, the less likely any one person will do anything because each thinks someone else will take responsibility. In other words, no one acts to intervene or help because each person is waiting for someone else to do so. Now the temptation is to label the bystanders as terrible people, monsters even. Yet as Mahzarin Banaji, professor of psychology at Harvard University points out, These are not monsters. These are us. This is all of us. This is not about a few monsters. This is about everybody. It says something very difficult to us. It says that perhaps had we been standing there, we ourselves, if we were not better educated about this particular effect and what it does to us, we may fall prey to it ourselves. Historically, this bystander syndrome in which people remain silent and disengagedmere onlookersin the face of abject horrors and injustice has resulted in whole populations being conditioned to tolerate unspoken cruelty toward their fellow human beings: the crucifixion and slaughter of innocents by the Romans, the torture of the Inquisition, the atrocities of the Nazis, the butchery of the Fascists, the bloodshed by the Communists, and the cold-blooded war machines run by the military industrial complex. So what can you do about this bystander effect? Be a hero , suggests psychologist Philip Zimbardo. Each of us has an inner hero we can draw upon in an emergency , Zimbardo concluded. If you think there is even a possibility that someone needs help, act on it. You may save a life. You are the modern version of the Good Samaritan that makes the world a better place for all of us. Zimbardo is the psychologist who carried out the Stanford Prison Experiment which studied the impact of perceived power and authority on middleclass students who were assigned to act as prisoners and prison guards. The experiment revealed that power does indeed corrupt (the appointed guards became increasingly abusive), and those who were relegated to being prisoners acted increasingly submissive and depersonalized, taking the abuse and saying little in protest. What is the antidote to group think and the bystander effect? Be an individual. Listen to your inner voice. Take responsibility. If you find yourself in an ambiguous situation, resist the urge to look to others and go with your gut instinct , says Burkley. If you think there is even a possibility that someone is in need, act on it. At worst, you will embarrass yourself for a few minutes, but at best, you will save a life. Even if people recognize that they are witnessing a crime, they may still fail to intervene if they do not take personal responsibility for helping the victim, writes Burkley. The problem is that the more bystanders there are, the less responsible each individual feels. In other words, recognize injustice. Dont turn away from suffering. Refuse to remain silent. Take a stand. Speak up. Speak out. This is what Zimbardo refers to as the power of one . All it takes is one person breaking away from the fold to change the dynamics of a situation. Once any one helps, then in seconds others will join in because a new social norm emerges: Do Something Helpful. I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation, stated Holocaust Elie Wiesel in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in 1986 . We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men or women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must at that moment become the center of the universe. Unfortunately, as I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People , too many Americans have opted to remain silent when it really matters while instead taking a stand over politics rather than human suffering. That needs to change. I dont believe were inherently monsters. We just need to be more conscientious and engaged and helpful. The Good Samaritans of this world dont always get recognized, but theyre doing their part to push back against the darkness. For instance, earlier this year in Florida, a family of sixfour adults and two young boyswere swept out to sea by a powerful rip current in Panama City Beach. There was no lifeguard on duty. The police were standing by, waiting for a rescue boat. And the few people who had tried to help ended up stranded, as well. Those on shore grouped together and formed a human chain. What started with five volunteers grew to 15, then 80 people, some of whom couldnt swim. One by one, they linked hands and stretched as far as their chain would go. The strongest of the volunteers swam out beyond the chain and began passing the stranded victims of the rip current down the chain. One by one, they rescued those in trouble and pulled each other in. Theres a moral here for what needs to happen in this country if we only can band together and prevail against the riptides that threaten to overwhelm us. Heres what I suggest. Instead of just giving thanks this holiday season with words that are too soon forgotten, why not put your gratitude into action with deeds that spread a little kindness, lighten someones burden, and brighten some dark corner? Im not just talking about volunteering at a soup kitchen or making a donation to a charity that does good work , although those are fine things, too. What Im suggesting is something that everyone can do no matter how tight our budgets or how crowded our schedules. Pay your blessings forward. Engage in acts of kindness. Smile more. Fight less. Focus on the things that unite instead of that which divides. Be a hero, whether or not anyone ever notices. Do your part to push back against the meanness of our culture with conscious compassion and humanity. Moods are contagious, the good and the bad. They can be passed from person to person. So can the actions associated with those moods, the good and the bad. Even holding the door for someone or giving up your seat on a crowded train are acts of benevolence that, magnified by other such acts, can spark a movement. Imagine a world in which we all lived in peace. John Lennon tried to imagine such a world in which there was nothing to kill or die for, no greed or hunger. He was a beautiful dreamer whose life ended with an assassins bullet on December 8, 1980 . Still, that doesnt mean the dream has to die, too. Theres something to be said for working to make that dream a reality. As Lennon reminded his listeners, War is over, if you want it. The choice is ours, if we want it. Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute . His new book Battlefield America: The War on the American People (SelectBooks, 2015) is available online at www.amazon.com. Whitehead can be contacted at johnw@rutherford.org . ==== Note regarding comments Many people have lost their lives after farmers and Fulani herdsmen clashed at the Numan Local Government area in Adamawa state. At least 30 women and children were killed when farmers attacked Fulani herdsmen in Numan Local Government Area of Adamawa State, police said Wednesday. In a report by Premium Times, state police spokesman Othman Abubakar said the attack on the Fulani communities in the Numan district happened on Monday and it was executed by armed gangs suspected to be of the predominant Bachama ethnic group in the area. They however said the death toll was higher. An affected resident, Oriwa Hammadu, said the militia members were chanting war songs on Monday evening as they launched attacks on the settlements in Shafaran, Shawal, Gumara, Kikam and Kadamti villages in the area. The attacks came when all the men were out of the areas. Many had gone to market and a wedding ceremony in Mayo-Belwa, so they took us by surprise, said Mr. Hammadu. I was on my way back from Numan town market when I saw smokes billowing from our settlements. Later, I saw some Bachama militia members numbering about 150 coming from our settlements. So, I had to sneak to save my life. But they killed our children, women and burnt houses. They came with dangerous weapons including machetes, daggers and guns and were chanting war songs in Bachama dialect. Both the injured and the corpses were evacuated to Numan General hospital, a distraught Mr. Hammadu said. A truck driver, Emmanuel Nwachuku who plies the Numan-Jalingo road said: The attackers singing Bachama songs came in their dozens. We saw them while crossing to Dong road. Thank God we escaped before they launched the attacks. The spokesperson of Adamawa Police command, Othman Abubakar, said about 30 persons were killed in the attacks on herdsmen in the area. Thirty Fulani children and women were killed during the attacks in Numan villages by suspected Bachama farmers and already investigation has commenced to arrest the suspects. We were told the attackers hailed from the affected areas. We are on the top of the situation and already investigations have commenced to fish out those involved, he said. Speaking shortly after the burial of the victims, the North East chairman of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association (MACBAN), Mafindi Danburam, said women and children were killed by the attackers who came in the wee hours of Monday. We have just observed the funeral rites of 45 bodies of women and children here in Numan. We are still searching for the remaining missing people. We want government to as matter of urgency swing into action by investigating those involved so as to avoid reprisal. Mr. Danburam alleged that Bachama youth had been threatening herdsmen to vacate the area. In the build up to these attacks, the district head of Numan had earlier summoned Fulani leaders and ordered them to leave his domain. He even threatened that there would be attack. And all pleas by the Fulani were to no avail, he said. The state Deputy Governor, Martins Babale, visited the area on Tuesday to assess the situation after which he called for calm. Mr. Babale, who condemned the incident, vowed that government would fish out the culprits. The culprits would be brought to book and whoever is involved will not be spared, so lets learn to live in peace,he urged. A senior journalist with the African Independent Television who was traveling to his hometown in Kogi State to prepare for his daughters wedding, has perished in an auto crash alongside his wife and children. The journalists community in Kogi State is in shock over the saddening incident of the death of one of its own that died in road crash with his pregnant wife and three children, Daily Sun reports. Abdullahi Ibrahim who was a senior reporter with the African Independent Television (AIT), was travelling to his hometown in Ankpa, Kogi State to prepare for his daughters wedding slated for next month when the terrible incident wiped almost his entire family out. The journalist and his family met their death between Ojodu and Ochadamu communities along the Ajaokuta- Ayingba highway. He was said to be travelling in his Peugeot 504 Salon car with three of his children and his pregnant wife when it all ended tragically for them. According to an eye witness account, Ibrahims car was involved in head-on collision when trying to negotiate a bend as a Toyota Hiace belonging to a popular transport company was also trying to overtake him, and his vehicle collided with an oncoming vehicle. He, with his three children, and the wife who was five months pregnant died instantly. The journalist who was in his late 50s had visited the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) press centre Lokoja on the fateful day and had lively chat with his colleagues before he embarked on the journey he never imagined would be his end with the family. Before the incident that ended it all for Ibrahim, he had narrated his ordeal with a motorist who brushed his car on that Thursday morning in Lokoja to his colleagues at the press centre. And he fixed the damage before embarking on the fatal trip. His colleagues at the Lokoja Press Centre said they also saw the same family members he died with as he had brought them to the centre, bought them lunch and went off to fix the damage on his car before setting out for his hometown. During the visit, he had also distributed his daughters wedding invitation to his colleagues and friends on that fateful day. Ibrahim who his colleagues described as professional reporter had worked with several newspapers including the Sentinel, National Mirror, Royal Times and at a point, was publisher of the Trumpet Newspaper before joining the AIT. He had lost his first wife and daughter about five years ago mysteriously. Reacting to the demise of the journalist, the chairman of the correspondents chapel of the Lokoja NUJ, Comrade Friday Idachaba, expressed shock over the sudden death of their colleague and his family members and described him as a very brilliant and hard working journalist who carved a niche for himself in the profession. He condoled with his family members and prayed for the fortitude to bear the heavy loss. His remains and those of family members have since been buried according to Islamic rites. Some members of the Spirol cult group planning to attack a secondary school in Delta state have been apprehended by security operatives. Four teenage boys who are said to belong to the Spirol cult group in Sapele area of Delta state have been apprehended by vigilantes while trying to attack a secondary school. The young boys were nabbed with weapons by the security operatives before they were handed over to the police in the area. They will soon be prosecuted. The acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ( EFCC ) , Mr. Ibrahim Magu, on Wednesday, reinstated that he would not lay back on the planned arrest of a former Director-General of the Department of State Services, Mr. Ita Ekpeyong; and a former DG of the National Intelligence Agency, Ambassador Ayo Oke. Magu said nobody, no matter how highly placed, was above the law of the land. He said the commission has concrete evidence against the former DSS and NIA heads. The EFCC boss spoke after he attended the inauguration of the committee on recoveries of assets at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. The law will take its course, he said. Source: ( Punch Newspaper) An altercation with another woman over an incident has left an Imo State University student nearly dead after she was stabbed with a scissors. The sad story how an Imo state University 100 Level student identified as Glory Ezinne John was almost stabbed to death by her final year roommate has been revealed by a social media user, John Kingsley. According to Kingsley who is a brother to the victim, said that Ezinne John was attacked and almost stabbed to death by the final year student identified as Stacy Onwunezi. The sad incident happened during an altercation. He wrote: The pictures above are that of my injured sister whose life is been threatened by her final year roommate. The final year roommate by name Stacy Onwunezi, is a student of philosophy and religion of Imo state University (IMSU), while my kid sisters name is Glory Ezinne John, a 100 level student of Education, guidance and counselling. With the annoying and callous attitude of the Nigeria Police towards a citizen whose security right is infringed by another, I hereby desire justice. Stacy attacked Glory on Sunday, 19th November, 2017 with a scissor with the intention to kill her on mere argument of who took my cloth? and if you did, please return it- my younger sister requested. With the anger and hate in the ladys heart, the scissor was used to cut her face and hands and she fled afterwards. Stacy went straight to the police station to file a report against helpless Glory. But my younger sister, Glory, had to wait for the caretaker to come around so that she can report the situation to him. On the arrival of the caretaker she narrated the story and they went straight up to the state CID, Owerri. On getting there, Stacy was seen laughing with the police officers in the station which stirred up some curiosity (if justice can be achieved with the familiarity with the officers of the law). On filing her report, Glorys case was trivialized by the state CID. I hereby request for justice for my sister, Glory Ezinne John (100 LEVEL) whose life is threatened by Stacy Onwuzie (400 LEVEL), Philosophy and Religion Department, IMSU. Thank you. By John Kingsley (sibling) 09056420148. 1 /6 Mobike has officially launched its service in Berlin, Germany, according to an announcement by the bike-sharing giant on November 21, 2017. Berlin becomes the first German city where Mobike operates. 2017 marks the 200th anniversary of the bicycle, and Berlin is the 200th city that Mobike operates. According to Chris Martin, vice president of Mobike's international business, the bike was invented in Germany, and it makes Berlin very suitable to become the 200th city for Mobike to do business. As the Chinese domestic market becomes saturated, shared bike companies including Mobike have started to explore foreign markets. [Photo: China Plus/Xu Duo] The Victorias Secret Angels took the runway by storm at the annual Victorias Secret Fashion Show Sunday night in Shanghai. The shows which began airing in 2001 is perhaps one of the biggest modeling events in the fashion world. Although Africa was represented on the runways by nine beautiful women of color we all felt the striking absence of 19-year-old Mayowa Nicholas. Read: Mayowa Nicholas To Walk The Runway At 2017 Victorias Secret Fashion Show And She Is Excited According to Vogue Espana, Mayowa and four other models: Russians Kate Grigorieva, Irina Sharipova and Julia Belyakova and Ukrainian Dasha Khlystun had visa issues and therefore couldnt attend the show. Mayowa has not only hit some of the most coveted runways from Chanel to Fenty x Puma and Oscar de la Renta, she has also been the face of Calvin Klein underwear and would have been a great addition to Sundays VSF Show. When she was announced to walk Victorias Secret Fashion Show she described it as a huge dream come true on social media. There are still tons of opportunities for the runway star and were certain Mayowa will make good use of them all and excel. source: Stargist The Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC) presented the certificate of return to governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano for his victory in the November 18 gubernatorial election in the state. The certificate was handed over to him by the INEC National Commissioner in charge of legal services, Mrs May Agbamuche, who represented the National Chairman of the Commission, Prof Mahmood Yakubu . Speaking, Obiano thanked those who made the election a success, especially President Muhammadu Buhari, who he said did not interfere in the electoral processes. He assured the people of the state that he would not fail in the confidence reposed in him. He said, This is the moment; Im very happy to be here with my deputy, Dr Nkem Okeke to pick our certificates of return to run the affairs of the state for the next four years I thank God for the miracle of 21 over 21, and I sincerely thank our president, Muhammadu Buhari for allowing a free and fair election I want to assure that APGA will be a formidable force in the political space in Nigeria from now on. We are going to make sure that Anambra continues to shine, I and my deputy are not going to fail the people of Anambra; we are going to work harder in making sure that our victory would not be in vain. The certificate was presented to him at the INEC secretariat in Akwa, the state capital. Source: ( Punch Newspaper) A heartless husband has been convicted of murder after he reportedly stabbed his wife to death over alleged infidelity. including an axe, before driving her body to a Lidl car park in Marston Green, Birmingham A jealous husband has been convicted of murdering his wife by stabbing and bludgeoning her to death in a car after suspecting she was having an affair, Dailymail has reported. The man identified as Norbert Chikerema struck Nyasha Kahari, a mother of four, at least 40 times with numerous weapons, including an axe, before driving her body to a Lidl car park in Marston Green of United Kingdom. He was found guilty of the charge by a jury at Birmingham Crown Court. Judge Michael Chambers adjourned sentence until tomorrow morning saying: You have clearly been convicted of a very serious offence of which the sentence is life imprisonment. He said he would hear submissions before deciding on the minimum term he would serve before being considered for release by the parole board. The judge said: Aggravating features being premeditation and planning and also the physical suffering caused to the deceased. The mitigating factors, he said, was that the defendant had been suffering from mild depression and had no previous convictions. Revealing shocking details of the incident, the court heard previously that Chikerema and his wife, also known as Gillian, ran a nursing home business and that he believed she was seeing another man. On January 29 this year they visited a number of addresses, leaving the last one at 11pm and shortly afterwards the defendant attacked his wife. She had been sitting in the front seat of their Nissan and he used an axe to strike his wife over and over again aiming principally at the head and neck. She was strapped in her seat and was effectively defenceless, said Kevin Hegarty QC, prosecuting. Chikerema had initially driven to the family home, covered his wife a blanket and had changed his blood stained clothes. He had previously employed a private detective to follow his wife and during the course of that morning had sent a video to a number of family friends of her meeting another man who he knew. He attacked cars of two men he believed had been seeing his wife with the axe before eventually driving to a Lidl supermarket in Mackadown Lane and phoned police at around 4am. Chikerema, 43, of Overdale Road, Quinton, had denied murder and it was claimed he was suffering from an abnormality of mind function at the time. Female drummer, Ara who is currently working for the Ooni of Ife in Osun State has set eyes of launching a multi million naira academy for drummers. Cultural musician and player of talking drum, popularly known as Gangan, Aralola Olumuyiwa, has expressed her readiness to build a drum academy meant to groom talented youths and individuals across the globe and also to promote creativity. Olumuyiwa, popularly known as Ara, said on Tuesday that the project was expected to commence in January 2018. She said that her purpose of initiating such project was to expose talented youths to African drumming and other cultural heritage for them to be able to compete with their peers from outside the country. The renowned drummer said that foreigners could learn about the African culture and style from the academy. She said, It will be an arena where people from across the world can acquire knowledge about the African culture, tradition and indigenous training in drumming, dancing, drum making and other creative works. The academy estimated to cost N600m on completion will be first of its kind in Africa. It will be a one-stop cultural destination. I am a cultural advocate, I love my culture and I am proud of it anytime, anywhere. According to her, culture is very strategic to human existence; culture is an identity that shows the originality of a person. She advised Nigerians, particularly, parents to inculcate moral and cultural values in their children. It is very important for the young generation to embrace and uphold the African culture. They should not allow it go into extinction. Parents should stop imparting western culture into their wards. Rather, they should teach them to respect, appreciate, value, embrace and be proud of their culture anywhere they find themselves, she said. Ara said that the academy would have an auditorium with the capacity to accommodate 1,000 guests, a library, a museum, an aquatic park, an event centre, classrooms, hostels, and cafeteria and guests chalets. She appealed to individuals, corporate organisations, philanthropists as well as government officials at federal and state levels to support the project in other to reposition domestic tourism in the country. The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Edo State Chapter has apprehended a 50-year-old mother of seven, who allegedly hid 40kg of cannabis in a consignment of vegetables. The state Commander of the agency, Mr. Buba Wakawa, confirmed the arrest to the News Agency of Nigeria in Benin on Tuesday. Wakawa said that the suspect, who lives in Ibadan, was arrested on the Uzebba-Ifon Road on her way to Oyo State with the substance. He said that the agency recovered four bags of dried weeds which tested positive to cannabis from her consignment of vegetables which included bitter leaves and pumpkin leaves. According to him, the command has commenced a strategic motorised patrol across the state to intercept cannabis shipment. Drug barons usually target end of the year. This arrest is a product of motorised patrol embarked upon by the state command as a counter strategy to intercept illegal movement of narcotics. The target is to promptly cut off supply and prevent drugs from getting to the end users, Wakawa said. According to the commander, the suspect claimed that she was a divorcee and needed money to register some of her children for West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination. The commander told NAN that the suspect would soon be charged to court while her accomplice would be arrested. Source: ( NAN ) The Oyo State Police Command has arrested an Islamic cleric and two others for being in possession of two fresh human heads and legs. The Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Odude, presented the suspects to newsmen in Ibadan on Wednesday. Odude said that the suspects confessed to have severed the body parts from corpses at a Muslim cemetery in Isale General Area, Ogbomoso. He said the suspects were arrested by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the command on November 11, following a tip-off by a member of the public. The three young men informed the police that their unbridled desires to get rich quick prompted them to get the human parts for money ritual purpose, he said. The cleric told said that this was his first attempt at using human parts for money rituals. I was told that the preparation of using human parts for ritual is simple and one will become very rich, he said. The commissioner also presented a runaway killer of a member of Oyo State House of Assembly, Gideon Aremu, representing Oorelope Constituency. Aremu was killed on July 1, 2016 at his Alakia residence. The commissioner said the suspect, who escaped to Ekiti, his country home, shortly after committing the act, had been on the Police wanted list. Nemesis caught up with the suspect when he was arrested in his criminal hideout after sneaking into the state and led another armed robbery gang to snatch a motorcycle from its owner at Egbeda area of the state. The suspect and two others operating a motorcycle also robbed two other victims of their valuable property including cash. A Bajaj Boxer Motorcycle with Reg. No AYJ 038 QM which was snatched at gunpoint was recovered from the suspects, Odude said. The commissioner also presented 16 other suspects over alleged armed robbery, cult activities and fraud. He said that the suspects had confessed to the crimes and would be arraigned in court after the conclusion of police investigation. Nigerias capital city, Abuja, will host The next meeting of the Heads of State of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, will be hosted in Nigeria, Abuja, on December 16, 2017. This was confirmed by the President of Togo, Faure Gnassingbe, on Tuesday after he held a closed door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House, Presidential Villa. Briefing reporters after the meeting, the visiting president said apart from discussing ECOWAS matters, he also discussed bilateral and multi-lateral issues. We also reviewed the security situation in our sub region and these range from situation in Liberia, Guinea Bissau and Togo, he said. Mr. Gnassingbe said Mr. Buhari and himself also discussed energy and trade. We also spoke about the reform of the ECOWAS which used to have 15 commissioners and now scaled down to nine commissioners for efficiency and cost efficiency, he said. Mr. Buhari will on Thursday also host Heads of States from the Gulf of Guinea countries during the 4th meeting of the leaders under the Gulf of Guinea Commission. The meeting will hold at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel Abuja under the theme a vibrant Gulf of Guinea Region For Sustainable Development. Source: ( Punch Newspaper ) The manner in which the rich kids of Zimbabwe flaunted their wealth and affluence on social media, has been laid bare in this pos People cheered in the streets as dictator Robert Mugabe was forced to resign. Theyre angry at years of declining living conditions, with a GDP per capita lower than Afghanistan. But you wouldnt know it from these photos, showing how the countrys elite are still finding plenty of wealth to go around. Photos shared online, including by Mugabes sons, show a minority have been living the high life, pouring champagne on their Rolex just cause, wearing $14,000 alligator skin Giuseppe Zanotti trainers and travelling around in silver plated Rolls-Royces and private jets. The younger Mugabes, Robert Jr, 25 and Chatunga, 21, have both shared photos of their luxury lifestyle showing off their bling and expensive cars. Robert Mugabe made headlines after turning up to college in Dubai in a black Batmobile, which he bragged about to 23,000 followers on Instagram. His brother Chatunga was filmed pouring a bottle of Ace of Spades champagne on his Rolex watch at a nightclub just to show off. Their father Robert Mugabe resigned today amid scenes of jubilation in the country. Zimbabweans have been filmed celebrating in Harare with many cheering, dancing and honking car horns. And the celebrations seem to be spreading, with Zimbabweans living in South Africa also taking to the streets in Johannesburg. Zanu PF chief whip Lovemore Matuke said: I am very happy that the president had chosen to go voluntarily. This would have ended in serious embarrassment if the party was forced to impeach Mugabe, he said. Some daredevil armed robbers have reportedly built a a tunnel into a bank which was just bedside a police and made away with cash. It has been revealed that some Kenyan robbers spent months building a tunnel into the bowels of a bank located opposite a police station and stole equivalent of half a million dollars, police said on Tuesday. According to the News Agency of Nigeria, Police said they had arrested two men and one woman over the robbery but had not recovered the 50 million Kenyan shillings, reported missing by staff at the branch of Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) on Monday when they showed up to work. We have not recovered the stolen money, said Simba Willy, sub-county police commander in the town of Thika, northeast of Nairobi, where the heist took place. We suspect the robbers hired one of the shops near the bank (while digging their tunnel), Willy said. The robbers were able to remove the earth during their months-long excavations without arousing suspicion by concealing it in boxes, the Daily Nation newspaper quoted local traders as saying. The traders described the two young men who had rented the store as very hardworking and introverts. KCB, which is the regions biggest bank by assets, confirmed the break-in on Twitter. Kenyans have competition for the title of most ingenious robbery. In October Brazilian police foiled a plot to rob a Sao Paulo bank after discovering a 500-metre underground tunnel kitted out with lighting and ventilation systems. The Senate was put into confusion on Wednesday when a lawmaker Identified as Biodun Olujimi, accused President Muhammadu Buhari of losing authority on his administration. Mrs. Olujimi, PDP-Ekiti, was responding to a motion on the face-off between Nigerias security agencies raised by Dino Melaye, Kogi-APC. Officials of the State Security Services, SSS, and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, were involved in a showdown on Tuesday when EFCC operatives attempted to arrest the immediate past Director-General of the SSS, Ekpenyong Ita. A similar scenario also played out when SSS operatives prevented the anti-graft agency from arresting the former Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, Ayo Oke. Presenting the motion, Mr. Melaye called on the Senate to take an urgent action on the incidents he described as recipe for national disaster. Mr. President, the media and the social media, print and electronics have been awash with a disaster that took place yesterday. The EFCC went to the residence of the former Director General of the SSS, Ita Ekpeyong, to effect an arrest and the Directorate of State Security stopped the EFCC from arresting him. That created environmental brouhaha. The whole environment and neighbours were stopped from lawfully gaining entrance into their homes because of this confusion. Same yesterday, the EFCC wanted to arrest the former DG NIA, Mr. Oke. Also, the officers of the Nigeria Intelligence Agency stopped that arrest. We are not here to say who is at blame. We have been embarrassed before the international community. That two sister agencies will engage in fisticuffs, arrest and stoppage of arrests. Mr. President, this is a recipe for national disaster. Commenting on Mr. Melayes motion, Mrs. Olujimi said President Buhari had lost his authority as nobody was in charge of the current administration. Right now, we have a situation whereby nobody is in charge of anything and we cannot honestly blame anyone for what is happening. The truth is that you cannot go to the house of a security agent, a man who had kept the secrets of Nigeria for so long, and just try to arrest him like chicken. Mr. President, there has to be someone that we can hold responsible when two brothers are fighting. The person that is supposed to be held responsible has not done anything, is not doing his work. This is the first time well see gross irresponsibility in government whereby there is no arbiter. No one to come in between two agencies that belong to only one person. The two agencies report to one person, the presidency and now we find them fighting on the pages of the newspapers, its a shame. We are calling on the President, he has to sit up, he should be up and doing. Call these people to order. She questioned the president on why a new nominee for the position of Chairman of EFCC has not been sent to the Senate. Mr. President, you will remember that we rejected Mr. Magu as Chairman of EFCC and up till today nothing has been said about it. The Senate is divided. Nobody has come out to say we need to resolve the issue. After all, there are 170 million Nigerians, all of a sudden, we are saying only one person can do this job. Mr. President, something has to be done, the presidency has to be called to order. Nobody is in charge of this government. Nobody is in charge and somebody needs to be in charge. Mrs. Olujinmis statement threw the house into a rowdy session as senators on both the ruling and opposition raised their voices to defend their own. Leader of the Senate, in response cautioned Mrs. Olujimi against making such statements, noting that President Buhari is in full control of the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Even when Mr. President was away to attend to his health, the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, was in full control. The statement by our colleague is unacceptable. Its not right, it is wrong, he said amidst a roar of Yes from senators who raised their voices in support. My opinion about what happened is that, could it be that EFCC did not get the right kind of document to arrest those people? If they did, then the security agencies are wrong. Only the investigation would reveal this. The senate resolved to set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate the clashes involving the SSS, EFCC, and NIA over the arrest of Messrs. Oke and Ekpeyong and to report its findings in two weeks. Source: ( Punch Newspaper ) Dancehall artiste Charles Nii Armah popularly known as Shatta Wale is one man that really loves to always be in the spotlight. The self-acclaimed dance hall king has been the most talked about Ghanaian musician over the past month. His visit to President Akufo-Addo became big news while his recent beef with Nigerian act Wizkid is still very much trending. Earlier reported the news of the brewing beef between Ghanaian musician and Wizkid. However, dancehall artiste Shatta Wale is set to enjoy some positive controversy after deciding to flaunt his fleet of cars to the world. In a short six seconds video posted on his Facebook page, the 2014 VGMA Artiste of the Year showed off his latest BMW ride while also making sure that his numerous cars were also captured. Of course Shatta Wale is not new to getting new cars, just last month he was given a brand new G-Wagon as birthday gift by the CEO of EIB Network, Bola Ray. source: Facebook Sadiq Daba who has been diagnosed of leukemia and prostate cancer is about to be flown to the UK for further treatment. Colleagues and friends of the actor have for a while been raising funds for him to further his treatment, and veteran broadcaster Soni Irabor, on his Instagram, has announced that enough has been gathered for the actor to be flown outside the country. News had made rounds back in December that the actor was dying but he quickly cleared the air on his Facebook and said he was responding to treatment. Recently, however, he complained of a shortage of funds, and colleagues and friends rallied around to raise money for him. Soni Irabor shared a video of him, actor Patrick Doyle, Kenny Martins, Joe Okei-Odumakin, and others with Sadiq Daba thanking Nigerians for their support. They added that while they have enough for him to begin treatment again, more is still needed for him to continue. He wrote as the caption: #SaveSadiqDaba Update: So we all came together; Chief Kenny Martins, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, Soni Irabor, Patrick Doyle, Adesina Tiamiyu, Sulaiman Aledeh and others. Its time to say thanks to you all. Sadiq Daba is set to move out for the UK where he will be starting treatment. While we say thanks we say please lets not be stuck mid way with this. We still need more from you. The account is still up and we look forward to receiving from you. God bless you source: Instagram Some persons have gone missing after a United States navy aircraft went crashing inside the Philippine sea en route an American aircraft carrier near Japan. No less than eight people have been rescued after a US military aircraft with 11 people on board crashed into the Philippine Sea en route to an American aircraft carrier near Japan. According to The Sun UK, Japanese and American rescuers scrambled to reach the downed aircraft in seas off the remote reef of Okinotori, in the latest accident to hit American armed forces in East Asia. The government in Tokyo said it had been informed eight people had been plucked to safety and that US authorities had said engine trouble was the suspected cause of the accident. Personnel recovery is under way and their condition will be evaluated by USS Ronald Reagan medical staff, a US Navy statement said. The aircraft came down in the Philippine Sea, south-east of the Japanese island of Okinawa as it tried to join up with the USs attack fleet which was recently deployed in the waters around North Korea. The plane reportedly a C2 Greyhound was on its way to the aircraft carrier the USS Ronald Reagan when the crash happened. The Japan-based 7th Fleet said in a statement that the search and rescue operation has now been launched from the giant ship. The names of those aboard are being withheld while next of kin are notified, the US Navy said in a statement. A United States Navy aircraft carrying 11 crew and passengers crashed into the ocean southeast of Okinawa, the statement read. Personnel recovery is under way and their condition will be evaluated by USS Ronald Reagan medical staff. The aircraft was en route to the US Navy aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, which is currently operating in the Philippine Sea. USS Ronald Reagan is conducting search and rescue operations. The cause of the crash is not known at this time. The US military has a heavy presence in the western Pacific, with tens of thousands of troops and hundreds of pieces of hardware stationed in Japan and South Korea. The USS Ronald Reagan last week was one of three American aircraft carriers that held rare joint drills in the region, joined separately by Japanese navy and South Korean warships over the weekend. The drills come as tensions persist between Washington and North Korea over its missile and nuclear programme. The propeller powered transport plane, a C-2 Greyhound, carries personnel, mail and other cargo from mainland bases to carriers operating at sea. The aircraft has been in operation for more than five decades and is due to be replaced by the long-range tilt-rotor Osprey aircraft. US military vessels have been involved in a number of accidents in recent months in East Asia. The USS John S. McCain collided with a tanker off Singapore in August, killing 10 sailors and injuring five others. Two months earlier in June, the USS Fitzgerald and a cargo ship smashed into each other off Japan, leaving seven sailors dead. There were also two more, lesser-known incidents. In January USS Antietam ran aground near its base in Japan, and in May, USS Lake Champlain collided with a South Korean fishing vessel. Commercial insurance rates dropped for the 18th consecutive quarter, according to new data from Marsh. The company has released its Global Insurance Market Index for the third quarter. While the study found that rates had declined for another quarter, the decline had slowed from Q2. Celebrate excellence in insurance. Join us at the Insurance Business Awards in Chicago. The third quarter of 2017 was the 18th consecutive quarter in which average rates declined globally, largely due to capacity in the network and competitive underwriting, said Dean Klisura, president of global placement and specialties at Marsh. It is worth noting that property damage and business-interruption losses from the recent natural disasters in the US and elsewhere had little to no impact on average rates in the quarter, as they occurred late in the reporting period. Early indications are showing evidence of rate increases for US catastrophe-exposed property risks. Global property rates fell by an average of 1.7% in the third quarter, according to Marsh. Financial and professional lines saw average rates fall by 1.4%. Casualty rates held steady from Q2. Culture is the internal engine of an organization. It needs to be an up-to-date and well-oiled machine if you want a slick and efficient ride.This engine plays a vitally important role in determining the talent pool in your organization. Is the next Mario Andretti of the insurance world going to jump at the opportunity to join a backward-looking company with a rusty old engine? No.Talented individuals in this technology-driven world want innovation, flexibility, passion, purpose and proper communication. They want a hybrid engine that supports their lifestyle and gives them value.We are going through one of the greatest revolutions ever in history. The Internet and the smartphone have fundamentally changed how our world acts and interacts. Companies need to understand that were also working differently, said Patrick Kelly, president, Change Point Consulting.Millennials are the first generation to have grown up in this changing world. They have expectations of culture that companies need to address . This requires honest conversations between everybody in an organization, so that the company can create a set of rules that everybody agrees to play by.Company culture is like a product that you sell, according to Kelly. Its something that needs tweaking and adjusting so that youre always offering a product that people want. It doesnt matter what product youre selling because this cultural notion comes down to the fundamental people relationships within an organization.Human nature dictates that people really want to feel part of a community, they want to feel loved, and they want to know that what they do matters, Kelly added. Every person wants their life to mean something, and if a third of your waking hours are spent at work, you probably want that to mean something too. Insurance organizations need to find the right balance. As part of its $14 million expansion plan, Liberty Mutual is planning to add up to 400 jobs in Carmel, IN.The insurer has plans to lease 56,000 square-feet in the Parkwood Crossing complex for a new site. Currently, Liberty Mutual employs 1,430 in central Indiana. Renovations for the space could start sometime early next year and be complete in the spring.The Indiana Economic Development Corp. (IEDC) said that the new jobs offered by Liberty Mutual expected to be created by 2021 will pay more than the state and Hamilton Countys average wages.This expansion strengthens our already significant commitment to this city and state of Indiana, where weve long been impressed with its talented workforce and quality of life, said Liberty Mutual senior vice-president of talent and enterprise Karen Whiteknact.If approved by the board of directors, the IEDC will offer the insurer up to $5.5 million in conditional tax and training incentives, Inside Indiana Business reported.Last year, Liberty Mutual generated $38 billion in revenue. The company has operations in 30 countries and is considered the fourth-largest property and casualty insurer in the US by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. The North Carolina Rate Bureau has just filed a request for an increase in homeowners insurance rates for next year.State insurance commissioner Mike Causey confirmed that the NC Department of Insurance has received the notice, which is asking for a statewide average increase of 18.7% for 2018.The Mountaineer reported that this is the first homeowners insurance rate filing the Department of Insurance has received from the Rate Bureau since 2014. The previous filing resulted in the first homeowners insurance hearing in over 20 years the insurance commissioner ultimately decided not to change rates then.The last time a rate increase request resulted in higher rates was in 2012. The Rate Bureau asked for a 17.7% increase, but after negotiations settled for an overall statewide average of 7%.The public is given a comment period to address the proposed rate increase. North Carolina residents affected by the planned hike are encouraged to voice their opinions on the matter. Large natural catastrophe losses in 2017 and current low prices are expected to push up pricing in non-life insurance and reinsurance, according to Swiss Re Institutes Global Insurance Review 2017, and Outlook 2018/19 report.The string of natural catastrophes in the second half of 2017, including hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria, earthquakes in Mexico, and wildfires in California, have caused significant losses and drained capital from the Property & Casualty (P&C) sector These losses, alongside generally low prices and a global economy in a cyclical upswing, should support growth in the insurance markets with global non-life premiums forecast to rise by at least 3% and life premiums by about 4% in real terms annually in 2018 and 2019, according to Swiss Re.There has been industry-wide speculation around rate hardening in both non-life insurance and reinsurance as a result of recent natural catastrophes . The three hurricanes and the earthquakes in Mexico caused estimated insured losses of US$95 billion, which is likely to severely impact full year underwriting results.Swiss Re expects the combined ratio in US P&C insurance for 2017 to rise to 109% from 101% in 2016, with the global reinsurance combined ratio expected to jump to 115% from 92%.Price rises in loss-affected segments are already happening and could be substantial, says Kurt Karl, Swiss Res Group chief economist. The ultimate volume of losses is not yet known , but appears to be large enough to cause price increases beyond the affected sectors. This is also happening because prices have fallen so low over the past few years.Global non-life insurance industry profitability has declined in 2017, with return on equity (ROE) down to 3% from 6% in 2016. Premiums are expected to rise by 6% to 7% in real terms annually over the next two years, with emerging markets like China continuing to be the main driver for growth.Karl partly attributes P&C growth to very strong economic growth in Asia, driven by the rising middle class. As the middle class grows and gets wealthier, they buy cars and houses and their insurance needs go up, he said. There are significant opportunities when it comes to China and the emerging markets, added Dan Ryan, Swiss Re Institute head of research. A week ago, Legionnaires Disease hit the headlines when an outbreak occurred at Disneyland in Anaheim, California.In that case, nine people who visited the theme park in September developed the disease. Three more people, who had been nearby but had not visited Disneyland also got sick, including one person with additional health issues who died.Legionnaires Disease, from Legionella bacteria, is contracted when people breathe water vapors or mist from contaminated water, including from water treatment towers, hot tubs, and air conditioning systems. Two water towers at Disneyland, which had elevated Legionella levels, were shut down and chemically treated.Bill Pritchard, president and CEO of wholesale brokerage Beacon Hill Associates, said there had been a real uptick in Legionnaires claims in recent months, as more people become aware of the disease and the insurance coverage.What Ive heard a lot about, anecdotally, is a real increase in Legionnaires-related issues, he said. What Ive been hearing through the marketplace, is a real uptick in claims in hotel properties. Ive certainly seen claims in senior care facilities.People are more aware of it now and are reacting to it and reporting it probably more correctly. On the insurance side, we certainly see a demand or request for that kind of coverage far more frequently now than we did even a year or two ago. Its all of a sudden become a very hot topic.The increase in cases of Legionnaires, and the uptick in policies being written and claims being filed, could be a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation, Pritchard said.I think its an increased awareness that you can insure the exposure [and] I honestly think they feed each other, he explained. I think this uptick in Legionnaires is a function of it happening, and now people realize they can actually buy insurance for it, so were seeing claims because now theres insurance to respond to those claims.Legionella is covered on site-specific pollution policies , Pritchard said, often as part of the mold definition on the policy. It can be carrier-dependent on exactly how the bacteria is covered, though.In some carriers its part of a definition of mold or microbial matter, with some carriers its actually part of the definition of pollutant, and in other carriers its a standalone endorsement, he explained. I work with 20 markets and they all do it a little differently. The county administrator in Sawyer County, an administrative coordinator from Merrill and the administrator of a mental health and substance abuse program in Chippewa Falls are the finalists for the Chippewa County administrators job. The finalists include: Jill Chaffee of Chippewa Falls; Thomas R. Hoff of Hayward; and Randy Scholz of Merrill. Current administrator Frank Pascarella will be leaving as county administrator in December 2017. Pascarella chose not to renew his contract with the county. The countys Executive Committee narrowed the field of applicants at meetings Nov. 13, 14 and 16. Toni M. Hohlfelder, director of the Chippewa County Human Resources department, said the finalists will be interviewed Thursday, Dec. 14, and Friday, Dec. 15. The process will include panel interviews with department heads and elected officials, an evening meet and greet with county board supervisors and will conclude with an interview with the (countys) Executive Committee, she said. The meet and greet event will be at Horizons Lounge and Banquet Center in Tilden. Jill Chaffee Chaffee has worked as mental health and substance abuse for the Western Region Recovery and Wellness Consortium since January 2013. She leads the nine-county Comprehensive Community Services program, that brings services to more than 300 people. Her resume said she leads a three-county consortium for mental health and substance abuse services. She said shes been working with the Chippewa County Department of Human Services fiscal staff to come up with a fiscal process that meets the requirements of Medicaid, administrative code and the Office of the Inspector General. The WRRWC design of our rate setting structure was featured during a state-wide Division of Care and Treatment Services training session. I presented the structure at the request of the state of Wisconsin-Division of Care and Treatment Services. Many counties have adopted our rate setting process, she wrote on her resume. She said while being an advocate for her agency, she continues having a positive working relationship with other counties, state employees and others in her field. She served as regional director and executive director of the Northwest Counseling and Guidance Clinic in Frederic from December 1999-January 2013. She was a mental health therapist for Marshfield Clinic in Chippewa Falls from September 1998 to December 1999, and before that worked in the Manitowoc County Human Services Department from January 1996 to August 1998. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and received her masters of social work degree from the same university. Thomas R. Hoff Hoff has been the Sawyer County administrator since 2015. As the countys first administrator, (Ive) led the county through the transition of changing the form of government from county coordinator to county administrator. (I) also perform the duties of the countys Human Resource director, Hoff writes in his resume. He previously served as manager of financial services for the city of Eau Claire from 1990-2015. There, he said his duties including designing financial systems and reports, develop budgets, and implement processes and controls to ensure regulatory compliance and operational efficiency/accuracy. He also worked as a customer service representative for Marten Transport in Mondovi from 1987-90 and as an office manager for Arbor Freight Service in Eau Claire from 1984-87. He has a bachelor of science degree from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in 1984 and a masters degree in business administration from UW-Eau Claire in 2000. Randy Scholz Scholz has been the administrative coordinator in Lincoln County since 2010. I am currently responsible for a $50 million budget and 450 employees. I have conducted a county-wide Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) audit and ... implements a county wide wage study, he wrote on his resume submitted to Chippewa County. Scholz said he also started a county health wellness program that decreased Lincoln Countys health claims by $1.7 million. During his time with Lincoln County, Scholz said hes filled in as the countys maintenance director, highway commissioner, county clerk and social services director. He served as Lincoln Countys highway commissioner from 2004-2010 and was a highway worker for Lincoln County from 1997-2004. He is a 1992 graduate in criminal justice from UW-Eau Claire. He had a marketing major-minor in management from Mount Senario College from 1986-89. That college has since gone out of existence. Top News - Investor Idea Breaking EV Stock News: Mullen's (NASDAQ: MULN) 'Strikingly Different' EV Crossover Tour Heads to Texas After Completing a Successful Sold Out Stop in Las Vegas BREA, Calif. - November 15, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Mullen Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ: MULN), an emerging electric vehicle ("EV") manufacturer, announces today that it has successfully completed the third stop of the Mullen FIVE Strikingly Different EV Crossover Tour in Las Vegas, Nevada. Top EV Stock News - Investor Idea EV Companies on the Rise: (NASDAQ: MULN) (NASDAQ: TSLA) (NYSE: NIO) (NASDAQ: RIVN) Vancouver, Kelowna, Delta, BC - November 16, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Investor Ideas Investorideas.com, a leading investor news resource covering EV stocks releases a special report on the continued growth within the sector Top AI News - Investor Idea Breaking AI Stock News: FatBrain (OTCQB: LZGI) Acquires UK-based Forecasting Innovator Predictive Black To Help SMEs Optimize Cash Management NEW YORK, NY - November 15, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) FatBrain AI (LZG International, Inc.) (OTCQB: LZGI), the leader in powerful and easy-to-use artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for star enterprises of tomorrow (some call SMEs), has acquired Predictive Black Ltd, a UK-based innovator of real-time cash management, financial insights and business wellness for SMEs. Top Fashion News - Investor Idea New Fashion Designer Launches this Holiday Season in Kelowna and Online; Sweet Dees Creations Fun, Flirty and Affordable Kelowna B.C. - November 14, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) A local fashion designer is launching a new women's line at Kelowna markets and online this Holiday Season that will make heads turn with her whimsical and colourful choices Check out our Podcasts for great investor ideas: Get new posts by email: Subscribe Powered by Investorideas.com Newswire: Subscribe to Investor Ideas Newswire EasyJet said fare levels in Europe were set to rise this winter after it benefited from the woes of Ryanair and other rivals to post record passenger numbers in the last year, prompting its departing CEO to say she was leaving the airline in good shape. The shares climbed 7% in London at one stage, valuing the budget airline at almost 5.43bn (6.11bn). Ryanair shares were also up, gaining almost 3% in Dublin trade, to value the airline at 21.55bn. EasyJets Carolyn McCall landed her last set of results before joining British broadcaster ITV as CEO in January. She will be replaced at Europes second-biggest budget airline by Johan Lundgren, a former executive at travel group TUI. EasyJets strong performance came after a tumultuous few months for the European airline industry, with Monarch, Air Berlin, and Alitalia all going into administration this year. EasyJet said that the resulting reduction in market capacity, made worse by a spate of cancellations at bigger rival Ryanair, was now helping to support prices. Ryanair cancelled more than 20,000 flights after failing to adequately prepare for new pilot-vacation rules. We have taken advantage of capacity coming out, Ms McCall told reporters. Underlying profits before tax for the year to the end of September fell by 17% to 408m, within a forecast range of 405m to 410m and largely due to a 101m hit from exchange rate moves. Analysts are now looking to Ms McCalls successor Mr Lundgren to keep a tight rein on costs when he takes over at the start of December, when he must also quickly get to grips with the airlines planned purchase of parts of Air Berlin. Unit costs per seat increased in the last financial year by 2.4% to 53.52, mainly as a result of the fall in the value of sterling. It said unit revenues per seat fell 0.4% to 58.23 pounds, reflecting a currency benefit, strong ancillary revenue and increased load factors, alleviating ticket pricing pressures. Looking ahead, the company said operations at Berlins Tegel airport would run a headline loss of around 60m in 2018, with one-off costs of around 100m. Much of the costs will come from leasing crewed planes to build up operations over the winter and early summer, with the first flight from Tegel expected to take place in early January. The first half is looking extremely positive and that is as a direct result of the dislocations in the market, Ms McCall said. Heading into next summer, higher oil prices are likely to result in further pressures for carriers, she said so that the strong will get stronger and the weak will get weaker. Reuters, Bloomberg, and Irish Examiner Jurys Inn, which owns five hotels in Ireland and 31 in Britain, looks set to be bought for around 900m by Swedish hotels group Pandox. The impending sale comes after Jurys Inn owner, the US equity fund giant Lone Star which has owned the hotels for the past three years put them on the market earlier this year. At one stage Lone Star had appeared set to seek a stock market listing for its hotels. About 25 other hotels owned by Lone Star in the UK and Ireland, including those operated by Accor, are not part of the transaction. Estates Gazette reported that Lone Star had picked Pandox as the preferred bidder after fighting off rivals, including Queensgate Investments and London & Regional. Stockholm-based Pandox owns 122 hotels across northern Europe, as well as in Canada. Its shares which rose slightly yesterday have risen 13% in the past year. A spokesman in Stockholm said the company wouldnt be adding to a statement released by the hotels firm on the transaction. That statement was limited to confirming that it was in the final stages of talking about the possibilities for a major acquisition. The acquisition concerns a hotel portfolio focused on larger cities in Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland. Pandox would like to emphasise that the deal is complex and that current negotiations may not necessarily lead to an agreement, and that it is not certain that the transaction will be successfully concluded, the Swedish company said. Irish hotel groups appear to have ruled themselves out of bidding for the hotels at an early stage. Davy analyst Joseph Quinn said that rival hotel group Dalata was focused on growing in the UK. Ireland is determined to hold firm on the demand for matching customs rules north and south of the border post-Brexit, the Taoiseach has said. Leo Varadkar said the proposal to avoid a hard border was backed by all members of the EU 27, but he made clear that even if there was a softening of stance among other European leaders he would not back down. "We have the absolute support of the other European Union member states that are remaining," he told the Dail. "We have not come under any pressure as yet to soften our position. "However, I am not so naive as to think that that may not occur. We will avoid at any cost being isolated. However, even if we are isolated, we have to hold to this position, in my view." Responding to claims that the UK and Irish governments' relationship has markedly deteriorated due to their opposing views on how to manage the border, Mr Varadkar insisted personal relations remained "very good". He added: "The difficulty is not so much one of relations or relationships but rather the enormous policy gap that now exists between a United Kingdom government that wants to leave the European Union - it seems to be pursuing a hard Brexit policy by leaving the single market and customs union - and an Irish government that accepts the decision the UK people have made but wants to protect our national interests, not only those relating to trade between Britain and Ireland but our national interests in respect of Northern Ireland as well." He predicted a "difficult few weeks and months ahead" in the Brexit talks. "This is potentially a historic decision for us," he said. Politicians in Dublin and Brussels have warned that if Northern Ireland operated outside the rules of the customs union and single market it could have dire consequences for the island's economy and the cross-border provisions of the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement. Europe is calling for a solution that would see Northern Ireland continue to be in compliance with the EU's regulatory framework, to enable the retention of a free-flowing border. Mr Varadkar told TDs: "We think it can be best achieved if the United Kingdom, either on behalf of all of the UK or on behalf of Northern Ireland, commits to regulatory equivalence, that is to say, that we will operate the same rules and regulations. Without doing that, it is almost impossible to avoid some form of hard border." This week Democratic Unionist leader Arlene Foster accused Dublin and Brussels of acting "recklessly" in regard to Northern Ireland and claimed they were trying to use the region as a bargaining chip. This suggestion of Northern Ireland operating under different trade regulations from the rest of the UK has angered the DUP and other unionists. Earlier on Wednesday, Ireland's foreign minister Simon Coveney claimed the UK was failing to offer credible answers to the "hard questions" Ireland and the EU were asking about the fate of the border. SDLP Deputy Leader Nicola Mallon, Simon Coveney TD and SDLP Leader Colm Eastwood, during a Business Breakfast at Crumlin Road Jail, Belfast. Pic: Declan Roughan/Press Eye/PA Wire Mr Coveney rejected suggestions that Dublin and Brussels are seeking to exploit the uncertainty over Northern Ireland's position to strengthen the EU's hand in the negotiations. "We are certainly not seeking to exploit anything," Mr Coveney said on a visit to Belfast. "We are trying to protect a peace process that so many people from all backgrounds, unionist and nationalist, have worked so hard to create." The Fine Gael minister added: "What's happening here is we are asking the hard questions and unfortunately we are not getting credible answers, which is why I think some people seem to be uncomfortable." Update - 1.10pm: The Minister for Health, Simon Harris, has criticised the failure of some hospital consultants to comply with their contracts. Mr Harris called their failure to deliver their work commitment to the public hospital system "brazen, immoral and unfair." An investigation by RTE found that hospital consultants in 14 out of the country's 47 acute public hospitals treated more private patients than they were allowed to under a contract agreed with the HSE. Minister Harris said: "I can only describe the behaviour highlighted by last nights RTE Investigates programme, as brazen, immoral and unfair. "Some consultants behaving this way brings the system into disrepute and lets down a lot of their colleagues, who go above and beyond every day caring for patients and often work well beyond the hours required under their contracts. We cannot have a situation where people are paid for hours and don't do them. "This would not be tolerated for nurses or other grades in the service." He revealed that the HSE have this morning decided to launch formal investigations in the wake of last nights RTE Investigates programme. Mr Harris said: "It is the responsibility of management to make sure these contracts are being enforced and I have asked the HSE to ensure that more robust measures are in place in 2018 to make sure consultants comply with their contractual obligations. I will require absolute assurances on this point. "For some time my Department has been working closely with the HSE on this. In fact, several months ago, the Department wrote to the HSE emphasising the need to pursue compliance. "In the longer term I have established an independent group, chaired by Dr Donal de Buitleir, to examine the impact of separating private practice from the public hospital system. This was one of the key recommendations of the Slaintecare Report. "I was struck by the personal stories highlighted by RTE last night and the very distressing impact on patients of waiting for procedures, and I would like to assure people that I am committed to improving access for public patients to public hospital care." Earlier: No one is counting consultants hours according to a leading health expert. The claim follows a Prime Time report claiming some consultants spend more time treating private patients than public ones. The HSE says many consultants actually work beyond their contracted hours in public hospitals. But Professor Anthony Staines, from DCU, says there is no one monitoring hours and minutes. "There is a couple of things happening. One is the hospitals have a big incentive to treat private patients because it is a significant source of funding," said Professor Staines. "I do know that it is not being effectively managed and recorded." The Irish Hospital Consultants Association said that it can confidently state that the overwhelming majority of consultants are "working well beyond their contracted hours in an effort to provide care for patients in an under-resourced health care system". Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri has returned to Beirut more than two weeks after announcing that he had resigned from his post while in Saudi Arabia. The shock announcement set off speculation that Mr Hariri had been forced to step down by the Gulf kingdom and was being held there against his will. Michael Obrowski pleaded not guilty to a charge of sexually assaulting the patient, a woman in her mid-twenties. She testified that she went to the doctor at Corabbey Court, Midleton, Co Cork, complaining of stomach pain and diarrhoea and that the doctor conducted an examination of her breasts, vagina, and rectum. At the outset of the trial, the complainant was sworn in and said: I would like to withdraw my complaint. She said it would close a chapter and that she did not want to think about it any more. Judge Sean O Donnabhain asked the witness: Are you refusing to give evidence? She replied: I am not refusing, no. Barrister Siobhan Lankford then opened the case to the jury and formally called the complainant to give evidence. The woman said there was no examination table in the surgery and that the doctor told her to lie down on the floor and that he put a sheet on her. He said he would examine my breast size, she said. He also did a vaginal examination and a rectal examination. He said: Have you shaved for me? And I said: No. He told me to lie down on the floor. He did a vaginal examination and a rectal examination with no reason. She said the vaginal examination took place when she was lying flat on the floor. He examined me like the gynaecologist does, putting his fingers in my vagina, she said. He was wearing gloves. Rectal examination was the same. He put his fingers in my rectum. Donal OSullivan, defence barrister, put it to the complainant that she was completely wrong and that it did not happen. Not alone did he not do it, but the surgery was not open at the time, he said. Mr OSullivan said the complainant claims it happened in March 2012 but that the surgery did not open until April 2 and he called on a painter to give evidence of painting the premises days before this. Mr OSullivan said there was a bed. The painter said there was what he described as a massage table there when he was present. Mr OSullivan said the complainant told gardai that Mr Obrowski told her to strip off totally and gave her a towel. In the witness box, she said she put down what she was wearing below the waist and left her top on and was under a sheet. Mr OSullivan said: If you were asked to strip totally you would remember that. You are saying something completely different now. She replied: It was so long ago. I do remember but not everything. Mr Obrowski said he was a physician for 17 years and decided to open a practice in Midleton, especially for Polish patients as he spoke English and Polish. He said he did not see the complainant in his surgery and did not examine her in the manner described. He said he had severe spinal injuries from accidents in 1982 and 1987 and could only examine patients while standing and with them on a relatively high table. Commenting generally on her allegations, he said: There is no truth to it at all. The trial continues. Communications Minister Denis Naughten said the loan was to safeguard a five-day delivery service to every address in the country. He said the loan was conditional on specific targets being met which would be examined in monthly updates. An Post said it had a loss of 15.6m in 2016 and at this time last year, PWC forecast a loss of 61m in 2017 if no action were taken. Irish Postmasters Union (IPU) bosses said the loan was welcome but called for the immediate implementation of reforms to modernise the organisation. General secretary Ned OHara said: What is important is that a significant portion of this money goes to protecting and securing the post office network and does not get consumed in addressing other problems faced by An Post. Fianna Fail TD Timmy Dooley criticised the loan, saying that it was a glorified job-loss announcement. Lets be under no illusion, the money announced today will be spent on redundancies in the postal delivery side of the business and on retirement packages for postmasters, he said. The pensioning off of postmasters will leave vast swathes of rural Ireland without a post office. This announcement is a short-term fix to An Posts financial difficulties, and doesnt deal with the long-term challenges the post office network is facing. Dominic OConnor, aged 28, faces up to five years in prison. He used a lead to kill the animal in the North in December 2016. He cooked its body and used it as pet food for his other dog, Shadow. His barrister, Chris Holmes, said: Clearly, this is an unusual and extremely disturbing case. The father of two has no memory of the incident, which occurred at his Roden St home in the Co Down village of Kircubbin, his lawyer told Downpatrick Crown Court. OConnor was convicted by a jury last month. He bought the dog on Gumtree from a couple in Lisburn, Co Down, who have not been traced, the court was told. The judge said OConnor strangled it with a lead, stripped it of its skin, butchered it, cooked it, and fed it to his other dog. The other animal has been rehomed and the judge said that social services should be informed of OConnors conviction. Mr Holmes, referring to a medical report, said OConnor exhibited quite disturbing personal symptoms, leading to a psychopathic disorder. He said his client lacked empathy. Consultant psychiatrist Ian Bownes examined the defendant. Mr Holmes added: This is bizarre and the motivation behind it is, basically, inexplicable. Judge Piers Grant challenged the lawyers authority to make those observations, but said much of the evidence came from OConnors own lips and was clear. The defence said OConnor was adopted at the age of four, attended third-level education, and was employed as a mental health nurse, which is deeply ironic, in this case, Mr Holmes added. OConnor has previous convictions, for possession of an offensive weapon and for common assault. His position deteriorated comprehensively in 2015, following the death of his mother and his marriage break-up, his lawyer said. His lawyer said there was a complex and disturbing mental health background in this case. Dr Bownes report suggested he had a disordered personality of the psychopathic type, Mr Holmes disclosed, and a troubled background. The court was told it was an extremely serious and distressing case. Prosecution lawyer, Laura Ivers, said the sentence imposed should be the highest possible of the five-year imprisonment maximum. The judge observed that, in some cases, there could be no explanation for wrongdoing. He adjourned the case for sentencing on November 29. The findings emerge from surveys of parents and schools, administered in tandem with testing of 15-year-olds in reading, maths, and science across more than 50 countries. As well as testing more than 5,700 Irish students at 167 schools in 2015, the Organisation for Economic and Development (OECD) conducted surveys with their parents and principals. Asked how many school staff they would feel comfortable bringing a question about their children to, the average response of Irish parents was 4.6. Across 16 countries where the question was asked, the average was 3.3. Parents here are also likely to know more of their childrens friends, and their parents, than those in other countries. The average Irish parent knows six of their childrens school-friends names, compared to an average of just over five in other countries. They know the parents of five school pals, compared to just three or less among parents in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, South Korea, and Hong Kong. Although parents of children at disadvantaged schools in most countries are likely to have fewer social acquaintances with school staff, friends, or their parents, the gap in Ireland is one of the narrowest. The OECD report said the relationships established by parents with students, staff and other parents are an essential element of a collaborative school. Building solid parent-teacher relationships is certainly important for student behaviour, but the relationships that parents build with their childs friends and their parents can be even more important, says the report. When parents know each other... they can develop consistent norms and guide the behaviour of their children more easily. Despite strong direct involvement in their childrens education, Irish parents are among the least-involved in the running of schools. Second-level principals in 55 countries were asked what proportion of parents participate in local school government, and the average is less than one-in-five (18%). However, responses from Irish principals returned an average of just 11%, although 99% of principals said their schools involve parents in decision-making, much higher than the OECD average of 77%. While the level of involvement in running schools was nearly three times that of UK parents, and higher than the 8% in the much-vaunted Finnish education system, it compares poorly to one-third or more of parents in countries including Brazil, South Korea, and parts of China. Despite prolonged and pointed questioning from members of the opposition, both Ms Fitzgerald and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar are likely to face further interrogation today as many details around when Government were first made aware of a smear campaign against Sgt McCabe remain unclear. Some of the unanswered questions that remain include: Did Ms Fitzgerald fully read a May 2015 email first sent to her private secretary and then forwarded to her? This email detailed legal argument which had arisen at the OHiggins Commission around a serious criminal complaint which Sgt McCabe believed had no relation to the investigation; If she read the email, which she confirmed in the Dail was sent to her, why did she not act on it or question it further? Why was the email sent to her in the first place if she was not required to take any actions on it? Why did it take four days from last Thursday for Ms Fitzgerald and the Department of Justice to inform the Taoiseach of the existence of the email? Why was this email only sent to the Charleton Tribunal yesterday morning and not last Thursday, when it was retrieved? A day of high drama during which the Taoiseach was accused of misleading the Dail began with a meeting between Mr Varadkar, Ms Fitzgerald, and Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan over the revelation that the Tanaiste received details via email of a campaign to discredit Sgt McCabes as far back as 2015. Just last week, Mr Varadkar told the Dail that Ms Fitzgerald had first became aware of An Garda Siochanas legal strategy in 2016 when the controversy was revealed by the Irish Examiner. Yesterday, however, Ms Fitzgerald went on RTE radio to admit she received an email in May 2015 detailing a row between counsel representing An Garda Siochana and counsel for the garda whistleblower, Sgt McCabe. In the radio interview, which appeared to raise more questions than it answered, she claimed she had forgotten the details of this email, as she had been told there were no actions required from her in relation to the legal strategy taken. Her explanation was dubbed a stretch of credibility by members of the opposition, with Fianna Fail, Sinn Fein, and Labour all demanding explanations during Leaders Questions yesterday afternoon. The email was eventually made public last night during a special Dail session, during which Ms Fitzgerald was grilled on the matter. Crucially, the Department of Justice email confirms that former Garda commissioner Noirin OSullivan did authorise the use of these allegations against Sgt McCabe, or reference to them, by her lawyers during the OHiggins Commission. In the email, officials in the Department of Justice confirmed that the Garda Commissioners authorisation had been confirmed. The Tanaiste faced further difficulty last night after she was accused of attempting to withhold information from the public during the hastily arranged Dail debate on the controversy. Fianna Fail justice spokesman Jim OCallaghan said the new details are completely at odds with what you said before, while Labour leader Brendan Howlin told Ms Fitzgerald that, instead of holding gardai to account, you simply forgot. Despite the criticism, Ms Fitzgerald responded: What possible advantage to me would be to say I did not remember the email? Mr Varadkars spokesman said he absolutely had confidence in the Tanaiste, as did coalition partners the Independent Alliance, who said the issue should be addressed by the Charleton tribunal. Mr Varadkar also spoke with Sgt McCabe last night about the Department of Justice email. His spokesman said this was because it mentioned the whistleblower and Mr Varadkar wanted to tell Sgt McCabe of its contents. It also emerged yesterday that the email was only sent to the Charleton Inquiry yesterday, despite the fact that it was dug up by the Department of Justice last week. A Government spokesman also said it was impossible to say if Mr Varadkar would have raised the issue in the Dail if the email had not been revealed by RTE on the Monday night. Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald reiterated that she had no hand, act, or part in any campaign to smear Sgt McCabe and only became aware of such details after receiving the Department of Justice email in May 2015. Court Strikes Abortion Buffer Zone Law Contact: Liberty Counsel, 407-875-1776, Media@LC.org; Press Kit NEWARK, N.J., Nov. 22, 2017 /Christian Newswire/ -- A New Jersey federal court struck down a City of Englewood eight-foot buffer zone that prohibits pro-life speech near abortion facilities. Applying the U.S. Supreme Court's unanimous 2014 opinion in McCullen v. Coakley, which held unconstitutional an identically worded Massachusetts buffer zone law, the New Jersey court ruled the ordinance violates the First Amendment. The decision provides fresh optimism for Liberty Counsel's lawsuit against the City of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to strike down the twenty-foot buffer zone ordinance passed by the City at the behest of Planned Parenthood. The Harrisburg ordinance violates the constitutional rights of Liberty Counsel's clients Becky Biter and Colleen Reilly, who are Christian sidewalk counselors being prevented from telling women about alternatives to abortion they will not hear once inside Planned Parenthood. Just as in Englewood, the Harrisburg City Council failed to consider any less restrictive alternatives to its speech ban, opting instead to become enthusiastic agents for the Planned Parenthood agenda. Both New Jersey and Pennsylvania are in the same federal appellate jurisdiction, covered by the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals, where Liberty Counsel has already secured an early victory in the Harrisburg case. The Harrisburg trial court is now bound by the favorable Third Circuit ruling as the case proceeds, and should be favorably influenced by the plainly sound reasoning of its sister court in New Jersey. "The New Jersey decision is a great example of clear constitutional reasoning, uncorrupted by the 'abortion distortion' that has pervaded so many court decisions since Roe v. Wade," said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. "The decision should be an encouragement to pro-life sidewalk counselors around the country, and a warning to state and local governments who increasingly abdicate their duties to uphold the constitutional rights of their citizens in order to carry water for Planned Parenthood," 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. The Government says Frances Fitzgerald was busy travelling in recent days, including in Dubai and Boston, and therefore only spoke with the Taoiseach about the email on Monday night. The spokesman has also said it is impossible to say if this Department of Justice email would have been raised in the Dail yesterday-if it had not been revealed by RTE late on the Monday night. The Government is facing a series of questions about what the department and Tanaiste both knew about Garda efforts to undermine Sgt McCabe in mid 2015 during the OHiggins Commission. RTE revealed on Monday night that the justice department and Ms Fitzgerald had in fact been aware of disagreement at the OHiggins Commission in May 2015 and the legal strategy of gardai. She had originally said last week she had not been aware of any Garda strategy until May 2016. However, she has since changed her position. Many questions are only now emerging as to why the Tanaiste did not tell Mr Varadkar about this crucial email last week, on the Thursday when the original email information was sent to her. A government spokesman confirmed that Mr Varadkar was not made aware of this email until Monday night. Furthermore, it was made clear that the Taoiseach in fact sought out this email and this was four days after the Department of Justice had passed it onto the Tanaiste, on the Thursday. The spokesman confirmed there were incidents when the Department of Justice gave incorrect information to the Taoiseach. This was always regrettable, he said. However, the spokesman also said Mr Varadkar had heard about this email on Monday night and that was why he went looking for it. It was impossible to say if the Taoiseach would have addressed the issue of the email when he spoke in the Dail yesterday if it had not been revealed late on the Monday night by RTE, the spokesman added. The spokesman reiterated that Mr Varadkar had done his best to get clarity around matters concerning Sgt McCabe and also considered him a brave man. It was also confirmed that this Justice Department email, which outlined a disagreement between lawyers for gardai and Sgt McCabe, was only sent yesterday to the Charleton Tribunal, the inquiry looking into an alleged smear campaign against the whistleblower. A government spokesman last night said the Taoiseach had learned of the email while talking to Cabinet colleagues on the Monday night, but did not specify when. CAPTAIN Brian Prendergast always had a gra for playing music. When he cast around for a job as a musician in 1980, the Defence Forces School of Music was the obvious choice. He was following a well-worn path by family members. Three uncles, his father who spent 46 years in the army band, as well as Prendergasts brother all carved careers from the same route. Prendergast was 17 years old when he arrived in Dublin to train at the armys School of Music in Rathmines. The Defence Forces School of Music were taking what wed call boys, he says. They were called Boys Company, aged from 14 upwards. We got guys who were playing in local bands. Fellas who joined up with me from Cork played in the Mayfield Band, for instance, or the Cork Butter Exchange Band or Barrack Street Band. They came to Dublin basically to become professional musicians so they were trained as soldiers. It was like an apprenticeship. We joined the army, but we were non-combatant so none of our guys learned to use weapons. When I joined up, I just wanted to play music. It was only later when I developed as a musician that I took an interest in arranging and conducting, and the other side of music. I feel thrilled and privileged to end up being the conductor of the band. Prendergast spent a quarter of a century as a band member as a euphonium player and a principal bassoonist in the Band of 1 Southern Brigade, or the Band of the Southern Command as it used be known, before being commissioned as an officer. He was appointed conductor of the band in 2007. There are currently three army bands in the Defence Forces. In Prendergasts Southern Brigade which was posted to Cork in 1926 and is the longest-serving unit in Collins Barracks there are 30 band members; 25 in the Band of 4 Western Brigade, who are based in Athlone; and 38 in the Army Number 1 Band, which is located at Cathal Brugha Barracks, Dublin. The bands have hectic itineraries. Each band has programmes of recital and concert work. We have an education programme for schools as well. Some of the guys in the band would have seen the band in a school setting, which sowed the seed for them becoming professional musicians with us, says Prendergast. They also have numerous military parades and state occasions to fulfil, from state funerals to visiting heads of states. Marquee events include the arrival of American presidents John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1963) and Barack Obama (2011); Pope John Paul IIs engagements in 1979; and plans are afoot for next years papal visit. For Prendergast, the 1916 centenary celebrations and Queen Elizabeth IIs receptions in 2011 stand out. Last year, doing the 1916 event in Dublin where we had soldiers marching down OConnell Street gives me a sense of pride because it showed the Defence Forces in a very positive light. The band had such a huge involvement in those parades. It was one of those events that was close to my heart. To be at the forefront of the queens visit was special. I sometimes say to the band members: How close we are to historical events. The queens visit was one of those events where you could say, I was there. Our band played outside the English Market in Cork on the day of her visit here. The warmth and the welcome she received stood out. One of the Army Bands defining traits is its endurance. If there is an injury to a band member a broken finger, say, or an illness there is no facility to bring in a hired hand for a day, as would happen with a regular concert orchestra if a player got sick. If a fellow does go down, we manage quite well, says Prendergast. I might know a guy is missing, but from a performance point of view, most of the audience mightnt spot that we were missing somebody. Foul weather is another imposter that has to be dealt with. For President Cearbhall O Dalaighs state funeral in March 1978 in Sneem, Co Kerry, the army band members got such a drenching that some of their uniforms shrunk. You might have to march quite a long distance in the rain or the cold or biting winds, but it still has to be done, says Prendergast. Thats the nature of the beast outdoors work in all weathers. We get the other side too. I remember doing parades in Saumur, France, and it was the opposite the heat was unbearable. We had to march around in uniform for four or five days. Early starts are a feature of the work, too, if, for example, the band has an engagement in Galway at 8.30am it means leaving Cork around 6am. The early-morning starts and the travel are hard on the system, he says, but its more than compensated for doing a job most of us like doing. Its very difficult to find a job where youre performing music in this country professionally unless you either go down the route of teaching or playing in a function band. Were some of the lucky ones. Fritz Brase the future Nazi who founded the army bands WHEN the Irish Free States army chief of staff General Richard Mulcahy went looking for someone to head up the new Army School of Music, he hit on a German composer and conductor named Wilhelm Fritz Brase or Brassy Brase, as he became known. Brase was prolific in his role. He landed in Ireland in March 1923. He was taken to the Curragh Camp in Co Kildare and shown an old stable to work from. He reared up, and was given a building in the barracks, which the Board of Works renovated. Within two months, he had patched together a performing band for its first recital, and later established three additional army bands by 1928 as well as six pipe bands. Brase was infamous for trying to establish a branch of the Nazi Party in Ireland around 1935 which was prevented by the Defence Forces high command. He was told to cease and desist, says Captain Brian Prendergast, conductor of the Band of 1 Southern Brigade. Brase was also famous for his arrangements of Irish folk airs. They were fantasies of Irish music. They have a kind of Germanic tinge to them. Theres a Wagnerian use of harmony. They still stand the test of time, says Prendergast. Brase retired in 1940, owing to ill health. He died a day later. Charity Concert Cara OSullivan The Band of 1 Southern Brigade will play with Cara OSullivan at St Fin Barres cathedral in Cork in aid of St Lukes Home, next Wednesday, Nov 29. Tickets 30 from Irish Examiner Office, Oliver Plunkett St, Cork. This domain was recently registered at Namecheap.com. Please check back later! ARE you concerned about hate crime, anti social behaviour or domestic abuse? Representatives from the Isle of Wight Community Safety Partnership (CSP), which includes the Isle of Wight Council, police and health services, will be available to answer questions at the Riverside Centre, Newport, at 2pm next Thursday (November 30). The public meeting follows the publication of the CSP's annual report, which revealed huge rises in violent crime, domestic violence, burglary and serious sexual offences as reported exclusively by the County Press. Superintendent Sarah Jackson, who oversees policing on the Island, said: "The safety of the Island's diverse communities is at the core of our work, by working together we can successfully address issues that our local communities have expressed concerns about." The agenda will include a progress report on the CSP's efforts to reduce crime and disorder, a profile on serious organised crime and a report on tackling substance misuse. To ensure a reply, questions should be submitted in advance by tomorrow (November 23), by emailing community.safety@iow.gov.uk Black, Jewish, Americanmy triple consciousness When I read the news about Kanye West, I didnt know whether to turn off my phone, or throw it. I knew it would only... Make your voice heard by voting in the Nov. 8 election The 2022 Election is fast approaching. Voting will be held on Nov. 8, less than one week from now. Nationally, control of the House and... An effort to improve the Boston-Thurmond neighborhood ran into strong headwinds Tuesday night, as people said they wanted to talk about the future of Plaza Apartments and not a neighborhood plan. A new nonprofit group called the Boston-Thurmond Innovation Network (BTIN) has been organized to lead a neighborhood improvement effort focusing on housing, education and wellness. Tuesday, more than 50 people packed a meeting room at St. Mark Baptist Church on Manly Street and heard about the new effort, which includes joining a nationwide network called Purpose Built Communities that shares ideas about community betterment. Thats not what the audience wanted to hear. They wanted to know if theyre going to have to move. People watched a video about how the effort has helped a neighborhood in Spartanburg, S.C. And they heard Sylvia Oberle, the executive director of BTIN, explain how the effort is not a top-down plan, but one that is directed by residents. The BTIN group is getting started with the help of Wake Forest University. What didnt sit well with Tuesdays audience was BTINs idea of getting the improvement effort going by acquiring and tearing down Plaza Apartments, where many of the people at the meeting live. We thought that yall were focusing on the Plaza, said Kelvin Thompson, a resident of Plaza Apartments. We dont care about Wake Forest. We want to know what you plan on doing about the Plaza. We cant focus on Spartanburg, South Carolina. BTIN has said that the idea is to replace Plaza Apartments with mixed-income single- and multifamily housing, with a majority of the apartments reserved for low-income people. The apartments are owned by the city of Winston-Salem, and leased to the Housing Authority of Winston-Salem for operation. A woman who spoke at length, and who would not give her name afterward, said that people at Plaza Apartments have no complaints: This is home for us, the woman said. People live down here and we want to know if we will have a home next year and how can we stop this process? Some people in Boston-Thurmond fear the BTIN effort is the first step to a gentrification effort that would kick poor people out of their neighborhood. Oberle sought to allay those fears, but a frequent critic of city government who came to the meeting, JoAnne Allen, accused city and university leaders of using the effort to make a profit, and told residents that when they rebuild you are not going to be part of the process. Council member D.D. Adams, whose North Ward includes much of the neighborhood, didnt speak during the meeting, but said afterward that it will now be harder for the BTIN effort to win the communitys trust. You saw what happens when you dont communicate with the community directly, Adams said. You can propose an idea, but you have to let the community make that decision or get their feedback. I dont think that happened. I dont think they knew their audience the way they should have known. Phil Carter, a former candidate for city council, told people at the meeting that they need to go to City Hall and tell the council directly that they dont want Plaza Apartments sold. After that, Carter said, residents should become the community leaders of the project. Then you decide where you want to go, Carter said. I believe in revitalization. It does not have to create gentrification. The meeting was organized by Neighbors for Better Neighborhoods, a nonprofit group. Oberle, speaking near the start of the meeting, acknowledged that communications with people in Boston-Thurmond could have been better. I wish I could have talked to everyone in the room, Oberle said, adding a little later that mistakes will be made along the way. Oberle and Neighbors for Better Neighborhoods officials said they will continue their effort, but know they need to have more community meetings. In the meantime, the Winston-Salem City Council is slated to further discuss the BTIN proposal in committee on Dec. 12. Amber Baker, the principal of Kimberley Park Elementary School, evoked community pride as she spoke first during Tuesdays gathering: We dont want to end up being a sign along the side of the road saying this was once a vibrant African-American community, she said. Baker said the BTIN advocates were trying to take this too fast as it became clear Tuesday that people didnt want to talk about the neighborhood plan. They need to know what is going to happen to their homes, she said. DURHAM A North Carolina mall got a live and unexpected Christmas display when a small deer broke through a glass door and became stuck in a metal gate. Authorities tell local media outlets that the deer broke into Northgate Mall in Durham Wednesday morning and was stuck in a gate near the mall's carousel. While no mall workers were injured, officials think the deer hurt itself when it crashed through the door. A large pool of blood was seen on the floor. Animal control workers tranquilized the deer and removed it from the gate. There was no word on the deer's eventual fate. Reporting a human-interest story usually goes like this you spend time with someone, ask them personal questions, get their photo, write their story as best you can and move on to the next person. Ill confess that I have a hard time remembering many people Ive interviewed over the past 20 years, which is more a testament to my faltering power of recall than the memorability of their stories. But some people have remained lodged in my memory bank. Quishia Stone is one of them. In 2010, Quishia, then a junior at Carver High School, won an essay contest sponsored by Hanesbrands, asking students to write about challenges. The company, which has a longtime partnership with the school, was testing a new brand of outdoors clothing on an Everest expedition with Canadian climber Jamie Clark and was offering a unique opportunity to a student who best described their personal Everest. The prize was a 21-day trip to Nepal, with 11 of those days spent trekking in the Himalayas to the Mount Everest base camp, which, at 17,700 feet, is a formidable challenge for an experienced hiker, much less a 17-year-old with little hiking experience. Quishias mother, LaShonda, and a guidance counselor, Theresa Hamer, accompanied her. I was extremely envious. But what an opportunity for Quishia. I wrote before and after stories on their trip, with the after story filled with her recollections of high-altitude hiking, the humility of the Nepalese and the intensity of being in such a remote corner of the world, cut off from First World creature comforts. Through the years Ive wondered about the trips long-term impact on Quishia and LaShonda, who was raising two children on her own while studying interior design at Salem College. Being in such sacred spaces and what can be more awe-inspiring than staring into the face of Everest, the worlds highest peak at 29,000 feet? can be profound. So more than seven years after last talking to them, I called each of them up. Turns out, the Everest journey was life-changing for the Quishia and her mom, deepening their spirituality, pushing them to chase dreams and teaching them gratitude. The trip had an extremely big impact on my life, and within myself, Quishia said. Seeing how they live, how the children live, it was simplicity at its finest. They didnt have much and were so grateful and so kind and so generous. It made me very grateful for what I have. In the immediate aftermath of the trip, the Stones were featured in O, the Oprah Magazine. Quishia talked at several schools and civic clubs about her trip, which taught her public-speaking skills. Quishia, whom I remembered as bright-eyed and exuding a self-assurance lacking in many teenagers, studied audio production at Howard University in Washington, D.C., graduating in 2016. Ever the adventurer, Quishia moved to Los Angeles on her own earlier this year, and works as a DJ. She hopes to open a music production studio. I pretty much packed up and came out here myself on a dream and a dollar, Quishia said by phone last week. I asked her if the trip to Everest helped give her the courage to move to the West Coast by herself. I would say it did. The trip was outside anything Id ever do. Im very adventurous and love trying new things. It helps me grow as a woman, Quishia said. The trip also inspired her to spend more time in nature. I love hiking. I go all the time out here, she said. Going to Nepal opened my eyes up to wanting to be in tune more with nature. Quishia stays in touch with a Sherpa she met on the trip. He has his own trekking company now, and she hopes to partner with him to find ways to bring more money into Nepal. People dont always believe Quishia when she tells them about her trip to Nepal. It sounds so absurd for someone like me to do that, she said. Her freshman year at Howard, she gave a presentation on her trip. Friends told her that until that presentation, they brushed off her tale of hiking in the Himalayas. I have to tell them, Google my name and youll see. I like to tell people about it because not many people can say they did that, Quishia said. The trek to the Everest base camp altered the trajectory of LaShonda Stones life too. Just six years before the expedition, she was a single mother, raising her two kids, as well as her sisters, who was incarcerated. Taking on mothering duties for her sisters children meant she had to drop out of college and a home-ownership program. I was in a depressed state, LaShonda said earlier this week. By the time of the expedition, LaShonda had re-enrolled at Salem College to study interior design. The college was supportive, allowing her to take a three-week break during the school year without any penalties. Their belief in her, as well as the trek, pushed LaShonda to start her own interior design business, Mansion House of Design, the next year. Who can say theyve been to Everest? LaShonda asked. I dont believe God put us in that place for us not to grow from it. It gave me more motivation to keep striving toward goals I had been working on. The high altitude wreaked havoc on LaShondas health, but she pushed through exhaustion to the base camp, knowing that if she bailed on the hike, the entire hike would end, depriving her daughter of a powerful experience. While on the hike, she listened to an MP3 player filled with gospel and Sade songs that a friend had made for her. As those songs played, LaShonda said she felt the presence of God wash over her. I had a vision, and it all registered on me, that there is a God, there is a creator, someone created these mountains, these glaciers, she said. I was really connecting with God. On the trip home, she decided to start a spiritual group, Gods Ladies of Wisdom, now in its seventh year. She also works as an event planner. I felt the need to come back and share not just my story but how wonderful (God) is, LaShonda said. It changed my life. [JURIST] Venezuelan Supreme Court justices currently in exile have filed a complaint [materials, in Spanish] with the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] accusing President Nicolas Maduro [Britannica backgrounder] of crimes against humanity. The complaint was initially filed [Miami Herald report] with the Venezuelan Supreme Tribunal of Justice (STJ) by Hebert Garcia Plaza, a former member of the Maduro cabinet. However, the STJ stated that many of the actions alleged in the complaint could potentially qualify [El Nacional report, in Spanish] as crimes under the Articles Five, Six, and Seven of the Rome Statute [text, PDF] and that, under Venezuelan law, it did not have jurisdiction to consider the matter. Accordingly, the complaint was filed with the ICC. The complaint alleges that Maduro, along with approximately 60 other government officials, has aggressively and violently pursued civilian dissenters in the country and effectively branded them enemies of the state. The complaint states that the alleged crimes of Maduro may bring about the: painful but inevitable situation in which at least some 20 million Venezuelans may be forced to leave their country or run the risk of dying due to malnutrition, lack of medication, or be imprisoned or murdered by government forces. The complaint further alleged that Maduro has been asking for the loyalty of Venezuelans before they are granted the opportunity to apply for a Homeland Card, a piece of documentation which grants access to the scarce food and health resources that are currently available in the country. This is not the first complaint filed with the ICC alleging Venezuelan officials committed these crimes. Last Thursday, Luisa Ortega Diaz, Venezuelas deposed chief prosecutor, also filed a complaint with the ICC calling for the arrest [JURIST report] and trial of top Venezuela officials for crimes against humanity. Ortega Diaz alleged that 8,290 deaths took place between 2015 and June 2017 on government orders. She also charged the government officials with over 17,000 arbitrary and politically motivated arrests, hundreds of cases of torture, and the general paramilitarization of the civilian population. NGOs have also recently released reports that seem to support the allegations levied by Diaz and the justices. Earlier this month Amenesty International (AI) [advocacy website] published a report [JURIST report] accusing Venezuelan officials of doing illegal nightly home invasions of individuals suspected of dissent in an effort of intimidation. AI received reports of 47 illegal home invasions between April and July 2017 in 11 different districts across the country. The raids are believed to have been completed by Venezuelan government security forces and occurred during a period of heightened protests and demonstrations. Ahead of the judgement Wednesday of Bosnian Serb army chief Ratko Mladic, here is a timeline of the 1990s Balkans conflicts that tore apart the former Yugoslavia. - Bickering after Tito dies - Communist Yugoslavia, which emerged shortly after the end of World War II, was made up of six republics: Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro and Macedonia. Following the death of its autocratic leader Josip Broz Tito in 1980, the Yugoslav federation found itself in crisis, with bickering between ethnic groups and surging nationalist sentiments. By the time the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, inter-ethnic relations in Yugoslavia were at breaking point. The first multiparty elections in the republics in 1990 were won mostly by nationalists. The most prosperous republics, Slovenia and Croatia, started advocating a greater decentralisation of Yugoslavia's government. But the largest republic, Serbia, led by Slobodan Milosevic, rallied fellow Serbs throughout Yugoslavia in a push for centralised control. - Slovenia and Croatia declare independence - On June 25, 1991, the parliaments of Slovenia and Croatia declared independence, which led to the deployment of the Belgrade-controlled Yugoslav army (JNA) towards affected borders and airports. After a 10-day conflict, the JNA withdrew from ethnically homogeneous Slovenia. But in Croatia, Serbian troops sided with ethnic Serb rebels who opposed independence, launching what would become a four-year war. The eastern town of Vukovar was razed to the ground during a siege by Yugoslav forces in autumn 1991, while the medieval Adriatic town of Dubrovnik was severely damaged. - Bosnian referendum - In Bosnia, the most ethnically and religiously diverse republic and home to four million people, Muslims and Croats organised an independence referendum. The move was fiercely opposed by Belgrade-backed Bosnian Serbs, who made up more than 30 percent of the population. While Serbs boycotted the vote, 60 percent of Bosnia's citizens voted for independence. - Bosnian war - In April 1992 war broke out between Bosnia's Muslims and Croats, who were on one side, and Bosnian Serbs. Bosnia won international recognition a day later. Led by Radovan Karadzic and armed by the JNA, the Serbs declared that territories under their control belonged to an entity called Republika Srpska. Soon after, Bosnian Croats turned against the republic's Muslims. - Siege of Sarajevo - Bosnian Serb troops immediately started a siege of the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo which would last 44 months. The city's 350,000 residents struggled to get basic necessities and at least 10,000 were killed by sniping and shelling by Serbs. By May 1992 Bosnian Serbs controlled two-thirds of Bosnia. - Ethnic cleansing - In August the first images of skeletal prisoners in camps awoke the world to the campaign of ethnic cleansing by Serb forces. An estimated 20,000 women, mostly Muslims, were raped. - Srebrenica massacre - In July 1995 Bosnian Serb forces took over the UN-protected "safe area" of Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia and massacred up to 8,000 Muslim men and boys. Described by two international courts as genocide, the massacre was the worst mass killing in Europe since the end of World War II. - NATO airstrikes, Dayton agreement - In August 1995, after the fall of Srebrenica and the bombing of a Sarajevo market in which 41 people were killed, NATO unleashed airstrikes on Bosnian Serb positions. On November 21, 1995, following three weeks of talks in the US city of Dayton, Ohio, the leaders of Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia agreed to a peace deal. In December 1995 a NATO peacekeeping force was deployed in Bosnia, which had been divided into a Muslim-Croat Federation, covering 51 percent of the territory, and a Serb entity, the Republika Srpska. - The Kosovo conflict - War then broke out in 1998 in Serbia's southern province of Kosovo between ethnic Albanian rebels seeking independence and Serbia's armed forces. The fighting ended in 1999 after an 11-week bombing campaign by NATO, by which time about 13,000 people had been killed and hundreds of thousands had fled their homes. Kosovo declared independence in 2008, a move Serbia refuses to recognise. - Legal postscript - The International Criminal Court for the Former Yugoslavia, established in 1993, has continued prosecuting those responsible for war crimes since the end of the conflicts. It has indicted 161 people, convicted 83 and acquitted 19. Among those sentenced is Bosnian Serb wartime leader Karadzic, while Milosevic died in prison before being judged. The court is scheduled to close down on December 31, and a separate tribunal has been set up to handle remaining appeals and other issues. UN war crimes judges will on Wednesday seek to close a chapter in the brutal Balkans conflicts of the 1990s, handing down a historic verdict in the genocide trial of former Bosnian Serbian commander Ratko Mladic. Dubbed "The Butcher of Bosnia," Mladic's trial is the last before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), and the judgement has been long awaited by tens of thousands of victims across the bitterly-divided region. The man, who remains a hero to many in Serbia, has denied 11 counts including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the 1992-1995 war that killed 100,000 and displaced 2.2 million as ethnic rivalries tore Yugoslavia apart. Now 74, Mladic is the highest military commander to be judged by the tribunal set up in 1993 and based in The Hague. The verdict is set to start at 0900 GMT. Prosecutors accuse Mladic and his political counterpart Radovan Karadzic of seeking through ethnic cleansing to "permanently remove" Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats from areas claimed by Bosnian Serbs. Wednesday's verdict "is one of the most important in the history of the tribunal", chief prosecutor Serge Brammertz told AFP. Mladic "was the mastermind behind the killing of thousands of people," he said. In a twist of fate, former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic died in 2006 while on trial. - Genocide - Caught after 16 years on the run, Mladic faces two genocide charges including for the 1995 massacre in northeastern Srebrenica, where troops under his command slaughtered almost 8,000 Muslim men and boys. The killings, in which the victims were marched away, shot in the back and dumped in mass graves, was one of the darkest episodes in the conflict, and has been called the worst atrocity on European soil since World War II. Once a brutish military commander who strode around in combat fatigues, Mladic will also be judged for directing a 44-month campaign of sniping and shelling to terrorise citizens in Bosnia's capital Sarajevo, which left about 10,000 dead. Mladic is further charged with taking hostage more than 200 NATO military personnel and keeping them as human shields to prevent NATO air strikes against the Bosnian Serb army. "Based on the evidence we have presented, based on (Mladic's) high level of responsibility, I'm expecting the highest sentence," said prosecutor Brammertz. Nothing less than a life sentence "will be acceptable to us," he said. In a complex case spread over five years, almost 600 witnesses testified and more than 10,000 exhibits were presented. - 'Not a monster' - But defence lawyers -- who in past days filed a flurry of requests to have their ailing client's health assessed -- have slammed his trial as "political" and said it failed to reconcile ethnic groups in Bosnia. They insist he is "not a monster" and have called for his acquittal. "History will deliver its judgement with distance," Miodrag Stevanovic told AFP. Having suffered at least three strokes, Mladic could die at any moment, his lawyers said. Rumours whirled on the eve of the verdict that he might not even show up in court. His ill-health has left him with "part paralysis of the entire right side of his body," lawyer Dragan Ivetic added. The stocky military leader, who saluted judges at his first appearance in 2011 shortly after his arrest and deportation from Serbia, has always denied the charges. - 'We need justice' - For victims of the atrocities committed by the Bosnian Serb army however, the time has come for Mladic to face justice. Munira Subasic, president of the Mothers of Srebrenica, who said she had begged Mladic to spare her son, told AFP the truth had to be unveiled. "We need truth, we need justice. Without justice there's no trust, without trust there's no reconciliation," she said. In the northwestern Bosnian village of Zecovi, Fikret Bacic said he did not care whether Mladic is convicted or not. "For me, Mladic is already dead anyway, the only thing that interests me is finding my wife, my children, my mother," he told AFP. Six-year-old Nermina, 12-year-old Nermin and their mother Minka were executed on 25 July 1992 by Bosnian Serb forces. They remain among some 7,000 people still missing in Bosnia. The UN court dealing with crimes committed during the wars that followed the break-up of Yugoslavia hands down its penultimate ruling on Wednesday, having delivered 83 convictions. Ahead of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) judgement of Bosnian Serb army chief Ratko Mladic, here is a rundown of the fate of other key players in the Balkan wars of the 1990s. - Milosevic, Serbian president: charged - Slobodan Milosevic was accused of fuelling ethnic conflict and mass murder in the former Yugoslavia during his 13 years of iron rule, defying international sanctions and NATO bombs. Elected Serbian president in 1990, he played a key role in supporting the Serb cause during the Croatian and Bosnian wars, and in the later Kosovo conflict when he was Yugoslav president. He died in his cell in 2006 aged 64 while awaiting a verdict on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. - Karadzic, Bosnian Serb leader: guilty - Radovan Karadzic was found guilty in 2016 of genocide and nine other charges including extermination, deportations and hostage-taking. He was sentenced to 40 years in jail. The genocide conviction arose from the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in which almost 8,000 Muslim men and boys were slaughtered. Karadzic, 72, has appealed. He evaded capture for 13 years until he was arrested in 2008 on a Belgrade bus, masquerading behind a bushy beard as a New Age healer. - Seselj, radical Serb: acquitted - A Milosevic ally, Vojislav Seselj was accused of being behind the murder of many Croats, Muslims and other non-Serbs, as well as the forced deportation of "tens of thousands". The ICTY court acquitted the hardline Serbian Radical Party leader on all charges, saying he did not have "hierarchial" responsibility for his paramilitary forces after they came under Serbian army control. The court's chief prosecutor has appealed, denouncing "errors". Now aged 63, the Serbian Radical Party leader is a member of parliament. - Izetbegovic, Bosnian president: not indicted - Bosnia's first president, Alija Izetbegovic, was a Muslim who led the country to independence, a move that was followed by the bloody 1992-1995 war between Muslims, Serbs and Croats. After his death in 2000, the ICTY said it had been investigating Serb allegations that he committed war crimes, but no charges were ever brought. - Tudjman, Croatia president: escaped charges - Franjo Tudjman took the Croatian republic out of the Yugoslav federation. The subsequent independence war left about 20,000 people dead. After Tudjman died in 1999, aged 77, the ICTY said he would have been indicted for war crimes had he lived. - Plavsic, Bosnian Serb president: guilty - Vice-president of the Serbs' self-declared Republika Srpska during the Bosnian war, Biljana Plavsic -- the only woman to be convicted by the ICTY -- pleaded guilty to crimes against humanity and was sentenced to 11 years in jail in 2003. She was found to have played a leading role in a campaign of persecution against Croats and Muslims. Now 87, she was granted release in 2009. - Gotovina, Croatian general: acquitted - An army general considered a war hero by many Croats, Ante Gotovina, now 62, was initially sentenced to 24 years in jail for crimes against humanity and war crimes. He was acquitted on appeal in 2012. - Krajisnik, Serb leader: guilty - Momcilo Krajisnik, 72, a wartime Bosnian Serb leader, was released in August 2013 -- to a hero's welcome at home -- after serving two-thirds of a 20-year sentence for crimes against humanity. - Thaci, Kosovo president: faces court? - Hashim Thaci, Kosovo's president since 2016, was once the political leader of the guerrilla Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) that fought for independence from Serbia. A 2010 Council of Europe report alleged he headed a mafia-style network involved in assassinations, unlawful detentions and trafficking captives' organs during and after the conflict. He has denied the charges. He was not investigated by the ICTY but could face a special court recently established at The Hague to try crimes allegedly committed by KLA figures. "Thank you God! I kiss you God, for the sake of our sons!" cried Nedziba Salihovic, jumping to her feet in joy as a UN court on Wednesday sentenced Bosnian Serb wartime commander Ratko Mladic to life in prison. Salihovic, like many other Bosnian Muslims, had long waited for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to deliver its judgement for the 74-year-old former general. The Hague-based court has now ruled that Mladic, widely known as the "butcher of Bosnia", will spend the rest of his days behind bars over 10 charges including genocide in Srebrenica, scene of the worst massacre in Europe since World War II. "Mladic will die in The Hague! I'm so happy that justice has been done!" said Salihovic, who lost her husband, father and son in Srebrenica. "After 20 years Mladic will die in The Hague because he slaughtered my son," she said, adding that she had only ever managed to locate fragments of his body in several mass graves. Salihovic had joined crowds of people watching the hearing live on three giant screens in the village of Potocari near Srebrenica, home to a centre commemorating 8,000 Bosnian men and boys killed in nearby woods and hills. Some of the women were crying, one woman prayed while others cursed when Mladic appeared on the screen. "You are a piece of garbage!" one them shouted angrily, as a group of men watched the proceedings in silence. When the presiding judge of the tribunal Alphons Orie pronounced the verdict, the victims' relatives applauded, with some bursting into tears of joy, hugging and kissing each other with visible relief. - Market massacres - Mladic has always denied charges that he ordered the massacre, and his son said Wednesday he would appeal the sentence. The court also found Mladic responsible for the Sarajevo seige, another of the darkest episodes of the 1990s inter-ethnic conflict that killed more than 100,000 people. But some of the victims' relatives said the life sentence would not be enough to atone for the atrocities he was responsible for. "Even if he lives 1,000 times and is sentenced 1,000 times to life in prison, justice would still not be served," Ajsa Umirovic, who lost 42 relatives in the July 1995 Srebrenica massacre, said ahead of the verdict. A short drive away in the town of Bratunac, a woman in her 60s dressed in black from head to toe, said Mladic should be "punished for the genocide in Srebrenica, and for crimes in Prijedor (in northwestern Bosnia), Sarajevo and the whole country". But not everyone in Bratunac agreed, with several posters seen across the town showing Mladic in uniform. "You are our hero," read the slogans. In a sign that society remains bitterly divided, similar posters also appeared in Srebrenica, which is now located in the Serb-run half of Bosnia. In Sarajevo, Bosnia's capital, the facades of many buildings still bear the traces of shells and bullets fired during the 44-month-long siege that ran from 1992 to 1995. More than 10,000 people, including 1,500 children, were killed in the siege by shells and sniper bullets fired by Mladic's forces. Markale market, where dozens of people were killed in shelling in February 1994 and August 1995, was open for business Wednesday. The victims' names were inscribed on a red wall of a building in the area. However for Safet Kolic, who sells clothes, "this verdict comes too late". He believes Mladic "destroyed one people by making them commit genocide, and another by making them suffer genocide." - 'A legend' - But in Pale, a stronghold of Mladic's wartime ally Radovan Karadzic -- whom the ICTY sentenced to 40 years in jail for genocide and other war crimes -- views are wildly different. In nearby Sokolac, Bosnian Serb Mladic supporters -- some of whom wore T-shirts imprinted with his photo -- awaited the verdit in silence. "One day history will show that we have known the truth all along," said Bosnian Serb military veteran Zeljko Dacic, 52. On the eve of the verdict Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik said: "Whatever the verdict ... Ratko Mladic remains a legend for the Serb people." "He (Mladic) was condemned even before he arrived in The Hague," said Neven Krunic, a 61-year-old man. Mladic was arrested in 2011 after 16 years on the run. Former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic is to appeal his life sentence, his son said Wednesday, calling the judgement by a UN court "war propaganda". "This sentence is unjust and contrary to the facts and we will fight it on appeal to prove that this judgement is wrong," Darko Mladic told reporters. He was speaking shortly after his father was found guilty of 10 charges, including genocide and war crimes in the 1990s Balkans conflict in Bosnia in which 100,000 people died and 2.2 million were displaced. "Today justice has been replaced by war propaganda," Darko Mladic said. Flanked by Mladic's defence team, Mladic junior read a statement from his father "whom I've spoken to 10 minutes ago". His father told him "this is a lie. This is not a court. This is a NATO commission," Darko Mladic said. "They are trying to criminalise a legal Serbian endeavour in times of civil war," Mladic told his son. Defence lawyer Dragan Ivetic told journalists the defence believed the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) did not take Mladic's health issues into consideration. "Today the medical warnings of Mr. Mladic's risk of death fell on deaf ears," Ivetic said. "It is certain that we will file an appeal," he added. "Irrespective of what you think of Mr. Ratko Mladic, he is a human being and has the basic rights to be treated as a human being," Ivetic said. Said Darko Mladic: "My father is not the monster you would like to portray him in history. History, as you know, is written by the victors," he said. "Serbians will never accept this tribunal as impartial," another lawyer Branko Lukic said. UN judges on Wednesday sentenced former Bosnian Serbian commander Ratko Mladic to life imprisonment after finding him guilty of genocide and war crimes in the brutal Balkans conflicts over two decades ago. But the man dubbed "The Butcher of Bosnia" was not present in court to hear the final verdict, having been dragged out of the courtroom after loudly accusing the judges of "lying". And his son told reporters he planned to appeal. Judges at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) found Mladic guilty on 10 counts including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the 1992-1995 war. He was however found not guilty of one charge of genocide in the municipalities. About 100,000 people were killed and 2.2 million displaced in the ethnic rivalries which tore apart Yugoslavia, with judges saying "ruthless" Bosnian Serb forces under Mladic's command carried out "mass executions" and showed "little or no respect for human life or dignity." "For having committed these crimes, the chamber sentences Mr Ratko Mladic to life imprisonment," presiding judge Alphons Orie said, adding the crimes were "amongst the most heinous known to human kind". After rumours he would not attend the hearing, Mladic, 74, who once left a trail of fear across Bosnia, gave a thumbs-up as he entered the courtroom in The Hague. But in dramatic scenes he was later ordered to be dragged from the court, after accusing the judges of lying, when they refused to adjourn the hearing because of his high-blood pressure. - 'Tears in court' - Wednesday's verdict has been long awaited by tens of thousands of victims across the bitterly-divided region, and dozens gathered early outside the courtroom, many clutching photos of loved ones who died or are among the 7,000 still missing. It was an emotional day for victims, some of whom broke down in tears in the public gallery. Munira Subasic, president of the Mothers of Srebrenica association, said she was "partially satisfied" with the verdict. "It's more than for (Radovan) Karadzic. But they didn't find him guilty for the accusation of genocide in some villages," she said. And Edin Halilovic, 18, whose grandfather died in the 1995 Srebrenica genocide, said it had been important to attend the hearing. "My generation, and future generations, must never forget what happened to our families." "It's a page turning in history, but not for me. Nothing can give me back my grandfather", she added. But in Srebrenica there were tears of joy. "Mladic will die in The Hague! I'm so happy that justice has been done!" said Nedziba Salihovic, who lost her husband, father and son in the 1995 massacre. Chief ICTY prosecutor Serge Brammertz also hailed the verdict as a "milestone" for the court and for international justice. "Mladic's guilt is his and is alone," he said. "Others think Mladic is a hero, this judgement demonstrates that nothing could be further from the truth." "Mladic will be remembered by history for the many communities and lives he destroyed," he said. - Darkest episode - Caught after 16 years on the run, Mladic was found guilty of the 1995 massacre in northeastern Srebrenica, where troops under his command slaughtered almost 8,000 Muslim men and boys. The killings, in which the victims were marched away, shot in the back and dumped in mass graves, was one of the darkest episodes in the conflict, and has been called the worst atrocity on European soil since World War II. Once a brutish military commander who strode around in combat fatigues, Mladic was also found guilty of "personally directing" a 44-month campaign of sniping and shelling in which 10,000 people died in Bosnia's capital Sarajevo. Mladic was also found guilty of taking hostage more than 200 NATO military personnel and keeping them as human shields to prevent NATO air strikes against the Bosnian Serb army. After a five-year trial in which almost 600 witnesses testified and more than 10,000 exhibits were presented, the court handed down a rare life term. But defence lawyers slammed his trial as "political", and his son, Darko Mladic, said his father would appeal. "This sentence is unjust and contrary to the facts and we will fight it on appeal to prove that this judgement is wrong," Darko Mladic told reporters. "Today justice has been replaced by war propaganda," he added. His lawyers insist Mladic senior is in ill-health, and had called during the hearing for it to be adjourned, claiming he was in "hypertensive crisis" due to high blood pressure. International reaction was swift. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic urged fellow Serbs to look to the future rather "than suffocating in tears of the past". The European Union urged Balkan countries to "honour the victims" of war crimes by working towards reconciliation, while the UN called the verdict a "momentous victory for justice". The European Union on Wednesday called on Balkan countries to "honour the victims" of war crimes by working towards reconciliation, after former Bosnian Serbian commander Ratko Mladic was found guilty of genocide. UN judges in The Hague sentenced Mladic, dubbed the "Butcher of Bosnia", to life in jail for crimes committed during the 1992-1995 war that killed 100,000 people as ethnic rivalries tore apart Yugoslavia. The EU refused to comment in detail on the Mladic verdict but said it recalled "some of the darkest, most tragic events" of recent European history, including the 1995 massacre in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica, where troops under his command slaughtered almost 8,000 Muslim men and boys. "The European Union trusts that all the countries in the region are determined and committed to work towards reconciliation, regional cooperation and good neighbourly relations," the bloc said in a statement. "We expect all political leaders in the region to honour the victims by promoting and respecting these commitments." Two former Yugoslav countries -- Croatia and Slovenia -- have joined the EU and Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia have begun the accession process, though their efforts have become bogged down in local disputes and problems with graft and organised crime. European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said earlier this month he expected Serbia and Montenegro to join the bloc by 2025. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday hailed the war crimes verdict against former Bosnian Serbian commander Ratko Mladic as a victory for the rule of law. Mladic, dubbed the "Butcher of Bosnia", was sentenced to life in jail by UN judges in the Hague after being found guilty of 10 counts including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the 1992-1995 war in the former Yugoslavia. "I welcome the ruling of the UN Criminal Tribunal against Ratko Mladic," Stoltenberg said in a statement. "This shows that the rule of law is working and those responsible for war crimes are held to account." The Atlantic alliance played an important role in ending the war in Bosnia, unleashing air strikes on Bosnian Serb positions in 1995 and deploying a peacekeeping force later that year after the Dayton peace accords. Stoltenberg said Mladic was guilty of "appalling crimes against civilians" including the 1995 massacre of almost 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica. "I hope that today's ruling will move the region further down the path of peace and reconciliation," Stoltenberg said. Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic on Wednesday urged his country to look to the future instead of "suffocating in tears of the past" after Ratko Mladic, the wartime Bosnian Serb military chief, was given a life sentence for genocide. "We should start looking to the future, thinking about our children, peace, stability in the region," Vucic said, to ensure that "war and its horrors are not repeated." There is a need to "revitalise factories, construct buildings, instead of suffocating in tears of the past," he said. But Vucic also voiced regret that the UN court had not sentenced people suspected of war crimes against ethnic Serbs, despite "living witnesses" of the alleged crimes. "We are capable of accepting our responsibility, but I'm afraid that the others are not. This shows our strength, not our weakness," he said. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague ruled Wednesday that Mladic must spend the rest of his life in prison over 10 counts including war crimes and crimes against humanity during the country's inter-ethnic war in the 1990s. Vucic, once an ultranationalist and close ally of the Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic -- who was also facing war crimes charges when he died in custody in 2006 -- has become a staunch pro-European liberal who hopes to bring Serbia into the EU. Biljana Plavsic, a former Bosnian Serb president who was given an 11-year prison term for crimes against humanity by the UN court in 2003, said she was "scandalised" by the Mladic verdict. "I'm scandalised by the fact that such an institution ignores justice and truth," she told AFP. Plavsic, accused of playing a leading role in persecution against Croats and Muslims, is the only woman to be convicted by the UN court. She was released in 2009. Her sentiment was shared by many other Bosnian Serbs, reflecting the deep divisions that remain 22 years after the bloody war ended. "It is obvious that this is a project whose goal is to satanise the Serbian people," Milan Jolovic, a Bosnian Serb military veteran in Pale, near Sarajevo, told AFP. "It will certainly reinforce the opinion of Serb people that general Mladic is a historical hero and a patriot, said Milorad Dodik, president of the autonomous Bosnian Serb region of Republika Srpska. Vojislav Seselj, a Serb nationalist who was acquitted by the ICTY of charges he orchestrated the murder of Croats, Muslims and other non-Serbs, denounced the court as an "illegal and anti-Serb tribunal". "They did not prove any link between Mladic and the events that he is charged of," he told AFP. KEARNEY The Buffalo County Fairgrounds was host for a successful county fair and had a good year overall in 2017, Buffalo County Agricultural Association (fair) Board President Randy Schroer said at Tuesdays annual meeting of the association. The buildings were rented as much as we ever have, he added. In his treasurers report, Jeff Richter said the association has total assets of $14,487,000, with $820,000 in checking and savings accounts. Revenue generated by the facilities during the fiscal year that ended June 30 was about $948,000. The debt held by local banks for construction of the $14 million Buffalo County Exposition Center now is at $1.625 million. That note, additional liabilities of $165,000 for accounts payable and deferred revenue results in a total liability of $2,090,000. According to Richters report, that leaves net assets of $12,397,000. The incumbents up for election to two fair board seats, Mac Campbell and Alan Kegley, were the only ones who filed for nomination. A motion was passed to unanimously approve the slate as presented for the two five-year terms. In the annual meeting of the board that followed, the four officers were re-elected. In addition to Schroer as president and Richter as treasurer, the officers are Kegley, vice president, and Steve Rogers, secretary. HOLDREGE The Association of Fundraising Professionals recognized Bruce Hendrickson of Holdrege as Nebraskas 2017 Outstanding Philanthropist Nov. 9 in Omaha. Vickie Klein, executive director for the Phelps County Community Foundation, nominated Hendrickson for the award. Klein commented that she was motivated to nominate Hendrickson after many years of friendship and respect for both Hendrickson and his late wife, Carol. Hendrickson graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a degree in economics and serves as a UNL Foundation Trustee. He has been active in church and community and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Holdrege Area Chamber of Commerce in 2010. Hendrickson has served on many local, state and national boards. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1953-56. In September 1956, Hendrickson rejoined his father as an agent for the Principal Life Insurance Co. He was elected as president of the National Association of Life Underwriters in 1975 and was inducted into the company Hall of Fame. He retired in 2014 after 58 years as an agent for the Principal Financial Group. LEXINGTON The driver of a vehicle carrying 1 pound of methamphetamine was sentenced Monday in Dawson County District Court to two-four years in prison. According to court records, Jamie Thomas, 38, of California was sentenced to jail on felony possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. She received 283 days credit for time served since she was arrested in February. Her charges of infraction possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana, infraction possession of drug paraphernalia and misdemeanor no drivers license were dropped. Court records say Thomass charges stem from a Feb. 10 incident when she failed to stop at Highway 283 and Plum Creek Parkway in Lexington. A sheriffs deputy pulled over the vehicle near the eastbound on-ramp to Interstate 80 and made contact with Thomas and Christine Face, 37, of Yucaipa, Calif., a passenger in the vehicle, court records say. Because Thomass license was revoked, court records say the deputy asked Thomas if there were any drugs in the vehicle. The officer then searched the vehicle, and found less than 1 ounce of marijuana and a pound of methamphetamines. Face also was sentenced in August to two-four years in prison. @erikadpritchard Early Wednesday morning last week, Terra Gehrig got a text from her friend, Sydney Loofe. Loofe, 24, had gone on a date the night before with a woman she met online. It went well, Loofe told Gehrig, and the pair was planning to go out again that night. But Loofe didnt show up for work Thursday and hasnt been heard from since. It doesnt feel like this is happening, said Gehrig, 23, who has known Loofe for about five years. It feels like just a dream this is only stuff you see on TV. Authorities suspect that Loofe may be in danger. Loofe last was seen in Wilber, Nebraska, on Wednesday, Lincoln Police Chief Jeff Bliemeister said Tuesday. He declined to say whether police have contacted the woman from the date because he didnt want to jeopardize the investigation. The circumstances surrounding (Loofes) disappearance are concerning, he said. Loofe posted a photo on social media the night before she went missing. In the photo, she was wearing a white coat with a cream-colored shirt. Her family reported her missing to police on Thursday. Bliemeister said his department is working with the Saline County Sheriffs Office and other law enforcement agencies to find Loofe. Lincoln police officers have conducted interviews and followed leads, but anyone with information should call the department at 402-441-6000. Loofe has a spinal disorder and walks differently, Gehrig said. She also has distinctive tattoos, according to flyers being shared on social media. She has the words Everything will be wonderful someday on her arm, a yin yang sign below her elbow and Believe on her wrist. She works as a cashier at a Lincoln Menards and always called her manager if she couldnt attend work, Gehrig said. Her brother declined to comment Tuesday. Her mother, Susie Loofe, posted on Facebook: Please continue sharing, posting, searching and praying. We need Sydney to come home safe and soon. Many are asking people to wear green the color for missing children awareness today and share a photo online to show their support for the family. Gehrig said she has been sharing flyers of Loofe, speaking with Loofes sister and meeting with other friends to figure out how to spread the word. She still has hope that Loofe will turn up, unharmed. I trust that the Lincoln Police Department is using the resources and doing what they can to find her. I have faith that theyre going to bring her home to us safe. Mark Twain, when he traveled to California's Mono Lake almost 150 years ago, became enchanted by aquatic flies. Mono Lake is peculiar - it's three times saltier than the ocean and nearly as basic as ammonia. A thick black necklace of flies encircles the lake. The flies do not fear the alkaline water. When a fly dips into the lake, a bubble forms, protecting its body like Captain Nemo's diving suit. Twain delighted in his failure to drown the flies, as he wrote in his travel memoir "Roughing It": "You can hold them underwater as long as you please - they do not mind it - they are only proud of it. When you let them go, they pop up to the surface as dry as a patent office report." The Mono Lake flies, according to a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, survive the toxic lake not on pride but thanks to two unusual adaptations. They're very hairy, two California Institute of Technology researchers describe in the report. And their insect bodies are covered in a special waxy substance that is as repellent as paraffin. A complex interaction between the chemicals in the water and the animals' bodies creates the bubble suits, said Floris van Breugel, an author of the new paper and a biologist at the University of Washington. As flies press down on the water's surface, often crawling headfirst, the lake forms a dimple. That dimple grows deeper and deeper until an air pocket swallows the insects. This discovery came more than a century after Twain's visit, and two decades after the flies enchanted biologist Michael Dickinson, study author and expert on insect flight behavior at Caltech. "I was just mesmerized," he said. "It was presumably exactly the same experience Mark Twain had." Unlike Twain, the biomechanics researcher left Mono Lake with more than pithy phrasing - he left with a problem. Trouble was, animals as weak as flies shouldn't be able to escape Mono Lake. The lake has some of the "wettest water on the planet," Dickinson said, which is to say the water is clingy. Streams feed into the lake, which sits on a volcanic basin. From the volcanic material the fresh stream water accumulates borate and sodium carbonate, or soda ash, giving the water a soapy feel. The compound breaks apart into charged particles, which makes the water extra-sticky. Little else lives in Mono Lake, just algae, which the flies eat, and brine shrimp. The flies' bubbles do not cover their mouthparts, allowing them to feed. The graspers on their feet are exposed, too, so they can keep themselves underwater by scuttling along the lake floor. The air envelope has an opening for the females' rear. The insects lay their eggs in the relative safety of the harsh lake water. "This is a very risky tactic in some ways for the female," said Erica McAlister, insect curator at London's Natural History Museum and author of the recent "The Secret Life of Flies." If the fly gets wet, she will probably die, McAlister said. The larvae suck the salt out of the water into crystals, which they store in their bodies and leave behind when they become adult flies. Humans probably made the flies' lives more difficult. In the early 1940s, Los Angeles, needing fresh water, diverted the streams that fed Mono Lake. The lake level dropped and the salinity increased. Though the creeks have been allowed to run into the lake again, the salt remains high. Too much salt hampers the larvae's survival. Yet the flies continue to swarm around the lake. "It's a great gig because there's no fish in the lake," Dickinson said. Dickinson collaborated with van Breugel, then a Caltech postdoctoral researcher, to secure grant funding from National Geographic. They collected the flies from the lake in nets. "If you scare them, they all leap into the air," van Breugel said. Seagulls run into the fly clouds, their beaks open, like whales through krill. A sweep of van Breugel's net caught flies by the hundreds. Back at the Caltech lab, the researchers built a dunk tank. They glued the hapless flies to a stick, and plunged the insects into different water samples. Mono Lake water proved the toughest to penetrate. "Imagine pushing into honey," Dickinson said. (Other flies, even oil flies that lay eggs in the petroleum of the La Brea Tar Pits, could not escape the Mono Lake water, the authors found.) The Mono Lake flies, which are as long as a housefly and weigh about as much as two sesame seeds, must exert forces 18 times their body weight to dive underwater. Both Dickinson and van Breugel admitted the surface chemistry of this lake is poorly studied. But it was evident that, on the buoyant return trip, the insects could defeat the clinging soda ash particles. The carbonate ions near the water's surface have a negative charge, which tug on the positively charged fly hairs. The bubble snaps, releasing the energy stored within it and springing the insects free. "They just pop up onto the surface of the water like popcorn," Dickinson said. David Hu, an expert in biolocomotion at Georgia Tech who was not involved with this research, said he is amazed by the flies' "superhydrophobicity," which is to say their water-repelling ability. Much of what we know about repelling water comes from nature, he said, citing the droplets that form on a lotus leaf. But the Mono Lake flies are odd bugs. There are 12,000 species of insects and spiders that can walk on fresh water, he said. Hu said he knew of only one other type of aquatic insect, oceanic water striders, that thrive in such salty environments. The tug-of-war between lake ions and fly takes place on a tiny stage, at the nanometer scale. The flies' victory over the lake has a much larger impact, reflected in the skies over the Western Hemisphere. Gulls arrive at Mono Lake by the thousands in the spring to feast and breed. More than 300 species of birds - loons, swans, eagles - have been spotted at Mono Lake. About 2 million birds migrate there each year. There is a sense, Dickinson said, that if there are things left to discover in the world, they are in a rain forest or ocean depths. Physics and chemistry that aren't understood must be a feature of distant planets. "This is a good example of why that's just not true," he said. "There's biology and physics and chemistry that we just barely understand all around us, in your garbage can or compost heap." Secrecy in government is a detriment to our democracy, but it crops up too frequently and in places where public officials might think its necessary. The problem with secrecy is that it can breed suspicions and distrust both detrimental to a healthy balance between the people in elected office and those they are supposed to serve. In an in-depth report last week, the Kansas City Star newspaper revealed efforts at many levels of local and state government in Kansas in which officials blatantly attempted to shield their work from public scrutiny. Economic development panels kept their plans under wraps until the last minute. Local elected boards filed spotty and inconsistent minutes of their proceedings. Lawmakers should operate with the utmost of transparency, but the Kansas Legislature allows its members to introduce bills anonymously, leaving the public to guess who is responsible for legislation that could detrimentally affect them. We in Nebraska are fortunate. Our states open records and open meetings laws are among the strongest in the nation. Also, our public notice laws require that governing bodies publicize when they plan to meet and what happened during the meetings. Citizens also can avail themselves of information about government bids for goods and services, potential zoning changes, and other developments that are of importance. Its all there, in the local newspaper, in the public notices section. Taken together, the efforts to hide governmental functions and records in Kansas leave citizens there facing enormous challenges to be watchful and keep track of their officials. We are fortunate that in Nebraska, our laws encourage open government and citizen participation. The laws tilt toward openness and accountability. However, laws are only the beginning. Its up to the citizens in every Nebraska community to remain watchful. Its important that our elected leaders allow light to be shined on their proceedings. When people fail to follow the goings-on in their local, state and national government, even well-meaning officials can err on the side of secrecy. The problems in Kansas probably took years to evolve, and they will take years to correct. To Nebraskans the message is clear: Insist on openness and participate in government, or you could reap the same problems that now plague our neighbors. Traffic deaths this year are nearly the same number as last year and that points out the need to continue to emphasize compliance with Nebraskas seat belt law, the release said. So far this year, there have been 49 fatalities in rollover crashes. The lack of seat belt law compliance was evident because only six of the people who died were using seat belts at the time of the crash. Laura Miller, second right,, deputy chief of staff to former Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty, arrives with her lawyer Scott Hutchison for closing arguments at court in Toronto on Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017. Miller and her boss, David Livingston, are accused of illegally destroyed documents related to the governments decision to cancel two gas plants in 2011. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Colin Perkel Alberta Premier Rachel Notley speaks at business luncheon put on by the Empire Club of Canada in Toronto, Monday, November 20, 2017. Alberta Premier Rachel Notley issued warnings to all political parties to take off their partisan blinders or both the environment and Canada's energy industry will fail. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mark Blinch Actor Ellen Page, left, and director Patricia Rozema pose as they promote the film "Into The Forest," in Toronto on Tuesday, May 31 , 2016. Compared to Hollywood, Canada's screen industry is tiny. And by all accounts, there are fewer egos, bullies and power-trippers on the scale of Harvey Weinstein within it. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form A supporter of Zimbabwe's incoming leader Emmerson Mnangagwa holds his portrait while waiting for him to arrive at the Zanu PF Headquarters in Harare, Wednesday, Nov, 22, 2017. Mnangagwa has emerged from hiding and returned home ahead of his swearing-in Friday. Crowds have gathered at the ruling party's headquarters for his first public remarks. Mnangagwa will replace Robert Mugabe, who resigned after 37 years in power when the military and ruling party turned on him for firing Mnangagwa and positioning his wife to take power. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi) FILE - In this Jan. 12, 2016 file photo, host Charlie Rose, left, and President, CBS News, David Rhodes, participate in the "CBS This Morning" panel at the CBS 2016 Winter TCA in Pasadena, Calif. Veteran news host Rose's firing at CBS makes him the latest in a string of prominent journalists felled abruptly by accusations of sexual misconduct. Rhodes said Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017, that the network's credibility in its reporting requires credibility in the way it deals with misbehavior inside the network. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File) Drawings by children in support of the crew of the missing submarine ARA San Martin, hang from the fence of the Mar del Plata Naval Base, in Argentina, Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017. The families of the 44 crew members aboard a submarine that has been lost in the South Atlantic for seven days are growing increasingly distressed as experts say that the crew might be reaching a critical period of low oxygen. (AP Photo/Marina Devo) FILE - In this Sept. 21, 2011 file photo, Attorney Clark Kent Ervin testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. Ervin resigned earlier in 2017 as lead monitor of the team overseeing reforms in Ferguson, Missouri, as part of a consent agreement between the St. Louis County town and the U.S. Department of Justice. Ferguson leaders say they've spent nearly $500,000 to pay the monitor team but have little to show for their money, in part because Ervin failed to live up to key promises. (AP Photo Manuel Balce Ceneta, File) Two Illinois residents wanted since September for their involvement with an overdose death in Twin Lakes are now in custody. Casey L. Myers, 32, of St. Charles, Ill., and Austin Johnson, 29, of Chicago, were both charged Sept. 8 with first-degree reckless homicide-delivery of drugs, and warrants were issued for their arrest. They were apprehended over the weekend by U.S. Marshals and are now being held in the Kenosha County Jail. The pair are accused of providing drugs that led to the June 12 death of 22-year-old Austin Lange. Lange was found dead in an apartment at 1717 Wilmot Ave. An autopsy showed he died of an overdose of a mix of drugs, including fentanyl, ecstasy and cocaine. According to the criminal complaint filed in September, a friend of Lange told police that Lange frequently purchased drugs from Myers and Johnson. A police detective later spoke to Myers, who admitted selling heroin to Lange. Twin Lakes Police Chief Adam Grosz said he did not know where the arrests occurred. The men had initial appearances in court Monday, where each had bond set at $100,000. Myers and Johnson are among 10 people who have been charged with homicide in connection with a series of five heroin and opioid overdose deaths in Twin Lakes between late April and mid-June. Profits at Nebraska-based banks took a nosedive in the third quarter. According to data released Tuesday by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., banks headquartered in Nebraska collectively earned $136 million in the third quarter, less than half the $283 million they earned in the same quarter last year. Year-to-date earnings, which had been on track for their eighth straight record year, are now at their lowest level since 2014. At least part of the decline is due to large drops in earnings at some of the state's largest banks. For example, First National of Omaha, the state's largest bank, saw its third-quarter income fall from $102.4 million in the third quarter of 2016 to $46.5 million this year. First National spokesman Kevin Langin said that decline was due to a one-time event the sale of a credit card portfolio that boosted third-quarter earnings in 2016. Take away that one-time gain of $85.7 million, and First National actually did better this year during the third quarter. The profit drop at some of the larger banks did not even account for half the drop, however. There were some concerning trends in the state data, including year-over-year increases in the percentage of banks losing money, delinquent loans and non-performing loans, but Richard Baier, president and CEO of the Nebraska Bankers Association, said that other than continued low commodity prices, he couldn't put his finger on specific causes for decreased earnings at the state's banks. Banks based in Lincoln generally had a good quarter, with six of the nine seeing higher earnings in the third quarter compared with a year ago. Overall, the nine banks headquartered in Lincoln collectively earned $41.2 million in the third quarter, up about 5 percent from the $39.3 million they earned in the same period last year. Nationally, the FDIC reported that banks had another strong quarter, with a 5.2 percent increase in earnings in the third quarter compared with a year ago. The warmth of a fire and chatter among friends and family, the smell of turkey and all its fixings floating in the air, and don't forget about the pie waiting for dessert, Thanksgiving is a great time to be with loved ones. It offers a moment of reflection about how blessed we are to live in the United States, the freest and greatest nation in the history of the world. Thanksgiving as a recurring national holiday first came into existence in 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln offered a proclamation to "set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving." He wanted the nation to be thankful for military victories in the Civil War. He hoped Americans across the country would remember the bravery of the troops who fought for freedom. While we remember what we're thankful for this year, we should recognize that not all Nebraskans are spending time with loved ones this Thanksgiving. Over the holiday, I will have the opportunity to visit with members of Nebraskas National Guard currently serving our country away from home. These brave service members have traveled thousands of miles away from their friends and family to protect us. Their work is vital to the War on Terror and our national security. I want to bring them encouragement and let them know that they are representing our state with honor. They make our state proud and deserve thanks for their service. As I prepared for my trip, I couldn't help but recall my visiting with American service members last Thanksgiving. I was humbled and honored to spend time with Nebraskans stationed in Qatar and Afghanistan. I cherished every moment I spent with each of them. Every day those brave soldiers risk their lives to protect us and keep America safe. All those serving throughout the world guard our way of life. That's why I am glad that Congress recently sent the 2018 National Defense Authorization (NDAA) bill to the president's desk. This years NDAA passed with overwhelming bipartisan majorities in both the Senate and the House. As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, I was honored to help craft this bill and be a part of that process. We live in a rapidly changing world, and unfortunately, our nation faces a growing number of threats and challenges. Congress acknowledged these dangers by authorizing increased funding for much of the military and several vital programs, from cybersecurity to missile defense. These expenditures will help keep our nation safe. One of the provisions of which I am proudest, however, involves the most vital asset in the military: our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines. Those who wear the uniform are more valuable than any weapon system. For that reason, I was happy that the NDAA included the largest pay raise for our troops in eight years. We also preserved Special Survivor Indemnity Allowance payments to surviving military spouses indefinitely, protecting this fund for the survivors of those who died for our country. As Americans, we have a lot for which to be thankful. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving with their friends and families, and that you will join me in keeping our service men and women in mind as we celebrate. Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content. Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist. If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter . Support our mission and join our community now. Items belonging to two remarkable Irish women will go on sale next week in County Laois - Irelands first female president, Mary Robinson and the late Hollywood actress, Maureen O'Hara OHara was among the last of our real film stars along with Peter OToole and Richard Harris. She epitomised style and when she made the film, The Quiet Man in Cong, Co Mayo, with John Wayne, thousands of people thronged the streets of Galway just to get a look at her. Sheppards Irish Auction House in Durrow will auction off her jewellery and furs on Tuesday, November 28 and Wednesday, November 29. According to auctioneer, Philip Sheppard, they faithfully reflect the pinnacle of Hollywood glamour and luxury. One piece, a Christian Dior full-length, white mink coat is trimmed with Arctic fox fur and lined throughout with silk. The famously redheaded actress is photographed wearing this coat in a beautiful silver-framed image. Lot 845 is a relatively rare 18 carat white gold round brilliant cut diamond ring with baguette diamond shoulders. The centre round brilliant cut diamond weighs 8.3 carats. It is valued at between 100,000 and 150,000. Lot 846 is a wonderful l 18 carat white gold round brilliant cut diamond solitaire ring. It has a diamond weight of 5.03 carats and is valued at between 50,000 70,000. A white and yellow gold natural Colombian emerald and round brilliant cut diamond bangle which she owned has an estimate of between 60,000 and 80,000. Mary Robinson Mrs Robinson has sold her Victorian fishing lodge, Massbrook House, overlooking Lough Conn in County Mayo. Lots include an exceptional, large Aesthetic Revival oak library table (Lot 129) by Holland & Sons, London. A Dublin George III brass hanging hall lantern is expected to fetch between 1,500 and 2,500. The lantern is of hexagonal form with engraved glass-panelled sides suspended on scroll arms. Both collections will be on view to the public at Sheppards multi-room exhibition facility in Durrow on Monday, November 27, from 10am to 5pm each day. Kilkenny's poor mobile phone coverage in certain parts of the county has been raised in the Dail but the Minister has said people are not complaining. Labour's Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Communications to outline the steps that have been taken to improve mobile telephone coverage in rural parts of the country in the past six months. Deputy Sherlock said: In large swathes of the country, people cannot get mobile telephone coverage. When can people who do not have coverage expect to have coverage? What are the timelines? When we can expect delivery of a 100% rate of penetration for 3G coverage in the country? In response, Minister Denis Naughten said: I specifically included in the programme for Government a commitment to a mobile phone and broadband task force. In July 2016, I established the task force to identify immediate solutions to broadband and mobile telephone coverage deficits and to investigate how better services could be provided to consumers. The group comprises all key stakeholders responsible for delivery. Meetings were held in March and July and the next meeting is scheduled for today, November 22. Achievements to date by the task force include funding of all local authorities to assign a broadband officer and close co-operation with local authorities to develop local digital strategies. This includes the Government working closely with local authorities to identify approximately 320 high-speed strategic community access hubs that will be connected at an early date after the national broadband plan contract." Deputy Sherlock said: I conducted a straw poll today of people I know throughout the country. Cushenstown in rural Wexford has little or no mobile coverage. Maryborough Hill, Douglas in the heart of Cork has little or no mobile coverage. North Meath outside of Kells and Navan has no coverage. Other places, including the area west of Carrigrohane in Cork, have no courage. Wolfhill in Laois, Balgriffin in north Dublin and Knocknacarra in the heart of Galway city have no coverage. North-East Kilkenny has no coverage. We must get the basics right. I am asking the Minister the question in simple terms. Will he ask the mobile telephone operators specifically to ensure that they provide coverage? It is all well and good to talk about tender processes for selling bandwidth and so on. In response, Minister Naughten: While I am on the issue of ComReg, I wish to point out that since January, ComReg has received a little more than 5,000 complaints, a total of 163 of which relate to mobile telephone coverage. People are not complaining. I do not disagree with Deputy Sherlock. This is a problem. Far too many times I have had to turn off the data on my mobile telephone to try to get telephone coverage. I should not have to do that but that is the only way I can get coverage at the moment, and that is not good enough. More and more frequently, people are seeing the "no service" notice when they look at their handsets. I believe the mobile telephone operators should be brought in, along with ComReg, before the committee to deal with these issues. SHANGHAI, Nov 22 (Reuters) - China's Ministry of Finance on Wednesday auctioned 32 billion yuan ($4.83 billion) of three-year bonds at average yields of 3.7365 percent, traders said, slightly below market forecasts. For the three-year bonds, market forecasts had centred on 3.74 percent and ranged from 3.69 percent to 3.77 percent. The auction yield came in below Tuesday's benchmark secondary market yield of 3.7699 percent for three-year government bonds . For stories on Chinese debt issues, click on . ($1 = 6.6282 Chinese yuan) (Reporting by the Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips) (Kitco News) - Even though the anticipated gold rally is not here yet, the junior miners can survive by adding "wealth to the market," said CEO of Corvus Gold Jeff Pontius. "The gold sector is still under-appreciated right now and the junior sector suffers from that," Pontius told Kitco News on the sidelines of the Silver & Gold Summit. But, if a junior miner has a "good story that is delivering some impressive results," the market will give you "plenty of attention," the CEO added. Pontius highlighted that fundamentals for gold are "very strong going forward." But in the meantime, his main advice to other junior mining companies is to focus on bringing "new wealth to the market." "That means more discoveries, more ounces, more tonnes. And those kind of discoveries will take care of themselves even in a flat gold market," he said. "That is one thing that is under our control and well see how gold does in the future." Mining investors are very smart and know exactly what they are looking for when choosing which project to fund, according to Pontius. The investor today is a strategist, who looks for assets to fund and drive them forward. "Investors are much more careful about what they buy these days. Ten years ago they were buying everything and now they are being a lot more selected about jurisdiction, style of mineralization, how the gold will be produced and who will fund the project going forward," Pontius pointed out. This investment strategy is key nowadays, especially since major gold discoveries are becoming rare, he added. "In Nevada we havent had a lot of discoveries lately and a new sediment-hosted deposit is quite rare. Certainly, these things are something that majors are paying attention to." Whats New For Corvus Gold During the first half of 2018, Corvus Gold will be focusing on its brand new sediment-hosted deposit known as Mother Lode Project, which is located 150 km northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. "It is about 90 meters thick. Inside the shell, it looks like it will average two grams a tonne and it will be open pit," Pontius said. "It will be our focus for the first part of 2018. We have a big drilling program going on right now, which will carry forward into the early part of 2018. The target that we are drilling after is a bit north of a million ounces," he added. By Krishna Merchant and Daniel Stanton SINGAPORE, Nov 22 (IFR) - Indonesian toll-road operator Jasa Marga , rated Baa3/BB+ (Moody's/S&P), has hired banks to arrange the first global offering of rupiah bonds. HSBC and Mandiri Securities are joint global coordinators on the so-called Komodo bonds. They are also joint bookrunners with Deutsche Bank and Standard Chartered. Investor meetings will be held in Asia, London and the US on November 23-29. A rupiah bond offering under the 144A/Reg S format may follow, subject to market conditions. Construction services company Wijaya Karya is also rumoured to be considering issuing offshore rupiah bonds, market sources said. Jasa Marga's proposed bonds will be sold to offshore investors, similar to China's Dim Sum renminbi bonds and India's Masala rupee bonds. The name for offshore rupiah bonds comes from the Komodo dragon, a large lizard found in Indonesia, and is said to have been suggested by President Joko Widodo, beating an earlier suggestion to call them nasi goreng bonds, after a fried rice dish. (Reporting by Krishna Merchant and Daniel Stanton; Editing by Dharsan Singh) TOKYO, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Japanese government bonds were mostly steady on Wednesday, with the exception of super-long yields which dipped on prospect of Japan reducing the maturity's issuance amount. The 40-year yield was 1.5 basis points lower at 0.965 percent. The 30-year yield stood unchanged at 0.810 percent after going as low as 0.805 percent. Japan's government is set to reduce the amount of newly issued 30-year and 40-year JGBs for the next fiscal year starting in April 2018, government sources told Reuters on Tuesday. The finance ministry expects demand for super-long JGBs from investors such as life insurers to wane in the future. The five-year yield and the benchmark 10-year yield were unchanged at minus 0.135 percent and 0.025 percent, respectively. While overnight gains by U.S. Treasuries were positive for JGBs, the impact was neutralised by a rally in Tokyo equities. ($1 = 112.2800 yen) (Reporting by the Tokyo markets team; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips) David Lawder, Anthony Esposito MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The United States, Mexico and Canada were wrapping up a fifth round of talks to update NAFTA on Tuesday with major differences yet to be resolved, casting doubt on whether a deal could be reached by the end of March 2018 as planned. The 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement underpins much of the more than $1 trillion in annual trilateral trade, and Washingtons repeated threats to walk away from the pact unless it is reworked in the United States favor have spooked markets. Canada and Mexico object to a series of contentious demands the United States unveiled during the fourth round last month and the three nations made little progress in Mexico City. Significant differences remain on some key areas ... these are proposals we simply cannot agree to, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters in Ottawa. Tuesday is the seventh day negotiators have met during this Mexico round, with only two planned rounds of talks left. Mexico and Canada firmly pushed back against a U.S. demand to raise the minimum threshold to 85 percent NAFTA origin components from 62.5 percent, as well as insist that half the content was from the United States. The proposal is a central plank of U.S. President Donald Trumps America First strategy to bring back manufacturing jobs to the United States, though it faces stiff resistance from the auto industry, which questions its viability. Mexican and Canadian officials said they wanted the United States to explain how the auto plan could prosper in view of the skepticism, and have repeatedly indicated they had no intention of responding to the scheme. Where is the merit in making a counterproposal to a demand that would take us backwards? said a Canadian source with knowledge of the talks. Officials hope to make announcements that can inject some momentum into a negotiating process that more pessimistic observers fear is running out of energy. Mexico formally proposed that the NAFTA trade deal allow for a structured review of the accord every five years, instead of terminating the deal automatically if it is not renegotiated, as the United States has demanded, three Mexican officials said. Mexican officials initially expressed hope that some chapters could finally be closed, such as telecoms and e-commerce. But chief Mexican negotiator Ken Smith told reporters that none would wrap up this round. The current round has been less confrontational than the negative tone of the October talks in Washington, said Caroline Freund, a trade expert with the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. With U.S. tax reform front and center, the U.S. government really didnt want to make this a big round, and (wanted) to let the technocrats get on and do the negotiating on the less controversial bits, Freund said. Expectations for any major advances in the fifth round were scaled back when the three sides announced that the ministers in charge of the NAFTA trade portfolio would not attend. The three countries have agreed to continue negotiating through the end of March, when the campaign for the 2018 Mexican presidential election gets underway. In a commentary issued on Tuesday, the credit ratings agency Fitch Ratings said the three countries domestic political considerations would make it hard to reach a deal. Reporting by David Lawder and Anthony Esposito; additional reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Andrew Hay and Grant McCool MANILA, Nov 22 (Reuters) - The Philippines plans to lower the tax rate imposed on gold sales by small-scale miners in a bid to curb smuggling of the precious metal out of the country, the finance minister said on Wednesday. By law, all gold produced by small miners in the Philippines should be sold to the central bank at around world market prices. However, the high tax rate has discouraged official sales, leading to a loss of revenue for the government. Cutting the withholding tax rate to 1 percent from 5 percent should encourage small-scale miners to sell their produce to the Philippine central bank rather than on the black market, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said in a statement. The government retained the excise tax on gold sales at 2 percent. Central bank gold purchases from small scale miners fell 50 percent to 48 kilograms (106 lbs) in the first half versus a year ago, data from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau showed. Gold mining output in January to June dipped 5 percent to 11,635 kilograms from a year earlier, with almost all coming from large mines, the data showed. The central bank's gold reserves hit $8.06 billion at the end of October. (Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales; editing by Richard Pullin) HANOI, Nov 22 (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 0406 GMT. November 22 USD/VND mid-point 22,441 USD/VND interbank 22,721/22,723 USD/VND unofficial 22,740/22,750 SJC gold (mln dong/tael) 36.40/36.62 Interbank offered rates Overnight 1.2-1.7 1 week 1.3-1.8 1 month 2.0-2.6 3 months 4.2-5.0 NOTES: As of Jan. 4, 2016 the State Bank of Vietnam has begun setting the mid-point rate on daily basis, allowing dollar/dong transactions to move in a band of +/- 3 percent around the mid point. The dong's exchange rate against other currencies is not restricted by a band. Interbank offered rates are the latest indicative bid/ask prices, quoted from market sources. One tael is equivalent to 37.5 grams or 1.21 troy ounces. SJC gold prices are quoted by state-owned Saigon Jewelry Co. For more interbank rate fixings released at 0400 GMT, click on . For Vietnam market overview click on: Vietnam's bonds market auctions: Bonds auction results: (Compiled by Hanoi Newsroom) BRASILIA, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Brazil's lower house of Congress early on Wednesday approved a bill raising mining royalty rates on a wide range of commodities from iron ore to gold, part of broader reforms for the sector proposed by President Michel Temer to boost the economy. The measure will now pass to the Senate. The bill must be fully approved by November 28 or face expiry, as Temer proposed the reforms via temporary decrees that must receive congressional approval to become permanent. Two other temporary decrees that seek to streamline mining rules and create a new agency to regulate the sector have yet to go to a vote in the lower house and face the same deadline for full approval. (Reporting by Jake Spring; editing by Jason Neely) By Prak Chan Thul PHNOM PENH, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen told garment workers on Wednesday that they would be the ones to suffer - not him - if the European Union withdrew preferential trade terms over the banning of the main opposition party. After the Supreme Court dissolved the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) last week at the government's request, the European Union raised a potential threat to the tariff free access it grants most Cambodian exports. European Union countries accounted for about 40 percent of Cambodia's exports in 2016. Most of that was clothing. "You must remember clearly that if there is any cut of buying orders, it's all the fault of a group of people of the opposition party," Hun Sen told garment workers in Phnom Penh. "Hun Sen won't die but workers, you will die," he said. The CNRP was banned after its leader, Kem Sokha, was arrested for alleged treason. The government says Kem Sokha sought to take power with American help. He rejects that allegation as politically motivated, to allow Hun Sen to extend his more than three decades in power in a general election next year. Hun Sen accused the opposition party, many of whose leaders are in exile, of trying to lobby against Cambodian trade. Leaders of the opposition party have said they would not call for measures to curb trade because of the impact it could have on the livelihoods of an estimated 700,000 garment workers. Sweden said on Tuesday it was stopping new aid for Cambodia, except in education and research, and would no longer support a reform programme in the first concrete action by an EU country. The United States cut election funding and said it would take more punitive steps. But Cambodia's economy has proved largely immune to political turbulence, recording annual growth of about 7 percent for the past six years. The World Bank said on Wednesday it expected the economy to grow 6.9 percent next year, compared with a projected 6.8 percent pace in 2017, despite risks including uncertainty over the election. (Writing by Matthew Tostevin; Editing by Robert Birsel) (Adds Lower Saxony, Alimentation Couche Tard, Altice, Sandy Spring, Jack in the Box; Updates Rockwell) Nov 22 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2100 GMT on Wednesday: ** Lower Saxony, Volkswagen's second-largest shareholder, said it will hold on to its stake in the carmaker despite one of the German state's two main parties calling for changes in the way the company is managed. ** Retail fuel station and convenience store operator Alimentation Couche Tard Inc has agreed to divest three fuel stations in Alabama to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that its proposed acquisition of Jet-Pep Inc would violate federal antitrust law, the U.S. regulator said on Wednesday. ** Nearly fifty hedge funds sold over half a billion dollars of shares in Altice USA in the third quarter, according to filings, as the cable company continues to suffer from concerns over its debt level. ** The Federal Reserve approved a merger between Sandy Spring Bancorp Inc and WashingtonFirst Bankshares Inc . ** Private equity firm Apollo Global Management LLC is nearing a deal to buy Qdoba Mexican Eats from restaurant chain Jack in the Box Inc for more than $300 million, people familiar with the matter said. ** Italian energy company Enel SpA is planning to invest 1.8 billion euros ($2.12 billion) in Brazil before acquisitions over the next three years, with an emphasis on distribution networks, executives told a Brazilian newspaper. ** German energy company EnBW is interested in bidding for the construction of offshore wind farms in the Dutch part of the North Sea, regulatory filings in the Netherlands show. ** Rockwell Automation Inc rejected rival Emerson Electric Co's sweetened takeover offer, saying the $29 billion bid undervalued the industrial automation company and that a merger would dampen its growth prospects. ** Bank of Sharjah and Invest Bank are in merger talks that could create an institution with about 50.6 billion dirhams ($13.8 billion) of assets, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. ** South African cement producer PPC's board turned its back on a takeover attempt by AfriSam, backed by Canadian firm Fairfax Africa Investments, but PPC said it was still talking to Ireland's CRH and Swiss group LafargeHolcim. ** Japan's JFE Holdings Inc and India's JSW Steel Ltd are lining up a joint bid with a private equity firm for the assets of India's insolvent Bhushan Steel Ltd , two industry sources familiar with the matter said. ** Nippon Paint Holdings Co Ltd made an all-cash offer on Tuesday to acquire U.S. coatings company Axalta Coating Systems Ltd , two people familiar with the matter said, ending merger talks between Axalta and Dutch peer Akzo Nobel . ** Chinese energy and investment group CEFC has teamed up with Czech-Slovak financial group Penta Investments to try and buy Time Warner's Central European Media Enterprises , three sources familiar with the matter said. ** China's Baotou Huazi Industry Co said it had ditched a plan to acquire a controlling stake in Huaxia Life Insurance, sending the shares of the edible sugar product manufacturer down by 8 percent in Shanghai. ** Sweden's Dometic , a maker of appliances for caravans and boats, said it was buying Seastar Solutions in a $875 million deal from affiliates of American Securities LLC, strengthening its position in the marine industry. ** Evian and Volvic owner Danone has put money into a Hawaiian bottled water from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, showing the depths multinationals will now go to in the quest to stand out. ** Euromoney Institutional Investor , publisher of the Euromoney magazine, said it would sell its stake in Dealogic, a provider of financial content and analytics, to Ion Investment Group for about $135 million. ** South Africa's Sibanye-Stillwater will exchange some surface gold processing assets and tailings storage facilities (TSF) for a 38 percent stake in DRDGOLD worth 1.3 billion rand ($93.5 million), it said. ** U.S. hedge fund Christofferson Robb & Company (CRC) has presented an offer to buy Banca Carige's consumer credit unit Creditis, a source familiar with the matter said. ** German healthcare group Fresenius SE said the planned takeover of Akorn , a U.S. maker of liquid generic drugs, might not be completed before next year as the U.S. antitrust review could take longer than expected. ** Lyon Group, a private infrastructure developer, has fielded bids for three of its Australian utility-scale solar power and battery projects, including what would be the world's largest battery, a spokesman said. (Compiled by Manas Mishra and Vibhuti Sharma in Bengaluru) iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- A jury has awarded a transgender professor $1.1 million after she accused her employer of discrimination. Dr. Rachel Tudor, a professor at Southeastern Oklahoma State University from 2004 to 2011, accused the school in 2010 of subjecting her to sex discrimination "when it denied her application for promotion and tenure during the 2009-10 academic year," according to a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2015. Tudor later joined the lawsuit. A jury decided in her favor on Monday, finding a preponderance of evidence that she was denied tenure because of her gender and was later retaliated against after complaining about workplace discrimination, according to a verdict form obtained by ABC News. Tudor first filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, which referred her to U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the lawsuit states. In that complaint, Tudor states that she notified the school of her intent to transition from male to female in 2007, according to the lawsuit. However, Tudor then received a call from a Southeastern employee who informed her that "Southeasterns Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Douglas McMillan, had inquired whether Dr. Tudor could be fired because her 'transgender lifestyle' offended his religious beliefs," the lawsuit states. The employee told Tudor that McMillan was told he could not fire Tudor because of her gender identity. Tudor began presenting herself as a woman during the 2007-08 academic year and was informed by Jane McMillan, the director of Southeasterns Counseling Center and sister of Douglas McMillan, "that she should take safety precautions because some people were openly hostile towards transgender people," according to the lawsuit. Reached by phone Tuesday, Douglas McMillan, who is retired, refused to discuss Tudor's case and court victory. "I dont want to comment on this, thank you," he said. Jane McMillan did not immediately respond to ABC News' requests for comment. Tudor met with the dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Lucretia Scoufos, to begin preparations to apply for tenure in 2009, the lawsuit states. It was during that meeting that Scoufos learned that Tudor was transgender, but Tudor says she nonetheless "intentionally referred to Dr. Tudor by male pronouns such as 'he' and 'him,'" according to the lawsuit. Multiple attempts by ABC News to get comment from Scoufos, who is also retired according to the university's spokesman, were unsuccessful. After Tudor submitted her application for tenure, the Promotion & Tenure Review Committee recommended she receive a promotion and tenure. However, Tudor's application was ultimately denied without explanation, the lawsuit states. It was the first time an English professor was denied a promotion and tenure despite a recommendation from the committee. In June 2010, Tudor received a letter from Douglas McMillan stating her application had been denied because "her record in the areas of 'research/scholarship' and 'university service' were deficient," the lawsuit states. Tudor then filed her complaint with the Department of Education and attempted to reapply for tenure in 2010, but was denied. She supplemented her complaint to the EEOC in 2011, further accusing the university of retaliating against her for complaining about the school's discrimination. That year, Tudor was fired from her position because she had failed to attain tenure. The case ultimately made its way to the Department of Justice, which filed a lawsuit against the school in March 2015. Tudor has not yet commented on the verdict. In a statement on Tuesday, Southeastern president Sean Burrage said: Southeastern Oklahoma State University places great trust in the judicial system and respects the verdict rendered today by the jury. It has been our position throughout this process that the legal system would handle this matter, while the University continues to focus its time and energy on educating students. All legal questions should be directed to the Oklahoma Office of the Attorney General. An attorney for Tudor declined to comment further. Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. (ADVISORY- Follow European and UK stock markets in real time on the Reuters Live Markets blog on Eikon - see cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets) LONDON, Nov 22 (Reuters) - European shares opened slightly higher on Wednesday, losing some of the momentum that pushed stocks in Asia and on Wall Street to new highs overnight on continued faith in synchronised economic growth around the world. The STOXX 600 benchmark was up 0.1 percent by 0842 GMT with most European bourses trading in positive territory. Norwegian media group Schibsted posted the sharpest decline of the index after an offering of B-shares to finance mergers and acquisitions in online classifieds. Its shares retreated 8.2 percent. Akzo Nobel rose 1.7 percent after Nippon Paint made an all-cash offer on U.S. coatings company Axalta , ending talks to create what had been described as a merger of equals between Akzo and Axalta. The FTSE was up 0.2 percent, about four hours before British finance minister Philip Hammond presents his budget, under pressure to help unhappy voters as the country faces faltering economic growth. On the domestic UK corporate front, SSP Group , which operates restaurants and bars at travel locations, posted one of the best performance for European blue-chips with a 6.7 percent jump after beating expectations for full-year results and proposing a special dividend. (Reporting by Julien Ponthus; Editing by Georgina Prodhan) MILAN, Nov 22 (Reuters) - U.S. hedge fund Christofferson Robb & Company (CRC) has presented an offer to buy Banca Carige's consumer credit unit Creditis, a source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. The bank, which is selling assets and on Wednesday launched a 560 million euros capital increase to strengthen its balance sheet, must accept the offer by Wednesday and close the sale by Dec. 6, according to the prospectus for the capital increase. Accepting the offer is a key condition for CRC to take on unsold shares in the capital increase under an existing accord with broker Equita. (Reporting by Massimo Gaia, editing by Silvia Aloisi) FRANKFURT, Nov 22 (Reuters) - German residential property developer Instone Real Estate confirmed that it is considering a stock market flotation to raise funds for growth. "Jointly with our owner Activum SG we are examining various strategic financing options," Instone said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that those could include an initial public offering or a private placement of shares. The company is working with Deutsche Bank on the plans, people close to the matter had told Reuters in September. Instone has been formed by a merger of Formart, a former unit of German builder Hochtief which Activum bought in 2014 for roughly 300 million euros ($353 million), and peer GRK. Instone also said it has acquired property in Hamburg and Munich, boosting the its portfolio of real estate projects to 3.4 billion euros. ($1 = 0.8498 euros) (Reporting by Arno Schuetze; Editing by Maria Sheahan) ATHENS, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Greece's second largest lender by assets National Bank (NBG) was loss-making in July-to-September as weak net interest income and trading losses offset a decline in bad debt provisions. NBG, 40 percent owned by the country's bank rescue fund HFSF, on Wednesday reported a net loss from continued operations of 44 million euros ($51.87 million) versus net loss of 52 million euros in the second quarter. NBG said loan impairments fell 22 percent to 156 million euros while its ratio of non-performing exposures (NPEs), which includes non-performing loans and other credit likely to turn bad, edged up to 45.2 percent from 45 percent in the second quarter. ($1 = 0.8483 euros) (Reporting by George Georgiopoulos) By Aaron Sheldrick TOKYO, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Japan's first auction for contracts to provide solar electricity pushed prices down by nearly a quarter from a previous system, but the cheapest bid was still more than eight times a record-low achieved recently in overseas markets, government data shows. The lowest accepted price for solar projects was 17,200 yen ($153.20) per megawatt hour (mwh), according to documents from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, which handled the auction. That was down from 24,000 yen per mwh in the year through March 2017 for projects approved under METI's feed-in-tariff programme set up in 2012 to encourage a switch to renewables after the Fukushima nuclear disaster. A recent solar power auction in Mexico yielded bids as low as $17.70/mwh, the latest in a series of ever lower prices for sun-powered projects that is upending energy markets around the world. "It is encouraging to see prices in Japan coming down. However, it is worrying that prices are falling faster in other parts of the world," said Tomas Kaberger, energy and environment professor at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden and chairman of the Renewable Energy Institute in Tokyo. "Costs for solar power in Japan are almost three times as high as in countries in Europe with the same solar resources," he added. High guaranteed prices in Japan for solar power, which were set at 40,000 yen/mwh hour in 2012, led to a surge in investment as project developers sought to lock-in high returns for the 20-year payment periods. But the government has been steadily cutting prices to reduce the burden on electricity users, who have the guaranteed rates added to their bills. The introduction of auctions was the latest step in attempts to cut costs. The government was seeking bids for 500 megawatts of capacity, but secured valid bids for just over 140 megawatts, according to METI. Japan's solar power capacity has soared to more than 40,000 gigawatt-hours from virtually zero before 2012. The country plans to generate 24 percent of its power from renewables by 2030, up from 14.6 percent in 2015, according to the industry ministry. ($1 = 112.2800 yen) <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ GRAPHIC: Japan Solar Power ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Reporting by Aaron Sheldrick; Additional reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Joseph Radford) MOSCOW, Nov 22 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Moscow would do everything in its power to defend the lawful interests of Russian businessman and lawmaker Suleiman Kerimov arrested by French police at Nice airport on Monday in connection with a tax evasion case. "Intensive work is now being carried out by the foreign ministry," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a conference call with reporters. "We will do everything in our power to protect his lawful interests." (Reporting by Dmitry Solovyov; editing by Polina Devitt) 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. BERLIN, Nov 22 (Reuters) - The leader of Germany's pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) ruled out on Wednesday a resumption of talks on a possible coalition government with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and the ecologist Greens. "For the foreseeable future, it is impossible to imagine cooperation with the Greens at the federal level," Lindner told Spiegel magazine. His remarks contradicted those of FDP General Secretary Nicola Beer, who had earlier said in an interview that the liberal party was not ruling out a renewal of talks on a three-way alliance with the conservatives and the Greens. (Reporting by Joseph Nasr; Editing by Paul Carrel) DUBAI, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Most major Gulf stock markets edged up in early trade on Wednesday, including Dubai, although Emaar Development dropped as it began trading after Dubai's first big initial public offer of shares since 2014. Emaar Development, the local property development unit of Emaar Properties , was at 5.85 dirhams after 80 minutes, down from its IPO price of 6.03 dirhams; 209 million shares traded, compared to 800 million sold in the IPO. The stock opened at 5.61 dirhams. The weak debut underlined two factors weighing heavily on Dubai. Its real estate market has been slumping for over two years as low oil prices cause governments around the region to cut spending and impose new taxes, slowing economic growth. Meanwhile, rising tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran over instability in Lebanon and the conflict in Yemen have increasingly worried investors. However, Dubai's index rose 0.4 percent in early trade as Emaar Properties, which had been falling in the days ahead of its unit's listing, rebounded 1.3 percent. GFH Financial , the most heavily traded stock, surged 3.0 percent after saying it had started talks with Saudi Arabian authorities to cross-list its shares on the Riyadh stock exchange. Several other Gulf bourses were strong, recovering a little from several days of weakness; they were aided by rising global equity markets and oil prices. Saudi Arabia's index edged up 0.4 percent as petrochemical blue chip Saudi Basic Industries gained 0.5 percent. Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones by 121 to 20. Qatar's index added 0.5 percent as drilling rig provider Gulf International Services , the most heavily traded stock, surged 4.2 percent. It has been trading near eight-year lows. The Qatari market shrugged off news that international equity index compiler MSCI may shift to using offshore foreign exchange rates to value Qatar's market because sanctions against Doha have made it more difficult for foreign investors to obtain riyal onshore. Offshore riyal rates are weaker than onshore rates and if it goes ahead, the shift could lead to changes in the weighting of Qatari stocks in MSCI's emerging market index. Abu Dhabi's index fell 0.8 percent as telecommunications blue chip Etisalat retreated 1.2 percent. (Reporting by Andrew Torchia; Editing by Toby Chopra) * Emaar Development closes below net asset value * Reflects slumping property market, geopolitical tensions * But Dubai rises as Emaar Properties, GFH surge * Saudi market in broad-based rebound * Qatar climbs despite possible FX change by MSCI By Andrew Torchia DUBAI, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Gulf stock markets mostly rebounded from several days of weakness on Wednesday, encouraged by strong oil prices, though Emaar Development sank on its debut after Dubai's first big initial public offering since 2014. Emaar Development , the local property development unit of Emaar Properties , closed at 5.77 dirhams, down from its IPO price of 6.03 dirhams, which represented its net asset value according to an estimate by consultants JLL. The weak debut underlined two factors weighing heavily on Dubai. Its real estate market has been slumping for over two years as low oil prices cause governments around the region to cut spending and impose new taxes, slowing economic growth. Meanwhile, rising tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran over instability in Lebanon and the conflict in Yemen have increasingly worried investors. But Dubai's index closed 1.0 percent higher as Emaar Properties, which had been falling in the days ahead of its unit's listing, rebounded 2.6 percent. Only 48.4 million Emaar Development shares traded on Wednesday against 800 million sold in the IPO, suggesting institutional investors were generally hanging on to the stock because of its high annualised dividend yield, estimated by SICO Bahrain at 9 percent for the next three years. GFH Financial , by far the most heavily traded Dubai stock by volume, surged 6.1 percent after saying it had started talks with Saudi Arabian authorities to cross-list its shares in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia's index rose 0.7 percent in a broad-based rebound as gainers outnumbered decliners by 140 to 41. Petrochemical investor Alujain jumped its 10 percent daily limit in heavy trade. Qatar's index added 0.4 percent as drilling rig provider Gulf International Services , the most heavily traded stock, surged 6.3 percent. It had been trading near eight-year lows. The Qatari market shrugged off news that international equity index compiler MSCI may shift to using offshore foreign exchange rates to value Qatar's market because sanctions against Doha have made it more difficult for foreign investors to obtain riyal onshore. Offshore riyal rates are weaker than onshore rates and if the move went ahead, it could lead to changes in the weighting of Qatari stocks in MSCI's emerging market index. Abu Dhabi's index fell 0.9 percent as telecommunications blue chip Etisalat retreated 1.2 percent. HIGHLIGHTS SAUDI ARABIA * The index rose 0.7 percent to 6,822 points. DUBAI * The index climbed 1.0 percent to 3,445 points. ABU DHABI * The index dropped 0.9 percent to 4,274 points. QATAR * The index added 0.4 percent to 7,798 points. EGYPT * The index increased 0.8 percent to 13,839 points. KUWAIT * The index edged down 0.04 percent to 6,229 points. BAHRAIN * The index gained 0.4 percent to 1,269 points. OMAN * The index edged up 0.02 percent to 5,078 points. (editing by John Stonestreet) OSLO, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Norway's right-wing minority government has reached a deal with two centrist parties for a 2018 fiscal budget, securing the plan's passage in parliament, public broadcaster NRK reported on Wednesday. The government of Conservative Prime Minister Erna Solberg and Progress Party Finance Minister Siv Jensen relies on compromises with the opposition Christian Democrats and the Liberal Party to win backing for its policies. (Reporting by Oslo newsroom, editing by Terje Solsvik) 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. SAO PAULO, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Brazilian state-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA aims to raise up to 7.5 billion reais ($2.3 billion) by floating a minority stake in its fuel distribution unit, according to a regulatory filing. Petrobras, as the company is known, is looking to sell as many as 393.2 million shares in its BR Distribuidora SA unit, including supplementary and additional allotments, at a suggested price of 15 reais to 19 reais per share. That would value BR Distribuidora at around 22 billion reais at the top-end of the price range. ($1 = 3.25 reais) (Reporting by Bruno Federowski 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. Following are news stories, press reports and events to watch that may affect Poland's financial markets on Wednesday. ALL TIMES GMT (Poland: GMT + 1 hour): LOCAL GOVERNMENT INVESTMENT Investment expenditure by local government increased by 44 percent year-on-year in the third quarter to 8 billion zlotys ($2.23 billion), Puls Biznesu reported. LOTOS The EFRA investment of Polish refiner Grupa Lotos will improve its margin on each barrel of oil by $2, Chief Executive Marcin Jastrzebski told Rzeczpospolita daily. He also said that starting from 2018-2019 the company will receive oil in long-term contracts from other sources than just Russia. PKN ORLEN The Lithuanian refinery of PKN Orlen is currently contributing "significant profits" to the company, PKN's board member Krystian Pater told Parkiet daily. ECONOMIC SENTIMENT The statistics office will publish its economic sentiment indexes for businesses and consumers at 1300 GMT. ****Reuters has not verified stories reported by Polish media and does not vouch for their accuracy.**** For other related news, double click on: Polish equities E.Europe equities Polish money Polish debt Eastern Europe All emerging markets Hot stocks Stock markets Market debt news Forex news For real-time index quotes, double click on: Warsaw WIG20 Budapest BUX Prague PX ($1 = 3.5902 zlotys) (Reporting by Warsaw Bureau; Editing by Toby Chopra) PARIS, Nov 22 (Reuters) - The scope of the immunity status accorded to Russian businessman and lawmaker Suleiman Kerimov, who has been arrested in France, is up to the French judge dealing with the matter to decide upon, said the French foreign ministry. Kerimov was arrested by French police at Nice airport on Monday evening in connection with a tax evasion case, and the Kremlin said it would do everything in its power to defend his lawful interests. "It is up to the judge, who has been called upon in this case, to clarify whether the charges that have been brought against him are related to his official roles and would therefore be protected by diplomatic immunity," said French foreign ministry spokeswoman Agnes Romatet-Espagne. Kerimov is ranked by Forbes magazine as one of Russia's richest businessman, with a net worth of $6.3 billion. His family controls Russia's largest gold producer Polyus . (Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Brian Love) OSLO, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Norway's central bank sold the following government bond (NST 479) in a uniform price auction on Wednesday: Coupon: 1.75 pct Maturity: Feb 17, 2027 Settlement date: Nov. 24, 2017 AUCTION DATE Nov 22, 2017 Nov 1, 2017 YIELD (pct) 1.52 1.60 ALLOTMENT PRICE (pct) 101.95 101.28 SCHEDULED OFFER (bln NOK) 3.00 2.00 TOTAL BIDS (bln NOK) 6.004 7.370 ALLOTED (bln NOK) 3.00 2.00 BID-TO-COVER RATIO 2.00 3.69 NOTE: The central bank said that there was 90 percent allotment on lowest accepted bids. (Reporting by Oslo newsroom) 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. LONDON, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Tech stocks remain the largest net sector exposure for equity hedge funds, which are set to deliver their strongest returns since 2013, Goldman Sachs said on Wednesday in a note on the industry's most and least favoured areas of the market. Information technology accounts for 27 percent of hedge fund portfolios, GS says. Financial are the largest underweight -- and the biggest area of divergence with large-cap mutual funds, which like the sector. Equity hedge funds have returned 10 percent year to date as stock-picking has gone particularly well. The most popular hedge fund long positions have outperformed both the broad market and the largest shorts, GS said. The U.S. bank's 'Hedge Fund VIP' basket of most popular stocks has outperformed the S&P 500, up 25 percent compared with 17 percent for the index. Aside from the global tech stock boom, hedge funds have also benefited from tilting towards parts of the market they do not typically favour, such as large-caps, momentum and growth stocks, which have outperformed this year, while avoiding value and small-caps, which they have historically preferred. "Tilts toward outperforming momentum and growth stocks have helped lift the most popular long positions for most of 2017, but have weighed on returns during the past month as those factors dipped," wrote Goldman analysts. Momentum stocks have been the strongest-performing this year, returning 15 percent, GS data showed, while value stocks have been the weakest. Hedge funds' crowding in the most popular positions rose slightly in the third quarter, they found, though it remains below the extremes reached in 2016. This top-heavy tilt - with the average hedge fund holding 68 percent of its long portfolio in the top 10 positions - reflects a heightened concentration of the broader market, where the largest companies account for a growing share of total index market cap. Turnover in hedge fund holdings has also hit historical lows this quarter, declining in all sectors but healthcare. As hedge fund managers' conviction on the tech sector crystallised, turnover in IT stocks hit its lowest level on record. Among the 50 stocks that most frequently appear in hedgies' top 10 holdings, the usual suspects of U.S. tech Amazon , Facebook , Alphabet , Apple and Microsoft rub shoulders with Chinese internet giant Alibaba , while Bank of America and Citigroup also feature. (Reporting by Helen Reid; editing by John Stonestreet) KAMPALA, Nov 22 (Reuters) - The Ugandan shilling traded on a firm footing on Wednesday, helped by hard currency inflows from remittances by Ugandans living abroad and commodity exports. At 1056 GMT commercial banks quoted the shilling at 3,630/3,640, unchanged from Tueday's close. UGX Spot Rate..... Ugandan Shilling Money Guide.... Calculated Cross Rates.......... Deposits..................... Deposits & Forwards............. Uganda Equities Guide....... Uganda All Share Index........ Shilling background ..... Ugandan Debt Guide............ All Uganda Bonds............. Uganda T-Bills.............. Uganda Benchmark............. Central Bank ................ Ugandan Contributor Index.... Uganda Coffee Prices....... (Reporting by Elias Biryabarema) 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. (Updates with confirmation, detail on dropped 'Tesla tax') OSLO, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Norway's right-wing minority government reached a deal on Wednesday with two centrist parties for a 2018 budget, securing the plan's passage in parliament, the parties said. The government of Conservative Prime Minister Erna Solberg and Progress Party Finance Minister Siv Jensen relies on compromises with the opposition Christian Democrats and the Liberal Party to win backing for its policies. "We are glad that we have reached an agreement on a budget that focuses on jobs," said Nikolai Astrup, the lead negotiator for the Conservatives, flanked by the negotiators for the other three parties. The four parties scrapped a budget proposal to trim lavish tax breaks for Tesla and other electric cars, which have given the Nordic country the world's highest rate of battery-vehicle ownership. The Christian Democrats and the Liberals are environmentally minded and the proposal, dubbed the "Tesla tax" in the Norwegian media, had stirred controversy after it was proposed. The proposal in the draft budget would have mainly affected large cars weighing more than two tonnes, and was intended to scale back the favourable treatment of luxury models such as Tesla's Model X sport utility vehicle. Norwegian media had estimated it could have pushed up the price of a Tesla Model X by 70,000 Norwegian crowns ($8,557.98). ($1 = 8.1795 Norwegian crowns) (Reporting by Gwladys Fouche; Editing by Terje Solsvik and Gareth Jones) * Government mine clearing agency said funding was withdrawn * Hun Sen says workers would be the ones to suffer any sanctions * World Bank forecasts slight rise in growth despite turbulence (Recasts with U.S. offers aid for demining) By Prak Chan Thul PHNOM PENH, Nov 22 (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday opened a $2 million tender to help clear unexploded bombs in Cambodia weeks after the government's mine clearance agency said its U.S. funding had been stopped. Relations between Cambodia and the United States have spiralled downwards this year with the government accusing Americans of involvement in a plan by detained opposition leader Kem Sokha to bring down Prime Minister Hun Sen. Washington has rejected the accusations as baseless. Last week, it said it was cutting aid for next year's election and would take further steps after the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) was dissolved by the Supreme Court at the government's request. The U.S. embassy said it was accepting applications for a $2 million one-year grant to survey and clear unexploded ordnance in eastern Cambodia, which suffered heavy U.S. bombing during the war in neighbouring Vietnam. "The United States has supported humanitarian demining in Cambodia for over 20 years and is committed to addressing our war-time legacy," Ambassador William Heidt said in a statement. "We are looking for the best national and international experts." The size of the contract matches the amount which the government's Cambodian Mine Action Centre said earlier this month had been cut from funding it received from the United States through Norwegian People's Aid. "We welcome the commitment in taking part in addressing the legacy of the war," said Huy Vannak, undersecretary of state at the Interior Ministry. China, now Cambodia's closest ally, was quick to step in with an offer of help for demining soon afterwards. CRACKDOWN China is Cambodia's biggest donor and investor and has played an ever more prominent role as Western countries have criticised a crackdown on the opposition, civil society groups and media ahead of next year's election. Although it has not taken action, the European Union pointed out last week that Cambodia's access to duty free access vital to its garment industry depended on respect for human rights. Hun Sen told garment workers on Wednesday that they would be the ones to suffer - not him - if the access was withdrawn. European Union countries accounted for about 40 percent of Cambodia's exports in 2016. Most of that was clothing. "You must remember clearly that if there is any cut of buying orders, it's all the fault of a group of people of the opposition party," Hun Sen told garment workers in Phnom Penh. "Hun Sen won't die but workers, you will die," he said. The prime minister accused exiled opposition leaders of trying to get sanctions imposed. They have so far said they would not call for measures to curb trade because of the impact it could have on the livelihoods of an estimated 700,000 garment workers. Cambodia's economy has proved largely immune to political turbulence. The World Bank said on Wednesday it expected the economy to grow 6.9 percent next year, compared with a projected 6.8 percent pace in 2017, despite risks including uncertainty over the election. (Writing by Matthew Tostevin, Editing by William Maclean) (Adds kwacha levels, background) LUSAKA, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Zambia's central bank governor said on Wednesday the delay in reaching a conclusion for an aid programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was putting pressure on the kwacha currency . Zambia and the IMF agreed in October to chart a new path towards debt sustainability after the IMF delayed the conclusion of talks with Africa's No.2 copper producer, saying it was at high risk of debt distress. The government had said it hopes to get board approval from the international lender by the end of 2017. "It is more of sentiment because the fundamentals point to continued appreciation," central bank governor Denny Kalyalya told a media conference. "One of the factors has been that players were looking to the conclusion of an IMF programme before the end of the year." The kwacha currency slid to 10.0850 per dollar on Wednesday from about 9.0000 three months ago and traders said it was due to increased dollar demand and short foreign currency supply. (Reporting by Chris Mfula; Editing by James Macharia) * 15 bln stg share sale to begin in 2018 * Shares to be sold over 5 years * Previous attempt stymied by Brexit vote * RBS shares fall 1.2 pct (Adds quote, details of other asset sales, updates shares) By Lawrence White and Andrew MacAskill LONDON, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Britain will reprivatise bailed-out lender Royal Bank of Scotland by selling 15 billion pounds ($20 billion) of shares, according to budget documents released on Wednesday, in a boost to finance minister Philip Hammond's coffers. The government will begin the delayed share sale by selling 3 billion pounds of shares in RBS before the end of the 2018-19 fiscal year and the shares will be sold over five years. The British government pumped 45.5 billion pounds into RBS in the depths of the financial crisis, and efforts since then to recoup the money have been stymied by the bank's plunging share price, regulatory probes in the United States and Brexit. At the current share price of 270 pence, little more than half the 502 pence the government paid for them, the Treasury stands to lose billions of pounds on the sale. RBS has reported losses of more than 58 billion pounds since 2008 but last month reported a forecast-beating operating profit in the third quarter that lifted its shares. Peter Hahn, professor of banking at the London Institute of Banking and Finance, said the government had decided to start selling its stake because RBS is close to resolving its problems and the government has accepted it is unlikely to get all its money back. "The government bought the shares almost 10 years ago, RBS is a very different bank today, so there is no way it can recoup the money it spent bailing it out," he said. "This is a realisation from the government it is time to move on." The sale would represent around two thirds of the government's 71 percent stake in RBS at current market prices. A spokeswoman for RBS said the bank welcomed the government's recognition of the bank's progress. Britain's independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said the government's expected losses from rescuing failed banks during the 2007-2009 financial crisis narrowed to 21.8 billion pounds from 23.5 billion pounds in March. The OBR said the government now faces a 26.2 billion pound loss on its stake in RBS, down from a previous forecast of 29.2 billion in March, after a recovery in the value of the bank's shares. Nevertheless, the proceeds from the share sale will come as a boon to Hammond, who on Wednesday delivered a gloomy budget statement to parliament warning of lower tax revenues. The share sale will help achieve a fall in public sector net debt as a share of GDP. A government plan to sell part of its RBS stake was scrapped last year in the wake of the Brexit vote. Earlier this year, RBS resolved one of the two major obstacles preventing the government selling its stake in the lender. European Union regulators freed RBS from an obligation to sell more than 300 branches, bringing to an end the bank's seven-year struggle to meet conditions for its bailout. Instead, the regulators accepted a plan for RBS to set up a fund to increase competition in the small-business market. That left as the remaining major legal obstacle a claim by the U.S. Justice Department that the bank, like many of its peers, mis-sold toxic mortgage-backed securities in the run-up to the financial crisis. RBS Chief Executive Ross McEwan has said he expects to settle the case this year, although formal talks have not started. McEwan and bank investors alike see resolving the case, which analysts have estimated could lead to a fine of as much as $12 billion, as a prerequisite for the bank being able to exit government ownership. RBS shares fell by 1.25 percent by 1630 GMT, against a 0.4 percent rise in the STOXX European banks index . The government also said on Wednesday it expects to sell off the last remaining assets of the failed lenders Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley by 2021. ($1 = 0.7540 pounds) (editing by Louise Heavens and Adrian Croft) By Dave Sherwood and Fabian Cambero SANTIAGO, Nov 22 (Reuters) - The world's largest copper miner, Codelco, may see a boost in investment cash regardless of who wins next month's presidential runoff in Chile, as both candidates have vowed to end the state-run firm's funding of the military. Conservative front-runner Sebastian Pinera and his center-left rival Alejandro Guillier, set to face off in the Dec. 17 vote, have both pledged to overturn the dictatorship-era law that transfers to the military 10 percent of Codelco's export sales, worth $866 million last year. There is no guarantee that Codelco , which delivers all its profits to the state, would keep the funds should the law be overturned. That decision would ultimately lie with Congress. But the candidates' rare agreement that the tax should be eliminated bodes well for the cash-strapped miner, which needs to invest an estimated $20 billion to revamp its aging mines, expand abroad and keep output flowing. "This tax affects the competitiveness of Codelco, its ability to finance its operations and investments and its possibilities to grow internationally," Guillier, a senator and former journalist, wrote in a proposal describing his plans for Chile's mining industry. Billionaire businessman Pinera, who served as president between 2010 and 2014, has likewise criticized the law, calling for a new formula for financing that would increase Codelco's autonomy and stabilize its finances in the long-term. A Codelco spokeswoman said the company would not comment on how the funds might be used ahead of any change in the law. Codelco, which ships around two-thirds of its copper to Asia, was the world's top copper producer based on its annual output to June 2017, according to rating agency Moody's. But it has been hard-hit by a downturn in copper prices in recent years, and declining ore grades at its mines. Those factors, alongside the punitive tax, have left the miner hamstrung, said Juan Carlos Guajardo, of Chilean mining consultancy Plusmining. "It's a 10 percent royalty. Ask any mining company and they'll tell you the same thing. It's asphyxiating, it's brutal," he said. The law dates back to 1958 and was overhauled in 1976 under former dictator Augusto Pinochet to fund the growing military. DIFFERENT APPROACHES The next Chilean president, who will take over from President Michelle Bachelet in March and will have a strong hand assembling Codelco's board, will weigh heavily on the company's investment plans. Though the candidates agree that the military funding law should be eliminated, they differ on what Codelco's priorities should be. Pinera, who has been skeptical of Codelco's management and says he would like to see greater emphasis on efficiency, has called for a "realistic investment plan" and for "maximizing performance of existing assets." Guillier, who hails from the northern mining province of Antofagasta, has emphasized new investment and prioritized company-worker relations, similar to Bachelet. But his plans could be swayed by negotiations with the leftist Frente Amplio bloc, which garnered a larger-than-anticipated share of the vote in Sunday's first-round presidential and Congressional elections . The Frente Amplio has called for the recapitalization of Codelco, and mining royalties worth billions of dollars to pay for increased social spending. Codelco, which produced 1.7 million tonnes of copper in 2016, has a five-year investment plan that includes construction of a new level at its century-old El Teniente mine and expansion at Radomiro Tomic. Both were delayed last year as a result of the copper price slump. The company is also eyeing projects as far off as Mongolia, though the dip in copper prices forced it to slash its exploration budget by 47 percent last year. Some in Chile are skeptical about the chances of the military funding law being repealed. Repeated attempts to overturn it in the past have failed, scuttled by supporters of the politically powerful military. "I'm not very optimistic ... because we've been talking about it for 25 years," said Gustavo Lagos, a mining professor with the Universidad Catolica. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Pinera aims for center in tight battle for Chile's top job Pinera wins first round of Chile election, faces runoff FACTBOX-Where Chile's presidential candidates stand on policies ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Reporting by Dave Sherwood and Fabian Cambero,; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Rosalba O'Brien) Clingmans Dome Tower reopens for Winter season GATLINBURG, TN -- According to Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials, the Clingmans Dome Observation Tower has been reopened to the public. The rehabilitation work which began this summer has been suspended for the winter and is expected to resume next Spring. The remaining work is expected to take approximately two weeks and will necessitate another short-term closure to complete. Clingmans Dome reopens for the Winter season. Image by Jeaneane Payne. Visitors can enjoy views from the tower throughout the winter; however, the Clingmans Dome Road will be inaccessible to motorists from December 1, 2017 through March 31, 2018 due to normal seasonal closures. The road, tower, and entire Clingmans Dome area remain accessible to hikers throughout the winter. Much of the needed rehabilitation work was completed this Fall, but the final surface overlay still needs to be completed. Deteriorated areas on the concrete columns and walls have been repaired, support walls have been stabilized at the base of the ramp, and stone masonry has been repaired. The work has been made possible through funding received from a Partners in Preservation (PIP) grant. The $250,000 grant was awarded last summer to Friends of the Smokies on behalf of the park after being one of the top nine, most voted for parks in the Partners in Preservation: National Parks Campaign in 2016. Straddling the North Carolina and Tennessee state line at 6,643 feet, the tower is a prominent landmark and destination as the highest point in the park. The observation tower is a precedent-setting design of the National Park Services Mission 66 program, which transformed park planning, management, and architecture and fundamentally altered the visitor experience in national parks. Since 1959, millions of visitors have climbed the tower, where they can see distances of up to 100 miles over the surrounding mountains and valleys. Some minimal preservation work today on the tower will ensure that visitors continue to experience this unique structure spiraling up from the highest point in the park. Partners in Preservation is a program in which American Express, in partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, awards preservation grants to historic places across the country. Since 2006, Partners in Preservation, a community-based partnership, has committed $16 million in preservation funding to nearly 200 diverse sites in eight different cities across the country. Through this partnership, American Express, National Geographic, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation seek to increase the public's awareness of the importance of historic preservation in the United States and to preserve America's historic and cultural places. The program also hopes to inspire long-term support from local citizens for the historic places at the heart of their communities. Tennessee Conservation License Plate grants benefit brook trout, stream quality, TN children NASHVILLE -- Tennesseeans whose cars carry the Trout Unlimited Conservation License Plate have contributed to another series of grants supporting conservation projects and conservation education. This years grants total $32,860. The Tennessee Council of Trout Unlimited (TU) announced the grants at its fall meeting Nov. 11. The awards include: $10,000 to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) to help pay lab fees for DNA tests on brook trout, to identify populations that are the true southern strain. The TU grant is matched by $10,000 each from TWRA and the U.S. Forest Service. $7,500 to the Appalachian Chapter TU, in cooperation with the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute and TWRA, for research into and propagation of Southern Appalachian Brook Trout. This is the third grant to the aquarium institute in Chattanooga; the money will support raising the native trout for release into Stoney Creek, about 15 miles northeast of Johnson City. $7,000 for the eighth annual Great Smoky Mountains Trout Adventure Camp for middle school girls and boys, sponsored by the Tennessee Council TU. The camp will be June 18-23, 2018, at the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont; for more information visit tntroutadventure.org/about-camp.html. $5,000 for the Trout in the Classroom (TIC) program, supporting establishment of TIC projects throughout the state to teach youngsters in grades K-12 about aquatic habitats and creatures, and about the importance of preserving and protecting them. For more information, contact Lori Webb Paris, TIC coordinator, at cherokeechaptertu@gmail.com. $3,360 to the Overmountain Chapter TU, in cooperation with Southern Appalachian Highland Conservancy, for improvements on Hampton Creek in the Hampton Creek Cove State Natural Area. The project, to control runoff, prevent erosion and improve water quality, includes building a road and a stone ford so that livestock and equipment can approach the creek and cross it without disturbing the ecosystem. The license plate program was developed in the mid-2000s by leaders of the Cumberland Chapter TU in Nashville, benefiting all eight Tennessee TU chapters. More than $160,000 in conservation grants has been distributed so far. Organizations interested in applying for grants should contact the TU chapter closest to themfor contact information, visit tctu.org/tn-chapters.html. The Conservation License Plate is sold by county clerks throughout the state. It would make a fine holiday gift for anyone dedicated to conservation or trout fishingto order a $35 gift certificate, visit www.tngiftcenter.com/giftatag/. The mission of the Tennessee Council TU, like that of Trout Unlimited nationally, is to conserve, protect and restore coldwater fisheries. Throughout Tennessee, the council leads advocacy efforts, fosters widespread understanding of the significance of the coldwater resource and nurtures chapter development and grassroots conservation. It may be cold outside, but Cork and Fork Osteria is hotso hot that if you wait until the last minute to secure a weekend reservation, you may be out of luck. I suggest, instead, calling at least a day or two ahead of time, especially if you have your heart set on dining there on a Friday or Saturday night. Business is brisk and has been ever since the restaurant opened around this time last year. This is the second incarnation of the popular establishment that started in Harrisburg and expanded to the West Shore at the Hampden Terminal. The eatery is nestled among other businesses like Evolve Salon, Ever Grain Brewing Company and Red Sky Cafe. We circled the parking lot a few times before finding a suitable spot when we arrived during the dinner hour last Tuesday night. Those who are familiar with the Harrisburg Cork & Fork will notice that the decor mirrors that of the original location. Custom-blown spherical glass chandeliers imported from Germany feature Edison bulbs that lend a soft glow to the natural light that shines through soaring windows. An open kitchen allows guests a view of the action taking place, with a pizza oven as the focal point. Other eye-catching details include wrought iron fencing that leads to a second floor, which features a wall of wine barrels shipped in from California. I decided to kick off my meal with an adult libation to take advantage of happy hour that runs from 4:30 to 6:30 Monday through Saturday. Of the selection of red and white wines, craft beers and cocktails, I chose a refreshing coral crush ($6), made with vodka, pomegranate liquor, muddled grapefruit, rosemary and San Pellegrino. The ice-cold, refreshing drink served in a martini glass with a salted rim was quite tasty indeed. Cork & Fork is particularly suited to tipping a glass and celebrating with a little taste of this and a little bit of that. Small plates for sharing include selections like bruschetta, oven-roasted brussels sprouts, rosemary flatbread and eggplant parmesan, to name just a few. A variety of meats and cheeses pair well with wine choices and range from Italian Mortadella, prosciutto and soppressata, to Spanish Manchego, Gouda from the Netherlands and domestic cheeses hailing from areas like Wisconsin and New York. Those who enjoy salads as a precursor to the main meal can choose from a half-dozen selections like an apple jalapeno with baby spinach, shaved fennel, apples, walnuts and raisins; or butternut squash salad featuring baby arugula, pancetta, goat cheese crumbles and candied walnuts; or simply skip the greens and order an earthy beet salad featuring pancetta, pistachios and shaved fennel. My friend and I shared the Pesto Caesar ($10) with crisp romaine lettuce, fresh kale, focaccia croutons, roasted cherry tomatoes and pecorino served with a side of whipped pesto dressing containing mild notes of garlic, pine nuts and basil. Pasta is created in house, and Cork & Fork offers dishes like gnocchi with tomato sauce and Parmesan, shrimp fettucine and rigatoni with sausage, broccoli rabe and tomato sauce. To satisfy a pasta craving, I selected Cacio e Pepe. The classic Roman dish, known for its simplicity, is made with spaghetti, fresh cracked pepper and Pecorino Romano. The saltiness of the cheese paired well with the spiciness of the pepper and the heartiness of the homemade pasta. If I had to name a star in this production, however, it would have to be the pizza, which is unique to the area. Each pie is made with a special 00 flour and cooked in an EarthStone oven to a temperature of approximately 860 degrees to achieve what many describe as the perfect char. About eight pizzas are available at any given time. Among those are the classic Margherita; the Carne Amore, featuring bacon, sausage, salami, crushed tomatoes and mozzarella; and the popular Funghi pizza featuring a trio of cremini, shiitake and oyster mushrooms topped with caramelized onions and a white, silky Bianca sauce. My dining partner chose a pie called the Della Nonna ($16). Rich, creamy and dreamy are just a few words I would use to describe the heavenly pie. Theres so much to be said about the outstanding way the flavors work together, from the fennel sausage to the truffle oil, pecorino, red onions, potato confit, the aforementioned Bianca sauce and the egg with a yolk that flows over the ethereal creation when you poke the middle with a fork. Its a mouthwatering combination. Our friends with a sweet tooth can choose from house-made desserts like tiramisu and a decadent Nutella pizza with marshmallows and powdered sugar. With the holidays approaching, it may be helpful to keep Cork & Fork in mind as a suitable and casual alternative where out-of-town guests can feel right at home. Next Up: The Middlesex Diner in Carlisle By Kwon Mee-yoo Jonas Mekas, known as the pioneer of poetic, avant-garde cinema, is being introduced to Korea through a major retrospective at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA) Seoul branch. The 95-year-old Lithuanian-American is a filmmaker, poet and artist, who captured poetic moments of daily life as well as the brutal and violent side of life. The Seoul exhibition is the first retrospective of Mekas in Asia, giving a thorough look into the avant-garde filmmaker who blazed a trail in film. Titled "Again, Again It All Comes Back to Me in Brief Glimpses," the exhibit features some 60 videos and 50 archival works, tracing major moments of Mekas' life. Born in 1922 in Lithuania, Mekas experienced the tragedy of World War II. He was taken to the labor camp of Elmshorn and later refugee camps at Wiesbaden and Kassel by the Nazis and the experience of confinement influenced Mekas' works exploring violence. "The Brig" (1962) is based on Kenneth Brown's play of the same name, depicting life in a U.S. Marine Corps military prison and Mekas captured the brutal nature of humans. The film earned Mekas a grand prize at the Venice Film Festival in 1964. The portrayal of humanity's savage nature continues in the 2006 film "Destruction Quartet," a video consisting of four pieces of footage of different events juxtaposed _ the demolition of the Berlin Wall in 1990, Danius Kesminas' fire sculpture in New York in 1991, Nam June Paik's piano wrecking performance in 1997 and the collapse of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, recorded by the filmmaker on the roof of his apartment in New York. "We don't want false, polished, slick films _ we prefer them rough, unpolished, but alive; we don't want rosy films _ we want them the color of blood," Mekas said in a statement to the New American Cinema Group, which was organized by Mekas and other independent filmmakers who were against the aesthetics of commercial Hollywood. Mekas also acquainted himself with many modern artists such as Andy Warhol, Yoko Ono, John Lennon and Salvador Dali and they influenced each other through collaboration. Fashion designer Agnes B described Mekas as "an artist, a scribe and a keeper of memories." Mekas inspired Warhol to enter the world of filmmaking and also created a video on the artist titled "Scenes from the Life of Andy Warhol" (1990). "In an Instant It All Came Back to Me" (2015) consists of 768 images from Mekas' films, set on 32 glass panels. The still frames include ordinary images such as a flower, a sunset and a dog as well as portraits of his artist friends Dali and Barbara Rubin. The avant-garde filmmaker has a knack of capturing the vitality of everyday life, using his camera as an extension of his own eyes. He is known for his "diary films" recording moments in life, whether intense or insignificant. "Summer Manifesto" (2008) offers a kaleidoscopic editing of photos that reminds its viewers of the image of summer and radiates a whimsical and festive atmosphere. The "365 Day Project" is a project began in 2007 and continues through today. He posted a video clip per day on his website , documenting glowing moments of daily life. The videos are presented on 12 monitors at this exhibition. His 2012 film "Outtakes From The Life of a Happy Man," which was created with unused footage from his films from 1960 to 2000, sums up the filmmaker's belief _ every moment of life is worthy of celebration in itself, no matter how trivial. In addition to the exhibition, 44 short- and feature-length films of Mekas are screened during the period at MMCA Film & Video in MMCA Seoul. The exhibit runs through March 4, 2018, and the screenings run through Feb. 25. Admission is 4,000 won for all exhibitions at MMCA Seoul. For more information, visit www.mmca.go.kr or call 02-3701-9500. Korea-US FTA to cause snowballing loss to farmers By Yoon Ja-young The Korea-U.S. Free trade agreement (KORUS FTA) incurred a $750 million deficit in trade of agricultural goods, with losses expected to snowball in the future, a report showed Wednesday. Representatives of farmers demanded abolition of the free trade deal with the U.S. and dismissal of the country's top trade negotiator. "The KORUS FTA scrapped tariffs on 97.9 percent of U.S. agricultural goods. That is the widest opening of the market among FTAs Korea has signed so far," said Han Suk-ho, a director at the Korea Rural Economic Institute, at the public hearing over amendment of the KORUS FTA. Korea opened most of its agricultural market to the U.S. following the bilateral deal. Han said that Korea's deficit against the U.S. in agricultural goods increased by $750 million since the KORUS FTA took effect. When comparing the averages of the 2007 to 2011 period to the 2012 to 2016 period, Korea's agricultural exports to the U.S. increased by $190 million, while imports snowballed by $940 million. Imports of beef, port, almonds, cherries and oranges have soared, with U.S. beef taking over half of Korea's beef imports according to the latest data. On top of the trade deficit, the FTA damaged farmers. "The soaring imports not only pulled down prices and production of the agricultural items imported from the U.S. but also lowered overall food prices. It led to real prices of other agricultural goods to fall," Han said. He pointed out that many farmers have switched to items that seemed to be safe from the KORUS FTA, but to no avail. The condition is only likely to worsen for local farmers, according to Han. "As time goes on, damage to the local agricultural industry will get bigger as the effects of the KORUS FTA as well as other FTAs accumulate." He said that if the negotiation for amendment of the KORUS FTA aims at balance in mutual interests, Korea should take an aggressive stance that seeks positive effects on agriculture. At the hearing organized by the trade ministry and the agriculture ministry, farmers demanded that the KORUS FTA should be scrapped "The farmers are on the verge of going bankrupt due to KORUS FTA. President Moon Jae-in also had told farmers when he was leading the opposition party that it should be scrapped," said Kim Hong-cheol, president of the Hanwoo Association which represents farmers breeding Korean cattle, called hanwoo. A representative from the Korean Peasants League demanded dismissal of Trade Minister Kim Hyun-chong, pointing out that he agreed to start negotiations for amendment of the deal without analyzing the economic effects of the KORUS FTA first. Experts say that Korea should take an aggressive stance in agriculture since the U.S. is reaping a huge trade surplus in that sector. "The U.S. is also aware that agriculture is both a politically and socially sensitive issue in Korea. It is likely to demand further opening of the market to use it as a tactic to decrease the trade deficit in other sectors," said Im Jeong-bin, a professor at Seoul National University. "If the U.S. demands further opening of the agriculture market, we will also have to demand revisions on the irrationalities of the deal," said Kim Kyeong-kyu, a deputy minister for the agriculture ministry. SC Bank Korea will hold a promotional event for customers who invest in overseas stocks via tax-exempt funds until next week. / Courtesy of SC Bank Korea SC Bank Korea is holding a promotional event to attract new customers to open an account enabling them to invest in equities overseas via tax-exempt funds. Customers who subscribe to the funds by the end of next week will be given the chance to win prizes including travel vouchers. Two first prize winners who invested more than 30 million won in the funds will receive a travel gift worth 2 million won. Ten second place winners will receive a 1 million won travel voucher. The catch is they must maintain a balance of the amount they put into the account when they signed up for overseas tax-exempt equity funds until the end of the promotional event. Customers who invest more than 60 percent of the money in overseas equities through the funds will get tax exemptions on gains from an increase in stock value and foreign currency exchange over the next decade after subscription. These tax-exempt funds are only offered until the end of next month. Those who invest up to 30 million won in the funds will be able to receive such tax benefits. "This offers an opportunity for customers who have been interested in investing overseas, but were hesitant because they were afraid and burdened by taxes," said Chang Ho-june, head of SC Bank Korea's wealth management in a press release. A North Korean soldier, who suffered gunshot wounds from North Korean forces while defecting to South Korea via the Joint Security Area, is being transferred to the operating theater at Ajou University Hospital in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, on Nov. 13. / Yonhap The North Korean soldier, who was shot multiple times while defecting to South Korea last week, remains in a stable condition and is conscious, his doctor said Wednesday. But the soldier, whose identity has yet to be revealed, will remain in the intensive care unit until his condition improves to a point where no further infection will happen, said surgeon Lee Cook-jong at Ajou University Hospital in Suwon, south of Seoul. "Currently, the patient is clearly conscious," Lee said in a statement. But the soldier shows signs of depression after suffering from gunshot wounds and undergoing two major surgeries," the doctor said, adding that the medical team will examine the patient's post traumatic stress disorder. "We will make a decision after consultations with related agencies with regard to the patient's treatment and transfer after that," Lee said. The mood was celebratory at Mondays South Middleton Township supervisors meeting as Save the Lake Foundation representatives were presented with checks totaling $50,500 for engineering repairs to Childrens Lake in Boiling Springs. This year, South Middleton procured the $400,000 needed to begin the projects design phase, including $150,000 from the townships local design funds, $25,000 from F&M Trust, and $12,500 each from Allen Distribution and R.S. Mowery & Sons. This, along with $200,000 pledged by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, is enough to cover engineering costs for repairs to the lake that Supervisor Tom Faley called the heart of our community. Tim Henry of F&M Trust, Gary Heishman of Allen Distribution and Don Mowery of R.S. Mowery & Sons presented donation checks to Brad Group and Dallas Bailey, of the Bubbler Foundation, and Jorie Hanson, who co-chairs the Save the Lake Foundation with Liz Knouse. Boiling Springs Lions Club president James Compton presented an additional $500 check gleaned from collection jar donations. This is a full-circle moment for me. Its amazing the number of people who came to help, Hanson said. Faley said on Tuesday that $2.4 million has been appropriated for Childrens Lake repairs, but Gov. Wolf has to sign to release the money. If all goes as planned, Faley said, project engineering will begin in 2018, followed by dam repairs starting in 2019. Township Manager Cory Adams said on Tuesday that officials havent yet determined if it will be the township or the state that reviews engineering and construction contractor bids for the project. Were still working out the specifics to that, Adams said. For the second year in a row, Boiling Springs Christmas tree lighting will take place on a gazebo on the shore of Childrens Lake next to the Appalachian Trail. Traditionally, the villages Christmas tree floats on a raft in the lake, but Faley said that isnt possible this year due to the lakes lowered water level. Group effort Save The Lake was formed this year with the backing of the Bubbler Foundation where charitable, tax-deductible donations can be made by the community and corporatate sponsors. Since its inception last spring, Save The Lake has raised upwards of $10,000 through the sale of merchandise and donations. Its not very often you see so many groups come together for one cause, said township supervisors chairman Bryan Gembusia. You usually see it during a tragedy, but this is before a tragedy happened (to the Childrens Lake dam). Lets get those (Save the Lake) signs in the yard so the governor can see it. Adams also credited the work of township solicitor Bryan Saltmann in pulling all of this together. Gov. Tom Wolf recently signed a deficit patch measure for states $3.2 billion budget that includes a $2.4 million appropriation to the state Fish and Boat Commission for repairs to Childrens Lake. Wolfs office, however, hasnt yet released the appropriated money. Officials said they hope it may happen within the next few months. Were working to release the money from the governors office, Sen. Mike Regan told Mondays crowd of around 50 Save The Lake supporters. Were so close to getting this done, but weve got to keep up the fight. Weve got to reach out to our governor. The moneys there and its earmarked for this, but it could go for somewhere else. ... Im very optimistic about this, though. Choi In-guk, left, and his mother, Ryu Mi-yong, hold hands during a cross-border reunion of separated families in August 2000 when Ryu visited Seoul after defecting to the North with her husband in 1986. / Korea Times file By Yi Whan-woo The son of a late South Korean couple who defected to North Korea in 1986 arrived in Pyongyang, Wednesday, for a ceremony to mark the first anniversary of his mother's death. The Ministry of Unification said the son, Choi In-guk, is the first South Korean citizen to visit the reclusive state since President Moon Jae-in took office in May. Choi is scheduled to stay in North Korea for four days and return home Saturday. "We approved Choi's trip to the North on humanitarian grounds," the ministry said. Choi, 71, is the second son of Ryu Mi-yong, the late chairwoman of the central committee of the Chondoist Chongu Party, the only quasi-religious party in the North in alliance with the ruling Workers' Party. Ryu died at age 95 on Nov. 23, 2016. The fathers of Ryu and her late husband, Choe Deok-sin, were independence activists during Japan's 1910-45 occupation of the Korean Peninsula and also believers of the native Korean religion Cheondoism. The two fathers defected to the North during the 1950-53 Korean War and spent the rest of their lives there. Choe, also a Chondogyo believer, served as the foreign minister as well as South Korea's ambassador to West Germany under President Park Chung-hee. He later had uneasy relations with Park and fled to the United States with his wife before defecting to North Korea in 1986. Choe is one of the few high-profile South Koreans who fled to the repressive state. He led the Chondoist Chongu Party until he passed away in 1989. Ryu succeeded him in 1993. The Ryu-Choe couple had two sons and three daughters when they defected to the North. But their children were not "old enough" back then and did not accompany their parents, according to the Central Headquarters of Cheondogyo in Seoul. Choi briefly met his mother during the cross-border reunion of separated families in August 2000 when Ryu led respective family members from the North on a visit to Seoul. Choi visited North Korea in November 2016 when Ryu died. However, he did not have a chance to visit Pyongyang and commemorate the anniversaries of his father's death, the Central Headquarters of Cheondogyo said. A North Korean soldier runs toward the south side of the Joint Security Area (JSA) after getting out of a vehicle stuck along a row of JSA buildings in this surveillance camera footage released by the United Nations Command, Wednesday. / Courtesy of United Nations Command KPA guards fired shots into south; one crossed MDL By Jun Ji-hye North Korean troops violated an armistice agreement last week when they were chasing a fellow soldier defecting to South Korea through the Joint Security Area (JSA) at the truce village of Panmunjeom, the United Nations Command (UNC) announced Wednesday. Releasing video clips lasting around seven minutes showing the incident, the UNC said the (North) Korean People's Army (KPA) violated the Armistice Agreement twice when its border security guards fired weapons across the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) after the defector had entered the South and when one KPA soldier temporarily crossed the line for a few seconds. The armistice, signed in July 27, 1953, brought a ceasefire to the 1950-53 Korean War. The findings came after a UNC special team, comprised of personnel from Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and the United States, conducted an investigation from Nov. 13 to 20. Members from Sweden and Switzerland of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission also observed the process in accordance with due procedure, the UNC said. "UNC personnel at the JSA notified the KPA of these violations today through a normal communications channel at Panmunjeom and requested a meeting to discuss the investigation results and measures to prevent future violations," the UNC said in a release. On Nov. 13, a North Korean soldier ran across the MDL inside the JSA in an apparent bid to flee to the South. According to the South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, around 40 gunshots were fired at the soldier from the North during the incident. How a North Korean soldier defected in hail of bullets [VIDEO] Defected North Korean solider in stable condition, clearly conscious Controversy arises over doctor's handling of North Korean defector Wounded North Korean soldier defects through DMZ [PHOTOS] The defector was hit five times and underwent surgery twice at Ajou University Hospital in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province. He has recently regained consciousness and begun to speak, according to hospital officials. Closed-circuit television footage the UNC released starts with the defector approaching in a vehicle across the 72-hour Bridge, with the CCTV timeline that reads "2017-11-13 15:11." After the vehicle driven by the defector in a KPA uniform became stuck along a row of JSA buildings, he got out and ran south across the MDL. While the defector was running south, four North Korean guards, armed with pistols and rifles, engaged him with direct fire, during which time some of the gunshots flew over the MDL, and one soldier briefly crossed the line before returning back to the north side of the JSA. Separate footage from a thermal observation device showed two members of South Korea's JSA security battalion crawling along the ground to recover the wounded defector lying against a wall, while one member covered the retreat, prior to his evacuation for medical treatment. The UNC said its investigation team determined JSA security battalion personnel took appropriate actions during the incident, which resulted in a "de-escalation of tension and no loss of life." Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, the UNC commander, said "After thoroughly reviewing the investigation results, I assess the actions taken by the UNC security battalion were in a manner that is consistent with the Armistice Agreement, namely -- to respect the Demilitarized Zone and to take actions that deter a resumption of hostilities." Gen. Brooks added: "The armistice agreement was challenged, but it remains in place." The comments are expected to remove criticism to some extent over the South Korean military's failure to fire back while the North Korean soldiers were firing across the MDL. Pyongyang declared the Armistice Agreement invalid in early 2013 and has cut off the hotline between the UNC and the KPA since then. This means that the UNC would have no realistic tool to deal with the North's violation of the agreement. It also remains to be seen whether the North will respond to the UNC's request to hold a meeting to discuss the incident. The National Intelligence Service and the Defense Security Command here plan to question the defector to find out his rank and background and the reasons for his defection once his condition stabilizes. He Yiting, right, executive vice president of the Chinese Communist Party's top education institute, shakes hands with ruling Democratic Party of Korea Chairwoman Rep. Choo Mi-ae during his visit to the National Assembly, Wednesday. He arrived here, Tuesday, for a three-day trip. / Yonhap By Yi Whan-woo A close aide of Chinese President Xi Jinping met with political leaders including ruling Democratic Party of Korea Chairwoman Choo Mi-ae and main opposition Liberty Korea Party floor leader Chung Woo-taik in Seoul, Wednesday. He Yiting, executive vice president of the Chinese Communist Party's top education institute, also met with Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam and other South Korean officials. He, who arrived here on Tuesday for a three-day visit, briefed about the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China during his meetings with South Korean politicians and policymakers. They discussed ways to bolster bilateral cooperation between South Korea and China, too. He has expertise in Xi's policies and ideology and is also known as Xi's speech writer. His coincided with Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha's talks with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing, Wednesday. His South Korea trip coincided with Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha's talks with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing, Wednesday. "The visits made by Minister Kang and Executive Vice President He to each others' countries are expected to help speed up normalization of bilateral ties," a foreign ministry official said, citing the Seoul-Beijing agreement reached in October to end the row over the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery deployed here. He said he wants to promote "the main spirit of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China" through his visit when he arrived at Incheon International Airport. "By doing so, South Korea can have a better understanding of the congress and the party," he said. Meanwhile, Kang and Wang exchanged ideas on the possible agenda to be discussed during President Moon Jae-in's scheduled visit to China next month. Wang separately briefed Kang about the visit made by Xi's special envoy, Song Tao, to North Korea from Nov. 17 to 20. Song anticipated the meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to deliver Xi's address to him. But he appears to have failed in meeting Kim, as no North Korean or Chinese media outlets reported relevant news of any such meeting even after he returned home. This is Kang's first visit to China after taking office in June. Kang and Wang had not visited each others' countries for bilateral talks. They have only met twice on the sidelines of ASEAN-related meetings in Manila, the Philippines, in August and on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York City in September. By Kim Bo-eun Member states of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) agreed on Wednesday to boost exchanges of online courses, at the 6th Asia-Europe Education Ministerial Meeting in Seoul. The meeting, held from Tuesday through Wednesday, was attended by representatives including ministers and vice ministers from 44 countries including Switzerland, Ireland, China, Japan and Russia. The participating member states agreed to adopt the Seoul Declaration, which outlines efforts to promote the use of online courses, expand personnel exchanges between Asia and Europe and enhance youth employment. "We have agreed to strengthen cooperation through the use of information and communication technology including online courses, as an innovative means of education and learning," Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Kim Sang-kon said in a press conference at the Shilla Hotel, Wednesday. Thirteen member states agreed to develop content for Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC), establish criteria to control the quality of the courses and set up a network among MOOC experts of member states. MOOCs were first introduced in 2006 and have become a popular mode of learning, due to characteristics that allow unlimited participation, open access via the internet and facilitate interactions between students and professors. The "MOOC Initiative" is the first attempt at establishing a platform through international cooperation. The member states also agreed to make efforts to draw up polices enabling the recognition of diverse credits and degrees, as well as overseas adjustment to promote student exchanges. In addition, they pledged to innovate secondary education and strengthen life-long education and job training to prepare young people for the job market in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. By Chyung Eun-ju, Park Si-soo An elementary school teacher was sentenced to three years in prison for having sexual relations with a 12-year-old girl. Suwon District Court handed down the verdict on Monday, finding the teacher 32, surnamed Shin, guilty of violating the Sexual Crime Act against Minors. He was also ordered to undergo 80 hours of anti-sexual crime education. According to court documents, the teacher got to know the student, then 11, through an unidentified app in October last year. The teacher introduced himself as a 19-year-old and suggested offline dating. The two met at a cafe in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, and had sex. He took photos of the girl's naked body. "He cannot be forgiven," wrote Judge Song Kyung-ho in a ruling statement. "Despite his position as an elementary school teacher, he tricked the teenage girl, who has not reached the age to fully understand sexual relations." The teacher claimed he didn't know his partner was an elementary student, but the court dismissed it. By Lee Kyung-min Eighty-five Koreans were denied entry into the U.S., Sunday, because the stated purposes of their visits differed from the actual purposes, the foreign ministry said Wednesday. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it confirmed this with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and aircraft operators that carried the 85 people. They, the ministry said, were denied entry at HartsfieldJackson Atlanta International Airport in Georgia Sunday after some of them told immigration officials there that they had flown to the U.S. for reasons other than travel. All of them, before arrival, cited tourism as the reason for their visits on the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), a travel document under the visa waiver program between the two countries. The program permits Koreans to visit the U.S. for tourism or business for up to 90 days without visas. The ministry refused to disclose the identities of the individuals citing privacy, only confirming that they are in their 60s and 70s. While the Korean Consul sought to meet with the 85 people, they were already aboard two different planes to return home. Of them, 36 people who arrived at 9:10 a.m., Saturday at HartsfieldJackson Atlanta International Airport aboard a Korean Air flight, departed at 11:50 a.m., Sunday aboard another Korean Air flight 27 hours after their arrival. The remaining 49 people who arrived at the Georgia airport aboard Delta Air Lines, made a stopover at Detroit before returning home as there was no direct flight. No abusive treatment was reported. CBP provided the 85 people with interpretation services and food while they were staying in a separate waiting room. The entry denial triggered heated responses here as it was the first such case following the strengthened border security protocols maintained by the Transportation Security Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. While authorities in both countries refused to confirm the incident, reports were made that the denial came after U.S. authorities found no matching U.S. addresses some of the 85 people had submitted as their planned places of stay. Some said they were visiting to attend religious events, while others said their itineraries included visiting an agriculture-related event. The ministry said to prevent any recurrence of such an incident, the Korean Consulate General in Atlanta would give public notice in detail concerning what could be possible grounds for entry denial after consulting with CBP officials. President Moon Jae-in burns incense at the grave of former President Kim Young-sam during a memorial ceremony at Seoul National Cemetery marking the second anniversary of his death, Wednesday. / Yonhap By Jun Ji-hye President Moon Jae-in attended a ceremony marking the second anniversary of the death of former President Kim Young-sam held at Seoul National Cemetery, Wednesday. Officials from the presidential office said Moon's participation in the ceremony reflects the President's willingness to achieve national integration and unity, given that Kim was an iconic democratic fighter who ushered in an era of civilian leadership. "President Moon believes it is a necessary move for an incumbent president to cherish the memory of former presidents," an official told reporters on condition of anonymity. Last year, then-President Park Geun-hye did not attend the ceremony in person, only sending a wreath to the cemetery. At the time, Park faced mounting pressure to step down following the outbreak of a massive corruption and influence-peddling scandal that led to her impeachment in March. Moon, accompanied by first lady Kim Jung-sook, said in a speech that the late president fought against despotic powers from the 1950s to 1990s and opened up the way for the nation's democratization. "Today, I recall the instructions left by President Kim Young-sam, which are integration and unity," he said. Observers construed Moon's participation in the ceremony as his willingness to embrace conservative-centrist forces at a time when he is being attacked by conservative opposition parties over his government's initiative to eradicate "deep-rooted evils." Under this initiative, state prosecutors have been looking into alleged irregularities under the Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye administrations, including allegations that the Cyber Command under those governments conducted online smear campaigns against liberals during the 2012 general and presidential elections. Moon ran in the 2012 presidential poll as an opposition candidate and lost to Park by a small margin. The main opposition Liberty Korea Party Chairman Hong Joon-pyo has labeled the Moon administration move as "political revenge." Among the participants in this year's ceremony included People's Party Chairman Ahn Cheol-soo, Bareun Party Chairman Yoo Seong-min and Justice Party Chairwoman Lee Jeong-mi. Kim's second son, Hyun-chul, and former President Kim Dae-jung's third son, Hong-gul, as well as former U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon were also present. By Kim Hyo-jin Kim Jong-dae Controversy is growing over a lawmaker's criticism of Lee Cook-jong, the doctor who revealed hygiene and nutrition problems of a North Korean soldier who defected, after treating him. Rep. Kim Jong-dae of the minor opposition Justice Party criticized Lee for violating the Medical Law that bans doctors from disclosing personal information about patients. "I can't keep in silence when a respected doctor took an action against his duty," he wrote on Facebook, Wednesday. "Shootings at Panmunjom are well-known so it's natural the people and media pay a lot of attention but it is enough for the doctor to explain the process of the operation and the patient's condition." Kim asked if Lee really had to unveil details of the soldier's condition. "The drastic image of a person's body contaminated by excrement and parasites shocked our society, and the people's fear and aversion went out of control," he said, noting the sales of anti-parasitic drugs soared throughout the country after Lee's press conference. "It's not only against courtesy for the patient but also a possible violation of the Medical Law." Lee Cook-jong By Kim Joo-young Recently, I visited a theatre where Blade Runner 2049 (2017), a reboot of the "Blade Runner" (1982), the sci-fi masterpiece that envisioned 2019, was released, and I noticed many elderly viewers in the room. It has been 35 years since the first Blade Runner was released, so they must have been feeling nostalgic. What exactly was the future they had imagined Decades ago, when sci-fi films were booming? Science fiction is often known for its prophetic nature. The submarine Nautilus from Jules Verne's novel "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" (1870), a radical concept at the time, eventually became real military technology. Inspired by these neo-futuristic stories, other authors started enthusiastically penning more stories about advanced technology, like nuclear power. However, nuclear power is already being phased out, and are no longer in the realm of the imaginations of current literary pioneers. Instead, as audiences have seen in in recently released sci-fi movies, they envision cutting-edge starships that deploy solar sails to be propelled by solar energy. There is a saying that the futures described in sci-fi works reflect the present; in other words, the human imagination draws on historical recollections and the present for context. Ridley Scott, the director of the original "Blade Runner," described Los Angeles as a damp and dusky forest of skyscrapers blanketed in thick fog, which is not a surprise, as he was a contemporary witness to The Great Smog of London in 1952. Actor, Ryan Gosling, who plays Blade Runner 2049's protagonist, commented about the appeal of a sci-fi film, saying it gives people a picture of the worst scenario. The reboot, directed by Denis Villeneuve, shows us the two worst possible scenarios our generation faces. The opening scene of the movie shows Ivanpah, the world's biggest solar thermal generation facility located in California, which boasts about its plans to cope with climate change through its mega energy plant that transmits 400 megawatts to 140,000 neighboring households. The lofty smokestack of Ivanpah, however, didn't release steam over the sky throughout the movie. The aftermath of climate change and nuclear war, which painted a world that is gray and orange, overpowered even the use of renewable energy. Our real world has likewise been severely damaged. The reality is still full of conflicts, and the Koreas peninsula, comprised of the North and the South, faces one of the most dangerous situations among the various regions of the world. But Korea is blissfully ignorant of it. At the end of the movie, there is a building written as "haengwoon," which means "fortune" in Korean. Seeing Korean letters in the Hollywood movie out of the blue made me and the elders in the audience giggled. In the final scene, Harrison Ford, the actor (born in 1942) who played the protagonist in the first Blade Runner, and Gosling (born in 1980) encountered each other, fought and fortunately, made up. There are various interpretations of this scene. For me, it reflects Korean society, which has been wounded and split by the discord between conservative elders and progressive youths and by the anti-nuclear movement that emerged after the Shin-Kori reactor disaster. There is the generation gap behind the clashes on all of these matters. I think, perhaps, reconciliation between the old and the young can bring the luck we need as we approach our uncertain future. In the end, the movie was a cautionary tale for all generations. The writer (joonimitime@snu.ac.kr) is enrolled in the master's program in environmental management at the Graduate School of Environmental Studies at Seoul National University. Carlisle Police Chief Taro Landis was inspired by a man who gained wisdom after losing most everything in life. The two were chatting along a street in town when the man told Landis: I used to sell drugs and the cops used to chase me all over. That decision, that lifestyle choice took away his wife, his children and his home. It could have been the end, but it wasnt. The man was alive to share his story. It got me thinking, Landis told a crowd of about 60 local residents Monday. If that message could get out to some of the youth, maybe we would not have some of the problems. For Taro, the town hall meeting at Borough Hall was a call to action a challenge for the concerned men of Carlisle to step in and step up in the hope of making a difference in the lives of troubled youths. The chief guided the audience through an hourlong process where residents were encouraged to share views and brainstorm ideas on how to provide positive male role models to boys and girls who all too often grow up without a father figure at home. Representation Those gathered represented a broad spectrum of Carlisle, including civic organizations, local churches, neighborhood and community advocacy groups and the local school district. While most were men, there were a few women at what could be the first in a series of public meetings. Taro asked participants for contact information. His hope is to develop a network to put structure and momentum behind the energy he felt in the room. Follow-up ideas included forming either a steering committee or a mayors commission tasked specifically with reaching out to youths. We can bring this together, the chief said, adding that Carlisle already has good people doing good things such as feeding the hungry through Project SHARE or putting up the homeless overnight in local churches. Much of the focus Monday was channeling youths to already existing after-school programs and the prospect of developing a mentorship program. Carlisle native Gary Anthony Stackfield said he survived a difficult upbringing to become an ordained minister. His mother was a heroin addict while his father was a drug dealer who frequently spent time in jail. While Stackfield spoke highly of a possible mentorship program, he posed questions on where it should be located within town and how it would be funded. Above all, there has to be volunteers willing to work hard to help the children find their self-worth, he said. We need to meet the kids where they are at, Stackfield said. The best gift you can give anyone is time and commitment. If you dont have time and commitment, they [youths] are not going to take it seriously. School support Fred Jackson grew up in Carlisle at a time when the elementary schools in town all worked together within their grades levels to provide youth programs. Today, schools seem to operate separately within their neighborhoods at a time Carlisle needs to do more collectively to address crime and other social issues. I hope that we can connect the dots to make positive decisions and work together, Jackson said before meeting. It cannot be done by one group. We need everybody on every corner to help. Jackson suggested opening up program centers throughout Carlisle. He is a leader with the Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church that started its own after-school program. At this point, any ideas would benefit the community, said James ONeal of West Pennsboro Township, a retired state police trooper with close ties to Carlisle. No one organization or one person can do it by themselves, ONeal said before the meeting. Many people have to combine their efforts. Over the years, Carlisle has changed as outsiders have moved in with no relationship to the town. The result has been an infiltration of the criminal element into some of its neighborhoods, ONeal said. Dave Harper was raised in Carlisle by a single mother. His family received food stamps and welfare while the children were eligible for free and reduced lunches. The community took us under their wing, Harper said, recalling how people encouraged him over the years to overcome his situation and learn from the experience. Today Harper works as a teacher at a prison for boys and as the night instructor for an alternative education program offered at Carlisle High School. Society has fragmented, Harper said. That makes it harder. But we are here and we are all in this together [so] it can be resolved. The key is to work the problems from many perspectives but with the same goal, Harper said. Connect Preston Stackfield, the cousin of Gary Anthony Stackfield and a community ambassador for the Carlisle Community Coalition, said that while it is great to have programs, success stories and messages that warn youths of poor choices, the goal should be to connect with youths and to establish relationships built on trust. I just cant preach you a product, Preston Stackfield said. I have to get to know you before I can make a recommendation. You have to have a back-and-forth meaningful conversation or you are not going to have a buy-in [by a youth]. You have to make a connection with them first. Walter Bond is principal of Wilson Middle School, which hosts Girl Power, an after-school program geared toward female students. He invites civic organizations to come in and provide a program for boys at the school. The guys are yearning for attention, said Bond, adding that few men are drawn to teaching positions in public education. It is not unusual for Carlisle-area students to go all the way through the eighth grade without having a single male role model in a classroom. By middle school, it can be tough for us to build relationships, Bond said. Their walls are up. It takes time and a lot of consistency. Timing The timing is actually good for the Carlisle community to launch an effort to help youths, said Rick Coplen, a Carlisle Area School Board member. Schools can be a centerpiece, Coplen said. Were about to do a new strategic plan and hire a new superintendent. There are a lot of great programs. We have to find ways to tie them together, to fund and to fuel them. While the town hall meeting was geared to men, several women showed up to offer their insight. Gail Parker said there are many families where older children are raising younger children. She felt the purpose of the community effort could be lost if the support that is offered does not carry over into the home. Parker suggested Carlisle develop parenting classes or a parenting guild tasked with providing information to families. Landis said such classes could be coordinated through Hope Station, which already has something similar in place. Posted earlier on Cumberlink: Carlisle area men came out in force Monday to take up the challenge of making a difference in the lives of troubled youth. Carlisle Police Chief Taro Landis guided an audience of about 60 local residents through an hour-long town hall meeting designed to share views, brainstorm ideas and start a community conversation. Those gathered represented a broad spectrum of Carlisle, including civic organizations, local churches, neighborhood and community advocacy groups and the local school district. While most were men, there were a few women. Much of the focus was on how to provide positive male role models to youths who grow up without a father active in their lives. There were ideas presented on ways to better channel youth to already existing programs, along with the possibility of starting a mentorship program using volunteers screened by background checks. An overriding theme was how to make programs more relatable to youth. Carlisle native Gary Anthony Stackfield came from a rough upbringing to become an ordained minister. We need to meet the kids where they are at, he said. The best gift we can give them is time and commitment. If they dont have that, they are not going to take it seriously. The end result of Mondays meeting was the start of a network Landis wants to develop to put structure and momentum behind the energy he said he felt in the room. Follow-up ideas include forming a steering committee that reports to Landis and Mayor Tim Scott or maybe start a mayors commission specifically tasked with reaching out to youth. Check back to Cumberlink.com and to The Sentinels Wednesday edition for more information. By Bae Eun-joo My smartphone has become an indispensable part of my life. A day without my smartphone virtually means being disconnected from the world, especially in technology-savvy Korea. Just earlier this week, I was again the beneficiary of mobile technology as I watched one of my favorite K-pop bands, BTS, perform at the American Music Awards on the handheld screen of my smartphone. Besides the performance on stage at the music awards, the BTS boys posted online photographs and videos showing their red carpet walk, behind-the-stage scenes, happy moments with celebrities and cheers from their fans. Over 20 million tweets and over 20 million comments and videos were posted on Google on BTS's American Music Awards performance. As I kept following some of the Twitter and Instagram uploads, I found myself spending far more time than I had intended scrolling down some of the millions of online postings. Suddenly, I asked myself, "Am I becoming addicted to my smartphone? How much time is too much time to spend on a smartphone?" A recent local study found that 64.3 percent of smartphone users between the ages of 19 and 59 find it difficult to get by without their smartphones. It proves the growing influence of smartphones as over 73 percent of the respondents in their 20s and over 59 percent in their 50s said their smartphones were an essential part of their daily lives. Some 58 percent of the respondents said they felt "insecure" after leaving home without their smartphones and 66.4 percent said the smartphone is today's most important digital device. Over 75 percent of the respondents in their 20s said they take their smartphones to the restroom and 67.6 percent said they leave their smartphones by their bedsides at night. The smartphone's efficiency seems to outgrow the use of PCs as 64.1 percent responded they use their smartphones for searching the web, a whopping increase from 23.4 percent in 2014. On the other hand, many smartphone users feel the negative effects of the technology's development. Over 26 percent of respondents said they cannot separate work from private time and 38 percent said they have less leisure time. Some 43 percent agree they have difficulty developing thoughts and logical thinking. When it comes to children, the problem seems far more serious. A recent report by the nonprofit group Common Sense Media finds that 49 percent of children in the U.S. watch TV or use their smartphones before bedtime. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends an hour gap between such activities and sleep. Other key findings show that children aged eight or younger spend an average of 58 minutes a day on the phone, a big increase from five minutes in 2011. The situation doesn't seem much different in Korea. Some 17.9 percent of children between three and nine years old were found "overly dependent on their smartphones," according to the National Information Society Agency. Tim Farnum, a father of two youngsters in Denver, Colorado, raised the alarm over the issue by creating a non-profit called Parents Against Underage Smartphones (PAUS) to keep smartphones out of children's hands. PAUS has drafted a ballot initiative calling for a smartphone sales ban to children under the age of 13. Farnum compared his proposed law to similar age restrictions on cigarettes, alcohol, and pornography. Another such movement is taking place in Ireland. Jim Daly of Fine Gael, a liberal-conservative and Christian democratic political party, is drafting a bill that would make it illegal for retailers to sell mobile phones with internet access to children under 14. It could also make it illegal for parents to allow their children born after 2015 to own a portable device. "Essentially you're giving your child of seven or eight years of age a mobile device that allows them to access unlimited pornography of every type," Daly said in an interview with a local media. "When people ask me, what age should my child be before I buy them such a device?' I reply, whatever age you are happy with them viewing pornography,'" Daly said. He claims that handing a smartphone to a young child can be compared to "robbing children of their childhood." Well-knowing the charm and addictiveness of the smartphone, I agree that guidance and regulation need to be introduced for online safety and for developing "child-friendly" smartphones. Here are some of the questions conducted by the Center for Internet and Technology Addiction for a smartphone compulsion test. 1. Do you find yourself spending more time on your cell or smartphone than you realize? 2. Do you find yourself spending more time texting, tweeting or emailing as opposed to talking to people in person? 3. Do you wish you could be a little less involved with your cell or smartphone? 4. Do you sleep with your cell or smartphone (turned on) under your pillow or next to your bed regularly? 5. Do you find yourself viewing and answering texts, tweets and emails at all hours of the day and night even when it means interrupting other things you are doing? 6. Do you find yourself mindlessly passing time on a regular basis by staring at your cell or smartphone? 7. Do you feel ill-at-ease or uncomfortable when you accidentally leave your smartphone in the car or at home, have no service or have a broken phone? 8. When you eat meals, is your cell or smartphone always part of the table place setting? 9. When your cell or smartphone rings, beeps or buzzes, do you feel an intense urge to check for texts, tweets, emails, updates, and other alerts.? 10. Do you find yourself mindlessly checking your cell or smartphone many times a day, even when you know there is likely nothing new or important to see? A stranger's in the house to drop off your Amazon package You're waiting for an important package to be delivered. Or for the furnace repairman to arrive. Or the cable guy. Their companies can't tell you exactly when they'll be there. So you pace. And you peer out the window. And you hope you're not in the bathroom when someone rings the bell. Because a serviceperson won't linger or circle back, you'll have to call and make another appointment. Delivery drivers won't leave the package without a signature. Or they will leave it, increasing the risk that it will be swiped by porch pirates patrolling neighborhoods around the holiday season. If you step away, if you get distracted, if you don't hear the bell, you're out of luck. But what if these package deliverers and others had a way to unlock your door (legally and with your permission), set the package inside or do the repair, and then leave your house as secure as when they entered? And what if you could monitor the action via a video camera? And what if there were real-time notification to watch the delivery as it happens? That's the idea behind Amazon's new Amazon Key service rolling out this month in Chicago and 36 other cities.Sounds great to those of us who've encountered the frustrations chronicled above. "Amazon Key gives customers peace of mind knowing their orders have been safely delivered to their homes and are waiting for them when they walk through their doors," Peter Larsen, vice president of delivery technology for Amazon, says in a news release. Well, maybe not for everyone. We imagine some people will balk at allowing any stranger into their homes while they're away even with the aforementioned video monitoring and real-time notification to watch the delivery as it happens. There's still a stranger in your home while you're not there. Amazon says its delivery people will be "thoroughly vetted." But we all know that's not a foolproof guarantee. Still, we applaud Amazon for seeking to fill what we've always considered a huge, inexplicable void in the whole delivery biz. That is: Deliveries generally happen during the day, when many people aren't home. Finding that door tag dangling and then being obliged to make the pilgrimage to a local delivery center is annoyingly inefficient. In the ideal world, delivery would take place when people are available. There shouldn't be any guessing involved. If Fed Ex and its ilk can track a package every step of the way from Beijing, how come they don't know that you're not home? We've waited for an innovative tech guru to one-up Fed Ex and UPS by offering exclusive nighttime service. Say, Fed Ex After Hours from apres dinner to 10 p.m.? When people are home to sign for important packages. Yes, we'd pay extra for that. This isn't so revolutionary. Many grocery delivery services already have night hours. People can order Thai food or pizza at all hours. Why not packages? Speaking of innovation, even the sclerotic U.S. Postal Service plans to offer cheap next-day delivery service in 20 major U.S. cities on Sunday during this holiday season. Why? Because there's overwhelming demand. Amazon plans to eventually expand its keyless entry program so that others from dog walkers to repairmen can enter your home, do their jobs and leave. Walmart is testing a similar program that will allow drivers not just to deliver, but stash groceries in the refrigerator, if a customer requests. A Florida company is thinking even bigger. Moon Express recently revealed a plan to start regular delivery service on the moon as soon as there's someone there to open the door. We like the company's big ambition. The rest of us here on Earth still dream of the day we can get a package delivered after we get home from work. This editorial appeared in the Chicago Tribune and was distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. SPECIAL REPORT'I was falsely accused of theft': foreign entertainer recalls painful memories of bullying by Korean agency The new Toyota Camry hybrid / Courtesy of Toyota Korea Beijing and Pyongyang have been tight-lipped about whether Chinese President Xi Jinping's envoy met North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. By Shi Jiangtao The failure of North Korean and Chinese officials to arrange a meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping's envoy and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was a snub to Beijing and a further sign of strained ties between the communist neighbours, diplomatic observers said. Song Tao, head of the Communist Party's international department, wrapped up his four-day trip to North Korea on Monday, the first visit by a senior Chinese official since 2015. Both Beijing and Pyongyang have tried to put a positive spin on the trip but have remained tight-lipped about whether the Chinese envoy met the reclusive North Korean leader. State media did not say if Song met Kim, a move analysts said suggested that such a meeting did not take place. Although Song met Choe Ryong-hae, a vice-chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea and Kim's right-hand man, and Ri Su-yong, Pyongyang's top diplomat, analysts said his failure to meet Kim if confirmed was a deliberate snub to Xi and again showed Beijing's limited influence over the unruly regime. Repeating his comments on Monday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Tuesday that he had "no more details to offer about the specifics of the visit". Lu called for dialogue to resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis after the United States rebranded Pyongyang as a state sponsor of terrorism. Observers said the trip, which US President Donald Trump initially hailed as "a big move", apparently made little progress in breaking the impasse over North Korea's nuclear armament programme or stopping the downward spiral of distrust between Beijing and Pyongyang over Kim's nuclear brinkmanship. Theres a consensus aborning: There should be zero tolerance for sexual harassment, exploitation and violence of any kind. Enthusiasm for the new dawn varies widely. Some think its a great feminist or moral awakening. Others see an era of witch hunts, prudery and weaponized politics in our future. Put me down for all of the above. As a conservative, this seems natural to me. Almost every good thing comes with a downside, and virtually every bad thing comes with an upside. Weve seen cultural, political and religious awakenings before. The abolition movement also brought with it John Brown. Prohibition had some positive (though hotly debated) effects on public health, and the temperance movement helped pave the way for womens suffrage. Anti-communism was a good thing in my book, but no one can honestly dispute that it had its unfortunate excesses. Whenever popular passion swamps politics, true-believing zealots and opportunistic demagogues will exploit that passion. The zealots will overreach. The demagogues will demagogue using a good cause to destroy political enemies and defend unworthy allies. Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore is credibly accused by nine women of preying on teenagers, one as young as 14. Harvey Weinstein is credibly accused by at least 50 women of a long list of offenses, including rape. Democratic Sen. Al Franken has been accused by two women of inappropriate advances or groping. These are just the recent lowlights. A host of prominent journalists as well as Hollywood actors, writers and producers have been accused of varying degrees of misconduct. We shouldnt stand for any of it. And yet, the severity of our intolerance should run on a spectrum. Rape should put you in jail. Making a pass at a subordinate in the workplace should have consequences. Making one at a bar? It depends. Taking harassment seriously also requires making serious distinctions. The problem is that the logic of zero tolerance often renders every bad act as equally unacceptable. As much as I dislike Franken, making a gross pass at an adult woman is different than molesting a 14-year-old girl. Groping a womans backside is not the same thing as raping a woman. And yet Frankens name is routinely listed alongside Moores and Weinsteins. Some of this leveling is simply journalistic laziness. But a lot of it is partisan demagoguery and opportunism. Partisanship also leads to what you might call anti-leveling: people who ignore wrongdoing on their side even as they attack their enemies. Some Republicans insist that Franken must resign but say that the people of Alabama should decide what to do about Moore. (Meanwhile, Sen. Bernie Sanders says the people of Minnesota should determine Frankens fate.) When asked why people should judge the accusations against Moore and President Trump differently than accusations against Franken and others, the White House says Moore and Trumps denials inoculate them from condemnation or any practical consequences. Denials should matter, and accusations absent additional evidence should invite skepticism. But the upshot here is that alleged miscreants should simply deny rather than admit wrongdoing and apologize. According to this logic, Bill Clinton deserved the benefit of every doubt until he was finally forced by the evidence to admit (some of) his misdeeds. Worse, implicit to the White House argument is that on-the-record testimony from victims doesnt count as evidence, even when corroborated by testimony from confidantes. But the most dangerous and corrupting force in all of this is not the weaponization of bad behavior, but the weaponization of hypocrisy. The pastor Franklin Graham even argues that the real villains are Moores critics, who are guilty of doing much worse than what Moore has supposedly done. This obsession with hypocrisy leads to a repugnant immorality. In an effort to defend members of their team, partisans end up defending the underlying behavior itself. After all, you can only be a hypocrite if you violate some principle you preach. If you ditch the principle, you can dodge the hypocrisy charge. Were seeing this happen in real time with some of Moores defenders, just as we saw it with Clintons in the 1990s. Well sort it all out eventually, but not before it gets even uglier. With Thanksgiving fast approaching, motorists in the Parkland are having to pay more to fill their tanks as they prepare to hit the road. As of Tuesday, the price for a gallon of unleaded was going for as much as $2.29 at a number of stations in Farmington, with the lowest price in the area found at the Murphy USA station in Fredericktown where unleaded was selling for $2.10. The local average price for a gallon of unleaded was floating around $2.21. While the holiday season tends to bring with it a rise in gas prices, average retail gasoline prices in Missouri have actually fallen 2.8 cents per gallon in the past week averaging $2.31 a gallon on Sunday, according to a survey of 3,940 gas outlets in the state. This compares with the national average that has fallen 2.6 cents per gallon in the last week to $2.54 a gallon. Including Missouris change in gas prices during the past week, prices Sunday were 41.7 cents per gallon higher than the same day one year ago and are 11.7 cents per gallon higher than a month ago. The national average has increased 8.9 cents per gallon during the last month and stands 40.4 cents per gallon higher than this day one year ago. Nationwide, petroleum analysts are expecting that Thanksgiving will see the highest gas prices since 2014 as the country prepares for the busiest traveling weekend of the year. Still, the average gas price in four of five states is lower than a week ago, coming as the number of Americans driving is expected to surge by 20 percent over last Thanksgiving, according to GasBuddys Annual Holiday Travel Survey. According to the survey, the national average gas price this Thanksgiving will be $2.53 per gallon the priciest Thanksgiving in three years, although not as high as the peak on Thanksgiving in 2012, where a gallon of unleaded gas cost an average of $3.44. Additionally, average gas prices have risen 9 cents in the last month, the largest pre-Thanksgiving Day increase since 2007, when average prices rose 26 cents in the 30 days leading up to the holiday. According to Patrick DeHaan, petroleum analyst, this year has been unique at the pumps. Gas prices spent much of the time in the weeks approaching Thanksgiving by rising when typically, they would be on a sizeable downward trend, he said. On average, Americans are paying nearly 40 cents a gallon more than last year, which means collectively were spending $800 million more on fuel over the Thanksgiving travel period. Drivers should pay close attention to prices to avoid overpaying. To help save a little money at the pump, DeHaan urges motorists to watch out for state lines and avoid gas stations near the highway. Because of differing state taxes, in some extreme cases, drivers can spend an extra $25 when refueling the tank if on the wrong side of the line, he said. Id also try to avoid gas stations on a long stretch of highway where gas will usually be pricey. If possible, plan ahead or drive a little farther toward the nearest town to find a cheaper station. Driving back home to Jefferson City from the St. Louis airport this fall, I was stunned by the number of cars speeding past me on I-70. Some were racing well beyond the limit. I confess that back in my younger days, I regularly went over the limit. But not at the speeds I saw on that drive home. But now, the growing congestion on the interstates makes speeding more hazardous as drivers weave around what I call "road hogs" who hog the left lane with no intention of passing anyone. This chaotic highway mess at high speeds is far different from earlier decades when a Missouri Highway Patrol superintendent actually endorsed fast speed. He was concerned that the federal government's requirements for states to limit speeds to 55mph as part of an energy conservation effort would lead to inattentive drivers and contribute to accidents. Inattention from slow speeds clearly is not an issue today. Regardless of your speed, you find yourself tense from the congestion, road hogs, vast differences in speeds and the volume of trucks. Adding to my surprise on my drive home was the near absence of any enforcement of the speed limit. From Lambert International Airport to the Highway 54 exit at Kingdom City to Jefferson City, I do not recall my radar detector ever sounding an alarm. Yes, even though I've ceased speeding, I still have a radar detector. To be honest, I'm not sure why. Maybe it's just old-age habit. Maybe it's journalistic curiosity of what's out there. After all, my thoughts for this column were prompted by my radar detector's silence. Missouri's situation is quite different from my experiences driving in Europe. At one time, highway speeding seemed to be a continental sport in Europe. No more. The days of 100mph or faster speeding are long gone in Europe. Western European countries aggressively enforce speed limits with automatic speed cameras. Germany, of course, is known for it's no-speed-limit highways. But that's only for selected highways. My last speeding ticket in Europe came from an automatic camera in Germany -- and it was only a few miles-per-hour over the limit. In Europe, there's a strong ethic that you don't hog the left lane on multi-lane highways. You go into the left lane only to pass and then quickly move back to right lane. That alone makes driving in Europe so more pleasant than in the U.S. Here in the U.S, The Associated Press reported a new publicity campaign to encourage drivers to avoid hogging the left lane. We'll see if that has any effect. Some European countries go much further than publicity campaigns to encourage civilized driving. They require training to get a driving license, although Europeans complain to me about the training costs. With that training, I find Europeans have a better sense of the rules of the road. One example is understanding who has priority at a four-way stop. That used to be taught when schools offered drivers' education classes. But now, it has become an almost daily frustration when drivers just sit at an intersection unsure who should move first. There is another side to this story. Traffic fatalities actually are down from a decade ago. However, there has been a steady increase in the past five years -- from 768 traffic-crash fatalities reported by the Missouri Highway Patrol in 2011 to 933 fatalities in 2016. Speeding, of course, is not the only factor with fatalities. Other factors include seat-belt use, distraction from cell phones and the growing number of near-tank-like vehicles in which survivability in a crash may be enhanced. As for Europe's approach, I'm not sure it fits with Missouri's culture. For years there's been stiff legislative opposition to tougher driving requirements. Just remember the years of opposition to tougher seat belt enforcement and to automatic cameras to catch red-light violators. More details have emerged on the house fire that claimed two lives Monday morning in the 10,000 block of Tedder Rd. in Belgrade. Family members have identified the victims of the fire as Carl "Smiley" Brooks and Martha "Marty" McWhirter. Funeral arrangements are being handled by DeClue Funeral Home in Potosi. An account has been set up at Belgrade State Bank to help with funeral costs. Belgrade Fire Chief Bob Haworth said they were dispatched at 10:01 a.m. and the first truck made it to the home at 10:15 a.m. They were told at least one person was still inside. When the fire marshal investigators spoke with the guy who was on that truck, he told them at the time he arrived that the roof was already starting to collapse, said Haworth. He also said the heat made it impossible to gain any kind of entry into the home and it was fully (engulfed in flames)." Haworth said it was a log home that was sitting on a basement. When the fire chief got there two of their mutual aid departments had made it there right before him. At that point the house had already pretty much collapsed in on itself and everything went into the basement, said Haworth. We started extinguishing as much as we could and getting in as close as we could to get as much water as possible into what was remaining. We then started salvage, overhaul and recovery. Haworth said Potosi was one of the next trucks to arrive after theirs did and Potosis assistant chief had command, so when he arrived he left command with him because he already had a plan. My thinking was that somebody already has a plan established so there is no sense in changing things, said Haworth. I thought lets just get this job done and what we can. After the fire was out we started using trucks to pull sections of the walls back so we could get more access and deeper into the basement for recovery efforts. Haworth said he believes the two who didnt make it out a man in his mid-late 70s and a woman in her 50s were originally on the main level when the house collapsed. I have not heard anything from the fire marshals today on if they know the cause of the fire or the point of ignition, said Haworth. We dont speculate as to cause, thats not what we do. We let the fire marshal take care of that. Haworth said they recovered the first victim mid-afternoon and they requested dogs from Metro West to help assist with the search for the second victim. It was later in the evening, around 6 or 7 p.m. when we found the second victim, said Haworth. Belgrade is a small community and every firefighter, except maybe one, knew the family because they lived there for as long as I can remember. Haworth recalled the family served as foster parents for years and during the time they were foster parents they had more children than he could count come through their home. Of those, I believe they had adopted 11 or 12 of those foster children, said Haworth. The female victim was one of their adopted daughters who had moved back in with them to help them. She had some health issues so it was they helped her and she helped them. Haworth said one report he got from the family was that Brooks had made it out of the house but had gone back in to assist with getting their daughter out. That was one of the reports that I had gotten from the family, said Haworth. I want to give a big thank you to the mutual aid departments that were there. Potosi, Bismarck, Irondale, Leadwood, Big River, Wolf Creek and De Soto Rural fire departments brought their guys down and they didnt wait around. They went in and worked extremely hard ..." Haworth said he is sorry if he forgot anyone, but in a time like that, its where everybody pulls together. He added there has been a tremendous outpouring of support from the community for the family. Right here at Thanksgiving and Christmas it is a very hard time for them, said Haworth. One of our junior firemen, Mr. Brooks was his great-great grandfather. We did open our firehouse last night to the family so they could go there. We have restrooms, a microwave, coffee pot, and a refrigerator. Haworth said they opened the firehouse so they could go there to be together to support one another while firefighters were still at the house working. The American Red Cross sent an assistance team down and I talked to one guy with them and they believe there was eight to 10 people living in the home, said Haworth. It was a big home and they werent ones who would have turned anyone away. Everyone who was in the home, with the exception of the two victims got out. Haworth said there were no firefighter injuries and a few of them they had to pull back to get them to take a break and drink some water. He added he was the last one to leave and they were out there until 8:40 p.m. that night. I will say for the family that they will greatly appreciate the thoughts and prayers of folks as they go through this, said Haworth. The family is a good Christian family, so I know where their faith is and I know they will appreciate anybodys thoughts and prayers. Haworth said he has been the fire chief for roughly 15 years and this is the first fatality fire they've had to work in his time there. He added when they got the family to go to the firehouse his wife went and got everything set up there. While she was there helping to get them comfortable there were several community members who came in with clothing donations for them, said Haworth. The outpouring of support from the community has been fantastic. Belgrade is a small community and ... in times like this you really see the community pull together the way communities should and it was really good to see. He added that while they were out at the house local businesses in Potosi brought food out to them and others came to the firehouse asking if they needed water or anything else. According to a post on Facebook from Melissa DeClue, the family is looking for clothing donations. They need extra-large to 2X tops for a woman and 18/20 pants, mens large shirts and 32/32 pants. A girl wears size 6 girls, middle daughter is size 3T-4T and youngest son is in 18-24 months and wears size 4 diapers. Any donation can be dropped off at the Potosi Bowling Alley to Heather Griggs or anyone can contact Melissa DeClue through Facebook. BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT: Steven Alpinieri knows numbers, and for the clients of his full-service accountancy corporation in La Jolla, thats what its all about. I come up with the tax plans for clients to ultimately try and give them complete and accurate numbers, explained Alpinieri, and not leave anything on the table in terms of the tax strategies that are available. But tax planning, preparation and special tax projects are only part of what the five-person team at Alpinieris office provides. Theres also assistance with bookkeeping, business consulting, and accounting and auditing. In fact, Alpinieri says his ideal client is someone who has multiple needs that he and his team can address, whether that client is an individual or a small business. Alpinieri, a San Diego State alumnus, said he worked in his familys business as the controller while he was going to college and continued in that role for a couple of years after graduating. Once he passed the Uniform CPA Examination, he went to work for a CPA firm in Rancho Bernardo primarily in its audit department, and from there to the accounting firm of Matranga & Correia, which later became Correia & Associates. In 2010, he decided it was time to break out on his own, and in the fall of that year he opened up in La Jollas Merrill Lynch building. In 2012, a space on Eads Avenue became available, and Alpinieri jumped at this location. Hes been serving clients, not only those from La Jolla but from throughout San Diego County and a few from out of state, ever since. When they come on board, they generally stay, too. I have an extremely high retention rate for clients because once they see what were able to do for them, they know we can provide them with a boutique-type service (with) everything relative to everything else. As you would expect, Alpinieri keeps abreast of the tax reform discussions, debate and legislative moves in Washington, D.C. But he advises clients not to base decisions merely on what they read, see or hear in the news. Dont just judge your tax planning based on the headline news, he said, because until some official tax legislation has been formally adopted or changed, we really should base (planning) on what we know today. Some changes are inevitable every year. I just know that were going to get to the bottom of how those changes impact our clients quickly compared to trying to doing it on your own or potentially using a non-CPA to prepare your taxes. He has another bit of advice for taxpayers: Dont feel like you have to wait until tax season to get help. The earlier you come in, Alpinieri said, the more time there is to solve the problem. Steven Alpinieri, CPA, An Accountancy Corp., 7575 Eads Ave., Suite 102, La Jolla. Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday-Friday.(858) 230-6610. sandiegocpasteve.com Business Spotlight features commercial enterprises that support La Jolla Light. WILLIAMS BAY A change in state law will require the village to revise its ordinances controlling short-term vacation rentals, village officials said. Trustee Jim Killian said that he has been reviewing the new law since it was included in the state budget approved in September. At a village committee meeting Nov. 15, Killian said the changes on short-term rentals were slipped into the state budget unannounced. Killian chairs the boards Building, Zoning and Ordinances Committee. I wanted to educate people on what our wonderful state of Wisconsin is doing, he said. I had no idea this was coming. Williams Bays zoning ordinance must be amended to allow tourist rooming houses throughout the village, he said. Other trustees agreed with Killian that the village board needs to meet with the village attorney to work out the details of a revised ordinance. Village Attorney Mark Schroeder will be invited to the Dec. 13 meeting of the village board committees to provide clarification of the new state law. In the past, municipalities were able to set their own rules about short-term rentals through zoning ordinances. In Williams Bay, any rental for a period of less than 30 days was regarded as a short-term rental, and was prohibited. The bottom line is, we prohibit short-term rentals. Thats no longer allowed by state law, Killian said. Now, any residential dwelling can become a short-term rental, he said. Whats more, if a residence is rented out less than 10 nights a year, no state license is required, he added. However, the new law does not entirely strip away local control. The village can require a local permit for short-term rental properties, and it may impose a room tax on short-term rentals. The village may also set a time limit during which residential properties can be leased as short-term rentals, Killian said. For example, the village could limit the time a private residence can be used as a short-term rental for no more and no less than 180 consecutive days a year. The village may prohibit rentals for between one to six days, although Trustee Don Parker said that prohibition will probably be ineffective. A person could sign a seven-day rental and then just stay for two or three days. If Im coming here for a weekend and the price is right, Ill sign a contract for seven days, Parker said. About half of the homes in Williams Bay are seasonal residences, said Parker. This causes problems, he said. And the language in the new law is confusing, he added. Well, we can impose a permit and then collect room taxes, which might pay for attorneys fees, joked Village President Bill Duncan. WILLIAMS BAY A second community conversation between school board members and school district residents is scheduled for 7 p.m. Dec. 4 in the Williams Bay Middle/High School commons, 500 W. Geneva St. Information from these meetings will help the Williams Bay School Board determine its focus for its next five-year plan, said District Administrator Wayne Anderson. The districts last five-year plan started in 2012 and ends in 2017. That plan focuses on six major areas: public relations and community engagement; technology; finance and operations; curriculum, instruction and student achievement; facilities; and health and wellness. In addition to the community conversations, the board has also put a survey on its website (www.williamsbayschools.org) for residents to share their ideas about the school districts future. The survey asks the following questions: What are some things that you like best about the Williams Bay School District? In your opinion, what are some areas in which the Williams Bay School District could improve? Please provide your thoughts and ideas on how we could achieve these improvements. As the school board works on developing its next five-year strategic plan, what short and long-range issues do you think need to be a part of this plan? Are there any new initiatives/programs you would like to see the district implement? Now that the district has completed its new elementary school, are there any other facility issues that you believe need to be considered by the school board? During the next five years, the school board will be developing a succession plan for the districts leadership. What would you like us to consider when developing this plan? Good communication is essential for any organization to succeed. How well do you think we are doing as a school district and do you have any recommendations for how we could be even better communicators? What role should the school district play in the greater Williams Bay community? What other comments, opinions, ideas or questions do you have regarding the Williams Bay School District and its future? Anyone with questions about the upcoming community conversation, the online survey or the school district may call Anderson at (262) 245-1575, or contact him at wanderson@williamsbayschools.org. Nov. 18 7:49 p.m.: An officer responding to the 700 block of West Main Street cited Nakisha Ann Tolon, 28, Lake Geneva, on suspicion of battery. Nov. 17 6:15 p.m.: An officer responding to a traffic accident on Interchange North at East Geneva Squre cited Jasmine Faith Schoonover, 18, Lake Geneva, on suspicion of operating a motor vehicle without insurance. Nov. 16 3:30 p.m.: An officer responding to the 700 block of West Main Street cited Richard Lee McVay, 21, Lake Geneva, on suspicion of theft. Nov. 14 8:59 p.m.: Officers responding to a traffic complaint near South Street and Rolling Lane arrested Kenneth Leroy Hagge Jr., 42, Lake Geneva, on suspicion of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence-seventh offense. Nov. 12 10:56 p.m.: Officers investigating suspicious activity on Center Street near Stoneridge Drive cited Hayden Andrew Weyrauch, 19, Hebron, Illinois, on suspicion of possession of THC. Nov. 11 4:44 p.m.: An officer observing a suspicious vehicle in the area of North Center Street and Stone Ridge Drive cited a 16-year-old female from Delavan on suspicion of possession of THC. 12:43 p.m.: An officer dispatched to the 700 block of Williams Street cited John Edward Enters, 39, Wauwatosa, on suspicion of theft. 8:25 a.m.: An officer responding to a traffic accident in the 100 block of Wells Street cited Autumn Taylor Clark, 18, Genoa City, on suspicion of operating a motor vehicle without insurance. Nov. 9 3 p.m.: An officer investigating a hit-and-run traffic collision in the 300 block of Peller Road cited James Antonio Houston Jr., 24, Racine, on suspicion of failure to notify police of an accident. 1:18 p.m.: An officer responding to a traffic collision on North Edwards Boulevard near East Main Street cited Nicole Marie Hansche, 30, Trevor, on suspicion of following too closely. Nov. 8 5:14 p.m.: An officer responding to a traffic collision on West Main Street near Curtis Street cited Daniel G. Saldanha, 33, Lake Geneva, on suspicion of failure to yield, and cited Miguel A. Barcena, 51, Evansville, Illinois, on suspicion of operating a motor vehicle without insurance. 2:47 p.m.: An officer responding to a traffic collision on Townline Road at South Edwards Boulevard cited Darlene Joy Mohr, 64, Delavan, on suspicion of failure to yield right-of-way at a stop sign. Nov. 5 9:49 p.m.: Officers dispatched to Lake Geneva Middle School sought charges against a 13-year-old boy from Genoa City on suspicion of disorderly conduct. 5:08 p.m.: An officer conducting a traffic stop on West Main Street near Broad Street arrested Anthony Enrique Gagliani, 19, Genoa City, on suspicion of a probation and parole violation and cited him on suspicion of operating while revoked-alcohol related. Nov. 4 10:15 p.m.: An officer responding to a traffic collision in the 400 block of Boulder Ridge Drive cited a 16-year-old female from Lake Geneva on suspicion of inattentive driving. Nov. 2 12:31 p.m.: An officer at Badger High School cited a 17-year-old male student from Genoa City on suspicion of habitual truancy. 11 a.m.: An officer at Badger High School cited a 17-year-old male student from Lake Geneva on suspicion of habitual truancy. Nov. 1 5:46 p.m.: An officer dispatched to the 200 block of North Edwards Boulevard cited a 17-year-old male from Twin Lakes on suspicion of retail theft. 4:46 p.m.: An officer conducting a traffic stop on West Main Street near South Curtis Street cited Stephen R. Monticello, 47, Burlington, on suspicion of speeding 50 mph in a 25 mph zone. 1:45 a.m.: Officers responding to the 500 block of Cook Street for a report of a fight cited Robert R. Kraayvanger, 44, Elkhorn, on suspicion of operating while suspended and operating while intoxicated, and to Leah Allison Kraayvanger, 43, Elkhorn, on suspicion of disorderly conduct. Oct. 31 11:18 p.m.: Officers responding to the 1000 block of Wells Street arrested Ryan Jordan Lopez May, 20, Lake Geneva, on suspicion of underage drinking and disorderly conduct. 11 p.m.: An officer conducting a traffic stop on Highway 120 near North Bloomfield Road cited Cesar A. Navarro, 44, Lake Geneva, on suspicion of operating without a valid license-third offense. 8:21 a.m.: An officer responding to the 400 block of Haskins Street cited Jimmy Lawrence, 34, Lake Geneva, on suspicion of disorderly conduct. If you like visiting Lake Geneva on the weekends, you will love operating a business here during the week. That is the theory behind a new effort being planned by Walworth County business recruiters to entice out-of-town visitors to expand their businesses in the area. The Walworth County Economic Development Alliance is planning a campaign aimed at tourists and second-home owners, in particular those from south of the border, in Illinois. Derek DAuria, executive director of the alliance, said his organization is hopeful about persuading out-of-town business people to find a way of making Lake Geneva not just their weekend getaway, but their work address as well. A lot of people, I think, would like to figure that out, he said. Because they like to spend a lot of time here. DAuria said although he does not harbor hopes of uprooting entire companies from Illinois or elsewhere, he thinks business owners would see the value in expanding to Walworth County with branch locations or other satellite offices. The alliance is working with VISIT Lake Geneva the regional chamber of commerce and convention bureau to determine the best way of identifying and approaching new business prospects. Patrick DeMoon, president of the economic development alliance, said it makes sense that summer visitors or weekend tourists would be strong candidates for bringing new business into the area. Those people already are familiar with the areas upbeat business climate, natural beauty and other positive qualities, DeMoon said. I dont think this is a hard sell, he said. I think its a natural fit. Based in Elkhorn, the economic development alliance is a private organization of about 120 dues-paying members from the business community. The group also gets public funding and support to promote business retention and recruitment in the region. DAuria said the group is working on workforce development programs to ensure that as new businesses locate in the area, they are able to access skilled workers. One such program, Made In Walworth County, is aimed at promoting awareness of job opportunities in the manufacturing sector. In trying to entice Illinois tourists and others to consider setting up shop here, DAuria said one obstacle his group must overcome is the difficulty that some businesses face in finding enough employees. Its definitely a challenge, for sure, he said. They do find them, but its tough. DeMoon said the difficulties that business owners must live with in Illinois these days are much more serious and numerous than any issues in Wisconsin. Between the fiscal and political troubles plaguing Illinois, he said, business owners should find Walworth County much more appealing. DeMoon, an attorney who visited Lake Geneva frequently as a child, relocated his practice and his family to Walworth County about 13 years ago from the Chicago area. Walworth County offers plenty of open space for businesses to locate, as well as a pleasant environment for families, and assistance available to support new businesses, he said. Business owners seeking to escape the upheaval in Illinois should regard it a welcome alternative, he added. Walworth County is a natural place for them to turn to, he said. With the holidays upon us, I would like to wish all residents, businesses and visitors a wonderful season. Our staff at VISIT Lake Geneva is excited for the upcoming events that we will be hosting, along with the hustle and bustle that comes with this time of year. From Delavan to Lyons and all around the lakes, there is great shopping to be had, Santa sightings to witness and camaraderie and goodwill within our unique and boutique communities. You should mark your calendars to witness the Lake Geneva Holiday Tree Lighting at Flat Iron Park at 5 p.m. on Dec. 1 that is put on by the Business Improvement District (Streets of Lake Geneva). Then, on Saturday Dec. 2, VISIT Lake Geneva will be hosting the Electric Christmas Parade in downtown Lake Geneva at 5 p.m. with our grand marshal, Ulla Brunk, from Brunk Industries leading the way, with Santa close behind. With our summer season behind us and the leaves of fall being replaced by the chill of winter, its a perfect time to give back to our community by shopping local. The retailers in the entire Lake Geneva region rely on this period to carry them through the upcoming winter months, and it is our civic duty to support them. VISIT Lake Geneva and the Business Improvement District have partnered with American Express on a shop-local program to encourage residents and visitors alike to enjoy our quaint communities and unique shopping experiences. We truly hope you will all assist in making this a prosperous holiday season in all our cities and villages. As the weather plays an integral role in the success of the region from December until March, the mantra Let it Snow will be heard from our offices at 527 Center St. and the visitor center at 201 Wrigley Drive. While we may all personally enjoy mild winters, the ski resorts, hotels, shops and snowmobile trails rely on the white stuff to continue to draw folks to our area. And the snow is a bonus for our annual Winterfest event Jan. 27 to Feb. 4, featuring the U.S. National Snow Sculpting Competition. We are fortunate to have three ski resorts, three lakes and snowmobile trails that allow us to market ourselves as a year-round destination. This continues to drive revenue to all types of business, keep individuals employed, and generate tax dollars that support services year-round. On behalf of all of us at VISIT Lake Geneva, we wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends, and an enjoyable and prosperous holiday season. We will be working hard to ensure folks from all over know what we have to offer every season to get them to witness our unique home. Please continue to be an ambassador of our region, and let me know of any questions or concerns you may have by contacting me at (262) 248-1000 or ed@visitlakegeneva.com. Ed Svitak is president of the Lake Geneva Chamber of Commerce and Convention & Visitors Bureau, two organizations that merged in 2016 and adopted the name Visit Lake Geneva. Exercising during holiday season combats calories, improves mental health The cookies are baked and that glass of milk has been set out for Santa but you find yourself low on energy and need to combat those holiday blues. The... Winter an ideal time to beef up lawns, plant new additions The recent week-long visit of late-summer warmth may have been a distraction from the seasonal change on the horizon, but the piling up pin oak and maple droppings combined... DEAR ABBY: I live with my fiance, and we are being married in eight months. When I asked him if he would go and stay with his parents or some friends on a weekend when my girlfriend comes into town so we can have girl time, he got highly offended and said he isn't leaving "his" house. I pay more than he does in rent, and I don't feel I should have to rent a separate place. He doesn't understand girl time: drinking wine, watching chick-flicks and talking about our lives. I want to dedicate all my time that weekend to being a good friend, but he doesn't get it. I have told him that if he ever wanted me to go stay with friends or visit my parents so he could have a guys' weekend, I would have no problem with it. Am I asking for too much? -- NEEDS GIRL TIME IN NORTH CAROLINA DEAR NEEDS: Yes. I think expecting your fiance to leave when your girlfriend comes to visit is a bit much. Do you plan to make the same request after you are married? Regardless of who pays more rent, the house is home to both of you. I would think that the idea of being subjected to one of your "girls' weekends" -- the wine, the chick-flicks, the gossip -- would motivate him to make other plans. However, because he is unwilling, you and your girlfriend should consider splitting the cost of a hotel room for the weekend, which might be more enjoyable for all three of you. DEAR ABBY: Over the last 13 years in his job, my husband developed a "very friendly" relationship with a clerical person. Now that he has retired, she wants to continue it by meeting with him (and me) for dinner. We have had dinner together once, and when they began to talk shop, I became the odd one out. Although I interjected myself into the conversation, it was clear there is real feeling between them. He says she's "just so nice." She continues to send emails addressed to both of us and asks me (since he is not computer savvy) to relay that she misses him greatly and he was her "ray of sunshine" every day when he would walk in the office. Should I be worried, jealous or envious? It is only now I have become aware that she was so important to my husband at work. I had no knowledge about their relationship before. -- UNCERTAIN IN NEW JERSEY DEAR UNCERTAIN: I don't think you have anything to worry about. That the conversation at dinner revolved around the office is not surprising. The office and the job were the basis of their relationship. Because she's sending emails addressed to both of you, I doubt she's trying to slip anything past you or make a play for your husband. Be patient, and with time, I suspect she will adjust to the loss of her "ray of sunshine." DEAR READERS: Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and no Thanksgiving would be complete without sharing the traditional prayer penned by my dear late mother: Oh, Heavenly Father, We thank Thee for food and remember the hungry. We thank Thee for health and remember the sick. We thank Thee for friends and remember the friendless. We thank Thee for freedom and remember the enslaved. May these remembrances stir us to service. That Thy gifts to us may be used for others. Amen. Have a safe and happy celebration, everyone! -- Love, ABBY DEAR ABBY: After 10 years and good relations with my prior hairdresser, I switched to a new beautician. The shop is an hour closer to my home and less expensive. Both stylists do a great job, and I'm always pleased. On my most recent visit to my new hairdresser, she was putting color on her first client of the day. I waited patiently for a half-hour past my scheduled appointment time. When she was done with that client, she asked me if I was in a hurry. Trying to be polite, I said, "No, not really." (I'm retired.) So she went into the back room and then outside with coffee and cigarettes in hand for a break. I was dumbfounded. After waiting 15 more minutes, she finally took me. How should I handle this the next time I see her? Should I continue to see her? Should I speak up or just chalk it up that she was having a bad day? Your opinion, please. -- HURRY UP AND WAIT IN WEST VIRGINIA DEAR HURRY UP AND WAIT: An experienced hairdresser usually puts color on her first client and then, while the color is processing, starts her next one. Your mistake was not having told the stylist how you felt about being kept waiting for half an hour. Also, when asked if you would mind if she kept you waiting even longer, instead of being "polite" and fuming, you should have been honest. Clear the air at your next appointment. DEAR ABBY: A group of friends and I go out for dinner. When the check arrives, we all have cash except for one woman who wants to pay her share with a credit card. She claims she "doesn't know how much she owes" and tells the waiter to use her credit card to pay her share. Abby, she then pays only for her food and beverage, no tax and no tip! I have told her in the past to bring cash, but she won't. I think it is unfair to the waiter to have to figure out how much she owes. When we tried to talk to her about it, she reacted like she was being attacked and went to other friends and got them to agree with "her side." If anyone disagrees with her, she goes on and on until she either loses a friend or the person gives in and tells her she's right. How do we deal with someone like this? Should we just give up on her and end the friendship? -- CHECK, PLEASE DEAR CHECK, PLEASE: I see no reason to give up on the friendship. Just stop having dinner with her if her behavior bothers you. DEAR ABBY: I'm 12 and I'm depressed. I have been depressed for a year now. I have not told my mom that I cry in the shower. Please guide me on what to do and help get me out of this dark hole. -- SAD IN SAN DIEGO DEAR SAD: I'm so glad you wrote. It's very important that you tell your mother or some other trusted adult that you are depressed, and how long this has been going on. You may need counseling or the intervention of some other adult to fix this problem. Please don't wait, and please DO write again and let me know how you're doing. I care. DEAR ABBY: I have been dating my boyfriend for three years. We have lived together for the last two. We have a great life together, but there is a problem I don't know how to solve. "Jeremy" hates his job. We met in the education department of our college, and after graduation, we both took jobs in the public school system. I enjoy my career, but he loathes his. He complains constantly without seeming to take action on the issue. I know he's miserable, but he hasn't looked for other jobs or enrolled in a new school program. I have bad days, too, but I've reached the end of listening to the constant griping. I am usually a positive person, but he is dragging my mood down because of this. He says I need to guide him and give him some direction, but I don't know what to say. I don't think it's my responsibility to tell another adult what he should or shouldn't do with his life. I don't mind helping him talk through his choices, but he wants more from me. This is the man I want to marry. Is there a way to get past this issue and make it work? -- UNCERTAIN AND LOST DEAR UNCERTAIN: Until your boyfriend has settled this uncertainty about his work life, any discussion about marriage should be put on hold. I agree you are not qualified to give him career advice. However, you might ask him to tell you what exactly it is that he hates about his job, and what he would rather be doing. His answers may give both of you insight into what he may be better suited for emotionally, and stimulate him to do something positive about his future. Once he has more clarity, there may be places he can go for career counseling that can help him decide what his next steps should be. DEAR ABBY: You have mentioned in the past that you have a booklet on writing letters, including thank-you notes. Where do I send for it? I'll need four because my grandkids are lacking in that area. It's truly a shame that younger generations haven't been taught about the importance of such notes. A simple "thank you" can not only open doors of opportunity both socially and in employment, but also help grandparents feel appreciated after their heartfelt gift-giving. -- NANCY IN NEVADA DEAR NANCY: If there is one subject that crops up repeatedly in my mail, it's thank-you notes -- or rather, the lack of them. I print letters about it because of the number of complaints I receive. When a gift or a check isn't acknowledged, the (unwritten) message it sends is that the item wasn't appreciated, which is insulting and hurtful. Chief among the reasons that thank-you notes are unwritten is that many people don't know what to say. They think the message has to be long and flowery when, in fact, keeping it short and to the point is more effective. My booklet, "How to Write Letters for All Occasions," contains samples of thank-you letters for birthday gifts, shower gifts and wedding gifts, as well as those that arrive around holiday time. It also includes letters of congratulations and ones regarding difficult subjects, such as the loss of a parent, a spouse or a child. It can be ordered by sending your name, mailing address, plus check or money order for $7 (U.S. funds) to Dear Abby Letters Booklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447. (Shipping and handling are included in the price.) With the holiday season approaching, this is the perfect time to reply with a handwritten letter, note or well-written email. Because the composition of letters is not always effectively taught in the schools, my booklet can serve as a helpful tutorial, one that is valuable for parents as a way to teach their children to write using proper etiquette. DEAR ABBY: My 8-year-old daughter keeps asking me for a smartphone. I'm at a loss about who she would call besides me and her dad. She points out these different kids her age who have phones. They are the same kids I view as ones who will have no curfew, boyfriends at 12 and parents who aren't as involved as we are. At what age do you feel kids should have smartphones? -- INVOLVED PARENT DEAR INVOLVED PARENT: I don't think there is a magic number, but your daughter is definitely too young to have one. Smartphones can be dangerous when they are used irresponsibly. A flip phone, perhaps, for her to contact you in case of emergencies, might be appropriate. Because her friends have smartphones is not a valid reason for her to have one. Before that happens, you must be confident that it will be used responsibly, and that you and her father will be able to review its history. DEAR ABBY: Could you help all of us guys named Shelby spread the word that Shelby is not just for the female gender? Many boys and men like me have the handle and are proud of it. -- SHELBY FROM TEXAS DEAR SHELBY: So do some automobiles! I'm glad to relay your message. Today many women have names that were once associated only with the masculine gender -- Cameron, Bailey, Logan, Morgan, to name a few -- and turnabout is fair play. I'm reminded of the song "A Boy Named Sue." DEAR ABBY: I'm a 17-year-old girl and a junior in high school. I have a crush on a guy who's 14 and a freshman. I know age gaps don't matter as much later on, but the difference between 17 and 14 can be drastic. "Jake" is really sweet, and he's as interested in me as I am in him (unlike the boys in my grade). I'm friends with Jake's sister "Julie," who's a year older than me and a senior. Julie has made it clear she doesn't like the idea of a romantic relationship between Jake and me because Jake is only 14. What can I do? Should I ignore this crush? I have judged people who have dated despite age gaps. (For example, a senior boy dating a sophomore girl.) But now I understand it. If the girl is older, does that complicate things? I don't want to be seen as creepy or gross, but, to be honest, I'm not that experienced romantically or socially myself. (I have never even been to a real party.) Must I forget my feelings and move on, or do I talk to Julie and try to pursue this? -- TEEN CRUSH DEAR TEEN CRUSH: Julie has already given you her answer. As you have pointed out, there is a bias against dating someone so much younger, and it could cause you problems not only with your peers, but also with the law if your relationship were to become sexual when you turn 18. That's why I'm suggesting you turn your romantic interests elsewhere. When you're BOTH adults, if you're still interested, you can pursue a romantic relationship then. DEAR ABBY: My fiance and I are being married in a few days. We are expecting our first child a few days after that. The problem is my mother. We decided on a small ceremony, but my mother is opposed to the marriage because she doesn't like the idea of me marrying -- not just my fiance, but anyone. She has always told me a man will leave me destitute, pregnant with too many kids, and I won't be able to take care of myself. She has repeated it since I was about 10. Because she has threatened to object at the ceremony, we decided not to invite her. We have invited his parents and my father and stepmother. Mom has said she will not allow my child to see her grandfather because "he is a bad person." She may have good intentions, but dictating who can be around my child is not her choice, considering she has had little to no contact with him in 25 years. I wish she could be at our wedding, but she has now distanced herself from me and my fiance. Should I let her cool off and hope she comes around, or accept that this is the path she has chosen? Please advise, Abby. -- PROBLEM MOTHER IN KENTUCKY DEAR PROBLEM MOTHER: Your mother may be anti-marriage because hers failed spectacularly. She appears to be a troubled woman. By all means, let her cool off, but do not allow her to dictate your life. If she does, her anger and bitterness could negatively affect your marriage. DEAR ABBY: The winter months are hard for me. They remind me that another year has gone by without my father and my younger sister. Dad had been a smoker since his teens and died from pancreatic cancer at 39. I was 13, and my siblings were younger. In those days, we didn't know that smoking was a risk factor for pancreatic cancer. My sister smoked from the time she was 13. She died from lung cancer at 44, leaving behind two young sons. Neither my father nor my sister got to experience the wonderful family milestones and celebrations we have had. Their grandchildren will never know them. Each year during the holidays, I feel a sadness in my heart. I urge every smoker to make a vow to quit and carry it through, not only for their own sake but also their family's. Stay determined to quit so you won't cause your loved ones sadness and won't miss out on their futures. With all my heart, I wish smokers the best of luck in quitting. -- MISSING DAD AND SIS IN SACRAMENTO DEAR MISSING: I'm glad you wrote because the American Cancer Society's annual Great American Smokeout will be held on Nov. 16. It's a day when millions of smokers put down their cigarettes -- just for one day -- with the conviction that if they can go 24 hours without one, then they can do it for 48 hours, 72 hours, and stop smoking for good. The idea grew out of a 1970 event in Randolph, Massachusetts, and became a national event in 1977. Readers, I'm not going to harangue you with death threats. We are all aware of the grim statistics associated with cancer-related deaths caused by tobacco. If you're interested in quitting, this is a perfect opportunity. Call (800) 227-2345 to be connected with counseling services in your community, provided with self-help materials offering information and strategies on quitting for good, and to receive information about medications available to help you quit. This service is free and provided 24/7. Or go online to cancer.org. DEAR ABBY: I need your help. Over the past few weeks, I have been vacationing at my mother-in-law's home. The other day I was browsing on her computer and accidentally opened her browsing history. It turns out that she regularly looks at and responds to Craigslist personals. I was shocked when I read some of the perverted requests she has responded to. The language she used would make a sailor blush. Keep in mind, my mother-in-law is a married woman. I don't know how to react. Should I tell my wife? Keep it to myself? Make a fake Craigslist post and catch her in the act? -- KINKS IN THE FAMILY DEAR KINKS: If you disclose this to your wife, it could damage her relationship with her mother. If she tells her mother what you found, it will create a breach in the family. If you trap the woman by creating a fake Craigslist post and she realizes she has been made a fool of, it will not -- to put it mildly -- endear you to her. Let it lie. DEAR ABBY: Help! I'm a 67-year-old man being relentlessly chased by a 68-year-old woman. I have told her I want to date other women and will be moving out of the country at the end of the year. Despite this, she is constantly trying to maneuver me into an exclusive relationship, probably ending in living together. I don't want to hurt her, but I'm at a loss as to how to get her to back off. -- HAPPILY UNCOMMITTED DEAR UNCOMMITTED: Here's how. Tell her you can't handle the pressure she's putting on you and end the relationship NOW. DEAR ABBY: I am in a predicament. My therapist is great, but sometimes I think she shares too much. Last time I went, she was running late. When I finally got into her office, she told me the previous patient was nonverbal and had painted her nails during the session. Later in the session, she confided that years ago she had been date raped. Abby, I am in counseling because my father raped me when I was 15 (I am now 24). Her sharing has me worried because I don't want her telling others what I say or do during counseling. Further, her story of the date rape scared me. She described a situation that is not uncommon for me to be in, and it caused something almost like a flashback in me. I think what she did was insensitive, to say the least. I have nobody else to ask, so what should I do? I'm getting counseling for free now due to my income, and it took months to get set up with a counselor. Should I report her or accept that this was a mistake and say nothing? If I need to report her, how would I go about doing that? -- CONFLICTED ABOUT IT DEAR CONFLICTED: You should change therapists because it appears this one has more problems than you do. As to what agency you should report her breach of professional ethics to, contact the state organization that has licensed her to practice. 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 PRESS RELEASE China Investment in West Virginia Unleashes Optimism Nov. 21, 2017 (EIRNS)Gov. Jim Justice (R-W.Va.) held a press conference on Nov. 20 to discuss the $83.7 billion in deals that the state had entered into with China, which were signed during the recent visit of President Trump to China. Although the deals include both low energy-flux-density extractive shale gas projects as well as higher-tech chemical manufacturing projects, the press conference was notable for the optimism that the China-U.S. deals have unleashed not only in West Virginia, which has the third-lowest median income in the United States, but in many states across the country. Governor Justice opened the press conference proclaiming, "Incredible things have happened again to West Virginia. We are truly on our way. We are doing what I truly believe is the right thing for our citizens. It gives us jobs, and it gives us hope. It gives us real life. "You know, when I rolled in here [was elected], there was a pretty disastrous situation, to say the least. I had inherited a $500 million deficit. We had drained Rainy Day (funds set aside for future problems). We couldnt go back to rainy day.... The coal business was dismal. What are you gonna do?..." The Governor said he ordered his cabinet to "Go find jobs for West Virginians.... We kept working. We had the opportunity to go to China and Japan in March. The Chinese said We want to respond to President Trumps challenge to balance out our trade imbalance." Governor Justice stated that the deal was not based on extraction of natural resources, but on the value-added of products produced from the shale in West Virginia. This will meet the states long-unfulfilled desire to "go up the value chain," he argued, and sell value-added products, not extracted raw materials like coal. "The manufacturing will increase the demand for electricity. The extracted energy will be made into products that China can buy. We will be using our energy here to make something here. We will create manufacturing here. Manufacturing from shale left with natural gas liquid, building blocks for polymers and plastics." President Donald J. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping witnessed West Virginia Secretary of Commerce H. Wood Thrasher and China Energy President Ling Wen sign a Memorandum of Understanding for the $83.7 billion project between China Energy and the state of West Virginia. This was the largest single investment in a series of projects that U.S. corporations and other states signed with China, totaling a reported $253 billion of investment in the United States. PRESS RELEASE Japan Moves To Join New Silk Road Nov. 21, 2017 (EIRNS)On Nov. 18, Japans Foreign Minister Taro Kono praised China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), calling it "very beneficial to the global economy if it is open and available to all," as reported today on CGTN. Chinas Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang responded today, saying that China is "pleased to see" Japans enthusiasm for the BRI, adding that the project will not only facilitate Chinas opening-up and development, but also create greater opportunities for Japan and other countries as well as the world economy. On Monday, a record 250 leading Japanese business representatives began the annual visit to China sponsored by the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry. At the same time, the Chamber has set up a committee to report on the potential for Japanese cooperation in the BRI. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang addressed the Japanese delegation, saying that "China and Japan should view each others development as opportunities and contribute to the building of an East Asian economic community," according to CGTN. Japanese economist Daisuke Kotegawa has often told EIR that Japan would quickly follow suit if the U.S. were to join the AIIB and the BRI. The Trump visit continues to spark new developments toward the New Paradigm. PRESS RELEASE Putin Meets Assad and Briefs Trump Nov. 21, 2017 (EIRNS)History is being written in Sochi, where Russian President Vladimir Putin held an unannounced meeting with Syrian President Bashar al Assad on Nov. 20 and then introduced him to the Russian military leadership who "helped save Syria." Today Putin briefed President Donald Trump about his discusspons with Assad. Tomorrow Putin will chair the Astana Talks with the other two guarantor countries, Iran and Turkey, and will consult with Assad during the course of the talks. Putin yesterday also spoke by phone with the Emir of Qatar. The focus of the Putin-Assad exchange was that the victory against ISIS was the star of a political process to bring peace and reconciliation to Syria. The Kremlin posted long excerpts of the exchanges between the two leaders, which give a sense of the historical importance of the talks. Excerpts of those exchanges follow: Putin began: "Welcome to Sochi. First, let me congratulate you on Syrias results in combatting terrorist groups as well as on the fact that the Syrian people, despite a very difficult ordeal, are gradually moving towards the final and inevitable defeat of the terrorists. "Mr. President, as you know, I will meet with my colleaguesthe Presidents of Turkey and Iranhere in Sochi the day after tomorrow. We have agreed to hold additional consultations with you during our meeting. Of course, the main subject on the agenda is a peaceful and lasting political settlement in Syria after the routing of the terrorists. "As you know, in addition to the partners I have mentioned we are also working closely together with other countries, such as Iraq, the United States, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. We maintain constant contact with these partners. "I would like to talk with you about the basic principles of the political process and the Syrian National Dialogue Congress, the idea of which you have supported. I would like to hear your opinions on the current situation and development prospects and your views on the political process, which should ultimately be implemented under the UN auspices. We also hope that the UN will join the [political] process at its final stage." Assad replied, acknowledging Russias role in helping Syria win the war against terror. "Over this period, we have achieved major success both on the battlefield and on the political track. Many regions in Syria have been liberated from the terrorists, and the Syrians who had to flee from these regions can now return there. "It should be acknowledged that the operation brought progress to the political settlement in Syria. And the process which was started and which Russia promoted with various efforts continues, above all, based on respect for the UN Charter, the states sovereignty and independence. This stance has been defended at various international platforms, including the talks in Astana. The same goes for the plans to hold the Syrian National Dialogue Conference in a few days. Today we have an excellent opportunity to discuss both the upcoming conference and the upcoming summit, and to coordinate our views on the next steps. "First, I would like to take an opportunity and pass congratulations and gratitude from the Syrian people to you, Mr. President, for our joint success in defending Syrias territorial integrity and independence. We would like to extend our gratitude to those institutions of the Russian state that provided assistanceprimarily, the Russian Defense Ministry that has supported us throughout this operation. Also I would like to pass our gratitude to the Russian people who remain a friendly nation to us. They have supported us all along." Putin responded by remarking that thanks to the Astana talks, de-escalation zones could be built and preconditions for the political process were laid. "Based on the outcome of this meeting [with Assad], I will consult further with the leaders of the countries I just mentioned. A conversation with the Emir of Qatar is scheduled for today. Tomorrow, I am speaking with U.S. President Donald Trump. After that, I am speaking with the leaders of the countries in the region." Assad responded: "At this stage, and especially after our victories over the terrorists, we are interested in promoting the political process. We believe that the political situation that has developed in the regions offers an opportunity for progress in the political process. We hope Russia will support us by ensuring the external players non-interference in the political process, so that they will only support the process waged by the Syrians themselves. We do not want to look back. We will accept and talk with anyone who is really interested in a political settlement." Putin said he is "glad that you are ready to work with anyone who wants peace and conflict resolution." PRESS RELEASE Trump, Putin Spoke by Phone for an Hour Nov. 21, 2017 (EIRNS)U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone today, one day after Putins meeting with Syrian President Bashar al Assad in Sochi, Russia. According to the White House readout, the two Presidents "affirmed their support for the Joint Statement of the United States and the Russian Federation, issued at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit on November 11. Both presidents also stressed the importance of implementing UN Security Council Resolution 2254, and supporting the UN-led Geneva Process to peacefully resolve the Syrian civil war, end the humanitarian crisis, allow displaced Syrians to return home, and ensure the stability of a unified Syria free of malign intervention and terrorist safe havens." They also affirmed the importance of cooperation in fighting terrorism throughout the Middle East and Central Asia, how to implement a lasting peace in Ukraine, and the need to continue international pressure on North Korea to halt its nuclear weapon and missile programs. The Kremlin, reports TASS, said that the two Presidents discussed the pressing aspects of the Syrian problem with accounts of the completing military operation against terrorists in Syria. "Putin stressed readiness to facilitate a durable political settlement process in Syria on the basis of the UN Security Councils Resolution 2254 in the spirit of agreements reached in the Astana format and provisions of the Joint Statement the two Presidents endorsed on November 11 at the APEC summit in Vietnam," the report said. "The sides stated among other things that the statement had produced an encouraging reaction in the Middle East," it said. Putin, reports Sputnik, also informed Trump about the results of his recent meeting with Assad, during which the Syrian leader reaffirmed his commitment to the political process, constitutional reform, as well as to hold presidential and parliamentary elections. The sides "also exchanged opinions on the situation on the Korean Peninsula, stressing the expedience of search for the settlement of the problem through negotiations, diplomatically," the Kremlin said. The head of the Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday released his detailed proposal to repeal net neutrality rules for online traffic, setting the stage for a vote next month. Ajit Pai, a Republican tapped by President Trump to take over as the agencys chairman in January, has been an outspoken opponent of the regulations put in place in 2015 that prohibit internet service providers from blocking websites, slowing connection speeds and charging extra for faster delivery of certain content. Pai announced Tuesday that he would move to eliminate the rules. His proposal is expected to be approved at a meeting on Dec. 14 by the Republican-controlled FCC. The agency has been wrestling with the issue since 2003 as it seeks to ensure a vibrant and open online ecosystem without squelching innovation and investment. Democrats, public interest groups and internet companies such as Google, have advocated for tough government rules to guarantee the unfettered flow of online content. Republicans, free-market advocates and telecommunications companies have opposed the regulations, arguing that the internet flourished without what they call heavy-handed government intervention. Here are the five commissioners who will decide the latest round of that battle at the FCCs Dec. 14 meeting. Ajit Pai Ajit Pai, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, arrives for a Senate hearing in July. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images) Pai is a telecommunications lawyer who has served on the FCC since 2012. The son of immigrants from India, he was associate general counsel of Verizon Communications Inc. from 2001 to 2003 before working as a staffer at the U.S. Senate, the Justice Department and the FCC. Pai was a vocal opponent of the decision by the FCCs Democratic majority in 2015 to enact the net neutrality rules. He voted against the proposal, which gave the FCC enforcement authority by classifying broadband as a more highly regulated utility-like service under Title 2 of the federal telecommunications law. After Trumps election, which allowed Republicans to gain the majority on the FCC after his inauguration, Pai declared he wanted to fire up the weed whacker to eliminate burdensome regulations. Net neutrality was at the top of the list. He proposed a repeal in April, and the FCC voted 2-1 along party lines a month later to begin the process. Now Pai is just weeks away from overturning the rules he voted against in 2015. Working with my colleagues, I look forward to returning to the light-touch, market-based framework that unleased the digital revolution and benefited consumers here and around the world, Pai said Tuesday. Michael ORielly Michael ORielly is at right in the 2014 image, along with Ajit Pai, from left, Mignon Clyburn, then-Chairman Tom Wheeler and Jessica Rosenworcel. (Karen Bleier / AFP/Getty Images) Michael ORielly is a Republican and former congressional staffer who has been an FCC commissioner since 2013. He worked in the House and Senate, rising to policy advisor for Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a member of the Republicans leadership team, before being nominated for the FCC seat. ORielly also voted against the net neutrality rules in 2015. He has not publicly committed to supporting Pais proposal, saying he wanted to review it first to make sure it contains the necessary legal and analytical foundations. But ORiellys comments, and his past positions, indicate he would vote for Pais plan. The internet was a vibrant place of commerce and public discourse before the rules ever took effect and will continue to flourish after we discard this unnecessary and harmful regulatory overhang, ORielly said Tuesday. Brendan Carr Brendan Carr, right, along with Jessica Rosenworcel and FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, at a Senate confirmation hearing in July. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images) Brendan Carr is the newest Republican on the commission, but hes not new to the FCC. Carr, a telecommunications attorney, had spent three years as Pais legal advisor for wireless, public safety and international issues. Pai then chose Carr to be the FCCs general counsel in January. Trump nominated him for a commission seat in June and he took office in August. Before joining the FCC, Carr worked as a telecommunications attorney at the Wiley Rein law firm, where his clients included AT&T Inc., Verizon and USTelecom, a broadband industry trade group. Hes an ally of Pai and said Tuesday he fully supported the chairmans proposal to return to the pre-2015 regulatory framework The internet flourished under this framework, Carr said. I look forward to casting my vote in support of internet freedom. Mignon Clyburn Federal Communications Commission members Mignon Clyburn, left, and Jessica Rosenworcel join hands with then-Chairman Tom Wheeler before voting for net neutrality rules in 2015. (Mark Wilson / Getty Images) Mignon Clyburn, a Democrat, is the longest-serving member of the FCC. A former member of the Public Service Commission of South Carolina, Clyburn joined the FCC in 2009. She served as acting chairwoman of the FCC for about six months in 2013. She is a strong supporter of the tough net neutrality rules and joined with former Chairman Tom Wheeler and Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel all Democrats to approve them in 2015. She blasted Pais proposal on Tuesday, calling it a giveaway to the nations largest communications companies, at the expense of consumers and innovation. Jessica Rosenworcel Jessica Rosenworcel sits with Ajit Pai, left, and Brendan Carr at a Senate confirmation hearing in July. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images) Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat, returned to the commission in August after political complications in the Senate led to her first term expiring in January. A former FCC staffer and then senior communications counsel for the Senate Commerce committee, Rosenworcel first became a commissioner in 2012. Trump nominated her in June to fill a Democratic seat. She was sworn in Aug. 11, the same day as Carr. Rosenworcel is another backer of the existing net neutrality rules, having voted for them in 2015. Shes expected to vote against Pais plan, which she called ridiculous and offensive to the millions of Americans who use the internet every day. Rosenworcel wants public hearings on the proposal, but none are planned before the Dec. 14 vote. Our internet economy is the envy of the world because it is open to all, Rosenworcel said Tuesday. This proposal tears at the foundation of that openness. jim.puzzanghera@latimes.com Twitter: @JimPuzzanghera ALSO David Lazarus: Trump administration, in a gift to telecom firms, is pulling the plug on net neutrality Michael Hiltzik: The FCC's abandonment of network neutrality will end the internet as we know it Net neutrality rules targeted for repeal by FCC chairman A brief, strange history of net neutrality (including a 'series of tubes,' a dingo and James Harden) The first time poster artist and architect Jan Sawka heard the Grateful Dead, he was serving time in a military prison in Wroclaw, Poland, for leading a protest against the communist regime. It was 1969, and fellow prisoners covertly tuned into an illegal broadcast of the Woodstock Festival. Fast-forward to 1988. Sawka had settled in High Falls, N.Y., when Grateful Dead lawyer Hal Kant and his wife, Jesse, came to visit. Kant introduced himself as a sort of secret collector of Sawkas work. Among the Sawka pieces he owned: a folio of 25 hand-colored and hand-printed dry point engravings titled A Book of Fiction and a life-size, working telephone booth covered in writings on experiences and conversations that took place inside. (When visiting the Kant home, Jerry Garcia frequently placed calls from that phone booth.) Kant had a commission for Sawka: Design 52 banners for the Grateful Deads 25th anniversary tour in 1989. The individual banners eventually morphed into a 10-story-high sequence of radiant, multicolored images of landscapes, the sun and the heavens. Advertisement Kant died in 2008, and now eight of those banners, plus other artworks by Sawka, Lucian Freud, Jerry Garcia and Richard Stein will be sold in a Dec. 9 online auction of the Kants collection. Many people arent aware that both Garcia and Kant had a lifelong interest in the fine arts, said Hanna Sawka, daughter of Jan, who died in 2012. Kant loved the opera, collected Lucian Freud and acquired a Francis Bacon triptych before it was hot. Online bidding for the Kant collection started at 7 a.m. Wednesday 11/22, and the auction closes at 10 a.m. Dec. 9. Its being run by Stremmel Auctions, www.stremmelauctions.com SIGN UP for the free Essential Arts & Culture newsletter See all of our latest arts news and reviews at latimes.com/arts. ALSO Times art critic Christopher Knights latest reviews Times theater critic Charles McNultys latest reviews Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthornes latest columns Times music critic Mark Sweds latest review When Charles Manson died Sunday night, more than four decades had passed since the murders he masterminded. But Mansons mythology still looms large and will no doubt continue to be dissected long after his death. The most recent exploration of Manson, a podcast called Young Charlie, focuses on the cult leaders childhood. From podcast network Wondery, Young Charlie was written by Hollywood screenwriter and director Larry Brand and debuted Nov. 8, just 11 days before Mansons death. A testament to our enduring fascination with the convicted murderer, the podcast debuted on Apple at No. 1. Brand spoke to The Times recently to help unpack Mansons infamous legacy. What drew you to doing a project on Charles Manson? My producing partners, Rebecca Reynolds and Jim Carpenter, have a company called Filmmakers 8180. Weve made several films together and they co-created Hollywood & Crime, the parent podcast to Young Charlie. Rebecca asked me if I would be interested and my first thought was, How do I come at this from a new angle? After a lot of research, we settled on two timelines: from the Tate murders to the Manson family arraignment and from Charlies childhood through him sending his followers to Cielo Drive. Where did you find your accounts of Manson's childhood? I picked up a lot of stuff. Vincent Bugliosis book Helter Skelter, Jeff Guinns book Manson. Co-producer Jim Carpenter did a ton of research finding old articles. We even found the original article about the arrest of Mansons mother and uncle for a robbery they committed by poking a ketchup bottle in someones back, pretending it was a gun. Why do you think society collectively is obsessed not only with Manson but with serial killers in general? If you look at the history of literature, it always involved human beings in extremis. I think we're fascinated by people at the edges of what it is to be human beings. We're always drawn toward a violence and passion. This is why war is a recurrent theme throughout literature. There's no simple answer, really, to any human question. I think somewhere in there, in between this kind of just morbid fascination, we want to understand how human beings can behave in certain ways that seem foreign to us. If we can understand these extreme behaviors, then maybe it tells us a little bit something more about ourselves. Actor Stephen Lang narrates the portion of the podcast about Manson's childhood. How did his involvement come about? You have to understand, he's in a 40-foot vat of water shooting Avatar sequels five days a week, and because he's a good friend and a good buddy, he actually volunteered to do the podcast. The last picture that we did together was called Beyond Glory. Its a movie that I directed, and he wrote and starred in, playing eight characters. We were thrilled that a movie star of his stature would come on board and narrate in a way that captured this interior geography of Manson's mind. It would have been very hard to replicate without a world-class actor getting really into the language and the poetry of the way a mental process expresses itself. Screenwriter and director Larry Brand. (Larry Brand) Do you think Manson in particular draws people in? Charlie Manson does not become Charlie Manson at any other point in history but the late 1960s. About 20 years ago, they showed a brand new print of Woodstock at the Directors Guild in L.A., and I remember there was a moment when there's a newspaper in the background and it has a headline about the Manson murders. I was taken aback by this astonishing juxtaposition of the cultural threads that were extant at that point in American history. On the one hand, you have this event that was advertised as four days of peace, love and music. And then at the same point you have this reminder of this other side of what it is to be human being. You have the dark and the light. You have this dialectic of good and evil within a space of days. Three weeks earlier, Americans walked on the moon. This astonishing achievement of everything excellent and prideful in the human species, and then you have this enormous cultural event in which a generation took as an exemplar of what their world would be like, and at the same time you have this dark underside, which is just beginning to be revealed in those early moments following those murders. Given that Manson had been in ill health for quite some time, did you feel a sense of urgency to complete Young Charlie? No, I wasn't worried about him dying prematurely. At that point, his death, his literal death, was almost an irrelevancy. Hed been in prison for 50 years, but his crimes have the vibrancy that they have always had, again, because of the way it touches our sense of what it is to be human. People have this sense that we're going to learn some kind of proscriptive technique to prevent events like this from happening and that's not really what you learn from these events. There's always going to be sociopaths, there's always going to be people that go off the rails, there's always going to be murders. I'm asked quite a bit, "Are you concerned this will humanize Charles?" I think what the question really means is, Will this generate sympathy for Charlie? I think no. Theres no humanizing Manson. He's a human already. It's just that the more we understand him as human, the more we have a real indignation. 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Ireland United States Minor Outlying Islands United States of America Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe The premise is simple but compelling: Two strangers get off a train in a small town and nothing is ever the same again. It could be the premise for a classic western set in Tombstone or Dodge, but the town is in rural Hungary, the two men are Orthodox Jews and the year, as the title indicates, is 1945. A Hungarian feature coming just a few years after that country won the foreign language Oscar for the Auschwitz-themed Son of Saul, 1945" is a very different but equally compelling film. Strongly directed by Ferenc Torok from a script he cowrote with Gabor T. Szanto, this is a lean, unadorned parable about guilt and the nature and consequences of evil. Advertisement Photographed in luminous, high-contrast black and white by Elemer Ragalyi and driven by Tibor Szemzo's unnerving score, 1945" is a quietly furious film that puts a particular time and place under a microscope, revealing hidden fault lines and differences that had been papered over. Taking place over several hours on a single hot August afternoon, just a few months past V-E Day, 1945" presents a world that is trying to get back to normal even as it senses that normal will be harder to achieve than it hopes. Istvan Szentes (Peter Rudolf), the town notary and owner of a prosperous pharmacy, is introduced shaving for what he hopes will be a wonderful day. His unassuming son Arpad (Bence Tasnadi) is set to marry a local beauty, Kisrozsi (Dora Sztarenki), and if he can keep his substance-abusing wife, Anna (Ezter Nagy-Kalozy), under control, Istvan is looking forward to a respite from his troubles, which he has a lot of. For though the war is over, victorious Russian troops show no signs of leaving. Some returning Hungarian soldiers, like the muscular malcontent Jansci (Tamas Szabo Kimmel), formerly engaged to Kisrozsi, are happy about that, while others in the town worry what that will mean. But then the train, belching black smoke like some malignant presence, arrives, and those two serious, unsmiling Jews, father Hermann Samuel (Ivan Angelusz) and his son walk out onto the platform, creating a major disturbance in the field by their very presence. Arriving with a large, mysterious trunk, they arrange to have it taken into town by cart but insist on walking alongside it, leaving plenty of time for the worried stationmaster to speed into town and spread the news. Like characters in some kind of slow-motion horror film, the townspeople share the terrifying word: Jews have arrived, Jews are in the village or the blunt Theyre back. Questions of what happened during the war, what was done to make everyone feel this way, are artfully raised and gradually answered. One of the factors that makes 1945" especially involving is that the arrival of the Jews is so disturbing that it stirs up conflicts, tensions and animosities that have little to do with the newcomers or what happened during the just-concluded war. Simple, powerful, made with conviction and skill, 1945" proceeds as inexorably as Samuel and his son on their long walk into town. Its a potent messenger about a time that is gone but whose issues and difficulties are not even close to being past. ------------- 1945 In Hungarian with English subtitles Not rated Running time: 1 hour, 31 minutes Playing: Laemmle Royal, West L.A.; Laemmle Town Center 5, Encino; Laemmle Playhouse 7, Pasadena. See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour Movie Trailers kenneth.turan@latimes.com @KennethTuran Unfolding like a more intricately plotted installment of 48 Hours, Erik Nelsons A Gray State is a genuinely unsettling examination of a 2015 murder case. Upon initial introduction, David Crowley would appear to be well on his way a charismatic, driven Iraq War veteran-turned-filmmaker with a spirited Muslim wife and an adorable 4-year-old daughter. Crowley became an internet sensation after his concept trailer for a dystopian feature about American society under authoritarian control went viral. He would attract a rabid alt-media following, Alex Jones among them, but while developing the movie version of Gray State, he began exhibiting increasingly antisocial behavior that concerned friends and family, leading to the grim discovery of the bodies of Crowley, his wife and daughter in their suburban Minnesota home. Advertisement After a one-year investigation, police ruled the execution-style deaths a murder-suicide, although the revelation that the words Allahu akbar were scrawled on a wall in Crowleys wifes blood became catnip for conspiracy theorists contending it was a government hit job. Less of a whodunit than a whydunit, the film, executive produced by Werner Herzog, is accurately described by Nelson as a psychological-horror-thriller masquerading as a documentary, to which cautionary tale should also be added. Whether or not Crowley may have suffered from undiagnosed PTSD, A Gray State disturbingly traverses the blurred boundary between reality and performance all too inherent in todays social media-fed climate of cultural narcissism. ------------- A Gray State Not rated Running time: 1 hour, 33 minutes Playing: Laemmle Music Hall, Beverly Hills See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour Movie Trailers calendar@latimes.com The arty thriller Sweet Virginia is less a neo-noir than a meta-noir, dropping desperate characters into a twisty plot that eventually becomes a comment on the entire genre. Directed by Jamie M. Dagg from a screenplay by Benjamin and Paul China, Sweet Virginia stars Christopher Abbott as a contract killer named Elwood, who finds his way to a motel in Alaska managed by a kindly ex-rodeo star named Sam (Jon Bernthal). There, he waits with mounting irritation for money hes owed from his latest victims cash-strapped widow, Lila (Imogen Poots). Its immediately obvious that Elwoods not much of a professional, but instead kills indiscriminately because hes psychologically damaged. After opening with an explosion of violence, Sweet Virginia settles down into a slow-moving mood piece, concerned primarily in exploring the sad daily lives of a handful of stock characters. Its as though these people are aware theyre crime fiction cliches and are determined to make sure the audience knows theres more to them than meets the eye. Advertisement Dagg (who previously made the very good chase picture River) tries too hard to give the material a highbrow frame. The movie is dimly lighted and hushed to a fault. But the China brothers script is strong, and Dagg elicits terrific performances from Abbott, Bernthal and Poots. The cast and creators of Sweet Virginia dig underneath flat pulp conventions and find the real pain and emotional instability at their roots. ------------- Sweet Virginia Rating: R, for violence, some strong sexuality, language, and drug use Running time: 1 hour, 33 minutes. Playing: Arena Cinelounge Sunset, Hollywood See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour Movie Trailers calendar@latimes.com Netflix has its western, Godless, a limited series streaming to binge as of Wednesday. (I am not counting the final season of Longmire or the comedy The Ranch, which are set in the present day.) Steven Soderbergh is an executive producer, betokening prestige and meaning that his name is linked with the title in every press report. But Godless has been written and directed by Scott Frank, best known as a screenwriter he scripted Soderberghs Out of Sight and more recently worked on The Wolverine and Logan. Filmed and mostly set in New Mexico in the 1880s, the series is not about the West or westerns. It doesnt mean to show you the West as it really was, or examine how the genre embodies some aspect of the American character. It is not philosophical at its core, like Deadwood or Westworld. Advertisement It gathers up the tropes of the genre and twists them a little, in order not to perfectly repeat old business there is a strong feminist element mixed in but the old business is still basically the business its in, from its widescreen vistas to its elegiac trumpets to the cry of a bird echoing through a canyon. It has elements of Shane and The Magnificent Seven and remakes an iconic image from The Searchers. There is what in the old talking pictures they called a widder woman; there is a schoolmarm and a cocky young gunslinger. There are arrogant Eastern businessmen and their sinister private security. There is a settlement of black former Civil War soldiers. There are Norwegian settlers. There is a sheriff, who is not the coward he is taken for. There is a good bad man and a mad bad man. The series opens with Marshal John Cook (Sam Waterston, appealingly grizzled) emerging out of smoke and dust into an apocalypse, a town of shot, burned and hanging bodies, with a train blown off its tracks. Then we meet, individually, three wounded men. One is Frank Griffin (Jeff Daniels, bulky, bearded, like an Old Testament prophet), the mad bad man, whose arm is hanging by a tendon, a reasonable person in his own mind, given to situational kindness. Another is Roy Goode (Jack OConnell), a horse-whispering ex-outlaw shot by Alice Fletcher (Michelle Dockery) as he stumbles onto her place in the dark, ministered to by the Paiute grandmother (Tantoo Cardinal) of her son (Samuel Marty). (Alice needs healing too, of a different sort.) It was Goode who nearly shot off Griffins arm, before making off with his loot, and whom Griffin is now pursuing. The third is Sheriff Bill McNue (Scoot McNairy), who has gone to Paiute healers to help his failing eyes. The guardian of a town otherwise peopled by women, old men and children the young men having all died in a mine disaster he is that familiar figure, the Lawman in Need of Redemption, feeling old and useless in the eyes of everyone that looks at ya. He will meet up with Goode and Griffin soon enough. The consciousness of watching things youve seen before, even in a different order, can make Godless feel ordinary, for a while even including its more gothic elements. But there is a kind of cumulative pleasure in this company. (I have to also mention, among this excellent cast, Merritt Wever, as McNues take-charge sister Mary-Agnes, remaking herself in a town without men.) As photographed by Steven Meizler, its always beautiful to look at. Visually, it recalls the westerns of the 1970s; there is a lively, almost loving crispness to the images. The wide frame means you can put a closeup to the camera and still take in the landscape, for passing contemplation of man and nature. And at seven hours twice the length of Heavens Gate, if anyones counting Godless has time enough to admire cloud-filled skies, enjoy a sunset, scan a horizon. That as much as anything is the meaning of this series. As usual with this sort of story, one waits to see whether the heroes will outlast the villains, if the hoped for comeuppance is coming and if the passages of violence are worth the payoff (unless violence is your payoff, of course, but as modern westerns go, Godless is less than usually explicit). You wait to see whether your mounting investment of time will leave you cursing television or praising its goldenness. Two decades of antiheroic television drama have been hard on straight-up heroes. Without being specific or spoilery, I can tell you that I did not want to curse my television, and that Godless, the grimness of its title notwithstanding, goes somewhere almost corny, but kind of beautiful. Godless Where: Netflix When: Any time, starting Wednesday Rating: TV-MA (may be unsuitable for children under the age of 17) robert.lloyd@latimes.com Follow Robert Lloyd on Twitter @LATimesTVLloyd Demi Moore and daughter Rumer Willis, Dita Von Teese and Langley Fox were a few of the bold-faced names that turned out at Just One Eye boutique in Hollywood last Thursday to fete an exclusive collaboration between French footwear designer Christian Louboutin and Indian fashion designer and Bollywood costume designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee. The limited-edition Christian Louboutin x Sabyasachi capsule collection for men and women features sneakers, loafers, sandals, booties and boots ranging from $1,095 to $4,995 as well as $2,450 handbags. Some of the lavishly hand-embroidered styles are made to order and use sari fabrics from Mukherjees archives. The collaboration is available only at Just One Eye and marks the brands official West Coast debut. It is sold alongside an exclusive, 60-piece Sabyasachi womens apparel collection of jackets, tunics, skirts and dresses handmade at the designers atelier in Kolkata, India. Advertisement In L.A. for the collaborations launch, the two designers looked on in delight as a troupe of dancers acted out a Sleeping Beauty-inspired story, written by Louboutin, in which a woman in a deep sleep is finally roused by an exquisite pair of Christian Louboutin x Sabyasachi boots. Just One Eye co-founder Paola Russo organized the performance, which had been choreographed by Alex Magno, who has worked with Madonna. We will only make three pairs of this boot in blue because theres not enough fabric, said Louboutin, pointing to a made-to-order style. Weve been stealing anything we can from Sabya, so there is not much left. I call it the Cinderella syndrome: You see it, you love it, rush because it will vanish after midnight. To me, he is definitely the most important designer in India; apart from his talent, he has a huge respect for handicraft and artisanship and is fantastic at mixing things. The pair first crossed paths a few years ago at the Sabyasachi boutique in Mumbai. Louboutin had come in to shop and met the designer, who had himself just arrived in town though without a proper change of clothes. I had lost my luggage, so I was wearing a pair of track pants and really dirty flip-flops, recounted Mukherjee, who said he was nearly too embarrassed to meet the legendary shoe designer. Luckily for both, he overcame that twinge of embarrassment, and the two would go on to become collaborators, with Louboutin designing shoes and handbags for the Sabyasachi couture collections in 2015 and 2016. We make all our own fabrics and embroideries and prints in Kolkata, said Mukherjee, noting that he would like to dress Blake Lively and Meryl Streep. L.A. is glamorous in a very casual way. It has a strong sense of bohemian luxury, so I did this collection of chiffon and velvet in styles that are a little more slouchy and easy. I like that L.A. is horizontal, not vertical; its such a pleasure that you can see the sky. Theres such a sense of freedom here. The whole city feels like youre on holiday. This collection is not just about L.A.; its also about this store, Louboutin added. The people from Just One Eye have a very, very big eye. Every time I [come] to L.A., I come to this place to look at things. Its very inspiring. Christian Louboutin x Sabyasachi available exclusively at Just One Eye, 7000 Romaine St., Los Angeles. justoneeye.com image@latimes.com ALSO: Whats in Alana Hadids closet? The busy fashion maven takes us on a style tour Italian luxury brand Fendi funds a Caravaggio exhibition at the Getty Center through Feb. 28 The Standard Hollywood, cannabis brand Lord Jones to open an in-hotel boutique in 2018 Eleven human rights activists nine Turks, a Swede and a German are scheduled to appear in court in Istanbul on Wednesday despite an international groundswell of condemnation over the Turkish governments decision to try them on charges of aiding terrorist organizations. Turkey has been under a state of emergency since July 2016, when an attempted military coup was put down by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with public support, resulting in the deaths of 249 civilians. For the record: An earlier version of this article incorrectly described Ali Gharavi as a Swede with dual U.S. citizenship. He is an Iranian-Swede with dual citizenship. More than 50,000 people are in prison after the coup attempt, most charged with aiding what Turkey considers terrorist organizations. The Kurdistan Workers Party is one group designated by Turkey and its NATO allies as a terrorist organization. The Turkish government has also branded as a terrorist organization a group led by Fethullah Gulen, an aging cleric living in Pennsylvania whom Ankara blames for the attempted coup. Advertisement Since the failed coup, 150,000 people have been purged from the public sector over suspected ties to terrorist organizations but have yet to be detained or charged with a crime. The 11 rights activists were detained by police in July while they were participating in a conference on Princes Islands, near Istanbul. Speaking at a G-20 summit in Germany days after the detentions, Erdogan said police acted because of intelligence that revealed the activists were planning a new coup. They gathered there for a meeting which has the nature of the continuation of the July 15, 2016, coup attempt, he said. Almost two decades ago, in 1998, Amnesty International adopted Erdogan as a prisoner of conscience after he was jailed for reciting a poem the then-secular government of Turkey said incited hatred. Who is on trial? Amnesty Internationals Turkey chairman, Taner Kilic, was arrested separately from the other 10 defendants and faces 7 to 15 years in prison on charges of being a member of an armed terror organization. He is the only defendant who was not granted bail. Prosecutors allege Kilic is a member of Gulens organization because he had used a smartphone messaging application called ByLock. Authorities allege the application, downloaded more than 600,000 times between 2014 and 2016 by users all over the world, was developed by Gulens followers to allow secret communication among themselves. Tens of thousands of people in Turkey have been arrested and charged, like Kilic, with membership in the group based on allegations they downloaded the application. On Wednesday, Kilics lawyers presented findings by two independent forensic analysts showing his phone never had ByLock. The other defendants include some of Turkeys most well-known rights activists Idil Eser from Amnesty International, Gunal Kursun, Ozlem Dalkiran, Veli Acu, Ilknur Ustun, Nalan Erkem, Seyhmus Ozbekli, and Nejat Tastan as well as Ali Gharavi, a Iranian-Swede with dual citizenship, and Peter Steudtner, a German national, who were both attending the conference to present workshops on how to secure data to the rights defenders and deal with stress. At a hearing in October, Steudtner recounted what he said was a 20-year history of using his expertise in information technology to support nonviolent movements, and said he had never backed any terrorist organization. He also said some of the evidence presented against him, including images and other files allegedly found on his computer, had been planted by police. Gharavi, Steudtner and the eight Turkish activists are charged with aiding an armed terror organization without being members and also face between 7 and 15 years in prison. Prosecutors have said the meeting on the Princes Islands was meant to foment chaos akin to 2013 protests in Istanbul against Erdogan and the failed 2016 coup. As evidence, they presented campaign material used by Amnesty International to call attention to alleged human rights abuses in Turkey, activities the defendants say are within the normal purview of their organization. What has international reaction been? Twenty-two members of the U.S. Congress have written letters to Erdogan asking for the charges to be dropped. More than 700,000 people have signed a petition by Amnesty International calling for the release of the activists. Calls for dropping charges have also come from the European Commission, the U.S. State Department, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and several European governments. The 11 face outlandish terrorism charges in what can only be described as a politically motivated prosecution aimed at silencing critical voices within the country, read a letter released ahead of the hearing on Wednesday. The signatories include National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden and Human Rights Watch head Ken Roth, along with other rights advocates such as artists Ai Weiwei, Sting, Peter Gabriel and several actors. The Turkish authorities must know that the eyes of the world will be on Istanbuls central court for this trial. We will not stay silent. Defending human rights is not a crime. What is at stake? In Turkey, the post-coup crackdown has largely decimated the countrys media, political opposition and civil society landscape. More than 150 journalists are behind bars, many facing terrorism charges, and scores of television stations and newspapers have been shut down. Thousands of nonprofit groups have also been shuttered, and dozens of opposition lawmakers, especially from the pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party, have been jailed on terrorism charges. Still, the arrests of the countrys leading human rights activists are more worrying for many, a sign the crackdown is expanding to include organizations and personalities with international reach who would be capable of at least documenting what is going on. When human rights defenders are silenced all our rights are put at risk, reads the letter released ahead of the hearing. They are the ones that stand up for us. Now we must stand up for them. On Nov. 1, police arrested Osman Kavala, a philanthropist and one of the countrys best known human rights activists, later charging him with being involved in the failed coup and being a manager and organizer of the 2013 anti-Erdogan protests in Istanbul. Despite international condemnation of the crackdown, the Turkish government appears to be unwilling to back down, even when it comes to arresting foreign nationals. Dozens of Germans and Americans are in prison over charges related to the coup attempt, insults against President Erdogan or aid to terrorist organizations. A continuing row over the arrests of locals working in U.S. diplomatic missions has meant a bilateral freeze on issuing visas between Turkey and the U.S., and this week Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu echoed conspiracy theories touted in Turkeys largest media outlets, saying the American system had been infiltrated by Gulen. Farooq is a special correspondent. Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has famously complained about the traffic he faces on his commute from his Bel-Air home to his office in Hawthorne, near Los Angeles International Airport. His solution? An alternate transportation system that could whisk commuters from the San Fernando Valley to the Westside in a matter of minutes through a tunnel parallel to the 405 Freeway. The Boring Co., the firm Musk created this year to build that system, filed an application Thursday with Los Angeles officials seeking approval to begin digging within city limits, Bureau of Engineering spokeswoman Mary Nemick said Tuesday. Advertisement Nemick and a spokesman for Mayor Eric Garcetti said they would not immediately release the permit application documents. A Boring Co. spokesman said Tuesday that the initial proposed route would start near Hawthorne and would go along the 405 to Westwood, with a number of stops along the way. Los Angeles lawmakers will face a thicket of policy questions over the proposed tunnel system, including which type of environmental review it would require, and whether the city should support a privatized transportation system that features new technology. Musks tunnel would carry commuters on electric platforms that could reach speeds of up to 130 mph, a Boring Co. spokesman said Tuesday. A video released by the company earlier this year shows a driver steering onto a car-sized platform at street level next to a curb. The platform sinks downward like an elevator. Then the platform, called a skate, whisks the car laterally through the tunnel. Pedestrians and cyclists could use the system by boarding a capsule that could carry eight to 16 people, the Boring Co. said. Musk said last month that he envisioned entry and exit points once per mile or so along the tunnels route. The tunnel will be about 12 feet in diameter. The project will be funded entirely with private money, a Boring Co. spokesman said. One of the most soul-destroying things is traffic. ... It takes away so much of your life. Its horrible. Its particularly horrible in L.A. Elon Musk At a TED Conference in April, Musk said the tunnel would allow travel from Westwood to LAX in six minutes. He added that it would be the start of a three-dimensional network of tunnels. One of the most soul-destroying things is traffic, Musk said at the conference. It affects people in every part of the world. It takes away so much of your life. Its horrible. Its particularly horrible in L.A. Musk said on Twitter last month that the tunnel could hopefully be finished in a year or so, a speed that would shatter records for tunneling in dense urban areas. Digging the tunnel is often the fastest part of a tunnel project. Other bureaucratic requirements, including permits and environmental reviews, can take years. Advocates have questioned whether the tunnels would spark a phenomenon known as induced demand, which says that freeing up more space for cars encourages people to drive more. The phenomenon is perhaps best known locally from the 405 Freeway widening, which cost more than $1 billion and did not improve travel times. The sales tax increase that Los Angeles County voters approved last fall includes more than $5 billion for a mass transit tunnel through the Sepulveda Pass, a route almost identical to Musks proposal. Picture of The Boring Company LA tunnel taken yesterday pic.twitter.com/TfdVKyXFsJ Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2017 Also Tuesday, Councilman Mike Bonin invited representatives from the Boring Co. to speak with the City Council next year about their proposal. He also asked for a city report on the policy and regulatory questions that lawmakers should consider. So far, in the public imagination, this idea has been at the level of blog posts and cocktail party conversation, Bonin said in an interview. We need to flesh it out more. The first stage of the tunnel is being built in Hawthorne. City officials there approved the Boring Co.s request in August to tunnel west from Space X headquarters toward LAX. The tunnel had grown to 500 feet by last month. laura.nelson@latimes.com For more transportation news, follow @laura_nelson on Twitter. Al Sabo lingered in the shade, clutching a bag of pomegranates hed just bought from the Pershing Square Farmers Market. It was before noon and already 90 degrees. The sun bore down from a cloudless blue sky, and there was nary a breeze in downtown Los Angeles, where tank tops and sandals reigned. Its too hot, Sabo, 73, said. It doesnt seem like Thanksgiving. Advertisement Temperatures soared into the 90s across a large swath of Southern California in an autumn heat wave that peaked Wednesday. It seems those turkeys wont be the only things roasting on Thanksgiving Day. Many parts of the region hit new records for the day including downtown L.A. at 92 degrees, LAX at 92, Long Beach at 96, UCLA at 95, Woodland Hills at 93 and Oxnard at 97. Mother Nature will be serving one of the hottest Thanksgivings on record in Southern California, with potentially record-breaking temperatures 25 degrees above normal, said Joe Sirard, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. Here are the updated record highs across southwest California as of 230 PM PST. Camarillo Airport set all-time November record for that site. #LAHeat #LAWeather #cawx #SoCal pic.twitter.com/DLYY9SZ2zV NWS Los Angeles (@NWSLosAngeles) November 22, 2017 The hot and dry conditions stem from an upper-level ridge of high pressure hovering over the area, which is causing desert air from the northeast to flow toward the Southern California coast, Sirard said. Luckily for firefighters, who will be on high alert with the soaring temperatures, strong winds that typically trigger red flag warnings are not expected, he said. Wednesday and Thursday are expected to be the hottest days of the week. Forecasters predicted temperatures in the high 80s and mid-90s throughout the Los Angeles area. The average temperature this time of the year is about 71 degrees, Sirard said. As for Turkey Day itself, the west San Fernando Valley will probably be the hottest area in the L.A. region, Sirard said. A high of 93 is forecast for Woodland Hills on Thursday, one degree above the record set in 1995, according to the weather service. Thats higher than Palm Springs predicted high of 92 degrees. Burbank could reach 91 degrees, beating the previous record of 86 in 1950. Long Beach is expected to top out at 89 degrees; the record high was 85 in 1990. Thursdays high at Santa Barbara Airport is forecast to be a relatively chilly 83 degrees. There will be little relief overnight. The valleys and coastal slopes will see nighttime temperatures in the 60s to near 80 degrees. Heat records also are set to be eclipsed Thursday in San Diego and Riverside counties. El Cajon is forecast to hit 94 degrees, smashing a previous high of 86 set in 1995. Chula Vista could top out at 90 degrees, beating a record of 87 in 1924. Riverside will peak at 92; the current record is 91 degrees from 1995. The high-pressure ridge is predicted to weaken over the weekend, and near-normal temperatures should return by Monday, Sirard said. If youre going to be out and about during midday hours, wear sunscreen, he said. There will be lots of sunshine. Stay hydrated. Its going to be very dry. Southern California, he added, is far enough south in latitude that people still can get sunburned this late in the year. In Pershing Square, Sabo said hed much prefer wearing short sleeves on Thanksgiving to being cold. Sabo moved to California about 36 years ago from Pittsburgh because he got sick of the cold. There, forecasters have predicted a high of 41 degrees on Thursday. You cant beat the weather here, Sabo said. Nearby, Bryan Green was equally upbeat while selling hummus and cheese. Green has spent his whole life in Los Angeles and is never surprised by a late-year heat wave. Its the California way, he said. In L.A., we have hot days, cold days, windy days. You just get used to it. It would be good to be at the beach right now. Ramon Palacio of Lincoln Heights and his 6-year-old granddaughter, Alean, stared longingly at Pershing Squares Holiday Ice Rink, which hadnt yet opened for the day. Its hot, said Alean, wearing jean shorts and a Dodgers hat over her ponytail. Its like a summer break. The two were out for a holiday adventure. They rode the bus to the square and were going to visit the Central Library before a planned Thanksgiving Day full of honey-baked ham and Aleans favorite, mashed potatoes. On Wednesday, Palacio kept reminding his granddaughter to drink water. Were enjoying our summer day in the middle of fall, he said. Palacio, 63, is a Los Angeles native. He remembers plenty of warm autumns, but nothing like this. Its quite unusual, he said. I think the weathers changing. I think mans got a lot to do with it. hailey.branson@latimes.com Twitter: @haileybranson UPDATES: 2:45 p.m.: This article was updated with new records. 1:10 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from people in downtown Los Angeles. This article was originally published at 10:05 a.m. Aijalon Gomes stepped on the world stage eight years ago when he walked across a frozen river into North Korea. Months later, he again made headlines when a former president secured his release from the communist nation. His death Friday also drew attention, when an off-duty officer found him engulfed in flames in a dirt field not far from San Diegos Fiesta Island. He was 38. Advertisement Investigators suspect Gomes death was either an accident or a suicide, San Diego police said Tuesday. An off-duty California Highway Patrol officer was driving west on Pacific Highway near Sea World Drive about 11:30 p.m. when he saw Gomes on fire, running then collapsing, homicide Lt. Todd Griffin said. Gomes had recently moved to the San Diego area from Boston, Griffin said, but it is unclear exactly where he was residing. Then 30 years old, Gomes made international headlines in 2010 when he illegally crossed into North Korea from China by walking across a frozen stretch of the Tumen River, and was soon after apprehended by border guards. He was sentenced to eight years of hard labor and fined $700,000. I was praying each and every day, Jacqueline McCarthy, Gomes mother, said Tuesday when reached by phone at her Massachusetts home. They would not let me talk to him. Gomes, who had been teaching English in South Korea at the time, may have entered North Korea in support of Robert Park, a Korean American human rights activist, according to some media accounts. Park walked into the country in December 2009 in an attempt to bring attention to Pyongyangs human rights abuses. He, too, crossed into the country over the frozen Tumen River. At one point, Gomes incarceration was used as leverage by the North Korean government after an international investigation determined that a torpedo from that country was responsible for the sinking of a South Korean warship. North Korean officials rejected the finding, and accused the United States of manipulating the investigation, according to media reports. Officials threatened to impose a much harsher sentence on Gomes if the United States didnt moderate its position. McCarthy said Gomes tried to commit suicide several times while in custody including slitting his wrists and attempting to starve himself before former President Carter helped negotiate his release in August 2010. When he got off the plane, he got on his knees and was very thankful he was home, she said of her son. Gomes was one of four American prisoners to be accused of entering the country illegally between 2009 and 2010, including Park and two American journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee. All were released within months. In the years that followed his return home, his mother said, Gomes began isolating from the family, talking more by text than in person. She said the incarceration left her son with post-traumatic stress disorder. I know it affected him, McCarthy said. Following his release, Gomes wrote a book about his experience. According to a description of the novel on Amazon.com, he reveals that his faith and a sense of universal equality moved him to cross into North Korea. The book also graphically details the psychological torment of interrogation and confinement, the description reads. McCarthy said news of his death left her shocked and heartbroken. I couldnt picture my son doing that to himself, she said, adding that her mother, Gomes grandmother, is also taking the news very hard. McCarthy said her son was raised in the church and that theirs is a close-knit family. When he was in his 20s, before hed gone to Korea, she said, her son had left a teaching job to care for his great-grandparents. He was a beautiful person, McCarthy said. She later added, He was selfless. He was always giving his last to everyone. She said the family is working on creating an online fundraising page to help cover her sons final expenses. San Diego detectives dont believe Gomes death was a homicide, but the medical examiners office will determine the official cause of death. Lyndsay Winkley and Teri Figueroa write for the San Diego Union-Tribune. ALSO Michigan man found wandering near DMZ is deported, South Korean officials confirm Watch dramatic video showing North Korean forces chasing, firing on defecting soldier Trump puts North Korea back on list of state sponsors of terrorism Investigators suspect the death of a 38-year-old man who was found on fire in the Mission Bay Park area on Friday was an accident or a suicide, San Diego police said Tuesday. An off-duty California Highway Patrol officer was driving west on Pacific Highway near Sea World Drive about 11:30 p.m. when he saw the man on fire, homicide Lt. Todd Griffin said. The officer stopped to help, but the man died before he could be taken to a hospital. He was identified as Aijalon Gomes, who had recently moved to the San Diego area from Boston, Griffin said. Advertisement Jacqueline McCarthy, Gomes mother, confirmed her son was the same Aijalon Gomes who illegally crossed into North Korea from China by walking across a frozen stretch of the Tumen River in January 2010. He was apprehended by border guards soon after. He was sentenced to eight years of hard labor and fined $700,000. I know it affected him, she said of her sons incarceration. McCarthy said her son tried to commit suicide several times before former President Carter helped negotiate his release in August 2010. He was a beautiful person, McCarthy said, later adding, He was selfless. He was always giving his last to everyone. San Diego detectives called to investigate dont believe Gomess death was a homicide, but the Medical Examiners Office will determine the official cause of death. Winkley and Figueroa write for the San Diego Union-Tribune. ALSO Trump re-designates North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism Homeless man burned to death near Mission Bay Fight over military attire leads to stabbing in downtown San Diego, police say The FBI is investigating a suspected contraband smuggling ring inside an Imperial Valley state prison involving supervisor cooks and inmates, according to search warrants filed this month in San Diego federal court. The warrants are for two cellphones found recently in the cells of inmates at Calipatria State Prison, a male facility north of Brawley. The same prison was at the center of a smuggling ring last year. A supervising drug counselor there was accused of smuggling heroin, methamphetamine, marijuana and cellphones into the prison on multiple occasions in 2015. Advertisement The new FBI investigation links the inmates to the cooks via cellphone communications and thousands of dollars in wire transfers, according to the search warrant affidavits. One phone was found Nov. 15 on a mattress in the cell of Marquis Newsome, according to the court documents. Phone records show he and supervising cook Sara Estella Gutierrez communicated more than 2,500 times between May and September mostly via electronic messages and nearly 4,000 times in October and November on a different phone number, according to the affidavit. The messages indicate that Newsome, who works in the same dining area as Gutierrez, fathered her newborn child, the affidavit states. The messages discuss moving contraband inside the prison, include drugs and cellphones, according to the affidavit. .B.a.b.e .W.h.e.n. .u. .g.o.n.n.a. .s.e.l.l. .p.h.o.n.e.s.?. .I ..m. .h.a.v.i.n.g. .t.o. .g.e.t. .i.n.t.o. .m.y. .s.a.v.i.n.g.s., Gutierrez wrote Newsome in October, according to the affidavit. Newsome replied he was going to sell one this week and use Mexican inmates to do it, the court records state. Gutierrezs brother, Pedro Israel Gutierrez, another supervisory cook, is also implicated in the contraband ring, as is former supervisory cook Ricardo Rene Ibarra, the records state. Investigators are also seeking evidence on a cellphone seized from inmate Karl Drews locker on Aug. 3. The phone was hidden within a photo album, according to the affidavit. Drew works in the kitchen under Sara Gutierrez, the records state. A series of wire transfers in 2015 show Drews sister sent $4,100 to the Gutierrez siblings and others, according to the affidavits. Other inmate family members also wired similar funds, the records state. Publicly available court records do not indicate any arrests have been made in the investigation. An official with the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation declined to discuss the case or the status of the cooks employment, citing the ongoing investigation. kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com Davis writes from the San Diego Union-Tribune To live in Southern California is to know that most unpleasant of Thanksgiving traditions: terrific traffic. News helicopter footage of jammed freeways has become, at least on social media, an iconic symbol of the holiday season. Tuesdays evening commute was grim, and Wednesdays wont be much better, experts say. Waze chart of Thanksgiving traffic. (Waze) Traffic and turkey Data indicates that in Los Angeles, the worst holiday traffic was expected to occur between 3:15 and 6 p.m. Tuesday, when travel times could more than double. Thats also considered to be the worst time to drive to Los Angeles International Airport, according to INRIX, a company that specializes in connected car services and transportation analytics. INRIX also highlighted the worst traffic hotspot in the U.S. as the southbound 5 Freeway at Valley View Avenue in La Mirada. Traffic app Waze said that Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday are going to be the worst times for traffic in the L.A. area. Officials were warning motorists Wednesday to assume it will take extra time to get where they need to go. Andres Garcia, a regular commuter on the 5, said previous years left him "no patience to wait and wait, while the clock ticked and my temper got worse" during the Thanksgiving rush. This time around, the information technology worker, 28, asked for the holiday week off "to save my mind from exploding. I don't know how anyone can keep calm in situations like this. California is a crazy car country." Trying to keep the roads safe The California Highway Patrol plans to assign all available officers on patrol during a "maximum enforcement period" that begins at 6:01 p.m. Wednesday through 11:59 p.m. Sunday. Since Thanksgiving weekend can be among the deadliest weekends on roadways, officials planned to educate motorists and enforce safety laws starting with reminding everyone to buckle up. In 2016's maximum enforcement period, 27 people were killed in collisions on roads in CHP jurisdiction, data show, and 14 were not wearing a seat belt. Whether you are driving across the street or across the country for your Thanksgiving gathering, it is imperative to wear your seat belt, CHP acting Commissioner Warren Stanley said. Southern California is a popular destination Anaheim is expected to be the second-most popular Thanksgiving destination nationwide as Americans head to the Disneyland Resort. The top five spots for Southern California travelers, according to a survey of Auto Clubs travel agents, are San Francisco, San Diego, Anaheim, the Grand Canyon and Santa Barbara. Meanwhile, at Los Angeles International Airport, officials say 2.3 million travelers are expected to pass through during the Thanksgiving travel period, an 8.4% increase over last year's record of 2.1 million, according to Los Angeles World Airports. A mysterious incident last weekend that left one Border Patrol agent dead in west Texas and another critically injured is being investigated as a possible attack, officials said. There are a number of possible scenarios, but right now we are going to pursue it as an assault on a federal agent, FBI Special Agent in Charge Emmerson Buie Jr. said during a Tuesday briefing in El Paso. This is the most important investigation in the El Paso division of the FBI. We will be aggressively investigating all leads. Agent Rogelio Roger Martinez, 36, a four-year veteran, was found with traumatic head injuries and broken bones at 11:20 p.m. Saturday near Interstate 10 about 12 miles east of Van Horn after responding to a triggered sensor, Buie said. Advertisement Martinez was sent to a hospital in El Paso and died from head injuries early Sunday. Autopsy results are pending. The union representing Border Patrol officers said the two agents were attacked by migrants wielding rocks. Chris Cabrera, a union spokesman and veteran agent based in McAllen, Texas, said that calling the incident an assault was insulting, and he faulted federal officials for downplaying the incident instead of investigating it as a potential homicide. He didnt get punched in the neck. Hes dead, Cabrera said. Martinezs partner, whose name has not been released, also suffered head injuries and remained hospitalized Tuesday in critical but stable condition, according to Victor Velazquez, acting chief of the Border Patrols Big Bend sector, who called the agent young and dedicated. Our men and women deal with the constant presence of the unknown, ranging from those seeking illegal entry into the U.S., [to] smugglers of human cargo and/or drugs, transnational crime organizations and dangerous terrain, Velazquez said. The agents were found at the bottom of a 9-foot-deep culvert in an area known for drug activity, FBI and union officials said, leading to speculation that they might have fallen. The remote Big Bend sector, which includes almost a quarter of the southern border, is far from a migrant hot spot mountains and a 510-mile stretch of the Rio Grande provide a natural barrier but the Border Patrol reported an uptick last spring in drug smuggling all along the Texas border, with seizures of cocaine and heroin more than doubling. Brandon Judd, president of the San Diego-based National Border Patrol Council union that represents agents, insisted the pair were attacked with rocks by a group of illegal border-crossers they were pursuing. Martinezs partner called for backup when he found him, but by the time backup arrived, the partner was also injured, Cabrera said. By Tuesday, officials had canvassed the area where the incident occurred, about 110 miles east of El Paso, and were investigating the death as an assault, Buie said. He announced a $25,000 FBI reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those involved. Thats in addition to a $20,000 reward announced by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday. Theres no way he fell, Cabrera said of the agent who died. Border Patrol agents are like mountain goats. They dont fall. Especially two at the same spot. In the area where the agents were found, ditches run beside the roads, he said. Even in the dark, they know its there. These guys are familiar with that area. They work that area day in and day out. Martinez, an El Paso native, is survived by fiancee Angie Ochoa and his 11-year-old son, Sergio, officials said. He was the 125th Border Patrol agent to die in the line of duty, according to Velazquez, but the list includes natural and accidental deaths. Fatal attacks on agents are rare. Only a handful have occurred in the last decade, including shootings and an assault with a vehicle by a fleeing suspect. After Martinezs death was announced, President Trump tweeted: Border Patrol Officer killed at Southern Border, another badly hurt. We will seek out and bring to justice those responsible. We will, and must, build the Wall! On Monday, speaking at he White House, Trump again mentioned the incident, noting, We lost a Border Patrol officer just yesterday, and another one was brutally beaten and badly, badly hurt. Looks like hell make it, but very, very badly hurt. Were going to have the wall, Trump continued. Its a part of what were doing. We need it. Its rough territory. Thats where the drugs are coming in. A lot of things are happening along the border the southern border and were going to straighten it out. Asked about the presidents comments, Buie said he had yet to brief Trump about the investigation. Special correspondent Sierra reported from El Paso and Times staff writer Hennessy-Fiske from Houston. ALSO Michigan man found wandering near DMZ is deported, South Korean officials confirm Nebraska regulators have approved a new route for the Keystone XL pipeline. But will it ever be built? Is it OK to mention a persons immigration status in court? Washington state says no Observing an annual pre-Thanksgiving rite, President Trump pardoned two big white fluffy turkeys Tuesday in a photo op at the White House. (Named Drumstick and Wishbone, the birds will end up at an enclosure on the campus of Virginia Tech.) That leaves 46 million other turkeys that wont get pardoned. Instead, theyll wind up on someones dinner table during this holiday season, a fate that is expected to befall about 245 million gobblers all told this year. And none of them will make the journey from farm to table via the Willard InterContinental Hotel, where Drumstick and Wishbone hung out before Drumstick was ceremoniously presented to Trump. No animals raised on factory farms are kept and killed under worse conditions than turkeys and chickens, which make up most of the animals raised for food in the U.S. Nearly 9 billion chickens are slaughtered each year for food. And because poultry is exempt from the federal Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, which the U.S. Department of Agriculture enforces, there are not even minimum federal standards governing how they live or die. Turkeys and so-called broiler chickens are genetically bred to grow fast (to satisfy our love for breast meat) and, typically, grow so big that they can barely walk by the time they are killed. As a result, they can suffer from painful skeletal disorders and leg deformities. The vast majority spend their short lives (about 47 days for chickens) in artificially lit, windowless, barren warehouse barns. So that turkeys wont peck one another in these crowded barns, their beaks are painfully trimmed. Advertisement There are the grim realities behind Americans traditional Thanksgiving meal. When its time to slaughter them, the live birds are shackled upside down on a conveyor belt, paralyzed by electrified water and then dragged over mechanical throat-cutting blades. The birds are supposed to be stunned unconscious by the electrified water, but that doesnt always happen. Sometimes the birds miss the blades and end up tumbling into the tanks of scalding water, where they drown. These methods are so cruel that they would be prohibited by federal welfare laws if the animals in question were cows or pigs. These are the grim realities behind Americans traditional Thanksgiving meal. But there are ways to make life and death somewhat better for the turkeys that wind up on your table. Of course, we could all just eat less turkey and chicken, which would reduce the demand for these animals. But to make a bigger impact, the major buyers of chicken and turkey meat need to push their suppliers to adopt less grisly practices. The Humane Society of the U.S. has launched a campaign to get producers to pledge to raise healthier, less bloated birds, to provide them with better living conditions more space, more stimulating environments and more sunlight and, perhaps most important, to render the birds unconscious before they are shackled and slaughtered. The campaign also seeks to persuade buyers to obtain meat only from producers that honor this pledge. Meanwhile, Temple Grandin, the animal science professor known for designing more humane procedures for slaughtering beef cattle, has called for controlled atmosphere stunning, a process of using gas to make the birds unconscious before they get shackled for slaughter. Just as pressure from animal welfare advocates, consumers and California voters led poultry farmers to free egg-laying hens from tiny cages, industry is now responding to similar pressure to implement more humane conditions for turkeys and broiler chickens. Whole Foods announced last year that it would begin to replace meat from fast-growing chickens with products from slower-growing breeds that are given more space. Perdue Farms Inc., a major chicken producer, has changed some of its plants and has incorporated gas stunning at its turkey plant in Indiana. And nearly 70 companies have signed on to the Humane Societys campaign, including Burger King, Subway, Aramark and Panera. Many of these companies have put out new policy statements of commitment to obtaining poultry only from producers that raise smaller chickens and render them unconscious before shackling them. Installing new procedures takes time and money. All the buyers and producers that have signed on to the Humane Society campaign have agreed to fully convert to a new system by 2024. Companies should be held to that time frame, and more should be encouraged to take that pledge. If enough consumers demand it, companies will do it. Thats not too much to ask for the sake of the bird youll be carving up on Thanksgiving. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook Do Americans who dislike Donald Trump and thats most of us have anything to be thankful for in this first year of the Trump era? Yes. Despite what seems like endless bad news from Washington, there are plenty of reasons for Democrats, independents and never-Trump Republicans to count their blessings this week. Lets start with the big picture: The president hasnt started any new wars, and he hasnt taken the economy off a cliff. Thats already better than many expected on inauguration day. Most presidents use their first year in office, buoyed by a popular mandate, to enact the biggest changes they can. But Trump hasnt gotten big things done. On balance, hes not winning. Hes losing. Advertisement So thanks, above all, to the Constitution, which deliberately limits a presidents power and makes radical change difficult. That includes the 1st Amendment, which protects the journalism that has bedeviled the president at every turn. This has been a good year for newspapers, whose circulation has grown as the president rails against their scrutiny. We should be grateful for the diligence of the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, who appears impervious to political pressure. Thanks, as well, to the skein of laws that has stymied much of the presidents efforts to overturn the old order. Hes run into roadblocks in the form of the judiciary and regulations. Trumps first major executive order, to stop travel and immigration from several mostly Muslim countries, is still under challenge (in its third edition) in federal courts. This week, a federal judge ruled another order punishing sanctuary cities unconstitutional. Early on, Trump announced his intention to dismantle President Obamas Clean Power Plan, which required states to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. But regulatory requirements mean the process could take until 2020 if he can overcome legal challenges from states and environmental groups. Meanwhile, despite all the presidents promises, coal isnt coming back as a major source of energy. Its still giving way to natural gas and solar power, simply because theyre cheaper. For that, we can be grateful to the marketplace. Trump has also run up against members of his own party. His failure to repeal Obamas healthcare law was dramatic and damaging, blocked by three GOP senators who rebelled against his demands. So we can be thankful to John McCain, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and other Republicans who have refused to let Trump hijack their party without a fight. We should be grateful for Defense Secretary James N. Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and national security advisor H.R. McMaster, who are trying to steer the U.S. confrontation with North Korea toward negotiations, and have intermittently persuaded the president to tone down his fire and fury rhetoric. We should be thankful for the officers of the armed forces who take their commitments to military ethics and law seriously including Air Force Gen. John Hyten, commander of the strategic nuclear force, who said last week he remains duty-bound to resist any order he considers illegal. And we should be grateful for the diligence of the special counsel in the Russia investigation, Robert S. Mueller III, who appears impervious to political pressure. There are ordinary citizens for whom we should be thankful, too: the grass-roots organizers of groups like Indivisible, which has some 6,000 chapters around the country. The local officials and activists who have made it clear that white supremacists arent welcome in their towns, but allowed them to march without violence. The voters of Virginia, who turned out in larger-than-usual numbers to send a message of opposition to Trump-style politics. We should be grateful for the good sense of most voters, for that matter. Support for the president has dwindled to about 38%, and even that pro-Trump minority is less enthusiastic about him. Already, some political forecasters see the 2018 midterm election as a potential wave that could sweep Republicans out of power in Congress. Even if the wave falls short, the polls have already delivered a verdict: Trump has been able to preserve his base, but not to grow it. Thats a recipe for political weakness. Finally, we can be grateful for the incompetence of President Trump, a real estate promoter trapped in a job he never expected to win. If he were better at governing, he would be in better political shape and the country would be worse off. Am I sugar-coating a crisis thats far from over? A little. With three years to go in Trumps first term, there is plenty that can still go wrong. But Thanksgiving is all about gratitude and its corollary, hope. One day of optimism wont kill us. doyle.mcmanus@latimes.com Twitter: @DoyleMcManus Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook If the idea takes you a little getting used to, think of how it feels to John Hodgman, coming to terms with his bearded and middle-aging self, and writing it all down in a book. For many years now, Hodgman has been his characters, a Daily Show fixture as a resident expert and deranged millionaire. He wrote a trilogy of factlets, irrelevancies, elevated claptrap and intimidating charts, and as Judge John Hodgman, dispenses deadpan justice by print and by podcast. His new book is the nonfiction Vacationland. Thats the one-word pitch that Maine puts on its license plates, and Hodgman, who spends part of his year there, begs to differ. The states motto is Dirigo, I guide, and in the book, he is a tour guide to his own life, urban and rural, past and present. And in our conversation at the Los Angeles Times Ideas Exchange, Hodgmans friend Nick Offerman, actor, author, and mighty woodsman, put in a cameo appearance. Click here for the full archive of "Patt Morrison Asks" podcasts The last time you and I talked was about the last book in your trilogy, That Is All. This book is truer Ill say truer if not true? It is absolutely true. OK, absolutely true. But was the competition just too much in the fake facts department, and you had to leave it? The joke is I wanted to stop doing fake facts because now everyones doing it. I need to do something cooler. I had written three books of invented trivia and false history that, even though it was fake, it was a true and honest expression of my preoccupation with weird history and forgotten history. But by the time the third one came out, I sort of knew that I didnt have any more of those jokes to make. What do I do next? And I started performing at a small venue called Union Hall in Brooklyn, just to find out what was on my mind. And what came out were more and more of these very true and sincere stories that I had previously hidden away about my own life as a real human being, with a wife and two human children, as a white male monster staring down the second half of his life. Doing the onstage prep work for Vacationland sounds like therapy standing up. The best part about it was that I didnt pay for it I was paid for it. It was unfair that I asked these audiences to pay for my therapy. And also probably anti-therapeutic that I was drinking through most of it. But it was a deadline, and especially the very hard deadline of an audience showing up at a certain time. Panic is a great catalyst for creativity, and when you dont think that you have anything left creatively, setting a hard deadline for yourself, your brain will produce for you what it is thinking about. In that sense it is very similar to therapy. When youre sitting in front of a silent person whos waiting for you to speak what is on your mind, you have to come up with something. Your trilogy was a major contribution to American culture, which thrives on Whoa, whoa, whoa hang on, you guys. I appreciate the laugh, but you covered up something very important that Patt Morrison was saying. Say that thing again about what a great contribution I am. The contribution of your trilogy is not unlike, say, John Dos Passos to American culture you got that part OK? Yeah, I got that part, the John Dos Passos reference, basically were the same. about how important fake facts are to American culture. The whole joke of them was born out of the fact that in the middle of the last decade, I was watching lots of people on television. The cable news had to fill up hours and hours and hours of empty time, so people were showing up and presenting themselves as experts in something, and there was no vetting of their expertise at all. I had previously hidden away my own life as a real human being, with a wife and two human children, as a white male monster staring down [life's] second half. So all of a sudden, between cable television and the internet, expertise was a very debased coin. I dont ever try to do something for the sake of social commentary but thats what I was reacting to at the time. Now, that was a much earlier time in our history. There was still a sense that there was some baseline truth that we could all adhere to. That now has been completely eroded, which is so upsetting to me that I felt like I dont even want to trade on an imitation of fake facts anymore. I feel like this is a time where we all have to just look at each other sincerely and say, This is who I am, this is who you are. Lets just try to understand each other and get rid of all this garbage. After 9/11 we talked about the death of irony. Now we have the death of satire, because its so hard to satirize anything, isnt it? Well, Im glad its not my job to go on a daily show anymore to make fun of the political climate because every day I wake up in despair. Its not fun. Now, Trevor [Noah] and the team of The Daily Show, Stephen [Colbert] over at The Late Show and Seth [Meyers], theyre rising to the demands of the job in an inspiring way. But Im glad I dont have to do it. The Deranged Millionaire character created for The Daily Show by me in 2011 was a direct response to Donald Trump. Donald Trump at that time was going on all the cable news channels peddling a conspiracy that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States. The fact that this guy could essentially wander onto a news set to spill garbage because he was a brand, because he was a rich white man whose brand was being a rich white man to me this was a laughable, satirizable thing. And thats how the Deranged Millionaire got started. What I didnt appreciate was that this was going to be bad for me, because it would lock me into essentially financial comedy, two things which dont really go together. And I dont know how to do subtraction. But then also my style of humor, such as it is, would be to take reality and then extrapolate it to its most absurd extreme. Well, Donald Trump doesnt need my help in that regard. No comedy I could come up with could compete with the weird long-form improv that Donald Trump did and continues to do. So I got out as soon as I could and started talking about real life, such as I experience it. In Vacationland, we meet you as a romantic loner in adolescence with a manual typewriter and a fern, someone who went to the cinema in the middle of the day and discovered Tim Burton. I was a 13-year-old weird only child who was so terrified of sexual adolescence that I decided I was going to skip it and become the 39-year-old sexless bachelor that I felt I was destined to become. So I wore a Dr. Who scarf and a fedora, and I would go out to art movies in the middle of the day by myself. I watched a short movie called Vincent by a young director named Tim Burton, and I said, That guy is going somewhere. And no one heard me because I was alone. In our 20s, we spend a lot of time and energy convincing ourselves and hopefully others that we are interesting and unprecedented in our lives and our thoughts. And we do this largely by buying things and stealing things. We buy clothes and music and attitudes, and we steal poses and ideas and gestures to create an adornment for ourselves, which is a kind of costume. And then, by our 30s, that gets tiresome and we let a little of that fall away, but our 30s are usually spent pretending were still in our 20s. In our 40s, at least for me, it was in my early 40s that I realized I cannot pretend anymore that I am connected to that person I once was. This is who I am now. And thats when I found myself at a cocktail party in Maine with a bunch of retirees drinking a jelly jar full of gin that someone called a martini. And I was like, you know what? I like this! This is who I am now! We reach a point where we feel done. There seems a moment where we cant go on further. And yet there is time left to us, and how do we fill it? Thats the white privilege mortality comedy of John Hodgman in a nutshell. And thats what Vacationland is about, to some degree. Facial hair was also a way of manifesting these transitions. You never went full Rutherford B. Hayes, but I could never do a full Rutherford B. Hayes. What youre seeing is the greatest expression of the follicular talent that I have. Its a terrible, ugly beard. For those of you listening on Patt Morrisons podcast, let me describe it for you: It comes to a sort of sharp, villainous point on my chin, but my mustache refuses to meet my beard out of spite. There are weird bald patches on either side. My sideburns look like salt and pepper ants crawling up and down my face. None of it is symmetrical in any way. But I felt compelled to grow it because men feel well, men who can grow beards, and even those who cant feel compelled to try because they want to see what comes out of their face. They want to know what secret man lives inside of them that they didnt know before, especially as theyre getting older. They want to know, who is this bearded sage whos going to lead me into this new chapter in my life? Talk a little more about how you inhabit two worlds, the world of Park Slope in Brooklyn, where, as you write, you can get in trouble for asking for the wrong kind of hummus Hummus is highly politicized. But you also live in Maine, in a place that has pond scum and raccoons and septic tanks that run your life. Yet you dont seem entirely of either one. No, Ive never been comfortable in any world that I inhabit. The book is essentially premised on the idea that these are my wanderings as a weird, asthmatic, nerdy, citified only child grown larger into parts of rural New England where I dont exactly belong and dont really know how to handle myself. And all kinds of hilarious hijinks ensue. But its also about coming to terms with changes in my life. The first half of the book is talking about rural western Massachusetts, where I deployed a lot of my youth, and now more recently Ive transitioned to the painful beaches of coastal Maine, which is not my world at all. Its my wifes world, and thats the place where she has told me I will accept my death and I accept that fate, and I spend a lot of time in Maine with her now. Maine is called Vacationland, which is a cruel joke. Its Vacationland, but its motto should really be, Putting the spite in hospitality since 1820. Anyone who seeks vacation might accidentally go to Maine not knowing that the oceans are made of hate and want to kill you, and the beaches are made of rocks and knives. Now here is our friend, Nick Offerman. Offerman: Good evening. John said you hand-pulped all of the paper for his book. Is that true? Offerman: All might be a generous estimation. Hodgman: Youve destroyed some trees in your time Offerman: I have, yeah I pulp by foot. Like grapes? Offerman: Like grapes. Hodgman: I personally am very upset that Nick has not come to visit me in Maine, because I think it is a landscape that would suit you. Offerman: It has everything. I can put up no argument: Its the land of woodworking and boat-building and painful beaches. Hodgman: Thats right, at least on the coasts. In the interior its more the land of drinking coffee brandy and going to sleep early. Offerman: That happens to be my bag. Hodgman: Then all of Maine is for you. Heres John Hodgman, who did not know what a septic tank or a propane tank was, and you are the master of the adze and the awl. Hodgman: Master of the adze! Thats fantastic, Patt Morrison! Offerman: That is. He knows what an adze is. Hodgman: Oh, I know, too, but I only know because of Scrabble! Its a hot Scrabble word, adze. Offerman: This looks like a job for the master of the adze. Hodgman: Adze Master? Nick, you actually do need to go. Thank you very much. Offerman: [To the audience] Youre in for a treat. And now, the musical stylings of Mr. John Hodgman. If youd like to hear John Hodgman singing and playing Roadrunner on the ukulele, click here or listen to the podcast above. Subscribe to Patt Morrison Asks and never miss a podcast. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook MORE PATT MORRISON ASKS Ken Burns on making his Vietnam War documentary: 'I was humiliated by what I didn't know' Jimmy Webb on Auto-Tune, lying to keep John Lennon from being deported and how cocaine changed music Caitlyn Jenner talks Trump, being a transgender Republican and missing Bruce To the editor: White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders is exactly right when she says theres a clear distinction between her boss and Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), because Franken admitted his conduct and President Trump did not. (Al Franken photo is really bad, says Trump, but president remains silent about Roy Moore allegations, Nov. 17) The distinction isnt favorable to Trump, though. When the incident at issue came to light, Franken immediately apologized for his conduct. Trump acted inappropriately on a routine basis, if we are to believe his boasts or the claims of his alleged victims, and he has never admitted to any wrongdoing and has never apologized. Perhaps Sanders should come up with some other cockeyed justification for why Trump mouths off against Franken but isnt a hypocrite for doing so. Advertisement Jeff Pollak, La Crescenta .. To the editor: Who says it is a gamble for Trump to go after Franken? Doing so is a no-brainer for the president, who gets to retaliate against a major critic and at the same time entertain his base. The only downside is hypocrisy, which doesnt bother him in the slightest. Going after Roy Moore, Alabamas Republican Senate nominee, is a potential loss either way. If he endorses Moore, and if Moore goes on to lose the election, Trump looks like a loser. If he attacks Moore and Moore wins, Trump also loses. Its far too risky to involve himself in Alabama politics again after the loss by Sen. Luther Strange in the primary. Bottom line is if you have no principles, the choices are easy. Peter Scofield, Corona del Mar Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook Petition drive to repeal California gas tax increase temporarily slows down By Patrick McGreevy A motorist prepares to gas up her vehicle in San Rafael, Calif., in 2015. ( (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)) Paid signature-gatherers for a ballot measure that would repeal gas tax increases may be hard to find on the streets of California this week. Organizers say its not a money issue, adding that they needed to briefly halt paid signature-gathering to catch up on collecting petitions from volunteers. The petition drive has so far collected more than 327,800 verified signatures of the 587,407 needed to qualify the measure for the November ballot, according to Dave Gilliard, the political strategist behind the drive. We knew it was popular but the incredible pace is even faster than we expected so we outran the capacity of our verification operation over the Christmas holiday and told our crew managers to slow down so we could catch up, Gilliard said. We will be back up to speed by the end of this week. The gas tax and vehicle fee increases signed by Gov. Jerry Brown are expected to raise $5.2 billion annually for road and bridge repairs and expanded mass transit. The gas tax jumped from 18 cents to 30 cents per gallon on Nov. 1, and vehicle fees of at least $25 kicked in Jan. 1. The gas tax repeal petition is breaking records for both paid and volunteer signatures and were using the next two weeks to catch up on validation of signatures already received, said Carl DeMaio, a former San Diego City Councilman and conservative radio talk-show host. As a grass-roots-funded effort we are also continuously raising funds and volunteer support. We are highly confident well qualify this Initiative for the November 2018 ballot. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print State pot bureau ready to enforce Californias new marijuana laws as license applications flood in By Patrick McGreevy The state has issued 104 licenses for retail stores to sell marijuana for recreational use in California and 239 other applications for those permits are pending, officials said Tuesday. An official with the state Bureau of Cannabis Control added that the agency is prepared to begin taking enforcement action against pot shops that are not properly licensed. The bureaus enforcement team is ready to respond to any complaints it receives and start doing compliance checks and site visits at any time, said Alex Traverso, a spokesman for the bureau. Selling marijuana without a license is a crime punishable by up to six months in county jail and a fine of up to $500. Those convicted of engaging in any marijuana business activity without a license will also be subject to a civil penalty of up to three times the amount of the license fee for each violation. A new report issued Tuesday indicated the bureau has issued 478 temporary licenses to firms to test, distribute and sell medical and recreational marijuana, which began Jan. 1 after voters approved a legalization initiative, Proposition 64, in 2016. Businesses have received 153 licenses to sell marijuana for medical use. Another 1,458 firms have applied for licenses that are still being processed. The state Department of Food and Agriculture has separately issued 207 licenses to marijuana growers. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Two possible instances of discrimination reported after California issues drivers licenses to immigrants here illegally By Jazmine Ulloa The California Research Bureau on Tuesday released its first report on incidents of discrimination under a 2015 state law that has provided drivers licenses for hundreds of thousands of immigrants here illegally. Researchers found no complaints have been made against government agencies tasked with enforcing anti-discrimination laws. But two possible instances of discrimination were reported in focus group interviews conducted by Drive California, a coalition of advocates studying the impact of the new law. In one case, a woman in Fresno was told her license was not a valid form of identification at a retail store, though it was unclear whether the incident reflected intentional discrimination or simple ignorance of the license marking, the report states. A MoneyGram clerk in another case denied a license holder the ability to cash a check. The same person was later rejected again at a bank. The state Department of Motor Vehicles has issued 960,000 AB 60 drivers licenses as of Nov. 30. The state research bureau produced the report for the Legislature as part of the new law, which declares discrimination against an AB 60 license holder a violation of the Unruh Civil Rights Act. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement California lawmaker proposes requiring panic buttons for hotel workers in response to widespread sexual harassment By Patrick McGreevy More than half of hotel workers surveyed report being sexually harassed at some point. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times) Alarmed by a survey indicating sexual harassment of hotel housekeepers is widespread, a California state lawmaker on Tuesday proposed requiring employers to provide panic button devices to their employees so they can summon help if abused by a guest. The bill to be introduced Wednesday by Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi (D-Torrance) would also require individual hotels to impose a three-year ban on guests who engage in harassment on the property. We want to protect our most vulnerable women workers, hotel maids who are going into rooms alone, from sexual harassment, said Muratsuchi, who co-authored the bill with Assemblyman Bill Quirk (D-Hayward). The legislation signals that concerns over sexual harassment that dominated the state Legislature last year will continue to be an issue for lawmakers as they begin the new legislative year Wednesday. Harassment allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, comedian Louis C.K. and other high-profile men have involved sexual misconduct in hotel rooms. A survey in July by Unite Here Local 1 found that 49% of female hotel workers in Chicago had experienced a guest answering the door naked or exposing himself. The report titled Hands Off, Pants On, found 58% of hotel workers said they had been sexually harassed by a guest. Californias Unite Here Local 11 has been calling for the action proposed in the legislation. It is the intent of this measure to protect hotel employees from violent assault, including sexual assault, and sexual harassment, and to enable those employees to speak out when they experience harassment on the job, said the introduction to the legislation introduced by Muratsuchi. In addition to requiring hotels to provide panic buttons to employees who work alone in rooms, the bill requires hotels to take written complaints from employees and keep them for five years. Any complaint backed by evidence including a statement given under penalty of perjury would result in a guest being banned from a hotel for three years. Hotels would also be required to post a notice on the inside of hotel room doors warning guests about the consequences of sexual harassment. Updated at 4:10 pm to include comment from Assemblyman Muratsuchi. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Money, Republican malaise and Tom Steyer: These are the things to watch for in Californias 2018 statewide elections By Seema Mehta Get ready, California. What had been a behind-the-scenes dash for cash closely watched by few other than political observers is about to burst into public view. Voters this year will decide who will succeed Democrat Jerry Brown as the next governor and whether they will send Sen. Dianne Feinstein back to Washington. Before the June 5 primary, candidates will ramp up their campaigns with messages on television and stuffed into mailboxes. Heres a primer on the states two marquee races. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Fickle L.A. County is pivotal in the race for California governor By Phil Willon Home to a quarter of Californias 5.2 million registered voters, Los Angeles County is the biggest prize in Californias 2018 race for governor. For two hometown Democratic candidates especially former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and state Treasurer John Chiang of Torrance doing well in L.A. County is essential if they hope to best the front-runner, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom. Yet this overwhelmingly Democratic stronghold continually bedevils even the most adept campaigns. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement A renewed brawl over single-payer healthcare in California is on deck for 2018 By Melanie Mason Carolyn Angela Chen, a registered nurse, gives a free hepatitis A vaccination to Glenn Gardner, 52, at Joshua House Clinic (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) California officials are bracing for healthcare battles in Washington to have a major impact on the states budget and programs. Activists and politicians are planning a showdown over whether or not to establish a single-payer healthcare system in the state. And prescription drug manufacturers are the target of a number of bills meant to target the rising costs of medication. Sound familiar? Turns out the brewing healthcare battles in California in 2018 arent all that different from those from 2017. Heres a primer on the upcoming healthcare agenda in California: Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print How California lawmakers plan to protect the online privacy of consumers in 2018 By Jazmine Ulloa (Elise Amendola / Associated Press) With federal regulation rollbacks and a rise in data breaches, California lawmakers this year are looking for ways to protect consumers and their personal information. Some legislation under consideration could give people more notice and control over what data is collected, without having to pay for privacy or better services. Other bills could provide free credit freezes for consumers and require new privacy features for products that connect to the internet. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 2018 will see California motorists pay more to the state to repair roads and bridges By Patrick McGreevy The new year brings with it new vehicle fees in California ranging from $25 to $175 depending on the value of your car, but Republican lawmakers are hoping to qualify a ballot measure in November to repeal the higher charges. The fees and a 12-cent increase in Californias gas tax last year are part of a plan by Democrats to raise more than $5.2 billion annually to deal with a backlog of road and bridge repairs. Petitions to qualify a repeal initiative are circulating now. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement A rent control battle tops the list of California housing issues to watch in 2018 By Liam Dillon A new-home community in Anaheim in 2016 (Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times) California lawmakers arent wasting any time in tackling one of the most contentious issues in state housing politics this year. On Jan. 11, the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee is set to hold a hearing on legislation that could lead to a dramatic expansion of rent control policies across the state. The debate over rent control could spill over onto the 2018 ballot, where Californians also could see proposals to expand or curtail the property tax restrictions ushered in 40 years ago by Proposition 13. Lawmakers will have to wrestle with how to follow up a package of housing bills that passed last year. The measures provided new funding and regulations designed to encourage homebuilding, but are unlikely to make an appreciable difference in housing costs. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley-Thomas is resigning By John Myers Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley-Thomas (D-Los Angeles) (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley-Thomas abruptly announced his resignation from the California Legislature on Wednesday, citing health reasons. Ridley-Thomas, a Democrat from Los Angeles, informed Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) Tuesday night. The reason for this difficult decision is that I am facing persistent health issues, Ridley-Thomas, 30, said in a written statement on Wednesday. On December 18th, I underwent surgery for the fifth time this year. Although I expect a full recovery, my physicians advise that I will need an extended period of time to recuperate. Earlier this year, Ridley-Thomas was absent from work for more than two weeks. Staff members initially said the absence was a personal leave, then said the time off was due to unspecified medical reasons. His resignation letter on Wednesday offered no additional details. When I resume public life, I intend to remain active in civic affairs, where my passion lies, he said in the statement released by his office. Ridley-Thomas was first elected to the Assembly in a 2013 special election. He is the son of Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas. Before winning elected office at age 26, the younger Ridley-Thomas worked as an aide for Los Angeles City Councilman Curren Price and managed a 2012 Assembly campaign in San Bernardino County. In a statement about his sons decision, Mark Ridley-Thomas said he and his wife more than anyone, have seen him struggle with health challenges this year, and we fully support his decision to step down from the state Legislature so that he can recuperate with complete rest, in accordance with his doctors orders. His solidly Democratic district includes the west Los Angeles neighborhoods of Westwood, Culver City, Crenshaw and Baldwin Hills. He is chairman of the influential Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee, which oversees all tax-related legislation. Ridley-Thomas is a proponent of changes in the operation of the state Board of Equalization, though his plan would have allowed the agency to ultimately retain many of its duties. A more substantial shake-up was signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown in June. Ridley-Thomas was the author of a bill signed into law in October giving the Los Angeles Unified School District the power to preserve some of its existing single-gender schools. He was unsuccessful, though, in an effort to stop local governments from imposing taxes on streaming video services like Netflix and Hulu. Ridley-Thomas departure will require a special election in 2018. He is the fourth Southern California legislator to leave office this year. The election of Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Los Angeles) to Congress also required a special election. The other two lawmakers Assemblymen Raul Bocanegra (D-Pacoima) and Matt Dababneh (D-Woodland Hills) stepped down in the wake of allegations of sexual misconduct, which both men have denied. A special election to fill Bocanegras seat will be held on April 3, with a potential runoff on June 5. A special election date has not yet been set for Dababnehs seat. My colleagues and I wish Assemblymember Sebastian Ridley-Thomas all the best going forward as he deals with his health challenges, Rendon said in a statement. The Assembly will continue to assist the residents of the 54th Assembly District until a new assemblymember is seated. This post was updated with comment from Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon and Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, as well as more information about special elections. It was originally published at 11:10 a.m. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement California Senate Democrats are considering some ideas to counter the GOP tax plan By Liam Dillon Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Democrats in the California Senate are planning to write legislation to lessen the effects of the elimination of popular tax breaks in the GOPs overhaul of the federal tax system. To finance broad-based corporate tax cuts and reductions in individual tax rates, the GOP plan caps the deductibility of state and local income and property taxes a benefit used often in suburban areas of California. The Republican tax scam disproportionately harms California taxpayers, Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) said in a statement. Our hard-earned tax dollars should not be subject to double-taxation, especially not to line the pockets of the Trump family, hedge fund managers and private jet owners. De Leon, who also is running for U.S. Senate, said the state Senate is working with law professors at UCLA, UC Davis and the University of Chicago to develop the legislation. Ideas being considered, according to a de Leon spokesman, include: Reducing state personal income taxes through a tax credit program and offsetting that amount through payroll taxes. Allowing individuals to make voluntary gifts to the state of California, which would be deductible as a charitable donation under federal law. The deduction for the donated amount would replace the state and local tax deduction. Lawmakers return to Sacramento in January. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti admits considering a 2020 bid: I am thinking about this By Seema Mehta Eric Garcetti (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) Its no secret Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is interested in running for president. When reporters ask about his intentions, he has used all sorts of ways to deflect, typically by saying hes focused on his day job for the moment. But speaking in Spanish to a Univision reporter this week, Garcetti edged ever closer to the telltale admission hes actually considering it. I am thinking about this, said Garcetti, who is partly of Mexican heritage but learned Spanish attending private school. The majority of time goes to my work as mayor of Los Angeles, but every [citizen] should think about what our role is in these difficult times, in these dangerous times. Garcetti added that he expects many mayors to run for president, and noted New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio recently visited Iowa, which holds the first presidential nominating contest. Garcetti has long been rumored to be flirting with a White House bid, and he has fueled such speculation by traveling out of state to places such as the early presidential primary state of New Hampshire to campaign for a mayoral candidate. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Gov. Brown makes judicial appointments, including attorney who helps train Legislature on anti-sexual-harassment policies .@JerryBrownGov makes two court of appeal and 33 superior court appointments including Lauri Damrell in Sacramento. Damrell, an attorney at Orrick, testified at the Assemblys recent hearing on sexual harassment, outlining the assemblys current prevention efforts. Liam Dillon (@dillonliam) December 22, 2017 Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Californias former top cop forms marijuana distribution firm in new age of legalization By Patrick McGreevy Former California Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer is going from enforcing laws against marijuana to legally distributing the drug under the states new rules that allow the sale and possession of pot for recreational use. With state-licensed sales of marijuana starting Jan. 1, Lockyer has co-founded a firm, C4 Distro, that will distribute packaged marijuana concentrates and edibles to stores in Los Angeles. He says Californias new regulated system has a chance to be a model for the rest of the country. For me as somebody who was on the law enforcement side for so many years, I saw the inadequacies of the effort to regulate something just by calling it illegal, Lockyer said. I think legalizing will help stabilize and help legitimize this industry and result in better consumer protection and other public benefits. Lockyer, a Democrat who served in the state Assembly and was leader of the state Senate, has co-founded the firm with Eric Spitz, who was chairman and president of the former parent company of the Orange County Register. The businessmen aim to get their products to pot shops in L.A. in late January or early February, Spitz said. Asked if he uses marijuana himself, Lockyer, 76, said, Not in any recent times, but there were college years. He said he sees his involvement in the marijuana industry as a mixture of helping to pay for his kids college tuition and public service to help the new regulations work. This whole industry has to come from the dark side to the light, he said. By focusing on delivery to as many as 700 stores that might open in Los Angeles, C4 Distro hopes to capture a targeted market while other firms distribute statewide. The business has a warehouse in southeast Los Angeles County and is close to applying for a distributors license from the state, Lockyer said. Lockyer served a quarter century in the state Legislature before he was elected as state attorney general in 1999. He left that office in 2007 when he was elected as state treasurer, serving until his retirement from politics in 2015. Before co-leading a group that bought the Register newspaper in 2012, Spitz served as chief financial officer at Narragansett Brewing Company. Spitz left the Registers Freedom Communications in 2016. 2 p.m.: An earlier version of this article mistakenly said Spitz left Freedom Communications in 2015. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print House passes disaster aid bill with wildfire funding, 18 Californians vote no By Sarah D. Wire (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) Eighteen of Californias 53 House members voted no on an $81-billion disaster aid package Thursday, which includes funds for Californias recent wildfires. The 17 Democrats and one Republican voted no on the bill, which passed the House by a 251 to 169 vote. The Senate is not expected to take up the bill until January, when Congress returns from its holiday break. The entire California delegation had recently signed onto a letter asking for the disaster aid. In a speech on the House floor before the vote, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) pleaded with colleagues not to take a political stance on a disaster aid bill. Dont play politics on a vote to give aid to the people of Texas, to the people of Puerto Rico and to the Virgin Islands, to the people of Florida, and to the people of California that are still fighting the fires. Dont play politics on a bill where you hope to maybe stop another. That would be the worst of any politics Ive seen played here, McCarthy said. Here and now, right before Christmas, dont vote against aid for Americans who just lost everything. Several of the Democrats who voted no also voted against the spending bill Thursday, and said that they felt they could not support either because the bills did not include Democratic priorities for the end of the year, including protections for people brought to the country illegally as children. Others said the aid bill doesnt provide enough money for California and doesnt treat Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands fairly in terms of competing for the funds. The 18 representatives voting no were: Nanette Barragan (D-San Pedro) Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) Tony Cardenas (D-Los Angeles) Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park) Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana) Anna Eshoo (D-Menlo Park) Jimmy Gomez (D-Los Angeles) Ro Khanna (D-Fremont) Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose) Tom McClintock (R-Elk Grove) Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Downey) Linda Sanchez (D-Whittier) Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough) Eric Swalwell (D-Dublin) Norma Torres (D-Pomona) Juan Vargas (D-San Diego) Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Three California House members cross party lines on spending bill to keep government open By Sarah D. Wire Three California House members crossed party lines Thursday on a vote to pass a spending bill that will keep the government open until mid-January. Democratic Reps. Jim Costa of Fresno and Raul Ruiz of Palm Desert joined the majority of Republicans to vote for the bill. Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter of Alpine joined Democrats to vote against it. The bill, which funds the government through Jan. 19, passed the House 231 to 188, right before representatives left for the holidays. Costa said in a statement that he voted yes because keeping the government open is Congress job, but he called the vote a continuation of the dysfunction in Washington. It further illustrates the damage that results from partisan politics and irresponsible leadership. It is unacceptable that we have to resort to funding the government for weeks at a time because we cannot sit down together Democrats and Republicans and negotiate a real budget bill, Costa said. Hunters staff said the congressman was concerned that military spending in the bill was extended for only a short period. He had wanted the spending to be extended until September. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Poll points to all-Democrat runoffs in California races for governor and senator By Seema Mehta Californians could see two Democrat-on-Democrat contests in the states premier races in 2018, according to a new poll released Thursday. In the gubernatorial race, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom remains the front-runner with the support of 26% of likely voters in a Berkeley IGS poll. Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa came in second with the backing of 17%. The poll found notable demographic differences in the two mens bases of support. Newsom had strong leads in the Bay Area, where he once served as the mayor of San Francisco, as well as among white voters, liberals and the wealthy. Villaraigosa saw strong backing in Los Angeles County, among Latino voters and among those who earned less than $40,000. Republicans splintered in the race, placing businessman John Cox and Assemblyman Travis Allen in a tie for third place with 9% each. Two other Democrats, state Treasurer John Chiang and former state schools chief Delaine Eastin, each won the support of 5% of likely voters. If Republicans fail to consolidate behind a candidate in the June primary, voters will for the first time see no GOP candidate on the November ballot for governor. Its a repeat of what occurred in the 2016 U.S. Senate race, and what is likely to occur again in the 2018 U.S. Senate race if the field does not grow. Sen. Dianne Feinstein has the support of 41% of likely voters in her reelection bid, but her rival, fellow Democrat Kevin de Leon, won the support of 27%, according to the poll. There is no GOP candidate in the race. Feinstein, who has served in the Senate for a quarter-century, has enormous advantages in fundraising, name recognition and support among powerful political groups. However, the poll found that nearly one-third of likely voters said they are undecided or would like to support another candidate. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement California legislator wants to curb sexual harassment in Hollywood and eating disorders for models By Melanie Mason Fashion models show off the BCBG MAX AZRIA Spring 2016 collection during New York Fashion Week. (Richard Drew / AP) A new proposal by a California assemblyman is taking aim at two of the more criticized phenomena in the entertainment industry: sexual harassment and unhealthy body standards for fashion models. The legislation, by Assemblyman Marc Levine (D-San Rafael), would require the states Occupational Safety and Health Standards to adopt guidelines for fashion models in an attempt to combat the prevalence of eating disorders and excessive thinness in the industry. This is the second time Levine has tried to take on the fashion industry. His similar bill to impose standards on models sputtered in 2016. This time, Levine also is trying to address the prevalence of sexual harassment in the entertainment industry by requiring that talent agencies which represent actors, performers and other artists provide training on sexual harassment and how to identify and prevent inappropriate behavior. I believed women who told me their stories of abuse when I introduced legislation to provide workplace protections in the fashion industry in 2016 just like I believe them now, Levine said in a statement. Its time that law reflects societys rejection of sexual harassment in all workplaces, including Hollywood. My bill aims to address the problem before it starts, but also empowers survivors with the tools to report these cases. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Local Indivisible group picks Democrat to endorse against Rep. Duncan Hunter By Christine Mai-Duc Ammar Campa-Najjar, 28, is running against Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Alpine). (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) With an already crowded field of contenders hoping to unseat Rep. Duncan Hunter and months to go before the candidate filing deadline, one local activist group has made an early endorsement in the race. Indivisible CA50, made up of activists mostly in San Diego County, announced Thursday that its endorsing Ammar Campa-Najjar, a Democrat and public affairs consultant whos challenging Hunter. The endorsement comes as liberal activists and interest groups all over the state are grappling with whether and how to winnow down the dozens of candidates vying for 10 GOP-held seats in California. The group held more than half a dozen endorsement meetings to allow members throughout Hunters district to vote on their preferred candidate. One of the candidates, Pierre Beauregard, dropped out of the race recently and endorsed Campa-Najjar. In a statement Campa-Najjar said in a statement that the nod represents the enthusiasm of hundreds of progressive grassroots activists. Indivisibles national political director Maria Urbina said the endorsement was the first made by any California chapter in the 2018 midterms. Aside from Campa-Najjar, two other Democrats are running for Hunters seat: Josh Butner, a school board trustee and former Navy SEAL, and realtor Patrick Malloy, who ran last year and lost to Hunter by nearly 27 percentage points. Hunter will also face at least two GOP challengers: Shamus Sayed and Andrew Zelt. Hunter is not considered to be particularly vulnerable in next years election, but an investigation into his alleged misuse of campaign funds has caused at least one election handicapper to move his race from solid Republican to the likely Republican column. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print San Francisco is getting a new mayor and creating a political star. Who will it be? By Mark Z. Barabak San Francisco is the city everyone loves, even if they hate it. The stately Victorians, like a gingerbread dream come to life. The majestic Golden Gate Bridge, standing like heavens portal above the fog. The plucky cable cars, scrabbling up its impossible hillsides. It can almost make you forget the bands of ravaged homeless, the paralyzing traffic, the scent of human waste wafting from sidewalks outside the citys posh eateries and palatial tech headquarters. San Francisco is getting a new mayor, owing to the sudden death of incumbent Ed Lee. All of the grandeur, and all of the grit, accompany the position. To say the race is wide open Lee having died just about a week ago is an understatement. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Sen. Dianne Feinstein is under pressure over a fix for Dreamers By Sarah D. Wire California Sen. Dianne Feinstein is under pressure from activists and fellow Democrats to withhold support for a spending bill that would avert a government shutdown in exchange for protections for people brought to the country illegally as children. Feinstein said in October that protections for so-called Dreamers are the most important thing we can get done, but the senator known for her moderate bent said this week that she wont try to block the end-of-the-year spending bill over it, and has not offered an explanation. Dreamers this week flooded Feinsteins five California offices and her office on Capitol Hill. Two UCLA students refused to leave her Capitol Hill office after three hours Tuesday and were briefly detained by police. On Wednesday, about a dozen students and parents returned and were asked to leave after about 30 minutes of shouting in her office lobby. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print The GOP tax plan passed. Now Democrats have another big issue to use in the midterms By Sarah D. Wire As GOP leaders in Congress met behind closed doors to hash out the details of their massive tax overhaul, a group of UC Irvine graduate students met in Rep. Mimi Walters district, fretting about how the plan could cost them money. About 20 miles north, dozens of activists in top hats stood outside Rep. Ed Royces Brea office as they chanted, Shame on you! And up in the Central Valley, protesters gathered outside Rep. Jeff Denhams Modesto office to sing Protest ye dreary congressman Remember that he voted to take healthcare away. To save himself from taxes now, so you will have to pay. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Kevin de Leon to Feinstein: Dont come back to California without forcing a government shutdown over Dream Act By Jazmine Ulloa State Senate leader Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles), left, and Assemblyman Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles), right. (Damian Dovarganes / Associated Press) Taking direct criticism to the woman he is attempting to unseat in next years U.S. Senate race, California Senate leader Kevin de Leon on Wednesday urged Democrats to block a year-end spending bill as leverage to pass a Dream Act clean of GOP demands for increased border security. At a news conference in downtown Los Angeles, De Leon commended Sen. Kamala Harris for pledging to block the measure, saying he could not understand why her colleague Sen. Dianne Feinstein had failed to take a similar stance in pushing for legislation to protect the so-called Dreamers, immigrants brought to the country illegally as children. Dreamers make up hundreds of thousands of Sen. Feinsteins constituents, and while talking a good game on Dreamers, when it comes to standing up and supporting them, she is AWOL, said De Leon (D-Los Angeles), who has attempted to position himself to Feinsteins left as he campaigns for her seat. His statements follow days of demonstrations by young protesters at legislators offices in Washington and California. The coalitions of activists have been calling on Democrats to hold up the spending bill, a move that could force a government shutdown. They want to pass Dream Act legislation that would provide protections and a path to citizenship to young people without legal residency in the U.S. At least two young protesters were arrested Tuesday outside of Feinsteins Capitol Hill office, and more demonstrations took place at her offices in Washington and San Francisco on Wednesday. Feinstein, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) have sponsored Dream Act legislation but have not pledged to hold up the spending deal. A separate bipartisan group of senators is advocating punting the issue to January. President Trump has asked Congress to come up with a solution by March. Standing next to De Leon and immigrant rights advocates on Wednesday, state Assemblyman Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles) said advocates had to double down the shame on any Democrat who thinks its time to wait on the issue. De Leon said they had made that message clear to Schumer, saying, It is time to find your spine, sir. To Pelosi and Feinstein, he said: Dont come back to California if you havent demonstrated your leadership and your courage to stand up for these young men and women. I can tell you this, De Leon said. If the Republicans were on the other side, they wouldnt hesitate for a nanosecond to shut down the government to move forward what they believe in. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 12 California Republicans vote to support tax overhaul for a second time; Rohrabacher and Issa say no By Sarah D. Wire The House gave final approval for the GOP tax bill Wednesday, with 12 Republicans in the state delegation again voting in favor of the bill. Reps. Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa and Darrell Issa of Vista voted no. The House and Senate both passed the bill Tuesday, but, because Democrats raised procedural objections that forced the bill to be changed in the Senate, the House had to vote on the bill again Wednesday before sending it to President Trump for his signature. Though many California taxpayers are expected to see an initial income tax cut under the plan, a significant number probably will have higher taxes because of the lost deductions. Analysts also expect the biggest cuts to flow to corporations and the states wealthiest residents. Republicans are expected to head to the White House later Wednesday for a celebration with Trump. No House Democrats, including the 39 from California, supported the bill. Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-Norwalk) was not present for the second vote, but she voted no on Tuesday. See the Republican votes here: Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Californias Democratic senators vote no on GOP tax bill Californias @SenKamalaHarris and @SenFeinstein join rest of Democrats in the Senate in voting no on the GOP tax bill, which passed 51-48 along party lines. Sanders, who is an Independent, voted with Democrats. Sarah D. Wire (@sarahdwire) December 20, 2017 "At a time when wages have stagnated and working Americans are trying to do more with less, this tax plan pulls the rug out from the middle class to give billions to those who already have so much. This is an attack on our values, and Americans deserve better," Harris said. Sarah D. Wire (@sarahdwire) December 20, 2017 "Californians will be hit especially hard by the cap on the state and local tax deduction, making it more difficult for communities to pay for services that our families rely on, Its no wonder a bill that primarily benefits the wealthy is so unpopular..." Feinstein said Sarah D. Wire (@sarahdwire) December 20, 2017 Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print GOP tax overhaul passes House with help from a dozen California Republicans By Sarah D. Wire Despite weeks of consternation from some California House Republicans, a dozen of them joined their colleagues to pass an overhaul of the U.S. tax code Tuesday. Two Reps. Darrell Issa and Dana Rohrabacher voted against the plan. In the weeks before the vote, Republican Reps. Mimi Walters of Irvine and Steve Knight of Palmdale cited new caps on popular deductions as reasons they were uncertain about whether to vote for the bill. Both worked behind the scenes on changes and ultimately supported the bill, which passed the House on a near party line vote 227-203. Knight said hes satisfied the changes are enough to to turn what would have been a tax increase into a tax cut for his constituents. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement More than half of Californians oppose GOP tax bill, according to new poll By Sarah D. Wire House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) arrives for a news conference about the tax plan. (Win McNamee / Getty Images) More than half of Californians oppose the GOP tax bill expected to be approved by Congress today, and just 20% believe it will have a positive affect on their families, according to a poll released Monday. Just over half of California voters, 51%, oppose the tax bill, and 30% support it, according to the newest IGS Poll, a survey by the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley. And the belief falls largely along party lines, with Democrats opposing the bill by a more than 4-to-1 (67% to 15%) margin and Republicans supporting it 3 to 1 (60% to 21%). The House and Senate are expected to vote on the tax bill Tuesday. Californias Republican members of Congress largely support the bill despite some concerns about how cuts to the state and local tax deduction and mortgage interest deduction might affect Californians. Democrats in the delegation oppose it and have said they will use the vote against vulnerable Republicans in the 2018 midterm elections. When asked about the impact they think the bill will have on themselves and their families, just 20% of the polls respondents said they think it will benefit them directly, while 40% foresee a negative impact. About 27% do not expect much of an impact, and 13% said they dont know if theyll be affected. The poll of a random sample of 1,000 registered voters was completed by telephone in English and Spanish from Dec. 7 to 16. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print A quick look at some of the biggest tax changes for Californians By Sarah D. Wire (Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press) Congressional Republicans are framing their tax cut bill as a Christmas gift that will give Americans an average tax cut of $2,059. For Californians, especially in the wealthier areas along the coast, the situation isnt as clear-cut. When the measure comes up for a vote in the House on Tuesday morning, its expected to pass along party lines. At least two Republicans say they will join Democrats in the California delegation to oppose the plan because they fear it will hurt their constituents bottom line. Take a quick look at what some of the biggest changes in the tax bill might mean for average Californians. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Lawmakers, pot growers say Californias marijuana cultivation rules favor big corporate farms By Patrick McGreevy Californias new rules allowing marijuana cultivation favor large corporate farms despite a promise in Proposition 64 that small growers would be protected, according to a group of state lawmakers and marijuana industry leaders who called Monday for the policy to be changed. The California Department of Food and Agriculture issued emergency rules last month that allow for small and medium-sized farms of up to a quarter acre and one acre, respectively, to get licenses for the first five years. That five-year head start for small farms was promised in Proposition 64, the initiative approved last year by voters that legalized growing and selling marijuana for recreational use. Individuals and businesses can get only one license for a medium-sized farm, but the new rules do not set a limit on how many small-farm licenses can be obtained by one person or business. That could allow a corporation to assemble a 20-acre farm by obtaining 80 licenses for a quarter-acre each, opponents worry. Democratic state Sens. Scott Wiener of San Francisco and Mike McGuire of Healdsburg, Assemblyman Jim Wood (D-Healdsburg) and the California Growers Assn. asked for swift action by the state agricultural department to change the rule. This is clearly a broken promise, McGuire said. For two years, every discussion has included a cap on cannabis grows and the Department of Food and Agriculture needs to fix this massive loophole they have created. This last-minute revision rolls out the red carpet for large corporations to crush the livelihood of small family farmers. With cultivation licenses set to take effect next month, the lawmakers also promised legislative hearings on why the rules were drafted to disadvantage small, mom-and-pop farms. California only has one chance to get this right, and it is already on the wrong path with this last-minute change that flies in the face of what the backers of Prop. 64 promised, said Hezekiah Allen, executive director of the California Growers Assn. This single decision will hand over the California marketplace to multinational corporations and a wealthy few at the expense of thousands of growers who are ready to play by the rules and provide economic opportunity in communities that until recently were criminalized or at the very least marginalized. The industry estimates there are about 3,500 independent growers on track to get a state license in the first half of 2018. Allens group estimates that number could grow to as many as 10,000 or 15,000 by the end of 2020, but not if large corporate farms are allowed in early. The agricultural agency issued a response later: A one-acre canopy limit has not been in proposed regulations at any point and was not included in the emergency regulations due to the fact that Proposition 64, the law guiding the process, did not provide authority to include it. However, local jurisdictions may impose that limitation on their own if it meets the needs of their constituents. Updated at 5:10 pm to include comment from agricultural agency. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Final tax bill dramatically softens blow to mortgage interest deductions in California By Christine Mai-Duc Last-minute changes to the Republican-led tax overhaul seem to be tailor-made to entice support from California GOP lawmakers, several of whom voted against a previous version passed in the House last month. The House version, passed with the support of all but three California Republicans, had proposed capping the mortgage interest deduction at loans of $500,000 or less. Republicans in high-tax, expensive states had voiced concerns the bill would have major effects in their districts. But the final version of the bill dramatically slashed the percentage of new mortgages that would be affected if the package becomes law. *New mortgages over $500,000 include data through Sept. 2017. New mortgages over $750,000 include data through Oct. 2017. Source: Times analysis of data provided by CoreLogic The particulars of the mortgage interest provision and other popular deductions were major sticking points as House and Senate negotiators hammered out a compromise between the two versions. A previous Times analysis showed that more than half of new mortgages this year in Rep. Dana Rohrabachers coastal Orange County district exceeded the $500,000 cap laid out in the House version. Text of the new bill released Friday outlined a cap of $750,000, which would apply to just under a quarter of new mortgages there through October 2017. Rohrabacher was one of three California Republicans, along with Reps. Darrell Issa (R-Vista) and Tom McClintock (R-Elk Grove) who previously voted against the measure. Rep. Mimi Walters (R-Irvine) said she supported the House version after receiving assurances from leaders that the bill would be changed to account for the loss of deductions, The percentage of new mortgages over the cap dropped from 48% to 14%. Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford), whose district had 1% of mortgages exceeding the $500,000 cap proposed previously, saw that share drop almost to zero; 27 of 7,515 mortgages in his congressional district this year have been for more than $750,000. The House is expected to vote on the final tax bill Tuesday. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print A major change to Proposition 13 takes its first step toward the 2018 ballot By Liam Dillon A commercial property in San Bernardino County that could face higher property taxes under a proposed ballot measure (Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times) Proponents of making a dramatic change to Californias landmark Proposition 13 property tax restrictions took their first step to getting a measure on the November 2018 statewide ballot Friday. The change would allow the state to receive more tax dollars from commercial and industrial properties by assessing them at their current market value, an effort known as split roll because existing tax protections on homes would remain in place. Advocates of the measure, including the League of Women Voters of California and community organizing nonprofits California Calls and PICO Network said the change could raise billions of dollars that could be spent on public schools and community colleges. I think the cumulative effects of the unfair tax system have gotten to the point where its created crippling economic impacts on the state, said Melissa Breach, executive director of the League of Women Voters of California. Backers filed their proposed initiative Friday. The attorney generals office will prepare an official title and summary for the measure and it will receive a financial analysis. From there, advocates will decide if they will collect signatures to put the measure on the ballot. Proposition 13 passed in 1978 amid concerns that rising property taxes could force people out of their homes. The ballot measure limited property taxes to 1% of a propertys value at the time of purchase and ensures that the assessed value on which taxes are based can only increase by a maximum of 2% a year no matter how much a propertys market value goes up. Split-roll measures have been long debated in state politics, but business groups and anti-tax groups have expressed substantial opposition to the idea, arguing that it would cause major harm to the states business climate. Breach said she expected an avalanche of big money against the measure should it go forward, but said that her organization wouldnt get involved without believing it could raise sufficient funding.S For the record 1 p.m., Dec. 18: An earlier version of this post said the split roll ballot measure would allow California to charge higher tax rates on commercial and industrial properties. It would allow the state to assess those properties at current market value, not charge higher rates. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Three more women accuse California assemblyman of sexual misconduct By Melanie Mason Assemblyman Matt Dababneh (D-Woodland Hills) (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) A Los Angeles woman has filed a police report alleging Democratic Assemblyman Matt Dababneh had sex with her without consent four years ago, adding new allegations of sexual misconduct to those that led the politician to announce his resignation last week. He says her claims are false. Nancy Miret, 26, told The Times that when she was 22 and a recent college graduate, she spent time with Dababneh over two months in late 2013, primarily at his Encino apartment. At the time, Dababneh was running for Assembly to represent the western San Fernando Valley. They had consensual sex on one occasion, but after that, Miret said she had multiple nonconsensual sexual encounters with Dababneh that left her traumatized. Miret, who now works in commercial real estate, is one of three women interviewed by The Times who have made new allegations concerning Dababnehs behavior. These allegations are false and Im confident that when all the facts are in, it will clearly show that these claims are not true, Dababneh told The Times. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print San Diego business is first in California to be issued license to sell marijuana for recreational use By Patrick McGreevy A San Diego medical marijuana business is the first firm to be issued a license by the state of California to sell marijuana for recreational use, officials said Thursday. Torrey Holistics received two of the first 20 licenses granted by the state Bureau of Cannabis Control this week to sell or distribute marijuana, although the licenses do not take effect until Jan. 1, according to bureau chief Lori Ajax. An additional 180 firms have applied for licenses but they are being processed. Last week, we officially launched our online licensing system, and today were pleased to issue the first group of temporary licenses to cannabis businesses that fall under the Bureaus jurisdiction, Ajax said in a statement. We plan to issue many more before January 1. The bureau is issuing temporary, four-month licenses to firms initially, but will eventually require firms to undergo background checks and pay a $1,000 application fee for yearlong permits. Tony Hall left a chemical distribution business two years ago to start Torrey Holistics with a friend and classmate at San Diego State. He said he was ecstatic to have the first recreational permit in California. He also obtained a new license to continue selling marijuana for medical uses. We feel fricking great about it, he said Thursday. Its just exciting. This is a once in a multi-generational event, he added, likening it to the end of prohibition. Added Ruthie Edelson, the firms marketing director, We will be open at 7 a.m. on Jan. 1. Last year, voters approved Proposition 64, which makes California one of eight states that allow the growing and sale of marijuana for recreational uses. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Conservative activist group files a lawsuit over Los Angeles County inactive voter list By John Myers A Washington-based conservative-leaning activist group filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday alleging Los Angeles County officials are refusing to cancel the registrations of voters who are ineligible to cast a ballot. The legal action by Judicial Watch comes four months after the organization first accused elections officials across the state of maintaining registration lists that are larger than their voting-age population. The lawsuit also names Secretary of State Alex Padilla as a defendant and alleges the voter lists violate the National Voter Registration Act, or NVRA. They dont care about removing ineligible registration, said Robert Popper of Judicial Watch. I think we have a very strong lawsuit. The lawsuit names four Los Angeles County voters as co-plaintiffs and asserts that a countys two lists of voters the file of active voters and those whose registration has been placed on inactive status should be combined into a single total. The inactive list includes people who havent cast ballots in recent elections and havent responded to inquiries from elections officials. Though the names on that list are considered voters, they are not counted in official registration reports and are not mailed election material. Popper led an effort earlier this year to estimate the size of each countys voting-age population using the Census Bureaus American Community Survey. He said the surveys five-year average of county populations was then adjusted by focusing just on the estimate of those over the age of 18, and then comparing that with the combined active and inactive voter lists. Popper dismissed any concern that the resulting number might be skewed by the different standards used by counties for the inactive list, which could include names of voters who moved or died and thus be an imperfect guide. I believe that a court is going to accept our numbers, he said. Dean Logan, the registrar of voters in Los Angeles County, said his staffs practices are consistent with federal law. This lawsuit appears to fundamentally interpret the requirements of the NVRA in a manner inconsistent with ensuring voter enfranchisement and appropriate list maintenance, he said. The lawsuit also alleges that Los Angeles elections officials failed to provide Judicial Watch with requested data about the size of the inactive list, and accuses Padilla of failing to address the groups concerns about California not following NVRA rules. In a statement on Thursday, Padilla said county inactive-voter files are not out of compliance with the law. He criticized Judicial Watch for its baseless assertions, bad math, and flawed methodology. Local elections officials have said very few inactive voters show up on election day, and that any who do would be asked to cast a provisional ballot one that isnt counted unless the voters eligibility is confirmed through additional review. Popper insisted that if the list is never used, theres no reason to keep it. Judicial Watch, which sued for access to Hillary Clintons emails in 2016, alleged that its calculations show 11 California counties with questionable voter registration totals. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Voters in California GOP districts may get calls asking them to thank their member of Congress for tax plan By Sarah D. Wire Voters in four key Republican-held congressional districts could get a robocall starting Friday urging them to call and thank their member of Congress for supporting the tax bill. Its a last minute effort by American Action Network, a politically active nonprofit connected with House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) that has spent millions to shore up Republican support for the bill. The robocalls include the members office number. The four California members being targeted are Reps. Jeff Denham of Turlock, David Valadao of Hanford, Steve Knight of Palmdale and Mimi Walters of Irvine. All four represent districts that backed Hillary Clinton for president in 2016 and are Democratic targets in 2018. Knight and Walters had been particularly vocal about their concerns with the plan, saying it might raise taxes for their constituents. The final text of the bill is set to be released Friday, with a vote expected early next week. In total, American Action Network plans to place 1 million robocalls in 29 districts nationwide. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Merry Christmas Republicans in Congress: Funny or Die video goes after California lawmakers over DACA By Christine Mai-Duc As members of Congress try to pass a controversial tax bill and a measure to keep the federal government funded, the political arm of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus is hitting Republicans hard over another unresolved issue: the legal status of hundreds of thousands of people brought to the country illegally as children who could face deportation if lawmakers dont act. Amid negotiations over a long-term spending bill, Democratic leaders have been pushing their GOP colleagues to include a fix for those who were granted temporary protection under President Obamas Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, known as DACA. President Trump announced an end to the program earlier this year and gave Congress a March deadline to address it. Funny or Die and BOLD PAC released a video Friday featuring comedians skewering GOP members, including two in California, for their inaction. In the video, Oscar Nunez, best known for his role on The Office, calls out Reps. Steve Knight (Palmdale), Ed Royce (Fullerton), Carlos Curbelo (Florida) and John Culberson (Texas), who get to go ahead and celebrate as thousands of Dreamers are banished from the only country theyve ever called home. How many broken promises can fit in a stocking? Nunez asks later. Im asking for a congressman. The political action committee says its spending six figures on the weeklong buy, which will go out nationwide across Funny Or Dies social media channels. They are known for blasting out irreverent, often viral parodies that play to young audiences. The video will also be targeted to constituents in each of the four congressional districts. A separate video released by the ACLU last week also urged members of Congress to strike a deal on DACA. Many California Republicans have remained mum on the issue, particularly those facing tough races in 2018. So far, only Reps. David Valadao (Hanford), Jeff Denham (Turlock) and Mimi Walters (Irvine) have pressured fellow Republicans to come up with a solution before Congress breaks for Christmas. Following Trumps decision, Knight said the issue should receive attention by Congress. Royce, who has taken hard-line stances on immigration in the past, urged his colleagues to provide a permanent, legislative solution that gives certainty to these kids. Neither elaborated on what that solution should be. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print For a prominent California consumer group and savvy political consultants, documents reveal a close financial relationship By John Myers If theres a clear mantra for Consumer Watchdog, one of Californias most visible and vocal advocacy groups, its that hidden financial relationships shouldnt shape politics and public policy. The Santa Monica-based nonprofit has spent more than three decades reprimanding politicians and interest groups for doing the bidding of those who give them money. Its official motto is expose, confront, change. We are loud, and we speak more of a populist truth than the way people usually talk to each other in Sacramento, said Jamie Court, Consumer Watchdogs president. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Regional director resigns from California Democratic Party amid sexual misconduct claims By Jazmine Ulloa A regional director with the California Democratic Party submitted his resignation on Thursday, nearly two weeks after a 23-year-old woman reported that he sexually assaulted her last year, spurring party leaders to seek his ouster. Craig Cheslog served as Region 2 director spanning the East Bay, Napa, Sonoma and the Clearlake areas. In a statement, his lawyer, Mary P. Carey, said she and her client were confident that a full and fair exploration of this matter, undertaken in an appropriate, fact-governed venue, would exonerate Mr. Cheslog. We are prepared, if necessary, to put forward the facts of this matter in just such a venue, she said. Democratic Party Chairman Eric Bauman and other officials initially called for Cheslogs removal in a Nov. 29 letter to state party secretary Jenny Bach. They said he was seen acting in an inappropriate and sexually aggressive manner toward a member of the party in a public area of the Westin San Francisco Airport Hotel, following a Nov. 18 executive board meeting. The level to which this activity advanced made a number of those in attendance uncomfortable, the letter stated. It added that another member reported that Mr. Cheslog raped her at a CDP executive board meeting the previous year. Party officers said the incident occurred during a weekend where the prevention of sexual harassment of women in politics was a dominant theme in the wake of the #metoo movement. Before the meetings conclusion on Sunday, the California Womens Caucus approved a resolution making clear that sexual harassment, bullying and other forms of abuse are grounds to lose endorsements and be stripped of party membership. Maddy Dean, who was not named in the letter, spoke at the meeting about her experiences of sexual harassment in the movie industry, and told the Times that she reported Cheslog. She said she could not provide further details about her allegation as she explores possible legal paths moving forward. This was about protecting other women and in particular other young women, she said of reporting the assault. In his own letter to Bach on Thursday, Cheslog did not acknowledge any wrongdoing. He said he was stepping down to prevent any personal misconduct allegations from creating a distraction with the party at a critical moment in national and state politics. I am confident of the results that would be forthcoming in a fair, fact-based exploration of this matter, he said. Since the report, Cheslog has been fired from his job at Common Sense Media, a nonprofit organization that helps families navigate media and technology. He also has stepped down from his position on the Acalanes Union High School District Board of Trustees. The conduct represented a serious violation of both company policy and the way in which our employees are expected to conduct themselves in the community at large, Common Sense spokeswoman Corbie Kiernan said in a statement. We immediately suspended Mr. Cheslog and conducted an investigation. As a result of the investigation, Mr. Cheslogs employment with Common Sense was terminated. 4:05 p.m.: This post was updated with Cheslogs resignation from the school board. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Sen. Bob Hertzberg will cooperate with investigation into unwanted hugs By Patrick McGreevy State Sen. Bob Hertzberg works at his Senate Chambers desk. He faces an investigation into unwanted hugging (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) State Sen. Bob Hertzberg (D-Los Angeles) said Thursday he will cooperate with a state investigation into complaints from a former legislator that she was uncomfortable with his repeated hugs after she asked him not to touch her. Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon said Thursday that a team of outside attorneys will investigate a complaint by former Assemblywoman Linda Halderman that Hertzberg has made her uncomfortable with hugs that were too close and lasted too long. Hertzberg, well-known for hugging other lawmakers, said he supports having any allegations investigated by the two outside law firms. I just learned of the investigation, and will fully cooperate, he said. The use of an independent third party investigator is essential to improving transparency and trust in the system. Halderman said Thursday she was encouraged that her concerns will be investigated, but said it was disturbing that attorneys for one of the law firms selected, Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher, contributed more than $90,000 in campaign funds to sitting legislators including Hertzberg. Halderman, a surgeon, served in the state Assembly from 2010 through 2012 and said Hertzberg hugged her multiple times even after she asked him to stop because she was uncomfortable. The last incident occurred in a hallway of the Capitol, she claimed. I told him I dont care to be hugged. Dont touch me, Halderman recalled. He then grabbed me and pinned my arms to my side and used his hands to press my lower back into his groin and he essentially pinned me so I couldnt push off of him to get away the way I ended previous hugs. It was certainly so over the line, she added. Halderman said a current female senator and assemblywoman also have complained about inappropriate hugs from Hertzberg. However, Sen. Cathleen Galgiani (D-Stockton) defended Hertzberg, saying she has known him for many years and he has always acted as a gentleman. I have never felt uncomfortable with him, and have always felt his hugs were a display of affection - which I appreciate, she said. I consider him a dear friend. Updated at 5:30 pm to include comment from Sen. Galgiani. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Rep. Maxine Waters asks Justice Department to investigate fake letter tweeted by Republican opponent By Sarah D. Wire (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) Rep. Maxine Waters is asking the Justice Department to look into a fake letter posted to Twitter by her Republican challenger that falsely indicated the congresswoman wants to resettle tens of thousand of refugees in her Los Angeles district. The GOP candidate, Omar Navarro, posted the letter on what looks like official House of Representatives letterhead to Twitter on Monday. The letter, which purports to be from the congresswoman, says the congresswoman wants to bring refugees to her congressional district after the 2018 election and perhaps even once I have secured the Speaker of the House position. Navarro accompanied the tweeted letter with a message: According to this document, Maxine Waters wants more terrorists, like the one who bombed NYC, in Californias 43rd District. As Congressman of CAs 43rd District, I will oppose such policies. Its been retweeted more than 680 times. But the letter is a forgery and a fake, her chief of staff, Twaun Samuel, said in a news release. The letter, dated June of this year, also contains several inaccuracies. It references multiple committees and subcommittees Waters does not serve on, and lists an address for a district office that has been closed for nearly a decade. Waters filed a complaint about the tweeted letter with the House general counsel, who forwarded the complaint to the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California and the fraud section of the Criminal Division for the United States Department of Justice. The complaint states that Waters has not communicated with the letters purported addressee Teri Williams, who is president and chief operating officer of the Los Angeles-based OneUnited Bank, about any refugee resettlement program. Impersonating a federal official and misusing a federal seal are federal crimes. Navarro, who is backed by big name far-right conservatives, said Thursday that the letter was sent to his campaign through Facebook by a person he didnt know. He said neither the Justice Department or Waters staff has asked him about the letter. I dont know if its real or not, so I put it out there, Navarro said, adding that he believed his followers would help him determine if it is real. It doesnt say that I know. Its according to this document what, am I supposed to send it to her and get an email back from Maxine? According to this document, Maxine Waters wants more terrorists, like the one who bombed NYC, in Californias 43rd District. As Congressman of CAs 43rd District, I will oppose such policies. #VoteNavarro2018https://t.co/vO8YUsyPp3 pic.twitter.com/k7ef0H20if Omar Navarro (@RealOmarNavarro) December 11, 2017 Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Sen. Tony Mendoza refuses to take a leave of absence amid harassment probe By Patrick McGreevy Sen. Tony Mendoza (D-Artesia), left, talks earlier this year about a pending bill with Sen. Ted Gaines (R-El Dorado Hills). (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Defying pressure from legislative leadership, state Sen. Tony Mendoza (D-Artesia) refused Thursday to take a leave of absence until an investigation into sexual harassment allegations against him is concluded early next year. Mendoza has denied allegations by former employees that he treated three female aides inappropriately, inviting them to hotel stays and asking one to visit his home to work on her resume. I am very disappointed that certain Senate Rules Committee members are apparently asking me to take a leave of absence or resign before any investigation has even begun and without giving me an opportunity to defend myself, Mendoza said in a statement. This is contrary to the very concept of due process, which is a pillar of our American system of fairness and judicial prudence. These actions bypass any process in a rush to judgment. Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) earlier Thursday called on Mendoza to take a leave of absence. Mendoza had previously been stripped of his leadership positions, including chairmanship of the Senates committee on banking and insurance. Mendoza questioned statements urging him to step down, saying they leave him concerned about the fairness of the investigation. He also said he has been disappointed that he has been told he cannot publicly address allegations. I was not appointed to the position I hold, but was elected by the voters in my district, he said. I am grateful to the voters in my district and thank them for their trust and their continued support. The Senate owes them an opportunity to hear the truth. I assure them that I will vigorously defend myself to clear my name. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print State Senate leader asks Sen. Tony Mendoza to take leave of absence amid sexual harassment investigation By Patrick McGreevy (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) State Senate leader Kevin de Leon said Thursday he has strongly suggested that Sen. Tony Mendoza take a leave of absence until the completion of an investigation by outside attorneys into allegations that Mendoza sexually harassed three former aides. Given the severity of the allegations against Senator Mendoza I do not believe he can perform the duties in Sacramento right now while the investigation is being conducted, De Leon told a packed news conference in his Capitol office. I believe Its the right thing to do, its the fair thing to do, to take a leave, he said. The Senate leader also said the outside attorneys have been asked to investigate complaints by former Assemblywoman Linda Halderman that Sen. Bob Hertzberg (D-Los Angeles) inappropriately hugged her on multiple occasions in a way that made her uncomfortable, even after she asked him to stop. De Leon also announced the hiring of two law firms to handle the Mendoza and Hertzberg investigations, and all future probes of harassment and abuse involving Senate employees. Mendoza, a Democrat from Artesia, did not immediately respond to the request to step aside. De Leon, a Democrat from Los Angeles who had been Mendozas roommate before the allegations were made public, said he made the suggestion to Mendoza in a meeting Thursday morning. If Mendoza refuses to take a leave, the Senate has the power to suspend him without pay, but De Leon said that is not currently under discussion. There is an effort underway to force his expulsion in January when the Legislature returns to Sacramento. Former Mendoza employees have claimed that he gave inappropriate attention to a female fellow and intern, inviting one to his home and hotel and giving the other alcohol in a hotel even though she was underage. Another former female aide told the Sacramento Bee that Mendoza invited her to one-on-one dinners and a weekend at Pebble Beach. Mendoza has denied the allegations. The Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher and Van Dermyden Maddux law firms have been retained for two years, according to Sen. Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles), who participated in their selection. Have you experienced sexual harassment in government or politics? Tell us your story In addition, the state is contracting with Weave, a Sacramento crisis-intervention organization for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, to provide counseling and to establish a hotline for Senate employees who are victims of sexual assault. The hotline number is 1-800-729-1443. America is finally reckoning with entrenched inequities in our personal and professional relationships and in workplaces of every type, De Leon said. Nowhere is this reckoning more important than in the halls of power our political institutions. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Watch live: California Senate leader addresses sexual misconduct at state Capitol Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print California state senator pledges to bring back net neutrality rules just as FCC votes to repeal them By Jazmine Ulloa Demonstrators rally in support of net neutrality outside a Verizon store in New York on Dec. 7. (Mary Altaffer / Associated Press) Moments after the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday voted to roll back net neutrality regulations, a state senator pledged to introduce legislation that would preserve open internet protections for consumers in California. Net neutrality is essential to our 21st century democracy, and we need to be sure that people can access websites and information freely and fairly, Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) said in a statement. If the FCC is going to destroy net neutrality and create a system that favors certain websites just because they can pay more money, California must step in and ensure open internet access. The announcement of the proposal came shortly after the FCC voted to repeal net neutrality in an expected 3-2 party-line vote, with Republicans calling for an end to the utility-like oversight of internet service providers. The Obama-era rules put in February 2015 barred broadband and wireless companies, such at AT&T Inc., Charter Communications Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. from selling faster delivery of certain data, slowing speeds for certain video streams and other content, and discriminating against legal material online. Before the vote, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai argued loosening the regulations would allow the online economy to flourish. FCC commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, one of the the two Democrats on the commission, said the rollback would inhibit the openness that has made the U.S. internet the envy of the world. Supporters of net neutrality are expected to file suit to try to halt the repeal plan. Weiners attempt to institute net neutrality rules in California could have challenges. The FCC order states that allowing state and local governments to adopt their own separate requirements, which could impose a heavier burden on companies, could disrupt the balance between state and federal regulations. The preemption of state and local net neutrality measures is something that could be challenged in court. Amid such legal battles state legislation could face heavy lobbying efforts from internet providers arguing against uneven regulations. A bill by Assemblyman Ed Chau (D-Monterey Park) was shelved last legislative session over similar disputes. It would have enshrined in state law other FCC regulations that were rolled back this year by President Trump and Congress. The Internet privacy rules limited what broadband providers can do with their customers data. The bills defeat capped a behind-the-scenes battle that pitted telecom companies against state internet service providers and brought other bills to a halt in the state Senate as negotiations unfolded over legislation that would have had national significance. UPDATES 7:57 a.m.: This post was updated with additional information about the potential legal case. LA Times reporter Jim Puzzanghera contributed to this report. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print L.A. County sheriffs office failed to follow policy for issuing concealed weapon permits, audit says By Patrick McGreevy Handguns are displayed at the Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show in Las Vegas in 2016. ( (John Locher / Associated Press)) The Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department has repeatedly failed to follow its own rules for issuing concealed weapon permits, the state auditor concluded in a report released Thursday. L.A. County Sheriff Jim McDonnell disputed some of the key findings of the audit, saying state officials misinterpreted the policy. The department policy requires applicants to provide convincing evidence of a clear and present danger to life or of great bodily harm to get a license, but the audit found the department issued 24 licenses during the last few years without sufficient evidence. Most of the 197 active licenses in L.A. County as of August went to current or former law enforcement officers, judges and prosecutors, the audit found. The lieutenant in charge of reviewing applications told auditors that people in law enforcement satisfy the departments requirements by the nature of their jobs. However, making that decision based solely on the applicants profession both directly contradicts Los Angeless written policy which specifically states that no position or job classification in itself shall constitute good cause for issuance and has led the department to treat applicants inequitably based on their occupations, the audit says. McDonnell said the audit identified some legitimate issues, and the department has added a checklist to the application process in order to show requirements have been met. But he disagreed on the reports sweeping conclusion that the department consistently failed to follow its own policies. The LASD policy simply requires that the applicant provide convincing evidence that his or her life or physical safety is threatened, the sheriff said. He said the policy does not require additional documentation of that evidence if sufficient information is provided in the application. Auditors also concluded that Sacramento County issued some licenses without proper documentation and that San Diego Countys renewal process led it to inappropriately renew some licenses. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Anti-Issa effort discloses donors: Leo DiCaprio, Jane Fonda, Ted Danson and more By Joshua Stewart A political group that has brought professional political organizers into the campaign against Rep. Darrell Issa has received its most significant contributions to date from actress Jane Fonda and other celebrities. Fonda gave $100,000 to Flip the 49th! Neighbors in Action, which recently registered as a political committee to get Issa, R-Vista, out of office. Comedian Bill Maher gave $15,000 to the group, a rebuke of a politician who has twice appeared on his talk show. Former California Sen. Barbara Boxer gave $2,500, as did Academy Award recipient Leonardo DiCaprio. Actor Ted Danson gave $1,500. Flip the 49th gave the The San Diego Union-Tribune a list of donors more than a month before its required to disclose them to the Federal Election Commission. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print California Senate GOP leader: Release Capitol whistleblowers from non-disclosure agreements By Melanie Mason California Senate Republican leader Patricia Bates is wading into the sexual harassment debate that has swept up the Capitol and is calling on her Democratic colleagues to allow whistleblowers to speak out by releasing them from non-disclosure agreements. Bates (R-Laguna Niguel) wrote in a letter to the Democratic legislative leaders Senate Pro Tem Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) that Senate Republicans are calling for the Legislature to allow victims or witnesses who may have signed such agreements to share their experiences publicly. This release from NDAs would empower victims of sexual harassment, create a new atmosphere for resolving sexual harassment or discrimination concerns, increase public awareness and transparency, and ensure that both the Senate and the Assembly fulfill their obligations to the public and their employees for providing a safe and welcoming workplace environment, Bates wrote in the letter, dated Dec. 12. The Republican senator also laid out suggestions to improve the Legislatures handling of sexual harassment complaints, such as jointly convening both houses rules committees which act as the chambers human resources departments to have a comprehensive, bicameral and bipartisan review. Bates wrote that the Joint Rules Committee should consider the assigning of an outside entity for assuming responsibility for all issues regarding sexual harassment. She said the California Highway Patrol or an inspector general could serve that function. Bates is currently serving on a panel designated by the Senate Rules Committee to select an outside law firm to investigate sexual harassment complaints. De Leon, in a statement, said he agreed with Bates that sexual harassment is a bipartisan, bicameral problem that requires bipartisan, bicameral solutions. Many of these recommendations we are already pursuing and evaluating in some form and we look forward to working in collaboration with Senator Bates as we did with the independent selection panel on additional reforms in the weeks to come, De Leon said. With regard to non-disclosure agreements, De Leon spokesman Jonathan Underland said the Senate is discussing with attorneys and anti-harassment experts about what options are available without violating the privacy rights of past victims. John Casey, a spokesman for Rendon, said the Assembly does not ask for NDAs in settlement agreements. The Speaker agrees with both the Legislative Womens Caucus and the Rules Committee chair that any sexual harassment policy should be both bicameral and bipartisan, Casey said. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print California plans to send out licenses for pot sales this month but they wont be effective until Jan. 1 By Patrick McGreevy Patrons shop at Bud and Bloom, a Santa Ana marijuana dispensary, last year. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) California officials said Wednesday they plan to use email before the new year to send out some licenses to sell marijuana to speed up the transition to a regulated market. The licenses will not go into effect until Jan. 1. Proposition 64, which legalized the sale of marijuana for recreational use, required the state to begin issuing licenses by Jan. 1. Because that date is a state holiday, the bureau originally planned to begin sending them out on Jan. 2. That has changed. Much of the date discussion Jan. 1 versus Jan. 2 was based on whether or not wed be able to be open on a state holiday, said Alex Traverso, a bureau spokesman. The solution to that issue was to issue licenses with an effective date of Jan. 1 since licenses will be issued electronically. That eliminates the need to have the office open on Jan. 1. He said that, as of Wednesday, the bureau has not yet sent out any emails with licenses approved to begin operating Jan. 1. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Californias budget director makes last ditch effort to urge GOP members to vote against tax plan By Sarah D. Wire House Republicans hold a news conference after the House passed the GOP tax bill. (Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press) As closed-door negotiations over the final tax bill come to an end, the head of the California Department of Finance is making a last-ditch effort to convince Republicans in the states congressional delegation to vote against the plan. In a letter to the entire delegation Wednesday, Finance Department Director Michael Cohen detailed 10 issues in the current tax proposals about which the state is worried. Some of Cohens concerns may be addressed in the deal that House and Senate leaders said they reached Wednesday morning. Details of the agreement are not yet public. Cohens concerns range from potentially billions less in federal funding available to California to offset the $1.4 trillion the plan is expected to add to the federal deficit, to the environmental effect of ending green energy tax credits. Californias 39 Democratic representatives are expected to oppose the final tax bill, which could come before both chambers of Congress by early next week. Three California Republicans Reps. Darrell Issa of Vista, Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa and Tom McClintock of Elk Grove voted against the original House version, and several other California Republicans have indicated they might be willing to vote against the final plan. Cohen specifically pointed to issues that have been raised by the uncertain House members, including the proposal to lower the cap on the mortgage interest deduction, the plan to limit state and local tax deductions and the elimination of a deduction for uninsured personal property damaged in natural disasters such as fires. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement California lawmakers have fought sexual misconduct on military bases, farms and college campuses. Will they police their own house? By Jazmine Ulloa Over the past decade, California lawmakers have worked to help curb sexual violence in the workplace and other spheres of public life. They have pushed college campuses to keep better track of incident reports, created whistleblower protections for military officers who file claims and established sexual harassment training for farmworkers and janitors. Now, as more than 140 women have come forward in an open letter to denounce a pervasive culture of sexual harassment in the California Legislature, activists and employment lawyers say lawmakers have not held colleagues and staffers to the same standards demanded of those in other fields. Members [of the state Assembly and Senate] are quick at pointing the finger at other folks, said Fiona Ma, a former Democratic assemblywoman from San Francisco who is now running for state treasurer. But they dont want to look inside and fix their own house, air their own dark, dirty laundry. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Californias cap-and-trade climate program could generate more than $8 billion by 2027, report says By John Myers Gov. Jerry Brown signs an extension of Californias cap-and-trade program in July. (Eric Risberg / Associated Press) Although Californias cap-and-trade program was designed to combat climate change, a new analysis predicts it could also provide significant cash as much as $8 billion in a decades time for state and regional programs. The report issued Tuesday by the independent Legislative Analysts Office projects a wide range of revenue generated by the sale of permits for companies to emit greenhouse gases beyond a state-ordered emissions cap. The most recent auction of those emission permits brought in more than $800 million. The analysis warns that annual cap-and-trade revenue beyond 2020 is highly uncertain, and offers a possible range from $2 billion in 2018 to almost $7 billion in 2030 the final year of the program under legislation Gov. Jerry Brown signed in July. The estimate of $8.3 billion in 2027 is the high-water mark for any year in the report. Researchers cite a number of factors that make a specific prediction impossible, including future technology that allows industries to cut greenhouse gas emissions easily and thus pass on purchasing emission allowances. While it is clear that there will be additional revenues to the state beyond 2020, the amount that will be generated annually is highly uncertain, the report reads. Money collected from the sale of pollution permits is required to be spent on programs combating climate change. A portion of the money also is earmarked for the states high-speed rail program. The report urges lawmakers to provide oversight for future decisions made by the California Air Resources Board, the agency that has taken the lead on climate change efforts. In particular, the analysts warn that allowing businesses to stockpile too many permits ones bought at current low prices could lead to excessive greenhouse gas emissions in future years, potentially even causing the state to miss its annual benchmark as soon as 2024. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Vice President Pence meets with California lawmakers about massive fires By Sarah D. Wire Briefed bipartisan group of California reps on the fed response to #CAwildfires. @POTUS approved an emergency declaration last Friday & @forestservice is providing air & ground assets including 1,000 personnel. Together, we will help the people of CA restore, rebuild & recover. pic.twitter.com/zn7QdbCZOQ Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) December 12, 2017 A handful of California representatives discussed the federal response to their states wildfires Tuesday with Vice President Mike Pence. Attending the West Wing meeting were House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) and Reps. Ken Calvert (R-Corona), Darrell Issa (R-Vista), Julia Brownley (D-Westlake Village), Steve Knight (R-Palmdale) and Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara). It was a very bipartisan-spirited meeting. He clearly understood the significance of the fires and the impacts, Brownley said after the meeting. She said Pence offered federal assistance and recognized that recovery was going to be very important and that we want to work together to make sure that we can get the resources needed. President Trump signed an emergency declaration for the Southern California fires last week. Pence visited California this fall to view fire damage in Northern California. He stayed engaged and specifically wanted to make sure that FEMA and the other organizations were continuing to meet or exceed all expectations, Issa said after the meeting. We mostly thanked him for the fact that hes taken a personal interest and his team has been at the heart of the domestic coordination. There was no discussion about reinstating a federal tax deduction for uninsured damage repairs that would end up in the House and Senate tax bills, Brownley said. If you cant deduct uninsured property loss, its devastating. It would be devastating, Brownley said. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement We must talk about the health aspects of climate change, Schwarzenegger says in Paris By Kim Willsher (Thibault Camus / Associated Press) He showed up at Paris City Hall on Monday on a green bicycle and wearing a green tie to talk climate change with the mayor. But Arnold Schwarzenegger almost didnt make the trip from Los Angeles. One of the wildfires scorching Southern California was threatening his home. Luckily we have extraordinary firefighters, he told a group of officials and journalists. The actor and former governor of California was speaking in Paris as the founder of R20, a nonprofit based in Geneva that aims to help regional, state and local governments reduce their carbon emissions by developing clean energy sources. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print A special recall election for state Sen. Josh Newman would cost a lot more than waiting for the June primary, state says By Patrick McGreevy State Sen. Josh Newman (D-Fullerton) faces a recall campaign (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)) State finance officials said Monday it would cost about $2.67 million for a special election on the recall of state Sen. Josh Newman (D-Fullerton), but only $931,000 to put his potential recall on the regular June primary ballot, which will also feature races for governor and congressional seats. The savings and the time it took to complete the financial assessment could give ammunition to Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown to put the recall measure on the primary ballot, possibly improving Newmans chance of staying in office. The higher turnout expected in the primary might benefit Newman as he tries to fend off the Republican recall drive. The financial analysis was a new requirement of a law approved this year by the Democrat-controlled Legislature that has slowed the Newman recall. Brown and legislators now have 30 days to review the election cost report. The deadline for calling a special election was last week, 180 days before the June 5 primary, although state officials have been known to extend such deadlines. In this case, that is unlikely. Carl Demaio, a former San Diego City councilman who is leading the Republican-funded recall, denounced the lengthy new process Monday, but said it will not save Newmans political career. This is about a shameful tactic by Sacramento politicians to keep politicians who break public trust and engage in misconduct in office for as long as possible, he said. Republicans launched the recall after Newman voted with the majority of le Wait did the president really say, Mission Accomplished? By Marc Olson Some are recalling the last time a president declared Mission accomplished, in May 2003 when George W. Bush was talking about Iraq. (Stephen Jaffe / AFP/Getty Images) President Trump on Saturday morning thanked his allies in a tweet that declared the airstrikes on Syria perfectly executed, but he might have wished hed stopped there. Instead, he ended his message with the phrase, Mission Accomplished! Thats a line that might have a previous president shaking his head. On May 1, 2003, President George W. Bush declared an end to major combat in Iraq under a Mission Accomplished banner aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. That war, which began in March 2003, grew into a prolonged conflict that didnt end until 2011. In 2008, the White House said it had paid a price for the backdrop. A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 14, 2018 Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Auditor says Pentagon is censoring key data on the war in Afghanistan By Shashank Bengali The Pentagon is blocking the release of data showing how much of Afghanistans territory lies outside government control, censoring a key metric used to gauge progress in the 16-year war, a watchdog agency said Tuesday. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, an auditing agency established by Congress, said in its latest report that the Pentagon instructed it not to release unclassified data on how many districts and people are controlled or influenced by insurgent groups. This is the first time SIGAR has been specifically instructed not to release information marked unclassified to the American taxpayer, the head of the agency, John F. Sopko, wrote in a letter. Sopko also said the U.S.-led military coalition, for the first time since 2009, classified information about the size and attrition rates of the Afghan security forces, important indicators of progress in building up army and police forces on which the U.S. already has spent $70 billion since 2002. The decision to withhold more information from congressional oversight and the public comes amid growing violence in Afghanistan and an intensifying combat mission involving a greater number of American troops. Following a series of bombings in Kabul that left at least 136 people dead in 10 days, President Trump signaled on Monday that he was focused on trying to win the conflict militarily, saying, We dont want to talk with the Taliban. But data released by SIGAR since 2015 have shown how the insurgents have gained ground against Afghan security forces. In its previous quarterly report, the watchdog said that only 57% of Afghanistans 407 districts were under Afghan government control or influence as of August 2017, the lowest level of control since it began tracking the statistic in December 2015. The steady decline in government control should cause even more concern about its disappearance from public disclosure and discussion, Sopko wrote. The watchdog also accused the Pentagon of overstating the impact of its efforts to combat drug cultivation and trafficking, among the Talibans main sources of revenue. The Pentagon touted airstrikes that destroyed 25 drug labs in November and December, saying it eliminated nearly $100 million of Taliban revenue. The labs being destroyed are cheap and easy to replace, SIGAR said. According to some estimates, they only take three or four days to replace. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Women journalists shunted to rear for Pences visit to Western Wall By Noga Tarnopolsky The view from the womens section. (Noga Tarnopolsky / Los Angeles Times) Vice-President Mike Pences 48-hour visit to Israel stumbled into a public storm Tuesday when female reporters covering his final stop at Jerusalems Western Wall were penned behind four rows of their male colleagues. White House officials told stunned journalists that the arrangement emanated from a request made by the Western Wall rabbi, Shmuel Rabinowitz, and followed Western Wall rules. Some women journalists said they could not recall such treatment in the past. In a statement to Israels Channel 10 news, the Western Wall Heritage Foundation said it was exactly as it was during the visit of the U.S. president to the Western Wall last May. Later in the day, in a statement to the newspaper Haaretz, the foundation blamed the United States embassy in Tel Aviv and Israeli security officials for the segregation, and announced they would reexamine the way they handle such events. Women who covered previous VIP visits said the Pence arrangements were significantly more onerous than previous visits, when male and female journalists were separated but not offered substantially different work conditions. LIVE coverage of our male colleagues granted access to cover VP at Western Wall as we are penned into #PenceFence pic.twitter.com/k3svkxfQsa Noga Tarnopolsky (@NTarnopolsky) January 23, 2018 The arrangement reflected procedures at the Western Wall, Judaisms holiest site, where on regular days, men have access to two thirds of the area available for prayer. Tal Schneider, the diplomatic analyst for Globes, a financial newspaper, protested that the separation of men and women may be valid for the requirements of Orthodox prayer, but no one is praying here. We are here to work. I dont appreciate being restricted in my ability to work because I am a woman, she said. The discriminatory attitude towards women is infuriating and is unbefitting of a modern country. Yael Freidson, the Jerusalem affairs correspondent for Yediot Ahronot, Israels widest circulation newspaper, said she worried that her editors could choose male colleagues for the next assignment, knowing they would have better access. Before Pence arrived, journalists were herded onto a specially constructed platform in the middle of the Western Walls esplanade, with women guided to the right behind a white fence, and men, many carrying cameras, directed to the left, where they had more than double the space. Towards the end of the vice presidents 10-minute visit, male journalists were permitted into the VIP tent where he received a gift from Rabinowitz, while the women remained in their enclosure. None of the men publicly protested the treatment of their female colleagues. Israels Association of Women Journalists filed a formal complaint with Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, herself a woman. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Former Sheriff Joe Arpaio, after his pardon from Trump, says hell run for Senate in Arizona By Kurtis Lee (Mary Altaffer / Associated Press) (Mary Altaffer / Associated Press) Former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who last year was pardoned by President Trump in a case stemming from his enforcement tactics aimed at immigrants, announced Tuesday he will run for the open Senate seat in his home state. I am running for the U.S. Senate from the Great State of Arizona, for one unwavering reason: to support the agenda and policies of President Donald Trump in his mission to Make America Great Again, Arpaio, 85, said on Twitter. Hell enter a Republican primary for the seat being vacated by Republican Sen. Jeff Flake. Last summer, Trump pardoned Arpaio, who was convicted in July of criminal contempt for violating a federal court order to stop racially profiling Latinos. It was Arpaios roughly quarter-century as sheriff that gave him a national reputation for his tough treatment of people suspected of being in the country illegally. Repeated court rulings against his office for civil rights violations cost local taxpayers tens of millions of dollars. In the early 1990s, Arpaio directed construction of a tent city for immigration detainees, a measure he said was intended both to alleviate overcrowding and to underscore his aggressive enforcement measures. But it was open to the burning Arizona sun, and drew widespread criticism. After Trump entered the presidential race in July 2015, Arpaio invited him to Phoenix to talk about a crackdown on illegal immigration. He endorsed Trump just before the first votes in the Iowa caucuses in 2016 and frequently spoke out on behalf of Trumps campaign. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement President Trump ends controversial voter fraud commission By Kurtis Lee President Trump signed an executive order late Wednesday ending the voter fraud commission he launched last year as the panel faces a flurry of lawsuits and criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike. Trump signed the order disbanding the commission rather than engage in endless legal battles at taxpayer expense, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement. The Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, created by executive order in May with the stated goal of restoring confidence and integrity in the electoral process, has faced a barrage of lawsuits in recent months over privacy concerns, as the commission sought personal data on voters across the country. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Congress returns to work with slimmer GOP majority to accomplish Trumps agenda By Lisa Mascaro Congress returns to work this week with unfinished business on spending, immigration and other crucial issues, but with an even narrower GOP majority that will make it tougher to move on President Trumps agenda. The House and Senate will convene Wednesday, swearing in the newly elected Democratic senator from Alabama, Doug Jones, and Minnesotas Tina Smith to replace a fellow Democrat, Sen. Al Franken, who is resigning as the latest high-profile public figure sidelined by allegations of sexual misconduct. The change gives Republicans only a one-seat margin in the Senate. Trump, fresh off passage of the GOP tax cuts bill, is pushing lawmakers to pivot quickly on his new year priorities of infrastructure investment and immigration, as well as his foreign policy agenda. But another legislative victory seems far off. Republicans have struggled to hold their majority together and Congress first must tackle critical stalled agenda items that leaders punted to 2018. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trump threatens to cut off U.S. aid to Palestinians By Tracy Wilkinson President Trump on Tuesday angrily threatened to cut off U.S. aid to Palestinians as punishment for what he called their failure to show appreciation or respect to the United States. Writing on Twitter, the president compared the Palestinians to Pakistan, a nuclear-armed ally that abruptly drew his ire this week and a similar threat to drastically curtail aid. He accused the Palestinians of recalcitrance in what he described as their refusal to negotiate a peace deal with Israel. Palestinian officials have said they can no longer use Washington as a broker to restart peace talks with Israel following Trumps Dec. 6 decision to overturn decades of U.S. policy and recognize the disputed city of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and ultimately to move the U.S. Embassy there. The Palestinians also claim part of Jerusalem as the capital of an eventual independent state. Until now, the United States and most of the world agreed the citys political status was a matter to settle in final peace talks. The United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly condemned any effort to recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital, and the Palestinian leadership said it would not meet with Vice President Mike Pence, who had planned a trip to the region. That trip is on hold. [W]e pay the Palestinians HUNDRED [sic] OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect, Trump wrote on Twitter. [W]ith the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them? In response to Trumps tweet, Hanan Ashrawi, a senior Palestinian official, issued a statement saying: Palestinian rights are not for sale. By recognizing Occupied Jerusalem as Israels capital Donald Trump has not only violated international law, but he has also singlehandedly destroyed the very foundations of peace and condoned Israels illegal annexation of the city. We will not be blackmailed, she said. President Trump has sabotaged our search for peace, freedom and justice. Now he dares to blame the Palestinians for the consequences of his own irresponsible actions! The United States does not pay large amounts of money directly to the Palestinian Authority, the government that rules over parts of the Palestinian West Bank. Instead, most money goes to the U.N., refugee or aid agencies and even Israel to pay for roads, welfare, schools, security and other Palestinian projects. The U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Haley, said Tuesday that the administration was planning to cut off one of those organizations, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, until the Palestinians return to the negotiating table. UNRWA, which receives around $300 million annually from the U.S., for years has been the lifeline to hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees living in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. It was not clear if Haley was threatening to cut all U.S. support for the agency. Special correspondent Noga Tarnopolsky in Jerusalem contributed to this report. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print The White House stops short of calling for government overthrow in Iran By Brian Bennett President Trump wants Iran to give its citizens basic human rights and stop being a state sponsor of terror, his top spokeswoman said, but the White House stopped short of calling for a change of government in Tehran. If they want to do that through current leadership, if thats possible, OK, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters. Sanders praised the organic popular uprising, which she said the widespread protests in Iran represented. The protests grew out of years of years of mismanagement, corruption, and foreign adventurism have eroded the Iranian peoples trust in their leaders, she said. Earlier Tuesday, Trump called Irans government brutal and corrupt and wrote in a tweet: The people have little food, big inflation and no human rights. The U.S. is watching! Trump also blamed President Obama for foolishly giving Iran money that he said went to fund terrorism. The money he referred to were funds belonging to Iran that had been frozen by the U.S. and were released as part of the deal in 2015, which blocked Irans development of nuclear weapons. The people of Iran are finally acting against the brutal and corrupt Iranian regime. All of the money that President Obama so foolishly gave them went into terrorism and into their pockets. The people have little food, big inflation and no human rights. The U.S. is watching! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Retirement of Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch clears the way for a Mitt Romney revival By David Lauter The retirement of Utahs senior senator, Orrin G. Hatch, opens the way for a widely expected Senate bid by Mitt Romney, the Republicans 2012 presidential nominee and a frequent critic of President Trump. Although Romney previously served for two terms as governor of Massachusetts (and was raised in Michigan, where his father was governor and his mother ran for the Senate), he comes from a prominent Mormon family with strong ties to Utah. He also served as chief executive of the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. Hes viewed as a strong candidate for the Senate seat. Romneys criticisms of Trump, however, could prompt a challenge in a Republican primary. Trump was widely reported to have tried to convince Hatch to run for a seventh term, in part to head off a Romney candidacy. Last month, Romney and Trump were on opposite sides of one of the biggest political fights of the fall the battle over the Senate seat from Alabama. The president strongly supported Roy Moore, the Republican candidate who had been accused of sexual misconduct by several women. Romney called Moore a stain on the GOP. Roy Moore in the US Senate would be a stain on the GOP and on the nation. Leigh Corfman and other victims are courageous heroes. No vote, no majority is worth losing our honor, our integrity. Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) December 4, 2017 On Tuesday, Romney tweeted praise for Hatch, but did not immediately reveal his own plans. I join the people of Utah in thanking my friend, Senator Orrin Hatch for his more than forty years of service to our great state and nation. Read my full statement: https://t.co/YwjUpjez5y Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) January 2, 2018 Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print U.S. calls on Iran to unblock social media sites amid protests By The Associated Press The Trump administration is calling on Irans government to stop blocking Instagram and other popular social media sites as Iranians are demonstrating in the streets. Undersecretary of State Steve Goldstein says the U.S. wants Iran to open these sites. He says Instagram, Telegram and other platforms are legitimate avenues for communication. The United States is encouraging Iranians to use virtual private networks, known as VPNs. Those services create encrypted links between computers and can be used to access blocked websites. Goldstein says the U.S. is still communicating with Iranians in Persian through State Department accounts on Facebook, Twitter and other platforms. He says the U.S. wants to encourage the protesters to continue to fight for whats right. Goldstein says the U.S. has an obligation not to stand by. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trump blasts Democrats in advance of immigration meeting By Brian Bennett The day before a meeting of administration officials and congressional leaders on outstanding legislative business, President Trump accused Democrats of doing nothing to hammer out an immigration deal to protect from deportation people brought to the country illegally as children. Democrats are doing nothing for DACA just interested in politics, Trump wrote in a Tweet on Tuesday morning, referring to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program by its acronym. Democrats are doing nothing for DACA - just interested in politics. DACA activists and Hispanics will go hard against Dems, will start falling in love with Republicans and their President! We are about RESULTS. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer along with the Republican leaders, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, are scheduled to meet on Wednesday at the Capitol with Trumps legislative director, Marc Short, and budget director, Mick Mulvaney. The White House on Tuesday said the meeting is to discuss separate spending caps on military and domestic programs. Yet the Democrats insist the discussion also must include a variety of legislative issues that Trump and Congress punted into the new year on immigration, the budget, healthcare and more. That stance reflects Democrats leverage: Republicans need Democratic votes to pass a government-funding bill and avert a federal shutdown when the current funding expires Jan. 19. Democrats especially want separate legislation replacing the Obama-era DACA program; Trump in September ordered a phase-out of the program, beginning March 6, and called on Congress to act before then on an alternative way to address the plight of the group. However, Trump has demanded that any alternative must be part of a package including both money for a border wall and immigration limits. Democrats are opposed. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Pakistan hits back after Trump accuses its leaders of lies and deceit By Aoun Sahi Pakistan lashed out Monday after President Trump accused its leaders of lies and deceit and suggested the United States would withdraw financial assistance to the nuclear-armed nation it once saw as a key ally against terrorism. U.S. Ambassador David Hale was summoned to the Foreign Ministry to discuss the presidents statement, U.S. Embassy spokesman Richard Snelsire said. Pakistan lodged a strongly worded protest, according to two foreign office officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. Pakistans prime minister, Shahid Abbasi, called a Cabinet meeting for Tuesday and a meeting of the National Security Committee on Wednesday to discuss Trumps New Years Day tweet. It was the presidents latest broadside against Pakistan after a speech in August in which he demanded its leaders crack down on the safe havens enjoyed by Taliban militants fighting U.S.-backed forces in neighboring Afghanistan. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trump again cheers on Iran protests By Laura King President Trump expressed renewed support Sunday for protesters in Iran, declaring that people are finally getting wise as to how their money and wealth is being stolen and squandered on terrorism. In a tweet from his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, the president said the nationwide economic protests that began on Thursday and have taken on wider political overtones as they have grown in size --- were a signal that Iranians will not take it any longer. Big protests in Iran. The people are finally getting wise as to how their money and wealth is being stolen and squandered on terrorism. Looks like they will not take it any longer. The USA is watching very closely for human rights violations! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2017 The presidents earlier hailing of the protests drew condemnation from Irans government. A Foreign Ministry spokesman called his comments deceitful and opportunistic. Following an overnight report of the first two fatalities stemming from the protests, Trump raised some eyebrows by expressing concern over human rights violations as authorities move to crack down on the demonstrations. During his first year in office, the president has shown scant inclination to press foreign governments to respect the fundamental rights of their citizens. The USA is watching closely for human rights violations! Trump said in his tweet Sunday. Some domestic critics have pointed to the presidents inclusion of Iranian nationals in his travel ban, suggesting he was more interested in bashing the Tehran government than in supporting freedom of speech in Iran. Even some of the presidents allies said that supporting the protesters on social media did not amount to making policy. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said he had urged Trump to give a national address laying out his Iran strategy. President Trump is tweeting very sympathetically to the Iranian people, Graham said on CBS Face the Nation. But you just cant tweet here. You have to lay out a plan. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Australian diplomats tip a factor in FBIs Russia inquiry By Associated Press Australian High Commissioner Alexander Downer. (Alastair Grant / Associated Press) An Australian diplomats tip appears to have helped persuade the FBI to investigate Russian meddling in the U.S. election and possible coordination with the Trump campaign, the New York Times reported Saturday. Trump campaign advisor George Papadopoulos told the diplomat, Alexander Downer, during a meeting in London in May 2016 that Russia had thousands of emails that would embarrass Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, the report said. Downer, a former foreign minister, is Australias top diplomat in Britain. Australia passed the information on to the FBI after the Democratic emails were leaked, according to the Times, which cited four current and former U.S. and foreign officials with direct knowledge of the Australians role. The hacking and the revelation that a member of the Trump campaign may have had inside information about it were driving factors that led the FBI to open an investigation in July 2016, the newspaper said. White House lawyer Ty Cobb declined to comment, saying in a statement that the administration is continuing to cooperate with the investigation now led by special counsel Robert Mueller to help complete their inquiry expeditiously. Papadopoulos has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and is a cooperating witness. Court documents unsealed two months ago show he met in April 2016 with Joseph Mifsud, a professor in London who told him about Russias cache of emails. This was before the Democratic National Committee became aware of the scope of the intrusion into its email systems by hackers later linked to the Russian government. The Times said Papadopoulos shared this information with Downer, but it was unclear whether he also shared it with anyone in the Trump campaign. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trump offers fresh support for protesters in Iran as demonstrations continue By Lisa Mascaro Oppressive regimes cannot endure forever, and the day will come when the Iranian people will face a choice. The world is watching! pic.twitter.com/kvv1uAqcZ9 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 30, 2017 President Trump again offered support Saturday for anti-government protesters in Iran, where a third day of demonstrations, the largest in years, spilled across the country amid fears of a crackdown. Oppressive regimes cannot endure forever, and the day will come when the Iranian people will face a choice. The world is watching! Trump wrote on Twitter. Trump took a break from playing golf near his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida to tweet clips from his speech to the United Nations General Assembly in September when he called for Iranian democratic reforms. Iranian authorities warned of potential violence as the street demonstrations, which began over economic conditions, swelled into frustrations with the theocratic rule of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Trump has maintained a hawkish stance toward Iran, sharply criticizing the landmark nuclear disarmament accord that Tehran reached with then-President Obama and five other nations in 2015. In October, Trump declined to certify the accord to Congress although the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency says Iran is complying with it. Several conservative GOP senators signaled their support for Trumps position and backed the protesters in Iran. Others in Congress did not immediately respond, however, amid conflicting reports over who had organized the demonstrations. Even after the billions in sanctions relief they secured through the nuclear deal, the ayatollahs still cant provide for the basic needs of their own people, said Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a Trump ally and opponent of the nuclear deal. We should support the Iranian people who are willing to risk their lives to speak out against it, he added. Trump initially tweeted his support on Friday night. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders issued a statement at that time as protests spread. There are many reports of peaceful protests by Iranian citizens fed up with the regimes corruption and its squandering of the nations wealth to fund terrorism abroad, Sanders said. The Iranian government should respect their peoples rights, including their right to express themselves. The world is watching. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement When it comes to U.S.-Russia relations, it takes two to tango, Kremlin says By Sabra Ayres The deteriorating relationship between the United States and Russia is one of the biggest disappointments of 2017, Russian President Vladimir Putins spokesman told reporters today. Russia would like to rebuild relations between the two adversaries, but it takes two to tango, Dmitry Peskov said today during a conference call with the press. We want and are looking for good mutually beneficial relations based on mutual respect, mutual trust with all countries, primarily with European ones, including the United States, but it is necessary to dance tango, as they say. Peskov blamed the ongoing anti-Russian Russophobia in Washington for playing a major role in blocking the two countries from moving forward in their relationship. U.S. investigations into the Trump presidential campaigns alleged collusion with the Kremlin during the 2016 U.S. election and accusations that the Kremlin tried to interfere with the electoral process continue to cast a dark shadow over the relationship, he said. Peskov told reporters that Moscow was perplexed by the investigations. The Kremlin has continued to deny having any involvement with the Trump campaign or doing anything to interfere with the American election. This is definitely a U.S. domestic affair, but in this case it naturally hurts our bilateral relations, which is regrettable, Peskov said. Relations between the U.S. and Russia have been categorized as the worst theyve been since the end of the Cold War. This year, Washington and Moscow have engaged in a diplomatic tit-for-tat in which both sides have been forced to reduce diplomatic staff, embassy properties have been repossessed by the hosting countries and visa services have been interrupted. The U.S. diplomatic mission to Russia shrank from 1,200 personnel, including some Russian local staff, to just over 450 across all its three consulates and embassy in Moscow. In the U.S., Russia was forced to vacate its San Francisco consulate. Moscow has also blamed anti-Russian sentiments on the recent decision by the International Olympic Committee to ban Russian teams from wearing their tricolor uniforms or flags during the upcoming games in South Korea. The international body accused some of the Russian national teams of doping. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print U.S. and Turkey resume reciprocal issuing of visas but frictions remain By Tracy Wilkinson The United States and Turkey began issuing reciprocal visas again on Thursday, more than two months after normal visa service was suspended in a dispute over the arrest of two U.S. diplomatic staffers in Istanbul the latest friction between the two nominal allies. The State Department said it was lifting the visa restrictions after it was assured by the Turkish government that U.S. Embassy employees would not be arrested when performing their official duties. But the Turkish Embassy in Washington denied assurances were offered concerning the ongoing judicial processes, and suggested that the arrests were legal and justified. It is inappropriate to misinform the Turkish and American public that such assurances were provided, the embassy said in a statement. The dispute has aggravated the already tense relationship between the United States and Turkey, which is a member of the NATO military alliance. The two countries have clashed over U.S. support for Kurdish rebels in Syria and over Turkeys demands that the U.S. extradite a Turkish cleric who lives in rural Pennsylvania. After a failed coup attempt killed more than 250 people in July 2016, Turkeys autocratic president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, launched a harsh crackdown on his political opponents, arresting or firing tens of thousands of teachers, police, journalists, military officers and others. Erdogan accused Fethullah Gulen, an Islamic educator and former political ally, of orchestrating the coup. Gulen, who has lived in a compound in the Pocono Mountains, has denied any involvement. The Justice Department has so far denied Turkeys repeated demands to extradite Gulen. Erdogan raised the issue again at the White House in May, but his visit ended in a public relations disaster when his security guards brutally beat peaceful protesters outside the Turkish ambassadors residence. Two Turkish employees of the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul were arrested this fall for alleged ties to the 2016 coup attempt. The U.S. responded by suspending most visa services at its missions in Turkey in October. The Turkish government reciprocated in November. State Department officials said they have repeatedly demanded more information about any formal charges against the two employees. They reiterated on Thursday that serious concerns about the allegations remained. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trump: China caught RED HANDED allowing oil to reach North Korea By Brian Bennett (Andrew Harnik / Associated Press) President Trump isnt taking a holiday vacation from Twitter. In one of three tweets early on Thursday from his West Palm Beach golf club, he charged that China was caught RED HANDED allowing oil shipments to reach North Korean ports. Pronouncing himself very disappointed, Trump in effect was acknowledging the failure of his months-long effort to convince China to clamp down further on energy shipments going to the isolated country, which relies heavily on Beijing, as a way to pressure North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program. Caught RED HANDED - very disappointed that China is allowing oil to go into North Korea. There will never be a friendly solution to the North Korea problem if this continues to happen! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 28, 2017 Trumps tweet came after a South Korean newspaper published what it said were U.S. spy satellite images of Chinese ships selling oil to North Korean ships. The United Nations Security Council, which includes China, has voted repeatedly to restrict fuel shipments to North Korea. Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping in November to cut off North Koreas oil supply entirely, the American ambassador to the U.N., Nikki R. Haley, said at the time. It is unclear if Trumps admonishment of China was based on news reports or classified information he received from U.S. intelligence officials. There was no daily intelligence briefing on Trumps public schedule Thursday. He is expected to return to Washington next week after spending the Christmas holiday and New Years Eve at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print President Trump again falsely claims hes signed more bills than any president By Brian Bennett President Trump visits a firehouse in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Wednesday. (Nicholas Kamm / AFP) After another morning at his Florida golf club, President Trump visited firefighters and paramedics at a West Palm Beach firehouse and praised his own performance as president, including with a false boast. Trump touted his administrations work to roll back government regulations and cut taxes and claimed credit for the stock market hitting record highs. He also said hes signed more bills into law than any other president, which isnt true. We have signed more legislation than anybody, Trump said, standing in front of a rescue vehicle inside the fire station. We have more legislation passed, including the record was Harry Truman a long time ago, and we broke that record, so we got a lot done, Trump said. An analysis by GovTrack, a website that tracks bills in Congress, shows that Trump has signed the fewest bills into law at this point than any president in more than 60 years, back to Dwight D. Eisenhower. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Trump administration urges Russia to reinstate monitors in Ukraine, lower violence By Tracy Wilkinson Sergei Lavrov (AFP/Getty Images) Secretary of State Rex Tillerson asked Russia on Wednesday to reinstate its military personnel at a monitoring station in eastern Ukraine intended to quell escalating bloodshed. In a telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, Tillerson also urged Russia to lower the level of violence and underscored the Trump administrations concern over increased fighting in Ukraine, the State Department said in a statement. Russia last week withdrew its monitors from the Joint Center on Coordination and Control, which is tasked with verifying a much-violated ceasefire between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatists. Moscow cited what it called restrictions and provocations from Ukrainian authorities that made it impossible for the observers to do their jobs. Washington has accused the pro-Russia forces of being responsible for many of the truce violations. Late last week, the State Department also announced plans to provide Ukraine with lethal defensive weapons, including Javelin anti-tank missiles, a decision that angered Moscow. The State Department statement did not say whether the weapons deal came up in Tillersons conversation with Lavrov. The two also discussed North Korea, its destabilizing nuclear program and the need for a diplomatic solution to achieve a denuclearized Korean peninsula, the statement said. Russia has offered to serve as a mediator between Washington and Pyongyang, but direct talks do not seem likely at this point. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print U.S. sanctions two more North Korean officials for ballistic missile program By Tracy Wilkinson The Trump administration announced sanctions Tuesday against two more North Korean officials for their alleged role in Pyongyangs expanding ballistic missiles program. The Treasury Department is targeting leaders of North Koreas ballistic missile programs, as part of our maximum pressure campaign to isolate [North Korea] and achieve a fully denuclearized Korean Peninsula, Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said in a statement. The nuclear-armed country tested an intercontinental ballistic missile last month that U.S. officials said appeared capable of reaching New York or Washington, a significant milestone in the countrys growing arsenal. The Treasury Department identified the two North Korean officials as Kim Jong Sik, who reportedly is a key figure in the ballistic missile program and led efforts to switch missiles from liquid to solid fuel (which makes them easier to hide before launch), and Ri Pyong Chol, who was reported to be a key official in the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles. The sanctions block banks, companies and individuals from doing any business with the targeted officials. It also allows the U.S. government to freeze any American assets owned by the officials. On Friday, the United Nations Security Council unanimously voted to add more sanctions on North Korea, its third round this year. The new measures order North Koreans working abroad to return home within two years, and ban nearly 90% of refined petroleum exports to the country. In a statement published Sunday by North Koreas state-run KCNA news agency, the foreign ministry denounced the new U.N. sanctions as an act of war. We define this sanctions resolution rigged up by the US and its followers as a grave infringement upon the sovereignty of our Republic, as an act of war violating peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula and the region and categorically reject the resolution, it said. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Salt Lake Tribune calls on Sen. Orrin Hatch to not seek reelection in scathing editorial Perhaps the most significant move of Hatchs career is the one that should, if there is any justice, end it. The last time the senator was up for reelection, in 2012, he promised that it would be his last campaign. That was enough for many likely successors, of both parties, to stand down, to let the elder statesman have his victory tour and to prepare to run for an open seat in 2018. Clearly, it was a lie. Read the editorial>> Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Christmas Eve, Trump on Twitter: New attacks on FBI official, decrying Fake News By Laura King President Trump launched a Christmas Eve attack on FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, whom he accuses of favoritism toward his former opponent, Hillary Clinton, and also returned to a longtime favored theme, excoriating the news media for failing to sufficiently extol his accomplishments. .@FoxNews-FBIs Andrew McCabe, in addition to his wife getting all of this money from M (Clinton Puppet), he was using, allegedly, his FBI Official Email Account to promote her campaign. You obviously cannot do this. These were the people who were investigating Hillary Clinton. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 24, 2017 Thank you President TRUMP!! pic.twitter.com/LKdkT0FL99 oregon4TRUMP (@shawgerald4) December 23, 2017 The Fake News refuses to talk about how Big and how Strong our BASE is. They show Fake Polls just like they report Fake News. Despite only negative reporting, we are doing well - nobody is going to beat us. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 24, 2017 Trump, who is spending the holidays at his Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago, also sent Christmas greetings to deployed military personnel, praising them for success in the fight against terrorism. The early-morning swipe at McCabe followed a flurry of tweets attacking the deputy FBI chief on Saturday. McCabe, who has been a lightning rod for Republican attacks on the FBI, is expected to retire early in the new year. How can FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, the man in charge, along with leakin James Comey, of the Phony Hillary Clinton investigation (including her 33,000 illegally deleted emails) be given $700,000 for wifes campaign by Clinton Puppets during investigation? Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 23, 2017 FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is racing the clock to retire with full benefits. 90 days to go?!!! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 23, 2017 Critics say the president and his allies are in the midst of a systematic campaign to denigrate the FBI and special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, who is looking into potential collusion by the Trump campaign in Russias attempts to sway the 2016 presidential election. In a pair of statements on Twitter, Trump again expressed scorn regarding news coverage of his administration. For months, the president has been particularly critical of reports regarding the Russia investigation and more recently has repeatedly complained he does not receive enough credit for a booming stock market. In his video conference message to troops overseas, the president made apparent reference to the fight against the militants of Islamic State, who over the last year have lost most of the territory they previously controlled in Iraq and Syria, including former strongholds in Mosul and Raqqah. Were winning, Trump told military personnel deployed in Qatar, Kuwait, Guantanamo Bay and aboard the guided missile destroyer Sampson. Reporters traveling with the president heard his address, but were ushered from the room before he took questions from the troops. The president often breaks with longtime custom and makes politically charged statements at events in which he addresses military personnel. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Trumps Wells Fargo tweet cited in court hearing as reason to remove Mulvaney as CFPB acting chief By Jim Puzzanghera A recent tweet by President Trump about possible penalties against Wells Fargo & Co. was cited during a court hearing Friday as a reason for removing White House official Mick Mulvaney as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The attorney for Leandra English the bureaus deputy director who has said she is the rightful acting head said Trumps tweet showed he was trying to exercise improper influence over the independent consumer watchdog. I think that [tweet] shows you this isnt just some hypothetical concern, the attorney, Deepak Gupta, told Judge Timothy J. Kelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia during a nearly two-hour hearing. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trump administration recognizes Honduran presidents reelection By Tracy Wilkinson The Trump administration on Friday formally recognized the incumbent president of Honduras, conservative Juan Orlando Hernandez, as the winner of a bitterly contested presidential election held last month. In a statement, the State Department congratulated Hernandez while also acknowledging widespread irregularities in the Nov. 26 vote and calling for a robust national dialogue to overcome political discord in the Central American country, a close ally of the administration. The Organization of American States, which monitored the election, said it was so flawed that only a new round of voting could establish a fair and transparent outcome. But the U.S. rejected that determination. Uproar over the contest led to demonstrations in Honduras that left numerous civilians dead after state security forces opened fire on the protests. Activists and others voiced criticism Friday of the administrations decision. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), a leading Democratic voice on Central American issues, said he was angry and deeply disturbed by the State Department decision. The recent elections in Honduras were deeply flawed, chaotic and marred by numerous irregularities, McGovern said. U.S.-Honduran cooperation on matters such as drug-trafficking, violence and immigration requires a credible, legitimate government that has the support of its people, in Honduras, McGovern said. Hernandezs victory also was controversial because it was the first time a sitting president was allowed to run for re-election, barred until now by the Honduran Constitution. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Senate Leader Mitch McConnell says fixing DACA is no emergency until March By Lisa Mascaro Amanda Bayer, left with banner, and Marisol Maqueda, right, join a rally in support of so-called Dreamers outside the White House. (Manuel Balce Ceneta / Associated Press) Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Friday hes committed to allowing a vote on a bill for so-called Dreamers in January, but sees no rush to resolve the deportation threat posed by President Trumps decision to end a program protecting immigrants brought to the country illegally as children. There isnt that much of an emergency there, he said. There is no emergency until March. Well keep talking about it. Trump called for phasing out by March the Obama-era program that allows the young immigrants, many of them longtime residents, to get two-year deferrals of any deportation threat so they can legally attend school or work. Beneficiaries must be vetted for security purposes. Trump told Congress to come up with a legislative alternative for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which President Obama created by executive order, to protect those currently eligible. A bipartisan Senate group has been working with the White House, but talks stalled this week amid administration demands for curbs on legal immigration flows in exchange for protecting the DACA recipients. Meanwhile, Dreamers and immigrant advocates stormed the Capitol in recent days pressing for the help promised by Trump and Democratic congressional leaders that failed to materialize in the years final legislation. Advocacy groups say more than 120 immigrants each day are falling out of compliance without DACA renewals, putting them at risk of deportation. The number that is projected to swell to more than 1,000 a day in March. Weve been gridlocked on this issue for years, McConnell said. We want to have a signature. We dont just want to spin our wheels and have nothing to show for it. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print President Trump signs tax bill By Noah Bierman (Alex Brandon / Associated Press) President Trump on Friday morning signed a sweeping tax-cut measure his first major legislative achievement before heading off for a Christmas vacation at his Mar-a-Lago property in Palm Beach, Fla. The president also privately signed a short-term spending bill to fund government operations through Jan. 19. Congress approved it Thursday, after Republican leaders were unable to bridge differences in their own party as well as with Democrats to get agreement on funding for the full fiscal year. The stopgap bill punts fights on immigration and other issues to January. The tax bill, approved earlier this week in Congress in largely party-line votes, slashes corporate tax rates from 35% to 21% and also includes a host of other provisions for individuals, all intended to boost the economy. Critics point to nonpartisan analyses showing that the package, including changes greatly reducing the number of estates subject to taxes, steers the bulk of tax benefits to top earners and the wealthy, including Trump, despite his repeated claims that hell take a hit. Trump signed the bill quietly Friday, but held a public ceremony with Republican lawmakers on Wednesday after the bills passage; he also tweeted about the measure extensively. He is expected to hold another public ceremony after the New Years holiday. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Pelosi urges Ryan to prevent Republicans from curtailing Houses Russia probe By Chris Megerian House Speaker Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin greets House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California. (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi sent a letter to Speaker Paul D. Ryan on Friday urging him to ensure the Houses investigation into Russian interference with last years presidential campaign is not cut short. The American people deserve a comprehensive and fair investigation into Russias attacks, wrote Pelosi, of San Francisco, in her letter. Political haste must not cut short valid investigatory threads. The House Intelligence Committee has been probing the issue since March 1, and Democrats have repeatedly warned that Republicans are trying to wrap up its work prematurely. Pelosi said Ryan, a Republican from Wisconsin, should take urgent action to ensure this investigation can continue. AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for Ryan, said Pelosi simply wants to see this investigation go on forever in order to suit her political agenda. Whether it concludes next month, next year, or in three years, she will say it is too soon, Strong said in a statement. She added, The investigation will conclude when the committee has reached a conclusion. The committees work is led by Rep. K. Michael Conaway (R-Texas). His spokeswoman, Emily Hytha, said he remains committed to conducting this investigation as thoroughly and expeditiously as possible. With more interviews scheduled, the investigation shows signs of extending into next year, Bloomberg reported Friday. BREAKING: Steve Bannon and former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski have been sent letters requesting they testify to House Intel panel in early January, per @HouseInSession Laura Litvan (@LauraLitvan) December 22, 2017 Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Congress votes to avert government shutdown, but Senate fails to pass disaster aid package By Lisa Mascaro ( (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press)) Congress approved a temporary spending bill to prevent a government shutdown, but failed to complete work on an $81-billion disaster aid package to help California, Gulf Coast states and Puerto Rico recover from wildfires and hurricanes, as lawmakers scrambled Thursday to wrap up business before a Christmas break. The stopgap measure continues federal operations for a few more weeks, setting up another deadline for Jan. 19. But it left undone a long list of priorities that members of both parties had hoped to finish this year. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Wells Fargo says raises were not linked to tax bill passage then backtracks By James Rufus Koren Wells Fargo & Co.s move to raise its minimum pay to $15 an hour was part of a long-term plan and not related to the passage of the Republican tax overhaul as the company implied, said a bank spokesman, who later backtracked and stated the hikes were a result of the bills approval. The bank was among several large corporations to publicly announce pay raises or new investments immediately following the final House vote in an apparent public relations offensive to boost the popularity of the tax bill The San Francisco bank had implied the direct linkage to the tax legislation in a news release Wednesday, shortly after Congress passed the tax overhaul, which slashes the corporate tax rate to 21% from 35% starting Jan. 1. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Obamacare signups beat expectations, despite Trump administrations opposition By Noam N. Levey President Trump with Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press) Despite Trump administration efforts to discourage people from signing up, the number of people enrolling for Affordable Care Act coverage nearly hit last years level, the government revealed Thursday. Exchange open enrollment for 2018 coverage ended w/ approx 8.8M people enrolling in coverage. Great job to the @CMSGov team for the work you did to make this the smoothest experience for consumers to date. We take pride in providing great customer service. Administrator Seema Verma (@SeemaCMS) December 21, 2017 The 8.8 million people who enrolled in the 36 states that use the federal governments healthcare.gov system significantly exceeded most forecasts. The Trump administration stopped most outreach and other efforts this year aimed at getting people to sign up. The president also repeatedly said publicly that Obamacare was dead. Open enrollment continues in California and several other states that run their own healthcare marketplaces. The figures from the federal government indicate that when those states wrap up for the year, the number of people covered by Obamacare will be nearly the same as in 2017. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly condemns U.S. policy change on Jerusalem despite Trumps threats By Tracy Wilkinson The United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly voted Thursday to condemn President Trumps decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, despite Trumps threats to punish countries that voted against the U.S. position. The resolution passed in an emergency session at U.N. headquarters in New York with 128 in favor, nine opposed and 35 abstentions. The nonbinding resolution demands that Washington rescind its declaration, which included a plan to transfer the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in coming years. The resolution value is mostly symbolic, showing how isolated the U.S. is in the move. Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., warned this week that she would be taking names of countries that opposed the U.S., and Trump on Wednesday suggested he might cut U.S. aid to governments that voted in favor of the resolution. Let them vote against us, Trump said. Well save a lot. We dont care. The U.S. recognition of Jerusalem reversed decades of international consensus on the political status of the divided city. Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as their capital in a future independent state. Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said the U.N. was facing an unprecedented test and that history would remember those who stand by what is right. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Democrats defend Robert Mueller, saying Russia investigation must be allowed to continue By Chris Megerian Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) speaking during a committee hearing earlier this year. (Molly Riley / Associated Press) House Democrats said they will fight Republican attempts to discredit and undermine the work of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, who is investigating whether President Trumps associates helped Russian meddling in last years election. There is an organized effort by Republicans, in concert with Fox News, to spin a false narrative and conjure up outrageous scenarios to accuse special counsel Mueller of being biased, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) said. Trump has said he has no plan to fire Mueller, but Democrats are alarmed by escalating criticism of the special counsels work. Why is the president afraid of the facts and the truth? Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) said. He added, No matter what the facts are, were satisfied if the investigation is complete. A letter of support signed by 171 Democratic members of Congress will be sent to Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller, a former FBI director, and oversees his investigation. Rosenstein has defended Mueller in the face of Republican criticisms. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print U.S. blacklists Myanmar army general who it says oversaw atrocities against Rohingya Muslims By Shashank Bengali The Trump administration on Thursday blacklisted a Myanmar army general who it said oversaw human rights abuses committed by security forces against Rohingya Muslims. Imposing economic sanctions against the general, Maung Maung Soe, was the toughest action the United States has taken in response to a brutal army offensive that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has described as ethnic cleansing. In a statement, the Treasury Department said it had examined credible evidence of Maung Maung Soes activities, including allegations against Burmese security forces of extrajudicial killings, sexual violence and arbitrary arrest as well as the widespread burning of villages. The Rohingya are an ethnic and religious minority of about 1 million people in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar, also known as Burma. The United Nations says that more than 640,000 Rohingya have fled the country since August, after the army launched clearance operations in response to attacks carried out by a Rohingya insurgent group against security forces. Rohingya refugees in crowded camps in neighboring Bangladesh have described horrific violence by Myanmar forces, including mass rapes, summary executions and children being burned alive. The aid group Doctors Without Borders estimates that 6,700 people were killed in the first month of the operation. Myanmar authorities deny committing atrocities and say that only a few hundred fighters were killed. Maung Maung Soe was chief of the armys Western Command, which carried out the offensive. He was transferred from his position last month, according to news reports. He was one of 13 individuals worldwide who were blacklisted Thursday under a new U.S. law that gives the Treasury Department authority to target officials for human rights abuses and corruption. Others included former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh; Gulnara Karimova, daughter of the late Uzbekistan dictator Islam Karimov; and Artem Chaika, son of Russias prosecutor-general. Today, the United States is taking a strong stand against human rights abuse and corruption globally by shutting these bad actors out of the U.S. financial system, said Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. The sanctions freeze any assets Maung Maung Soe holds in the United States and bars Americans from doing business with him. It is also a sign of how quickly U.S. relations with Myanmar have soured. Under the Obama administration, the United States forged closer ties with the former military dictatorship and eased economic and political sanctions as the country began implementing democratic reforms. But Myanmar, which does not regard the Rohingya as citizens, has lashed out at the international community over the current crisis. It has jailed journalists, blocked access to affected areas in the western state of Rakhine and this week barred a U.N. human rights investigator from entering the country. Rohingya activists said the U.S. action would not have much effect on a country that survived under economic sanctions for years. It is the whole military institution that has a policy to persecute these people, said Nay San Lwin, a Rohingya activist and blogger in Germany. According to the U.S.s own definition, the army is carrying out ethnic cleansing. They have a responsibility to protect these people. Sanctions on one person are really not enough. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Dreamers will have to wait until next year for Congress long-promised protections By Lisa Mascaro Amanda Bayer, left with banner, and Marisol Maqueda, right, join a rally in support of so-called Dreamers outside the White House. (Manuel Balce Ceneta / Associated Press)) A promised year-end deal to protect the young immigrants known as Dreamers from deportation collapsed Wednesday as Republicans in Congress fresh off passage of their tax plan prepared to punt nearly all remaining must-do agenda items into the new year. Congressional leaders still hope that before leaving town this week they can pass an $81-billion disaster relief package with recovery funds for California wildfires and Gulf Coast states hit during the devastating hurricane season. But passage even of that relatively popular measure remained in doubt as conservatives balked at the price tag. Rather than finish the year wrapping up the legislative agenda, the GOP majorities in the House and Senate struggled over their next steps. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Chants of protest drown out any caroling this holiday season at the Capitol By Lisa Mascaro U.S. Capitol Police arrest a man wearing a Santa Claus hat during a protest against the Republican tax bill. (Alex Edelman / AFP/Getty Image) Outside the U.S. Capitol, the lights on a towering Christmas tree are flipped on each evening, giving the Engelmann spruce a festive twinkle; inside the marble halls, wreaths and garlands decorate doorways and alcoves ahead of the holidays. But the spirit of the season has been punctuated by other sights: a Jumbotron parked across from the Capitol reflecting pool broadcasts images of young immigrants who face deportation; Little Lobbyists, children with complex medical needs, were featured in a recent news conference; protesters filed into the visitor galleries to shout against the Republican tax plan. While its beginning to look a lot like Christmas at the Capitol, its also shaping up to be a holiday season of protest. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Tax bill simplifies filing for some but complicates it for others and dont count on that postcard By Jim Puzzanghera A priority of the Republicans tax overhaul was simplification, and they drove home the point this fall with an omnipresent prop: a red-white-and-blue postcard. Were making things so simple that you can do your taxes on a form the size of a postcard, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) said last month, pulling one from his jacket pocket as he and Republican leaders unveiled their bill. They gave a couple of the cards to President Trump at a White House meeting a few hours later and flashed them often during news conferences and TV interviews in the coming days. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Top U.N. human rights official reportedly wont seek reelection The top United Nations official for human rights, who has frequently criticized the Trump administration, has reportedly decided not to seek a second term, saying his work had become untenable. Zeid Raad Hussein, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, notified his staff in an email that was obtained by several news outlets, including Agence France-Presse. Staying when his four-year term is up for renewal at the end of August might involve bending a knee in supplication, AFP quoted Husseins email as saying. Hussein is a Jordanian prince who has criticized, among other things, President Trumps attempts to ban visitors or refugees from six predominantly Muslim countries. The news comes a day before the U.N. General Assembly is expected to vote on a nonbinding resolution condemning the Trump administrations formal declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a decision that went against international consensus. Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., has warned she will be taking names of those who vote against the United States on Thursday. Trump echoed that sentiment Wednesday, voiced support for Haley and implying to reporters that he would consider cutting off U.S. aid to countries that vote against the U.S. Well, were watching those votes, Trump said. Let them vote against us. Well save a lot. We dont care. On Monday, the United States lost a Security Council vote 14-1 on a binding resolution that would have required Washington to rescind its declaration. Haley then vetoed the resolution. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Top Democrat warns Trump not to fire Mueller or interfere with his investigation By Chris Megerian Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, one of the top Democrats involved in the congressional inquiries into Russian interference in last years election, said Wednesday that any attempt by President Trump to interfere with the separate criminal investigation would be a gross abuse of power. Warner, who is vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, delivered his warning from the Senate floor as Republicans escalate their criticism of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and his team of prosecutors and FBI agents. Some Democrats believe Trump is laying the groundwork to fire Mueller even though the president has publicly denied it. Mueller was appointed in May after Trump fired FBI Director James B. Comey. In the United States of America, no one, no one is above the law, not even the president, Warner said. Congress must make clear to the president that firing the special counsel or interfering with his investigation by issuing pardons of essential witnesses is unacceptable and would have immediate and significant consequences. Some Democrats say the White House may try to in effect short-circuit the Mueller investigation by replacing Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein, who is the only official empowered to fire Mueller. Rosenstein recently told Congress that the special counsel is acting appropriately and that he would not dismiss Mueller without just cause. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement We have essentially repealed Obamacare, Trump says after tax bill passes By Brian Bennett President Trump at a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday at the White House. (Chris Kleponis / Getty Images) President Trump is celebrating Republicans passage of the tax overhaul bill as a two-fer: On Wednesday, in addition to tax cuts, he checked off his promise to repeal Obamacare, pointing to a provision in the bill to end the penalty on Americans who dont get health insurance. We have essentially repealed Obamacare, Trump told reporters during a Cabinet meeting at the White House. Other provisions of the 2010 Affordable Care Act are still in place, and Trump and congressional Republicans failed completely on the replace half of their vow to repeal and replace the program. In Trumps view, however, stripping away the laws individual mandate to get insurance or else pay a tax penalty amounts to repeal of the whole law. Congressional analysts have said that millions of people would lose insurance as a result, either by choice or because they cannot afford it without subsidies, and that premiums would increase for others as younger, healthy people drop coverage. We will come up with something much better, Trump said, adding that block grants to states could be one approach. By his comments, Trump tacitly acknowledged that repeal of the mandate is likely the best he can do following Republicans failure this year to agree on a repeal-and-replace bill. Looking back on his first year, Trump also boasted of his administrations efforts against the Islamic State and increased immigration enforcement. He said he had not given up on funding a border wall or tightening immigration law to limit citizens ability to resettle foreign relatives in the country. He said he would very shortly visit the border with Mexico near San Diego to see wall prototypes that have been built. He didnt answer a reporters shouted question about how he would personally benefit from the tax bill. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print House gives final OK to GOP tax plan, sending it to Trump By Lisa Mascaro Congress gave final approval to the GOP tax plan Wednesday, 224-201, after the House took an unusual do-over vote to clear up differences with the Senate-passed bill. The $1.5-trillion package now heads to President Trump, who plans to sign it into law. The House had approved the tax bill on Tuesday but was forced to take another vote Wednesday because a couple of provisions in the version it approved were found to be in violation of Senate procedures. Those provisions were dropped before the Senate gave its approval early Wednesday. Critics complained the Republicans rushed to pass the sweeping tax plan to deliver Trump a year-end legislative victory, but supporters shrugged off the problems as minor. The tax plan dramatically cuts corporate rates and provides some individual rate reductions, overhauling the tax code for the first time in 30 years. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trump administration effort to block immigrant from having an abortion fails By David Savage Scott Lloyd is director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (Drew Angerer / Getty Images) President Trumps lawyers rushed to the Supreme Court and U.S. appeals court in Washington on Monday evening to file emergency appeals seeking to prevent an immigrant in detention, dubbed Jane Roe in court, from having an abortion. That set the stage for a legal showdown on whether the administration can block pregnant minors in custody from choosing to have an abortion. But the legal clash, which the administration has seemed eager to have, fizzled out Tuesday when the governments lawyers admitted the 17-year-old unaccompanied minor in their custody was actually 19. They said they had obtained her birth certificate and realized she was not a minor after all. As a result, Roe, who is 10 weeks pregnant, will no longer be held in a detention center for immigrant minors, and will not be subject to an administration policy that tries to prevent minors in immigration detention from having abortions. Administration lawyers told appeals court judges Tuesday night that Roe was being sent to a facility for adults and likely would be released until her immigration status can be resolved. In a brief order, the D.C. Circuit Court agreed to put the case on hold, but told government attorneys to confirm that she will be permitted to obtain an abortion. The administration had earlier tried to delay another young woman, referred to in court as Jane Poe, from having an abortion, but officials relented on Monday because she was 22 weeks pregnant and nearing the time limit for a legal abortion. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Senate panel rejects Trumps pick to lead Export-Import Bank, a leader in the effort to shut it down By Jim Puzzanghera A Senate committee on Tuesday rejected President Trumps nominee to lead the Export-Import Bank, extending the chaos at the embattled agency whose job is to help U.S. companies sell their goods abroad. Two Republicans joined all Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee in voting against former Rep. Scott Garrett (R-N.J.) to be the banks president. Garrett had been a vocal critic of the Ex-Im Bank and a leader of a conservative effort that shut the bank down for five months in 2015 by blocking its congressional authorization. He and other bank opponents branded the banks aid as crony capitalism. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Congress proposes $81-billion disaster aid package, including funds for California wildfires By Lisa Mascaro Congress is set to consider an $81-billion disaster aid package that includes wildfire recovery money for California and other Western states as well as hurricane relief with a price tag reflecting a year of record-setting natural calamities. The legislation, the text of which was released late Monday, would provide almost twice as much as the $44 billion the White House sought last month to cover relief efforts along the Gulf Coast and in the Caribbean. Republican congressional leaders added more money after California lawmakers objected that the administration had failed to include help for areas damaged by wildfires and Democrats protested that the overall amount President Trump asked for was insufficient. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print White House blames North Korea for worldwide WannaCry cyber attack By Noah Bierman The Royal London Hospital, a victim of the unprecedented global cyberattack in May. (Niklas Hallen / AFP/Getty Images) The White House officially blamed North Korea on Tuesday for the cyberattack in May known as WannaCry that infected hundreds of thousands of computers in 150 countries, affecting healthcare, financial services and vital infrastructure. Thomas P. Bossert, assistant to the president for homeland security and counter-terrorism, noted in a briefing with reporters that the consequences were beyond economic. He warned that North Koreas malicious behavior is growing more egregious. Bossert did not specify what evidence American officials have to blame North Korea, citing security issues, but he cited the countrys prior attacks as revealing hallmarks of how Pyongyang and its network of hackers operates. He said other allied countries had joined the United States in making the determination. The administration did not announce any penalties on the regime, which is already subject to severe sanctions over its nuclear program. They want to hold the entire world at risk, Bossert said of North Koreas rulers, referring to the nations nuclear and missile provocations as well as its alleged cyberattack. Given its isolation and international sanctions, North Korea is desperate for funds. Bossert said the country did not appear to make much money on the ransom attack, as word spread that paying a ransom did not result in getting computers unlocked. Its primary goal, he said, was spreading chaos. Bossert and Jeanette Manfra, assistant secretary of homeland security for cybersecurity and communication, said the United States, through a combination of preparation and luck, escaped the worst of the attack, as a patch to the malware was found before U.S. companies and other interests were severely crippled. However, Manfra said, We cannot be complacent. Bossert added, Next time were not going to get so lucky. Manfra praised Microsoft and Facebook for their efforts to combat WannaCry and to block more recent attempts to hack U.S. systems. She and Bossert urged more cooperation and information-sharing from American and multinational companies, arguing a united front is vital to protecting against bad actors who do not differentiate between government and business. Bossert rejected criticism that the the Trump administration has more aggressively called out North Korean cyberattacks than it has Russias meddling in the 2016 election. He said the administration has continued the national emergency initiated by President Obama. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print GOP lures some mountain bike groups in its push to roll back protections for public land By Evan Halper When their vision of creating a scenic cycling trail through a protected alpine backcountry hit a snag, San Diego area mountain bikers turned to an unlikely ally: congressional Republicans aiming to dilute conservation laws. The frustrations of the San Diego cycling group and a handful of similar organizations are providing tailwind to the GOP movement to lift restrictions on the countrys most ecologically fragile and pristine landscapes, officially designated wilderness. Resentment of these cyclists over the longstanding ban on mechanized transportation in that fraction of the nations public lands presents a political opportunity for Republicans eager to drill fissures in the broad coalition of conservation-minded groups united against the GOP environmental agenda. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Vice president postpones Israel trip a second time in case his vote is needed to pass tax cut bill By Noah Bierman (Ethan Miller / Getty Images) Vice President Mike Pence is delaying his trip to Egypt and Israel for a second time in case he is needed to break a tie in the Senate for the tax bill that is expected to pass narrowly this week. Two White House officials confirmed the changed schedule, which they say is unrelated to to protests in the region over the administrations decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital. Pence had initially been scheduled to leave last Saturday. Late last week, the White House moved the trip back a few days to Tuesday night, in case Pence was needed to break a Senate tie. But Monday, they decided to postpone the trip further, to January, given the possibility of a late Senate vote and the coming holidays. He wants to see it through the finish line, said a White House official, referring to the tax measure that is a centerpiece of the Republican legislative agenda. We dont want to leave anything to chance. The mid-January dates will allow Pence more breathing room to merge schedules with embassies and hotels, the official said. Trump still plans to address the Israeli Knesset, a high-profile venue to discuss the Jerusalem decision where it is most popular. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trump judicial pick who drew ridicule at hearing withdraws By Associated Press A White House official says the Trump judicial nominee whose qualifications were questioned by a Republican senator has withdrawn his nomination. Matthew Petersen, who was nominated by President Trump to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, has been the subject of widespread ridicule since he was unable to define basic legal terms during his confirmation hearing Wednesday. A White House official says Petersen has withdrawn his nomination and that Trump has accepted the withdrawal. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the development publicly. Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy pressed Petersen, a former chairman of the Federal Election Commission, who testified he had never tried a case, on his qualifications to the bench. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trump says McCain will return to Washington if needed for tax vote By Laura King President Trump said Sunday that Sen. John McCain, who is battling an aggressive form of brain cancer, was returning home to Arizona for the holidays but would come back to Washington if needed to cast a vote on the Republicans tax overhaul bill. The Arizona Republicans office announced last week that McCain was receiving treatment at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center outside Washington for complications from his cancer treatment. McCains daughter Meghan tweeted earlier Sunday that her 81-year-old father would be spending Christmas in Arizona. The Senate is expected to vote early this week on the tax cut legislation, but the GOP appeared to have secured sufficient support without McCains vote. John will come back if we need his vote, Trump told reporters as he returned from a weekend at the presidential retreat at Camp David. Hes going through a very tough time. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Putin calls Trump to thank him for U.S. help foiling terrorist strike By Laura King Vladimir Putin phoned President Trump to thank him for what the Russian president said was CIA help in foiling a terrorist attack, the Kremlin said on Sunday. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed the two leaders conversation to reporters. It was the second time that the two leaders had talked in four days; Trump called Putin on Thursday to thank the Russian leader for lauding the U.S. economy. Putin, in his annual year-end news conference, had praised Trump for a strong performance by the U.S. stock market. Perhaps ironically, given his credit to the CIAs recent help, Putin at that news event dismissed as hysteria the consensus among American intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential campaign. In reporting Putins call to Trump on Sunday, the official Russian news agency Tass said Putin thanked his American counterpart for information shared by the US Central Intelligence Agency that had helped break up a plot to set off explosives in St. Petersburgs landmark Kazan Cathedral and elsewhere in the city, which is Russias second-largest. Russian authorities last week had credited their countrys counter-intelligence service, the FSB, for foiling the attacks. They reported that seven people affiliated with Islamic State had been detained in St. Petersburg in connection with the plot. The FSB, the successor organization to the KGB, announced Friday that the group had planned to carry out the attacks on Saturday, and that one of those in custody had confessed to the cathedral bomb plot. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Mnuchin: Government shutdown unlikely but could happen By Laura King Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said on Sunday that a government shutdown this week was unlikely but possible. A two-week stopgap spending bill passed by Congress earlier this month provided enough funding to keep the government running through Friday. A deadlock on another temporary funding measure would open the door to a possible shutdown. I cant rule it out, but I cant imagine it occurring, Mnuchin said on Fox News Sunday, suggesting everyone had an interest in avoiding the government grinding to a halt and federal workers going unpaid, especially in the holiday season. I would expect that both the House and Senate, Republicans and Democrats, understand if they cant agree on this, they need to have another short-term extension to move this to January, the Treasury secretary said. We cant have a government shutdown in front of Christmas. In May, irate over concessions made to Democrats in hammering out a spending measure, President Trump tweeted that a good shutdown might help matters. While both parties agree that a government shutdown involves a degree of disruption that is not beneficial to either side, shutdowns in 1995-96 and in 2013 mainly caused a backlash against Republicans. The latest funding measure is to be taken up after a vote on a massive GOP tax overhaul, expected by midweek. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trump transition team says sensitive emails should not have been shared with Robert Mueller By Chris Megerian (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) President Trumps transition team is crying foul over how special counsel Robert S. Mueller III obtained emails for his investigation into Russian meddling in last years campaign and possible Trump campaign complicity. Kory Langhofer, a lawyer for the transition team, sent a letter to Congress on Saturday saying there was an unauthorized disclosure of emails. While the Trump transition is long over, the transition team remains a nonprofit organization. Its emails were hosted by the General Services Administration, a federal agency. Mueller reportedly obtained the emails directly from the agency. There are attorney-client communications, Langhofer said in an interview. There are executive-privileged communications. He added, What were asking Congress to do is to take some legislative action to make sure this never happens again. Peter Carr, a spokesman for the special counsels office, defended the process for obtaining emails. When we have obtained emails in the course of our ongoing criminal investigation, we have secured either the account owners consent or appropriate criminal process, he said. The letter was first reported by Fox News. A request for comment from the General Services Administration was not immediately answered. This story has been updated with a comment from the special counsels office. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Virginia house arrest is ending for Paul Manafort By Chris Megerian (Mark Wilson / Getty Images) A federal judge agreed Friday to end Paul Manaforts house arrest in Virginia, allowing President Trumps former campaign manager to return to Florida while awaiting trial. The decision followed a dispute between Manaforts legal team and prosecutors working for special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, who accused Manafort of violating a court order restricting public statements about the case. Under the terms of the judges order, Manafort will be allowed to live at his home in Florida as long as he stays within Palm Beach and Broward counties and obeys a curfew from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. If he misses a court appearance, he would forfeit four properties valued at $10 million total. The deal, which includes GPS monitoring, is not as permissive as Manafort originally sought. He had asked to be able to travel freely among Florida, New York, Virginia and Washington. Manafort faces criminal charges of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering. He has pleaded not guilty. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print GOP negotiators enhance child tax credit to win over Sen. Rubio By Lisa Mascaro Republican negotiators slightly increased the refundable portion of the expanded child tax credit in their tax plan, raising it to $1,400 in hopes of winning back Sen. Marco Rubios (R-Fla.) support ahead of next weeks vote. Rubio announced Thursday he was withholding support after negotiators ignored his push to make the expanded tax credit, which increases from the current $1,000 to $2,000 in the proposed bill, fully refundable for lower- and moderate-income filers. The refundable portion in the original bill was $1,100. The Florida senator argued that was not enough to help working-class Americans, many of whom already view the GOP plan as tilted toward the wealthy. Rubios office was waiting to see the final text before commenting on whether the change was enough to win him over. We have not seen the bill text, and until we see if the percentage of the refundable credit is significantly higher, then our position remains the same, Rubios spokeswoman said. Negotiators meeting Friday before unveiling the bill said they thought they had the support they needed from Rubio and other holdouts. Im confident both chambers will pass it next week, said Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.). Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Sen. Marco Rubio opposes GOP tax bill, depriving leaders of crucial support By Lisa Mascaro 20.94% Corp. rate to pay for tax cut for working family making $40k was anti-growth but 21% to cut tax for couples making $1million is fine? Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) December 12, 2017 Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) says he is currently opposed to the GOP tax plan because it fails to include his proposed enhancements to the child tax credit, leaving leaders without crucial support ahead of next weeks expected vote. Republicans can only lose two GOP senators from their slim 52-48 majority as they push the plan forward under special budget rules to prevent a Democratic filibuster. Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday altered his planned Israel trip so he could be on hand, if needed, to cast a tie-breaking vote. Rubio, and GOP Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, have fought to increase the child tax credit, doubling it to $2,000 in the GOP plan, but they also want to increase its refundability. They argue it will lower taxes on middle-income families at a time when the tax plan is being criticized as tilted to the wealthy. Sen. Rubio has consistently communicated to the Senate tax negotiators that his vote on final passage would depend on whether the refundability of the Child Tax Credit was increased in a meaningful way, Rubios spokeswoman said. Lee stopped short of opposing the bill, but his spokesman said Wednesday he is undecided. GOP leaders, though, have said they believe they have the support for passage. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print White House gives Roy Moore a unsubtle shove: Time to concede By David Lauter (Alex Wong / Getty Images) The White House sent a clear signal Thursday to the defeated Republican candidate for Senate in Alabama: Its time to concede. Roy Moore refused to concede the race on Tuesday night when Doug Jones, the Democrat, was declared the winner. Election night results show Jones winning by about 1.5 percentage points, three times more than the states standard for a recount. Although a few absentee and provisional ballots remain to be counted, theres no indication they would change the result. On Wednesday, Moore notably did not call to congratulate Jones even as President Trump and other leading Republicans did. Instead, he released a video declaring the battle rages on. Asked at the daily news briefing whether the White House thinks Moore should concede today, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, It probably sounds like it maybe should have already taken place. Sanders also dismissed the idea, pushed by some Moore supporters, that Jones victory was tainted in some fashion. Asked if the Democrat had won fair and square, she said, I think the numbers reflect that. The states Republican senator, Richard Shelby, offered a similar comment in an interview with MSNBC in which he said he was willing to work with Jones. If I was 25,000 votes behind, its not going to change much, Shelby said. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print House Speaker Paul Ryan says hes not leaving anytime soon By Lisa Mascaro House Speaker Paul D. Ryan shot down suggestions Thursday that he might soon be retiring. Stories often circulate that party leaders, especially the House speaker, are stepping aside. Ryans tenure has been as rocky as that of his predecessor, Rep. John Boehner, who abruptly resigned in 2015 amid GOP infighting. Asked Thursday if he would be leaving, Ryan answered a simple no, as he left his weekly press conference in the Capitol. Ryan, the Wisconsin Republican who reluctantly took over the speakers gavel after Boehners departure, had just finished talking up the GOP tax plan, which leaders hope to pass next week. He also outlined his sweeping agenda for his longtime goal of entitlement reform of welfare benefits next year. Two stories published Thursday suggested Ryan may soon be out. This is pure speculation, said spokeswoman AshLee Strong. As the speaker himself said today, hes not going anywhere anytime soon. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print GOP leaders reach tax deal, cutting corporate rate to 21% and top individual rate to 37% By Lisa Mascaro Republican leaders on Wednesday agreed on a revised plan to cut taxes that would lower the corporate rate from 35% to 21% and drop the top individual rate for the richest Americans to 37%, according to GOP senators and others briefed on the deal. The tentative accord marked a significant step in the Republican push to have a tax bill on President Trumps desk by Christmas. Leaders did not release details of the compromise or the text of a final bill as negotiations continued. Its critically important for Congress to quickly pass these historic tax cuts, Trump said Wednesday, promising that Americans could begin to reap the benefits of the plan as early as February, if passed. Critics, however, said the latest changes particularly the lowering of the top individual rate from the current 39.6% only reaffirmed several independent analyses that show the bulk of the savings from the Republican plan would go to businesses and the wealthy. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Farenthold to retire from House amid harassment accusations By Associated Press Texas Republican Rep. Blake Farenthold wont seek reelection next year, two Republicans said Thursday, adding his name to the list of lawmakers leaving Congress amid sexual harassment allegations that have cost powerful men their jobs in politics, the arts and other fields. The accusations against Farenthold surfaced in 2014, when a former aide sued him alleging sexually suggestive comments and behavior and said shed been fired after she complained. The lawmaker said he engaged in no wrongdoing and the case was settled in 2015. But the House Ethics Committee said last week that it would investigate Farenthold after congressional sources said hed paid an $84,000 settlement using taxpayers money. Though Farenthold said hed reimburse the Treasury Department, such payments have drawn public criticism from people saying lawmakers should use their own money for such settlements. A House official said Farenthold spoke twice Wednesday to House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), while another official said the congressman spoke once with Rep. Steve Stivers (R-Ohio) who heads the GOPs House campaign committee. Those discussions suggested that Farenthold may have come under pressure from leaders to step aside. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity to describe private conversations. Last week, three lawmakers facing accusations of sexual harassment announced their resignations. Reps. John Conyers (D-Mich.) and Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) have already left Congress while Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) has said he will step aside soon. Mike Bergsma, Republican county chairman in Farentholds home county of Nueces, Texas, said Fare Although Burbanks projected deficit for the current fiscal year has gone down slightly, city staff told the City Council last Tuesday that there is still a lot of work that needs to be done. Cindy Giraldo, the citys financial services director, updated council members during a meeting last week that the deficit during the 2017-18 fiscal year is now projected to be about $9.4 million, which is an improvement due to an update to the citys 2016-17 revenue projections. The available spendable General Fund balance is expected to be about $14.2 million, which is approximately $1.8 million more than city staff had expected as the 2017-18 budget was being drafted, Giraldo said. During a study session in October, Giraldo said the budget shortfall during the 2017-18 fiscal year had ballooned from roughly $1 million to about $10.8 million because of a court decision in September that the city is still trying to address. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mary H. Strobel ruled in favor of Burbank resident Christopher Spencer, who alleged that the city was violating Proposition 26 by transferring a percentage of funds from the citys utility to its General Fund. Proposition 26, which was approved by state voters in 2010, strives to prevent hidden taxes by requiring a supermajority vote on new taxes and fees. Under a provision in Burbanks charter, which was passed by residents before Proposition 26 was approved, the city was able to transfer 6.5% of Burbank Water and Powers retail electric sales 5% to the citys General Fund and 1.5% to the citys Street Lighting Fund, which is used to maintain the electrical infrastructure of Burbank, Giraldo said. The city was expected to generate about $8.9 million for the General Fund and roughly $2.7 million for the Street Lighting Fund, but the court ruling has forced Burbank officials to discontinue transferring those funds. If the city wants to continue receiving electric funds from the city utility, Giraldo said the fees need to be approved by local voters during a future election. Because the city is unable to utilize those funds, the City Council unanimously approved a $931,000 loan from the General Fund to the Street Lighting Fund to cover the anticipated costs during the current fiscal year. Though council members were able to put a bandage on that issue, City Manager Ron Davis warned City Council members that there are more tough decisions for them in the near future. Giraldo said the city will have to turn to its General Fund reserves to address the growing deficit, which is forecast to reach about $27.4 million during the 2022-23 fiscal year. Should the City Council not take additional measures and dip into the reserves, Giraldo said the reserves will run dry by the 2020-21 fiscal year. Davis told council members that they need to start finding ways soon to make the citys operations more efficient and take measures that will save the city money in the long run to stretch out reserves until city officials can find solutions to the ongoing deficit. He added that the City Council needs to start a dialogue with residents about possibly bringing forward a sales tax measure to generate more revenue for the city. If we do nothing, 2021 is going to hit us, Davis said. anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com Twitter: @acocarpio A popular TED Talk lecture extolling the virtues of gratitude has been viewed nearly 6 million times on that organizations website. Brother David Steindl-Rast, a Benedictine monk, says, It is not happiness that makes us grateful. It is gratefulness that makes us happy. He recommends adding stop signs in ones day-to-day life as a reminder to contemplate the wonderful richness that is given to us. According to an article published on Beliefnet.com, gratitude is a central tenet of world religions, with thanks to God offered in prayer and observance. Ramadan, for example is intended to lead believers to a state of gratitude. Outside of religion, psychologist Michael McCullough calls gratitude an evolutionarily beneficial trait, hardwired into the human brain. But many thinkers agree that gratitude is a rare trait, one that requires cultivation and focus. Steindl-Rast offers a simple start: Grateful living, he says, is brought on by experiencing, by becoming aware that every moment ... is a gift. Q. What are you grateful for this Thanksgiving? Do you cultivate gratitude in your everyday life? .. OK, time to be honest. Gratitude doesnt come naturally to me. And like a lot of other stuff I should be doing but dont, I have to admit that I dont consciously cultivate gratitude in my everyday life. Like most everyone else I know I should be grateful or more so than I am. And like most of us I realize that I have things for which I truly can be grateful no matter what sore trial may be afflicting me at the moment. The trick is getting gratitude to spring up within me in an unforced way, unlike the way we were all made to sit down and write thank-you notes for our presents after birthdays and Christmases glad when we got it over with. I guess a good start, for me at least, is to practice what John the Baptist said about Jesus Christ: He must increase, but I must decrease (John 3:30). That is, my Daffy Duck greedy little coward fleshliness (see the 1957 Warner Bros. cartoon Ducking the Devil) must be crucified. Paul put it this way in Galatians 2:20: I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me. I am grateful for Gods forgiveness and salvation through Jesus Christ, for my wife and children and for Gods calling for me to preach his word. I believe that the more Christ controls my life, the more thankful I will naturally be. Or, as Paul put it: Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude (Colossians 2:6-7). Pastor Jon Barta Burbank .. As this goes to press I will be flying home after three weeks in Southeast Asia. Shortly before we arrived in Cambodia, their prime minister, via his puppet judge, had outlawed the countrys last remaining opposition political party. The U.S. involved then-abandoned Cambodia in our imperialist stupidity in the region, creating an opening for the murderous reign of dictator Pol Pot. After his death, a fledgling democracy was attempted in this small and poor country. When it collapsed, Hun Sen, Pol Pots political descendent, came to power. Now his dictatorship is secure and I fear that citizen participation in civic life, already low, will disappear. To see life going on without outrage or activism is no surprise since any dissent is severely punished. Witnessing this makes me very grateful for our democratic liberties, and high level of civic engagement. Democracy like gratitude is an activity, not a static state, and neither can be assumed; Cambodia isnt the first democracy to end and wont be the last. Just take a look at Freedom in the World 2017, and be sure to get all the way to the end where the United States is included on the list of Countries to Watch, ones at a turning point in their political history. Both the Trump and Obama administrations are cited as diminishing our democratic tradition and place in the world. I am one of numerous locals who enjoy the democratic opportunity of the weekly Montrose Peace Vigil, to remind the community of our endless wars and the possibility of peace. If you are grateful for our freedom of expression, want peace and like to have fun, you are welcome to join us on the Peace Train. On Saturday evening, Dec. 2, we will be chugging down Honolulu Avenue for the eighth year as a Silver sponsor of the Montrose Christmas Parade. Email me at rmedford@ucla.edu to get onboard! Roberta Medford Atheist Montrose .. LDS Church President Thomas S. Monson described gratitude, or thankfulness, as one of the cornerstones of a happy life. Think to thank, he told students at Brigham Young University. In these three words, you have the finest capsule course for a happy marriage, the formula for enduring friendships and a pattern for personal happiness. Ive found that when I express gratitude, whether to God during prayer or to the people around me, I see more clearly the good things that are part of my life. Its a powerful antidote to pessimism and stress. No one is immune to problems or heartbreak, but were better equipped to deal with pain and disappointment when we can see the good in our lives and the world around us. Perhaps this is why the scriptures are filled with admonitions to express thanks. The importance of doing this is underscored in Luke 17 when Christ heals 10 lepers and then notes that only one of them bothered to return to express gratitude. For some people, an attitude of thankfulness may be a natural trait, but for most of us, it requires some effort. Im one of those who needs the stop signs that Brother Steindl-Rast suggests. My reflexive outlook tends to be skeptical, if not pessimistic. Prayer helps offset this. Sincere prayer reminds me of Gods goodness. Ive found that it also helps to make myself pause and reflect on the love of my family, the goodness of many of the people I meet and the natural beauty of the world around me. In these moments, the stresses of work, traffic and making ends meet dissolve, and I remember that I am blessed. Michael White The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints La Crescenta .. While I would in no wise wish to promote the views of the panentheist Steindl-Rast, I would agree that gratefulness is something we decide to put on rather than wait for given our circumstances. Christians have forever promoted the position that we ought to always maintain an attitude of gratitude despite what comes. In that way, yes, living gratefully fosters happiness, and happiness is rather fleeting if it is maintained only by how well we are getting along on a given day. The Bible says, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is Gods will for you in Christ Jesus (1Th 5:18 NIV). That doesnt mean were necessarily thankful or grateful for tragedy, but we are still in relationship with God, and he cares for us, and he works even the plight of life to our ultimate advantage. We must be grateful toward God thankful for Christ, and determine not to be ungrateful (as if God or life owed us anything). I do think that people are generally ungrateful. Maybe its just part of our Western culture where people rate happiness by their general success compared to the neighbors. After all, we live in a land of plenty, and when our plate is less than overflowing, we often focus on the lack rather than whats there; grumble, grumble. We also have a sin nature that is ever wanting to exert itself, so happy gratitude takes some measure of effort. I believe Thanksgiving will come this week with many sitting around tables being asked what they are thankful for, and answers will come regarding new possessions, breakthroughs at work, that Charles Manson has left this world, and all kinds of strange and obvious things that make people feel momentarily thankful. I would personally thank God for accepting me and daily forgiving me; for allowing me a place to go, friends to journey with and a destiny of import. Things could be better, but things could be worse, and yet God is Lord, and he wills to bless us and ours. Thank you, Jesus! Rev. Bryan A. Griem Tujunga .. Somewhere in my 20s I passed from a state of impatience about what the world owed me for being such an exemplary human being to simply being grateful to be alive. It was like when Dante and pals climbed the frozen devil in The Inferno only to emerge with the world upside down. While being grateful takes up more of my day, at least the time is more pleasant. This Thanksgiving, and every day, I wake to the miracle of my children, the gobsmackitude of being in love at my advanced age, the great good luck of my dogs continued existence after a stroke, the usefulness of the phrase consider the source, the fact that, if one keyboard gets too gummed up with whatever residue is on my hammering fingertips, I possess the skills to hook up another one or, at the very least, swab the offending machinery with Q-Tip technology, and the presence of multiple communities, of which my beloved Unitarian Universalists are one, with whom to plan, contend, laugh, build and belong. And these are also the last thoughts I permit myself before I go to bed. Making gratitude mandatory ensures that it is as inevitable as the feelings of doubt, remorse, frustration and unworthiness we all feel. Theres a stridently gluten-intolerant teen coming to Thanksgiving this year, and Im even grateful for that. Marty Barrett, Vice President Unitarian Universalist Church of the Verdugo Hills (UUVerdugo) A Fountain Valley man was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of making threats against members of Cal State Long Beachs La Raza Student Assn. in September. Christopher David Cook, 40, was arrested by university police officers after an investigation, said university Police Chief Fernando Solorzano. For the record: An earlier version of this post incorrectly identified the person arrested as David James Cook. The man arrested is Christopher David Cook, 40, of Fountain Valley. Cook faces five counts of making criminal threats, according to court records. University President Jane Close Conoley said in a statement that the Los Angeles County district attorneys office is pursuing hate-crime enhancements in the case. The La Raza Student Assn.s stated mission is to meet social, cultural, political and academic needs of students who identify with Latino or Latina and Chicano or Chicana heritage or experience. Association representatives did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Wednesday. We made progress in this case because of the information and assistance from the victims and other members of our campus, Solorzano said in a statement. The university Police Department stands with the entire Long Beach State community in the goal of inclusive excellence. Cook was scheduled to appear Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court. In an earlier case, he pleaded no contest to a vandalism charge in April 2009 and received three years probation, according to court records. Daniel Langhorne is a contributor to Times Community News. It could be getting easier to build a granny flat in Fountain Valley. The City Council agreed on a 4-1 vote Tuesday to the first reading of an ordinance that would update local rules for the secondary units. This comes in line with a new state law intended to make accessory units, an affordable-by-design housing type, easier to build. Granny flats, also known by city planners as accessory dwelling units, can be attached, unattached or within a larger home, and can include backyard cottages or apartments built in basements or above garages. Under the new ordinance, units built within a half-mile of the citys busiest bus lines routes along Euclid Street, Edinger Avenue and Harbor Boulevard, where buses stop at 15-minute intervals or shorter during the peak commute times will be exempted from having dedicated parking. All other units must have one parking space per unit, or per bedroom, whichever is less. City planner Steve Ayers told the council thats a loosening of the citys earlier rules for secondary units. Previous city ordinances required one enclosed parking space per bedroom of a secondary unit, then one space for every bedroom in the unit. The relaxed parking requirements triggered Councilman Mark McCurdy to cast the dissenting vote. It seems almost car-hostile to me, he said. It seems like an increasing war on our vehicles and our autonomy and our independence. The ordinance needs a final reading, at a future council meeting, to go into effect. Also under the new rules, either the main or accessory unit must be owner-occupied and the accessory unit cannot be sold separately or offered for short-term rental. The accessory units square footage cannot exceed half of the main units, or 1,200 square feet, and the lot size must be at least 7,200 square feet to have a secondary unit. The new state law allows cities continued discretion on zoning, lot and unit size and aesthetics. Provided the units meet the basic standards, they could be approved without a public hearing. Councilman Steve Nagel voted for the changes, but said he did so reluctantly. This has been handed down by the state, and we are mandated to do this. We dont want to do it, he said. It has taken our local control from us. This is one of the reasons why we try to be part of the California League of Cities and the ACC-OC [Assn. of California Cities-Orange County], is that we work real hard to try to fight the state on this and even with all the cities involved with it this what we ended up with. Newport Beach passed a granny-flats ordinance earlier this year. Costa Mesas version has cleared the city planning commission and will go before the City Council next. Laguna Beach is working on an ordinance to present to its planning commission in December. hillary.davis@latimes.com Twitter: @Daily_PilotHD Huntington Beach police detectives are still investigating the circumstances leading to the deaths of two brothers whose bodies were found with gunshot wounds in their apartment on Taft Lane over the weekend. Police responded to the 15700 block of Taft at about 2:45 p.m. Sunday after receiving a medical emergency call from the apartment. Officers found the two men dead inside, police spokeswoman Angela Bennett said. The Orange County coroners office identified the brothers as Benjamin Ullestad, 25, and Brandon Ullestad, 22. Officers found a handgun at the scene, but Bennett said its too early to say definitively whether it was used in the shooting. Authorities have not ruled out the possibility of a murder-suicide or an accident, Bennett said. The investigation is ongoing, so no determination has been made yet, she said Tuesday. However, police do not believe there are any outstanding suspects, she said. Benjamin Ullestad was a legal assistant at Seastrom Seastrom & Tuttle, a Newport Beach family law firm, according to his Facebook page. Representatives of the firm did not return a call seeking comment Tuesday. Both brothers attended Cal State Long Beach, according to their Facebook pages. The university would not verify that Tuesday. Photos posted to Benjamin Ullestads Facebook page show him riding a dirt bike; others show him shooting a handgun at a firing range and posing with a rifle in the desert. Brandon Ullestads Facebook page also has photos of him shooting and posing with a rifle. At the apartment Tuesday, the only indication of the shooting was the presence of a representative of the Bio-One crime scene cleaning service. A man who declined to give his name but identified himself as the owner of the building wore surgical gloves as he loaded full trash bags into the back of an SUV. The open door to the second-story apartment was adorned with an autumn-themed wreath bearing plastic leaves and pumpkins. A photo of a blond woman with two young boys posing on a rock at a beach hung on the wall near the door. The building owner said the brothers mother, who lived with them at the apartment, was in Tennessee when the shooting occurred. A DMV registration certificate issued to Brandon Ullestad for a 2002 Ford Mustang GT and a receipt dated June 28 for a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun from firearms manufacturer Springfield Armory sat on a table next to the doorway. Neighbors said Tuesday that they remembered how one of the brothers often would wave as he backed the Mustang out of the garage. Benjamin Price, 42, who lives about a block from the apartment, said Monday that the case is out of character for the neighborhood a tidy pair of cul-de-sacs next to Marina Park. Aside from an occasional scuffle at the park, Price said he couldnt recall any significant incident in the 10 years hes lived in his home on Cross Drive. This is the first time Ive ever heard of anything like this happening, he said. For the most part, its really quiet. Another Cross Drive resident, Peter Buchmueller, 72, said he saw at least 12 police cars respond to the shooting on Sunday. Its terrible, he said. Fry and Money are Daily Pilot staff writers. Langhorne is a contributor to Times Community News. hannah.fry@latimes.com Twitter: @HannahFryTCN luke.money@latimes.com Twitter @LukeMMoney A Costa Mesa man was found sane Tuesday and could face life in prison without possibility of parole for murdering his ex-girlfriends father and attempting to murder her brother in 2009, resulting in a standoff with Irvine police. Alwyn Gibson II, 32, was convicted by a jury Nov. 13 of murder, attempted murder and aggravated assault. On Tuesday, the jury also found him legally sane. His sentencing at a Dec. 15 hearing could be influenced by enhancements of murder during the commission of a robbery and personal discharge of a firearm causing great bodily injury. On Feb. 20, 2009, Gibson entered the Irvine home of his former girlfriends family carrying a handgun while they were having dinner, prosecutors said. His ex-girlfriend no longer lived there and was not present. Gibson placed a large piece of fruit over the barrel of his weapon to muffle the sound of gunshots and demanded money from the family, prosecutors said. He riffled through his ex-girlfriends mothers purse and fired one round into her arm. According to authorities, Gibson forced the former girlfriends father, De Ngoc Le, 60, and his son Michael into an upstairs room, where he ordered them to kneel. He then fatally shot the father in the back of the head and shot Michael Le in the back of the neck, causing him to be hospitalized in serious condition for several days. Michaels brother escaped and ran to a neighbors house for help, prosecutors said. An Irvine police SWAT team responded to the house in the 100 block of Rainstar, where Gibson engaged in a standoff with officers for hours. He surrendered early the next morning. Afterward, Gibsons father told the Los Angeles Times that his son had moved to California six months earlier to live with his girlfriend of about three years. After the couple split up, Gibson moved to Texas, where he rented a house near his father and started working at a minimum-security prison. He resigned after two months on the job, his father said. Gibsons father said his son was admitted to a Southern California hospital for psychiatric evaluation in 2008. DANIEL LANGHORNE is a contributor to Times Community News. A couple weeks ago I wrote about the abrupt and unexpected removal of Katrina Foley as mayor of Costa Mesa by three members of the City Council: Jim Righeimer, Allan Mansoor and Sandra Genis. At the time no reason was given by those three council members for this unprecedented action, so the community was left to speculate. Since that meeting many members of the community expected hoped for some clarity on this issue. Many expected Genis to provide a reason, but that was not to be. She remained basically mute on this historic issue. Tuesday night the City Council met once again and, as expected, many members of the public stepped up to express their concern about Foleys ouster and asked some demanded a reason. They received none. Not only that, but adding insult to injury, during council member comments after Foley used her time to thank those supporting her, informing us shes not giving up, will continue to work hard on behalf of the city and advising us that she was joining other Orange County city officials on a journey to Washington, D.C., in December to seek federal assistance with the Sober Living Home issue Righeimer used part of his time to accuse her of being a cancer. His exact words were, Theres a cancer in this city and that cancer is Katrina Foley. Later he also accused Foley and fellow council member John Stephens of creating a hostile workplace at City Hall. As despicable as those accusations are, that last one is truly ironic since Righeimers policies had created a toxic workplace at City Hall. Dozens of senior employees left for either early retirement or to other jurisdictions where their professionalism was appreciated. And his refusal to negotiate labor contracts made it virtually impossible to attract and retain new employees across the board. Three years ago he refused to let the Costa Mesa Police Department recruit for more than eight months, creating a staffing hole that will take until the end of 2018 to fill. Those of us looking for a more conciliatory atmosphere on the dais Tuesday night came away disappointed. Based on what we saw, it does appear that now-Mayor Genis has changed sides and joined Righeimer and Mansoor in their quest to regain power. It certainly appears that Righeimer has set his sights on Foley to quash her probable run for mayor next year and, in the process, he seems more than willing to destroy her professional reputation. These are indeed sad times for politics in Costa Mesa. As Ive said many times before, Righeimer is the worst thing to ever happen to my city, period. Geoff West Costa Mesa Why did Genis switch sides? It has finally dawned on me what happened to cause the Costa Mesa City Council debacle. Its this: Sandra Genis is now a member of the Good Old Boys Club. I wonder at what cost. Sylvia Hatton Costa Mesa OCWD should follow South Coasts lead Kudos to the South Coast Water District Board for having the intelligence and foresight to determine that ownership of their own desalination plant was preferable to partnership with Poseidon, which would set the price and the amount of water that it would be obligated to buy. If only the Orange Coast Water District Board was so enlightened and made the same decision, realizing that agreeing to a 50-year contract to daily buy the 50 million gallons of water that Poseidon produced, whether or not they could use that water, at a price twice the amount that they could obtain elsewhere, is not in the best interest of its ratepayers. There is still time for the OCWD to reconsider. Richard C. Armendariz Huntington Beach How to get published: Email us at dailypilot@latimes.com. All correspondence must include full name, hometown and phone number (for verification purposes). The Pilot reserves the right to edit all submissions for clarity and length. La Canada Elementary School fifth-graders reflected on gratitude Friday in an annual tradition designed to bookmark early American history lessons and connect the first Thanksgiving in 1621 between European settlers and members of the Wampanoag tribe to cultural traditions today. Teacher and organizer Barb Drange said the Fifth-Grade Feast predates her 27 years at the school, but is a tradition most students, parents and staff members look forward to. It also helps students compare and contrast traditions they learned about in class with the ways families currently celebrate Thanksgiving. Its not only that we study the beginnings of American history, Drange said. It also continues with cultural traditions of the United States. For the event, students dress in costumes and clothing inspired by what the pilgrims and Native Americans wore in the 17th century. Drange said students may not have been able to get their hands on authentic pieces but did study period dress among settlers and different tribes from that era. Feasting together at Fridays event, which opened with a song of gratitude and a moment of silence for individual reflections, were classmates Lauren Kim and Siena Babaian, who dressed as pilgrims, and Kiera Horne, who wore clothing reminiscent of Native American garb. They contemplated the meaning of Thanksgiving in 1621. [The first Thanksgiving] was when Native Americans and pilgrims came together and it was happy, said Horne, who also explained her choice of dress for the feast. I liked the Native Americans, because they made the land their home. They were there first, and they got kicked off their land. Kim admired the kindness of the Wampanoag tribe members who helped pilgrims adapt to the perils of life in the New World. Pilgrims had a hard time. It was nice how the Native Americans helped them, she said. Babaian said the first settlers had good intentions for their arrival and wanted to be friends with the natives already living there. They were just trying to create a new land, she said. This is why we have America today, because of the pilgrims. Nearby, fifth-grade mom Kim Lauxen served up Thanksgiving standards to hungry feasters. A counselor at La Canada High School, Lauxen used to teach at LCE and enjoyed the feast as a fun moment of togetherness and appreciation before school let out for the Thanksgiving holiday. When daughter Dani Carbert got to fifth-grade, she couldnt wait to participate. I was excited about it because this was the year I got to be a parent, she said. They take it to a level of where its not just dressing up theyre researching tribes everything is brought to life. In February, students will continue the lesson with a trip to Valley Forge, Pa., one of the battlegrounds of the American Revolution, and to Philadelphia to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. Drange said what students learn in fifth grade, and their memories of events like the annual feast and the Valley Forge trip, make a lasting impact. Were really glad our students have a strong history program, she said. Some of our students know more about American history than our adults do. sara.cardine@latimes.com Twitter: @SaraCardine Set sail for a week of scenic wonders paired with an onboard conference on Alzheimers and other dementia-related illnesses. The cruise is for caregivers and family members with early-stage Alzheimers and dementia as well senior-care practitioners. The excursion will depart from Seattle and visit Juneau, Glacier Bay, Sitka and Ketchikan, Alaska, as well as Victoria, Canada. A panel of experts will address the cruise/conference theme, Connecting Circles of Care and Building Bridges of Hope. The cruise will sail on Holland Americas Eurodam ship. Advertisement Date: Sept. 15-22 Price: From $1,510 per person, double occupancy, for an inside cabin. Includes accommodations, transportation, food and conference activities. Airfare, insurance and gratuities not included. Info: www.alzcruisealaska.org, email kathy.shoaf@cruiseplanners.com or call (219) 608-2002 ALSO New 100-passenger Celebrity Flora will explore Galapagos Islands on weeklong itineraries With renovations and new restaurants, LAX hotels are taking off Keep your holiday sane with these tips travel@latimes.com Twitter: @latimestravel The State Department is telling American travelers headed to Europe to exercise caution at holiday festivals and events because of the risk of terrorist attacks. The renewed alert cites past incidents in France, Russia, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Spain and Finland carried out the by Islamic State, Al Qaeda and other terror groups, according to the State Departments website. Tourist locations, transportation hubs, markets and shopping malls as well as hotels, restaurants, etc., are all potential soft targets, the alert said. Advertisement It was issued Nov. 16 and remains in effect through Jan. 31. #Europe Travel Alert Renewal: heightened risk of terrorist attacks throughout Europe, particularly during the holiday season. Exercise caution at holiday festivals and events. https://t.co/TYnCR3bHZL Travel - State Dept (@TravelGov) November 16, 2017 The State Department issues travel alerts for short-term events that Americans may want to consider when planning their trips. Travel warnings are more serious, recommending that U.S. travelers seriously consider whether they should visit a particular country at all. The State Department offers these tips for travelers heading to Europe (or really anywhere outside the country): Stay on top of news about whats happening at your destination. Be prepared to face additional screening at security checkpoints during the holiday season. Make sure family members know how to reach you, and craft an emergency plan of action. Register with the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program, or STEP, to receive security messages from the State Department, which may make it easier to get help in an emergency. Info: Europe Travel Alert ALSO Black Friday-Cyber Monday deals at 16 hotels that put luxury within reach What to pack, when to hit the road, for your Thanksgiving holiday trip When it comes to getting to the airport, err on the side of caution because the odds are never in your favor Keep your holiday sane with these tips travel@latimes.com @latimestravel Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. United States military officials Wednesday released dramatic video showing the daring defection and eventual rescue of a North Korean soldier who barreled across the Demilitarized Zone in a truck and then ran as fellow troops fired on him. The video, shot the afternoon of Nov. 13, shows the soldier speeding down a road toward the Joint Security Area, a border outpost thats been the site of military skirmishes and diplomatic talks between the Koreas, still technically at war, and the U.S. The soldier can be seen driving in a green military-style vehicle past a North Korean checkpoint before wheeling past a monument inside the area, where soldiers from both sides of the conflict are posted in relatively close proximity. The footage is a series of videos taken from different cameras at different angles. Advertisement At the start of the most dramatic section of the video, around the 2:27 mark, North Korean soldiers can be seen running from a building that faces the South Korean side of the compound. They pursue the soldier, firing as he abandons his vehicle, which appeared stuck in a grassy area. He then runs, collapsing against a concrete wall amid a pile of fallen leaves. At around the 6-minute mark, South Korean soldiers can be seen crawling to rescue the defector. They finally reach him and drag him to safety. The soldier, shot several times, underwent surgery and treatment for parasitic worms, doctors said, before regaining consciousness on Tuesday. His prognosis is uncertain. The incident one of many over the years at the border crossing has captured the attention of South Korean news media amid heightened tensions over the communist countrys development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. During the incident, U.S. forces say, a North Korean soldier crossed a military demarcation line a potential violation of the uneasy armistice between the countries set after the Korean War. The incident is among many skirmishes over the years at the location, a famous spot among tourists and visiting dignitaries because of its close proximity to North Korean soldiers. When U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited the site in the spring, soldiers from the North could be seen peering into one of the huts designated for inter-Korean talks. The site has been generally quiet in recent years, but in the 1980s a Russian tourist tried to flee from the North, causing a shootout that killed four soldiers. Among the most famous skirmishes was the 1976 ax murder incident. In that case, United States and South Korean forces attempting to trim a poplar tree on the border in the summer of 1976 were attacked by North Korean counterparts wielding axes and knives. Two U.S. Army officers, Arthur Bonifas and Mark Barrett, were killed. The incident prompted President Ford to approve Operation Paul Bunyan, a massive show of force three days later in which dozens of allied service members including some in attack helicopters and long-range bombers supervised the felling of the tree. A memorial remains in its place. One of the soldiers there was Moon Jae-in, now South Koreas president. United States military officials here said their investigation shows that North Korean forces violated the armistice agreement by firing their weapons across the military demarcation line, which is intended to prevent armed skirmishes at the site. American officials said that North Korean officials received a notice Wednesday about the alleged violations and that a meeting had been requested to discuss the issue. Army Gen. Vincent Brooks, who commands U.S. forces in South Korea and at the DMZ, said security forces on the South Korean side of the compound acted appropriately and sought to deescalate the situation. The armistice agreement was challenged, but it remains in place, he said in a written statement. Stiles is a special correspondent. ALSO Michigan man found wandering near DMZ is deported, South Korean officials confirm Family reels after man freed from North Korean prison found burned to death in San Diego Was Border Patrol agent beaten to death by immigrants in Texas? Or did he fall? The FBI is not sure U.S. Navy aircraft carrying 11 crashes into the Pacific Ocean; 8 have been found in good condition South Korean authorities have deported an American man caught wandering last week near the highly fortified border with North Korea, officials here confirmed Wednesday. The deportation to the United States ends a bizarre journey for Bruce Byron Lowrance of Michigan, who authorities say came to the region because of the confrontation between North Korea and the international community over the communist nations illicit nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. Authorities said he told them he wanted to help resolve the conflict. After a tip from a villager in a rural border area, authorities on Nov. 13. caught Lowrance in a restricted area near the demilitarized zone the dangerous, mine-laden border between the North and South. He was captured in Yeoncheon County, about 40 miles north of Seoul. Advertisement Details about Lowrances travels, his detention and subsequent deportation proceedings have largely remained secret, with South Korean officials declining to comment, citing their strict privacy rules. Officials at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, also citing privacy considerations for American citizens overseas, have said only that they were aware of the case and that they offered appropriate consular services. They declined to comment Wednesday. But South Korean government officials confirmed this week that Lowrance had been removed from the country, probably on Tuesday from Incheon International Airport, the countrys main airline hub on the outskirts of Seoul. Details about the precise departure time and final destination werent released. Public records about Lowrance, age 58 or 59, are limited. His trip to South Korea came at a time of heightened tension between the United States and North Korea, which has test-launched dozens of ballistic missiles and conducted underground nuclear detonations in recent years in defiance of U.N. resolutions. It also came just days after President Trump visited Seoul as part of a 12-day, five-nation tour through Asia that also took him to Japan, China, Vietnam and the Philippines. Efforts to curb North Koreas nuclear ambitions, in addition to international trade, topped Trumps agenda on the trip. In another example of the daily tension along the border, a North Korean soldier was shot by his countrymen on the same day as Lowrances capture as he fled across the border in an apparent effort to defect. South Korean soldiers rescued the man, who was riddled with bullets. The soldier, who during surgery was found to have parasitic worms, regained consciousness Tuesday, but his injuries are still considered life-threatening. The shooting has captured widespread media attention here, overshadowing Lowrances capture and deportation. South Korean army Gen. Suh Wook told lawmakers in a hearing last week that Lowrance, whose surname was misspelled and transposed in some previous media reports, came to South Korea on Nov. 3. Suh said Lowrance is believed to have stayed in Seoul, the capital, and Munsan, a border community not far from the so-called joint security area, which has been the site of military skirmishes and diplomatic talks between the two Koreas, technically still at war. Suh, a top operational official in the South Korean military leadership, said Lowrance who wasnt named at the hearing made confusing or contradictory statements during an investigation after he was found in the civilian control line, a miles-wide buffer zone along the fortified border. A villager spotted Lowrance on Nov. 13, and authorities took him to a provincial police office north of Seoul. His travels since then are unclear, though one South Korean official said this week that Lowrance had been held at an immigration facility in the city of Hwaseong, about 20 miles south of Seoul. Lowrance made an incoherent testimony during the investigation, Suh said in response to lawmakers questions about Lowrances mental state. He testified that he could contribute in some way in North Korea. Stiles is a special correspondent. ALSO Watch dramatic video showing North Korean forces chasing, firing on defecting soldier Was Border Patrol agent beaten to death by immigrants in Texas? Or did he fall? The FBI is not sure U.S. Navy aircraft carrying 11 crashes into the Pacific Ocean; 8 have been found in good condition Not since the Nazi era had such atrocities taken place in the heart of Europe. In the streets of Sarajevo, a once-cosmopolitan capital, terrified civilians spent their days dodging snipers bullets and shellfire, a years-long urban siege that ultimately left 10,000 people dead. In the supposed U.N. haven of Srebrenica, some 8,000 Muslim men and boys as young as 12 were herded to the slaughter, their bodies tossed into mass graves. Advertisement On Wednesday, a U.N. tribunal found former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic known as the Butcher of Bosnia guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity amid the blood-soaked breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Mladic, 74, was sentenced to life in prison as a key figure in a push to create a home for Bosnian Serbs by clearing away non-Serbs during Bosnias 1992-1995 war. The culmination of this final major prosecution by the United Nations-backed International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia raised hopes among many that the accused architects of present-day atrocities, such as Syrias President Bashar Assad, might also one day face justice. But Mladics conviction, more than two decades in the making, also illustrated the many obstacles to bringing war criminals to account. Here is some background about this prosecution and what it might portend for future cases: Who is Ratko Mladic? Mladic served as chief of staff of Bosnian Serb forces from 1992 to 1996. Together with the late Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic, he was the best-known of scores of defendants brought before the tribunal, which ultimately handed down more than 80 convictions. In the dock at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, the Dutch seat of government, the old general was paler and thinner, clad in a suit and tie on the day of his sentencing. But he was in many ways still clearly recognizable as the onetime burly military man in sloppy fatigues who presided over years of systematic slaughter in the name of greater Serbia. As Wednesdays final session began, his demeanor was almost jaunty, giving photographers a thumbs-up and making the sign of the cross. But soon after, Mladic bellowed out his fury in an obscenity-laced tirade as the court prepared to sentence him. Lies! he shouted as he was bundled out of the room You are all liars! He watched his sentencing from a nearby room, via closed-circuit TV. A screen grab from video provided by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia shows former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic shouting at the presiding judge in The Hague on Nov. 22, 2017. (EPA/Shutterstock ) Why did it take so long to bring him to justice? The U.N. Security Council set up the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia more than two decades ago. But after being indicted in 1995, Mladic spent years in hiding, aided for much of that time by the Serbian military, before being captured in 2011. Once underway, the proceedings against him spanned five years, with more than 600 witnesses, thousands of pages of documentation and a mountain of forensic evidence. After the war, Mladic found luxurious haven in Serbian army-run spa-and-hunting resorts. But as democratic leaders gained clout and his military backing evaporated, he was reduced to primitive lodgings in a rural house north of Belgrade, belonging to a cousin, where he was arrested. What were considered the worst of the atrocities Mladic oversaw? During the siege of Sarajevo, which Mladic personally oversaw from mountains ringing the city, pitiless gunfire and artillery shells rained down for 43 months. Forced from the meager shelter of their homes by the need for supplies, civilians daily died gruesome deaths, children bleeding out in the arms of their mothers, the elderly cut down as they shopped for vegetables, the infirm unable to move quickly enough across exposed intersections. Srebrenica, near Bosnias eastern border with Serbia, was designated as a U.N. haven. But forces under Mladics command overran lightly armed Dutch peacekeepers. Muslim men and boys were separated from women and hustled onto buses or marched off to the killing fields. Thousands lay in unmarked graves; Bosnian Serb forces later dug up some of them in an effort to cover up the massacre, the worst mass killing of its kind in Europe since World War II. Mladic was an architect of a sinister campaign that saw the term ethnic cleansing enter the global lexicon in this case, a bid to purge Bosnia of hundreds of thousands of non-Serbs. He also seized U.N. peacekeepers as a human shield against NATO bombardment. In The Hague, presiding Judge Alphons Orie, reading out the judgment, called the former commanders crimes among the most heinous known to humankind. In an echo of the Nuremberg tribunals, Mladic repeatedly insisted in the course of the trial that he was merely following orders. Why was it difficult to prove Mladics guilt in some crimes? Unrepentant to the end, Mladic pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him, and his lawyers said he would appeal his conviction. The former commander was found guilty of 10 of the 11 counts against him. But prosecutors acknowledged that for jurisdictional and evidentiary reasons, he could not be held to account for all of his alleged crimes those in neighboring Croatia, for example, were not included in the docket of charges against him. Procedural delays and an aging demographic among the accused can make cases like this one a race against time. Milosevic died before his trial ended, and as Mladics health deteriorated, prosecutors reportedly feared the same outcome. What does the case say about the prospects for prosecuting someone like Syrias Assad? While not referring to the Syrian leader by name, U.N. human rights chief Zeid Raad Hussein said the Mladic verdict put perpetrators of atrocity on notice that they could be called to account years or even decades later. A similar message came from many rights groups worldwide. John Dalhuisen, Amnesty Internationals Europe director, said the verdict sent a powerful message against impunity in crimes of this nature and magnitude. Efforts are being made to lay groundwork for a possible war-crimes case against Assad. Various organizations are working to preserve evidence, and Congress has held hearings on atrocities in Syria. But pitfalls await. As this case showed, powerful patrons can offer refuge to accused war criminals for many years after a conflict winds down. And Mladics saga showed that even the meticulous documentation of war crimes sometimes does little to dent the popular support of a murderous dictator or general. In some cases, the airing of wrenchingly explicit evidence in an international tribunal helps ensure that the legend lives on. Serbia is now a democracy that aspires to join the European Union, but in some quarters, Mladic is still viewed as a nationalist hero. The tribunals chief prosecutor, Serge Brammertz, called the verdict a sign that international justice can work. But he conceded: Impunity is more the rule than the exception. How did the victims respond? While welcomed by survivors, the verdict brought little real rejoicing. Munira Subasic of the Mothers of Srebrenica group, made up of relatives and survivors of the 1995 massacre, recalled Mladic summoning TV cameras and handing out chocolates to children, assuring them there was no reason to be fearful. After the cameras left he gave an order to kill whoever could be killed, rape whoever could be raped, she told the Reuters news agency. But there was a measure of satisfaction for some. Fikret Alic was photographed in a Bosnian Serb-run detention camp in 1992 with his shockingly emaciated frame, naked from the waist up, visible through barbed wire. On Wednesday, he was in The Hague. Alics picture, which appeared on the cover of Time magazine, became an emblem of the wars savagery. He held a copy of it as he spoke to reporters after the verdict was read out. Justice has won, he declared. laura.king@latimes.com @laurakingLAT Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri said Wednesday he would wait before putting his resignation into effect, opening a path to solving a crisis that has thrown the tiny Mediterranean nation into turmoil. Hariri met Wednesday morning with President Michel Aoun to personally tender his resignation almost three weeks after he announced it from Saudi Arabia, under what many believed was pressure from the kingdoms leaders to counter Iranian influence in the region. I presented my resignation to his excellency the president, who wished that I wait on tendering it for more consultations on its reasons and backgrounds, Hariri told reporters a day after he returned to Lebanon. Advertisement He added that he had agreed to Aouns request so as to have a dialogue to treat contentious issues and their consequences on the relations of Lebanon with the Arab brothers. But much remained unclear, including what made him change his mind, how long he will remain in office and how much of a role Saudi Arabia may have played in his decisions. Hariris televised resignation speech on Nov. 4, in which he said he feared for his life, surprised even close aides. Many in Lebanon suspected that the Gulf kingdom coerced Hariri, a Lebanese-Saudi dual national who has received backing from the Saudi royal family, into making the announcement. Rumors swirled that he was being detained against his will, even though Hariri and Saudi officials denied it. Hariris sudden resignation came as Saudi Arabias ambitious crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has been pushing back against growing Iranian influence. The kingdom, a Sunni Muslim powerhouse, is opposed to the participation of Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Shiite political movement with a potent armed wing, in a coalition government with Hariri. In his speech, Hariri echoed the talking points of Saudi leaders: He excoriated Iran and Hezbollah for meddling in Arab affairs -- specifically the civil war ravaging neighboring Syria, where the group has dispatched its operatives to bolster the troops of Syrian President Bashar Assad. That night, Saudi forces announced they had shot down a missile aimed at the capital, Riyadh, by Iran-aligned rebels in Yemen an attack Saudi leaders labeled an act of war by Iran and Hezbollah. With fears mounting of a new conflagration in the region, local officials and international diplomats scrambled to de-escalate the crisis in Lebanon. Lebanese of all political stripes rallied around Hariri. Aoun, an ally of Hezbollah, refused to consider his resignation until he submitted it in person. Posters of Hariri appeared on walls across the capital, Beirut, including in his rivals strongholds. On Saturday, Hariri traveled to Paris at the invitation of French President Emmanuel Macron. He then made stops in Egypt and Cyprus for consultations with their leaders Tuesday before his late-night return to Lebanon. One of his first stops was to Martyrs Square in downtown Beirut to pray at the tomb of his father, the late Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who was killed in a 2005 bombing. On Wednesday, thousands of his supporters crowded outside Hariris Beirut home to welcome him back, waving flags, beating drums and singing along to patriotic songs blaring from loudspeakers. Hariri assured them he would remain in Lebanon. I am staying with you and will continue with you to be the first line of defense for Lebanon, for Lebanons stability and for Lebanons Arabness, he said to wild cheers. Ghezwa Naameh, a 53-year-old social worker from the southern city of Tyre who had draped a national flag around her shoulders, looked relieved. Weve had enough of wars, she said. I want to live in a country that is peaceful and stable and independent. But Hariris brief remarks Wednesday provided few clues about the reasons for his departure or his future plans, leaving some in the crowd unsettled. He should be clear, said Amr Moussa, a 50-year-old school bus driver who brought his wife and three children to Beirut from the far northern region of Akkar to hear Hariri speak. He should say what he has to say in front of all the people and in front of the president. Earlier, Hariri stood beside Aoun and parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri at a military parade in downtown Beirut for Independence Day. Hariri seemed more at ease than he had been in weeks, at times even cracking a smile at a joke from Aoun as Lebanese army and police troops goose-stepped past the three leaders. It was a marked contrast from his earlier appearances in Riyadh where in one interview he appeared to almost break down in tears, even as he insisted he was a free man. Although Hariri has given the government breathing space to negotiate a way out of the countrys crisis, it is unclear what concessions he might get from Hezbollah. The group, which is the mainstay of a political bloc that is arrayed against Hariris own Saudi-backed bloc, enjoys widespread popularity in the country. Its armed wing is also thought to be stronger than the Lebanese army. Many in Lebanon including Aoun see its intervention in Syria as a bulwark against Syrian rebel groups, who in the early days of the crisis would often cross the border into Lebanon to regroup and resupply. Lebanon had distanced itself, but unfortunately, the others did not do so, Aoun said in a speech Tuesday. When the war started in Syria, terrorist organizations penetrated our eastern borders in an attempt to control the villages and towns they could. In a veiled barb at Saudi Arabia, a top supporter of Syrias opposition, he asked, From where did this terrorism come to Lebanon? Who sent it? Who funded? Who armed and trained it? Nevertheless, Hezbollahs head, Hassan Nasrallah, has indicated that the group could reduce its presence in Iraq and elsewhere after helping claw back Islamic States last bastions in the area. Times staff writer Zavis reported from Beirut and special correspondent Bulos from Amman, Jordan. alexandra.zavis@latimes.com UPDATES: 12:30 p.m.: This article was updated with additional reaction and background. This article was originally published at 8:15 a.m. Preparing teens for their futures with soft skills Businesses of every size and industry continue to identify labor shortages as a top challenge across the country and... Where to find non-partisan ballot information Thank you for your non-biased bullet points explaining the three state ballot proposals in "A look at the three state... Conservative leader Andrew Scheer blasted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for the Liberal plan to reintegrate Canadians who return to the country after fighting for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. These are people who got on a plane to fight for ISIS and watched as our allied soldiers were burned to death in a cage. These are people who got on a plane to go to fight for an organization that sells women and girls into slavery. These are people who left Canada to fight for a group of people who push homosexuals off buildings just for being gay, Scheer told the House of Commons Monday. Can the Prime Minister explain to the House exactly what a program or reintegration service would look like for the people who commit these kinds of atrocities? Authorities in North Carolina this week arrested the suspect in a 24-year-old homicide in Allentown, according to city police and court records. Marcello V. Morales, 46, is accused of stabbing to death 30-year-old Edwin "Eddy" Torres early on the morning of June 26, 1993, in the 200 block of North Seventh Street, according to Allentown police. Now-retired Detective Sgt. Glenn Granitz Sr., whose son is now an Allentown police captain, obtained a warrant for Morales' arrest on June 28, 1993, police Capt. Bill Lake said Wednesday. Morales has been wanted ever since on charges of criminal homicide and possession of an instrument of crime. "Morales' whereabouts remained unknown until recently, as a result of continued investigation by members of the Allentown Police Department's Cold Case Team and the Lehigh County Homicide Task Force, and with the assistance of Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Marshals Service," Lake said. Morales was arrested without incident Tuesday in Apex, North Carolina, Lake said. The suspect had been living in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, under a new name, Roberto Tomas Mendez, court records state. He moved to North Carolina in 1995, WRAL-TV5 reports. Morales was sent to Wake County Jail in North Carolina to await extradition to Lehigh County. Assisting in the investigation were the Lehigh County Coroner's and District Attorney's offices, in addition to the county homicide task force and federal Department of Homeland Security and Marshals Service. Authorities would not immediately comment on a motive for the decades-old killing. Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. LEBANON The Oregon Government Ethics Commission has concluded an investigation into an ethics complaint filed against a member of the Lebanon School Board with a "letter of education." The commission provided a copy of its stipulated final order to Jerry Williams in response to a public records request. Williams signed the order on Sept. 12 and Daniel T. Golden, chairman of the commission, signed it Oct. 6. "In lieu of a civil penalty Mr. Williams will receive a letter of education to settle and compromise this matter," the order reads. "Once approved, this agreement shall be the final disposition of the matter and shall be binding upon all parties." Retired Lebanon teacher Jennifer Walter filed the complaint against Williams on March 29, accusing him of acting unethically by voting, on two occasions, on board agenda items that affected his daughter's job as a Lebanon elementary principal. Williams had joined a unanimous vote to hire his daughter, Amanda Plummer, as assistant principal at Pioneer School as part of a June 2015 consent agenda. He also joined a unanimous vote to transfer her to Green Acres Elementary School as principal on a May 2016 consent agenda. Williams is no longer a member of the school board, having lost his bid for re-election last spring. He acknowledged the votes but said he believed he was acting in accordance with ethics laws that allow such votes for a "class exception." He said he received verbal assurance from the Oregon School Boards Association that the class exception applied. The class exception states a public official does not violate nepotism rules if he or she is taking action on an item that affects a class of people, including the spouse or relative, all to the same degree. The consent agendas for both the 2015 and 2016 votes included decisions on multiple hires, although not all personnel were being considered for positions as principals. School Board Association representatives had previously told the Democrat-Herald they had no way of confirming whether Williams or anyone associated with him had sought advice on a class exception vote. Following the settlement, association spokesman Alex Pulaski said he could not comment on any specific situations involving a member and would not address the appropriateness of Williams' actions. Generally speaking, however, he said: "The answer that we would tend to give is this: You should declare a conflict of interest, you should not participate in the discussion and you should not vote. The state's Ethics Commission is the agency with authority to determine what constitutes a class. Williams said his takeaway from the resolution was that he should have contacted the commission for advice on the vote rather than the School Boards Association. "That was never a part of my training, to say, 'Hey, you have to call the state Ethics Commission any time you vote on a group,'" Williams said. Williams said he's glad the matter has been resolved. "I think it went well," he said. "They had said that I did what I thought was right, except I should have gone one step further." Walter said she's satisfied with the outcome. "I just wanted him to admit his error," she said. A Monasterevin man has been fined for stealing a wallet in a Portlaoise bookmakers. At last weeks sitting of Portlaoise District Court, Vincent Hannon (65), Ard Evan Grove, Monasterevin, was charged with theft, at Paddy Power, Main Street, Portlaoise. Inspector Ollie Baker gave evidence that on May 23 this year, the gardai were alerted to the theft of a wallet. The injured party had left the wallet on a table and when he returned it was gone. CCTV footage showed the accused taking the wallet and leaving the bookmakers. Inside the wallet was 40 cash and 20 in vouchers. The accused was arrested and admitted to the offence and co-operated with the gardai. He had no previous convictions, but Insp Baker said the accused was not eligible for an adult caution. Defence, Ms Louise Troy said her client could not really explain why he did it, but he gave the wallet back to the injured party outside the shop. However, Insp Baker said that the accused claimed he had given the wallet to another gentleman outside the shop, believing it was the injured party. Ms Troy said that the accused, a father and grandfather who previously worked with Dublin Bus for 16 years, had suffered with issues with alcohol and this offence happened during a lapse. Judge Catherine Staines asked did the accused have compensation, to which Ms Troy replied he did not have any money in court. Judge Staines then put the matter back to the afternoon, saying: It never ceases to amaze me how people who committed thefts months ago appear in court looking for more time to pay compensation. When the case was recalled in the afternoon, the accused paid 60 compensation and Judge Staines convicted and fined him 100. Laois residents are objecting to plans to build what has been described as the largest solar farm in Ireland on lands near Timahoe and Stradbally. The proposed development by Lightsource Renewable Energy Ltd, based in Belfast, would be a photovoltaic solar farm comprising photovoltaic panels on ground mounted frames, covering a total site area of approximately 141.45 hectares at Bigbog, Coolnabacky, Esker, Money Lower and Loughteeog, Stradbally. However, Laois County Council has received a number of objections from residents of both Timahoe and Stradbally, objecting to the plans. To consider putting in a solar farm of this scale alongside the proposed massive substation and power lines would have a devastating effect on our landscape, said Colm Fingleton, Powelstown House, Stradbally. He said that the solar farm would completely industrialise the rural countryside which is currently agricultural. Mr Fingleton also challenged the applicants claim that the solar farm will be connected to the proposed Coolnabacca substation, as Eirgrid clearly stated that this substation is not, either in whole or in part, to facilitate the connection of renewables. In separate submissions, Gerard Lowry, Munny, Stradbally, worried about the glint and glare from the solar panels, as well as the possibility of construction work contaminating the water supply at aquifer in Coolnabacca. Pat and Marie Ramsbottom, Ballygormill, Timahoe, and Henry and Elizabeth Ramsbottom, Moore Valley, Timahoe, said they were greatly concerned for the health and wellbeing of their families and the generations of people to come in this community. And Fand Cooney, Powelstown, Ratheniska, Stradbally, said that it appeared that the application is for the largest solar farm in Ireland. He claimed that the planning documents contain significant errors, with one document saying the area is 141 hectares and another saying 42. He said that errors of such a fundamental nature call into question the accuracy of the information in the rest of the application. Further objections were raised by John Lowry, for the Ratheniska Substation Action Group, who said the substation is not for the facilitation of renewable generation; and Jim, Mary, Amanda, Michelle and James Lowry, Moorevalley, Timahoe, who raised concerns over water contamination, the visual effect, and glint and glare. A decision on the planning application is due from Laois County Council by November 26. The lead author of the plan to remove services from Portlaoise hospital is prepared to engage in a public consultation process but cannot do so without the go-ahead from the Minister for Health. The Dublin Midlands Hospital Group's Chief Executive Dr Susan O'Reilly has, to date, declined to engage directly with the public and politicians on the plan. The stance to date has been that any engagement with the public would only take place upon its implementation. In an interview with the Leinster Express she said the DMHG wanted to consult beyond the medical world but was not given the green light by to do so by the Department. Dr O'Reilly insisted the Dublin Midlands Hospital, Portlaoise is a very good and safe hospital. While she stood over the plan which would see the hospital radically reconfigured, she said it is not too late to hear the views of the public. She said that Department of Health's insistence on confidentiality had restricted such a process from taking place heretofore. "Personally, I welcome engagement. It was regarded as a confidential report to the Minister (for Health) to decide on policy. My own view is that I prefer to be very open minded and engaging with the public and professionals and with expert advice. So I think it is never to late to do that (consultation)," she said. Dr O'Reilly agreed with a suggested consultation period lasting six months but added that to date the plan has been seen as 'very much a confidential report' from the Minister's point of view. "I would have hoped there would have been a willingness to engage on it all the way along because I would like to do that. This report is completed in terms of the interdependencies of services. That job is done. The consultation I would welcome is engagement with focus groups and professional staff to a higher degree," she said. "It is not in my gift to do that without the go-ahead from the Department of Health. From my own perspective, we within the group would take guidance from the Minister for Health. I don't know what his advice is going to be but certainly should his advice be that (to consult) we would certainly proceed," she said. Dr O'Reilly said there could be consultation, information sharing and engagement. She said the there was 'frustration' in the DMHG that such engagement could not occur but this was due to the enforced confidentially. "It would be consultation on the proposed plan. This is a proposed plan - I have met the mandate to get the plan to the Department and it is a Ministerial decision about policy," she said. Dr O'Reilly said she would be open to meeting Laois and other TDs, public representatives and a delegation from the Portlaoise Hospital Action Committee. She felt that now that the plan is in the public domain, consultation was needed. She also wants to get a message out to the public and patients. "This is a very good hospital with very good staff absolutely committed to providing safe care and right now they are finding that they feel hurt and worried that they might be viewed as anything other than the very good and excellent people that they are. "It is very important to say that the hospital is safe and the only concerns that we have around patient care relate to these low volume complex services and the challenges of transferring patients out for certain care," she said. She said there has been engagement with individual clinical programmes within the Dublin Midlands Hospital Group, the management of the hospital. She said 50 GPs out of 300 invited attended a meeting in 2015. She said there was a subsequent meeting with GPs which was also attended by current Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. DOWNGRADE MISTAKES WILL NOT BE REPEATED IN PORTLAOISE SAYS HOSPITAL CHIEF The public are being given the chance to recreate the Shelbourne Hotels suites at home when 250 lots of rare furniture from the iconic Dublin hotel are auctioned next week. Plush upholstered chairs and specially-made mahogany furniture are among the items from the hotels famous suites going under the hammer at The Heritage Hotel in Killenard, Co Laois on Wednesday, November 29. The two container loads of stock from the Shelbourne Hotel, which is located on St Stephen's Green, includes many unused items of furniture which are still in their original packaging. The stock is being sold by Niall Mullen, who recently held the biggest auction in the history of the State the 14-hour disposal of the contents of the former Central Bank in Dame Street. Because the rooms in the Shelbourne are quite large and they had a reputation for luxury, each of the rooms contained a double-ended window seat, an upholstered chair and matching stool, said Niall. These were complemented with Sheraton-style mahogany side tables and cabinets. All of these items are in the auction giving a unique opportunity to recreate designed luxury in your home at a discounted price. CYBER MONDAY BLACK FRIDAY DOS & DON'TS The auction also includes 1,000 lots from the famous Browns Barn bar and restaurant on the Naas Road. The Browns Bar collection includes the famous 30-foot stainless steel central bar structure, and every item of furniture and memorabilia, removed with care from the venue. The team involved have carefully removed the entire contents and recreated them with care in Killenard, again presenting a unique opportunity for businesses and homeowners to capture a piece of an iconic building. The auction also includes 150 eclectic pieces including oversized lanterns, taxidermy and antique Irish pine objects. The auction is being conducted by Sean Eacrett Auctions and the full catalogue can be viewed online at ww.easyliveauction.com. Naas Hospital will come under severe overcrowding pressure if there is any downgrading of Portlaoise Hospital. Proposals by the Health Service Executive to close the emergency department in at Midlands Regional Hospital Portlaoise will have a severe knock on effect on the ED at Naas Hospital, according independent Naas councillor Sorcha ONeill. According to the HSE less than half (45%) of the people from county Laois who used hospital day-ward services in 2016 came to hospital in Portlaoise. Most go to a hospital in Dublin or the hospital in Tullamore. According to RTE, Dr. Susan OReilly of the HSE says the basic problem is that too few people are using Portlaoise. She said money or investment could not solve the challenges facing Portlaoise because there were no critical care consultants, looking for a career move, who would want to apply for a post at one of the smallest critical care units in the country. However Cllr ONeill said there is concern over the overflow that will flood Naas as a result of the downgrading of Portlaoise. She added: Naas is already over capacity more often than not. A brother and sister arrested by gardai investigating an alleged murder were allowed to meet one another while in garda custody, a trial heard yesterday (Tuesday) During the "highly unusual" meeting the woman told her brother to "tell the truth" and said that she would be "60 years old when she gets out". The brother is 30-year-old Keith Brady of Cartron Estate, Sligo who has pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of Martin 'Matt' Kivlehan (59) at New Apartments, Holborn St, Sligo on August 2/3 2015. The State rejected his plea and he is on trial at the Central Criminal Court. Superintendent Jim Delaney told Dara Foynes BL for the prosecution that he deemed it appropriate to allow the meeting after Mr Brady's sister Janice told him she was concerned for her brother. She told the then detective inspector about her relationship with Keith and discussed her "chaotic lifestyle". She said she felt responsible for her brother and looks after him even though he is older. She told the superintendent that she wished to tell the truth and accepted that she was present when Mr Kivlehan died but did not kill him. She further indicated that she was concerned Keith would not tell the truth. Supt Delaney told defence counsel Brendan Grehan SC that he used his 30 years of experience with An Garda Siochana when deciding to allow the meeting and considered her plea from a human rights point of view. He believed she was concerned for her brother, had no hidden agenda and that the presence of a garda during the meeting would ensure there was no attempt by either party to influence the other. Garda Joe Evans was the member in charge of the station at the time and he facilitated the meeting, saying he did not believe it would hinder the investigation. He agreed with Mr Grehan that it was "highly unusual". Supt Delaney asked Garda Dan Grimes to supervise the meeting, which took place in Mr Brady's cell at Sligo Garda Station at about 9.32am on August 5, 2015. Garda Grimes said he stood at the door while they sat on a bunk bed. They whispered some of their conversation but he heard the majority of what they said. He said that Janice told her brother she loved him and they each asked if the other had slept and if they had received their medication. In a statement the garda made at the time he said that Janice was telling her brother "to tell the truth" and that she would be "60 years old when she gets out". They also spoke about CCTV footage which showed them in Sligo around the time that Mr Kivlehan died. When the siblings asked Garda Grimes for his opinion on the CCTV he told them that gardai are only looking for the truth. Garda Grimes told Mr Grehan that he knew Janice and Keith well. The witness could not recall Mr Brady's response when his sister told him to tell the truth or when she told him she would be 60 years old when she gets out. The trial continues today (Wednesday) in front of Justice Paul McDermott and a jury of seven women and five men. At a special sitting of Carrick-on-Shannon District Court on Monday evening last three Polish nationals appeared before Judge Kevin P. Kilrane in relation to the discovery of a cannabis grow house at Blackfallow, Knockvicar, Co Roscommon on Sunday, November 18. Garda Eanna Cuffe gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution against Lukasz Zielkowski saying the defendant was arrested on Sunday, November 19 at 8.49pm at Roscommon Garda Station and he was charged with three counts of possession of a controlled substance, to wit, cannabis for the purpose of selling or otherwise supplying it to another in contravention of the misuse of drugs regulations. The Court heard Mr Zielkowski had the services of an interpreter and made no reply after caution. Insp Denis Harrington made an application for the defendant to be remanded in custody to appear at Harristown District Court on Friday next, November 24. Defending solicitor Conleth Harlow said his client has no English and the offences were carried out for the purpose of economic exploitation. Remanding the defendant in custody until Friday Judge Kilrane added, I recommend, on humanitarian grounds, he be given reasonable access to his family. Detective Gda David Donnelly gave evidence in relation to the arrest of Bartlomiej Bak, 7 Acorn Wood, Leitrim Village. Detective Gda Donnelly said Mr Bak was arrested at Shannon Grove, Carrick-on-Shannon on Sunday, November 19 from where he was conveyed to Carrick-on-Shannon and he was charged at 10pm. Insp Harrington made an application for the defendant to be remanded in custody to appear before Harristown District Court on Friday next. Insp Ray Mulderrig gave sworn evidence as to why the State were opposing bail. Insp Mulderrig referred to the nature of the accusation and the seriousness of the offence. He said the drugs discovered (both cannabis plant and cannabis herb) were valued in excess of 80,000. The Court heard the cannabis herb was ready for sale. Insp Harrington added Mr Bak has no ties to the State and enquiries are ongoing with Polish authorities in relation to his background. The Court heard Mr Bak suffers from cancer and was due to return to Poland for chemotherapy treatment next month. Remanding Mr Bak in custody until Friday Judge Kilrane said the defendant should receive medical attention as is necessary. Gda Mary Burke gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution against Przemyslaw Abramczyk, 7 Acorn Wood, Leitrim Village. Gda Burke told the Court the defendant was arrested at 8.07pm on Sunday last at Townparks, Carrick-on-Shannon and was then conveyed to Carrick-on-Shannon Garda Station where he was charged and cautioned. The State applied for the defendant to be remanded in custody until Fridays sitting of Harristown District Court. No application was made on behalf of Mr Abramczyk for bail with Judge Kilrane remanding him in custody until Friday. Legal aid was granted to Gerard P. McGovern Solicitors in relation to Mr Bak and Mr Abramczyk while legal aid was granted to Conleth Harlow in respect of Mr Zielkowski. The Internet provides a safe and convenient forum for people to shop and communicate with friends and family. A recent CSO household survey found that 79% of people who made purchases on line did not experience any problems, while just 2% reported fraudulent activity. Market research suggests that more and more people are conducting their shopping online with 30% of consumers expecting to use their mobile phone as their main shopping tool in the future. December 2016 saw an increase of 15.4% in online purchases with over 50% of Irish people shopping online, most of whom purchased or sold goods and services with no difficulty. However, in a small number of cases, difficulties do arise and fraud results in users losing money or having their credit/debit card details being compromised. Overall fraud on card payments is relatively low, but of the fraud that occurs, since the introduction of Chip and PIN, card not present fraud has accounted for the bulk of card fraud. The most common methods for criminals to steal card data are by skimming, email (phishing) scams or phone (vishing or smishing) scams. (see notes below) In 2016, 41 billion was spent on debit and credit cards issued in Ireland. 13.2 billion or 32% of this was spent online. There is a clear downward trend in card fraud, when the first six months of 2016 and 2017 are compared, with 20.8 million in card fraud in 2016 versus 16.6 million gross card fraud in 2017. Detective Garda Jim OMeara of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau, said: "We had noticed a sharp rise in the level of Card Not Present fraud activity from 2015 to 2016, thankfully a downward trend in this type of fraud is noticeable for the first six months of this year. We would caution people to protect their personal and financial details online. If purchasing online only trust your own Wi-Fi networks as opposed to public Wi-Fi where you could be vulnerable to having your payment card details compromised and then sold on the dark web. Here, they can be accessed by criminals who go on to use the compromised payment card details either online, over the phone, or even through mail order transactions. Niamh Davenport, Fraud Awareness and Payments Manager, Banking & Payments Federation Ireland, advised consumers and businesses, "that it is often a simple or easy measure that people can take to protect against fraud and it is important that consumers know these to avoid being vulnerable to fraudsters. FraudSMART.ie top tips include - Never give your personal details or banking security details such as full banking password, codes /logon details, or PIN to anyone. - Be wary of unexpected emails, calls or texts. Always independently check the person is who they say they are before engaging with them and as always - If it looks too good to be true, it probably is. Advice for Online Retailers Retailers can also be the target of online frauds when it comes to purchases of goods online. Compromised credit cards of requests to pay for goods and services using money transfer services can result in significant losses for online sellers. To avoid those losses, some basic steps should be kept in mind by online retailers and private sellers. Beware of any purchases of bulk items or large quantities of the items or random goods Check any purchases of high-value goods or goods that can easily be resold Be cautious with purchases using credit/debit cards issues overseas or in a different name than the purchaser Check that delivery and billing addresses are the same. Check addresses and usernames online using Google to see if any reports or complaints. Require postcodes with addresses. Use Google maps to make sure the address is correct Be cautious of bulk purchases of gift cards and guest logins rather than users creating accounts Small cost purchases followed by larger purchases by the same user could indicate someone testing a compromised card If you capture IP addresses check them online to see where they are registered. If the billing/delivery address is in a different country, this could indicate a problem Dont hesitate to contact the customer by phone and ask them to confirm their payment details such as card number, bank name, card expiry date etc. Genuine customers will usually know these details immediately. Retail Excellence spokesperson Lorraine Higgins said "Our retailers want to ensure consumers can shop online safe in the knowledge that their personal and financial details are safe, as Irelands largest retail representative body, we wholeheartedly support initiatives like this SOS campaign. We would advise retailers to be vigilant, particularly at this busy festive period and if you suspect something is not as it seems then do not hesitate to contact An Garda Siochana". GARDAI are investigating a number of recent incidents during which elderly people were targeted by criminals. In one incident last Wednesday, a woman was duped out of 500 by a bogus tradesman who claimed he had carried out works on the roof of home. According to gardai, the lady whose aged in her late 70s, paid the money to a man who she did not know. Her son reported this crime and he can state that the work was unnecessary and it was not completed, said a garda spokesperson. Separately over the past week, there have been three reported incidents of wallets being stolen from pensioners. On two occasions, wallets were taken from the handbags of women while they were doing their grocery shopping while on another occasion a man, aged in his 70s. was targeted while he was in a lift at a shopping centre. When in a lift people are quiet close together and in this case the thief had the opportunity to take the wallet, said Sergeant Ber Leetch. Around 2,500 was spent on the pensioners cards before he cancelled them after realising his wallet had been taken. Regional economist Pat OConnor of the Oregon Employment Department said that he considers 6 percent unemployment a benchmark for Linn County, and 4 percent a similar milestone for Benton County. When were in that territory, were really low, he added. We're in that territory now. The last time Linn County was above 6 percent was in June 2016. The last time Benton County was above 4 percent was September 2016. Unemployment rates dropped in Linn and Benton counties in October, continuing a strong stretch of more than a year for the mid-Willamette Valleys labor market. Its been a good expansion period for both counties, OConnor said. O'Connor said the last 18-month stretch has been the best ever for the Linn County labor market, or at least the best since the state began keeping county-by-county data in 1990. "It's certainly unprecedented," he added. In Benton County, the only period that would top it would be in the heyday of Hewlett-Packard in the mid-1990s. Benton County had the lowest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Oregon in October at 3.3 percent, down from 3.6 percent in September. Linn Countys unemployment rate dropped from 5 percent in September to 4.8 percent in October. Oregons statewide unemployment rate rose slightly, from 4.2 percent in September to 4.3 percent in October. The United States seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for October was 4.1 percent. Linn County now has 1,860 jobs more than its prerecession employment peak in February 2008. In the last year, Albany and surrounding areas have added 1,550 jobs for a 3.5 percent job growth. Benton County has added 1,450 jobs over the past year for a 3.4 percent increase. But Benton County also has added a whopping 4,700 jobs above its prerecession employment peak in November 2007. Both Linn and Benton counties are outpacing Oregon and the United States job growth. The nation has shown job growth of 1.4 percent in the last year and the state grew 2.4 percent. We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. We and our partners use data for Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page. Whenever charges of sexual misconduct shoot through the air, an arrow or three hit Bill Clinton. That's inevitable, given his history of philandering capped by the notorious Oval Office tryst with Monica Lewinsky. What was not inevitable, but surprising, is the crush of liberals swallowing whole a fishy story that Clinton raped a woman. In a New York Times column titled "I Believe Juanita," Michelle Goldberg writes, "We should look clearly at the credible evidence that Juanita Broaddrick told the truth when she accused Clinton of raping her." She goes on to cite no credible evidence. Nor does she point to a source that does. In The Atlantic, Caitlin Flanagan asserts that Broaddrick "very credibly accused" Clinton of a sex crime. Did she? All Flanagan offers is a retelling of Broaddrick's version of events. That is not enough. The demand that any woman's claim of rape be automatically believed can have tragic consequences. How many black men have been lynched on false charges of raping white women? Make no mistake. Any charge of rape must be seriously investigated. Prosecuting sex crimes does pose a special set of difficulties. It doesn't follow, however, that the woman's statement is beyond scrutiny. We cannot know for sure whether Clinton physically attacked Broaddrick. We do know that independent counsel Ken Starr included her claims in his microscopic investigation of Clinton's sexual transgressions. His report deemed the findings on the Broaddrick case to be "inconclusive." Why would that be? Here are some reasons: Broaddrick had submitted an affidavit calling her story of sexual assault "untrue." She later recanted. Appearing on "Dateline" in 1999, Broaddrick couldn't remember the month of the alleged violent assault. In "The Hunting of the President," Joe Conason and Gene Lyons describe the concerns over Broaddrick's witnesses. Two were sisters enraged that Clinton had commuted the death sentence of their father's convicted killer. A third was the man with whom Broaddrick was having an affair at the time, a man she later married. Another woman insisted she had seen her friend's swollen lip and torn pantyhose the day of the alleged crime. But Broaddrick's then-husband said he had not noticed an injury. Nor did he recall her telling him about the incident as she said she had. More surprising than the casual acceptance of a questionable rape charge against Clinton are liberals using the occasion to declare that Clinton should have resigned from the presidency over the Lewinsky affair. Can't they tell the difference between rape and marital infidelity? If Democrats want to do a "reckoning" over Clinton's sexual conduct, they do have material to work with. Few doubt that Clinton behaved at times in a piggish manner. And his conduct with Lewinsky was inappropriate and vulgar. But Lewinsky has said over and over again that their sexual encounter was totally consensual. The gap in age and power may have been large, but Lewinsky was a college graduate in her 20s. Again, this is adultery, not rape. By the way, why do so many members of the Clinton hanging party choose to believe Juanita but not Monica? It's a total rewriting of history to say that Democrats gave Clinton a pass back then. They were furious. But they saw Starr's investigation as a politically inspired perjury trap to undo the successful Clinton presidency. Look, if we are entering a new era in which powerful men pay a price for harassing women or abusing their dignity, that's great progress. But this pileup on Clinton over a dubious accusation of rape is unseemly. Many of Clinton's tormenters are getting intellectually sloppy, and that could boomerang on what's otherwise a good cause. The Israel Lobby has gotten unconstitutional laws passed with no publicity, adding obscure amendments to existing law, as in the case of the DC Palestinian Mission. Why on earth would Congress amend a 1980s law in order to specifically prohibit Palestinians from speaking against Israel to the International Criminal Court? The only reason is that the Israeli government knew President Abbas would go to the ICC and Israel would eventually be found guilty of apartheid. So Israels puppets in AIPAC wrote this anti-American, anti-free-speech amendment, which of course the obedient Congress passed. This law benefits only Israel. It's unconstitutional we have the inalienable right to criticize any government anywhere! We're not in George IIIs England! It's laughable that the State Department wants Palestinians to engage in "direct and meaningful negotiations" and sends not unbiased negotiators but two Israel-promoting Jews, Kushner and Greenblatt. Theres no chance of an impartial negotiation with those two "helping"; Palestinians will once again get shafted. It gets worse. Israeli lobbyists recently passed a federal bill that prohibits any boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel, imposing imprisonment and fines! Post-hurricane contractors in Texas and a teacher in Kansas couldnt get government contracts unless they signed an agreement against boycotting Israel! The exact wording: "By executing this Agreement, the Applicant verifies that the Applicant: 1) does not boycott Israel; and 2) will not boycott Israel during the term of this Agreement." This is outrageous! Its a blatant violation of our First Amendment rights. Protest to your legislators! June Forsyth Kenagy Albany (Nov. 19) This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A dog was taken to a veterinarian after tangling with a coyote in Stern Grove on Tuesday afternoon, police said. The pit bull was walking with its owner off leash when it began to chase the coyote, police said. The dog ran into thick bushes, where the owner could hear the sounds of animals fighting but could not see anything. Officers arrived at the park around 1 p.m. and heard the sound of one animal whimpering and another growling. Using their batons, the officers cleared a path through the bushes until they were close enough to see the pit bull. The dog was visibly injured, police said, and by then the growling coyote had fled. The owner was able to secure the dog, which was taken to a veterinarian, police said. The condition of the animal was not known. Police advise dog owners to keep their pets on a leash during walks. We want to remind the public that there are coyote sightings in the grove, said police spokesman Sgt. Michael Andraychak. Especially if you have smaller dogs, coyotes will go after them. Now Playing: An owner was preparing to take her small dog on a walk at Lake Merced when a coyote snatched it up and took off. Video: KTVU A number of coyote attacks on other animals have been reported near Stern Grove in the past few years. In June, a coyote attack in nearby Balboa Terrace killed a small shih tzu named Bella. Her owners had let her out when a coyote ran up the front steps, closed its jaws on Bella and ran off. Bellas body was later found in an alley. In August 2015, a bichon frise named Eddie was attacked by coyotes in Stern Grove while on a walk with his owner, Bruce Howard. Eddie suffered bruising to the lung, penetrating chest wounds and a fractured rib but recovered. Annie Ma is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: ama@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @anniema15 As the cannabis industry takes shape in California, one place it wont be able to advertise is on San Franciscos public transportation. The Municipal Transportation Agencys Board of Directors on Tuesday banned ads for cannabis businesses from the transit systems buses, trains, cable cars, stations and bus stops. The ban was a response to concerns that such ads are inappropriate for young Muni riders and might promote marijuana use among children. Wilson Chu, president of the Chinese American Democratic Club, which had supported the legalization of both medical and recreational marijuana use in the state, was among those pushing the board to act. There are many students that travel on Muni to and from school, and I think its a good idea to limit their exposure to these kinds of ads, Chu told the board. The board approved the prohibition on a 6-0 vote, with Director Malcolm Heinicke absent. It takes effect Wednesday just six weeks before the sale of marijuana becomes legal throughout the state and covers all commercial advertising of cannabis and related products, businesses and services, and was supported by Mayor Ed Lee. Board Chairwoman Cheryl Brinkman said the ban was not intended as a statement about recreational marijuana use but was an attempt to protect children riding Muni from being surrounded by its promotion. We dont intend this as any value judgment, she said. Legalized marijuana will be the law of the land. But were falling in line with what standard advertising practices are. Like many transit agencies, Muni already excludes advertising for alcoholic beverages, tobacco products and firearms, but has allowed advertising for medical marijuana businesses since 2014. Three of the citys 46 licensed medical cannabis dispensary and delivery services Eaze, Urban Pharm and the Green Cross promote their enterprises on Muni. Muni has more than 100 ads for marijuana-related businesses on its property. They range from small posters aboard buses to large banner ads outside to buses entirely wrapped in baby-blue ads declaring, Marijuana has arrived. Under the ban, existing ad deals with cannabis businesses will be honored until the contracts expire, but future displays will not be allowed. With sales of recreational marijuana to adults becoming legal Jan. 1, the demand for advertising from cannabis businesses is expected to boom. But no one opposing the ban spoke at Tuesdays hearing. Muni appears to be the first transit system in the Bay Area to enact a ban on marijuana ads, but that doesnt mean the ads will start showing up on other agencies buses and trains in the region. BARTs advertising policy doesnt mention marijuana, but Jim Allison, an agency spokesman, said the transit systems general counsel believes cannabis ads would be rejected under an existing clause banning unlawful or detrimental conduct. Thats because marijuana is still illegal under federal law. With legalization looming, San Francisco is struggling to figure out how to regulate marijuana sales. Gail Stein, the MTAs finance manager, had suggested that the board reconsider the advertising ban in six months, once the uncertainty had cleared. But Brinkman said that if concern over exposing kids to cannabis advertising is the reason for the ban, that shouldnt change when regulations are adopted. She also suggested revising the advertising policy to specifically build in protections for children. The bans impact on MTA revenues is unclear. Advertising generates $19.6 million a year in revenue for Muni. Denying marijuana ads could decrease revenues, but Ed Reiskin, the MTAs transportation director, said other advertising is expected to make up for any loss. After the vote, Chu said he was pleased with the boards decision, describing it as family-friendly. Theres been an exodus of families, he said. This should help keep families in San Francisco. Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com twitter: @ctuan This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Harlingen police have arrested Denise Gina Cantu, the star witness in the upcoming criminal fraud trial of state Sen. Carlos Uresti, for alleged involvement in an armed robbery Monday. Cantu, 38, was arrested at her home Tuesday after a warrant was issued charging her with aggravated robbery and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, both felonies, according to a news release issued by the Harlingen Police Department. Its the second time this year that Cantu has been charged with aggravated assault, court records show. A Cameron County grand jury indicted Cantu in June after finding she threatened a woman with a gun in January. Cantu is slated to testify against Uresti and two others in January in connection with a now-defunct oil field services company that prosecutors allege was a Ponzi scheme. Uresti, who provided legal services to FourWinds Logistics, recommended Cantu invest with the company and later collected a $27,000 commission on her investment in 2013. Now Playing: State Sen. Carlos Uresti speaks after his hearing at the federal courthouse on Wednesday, May 31, 2017, following his indictment relating to a fraudulent scheme at now-defunct oil-field services company FourWinds Logistics. Video: Billy Calzada /Express-News Cantu invested $900,000 with FourWinds, the bulk of a wrongful-death settlement she received after two of her children were killed in 2010 when the rear tire on her Ford Explorer blew out, causing the SUV to veer off the road and roll over. Uresti, a San Antonio Democrat, was part of Cantus legal team in the case. She ended up losing about $800,000 on her investment with FourWinds, which bought and sold sand for hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Uresti, along with company CEO Stan Bates and consultant Gary Cain were indicted on various charges by a federal grand jury in May. Each has denied the charges. Their trial is scheduled to start Jan. 4. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Blackwell declined to comment on whether Cantus arrest will have any impact on the FourWinds case. Harlingen police say officers were responding to a vehicle accident about 2:40 p.m. Monday on West Business 83 when it received additional calls of a female with a gun at the scene. Cantu and another woman, later identified as Monica Isabel Escobedo, 26, allegedly assaulted a woman and stole her cellphone, police say. During the alleged assault, police say Escobedo pointed a handgun at the victim. A man who witnessed the assault attempted to intervene, but also was threatened, police say. Cantu and Escobedo fled the scene in a white Toyota Tundra, police say. Texas Department of Motor Vehicles records show Cantu owns a 2014 white Tundra. Police called on the publics help in finding Cantu and Escobedo before they were arrested at about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday. A police report of the Jan. 15 incident says Cantu got into an argument and pulled out a gun from her waistband and pointed it at a woman, identified in the indictment as Nivia Featherstone. Cantu dropped the gun but recovered it and fled the scene with a friend, the report adds. Cantu was arrested on Feb. 3 and indicted by a grand jury on June 14. She was released after posting a $75,000 bond. Carlos Monarrez, who is listed in the case as Cantus lawyer, didnt respond to a request for comment. Natalia Cordova-Buckley is a voice actor in the new Disney/Pixar movie "Coco," but it was her voice that led her to first experience the trauma of sexist taunts. She was bullied because she spoke with a low tone - deeper than her father's by age 6, she says - that was judged to be less than feminine. "Machismo harmed me deeply," she says. "It silenced me. It made me feel like my existence was not worthy." Now, amid the tectonic crack in the culture that has grown as men from Harvey Weinstein to Roy Moore have been accused of a wide range of sexual misconduct, Cordova-Buckley believes speaking out is the only way to topple what she calls "the monster of machismo." "We've never had a female awakening of this magnitude," says Cordova-Buckley, whose resume also includes the Disney/Marvel TV series "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.," which begins a new season next month, as well as its Emmy-nominated web spinoff, "Slingshot." She cites the historic fights of women's rights movements in the 1920s and '60s and '70s, but says: "This is really unstoppable now." Cordova-Buckley declines to comment on Pixar co-founder John Lasseter, who on Tuesday announced that he is taking a six-month leave of absence in the wake of allegations of sexual misconduct. She has met him only once, at a premiere event for "Coco." Yet as Rashida Jones clarified Tuesday why she and her writing partner left the studio's "Toy Story 4 - reportedly over differences involving the creative representation of women and people of color at Pixar - Cordova-Buckley continues to speak out, including on her social-media accounts, for people who face systemic injustice. "I've had my own moments of sexual harassment," says the Mexican-born actress, who turns 35 Saturday, speaking by phone from Los Angeles. "Have I had my private parts grabbed without my permission? For sure. Have I had a man older, when I was a child, try to get with me? Sure, (though) it's never gone further than that. So I know what it feels like." Cordova-Buckley voices the legendary Mexican artist Frida Kahlo in "Coco," which centers on a 12-year-old's artistic journey revolving around Day of the Dead ceremonies. The actress feels as if the role was practically spiritually ordained, given the fact that Kahlo helped the actress find her own voice. Cordova-Buckley was raised in Cancun, Mexico - "a 'Blue Lagoon' baby," she says with a laugh. Despite comments about her voice, she found strength in the story of Frida Kahlo, whose work was such a presence in Cordova-Buckley's home growing up that the girl practically had personal altars of her. Cordova-Buckley would look at images of such paintings as "The Two Fridas" (personally, "that represents the older me reassuring the younger me") and "The Broken Column" (with Kahlo's exposed torso) and find strength. Kahlo's art taught Cordova-Buckley "that it was OK to choose strength over acceptance," she says. "To me, that is the choice every woman must make in a very misogynistic world, you either choose to be strong and powerful, or you choose to be loved and accepted. You can't have both because if you choose to be strong and powerful, then (people) will fear you and then you will be rejected. "Frida chose her strength and was rejected for it - by her husband, by her family, by friends, by society, even by herself," the actress continues. "Her paintings are a way to connect with the pain that lived inside her. To me, that was such a powerful thing, to be able to forgive myself. ... She just constantly taught me to love myself." And Kahlo, she says, made it OK to be described by a male-dominated culture as a woman who is "intense, radical, crazy, dramatic." Cordova-Buckley studied classical dance as a child, but by her teens, she found more freedom for self-expression through theater. She studied acting for three years at Cal Arts - which "is basically Pixar University," she says - so getting to voice Kahlo for Pixar, she says, was a surreal dream come true. It was as if her own late grandfather, an acclaimed Mexican actor, was guiding her steps from the hereafter - not unlike aspiring guitarist Miguel in "Coco," who's guided by his late ancestors when he crosses to the other side during Day of the Dead, she says. While it was "joyful," she says, to give voice to the artist who helped her find her voice, exercising that personal voice, when speaking out about the mistreatment of women, has brought pain - especially when even some of the men closest to her have rejected her beliefs. To her, that was worse than being physically harassed at a club. "I got wrecked, berated ... (by men) telling me: 'Machismo doesn't exist. You guys have equal rights.' " In the wake of the sexual misconduct scandals, Cordova-Buckley sees good that can come from what she calls an unprecedented reckoning. "It is about erasing the culture that created these men - we definitely have to give names to these men," the actress says. "We have to bring them to justice." The first time you listen to all of Kamasi Washington's new EP, "Harmony of Difference," you might think you're experiencing deja vu. The five short pieces (with titles like "Desire," "Humility" and "Integrity") that form the bulk of the jazz saxophonist's latest work are later united, reworked and reprised as one longer piece, "Truth," to close out the EP. If you're not paying attention, when "Truth" kicks in, you may think the EP has started over again. This is by design. "Harmony of Difference" was originally commissioned as an exhibit piece for the Whitney Museum of American Art's Biennial earlier this year. "It was meant to be a celebration of diversity," Washington says. For the exhibit at the New York City museum, each of the five short songs was paired with videos that panned across paintings by Washington's sister, Amani, who worked using her brother's music as inspiration. Visitors entered a darkened room and viewed the videos accompanied by the songs on one of three small panels. At the end, visitors gathered together in front of a large wall to hear "Truth" while watching a short film by A.G. Rojas that showed people from a variety of cultures and backgrounds. "At the end of it, 'Truth' would come on and you'd hear those melodies, all those songs, together and you'd have a collective experience," Washington says. That idea is reflected in the music. "When you bring multiple cultures together, there's a degree of push and pull," he says. "There's gonna be some difficulties but the end result is something beautiful, so it's a metaphor for that same thing with the music. As you put these melodies together there's some points where there's a dissonance but it resolves into something beautiful." Washington, 36, has become one of the biggest names in jazz in recent years thanks to collaborations with musicians like Kendrick Lamar and Flying Lotus and his expansive, exploratory and genre-defying 2015 album "The Epic." (Washington is now touring, playing selections from that album and "Harmony" with an eight-piece backing band.) His music is forward-thinking, yet it has shades of what came before: You can hear jazz pioneers Miles Davis and John Coltrane but also Quincy Jones, old Hollywood scores, calypso and R&B. Part of what makes Washington such a compelling composer is the way he takes his experiences with different collaborators - as wide-ranging as Ryan Adams, Snoop Dogg and Thundercat - and adds each to his musical vocabulary. "It's like speaking a different language," he says. "Every time you learn a new language your understanding of language overall grows, so every time I would learn new music my understanding of music would grow because I was taken to an extreme in a different direction and that was, in effect, carrying over into what I do."But in the end, Washington can only be himself. "Even the greatest musicians, they only represent themselves," he says. "You represent who you are and what your experiences are and what you have in your heart and it's the same for me. I represent who I am and what I've been through and what I'm bringing to the music." A person could spend years and even decades waiting for a Western as immersive and satisfying as "Godless," Scott Frank's seven-part drama for Netflix. True to the genre in almost every way (and yet refreshingly modern in providing strong, vital roles for women), it plays like a seven-hour film without wasting a glorious, gritty, panoramic minute. And as a bonus, not a single character is one of "Westworld's" subservient cyborgs. This here's the real McCoy. And if "Godless" grips you like a movie, perhaps that's because it began as an idea for one: Frank, whose screenwriting credits are as varied as "Minority Report" and "Marley & Me," shelved this labor of love more than a decade ago - a three-hour Western that never got off the ground. Steven Soderbergh, who has all but forsaken the movie business for TV, persuaded Frank to expand the screenplay into a series. As such, "Godless," which premiered Wednesday, represents a near-perfect melding of both forms, making good on the boundless promises of the streaming frontier. Though it's tempting to gallop through it in a single binge, "Godless" is worth slowing down and savoring. The story, set in northern New Mexico in 1884, revolves around a notorious gang of silver thieves led by Frank Griffin (Jeff Daniels), whose capricious derangement mixes both a violent and spiritual nature. During a raid on a train in Creede, Colorado, Frank is betrayed by his protege, Roy Goode ("Unbroken's" Jack O'Connell), whom Frank adopted as a boy. In a showdown between the men, Frank loses his left arm. After they've massacred the citizens of Creede, Frank and his men set off in pursuit of Roy, seeking revenge. It's worth noting early on that "Godless" is unsparing in its depiction of violence and murder. Its gore is rarely gratuitous, yet some may find it too grisly to accept. While tormenting a German family of traveling settlers in the second episode, one victim cries out that Frank is "no man of God." This sets Frank on a brief lecture on the everyday horrors of what we now benignly refer to as the "wild West": "God? What God?" Frank asks. "Mister, you clearly don't know where you are. Look around. There ain't no higher-up around here to watch over you and your young'uns. This here's the paradise of the locust, the lizard, the snake. It's the land of the blade and the rifle. It's godless country. And the sooner you accept your inevitable demise, the longer you all are gonna live." This gets at an essential nature of the Western genre - a dichotomy between the jaw-dropping beauty of the American West and the relentless suffering and greed it took to populate it with nonnative settlers and strivers. Shot on location on an 81,000-acre ranch near Lamy, New Mexico, "Godless" is just stunning to look at. It's true that every Western is accompanied by a few standard-issue sweeping vistas, but Steven Meizler's cinematography lends the series a striking authenticity and instinctive understanding of a high-desert environment and ecosystem. It's refreshing to see New Mexico treated as something other than a backdrop for a Road Runner cartoon. Wounded and desperate, it's Roy's good fortune to trot up to a horse ranch owned by Alice Fletcher - played by Michelle Dockery, who continues to marvelously distance herself from her Lady Mary days on "Downton Abbey." Alice, a widow toughened by circumstance, is struggling to break a herd of three dozen horses, working with her adolescent son Truckee (Samuel Marty) and her Paiute mother-in-law, Iyovi (Tantoo Cardinal). The Fletcher ranch sits just outside the town of La Belle, where a recent mining disaster killed nearly every man in town - 83 in all - leaving their widows to figure out what to do next. Losing their husbands and providers has changed them. Mary Agnes McNue ("Nurse Jackie's" Merritt Wever) dons trousers and tweeds, reclaims her maiden name and acts as La Belle's de-facto mayor. Her brother, Bill McNue ("Halt and Catch Fire's" Scoot McNairy), is the town's mopey sheriff, disregarded by the citizenry as a coward and outshot by his rambunctious young deputy, Whitey Winn (Thomas Brodie-Sangster). "Godless" is exceptionally good in dealing with many characters at once, including Sam Waterston as John Cook, the U.S. marshal based in Santa Fe. Attention is paid to each character's nuances and shortcomings, as an emotional storm builds up to a fine example of a wild West showdown. The cast is phenomenal; Daniels makes a memorably menacing bad guy from start to finish, and O'Connell, as Roy, is convincing as a quiet and flawed hero. As a way to prove himself to his citizens, Sheriff Bill sets out, somewhat comically, to find Frank Griffin's gang, while an egocentric Taos newspaperman, A.T. Grigg (Jeremy Bobb), stirs up rumors in print, hoping to cover the gunfight of the century. It is here that the women of La Belle realize that they must rely on themselves, arming up with their late husbands' rifles and pistols to defend their town from the masculine posturing and chaos that's inexorably headed their way. As "Godless" briefly pivots on a strongly feminist note, Netflix once again exhibits its uncanny luck with timing: What could be more affirming right now than a show about women standing together against an invading horde of brutes? --- "Godless" (seven episodes) is now streaming on Netflix. If director/writer Dan Gilroy had been born only a few years later than 1959, odds are high he would have never come up with the idea for his latest film project, "Roman J. Israel, Esq." The film looks at a savant lawyer (Denzel Washington) stuck emotionally and socially in the 1960s who faces major changes after a tragic event. "The spark to write the script came from growing up at the tail end of the '60s," Gilroy says. "I was this 10-year-old kid looking out at the world and it seemed like everyone was involved in something. Everybody looked like they were going to change the world in some ongoing never-ending way. "And over the last 40 years it evaporated and dissipated into almost nothing." His exposure to that turbulent time wasn't only influenced by the world outside but by what was going on inside his home. Growing up as the son of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Frank D. Gilroy, he was able to watch his father as he worked at home, plus he was always surrounded by family members working in the arts in some fashion. Those factors resulted in some deep dinner conversations. Gilroy became fascinated with the idea of what kind of person would not let the turbulent times of social unrest during the '60s fade away. His research led him to discover that many of those who held on to that era went into civil law. His decision to make his central character a savant comes from wanting to make Israel someone who looks at the law as if it were a religion. The way Gilroy came to writing and then directing "Roman J. Israel, Esq," came about the same way he started past projects such as "Nightcrawler," "The Fall" and "Two for the Money." "For me, every project starts with an idea or ideas. I know a lot of people start with a character, but I need an idea and then it begins to form. I advocate to anyone who is thinking about writing a screenplay to not start until you have an idea you really love," Gilroy says. Once Gilroy fell in love with the ideas for the script, he began to fill in all the elements of plot and character development. Gilroy could see no one other than Washington playing the title character as the script began to take shape. He's been a big fan of the Oscar-winning actor for years and was so convinced that Washington was such a perfect match to play Israel that he heard the actor's voice in his head as he wrote each line of dialogue. It took Gilroy a year to write the movie, but if Washington had not signed on to the project, Gilroy would not have moved forward. Fortunately, Washington agreed to take on the role. Bringing Israel to life was made a lot easier for Gilroy by the six months of work Washington put into creating his character before the cameras started rolling. The actor researched savants, the '60s and the law to use in playing Israel. He had every detail so defined that in one of his first meetings with Gilroy, Washington told the director/writer that Israel would eat nothing but peanut butter sandwiches over the sink. Gilroy jokes that his response was to ask if the peanut butter was creamy or chunky. But, there also was a lot of exchanging of ideas on the set. That's a part of the process Gilroy loves because he's been surrounded by actors all his life, including being married to Rene Russo. The lesson he has learned from all that exposure is when working with actors - especially those who are such forces of nature as Washington - the best thing he can do as a director is to make sure there is a "safe space" to work and allow the actor to create. From the actors' perspectives, they are getting to play the characters created by a writer who won the award for best screenplay at the 30th Independent Spirit Awards and was nominated for an Oscar for best original screenplay with "Nightcrawler." Even knowing he would only do the movie with Washington, Gilroy faced the first days of production with some trepidation. He knew Washington would show up fully ready to play the role and Gilroy was concerned he would not be able to match the work his star was doing. "I kept thinking 'Oh my god, I'm getting in a Ferrari and I hope I don't crash this thing.' I didn't want to disappoint him because there's so much horsepower with this thing because of Denzel, I didn't want to run it off the road," Gilroy says. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Laredo's long-awaited downtown convention center is designed to incorporate two historic homes into its plans for a new, modern structure that overlooks the Rio Grande. A plan presented to City Council on Monday shows that the proposed convention center would wrap around the east, south and west sides of Casa Ortiz and the unoccupied baby blue house that is next door at 907 Zaragoza St. Council voted unanimously to enter into a memorandum of understanding with Palafox Hospitality, a subsidiary of Fasken Oil and Ranch that manages La Posada Hotel, to provide a framework for this project's development. There is not yet a cost estimate for the convention center, but the agreement stipulates that the city will pay for construction costs as well as for the building's furniture, fixtures and equipment. Convention center details The plan for the convention center includes: A 21,000-square-foot ballroom overlooking the Rio Grande with a capacity for 1,270 people, seated Six meeting rooms Two board rooms A built-in studio with an audio/visual system Two outdoor terraces, one 6,000 square feet and the other 4,000 square feet Outdoor catering capacity from the ballroom kitchen Integration with Casa Ortiz for an exterior courtyard space A pedestrian bridge that connects to La Posada next door See More Collapse The city will also "consider providing an abatement or reimbursement" of a portion of La Posada's property taxes, according to the MOU. They may also consider waiving building permit fees or "other incentives that may be available for the project." READ MORE: Partnership with La Posada Hotel could bring new convention center to Laredo Palafox has already purchased the blue house in anticipation of this project, according to Jose Ceballos, a consultant for the Fasken Group. They have agreed to donate this land and the current San Agustin Ballroom, which will be knocked down for the convention center. Palafox will also be covering design costs, survey costs, environmental and historic study costs, and costs for advertising and promoting the convention center. Plus, they will make "reasonable efforts" to brand La Posada with a nationally recognized hotel chain. Ceballos said they are exploring boutique hotel brands within larger chains so that people attending these conventions would receive benefits from that network. La Posada's name would remain, he said. Historic structures At Monday's meeting, Bill Skeen, representing the Fasken Group, said that integrating and preserving these two historic homes on Zaragoza Street was not part of their original plan. "But it moved into the plan, and we think it's a big benefit," Skeen said. "(The Laredo) Convention and Visitors Bureau have groups that like to come to Laredo. What do they want to do? They want to have the cultural experience, the historic experience of Laredo, Texas and Mexico. And we think by integrating those homes we've addressed that." Casa Ortiz is currently owned by the county, but the MOU states that "Palafox has held favorable discussions with Webb County officials regarding this structure," and that it will either be donated or leased to the city. Ceballos said a small portion of Casa Ortiz was built in 1830, and another portion in 1872. It's 6,920 square feet in total that could be used for museum or exhibit space, although it needs about $700,000 in repair work, Ceballos said. The blue home on Zaragoza that Palafox now owns is in good shape, Ceballos noted Tuesday. It's a 4,940-square-foot space built around 1872 that could be used for a meeting space or for another purpose that complements the convention center, Ceballos said. RELATED: Funding secured for multi-million dollar convention center in downtown Laredo But neither of these spaces have been officially defined. Ceballos said the preliminary architectural plan for the convention center itself calls for a modern design. So as a whole, the site will be a mix of historical and contemporary structures. This integration will make Laredo's convention center a unique, niche destination, Ceballos said. In his presentation to City Council, Skeen said the center can handle 206 10x10-foot exhibit booths. Half of the space is dedicated to restrooms, pre-function space, administrative offices, storage areas and a commercial kitchen, Skeen said. "It's all of the support space that it takes to make that facility workable," he said. The only portion of the proposed site that is in the floodplain is some of the first-floor space, Skeen said. The space, however, will be flood resistant. The parking area below has about 500 spaces. Skeen said people will be able to park there for free to access the convention center and the rest of the downtown area. However part of this area is occupied by the General Services Administration, which manages federal government buildings. The MOU states that the city and Palafox will need to reach an agreement with the GSA to lease or acquire this property. Customs and Border Protection has been cooperative thus far, Ceballos said. Future plans Ceballos said this center will be perfect for conventioneers who are looking to experience Mexico without having to leave the U.S. There are no other convention centers in a 150-mile radius, he noted, so they are looking to host groups of around 300 people as they get started. This MOU is in effect for 120 days while the city and Palafox negotiate a development agreement "for the design, development, construction, operation and management of the project." The city and Palafox anticipate they can reach a property agreement with GSA by March to acquire the property by December 2018. Choosing a contractor, which is contingent on City Council approval, could take place by March, according to their timetable. And if all that stays on track, demolition and construction could begin by October to have a grand opening by September 2020 Schenectady Some Schenectady cops could be patrolling city streets with body-worn cameras by spring, according to Assistant Police Chief Michael Seber. Seber appeared Monday before City Council members seeking approval for a $165,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance to help pay for the project, which the city has 18 months to match. Part of the money will go toward the salary of some police officers involved in the rollout of the program, while the rest will pay for the cameras, docking stations and other hardware. The federal grant calls for two police commanders to attend a conference early next year on best practices and crafting policy and procedures for body cameras in Washington, D.C. The full council is expected Monday to approve a resolution authorizing the department to accept the grant. Additionally, the city has $60,000 already allocated in the 2018 budget to pay for network servers that will be needed to store and back up the recordings from the body cameras. As early as February, about a half dozen patrol officers will begin testing several different camera models on the market to find which one the department wants to purchase. "There's so many body cameras out there today, and technology is changing so much that we'll have a testing period, probably four to six months to see what's effective," said Seber, adding one of the challenges will be staying on top of the latest technology. Each member of the 110-member patrol unit will get upwards of 90 minutes of training so when they go live with the body cameras in late summer or early fall it should not complicate their jobs since the officers will be required to download, store, and back up recordings. "Every uniformed officer is going to be assigned their own body camera, but you have to download it, you have to get the data into the databank," he said, adding "technology is changing so much right now that we're hoping there is an easier way to do it than now." The devices will not remain on at all times. "We anticipate that they will just be on when they're responding to a call or offering assistance regarding a complaint," added Seber. He said that there will be instances, for example, if the officer is dealing with the victim of a sexual assault, that they may not use the camera. Chief Eric Clifford said the 154-member department will likely have to hire a few people to manage the program but that the money is worth it. "It's going to increase transparency, it's going to increase the public's trust in us," he said. He also said that the cameras can be used for training purposes and that they want to ultimately "marry" the body cameras to the dashcam car videos. Seber said that body cameras are a "heavy lift" in part because of the possibility of subpoenas, respecting a person's privacy, and requests through the Freedom of Information Law from the media for footage. Schenectady Police Benevolent Association President PJ Mullen did not return a call Tuesday seeking comment. Marva Issacs, president of the Hamilton Hill Neighborhood Association, said body cameras make sense. "Those cameras will show what the police and other person did and I have no problem with it," said Isaacs. Her counterpart in Mont Pleasant, Pat Smith, echoed those sentiments, saying she is "100 percent for it." Earlier this month, nearly a dozen Albany police officers from the department's Central Station on Western Avenue began wearing body cameras that will turn on during calls for service and street encounters. Most video will only be saved for 180 days, while footage of arrests, use of force and episodes involved in citizen complaints will be saved indefinitely according to the department's body cam policy. pnelson@timesunion.com 518-454-5347 @apaulnelson A man is facing an array of charges after he allegedly beat up his ex-girlfriend, threatened to kill her and stole items from her, according to Laredo police. On Saturday, Jorge Armando Rios Hernandez, 22, was arrested and charged with burglary of a habitation with intent to commit other felony, assault of a family/household member by impeding breath/circulation, assault family violence, terroristic threat of a family/household member, theft and interfering with an emergency call. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Congressman Henry Cuellar joined the City of Laredo and police officials Tuesday to formally present funding that will be used to hire 12 officers. Laredo Mayor Pete Saenz, City Manager Horacio De Leon and Laredo Police Chief Claudio Trevino Jr. were presented a check for $1.5 million to LPD from the U.S. Department of Justice's COPS Hiring Program. "Back in 1996, I was one of those officers that got hired under that program. Here we are 21 years later and I'm fortunate to be the police chief of this great police force," Trevino said during the news conference. The total federal and local investment for the hiring of 12 officers and supporting them for three years totals $3 million. The City of Laredo said it will prioritize the hiring of qualified veterans. READ MORE: New renderings show proposed plans for long-awaited convention center in central Laredo The new officers will be assigned to support patrol operations, implement a community policing approach and address specific issues of border violence and illegal immigration. Trevino said that while the focus remains on community policing, authorities will also work to target repeat offenders and those who have been deported but have returned to the country illegally. Cuellar added, "You have more deterrence on the streets because you have 12 new police officers, but at the same time, part of the focus was the recidivism rate of people who are deported but come back again." Data from Border Patrol and police showed that between January and August of 2016, there were 29 convicts who had been deported but were later arrested by LPD, Cuellar said. The funds received by LPD are part of the $98,495,397 in nationwide grant funding announced by the Justice Department on Monday. RELATED: Laredo Mayor Pete Saenz speaks out on NAFTA "The COPS Hiring Program provides our local law enforcement agencies with the resources they need to protect our communities and, as a member of the Appropriations Committee, I worked with Chairman John Culberson to ensure this program was properly funded," Cuellar said. "This funding will increase our community's safety and help prevent crime." Funding from the 2017 COPS Hiring Program will help with the duties of maintaining public safety in Laredo, which is one of the fastest-growing cities in Texas, with an active international trade and international tourism sector. Currently, LPD has 471 sworn officers and 73 non-sworn personnel. That's about 1.9 officers per 1,000 inhabitants. The national average is 2.4 officers per 1,000 inhabitants. The $1.5 million in federal funds will support 12 new police officers during the course of the grant, which is $41,666.66 per officer position for three years. The City of Laredo will provide a 100 percent match of $1.5 million to over the remainder $41,666.66 for salaries and benefits of newly-hired, full-time sworn officer positions whose salaries and benefits are approximately $83,000 per year. The COPS Hiring Program provides law enforcement agencies grants to hire new or rehire career law enforcement officers in an effort to increase community policing and crime prevention. The City of Laredo last received a COPS grant in 2010 for $4.3 million to hire 22 police officers. While it's not the Paris climate agreement, hopes are rising that the Trump administration will not walk away from another international climate accord, one designed to limit emissions of super-polluting gases from air conditioners and refrigerators that could otherwise sharply warm the globe. In Montreal this week, countries have assembled for the 29th meeting of the parties to the 1987 Montreal Protocol, a widely celebrated treaty to protect the planet's ozone layer. And they're welcoming an extension of the protocol, called the Kigali Amendment, which was negotiated last year and late last week crossed a key ratification threshold. Its formal acceptance now by 21 member countries will trigger its going into force in early 2019. The amendment specifically targets a category of climate pollutants called hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, which drive global warming on a molecule-by-molecule basis and so are far more potent than leading greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide or methane. HFCs were originally a substitute for the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) that severely damage the ozone layer, but they've since been recognized as coming with their own significant problems. The chemicals, which often leak from air conditioners, refrigerators and other industrial devices and then make their way into the atmosphere, have the potential to drive a half-degree Celsius (.9 degrees Fahrenheit) of global warming if not controlled in the early part of this century. The Kigali Amendment, which would phase out HFCs, was strongly supported by the Obama administration. The Trump administration has not yet taken a position on it, other than one slight and murky signal: It refused to support a G-7 communique on climate change over the summer that, among a long list of other matters, signaled support for the amendment. But it's far from clear what that might mean. As the meeting proceeds in Montreal, with the U.S. representatives expected to speak later this week, there are positive signs. "There are a number of steps in our domestic process that we would need to complete before reaching a final decision on joining the Kigali Amendment, and we have initiated that process," said a State Department spokesperson, who declined to speak for attribution. "The Kigali Amendment represents a pragmatic and balanced approach to phasing down the production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons, and we support the goals and approach." If there's a reason the Trump administration could support the rather narrowly targeted amendment - yet still plan to exit the far more sweeping Paris agreement - it may have something to do with the Montreal Protocol itself. It's an uncontroversial treaty with bipartisan domestic support and has traditionally been able to forge a cooperative, rather than adversarial, relationship with the companies making the chemicals subject to regulation. "This is a Ronald Reagan-Margaret Thatcher agreement," said Durwood Zaelke, president of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development, which tracks the protocol. "Bush used it successfully in 2007, and if the White House looks at it as a trade and competitiveness issue, it should be a slam dunk." U.S. companies that currently make HFCs have supported the Kigali Amendment. Some of the most prominent, Honeywell and Chemours, already tout alternative chemicals with fewer environmental problems. "We're global companies and we operate in the global marketplace, and one of the advantages to ratification of the agreement is it avoids a patchwork of timelines and schedules globally," said John Hurst, vice president for government affairs at Lennox International, which makes heating and cooling and refrigeration equipment. "So as any business would, we crave predictability and certainty. If ratified, it allows for research on the safe application of new alternative refrigerants, allows for more predictable product development decisions, allows companies to plan for R&D investments." Hurst is also chairman of the Alliance for Responsible Atmospheric Policy, an industry group that has backed the Montreal Protocol and the Kigali Amendment. U.S. manufacturers are looking at a massive business opportunity as the climate warms and developing nations expand their middle classes; huge swaths of the world, from Brazil to India, are expected to install enormous numbers of air conditioners in the coming decades. These companies want to build those products, but they also generally recognize that future air-conditioners will need to be more energy efficient and not reliant on HFCs. "We've estimated the global market outside the U.S. in these technologies is probably over a trillion dollars over the next 10 years," said Kevin Fay, the Alliance executive director. "The technology that we look to be replacing the high [global-warming potential] refrigerants will be predominantly North American-based technology, both refrigerants as well as systems," added Stephen Yurek, president of the Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute, an industry group. If the United States doesn't sign onto the amendment, companies could instead suffer damaging trade restrictions starting in the 2030s. "It's not an environmental game at this point, it's a competitiveness game," Zaelke said. Should the State Department signal its support, the amendment would be forwarded to the Senate for ratification, which requires a two-thirds vote. "Historically, this has not been a partisan issue," said Paul Bledsoe, a lecturer at American University's Center for Environmental Policy and a former White House staffer on climate change in the Clinton administration. "So I think advocates are hopeful, both in industry and elsewhere, that the Senate would see this as a straight matter of economics and not have it be politicized as other agreements have been." WASHINGTON - Federal judges questioned Tuesday whether privacy advocates have the right to sue President Donald Trump's election-integrity commission to try to block its planned collection of millions of voter records. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit seemed skeptical of the specific harm to a privacy watchdog group trying to protect voter data the commission is seeking from 50 states and the District, including individual birth dates, political affiliations and partial Social Security numbers. Judge Stephen Williams asserted that the commission's powers appeared limited to requesting - not demanding - the information from states and said its "potency seems very low." Judge Douglas Ginsburg suggested the commission would have access only to publicly available voter data. "Isn't this information already public?" he asked the attorney for the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC). The Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity - led by Vice President Mike Pence and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, R - was created in May to investigate unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud that Trump has said cost him the popular vote in 2016. In June, the commission asked state election officials to hand over information from voter registration files. More than a dozen states, including Maryland and Virginia, have partially or entirely rejected the commission's request, because of concerns about data breaches and state laws limiting disclosures. The lawsuit at issue Tuesday was filed by the privacy group EPIC and is one of several challenging the commission's work, citing concerns about the government's ability to safeguard the sensitive data and about how the information will be used. Three others are pending in court in Washington. Some election experts and voting rights groups worry the commission would use the information to purge voter rolls and suppress participation. In court Tuesday, EPIC Executive Director Marc Rotenberg called the sweeping nationwide data collection "absolutely unprecedented" and said the organization is "in the dark" about how the data would be stored and who would have access to it. The organization says the commission should have conducted and published the results of a privacy protection review required by law. "EPIC has a critical role in protecting the privacy of this information, and that's only possible if we have access to this report," Rotenberg said after the hearing. In court filings, the Justice Department said that the commission is "only collecting voter information that is already publicly available under the laws of the states where the information resides" and that responding to the request was voluntary. The challenge from the watchdog group relies on a 2002 law designed to protect the privacy of individuals whose data might be collected by the government and that EPIC says requires "transparency" and "accountability." But Justice Department lawyer Daniel Tenny said Tuesday that the measure does not apply, because the election-integrity commission is a "classic advisory commission" and not a federal agency with independent authority. "Federal advisory committees have never been thought to fall within the definition of 'agency,' and the commission in this case exists solely to provide advice to the president and exercises no independent authority," according to the Justice Department filing. After the commission's initial request, the White House clarified it had scrapped plans to use a Pentagon-operated website to accept the data and had designed a system inside the White House to take the submissions. The appeal to the D.C. Circuit came after a federal judge in July said the commission could go forward in requesting voter data. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly concluded the watchdog group had the right to sue under the law for a privacy review but said that because the commission was a presidential advisory panel - and not a federal agency - the privacy law did not apply. "The mere increased risk of disclosure stemming from the collection and eventual, anonymized disclosure of already publicly available voter roll information is insufficient" to block the data request, Kollar-Kotelly wrote. The third judge on the D.C. Circuit panel Tuesday was Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson. --- The Washington Post's Spencer S. Hsu contributed to this report. NZ trade tasting gets new venue and features for 2018 New Zealand Winegrowers has announced its annual UK trade tasting event is to move to a new venue for 2018, with added features for its visitors. The event, which is themed Flavours of New Zealand, will be held on 15 January 2018 at the new venue of Westminster Bridge County Hall. Small focused seminars will be held to explore the different varieties and styles that New Zealand has to offer. The events will be led by Peter McCombie MW, and Rebecca Gibb, MW; and they comprise short 30 minute seminars such as Diversity of Sauvignon Blanc, Unexpected Varieties, Different Shades of Pinot, and Classic Reds; as well as a consumer discovery seminar in the evening. Another new feature will be The Masters Selection table. Fifteen Masters of Wine and Master Sommeliers from around the world, who have visited New Zealand recently, were asked to nominate their top three choices. Nearly 100 wines were nominated and from this list, sixteen wines have been selected to best showcase a wide range of styles, varieties and regions. Chris Stroud, marketing manager Europe for New Zealand Winegrowers, said: We are looking forward to showcasing New Zealand wines in the new venue and welcoming the trade to one of the first major tastings of the year. New Zealand is as popular as ever in the UK market, so we are delighted to bring in some new features for the tasting to highlight our brad range of styles. New Zealand wines continue to grow in the UK market with more than 15% growth in volume and 14% in value, according to Nielsen data (to 07/10/17). New Zealand also has the highest average price of any country at 7.10, above the national average of 5.57. Trade Guests can register for the tasting here: https://www.nzwine.com/en/events/flavours-of-new-zealand-london/ Related articles: The fate of a multibillion-dollar coal mine hinges on weekend elections in Queensland state as voters weigh the promise of new jobs against a potential environmental threat to the Great Barrier Reef. Australia's Labor government has vowed to reject A$900 million in federal funding for a new rail link needed to carry coal to the coast for export. The opposition Liberal National Party, vying to win office in Saturday's ballot, says that threatens the viability of Indian billionaire Gautam Adani's $12.4 billion (A$16.5 billion) project, and with it the economic future of the resource-rich state. As the world grapples with the fossil fuel's role in the future energy mix, the proposed Carmichael mine has become a defining issue in the election. Opinion polls indicate the result is too close to call. "This is the biggest specific issue in the election and the way voters perceive the mine will swing a lot of votes," said John Quiggin, an economics lecturer at the University of Queensland. State Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk's vow to block funding means Labor is "now seen in the anti-Adani camp," he said. Supporters say the mine will open up the Galilee Basin, a coal-rich region bigger than the U.K., and create thousands of new jobs in the struggling state. Queensland, hit hard by the end of a decade-long mining-investment boom, has the nation's second-highest unemployment rate. Opponents say Australia's largest coal project would increase carbon pollution, exacerbating coral bleaching that's already damaged large swathes of the world-famous reef. Adani has repeatedly rejected concerns that the project or cargo vessels carrying coal exports to its Indian customers could damage the world's largest living structure. "The mine is 400 kilometers inland from the reef," Ron Watson, a Brisbane-based spokesman for Adani Australia, said by email. "There has not been one incident in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park in 50 years. The only threat to the reef is those who throw around wild accusations." Watson declined to comment specifically on the federal funding issue or the state elections and said Adani continues "to target first production in 2020." Palaszczuk, 48, is seeking to win a second term for her center-left Labor party, which has been in minority government after elections in January 2015. She says she vetoed federal funding for the rail link earlier this month to diffuse potential claims of a conflict of interest, as her partner is employed by a financial adviser to Adani. The premier says she supports the mine, but doesn't "think taxpayer dollars should be going toward a billionaire to build a railway line." Liberal National state leader Tim Nicholls, 52, seized on the veto, saying Palaszczuk had "put thousands of jobs at risk with this extraordinary backflip." The election may go to the wire. A Sky News/ReachTel poll of Queensland voters released Tuesday had Labor leading the Liberal National Party 51 percent to 49 percent. If neither side wins a majority, Nicholls hasn't ruled out forming a coalition government with anti-Muslim immigration party One Nation, which supports the project but not the federal loan and wants the rail line to be state-owned. Securing the loan is pivotal for the Carmichael project as it could ease the way for other lenders, including Chinese banks, said David Lennox, a Sydney-based resources analyst with Fat Prophets. "If they had to carry that financing themselves, that would add to the mounting pricing pressure on this project," Lennox said. "If they can't build the rail, you're going to have a lot of coal sitting in the middle of nowhere." An announcement that Chinese state-owned enterprises, banks and export credit agencies will back the venture may be made in coming weeks, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported Wednesday, citing an unidentified Adani executive. Adani has held meetings with a "wide range of financiers," the company said Wednesday in response to the ABC report. It also reiterated plans to keep seeking a government loan for the railway. If federal funds are received, "every cent of this loan will be repaid with interest," the company said. The future of coal is a vexed issue in Australia, which generates three-quarters of its electricity from the fuel. At climate talks in Germany last week, 19 nations agreed to quickly phase out its use. Australia refused, with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull continuing to back an industry that last year reaped A$42.3 billion in exports, second only to iron ore. Should it proceed, Carmichael will produce 60 million tons a year from six open-cut pits and as many as five underground mines over its 60-year life. It could also unlock the Galilee Basin's 247,000 square kilometers of resources, with the Clive Palmer-owned Waratah Coal Ltd. and GVK Hancock -- a venture between Indian conglomerate GVK and the Gina Rinehart-owned Hancock Prospecting Pty -- also proposing projects. Just how many jobs the Carmichael mine would create is disputed. In television commercials aired during the last state election, Adani put the number at 10,000 direct and indirect roles. The state government estimates 2,475 people would be employed building the mine and rail link, and 3,920 operating them. For Nicole Rosser, 30, a marine biologist who co-owns a dive-tour business in the Whitsunday Islands, no amount of jobs could justify the threat to the reef. The complex ecosystem, which is under siege from climate change, agricultural runoff, coastal development and illegal fishing, contributes an estimated A$6.4 billion to the economy a year, according to Deloitte Access Economics. "The mine has the potential to destroy the reef," Rosser said. "It doesn't make financial sense, it doesn't make environmental sense." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate As many as 10 members of the MS-13 street gang lured a man into a park in Wheaton, Maryland, spoke with one another over walkie-talkies as he arrived, stabbed him more than 100 times, decapitated him and then cut out his heart, according to police documents made public Wednesday in Montgomery County District Court. The first alleged attacker to be arrested, Miguel "Timido" Angel Lopez-Abrego, 19, was charged with first-degree murder and held in jail after a brief hearing Wednesday. "He is noted as being the first individual to thrust a knife in the chest of the decedent," Assistant State's Attorney Kelly McGann said in court. Police continue to search for other suspects. Now Playing: FOX 5's Marina Marraco reports. Video: Fox5DC Police found the body buried in a grave, deep in the woods of Wheaton Regional Park, that the attackers dug before the slaying, according to court records. Authorities have not been able to identify the victim, who they believe may have been from Annapolis. He was wearing a sweatshirt, and those who knew him would have noticed he was missing a lower tooth near the front of his mouth, police said. The investigation began in early September, when detectives spoke to an informant who said he knew of an MS-13 murder that occurred in the spring of this year in the park. The informant led detectives to the gravesite, according to court records. The remains were exhumed and examined by the Maryland Medical Examiner's Office. "The victim had been stabbed over one-hundred times, decapitated, dismembered, and his heart had been excised from his chest and thrown into the grave," detectives wrote in court papers. Although the victim's identity was unknown, Montgomery detectives developed Lopez-Abrego as a suspect. On Sept. 29, patrol officers stopped a car driven by another MS-13 member in which Lopez-Abrego was a passenger. Detectives interviewed Lopez-Abrego, but he denied any involvement in the park murder, the court records state. Montgomery police tried to find Lopez-Abrego after that interview but couldn't find him. Law enforcement, looking for a different MS-13 suspect from Maryland - Milton Portillo-Rodriguez, accused of a murder in Anne Arundel County - tracked that man to Avery County, North Carolina. On Nov. 4, a group of about 10 agents from the U.S. Marshals Service and the local sheriff's office arrived at a condominium, Avery County Sheriff Kevin Frye said in a telephone interview Wednesday. A person - but not the suspect - answered the door. The deputies and agents found Portillo-Rodriguez, Lopez-Abrego and a third MS-13 member attempting to hide inside, Frye said. The third suspect is accused in a different attack at the same Wheaton park. In that incident, as many as 15 assailants surrounded two victims, punching them, kicking them and striking them with large tree limbs, according to arrest records. The victims were hospitalized but survived. Police identified the suspect in that assault as Edwin Ruiz-Urrutia, 19. He is being held on no-bond status in Montgomery County on charges including attempted second-degree murder and first-degree assault. Frye, the Avery County sheriff, said the three alleged gang members found in the apartment hadn't made much of an impact. "They were new arrivals, and no one really knew who they were," he said. Lopez-Abrego is a citizen of El Salvador, is in the United States illegally and is currently in immigration proceedings, officials from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Wednesday. The charging documents do not cite a motive in the slaying in the park, but investigators believe that the suspects had planned to carry it out for about two weeks. They also alleged that Lopez-Abrego helped dig the grave and "waited near the edge of the wood line with a handheld walkie-talkie radio to alert the other suspects of the victim's arrival." He also used a 15-inch knife in the attack, according to police. Investigators said the victim was a Hispanic man, about 5-foot-2 and weighing 126 pounds. He had short, dark brown hair. At the time of the killing, the victim was wearing a gray sweatshirt with "First United Methodist Church Laurel" written on the upper left side. A rosary or necklace was also found on his body, said police, who had previously distributed photos of the victim's sweatshirt and muddied blue shorts in an effort to identify his remains. The brutal slaying at the Wheaton park is part of a resurgence of killings in the Washington region that police and prosecutors attribute to MS-13. In one case, assailants armed with knives lured a 34-year-old to his already-dug grave. A 22-year-old also was taken to a wooded area and ordered to his knees before he was shot in the face. And in another case, an 18-year-old was ambushed near a stream, stabbed and stoned before he died under a bridge of the Capital Beltway. - - - The Washington Post's Dana Hedgpeth contributed to this report. A United States senator was attacked at his home, allegedly by his neighbor 19 days ago, and we still have no idea why. The neighbor pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor assault. It's hard to overstate just how weird this story is, and how weirder it keeps getting. To that point: On Wednesday, Sen. Rand Paul's wife wrote an op-ed for CNN, where she gave the first full picture of how the Pauls say the attack happened. She basically alleges that out of the blue, Paul's attacker ran down a hill and body slammed the Republican senator from Kentucky for no reason. She wrote: "The only 'dispute' existed solely in the attacker's troubled mind, until, on a beautiful autumn day, he ran down the hill on our property and slammed his body into Rand's lower back as he stood facing away, wearing noise canceling headphones to protect his ears from the lawn mower." Here's what little we know - and all the things we still don't know about why and how Paul got attacked and what could come of it. What's not in dispute 1. His injuries were serious: We already knew Paul broke at least six ribs. Paul's wife, Kelley, wrote that three of those ribs were displaced, he has fluid buildup between a lung and the chest, and he was recently diagnosed with pneumonia as a complication of his damaged lung. "Since November 3, my husband, Rand Paul, has not taken a single one [breath] without pain," she wrote. Paul's office declined to comment Wednesday on the severity of Paul's pneumonia and whether he would miss work next week, but spokesman Sergio Gor told The Washington Post: "Sen. Rand Paul remains in pain and discomfort this Thanksgiving but very much appreciates all the support he's received from across the nation." 2. His neighbor is somehow involved: Rene Boucher is a 59-year-old retired anesthesiologist who has lived next to Paul in a manicured, gated community in Bowling Green, Kentucky, for 17 years. A week after the attack, he pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge. His lawyer said there was "a very regrettable dispute between two neighbors over a matter that most people would regard as trivial." What we still don't know 1. Why he got attacked: Paul's neighbor is a registered Democrat, but his lawyer, Matthew Baker, was quick to characterize the attack as "unequivocally not about politics." Baker also boosted stories suggesting it was a landscaping or property-maintenance dispute. According to CNN, when Baker was asked about the motive, he said "we should believe" Paul's neighbor Jim Skaggs, who told CNN there has been a "long-running disagreement" over property maintenance. Paul's camp has insinuated - but hasn't outright said - this was about politics. Paul has tweeted links suggesting his neighbor's liberal bent had something to do with it. "May Robert Mueller fry Trump's gonads," an account with the name of Paul's neighbor tweeted in May, based on a story Paul directed his Twitter followers to read. Paul's camp has also denied the attack was preceded by any kind of fight, about landscaping or otherwise: "This was not a 'fight,' it was a blindside, violent attack by a disturbed person," Paul's staffer, Doug Stafford, told reporters. "Anyone claiming otherwise is simply uninformed or seeking media attention." Paul's wife reiterated that in her CNN op-ed. 2. Why neither side has explained what happened: Reporters from across the country have repeatedly tried to get a fuller account of the situation directly from the senator, his staff and local law enforcement, to no avail. Nearly four weeks later, Paul's camp finally spoke out in the form of this op-ed about how they saw the attack unfold. Again, Paul's wife said it came out of nowhere from a man they hadn't talked to in a decade. 3. If Paul and his neighbor were on good terms: Paul and his neighbor haven't talked in 10 years, "other than a casual wave from the car," according to Paul's wife. 4. Why Paul's wife is offering up new information now: Paul's wife seems driven to lift the curtain on what happened because she feels Paul has been maligned by "news outlets" she says have delighted "in hateful headlines like 'Not A Perfect Neighbor,' and concocting theories about an 'ongoing dispute,' based on nothing more than speculation from an attention-seeking person with no knowledge of anything to do with us." 5. Who the "attention-seeking person" is that Paul's wife wants to cast doubt on: She didn't name names in the op-ed. Is it a neighbor talking to the reporters who have come to town to find out what happened? Other politicians? Boucher himself? 6. Whether Paul will press more charges: Paul's neighbor's attorney told reporters that Paul has retained a personal injury lawyer. One of Paul's advisers has said this case is also being handled by federal authorities, but there's no indication yet that Boucher will face federal charges. And if authorities believe it is a politically motivated attack and he is found guilty, Boucher could also face much more prison time: up to eight years as opposed to up to one year for a misdemeanor assault charge, as The Washington Post's Brandon Gee and Ed O'Keefe report. In a first-ever project of its kind for the Huron Daily Tribune, we asked readers to tell us what they are thankful in photographs. This slideshow shows what many of them had to say. Happy Thanksgiving, from the Huron Daily Tribune. The University of Michigan will consider allowing white nationalist Richard Spencer to hold an event on its campus, the latest public school grappling with how to balance constitutional rights and campus safety with a speaker they didn't invite and don't want to host. "His views, and those of his organization and its followers, are antithetical to everything we stand for at the University of Michigan," the school's president, Mark Schlissel, wrote in a letter to the campus Tuesday. But he also wrote, "We are legally prohibited from blocking such requests based solely on the content of that speech, however sickening it is." He said university administrators would begin discussions with Spencer's National Policy Institute about holding an event at the state flagship school. "If we cannot assure a reasonably safe setting for the event, we will not allow it to go forward,"he said. Last Friday, the attorney representing a supporter of Spencer, Cameron Padgett, wrote Schlissel. "I am disgusted and dismayed that the First Amendment to the United States Constitution is being flippantly disregarded by you and your colleagues because of the political viewpoint of the speakers who would attend the proposed event and the heckler's veto which is being utilized by left-wing individuals who are detractors of Padgett and Spencer," said Kyle Bristow, the attorney. Bristow wrote that the university must respond to the request by Friday, or he threatened to sue. On Tuesday, the university's board of regents held a special public meeting to discuss the request. Spencer's supporters have asked to rent space for his events at several universities this fall, after he led a torchlight march in August through the University of Virginia that turned violent. Several schools denied his request, citing imminent safety concerns. The University of Florida allowed Spencer to speak, leading the state's governor to declare a state of emergency before Spencer arrived on campus and forcing the school to absorb more than $500,000 in security costs. After other universities in recent months denied Spencer's request to make appearances, lawsuits were filed against Michigan State, Penn State and Ohio State universities, seeking to force them to allow the white nationalist to speak. Earlier this year, a federal judge overturned Auburn University's decision to cancel a speech by Spencer, ruling the ban was unconstitutional because it was predicated on the content of the speech. The judge also found no evidence Spencer promoted violence. The Michigan Daily, the student newspaper, showed a room full of students at the board of regents meeting Tuesday holding up handmade cardboard signs opposing Spencer, and quoted the Black Student Union on campus as demanding in an email that Schlissel deny the request: "Allowing such a person to speak on this campus is a threat to the physical and emotional safety of many students on campus. Too many times already have students of color been placed under emotional distress due to racist campus climate," the black student group wrote, citing racist graffiti and Snapchats and white-supremacist fliers at the Ann Arbor campus. In his letter later that evening, Schlissel wrote, "I personally detest and reject the hateful white supremacy and white nationalism expressed by Mr. Spencer as well as his racist, anti-Semitic and otherwise bigoted views, as do the regents and the entire leadership of this university. Many followers who show up at his rallies share his repugnant beliefs and should be shunned by our community." But the Michigan president said denying the request "would provide even more attention to the speaker and his cause, and allow him to claim a court victory." Spencer and Bristow did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday. "As painful as it is to allow this speaker to rent our space," Schlissel wrote, "a democratic society without free speech is unimaginable." Many of the regents issued public statements. "As a human being, and as a Jew, whose family was murdered by the Nazis, I reject his hateful views with every fiber of my being," regent Ron Weiser wrote. "However, I believe that the university has a fundamental duty to fulfill our obligations under the Constitution of the state of Michigan and the Constitution of the United States of America, namely, the First Amendment right to free speech, even if that speech is hateful." TOKYO - Eight people have been rescued and are in "good condition" after a U.S. Navy transporter plane carrying 11 crew and passengers crashed into the Pacific Ocean off Japan, the U.S. Navy's 7th Fleet said Wednesday. The search for the remaining three is continuing. This is the latest accident to befall the 7th Fleet, which is based in the Japanese port of Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, and has endured multiple collisions at sea this year, including two involving guided-missile destroyers that left 17 sailors dead. The C2-A Greyhound aircraft was on a routine flight from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in southern Japan to the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier, which is currently in the Philippine Sea on exercises with Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force. It crashed at 2:45 p.m. local time Wednesday, the 7th Fleet said in a statement. The cause of the crash was not immediately known and an investigation would be carried out, it said. The eight who were rescued were transferred to the Reagan for medical evaluation. The Reagan crew and Japanese forces were conducting search and rescue operations Wednesday afternoon and trying to recover the remaining crew and passengers. "The Maritime Self-Defense Force is currently searching with U.S. forces," Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said, according to public broadcaster NHK. "We received information from U.S. Forces that the cause is possibly engine malfunction." Onodera voiced concern about the frequency of aircraft accidents involving U.S. forces, saying he would ask the American military to take more care with safety. This was an apparent reference to last month's crash on Okinawa, when a transport helicopter caught fire during a training flight and crashed just 300 yards from houses. No one was injured. The C-2 is a twin-engine cargo plane designed to transport people and supplies to and from aircraft carriers. It crashed 93 miles northwest of Okinotori island, about halfway between Okinawa and Guam, according to the Okinawa Defense Bureau. The 7th Fleet has been carrying out exercises linked to the recent rise in tensions with North Korea. This month, for the first time in a decade, it carried out a three-carrier strike exercise in the sea between Japan and the Korean Peninsula - a show of force that North Korea has decried as warmongering. Wednesday's crash is the latest in a string of accidents to befall the 7th Fleet this year, including two collisions involving guided-missile destroyers that left 17 sailors dead. Ten were killed when the USS John S. McCain collided with an oil tanker near Singapore in August, and seven died when the USS Fitzgerald ran into a much heavier container ship off the coast of Japan in June. The month before, the guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain collided with a South Korean fishing vessel off the Korean Peninsula and the guided-missile cruiser USS Antietam ran aground in Tokyo Bay in January. Most recently, a Japanese tug lost propulsion and drifted into the USS Benfold, another guided-missile destroyer, during a towing exercise just last week. No one was injured on either vessel and Benfold sustained minimal damage, the 7th Fleet said in a statement on Nov. 18. The 7th Fleet has about 50 to 70 ships assigned to it and is responsible for an area that spans 36 maritime countries and 48 million square miles in the Pacific and Indian oceans, according to the Navy. The admiral in charge was removed from his position after his commanders lost confidence in his ability to lead and the Navy's top admiral ordered a fleetwide review of seamanship and training in the Pacific after the McCain collision. A survey of sailors on the USS Shiloh, a cruiser, released last month painted a damning picture of life in the 7th Fleet, where sailors say they are overworked and undertrained. "I just pray we never have to shoot down a missile from North Korea," one sailor lamented, according to the Navy Times, "because then our ineffectiveness will really show." The crew members described dysfunction from the top, suicidal thoughts, exhaustion, despair and concern that the Shiloh was being pushed to sail while vital repairs remained incomplete, the paper reported. --- The Washington Post's Yuki Oda contributed to this report. Given the opioid addiction crisis, it would seem preposterous that an opioid is legal for use in the United States and can be purchased at tea stores, convenience stores, over the internet and, yes, even from vending machines. However, kratom is not your average opioid. The Drug Enforcement Agency found this out when it tried to ban the herb in 2016. Public outcry from users and 51 congressmen around the country from both political parties was loud. The DEA has since dropped its attempt to ban kratom, although its use is banned in Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Tennessee, Vermont, Wisconsin and Louisiana. More recently, on Nov. 14, 2017, the FDA issued a public warning about kratom, citing 36 deaths that the agency has attributed to kratom use. Kratom lies at the intersection between natural product and drug of abuse, areas I have been exploring as a clinical pharmacology researcher and a pharmacist for two decades. From ephedra for weight loss to MDMA (molly) for PTSD, experience has taught me that natural products are not always safe and that banned drugs may actually benefit some patients. A popular plant Thousands of people take kratom, which grows naturally in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, to relieve pain, believing a natural herb to be safe. However, we just do not know enough about the herb to deem it safe, or effective. We do know that kratom has very mild pain-relieving effects and a slight stimulant effect. It brings a low risk of stopping breathing, the main risk of stronger opioids. The opioid effects from kratom come from two potent chemicals, mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine in kratoms leaf. Mitragynine is the more prominent and has very mild opioid effects, while 7-hydroxymitragynine is 13 times more potent than morphine milligram for milligram. But just because kratom is not as dangerous as heroin and fentanyl does not mean it is free of adverse effects. In fact, they are all highly addictive. In an assessment of the 660 calls about kratom to United States poison control centers from 2010-2015, the major adverse effects included racing heartbeat, agitation or irritability, drowsiness, nausea and high blood pressure. The adverse effects were moderate or severe in 42 percent and 7 percent of people, respectively. In addition, unlike prescription drugs, the quantities of the active ingredients in unregulated kratom products can change over time or can be adulterated with other products. In an assessment of several kratom products commercially sold in the Western world, the concentrations of 7-hydroxymitragynine were substantially higher than could be achieved naturally, which negates the safety benefits of using kratom versus other opioids. Help for hard workers? Kratom has been used widely in Southeast Asia for millennia, but it was banned in Thailand in 1943. Fans of the herb said the ban was due to politics, not health. The ban hardly stopped its usage there. According to the 2008 national survey in Thailand, more than a million people reported using kratom. In several southern districts in Thailand, up to 70 percent of the male population reportedly uses kratom daily. In Malaysia, the majority of people reported use of kratom to enhance their ability to work long hours with less pain and fatigue, but 31 percent began out of curiosity or peer pressure. Fifteen percent reported using kratom to wean off illicit drugs and alcohol. Eighty-nine percent of subjects tried to abstain from kratom in the past but all had relapsed due to withdrawal symptoms, such as insomnia, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pains and shakiness, runny eyes and nose, anxiousness, depression and tension. In the U.S., kratoms safety profile at least compared to other opioids led people as far back as 1836 to recommend kratom as a substitute for people who became addicted to opioids. This belief was the main reason for the outcry against the proposed DEA ban in 2016. Despite the internet hype and extensive anecdotal experience, I do not think there any high-quality studies assessing how well it actually works and the best ways to use it. Keeping quiet A small study in Malaysia of 136 kratom users in 2010 suggested that kratom was effective at reducing the use of opioids. But, of the 78 percent of the respondents who subsequently tried to quit using kratom, none was successful. We already have drugs that can be used for opioid addiction, including suboxone and methadone, which have been rigorously studied but also are addictive. It is reasonable to ask: Why would someone use kratom to help treat addiction? Kratom offers something that other drugs to treat addiction do not the ability to treat oneself in anonymity and to receive treatment without involving the health care system or law enforcement. We need more information. Having the DEA ban a product makes the scientific inquiry into that product extremely difficult. This has impaired researchers ability to sensibly investigate the medicinal properties of marijuana, to the detriment of patients, I believe. What is the bottom line? Kratom is a promising option as an effective and safe substitute for people addicted to prescription opioids, which needs to be explored. At the same time, kratom has high addiction potential and is risky when combined with other psychiatric drugs or drugs of abuse. Having kratom available to purchase in nearly unlimited quantities in venues that do not restrict purchase by age is a very bad idea. A middle ground between this Wild West policy and a ban on kratom is to establish it as a third class of drugs. In 2006, Congress passed a law moving decongestants (pseudoephedrine, ephedrine and phenylpropanolamine) from over-the-counter to behind-the-pharmacy-counter status. That law limits the monthly amount of the decongestants any individual could purchase. It also limits the sale to adults with photo identification and requires retailers to keep personal information about these customers for at least two years after purchase. Congress could pass a similar law for kratom and even place further restrictions, such as requiring kratom products to contain a standardized amount of the active constituents and that patients provide a medication history to the pharmacist, who can check for harmful drug-drug interactions and counsel patients on safer ways to use the drug. As with decongestants, this can be done efficiently and discreetly, because there are over 275 million patient visits to places that have pharmacies in them in the United States each week. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate If Harris County were its own state, it would have a more active death chamber than the entire rest of the country - except for the rest of Texas. Of the 1,465 U.S. executions in the modern death penalty era, 125 have come from Harris County - roughly 8 percent. The next-closest executioner is Dallas County, with 55 death sentences carried out since the Supreme Court reinstated the ultimate punishment in 1976. Houston's reputation as ground zero for the death penalty, it seems, is well-earned - even though prosecutors here have been less apt to dole out capital sentences in recent years. Now Playing: A Mexican citizen on death row in Texas has been executed for the 1997 killing of his cousin. Video: Time But while the numbers are stark, the reasons behind the Bayou City's apparent zeal for capital punishment are less apparent. It's not driven by public support for the practice. It's not driven by an unusually high crime rate or by especially heinous murders. So what is it? What sets apart jurisdictions that frequently turn to capital punishment from those that don't? That is one of the questions Frank Baumgartner and his co-authors explore in Deadly Justice, a numbers-heavy study of capital punishment released this month. The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill political science professor took some time this week to field questions from the Chronicle about his new book and its implications in the Houston area. Houston Chronicle: So, Harris County is known as the capital of capital punishment - why is that? Are Houstonians just more supportive of it? Frank Baumgartner: Well, actually I would say two things. We got data from a Rice University Houston-area poll and it turns out the public opinion in Houston is less supportive for the death penalty than in the rest of Texas. In general across the country we don't find any correlation between public opinion and executions, and the reason for that is that if you don't support capital punishment you're not allowed to sit on a jury. The key driver in the system is the choices that district attorneys make, because they start the process and they get to pick and choose whether to seek death. Looking at all 3,000 counties in the U.S. there are just a few counties that have executed more than, say, 10 people - there's only 20 counties like that - and it's really astounding that there'd be so much concentration in a few jurisdictions. There's really no rhyme or reason to it. Frank Baumgartner HC: It's not that Houston has more horrific crimes? FB: No, not at all. I think it's something about a local culture that develops around the courthouse. Most counties never go there, but a few counties happen to scucessfully carry through to the end a death sentence - and then when the next really bad murder happens the prosecutors say, "Well this is just as bad as that one where we sought death so we kind of have to do it again this time." HC: We hear a lot about botched executions - is this happening more than it used to - and why we aren't seeing these botched executions in Texas? Or is it just a matter of time? FB: Lethal injection is a medicalized procedure but in most states no doctors are allowed to participate so I think it does lend itself to botches in a way that other methods like firing squad or hangings did not. But Texas has a lot more practice. So there have been fewer botches in Texas because I think their teams in the corrections department are relatively in practice. In carrying out 400 or 500 hundred executions they've just done it a lot more. Frank Baumgartner HC: People always seem to express frustration over the length of the delays - sometimes it's 20 years. Is Texas an outlier in this or is this a pretty normal timeframe here? FB: The average as of 2015 is about 20 years delay from crime to execution, so that's pretty shocking. There's three shockers. One is the extreme delay - that's 20 years in solitary confinement. So it's 20 years of harsh punishment followed by execution. The other shocker is that we only carry out 13 percent of the death sentences. It's just astounding. And the third shocker is that even when the governor signs a death warrant it's not usually carried out. On average, those things are cancelled. HC: So you've been looking at this for a while - how are the questions and discussion around the use of the death penalty changing? FB: I think the biggest change was in the 1990s we started to pay serious attention to the concept of innocence and whether there might be innocent people on death row and whether we should celebrate it when we identify them and they're exonerated or if we should interpret that number as catastrophic. I think the innocence argument has really shaken people's faith that you can count on the government to get it right every single time. HC: One of the topics that comes up a lot now - and has been written about a lot - is one of your chapter titles: "Is the death penalty dying?" Is it? FB: I think it's in a stranglehold. I think the system is so tied up in knots, partly because of the concern of executing an innocent person. It's really hard to justify or have enthusiasm about a system so dysfunctional as the current modern death penalty, even if you're a prosecutor. Note: This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Editors Note: This story originally published in 2018. Fifty-six years ago, San Antonio served as the backdrop for President John F. Kennedy's last full day alive. On Nov. 21, 1963, JFK and First Lady Jackie Kennedy Onassis zipped through the Alamo City for a 2-hour and 25-minute tour before heading to Houston and then making the fateful trip to Dallas, where he was assassinated less than 24 hours later. More than 100,000 people lined a 26-mile route through San Antonio, that passed through spots like the University of the Incarnate Word, named Incarnate Word College at the time, and Brooks Air Force Base. The two-day Texas tour was an attempt to build support for his 1964 re-election. RELATED: Rare photos show the hours leading up to and following the assassination of JFK Those who were able to get close to the president gave the San Antonio Express-News a retelling of their experiences with him. "It was, I'd say, the highlight of my life. All the air came out of it the next day," Walter Warren, then an Air Force policeman guarding a gate at Brooks AFB, where the president gave a stirring speech about space travel in his last official act, said in 2013 San Antonio Express-News interview. In the documentary "Last Two Days, November 1963: 21-22," a video shows crowds greeting the polished first couple at the San Antonio International Airport and through downtown. Portions of Kennedy's speech at the dedication ceremonies for the Aerospace Medical Center at Brooks AFB are also included in the documentary. "[...] We do stand on the edge of a great new era," Kennedy said, not knowing he would die just hours later. Experience the historic day in the video and gallery above. Staff writer Scott Huddleston contributed to this report. | Madalyn Mendoza is a digital reporter for MySA.com. Read more of her stories here.| mmendoza@mysa.com | Twitter: @MaddySkye SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Whitefish Energy Holdings said late Monday that it was halting work to help restore power in Puerto Rico because the U.S. territory's government has not paid crews as part of a contract that led to accusations of overcharging and incompetence and contributed to the resignation of the power company director. The Montana-based company said in a statement that invoices for work done in October are outstanding and that it can no longer keep working. The Associated Press obtained a letter dated Nov. 19 and signed by Whitefish CEO Andy Techmanski saying that Puerto Rico's government owes Whitefish more than $83 million and that the company would suspend work on Monday if it wasn't paid. Meant to stay until Nov. 30 Whitefish said in the letter that the lack of payments is a breach of the $300 million contract that the administration of Gov. Ricardo Rossello cancelled last month. Even though the contract had been cancelled, both sides agreed Whitefish would complete its current projects and remain in Puerto Rico until Nov. 30. "There is no basis for PREPA to withhold payments from Whitefish Energy," the letter said, referring to the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority. "We have met the terms of the contract - including completing difficult work on time and under challenging conditions." The company said Techmanski was not immediately available for comment. Whitefish also said Monday that Florida-based utility companies working in Puerto Rico were pulling out ahead of time. "While we cannot speak for these utilities, we have been assured by their representatives that this is about their go-forward concerns once Whitefish Energy completes its work with PREPA and the ability of PREPA or any successor organizations to provide their crews with the necessary resources and management," Whitefish said. The company said it would resume work if it obtained the payments owed. Meanwhile, Puerto Rico's government said in a statement late Monday that Whitefish is alleging nonpayment and that the power utility is reviewing and auditing Whitefish invoices. It also said the Electric Power Authority was forced to stop pending payments "until the situation with the Whitefish subcontractor is clarified." Puerto Rico power company spokesman Carlos Monroig told the AP that both sides are in talks to reach an agreement. Director's resignation The dispute comes just days after the resignation of Ricardo Ramos, the power company director who signed the Whitefish contract, which is undergoing a local and federal audit. Documents released by the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee ahead of a recent hearing show the electric utility ignored advice from its own lawyers before signing the contract with Whitefish, which is based in Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's hometown and had just two employees when Hurricane Maria hit. Many people in Puerto Rico remain without power two months after the Category 4 storm devastated the island, killing at least 55 people and causing up to $95 billion in damage. More than 20 of Puerto Rico's 78 municipalities remain in the dark, and overall power generation stands below 50 percent. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate LAGOS, Nigeria - A teenage suicide bomber attacked worshippers as they gathered for morning prayers Tuesday at a mosque in northeastern Nigeria, killing at least 50 people, police said, in one of the region's deadliest assaults in years. Bloody debris covered the floor inside the mosque in Mubi town in Adamawa state where worshippers had arrived around 5 a.m. Outside, people gathered around the dead. President Muhammadu Buhari tweeted that he was "saddened by the very cruel and dastardly suicide bombing attack." "May the souls of the dead rest in peace," he added. More Information U.S. says strike kills 100 tied to al-Shabab The U.S. military killed more than 100 people identified by the Pentagon as being affiliated with the Islamic militant group al-Shabab, continuing a stepped-up pace of strikes against targets in Somalia, officials said Tuesday. U.S. Africa Command said in a statement that the airstrike was carried out 125 miles northwest of Mogadishu, the Somali capital. The U.S. Africa Command also said that it conducted two airstrikes in Libya against Islamic State group militants, on Friday and Sunday. Defense officials did not say how many people were killed in those strikes. Washington Post See More Collapse Police spokesman Othman Abubakar told the Associated Press they were "still trying to ascertain the number of injured because they are in various hospitals." While there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing, suspicion immediately fell on the Boko Haram extremist group. The group is based in neighboring Borno state and has been blamed for scores of similar attacks over the years. Tuesday's attack was the first since Mubi town was liberated from Boko Haram insurgents in 2014. Boko Haram increasingly has been using teenagers or young women as bombers, many of whom have been abducted. The police spokesman said the young man detonated his explosives Tuesday while mingling among the worshippers. While Nigeria's military in recent months has flushed Boko Haram from its forest stronghold, Buhari's claim late last year that the extremist group had been "crushed" has proven to be premature. Boko Haram has been blamed for more than 20,000 deaths during its eight-year-old insurgency. The attacks have spilled into neighboring countries and displaced more than 2.4 million people in the Lake Chad region, creating a vast humanitarian crisis. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the suicide attack and reiterated "the solidarity of the United Nations with the Government of Nigeria in its fight against terrorism and violent extremism," U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said. The U.N. chief called for those responsible "for these heinous acts to be swiftly brought to justice," he said. The United States condemned the attack. A statement by U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said "that the victims were targeted and killed in a place of worship demonstrates yet again the brutal nature of the terrorists whose sole aim is to threaten the peace and security of Nigerian citizens." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate THE HAGUE, Netherlands - An unrepentant Ratko Mladic, the bullish Bosnian Serb general whose forces rained shells and snipers' bullets on Sarajevo and carried out the worst massacre in Europe since World War II, was convicted Wednesday of genocide and other crimes and sentenced to spend the rest of his life behind bars. Defiant to the last, Mladic was ejected from a courtroom at the United Nations' Yugoslav war crimes tribunal after yelling at judges: "Everything you said is pure lies. Shame on you!" He was dispatched to a neighboring room to watch on a TV screen as Presiding Judge Alphons Orie pronounced him guilty of 10 counts that also included war crimes and crimes against humanity. Human-rights organizations hailed the convictions as proof that even top military brass long considered untouchable cannot evade justice forever. Mladic spent years on the run before his arrest in 2011. "This landmark verdict marks a significant moment for international justice and sends out a powerful message around the world that impunity cannot and will not be tolerated," said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International's Europe director. For prosecutors, it was a fitting end to a 23-year effort to mete out justice at the U.N. tribunal for atrocities committed during the Balkan wars of the early 1990s. Mladic's conviction signaled the end of the final trial before the tribunal closes its doors by the end of the year. But legal battles will continue. Mladic's attorneys vowed to appeal his convictions on 10 charges related to a string of atrocities from the beginning of the 1992-95 Bosnian war to its bitter end. "The defense team considers this judgment to be erroneous, and there will be an appeal, and we believe that the appeal will correct the errors of the trial chamber," Mladic lawyer Dragan Ivetic said. The conflict in the former Yugoslavia erupted after the country's breakup in the early 1990s, with the worst crimes taking place in Bosnia. More than 100,000 people died and millions lost their homes before a peace agreement was signed in 1995. Mladic went into hiding for around 10 years before his arrest in Serbia in May 2011. Mladic's political master during the war, former Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadzic, was also convicted last year for genocide and sentenced to 40 years. He has appealed the ruling. The man widely blamed for fomenting wars across the Balkans, former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, died in his U.N. cell in 2006 before tribunal judges could reach verdicts in his trial. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate WASHINGTON U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, the longest-serving member of the Texas delegation, apologized Wednesday for a graphic nude photo of him that has spread on social media in the past week and sparked questions about his political future. Barton, 68, has announced a 2018 reelection bid, but quickly began facing questions as the backlash built about retiring rather than seeking another term. Barton's congressional and campaign offices did not return calls for comment. Barton told the Texas Tribune that he was weighing his options, saying, "I am talking to a number of people, all of whom I have faith in and am deciding how to respond, quite frankly." If he does choose to bow out after this term, he'd be the seventh Texas incumbent in Congress no planning to return in 2019. In a public statement, the Republican from Ennis indicated that the image stemmed from an extramarital affair before his divorce two years ago. "While separated from my second wife, prior to the divorce, I had sexual relationships with other mature adult women," he said in the statement to the Texas Tribune. "Each was consensual. Those relationships have ended. I am sorry I did not use better judgment during those days. I am sorry that I let my constituents down." The nude selfie photo was posted anonymously Monday on at least one muckraking website, and has been making the rounds on Twitter as well, mainly through a blind account purporting to belong to a "100 percent Trump supporter" who believes in God. The photo, with Barton's genitals obscured, was accompanied by another depicting an unidentified woman in a polka dot dress, alleged by the anonymous poster to be a lobbyist and a mistress. The tweets appear to have been sent to a number of national and Texas political leaders, including the Twitter account of President Donald Trump. The Twitter accounts of several Texas media outlets also were contacted. Barton's statement made no mention of the accompanying picture, which also went viral on the Internet. He confirmed only the authenticity of the full frontal shot of himself which quickly became an object of online memes and ridicule. Now Playing: Facebook is asking users to submit nude photos... as part of their effort to combat revenge porn. Now, users can use Messenger to send their private images to be "hashed." The company uses the photo as a digital fingerprint to identify and block the same photo in case it's uploaded. Video: Wibbitz The incident comes amid growing concerns about sexual harassment and misbehavior in Congress, following high-profile accusations of harassment against business and media celebrities. House Speaker Paul Ryan has spoken to Barton about the matter, Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong said, adding that she would "keep those conversations between the two of them," The New York Times reported. Nothing in the photo suggests sexual harassment on Barton's part, unless it could have been an unwanted sexting photo. But no victim has come forward. If the photo was posted by a sexual partner to injure Barton, some GOP strategists say he could be construed a victim under a 2015 Texas revenge porn law. That law was passed in 2015, the same year of his second divorce. He was married once before and divorced in 1993. His campaign sits on a $391,543 war chest, according to federal campaign finance records. He was reelected in 2016 with 58 percent of the vote in what is regarded as a safe Republican district. Amid an expected Republican scramble if Barton does bow out, Democrats signaled that they would make the incident an issue if he runs next year. "Texans, just like all American people, are tired of poor behavior of elected officials distracting us from the real issues affecting us," Jana Lynne Sanchez, the best-funded of five Democrats running for Barton's seat, said in a statement. "Joe Barton, like all Tea Party extremists, do not (sic) represent the values of our great state and the people of the 6th congressional district. It's time for new leadership. The swamp needs draining." No Republicans have filed to challenge Barton. Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton by 8 percentage points in the 6th Congressional District area, which includes part of Tarrant County, plus all of Ellis and Navarro counties. Speculation began immediately in North Texas about prospective candidates for Barton's seat. Among the possibilities being talked about on social media are state Sens. Brian Birdwell of Granbury and Konni Burton of Colleyville. In order to run in a Texas primary, candidates must file to run by December 11. Texas turnover If Barton resigns or decides not to run again, it would mean all four of the longest serving members of Congress from Texas are calling it quits. U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, and Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Plano, announced earlier they will retired in 2018. Long-time Houston Democrat Gene Green announced earlier this month he won't seek re-election. Others in the delegation also are heading for the exits. Dallas Republican Jeb Hensarling and Atascocita Republican Ted Poe have also announced they won't seek re-election. U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, D-El Paso, is also leaving as he seeks to run for the U.S. Senate against Texas Republican Ted Cruz. A former oil and gas consultant, Barton has served in Congress since 1985, rising at his peak to become chairman of the House Energy and Commerce committee. Term limited from the position under former House Speaker John Boehner, he sought unsuccessfully to reclaim the committee gavel again last year. Barton, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, retains a low-level leadership position as a member of the GOP whip operation. He also serves as vice-chairman of the powerful energy committee. A tea party conservative, he has also made his own way on some contentious issues. He is the only Texas Republican to sign on to the bipartisan DREAM Act, legislation that would provide legal status to young immigrants brought into the country illegally as minors. He also has been at loggerheads with Republican leaders over his efforts to shield the city of Arlington and the Texas Rangers from the potential loss of millions of dollars in stadium bond tax write-offs that are threatened in the GOP tax plan. A passionate baseball fan, he manages the GOP congressional baseball team, and was on the field during this summer's shooting at a team practice. It was not his first brush with death. He suffered a heart attack in 2005 and was treated at the George Washington University Hospital. Although Barton was chosen to help lead a task force to guide federal aid for Hurricane Harvey recovery efforts, he was one of several Texas Republicans to vote against a pair of disaster relief packages: one because it was tied to a measure raising the debt ceiling; the other because it bailed out a bankrupt national flood insurance program and was not sufficiently targeted at Texas. Barton also recently made headlines for telling a constituent to "shut up" during a fractious town hall meeting this year. Over the years, he has sparred with Democrats over his skepticism of human-caused climate change. In 2010, he made national headlines when he accused the Obama administration of a "$20 billion shakedown" of the BP oil company in an agreement to pay claims to people harmed by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. He also was criticized for appearing to apologize to BP's chief executive officer as he was about to testify before Congress. Under fire, Barton later withdrew both statements. While Barton, considered the "dean" of the Texas delegation, could now face calls to resign, some GOP strategists say the incident is more likely to call into question his effectiveness should he decide to run for an 18th term. Jeremy Wallace contributed to this report from Austin. David Williams/Austin Ridesharing AUSTIN The House Administration committee will meet in early December to adopt a sexual harassment policy for the Texas House of Representatives, according to a meeting agenda. The meeting, scheduled for Dec. 1, comes after the state's top leaders called for a review of sexual harassment policies at the Texas Capitol after reports surfaced in recent weeks about sexual harassment in Texas and around the country. Nonprofit groups may submit announcements of upcoming events to events@elkodaily.com. Tween Book & Movie nov.28 ELKO Tweens! Books! Movies! All three are coming together at the Elko County Library for the Tween Book & Movie Club on Nov. 28 from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Tweens (ages 10-13) will watch the film My Side of the Mountain and then enjoy a lively discussion about the film and the book by Jean Craighead George. Snacks will be served. Tweens may pick up a copy of the book at the Library so they can read it before watching the film. For more information, contact the Library at 738-3066 or visit www.elkocountylibrary.org. Foster care meet and nov.30 ELKO Care Providers of the Elko Area (CAPE) is hosting a meet and greet with the community to encourage fostering and adoption from foster care. The group will be at the Elko County Library from 3:30-5:30 p.m. Nov. 30 to answer questions about fostering and adoption. They will also be talking about changes that DCFS is making with the Quality Parenting Initiative. 13th Creche Exhibit Nov. 30 ELKO The 13th Annual Elko Regional Interfaith Christmas Creche exhibit opens Nov. 30 and runs through Dec. 3 at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 3001 N. Fifth St. Along with the hundreds of Nativities expected to be on display, this years exhibit is featuring the Star of Bethlehem. Many local, community and school groups will be performing music throughout the exhibit, which includes the Annual Messiah Sing-Along on Sunday evening. A short live-nativity presentation will be repeated several times while the exhibit is open. All are invited to participate in the free exhibit which is open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. each day. Those wishing to display Nativities may bring their items to the church Nov. 29 from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Working in conjunction with Joshua Tree Shelter, donations will be collected during the exhibit for the homeless in our area. A schedule of performances and additional information is available at Facebook.com/ElkoCreche or www.ElkoCreche.org. Christmas Bazaar at ELKO The Terrace at Ruby View is planning its 41st Annual Christmas Bazaar for Dec. 2-3 at the Elko Convention Center. Shop for unique and all handmade items at this event from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 2 and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dec. 3. Net proceeds from the event support the Elko Senior Activity Programs. Call 738-3030 for additional details Events at Faith ELKO The annual Greening of the Church will begin at 10 a.m. Dec. 2 at Faith Lutheran Church, 1700 Stitzel Road. The event will be followed by a chili feed. On Dec. 9 church members will be assembling cookie bags for the Choraliers. Participants are asked to bring cookies to the church by 9:30 a.m. The Choraliers will perform at 10:30 a.m. Dec. 10, immediately following church services. A Centering Prayer Group meets every Saturday at 9 a.m. Entry gingerbread ELKO The Elko County Library is hosting its 19th Annual Family Gingerbread House Contest. This event encourages families to spend time together during the busy holiday season by creating a gingerbread house. A contest packet with registration, guidelines, and recipes is available at the Library and its website. Families can deliver their gingerbread houses to the Library from Nov. 27 through Dec. 9. For more information contact the Library at 738-3066 or visit www.elkocountylibrary.org. Christmas home ELKO & SPRING CREEK Didnt it seem like everyone used to decorate more for the holidays when you were a kid? Well, lets get back into that spirit! Lets have a Christmas decoration contest for the homes in our community! Thats the message from Coldwell Banker Algerio/Q-Team Realty, High Mark Construction, Stewart Title and Cortney Worline, Farmers Insurance. So, put up the bright lights, Nativity scenes, the cute reindeer, and that jolly Santa for your chance to win $250 cash. Nominate your neighbors house or your own, before noon on De. 15. Just call either office of Coldwell Banker Algerio Q-Team Realty in Elko, 738-4078 or in Spring Creek, 738-9866. All Elko and Spring Creek single-family homes are eligible. So, Be A Griswold and get into the spirit and decorate your house for the Christmas holiday season. Wells FRC hosts WELLS The Wells Tree Festival is Nov. 27 through Dec. 1 at the Wells Swimming Pool facility located at 715 First St. On Nov. 27 participants will be allowed to set up trees at the facility. Tuesday- Friday open viewing is from noon to 7 p.m., with lunch and dinner activities happening each night. Final bidding on trees will occur on Friday, Dec. 1, at 6 p.m. For more information on how to donate a tree or on the activities happening at the Wells Tree Festival visit www.wellsfamilyresourcecenter.org. Folklife Center exhibits run through Dec. 9 ELKO Dec 1-9 is the last chance to visit the Western Folklife Center Wiegand Gallery at 501 Railroad St. before closure of the exhibits Land, Language and Clay, works by Tuscarora artists Dennis and Ben Parks; Way Out West: Images of the American Ranch, photographs from the Farm Security Administration, 1936-1943; and the continuing From the Western Folklife Center Collection exhibition. Cocktail hour for poetry gathering volunteers ELKO A recruitment cocktail hour and social for Cowboy Poetry Gathering volunteers is slated from 6-8 p.m. Dec. 6 at the Western Folklife Centers Pioneer Saloon. Resident s can find out more about volunteering for the 34th national Gathering. Sign-ups are available for unfilled positions you can register to volunteer any time on the Western Folklife Center website and the lead volunteers for all positions as well as Western Folklife staff will be on hand. Your participation helps to make the annual Gathering a huge success. Jam On! at the Folklife Center ELKO Join the musical jam session at the Western Folklife Centers Pioneer Saloon from 6-8 p.m. Dec. 13. The bar will be open, serving no-host Ruby Mountain beers and other refreshing beverages. Facilitated by Southwind, participants are invited to bring their favorite tunes to share, instruments, friends and fans. Sponsored by the Western Folklife Center, this free program has been funded, in part, by ArtPlace America, the Nevada Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. Lets Dance! at the Folklife Center ELKO Dancing continues at the Western Folklife Centers G Three Bar Theater from 6-9 p.m. Dec. 14. Dance lessons in a selected style begin at 6 p.m., followed by open social dancing at 7 p.m. Admission is $5. Adults and teens are welcome, no partner or experience necessary. For questions/information on lesson specifics, contact ElkoLetsDance@gmail.com. Sponsored by the Western Folklife Center, this program has been funded in part by ArtPlace America, the Nevada Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. Breakfast with Santa in Spring Creek SPRING CREEKMeet Santa and his elves at the first annual Breakfast with Santa, set for 8 a.m. Dec. 16 at the Fairway Community Center. Enjoy a pancake and bacon breakfast, hot cocoa, a picture with Santa and ornament making for the kids. Olaf the Snowman will also be there. The proceeds will provide a special Christmas for local families. Tickets are $2 per person and must be purchased early to reserve your space. Visit Family Dental Care, 263 Spring Valley Pkwy., Ste. A3 or call 738-3500 for information and to buy tickets. Southwind performs at the Pioneer Saloon ELKO Drop by the Western Folklife Centers Pioneer Saloon at 501 Railroad St. and enjoy the lively music of Elkos own Southwind band from 6-8 p.m. Dec. 20. The bar will be open for business and theres room to dance. Sponsored by the Western Folklife Center, this program has been funded, in part, by ArtPlace America, the Nevada Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. Food for Fines at the library ELKO The Elko County Library has brought back Food for Fines. Bring in non-perishable food items through Dec. 31, 2017 to pay for your overdue fines up to $10 for Elko County materials only. Lost or damaged items will not be included in Food for Fines. Food items with a past best if used by date will not be accepted. The Elko County Library will be partnering with CADV this year. All food items will be distributed to those in need for the holidays and to replenish their food pantry. For additional information, call 738-3066 or visit elkocountylibrary.org. Toddler Time meets Dec. 2 ELKO The Elko County Library is offering a Toddler Time on the first Saturday of each month. Join them at 10:30 a.m. Dec. 2 for a program designed for babies and toddlers through 2 years of age. Adults will interact with their toddler by singing songs, playing, and reading. This is a FREE program and no registration is required. For more information, contact the Library at 738-3066 or visit our website at www.elkocountylibrary.org . Christmas Eve celebration at convention center ELKO Living Stones Church invites everyone to join them for the What Child is This? Christmas Eve celebration happening at 11 a.m. Dec. 24 at the Elko Convention Center. We will have amazing music, preaching and fun for the whole family, said lead Pastor Nathan Hornback. For more information visit elko.livingstoneschurches.com or like the Facebook page at facebook.com/livingstoneselko. Breakfast with Santa in Spring Creek SPRING CREEKMeet Santa and his elves at the first annual Breakfast with Santa, set for 8 a.m. Dec. 16 at the Fairway Community Center. Enjoy a pancake and bacon breakfast, hot cocoa, a picture with Santa and ornament making for the kids. Olaf the Snowman will also be there. The proceeds will provide a special Christmas for local families. Tickets are $2 per person and must be purchased early to reserve your space. Visit Family Dental Care, 263 Spring Valley Pkwy., Ste. A3 or call 738-3500 for information and to buy tickets. The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging a proposed ballot initiative that aims to essentially make sanctuary cities unconstitutional, arguing that the language of the proposed amendment and language on a petition being circulated by the initiatives backers is misleading. The lawsuit was filed in First District Court in Carson City on the last day the group was eligible to do so. Under Nevada law, any group seeking to challenge the description of effect of a proposed ballot measure needs to file their contention within 15 business days of the proposed measures filing with the Nevada Secretary of State. This expansive initiative, if approved, would significantly undermine the public safety and welfare of the people of Nevada, said Marc Elias, a well-known Democratic lawyer who worked for Hillary Clinton and is also helping the Nevada State Democratic Party fight off recalls of three state senators. Among its many defects, it does not sufficiently describe the effect it would have on people in the state, willfully ignoring the actual chilling impact on the immigrant community in terms of participation in government-sponsored activities and programs and the financial costs the state would incur in implementing the initiative. Plaintiffs, who include a leader with a nonprofit that helps immigrant victims of crime, argued that the measure overall will discourage immigrant communities from helping law enforcement with investigations. They also said the term sanctuary city, which is used in the title of the Prevent Sanctuary Cities Initiative, is pejorative and doesnt have a legal definition. An aide to Senate Republican Leader Michael Roberson, a prominent figure in the sanctuary cities ballot measure campaign, didnt immediately respond to a request for comment. The language being challenged is text that voters are provided when shown a petition to sign. The petition needs 112,544 valid signatures to qualify the sanctuary cities measure for the ballot and would need to be twice approved by voters, once in 2018 and again in 2020, to make the change to the states Constitution. If enacted, this measure will add a new section to the Nevada Constitution that will prohibit the Legislature, a county or a city from enacting a law or ordinance, or otherwise adopting, enforcing or endorsing a policy which prohibits, limits or discourages cooperation with the enforcement of the immigration laws of the United States, states the description of effect. The lawsuit says the language should be invalidated because it violates the single-subject rule for petitions by being excessively broad and does not fully explain the financial and public safety ramifications of the measure. It also argues that, in violation of state petition requirements, it doesnt set legislative policy but is executive or administrative in nature because it involves the enforcement of previously enacted immigration law. The proposed constitutional amendment was filed with the secretary of states office in October. Roberson, who serves as the honorary chair of the ballot initiative committee, promised to introduce such a measure during the legislative session earlier this year. Roberson strongly opposed Democrat-supported efforts to enact some sort of policy during the 2017 legislative session that would limit the role of local law enforcement in federal immigration activities. He called a bill that would have prevented state and local law enforcement agencies from participating in federal immigration enforcement without a warrant the most recklessly irresponsible piece of legislation he had witnessed in his time in the Legislature. If you do not have a current print subscription to the Lodi News-Sentinel, but want to view unlimited articles for the month, please choose this option. Lifestyle / Alcohol Whisky Live is into its eight iteration. Through the years, La Maison du Whisky has looked into ways to reinvent the event, which by now has earned a reputation for its premium whisky and fine spirit experience, and revelry, for VIP ticket holders. Nov 22, 2017 | By Jonathan Ho Rare, share and pair. Thats the guiding principle of Whisky Live Singapore. For 2017, the latest edition of La Maison du Whiskys premier regional whisky event brings together the worlds rarest Whiskies and Spirits, shared and paired with some of the most amazing gastronomic indulgences over one amazing weekend in Singapore. In trying to understand what new premium experiences could be had at Whisky Live Singapore 2017, LUXUO spoke to Mathieu Musnier, General Manager of La Maison du Whisky to find out more. Interview with Mathieu Musnier, GM, La Maison du Whisky Organiser of Whisky Live Singapore. Driving the message that appreciation is art, we know that there will be an art exhibition at this years event. What was the idea or rather inspiration behind this whisky-art concept? We firmly believe that whisky and art are intertwined. From the making of whisky to bottling and labelling, every phase is an art. The gallery at STPI offers a peek into some of the works that have gone into labelling. Besides print, there will also be a photo exhibition which takes our guests on a journey to the Caribbean islands where some of the best rums are from. Artworks from Lino di Vinci, La Maison du Whiskys Artist #7 for the Artist series will be displayed at the gallery. VIP ticket holders will be one of the first in the world to enjoy whiskies from this series at the VIP Room. These limited bottles will only be available for sale from 15th December 2017. The art element is a fringe activity for our guests. We have also considered that the gallery will be a great holding area for our guests before each masterclass, as the masterclasses will also be held at STPI. What are some of the rare and exclusive bottles we can expect to see and taste at this years event? Ardbeg 1976, Yamazaki Sherry 2013 and the Springbank 45yo are some of the collectors dram VIP ticket holders can expect to savour at the Collectors Room. There are also special drams from LMDW Artiste Collective and Artist #7 series at the VIP Room. What are some of the new experiences at Whisky Live this year? We aim to make each and every Whisky Live experience different. This year, to enrich the overall experience, we have more special guests, different fringe activities and launches: There are a number of special guests who will be attending such as Gregory Vernant from the worlds first bio distillery Neisson in Martinique, Emiko Kaji from Nikka, Stuart Harvey from Old Pulteney, Prasat Ganga from Amrut. We also have a very important contingent coming from our Headquarter in Paris such as Marlene Leon that curates LMDW extensive collection of rare whiskies, Salvatore Mannino who is a contributor to Whisky Magazine and Arthur Morbois who is our in-house rum expert. Nikka Coffey Gin, Nikka Coffey Vodka, Old Pulteney 25YO and Old Pulteney 1983 will also be unveiling at Whisky Live this year. There will also be an after-party featuring guest bartenders from The Baxter Inn (ranked the best bar in Australia) and Boilermaker House. Does one require a refined palate to appreciate whisky? Appreciation is personal. Like art, inclinations are subjective. I believe that a refined palate comes from the experience of sampling different whiskies. Whisky Live is the ideal platform for guests to savour different whiskies and decide which they appreciate. The VIP ticket holders are obviously paying a premium for their tickets. Aside from the rare bottles, what can this years VIP guest expect? There are a number of new experiences for VIPs. Besides the usual access to VIP Room and Collectors Room, VIPs are also entitled early entry to Whisky Live one hour before the gate opens to the standard ticket holders. Cradle Glass, which claims to be the best whisky glass in the world, will be available in the entry pack for VIP holders. About Cradle Glass Cradle Glass boasts a thick, heavy rounded base that provides a balanced feel when cradled in the palm of the hand. Cradling the glass allows radiant heat from the palm to release the characteristic aromas of the whisky. The round base produces a rocking glass effect which creates continuous movement within the glass. This movement aerates the whisky and pushes the flavours towards the top of the glass so they dont sit flat on the bottom of the glass. The neck and the accentuated glass lip accelerate the outward push of the alcohol vapours expelling alcohol fumes. This allows you to fully experience the organic phenols and the complex characteristic aromas of the whisky upon nosing, without the overpowering alcohol burn to your nostrils. In the past two years, the conversation about renewable energy in Nevada has focused on fights over rooftop solar and the announcement of large-scale solar projects. Politicians and advocates all said the goal was to turn Nevada into the Saudi Arabia of solar. As Western energy markets pivot from fossil fuels, state officials want to broaden that goal. They see Nevada as not only the Saudi Arabia for solar but also the Saudi Arabia of geothermal. And if they see Nevada as the Saudi Arabia of geothermal, they see Fallon as its capital. State officials pledged $1 million this week to a years-long effort to land a national geothermal laboratory near Fallon. The Fallon site is one of two locations competing to serve as the main hub for the Department of Energys geothermal research. The other possible site is in Utah. The federal agency is expected to pick a site next year. Researchers have been developing the Fallon project since November 2014, when a proposal was first submitted to the Department of Energy. In late 2016, it was selected as one of two possible sites for the FORGE lab. Since then, a team of researchers from organizations and national labs, has been conducting environmental reviews, drilling test holes and working on getting federal land permits. The $1 million grant comes from the states Renewable Energy Account, according to Angie Dykema, director of the governors office of energy. That account was funded through a portion of property taxes on renewable projects that located in the state between 2010 and 2013. Its an enormous gift to this project, said Doug Blankenship, a researcher at Sandia National Laboratories, the lead organization for the Fallon project. [New geothermal technology] is a golden ring that deserves to be looked at and Nevada is the best place to be doing that. Few Nevadans have likely heard of geothermal, a renewable energy resource that uses heat trapped beneath the Earth to power turbines. The geothermal industry is the first to admit that it lags behind other renewables like solar. With the steady drop in solar prices over the last few years, utilities have often passed over geothermal. They see solar as the least-costly renewable. The industry is ready to see that change, and the Fallon lab could play a big role in that. If selected, the Fallon field laboratory would be known as the Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Engineering, or FORGE. The Department of Energy would use the Fallon FORGE lab to research and develop a concept known as enhanced geothermal drilling. At conventional geothermal plants, operators drill wells to tap underground steam or hot water. The resource then travels through the well and is used to spin a turbine, which runs a generator. A successful geothermal plant requires three things: heat, water, and water pathways. Those three factors are difficult to find together, and because geothermal (like oil and gas) is a blind resource, exploration can be expensive. Some companies might drill only to find that there is heat but poor geologic permeability. The goal of enhanced geothermal is to fix that problem. In an attempt to induce water pathways, enhanced geothermal uses injected water to fracture rock. It is similar to hydraulic fracturing, but it does not rely on sand or the added chemicals. The overall goal of FORGE is to develop the technology that we need to make enhanced geothermal systems commercially viable, said Bridget Ayling, who directs UNRs Great Basin Center for Renewable Energy. We know we have hot rock. We have hot rock everywhere. Last year, geothermal accounted for only 0.4 percent of all electricity produced by U.S. power plants, according to the Energy Information Administration. Researchers, industry experts, even utility executives see the potential to deploy far more geothermal. A 2006 technical analysis from MIT predicted that geothermal could account for 10 percent of the U.S. energy stock. From a geological perspective, the potential is even greater. Fallon FORGE says on its website that enhanced geothermal could open up a massive 100 gigawatts, enough energy for 100 million homes. Nevada has the countrys second-largest share of untapped geothermal resources, according to a 2008 report from the U.S. Geological Survey. The most conservative estimate in the USGS report suggests Nevada has about 500 megawatts of known geothermal potential, enough for 375,000 homes. It is likely much greater. Thats one reason state officials want the FORGE lab here. The state also has experience. Reno-based Ormat Technologies is one of the largest geothermal operators, with projects across the West and in Nevada. The state ranks second in installed geothermal capacity. Ormat is on the team readying the Fallon lab for site selection. Nevada is an international leader in geothermal production and technology but in order to remain the best in the world, we must continue to innovate and invest in research and development, Gov. Brian Sandoval said in the press release announcing the $1 million grant. These funds demonstrate the states commitment to renewable energy and our dedication to remaining the top research destination and producer of geothermal technology and techniques. Researchers at the Fallon site plan to use the funds to analyze subsurface rock. Ayling said the core samples will provide them with important data. She expects that they will offer a better understanding of the areas geology, such as the strength and mineral composition of the rock. Out of research and development like the FORGE project, the geothermal industry is hoping for a technological breakthrough in enhanced drilling, something that helps geothermal compete. As Western states emphasize clean energy policies, geothermal companies see an opening. Geothermal runs all day and night, whereas solar is intermittent; solar panels only produce electricity when the sun is shining. As more coal plants (and some natural gas plants) are pushed out of the markets, a geothermal power plant could be a more reliable replacement option than intermittent solar or wind. Its a renewable that can be dispatched any time. For utilities that buy geothermal, this could change the economic equation. As you go to higher penetrations of renewable energy displacing thermal plants, geothermal has a significant value. And that is you can dispatch it, NV Energy CEO Paul Caudill said in a recent interview with The Nevada Independent. We can use geothermal plants at night when we cant use a solar facility. I think there is a significant value there. And as you start pushing to increase [solar] penetration on the grid, geothermal is going to become more valued. Properties / Interiors & Decor Yuuki Kitada Architect designed the interior of a high-rise residential building in Manhattan to showcase the essence of waterfall inspired from his trip to Angel Falls in Venezuela some years ago. Nov 22, 2017 | By Andrea Sim Occupying a top floor of the high-rise building located on the west side of Central Park in New York City, the apartment opens out to a beautiful view of the park facing east. This 300 sqm apartment in New York consists of two units combined with a shared common corridor. And the homeowner wanted to have a water-like feature at the entrance to the apartment in feng shui style. This layout makes it perfect to fit a waterfall display at the entrance of the foyer to evoke a sense of calm from the flowing water effect, the same effect that had inspired Japanese Architect and Designer Yuuki Kitadaon in his trip to Angel Falls in Canaima, Venezuela some two or more decades ago. Get The Look: Bringing Ideas to Life Kitadas design philosophy centers around a subtle sense of irony and the unexpected to bring back contemporary power and beauty. To expand his innovative ideas he thought it would be brilliant to add these elements and express them architecturally, from commercial and cultural to residential and retail architecture. This is not the first time Kitada had worked on a residential project for Manhattan, he did numerous projects together with Peter Marino Architect on Manhattans residential projects in the Central Park area. Among other major projects for Miho Museum, Stanford University Science and Engineering Quad and US Air Force Memorial, Yuuki Kitada had also been involved in prestigious retail design for big time clients such as Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Christian Dior and Fendi. He brings his interior experience into the S Residence and carefully selected construction materials to complement the theme of what it means to draw people to enter that space like flying birds. The circular rotunda (dome) was created with the curved Macassar wall/doors and the dome ceiling at the middle of the corridor. The hallway is plastered with Venetian wallpaper showing purity at the front but imitating the streaks and streams of rainfall towards the back, again to match an ambience of water flow. In the master bathroom, sliding mirrors are used to maximise the view of Central Park while allowing the owner to relax in the bath. As Vanilla Onyx stone slabs are soft in colours with grain that evoke the feeling of water, five bathrooms featured a variety of hand-selected stone slabs of white Onyx, Nero Dorato, Statuary White, Calacatta Gold, Honey Onyx, and Brazilian White. The late Steve Jobs once explained that A lot of times, people dont know what they want until you show it to them. This is clearly the mentality of a successful entrepreneur. Part of this mindset is the ability to see the world, and the marketplace, with fresh eyes to spot new ways of doing things and then exploit those opportunities while the rest of the world is still oblivious. But, theres another possibly more important aspect of entrepreneurship: The willingness to risk failure. And as a society, we should be thankful we live in a country where the freedom to fail actually exists. Its a freedom that is often underappreciated, if not outright disdained. Grade schools across the nation have been waging war on the freedom to fail for several decades. Little League athletes often receive trophies regardless of performance, poor grades dont prohibit students from advancing to the next level and graduation rates seem more important to school administrators than the actual quality of the education that graduates receive. And the war on failure isnt limited only to public education. Young adults increasingly expect taxpayers to protect them from failure by providing free college, subsidized healthcare and artificially high minimum wages. The corporate world too seems anxious to eliminate failure. Bailouts have been given to banks, insurance companies and automobile manufacture. The green energy industry is so awash with taxpayer subsidies, its almost unbelievable that any solar company fails at all. Indeed, as a society, we seem to be on a mission to wipe out the risk of failure wherever we find it. Its a misguided crusade. Failure is always an essential part of the learning process. Wiping it out would ultimately mean wiping out learning itself. Free men and women, risking failure if necessary, time and time again have driven human progress throughout human history. The widespread prosperity increasingly enveloping the world is their gift to mankind. American entrepreneurs unstated motto has long been: Fail quickly, and fail often. Nine out of ten new startups dont make it past their first year, but a lot of learning is going on. Even the most successful entrepreneurs in history Rockefeller, Ford, Jobs at times faced bankruptcy or insolvency. Moreover, when entrepreneurs finally do succeed with major innovations, the subsequent disruption of markets and industries may well mean the failure of less innovative competitors. Indeed, the freedom to try and to fail is the very engine of progress. Steve Jobs saw an opportunity to create something new in the computing world. But his first attempt to market and sell his innovation gained little attention outside of wonky tech-circles. That failure taught him an important lesson: To succeed, he needed to capture prospective buyers imagination. Then, during his first helming of Apple, Jobs failed again: Famously arrogant, he increasingly lost credibility with his own board of directors. Effectively fired, he went off and started his own firm, NeXT which struggled. Yet Apple, too, was soon struggling. Eventually, after several CEO changes, it recognized it needed Jobs vision. So Jobs, now more mature, was allowed back in Apples saddle. The rest is history. Only a bit over a decade ago the first iPhone was sold, and in breakneck change, an entire app industry arose, employing millions of tech-savvy workers. Massive market disruption followed, creating many millionaires overnight, bankrupting others and yet bringing wondrous realities to millions of consumers worldwide. Such magic is only possible because failure remains a respected component of Americas economic freedom. Silicon Valley, for example, has for years been characterized by its unique attitude: Innovate or die. Compare that to the public sector, where deficits can be run in perpetuity, performance does not correlate with a drop in revenue and failure is treated with taxpayer-funded bailouts and a continuation of the status quo. As we celebrate Thanksgiving this year, we should be thankful for the entrepreneurial spirit that has made America the land of prosperity and opportunity. But it is also important to recognize that this spirit only exists because we live in a society where each one of us has as we reach for our dreams the freedom to stumble and fall. The choice is clear: What is America to become a realm where everyone lives in safe spaces, protected from harsh reality by ever-proliferating participation trophies? Or are we to remain a land where reality is king and innovators like Steve Jobs still walk the land? If you are trying to follow the debate in Washington about tax reform in its various and evolving iterations, you are likely to come away muttering: Figures dont lie, but liars can figure. This past week the House passed its version of tax reform by a vote of 227-205 with not a single Democrat voting aye. The 13 Republicans who voted nay on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act are mostly from high tax states such as California, New York and New Jersey, where constituents would no longer be able to deduct high state and local income and sales taxes. Also this past week and on a party line vote of 14-12, the Senate Finance Committee, where Nevada Republican Sen. Dean Heller is a member, passed a slightly different tax reform bill with the same name. Nevadas Democratic delegates to D.C. were all singing from the same hymnal. Democrat Rep. Ruben Kihuen, who represents northern Clark County and the southern portion of rural Nevada, declared the House bill nothing more than a handout to big corporations and the wealthiest Americans that unfairly sticks working and middle-class families with the bill. Kihuen said the bill also will increase taxes by an average of $680 for 113,000 middle- and low-income Nevada families. This figure apparently comes from the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), which calculated that in 2027 about 11 percent of Nevadans in the lowest 60 percent of earners would see taxes increase by $680. Kihuen neglected to mention that in that year 89 percent of those Nevadans in that earning range would still have a tax cut of $490, according to ITEP. Nor does he mention that ITEP calculates that in 2018 only 3 percent of those lower tier earners would have a tax hike of $460, while 79 percent would see a tax cut of $610. How these number were derived is not explained. The average tax cut for 84 percent of all Nevadans in 2018 would be $2,670, according to ITEP. Yes, the tax cut for the richest 1 percent would amount to more than $100,000. The poorest 20 percent would only save $270. Democrat Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto chimed in by claiming the House bill would raise taxes on 36 million working and middle class families, without bothering to mention that in 2017 there were more than 145 million IRS tax returns filed. Democrat Rep. Dina Titus of Las Vegas lamented, Of the 50,000 constituents in my district who itemize their taxes, the majority earns less than $75,000 per year. She failed to note that the standard deduction is being doubled and thus eliminates the need for itemizing for many of them. Nor did she mention that only 25 percent of Nevadans tax returns are itemized. First-term Democrat Rep. Jacky Rosen of Henderson, who has already announced she is a candidate for Hellers Senate seat, wailed, This partisan plan adds $1.5 trillion to our deficit and could trigger a $25 billion cut from Medicare as well as further cuts to other programs, unfairly shifting costs onto Nevadans who rely on commonsense tax reliefs policies that help those saddled with high-cost medical expenses, students struggling to pay off their college loans, and teachers trying to buy basic supplies for their classrooms. But Republican Rep. Mark Amodei, who represents Northern Nevada, counters that such deficit claims fail to take into account the anticipated growth in GDP that should increase wages and jobs and actually grow federal tax revenue. Even a 1% increase in GDP generates about $3 trillion in revenue over 10 years more than covering the anticipated $1.5 trillion deficit, Amodei reports. The accuracy of this projection can be further evidenced by going back to the Clinton Administration where GDP growth was at 3.9% the highest its ever been under the last five administrations and the government was operating under a surplus. The congressman also pointed out that for those in his district with an annual income of around $64,000 the federal tax cut effect is more than $1,200 a year with the new brackets and increased standard deductions. Amodei and Sen. Heller both cited the calculations by the Tax Foundation which estimates that both the House and Senate bills could bring 8,000 additional jobs to Nevada and boost middle-class income by $2,500 a year. What are you going to believe? Historic precedence or cherry-picked examples of a handful of outliers? Ucoms mobile customers will benefit from the best internet roaming rate of 8 AMD/MB when travelling to Georgia, Egypt or the UAE Ameriabank Launches Google Pay and Google Wallet Support for Card Users in Armenia Karen Vardanyan donated 112 million drams for the medical equipment for National Center for Infectious Diseases. UCOM HAS INTRODUCED FUTURE NETWORK WI-FI 6E ROUTERS Google Ad 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 Google Ad Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox UCOMS SPECIAL OFFER OF THE UNLIMITED INTERNET IS NOW TERMLESS There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol Armenia and Azerbaijan to do so without delay An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan". UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT 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 Ucoms mobile customers will benefit from the best internet roaming rate of 8 AMD/MB when travelling to Georgia, Egypt or the UAE Ameriabank Launches Google Pay and Google Wallet Support for Card Users in Armenia Karen Vardanyan donated 112 million drams for the medical equipment for National Center for Infectious Diseases. UCOM HAS INTRODUCED FUTURE NETWORK WI-FI 6E ROUTERS 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 Google Ad Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox UCOMS SPECIAL OFFER OF THE UNLIMITED INTERNET IS NOW TERMLESS There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol Armenia and Azerbaijan to do so without delay An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan". UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT 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 The International Marxist Tendency has been celebrating the centenary of the Russian Revolution all year, releasing articles, videos and reading guides to commemorate the occasion. Around the day of anniversary itself (7 November by the modern calendar), we hosted a series of meetings, parties and events throughout the world. We have already published reports from Mexico, Italy, Austria and Brazil, and in the coming days will release more reports of how comrades across the international celebrated the greatest event in human history... Last Saturday over 60 people attended a one-day event, held by the German comrades of the International Marxist Tendency, to celebrate and discuss the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution in the city of Wiesbaden. Three well-prepared lead-offs covered the events in 1917, the rise and fall of Stalinism and the situation in Russia today. This stimulated a number of discussions. There were many new and young people in the audience, many of them activists of the Left Youth. One of the highlights was the premiere of the German version of Leon Trotsky The life of a revolutionary, a documentary produced by the IMT together with Leon Trotskys grandson Esteban Volkov. As Francesco Merli from the IMT pointed out, the documentary had been produced in order to answer the lies of Stalinists and bourgeois intellectuals about Trotsky. The film was quite impressive. When the Internationale was played at the end, the audience joined in and sang along. One thing became again very clear: even though the Russian Revolution took place a hundred years ago, when we talk about the October Revolution we are not talking about any remote historical events, not about dusty bones in a museum, but about the situation here and now! When Marxists talk about the October Revolution being the biggest single event in human history, they are often viewed as crazy. But the amazing thing about the October Revolution is, that for the first time in human history, the oppressed not only fought back against their oppressors, but they won! Discussions covered many aspects of October / Image: own work The October Revolution and the epoch that followed, proved that it is possible to run a society and an economy without capitalists, without landlords and without private property. Despite the Stalinist counterrevolution, which could only come to power by killing thousands and thousands of Bolshevik revolutionaries, the planned economy and state property of the means of production achieved astonishing results. Russia rose from being one of the most backward countries in Europe in 1917 to a position of world power that crushed German fascism within just 30 years. After World War II the Soviet Union became the worlds second strongest superpower. But the decline of the Stalinist bureaucracy and the restoration of capitalism did not come as a surprise to revolutionary Marxists. As Trotsky pointed out, a planned economy needs workers' democracy just as the human body needs oxygen to live. Instead of planning production for the benefit of society, the bureaucratic caste in the USSR just looked towards expanding its own privileges. And in the final consequence that meant the introduction of private property. Hans Gerd Ofinger speaking / Image: own work Today's Russian oligarchy consists largely of former CPSU officials and their offspring. The destruction of the state-planned economy and the introduction of capitalism in Russia over a short period led to a massive collapse of the Russian economy. Living standards of the masses worsened hugely in a very short time. In Russia today, there is a wide impoverished section of workers that faces a small super-rich upper class. Nothing has been solved. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the ruling class announced the end of history and the final victory of the market economy and parliamentary democracy. 25 years later world capitalism is its deepest crisis ever. All over the world, class struggles are increasing. More and more workers and youth are looking for an alternative to capitalist crisis, war and poverty. The October Revolution of 1917 shows there is a way out. Merchandise at German event / Image: own work David Cassidy, who rose to fame in 1970 on "The Partridge Family" television series, died on Tuesday. He was 67. Cassidy, son of actors Jack Cassidy and Evelyn Ward and stepson of Shirley Jones, died of organ failure at a Fort Lauderdale, Florida, hospital. "David died surrounded by those he loved, with joy in his heart and free from the pain that had gripped him for so long,' his publicist Jo-Ann Geffen told CNN. "Thank you for the abundance and support you have shown him these many years." He had been hospitalized since Wednesday and surrounded in his final days by family, including his ex-wife Sue Schifrin and his children, Beau and Katie Cassidy. He is survived by his two children, Jones, and his half-brothers, Shaun, Patrick and Ryan Cassidy. In February, Cassidy revealed he was battling dementia. His comments came days after a video showing him slurring his words, forgetting lyrics and falling onstage at a Los Angeles show went viral. The clip spurred speculation he had a relapse as he had battled substance abuse in the past. In a 2015 interview, Jones said that Cassidy's problems with alcohol led to his estrangement from family members. Cassidy rose to prominence playing wholesome Keith Partridge on the ABC television series "The Partridge Family." The show turned Cassidy into a hugely successful recording star whose posters adorned the bedroom walls of teenage girls around the globe. At one point, Cassidy was the world's highest paid solo performer. His career spiraled in the mid-1970s after a fan was killed at a London concert in 1974. He retired from performing for a time and said the incident would haunt him until his dying day. He returned to television with an acclaimed episode of "Police Story" in May 1978, which led to a short-lived NBC series "David Cassidy: Man Undercover." He also starred opposite Sir Laurence Olivier in London's West End in 1986, earned kudos for his work on Broadway in "Blood Brothers" in 1993, and starred in a retooled version of "EFX" in Las Vegas in 1997 that drew a million visitors. In an interview with Britain's Telegraph, Cassidy he said he had been on the brink of financial ruin on two occasions, blaming his business managers in the 1970s for squandering his wealth. "I was one of the wealthiest young male entertainers in the world then, but 10 years later I had nothing to show for it. By the 1980s I was broke and had to rebuild my life." He also lost a lot of money investing heavily in the 1990s dotcom boom and suffered badly when the bubble burst. His personal life fell apart as well. Three marriages collapsed and, on three occasions between 2010 and 2014, he was arrested for driving under the influence. Following the third arrest he was ordered to go into rehab by the court. Harvard University may soon face a lawsuit from the federal government over admission records. The U.S. Justice Department has threatened to sue the university as they seek information as part of an investigation into admission practices and campus diversity. The department sent a letter this week demanding the applications and evaluations of prospective students to the university. "Harvard has not yet produced a single document," the letter states. "We sincerely hope that Harvard will quickly correct its noncompliance and return to a collaborative approach." The investigation began after a lawsuit was filed alleging the Ivy has a cap on the number of Asian-American students accepted each year. The lawsuit was filed by Students for Fair Admissions, a nonprofit focused on challenging race as a consideration in college admissions. The lawsuit and Justice Department investigation focus Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin. Critics have alleged that offering a weighted application to black and Latino students discriminates against white and Asian applicants to college. The letter, sent Nov. 17, gives Harvard until the first of December to comply with the records request or face a lawsuit from the Justice Department. The university said in a statement this week that Harvard seeks to protect the privacy of applicants. "As we have repeatedly made clear to the Department of Justice, the university will certainly comply with its obligations under Title VI," Anna Cowenhoven, a spokeswoman for Harvard, said in a written statement. "In the process, we have an obligation to protect the confidentiality of student and applicant files and other highly sensitive records, and we have been seeking to engage the Department of Justice in the best means of doing so." Bridgewater police responding to a domestic dispute at an apartment complex Saturday found 17 cats living amid "deplorable" conditions, reports The Brockton Enterprise. The cats were fine, according to the paper, but were likely being hoarded in the small Waterford Village apartment complex room. Due to the number of cats, the place had become foul. One person found in the home was arrested on a charge of domestic assault and battery, while the animals were packed up and removed to safety by members of the Animal Rescue League of Boston, according to The Enterprise. League spokesman spokesman Mike DeFina told the paper the most cats he's ever seen hoarded in a residence was 61. "Unfortunately this does happen," he said. AMHERST -- Amherst College will provide free tuition, room and board to some students from Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands for the spring semester, one of the programs area institutions are offering to help students affected by Hurricane Maria. "In an effort to support college and university students affected by Hurricane Maria, Amherst College is offering a limited number of places to residents of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands for enrollment in a fully-funded semester of study at Amherst during Spring 2018," the college's website states. Students must be U.S. citizens and have completed at least 32 credit hours, among the requirements. Spokeswoman Caroline Hanna in email pointed out that Virgin Islands students are included in the aid while other colleges are focusing only on Puerto Rico. "This opportunity permits Amherst to assist our peer institutions of higher education in affected areas provide uninterrupted education for their students," said Katie Fretwell, dean of Admission and Financial Aid. "Due to a high percent of our own students opting to study abroad this spring, we will have a number of beds available for our visiting students and can offer them a full-fledged Amherst experience as students in residence." She said the number of students admitted "will hinge on the number of beds we have available and the quality and quantity of applicants we receive. "We will want to make certain that participating students have academic interests that Amherst can support and that the students selected are well suited to the rigor and learning environment at Amherst," Fretwell said. Smith College is offering a visiting student program for students from the University of Puerto Rico displaced by Hurricane Maria for the spring. Applicants also will receive tuition, room and board, as well as a stipend to cover books, personal expenses and travel costs. "Our goal is to allow these students to continue their studies at an outstanding liberal arts college with a welcoming, supportive community," said Audrey Smith, the college's vice president for enrollment, on the college website. "I know Smith students, faculty and staff will welcome them eagerly." Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, meanwhile, is offering two full and two partial scholarships for students enrolling in the class of 2022 or transferring from a college or university on the island. "While we know that some progress has been made since Hurricane Maria, it is still clearly a challenging situation requiring fortitude and optimism as the island rebuilds," said Gail Berson, the college's vice president for enrollment and dean of admission, on the college's website. The University of Massachusetts offers a domestic exchange program that would allow students in Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands to transfer. "Once students apply, they also become eligible for the university's financial aid programs," spokesman Edward Blaguszewski said in an email. He said no new programs have been created, but the existing domestic exchange "provides us the structure to engage with Puerto Rican students in need." Lt. Col. Barry O'Brien, the longtime head of the Western Massachusetts barracks for the Massachusetts State Police, has been named second in command of the statewide law enforcement agency as part of the recent leadership shake-up. His appointment as deputy superintendent comes days after Gov. Charlie Baker on Nov. 15 named Kerry Gilpin of Hampden as colonel and superintendent for the state police. Gilpin was named to replace Richard McKeon, who announced his retirement two weeks ago amid controversy over disclosure that he ordered troopers to remove embarrassing details from an arrest report for a judge's daughter. McKeon's second in command, Deputy Superintendent Francis Hughes announced on Nov. 14 he is retiring. He had served with the state police for 31 years. O'Brien had for years served as head of state police Troop B, which covers all of Western Massachusetts. Most recently he had been appointed in August as the lieutenant colonel of investigative services. The appointment of Gilpin and O'Brien means the top two posts in the state police are held by troopers with Western Massachusetts connections. O'Brien is a graduate of Westfield State College. He had previously served with the Hampden County Crime Prevention and Control Unit. He also served as a K-9 officer with the state police. MassLive reporter Scott J. Croteau contributed to this report SPRINGFIELD -- A federal judge was apparently unpersuaded Tuesday by an admitted pimp's tale of urban woe, meting out a 12-year sentence under a plea deal with prosecutors despite a defense attorney's bid for a much lower penalty. Milford Lewis and Tiana Lewis, of Springfield, newlyweds at the time of their 2015 arrest, pleaded guilty to human trafficking in July and cut deals with prosecutors to avoid 15-year mandatory minimum prison sentences. Milford Lewis agreed to a 12-year sentence to spare his wife a longer prison stint. Tiana Lewis was sentenced to six years behind bars. The couple launched a web-based company called "Sinful Innocence" -- a play on the woman's stage name while she was a stripper -- and recruited women on the internet for what turned out to be a seedy prostitution ring that primarily played out in low-rent motels in West Springfield. More than a half-dozen women told investigators they answered internet overtures, on "Backpage" and other platforms, to join a company that billed itself as a talent agency and promoter of legitimate sex workers: i.e., strippers, models and adult porn actors. They were initially offered a cut of $200-an-hour fees but many said they ended up turning tricks for next to nothing and were bullied into staying in the trade by the Lewises. Some of the women were from other states, hence the federal human trafficking implications. One woman from Ohio said she ascended to the role of "bottom bitch," a counterintuitive term that denotes top billing in an illicit hierarchy. David P. Hoose, an attorney for Milford Lewis, likened the woman's role as a "foreperson of sorts" for the entire group. Hoose argued to U.S. District Judge Mark G. Mastroianni that his client was deserving of a much lighter sentence because he had grown up with drug-addicted parents in one of the nation's toughest urban neighborhoods: Oakland, California. His life, in part, inspired a book entitled "The Ghetto Solution" written by a group of black activists in 1993, which Hoose described as an attempt to "develop a paradigm for saving young black men." The introduction to the book focused on Milford Lewis, nicknamed "Squirt," and his father, of the same name, nicknamed "Polecat" because of his stealthy thieving tactics. The younger Lewis eventually followed in his father's footsteps. Excerpts from the book Hoose cited in a presentencing memo on behalf of his client certainly painted a grim picture of Milford Lewis' upbringing, including living out a chunk of his young life in the back of a van with his father. For Tiana Lewis' part, defense lawyer Frank Flannery said his client did not set out "to become a pimp" but was merely looking to create a legitimate business in which sex industry workers like herself could feel supported. "To say the least, she failed to achieve this goal," Flannery said in his presentencing memo. Tiana Lewis has proven herself to be a "model prisoner" who garnered many accolades while being held on a pretrial basis after her 2015 arrest, according to submissions Flannery offered to the court. She has a 13-year-old daughter from a previous relationship with whom she remains close. "Of all the people she has hurt here, her daughter is at the top of that list," Flannery said. HOLYOKE -- The state again is deploying a specialist in preventing falls to meet with Holyoke Soldiers' Home staff, an official said Tuesday. The visit in the next few weeks comes at the same time that the same specialist said the number of falls and injuries suffered by residents at the Holyoke Soldiers' Home are "an expected number" for its population size. Soldiers' Home staff and family members of residents dispute that. The Republican reported on Nov. 2 that between January 2014 and August of this year, the Holyoke Soldiers' Home recorded 2,074 cases of residents falling on the property of the state facility. In 594 of those falls, a veteran was hurt, with injuries including bone fractures, joint dislocations, altered consciousness or loss of consciousness and skin tears. Founded in 1952, the Holyoke Soldiers' Home provides residential beds and inpatient care for veterans, as well as outpatient services. As of early August, the facility had 237 military veterans in long-term care and 25 living in dorms, cared for by a staff of more than 300, officials said. Alice Bonner, state secretary of elder affairs, a registered nurse and a geriatric nurse practitioner specializing in falls prevention, is scheduled to meet again with Soldiers' Home staff in "the next few weeks," said Joseph Truschelli, spokesman for the Massachusetts Department of Veterans Services. Bonner and other state officials did a "high-level clinical and management quality review" at the Holyoke Soldiers' Home on Sept. 25 after The Republican's Sept. 10 story about concerns about care at the facility. "Experts in the fields of long-term care, geriatric medicine and health care quality will continue to support Holyoke Soldiers' Home staff who are working daily to address all fall risk factors, to reduce the number of falls with major injury, to support optimal mobility and promote independence, well-being and quality of life for our veterans," Truschelli said. In a letter to the editor of The Republican, Bonner said the Holyoke Soldiers' Home does well in comparison with other nursing homes in terms of falls. "A closer look at the data reported in your article indicates that The Holyoke Soldiers Home has an expected number of falls for this population, and does better than average in terms of falls with serious injury, as compared to other homes as reported on Medicare's Nursing Home Compare website, which includes data for about 15,000 nursing homes nationwide," Bonner said in the letter. "The Holyoke Soldiers Home continues to strive for the fewest injurious falls possible," she said. Every case of a resident falling down at the Soldiers' Home is subject to a nursing assessment and review by medical staff to determine whether adjustments are needed to the resident's care plan, officials have said. Bonner's letter said that types of injuries that are counted when falls occur include "minor ones" like scrapes and bruises along with broken bones and head injuries. The Republican on Nov. 2 detailed the state's definition of falls and injuries, with the definition of fall being "any unintended change in position that results in coming to rest on the next lower surface (bed, chair, mat, ground or floor)." For example, an incident in which a veteran loses his or her balance and is assisted to the floor by a staff member is counted as a fall. The nature of nursing home residents' physical and cognitive impairments -- and the finite number of staff -- means that falls are going to happen at such facilities, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nationwide, over 1.4 million residents were living in nursing homes on Dec. 31, 2014, including 43,463 in Massachusetts, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) annual Nursing Home Data Compendium. Falls in nursing homes are not uncommon. From 2011-14, 16.3 percent to 16.9 percent of residents in American nursing homes fell at least once, with injuries occurring roughly 5.3 percent of the time, that study said. But Holyoke Soldiers' Home staff contacted The Republican because they said the number of falls there were so high as to be alarming, with 70 in July alone. Soldiers' Home staff and family members of residents don't agree that the number of falls and injuries suffered by residents add up to a total that should be considered "expected." Karla Delisle, of Granby, said her father, James Finn, died on Dec. 14, 2014, after suffering numerous falls at the Holyoke Soldiers' Home. He was 86. "My father fell four times -- four times -- after the first fall. What are you people doing? What are you doing to prevent him from falling? I want somebody to know this. Something needs to happen. Something needs to be done," Delisle said in a phone interview Friday. Delisle and other residents' family members said they agree with Holyoke Soldiers' Home staff who said the facility lacks adequate staffing to monitor residents and fails to use existing staff to ensure a resident avoids repeated falls. "They should have done something, and they didn't," Delisle said. The Republican sought data on falls for the Sept. 10 story through a public records request to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services. That came after reporting in September on employees and a resident who raised concerns about treatment of patients and staff at the 110 Cherry St. facility for aging military veterans. HOLYOKE -- Whenever anyone enters Enlace de Familias on Main Street in Holyoke, Liliana Cotto greets them with a warm smile. "I want to make sure they feel very welcome, so that it eases their fear or anxiety," said Cotto, who sits behind the front desk at the agency, which has served as a welcome center for Puerto Rican evacuees. Most people have no idea that Cotto is also an evacuee, having arrived in Holyoke Oct. 7 with her two young children. They had the clothes on their backs and not much else. "I had to leave everything behind. I had to cross a river with my children to get to transportation so that we could leave. It was something out of a movie," said Cotto, who came to stay with her daughter's grandmother. Recently she found a small apartment of her own. "It has been very difficult. I had my own beauty salon in Puerto Rico with more than 10 employees, which was severely damaged. I am a licensed beautician, but that license is not valid here, so I can't work in my field," she said. Cotto and her children are just one of the hundreds of families that have come through Enlace's welcome center since Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico in September, destroying homes and leaving people without electricity and water for months. Betty Medina Lichtenstein, founder and executive director of Enlace de Familias, which means family links or ties in Spanish, said families have been arriving daily and she does not see it ending any time soon. "I'm expecting to have the welcome center open about a year," she said. "This is going to be a very long-term effort between the community, the city, the state and the federal government." When the hurricane hit, Medina Lichtenstein anticipated the large number of people who would be seeking shelter in Holyoke, which has a 40 percent Latino population. She had a meeting with Mayor Alex Morse and his team and came up with a plan to gather area human services agencies in one location every day so people would not become overwhelmed. "It's a one-stop shop," she said. "Here they can get health care benefits, meet with the Social Security representatives, fill out their FEMA paperwork, apply for emergency housing, register for mental health services and get some basic necessities all in one place." Each weekday, Medina Lichtenstein leads an orientation for new families where she explains the process in Spanish. People then go from table to table meeting with area agencies. "Technically it's noon to 2 p.m., but I had a young woman dropped off here with her daughter at 8 a.m. the other day and of course we opened our doors," she said. "Last week we saw 145 people in just three days. It's nonstop." Medina Lichtenstein said she has been blessed with an efficient, hardworking staff and an outpouring of volunteers like Cotto who just arrived from Puerto Rico. "The thing is that you have people moving here who are in a desperate situation, but they want to work and they want to help," Medina Lichtenstein said. "Liliana has been amazing because she knows what it's like to have that fear of the unknown when you arrive to a new place and she puts everyone at ease." She also lauded volunteer Frank Martinez, a former Holyoke resident who moved back to Puerto Rico nine years ago for college, then returned here after the hurricane. "It's been a long time since I have been here and even for me it's been difficult to get back into the habit of speaking English and adjusting to the cold," Martinez said. "All of these little things can be very stressful for someone who has been through a traumatic situation." Like many Puerto Ricans in Holyoke, Martinez is originally from the town of Salinas. He said most of the homes there, which were made of wood, were destroyed. When he left last month there was no running water or electricity and food was difficult to access because roads were blocked with large fallen trees. He moved back in October with his partner, his mother and several cousins. His mother works for Southwest Airlines and was given free tickets. They are currently living in Springfield with his grandmother and his aunts. Martinez recently graduated with his nursing degree, but must be licensed in Massachusetts to work here. His partner was a schoolteacher in Puerto Rico and is now working at Kelly Elementary School easing the transition for students who have just arrived. There are nearly 200 evacuee students registered in the Holyoke schools. Everyday struggles for evacuees range from having to wait five to 10 days to qualify for Transitional Shelter Assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to having to pay $115 to obtain a valid driver's license, to not qualifying for programs because they do not have access to birth certificates or Social Security cards. "I know that the government is trying and local agencies are trying," Martinez said, "but we have a lot of people who are living day to day with the risk of being on the street because the host family who took them in can't have them living in their house anymore. Not to mention the mental health issues, the post-traumatic stress and the anxiety that people cannot really address because they are busy trying to find a place to sleep for their children." The staff at Enlace has been working to make sure people have the most basic necessities, from warm winter coats and socks to care packages with toiletries. "You have no idea how much it means to people," said Gary Cruz, a Puerto Rican student at Springfield Technical Community College who has been volunteering at the donation center at Enlace every day. "When you see a smile on someone's face because you gave them a little bag of groceries that they can bring back to their host family, it's a great feeling," he said. "It also makes them feel like they are contributing and helping the people who opened their homes for them." Cruz works with other volunteers to keep the donation center, which is just a large room at Enlace, clean and organized. "I worked especially hard on this section," he said, pointing to an area reserved for diapers and other baby products. "We have families that come in with infants and being able to provide them with formula or warm clothes, that just makes us feel like we are doing something to help." Cruz has not only developed relationships with the families who arrive to pick up items, but also with people in the community who donate items. "We have people who are here every week bringing items," he said. "They want to do their part to help and I can assure you that every little bit does help. We have people coming in here with in this cold weather just wearing shorts and a T-shirt. Some of them don't have anything to eat except for the food they get from us." Recently the state Department of Transitional Assistance office in Holyoke took up a collection for Enlace. Medina Lichtenstein used the $1,000 to purchase food for the small pantry at the welcome center. "I was so excited," she said. "I even used a bit of the money to buy some shelves so we can properly stack everything. That night it was all organized and the shelves were full. By the next day the food was already gone." "People are desperate, they are hungry and it can be very overwhelming, but Puerto Ricans are resilient and I see so many positive stories every day of people finding housing and jobs, that it keeps me motivated to do this," she said. Medina Lichtenstein recently put out a call for help on Facebook asking for donations of children's winter jackets up to size 18-20, hats, gloves, scarfs cooking oil, sugar, boxed milk, kid-friendly cereal, instant oatmeal, Ramen noodles, pancake mix, pancake syrup, mayonnaise and can openers, as well as gift cards for families in hotels to purchase food in area stores. Donations can be brought to Enlace, 299 Main St., from Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. A 49-year-old man from Lynn is among 10 other members of the Hell's Angels outlaw motorcycle club indicted in California on charges of conspiring in a 2014 murder and racketeering, according to the U.S. Attorney's office in San Francisco. Christopher Ranieri is identified as a member of the Salem/Boston chapter of the Hells Angels in a press release on the indictments. He and the others -- nine of the Sonoma County chapter of the club and one of the Fresno chapter -- allegedly took part in planning the murder of an unnamed victim at the Fresno Hells Angels clubhouse on July 15, 2014. The perpetrator of the murder was Brian Wendt, 40, of Tulare, according to the press release. The charges against Ranieri include racketeering and and conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering, but his specific role in the crimes was not addressed. Others crimes allegedly committed by the indicted include home invasion robbery, extortion, assault, maiming, illegal possession of weapons and drugs and witness intimidation. Ranieri had tax troubles in the late 2000s, when he was arrested for failing to file income tax returns in 2005 and 2006 despite making $126,000 and $161,000, respectively. SPRINGFIELD -- A lawyer for motor vehicle homicide defendant Thomas Murphy said he believes the case will be resolved through a plea bargain. Joseph D. Bernard, lawyer for the 29-year-old Springfield resident, said this week he and the case's prosecutor are involved in "deep negotiations" toward resolving the case before it goes to trial. A Jan. 19 date was set for a plea. If the case does end with a plea, the trial date will be March 12. The case was slated for trial Dec. 4 but the new dates were set at a final pre-trial conference Monday in Hampden Superior Court. Murphy is charged in the hit-and-run crash that killed 52-year-old James A. Heath. Murphy, who is free awaiting trial, was indicted on charges of motor vehicle homicide while operating a motor vehicle to endanger and leaving the scene of a death. Heath, who had recently moved to Springfield from Georgia, was struck by a vehicle at about 10:30 p.m. on May 29, 2016 in front of 700 Sumner Ave. as he crossed the street. Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said her office will be quick and thorough in its investigation into the altered State Police arrest report of a judge's daughter. Two troopers are suing the State Police in federal court over the edits they say were ordered by supervisors after the arrest of Alli Bibaud, daughter of Judge Timothy Bibaud. In the days since the lawsuits, two top state troopers, Col. Richard McKeon and Lt. Col. Francis Hughes, have stepped down and the new head of the State Police, 23-year veteran Kerry Gilpin, has launched her investigation into the controversy. Appearing on WGBH's "Boston Public Radio" show, Healey said she is limited in what she can say about her office's investigation since it's an ongoing one. "Boston Public Radio" co-host Jim Braude noted that many "unanswered questions" remain about the case. "There are a lot of unanswered questions and that's part of what our investigation is going to get to the bottom of," Healey said. "People want and deserve answers. There are obviously serious allegations raised here." Healey continued: "But to answer your question Jim, yes, the point of this is to get answers and make sure that laws are enforced and people are held accountable to the extent there needs to be accountability." Braude noted that the names of two public officials continue to surface in the controversy: The judge, who has repeatedly denied any involvement in the matter, and Worcester District Attorney Joseph Early, Jr. Gov. Charlie Baker, whose office conducted a review of the controversy, earlier this week confirmed that there were communications between the State Police and the Worcester DA's office about the arrest of the judge's daughter. The governor indicated that Gilpin's investigation and Healey's investigation would get to the "bottom" of the communications. "I think any allegation of this nature is something that rightly the public is looking for answers for and deserves answers to," Healey told WGBH, before again saying she didn't want to compromise the investigation by saying more. Workers at Plimoth Plantation, the 17th century living history museum in Plymouth, demonstrated multiple times in the days ahead of Thanksgiving as part of a year-long battle to demand a first contract. Unionized workers, about one-third of the total Plimoth Plantation staff represented by the Society of Allied Museum Professionals, have negotiated with museum management for the past year to raise wages and improve work conditions. The union has garnered 1,000 signatures in support of their request for better job security and higher pay. "SAMP wants to address issues of job insecurity, low wages, dangerously low staffing levels, and health and safety concerns," the society said in a statement. Artisans, maintainers, colonial historical interpreters and other workers demonstrated at Plimoth Plantation on Sunday and Tuesday this week. SAMP said the group plans to deliver its petition to museum management on Thanksgiving Day. In a letter to the museum's Board of Trustees, former Plimoth Plantation worker Kimberly Crowley expressed her love for the museum and the turbulent relationship between management and staff. "I worry because management appears determined to make certain this union remains ineffective," Crowley wrote, "no matter the reality of the museum's situation or the feelings of the staff." Unionized #historicalinterpretors & re-enactors at #PlimouthPlantation say some workers make only #minimumwage & plantation is chronically understaffed. Management says workers make pay comparable to other museums in the area. Workers held #informationalpicketing today. pic.twitter.com/OEY1bztcty Kim Tunnicliffe (@KimWBZ) November 19, 2017 Unionized interpretors & educators @ #PlimouthPlantation hold informational picket calling for higher wages, job security & more staffing. Management says they're bargaining in good faith & offer comparable wages to other museums in the area. #Plymouth pic.twitter.com/ObmEDffie3 Kim Tunnicliffe (@KimWBZ) November 19, 2017 The sides have been meeting several times per month, and a negotiating session is scheduled for late November. Museum spokeswoman Kate Sheehan told WBUR the two sides are in the middle of a negotiation process. "We are working hard to reach agreement, however, it takes good faith on both sides -- the union included -- to do so," Sheehan told WBUR. In an email to MassLive, Sheehan added that first contracts typically take more than one year on average to negotiate. The popular educational destination attracts many tourists during the Thanksgiving holiday season because of Plymouth's history of hosting an original feast shared by Pilgrims and the native Wampanoag people. Plimoth Plantation staff also keep the museum open on Thanksgiving Day through Sunday. Note: An original version of this article said workers are negotiating for a better contract. The article has been changed to reflect union workers are negotiating for a first contract. SPRINGFIELD -- Those who gathered at the annual remembrance ceremony for President John F. Kennedy on Wednesday spoke of the inspiration he provided to the nation and the legacy still celebrated in the city 54 years after his death. Despite the rain, about 75 people gathered for the annual remembrance ceremony that is held annually at the Eternal Flame at Forest Park. The ceremony is held on the anniversary of Kennedy's assassination on Nov. 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas. "I think it's fascinating that 54 years later, we still all gather in memory of this remarkable life," said U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield. "It was a life that was marked by eloquence and elegance. And I think when we measure achievements in that short period of time of John Kennedy, it clearly would have been the inspiration he offered to all of us. And great significance I think as well." The ceremony included the laying of a wreath and roses at the Kennedy monument and Eternal Flame. Mayor Domenic J. Sarno said he saw many familiar faces, of people who come every year whether it is held on Thanksgiving, or in rain, or in extremely cold weather or snow. There were also new faces in the crowd, he said. "When you look upon it, what President Kennedy stood for, America is still the beacon of strength, opportunity and hope," Sarno said. "And these are the ideals that President Kennedy had put forth." Sarno said that there seems to be more hate and resentment in the nation and world. "We need to follow the ideals of President Kennedy of what we can do for the common good of people and not to personalize issues," Sarno said. "President Kennedy made us feel that anything can be accomplished by the USA, whether it was in your back yard or neighborhood or your world. And that's why we come together every year to make sure that we always remember and never forget our beloved president, JFK." Wayne Phaneuf, executive editor of The Republican and local historian, said Kennedy visited Springfield as early as 1946. He made at least two visits -- first as a guest speaker when he was billed as a news correspondent and author, and then two months later as a candidate for Congress. Phaneuf and Neal both recalled Kennedy's rise in politics, with the strong support from Springfield's top politicians and news makers, and his visit to Springfield's Court Square before tens of thousands of people on the day before his election as president in 1960. Phaneuf said that Kennedy's eternal flame "still burns in Springfield and still helps light the way for an America that didn't have to be great again because it has always been great." James Sullivan served as master of ceremonies for the remembrance ceremony. The musical selections included the National Anthem, God Bless America, and the playing of taps by James E. Beucke and Jake Roberts. There was a posting of colors by the Hampden County Sheriff's Color Guard, and those in attendance including Sheriff Nick Cocchi, and retired Sheriff Michael Ashe, along with City Councilor Kateri Walsh, and School Committee member Christopher Collins, and Council-Elect Jesse Lederman. In a surprising feat that even exceeded the expectations of the company that developed the robot, AI-powered Xiaoyi passed the medical licensing exam with flying colors. "General practitioners are in severe shortage in Chinas rural areas. We hope AI can help more people access quality medical resource," Qingfeng noted. By Mario L. Major https://interestingengineering.com/robot-makes-history-by-passing-medical-licensing-exam?_source=newsletter&_campaign=18R4LX5M70ob0&_uid=nXe0N3Xbxr&_h=64cc3b5d9718727b8670189a16e07bec629326aa&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=mailing&utm_campaign=Newsletter-21-11-2017 It took a creative approach to develop the funding package needed to build the 9,000-square-foot building that will house education, nursing and health training programs on the two-year community college?s 800-acre campus. The financing package came together through a partnership with First Interstate Bank and Montana & Idaho CDC http://www.mtcdc.org , which brought an innovative financing tool called New Markets Tax Credits that helps incentivize economic development projects in low-income communities around the country. View full article here: http://missoulian.com/news/local/blackfeet-community-college-secures-funding-for-million-health-science-building/article_1d39f0e9-e0fb-52b1-ad64-0960c5ec028b.html#tracking-source=home-latest-2 "The only Idahoans who are not impacted by climate change are those who dont use water, electricity, eat, breathe, recreate, rely on the forest endowment for their childrens education," Hardesty said at the Idaho Climate Summit. Most Idahoans say climate change is happening. But less than half think humans caused it and can do anything about it. A group of scientists, economists, farmers, business leaders, environmental activists, and local government leaders came together around the state last week http://www.idahoclimatesummit.com/ in the latest effort to change that statistic. Before Idaho can come together behind ways to fight and adapt to climate change, people need to talk, said Toni Hardesty, executive director of the Nature Conservancy of Idaho. BY ROCKY BARKER [email protected] http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/letters-from-the-west/article185934478.html On November 1 and 2, 2022, the Executive Committee and the Pan-African Council of United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG Africa) will meet in ordinary sessions in Tangiers, Morocco. These two meetings will be preceded on Monday, October 31, 2022 by the Constitutive Assembly of the Network of Young Local Elected Officials of Africa (YELO). The 28th session of the Executive Committee will be held on November 01, 2022 at 10:30 a.m. at the Barcelo Hotel in Tangiers and will focus on the adoption of the 2023-2024 work plan and the 2023 budget of UCLG Africa. The members of the Committee will also discuss the preparation of the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) scheduled for November 6 to 18, 2022 in Sharm El-Sheikh (Egypt). The official opening of the 28th session of the Executive Committee will be made in the presence of: Mrs. Fatimetou Abdel Malick, President of the Region of Nouakchott (Mauritania) and President of UCLG Africa, Mr. Mounir Lymouri, President of the Municipal Council of Tangiers and President of the Moroccan Association of Presidents of Municipal Councils (AMPCC); Mrs. Christine Mba Ndutume, Mayor of Libreville (Gabon) and Vice-President UCLG Africa for the Central Africa Region; Mr. Claude Paulin Danho, Minister of Youth and Sports, President of the Union of Cities and Municipalities of Cote dIvoire (UVICOCI) and Vice-President of UCLG Africa for the West Africa Region; Mrs. Florah Mpetsane, President of the Botswana Association of Local Authorities (BALA) and UCLG Africa Vice-President for the Southern Africa Region; Mrs. Rohey Malick Lowe, Mayor of Banjul (The Gambia), and President of the Network of Locally Elected Women of Africa (REFELA); Mr. Jean Pierre Elong Mbassi, Secretary General of UCLG Africa. The Pan-African Council responsible for supervising the work of UCLG Africa between the ordinary sessions of the General Assembly of the organization will meet on November 2, 2022 at 9 a.m. still at the Barcelo hotel in Tangiers. In particular, the Pan-African Council will provide an opportunity to take stock of Africas participation in the UCLG World Congress which took place from October 10 to 14, 2022 in Daejeon, South Korea, and to draw the consequences for UCLG Africa. Members of the Pan-African Council will also be briefed on the progress made by UCLG Africa following the successful organization of the 9th edition of the Africities Summit last May 2022 in Kisumu, Kenya. In addition, it is reported that the Constituent Assembly of the Network of Young Local Elected Representatives of Africa, YELO, will take place for its part on Monday, October 31, 2022 from 10 a.m. at the Marina Bay hotel in Tangiers. The meeting will be devoted to the adoption of the rules of procedure and the roadmap of the YELO Network, as well as the election of the members of the governing bodies of the Network. The Moroccan and international press are invited to cover the opening ceremony of the General Assembly of the YELO Network on Monday, October 31, 2022 at 10 a.m. at the Marina Bay hotel in Tangiers, as well as the opening ceremony of the 28th session of the Executive Committee of UCLG Africa on Tuesday, November 1, 2022 at 10:30 a.m. at the Barcelo hotel in Tangiers. As a reminder, the Executive Committee of UCLG Africa is the body responsible for the political leadership of the organization. The Executive Committee comprises 16 members, 15 members elected by the General Assembly from among the members of the Pan-African Council (3 for each of the 5 regions of Africa) to which is added the President of the Network of Locally Elected Women of Africa (REFELA, Standing Committee for Gender Equality of UCLG Africa). The members of the Executive Committee of UCLG Africa represent the Africa chapter at the World Executive Bureau of UCLG. The Pan-African Council of UCLG Africa is the body in charge of the annual supervision of the conduct of the affairs of UCLG Africa between the meetings of the General Assembly which take place every three (3) years within the framework of the Africities Summits. The Pan-African Council comprises forty-five (45) active members elected by the General Assembly, i.e. nine (9) for each of the five sub-regions of Africa. The members of the Pan-African Council of UCLG Africa represent the Africa chapter in the World Council of UCLG. United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) is the world organization in charge of defining and carrying the positions of the leaders and elected representatives of regional and local governments within the United Nations and the international community. UCLG has its headquarters in Barcelona, Spain. UCLG has seven (7) regional sections and one metropolitan section: The Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) based in Brussels, Belgium. United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG Africa) based in Rabat, Morocco; the section of the countries of the former Soviet republics (EURASIE) based in Kazan, Russia; the Middle East and West Asia section (UCLG MEWA) based in Istanbul, Turkey; the Asia Pacific section (UCLG ASPAC) based in Jakarta, Indonesia; the Latin America and Caribbean Section represented by FLAGMA (based in Mexico City, Mexico) and Mercociudades (based in Montevideo, Uruguay); the North American Section based at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities in Ottawa, Canada; and the Metropolitan Section based in Barcelona, Spain. Partager et informez vous aussi...... 0 shares Share Tweet LinkedIn Articles similaires The Honourable Second Member for Port Louis South and Port Louis Central (Mr Uteem) To ask Dr the Honourable Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development Whether, in regard to the proposed setting up of a manufacturing plant for the local production of COVID-19 vaccines and other pharmaceutical products in Mauritius, he will state if any company manufacturing COVID-19 vaccines approved by the World Health Organisation has been approached therefor? Mr Speaker, Sir, From the very outset, I wish to state, that the objective of the Government is to develop pharmaceutical and vaccine manufacturing into an industry that can potentially emerge into a growth pole for the Mauritius economy. The emphasis on this industry was outlined during the 2021-2022 Budget whereby a seed funding of Rs 1 billion was earmarked for internationally renowned pharmaceutical and vaccine laboratories to set up manufacturing activities in Mauritius. We also made provision for the setting up of the Mauritius Institute of Biotechnology (MIB), with a view of channelling this funding into projects that meet the conditions set forth by Government. Accordingly, pending the setting up of the MIB, the Economic Development Board (EDB) launched an Expression of Interest (EoI) on 19th June 2021 for the Development of a pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry in Mauritius in priority areas of vaccines and pharmaceutical products in speciality areas. The EoI, was diffused, through key local and international media, as well as through our embassies in Europe, USA and Asia. Mr Speaker, Sir, I wish to inform the House that 40 firms showed interest in the EoI exercise, which comprised not only vaccine manufacturing but also the production of generic pharmaceuticals and medical devices, amongst others. As far as vaccine manufacturing is concerned, nine interests were received and five submitted their business proposals. As part of the evaluation exercise, the EDB had enlisted the services of Dr Deoraj Caussy, an independent expert in epidemiology and virology, to assess the five proposals received. The expert report was submitted on 27th October 2021, and this includes recommendations on the proposals that may be considered by the authorities concerned. The experts report will be submitted to the Mauritius Institute of Biotechnology Ltd for its consideration. Mr Speaker, Sir, In parallel to this exercise, discussions are also being held with companies producing COVID-19 WHO-approved vaccines, in India and USA. The MIB Ltd which has recently been set up, will oversee the implementation of this budgetary measure. Public Survey Underway Audio Article Throughout the month of November, the Ohio State Highway Patrol (OSHP) is conducting an online survey to identify traffic safety concerns and obtain feedback about interactions with the agency. The 2022 Public Survey is anonymous and takes approximately five minutes to complete. The survey is designed to be used as... Purple Heart Placed on Memorial Audio Article At the second stop during the Veterans Parade Saturday, Jack Bonsell, a Purple Heart recipient, places a purple heart-shaped wreath at the memorial dedicated to all men and women wounded in all wars. This memorial sits on Main Street in front of the Riecker Building. Controlling Board Approves Funds for Multiple Projects in 20th Senate District Audio Article State Senator Tim Schaffer (R-Lancaster) announced Monday, Nov. 7, the approval of over $34 million for projects across the 20th Senate District by the states Controlling Board. Ensuring our infrastructure, universities, and parks are updated and well maintained is critical for the health of our area, Schaffer said. Im thankful... 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.... 2017 funding competition completes $20 million research partnership withthe Brain Canada Foundation following the Ice Bucket Challenge TORONTO, Nov. 22, 2017 /CNW/ - Today, the ALS Society of Canada announced 12 exciting new research projects being funded in 2017 through the ALS Canada Research Program, which is supported by ALS Societies across Canada. The research being funded includes a multi-year study of a promising drug combination, three trainee grants that will help to nurture the next generation of Canadian ALS researchers currently pursuing their PhDs, two projects that explore how ALS treatments could be delivered through the bloodstream, and an initiative that seeks to understand why the muscles of the eyes are often more resistant to ALS as other muscle groups shut down. The announcement was made in partnership with the Brain Canada Foundation, which through the Canada Brain Research Fund (with financial support from Health Canada) is co-funding the largest grant of $1.8 million through matching funds committed following the Ice Bucket Challenge. David Taylor Brain Canada Brain Canada $20 million Brain Canada's $1.5 million to $2 million $10 million Brain Canada Brain Canada $1.8-million Brain Canada Heather Durham McGill University Josephine Nalbantoglu McGill University Richard Robitaille Chantelle Sephton Laval Can adjusting the levels of a "guardian" protein protect a protein that becomes toxic in most cases of ALS? $125,000 awarded to Dr. Marco Prado with collaborators Dr. Martin Duennwald and Dr. Flavio Beraldo , all from Western University awarded to Dr. with collaborators Dr. and Dr. , all from Can image-guided focused ultrasound technology be used safely in people living with ALS as a means of delivering future treatment? $124,948 awarded to Dr. Lorne Zinman with collaborators Dr. Nir Lipsman , Dr. Kullervo Hynynen , Dr. Sandra Black , Dr. Todd Mainprize , and Dr. Agessandro Abrahao, all from the University of Toronto awarded to Dr. with collaborators Dr. , Dr. , Dr. , Dr. , and Dr. Agessandro Abrahao, all from the Can microscopic bubbles in our bodies be used to deliver ALS treatments through the bloodstream? $125,000 awarded to Dr. Derrick Gibbings with collaborators Dr. Baptiste Lacoste and Dr. Maxim Berezovski , all from the University of Ottawa awarded to Dr. with collaborators Dr. and Dr. , all from the Could targeting the activity of motor neurons in the spinal cord be a new way to diagnose and treat ALS? $125,000 awarded to Dr. Yves De Koninck , Universite Laval awarded to Dr. , Universite Could the change in communication processes between motor neurons and the immune cells of the nervous system after an ALS diagnosis help to identify new treatment targets? $124,930 awarded to Dr. Stefano Stifani , McGill University awarded to Dr. , Could touchscreen technology help to improve testing for the cognitive impairment that occurs in some cases of ALS? $110,770 awarded to Dr. Flavio Beraldo with collaborators Dr. Marco Prado and Dr. Vania Prado , all from Western University awarded to Dr. with collaborators Dr. and Dr. , all from Could whole genome sequencing reveal new areas of genetic mutations that make some people more likely to develop ALS? $75,000 awarded to Jay Ross , a PhD student in Dr. Guy Rouleau's lab at McGill University awarded to , a PhD student in Dr. lab at How might misfolded proteins that occur in ALS cause cells to die? $50,000 awarded to Sonja Di Gregorio , a PhD student in Dr. Martin Duennwald's lab at Western University awarded to , a PhD student in Dr. lab at What can we learn from mice that are able to walk almost normally despite significant loss of motor neuron function? $125,000 awarded to Dr. Turgay Akay , Dalhousie University awarded to Dr. , Why are eye muscles more resistant to ALS, and what can we learn about this that could help to preserve the function and use of other muscles? $121 , 048 awarded to Dr. Richard Robitaille with collaborator Danielle Arbour , both from Universite de Montreal , 048 awarded to Dr. with collaborator , both from Universite de Montreal Will probiotics that improve ALS symptoms in worms also work in mice? $75,000 awarded to Audrey Labarre , a PhD student in Alex Parker's lab at the Universite de Montreal Approximately 3,000 Canadians are living with ALS, a disease that paralyzes the body, taking away the ability to move, talk, swallow and eventually breathe. Each year about 1,000 Canadians are diagnosed with the disease and a similar number die. Most people die within two to five years of their ALS diagnosis because the disease has no cure and few treatment options."ALS is an incredibly complex disease, but the research community is making tremendous headway and has come very far with very little in comparison to annual funding levels of diseases that have treatment options," says Dr., Vice President of Research, ALS Canada. "For the ALS Canada Research Program this has only been possible because of the generosity of donors, partnerships with provincial ALS Societies across Canada, and organizations like, which by matching donations made through the Ice Bucket Challenge has essentially doubled Canada's ALS research investment over the past several years."Combined with research grants jointly awarded by ALS Canada andin 2015 and 2016, the grants awarded in 2017 are putting to work theearmarked for Canadian ALS research following the Ice Bucket Challenge that in 2014 raised unprecedented awareness for the disease and funds for ALS charities including ALS Societies across Canada. Withcommitment of matched funds now complete, the ALS Canada Research Program will soon return to its historic funding levels within research grants awarded each year."Canadians responded generously to the Ice Bucket Challenge, and by matching theearmarked for research through our partnership with Health Canada,doubled the impact of this generosity," said Inez Jabalpurwala, President and CEO, Brain Canada Foundation. "Since 2015, in partnership with the ALS Canada Research Program, we have funded 20 grants for novel, outside-the-box research; nine grants for collaborative, translational research projects that will move discovery from the lab to the clinic; and five grants that enable the next generation of researcher professors to start or continue research in promising areas of investigation. While the focus of all these research investments remains ALS,has brought its one system approach, whereby researchers from other areas were encouraged to apply their knowledge, and every discovery carries the potential to impact other neurodegenerative disorders which share common underlying mechanisms with ALS."Of the research grants announced today, theproject co-funded by ALS Canada andwill seek to find out whether a promising drug combination can address misfolded proteins, one of the defining biological characteristics of ALS. It was awarded to a research team led by Dr.from, with collaborators Dr.); Dr.(Universite de Montreal), and Dr.(Universite).The other 11 projects were funded through the ALS Canada Research Program through two different grant competitions as a direct result of donations and partnerships with ALS Societies across Canada including 40% of net proceeds from the WALK for ALS fundraising events that take places across the country.The research being funded in 2017 seeks to answer the following questions that will help to move us from greater understanding of ALS to the development of therapies for human use: Brain Canada Brain Canada Montreal Canada Brain Canada Brain Canada's Brain Canada Brain Canada $120 million $240 million The funding of these 12 research projects follows a rigorous scientific assessment by global ALS experts who evaluated a larger pool of applications to identify the projects that are grounded in scientific excellence and have the potential to most quickly advance the field of ALS research in order to develop effective treatments. The scientific evaluation was observed by people who have personal experience with ALS.ALS Societies across Canada fundraise on a regional basis to provide services and support to people and families living with ALS in their province and contribute to the funding of the ALS Canada Research Program. The ALS Canada Research Program funds peer-reviewed research grants and fosters collaboration amongst Canadian researchers, helping to nurture new ideas and build capacity. ALS Societies advocate federally, provincially and locally on behalf of people and families living with ALS for better government support and access within the healthcare system.is a national registered charity headquartered inthat enables and supports excellent, innovative, paradigm-changing brain research in. For nearly two decades,has made the case for the brain as a single, complex system with commonalities across the range of neurological disorders, mental illnesses and addictions, brain and spinal cord injuries. Looking at the brain as one system has underscored the need for increased collaboration across disciplines and institutions, and a smarter way to invest in brain research that is focused on outcomes that will benefit patients and families.vision is to understand the brain, in health and illness, to improve lives and achieve societal impact.The Canada Brain Research Fund is a public-private partnership between the Government of Canada and, designed to encourage Canadians to increase their support of brain research, and maximize the impact and efficiency of those investments.and its partners have committed to raising, which is being matched by Health Canada on a 1:1 basis for a total of. For more information, visitSOURCE ALS Canada KELOWNA, BC Nov. 22, 2017 Samantha Kimbell Reinhold Veith Steven Gilroy Canada Canada Canada Sunbeds that emit UVB light similar to summer sunlight increased clients' vitamin D levels to those found naturally in the summer. Following the recommended exposure schedules based on each client's skin type researchers reported no sunburning or other adverse events detected when skin color measurements were made. The current study shows that artificially produced UVB light sources that mimic sunlight, in this case fluorescent sunbed lamps with 2.2% and 4.2% UVB, could be a surrogate for sunlight when the UV index is low in northern countries for vitamin D production. Testing was done in winter and early spring to make sure there was no confounding outdoor UVB exposure. According to standard lab testing results for vitamin D in Canada (minimum 75nmol/L), more than 75% of the participants were vitamin D insufficient at the start of the research project. Mean vitamin D levels were increased by an average of 42 nmol/L in the sunbeds that used 100W and 160W fluorescents, the researchers reported. /CNW/ - The Canadian sunbed salon community hopes new Canadian research showing that typical sunbeds in professional tanning salons trigger vitamin D production will once-and-for-all end confusion on this subject.Canadian vitamin D researchers Dr.and Dr.conducted the study the first in the world to use sunbeds in professional tanning salons using standard tanning salon exposure protocols. Previous studies on this topic, which also showed that sunbeds trigger vitamin D production, used sunbeds in laboratories."We want to thank our Joint Canadian Tanning Association (JCTA) member salons for working with Dr. Kimbell and taking part in this project," said, executive director of the JCTA. "We are pleased that, following our standard protocol, no one reported any sunburns in this study and tanners who used regular equipment emitting UVB and UVA light increased their vitamin D levels significantly."Most sunbeds emit both UVB and UVA light similar to summer sunlight in. The UV portion of summer sunshine at noon in most ofis about 95% UVA and 5% UVB. The UVB portion is what triggers vitamin D production in the skin. Wintertime sun exposure at northern latitudes in(above 44?N) does not contain sufficient UVB to stimulate vitamin D synthesis because of the angle of the sun. There had been considerable confusion about this.Three JCTA member tanning salons took part in the study. Participants were tanning clients who had not tanned for more than 60 days prior to the beginning of the study. Salons followed standard exposure regimens for new tanning clients, as established by manufacturers following Health Canada sunbed regulations. Vitamin D levels were recorded at the start and approximately every four weeks.A typical base tan (photoprotection) is created in four weeks following a standard graduated exposure schedule. Dr. Kimbell reported that Vitamin D blood levels continued to climb for the 12-week test period, demonstrating that the emergence of a tan did not stop vitamin D production in the skin. Canada Canada Statisticsreports, 38% of Canadians or approximately 14 million people have vitamin D levels below 50 nmol/L, the level recommended by Health Canada. More than 48 vitamin D scientists recommend that you maintain a vitamin D blood level year round between 100-150 nmol/L for optimal health.The JCTA represents sunbed facilities, suppliers and manufacturers serving the Canadian sunbed community. JCTA has cooperated with governments into create standards for tanning facilities, and JCTA members adhere to professional standards, including staff certification training to ensure that operators properly control, sanitize and maintain sunbed equipment and that clients are correctly tanned according to their skin type.SOURCE Joint Canadian Tanning Association OTTAWA Nov. 21, 2017 Glenn Brimacombe January 8, 2018 Rita Notarandrea Canada Canada University of Ottawa Glenn Brimacombe CEO, Canadian Psychiatric Association, 20132017 Co-chair, Health Action Lobby, 20092014 President and CEO, Association of Canadian Academic Healthcare Organizations, 20022013 Director, Health Programs, Conference Board of Canada , 20002001 , 20002001 Visiting Senior Policy Analyst, Health Canada, 19971998 Director, Health Economics, Canadian Medical Association, 19912000 Economist, Ontario Medical Association, 19881990 University of Ottawa , Master's, Economics 19841988 Canada's Canada /CNW/ - The Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA) is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr.to Vice-president, Strategic Partnerships and Priorities, a new executive leadership role within the organization. Mr. Brimacombe will officially assume this position onMr. Brimacombe comes to CCSA from the Canadian Psychiatric Association (CPA), where he was Chief Executive Officer. Previously, he was President and Chief Executive Officer for the Association of Canadian Academic Healthcare Organizations, now known as HealthCare"I am delighted to welcome Glenn to the CCSA team as our new vice-president of Strategic Partnerships and Priorities," said, CEO of CCSA. "The issues surrounding substance use and addiction are complex and consequential. To address them requires an approach that involves having everyone at the table. For nearly three decades, Glenn has cultivated these kinds of strategic partnerships in the healthcare sector and I am so pleased that we will soon bring his talent and expertise to CCSA and to the individuals and organizations we serve."For thirty years, CCSA has been at the forefront of knowledge mobilization, bridging the gap and connecting the dots between people, issues and resources acrosson matters of substance use and addiction. As the only pan-Canadian health organization with a mandate to explore the effects of both licit and illicit substances on the health and safety of Canadians, CCSA has built a strong reputation and an even stronger network of stakeholders with a common goal of reducing the harms of substance use on Canadian society and the economy.Mr. Brimacombe is uniquely positioned to assume this new role and advance this important work. Throughout his career, his focus has been on the management of strategic policy issues related to the organization, financing and delivery of healthcare, and the federal role in research, innovation and commercialization, as well as the identification, development and nurturing of a number of strategic alliances."I'm honoured to join a highly reputable national health agency that has an impressive track record in helping individuals and working with partners to achieve results on substance use and addiction," said Mr. Brimacombe. "In my role as vice-president, and drawing on my past roles and experiences as a CEO of two national health organizations, I look forward to working in strategic partnership with a broad number of stakeholders to advance research, policy and practice on the services and supports to address substance use into the benefit of all Canadians."Mr. Brimacombe holds a master's degree in economics from thePrevious Positions ofCCSA isonly agency with a legislated national mandate to reduce the harms of alcohol and other drugs on Canadians. We do so by gathering the latest evidence and promoting that evidence widely. Created by an Act of Parliament in 1988, CCSA's vision is for a healthier Canadian society where evidence transforms approaches to substance use. Our mission is to address issues of substance use by providing national leadership and harnessing the power of evidence to generate coordinated action to inform policy, practice and programs.The Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction changes lives by bringing people and knowledge together to reduce the harm of alcohol and other drugs on society. We partner with public, private and non-governmental organizations to improve the health and safety of Canadians.CCSA activities and products are made possible through a financial contribution from Health Canada. The views of CCSA do not necessarily represent the views of the Government ofSOURCE Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction SANDUSKY Two men from the Flint area were denied bond after being arraigned on nearly a dozen charges each, in connection to a double homicide in Greenleaf Township on Sunday. Preston Xavier Jack and Stephen Vance Shimmel looked on from the county jail as they were arraigned in Sanilac County District Court via the court's Polycom system, late Tuesday afternoon. Jack, 30, and Shimmel, 48, were each charged with 11 identical counts of: two counts of assault with intent to murder; two counts of assault with intent to rob while armed; and single counts of conspiracy to commit assault with intent to murder; armed robbery; first-degree home invasion; possession of a firearm by a felon; stolen property-receiving and concealing a motor vehicle; and weapons-felony firearms. The men are scheduled to appear in court next on Nov. 28 for a probable cause conference and the court set a preliminary examination for Dec. 5. Both men are being housed in the Sanilac County Jail without bond. According to court records, Jack and Shimmel will receive court-appointed attorneys in the near future. The charges stem from an attempted home invasion that led to a double homicide over the weekend. Deputies from the Sanilac County Sheriff's Office were dispatched to the 4300 block of Holbrook Road around 5 a.m. Sunday. The caller said three men broke into his home and shot him in the leg. Gunfire was returned and one, or more, of the subjects were shot. One of the suspects at the residence died and the other suspects fled on foot. Deputies located a vehicle in the ditch at Holbrook and Germania roads and a man from the Flint area was found dead inside the vehicle with a gunshot injury. The sheriff's office identified the two deceased suspects as Quantize Bruce, 20, and Keith Saunders, 26, both of Flint. The sheriff's office believes the motive behind the crimes were to rob a medical marijuana grow operation. On Tuesday, the sheriff's office told the Tribune that three men were originally reported in the incident because the homeowner did not see the fourth suspect standing outside of the home. The investigation is ongoing. Lee Su-jin used to work at a "love hotel" in South Korea, changing sheets and cleaning up after couples who had paid for a few hours of privacy. Sixteen years on, he's using the knowledge he gained to transform the industry. Lee is founder of Yanolja (Korean for "hey, let's play"), the country's most popular app for booking rooms at the short-stay lodgings, which South Koreans call motels. He's trying to persuade owners to jettison their long-held image of sleaze, sex and suicide, and upgrade facilities to appeal more to business travelers, families and tourists. "If all the motels relied on love, they'd starve to death," Lee, 39, said in his office in Seoul's ritzy Gangnam neighborhood. Yanolja has 17,000 hotels as partners and now employs 350 staff, half of them focused on research and development, including software and design. It's valued at as much as $547 million (600 billion won) and this year drew 60 billion won in investment from Chin Dae-je, a former CEO of Samsung Electronics and technology minister. The app posted revenue of 68 billion won last year and is seeking an initial public share sale as early as 2020. The company makes money by taking a cut of booking fees and through advertising and payments from motels that in turn are given prominent spots in the app. The commission can range from zero for those in remote provincial areas to 10 percent in an upmarket area. The company also receives royalties from operators who adopt the Yanolja brand, as well as revenue for consulting or trading hotel supplies. "Yanolja has unlocked an industry with a sleazy image to the broader public and now threatens to cannibalize existing hotels," said Byun Jung-woo, who teaches hotel and tourism businesses at Kyung Hee University in Seoul. "Hotels know they won't survive by competing with apps that provide more attractive booking platforms, so more and more of them rely on Yanolja." Lee's story is one of a determination to escape poverty. The early loss of both his parents meant he spent much of his childhood being shifted from one relative to another. To end his nomadic lifestyle, at 23 he took a job at a love hotel because it provided a steady wage and accommodation close to the city center. "Day in and day out, I felt wretched but hung on," Lee said. "It feels like a dream now." With the money earned as a janitor, he invested in stocks and started a salad business. It failed and he returned to the hotels, deciding to use his knowledge of that industry to bounce back. He had built a 10,000-strong internet community, from suppliers of towels and toilet paper to the hotel owners. In 2005 he turned the connections into a website that eventually allowed people to preview and book rooms. Lee persuaded operators to allow him to show pictures of the actual rooms, something then rare at the time in an industry founded on secrecy. The images were an instant hit. In 2011 his company launched a smartphone application that now has 8 million subscribers. Lee also allowed customers to share online their opinions of the rooms, an innovation that has sometimes been double-edged. South Korea's Fair Trade Commission fined Yanolja and its two other competitors in April for hiding some negative posts. Lee's main local rival app for love hotel bookings is Withinnovation. As he moves into the mainstream hotel market, he's also coming up against big global platforms like Agoda. Competition is intense; with apps developing features such as virtual previews and artificial intelligence software that gauges consumer preferences. But most of Yanolja's business still comes from young couples. Many are either unemployed or just starting work and tend to take a room about one to three times a month, according to the company. They often rent the room for only a few hours to save money. Hotel owners are often reluctant to abandon a model that has worked for decades. Only in 2015 did the country decriminalize adultery. Lee has run ads designed to appeal to young Koreans who are tired of being told they have to work hard all the time. One features local rapper Loco, whose smiling face asks viewers: "Is life long? Hey, let's play." As a sign of the industry's reputation, he also runs a training program on how owners can prevent unscrupulous clients from installing hidden cameras in the rooms. Yanolja has started operating some of its own hotels, remodeling them to be cleaner and more modern. Below Lee's office the company runs what it calls a laboratory, to show rooms equipped with trendy furniture and the latest internet technologies. The rise of apps and other disrupting innovations like Airbnb have pushed traditional hotel chains to adapt. In South Korea, larger hospitality companies have moved aggressively into related businesses such as restaurants and conventions to boost profits. A decrease in visitors from China due to political tensions also played into the hands of local booking apps as hotels turned to them to try to reduce vacancy rates, said Byun at Kyung Hee University. Lee said next February's Winter Olympics next year in Pyeongchang is an opportunity for the company to convince love hotels to become more tourist-friendly. His success may be watched closely in Japan, where the government is encouraging more than 10,000 love hotels to convert into lodgings for visitors to the 2020 summer games in Tokyo. --With assistance from Isabel Reynolds New London - The Lyman Allyn Art Museum is pleased to announce the kick-off of its Season of Wonderment! An array of activities and programs provide holiday fun for the whole family. The Coloring New London exhibit covers the gallery walls in gigantic coloring book pages for people of all ages to color. The exhibit features scenes drawn from historic New London postcards and paintings in the museums collection. Join friends and neighbors from the Lyman Allyn community in filling in the pictures over the course of the exhibit and visit or check us out on Facebook to see how they develop. The exhibit will be on view through Jan. 21. Snowflake Family Teas will be held Nov. 25, Dec. 2, 9, 16, 1:30-3 p.m. Families will enjoy tea, a hot chocolate bar, and desserts in the Hendel Library. Then, before heading to the art studio for a snow globe art project, children will be able to add their artistic touch to the gallery walls in our Coloring New London exhibit. Admission $12 per person and includes museum admission as well as the Wonderment programming held beforehand. Full payment is required at the time of reservation. Space is limited. Please call 860.443.2545 x2129. Other programs: Saturday, Nov. 25, 12-1 p.m.: The Entirely True Story of the Unbelievable FIB. Families will be introduced to the Fantasy Investigation Bureau, also known as the Unbelievable FIB, which is the magical detective agency at the heart of Adam Shaughnessys childrens books. Through storytelling and interactive riddles and puzzles, Adam will share the mysterious truth behind the Unbelievable FIB. Participants will take the Fibbers oath and receive official ID badges of their very own. Books will be available for sale. Free with Museum admission or payment of Snowflake Tea. To RSVP call 860.443.2545 x2129. Saturday, Dec. 2: Free First Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Spend a lovely winter day exploring the Museum and join us in the art studio from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. to decorate snowflakes. Free admission all day. Saturday, Dec. 9: Family Storytelling Circle, -12-1 p.m. Museum Educators spread good cheer while they tell winter stories in the warm and cozy Hendel Library. Free with Museum admission or payment of Snowflake Tea. RSVP required. Saturday, Dec. 16: Science Saturday, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Learn how Arctic animals such as penguins and polar bears stay warm! Children ages 7-11 will participate in a fun and interactive project. Free with Museum admission or payment of Snowflake Tea. The Lyman Allyn Art Museum welcomes visitors from New London, southeastern Connecticut and all over the world. Established in 1926 by a gift from Harriet Allyn in memory of her seafaring father, the Museum opened the doors of its beautiful neo-classical building surrounded by 12 acres of green space in 1932. Today it presents a number of changing exhibitions each year and houses a fascinating collection of over 17,000 objects from ancient times to the present; artworks from Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe, with particularly strong collections of American paintings, decorative arts and Victorian toys and doll houses. The museum is located at 625 Williams Street, New London, exit 83 off I-95. For more information call 860.443.2545, ext. 2129 or visit us on Facebook or visit www.lymanallyn.org. MIDDLETOWN Mercy and Xavier High Schools present the comedy, You Cant Take It With You with performances Wednesday, Nov. 29 and Thursday, Nov. 30 at 7 p.m. The cast and crew have been hard at work while enjoying themselves as they prepare for opening night. You Cant Take It With You: A Comedy In Three Acts by Moss Hart and George S Kaufman, involves the twists and turns of the Kirby, Sycamore and Vanderhof families. The Vanderhoffs, an eccentric family, allows each member to follow his/her dream but their routine is disrupted when their granddaughter, who seems to be the only normal person in the family with a regular job, wants to bring her fiance and his Wall Street family to dinner. The story starts to spin when Tony brings his parents to Alices house for dinner on the wrong night. The dinner is a disaster. Alices sister dances all over the place, her mother constantly typing on her typewriter and the dad is making fireworks in the basement. Family and guests ends up in jail. Come see the show and laugh about how the families go from dinner to jail and to happily ever after, said Juliana Claudio, who plays Alice Sycamore. It has been a wonderful experience working with such a talented group of actors these past months. I chose a comedy this year to contrast with last falls production of The Crucible, said director Lorra Webb, a member of Mercys school counseling department. It has been refreshing to work on a light-hearted comedic piece with a group who genuinely enjoy being together and authentically share laughter and humor. This is a student- centered project with student stage managers, business managers and stage crew along with a costume design, set/lighting crew. The students creative energy and enthusiasm fuels mine. Join us for an evening of insights and laughter. Brigid Loughlin, a senior at Mercy, plays Mrs. Kirby. This is her seventh Mercy/Xavier theatre production. Jordan Leonardi a junior at Xavier, plays Mr. Kirby in his fourth drama production. I think everyone in the audience can relate to a character or two in the play. We all have those people in our families, said Loughlin. I love the cohesiveness of the cast; we are extremely close. When I was younger, I was part of the stage crew of other plays, Leonardi said. Coming to Xavier, I decided to give acting a try and discovered that I like being in the limelight. stated Leonardi. Brian Farrell, a senior at Xavier, added, I have seen Jordans talent explode over the past few years. He has grown to new levels as an actor and is fun to work with. Farrell began acting at a very young age. His older sister would write plays and he would perform them. My family would say I was born to perform, he said. I feel that is true as the stage is my home. He brings the role of Tony Kirby to life. In the play, Tony is engaged to Alice, played by Juliana Claudio. It is the second time we are a couple we were married in A Christmas Carol, playing the roles of Fred and Julia Scrooge. Audiences just have to love my eccentric and unique family in You Cant Take It With You. You have no choice but to laugh with us when you see the play, said Claudio. The glue that holds everyone together in the show is Rheba, the maid, played by Claudia Tapler. Family members come to me for advice; I console others; Im normal like Alice but even she comes for advice from me, she said. Claudia began performing at a young age, too. I was raised with my godmother, who has a degree in vocal performance, organizing church shows, she said. If she needed characters, she would seek out my cousins and me and we were given parts in her shows. I liked performing in middle school, being here at Mercy have become by breakout years. I was in the cast of The Crucible which is a very serious production. I am liking the change to a comedy this year. My family tells me I am funny, she said. I guess I can say in real life I am kind of like Rheba - I hold my family together and my light- heartedness keeps my family from over stressing. Ms. Webb is a great director; she encourages us to ad lib in this show. She tells us, See a space, add the line, and we do. Farrell said he was surprised to be cast as Tony Kirby. I felt I am not like Tony at all. I asked myself, Who did I hurt, why am I being punished? I have found the role of Tony is a blessing, he said. I told myself to Tame the lion; get off the struggle bus. Tony is not a punishment; he is a responsibility calling me to lead by example. It is not the character one is cast, it is what I bring to the character to elevate the actors to be the life of the show. Every day I wake up, my goal for the day is to help people appreciate that they make their Tony Kirby, their best self. You Cant Take it With You will be performed in Mercy High Schools auditorium. Tickets are $5 for students and $10 for adults and are available at the door the night of each show. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate PORTLAND On a cold, rainy Wednesday afternoon, two older men made their way to the former schoolhouse building at the rear of the Middletown-Portland Seventh-day Adventist Church on Waverly Avenue. They had heard about Heavens Storehouse after a neighbor at the apartment building they live in put up a flyer about the food pantry following his visit last week, said volunteer Pat Mainetti of Higganum. Jeff Fine helped the gentlemen, both disabled veterans, pick out items from the rows and rows of cold cereal, breads, organic eggs, rice, macaroni and cheese, raisins and other fruit and offered them a frozen turkey or chicken parts if they liked. Those were very thankful people, said Fine, whose wife Fiona also volunteers at the pantry. Those guys had tears in their eyes. Launched six weeks ago, Heavens Storehouse, open Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., allows people to shop every week. The pantry draws between 10 and 15 people each time and congregants are eager to get the word out so more people in need can be helped. They dont need to be residents to do so, either, said pantry Director Phillip Byron. When you see people like that with the tears, Ill tell you, that just melts your heart, said Kim Anderson of East Hampton, the churchs newest member. That is something right there. That is such a big gift. Some people you can see it more in their faces, Anderson said. Theyre very emotional about it. If you see somebody really emotional and tearing up that whole giving part who really was blessed here? I think Im actually more blessed because that person was so thankful for me giving that. Mainetti finds her time at the pantry endlessly rewarding. Wednesday, she was acting as receptionist, showing people how to fill out a form to gain entrance. No identification is needed to shop, Byron said, and each subsequent time they visit, people simply write their names in a log. Thats how we can be missionaries here in our own backyard. These are the little things, just the little things that we can help with, Mainetti said. We cant give them everything. We cant pay their bills, but we can help them stay warm, we can give them something for their tummy. The Rev. Michael Pelletier oversees a small congregation of 15 to 20 people, who come from all over Middlesex County, as this is the only Seventh-day Adventist Church nearby. He said there are about 45 parishes around Connecticut. Byron recalled a devotional he remembers reading. We will always have the poor among us. We should always do what we can to help them. Everyone has their own talent thats involved that make it all work together, Mainetti said of her fellow volunteers. The Pelletiers four children, ages 10, 12, 13 and 15, are homeschooled and were helping out Wednesday, guiding people toward the items they like and showing them the various fresh produce available, like carrots, turnips, onions and potatoes. I see people get all happy when they get the food, said Alan Pelletier, 13. Connecticut is not in good shape. Theyre all losing their jobs. We have families in need and were here to give them food. We have it and we want to give it, Anderson said. I think there will always be a basic need for people, no matter how good the economy is, Pelletier said. There will always be poor, Anderson said. Each of these parishioners get more out of their time at the pantry than what they put in. Its what God has called us to do: following the example of Jesus, Pelletier said. Byron started the Gods Grocery Store in Plainville at the Adventist church there. It began with about seven customers a week. Now, at 10 years in, it boasts 300 to 400 in that same timeframe. Some come every week, others once a month, said Byron, who grew up in Middletown and went to the former first-through eighth-grade, two-room school where the pantry is located. The need for food is constant, Byron said. Ive seen some come from 40 minutes away to get food in Plainville. So that tells me that theyre not just coming here, theyre going to other places as well, Byron said. Its not just a one-time deal once a month. If you need food every single week, come and get it. The Connecticut Food Bank in Wallingford supplies food. The church supplements dry goods with items like eggs, turkey and chicken. paid for with church donations. Byron said the experience of working with people in need has transformed his personality. When I started in Plainville eight years ago, I was not a people person. I was shy, I didnt want to be bothered getting to know anybody, Byron said. I believe I was placed there for a purpose, because as time went on, I mingled with people coming through and got to be friends with a lot of them and heard their stories. Its amazing. I went from this shy guy to getting in there, wanting to help these people. If I noticed somebody wasnt there, Id make a box for them and bring it to their home and drop it off, he said. Our ultimate goal from a church standpoint is honestly to reflect Gods character to the world and care for his children, Pelletier said. As an added benefit, as you help others, the blessing really is with you an equal or greater blessing than the people receiving it. Who knows? One day I could be in this position, Anderson said. My husband could be in this position. We have no idea. Byron tells a story about a time at the Plainville pantry when a volunteer came up and said, Weve got this guy here, hes driving a Jaguar, hes got this suit on. And he wants to get food? Shouldnt we be turning these people away who come in here and get food like that? she asked. Were not here to judge anybody. We dont know what happened with him that he needs to come here to get food, Byron told her. We have to treat everybody with the same compassion. As his children gathered around the space heater, Pelletier explained why he brings them along on Wednesdays. We felt theres no better education than actually doing it, he said, gesturing to his wife Elena. If they can actually see the faces light up when theyre helping, it inspires you do more. So theres no better community service than actually getting involved. This is actually one of the more important courses theyll take. Its a lesson they can take when they become an adult, said Elena Pelletier. They will always remember this, too, and eventually inspire their children to do the same thing. Then you create a better society. Heavens Store House is located at 13 Waverly Ave. Access is through the building in the rear of the church. For information, call 860-712-5034. Managing Editor Cassandra Day can be reached at cassandra.day@hearstmediact.com. Gen. Robert Neller, the Marine Commandant, said Tuesday the Marines were cooperating fully with Japanese authorities investigating the fatal traffic accident on Okinawa last Sunday involving a Marine PFC allegedly driving under the influence. The Japanese courts "will adjudicate whatever happens to him," Neller said of the Marine identified by Okinawan police as 21-year-old Pvt. 1st Class Nicholas James-McClean, who will likely face criminal charges. As of Monday, James-McClean was in the custody of local police, a Marine spokesman said. "Obviously, we wish it never happened but it did. This one individual appears to have made a bad mistake," Neller told a small group of reporters following a ceremony at the Iwo Jima Memorial in Arlington, Virginia. Local police have said that James-McClean's blood alcohol level was three times the legal limit when his two-ton military vehicle collided with a mini-truck at an intersection in Naha, the Okinawan capital, at about 5:25 a.m. Sunday local time. U.S. Forces Japan also issued a statement saying that "alcohol may have been a factor" in the accident. Japanese media reports have said that James-McClean's vehicle appeared to have run a red light. The Marine suffered slight injuries but the driver of the mini-truck, 61-year-old Hidemasa Taira, died later in a local hospital. Neller said the incident should not reflect on the 22,000 Marines on Okinawa striving to be good neighbors on an island with a large and continuing protest movement against the presence of U.S. bases. Lt. Gen. Lawrence D. Nicholson, commanding general of Marine Forces Japan, said in a statement after the accident, "I would like to convey my deepest regret and sincere condolences to the family and friends of the Okinawan man who died as a result of this accident." Following the accident, U.S. Forces Japan announced that it was cutting off local liberty for all troops in the region and prohibiting the consumption of alcohol until further notice. "It is extremely regrettable that this accident happened even though Japanese government has repeatedly asked for the thorough implementation of preventive measures and enforcement of disciplines," Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a news conference Monday. "It's the same thing over and over again every time, I'm speechless," Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga told the Washington Post of continuing problems with the U.S. military presence. U.S. military personnel and civilian contractors working for U.S. forces have been accused of multiple crimes in Okinawa this year. From January to October 2017, two have been arrested on allegations of robbery, two on allegations of rape and six on allegations of violent offenses, according to the Okinawa Prefecture Police website. -- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com. Have you ever been drawn to nature? Have you had an urge to sit by the sea, hike in the woods or just stand barefoot in the... [November 22, 2017] TransferTo drives further expansion into Africa with new senior appointment SINGAPORE, Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- TransferTo, a leading Cross-Border Mobile Payments Network for emerging markets, has appointed Djibril Diallo as VP Business Development to head operations across West and Central Africa, as the company ramps up its activity across the Continent. TransferTo's global payments network interlinks money transfer operators, mobile money operators, mobile wallets providers, banks, financial institutions, NGOs and global e-commence merchants to facilitate mobile-based money transfers to and from emerging markets -- all through one single API connection and one global compliance framework. Across Africa, the company currently interconnects close to 300m mobile money wallets and bank accounts, and this year alone, TransferTo's cross-border payments business in Africa has grown 11-fold, showing significant demand for safer, cheaper and faster digital transfers across the Continent. Djibril brings great expertise in payment systems and mobile money across the region. He spent the last three years heading up Mobile Financial Services operations for Tigo Cash, Millicom's operation in Senegal. Prior to that, he worked as a Senior IT Consultant and Business Analyst at the World Food Programme focusing on global payment disbursements. Djibril hasalso played a key part in rolling out payment systems, such as RTGS, in various African Central Banks and primary banks. In his new position at TransferTo, Djibril is responsible for the strategic direction and growth in the region, and to expand TransferTo's payment solutions into new markets, including Senegal, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Gabon and Cameroon. "I'm thrilled to have joined TransferTo," said Djibril Diallo. "We are at a point today where mobile money and mobile banking is revolutionising payments in Africa, and I am very proud to be a part of a company that is committed to providing the best payment solutions for emerging markets, and helping connect Africa to the world." Nicolas Vonthron, EVP Payments for Africa & Europe at TransferTo added, "Djibril has such a unique insight into this market which makes him an invaluable partner in a time when TransferTo is undergoing heightened investment across Africa. Establishing robust operations in West and Central Africa ensures we are well positioned to better serve our Network partners, allowing them to cater for the growing demand of more efficient cross-border payments to and from the African Continent." Djibril will be based out of Dakar, Senegal. About TransferTo TransferTo is the leading Cross-Border Mobile Payments Network for emerging markets, processing real-time transactions for money transfer operators, mobile operators, digital wallet providers, banks, NGO's and merchants. Leading global companies rely on TransferTo's mobile payment solutions to perform digital payments. Through a Network which spans across more than 130 countries, TransferTo provides its partners with a global compliance framework for all relevant regulatory requirements. TransferTo was founded in 2005. The company is headquartered in Singapore, with regional offices in Miami, London and Dubai, and local offices across Mumbai, Jakarta, San Salvador, Nairobi and Barcelona. For more information, please visit: www.transfer-to.com Media Contact Ola Polczynski PR & Marketing Director, TransferTo +65-9361-2450 [email protected] SOURCE TransferTo [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More This is to inform you that due to unavoidable circumstances in the Company the Meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company is postponed and rescheduled on Monday, December 11, 2017 at the registered office of the Company at 413, Jogani Industrial Estate, Opp. Kasturba -Hospital, J. R. Boricha Marg, Lower Parel (East), Mumbai 400011 to discuss and decide inter-alia following item.I. To adopt the un-audited quarterly/ half yearly financials for the quarter/ half year ended September 30, 2017.Source : BSE Read More live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Issue & Allotment of AT-1 Bonds upto Rs. 500 crore and to consider issue of Equity Shares under ESOP/ESPS The share touched its 52-week high Rs 29.25 and 52-week low Rs 17.00 on 07 February, 2017 and 14 November, 2017, respectively.Currently, it is trading 41.54 percent below its 52-week high and 0.59 percent above its 52-week low.Market capitalisation stands at Rs 2,670.72 crore. Source : BSE Read More The next big event which market participants are watching out for is the outcome of the state elections in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, with both states going to polls in the month of December. The polls assume special importance because Gujarat is the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and is BJPs strongest bastion. The party has been in power there since 1998. But this time around, most market participants are factoring in fewer seats than usual for the ruling government in the Gujarat polls. Any negative surprise or hint of loss of momentum could have some adverse impact on equity markets. Gujarat has a large business community, which has been impacted by demonetization and GST. The elections will be a test of the popularity of Modis reforms and will also throw up a challenge to the incumbent in power. The Gujarat Assembly elections will be held in two phases on December 9 and 14, respectively, the Election Commission (EC) announced earlier this month. The first phase will see 89 assembly constituencies hit the polling booths, while 93 of them will vote in phase 2. Counting of votes will take place on December 18. Most analysts fear that if BJP wins fewer seats in Gujarat than last time, things could get shaky for D-Street. As many as 41 percent of the poll respondents feel that if the current ruling party BJP wins fewer seats than last time, it will hurt market sentiment, while 35 percent dismissed the argument. The remaining 24 percent preferred not to comment. The S&P BSE Sensex which has risen nearly 26 percent so far this year, is finding it hard to break above its record high 33,865. Market participants could heave a sigh of relief if BJP manages clean sweep in both the states. Markets at current levels are already pricing in a BJP victory to some extent and are likely to trade sideways till the final outcome is out, JK Jain, head of equity research at Karvy Stock Broking told Moneycontrol. Gujarat outcome will be taken as a sample of Modi's popularity at the all-India level and may impact short-term market sentiments, as political stability and the present government's thrust on the economic reforms are the basis for anticipation of long-term bull-run in the markets, he said. Jain further added that any negative outcome is likely to have a strong bearing on states such as Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, where elections will be held before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The troika effect: The Gujarat election is a 2party contest with BJP and Congress accounting for 90 percent of the vote share. The state has been BJPs stronghold with the party being in power there since 1998 with 810% higher vote share than Congress in each of the elections. However, a few trends have emerged: a) caste politics has perked up with the emergence of new caste leaders (among them Patels, Dalits, OBCs), who are cozying up to Congress. But, keeping these disparate groups together will not be easy for the grand old party, Edelweiss Securities said in a recent report. Hardik Patel (Patel leader) appears to be a bigger force than the other 2 and could potentially hurt BJP in 1015 seats in rural Gujarat (nearly 100/182 seats are rural). And, in urban centres (BJP stronghold), businesses have been hit by GST and activity is yet to regain the previous pace, it said. The recent opinion polls indicate that although the BJP could emerge victorious in the upcoming elections in Gujarat, factors such as the lower popularity of reforms such as GST and demonetisation in the state (according to opinion polls), and the emergence of independent leaders could hurt BJP. The emergence of the troika of Hardik Patel, Alpesh Thakore and Jignesh Mevani representing the three communities of Patidar, OBC Kshatriya, and Dalit communities respectively along with their popularity amongst the youth is causing uncertainty, ICICI Securities said in a report. BJP has a 9 percent vote share lead over the Congress in the last election but a 5-6 percent vote swing due to the troika effect could make the race tight, the brokerage said. Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 The Continental GT retains the cafe racer concept. The bike sports disc brakes in the front and the rear with ABS The two new premium bikes being readied for launch Interceptor and Continental GT will become the flagship models for Royal Enfield as the brand tries to make in-roads into the developed markets of the West. The Eicher Motors-owned brand, which makes leisure, touring, cruiser and off-road bikes, is taking efforts to bring up stand-alone Royal Enfield stores in markets such as the US where it already has 50 operational multi-brand outlets. Globally, the brand has 50 exclusive Royal Enfield stores. At a recent international distributor conference held in Milan, Italy, the two yet-to-be-launched bikes generated enormous interest among distributors. Interceptor and Continental GT were showcased for the first time by Royal Enfield at the EICMA show held in Milan recently. Siddhartha Lal, Managing Director and CEO, Eicher Motors said, Every single one of our stores internationally will carry these, because they will become the mainstay in developed markets for Royal Enfield for sure. On the one hand, we already have in markets, like Europe, the big ones UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, 40 to 60 multi-brand outlets. In US, we've been building from scratch over the last two years, so we have around 50 stores and it's growing. While Royal Enfield is preparing to launch the two bikes in each of 40 countries it operates in including those in South America and Asia, company officials believe that the biggest market for the two bikes will be developed markets. There is a huge amount of work we have done, I think more preparation than ever by in order of magnitude in terms of preparing, training for sales, training our dealers, training the service staff, having the right parts availabilities, all of that. So certainly in developed markets, this will be, I believe, very soon (become) our number 1 selling product, Lal said. Royal Enfield has approximately 30-40 stores (multi-brand) in each of the 40 countries it operates in. This is in addition to the 750 stand-alone stores it has in India. The company entered newer markets in ASEAN such as Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Philippines and in Latin America such as Brazil and Colombia. What we're getting the feeling from our international partners and our international teams is that these motorcycles will help us in expanding our distribution when we want to add more dealers and we'll have a wide range, because in some markets we have a 350, not in all markets. But then we have a 410, we have a 500, we'll have a 650, so that gives a good range, which gives the dealer enough variety and they will be stocking us, Lal said. The Interceptor and Continental GT will debut around April starting in Europe before being launched in India closer to the festive period of 2018. The two bikes will be made in Chennai and exported to the overseas markets. These indigenously developed bikes will be the most premium and most powerful bikes till date developed by Royal Enfield. Exports form a minuscule portion of the Royal Enfields total sales basket at present comprising just 2 percent. During the April-October period exports jumped 25 percent to 10037 bikes as compared to 8022 bikes exported in the same period last year. rate of growth in exports is higher than domestic sales (at 22 percent) though the company has managed to ramp up production. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More The banking sector witnessed the slowest incremental rise in gross non-performing asset (NPA) movement in the last 10 quarters, at Rs 11,000 crore, in the second quarter period from July to September. This comes after banks' NPAs increased to their highest since March 2016. Gross NPAs of 36 banks (21 public sector banks and 15 private sector banks) increased from Rs 2.94 lakh crore in March 2015 to Rs 3.32 lakh crore in September 2015 and then rose sharply to Rs 8.38 lakh crore by September 2017 (chart 1), as per data from a report by Care Ratings. NPAs grew 185 percent during March 2015-September 2017 and 152 percent during September 2015-September 2017. However, looking at the positives, there was moderation in incremental rise in NPAs for the three-month period ending September 2017 when the increase was just about Rs 11,000 crore, the report pointed out. In a report co-authored by Care Ratings' Chief Economist Madan Sabnavis and Associate Economist Manisha Sachdeva, they said: "If such a tendency persists in the next two quarters it may be concluded that the recognition issue has been adequately addressed by banks." Looking at the preceding quarters from the data, the rise in NPAs was to the tune of Rs 1.18 lakh crore in April to June 2017, Rs 35,000 crore in January to March 2017, Rs 25,000 crore in October to December 2016 and Rs 34,000 crore from July to September 2016, and so on. In terms of incremental NPAs, the highest was witnessed in March 2016 at Rs 1.39 lakh crore over December 2015 quarter and the second highest was in June 2017 over March 2017 quarter at Rs 1.17 lakh crore. Chanda Kochhar, ICICI Banks CEO and MD, said in a post results call last month: We had said in the beginning of the year that we expect the NPA additions to be lower than the previous year and we continue to stay with that." The NPA ratio appeared to be fairly stable in the region of 4.24-4.9 percent till September 2015 when the RBI carried out the asset quality review which led to more realistic recognition of NPAs by banks leading to an increase in the ratio in the last two years, the Care Ratings report pointed out. Share of PSBs As per further data, the share of public sector banks in total advances has also been moving down over the two-and-half years period from 77 percent to 71 percent. This is indicative of the fact that while demand for credit has also slowed down, they have also been affected by making provisions for NPAs as well as equipping themselves with capital. The recent decision taken by the government to capitalise these banks will hold a clue to their ability to regain market share in the credit market, it said. In terms of NPAs, their share has been fairly steady though dominant. While it did peak in March 2016, there was a gradual downward movement as the private banks had witnessed an increase in their impaired assets. As far as provisions towards the NPAs go, its share, after declining sharply in September and December quarter of 2016, it increased once again in the last three quarters. Rajnish Kumar, Chairman of State Bank of India, countrys biggest bank, recently said that he was satisfied with the banks performance this quarter. "NPA is something we are capable of handling and we will emerge stronger, maybe 2 or 3 more quartersThe rate at which slippage ratio has started coming down, we are hopefully in for good times." The next two quarters would be crucial from the point of view of NPAs as it is still not clear whether or not they have been fully recognised and provided for. Private Banks, too, have witnessed an increase in their NPA ratios and the final picture will emerge by March 2018, the report concluded. In what seems to be a temporary relief to the troubled promoters of Jaiprakash Associates (JAL) the Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed the parent company of Jaypee Infratech Ltd to deposit Rs 275 crore and another Rs 275 crore by December 31. This is against the earlier order asking the promoters to deposit Rs 2000 crore by November 13 which the promoters were unable to meet even though four deadlines had expired. While the Supreme Courts order to deposit Rs 2000 crore stands, the court allowed the developer to deposit the amount in instalments but did not specify a timeline for the remaining Rs 1450 crore to be deposited by the promoter. However, the court in a lighter vein asked the promoter to deposit the entire amount like good kids (The apex court said acche bachon ki tarah paise jama kar dein), a lawyer present in the court confirmed. The court also restrained the companys independent directors, promoters and immediate family from selling their assets to raise money before the said amount had been deposited, saying that such a move "will not only be liable for criminal prosecution but contempt of the court", the order said. The bench comprised of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud. Justice Misra noted that these companies rode high on the money of homebuyers and they cannot destroy their lives. As Jaypee Associates deposited a cheque of Rs 275 crore in the Supreme Court on Wednesday, the apex court asked JAL to deposit another Rs 275 crore by December 31 (Rs 150 crore by December 13, 2017 and Rs 125 crore by December 31, 2017). No specific timeline was given to deposit the remaining Rs 1450 crore. While the court made it clear that the Rs 2000 crore order was still operational, it did not specify by when the remaining Rs 1450 crore needs to be deposited, said Ramakant Rai of Trilegal who represented homebuyers. All 13 directors of JAL (five promoter directors, and eight independent directors) were personally present in the Supreme Court on Wednesday. The directors have also disclosed their personal assets in an affidavit to the Supreme Court. The Chief Justice of India called all directors to the court and personally asked them to deposit Rs 2,000 crore at the earliest possible. The Supreme Court has also asked the promoter directors, i.e. the Gaur family, to not dispose of any of their assets until they have deposited Rs 2,000 crore. If they are required to dispose of any of their assets to raise the amount, they can only do so after approaching the Supreme Court, lawyers present in court confirmed. Homebuyers, through their lawyer, raised a demand for the forensic audit of JAL and JIL. In relation to this, the Central Government, through the Attorney-General, said that it is looking at the possibility of conducting a forensic audit on JAL and JIL but the apex court did not issue any order regarding a forensic audit, lawyers present in court said. The amicus curiae, Pawan Shri Aggarwal, was directed to update the portal where homebuyers can register their claims, as per the last order, within one week from Wednesday (November 22). The next date of hearing - has been listed for January 10, 2018, the order said. Apprehending that at least Rs 10,000 crore may have been diverted from Jaypee Infratech Limited (JIL) to Jaiprakash Associates Limited, a consortium of associations consisting of around 2,500 flat buyers of Jaypee Wish Town, Noida had filed an application with the Supreme Court seeking a forensic audit of both the companies earlier this week. The application was filed by Trilegal in the Supreme Court on behalf of the homebuyers. Last week, to raise the Rs 2,000 crore that its real estate arm Jaypee Infratech owes homebuyers, Jaiprakash Associates Limited (JAL) had passed the hat around its employees with the chairman Manoj Gaur writing a letter to senior employees to beseech them for financial help. Gaurs letter, a copy of which has been seen by Moneycontrol, says: The company is trying to prove its trustworthiness and bonafide in the Supreme Court but at this time the company seeks your help to come out of the crisis it currently faces. He promised to repay the amount borrowed from employees in nine instalments starting January. It also asked employees to provide their consent by November 18, 2017. Last Monday, the Supreme Court had come down heavily on Jaiprakash Associates Limited (JAL) for missing the fourth deadline to deposit Rs 2000 crore with the courts registry towards refunding homebuyers and ordered that all non-institutional directors of the parent company be present before the apex court on the next date of hearing on November 22 (today) and also directed the amicus curiae to set up a portal for homebuyers. The SC directed all non-institutional directors of the parent company be present at the next hearing and present their affidavits disclosing their personal assets, the order had said. On September 11 this year, Supreme Court directed Jaypee Associates, the parent firm of its real estate firm Jaypee Infratech, to deposit Rs 2,000 crore by October 27. The apex court also asked the NCLT-appointed interim resolution professional (IRP) to take over the management of Jaypee Infratech and submit a plan to protect the interests of homebuyers and creditors within 45 days. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More As artificial intelligence becomes all-pervasive, the right skills will be essential towards building a workforce adept in the handling of the vast amounts of data that we generate. Understanding this need, learning platform Udacity, with its nanodegree programmes, has made the right inroads into skilling professionals through its partnerships with companies such as Infosys and Google. A nanondegree at Udacity is essentially a short duration- about 6-12 months- online learning course that introduces a person to the basics of a new concept, through one-on-one appointments, moderated forums, and project reviews. There is a nanodegree in artificial intelligence, as well as in a machine learning & deep learning, which are AI-driven or enhancing technologies. Further, the nanodegree courses in robotics, self-driving cars, data analyst, and virtual reality leverage AI technologies to some degree or the other, said Ishan Gupta, Managing Director for India at Udacity. In July this year, Indias second-largest IT services provider Infosys renewed its partnership with Udacity to provide an online nanodegree- or a short duration certification- to new recruits joining the company. Last week, Infosys said it would train its employees in Udacitys self-driving car engineer nanodegree programme. Globally, Udacity also works with tech giants like AT&T, Google, Facebook, Amazon, GitHub, and MongoDB, as it does with Indias e-commerce biggie Flipkart. What makes these courses so popular? A report by Nasscom titled Future of Jobs in India claims that almost 9 percent of Indias future workforce will be deployed in jobs that dont exist today, said Gupta. Much of these jobs will involve implementing new technologies such as AI and deep learning in conventional businesses. As such, while there is currently a high demand in technology companies for these skills, in the future all manner of companies across a variety of industries will require candidates who can understand, implement, and leverage these technologies; and this is precisely what we teach our students, he added. Apart from its global student base, Udacity is seeing huge demand for its most popular courses- self-driving cars, artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, and robotics- in India as well. Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, and Hyderabad are the cities generating maximum demand. The Deep Learning Nanodegree Foundation course is the most popular course amongst Udacity users at each of these cities, with Hyderabad leading the pack. The Self-Driving Car Engineer Nanodegree is the next-most popular course in Bangalore and Hyderabad, but it is pipped to the second spot by the Machine Learning Engineer Nanodegree in Delhi-NCR and Mumbai. The Self-Driving Car Engineer Nanodegree comes in third in Delhi-NCR and Mumbai, and shares the second spot in Hyderabad with the Data Analyst Nanodegree, that comes in at fourth place in Bangalore, Delhi-NCR, and Mumbai, said Gupta. With the rapidly changing technology landscape, these bite-sized courses are the perfect fit for professionals and students, especially who work in the field of information technology, looking to pick up skills for the future. It is therefore, picking up pace with IT professionals in India. These individuals (IT professionals), therefore, possess all the basic foundational information they need to pick up more complex skills in AI-related programming. As long as they have a logical and analytical bent of mind, they can easily leverage this to get some great new skills for the job market of tomorrow. Picking up basic programming skills and some theoretical knowledge on AI systems can make them AI proficient, said Gupta. A container is loaded on to the first Chinese container ship to depart after the inauguration of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor port in Gwadar, Pakistan November 13, 2016. REUTERS/Caren Firouz - RTX2TGDA A top Chinese official has expressed concern over the prevailing political instability in Pakistan that could negatively impact the pace of the projects started under the ambitious USD 50 billion CPEC initiative, according to a media report on Wednesday. The Chinese delegation expressed weariness during the Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) meeting held here yesterday. The meeting was co-chaired by Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal, who is also Minister for Planning and Development Reforms and Wang Xiaotao, Vice Chairman of National Development and Reforms Commission (NDRC) of China. The delegation complained about the political instability in Pakistan that would negatively impact on the pace of the CPEC progress, official sources were quoted as saying by the Dawn News. According to officials, in Pakistan alone, China is reported to have committed to invest USD 50 billion and some estimates even put the amount to more than USD 60 billion in the ambitious CPEC project, connecting China's Xinjiang province with Balochistan's Gwadar port. India has protested to China over the CPEC project as it traverses through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir(PoK) and boycotted a high-profile Belt and Road Forum organised by Beijing in May. Iqbal said that in 2014 Pakistan Tekreek-e-Insaf's chief Imran Khan's sit-in had delayed the CPEC launching. He alleged that various methods and attempts were being made to "crash" Pakistan's economic takeoff. Despite hiccups, the JCC approved the Long-Term Plan (LTP 2017-30) envisaging broad parameters for future cooperation, but could not conclude agreements on development projects and special economic/industrial zones, the report said. They also could not finalise taxation issues and stood short of final agreement on inclusion for financing of special economic zones. He said two hydropower projects of a joint capacity of 180MW in Gilgit-Baltistan had been made part of the CPEC framework. Iqbal, who is Pakistan's focal person for the CPEC, said the LTP had been under preparation for several months involving consultations among all stakeholders in Pakistan and China. "Today we have reached the agreement and approved the LTP that will encompass bilateral economic cooperation until 2030." He said the CPEC's first phase involved removing energy and infrastructure bottlenecks in Pakistan to make them enablers of economic growth and hence USD 35 billion out of USD 46 billion portfolio went to the energy sector, resulting in USD 27 billion worth of projects now in implementation stage. The minister said the LTP has now finalised a comprehensive framework for bilateral cooperation, particularly towards industrialisation, value-addition and job creation. Under the framework, he added, investments would now flow to the special economic zones, while a joint working group (JWG) on agriculture had been created because China had made great progress from moving out of low value commodities to technological advancements in agriculture output. The meeting agreed to expedite work on the Gwadar Port and Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi would inaugurate the Gwadar Eastbay Expressway project later today. Iqbal said the 19km expressway also included a 4.5km bridge over the sea that would link the Gwadar Port with the Eastern side. He said the two sides also agreed that work on the Gwadar airport should start by the middle of next year. He said the two sides "exchanged views on issues of taxation and security and formulated a working group to settle issues of taxes in a comprehensive manner. Top Chinese oil company CEFC China Energy on Monday denied any involvement in an alleged multi-million dollar bribery scandal that US investigators say helped the giant win business advantages in Africa. US officials announced Monday that they had arrested Hong Kong's former Home Affairs Secretary and the ex-Foreign Minister of Senegal for leading the alleged scam, with some deals arranged in the halls of the United Nations. Former Senegalese top diplomat Cheikh Gadio and Hong Kong's Patrick Chi Ping Ho are accused of sending huge bribes to high-level officials in Chad and Uganda to secure business advantages for a Chinese company. The company was not identified in the announcement or the complaint filed in New York federal district court. But details in the complaint pointed to CEFC China Energy, the Shanghai-based rising star of China's energy industry. Ho led a Hong Kong-based organisation called the China Energy Fund Committee, which is itself funded by CEFC China Energy. In the Justice Department complaint, the two men allegedly offered a USD 2 million bribe to the president of Chad "to obtain valuable oil rights". They also allegedly offered a USD 500,000 bribe to an account designated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uganda, who had recently completed his term as the President of the UN General Assembly. CEFC China Energy released a statement late last night "in response to some media reports" that He Zhiping, the general secretary of the fund, was being "prosecuted by the US judicial authorities". The statement said the fund was established to "promote international energy research, conduct public diplomacy, and facilitate global energy cooperation and cultural exchange." But it added that the fund "is not involved in any of the commercial activities of CEFC China". "Any activities that go against the law and discipline are strictly prohibited by the company," the statement added. The statement did not mention Ho or Gadio. CEFC China Energy has blown onto the scene in just a few years, taking major stakes in global projects, including a 14 percent chunk of Russia's Rosneft, and playing an important role in Chinese President Xi Jinping's ambitious One Belt One Road initiative. Ho, 68, and Gadio, 61, are each charged with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and money laundering, with possible jail sentences of as much as 20 years. They were arrested over the weekend in New York. Ho was Hong Kong Home Affairs secretary from 2002 to 2007, and served for several years on the Chinese People's Political Consultative Committee Conference. Gadio was Senegal's foreign minister from 2000 to 2009. Coal power plant (Representative Image: Getty) Power Ministry is not mulling any amendment in laws for passing on the cost of retrofitting coal based-power plant to consumers, a top government official said today. His comment came amid reports that the ministry is going ahead for changes in regulations to allow power generating firms to pass on the cost of retrofitting plants for meeting emission norms. "We do not need to change any law ...It is understood," Power Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla said on the sidelines of India Energy Forum meet here. Power producers can always go to their respective regulators or electricity regulatory commissions to seek approval for increasing power tariff to recover any such expenditure citing new norms issued by Environment Ministry in December 2015. A power sector expert said the industry has been dragging retrofitting of power plants to reduce emission, citing less clarity on the issue but it was always clear. The expert further said since power secretary has made it crystal clear, the generators have no option but to go for retrofitting of their plants. The cost of retrofitting a power plant ranges from Rs 1-2 crore per megawatt while that for new coal-based plant would be around Rs 5 crore per MW. As many as 295 coal-based power plants have got more time of two to four years to meet strict new environment norms which were to be implemented by December 2017. Environment Ministry had unveiled tougher norms relating to consumption of water, particulate matter, SO2, NOx and mercury for coal-based thermal power plants in December 2015. Bhalla said companies can pass on the cost of meeting new emission norms but it should be adopted in phases. He expressed hope that the deadline for power plant emission norms would be extended by the environment ministry. Earlier, addressing the forum, Bhalla said under rural electrification scheme, prepaid meters would be installed. NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant highlighted the issue of 92 GW plants running on high pollution fuels-furnace oil, diesel and pet coke. Kant was of the view that whether government does something about it or not, Supreme Court will take action one day. He also highlighted other issues like stranded assets worth Rs 1.8 lakh crore in gas-based segment alone and India heading towards a situation where stranded power plants would be worth Rs 5 lakh crore. He urged the forum to discuss these contentious issues including poor monitoring of rural and urban feeders, saying out of 1.2 lakh rural feeders, just 4,000 are being monitored. Regular updates: Make it a practise to regularly update your resume even if not actively looking for a job. This means that if the opportunity presents itself, you will not waste time hesitating or delaying to make updates on the spot. (Image: Reuters) Indian Institute of Science (IISc) comes at the top in terms of churning out employable graduates in India. The institute ranks 29th in the world, climbing nine places in the latest Times Higher Education Global Employability Ranking (GER) 2017. It was ranked at 38th position in 2016. The other two institutes which found a place in the ranking are Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IITD) at 145th position and Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB) at 148th position. These two had not found a place in the last years ranking. The GER 2017 ranks total 150 universities and institutions of the world based on a survey conducted among recruiters and industry professionals from 22 countries. In modern times, universities across the world are expected not to just churn out graduates, but ready-to-be-employed graduates. Graduates who are ready to adapt to the fast-changing world. But the latest Times Higher Education Global Employability Ranking 2017 depicts a sorry state of higher education in India. According to the respondents of the survey, which are experienced professionals of leading firms of the world, the recruiters struggle most to find candidates skilled in statistical analysis and data mining. About 35 percent of the respondents thought that Indian graduates lag behind in HR management, network and information security. 17 percent thought that Indian graduates are not competent in AI and machine learning. Note: Respondents ranked each area on a six-point scale. The graphic shows the percentage of respondents picking values five and six for each area, with six being the highest. Source: Times Higher Education GER 2017 India also lags behind its peers in imparting digital skills to its graduates, according to the survey. It is placed sixth in digital skill revolution, behind the US, Japan, China, Germany, and the UK. Interestingly, in the digital age, the recruiters rated ability to communicate, adapt and solve problems much above leadership and curiosity in a candidate. However, managers were not fully satisfied with the level of these qualities in current graduates. China vs India China, a country comparable in size and population to India is mentioned six times in the GER 2017. Moreover, in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2018, seven Chinese institutes have found a place in top 200. Comparatively, not a single institute from India found a place in top 200. The best-placed institute from India was again the IISc which ranked between 251-300. The two next best institutes IITD and IITB ranked beyond 350. This can be partly explained by the expenditure on higher education in both the countries. China spent USD 142 billion in 2015, 2.28 percent of its Gross Domestic Product on higher education in that year. Contrastingly, Indias spend was an estimated around USD 1.12 billion, just 0.53 percent of the GDP. Also Read: Which Indian state spends the most on higher education Most of the rankings weigh the research output by any institute very prominently. For example, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has USD 1 billion in research funding, slightly less than Indias total expenditure on higher education! Similar corpuses for research are with other institutes in the US as well. Not surprisingly, 35 universities from the US find a place in the top 150. It is safe to say that India has to catch up swiftly. Just increasing the number of universities and colleges or enrolling students will not make the graduates employment-ready. Improving the quality of teaching and pushing its undergraduates to generate their own research ideas and then work in collaboration with the industry will help in filling the skill gap. Private budget carrier IndiGo, which was under fire for the manhandling of a passenger at the Delhi airport last month, has now been accused by a customer of 'dishonouring' the national currency. In a complaint to police, Pramod Kumar Jain, a passenger, has alleged that the IndiGo crew refused to accept payment in rupee for food he bought when he was travelling to Dubai from Bengaluru on its flight 6E95 on October 10. Jain filed a police complaint this Monday at the Sarojini Nagar police station in Delhi after he returned from Dubai. Jain, who has sought registration of a sedition case against the airline, said he boarded the flight at 7:20 am. Since had had not eaten breakfast, he thought of having it on-board. "I placed the order but the crew refused to accept the payment in the rupee," Jain alleged in the complaint, adding "IndiGo is an Indian company and I too am an Indian." Another passenger also faced the same "mistreatment", he alleged. IndiGo, however, said in a statement it did not break any rules in doing so as it does not accept rupee payments for on-board sales on its international flights which is in accordance with the Foreign Exchange Management Act. This is clearly mentioned in the airline's on-board sales menu as well, it said. The airline said it had requested the RBI to allow higher on-board sales (above Rs 25,000) in rupees twice on February 26, 2014 and June 5, 2014. It said it is still "in active discussions with the authorities in this regard." The airline was caught in a controversy when an elderly passenger was manhandled by two of its ground handling staff last month. Early this month, a wheelchair-bound woman passenger got tripped at the Lucknow airport after the airline staffer chose to take a shortcut to the terminal building. On November 19, a Delhi-based lawyer was allegedly harassed by IndiGo employees at the Guwahati airport who snatched her mobile phone and deleted snaps of her baggage that was repeatedly scanned. The airline has already suspended some of the staff involved in these incidents. City-based real-estate developer D S Kulkarni (DSK), battling allegations of financial irregularities, on Monday said the firm is "confident" of paying the returns to fixed-deposit holders who have accused it of default. Kulkarni, the founder chairman of the DSK group, told reporters that a "detailed" plan of repayment will be submitted before the Bombay High Court on November 23. Kulkarni and his wife Hemanti, one of the directors of the privately held company, were given interim anticipatory bail by the High Court earlier this month. Addressing a press conference, Kulkarni said the total assets of the firm stood at Rs 9,000 crore whereas the dues including the fixed-deposit (FD) returns are "merely" Rs 1500 crore. "The firm is in the business for at least 50 years. We are running the FD schemes for the last 36 years and are paying returns to our investors on time. "We are confident of paying the returns. We will submit a detailed report of repayment in the court on Thursday," he said, adding that the firm has already started repaying the FD holders. Flanked by his wife and son Shirish at the presser, Kulkarni said the DSK group is in a sound position as its foundation is based on the "strong ethics and values" and will tide over the "temporary" financial crisis. He revealed that a foreign investor has shown willingness to form a joint venture with the firm in the ambitious DSK Dream City Project, worth Rs 13,000 crore. On the financial crisis that has afflicted his firm, Kulkarni said a multitude of factors is responsible for this. "I met with an accident last year. Besides, the entire real estate sector was in trouble and in between demonetisation was announced all these factors impacted the business," he said. He said demonetisation was a good decision and its positive impact on the market and the economy will be seen in the next two years. Kulkarni clarified there is no direct link between demonetisation and the financial crisis his company is undergoing at present. He said the firm is hopeful of restarting their Toyota dealership outlets soon. A case was registered against Kulkarni and his wife on October 28 on a complaint lodged by 65-year-old Jitendra Mulekar who alleged that he could not get back his investment from the real estate group. More complaints were also filed subsequently. According to some complainants, there are around 8,000 depositors who have invested with D S Kulkarni group's FD scheme but they neither received their capital nor the interest from the developer. Following the complaints, Pune Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) conducted searches at DSK's offices and residence on November 2 in the city. According to police, around 1500 complaints were lodged against DSK group. The EoW later asked various banks to freeze as many as 70 accounts of the firm. For the past several months, all these investors, largely pensioners, have been queueing up at the DSK's office seeking a refund. Equity benchmarks have been back on the bullish track in the past few sessions, largely after Moodys upgraded Indias sovereign rating. Whether this momentum will continue and will there be higher highs before the year-end? Samir Arora of Helios Capital is bullish on the market. Having said that, India is still a catching up story and will follow consistently as global setup is in a better shape, Arora told CNBC-TV18 in an interview. Speaking on sectors, Arora said that he is negative on the pharma space. A similar stance applies to telecom space, he said, adding that he will look to short PSU banks going forward. Among NBFCs, he highlighted how he never had high weightage on this space. Meanwhile, in case of consumption themes he recommends against buying global plays and focus on domestic stories. In a special series 'Asian Tigers', CNBC-TV18's Udayan Mukherjee travelled to Hong Kong and Singapore to chat with the biggest FII voices to get a sense of how they are now positioned on India. He had a conversation with Amit Bhartia of GMO Emerging Domestic Opportunities Fund and asked him if India's slowdown is structural or temporary with the moves like demonetisation and goods and services tax (GST). I think the large part of Indias growth is structural. We are in a medium-term growth slowdown, he said. Below is the transcript of the interview. Q: India has slowed down over the last few quarters and there is a huge debate back in our country on whether this is a structural one or it has happened because of moves like demonetisation, GST and we will be off to the races once again, what is your view on this? Is it structural or is it just temporary? A: A large part of Indias growth is also structural. We are in a period of medium term growth slowdown. While the debate is, the government is to blame, I dont think government itself cannot take the responsibility irrespective of any government is in power. A lot of blame also goes back to the private sector. If you look at it there are two groups of entrepreneurs I would say who have caused this slowdown in some sense. One group is the entrepreneurs in sectors like power, infrastructure, who took way too much risks which impacted their balance sheets and have indirectly impacted the banking systems in India and we know what has happened because of that. Another group I would argue which is not well thought about is the companies in software and pharma sector for example. India has a huge competitive advantage in software and if you look at for example, 10 years back the market cap of the top 3 Indian software companies had a market cap 15 times bigger that the top 3 Chinese software companies. Now it is 1/15th of these three Chinese companies because what really happened was unlike China, Indian companies did not want to innovate. They were too focused on stock prices and preserving margins. So, software sector for example which was the biggest job creator in the country and I would argue resulted in this growth boost in Indias economy has significantly slowed down and will continue to slow down and that will also impact long term Indias growth. Q: Too late for it to turn around? You think in the sense the IT sector might have missed the bus? A: Absolutely, because the dominant companies as we are aware, the Googles and Amazons have become so globally dominant and unlike China, India has effectively given them a free entry in these home markets. So, you have a significant competitive disadvantage compared to them. However there are lot of areas where you can actually participate, maybe new set of growth drivers in healthcare technology or some of the other areas in artificial intelligence or robotics. I think it is time Indian companies also take some risk at least in the software sector and that can have a multiplier effect on Indias economy. Q: Would you say the same of pharmaceuticals? That is another sector which has got derated over the last couple of years. Do you think the story is similar that we did not make enough investments when we could have? A: Absolutely. Again, they were also infected with the same problem too much focus on margins, too much focus on stock prices. If you look at two years back, the Indian pharma sector peaked out at a market cap of about USD 100 billion. So, investors were ready to give these companies a high multiple but again these companies were also focused too much on short term issues, didnt invest in quality control, didnt invest in hiring some of the best talent globally and today they are paying the price. As you can see, stock prices have halved from there, you have enough FDA issues and lot of these companies have serious crisis. Q: Do you think the derating which has happened in the export sector IT and pharma, is it of a more permanent nature? There is a group of investors who believe that multiples will start moving up once again, once these stocks bottom out. Do you think that will be difficult? A: Stock prices are a function of two things, one is earnings and second is PE multiples. High multiples are given to companies who can innovate, who can think longer term and who can build businesses that can be there for the next 10-20-50 years for that matter. So, I dont know about the latter part, whether Indian companies can still think like this but it is possible in a year or two some of the cyclical part of the earnings do come back and some of these stocks do well. Q: There is one school of thought that in a couple of quarters we will rediscover growth and quickly bounce back to 7.5 percent kind of growth rates once again, how likely is that in your book? A: In my opinion it is difficult but it also is a function of government policies. If you have certain sectors that the government focuses and targets, they can have a multiplier effect on the economy. For example I like some of the initiatives the government has done in power sector, in regional airports for that matter, in low cost housing, these are good initiatives and if implemented properly they can make an impact on Indian economy and have a multiplier effect. Q: Is there a lot of enthusiasm globally about India or India is just another market and people are not as enamoured of it as we think back home? A: There has been a fair amount of enthusiasm about India, especially with the new government in power in the last two years. However I see that increasingly changing, we are getting headlines for all the wrong reasons. If you look at recent articles, whether it is in New York Times or Washington Post or even the Economist for that matter, these are widely read by global asset allocators and opinion leaders, so that is significantly impacting India. Recently for example we had a lot of calls from some of our biggest clients who are the pension funds and sovereign funds who have cancelled their trips to India because of pollution in Delhi and some of the issues. Increasingly when I talk to such investors, there is talk about freedom of press, some of the social issues which lot of investors are increasingly focusing on and will impact their long term decision making or allocation in India. Q: That is interesting you say that because people in the stock market believe these are peripheral issues and they should not matter in the lives of an investor this pollution issue, the social issues that we are talking about. However you are saying that, as a fund manager too you need to be cognizant of these issues? A: Absolutely. There is a lot of research being done globally and in fact there is a very interesting statistic for every one degree increase in temperatures globally, GDP gets impacted by about 0.9 percent. Countries such as emerging markets which are significantly dependent on agriculture will have a huge cascading effect on GDPs and corporate earnings because of climate change and environmental issues. India obviously is much more vulnerable as we are all aware given that 15 percent of Indias economy is dependent on agriculture. India is the most globally impacted country due to rising climate issues. Q: Let me turn to the first point that you started off by speaking about, which is the part of the market or part of corporate India which took big risks and sort of destroyed their balance sheets and could not participate in driving growth again. Do you think the recent recapitalisation that is being done towards public sector banks in anyway brings those kind of companies back on the table so that they can play a role in reviving growth? A: It will help but again it will depend upon lending standards, how do the state owned banks again lend? The private sector banks historically they have worked closely together with state owned banks to fund long term infrastructure projects. So, whether that will happen. Second, you have a context of way too much over capacity in a number of different sectors. So, even if you have very low interest rates or you have recapitalised balance sheets, the question is how much does private sector step up and take loans again, especially in infrastructure sector. Q: You have actually in the past have invested in private sector financial stocks in India, do you see this as a turning point? Some people are saying that now public sector banks will come back into the play and private banks and NBFCs who have had a great ride over the last couple of years will actually see some market share erosion. Is that a possibility or you think these fears are overblown? A: I think both can co-exists together. I think the private sector banks and the NBFCs also need a vibrant state owned banking system to survive and grow because if the economy doesnt grow or if credit doesnt grow, sooner or later the private sector banks will have serious problems. It cannot be a situation that this group of companies continue to do well whereas the other 80-85 percent of the banking system is in serious trouble. Actually I am delighted that this has happened and it is a win-win situation for both of these groups. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More The crucial support for the Nifty is at 10260-10200 and the resistance is at 10350. Bank Nifty on the other hand has support at 25600 and resistance at 26000. The bulls managed to pick up momentum as the Nifty closed above its crucial resistance level of 10,300 on Tuesday but lost steam towards the closing of the trading day. The Nifty closed at 10,349.3 on Tuesday. According to Pivot charts, the key support level is placed at 10329.8, followed by 10,310.3. If the index starts to move higher, key resistance levels to watch out for are 10,362.8 and 10,376.3. Nifty Bank closed at 25,800.4 on Tuesday. Important Pivot level, which will act as crucial support for the index, is placed at 25,773.03, followed by 25,773.03. On the upside, key resistance level is 25,849.43 followed by 25,898.46. The Nifty50 futures on the Singapore Stock Exchange were trading 20 points higher at 10376 indicating a positive opening for the domestic market. According to Technical Analyst Prakash Gaba of prakashgaba.com, 10350 is a stiff resistance for the NIfty and a slide to around 10260-10200 is not ruled out. The crucial support for the Nifty is at 10260-10200 and the resistance is at 10350. Bank Nifty on the other hand has support at 25600 and resistance at 26000. Below are the stocks which are good trades today: Bata India: Base Formation | Rating: Buy | Target: Rs 800, stop loss: Rs 760 Jubilant Foodworks: Indicator Sell | Rating: Sell | Target: Rs 1650, stop loss: Rs 1750 : 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. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More SEBI on Monday ordered forensic audits against Eskay K'n'it (India) Ltd and K Lifestyle & Industries Ltd, which were among the suspected shell companies, to check possible misuse of funds even as the regulator lifted trading curbs imposed on them. EKIL and KLIL were on the list of 331 suspected shell companies against whom the action was taken by SEBI following reference from the corporate affairs ministry earlier this year. Trading in the securities of EKI, as well as KLIL, would be reverted to the status prior to August 7, when the curbs were imposed, according to two separate but similarly-worded orders. In its 22-page order, SEBI said an independent forensic auditor would be appointed to verify whether there has been "misrepresentation, including of financials and/ or business" by the company. Besides, the audit would check whether there has been misuse of the books of accounts, funds, "including facilitation of accommodation entries or compromise of minority shareholder interest, if any". Shares held by EKIL's promoters and directors should not be allowed to be transferred for sale by depositories, the order said. Both companies have been given 30 days time to file their reply to the interim orders. Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) noted that there is prima facie evidence on the misrepresentation of financials by the company as well as suspicion of misuse of funds/ books of accounts, submission of partial and incomplete information. Citing these factors, the regulator said, "... the persons who are in control of the company and the directors/ promoters of the company are prima facie liable for action by SEBI and should not be permitted to exit the company at the cost of innocent shareholders". "Detailed examination/ forensic audit needs to be undertaking to unearth the entire extent of violations and possible compromise of minority shareholder interest," the order noted. In a separate but similar order, the regulator has directed forensic audit against K Lifestyle & Industries Ltd (KLIL) to check whether there has been misrepresentation of financials. An independent forensic auditor would be appointed wherein the possible misuse of books of accounts would also be verified, as per the order. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Making money in equity markets is hard even when benchmark indices rise by more than 25 percent in the year. Key Indian benchmark indices have risen by nearly 26 percent so far this year. But when it came to individual stocks, not all stocks owned by by market mavens such as Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, Porinju Veliyath, and Dolly Khanna turned to gold. We picked up stocks of only those companies in which these stalwarts owned more than 1 percent stake. Only a fraction of stocks managed to more than double these ace investors' wealth so far this year. The stocks that more than doubled in value were largely from the small and midcap space. From the portfolio of Rakesh Jhunjhunwala seven stocks more than doubled investor wealth. These included Geojit Financial Services, Prakash Industries, Edelweiss Financial Services, Escorts, VIP Industries, and Delta Corp. Chennai-based couple Dolly Khanna and Rajiv Khanna, who have a knack for spotting multibagger stocks, trimmed their stake in almost 80 percent of the companies in the portfolio during the quarter ended September. As many as 4 stocks from their portfolio more than doubled investor wealth this year. They were Emkay Global Financial Services, Rain Industries, NOCIL, and Tata Metaliks. Kochi-based investor Porinju Veliyath, who is known for spotting multibagger opportunities as well, recently picked up stake in two companies BCL Industries this month, and Kerala Ayurveda last month. Among companies in which Porinju or his firm Equity Intelligence hold 1 percet stake or more, Vista Pharmaceuticals and RACL Geartech were the ones that gave a return of more than 100 percent. Small & Midcap stocks shine: If we take a closer look at the composition of stocks that have more than doubled investor wealth this year, almost all of them belong to the small and midcap space. The broader market has outperformed Sensex and Nifty by a wide margin so far this year. The S&P BSE Midcap index rose nearly 52 percent, and the S&P BSE Smallcap index rallied nearly 50 percent, compared to 26 percent rise seen in the S&P BSE Sensex. The domestic liquidity-driven rally, which have fuelled Indian markets this past year, has also raised valuations of many small and midcap stocks without any meaningful recovery in fundamentals. Most analysts are advising investors to either cash out or book partial profits especially in stocks that are trading at premium valuations. But, all in all, it still makes sense to hold small and midcap stocks in your portfolio for higher returns. The mid and small cap indices are outperforming the Nifty and scaled new highs. The rally is likely to continue further as interest in these companies is getting more attention from the investors to generate better returns than traditional Banks FD or Bonds which have very low yield, Yogesh Mehta, VP-Retail Research, MOSL told Moneycontrol. There are plenty of opportunities available for investors in the small and midcap space and as long as domestic investors keep pumping money, the market is likely to continue trading at premium valuations. Investors have pumped in over Rs 51,000 crore into various mutual fund schemes in October, after pulling out more than Rs 16,000 crore in the preceding month, latest data from industry body Amfi showed. Besides, strong domestic liquidity reforms initiated by the Modi government provide ample growth opportunities to most small and midcap firms, which is a big positive. The reforms which were undertaken in recent past be it demonetization or GST would be instrumental in shaping up the quality of growth in future. Coupled with other reforms viz., implementation of Aadhaar, IBC and Jan-Dhan Yojana, the economic progress would be all-inclusive and positively impacting each and every individual in the country thereby leading to improvement in the demand-driven consumption, Arun Thukral, MD & CEO, Axis Securities told Moneycontrol. The markets are expecting robust earnings growth from H2FY18, thereby keeping the markets upbeat. Mid and smallcap stocks have rewarded the investors handsomely in recent past. An investor should undertake a detailed study before investing in small and midcap stocks, he said. Thukral added that once convinced, an investor should set a target based on the fundamentals of a company and accordingly book profit once the target price is reached. Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Meg Whitman is seen following an interview on CNBC on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., September 6, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid - RC11A2A02A80 Meg Whitman, one of the most prominent women in Silicon Valley and a onetime candidate for California governor, announced today she was stepping down as the Chief Executive of Hewlett Packard Enterprise. HPE president Antonio Neri will take over as head of the company at the start of February, with Whitman keeping a seat on the board at HPE, one of the firms created in the 2015 breakup of Hewlett Packard. "I'm incredibly proud of all we've accomplished since I joined HP in 2011," Whitman said in a release. "Now is the right time for Antonio and a new generation of leaders to take the reins of HPE." Whitman, 61, was the top executive at eBay from 1998 to 2008 and has been a key figure in the male-dominated tech industry. She is also one of the wealthiest women in tech, with an estimated net worth of USD 3.2 billion, according to Forbes. Whitman was credited with leading a "turnaround strategy" as the computer company strived to adapt to trends in using mobile devices and cloud-based services for personal and work computing. She also engineered a split between of the HP enterprise unit, HPE, and the personal computer and printer business HP Inc. that became a household name but faced increasingly fierce competition. Whitman has dismantled some of the company in the face of trends that have people less reliant on home or work desktop computers. She ran unsuccessfully for as the Republican nominee for governor of California in 2010, losing to Jerry Brown. Neri, 50, joined HP in 1995 and has served in an array of roles, eventually leading HPE's primary lines of business. "The world of technology is changing fast, and we've architected HPE to take advantage of where we see the markets heading," Neri said. The announcement came as HPE reported a profit of USD 524 million in the just-ended quarter, up 73 per cent from last year, on revenues which rose slightly from a year ago to USD 7.66 billion. Telecom regulator TRAI plans to issue the much-awaited recommendations on Net neutrality on Tuesday, which is likely to impact the future of apps that provide calling and messaging services. On the issue of Net neutrality, telecom operators have demanded that the rules that are made for them should also be applied to entities providing similar services. Here's a lowdown on what it means: Net neutrality is differently defined by economies. In broad terms, it is to make the internet equal for the users. In short, no user should be discriminated against. What is Net Neutrality? By theory, net neutrality is for users everywhere. The theory holds that the user should not be discriminated against in the use of internet. This means that with the same internet pack a user should be allowed use of any internet service at the same speeds available to others. For example, if one wishes to watch a video or read news online, they should be charged the same for it. A thumb rule is that whatever is accessed via the internet pack should be available at the same speed, whether it is a video buffering or sending a message on WhatsApp. Also Read: US regulator unveils plan to end 'net neutrality' Net neutrality in India In India, people are sceptical of implementing net neutrality. On the one hand, we have Indian telcos say they aren't against net neutrality as long as they are allowed to strike deals with apps-makers. The telecom regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), trying to protect everyone's interests - the users and the telcos- said in a Trai report, that apps earn more money than telcos and pointed out that net neutrality in India could not be equal. Also Read: Indian-American lawmakers attack Ajit Pai on net neutrality The users will have to pay a base fare and then for every app they want to access will have to pay extra, depending on which app the telco is partnered with. For example, if the user uses an app X, the telco is partnered with app Y, then the user will have to pay extra for using app X and is likely to witness a slower speed for using app X. The user will be paying over and above the base fare in order to use the app of his or her choice and will experience slower speed. And this goes against the basic premise of net neutrality. While Trai is still testing waters with users and telcos on whether net neutrality is the way to go, it is clear there is a clear divide. WATCH| AIB: SAVE THE INTERNET Net Neutrality in the US In the US, internet users are fighting to save net neutrality. On Wednesday, Federal Communications Chairman Ajit Pai announced that the US is planning to roll back net neutrality. As of today, US follows net neutrality as per its original definition. Net neutrality in the US was implemented in 2015. Pai said that the rule had led to "depressed investment in building and expanding broadband networks and deterred innovation." What disadvantages arise from net neutrality? Indians don't want to pay more for using an app and given lower buffering speed. On the other hand, the telcos, which are battling debt and competition, demand that they be allowed a freer rein. In the US, which follows the norm, telcos were barred from creating "fast" and "slow" lanes which enables them to charge differently. However, now, Pai points out that these norms are hurting the profits of telcos. Either way, net neutrality seems to be causing an imbalance in the economies by keeping both the parties - users and telcos - unhappy. In January, a consultation paper on the subject was floated focusing majorly on network speed so that telecom operators do not use it to give preference or prevent access to any website or service like voice calls, which requires decent net speed. Bull's Eye, CNBC-TV18's popular game show, where market experts come together to dish out trading strategies for you to make your week more exciting and compete with each other to see whose portfolio is the strongest. Remember these are midcap ideas not just for the day, but stocks that look attractive in the medium-term as well. This week, Ashish Kyal, Sameet Chavan and Sumeet Jain battle it out for top honours. Below their top stock picks and analysis: Ashish Kyal of Waves Strategy Advisors Buy Titan Company with a stoploss at Rs 795 and target of Rs 855 Buy Eveready Industries with a stoploss at Rs 395 and target of Rs 427 Buy KPIT Technologies with a stoploss at Rs 168.90 and target of Rs 182 Buy Infibeam Incorporation with a stoploss at Rs 174 and target of Rs 187 Sameet Chavan of Angel Broking Buy BF Utilities with a stoploss at Rs 474 and target of Rs 556 Buy Tata Elxsi with a stoploss at Rs 884 and target of Rs 1021 Buy Wockhardt with a stoploss at Rs 716 and target of Rs 786 Buy Mastek with a stoploss at Rs 366 and target of Rs 418 Sumeet Jain of Destimoney Securities Buy Jyothy Laboratories with a stoploss at Rs 337 and target of Rs 372 Buy Gujarat Pipavav Port with a stoploss at Rs 135 and target of Rs 157 Buy Trent with a stoploss at Rs 326 and target of Rs 362 Buy Avanti Feeds with a stoploss at Rs 2665 and target of Rs 2870 Angel Commodities' report on Crude Oil WTI oil prices rose 1.3 percent on Tuesday to close at $56.8 per barrel after a reported fall in U.S. crude inventories and on expectations that an OPEC - led production cut aimed at tightening the market will be extended beyond March 2018. Markets were generally well supported by an effort led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and a group of non - OPEC producers led by Russia to restrain output in a bid to end a global supply overhang. On the MCX, oil prices rose marginally by 0.4 percent to close at Rs.3678 per barrel. Expectations that oil output will be capped and extended by the OPEC in the meeting on November 30th is something that oil markets will cheer which is creating positive momentum in the oil counter. On the MCX, oil prices are expected to trade higher today, international markets are trading higher by 1.5 percent at $57.76 per barrel. For all commodities report, click here Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts/broking houses/rating agencies on moneycontrol.com are their own, and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions. Read More Kishore Biyani live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Future Retail gained over 11 percent intraday on Wednesday as investors reacted to the firms new plans for its retail business. The company plans to launch a new digital model it calls Retail 3.0 which will blend technology with brick and mortar retail. The new avatar will be called Tathastu. These retail stores will enable online shopping for consumers. It is a model called Tathastu . This will help you get anything you want at our Easyday (department) stores, said Kishore Biyani Founder and CEO, Future Group. The company aims to open 10,000 such stores by 2022. Initially, the company will start off with 1,100 stores in FY18, Biyani said. The new digital world is something which we want to be a part of. We will be taking the help of Google Inc to look at property sourcing only through technology. We want to be trillion dollar consumer business in India by 2047, Biyani said. Giving a few statistics, Biyani said 98 percent of retail in India takes place in physical stores. Future Group will be opening retail stores every 2 km which will offer discounts to those living in that radius, where consumers can become a member of the store. Biyani added that each brick and mortar store would have 2,000 members. Broking firm Edelweiss is upbeat about the stock and maintained a buy call with a target of Rs 628. Its strategy is to address the issue of high logistics cost and prohibitive acquisition cost in e-commerce via proximity of physical stores to customers (within 2km radius) and loyalty programmes (10% discount on all products), the brokerage said in its report. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Share price of TeamLease Services touched 52-week high of Rs 2,184.95, rose more than 15 percent intraday Wednesday as T. Rowe Price International picked 5 percent stake in the company. On November 21, International Discovery Fund bought 7,50,808 shares at Rs 1,885 and T. Rowe Price International A/C - T Rowe Price International Small-Cap Equity Trust bought 85,736 shares at Rs 1,885 on the NSE. However, Gaja Capital India Fund I sold 1,53,374 shares at Rs 1,885 and GPE (India) sold 6,56,975 shares at Rs 1,885.04. The company's trailing 12-month (TTM) EPS was at Rs 44.08 per share. (Sep, 2017). The stock's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio was 47.22. The latest book value of the company is Rs 216.41 per share. At current value, the price-to-book value of the company was 9.62 At 09:52 hrs TeamLease Services was quoting at Rs 2,085.05, up Rs 192.90, or 10.19 percent on the BSE. Posted by Rakesh Patil live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Moneycontrol Research We had created a "defensive portfolio" a couple of months ago against the backdrop of weak growth and earnings performance. A lot has changed over this period that makes us take a re-look at the portfolio despite its outperformance over the benchmark (2.4 percentage points since inception). On October 24, the government announced a fiscally neutral structure to recapitalise PSU banks, whose performance has been weighed down by asset quality concerns. The move not only stands to expedite NPA (non-performing assets) resolution but would also pave the way for long-buried private capex revival. The quarter gone by has been quite interesting on the back of post-GST restocking and advancement of the festive season. The management commentary post earnings is also suggestive of early green shoots. While maintaining the overall defensive characteristics, we rejig our portfolio to make it more relevant to this changed reality. We have two additions to the portfolio, NLC and ICICI Bank, which replace Power Grid and HDFC Bank. While we are extremely convinced about the long-term moats of HDFC Bank, we perceive relatively greater value in ICICI Bank as the PSU bank recapitalisation stands to incrementally benefit private sector corporate lenders as well. We see the NPA pain persisting for ICICI Bank for a few more quarters and near normalization of credit costs by the second half of FY19. ICICI has built a robust low-cost deposit franchise (45 percent CASA) that positions it well in the MCLR-based lending regime. The bank is well capitalised and the retail book is sizeable and would be a growth driver along with a much de-risked corporate lending. The group derives substantial value from its strong subsidiaries (conservatively close to Rs 100 per share) that makes the valuation enticing. The state run power utility, NLC, formerly known as Neyveli Lignite Corporation, has 1.3 times debt to equity and 20 times interest coverage ratio and has one of the best balance sheets in the power space. The company is generating close to Rs 1,000 crore of annual cash flow, which is now deployed for better growth. NLC has recently expanded its capacity by 1000 MW to 4280 MW, which will drive further growth. Interestingly, at current prices, the stock is trading at valuations of 1.4 times its book value and 7 times its FY17 earnings, offering an attractive dividend yield of close to 3 percent. We see medium-term headwinds for Power Grid on account of increasing competition from the private sector and pressure on regulated yields. For the rest of the stocks in the portfolio, we continue to repose faith in their growth journey. Capacite keeps on delivering high growth with the company sitting on a huge unexecuted order book of close to Rs 4,705 crore, almost 5 times its sales. During the quarter, the company reported 48.5 percent increase in sales. While margins fell by about 300 basis points due to higher raw material and construction cost, company reported 81 percent growth in net profits in the absence of any increase in fixed cost such as depreciation and interest. Moreover, with the IPO money, the company hopes to increase execution, which will keep the earnings growth momentum. Coal Indias share price recently saw a sharp rally post Supreme Court ruling banning the use of pet coke in three states for cement companies. Nevertheless, the offtake is increasing from most of the industries particularly power on the back of increasing PLFs (plant load factor). In Q2FY18 the company reported 4.2 percent increase in sales led by higher realisation and better volume. Moreover, with the impact of grade slippages and employees cost easing, higher volumes and better realisation would translate to better earnings in the coming quarters. Interestingly, at 13 times its FY19 estimated earnings, the stock provides great comfort to hold. Cochin Shipyard is sitting on cash and cash equivalent of close to Rs 2,700 crore (including the IPO money) or about 30 percent of its current market capitalisation. The company intends to use these funds for building capacities particularly in the ship repair segment. This will allow the company to undertake larger projects and at the same time speed up work on orders in hand. It is sitting on an order book of close to Rs 8,300 crore or about 4 times its sales. Moreover there is a strong pipeline of orders of about Rs 15,000-20,000 crore to be awarded by the government. Cyient reported sequential revenue growth of 6.8 percent in USD terms (5.2 percent in constant currency), EBITDA margin was up 180 bps aided by both services (up 160 bps) and DLM (design led manufacturing, up 770 bps). Higher margins and other income led to 27 percent sequential jump in profitability. While order intake at USD 119 million in 2Q FY18 vs USD 160 million in 1Q FY18 was tad lower, management indicated some deals could spill over to 3Q and sounded confident of medium-term growth, based on its pipeline and conversations with the key accounts. Himatsingka Seide delivered a steady but subdued quarter. A higher utilisation rate at the expanded sheeting unit from around 40-45 percent at present to the 50 percent mark by the end of FY19, coupled with commissioning of the terry towels facility, is expected to bolster its top-line in due course. The company hopes to derive operating leverage by increasing the proportion of private label brands to the total offerings, apart from operationalising its spinning facility by the end of Q3FY18. Interglobe Aviation (IndiGo), the market leader in domestic skies, retained its mojo as is evident from a strong set of 2QFY18 numbers. IndiGo posted a very strong all-round performance with revenue from operations clocking a growth of 27 percent (YoY) led by increase in volume (15.4 percent) supported by a rise in yield (8.9 percent). IndiGo was able to post EBITDAR margin of 29.9 percent, up 643bps over the same quarter last year. We continue to like the business on the back of operational efficiencies, capacity addition plans, and multiple growth drivers. In Q2 2018, ITCs core FMCG business posted a comparable sales growth of 10 percent aided by strong performance in branded packaged foods and personal care businesses. Improving retail offtake and premiumization adds to ITC's increasing exposure to non-cigarette business. Its focus on integrating value chain from farm to consumer in the perishable segment aids its medium term growth trajectory. This is also expected to benefit from governments recent initiatives for food processing industry and logistic supply chain. Additionally, ITC is currently trading close to multiyear low valuation multiple and provides an attractive level to enter, in our view. Recent quarterly results of Dabur (a key client for JHS Svendgaard) adds to improving earnings visibility for JHS Svendgaard. Daburs oral care segment witnessed a significant improvement of 22.8 percent YoY growth aided by e-commerce campaign and market share gain. Further, JHSs recent capacity expansion of toothpaste manufacturing to 175 million tubes (from 90 million tubes) along with newer contracts from Patanjali should continue to aid its earnings growth. Q2 results underline an improving EBITDA margin profile (+370 bps YoY), which is assuring to us. At the same time, recent run up in the stock does not take away valuation comfort, in our opinion. NBCC is probably the most expensive stock in the construction space trading at about 40 times its FY19 estimated earnings. However, considering the earnings visibility and growth, one would be better off holding. The company continues to get new orders with the order book swelling to almost Rs 75,000 crore or 12 times its trailing revenue. In Q2FY18, revenue fell by about 9 percent on year-on-year basis but this was largely on account of GST. Thankfully, due to improvement in margins, it was able to post 10 percent growth in net profit. Pace of construction is expected to recover over the next two quarters, thus driving earnings higher. Petronet LNG reported a stellar performance in Q2FY18 mainly on account of an uptick in volumes and high operating leverage with improved capacity utilization. With continued shortage of LNG domestically, capacity expansion at Dahej, resumption of operations at Dhabol and full commissioning of Kochi terminal scheduled by December 18, we see future uptick in volumes and earnings. After an operationally good quarter, Reliance Industries stands to gain in the medium term as it is almost at the end of an aggressive capex cycle. Most investment projects have either stabilized or are getting commissioned. This should lift the return on capital employed in the coming years. We believe that Jio will be able to sustain the current momentum, on the back of innovative strategies and huge unmet potential available in India. With the resumption of the oil marketing business, we expect greater vertical integration which would bring in better margins in the coming quarters. Sun Pharmaceutical reported Q2 FY18 numbers that were in line with the subdued expectations. India business is gradually getting back on track. However, the continued pricing pressure in US generics business and Suns investment in building a speciality business marred the performance. The management maintained its earlier guidance of single-digit revenue decline in FY18 and better EBITDA margin performance in the second half. While FY18 remains to be prima facie a year of no gains, FY19 could be a tad better (contingent on US FDA clearing its key facility of Halol). Early signs of contribution of speciality business will only be visible from FY20 onwards. reported an excellent set of numbers for the 2QFY18, driven by a turnaround of its domestic business, and improved profitability of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR). JLR posted a volume growth of 5 percent (YoY) and EBITDA margin expansion of 660bps (YoY). The domestic business saw growth in operating revenues backed by strong volume growth complemented by a favourable product mix. In addition, the accelerated cost reduction efforts also helped in 360bps expansion in the EBITDA margin. We continue to like the business on the back of reasonable valuations, growth prospects of JLR and the focus of Tata Groups top management on domestic business revival. Dr Rakhmabai Bhikaji, or Rukhmabai, was India's first practising lady doctor during the colonial times. She was among those women, who broke the barriers and went to London to study. Taking her birth anniversary as an opportunity to recall her achievements, Google has dedicated their Google Doodle to her today. Not only was she a doctor but she also strongly believed in women rights at a time when women were oppressed. Rukhmabai was born in 1864 and she was one of the key reasons for India to raise the age of consent for women in 1891. Rukhmabai was married when she was 11 years old, however, she did not let her marriage stop her from fulfilling her dream of educating herself. Despite her husband, Dadaji Bhikaji, forcing her to live with him while she was still in school, she refused. Her husband filed a petition and took her to court, where she was given two options either to comply with his wishes or to go to jail and she chose to go to jail. The court case caused havoc at first and lasted for four years. But eventually, her case played a major role in increasing a woman's age of consent for sexual intercourse. The Age of Consent Act 1891, raised the age of consent for sexual intercourse with girls from 10 to 12. The act was brought about as child marriage was a prevalent social evil those days. Stuck in a court case, Rukhmabai would vent through writing. She wrote to the Times of India without disclosing her name. She used the pseudonym, 'A Hindu Lady', to write about her feelings and how it is like to be a woman living in the Hindu Society. Soon enough, her letters went viral. Her letters were read all around the world. The court cases finally came to an end in 1888 and now she was free to pursue her education. Under the guidance of the then Cama Hospital British Director Edith Pechey Phipson, Rukhmabai went to the London School of Medicine for Women in 1881 and continued her studies till 1894. She then chose to practise medicine in India and returned from Britain. Playing a major role in raising the age of consent and further becoming a doctor to serve the society, Rukhmabai is remembered today for her courage and making an impact. The controversy over period drama Padmavati reached the portals of Parliament on Wednesday as a house panel sought a report on the film from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and the censor board. The matter was taken up for consideration by the Lok Sabha Committee on Petitions after two BJP MPs, CP Joshi and Om Birla, from Rajasthan filed a plea before it regarding objectionable content in the movie. When contacted Joshi, who is also a member of the panel, told PTI that the movie should be shown to historians and the descendants of the erstwhile royal families, who trace their lineage to Padmavati, before its release. "The panel has referred the matter to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and the censor board. It has also asked them to submit a report before November 30," senior BJP leader Bhagat Singh Koshyari, who heads the panel, said. The Sanjay Leela Bhansali film starring Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh is based on Rajput queen, Padmavati. Amid rumours that there was a romantic dream sequence between Padmavati and Alauddin Khilji's characters, various Rajput and other groups have been protesting against the film, alleging it "distorts" history and hurts the sentiments of the people. Historians are, however, divided on whether Queen Padmavati even existed. Chief ministers of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh--all BJP ruled states--and Punjab, ruled by the Congress, have already opposed the release of the movie. Following this severe opposition, the makers of the movie deferred its release date. The film was scheduled to release on December 1, this year. Thousands of farmers returning home from Maharashtra after attending a rally in the capital on Monday were stranded in Madhya Pradesh after the train they were on travelled in the wrong direction for 160 km. The train, called the Swabhimani Express, is said to have travelled on the wrong route for close to 160 km, ending up in Madhya Pradesh instead of Maharashtra, reported News18. The special train was arranged for 1,494 farmers who were returning from the Kisan Yatra protest rally in Delhis Jantar Mantar, and instead left them stranded in Madhya Pradeshs Banmore Station near Gwalior. The train was carrying members of the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee and left Delhi late on Monday night and had to be diverted back 175 km before they understood it was going to wrong way, as per the report. The train was booked by the farmers for Rs 39 lakh. The report states that the train was given a wrong signal at Mathura station, which led to its landing up in Madhya Pradesh instead of Maharashtra. Railways authorities presently do not have any explanation as to how the train ended up at Banmore or how the route plan for the train moving ahead is going to be chalked. One of the passenger farmers on board told CNN News-18 that he woke up at 6 am to find himself stranded in Banmore station. After Agra, the train had moved towards Kota in Rajasthan after which they ended up in Madhya Pradesh. After a delay of over one and a half hour, the passengers ran out of patience and stopped a goods train. With the station masters help at Banmore station, the train started travelling back in the correct direction and reached Kolhapur on the morning of November 22. Dy.Cm , , Hardik Patel (@HardikPatel_) November 22, 2017 Hardik Patel reverts back to Gujarat Dy CM Nitin Patel's comment 13:03 Speaking to the media, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal has said that the 'people of Gujarat want to get rid of the BJP' 'Our primary goal is to win the election,' he added. 13:00 Gujarat Deputy CM Nitin Patel takes on Hardik Patel-Congress Moorkh ne darkhwast di aur moorkh ne darkhwast maani, aur doosre ko moorkh bolte hain: Deputy CM Nitin Patel on Hardik Patel/Congress #GujaratElection2017 pic.twitter.com/8EoPuzxifb ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2017 12:47 Nitin Patel, Gujarat Deputy CM has said, "We have said months ago that reservation cannot exceed 50 percent". 12:45 Lashing out at Hardik Patel, the deputy CM has said that the Patidar agitation had caused a law and order situation in Gujarat. 'People of Gujarat see through the designs of the Congress,' Nitin Patel added. 12:43 Gujarat deputy CM Nitin Patel has said that 'PAAS members are not Congress agents, but Congress workers themselves'. 12:41 Nitin Patel, deputy chief minister of Gujarat and leader of the BJP has said that Patidars have been 'victimised by the Congress'. 12:28 Before it became a BJP stronghold, Gujarat was a Congress bastion. Here's a timeline: 12:09 BJP spokesperson Yamal Vyas has told CNN News18 that the move (PAAS supporting the Congress) has been taken in "utter desperation" and that it will not affect BJP's prospects. 11:59 Gujarat polls: Congress ties up with Chhotu Vasava's party, announces seat-sharing formula The Indian National Congress has tied-up with tribal leader Chhotu Vasava-led faction of the Janata Dal (United) for the upcoming assembly election in Gujarat. Read the full story here. #BREAKING | Article 46 will be used by Congress to bring in a bill for non-reserved classes: Hardik Patel pic.twitter.com/kcLmEOkp0B News18 (@CNNnews18) November 22, 2017 11:31 Hardik Patel has said that the Congress will have to include details of the Patidar reservation formula in its manifesto. 11:28 Hardik Patel says that the PAAS have 'never asked for any ticket' and suggests that there is no conflict within the PAAS. 11:26 While Hardik Patel has refused to explicitly appeal voters to vote for Congress, the Patidar leader has said, 'as our fight is against the BJP, we are indirectly supporting the Congress'. 11:24 Hardik Patel says, "We have never appealed to anyone to vote for Congress. But, because they are talking about our rights, we are leaving it on people to decide". 11:22 The Patidar leader has also claimed that several attempts at horse trading are being made with PAAS conveners in North Gujarat. The 24-year-old has also accused the BJP of offering Rs 50 lakh and using tactics as "it fears defeat". 11:19 Talking about the issue of reservations for the Patidar community, Hardik Patel has said that the Congress will bring in a bill "when they come in power in Gujarat". 11:17 Hardik Patel, leader of Indias Patidar community, addresses during a public meeting after his return from Rajasthans Udaipur, in Himmatnagar, in the western Indian state of Gujarat, India January 17, 2017. REUTERS/Amit Dave - RC16C40679F0 Patidar leader Hardik Patel said on Wednesday that Congress has created an acceptable formula over quota for the community if the party is voted to power in the Gujarat assembly elections to be held next month. We accept the formula given by Congress party to give reservation at par with OBC to non-reserved categories, said Patel, the leader of Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS). What is the formula? The Patidars have been agitating for reservation in government jobs and education for the past two years under the leadership of PAAS and have been growing increasingly upset with the BJP due to the state governments failure to approve the quota. One of the main constraints the Gujarat government has faced in granting the Patidar community reservation at par with the Other Backward Classes (OBC) is the cap on total reservation to 50 percent in each state. The Supreme Court ruled in a landmark case in 1992 (Indra Sawhney etc vs Union Of India And Others) that the total reservation including SC, ST and OBC quotas has to stay within the 50 percent limit to balance reservation against the principle of equality for every citizen as enshrined in Article 14 and clause 1 of Article 16. The apex court called the limitation a constitutional prohibition. Critics have argued that even if the Congress grants reservation to the Patidars, it will cross the 50 percent cap and thus be subjected to a tussle with the Supreme Court. Such attempts by many states have previously been struck down by the judiciary. Gujarat currently has 49 percent reservation comprising 7 percent for Scheduled Castes (SC), 15 percent for Scheduled Tribes (ST) and 27 percent for OBCs. Talking to the media, Patel said that if Congress comes to power, it will bring in a bill to give reservation to Patidars and will include the same in its upcoming election manifesto. Congress said it would do so with the help of Article 46 and Article 31(C) of the Indian Constitution, he said. Article 46 puts the onus on the state to promote the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of Indian society and protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation. Aticle 31C saves laws made by the state to give effect to certain directive principles, even if such laws are in violation of fundamental rights under Article 14. The Patidar leader also added that the said formula is not only applicable to the Patidar community, implying it could be extended to others demanding the same. He also said that it would not affect the existing 49 percent reservation for the SC, ST and OBCs as has been perceived before. The influence of Patels While Hardik Patel refrained from lending open support for Congress in the upcoming Gujarat assembly election, he vowed to fight against BJP. This would eventually bring Patidar support for the Congress, especially when the party was looking after the communitys interest, said the leader of PAAS. The politically influential community has traditionally been a BJP vote bank and Congress has been trying to lure them as the Patidars are disenchanted with the current government. Congress on Monday put out a second list of candidates, in which four candidates from its first list were dropped to accommodate four others with an intention to pacify the PAAS leaders. Among the four new inductions, there were three from the PAAS. However, Patel has told the media that PAAS was not looking for tickets from Congress and rather wanted to focus on the reservation issue. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More From 2011-2012 to 2015-2016, national political parties have received crores of donation from Gujarat, according to an Association of Democratic Reforms report. The report points that Torrent Power is at top position in donating to India's biggest political parties Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Indian National Congress (INC). Out of the two, Torrent Power gives more donations to BJP than to Congress. The firm, from its Ahmedabad centre, has contributed more than Rs 13 crores to BJP (Rs 13,62,50,000) in the last five years and over Rs 5 crores to Congress (Rs 5,50,00,000). Torrent Pharmaceuticals, Cadila Healthcare, are also among the biggest donors to both BJP and Congress. In the last five years, while BJP has received Rs 80.45 crores, Congress has come second with a collection of Rs 14.09 crores. Other parties, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Communist Party of India (CPI), claim to have not received any donations. (Source: ADR) In 2012-2013, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the Gujarat Chief Minister, BJP recorded the highest donation collection of Rs 45.33 crores. BJP has aced the donation collection in Gujarat with a whopping 88.69 percent contribution from business setups, totalling Rs 71.35 crore. Individuals, too, have generously contributed to the party with a total collection of Rs 8.77 crore. (Source: ADR) However, Congress is far behind in this race. Businesses have only contributed around Rs 13 crore and individuals have contributed less than a crore to the party. BJP has been the ruling party for more than two decades and in this period has received 2,186 donations in total. The report finds, "Donations received by BJP from Gujarat is 471% higher than the total donations received by other national parties from Gujarat during the same period." Not just this, the donations to BJP have been accounted for in a proper way. The top 10 firms that have donated to the party have had no trouble in declaring their Permanent Account Number (PAN) details whereas some of the business centres of the Congress' top 10 contributors did not declare their PAN details. However, if the total contributions are taken into account, 77.35 percent of Congress party donors have declared their PAN details and only 59.19 percent of BJP party donors have declared their PAN. Donations are made to political parties by business setups, individuals, unions and can be done anonymously if the contribution is below Rs 2,000. These donations help the parties fund their campaigning, etc. Patidar leader Hardik Patel on Wednesday declared his support for the Congress in the Gujarat elections next month and said the opposition party had accepted its demand for reservation for the Patel community. The Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) leader said the Congress will include the extension of reservation benefit to Patidars in its election manifesto. "The Congress has agreed to provide reservation to the Patidar community," Patel told reporters here. The Congress, which has mounted a hectic campaign to dislodge the long-ruling BJP in the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and saffron party chief Amit Shah, has been wooing the Patel stir spearhead for quite some time. Elections in Gujarat will be held on December 9 and 14. cnbc-tv18-comments Gujarat Election: Pulse check from diamond city Surat CNBC-TV18's Archana Shukla captures the sights and sounds and the key issues that are deciding people's choice. She traveled to Surat's diamond market for pulse check and asked them whether or not the implementation of the GST impacted their business in any way. The Congress alleged that the government was "avoiding" the Winter Session of Parliament in view of the Gujarat assembly elections and to evade a discussion on issues the opposition want to raise during it like scams of ministers, Rafale deal, Goods and Services Tax (GST) and note ban. The party also took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying "he is Brahma, the creator" and only he and no one else knows when the Parliament session will be held. The opposition party targeted Modi for campaigning in every election and alleged a scam in the use of state machinery by him at the cost of the exchequer and sought a debate over it. "The truth does not go away because you hide from it. Modi ji, stop hiding and open the Parliament so the truth of what you did on Rafale can be heard by the nation," Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi said on Twitter. Addressing a press conference, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge took a swipe at Modi saying "he is Brahma, he is the creator" as it was only he who knew when the Winter Session of Parliament would be convened. The leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said the government was "shying away" from facing Parliament in order to "hide its corruption and failures". He alleged that Modi and his cabinet was becoming a "campaign machine" aggressively canvassing in Gujarat and elsewhere and said the people want the government to run the country instead. Congress leader Anand Sharma also hit back at Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for his attack on Congress President Sonia Gandhi and said it is "condemnable and deplorable" as one did not expect this in the largest democracy. Congress spokesperson Deepender Hooda alleged the Modi government is working under its model of "bypass, bulldoze and betray", which is an "attack on democracy" and was suppressing the voice of farmers whose issues the party wanted to raise. Kharge also accused the prime minister of "destroying" the temple of democracy due to Gujarat elections next month and said that Parliament this year had sat only for 38 days, the lowest in many decades. He alleged that democracy has suffered a "big jolt" under the Modi government. "I have talked to many ministers, the Speaker, Lok Sabha Secretary General, but no one knows the dates of Parliament session. Only one man knows and they call him Brahma, the creator. That's why till Brahma orders, we won't know the dates (of Parliament session)," Kharge told reporters. "Democracy has suffered a big jolt under the Modi government. We term it as Modi 'Sarkar' because BJP members and even ministers in the government do not know anything," he said. Azad alleged the central government has turned into an election contesting machine for the last 3.5 years as never in the history of the country for 70 years, be it during the times of Jawaharlal Nehru or Manmohan Singh has the prime minister campaigned in every election from the panchayat level to the Parliament or presidential election. "It is a scam. This runs into several thousand crores. It is a burden on the government and there should be a debate on it," Azad told reporters. He alleged that the prime minister travels in defence aircraft using MI8 choppers at government expense. The Leader of Opposition said the Election Commission allowed the prime minister to use the aircraft and chopper free of cost, where the party does not have to pay. But the Election Commission did not know that such a prime minister will come who will not alight from the aircraft and chopper 24 hours in a day during elections, he said. "We want a prime minister and ministers who run the government of India, for which they have been elected. Today when there is any election no minister is available. "So we want government, we want ministers, who should make themselves available before the crores of people and should do their work," Azad said. Targeting the prime minister, Kharge said he was working at his own "whims and fancies". "We condemn them (the government) for doing this. For (the sake of) democracy, we should run Parliament," he said. Sonia Gandhi on Monday accused Modi of sabotaging the Winter Session on flimsy grounds by "locking the temple of democracy". "The Modi government in its arrogance has cast a dark shadow on India's Parliamentary democracy by sabotaging the winter session of Parliament on flimsy grounds," she said addressing the Congress Working Committee meeting. Hyderabad City Police, while on their two-month long anti-beggar drive in the city, transferred two women from a dargah to an ashram only to find out that they were in fact educated, rich, and owner of several properties in the city. Nearly 1,000 beggars have been relocated to ashrams ahead of Ivanka Trump's three-day visit to an entrepreneurship conference in the city. Several women, beggars near the dargah or shrine of Langar Houz were taken away by the police to Ananda Ashram or Cherlapalli jail on November 11 as part of the anti-beggar drive after begging was declared an offence in the city and people were banned from seeking alms in the Telangana capital. However, when the police saw two women argue in English with the rehabilitation authorities, they got curious. As per a report in the Hindustan Times, an inquiry by the police revealed that the women were in fact educated and owners of several properties in the city and both were begging at the dargah to attain mental peace. The dargah has a reputation for providing shelter to psychologically disturbed people. One of the women, Farzona, 50, claimed that she had a degree in business administration and has worked as an accountant in London before coming back to the country. Her son is an architect in the United States. Upon her husband's death some time back Farzona got traumatised and on a godmans advice she took to begging at the shrine. As per a Hindustan Times report, Farzona claimed that she was not begging at the shrine and was residing there just to get her mental peace back. When the Hyderabad police contacted her son, he said that he was already in the city searching for his mother. The other woman, 44-year old Rabiya Baseera, hailing from Defence Colony at Langar Houz area of the city said that property and wealth disputes with her relatives had ruined her mental peace which is why she took to begging at the dargah. Both women were handed over to their respective relatives. The Swiss town of Albinen, located in the Valais Valley, one of the many scenic locations in Switzerland - is all set to vote for a policy on November 30 to paying people to live there. And guess the amount? Its a whopping 25,000 Swiss Francs, an equivalent of Rs 16.3 lakh. But why? The village presently is facing a dwindling population scenario and has just about 240 residents at present. Moreover, the number is going down soon hence it is part of their repopulation initiative, as per a report in Swiss paper The Local. Under the new scheme, the fee will be paid to each new adult resident with 7,600 Swiss Francs (Rs 4.9 lakh) being paid to each child. Going by that rate, a family of four moving in should be getting an estimated sum of Rs 45 lakh for just moving in there. Most of the previous residents who left the village had children and this has led to the closure of a school in the village. But then again, this wasnt exactly a thriving neighbourhood. Its highest number of inhabitants on record was 380 back in 1900. Wait, here is the 'conditions apply' section The offer sounds too good to be true, and it is actually. Here's why: First criteria is that the new residents have to be under the age of 45, and it is compulsory for them to build a property there to live full time and this must not be any seasonal or temporary holiday home. There is another catch too: It better be a good enough house, as the minimum price for it has been set at 2,00,000 Swiss Francs (Rs 1.3 crore). Also, if one plans to move in, there is a minimum residence period of 10 years, otherwise one must give back the fee. Officials hope that Albinen's flailing economy will benefit from this move as incoming residents will start paying for building contracts, establishing there and also buy the local produce. Further, only three percent of the total land in the village is settled area with road and buildings the rest is farmland and forest. (Currency figures are in 1 Swiss Franc= Rs 65.46) Donald Trump and Xi Jinping China on Tuesday called for extra efforts to resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis through talks after US President Donald Trump re-branded Pyongyang as a state sponsor of terrorism. Beijing has repeatedly pushed for negotiations to end the standoff. Some analysts warned that the terror designation could further inflame tensions. "We still hope all relevant parties can contribute to easing tensions, that the relevant parties can resume talks and (adopt) the correct track to resolving the Korean peninsula issue through dialogue and consultation," said foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang. "More should be done in that regard." China has pushed for a "dual track approach" which would require the United States to freeze its military drills in South Korea while North Korea would halt its weapons programmes, but the proposal has not gained traction. Trump yesterday promised a rapid escalation of US Treasury sanctions against the North after adding its name to a terror blacklist previously led by Iran and Syria. "Should have happened a long time ago. Should have happened years ago," Trump said. He cited the death of a US student who had been held in a North Korean jail and the assassination by nerve agent of Kim's elder half-brother on foreign soil as reasons for the move. However, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said sanctions and diplomacy could still pressure North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un into talks on nuclear disarmament. "We still hope for diplomacy," he said, adding that punitive measures were already having a significant impact on Pyongyang's economy. There was no immediate reaction from North Korea, but an editorial in the ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun before the announcement described Trump as a "mentally deranged money-grabber" who was leading the US down an "irretrievable road to hell". The White House has said it will not tolerate the North's testing or deployment of an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead to US cities. Experts believe Pyongyang is within months of such a threshold, having carried out six nuclear tests since 2006 and test-fired several types of missiles, including multi-stage rockets. Both Trump and Kim have previously raised fears of open conflict erupting over the North's banned nuclear missile programme, as they exchanged insults and threats of a devastating military response. But US officials say their main hope is that Pyongyang will back down, in the face of what Tillerson described as an inexorable increase in Chinese-backed economic and diplomatic pressure. Putting pressure on Myanmar, the US on Wednesday declared as "ethnic cleansing" the violence against Rohingya Muslims in the country and warned that the Trump administration could impose new penalties on it. More than 600,000 Rohingya from Myanmars Rakhine State have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh, creating one of the worlds most dire refugee crisis. US lawmakers and human rights advocates had called for Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to act on the recommendation of the State Department and declare the situation ethnic cleansing. Tillerson, in a statement, said that the Trump administration would "pursue accountability" through US law, including "possible targeted" sanctions. However, senior administration officials ruled out a broad based sanctions against Myanmar, noting that the democracy in the country is in its nascent stage. Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has moved toward civilian government in recent years after decades of military rule, though the military retains significant power. At this time "there is no determination of crime against humanity or genocide", a senior administration official told reporters during a conference call, adding that the US will continue to further watch the situation, but there is no other action as of now. "After a careful and thorough analysis of available facts, it is clear that the situation in northern Rakhine state constitutes ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya," Tillerson said, demanding that those responsible for these atrocities must be held accountable. The US continues to support a credible, independent investigation to further determine all facts on the ground to aid in these processes of accountability, he said. "We have supported constructive action on the Rakhine crisis at the UN Security Council and in the UN General Assemblys Third Committee. The United States will also pursue accountability through US law, including possible targeted sanctions," Tillerson said. Reiterating US' condemnation of the August 25 attacks on security forces by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), Tillerson said yet no provocation can justify the horrendous atrocities that have ensued. Officials in Myanmar, a mostly Buddhist nation, deny accusations of a systematic offensive against the Rohingya and claim the military intervened in Rakhine to battle Muslim insurgents. "These abuses by some among the Burmese military, security forces, and local vigilantes have caused tremendous suffering and forced hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children to flee their homes in Burma (Myanmar) to seek refuge in Bangladesh," Tillerson said. Tillerson was recently in Naypyitaw where he met separately with State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces General Min Aung Hlaing. "I reaffirmed the United States' strong commitment to Burma's successful democratic transition as the elected government strives to implement reforms, bring peace and reconciliation to the nation, and resolve a devastating crisis in Rakhine State," he said. "Our first priority is to relieve the intolerable suffering faced by so many. In response to the dire situation," he said. Last week, Tillerson announced an additional USD 47 million in humanitarian assistance for those affected by the Rakhine State crisis, bringing the total amount spent in response to this crisis to more than USD 87 million since August of this year. Later in a conference call, a senior administration official said the US is looking at additional "individual" and "targeted" sanctions. Representative image A former student is suing the famed Oxford University for over Rs 8.5 crore claiming that the Universitys inadequate teaching had left him without a first class degree. Faiz Siddiqui, who had graduated from the Brasenose College in 2000 alleged that because he failed to graduate with a first class degree, he was prevented from achieving a lucrative career as an International Commercial Lawyer. As per a report by The Telegraph, Siddiqui, a history graduate claimed that inadequate teaching that he received for the Indian special subject part resulted in him getting a lower grade. This was due to the absence of the staff who were on a sabbatical leave. He also claimed that the medical information about his condition also not submitted to the examiners by the tutor. Siddiqui has now claimed a compensation for his lost career and added that the mental trauma has made his clinical depression and insomnia worse. His counsel Roger Mallalieu told the London court on Tuesday that Siddiqui was a "driven young man" with high aims before all was ruined due to low grades. The university has however refuted his claim that there was any form of negligence on their part. Julian Milford, who represented the university has reportedly told the court that Siddiqui had never earlier complained about the teaching quality. Adding that he received the same quality of teaching as in any other year, and there is no record of any medical problem that he faced during the final year of his graduation. According to Milford, it is highly unlikely that any tutor would have failed to report about a medical problem if there was any. Further, in an event where he actually had any medical condition then it would have been unlikely for Siddiqui to get higher grades as the marks granted to him, in that case, would have been at par with his overall marks that were not high. He also further pointed out that Siddiqui got several good opportunities including a training contract with world's leading law firm Clifford Chance. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif looks out the window of his plane after attending a ceremony to inaugurate the M9 motorway between Karachi and Hyderabad, Pakistan February 3, 2017. REUTERS/Caren Firouz - RTX2ZI70 Pakistan's ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family members on Tuesday appeared before an anti-graft court here as the trial resumed into the corruption cases filed against them in the high-profile Panama Papers scandal. Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law retired captain Muhammad Safdar arrived at the court amidst heavy security arrangements made to deal with any untoward incident. Sharif and his family members were welcomed by a number of senior leaders of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) party at the court. Judge Muhammad Bashir started the proceeding which was still going on. The court had last week accepted 67-year-old Sharif's application for exemption from court hearings till November 27. However, Sharif appeared before the court today due to a change in his plans. Three cases were registered by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against Sharif and his family in the Accountability Court Islamabad. The accountability court on November 8 rejected a plea by Sharif to club all three cases together. Sharif's lawyer Khawaja Harris had argued that all three cases dealt with assets beyond means and allegations and most of the witnesses were same, therefore the references should be taken as one. Last week, Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Saqib Nisar also dismissed Sharif's in-chamber appeal to merge three cases filed by the NAB in the Panama Papers scandal. Sharif was indicted in all three cases while his daughter Maryam and her husband Safdar, co-accused with Sharif in only one case, were also indicted last month. Sharif's sons Hassan and Hussian are also co-accused in all three cases but have so far failed to appear in the court despite repeated summons, prompting the court to separate their case and initiate a process to declare them proclaimed offenders. A five-member bench of the Supreme Court on July 28 had disqualified Sharif over his undeclared income. The apex court also directed the NAB to file cases against him, and his children in the accountability court and directed the trial court to decide the cases within six months. The NAB had filed three cases on September 8 against Sharif and his family, and another case against Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. The three cases against the Sharifs are related to the Flagship Investment Ltd, the Avenfield (London) properties and Jeddah-based Al-Azizia Company and Hill Metal Establishment. The political future of Sharif, who leads the country's most powerful political family and the PML-N party, has been hanging in balance since his disqualification. If convicted, Sharif could be jailed. Sharif's family alleges that the cases are politically motivated. US-based cab hailing firm, Uber Technologies Inc paid USD 100,000 to hackers for keeping a secret about a massive breach last year. The breach exposed the personal information of about 57 million accounts, Uber said in a blog Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber, said he only recently learned that outsiders had broken into a cloud-based server used by the company for data and downloaded a significant amount of information. Stolen files included names, email addresses, mobile phone numbers for riders, and the names and driver license information of some 600,000 drivers according to Uber. This isn't Uber's first tryst with a controversy of this scale. Here are some of the most-talked about controversies of Uber. Ubers London Ban Uber was stripped of its licence to operate in the city of London by Transport for London (TfL) for showing 'lack of corporate responsibility'. The firm is contesting against it and the companys licence officially expired on September 30. UK boss quits as firm battles Ubers UK boss Jo Bertram has quits company according to an email sent to staff seen by Reuters. She said the firm, valued at USD 70 billion, needed a replacement in the region to tackle the issues it faces. Targeting the competitor Uber faced accusations that it booked thousands of fake rides from its competitor Lyft in an effort to cut into its profits and services. The firms recruiters also allegedly spammed Lyft drivers in an effort to recruit them away from the rival. The God View scandal It was revealed that Uber has so-called God View technology that allows the company to track users locations, raising privacy concerns. One of the managers had accessed the profile of a reporter without her permission. Uber executive Emil Michael suggested digging up dirt on journalists and spreading personal information of a female reporter who was critical of the Company. He later apologised. Self-driving pilot failure Californias regulators ordered Uber to remove self-driving vehicles from the roads after the company launched a pilot experiment without permits. On the day of its launch, the vehicles were caught running red lights, and in San Francisco, it also raised concerns about the cars creating a hazard in bike lanes. Uber blamed red-light issues on human error, but the New York Times later claimed that the companys statements were false and that the autonomous technology failed. Failed advertising The Federal Trade Commission claimed that most Uber drivers earned far less that the rates Uber published online in 18 major cities in the US. The company was forced to pay USD 20 million to settle allegations that the company duped people with false promises about earnings. #DeleteUber goes viral A #DeleteUber campaign went viral after the company executed surge pricing during a taxi protest at a New York airport against President Donald Trumps travel ban. Around 5,00,000 users reportedly deleted their Uber accounts after the the hashtag went viral. Trump ties CEO Travis Kalanick resigned from US President Donald Trumps advisory council after users threatened a boycott. He said, Joining the group was not meant to be an endorsement of the president or his agenda but unfortunately it has been misinterpreted to be exactly that. Sexual harassment scandal Former Uber engineer Susan Fowler went public with allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination, prompting the company to hire former US attorney general Eric Holder to investigate her claims. The story sparked widespread debate about sexism and misconduct across Silicon Valley startups. Google lawsuit Googles parent corporation Alphabet, who owns Waymo, the self-driving car company, filed a lawsuit against Uber, accusing the startup of calculated theft of its technology. The lawsuit, which could be a fatal setback for Ubers autonomous vehicle ambitions, alleged that Anthony Levandowski, former Waymo employee, stole trade secrets for Uber. The company later fired the engineer. Deceiving law enforcement The New York Times reported that Uber used a tool called Greyball for years to systematically deceive law enforcement in cities where the company violated local laws. Uber used Greyball to identify people believed to be working for city agencies and carrying out sting operations, the Times reported. The revelations led to the launch of a federal investigation. CEO caught yelling at a driver Travis Kalanick was caught on camera arguing with his own Uber driver, who complained about the difficulty earning livelihood with the companys declining rates. Kalanick yelled at the driver, Some people dont like to take responsibility for their own shitt... They blame everything in their life on somebody else. Good luck! He later issued an apology and said he intended to get leadership help. Spying on the rival News leaked of a secret programme that Uber internally called Hell that allowed the company to spy on its rival Lyft to uncover drivers working for both companies and help to steer them away from the competitor. Underpaying drivers Uber agreed to pay drivers in New York City tens of millions of dollars after admitting it underpaid them for more than two years by taking a larger cut of fares than it was entitled. The average payout per driver is expected to be about USD 900. Twenty employees fired Uber revealed that it had fired more than 20 employees following an investigation into the sexual harassment claims and workplace culture. Questioning a rape victim Reports revealed that a top Uber executive had obtained the medical records of a woman who was raped by an Uber driver, allegedly to cast doubt upon the victims account. The executive, Eric Alexander, was fired after journalists learned of the incident, according to the New York Times. The woman later sued the company for violating her privacy rights and defaming her. Kalanick takes a leave of absence CEO Travis Kalanick announced that he would take an indefinite leave of absence as the company released a damning report on the workplace culture that recommended Uber review and relocates the CEOs responsibilities. Board members sexist joke David Bonderman resigned from Ubers board after he made a sexist joke during an all-staff meeting about reforming the company and combatting sexual harassment. He joked that there was likely to be more talking with another woman on the board. He apologised and stepped down hours later. A week back, Uber released the recommendations from a months-long investigation by the former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. The 13- page document contained 47 different recommendations that largely confirm many of the concerns people had about what was going on inside the company. PERKASIE >> Fans of the Perkasie Farmers Market are delighted to know that their favorite locally made foods will be available year-round now that the market moves indoors for a brand-new seasonal Winter Market. The Winter Market opens at the Perkasie Fire Hall on November 26th and will run on the 2nd & 4th Saturday of each month through May... While most of their Live Oak High School classmates were at home enjoying the extended Thanksgiving break with family and friends, eight Future Business Leaders of America students were back on campus the morning of Nov. 20. Inside the Food Service building, these dedicated Acorns were hard at work, filling 125 cardboard apple bin boxes with all the staples to make a complete Thanksgiving dinner, along with other cooking essentials and cleaning supplies. Once the care packages are filled, theres one more stop to make before delivering them to 125 needy familiesand thats to the local Walmart where the same number of turkeys were purchased thanks to a generous donation from the San Martin Lions Club. The San Martin club, along with their counterparts from the Morgan Hill Lions Club, also drive a select number of students around South County to different homes to deliver the Turkey Day care packages Nov. 22. Along with the Thanksgiving fixings and a 10- to 12-pound turkey, each family also receives a grocery bag filled with food including potatoes, fruits, rice, beans, tortillas, cake mix, spaghetti, flour, toilet paper and a large container of laundry detergent. Its been a FBLA tradition at Live Oak HS for more than three decades. Its our big project every year. I look forward to doing it, said 17-year-old Kai Leong, an FBLA co-president who joined the student organization as a freshman. Its sad that this is my last year, but maybe Ill come back to help out next year. The Live Oak HS senior is one of the students who will make the deliveries the day before Thanksgiving. He has dedicated his time to doing so for the last four years. Its great, Leong said. We show up at their door and they always have a happy look on their face. The community service project is made possible each year by FBLA volunteer advisor Kiki Nakauchi, who has overseen the planning and production of the Thanksgiving special delivery since taking it over nearly four decades ago. Each year, Nakauchi sends out word to each of the schools in Morgan Hill Unified School District. She alerts them to how many families they can designate for the delivery and then compiles the list with names and addresses. She knows the community needs help and were real thankful to have her, said FBLA co-president Kaden Kim, a four-year member and high school senior. If she didnt do it, Im not sure anybody else would. We need her. Nakauchis husband, Yosh, collects the large apple bins from local grocery stores every day until hes got 125 of them. Bonnie Cherry, one of Nakauchis former students, as well as Cherrys husband, separate all the donated cans from the FBLAs canned food drive. This year, eight LOHS teachers participated in the food drive, including top earners Kaiti Whitmyre (874 cans) and QA Nguyen (737 cans). Its a lot of work, said Nakauchi, who meets weekly with the FBLA students throughout the year. They need to see some of the very kids who are coming to this school (who receive the deliveries). Otherwise, they may not know. Nakauchi runs a tight ship, keeping a watchful eye on her FBLA students Nov. 20 as they fill the packages with equal amounts of canned veggies such as corn, beans and sweet potatoes as well as bags of flour and sugar. Later on, the students, who get community service credits for participating, separate large bags of rice and beans purchased by Nakauchi at Costco into smaller ones for each of the 125 families. I just enjoy being here. All the food goes to a good cause so it makes it all worth it, said Leong, who will be on campus until we finish, as long as needed. The previous week, Kim, as well as other FBLA students, camped out in front of the local Safeway stores to collect canned food and donations from the community. This is where it all goes to, said Kim, scanning the room filled with stacks of cans and boxes. Its important to contribute your time to help others. Thats what the holidays are all about. Kims older brother was an FBLA member before him and he got involved even before his freshman year. But last year was his first delivering to the needy families. Its worth it when you see how happy they get, Kim said. The smiles on their faces make it all worth it. Its important to contribute your time to help others. Thats what the holidays are all about. Sarah Coles started investing earlier than most. Her first investment, in British Gas shares, was when she was just 12 years old. She explains: Id been saving up for a ridiculously expensive cuddly ET. The film was in the cinema and I wanted to toy to go with it. But my dad persuaded me to buy British Gas shares with the cash instead as the company was in the process of floating on the stock market. Being 12 she could not invest directly, but her father bought her these shares through a bare trust, and encouraged her to take an interest in them. She says: I was convinced by the argument that if I still wanted the cuddly toy in a couple of years I could see what the shares were worth, and decide if I wanted to sell them. By then though Id had a few dividend cheques already and didnt want to sell. Coles, who is now in her 40s, says she has stuck with British Gas through several incarnations. It subsequently split into Centrica (CNA), National Grid (NG.) and BG Group, which was more recently acquired by Royal Dutch Shell (RDSB). As a result, Coles now owns shares in Centrica, National Grid and Shell. Together they are worth about 10 times my original investment, she says. But the real gain has been from the dividends shes received over the past 30 years. She has reinvested some of these gains, but points out that during the leaner student years these dividends provided a welcome boost to her finances. On some occasions it ensured I was able to pay for curry night. The Importance of Dividends This early introduction to investments has served to highlight the importance of dividends. She says she tends to favour funds that pay a reliable income, but she is also a fan of fund managers who can demonstrate a good long-term track record. One of her best performing investments has been Scottish Mortgage (SMT) investment trust. She says: I picked Scottish Mortgage because its a high conviction investment, which as had excellent long-term results. Coles, who lives in Bristol with her husband, and their two children, says she first invested in this investment trust seven years ago. Initially, this was as a regular investment for her children. She says the growth has been impressive. This investment trust is managed by the long term global growth team at Baillie Gifford, headed by James Anderson. The trust has a five-star rating and a coveted gold medal from Morningstar, reflecting their analysts confidence that it will continue to outperform. Morningstar analyst David Holder says: This fund is exceptionally competitive among its category peers for very active management and in our view a unique approach to investment in todays world. He points out it also has a substantial exposure to unlisted equity investments. Star Fund Managers for Income Elsewhere, she says she has invested in funds run by star fund managers Nick Train, who runs Lindsell Train Global Equity Fund and Neil Woodford, manager of Woodford Equity Income. Lindsell Train Global Equity also has a five-star rating, reflecting its strong performance compared to peers. The fund is run by the highly-rated manager Nick Train. The UK version of this fund has a Morningstar gold medal rating. He runs a number of funds that follow a similar approach: investing in a concentrated portfolio of companies that offer a high and sustainable return on equity, and are cash generative. Morningstar analysts describe Train as a seasoned and talented equity manager. It adds: Trains process has proved successful over a number of market cycles. Woodford Equity Income has a Silver rating. The fund currently has a two-star rating, reflecting the fact the manager Neil Woodford has struggled to outperform this year, relative to peers. This relatively poor short-term performance has caused the manager to issue a recent apology to investors. However, analysts at Morningstar point out that this should be seen against Woodfords longer-term track record. Analyst Peter Brunt says: This fund is managed by one of the most talented fund managers in the equity-income sector at an investment boutique that focuses primarily on UK equity-income. Neil Woodford applies the same investment approach with which he created an impressively strong and consistent track record during his near three decades at Invesco Perpetual. The fund is unconstrained against its benchmark and managed with a total-return mind-set, with a keen eye on capital preservation. As such, investors should be aware that there may be periods where the fund is not always the highest-yielding relative to peers. Saving for the Next Generation Coles, who now works as an analyst for Hargreaves Landsown, says that as well as saving for her children, she also has her own ISA, and is in the process of consolidating her pensions into a Hargreaves Lansdown SIPP. She says: Its impossible to tell what the student loans or graduate tax system will be by the time my kids finish school, but I would like them to be in a position where they can fund a big chunk of their fees upfront if they need to. If they dont go to university, or it doesnt prove cost-effective to pay in advance, Im hoping it will help them onto the property ladder. Coles says one of her biggest disasters, when it comes to investing, is not saving enough into a pension at an earlier age. She explains: Just after I started my first job my dad told me to start saving what I could afford into the company pension scheme, and never stop. Unfortunately, by then Id stopped taking his excellent advice. I didnt save enough. Then I had children and worked as a freelancer for many years and during this period, like many women, I neglected my pension savings. Im kicking myself now for missing out on so much compound interested. But I am still only in my 40s so Im doing my best to boost the pot. She says she invested monthly into the savings accounts for her children and into her pension. Everything else tends to be one-off investments. I think this may be partly because I was a freelancer for so long; Id only really be confident the cash was spare for investments a couple of times a year. Jonathan Miller: Welcome to the Morningstar manager check-up for the latest views from our fund research team. The Schroder Oriental Income investment trust (SOI) benefits from a seasoned investor in Matthew Dobbs, whos been managing money in the area for over 30 years. Stock selection is at the heart of this approach with research carried out through the in-house network of 40 analysts in the region. What they do is rank stocks providing a framework for Dobbs to work from. The ranking criteria take into account areas such as company strategy, cash flow and earnings growth. The portfolio is then constructed based on a yield requirement, via stocks that have strong income and capital growth potential. Overall we hold Dobbs in high regard, he makes excellent use of the wide resources at hand, and has a solid process thats led to an excellent long-term track record, meaning the trust holds a Morningstar Analyst Rating of Silver. The Threadneedle European High Yield bond fund is run by the experienced duo of Barrie Whitman and David Backhouse. Theyre supported by a team of five dedicated high-yield credit analysts and a financials analyst. With investments mainly focused in Eurozone countries, this fund is different to many in the peer group. The investment approach is primarily bottom-up and the duos benchmark excludes subordinated financial debt. While they invest here at times, its really at the margin, and theres generally significantly less exposure to financials than peers. We appreciate the fund wont keep up in strong markets but it has held up much better during challenging markets. All said, we like this well-executed, straightforward strategy and the experienced team at the helm, so the fund holds a Morningstar Analyst Rating of Bronze. The Heptagon Yacktman fund is a long-standing American strategy that focuses on companies with predictable, recurring revenue streams. Its co-managed by Stephen Yacktman and Jason Subotky, and given their process the portfolio is biased to relatively steady, strong franchise brands. This is especially true in consumer names, which account for nearly 50% of the portfolio. By also focusing on price multiples, their view for the last three years has been that they cant find cheap stocks so cash levels have been at around 20% or more. This has led to underperformance. But we saw similar performance patterns in the late-1990s' internet boom and again during the mid-2000s' bull market. However, its in market falls that the strategy thrives, where its produced outstanding relative returns. We appreciate there could be more short-term pain if markets rally, but the managers really stick to their knitting, so the fund retains its Morningstar Analyst Rating of Silver. There was plenty of good news for sectors of the UK stock market in Philip Hammonds Budget, as investors looked away from the obvious beneficiaries of the ambitious housing plans. Here, we round up some of the biggest winners from the announcement. Estate Agents While housebuilders were the big losers on the day, many other companies involved in the housing chain benefited. That included estate agents and Foxtons (FOXT) was one of the FTSE All Shares biggest risers at over 6%. Countrywide Properties (CWD) was also up over 3%. Hammond said he wanted to make the dream of home ownership a reality once again. He brought in measures to do so, including a pledge to build 300,000 new homes on average per year by the mid-2020s. He abolished stamp duty altogether for all first-time buyers purchasing properties worth up to 300,000, including on the first 300,000 on the purchase price of properties up to 500,000. That would be a stamp duty cut for 95% of all first-time buyers who pay stamp duty and no stamp duty at all for 80% of first-time buyers, he claimed. George Salmon, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said the market is betting that giving first time buyers a helping hand will help transaction numbers pick up from the depressed levels weve seen so far this year. Building Materials Producers Following on from the housing theme, companies that provide materials for the production of new houses will also benefit should more homes get built. The commitment to greater volumes is an important positive for the materials suppliers, says Anthony Lynch, manager of the JPM UK Equity Core fund. He names brick makers Forterra (FORT) and Ibstock (IBST) and underfloor heating manufacturer Polypipe (PLP) as three beneficiaries. Paul Spencer, manager of the Morningstar Silver rated Franklin UK Mid Cap fund, also likes Ibstock, which is the biggest brick maker in the country. He says the firm might be in a very strong position should we get anywhere near the 300,000 target for new homes. It looks a very sensible place to be invested, he says. Automotives While the Chancellor gave driverless vehicles a passing mention, the focus is first and foremost on electric vehicles. Hammond confirmed 500 million in funding for both sectors, with four-fifths of that to be spent on improving the electric charging infrastructure. Neil Brown, co-manager of the Liontrust Sustainable Investment team, says some of the smaller players are likely to benefit, like German firm Infineon Technologies (IFX) and French company Valeo (FR). They make chips for core components of driverless cars like camera, sensors and on-board computers. On average, there is 230 of semi-conductor content in a traditional internal combustion engine car but this trebles to around 700 for a fully electric vehicle, he explains. Other Sectors Colin Morton, manager of the Franklin UK Equity Income fund, doesnt think other measures are likely to have meaningful impacts on most listed equities. However, there will be some that benefit. Tech start-ups will be boosted by improved funding. While theres to be a crackdown on so-called white ciders, smaller pub and restaurant firms will see positives from a freeze on duties associated with other ciders, wines, spirits and beer. A further 2.3 billion of investment will be allocated for research & development (R&D) and, alongside a tick up in the main R&D tax credit from 11% to 12% is also good news. The need for the UK to position itself as a major centre for global R&D has never been more important, says Mark Tighe, CEO of R&D tax specialist Catax. Areas such as digital healthcare, automation, cyber security and data analytics will all benefit, according to Patrick Reeve, managing partner at Albion Capital. Broker Financial Group and Real Mortgage Associates have joined forces and expect 2018 to be the year they take the industry by storm.Under the banner of Broker ONE, the two networks are streamlining their services, as well as the rewards reaped by their brokers, who will enjoy greater revenue share. According to Joe Rosati, Broker ONEs CEO, the new model will benefit brokers with all the advantages that come with belonging to a national organization, however, theyll still retain their autonomy.He also says that since Broker Financial Group purchased Real Mortgage Associates in September 2016, the company has been building strong offerings in home and auto insurance, as well as robust streams of lead generation.Were building lead generation with Property Guys and now HomeProof, and it will all be under the Broker ONE banner, Rosati told Mortgagebrokernews.ca. At the end of the month, well launch Auto Loans, which will also be under the Broker ONE banner for our affiliates.Broker ONE is launching at a trepid time for the Canadian mortgage industry. Guideline B20 takes effect January 1, and many industry professionals feel like business will suffer. However, Broker Financial Group President Jason Singhwho will also be Chair of Broker ONEsees an opportunity.For starters, with the new regulations, customers will need more guidance now than ever, he says. He also expects a pronounced shift into private lending.No matter what, Canadians are always in need of mortgage brokers, and I strongly feel theyre in need of mortgage brokers now more than ever, said Singh. Clients will need advice and theres going to be a lot of movement from the A side to the B side and into the private side. Clients are going to need a lot of advice about that and theyll need to be put in the right hands for those situations, because there are always some lenders that have more fees and restrictions than others. Theyll need us there.Broker ONE is already adapting to the looming landscape. Plans are in the works to establishing white label programs, among other things.I totally see a demand and a huge opening on the B side, continued Singh. In terms of B and private money, we need to have access to private money, so were creating white label programs on the A side and B side, and on the private lending side.Singh says technology has always figured prominently for the network, but it will become more fine-tuned under the Broker ONE banner.When we started Broker Financial Group, technology was always first. Weve been utilizing Scarlett for the last year and a half, and weve customized Scarlett to an actual science. Weve integrated technology for our renewals and weve incorporated multiple automations into our technology, which has become a one-stop shop. Our independent broker partners will have access to our technology to run their brokerages.Technology has always been at the forefront of our business plan for our mortgage agents, mortgage brokers and head office. Without automation well be lost. While the OSFIs decision to tighten insured mortgage lending qualifications by stress-testing applicants at the 5-year posted mortgage rate (rather than the contract rate) appears to be necessary to cool down outsized price growth, Dr. Sherry Cooper of the Dominion Lending Centres observed that the overall risks to the national financial system remain manageable.With so much attention paid to the imprudent borrower, I think it is important to note that the vast majority of Canadians manage their finances in a responsible manner, Cooper wrote in her latest analysis posted on the DLC s online portal.For example, roughly 40% of homeowners are mortgage-free and one-third of all households are totally debt-free. Another 25% of households have less than $25,000 in debt, so 58% of Canadian households are nearly debt free. Hence, mortgage delinquency rates are extremely low, Cooper explained.In addition, two-thirds of outstanding mortgages are fixed rate, which mitigates the risk of rising mortgage rates over the near term.Read more: Mortgage borrowers at risk of payment shock after BOCs rate hikes This is despite housing no longer being the strongest driver of growth in the national economy.It has been widely expected that home sales would jump before yearend in advance of the new ruling and indeed they have. Even so, activity remains well below peak levels earlier this year and prices continue to fall in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) for the sixth consecutive month. Indeed, national home sales were down 8.6% year-over-year in October, led by a whopping 18.4% plunge in Ontario, Cooper stated.National sales momentum is positive heading toward year-end, according to CREA chief economist Gregory Klump. It remains to be seen whether that momentum can continue once the recently announced stress test takes effect beginning on New Years day. The stress test is designed to curtail growth in mortgage debt. If it works as intended, Canadian economic growth may slow by more than currently expected. The government announced Wednesday a 10-year, $40 billion National Housing Strategy aimed at improving housing affordability for Canadians. Everyone deserves a safe and affordable place to call home. Canadas first ever National Housing Strategy is a once-in-a-generation vision to reduce homelessness, support community housing and shelter spaces, and address challenges of housing affordability, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement. We took a major step forward on housing today, and we will continue to deliver initiatives that strengthen the middle class and lift more Canadians out of poverty. The National Housing Strategy is aimed at helping Canadas most vulnerable citizens meet their housing needs. The national plan, which is the first of its kind, aims to reduce chronic homelessness by 50%. It also aims to remove 530,000 households from housing need; quadruple the number of federal housing units built under federal programs; repair three times as many existing units under the same programs; and protect an additional 385,000 households from losing an affordable place to live. As part of the $40 billion investment, the federal government will work with provinces and territories to develop a $4 billion Canada Housing Benefit, to be launched in 2020, which will address local housing needs. The investment in the National Housing Strategy also includes; $15.9 billion for a new National Housing Co-Investment Fund, $8.6 billion for a new Canada Community Housing Initiative, $2.2 billion to reduce homelessness, $300 million to address housing needs in the north, and $241 million for research and data. Our Government is establishing a federal leadership role in housing, Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development and Minister Responsible for CMHC, said. The National Housing Strategy will create a new generation of housing in Canada. It will promote diverse communities and will build housing that is sustainable, accessible, mixed-income and mixed-use that will be located near transit, work and public services. Real estate is at a ten year high, according to one veteran, and set for a slight correction. This one mortgage segment will benefit, though. Ten years removed from the great recession, home prices are the up and alarm bells are being rung in certain hot markets. In particular, four of the countrys largest cities are seeing price growth thats being viewed as unsustainable: Washington DC, Miami, Houston, and Denver. "With no end to the escalation in sight, affordability is rapidly deteriorating nationally," Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic, said. "While low mortgage rates are keeping the market affordable from a monthly payment perspective, affordability will likely become a much bigger challenge in the years ahead until the industry resolves the housing supply challenge." Read more: Why arent homeowners selling? According to Core Logics most recent report, the four aforementioned cities comprise 40% of the countrys largest markets. That has some industry players worried that a correction might be in the offing. However, one veteran who specializes in fix-and-flip mortgages argues that segment will benefit if and when home prices correct. MILWAUKEE A Wisconsin kindergartener is among the first youngsters to bag a buck under a new law that eliminates the state's minimum hunting age. Lexie Harris, 6, is no stranger to the woods. Her dad, Tyler Harris, has taken her along on his hunts since she was 3. But, it wasn't until Gov. Scott Walker signed the new law on Nov. 12 that Lexie could legally shoot a deer. Until then, a state resident had to be 12 years old to purchase a hunting license or hunt with a gun. Children as young as 10 could participate in the mentored hunt program. The new law lets anyone of any age participate in a mentored hunt and the mentor and student are each allowed carry their own weapon. Harris bought his daughter a youth rifle, which is easier for her to handle and less powerful and has taken her to the shooting range to practice. He also attached a smartphone to the gun scope to make it easier to train the firearm on her target. The two headed out Sunday to the woods near their rural Medford home in Taylor County, about 230 miles northwest of Milwaukee, where Harris has built a heated hunting enclosure. Harris carried his daughter's gun. They saw several deer during their time in the wooded shelter, but waited for the one that would provide a good shot, Harris said. Soon, a six-point buck strolled into their view. Harris helped his daughter set up for a shot. "She was shaking," Harris said. He told her she could take a shot, but only if she wanted to. Lexie pulled the trigger and the buck was hit. The two tracked a blood trail to the carcass not far away. '"She looked at me right away and said, 'I'm not gutting it because that's gross,'" Harris said. So, he field dressed the deer and hauled the carcass out of the woods. Lexie's grandmother, Karen Zubke, said she's glad her son believes his child doesn't have to be a boy to hunt. "He beams," Zubke said describing her son. "He's so proud of her." After a Border Patrol agent died and another was injured on Saturday in West Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott offered a $20,000 reward for tips about the "murder," U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz bemoaned the "ongoing threat that an unsecure border poses," and President Donald Trump took to Twitter to push for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. "We will seek out and bring to justice those responsible. We will, and must, build the Wall!" Trump wrote. But the Border Patrol agents might not have been attacked after all. A federal official told the Associated Press that they may have instead fallen down a 14-foot culvert near Interstate 10 in Van Horn, and the Culberson County sheriff told The Dallas Morning News that investigators are looking into whether it was an accident. The agent who died was Rogelio Martinez, 36. The second agent has not been named but reportedly has no memory of the incident. Abbott did not immediately respond to an inquiry about whether he will rescind the reward offer. Although investigators have not offered details on the incident, the Border Patrol Council, the union for agents, has insisted that it was an attack. After reports emerged Tuesday questioning that narrative, union spokesman Chris Cabrera did not back down. "My thought on this is there's no way a fall from where they were at would have been consistent with the injuries they had. Their heads were beaten pretty badly with rocks or stones," Cabrera told the American-Statesman. "For anybody to speculate and say that it was an accident, I can't begin to think what they're thinking. I don't know what the purpose is." Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. GET OUR APP Our Spectrum News app is the most convenient way to get the stories that matter to you. Download it here. SAN ANGELO Wayland Baptist University alums Dr. Robert and Mrs. Janet Butler Sartain celebrated the dedication of a new scholarship on Tuesday at a luncheon at Buckner Retirement Center in San Angelo. Surrounded by friends from their Sunday school class and the retirement center where the couple has lived for several years, the Sartains were honored by Wayland development staff for the gift that will help make education accessible for math majors or minors at WBU. Dr. Sartain served as a math professor at Wayland for 11 years as well as 30 years at sister Baptist institution Howard Payne University and four at Houston Baptist. Jan has been a pianist and organist for many years at churches throughout their various residences. HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) The lawyer for a former Connecticut college student accused of smearing body fluids on her roommate's belongings says he doesn't expect authorities to file hate crime charges. Attorney Tom Stevens' comments came Tuesday after former University of Hartford student Brianna Brochu appeared in court. The 18-year-old Harwinton resident is charged with misdemeanor criminal mischief and breach of peace. Police say Brochu, who is white, wrote on Instagram about rubbing used tampons on her black roommate's backpack and putting her roommate's toothbrush "where the sun doesn't shine." Her roommate said she developed throat pain. The state NAACP and other groups are demanding felony hate crime charges. Prosecutors did not immediately return a call for comment. Brochu told the Republican-American newspaper she acted foolishly, but isn't racist. Her case was continued to Dec. 18. A San Francisco federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to hold immediate hearings for undocumented teenagers who were living with relatives or friends in the United States when they were arrested in gang sweeps and sent to lockups in distant states. The government previously found that the youths were not dangerous, a determination that allowed them to stay with a family member or other sponsor while awaiting deportation proceedings. Now the government must show that something has changed to justify their continued detention, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria said Monday. Otherwise, he said, they must be released. When the federal government has previously deemed an unaccompanied minor suitable for placement in the community with a sponsor, and when federal agents later arrest and detain the minor based on allegations of gang affiliation, the government cannot simply ship the minor across the country and place him in a secure detention facility for an indefinite period, Chhabria said. The nationwide order currently applies to 16 teenagers in government custody, but that number is likely to grow. Chhabria said a government memo reported 58 beds now available, and a need for more, to hold undocumented minors in ongoing sweeps of alleged gang members. His ruling requires immigration courts to hold a hearing within seven days of an arrest and determine whether a youth poses a danger to the community or is likely to flee if released. Those already in custody are entitled to hearings by next Wednesday. These boys were torn from their families, said Julia Harumi Mass, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union in San Francisco, which represents the youths. The Trump administration wrongfully denied them any opportunity to respond to the charges against them. She said immigration officials have accused some of the youths of having gang affiliations because a police officer reports that they wear a certain color shirt or visit a pizza parlor frequented by a known gang member. Chhabria, too, said the government has based some of its gang allegations on sketchy evidence. Some of the youths have been locked up for five months, and could have been held indefinitely had the courts not intervened, said Bill Freeman, another ACLU attorney. Although the youths entered the country without legal documentation, Freeman said, federal law allows a minor to remain in the United States if he or she had been abandoned, abused or neglected by a parent in the youths homeland, and if a state court determines that deportation would not be in the youths best interest. They can also seek political asylum if they would face persecution in their home country. The Department of Homeland Security declined to comment on the ruling. The lead plaintiff, identified as A.H., fled an abusive father in Honduras and entered the U.S. by himself in 2015. The U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement held him for a month, then released him to live with his mother on Long Island, N.Y., for the duration of proceedings that will determine if he can remain in the country. A.H. was arrested on a street near his mothers home in June during Operation Matador, a raid by immigration agents targeting undocumented youths suspected of gang membership. Early the next morning he was flown across the country to California, to the Yolo County Juvenile Detention Facility in Woodland, where he was placed in high security. A.H. since has been transferred to a medium-security facility in New York state. All criminal charges against him have been dismissed. His lawsuit, a class action on behalf of other youths in immigration custody, was heard in San Francisco because the official overseeing the governments contract with the Yolo County facility is based here. Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Like a pack of teenagers showing up to a party uninvited, about 20 wild turkeys swing by the home of Anthony and Holly Blackburn in Martinez on a daily basis. They scratch through the landscaping, kicking up the mulch and pushing it onto the street. They poop all over the driveway and front porch and generally make a mess. I like watching them on the hill across the street, scratching and pecking, and even occasionally napping, Anthony Blackburn said. But he added, My wife gets irritated because she cleans up after them. People in Bay Area suburbs have plenty of chances to decide whether wild turkeys are a nuisance or a charming addition to the landscape, especially in the East Bay, where the birds are thriving. The state Department of Fish and Wildlife doesnt track the population, but biologists believe the number of birds is increasing. And people like the Blackburns are sure of it. Turkeys arent native to California. Farm-raised birds were released into the wild by the state fish and wildlife agency in the first half of the 20th century to raise money through hunting-license sales. For years the population remained stagnant, probably because the domesticated turkeys lacked survival skills. Then, in 1959, the agency began introducing wild turkeys trapped out of state. It did that for 40 years, and these more durable birds have prospered. As of a decade ago, the state estimated that 250,000 turkeys were roaming wild in California. Theyre a species we dont spend a whole lot of time researching, said Greg Martinelli, a program manager with the Bay-Delta office of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. Their populations have been expanding, mainly in the urban areas and rural areas, especially around vineyards. Officials dont track where the turkeys are centered. But anecdotally, the East Bay is a hotbed of birds. I grew up in the Oakland hills and I never saw a turkey in the hills as a child, but now when I go back home I see turkeys quite often, said Peter Tira, a spokesman for Fish and Wildlife. We are teeming with them out here, said Aimee Grove of Lafayette. When turkeys become a nuisance, landowners can apply to Fish and Wildlife for a depredation permit to kill birds, usually with a pellet gun or archery equipment. The agency used to issue about 40 such permits a year in Contra Costa County, but in 2013 the total spiked to 60. It has remained around there since, Martinelli said. By comparison, only one depredation permit has been issued over the past two years in both Marin and San Mateo counties. Martinelli noted that the turkeys have few natural predators in the suburbs, and said they may have found well-watered neighborhoods to their liking as the hills dried up during the recent multiyear drought. The birds were utilizing and taking advantage of the irrigated areas, he said. And many people find them anything but a nuisance. Wild turkeys are guaranteed traffic stoppers. The neighborhood embraces them, Darlene Devon Andrade of Concord wrote in a Facebook post. We are all very careful when driving and let them roam freely in our streets and yards so they can eat and be happy! But some residents complain of birds digging up landscaping, ripping screen doors and pool covers, tearing shingles off roofs, frightening dogs and young children and defecating all over the place. Male mating birds are territorial and have been known to scratch at cars when they spot their reflection. These turkeys weigh like 20 pounds and they know how to defend themselves, said Dan Gluesenkamp, executive director of the California Native Plant Society. There are tons of stories about peoples brand new Mercedes getting torn up by 20-pound toms who are looking at their reflections. When turkeys wreak havoc in an East Bay neighborhood, John Krause, the state Fish and Wildlife biologist for Contra Costa, Alameda and Marin counties, usually knows about it. Krause fields turkey complaints and requests for depredation permits. The first question we ask is, Do you know anyone in the neighborhood who is deliberately feeding them? Krause said. Almost always theres someone who is dumping a bucket of corn out for them. Deliberate feeding attracts a nuisance. Before issuing a permit, Krause advises homeowners to haze and harass birds with loud noises and stop-motion sprinklers. If theres nothing to disturb them when they come into the yard, then they grow to be comfortable, and theyre going to keep coming back, he said. Gluesenkamp said he worries that the spread of wild turkeys is disrupting the natural environment, and says the California Native Plant Society is keeping a close eye on the birds. Theyre filter feeders, he said. They move across the landscape, 20 or 30 of them, elbow to elbow, scratching every inch of the land. Nothing escapes this line of turkeys filtering the landscape. They eat every creepy-crawly, every salamander, every lizard, every snake, every nut, every acorn, every wild flower seed, every quail egg. Glusenkamp added, Turkeys are really cool. Theyre incredible birds. And we love seeing turkeys. But there are just too many. Amy Graff is a news producer for SFGate. Email: agraff@sfgate.com. Twitter: @bayareamoms This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A Bexar County jury awarded $43.5 million to a Lytle woman injured in 2015 after her vehicle was rear-ended by an SUV driven by an employee of an oil field services company using a hands free cellphone immediately before the accident. Tuesdays jury verdict against JC Fodale Energy Services, a now-defunct oil field services company based in Shreveport, Louisiana, included $30 million in punitive damages. The employee, Mickey Hunt, was directed to pay $2.5 million in punitive damages. Personal injury lawyer Thomas J. Henry, who represents plaintiff Jenny Hennes, said the verdict sends a message to companies that they need to be responsible for developing and implementing policies addressing cellphone usage in vehicles. RELATED: Driver crushed to death in rollover crash at North Side H-E-B Now Playing: It looks like itas not just Teen drivers we need to worry about being distracted on the road, Parents do it to. Video: Brandpoint This case really represents setting a standard for companies and people making sure theyre not using their cellphones (while) driving, Henry said in a phone interview Wednesday. He cited studies that show the impairment level of talking on a cellphone while driving is the same as having a blood alcohol level of 0.08 considered to be legally intoxicated in Texas. JC Fodale and Hunt will appeal the verdict, according to their lawyer, Brian Cano of Houston. I just dont think this verdict is going to stand, Cano said. We think this thing will probably end up getting retried. We didnt agree with some of the things that went on in the trial court. State District Judge Stephani Walsh presided over the trial, which started Nov. 6. Just how much Hennes will be able to collect if the verdict stands isnt clear. JC Fodale filed for Chapter 7 liquidation in February 2016, though Henrys firm indicated in a bankruptcy court filing that they would not pursue any claims against the companys bankruptcy estate. That leaves the firm to pursue JC Fodales insurance coverage. Cano didnt know the amount of JC Fodales insurance coverage, but Henry said its about $30 million. Hennes suffered neck, back and shoulder injuries as a result of the wreck and likely will have trouble obtaining employment, according to Henry. RELATED: 3 suspects at large, 1 detained after police chase through Bexar County Hennes was driving a 2009 Cadillac STS in stop-and-go traffic on I-35 in San Antonio when she was rear-ended by a 2012 GMC Yukon driven by Hunt, according to a court filing. The SUV was owned by JC Fodale. Jurors were told that Hunt had texted more than 2,000 times while he was driving in the five-month period leading up to the wreck, Henry said. He described Hunt as a company executive in charge of safety, which Hunt disputed. He had been in a phone conversation for two minutes just before the incident and he had been texting within four minutes before that, Henry said. Henry said they discovered JC Fodale had numerous different cellphone policies while driving for both executives and nonexecutives. Jurors decided the wreck was caused by the companys lack of safety management and Hunts failure to drive carefully, according to Henry. There are many companies now, Fortune 500 companies, that have 100 percent cellphone bans, which is great because it protects all of us, Henry said. The jury verdict included almost $7.3 million for physical pain and mental anguish, $2.9 million for physical impairment, almost $1.3 million for medical expenses and $1.1 million for loss of past and future earnings. READ MORE: Driver allegedly told police he was texting when he hit man at San Antonio bus stop and then fled pdanner@express-news.net, News researcher Misty Harris contributed to this report. This week, as American families carve into an estimated 45 million turkeys, a very, very small fraction with very, very expensive tastes will share a rare and much-praised heritage turkey. Unlike the commercial breed-the Broad Breasted White, selectively bred for an extremely ample bosom-heritage birds are smaller, grow slower, and boast more robust flavor. Their lineage dates to the 1800s, and unlike their industrially farmed cousins, they can and do reproduce naturally. Gourmands are seeking out and spending $10 per pound and up for pedigreed turkeys even as choices in the turkey aisle seem to expand every year, from the Butterball to antibiotic-free, to free-range, to organic-all of which are the Broad Breasted Whites. Shoppers cite better animal welfare enjoyed by breeds not hobbled by giant breasts, the need for biodiversity and (not least) flavor. Experts pose a warning: Beware of impostors. Were faced with the issue that we knew was coming-fake heritage turkeys, said Roger Mastrude, founder of the Heritage Turkey Foundation. Allegations of fakery range from partial - probably heritage birds that lack proper American Poultry Association (APA) certification -- to intentionally misleading marketing ploys such as the term heirloom. Two years ago the APA, the countrys oldest livestock organization, started certifying breeder flocks as standard bred if they met the bodys standards of perfection for any of its eight recognized breeds, including Standard Bronze and Narragansett. Licensed flock inspectors check for physical requirements, such as weight, and ascertain that no more than 2 percent of the birds have such growth defects as a deformed back or crooked keel bone that would affect market value. Only two farmers have passed muster. APA is the only organization in America whose endorsement means anything, said Patrick Martins of Heritage Foods USA, which sells meats from old breeds of livestock in an effort to conserve them. He buys every bird that Frank Reese of Good Shepherd Poultry Ranch in Lindsborg, Kansas, will sell him, which Reese estimates will be about 7,000 this year. The second APA-certified flock is raised by Michelle Oswald of Old Time Farm, who sold 30 birds this year in Pittsburgh farmers markets. We only buy from Frank because hes the only one were sure has 100 percent heritage genetics, Martins said. The largest option, 20 to 22 pounds, is currently selling online for $219. Last Thanksgiving, the average turkey cost $1.42 per pound. Use of the word heritage, however, has been popular for more than a decade, and many retailers sell birds under the label. Neither Martins nor the APA assert that only APA-certified birds are heritage, just that its the only way to know for sure. For example, DArtagnan, a purveyor of high-end and rare meats, sells the Standard Bronze and Bourbon Red breeds, with the larger, 12-pound birds listed at $214.99. Chief Executive Officer Ariane Daguin said the turkeys are not APA-certified but come through privileged partnerships with farmers in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. She agreed that the term is misappropriated at times but said APA certification is unnecessary: The Agriculture Department, which requires documentation for heritage poultry claims, has done a pretty good job there-and I dont say that often. But the word heritage has meaning only if it comes right before the word turkey, Daguin said. There are some people who sell turkeys from heritage farmers, and that doesnt mean anything. Whole Foods sells non-APA certified heritage turkeys, bought from two well-known and respected farms, White Oak Pastures and Pitman Family Farms, for around $6 per pound. More controversially, it also sells heirloom turkeys ($3 per pound) that are a mix of several breeds from the 1900s, including the non-APA-recognized American Bronze, a predecessor to the Broad Breasted White. The American Bronze is not as extreme in form as modern Frankenturkeys, the Heritage Turkey Foundations Mastrude said, but it was the first move toward them. Its all marketing techniques, APA President John Monaco said of the term heirloom. Diestel Farms, a Whole Foods heirloom supplier, says its birds taste better than heritage and are purposely labeled differently. If customers want a true heritage turkey, theyve got to buy something that says heritage on the label, farmer Heidi Diestel said. But we do think our American Heirloom Collection birds are really unique and delicious. Theo Weening, global meat coordinator and buyer at Whole Foods, defends the artificially inseminated heirlooms, saying they meet customer demand, are more active than Broad Breasted Whites and, like all Whole Foods meat, have Global Animal Partnership welfare ratings. With the heritage, Weening said, customers cook it, see black spots [from the feathers] and that there isnt a lot of white meat, and, in many cases, get disappointed. For customers seeking a true heritage turkey, even without the APA certification, experts offer several tips: Look for a bony breast and big, meaty legs on a small bird. If youre buying at a farmers market or from a small butcher that can name its supplier, ask the farmer how long it took to grow: Heritage birds take about six months, compared to three to four months for commercial varieties. And accept that the bird might not be 100 percent heritage-and that thats all right, too. Ten percent is still better than zero percent, Martins says. Its a move in the right direction. Non-heritage breeds reproduce only through artificial insemination. For Broad Breasted Whites, natural reproduction is physically impossible because the males large breasts prevent it from mounting females. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The jury began deliberating Tuesday in the trial of the man accused of killing Kate Steinle on a San Francisco pier, a case that thrust the city into a political firestorm over immigration enforcement. The jurors must decide whether 45-year-old Jose Ines Garcia Zarate intentionally and willfully fired a gun on Pier 14, as prosecutors allege, or whether Steinles death on July 1, 2015, was simply a tragic accident, as Garcia Zarates attorneys contend. The jurors went home Tuesday evening without reaching a verdict. Steinle was killed as she strolled with her father toward the far end of the pier by a bullet that ricocheted off the concrete ground and flew 78 feet into her back. Garcia Zarate, a homeless Mexican citizen with a history of nonviolent drug crimes and deportations, has admitted handling the weapon a .40-caliber Sig Sauer handgun that had been stolen four days earlier from the parked car of an off-duty federal ranger. He is facing charges of murder, being a felon in possession of a firearm and assault with a semiautomatic weapon in connection to the shooting. On Tuesday, Assistant District Attorney Diana Garcia asked jurors to find him guilty on all counts, saying the evidence supports the premeditation and implied malice required for a first-degree or second-degree murder conviction. She argued that Garcia Zarate brought the gun to the pier with the sole purpose of shooting it and causing harm. When the defendant fired that gun, he did it with a conscious disregard of every person on the pier that day, Garcia said. Attorney Matt Gonzalez disputed Garcias theory in his closing remarks. He has maintained during the five-week trial in the Hall of Justice that the defendant didnt bring the gun to the pier, but found it underneath a seat there wrapped in cloth. On Tuesday, Gonzalez pointed out that investigators were never able to find evidence of a motive and that it was unrealistic to believe that Steinle died because Garcia Zarate felt like killing that day. Youd have to believe that somebody with no history of firing a gun, that if this person were to find a gun, they would become a killer, he said. If thats the argument, are we to believe that if he were to find a knife, he would have wanted to stab someone? Garcia Zarate did not know he was grabbing a gun when he reached for the cloth bundle under his seat at the pier until it accidentally discharged, Gonzalez said. Prosecutors have long scoffed at this account, saying the pier was too crowded and open for a gun to go undiscovered until Garcia Zarate found it, but Gonzalez argued that a homeless person like Garcia Zarate would be more likely to pick up an object that had been discarded and investigate it. He picked up an object, Gonzalez said. He did not know its character. And it went off. Jurors can also consider the charge of involuntary manslaughter, which would require a finding that Garcia Zarates actions dont rise to the level of murder but that Steinles death was caused by his negligence. Before the shooting, Garcia Zarate had been on track for deportation after serving 46 months in prison for felony re-entry into the country. But he was transferred from federal custody to San Francisco on an old warrant, and when prosecutors discharged that case, the Sheriffs Department released him despite a federal request to hold him for deportation, relying on the sanctuary policies that restrict cooperation with immigration agents. San Francisco and California have stood by their sanctuary policies, with officials saying public safety is benefited when undocumented immigrants feel comfortable working with authorities. Vivian Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: vho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @VivianHo Ms. Truong My Hoa speaking at the meeting in Canberra (Photo: baotintuc.vn) The meeting was part of a working visit to Australia by Ms. Truong My Hoa, Head of the Vu A Dinh Scholarship Fund and the For beloved Hoang Sa - Truong Sa club, with the destinations of cities of Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide and Perth from October 30th to November 22nd to exchange information and meet overseas Vietnamese. Speaking at the meeting, Vietnamese Ambassador to Australia Ngo Huong Nam said that this was an opportunity for the overseas Vietnamese community, especially Vietnamese students in Australia, to know more about the Vu A Dinh Scholarship Fund and the For beloved Hoang Sa - Truong Sa club. At the event, the participants watched a documentary film and heard reports about activities of the Vu A Dinh scholarship fund and "For beloved Hoang Sa - Truong Sa" club over the past time. The real stories and lively, true videos about the difficult lives of ethnic minorities and fishermen in the coastal regions and islands; giving scholarship to students of ethnic minorities, in coastal regions and islands; visiting and presenting gifts to families of naval soldiers who bravely sacrificed while protecting the nations sacred territorial waters; organizing visits to soldiers and people on islands, especially Truong Sa Archipelago and DK1 frame house; caring for naval soldiers and fishermen protecting the sea and islands. Before the meeting in Canberra, Ms. Hoa visited and worked with the Consulates General of Vietnam in Sydney and Perth, OV people and students in Brisbane and Adelaide. Speaking at the meetings, she always emphasized that the overseas Vietnamese in Australia were pioneers in movements of the Vu A Dinh Scholarship Fund and the For beloved Hoang Sa - Truong Sa club abroad. They actively participated in building two primary schools on Truong Sa Archipelago in the program "For beloved Truong Sa students" and join in the "For beloved Hoang Sa - Truong Sa" club. Apart from the contribution of AUD18,000, many overseas Vietnamese in the cities, especially Adelaide and Perth, also became members of the club. The former Vice President said that becoming members of the club and projects of the Vu A Dinh Scholarship Fund would open exchanges and help overseas Vietnamese further understand activities of the club and the fund. During the working visit to Australia, Ms. Hoa presented certificates of merit to organizations and individuals who have made outstanding contributions to movements of the Vu A Dinh Scholarship Fund and the "For beloved Hoang Sa - Truong Sa" club launched over the past year./. Note: This is an abbreviated version of the full Taste Test review, with a star rating based on multiple visits. Please see the complete version on our subscriber website at ExpressNews.com. In these thirsty times, I expect a good restaurant to have a strong bar. STAMFORD -- Police arrested a local 16-year-old male last week after fingerprint evidence allegedly tied him to a string of attempted burglaries in the Dolphin Cove area. Stamford Police Sgt. Sean Scanlan said the suspect broke into one home and attempted to break into four more within a 10-hour period in July. Some items were taken from one of the homes, Scanlan said, but none were of significant value. A year ago, in the days after the shock of learning that Donald Trump would be the next president, Charleen Ward was afraid. And come Sunday, she was in church. "I was really scared. I felt that things were going to be drastically changed for me as an African-American woman, as a gay woman," she said. "I needed to come after the election. I knew there would be many who felt the way I did. I needed to have that family support of the church." The pews were packed in churches across the country on the Sunday after the election, filled with Trump supporters giving thanks for the turning of a page in America, with stunned liberals seeking solace, and with many who simply felt compelled to be together in community in an emotional moment. Surely, the election didn't mark any sort of spiritual awakening in America. There's been no big turn in the tide of an increasingly secular younger generation. But there was a slight shift: In churches across America, some of the people who walked through the doors for the first time in many years on that Sunday after Election Day stuck around. In quiet ways in the past year, the church has changed them. And they have changed the church. That's apparent at St. Margaret's Episcopal Church in the District of Columbia, where Ward found community on that Sunday after the election. The church has so many new members - many of whom voice their commitment to progressive priorities loud and clear, but don't have quite as firm a grasp on church tradition - that the clergy just launched a series to teach them, over drinks, about the theology behind their social justice causes. "It comes out of the requests from our 20- and 30-somethings, who are kind of new to church. They're not new to advocacy. They're not new to activism," said the Rev. Richard Weinberg. "They have commitments. But they don't have the theological language and background." Average Sunday attendance jumped from 98 in the month leading up to Trump's inauguration to 122 in the following month, Weinberg said. "I would say that there is more of an energy and a commitment to the resistance movement. Young folks and not-young folks alike are coming." - - - It's a pattern echoed across the city and across the country, in congregations of many stripes. In many Jewish and Muslim congregations, some young people who didn't think much about their identities before drew closer to their communities in the face of rising anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. At All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church in the District, the Rev. Robert Hardies said that Sunday attendance is 33 percent higher this fall than it was before last year's election. The Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray, president of the Unitarian Universalist Association, said that's the case at most congregations across the country in the liberal Unitarian Universalist church. Her own church in Phoenix saw a 20 percent increase in Sunday attendance after the election. "A lot of people who are members but hadn't been attending regularly or hadn't attended in a while are all coming back to the community," she said. She thinks the stress of politics is driving women and immigrants in particular to church. "When people are afraid, when they're facing trauma, when they're in the midst of tremendous challenge and difficulty, they seek out communities that will support them," Frederick-Gray said. "They seek out religious community. And I believe people are experiencing trauma in this political environment." When The Washington Post asked women who participated in the January Women's March to write in about what actions they've taken since Trump's inauguration, at least a dozen mentioned getting more involved in a church. "At this time in our lives, this whole political climate is so distressing, a bit frightening, and so un-Christian to me that it is heartbreaking. So many people profess to believe in God but speak and act in ways that Jesus would never condone," wrote Tami Garrow, 57, of Yuma, Arizona. "I just don't get it. At all. . . . So I go to church, write my elected officials, send money, pray, and try to figure out how to be relevant in a world that suddenly feels a bit foreign to me." Many mainline Protestant churches, as well as mosques and synagogues, have redoubled their social action activities, attracting new members who want a place to get involved. Church committees across the country have been busy hosting rallies about climate change and racism, writing and calling legislators about health care and taxes, and offering direct aid to refugees and immigrants. "I hear that constantly from pastors, that they've seen an uptick in attendance post-election," said the Rev. Jennifer Butler, who chaired a White House faith council during the Obama administration and now leads the liberal organization Faith in Public Life. "I think what's helping is that there's also a larger public witness of, I guess you would call it, 'progressive religion' - which I think has given people some comfort and some feeling of confidence in the church, that the church is going to practice what it preaches," Butler said. - - - At St. Margaret's, members have joined some of the protest marches and have reached out to Muslim and Jewish leaders to show solidarity. But often the volunteer opportunities are less obviously political, like serving meals to hungry neighbors. Jade Williams, 27, has started going to St. Margaret's on both Thursdays and Sundays to serve meals and chat with the homeless guests. She came to the church recently, soon after she moved from the Bahamas to the District to work for the Bahamian Embassy here and spotted a sign on the church's door. It matches many of the yard signs that sprang up in the District after the election: "Black Lives Matter . . . Love is Love, Science is Real." But it ends with an additional line: "God's Grace is Everything." "That's what drew me there and really keeps me there," she said about the sign. Recently, Williams had a harrowing experience that left her grateful for the church. She, her husband and relatives went to the Jefferson Memorial to take family photos and were shocked when a group of about 20 protesters, in town for a white nationalist demonstration, started taunting the family. "Growing up, I went to a Catholic school. One of the songs we used to sing when we went to Mass in the morning, that's what's been on my mind these last few weeks - 'They'll Know We Are Christians by Our Love,' " she said. "I think that relationship with the church home is incredibly significant and important to me, after that occurred," Williams said. "It made me appreciate the work that St. Margaret's is doing, its message. Every single message every Sunday morning has a social justice theme." On a recent Sunday, as the first anniversary of the election approached, Weinberg was the one delivering that message. He spoke of finding a message of liberation in that week's Bible passage, from the Book of Revelation. "That indeed is a good-news message, but . . . consider how each of us is called to the service of liberating work and faithful resistance in the face of injustice," he preached, naming rallies and marches as part of that work. "For those who have fled their homes and found little welcome in the xenophobic West, liberation is coming. . . . For those who work so many damn jobs and still can't make ends meet, liberation is coming. . . . For our suffering planet, liberation is coming." Then the Rev. Kym Lucas explained Communion and the collection - taking care to demystify the rituals for those who are new to church services - and a member of the congregation made an announcement. A year ago, that church member was brand-new herself. "I was so completely devastated by the election," said the 40-year-old mother, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she works for the federal government and doesn't want her name published. "I wanted to come to a place where I could start to put together what had happened in a way that wasn't just the political horse race but was about my values and my beliefs." She was raised in the Catholic Church, and while she hadn't attended a church in many years, she says her liberal political beliefs are very much rooted in her religious faith. After Trump won, she wanted to practice that tradition again. Now, she and her daughter are regular churchgoers, and she says the sermons have challenged her to think more deeply about her charitable donations. Lucas describes the newcomers, like that federal employee, as "seekers." Many of them are looking for a community to spur them to action, but also simply for solace. "For a lot of people there's been this sense of depression and sadness. We've had to remind ourselves that there is hope," Lucas said. That's what Ward, as a lesbian mother concerned about raising her 8-year-old daughter in Trump's America, felt she needed. "The last year has felt like a nightmare," she said. "The church really became a haven." One of the most controversial parts of the Senate Republican version of the tax bill is that it makes most tax cuts for businesses permanent, while the breaks for families and individuals go away after a few years. A change inserted in the bill the night before the Senate Finance Committee voted on it would make tax breaks even more generous for large corporations if more money comes in than expected. In a section titled "Revenue-Dependent Repeals," the Senate plan would prevent some tax hikes on businesses from going into effect in 2026 if tax revenue hits a certain "trigger" level. In total, businesses would get nearly $120 billion more in breaks in 2026 and 2027 if the trigger goes into effect. Republicans say it's a sign of fiscal responsibility. The additional corporate tax cuts only kick in if the government is bringing in more money than expected. But Democrats say it's another indication of how the bill is slanted in favor of multinational corporations. Instead of using any extra money to help the middle class - who would lose their tax cuts entirely in 2026 - any additional revenue is used to aid businesses. "Corporations would get another $79 billion in tax cuts in 2027. That's before Republicans would devote a single dollar to protect low- and moderate-income households from the tax increases they would face under this bill," says Chye-Ching Huang, deputy director of federal tax policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a left-leaning think tank. The provision was inserted in the bill by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah, at the same time that he included the repeal of the individual mandate that requires most Americans to buy health insurance or pay a penalty. The Congressional Budget Office predicts that 13 million people will lose their health insurance if the bill goes into effect. The trigger provision was at the back of the list of changes and received almost no attention until Huang and David Kamin, a tax law professor at New York University who previously worked in the Obama administration, blogged about it Wednesday. "This is a one-sided bet, a one-sided giveaway to business," says Kamin, who says he thinks Republicans were likely trying to hide it. A senior GOP aide on the Senate Finance Committee who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share details of behind-the-scenes negotiations said the triggers are meant to be a "fail-safe" to "ensure that corporations are subject to tax hikes" to fill any revenue gaps. In other words, if revenue falls short, businesses would end up paying $120 billion in taxes those years, not getting a discount. But if the trigger does go into effect, corporations would get all the benefits. They would be able to take larger deductions for operating losses, research and meals for employees. They also wouldn't have to pay such high taxes on income earned abroad in low-tax countries. The Senate bill includes many protections to try to stop big companies from paying lower taxes by shifting their profits and intellectual property (IP) overseas. If the triggers kick in, some of those guardrails are weakened. Republicans argue that if tax receipts are strong by 2026 because the tax cuts are working, it would be wise to lower the burden on businesses. But Huang says "it's another signal as to who is going to get taken care of first" by Republicans. For the trigger to kick in, federal government revenue would need to come in about $1 trillion ahead over the nine-year period from 2018 through 2026, or about $110 billion higher per year. That still would not be enough to cover the full cost of the tax cuts, but it would be slightly higher than Congress' official estimators are predicting. While the vast majority of economists do not believe the tax cuts will generate that much additional government revenue, it's possible that other factors could result in higher government revenue. One sticking point is whether this trigger provision will even be allowed to stay in the bill. Republicans are trying to pass the bill under a process known as reconciliation, which only requires a simple majority of senators to vote yes instead of 60 senators like most bills done under "regular order." But using reconciliation means the bill most satisfy the "Byrd Rule," says the bill cannot add to the deficit after a decade. In the past, triggers have typically not been allowed because they make it very difficult to determine whether a bill violates the Byrd Rule. The Senate parliamentarian, the official rule keeper, will have final say on whether the trigger is allowed this time. There is no trigger in the bill to raise additional revenue if government receipts fall substantially short of projections. On Nov. 16, Anita Hill sat down at The Washington Post offices with five current and former Democratic lawmakers: Nita Lowey of New York, Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, Eleanor Holmes Norton of the District of Columbia, Pat Schroeder of Colorado and Louise Slaughter of New York - all allies of Hill during her historic appearance at the confirmation hearings for U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas in 1991. Hill, now a professor of legal history and public policy at Brandeis University in Massachusetts, alleged at the time that Thomas had sexually harassed her when she was in her mid-20s and worked for him at the Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The five female lawmakers were part of a larger group of members of Congress who prevailed on their colleagues - including Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Joe Biden, D-Del. - to allow Hill to testify. Millions of Americans watched on television as the all-white, all-male panel questioned Hill with prosecutorial zeal. Thomas denied the allegations and called the proceedings "a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks." He was confirmed 52-48. Now, in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein sexual-assault scandal, Biden has faced renewed scrutiny over Hill's treatment during the 1991 hearings. At an event hosted by Glamour magazine on Nov. 13, he said he was "so sorry" for what she went through. A few days later, at our gathering - which was set up for a forthcoming issue of The Washington Post Magazine, in which we're asking a number of political and cultural figures to revisit their roles in seminal Washington moments - Hill said "some part of" Biden's recent remarks was a real apology, "but I still don't think it takes ownership of his role in what happened." (In June, when we began setting up the meeting, we invited Biden, but he declined. On Nov. 20, he declined to comment on Hill's statement. Thomas declined to comment as well.) Over the course of a 90-minute conversation moderated by Post reporter Libby Casey, Hill spoke about her experiences testifying, and the lawmakers talked about their advocacy for Hill. What follows is a transcript - condensed, edited, annotated and reordered for clarity - of the exchange. Mikulski, then in her first term as a Democratic senator from Maryland, picks up the story in June 1991. - - - Mikulski: So Thurgood Marshall resigns. George H.W. Bush nominates Thomas on July 1. We're in recess. It's a sleepy time. The Senate starts the hearings September 10. They're sleepy hearings, and Thomas is very evasive about equal protection under law - the gender aspects of the Civil Rights Act. So a lot of us began to have doubts about Thomas. The country first learned about Anita Hill's allegations on Oct. 6, when Newsday and NPR broke the story. Hill gave a televised news conference the next day. On Tuesday, Oct. 8, a group of women lawmakers started making one-minute speeches on the House floor demanding the Senate delay Thomas's confirmation. Then, Schroeder, Norton, Lowey, Slaughter, Jolene Unsoeld, D-Wash., Barbara Boxer (a congresswoman at the time and future Democratic senator from California) and the late Patsy Mink, D-Hawaii, decided to try something else. Schroeder: As I recall, a group of us walked in, and you know how you can do the one-minute speeches on the floor? So we each got up and we're doing them. And that then inspired us to go over to see the wonderful Senate, because they were having lunch as they always do on Tuesday. So we marched over there to go see them, because we were dumbfounded. Norton: It was so spontaneous. - - - A photographer captured several of the congresswomen marching up the steps of the Capitol on their way to try to speak to Senate Democrats at their caucus lunch. Casey: So this is such an iconic photo for so many people - all of the women marching. Slaughter: We think it's sort of like Iwo Jima. [laughter] Casey: Why? Slaughter: Because we weren't going to be turned. Schroeder: Storming it. Slaughter: We were not going to give up on this. We knocked on the door. Lowey: They did not let us in. They were so rude. Schroeder: We were literally told that they didn't let strangers in. Mikulski: I'm the only Democratic woman in the Senate. I didn't know they were marching over. There's George Mitchell, our Democratic leader, and somebody hands him a note and he says there are congresswomen outside. They want to speak. I said let them in. Others were saying okay. Schroeder: Barbara, since we weren't in the room and you were, was there any discussion in the room about what was going on? Mikulski: The phones were beginning to ring. There was a sense that the whole process, if not spinning out of control, was getting very chaotic. My voice was, "You don't get this is really going to be big. You need to meet with the women. Slow down the damn process." There were others saying, "Yeah." - - - Mitchell agreed to meet with the lawmakers in his office. Slaughter: We didn't even sit down. We stood up in his office and made ourselves perfectly clear. He was pretty angry. Schroeder: He explained to us how it worked in the Senate and that you defer to your chairman, and we had a very fine chairman. Casey: In Senator Biden. Norton: And it shows the extent to which the Senate is a club, but it was a boys' club. Hill: Can I just say this about Senator Mitchell's approach? It may have been an opportunity to meet, but, throughout, what I found in the entire procedure was, "Let's triage." Let's control, let's keep things under control, under his control with the entire Senate and with the Judiciary Committee. It wasn't about, "Let's give an opportunity to be open and transparent." - - - Mitchell, the former Senate majority leader, now in private practice, responded in a written statement to the comments by Hill and the lawmakers. He wrote, in part: "Unknown to the House Members, early that morning Senator Biden had asked me to try to get the agreement to vote on [Thomas] that evening changed, to allow time for further hearings and for Ms. Hill to testify. I asked for such a change, but Republican senators refused. That's where things stood as of the time of my meeting with the House Members. I was careful in my response to them because it seemed unlikely that we could get a delay. As soon as the meeting concluded Senator Biden and I resumed our effort and spent the rest of the day working to devise and implement a strategy to obtain a delay. Ultimately we succeeded. The Republicans agreed to the delay and to further hearings." Casey: Professor Hill, did you have any idea that all of this was happening in Washington? Hill: No. I read the newspapers the next day and saw the photo. That was the first time I knew. I was sitting in Norman, Oklahoma, still waiting to find out what was going to happen in the next few days. Really the first real contact that I had with an elected official was a call from Biden saying that there was going to be a hearing. Slaughter: We'd never seen Anita until the hearing. Hill: I didn't just spring up in October. The Senate Judiciary Committee had been contacting me. Slaughter: When did they call you? Hill: They called the first time maybe as early as July. But certainly they had called by August. I didn't want to be part of some kind of fishing expedition with some vague question that they had asked me. And I said, "You've got to be more specific." And when they first called, I thought, "Well, there probably are other women and they should invest in pursuing these other women," because, you know, they didn't have any idea of what was going on. And they didn't really seem interested. They only seemed interested in pursuing me. And it was in August that they finally came forward and said, "Well, we understand that you had experienced this behavior." Norton: Who told them about you? Hill: I do not know. I said, "Okay, yes, I will respond to your questions, but I want an investigation." When the Senate Judiciary Committee started going to the press, they made the claims that I had called up anonymously. Schroeder: Oh, that's right! And they called you. Hill: I will say this: If it had been up to the Senate, I would not have even had a written statement. Because what they wanted to do was to use the FBI to do the investigation and then the FBI was going to report. And I said, "I will agree to an FBI interview, but I want to do my own statement." Norton: Did they say you couldn't? Hill: No, they didn't. But they certainly hadn't invited me to. So I wanted to be on the record. I wanted it to be in my words. I didn't want it to be filtered through the FBI. - - - Hill arrived in Washington on Wednesday, Oct. 9, and huddled with a small group of legal advisers - including Emma Jordan and Susan Deller Ross of Georgetown University and Charles Ogletree of Harvard - to prepare for the hearing. Hill: We understood that this was a big moment in terms of the issue of sexual harassment, but also we understood that there was a direct relationship between what I had to say and his competence and fitness to sit on the Supreme Court. You're talking about somebody who is going to be making decisions on these kinds of cases and who now has exhibited the same behavior that he's going to be judging. Norton: I was in the room with Professor Hill and some of her lawyers, and the reason I was in the room is because as chair of the EEOC I had promulgated the guidance. Before I came to the EEOC, it was not clear that sexual harassment was a violation of Title 7 of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. That guidance was subsequently confirmed by the Supreme Court. Hill: This was a big moment that I literally had one day to prepare for. I traveled one day. I got in from Oklahoma. I was mostly sequestered except for that day going into the conference room with these other attorneys. For a day it was just them sort of prepping me: "These are the kinds of questions that you can expect to be asked." There was some element of a trial that they prepared me for, but nothing like what was coming from the members of the committee - particularly Alan Simpson and Orrin Hatch and Arlen Specter in terms of the cross-examination. - - - On Friday, Oct. 11, Thomas testified first, followed by Hill. Thomas testified again that evening and the following day. Schroeder and Slaughter attended in person. The morning of Oct. 11, they were not sure whether Hill would testify and felt the process was being rushed. They spoke to Biden. Schroeder: We went to see Biden, because we were so frustrated by it. And he literally kind of pointed his finger and said, you don't understand how important one's word was in the Senate, that he had given his word to [Sen. John Danforth (R-Mo.), Thomas's chief sponsor] in the men's gym that this would be a very quick hearing, and he had to get it out before Columbus Day. Slaughter: We had a serious discussion that this had to happen. Schroeder: It was really, really ugly. - - - Danforth did not return messages seeking comment. According to Mikulski, the venue for Biden and Danforth's apparent agreement - the gym - played a notable role in the life of the Senate. Mikulski: Remember what gym you are talking about. You are talking about the United States Senate gym. Casey: Right. Mikulski: There are two women there. [Kansas Republican Nancy] Kassebaum and - do I look like a gym rat to you? [laughter] So the whole point of that is that's where they do a lot of their conversations. I never - I went to the gym once to look around. I felt like they were taking me to a gulag or something. Casey: It wasn't your place to hang out. Mikulski: That's the negative part. The other part is that's where they often do the bipartisan stuff. Casey: Okay, there can be some benefit there. - - - At the hearing, Hill sat alone at a table in front of a long row of white male senators. Hill: Even if somebody had been sitting at the table with me, nobody could speak but me, and the chairman was not controlling what was going on. So it was worse than being put on trial, because in a trial you've got legal protections. In the hearing, there was none of that. Casey [to the lawmakers]: Did you attend the hearing? Lowey: I found for me that is the memory I had that I will never forget, sitting there and looking at the faces of the men questioning. They were just blank faces I found. Casey: Were you surprised by the lack of Democrats on the panel providing that voice you were hoping for? Schroeder: Yes, we were. Absolutely. I mean we were just stunned at our [makes air quotes] liberals that were on the Judiciary Committee. Slaughter: I remember Alan Simpson talking about all that stuff coming across the transom in his office, some awful things about Anita. - - - Hatch did not return messages seeking comment. Simpson, a Republican from Wyoming who is now retired from the Senate, defended his role in the hearings in a phone call with The Washington Post. "If it was a trial, it was a good one, one by their own party," he said. Biden, he recalled, "did about the fairest job I can ever imagine" as chairman. Simpson said he sees a difference between Hill's claims and physical assault. "Not once, at any point, did he force himself upon her, did he try to kiss her, try to molest her, touch her physically - not once." However when asked if Hill's testimony described harassment, Simpson said, "To her it was. If that was sexual harassment to her, I don't know if it matters to anyone else. . . . And it opened the door to protection for women against sexual harassment." The former senator also said that he and Hill had since spoken and "made our peace." Responding to Slaughter's comment, he said, "Louise Slaughter has been after my tail for years! All those gals were doing it. They ripped into Biden, they ripped into me. It was a force." Casey: So that was a Republican senator. But also, the Democrats. Did you leave the hearings with a sense of feeling angry, feeling defeated, feeling confused even? Schroeder: I felt very angry, very confused. Mikulski: With the traditions of the Senate and the committee, Biden thought he was going to conduct a hearing, but the Republicans knew - led by Arlen Specter - that they were going to conduct a trial. And Professor Hill would be the one on trial. Schroeder: And they let them do it. Casey: I want to also mention the human element of this, too. Because the chairman kept changing the timing of when you would speak, your family wasn't even in the room when you began. They were outside, so you were really alone. You've talked about how telling the world this and experiencing it are two of the most difficult experiences of your life. Hill: Yes, it was the most difficult moment. Casey: You were saying things that would embarrass me to say to anyone, much less my mother. Hill: The day when we were preparing, they said, "You're going to have to be explicit." And the first thing that I thought of was my parents. They were 79 years old. They had lived their lives on this farm in Oklahoma. My father had never even been to Washington, D.C., and they didn't really know anything about this process. They were just good people who were getting sucked into this. I hadn't told them about my experience. And so when I told them that I was coming, I told them there are some things that you don't know and it's going to be difficult. But I have to say I was so proud of them. When they came into the room was the moment when I knew that I could do this because they never wavered. Mikulski: So you found it fortifying for them to be there? Hill: Absolutely. I knew they were going to be shocked and that they were going to be hurt that I had had to experience it. Not only the second time in the hearing but that I had had to go through this. I'm the youngest of 13 children. And so much of not only my parents but all of my older brothers and sisters, some of whom grew up in the Jim Crow South, they had to sort of put so much into me and my success and they believed that I had really made it. You don't want to tell them, "No, it's not wonderful." You want to sort of protect them from that, because they need to believe that all of their work was worth it. There were a whole lot of factors that went into making it not just a public hearing. I'll just say two things about that though. First of all, that public hearing would not have happened had it not been for these women in the room with me today. The other thing that I will say is that even though it was terrible to have a public hearing I am so glad it happened as a public hearing. Because I can only imagine what they would have done in private. Norton: If they had had an in-house hearing. Hill: Or even if they had never allowed me to speak at all, they could have attacked me, ruined my reputation. The story was already out there. Casey: And this way America got to see you. Hill: And at least they got to see me. So much of the strategy of the Republicans that unfortunately maybe Biden didn't see through - or just didn't feel empowered to control - was to control the amount of information that got out about me. I was told by Chairman Biden that I would speak first. And at the last minute that changed. Casey: And why is that significant in terms of the message? Hill: Because they wanted Clarence Thomas to do a preemptive strike against me. Norton: You are hearing the rebuttal before you hear the accusation. Hill: And no way is that ever appropriate in any kind of fair process. In fact, they were pushing to get me to release my statement even before I testified so that he could rebut it point by point even before the world saw me. That's the same thing that happened to the other witnesses. Angela Wright came forward to say, "The experience happened to me." Sukari Hardnett. Rose Jourdain. Three women who had worked at different times than I had at the EEOC came forward. Clarence Thomas was able to attack Angela Wright. Claimed that she was a disgruntled employee. She never even got to testify to defend herself. - - - Angela Wright, Rose Jourdain and Sukari Hardnett had also worked under Thomas at the EEOC. Wright said Thomas made inappropriate sexual comments to her and Jourdain corroborated Wright's account. In an affidavit, Hardnett said, "If you were young, black, female and reasonably attractive and worked directly for Clarence Thomas, you knew full well you were being inspected and auditioned as a female." Thomas during his testimony said he had fired Wright. The women's statements were entered into the record, but they were not called to testify. Slaughter: That was a terrible thing that the corroboration was not there. Hill: Well, I had the four witnesses that I had talked with at the time about the abuse. They did testify. Over the weekend, not in prime time. Casey: Were you all blown away by her ability to stay so calm? Schroeder: The Republicans were just so out of control. She was totally being fire-hosed and she was remaining totally calm. Norton: It seemed impossible that a young woman who had never been in the public eye could come before essentially the power structure of the Senate. Hill: And the presidency. Norton: Yes, and unwaveringly present her own case and say, "Take that." The room silenced when she finished speaking. Was hushed while she was speaking. - - - On Oct. 15, the Senate voted 52-48 to confirm Thomas to the Supreme Court. Casey: So, you know Mr. Biden just this week was asked at an event about his perspective on this and he said, "I believed Anita Hill. I voted against Clarence Thomas." And then he goes on to say, "The only issue in the Anita Hill case was whether or not there could be information submitted in a record without a name attached to it anonymously accusing someone of something," referring to other women. And he said that he's confident that Thomas did sexually harass Hill and "Anita Hill was victimized. There's no question in my mind." Does that make you all feel any better? Hill: You didn't read his full apology. He said, "I am sorry if she felt she didn't get a fair hearing." That's sort of an "I'm sorry if you were offended." Casey: "The message I have delivered before is that I'm sorry if she believes that. I'm so sorry that she had to go through what she went through." He also said, "Think of the courage that it took for her to come forward." Norton: Some of that is a real mea culpa. Hill: Some part of it. But I still don't think it takes ownership of his role in what happened. And he also doesn't understand that it wasn't just that I felt it was not fair. It was that women were looking to the Senate Judiciary Committee and his leadership to really open the way to have these kinds of hearings. They should have been using best practices to show leadership on this issue on behalf of women's equality. And they did just the opposite. Casey: So he says, "Anita Hill was victimized. There's no question in my mind," but I think the takeaway from a lot of women's groups and members of Congress was that the victimization may have been twofold. Many people think that the victimization continued when you had to undergo this hearing. Hill: Right. Casey: So you're not hearing an apology for that, though? Hill: Or responsibility for it. That's what I want to hear. Norton: Well, she needed to undergo the hearing. She needed to speak out, but this process - Hill: But you cannot just bring people forward into a process where you know they're not going to be treated fairly. That's not being heard. That's something that we are struggling with right now. Women are coming in to make a complaint, and the process is unfair and employers are saying, "Well, we have a process." Well, that's not enough. Casey: Senator Mikulski did bring up an important thing, the power of the media. So let's hear what you have to say on that. Mikulski: The power of visual media. When this dignified, brilliant woman was trying to tell her story, the women of America believed you. And then she was being harassed by the United States Senate, the picture of the all-white guys - that caused stories. People calling, crying on the phone, saying, "You know it happened to me when I was a law clerk or whatever." And so on. Our phones were deluged. And the men were getting these same phone calls. And then their wives were telling them about what had happened to them. Their daughters were telling them. But to come back to the media, when they saw the all-male Senate Judiciary Committee in their interaction with Professor Hill - Casey: That led to the year of the woman. Mikulski: Don't get mad, get elected. - - - In 1992, 24 women were elected as new members to the House and four to the Senate, more than in any previous decade. Many cited anger over Hill's treatment during the Thomas hearings as a reason for running. Hill: There's another media part to this. During the hearing, the coverage was really the Washington press corps, and they had a political angle that they were following. And I think that's important to know. They were asking questions like, "Who supported her? Who's behind her? What group is she associated with?" That was the way that they were telling the story. Mikulski: And the way they think. Hill: They also had the benefit of Republican senators who were feeding stories to the media. And the White House - that machine was going on. But then afterwards the media shifted to talking about sexual harassment in the workplace. And I think that was a segue into the year of the woman, because then that story started to be about women's experiences and how they were not being represented in Washington, D.C., by these guys. Casey: Professor Hill, did you have that takeaway at the time? So you go home to Oklahoma and Clarence Thomas is confirmed. Do you have the big picture perspective yet? Hill: No. I didn't have the year of the woman in mind. I wanted to just go back and teach my classes and get my life back. Norton: The year of the woman surprised everybody. Yes. Because we more than doubled the number of women in the Senate. Of course, there were very few to begin with. Schroeder: After the year of the woman, there are all these women getting sworn in. And they're about 10 percent. Big deal, right? But anyway, one of the old bulls came over and said to me, "Well I hope you're happy, Schroeder." I said, "What do you mean?" He said, "This place looks like a shopping mall." And I said, "Where do you shop?" [laughter] Casey: So Professor Hill, as you reflect on this time, have things evolved? Hill: Things have evolved. I've heard from thousands of women and some of them tell me very good stories about what has changed. But there needs to be more than just process on the books. Women are still experiencing this problem. It's still a teachable moment where we can learn from what happened in 1991. Just having somebody come forward is not enough. You've got to be able to come into a system that respects and values our experiences and our work and our integrity. And we're not there yet. --- Video Embed Code Video: 26 years after law professor Anita Hill testified to Congress that she was sexually harassed by Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, she joins The Washington Post's Libby Casey to talk about the slow pace of change and today's #MeToo movement.(Billy Tucker/The Washington Post) Embed code: Officials with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced Tuesday a three-month investigation at Millstone Nuclear Power Plant in Waterford has found that a contract security guard there failed to follow proper procedures regarding testing weapons used for the facilitys security and then falsified records to hide what had happened. The security officer, who Millstone officials say no longer works at the plant, was armorer at the facility, according to Neil Sheehan, a spokesman with the NRCs Region 1 office. The investigation determined the officer deliberately failed to perform his assigned duties, including being responsible for the accountability, testing and maintenance of weapons used to respond to terrorist attacks. Investigators also found numerous discrepancies on a number of weapons maintenance records between January 2015 and June 2016, according to Sheehan. Specifically, the officer indicated in records that test-firing, cleaning or maintenance activities had been performed on weapons. But in reality, the weapons had not been worked on, and in some cases, had not been retrieved from their staged locations. Sheehan declined to identify the weapons in question, citing the plants ongoing security. The power plant, which is located along Long Island Sound, is owned by Virginia-based Dominion Energy. Suffice it to say, they need to be properly armed in the invent of an attack, especially after 9/11, he said. This is not any sort of routine occurrence, he said. Off hand, I can not recall a similar case having happened in the Northeast (region) and Ive worked with the NRC for over two decades. Ken Holt, a spokesman for the Millstone power plant, said in a statement Dominion officials take security of our nuclear stations very seriously. A review of the issue determined that there was no significant impact to nuclear security at Millstone, the statement said in part. Dominion Energy participated in the NRCs Alternative Dispute Resolution process ... to resolve the identified issues, and agreed to a series of actions to prevent recurrence. The results of that process are contained in a confirmatory order which came out today (Tuesday). Sheehan said Dominion officials could have agreed to the findings of NRC investigators and not entered into the dispute resolution process, which involves a neutral, third-party mediator. The contract security officer, according to NRC officials, told investigators that he had been unable to keep up with increasing workload, which led to the decision to not perform required tasks and to falsify related records, Sheehan said.. The contract officer had requested help with the armorer function, which involves inspecting and maintaining weaponry at the facility, the NRC spokesman said. The security officer told the NRC investigators the weapon maintenance was usually performed at some later point, but he admitted this may not have always happened, Sheehan said. The NRC spokesman said there is no indication that Millstone does not have adequate staffing levels, he said. We require nuclear plants to have certain minimum staffing levels at all times and weve no violations on that front. But were constantly looking for any violations, any shortcomings, Sheehan said. The NRC has ordered Dominion to prepare a full inventory of all in-service and out-of-service weapons on-site and the company must notify the regulatory agency within 30 days after that has been completed. Once that happens, NRC officials will conduct another inspection of weapons at the facility, he said. Millstone officials will also provide the NRC Region I Administrator with a copy of the inventory list and prepare a report of the maintenance status of all in-service weapons that are on-site with specific the dates on which each weapon was test-fired, cleaned, serviced and inspected. In addition, Sheehan said Dominion is being required to take a number of steps that this problem does not happen again in the future. Part of that requirement includes an organizational effectiveness evaluation of the Millstone security organization. The company will also share its experiences in this case with the rest of the U.S. nuclear power industry. One advantage to going with the third-party mediator is that it allowed us to reach an agreement with the company to do certain things that wouldnt have been required if they just accepted the investigators findings, he said. We believe the rest of the industry can learn from this. luther.turmelle@hearstmediact.com The flood victims in Quang Binh province receive the gifts (Photo: laodong.vn) According to Ms. Ho Quynh Lan, Deputy Head of VNAS, her committee raised VND75 million, 50% of which was contributed by Minh Phuong SG Co., Ltd. Company. The delegation presented 150 gifts (each worth VND500,000) to people in Lien Trach commune, Bo Trach district, and Quang Tien commune, Ba Don town. Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thach, Standing Deputy Head of the Quang Binh provincial Trade Union, thanked the overseas Vietnamese community in Singapore. He said that these gifts would help the flood victims overcome difficulties caused by the natural disaster. Mr. Thach also hoped that in the coming time, VNAS will continue to connect sponsors to support the local people in difficult circumstances./. WASHINGTON - Faced with a wide range of personal or ethical questions, some politicians are trying out an old strategy that has long been considered obsolete: hiding out. Rather than publicly confront the issues, they have had aides issue statements - sometimes denying allegations, sometimes apologizing - and then have simply declined to talk much further about the issues. Part of the strategy appears designed to avoid saying something that could be contradicted by others, but there's also an underlying sense that voters cannot pay attention to one thing for long in this nonstop news era of President Trump. That, if they just keep their heads down, particularly over the holiday weekend, people will forget about the lingering issues and unanswered questions. There's Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., who was forced to apologize when two women accused him of inappropriate sexual conduct. Franken was last seen in public Thursday morning at the Senate Judiciary Committee. He disappeared before the hearing ever began, just before the first allegation appeared online. Franken's apologies have included suggestions that he remembers the incidents differently, but he has declined to explain his side of things, even to Minnesota media. He has not returned there and is instead holed up in his family's home in Washington this week even though Congress is not in session. Alabama Senate Republican nominee Roy Moore has issued repeated denials since The Washington Post published a story two weeks ago about four women saying that he pursued them romantically when they were teenagers and Moore was in his 30s. Several more similar allegations have surfaced since, but Moore has only submitted to one detailed interview about the allegations, on Sean Hannitty's radio show. It went poorly, leading most leading Republicans in Washington to declare they believe his accusers while asking him to withdraw from the race. This head-in-the-sand approach has confounded some in the capital. "Sen. Al Franken crisis strategy: hide out in DC for Thanksgiving, hoping this blows over and people quickly forget. Better to hold a Minnesota news conference before Turkey Day and apologize to voters who elected you," Ron Bonjean, a Republican crisis communications expert, tweeted Sunday. Bonjean has experienced these matters firsthand. Fifteen years ago, he served as a top adviser to Trent Lott, R-Miss., who was poised to reclaim the post of Senate majority leader after the GOP's successful 2002 midterms. But about a month later Lott made a racially insensitive joke at Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday in early December, leading to a reevaluation of Lott's own past statements on civil rights. Rather than quickly making a public appearance to explain himself, as some friends suggested, Lott chose to issue a few prepared statements, then went on a private trip to Florida before flying home to Mississippi for the holidays. Almost 10 days into the scandal, Lott finally gave in to demands from his colleagues and did a TV interview. He went on BET with Tavis Smiley and tried to answer every painful question. The damage was already too deep. He resigned his leadership post three days later. Lott rejected then what had become a commonly accepted practice of getting out in front of bad news on your own terms. The term "Friday news dump" came from that era, signifying when administrations announce bad news late in the week, admitting mistakes publicly but timing it to get the least attention. Another violation of this principle is happening in Detroit, where Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., is not explaining what happened in his office to cause a nearly $30,000 payout to a former female staffer who said he sexually harassed her. Conyers answered the door to his home Tuesday when the Associated Press sought him out, but his answers were contradictory and confused. Ever since he has only spoken through legalistic statements issued by staff. Bonjean believes the old rules still apply, particularly in this very charged environment in which allegations of sexual misconduct by powerful men are roiling every industry from Hollywood to politics. "What Franken, Conyers and Moore are underestimating is the anger of female voters out there. It's not going away for these guys," he said in an interview. "Better to deliver your message on your own terms." By not addressing these issues, it creates the impression that these lawmakers are hiding something. In Kentucky, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has refused to talk about a brutal attack allegedly by his next-door neighbor in Bowling Green, Kentucky, breaking six of his ribs. Paul is the victim here not the predator, but for nearly three weeks his silence has helped propel endless speculation. On Wednesday his wife, Kelly Paul, published an op-ed saying her husband now has pneumonia and denying that there was any "ongoing dispute" with the neighbor. She called it a "deliberate" attack and complained about media coverage of the matter. Her comments contradict the suggestions of the senator's own friends that it was a property dispute that has lasted for years. Local authorities have only charged the neighbor with a misdemeanor. If federal authorities believed the attack was a politically motivated attack on a U.S. senator, they would have jurisdiction and could file charges - they have not done so. The prototype for handling controversy may be Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, who was arrested for drunken driving in Alexandria, Virginia, in December 2012, far away from his apartment on Capitol Hill. He went on what his aides called an "apology tour" that included interviews with Idaho media. A Mormon who had said he does not drink alcohol, Crapo's standing could have fallen apart as a hypocrite. It's still unclear why he went on a drive far away from his apartment after doing shots of vodka, but his voters have accepted his full fledged apology. Last year, his opponent raised questions about the arrest. Virginia's disclosure laws are so restrictive that Idaho media could not obtain the detailed police report. The senator got the report himself and gave it to the media, leading to more stories about the most embarrassing night of his political career. He apologized again. Crapo then won reelection by more than 35 percentage points. TORRINGTON - A city man was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison this week on drug-related charges. Ben Moore, then 55, of 36 French St., Torrington, was arrested Sept. 3 and charged with possession of narcotics and possession in a school zone, police said. States Attorney Dawn Gallo said Tuesday that officers were dispatched to the Ocean State Job Lot parking lot on that day, finding Moore in possession of drug paraphernalia and a pill bottle containing heroin and crack. Moore pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance and admitted violating probation Tuesday as part of an agreement with the state. He was sentenced to a flat two-and-a-half years in prison by Judge John A. Danaher III, with no time on probation once the term expires. "After you complete this sentence, I hope things go well for you and you won't be back," said Danaher. This is Moore's second violation of probation, Gallo said Tuesday. He originally received a suspended sentence after being found guilty of possession of narcotics and sale of narcotics in May 2016, Gallo said. He was then sentenced to six months in prison in February for violating probation, Gallo said. Reach Ben Lambert at william.lambert@hearstmediact.com. It's usually the victors who convene peace conferences, to cement their gains, and that's what Russia and Iran are trying to do in Syria. The wild card in their calculations is Donald Trump's America. U.S. troops, in Syria to fight Islamic State, won't be packing their bags now that the jihadist group is essentially beaten. They're staying on. But it's not clear what role they'll play in the wider Syrian conflict that's also entering its endgame. Washington is in the unaccustomed position of watching from the sidelines - while its rivals, and some of its allies, team up on a peace plan. Russian President Vladimir Putin is seeking agreement on that plan's outlines when he hosts counterparts from Iran and Turkey at the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Wednesday. Some elements are clear - Bashar al-Assad is set to stay in power - and others are more contentious, like the fate of Syrian Kurds. America's sole effective allies on the ground, they're distrusted in Ankara and Tehran. Beyond those details, a wider pattern is emerging. America has thrown in its lot with Saudi Arabia and Israel. Ranged against that unlikely coalition is an increasingly powerful alliance between the three leaders meeting in Sochi. When it comes to designing the settlement that could reshape the Middle East, they hold most of the cards. "The future of Syria is pretty much in the hands of this triumvirate,'' said Emile Hokayem, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. "They're the most dominant on the battlefield, and they're the most dominant in terms of diplomacy. The U.S., in comparison, is strategically adrift.'' The Syrian war has killed about 400,000 people and displaced millions more. The U.S. and its allies blame Assad for most of the carnage. When Defense Secretary James Mattis said last week that American forces will stick around - "we're not going to just walk away right now'' - he cited the need to ensure progress toward a viable peace. That was widely seen as code for countering Iran. While Putin's military intervention in 2015 was the turning point for Assad, Iranian fighters also played a key role as the Syrian president regained territory from jihadists and U.S.-backed rebels. Now, the specter of Iranian dominance in postwar Syria is alarming the Saudis and Israelis, who see the Islamic Republic as their most dangerous enemy. For help, they've turned to Trump, who has called Iran "the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism." The U.S. is eyeing ways to counter Iran across the region, according to Defense Department spokesman Eric Pahon. There's plenty still to be done against Islamic State there too, Pahon said in an interview Monday. The jihadists still hold territory; and where they've already been driven out, America's Kurdish-led allies need help "to transition to local governance, to create infrastructure, to ensure folks can get back to their homes, and to establish the security conditions that prevent ISIS from taking control again." But the U.S. is also identifying "new areas'' to undermine Iran's influence - including in Syria, he said. "We will work with allies to put pressure on the Iranian regime, neutralize its destabilizing influences and constrain its aggressive power projection,'' Pahon said. "I can't get into any more detail.'' Israel fears a renewed threat from the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia near its borders, while Saudi Arabia, a Sunni Muslim power, sees its Shiite rival Iran gaining regional ascendancy. Yet both countries have kept channels open with Moscow, recognizing Putin's growing clout in the Middle East. The Saudis won't be in Sochi, but they've organized another meeting this week that could advance the Russian agenda. They're hosting Syrian opposition movements, and have been pressing the biggest one to combine with two smaller factions less hostile to Assad. The main Western-backed group's leader, Riad Hijab, unexpectedly resigned on Monday, without giving an explanation. He was an opponent of Putin's diplomacy - and his departure could open the way for a united Syrian opposition that could go to a Russian-led peace conference in Sochi, then on to UN talks in Geneva. "Russia, America, everyone should appreciate that the Saudis are doing the nearly impossible job of trying to unify this badly fragmented Syrian opposition,'' said Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, a political analyst based in the United Arab Emirates. Like the Saudis, Turkey has been in the "Assad must go'' camp for most of the war. It now appears to be largely on board with Russian plans. Turkey's focus has switched to the Syrian Kurds, whom it regards as terrorists linked to a separatist group at home. American support for the Kurdish fighters, who control a swath of northeastern Syria, has infuriated President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. His spokesman Ibrahim Kalin lashed out at America in a recent commentary, accusing it of looking for "new excuses'' to maintain its military alliance with the Kurds. An editorial last week in Sabah, the biggest pro-government newspaper, argued that Russia and Iran have "sounder'' policies than the U.S., and "need to be at the center of measures Turkey will implement from now on.'' Iran's army chief made a rare three-day visit to Turkey in August. Turkey's NATO army has already clashed with America's Kurdish allies, and it's threatening a bigger attack. Iraq, where the U.S. and Iran battle for influence, is also hostile to the Kurds and collaborating with Assad's forces in the strategic border area. That's one fault-line in the Sochi alliance - and potentially common ground between Russia and the U.S. Putin, who spoke to Trump on Tuesday, agrees that the Kurds "have shown their effectiveness in fighting terrorism,'' according to Elena Suponina, a Middle East expert at the Russian Institute for Strategic Affairs, which advises the Kremlin. Russia hasn't abandoned hope of collaborating with the U.S. over Syria, and defusing the standoff with its former Cold War rival. Competition is more likely though, because of the "looming battle over zones of influence,'' Suponina said. "Russia insists that Assad should control the whole country, but the Americans want to keep some areas under their protection.'' There are currently 503 U.S. troops in Syria but "there's a lot of caveats to that," the Pentagon's Pahon said: The number doesn't include temporary forces on specific missions, or units transferring in and out. Seeking to build a coalition against Iran, Trump has told allies that he'll be tougher than a predecessor they all believed was weak. Some, like the Saudis, see reassurance in the American "boots on the ground,'' said Abdulla, the U.A.E. analyst. The U.S. president also campaigned on a pledge to avoid getting sucked into intractable conflicts. To be effective, his administration would need to remain in Syria "for years and years,'' helping its Kurdish allies to set up an autonomous enclave, according to Robert Ford, a former U.S. ambassador to Syria who is now a fellow at Yale University and the Middle East Institute in Washington. That's what happened in Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War. This time, "I personally don't think the Americans are going to stay that long,'' said Ford. The rival front, whose leaders are meeting in Sochi, is solidifying. "It just shows how little influence the Americans have in Syria.'' - With assistance from Stepan Kravchenko and Selcan Hacaoglu WASHINGTON - The United States on Wednesday declared the violence and atrocities against the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar to be a campaign of "ethnic cleansing," and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned that U.S. sanctions may be forthcoming. Tillerson blamed the Burmese military and security forces as well as local vigilantes for what he called "horrendous atrocities" that have caused more than 600,000 Rohingya to flee Myanmar's western Rakhine state for the safety of neighboring Bangladesh. But he placed most of the criticism on the government, demanding the security forces respect human rights and punish the guilty. "Those responsible for these atrocities must be held accountable," he said in a statement, reiterating his call for an independent investigation into what has caused a refugee crisis in which Rohingya men have been executed, women raped and their babies murdered. "The United States will also pursue accountability through U.S. law, including possible targeted sanctions," he added, suggesting sanctions might be directed against specific Burmese officials. Many members of Congress and human rights groups had been urging Tillerson for months to adopt the "ethnic cleansing" terminology. U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres designated it as such in mid-September. French President Emmanuel Macron has called it genocide. Amnesty International has called the violence in Myanmar "dehumanizing apartheid," and Human Rights Watch has termed it crimes against humanity. State Department officials noted that ethnic cleansing is not recognized internationally as a crime and triggers no punitive measures against Myanmar, which is also known as Burma. But it sets the stage to exert more pressure on Myanmar officials if they fail to take actions such as giving humanitarian groups and the press access to Rakhine state and guaranteeing safety to those who voluntarily return home. Tillerson made a brief visit last week to Myanmar, where he talked with State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and the head of the armed forces. The Myanmar military has denied committing atrocities during "clearance operations" to battle Muslim insurgents in the predominantly Buddhist nation. An internal investigation cleared the military of any wrongdoing. On Aug. 25, militants belonging to the extremist Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army attacked outposts of Myanmar security forces. According to human rights groups, those forces responded with a brutal and indiscriminate crackdown on Rohingya communities, drawing in local Buddhist mobs as they went. "No provocation can justify the horrendous atrocities that have ensued," Tillerson said in his statement. Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, as well as many who remain in Myanmar, have provided chilling testimony of the campaign, which they say was accompanied by widespread arson, rape and summary executions. An exact death toll is unknown, and most aid groups and journalists have been prevented from traveling freely to the affected areas. Satellite imagery shows hundreds of Rohingya villages reduced to ashes. Human rights groups applauded Tillerson's decision to start using the term "ethnic cleansing," but they said more action was needed. Eric Schwartz, president of Refugees International, said the move could be used by Washington to pressure other countries to take stronger measures, including a global arms embargo and the end of military-to-military relations. "Secretary Tillerson's statement is a necessary first step," he said. "However, until the abuses against the Rohingya people end and full access is given to the international humanitarian aid and the U.N. fact-finding mission, such pressure and requisite actions will continue to be essential." Joanne Lin, head of advocacy and government relations for Amnesty International USA, said Tillerson's acknowledgment of ethnic cleansing sets an example for how to respond. "The time for outrage and condemnation has passed," she said. "The international community must impose a comprehensive arms embargo and targeted financial sanctions against senior Myanmar military officials responsible for crimes against humanity." Lin also urged the United States to introduce a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an embargo and sanctions, and to pressure Bangladesh to loosen its registration rules so humanitarian groups can get more aid workers on the ground. The term "ethnic cleansing" is largely descriptive and dates from the conflict in the 1990s in the former Yugoslavia. At the time, a U.N. commission defined it as "rendering an area ethnically homogeneous by using force or intimidation to remove people of given groups from the area." The Obama administration declared the Islamic State had committed genocide against Yazidis, Christians and Shiite Muslims. In 2005, the George W. Bush administration labeled the killings in Darfur, a region of Sudan, to be genocide and tightened sanctions. But no policy was mandated by law. "Ultimately these things come down to the politics of it," said David Bosco, an associate professor at Indiana University's School of Global and International Studies and author of a number of books on international law. Even if the United States declared a genocide in Myanmar, Bosco added, "it's really just a question of whether that helps generate pressure for action." Matthew Smith, co-founder of Fortify Rights, a human rights organization working in Myanmar, said Tillerson's statement was nevertheless a significant step toward holding Burmese officials accountable. "The civilian and military authorities are aligned in their outright denials and crude whitewashing," Smith said. "Ethnic cleansing is as reprehensible as genocide and crimes against humanity." The timing of Tillerson's statement was rife with symbolism. It coincided with the International Criminal Court's sentencing of former Bosnia Serb commander Ratko Mladic, who was convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity, to life in prison. "The U.S. government should find more facts to declare the persecution against Rohingya is genocide," said Ro Nay San Lwin, a Rohingya blogger and activist based in Europe. "Myanmar's military commanders must be punished as Ratko Mladic was." - - - The Washington Post's Adam Taylor and Brian Murphy contributed to this report. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Wally McNamee, a prizewinning photographer for The Washington Post and then for Newsweek who covered presidents, soldiers in combat, Olympic athletes and ordinary men and women going about their daily lives, died Nov. 17 at a hospital in Fairfax County, Virginia He was 84. The cause was pulmonary fibrosis and lung cancer, said a son, Bruce "Win" McNamee II. McNamee covered 10 presidents from Dwight D. Eisenhower to George W. Bush and the Olympic Games from 1976 to 1996. He was a Marine Corps photographer during the Korean War and later photographed combat operations during the Vietnam War. Among his most memorable pictures was a photograph of first lady Jacqueline Kennedy disembarking from Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base on Nov. 22, 1963, hours after President John F. Kennedy's assassination in Dallas. The president's brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, is holding her hand, and she is still wearing the suit stained with the president's blood spattered on her by the assassin's bullets. McNamee later described it as "a graphic touch to this horrible moment." On the day of the president's funeral, McNamee was posted atop the Lincoln Memorial from which he photographed the Kennedy funeral cortege crossing Memorial Bridge to Arlington National Cemetery. "It was a perfect geometric layout," McNamee told Bertrand Guez and Julie Asher in a 2014 interview, describing the horse-drawn caisson bearing the president's body, accompanied by military honor guards moving in a straight line across the bridge to what would be the president's burial site and the eternal flame. McNamee was on The Post's photo staff from 1955 until he left for Newsweek in 1968. He retired there after 30 years but continued to work as a contractor through the early 2000s. He took more than 100 Newsweek cover photographs. Four times he won the White House News Photographers Association's Photographer of the Year Award. He was one of only a handful of photographers who accompanied President Richard M. Nixon on his historic 1972 trip to China. He was resourceful in getting himself to a vantage point or location where taking a good picture was possible. When the United States invaded Grenada in 1983, no photographers were allowed to accompany the military. So McNamee, another Newsweek photographer and a reporter paid a small-boat owner from a nearby island $10,000 to take them to the Caribbean island nation, where they waded ashore only to be greeted by a gruff U.S. Marine Corps sergeant who was less than welcoming. Besides, the sergeant said, he had a grudge against Newsweek. He had been promised a small pocket calculator as a giveaway for subscribing to the magazine, but he never received it. McNamee reached into a tote bag and pulled out a small pocket calculator of his own. "We've been looking all over the world for you, sergeant," he said. "Here it is." He issued an epithet, then let the journalists through. Wallace William McNamee was born in Harrisonburg, Virginia, on Nov. 29, 1932. His father was an insurance salesman. The family moved to Arlington, Virginia, when he was a child, and he graduated from Washington-Lee High School. He attended George Washington University and worked as a copy aide at The Post, then joined the Marine Corps, serving in Korea and Japan. He returned to The Post in 1955. A longtime Arlington resident, Mr. McNamee moved to Hilton Head, South Carolina, soon after he retired but returned to the Washington area for medical care. His marriage to the former Janet Regan ended in divorce. His second wife, Nikki Johnson McNamee, died in 2013 after 39 years of marriage. Survivors include three children from his first marriage, Bruce W. "Win" McNamee II of Arlington, Kimberly Mack of Falls Church, Virginia, and Julia McNamee of Trumbull, Connecticut; and six grandchildren. In the Guez-Asher interview, McNamee spoke of his years as a White House photographer in the Kennedy administration. He would describe Kennedy as unusually "comfortable being photographed . . . even during unguarded moments with his family." This, McNamee said, "humanized him even more as a president . . . loved easily by people because he was so natural." On the weekend of Kennedy's assassination and funeral, when it was all over, McNamee said, "I cried a little . . . for the first time." Ambassador Nguyen Anh Tuan takes photo with the Ukrainian students (Photo: vov.vn) Speaking at the exchange, Vietnamese Ambassador to Ukraine and Moldova Nguyen Anh Tuan warmly welcomed the delegation of teachers and students, and expressed his affection for the country and people of Ukraine. He also introduced the image of the country, the achievements of Vietnams economic development and role in the international arena. Especially, Vietnam successfully organized the APEC Year 2017, which was highly appreciated by international friends. This year, Vietnam and Ukraine mark the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. The two sides have carried out practical activities to promote the bilateral cooperation in the new period", he said. According to the Ambassador, the meeting between Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and President Poroshenko at the World Economic Forum in Davos this January; the visit by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavel Klimkin to Vietnam this September, the 14th session of the Intergovernmental Committee in Kiev this October; and the forum on promoting Vietnam-Ukraine relations in the new period are all evidence showing the interest and efforts of the two countries to enhance and develop cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, science, technology, national defence and education. On behalf of the delegation, Mr. Andrey Melnik, Director of Centre for International Relations and Economic Development of Kremenchuk city, appreciated the sentiment and goodwill of the Vietnamese Embassy and Ambassador Nguyen Anh Tuan. During the meeting, the Embassy organized a photo exhibition and screened documentary films about the country and people of Vietnam and the life and career of President Ho Chi Minh. For their part, the students also performed art items and special national dances of Ukraine./. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A turf battle between separate factions of a gang resulted in a series of shootings on the East Side over the past four months including two in which innocent children were hit federal authorities said during a hearing Wednesday for four defendants. Three of the shootings was in retaliation for an earlier barrage, and one resulted in the death of 4-year-old De-Earlvion Whitley, FBI special agent Mario Martin testified. No one is charged with murder in connection with the boys death, but Martins testimony is the first time officials have publicly connected three shootings on July 19 and another on Oct. 19. As part of a nearly two-year federal investigation, more than a dozen alleged gang members have been arrested on drug or gun-related charges as part of an effort to curb the violence on the East Side. Among them is the 4-year-old boys father, Earl Whitley Jr. Whitley, 36, was one of three defendants who had bond hearings Wednesday in connection with their cases and was the only one to be granted bond by U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Chestney. But Chestney put her own bond ruling on hold at the request of Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Wannarka, who appealed the bond order. Agent Martin testified that Whitley is a member of a faction of the Crips East Terrace Gangstas who call themselves the Skinny Bloc Crew. That group has an ongoing dispute with another splinter group of the Crips allegedly led by Charles Lee Bethany, 36, Martin said. Martin testified that the FBI began an investigation into the groups in January 2016, amid a wave of violence on the East Side, in partnership with San Antonio police, who are investigating the boys killing. The ultimate goal was to reduce the amount of violence and fatalities on the East Side, Martin testified. As part of the investigation, the FBI used clandestine surveillance cameras, wire taps and undercover drug buys to first arrest Bethany and three alleged members of his group on drug or gun-related charges earlier this year. Then agents went after the Skinny Bloc Crew, arresting 10 alleged members last Friday on a federal drug charges. Martin testified that during the investigation, the FBI learned that Bethanys group sold crack cocaine in various areas, including at the Coliseum Meat Market in the 400 block of Spriggsdale, close to where the Skinny Bloc Crew sold its dope. About 4:30 p.m. July 19, Martin testified, two vehicles drove by the market and their occupants shot at Bethanys group, hitting or grazing some of them and their vehicles. Agents later learned that the shooters were with the Skinny Bloc Crew, Martin said. That night, around 11:40 p.m., someone else drove by and shot up the Earl Whitley home on Hub Street and a home of some of his relatives on Corliss Street, Martin testified. I definitely believe they were retaliating, Martin testified. As he testified, the boys mother and Whitleys wife, Cyntwanisha Whitley, momentarily left the courtroom in tears. Martin also testified about a shooting on Oct. 18 outside the Palm Apartments in the 3700 block of East Commerce in which one group fired at a crowd. He said that one is believed to be retaliation for the shootings on Hub and Corliss streets. There was a 3-year-old and 7-year-old innocent bystanders who received gunshots, Martin testified. But under questioning by Whitleys lawyer, Alan Cazier, Martin said he had no evidence to directly show Whitley was involved. The FBI agent also said he had no evidence to directly connect Whitleys co-defendants, Alvin Ray Ray Clark, 40; and Paul P-Low Low, 49, to either of the shootings blamed on the Skinny Bloc Crew. A spokesman for the San Antonio police said later Wednesday that the SAPD investigations of the shootings remain open, and that no one has been charged in connection to them. During their arraignments Wednesday, Whitley, Clark and Low entered not guilty pleas to drug distribution and conspiracy charges. Martin testified that the FBI had enough evidence to show Whitley, Clark and Low were directly involved in a conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine. Martin listed occasions between mid-September and mid-October when a confidential informant bought crack from the three defendants at one of two empty lots in the 200 and 300 blocks of Ferris Avenue on the East Side. Cazier pleaded with the judge to release Whitley from jail to house arrest and other restrictions. He called Whitleys wife to the stand. She testified that after their son was killed, the family moved to another part of San Antonio to get away from the East Side violence. But he was part of the danger, Wannarka argued, seeking Whitleys detention. He was part of the reason people were terrorized from going out into that community. We cleaned out those lots and gave them back to the residents. The judge denied bond for Clark and Low, but ordered Whitley to house arrest under electronic monitoring and other restrictions after he posts a $50,000 bond signed by his wife and father. However, the judge put her order on hold at Wannarkas request. The prosecutor appealed Chestneys bond order to Senior U.S. District Judge David Alan Ezra, who may not take up the appeal until the coming weeks. gcontreras@express-news.net | Twitter: @gmaninfedland A girl who died a day after she was trapped in a burning home early Sunday on the Northwest Side has been identified by the Bexar County Medical Examiners Office. Nadine El Seik, 6, died as a result of smoke and soot inhalation from the fire, according to the examiners office. She died at 6:59 p.m. Monday at University Hospital. Run by Visa and the Central Committee of Vietnam Students Association (CCVSA), this program tasked students with using the medium of photography to share their personal stories of overcoming difficulties theyve faced in managing their finances. After six months, it has reached millions of students across Vietnam and other countries. The winners will share in a prize pool of VND29 million including flights to Singapore, experiencing life in one of the biggest financial centres in Southeast Asia. The winning students are as follows: 1st prize: Vu Minh Chien - Hanoi University of Science and Technology 2nd prize: Phan Thanh Hung - Quang Ngai University of Finance and Accountancy 3rd prize: Phan Thi Bao Ngoc - Hoa Sen University; Duong Thi Na - Hue University of Foreign Languages, Hue University 4th prize: Quach Dinh Hieu - Hanoi Architectural University, Nguyen Thien Ngoc Han - Dong Thap University, Hoang Van Tu - Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Nguyen Phuong Thao - Hanoi University of Science and Technology Photo: ATP Mr Sean Preston, Visa Country Manager for Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, said: Its often said that a picture paints a thousand words and this has never been truer than in this years Practical Money Skills competition. The students have yet again demonstrated why Vietnam is considered an entrepreneurial hotspot in Southeast Asia. Their creativity in approaching the challenge of telling their stories of financial management through photography has been incredible, and it augurs well for the future of a country that is truly starting to make its mark on the global stage. Under the topic Every cent worth challenge, this years program was run in two main phases. Started in May, the first phase received nearly 1,000 entries from 46 universities in 20 domestic localities as well as Vietnamese students from USA, Germany, the Republic of Korea and Australia. Each year, the program has also sought to expand its geographical reach. The best 50 submissions were chosen to participate in the second phase, in which six exhibitions and financial literacy workshops were held in the Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Da Nang University of Economics, Quang Ngai University of Finance and Accountancy, Tay Nguyen University, Hoa Sen University of HCMC, and Can Tho University of Medicine and Pharmacy. Nguyen Minh Triet, CCVSA Standing Vice Chairman, stressed at the ceremony held in Hanoi: "With the goal of continuing to create a platform for students to experience, test and learn more about practical money skills. The new implementation promotes students creativity through the sharing of their experiences in the life, work, and students start-up. The students entries have shown the message to convey their own precious experience in practical money skills for their friends. This year marked the development through the number of submissions, visits on the fanpage, the website of the program as well as the participation of Vietnamese students studying abroad. Run annually since 2012, Practical Money Skills has used a range of different formats to teach students about a topic that, while important, is often challenging to engage with. In previous years, students have been tasked with everything from running discussion forums, designing posters, develop media plan and messages, to creating videos. As part of the program, Visa also gave away 5,000 copies of The guardians of the Galaxy financial literacy themed comic book. The comic pairs Marvels iconic superheroes with Visas financial smarts, which makes learning about finance management fun and entertaining for students./. A river restoration plan appears to be taking too long for some residents near Olmos Creek, where they say trash is piling up. Back in March 2016, a $1.2 million stream restoration plan for Olmos Creek was announced by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Invasive plants would be replaced, erosion would be addressed and more shade would be added to the area, according to the plan. Implementation was supposed to start this year. A man was stabbed twice during an altercation Wednesday morning at a Southeast Side Motel 6, according to police. Police responded to the stabbing around 6:45 a.m. in the 700 block of Hot Wells Boulevard, where they found the victim lying in the parking lot of the motel. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A San Antonio man accused of stealing a church van first told police he enjoyed stealing cars but later proclaimed his innocence. The man, whose name has not been released, was arrested Wednesday. On Monday, a pastor at the First Church of Nazarene on West Avenue called police to report the church's van was stolen, Officer Douglas Greene said. It was the second van stolen from the church in recent weeks. Police said they found the first van in a salvage yard, and found the second van for sale on Facebook. RELATED: SAPD arrest man who allegedly killed wife in 1999 and buried her in the backyard Now Playing: A suspect was taken into custody and accused of stealing a church van Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017 Video: Fares Sabawi Greene said a collaborative auto task force comprised of investigators in the police department and Bexar County Sheriff's Office tracked down the van in a driveway in the 1100 block of West Gramercy Place. Police found three people inside the van, Greene said. The driver tried to start the car to flee, Greene said, but police stopped him and were able to take the three into custody. Greene said police only had enough evidence to arrest the driver for the theft, but the other two are still considered suspects in the case. As police walked the suspect to a car to get him processed in jail, he was asked why he stole the van. "Because I love to steal cars," the suspect said before claiming he didn't do it. "Nah, I didn't steal it. It wasn't me. I'm an innocent man." Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com Fares Sabawi covers crime in San Antonio and Bexar County for mySA.com. Read more of his stories here. | fsabawi@mysa.com | Twitter: @FaresInSA This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A man was arrested Tuesday after forcing his way into a Southeast Side home with two accomplices, San Antonio police said. On Oct. 14, a woman told police Zachary Wiatrek, 20, came by the home looking for her husband, according to an arrest affidavit. Wiatrek reportedly told the woman he needed to talk to her husband about an upcoming court date. Court records show Wiatrek has two pending cases against him, including an unlawful carrying of a weapon charge and a domestic violence charge. RELATED: Uresti witness arrested for alleged armed robbery The woman told Wiatrek her husband was in the shower and that she'd tell him about the visit, authorities said. Later that day, the woman looked out of her window and discovered Wiatrek had returned to the home with two other men, police said. The woman opened the front door just enough to ask Wiatrek why he came back and he and the men forced their way into the home, according to the affidavit. Wiatrek allegedly asked about her husband again, who was hiding in the bedroom. The men, all armed with handguns, kicked in the bedroom doors of the home looking for him, police said. The men didn't find the husband, but told the woman they'd shoot her if she called the police. They picked up a laptop computer on the kitchen table and fled the home, according to the affidavit. Police found Wiatrek Tuesday and arrested him on a robbery charge. Fares Sabawi covers crime in San Antonio and Bexar County for mySA.com. Read more of his stories here. | fsabawi@mysa.com | Twitter: @FaresInSA San Antonio police on Wednesday arrested a 53-year-old man in connection with a cold case killing that dates back to 1999. Dedra Salinas, 26, went missing that December and wasn't found until February 2006, when her skeletal remains were discovered buried in her own backyard in the 200 block of Cantrell. She had lived there with her then husband, Roy Hernandez, authorities said. At the time, authorities weren't able to make an arrest but years of investigation by the police and the district attorney's office led to a grand jury indicting Hernandez in Salinas' killing. He was arrested Wednesday without incident at his home. He no longer lived on Cantrell, officials said. Now Playing: Roy Hernandez, 53, was arrested Nov. 22 in connection with the slaying of his former wife, whose body was found buried in his backyard in 2006. Video: Caleb Downs RELATED: SAPD: 2 suspects stabbed man in parking lot of Motel 6 during attack "These cases are very unfortunate because these are people who at one point loved each other," said Sgt. Michelle Ramos, a spokesperson for the San Antonio Police Department. Hernandez allegedly concealed Salinas's remains in his backyard by covering them with concrete. They remained there for years until 2006, when police received information from a tipster, obtained a search warrant and dug them up. Authorities at that time were not able to produce enough evidence for an arrest warrant, so the case remained dormant until Tuesday when the indictment was secured. Hernandez has been booked on a charge of first-degree murder with bail set at $75,000, according to online records. Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com Caleb Downs is a crime reporter for mySA.com. Read more of his stories here.| cdowns@mysa.com | Twitter: @calebjdowns Three international gang members were apprehended by Border Patrol agents earlier this week in three separate incidents, according to a news release from the agency. Agents in Weslaco encountered a Salvadoran national as he allegedly tried to cross the border into the country near Pharr. The man allegedly admitted to being part of Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13. It is not a bad thing for us, that the route known as the Goldene Strae or the Golden Road as we will get to know it- has escaped the attention of so many. It has been spared being overrun by hordes of tourists and as you will discover the This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Educator and administrator for Harlandale Independent School District for 15 years, Katrina Reyna was known for her loving and caring personality. Even if you had just met her, t felt like you had known her for years, said her husband, David Reyna. She made an impact in everybodys life she touched. The couple had just gotten married in March in New Braunfels. Reyna died Nov. 17 at 39. She had been diagnosed with gastrointestinal cancer in November 2015. I knew she was diagnosed with cancer when I proposed to her, but we fell in love, her husband said, adding that although he had only a short time with her, I will cherish it forever. Reyna loved to travel. She had made it to 48 states in the U.S. and also backpacked through Europe. Katrina loved New York; she celebrated New Years twice in Time Squares, said her father, David Simmons. She was adventurous. I told her I wouldnt have been able to handle that New York weather. Reyna also traveled in order to do mission work for her church, going to Uganda on three separate church trips. Katrina was heavily involved with the children of Uganda, said Donnie Anthony, missions and connections pastor at Castle Hills church. Her background was in education, and she helped start Fun in the Son, a Bible study club for children. More Information Katrina Reyna Born: May 8, 1978, Port Arthur Died: Nov. 17, 2017 Preceded by: Brother Oluf G."Chip" Sandersen Survived by: Husband David Reyna; stepson Peter Reyna; mother Beckie Sandersen and stepfather Oluf; father David Simmons and stepmother Vickie; brothers Jeff, Cliff and Nicholas Sandersen and Nathan Simmons; sister Kimberly Crowder Services: Visitation will be from 6-8 p.m. Friday at Mission Park Funeral Chapels North, 3401 Cherry Ridge Drive; service will be at noon Saturday, with the graveside service following at 3 p.m. at the Sandersen Family Cemetery outside Luling See More Collapse It was the only time in her life she felt selfless, Simmons said. It was all about the people that was her calling. Reyna also opened her home to an African childrens choir when they came to the U.S. The group, all African children under the age of 10 years old, made the trip in order to raise awareness of destitute and orphaned children in Africa. Katrina was always there with open arms and doors when people were in crisis or in need, her husband said. She never turned anybody away. Reyna started her career in 2002 at Schulze Elementary in HISD. Katrina really fostered positive roles in her students life, said Buster Fisher, retired principal at Schulze Elementary. Reyna knew how to work with students that had learning disabilities and students that had troubled controlling their anger, Fisher said. She helped them learn from each other and taught students how to mentor one another. Katrina was a unique and kind person to have around, Fisher said. She understood people so deeply and knew building relationships were important. Reyna moved her way up to administration, earning the title of academic coordinator at McCollum High School. 1 Iraq bombing: Iraqi officials say a suicide bomber detonated a pickup truck loaded with explosives, killing 32 people at a marketplace in a contested town claimed by Baghdad and the Kurdish region. Iraqi police say the powerful explosion Tuesday in Tuz Khormato wounded at least 75 people. The town claimed by both Iraqs central government and the countrys Kurdish region and located about 130 miles north of Baghdad has long been the scene of skirmishes between Kurdish fighters known as the peshmerga and the mostly Shiite militia forces loyal to Baghdad. Such clashes escalated following the Kurdish regions independence vote in September. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. 2 Roman shipwrecks: Egypt says archaeologists have discovered three sunken shipwrecks dating back more than 2,000 years to Roman times off the coast of the city of Alexandria. Tuesdays statement from Mostafa Waziri, head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, says the archaeologists also uncovered a head sculpture carved in crystal and three gold coins dating back to Romes first emperor, Augustus. Parts of large wooden planks and remains of pottery vessels were also found, which could have been part of the ships cargo. THE mother of three Kadoma girls, who were repeatedly rap_ed by their father for years, said he always phoned to check where she was. She... Find the newest releases to watch from National Geographic on Disney+, including acclaimed documentary series and films Fire of Love, The Rescue, Limitless with Chris Hemsworth and We Feed People. Hemant Kumar Rout By Express News Service BHUBANESWAR: Worlds fastest supersonic cruise missile BrahMos created another history on Wednesday. With advanced seeker software, the high speed missile was successfully flight-tested first time from the Indian Air Forces frontline fighter aircraft Sukhoi-30 MKI. Defence sources said the missile was fired against a sea-based target in the Bay of Bengal off Paradip and Puri coasts during noon hours. The missile was gravity dropped from the fuselage of Su-30 aircraft. The two-stage missiles engine fired up and straightway propelled towards the intended target at the sea. It was a spectacular success. We are extremely happy with the performance of the formidable weapon system, said a defence official from New Delhi. The Air Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM) BrahMos weighing around 2.5 tonne is the heaviest weapon to be deployed on Indian fighter aircraft modified by HAL to carry the weapon. BrahMos ALCM being fired from Sukhoi-30 MKI. (Express Photo Service) The Su-30 MKI has a maximum speed of 2 Mach with a single in-flight range of 3,000 km. A total of 8,000 kg payload can be carried by it in a maximum altitude of 17 km. After performing high-level and extremely complex manoeuvres, successfully hit a ship-based target located at 280 km range with high precision. The missile having such capabilities can distinguish a particular target from a group of targets, the official said. The world-class weapon BrahMos with multi-platform and multi-mission role is now capable of being launched from Land, Sea and Air, completing the tactical cruise missile triad for India. WATCH THE VIDEO HERE: The successful maiden test firing of ALCM BrahMos from Sukhoi-30 MKI will significantly bolster the IAFs air combat operations capability from stand-off ranges, said a defence statement. The Sukhoi-30 MKI can carry three missiles while other combat aircraft would carry one each. Many modifications were made to reduce the missile's weight to 2.5 tonne. While smaller booster was used and connector relocated, fins were added for airborne stability after launch. Jointly developed by DRDO of India and NPOM of Russia, The 8.4 meter missile is capable of delivering warheads of up to 300 kg at thrice the speed of sound. DRDO scientists have significantly contributed for the advanced guidance system that helps the supersonic missile maneuver perfectly. The aircraft has been modified it such a way that three missiles can be fired on three different targets or in a variety of other combinations near simultaneously. As the prime strike weapon, it can ensure the aircrafts invincibility by engaging targets at long ranges. BrahMos is the only supersonic cruise missile possessing the advanced capability providing an edge to the user with precise hit. The Indian army is the first army in the World to have a regiment of supersonic cruise missile with advanced capabilities. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman congratulated DRDO and BrahMos for the outstanding accomplishment. India creates a world record and completes Supersonic Cruise Missile Triad by successfully testing #BRAHMOS #ALCM from Indian Air Force Sukhoi-30MKI fighter aircraft. Smt @nsitharaman congratulates Team Brahmos & @DRDO_India for this historic achievement. Raksha Mantri (@DefenceMinIndia) November 22, 2017 Chairman of DRDO and Secretary of Department of Defence Research and Development S Christopher also congratulated the scientists and engineers for the excellent text book kind of flight test. The missile test was witnessed by DG (BrahMos) and CEO and MD of BrahMos Aerospace Sudhir Mishra along with senior IAF officials, scientists and officials from DRDO and BrahMos. The first Su-30MKI fighter aircraft modified for BrahMos was handed over by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to the CEO and MD of BrahMos Aerospace in 2015. On March 11, maiden test of extended-range version of supersonic cruise missile BrahMos was conducted from a defence base off Odisha coast. The strike range of the missile has been enhanced from 290 km to 450 km after Indias full membership to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), which removed caps on range of the cruise missile. BHUBANESWAR: Worlds fastest supersonic cruise missile BrahMos created another history on Wednesday. With advanced seeker software, the high speed missile was successfully flight-tested first time from the Indian Air Forces frontline fighter aircraft Sukhoi-30 MKI. Defence sources said the missile was fired against a sea-based target in the Bay of Bengal off Paradip and Puri coasts during noon hours. The missile was gravity dropped from the fuselage of Su-30 aircraft. The two-stage missiles engine fired up and straightway propelled towards the intended target at the sea. It was a spectacular success. We are extremely happy with the performance of the formidable weapon system, said a defence official from New Delhi. The Air Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM) BrahMos weighing around 2.5 tonne is the heaviest weapon to be deployed on Indian fighter aircraft modified by HAL to carry the weapon. BrahMos ALCM being fired from Sukhoi-30 MKI. (Express Photo Service) The Su-30 MKI has a maximum speed of 2 Mach with a single in-flight range of 3,000 km. A total of 8,000 kg payload can be carried by it in a maximum altitude of 17 km. After performing high-level and extremely complex manoeuvres, successfully hit a ship-based target located at 280 km range with high precision. The missile having such capabilities can distinguish a particular target from a group of targets, the official said. The world-class weapon BrahMos with multi-platform and multi-mission role is now capable of being launched from Land, Sea and Air, completing the tactical cruise missile triad for India. WATCH THE VIDEO HERE: The successful maiden test firing of ALCM BrahMos from Sukhoi-30 MKI will significantly bolster the IAFs air combat operations capability from stand-off ranges, said a defence statement. The Sukhoi-30 MKI can carry three missiles while other combat aircraft would carry one each. Many modifications were made to reduce the missile's weight to 2.5 tonne. While smaller booster was used and connector relocated, fins were added for airborne stability after launch. Jointly developed by DRDO of India and NPOM of Russia, The 8.4 meter missile is capable of delivering warheads of up to 300 kg at thrice the speed of sound. DRDO scientists have significantly contributed for the advanced guidance system that helps the supersonic missile maneuver perfectly. The aircraft has been modified it such a way that three missiles can be fired on three different targets or in a variety of other combinations near simultaneously. As the prime strike weapon, it can ensure the aircrafts invincibility by engaging targets at long ranges. BrahMos is the only supersonic cruise missile possessing the advanced capability providing an edge to the user with precise hit. The Indian army is the first army in the World to have a regiment of supersonic cruise missile with advanced capabilities. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman congratulated DRDO and BrahMos for the outstanding accomplishment. India creates a world record and completes Supersonic Cruise Missile Triad by successfully testing #BRAHMOS #ALCM from Indian Air Force Sukhoi-30MKI fighter aircraft. Smt @nsitharaman congratulates Team Brahmos & @DRDO_India for this historic achievement. Raksha Mantri (@DefenceMinIndia) November 22, 2017 Chairman of DRDO and Secretary of Department of Defence Research and Development S Christopher also congratulated the scientists and engineers for the excellent text book kind of flight test. The missile test was witnessed by DG (BrahMos) and CEO and MD of BrahMos Aerospace Sudhir Mishra along with senior IAF officials, scientists and officials from DRDO and BrahMos. The first Su-30MKI fighter aircraft modified for BrahMos was handed over by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to the CEO and MD of BrahMos Aerospace in 2015. On March 11, maiden test of extended-range version of supersonic cruise missile BrahMos was conducted from a defence base off Odisha coast. The strike range of the missile has been enhanced from 290 km to 450 km after Indias full membership to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), which removed caps on range of the cruise missile. By PTI LAHORE: JuD chief Hafiz Saeed will soon walk free after a Pakistani judicial body today ordered his release from house arrest, in a setback to India's efforts to bring to justice the perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack. The banned Jamaat-ud-Dawah head, who carries a bounty of USD 10 million announced by the US for his role in terror activities, has been under detention since January this year. Rejecting the government's plea to extend his detention for another three months, the Judicial Review Board of Punjab province comprising judges of the Lahore High Court ordered Saeed's release on the expiry of his 30-day house arrest which is going to expire in a couple of days. "The government is ordered to release JuD chief Hafiz Saeed if he is not wanted in any other case," said the board which was headed by Justice Abdul Sami Khan. Saeed may walk out free in a couple of days if the government does not detain him in any other case. India has repeatedly asked Pakistan to re-investigate the Mumbai terror attack case and also demanded trial of Saeed and Lashkar-e-Taiba operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi in the light of evidence it had provided to Islamabad. Before the board's decision, a federal finance ministry official appeared before it and submitted "some important evidence" against Saeed to justify his detention. The board, however, could not be convinced by his arguments. Earlier, the home department of the Punjab government told the board that Pakistan might face sanctions from the international community if Saeed is released. Earlier in the day, the department produced Saeed before the board and sought a three-month extension in his detention. Strict security arrangements were taken at the LHC premises during Saeed's appearance before the board. A large number of JuD workers also gathered on the courts premises. After the decision, Saeed's supporters chanted slogans in favour of their leader. Last month, the board had allowed 30-day extension to the detention of Saeed which will expire in a couple of days. Meanwhile, a source in the Punjab government told PTI that Saeed may not walk out free as the government is mulling to detain him in another case. "The government cannot afford to set Saeed free in the current circumstance. It cannot face international backlash in the event of releasing the JuD chief," the official source told PTI. On January 31, Saeed and his four aides - Abdullah Ubaid, Malik Zafar Iqbal, Abdul Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Hussain - were detained by the Punjab government for 90 days under preventative detention under Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 and the Fourth Schedule of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997. However the last two extensions were made on the 'public safety law'. The board, however, refused to give further extension to the detention of Saeed's four aides. They were later set free in the last week of October. Under the law, the government can detain a person for up to three months under different charges but for extension to that detention, it needs approval from a judicial review board. Separately, the LHC today held hearing on Saeeds petition challenging his detention and adjourned the proceedings for December 6. The JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) which is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attack. Saeed was put under house arrest after Mumbai terror attacks in November 2008 but he was freed by court in 2009. Ten LeT militants killed 166 people and wounded dozens in Mumbai in November 2008. Nine of the attackers were killed by police while lone survivor Ajmal Kasab was caught. Kasab was executed after a court found him guilty and handed down death sentence. LAHORE: JuD chief Hafiz Saeed will soon walk free after a Pakistani judicial body today ordered his release from house arrest, in a setback to India's efforts to bring to justice the perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack. The banned Jamaat-ud-Dawah head, who carries a bounty of USD 10 million announced by the US for his role in terror activities, has been under detention since January this year. Rejecting the government's plea to extend his detention for another three months, the Judicial Review Board of Punjab province comprising judges of the Lahore High Court ordered Saeed's release on the expiry of his 30-day house arrest which is going to expire in a couple of days. "The government is ordered to release JuD chief Hafiz Saeed if he is not wanted in any other case," said the board which was headed by Justice Abdul Sami Khan. Saeed may walk out free in a couple of days if the government does not detain him in any other case. India has repeatedly asked Pakistan to re-investigate the Mumbai terror attack case and also demanded trial of Saeed and Lashkar-e-Taiba operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi in the light of evidence it had provided to Islamabad. Before the board's decision, a federal finance ministry official appeared before it and submitted "some important evidence" against Saeed to justify his detention. The board, however, could not be convinced by his arguments. Earlier, the home department of the Punjab government told the board that Pakistan might face sanctions from the international community if Saeed is released. Earlier in the day, the department produced Saeed before the board and sought a three-month extension in his detention. Strict security arrangements were taken at the LHC premises during Saeed's appearance before the board. A large number of JuD workers also gathered on the courts premises. After the decision, Saeed's supporters chanted slogans in favour of their leader. Last month, the board had allowed 30-day extension to the detention of Saeed which will expire in a couple of days. Meanwhile, a source in the Punjab government told PTI that Saeed may not walk out free as the government is mulling to detain him in another case. "The government cannot afford to set Saeed free in the current circumstance. It cannot face international backlash in the event of releasing the JuD chief," the official source told PTI. On January 31, Saeed and his four aides - Abdullah Ubaid, Malik Zafar Iqbal, Abdul Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Hussain - were detained by the Punjab government for 90 days under preventative detention under Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 and the Fourth Schedule of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997. However the last two extensions were made on the 'public safety law'. The board, however, refused to give further extension to the detention of Saeed's four aides. They were later set free in the last week of October. Under the law, the government can detain a person for up to three months under different charges but for extension to that detention, it needs approval from a judicial review board. Separately, the LHC today held hearing on Saeeds petition challenging his detention and adjourned the proceedings for December 6. The JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) which is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attack. Saeed was put under house arrest after Mumbai terror attacks in November 2008 but he was freed by court in 2009. Ten LeT militants killed 166 people and wounded dozens in Mumbai in November 2008. Nine of the attackers were killed by police while lone survivor Ajmal Kasab was caught. Kasab was executed after a court found him guilty and handed down death sentence. Download Now The News-Gazette mobile app brings you the latest local breaking news, updates, and more. Read the News-Gazette on your mobile device just as it appears in print. Columnist Tom Kacich is a columnist and the author of Tom's Mailbag at The News-Gazette. His column appears Sundays. His email is tkacich@news-gazette.com, and you can follow him on Twitter (@tkacich). Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has asked citizens to click the picture of wrongly parked cars and send to authorities while proposing a 10 percent reward for them from Rs 500 fine imposed on the owner of the concerned vehicle. Gadkari said he felt "ashamed" that absence of parking lots outside his own Ministry forced "ambassadors" and "big people" to park on road blocking the way to Parliament. "In my Motor Vehicle Act, I am going to add one law (provision). Any car on road, you just take the photo on your mobile and send it to the department concerned or Police. There will be Rs 500 fine and 10 percent will go to the complainant," Gadkari said. News18.com Presents Tech and Auto Awards 2017 | Vote For Your Favourite Smartphone, Car, Two-Wheeler And More! "No parking places are available. People are using roads for that," he said. The minister said big institutions should have their parking places. He said, "every day it is shameful for me...the Ambassadors are coming ... the big people are coming. Infront of Parliament, my total road is blocked and for getting permission to build a parking place I needed 13 permissions." He said it took months to take permission for constructing a single parking lot and he had raised the issue with the then Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu. Gadkari during the laying of foundation stone for his own Ministry's automate parking had said in May 2016 that he felt "ashamed" that his own ministry had to wait nine months to get approvals for a 'simple automated parking lot'. Gadkari, who has been very keen on this project, had expressed anguish over this delay at its foundation laying ceremony at Transport Bhawan near Parliament, prompting Naidu to promise a one-month cap on a grant of all such permissions. Transport Bhawan will be the first government building to have an automated multi-level car parking facility in its premises at a cost of about Rs 9 crore. News18.com Presents Tech and Auto Awards 2017 | Car of The Year: Jeep Compass or Maruti Suzuki Dzire? Vote and Win The automated parking lot project is being undertaken by NHIDCL. The facility will comprise ground plus seven floors. Spread over an area of 314 sq meters and with a height of 22 meters, the facility will be able to house 112 cars. The retrieving time for cars will be 120 seconds. The Motor Vehicles Bill, which aims to usher in far-reaching reforms in the transport sector, was in August referred to a 24-member Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha. News18.com Presents Tech and Auto Awards 2017 | Two-Wheeler of The Year: Bajaj Dominar or KTM RS 390? Vote And Win The committee will have to submit its report to the Rajya Sabha by the first day of the next session "without extension of time, Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P J Kurien has said. The bill aims at bringing sweeping reforms in the transport sector, ranging from hefty fines for traffic rules violations to improving the licensing system and checking bogus licenses. Also Watch: 2017 Volkswagen Passat | First Drive Review | Cars18 New Delhi: The finance ministry has informed Congress MP Shashi Tharoor that his suggestion to increase the tax exemption limit for pension up to Rs 5 lakh would be examined during the ongoing preparations for the Union Budget 2018, according to a communication. Responding to a letter written by Tharoor in late September, Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla said the suggestion that pension up to Rs 5 lakh per annum should be exempted from income tax in all cases was examined. "The proposal would be examined during the exercise for the ensuing Union Budget 2018 and the outcome would be reflected in the Finance Bill, 2018," said the letter, which was tweeted by Tharoor. The letter, dated November 14, said that a pensioner who is above 80 years is not required to pay tax if the total income, including pension, does not exceed Rs 5 lakh. "The suggestion that pension up to Rs 5 lakh per annum should be exempt in all cases would require amendment to the existing provisions of the Income Tax Act, 1961," the letter said. A pensioner, who is a senior citizen -- aged 60 to 80 years -- is exempt from income tax if the income, including from pension, does not exceed Rs 3 lakh. About the letter, Tharoor tweeted, "Govt's semi-encouraging reply to my request to exempt pensioners from tax on the first 5 lakhs of income. Hope @arunjaitley will include this in his next budget". The work for preparation of the General Budget has already commenced and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is likely to present it to Parliament in the first week of February. New Delhi: Amid speculations that Narendra Modi government might consider doing away with cheque facility in banks to foster digital payments, experts, including Pronab Sen, former adviser to the Planning Commission and the first Chief Statistician of India, have termed it a bad idea. It sounds like a bad idea. There might be growth in numbers as far as digital payments are concerned, but the key difference in cheque payments and that of digital is there is a 1.5% to 2% transaction charges involved in every digital transaction. In order to foster digital payments one cannot impose additional cost burden, said Sen. Earlier, Press Trust of India reported Secretary General of Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), Praveen Khandelwal saying, In all probability, the Centre may withdraw the cheque book facility in the near future to encourage digital transactions. The industry body also talked about the need to encourage debit and credit card transactions in order to move towards a cashless economy. These decisions are not taken in a jiffy. If the government is planning to remove cheques then there needs to be an alternative as universal as cheques. Digital payments are not as famous in a lot of sections of the country, said D K Shrivastava, chief policy advisor, EY, a consultancy. Modi government has been trying to move towards a cashless economy post demonetisation in order to widen the tax base and generate more revenue for the exchequer. According to Reserve Bank of India, the number of cheque transactions has been on the decline. However, the catch is that the number of transactions using point of sale machines has also been falling with an increase in ATM transactions essentially hinting at cash making a comeback, a big jolt for the ruling governments ambitious plan of eliminating cash from the economy. It is important to note that many business transactions are carried out through cheques. At present, more than 95% transactions happen via cash and cheques. Lahore: The Punjab Judicial Review Board of Pakistan on Wednesday ordered the release of 26/11 attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed, a day after the government expressed concern over possible sanctions from the International community, were it to end the house arrest of Lashkar-e-Taiba founder. Saeed's lawyer A K Dogar told CNN-News18 that if his client was guilty, he should be punished. "But if there is no evidence against him, the court cannot pronounce him guilty." Dogar also said that three judges of the court had given two days to show the evidence. "When the government failed to produce any evidence, the court said that Saeed cannot be kept without it." Pakistan's Punjab government had, on Tuesday, produced Saeed before the Review Board comprising judges of the Lahore High Court seeking the extension of his detention by three months. A Punjab home department official submitted before the board a plea explaining that the release of Saeed could result in the imposition of international sanctions. He also told the board that the Federal Finance Ministry has "some important evidence" against Saeed to justify his detention. He further informed that Saeed had been detained on the basis of intelligence agencies' reports. Under the law, the Pakistani government can detain a person for up to three months under different charges but for extension to that detention it needs approval from a judicial review board. The Judicial Review Board had last month extended the detention of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief by a month. Saeed's detention was to end on November 23, three days before the ninth anniversary of a series of attacks that killed 166 people in Mumbai. The US has offered a USD 10 million bounty for Saaed for his alleged role in the Mumbai attack. Hyderabad: An 85-year-old man has been arrested by the "She Team" of the Rachakonda police for allegedly raping 4 minors and attempting to rape two other minor girls in Hyderabad. According to the police, the accused, M Satyanarayana, abused victims for several months by luring them with chocolates. Speaking to CNN News18, Rachakonda police commissioner Mahesh Bhagwat said, "Our 'She Teams' are creating awareness programs in schools and educating students, especially girls, about good and bad touch. The arrest took place when the incident came to light and our team immediately acted on it." The police registered six cases against the accused under section 376 of the Indian Penal Code and relevant Sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. "She Teams" in Telangana police were introduced to provide safety and security to women and make the state a safe place for women. The mark sheet of a first-year BA student of Agra University with the photo of actor Salman Khan has gone viral on social media websites. The discrepancy is not the only one. Another mark sheet had the photo of Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi stamped on it. Several also bore the name Bhimrao Ambedkar in the place where the students name was supposed to go, Times of India reported. The mistakes were caught when the university administration was cross-checking the results before the mark sheets were distributed to students. The report card with the photo of Salman was recalled and corrected after the blunder came to light. It belonged to a student of Amrata Singh Memorial Degree College in Aligarh, which is affiliated to the university. The university administration first tried to deny the mistake and then blamed it on the private agency it had contracted to print the mark sheets. The public relation officer of Agra University, G S Sharma, told Times of India that the varsity has not received any complaint from anyone in this regard. This is not the first time that photos of Bollywood actors have found their way into college exam documents. Earlier this year, an admit card with actor Abhishek Bachchan's name and picture appeared on the official website of the Staff Selection Commission (SSC). New Delhi: In a major milestone, the Brahmos supersonic cruise missile was on Wednesday successfully test fired for the first time from the Indian Air Force's frontline Sukhoi-30 MKI combat jet, significantly bolstering the country's aerial prowess. The armed forces are now capable of launching the Brahmos, which has a strike range of around 290 km and is described as the world's fastest supersonic cruise missile, from land, sea and air, completing the tactical cruise missile triad for the country. The defence ministry said the missile hit a sea-based target in the Bay of Bengal from the combat jet. The land and warship versions of the missile have already been inducted into the armed forces. "Brahmos, the world's fastest supersonic cruise missile created history on today after it was successfully flight-tested for first time from the IAF's frontline fighter aircraft Sukhoi-30MKI against a sea based target in the Bay of Bengal," the defence ministry said. It said the successful maiden test firing of Brahmos Air Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM) from Su-30MKI will significantly bolster the IAF's air combat operations capability from stand-off ranges. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman congratulated the "Team Brahmos" and the scientists at Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for the "historic achievement". The completion of tactical cruise missile triad will significantly bolster the IAFs capabilities in long-range air combat operations. #BrahMos https://t.co/Eq0WVmgUMu pic.twitter.com/wapmG6WM2G Raksha Mantri (@DefenceMinIndia) November 22, 2017 Giving details of the test firing, the ministry said the missile was "gravity dropped" from the Su-30 fuselage, and the two stage missile's engine fired up and straightway propelled towards the intended target at the sea. Brahmos ALCM, weighing 2.5 ton is the heaviest weapon to be deployed on India's Su-30 fighter aircraft modified by state-run aerospace behemoth Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) to carry weapons. Brahmos is a joint venture between DRDO of India and NPO Mashinostroyenia (NPOM) of Russia. Dr S Christopher, Chairman of DRDO, congratulated the scientists and engineers for the "excellent text book kind of flight test". The missile test was witnessed by Dr Sudhir Mishra, Director General (BrahMos), along with senior IAF officials, scientists and officials from DRDO and BrahMos. New Delhi: The students of Chennai's Sathyabama Deemed University on Wednesday set a portion of college on fire protesting the death of a student, who allegedly committed suicide. Students allege that Ragamonika was humiliated by a professor and sent out of the examination hall for copying in her exam. The girl, then, allegedly took her life in the hostel, The News Minute reported. When students reached the hostel to check on Ragamonika, she was found hanging from the ceiling fan. The students came out demanding justice for Ragamonika after the news of her death circulated on campus. The New Indian Express quoted a college official as saying that the girl student was found copying in her exam using another paper that she somehow managed to carry with herself. "She was caught and the invigilator asked her to leave the exam hall," the official added. Videos that have surfaced on social media show huge flames in one of the portions the college. The students can be seen moving around furtively while others captured the scene on their mobile camera. Ranchi: A CBI court in the district on Wednesday sentenced former Chief Secretary of Jharkhand Sajal Chakraborty to five years' imprisonment in a multi-million Animal Husbandry Department (AHD) scam, popularly known as fodder scam. Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Court judge Shambhulal Sahu pronounced the quantum of sentence after hearing the arguments of the CBI and Chakraborty's counsel. The court also fined him Rs 4 lakh. The court had on November 14 convicted Chakraborty in the case related to the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 37 crore from Jharkhand's Chaibasa treasury. As per the charge, Chakraborty was the Deputy Commissioner of West Singhbhum (Chaibasa) when the fraudulent withdrawal took place and he did nothing to prevent it. He accepted a laptop from fodder suppliers to maintain silence over the withdrawal. Chakraborty was appointed the Chief Secretary of Jharkhand in October 2014 and removed from his post in January 2015. The Rs 950-crore fodder scam surfaced in 1996 in undivided Bihar. The case was handed over to the CBI on the directive of the Patna High Court. Lalu Prasad had to resign as Chief Minister of Bihar in 1997 following allegations of involvement in the fodder scam case. He was sent to jail and later convicted in another fodder case. Chennai: Tamil film producer Ashok Kumar committed suicide at his residence in Chennai on Tuesday. In his suicide note, Kumar blamed a film financier for forcing him to take the extreme step. Kumar was found hanging in his apartment in Chennais Alwarthirunagar locality. He is related to leading Kollywood director-actor M Sasikumar, who produced some of his films. In his suicide note, Kumar blamed film financier Anbuchezhian of charging exorbitant interest on loans given to his production company. "The most sinful act I committed was to borrow loan from Anbuchezhian. He charged more than the interest rates over the last seven years. However, over the last six months, Anbuchezhian insulted and humiliated me. He sent his people home to threaten elders and women in my family (sic)," Kumars suicide note read. The letter added: "Don't think I'm a coward or a selfish person. I had only two options. One was to kill and the other was to commit suicide. If I had to kill, the deceased family will have to suffer. So, I chose the latter (sic)." It has been alleged that the financier enjoys a certain influence with politicians, police force and the film fraternity. On Tuesday, the deceaseds cousin, director Sasikumar and his friends filed a complaint against Anbuchezhian at the Valasaravakkam police station. Sasikumar said, "Ashok Kumar was my cousin, my shadow and a co-producer, who managed all my financial affairs." Other directors have also come out to blame Anbuchezhian for Ashok Kumar's suicide. "Ashok Kumar's suicide should be the last one. During Ajith's 'Naan Kadavil' film, he too faced a similar situation. Directos Gautam Memon, Lingasamy too were victims of this loan shark. We urge the central government to conduct raids at Anbuchezhian's house," said director Suseendhran. Following this, the police have filed a case against the financier and have formed special teams to nab him. President of the Tamil Film Producer Council, Vishal, has condemned the incident and issued a statement. Devastated to hear the sad demise of a Dear Friend, Ashok Kumar who sacrificed his life succumbing to the pressure created by financiers. I truly wish that this will be the last sacrifice in the name of financial burden. Suicide is not a solution & I hereby request producers to reach out to us if they face such threats from Financiers, we will be more than happy to help them out, the statement said. Actor Prakash Raj said action must be taken against financiers who charge "exorbitant interest". "Tamil Nadu Producer Council will support all Producers and make sure that such incidents don't happen. Black money should be eradicated and government should take action against financiers who charge exorbitant interest," said Prakash Raj. Gwalior: Unfazed by the seizure of Nathuram Godses statue from its Gwalior office on Wednesday, the Hindu Mahasabha has asserted that it would continue to worship him and would install his statues in all its offices across the state. We criticise the administrations autocratic action under Congress pressure, the outfits vice-president Jaiveer Bharadwaj told News18 after police broke open the Mahasabhas office in Daulatganj area and seized the statue. The organisation also plans to move the high court against the British era high-handedness of the administration, Bharadwaj claimed. Mahasabhas state head Dinesh Sugandhi said state-wide protests would be held over the forceful removal of the statue and the organisation would continue to propagate Godses views but by staying within the limits of the Constitution. The Hindutva group first plans to install a statue next to their office in Ujjain, spokesperson Manish Singh Chuahan told News18. However, the group will be cautious that no legal provisions are violated, he said. We simply wish to pursue out ideology and tampering with law and order is not our motive, Bharadwaj said. New Delhi: The parents of a seven-year-old dengue patient were billed Rs 16 lakh for a 15-day stay by Fortis Hospital in Gurugram. At the end of the stay, the girl, Adya, died. The itemised bill, which runs 19 pages long, shows that Fortis Hospital charged the parents for 661 syringes and 2,700 gloves, among other things, that were supposedly used during the treatment. The father, Jayant Singh, who lives in Dwarka, had paid the amount upfront but accused the hospital of inflating the bill and imposing arbitrary costs. Despite the high cost, he said, the doctors paid little attention to Adyas health. Union health minister JP Nadda has taken note of the incident and tweeted to offer his support to the family. Please provide me details on hfwminister@gov.in. We will take all the necessary action, he tweeted. Fortis denied any wrongdoing and said it had followed the standard medical procedure. In a statement, it said that the girl was brought in a critical condition and all clinical guidelines were adhered to while treating the patient. Hellish stay Speaking to News18, the girls father said the stay at Fortis was hellish from the beginning. The girl was shifted to Fortis on August 31 after she was diagnosed with Dengue Type IV and doctors at Rockland Hospital in Dwarka asked him to shift her to a hospital with a Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). He said that immediately upon arrival, Adya was sedated heavily and admitted to the PICU. She was jabbed with over 40 injections every day, often with the expensive variety of drugs even when much cheaper options were available. Images of the bill tweeted by Jayant Singh's friend. Giving an example, Singh said that the doctors gave Adya an intravenous anti-bacterial drug, Meropenem, which costs around Rs 500 per vial. But later they opted for a branded version of the same drug that cost Rs 3,100. At the end, he ended up paying over Rs 4 lakh for the drugs and Rs 2.7 lakhs for consumables like gloves. Despite the high bills, he alleged, there were no doctors to take care of his daughter on weekends. Once their insurance limit ran out, the hospital started demanding the bill amount at the end of the day, over a lakh per day. On October 14, the doctors told the parents that the girl had 70-80 per cent brain damage and would never recover completely. They still pushed for a plasma treatment that costs over Rs 15 lakh, Singh said. It was then that he decided to take Adya to another hospital. Singh said he was not even provided an ambulance by Fortis. He said he suspects that Adya had already died by then and the hospital was just looking to make more money. Adyas mother said they couldnt even cry because they had to pay bills, arrange an ambulance and search for another hospital to certify that she is dead. The girl was ultimately pronounced dead by Rockland Hospital. The parents of the girl are contemplating whether to sue the hospital and have taken to social media platforms to talk about the incident. We want the government to at least take out corruption from the medical field. People actually die because of it, the mother said. Fortis Statement Fortis hospital, however, said that Adya had suffered from Dengue shock syndrome and had to be put on life support as her condition kept deteriorating. The family was kept informed of the critical condition of the child and the poor prognosis in these situations. As a process, we counselled the family daily on the condition of the child, it said in a statement. On 14th September, 17, family decided to take her away from the hospital against medical advice (LAMA - Leave Against Medical Advice) and she succumbed the same day, it added. The hospital also said that the girl was critical right from the time of admission, requiring Intensive monitoring. Treatment during these 15 days included mechanical ventilation, high frequency ventilation, continuous renal replacement therapy, intravenous antibiotics, inotropes, sedation and analgesia. Care of ventilated patients in ICU requires a high number of consumables as per globally accepted infection control protocols. All consumables are transparently reflected in records and charged as per actuals, it said. Washington: A 34-year-old Indian-origin man has been charged in the US with risk of injury to a child and evidence tampering for allegedly failing to seek medical care for his 1-month-old son after realising that the infant was unresponsive and could be dead. Divya Patel of Rocky Hill in Connecticut was arrested after police discovered his one-month-old child dead in the backseat of his car on Sunday. According to state police, it received a 911 call on November 18 from a mother stating that her one-month-old was not breathing. She told police that the child was with his father in a car parked at the Residence Inn on Cromwell Ave. When officers arrived, they were unable to locate Patel or the child. They contacted him via cell phone but he was uncooperative and would not tell police his location, nbcconnecticut reported. After about 30 minutes, Patel returned to the Residence Inn where officers located the unresponsive child. The child was taken to Connecticut Childrens Medical Centre in Hartford and pronounced dead. During their investigation, police learned that Patel was aware his child had died and did not render aid or seek emergency care. Patel is being held on a USD 1 million bond. He appeared in New Britain Superior court on Monday and is due back in court on December 5. Police said the investigation is ongoing and additional charges are pending. Washington: The Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2017 being hosted by India along with the US is a testament to the "strong friendship" between the two countries, US President Donald Trump's daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump said on Wednesday. Ivanka, 36, is headed to India after Thanksgiving ritual. She is leading a high-powered American delegation of officials, women entrepreneurs and businessmen for the GES in Hyderabad from November 28-30. Ivanka would deliver the key note address at the three-day summit, which would be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. For the first time, in its eight editions, the summit has been themed "Women First and Prosperity for All," which "demonstrates" the administration's "commitment to the principle that when women are economically empowered, their communities and countries thrive," Ivanka said in a preview of her India trip. The summit, to be attended by 1,500 entrepreneurs from 170 countries, would have around 350 participants from the US, a large number of whom are Indian-Americans. Among prominent members of the administration joining her on the trip are US Treasurer Jovita Carranza, administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Neomi Rao, USAID administrator Mark Green, and Overseas Private Investment Corporation president and CEO Ray Washburne. Women will represent 52.5 percent of the entrepreneurs, investors and ecosystem supporters at the GES 2017. In fact, more than 10 countries including Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Israel will be represented by an all-women delegation, the State Department said. The entrepreneurs attending the GES also reflect a very young team with nearly 31.5 percent of them being either aged 30 or below. The youngest entrepreneur is aged 13 while the oldest one is 84. Ivanka said she "very much" looks forward to her visit. India, she said, is "a great friend and partner" in the US. The goal of the collaboration is to grow the shared economic and security partnership, she said. According to the officials, during her India visit, Ivanka is likely to spend some time on sightseeing, including a possible stop at the Charminar. She will be participating in two panels: The plenary session : "Be the Change -- Women's Entrepreneurial Leadership," on Tuesday evening and on Wednesday morning a breakout session : "We Can Do It! Innovations in Workforce Development and Skills Training." New Delhi: The Indian government on Wednesday gave a go-ahead to Kulbhushan Jadhav's wife to visit Pakistan to meet him, more than a year after he was arrested for "spying" and "subversive activities". Sources told CNN-News18 that the decision about the date of the visit will be taken soon. Sources also claimed that Pakistan's move to allow a meeting between Jadhav and his wife came after tremendous pressure by Indian diplomats. "National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval is personally monitoring the situation and has held several back-channel meetings," a source claimed. A military court in Pakistan has sentenced Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav to death for alleged involvement in "spying" and "subversive activities". India has acknowledged Jadhav as a retired Indian Navy officer but denied that he was in any way connected to the government. Kulbhushan Jadhav is a retired Indian Navy officer who Pakistan alleges is a spy for the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW). He was arrested allegedly from Balochistan after he entered from Iran The Indian government, on the other hand, says that he was picked up from Iran. The Pakistani government slapped terrorism and sabotage charges against him in April 2016. Sartaj Aziz, an advisor to Pakistan Prime Minister on foreign affairs, had in March 2017, claimed that the country won't extradite Jadhav. He was also denied a consular access by Pakistan. Bhopal: Historians may be divided on whether Rani Padmavati existed but Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday announced the story of the Rajput queen would be made a part of the school curriculum in the state so that students can learn correct history Chouhan, who was attending an event in Ujjain organized to honour him for banning the films release in the state, said that Padmavati was a Rajmata and the coming generation should learn about her valour and sacrifice. Life saga of Rajmata Padmavati will be included in the school curriculum from the next (academic) session so that the coming generations could know her bravery, he said after meeting a delegation of Karni Sena. The BJP leader had on Monday announced that the movie, facing stiff opposition from the Rajput community, would not be allowed to be screened in the state if it contained scenes "breaching the honour" of the queen or showed "distorted facts". Chouhan also announced the institution of 'Rashtramata Padmavati Award' for those doing outstanding work for protecting the honour of women" and the 'Maharana Pratap Award' for bravery. He also promised that a memorial of Padmavati would be constructed at a site in the state capital where a memorial for the country's brave soldiers has been proposed. "If there are scenes breaching the honour of Queen Padmavati, the movie will not be exhibited on the land of Madhya Pradesh," Chouhan had said. The Sanjay Leela Bhansali-directed film has been mired in controversies since its shooting began earlier this year. The director was roughed up by members of Rajput Karni Sena in Rajasthan. The first poster of the movie, featuring Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh in the lead, was released in October this year, kicking up a storm as various Rajput groups accused Bhansali of "distorting" historical facts under the guise of freedom of expression. Following the controversy, the makers of "Padmavati" deferred its December 1 release. At the centre of the controversy is an alleged romantic dream sequence between the Rajput queen and Alauddin Khilji's characters in the film. Bhansali has repeatedly denied the existence of any such scene but that has not stopped the raging protests and threats against the film's makers and actors. Hyderabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be playing host to Ivanka Trump at the dinner at Hyderabads Falaknuma Palace on November 28. The US-based businesswoman and daughter of US President Donald Trump will be introduced to Indian cuisine at the Nizam dining hall in Falaknuma Palace, which is touted as the worlds largest dining hall. The royal menu would include food from all regions of the country, including the famous Hyderabadi Biryani. There are two dinners planned at the palace. The most important guests will have dinner at the "101 Dining Hall", while other delegates will have the same menu served on the lawns outside. The magnificent dining hall at Falaknuma Palace is often called the world's largest. (Image: News18) The "101 Dining Hall", has a magnificently 108-feet long table with a seating capacity of 100 guests. The dinner will be followed by cultural events organised to highlight India's culture. The unique venue has sophisticated wooden interiors and ornate crystal chandeliers and exquisite acoustics. The exotic Falaknuma Palace in Hyderabad is owned by the Hyderabad Nizams. (Image: News18) Hyderabad Decks Up The city of pearls, Hyderabad is all set to welcome Ivanka Trump and hundreds of other delegates from across the world for the 3-day Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) starting November 28. The IT corridor, which will host the summit has undergone a colorful makeover to woo the foreign guests. Trees and pavements leading to the Falaknuma Palace has been decorated in different colours. (Image: News18) Right from widening of roads to laying down new footpaths, the city has been transformed to create the best impression. Be it interesting paintings on the trees, lush green grass that runs along the road, or animal themed flower pots on the approach road leading to the venue, the city wears a vibrant new look which promises to be a visual treat for all. The flyovers have also been ramped up with colourful and creative art highlighting India's culture through paintings. Mumbai: Around 1,500 farmers, who were headed for Kota, are now stuck at an unfamiliar Madhya Pradesh railway station after their train travelled 160 kilometres in the wrong direction. Now, the railway authorities dont know what to do with them. The farmers were returning to Rajasthan and Maharashtra after attending the Kisan Yatra protest rally in Delhis Jantar Mantar on Monday. The special train that was arranged from Maharashtra for the thousands of protesting farmers took a wrong route and left these 1494 farmers stranded in Madhya Pradeshs Banmore station near Gwalior. According to sources, the railway authorities gave a wrong signal to the train at the Mathura station, which led to the train landing up in Madhya Pradesh instead of Maharashtra. Railway officers had no clue whatsoever as to how did the train land up at Banmore, 160 km off its original route. Neither did they have a route plan available for the train to move ahead. We left Delhi at 10pm on Tuesday and woke up at 6am to find ourselves at Banmore railway station in Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh. After Agra, we had to move towards Kota in Rajasthan, however, due to serious negligence by the Railways, we are now in in MP, passenger Mahavir Patil told News18. The train carrying 1,494 farmers including 200 women was booked by farmers from Kohlapur in Maharashtra, for Rs 39 lakhs. When News18 spoke to one of the stranded passengers who was headed for Kohlapur, he said they have been delayed by 5-6 hours. As the passengers approached the station master for information, he pleaded ignorance about the route plan and declined to give them a green signal. After a delay of over one and half hour, the passengers then ran out of patience and created a ruckus by stopping a goods train. Passenger S Madanaike said, When we spoke to the driver, he said there was a wrong signal at the Mathura railway station which caused this goof up. It looks like we will only reach by Thursday morning. Hyderabad: In order to avoid any security breach ahead of Ivanka Trumps visit to Hyderabad, US Secret Service team is in the city touring venues and reviewing security arrangements. In the run up to the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Hyderabad, Telangana government has also stationed 1,000 security personnel to guard the IT corridor that will host US President Donald Trumps daughter and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Ivanka, advisor to the President, is heading the US contingent to the summit that will host 1,500 young entrepreneurs from 150 countries. Due to the high threat perception, the US and Indian agencies are taking special measures to ensure tight security for the event. According to police officials, a multi-layer security will be put in place. "The most inner cordon, in close proximity to Ivanka Trump, will be looked after by US Secret Service, followed by the Special Protection Group and the intelligence security wing. The outer cordon will be taken up by Telangana Police, which will include highly trained Octopus, Greyhounds, task force, etc," said an official requesting anonymity. The security personnel will occupy high vantage points along the route of the planned movement of the delegates for better security. Extra security arrangements have been made in the Old City area, where Ivanka and other delegates will proceed for dinner hosted by PM Modi at Falaknuma Palace, a Taj property. The police have already conducted search operations in the locality and advised locals not to allow strangers till the completion of the summit. Other important delegates for the summit include at least four chief ministers, two Union cabinet ministers and two ministers from the states. Special entrance for smooth passage to venue and other locations will only be given to guests tagged as VVIPs. For all other delegates, extra traffic policemen will be placed to ensure hassle-free movement. The government also plans to operate special buses for foreign delegates to reach the venue. This is the first time that GES is being held in South-Asia. The theme for the event is Women first, prosperity for all. New Delhi: Tourism minister K J Alphons incurred the wrath of a woman passenger at the Imphal Airport after her flight was delayed by two hours because of special arrangements made for the minister and other dignitaries. The woman, a doctor by profession, can be seen screaming at the minister, who was flanked by his entourage. The doctor complained that she had to reach her destination to attend a funeral. The woman passenger hit out at the minister saying that she was a doctor and not a politician. "My time is important. I had to reach Patna by 2:45. I told my family also. The body will degenerate," the woman said. However, the "protocol", as Alphons claimed later, caused the delay. The woman's flight was delayed as the airport prepared for the arrival of President Ram Nath Kovind. As a result of this delay, the woman missed her connecting flight from Kolkata, fuming her. In the video, the minister can be seen placating the woman passenger. Later, Alphons said that it is a 70-year protocol. "When the president lands anywhere, other flights are not allowed to take off," the minister said, distancing himself from the controversy. In a statement, the airport deirector accepted that 3 scheduled flights were delayed by around 2 hours due to the President Kovind's flight movement. "We heard that one passenger who was travelling from Imphal to Patna argued with Union Minister KJ Alphons," the statement added. Mumbai Amid the ongoing uproar over Padmavati, actor Ranveer Singh on Tuesday said that he has been asked not to say anything about the movie but was "200 percent" behind director Sanjay Leela Bhansali. "Like I said before, I stand 200 percent with the film and Mr. Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Given the sensitive times right now, I have been asked to not say anything, whatever in regards to the film. Anything that needs to be (said) you will receive from the producers," Ranveer said on the sidelines of an event here. Bhansali has received death threats over his alleged "wrongful" portrayal of queen Padmavati in the period drama by various Rajput groups, a charge denied by the director. The movie's release has been deferred by the producers in the wake of country-wide protests against the film. The event witnessed heavy security due to Ranveer's presence as journalists gathered in numbers to get a response from the actor. He acknowledged the media presence, saying, "Thank you very much for coming out today." Chennai evoked the railroad romance on Tuesday. Karthika Nair and Sampurna Chatterji read their poems on the city's latest metro as it zipped from Ashok Nagar to Shenoy Nagar, two points in the city. Karthika told the media the other day: These are poems that revolve around the Paris Metro and the Mumbai Suburban Railway. So, the possibility of performing in a similar space - even in another city - struck us as very exciting. And what better way to remind us of these invisible links among city dwellers than to perform the work in Chennai, which has a newly-minted Metro? The poetry published in a book titled, Metro Lands, contains Nair's and Chatterji's verses and illustrations by Joelle Jolivet and Roshni Vyam, and the volume will soon be launched at the Alliance Francaise in Chennai. Trains and stations have had an important role to play not just in the ordinary lives of men and women, but also in cinema. In fact, they have always held a fascination for films. One of those classic and unforgettable scenes is that of little Apu and his sister, Durga, in Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali watching a train across a field with its engine shrieking and belching smoke. As time went by, many directors have used the railroad as a leitmotif in their movies. Remember that opening (and closing) sequence in Vijay Anand's gripping thriller, Teesri Manzil, with Shammi Kapoor, Asha Parekh and comedian Ram Avtar. The scene in a way set the tone and pace of the film. Another work where the train played an important part, a Cupid in fact, was in Mani Ratnam's Alaipayuthey, where Madhavan's Karthik and Shalini's Selvaraj come together against the backdrop of clanging suburban electric trains in Chennai. In fact, Ratnam returns to the trains and the stations time and again in this movie. Even later, in his O Kadhal Kanmani, Dulquer Salman's first meeting with Nithya Menen is in a rail station where she is all set to commit suicide. Or, at least that is what we are made to believe then! Later, we find out that she was merely pretending to kill herself in order to grab the attention of her boyfriend -- who was beginning to lose interest in her. And, who can forget the Dhanush-starrer, Thodari, where he plays a pantry boy on board a train, and falls in love with the assistant of a film star. Bad work, though, which digresses into a million alleyways. But forget Thodari, can there be a parallel to the way trains were imaginatively used in David Lean's 1945 British suburban romantic drama, Brief Encounter where Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson meet and begin an extra-marital affair in a railroad station against the sound of hissing steam engines and rattling bogies. The sounds and the smoke-filled scenes are still there in my mind. Finally, I can never forget a pulpy love story I read long, long ago, called Brief Ecstasy, about how a dashing, debonair Spanish man meets an attractive woman on the Madrid Express as it races along the countryside under a star-spangled night. Indeed, the love stories woven around trains have this great ability to tug at your heart. So, I am not surprised to learn that this link between rail and romance is soon to be highlighted in a television serial by a producer who has made movies staring Rajnikanth. He does not want to be named now, but says that he is planning a television serial, where Chennai's new Metro Rail will play Cupid to a boy and a girl. The producer feels that the small screen is far more effective than the big one, because television has the ability to walk into a living room and mesmerise men and women. (Gautaman Bhaskaran is a writer, commentator and film critic) Malayalam superstar Dileep has been named as the eighth among 12 accused in the chargesheet filed by the Kerala Police in the actress abduction case. Dileep's former wife, Manju Warrier, has been named as a witness. The popular actress was abducted on February 17, 2016 when she was on her way from Ernakulam to Thrissur. She was allegedly abducted, forcibly driven around in her vehicle for about two hours and molested before being dumped. The charge sheet, running into over 1452 pages, includes the names of 345 witnesses of which total 164 statements have been recorded by the magistrate. "Dileep and first accused Pulsar Sunil conspired to attack the actress. Allegedly Dileep motivated the first accused and told him that it needs to be done immediately as the actress is planning to get married and leave the industry," read the charge sheet. The charge sheet also says that Dileep paid a total of 1,40,000 for Sunil. The agreement was to pay 1.5 crore and the plan was to take her nude pictures and video in an objectionable manner. Dileep, who also owns a restaurant Dhe Puttu in Kochi, is currently out on a conditional bail. After weeks of controversy clouding, and ultimately delaying, the release of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's epic period drama, Padmavati, a Lok Sabha committee has asked the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to submit a report on the debacle by November 30. The film is set around the 14th Century invasion of the kingdom of Mewar in Rajasthan by Delhi Sultanate ruler Alauddin Khilji. Deepika Padukone plays the titular Rajput queen, while Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh essay the roles of Maharawal Ratan Singh (the ruler of Mewar and husband to Padmavati) and Alauddin Khilji respectively. Fringe Rajput groups from Rajasthan as well as fringe Hindu groups from other parts of the country have been agitating for an extended period, claiming that the film is a 'distortion of history' as well as "hurting Rajput sentiments". Agitations have ranged from mass protests, the abuse of and threats of physical violence against Bhansali and Padukone as well as the burning of their effigies; bounties of Rs 5-10 crores were also placed on the heads of the director and actress. Following the public uproar, several state governments including Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana, banned the release of the film in their territories. Earlier, Haryana's government had also banned the film's screening, but has now stated that it will wait until the film gets cleared by the Censor Board before making a final decision. Following the protests and certain procedural errors in filing paperwork with the censor board, Viacom 18, the studio behind the film, has delayed the release of the film from December 1 to a yet-to-be-decided date. A private screening of the film for 'select individuals' from the media, also drew censure from Censor Board chief Prasoon Joshi, as the movie hasn't been cleared or certified yet. Incidentally, all the people who saw the film noted that it didn't contain anything that could hurt the sentiments of Rajputs and Padmavati and Khilji never even appear in the same scene. Rumors of scenes depicting a romantic liaison between the Rajput queen and the Delhi sultan were among the chief grouses of protesters. The parliamentary committee, apart from requesting the report, has also asked officials from the censor board and I&B ministry to appear before it. New Delhi: Amid the ongoing uproar over Padmavati, a Meerut-based outfit on Tuesday demanded action against those threatening Deepika Padukone, the lead actress of the movie. The Parshuram Swabhiman Sena issued a statement, condemning the threats. "There should be a strict action against those persons who are issuing threats to Deepika Padukone," Sena said in the statement. Amid rumours that there was a romantic dream sequence between Rani Padmavati and Alauddin Khilji's characters, many Rajput groups and others have been protesting against the movie, alleging that it distorts history. Director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, in a video appeal earlier this month, had stated that there was no such sequence in the movie and he was careful in depicting the "Rajput honour and dignity". Historians are divided on whether Rani Padmavati even existed but irate Rajput groups have called the film an insult to their honour. Mumbai: Actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha has questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi and megastar Amitabh Bachchan's silence over the "burning" issue of the film Padmavati. "As 'Padmavati' becomes a burning controversy, people are asking why the legendary Amitabh Bachchan, most versatile Aamir Khan and most popular Shah Rukh Khan have no comments. And how come our I&B Minister or our most popular Honourable PM (according to PEW -- American think tank PEW poll) are maintaining stoic silence. High time!" Shatrughan tweeted on Wednesday. As Padmavati becomes a burning controversy, people are asking why the legendary @SrBachchan, most versatile @aamir_khan & most popular @iamsrk have no comments..& how come our I&B Minister or our most popular Hon'ble PM (according to PEW) are maintaining stoic silence. High time! Shatrughan Sinha (@ShatruganSinha) November 22, 2017 The tweet also said that he will speak about the controversy keeping in mind the interest of filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali and the sensitivity of the Rajputs. "As for me, I would and should speak on 'Padmavati' issue only after the 'great filmmaker, producer Sanjay Leela Bhansali' speaks up. I speak only when I am spoken to and I will speak keeping in mind the interests of the filmmaker as well as the sensitivity, valour, loyalty of the great Rajputs," he added. As for me, I would & should speak on Padmavati issue only after the "great filmmaker, producer S.L.Bhansali" speaks up. I speak only when I am spoken to & I will speak keeping in mind the interests of the filmmaker as well as the sensitivity, valour, loyalty of the great Rajputs. Shatrughan Sinha (@ShatruganSinha) November 22, 2017 In Padmavati, actor Ranveer Singh plays Delhi Sultan Alauddin Khilji, which Bhansali says is a tribute to the valour of Rajput queen Padmavati, played by Deepika Padukone. A BJP leader has announced a reward of Rs 10 crore for beheading Bhansali and Deepika. The film is in the eye of a storm following protests from conservative groups over alleged tampering with historical facts -- a contention Bhansali has denied repeatedly. The release of the film, which was earlier slated for December 1, has been deferred as the filmmakers are yet to secure a censor certificate. Mumbai: The producers of the controversy-ridden film Padmavati will take a call on its release only after the censor board's go-ahead, a source said on Tuesday. The film starring Deepika Padukone as Rani Padmavati, Shahid Kapoor as Maharawal Ratan Singh and Ranveer Singh as Sultan Alauddin Khilji was earlier scheduled to release on December 1. On Sunday, Viacom18 Motion Pictures, the studio behind Padmavati, announced in a statement that they were voluntarily deferring the release of the film out of "respect and regard for the law of the land" including the Central Board of Film Certification". They said a new release date will be announced once the "requisite clearances" are in place. But media reports have claimed that the film is now pushed for next year and the promotions have been put on hold. The source from the production house, however, said that no concrete decision has been reached yet. "We will decide the release date of the film after getting the certificate from the CBFC. We will wait for the censor board to give us clearance and then decide which is the best date for the release," the source said. CBFC chief Prasoon Joshi had yesterday said that the board should be given adequate time to come up with a balanced decision about the movie. A source in the CBFC today echoed Joshi's views. "In CBFC, 68 days is the maximum time (to certify a film), it can be less also. We normally do it in a month or over a month's time (certification). With a film like this, you need to be careful, take opinions, so it takes a little bit of time. It does not mean that nothing will happen before 68 days. If they (makers) want a certificate on time, it is advisable that they take this much time in consideration," the source said. The CBFC had initially returned the application to the makers of Padmavati, saying it was incomplete. The makers have re-applied. The source said: "We have followed the normal process. Once the application comes to us, we scrutinise it. In this case, it was incomplete so we returned it. There was no disclaimer (that it is a work of fiction)... which is required for a film like this." "If the application is proper, we give them a date for the screening. We have an examining committee which will see the film. We will also have historical experts (for the screening of the film)... We are just following the procedure," the source added. When asked if the new application has been scrutinised, the source at the CBFC said, "No, it takes time as we have other films (to certify) as well and Padmavati is just one of them. We have a limited staff, we can't just dump everything aside and concentrate on this. It will take the normal time." The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) may seek Union Minister Uma Bhartis advice before taking a decision on Padmavati. Days before the Censor Board said that they will consult historians over the accuracy of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Padmavati, the minister had suggested that the CBFC form a committee with historians, the filmmaker and the protestors. The CBFC chief Prasoon Joshi has said that the board will take a balanced decision after consulting specialists. Pahlaj Nihalani, the former CBFC chief, who was known for his prudish views often leading to gagging of freedom of filmmakers, says while the board is allowed to get experts, the final decision lies with the board. This is the job of the panel members who have been nominated by the government. Delaying the decision is shying away from their job, Nihalani told News18 in an interview. There is no if and but, approving the film is the responsibility of the censor board, not public or the government, he added. I have never done something like this in my tenure. I have never delayed a film. Small or big, all films are important to the CBFC, he said. Nihalani said that had he been the chief, he would not have delayed the release of the Bhansali film. The Censor Board certifies films as per the Cinematograph Act, 1952, and Certification Guidelines 1991 laid down under it by the central government. Under the Act, one of the guidelines says that the board can get an expert panel to make a decision on a movie. For the purpose of enabling the Board to efficiently discharge its functions under this Act, the Central Government may establish at such regional centres as it thinks fit, advisory panels each of which shall consist of such number of persons, being persons qualified in the opinion of the Central Government to judge the effect of films on the public, as the Central Government may think fit to appoint thereto, the Act notes. However, the former CBFC chief is of the opinion that this cannot be a reason for the board to delay its decision. Nihalani pointed out that a star-studded movie Chitoor Rani Padmini featuring Sivaji Ganesan and Vyjayanthimala in the lead roles was released in 1963. The Tamil film, which is described as historical fiction narrates the familiar story of the queen and the Delhi Sultan Alauddin Khiljis wild infatuation for her. No question or objection was raised back then and the Censor Board cleared it, Nihalani said. Talking about the entire controversy around Udta Punjab where Nihalani has reportedly suggested 89 cuts, he said, We offered to clear Udta Punjab with an A certificate and some cuts which we thought would not hamper the flow of the narrative. We didnt waste time, thereby delaying the release date, he added. It may be noted here that after being sacked, Nihalani went on record to say that he was instructed by the Ministry (didn't specify which) to not clear Abhishek Chaubey's controversial drugs-drama, Udta Punjab. Talking about how chief ministers of many states have called for a ban on the movie, Nihalani said that a film can't be banned in a state before receiving a censor certificate. Unless certificate is not issued, no state can make 'jumlas' like 'we'll cut it' or 'we'll not let it release, he said. Ahmedabad: Accusing PAAS leader Hardik Patel of sowing seeds of division within the Patidar community, Gujarat Deputy Chief Minster Nitin Patel has said that the Congress quota promise for the community is a hogwash. Some foolish people have handed over a piece of paper to another set of fools, said Nitin Patel, while reacting to Hardiks claims on Congress agreeing to give reservation to the Patels in Gujarat. Patel said the PAAS agitation over the last two years was to seek inclusion of Patidars in the OBC list. The current proposal does not meet that demand. It has spread casteism in the society. He has damaged the prestige of a community and has no right to invoke Sardar Patel and Bhagat Singh, the deputy chief minister said, launching a scathing attack on the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) leader. Responding to BJPs allegations, Hardik Patel said that the deputy chief minister is branding the entire Patidar community as fools. Dy.Cm , , Hardik Patel (@HardikPatel_) November 22, 2017 Congress leader and former Union Law Minister Kapil Sibal, while addressing the media on Wednesday, did not reveal much about the specifics of the Congress quota proposal. It is a well thought out proposal, is all that Sibal said. Sibal has had a series of meeting with the Patidar leaders on the issue. It was only after several rounds of talks that the party had finalized its proposal on the basis of the one prepared by the Hardik Patel. Within minutes of Hardik announcing the quota deal with the Congress, AIMIM leader and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi joined the debate. Campaigning in faraway Uttar Pradesh for the ongoing local body elections, Owaisi sought to know from the Congress its stand on reservations for socially and educationally backward Muslims. Hardik Patel says Congress has agreed to give Patidar community JAI Ho,Reservation not for Muslims who r socially& educationally backward & there is empirical evidence of it BUT Muslims are politically weak,disempowered told t be quiet STOCKHOLM Syndrome https://t.co/c5WL2NDmrS Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) November 22, 2017 Reacting to this, Congress Gujarat in-charge Ashok Gehlot accused Owaisi of using the opportunity to benefit BJP in the elections season. Such netas say such things during elections only to benefit the BJP, said Gehlot. Ahmedabad: Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) leader Hardik Patel has made his political preference clear for the upcoming state Assembly polls in Gujarat. I will not join any political party, but I will ask my supporters dont vote for the BJP, said the PAAS leader after keeping everyone in suspense for the last 48 hours. In bipolar polity, which will see a direct contest between the ruling BJP and Congress, Hardiks call is as good as lending support to the Congress. Congress has agreed to give Patidars reservation that would be parallel to OBCs. Article 46 will be used by Congress to bring in a Bill for non-reserved classes, said Patel in a press briefing in Ahmedabad on Wednesday morning. The Congress proposal, Patel underscored, will not impinge on the current 49% reservations for the SC, ST and OBC groups in Gujarat. Congress will put it in its party manifesto for the Gujarat elections, he added. The PAAS leader spearheading the Patidar agitation had cancelled his press conference twice in the last two days amid reports of differences with the Congress over ticket distribution. Congress had to tweak its first list to accommodate four PAAS leaders on Monday night amidst reports of Patel seeking a larger pie for his supporters in lieu of extending support. With BJP aggressively trying to woo his supporters, Patel has had tough time keeping his flock together. In the 30-minute press conference, PAAS leader trained his guns on the BJP, accusing the ruling party of lure his supporters through monetary enticements. Even I was offered money when I was behind bars. All those who are accusing me of working for the Congress should know that had I been a saleable commodity, I would have done that long ago, said Patel, making it clear that he will aim to defeat the BJP in the upcoming elections. As far as ticket distribution is concerned, young people should get more representation. Congress has given tickets to Patidar youth and that will increase their voice in the Assembly, Patel added. New Delhi: In a late-night stock taking meeting in Delhi on Tuesday, chaired by Rahul Gandhi, discussing the challenges before the Congress in Gujarat Assembly Elections, the partys assessment was that Rahuls first leg of campaign in the state has been fairly successful. On the flip side, what concerns the Congress is that Narendra Modi is yet to hit the campaign trail in the state; there are nagging worries if Congress has peaked a tad too early. Congress is aware that the next leg of Rahuls campaign will have to be aggressively positioned so as to provide a counter narrative when it matters the most. Though many options to counter BJP's blitzkrieg were discussed in the meeting, it was finally decided that Congress should not digress from the political line it has pursued so far in Gujarat. The focus of Rahul's campaign will remain on the state of economy with special emphasis on GST and demonetisation. Once bitten, twice shy, the Congress does not want to rake up emotive issues which BJP may use to its advantage. In other words, the party does not want a repeat of Sonia Gandhis 'maut ka saudagar (merchant of death)' statement that gave BJP a huge advantage in 2007 elections. Congress is aware that, like in UP polls, religious polarisation may work to BJP's advantage. The party this time has taken enough pre-emptive measures to counter that. Rahul Gandhis temple visits are an attempt to play the Hindu card. Recently, in an interaction, Rahul invoked Lord Shiva. "I am a bhakt of Shiva and I speak the truth," he said. In terms of optics and in choosing his daily programmes, Rahul's team has been very careful this time around. The Congress VP has been visiting a couple of temples everyday he has been out campaigning in Gujarat. In fact at the strategy meeting in Delhi, it was decided, contrary to demand from some quarters, that Ahmed Patel's nail-biting win would not be used to hit out at the BJP. The political adviser and a close aide of the Congress president has himself been a most astute practitioner of back channel politics. Ahmed Patel has been conspicuous by his absence during the entire Gujarat campaign. He has rarely been seen by Rahuls side in this campaign. Only twice to be precise. Even when Ahmed Patel was dragged by BJP into a terror related arrest in Gujarat, Congress decided to handle the issue tactfully. Patel issued a couple of clarifications and allowed the issue to blow over. A top Congress source said, We know why this controversy was raked up. They want to trap us but we want to avoid being dragged into issues like these. In fact, when a magazine recently wrote an article about a case related to a judge who heard the Sohrabuddin case, strict instructions went from Congress media department not to discuss or react strongly on this. The lure of the BJP to discuss Hinudtva versus minority is a debate Congress clearly wants to evade. In fact even as Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) leader Hardik Patel flaunted his reservation deal with Congress, Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi threw a bait seeking to know Congress' stand on quota for Muslims. Congress once again refused to get drawn into the controversy. State in-charge Ashok Gehlot accused Owaisi of making statements which would benefit the BJP. Even on Triple Talaq, Congress gave a measured response when asked to react on government's intention of bringing in a bill to ban instant divorce. Rahul Gandhi, will in all probability, be elected unopposed as the 17th President of the Congress party next month. Notwithstanding the fact that the party has laid out an elaborate election schedule, it is unlikely that anybody will contest him. Though there has been a certain inevitability about his taking over, the fact is that it has taken so long partly due to Rahul Gandhis insistence on going through the election process, rather than directly being appointed the President. The last time a contest took place for the Presidents post in the Congress was 16 years ago in 2001, when Jitendra Prasada contested Sonia Gandhi, and lost. Three years after she succeeded Sitaram Kesri as the party chief on April 6 1998, Sonia Gandhi ordered organisation elections in the party from the block to the AICC presidentship, including the all-powerful Congress Working Committee (CWC). Unlike his mother, Rahul Gandhi has had a long gestation period. Ever since 2013, when he was made the party Vice-President, it was never in doubt that he would take over as the President of the party. It was never a question of whether, but when. Sonia Gandhi, on the other hand, was pitchforked into taking over. Following Sitaram Kesris calamitous stewardship of the organisation, there was a revolt in the party, which ultimately saw the CWC pass a resolution easing him out as president of the party and requesting Sonia Gandhi to take over. Its ironical that two of the key players who backed Sonia Gandhis replacement of Sitaram Kesri, Jitendra Prasada and Sharad Pawar, both eventually went on to revolt against her. A year after she took over, Pawar in 1999, along with PA Sangma and Tariq Anwar, raised the banner of revolt with the foreign origin issue and ultimately left the party to form the Nationalist Congress Party. Jitendra Prasada stayed on in the Congress but challenged her for the presidentship. While Sonia Gandhi stumbled in her initial years and struggled to find her footing, Jitendra Prasada and Rajesh Pilot fancied their chances. Pilot chose to keep his powder dry, while Prasada took the plunge and challenged her, only to lose badly. The once powerful political secretary to Prime Minister PV Narishimha Rao was left to virtually fend for himself. Ranged on the side of Sonia Gandhi were all the regional satraps and stalwarts like Pranab Mukherjee, Arjun Singh, Shiv Shankar, Karunakaran and AK Antony. Sonia Gandhi reached out to Jitendra Prasada after the elections and moves were afoot to rehabilitate him in the decision-making bodies of the party, but his demise put an end to it. Unlike his mother, Rahul Gandhis elevation looks like a smooth affair. However, his challenges are no less daunting. He takes over at a time when the Congress is at its lowest and is not even recognised as the principal opposition party in Lok Sabha. Its vote share is at an all-time low and it is in power in only five states in the country, as compared to the 18 ruled by BJP. The Congress partys cadres are also demoralised and demotivated and the party has been on the ropes since its mauling in the 2014 general elections. At this point, Rahuls immediate challenge is to convert the huge opportunity that the three young turks of Gujarat have provided the party, which can ultimately translate into a victory for the party. He must reorganise and restructure the moribund party organisation. As party president, Rahul Gandhi can no longer play the reluctant politician, nor can he take leave of absence whenever he wishes to. Rahul needs to fight from the front and demonstrate that he has it in him to lead the Congress out of the low morals it finds itself in. He also needs to make the transition from being just an opposition leader to present an alternative vision of governance. Rahul Gandhi will soon realize that the tough part begins now. Author is a senior journalist. Views are personal. Chennai: Will he or won't he? Superstar Rajinikanth, often asked if he was going to take the plunge into politics, has said he won't - not yet, that is. There was no "pressing need" for him to join politics at this moment, the actor told reporters at the Chennai airport. "There is no pressing need for a foray into politics right now," said the actor. Rajinikanth, who commands a huge fan following, also said he would meet his supporters after his birthday next month. "I will meet my fans only after my birthday (December12)," the actor said on returning to the city after visiting the Sri Raghavendra Swamy Mutt in Mantralayam in Andhra Pradesh. The 66-year-old star has in recent times hinted at the possibility of joining politics. On an earlier occasion, while addressing his supporters, he had urged them to be "ready for war" when the time came, and said the "system is rotten". His contemporary Kamal Haasan has also spoken about a possible political career. He said he would be willing to work with Rajinikanth if the superstar ever decided to enter politics. Lucknow: Around 55 per cent voting was recorded for the first phase of municipal body elections till 5pm on Wednesday amid complaints of EVM malfunctioning and bogus voting in different parts of Uttar Pradesh. At booth number 58 of Tiwaripur ward in Chakeri in Kanpur, voters said that no matter which button they pressed, votes were being registered for the BJP. They alleged that they complained to the electoral officer, but voting was not stopped. As soon as the news spread, workers of opposition parties started shouting slogans outside the booth. However, authorities said the returning officer of the booth was immediately removed and EVM was also changed after receiving complaints. A similar incident was reported from Naubasta area of Kanpur, where voters said that the EVM in booth number 66 people was rigged and the vote was going to BJP despite different buttons being pressed. Soon, protests broke out and police resorted to lathi-charge to disperse the crowd. In Gorakhpur, five women who were allegedly paid to cast bogus votes were detained. The women told reporters that they were paid by a person named Anup, who is still at large. The police refused to comment and said investigations were ongoing. At ward number 70 in Meerut, many people claimed that their names were missing from the voters list while names of those who were no longer alive figured on the list. People alleged that most discrepancies in voters list were being reported from Muslim majority areas in the city. State Election commissioner SK Agarwal, however, said the polls went off peacefully part from minor disturbances. The polls were peaceful except just one incident reported from Badaun. In Badaun, re-polling has been ordered as few people tried to run away with the ballot boxes. However, they were caught by the police, he said. Voting was held in 24 districts on Wednesday for the municipal elections. Around 1.09 crore voters were registered in this phase. New Delhi: The Winter Session of Parliament is likely from December 15 to January 5, sources in the government said on Wednesday. The Centre has been facing opposition fire over delay in the session. On Monday, Sonia Gandhi attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi accusing him of sabotaging the session on flimsy grounds and said he lacks the courage to face the House. The Winter Session traditionally convenes from the third week of November and lasts till the third week of December. Government sources the delay was on account of overlapping of the session with the campaigning for the Gujarat Assembly elections and such delays have also happened in the past. Addressing a meeting of the Congress Working Committee, Sonia said the The Narendra Modi government in its arrogance has cast a dark shadow on India's Parliamentary democracy by sabotaging the Parliament session on flimsy grounds. It is mistaken if it thinks that by locking the temple of democracy, it will escape constitutional accountability ahead of the assembly elections, she added. In a scathing attack, she said Modi had the audacity to have a midnight celebration in Parliament to launch an ill-prepared and flawed Goods and Services Tax (GST) but lacked the courage to face Parliament. Parliament is the forum in which questions should be asked questions about corruption in high places, conflict of interest of serving ministers and dubious defense deals. In order to avoid the questions and answer ahead of Gujarat elections, the government has taken the extraordinary step of not holding a winter session when they should be held, Gandhi said on Monday. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley refuted the allegations and said Congress, too, had delayed Parliament sessions in the past. He said that dates would be announced soon and sessions were often rescheduled to ensure they did not overlap with elections. Facebook plans to meet Russian regulators in late December or early January to discuss compliance, TASS news agency cited the head of Russian communications watchdog Roskomnadzor as saying on Tuesday. "We will discuss with them all the issues, including localization of databases and prompt removal of prohibited content," TASS quoted Alexander Zharov as saying. Don't Miss: Apple iPhone X Review | Should You Pay Rs 1,02,000 For It? Zharov said in September that Russia would block access to Facebook next year unless the social network complies with a law that requires websites which store the personal data of Russian citizens to do so on Russian servers. In November last year, Roskomnadzor blocked access to LinkedIn's website in order to comply with a court ruling that found the social networking firm guilty of violating the same data storage law. Tech And Auto Show | EP21 | Apple iPhone X, Suzuki Intruder 150 & More San Francisco: Uber said Tuesday that hackers compromised personal data from some 57 million riders and drivers in a breach kept hidden for a year. "None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it," said a statement from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi, who took over at the ridesharing giant in August. Two members of the Uber information security team who "led the response" that included not alerting users that their data was breached were let go from the San Francisco-based company effective Tuesday, according to Khosrowshahi. The Uber chief said he only recently learned that outsiders had broken into a cloud-based server used by the company for data and downloaded a "significant" amount of information. Stolen files included names, email addresses, and mobile phone numbers for riders, and the names and driver license information of some 600,000 drivers, according to Uber. Uber paid the hackers $100,000 to destroy the data, not telling riders or drivers whose information was at risk, according to a source familiar with the situation. Co-founder and ousted chief Travis Kalanick was advised of the breach shortly after it was discovered, but it was not made public until Uber's new boss Khosrowshahi learned of the incident. "You may be asking why we are just talking about this now, a year later," Khosrowshahi said. "I had the same question, so I immediately asked for a thorough investigation of what happened and how we handled it." Khosrowshahi said that what he learned about Uber's failure to notify users or regulators prompted corrective actions. "All companies would be wise to remember this: cock-ups are bad, but cover-ups can kill you," computer security specialist Graham Cluley said in a blog post. "You can ask forgiveness for being hacked, but many people will find it harder to forgive and forget if you deliberately concealed the truth from them." Yahoo and Equifax were hit with criticism for how long it took the companies to disclose hacks. "Breach disclosure is taking too long," said McAfee vice president of labs Vincent Weafer. Weafer described Uber's decision to pay the hackers off as unusual, and questioned whether it was wise. "You are relying on trust among thieves that the data has not been copied or leaked in any way," Weafer said. Need to change Uber is notifying drivers whose license numbers were swiped, and offering them credit and identity theft protections. The company also said it is notifying regulators, and monitoring affected rider accounts for signs of fraud. "While I can't erase the past, I can commit on behalf of every Uber employee that we will learn from our mistakes," Khosrowshahi said. "We are changing the way we do business." Khosrowshahi inherited a litany of scandals and a toxic workplace culture when he replaced Kalanick. Kalanick's brash style has been credited with driving Uber to the leading spot in the smartphone-summoned ride market, but also blamed for fostering an atmosphere of impropriety and rule-breaking. A planned tieup with Japanese tech giant SoftBank suggests the ridesharing giant is set to come of age in the business world, but it still faces a long road ahead. The deal would give Uber an additional $1 billion in capital and could allow SoftBank to acquire as much as 14 percent of the company over time. While Uber has become a global phenomenon operating in more than 600 cities and dozens of countries, it is trying to move past scandals and missteps that have included executive misconduct, a cutthroat workplace and potentially unethical competitive practices. One step toward the future was the hiring of Khosrowshahi earlier this year, which left founder Kalanick in the background. But Uber needs to clean up governance and other practices in order to meet its goal of a 2019 stock market debut that will open up the privately-held firm to greater scrutiny. Under Kalanick, Uber reached an eye-popping valuation of $68 billion, unprecedented for a private firm. At the same time, it has faced resistance from traditional taxi operators and regulators, and faces possible bans in cities for failing to live up to local rules. Uber has other issues as well. It is in court facing Waymo, the former Google Car unit, which has alleged the theft of trade secrets on autonomous vehicle technology. Uber's use of software aimed at thwarting rivals like Lyft has also hurt its image, and could create further legal woes. With the flagship Samsung Galaxy S9 expected to launch in early 2018, the manufacturer, reportedly, will offer an advanced facial recognition scanner. The new Samsung Galaxy S9 might come loaded with a devoted hardware like that of one in Apple iPhone X. Samsung is working on to improve the face recognition algorithm by reducing the time taken by the device to recognise a face. A few days back the smartphone was found listed on the Geekbench, a benchmarking site, highlighting some key specifications. The listing discloses that the smartphone got 2,680 points in a single-core test and 7,787 points in multi-core test. India's 1st Tech And Auto Show Awards 2017 | Vote And Win a Smartphone Other specifications that got revealed is that the device will come loaded with Android 8.0 Oreo operating system. The new Samsung Galaxy S9 is expected to be backed by 4GB of RAM. There could be an 8GB RAM variant as well just as the recently launched smartphone OnePlus 5T. The device is expected to be powered by a 1.50GHz octa-core Samsung Exynos 9810 processor and the device could be powered by Snapdragon 845 processor. According to the leaks, the Samsung Galaxy S9 wont be featuring any fingerprint scanner and will continue with the dual curved 18:9 aspect ratio Infinity Display. Tech And Auto Show | EP21 | Apple iPhone X, Suzuki Intruder 150 & More The Trai on Tuesday recommended lifting the ceiling on spectrum held by mobile operators within a particular band and a 50 percent limit on combined radio wave holding inefficient bands like 700 MHz, 800 MHz, and 900 MHz. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) also suggested that the overall ceiling on holding spectrum should be raised by 10 percent to 35 percent. "The current intra-band cap should be removed. Instead, there should be a cap of 50 percent on the combined spectrum holding in the sub-1 GHz bands," Trai said in a statement here. India's 1st Tech And Auto Show Awards 2017 | Vote And Win a Smartphone In making their recommendations, Trai said that the overall 25 percent ceiling on spectrum had been imposed at a time when there were around 6 to 10 telecom operators in a given circle. The number of telecom operators in a service area now had come down following consolidation in the sector. "As the LTE (Long-term Evolution) device ecosystem is evolving in each of the spectrum bands, there is no real need to put spectrum cap in each spectrum band," Trai said. According to the regulator, however, imposing a cap in the sub-1GHz band was important as these are "most optimal bands". "Therefore, spectrum in sub-1GHz range viz 700 MHz, 800 MHz and 900 MHz should be treated separately and special provisions have to be made to safeguard against the creation of a monopoly," it added. The Department of Telecom had referred to Trai on the need to review the current norms mandating 50 percent cap in a particular band and 25 percent limit for the total spectrum held across all bands in a given circle. Tech And Auto Show | EP21 | Apple iPhone X, Suzuki Intruder 150 & More Taipei: Air China Ltd has indefinitely suspended flights between Beijing and Pyongyang, citing poor demand as North Korea faces growing sanctions from the United States over its nuclear weapons and missile programs. An official in the company's Beijing-based press office, who only gave his surname as Ding, told Reuters on Wednesday that flights were suspended because "business was not good". He declined to comment on when flights might resume. The suspension by China's national flag carrier comes shortly after a visit by a senior Chinese envoy to the city and also coincides with a US decision to put North Korea back on a list of state sponsors of terrorism. Air China flights to Pyongyang, which have traditionally operated on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, began in 2008, but have frequently been cancelled because of unspecified problems, state media has said. Last year, Air China halted flights seasonally for winter but resumed them in March. So far it is not selling tickets for any 2018 flights, according to Routes Online. One staff member in the company's Pyongyang office who declined to give his name told Reuters that Air China can resume the flights whenever there is enough demand and the office will operate normally even while there are no scheduled flights between Beijing and Pyongyang. Air China's Beijing-based press office declined to provide further comment. The company cancelled some flights in April but later said that it would increase their number in May. The United States has urged China to do more to press North Korea to stop what the United States sees as belligerent defiance of U.N. resolutions. China's foreign ministry on Tuesday said that it hoped all parties could contribute to resolving the issue on the Korean peninsula peacefully. It also said that it was not aware of the Air China situation, adding that airlines made their decisions based on market needs. The Hague: A U.N. tribunal on Wednesday convicted former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic of genocide and crimes against humanity for orchestrating massacres and ethnic cleansing during Bosnia's war and sentenced him to life in prison. Mladic, 74, was hustled out of the court minutes before the verdict for screaming "this is all lies, you are all liars" after returning from what his son described as a blood pressure test which delayed the reading-out of the judgment. The U.N. Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia found Mladic guilty of 10 of 11 charges, including the slaughter of 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica and the siege of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, in which more than 11,000 civilians were killed by shelling and sniper fire over 43 months. The killings in Srebrenica of men and boys after they were separated from women and taken away in buses or marched off to be shot amounted to Europe's worst atrocity since World War Two. "The crimes committed rank among the most heinous known to humankind, and include genocide and extermination as a crime against humanity," Presiding Judge Alphons Orie said in reading out a summary of the judgment. "Many of these men and boys were cursed, insulted, threatened, forced to sing Serb songs and beaten while awaiting their executuion," he said. Mladic had pleaded not guilty to all charges and is expected to appeal against his conviction. In its summary, the tribunal found Mladic "significantly contributed" to genocide committed in Srebrenica with the goal of destroying its Muslim population, "personally directed" the long bombardment of Sarajevo and was part of a "joint criminal enterprise" intending to purge Muslims and Croats from Bosnia. In Geneva, U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein called Mladic the "epitome of evil" and said his conviction after 16 years on the run and over four years of trial was a "momentous victory for justice". The prosecution of Mladic is the epitome of what international justice is all about, Zeid said in a statement. Todays verdict is a warning to the perpetrators of such crimes that they will not escape justice, no matter how powerful they may be nor how long it may take." Beirut: Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced on Wednesday that he was putting his resignation on hold to give way for more consultations, nearly three weeks after he unexpectedly announced he was stepping down. It was a quick reversal a day after his return to Lebanon and a likely embarrassment to Saudi Arabia, which was widely seen as having orchestrated his resignation. In conciliatory comments from the presidential palace, Hariri said he is putting Lebanon's interest first and is looking forward to a "real partnership with all political forces to put Lebanon's higher interest before any other interests." He said he presented his resignation to President Michel Aoun at the presidential palace, but then responded to Aoun's request to take more time for consultations, "hoping it will constitute a serious opening for a responsible dialogue." "Our beloved nation needs in this critical period exceptional efforts from everyone to protect it in the face of dangers and challenges," Hariri said in a statement after meeting with Aoun. He reiterated the need for Lebanon to remain neutral on regional disputes and conflicts "and all that undermines internal stability and brotherly relations with Arab brothers." Hariri's reversal highlights the latest Saudi foreign policy overreach under its young Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is seen as being behind most of the country's major decisions. Under the bullish crown prince, who has the blessing of his father King Salman, Saudi Arabia has taken a much harder line against Iran, which has successfully spread its influence in the Arab region in recent years. The crown prince, who is also defense minister, has a reputation for being both decisive and impulsive. He has led Saudi Arabia into a nearly three-year-long war in Yemen to try and push back Iranian-allied rebels there. A global outcry by aid groups over the tightening of a Saudi blockade in Yemen prompted the Saudis to say they would ease restrictions on urgently-needed humanitarian supplies. In his mysterious resignation from Saudi Arabia, Hariri had said he was protesting what he called the meddling in Arab affairs by Iran, the Persian regional powerhouse, and its Lebanese ally, Hezbollah. Hezbollah is a partner in the coalition government formed by Hariri a year ago. The televised resignation had sparked a political and diplomatic crisis as Lebanese officials accused the Gulf kingdom of pressuring the Sunni, Saudi-aligned politician to resign. Top Lebanese officials accused Saudi Arabia of then detaining him in the kingdom for days. Feeling insulted, the Lebanese rallied around Hariri, unanimously calling for his return in what became an embarrassment to the kingdom. Hariri's reversal appears to be a culmination of nearly three weeks of international pressure for Lebanon's delicate political balance to hold, though Saudi Arabia likely knew in advance of Hariri's decision to withdraw his resignation. It constitutes a win for French President Emanuel Macron, whose mediation succeeded in getting Hariri out of Saudi Arabia to Paris for few days. He returned to Lebanon on Tuesday night following brief stops in Egypt and Cyprus. By midday, a few thousand of Hariri supporters converged on his residence in central Beirut amid tight security, in a show of support. Hariri pledged to stay in Lebanon. "There is nothing more precious than our country," he told them. "I am staying with you and I will keep going with you to be the first line of defense of Lebanon, its stability and its Arab nature." Hariri then repeated a phrase he coined after the resignation: "Lebanon first." Posters have been erected around Beirut and other cities welcoming Hariri's return. "He brings unity to the people, Christians and Muslims. He is a good person and he will make Lebanon better," said Hassan Misto, an 18-year Hariri supporter. Maha Yahya, director of the Beirut-based Carnegie Middle East Center, said Hariri's decision Wednesday doesn't mean the crisis is over but seems to open the door for calmer talks. "Putting the resignation on hold now means there is still room for backdoor negotiations to try and figure a way out of this," Yahya said. She added that there seems to be an international agreement not to "push this country over the precipice." It remains to be seen, she said, what Hariri is demanding and how much room there is to negotiate in order "to at least arrive at some sort of acceptable modus vivendi." Earlier Wednesday, Hariri participated in Independence Day celebrations, his first official appearance since his resignation. Aoun did not accept the November 4 resignation and said he wanted to hear from Hariri in person first. Hariri's resignation plunged Lebanon in turmoil and triggered concern that the tiny country, which has enjoyed relative calm amid a Middle East on fire, would again be dragged to the forefront of the intensifying regional rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran. It set off international efforts to prevent the upending of the country's delicate sectarian-based political order. The announcement that he was stepping down was followed by sharp Saudi rhetoric against Hezbollah, which the kingdom accuses of meddling on Iran's behalf in regional affairs. Hezbollah has been fighting on the side of Syrian President Bashar Assad in that country's six-year civil war, where many of Assad's enemies are rebels backed by Saudi Arabia. The kingdom says Hezbollah is also advising Houthi rebels waging a war against Yemen's Saudi-backed government. Hezbollah denies it is militarily supporting the Houthis. Hezbollah says Saudi Arabia is sowing instability in Lebanon, and accused the kingdom of partnering with Israel to start a war with Lebanon. Hariri, in his only in depth interview since announcing his resignation, told his media station Future TV that he could retract his resignation if a deal could be struck with his opponents to distance Lebanon from regional conflicts. Islamabad: Pakistan's ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family members on Wednesday appeared before an anti-graft court here as trial resumed into the corruption cases filed against them in the high-profile Panama Papers scandal. Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law retired captain Muhammad Safdar arrived at the court amidst heavy security arrangements made to deal with any untoward incident. Sharif and his family members were welcomed by a number of senior leaders of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) party at the court. Judge Muhammad Bashir started the proceeding which was still going on. The court had last week accepted 67-year-old Sharif's application for exemption from court hearings till November 27. However, Sharif appeared before the court today due to a change in his plans. Three cases were registered by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against Sharif and his family in the Accountability Court Islamabad. The accountability court on November 8 rejected a plea by Sharif to club all three cases together. Sharif's lawyer Khawaja Harris had argued that all three cases dealt with assets beyond means and allegations and most of the witnesses were same, therefore the references should be taken as one. Last week, Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Saqib Nisar also dismissed Sharif's in-chamber appeal to merge three cases filed by the NAB in the Panama Papers scandal. Sharif was indicted in all three cases while his daughter Maryam and her husband Safdar, co-accused with Sharif in only one case, were also indicted last month. Sharif's sons Hassan and Hussian are also co-accused in all three cases but have so far failed to appear in the court despite repeated summons, prompting the court to separate their case and initiate a process to declare them proclaimed offenders. A five-member bench of the Supreme Court on July 28 had disqualified Sharif over his undeclared income. The apex court also directed the NAB to file cases against him, and his children in the accountability court and directed the trial court to decide the cases within six months. The NAB had filed three cases on September 8 against Sharif and his family, and another case against Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. The three cases against the Sharifs are related to the Flagship Investment Ltd, the Avenfield (London) properties and Jeddah-based Al-Azizia Company and Hill Metal Establishment. The political future of Sharif, who leads the country's most powerful political family and the PML-N party, has been hanging in balance since his disqualification. If convicted, Sharif could be jailed. Sharif's family alleges that the cases are politically motivated. Vatican City: Pope Francis will meet the head of Myanmar's army and Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, both late additions to a tour of the two countries next week. Human rights monitors and U.N. officials have accused Myanmar's military of atrocities, including mass rape, against the stateless Rohingya during operations that followed insurgent attacks on 30 police posts and an army base. Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said on Wednesday that the pope would meet army head Senior General Min Aung Hlaing on Nov. 30 in a church residence in Yangon. Myanmar Cardinal Charles Maung Bo had talks with the pope in Rome on Saturday and suggested that he add a meeting with the general to the schedule for a trip that is proving to be one of the most politically sensitive since Francis was elected in 2013. Both the pope and the general agreed. Some 600,000 Rohingya refugees, most of them Muslim and from Myanmar's northern Rakhine state, have fled to Bangladesh. Burke said a small group of Rohingya refugees would be present at an inter-religious meeting for peace in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka on Dec 1. Myanmar's government has denied most of the claims of atrocities against the Rohingya, and the army last week said its own investigation found no evidence of wrongdoing by troops. The pope will separately meet the country's leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, in the capital Naypyitaw, on Nov. 28 in an encounter that was already on the schedule. Briefing reporters on the trip, Burke gave no details of how the Rohingya who will meet the pope would be chosen. A source in Dhaka said the refugees would be able to tell the pope about their experiences. Both events were not on the original schedule of the Nov. 26-Dec. 2 trip. Bo, the cardinal from Myanmar, has advised the pope not to use the word Rohingya while in Myanmar because it is incendiary in the country where they are not recognised as an ethnic group. Burke said the pope took the advice seriously but added: "We will find out together during the trip ... it is not a forbidden word". SOCHI, Russia: A three-way summit on Wednesday between the leaders of Russia, Iran and Turkey could produce decisive steps towards ending the bloodshed in Syria, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said at the start of their talks. The summit, hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin, is a rare occasion bringing together the leaders of Russia and Iran -- who back Syria's President Bashar al-Assad -- around a table with Erdogan, who has supported Assad's opponents. In opening remarks at the summit in the southern Russian resort of Sochi, Putin, Erdogan and Iran's President Hassan Rouhani spoke of an opening for peace in Syria now that Islamic State has been pushed out of its last major stronghold there. "The point we have reached is important, but not enough," Erdogan told the gathering, also attended by military commanders and foreign ministers from the three countries. "It is critical for all parties to contribute to a permanent and acceptable political solution for the people of Syria," he said. "This summit is aimed at results, I believe critical decisions will be taken." As a prelude to the summit, Putin earlier this week hosted Assad at his residence in Sochi. It was the only time the Syrian leader is known to have left Syria since his last visit to Russia, two years ago. Putin also made telephone calls in the past 24 hours to other leaders with influence in Syria, including U.S. President Donald Trump and Saudi Arabia's King Salman, as part of Moscow's drive to build an international consensus over a peace deal to end the six-year conflict. "A NEW STAGE" "We can say with certainty that we have reached a new stage, opening up the possibility to launch a real political process towards a peace deal," Putin told the gathering. "Compromises and concessions will be needed on all sides ... including (from) the Syrian government," Putin said. He said the focus of peace efforts should be the convocation of a congress bringing together all of Syria's ethnic groups. Russia has offered to host such a congress in Sochi, but attempts to agree a date have so far foundered, in part because Turkey raised objections to the presence of some Kurdish groups. Iran's Rouhani used his remarks at the summit to rail against the presence of foreign forces in Syria, an apparent reference to the United States and Tehran's arch regional rival Saudi Arabia, which alongside Turkey have backed Assad's foes. "There is no excuse for the presence of foreign troops in Syria without the approval of its legitimate government," Rouhani said. "The Syrian nation will not allow any interference of foreigners in their state affairs and will confront any move that harms Syria's integrity, independence and unity," he said. Iran's military is also present in Syria, alongside Russian troops and Hezbollah, the pro-Iran Lebanese militia. They say that does not amount to foreign interference because they are in Syria at Assad's invitation. Washington: A second federal judge on Tuesday ruled against President Donald Trump's ban on transgender military personnel, further undermining his order by saying Pentagon-funded sex reassignment surgeries can continue to go ahead. Trump in July sent out three tweets decreeing that transgender troops could not serve "in any capacity," citing "tremendous" medical costs and disruption. The tweets, later followed by a formal White House memorandum, set off a roar of protest -- with several service members and rights groups quick to sue. Trump's predecessor Barack Obama took the historic decision to allow openly transgender troops to serve in the military, a move that was due to go into full effect in July this year. Today, US District Judge Marvin Garbis said the "lack of any justification for the abrupt policy change," coupled with the "discriminatory impact" on troops in question "cannot possibly constitute a legitimate governmental interest." The ruling follows a similar move on October 30 by US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who ordered the government to "revert to the status quo" that was previously in effect. The most recent ruling came in a case filed by Brock Stone and other transgender personnel. Stone, who is 34 and has served 11 years in the Navy, has been undergoing hormone therapy as a medically necessary part of his transition, court documents state. Trump stressed to Defence Secretary Jim Mattis that the Pentagon should no longer cover the costs of medical treatment associated with the sex reassignment surgery of those troops already serving. He gave the Pentagon until March 23, 2018 to craft a new policy on transgender service members. Garbis's ruling prevents the government from denying funding for sex reassignment surgeries. The ruling features screen grabs of Trump's tweets and states these "did not emerge from a policy review, nor did the Presidential Memorandum identify any policymaking process or evidence demonstrating that the revocation of transgender rights was necessary for any legitimate national interest." The Kursk suffered two powerful explosions and sank during naval manoeuvres in the Barents Sea on August 12, 2000. Most of the 118 crew members were killed instantly, but 23 men were able to flee to a rear compartment where they waited for help. After Russian submersibles failed to open the escape hatch for a week, Norwegian divers opened the hatch within hours, but all 23 men had suffocated. The accident was blamed on leaking torpedo fuel. (Image: AP) Rockingham County Clerk of Circuit Court Chaz Haywood joined a trio of people vying for the Republican nomination for the 6th Congressional District seat that U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte will vacate next year. Haywood, who has worked for Goodlatte and former Sen. George Allen, R-Va., will compete with Del. Ben Cline, R-Rockbridge, and Republican National Committee member Cynthia Dunbar, of Bedford County. Haywood, 48, announced his congressional campaign in a news release in which he promised to support local law enforcement and national defense and to stand with President Donald Trump to improve economic growth. The Montana native started as clerk of court in 2008. He grew up in Idaho, but left the Northwest in his younger days and headed to Washington, D.C., where he got a job as a doorkeeper in the U.S. Senate gallery. In 1992, he made his way to Harrisonburg to attend James Madison University. A veteran, Haywood served nine years in the Virginia Army National Guard, and put himself through school on the G.I. Bill and by working as a cobbler. Disappointed by what he sees as the lack of veterans in Congress they make up about 20 percent of the legislative body Haywood wants to provide better health and mental health care for veterans. Its a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, and I dont think were doing well for the people, he said. Haywood said his 14 years working in constituent services for the federal government and spending the past decade running the Rockingham County Circuit Court clerks office have trained him to listen to people and help them solve their problems. Meanwhile, the congressmen and women in Washington, D.C., are forgetting their constituents, he said. Theyre not willing to compromise and, because of that, important legislation doesnt get passed, Haywood said. We have a Republican president who is ready to get things done, and we have a Congress that isnt putting forward bills, arent getting their jobs done, and thats not OK, he said. Cline, who has represented the 24th District in Virginias House of Delegates for 15 years, served as Goodlattes chief of staff before seeking elected office. Since launching his congressional campaign, Cline has announced endorsements from Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr and House Majority Leader-designee Todd Gilbert, among others from within the 6th Congressional District. Dunbar joined the Republican National Committee in 2016. A former Texas resident, Dunbar served on the Texas State Board of Education and sought the Republican nomination for a Texas congressional seat in 2008. Dunbar has already started traveling the district to solicit support for her campaign. The 6th District GOP Committee will decide in January how to select its nominee. Democrats Peter Volosin of Roanoke and Sergio Coppola of Harrisonburg have announced plans to vie for the partys nomination. Independent Michael Frend of Waynesboro is also in the running. CDE Emmerson Mnangagwa, likely to be nominated for the position of president today, is looking forward to returning home to join the struggle for national economic revival. In a statement yesterday morning, Cde Mnangagwa, who was sacked as the countrys Vice President and Zanu-PF second secretary recently, called on Cde Mugabe to heed calls by Zimbabweans for him to step down. Cde Mugabe later in the day resigned as Head of State following pressure for him to step down by the ruling party, war veterans, students and the multitude of Zimbabweans who staged a march at the weekend. Cde Mnangagwa, who has since been retained by Zanu-PF which also endorsed him to take over as President of party and country, skipped the country soon after his expulsion upon being advised that his security was under threat. As promised in my last communication I will be returning home as soon as the right conditions for security and stability prevail. I look forward to returning home soon and to join in the struggle for the economic revival of our country which is so endowed with Agriculture, Industrial and Commerce, and Mining opportunities and with rich human resource bedrock to support our endeavours, said Cde Mnangagwa. My desire is to join all Zimbabweans in a new era where corruption, incompetency, dereliction of duty and laziness, social and cultural decadency is not tolerated. In that new Zimbabwe it is important for everyone to join hands so that we rebuild this nation to its full glory, this is not a job for Zanu-PF alone but for all people of Zimbabwe. Cde Mnangagwa said he would only return home, once his safety was guaranteed following threats to his life after he was sacked as Vice President of the country two weeks ago. I can confirm that President Robert Gabriel Mugabe made contact with me and invited me to return home for a discussion on the current political events in the nation. I told the President that I would not return home now until I am satisfied of my personal security, because of the manner and treatment given to me upon being fired, said Cde Mnangagwa. Given the events that followed my dismissal on Monday 6 November 2017 at 4.00pm, my security details assigned to me and at my residency were immediately withdrawn. This was contrary to all the protocols that have existed in Zimbabwe to former State Vice Presidents of the Republic of Zimbabwe. Security personnel, who are friendly to me, warned me that plans were afoot to eliminate me once arrested and taken to a police station. It was in my security interest to leave the country immediately. Cde Mnangagwa said he also told Cde Mugabe that he had an option of cooperating with the uniformed forces and the party and the people and preserve his legacy or risk suffering humiliation from the people. He (Cde Mugabe) requested me to come to State House, and I replied that l was out of the country, and that he had already removed my status as the vice president of the country, as such I had no status, however, I can only come at the invitation of my colleagues in the party and of the defence forces, when they feel that my security is guaranteed, he said. Cde Mnangagwa said Zimbabweans had been very clear on their expression of their lack of confidence in Cde Mugabe. He hailed the Operation Restore Legacy by the Zimbabwe Defence and Security Services which he said was aimed at preserving the ethos of the countrys liberation struggle against British colonialism which was led by the late Dr Joshua Nkomo, Cde Mugabe among others. The legacy or our struggle to unite the land with the people and the people with their land championed by our war veterans and our people defended by the gallant fighters of the Defence Forces, Civil Servants, The Judiciary and our Government can be saved if His Excellency chooses to do the right thing, he said. Herald He was supposed to be back in Zimbabwe by Friday, from Tokyo, Japan. But through the OPC, he has requested that his tickets be changed so that he lands either in Zambia or Mozambique. We know he fears arrest because he is wanted for obstruction of justice and corruption, the source said. Install the Newser News app in two easy steps: 1. Tap in your navigation bar. 2. Tap to Add to Home Screen. If the name Cyntoia Brown isn't familiar, that could change soon thanks to the advocacy of Rihanna and other celebs. An Instagram post by Rihanna caused the hashtag FREECYNTOIABROWN to go viral Tuesday, reports the Tennessean. The 29-year-old Brown is serving a life sentence in Tennessee for a murder she committed at age 16. She's not eligible for parole until age 69, which advocates call an outrage because they say Brown had been a victim of child sex trafficking when the killing took place. In 2004, a 43-year-old realtor named Johnny Mitchell Allen picked up Brown in his truck and brought her back to his home for paid sex. While there, she fatally shot him in bed, though Brown says she thought Allen had been reaching for a gun. "Did we somehow change the definition of #JUSTICE," wrote Rihanna. "Something is horribly wrong when the system enables these rapists and the victim is thrown away for life! To each of you responsible for this child's sentence I hope to God you don't have children, because this could be your daughter being punished for punishing already!" Fellow celebs including Kim Kardashian West have echoed the message. Brown, who has gotten her associate's degree in prison and is considered a model prisoner, was the subject of a documentary that changed the state's laws on prostitution and sex trafficking, though the changes came too late for her benefit, per Newsweek. Now, a 16-year-old would be considered a victim of sex trafficking, not a prostitute. The film also documented the years of physical and sexual abuse Brown suffered, as a child and teen. (Read more Rihanna stories.) The bad news: Uber suffered a major hack one year ago that exposed the accounts of 57 million customers and drivers. The worse news: The company decided to keep the breach a secret instead of informing victims, and it paid the hackers $100,000 to keep it under wraps, reports Bloomberg. Now the company, under new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, is coming clean. None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it, he said. We are changing the way we do business. Former CEO Travis Kalanick declined to comment. The company says the hackers got names, email addresses, phone numbers, and some drivers' license numbers, but no Social Security numbers or credit card information. Those affected will be notified. As both Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal note, the size of the hack is relatively small when compared to breaches at, say, Yahoo and Equifax, but it's the attempt at a cover-up that makes the Uber case especially troubling. Uber says it discovered the breach in November 2016 and immediately took steps to shore up security. It did not, however, alert authorities or victims. Nor will it identify the hackers now. The company has fired security chief Joe Sullivan and a deputy for their roles in the breach and its aftermath, and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has launched an investigation into the hack, reports USA Today. (Read more Uber stories.) Seventeen years later, Faiz Siddiqui is still peeved about a poor grade he got in universityso peeved, in fact, that he's suing his former school for $1.3 million. At the High Court in London on Tuesday, a lawyer described how Siddiqui's dream of becoming an international commercial lawyer was crushed when a poor grade in the Indian special subject of his modern history course at Oxford University meant that he received a low upper second-class degree in June 2000, rather than a first-class or high upper second, report the BBC and Guardian. (In the UK, degrees are ranked based on a student's average mark.) Siddiqui, 39, who is unemployed, is seeking $1.3 million in lost wages while blaming "inadequate" teaching "in what was anticipated to be his favored special subject," his lawyer says. Oxford acknowledges four of seven staff members who taught Asian history were on sabbatical during the 1999-2000 academic year. But a lawyer for the schoolwho describes Siddiqui's academic performance as "laced with inconsistency," per the Telegraphsays Siddiqui received the same instruction as he would've in any other year. Siddiqui disagrees, claiming 13 of 15 students in the same situation as him received their "lowest or joint lowest mark" in the special subject. He adds his tutor failed to notify examiners of his health issues; Siddiqui says his clinical depression and insomnia only intensified following his "inexplicable failure." A judge is expected to determine liability at the end of a seven-day hearing; the school lost its bid to have the case thrown out in December. A win for Siddiqui "could open the floodgates for similar claims," per the Guardian. (Read more United Kingdom stories.) After Border Patrol Agent Rogelio Martinez was fatally injured and his partner badly hurt in the Big Bend area of West Texas just before midnight Saturday, officials and lawmakers spoke of an attack, and a union spokesman said he believed rocks were involved. The FBI, however, now says the incident is being investigated as a "potential assault" and that other scenarios are possible, the AP reports. Culberson County Sheriff Oscar Carrillo says that in rugged terrain on a moonless night, it's possible that both men were injured after falling into the 9-foot-deep culvert where they were found, reports the Dallas Morning News. He says the injuries to Martinez were "very consistent with a fall," though it's not clear how his partner was also injured after radioing for help. The partner is still hospitalized with serious injuries, and a law enforcement source tells the AP that he has no memory of what happened. Chris Cabrera, a spokesman for the union that represents Border Patrol officers, says it is "insulting" to suggest the men were not attacked, the Los Angeles Times reports. "There's no way he fell," Cabrera says of Martinez. "Border Patrol agents are like mountain goats. They don't fall. Especially two at the same spot." At a Tuesday briefing in El Paso, FBI Special Agent in Charge Emmerson Buie Jr. stressed that the agency is "aggressively investigating all leads." President Trump, who says the agents were "brutally beaten," repeated his call for a border wall after the incident. (Read more Border Patrol stories.) President Trump wielded his pardon power Tuesday to spare a pair of turkeys from the Thanksgiving roaster, joking that he would also let last year's turkey pardons stand despite his penchant for overturning Obama-era orders. In a brief White House ceremony, Trump extended the annual presidential tradition of pardoning turkeys ahead of Thanksgiving, an act of leniency that prolongs the lives of Minnesota-bred gobblers Wishbone and Drumstick, with the latter receiving the formal reprieve, the AP reports. "I'm pleased to report that unlike millions of other turkeys at this time of the year, Drumstick has a very, very bright future ahead of it," he said. Trump announced that Drumstick "and his friend Wishbone" will spend the rest of their lives on the campus of Virginia Tech, joining Tater and Tot, the two turkeys that were pardoned last year by Barack Obama. Trump, who has undone numerous Obama initiatives, used the opportunity to poke fun at the former president. "As many of you know, I've been very active in overturning a number of executive actions by my predecessor," Trump said. "However, I have been informed by the White House counsel's office that Tater and Tot's pardons cannot, under any circumstances, be revoked. So we're not going to revoke them. So Tater and Tot, you can rest easy." (Read more turkey stories.) In what is believed to be another fatal accident for the 7th Fleet, a Navy plane with 11 passengers and crew on board crashed into the Pacific Ocean Wednesday. The C-2 Greyhound was on its way to the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier. Japan's defense minister, Itsunori Onodera, said eight of the 11 people were found after the crash 90 miles northwest of the Japanese atoll Okinotorishima, but it was unclear whether they were found dead or alive, the AP reports. The Navy says the cause of the crash is still unknown. The aircraft was taking part in joint US-Japan naval exercises in the waters around Okinawa. Onodera told reporters that the Navy said the crash may have been the result of engine trouble, reports Reuters, which notes that C-2 Greyhound propeller aircraft have been in service for decades and are due to be replaced by Ospreys. (The commander of the Japan-based 7th Fleet was fired in August after two accidents killed 17 sailors.) The Pentagon has confirmed it is investigating allegations that three service members on President Trump's Asia trip broke curfew and had what the Washington Post calls "improper contact" with women in Vietnam. Sources tell the Post that the Army noncommissioned officers have been reassigned from their White House roles while the allegations are investigated. The three were assigned to the White House Communications Agency, a specialized unit of 1,200 military staffers responsible for providing secure communications for the president and other White House officials. Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White tells the AP that the incident is under investigation. The officers could end up losing their security clearances or even being court-martialed. The BBC notes that four personnel from the same unit were investigated over allegations they took foreign women into a secure area during Mike Pence's trip to Panama in August, though the military has not disclosed the outcome of the investigation. (Read more White House stories.) Dramatic video of a North Korean soldier defecting across the DMZ last week reveals just how narrow the man's escape was. The soldier can be seen fleeing in a military vehicle, which races toward the border down empty roads. The defector is seen abandoning the vehicle after it becomes stuck just yards from the border at the Panmunjon truce village, the BBC reports. He ends up running for his life with North Korean soldiers firing their weapons just behind him. He was hit at least four times but survived. Video released by the United Nations Command in Seoul also contains infrared footage of South Korean soldiers dragging the wounded soldier to safety, Reuters reports. A UNC official says North Korea has been informed that its Korean People's Army soldiers violated the 1953 armistice agreement by crossing the Military Demarcation Line between the two Koreas. "The key findings of the special investigation team are that the KPA violated the armistice agreement by one, firing weapons across the MDL, and two, by actually crossing the MDL temporarily," says UNC spokesman Chad Carroll. (The 24-year-old soldier has regained consciousness and has been watching TV.) A UN court has convicted former Bosnian Serb military chief Gen. Ratko Mladic of genocide and crimes against humanity and sentenced him to life in prison for atrocities perpetrated during Bosnia's 1992-1995 war. The court in the Hague convicted Mladic of 10 of 11 counts in a dramatic climax to a groundbreaking effort to seek justice for the wars in the former Yugoslavia, per the AP. Presiding Judge Alphons Orie read out the judgment Wednesday after ordering Mladic out of the courtroom over an angry outburst. Mladic was found guilty of commanding forces responsible for crimes including the worst atrocities of the warthe deadly three-year siege of the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, and the 1995 massacre of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the eastern enclave of Srebrenica. Orie said the court found that "genocide, persecution, extermination, murder, and the inhuman act of forcible transfer were committed in or around Srebrenica" in 1995. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein hailed the conviction of the man he called the "epitome of evil" and said Mladic was responsible for some of the "darkest crimes to occur in Europe since World War II." Mladic insists he's innocent, and he still has supporters in the nation. Posters in the eastern Bosnian town of Bratunac carried a photo of Mladic in military attire with the words "you are our hero" written above. (Mladic once taunted survivors in court.) Little House on the Prairie actress Melissa Gilbert had a sit-down earlier this week with Andy Cohen in which she alleged director Oliver Stone had sexually harassed her during an audition for his 1991 film The Doors. Gilbert said during her tryout to play Jim Morrison's girlfriend, Stone told her he'd written a "special scene" just for her that involved her begging for sex on her hands and knees. She told Cohen she refused and left the audition in tears, and believed it was his attempt to get back at her for a prior experience where she felt she embarrassed him at a nightclub. Gilbert took to Twitter Monday with a #MeToo tweet, offering thanks to her fans and especially to Cohen "for helping me lift this weight off of my shoulders." But Stone said Tuesday that Gilbert knew what she was getting into, as did "dozens" of other actors. "It was made clear from the outset that our film was going to be a raunchy, no-holds-barred rock 'n' roll movie," he said in a statement to USA Today. He added that those auditioning were informed they'd be acting out scenes from a script and that his casting director was there through the entire experience "to ensure a safe environment." That casting director, Risa Bramon Garcia, offered her own statement backing up Stone, noting the "challenging" audition process and "provocative material," but also that actors were all there "voluntarily" and that "most actors embraced the challenge." "In my experience, there was no attempt to personally offend any particular actor," she added. Meg Ryan eventually got the part Gilbert had wanted, Deadline notes. (Read more sexual harassment stories.) With an infant cradled in his left arm, the man used his right hand to retrieve his gun and open fire, killing two people. It was the act of a hero, according to media outlets in Brazil, where the wild scene was caught on video Saturday, per NBC News. Authorities say two armed robbers walked into a pharmacy in Campo Limpo Paulista, unaware that off-duty Sao Paulo police sergeant Rafael Souza was inside with his wife and infant son, reports the New York Post. When one of the men aimed his gun at Souza, the officer pulled out his own weapon and pulled the trigger, despite the infant in his arms. At one point, Souza is seen on a surveillance video shooting one of the men at close range. He then rushes his child to his wife, who is taking cover in an aisle, before continuing the gun battle, per the Washington Post. Police say it ended with both robbers dead. The men are identified as Jefferson Alves, 24, and Italo Creato, 22. Souza later told investigators that he fired first because he anticipated they would shoot him if he identified himself as a police officer. The pharmacy clerk had been assisting Souza's wife in an aisle when the robbers barged in, per the Post. (This cop's act of heroism cost him his life.) At least 45 teachers resigned from Pennsylvania's Harrisburg School District between July and October due to misbehavior in classrooms, and more have resigned since then, according to the Harrisburg Education Association. The HEA is asking district administrators to help find a solution; they say the misbehavior is at unprecedented levels and sometimes leads to physical violence or property destruction in the classroom. "I have been kicked, punched, hit, scratched. I've had a student physically restraining me in front of my other students. ... And many of the personal things that I have bought for my classroom have been broken or destroyed," says one first-grade teacher, per PennLive. She says that in addition to the violence, the incidents disrupt the day as the classroom needs to be cleared, the incident written up, and school security involved, per FOX43. The HEA is asking for a task force to figure out strategies. Association President Jody Barksdale says the association started asking for help in January, and little has changed since then. "Teachers and students are being hit, kicked, slapped, scratched, cussed at ... and observing other students flip over tables, desks, and chairs," she notes. "Teachers have had to take the rest of their class into the hallway to protect them during these outbursts." School district leaders say they'll work with teachers to figure out a solution, but in a statement, the district says it's "unfortunate that our teacher organization has chosen to engage in public discourse opposed to factual and substantive discussions." It says it currently has 38 job vacancies and that not all are due to resignations over violence, per the AP, and that administrators are "working extremely hard" to support teachers. (Read more teachers stories.) The revelation that Rep. John Conyers paid $27,000 to a woman who accused him of sexual misconduct means the Michigan congressman must step down, despite all the good he's done in the past, writes the Detroit Free Press editorial board. "The word 'hero' is invoked, without much hyperbole, around Conyers name, dating not only to his initial run for Congress in the mid-1960s, but to the stalwart civil rights activism in the 1950s and early 1960s that brought him to that point," the editorial says. But while he's played an integral role in legislation ranging from voting rights to health care reform, using taxpayer dollars to bury a scandal "is the kind of behavior that can never be tolerated in a public official, much less an elected representative of the people." The editorial board says Conyers must resign, noting that if he does not, the inevitable Congressional investigation into his behavior will render him and his constituents "effectively voiceless." Conyers denies the woman's allegations, but that doesn't matter, the board writes. The way he dealt with the situation "disrupted the accepted process to deal with claims against members of Congress, and leveraged taxpayer fundswithout the oversight of the ethics apparatus of the body itselfto make this claim go away." That's just one reason the settlement "looks an awful lot like hush money," they write. And so, after 53 years in Congress, there's no other choice for a "tragic end" to "a stellar career of fighting for equality." Click for the full editorial. (Read more John Conyers stories.) More than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar since August amid reports of a "wave of rape, murder, and arson, entire villages torched by security forces and Buddhist vigilantes," NPR reports. Refugees say men, women, and children have been killed, and UN investigators describe rape, torture, and execution, according to the Wall Street Journal. In one horrifying account, a refugee says soldiers threw her baby into a fire, then gang-raped the woman. Back in September, a UN official described the situation as "a textbook example of ethnic cleansing," and on Wednesday the US officially declared it as such. No provocation can justify the horrendous atrocities that have ensued," Rex Tillerson says. "Those responsible for these atrocities must be held accountable," the BBC quotes the secretary of state as adding. In making the declarationwhich State Department staffers having been advocating for monthsTillerson called for an independent investigation leading to potential sanctions against the Myanmar government. While Myanmar, which doesn't recognize Rohingya Muslims as citizens, has been persecuting the minority for decades, violence spiked after Rohingya militants attacked government security forces in August. The military has been retaliating against the Rohingya community in the months since. The director of the genocide prevention program at the Holocaust Memorial Museum says the situation could qualify as outright genocide. The Myanmar army claims Rohingya "terrorists" are the ones burning villages and sending their fellow Muslims fleeing into Bangladesh. (Read more Rohingya stories.) When Rand Paul was allegedly tackled by a neighbor Nov. 3 in Kentucky, suffering six broken ribs, it was the worst beating of a sitting senator since 1856, GQ reports. And yet we still haven't gotten a definitive explanation for the attack. "What gives? What really happened? How do we not know this yet?" Chris Cillizza writes at CNN. Amber Phillips at the Washington Post adds: "It's hard to overstate just how weird this story is, and how weirder it keeps getting." A lawyer for Rene Boucher, Paul's neighbor, says the incident had "nothing to do with" politics but rather something "that most people would regard as trivial." On the other hand, Paul and various right-wing news organizations have been hinting at an anti-Republican motivation, which could worsen Boucher's legal predicament. Meanwhile, GQ visited the gated community where Paul and Boucher live and found residents largely say it was "personal and petty: a clash between a big-deal politician ... and his neighbor, a proud, fiery, and meticulous former doctor." The most recent update from anyone involved comes courtesy of an op-ed penned by Paul's wife for CNN. Kelley Paul, who says her husband is unable to even breathe "without pain," denies there was any sort of "ongoing dispute" between Paul and Boucher, who she accuses of being an "attention-seeking person." She says Paul and Boucher haven't spoken in a decade, and "the only 'dispute' existed solely in the attacker's troubled mind." Kelley Paul says the whole situation has been "made worse by the media's gleeful attempts to blame Rand for it." (Read more Rand Paul stories.) Sorry! This content is not available in your region New Delhi: Hardik Patel, the face of the Patidar quota stir in Gujarat on Wednesday pledged his support to the Congress for the Gujarat Assembly elections. The move shall help set new caste equations for the Congress which is making an all-out bid to seize power from the BJP. Hardik is not eligible for contesting elections due to his age. He said the Congress has assured the PAAS that it would include its promise of reservation for the Patidars in the party manifesto. Hardik said the promised quota would go beyond the 50 percent cap set by the Supreme Court for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and OBCs. "My fight in Gujarat is against the BJP and that is why we will directly or indirectly support Congress (in the elections) as it has accepted our demand for reservation," Hardik told reporters in Ahmedabad. Under the proposal, the influential Patels, traditional voters of the BJP, would get the reservation in government jobs and educational institutions beyond the 49 percent quotas for the SC, ST, and OBCs. Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal thanked Hardik Patel for declaring his support to the party after it accepted the Patidar community's quota demand. "We are very happy that a 'sanjha morcha' (united front) will now fight against the BJP... We thank him that they (PAAS) have joined us with an ideology to contest the election by coming together... Our target is to win the election and fulfil promises made to the people," Sibal told reporters in New Delhi. New Delhi: Hollywood actress Julia Stiles has all the reason to grin to ear these days. Julia, who is married to Preston J. Cook, welcomed her first child a baby boy lately and named him Strummer Newcomb Cook. While the actress gave birth to the baby on October 20 this year, Stiles revealed the big news on Wednesday after she unveiled the first glimpse of her son. The Bourne Identity star shared a picture of herself holding the hand of her one-month old son on Instagram. Julia captioned the image as, "Strummer Newcomb Cook, born October 20, 2017. Thanks and ever thanks to the extraordinary doctors, nurses and staff at Mount Sinai for helping bring this utter joy into our lives." Strummer Newcomb Cook, born October 20, 2017. Thanks and ever thanks to the extraordinary Doctors, Nurses and staff at Mount Sinai for helping bring this utter joy into our lives. aia "Hello, World!" A post shared by Stiley Jay (@missjuliastiles) on Nov 21, 2017 at 3:50pm PST Interestingly, this year has been quite a joyful ride for Stiles. The lady who had announced her pregnancy in June this year, took the nuptial vows with Preston in September, six weeks before welcoming the new member of their family. While it was a beach wedding for Julia and Cook, the Hollywood actress even shared a heartwarming picture from her D-Day with a caption, "Who doesn't love a shotgun wedding?" Who doesn't love a shotgun wedding? Ya A post shared by Stiley Jay (@missjuliastiles) on Sep 26, 2017 at 10:01am PDT Julia and Preston met on the sets of 2015 release 'Go With Me' and announced their engagement on Christmas the same year after dating each other for a couple of months. For all the Latest Entertainment News, Hollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Rajkot: The BJP on Wednesday termed the proposal of the Uttar Pradesh Shia Waqf Board on resolving the Ayodhya issue as "good" and asked Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi to clarify his party's stand by breaking his "silence". The UP Shia Waqf Board proposed relinquishing its right over the disputed land in Ayodhya and building a 'masjid-e-aman" in Lucknow to resolve the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid tangle on Monday. A draft for resolving the issue, prepared by the Shia Waqf Board, was submitted in the Supreme Court on November 18. "The Shia Waqf Board has put forward a good suggestion by filing an affidavit in the Supreme Court stating that a Ram temple be built in Ayodhya and a mosque in Lucknow. It's a good suggestion to resolve the issue," BJP national spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao told reporters. He was in the city to campaign for the BJP Assembly poll candidates. "The BJP is of a clear opinion that a glorious temple of Lord Ram be built in Ayodhya, but what the Congress wants to say? We demand that Rahul Gandhi make his party's stand clear by breaking his silence on the issue", Rao said. He said the BJP supported the Shia Waqf Board's suggestion but also wanted to hear a reply from the Congress. Rao claimed that outfits like Nirmohi Akhada have also extended their support to the Shia Waqf Board's suggestion on the Ayodhya issue. "We demand a clarification from Rahul Gandhi before the apex court begins hearing on the issue on December 5," he said. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: India successfully test-fired BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from a Sukhoi-30MKI fighter jet on Wednesday.A The missile was gravity dropped from the Su-30 from the fuselage, and the two-stage missileas engine fired up and straightway propelled towards the intended target at the sea in the Bay of Bengal. The missile,A weighing 2.4-tonne instead of the original 2.9-tonne, was tested from a twin-engine Sukhoi fighter over the Bay of Bengal. The successful maiden test firing of Brahmos Air Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM) from Su-30MKI will significantly bolster the IAFas air combat operations capability from stand-off ranges. Brahmos ALCM weighing 2.5 ton is the heaviest weapon to be deployed on Indiaas Su-30 fighter aircraft modified by HAL to carry weapons. Brahmos, the world-class weapon with multi-platform, multi-mission role is now capable of being launched from Land, Sea and Air, completing the tactical cruise missile triad for India. Brahmos is a joint venture between DRDO of India and NPOM of Russia. Raksha Mantri Smt Nirmala Sitharaman congratulated DRDO and BrahMos for the outstanding accomplishment. a Raksha Mantri (@DefenceMinIndia) November 22, 2017 Dr S Christopher, Chairman DRDO & Secretary, Department of Defence R&D congratulated the Scientists and Engineers for this excellent textbook kind of flight test. The missile test was witnessed by Dr Sudhir Mishra, DG (BrahMos) & CEO & MD, BrahMos Aerospace along with senior IAF officials, Scientists and Officials from DRDO and BrahMos. Earlier in May, The Indian Army successfully test-fired an advanced and upgraded version of the BrahMos supersonic land-attack cruise missile with an extended range of 450 km in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, re-validating the weaponas strike capability on Wednesday. Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) tested the latest version of the cruise missile from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) Chandipur at sea in Balasore, off the Odisha coast. BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, successfully tested from a Sukhoi-30MKI fighter jet in Odisha's Chandipur. (Source: IAF) #WATCH: BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, successfully tested from a Sukhoi-30MKI fighter jet in Odisha's Chandipur. (Source: IAF) a ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2017 'The extended range BrahMos hit the target with centimetric accuracy. It's a big leg up for us and it was a fantastic test flight. With this new version, all three forces, Army, Navy and IAF will have the capability to strike deep into the enemy's territory.' 'This is the first for the world a a supersonic cruise missile with such a high range.'BrahMos is the first beneficiary of India's MTCR membership. We have fulfilled the government's dream. The BrahMos missile is one of the most precise and accurate in the world. 'During the launch at 1130 hrs, the land-attack version of the supersonic cruise missile system met its mission parameters in a copybook manner. It was a text book launch achieving 100 per cent results, executed with high precision from the Mobile Autonomous Launcher (MAL) deployed in full configuration,'said BrahMos in a statement. According to BrahMos Aerospace, ''the formidable missile system once again proved its mettle to precisely hit enemy targets at much higher range than the current range of 290 km, with supersonic speed of 2.8 Mach'. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Chennai: Students of the Sathyabama University went on a rampage and set fire to varsity properties after a girl student allegedly killed herself in her hostel room on Wednesday in Chennai. The varsity students and the deceaseds classmates have blamed the university staff of shaming the girl in public after she was caught cheating in an exam earlier in the day, which forced her to commit suicide. According to reports, agitated students of the university started setting things on fire in the campus after they learnt about the suicide. Huge flames were seen inside the campus. The deceased has been identified as Ragamoulika, a first year BSc Computer Science student and a resident of Hyderabad. Police said, Ragamoulika, a first year student, allegedly committed suicide in her college hostel room. The girl was appearing for her semester exams. Around 10.30 am, an invigilator found her suspicious and checked her answer sheet. He found her copying from another paper. She was asked to leave the exam hall. The officer added, After returning to her hostel, she sent a message to her twin brother Rakesh who studies in the same department of the University. In her message written in Telugu, she apologized for her mistake and seeked forgiveness. Also read| Hyderabad: 16-year-old girl attempts suicide after 'harassment' by teacher She was found hanging in her room by her roommates who later alerted the hostel staff and the police. Also read: Drunk students harassing IndiGo Crew member pulled out, Made to touch her feet Chennai Police have registered an FIR under section CrPc 174 ( (unnatural death). For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: The Judicial Review Board of the Lahore High Court ordered the release of 26/11 Mumbai terror attack mastermind and Jammat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed from house arrest on Wednesday. The release order of the Jammat-ud-Dawah chief comes fore days before the 26/11 Mumbai attack anniversary. The Judicial Review Board rejected a request from the government of Pakistan to extend Saeed's detention by three months. The government is ordered to release JuD chief Hafiz Saeed if he is not wanted in any other case," PTI quoted the board. "The government cannot afford to set Saeed free in the current circumstance. It cannot face international backlash in the event of releasing the JuD chief," the official source told PTI. The government had informed the judicial body that Saeeds release could lead to imposition of international sanctions on Pakistan. Also read: Hafiz Saeed might be killed by foreign agency says Pakistan, tightens his security It also said that the Federal Finance Ministry had "some important evidence" against him to justify detention. Also read: Pakistan seeks house arrest extension of Jamat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed On January 31, Saeed and his four aides including Abdullah Ubaid, Abdul Rehman Abid, Malik Zafar Iqbal and Qazi Kashif Hussain were detained by the Pakistans Punjab government for 90 days under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 and the Fourth Schedule of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997. Last month, the Judicial Review Board had allowed a 30-day extension to his house arrest. The detention is set to expire in the last week of November. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will pay a three-day visit to Russia from November 27 to November 29, officials said on Wednesday. Singh will hold meetings with the Minister for Internal Affairs of Russia, Vladimir Kolokoltsev and other top leaders. The meetings will cover mutual cooperation in tackling all forms of terrorism, ways to strengthen cooperation in tackling organized crime, smuggling of narcotics, fake currency notes, and cybercrime. As a prelude to the agreements to be signed, a meeting of the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday gave its approval for the signing of the agreement on cooperation between India and Russia in the field of combating all forms of terrorism and organized crime. India and Russia have a long history of close cooperation on matters of mutual interests. With the rise in the incidents of terrorism and organized crime across the world, it is imperative for countries to work together to combat all forms of terrorism, read the official statement. The proposed pact, which will replace the agreement of October 1993, is a step towards consolidating the benefits accrued in the field of security and seeks to jointly fight the new and evolving risks and threats. The agreement would reinforce the relationship between India and Russia through exchange and sharing of information, expertise, best practices, and would help in curbing terrorism and enhancing security in the region, it said. Singh is also expected to sign Joint Action/ Implementation Plan for cooperation in areas of drugs and disaster management. The home minister will be accompanied by top officials of the home ministry and security agencies. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Ashok Kumar, the Ryan School bus conductor, who was the prime accused in the murder of Pradyuman Thakur was on Wednesday released from Gurugram's Bhondsi jail. A Gurugram-based district court had granted him bail on Tuesday. Ashok was granted bail against a bond of Rs 50,000. The amount was reportedly crowd-funded from his village, Ghamroj. It is speculated that Ashok will file a defamation case against the police officers who tried to frame him. Amichand, Ashok's father expressed happiness but claimed that his son was ill-treated by the Gurugram police. "We are poor people that's why no one was listening to us," he was quoted as saying by India Today. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the investigating agency in the case has not given a clean chit to Ashok. Nevertheless, the CBI has not found any determining evidence against him and is now investigating the role of Class XI student who had confessed to the crime. Before CBI took over the probe, the Haryana Police had claimed that Pradyuman was murdered by Ashok. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: The first phase of polling for election to the civic bodies in Uttar Pradesh began on Wednesday. The voting is being held for five municipal corporations, 71 nagar palika parishads and 154 nagar panchayats spread over 24 districts. The incumbent BJP govt for the first time released a manifesto for the civic body polls and listed out a number of promises for development of cities in UP. The BJP has left no stone unturned for the polls, setting up a war room of more than 50 staff members to monitor the partys campaign and poll management. According to BJP insiders, the party is giving a lot of importance to the civic polls keeping in mind the Gujarat assembly polls, scheduled for next month and the Lok Sabha polls in 2019. So let us understand as to why the results of the UP civil polls are of great significance to the BJP govt #Litmus Test for Yogi Adityanath's governance since assuming power in the state The Uttar Pradesh civic body polls are the first major elections in India's most populated state after the Assembly elections which were held in March. So political pundits are considering this as the litmus Test for Yogi Adityanath's government. A victory for BJP would mean that the people have restored confidence in the administrative abilities of the Yogi govt since they assumed power seven months back. If the party wins handsomely in UPs civic polls, the underlying message passed on in the political landscape would be that the most populated state has restored faith in BJP's governance and Yogi Adityanath's leadership. 2. BJP would like to maintain hegemony over its bastions The BJP maintained a stranglehold over some of the important mayor seats in the UP's municipal corporations with the party winning most of them in the past even when it was out of power. The BJP has always won the Varanasi, the PMs Lok Sabha constituency. The BJP has an exemplary track record in the Lucknow mayors seat polls, winning it four times in a row. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is the current Lucknow MP, which also was the constituency represented by former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee. At least five ministers of Adityanaths cabinet are canvassing in Lucknow where polling is scheduled on November 26. The BJP has also won in Chief Minister Yogi Adityanaths home town of Gorakhpur several times. If the party loses any of these seats particularly Varanasithe Opposition will get an opportunity to call it the PMs and Adityanaths failure. The opposition can effectively raise the poll results in the Gujarat elections and also in 2019 Lok Sabha polls. It is a must for the BJP to win these seats and hence the CM personally is visiting a maximum number of constituencies, said a BJP leader. 3. Poll results to have a bearing on the upcoming Gujarat Polls The civic body elections shall also serve as run-up to the upcoming elections in Gujarat where the BJP would be locked in a tough battle with the Congress.The results of the UP civic polls will be declared on December 1, before polling in Gujarat and BJP leaders are of the opinion that a win or a loss for in UP could influence the Gujarat polls. 4. Yogi Adityanath's prestige at stake The Adityanath government has created Ayodhya and Mathura-Vrindavan as two new municipal corporations and he addressed public meeting in both cities. Sources said that he is also keeping a watch on the BJPs organizational affairs in view of the polls. The prestige of the CM is at stake in the civic polls. The BJP cannot afford to lose any of 10 mayoral seats it had won in 2012 when party was out of power both in the state as well as the Centre, remarked a BJP leader. 5. A victory in the civic body polls could help BJP push their agenda for building the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya UP CM Yogi Adityanath commenced his poll campaign from Ayodhya where his entire cabinet had celebrated Diwali on a grand scale in October and projects worth Rs 133 crore were announced for the town of temples. Ayodhya also hogged the limelight for the recent visit of Art of Living (AoL) founder Sri Sri Ravishankar to meet different stakeholders of Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri mosque title suit. So a win in the civic body polls would help the ruling govt sway the public sentiments in their favour and make for a strong case for pushing their agenda to build the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: The Chinese electronics and software company, Xiaomi has announced the launch of the Mi Exchange programme in India. Launched in collaboration with New Delhi-based Cashify, this initiative will allow Indian customers to exchange their existing handsets with new Xiaomi smartphones at the company's physical Mi Home stores. The move aims at boosting sales for the offline channels, after having already proved its presence on online sales channels. Xiaomi will be depending on Cashifys team to determine the value of phones that are offered to be exchanged and propose a suitable price for a new Xiaomi smartphone. Cashify will also offer doorstep pickup facility, for which the customer will be required to pay the full amount of the new Xiaomi phone during the purchase at the Mi Home store and then schedule a pickup call for the old phone. The payment for their old models will be done at a later stage. Read more: Airtel-Karbonn unveil new bundled smartphones to take on Jio The resale value of the old phone will be determined by the Cashify team on the basis of its condition and market value. Xiaomi marked its presence in the Indian markets in July 2014. According to data released by research firm IDC, the company has managed to prove its mettle and has become the number one smartphone vendor in the country. Washington: The US has congratulated Justice Dalveer Bhandari for his re-election to the ICJ, but asserted that it is against any change in the current veto structure of the UN Security Council, even as it favours a modest expansion of the 15-membered body. Indias Dalveer Bhandari was re-elected to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) with more than two-thirds of the UN members backing him, forcing Britain to withdraw its candidate amidst high drama in the hard-fought race to the world court. Responding to questions on reform of the 15-membered apex wing of the world body, a State Department spokesperson said: The United States remains open in principle to the idea of UN Security Council reform, including a modest expansion of the Security Council. Also Read: India's nominee Dalveer Bhandari re-elected to ICJ "We believe a reformed council must reflect the realities of the 21st century and be able to meet the challenges of this century with enhanced -- and not diminished -- effectiveness and efficiency. To this end, we remain opposed to any alteration or expansion of the veto, the spokesperson told PTI. The spokesperson was asked about reform of the UNSC in view of the differences that emerged between the General Assembly and the Security Council during the just concluded election to the ICJ. For the last remaining seat, the General Assembly and the UNSC had to carry 11 round of voting before judge Christopher Greenwood from Britain withdrew from the race, leaving Indias nominee Bhandari to be re-elected for a nine-year term."We congratulate Judge Dalveer Bhandari of India for his re-election to the International Court of Justice, as well as the other candidates who were elected or re-elected...," the spokesperson said, thanking Judge Greenwood for his service to the ICJ. However, the official refused to comment on the 11 rounds of voting."Were not going to comment on the prior rounds of voting. In the end, Judge Bhandari received the unanimous support of the UNSC and an absolute majority in the UN General Assembly for his re-election to the ICJ," the spokesperson said. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Williams has denied it has concluded a deal with Robert Kubica to run the Pole alongside Lance Stroll next season. Kubica tested for the Grove-based outfit twice recently, running at Silverstone and Hungary with a 2014-spec car along with Paul di Resta, the second candidate for a 2018 Williams drive. The 32-year-old is scheduled to drive a new-spec car at the Abu Dhabi post-race Pirelli tyre test next week, but Williams is denying a deal is done and dusted. "Although conversations are ongoing with Kubica, it is still yet to be finally decided who will replace Massa," said a Williams statement. "We will make an announcement when we have something to announce but nothing is planned this weekend in Abu Dhabi." Kubica in being helped with his sensational F1 comeback efforts by 2016 world champion Nico Rosberg and his management team. It is rumored that the group has put together a multi-million dollar sponsorship package to help the Pole secure his drive. Kubica last raced in Formula 1 in 2010, his career grinding to a brutal halt following a rally crash in 2011 which left the driver with a seriously impaired right arm. The winner of the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix ramped up his comeback efforts last spring, first testing a GP3 car before running with Renault in a 2012 Lotus E20. In addition to Kubica and di Resta, the frontrunners for the Williams seat, the team is also considering Mercedes protege Pascal Wehrelein and former Toro Rosso driver Dany Kvyat. Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter Design Pics/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- The Federal Communication Commission appears bound to repeal Obama-era net neutrality rules prohibiting internet service providers from slowing or blocking certain websites. The action is led by President Donald Trump appointee FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, a former commission official and Verizon attorney, who previously said the new Republican majority FCC leadership would "fire up the weed whacker" and dismantle industry regulations. The action is expected to put more power in the hands of the internet service providers, allowing companies like Verizon, AT&T and Comcast to block or slow certain websites, giving priority to those who pay for it. Under the proposed rule, the providers would have to disclose whether they engage in certain types of conduct, such as blocking and prioritization, and explicitly say what is throttled and what is blocked. This information would have to be on an easily accessible website hosted by the company or the FCC. Pai argues the previous administration's "heavy-handed" rules holding back such power from the telecommunications companies hinder investment, innovation and job creation. Critics say the proposal puts too much power in the hands of just a few massive corporations and small businesses will suffer from the prioritization. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., went as far as to call it "a disaster." On a call with reporters Tuesday afternoon, a senior FCC official said the ban on prioritization of websites led to higher prices for households purchasing high-speed internet. The additional revenue point for internet service providers would allow the companies such as Verizon, AT&T and Comcast to lower their prices, the official suggested. A different FCC official, not on the call, opposed the announcement. He said regardless of the impact on internet provider prices, costs for services like Netflix, Hulu or Amazon could rise because those companies would have to pay the fees for prioritization. INCOMPAS, a trade group with members including Netflix, Amazon, Twitter and Microsoft, came out against the proposal. "Since the 2015 Open Internet Order, we have seen an unprecedented increase in streaming services that save consumers money," INCOMPAS said in a letter to the FCC after calling the action "a violation of bipartisan principles that have governed a free and open internet for decades." The draft order is expected to be released on Wednesday, 22 days before the scheduled vote on Dec. 14. The senior official said the commission is showing more transparency than the Democratic-majority version of two years that passed the original net-neutrality rules. That 2015 order was not released to the public until after the commission voted on it. The vote next month is expected to pass on a 3-2 vote, along party lines, but at least one FCC Commissioner has pledged to fight to it. Jessica Rosenworcel, who first joined the FCC as an Obama appointee and was nominated again by Trump, called the proposal is "ridiculous and offensive." A Google spokesperson told ABC News "the FCCs net neutrality rules are working well for consumers and were disappointed in the proposal released today." Netflix also came out against the proposal. USTelecom, a trade association representing much of the telecommunications industry such as AT&T and Verizon, came out in support of the action. At one point on Sunday afternoon, #netneutrality was the leading trend on Twitter in the U.S., running at approximately 54,000 tweets per hour. Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. In the latest incident involving the American military in Okinawa, a U.S. Navy C-2 transport aircraft carrying 11 crew members and passengers crashed into the ocean 150 km northwest of Okinotorishima on Wednesday. Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera told reporters that aeight of the 10 to 11a aboard the aircraft ahad been rescueda and that the U.S. military had said the cause of the crash appeared to be engine trouble. Kyodo News, meanwhile, quoted Onodera as saying that aat least twoa of those aboard were still missing. The names of the crew and passengers were being withheld pending next of kin notification, the U.S. Navyas 7th Fleet said in a statement. Tokyo Metropolitan Police are searching have arrested eight persons, including an organized crime member, in the robbery of gold valued at nearly 100 million yen from a shop in Taito Ward earlier this year, reports NHK In April, four persons attacked two employees outside the shop, located in the Ueno district, and stole a bag containing 20 gold bars valued at around 90 million yen. As the suspects fled the scene, the bag was dropped nearby with the bars still inside. Police arrested Kosuke Shinagawa, a 37-year-old member of the Inagawa-kai, who is believed to have ordered the attack. Seven other persons have been arrested in the case, police said. According to police, an examination of security camera footage showed the suspects scouting out the area around the shop prior the crime. None of the suspects has commented on the allegations, which has proved to be problematic for the investigation, police said. Just before the incident, the two employees of the shop were hailing a taxi on a road to deliver the bars, weighing one kilogram each, to a customer. One of the suspects then came up from behind them and performed a drop-kick. One suspect then grabbed the bag and all four took off running. The person carrying the bag dropped it about 20 meters from the store. It was then recovered by one of the employees. Nov 23 (ANNnewsCH) - aSa4aaaaaa9000aacaaeaSaaaaaaaYaaaasaSacaa8aaeaaaaaYa Ukravit Group seeks to boost production of crop protection agents, fertilizers almost 2.9-fold by 2020 A group of companies Ukravit, the largest crop protection agents and micronutrient fertilizers producer in Ukraine, seeks to boost production almost 2.9-fold, to 20,000 tonnes. "We plan to reach production of 20,000 tonnes of goods in three years. At the end of the 2017 marketing year (MY) we produced 7,000 tonnes of crop protection agents and micronutrient fertilizers for the amount of $40 million," the owner of Ukravit Group, Vitaliy Ilchenko, said at a press conference in Kyiv. He said that in MY 2018 the group intends to produce 8,000 tonnes ($49 million). "Some amount of goods, around 5-7% is exported to Moldova and Georgia," he said. A total of 215 tonnes of micronutrient fertilizers and crop protection agents for $1.2 million were shipped to Moldova and 148 tonnes to Georgia for $1.2 million. "The company's share of the crop protection agents and fertilizer market in Ukraine this year is 9%. In three or five years we plan to reach 25%," Ilchenko said. According to the group's assessments, the crop protection agent market in Ukraine in 2017 would be $280 million and could expand by 17% by 2020. The micronutrient fertilizers market in Ukraine is estimated at $150 million. Ukraine plans to secure the creation of an international Eastern European gas hub in the country's gas sector development strategy by opening the domestic gas market and integrating it into the European market, Deputy Prime Minister Volodymyr Kistion has said. "Our goal is an international gas hub, I would say, an Eastern European gas hub. This is an ideal promising model of the gas market for Ukraine," he said, while presenting the strategy at a government meeting in Kyiv on Wednesday. He also noted that in the long term, until 2035, the task was to increase domestic production of natural gas to 35 billion cubic meters and reduce its consumption to 30 billion cubic meters, which will create opportunities for annual exports of five billion cubic meters. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate HARTFORD In the first case of its kind since the states medical-marijuana program was approved by lawmakers five years ago, a North Branford man who owns the cannabis growing facility in Eastern Connecticut is facing charges of illegally diverting and distributing it in the company parking lot. Andrew M. Bozzuto, 54, who is listed in state incorporation documents as the principal owner of Connecticut Pharmaceutical Solutions in Portland, has a court date Dec. 5 in Middlesex Superior Court on a variety of drug-related charges. The judicial file is under seal, a routine procedure in cases of first-time offenders seeking pretrial diversion. The case dates back to June 29, when the state Department of Consumer Protection, which runs and regulates the medical-cannabis program, received an anonymous tip that Bozzuto had taken marijuana from the facility where thousands of plants are grown to maturity and harvested, dried and prepared for market and given a quantity to another employee in the parking lot of the Portland operation, across the Connecticut River from Middletown. Our Drug Control Division acted incredibly quickly as soon as this incident was reported to us, and Mr. Bozzutos attorney confirmed within a day that Mr. Bozzuto would no longer be on premises at the facility, Consumer Protection Commissioner Michelle H. Seagull said Wednesday. By mid-July, Bozzuto had surrendered his license. Our investigation remains pending, but at this time were confident that this is an isolated situation, and not a reflection of the program as a whole, Seagull said. We continue to regulate the industry carefully in accordance with state law, and are pleased with the quality health care it provides more than 20,000 patients in the state. There are four grow facilities in the state and nine dispensaries, serving 21,554 patients. There are 795 doctors registered in the program. The producers were licensed in January 2014, when Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced the winners of the statewide competition nearly two years after the General Assembly first approved the program for those with chronic health problems and pain. Connecticuts pharmaceutical model, in which licensed pharmacists assist patients in dispensaries for the strains of cannabis as well as delivery systems from vaporizers to lingual strips and liquids - has been praised nationally for being one of the most-secure. Complaints or questions on the medical-cannabis program can be directed to dcp.mmp@ct.gov or (860) 713-6066. HARTFORD In the first case of its kind since the states medical-marijuana program was approved by lawmakers five years ago, a North Branford man who owned the medical-marijuana growing facility in Eastern Connecticut is facing charges of allegedly diverting and distributing cannabis. Andrew M. Bozzuto, 54, who is listed in state incorporation documents as the owner of Connecticut Pharmaceutical Solutions, LLC in Portland, has a court date December 5 in Middlesex Superior Court on a variety of drug-related charges. The judicial file is under seal, a routine procedure in cases of first-time offenders seeking pretrial diversion. The case dates back to June 29, when the state Department of Consumer Protection, which runs the medical-cannabis program, received an anonymous tip that Bozzuto had taken marijuana and gave it to another employee in the parking lot of the Portland operation, across the Connecticut River from Middletown. There are four grow facilities in the state and nine dispensaries, serving about 21,554 patients. There are 795 doctors registered in the program. The producers were licensed in January, 2014, when Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced the winners of the statewide competition. Connecticuts pharmaceutical model, in which licensed pharmacists assist patients in dispensaries for the types of cannabis and delivery systems - from vaporizers to lingual strips and liquids - that might best address their medical symptoms, has been praised nationally for being one of the most-secure. Our Drug Control Division acted incredibly quickly as soon as this incident was reported to us, and Mr. Bozzutos attorney confirmed within a day that Mr. Bozzuto would no longer be on premises at the facility, said Consumer Protection Commissioner Michelle H. Seagull. By mid-July, Bozzuto had surrendered his license. Our investigation remains pending, but at this time were confident that this is an isolated situation, and not a reflection of the program as a whole, Seagull said. We continue to regulate the industry carefully in accordance with state law, and are pleased with the quality health care it provides more than 20,000 patients in the state. Complaints regarding the program or questions can be directed to dcp.mmp@ct.gov or (860) 713-6066. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate BRIDGEPORT A week after announcing his department would purchase dashboard cameras for its cruisers, Acting Police Chief Armando Perez said he is now leaning toward the uniform cameras that elected officials and activists have demanded. It was one of a couple of vague statements the chief made to the citys police commission about the status of cop reforms in the wake of some alleged incidents of excessive force this year by his men and women in blue. Perez made his comments at Tuesdays police commission meeting, which was attended by two city councilmen-elect Kyle Langan and Pete Spain and a dozen other concerned residents, including Jazmarie Melendez. Melendez is the half-sister of Jayson Negron, the 15-year-old shot and killed by a rookie cop in May. That case remains under investigation by state police. Negrons death lead to renewed calls for the Bridgeport department which since 2015 under then-Chief Joseph Gaudett had talked about purchasing uniform cameras to finally move forward and buy the equipment. Bridgeports legislative delegation even identified a pool of state money they said Perez could tap into for reimbursement not long after the Negron shooting. Some of those same state legislators met with Perez last week following the release of a video showing Officer Christina Arroyo repeatedly hitting 18-year-old Aaron Kearney, who is black, in the head while Kearney was held down by other officers. After that meeting Perez announced he would move ahead with buying dashboard cameras a statement that frustrated some lawmakers and activists who had expected the chief to have made more progress in the six months since the Negron incident. Generation Now The chief Tuesday also quickly mentioned that another delayed reform community leaders have sought more de-escalation training for officers to avoid violent confrontations was in place. De-escalation training has begun, Perez told the police commission, which meets in his office. He offered no details. Afterward Commission Chairman Danny Roach admitted he needed to follow up with Perez to get more information about the cameras and the training. I feel bad saying it, but I feel hes (Perez) just full of empty promises, Melendez said. Im a little confused why none of the commissioners had any questions of Perez, said Callie Heilmann. Like what is de-escalation training? How often are you holding it? Heilmann is president of Bridgeport Generation Now. The group is pushing for more government transparency and political engagement, and has taken a particular interest since the Negron shooting in the police commission. Commission critics complain that members, appointed by Mayor Joe Ganim, a close friend of Perezs, do not demand enough accountability from the chief and the department. Heilmann also noted Perezs vague reference to a Dec. 5 meeting scheduled for the mayors conference room about cameras. What is that event? she said. It was all very fuzzy if you ask me. Perez in an email to Hearst Connecticut Media on Wednesday said the Dec. 5 meeting at City Hall on cameras is about technology and money. We are moving fast, but we want to get this right. The meeting deals with a vendor. Perez also elaborated that de-escalation training was provided to the 78 new police cadets recruited over the last several months and taught by Ray Hassett. Hassett, according to an online biography, retired from the New Haven Police Department in 2012 after 25 years. He is the lead de-escalatoin instructor for the nonprofit Connecticut Alliance to Benefit Law Enforcement. Misconduct complaints Heilmann and most in the audience arrived a few minutes late to the commission meeting. When Roach made a motion to adjourn, Heilmann asked if the public could speak. Normal procedure would be to request to be on the agenda, said Roach, a longtime commissioner who works as a mayoral aide. Heilmann pointed out that process is not explained on the police commissions section of the citys website. That bare-bones web page offers the names of commissioners some out of date but no way to contact them or the group as a whole, and little information about meetings other than they are scheduled for the third Tuesday of the month. Roach and the commission quickly and unanimously agreed to allow Heilmann to make some comments. She read from a prepared statement that encouraged the commission to pro-actively review the departments operations, including how complaints of police misconduct are handled; asked when the city will launch a search for a permanent police chief since Perez is approaching his second anniversary as acting chief in March; asked the commission to meet out of Perezs office in a more neutral location. She concluded by noting it has been six months since the Negron shooting, and none of the reforms that some in Bridgeport have demanded have come to pass: This is unacceptable. This is not leadership. Roach said he hoped the commission could provide some responses by its December meeting. Perez had left before Heilmann spoke. Before departing, the chief went up to each audience member, shook hands and wished them a Happy Thanksgiving. Melendez had yet to arrive. She said her family continues to struggle with her half-brothers death and length of the state probe. Its been hard, said the 19-year-old. Theres no such thing as time heals. As time goes on, I get more frustrated. Mriya agroholding has finished negotiations on restructuring of secured loans of $130 million, Mriya CEO Simon Cherniavsky said in Ternopil reporting on the state of affairs in the company. "We have finished the restructuring of the secured part of the debt. Now were in the safe zone for these loans," he said. Total debt of Mriya accounts for $1.087 billion, including $46 million of loans for working capital, $7 million for leasing of agricultural machinery, $130 million of secured loans, $904 million of unsecured loans. Cherniavsky said that the company seeks to find a compromise for the unsecured part of the debt by spring 2018. He said that $63 million of the total debt have been waived. "This 6% left the portfolio of our debts. This is the result of work of our team of financiers and lawyers," he said. The total debt burden after restructuring should be around $330 million. Mriya CFO Ton Huls said that secured creditors would personal restructuring conditions for each, while unsecured creditors would have the unified conditions for restructuring. In addition, around $700 million of the debt would be converted into shares, and creditors would become owners of the holding. After the restructuring, the structure of the holding would change: a holding company will be created in London, a sub-holding company and a trading company in Cyprus, and the number of companies in Ukraine would be reduced to 25. Huls added that the agroholding is close to the completion of the negotiations with Alfa-Bank (Kyiv). The bank is a secured creditor and the company's debt to it is $19 million. "We have implemented the restructuring plan in June 2017. Our debt to this bank is $19 million. The debt is to be paid within five years. The loan is secured by two facilities: a grain elevator in Kozova and a starch plant that the bank leased to us. In five years when we pay the debt they would return us the facility," Huls said. As reported, in May 2017, Mriya and International Finance Corporation (IFC) approved the conditions for restructuring of the holding's debt to IFC. Mriya is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding founded in 1992 by the Huta family. Today, its land bank is 180,000 ha in Ternopil, Khmelnytsky, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi, Lviv and Rivne regions. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate STAMFORD A wave of relief washed over Miriam Martinez when she received a phone call Wednesday afternoon. On the other end was her lawyer, Glenn Formica. Your daughter will probably be getting off the bus soon, he told her. You might want to go greet her. Martinez, overwhelmed with joy, ran out of her house and down the street. At first, her daughter, Allison, thought something was wrong. She quickly realized it was the exact opposite as her mother swept her up in her arms. On Thanksgiving eve, Martinez, the Guatemalan immigrant who has rallied the community since she defied a court order to leave the country, was issued a stay of deportation. Rather than board the plane to Guatemala on Monday, Martinez, 53, went home to her husband of 13 years, Raphael Benavides, and children, Brianna and Allison. Brianna has Type 1 juvenile diabetes, a life-threatening disease that has to be monitored 24 hours a day Martinez is her primary caretaker. Now Playing: Miriam Martinez Lemus gathers with supporters at Building One Community after learning she was issued a stay of deportation from the United States on Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017. Video by Matthew Brown / Hearst Connecticut Media Video: CTGlobal Hugs, tears, and smiles were at the center of a press conference held at Building One Community in Stamford on Wednesday to announce the news of Martinezs stay, which comes after Immigration and Customs Enforcement initially denied the request for a stay made by Formica on Monday. Formica, who took on the case pro bono, said that Judge Michael Straus signed the document allowing Martinez to stay. Formica has filed a motion to re-open Martinezs case so that she can have her say in court. Hopes are high that ICE will pull back their attention on Martinez, but Formica said their job isnt done. Martinezs situation became a focal point of attention this week. On Tuesday, advocates, officials and religious leaders gathered in solidarity outside of the East Side apartment complex where Martinez lives with her family. Local officials have voiced their support for Martinez throughout the ordeal. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., released a statement Wednesday on the fortunate turn of events. This special Thanksgiving miracle will enable Miriam's family to celebrate together this unique American holiday, Blumenthal said. They will join families around our nation in celebrating American values family, faith, and fairness that enabled them to stay here. I remain in close contact with her attorney to explore all avenues to provide lasting relief from this cruel and irrational deportation. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy expressed support for Martinez. Today, reason and compassion prevailed and I applaud this decision by ICE to allow her to remain in the United States with her family, where she has lived for several decades, Malloy said. I am glad that we could work with federal and local officials and advocates to achieve this outcome. Rather than focusing on people living peacefully within our borders, our attention should be on those who do harm to others. Martinez said she never gave up hope. I thank God and remained strong, despite how difficult things were, she said. tclark@stamfordadvocate.com; 203-964-2265; @TravClark2 This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A Houston woman found some noisy visitors in her flood-damaged home last week during rebuilding efforts. A massive beehive was discovered in Karen Knight's bathroom Wednesday after contractors ripped down some sheetrock following Hurricane Harvey. Knight's home flooded through the roof, leaving six inches of water in her house on Beechnut Street. Knight inherited the home from her aunt in the summer of 2014. Her aunt had told her about bees living in the walls of the home but they couldn't be found. Now Playing: Hurricanes Harvey, Maria, and Irma took a major toll on the U.S. and U.S. territories in ways that still seem unimaginable. Many areas will never be the same. Thousands were left homeless men, women, children, and animals, sometimes the forgotten Video: Fox5 DATA: Top 20 ZIP codes for FEMA assistance applications highlight widespread damage from Hurricane Harvey "The bees are not aggressive," Knight told Chron.com Tuesday morning. "We would see the occasional bee in the house." Knight has been under a financial strain since her daughter was involved in a car accident this summer that left her paralyzed. While Knight waits for FEMA to help repair the damage caused by Harvey, GOTCHA Pest Control has come to her aid. The company, who Knight contacted, is charging her $100 to remove the bees; a job this size normally runs $1,200-$1,500, said GOTCHA operations manager Kristy Fleener. The decision to help Knight was made by GOTCHA owner Claude Griffin after hearing her story. This is the first bee-related call GOTCHA has received since Harvey. "Rodents have been a big nuisance since Harvey," Fleener said. "Large cockroaches are also coming up from the sewers." Fernando Alfonso III is a digital reporter at Chron.com. You can read more of his stories here and follow him on twitter at @fernalfonso. If you also like surreal GIFs and Polaroids, go here and here. Ukraine soon to transport up to 150 bcm, export 5 bcm of natural gas every year Ukraine hopes to transport in the medium term up to 150 billion cubic meters of natural gas through its gas transit system every year, Deputy Prime Minister Volodymyr Kistion has said. "The capacity of the Ukrainian gas transit system to meet the needs of consumers in the European Union is up to 150 billion cubic meters per year. This figure may be strange to someone, but I want to draw your attention to the fact that until 2050 the demand for natural gas in Europe will be consistently high," he said at a government meeting in Kyiv on Wednesday, while presenting the country's gas sector development strategy. According to him, the points for receiving Russian gas for its transit should be located on the eastern border of Ukraine. In addition, by 2035 Ukraine plans to increase domestic gas production to cover its own needs and start gas exports in the amount of about five billion cubic meters. Kistion also noted that the energy intensity of the Ukrainian economy should be halved before 2035 and that the loading of underground storage facilities would grow. The capacity of Ukraine's gas transport system is 288 bcm at the entrance and 178.5 bcm at the exit, of which 142.5 bcm goes to European countries and 3.5 bcm goes to Moldova. Ukraine also operates a system of 12 underground gas storage facilities with a total capacity of 31 bcm. Naftogaz Ukrainy unites oil and gas production assets in Ukraine, and is the country's gas transit, underground gas storage, and oil pipeline transportation monopoly. Business coalition opposing tax changes continues to grow, even after changes announced OTTAWA, Nov. 22, 2017 /CNW/ - Despite the federal government's partial adjustments to its small business tax changes, business groups are still troubled about the potential negative effects the revised proposals will have on small and medium-sized firms. The concerns are spelled-out in a new letter to Finance Minister Bill Morneau by the Coalition for Small Business Tax Fairness, a unified voice of now almost 80 organizations representing hundreds of thousands of business owners across the country. "It's been one month since the government provided any details regarding its revised proposals. And, in just a few weeks, some of the new tax provisions are supposed to come into effect," said Dan Kelly, President of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. "We continue to urge the government to slow down and allow time for genuine stakeholder input to help minimize any unintended consequences. The fight against these proposals is not over." "For our businesses to succeed, we need to reform our complex, cumbersome and uncompetitive tax system, and we need to do it right," said the Hon. Perrin Beatty, President and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. "There has been some improvement, but business owners are still alarmed since much still remains to be defined. Businesses from across the country are prepared to work with the government to find ways to make our tax system simpler, less burdensome and fairer." In the letter, coalition members praise the government for reinstating its promise to reduce the small business corporate tax rate to nine per cent by 2019. They are also pleased that the government has stepped back from measures relating to the conversion of income into capital gains and that they have recognized the importance of passive income to a business. The Coalition for Small Business Tax Fairness, however, is still concerned about the tax changes in their current form: Income sprinkling rules While the government has offered to simplify the proposed "reasonableness test" for business owners paying dividends to adult family members, they have not provided any further details. The coalition recommends that the government postpone the implementation of this change, by one year, to January 1, 2019 to provide small businesses with sufficient time to implement required changes to existing business structures. Passive investments The revised proposal allowing incorporated businesses a passive investment income threshold of $50,000 is insufficient for those who are saving to grow and create more business opportunities. The coalition therefore recommends that the government drop the passive investment rules until a full economic impact assessment has been completed. Intergenerational transfers Owners of family businesses are pleased that the government has expressed an openness to making it easier and less costly to transfer a business to the next generation. Moving forward, the coalition recommends that the government make amendments to a section of the Income Tax Act that currently make it easier to sell a business to a third party than to a family member. Given the complexity of these proposals, more analysis and consultation is needed to ensure that these changes do not harm small businesses, the backbone of the Canadian economy. The coalition stands ready to work with the government to find solutions that won't adversely affect small business' ability to grow, innovate and create jobs. The Coalition for Small Business Tax Fairness is encouraging business owners and other concerned Canadians to contact their Members of Parliament and use the hashtags #unfairtaxchanges #taxesinequitables on social media. For the full list of Coalition members, please visit smallbiztaxfairness.ca. QUOTES: "The difficulty with adopting or advancing a series of proposals without a preliminary consultation is the risk evident from the reaction to the July 18 proposals of a substantial backlash. The key is to have the government understand that the determination of fairness is a societal principle and not a public service employee determination. Without a common definition of fairness, and application of this definition to all groups you create distrust and conflicts of interest. Such an approach is simply not sustainable, defensible nor is it good public policy." John Reid, Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance "We are surprised to learn that in only a few days or weeks, the Department of Finance would have analyzed 21, 000 submissions in regard to the proposed tax changes the most important tax changes affecting Canadian SMEs in the 21st century. We are entitled to question if the government had enough time to fully understand the impact of its proposals. Meanwhile, tax practitioners in the private sector are still reviewing the revised proposals and are of the opinion that more details are urgently needed to understand the full impact." Richard Darveau, President of the Quebec Hardware and Building Materials Association SOURCE Coalition for Small Business Tax Fairness For further information: For media enquiries or interviews, please contact: Andy Radia, Media Relations Specialist, 647-464-2814 Highlights: Sale of a 100% interest in the Crucero Gold Project to GoldMining Inc. (TSX.V: GOLD); Consideration received of $5.7 million in cash and marketable securities in GoldMining Inc.; Total cash and marketable securities on hand of ~$8.3 million . VANCOUVER, Nov. 21, 2017 /CNW/ - Lupaka Gold Corp. ("Lupaka Gold" or the "Company") (TSXV:LPK, FRA:LQP) is pleased to announce that, further to its news release of September 19, 2017, the Company has completed the sale of the Crucero Gold Project ("Crucero") to GoldMining Inc. ("GoldMining"). Total proceeds amount to $5.7 million, comprised of $750,000 in cash and 3,500,000 shares in GoldMining (TSX.V: GOLD). Will Ansley, President and CEO of Lupaka, said, "Closing the sale of Crucero, a non-core asset, bolsters our treasury as we focus on putting our Invicta Gold Development Project into production. Our cash and marketable securities balance now totals approximately $8.3 million, before related fees." Proceeds from the sale of Crucero will be used to partially satisfy the remaining conditions precedent to receive Tranche 3 (US$2.5 million) of the Pre-Paid Forward Gold Purchase Agreement with PLI Huaura Holdings LP and to provide additional working capital flexibility as the Company proceeds with the development of the Invicta Gold Development Project. The Transaction Pursuant to the Agreement, GoldMining has acquired all of the shares of a wholly owned subsidiary of Lupaka, which holds a 100% interest in Crucero. Total consideration payable by GoldMining to Lupaka under the transaction is 3,500,000 common shares of GoldMining (TSXV: GOLD) and $750,000 in cash. The GoldMining shares issued under this transaction are subject to certain resale restrictions, however, total dilution to GoldMining shareholders is only 3%. Advisors Fort Capital Partners advised Lupaka in connection with the transaction, and Dumoulin Black LLP and Lazo, De Romana & CMB (Lima, Peru) acted as legal counsel. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as the term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy of this news release. About Lupaka Gold Lupaka Gold is a Peru-focused gold explorer and developer with interests in resource projects spread across three regions of Peru. Invicta Gold Development Project - the Company's 100%-owned Invicta Gold Development Project is a well-developed, poly-metallic gold-copper underground deposit located approximately 120 kilometres by road north of Lima. Management expects to commence production in 2018 by using third-party mining contractors and utilizing the adit and workings completed by previous owners. Extraction of mineralized rock will be focused on accessing Invicta's Measured and Indicated resources, which have been estimated to be: Measured - 131,000 tonnes grading 6.65 grams per tonne ("g/t") gold equivalent for 28,000 contained ounces ("ozs") of gold, from: 18,000 ozs Au grading at 4.29 g/t, 133,000 ozs Ag grading at 31.71 g/t, 2,119k lbs Cu grading at 0.73%, 1,110k lbs Pb grading at 0.39% and 1,105k lbs of Zn grading at 0.38%. Indicated - 8,513,000 tonnes grading 3.43 g/t gold equivalent for 939,000 contained ozs of gold, from: 573,000 ozs Au grading at 2.09 g/t, 4,285,000 ozs Ag grading at 15.65 g/t, 79,048k lbs Cu grading at 0.42%, 45,171k lbs Pb grading at 0.24% and 53,482k lbs of Zn grading at 0.21%. An Inferred resource estimate of 2,534,000 tonnes grading 2.90 g/t gold equivalent for 236,000 contained ozs of gold has also been established. The resources are stated at a 1.30 g/t gold equivalent cutoff. Metal prices assumed for the gold equivalent calculation are US$1,500/oz for gold, US$32.50/oz for silver, US$3.90/lb for copper, US$1.05/lb for lead and US$1.00/lb for zinc. The gold equivalent calculation assumes 100% metallurgical recovery, and does not account for any smelting, transportation or refining charges. See further disclosure regarding the calculated gold equivalent cut-off grade, as below. Invicta's approved EIA allows for mine production of 1,000 tpd, although the current mining plan is limited to 350 tpd. Cautionary Note Regarding the Invicta Production Decision The decision to commence production at the Invicta Gold Project and the Company's plans for a mining operation as referenced herein (the "Production Decision and Plans") were based on economic models prepared by the Company in conjunction with management's knowledge of the property and the existing estimate of measured, indicated and inferred mineral resources on the property. The Production Decision and Plans were not based on a preliminary economic assessment, a pre-feasibility study or a feasibility study of mineral reserves demonstrating economic and technical viability. Accordingly, there is increased uncertainty and economic and technical risks of failure associated with the Production Decision and Plans, in particular the risk that mineral grades will be lower than expected, the risk that construction or ongoing mining operations are more difficult or more expensive than expected, the risk that the Company will not be able to transport or sell the mineralized rock it produces to local custom toll mills on the terms it expects, or at all; production and economic variables may vary considerably, due to the absence of a detailed economic and technical analysis according to and in accordance with NI 43-101. Josnitoro Gold Project the Company holds an option to earn a 65% interest on this project from Hochschild Mining PLC. The project is located approximately 800 kilometres by road southeast of Lima in the Department of Apurimac, southern Peru, within the Andahuaylas-Yaury Belt, in which the Las Bambas mine (MMG Limited) and the Constancia mine (HudBay Minerals) are located. Historical work on the disseminated gold zones includes over 170 shallow drill holes and extensive surface trenching, as well as artisanal mining. About Pandion Mine Finance Pandion is the general partner of PLI Huaura Holdings LP and is a mining-focused investment firm backed by MKS PAMP Group and Ospraie Management, LLC that provides flexible financing solutions to developing mining companies. Qualified Person The technical information in this document has been reviewed and approved by Julio Castaneda Mondragon, MAIG, the President of Lupaka Gold Peru S.A.C., a Peruvian subsidiary of the Company, and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Castaneda has verified the scientific and technical information, including sampling, analytical and test data underlying the information or opinions contained in this news release. The Invicta Gold Project resource estimates referred to in this news release are disclosed in the technical report dated April 16, 2012, titled "Technical Report on Resources, Invicta Gold Project, Huaura Province, Peru" (the "Invicta Technical Report"), and prepared by SRK Consulting (U.S.) Inc., which is available at www.sedar.com under Lupaka Gold Corp's profile. The metal prices used to calculate the gold equivalent cut-off grade in the Invicta Technical Report are based on prices at the time. Investors are cautioned that current metal prices are now lower and as a result, the above-referenced cut-off grade could be materially affected based on current prices. Investors are further cautioned that the prices of precious metals can fluctuate in wide ranges over short periods of time. Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward Looking Information All statements, trend analysis and other information contained in this press release relative to anticipated future events or results constitute forward-looking statements. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein, including, without limitation, statements relating to the receipt of and anticipated use of proceeds of the PLI Financing, the Company's plans and intentions for Invicta, mineral resource estimates, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions, estimates and opinions of management at the date the statements are made that the Company believes are reasonable, including: that the repayment of the PLI Financing is consummated on the anticipated terms, that the supplies, equipment, personnel, permits, and local community approvals required to conduct the Company's planned pre-production and development activities will be available on reasonable terms, that the Company will be able to comply with the delivery and other obligations in the PLI Financing Agreement, that results of exploration activities will be consistent with management's expectations and that the Company will not experience any material accident, labour dispute, or failure of equipment and with respect to the planned mining operations at Invicta; that pre-production mine development can be completed in the time and for the cost projected; that the Company will be able to obtain funding for planned production expenses; that mineralization at Invicta will be of the grades and in the locations expected; that the Company will be able to extract and transport mineralized rock efficiently and sell the mineralized rock at the prices and in the manner and quantities expected; that permits will be received on the terms and timeline expected and that other regulatory or permitting issues will not arise; that mining methods can be employed in the manner and at the costs expected and that such methods yield the results the Company expects them to. However, forward-looking information involves 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 information. Such risks, uncertainties and other factors include, among others: all of the risks described in this news release; failure of the PLI Financing to complete on the proposed terms or at all, including due to the Company's inability to complete the conditions precedent, the risk that actual results of exploration and development activities will be different than anticipated; that the Company will not be able to comply with the delivery or other obligations in the PLI Financing Agreement and the risk that PLI will enforce its security over the Company's assets, including its mineral properties; that cost of labour, equipment or materials will increase more than expected; that the future price of gold will decline; that the Canadian dollar will strengthen against the U.S. dollar; that mineral resources are not as estimated; unexpected variations in mineral resources, grade or recovery rates; risks related to shipping mineralized rock; the risk that local mills cannot or will not buy or process mineralized rock from the planned production for the prices expected or at all; risk of accidents, labour disputes and other risks generally associated with mineral exploration; unanticipated delays in obtaining or failure to obtain community, governmental or regulatory approvals or financing; and all of the risks generally associated with the development of mining facilities and the operation of a producing mine, as well as the risks described in the Company's annual information form, which is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results to not be as anticipated, estimated or intended. 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 statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information due to the inherent uncertainty thereof. Lupaka Gold does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements except as required by applicable securities laws. Investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. SOURCE Lupaka Gold Corp. For further information: Will Ansley, President & C.E.O., [email protected], Tel: (416) 862-5257 or visit the Company's profile at www.sedar.com or its website at www.lupakagold.com WARSAW, Poland, Nov. 22, 2017 /CNW/ - The contract, signed with Centrica, is on a DES delivery basis and will begin in 2018. Up to 9 cargoes will be delivered during term of contract to the President Lech Kaczynski LNG Terminal in Swinoujscie, where PGNiG recently booked additional regasification capacity. The primary source of LNG delivered under this contract shall be the North American natural gas liquefaction terminal located at Sabine Pass, Louisiana. (Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/609056/PGNiG_American_LNG_cargo.jpg ) This is the first medium-term LNG agreement signed by PGNiG Supply & Trading's branch office located in London, which is dedicated to global LNG trading. The agreement follows through on PGNiG's strategy of securing reliable and diversified gas supplies for Poland and its growing trading capability in the European market. It is also the first mid-term contract for LNG from the USA in Central and Eastern Europe. In October this year, PGNiG also took part in a binding Open Season procedure for capacity bookings from the planned 10 bcm/y pipeline corridor (Baltic Pipe), which will connect the Norwegian Continental Shelf with Poland in 2022. "Preceded by the long term contract for LNG deliveries from Qatar and several spot deliveries in 2017, this agreement shows that we are stepping into a new level of global LNG market activity. This five-year agreement for American LNG deliveries is based on gas market conditions. We look forward to working with Centrica as a partner to continue to provide diversified supply into Poland," said Piotr Wozniak, CEO and President of the Management Board of PGNiG. "This agreement is the first of its kind in PGNiG's planned portfolio of medium-term LNG agreements. Most of these LNG supply agreements will be dedicated to the gas markets of Poland and other Central European countries in order to increase the energy security of this region, which has historically been dominated by Russian gas," added Piotr Wozniak. "We are extremely pleased to have concluded this mid-term contract with PGNiG as part of Centrica's strategy to build our global LNG portfolio. Our reliability, experience and trading capabilities mean we are well placed to deliver LNG into an ever growing number of markets around the world. We really look forward to working with the team at PGNiG over the coming years," commented Jonathan Westby, Centrica Managing Director of Energy Marketing & Trading. Polish Oil and Gas Company (PGNiG) is the leader of the Polish natural gas market. The company's core business includes exploration and production of natural gas and crude oil. Its subsidiaries import, store, sell and distribute gaseous fuels. They also generate and trade heat and electricity. PGNiG holds stake in 30 companies including entities that provide professional geophysical, drilling and maintenance services. PGNiG holds exploration and production licenses in Norway and in Pakistan. Centrica plc is an international energy and services company organised around two global customer-facing divisions, Centrica Consumer and Centrica Business, focused on the residential consumer and the business customer respectively. Centrica's areas of focus for growth are Energy Supply & Services, Connected Home, Distributed Energy & Power and Energy Marketing & Trading. Centrica develops new and innovative products and services for customers globally and supplies more than 27 million customer accounts mainly in the UK, Ireland and North America through strong brands such as British Gas, Hive, Direct Energy and Bord Gais Energy, supported by around 12,000 engineers and technicians. Within Centrica's Energy marketing & Trading business, Centrica LNG Company Ltd is involved in the wholesale trading and supply of LNG globally. SOURCE PGNiG A New Britain company looking to expand its customer base is getting a $25,000 state grant to help it do just that. Addaero Manufacturing, which makes additives used in the aerospace, marine and defense industries, is getting the money from CTNext, a subsidiary of the states quasi-public investment agency, Rocky Hill-based Connecticut Innovations. CTNext was created in 2012 to help develop Connecticuts entrepreneurial community and aid in the growth of early-stage companies. Contributed / Contributed DERBY The Center for Cancer Care at Griffin Hospital recently provided 31 free prostate cancer screenings to help encourage men to get checked for the disease and to increase mens health awareness. This is the first year Griffin has offered these free screenings to the community. Participating physicians included Dr. Joseph Cardinale, of the Center for Cancer Care, and Dr. Grace Biggs and Dr. Joseph Camilleri, of Griffin Faculty Practice Urology. WEST HAVEN After the closing of eight AAA offices, the Department of Motor Vehicles is creating a municipal operation to fill a void in lost services for New Haven County. The city has signed an agreement with the DMV to open a Customer Service Center for license renewal and ID renewals in the basement of City Hall, state Rep. Dorinda Borer, D-West Haven, said Tuesday. We think this is a really great model and hope other cities mirror this model in the future, she said. It will be the first office fully managed under municipal direction; in the past, DMV would staff offices in municipal buildings. The center will be managed by the Chamber of Commerce, which will do the hiring for the new employees to operate the center. The chamber will act similarly to AAA by processing renewals and charging a $5 convenience fee, which will pay for the operation. As a result, no city or state resources will be used to operate the center, Borer said. Its not only a great opportunity for West Haven but critical for our surrounding community, she said. With the operation in the basement of City Hall, its positioned close to other city services, so if theres an issue during a renewal, someone can go directly to the appropriate office and resolve it so there is not as much back and forth between the DMV and city services, Borer said. The center is expected to open in late February and operate two days a week with more days to possibly be added, said Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Alan Olenick . He added they want to ensure the office is open late enough for when people get off work, but the operating hours will depend on the volume the office can handle. It will be a welcome addition to the services in the city of West Haven, Mayor Ed OBrien said. Its well needed and were looking forward to the change it will bring to our town. The announcement reflects an effort to replace eight AAA offices in New Haven and Fairfield Counties that closed recently since AAA Northeast didnt renew an agreement it had with the DMV to offer license renewals to members and non-members in those counties. The DMV had been negotiating at the end of last year and Commissioner Michael Bzdyra said in a statement at the time, the DMV could not agree to AAAs terms of excluding non-members from DMV services. With the loss of AAA Northeast, Bzdyra said its been incumbent on the DMV to find other locations to provide the license and ID card renewal services. The agency isnt able to provide more DMV staff to their offices, he said, so having municipal workers creates a solution. DMV services are still available at eight AAA offices in other parts of the state for both AAA members and non-members. Those offices are located in Avon, Cromwell, Enfield, Manchester, Old Saybrook, Plainville, Waterford and West Hartford. Were trying to improve customer service throughout and this is one more effort to shorten wait times for our customers and provide other convenient locations, he said. Bzdyra said they are still soliciting vender proposals similar to the AAA model to replace AAA Northeast in Fairfield and New Haven Counties. They will be reviewing the proposals over the next couple of weeks. Additionally, the opening of the service center in West Haven comes after the DMV closed Milford and Derby offices in July because of long wait times and too large a customer volume for the offices to handle, according to a press release issued at the time. The aim was to alleviate the burden in the small offices and refocus employees to the full-service centers. West Haven resident Mark Antonucci said over the years, the DMV has been a disaster, but opening the West Haven center is going to be a good public service and a step in the right direction. mdignan@hearstmediact.com PJSC Ukrzaliznytsia has attracted Dragon Capital and Concorde Capital investment companies (all based in Kyiv) to organize communications with investors, according to a press release from the railroad operator. Concorde Capital will hold a meeting in Kyiv on November 23 in the circle of professional financial analysts and market experts in the round table mode, at which the management of Ukrzaliznytsia will provide updated information on financial and economic activities and financial performance for the nine months of 2017. Dragon Capital, in turn, on November 20 held a conference call of acting chairman of Ukrzaliznytsia Yevhen Kravtsov and financial director of the company Andriy Riazantsev with international investors. As reported, Ukrzaliznytsia in May 2013 placed its debut eurobond issue for $500 million with a circulation period of five years through the specially created company Shortline PLC. NEW HAVEN Jim Russell was a caretaker for his late wife, who had multiple sclerosis, for 18 years. The illness and almost two decades of care was both personally and financially devastating. It is so important what you are doing. I was the forgotten person behind the wheelchair, Russell said at a meeting called by U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy and held at the Mary Wade Home in Fair Haven on Tuesday. The senator has introduced the Social Security Caregiver Credit Act which would allow people who leave the workforce or reduce their hours to care for a relative to get credit toward Social Security earnings for the time they are caregivers to help with their retirement. Supporting caregivers is a passion of mine, the senator said. Murphy said the positive aspect of family caregivers is that loved ones do not have to be institutionalized and they can stay in their own homes. The downside is the lost wages after the relative is forced to leave a job or go part time. The credits for caregiving work would be progressive, varying on an income-based sliding scale, according to the proposal. Persons who do not have an income could receive a maximum credit equal to half the average national earnings. The credit would decrease in value until it is phased out for those who make the average national wage or more. The Mary Wade Home has a variety of services, including an adult daycare program, Murphy pointed out, which combined with family or other caregiver arrangements is helpful as relatives age. He said the nation needs these options as the silver tsunami of baby boomers across the country require more services. But, often, innovative programs like those at the Mary Wade are not there, Murphy told the group of individuals and professionals involved in all aspects of elder care, from transportation to neighborhood cooperatives and assisted living arrangements. He said in Connecticut the estimate is that 170,000 individuals provide care full-time or part-time for a relative. We got to have a comprehensive approach in this country to supporting people who are aging. ... We got to see caregivers as a co-equal partner in the provision of care for aging America, the senator said. The bill also authorizes funding for state programs for medical training to caregivers. The lack of training often results in the patient being readmitted to the hospital. Connecticut, however, is one of the states that require hospitals to train a designated caregiver for a patient who is being sent home. Under the bill, anyone who provides a minimum of 80 hours per month caring for a dependent relative under the age of 12 or a chronically dependent individual would qualify for the credit toward Social Security. This credit could be claimed for up to five years and is retroactive for five years. The senator pointed out that the steep cuts to Medicaid proposed by Republicans would put a greater burden on families as Medicaid supports 65 perent of nursing home residents, as well as numerous programs for the elderly. That bill would have cut $700 billion and ended Medicaid as an entitlement program. It would have forced any providers of services to the elderly to shut down, Murphy said, including adult daycare centers, skilled nursing facilities and rehab centers. David Hunter, the CEO at Mary Wade, thanked Murphy for stopping the GOP proposal to block grant all funding for health care, with the exception of Medicare. The senator told the group that the fight is not over in light of the proposed tax reforms under discussion in Congress. We need to start re-thinking how we value caregiving. I think we should value caregiving of every sort as work that is valued just as salaried work is throughout this country, Murphy said. He said his mother stayed home for a significant period of time to raise he and his sibblings, as well as care for his grandmother, causing his mother to lose Social Security benefits. Murphy said he is not talking about having the federal government provide a salary for this kind of work. What I am proposing here is just not penalizing individuals who make that choice, he said. Murphy said it is fiscally responsible as it saves taxpayer money from going to a skilled nursing facility. The senator has been working on this bill for a few years and has a number of co-signers. It is one of those hidden crises that doesnt make the evening news, the senator said. Given that Connecticut is a high cost state, people have less wiggle room in their budget, he said, to absorb any cuts in federal support. Murphy also backs fully funding the Older Americans Act, which covers such things as Meals on Wheels, in which seniors get hots meals delivered to their homes. In 2016, more than 2 million meals to 23,500 seniors were delivered through the program. The senator said the fight is not over as the GOPs proposed tax bill is paid for with $2.2 trillion in borrowing over 10 years. He said existing law requires an automatic cut in Medicaid and Medicare because of that deficit. Having won the fight on defeating the idea of block grants, there is a new crisis with the tax cuts, Murphy said. In seven years, any middle-class tax relief in the tax bill will have expired, but (health care) premiums will have doubled because of the repeal of the individual mandate, he said. Murphy said at the end of the seven years, all the middle-class tax cuts will have expired. Its a real raw deal for middle-class folks, the senator said. Hunter said part of the benefit to his institution under the Older Americans Act are two transportation programs through which they take seniors to doctor appointments and also to pharmacies and grocery shopping. Transportation is vital for those who are home and have impairments, Hunter said. Ira Yellen, founder and president of Aging in Place, asked whether there were any programs to help people renovate their homes to make them safer as they age or when they take in elderly relatives. Yellen said surveys have found that baby boomers barely have $100,000 in savings as they retire. Murphy said giving a small tax benefit to make these renovations would be a good idea. Unfortunately, this tax bill is going the other way, Murphy said. Hal Spitzer spoke about the Home Haven, part of the Village to Village network, where the premise is to keep seniors in their home as long as possible and to provide the professional services that are needed for that, but also count on neighbors helping neighbors. Another participant said daycare programs are a big answer to ending the isolation that seniors who do age at home feel, while Eleonora Tornatore-Mikesh said training caregivers on how to deal with Alzheimers patients is critical for the patients and the caregivers. She complimented Mary Wade for providing this kind of training. mary.oleary@hearstmediact.com; 203-641-2577 The European Business Association (EBA) has noted a lack of common understanding by the territorial bodies of the State Service of Ukraine on Medicines and Drugs Control of the rules of state control over the quality of medicines. Executive Director of the EBA Health Care Committee Natalia Serhienko told Interfax-Ukraine there is a problem with the objective assessment by the territorial authorities of the medicines, which are imported to Ukraine in accordance with the established regulatory requirements. "The same drug with the same package of documents, which the company provides to obtain conclusion on the quality, can be immediately released to the market by one territorial agency and simultaneously have a number of remark from another," she said. Comments of the territorial bodies of the regulator are not accompanied by official letters and most often arise at the last stage of assessment of the package of documents of the importing company, according to which there appears a barrier to their access to final consumers as drugs are delayed in the warehouses without any justifications. In her opinion, the comments of the department on the discrepancy of the quality certificate, which is adopted by the regulatory bodies of the countries of the European Union, indicate that "the country does not accept European practices on this part." The African Union has welcomed Robert Mugabes decision to step down as president of Zimbabwe, saying the people had expressed their will for a peaceful transfer of power.AU commission chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat said he welcomes the decision by President Robert Mugabe to step down from his position as Head of State following a lifetime of service to the Zimbabwean nation.President Mugabe will be remembered as a fearless pan-Africanist liberation fighter, and the father of the independent Zimbabwean nation, he said in a statement released late Tuesday.After dominating nearly every aspect of Zimbabwean public life for decades, the 93-year-olds tenure on Tuesday ended in an announcement at a special joint session of parliament where MPs had convened to impeach Mugabe after the ruling party sacked him as their leader earlier this week.Mugabe is likely to be replaced by Emmerson Mnangagwa, whom he fired as his deputy earlier this month in a move that pushed infuriated army chiefs to seize power and force the presidents exit.Despite the military intervention, the AU did not characterise Mugabes ouster as a coup, but rather a legitimate expression of the will of Zimbabweans.The African Union recognises that the Zimbabwean people have expressed their will that there should be a peaceful transfer of power in a manner that secures the democratic future of their country, the statement said.President Mugabes decision to resign paves the way for a transition process, owned and led by the sovereign people of Zimbabwe. Apple Stores in the United States and United Kingdom have begun the sale of gaming robots, MekaMons, built by a Nigerian-British, Silas Adekunle.Adekunles company, Reach Robotics struck the deal with Apple recently.The product with a price tag of $299.95 went on sale from 16 November in the shops and online. The robots can be operated with an iPhone and other smartphones.Reach Robotics, an augmented reality gaming company creates robots for both fun and STEM education.Adekunle, who was born in Nigeria moved to the UK when he was 11 years old.He is an engineer who graduated with First Class Honours from the University of the West of England in Bristol, with a Bachelor of Science in robotics technology. He previously worked at GE Aviation and Infineon.Weve created an entirely new video gaming platform, said Adekunle in a press release, published by Black Enterprise.MekaMon straddles both the real and virtual worlds while taking the gaming experience beyond a players screen and turning their sitting room into a limitless robotic battle zone. MekaMon represents a quantum leap forward in the leveraging of augmented reality. Players can whip out their iPhone to battle their multi-functional, connected battlebots in the physical and virtual worlds at the same time.MekaMons are four-legged robots that players can control via a smartphone using a companion app for augemented reality gameplay.Multiple players can have their MekaMons battle each another. Each robot weighs a little over two pounds with dimensions of 11.8 by 11.8 by 5.9 inches.MekaMons can connect to each other via infrared signals and Bluetooth, allowing for co-op gaming.The robots are powered by a rechargeable battery that provides up to an hour of gameplay. They are compatible with the iPhone, using the smartphones camera and infrared tracking capability for precise navigation.Adekunles company, founded in 2013 is based at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory (BRL) Technology Incubator. His colleagues include Chris Beck who had been working as a roboticist in the BRL.The company, according to southwestbusiness.co.uk has experienced fast growth in the past few months and the firm is moving out of its offices at Future Space in Bristol.The company, which has taken space for its 29 members of staff at Bristol Business Park, has secured $9.5m (7.1m) of investment funding from organisations which, says Adekunle, could see the potential for what we were developing.Adekunle said: When I was a student at UWE Bristol I spent some time going into schools to help inspire young people and it struck me that there was a huge untapped market for a consumer robot with a difference.We used to go in and explain simple robotics to try to inspire the young roboticists and engineers of the future and this experience set me off thinking about designing gaming robots.Reach Robotics is anticipating fast future growth and is looking to target the UK and US market in the lead up to Christmas.Adekunle added: This is an exciting time for our company as now after years of development work we are finally able to bring Mekamon to customers across the UK and US and with plans to go global.UWE Bristol has given us an amazing start and we are so grateful for their support. The Nigerian army has ordered its personnel to learn the three basic Nigerian languages of Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba. The Nigerian army has ordered its personnel to learn the three basic Nigerian languages of Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba. In a statement on Wednesday, Sani Usman, a brigadier-general and army spokesman, said the directive is part of the armys new language policy aimed at fostering better communication with the populace. He said the army personnel are expected to have attained basic level standard of proficiency for the languages on or before December 2018, adding that certificated proficiency level will attract language allowance. The policy will foster espirit-de-corps and better communication with the populace to enhance information gathering, civil-military relations, increase understanding between militaries when operating abroad and assist officers and soldiers to perform their duties professionally, the statement read. It is to be noted that English remains the official language in the Nigerian army. Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa languages could be used during civil military cooperation (CIMIC) activities or interrogation. Therefore all Nigerian Army personnel have been given one year to learn the three major Nigerian languages. Invariably, by December 2018, all Nigerian army personnel are expected to learn the three major Nigerian languages. Usman further said the ability to speak the three major Nigerian languages will be an added advantage to those applying for recruitment or commissioning into the Nigerian army. He added: Therefore, prospective candidates are encouraged to learn Nigerian languages other than their mother tongues. President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday ordered a military crackdown on bandits operating in rural communities in Zamfara State.The presidential order followed fresh attacks on some communities in Shinkafi and Maradun Local Government Areas.The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said this in a statement made available to journalists in Abuja.To enable the army carry out this new mandate, Shehu said the President has approved the request of the Minister of Defence, Brig.-Gen. Mansur Dan Ali (retd.), for the stationing of a full battalion of Special Forces in Zamfara State, and the operationalisation of the newly-established 8 Division of the Nigerian Army in Sokoto in the new Order of Battle.The presidential spokesman said the President has also approved the movement of the 1 Brigade of the Nigerian Army from Sokoto to Gusau upon the take-off of the 8 Division.The statement read in part, To tackle the desperate actions of Boko Haram terrorists in the North-east, through the use of mostly female, underage girls as suicide bombers, President Buhari has equally approved the setting up of an intelligence fusion centre in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, for the purpose of gathering and sharing intelligence among the security agencies in the country.This phase of the war will be intelligence-driven and the new centre is expected to intensify the harvesting and sharing of intelligence so as to bring to an early closure, the desperate last-minute activities of the terrorists. Femi Fani-Kayode, former Aviation Minister, on Wednesday called on the International Criminal Court, ICC, to convict President Muhammadu Bu... Femi Fani-Kayode, former Aviation Minister, on Wednesday called on the International Criminal Court, ICC, to convict President Muhammadu Buhari and others for allegedly committing war crimes and mass murder against Nigerians for the past 57 years. The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chieftain made the call in reaction to the conviction of Serbian General, Ratko Mladic by the ICC for ethnic cleansing, war crimes and mass murder. In a tweet via his social media, the two-time former Minister stressed that justice must be served. He wrote: The conviction of Serbian Gen. Ratko Mladic for ethnic cleansing, war crimes and mass murder by the ICC is encouraging. It serves as a warning to @MBuhari and others in Nigeria that have committed similar crimes against our people over the last 57 years. Ahmed Adamu Muazu, chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the historic 2015 presidential poll, furiously reacted to suggest... Ahmed Adamu Muazu, chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the historic 2015 presidential poll, furiously reacted to suggestions that he should reject Muhammadu Buharis victory after President Goodluck Jonathan had openly conceded. Jonathan, after congratulating Buhari in an unprecedented telephone call while the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was yet to officially announce the winner, told party members that although he had conceded to Buhari in his personal capacity, PDP was free to reject the result. Before Jonathan conceded, however, Muazu had threatened to do so on behalf of the party. He even stopped picking Jonathans calls at some point. All these are snippets of the intrigues that followed Jonathans defeat as narrated by Bolaji Abdullahi in a new book, On a Platter of Gold: How Jonathan Won and Lost Nigeria, which will go on sale nationwide from November 30, 2017 after launch. In the advance copy, the author said many of Jonathans supporters believed he was too hasty in congratulating Buhari and were looking at ways to undo the gesture. It was then suggested that the PDP could still challenge the election in spite of the concession statement by Jonathan but they had to move quickly. A meeting was scheduled for 6pm of Tuesday, March 31, three days after the election. VOLTE-FACE By 6:00pm, all the Presidents men and party bigwigs began to gather at the banquet hall of the Presidential Villa. Many had rushed back to Abuja for the meeting, anxious to know the next line of action. They had all heard the audio of the phone call, but opinions were sharply divided on whether the president had thrown in the towel too soon, Abdullahi wrote. One South-South governor disclosed that this banquet hall meeting was not the presidents original idea. He said soon after the president made the telephone call to Buhari, some governors had gone to him to express their reservations about it. They felt he had conceded too cheaply. Their argument was that if the president and the party had rejected the outcome of the election, they would have gained a stronger platform to negotiate their exit. If the case had gone to court, probably going all the way to the Supreme Court, the Buhari government would have remained tentative until the matter was decided and this would have also bought Jonathan more time, or even more security out of office. They all agreed that all these were now merely academic. It was at this point that they decided to call a meeting and see if anything could still be done to salvage something from what at the time had effectively become a lost cause. Present at the meeting were Vice President, Namadi Sambo; Senate President David Mark and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu; as well as Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha, who had also just contested and lost the governorship election in Imo State and was challenging the results. Others included: the Peoples Democratic Party Board of Trustees Chairman, Tony Anenih; Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim; Governor of Cross River State, Liyel Imoke; Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio, and former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi. All members of PDP National Working Committee (NWC) were also present, led by the party chairman, Adamu Muazu. The meeting was chaired by President Goodluck Jonathan. The back-slapping, generous banter and raucous laughter that usually preceded such meetings were missing on this day. The banquet hall of the Presidential Villa held several memories of more exciting days for most dignitaries. But what was about to happen was anything but a banquet. There would be no feasting. In the last four days, a funereal gloom had descended on the entire Villa, and the few people that could still be sighted went about with faces turned to the ground. The mood this Tuesday afternoon was not any different. Some made courageous attempts at humour, but these fell flat like a joke made at a burial ground. ANENIHS INTERVENTION Abdullahi narrated what transpired at the meeting, beginning with the opening speech of Jonathan. Gentlemen, about an hour ago, I called General Buhari to congratulate him, President Jonathan began. He explained that he did not make the call because he believed that the PDP lost the election, but rather, following advice from many people, he decided to concede in order to restore calm to the nation and avoid chaos. He added that, based on information at his disposal, he believed the election had been massively rigged and INEC was complicit in the fraud. While I have done my bit as a statesman, I believe the party should issue a strong statement to reject the results and say that PDP will challenge it in court, he said, and suggested that the National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, should issue the statement. At first, many did not know what to make of this. How was it possible to concede defeat and not accept the results? Was the president asking the party to overrule or disown him? And if they went along with his suggestion, would the end result not be the same chaos that he said he was trying to avert by making the phone call? Anenih had the answers. He said the precedent for this had been set a few months earlier by the opposition party itself. When Ayo Fayose was declared winner of the governorship election in Ekiti State, the incumbent, Kayode Fayemi, promptly accepted defeat and congratulated his opponent. Even though Fayemi believed the election to be flawed, he said he conceded in order to save the state from chaos. However, this did not stop the APC from challenging the results in court. Anenih expressed the view that the National Chairman, Adamu Muazu, should issue the statement. STOLEN PRESIDENCY An agreement was reached on the way forward, Abdullahi narrated, and all seemed set for the change of tune by the party that had been in power for 16 years. Conscious that some others in the room also had their own battles to fight and were not primarily interested in Jonathans predicament, Anenih further stated that discussions on other elections and candidates should wait until the stolen presidency was reclaimed. Anenihs position was adopted and a team was put together, chaired by Metuh, to draft a statement for the party chairman. Others in the team were the partys National Secretary, Adewale Oladipo; the National Legal Adviser, Victor Kwon; Pius Anyim and Liyel Imoke. They went to work immediately and by the following morning, the statement was ready. However, the unexpected was about to happen, Abdullahi wrote. When the draft statement was presented to Adamu Muazu, he declared that he would not release it. He said he had reflected on the idea of issuing a statement and was convinced it was not the way to go. Words soon got the Villa that the party chairman had backed out of the plan. Another round of panic began. The President himself called Muazus mobile number several times, but the party chairman did not answer the phone. Many around the president had suspected all along that Muazu was not altogether committed to the Jonathan project. They started grumbling openly that his appointment, as Chairman, was another mistake by Jonathan because Muazu himself wanted to be president. When the Chairman failed to show up for some campaign events, the public saw this as evidence that things had finally fallen apart. The party had to move quickly to deny that there was any crack in the PDP ranks. Therefore, for those who had questioned Muazus loyalty, here finally was the clear evidence. If he had any objections to the decision taken at the previous days meeting, why didnt he say so? they wondered. How could he have turned around to sabotage a plan that he was technically part and parcel of? But this was not the time for retribution. That could wait a few more days. The party chairman was still critical to their plans. An emissary was immediately dispatched to persuade him to have a rethink. Godswill Akpabio marshaled all the arguments he could muster, but Muazu would not budge. It was also an opportunity for the party chairman to vent some of his grievances. Look, Akpabio, he said, I am not a bastard. I have honour to protect. The man who contested the election had conceded defeat. I should now be the one to say that the party would not accept defeat? When the candidate was picking his phone to congratulate the winner, did he consult with the party? And in case anyone was thinking of blaming him for the presidents defeat, such person should think again. After all, didnt he warn against the use of religion and ethnicity by the Presidents wife and some of his other supporters like Ayo Fayose and Fani-Kayode? Didnt he also warn that the personal attacks on Buhari would backfire, especially in the North? If no one listened to him then and allowed things to go pear-shaped, how could they now turn around and ask him to fall on his sword for sins committed by others? The Senate has condemned the spate of insecurity across the Nigeria, blaming it on the collapse of the countrys security structure.At the plenary on Wednesday, the upper chamber of the National Assembly said that many lives were being lost in the country to clashes and crimes without a major step by the government to stop the killings.The lawmakers took turns to X-ray the issues affecting the security of lives and properties in the country while speaking on a motion moved by Senator Tijjani Kaura (Zamfara-North), entitled Urgent Need to Look Into the Killings and Arson that Took Place in Shinkafi Local Government Area of Zamfara State.President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, in a summary of the contributions by the senators, said the consensus was that the countrys security system had failed.Saraki said, Clearly, all the messages that are coming is that there is definitely a collapse of what is either called security infrastructure or national security, with this level of impunity. The impunity being that people all over now illegally carry arms around the whole place. The fact that in the past, many committees had been set up to look at the reformation of the police but as of today, no action has been taken.Issues were raised on whether there is the need for what is called state police or community police but the big point is that it is for us to redesign the structure and based on that decide on what the solution is, not the solution before the design.Of course, the issue of funding of our security agencies is there too. And we have shown here many times how committed we are and our national approach to major government issues. We must be able to define exactly what we want to do in taking this problem head-on.The lawmakers resolved to set up an ad hoc committee of the Senate to review the current security infrastructure of the country, and in consultation with the security agencies make necessary recommendations on the way forward in the security arrangement.Setting agenda for the proposed panel, the Senate President said, The purpose of us setting up an ad hoc committee is to take the responsibility of driving the process and the committee will address all the issues.He added, The key thing is that we must find a solution to this. We must take the bull by the horn and drive this process. I believe that the kind of members we will have in that ad hoc committee must be members who must look at it in a nationalistic point of view, drop politics and other issues. I can assure you that we will come up with a way forward and this will not be a report that will just lie (unimplemented); we must come forward, bring it before us here, debate it and work out the way forward.This is a commitment that we have all made to the country. The leadership will look at, between today and tomorrow, the composition of the committee. The senators who have the privilege to be in the committee carry a huge responsibility for this country.According to Saraki, the problem over the years is that the government has refused to face the problem head-on. We dont want to deal with it because it has a lot of issues, he stated.He stressed, It is time now. We cannot continue as a society where people will just be dying on a daily basis and we cannot come up with a resolution. I know it is not going to be easy. I am happy that we have former governors here; we have aspiring governors here; we have long-serving senators who have made governors, they are here too. The three groups should be able to come together.Even if we talk about funding, it is here. The new technologies that countries are using require funding. I think that what we need to do now is to take this as a responsibility and make it work. If it requires Constitution amendment, so be it. If it requires extra funding, so be it. Whatever it requires, we must do it.The Senate President said members of the ad hoc committee would be announced on Thursday (today) when they would also be given a timeframe to present their report. Members of the National Caretaker Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party led by Senator Ahmed Makarfi had an emergency meeting in Abuja on Tuesday.The meeting was sequel to growing apprehension caused by calls on Makarfi to quit his position before the December 9 national convention of the party.The convention is scheduled to hold in Abuja.The request on Makarfi to resign is being seen by members of the different caucuses in the party as an indication that the national convention may further polarise the former ruling party.Besides, it was gathered that the partys leadership and those considered as stakeholders, believed that Makarfi and his team must act fast to forestall derailment of the programmes lined up for the convention.Already, two of the leading national chairmanship aspirants, Chief Olabode George and Prof. Tunde Adeniran, have questioned the neutrality of Makarfi in the activities that would lead to the convention.But members of the caretaker committee and Makarfi were said to be making moves to gain the confidence of all the aspirants, including the two out of the eight chairmanship aspirants that have expressed reservations on the neutrality or otherwise of the partys leadership.Our correspondent gathered that the issues raised by both George and Adeniran were discussed at the emergency National Working Committee, which ended late Tuesday evening.A source at the meeting, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told our correspondent that the caretaker committee members were sincere in the running of the party.He said both the petition sent to the party by Adeniran and issues raised by George in his statement on Tuesday were discussed.He said, We were not supposed to meet on Tuesday at all. Our meeting was scheduled for Wednesday (today), but we decided to meet in order to look at the issues being raised by some of our respected members.We understand their concern. I think it is still because of the love they have for the party. But I can tell you that we remain committed and neutral in the running of the party and the process that would lead to the convention.Because of that, the caretaker committee has mandated Makarfi to speak on the issues at a press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday where he would assure members of the party about his neutrality.On Tuesday, the Bode George for PDP National Chairman Campaign Organisation called on Makarfi to resign his position with immediate effect, saying the role he was playing in the process towards the party national convention is increasingly disturbing and rather untidy.In a statement by the campaign organisation, and signed by its Director-General, Alhaji Ibrahim Aliu, the organisation said, Apparently spurred by personal ambition of contesting the presidential office in 2019, Makarfi is brazenly allying with a particular aspirant in the South-South to deliberately distort the process, muddle equity and invariably destroy the democratic process for transient personal gains.Makarfis action, to put it mildly, is sickening, untoward, blatantly tendentious, totally stripped of the typical moral high ground that often defines a well-meaning, God-fearing arbitrating leadership.Everywhere you look, Makarfi is planting the agents of his favourite South-South candidate to stage-manage warped and skewed congresses in an undisguised mockery of all the normative patterns of our founding fathers whose enduring forte about equity, justice and fairness is now being flung into the gutter.In a way, Makarfi is evidently resolved to repeat the farcical malady that characterised the debacle in Port Harcourt last year. We have equally resolved that we will not be led along this ruinous path again. Never!It said Makarfi should resign his position now for the sake of propriety, for the sake of all that is good and meaningful, for the sake of equitable balance and moral appropriateness.It added, We strongly advise Senator Makarfi to resign his position forthwith because he has been severely compromised. He can no longer play the role of a neutral arbiter who stands far above the fray. He is already tarred and soiled in the muddy waters of partisan prejudice.Makarfi should now do the most honourable thing by walking away and face his ambition squarely. He cannot use a privilege non-elective position to wangle undue advantages to his own side. It is patently unacceptable.We need to redeem our party by being faithful to the great ideals of our founding fathers. We really believe that elders of the party across the nation should summon an emergency summit to deliberate on the right way to reposition our party and rectify the wrongs on the ground.But Makarfi last night described Georges call as politics. That is politics, Makarfi stated.He advised George to concentrate on his campaign rather than raising what he described as baseless allegations.Makarfi also dismissed Georges allegations as ridiculous and unfortunate, saying that the aspirant might have sensed that he would lose.Reacting to the allegations, Makarfi said George was basing his claim on a letter previously written by another aspirant, where he listed five people in the convention committee alleged to be supporters of a South-South aspirant.The former Kaduna State governor said the five were insignificant in a committee of about 160 persons who he said had the right to align with any candidate of their choice.On Monday, Adeniran had sent a petition to the caretaker committee members, including Makarfi, querying the inclusion of some people in the composition of the Adhoc committee set up for the election of delegates to the convention.He said some members of the ad hoc committee were loyal to a national chairmanship aspirant from Rivers State, Prince Uche Secondus.Also on Tuesday, Adeniran said members of the party from the South-West must not take the Governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, seriously on his call for shadow election among national chairmanship aspirants from the zone.Spokesperson for his campaign organisation, Mr. Taiwo Akeju, told our correspondent that the call by Fayose was diversionary and that it had no basis in the partys constitution.Akeju said Fayose had earlier declared that he was not going to support any candidate from the zone and therefore asked the governor to first of all impress it on the party to micro zone the office of the national chairman to the South-West.He said that Adeniran would not even take part in the shadow election, which Fayose called for when he received another aspirant to the office of the national chairman in the state, Otunba Gbenga Daniel.Akeju said, He (Fayose) should first of all tell us who the delegates would be (at the proposed shadow election.) Apart from that, he should also go and convince his governor-colleagues to support the emergence of a chairman from the South-West.But we know hes not sincere about what he said. We will also not be part of such an exercise because it is even unconstitutional. All aspirants must be made to go to the covention ground and seek vote.Apart from Adeniran and George, other chairmanship aspirants from the South-West are Mr. Jimi Agbaje, Prof. Toaheed Adedoja, Senator Rashidi Ladoja and Daniel.Fayoses call wont work. It is illegal and we wont support any illegality, Akeju added.Meanwhile, a former National Treasurer of the party, Alhaji Buhari Bala, has also debunked an allegation that funds in the partys account were squandered by the last members of the NWC.He said there was no iota of truth in the allegation that the former NWC members squandered N9bn left behind by the former National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Adamu Muazu.Bala, in a statement said, Our attention has been drawn to the cheap and malicious publication to the effect that members of the former National Working Committee of our party, the PDP, squandered the partys fund to the tune of N9b said to have been left behind by the former National Chairman, Adamu Muazu.An accounting audit firm audited the accounts of the party and expressed their opinion on the accounts.He warned members of the party against engaging in what he described as malicious campaign, saying such would not be in the interest of the reconciliation and peace being engendered by the Markarfi-led caretaker committee. Some politicians have called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure timely deployment of election personnel and materials to polling booths in future elections.The politicians told newsmen in Lagos on Wednesday that the commission had yet to address late arrival of election personnel and materials for elections.They said that the lateness still characterised Saturdays Anambra governorship poll, urging that INEC should address the issue before conducting Ekiti, Osun governorship elections.Chief Mike Okereke, Lagos State Chairman of Unity Progressive Party, said, INEC did not do well in the movement of election men and materials in the Anambra election.He told newsmen that election materials sometimes arrived at polling booths five hours behind schedule.It is not good for our elections.INEC should ensure that card readers work perfectly; it should also improve in the area of electronic transmission of results, he said.Dr Yunusa Tanko, the National Chairman of National Conscience Party, urged the commission to ensure that all arrangements for elections were timely made.I wish INEC will mobilise human and materials resources early enough, improve in the operations of card readers, and promptly announce results, Tanko saidMr Shola Omolola, the Lagos State Chairman of Action Alliance, spoke in the same vein.There are three areas I will like INEC to look into, one of which is transportation of materials to polling booths.INEC, in conjunction with other government agencies and party leaders, should address voter apathy.It should address buying of votes, Omolola said.Chief Perry Opara, the National Chairman of National Unity Party, urged INEC to ensure improved welfare for its permanent and ad-hoc staff for greater efficiency.INEC deserves better budgetary allocation to ensure improved logistics for elections, Opara said.Chief Ola Apena, Deputy Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party, Lagos State, urged INEC to do its best to tackle its challenges to perform better in future elections. Aliyev, Poroshenko to meet on Eastern Partnership summit's sidelines in Brussels - source Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko will meet on the sidelines of the Eastern Partnership summit in Brussels, a diplomatic source told Interfax on Wednesday. "The presidents will discuss the agenda of bilateral cooperation between Azerbaijan and Ukraine," the source said. The two chiefs of state will also confer on Aliyev's pending visit to Ukraine, the time and agenda of which are being worked on by the sides, the source said. The Eastern Partnership summit will take place on November 24. Islamic Movement in Nigeria, IMN, has demanded for the exhumation of their members allegedly maimed during the Nigerian Army massacre in Za... Islamic Movement in Nigeria, IMN, has demanded for the exhumation of their members allegedly maimed during the Nigerian Army massacre in Zaria in 2015. The victims were buried in mass grave in Kaduna. A member of Free Zakzaky campaign committee, Sheikh Abdulhamid Bello, made the call while briefing newsmen in Kaduna Wednesday. The brief was titled Two years horrendous Zaria Massacre and the continued detention of Sheikh Zakzaky. He said the need to exhume all its members killed by the army was for them to have proper identification and bury them according to Islamic rites. According to him, lts unfortunate that within these two years, the Islamic Movement has continued to be persecuted and denied of our religious rights. But We have compiled a detailed report of everything that happened and submitted to the International Criminal Court at the Hague. They have since announced that they have opened preliminary into the matter. We call on the international community, and especially the UN, EU, AU, ECOWAS and the ICC to add more pressure on the government to live up to its responsibilities as regards the issue of the Islamic Movement in general and Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky in particular. The United States Giver has condemned the suicide attack at a mosque in Mubi, Adamawa, which killed no fewer than 50 people and injured several others.The US Department of State, in a statement by its Spokesperson, Ms Heather Nauert, described the blast as a terrorist attack.The US extended its sincere condolences to the Nigerian people and the families of the victims killed in the attack.That the victims were targeted and killed in a place of worship demonstrates yet again the brutal nature of the terrorists whose sole aim is to threaten the peace and security of Nigerian citizens.Such ruthless attacks on innocent civilians only serve to strengthen our resolve towards meeting these threats in cooperation with our Nigerian and regional partners.The blast happened during early morning prayers at the Madina mosque in the Unguwar Shuwa area of Mubi. Head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine Ihor Rainin has met with the delegation of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, headed by its President Gudrun Mosler-Tornstrom, who is in Ukraine with a two-day monitoring visit. Mosler-Tornstrom noted that the Congress "very much supports Ukraine in its independence and territorial integrity," the presidential press service reported on Tuesday. She also said that today's visit of the delegation of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe is devoted to monitoring and interim conclusions on the implementation of the Roadmap for Local Government Reform in Ukraine. The head of the presidential administration assured that "the Ukrainian government very much appreciates the assistance and special attention to Ukraine from the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe." "We are grateful to the Congress for the resolute support of Ukrainian sovereignty and assistance in the fight against Russian aggression, for a clear and decisive condemnation of the illegal annexation of Crimea," Rainin said. He noted the role of the Congress in the recent decision of the European Union to impose additional sanctions against the aggressor country. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has convened an emergency meeting of the Military Office of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) in connection with the latest developments in the militant stronghold of Luhansk (ORLO), during which he heard reports from the heads of defense and law enforcement agencies and instructed to work with the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to inform the Western allies, the presidential website has reported. "The president was briefed on the latest developments by chief security officials, in particular concerning the illegal crossing of the Ukrainian border by a group of Russian tanks in the Krasnodon district of Luhansk region, as well as the increased incidence of provocations by militants," the presidential press service said on Tuesday evening. The president also instructed the Ukrainian representative in the Ukrainian side of the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC) to intensify cooperation with the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to inform our Western allies. "In connection with the increase in the number of Russian soldiers, as well as the activation of mercenaries, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are ready for any development of events to ensure the safety of civilians," Poroshenko said. Moses Simpson, 31, was arrested Tuesday Nov. 21, 2017 after New Orleans police used a cell phone left in a car he is accused of stealing to track its location. The carjacking happened at St. Charles Avenue and Jackson Avenue. (Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office) James Green, 20, who was arrested in an Aug. 27 fatal shooting outside a Little Caesars Pizza in Wichita Falls, Texas, appeared in Orleans Parish Magistrate Court on Wednesday, November 22, 2017. (Photo provided by the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office) Black students 2 times as likely to be suspended as white peers, Tulane study says UN funded only 28% of $204 million requested for aid to Ukraine in 2017 - OCHA The United Nations has provided only $56 million in financial assistance to Ukraine out of the $204 million requested by various UN agencies for 2017, and a new Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for Ukraine is to be approved on December 4, according to the Humanitarian Bulletin on Ukraine, which was posted on the website of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). "While acute humanitarian needs across all sectors continue to rise, the start of the winter season, coupled with limited funding towards the 2017 HRP means that it is the children, the elderly, women and people with disabilities who will lose out," reads the bulletin. According to the document, as of November 21, of the $204 million requested, only 28% has been funded. "A funding gap of $148 million needs to be urgently addressed to both jumpstart and sustain the much-needed winterisation efforts," the bulletin says. The OCHA emphasizes the importance of developing develop a solid, needs-driven and inclusive HRP for 2018, which is expected to be finalized and launched together with the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on December 4, 2017. "The Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) indicates that over 4.4 million Ukrainians are affected by the humanitarian crises, while millions of people will need assistance and protection in 2018," the bulletin says. In particular, there are severe humanitarian needs in the areas along the "contact line," both in non-government controlled areas and in the government controlled areas. The OCHA notes that during the entire period of the conflict, from April 2014 to October 31, 2017, some 2,515 civilians have lost their lives, while up to 9,000 were injured. Some 92 men, women and children were killed and 432 more injured between January 1 and October 31, 2017 a 4% increase compared the same period in 2016. The number of internally displaced persons is estimated at 1.6 million. As her husband Jason (L) cheers, LaToya Cantrell hugs her daughter RayAnn as she celebrates her victory in the New Orleans mayoral election during her election party at the New Orleans Jazz Market in Central City on Nov. 18, 2017. (Michael DeMocker) Former President Donald Trump is preparing to launch his third campaign for the White House with an announcement Tuesday night. Trump is looking to move on from disappointing midterm defeats and defy history amid signs that his grip on the Republican Party may be waning. The former president had hoped to use the GOP's expected gains in last week's elections as a springboard to win his party's nomination by locking in early support and keeping potential challengers at bay. Instead, Trump now finds himself being blamed for backing a series of losing candidates in last week's midterm elections. Zoe Hallstrom is new to town, but she hasnt had a problem making Council Bluffs her home. Hallstrom is a Georgia native who moved to Council Bluffs about a month ago with her mom, who took a job in Omaha working for the National Parks Service. She is currently a fifth-grader at Franklin Elementary School. She said she has already noticed a few differences in living here compared to Georgia, with the weather being a big one. She said she is definitely not used to colder weather, so this time of year is a new experience for her. She also said that her hometown of Hinesville isnt very large, so its cool living across the river from a metropolitan area like Omaha. She said she enjoys hanging out at the Westroads Mall and is eager to check out the highly-acclaimed Henry Doorly Zoo. One thing she said she also enjoys is the hospitality and warmth shes received from people in the area. Its been pretty good so far, she said. A lot of people around here are very kind. Hallstrom said she hasnt had much trouble finding friends; and, with the help of social media, she has been able to communicate with her new peers outside of the classroom. She said that the students and staff at Franklin have been very welcoming and supportive. And Principal Kevin Brown said that Hallstrom has quickly left her mark on the school. Shes already shown us a lot of leadership, Brown said. Zoe has run for student council and, in her classroom, shes already made a pretty big impact on her friends. Shes very helpful, shes very kind to others and shes just an all-around good student. It can be tough for someone Hallstroms age to pack up her life and move halfway across the country; but she seems to be doing just fine. She said she is going to enjoy a nice, quiet Thanksgiving with her mom here and plans to either travel to Georgia or have some of her family come out here for Christmas. Welcome to Council Bluffs, Zoe. The holiday season is approaching quickly, and many astute shoppers will be heading to the stores the day after Thanksgiving if not before to take advantage of Black Friday deals to save money while filling holiday gift requests. The Better Business Bureau noted that according to the National Retail Federation, 154 million people participated in Black Friday shopping last year. This number was up from the previous year, and its predicted it will only go up from there. Although the deals may be great, there are still some dangers lurking during these sales, Jim Hegarty, president of the Better Business Bureau serving southwest Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and the Kansas Plains, said in a release. Ease your shopping day by making a game plan, sticking to your budget and understanding each stores return policy. Hegarty and others offered the following suggestions: Read the fine print. Some stores only honor sale ads during a certain time frame, or on certain days. Some stores may only allow you to purchase one item, particularly large, popular and/or deeply discounted products. Establish a budget. Shoppers tend to overspend during the holidays, especially as new deals are unveiled. Stay ahead and plan how much you want to spend on each person. The cheapest product is not always the best deal. Door buster sales are great, but they might not always offer the best product for your needs. Sign-up for email alerts. Many stores release their best Black Friday deals to people who have signed up to receive their emails. Shoppers are cautioned, however, to make sure its the real business and not a scammer. Red flags include receiving such an email when you never shopped with the business or never signed up for email alerts. Ask for gift receipts and save warranty information. A gift receipt can be tucked into a gift item so that the recipient can return or exchange a gift if its not quite right. Be sure to pass along any information about returns, exchanges, repairs and warranties to the recipient. Do not lose sight of the fact that retailers are permitted to set their own return/exchange policies. Inquire about the stores return policy before you make your purchase. Also, ask about restocking fees, and save your receipts in one place so you dont lose them. Many stores will require you to produce a receipt for a return. Pay with a credit card and keep documentation of your order. By using a credit card you have a better chance of disputing charges if something goes wrong with your purchase. Keep any e-mails or receipts in case a return needs to be made. Pay attention to your surroundings, particularly in crowded. Stores get busy and its a great time for a thief to blend into the crowd. Thieves may see you struggling with an armful of shopping bags and consider it an opportunity to steal your wallet or purse. Unfortunately, the holiday season is a time that crooks also look forward to each year, and they dont like to fight the long lines at the checkout stands; they do most of their shopping in the parking lot. Because of the increased car burglaries this time of year, Council Bluffs Police said everyone should be aware when they leave their vehicle unattended. If you are out Christmas shopping, try to conceal any purchased gifts. The best place would be in the trunk. Those driving a truck or an SUV should try to conceal gift items as best they can. Park your vehicle in a well-lit area as close to the business as possible. Before your shopping expedition, you can go online to bbbinc.org or call 800-649-6814 for a list of BBB Accredited Businesses in specific industries and find Business Profiles on ones youre considering for your holiday needs. Situation in Luhansk can be used to limit OSCE SMM's activities Klimkin Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin has expressed the opinion that the situation in occupied Luhansk could be used to restrict the scope of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (OSCE SMM). "We must worry about the safety of our OSCE monitoring mission, since this situation can be used to limit their scope of activities and again to manipulate weapons," he told journalists before a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on Wednesday. The minister stressed that the situation in the occupied territories remains very serious. Thanksgiving turkey, a staple of holiday foodstuffs, is on a lot of Americans minds including the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which wishes to help make sure its enjoyed safely this year. The CDC has published a list of advice which can help prevent food-borne illness from the festivities this week. Kitchen helpers should wash their hands with warm water and soap for 20 seconds before and after handling food. Keep the turkey in its original wrapping and in the fridge until ready to cook. When defrosting the bird, use refrigeration or cold running water, allowing a day for every 4 to 5 pounds of turkey in the fridge. For a cold water bath, change the water every 30 minutes and be sure it doesnt leak through the wrapping. Cook that turkey as soon as its done thawing and keep a meat thermometer handy to check when its done. The turkey should reach an internal temperature of at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove the stuffing as soon as the turkey is cooked and store the meat and stuffing separately. Leftover turkey should be kept in the fridge and gobbled up within three to four days. Leftover stuffing and gravy in the fridge should be used within a day or two. Dont defrost the turkey at room temperature as bacteria can spread to unsafe numbers on the outer layer before the inside is defrosted. Dont leave a raw turkey out of the fridge for longer than two hours. Dont partially cook a turkey one day and continue the next. Dont rinse the turkey before cooking as the heating process will take care of bacteria. Dont cook at a temperature lower than 325 degrees. If youre sick or have a nose or eye infection, dont prepare the food. Dont leave leftovers out on the counter for longer than two hours or leave the stuffing in the turkey. Re-freezing a thawed but uncooked turkey is also not advised. When stuffing the turkey, do it lightly before cooking and leave room for the oven to heat the interior of the bird. The CDC reports one in six Americans will become sick from a food-borne illness this year, leading 128,000 to become hospitalized and 3,000 will die. Four contractors working for a Council Bluffs bail bond business are charged with assault and false imprisonment after the man they brought to the Pottawattamie County Jail on Monday told police they beat him. Phillip Davis, 21, of Council Bluffs, is currently being held at the jail on $20,000 bond. Court records stated Davis was arrested June 21 in Carter Lake for driving while his license was barred. After he posted $5,000 bond on June 22, he failed to appear for his court date and his bond was forfeited. According to Omaha police records, Davis told authorities the four men found him at an Omaha gas station, then allegedly beat him with their hands, fists and knees. Police determined Davis was restrained without legal authority before being taken to Pottawattamie County, the report stated. Tom Gallagher, owner of Gallagher Bail Bonds in Council Bluffs and a bounty hunter for 31 years, said what should have been a routine pickup of someone who had missed their court date became violent because Davis allegedly resisted being taken to jail. My guys arent thugs or bullies, Gallagher said. This kid has made threats and sent pictures of him holding guns after he skipped. Federal law allows employees to cross state lines in search of bail jumpers. Iowa law allows bonding companies to loan money for bail and that bounty hunters can go after those who avoid their court date. However, Nebraska law generally does not allow bonding companies to loan money for bail. The questionable legality of bounty hunting in both states stems from two 1872 court case decisions. In Taylor v. Taintor, the Supreme Court held that when it comes to a bail jumper, a bail bondsman may pursue him into another state; may arrest him on the Sabbath; and if necessary, may break and enter his house for that purpose. ... It is likened to the rearrest by the sheriff of an escaping prisoner. Iowas high court wrote that the 1872 U.S. Supreme Court ruling does not lend support for the proposition that a bounty hunter has some authority to break into the home of an innocent party and assault him or her. Several legal experts have since questioned the bail bond industrys reliance on that passage, arguing that it was mere commentary by the court and was not the primary holding of the case. After a similar story occurred in February involving Gallagher, a bounty hunter and another bail jumper, Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine said bounty hunters are not authorized in Nebraska. Iowa law requires bail bondsmen to notify local authorities if they intend to try and apprehend someone. On Tuesday, Gallagher said the dispute between himself and Omaha over the legal ramifications of Iowa bounty hunters crossing the Missouri River continues. Gallagher added that he views his business as more of a community service, stating he would do it for much less money if he could. Omaha is just different but as far as federal law, we have the right to pick people up, Gallagher said. Its an old law, but so is thou shall not kill, and we still enforce that, dont we? Davis next court date is currently scheduled as Dec. 1. BH News Service contributed to this report. DENISON Crawford County wasa officially recognized Tuesday as a member of the Home Base Iowa Program, which is a State of Iowa initiative to recruit veterans and service members transitioning out of the military for private-sector careers in Iowa. Iowa has always been a welcoming environment for veterans and we want to make sure that these veterans know, as they are leaving the service and entering the workforce, that there is a great opportunity here, said Chamber & Development Council of Crawford County Executive Director Evan Blakley. In 2014, the Iowa Legislature passed the Home Base Iowa Act, which provides state income tax exemption on military pensions, $5,000 military homeowner assistance, veteran preference in employment, streamlined occupational licensure processes and in-state tuition assessment to eligible U.S. veterans and their families, according to the programs website. As part of the program, communities across the state were invited to create incentives that would encourage veterans to relocate to the community. Blakley said every city in Crawford County was asked to offer anything they had for an incentive, from gift baskets to club memberships and housing incentives. As part of the program, employers are also encouraged to commit to hiring veterans. Communities recognized as members are listed as Home Base Iowa communities in the program database, which is a resource for veterans. The City of Denison has already been certified as a member of the program. Sherri Vaughn, Iowa WorkForce Development business marketing specialist, said the program is good for veterans because employers can look at resumes posted on the Home Base Iowa website to see what skills veterans have. A number of our businesses in Crawford County have said they would become a Home Base Iowa business, which means they would give preference to veterans and that they are willing to hire veterans that may want to relocate to Crawford County, Vaughn said. The program is a plus for businesses because it provides another source of applicants for job openings, she said. They gain skills in the military and we will work with them at the Iowa Workforce office well work with them to translate those skills into skills that are recognized by employers in our area, she said. The Council Bluffs Public Works Department will hold a public information meeting to discuss the second segment of the West Broadway Reconstruction Project. The meeting for businesses, property owners and the general public is planned from 5 to 7 p.m. Dec. 7 in the commons area of Thomas Jefferson High School, according to a release from the city. The projects second segment includes 32nd Street to 28th Street. Construction on the segment is expected to begin in early 2018, with utility relocations already underway. The completion of segment one on schedule and under budget is in large part due to excellent planning by the project team, Mayor Matt Walsh said in a release. Were looking forward to the same level of success for construction of segment two. The public meeting will address design details specific to segment two only, the city said. Maps depicting segment two design will be available for review, as well as the anticipated construction schedule and proposed detours for the area. Project representatives will be on-hand to discuss project improvements, construction staging and access. Thomas Jefferson High School is located at 2501 W. Broadway. For more information on the renovation project, go to wbreconstruction.com, email the project team at info@wbreconstruction.com or follow the West Broadway Reconstruction Project on Facebook. The five-phase, five-year construction project to rebuild and improve West Broadway from 15th Street west to 36th Street started in the spring of this year. The state contributed $20 million toward the project as the city took over control of West Broadway. The Iowa West Foundation is covering $7.93 million for beautification work. Reporter Jon Leu contributed to this report. The following editorial first appeared Nov. 17 in The Des Moines Register. Sen. Chuck Grassley has been known for his bipartisan approach and work ethic over 36 years in Congress. Well, hes still a hard worker. Under Grassleys chairmanship, the Senate Judiciary Committee has been on a tear. Since April, the committee has cleared 22 candidates for district judge and nine for appellate courts. The committee will soon consider 27 more people nominated by President Donald Trump. The committee held hearings for six nominees last Wednesday alone. Compare this with 2015 and 2016. The Senate confirmed 20 lifetime judicial appointments to district and appeals courts in the two years Republicans were in charge. Thats the lowest number in 28 years, according to a Congressional Research Service report and Politico. Grassley was leading the Judiciary Committee then, too. The difference, of course, was that Barack Obama was president. The Republican-led Senate allowed 54 of Obamas judicial appointments to die. The most famous one, Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, never received a hearing from Grassley. This wasnt all Grassleys doing. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to hold votes on 25 Obama nominees that passed Grassleys committee. Collectively, the Senate slowdown last year and subsequent speed-up this year is allowing Trump to shape the federal courts in his image. He has almost double the number of openings to fill than Obama did eight years ago. Who are Trumps judicial nominees? They are white males. According to the Alliance for Justice, Trumps nominees are 91 percent white and 81 percent male. They skew younger than past appointees, and they have lifetime appointments. This group is less diverse than the nominees of every president since George H.W. Bush in the early 1990s. Under Obama, 65 percent of nominees were white and 58 percent of were male, as he tried to bring diversity to a system already dominated by white males. His nominees that werent confirmed by the Senate included several Latino, Asian-American and black judges and one who would have been the nations first Muslim federal judge. Grassleys spokesman, Taylor Foy, points out that Democrats have tried to block some of Trumps more diverse nominees. Grassley is concerned about the number of women and minorities that the Democrats have voted against. They are conservative and partisan. Were going to have great judges, conservative, all picked by the Federalist Society, Trump promised during a June 2016 interview with Breitbart News. Some of the picks have made unusually political statements, raising questions about whether they could rule without bias when considering cases on abortion, gay rights, the Second Amendment or even cases involving the Trump administration. Four of them earned rare not qualified ratings from the American Bar Association for their temperament, competence or other reasons. Some of these nominees have so many strikes against them that they shouldnt even get to the plate. Take Brett Talley, who passed the Judiciary Committee on a party-line vote on Nov. 9. Talley, a 36-year-old Alabama lawyer and horror novelist, has never tried a case and has practiced law for only three years. Hes a former blogger who called on people to join the NRA after the Sandy Hook shooting and blasted Hillary Rotten Clinton. His wife is chief of staff for White House Counsel Donald McGhan, but Talley did not disclose that to the Judiciary Committee in questions over potential conflict of interests. Yet Grassley has defended Talley, citing his wide breadth of various legal experience that has helped to expose him to different aspects of federal law and the issues that would come before him. When asked to elaborate, Foy said Talley clerked for federal judges for three years, worked at a major law firm, served as deputy solicitor general for Alabama, and has been deputy assistant attorney general for the Justice Departments Office of Legal Policy since January. Regarding Talleys political statements, Foy said: The bottom line is that at his confirmation hearing, Talley said he would put the law above all else. Democrat nominees have made controversial statements in the past, and it didnt stop them from being confirmed. There should not be a double standard. This statement resembles other Grassley responses: The Democrats did it, too. Foy pointed to previous chairmen, such as Sen. Patrick Leahy in 2007-08, who held even fewer nomination hearings. It is a common practice during presidential election years that the Senates confirmation process slows. . Sen. Grassley followed that precedent in the final year of the Obama administration. So Grassley admits to partisan gamesmanship. Yes, both parties do it. But Iowans including significant numbers of Democrats have continued to elect Grassley because of his record of bipartisanship. Grassley escalated the partisan battle on Thursday, when he announced he would hold hearings for two nominees whose home-state senators declined to return a positive blue slip, or sign off on the nominations. Grassley has said he will honor the blue-slip courtesy but wont let Democrats abuse the process by blocking qualified nominees for political or ideological reasons. That makes sense, but the question is, how did Grassley treat blue slips previously? Thats right: Grassley upheld the blue-slip tradition and allowed Republicans to block multiple nominations under Obama. Why the double standard? Grassley should remember that something more important than politics is at stake. Actions such as leaving positions open under Obama have a real impact on people and businesses waiting for their cases to be heard. The U.S. court system had 12 judicial emergencies at the beginning of 2015, based on the volume of cases in front of a court. In January, there were 38. Sen. Chuck Grassley says media mislabel Supreme Court nominees as moderates. For the same reasons, Democrats shouldnt hold up qualified Trump nominees. Elections have consequences. Voters should expect that a Republican president will appoint conservative-minded judges and a Democrat will appoint liberals, and rightly so. But every senator also has a responsibility not to rush through nominees with extreme views and scant qualifications simply to pack the courts. Grassley shouldnt let hyper-partisan candidates ruled unqualified by the bar association fly through committee. He should not be a soldier in the decades-long war that has raged over the courts. Hes not Trumps errand boy, and he should display the independence hes been known for. Trump has bragged about how he and McConnell are remaking the courts. But when you think of it, Mitch and I were saying, that has consequences 40 years out, depending on the age of the judge but 40 years out, Trump said last month. Trump is right. Forty years is a long time, longer than Grassley has served in Congress. It would be sad if unqualified candidates in Trumps campaign to stack the courts became the senators legacy. Employees of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) have documented new evidence of the involvement of former Income and Tax Minister Oleksandr Klymenko in committing a crime envisaged by Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (high treason). "Law enforcers have received additional materials that the former official during his tenure committed actions deliberately harming the economic and information security of Ukraine, sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of our state," the SBU's press center reported on Wednesday. On November 17, on the basis of materials collected by SBU officers, the Chief Military Prosecutor's Office of the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine launched one more criminal case under Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The article foresees liability in the form of imprisonment for a term of 12 to 15 years with the confiscation of property. The investigation continues. As reported, on May 24, 2017, law enforcement officers conducted an operation in 15 regions of Ukraine against former heads of the regional branches of the Income and Tax Ministry involved in organizing the functioning of the so-called "tax sites" associated with ex-minister Klymenko. Twenty-three people were detained on suspicion of committing crimes under Part 1, Article 255, Part 2, Article 28, Part 2, Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (participation in a criminal organization and abuse of power). The detainees included the former head of the Income and Tax Ministry's main office in Dnipropetrovsk region, the head of the State Tax Service office in Luhansk region, the head of the Crimean tax service, the chiefs of state tax inspectorates of the districts of Kyiv, a deputy head of the Poltava tax administration, the head and deputy head of the Income and Tax Ministry's main office in Kharkiv region, the head of the state tax inspectorate in Poltava, and the head of the state tax inspectorate in Kharkiv region. In June, Prosecutor of the Chief Military Prosecutor's Office Ruslan Kravchenko said that 45 individuals had been declared suspects in criminal proceedings on the creation of a criminal organization by former President Viktor Yanukovych, along with former minister Klymenko. As of June 27, 17 of them were placed on the wanted list, and 28 stayed on Ukrainian territory. The court chose for all of them the measure of restraint in the form of arrest with the possibility of posting a bail. Nine defendants in this case are in custody, and 18 more posted bail for a total of more than UAH 59 million. An hour of debate and questions led the North Platte City Council to approve phase two of a city housing initiative. The North Platte Area Chamber of Commerce & Development Corporations Shot in the Arm program brought 48 new units to North Platte between 2015 and 2017, after housing studies showed a shortage of homes in the community. The chamber sought $350,000 from the city. The funds will match $350,000 from the Chamber, in addition to $500,000 the chamber hopes to obtain from the state. Chamber officials have said they expect 150 additional housing units in North Platte by 2021. As Shot in the Arm got underway, 34 homes were sold in North Platte in 2015, and 40 in 2016, said Gary Person, president of the chamber. In 2013 and 2014, 19 homes were built in North Platte each year. In 2017, the number dropped to nine. Of the 48 homes built during Shot in the Arm, 92 percent of them have sold, Person said. Person said that developers have shifted to building corporate businesses or individual homes instead of in multiples. Housing studies also showed the market was damaged by the 2008 recession. Cities comparable to North Plattes population sold more houses during this time: 75 homes were permitted to be built in Columbus in 2017; 69 were permitted in Fremont and 44 in Norfolk, Person said. The housing shortage is a tough predicament to the citys employers, the top three of which struggle to attract employees to North Platte. Representatives for Great Plains Health, Walmart Distribution Center and Union Pacific Railroad all attended Tuesdays meeting. City Council member Andrew Lee didnt dispute the housing need, but rather the homes cost. The first phases homes were priced between $175,000 and $300,000; eight units were priced at $300,000. Lee called the prices high for an average worker. A good portion of those homes were purchased by residents here who were upgrading, Person said, adding that older, cheaper homes were left to be placed for sale. Brook Baker inquired if the incomes of potential employees aligned with the homes prices. Mel McNea, chief executive officer of Great Plains Health and president of the chambers board of directors, said that more than 30 nurses prepare to retire next year. The hospital will start new nurses at $57,000 a year. That doesnt include the incomes of physical therapists, occupational therapists and others, he said. Mark Oettinger, general manager of Walmart Distribution Center, said that he has consistently hired for the last two months. Some of these folks bring a camper for housing, he said, adding that staff at the Distribution Center make between $43,000 and $58,000 a year. Other council members voiced concerns that housing isnt the only factor keeping employees from the city citing Union Pacifics furlough process, less students pursuing vocational trade careers out of high school and a shortage of developers. Person said the Chamber wants to reach out to high school students and encourage them to consider vocational trades. Other members expressed concern about developers shying away from building houses unless it came with a government subsidy. Person pointed to historic movements such as the Homestead Act and the Transcontinental Railroad Act, which included government subsidies and helped many people settle in America. With the government subsidy that comes with Shot in the Arm, Person said, developers are a little more encouraged taking the risks. Nancy Faulhaber, a North Platte Realtor and vice-chair of the chambers board of directors, said that 88 homes are on the market currently. She said that 22 of those homes are less than $100,000. With many of those homes being foreclosures, they dont qualify for special financing. We have a good number of first-time house buyers right now, she said. We have nothing to sell them. In those cases, foreclosures often end up going to investors who rent out the home or remodel them to mark up the price, she said. Alexandria Stroud, 24, attended the meeting with her mother. While visiting family in North Platte, Strouds husband was offered a job at Great Plains Health, she said. The couple found a home in the 300 block of West Third Street and were approved for a loan offered to United States veterans, with what Stroud indicated was a reasonable monthly payment. Stroud told the council that homes are being remodeled and homeowners are upgrading. All City Council members but James Carman voted in favor of the second phase of Shot in the Arm. In other business: The council accepted the bid from FYR-TEK of Gothenburg to purchase a $226,615 ambulance for North Platte Fire and Rescue Department. The council approved the second of three readings to adopt a new zoning ordinance to change land at 4502 S. Buffalo Bill Ave., from an agricultural district to a highway commercial district. Jim Nisley and Baker both voted against the item; a resident has spoken against the item citing loud noise and late hours at the nearby Pals Brewery. Judy Clark with the development department has said the new land is unrelated to the brewery. The council issued $134,642 to Steeles Roofing and Construction. Ahead of the meeting, City Administrator Jim Hawks said this will help pay for a paving project on Francis Street. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin has said that the detention of Ukrainian citizens in Belarus on charges of espionage is idiocy that must be considered in the context of the Russian-Belarusian military drills West-2017. "Belarus first experiences mushroom hysteria, then berry hysteria, then spy hysteria, then some kind of economic one. Someone benefits from building up image about Ukraine that works in Belarus, which by definition is total stupidity," he told journalists before the meeting of Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers on Wednesday. According to him, as part of the analysis of this situation, it is necessary to take into account the Russian military exercises West-2017, which aimed to develop offensive operations. The holiday season is here, and how it's received depends on whether youre a glass half-full or half-empty sort of a person: The former sees a joyous get-together with loved ones nibbling on sumptuous foods and enjoying the special moments. The latter is stuck in the kitchen worrying about whether theres room in the oven for one more pan, burning the dinner rolls while trying to decorate a pumpkin pie and feeling overwhelmed by all the dirty dishes piling up. Oh, and did we mention the folks in another room having a good time? There are ways to make holidays easier on both, and they start with a caterer. We do a complete meal with a 16- to 20-pound turkey fully roasted with stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, house-made cranberry relish, three dozen dinner rolls, turkey stock, sweet potatoes and green beans, says Rick Smith, general manager at Teibels Family Restaurant in Schererville. We have a selection of 13 a la carte entrees available that will feed from 15 to 45 people, says Brenda Wright, catering manager at the Indiana Grocery Group, noting that its Strack & Van Til stores were voted the No. 1 caterer in The Times Best of the Region for 2017. Some of the entrees available are roast beef in au jus, baked ham in pineapple glaze, Polish sausage and sauerkraut, mostaccioli with meat sauce, macaroni and cheese and mashed potatoes. Maybe you dont want to even bother setting the table and unwrapping food. Comfort Catering is full service, offering cooked holiday meals that can be picked up or delivered and completely catered. We can supply everything you need, including dinnerware, linens and serving dishes, says Bill Mix of the family owned business in St. John, noting that they cater everything from intimate gatherings to large corporate events as well as weddings, showers, and funeral luncheons. Comfort Catering also has a new Annex room for parties of 30-50 people and can set up in any venue that doesn't have an exclusive caterer. For an additional fee, Strack & Van Til offers delivery or delivery/set-up service, says Wright. Our floral shops offer centerpieces and bouquets. Likewise, the Angie's Warsaw Inn in Lynwood delivers, says owner Angie Golom, whose restaurant specializes in Polish and American fare based on family recipes (with some Italian dishes thrown in). Make some, buy some You can also mix and match when it comes to holiday meals. Roast a turkey with all the fixings and order the sides and appetizers. No, that's not cheating. Teibels extras include cheese and cracker plates and desserts such as pumpkin, pecan or apple pies and peach cobblers. Strack & Van Til will put together appetizer platters including Deluxe Shrimp and Seafood Combo in various sizes. We offer a selection of 24 party plattersin various sizes 14-18 inchd that will feed from 10 to 40 people, says Wright. Our bakeries offer an assortment of scratch made dessert platters and, in addition to these platters, you can purchase fruit, cream and pumpkin pies for the holiday. Want to go beyond turkey and ham? Teibel's will serve up its famed perch and chicken and even stuffed cabbage for a crowd. The nice thing about being family owned is that we can do special orders for people, says Smith, noting that anything on its menu can be ordered for carry out. Because it's closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day, pick up has to be the day before. And it's best to order well in advance because of how busy the kitchen is at the holidays. To illustrate, Smith says Teibel's makes about 400 pounds of cole slaw before the holidays. Our Strack & Van Til Schererville and Valparaiso South locations offer 12-hour slow smoked beef brisket or pulled pork, says Wright. For an additional fee, we will smoke your holiday turkey. Turkeys must be purchased in our store and a seven-day advance reservation made. As always, our famous fried chicken is available. Advance order required for 25 pieces or larger. Want traditional? At Angie's Warsaw Inn that can mean turkey, roast beef and ham or it could it mean Polish delights such as stuffed cabbage, Polish sausage, roast duck, pork loin with gravy and assorted saladstossed, beet, cucumber, potato, and kidney beans. And don't forget the kolaczki for dessert. Theres also fried chicken, fish, baked herb chicken and baked lasagna. During the holidays, we sell a lot of sauerkraut and so many pierogi and blintzes, says Golom, noting orders can be picked up on Thanksgiving at the restaurant, which it serving from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. that day. One of our best-selling desserts is our potato chip cookies. Also, extremely popular is their rolada, a Polish-style sponge cake rolled with whipped cream and a fruit filling. You can have our great food and still enjoy your holidays, she says. And that's how to do it. CROWN POINT A criminal court judge said police could obtain a DNA sample from a 23-year-old East Chicago man accused in a Gary rapper's murder. Robert S. Currie appeared at a hearing Wednesday in Lake County Criminal Court with defense attorney John Cantrell. Currie is charged with murder and battery by means of a deadly weapon in the June 23 shooting death of Ashanti Bundles Walden in the 4800 block of Alexander Avenue in East Chicago. Cantrell told Judge Salvador Vasquez he objected to the state's motion to obtain a buccal swab, or mouth swab, from his client without a clear reason for why the sample was being collected. Deputy Prosecutor Kyle Hoogeveen told the judge the state intended to compare the sample to evidence collected at the crime scene bottles, bullet casings and a firearm. A 40-caliber handgun was found hidden underneath a plastic trash bin on Alexander Avenue, about 20 to 30 feet from where Walden, 25, was found murdered, according to the deputy prosecutor. Vasquez approved the state's motion. He also affirmed a pretrial conference Jan. 17, and a trial date for March 5. Currie has been jailed without bond since his arrest Sept. 21, according to court records. He is requesting the judge provide a bond at a hearing Dec. 5. CROWN POINT The check stubs for an employee robbed Sunday night at a restaurant in Lowell were found at the apartment of Dionysios T. Doukas, according to court records. Doukas, 35, of Schererville, was charged Tuesday afternoon in Lake Criminal Court with attempted robbery, robbery and resisting law enforcement. He was charged in a separate case Tuesday with resisting law enforcement and two misdemeanors on allegations he fled police after the robbery. The defendant is suspected of robbing almost a dozen restaurants this month in Lake County. The robbery at Subway restaurant, 2998 E. 181st Ave. in Lowell, was reported at 9:08 p.m. Sunday. The robber stole $104 from a change machine and an employee's wallet before fleeing the restaurant, according to the probable cause affidavit. The employees told police the suspect matched a description of the Region's serial robber, whom police knew drove a dark-colored GMC Terrain, the affidavit states. A suspect vehicle was spotted by police speeding on Interstate 65 near 109th Avenue, the affidavit states. The vehicle exited onto U.S. 30 and stopped briefly for police outside Southlake Mall before fleeing again. An attempt to stop the vehicle with tire spikes was unsuccessful, and police lost the vehicle after it narrowly crossed railroad tracks ahead of a speeding train on Lafayette Street in Valparaiso, the affidavit states. The vehicle was determined to be registered to Paragon Restaurant in Hobart, the affidavit states. The restaurant's owners said Doukas had the vehicle at the time of the robbery. Doukas agreed to meet with police at his home in Schererville, and he was taken to the Lake County Sheriff's Department, the affidavit states. He told police he parked the GMC Terrain on Friday night at a Denny's restaurant in Portage, and then left the restaurant in a separate vehicle with a stripper named Latondra or L.A., the affidavit states. He said he was on a three-day drinking binge over the weekend and spent time with the stripper in Illinois, the affidavit states. The sheriff's office obtained a search warrant Monday for Doukas' apartment, where police located the check stubs, the affidavit states. Police also seized Doukas' cellphone and the GMC Terrain. Doukas' bail is $80,000, according to court records. RENSSELAER The Newton County Sheriff's Department is looking for a 34-year-old man in connection with a high-speed, wrong-way chase down Interstate 65. Police say the man is Maurice Carpenter, who is 6 foot, 1 inch tall and about 200 pounds and has a last known address in Indianapolis. On Nov. 8, a Hobart police officer was patrolling I-65 while working a federal grant program when he attempted to stop a man for speeding near the Lake/Newton County line, police said. The Hobart police officer lost sight of the man before Indiana State Police continued the pursuit. Police said Carpenter, who was driving a rented 2018 Kia Sportage, made a U-turn by driving into the median and headed north. As he approached a trooper working in a construction zone on northbound I-65, he put the Kia in reverse and drove south on the northbound outer shoulder, police said. The man drove into a median, struck a trooper's car and continued south, police said. The man then braked hard, went back into the median and across southbound I-65, through a ditch and wire fence, between two houses and crashed in a wooded area before fleeing on foot, police said. A trooper injured in the pursuit was taken to Franciscan Health Crown Point. Police said there is no reason to believe Carpenter is still in the area. Anyone with information can call the sheriffs office at 219-474-5661 or the tip line at 219-234-7014. VALPARAISO Strack & Van Til presented a check to the Pink Ribbon Society for their third annual Checkout Challenge, the proceeds of which go directly to those who have been affected by breast cancer. Strack & Van Til raised an all-time high of $47,759.37. Ashleigh Marlow, Strack's public relations coordinator, said this years Checkout Challenge raised $2,000 more than last year. We ask customers, for just a few weeks in October, if they would like to round up to the nearest dollar to donate to the Pink Ribbon Society, Marlow said. We just want to support the families affected, and this is our third year doing so. Paulette Ozuna with Strack & Van Til said the Checkout Challenge is very personal to her. I had a few family members that had cancer. It can hit anybody, and I think this is a good challenge to win, Ozuna said. I had someone come up to me and donate $20 alone. I believe it hits everybody, no matter what it is. Mike Deboer, front end manager at the Valparaiso Strack & Van Til, said customers are great at rounding up for the cause. We prepare our cashiers to ask every customer to round up and to pay attention to it. Cancer is a terrible thing we have in our world, and its definitely something that we need to work on. We just want to get the most we can out of the Checkout Challenge, Deboer said. Ann Peters, founder and president of the Pink Ribbon Society, said events like these maintain and fund the programs they have. Sooner or later it touches someone. If its not breast cancer, its some kind of cancer, Peters said. Breast cancer unfortunately is on the rise in Lake County. We also have a larger mortality rate. We want the community to be aware that we are here to help. To publish your Thanksgiving Day event, email community@nwi.com Thanksgiving luncheon CROWN POINT A Thanksgiving luncheon will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thanksgiving Day at Sts. Peter and Paul Macedonian Banquet Hall, 9660 Broadway. They will be able to serve up to 300 people at no charge. Call 219-662-9114 to make reservations. Free meal EAST CHICAGO Solita's will offer free hot Thanksgiving meals from noon to 2 p.m. or until they run out of meals to those in need on Thanksgiving Day. This is the second year for the event and the goal is to feed 200 people this year. Solita's is at 4906 Indianapolis Blvd. Call 219-397-0338. 12th annual Thanksgiving Day Dinner and Fellowship GARY The Economic Development Committee of Gary Alumnae Chapter, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., will host its 12th annual Thanksgiving dinner event from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thanksgiving Day at Ivy Tech Community College, Gary Campus, 1440 E. 35th Ave. The event is free and open to the public. Call 219-616-0436. Free dinners LOWELL The Gold Star Cafe is offering free dinners to anyone who wants to come on Thanksgiving Day. They need to reserve a spot at 219-690-3487. One seating at noon. Free community dinner PORTAGE A free community Thanksgiving dinner will be from 2 to 6 p.m. Thanksgiving Day at Willowcreek Middle School. To donate, sign up to volunteer, or for more information, visit www.oneportage.com or call 219-805-1659. Free dinner SOUTH HAVEN The Salvation Army will host a turkey dinner from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thanksgiving Day at 799 Capitol Road. This is open to anyone. Call 219-762-9191. Salvation Army of LaPorte is hosting a community dinner beginning at noon on Nov. 18 at the First Church of God, 2020 E. Lincolnway. Free Thanksgiving dinner GARY River of Life Ministries, 609 Madison St., will hold a free Thanksgiving dinner from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Thanksgiving Day at 609 Madison St. This is open to anyone. Dinner includes turkey, dressing, ham, mac and cheese. Call 219-617-3721 or 219-746-0882. ST. JOHN As it does every year about this time, the Lake Central School Board approved borrowing money to pay the bills until property tax revenue is received next year. In a departure from the past several years, the schools will be borrowing a lot less this time. Business Services Director Rob James received authorization to borrow up to $5.8 million from the Hammond bond bank in January. James said similar loans in recent years have been about $10 million. Lake Central is using the Hammond Local Public Improvement Bond Bank instead of the state bond bank, because it gives us more flexibility with our finances in these economic times with a lower cost of issuance, he said. The Hammond bond bank loan will be enough to allow the district to pay its bills for the year, and it will not have to return for a second loan in June. The money will be used to meet expenses in the referendum debt service fund, the exempt pension debt service fund, the capital projects fund and the transportation fund in 2018. The loan must be repaid by the end of 2018. In other business, the board heard from bus driver Lawrence Rolak, who was on the personnel list to be dismissed later in the meeting. Rolak said the transportation department has a lot of problems, which he said were being caused by Transportation Director Christian Flores. Rolak presented the board with statements supporting him, which he asked the board to consider before voting, and said other drivers and former drivers were at the meeting to support him. Rolak said if the board follows through on the administrations recommendation to dismiss him, the drivers might take a work action similar to blue flu. When the personnel matters came up for consideration, board member Howard Marshall said he did not appreciate Rolaks reference to a blue flu action and added the board had enough information to move forward with the vote on the recommendation. The other board members agreed, and the vote was unanimous for all the personnel recommendations, including Rolaks dismissal. The reason for his dismissal was not disclosed at the meeting. MERRILLVILLE The municipality is having difficulties finding a taker for vacant town-owned land on the north side of the town. Town officials recently sought bids for the parcel at 122 W. 55th Ave., but that generated no offers, Town Council President Richard Hardaway said. With no interest obtained through that method, the council later decided to donate the property to Habitat for Humanity of Northwest Indiana. Hardaway said the organization planned to eventually build a new home at the site. During a recent council session, Hardaway announced Habitat for Humanity indicated it would be unable to accept the property. Hardaway said the home the organization planned for the parcel wouldnt comply with the covenants for the subdivision in which the property is located. The latest efforts to dispose of the land have the town placing a plywood board in the property offering it up for sale, Hardaway said Merrillville acquired the 55th Avenue property last year. The town paid no money for the land itself, but Merrillville spent about $13,000 to raze a dilapidated vacant home that was there. The council also took action on a variety of other matters: The panel decided to change carriers for the town employee health insurance program. Merrillville looks to save about $45,000 by switching to UnitedHealthcare. The council also is preparing for a project resurfacing Grand Boulevard between 85th Avenue and 101st Avenue. The panel approved an engineering contract with First Group Engineering, and the maximum cost of the agreement is $41,000. Town Manager Bruce Spires said the Grand Boulevard roadwork could get started in late May or early June of next year. Merrillville has received funding through the state's Community Crossings grant program to help pay for the road construction. The U.S. AirTronic firm has received a license and is already supplying Ukraine with the PSRL grenade launcher, which is manufactured in the United States. The weapon is a modernized version of the rocket-propelled grenade launcher RPG-7," the Washington, D.C.-based U.S.-taxpayer funded Voice of America (VOA) said on Wednesday. AirTronic's Chief Operating Officer Richard Vandiver told VOA that his company began cooperating with Ukraine two years ago, and the first batches of the weapons were shipped to Ukraine in 2016. He said receiving a license was difficult and it took time because of the "delicacy" of the Minsk peace agreements. Vandiver said exports of the PSRL did not violate terms of the peace agreement. Ukraine's Ambassador to the U.S. Valeriy Chaly, in turn, said concluding arms contracts and receiving licenses involves both a political and commercial issues. He said Ukraine first began working with AirTronic in 2015. "We expect [U.S.] legislation that provides for supplying Ukraine with lethal defense weapons, which was adopted by the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, will be signed by U.S. President Donald Trump and that $50 million will be made available for the purchase of lethal defense weapons. Chaly said there is a difference between commercial contracts and the U.S. military assistance Ukraine expects to obtain, saying the latter suggest more powerful defensive weapons. The Food Bank of Northwest Indiana in Gary got some help last week as Strack & Van Til employees packed meals for Region families. They are doing this in partnership with Indiana Beverage. Strack employees, with help from Calumet Breweries, Anheuser-Busch, Dr. Pepper, Snapple and Mondelez put together 400 meals to distribute for consumers of the food bank. The food was then distributed on Monday. Jeff Strack, Strack president and CEO, said this is part of their culture to give back to the community. "This is one small way we can make a difference," Strack said. HEBRON The downtown intersection of Main and Sigler streets was once a crossing of two American Indian trails, which contributed to the original settlement's name of The Corners, according to Clerk-Treasurer Alan Kirkpatrick. The intersection remains an important historical landmark in the small, two-traffic light community. But its leaders are now hoping the site holds part of the key to the town's future, too. The town plans to tear down the former service station building Monday at the southeast corner of the busy intersection in hopes of making it more attractive for a business to purchase and open up shop, Kirkpatrick said. There is even talk about demolishing the Town Hall a little further to the east to make more room for business growth, said Town Councilwoman Kimberly Mouratides. "Sometimes change is good," Kirkpatrick said. To help with the transition and retain a bit of the town's history, bricks from the demolished service station building will be available for purchase, he said. All money generated by the sale will benefit the town's park department. Town leaders hope the bricks will be of value to local residents because of the murals that have been painted on the side of the building by two different groups of students once in the 1960s or 1970s, and again 20 or more years later, Kirkpatrick said. Bricks are $5 for one, $40 for 10 and $75 for 20, with larger orders supplied upon request, according to the Hebron Indiana Parks Facebook page. Purchases are to be arranged with the Town Hall at 219-996-4644. Money collected will be used by the park department to support existing programs and the five-year plan that currently is being created, Mouratides said. More sentimental than historical value The building that will be coming down Monday likely dates to the 1920s and had been used for an auto business until 2008, Kirkpatrick said. It was donated to the town in 2010. The town had been using the building for storage, but it has become structurally unsafe, he said. This contributed to the decision to tear it down and seek a buyer who will locate a new business at the site. The intersection, which is at the heart of the community, has a war memorial on the northwest corner, a municipal parking area to the northeast and a resale shop to the southwest, Kirkpatrick said. The building that will be coming down has more sentimental than historical value because of the mural, he said. "It just makes it a little easier to sell that corner for development," he said of the decision to remove the building. The town needs to attract new businesses after suffering some big losses recently, Kirkpatrick said. Patz's Market shut its doors for good earlier this month after 53 years in operation, he said. C&A Auto also closed shop this month after 15 years, and a fire brought an end to Suzy's Diner last month after five years in a location where other restaurants had operated. MINNEAPOLIS What makes a good presidential turkey? Showmanship. A readiness to strut his stuff and gobble on command, yet enough restraint to stay on a table for the big photo op. So say a Minnesota turkey farmer and 4-H kids who raised the turkeys that will go to the White House for an official pardon from President Donald Trump on Tuesday. It's the 70th anniversary of the National Thanksgiving Turkey tradition. Here's a little deeper look at the event and what goes into it: THE TRADITION White House archives show that Americans have sent presidents holiday turkeys at least since 1873 under President Ulysses S. Grant. But the National Thanksgiving Turkey dates from 1947, when the National Turkey Federation became the official supplier and presented a 47-pound gobbler to President Harry Truman. In those days the turkeys were destined for dinner. Formal pardons began with President George H.W. Bush in 1989, though stories of spared turkeys date back to President Abraham Lincoln. President John F. Kennedy sent his 1963 turkey back to its farm. Sometime around the Nixon era the White House began sending them to petting zoos after the ceremonies, though without formal pardons. MINNESOTA'S GOBBLERS The perk of taking presidential turkeys to Washington goes to the chairman of the National Turkey Federation. This year that's Carl Wittenburg, from the Minnesota town of Alexandria. Wittenburg recruited five Douglas County 4-H members to help. They're the same teens he and his wife, Sharlene, mentored to a second-place finish in the statewide 4-H Science of Agriculture Challenge this summer with a project on turkey bedding. None of the girls had worked with turkeys before. Now they're all going to the White House to help oversee the bird, though Wittenburg's 19-year-old son, Wyatt, will lift it up onto the table. The Wittenburgs grow more than 100,000 turkeys annually for Northern Pride Cooperative in Wyndmere, North Dakota, but they raised the presidential flock on their smaller hobby farm near Alexandria. The birds hatched in late June. The star and an understudy who would step in if there's a last-minute problem will be around 47 and 37 pounds (21 and 17 kilograms) respectively by pardoning time. THE CHALLENGES The goal is getting the turkeys used to people. Teaching them to stay on the table and behave is the key, said Katie Kent, 18. The birds are hand-fed grub worms as bribes. "We're getting them used to being on that table and getting them to gobble and strut on command," said Kodi Bundermann, 17. Strutting for a turkey means fanning out his tail feathers and puffing out his body feathers. Toms do it to look good to the hens, Wittenburg said. Gobbling also is a male behavior; females click or cluck. It's hard to get turkeys to strut on command, he said, but they'll gobble nine times out of 10. The 4-Hers also play them music. They seem to like country, said Christina Kuismi, 16. "They love anything shiny, or even the ends of shoelaces, which are a little shiny," Kuismi said. "They like to untie shoelaces. They've gotten really good at it." Another challenge for the ceremony is that turkeys are very easily distracted, she said. "They're just very easily entertained," she said. "They just want to go everywhere and see everything and explore." THE STARS The team selected the two best birds from a flock of about 20, They looked for showmanship and character with an absence of any stage fright, Wittenburg said. They wanted turkeys that would strut and gobble for the cameras and the president yet remain calm on the table, he said. The birds got officially named Drumstick and Wishbone on Monday, and the White House opened a Twitter poll on which one Trump should pardon. They stayed at a hotel near the White House for the run-up to the big show. A flock-mate was pardoned by Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton on Friday. The presidential birds will finish out their lives in leisure at Virginia Tech, joining the 2016 winners, Tater and Tot, at Gobbler's Rest in Blacksburg. With luck, they might live another year or more. A few of their predecessors have hit the ripe old age of 2. Very few domestic turkeys live that long. The vast majority get sent to processing plants when they're between 14 to 20 weeks old. THE RISKS Pardons have not always gone smoothly and gratitude is not guaranteed. In 2001, a turkey named Liberty pecked President George W. Bush in the midsection some reports say his crotch drawing laughs from the crowd and an awkward expression from the president's face. Another memorable photo shows a grimacing President Ronald Reagan getting a face full of feathers when the 1984 turkey started flapping its wings. A turkey also flapped around on Reagan before jumping off the table and strutting around the White House lawn in 1981. TURKEY FACTS Minnesota is the top turkey-producing state, with 450 farmers raising about 46 million turkeys this year. North Carolina is No. 2. They're among six states that account for nearly two-thirds of U.S. turkey production. The others are Arkansas, Indiana, Missouri and Virginia. The U.S. Department of Agriculture projects that farmers will raise nearly 245 million turkeys this year. The National Turkey Federation estimates that Americans will eat about 46 million for Thanksgiving, 22 million at Christmas and 19 million for Easter. But most turkeys are destined to become deli meat, sausage and other products. The environment we are living in has become more politically polarized, but so has our character as a nation. We are blunter with one another than we used to be, less kind than we could be. This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for those who patriotically dissent, who stand up for true American values and refuse to be divided by hatred or bigotry. The 2016 presidential election was unlike any in recent history. Despite being caught on tape denigrating women, Donald J. Trump became president of the nation. Once elected, he built a Cabinet of millionaires and billionaires to oversee the very agencies many had spent their careers undermining. His closest advisers include his immediate next of kin, white nationalists and xenophobes who immediately proceeded to implement the campaigns anti-immigrant agenda. First, they banned Muslims, then they refused refugees, then they banned DREAMers and most recently, sought to end Temporary Protected Status for hundreds of thousands of immigrants who came to this country as environmental evacuees over the last three decades. Our nations proud immigrant story has been upended. Yet millions of activists throughout the country have stood up for Lady Libertys truth. Led by the ACLU, the National Womens Law Center, MALDEF, Mi Familia Vota and by leaders such as Judge Ann M. Donnelly, Judge James Robart, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Rep. Raul Grijalva, Rep. Luis Gutierrez and so many others the list is too long to list them all. Each one of those named and unnamed has stood for justice, the law and the American Dream. For these leaders I am grateful. In 2017, many people came forward who experienced sexual abuse and harassment at work, in the church, at their schools, in their families and communities. Systems of power make it challenging to hold people accountable, and survivors who speak out often face negative consequences. Yet, starting with the Womens March on the day after the inauguration, women and men stood up to call out abuse refusing to be silenced. They refused to accept losing the gains they had made as women, women of color, as immigrant women, as LGBTQ women. They refused to return quietly to an era of patriarchy or surrender to misogyny without a fight. The beauty and power of their statement the unity around common cause for many culminating in the ultimate decision to run for office transformed weakness into power. They would not be stopped. One need only look at the number of women who ran for office this year and won black women, brown women, Asian women, transgender women and white women. And, for that I am incredibly grateful. And now, we are in a fight for the soul of our democracy. We stand on a precipice where we must resist its possible destruction at every level. People in power are trying seriously to undercut every institution that represents democracy, freedom, equality and inclusivity. The country is a tweet or executive order away from permanent damage to its government, infrastructure, health care, public education system and to its national security, not to mention nuclear war. Our economy does not work for working people, and the gap between the rich and everyone else grows daily. Climate change regularly causes disasters placing our communities in constant danger. Our country is fighting wars without end and without victory, costing lives and hurting families. Our roads and bridges are crumbling, and our voting rights are at serious risk. We must not and cannot accept the status quo. We are awakening. So, I am grateful to those willing to push back against the powerful with the ability to hurt the many to give only to the few and enrich themselves in the process. I am grateful for the dissenters who stand on behalf of the symbol behind the institutions: the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther Kings, the Rev. William Barbers, the Rosa Parks, the Dolores Huertas, the Colin Kaepernicks and all of the others who have joined with them and stood up in protest. In Sister Joan Chittisters words, It is the few who hold out against the total dissolution of the highest ideals of any institution. To those dissenters, I am grateful and I stand with you on our common journey to build a stronger and brighter America because she is already great. ASUNCION, Paraguay Horacio Cartes, a Paraguayan tobacco magnate, faced various challenges during his presidential bid. He was pressed to explain why antinarcotics police officers apprehended a plane carrying cocaine and marijuana on his ranch in 2000; why he went to prison in 1989 on currency fraud charges; and why he had never even voted in past general elections. Still, voters across the country seemed ready to give Mr. Cartes the benefit of the doubt, handing him a solid victory in Paraguays presidential election on Sunday. He took 46 percent of the vote against 37 percent for his main opponent, Efrain Alegre of the ruling Liberal Party, with about 80 percent of the voting stations reporting. Electoral authorities declared Mr. Cartes the winner. Mr. Cartess victory returns the presidency to the conservative Colorado Party which held a tight grip on power for six decades, until 2008 and opens a new phase of international scrutiny of Paraguay, the landlocked nation with a long reputation as a haven for smugglers. Paraguays governing institutions were already the focus of condemnation throughout Latin America in June 2012, after legislators here hastily ousted the president, Fernando Lugo, a former Roman Catholic bishop who had been elected amid hopes that he would diminish inequality in one of South Americas poorest countries. Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko has signed a decree to appoint Roman Trehuba director of the State Bureau of Investigations, the presidential website reported on Wednesday. "This is a very responsible position. This is a part of my reform of prosecution agencies," Poroshenko said when congratulating Trehuba on his selection as the bureau's chief. In the next five years, the National Social Security Fund plans to fully digitalize its operations, a move which will see the fund gradually phase out some of its branches spread out in the different regions. The announcement came yesterday as NSSF managing director, Richard Byarugaba revealed their plans for the five-years strategic plan, with a key objective of driving the fund to the Shs 20 trillion asset base target. Just like the commercial banks, NSSF says the use financial technologies or FinTechs as they are commonly called, will deliver to customer better services and also cut back on the funds operational expenses on the branches. NSSF MD Richard Byarugaba We might merge one or two branches but in the long run, we dont need any branches, Byarugaba told journalists. The Shs 20 trillion target, which seems ambitious, would mean that the fund has to grow by at least Shs 1.5 trillion year on year, up from its Shs 1.1 trillion average growth. Total asset base currently stands at Shs 8tn according to NSSF financials. Byarugaba noted that if the changes are implemented, the Fund will be able to rope in at least five million new members, especially through the voluntary contribution scheme. NSSF has about 1.7 members and only 700 are actively saving. There are plans to integrate NSSF systems with the government institutions such as Uganda Registration Services Bureau, Uganda Revenue Authority and the National Identification Registration Authority. This is meant to avoid bureaucracy which brings about double registration. The back office will be fully automated. We would like to change our structure, currently our staff are about 60 per cent in the back office and 40 per cent in the front office. We would like to reverse that, we would like to have 70 per cent facing our customers and only 30 per cent doing internal work, Byarugaba said. According to Byarugaba, NSSF will also reduce investment into the fixed income as a result of Bank of Uganda stance on lowering the central bank rate. Lower CBR means earnings on government treasury bills and bonds will be much lower. alitwaha@observer.ug Ten of the twelve water companies operating in the UK have recently admitted to using the medieval practice of water dowsing to locate pipes or underground water sources, despite the lack of any scientific evidence proving its effectiveness. Numerous studies have, in fact, discredited dowsing as pseudoscience after multiple experiments failed to demonstrate its eficacy. The disclosure that the firms are still using the practice, and passing the cost on to their customers, has prompted calls for The Water Services Regulation Authority, or Ofwat, to intervene. Dowsers claim that their divining rods, two bent pieces of metal typically copper or silver cross over each other to make an X when they detect the presence of water below ground. Despite the claim being long discredited, some water companies insist that the practice is as effective as modern methods, such as drones or satellites. Photo: Jose Antonio Agraz Sandoval Science blogger and Oxford Ph.D. student Sally Le Page discovered that the firms were still using diving rods after her parents saw an engineer from Severn Trent walking around with his dowsing rods attempting to locate a broken pipe near their home in Stratford-upon-Avon. Le Page sent a tweet to Severn Trent asking why it was still using divining rods to find pipes, despite the lack of scientific evidence as to their usefulness. Replying to Le Page via Twitter, Severn Trent said, Weve found that some of the older methods are just as effective than the new ones, but we do use drones as well, and now satellites. Shocked by the response, Le Page then went on to ask the other 11 water companies in the UK whether they were using water diviners. Of the 12 companies, only one, Wessex Water, said it did not utilize dowsing rods at all, and another, Northern Ireland Water did not reply. The other ten, including Welsh Water, Scottish Water, South West Water, Southern Water and United Utilities, confirmed the use of water dowsing within their company. Photo: Wikimedia Commons One water company, Anglia Water, insisted on the effectiveness of the method and invited Le Page to a demonstration, although it is unclear whether or not she accepted. Ofwat should be looking into this because its a total waste of money, Le Page told The Guardian. Its not going to do any harm. But sending out somebody off to a location just to wave some sticks around is not a good use of time or money. Christopher Hassall, a water management specialist at the Leeds University school of biology, said This isnt a technique, its witchcraft. We work with water companies to enhance the sustainability of drinking water supplies, and it is frustrating that there are still some very peculiar practices that are going on in these companies. Photo: Wikimedia Commons Hassall called for Ofwat to intervene and eradicate dowsing. The statutory bodies need to be stepping in. It is analogous to using homeopathy and reiki on the NHS. These are unproven practices that waste time and money, he continued, Drinking water is a fundamental human necessity and something that the water companies should be managing as effectively and efficiently as possible without using these medieval witchcraft practices. If they are going to be passing the charges on to us for using dubious practices, then thats something everyone in the UK should be concerned about. On her Medium blog, Le Page points out that there is a complete lack of scientifically rigorous double-blind evidence to prove that dowsing rods work, and wonder how, despite all this, such practices are still in use. Every properly conducted scientific test of water dowsing has found it no better than chance. Youll be just as likely to find water by going out and taking a good guess as you will by walking around with divining rods. You could just laugh this off, Le Page writes. Isnt it a bit silly that big companies are still using magic to do their jobs! Except if they get it wrong, that could mean the difference between an entire town having safe drinking water or not. A spokesman for the sectors trade body, Water UK, came to the defense of the companies in question. Water companies are spending millions of pounds each year on innovative leakage detection schemes which have helped reduce leakages by a third since the 1990s, and its unlikely that a few individuals doing some unofficial divining has had much impact, he told The Guardian. Dutch beachcomber Wim Kruiswijk has amassed a collection of 1200 messages-in-bottles over the course of 34 years and has responded to almost all of them. 68-year-old Kruiswijk says that his unusual hobby began in 1983 when he found three bottles on his local beach, each containing letters and return addresses. He wrote to all three addresses and was surprised to receive responses from each one. It was this experience which sparked his interest in hunting and collecting messages in bottles, and he hasnt stopped looking for them since. Photo: Great Big Story video screengrab I find my messages in bottles on the beach of Zandvoort, where I live, and on the Dutch Islands, Kruiswijk recently told Great Big Story. Messages in bottles is slow mail. It takes you days, or weeks, or months to find a bottle. In the early years, Kruiswijk would find as many as 50 bottles a year, but since 2000 that has slowed to around 20-30 finds, mainly due to beach cleaning efforts. He believes that the rise of the internet has also played a role in the diminishing number of messages in bottles, telling Dutch news site PZC, I used to get a response at half the bottle messages that I answered. Now thats less; many people want instant satisfaction. Kruiswijk is a retired bookkeeper, and it shows in his approach to minding his collection. The bottled messages, all 1,200 of them, are kept neatly sealed and filed in plastic folders. He only holds onto the unique bottles or packaging that wash up, such as lovely ornamental bottles or test tubes. Throwing a message in a bottle out into the seas a longstanding human tradition dating back to the time of the Greek philosopher Theophrastus, circa 310 B.C., who used the bottles to study water currents. Scientists still apply the method to this day, as a means to help researchers develop ocean circulation maps, and to crowdsource scientific studies of ocean currents. In the past bottles have also been used to send distress messages from stranded sailors. They also have been used for memorial tributes, or to send loved ones ashes on a final journey. One of the more common uses though is just to send invitations out to prospective pen pals, a quaint notion in these modern times, but, as Kruiswijk so clearly demonstrates, an effective one. Director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) Artem Sytnyk has said that he did not violate the law in terms of not disclosing the secrecy of the investigation or state secrets while communicating with journalists in the off-the-record format. "I communicate with journalists due to the post I hold... Formats of communication with journalists are different. It's a common practice, not only in Ukraine. Yes, indeed, I had meetings with journalists in the off-the-record format several times... This is a practice that is used by the leaders of other law enforcement agencies," he said at a meeting of the Verkhovna Rada committee on preventing and combating corruption in Kyiv on Wednesday. "I have never violated the law during any format of meetings with journalists. I'm ready to repeat in the on-the-record format all what I said in an open interview at a meeting with journalists in the off-the-record format. I'm not afraid to violate any provision of the law," Sytnyk said. At the same time, he said that he had not disclosed either state secrets or the secrecy of the investigation. They will roast a turkey inside their little Millard apartment, the place that every day feels a little more like home. Fraidoon knows this because he special-ordered the bird from the Afghan grocer. The rest of Thursdays menu is up in the air. Maybe Homa will try her luck with some traditional Thanksgiving side dishes. Maybe the guests will lug in platters of traditional Afghan food. Probably both, says Fraidoon Fred Akhtari. Probably all of the above. I have to thank God for everything He has done for me, says Fraidoon. Me and my family and my kids have made new friends. We have met good people. We are safe. Thats why I need to celebrate Thanksgiving. Every year, I write a Thanksgiving week column focused on the things Im grateful for in Omaha. Every year, I think about how it would be easier if I just ... didnt. Then I run into a story like the one Im about to tell you the story of the Akhtari familys first Thanksgiving and it reminds me why this sort of column is important to me. Why I think it needs to be written. I first wrote about Fraidoon and Homa and their two kids when they arrived here fresh off a plane from Kabul this summer. For almost the entirety of the American war in Afghanistan, Fraidoon was a beloved interpreter who fought alongside U.S. troops battling the Taliban and other insurgents. A collection of U.S. military veterans, lawyers, local charity workers and big-hearted volunteers fought to get Fraidoon and his family out of danger. They battled for years against government bureaucracy and congressional inaction. Then they fought the fear created by the Trump administrations first try at a travel ban, which made the Akhtaris and many others believe that they werent welcome here. In July, this ragtag crew overcame all that. They succeeded in getting an Afghan family to the relative safety of a strange new city in this strange new land. Omaha. They were helped by a Jewish lawyer, and a Christian organization run by a Muslim lady, and a bunch of other churches, said Dave Lemoine, a retired FBI agent who led the effort. All these people, all these religions, came together and said Lets do whats right. The kindness kept appearing in the strangest places, like my email inbox. A day after my original column ran, a man named Piyush Gupta wrote me, wondering if I could connect him to Fraidoon. I want to offer him a job, he said. And sure enough, when I located Fraidoon this week, he was on a service call for Titan Custom Cabinets, the La Vista company Gupta manages. Hes been full-time there for three months now. According to both boss and employee, its going swimmingly. I called Piyush and asked why he felt the need to reach out to Fraidoon, a man with years of experience fighting a war but zero experience building custom cabinets. Piyush told me a story about what happened after he moved to Omaha from India in 1998. He was 16 then, and his parents enrolled him at Papillion-La Vista High School. He spoke English with a thick accent. He felt like an alien. During lunch, he would ask a teacher to let him stay in the classroom and study, because he couldnt bear the thought of another day sitting in the cafeteria alone. The first six months were terrible, he said. I was invisible. Then, one day, a popular student heard Piyush listening to Indian music. The popular student was an Air Force brat, and had lived in Bahrain when his father was stationed there. He liked Indian music. The popular student befriended Piyush. Treated him with kindness. Started introducing him to his friends. And soon enough, Piyush Gupta didnt feel invisible. I never forgot that, he told me. And when I read your column ... it kind of brought back that feeling. I couldnt help myself. It felt like the right thing to do, to give Fraidoon a chance. Piyush hired Fraidoon as a service tech and matched him with an experienced service tech named Dan Mixan from Plattsmouth. The Nebraskan and the Afghan refugee hit it off almost immediately. They spend nearly every day together in a work truck, driving to and from appointments. Dan has taught Fraidoon how to adjust an adjustable cabinet shelf, how to use a GPS, how to navigate both the streets and the culture of this place Fraidoon always calls Omaha City. Fraidoon has taught Dan about Afghanistan and the history of the conflicts there. Sometimes when its slow in the truck, they speak of the similarities and differences between Christianity and Islam. Starting early next year, Fraidoon will likely go on service calls by himself. That will happen because Fraidoon works hard, listens well and learns quickly, Piyush says. But it will also happen only because Piyush gave him a shot. And only because Dan showed him the ropes. One of the things I love about Omaha City is that the people here are so nice, so friendly, Fraidoon told me. Most people dont care ... where you are from. They want to help. On this Thanksgiving week, I think its worth calling out the people who do help. Dan and Piyush. The retired FBI agent Dave Lemoine and Lacey Studnicka from Lutheran Family Services. A Washington, D.C., immigration lawyer named Sari Long, whom Lemoine nicknamed The Pit Bull. Shane and Krynn Pekny, and their boys Max and Mason, members at Benningtons St. Johns Lutheran Church who have taken on the unpaid and unsung role of sponsors to the Akhtari family. (In a particularly Omaha is a small town twist, Im longtime friends with Shane.) The Peknys help the Akhtaris navigate appointments, paperwork, all the bewildering new-country stuff. Max and Mason and the Akhtari kids, Fardin and Leema, have become fast friends, happily playing together even before they could speak the same language. This Thanksgiving, Im grateful to each one of you. So is Fraidoon. He told me this week that his family is doing well. The kids are in kindergarten and second grade. Homa is taking English classes through a local program. There are struggles with the new language and unfamiliar culture, but mostly, he says, they feel blessed. How blessed? The Akhtaris actually have two separate invitations to Thanksgiving dinner. The Peknys invited them over. So did some local students. But they are going to politely decline both, Fraidoon said, because he and Homa have another idea in mind. Thats why, this Thursday, a few Afghan-American families will knock on the front door of a small Millard apartment. There may be mashed potatoes. There may be kabuli palaw with naan. There may be both, but it wont really matter because there will definitely be laughter. Good luck with that turkey, Fraidoon and Homa Akhtari. Best of luck hosting your first Thanksgiving in a place that, every day, feels a little more like home. Hes about as Omaha as an Omahan can be. Its in his blood. Rudi Mitchell, the great-great-great-grandson of Chief Big Elk, firmly straddles the two disparate Omahas the prosperous city where he lives and the impoverished Omaha reservation of his birth. He remains attached to his city and devoted to his tribe. I love Omaha, he said at his home in the Keystone neighborhood near 84th and Maple Streets. I really do like it here. The city is growing. But it would be nice if it paid more attention not just to Omaha Indians but also to other Indians in the city. As Thanksgiving approached, U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., and others honored Mitchell, 77, on Nov. 13 at Creighton University. As part of Native American Heritage Month, Bacon days earlier had commended him on the floor of Congress as a dedicated community leader and warrior. With a doctorate in education for counseling and psychology and a passion for his people, Mitchell has warred against the effects of poverty, including depression, alcoholism and lack of education. On Thanksgiving, few things figuratively could be further apart than the reservation in Macy, Nebraska, and the nationally televised Macys Thanksgiving Day parade in New York City. A salute to Americas bounty and to the start of the Christmas shopping season, the parade takes place on the island of Manhattan, which Indians are said to have sold to the Dutch nearly 400 years ago for the equivalent of $24. Mitchell is well aware of the irony. Noting that the Macys parade often includes a tribute to Native Americans and the first Thanksgiving attended by Indians and Pilgrims in 1621, Rudi said: I joke about it with friends a Thanksgiving Day celebration always has to have an Indian. He himself will celebrate Thursday with relatives at the Omaha home of his sister, Octa Keen. In memory of those who have died, he said, they will set a small dish at the table with bits of food. The small dish and a matching cup belonged to his mother, who inspired her family to seek education. Including nieces and nephews, 15 members have earned medical and other degrees. Growing up, we were poor, and I mean very poor, Rudi said. Outside bathrooms, running water outside. I thought it was an accepted thing in life. For high school he boarded at the Haskell Institute in Kansas (now grown into the Haskell Indian Nations University), and later enlisted in the Army. He volunteered for the medical corps, serving in South Korea. He earned bachelors and masters degrees in social work from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and returned to Macy to work in mental health counseling at the Carl T. Curtis Health Education Center. His doctorate is from the University of South Dakota. A former tribal chairman, Mitchell traces his ancestry to the last hereditary chief of the Omahas. A year before Omaha Citys founding in 1854, Big Elk returned from Washington, D.C., and solemnly addressed the tribe: I bring to you news which it saddens my heart to think of. There is a coming flood which will soon reach us, and I advise you to prepare for it. The flood of immigrants from European ancestries would sweep the nation. Tribes gave up millions of acres. Many Indians were placed on reservations. The tale is oft-told and lamented. Rudi Mitchell has spent his life trying to improve conditions, but says its difficult to get educated people to return to the reservation. A decade ago, Mitchell moved to Omaha and served as assistant professor of Native American studies at Creighton. Victoria F. Roche, professor of pharmacy sciences, said at the recent Creighton ceremony which included the beating of ceremonial drums that students related well to Mitchells Sharing the Wisdom presentations. Dr. Rudis heart is as big as they come, she said. His compassion for the disenfranchised is evidenced by his eagerness to embrace all indigenous people living in the Omaha community. Father Don Doll, a Jesuit priest and photographer, presented a photo of Mitchell taking part in an interfaith service and thanked him for leading Indian cedar ceremonies said to purify a space by attracting good spirits and removing negative influences. Now retired, Mitchell rises daily at 5 a.m. and stays active in the community. He serves on the board of the fledgling Big Elk Native American Center, retains a mental health counseling license and testifies in court as an expert witness on Indian child welfare. After the June 5 death of Zachary Bearheels in police custody, Mitchell agreed to conduct workshops for officers in training. Bearheels, a mentally ill Oklahoma man, died after being shocked repeatedly by a Taser. Mitchell is pleased that liquor licenses finally have been denied in notorious Whiteclay, Nebraska, and he remains opposed to the Keystone XL oil pipeline, which the Nebraska Public Service Commission approved Monday. We Native Americans treasure Mother Earth, he said. Its part of our culture to live in harmony with the environment. Omaha is home to about 8,000 Native Americans from more than 130 tribes, Mitchell said, but it always seems like we are the forgotten minority of all minority people. Lest we forget, its also well to note that Omaha (the upstream people) is an Indian word, and so is Nebraska (flat water). Dr. Rudi, this man of two Omahas, says he will watch at least part of the Macys Thanksgiving Day parade. And then he will enjoy turkey as well as Indian corn soup and fry bread a recollection of his many Thanksgiving Days in Macy. On Wednesday, November 22, at 12.30, the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency's press center will host a press conference entitled 'Anticorruption Map 2.0: Now the Repair Work under your Control!" The participants include board chairman of the NGO 'Anticorruption headquarters' Halyna Yanchenko, project manager of the 'Anticorruption repair map', analyst of the NGO 'Anticorruption headquarters' Olha Rybak, member of the 'Real Actions Initiative,' Ukrainian MP Mustafa Nayyem (8/5a Reitarska Street). Press accreditation by phone: (050) 358 4419 or at: m.kriuchok@gmail.com. A 26-year-old man was injured Tuesday afternoon in a stabbing in Omaha. Police said Todd Fosters injuries were not life-threatening. Officers said they spoke with Foster at the Nebraska Medical Center, where he was being treated. Foster told police that he was a passenger in a vehicle driven by a male he didnt know when he was stabbed in his shoulder. Foster was unable to tell officers where the stabbing occurred or provide information about who stabbed him, police said. A 28-year-old Omaha woman was seriously injured early Wednesday when her car struck the rear of another vehicle and overturned near North 177th Street and West Maple Road, police said. Abbie Lueders suffered chest and stomach pain and multiple scrapes in the crash, which occurred about 12:45 a.m. She was listed in fair condition Wednesday evening at the Nebraska Medical Center. Lueders 2014 Kia Soul had been eastbound on West Maple at a high rate of speed, police said. The Kia crashed into the rear of an eastbound 2015 Nissan Altima driven by Jordan Shepler, 29, of Omaha. The Altima was forced across the westbound lanes and into an embankment on the north side of the road, police said. The Kia rolled onto its side, slid off the road and overturned into an embankment. Shepler complained of pain to multiple areas of his body but did not want to be taken to a hospital for treatment, police said. Omaha erected its first sign banning standing in a median on Tuesday at 72nd and Dodge Streets. The median is one of dozens at busy Omaha intersections that could eventually be off-limits to panhandlers and others. The City Council voted in late October to approve Mayor Jean Stotherts ordinance to keep pedestrians off some narrow medians. The rule applies to medians near the citys busiest and most dangerous areas. It will be enforced only after signs are posted at individual intersections. More than 70 on the citys list of most-dangerous intersections meet the ordinances criteria and could qualify for a sign barring their use, said Assistant Public Works Director Todd Pfitzer. Affected medians are those that are narrow, on streets with high traffic counts or on streets with high speeds. Signs could be placed on each of the four medians at most of those intersections, including 72nd and Dodge Streets. The ordinance was proposed in response to complaints about panhandlers and others in the medians. The ACLU of Nebraska has raised concerns about the number of medians the ordinance would apply to and urged police to, whenever possible, give verbal warnings instead of arresting violators. A release from the Mayors Office on Tuesday said that Omaha police who witness a violation will first ask the person to move off the median. Further actions will only be taken if the person refuses to move, the release said. Minipigs, if they are allowed in Papillion, could be a bit more porky. Council member Tom Mumgaard said he plans to raise the weight limit on pigs that can be pets under an ordinance he is sponsoring. Mumgaard did so following testimony by Mark Langan, vice president for field operations for the Nebraska Humane Society. The bill as originally proposed would have limited a pigs weight to 100 pounds. Langan told the council that the 100-pound limit sets owners up to fail. Adult minipigs usually range from 60 to 175 pounds. Its very difficult to keep an adult minipig under the weight of 100 pounds, he said. Even a 200-pound minipig is not going to be as large as a normal pig that you find on a farm. ... We dont anticipate any problems with the minipigs. Omaha recently changed its ordinance to allow for pigs up to 200 pounds, he said. With that guidance, Mumgaard said he will amend his ordinance to make 200 pounds the upper weight. Langan said Omaha also has eliminated a requirement that minipigs be vaccinated because there are no specific vaccines for the animals. Mumgaards measure includes mandated vaccinations. Currently, minipigs are not allowed in Papillion. The ordinance is being debated after Jo Ann Hagan, an owner of two minipigs named Tori and Luci, was ticketed. She is scheduled to appear in court in December to deal with the misdemeanor citations. Hagan and her children, Madison, 13, and Liah, 12, spoke during the hearing. Husband Ken was there, too. They are not dirty animals, Jo Ann Hagan told the council. I call them my pink puppies because they love to be petted and have their snouts rubbed. More than a century ago the son of a German immigrant built a sturdy barn in Sarpy County. It weathered storms, blistering heat and freezing cold. Now the land it sat on will be turned over to a developer, and the barn will weather that, too. On Tuesday crews moved the old barn 3 miles southeast from where it sat in the countys rolling hills near 114th Street and Schram Road. Ron Tex said his great-grandfather built the four-story barn in 1903 on a farm where the family grew corn and raised cattle and horses. Tex said he and other family members sold the 160 acres. Preliminary plans call for 335 homes on the land under development by Boyer Young Development Co., according to the City of Papillion. But Tex could not let the barn die with the sale. Its the last part of the memories, he said. Tex, 63, remembers seeing a news clipping that said 300 people turned out for a dance at the barn after it was built at the turn of the century. In recent years the barn has been used for storage and will continue in that role at its new spot. Tex has lived in a ranch home on the property and crews also moved it Tuesday, along with a machine shed. Crews from Ensor Movers Inc. used hydraulic jacks and steel beams to lift the barn off its foundation. The beams were set on a rolling platform that served as a trailer for the move. A similar process was used for the house and shed. Tex said the barn is in excellent shape. It got a new roof and paint job about seven years ago and has not required any major work to keep it up. Ryan Baltensperger, owner of Ensor, said that because the barn is in good structural condition, it was well-suited for the move. He said his Nebraska-based business moves a couple of barns a year in the region. Semitrailer trucks towed the three structures at a top speed of 8 mph. Moving the barn and other structures took about 4 hours, with the crew getting them in place by about 1:30 p.m. Baltensperger said thats a good pace for moving three structures, even if just a few miles. Workers from the Omaha Public Power District required time to temporarily drop or raise some power lines above the road so the barn could pass through. The house and the barn are now on land Tex owns in the county along Fairview Road. The shed was moved to his sons property nearby. Tex said the move went well and hes especially relieved that the barn is safely at its new location. He said he never got the chance to meet his great-grandfather, but knows hed be proud that his barn lives on. KYIV. Nov 22 (Interfax-Ukraine) Transparency International (TI) Ukraine has called for strengthening control over violations of anti-tobacco legislation in order to stop tobacco corporations from interfering in the state healthcare policy. "To stop interference of tobacco corporations with state healthcare policy in Ukraine, it is necessary to strengthen control over violations of anti-tobacco legislation, to counteract the conflict of interest in this area, to interact with tobacco corporations with utmost openness if it is unavoidable, and to inform the public and media on instances of 'lobbying' of tobacco industry's interests," Transparency International Ukraine said in a press release. To stop the influence of tobacco corporations, Transparency International Ukraine suggest restricting the interaction between public authorities and tobacco industry in legislation. "If such interaction is necessary, it has to be absolutely transparent. For instance, every public official who is authorized to make decisions on regulation or taxation of tobacco products has to declare in writing real and potential conflicts of interest or absence thereof," the organization said. According to TI Ukraine's invited expert on monitoring of the conflict of interest in the tobacco industry Serhiy Mytkalyk, 'lobbying' the interests of tobacco industry is a systemic phenomenon and takes place in several areas. "We found that the consideration of forward-looking bills that comply with EU directives Nos. 2820 and 4030a is deliberately protracted by lawmakers. To date, bills, which passed through the [relevant] committees have not been put to a vote for more than six months," he said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Wednesday. According to the expert, another area of 'lobbying' the interests of the tobacco industry is the sabotage of control over violation of the anti-tobacco legislation. "The State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection, in accordance with the law, imposes fines and financial sanctions on business entities, that is, owners of restaurants and bars for violation of the smoking ban. But the law does not define the possibility of the service to carry out inspections. The very word 'control measure', that is, verification, is absent from the law," Mitkalik said. Transparency International Ukraine, the Ukrainian Institute for Strategic Studies of the Ministry of Healthcare of Ukraine, NGO Zhyttia (Life) and the Ukrainian Tobacco Control Center have called on the authorities to take into account these recommendations to counteract the tobacco corporations influence. 2008-2022 One News Page Ltd. All rights reserved. One News is a registered trademark of One News Page Ltd. allAfrica.com 26 Sep 2022 [New Zimbabwe] President Emmerson Mnangagwa has claimed that he refused to go to the British embassy in Harare to sign the book of.. The Wrap 16 Dec 2020 Skydance Animation is in discussions to sell Apple its first two animated films, Luck and Spellbound, an individual.. CBS 11 Dallas 24 Oct 2020 The crash happened in a neighborhood southeast of Mobile, near the city of Foley and the town of Magnolia Springs. euronews (in English) 10 Nov 2021 Several NGOs said they would gather to remove the mural on the International Day Against Fascism and Antisemitism, but Serbia's.. (Xinhua) 07:38, November 22, 2017 File photo taken on Nov. 17, 2017 shows Robert Mugabe (L) officiating at the graduation ceremony of Zimbabwe Open University in Harare, capital of Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe resigns as president of Zimbabwe. (Xinhua) HARARE, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has resigned. His resignation was announced Tuesday by Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda during a joint sitting of Senate and National Assembly that was debating his impeachment motion. In his resignation letter Mugabe said: "I, Robert Gabriel Mugabe, in terms of Section 96 sub section 1 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe hereby formally tender my resignation as the President of Zimbabwe with immediate effect." He continued: "My decision to resign is voluntary on my part and arises from my concern with the welfare of the people of Zimbabwe and my desire to ensure a smooth, peaceful and non-violent transition of power that underpins national security, peace and stability." Mudenda immediately announced suspension of debate and said he will immediately put in place proper legal processes to install a new country president no later than end of Wednesday. The resignation came two days after the ruling Zanu-PF party deposed Mugabe as leader, and also recalled him from government over a litany of charges. The party had given Mugabe until mid-day on Monday to resign, but he ignored the deadline, prompting Zanu-PF legislators on Tuesday to start parliamentary impeachment proceedings against him. However, as the impeachment proceedings got underway, Mugabe abruptly resigned, ending almost four decades of near total dominance of Zimbabwe's political landscape. Zimbabwe Former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa persuaded Mugabe to resign and said he will not return to Zimbabwe until he is satisfied that his personal security is guaranteed. In a press statement released on Tuesday morning, Mnangagwa confirmed that he had spoken with Mugabe Monday. He called on Mugabe to resign in line with the wishes of the people who demanded his resignation as they demonstrated at the weekend in support of the Zimbabwe Defense Forces (ZDF) who took over government operations last Tuesday. He said he had told Mugabe that the current political and constitutional crisis in the country was not a matter between the two of them but between the people of Zimbabwe and Mugabe. "The people of Zimbabwe have clearly spoken on this matter. To me the voice of the people is the voice of God and their lack of trust and confidence in the leadership of President Mugabe has been expressed. "The people of Zimbabwe have spoken with one voice and it is my appeal to President Mugabe that he should take heed of this clarion call by the people of Zimbabwe to resign so that the country can move forward and preserve his legacy," he said. He said he had told Mugabe that he had two options: either cooperate with the defense forces for a peaceful resolution to the crisis which would result in the preservation of his legacy or continue to dig in and suffer humiliation because definitely the will of the people would prevail against one person. In neighboring country South Africa, traffic reportedly came to a standstill in its largest city Johannesburg on Tuesday as thousands of Zimbabweans went to the streets to celebrate following the resignation of their President Robert Mugabe. A 30 year old teacher Yeukai Shumba said she loves the former president Mugabe, however, Mugabe made a mistake by allowing his wife to control him. "We need change in our country. We have been struggling for so long... Definitely, I would go back home. I love my country, I am proudly a Zimbabwean. I know things won't change overnight but I would like to see more jobs for our youths. I would also want to see improvement in our health sector and our education must be affordable to all people," she said. Another Zimbabwean teacher, based in Johannesburg, Sylvester Simanga Dube, welcomed Mugabe's resignation. He said many Zimbabweans are homesick having been in the foreign lands for years. "Well I don't mind who comes in as president but there are signs that we are going to have a fresh promising restart. The new leader must work on economic revival and must have an appealing voice to the international community," he said. Earlier on Tuesday, Zimbabwean state media New Ziana reported that South African President Jacob Zuma and his Angolan counterpart Joao Lourenco will travel to Zimbabwe on Wednesday to assess the political situation in the country. Chinese student dies at university in U.S. state of Massachusetts (Xinhua) 08:11, November 22, 2017 NEW YORK, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese student at Brandeis University in U.S. state of Massachusetts died Sunday, the Chinese Consulate General in New York confirmed Tuesday. The student was found dead after returning from a gathering, with no obvious injury, the consulate general said, quoting updates from the university. Police are investigating the cause of his death. His family has been notified, the consulate general said, without giving more information. In a separate development, an armed robbery was reported at Brandeis University Monday night, in which no one was hurt, according to campus police. Police learned that "two non-community members had entered a student room, one threatened three students in the room with a gun, and then both fled campus," the university said Tuesday in a statement on Twitter. The campus was placed on lockdown after the incident was reported. Campus and local police searched the campus and surrounding area, only to find no suspects, the statement said. The lockdown was subsequently lifted, and the campus resumed normal operations, the university said. China is "pleased to see" Japan's enthusiasm for the Belt and Road Initiative, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said. The Belt and Road Initiative is an international public product offered by China to promote development and cooperation, Lu told a regular press briefing on Tuesday, adding that it has been an open and inclusive platform from the beginning. He was responding to Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono's praise of the infrastructural and trade development initiative during a speech last Saturday. Kono said the initiative would be very beneficial to the global economy if it is open and available to all. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang speaks at a press briefing in Beijing on November 21. /Photo via Chinese Foreign Ministry China, Lu said, is committed to the principle of achieving shared growth through discussion and collaboration in pursuing the Belt and Road. He noted that the prorject will not only facilitate China's opening-up and development, but also create greater opportunities for Japan and other countries as well as the world economy. Proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, which aims to build trade and infrastructure networks connecting Asia with Europe and Africa on and beyond the ancient Silk Road routes. Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during the 25th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic (APEC) Leaders' Meeting in Da Nang, Vietnam, November 11. /Xinhua Photo Warmer China-Japan ties Bilateral relations between China and Japan have shown signs of improvement over the past months, as the two countries celebrate the 45th anniversary of the normalization of their ties this year and the 40th anniversary of the signing of the China-Japan Treaty of Peace and Friendship in 2018. President Xi and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang held talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe earlier this month on the sidelines of two international meetings. Both sides expressed a desire to expand cooperation within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative. A record 250-strong delegation of Japanese business and entrepreneurial heavyweights kicked off their annual visit to China on Monday, with the initiative high on their agenda. Japanese media said the country's private sector is increasingly keen on the initiative and the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China has set up a committee to gather information on it. During his meeting with the Japanese business delegation on Tuesday, the Chinese premier called on the two countries to cherish the trend of improvement in bilateral ties and enhance economic and trade cooperation. China and Japan should view each other's development as opportunities and contribute to the building of an East Asian economic community, Li said. The Japanese delegates said they hope economic cooperation will benefit both sides as well as Asia and the rest of the world. Bennett ends Quakers season in AA semifinals After allowing 460-yards and five touchdowns in their Sept. 24 matchup, Orchard Park head coach decided that if Bennett was... Quakers reach Sectional Finals vs Lancaster Orchard Park boys volleyball coach Rick Albano always wants his team to be playing their best volleyball at the end... Bertola leads harriers on record day at sectionals Orchard Park cross-country coach Steve Dillsworth went pretty far back into the history of Quakers cross-country, and he was unable... All-Bee Girls Soccer Majority of First Team are past honorees Many of the First Team selections on the 2022 All- Bee Girls Soccer Team are no strangers to the all-star... When Thomas Tyner takes the field at Autzen Stadium Saturday for the 121st Civil War, it will be a unique experience for the former Oregon Ducks running back. Tyner, who medically retired following the 2014 season after two years with the Ducks, will make his first appearance at Autzen in facing his former team as a member of the rival Oregon State Beavers. "It'll definitely be a little weird," Tyner said after OSU practice Tuesday, "but I'm more excited than anything, just because the whole rivalry and that game is so big for the state. Being able to play in it again, and for a different team, and not a lot of people get to do that. It's a very unique situation so I'm more excited than anything." In the video above, Tyner discusses the Civil War, facing his former team, and his future beyond this season. Jamie Hale/The Oregonian by Jamie Hale | The Oregonian, OregonLive While decorating your Christmas tree with baubles and lights, you might be inclined to consider how it got there. Did it come from a farm? A forest? Who cut it down? How long did it grow? How far was its journey? If you got your tree in the Portland area, there's a decent chance it came from McKenzie Farms, a local Christmas tree empire that uses manpower, trucks and a helicopter in its massive annual harvest. The Estacada Christmas tree farm is big really big. Every year you might come into contact with one or two Christmas trees, but McKenzie exports nearly 800,000. You've been thinking about that tree since Thanksgiving, but McKenzie has been growing it for the last decade. Don't Edit Don't Edit The farm has been in business since 1991, surviving the bumps of the Great Recession and emerging as a major player in the national Christmas tree industry. McKenzie Farms exports its firs to Asia, Hawaii, Mexico and the eastern U.S. before harvesting for local Orchard Supply Hardware, Lowe's and Home Depot stores, among others. "I call it a passion," farm owner McKenzie "Ken" Cook said. "A passion for Christmas trees and what it means in a person's home." That passion is a year-round process on the farm's 197 fields, where some 8 million trees are in the ground at different stages of growth. Most are noble and Douglas firs, with smaller stands of grand and Nordmann firs mixed in. Each tree grows for eight years, on average, and when its time comes it begins a swift and complex journey to your living room. Don't Edit Jamie Hale/The Oregonian Don't Edit Every Christmas tree from McKenzie Farms is touched at least 11 times before it gets to the customer, Cook said many more times if you factor in its journey at the store. "The average consumer, they have no idea what goes into a Christmas tree," he said. "These trees become personal to us; their needs become our needs." Those needs are attended to throughout the winter, spring and summer at the farm, when workers are busy sowing, growing and tagging. It's all a preamble, though, to fall, when the real action begins. Don't Edit Don't Edit Jamie Hale/The Oregonian Don't Edit On a drizzly November morning at the farm's headquarters near Estacada, teams of workers are spread out among McKenzie's patchwork of fields, cutting pre-tagged trees and tying them into bundles with rope. They could drive in a tractor and haul the trees out a process Cook calls "mudding" but instead the farm uses a slightly more expensive, but ultimately much more effective method: helicopter. After the workers bundle up the trees in a field, a helicopter flies in and picks up the bunches one at a time, taking them to the edge of the field, where the trees are bailed and transported in small trucks to the main loading area. The pilot makes dozens of runs in each field, swooping back and forth with swift, mechanical ease. The bailed trees are then taken to a large loading area by the farm's office, where they're stacked in huge piles, arranged by size and destination. Soon after arriving, workers load them into freight trucks, which take McKenzie's Christmas trees far and wide. The process is necessarily fast, to ensure freshness of the trees upon arrival, Cook said. Once cut, trees are usually shipped off the farm within 96 hours. Don't Edit Jamie Hale/The Oregonian Don't Edit McKenzie Farms is just one part though a big part of Oregon's massive Christmas tree industry. Oregon farms harvested 5.2 million trees in 2016, according to the Pacific Northwest Christmas Tree Association, far more than any other state. The industry as a whole, however, is still bouncing back from the recession, which forced the closure of many farms and nearly took out McKenzie. The industry had hit its high-water mark in 2002, when wholesale revenues reached $130 million, but cratered during the recession to $98 million. Recent years haven't been much better. In 2016, Oregon revenues totaled only $90 million. This year, farms are raising prices on trees to make up for a short supply that has finally caught up from the tail end of the recession. That may be an added humbug for consumers this season, but it should help keep the industry humming along as it continues to cycle out of a downturn. The folks at McKenzie Farms don't seem to be worried. Throughout all the ups and the downs, the farm will keep doing what it does best: harvest boatloads of Christmas trees, from Willamette Valley fields to living rooms around the world. --Jamie Hale | jhale@oregonian.com | @HaleJamesB Don't Edit Jamie Hale/The Oregonian Don't Edit A weekly collection of new hires, transitions, promotions and award winners in Oregon and southwest Washington: Don't Edit Natalie Behring & Amanda Cowen Columbia Credit Union Columbia Credit Union was awarded the 2017 Presidential Award for Excellence in Philanthropy by the Clark College Foundation for its commitment to the Vancouver college and the community. Columbias gifts have supported several Clark College educational initiatives, including upgrades to its Pharmacy Technician program and the building a simulation pharmacy, as well as the construction of a new STEM building and expansion of its science, technology, engineering and math programs. Don't Edit Suterra Oregon OSHA announced that Suterra LLC, a Bend company that provides bio-rational products for crop protection and commercial pest control, has graduated from its Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program. SHARP provides incentives for Oregon employers to work with their employees to find and correct hazards and develop and implement effective safety and health programs. Don't Edit Oregon Board of Maritime Pilots Marc Warren was named executive director of the Oregon Board of Maritime Pilots. Warren worked as a regulatory specialist for the Oregon Liquor Control Commission and spent 25 years with the U.S. Coast Guard, serving as a commanding officer and, most recently, an enforcement division chief. Warren will collaborate with board members, state-licensed maritime pilots, shipping industry representatives and contractors, as well as with environmental, state and federal regulatory agencies and Oregonians to implement the objectives and goals of OBMP. Don't Edit Oregon Medical Association The Oregon Medical Association announced the selection of Dr. Fred C. Williams Jr., a neurological surgeon with Tuality Healthcare in Hillsboro, as its president-elect. Williams will become the 143rd president, succeeding Dr. Kevin Reavis, at the OMA's next annual conference, in September 2018. Williams joined Tuality Healthcare in 2014 and has been a part of its award-winning stroke team. He also held appointments at Hillsboro Neurosurgical Associates and the Neurosurgical Associates Medical Group of Fresno, California. Don't Edit Don't Edit The Portland Clinic The Portland Clinic has hired two new providers: Family nurse practitioner Tina Landeros holds a master's degree from Gonzaga University and will work with patient emergencies in the Tigard office. Leah Jobson will work as a physician assistant at the East Clinic branch. Jobson will support doctors and nurses with holistic, patient-centered preventive healthcare and mental healthcare. Don't Edit KeyBank Oleg Sidyaga has joined KeyBank as vice president and senior business banking relationship manager. He will be located in KeyBank's Pearl District branch in Portland and will assist with clients in the Sunset and Raleigh Hills offices. Don't Edit Pacific Cascade Federal Credit Union Pacific Cascade Federal Credit Union of Lane County has a new chief executive. Jackie Hoonjan took over as CEO in October following the retirement of Bob Harris. Don't Edit Hueya Hueya, an online safety tools provider based in Bend, selected Jonathan Steinbach to be its director of strategic business development. Steinbach will lead the company's expansion efforts into commercial markets as well as the U.S. military and intelligence communities. Don't Edit Redhawk Network Security Redhawk Network Security, a provider of information security, network, and managed security services based in Bend, said Mike Hall has joined company as senior network engineer. Hall has more than 20 years of security and networking experience and brings extensive knowledge of network design, firewall design, network administration and disaster recovery planning. Don't Edit Don't Edit Contact us Have a new hire, promotion or business award to share? Email us at business@oregonian.com, and put Attention: Business Movers in the subject line. The vacant floors of the Meier & Frank building have at least one future tenant. Oregon State University announced Tuesday that it will occupy the second floor of the historic building in downtown Portland. The new location will give the state's largest university a major foothold in Portland's central core and close proximity to Portland State University and the University of Oregon's two buildings in Old Town Chinatown. The bottom five floors of the Meier & Frank building have sat empty since Macy's closed its doors this spring. The Cincinnati-based retailer sold its space to a California real estate investment group, KBS, for $54 million late last year. At the time, KBS told The Oregonian/OregonLive that it planned to redevelop the property into "a best-in-class" facility with street-level retail and creative office space. According to OSU's announcement, the Corvallis-based university will occupy the second floor 39,509 square feet of space beginning Aug. 1, 2018. University spokesman Steve Clark said the university has signed a 10-year lease for the space, and will pay about $115,000 a month (roughly $1.4 million total) in the first year. The price of the prime real estate is worth it, he said, because it provides a prominent location for the university with good access to transit. The space will serve as a new Portland base for OSU, whose footprint in the city includes The Food Innovation Center in the Pearl District. It also operates a pharmacy program in collaboration with Oregon Health & Science University in the South Waterfront. Clark said the university's new space will house offices from OSU's foundation and alumni association, which are currently located a few blocks away. Advisers will also work there, serving the 1,000-plus students in the Portland area who take online classes. The floor will also be home to OSU's Advantage Accelerator, which helps local businesses. "We're very happy to have this opportunity," Clark said. "We believe the central location makes perfect sense." Though KBS, the building's owner, initially said retail would take up the first two floors, Tuesday's announcement said shops would occupy the ground floor, with "additional tenants" in the third through fifth floors. Previously, KBS has said it hoped to dedicate the upper floors to creative office space. The 15-story Meier & Frank building occupies a whole city block at Southwest Fifth Avenue and Morrison Street, adjacent to Pioneer Courthouse. The upper floors house The Nines hotel, the Urban Farmer steakhouse and rooftop bar Departure. Andrew Theen of The Oregonian/OregonLive contributed to this report. -- Anna Marum amarum@oregonian.com 503-294-5911 @annamarum NOTE: This story was originally published on Nov 21. It was updated on Nov. 22 at 11: 53 a.m. to reflect additional remarks by school district spokesman Dave Northfield. Portland Public Schools' top lawyer isn't licensed to practice law in Oregon despite being on staff since June. Now he is quitting the job that requires him to hold that credential. Jim Harris resigned after less than six months on the job, Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero announced Monday. The Oregon State Bar informed Harris on Nov. 9 that it is investigating whether he illegally practiced law by serving as the school district's general counsel without being admitted to practice in Oregon. Harris did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday. District spokesman Dave Northfield was adamant Tuesday that Harris' exit had nothing to do with his lack of a proper license. He told The Oregonian/OregonLive Harris expects to be admitted to the Oregon bar later this month. On Wednesday, after this story ran, Northfield responded to questions The Oregonian/OregonLive had posed Monday about Harris' license. "Jim is permitted to practice law in Oregon temporarily while he gets his license," Northfield said in a statement, adding that district officials knew he needed to be admitted to the Oregon Bar. "Jim Harris has a pristine record from his legal career and he has always operated at (Portland Public Schools) with the highest degree of integrity," Northfield said. School board chair Julia Brim-Edwards only learned about Harris' lack of credential recently. She asked this month that Harris not sit with the board or advise them during meetings until he became an Oregon Bar member. "The lack of licensing was a surprise and now that I am aware of it, it wouldn't be appropriate to continue to have the board advised at a public meeting by an individual who is not currently licensed to practice in Oregon," Brim-Edwards wrote to the district's director of human resources. "This request is not based on any particular issue with the individual in the (general counsel) role, rather it is a matter of professional best practice." State board publications say that anyone who is not an active member of the Oregon bar but "appears in court on behalf of others, drafts or selects legal documents, advises others of legal rights, ... holds him or herself out to be a lawyer, or has a law office in Oregon, regardless of where his or her clients are located, may be engaged in the unlawful practice of law." Harris's departure paves the way for Guerrero, who took the reins in October, to hand-pick another top employee who shares his vision to lead a troubled district to better days. Guerrero said in an email to district employees Monday that he has hired experienced local lawyer Elizabeth Large to serve as interim general counsel. He expressed confidence in her. "I am looking forward to collaborating closely with her as we proactively work towards the resolution of all current litigation in the district," he wrote in his email. Earlier this month, Guerrero fired his second-in-command, Deputy Chief Operating Officer Yousef Awwad. According to a spokesman, Guerrero took that step "to begin building a new leadership team that complements his leadership style." The district is also in the midst of recruiting a new deputy superintendent of instruction and new chief academic officer. The reason for Harris' departure is unknown. Guerrero said Harris will continue to work for Portland schools for a couple weeks to help Large transition into the role. Guerrero wrote in his email that Harris "intends to pursue a career opportunity closer to his home on the East Coast." Harris came to Oregon's largest school district from Pennsylvania, where he was general counsel for Pittsburgh's housing authority. Interim Superintendent Bob McKean selected him in May after a national search. At the time, McKean called out a breadth of areas in which Harris held expertise. But education law was not one of them. Harris had, however, studied to teach, which McKean saw as a huge asset. According to state bar spokeswoman Kateri Walsh, it generally takes four to five months for a lawyer credentialed in another state, as Harris was, to be admitted to the bar in Oregon. Bar publications say "the length of the application process is determined by several factors," including the speed of a character and fitness investigation, how long it takes the applicant to complete 15 continuing legal education credits and how long it takes law schools or other third parties to submit documents. General counsel at Portland Public Schools is a demanding job, especially now. Harris stepped in weeks before three new board members took office. McKean tapped Harris knowing the legal department needed a makeover and with the intention Harris could skillfully execute change. "He has more than 30 years' experience in the turnaround/creation, staffing and operation of legal, real estate and construction departments," McKean's statement when he hired Harris said. "He has a demonstrated ability to recruit and develop professional staffs." Just how big those expectations were for Harris became evident early on. In August, The Oregonian published an investigation into how the district helped an educator evade allegations of sexual misconduct. The story prompted the board to pledge an independent investigation. In response to the article, board member Mike Rosen blasted in-house and outside lawyers for giving the board "awful" advice on the matter. That, of course, was not a reflection on Harris who had just arrived, but did outline a firm desire for change and tough questions. Pressure increased for the legal department to work hard on new policies to respond to sexual misconduct, including hiring an employee Harris would oversee who would handle those matters. Meanwhile, wider scrutiny fell on a decision made by one of his deputies, Stephanie Harper, before Harris was hired. When Harper was serving as interim general counsel, Portland Public Schools sued a parent and reporter in order to keep records about paid leave secret. The Associated Press highlighted the lawsuit in a September story, which put the records battle on a national stage. Although the district had in the past deemed this information public, Harper said that interpretation was incorrect because releasing the names of employees on paid leave could cause people to leap to an incorrect conclusion that the employee was accused of wrongdoing. Another high-profile case also fell into Harris' lap: a racial harassment lawsuit brought by two maintenance workers had gone to trial in May. While the jury returned a $1 million verdict, the case was not yet behind the district. Harris was called on to counsel the board as its members decided to appeal the verdict while also exploring a settlement. In addition, the teachers union still doesn't have a contract, a situation that could erupt into a strike if the district and the union don't reach an agreement soon. The district did not release Harris' salary or resignation letter. Northfield said the staff member who could get those materials is out this week. Bethany Barnes Got a tip about Portland Public Schools? Email Bethany: bbarnes@oregonian.com Air China has suspended flights to the DPRK due to "unideal operation," China's The Paper reported citing the airline's official. Air China cancelled flights to the DPRK in April, but was soon resumed in May 5, with two flights scheduled a week. According to Air China, that time's suspension was caused by low customer demand, and so is this time. "I haven't heard of this situation. Even if it's true, the airliners just work out their own operation plans based on the state of operation and the market," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a press briefing on Tuesday when asked about this move. The Xian-Chengdu high-speed railway kicked off test runs, as a CRH3A high-speed train pulled out of the Chengdu East Railway Station in Chengdu at 8:45 a.m., Nov. 22. The train arrived at Xian North Railway Station at around 1 p.m. The 643-km Xian-Chengdu railway, which links Xian, capital of northwest Chinas Shaanxi province, and Chengdu, capital of southwest Chinas Sichuan province, will come on stream later this year. The trains will run at a designed speed of 250 km/h, slashing travel time between the two cities from 10 hours to about four. They will also cut travel time from Chengdu to Beijing from 14 hours to eight hours, and shorten travel time from Chongqing to Xian to around five hours. The test runs will last till the railway is officially opened. During this period, railway departments will conduct final checks on signals, tracks, trains, stations, and other passenger services, according to the Chengdu Railway Bureau. The high-speed railway plays an important role in the countrys transportation network. It will strengthen economic ties between the two provinces and shorten the time it takes to reach the Yangtze River Delta Economic Zone and the Bohai Bay Economic Rim. Egypt's Prosecutor-General Nabil Sadek ordered on Wednesday 29 suspects detained for 15 days pending investigation into charges of engaging in espionage with Turkey, state-run news agency MENA reported. The 29 suspects, along with others who are fugitives abroad, are accused of joining a terrorist organisation, circumventing the countrys phone networks for international communication, money laundering, and illegal currency trading, according to a statement by the prosecutor-general. The statement did not state when the defendants were arrested. According to National Security investigations, the defendants formed a network with fugitive members of the Muslim Brotherhood abroad to monitor and record phone calls of Egyptian citizens to gauge their views on the situation in the country. Egyptian intelligence agencies revealed a plot between Turkish intelligence and members of the international Muslim Brotherhood to take over power in Egypt by destabilising state institutions. The State Security prosecution said it would continue to release statements on the case while maintaining confidentiality with regards to information that could harm the country's national security. Relations between Turkey and Egypt have been strained since the 2013 ouster of Egypts Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, a close ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's AKP government. Erdogan has repeatedly slammed the Egyptian government over Morsi's removal. Cairo has repeatedly accused Ankara of interference in its domestic affairs and supporting Islamist terrorists who carry out attacks in Egypt. Turkey has been providing a safe haven for leading members of the Brotherhood, which has been banned and designated as terrorist in Egypt. Ankara also allows broadcasts from within Turkey of TV stations run by sympathisers of the Brotherhood who criticise the government of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi. Political relations between the two countries are currently suspended, though economic ties are still active. Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail will leave on a three-week trip to Germany on Thursday to undergo gastrointestinal tract surgery, according to a cabinet statement issued on Wednesday. In a phone interview with private TV network Al-Hayat on Wednesday evening, Egyptian cabinet spokesman Ashraf Sultan explained that the presidency has the authority to appoint an acting PM during Ismails absence. Ismail has been serving as PM since he was appointed by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi in September 2015. Search Keywords: Short link: The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said Wednesday it would reopen a key Red Sea port and Sanaa airport to aid, after a more than two-week blockade following a missile attack on Riyadh. The coalition said it would reopen Hodeida port to receive "urgent humanitarian and relief materials" and Sanaa airport to UN aircraft from midday on Thursday (0900 GMT). Hodeida, which is controlled by Houthi rebels who backed by Iran, is a key conduit for much-needed food and medicine imports to Yemen. The coalition imposed a total blockade of Yemen's ports and airports two days after the Houthis fired a missile at Saudi Arabia on November 4. The missile was intercepted near Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport. The United Nations Security Council on November 9 called for the blockade to be lifted, warning that otherwise Yemen would face "the largest famine the world has seen for decades". The Houthi government on Tuesday announced the country's main international airport was fully functional again, a week after a Saudi-led air strike reportedly destroyed the facility's navigation system. The airport had been open to only select humanitarian flights. The country also faces a deadly cholera epidemic and millions stand at the brink of official famine. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says Yemen is highly dependent on imported wheat for its basic needs. *This story was edited by Ahram Online. Search Keywords: Short link: This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Tuesday was a happy day in court, giving a chance for families to celebrate the very idea of family with Adoption Day. The day is celebrated statewide with the finalization of adoptions, and in Midland County, three children found their forever families Adreanah, age 4; Jaylen, 10; and Holly, 14. Well, are we ready to have a party? Midland County Probate Judge Dorene S. Allen asked those packed into the courtroom. Among the guests were Michigan Supreme Court Justices Kurtis T. Wilder and Elizabeth T. Clement, and Angels in Adoption recipients Rachel and Gail Locke. Last but not least, the theme of the day was superheroes, so of course Superman, Supergirl and Superdog all of whom were adopted were on hand. It is a great honor to be here, Wilder said. These ceremonies are always the most fun days. Adoption Day is the first official hearing for Clement since she was sworn in as a justice on Friday. She said the hearing was extra special to her for another reason she has an adopted niece and nephew as well. Also attending the hearing were Midland Countys judiciary, Circuit Judges Stephen P. Carras and Michael J. Beale, and District Judge Michael D. Carpenter. How wonderful to be able to say my parents chose me, Carpenter said. The children being adopted were invited to take part in many traditions unique to the day, such as keeping the blinking pen that was used to sign their order, a chance to use the gavel to adjourn their own court proceeding and a special surprise gift marking the occasion. First up was Adreanah, whose adoptive parents, Christopher and Amanda Baker, wore matching T-shirts proclaiming the day. Christopher said he and Amanda also had Adreanahs little brother in their home for 18 months, and helped his father fight his addictions in order to be reunited. He thanked everyone in the process who helped them to adopt Adreanah, who sat patiently in Amandas lap during the hearing. Midland County Assistant Prosecutor Patrick Czerwinski noted the Bakers were an incredibly grateful family. Jaylens case was open for a long time, Attorney Referee Angela Cole said, adding she would never forget the day his uncle from Ohio came to court with plans to adopt. It makes my heart very happy to be here for your adoption today, Cole said. Adopting Jaylen was Ryan Griffin, who said leaving his small business and schooling to travel to Michigan for the adoption was worth it. He also thanked Jaylens foster mom and maternal grandmother for all their help. Were gonna be all right, and happy, he said. The last adoption of the morning was that of Holly, who was adopted by Trena and Brian Yager. Dan Duke, who was Hollys attorney ad litem, said the teen always made it clear what she wanted and expected, and others commented that she had been through a lot to reach her adoption day. You are an amazing girl, Czerwinski said. Shes been a blessing to us, Trena Yager said. Its an honor to have her in our home. Wilder also told the story of Rob Scheer. Scheer was the guest speaker at Adoption Day festivities at the states Supreme Court. Scheers mother died of breast cancer when he was 10 years old, and soon after his father died. His stepfather abandoned him, and by his 18th birthday, his foster father realized he would no longer be paid to care for Scheer. Thats how Scheer found himself homeless during his senior year in high school, sleeping in public bathrooms, rarely able to wash his clothes, and loading his bag with food to make it through weekends. He ended up becoming a successful businessman and founded Comfort Cases, a charity that provides overnight bags filled with comfort items to children entering the foster care system. His goal is to help foster kids avoid the trauma he faced without a forever home. Im proud that adoptions are being finalized in 30 counties today, Wilder said, adding 2,000 children were adopted in 2017 through the Department of Health and Human Services. For Wilder, who has participated in Adoption Day ceremonies before, the excitement comes in watching the children and the families that are creating a new family unit. Its tremendous to watch the emotions, he said. Wilder noted those of us who grew up in stable family situations dont always understand what its like for these children, who enter the system through various pathways. One way, he explained, is a child who arrives at the hospital with a suspicious injury which results in the DHHS being contacted. The real goal of the courts is to reunite families, he said, adding that means helping with a plethora of problems from drug and alcohol abuse to mental health problems. The courts are hoping to reunite these families. Sometimes, the problems cant be resolved in a time frame that is healthy for the children involved. I think the court is able to recognize when a parent really is trying, Clement said. Its when theres multiple setbacks. Those are difficult decisions, definitely. The DHHS is using November, which has been proclaimed as Adoption Month in Michigan, to highlight the 330 children in the states foster care system who are looking for adoptive homes. The agency also is looking for additional foster care homes. For more information on children who are available for adoption, go to www.mare.org We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription. Pressure mounted Wednesday on Germany's Social Democrat leader Martin Schulz to reconsider an alliance with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and stop Europe's biggest economy from sinking into months of paralysis. Schulz has repeatedly said the SPD would not return as the junior coalition partner in a government led by Merkel, after suffering a stinging defeat in September's general election. But after Merkel's bid at forging a coalition with other parties fell apart, plunging Germany into a political crisis, voices within and outside the SPD have grown louder in questioning Schulz's decision and push for another election. President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who holds the power to call snap polls and who is himself a senior Social Democrat, has said that this "is the moment when all participants need to reconsider their attitude". Steinmeier will meet Schulz on Thursday. The president has already held talks with the leaders of parties in the failed coalition talks -- the pro-business FDP -- which halted the negotiations, the ecologist Greens and Merkel's Bavarian allies the CSU. As the crisis shows no signs of abating, the Sueddeutsche daily reported that "in the SPD, unease is growing over its clear refusal of a grand coalition". "One must speak with the president openly, without already insisting on your own point of view," Johannes Kahrs, who leads the right-leaning wing of the SPD, told Bild daily. EU Budget Commissioner Guenther Oettinger also urged the SPD to reexamine its stance. "With a view on Germany's ability to take action in Europe, the SPD should once again consider if it should not join a government," Oettinger, a CSU politician, told Spiegel weekly. Schulz himself told national news agency DPA on Wednesday that he is "certain, that we will find a good solution for our country in the coming days and weeks". He added that his party "is well aware of its responsibility in the current difficult situation." Schulz's comments came as Bild reported that "resistance is growing" against him. The "most prominent secret advocate for a new grand coalition is deputy chancellor Sigmar Gabriel", added Germany's top-selling daily. Schulz has declared that he was ready for a snap poll, but latest surveys show that an early election would likely deliver similar results to September's -- and the risk of potentially getting a worse score than the record low 20.5 percent is something that SPD members fear. "While a majority of rank and file members is fundamentally opposed to another stint in government, parts of the party's establishment feel that throwing a life-line to Merkel could well be preferable to unpredictable alternatives," said Michael Broening, political analyst at the SPD-linked Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. "At the very least it would enable the Social Democrats to push for a whole list of social democratic demands and basically dictate the terms of what is widely expected to be Merkel's last government," he added. With former finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble out of the way, the SPD could even make a play for the powerful ministry at a time when the public treasury is bulging with 45 billion euros, German media suggested. Seemingly backpedalling from Schulz's snap poll call, SPD parliamentary group chief Andrea Nahles said Monday she would not rule out backing a Merkel-led minority government. The party's rank and file are also wondering if former European Parliament chief Schulz is the best man to lead them into any new election campaign, according to media reports two weeks before the SPD's annual congress. "Too many mistakes during the election, missteps with new appointments and -- worst of all -- a misjudgement of the public's current mood," Bild said. Search Keywords: Short link: NORMAL Normal Township has decided to give up property tax money over the next decade to bring up to 500 jobs to McLean County. Nearly a week after board members postponed a decision on an abatement to bring the Brandt Group of Companies, a Canadian agriculture manufacturer, to the soon-to-be-vacated Kongskilde factory in rural Normal, the same deal passed 3-2 Wednesday after more debate about the agreement. Because future assessments for the properties are unknown, the total value of the abatements can't be calculated, but using the most recent assessment available, they would add up to about $637,000. McLean County Unit 5 makes up 65 percent of that total; McLean County, 12 percent; Heartland Community College, 8 percent; Hudson Community Fire Protection District, 8 percent; Hudson Area Public Library, 3 percent; Normal Township, 3 percent; and Normal Township Road District, 1 percent. The share for the township and its road district totals at least $19,000. Unit 5, McLean County and Heartland also have approved the agreement. The Hudson fire district will vote Monday, and the Hudson library will follow on Tuesday. Normal Township board members Arlene Hosea and Sally Pyne, who voiced concerns last week about the short turnaround on the deal it was published earlier that week joined Ray Ropp in voting "yes" Wednesday morning. Ropp previously voted against delaying the decision. "I don't think in any agreement that you get all you want," said Ropp. "This is an opportunity to benefit our community, even though we may not be fully supportive of the procedure. We can't afford not to take advantage of this." Township Supervisor Sarah Grammer and board member Sam Quigle voted "no." Grammer said last week the deal doesn't do enough to protect the township, including requiring specific investment totals and using "clawback" provisions that allow taxing bodies to recover abated money if a project fails. Officials have said clawback provisions are difficult to enforce, and they prefer to make incentives depend on performance, as they are in the Brandt deal. "My concern is that ... we are really underselling ourselves, and that we're not showing just Brandt the kind of community that we are with this deal, but we're showing all future manufacturers that come here the kind of community we are by settling for this quality of an agreement," said Grammer. "They choose (to come here) because we are struggling and so we'll take whatever deals that come our way," said Quigle after the meeting. "I want to be the community that jobs come to us and they say, 'What can we give you?' instead of 'What can you give us?'" Kyle Ham, president of the Bloomington-Normal Economic Development Council, said the deal is "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for McLean County to bring good-paying jobs." "I understand all these arguments. I'm a former small-town mayor. I take taxpayers' dollars seriously," said Ham. "But we will not see another opportunity like this, probably in my lifetime. In Illinois it just doesn't happen. ... When people say, 'What happens next,' I'm afraid there won't be a next." Public comments at the meeting were unanimously opposed to the deal. DWIGHT Fire departments in Dwight and Streator are investigating two recent fires, including one in which a Dwight man suffered a heart attack and died after escaping from a garage fire Saturday night. Donald Heinrich, 53, died after he had been rescued from the fire reported about 5 p.m. Saturday night in the 100 block of Seminole Street, said Grundy County Coroner John Callahan. The preliminary cause indicates a cardiac event that could have been accelerated by a traumatic event that took place in his garage that evening, Callahan said. It is unknown at this time what may have actually started the fire. Callahan stated that Heinrich had several health issues and the preliminary investigation revealed that he may have changed out the motor of his electric wheelchair. Two on-duty Dwight emergency medical personnel, a Dwight police officer and several bystanders risked their own safety to enter the burning garage to rescue Heinrich, said Dwight Fire Chief Paul Johnson. The fire remains under investigation by the state fire marshal, Grundy County fire investigators and the Grundy County coroners office. Johnson said the fire highlighted the Dwight Fire Department's need for more local volunteers. The people of Dwight always seem to have an outpouring of assistance in a time of need, he said. Everyone in our town seems to be willing to go out of their way to help when things get bad for someone. As fire chief of the Dwight Fire Protection District, I am reaching out to the community asking for your help. Of the 40 firefighters on the department, only 10 live in Dwight, he said. The job of a volunteer firefighter is not an easy one; when someone calls the fire department, it isnt typically because they are having a good day, he said, but we need more local volunteers. In Streator, officials are investigating a fire at a vacant home at 625 S. Illinois St. that was reported at 12:32 a.m. Flames were coming from the front of the single-story home, said fire department spokesman Bryan Park. Further investigation confirmed heavy fire conditions in the front room and attic space of house, he said. A total of 14 Streator firefighters extinguished the fire in just under 20 minutes, he said. Fire crews remained on the scene for about five hours. There were no injuries reported, he said. The vacant home sustained heavy fire and smoke damage. The cause of the fire remains under investigation by the state fire marshal's office and the Streator police and fire departments. The Reading Fire Protection District assisted by providing station coverage. Also assisting the department was Advanced Medical Transport, Streator police, Vermilion Valley Dispatch, ComEd, and Nicor. BLOOMINGTON Just in time for Thanksgiving, OSF HealthCare and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois have settled their contract dispute that threatened to shift health care planning for thousands of Central Illinoisans. The settlement means that people with Blue Cross and Blue Shield Commercial, PPO, EPO and Blue Choice products will continue to be able to access in-network health care at all OSF HealthCare hospitals through 2018. Hospitals include OSF HealthCare St. Joseph Medical Center in Bloomington, OSF HealthCare Saint James-John W. Albrecht Medical Center in Pontiac, OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria and OSF HealthCare Children's Hospital of Illinois in Peoria. OSF announced the agreement and settlement of its contract dispute with Blue Cross and Blue Shield on Wednesday afternoon. Details of the settlement were not released. "We are pleased to have finalized a continuation of OSF HealthCare's relationship with BCBSIL that ensures patients and families have in-network access to the treatments and services they need," Randy Billings, OSF senior vice president of population health, said in a statement. "We realize this situation caused concern for our patients and families and appreciate the support and patience of local businesses and community leaders." Blue Cross and Blue Shield spokeswoman Colleen Miller verified the agreement keeping OSF hospitals in-network. "OSF hospitals also continue to participate in our HMO network," Miller told The Pantagraph. "OSF physician groups will continue to be available in our physician network." Outpatient services at non-hospital OSF facilities including doctors' offices and clinics were never affected by the dispute and their coverage continues. But inpatient services and in-hospital outpatient services would have been affected without the settlement, meaning medical care would remain available for Blue Cross and Blue Shield members but at out-of-network rates. "We thank our members and customers for their patience as we worked on their behalf to provide access to cost-effective, quality health care," Miller said. Advocate Health Care was not a part of the dispute and its hospitals, including Advocate BroMenn Medical Center in Normal and Advocate Eureka Hospital in Eureka, remain in the Blue Cross and Blue Shield network. The dispute began when Blue Cross wanted to add other hospitals to its network, including hospitals that compete with OSF. OSF responded that it would accept a larger network but couldn't afford to provide Blue Cross with the same reduced rates. Blue Cross then announced plans to remove larger OSF hospitals in Peoria, Galesburg and Rockford from its network. OSF countered by terminating its Blue Cross agreements, effective Jan. 1, with most of its other hospitals, arguing that the three larger hospitals accept transfers from other OSF hospitals. Related Egypt parliament approves tax increase on cigarettes Egypt's main cigarette producer Eastern Company said on Wednesday that it will not raise the price of cigarettes until President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi ratifies a new bill raising the Value-Added Tax (VAT) on cigarettes and other tobacco products. On Tuesday, Egypt's parliament voted in favour of new amendments to the VAT law as part of broader economic reforms aimed at narrowing the nation's gaping budget deficit. The new amendments, which will see cigarette pack prices increase by EGP 3.5 and EGP 5.5, are pending ratification by the president. "Once the law is approved by the president and the company receives official notification about it, the hikes will immediately be put into effect," Morsi Abu Alam, who heads the company's press department, told Ahram Online on Wednesday. He did not say when the company expects this to happen. The company sent a letter to the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) on Wednesday saying it has not yet been officially notified about "any decisions of price hikes." The government said the new hike in cigarette tax will boost social protection spending, including on the country's national health insurance system. Minister of Finance Amr El-Garhy said on Tuesday that the new tax hike is expected to generate between EGP 7-8 billion in revenues. In July, Eastern Company, which supplies 70 percent of the Egyptian cigarette market, raised the price of some of its cheap Cleopatra cigarette products by between 4.2 and 17.6 percent due to increasing production costs. The Egyptian pound has lost about half of its value since Egypt floated its currency late last year, which has resulted in increased prices for many products. Search Keywords: Short link: NORMAL Three people are able to enjoy Thanksgiving after a living kidney donation chain started by a Normal woman. "I'm grateful that I don't have someone in my family touched by kidney disease," Terri Thede said. "I'm grateful that I was able to start it (the kidney donation chain)." Thede, 55, spoke with The Pantagraph on Wednesday before a press conference announcing the success of the triple kidney donations at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood. That's where the three transplants were performed simultaneously in three operating rooms with three surgical teams on Aug. 10. All three living transplant donors, including Thede, and all three transplant recipients are doing fine. Most people are born with two kidneys but a healthy person may live with one kidney, which is why living donation of one kidney is possible for some people. "It's amazing," Thede said of the three transplants being performed simultaneously. "I can't imagine what was going on behind the scenes." "Loyola has the resources and experience to successfully complete such a complex and challenging endeavor," Dr. Raquel Garcia Roca said in a prepared statement. The surgeries were coordinated by Garcia Roca, Loyola surgical director of kidney transplant, and Dr. Amishi Desai, Loyola medical director of kidney transplant. Thede, who was 54 at the time of the transplant, is married to Brad Thede and they have three adult children. She is volunteer coordinator at Faith in Action, the organization that helps to keep older adults at home by coordinating volunteers to drive them to medical appointments. But she wasn't working yet at Faith in Action when she heard about a boy in Kentucky who needed a kidney. "I've always been a blood donor and, to me, the idea of surgery isn't frightening," Thede said. "I read about what kidney dialysis would mean for this family and I educated myself on the process (to become a living donor). "I was between jobs so it (being a living donor) seemed like an easy fix," she said. She went through the medical and psychological assessment and doctors concluded that she and the boy were a match. The surgery was scheduled for June but a kidney became available from a deceased donor so that was transplanted into the boy. "I was cleared for surgery so I contacted the donation coordinator at Loyola," she said. After she was approved for surgery by Loyola, she was asked if she wished to start a kidney donation chain, which would take more time and coordination. She agreed. "I didn't have a high level of fear," she said. "I was fascinated with everything going on." Thede's kidney was transplanted into William Parra, 72, of Bridgeview, whose kidneys were failing because of diabetes. "This lady is going to heaven," Parra said of Thede. Parra's wife, Paula, agreed to donate a kidney to Vitalii Stasiuk, 34, of Franklin Park, who had been on dialysis for nearly a year after his kidneys failed because of a disease called IgA nephropathy. Stasiuk's mother, Svitlana Gotska, whose kidneys were too small to donate to her son, donated her kidney to Irene Zapata, 61, of Chicago, who was on dialysis after her kidneys failed because of diabetes. "I feel like a new person," Zapata said. Thede had one 3-inch-long incision and three -inch-long incisions. "They were stitched internally and closed with glue outside," she said. She returned home the next day, was off prescription painkillers the following day, began work at Faith in Action 3 weeks after surgery and felt 100 percent five weeks after surgery. "I would hope (my experience) would help to raise awareness about the topic of living organ donation," Thede said. "If people knew more about it, more people would be interested." SPRINGFIELD A sexual harassment lawsuit that derailed the political career of former state Treasurer Dan Rutherford has been dismissed in federal court in Chicago. Court records show the action was dismissed Wednesday by agreement on both sides "without prejudice." That means former Rutherford employee Edmund Michalowski can refile it. Rutherford also is a former state senator from the Pontiac area. Michalowski claims there were six instances in which Rutherford made unwanted sexual advances or comments from 2011 to 2013. They included an overnight stay at Rutherford's Chenoa home in which Michalowski claims his host entered his room and touched him sexually. Michalowski filed his lawsuit in February 2014. That was just weeks before the GOP governor primary. The allegations tanked Rutherford's campaign and he lost to now-Gov. Bruce Rauner. Messages left for lawyers on both sides were not immediately returned. 100 years ago Nov. 22, 1917: A Mason County jury acquitted William Becker in the murder of his wealthy parents near Mason City. The judge had directed the jury to acquit. So Becker is now a free man. The large sum of money believed kept by his parents in the house is still missing. 75 years ago Nov. 22, 1942: The Home Sweet Home Rescue mission, founded by Billy Shelper, will celebrate 25 years. Since then it has served over 400,000 meals and provided 107,000 lodgings for poor and homeless men in the city. The mission started at 233 E. Front St. in 1917. 50 years ago Nov. 22, 1967: On this fourth anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy there will be a simple memorial in Dallas. JFKs brothers, Edward and Robert, visited the grave before daybreak. President Johnson sent a wreath. In the Twin Cities, no local events are known to be planned. 25 years ago Nov. 22, 1992: Toward the end of World War II in France, a German POW painted a portrait of Red Cross worker Lawrence Irvin of Bloomington. Then one day recently Irvin and a friend located artist Fred Anselm, now 70, in Germany. So far they have exchanged warm letters. The Swiss film The Divine Order dives headfirst into the battle of Swiss women in 1971 to get the right to vote. The film follows Nora, a middle aged mother and housewife living in a conservative village in Switzerland who becomes a target after she publicly supports women's suffrage. Nora deals with backlash from her neighbors and husband Hans as she gathers a faction of women to fight for their rights. We sat down with director Petra Volpe to talk about Swiss women's push for suffrage, recreating the '70s on a tight budget, and why the patriarchy is bad for men, too. I saw the film and I cried at the ending so much. Each character made me feel like I had known them forever so those emotions were an instant reaction. That's a big compliment. A lot of people cry and a lot of men do. Older men have come to me and said, "I never cry but I cried at this movie." It's such a huge compliment and I think that because the movie doesn't attack them, it shows how they're also victims of patriarchy, how they're also in a prison due to this idea of who they have to be as men. It gives them the possibility to feel something about injustice. So that's a huge compliment when people cry. Can you talk a little bit about The Divine Order and how you approached it? At the beginning of this project there was long research, because I realized that I hardly knew anything about the women's movement in Switzerland. No one learns about this in school. We know that women got the right to vote in '71, but you never really learn anything about it. We don't know anything about a one-hundred-year-old history of women fighting for this. They brought it to the ballot for the first time in 1959. Switzerland is a direct democracy, so men have to vote on it and they struck it down. Sixty percent of men were against it, so it was a huge defeat for women. Here [in America] women got the right to vote in 1920, all of the European countries around it already had the right to vote. In '59 it was already so late and they didn't get it. They had to fight for another twelve years until they brought it to the ballots again and could vote on it. It was a struggle. They fought and they were just ignored. In 1971 it was internationality so embarrassing for Switzerland, such an embarrassing fact that it was very bad for their image. In one point of the film where the women left their homes to go one strike, it reminded me of a day without women, where earlier in the year women in the US went on strike for a day. In my opinion, the film mirrors what's going on in our society today to an extent. Would you agree? Yes. The film has become so eerily timely because of all the stuff that's going on because of Trump and Harvey Weinstein. Women have to fight for their basic rights again. They're little by little taken away by this administration. Also in Europe, there's this tendency that politics shift more and more to the right and there are new conservatives. They're always going after the rights of women, migrants, and of the weak elements in society. We can't just look at it and say this is history; all of the stuff is swirling around again. The women in the film did become victorious towards the end after the fighting they had to do. Do you feel like with what's going on today that its going to be the same conclusion as the film? I think what you're seeing now is very similar. We see a lot of civil courage. This film is also a film about the civil courage of the individual in society, the individual who stands up and says I'm not taking this shit anymore, and we see people who are doing that here. What we see today is that women aren't being treated as subjects but only as objects. Even though a lot of laws changed and a lot of things got better, underneath there's a huge and very deep sexism and it's still ruling the world. We see Rose McGowan, who came out [about being raped by Harvey Weinstein], and now all these women who gather around her in solidarity. Film directors who are saying we're not taking this kind of sexism anymore in Hollywood. We see a system and we see the rebels. In a way the film is looking back at a moment in time and history, but I also wanted to make a movie that celebrates the power and strength of a single voice who rises up against something. What was the production phases of this film like? The production phases were quite tough because we didn't have a lot of money and it's a historical film. The film costs $3.2 million, which everybody here in America says you wouldn't be able to make an historical film for that amount. I had the most fantastic team. There's a lot of women: my director of photography is a woman, my set designer is a woman, my composer was a woman, my costume designer's a woman. We started three years ago to prepare the movie because we knew that we had to be ultra-creative in order to work with the little money that we had. We really researched and we had thousands of pictures to really find out how these times looked. We really wanted to recreate '71 in Switzerland and not make a stylized world. We realized when we looked at these pictures everything felt very oppressive. We shot the movie in a little village in the most conservative part of Switzerland. There's one part of Switzerland where the woman got the right to vote in 1990. On the federal level, they got it in 1971, but all the little states also voted on it. One little state denied the right to vote for women until 1990. We went into this area to shoot the movie because I thought it would be a little revenge to go there with this story. The great thing was a lot of women who were in the movie, a lot of extras, they are really from there. They brought all that energy and also anger. They could be the rebels they couldn't be back then. That created another special atmosphere in the movie to have them on the set. How was your film received in that small town located in Switzerland? They loved it, especially the women. The women love it because it was a tribute to them and their struggles. Finally they saw themselves on the big screen. Even though it's the story of Nora, it's kind of compressed into three weeks in this village, it still gives tribute to all the women who dedicated their whole lives for women's rights and their right to vote. A lot of women took their granddaughters or their daughters and told them that they don't know what they went through, so come to the cinema with me and watch this. One of the scenes that grabbed my attention was when the main character, Nora, stood in front of everyone in the town while giving a speech on why women should have the right to vote, and meanwhile her husband's in the back of the room while everyone is mocking her. At the point where someone hits Nora's face with a piece of balled up paper, her husband just stands there and doesn't do anything. I felt that hurt, sympathy, and compassion for her. Did you create Nora for other women to see themselves in her? Yes, and also a piece of myself. We all know the moment we get ridiculed as women and we know that kind of betrayal. It's sometimes very subtle. There's women of all ages in my movie. Each of them -- like the sister in law who doesn't have a say in her daughter's life, or the old women who doesn't have any money because her husband has the financial power -- these were all realities for women. I can relate to their problems and I can relate to their sense of oppression and humiliation. I wanted to create three-dimensional characters that make you feel something. There's a difference in knowing about an injustice but to really feel something about it is different. It's our job as artists to create empathy. How to do that is something I'm still learning in my work. How was the casting process? I'm very diligent with casting and it was quite a long process. It was crucial to find the right ensemble of women who really work well together. It's not so easy in Switzerland because there aren't so many actors and actresses. For the role of the sister in law, Teresa the farmer, I saw every single woman in her age range and I just didn't find her forever. [Rachel Braunschweig] was a discovery for me and I trusted my intuition that she could do it even though her track record showed she didn't have big roles. Marie [Leuenberger, who played Nora] was just a gift from heaven. I had cast another woman for that role and she got pregnant. She would have been great but different. I had to do a recast and then Marie came. When I saw her I knew, this is my Nora and now I'm just happy and grateful that this intervention of the universe happened. Sometimes as a director you have to be lucky, be grateful of change, then adapt. If you missed them, Part 1 of our Mega Guide is HERE, Part 2 is HERE, and Part 3 is HERE. Spinello Projects (7221 NW 2nd Avenue, Miami) has 4 solo projects up during AB/MB and through December 20. Look for works by Augustina Woodgate, Naama Tsabar, Sinisa Kukec and Antonia Wright. There's a preview of Wright's performative sculpture "CONTROL" in which she "substitutes her body with a police barricade" on Monday, December 4, 7 to 10 p.m. Several other galleries in the Little Haiti neighborhood will be hosting openings/receptions on the same night. Mana Contemporary (2217 NW 5th Avenue, Miami) opens "Exquisite Corpse: Moving Image in Latin American and Asian Art" with a private/VIP reception on Wednesday, December 6, featuring a performance by Hong-Kong artist Samson Young, the inaugural winner of the 2015 BMW Art Journey Award. The exhibition focuses on the moving image and will be open to the public from December 7 through December 10. Chicago-based artists Luftwerk (Petra Bachmaier and Sean Gallero) will create a new digital installation for Perrier-Jouet at DESIGN MIAMI using projected color and light. Look for other site-specific works by the duo at Miami International Airport and at the Perrier L'Eden pop-up. The Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU (301 Washington Avenue, South Beach) has an exhibition of photos by Ruth Gruber on view through January 7. The groundbreaking photojournalist passed away recently at the age of 105. The works shown here cover over 50 years including reportage of the Soviet Arctic in the 30s, refugees from the Ship Exodus in 1947 and Ethiopian Jews in the 80s civil war. The Nautilus Hotel (1825 Collins Avenue, South Beach) hosts an exhibition of paintings by Paul Sevigny followed by a party with Sevigny DJing on Friday, December 8, 9 to 11 p.m. ALSO: The hotel's pool will be painted with a copy of an image originally created by the late artist Rene Ricard. Kristen Lee Cole's concept store TenOverSix opened in L.A. in 2008 and closed last summer. Now they're opening a new flagship store in Miami's Little River neighborhood at 7338 NW Miami Court. During AB/MB, they've partnered with Marlborough Contemporary on a preview of the new spot, along with an exhibition of paintings by Andrew Kuo. The opening is Monday, December 4, 6 to 8 p.m. Dimensions Variable (300 NE 2nd Avenue, 3rd floor, Miami) has a reception for their current show, "A Thread of Execution," on Friday, December 8, 9 a.m. to noon. The group show features artists that work mostly with textiles, making a link between the threads of digital code and the threads of fabric. Participating artists include Indira Allegra, Pip Brant, Laura Marsh and Diedrick Brackens. On view until December 29. Katherine Reynolds "Optical Doubles on the Binary", 2017 via PRIZM PRIZM a fair that focuses on African artists and the global African diaspora takes over the top two floors of 777 International Mall (141 East Flagler Street, Miami) from December 5 through 17. Tickets are HERE. Not sure what this building looks like now, but in the 40s it was the Miami Theatre, a classic film theater designed by S. Charles Lee in the streamline moderne style. Kickstarter has a private, invite-only dinner honoring artist Glenn Kaino and Olympian Tommie Smith on Friday, December 8, at the Standard. A private, VIP reception for Johnny Pigozzi's new series of photos "Charles & Saatchi: The Dogs" hosted by Galerie Gmurzynska's Krystyna Gmurzynska, Mathias Rastorfer, Isabelle Bscher and Lucas Bscher on December 6. (The invite is non-transferable and RSVP is required) Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express hosts private "cocktails and bites" at W South Beach on Saturday with live art from CRASH, Nick Walker and Bio -- plus Swizz Beatz is spinning. (RSVP required.) Social networking app ICBRKR launch the latest way they want you to virtually connect with a happy hour party at 1800 Lucky in Wynwood on December 7. From 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Jan Blomqvist will be performing and guests can enjoy an interactive vintage art installation from Miami local MOKIBABY. (RSVP required.) Splash photo by Basil Kincaid "BlackWhole: Double Consciousness and the Singularity of Our Inner Light", 2017, via PRIZM The talk of Apple seriously considering an Apple Store in South Korean was covered in our report posted in December last year. Then in early January of this year Apple confirmed that their first flagship store in South Korea was to open as early as the end of the year. The store's location will be in the hip Garosugil Shopping district. Today a Korean publication stated that "Apple's first flagship store in Seoul seems imminent as the construction work is set to be completed as early as next month." The two-story Apple Store will be located on a 1,300 square-meter site in Sinsa-dong, a fashionable district in southern Seoul. The sleek new building will feature, among other things, an exterior glass wall. Our cover graphic is only an example of an Apple store with that description, though the Korean store is likely to differ in various ways. A construction agency official told local daily Chosun Ilbo that "The construction work that started in August is expected to be completed by Dec. 23," though hinting that the store could possibly slip into early in January, 2018. The report further noted that Apple's first flagship store opening was delayed for about two months after Apple reportedly changed the building design at the last minute. Previously, the firm had planned to build a five-story building. Last year, Apple signed a contract to use the site from March 2016 to February 2036 paying a deposit of 4.84 billion won (US$44 million). Local Korean Apple fans fully expect that the new Apple store will improve overall quality of after-sales service. They're also hoping the new store will mean having Apple send new iPhone models to Korea quicker than in the past. The rivalry between Apple and Samsung is legendary and opening their first store in Samsung's backyard is likely just the beginning. With Seoul's population closing in on ten million, you could be sure that Apple will be eyeing other locations for future growth. Apple is going to introduce local fans to their new in-store service called 'Today at Apple' where they could casually join in on training sessions cover things like iPhone photography, iPad creativity or sit in on a series of 'how-to- sessions. Apple is also likely to bring in local artists and musicians that will put on lively presentations or play some music to make the trendy store even cooler. For the record, Samsung built a flagship store / event center in New York last year that's quite elaborate. You could check out their store in this report by the Verge. About Making Comments on our Site: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit any comments. Those using abusive language or negative behavior will result in being blacklisted on Disqus. News and commentary on organized crime, street crime, white collar crime, cyber crime, sex crime, crime fiction, crime prevention, espionage and terrorism. To visit a Nubian village is to experience something completely different from any other Egyptian village scene. At Gharb Sohail, a village of about 3,000 inhabitants a short distance from Aswan in Upper Egypt, visitors have the privilege of getting to know a little the Nubians unique culture, language, traditions, music, art, crafts and food. When visiting the village, you will feel that you are in a calm, natural paradise: the Nile, the mountains, the huge green areas. Most importantly, visitors will also get to experience the Nubian residents famous generosity, cheerfulness and modesty. It takes only about 30 minutes to reach Gharb Soheil by car from the train station, or 10 minutes from Aswan International Airport. The first sight is the beautiful colourful walls of the village's houses along the banks of the Nile. The houses are built out of stone, clay and sand, and the arched roofs are usually covered with reed and grain stalks. Their walls are covered with flowers and their traditional shape provides a naturally cool environment inside, so no need for air conditioning. Nubians also have their own cuisine: they bake bread in their own own way, and create dishes such as "fatta ads," "tagen lahma and "Aswanian egg. Cold "doum (palm fruit) juice and hibiscus are the official drinks in Gharb Soheil, as well as in the rest of Aswan. To explore the village, take a felucca or a motorboat from one side of the river to the other, as there are no bridges, and take the opportunity to enjoy the Nile beautiful scenery all the day time. Visitors can also hire a taxi or "hantour" to explore Aswan or go to the downtown market. The village also offers the opportunity for activities like sand boarding, desert hiking, taking sand or mud baths, or taking a camel ride. Search Keywords: Short link: Presidents of Iran, Russia, Turkey hold Syria talks in Sochi 11/22/17 Source: Press TV The Iranian, Russian and Turkish presidents held a trilateral meeting on the Syria crisis in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. The Wednesday talks between Hassan Rouhani, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan come as Iran, Russia and Turkey are acting as the guarantors of a ceasefire that took effect in Syria late last year. Rouhani lauded the defeat of the Daesh terror group in Iraq and Syria, but underlined the need for continued battle against terrorism until the eradication of all Takfiri terrorist outfits in Syria. He blamed foreign interference for the conflict in Syria, saying certain countries claiming to be advocates of democracy wrecked havoc in the Arab country to achieve their goals in the region. "If regional nations and countries are to learn a lesson from the fabricated crisis in Syria today, it is that they should know certain powers claiming to advocate democracy and human rights spare no effort like using terrorism and violence to achieve their short-sighted objectives in the region,: Rouhani said. "The lesion that these powers have not learned is that repercussions of terrorism and extremism will not be confined to a region other parts of the world will not be safe from the ominous phenomena," he added. He said that after the defeat of Daesh, the sponsors of terrorism were now seeking to create tensions and cast doubt on efforts by certain regional countries, including Iran, and resistance fighters aimed at restoring stability to the region. The Iranian president expressed regret that that certain countries followed the US and Israel's suit in creating rifts and division among regional nations, noting such countries are accountable for their malicious policies of fomenting ethnic and religious rifts. Elsewhere in his remarks, Rouhani stressed that Iran pursued an approach based on cooperation, not competition, coordination not confrontation, peace not warmongering and respecting the will of nations rather than following foreign powers. He said that no foreign intervention was acceptable in Syria, adding that any foreign military presence in the Arab country may only be acceptable if it is by the invitation of the Damascus government. The role of the international community in the future of Syria should be to contribute to efforts to restore stability, alleviate the sufferings of people and reconstruct the country without any political motive. Speaking alongside Putin and Rouhani, Erdogan pointed to preliminary meetings prior to the Sochi tripartite summit, saying the consolidations yielded positive and tangible results, but stressed that more efforts were needed to find an effective solution. The Turkish leader said it was vital for all parties to contribute to a political solution in the Syrian crisis that would be acceptable for the Syrian people. Government has announced it will increase the installed generation capacity by about 487MW through Cenpower (340MW), Early Power Phase 1 (147MW), this year to meet the growing demand for electricity. Ken Ofori-Atta, Finance Minister, who disclosed this recently, said the countrys installed generation capacity was increased from 4,132 MW in 2016 to 4,577MW in 2017. He said under the Transmission System Improvement Projects, GRIDCo had been carrying out the Transmission System Reinforcement Project to improve operational reliability, security and control, among others. Key among these include the Kpando-Kadjebi 161kV Transmission Line, which has been completed; the Aboadze-Prestea and Prestea-Kumasi 330kV Transmission Lines, which are about 70 percent complete and billed to complete in 2018; and the Kumasi-Bolgatanga 330kV Transmission Line which is about 50 percent complete. This year, he said, a total of 1,796 communities will be connected to the national grid. Under the Energy Efficiency and Conservation programme, the Ministry will distribute 12 million LED Lamps under a cost recovery programme. Street lights will be replaced with better efficiency lamps under the Regional Capitals Street Lighting Project. He also disclosed that under the Rural Electrification Programme, 289 out of a targeted 2,185 communities, were connected to the national grid, with other projects at various stages of completion. To enhance development of a competitive power market, government approved the restructuring of Volta River Authority (VRA) to include an entity to manage the hydroelectric facilities separately and the sale to the private sector of the state-funded thermal power plants, which government assigned to VRA to manage and operate. The restructuring of VRA is expected to enable the use of cheap electricity from legacy hydro to support government subsidy objectives to a targeted category of consumers in a transparent manner. Furthermore, he said to align the ECG Private Sector Participation (PSP) Programme with the concerns raised, government secured key amendments to the ECG PSP arrangements. The concession period has been reduced from 25 to 20 years, and Ghanaian shareholding threshold was increased from 20 percent to 51 percent. 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. Featured Video An Accra Circuit Court has ordered the state to give Highlife musician, Akosua Agyapong all the evidence in the case in which she is accused of allegedly defrauding a businessman the sum of GH 105,000 in a land deal. The court presided over by. held that the prosecution must furnish the accused persons all the material evidence the state intends to rely on to prosecute the case. The order follows a request by lawyer for Akosua to the court this morning. Lawyer B. T. Agbney said the defense required all statements from both the complaint as well as the witnesses in the trial. This he argued wound help the accused person to prepare for their defense, a request the court granted. Earlier, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Ms Agnes Boafo had urged the court to give a definite date for the start of the hearing. Akosua is in the dock with one Frank Agyemang, aka, Killer Boss, a building contractor believed to have both sold the land which allegedly did not belong to them to the businessman, one Jonas Asamoah. It is the case of the prosecution that the two in the month of February this year at Weija in Accra did purport to make a grant of one plot of land lying at Weija to Mr. Asamoah at a cost of GH160,000 which they did not have title to. Charged with conspiracy to commit crime and fraudulent transaction of land, the former NAKOREX Group member denied the charges. Akosua is currently on bail in the sum of GH160,000 with two sureties one to be a public servant earning not less than GH2,000 a month. Agyemang, pleaded not guilty to the charges and was granted also bail in the sum of GH 160,000 with three sureties, one to be justified. The prosecutor said the complainant in the case was a car merchant while Agyemang claimed to be a building contractor. She explained that in February 2017, the businessman wanted a parcel of land by the roadside to display his cars for sale. As a result, he contacted Akosua Agyapong for assistance. The musician, the prosecutor said, told the businessman that she had a plot of land for rent, but the businessman wanted an outright sale. Later Akosua introduced Agyemang to the businessman as her brother who had a one plot of land opposite the West Hills Mall for sale. The businessman after inspecting the land showed interest, she said. ASP Boafo added that the highlife maestro assured the businessman that the land was genuine and Agyemang was the rightful owner. They then took the businessman to the Lands Commission, went into one of the offices and came out with someone who confirmed that the land indeed belonged to Agyemang, and upon this, the businessman became convinced, she said. Afterwards, the prosecutor said, the businessman paid GH 105,000 for the land and later gave a Toyota RAV 4 vehicle valued at GH 100,000 to Agyemang for another plot of land. When the businessman went to work on the land, another person came to claim ownership of the land with original documents. He reported the matter to the police leading to Akosua and Agyemangs arrest. Agyemang, however, released the vehicle to the police, the prosecutor added. Source: the publisher Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Head of Tax at KPMG, Emmanuel Asiedu, has described governments tax relief for private universities as needless. According to him private universities are profit making entities and therefore cannot enjoy tax relief. Mr. Asiedu who was speaking at the KPMG Budget Forum held in Accra recently said Government should not think that the private universities will invest because they have been given a zero-tax rate. Give them the benefits when they have invested so that when they put their monies into the capital expenditures for the universities you give them additional tax allowance, he stressed. The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta, in presenting the budget recently announced that privately-owned universities will be granted some tax reliefs to enable them thrive and admit more students. The Minister made the announcement following complaints by private Senior High School owners that they are losing their investments due to the implementation of the free SHS policy. Electronic Tracking of VAT/NHIL Touching on the electronic tracking of Value Added Tax (VAT) and the National Health Insurance Levy (NHIL), he said if government intends implementing the system they should target the informal sector. It is the informal sector that we have the challenge and therefore thats where we should target, for example the opera square area and the restaurants etc. This system is supposed to operate more on point of sale best known as cash activity transactions as against credits, Mr. Asiedu said. He also commended government for its decision to abolish import duties on agricultural equipment. According to him this will help boost productivity in the agriculture sector. Source: the publisher Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has called on government to give tax incentives to private sector companies, particularly those in Ghanas energy sector, to drive growth. If we want to do energy very well, competitively and affordably, then private sector should be in there, and should be given tax incentives on a long-term basis, as well as all the support they need to deliver. Speaking at the re-branding and launch of a new logo for Strategic Security Systems in Tema, the former President noted that it is important that private energy companies are encouraged to do more in ensuring that the countrys energy sector becomes very competitive. Strategic Security Systems is a privately-owned energy company with a specialty in the manufacturing of solar panels in the African sub-region. The re-branding, however, coincides with the companys 10th anniversary. Former President Kufuor said if Ghana succeeds in developing its energy sector, it could even export power to Nigeria to earn more foreign exchange than it currently does in cocoa export. In West Africa alone, I understand there is an energy shortage of 40 gigawatts, and Ghana would make a lot of foreign exchange if it focuses just on Nigeria alone. This would even fetch more than the income on cocoa. Strategic Security Systems, which is worth over $50 million, locally manufactures solar panels, and seeks to expand its base from 32 megawatts to 165-megawatt capacity. The Chief Financial Officer of the company, Razak Adams, noted that the company is currently creating direct and indirect jobs for over 1, 000 Ghanaians, and called on the government to consider them in any solar-related contract as they have the capacity and ability to deliver to international specifications and standards. Mr Adams complained of cheap Chinese solar panels imported onto the Ghanaian markets that attract zero-percent tax duties. He said these Chinese products that have flooded the market are crippling the industry, and called on the government to take steps to address the situation else they could soon collapse the local industry, and subsequently affect employment. The chairman of the company, Francis A. Boating, noted that the company in re-branding, is putting strategies in place to reach out to many Ghanaians to use solar as their alternative means of power supply. We have the capacity to deliver, and we hope government will make a lot of savings in choosing us to assist it in its solar-related programmes. The Deputy Minister of Communications, George Andah, noted that government will continue to provide the necessary regulatory and legal enabling environment to support Ghanaian private sector businesses to enable them compete with their foreign counterparts. Source: The Finder Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video This is what I wanted to say this week, and Manasseh Azure said it all for me. With his permission, please read on. If you disagree with him/me on any point, please refer to me. I agree entirely with the sentiments he has expressed. Dear President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, On Saturday November 11, 2017, I was stunned by a news item on Joy FM when I heard your voice in the story. As part of your three-day tour of the Greater Accra Region, you visited some facilities owned by Mr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong, a man whose businesses have come up in major corruption scandals in Ghana since 2013. After the news item, a few people called to ask me, Did you hear what the president said about Jospong? The callers expressed their shock and disappointment at your action. As if each of them had consulted the same oracle for words before calling me, they ended on the same note, All politicians are the same! Theres no hope for Ghana. On Facebook and Twitter, a good number of people tagged me in the online edition of the widely reported story of your visit to Jospong. On WhatsApp platforms, the sentiments were the same. After I heard the news item and your voice, two words rang in my head dishonesty and ignorance. I have convinced myself to discard the first one because I still have some modicum of trust and respect for your words and the conviction with which you speak them. I convinced myself that the Nana Akufo-Addo I had heard so much about from both politicians and astute lawyers he trained had principles. I convinced myself that he stood for something. To keep hopes alive, I continue to tell myself that THE Nana Akufo-Addo, who spent nearly seven and a half decades of his life building a solid legacy as a purveyor of justice and a champion of the rule of law, would not sink low and undo everything he stood for. For these reasons, I convinced myself that your utterance was, perhaps, as a result of ignorance about the Jospong story. And, please, Mr. President, dont be upset with me for saying you may be ignorant about something you ought to know. I agree with Chinua Achebe when he said that many presidents of the poor world have no clue how the nations they govern really look like. Achebe, in his critical essay, The Trouble with Nigeria writes: Many Presidents, especially Third World Presidents, do not live in their country. One of the penalties of exalted power is loneliness. Harnessed to the trappings of protocol and blockaded by a buffer of grinning courtiers and sycophants, even a good and intelligent leader will begin to forget what the real world looks like. Mr. President, I will pardon you if you did not, and still do not know how Jospongs facilities were selected by your handlers as part of the places you visited in Accra. Flesh and blood cannot reveal this to you. For now, lets just assume its purely coincidental that Jospong is one business entity that past presidents, from Kufuor to Atta-Mills to Mahama and to your good self did not fail to visit and endorse with your kind words. I know you dont have too much time to solve clueless puzzles so let me settle on exactly what you said that got people talking and disappointed. Youre quoted, and I heard you say to the Chairman of the Jospong Group of Companies, Joseph Siaw Agyepong: More grease to your elbow. The contribution you are making to our social life is inestimable. We have to encourage you. When you are at the forefront of doing things, like you are, you will be the subject of controversy. It goes with the territory. I know you a little bit, and I know you are capable of handling it. Stay focused. My President, if I am able to forgive your unpardonable indiscretion of selecting Jospong as one of the places to visit in your tour of Accra, then I see nothing wrong with the first part of your comment. We can assume you were just encouraging a Ghanaian entrepreneur. What I may just add, however, is that theres nothing spectacular about Jospongs achievement. It does not take a genius to get there. Any novice who benefits from dubious government contracts and enjoys the patronizing publicity of praise-singing media, like Jospong has, can achieve this feat and, perhaps, greater. I can, however, not forgive you for the second quote above until you are able to convince me that those disturbing words escaped your mouth because you had a slip of tongue or a slip of mind. My reason for this, and the reasons I consider your visit to Jospong as an unpardonable indiscretion on your part are pretty simple. Joseph Siaw Agyepong and his Jospong Group of Companies are not subjects of controversy because he is at the forefront of doing great or exceptional things. There are many businesses doing great things in Ghana, employing thousands and paying hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes without being in the news for the same reason as Jospong. Mr. President, the man who misses no opportunity to remind his critics that he is a respected Elder of the Church of Pentecost is not a subject of controversy. He is a subject of allegations of corruption. Corruption and controversy are not synonymous, and our elders have taught us that when two proverbs are not the same, one is not used to explain the other. Maybe you went a bit too far in trying to be diplomatic, but the line between an overly diplomatic person and a liar is thinner than the edge of a circumcision blade. As an opposition leader, you and your New Patriotic Party (NPP) campaigned against corruption and cited some of those involving Jospong as grand corruption schemes meant to steal money from the state. Just last week, your Vice-President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, mentioned GYEEDA and Subah as some of the corrupt acts by your predecessor, President John Dramani Mahama. For you to meet the man at the centre of these scandals and describe them as controversies that come with being at the forefront of doing things is very unfortunate. When you needed our votes, they were grand acts of corruption. Now that you have the power to deal with them, they are controversies that come with the terrain. There cannot be a clearer definition of double standards, Sir! Jospong is currently a subject of corruption investigations by the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) of the Republic of Ghana. The Jospong Group is currently a subject of corruption investigation by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service of the Republic of Ghana. The Jospong Group (Zoomlion) is currently a subject of another corruption investigation by the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ). The Youth Employment Agency (YEA) has had the cause to doubt the number of workers presented by Zoomlion for payment and has announced it will embark on a headcount. Mr. President, take any of the Auditor-Generals Reports on District Assemblies in this country and you will notice how companies of the Jospong Group come up repeatedly for receiving payment but not doing the work. In 2013, the World Bank banned Zoomlion (the leading brand of the Jospong Group) from bidding for contracts financed by the Bank for two years. The announcement of the ban, which is still on the website of the World Bank, says the ban was imposed on Zoomlion following the companys acknowledgment of misconduct impacting the World Bank-financed Emergency Monrovia Urban Sanitation Project in Liberia. The company paid bribes to facilitate contract execution and processing of invoices. Zoomlion and some of the Jospong companies were named for their roles in the GYEEDA scandal. You may also have heard about the Subah scandal, which also involved a Jospong company. Recently, your government was compelled to cancel the questionable 20-year road-towing contract awarded to a subsidiary of the Jospong Group, Road Safety Management Service Limited. Five companies of the Jospong Group were last year, single sourced to supply waste bins and bin-liners at outrageous prices. For instance, while a piece of bin-liner from the Jospong Group costs less than one cedi, the company was charging the state 67 cedis to supply. The ministry that awarded this contract did not need the bins in the first place. Mr. President, if you speak to your metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives, they will tell you that the fumigation exercise for which a chunk of their Common Fund is deducted at source to pay, should be scrapped because the work is poorly executed while some say it is not carried out at all. But while the deductions were being made, Zoomlion got another fumigation contract with the ministry of health, which was targeted at mosquitoes. The assemblies I contacted as part of my investigations said knew of only one spraying exercise and could not differentiate between the MMDAs spraying contract and that of the Ministry of Health. But that was not all. In 2015, ELEVEN companies were handpicked and awarded a third contract to spray public toilets, markets, refuse sites and other public places in some selected assemblies, which were already being taken care of by the assemblies fumigation contract with Zoomlion. The companies were paid over 98 million cedis and they were to do this work for a period of 20 days. Yes, 20 days! The surprising thing is that all the 11 companies belong to the Jospong Group owned by the respected Church of Pentecost Elder, Elder Joseph Siaw Agyepong, the man you told to stay focused. Do you want him to stay focused on these questionable contracts or he should stay focused on receiving 500 cedis per head from the state in respect of the sanitation workers and pay each one 100 cedis and pocket 400 as management fees for each of the 45,000 workers he claims to have? Are you saying he should stay focused and not mind your appointees who are pursuing him? Mr. President, your ministers, security and anti-corruption agencies as well as your appointees inherited contracts and cases of alleged acts of corruption involving the Jospong Group. As to whether they will be able to put their feet on the ground and deal decisively with these issues depends on your body language towards the powerful man at the centre of these allegations. You must send the right signals, especially when many people voted for you because they wanted to see meaningful actions against corruption. Your signal over the weekend, with all due respect, is a bad one. Your endorsement of the man who is currently being probed by EOCO, CHRAJ, the CID and some of your ministries, departments and agencies for alleged acts of corruption and your avowed stance against corruption smacks of double standards. If you call for an agbadza rhythm and go ahead to dance adowa, you confuse the drummers. If the traffic indicator of your moral vehicle signals right and you turn left, you confuse the other road users and can cause fatal accidents. You told Elder Agyepong, I know you a little bit, and I know you are capable of handling it. Jospong may be able to handle it. But you may not be able to handle the shame and disgrace that will follow you to your grave, should you of all people fail this nation. Remember we will hold you to higher standards and stiffer judgment because you came to the presidency riding on the back of a saintly high horse of incorruptibility. If you fail us like your forebears, we will not put the blame on the crooks who see their association with your presidency as a golden opportunity to insure their third and fourth generations against poverty. We will not pardon you on account of ignorance because some of us have vowed to risk our personal comfort and safety to point out to you the true state of affairs of our sordid republic. I am citizen, not a spectator! So I quote for emphasis: More grease to your elbow. The contribution you are making to our social life is inestimable. We have to encourage you. And JOSPONG will continue to contribute significantly to the process of, and the level of corruption in this country. If this is what we are going to applaud in Ghana, then I am off to the Mole Game Park. Ghana. Aha a y d papa. Alius valde week advenio. Another great week to come. Source: Anamoa Casely-Hayford, [email protected]/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. Featured Video The Head at the Faculty of IT and Communication Studies at the University of Professional Studies, Mr. Charles Nii Ayiku Ayiku has laughed off claims by a colleague IT researcher that government was lazy to use eight months to develop a one-day GhanaPost GPS app. Really, just a day for such app? Then I have to go back to school and learn that process to use it. It is impossible, he dismissed the claims. An IT researcher, Kingsley Komla Elikem, has raised concerns about the cost and quality of the newly introduced digital property addressing system; the GhanaPost GPS App, while referring to the government as lazy. The National Digital Property Address System was launched about a month ago to facilitate easy location of addresses and to boost emergency service delivery nationwide. Many have criticized government over monies being channeled into the operation of the app as well as its effectiveness as projected - others claim that the app is a duplicate if Google map. Vokacom, the company that designed the app has however come out to reject the claims, their justification being that it was built on a global addressing system that was designed solely by them. Mr. Elikem argues that the eight-month period used to design the app was lethargic. According to him, it requires a maximum of just a day to produce the Ghana Post GPS app. But speaking on issue on NEAT FMs morning show dubbed Ghana Montie, Charles Nii Ayiku Ayiku admits to the fact that the effectiveness of the app has not met its expectation. According to him, government is not doing much to educate the public about the app Personally, I have downloaded and deleted the app several times on my phone for some reasons. Explaining the cost involved, he said building an application involves a lot of things. The GPS is just one component of an infrastructure to build the proper system. So when we are discussing the GhanaPost GPS, we must discuss it holistically to avoid distortion. Adding that Government should educate us properly. They should come out with a communication strategy that will make Ghanaians understand, otherwise a lot of misinformation and other issues will come up that will not make the good intention behind the GPS successful. Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/Peacefmonline.com/ Twitter: @Washman5/ Instagram: Ambrose_wash Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Supreme Court has adjourned to November 28 a ruling on an application filed by Mr Osafo Boabeng, Counsel for Mr Woyome, for a stay of execution. Mr Woyome, at the last sitting filed the motion asking the Supreme Court to put on hold, his oral examination and all other processes by the state to retrieve the GHc 51million unlawful judgment debt paid to him. He wanted the court to suspend hearing until his appeal at the African Court for Justice and Human Rights in Tanzania is determined. When the case was called on Tuesday afternoon, Mr Boabeng prayed the court to meet the panel in chambers, which the court obliged. In his oral submission Mr Boabeng said they still relied on their application and referred to article 40 (73) and (75), of the 1992 constitution. He said the defendants have not yet made any objection, and so they still submit that proceedings in the matter would have a bearing in the case in Arusha Tanzania, and so it should be stayed. Deputy State Attorney, Mr Godfred Dame, opposed the application, saying the process is an affront to the constitution, and that the Supreme Court is the highest court of appeal and no other court can have such powers over it. He said the Supreme Court has the sole jurisdiction in any matter and the international tribunal would respect any decision of the highest court of land. Mr Dame noted that the applicant has also not demonstrated how the enforcement of the court would account to any infringement of his fundamental human rights. The court at this point adjourned the case to November 28 for its ruling on the application. Mr Woyome has filed a number of legal proceedings in court, with this application being the seventh since the start of the legal battle to determine his ability to pay the debt owed to the state. All his legal attempts have proved futile as the court keep dismissing his applications for various reasons. The court on October 21, dismissed an earlier application filed by Mr Woyome, to halt the valuation of his property by the State as part of efforts to retrieve the money, the court at the time was empaneled by a single judge. Mr. Woyome is praying the court to put on hold all processes to reclaim the money from him until a determination of another related case being heard at the African Court on Human and Peoples Rights. The Attorney -General was expected to continue with the oral examination on how, Woyome intends to re-pay the amount however he was not in court on Monday as his counsel explained that he was unwell. Ghana News Agency legal news bulletin indicates that previously, the Counsel for Mr Woyome, Mr Osafo Boabeng, had filed an application arguing that the writ of execution that the Attorney General (AG) used for the valuation was illegal. He argued that the AG failed to seek consent from the apex court to renew the writ of execution and, therefore, any action based on that writ was a nullity. The court, presided over by, Justice Alfred Anthony Benin, on October 20, dismissed the application saying the AG did nothing wrong because the writ of execution had not expired and was effective. He said the first writ of execution which was filed on January 9, 2015 was still in effect when the AG filed for another one on January 6, 2016 and, therefore, the issue of renewal did not arise. The court subsequently, adjourned the matter to October 30, for continuation of the oral examination of Mr Woyome by the AG. On October 30, Lawyers for Woyome, told the court that he was still ill and was unable to attend court. Mr Buaben presented yet another excuse duty document to the single Justice handling the case in his chambers to support the request of his client to be given more time to make himself available for his oral examination to continue. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Supreme Court has set Tuesday, November 28, 2017, to rule on the motion filed by embattled businessman Alfred Agbesi Woyome. Lawyers for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) financier last week filed the motion to halt efforts by the state to retrieve the GH51.2 million he fraudulently received from the state as judgement debt. The motion seeks to stay the proceedings at the Supreme Court as well as halt moves by the state to evaluate his properties until a determination of another related case being heard at the African Court on Human and Peoples Right in Arusha, Tanzania. A five-member panel of judges comprising Justices Jones Dotse, Anin Yeboah, Vida Akoto Bamfo, A.A Benin and Yaw Appau to determine the merits of the motion was set up. Before the court yesterday, Mr. Woyomes lawyer, Osarfo Buabeng, prayed the apex court to stay the execution since a similar matter was being heard at the African court. According to him, the decision of the Supreme Court to allow the state to continue with the process of retrieving the money would invariably affect the decision of the African court, which he noted, would infringe on the human rights of the businessman. Deputy Attorney General George Dame, however, objected to the claims, arguing that the application filed by Mr. Woyomes lawyers does not provide any grounds to justify that the decision of the Supreme Court to grant the state the go-ahead to retrieve the money would infringe on his human right. According to him, for Woyome and his lawyers to have gone to the African Court on Human and Peoples Rights to contend the decision of the Supreme Court is an affront to the 1992 Constitution of Ghana. Making references to Articles 129 (9) and 130 (1), which gives exclusive powers to the Supreme Court as the final court of appeal in Ghana, Mr Dame said much as the constitution deplores the subject of the decision of the apex court to international tribunal, those tribunals would have to respect the decision of the apex court. Mr. Dame therefore prayed the court to strike out the motion to stay execution since it does not have any merits. In the heat of the arguments by Woyomes lawyer and the deputy attorney general, Justice Anin Yeboah, raised the issue of the constitutionality of the matter before the court, stating that it (matter) was purely an invocation of the constitution and wondered how the decision of the African court would have any bearing on the Supreme Courts decision. Justice Benin also maintained that lawyers for the embattled businessman were failing to see the connection between human right and the constitutionality of the case. Justice Yaw Appau, who was not convinced about how the action by the state to retrieve the money is an affront on Mr. Woyomes rights, asked his (Woyomes) lawyers to explain how his rights were being violated. Lawyer Buabeng could, however, not give the instances in which his clients rights were being trampled upon, saying he did not want to talk about it in the court. The panel will rule on the motion on November 28, 2017. 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. Featured Video The Supreme Court has set November 28 to deliver its ruling over a motion on stay of execution filed by businessman Alfred AgbesiWoyome over attempts by the State to retrieve the GHC 51.2 million judgement debt wrongly paid to him. The five-member panel of Justices presided over by Justice Victor Jones Dotse fixed the date yesterday after OsafoBoabeng, lawyer for the businessman had moved the motion seeking to stop all processes towards recouping the controversial cash into State coffers. Mr. Woyome had initiated a process at the African Human Rights Court in Arusha, Tanzania, claiming several violations on his human rights in respect of the cases brought against him. The businessman however, wants the apex court to stop all processes in the trial pending the determination of the case before the African Human Rights Court. In moving the application, OsafoBoaben, lawyer Mr. Woyome said the country was a signatory to the African Charter which indicates that it would abide by decisions in cases against the country. The lawyer among other things argued that the court ought to ignore Rule 73 of CI 16 and Article 134 of the 1992 constitution as cited by the Attorney-General adding that court should look at the substance of the application before the court and not the form. Godfred Yeboah-Dame, a Deputy Attorney-General opposing the motion before the court said the object of the process of Mr. Woyomes application on his human rights is an affront on the constitution of Ghana. According to him the Supreme Court is the highest court of Appeal wondering if any other court had reviews powers over the apex court. Quoting article 130 (1) of the 1992 constitution, the Deputy AG noted that the Supreme Court has exclusive and the sole jurisdiction in all matters relating to the enforcement of the Constitution adding that a matter relating to the interpretation of the Constitution could not be a subject before any international court. In the view of Yeboah-Dame, Mr. Woyome has not demonstrated how the enforcement of the judgment of the court could amount to a breach of his human rights. He said that the application has no basis and ought to be dismissed. Others members on the panel were Justices Anin Yeboah, A. A Benin, Vida AkotoBamfo and Yaw Appau. Excuses Over the past few weeks, further oral examination of the businessman by the Attorney General appears to have hit a snug because lawyers of Mr. Woyome had prayed the court for more time. On October 30, Woyomes lawyers had urged the court to give the businessman some time to recover from his ill health. The request had followed a medical record submitted to the court by OsafoBoaben, lawyer for Mr. Woyome indicating that the businessman is still unwell. Mr. Woyome was due to appear before the court for further oral examination by the State. It may be recalled that on October 16, this year, OsafoBoaben again said his client who is in the dock for questioning by the AG is indisposed. He had submitted an excuse duty from doctors at the Accra Regional Hospital asking that the businessman be granted a two-week health leave. Ruling Mr. Woyomes request follows the dismissal of a motion filed by his lawyers challenging the legality of the valuation of his assets by the State. According to the court the motion as filed was without merit. In the view of the court, the second order issued on January 6, 2016 to attach the properties of Mr. Woyome was irrelevant because the first one issued on 9 January 2015 had not been used and as such was effective. The ruling of the court had given the state the go ahead to continue to orally examine the businessman over the cash. Lawyers of the beleaguered businessman had filed the motion in an attempt to stop the state from continuing with the ongoing valuation processes. They had argued that the state erred in initiating the valuation processes of the properties belonging to the businessman and National Democratic Congress (NDC) financier. Source: the publisher Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) is appealing to government to provide the division with adequate personnel to effectively man the frontiers of Ghanas Eastern Corridor, which has become one of the transit areas for most unwholesome goods into the country. Senior Revenue Officer at the Preventive Unit of the division, Emmanuel Adjei, who made the appeal, explained that because of the wide nature of the frontiers, coupled with its porous nature, there was the need for more personnel to do effective surveillance and patrolling across the corridors. He stated that the lack of personnel makes way for some unscrupulous people who do business to push all manner of goods and services that are unwholesome, expired, dangerous and injurious for public consumption. He was speaking to the media during a destruction exercise carried out by the division with the assistance of Accra Metropolitan Assembly waste management to destroy seized damaged, expired and unwholesome products, which are at a total cost of $50,000. We are here to destroy items that customs in the course of its normal operations have uncovered to be unwholesome, damaged, contaminated and expired, which are injurious and not safe for public consumption, he emphasised. He noted that at customs, what they basically do is revenue collection, but part of their mandate is to protect society. The items, he explained, were uncovered doing re-examination of items that were intercepted during monitoring to access levels of compliance from frontier stations. Most of these items are coming from the Eastern Corridor. During the course of re-examination to do a monitoring and access compliance levels, we found out some of these items were part of the consignment for clearance and they do not meet standards for public use so we have intercepted and here to destroy them, he mentioned. Source: The Finder Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video A 39-year old house help has been handed down a 13 year jail term by an Accra Circuit Court for having anal sex with two minors at Frafraha and Dome Pillar two in Accra. Ebenezer Tawiah charged with two counts of defilement, pleaded guilty. The court presided over by Mr Aboagye Tandoh convicted Tawiah on his plea. The case as presented by Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Agnes Boafo stated that the first complainant is a Retired Commissioner of Police and the second complainant is a an Administrator of a medical facility at Adenta- Frafraha. Prosecution explained that the first victim is an 11 year old boy and a class five pupil staying with his mother, with their house close to the second complainants house. The second victim is a 14-year old Junior High School student and the grandson of the Retired Commissioner of Police. ASP Boafo said Tawiah was a house help of the Retired Commissioner of Police adding that the 11-year old victim often visits the 14- year old victim to watch television together. The prosecutor said on one occasion the 11 year old victim was alone watching television when Tawiah lured him into the bathroom at the boys quarters of the house and had anal sex with him. ASP Boafo said Tawiah repeated the act on four occasions in the same premises and warned the 11-year old victim not inform any one about it or else he would beat him up. On September 29, this year, ASP Boafo said at about 0800 hours Tawiah was asked by the Retired Commissioner of Police to accompany his driver who was a witness in the matter to go his wifes uncompleted house at Dome Pillar Two to tidy the place up. Prosecution said Tawiah took along the 11-year old victim with him. ASP Boafo said in the process of cleaning the place, Tawiah had anal sex with the 11-year old victim on the floor in one of the rooms. The victim who could not bear the pain screamed for help and the driver run to his aid. The driver informed the Retired Commissioner of Police when they returned home, the prosecutor added. On November 8, this year Tawiah was picked up by the Police. While the case was under investigations, the second victim, aged 14, also narrated how the convict had had anal sex with him. The victims were later issued with medical reports to seek medical attention. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Government has announced a total closure of the Buipe and Yapei bridges in the Northern Region to allow for proper maintenance works to be carried out on them. Mr Kwasi Amoako Atta, Minister of Roads and Highways, who announced this at Buipe after inspecting both bridges on Tuesday, said the total closure would take effect from Wednesday, November 22, to give the engineers ample time to do good work. Mr Amoako Atta said an amount of GHc4 million had been allocated for the exercise, which would be completed within four weeks. Both bridges earlier this year underwent emergency maintenance, but they are currently weak and have developed cracks with huge potholes and they shake even when a motorbike moves across. Both bridges are important as they link the northern part of the country to the south as well as serve the country's landlocked neighbours, who cart their goods from the Tema Harbour. Mr Amoako Atta described the current state of the bridges as scary saying government would not allow any disaster to strike hence the closure. He announced that government had secured funds to construct two new bridges to replace the Buipe and Yapei Bridges as a long term solution to the current situation. He said work to replace both bridges would commence by the first quarter of 2018. Mr Amoako Atta appealed to motorists to bear with government and use the alternative routes to allow for proper maintenance works to be undertaken. Meanwhile, a temporary closure of both bridges on Tuesday left many passengers stranded at both ends at Buipe and Yapei. They claimed they were not aware of the closure of the bridges. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Audio Attachment: Listen to Kweku Baako Jnr. on Peace FM's 'kokrokoo' Seasoned Journalist Abdul Malik Kweku Baako Jnr. has warned Prophets to stop being insensitive to the pains and loss of the family of the late radio Presenter Kwadwo Asare Baffour-Acheampong, popularly called KABA. Prophecies are God's way of revealing hidden motives and things to His chosen. There is a biblical quote that says "surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets - Amos 3:7", indicating that prophecy is pivotal in running the ministry of God. Over the years, several Prophets have emerged prophesying national doom and revealing the cause of deaths to the country. Broadcaster, KABA of the Multimedia Group last Saturday passed on to glory after reportedly taken ill and rushed to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital. Following his demise, at least two renowned Prophets have come out saying they foresaw the death of the radio Presenter. In an interview on Okay FM's 'Ade Akye Abia' programme, the founder and leader of Glorious Wave Church Int., Prophet Emmanuel Badu Kobi stated he pre-informed KABA about his impending death before he died. According to him, he had told the deceased to meet with him and perhaps help him avert his death but it never happened. Another Prophet based in Kumasi also is said to have prophesied and cautioned the Multimedia Group to be fervent in prayer because they were going to hear tragic news. Speaking on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo', Kweku Baako Jnr. has warned the Prophets to stop taking advantage of situations. He wondered why they delight in things such as death and would come out any time an individual is dead to make claims of foreseeing it. Without mincing words, Kweku Baako described the prophecies regarding KABA's death as "complete trash", cautioning the Prophets not to offend the sensibilities of the deceased family. An incident has occurred. The family is bereaved. Theyre in pain. Then some people now are rising from left, right, center saying I saw it. God spoke to me and I prophesied. Its a complete trash, he stated. Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video A British camera operator has died while shooting a stunt sequence for a BBC drama in Ghana. Mark Milsome, whose credits include Saving Private Ryan and Sherlock, was working on upcoming drama The Forgiving Earth when the incident occurred. The BBC said it was "deeply shocked and saddened" by the news, calling Milsome "a much respected colleague". His agent said he would be "greatly missed" and that an investigation into Saturday's incident was under way. "We all need answers to this dreadful tragedy," said Sarah Prince of PrinceStone. It has been reported that Milsome was taking part in a night shoot for a car stunt scene. 'Incredibly talented' Milsome's many credits include Game of Thrones, The Theory of Everything and Bond film Quantum of Solace. His agent said he was "an incredibly talented cameraman... a gentle gentleman [and a] genuinely loved member of the film industry family". Cinematographer Seamus McGarvey was among those to remember Milsome on Twitter, calling him "one of the loveliest people [he had] ever met". Director Mark Herman, who worked with Milsome on such films as Brassed Off and Little Voice, also paid tribute, saying he was "one of the nicest guys in the business". Milsome started out in the 1990s as a clapper loader, working his way up the camera department to focus puller, camera operator and director of photography. The 54-year-old leaves a wife and daughter, to whom his agent said he was devoted. Formerly known as Black Earth Rising, The Forgiving Earth is a BBC co-production with subscription service Netflix about the prosecution of international war crimes. Written by Hugo Blick, who wrote and directed thriller The Honourable Woman, it is provisionally set for transmission in 2018. Source: BBC Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Members of the media watch proceedings in the Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal, ICTY, as they wait for the verdict to be handed down in the genocide trial against former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic, in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday Nov. 22, 2017. (AP Photo/Phil Nijhuis) The New York Post, left, and New York Daily News are arranged for a photo, Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017. The papers will often tackle the same topics on their front page, but only when the stars align do their colorful headline writers get the same idea. Both were reporting Wednesday on President Donald Trump's backing of Republican Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, who is accused of molesting a 14-year-old girl decades ago. Moore denies the charge. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) _ The special legislative session is staggering toward its end Tuesday, with a small contingent of lawmakers holding so-called technical sessions to keep it alive after the Alaska House and Senate disagreed on adjourning early. Technical sessions are more casual gatherings involving a handful of members charged with gaveling in and out. They are used regularly, including when one side doesnt want to keep all its members waiting around while waiting for the other to send it a bill. Doug Gardner, the Legislatures top legal adviser, says the concept of technical sessi... Gov. Bill Walker signs Senate Bill 28, a land entitlement allocation of 14,666 acres for the Petersburg Borough, on Thursday at the Sons of Norway Hall. At the Sons of Norway Hall on Thursday, in front of about a dozen people, Gov. Bill Walker signed a bill that gave the Petersburg Borough more than 14,000 acres of land. The borough was entitled to about 1,400 acres before Walker came to Petersburg, a number that was personal to the Alaska-born governor. "I don't know the history of what happened, but [Petersburg] didn't get all the land that it was entitled to," Walker told the Pilot. "And I have a personal issue with the federal government that Alaska, when it became a state, didn't get all the land that we were entitled to. So anytime... KODIAK, Alaska (AP) A report by Alaskas Southeast Conference calls for the state marine highway system to increase its ticket prices. The recommendation is part of a 25-year plan that Gov. Bill Walker asked the conferences stakeholders to put together for the struggling Alaska Marine Highway System, the Kodiak Daily Mirror reported Thursday. The major part of the plan is to turn the marine highway into a public corporation. The systems Reform Steering Committee is pursuing legislative changes to make that happen. Stakeholders estimate rate increases could produce a 21 percent d... Here is one thing Keystone XL won't do for Canada: wean the country's oil industry off its dependence on the U.S. While approval of the project in Nebraska was welcomed by Alberta and its producers, it came also as a reminder that Canada hasn't been able to clear two crucial projects within its own soil, to ship crude to other markets from its own ports. Meanwhile, TransCanada Corp. 's Keystone XL ties the country's industry even more to its southern neighbor. As Nebraska's Public Service Commission voted to approve Keystone XL's route through the state early Monday, Kinder Morgan Inc.'s Trans Mountain expansion to British Columbia's Pacific Coast remained mired in regulatory delays and legal challenges even after gaining federal approval last year. The decision in Nebraska also came after TransCanada's Energy East project, which would have linked Western Canadian producers to the Atlantic Coast, was canceled last month amid fierce opposition from Quebec. The U.S. has become a monopoly buyer of Alberta's oil, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said at a speech in Toronto Monday. We continue to urge Canadian decision makers to follow this example so we can have access to global markets from Canadian ports, supporting good Canadian jobs. Canada sent about 99 percent of its crude exports to the U.S. last year with the remainder mostly going to the U.K., Italy and Spain from oil platforms off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador, Statistics Canada data show. While the existing 300,000-barrel-a-day Trans Mountain line is the only export pipeline that connects to a Canadian port, nearly all of the crude it carries supplies refineries in Washington state. New Markets Pipeline infrastructure to new markets is critical, Sneh Seetal, spokeswoman for Suncor Energy Inc. , Canada's biggest oil company, said in a phone interview. Expanded connection to the U.S. is critical but so is access to new markets. Another project that's set to send more Canadian crude to the U.S. is Enbridge Inc. 's replacement and expansion of Line 3, which runs from Alberta to Superior, Wisconsin. While construction is still awaiting the go-ahead from Minnesota, Enbridge Chief Executive Officer Al Monaco said in September that the company is confident approval will be granted. Meanwhile, a plan to expand Trans Mountain to 800,000 barrels a day by December 2019 could be delayed by nine months, the company warned last month. On Oct. 26, Kinder Morgan asked the National Energy Board for permission to start work as the company waited permits from the city of Burnaby, British Columbia, the end point of the line in Canada and a center of opposition to the project. Access to Asia Canadian oil producers say expanding Trans Mountain is crucial to gain access to Asia, where demand for heavy oil is growing. While line 3 may be expanded by late 2019, Trans Mountain is still having issues, Kevin Birn, a director at IHS Energy in Calgary, said in a phone interview. While Keystone XL would likely increase the price for Canadian crude by allowing more volumes to reach the U.S. Gulf Coast refining center, Trans Mountain would have the added benefit of opening access to customers in Asia, said Mike Walls, a Boulder, Colorado-based crude oil analyst at Genscape Inc. The transportation economics from Western Canada are much stronger to Asia, he said. The price of heavy Canadian crude is just going to be bid up that much more. Heavy Western Canadian Select crude, the benchmark for the oil sands, would trade at a discount of less than $10 a barrel to West Texas Intermediate futures from almost $16 a barrel currently after Line 3, Keystone XL and Trans Mountain are all operational, according to Walls and Tim Pickering, chief investment officer at Auspice Capital Advisors Ltd. WCS's discount has widened over the past two months as pipelines out of Western Canada fill up and new oil sands production enters the market from Suncor's new Fort Hills mine and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.'s expanded Horizon mine and upgrader. The bigger discount is necessary to offset the higher costs of shipment crude by rail. The Keystone XL project still faces potential legal challenges. The Nebraska panel that approved the project also mandated an alternative route that was immediately targeted by the project's opponents as lacking adequate vetting. This may have some positive effect but not to the same extent as if we have tidewater access, Pickering said by phone. Trans Mountain is mission critical for Canada. In general, men are twice as likely to cheat on a spouse than women are. That frequency increases over the lifespan, peaking among the elderly. Among men 18 to 29 who have ever been married, about 1 in 10 is General Motors CEO Mary Barra during the 2017 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Read more DETROIT General Motors intends to make a profit on its next generation of electric vehicles because the batteries will cost nearly one-third less than the batteries in today's Chevrolet Bolt, CEO Mary Barra said Nov. 15. In October, GM product development chief Mark Reuss said the company intended to introduce 20 electrified vehicles by 2023. The ambitious goal comes as U.S. auto sales are slightly below last year's record level, and consumers continue to prefer larger pickup trucks, SUVs, and crossovers, most of which are powered by gasoline engines. Sales of gas-electric hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and battery-only vehicles in the United States are up 12.5 percent in the first 10 months of 2017 from a year earlier. But at 454,399 units, they represent only 3.2 percent of the market. Battery cells are the big cost in most electrified vehicles, which cost a few thousand dollars more than comparable-size gas-fueled models. Barra said the batteries for the Chevrolet Bolt cost about $145 per kilowatt hour. By 2021, GM is confident that will drop to about $100 per kWh. There are two reasons GM is betting heavily on electric vehicles. First, China, where GM and its partners sell more cars and trucks than GM sells in North America, is urging automakers to make, and consumers to buy, more electric cars. China is requiring automakers to achieve a certain new-energy vehicle score tied to the quantity of zero- and low-emission vehicles it sells. The target is 10 percent of a manufacturer's fleet in 2019 and 12 percent in 2020. GM sold 3.87 million vehicles in China last year. So 10 percent of that would be 387,000. GM predicts global industry sales of electric vehicles will reach one million by 2026. The other force pushing for electrification is autonomous vehicle technology. The greater computing power of EVs is compatible with the density of sensors, cameras, and software that guide self-driving cars. Barra said GM's progress on autonomous technology accelerated after it acquired San Francisco-based Cruise Automation in early 2016. The partners are now testing self-driving fleets in San Francisco, Scottsdale, Ariz., and metro Detroit, and early next year will be testing in New York City. They have developed three generations of autonomous vehicles in 15 months. The expectation among automakers and urban planners is that AVs will be deployed primarily in ride-hailing fleets. They will displace taxi drivers, as well as drivers for Uber, Lyft, and other services. But automation will bring down the cost to consumers who make multiple trips in densely populated urban areas. "Today ride-sharing only represents about 0.1 percent of total miles driven in the U.S.," Barra said. That seems like a tiny piece of the transportation pie, but Goldman Sachs estimates the global ride-hailing market is about $36 billion today. It forecasts that will grow to $65 billion by 2030. The unanswered question is whether these new services can generate the robust profit margins generated by large pickup trucks and SUVs. "The electric vehicle is simpler than an internal-combustion-engine vehicle," Barra said. "There are a lot of creative things we can do to bring the cost down." The revenue will be driven as much by the services EVs support as well as the data they can gather. Automakers see that data, such as commuting patterns, and dining and shopping habits, as something they can sell to other users. The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission is encouraging electricity customers to shop for suppliers on Black Friday. Buyer beware. Read more The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission is encouraging consumers to shop for electricity on Black Friday. A quick glance at the PUC's website suggests Peco Energy customers could save an eye-popping 44 percent on their bills. Buyer beware: Not all prices are as low as they seem. Papowerswitch.com, the PUC's marketplace for electricity shopping, lists about 140 offers for Peco Energy customers, some of which will save customers compared with the utility's current price. But some offers that appear to be very competitive may not be. Seven suppliers tack on additional fees that require alert customers to compute their own true comparisons for household use. The PUC requires suppliers to disclose additional fees on the government website. But three Peco suppliers, while noting they charged monthly fees, did not disclose the amount of those fees. Visits to several supplier websites failed to reveal the details, requiring a customer to either call the supplier or to submit an online form providing the customer's contact information. Complicating matters, the PUC's online tool did not include the monthly fee for several suppliers in its calculation of the estimated monthly cost of their offers. As a result, the deals offered by some suppliers that charged monthly fees appeared to cost less than they actually do. The PUC corrected the problems this week, after the Inquirer pointed out the flaw. "There was a little glitch on the back end of our site on how some offers were displayed," said Nils Hagen-Frederiksen, the commission's spokesman. Programmers fixed the glitch Tuesday, and estimated costs now include the monthly fees, which range from $3.95 to $9.95. As for that 44 percent savings? By far the best price posted for Peco customers is from Public Power LLC, a Connecticut company whose website acknowledges that it's neither a public utility nor affiliated with "any government owned not-for-profit utility." It is owned by Crius Energy LLC, which owns several other suppliers. Public Power offers a rate of 3.99 cents per kilowatt hour, which is indeed 44 percent less than Peco's current price-to-compare of 7.13 cents per kWh. (Peco's price, which is adjusted quarterly, is set to go up slightly to 7.22 cents on Dec. 1.) Public Power does not charge a monthly fee, but it is unique among suppliers in that it charges a $145 "enrollment fee." Because that upfront payment is not a monthly fee, the PUC does not include it when it estimates the cost of the deal compared to others. The $145 fee buys a discount rate fixed for only three months. The supplier will make a new offer to the customer at the end of that term. When customers do not take action, suppliers typically switch them to variable-rate deals. "There is no limit on how much your variable rate may change from one billing cycle to the next," Public Power discloses in the terms of its offer. Realistically, a customer would need to recover $145 in savings in three months to justify the enrollment fee. For a typical residential customer using 700 kWh, the fee would add 6.9 cents per kilowatt hour to the 3.99 cents per kWh that Public Power charges for the electricity. That means a typical residential customer would pay the equivalent of 10.89 cents per kWh. That's 53 percent more than Peco's price, not 44 percent less. Public Power's deal would be attractive only for customers consuming about twice as much as a typical household, or more than 1,500 kWh a month. Electric-heating customers consume that much, as do customers with large numbers of potted plants under lamps. Alas, the price is not available to Peco electric-heating customers, who are in a separate rate class. (Your average monthly usage is listed on your Peco bill.) In response to the Inquirer's questions, the PUC on Wednesday added a fine-print disclaimer to the web page promoting the purported 44 percent savings, saying: "These savings do not include any additional enrollment fees." "We're constantly evaluating how to best display the data so consumers can digest it." said Hagen-Frederiksen. The PUC also posts a list of suggested questions for customers to ask suppliers. Evaluating electricity offers gets more complicated when a customer factors in other premiums, such as free thermostats or loyalty rewards, or if the rate varies according to the time of day. About 2 million Pennsylvania customers, or 36 percent, buy their electricity from competitive suppliers, according to the PUC, including 541,000 Peco customers and 641,000 PPL Electric customers. Customers that don't shop get the "default rate," or price-to-compare, offered by the electric company. The former Robinson department store building at 1020 Market St. behind billboards advertising the Fashion District Philadelphia project across the street. Read more A city government panel has ruled against designating the former Robinson department store at 1020 Market Street as a historically significant structure, opening the way for the modernist building's unique wave-like facade of sweeping purple glass tile to be demolished. The Philadelphia License and Inspections Review Board voted Wednesday to sustain an appeal of the designation filed by the building's owners, mall-landlords Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust and Macerich. The two are in the process of redeveloping the Gallery at Market East shopping mall across the street into what's being called Fashion District Philadelphia. During more than three hours of testimony, Leonard Reuter argued for the city that the Philadelphia Historical Commission had been right when it voted in July 2016 to place the building on the city's Register of Historic Properties in response to a nomination by the Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia. Historic preservationist Ben Leech said during the hearing that the building's 1940s facade is a rare and important early example from the career of Victor Gruen, a prominent Viennese architect who fled the Nazis in 1938, and that it exemplifies the expressive retail architecture of its time. PREIT and Macerich attorney Anthony Forte, however, contended that the commission had overestimated the building's historic value, given subsequent alterations to the structure, and did not adequately consider whether its preservation would hold back economic development in the surrounding area, known as Market East. Among those testifying on the appellants' behalf were Peter Angelides, a principal of Philadelphia economic-development consultancy Econsult Solutions Inc., and Frank DiCicco, who appeared in his capacity as a lobbyist for PREIT. DiCicco also serves as chairman of the city's zoning board and previously represented the Market East area as a city councilman. The L&I Review Board, which is chaired by Philadelphia Zoo vice president Kenneth Woodson, voted 5-0 in the companies' favor. None of its members remarked on their decision while casting their votes. City spokesman Paul Chrystie said the Historical Commission would review the ruling before deciding on next steps. Preservation Alliance advocacy director Patrick Grossi said his group would discuss how to proceed. PREIT spokeswoman Heather Crowell did not immediately respond to a request for comment. PREIT chief executive Joseph Coradino has previously said his venture with Macerich was opposed to the historic designation because it limited their flexibility to combine the property with two others that they own on either side of the former department store building. In most cases, developers seeking to alter structures listed on the city's historic register must prove to the Historical Commission that preserving the properties would represent a "hardship" preventing their profitable use. PREIT's and Macerich's appeal was originally filed in August 2016 in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court, but the venture later came to an agreement with city officials to have the case heard by the L&I Review Board instead. The Christian Street Baptist Church, located at 1024 Christian Street, has been the subject of a fierce debate over demolition versus preservation. On Tuesday, attorneys and preservationists called into question the Historical Commissions decision to change the preservation designation, which was done after the group realized it had incorrectly tallied the vote. Read more Oh, local government, how we love thee. Less than 24 hours after the Philadelphia Historical Commission reversed its decision to designate the Christian Street Baptist Church in Bella Vista as being historic, preservationists and independent attorneys argued Tuesday that the group's unexpected turnabout cannot stand. In a letter sent Tuesday to members of the Historical Commission and city officials, Paul Steinke, executive director of the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia, argued that the commission's Monday decision to recount its vote ultimately taking the property off the city's Historic Register was "defective and violates the rights of commission members, property owners, nominators, and the citizens of the City of Philadelphia." "We believe that the action of the Historical Commission is procedurally deficient and in violation of the rules and regulations of the commission," Steinke said in the letter. "The proper course of action," he continued, "is to re-list the matter for a roll call vote at a future meeting." The opposition from Steinke and community members is the latest wrinkle to what has been a surprising, lengthy, and controversial attempt in recent months to add the 1890s church to Philadelphia's Historic Register. Since the church's pastor, Clayton Hicks, and his 20-member congregation listed the property for sale last summer, the property has been under agreement, nominated for preservation, designated as preserved, and then, well, not. And all within a matter of just two months. Steinke's position supported by Oscar Beisert, the preservationist who nominated the property, as well as by independent attorneys familiar with preservation law leaves the fate of the church uncertain. Hicks' congregation had been counting on cash from the $1.4 million sale to fund the church's relocation and expansion of ministry. Meanwhile, the buyer, developer Ori Feibush, filed for a zoning permit last week to demolish the church, where he plans to build five townhouses. In a statement Tuesday, Paul Chrystie, spokesman for the commission, said the Law Department had not had an opportunity to review the issues raised by Steinke or any others and therefore would not comment at this time. On Monday morning just 11 days after the Historical Commission designated Christian Street Baptist Church as historic the group notified all parties involved that the decision had been incorrectly tallied. Chrystie said in a conference call with reporters Monday afternoon that the unexpected change was the result of a misunderstanding of the commission's voting rules. The original vote was 5-4, with two members, chairman Robert Thomas and John Mattioni, abstaining. Chrystie said the commission changed the status after later learning that its own regulations stipulate that a majority must be reached by all members present including those abstaining. Steinke's letter to Historical Commission members Tuesday detailed why he believed that logic was flawed. "The purported rescinding of the designation did not take place in a public meeting," Steinke explained in the letter. "Thus, it is void under the Sunshine Act, and the original designation would stand at this time." "Such action must be done in public meeting for it to be valid official action," he wrote. Yet according to Mark Zecca, a Philadelphia attorney who served in the city's Law Department for two decades including many years, he said, as counsel to the Historical Commission the commission's reversal Monday was flawed in other ways, too. In an interview Tuesday, Zecca argued that common law established by previous judicial decisions stipulates that so long as a quorum is present at a meeting, all that is required for a valid vote is a majority of the quorum. The Historical Commission defines a quorum as eight members meaning the original five votes in favor of preservation on Nov. 10 would stand. The commission's regulations do not nullify this common-law rule, Zecca said. When he served as counsel to the commission, he added, that common law was "internal commission precedent." "I think it's improper to switch the precedent" now, Zecca said. Jeffrey Hill, a representative for the church, declined to comment Tuesday. Feibush said he had not yet read the letter and was not familiar enough with case law to comment on either Zecca's or Steinke's arguments. However, he added that Steinke was "spinning his wheels here" and should instead be "spending his energy trying to find a buyer." "I would be overjoyed to allow someone else to step into my shoes," Feibush said of his agreement of sale for the church, which he said is a contract that could be passed on to another buyer. " I'd sign it over tomorrow if there was a buyer for it." "I hope Paul is, for lack of a better term, able to put his money where his mouth is, and bring buyers to the table," Feibush continued. " No one needs this aggravation in their life." Shoppers peruse the stores at the Gloucester Premium Outlets in Blackwood, N.J. The regions shopping centers anticipate a big Black Friday, so shoppers should expect crowds. Read more Itching to get that holiday-shopping rush in person rather than online this long Thanksgiving weekend? Braving the crush at the malls doesn't have to be a chore. Offering up advice on such logistical matters as when best to shop, how to find a place to charge your phone, and where, oh where, to park are representatives of the companies most eager to have you visit Simon Property Group and Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (PREIT), which own a majority of the Philadelphia region's malls. Here are their tips for navigating the Thanksgiving-Black Friday-and-beyond retail whirl: Simon Property Group. To take advantage of door-buster and other sales, the owner of King of Prussia Mall and the Gloucester and Philadelphia Premium Outlets malls, among others, says the best times to shop will be at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving and from 6 to 8 a.m. on Black Friday. For smaller Friday crowds, shop from 6 to 10 p.m. Take advantage of mall amenities, which vary by mall. These include free coat and bag check; mall greeters at the entrances to answer your questions about store locations, restrooms, and best deals; seating lounges with device-charging stations; and free gift-wrap stations to decorate the presents you've already bought while you hunt for more. Consult digital directories (at King of Prussia only). These touchscreens are in high-traffic areas and offer interactive maps that highlight the locations of shops and services and display the fastest route to reach them. You can send the directions to your mobile device by text message or QR code. Have a game plan. Know what you want to buy, where you want to buy it, and how much you want to spend on each person. The free Simon Malls app will have real-time information on the latest Black Friday retailer promotions and a mall map. Knowing where the stores you want are narrows down where to look for parking. Maximize down time. While you wait at the checkout, check off items purchased, compile all receipts in one place, and check retailers' social-media channels to see the latest promotions. Wear comfortable shoes. There are more than 2.9 million square feet to troll at King of Prussia Mall alone. PREIT. The owner of Cherry Hill, Plymouth Meeting, and Willow Grove Park malls, among others, says its stores often run deal-busters at opening on Black Friday, but you can expect deals all weekend long. Least-crowded times Friday are likely to be early afternoon and early evening. If you're visiting Santa, grab a FastPass and skip the line. Mobilize. Use Google or Apple maps to anticipate traffic; do research in advance to find the quickest travel time. When you arrive, use mall directories. Google Maps now provides interior pedestrian directions to the stores. Check the malls' websites; there are free charging areas, so your phone won't run out of juice. Each mall has a special "holiday" section that includes extended hours, events, deals, and VIP Perks. Cherry Hill, for example, offers free bag and coat check and a personal shopper for Perks members. Hit the parking decks. Surface lots are the first to fill up. The parking decks offer more spaces, protection from the weather, and may actually be closer to a mall entrance. Questions remain about what caused the Barclay Friends nursing facility fire. STEVEN M. FALK / Staff Photographer Read more Five days after a massive fire raged through the Barclay Friends nursing facility in West Chester, leaving four residents presumed dead, many questions about the building and the sprinkler system remain unanswered by officials. The fire was reported just before 11 p.m. Thursday, and witnesses report it spread rapidly across the roof. The blaze raged for more than 2 hours before being declared under control at 1:22 a.m. Friday. Twenty-seven people were injured, and scores of elderly and frail residents were displaced. Among the unanswered questions: Who died in the fire? At a news conference Monday, Chester County District Attorney Thomas Hogan would not identify the missing residents or take any questions about the investigation. Late Tuesday night, however, officials announced the recovery of the remains of two people who perished in the fire. Their identities were not disclosed. What do the building plans for Barclay Friends show about construction materials, firewalls, or fire-suppression systems? About noon Friday, the Inquirer and Daily News filed two Right-to-Know requests: one for any recent building permits and the second for copies of building plans. Both groups of records are considered public records that are routinely available. Recent building permits could indicate if work was done in the days leading up to the fire on electrical, water, or any other building systems. The Borough of West Chester said Friday it would make the records available but then said it was unable to do so because investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives later took possession of the permits and the original plans and had not returned them. Was the structure protected by a fire-suppression system with sprinklers in each room? Officials for Barclay Friends declined to comment. What type of sprinkler system was installed? Spokesman Larry Elveru of Kendal Corp., parent company of Barclay Friends, declined to comment in an email, citing the ongoing investigation. When asked Monday about the sprinkler system, Dave March, public information officer for the West Chester Fire Company, indicated he would check but did not reply to inquiries Tuesday. Messages left with the Chester County fire marshal were not returned. What does the ATF say about the sprinkler system or the building permits? The agency would not answer questions about the sprinkler or what the permits show. "The ATF National Response Team has possession of the documents because this is an ongoing investigation," an agency spokeswoman said Tuesday by email. "As such, the documents will be provided to you and/or returned as soon as possible. The cause and/or origin of the fire has not been determined." What questions do fire-safety experts have five days after the fire? Richard Skinner, a former fire marshal in New Jersey who said he was a consultant involved in the Station nightclub fire in Rhode Island that killed 100 people in 2003, questioned whether the sprinkler system was fully operational. "If it was fully sprinkled, there is no way that building should have come down like that," Skinner said. He said that the system might not have been able to put out the fire but that it should have kept it from spreading. Camaro Rob. With a name like that, you know he had to be special. And he was. For starters, Robert Wilks was one of those kindhearted souls who each Thanksgiving went out and helped somebody. Not only would he co-sponsor the annual Feeding Families block party organized by Barbara Devan, owner of Tasties Soul Food restaurants, but Wilks would get in line and serve, too fried turkey, turkey ham, turkey wings, macaroni and cheese, yams, and more. When it was over, he would help clean up. But this Thanksgiving, he won't be there. The 29-year-old businessman was gunned down Saturday while driving in the 600 block of North 52nd Street in West Philly. He was shot twice in his right side just after 6 p.m. in a Dodge minivan, and crashed into a commercial building. Wilks was taken to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 6:20 p.m. Police know no motive and have no suspects. "Rob was a beacon of hope," said Saleem Vanderpump, a fashion designer and author of a novel, Fatally Flawless, under the name Saleem Roberts. "He was the everyday guy from the neighborhood who did good." "This is a major loss," he added. Wilks was best known for the hair enterprise he co-owned with his fiancee, Brianna Johnson, Bee Your Hair Salon & Hair Boutique, in the 600 block of South 52nd Street. Young and successful, they were an "it" couple, admired by many because of their business acumen and commitment to each other. They went from living their version of the American dream to an all-too-common American nightmare. "She loved that man and that man loved her," said Jacen Bowman, a makeup artist. "They truly exemplified the meaning of black love." Just last week, the couple had returned from Europe, where they toured Paris, London, and Frankfurt. They visited the Eiffel Tower, rode the London Eye ferris wheel, took a boat ride, shopped at Louis Vuitton. They met five years ago when Wilks was working at Herr Foods, and Johnson was in cosmetology school and planning to open a beauty salon. Once she did, he noticed her habit of buying hair extensions after each customer requested them and suggested that she instead buy the hair in bulk. In effect, the couple became distributors of hair for weaving. "From there it grew," Johnson told me. "We grew it together." "His goal was to become a millionaire, and he wasn't too far from accomplishing his goal," said Rodney Strickland, his best friend and the owner of Loyaltee Hair, 700 E. Erie Ave. "It showed the young kids that you don't got to sell drugs to be successful," said Strickland, who also drives a bus for SEPTA. "We had nice cars. We lived in nice places and we had something that people considered in the 'hood as a trophy, which is a Rolex watch. And we did everything the positive way." Asked about his friend's murder, Strickland said, "It had to be somebody that was jealous or somebody who was looking for a comeup because everybody loved Rob. He was a kid who had come from nothing and [ended up] with all of these businesses. "He was a hero." Wilks' viewing will be at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Church of Christian Compassion, in the 6000 block of Cedar Avenue, West Philadelphia, followed by a funeral at 11. But first there's Thanksgiving to struggle through. On Thursday, Devan will pause the music and activities on the moon bounce to conduct a balloon ceremony in Wilks' honor around 2 p.m. A life-size cardboard cutout of Wilks will have a place of honor. "He was an everyday working man from Philadelphia," Vanderpump said. "He was winning at life." Here's hoping that the example he set of working hard and dreaming big will live on and inspire youngsters who hear about Camaro Rob. Benjamin Franklin waits in line at Beilers Bakery to order his favorite cheesecake, at Reading Terminal Market on the day before Thanksgiving. Read more Benjamin Franklin patiently waited for his number to be called at Beiler's Bakery inside the Reading Terminal Market on Thanksgiving Eve morning. It was his responsibility to bring the cheesecake to Thanksgiving, and it was a duty he did not take lightly. "I only buy cheesecake here, because it's the best," he said. "It makes me big-time popular on Thanksgiving." Franklin, a 54-year-old Philadelphia police officer who shares his name with Philly's favorite Founding Father, has been braving the crowds at the Reading Terminal on the day before Thanksgiving every year for 20 years. He's one of thousands of locals who wait until Thanksgiving Eve to do their shopping at the Reading Terminal, one of the country's oldest indoor public markets. People like Chanda Allen arrive before the Reading Terminal opens at 8 a.m. to be among the first to get inside. Allen, 49, of West Philadelphia, said she'd been "coming to the market forever" on the day before Thanksgiving. "You want the best for Thanksgiving; that's why I come down here," she said. "Everything is fresher and the people are friendly." Vinnie Iovine, co-owner of Iovine Bros. Produce, has worked Thanksgiving Eve at the market for 28 years the first six years as an employee of the produce store and then as its owner. Iovine said for years the Wednesday before Thanksgiving was the busiest day in the market "hands down," but this year he believes that Tuesday was the busiest and Wednesday will come in a close second. "Today is a fun day because everyone is coming in very happy," he said. "They know they're off the next day or leaving work early." In the week leading up to Thanksgiving, Iovine said, his store goes through 22,000 pounds of collard greens. Sweet potatoes and string beans are the next-biggest sellers, with celery coming in a close fourth. And everything is fresh including the customers who joke around with Iovine and offer up high fives. "Everybody comes out smiling today, I think they just love the atmosphere," he said. "It's so diverse and everyone gets along but that happens every day at the market." Over at Godshall's Poultry, Lisa Johnson, 54, and Gabi Westraadt, 24, chatted as they waited in line for their freshly killed turkeys. When Johnson arrived at 8 a.m. after driving more than an hour from her home in Middletown, Del., there were already 72 people in line in front of her. Johnson said getting a Godshall's turkey is a "longstanding" tradition in her family that dates back 40 years. "This started with my grandmother and then my mother, and now I've picked it up and started doing it," she said. "It's by far the best turkey. If I come back every year, it has to be good." Johnson said she'll be hosting 22 people for Thanksgiving dinner this year. "I got the largest turkey they have, which is 28 to 30 pounds," she said. "That's a pterodactyl, not a turkey," said Westraadt, an au pair from South Africa, who was No. 96 in line for a turkey at 8:30 a.m. Mara Smith and Ken Kouba will soon celebrate their wedding. But health insurance wasnt a factor in their marriage. Read more At 26, a new law school graduate, I just landed my first "real" job. And by real job, I mean a job with a salary and benefits just six months before I am kicked off my parent's health insurance plan. My significant other, Ken, is an entrepreneur who starts working before sunrise, while I often work late into the evening as an attorney. Though we fully intend to spend our lives together, we chose to live together rather than marry right away. But when I knew I would be getting insurance through my job, Ken and I talked about whether marriage would be a smart move for the health benefits. But after doing some preliminary research, we found no clear answer, because nothing about health insurance ever seems to be clear. With the Dec. 15 deadline looming for the Affordable Care Act's open enrollment period, I'm sure many couples like us are weighing whether to get insured through the ACA or if this is an option getting married to enjoy their partner's employer-sponsored plan. All couples are different (and so are many health insurance plans) so there are no easy answers. But remembering LOVE, both in the usual sense and as an acronym for what to look for while investigating insurance options, may help you find the right answer for you. Look at insurance plans. This might seem obvious, but consumers tend to choose policies based on sticker-prices without considering important differences between the available plans that will directly affect real costs. Sal Cocivera, president of Cora Capital Advisors, suggests that couples compare not only co-pays and premiums, but also considers factors including ancillary services. Maybe the ACA plans appear to offer better savings, but if employer-based plans are affordable and meet the minimum coverage standards, premium tax credits and other savings might not be available. It's also important to consider how plans calculate annual deductible requirements. Some insurers calculate using the calendar year, while others use the plan renewal date. And while employer-sponsored plans might appear to offer nice extras, like health club memberships, Cocivera warns that some of the most appealing insurance benefits are only offered to the covered employee, not the spouse or dependents. Also, look at which providers are included in the network of any plan you consider. Sometimes premiums are kept low through "narrow networks," meaning that if a serious problem arises, you may not have access to the hospitals you want. Obstacles. You can't foresee all the challenges you will face, but some issues are predictable. Frequent travelers might not want an HMO because, unless there is a true emergency, care outside your network won't be covered as readily as under a PPO. Another potential obstacle: will signing up for a certain plan mean you need to change your current doctors to get your care covered? Vigilance. When deciding between plans, you might ask, "how do I know that my spouse's wonderful health insurance plan is going to be as wonderful next year?" The answer is, you don't. That's why you must be vigilant in the pursuit of health coverage. Make it a priority to review health coverage offerings each year before the open enrollment period so you capture all available opportunities. Expect the unexpected. Premiums and out-of-pocket expenses may increase, certain plans may cease to exist, others may take their place, even definitions may change. While the exact path of the health insurance market is unknown to even the most informed consumer, couples making this decision should always seek expert advice to keep up on the latest developments. Initially, Ken and I assumed we would be better off if he were on my health benefits. But through careful review, we found that the cost of adding a spouse to my employer's plan far exceeded that of Ken acquiring insurance on his own. We are getting married. But we are keeping our health insurance separate. Bottom line: Couples figuring out their health insurance coverage need the same skill required for navigating their relationship: Constant, candid communication. Mara Smith is an associate at Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads in Philadelphia, and a recent graduate of the Thomas R. Kline School of Law at Drexel University, where she concentrated in health law. Often, women become caregivers to their mothers, a role many embrace, but also can find overwhelming. Read more Caring for an elderly, ailing relative can be more than exhausting. It can lead to depression in the caregiver. And that can mean a reduced quality of care for the relative. Add the unexpected such as the caregiver getting sick and the struggle to cope can seem mountainous. A recent Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey found that nearly half of adult caregivers say it's moderately or very difficult to balance work and caregiving. More than three-quarters of the respondents found it to be "stressful," and more than half found it to be "overwhelming." Still, more than nine in 10 called the caregiving experience worthwhile. For perspective, we spoke recently with Donna Raziano, chief medical officer of Mercy LIFE. She and her colleagues work with seniors and their caregivers through Mercy LIFE's Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly. Who are todays caregivers and what do they face? In America, it is frequently the female who's taking care of an older adult, usually Mom. Women live longer than men. Right now, at least 20 percent of adult children are taking care of an older parent. It's pretty impressive. The last phase of life is generally 4.5 to 5 years. The caregiver burden does progress. In the beginning you might be okay, and then you might realize mom is starting to fail, or you're starting to fail. That's a critical scenario. They're taking care of mom, so maybe they stop exercising. So their knee starts to give out. Or, let's say they get injured. Depression in the caregiver is very significant. It can be from 20 to 40 percent of all caregivers. As the burden of caring for their loved one increases, the depression generally gets worse. That's a huge risk. If you do not take care of your depression, the quality of your care goes down, too. I would call that a critical doctor's appointment. You might need medication. You have to realize this is a very common scenario. You don't have time for everything, but you should make time for your mood. Self-care is so important. The two things you don't generally hear about in that regard are physical health make sure you keep walking or exercising and spiritual health. We know that having some outlet in something spiritual has benefits. You'll hear about yoga and medication. Experts don't mention church services much. But just something religious or spiritual can be helpful in giving you the strength to move forward. As a caregiver, how would you know if youre approaching burn-out? The early signs are starting to feel more irritable, more strained. You might start to feel angry. You might start to worry about money more because you can't work. You're starting to feel uncertain. Those feelings shouldn't be dismissed and kept private. There's a point where you need to be communicating them to family. There's also something called the Zarit Burden Interview. It's a survey with about 30 questions, but a few key ones have been helpful for focusing on how the caregiver feels internally. They include: Do you feel that as a result of the time you spend with your relative, you don't have enough time for yourself? Do you feel stressed between caring for your relative and trying to meet other responsibilities, such as work and family? Do you feel strained when you are around your relative? Do you feel uncertain about what to do with your relative? Uncertainty is often a trigger. As you get sick and Mom gets sick and you have financial difficulties and you don't know what to do, that really hits a critical spot where you don't know what's going to happen. The perception of that burden is intensified when you're uncertain. If you don't recognize that those triggers can happen and don't start preparing, you might become very burdened and very angry and very resentful. Extreme burnout is very dangerous. I've seen physical abuse, financial abuse. People snap. You can be so frustrated at a loved one who is repeating themselves, who is falling. One thing that often causes burnout is fecal incontinence. That is an extreme trigger where people just lose it. If you find that you are suffering burnout, whats next? If almost every day you're feeling you don't have privacy, you can't manage any more, etc., you may need time off to recover and re-engage. Respite is what they call it. Often, a weekend is not going to do it. A week is great. You've got to take a break. There are two ways. Mom can go into a facility for a week. Or another family member can fill in for a week. It has been shown over and over again that respite care, one to two times a year, will improve the resiliency of the caregiver, the ability to give good care, day in and day out. It's also okay to supplement your services with formal services. If you don't have the money, you might have to work through your church or the Philadelphia Corporation on Aging or your county's aging office, or consider a LIFE program, which has day services. That's where you say, "I still want to do this, but I have to figure out a way to supplement before I completely burn out." Another example is Time Out, a respite program at Temple University where a student sits with Mom for an afternoon. You also mentioned advance care planning. What is it and why is it important? This is about the long term. With medications these days, people live longer. You have to be thinking about resiliency and multi-year endurance. With advance care planning, you consider what you are going to do if something happens. What are the emergency scenarios? How do we want to deal with the future when I get sick or Mom gets sick? What if she gets to a point where she can't do steps? Can you put the hospital bed in the living room? What if Mom has a stroke? How are we going to keep Mom comfortable? Emergencies happen in health care. If you have not done any advance care planning and you get in a car accident or have a heart attack, the stress is through the roof. But if you know that Plan B is Sister X, the situation will feel like less of a crisis. Ideally, the entire family should be involved in making the plans. I have tried many times to get family members B and C and D to agree to do certain days or nights of the week. We need to spread this out a little bit. That sort of works, but it's not great. Often, the reality is that Daughter A does it all and the others informally come in. But just having an open discussion about what Mom's needs are and how we're going to deal with her as the next decline happens takes away some of the uncertainty for the caregiver. Just hearing the brother say, "it's okay, you can call me," will give that caregiver resiliency. With all the burdens, why do nine in 10 caregivers say its worthwhile? It can be very satisfying, but it's also the hardest job in the world. The majority of people want to do it themselves because they know Mom the best. They know what Mom likes. They know how she likes her hair done. They know what food she likes. They want to take care of Mom. The caregiver has social purpose. And if you have social purpose in life, generally you are less depressed. Even as Mom is declining, you can re-engage, re-connect in a very private, tender moment. sandybauers10@gmail.com Learning to set and hold boundaries is an important life skill. This need is especially visible now, as so many more women and men are speaking up about being sexually harassed and even violated by people in positions of power. Adults who have trouble setting boundaries possibly because they never acquired this skill as children may be more vulnerable to abuse. Such people may: Feel that he or she lacks the power to say "no" and may never have the opportunity to develop the skill to set and hold boundaries Not even realize there's a choice when asked to do something they don't wish to do Respond to others' needs without considering the cost to themselves Feel powerless to stop abusive behavior, and then ashamed to disclose their own powerlessness Holding personal boundaries and respecting those of others is a critical component of sexual health and safety, and it's never too early to teach and model healthy assertiveness for our kids. In fact, if you haven't already started, this holiday season could be your perfect opportunity to promote healthy assertiveness in young children and teens to help them keep their bodies and psyches fit and safe. Parents can teach kids what their rights are and give them the skills and the permission to stand up for themselves as protection against boundary-pushers of all types peers as well as adults. Teaching by example is most effective, and one of the best examples is allowing a child to decide with whom they will share physical affection by the age of 2 or 3. Consider teaching school-aged children to respond to a request for a hug or a kiss by offering a warm smile and a handshake if that's what they would prefer. Prepare your child with a response along the lines of, "No thank you, I prefer to shake hands." Role play with them before a big family event; let your child feel his or her own power of saying no and being heard. "But Grandma says she needs a hug for the holidays!" exclaims your spouse. Maybe she does, but what if the child doesn't want to hug? An adult who says she "needs" a hug magnifies the reasons for a child to have permission to keep boundaries. What the parent says in this moment is crucial because the emotional needs of an adult should never take priority over those of a child. So don't hesitate to act if an adult needs a reminder. Little ones need the adults who love them to respect and protect their boundaries. It can be as simple as saying, "Sorry Mom, but we're teaching our kids to set boundaries, and we're actually proud that the lesson is taking." Go a step further and remind Mom that you're also teaching your kids to show respect when someone else says "no" to touch and ask your parent to be a good role model. Parents can be warm and polite while supporting their child's request. It's never been more obvious that people need to learn to set and respect boundaries. Kids learn so much about how the world operates from their parents. A discussion about holiday hugs provides a gentle, teachable moment for all generations of your family. A family that can raise a child who understands the importance of boundaries is something the entire community can be thankful for. Dr. Rosenzweig is also the author of The Sex-Wise Parent and The Parent's Guide to Talking About Sex: A Complete Guide to Raising (Sexually) Safe, Smart, and Healthy Children. For more information, read her blog or contact DrRosenzweig@sexwiseparent.com to schedule a program for your school or community group. The store front of the now-closed Pipers Smoke Shop in Limerick, Montgomery County. The owner of the shop was convicted Nov. 20, 2017 of selling drug paraphernalia. Read more The owner of a pipe and bong store in the Philadelphia suburbs, caught up in a crackdown on head shops, was convicted Monday of selling drug paraphernalia. Craig Hennesy, 49, whose Piper's Smoke Shop opened in 2016 in Limerick near Ursinus College, could get two years in jail and be fined $10,000 when he is sentenced on two misdemeanor counts. Hennesy was convicted by a Montgomery County Court jury despite hearing testimony from a retired county chief of detectives who said the products sold were legitimate. "I was beyond stunned," Hennesy, who is free on bail, said Tuesday. He declined further comment. The retired chief of detectives, Oscar P. Vance Jr., testified that in his opinion the smoking accessories and rolling papers were not drug paraphernalia and reasonably could be used for tobacco. No marijuana was sold at the shop at 196 W. Ridge Pike, Assistant District Attorney Evan Correia said in an interview. Numerous signs inside stated the smoking accessories were sold to be used with tobacco only and all purchases included a free bag of tobacco. Correia said the case was "difficult to try." "I had to overcome the fact that everything was being displayed and advertised for tobacco use only," Correia said. "But I argued that no one was smoking tobacco out of a three-foot bong. The jury agreed." By early 2018, medical marijuana is expected to be available for Pennsylvania patients with 17 qualifying conditions. Only oils, vape cartridges, tinctures, and lotions will be on sale at nearly two dozen dispensaries across the state. The law forbids all smokable plant materials. New Jersey's governor-elect, Phil Murphy, has promised to legalize all forms of marijuana for adult recreational use next year. So why prosecute a small head shop for selling stoner accessories? Because drug paraphernalia remains prohibited in Pennsylvania. Correia said he could not comment on whether the county planned to continue a campaign against smoke shops. "Right now it's illegal. If the law changes, our position will change as well," Correia said. "But right now it's illegal, and that's the way we view it." It's that time of the year when bucks are feeling amorous. With the Thanksgiving spike in traffic, this frisky time for deer can turn deadly for the animals and drivers. The New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance is advising drivers to remain alert during the rutting season, as bucks in pursuit of does may end up with one caught in the headlights, killing the deer and causing significant damage to a vehicle and serious injury or even death to its occupants. Pay attention, Keystone State drivers: State Farm lists Pennsylvania as the third-highest state for drivers colliding with deer. One in 63 Pennsylvania drivers has a chance of hitting a deer. In New Jersey, it is one out of 229. State Farm provides a state-by-state breakdown of such accidents, with only West Virginia and Montana ranking higher than Pennsylvania. Hawaii, California, and Nevada drivers are the most likely to avoid deer collisions. According to a State Farm study, there were an estimated 1.35 million collisions in the United States between July 1, 2016, and June 30, 2017, costing drivers an average of $4,179 in damage. Using its claims data and state-licensed driver counts from the Federal Highway Administration, State Farm, a leading auto insurer, calculated the data for the insurance industry as a whole, based on State Farm claims involving policyholders with comprehensive and collision coverage only. In 2015-16, State Farm reported 1.3 million industry-wide deer collision claims in the U.S. That included 24,617 in New Jersey and 133,817 in Pennsylvania. Mating season started around October and continues through December, the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance said in a news release issued Tuesday. The chance of deer sprinting onto roadways rises in the early morning and around sunset, when visibility decreases and deer tend to be on the move. "You don't have to be a hunter to come into the cross hairs of deer during the fall months," said New Jersey's banking and insurance commissioner, Richard J. Badolato. "You could find that your vehicle moves into the same path as a doe or buck. More deer accidents occur in October and November than the rest of the year." Also watch for herds. Multiple deer may cross the road at any moment, usually in single file. "If you see a deer, slow down and pay attention to sudden movement," said Badolato. "If the deer is in the road and does not move, wait for the deer to pass and the road is clear. Also, pay attention to 'Deer Crossing' signs. Slow down when driving through areas known to have a lot of deer." Here are some driving tips from Badolato: If you are about to hit a deer or other animal, hold firmly onto the steering wheel, apply your brakes, and come to a stop. Try not to swerve, which could cause you to lose control and possibly hit a tree or veer into oncoming traffic. If you hit a deer, stay calm and move your vehicle to a safe place, pulling onto the shoulder. If you can't move your car or the animal is blocking traffic, alert authorities so they can clear the roadway. Once safe, take photos of vehicle damage and the roadway. Document all injuries, and report the incident to your insurance carrier. Officials suggest that drivers check their insurance policies to make sure they have adequate coverage. Not all insurance policies cover vehicle damage caused by hitting an animal. You may need additional comprehensive coverage, which is optional, to pay for animal damage. "To make sure your vehicle is covered for deer collisions, contact your agent or carrier to discuss adding comprehensive coverage to your policy," said Badolato. "Filing a claim for an accident covered by your comprehensive coverage means you will still have to pay a deductible. After that, your insurer will cover the costs of the claim up to your policy limits." Emmerson Buie Jr. , FBI special agent in charge of the El Paso field office, announces a $25,000 reward for any information leading to arrests in the death of Border Patrol Agent Rogelio Martinez and injury of an unidentified agent out of the Big Bend Sector of Texas. The news conference was held at the FBI offices in El Paso, Texas, on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017. Read more EL PASO The FBI said it is investigating the death of Border Patrol agent Rogelio Martinez as "a potential assault of a federal officer," but the agency cautioned Tuesday it has not reached any conclusions as to what happened over the weekend along a desolate span of Interstate 10 in West Texas. "We call it potential because we do not yet have the full picture yet as to what transpired," FBI Special Agent in Charge Emmerson Buie Jr. said at a news conference at El Paso's FBI offices, about 135 miles west of the drainage culvert where Martinez and another agent were found badly injured late Saturday. Martinez, 36, who died of devastating head injuries, was found unconscious with broken bones, according to the FBI. The other agent, who has not been identified, also suffered severe head trauma and is in critical but stable condition. Border Patrol union officials say that agent has no recollection of what happened. Those officials have said they believe Martinez and the second agent were bludgeoned, possibly with rocks, in a savage desert ambush. The area where they were found, about 50 miles north of the border, is a well-known marijuana-trafficking corridor, where drug runners sometimes hide in drainage culverts to await a rendezvous with a vehicle. President Trump and other advocates of tougher border enforcement have used Martinez's death to renew calls for a wall along the boundary with Mexico. Trump tweeted Sunday that Martinez was "killed," while other GOP leaders characterized the incident as a brutal attack. Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called it a case of "murder." Buie sidestepped questions about whether Trump and other Republican leaders were premature with their descriptions. "I have not briefed the president. For information regarding what information is being provided to the president, I'll refer you to the Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs," he said. The FBI said it is offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to a resolution of the case. Officials with the National Border Patrol Council, which represents agents, have described the incident near Van Horn as an "grisly" ambush and said the two agents were attacked with rocks. But Culberson County Sheriff Oscar Carrillo, who was one of the first law enforcement officers to reach Martinez on Saturday night, said there was no evidence at the scene to support such claims. He said Martinez's injuries were consistent with a fall in challenging desert terrain on a moonless night. But the fact that another agent was found badly injured nearby could point to an assault, the sheriff said. The sheriff said the injuries to the other agent raise questions about whether both agents could have fallen victim to an accident or an attack. "They were both hurt. What hurt them, we don't know," Carrillo said. The Washington Post's Devlin Barrett contributed to this article. Partial remains of Army Sgt. La David T. Johnson were found about five weeks after he was killed in an ambush in Niger last month, the Pentagon said Tuesday, raising more questions about the operation that led to the deaths of four elite U.S. soldiers. An investigation team from U.S. Africa Command discovered the remains Nov. 12 at the site where Johnson's body was initially found outside the remote village of Tongo Tongo, where he and the other soldiers were killed during a fierce attack by as many as 50 Islamist militants. Along with Johnson, Staff Sgt. Bryan C. Black, Staff Sgt. Jeremiah W. Johnson, Staff Sgt. Dustin M. Wright, and five Nigerien soldiers were killed. About 12 U.S. soldiers and about a platoon of Nigerien troops were involved. The announcement of Johnson's remains, which were somehow missed in the initial sweep, comes after the Washington Post reported that Johnson was found by villagers with his hands bound and a gaping wound in his head, raising the possibility that he was captured alive and later executed. His body was discovered two days after the attack. It is unclear what remains the team uncovered or whether they produce additional evidence indicating a capture. Pentagon spokesman Dana White disclosed the information in a written statement. The Pentagon has not provided additional details or addressed related questions. The announcement also paints a clearer picture in the saga over Johnson's remains and what his widow, Myeshia, described as the military's decision to block her from viewing them. "Why couldn't I see my husband? Every time I asked to see my husband, they wouldn't let me," Myeshia Johnson said in an interview with ABC's Good Morning America. "They told me that he's in a severe wrap like I won't be able to see him. I need to see him so I will know that that is my husband." "They won't show me a finger, a hand. I know my husband's body from head to toe, and they won't let me see anything. I don't know what's in that box. It could be empty for all I know, but I need to see my husband. I haven't seen him since he came home." The Pentagon has said that the soldiers were on a routine reconnaissance mission. Under U.S. military rules, American troops in Niger are not supposed to go on combat missions in the country, but they can "advise and assist" on missions with local forces in which the chance of enemy contact is low. Air support from French Puma helicopters and French jets took an hour or longer to arrive. The incident, still under investigation, has put pressure on the Pentagon to explain whether U.S. troops in remote and dangerous postings like Niger have acceptable levels of air support and medical evacuation capabilities. There are about 800 U.S. service members in Niger part of a contingent of 6,000 American troops in Africa. They include Special Forces soldiers, who began arriving in 2012 to provide counterterrorism training, as well as others who work on a drone base in the remote desert. About 4,000 French troops also are based in the region. The Washington Post's Sudarsan Raghavan contributed to this article. TOKYO Eight people have been rescued and are in "good condition" after a U.S. Navy transporter plane carrying 11 crew and passengers crashed into the Pacific Ocean off Japan, the U.S. Navy's 7th Fleet said Wednesday. The search for the remaining three is continuing. This is the latest accident to befall the 7th Fleet, which is based in the Japanese port of Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, and has endured multiple collisions at sea this year, including two involving guided-missile destroyers that left 17 sailors dead. The C2-A Greyhound aircraft was on a routine flight from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in southern Japan to the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier, which is currently in the Philippine Sea on exercises with Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force. It crashed at 2:45 p.m. local time Wednesday, the 7th Fleet said in a statement. The cause of the crash was not immediately known and an investigation would be carried out, it said. The eight who were rescued were transferred to the Reagan for medical evaluation. The Reagan crew and Japanese forces were conducting search and rescue operations Wednesday afternoon and trying to recover the remaining crew and passengers. "The Maritime Self-Defense Force is currently searching with U.S. forces," Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said, according to public broadcaster NHK. "We received information from U.S. Forces that the cause is possibly engine malfunction." Onodera voiced concern about the frequency of aircraft accidents involving U.S. forces, saying he would ask the American military to take more care with safety. This was an apparent reference to last month's crash on Okinawa, when a transport helicopter caught fire during a training flight and crashed just 300 yards from houses. No one was injured. The C-2 is a twin-engine cargo plane designed to transport people and supplies to and from aircraft carriers. It crashed 93 miles northwest of Okinotori island, about halfway between Okinawa and Guam, according to the Okinawa Defense Bureau. The 7th Fleet has been carrying out exercises linked to the recent rise in tensions with North Korea. This month, for the first time in a decade, it carried out a three-carrier strike exercise in the sea between Japan and the Korean Peninsula a show of force that North Korea has decried as warmongering. Wednesday's crash is the latest in a string of accidents to befall the 7th Fleet this year, including two collisions involving guided-missile destroyers that left 17 sailors dead. Ten were killed when the USS John S. McCain collided with an oil tanker near Singapore in August, and seven died when the USS Fitzgerald ran into a much heavier container ship off the coast of Japan in June. The month before, the guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain collided with a South Korean fishing vessel off the Korean Peninsula and the guided-missile cruiser USS Antietam ran aground in Tokyo Bay in January. Most recently, a Japanese tug lost propulsion and drifted into the USS Benfold, another guided-missile destroyer, during a towing exercise just last week. No one was injured on either vessel and Benfold sustained minimal damage, the 7th Fleet said in a statement on Nov. 18. The 7th Fleet has about 50 to 70 ships assigned to it and is responsible for an area that spans 36 maritime countries and 48 million square miles in the Pacific and Indian oceans, according to the Navy. The admiral in charge was removed from his position after his commanders lost confidence in his ability to lead and the Navy's top admiral ordered a fleetwide review of seamanship and training in the Pacific after the McCain collision. A survey of sailors on the USS Shiloh, a cruiser, released last month painted a damning picture of life in the 7th Fleet, where sailors say they are overworked and undertrained. "I just pray we never have to shoot down a missile from North Korea," one sailor lamented, according to the Navy Times, "because then our ineffectiveness will really show." The crew members described dysfunction from the top, suicidal thoughts, exhaustion, despair and concern that the Shiloh was being pushed to sail while vital repairs remained incomplete, the paper reported. Rep. Robert Brady, D-Penn., speaks during the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia , Monday, July 25, 2016. Read more In their clearest language to date, federal authorities have accused U.S. Rep. Robert Brady of leading a criminal conspiracy to hide a $90,000 payment they say he made to persuade a 2012 primary opponent to drop out of the race, newly unsealed court records show. The claim tucked into a Nov. 1 search warrant affidavit unsealed Friday alleges the congressman was an active participant in a scheme that has already elicited a guilty plea from Brady's one-time challenger, former Philadelphia Municipal Court Judge Jimmie Moore, and led to indictments against Brady aides Ken Smukler and Donald "D.A." Jones. Agents and prosecutors filed the affidavit to persuade a judge to approve a search of bobcongress@aol.com, a personal email account used by Brady. It also lays out the potential charges that Brady might face should he be indicted a list that includes wire fraud, lying to the FBI and making an illegal campaign contribution. "The investigation has uncovered evidence which indicates that Brady, Smukler and Jones utilized Smukler's and D.A. Jones' corporations to conceal payments from Brady's campaign for Moore to withdraw from the 2012 Democratic primary race," FBI Special Agent Jonathan R. Szeliga wrote. Still, it remains unclear if the unsealing of the affidavit indicates the probe is heating up or winding down and if one of the state's longest-serving members of Congress and chairman of the city's powerful Democratic City Committee will be charged. Many of the allegations lodged in the affidavit which was first reported Tuesday by Seamus Hughes, deputy director of the Program on Extremism at George Washington University have been publicly known since the investigation burst into public view this summer. In asking the judge to unseal the affidavit last week along with similar warrants filed for email accounts associated with Moore, Smukler and Jones Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric L. Gibson said that need for secrecy is no longer necessary. "The sealing aimed to protect the ongoing criminal investigation," he wrote in a motion filed Thursday. "Some of the bases for the application to seal are no longer existent." What's more, prosecutors are working against a clock. Since April, Brady has signed several agreements with authorities extending the statute of limitations for any alleged crimes he may have committed, according to sources familiar with the agreement but not authorized to publicly discuss it. Such a move gives prosecutors more time to investigate but also his lawyers more time to convince the Justice Department their client did nothing wrong. The most recent agreement is set to expire this week if he does not agree to another extension. Approached Tuesday afternoon at City Hall, Brady declined to answer questions about the newly unsealed document. His lawyer, Jim Eisenhower, said Tuesday that the warrant sought "documents that the congressman already provided" to investigators months ago. "The congressman is not a target and he did nothing wrong," Eisenhower added. And yet, the unsealed warrant indicates that agents took steps to continue their probe by accessing Brady's emails after Smukler and Jones were charged last month with conspiracy and illegal campaign donations, an indictment the congressman's supporters hoped would be the end of the case. In the affidavit, Szeliga, the FBI agent, writes that investigators hope to use Brady's emails to debunk his claims that much of the money he paid Moore in 2012 was not a payoff but payment meant to lock down exclusive rights to polling data that the judge had commissioned during his brief race. Prosecutors have previously balked at that claim, arguing that Brady already had access to the data after a campaign operative slipped it to him six months earlier. The search warrant affidavit expounds on that argument. According to the document, it was Philadelphia campaign consultant Gregg Kravitz who first passed the polling data to Brady. He told agents that neither Brady nor any of his campaign aides ever asked him not to share the same data with anyone else, the affidavit states. (Kravitz could not be reached for comment late Tuesday.) "The government intends to introduce evidence that Brady took no steps between December 2011, when he first learned of the poll's existence, and June 2012 to prevent dissemination of the poll or obtain exclusive ownership of the poll," it says. Szeliga's document also challenges several other claims Brady has made throughout the investigation including that he knew little about the details of the transaction, which was mostly overseen by Smukler. In the filing, FBI agents cite an email they obtained from Smukler's accounts that suggests Brady provided the campaign consultant with contact information for Moore's campaign manager, Carolyn Cavaness, whose consulting firm was paid $25,000 that she has admitted was later passed on to Moore. That money, according to campaign finance records, came from Brady's campaign coffers and was passed through a consulting firm owned by Jones, the indicted Brady aide, before it was paid to Cavaness' company. Yet Brady, according to the search warrant affidavit, told FBI agents in an April interview that he never used Jones' company as a pass-through. He also denied having Moore's polling data in his possession prior to his campaign's payments to the judge a claim authorities now allege was a lie, according to the document. Both Smukler and Jones have denied any wrongdoing and vowed to take their cases to trial. Moore and Cavaness pleaded guilty to falsifying campaign records and are cooperating with the investigation. Staff writer Andrew Seidman contributed to this report. A frustrated Mayor Kenney struck at President Trump Wednesday, questioning his upbringing and saying he had "no compassion" for immigrants in the United States. "I don't know where he was raised, but his family didn't do a good job raising that guy," the mayor said. The City Hall news conference was called so the mayor, council members, clergy and advocate groups could implore the Trump administration to reverse its decisions to end Temporary Protected Status for Haitian migrants and the DACA program that allows young people who were illegally brought here as children to stay in the United States. Kenney was reading from prepared remarks, reaching a point where he noted that on Monday the president had told Haitians to get out, then appeared to depart from the text, saying, "He should get out, actually." For the Trump administration to remove TPS protections that enable hardworking immigrants to contribute to the city and the country is "simply un-American," the mayor said. "Could you imagine if they ended TPS for the Irish when we came here in the 1800s? Sent us all back home to starve?" The U.S was a country of caring and compassion, the mayor went on, but it's "now a country of anger and divisiveness, and Donald Trump has gotten us where we are. There is no compassion whatsoever in the White House." Kenney said he was "beside himself with sadness" over the impending, forced exit of thousands of migrant peoples who seek a better life for themselves and their families. He has criticized the president before, and fought him in court and won over the administration's attempt to withhold federal law-enforcement grants from so-called sanctuary cities. Nationally, TPS allows about 320,000 immigrants from 10 countries to live and work here because of war, floods, droughts, or epidemics in their homelands. The status, enacted by Congress in 1990, was never meant to be permanent. The law empowers the White House to designate a country's citizens for temporary protection and to determine when that nation has recovered sufficiently for its citizens to return. On Monday, the Trump administration declared an end to TPS for Haitians, who must leave the United States by July 2019 or face deportation. On Wednesday at City Hall, speaker after speaker described how Haiti remains a broken country, wracked by unemployment. They pledged to fight to restore TPS for Haitians and other foreign nationals. The city's Haitian community numbers about 7,500 people, with more spread across suburbs from Elkins Park to Langhorne. An estimated 600,000 Haitians live in the United States, half of them citizens through naturalization. About 50,000 are here under TPS, granted after the 2010 earthquake that destroyed much of the capital city of Port-au-Prince and killed an estimated 230,000 people. President Donald Trump points to reporters as he leaves a news conference at the White House, Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017, in Washington. Read more WASHINGTON President Trump gave a boost Tuesday to embattled Republican candidate Roy Moore in the Alabama Senate race, warning against a Democratic victory and emphasizing that the former judge "totally denies" allegations of inappropriate relationships with teenage girls. "We don't need a liberal person in there, a Democrat," Trump said about Moore's opponent, former federal prosecutor Doug Jones, who has led in some recent polls in the state. "I've looked at his record. It's terrible on crime. It's terrible on the border. It's terrible on military." The comments came after a week in which other Republican leaders in Washington, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Ky., had cut ties with Moore and called on him to exit the race. They also stood in contrast to Trump's own support for the Republican National Committee's decision last week to pull resources from the state, including 14 paid staffers and expertise in using party data to target voters and model the election result. There were no signs Tuesday that the RNC would reverse course, but a senior administration official said the president's comments could prompt a larger effort to close ranks behind Moore. "Normally there would be an outside group dumping $2 or $3 million attacking Doug Jones' record," the official said after the president spoke. "And now that the president has warned against having a liberal Democrat in that seat, that could be taken as signal to the outside groups." Trump spoke as sexual harassment and abuse scandals continued to roil the nation's political landscape. In Congress, new allegations of harassment emerged Tuesday against Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., released a statement calling for an ethics investigation of the matter. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., also faces an ethics probe after admitting to grabbing at the chest of a woman for a photograph while she slept before he was in Congress. Trump who during the presidential campaign was accused by 11 women of unwanted touching or kissing and was caught on tape boasting of grabbing women's genitals without their consent declined to comment directly on the allegations against Conyers or Franken but said he was happy that the misbehavior was becoming public. "A lot of things are coming out, and I think that's good for our society, and I think it's very, very good for women, and I'm very happy a lot of these things are coming out, and I'm very happy it's being exposed," he said on the South Lawn of the White House before leaving for Florida, where he will spend the Thanksgiving holiday. Just before the president spoke, the Moore campaign issued a statement in Montgomery, saying they had evidence that cast doubt on the allegations of Leigh Corfman, who says she was touched sexually by Moore when she was 14 and he was in his 30s. The evidence they presented did not contradict Corfman's story. Ben DuPre, a longtime aide to Moore, displayed documents he said were from the Corfman family's divorce file. The Post had obtained and reviewed a copy of the divorce file before publishing Corfman's story. He noted that her parents had concerns at the time, following a divorce, regarding Leigh's behavioral problems, a fact that is not contested. DuPre also claimed that Corfman lived nearly a mile away from the intersection of Alcott Road and Riley Street in Gadsden, Alabama, where she says Moore picked her up. It was not clear what address DuPre was referring to. Corfman and her mother told The Post they lived at the time on Whittier Street, which is just around the corner from the alleged pickup point. DuPre also pointed to a Breitbart article in which Corfman's mother is quoted saying that there was no phone in her daughter's room at the time. Both Corfman and her mother have said they had a phone on a long cord in the hallway that could be brought into Leigh Corfman's room. The RNC broke ties with Moore on Nov. 14 as the president was returning from Asia. There was, however, some disagreement inside the administration at the time about the best path forward. "All the right political people were not read into that decision," said the senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. White House Chief of Staff John Kelly knew about the decision and was part of the discussion. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders later said the president supported the decision. But over the past week, the White House position began to change. In a "Fox & Friends" interview Monday morning, presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway tacitly supported Moore by talking about the importance of keeping Jones, whom she cast as a "doctrinaire liberal," from winning Alabama's Senate seat a message that was deliberate, one White House official said. Conway alerted Trump in advance that she planned to make the argument against Jones, and the president agreed with the strategy, saying he was eager to see what the response was, the official said. White House aides also realized that Trump had come around to that approach stressing the importance of keeping the seat in Republican control when he began making the argument privately. Although his comments to the news media Tuesday afternoon were unplanned, aides were not surprised when Trump made them. In recent days, Trump had also begun expressing skepticism in private about the allegations against Moore. The president pointed to the presence of Gloria Allred a well-known lawyer for sexual misconduct cases, who is representing one of Moore's accusers as well as the timing of the accusations, so close to the election, as indicators of a political attack on Moore. Democrats have dominated the broadcast airwaves in Alabama for weeks, spending more than seven times as much as Moore on television and radio ads, according to a Democrat and a Republican tracking the ad data. The latest ad by Jones plays back criticism of Moore that Ivanka Trump, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., gave in the aftermath of allegations that Moore made unwanted advances on teenage girls. Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter, is quoted as saying of the Moore allegations: "There's a special place in hell for people who prey on children." Sessions is quoted from a congressional hearing where he was asked about the Moore story: "I have no reason to doubt these young women." And Shelby, who has been critical of Moore, is quoted about his plan to write in another name on the ballot. The ad targets Republicans and Republican-leaning voters who make up a majority of the state. The goal is to give them permission to vote for a Democrat in the Dec. 12 special election. "Most Alabamians haven't voted for a Democrat for U.S. Senate in a generation," said Zac McCrary, an Alabama-based pollster for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. "You are butting up against a generation of Republican muscle memory," At a short Tuesday afternoon news conference, Jones smiled faintly as a reporter read back Trump's criticism of him as a "soft on crime" liberal. As a federal prosecutor, Jones obtained convictions in the early 2000s of two members of the Ku Klux Klan for their role in the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, which killed four young African-American girls. "I feel like my record speaks for itself," Jones said. "I know my record on crime and criminal-justice issues. I know my record on everything else. We've got three weeks to go, and people are going to make that judgment." Asked if he considered Moore to be a sexual predator, Jones said he was less interested in characterizing his opponent than in listening to the accusers. "I believe the women. I think that answers the question," he said. "I'm not going to call names." With three weeks to go until the vote, it is unclear if a Republican-leaning outside group will invest in the race to attack Jones. Ed Rollins, chairman of the pro-Trump Great America PAC, said that while his group has not made any decisions about what money to invest in Alabama going forward, any future ads probably would be attacking Jones rather than overtly supporting Moore. "We think it's always important that you get someone who is going to be a pro-Trump supporter," Rollins said. "Obviously Alabamians are going to make up their mind. The only advertising we've done to date has been anti-Jones. We've not made any decisions, but if we did anything else, it would be along the same lines." President Trump speaks to reporters before leaving the White House Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017, in Washington for Thanksgiving trip to his private Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Read more Three military personnel have been reassigned from their White House jobs amid allegations that they had improper contact with foreign women while traveling with President Trump on his recent trip to Asia, according to officials familiar with the situation. The service members all worked for the White House Communications Agency, a specialized military unit that helps provide the president, vice president, Secret Service and other officials with secure communications. The military is scrutinizing three Army noncommissioned officers who allegedly broke curfew during Trump's trip to Vietnam this month, officials said. Mark Wright, a spokesman for the Defense Department, confirmed that the Pentagon is examining the behavior of personnel during the visit to Vietnam. "We are aware of the incident, and it is currently under investigation," Wright said. Trump visited Vietnam as part of a 12-day swing through Asia. The episode comes after four military personnel on the same White House team faced allegations related to their behavior during a trip to Panama in August with Vice President Pence. Those men two from the Army and two from the Air Force stood accused of taking foreign women after hours into a secure area as they were preparing for Pence's arrival, officials said. They were all flown home before Pence arrived and stripped of their White House assignments pending the findings of the investigation, officials said. Army Col. Amanda Azubuike, a military spokeswoman, said an investigation into the Panama case has been closed and the findings forwarded to senior military officials for review. She said she was not aware of the final conclusions or any disciplinary action. NBC previously reported that military members on the Panama trip had been removed from White House duty. Service members with high-level security clearances are expected to report contacts with foreign individuals to ensure that their interactions do not compromise national security. The mission of the White House Communications Agency is to prevent eavesdropping on presidential communications and to ensure that White House officials can be securely reached worldwide at a moment's notice. If found guilty, the service members face the risk of losing their security clearances or could be subject to administrative discipline or courts-martial. Spokesmen for Trump and Pence declined to comment and referred questions to the office of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. A Rohingya Muslim child cries as she and others wait to receive food distributed from a Turkish aid agency at the Thaingkhali refugee camp in Ukhiya, Bangladesh on Nov. 14. Read more As we gather with our families to give thanks, I invite you to peer into my medical clinic waiting room in Durham, N.C.: The room is often filled with little Syrians, Somalis, Afghanis, Iraqis, and Burmese, boys and girls, who pack in next to families from Rwanda, Eritrea, Cuba, and Congo, all waiting for their coveted 15 minutes with the doctora, daktare, tabiba. And, relatively speaking, these young refugees are among the luckier ones. I have walked into waiting rooms elsewhere in the world that are much more crowded than mine, holding the millions who still seek asylum despite an indefinite wait. These other refugee clinics hold horrors that are more freshly and usually more deeply felt. Some in Bangladesh are stocked with wasted Rohingya children, with cholera and no parents. Some see long queues of Sudanese girls pregnant with their smuggler's baby. Many families in flight simply have no health care, like those remaining stranded on the remote Manu Island, or the thousands blocked at Yemen's borders, or the unlucky ones whose boats were intercepted and returned to Libya. So numerous are these disasters that it seems easy to resign to amnesia or apathy. Looking and feeling requires courage, my patients tell me. "Never again" and kwibuka ("remember" in Kinyarwandan) are slogans spread in the wake of the Rwandan genocide of the early 1990s. Yet it seems we have already forgotten what Rwanda tried to warn us of. Several months ago, a U.N. human-rights official described the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar as "a textbook example of ethnic cleansing." Genocides cannot proceed without international cooperation or inaction which signals indifference. As human rights abuses like those taking place in Myanmar continue, we must own that our silence equals our stamp of approval. I sometimes wish I could forget Rwanda, and what I saw when I went there to rebuild a medical school still in shambles two decades after the genocide: families still so poor that babies were born too early and too small because mothers couldn't afford to eat. Children died from bloodstream infections, because the hospital couldn't afford enough sterile gauze or gloves. The transfusion center was always out of blood. And if only I could erase the misery I found when I traveled to the outposts of Myanmar several years ago, when the country braced for its own imminent genocide. Even then, some children weren't allowed to attend school and instead worked as laborers or were sold to traffickers. Others died from simple pneumonia because it took too long to reach a clinic, and too long for us to reach them. I do sometimes wish I could be more silent, as I ask my boss for a few weeks off to work in a Rohingya camp in Bangladesh with an NGO called Medical Teams International. I realize my waiting room will get backed up while I'm away, but when I tell my patients where I am going, they thank me. I can say with some certainty that my patients, with their hodgepodge of histories and ethnicities, do not forget the atrocities taking place elsewhere the wrongs we essentially enable. And they are keenly aware of the xenophobic rhetoric that now occupies their new home. Yet, they also carry the brightness of possibility. Here, they see they actually have a chance at life and they thrive. Their English skills proliferate, they boast about their "soca team" and their many new best friends, and all seem to want to be a daktare for kids when they grow up. When I question myself about leaving my home, my husband, and my patients to dive back into the horrors of a humanitarian disaster, I cannot help but remember those other waiting rooms. I cannot help but act. How else do I give thanks for the abundance of resilience that fills my waiting room each day? B. Emily Esmaili is a general pediatrician with extensive global health experience locally and internationally. She works at the Lincoln Community Health Center in Durham, N.C., and is a senior research fellow at Duke University's Center for Health Policy and Inequalities Research. The Philadelphia skyline seen from the South Street Bridge over the Schuylkill River September 26, 2017 includes the still-under-construction Comcast Technology Center and Comcast Center; One and Two Liberty Place; the FMC Tower and Cira Centre South and the Boardwalk section of the Schuylkill River Trail. TOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer Read more News that a mob of over 100 teenagers swarmed through Center City, injured a couple, and scuffled with police last weekend sent up a collective gasp of "Oh, no, not again!" The bad behavior injured the public sense of civility that Philadelphia has worked so hard to nurture since a rough period between 2009 and 2011, during which teenagers rampaged through city neighborhoods. It struck a nerve because Center City belongs to the entire Philadelphia region. It is where a diverse array of people, young and old, black and white, Muslim and Christian, gather and mostly behave themselves. They share Center City so well, they inspired one of the nation's leading sociologists, Elijah Anderson, to write The Cosmopolitan Canopy, Race and Civility in Everyday Life. Anderson explained in a recent meeting with the Inquirer and Daily News Editorial Boards that he studied Philadelphia's Rittenhouse Square to its Reading Terminal Market to point out the complexities of race relations and how these public settings can bring out the best characteristics of a civil society. But the kids probably didn't read Anderson. The melee started after a crowd of teenagers left Club Coda, at 17th and Walnut Streets, following an anti-smoking event, according to First Deputy Managing Director Brian Abernathy. Others who had been at the even, spread their mayhem as far as 15th and Market Streets, where a 16-year-old girl allegedly kicked and punched a SEPTA officer who was helping city police break up the crowd. Police arrested the girl, of Juniata Park, and a 14-year-old West Philadelphia boy after police saw him punching a person in the crowd. Police didn't know about the Club Coda event or when it was letting out. That's important, because police keep tabs on where large groups of teenagers gather and increase their presence to prevent trouble. Similar intelligence-based police tactics are among the lessons from the flash mobs of a few years ago, which knocked the city on its heels. Back then, packs tore down sidewalks from Center City to Old City, knocking over, punching and kicking pedestrians. In reaction, City Council passed a temporary curfew. Former Mayor Michael Nutter famously took to the pulpit at Mount Carmel Baptist Church and admonished parents to get more involved in their children's lives. Police stepped up their surveillance of social media, which troublemakers used to organize crowds. And, city police began an online registry of private security cameras so they could more quickly apprehend suspects. SEPTA, too, has cameras on its passengers and properties. Those systems worked well until Saturday night. Mayor Kenney promises increased police presences in the city for the foreseeable future. That's good. But underneath the street fights is a troubling question arising from the nature of children. They often react to something wrong in their worlds without fully understanding what they are doing. Pinpointing their underlying fears, anger and frustrations and addressing them can protect all of us and our sense of civility. To make Saturday night's bad behavior an isolated event, the city should take it as a reminder that vigilance is essential to keep the peace. Ho Chak! In Japan Bari-Uma Pavilion Elite Ho Chak! In Japan episode 3 offers a very special food in Japan, ramen. In Japan, Gary and Orange travelled to Fukuoka and Beppu. They tasted different versions of ramen in Japan and in Malaysia, they went to Bari-Uma, a ramen restaurant originated from Hiroshima. Ho Chak! In Japan TV Series is filmed in Japan and Malaysia. For the first half of the show, the hosts will bring us to different places in Japan for food and then Gary and Orange will recommend the local Japanese restaurants in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. There will be 10 episodes of Ho Chak! In Japan on Malaysia TV Channel 8TV 6pm on every Sunday. Share Pin Bari Uma Pavilion Elite Bari-Uma Ramen Restaurant started off with their first outlet in Jaya Shopping Center. They expanded to Mitsui Premium Outlets, MYTown Shopping Mall and Pavilion Elite. They have over 37 outlets in Japan and two outlets in Singapore. We tasted their ramen at the Mitsui Premium Outlets a few months ago as it was highly recommended by my sister. What we love about their ramen is the broth. They use pork and chicken bone for their ramen broth. It takes them 10 hours to create the broth. For their ramen, they cooked it like it is in Hiroshima. The ramen is cooked in automated ramen machine and all the ingredients for the ramen is the same in Japan. You get that authentic Hiroshima ramen taste in all the Bari-Uma ramen restaurant. What we love about their broth is, it is flavourful and not too oily. It depends on individual preferences as some prefer thick and oily broth but I prefer the Bari-Uma version. Another thing we wanted to highlight is their cha siew, grilled pork belly. Their pork belly is imported from Germany and marinated before char grilled to perfection. This collaboration with Ho Chak! In Japan thanks to Fun Japan, for more info visit their website at https://malaysia.fun-japan.jp/ Share Pin With Team Ho Chak and owners of Bari Uma. Please take note that Ho Chak! In Japan is also available on https://www.tonton.com.my/ Bari Uma Pavilion Elite Address: 7.101.01 & S7.101.00 Pavilion Elite, 168, Jalan Raja Chulan, Bukit Bintang, 55100 Kuala Lumpur, Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Wilson Ng A Father and traveler who enjoys to eat, shop, travel and taking pictures with Samsung S22 Ultra and Sony ZV-1. Im a full time blogger, youtuber and father for two. I used to travel around 17 International trips per year but now staying at home. Remember to follow us at www.instagram.com/placesandfoods and www.youtube.com/placesandfoods. For advertisements or features, contact me at [email protected] See author's posts Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Trump is trying to pretend like the Russia investigation doesnt exist, but it was reported that special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating Jared Kushners contacts with foreign leaders. The Wall Street Journal reported, Robert Muellers investigators are asking questions about Jared Kushners interactions with foreign leaders during the presidential transition, including his involvement in a dispute at the United Nations in December, in a sign of the expansive nature of the special counsels probe of Russias meddling in the election, according to people familiar with the matter. Jared Kushner is not only Trumps son in law but most of the key pieces of the Russia investigation trace back to him. Kushner has consistently lied about meetings and contacts with Russians. Kushner was a central figure in the campaign and has been Trumps right-hand man in the White House. Kushner was present at Donald Trump Jr.s meeting with Russians. Kushner was involved in email chains about Trump meeting with Putin during the campaign. Trumps wall of plausible deniability has a big hole in it named Jared Kushner. The investigation isnt going to get much closer to the president than his own son in law. Kushner tells Trump everything, so it impossible to believe that he withheld information about collusion with Russia from the president. Robert Muellers Russia investigation is a whole lot bigger than Russia and the 2016 election. The Special Counsel is taking on Trump, his family, the 2016 campaign, and his financial dealings. Mueller is treating this like an organized crime investigation, and he has his focus on the bosss right-hand man. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print The official number of deaths in Puerto Rico attributed to Hurricane Maria is 55, but a new investigation by CNN estimates that the real figure is likely nine times higher at least. CNN reporters arrived to this conclusion by conducting a survey of roughly half the funeral homes on the island, speaking with doctors and legislators, and interviewing everyday Puerto Ricans. Data compiled from 112 funeral homes raised the number of hurricane-related deaths from 55 to 499. The bulk of these deaths were caused by the aftermath of the storm, including the lack of shelter, running water, food, medical treatment, and power. At least three people were reported to have committed suicide as a response to the storm. The official death toll has been scrutinized by politicians and experts for weeks. Carmen Yulin Cruz, mayor of San Juan, said she believed the number of those who perished to be around 500. Columbia University professor John Mutter asserted that storms of Hurricane Marias strength typically take hundreds of lives. Eric Klinenberg, who directs New York Universitys Institute for Public Knowledge, argued that the death toll may be even higher than the 499 figure CNN reporters arrived at, since surveys of funeral homes typically yield lower death counts for natural disasters. The cases where you have the body and the body gets taken to the funeral home almost always understate the real mortality, said Klinenberg. Theres always a significant number of bodies that dont get processed through funeral homes. What that tells me [is that] there are a lot more cases to be reported and that number is probably going to spike again. Nonetheless, the Puerto Rican government insists the official death toll is accurate. In order to support her statement, [Cruz] needs to present the evidence, said secretary of the Department of Public Safety Hector M. Pesquera in response to the San Juan mayors estimate of 500 deaths. If she is not willing to do such, it is an irresponsible comment. The government of Puerto Rico certifies the death count based on factual information in concert with all components involved in the process. At the moment, the official death count is 55. Monica Menendez, who serves as deputy director of the Bureau of Forensic Sciences, also dismissed the claim of a much higher death toll. Theres no reason for us to be hiding numbers, she said. We work with what weve received and weve analyzed it. And my personnel work hard to do this. It hurts us to hear people think we might be playing around with the numbers. Puerto Rico has a long way to go to fully recover, and the U.S. government has been widely criticized by legislators and the Puerto Rican community. The Trump administration asked Congress to approve a $44 billion aid package for the island last week, far short of the $94 billion requested by Puerto Rican officials. Jamie Lovegrove is a political reporter covering the South Carolina Statehouse, congressional delegation and campaigns. He previously covered Texas politics in Washington for The Dallas Morning News and in Austin for the Texas Tribune. The trial for Russell Laffitte, a former top executive for Palmetto State Bank, continues this week in Charleston's U.S. District Court. He stands accused of helping Alex Murdaugh defraud his former law clients, while using money from his family's bank to prop up the disbarred attorney's shaky finances. Read moreBank official reported Russell Laffitte's handling of Murdaugh client checks as suspicious State Circuit Judge DeAndrea Benjamin appears poised to join a powerful federal appeals court bench following a U.S. Senate hearing in which Republicans repeatedly questioned her handling of two cases out of thousands she'd handled in South Carolina over two decades. Read moreSC Judge Benjamin praised by Clyburn, questioned by Republicans during US Senate hearing From "Cool Jerk" to "Yule Jerk," The Motown Experience has combined the infectious groove of Motown music with the heart-warming spirit of Christmas in their holiday spectacular. For the last five years, Ben Hart has produced and promoted the show as it toured from Savannah, Georgia to Niagara Falls, Ontario. Now, the show will make a stop at Rochesters Presentation Hall in the Mayo Civic Center just in time to kick off the holidays. One Merry Musical Mashup "The arrangements combine that classic Motown beat and personality and feel with many of the holiday classics," explains Hart. Glen Raby, founder and musical director for The Motown Experience, has worked with acts like Martha and the Vandellas and The Contours. Hes proud of the unique nature of the shows Motown and Christmas fusion. "We have a segment with holiday favorites sung to the tune of Motown classics that always gets a great reaction," he says. The group mashes up Motown hits like "Signed Sealed and Delivered" with Christmas classics like "The Twelve Days of Christmas." Or imagine "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" sung to the tune of "My Girl." "Second that Emotion:" Motown Moves and Audience Interaction Get your dancin shoes shined and your Christmas spirit polished. The show will include choreography and a lot of interaction with the audience. Get ready for the sing-along segment with songs like "Frosty the Snowman" and "Jingle Bells." Of course, the performers will be well-dressed for the production with flashy Motown suits. "This is a classic Motown show from start to finish," Raby says. "The audience can expect to see the costumes and choreography that Motown performances have always been known for." ADVERTISEMENT Three Wise (Motown) Men The Motown Experience features Charles Franklin (who performed with Ali Woodsons Temptations), Dave Finley (who performed for more than 25 years with Smokey Robinson and The Miracles), and George Wilson (who performed for more than 20 years with The Capitols). Between them, these legends have more than 50 years of authentic Motown experience, and the groups theyve performed with have had hits like "Just My Imagination," "The Tracks of My Tears," and "Cool Jerk." Dave Finely even shares The Miracles star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Joined by Condido Lomax, the vocal quartet is backed by a six-piece band. Hart claims, "If you even like Motown a little bit, you will love this show." What The Motown Experience Holiday Spectacular Where Mayo Civic Center Presentation Hall, 30 Civic Center Dr. SE, Rochester When 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 30 ADVERTISEMENT Admission $49-54; mayociviccenter.com or 507-328-2222 A 47-year-old international woman was taken to safety by authorities for allegedly being forced into human trafficking. The incident occurred yesterday afternoon after the Rochester Police Department responded to an online ad. Authorities communicated with an individual through text, which led them to a hotel in Rochester, according to Capt. John Sherwin. Officers responding to the messages encountered an Asian woman who didn't speak any English. Through the assistance of a language translation service over the phone, the police said that the woman shared that she was forced against her will to travel around the country. The cell phone she possessed could only receive one-way calls with instructions from a potential local group with connections overseas. "We arrested her, but in this case we're treating her as the victim," Sherwin said. "We don't know the circumstances surrounding this. It appears that she was forced into this. We are trying to get her in touch with some services." Sherwin stated that the woman originally came to the United States through New York and then traveled to Chicago. It was unclear how she ended up in Rochester. Authorities said it's possible that there are safety concerns for her family back in China, and that she may have been acting under duress after being forced into prostitution. ADVERTISEMENT The incident remains under investigation. The Rochester School Board unanimously approved more funding Tuesday for the two-part Hoover Elementary School expansion and indoor air quality updates after what was supposed to be a $12.6 million project came in more than $465,000 over budget. Board members expressed concern with the budget discrepancy for the 35,000-square-foot addition that will double the existing school's footprint. "That's a little high to miss the mark," said board member Gary Smith. The project is split into two parts an indoor air quality project and an addition allowing the school district to tap into different types of funding for the expansion. Because of that, the district put out for bids in two separate phases it's that, coupled with unforeseen expenses, that likely led to things coming in over budget, said school district staff. The funding for the two-part project comes from two different "silos" of money, said Scott Sherden, the district's director of operations, so the district "worked through what can crossover and divided them out as best we could." ADVERTISEMENT The board approved accepting $8.1 million in bonds for the second part and another $4.5 million in bonds for the first part. The second phase, the "more comprehensive" part of the addition, Sherden said, was approved Tuesday. That includes $7.1 million, spread across 22 separate bids, for different parts of the project coming in under budget for the $8.1 million "addition" portion of the project. But the "indoor air quality" portion of the budget that came more than $1 million over budget at more than $5.5 million is what is causing the budget issues. The problem: though the second part of the project came in under budget, not all of that extra money can be used to offset the over budget indoor air quality portion because of how school district funding streams work, Sherden said. Some of the oversight will be made up using the district's long-term facility maintenance revenue, Sherden said, which is a specific stream of state funding set aside for building and construction projects. "We can pull from other projects potentially to apply to this project," Sherden said. He said he also anticipates to see savings in HVAC, plumbing and electrical portions of the bids. That budget discrepancy doesn't include up to another $325,000 the district will have to spend as part of the project for a new boiler and to move a traffic light that is near the school, as required by the city. But, Superintendent Michael Munoz added, the city has agreed to share half of the cost to move that light. The expansion proposal was first brought to the school board in May as the district began searching for more space for its pre-K learners. The addition will allow RPS to consolidate at least 17 of its early childhood classrooms that are currently spread throughout Rochester's elementary schools into one location. This Thanksgiving, many families will be observing a new Thanksgiving tradition as they gather around the turkey and cranberries. It can be summed up as a commandment: Thou shalt not talk politics on Turkey Day. That is the new etiquette some area families will be observing in order to keep the family gathering from descending into a holiday row. "By silent agreement, we have certain topics that aren't brought up at the Thanksgiving dinner table," Guy Howell, a Rochester resident, said on the Post Bulletin's Facebook page. "It's not worth ruining a family gathering by stirring the pot." Yet pot-stirring is the thing people tend to do. We can't help ourselves. Some people won't be able to resist the temptation to go there. This, after all, will be the first Thanksgiving under President Donald Trump, a political figure who has whipped up blue and red state passions like few others. ADVERTISEMENT And, like under-cooked turkey, those hard feelings might be hard to keep down. Others argue that there's nothing wrong with talking politics on Thanksgiving as long as family and friends observe a few rules. "What if we all just grew up and accepted that not everyone will agree with us," asked Ben Harker, a Schaeffer Academy graduate. "What if we listened without getting pissed off?" One reason: Because it's hard. Some people are still mending fences from last year's Thanksgiving Day face-off after Trump won a prognosticator-defying election. Rochester writer Paul Scott was one those who declared last year, in the immediate aftermath of Trump's election, that family and friends who had voted for Trump or not voted at all were persona non grata at his Thanksgiving table. He issued the ultimatum in a column for the Star Tribune called "After the election, break up: You voted for Trump? You're off my list." "I'm not a hater. Johnny's a good guy," Scott wrote about a Trump supporter and one-time Thanksgiving guest. "He means well and has done nice things for me. I've known him 20 years. But I can't feed him any more of my potatoes." Scott said the response to his column was fierce and "unpleasant." After reading his emails, Scott avoided the online comments, "because you can only read that you are a monster so many times." Scott didn't hear from family and friends for a long time after the piece appeared. "It was the most unpopular position I've ever taken," Scott said. "I would call it radioactive. ADVERTISEMENT Scott said that he still feels Trump voters supported "some very damaging messages about America or overlooked them," and that makes it hard for him to square with holidays and social activities. But his attitude has softened. Scott has since mended fences with the people he mentioned in his article. "I have since broken bread with everyone I mentioned in that piece, and even apologized, so I am apparently not very good at holding grudges," Scott said. "But I still question that more talk is going to fix anything, as much as the passage of time. I think we are a society that's undergoing a lot of stresses right now, so we should cut each other a lot of slack." Some argue that politics is too big an elephant in the room to simply ignore. We are political creatures, after all, and we are living through politically fascinating, if not mind-bending, times. So go ahead and talk politics, these people argue, as long as some Marquess of Queensberry Rules are observed. "I say let it rip," writes Jason Gray, in a column for the Wall Street Journal. "Talk politics at Thanksgiving! It might just be the spice your family dinner needs." The Internet is brimming with articles about how to referee and manage political debate on Thanksgiving. Here are some rules of etiquette that seemed to make the most sense. Have conversations, not speeches. In other words, listen. Don't feel the need to play the recording in your head. No screaming or shouting. If that doesn't work Appoint a mediator. This person doesn't have to be versed in any so-called rules. Most people recognize when the room is reaching a boiling point. Throw the flag. Call timeout. Listen to elders. Elders offer perspective. They have lived through times that were really crazy. ADVERTISEMENT Listen to kids. Kids say the craziest things. Their minds haven't yet been hardened into political points of view. Remember, you're modeling good behavior. Show kids how calm, intelligent debate is done. If all else fails, fall back on the one rule that if properly observed will almost ensure a degree of family harmony on Thanksgiving. "Follow the golden rule. Be human beings. We're all in this together," Stacey Greeley said. BLOOMINGTON, Minn. Betsy Jensen knows farm management can be a bit boring. After 17 years in the business, she knows practically every scenario a farmer could throw at her. She won't be surprised by how poor or exceptional someone's financials may be. Though numbers aren't every farmer's strong suit, Jensen wants to get you excited about them. Just like her. Jensen presented on farm business management and crop marketing at the 99th annual Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation Meeting in Bloomington Saturday to get farmers thinking not just about this year's yields, but also the most efficient way to make money. An instructor of farm business management at Northland Community and Technical College in Thief River Falls, Jensen said at the top of her presentation that by the end of it, she's going to get everyone more enthused with numbers. ADVERTISEMENT While some farmers eyes may glaze over at the thought of spreadsheets of financial records, Jensen said after her presentation is the goal of her speech isn't to make farmers geniuses overnight, rather to pique an interest and hope they will be more conscious of their respective situations. "I think part of it maybe is them realizing they don't understand all of it," Jensen said. "Which is a good thing. If you can accept that, 'I don't really know what my operating-expense ratio is,' that's the first step in fixing it is and trying to figure out what it is and why it's important." Calculating the operating-expense ratio while tracking accrual statements and inputting into FINBIN can be overwhelming, Jensen said. While some farmers would rather deal with getting their crops harvested, Jensen said that mindset has to change to run a successful farm. "It doesn't do you any good to produce amazing crops if you don't know where the money's going or what you're spending," Jensen said. "Production is one thing, but the farm management is a total other." Jensen, a farmer who lives in Stephen, said farmers need to focus more on overhead expenses like labor and depreciation versus direct expenses like feed and chemicals. As part of her presentation, Jensen pointed out the range of farmers across the state is expansive and that farmers shouldn't be worried whether they're average or not. Instead, farmers should be focusing on their own farmi to make it as profitable as possible. Her farm management course at Northland is used by young and old farmers, Jensen said. As far as how old her students are, Jensen wasn't able to narrow it down, but has found young farmers are required to go through some farm management training while older generations are looking at the possibility of being trained to pass their farm on someday. Jensen said when it comes to farm management, submitting tax returns aren't good enough. Instead, Jensen said accrual statements, which are revenues that are reported on the income statement when they are earned, make the process an easier one. ADVERTISEMENT While farm management is a helpful process, Jensen doesn't want it to be misconstrued as ways for farmers to start cutting inputs to improve their financial situation. All in all, Jensen can't force any farmer to look into farm management, but she can give them an option they might not have considered previously. "I can tell them that changes need to be made, but they don't have to listen," Jensen said. "I can't force anybody to change, I can just lay out what their strengths and weaknesses are." A seventh-grade student draws an offensive picture on another student with a marker. When the class sees it, there's an uproar. The whole period is disrupted two days before a test. If you're the teacher, what do you do? That scene unfolded this fall in front of Nick Altringer, a science teacher at St. Paul's Murray Middle School. But rather than toss out the misbehaving kids and push on with the lesson, he took a different tack. After restoring order, Altringer the next day told the class to grab stools from a stack in the middle of the room and form a circle. The students passed around a "talking piece" to show whose turn it was to speak. They ended the circle by reflecting on the previous day's incident. The circle offered a way for the entire class to reflect on what happened and how it responded. ADVERTISEMENT Altringer is one of many teachers in St. Paul learning to use "restorative practices" in their discipline. Rather than sending misbehaving students to the principal's office and a potential school suspension, restorative techniques are meant to help students take responsibility for their actions but keep them in the classroom. "It's a way that creates an opportunity for growth for individuals," Altringer said. "The other way is more punitive, so it's always about harming the person and harming the person until they stop." School suspensions have plunged: We don't yet know if that's good news After students act out, teachers try to help the students work to do better. While restorative practices might include a suspension to stop misbehavior, it aims to let students and teachers repair the problem. Day-to-day, Altringer and other teachers hold discussions to build class community. It's preventative. The theory is students need to feel invested in things going right. In practice, it's not that neat and tidy. Students talk out of turn, fidget and don't all buy in. "Sometimes we have to do work and we don't finish because of the circle," seventh-grader Kahlaila said, adding circles "could help sometimes," but it depends on the attitudes of the students involved. Still, Altringer said he sees progress, and the circle was the best so far this year in this class. ADVERTISEMENT St. Paul teachers pushed for restorative practices during contract negotiations two years ago because of turmoil over school discipline in the district. District officials had tried to reduce suspensions that were disproportionately affecting students of color. But according to some, they swung too far the other way and just stopped providing consequences. Restorative practices are an attempt to find a middle ground. "The traditional (discipline method) is that they're just sent home. ... So they're out for three days, five days, whatever, and then they come back ... without discussing it really with any of the people that were hurt by their actions," Murray Middle School restorative practices coordinator Erin Dooley said. Six schools, including Murray, each received $150,000 last year to add staff positions, train teachers and communicate the approach to families. The district continued funding this year and added three more schools, with plans to add three more schools next year. The district is committing more than $4 million to the project for three years. So far, St. Paul district leaders say it's too early to use discipline data to make definitive conclusions about restorative practices. In fact, most of the schools that started using the method last year saw an increase in suspensions compared to the year before. The number of students getting sent to the office for misbehavior at those schools did drop slightly. At Murray, discipline referrals for the month of October showed a steady downward trend from 2015 to 2017. The school's restorative practices coordinator said in October she'd tracked more than 30 cases during the current year where restorative methods avoided or reduced traditional consequences. That may be the most important sign. The extra funding schools received to implement restorative practices is only committed through the end of next year. ADVERTISEMENT Schools have used that funding to add staff positions to lead the effort. Dooley and her colleague Selena Kopas help teachers such as Altringer run circle discussions. They pull students out of class and coordinate the lengthy restorative process. Leaders at Murray say they hope by the end of next year, overall misbehavior will have dropped to a point where the rest of the school's staff can sustain the approach. At this point, it's clear the two extra positions still play a crucial role. On a recent day, Kopas walked the halls with eighth-grader Selah to talk over a disagreement Selah was having with a teacher. Selah had been sent out of class multiple times for talking. To try to solve the problem, Kopas prepared to do a restorative circle discussion. "I listen to the students, and then I talk to the teacher, and if there's another staff member (in the class) I talk to them, I talk to other students and then I also observe the classroom," Kopas said. During the discussion the next day, Dooley, Kopas, the teacher, a school behavior specialist, Selah and her mom all shared their perspectives on the situation. Selah and her teacher told each other face-to-face what had been bothering them. Together, they formulated a plan to do better. "I feel better about it because I expressed all my feelings I had, when before I kind of just held them to myself and that got more angry every time I thought about it," Selah said afterward. St. Paul board chair Jon Schumacher cited staff buy-in and positive effects on school atmosphere as signs the restorative approach is working. "We're committed deeply to ... the restorative nature of how we approach our students and our communities," Schumacher said. But he didn't commit to a specific amount of funding for restorative practices after the current three-year term. Schumacher said the pilot will help the district understand school staffing needs. "It's hard to know," Schumacher said. "And I don't think it's as simple as saying we started the program with this amount of money and that's what we need every year to continue." MINNEAPOLIS What makes a good presidential turkey? Showmanship. A readiness to strut his stuff and gobble on command, yet enough restraint to stay on a table for the big photo op. So say a Minnesota turkey farmer and 4-H kids who raised the turkey that went to the White House for an official pardon from President Donald Trump on Tuesday. It's the 70th anniversary of the National Thanksgiving Turkey tradition. Here's a little deeper look at the event and what goes into it: THE TRADITION White House archives show Americans have sent presidents holiday turkeys at least since 1873 under President Ulysses S. Grant. But the National Thanksgiving Turkey dates from 1947, when the National Turkey Federation became the official supplier and presented a 47-pound gobbler to President Harry Truman. In those days, the turkeys were destined for dinner. Formal pardons began with President George H.W. Bush in 1989, though stories of spared turkeys date back to President Abraham Lincoln. President John F. Kennedy sent his 1963 turkey back to its farm. Sometime around the Nixon era, the White House began sending them to petting zoos after the ceremonies, though without formal pardons. ADVERTISEMENT MINNESOTA'S GOBBLERS The perk of taking presidential turkeys to Washington goes to the chairman of the National Turkey Federation. This year that's Carl Wittenburg, from Alexandria. Wittenburg recruited five Douglas County 4-H members to help. They're the same teens he and his wife, Sharlene, mentored to a second-place finish in the statewide 4-H Science of Agriculture Challenge this summer with a project on turkey bedding. None of the girls had worked with turkeys before. They all went to the White House to help oversee the bird, though Wittenburg's 19-year-old son, Wyatt, lifted it up onto the table. The Wittenburgs grow more than 100,000 turkeys annually for Northern Pride Cooperative in Wyndmere, N.D., but they raised the presidential flock on their smaller hobby farm near Alexandria. The birds hatched in late June. The star and an understudy who would step in if there's a last-minute problem weighed 47 and 37 pounds respectively at pardoning time. THE CHALLENGES The goal is getting the turkeys used to people. Teaching them to stay on the table and behave is the key, said Katie Kent, 18. The birds are hand-fed grub worms as bribes. "We're getting them used to being on that table and getting them to gobble and strut on command," said Kodi Bundermann, 17. Strutting for a turkey means fanning out his tail feathers and puffing out his body feathers. Toms do it to look good to the hens, Wittenburg said. Gobbling also is a male behavior; females click or cluck. ADVERTISEMENT It's hard to get turkeys to strut on command, he said, but they'll gobble nine times out of 10. The 4-H'ers also play them music. They seem to like country, said Christina Kuismi, 16. "They love anything shiny, or even the ends of shoelaces, which are a little shiny," Kuismi said. "They like to untie shoelaces. They've gotten really good at it." Another challenge for the ceremony is that turkeys are very easily distracted, she said. "They're just very easily entertained," she said. "They just want to go everywhere and see everything and explore." THE STARS The team selected the two best birds from a flock of about 20, They looked for showmanship and character with an absence of any stage fright, Wittenburg said. They wanted turkeys that would strut and gobble for the cameras and the president yet remain calm on the table, he said. The birds officially got named Drumstick and Wishbone on Monday, and the White House opened a Twitter poll on which one Trump should pardon. They stayed at a hotel near the White House for the run-up to the big show. A flock-mate was pardoned by Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton on Friday. ADVERTISEMENT The presidential birds will finish out their lives in leisure at Virginia Tech, joining the 2016 winners, Tater and Tot, at Gobbler's Rest in Blacksburg. With luck, they might live another year or more. A few of their predecessors have hit the ripe old age of 2. Very few domestic turkeys live that long. The vast majority get sent to processing plants when they're between 14 to 20 weeks old. THE RISKS Pardons have not always gone smoothly and gratitude is not guaranteed. In 2001, a turkey named Liberty pecked President George W. Bush in the midsection some reports say his crotch drawing laughs from the crowd and an awkward expression from the president's face. Another memorable photo shows a grimacing President Ronald Reagan getting a face full of feathers when the 1984 turkey started flapping its wings. A turkey also flapped around on Reagan before jumping off the table and strutting around the White House lawn in 1981. TURKEY FACTS Minnesota is the top turkey-producing state, with 450 farmers raising about 46 million turkeys this year. North Carolina is No. 2. They're among six states that account for nearly two-thirds of U.S. turkey production. The others are Arkansas, Indiana, Missouri and Virginia. The U.S. Department of Agriculture projects that farmers will raise nearly 245 million turkeys this year. The National Turkey Federation estimates Americans will eat about 46 million for Thanksgiving, 22 million at Christmas and 19 million for Easter. But most turkeys are destined to become deli meat, sausage and other products. Here in the Washington D.C. area, polite society has reached judgment on the allegations against Roy Moore, and moved on. Mitch McConnell, a political enemy of Moore, rendered the verdict. I believe the women, he said. He didnt tell us what facts he had reviewed or why he believed all of them. Ivanka Trump, who has a brand to protect, concurred, declaring: There is a special place in hell for people who prey on children. Ive yet to see a valid explanation, and I have no reason to doubt the victims accounts. Doug Jones, Moores opponent in the Alabama Senate race, has converted this pronouncement into an effective political ad. The presidents daughter may help the Democrats pick up this seat. Ms. Trumps statement raises more questions than it answers, though. First: Is there a special place in hell for 30-somethings who date 17 year-olds? Without condoning the practice, I think most of us can agree there isnt. Second: Did Ivanka devote enough time and study to discerning a valid explanation or to finding evidence that would give her reason to doubt the victims accounts? Her statement isnt so much a rush to judgment as a rush to virtue signaling. It turns out that there is substantial reason to doubt the account of Beverly Young Nelson. The evidence she presented a yearbook allegedly inscribed by Moore appears to have been doctored. Leigh Corfman is the only other person to have accused Moore of anything beyond dating and/or wanting to hang out with girls in their late teens. She did not make her allegations of molestation for 38 years, until just before an election with national implications. She has had a rocky life and does not seem particularly stable. Ivanka Trump feels this is no reason to doubt Corfmans account. Maybe not. But now, there is documentary evidence that may provide such reason. That evidence consists of court records. Recall that, in Corfmans account, Moore first encountered her outside a courtroom in which her mother was to appear at a custody hearing. Her mother asked Moore to wait with her, and he allegedly used the opportunity to get her phone number. After that, Moore allegedly called her multiple times, arranged two meetings, and attempted to arrange a third. The alleged phone calls all were made to the mothers house (Leigh remembered taking them on a phone in her bedroom, but her mother says there was no phone in that room, which is almost surely correct). The alleged encounters all began with Moore picking her up in that neighborhood. The Washington Post, which broke the story, says the court hearing occurred in February 1979. Aaron Klein of Breitbart News pinpoints the date February 21 1979. Heres what the Post did not tell its readers. At the hearing, a judge ordered that Leigh Corfman move out of her mothers house and take up residence with her father by March 4. In making this decision, the judge noted that Corfman had exhibited certain disciplinary and behavioral problems. Did Roy Moore cram all of those alleged phone calls, encounters, and attempted encounters into the 12-day period before Leigh Corfman moved to her fathers house (assuming the court order was adhered to)? Its possible. If Moore was obsessed with the girl, he probably would have moved fast. Still, it would have been nice if the Post had presented the timeline to its readers. Then, Mitch McConnell, Ivanka Trump, and the rest of us could have evaluated the question of timing. It would also have been good to know that Corfman had exhibited disciplinary and behavioral problems sufficient to swing a custody dispute before ever meeting Roy Moore. This information is relevant in at least two ways. First, it may go to the reliability of Corfmans account of what (if anything) happened between her and Moore. If Corfman was significantly troubled in February and March of 1979, can we trust her statement of what allegedly happened during this period. Or might she be inventing or embellishing? Second, Corfman told the Post that her life spiraled downward after her alleged encounters with Moore. We now know that she had serious issues before then. This doesnt mean things didnt get worse. Indeed, we would expect them to get worse if Moore behaved as Corfman says he did. But there is evidence that things actually got better for her. According to Klein: On May 5, 1980, which would have been after any alleged encounters with Moore, Wells [Corfmans mother] filed a new petition to take back custody of her daughter. That petition stated that Corfmans disciplinary problem has improved greatly. (Emphasis added) Based on this statement, the judge agreed that Corfmans mother should be granted custody. Does this prove Corfman is lying about Moore? No. But taken as a whole, Kleins report makes me question her account. The points Breibart raises should be weighed before reaching a conclusion about what, if anything, happened between Corfman and Moore back in 1979. Assuming Mitch McConnell, Ivanka Trump, or anyone else in Washington or in the mainstream media is still interested in the facts. Heres a paradox that few people in the fawning green media seem to perceive: the more serious you think the problem of global warming may be in the future, the more farcical and unserious are the policy prescriptions of the climate change community. In fact Ill go further: if perchance we do experience catastrophic, man-made global warming many decades from now, historians will look back and blame the environmental community for being the chief impediment to taking serious incremental action to reduce carbon emissions in a significant waynot the so-called climate deniers. Todays wind and solar racket, and all of the fancy pieces of paper UN bureaucrats sign in Paris making promises that no nation is going to keep, will be looked at with the same disdain that we today look back at the League of Nations treaty and the disarmament efforts of the 1920s and 1930s. The chief datum for this argument today is a terrific piece at Axios on The Lefts Nuclear Problem, i.e., the environmental movements continuing hatred of nuclear powerthe one large-scale source of carbon-free electricity that we have (along with hydroelectric dams, which environmentalists also hate). I know a number of environmentalists like Stewart Brand who have changed their mind in the issue, and I know a prominent left-leaning environmental philanthropist who told me privately three years ago that the single biggest mistake of his life was opposing nuclear power back in the 1970s, in part because it led to a huge expansion of coal-fired power here and abroad. But what about the leading environmental advocacy organizations? The Axios piece brutally reveals their craven cowardice: Some Democratic politicians and prominent scientists have come out to back nuclear in recent years because of climate change, but most of the biggest environmental groups and influential leaders remain opposed. In interview after interview at a United Nations climate conference in Bonn, Germany, I noticed a trend: Politicians would cite the many challenges facing nuclear power, such as safety, how to store radioactive waste and the economics, as reasons their positions didnt matter. . . Many of Americas largest environmental groups, which have influence over liberal politicians, are doubling down on their opposition to nuclear power. They argue plummeting prices of wind and solar make nuclear power unnecessary. Another reason: theyd lose donations, according to James Hansen, a climate scientist at Columbia University, and his colleague Steve Kirsch, a California-based entrepreneur and philanthropist. At a meeting in 2014 between Kirsch and Frances Beinecke, who at the time led the Natural Resources Defense Council, Beinecke said one of the reasons the group couldnt back nuclear power is because it would lose donations. The lunch did in fact occur and there was no movement, Kirsch said by email last week. A spokesman for NRDC declined to comment. Beinecke, who retired from NRDC later that year, didnt respond to requests for comment. NRDCs position on nuclear power resembles that of many others on the left: It would only support it if all of the industrys challenges are properly mitigated. A real profile in courage there: NRDC is putting its financial health ahead of the planets health. No wonder they argue that climate skeptics are in it for the money, because thats the way they think about matters themselves. Michael Shellenberger, Founder of Environmental Progress, is another lefty who has broken with orthodoxy to support nuclear power. Here he is giving a TED Talk in Berlin on how he changed his mind. Along the way he totally demolishes Germans energiewende, and its foolish rejection of nuclear power. Definitely worth the 20 minutes: Back in September, we posted video of Edith Macias, a left-wing student at the University of California, Riverside, who stole the Make America Great Again hat of a fellow student. In an enlightening encounter, the hat thief and her victim exchanged views while college employees tried to adjudicate the dispute. Macias view was that the f***ing hat is promoting laws and legislation that are literally killing people. Also: You feel safe cuz you got the cops and politicians on your side. Youre not safe just saying. We need to make racists scared. Now, this dumb thug faces a criminal charge. The College Fix reports that she has been charged with one misdemeanor count of grand theft. The maximum penalty Macias faces, if convicted as currently charged, is one year in the slammer. According to the declaration in support of an arrest warrant, Macias told the officer who responded to the incident that she swiped the hat because it represents genocide of a bunch of people. She stated that she wanted to burn the hat because of what it represents. Macias should consider formulating a better defense. I suggest temporary insanity. I dont favor a years jail time for Macias. That seems excessive. But clearly some form of meaningful punishment is in order. As Matthew Vitale, Macias victim, says: People, especially in my generation, need to realize you cant do things like this because you dont like what someone is saying or wearing. Serious punishment is particularly warranted here because, from all that appears, UC Riverside will not punish Macias. Vitale, who has been following the matter closely, doesnt believe she has been, or will be, punished. UC Riversides mushy statements seem to confirm this suspicion. The university is under pressure from Macias fellow lefty students. They posted a petition demanding that the university pay Macias rent, grant her amnesty from legal or disciplinary action, cover her legal fees, condemn white supremacist violence, and support a sanctuary campus. Macias supporters appear to be as stupid as she is. Obviously, the university cant grant Macias amnesty from legal action. On the other hand, the failure of colleges to discipline students who break the law in the name of leftist politics might lead to intervention by the criminal justice system. Indeed, if Vitale had thought that UC Riverside would handle matters properly, he might not have pressed a criminal charge. College administrators should consider this dynamic as they contemplate how to respond to the growing crisis generated by campus radicals. President Trump made two points today about the Alabama Senate race. First, he called Democrat Doug Jones terrible on crime, terrible on borders, terrible on the military. Trump added: We dont need a liberal person in there, a Democrat. Second, he noted that the alleged sexual misconduct by Roy Moore took place 40 years ago and that the candidate has insisted this did not happen. Trump also said Moore has totally denied it and that you have to listen to him, also. Trump is right that when allegations of sexual misconduct arise, you should listen to both the accuser and the accused. I dont think many in Washington, D.C. (including Senate Republicans) or in mainstream media circles are truly listening to Moore, but presumably most Alabama voters are. Whether they believe him remains to be seen. Trump is wrong if he meant to say that Moore has totally denied all statements made by the various women who have told their stories about him. Last I heard, he hadnt denied dating teenagers. He has, however, denied sexually touching 14 year-old Leigh Corfman and attempting to rape Beverly Young Nelson. These, of course, are the most serious allegations and, in my opinion, the only ones that, if true, should disqualify him from serving in the Senate. I dont believe Nelsons allegations because it looks very much like she doctored the yearbook she adduced to support her claim. Im basically at equipoise on Corfmans allegations of improper touchings. Some problems, or at least questions, have arisen regarding the timeline she and the Post presented, but they dont appear to be conclusive so far. Conservative voters in Alabama face a difficult task one they wouldnt have to confront if GOP voters had been sensible enough to nominate either Rep. Mo Brooks or Sen. Luther Strange, both of whom are solid conservatives. They must adjudicate at least two he says, she says disputes. In addition, if they come out on the side of one or both accusers, they must weigh the personal odiousness of the accused against the non-conservative policy preferences of his opponent and the consequences of sending someone with those preferences to Washington. Personally, considering the opposition, I could vote for a guy who, in his early 30s, dated teenagers almost 40 years ago. I could not vote for a guy who did what Corfman and Nelson say Moore did to them. Nor could I vote for Doug Jones. My decision, if I believed either Corfman or Nelson, would be to vote for neither candidate. President Trump faces a decision too. He must decide whether the campaign for Moore. We can assume that his decision will be based on a balancing of potential political benefits and risks. I wont hazard a guess as to the decision this balancing will produce. Personally, I would not campaign for Moore unless I affirmatively believed he did not do what Corfman and Nelson allege. Though Trump didnt express this belief today, Politico suggests that he holds it. I can imagine that Trump is predisposed for several reasons to disbelieve the two women. In the Politico story, Alex Isenstadt claims that Trumps stance on Moore represents an extraordinary shift from the White Houses original position. Others in the anti-Trump media have said basically the same thing. They are wrong. The initial White House position was that if the allegations are true, Moore should withdraw. Team Trump took no position (1) as to whether the allegations are true and (2) as to what should happen if Moore doesnt withdraw. Moore, of course, has not withdrawn and was never likely to. Nothing in Trumps statement today contradicts the original White House position, and Isenstadt doesnt even attempt to explain how it might. Attacking Doug Jones isnt inconsistent with the view that Moore should stand down if the allegations are true. Neither is pointing out that Moore denies the allegations and should, like his accusers, be listened to. Trumps enemies in the media are salivating at the opportunity to use Roy Moore, whom Trump did not support in the primary, to get at the president. Because Trump has thwarted them thus far, his media enemies have to misstate the facts. What else is new? GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP The state Board of Public Utilities is holding public hearings on the solar energy market in the state and how it should be managed in the future. The local meeting will be 1 to 3:30 p.m. Dec. 8 in the board room at Stockton University. New Jerseys solar program has been highly successful, BPU President Richard S. Mroz said in announcing a review period of the industry in September. We are fourth in the nation in the cumulative amount of installed solar capacity with 94 percent of all solar projects and solar capacity developed during Governor Christies term in office. Local electric car owners discuss benefits, lifestyle of driving green ATLANTIC CITY It wasnt your typical car show Tuesday afternoon at the Atlantic County Uti In September, the BPU announced the solar industry in New Jersey had surpassed 80,000 completed solar projects, providing more than 2.25 gigawatts of solar generation capacity. But significant changes in technology and installation practices, economics and the financial models of the solar industry have made a review necessary, the board said then. For more information, visit njcleanenergy.com/renewable-energy/ program-updates-and-background-information /solar-proceedings. Michelle Brunetti Post A national nonprofit has pledged $1.5 million to help students facing hardship attend Rowan University and Rowan College at Gloucester County. Give Something Back awarded $500,000 to Rowan College at Gloucester County and $1 million to Rowan University to fund scholarships for Pell Grant-eligible students who have faced economic or other challenges, such as the incarceration of a parent or foster care. Give Something Back was founded by philanthropist, entrepreneur and author Robert O. Carr and supports college-bound students from low-income families. The organization began giving in 2003 and has since prepaid more than $35 million in scholarships to help more than 1,500 students in seven states. This is not the first time Give Something Back has given to Rowan. In 2015, the organization gave $1 million to enable 50 economically disadvantaged students to attend the university at no cost. Fourteen Give Something Back scholars are currently enrolled at the Rowan schools. Rowan College at Gloucester County is the first community college in the country to be funded by the organization. The funding will allow Rowan College and University to build on several longstanding collaborations, including participation in the Rowan Choice program. The choice program allows Rowan College students to live on the Rowan University campus for their first two years of college while taking classes at the college at a reduced cost. Upon completion of their associate degree, participants are accepted automatically into the university. Trucks, tents and frozen turkeys overran the parking lot at the English Creek Shopping Center during the final 24 hours of Longport Medias annual holiday food drive Operation Help. For the 10th year, the DJs of 103.7 WMGM, as well as sister stations Kool 98.3 and 1400-AM WOND, moved their shows out of the studio and into the parking lot at Chickies and Petes to collect 'round-the-clock food donations for the Community FoodBank of New Jersey. WMGM Morning Show host Matt Murray was the lucky DJ living in the recreational vehicle, provided by sponsor Driftwood RVs of Egg Harbor Township, during the food drive. We stocked up on propane for the heaters and '80s movies, so Im here through the night, Murray said. Murray said the tradition of camping out at the donation site allows for people to give what they can at any time. You know, we have a lot of listeners who are casino workers and people who work night shift, so they can get off work and donate, even before Im on-air. Personalities and shows from each radio station take turns broadcasting live from the outdoor tent, inviting special guests and donors on air. Were in the tent, sometimes its cold, sometimes its warm, but its always for a great cause said WMGM afternoon DJ Sean Patrick. Patrick began the five-day-long food drive with a 24-hour broadcast, featuring live music and sponsored hours from local businesses in exchange for donations to the Community FoodBank. This year, the radio station also accepted online donations through its website, as well as giving away special station tee shirts to those who donate. Its a local radio station, a local charity, were helping people right here in the community Patrick said. While many organizations host food drives before the holiday season, the continuous push during Operation Help helps bring awareness, according Richard Uniacke, vice president of the Southern Branch of the Community FoodBank of New Jersey. Our distribution right now is significantly greater than it has ever been in our history, Uniacke said. Distribution at the Egg Harbor Township food pantry has increased more than 260 percent compared with numbers from 2016. The Southern Branch has distributed about 14 million pounds of food to the families of South Jersey over the past year, Uniacke said. Operation Help is absolutely critical. We couldnt do it without them. Over the past 10 years, the annual pre-holiday food drive has helped raised $50,000 in monetary donations as well as more than 34 tons of food. Within the two hour show time, WOND's Off The Press with Scott Cronick radio show announced the donation of more than 15,000 pounds of food, including a combined 8,000 pounds of turkeys and hams from two Atlantic City casinos, the Borgata and Golden Nugget, $1,000 worth of turkeys from Wingcraft restaurant, several listener donations and $1,500 in monetary donations. If you can, come out here and donate," Cronick said to his audience. "We're very blessed that we do not have to worry about where we're getting our next meal for Thanksgiving, so make it a little easier for people who may be nervous about it." Cronick is director of entertainment publications for The Press of Atlantic City. "Its the time of year people are thinking about whos hungry and whos maybe going without," he added. "Its truly incredible. The employees and volunteers of the Community FoodBank had a day off on Thanksgiving, but Uniacke said efforts to keep the pantry shelves full will pick right back up. Well be going straight through the holiday season not really ending our holiday meals push until the end of January to include all dominations," Uniacke said. "Then going into what is a 365-day-a-year effort to help feed hungry families in South Jersey." The Operation Help food drive wrapped up at 3 p.m. Wednesday, with final donation totals to be released next week. The Community FoodBank of New Jersey, Southern Branch, accepts nonperishable food or monetary donations throughout the year. For more information, visit www.cfbnj.org or call 609-383-8843. EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP Tom Kaye sat among a dozen other people in plastic chairs on a recent afternoon, waiting for his name to be called so he could fill up a shopping cart with canned foods, gravy and cranberry relish, and pick from the fresh vegetables, fruits and produce piled high on crates. Without the assistance of the Community FoodBank of New Jersey, Southern Branch, Kaye said he would struggle to feed his family, but this year, hell be able to make a nice Thanksgiving spread with the fresh produce farmers and food-industry businesses donate year-round. This really brings communities together, he said. I grew up on a farm, so I know what thats like, and being a farmer isnt extremely profitable around this time of year, but theyre still donating food anyway out of the goodness of their hearts. Operation Help seeking donations in its 10th annual food drive EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP A group of local radio stations has teamed with the Community FoodBank Food bank officials say produce donations from farmers and others help them feed hungry and food-insecure families and individuals in Atlantic, Cape May and Cumberland counties, which translates to more than 1 million pounds of food each year. Richard Uniacke, vice president of the Southern Branch, said more than a dozen farms contribute food to those in need, including ones in Bridgeton, Vineland, Hammonton, Lawrence Township and Deerfield Township. One of the food banks biggest year-round donors is Frank Donio Inc., fourth-generation farmers based in Hammonton. Annie Pape, who helps run her familys farm with her mother, uncle and cousins, said the farm has made it a goal to fight hunger and food insecurity. Its all about the spirit of giving, she said. With most donations to hunger initiatives consisting of nonperishable or canned items, our access to fresh fruits and vegetables gives us a unique opportunity to give back to our neighbors who might be struggling. Program change means more food sources for young families Access to healthy foods for pregnant New Jersey women and mothers of young children is expec The farm is busy year-round, including the winter, when Pape said they source vegetables and fruits nationally and internationally to fill the gaps in their own growing season. With that produce, they are able to donate about one to two truckloads of food to the food bank each week. We all think of food insecurity during this time because the holidays are built around families gathering at the dinner table, she said. We are proud to help bring families together to share a healthy and nutritious meal. Renate Taylor, development officer at the food bank, said pallets of donated food are brought to the food banks main site in Egg Harbor Township and are distributed among 311 partner agencies and organizations with food pantries for residents across South Jersey. Last weeks produce selections for Egg Harbor Township pantry clients included kale, spinach, tomatoes, potatoes, yams, zucchini, yellow squash, lettuce, carrots, sweet potatoes, cabbage, onions, garlic, melons and apples. Federal food assistance reduced in New Jersey State residents who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, to help Wanda Jacobs, of Egg Harbor Township, said she encourages people to try the food bank if they need help. The employee at Wawa just next door to the food bank on the Black Horse Pike said the pantry helps supplement her monthly food costs. As she weaved through the aisles of food last week, she picked up some fruits and vegetables, pre-made cranberry relish and turkey gravy, bread, canned foods, cornmeal and dessert, perfect for weekly meals for herself and for something to have on Thanksgiving. Both Jacobs and Kaye said they are continuously impressed by the selections at the pantry, especially the vegetables and fruit that came straight from the source. Its just so fresh, its all incredible, Kaye said. You know, I used to not want people to know I used the food bank, needing help while on disability after working for the state for 25 years, but now, I dont mind. I tell people to come here, because it helps and it brings everyone together. MAYS LANDING Theres a new sheriff in town. On Wednesday, Eric Scheffler was sworn in as the new Atlantic County sheriff during a ceremony at the Atlantic County Criminal Courthouse. Scheffler, of Northfield, defeated Somers Point Mayor Jack Glasser in Novembers general election and pledged to bring a nonpartisan agenda to the Sheriffs Office. There is such division out there, it seems like we are incapable of working together to solve the issues in our community, he said. But I pledge ... I will be people first; before party and before politics. Scheffler, a Democrat, was part of a Democratic wave that swept through Atlantic County and included Democrats winning both state Assembly seats in the 2nd Legislative District, two seats on the Board of Chosen Freeholders and the mayors office in Atlantic City, among others. Those Democrats will take office in January. Scheffler took office Wednesday because Atlantic County had an acting sheriff following the resignation of Frank Balles earlier this year. A special waiver was signed by Judge Julio Mendez allowing Scheffler to take office. That waiver must now be signed by Gov. Chris Christie. Phil Murphy lays out aggressive agenda in Atlantic City speech ATLANTIC CITY New Jersey Gov.-elect Phil Murphy laid out an aggressive agenda for his firs But considering the election results have already been finalized by Atlantic County, Christie signing the waiver is a formality. Schefflers brother, Steve Scheffler, said they were considering physically driving the waiver up to Christies office following the ceremony. Scheffler said some of his top goals are reforming the Sheriffs Office so it runs more efficiently and pushing a social platform that deals with mental health and addiction and how that affects all corners of the county. He added the opioid issue that has plagued South Jersey will also be a major focus and he is interested in starting a program that allows people with addiction and mental health issues to go into treatment and recovery before being arrested. It means a lot in many ways, he said. What were doing is taking away the stigma, and were also creating roads and avenues for recovery. Schefflers wife, Maria, said the year-long campaign was tough on her family, especially since she battled breast cancer through part of it. But now, she said, she couldnt be any more proud of her husband. He worked so hard and went around and met so many people in the county, she said. He is exactly who he says he is. Everything he told people he wants to do is exactly what hell do and much, much more. ATLANTIC CITY U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo told local business people to keep their seatbelts fastened in the month of December as the federal government debates raising the debt ceiling and renewing the National Flood Insurance Program, which has big implications in South Jersey. Speaking to members of the Atlantic City Chamber, the South Jersey congressman said a failure to renew the flood-insurance program properly could have major consequences for the area, including the halt of real estate transactions. South Jersey Congressman Frank LoBiondo to retire Longtime South Jersey congressman Frank LoBiondo will retire at the end of his term and not For our coastal communities, this is a serious problem, said LoBiondo, who announced earlier this month he will retire at the end of his term and not seek re-election in 2018. Unless youre paying for a house in cash, you have to have federal flood insurance if youre in a flood-insurance plain. The National Flood Insurance Program has offered insurance to residents of participating communities, including many shore towns, since 1968. Currently, a flood-insurance policy is required for any property located in a 100-year floodplain with a mortgage from a federally backed or regulated lender, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. As of June 30, 2016, the program had 232,184 policies in New Jersey, totaling about $56 billion in coverage, according to FEMA. New Jersey ranks behind only Florida, Texas and Louisiana in the total number of policies. In September, Congress approved a temporary extension to the program and the federal debt ceiling. But by Dec. 8, officials must vote to raise the debt ceiling, which is coupled with the flood-insurance program, or face default and a government shutdown. There are some people who think its OK to default. They are insane, LoBiondo said, adding the United States has never defaulted. This is the full faith and credit of the United States. The congressman said the House Freedom Caucus, a group of conservative Republicans, has thrown a monkey wrench into the flood-insurance debate because of members desire to cut it back, but he believes there is a good group in Congress that will continue to fight and get the job done extending it. Meanwhile, LoBiondo said he continues to be encouraged by Atlantic Countys progress in diversifying its economy. Specifically, he said he is ecstatic construction of the Stockton Aviation Research and Technology Park is finally underway. Boardwalk Hall lobby to go through $10 million renovation project ATLANTIC CITY For years, people attending events at Historic Boardwalk Hall have been gree As chairman of the House Aviation Subcommittee, LoBiondo said the tech park provides the perfect opportunity for South Jersey to capitalize on the newest advancements in the aviation industry: drones. Recently, LoBiondo said he witnessed the test of a drone equipped with technology from Verizon that made it a mobile cell tower in Belleplain State Forest in Cape May County. Before the drone was launched, no one in the forest had cell service. After it was up in the air, everyone could make phone calls and send emails. It is technology like those drones that could reinvigorate parts of South Jersey and keep people safe in the event of a natural disaster, he said. What this means to aviation, I think, is almost as earth-shattering as the Wright brothers, LoBiondo said. What this means in a natural disaster is that we wont lose cell service. The technology is amazing. RICHMOND, Va. - Two weeks ago, I encouraged readers to keep your casserole-loving selves in check by filling your Thanksgiving plates with side dishes heavy on roasted root vegetables, lightly breaded and baked Brussels sprouts, and simple gratins void of butter and gobs of cheese? Yeah, well, leftovers dont necessarily count. Many people look forward to the days after Thanksgiving because mashing a variety of foods together into one bowl or between bread slices and drenching everything in rich gravy is, at least where I come from, typically more accepted on those days rather than at the main event. But before you skip off to the kitchen on Friday (and again on Saturday, maybe) to construct a five-layer meal with no discernible resemblance to anything you ate on Thanksgiving, consider a few other ways to use up those beloved turkey day leftovers. For example, you could fill roasted and charred poblano peppers with cheesy leftover mashed potatoes and corn. Hand pies turn into convenient, portable lunches and can be made either savory or sweet think turkey, stuffing and a little gravy for some, then leftover sweet potato casserole for others. (We all know that casserole is basically dessert disguised as a vegetable, anyway.) Then theres the cranberry sauce. So lovely on its own, the leftovers can be used for so many things whipped into compound butters, slathered on those aforementioned unrecognizable sandwiches or baked into cakes and cookies for dessert, pancakes and waffles for breakfast. But, and I may be going out on a limb here, what if you added that cranberry sauce to ... homemade ice cream? My friends, welcome to the reason you make (or buy) cranberry sauce this year. In fact, if you intentionally keep the cranberry sauce tucked away behind the turkey and mashed potatoes where no one can find it on Thanksgiving Day, and then later make ice cream with it, likely no one will care. Cranberries and cream strike an amazing combo here, so pull out the ice cream maker you havent seen since July and let it do most of the work. This works with both smooth and chunky cranberry sauce, though Im partial to the chunky. Depending on your ice cream makers instructions, you can add the sauce at the beginning or the end of the process, but either way, that crimson color is a thing of beauty. Throw in some dark or white chocolate chips and youve got a magical dessert experience suitable for any lingering holiday house guests. And an icy treat is the perfect complement to the stuffed peppers youll make for dinner. Not that poblanos are very spicy. On the official Scoville heat scale, they rank just below jalapenos, with just a slight kick. To elevate their smoky flavor, you can roast the peppers first just a few minutes under the broiler, until their skins are charred and blistered but its not necessary. Slice down the middle, take out the seeds and membranes and then stuff them with leftover mashed potatoes (why not use up the corn, too) followed by your favorite cheeses before baking. Serve with chunky salsa or sour cream, or simply eat them on their own. Poblanos are large enough that one pepper per person makes an excellent side dish. Lastly, the hand pies. If youre like me, you tend to have a package of ready-made pie crusts on hand for those moments when youre not up to making crusts from scratch. Or maybe in the midst of the pumpkin-pie prepping for Thanksgiving Day, you made one or two extras. Either way, once the feast is over, pull out those extra crusts and stuff them with all sorts of leftovers. I found that sweet potato casserole is the perfect filling because you dont have to add any additional ingredients. As a clever colleague pointed out, serving the hand pies warm from the oven with a scoop of cranberry ice cream would be sublime. And chances are, this time around, there will be no leftovers. More recipes Sweet Potato Hand Pies To save time and effort after a day of cooking on Thanksgiving, use pre-made pie crusts for these convenient, tasty hand pies. Sweet potato casserole works well, since it's already sweetened. Makes 10 to 12 hand pies. 2 pre-made or from-scratch pie crusts 2 cups leftover sweet potato casserole cup heavy or whipping cream 2 tablespoons sugar Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out dough and cut into roughly 4-inch circles with a large biscuit cutter or wide-mouthed glass. You may need to reroll scraps as you go. Place 5 or 6 circles on a baking sheet. Top each circle with a scant tablespoon of sweet potato casserole and place another circle on top. Crimp the edges together with a fork. Spread heavy or whipping cream on tops and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until tops are golden-brown. Holly Prestidge Cranberry Ice Cream Ice cream makers vary, so follow your machine's instructions. The cranberry flavor is subtle, but feel free to add white or dark chocolate chips or ribbons of chocolate fudge to complement it. Makes approximately gallon. 1 cup whole milk or half-and-half cup sugar 2 cups heavy cream 1 tablespoon vanilla 1 cups cranberry sauce (chunky is better) cup chocolate chips, optional Combine whole milk or half-and-half with sugar and whisk until sugar is dissolved. Pour in heavy cream and vanilla. Turn on ice cream maker and add contents to the bowl. Follow your machine's instructions for when to add other ingredients. I added the cranberry sauce and chocolate chips about 5 minutes before the ice cream was finished churning. For better consistency, freeze immediately for at least 2 hours or overnight. Holly Prestidge Last weeks ending to U.S. Sen. Robert Menendezs trial on bribery and corruption charges may have been abrupt, but it should not come as a surprise. The deadlocked jury and mistrial are simply a reflection of changing attitudes and laws defining what is acceptable by our public officials. A recent Supreme Court ruling that narrowed the definition of official misconduct to a nearly direct cash-for-direct-action transaction may have had the most direct impact. The 2016 ruling, which came out of a Virginia corruption case, nearly scuttled the case before it went to the jurors. And while that didnt happen, jurors in the case were left to decide whether prosecutors could hit a much smaller target than the one theyd set out to hit five years ago. For example, jurors in Menendezs trial werent being asked to decide whether the Democratic senator had accepted lavish vacations, hotel stays, rides on luxury jets and hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from Florida eye doctor Dr. Salomen Melgen. He admitted he did. Nor was it in dispute that while the gifts were flowing, he pressured government officials to settle an $8.9 million Medicare billing dispute with Melgen and helped obtain visas for Melgens girlfriends. He did that too. No, the issue before the jury was whether those acts constituted a crime. Prosecutors tried to portray Menendez as Melgens personal senator-for-hire. But Menendezs defense argued the relationship and gifts were part of a decades-long friendship. No crime there, they argued. The jury tilted heavily to the friendship argument but couldnt reach unanimous agreement. On Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge William Walls declared a mistrial. Prosecutors have not said whether they will retry the case, but the odds are good they wont. As one juror said after the case, the lack of a smoking gun left them wondering what the big deal was. Under the instructions they were given, jurors needed to see a direct line from the cash and gifts to a vote or formal action (or promise of formal action) by Menendez. In other words, the smoking gun in his hand. The new standard dates to last years U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning the bribery conviction of Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell. McDonnell accepted money and gifts from a businessman who wanted the states universities to test a food supplement his company was developing. McDonnell arranged meetings and made introductions for the business man. The university tests were never conducted, but prosecutors alleged McDonnell actions meant hed sold his office through an illegal quid pro quo. But the Supreme Court set a higher standard for official and direct actions, saying that arranging meetings and introductions and other aid were just part of a public officials daily interactions with constituents. And since the gifts by themselves didnt violate Virginias ethics laws, the court overturned McDonnells conviction, saying the former governors conduct, while tawdry, wasnt criminal. The basic compact underlying representative government assumes that public officials will hear from their constituents and act appropriately on their concerns whether it is the union official worried about a plant closing or the homeowners who wonder why it took five days to restore power to their neighborhood after a storm, the courts opinion read. The governments position could cast a pall of potential prosecution over these relationships if the union had given a campaign contribution in the past or the homeowners invited the official to join them on their annual outing to the ballgame. Officials might wonder whether they could respond to even the most commonplace requests for assistance, and citizens with legitimate concerns might shrink from participating in democratic discourse. Its impossible to tell how big a role the McDonnell ruling had because there were other factors weakening the governments case. For one, it lacked one of the traditional components of a bribery case, an informant or former conspirator-turned-state witness. But the ruling was a factor. Just a week ago before the case went to the jury, Judge Walls suggested prosecutors hadnt met the new standard. Walls considered dismissing the case but ultimately let it go to the jury. But the Menendez case and the origins of the new normal do raise the question: Why, when it comes to allegations of wrongdoing by public officials, are we letting them live up to a lower standard than the rest of the nation? (Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/609056/PGNiG_American_LNG_cargo.jpg ) This is the first medium-term LNG agreement signed by PGNiG Supply & Trading's branch office located in London, which is dedicated to global LNG trading. The agreement follows through on PGNiG's strategy of securing reliable and diversified gas supplies for Poland and its growing trading capability in the European market. It is also the first mid-term contract for LNG from the USA in Central and Eastern Europe. In October this year, PGNiG also took part in a binding Open Season procedure for capacity bookings from the planned 10 bcm/y pipeline corridor (Baltic Pipe), which will connect the Norwegian Continental Shelf with Poland in 2022. "Preceded by the long term contract for LNG deliveries from Qatar and several spot deliveries in 2017, this agreement shows that we are stepping into a new level of global LNG market activity. This five-year agreement for American LNG deliveries is based on gas market conditions. We look forward to working with Centrica as a partner to continue to provide diversified supply into Poland," said Piotr Wozniak, CEO and President of the Management Board of PGNiG. "This agreement is the first of its kind in PGNiG's planned portfolio of medium-term LNG agreements. Most of these LNG supply agreements will be dedicated to the gas markets of Poland and other Central European countries in order to increase the energy security of this region, which has historically been dominated by Russian gas," added Piotr Wozniak. "We are extremely pleased to have concluded this mid-term contract with PGNiG as part of Centrica's strategy to build our global LNG portfolio. Our reliability, experience and trading capabilities mean we are well placed to deliver LNG into an ever growing number of markets around the world. We really look forward to working with the team at PGNiG over the coming years," commented Jonathan Westby, Centrica Managing Director of Energy Marketing & Trading. Polish Oil and Gas Company (PGNiG) is the leader of the Polish natural gas market. The company's core business includes exploration and production of natural gas and crude oil. Its subsidiaries import, store, sell and distribute gaseous fuels. They also generate and trade heat and electricity. PGNiG holds stake in 30 companies including entities that provide professional geophysical, drilling and maintenance services. PGNiG holds exploration and production licenses in Norway and in Pakistan. Centrica plc is an international energy and services company organised around two global customer-facing divisions, Centrica Consumer and Centrica Business, focused on the residential consumer and the business customer respectively. Centrica's areas of focus for growth are Energy Supply & Services, Connected Home, Distributed Energy & Power and Energy Marketing & Trading. Centrica develops new and innovative products and services for customers globally and supplies more than 27 million customer accounts mainly in the UK, Ireland and North America through strong brands such as British Gas, Hive, Direct Energy and Bord Gais Energy, supported by around 12,000 engineers and technicians. Within Centrica's Energy marketing & Trading business, Centrica LNG Company Ltd is involved in the wholesale trading and supply of LNG globally. SOURCE PGNiG SINGAPORE, Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- TransferTo, a leading Cross-Border Mobile Payments Network for emerging markets, has appointed Djibril Diallo as VP Business Development to head operations across West and Central Africa, as the company ramps up its activity across the Continent. TransferTo's global payments network interlinks money transfer operators, mobile money operators, mobile wallets providers, banks, financial institutions, NGOs and global e-commence merchants to facilitate mobile-based money transfers to and from emerging markets -- all through one single API connection and one global compliance framework. Across Africa, the company currently interconnects close to 300m mobile money wallets and bank accounts, and this year alone, TransferTo's cross-border payments business in Africa has grown 11-fold, showing significant demand for safer, cheaper and faster digital transfers across the Continent. Djibril brings great expertise in payment systems and mobile money across the region. He spent the last three years heading up Mobile Financial Services operations for Tigo Cash, Millicom's operation in Senegal. Prior to that, he worked as a Senior IT Consultant and Business Analyst at the World Food Programme focusing on global payment disbursements. Djibril has also played a key part in rolling out payment systems, such as RTGS, in various African Central Banks and primary banks. In his new position at TransferTo, Djibril is responsible for the strategic direction and growth in the region, and to expand TransferTo's payment solutions into new markets, including Senegal, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Gabon and Cameroon. "I'm thrilled to have joined TransferTo," said Djibril Diallo. "We are at a point today where mobile money and mobile banking is revolutionising payments in Africa, and I am very proud to be a part of a company that is committed to providing the best payment solutions for emerging markets, and helping connect Africa to the world." Nicolas Vonthron, EVP Payments for Africa & Europe at TransferTo added, "Djibril has such a unique insight into this market which makes him an invaluable partner in a time when TransferTo is undergoing heightened investment across Africa. Establishing robust operations in West and Central Africa ensures we are well positioned to better serve our Network partners, allowing them to cater for the growing demand of more efficient cross-border payments to and from the African Continent." Djibril will be based out of Dakar, Senegal. About TransferTo TransferTo is the leading Cross-Border Mobile Payments Network for emerging markets, processing real-time transactions for money transfer operators, mobile operators, digital wallet providers, banks, NGO's and merchants. Leading global companies rely on TransferTo's mobile payment solutions to perform digital payments. Through a Network which spans across more than 130 countries, TransferTo provides its partners with a global compliance framework for all relevant regulatory requirements. TransferTo was founded in 2005. The company is headquartered in Singapore, with regional offices in Miami, London and Dubai, and local offices across Mumbai, Jakarta, San Salvador, Nairobi and Barcelona. For more information, please visit: www.transfer-to.com Media Contact Ola Polczynski PR & Marketing Director, TransferTo +65-9361-2450 press@transfer-to.com Related Links http://www.transfer-to.com SOURCE TransferTo Beirut/Paris, Nov 18 : Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri met French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday after he arrived here from Saudi Arabia for talks on a crisis sparked by his resignation earlier this month. Macron welcomed Hariri and his family at the Elysee Palace. The meeting came hours after a phone call between the French President and his Lebanese counterpart Michel Aoun. The Lebanese President's office said that Aoun had thanked Macron for "France's actions in favour of Lebanon" and confirmed that Hariri would be in Beirut for Lebanon's Independence Day celebrations on November 22. Hariri announced on November 4 from the Saudi Arabia capital Riyadh that he was stepping down as Lebanon's Prime Minister. He accused Iran of sowing "discord, devastation and destruction" in the region and said he feared there was an assassination plot against him. He spent two weeks in Saudi Arabia, a stay that sparked speculation that he was being held against his will. Aoun refused to accept Hariri's resignation, accusing the Saudis of holding him. The Saudis as well as Hariri denied this. But he has not publicly explained the nature or length of his stay in Saudi Arabia, the BBC reported. With European diplomats scrambling to defuse the crisis, France seized the role of mediator. Five days after Hariri resigned, Macron made an unscheduled trip to Riyadh to meet him and Saudi officials. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Hariri had been invited to France and was living in "Saudi Arabia by his own will". After meeting Macron, Hariri is expected to visit a number of Arab capitals. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia recalled its envoy to Berlin over comments by Germany's Foreign Minister suggesting Hariri was being held against his will. Sigmar Gabriel made the remarks during a press conference with his Lebanese counterpart. "Saudi Arabia has decided to recall its ambassador to Germany for consultations and will give the German ambassador in the Kingdom a letter protesting these unfortunate and unjustified statements," the Saudi state news agency SPA said. Saudi Arabia also denied forcing Hariri to resign in an attempt to curb the influence of its regional rival Iran and its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah, which is part of a national unity government that Hariri formed last year. Jerusalem : Jerusalem,, Nov 20 (IANS) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has hailed late Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat's historic visit to Israel in 1977 which led to the establishment of diplomatic ties between both nations after decades of hostilities. Sadat, who had arrived at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, took "a bold step" by coming to the Israeli Parliament, Netanyahu said on Sunday prior to his weekly Cabinet meeting. "Today we mark 40 years to the historic visit of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in Jerusalem and Israel," Efe news quoted Netanyahu as saying. He claimed that Sadat "was welcomed by the entire nation." The Prime Minister said that Egypt, Israel and other countries were now on the same side in the fight against the terrorism of radical Islam and asserted this would contribute to the expansion of peace. Many Arab countries viewed Sadat's decision to unilaterally pursue a peace deal with Israel as a betrayal of the pan-Arab struggle and the Palestinian cause. After years of clashes with Israel in armed conflicts such as the Suez Crisis of 1956, the Six-Day War of 1967 and the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Sadat was the first leader of an Arab country to pay an official visit to Israel. The visit, which was the first rapprochement between the authorities of both countries, was the initial step for the progressive establishment of diplomatic relations, which culminated in March 1979 with the signing of a peace agreement for the return of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, occupied by Israel in 1967. During his visit, Sadat gave a speech before the Parliament, had several meetings with then-Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and went to pray inside al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem. Sadat was assassinated in 1981 during a military parade in Cairo. This week, Israeli authorities are set to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the visit. Oslo, Nov 20 : Norway's Prime Minister Erna Solberg hoped that Turkey will accept her country's apology after Turkish leaders appeared on an "enemy chart" at a NATO military exercise in the Nordic country, a media report said. However, should Turkey want to talk more about the event, Norway will be open for that, Solberg said according to public broadcaster NRK, Xinhua news agency reported. The Prime Minister added that the relationship between Norway and Turkey is not in crisis and is "good". "We are clear towards Turkey, and they are clear back towards us. Now I hope they accept our apology, so that we can move on." On Friday, Turkey announced to withdraw 40 Turkish troops from the NATO exercise at the Joint Warfare Center in Stavanger, Norway, after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's name and the picture of Turkish Republic's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk were used in an "enemy chart". Following the incident, both NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and Norwegian Minister of Defence Frank Bakke-Jensen apologized to Turkey, saying the message was written by a Norwegian national who was hired to work on staff during the exercise and the individual was terminated immediately. Erdogan said on Saturday that the incident is "a reflection of a distorted point of view that we have seen in NATO for a while" and the matter "cannot be covered over with a simple apology". New Delhi, Nov 20 : Actress Sonam Kapoor says that Rheson, a fashion label that she owns along with her producer sister Rhea, is not just a celebrity label but a high-street fashion brand by two sisters who happen to be in the Indian movie business. "Rheson is not just a celebrity label - it is high-street fashion brand by two sisters who happen to be in the Indian movie business. We plan to continuously invest and grow the brand to make it India's leading homegrown high-street fashion brand," Sonam told IANS in an email interview. "The brand is meant for every Indian girl - no matter her age or her body type. We have always stated that we don't believe in a specific 'target audience' - one should wear whatever makes one happy; age, weight, body type are no bars! Our clothes are for every Indian girl. Period," she added. Rheson comes from the combination of Rhea and Sonam's first names and is known for its collection that is designed to be quirky, affordable and for daily wear. The brand made its debut this year with a huge expansion plan. "Rheson was launched in May 2017 with Shoppers Stop and we have had a super successful debut. We are now extremely excited to expand this collaboration by launching Rheson on Shoppers Stop's exclusive flagship store on Amazon.in. "Our top priority right now is to penetrate the brand across the country. In addition to Shoppers Stop, our presence on Amazon.in is definitely a step in that direction, considering the wide pan-India reach they provide especially in the Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets. Once that is achieved, global expansion will be the next priority," she added. Rhea, who has produced films like "Aisha" and "Khoobsurat", also feels that Rheson is a complete embodiment of their style statement and personalities with each piece of the collection being distinctive, unique and home-grown in the truest sense. "The design sensibility and concept come from Sonam and me. The Shoppers Stop design team brings that vision to life. Together we work on sampling, manufacturing and finally bringing the products to the stores and online," Rhea told IANS. So is Rheson going to associate with any Bollywood film in the days to come? "If and when there is a right brand fit!," said Rhea adding that what makes Rheson different from other brands is that it has a distinctive space . "The designs are all unique and one-of-a-kind," said Rhea with Sonam adding that "We're not running a race. We're here to build a brand and that remains our focus." On the Bollywood front both the sisters can't wait for their next release "Veere Di Wedding" that is produced by Rhea and stars Sonam along with Kareena Kapoor Khan and Swara Bhaskar. The film is directed by Shashanka Ghosh. ( Nivedita can be contacted at nivedita.s@ians.in) Mumbai, Nov 20 : Actor Prateik Babbar will make his debut as a DJ along with Norwegian DJ and music producer Kygo during his gig here this month. Kygo will come to India to perform at the Ola Sunburn Arena. He will be here for a three-city tour with Percept Live, dishing out tropical numbers in Hyderabad on November 24, New Delhi on November 25 and Mumbai on November 26. "Music is like therapy for me. After films, I have always been passionate about music. While I personally love techno and hip hop, tropical house is something that I listen to when I'm on vacations. If I wasn't an actor, I'd definitely be a DJ or a music producer. I've always been someone who loves attending music festivals. I am looking forward to the concert," Prateik said in a statement. On the work front, Prateik is working out on his physique for his role opposite Tiger Shroff in Sajid Nadiadwala's "Baaghi 2" and will soon be seen in Anubhav Sinha's "Mulk". Chennai, Nov 20 : Nokia on Monday announced the launch of a cluster development programme which will digitally empower the weaver community and connect them to technology and the marketplace in the villages of Tamil Nadu. The programme titled "KanchiLoom" and to be implemented in partnership with Delhi-based non-profit Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF), will provide training and easy access to internet and wireless connectivity to 5,000 community members, including 500 weavers of three villages in Kanchipuram. The project will enable weavers to embrace new technologies, designs, and scale-up traditional weaving methods by employing Information Communication Technology (ICT) tools and digital connectivity for marketing and sales. "We strongly believe that digital inclusion is an important pillar for socio-economic growth. Our collaboration and support for social development programs focus on the use of technology to enable equal access to opportunities in education and training for all sections of society," Amit Marwah, head of Customer Marketing and Communications for Nokia India, said in a statement on Monday. "The KanchiLoom project is one such endeavour to assist the weavers and entrepreneurs in the cluster to hone their skills and to use digital knowledge and connectivity to realise their full potential," Marwah added. As part of the initiative, an e-commerce portal will also be established to promote greater self-reliance amongst weavers through direct market access, the report said. "We believe that KanchiLoom programme will truly transform the lives of the weavers by providing them with training and access to the internet and wireless connectivity," said Osama Manzar, Founder-Director, Digital Empowerment Foundation. "The entrepreneurs in the region will further benefit from the e-commerce portal and specific entrepreneurship training provided as part of the initiative. The programme will help the community to learn about new opportunities and growth areas," Manzar added. Tehran, Nov 22 : Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said the victory over the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group in Iraq and Syria is a defeat of the US in the region, a media report said. He said the victory over the IS is tantamount to the defeat of plots to sow division and wage a civil war in the Middle East, adding it is a blow to plots by the US and its allies, Xinhua news agency reported. Khamenei's remarks come in response to a senior Iranian Military General, who announced on Tuesday the final defeat of the IS militants in Iraq and Syria and congratulated Iran's Supreme Leader on the "victory." Major General Qassem Soleimani, Commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), on Tuesday hailed the "great victory" over the IS. He said the ultimate victory was achieved thanks to Khamenei's prudent leadership and the sacrifices of all resistance fighters in Iraq and Syria. Declaring full victory over the "notorious terror group", he said the armed forces in Iraq and Syria, backed by popular groups and Iranian military advisors, have managed to flush the IS militants out of their last strongholds in both countries. He also praised what he called the steadfastness of the Iraqi and Syrian nations, governments, armies and popular forces throughout the counter-terrorism battles. Soleimani also expressed his gratitude to Lebanon's Hezbollah Shiite movement for its "powerful presence" and the pivotal role it played on the battlefield against terrorists in Syria. He said initial reports estimate that the damages caused by the IS militants in the two countries amount to at least $ 500 billion. Khamenei also warned against what he called the enemy's deceit, adding that those who made huge investment to create the IS would try to re-hatch their evil plots in another part of the region or in other forms. Ankara, Nov 22 : The incident that has caused tensions between NATO and Turkey during an exercise in Norway last week was a "provocation" against an indispensable ally of the western world but actually snubbed because of contentious foreign policy decisions, experts said. "I think it was a planned and deliberate provocation ... I do not agree to the judgment that this matter should be considered as a minor incident. On the contrary, it is a major scandal that would lead to the reaction of the Turkish people," Xinhua news agency quoted Mustafa Kibaroglu from MEF University in Istanbul as saying. Kibaroglu, an expert on international relations, was referring to the blunder in a NATO military drill, where a civil contractor depicted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as an "enemy collaborator" and Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was shown as "hostile". Turkey immediately decided to withdraw from the drill followed by apologies from the NATO and Norway. Erdogan lashed at a "vile" and "treacherous" attitude towards his country, sign of a serious rift between Turkey and the west in general. "The fact that the person who is behind this is not within NATO's institutional structure does not reduce the scope of this scandal," noted Kibaroglu. The Republican People's Party (CHP), the main opposition party, also supported the requests of Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) for a full blown investigation on the incident. Erdogan's chief adviser Yalcin Topcu said that "it's time to reconsider the issue of Turkey's membership to NATO", according to local media. Turkey, a NATO member since 1952, has the second largest army in the alliance after the US. There is growing antagonisms between Ankara and some of its allies within the military bloc. Ankara's decision to buy sophisticated Russian air defence systems caused concern among the NATO members, including the US, because mainly of lack of interoperability with NATO weapons. Turkey has considerably strengthened cooperation with Moscow after a bilateral spat in 2015 over the downing of a Russian fighter over Syria. Erdogan and Russia's Vladimir Putin, as well as their Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani, will meet on Wednesday in Sochi, Russia, to coordinate their cooperation in Syria, another high-level meeting closely followed by western capitals, especially Washington. Agartala, Nov 22 : Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy will submit a report to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on the killing of a journalist by a Tripura State Rifle (TSR) trooper on Tuesday. "I am going to Delhi today (Wednesday) and would meet Home Minister Rajnath Singh to give a report on the killing of the journalist Sudip Datta Bhowmik by a TSR rifleman," Roy told the media before leaving for Delhi. He said: "I would see the end of the killing. How a journalist was killed by a TSR personnel within the battalion headquarter complex?" According to police, TSR Second Battalion Rifleman Nandu Kumar Reang on Tuesday, following an altercation, opened fire from his AK-47 assault rifle, killing Datta Bhowmik, 50, on the spot in Radha Kishore Nagar, 25 km from Agartala. Reang was the bodyguard of Second Battalion Commandant Tapan Debbarma. The slain journalist went to meet Debbarma at the battalion headquarters. Police arrested both the TSR trooper and commandant Debbarma. They would be presented in the court on Wednesday. The state government has handed over the case to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). Union Minister of State for Home Kiran Rijiju has also strongly condemned the killing of the journalist. Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, condemning the killing, has asked the Director General of Police to probe the incident. Bhowmik, who was a reporter with "Syandan Patrika" and television channel "Vanguard", is survived by his wife, a government teacher, and two children. To protest the killing, both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress called a 12-hour and 24-hour statewide shutdown on Thursday respectively. "Chief Minister Manik Sarkar should step down immediately," BJP state President Biplab Kumar Deb told the media demanding a judicial probe into the crime. Various journalists organisations in the northeast, including the Tripura Working Journalists Association, Tripura Journalists Union (TJU) and the Agartala Press Club, denounced the killing and demanded a high level probe into the incident. The TJU has also demanded the resignation of the Home Minister. The portfolio is held by the Chief Minister. On September 20, a television journalist, Santanu Bhowmik, 28, was killed allegedly by some activists of a party in Mandai, 35 km from here. Beirut, Nov 22 : Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri has returned to Beirut for the first time since announcing his surprise resignation in Saudi Arabia more than two weeks ago. Hariri is expected to take part in the country's independence day military parade on Wednesday and the customary reception at the Presidential Palace. He was greeted at Beirut airport late on Tuesday by members of the security forces as he disembarked from his plane. He then visited the grave of his father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who was assassinated in 2005, CNN reported. Hariri stunned the Lebanese people when he announced on November 4 in Riyadh that he was resigning from his post because he feared his life was in danger. Hariri denied speculation that Saudi Arabia had forced him to depart as part of a regional power struggle with Iran. Lebanese President Michel Aoun, who refused to accept Hariri's resignation earlier, will meet him later in the day. Hariri visited Cairo and Cyprus on Tuesday before flying to Beirut. He met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and thanked him for his support for Lebanon. Later he flew to Larnaca in Cyprus where he met President Nicos Anastasiades. During Hariri's stay in Riyadh, Aoun accused Saudi Arabia of holding Hariri against his will but both the Saudis and Hariri denied this. After mediation efforts by Egypt and France, Hariri left Riyadh last week. He headed to Paris for talks with French President Emmanuel Macron and pledged he would be home by Wednesday. Manila, Nov 22 : The Philippines government on Wednesday announced the end of the stalled peace talks with the New People's Army, a Communist rebel outfit considered a terrorist group by the US and the European Union. The Manila agency in charge of the peace talks attributed its decision to the Communists' lack of willingness to negotiate and their recent armed attacks on security forces, Efe news agency reported. "There will be no peace negotiations any more with the CPP/NPA/NDF until such time as the desired enabling environment conducive to a change in the government's position becomes evident," said Jesus Dureza, head of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process. Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte had "taken unprecedented steps and walked the so-called extra mile to bring peace. However, the Communist party and its armed elements have not shown reciprocity", said Dureza. The government and representatives of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines, the political arm of the New People's Army (NPA), began negotiations in April to lay the foundations for a definitive peace, although the talks remained stagnant and there were armed clashes. In the past few days, Duterte had promised not to negotiate further with the Communists and declared his intention to again categorize the NPA as a terror group. The Maoist-inspired rebel group is already categorized as a terror organization on the US and the EU lists although the Philippines government withdrew its name from such a list in 2011 to facilitate peace talks. The conflict between the NPA and the Philippines government has been ongoing for more than four and a half decades and has left at least 30,000 dead. Under Duterte's mandate, which began on June 30, 2016, a ceasefire was signed in August 2016 that lasted until the beginning of February when the rebels violated it. Mumbai, Nov 22 : Google on Wednesday dedicated a special doodle to mark the 153rd birth anniversary of medico Rukhmabai Raut, who proved instrumental in getting the obnoxious practice of child marriages banned not only in colonial India but the entire British Empire. The Hindu woman also excelled as one of the first practicing woman medicos during an era when even sending girls to school was considered taboo -- and emerged victorious from the clutches of her child marriage herself. The colourful Google doodle depicts a confident "Dr." Rukhmabai with a stethoscope around her neck, hair tied in a bun, with a halo around her head, amid a bustling women's hospital, three women patients and two nurses, trolleys of medicines and flowers, a nurse giving an injection to a patient, a patient reading and another speaking to a nurse. However, the historic legal and medical achievements did not come easy for Rukhmabai, who was born on November 22, 1864 to a Maharashtrian carpenter family of Janardhan Pandurang and Jayanti. She lost her father when she was eight, and three years later (age 11), she was married off to 19-year old youth Dadaji Bhikaji Raut, while her mother (Jayanti) remarried a widower medico, Sakharam Arjun. Refusing to move in with her husband after marriage, Rukhmabai continued living with her mother and stepfather for some years and immersed herself in self-education with books borrowed from a local church library. When her husband Raut initiated legal action against the family for preventing his wife (Rukhmabai) from joining him and to restore his conjugal rights, her stepfather Arjun supported her decision - and this resistance would later create legal history in India and the British Empire. Adopting a tough stand against her husband, Rukhmabai created public opinion through media and launched a passionate debate on juvenile marriages and women's rights, and even expressed a desire to become a doctor, like her stepfather. In the meantime, the court cases progressed with Raut demanding his legal conjugal rights on Rukhmabai, and finally the controversial judgment ordering her to go to the husband or to jail for six months. The bold Rukhmabai preferred jail - creating a huge social-political upheaval and massive discourses on: Hindu laws versus British laws, ancient customs versus modern laws, internal and external reforms, in which Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Max Mueller argued from the opposing sides. Undeterred by legal setbacks, Rukhmabai finally wrote directly to Queen Victoria and narrated her plight - at one time, writing a gutsy line to the monarch: "So far, dear lady, I have dwelt on your patience, for which an apology is necessary." Using her sweeping powers, Queen Victoria intervened to get the court's verdict overruled and granted dissolution of her unhappy marriage in 1887 - significantly, in the historic Golden Jubilee year of her accession to the world's most powerful throne. This landmark divorce left a deep impression on the country's social psyche, boosted feminism in England and finally resulted in the historic passing of "Age of Consent Act, 1891", which banned child marriages not only in the tradition-steeped India but the entire British Empire. During the pendency of this divorce litigation, in May 1883, a 13-year old boy, Mohandas, married a 14-year old girl, Kasturba, in Porbandar (Gujarat) and decades later, he was revered around the world as 'Mahatma Gandhi'. A turning point came for Rukhmabai a year later, in July 1888, when Raut consented to forego his claim on her for a princely sum of Rs 2,000 and she rekindled her deep desire to become a medico. To help achieve her dream, donations poured in from India and abroad, a fund was created to enable her travel to England in 1889 for a five-year medical degree course at London School of Medicine for Women. She was wholeheartedly encouraged in her endeavour by many, including Mary Edith Pechey-Phipson, the then head of Cama Hospital in Mumbai (one of the sites of 26/11 terror strike), who fought many a battles in England to become one of the earliest women doctors in that country. After her return in 1894 as India's earliest and first practicing woman doctor, Rukhmabai plunged into medical practice in hospitals, initially in Surat and from 1918 in Rajkot, in the erstwhile Bombay Province. Prior to Rukhmabai, three other Indian women -- Kadambini Ganguly, Chandramukhi Basu and Anandi Gopal Joshi - had achieved the honours as qualified medicos in 1886 from India and the US. The battle-weary divorcee finally retired as a Chief Medical Officer in the late 1920s and settled down in Bombay (now Mumbai) and continued her work in social reforms and influencing opinion through writings, till her death here on September 25, 1955. (Quaid Najmi can be contacted at q.najmi@ians.in) Washington, Nov 22 : A second federal judge has blocked the US administrations proposed ban on transgender troops, saying President Donald Trumps announcement of the ban earlier this year was "capricious, arbitrary, and unqualified". In a preliminary injunction, Judge Marvin J. Garbis of Maryland on Tuesday halted a policy that would have discharged all current transgender troops and barred prospective ones from enlisting, saying it likely violated equal protection provisions of the Constitution, the New York Times reported. Judge Garbis's order went further than a similar ruling in October by Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of Columbia, which also said the ban likely violated the Constitution. "There is absolutely no support for the claim that the ongoing service of transgender people would have any negative effective on the military at all," the ruling said. But while Judge Kollar-Kotelly did not specifically block a Trump administration policy prohibiting gender-reassignment surgery for service members at the government's expense, Judge Garbis's order does. The ruling leaves in place an Obama-era policy, announced in 2016, that allows transgender troops to serve openly and receive the required medical care for their gender transition through the military. Shortly after the ruling the Trump administration appealed last month's decision, signalling it would continue to press for the removal of transgender troops. In July, Trump said on Twitter that the military could not afford the "tremendous medical costs and disruption" of transgender troops and that the government "will not accept or allow them to serve in any capacity in the US military". A presidential memorandum released in August said all transgender service troops would be discharged. A number of service members immediately filed suit, arguing the new policies were discriminatory. There are an estimated 2,000 to 11,000 active duty transgender service members, according to a 2016 RAND Corporation study commissioned by the Pentagon. The American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the suit on behalf of six service members, said the ruling was a victory over what it called in a statement "uninformed speculation, myths and stereotypes". "Today is a victory for transgender service members across the country," said Joshua Block, who represented the service members. "We're pleased that the courts have stepped in to ensure that trans service members are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve," he said. Chandigarh, Nov 22 : A court in Jhajjar town in Haryana has sentenced a woman to 30 years imprisonment for brutally murdering her husband by cutting him into eight pieces. Additional Sessions Judge H.S. Dahiya sentenced Puja for murdering Baljeet, 38, in April last year in Asanda village in Jhajjar district, court sources said on Wednesday. The court, however, acquitted four other people named in the case, saying only Puja was responsible for the brutal killing. Police investigations revealed that the woman murdered her husband as she had an extra-marital affair with another man and wanted to get rid of her husband. Baljeet's brother Kuljeet had complained to the police on April 26 last year that his brother had gone missing. The brother claimed that he and his sisters had gone to their brother's house and his wife (Puja) did not give satisfactory replies on his whereabouts. His sisters felt some foul smell from another room. On checking, they found the smell coming from a suitcase. On opening it, they recovered the headless body of their brother. Later, they found that Puja had cut Baljeet into eight pieces and had hidden them at different places in the house. Baljeet's head was buried by digging the floor of the house. The court on Tuesday held Puja guilty of brutally murdering Baljeet and sentenced her to 30 years imprisonment. Jhajjar town is around 55 km from Delhi and 285 km from Chandigarh. Imphal, Nov 22 : President Ram Nath Kovind and First Lady Savita Kovind on Wednesday paid floral tributes at the statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose at the Indian National Army memorial in Manipur's Bishupur district. Later they went to Moirang Kangla, the spot where the INA soldiers hoisted the flag of independent India on April 14, 1944. Though Moirang is just 45 km away from Imphal, they went to the INA complex by helicopter for security reasons. Accompanied by Governor Najma Heptulla, Chief Minister N. Biren Singh and other Ministers, Kovind inspected the World War II museum located there. There are war weapons and other material, including personal belongings like spectacles and tooth brushes of soldiers that are kept at the INA War museum. Earlier, there were severe restrictions on entry to the INA complex. On learning about it, Chief Minister Biren Singh had relaxed it in the larger interest of the tourists. Major insurgent groups had imposed a 26-hour general strike in the state to sabotage the official functions of the President. Kovind was on a two-day official visit to Imphal. On Tuesday he had inaugurated the 10-day Sangai Tourism Festival and the two-day Northeastern Development Summit. Many foreign investors and businessmen are taking part in the summit. Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister of Bangladesh Rashid Khan is also a part of the summit. The President and his wife left for Delhi in a special IAF plane later on Wednesday. Srinagar, Nov 22 : A soldier and a militant were killed on Wednesday in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district when the Army foiled an attempt by militants to sneak into India from Pakistan. Defence Ministry spokesman Colonel Rajesh Kalia said here: "An Army soldier was martyred and a terrorist killed in Keran sector of the LoC (Line of Control) where alert troops foiled an infiltration bid. "Two soldiers sustained injuries in the operation. The infiltration attempt was made by terrorists near the Chaken Post on the LoC," the official added. The winding LoC separates Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan. New Delhi, Nov 22 : The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to entertain a PIL filed against Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi alleging he put himself in danger by skipping SPG security cover given to him. The court, while dismissing the plea filed by Mumbai BJP spokesperson Tuhin A. Sinha, said it is for the government to decide the security aspects and the court was not the appropriate forum for the issue. Sinha had sought a direction to Gandhi and the Central government to ensure that the Congress leader does not violate the Special Protection Group Act and put himself in danger by giving a slip to the SPG. "We are not going to decide on security. Even for our security, we depend on the government. We rely on their assessment. We are not entertaining this plea, it's the responsibility of government," said the court, adding that petition is not maintainable. Advocate Anil Soni, appearing for Central government, told the court said the government was also concerned about Gandhi's security and his skipping security cover was "irresponsible" behaviour. The plea said that several times Gandhi has travelled skipping SPG and put himself in danger and he should be asked to submit an affidavit to the court that he would not travel without taking SPG cover. In August this year, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had said that Gandh hasn't taken SPG security on six foreign trips over the last two years. He had blamed Gandhi for the attack on his car in Gujarat, saying the Congress leader "did not follow security protocols". Gandhi was paying a visit to the flood-affected areas in Gujarat when stones were thrown at his car and his convoy by black flag waving protesters. New Delhi, Nov 22 : The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved revision in the salaries, gratuity, allowances and pensions of the judges of the Supreme Court and high courts as well as those who have retired, an official statement said. The increase in emoluments will be effective from January 1, 2016 and benefit 31 judges of the Supreme Court (including the Chief Justice of India) and 1,079 judges (including the Chief Justices) of high courts. About 2,500 retired judges will also be benefited. "The union cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved the revision in the salaries, gratuity, allowances, pension etc. of the judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts and retired judges of Supreme Court and High Courts," an official release said. "Arrears on account of revised salaries, gratuity, pension and family pension w.e.f 01.01.2016 will be paid as one time lump sum payment," it added. The cabinet decision follows implementation of recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission in respect of civil servants. The approval will entail amendments in the Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Act, 1958 and High Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Act, 1954. The government intends to move bills to amend these two acts in the ensuing winter session of parliament. Kochi, Nov 22 : The Kerala Police team, probing the actress abduction case, on Wednesday submitted the chargesheet which has named Malayalam superstar Dileep as eighth among the 12 accused and his former wife, actress Manju Warrier, as a key witness. Pulsar Suni, who master-minded the kidnap in February this year, is the first accused and the charges slapped include rape and conspiracy. The chargesheet, running into 650 pages, was filed before the Angamaly Magistrate court and it includes secret depositions by 12 people and among the list of witnesses, there are around 50 from the film industry. The popular actress was abducted in February when she was on her way from Thrissur to Kochi, forcibly driven around in her vehicle for about two hours and allegedly molested before being dumped near an actor-director's home. The key accused Suni and his accomplices involved in the actual abduction were arrested a week later. Incidentally, on Tuesday, the Kerala High Court permitted Dileep, who is currently out on bail, to travel to Dubai. The court directed that the actor's passport, currently with the trial court in Angamaly, be handed over to him for six days so that he can be in Dubai for four days later this month. Dileep, who owns restaurant Dhe Puttu in Kochi, is opening a new outlet in Dubai and sought the court's permission to be there for the opening ceremony. He was arrested on July 10 after police found evidence to link him to the conspiracy part of the case. After 85 days in jail, he got conditional bail and has been on a religious sojourn. New Delhi, Nov 22 : BJP MP Paresh Rawal hit back with a tweet at the Congress over the "chai-wala" jibe aimed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier on, but the move backfired and led to him apologising for the potshot. The actor-turned-politician, who is an MP from Ahmedabad East, on Tuesday night tweeted: "Our chai-wala is any day better than your bar-wala", in response to a meme posted on the official Twitter handle of the Indian Youth Congress online magazine 'Yuva Desh'. Rawal deleted the tweet late on Tuesday night and admitted it was in "bad taste". "Deleted the tweet as it's in bad taste and I apologise for hurting feelings," Rawal said. Congress leader Randeep Surjewala on Wednesday demanded an apology from Modi over the tweet by the BJP MP. "Will the BJP MPs from Gujarat now resort to this cheapness and dirt. Is this the BJP's definition of respecting women. Modiji should apologise and take action," Surjewala tweeted. A meme by 'Yuva Desh' on Tuesday targeted Modi and created a controversy, forcing Congress youth wing chief Amarinder Singh Raja to later apologise for it though he maintained the Twitter handle was operated by volunteers and not by the youth body as such. The meme -- in which British Prime Minister Theresa May was portrayed as asking Modi to "go sell tea" -- was deleted after it was reported by the media. It also drew disapproval from the Congress and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah and strong condemnation from the Bharatiya Janata Party. New Delhi, Nov 22 : The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved the signing and ratifying of an agreement between India and Philippines on co-operation and mutual assistance in customs matters, an official statement said. "The agreement will help in the availability of relevant information for the prevention and investigation of customs offences. The agreement is also expected to facilitate trade and ensure efficient clearance of goods traded between the countries," the Finance Ministry said in a statement. This agreement will enter into force after necessary national legal requirements for entry into force of this agreement have been fulfilled by both the countries, it said, adding the agreement would provide a legal framework for sharing of information and intelligence between the customs authorities of the two countries. It would also help in the proper application of customs laws, prevention and investigation of customs offences and the facilitation of legitimate trade. The draft text of the proposed agreement has been finalised with the concurrence of the two customs administrations. The draft agreement takes care of Indian customs' concerns and requirements, particularly in the area of exchange of information on the correctness of the customs value declared and authenticity of certificates of origin of the goods traded between the two countries. New Delhi, Nov 22 : India and Russia are likely to sign a comprehensive security agreement on cooperation in combating terrorism and organised crime during Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh's three-day visit to Russia next week, an official statement said on Wednesday. During his visit from November 27 to 29, the Home Minister will discuss bilateral, regional and international matters of mutual interest during discussions with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Kolokoltsev and other senior Russian leadership. "Rajnath Singh is likely to sign a comprehensive security agreement on cooperation in combating terrorism and organized crime with the Ministry of Interior of the Russian Federation which would reinforce the relationship between India and Russia through exchange and sharing of information, expertise, best practices and would help in curbing terrorism and enhancing security in the region," a Home Ministry statement said. He is also expected to sign a joint action or implementation plan for cooperation in areas of drugs and disaster management, the statement said. As both the countries have long history of close cooperation on matters of shared security concerns, this visit will provide an opportunity to further cement and strengthen the mutually beneficial bilateral ties between both the countries, it added. Kolkata, Nov 22 : Three persons, including two members of Bangladesh-based Islamist group Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) and a local arms dealer, who were arrested by the city police, were sent to 14 days in police custody on Wednesday, a senior officer of Kolkata Police said. The three were arrested by the Special Task Force (STF) of the Kolkata Police from the Kolkata Railway Station on Tuesday afternoon when they allegedly met to seal an arms deal. "All three of them were produced in the city sessions court today (Wednesday) which has remanded them to 14 days of police custody till December 5," Muralidhar Sharma, Deputy Commissioner of Kolkata Police (STF), told IANS. The Police had said on Tuesday that two of the three accused -- Shamsad Mia alias Tanveer alias Tushar Biswas and Riaz alias Riazul Islam -- hailed from Bangladesh and are members of the ABT, a front for Al Qaeda in the Indian subcontinent, while the third man Manotosh Dey alias Mona Da is suspected to be an arms dealer from North 24 Parganas district's Basirhat. The officer also revealed that the two members of the Bangladeshi militant group entered India illegally one and a half years ago and travelled to a number of cities apart from Kolkata. "Their documents reveal that they have been to Hyderabad, Patna, Ranchi and Pune in the last one and a half years. The purpose of their visit is yet to be ascertained," Sharma said. He said the STF officers were also interrogating the two wives of arms dealer Dey to get details about his past activities and connections. Gandhinagar, Nov 22 : Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Wednesday declared that the his government would not allow release of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's "Padmavati" in the poll-bound state. "There is a lot of sensitivity in Kshatriya and Rajput communities with regards to certain depiction of history. We respect their feelings and with elections on the anvil, the state government does not want any controversy. Besides that the law and order is also our responsibility, so we have decided that we will not allow release of movie 'Padmavati' in Gujarat," he said. Rupani also said that the ban was not only limited to the state assembly polls which will be held in December "but till the controversies subside". Asked by media whether he had seen the controversial movie or not before taking such a decision, he said that it was not required. "I have met several people who have expressed anguish and anger against the movie. It has hurt their sentiments bad and we respect their point of view." "Padmavati", starring Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor and directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, has been in controversy since its making. Earlier, the Karni Sena in Rajasthan had vandalized the sets of the movie during its shooting, protesting the depiction of the queen. Several organizations across the country have been opposing the release of the movie, whose release has been deferred. Earlier, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had held that the film had "distorted facts" about Rajput queen Padmavati and would not be allowed to be released in his state, even if it gets censor board certification. His Uttar Pradesh counterpart Yogi Adityanath had held the movie director responsible for hurting sentiments of Rajput community, while Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje government had sought edits in the film to remove objectionable sequences. Asked whether this announcement by the Chief Minister of banning the film amounted to violation of the model code of conduct which is in effect in the state, state chief electoral officer B.B. Swain said: "I don't know. I will have to check the matter and decide." New Delhi, Nov 22 : The Shree Rajput Karni Sena on Wednesday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, even though silent on the "Padmavati" row, must have had a role to play in the deferral of its release date from December 1. As the Karni Sena continues to gather support in opposing the release of "Padmavati", its patron-founder Lokendra Singh Kalvi said he was hopeful of increasing supporters from "four to 14" till director Sanjay Leela Bhansali announces a new release date for his historic drama. Kalvi said even though the "Padmavati" makers have claimed they have "voluntarily" deferred the movie's release, Modi would have had a "role" to play. "The deferral of the release date has happened because of multiple roles people have played. CMs have a role, PM has a role, and most of all the social organisations who have been protesting aggressively and passionately have made it happen," Kalvi told IANS. "Padmavati" is in the eye of a storm following allegations that the movie distorts history about Rajput queen Padmavati, who is known to have committed Jauhar (self-immolation) to protect the honour of her community during the siege of Chittor in 1303. At an earlier press conference here, Kalvi said he had already garnered the support of Chief Ministers of four states. "I will make it from four to 14 till the next date is decided. I am meeting three more Chief Ministers in the next two days. This film will not run," he said. He said his appeal to Modi to "intervene" in the controversy was merely via the media. Do they plan to make a written appeal to Modi? "We will make a written appeal to PM if there's a need. I haven't written any appeal to any Chief Minister or the Prime Minister.... I am going to Maharashtra... They will ban it, I am confident," Kalvi told IANS. Karni Sena has been up in arms against Bhansali since he began shooting the film and had even assaulted him on the sets of his film in Jaipur last year over fears that the movie showcases objectionable scenes. Now, it is calling for a ban. Will the Karni Sena go to the Supreme Court? Kalvi told IANS: "There's no need. We are in the people's court and it has a lot of strength." But the apex court has already rejected two pleas regarding the stalling of the film. "Those were pleas by over-excited people who have no evidence," Kalvi said. Calling Bhansali a "repeat offender", Kalvi said: "He does opposite of what he says and never does what he says. Why did they leave the section of genre in the censor board application form blank? He knew whether he writes historical or fiction, he will land in trouble." Thiruvananthapuram, November 22 : Even as a controversy is raging over the boycott of a cabinet meet by ministers of the CPI, the second largest constituent of the ruling LDF coalition, the party has doubled down on the controversial decision. Briefing reporters after the state executive meeting of the party on Wednesday, CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran said that the party executive unanimously approved of the party decision to have its ministers abstain from the cabinet meet on November 15 to protest then transport minister Thomas Chandys participation in it. Mr. Rajendran also told the media that the party executive expressed displeasure at the public comments made by K E Ismail on the issue of cabinet meet boycott by CPI ministers. Mr. Ismail had the other day broken ranks with his party and claimed that the party had been unaware of the decision of the CPI ministers to boycott cabinet meet. The CPI state executive has resolved to communicate their displeasure over Ismails comments to the national executive since the latter is a member of the party national executive committee. The high court had observed that a member of the cabinet (Thomas Chandy) petitioning the court against the state government and the chief secretary was in violation of constitutional norms, Kanam said. The minister said that he would approach the supreme court to challenge the high court verdict. So we decided to abstain from the cabinet meet he was to take part in and the party state executive has unanimously approved of the decision, the CPI state secretary added. The four ministers of the CPI in the LDF cabinet had boycotted the November 15 cabinet meet in protest against Thomas Chandys continuance as transport minister despite the high court pulling him up for having filed a petition arraigning the state government as respondent. The court had observed that the minister violated the concept of collective responsibility of the cabinet by approaching the court against the government of which he was a minister. The boycott of cabinet meet by the ministers of the CPI had touched off a war of words between the CPI(M) and the CPI, the two biggest constituents of the ruling dispensation. New Delhi, Nov 22 : The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved the introduction of new scheme 'Mahila Shakti Kendra' in order to empower rural women through community participation. According to an official statement, the new scheme will empower rural women through community engagement by creating an environment in which they can realize their potential. The Cabinet also approved the expansion of other schemes of the Ministry of Women and Child Development under its umbrella scheme of "Mission for Protection and Empowerment for Women" for a period of two years. The financial outlay during this period will be Rs 3,636.85 crore with a central share of approximately Rs 3,084.96 crore, the statement said. It said that "Mahila Shakti Kendra" (MSK) is envisaged to work at various levels. "While the national level and state level structures will provide technical support to the respective government on issues related to women, the district and block level centres will provide support to MSK and also give a foothold to BBBP (Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao) in 640 districts to be covered in a phased manner," it said. More than three lakh student volunteers from local colleges will be involved in this process of community engagement. The outcome based activities of student volunteers will be monitored through web based system. New Delhi, Nov 22 : The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved an ordinance to introduce certain changes to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced. Following a cabinet meeting, Jaitley told reporters here that the cabinet has forwarded the ordinance to effect the changes for the President's assent and, as such, details could not be revealed at this time. "Some changes have been proposed to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code and since these are being done by ordinance, we cannot give the details of the proposals that the cabinet has recommended to the President," he said. Official sources here said the ordinance will be presented in the forthcoming winter session of Parliament, which will be held in December-January. The IBC, being implemented by the Corporate Affairs Ministry, became operational in December 2016 and provides for a time-bound insolvency resolution process. The changes proposed are expected to help streamline the process of selecting buyers for stressed assets. For instance, currently the Code does not specify the type of buyers who can bid for stressed assets of companies that are undergoing bankruptcy proceedings. Commenting on the development, Deloitte India Partner Kalpesh Mehta said the amendment will make the insolvency resolution process more robust and make things difficult for unscrupulous promoters. "The implementation of this amendment would block failed promoters from regaining control of the companies facing insolvency proceedings under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code," Mehta said in a statement. It would also curb promoters of companies identified for insolvency proceedings from preparing to bid for the stressed assets of the same companies," he added. The government announced earlier this month that insolvent corporates seeking a resolution plan under the new law will now be subject to more stringent tests regarding creditworthiness and credibility by the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI). The IBBI has strengthened its due diligence framework by making amendments to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, a Corporate Affairs Ministry statement said here. "Now prior to approval of a resolution plan, the resolution applicants, including promoters, will be put to a stringent test with respect to their creditworthiness and credibility by the Committee of Creditors," it said. "Amendments to the IBBI (Insolvency Resolution Process for Corporate Persons) Resolution Process, 2016, impose a greater responsibility on the resolution professionals and the Committee of Creditors in discharging their duties," it added. The revised regulations make it obligatory to provide information about the corporate applicant, including details of antecedents "in terms of convictions, disqualifications, criminal proceedings, categorisation as wilful defaulter as per RBI guidelines, debarment imposed by (markets regulator) SEBI, if any, and transaction, if any, with the corporate debtor in the last two years". "The Resolution Professional has to also submit details in respect of transactions observed or determined, if any, covered under Section 43 (Preferential Transactions); Section 45 (Undervalued Transactions); Section 50 (Extortionate Credit Transactions); Section 66 (Fraudulent Transactions) under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016," it added. Kolkata, Nov 22 : Robbie Keane was missed when ATK played a goalless draw against Kerala Blasters against Kerala Blasters in Kochi in Indian Super League (ISL)'s opening match, club's Portuguese midfielder Zequinha said on Wednesday. The 30-year old, who was part of the 0-0 draw and played full 90 minutes, went on to add that not having the mercurial former Tottenham Hotspur and LA Galaxy forward was not a feel-good factor for the players. "All the players of ATK are good. Robbie Keane is of course a big player. He played many years in England and went to America and won four titles. He is a big player and everybody knows this. We missed Robbie Keane," Zequinha told reporters days ahead of ATK's first home game against FC Pune City on Sunday. "If he plays, the team feels better. When you look at him, he is an inspiration," Zequinha added. Keane is expected to miss the first 2-3 matches for the defending champions due to injury which forced the Ireland player to head home. Zequinha started his youth career with Victoria FC and Portuguese giants Porto. He climbed through the ranks by playing for Porto's B side. He has several stints with Portuguese clubs such as Tourizense, Penafiel, Gondomar and Gil Vicente and made a permanent move to SC Olhanense in the Portuguese League itself. In 2011, he moved to Greece to play for AEL FC, followed by a move to Panthrakikos FC in 2013. He returned to Portugal to play with Victoria FC, FC Arouca and CD Nacional. He has also played for Portugal in their U-20 side. Hyderabad, Nov 22 : Aiming to attract more leading retailers, Telangana will announce its retail policy early in January next year, said a top government official on Wednesday. Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary, Industry, Commerce and Information Technology, said the policy was already drafted and they were waiting for remarks from one or two departments. Interacting with reporters on the sidelines of launch of IKEA Hej Home, the experiential centre of the Swedish home furnishing retailer, he said the policy will not only offer concessions and incentives but will also provide regulatory benefits to the retail sector. Stating that Shops and Establishments Act has become archaic and the modern retailers face some hurdles in their operations, he said the Act would be amended. Ranjan said the draft retail policy was sent to various departments and except one or two, all had given their remarks. "Once we receive that, it will be sent to the Chief Secretary and then to the cabinet for its approval," he said, hoping that the entire process will be completed in two months. He said the policy draft was prepared in a consultative manner by taking feedback from the industry including IKEA. The Retail Association of India has also given its feedback. In April, the Telangana government signed an MoU with global retail giant Walmart for opening 10 new stores in the state over next three to four years. The official said Metro Cash & Carry, which currently has three centres in Hyderabad plans to open three more. It also wants to set up three centres in towns like Warangal and Karimnagar. He said the government was keen in attracting more retailers as they create more employment opportunities including for women from underprivileged sections of the society. Ghaziabad, Nov 22 : Traders are up in arms in Ghaziabad after a trader returning home with a cake to celebrate his son's birthday was shot dead on a street. On Wednesday, traders' organisations held a joint press conference and gave an ultimatum to the police to nab those who killed Gagandeep Khanduja on Tuesday night. "The murder has shaken up our community," said Subhash Chhabra, President of the Turabnagar Traders Association. Khanduja was on his scooter when assailants shot him twice on his head near the Nehru Yuva Kendra. He was declared dead at the Yashoda Hospital. "We want them to solve the murder mystery within 24 hours. Otherwise the traders in the city will go on strike from Thursday," said Chhabra. Superintendent of Police Akash Tomar said: "We have set up four teams of good officers and we are hopeful they will solve the murder mystery." New Delhi, Nov 22 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday expressed concern over large number of grievances of consumers and called for improvement in administrative arrangements to benefit them, an official release said. Modi, who chaired his twenty-third interaction through PRAGATI - the ICT-based, multi-modal platform for Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation - reviewed the progress towards handling and resolution of grievances related to consumers. "The Prime Minister was briefed on the action taken to ensure speedy and effective disposal of consumer grievances. Expressing concern over the large number of grievances, the Prime Minister emphasised on the need for improvement in the administrative arrangements, so that consumers can be benefited," the release said. The Prime Minister also reviewed progress in implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Khanij Kshetra Kalyan Yojana (PMKKKY). He said that funds accruing to the District Mineral Foundations (DMFs) should be utilised to eliminate major development deficits and this should be done in a focused way so as to achieve the greatest possible results by 2022, the 75th anniversary of Independence. The release said that Modi reviewed the progress of nine infrastructure projects in the railway, road, power, and renewable energy sectors in several states including Uttarakhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Nagaland, Assam, Maharashtra, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. These projects are cumulatively worth over Rs 30,000 crore. The release said the earlier 22 meetings of PRAGATI have seen a cumulative review of 200 projects with a total investment of Rs 9.31 lakh crore. Resolution of public grievances has also been reviewed in 17 sectors. Kolkata, Nov 22 : Five members of a dacoit gang have been arrested from a West Bengal district bordering Bangladesh and weapons were seized from them, police said on Wednesday. The five were arrested from South 24 Parganas's Hili on Tuesday, an officer said. "Several sharp weapons and firearms have been seized from them." Hili, a town under Balurghat subdivision of the district, is a border checkpoint on the India-Bangladesh border. Police said the five, all Indian residents, gathered near a village fair in Hili few days back with the motive of dacoity. "The five dacoits were produced before a Balurghat court on Wednesday where they have been remanded to 14 days judicial custody," the officer added. Kolkata, Nov 22 : At least eight organisations under the banner of Akhil Bhartiya Shakti Samaj launched a signature campaign here on Wednesday in protest against Sanjay Leela Bhansali's historical drama "Padmavati". "We want the scenes showing distorted version of history to be deleted before the film is released," said a member of the Samaj. The protestors said they plan to submit a deputation to West Bengal Governor K.N. Tripathi on Thursday reiterating their demands. "We also plan to submit a deputation to the Chief Minister (Mamata Banerjee) in this regard," the member said. The film has been mired in controversy over conjectures that it "distorts history" regarding Rajput queen Padmavati, a contention that Bhansali has repeatedly denied. Its release has been "voluntarily" deferred from its scheduled date of December 1. Some Hindu groups have been protesting against the movie's release while some political outfits have demanded that its release be deferred in view of the Gujarat Assembly elections. The makers have also not got clearance yet from the Central Board of Film Certification, which said the application from the makers was "incomplete". New Delhi, Nov 22 : The Central government on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that the aid and advice of the Delhi Council of Ministers is not binding on the Lt. Governor as Delhi government does not have any executive powers which are entirely vested in the Centre. Appearing for the Central government, Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh told the five judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra that before taking any decision, the Delhi government has to take prior approval of the Lt. Governor and after the decision has been taken (by the Council of Ministers), the same should be communicated to the Lt. Governor before being implemented. It is not undemocratic for the Lt. Governor to have an absolute control over the executive to administer the national capital, he said, adding that the Constitution's Article 239AA that provides special provision for Delhi says Lt. Governor will be the administrator of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. Responding to a poser from Chief Justice Misra as to if the Lt. Governor can assume all powers to himself, Maninder Singh said that to the extent that Lt. Governor can't pass orders on his own, but only with the consent of the Council of Ministers. The constitution bench is hearing a batch of petitions by the Delhi government challenging Delhi High Court order that held that the Lt Governor had the final authority in the governance of the national capital. The Centre is defending the High Court verdict. Besides Chief Justice Misra, others on the bench are Justice A. K.Sikri, Justice A.M.Khanwilkar, Justice D.Y.Chandrachud and Justice Ashok Bhushan. The elected government must discuss all the issues with Lt. Governor as that is the scheme provided under the constitution, the ASG told the bench saying that the national capital territory of Delhi belongs to the entire nation and Union of India alone will have an absolute control over its administration. Elected government can't say that NCT belongs to Delhi and it will take the decision, he added. As he hammered the point that Delhi can't be given statehood, senior counsel Indira Jaising sought to clarify that they, on behalf of Delhi government, had never argued for status of state for Delhi. As Chief Justice Misra said that there were conflicting positions in the arguments of the counsel who appeared for Delhi government, Jaising said that there could be difference of nuances but not conflicting positions. When she sought to make a statement on behalf of the counsel who appeared for Delhi government that none of them have pressed for statehood for Delhi, the Chief Justice said they should file common written submissions stating their common stand. Meanwhile, the ASG said that power over Delhi Police belongs to the Central government and the Aam Aadmi Party government without jurisdiction tried to hire police personnel from Bihar Police for its anti-graft body, the Anti-Corruption Bureau. This created disharmony and Centre had to step in to say that ACB had no authority to probe Central government officers, he added. On government services, the ASG said that services under a union territory would squarely fall under the Centre. "You may give nomenclature of UT cadre but the powers of appointment, posting and transfer are with the Centre. The Centre had on Tuesday told the top court that Delhi can never be considered as a state as the Constitution never envisaged such a status for it and doing so would lead to an "inevitable chaos". Guwahati, Nov 22 : Assam's prominent film actor Biju Phukan passed away at a private hospital here on Wednesday. Phukan, who was suffering from cardiac ailments for last few days, was admitted to the Apollo Hospital in Guwahati around 4.30 p.m on Wednesday. The doctors said he breathed his last around 6.15 p.m. "Phukan was suffering from breathing problems for last few days," family sources said. Phukan, counted as one of the most prominent actors of Assam, acted in over 80 films including some Bengali films during 1970s to 1990s and had given several superhit films to the Assamese film industry. While Phukan made his debut in the industry with "Dr. Bezbaruah" in 1970, the last film he acted in was "Door" released in 2016. His first role as the lead actor in "Baruar Songshar" followed by "Aranya" (1971) established him as a hero in the industry. Aranya was also adjudged the Best Regional Film at the National Film Awards. Assam Governor Prof. Jagdish Mukhi condoled the death of actor. "I am deeply saddened by Biju Phukan's death. Phukan hugely contributed to popularise Assamese cinema. With his death, a void has been created which will be hard to fill. I extend my condolences to the bereaved family and his fans. May his soul rest in peace," said the Governor in a statement. Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal mourned the demise of the actor, saying: "I am grieved and saddened by the sudden demise of Biju Phukan who is largely responsible for promoting Assamese film industry and brought it to the present status," the Chief Minister said in a message. The Media Adviser to Assam Chief Minister, Hrishikesh Goswami, visited the hospital immediately after the demise of the veteran actor and paid his tributes. "We have grown up seeing Biju Phukan's acting. Phukan was personally very close to the Chief Minister and me as well. It is a great loss to the industry as well as to the society as a whole," said Goswami, adding that the veteran actor would be cremated with full state honour. Veteran actor Samar Hazarika said: "Assam has lost a true actor and his death has created a void in the industry. We have suffered an irreparable loss. I have no words to express my feelings..." New Delhi, Nov 22 : Senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram on Wednesday hit out at Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Bihar BJP Chief Nityanand Rai for their recent remarks, saying "that is what an intolerant political party does to a person". "Cancer is divine justice for sins' says Assam Minister Sharma. That is what switching parties does to a person," said Chidambaram on Twitter, citing Sarma's comment on the dreaded disease. "Cut off hands of PM Modi's critics' says Bihar BJP Chief. That is what being in an intolerant political party does to a person," Chidambaram added. Rai had said in Patna: "Any finger or hand raised against the PM, we should get together to either broken or, if need be, chop it off." Hyderabad, Nov 22 : The All India Mahila Empowerment Party (MEP), launched recently with the slogan of justice for humanity, on Wednesday announced that it will contest next year's assembly elections in Karnataka. Leading woman entrepreneur Nowhera Shaik, who is heading the party, said it will contest on all 224 seats on its own. Claiming to have 17 lakh members in various states, she said her party will also contest parliamentary elections across the country in 2019. Shaik, the CEO and Managing Director of Heera Group of companies, said she and the women working with her in various social activities felt the need for a political platform to fight for gender justice and empowerment of women. She said 80 per cent of the MEP members will be women, irrespective of their religion or caste and the party plans to constitute 700 district committees soon. The party will fight for passage of a long-pending bill by the Parliament to provide 33 per cent reservation for women in legislative bodies. She said the bill could not be passed for last 18 years as the mainstream political parties were not "sincere". Shaik believes quota in legislative bodies was the only way for real empowerment of women, who constitute more than 50 per cent of India's population but are victims of injustice in all spheres of life. "People always complain that our politics is dirty but good people don't come forward and join it. It's time that all right-thinking people join politics and clean it of its dirt," she said. Anew Delhi, Nov 22 : India on Wednesday successfully flight-tested the air variant of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from a Sukhoi SU-30MKI fighter jet to hit a target in the Bay of Bengal, completing the country's tactical cruise missile triad. The test also made the Indian Air Force the first air force in the world to test a missile of this category from an air platform. Currently, BrahMos is the only cruise missile that can be fired from air, land and sea. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman lauded the success. The missile, integrated with the long-range fighter, is seen as a force multiplier for the Indian Air Force. This was the first test of the missile's air version against a sea-based target. The missile was gravity dropped from the Su-30, after which the two-stage missile's engine fired up and propelled it toward the set target. The Indian Air Force said the launch was smooth and the missile followed the desired trajectory before hitting the target ship. "The BrahMos missile provides the Indian Air Force a much-desired capability to strike from large stand-off ranges on any target in sea or land with pinpoint accuracy by day or night and in all-weather conditions. "The capability of the missile, coupled with the superlative performance of the Su-30 aircraft, gives the IAF a strategic reach and allows it to dominate the ocean and the battlefields," the IAF statement said. The Defence Ministry, announcing the test's success, said BrahMos is world's fastest supersonic cruise missile with a multi-platform, multi-mission role, and now capable of being launched from land, sea and air. "BrahMos created history on November 22 after it was successfully flight-tested for the first time from the IAF frontline fighter aircraft Sukhoi-30MKI against a sea-based target in the Bay of Bengal," a Ministry statement said. "The successful maiden test-firing of BrahMos Air Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM) from Su-30MKI will significantly bolster the IAF's air combat capability from stand-off ranges," it said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: "Delighted on the successful maiden test firing of BrahMos ALCM from Su-30MKI. Congratulations to all those associated with this remarkable feat." Sitharaman also congratulated the DRDO and Team BrahMos for the success. Strategic expert C. Uday Bhaskar hailed the test and called it a technological accomplishment. "This is a big achievement for India's integrated missile programme and both the warhead design and the guidance competence acquired albeit with Russian cooperation enhances India's overall ordnance delivery profile," Bhaskar told IANS. "A credible and fully operational air launched cruise missile capability will enhance India's trans-border strike capability in a significant manner. This may be the only such supersonic ALCM and to that extent it is a significant technological accomplishment," he said. BrahMos ALCM, weighing 2.5 tonnes, is lighter than the land and sea versions of the missile which weigh around 3 tonnes, but is also the heaviest weapon to be deployed on India's Su-30 aircraft. The aircraft has been modified by Hindustan Aeronautical Ltd to carry the weapon. The missile test was witnessed by Sudhir Mishra, Director General (BrahMos), and CEO and MD, BrahMos Aerospace, along with IAF officials, scientists and officials from DRDO and BrahMos. BrahMos is a joint venture between the Defence Research and Development Organisation of India and NPOM of Russia. The Su-30, considered the most potent fighter jet with India, was the choice for fitting the Brahmos missile as it has a airframe of titanium and high-strength aluminium alloys, fit for a high-speed terrain following profile. The fighter jet's aerodynamic configuration increases the aircraft's lifting effectiveness, deflects automatically and allows high angle-of-attack flights. The integral aerodynamic configuration combined with thrust vectoring results in practically unlimited manoeuvrability and unique take-off and landing characteristics. According to informed sources, the modification to the fighter includes hardened electronic circuitry to shield it from the electromagnetic pulse of a nuclear blast. Along with the aircraft, the missile was also modified to make it carry a reduced booster and fins for stability. The missile can be released from a height of 500 to 14,000 metres (1,640 to 46,000 feet). After release, the missile falls freely for 100-150 metres, then moving into a cruise phase at 14,000 metres and finally the terminal phase at 15 metres. On Wednesday, the missile was fired by the test crew comprising Wg Cdr Prashant Nair and Wg Cdr KP Kiran Kumar. The chase aircraft was flown by Gp Capt Badrish N Athreya and Sqn Ldr Angad Pratap. New Delhi, Nov 22 : Whether to file an appeal against an acquittal in a case is a decision taken by the investigative agencies on the merits of the case and there is no meddling by political bosses in this decision making, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said here on Wednesday. Jaitley's observation came in response to a query pertaining to reports of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) going for special leave petition against the acquittal of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan by the state's High Court in a corruption case dating back to the 1990s, but not doing so in BJP chief Amit Shah's case who was an accused in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh fake encounter. "I think these are decisions that the CBI takes on merits of appeal. Each case in which appeal is to be filed or not ... it is for the investigative agency to decide and the political executive doesn't come into it," Jaitley said. Vijayan was probed by the CBI in the SNC-Lavalin case, a Canadian firm that was given contract in 1998 to repair three major hydroelectric projects in Kerala at a cost of about Rs 375 crore. The Keral High Court acquitted Vijayan in August this year in the case, saying there was no evidence of a conspiracy by the accused in the case. He had earlier been acquitted in the same case by a lower court in 2013. Reacting to the reports and Jaitley's reply, the Congress said going by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s ways, "there is obviously no ground for appeal against Amit Shah in any case but there is every ground for appeal in every other CBI case". "The whole country is aware of their double standards. This is a clear political bias. I am not commenting on the merits at all. I am saying this is brazen political double standards," Congress Spokesman and senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi said. New Delhi, Nov 22 : The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) on Wednesday issued a notice to the Delhi Police, mentioning that parents of the girls rescued earlier this week were receiving death and rape threats. "Delhi Commission for Women received representations from the parents of the children, who were rescued earlier this week, stating that they are receiving death threat and rape threat from the son of the arrested placement agency owner," a DCW statement said. The DCW had busted a trafficking racket, which operated under the veil of a placement agency in the city and three children were rescued. The racket was busted based on information given by parents from Jharkhand, who had come to the capital after they were not able to contact their children. "They (complainant) have stated that the son of the arrested owner managed to reach the place where they are staying in Delhi and asked them to withdraw the case, threatening them with rape and murder," the statement said. DCW Chairperson Swati Jai Hind said: "It is an extremely serious matter and urgent action needs to be taken to ensure the safety of the children and their families." Ludhiana, Nov 22 : The owner of a plastic factory, which collapsed on Monday and leaving 13 people dead, was arrested by the Punjab Police on Wednesday. Inderjit Singh Gola, owner of the factory, who had gone underground since Monday, has been arrested, Ludhiana Police Commissioner R.N. Dhoke said here. The victims included six firemen and a municipal corporation official. Several people were trapped under the debris of the collapsed five-storeyed building, located in a congested part of the Industrial area near Cheema Chowk. The factory building, which was engulfed in a major fire on Monday morning, collapsed later in the afternoon following a powerful blast. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday ordered a detailed inquiry by the Patiala Divisional Commissioner into the incident and announced compensation for the kin of those killed. The two injured men, identified as Rohit Kumar and Sunil Kumar, are undergoing treatment at CMC Hospital Ludhiana. The rescue operation continued on Wednesday. Teams of the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF), Army, Punjab Police, the Fire Department and a local NGO were engaged in rescue work. New Delhi, Nov 22 : The Central government on Wednesday began a process of formulating a comprehensive safe city plans for women in eight metropolitan cities - Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Lucknow and Hyderabad. The process was started in the Steering Committee meeting constituted by the Home Ministry under the chairmanship of Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba and attended by Municipal Commissioners, Police Commissioners, senior state government officials and civil society representatives. "It was decided that police and municipal corporations of these eight cities will frame a plan of action. The plan will be forwarded by the respective state-level committee headed by the Chief Secretary of the state and the plan of action to be submitted by these cities within a month will be assessed by the Steering Committee, which will make suitable recommendations," a Home Ministry statement said. During the meeting, Gauba took a comprehensive review of the progress made and steps taken by the police and civil administration of these eight metropolitan cities regarding women's safety. The issues reviewed in the meeting included 33 per cent reservation of women in police, installation of CCTV cameras, deployment of women in police stations, emergency response system, police verified public transport, prevention of cyber crime, infrastructure issues, mapping of dark spots and crime-prone areas and involvement of educational institutions, among others. "The initiatives taken by these cities for women's safety were also discussed in detail. These initiatives include Himmat App, All Women Patrol Van, Shishtachar programme of Delhi Police, SHE teams, Hawkeye Mobile App and Bharosa programme of Hyderabad police, Suraksha App of Bengaluru police and Power Angels of Uttar Pradesh Police. "The steps taken by other metro cities including mobile counselling vans for hearing the grievances of women, lighting in the suburban railway station areas, complaint boxes in the colleges, dedicated helpline for women, awareness programmes organised by the police, setting up of shelter homes for women and making provisions for street lighting were also discussed," the statement said. The Home Secretary said that independent analysis and feedback system should be institutionalised to assess the perception of women on ground regarding their safety issues and emphasised on "targeted intervention" by police and civil administration for larger impact on women's safety. He also stressed on the need for Integrated Command and Control Centres and on collaborative monitoring by police and privately installed CCTV cameras, saying "this integration should be in a time-bound and phased manner". New Delhi, Nov 22 : Reacting to the release of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Saeed from Pakistan's jail, the Congress on Wednesday took a dig at Narendra Modi government, asking "where is the 56-inch chest and strong diplomacy now". The party said Pakistan was a principal conspirator in 2008 Mumbai terror attack, so it would not punish the "co-conspirator". Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said in Twitter: "The reason is clear. Pakistan is the protector of nefarious terrorists. Where is the 56-inch chest and strong diplomacy now." "I am certainly not surprised. I would have been surprised if the consequence would have been the opposite of what you said," said another Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi. "Pakistan has never and is never going to learn this lesson. Pakistan is in active collusion and the principal conspirator cannot punish the co-conspirator. It can never happen," he added. Singhvi further said: "Pakistan does not have even a medium-term vision to realise that this will lead to the implosion of itself. "India must be relentless in its pursuit of the programme to expose Pakistan in each country of the United Nations with material, evidence, CDs, documents and dossiers to show that this is the utmost limit of hypocrisy by Pakistan," he added. A Pakistan court on Wednesday ordered the release of LeT founder Hafiz Saeed who had been under house arrest since January this year. JLG AccessReady Operator Training took home the gold in LLEAP awards. SmartLoad Technology and AccessReady from JLG Industries, Inc., an Oshkosh Corporation company [NYSE:OSK] and a leading global manufacturer of aerial work platforms and telehandlers, earned gold awards in Lift and Access magazines 2017 Leadership in Lifting Equipment and Aerial Platforms (LLEAP) Awards. The competition also honored JLG 1644 and 1732 high capacity telehandlers with a silver award. LLEAP Awards recognize innovative equipment, support products, and services introduced in the North American market between June 1, 2016, and May 31, 2017, and currently available for purchase in North America. The competition considered entries in five categories, including aerial lifts, material handlers, cranes, OEM-developed features/essential components for OEMs, and aftermarket support products or services. We are thrilled to have our products recognized as leaders in three of the five entry categories, said Frank Nerenhausen, executive vice president at Oshkosh Corporation and president of JLG Industries, Inc. Each of these technologies, service offerings, and products underscore our commitment to innovation and to ensuring confidence in the reliability, efficiency, and productivity JLG offerings consistently bring to the job site. Leading the OEM features category with the highest score, SmartLoad Technology combines attachment recognition with real-time load data, so telehandler operators can work with more confidence. This package includes three parts: automatic attachment recognition, which recognizes attachments on the end of the boom and displays the appropriate capacity chart to the operator; load management information system (LMIS), which graphically depicts the location of the load within the capacity chart, indicates whether the load is compliant and prevents the operator from violating the boundaries of the chart; and load stability indicator (LSI), which works with the LMIS system to limit operation when the load is nearing the maximum capacity indicated on the capacity chart. AccessReady received the highest score in the aftermarket support products and services entry category. As part of the companys ongoing commitment to provide robust training opportunities to end-user customers, the program is designed to train operators to use JLG and competitive model aerial work platforms (AWPs) and telehandlers safely and efficiently. AccessReady instructors have successfully participated in and graduated from one of the companys three Train-the-Trainer programs. Equipment owners and renters can choose either a classroom or online option to complete their training. For those who select the classroom option, the AccessReady program helps them locate JLG-qualified instructors in their area. The online class option includes an e-learning course and an area-based option to locate a JLG-qualified instructor to handle the hands-on evaluation necessary to complete operator qualification. As the second-highest-scoring products in the material handlers entry category, JLG 1644 and 1732 high capacity telehandlers offer 15,600 and 16,750 pounds of lift capacity, respectively. These machines are the first JLG telehandlers in the high-capacity category and the first telehandlers in North America with SmartLoad Technology. Additionally, they are among the first equipped with the JLG precision gravity lowering system. Telehandlers equipped with this system rely on hydraulic power to raise the boom but use gravity to lower it, providing the operator with better, more precise control. These versatile, new telehandler models feature an integrated tow hitch and are compatible with a wide range of standard and specialty attachments, providing the operator with more options on the worksite. The units can take the place of wheel loaders in certain applications where greater reach is desired. The high capacities of the 1644 and 1732 make them ideal for use in wind farm, industrial construction and energy (oil and gas) extraction applications. Like other JLG telehandlers, the 1644 and 1732 include easily accessible components and a built-in analyzer display to ensure ease of serviceability, contributing to a low total cost of ownership. Winners of this years LLEAP Awards were selected by a panel of judges made up of industry experts involved in the operation, rental, sale, and servicing of aerial platforms and lifting equipment. Judges evaluated each entry based on innovative features and technology, perceived value, productivity for owners and users, and overall benefit to the industry, owners, and users. All the award winners, including JLG SmartLoad Technology, AccessReady, and 1644 and 1732 high capacity telehandlers, will be featured in the November/December issue of Lift and Access. For more information about JLGs award-winning products and services, please visit http://www.jlg.com. About JLG Industries, Inc. JLG Industries, Inc. is a world-leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of access equipment. The Companys diverse product portfolio includes leading brands such as JLG aerial work platforms; JLG and SkyTrak telehandlers; and an array of complementary accessories that increase the versatility and efficiency of these products. JLG is an Oshkosh Corporation company [NYSE: OSK]. For more information about JLG Industries, Inc., visit http://www.jlg.com. About Oshkosh Corporation Founded in 1917, Oshkosh Corporation is 100 years strong and continues to make a difference in peoples lives. Oshkosh brings together a unique set of integrated capabilities and diverse end markets that, when combined with the Companys MOVE strategy and positive long-term outlook, illustrate why Oshkosh is a different integrated global industrial. The Company is a leader in designing, manufacturing and servicing a broad range of access equipment, commercial, fire & emergency, military and specialty vehicles and vehicle bodies under the brands of Oshkosh, JLG, Pierce, McNeilus, Jerr-Dan, Frontline, CON-E-CO, London and IMT. Today, Oshkosh Corporation is a Fortune 500 Company with manufacturing operations on four continents. Its products are recognized around the world for quality, durability and innovation, and can be found in more than 150 countries around the globe. As a different integrated global industrial, Oshkosh is committed to making a difference for team members, customers, shareholders, communities and the environment. For more information, please visit http://www.oshkoshcorporation.com. , All brand names referred to in this news release are trademarks of Oshkosh Corporation or its subsidiary companies. Forward Looking Statements This news release contains statements that the Company believes to be forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical fact, including, without limitation, statements regarding the Companys future financial position, business strategy, targets, projected sales, costs, earnings, capital expenditures, debt levels and cash flows, and plans and objectives of management for future operations, are forward-looking statements. When used in this news release, words such as may, will, expect, intend, estimate, anticipate, believe, should, project or plan or the negative thereof or variations thereon or similar terminology are generally intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors, some of which are beyond the Companys control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These factors include the cyclical nature of the Companys access equipment, commercial and fire & emergency markets, which are particularly impacted by the strength of U.S. and European economies and construction seasons; the Companys estimates of access equipment demand which, among other factors, is influenced by customer historical buying patterns and rental company fleet replacement strategies; the strength of the U.S. dollar and its impact on Company exports, translation of foreign sales and purchased materials; the expected level and timing of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and international defense customer procurement of products and services and acceptance of and funding or payments for such products and services; higher material costs resulting from production variability due to uncertainty of timing of funding or payments from international defense customers; risks related to reductions in government expenditures in light of U.S. defense budget pressures, sequestration and an uncertain DoD tactical wheeled vehicle strategy; the impact of any DoD solicitation for competition for future contracts to produce military vehicles, including a future Family of Medium Tactical Vehicle production contract; the Companys ability to increase prices to raise margins or offset higher input costs; increasing commodity and other raw material costs, particularly in a sustained economic recovery; risks related to facilities expansion, consolidation and alignment, including the amounts of related costs and charges and that anticipated cost savings may not be achieved; global economic uncertainty, which could lead to additional impairment charges related to many of the Companys intangible assets and/or a slower recovery in the Companys cyclical businesses than Company or equity market expectations; projected adoption rates of work at height machinery in emerging markets; the impact of severe weather or natural disasters that may affect the Company, its suppliers or its customers; risks related to the collectability of receivables, particularly for those businesses with exposure to construction markets; the cost of any warranty campaigns related to the Companys products; risks related to production or shipment delays arising from quality or production issues, including any delays as a result of a recent accident at the Companys Dodge Center manufacturing facility; risks associated with international operations and sales, including compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act; the Companys ability to comply with complex laws and regulations applicable to U.S. government contractors; cybersecurity risks and costs of defending against, mitigating and responding to a data security breach; and risks related to the Companys ability to successfully execute on its strategic road map and meet its long-term financial goals. Additional information concerning these and other factors is contained in the Companys filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this news release. The Company assumes no obligation, and disclaims any obligation, to update information contained in this news release. Investors should be aware that the Company may not update such information until the Companys next quarterly earnings conference call, if at all. A traditional Thanksgiving feast puts pressure on any kitchen. Its important to prepare so you can make it all the way to the pumpkin pie without issues. Thanksgiving should be a time to celebrate being with family, not worrying about your oven or trying to fix your HVAC system, said Bill Schaphorst, MaintenXs VP of Business Development. Taking time to check a few small things now can save you a major headache in the long run. For more than 30 years, MaintenX International has been helping local businesses keep their kitchens ready for meals of all sizes. Here are some tips to help be sure you and your kitchen can take the heat: Keep Things Cool: Be sure to perform preventative maintenance on your refrigerator in advance of Thanksgiving Day. Youll need it to be running at peak performance to safely thaw your turkey, store salads and other cold items, and leftovers after the meal. Keep Yourself Cool, too: With the oven hot and stove working overtime, the kitchen can heat up. Be sure to take a moment to check your HVAC system and change filters to keep your system from having to work unnecessarily hard. Staying comfortable while you cook makes for a much more enjoyable experience. Sink Time: Be sure to have the right supplies to clean and sanitize your sink. Do a major clean at the beginning and end of any meal prep session, but also do spot cleaning if any raw meat or unwashed produce touches the countertop or sink basin. Keeping Up with Oil: Deep fried turkeys and other delicious treats can leave you with used cooking oil and dirty surfaces. Do not pour used grease down the drain. If you have a small amount, you can cool it to cause the oil to solidify and dispose of it in the garbage. If you know youll be producing a large amount, it may be a cost-effective solution to recycle it for bio-diesel. Also, dont forget to wipe down kitchen appliances, as grease buildup can lead to a higher risk of fire or costly equipment failure. For more information about MaintenX, visit http://www.maintenx.com. ABOUT MAINTENX INTERNATIONAL: MaintenX International is a fully licensed, facilities repair company. As one of the largest national self-performing facility maintenance and repair companies in the U.S., MaintenX has created a wide network of knowledgeable and professional technicians throughout the country. With their team of well-trained technicians, MaintenX self-performs and manages facility maintenance for their clients. In the event there is not a MaintenX technician in an area, the company has established a network of preferred vendor partners throughout the country for continued superior service for their clients. For over 30 years, MaintenX has been expertly serving multi-location retail stores, restaurant chains and Fortune 500 companies nationwide. Women in the Workforce by Industry All of us should take it upon ourselves to challenge prevailing notions about where women fit in the workforce. There shouldnt be any limits, and in truth, there arentexcept the ones society and outdated thinking impose. - Bob Funk, CEO of Express Celia Smith knows what its like for a woman to chart her own path in male-dominated industries. Before she opened her own network of Express Employment Professionals offices in Tennessee, she spent several years in the military and then worked at aerospace company Lockheed Martin. If you go in there and have the skillset and believe it, you can do anything, she said. Smith recognizes that women are underrepresented in certain sectorsshe cites the skilled tradesbut she believes they can overcome those challenges with sheer will. She says shes always been competitive because of her skillset, and encourages other women not to impose limits on themselves. Still, according to statistics from the Department of Labor, the presence of women doesnt measure up in certain industries. While women make up 74 percent of human resource managers, 65 percent of education administrators and 60 percent of pharmacists, they comprise only 11 percent of civil engineers, 26 percent of computer and information system managers and 27 percent of chief executives. Bettye Taylor, an Express franchise managing director in Oklahoma City, has first-hand experience with that disparity. Women are still somewhat underrepresented in the engineering fields and, to some extent, management within manufacturing environments at the plant level, she said. Conversely, marketing, PR and accounting seem to have the perception of being more dominated by women than men. Jessica Culo, who owns three Express offices in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, agrees that women are underrepresented in the skilled trades, and notes that women often face unique challenges when applying for jobs, typically related to balancing family demands. Single moms, for example, often have to worry about needing time off to pick up children from school. You dont really see men asking for that, she remarked. Helping employees and potential employees have flexibility in their schedules can make a world of difference, said Culo. An hour here or an hour there can be the difference between a qualified female job candidate being able to take a job or having to turn it down due to other demands. Christi Patrick, a developer and Express office owner in Nashville, Tennessee, agrees. The biggest concern for many women is trying to juggle family and work, she said. I deal with that on a regular basis. Ive never seen a man ask for that. Patrick also notes there are still workplace attitudes that can stand in womens way. I think for female applicants, we run into a good ol boy system where there is an understanding that men fit the club better, she said. We then educate the client that our women applicants are just as qualified for positions. We always present both qualified men and women as candidates for job openings. Culo agrees that it takes longer for women to build trust when surrounded by men and encourages other women to find a mentor while getting out of their comfort zone. She joined a 150-member entrepreneurs group, where she was one of only eight women. Its helped me to not be afraid to be creative and also realize there is no ceiling, she said. Fortunately, a local organization based in Edmonton, Women Building Futures, is helping to close the gender gap for skilled trades. The government funded 16-week-program trains 30 women on basic carpentry, plumbing, welding, or sheetrock work, as well as focuses on soft skills needed in the industry. Culo said they would eventually like to be able to place the programs graduates at client companies. In Tennessee, Smith has taken it upon herself to be a mentor to women. You build on their strengths and, up to a point, on their weaknesses so they can compete, she said. Smith, Taylor, Culo and Patrick all demonstrate that its possible for women to succeed in traditionally male-dominated environments, despite real challenges and discouraging attitudes that still must be overcome. Employers can do their part by offering flexibility and doing so proactively, said Bob Funk, CEO of Express, and a former chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. While weve made progress in breaking down barriers, you never want to see the best applicant boxed out of a job just because she has certain expectations or obligations that most male applicants dont. Further, all of us should take it upon ourselves to challenge prevailing notions about where women fit in the workforce. There shouldnt be any limits, and in truth, there arentexcept the ones society and outdated thinking impose. *** If you would like to arrange for an interview with Jennifer Anderson, Vice President of Marketing and Communications, to discuss this topic, please contact Sheena Karami, Director of Corporate Communications and PR, at (405) 717-5966. About Robert A. Funk Robert A. Bob Funk is chairman and chief executive officer of Express Employment Professionals. Headquartered in Oklahoma City, the international staffing company has more than 770 franchises in the U.S., Canada and South Africa. Under his leadership, Express has put more than 6 million people to work worldwide. Funk served as Chairman of the Conference of Chairmen of the Federal Reserve and was also the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. About Express Employment Professionals Express Employment Professionals puts people to work. It generated $3.05 billion in sales and employed a record 510,000 people in 2016. Its long-term goal is to put a million people to work annually. For more information, visit ExpressPros.com. For the first time ever, Florida residents may get to choose their own electricity suppliers. The Florida Constitution Revision Commission is currently reviewing proposal 51, which would make it a right for the states electricity customers to choose their providers. If the commission approves the proposal, Florida voters will decide on it in November 2018. Currently, Florida customers can only buy electricity from utilities. But Florida Energy Freedom, which presented the proposal, said energy choice has been a success in other markets. Floridians deserve to reap those benefits as well, said Rich Blaser, founder of Florida Energy Freedom. A properly restructured market creates competition, and that means lower prices, more innovative products and better customer service. Texas opened the market for electricity choice more than 10 years ago. Since 2010, the state has saved about $5 billion every year. In Florida, a similar structure would result in savings of $2.5$5 billion every year. Electricity can be a significant expense here in Florida for both residences and businesses, said Richard Turner, general counsel for Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association. A competitive energy marketplace that gives people a chance to control those costs will promote growth across the entire state. Florida voters have already shown interest in energy choice. A survey of state residents by Harper Polling showed 78 percent in favor of electricity choice. And the states natural gas market has been open for commercial customers since 1996, saving users billions of dollars. Proposal 51 is similar to an amendment Nevada passed last year with 72.4 percent of the vote. Of the seven largest states, Florida is the only one that doesnt allow for any energy choice. The commission meets only once every 20 years to consider proposals to change the state constitution. If voters pass the proposal into law, it may be in effect as soon as 2021. ### About Florida Energy Freedom: Florida Energy Freedom is an inclusive organization of diverse electricity users who are dedicated to inspiring sustainable change in Florida's electricity market. Its mission is to allow Floridians to take advantage of the same competitive forces they use in purchasing all other services. Members include Wal-Mart and Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association. For more information, visit FloridaEnergyFreedom.org/takeaction. Todd Hembrough, PhD President of Proteomics, NantOmics; Maryann Vogelsang, PhD Manager, Assay Development, NantOmics The benefits of genomic analysis are well understood, however, the majority of patients do not harbor druggable alterations in their genomes and thus are not candidates for targeted therapies. In patients whose tumors lack genomic biomarkers for targeted therapies or have developed resistance, clinical proteomics is identifying protein biomarkers for therapies that are benefitting patients, and fueling the emergence of proteogenomics. This webinar will cover the assay development pipeline utilized to bring these quantitative proteomic markers into our CAP-CLIA laboratory. Starting from a targeted-discovery initiative to the analytical validation of our multiplexed SRM methods, an overview and discussion will cover the metrics used to validate assays. Additionally, this webinar will introduce the impact these developed markers have on clinical research, including the retrospective analyses of HER2 proteomic expression in adjuvant and metastatic breast cancer and in advanced gastric cancer. Participants will better understand the metrics used to analytically validate a multiplexed proteomic LC-MS assay. They will also learn of the workflows and processes used in working with Liquid Tissue. For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures. Dr. Todd Hembrough, President of Proteomics of NantOmics and Dr. Maryann Vogelsang, the manager of Assay Development with NantOmics, will be the speakers for this event. Hembrough obtained his doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Virginia, studying the role of proteinases in tumor growth and invasion. Prior to NantOmics, he was a leader of the translational oncology efforts at EntreMed, focusing on defining druggable molecular pathways and inventing new drugs to target these pathways. Vogelsang earned her doctorate in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of California, Los Angeles. Prior to NantOmics, she established a CLIA compliant laboratory that offered both ELISA- and MS-based clinical assays. She has more than a decade of experience in translational medicine utilizing the mass spectrometry platform. LabRoots will host the event, sponsored by Thermo Fisher Scientific, on December 14, 2017, beginning at 8:00 a.m. PST, 5:00 p.m. CEST. To learn more about the webinar, discover the continuing education credits offered, or to register for free, click here. About LabRoots LabRoots is the leading scientific social networking website, which provides daily scientific trending news, 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. In todays market, its all too common that a company uses five to ten different services with the goal of increasing work efficiency. Yet, thats not always the case... Pareto CRM, a European-based technology company that offers cloud-based CRM and project management software, announced today that they have launched a new software that will disrupt the project management and CRM space. Also called Pareto CRM, this software offers an all-in-one solution for tracking time, managing tasks, generating invoices, supporting clients and more. In todays market, its all too common that a company uses five to ten different services with the goal of increasing work efficiency. Yet, thats not always the case as business then have to dedicate significant time and resources toward integrating these different services, said Artur Gradov, founder of Pareto CRM. This is why we decided to launch the Pareto CRM program. Here at Pareto, we believe true efficiency means businesses dont have to spread their team, clients and budget between several services. Our goal is to offer a single program that has all the tools you need to run a project-oriented services business right from the start because efficiency should be simple. With the ability to access multiple project management and CRM features in one tool, project-oriented service businesses such as software development teams, start-up services and agencies for digital marketing, SEO, web design or copywriting no longer need to pay for several apps and find ways to seamlessly integrate them. Instead, Pareto CRM offers a more convenient approach that incorporates advanced features never before seen in a single online app, including: Easy-to-understand dashboard that provides clear overview of all project-related data Task management with ability to create and assign tasks to team members, track the time spent on tasks and monitor progress to ensure there are no missed deadlines Built-in calendar with visual overview of upcoming events, tasks and deadlines Invoice generation that also sends out invoices and connects to different payment gateways Pareto CRM didnt stop at integrating multiple features into one, user-friendly platform, though. They continued to set the industry on its head by offering a unique approach to pricing: full functionality and access to all available features regardless of the package you select. Instead, the only difference between the package options is the number of users included and the available file space. Learn more about this new CRM software and sign up for a free trial at http://www.paretocrm.com New G7 Firmware on SpectroDens Techkon USA, the innovation leader in densitometers, spectrophotometers, and software solutions for the global print and packaging communities, announced today three new initiatives to provide support for G7. Techkons commitment to innovation and adherence to standards like G7 are apparent in both their product development and their creation and distribution of educational material to benefit printing industry professionals. The first initiative is the release of new firmware for the SpectroDens 4 handheld and scanning Spectro-Densitometer. The firmware update, free to current SpectroDens 4 users, truly takes Techkons G7 functionality to the next level. With the goal of making G7 even easier to use on the SpectroDens, some of the new features include the option for dynamic calculation of NPD and HR_cmy target CIE a* & b* values. It also displays both reference and measured CIE L*a*b* values for primaries and overprints along with specific density adjustments to minimize delta Es on the primaries. Additionally, in response to the overwhelming support and adoption of the first Printers Guide to G7, Techkon will distribute its updated 2018 Printers Guide to G7. The guide, written by Ron Ellis, includes the most up to date information on implementation, calibration, and production checking. The guide will be available via a free download from the Techkon USA website at http://www.techkonusa.com/new-2018-printers-guide-to-g7/. Lastly, in order to best serve our worldwide network of printing industry professionals, Techkon will host a free webinar in conjunction with Ron Ellis on November 30, 2017 at 2:00PM EST. The webinar will cover most topics in the 2018 Printers Guide to G7 in addition to providing a Q&A session. Register at https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7774123738891806979. About TECHKON TECHKON is the innovation leader in densitometers, spectrophotometers and color software solutions for the global print community. With a track record of 30 + years of continued technological excellence, TECHKON products are chosen for their high degree of measurement accuracy, repeatability, reliability and ease of operation in all sectors of the printing industry. TECHKONs innovative color measurement solutions have led to highly successful implementations by leading OEM press manufacturers and large commercial printers, yielding dramatic gains in quality, productivity and cost savings. BESLER is pleased to announce that it has released a special report with an in-depth review of the 2018 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) Final Rule recently posted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Hospitals are facing decreased Medicare reimbursements in 2018 for a variety of reasons, said Jonathan Besler, BESLERs President and Chief Executive Officer. We are happy to provide our expert analysis of the 2018 OPPS rule to help hospitals navigate changes that can affect their Medicare revenue. The report can be downloaded at http://www.besler.com/2018opps/ About BESLER BESLER combines best-in-class healthcare finance expertise with proprietary technology to help hospitals recover more revenue. Our reimbursement and recovery solutions have delivered more than $2 billion of additional revenue to hundreds of hospitals across the United States. We serve as advocates for hospitals, so that they, in turn, can better advance the health and well-being of their patients. FSA Logistix adds two new Senior Vice Presidents to their leadership team. FSA Logistix CEO Steve Anderson announced two key leadership changes at the final mile logistics company today. The quality of our leadership in every division is crucial to our ongoing success as we continue rapid growth in all areas of the company. To that end, Im pleased to announce the addition of Jeff Potter as our new Senior Vice President of our Client Support Center in Weston, Florida and the promotion of Dean Fink to our Senior Vice President of Operations. Jeff Potter will be providing leadership for all administrative functions at the corporate office in Weston. This includes overseeing finance, accounting, administration, risk, compliance, and human resources. Mr. Anderson said, Jeff has a great opportunity to take our Client Support Center to the next level as his responsibilities will include finance, accounting, administration, risk, human resources and technology. This is the perfect time in the growth of our company to add Jeffs talents to our leadership team. Prior to joining FSA Logistix Jeff served as Senior Director of Store Operations at Office Depot leading a cross functional team to maximize The Store of the Future, Office Depots new store concept. He served in other key roles during his tenure at Office Depot including Senior Director Retail of Sales and Services Strategy, and as one of the architects of new operational policies and procedures required during the Office Depot and OfficeMax merger. Prior to Office Depot, Jeff led OfficeMaxs #1 strategic retail initiative. Jeff holds a B.S. in marketing from Stonehill College in Easton, MA. Its a privilege to be part of such a fast growing company, says Mr. Potter. I look forward to bringing proven best practice strategies to my new role at FSA Logistix. The promotion of Dean Fink to Senior Vice President of Operations at FSA Logistix is a natural progression, says Steve Anderson. Dean has been a proven leader in our operations since he first joined us in 2014. Dean joined FSA Logistix in March 2014 and in that same year became General Manager of the companys Innovel business. In 2015 Dean was promoted to VP Operations. His new assignment as Senior Vice President of Operations expands his leadership responsibilities for the company over the companys Innovel, General Electric, Best Buy and The Home Depot operations. Dean will provide leadership oversight to more than 40 FSA Logistix locations across the country. Mr. Fink said, Running geographically dispersed operations in several states can be challenging. But, the quality of our local operations teams makes my life easier and allows me to focus on strategy and taking care of our Clients. Prior to joining FSA Logistix Dean spent 30 years in the LTL transportation industry working for both Roadway Express and YRC in local and regional roles managing businesses ranging from 10 to 110 truck operations. Dean holds a BS in Business Management from Clarion University. ABOUT THE COMPANY: FSA Logistix is a final mile logistics company that has been serving Americas big box retailers for over 25 years. The company also delivers premium appliances and provides complex installation services for national retailers as well as exclusive etailers that only sell through online channels. Currently FSA has operations in 68 metro markets across 30 states. MEDIA INQUIRIES: Please contact Steve Anderson, President & CEO of FSA Logistix at 214-914-9905 PHOTO CUTLINE: Pictured, new FSA Logistix SVPs Jeff Potter (left) and Dean Fink (right). L to R: HRH Princess Noor Asem of Jordan; Ranjini Poddar, Co-Founder & CEO of Artech Information Systems; Ruth A. Davis, Chairwoman, IWEC; Nancy Pawlik, Market Development Executive, IBM IWEC understands that providing access, resources, and support to help enable the success of female entrepreneurs is key to ensuring womens active, sustainable participation in the global economy, and contribute to close the gender gap Artech is proud to announce that Ranjini Poddar, Co-Founder and CEO of Artech Information Systems LLC (Artech) has received the 2017 IWEC Award during the organizations 10th annual conference, which was held in Redmond, Washington. The conference, titled Connecting Women Businesses Globally: Accelerating Growth Through Innovation & Technology was sponsored by Microsoft, who hosted the event at their global headquarters in Washington State, November 12-14, 2017. This years conference had a strong focus on technology, cyber security and innovation, issues that are pivotal to IWECs sophisticated global network of women-owned businesses, whose combined revenue exceeds US $25 billion per year. Ranjini Poddar stated, I was honored to be named as a 2017 IWEC Award winner and recognized at their 10th annual conference in Washington. I was able to meet with other women entrepreneurs from across the world, and learn from their experience, challenges and success. This years conference was doubly important given the very timely topics surrounding technology as it applies to Artechs growth and sustainability. IWEC understands that providing access, resources, and support to help enable the success of female entrepreneurs is key to ensuring womens active, sustainable participation in the global economy, and contribute to close the gender gap. We provide a global forum to exchange knowledge, experience, and connectivity among women business owners, setting the stage for education, disruptive business opportunities, roads to joint ventures, and promoting social dialog among women entrepreneurs and business leaders, said Ruth A. Davis, Chairwoman, IWEC. ABOUT ARTECH INFORMATION SYSTEMS LLC Artech is a certified minority- and women-owned business enterprise (MWBE) that provides workforce solutions, IT consulting, and SOW-project services. Headquartered in Morristown, NJ, Artech employs over 7,500 professionals and maintains over 25 locations across the U.S., India, and China. Artech was founded in 1992 and today is a Tier-1/Preferred Supplier to more than 70 Fortune 500 companies and numerous federal and state government agencies. Artech is the #1 Largest Women-Owned IT Staffing Firm in the United States and the #11 Largest IT Staffing Firm overall. Artech is a WBENC member, NMSDC Corporate Plus Member and recipient of the 2009 NMSDC National Supplier of the Year award the highest honor a minority supplier can receive. Recently the company also won the 2015 Supplier of the Year Award from the New York & New Jersey Minority Supplier Development Council. Artech is also ISO 9001, ISO/IEC 27001 and SEI-CMM Level 2 certified. For more information, visit: http://www.artechinfo.com. ABOUT IWEC IWEC is a New York-based international economic empowerment organization exclusively for women business owners, formed in 2007 with the assistance of the U.S. Department of State. In addition to the State Department, its founders include the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, Manhattan Chamber of Commerce (MCC), FICCI/FLO Chamber in New Delhi. IWECs mission is to develop a global business network for successful women entrepreneurs, helping them gain and expand access to international markets by presenting a platform to exchange knowledge, experience and connections, and to promote dialogue among women entrepreneurs and business leaders throughout the world. For more information, visit: https://iwecawards.com/ Artech Media Contact Sundari Pai Luts, Manager Strategic Communications, PR & Supplier Diversity pr(at)artechinfo(dot)com Our partnership with Tar Heel Basement Systems greatly enhances our ability to serve the southeastern region of the United States, said Matt Malone, CEO of JES Companies. The nations largest foundation repair company, JES Companies (JES), has merged with Winston-Salem based, Tar Heel Basement Systems (Tar Heel) led by CEO/Founder, Pete Burgess. Under Burgess leadership, Tar Heel Basement Systems has grown immensely since its founding in 2003. Recently awarded 2017 US Chamber of Commerce Veteran-Owned Business Achievement Award and ranked on North Carolinas Fast 40 list, Tar Heel is one of the largest foundation repair, basement waterproofing and crawl space encapsulation companies in North Carolina. JES has a vision I embrace - the freedom to grow and to choose our own destiny. With the resources JES will invest in Tar Heel, we now are free to take our mission and purpose throughout the state of North Carolina and beyond, said Burgess. Tar Heel will look to expand to Raleigh and Asheville in early 2018. Burgess will remain CEO and continue to lead Tar Heel Basement Systems daily operations. Burgess belief in the JES vision is so strong that he personally invested to become a partial owner of JES Companies and will join their Board of Directors. Our partnership with Tar Heel Basement Systems greatly enhances our ability to serve the southeastern region of the United States, said Matt Malone, CEO of JES Companies. JES will infuse financial, operational and human capital to accelerate Tar Heels growth, augmenting their ability to provide the highest level of service to their customers. While we are excited to add the Tar Heel brand to our family of companies, we are truly thrilled to add Pete Burgess and his world-class team to the JES Companies family. Malone and his management team will oversee and support the acquisition to assure a seamless union of the two companies. Tar Heel Basement Systems will continue operating under its existing brand and will continue to be run by its current staff. A new corporate identity program, that will include a new logo, website, marketing materials and fleet vehicles, will occur in 2018. Like Burgess, Malone believes supporting employee culture is of paramount importance to a customer-centric business model. Both achieve this by investing in training infrastructure, enhancing workspaces, and through community giving. Business is a team sport. You need A players and everyone has to be on the same page of the playbook working to achieve a shared goal. It takes consistent dedication, ongoing improvement and most importantly a willingness of every team member to do the hard work. Philosophically, Pete and I share a strong conviction in developing and empowering our team, Malone stated. Malone acquired majority share of JES through his private equity, Succession Capital Partners, from Jesse and Stella Waltz in early 2016. The Waltzs founded JES in 1993 and were able to grow the company by 20 percent annually for nearly 25 years. Currently serving as Chief Executive Officer, Malone has expanded JES original three locations to seven, making Tar Heels its eighth location. About JES Companies JES Companies specializes in residential foundation repair, crawl space encapsulation, basement waterproofing, and concrete lifting. It is comprised of JES Foundation Repair, JES Evergreen, Indiana Foundation Service, and Mount Valley Foundation Services. JES Companies operates out of five offices in Virginia including Virginia Beach, Chester, Manassas, Appomattox, and Salem as well as Indianapolis, Indiana, and Columbia, South Carolina. JES has been named to the Fortune 5000 Fastest Growing Companies, Virginia Chamber of Commerce Fantastic 50, Inside Business Roaring Twenty and Best Places to Work. JES Companies serves Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, West Virginia, Indiana, South Carolina, and Georgia. For more information about JES, please visit http://www.jeswork.com. ### JES Media Contact: Eric G. Lackey Public Relations Director Phone: 877- 537-9675 Cell: 757-754-1058 Email: elackey(at)jeswork(dot)com Jim Hawn, who served in the Marine Corps for 29 years and retired in 2000, has completed his new book Watching Over Her: an inspiring tale about friendship and loss, personal and professional empowerment, and a love so strong that nothing could destroy it. According to Hawn, (I) served more than 29 years in the Marine Corps, retiring as a Master Gunnery Sergeant in 2000. (My) tours of duty included assignments as a Drill Instructor, Marine Security Guard Detachment Commander, and Aviation Operations Chief. Entering the Corps as a high school dropout, (I) attended school during (my) off-duty hours, eventually attaining a Masters Degree in History from Old Dominion University. After retirement in 2000, (I) served as an academic advisor for Campbell Universitys Extended Campus in Raleigh and Fort Bragg, NC, where (I) helped students plan their college studies, and taught history classes on the Civil War and Africa Area Studies. In 2005, (I) returned to serving Marines on several training contracts, ultimately serving as Program Manager for the Advisor Training Program, a program that provided pre-deployment training for Marine Corps Advisor Teams destined for Iraq and Afghanistan. When those contracts ended, (I) returned to academia and currently teach as a History Adjunct Instructor. (I) maintain (my) connection with the Marine Corps and veteran communities, serving on the board as Chairman Emeritus of the Central Florida Marine Corps Foundation, as a member of the Marine Corps League, and as a member of the board of Home At Last, a charitable organization that builds homes for wounded veterans of the recent Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. I reside in Central Florida with my wife Sandra. Published by New York City-based Page Publishing, Hawns romantic work begins in the summer of 1970, when Jim and Jennifer met and fell in love in a summer romance, convinced that they were soul mates. Their love rapidly grew, each seeing something in the other that convinced them they belonged together. Both had plans for college in the fall, Jim returning as an aspiring Marine Corps officer candidate for his senior year, and Jen entering school as a college freshman. But their relationship was broken up by family dynamics that drove them apart. Jens parents interfered to keep them apart and Jim believed Jen wanted nothing to do with him. Unknown to either one at summers end, they had created a child, and when Jen and her parents tried to let Jim know, his stepfather reported that Jim was dead. As the years passed, Jens daughter Heather believed her mothers words that her father was in heaven watching over her. And so, Jim and Jenifer lived their lives, each maturing and growing professionally, yet still tied together in a way they could not understand. Jens soothing words to her daughter were truer than either could know. Watching Over Her is a story about friendship and loss, personal and professional empowerment, and a love so strong that nothing could destroy it. Readers who wish to experience this inspiring work can purchase Watching Over Her at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes store, Amazon, Kobo, Google Play or Barnes and Noble. For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708. About Page Publishing: Page Publishing is a traditional New York based full-service publishing house that handles all of the intricacies involved in publishing its authors books, including distribution in the worlds largest retail outlets and royalty generation. Page Publishing knows that authors need to be free to create - not bogged down with complicated business issues like eBook conversion, establishing wholesale accounts, insurance, shipping, taxes and the like. Its roster of authors can leave behind these tedious, complex and time-consuming issues, and focus on their passion: writing and creating. Learn more at http://www.pagepublishing.com. Backroads and World Bicycle Relief Give the Gift of a Bicycle This Holiday Season We believe in the power of bikes to not only empower people to see and do more, but to also change peoples lives Backroads, the worlds leading active travel company, and World Bicycle Relief are joining together this holiday season to help deliver the power of bikes to students in need. World Bicycle Relief is a global nonprofit distributing high-quality bicycles in developing countries where distance is a barrier. Its not uncommon for students in rural developing regions to spend four hours walking to and from school. This holiday season Backroads is supporting World Bicycle Reliefs year-end campaign with a donation of more than $26,000 on #GivingTuesday, in which all donations are being matched dollar-for-dollar. The funds raised from this campaign will provide a way forward for the students and communities World Bicycle Relief serves in rural parts of Africa. Together with this #GivingTuesday donation, Backroads will have donated more than $75,000 this year to World Bicycle Relief to help people conquer the challenge of distance, achieve independence and thrivethats over 500 bicycles to empower those in need. On November 28, World Bicycle Reliefs #GivingTuesday campaign aims to empower one student per minute with bicycles1,400 bikes in total. Backroads will help amplify World Bicycle Reliefs big goal that day by encouraging donations to the organization as holiday gifts. World Bicycle Relief will also be matching all donations between now and December 31. Over the past 12 years, World Bicycle Relief has mobilized students who face long and often dangerous journeys to school. When students are provided a way to get to school safely, theyre empowered to stay in school, get an education and break the cycle of poverty. World Bicycle Relief is confident that the power of bicycles can play an influential role in progress for all students, especially girls, in developing countries around the world. For almost 40 years Backroads has been taking guests on bike tours all over the world and introducing them to new cultures and experiences, said Backroads Founder and President Tom Hale. We believe in the power of bikes to not only empower people to see and do more, but to also change peoples lives. By supporting World Bicycle Relief this holiday season, we are doing just that. This years #GivingTuesday theme is Unity. World Bicycle Reliefs year-end appeal campaign echoes this theme. World Bicycle Reliefs campaign highlights Umoja Secondary School in Eldoret, Kenya, where students of Christian, Muslim and traditional African faiths study together and embody their motto,Together We Rise. Umoja means unity in Swahili. Through its 2017 #GivingTuesday campaign, World Bicycle Relief hopes to empower many more students like the ones at Umoja Secondary School to follow their educational dreams on two wheels. #GivingTuesday is a global day that showcases that were all stronger together. Thats what Umoja stands for, too, and its also the spirit of partnership, said World Bicycle Reliefs Business Development Director, Katie Bolling. We are so grateful toward Backroads and their remarkable support in ensuring that more students can be mobilized through our work. Anyone can give the gift of a World Bicycle Relief bike this holiday season for $147. Other options include a gift of $50 for a toolkit, or $25 for a wheel set. Donations can be made in someones name and World Bicycle Relief will provide a special holiday printed card or an e-card for acknowledgement of the gift. Donate at http://fundraise.worldbicyclerelief.org/Backroads. On #GivingTuesday, join World Bicycle Relief in changing the future for thousands of bright, dedicated and passionate students by donating here: https://worldbicyclerelief.org/en/. Additional information on Backroads Giving Back program can be found at https://www.backroads.com/why/responsible. World Bicycle Relief Buffalo Bike The Buffalo Bicycle is engineered for more tasks, serving as a powerful economic engine in rural communities. The specially designed frame, carrier and stand of the Buffalo Bicycle provide the stability and durability needed to support big loads and passengers over long distances in remote areas. The Buffalo Bicycle is compatible with locally available spare parts, requiring only basic tools for maintenance and repair. WBR operates a Field Mechanic Training Program to help keep the bicycles rolling, using a universal training manual that instructs with pictures and diagrams rather than words. To date, over 375,000 bikes have been distributed and 1,800 field mechanics have been trained, offering riders access to local maintenance. The Midwest Cyber Center was created to meet a dramatically growing need for cyber-security talent in the St. Louis metro area. Masterclock is a great example of a company that recognizes the importance of hiring up and coming talent." The rapidly evolving nature of threats in todays cyber landscape has prompted St. Charles-based Masterclock, Inc. to partner with the Midwest Cyber Center to better position the company for future success in understanding and adopting best practices in cyber activity and security. We supply timing equipment to organizations around the globe and have seen quite a variety of levels of implementations of best practices in security, explained Masterclock CEO John Clark. We feel we can deepen our relationship with our existing clients by ensuring our guidance drives better adoption of secure practices in their installations while also getting more granular feedback to drive better design and implementation in our own future products. This partnership helps us take a fresh look at our approach and develop additional expertise and capabilities. The company will bring on an apprentice from the Midwest Cyber Center with support funding from the Missouri Job Center of St. Charles Countys On-the-Job-Training (OJT) program to offset the costs. The apprentice program is designed to provide a mix of educational training and real-world experience on-site to ensure participants attain understanding of both theory and practical application of cyber security best practices. The Midwest Cyber Center was created to meet a dramatically growing need for cyber-security talent in the St. Louis metro area, explained Midwest Cyber Center Executive Director, Tony Bryan. Masterclock is a great example of a company that recognizes the importance of hiring up and coming talent through registered apprenticeship programs. Their candidate is incredible and we are looking forward to following her journey over the next 18 months. On June 15, 2017, President Trump signed an executive order expanding apprenticeships in America to create more efficiency in workforce training and development. The program is designed to provide more affordable pathways to secure, high-paying jobs by promoting apprenticeships and effective workforce development programs while easing the regulatory burdens on such programs. There is nothing we like better than collaborating with businesses, training providers and job-seekers in the region to create a win-win-win situation, said Scott J. Drachnik, executive director of the Missouri Job Center of St. Charles County. We wish more companies would follow Masterclocks example and be willing to use services and funding resources available from our Job Center to help offset training and wage costs when they are looking to add a new employee who is still growing in their skills. About Masterclock, Inc. Masterclock designs and manufactures precise timing systems for a variety of industries. Since 1994, our product portfolio of master clocks, time servers, count controllers, digital displays, analog clocks, and PC cards are trusted in mission critical applications. Masterclock's time synchronization devices do everything from ensuring smooth programming transitions for broadcasting studios to helping astronauts with timely liftoffs. About Midwest Cyber Center Midwest Cyber Center (MC) was founded in 2015 after regional leaders identified a lack of qualified workforce to meet the growing demand for cybersecurity professionals. To learn more visit http://www.midwestcybercenter.org or call (618) 722-5117. The latest investment strategies of Asias leading Tech, Media and Telecom companies will be under the spotlight at the TMT Finance Asia 2018 in Singapore on February 1, including opportunities in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Fintech, Digital Platforms and Cloud Services. Investment in Asias telecom, media and tech sector is at an all-time high, with new digital opportunities driving a large chunk of M&A and new investments by telecom operators, emerging technology giants, media companies and our international investment and financing community, said Ben Nice, Managing Editor, TMT Finance, the organisers of the event. The agenda for this years event has been expanded to reflect that increasing demand with sessions on Fintech, Artificial Intelligence, eCommerce, IoT and Cloud Services alongside our well-established sessions on Telecoms Investment Strategy, Mergers and Acquisitions, Financing TMT and Infrastructure Investment, which will make for some interesting debate and networking. For the digital platform sub-sector, key speakers include Go-Jek, Ubers rival in Southeast Asia which recently raised over US$1 billion from Tencent; WeWork, the SoftBank-backed workspace tech firm with a reported valuation of US$20 billion; Indonesian media conglomerate Emtek, which has been investing in big digital firms in the region including Grab, iflix and PropertyGuru; as well as eatigo, HappyFresh, Zilingo and EASTY, which have raised or in the process of raising funds to fuel up international expansion. On Fintech, PLDT-owned FINTQ and PayMaya, Ant Financial-backed TrueMoney, as well as TransferTo will be discussing the opportunities for consolidation, M&A and IPO for fintech businesses in 2018. Alibaba Cloud, Australias Metronode and Bridge Data Centres will also be talking about expansion strategies for India, China, Southeast Asia and Australia. For IoT, executives from XL Axiata and Tata Communications, as well as Sigfox, eFishery and Pipeline Network are meeting to access the investment opportunities. Over 60 speakers have been announced in total including representatives from Axiata Group, Telkom Indonesia, Indosat Ooredoo, edotco, Bharti Infratel, Protelindo, Huawei, Goldman Sachs, I Squared Capital, DBS, ING, Linklaters, and IFC. TMT Finance Asia 2018 is an exclusive telecom, media and tech leadership event, gathering key financial decision makers, CEOs, CFOs, CSOs and Heads of M&A, with the leading investment bankers, private equity investors and advisers to assess new growth strategies and opportunities for investment. The event forms part of the influential TMT Finance global event portfolio. For more information go to http://www.tmtfinance.com/asia/ Herrling Clark Law Firm, Ltd. Super Lawyers 2017 Herrling Clark Law Firm, Ltd., is proud to announce that 11 of its attorneys have been named to the Wisconsin Super Lawyers lists for 2017. Herrling Clark Law Firm, Ltd., is proud to announce that 11 of its attorneys have been named to the Wisconsin Super Lawyers lists for 2017. The nationally recognized rating service selected eight attorneys for Super Lawyers and three for Rising Stars from the Northeast Wisconsin law firm. No more than five percent of the nominated attorneys from Wisconsin make it through Super Lawyers independent review process and onto the final list each year. Herrling Clark Law Firm, Ltd. attorneys who were selected for the Super Lawyers list include: Kevin Lonergan,who has received the honor since 2005; Robert Loomis, who has received the honor since 2006; Michael Siddall, who has received the honor since 2006. John Claypool, who has received the honor since 2008; Richard Elrod, who has received the honor since 2012; Paula Hamer, who was a Rising Star from 2010 to 2014; Charles Koehler, who has received the honor since 2014; and Greg Curtis, who has received the honor since 2014; Attorneys are eligible for the Rising Stars list if they are 40 years old or younger or have practiced law for 10 years or less. Herrling Clark Law Firm, Ltd., attorneys who made the Rising Stars list include: Kelly S. Kelly, who has received the honor since 2008; Andrew Rossmeissl, who has received the honor since 2013; and Kristen Scheuerman, who has received the honor since 2014. Herrling Clark Law Firm, Ltd., President Kevin Lonergan was also named to the Wisconsin Top 50 Super Lawyers list for 2017. Super Lawyers evaluates nominees for its annual lists by using a points system. The Top 50 list represents the attorneys who received the highest point totals. About Herrling Clark Law Firm, Ltd.: Herrling Clark Law Firm, Ltd., provides legal representation for individuals and businesses throughout northeastern Wisconsin. Founded in 1959, the firm handles cases involving family law, personal injury, business law, and wills and trusts. Clients can visit one of the firms four offices in Appleton, Green Bay, New London, and Oshkosh. To schedule an initial consultation, call 920-739-7366 or visit http://www.herrlingclark.com/. Indiana law does not authorize INDOR to be part of the UCR Plan or to collect UCR-related fees. Without such authority under Indiana law, we believe INDORs nationwide collection of the UCR-related fees is unlawful and every trucker since 2008 is entitled to a refund. -SBTC Attorney Jim Bopp James Lamb, spokesman and president of the Small Business in Transportation Coalition (SBTC), announced today that his trucking industry group filed a class action lawsuit against Indiana Department of Revenue (INDOR) in Marion County, Indiana on Friday, November 17, 2017, in Indiana state court (49D06-1711-PL-043017 Marion Superior Court, Civil Division 6) on behalf of the interstate motor carrier industry alleging unlawful collection of motor carrier registration fees by the state for over a decade. According to Lamb, SBTC is a 501(c)(6) non-profit trade organization with over 8,000 members that represents, promotes, and protects the interests of small businesses in the transportation industry. According to the lawsuit, the Defendant INDOR is an Indiana government agency established for the purposes of administering, collecting, and enforcing specific taxes under Indiana Code Title 6, Article 8.1, as well as overseeing certification of motor carriers in Indiana under Indiana Code Title 8, Article 2.1. The lawsuit alleges that INDOR, under contract with the UCR Board, has been registering interstate motor vehicles from all over the United States and unlawfully collecting from them the UCR Fees, an Instant Access Fee, and an Usage Fee, since 2008 through an Internet website, http://www.ucr.in.gov. The Plantiffs allege in the suit that there is no Indiana state law that authorizes the INDOR to enter into the UCR Agreement, to contract with the UCR Board to administer the UCR Plan, to register truckers under the UCR Plan, or to collect UCR-related fees and that INDOR has been illegally collecting UCR-related fees since 2008. The suit alleges INDOR has unlawfully collected approximately $100,000,000 in UCR-related fees each year since 2008. The class action lawsuit asks that all UCR-related fees paid by motor carriers since 2008 be refunded. According to the suit, Congress authorized the 50 states in 2005 to voluntarily participate in an interstate compact agreement to coordinate registration of interstate motor carriers and collect registration fees through an online registration system, called the Unified Carrier Registration Plan, 49 U.S.C. 13908(a) & (b) (UCR Plan). The UCR Plan established a way for interstate truckers to register and pay fees only one time each year and for the states to share in the proceeds. To implement this online registration system, a UCR Agreement was created, the suit asserts, which has been voluntarily signed by 41 states, including Indiana. The Plaintiffs argue in the suit that the UCR Agreement is governed by: 1) an UCR authorizing statute, the Unified Carrier Registration Act of 2005, found at 49 U.S.C. 14504a; and 2) a board of directors (UCR Board), appointed by the US Secretary of Transportation, to oversees the UCR Agreement, 49 U.S.C. 14504a(d). According to the lawsuit allegations, for a state to be eligible to voluntarily be part of the UCR Agreement, that state must have an agency with the legal authority, resources, and personnel to implement the UCR Agreement. See id. at 14504a(e)(1). The suit asserts that INDOR unlawfully claimed to be such an agency and it signed the UCR Agreement on behalf of the State of Indiana. The lawsuit explains that the UCR Agreement requires each trucker to register with its home state, or the interstate online registration system administered by INDOR, before he or she begins to operate a commercial motor vehicle in interstate commerce. Trucker are subject to criminal penalties if they fail to register each year and they travel interstate. With their UCR registration, carriers must also pay UCR-related fees, including a UCR Fee, a UCR Usage Fee, if it is an out-or-state trucker registering in Indiana, and a UCR Instant Access Fee, if the trucker is paying by credit card. The suits claims that the Secretary of Transportation set the UCR Fee in 2007 and revised the UCR Fee in 2010 as a matter of Federal regulation (49 C.F.R. 367.20 and 367.30). According to the lawsuit, the UCR Fees from 2007-2017 (based on number of commercial motor vehicles operated by a carrier in interstate commerce) have been as follows: 2007 promulgated fees: 0-2 vehicles: $39.00; 3-5 vehicles: $116.00; 6-20 vehicles: $231.00; 21-100 vehicles: $806.00; 101-1000 vehicles: $3,840.00; and 1001 or more vehicles: $37,500.00 2010 promulgated fees: 0-2 vehicles: $76.00; 3-5 vehicles: $227.00; 6-20 vehicles: $452.00; 21-100 vehicles: $1,576.00; 101-1000 vehicles: $7,511.00; and 1001 or more vehicles: $73,346.00 In terms of the cause of action, the suit alleges that INDOR, since 2008, has registered motor vehicles for states throughout the country, under an illegal contract with the UCR Board, and claims INDOR illegally collected the UCR-related fees; that is, INDOR signed contracts with the UCR Board since 2008 to purportedly allow them to collect these fees from truckers throughout the country. The Planitiffs in this action suggest in the suit that Indiana law does not authorize INDOR to enter into any contract with the UCR Board and even more critically, Indiana law does not allow Indiana to participate in the UCR Agreement, to register truckers under the UCR Plan, or to collect UCR-related fees. Given the allegation in the suit that there is no authority under Indiana law for INDOR to enter into the UCR Agreement, to enter into contracts with the UCR Board, and to register truckers under the UCR Agreement or to collect UCR-related fees, the Plaintiffs contend that INDOR has illegally collected UCR related fees since 2008. The SBTC is represented in this matter by The Bopp Law Firm, PC, http://www.bopplaw.com of Terre Haute, IN. "Indiana law does not authorize INDOR to be part of the UCR Plan or to collect UCR-related fees. Without such authority under Indiana law, we believe INDORs nationwide collection of the UCR-related fees is unlawful and every trucker since 2008 is entitled to a refund of these illegally collected fees," SBTC Attorney James Bopp, Jr. said. "SBTC has filed this class lawsuit on behalf of the trucking industry because we believe INDOR has unlawfully collected a billion dollars in UCR-related fees from hundreds of thousands of motor carriers since 2008. The SBTC is a watchdog group for the trucking industry that investigates government fraud, waste, mismanagement, and abuse. It is the policy of the SBTC to expose unlawful government activities and improprieties whenever discovered. Truckers and motor carrier who wish to keep up-to-date on the progress of the suit can visit the SBTC's website http://www.smalltransportation.org, Facebook Page or they can follow us on Linked In or Twitter@SBTCINC," Lamb said. Celebrate First Light in Provincetown Make this New Years festivities an unforgettable one visit Provincetown First Light. Take an icy plunge into the depths of Provincetown Harbor, watch as colorful bursts light up the night sky, and warm up with a steaming cup of hot chocolate. Enjoy all this and much more at Provincetown First Light (December 28, 2017 January 2, 2018). First Light is a week long extravaganza filled with a free fireworks display on the beach, New Years Eve dance parties, drag shows and live performances, and plenty of delicious food at our one-of-a-kind restaurants. Make this New Year holiday an unforgettable one visit Provincetown First Light. See if you have what it takes at the Polar Bear Plunge on New Years Day. Proceeds go to Center for Coastal Studies, so jump in the harbor and feel the chill for a good cause, then cozy up with a cocktail and a steaming bowl of chili at Harbor Lounge. With a guest emcee, music, and plenty of hot beverages to keep warm, those cheering from the sidelines are sure to have just as much fun. After taking the plunge, or observing warm and dry from afar, relax and experience the beautiful fireworks display over the Provincetown harbor. If you dont mind a climb, take in the champagne and oyster reception at the Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum for a classy night out. With stunning views of the fireworks from the highest point on Cape Cod, it is sure to be a New Years celebration you wont soon forget. The Lite Bright Bike Ride rolls into Provincetown on New Years Eve. Riders whiz through town on bikes with beautiful, bold colored lights and prizes are awarded for the brightest, the most colorful, and the most creative bike decorations. Provincetown Light Bright is a joyful, must-see event. First Light Provincetown pulls out all the stops to entertain visitors and residents alike. Its out with the old and in with the new at the Illusions Drag Revue at the Crown and Anchor (December 29). Described as high energy, high style, and high camp, Provincetowns longest running drag revue is packed with some of the funniest, most glamorous queens. If one night of drag is not enough, then head back to the Crown and Anchor for Drag Bingo (December 30). Hosted by Tiki Bronstein, this is not your grandmothers bingo. Bonus: proceeds go to the Provincetown Business Guild. Need even more drag? Catch drag legend Thirsty Burlingtons Holiday Spectacular at the Crown and Anchor (December 30) and Miss Richfield 1981 in Fall on Your Knees at Sage Inn (December 30). If youre in the mood to groove, New Years weekend at Wave Bar has not one but three nights and three chances to dance til dawn (December 29th 31st). Dance into the New Year with DJ Chris Racine at the Paramount 2018 Resolution Dance party (December 31). For a more interactive music experience, check out Provincetowns favorite piano man, Bobby Wetherbee, at Central House Cabaret (December 29-31). And dont miss Suede in concert for her annual New Years Show at the Crown and Anchor (January 1). For one-night only, the four talented men of Well Strung are back in Provincetown where they created the all-male singing string quartet. From Madonna to Mozart, enjoy the beautiful blending of vocals and a seamless mix of pop and classical music at Town Hall (December 30). First Light is fun for the whole family with plenty of kid-friendly activities. If outside gets a little chilly, warm up indoors at the Provincetown Library with a full program of events. First up is the Family Snacks & Crafts Meet Up (December 29). Then, in partnership with the Family Equality Council, the library is offering Drag Story Time with Miss Richfield 1981 (December 30). The next day, stretch your creative muscles at the Family Bike Decorating & Crafts in the Library (December 31). Whether you enjoy the great number of outdoor activities or you keep warm indoors at one of our historic inns or B&Bs, start 2018 off with a bang at First Light Provincetown. About Provincetown Provincetown, Massachusetts is a true melting pot. Located on the tip of Cape Cod, Provincetown boasts beautiful beaches, Zagat-rated restaurants, art galleries and charming shops. A top LGBTQ destination, this open-minded community celebrates individuality and freedom of expression. Provincetown has a rich creative history and is home to one the oldest continuous art colony in the country. The diverse population of artists, sailors, fisherman, authors, and more, makes Provincetown unique. From Carnival in August to Womens Week in October and First Light at years end, Provincetown is thriving 365 days of the year. Aerial View of The Hydroelectric Canal PLAs vision is to develop urban communities that can withstand the forces of climate change and make use of natural, reusable resources. Paul Lukez Architecture (PLA) an architecture firm headquartered in Somerville, MA, has been awarded the inaugural WAFX prize at the World Architecture Festival in Berlin. The award, which recognizes future projects that identify key challenges architects will need to address over the next 10 years, was presented for a project titled The Hydroelectric Canal and received by the firms principal, Paul Lukez. The Hydroelectric Canal won both the Climate, Energy & Carbon category and the Overall WAFX Prize in a contest that included nearly 1000 entries. Drawing its inspiration from a hydropower generation method used in Bostons Mill Creek area in the 1640s, The Hydroelectric Canal proposes cutting a channel through Columbia Point in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston to connect the northern Old Harbor with the southern Savin Hill Cove. The new Morrissey Channel would capture rising sea levels and tidal changes to generate hydroelectric energy through cutting-edge turbine technologies. The result would be an ecologically sustainable urban model powered by clean energy that would feature lively public spaces and restored coastal ecosystems. Our goal in developing this project is to harness hydropower in low-lying urban areas while shaping resilient, self-sustaining communities, Lukez said upon receiving the award. The damage sustained by coastal communities during the recent hurricane season brings home the need to develop urban centers that can withstand the effects of climate change. The Hydroelectric Canal would not only benefit Boston, but could be duplicated in other low-lying communities around the country and the world. The proposed project suggests an array of integrated landscaping, ecological restoration, urban development and financing strategies, including public-private partnerships, that would create an energy-producing, amenity-laden infrastructure. In choosing The Hydroelectric Canal as the overall WAFX Prize winner, the festivals directors noted its innovative approach to shaping economic and environmentally resilient self-sustaining communities. "PLAs vision is to develop urban communities that can withstand the forces of climate change and make use of natural, reusable resources, Lukez said. We must work together to embrace clean energy and preserve our ecosystems while developing appealing human environments for urban dwellers. In addition to Paul Lukez Architecture, the project team included: Landscape architects (C2 Studio) Coastal ecologist (Prof. Anamarija Frankic) Civil engineers (ARUP) Structural engineers (Simpson Gumpertz & Heger) Financial consultants (Barnraisers and PM&C) Experts in hydropower and energy technologies (Verdant Power and MJ2 Technologies). For more information, visit http://www.lukez.com, call (617) 628-9160 or email info(at)lukez(dot)com. ### About Paul Lukez Architecture: Paul Lukez Architecture (PLA) focuses on creating sustainable designs that enrich the environment and elevate the human experience. PLA has worked on architectural and urban design projects in Asia, Central America, and the U.S. and is especially interested in integrating sustainable concepts and technologies into its projects. Partners: C2 Studio, Prof. Anamarjia Frankic, Barnraisers Group, LLC., PM&C, Simpson Gumpertz & Heger, Arup, Verdant Power, MJ2 Technologies, Blue Energy, Coastal Hydropower, Tidal Energy Oty Ltd, Whitestone Power Communications, Natel Energy, OpenHydro, Vortex Bladeless PLA Team: Paul Lukez, Alison Malouf, Andrew Luy, David Orndorff, Josh McDonald, Luoqi (Rocky) Chen, David Garraza, Hector Torres, Shiqing Liu, Todd Larson, Matt Soble Dr. Jeff Alexander, medical director of Skin Care Institute, is proud to announce that Skin Care Institute Medical and Wellness Spa, the leading medical spa in Oklahoma, is celebrating its 18th year in business this month! Dr. Alexander and his wife, Judy Dworin Alexander, executive director of Skin Care Institute, feel honored and privileged to have served the greater Tulsa community for so many years. Skin Care Institute proudly offers the most advanced treatments in skin care and wellness, and has garnered continuous acclaim over the years, most recently winning Best Medical Spa in Oklahoma by Oklahoma Magazine, as well as a spot on TulsaPeoples A-List 2017 as one of the best spas in Tulsa. Dr. Alexander and his wife have worked diligently to provide Oklahoma with the most advanced, results-driven medical spa treatments possible. This year, Skin Care Institute expanded its services to include the latest CoolSculpting technology with CoolAdvantage for cutting treatment times in half and CoolAdvantage Petite for treating the upper arms with ease. Additionally, Skin Care Institute was recently recognized as the number one CoolSculpting provider in Oklahoma and Arkansas. In addition to CoolSculpting, Skin Care Institute offers award-winning Ultherapy skin tightening and leading skin-renewing treatments, including Clear + Brilliant, fractional laser skin resurfacing, HydraFacial, clinical-grade chemical peels, laser hair removal, and photofacials. For diminishing lines and wrinkles and replenishing lost volume, Skin Care Institute also provides the highest quality injectable treatments with Botox and dermal fillers. In fact, Skin Care Institute received distinction this year as one of the top 200 accounts in the nation for Allergan, the manufacturer of many leading injectables. Skin Care Institute also proudly offers a comprehensive selection of spa treatments, including award-winning facials, expert massages, waxing, lash and brow services, B12 injections, skin care products, and much more. For additional information, Skin Care Institute Medical and Wellness Spa can be reached by calling 918.948.9639. About Skin Care Institute Medical and Wellness Spa Since opening in 1999, Medical Director Dr. Jeff Alexander and his wife, Judy, have shared the mission to provide both men and women with the best in skin care and wellness. Skin Care Institutes services have always been based on a balanced blend of science and aesthetics. As a dermatologist, Dr. Alexander constantly seeks the newest, safest and most effective technology for skin rejuvenation and anti-aging. Skin Care Institutes licensed professionals JW Player, the worlds largest network-independent video platform, today announced the speaker lineup for JW Insights | London, being held on November 29th, 2017. For the past four years, JW Player has brought together the most important publishers and influencers in the digital ecosystem at its JW Insights event held annually in New York City. With the opening of its London-based European headquarters in 2017 and strong global client base, the company is bringing the event to London for the first time. Attendees of the registration-only event will hear from executives from Facebook, Index Exchange, Bauer Xcel, Keywee and JW Player. Topics to be discussed include how to build a video-first business, driving traffic from social platforms to publishers owned and operated properties, and the future of video in automated advertising. The event will close with a fireside discussion on visual storytelling in the age of data with Framestore's co-founder Mike McGee, in conversation with The Drum's Deputy Editor, Cameron Clarke. Digital video advertising is growing at a tremendous pace in the UK and across Europe, and represents a fantastic opportunity for publishers said David Otten, co-founder and CEO of JW Player. At JW Insights | London, publisher attendees will learn about the latest strategies and techniques to build a profitable digital video business from industry leaders and each other. It looks to be a fantastic event. Limited seats are still available for the publisher community. To register to attend JW Insights | London, please visit: https://www.jwplayer.com/insights/london/ About JW Player JW Player is the worlds largest network-independent video platform. Founded in 2008 as the first open source video player, today JW Players customers span the globe across 193 countries, and range from Fortune 500 companies to video-centric small businesses. The companys flagship product, JW Player, is used to stream 20 billion videos per month across all devices mobile, desktop and OTT. In addition to the player, the companys services include advertising, analytics, data services, video hosting and streaming. North Valley Dermatology North Valley Dermatology is another exceptional addition to the USDP team, and further expands upon our patient-centric philosophy and high-standard of care. said Dr. Howard Luber, Southwest Medical Director at U.S. Dermatology Partners. U.S. Dermatology Partners (USDP), formerly known as Dermatology Associates, is pleased to announce that it has expanded further in the state of Arizona by partnering with North Valley Dermatology in Peoria (a major suburb of Phoenix). U.S. Dermatology Partners is a physician-owned, dermatology-focused practice management organization. North Valley Dermatology was founded in 1986 by Dr. Mary Fredenberg and offers a full suite of dermatological treatments including general, surgical, and cosmetic dermatology, as wells as Mohs micrographic surgery. North Valley Dermatology has a team of four board-certified physicians and four physician assistants on staff. Adjacent to the North Valley Dermatology medical office is their spa, Original Skin, which offers an array of aesthetic services to complement its full suite of medical dermatology offerings. Dr. Mary Fredenberg began her dermatology practice after completing her residency in 1986. She holds a B.S. in Microbiology from Arizona State University, and attended medical school at the University of Arizona. She completed her Internal Medicine internship with Good Samaritan Medical Center in Phoenix, AZ in 1983 and her Dermatology residency at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Lukes Medical Center in Chicago, IL in 1986. Dr. Fredenberg has been board-certified by the American Board of Dermatology since 1986. Dr. Theresa Magne joined North Valley Dermatology in 1995 after completing her residency in Dermatology at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Lukes Medical Center in Chicago, IL. She attended medical school at the University of Illinois College of Medicine and completed an internship in Internal Medicine at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, IL. She has been board-certified by the American Board of Dermatology since 1995. Dr. Douglas Heiner is a board-certified and fellowship-trained dermatologic surgeon who specializes in Mohs surgery, laser and cosmetic dermatology, and reconstructive surgery. He received his medical degree magna cum laude from the University of Texas School of Medicine at Galveston and completed his residency in Dermatology at Boston University at Roger Williams Medical Center. Following residency, Dr. Heiner completed a fellowship in Mohs and dermatologic surgery sanctioned by the American College of Mohs Surgery. Dr. Adam Sorensen received his medical degree at the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine in Kirksville, MO in 2009. Following his initial medical training, Dr. Sorensen went on to complete a one-year internship followed by a two-year residency and board-certification in Internal Medicine at the Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, WA. Dr. Sorensen later went on to complete three years of Dermatology residency training at the Lake Erie Consortium for Osteopathic Medical Training in Mesa, AZ, focusing on both medical and surgical dermatology. Joining the physicians of North Valley Dermatology are their four highly-experienced physician assistants: Lisa Greenan, PA-C; Julie Taubert, PA-C; Haley Meier, PA-C; and Elizabeth Penfold, PA-C. As we expand throughout the Valley, Drs. Mary Fredenberg, Theresa Magne and the 6 associates of North Valley Dermatology create a strong presence for USDP in Peoria and the surrounding Phoenix suburbs, adding a well-established and highly-respected dermatology group with a 30-year heritage in the area, said Dr. Howard Luber, Southwest Medical Director at U.S. Dermatology Partners. North Valley Dermatology is another exceptional addition to the USDP team, and further expands upon our patient-centric philosophy and high-standard of care. If you would like more information about U.S. Dermatology Partners, or if you have any questions regarding the partnership with North Valley Dermatology, please contact one of the team members listed below: U.S. Dermatology Partners Geoff Wayne Chief Executive Officer Geoff(at)usdermpartners.com Scott Wells Chief Development Officer SWells(at)usdermpartners.com Brent Ohlsen Director of Corporate Development BOhlsen(at)usdermpartners.com About U.S. Dermatology Partners Headquartered in Dallas, TX, U.S. Dermatology Partners provides comprehensive practice management services to over 130 board-certified dermatologists and 50 midlevel providers across ~70 locations in Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Arizona, Colorado, Louisiana and Maryland. U.S. Dermatology Partners supports providers so they can focus exclusively on delivering high-quality care to patients. As one of the largest physician-owned dermatology practices in the country, U.S. Dermatology Partners patients not only have access to general medical, surgical, and cosmetic skin treatment through its coordinated care network, but also benefit from the organizations strong dermatology subspecialty thought leaders and medical advisory board. The physicians of U.S. Dermatology Partners are fervently focused on providing the highest level of patient-first care, and its team therefore includes recognized national leaders in areas such as clinical research, psoriasis and Mohs Surgery. To learn more, visit usdermatologypartners.com About ABRY Partners Founded in 1989 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, ABRY Partners is an experienced and successful private equity investment firm focused on media, communications, healthcare services, insurance services, business and information services. Since its founding, ABRY has completed more than $62 billion of transactions, representing investments in more than 550 properties. Foundations Recovery Network proudly announces that Recovery Results, a conference hosted by Foundations Events, is returning to Dallas this year. Foundations Recovery Network, an innovative treatment provider, launched the conference in 2016 to address the growing need for a space for sharing ideas and learning in the ever-growing behavioral healthcare field. The event will be held November 28 and 29, 2017, at Dallas downtown Ritz-Carlton. Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker will headline Tuesday evenings reception. Hell share the compelling story of his life with dissociative identity disorder, as featured in his memoir, Breaking Free. Dr. Eboni Webb, an international trainer in Dialectical Behavior Therapy, joins a full slate of industry leaders speaking at the conference. Shell lead a session on restoring connection in the wake of trauma and addiction. Noah Levine, a Buddhist teacher, author and counselor created a Buddhist approach to addiction recovery. Levine will wrap up the conference leading a session titled: Refuge Recovery: A Buddhist Path to Addiction Recovery. Recovery Results focuses on sharing long-term recovery solutions that help patients implement and live a life free from addiction and mental health disorders. This includes solutions for treating non-traditional clients, difficult disorders and substance abuse. Attendees also gain insight into programs that provide longer lengths of stay and strategies for helping patients achieve lasting recovery. Those who wish to learn more or register can visit FoundationsEvents.com. About Foundations Events: Foundations Events is constantly seeking to add value to the treatment and behavioral healthcare community, and one way they do this is through hosting engaging, informative and entertaining conferences. Foundations Events has hosted 50 national conferences, earning a reputation as the leader in behavioral healthcare events. Each year, multiple conferences are offered nationwide that focus on providing the latest information on treatment methods. These events are widely known and respected in the behavioral health industry for both their educational and networking opportunities. Experts from all over the country provide unique workshops and keynote presentations on a variety of treatment subjects. Typically, conference attendees have a chance to earn between 14 and 24 hours of continuing education credit as well as a Professionals Certificate in Behavioral Healthcare only available through our events. Foundations Events is part of Foundations Recovery Network, an innovative healthcare treatment provider. For more information about the conference or to register, visit FoundationsEvents.com. "The AWARE program is a unique educational event helping people learn about the clinical research process and what it means to be a participant in a clinical trial," says Ken Getz, CISCRP's Founder. The Center for Information and Study on Clinical Research Participation (CISCRP) invites the local Jacksonville community to attend AWARE for All, a FREE health education forum, on Tuesday, December 5th from 5:00 p.m. 8:00 p.m. EST at the Schultz Center, 4019 Boulevard Center Drive, Jacksonville, FL 32207. CISCRPs AWARE for All program is hosted in cities all over the world and is a chance to bring educational health information directly to patients and the public within local communities. This is the first time that CISCRP is bringing the AWARE program to Jacksonville. "The AWARE program is a unique educational event helping people learn about the clinical research process and what it means to be a participant in a clinical trial," says Ken Getz, CISCRP's Founder. "Clinical research can be an important alternative for people facing diseases that cannot be treated by medications that are currently available. We invite people in the Jacksonville community to come to the AWARE program to become more informed and to take charge of their health options." Attendees of the Jacksonville event will interact with local researchers, clinical trial participants, health care professionals, and advocacy groups, to learn about clinical research and clinical trial participation. Attendees will also have access to health screenings, including blood pressure, BMI, glucose, and vision screenings, as well as free dinner and prizes. The first 100 people to register for AWARE Jacksonville will receive a Walgreens gift card, and those who register a friend or family member will be entered into a raffle for a chance to win a Kindle. Research is critical to transforming the practice of medicine and can offer so much hope to patients, says Charles Burger, M.D., professor of medicine, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, and keynote speaker. At Mayo Clinic, the true purpose of research is to address the unmet needs of our patients. We are committed to developing bridges that accelerate discoveries and develop new solutions for patients. The AWARE event will feature an Information Alley where attendees can visit exhibit tables and connect with local and national community health partners and sponsors. There will also be a presentation about clinical research, a panel discussion with research professionals, and a chance to hear from clinical trial participants who will share their experience and stories with the audience. The event is produced by CISCRP with support from Host Sponsor, Mayo Clinic, National Sponsors EMD Serono and Lupus Research Alliance, Outreach Supporters CenterWatch, HealthUnlocked, and The Conference Forum, along with other local and community sponsors. AWARE for All Jacksonville will be held on Tuesday, December 5, 2017 from 5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. EST at The Gentry Auditorium at Schultz Center Teach & Leader, 4019 Boulevard Center Drive, Jacksonville, FL 32207. Registration is free, but advanced registration is encouraged and can be done by visiting http://www.awareforall.org or by calling toll-free 1-877-MED-HERO (1-877-633-4376). ABOUT CISCRP: The Center for Information and Study on Clinical Research Participation (CISCRP) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to engaging the public and patients as partners in the clinical research process. CISCRP provides free education and outreach to the general public and patient communities. Visit http://www.CISCRP.org for more information or to support CISCRPs educational initiatives. Editors Note: Sponsorship and exhibit opportunities are still available; email kseider(at)ciscrp(dot)org to learn more. In the aftermath of the devastation that Hurricane Maria wreaked on Puerto Rico, the media has moved on to report on other crises. Yet two months after one of the countrys worst humanitarian crises, most of the islands 3.4 million people are still without power and hospitals are still in triage mode. The ASCP Foundation is continuing to support the relief efforts in Puerto Rico. Individuals will have an opportunity to support the ASCP Foundations general fund, which provides much-needed funds to relief work in Puerto Rico and other critical areas of need on Giving Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2017. To make your donation, visit http://www.ascp.org/foundation. ASCP members have responded generously to several email and social media appeals from the ASCP Foundation to support rebuilding Puerto Ricos health system. We are deeply grateful to all those who answered our initial call for support, said ASCP President James Wisecarver, MD, PhD, FASCP. Much more help is needed. We urge more ASCP members to join us in this relief effort, which will take several years to rebuild. The ASCP Foundation is committed to supporting the reconstruction of Puerto Ricos health system and medical laboratories for the long term, Dr. Wisecarver added. The Foundation has already raised $3,000 from two emails and four social media posts, and ASCP has matched the funds, dollar for dollar, for a total of $6,000 toward the relief work. Thus far, the Foundation has provided three personal grants of $300 each to ASCP members in the cities of Mayaguez, Coto Laurel, and Caguas, and sent medical supplies to two hospitals. Blood Agar plates, MacConkey Agar plates, and Chocolate Agar plates were sent to Luis Ferrer-Torres, MD, Lab Director at Hospital Interamericano de Medicina Avanzada (HIMA) San Pablo Caguas in Caguas. Basic necessities were sent to Lurmag Orta, MD, Staff Pathologist at the Hospital Auxilio Mutuo in San Juan. These included biopsy needles, 5 ml syringes, disposable gowns, 25G safety needles, specimen bags, small, medium & large non sterile gloves, 23G safety needles, 20G safety needles, 18G needles, surgical masks, 4x4 non-sterile gauze sponges, 2x2 non-sterile gauze sponges, 5 ml syringes, 20 ml syringes, 30 ml syringes, 10 ml syringes, 1 ml syringes, small, medium and large sterile gloves, 2x2 sterile gauze pads, and 4x4 sterile gauze pads. Since the hurricane, Dr. Orta has had to ride her bicycle to the hospital three days a week just to charge her cell phone. Only a very small percentage of the islands cell phone towers are working. We cant begin to thank our ASCP colleagues for their outreach and support, Dr. Orta said. Everyone has come together as a community to support the people of Puerto Rico. Yet we need to do a lot more to get us out of this critical situation. Many Puerto Rican evacuees coming to Florida are experienced, educated and highly employable individuals. With low unemployment in our state, this becomes a win-win. With thousands of Puerto Rican evacuees arriving to Florida daily in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rican entrepreneur and talent management expert Robert Newland has built a job board which caters specifically to this group. The job portal, LatinoJobsOnline.com, has information on thousands of job opportunities in both English and Spanish from all around the state and beyond. Many Puerto Rican evacuees coming to Florida are experienced, educated and highly employable individuals. With low unemployment in our state, this becomes a win-win, said Robert Newland who moved from Puerto Rico to Florida 14 years ago in order to expand his business. The job board will host jobs from multiple cities across the state, though jobs outside Florida and in Puerto Rico are also welcome. One unique feature about LatinoJobsOnline.com is that all revenue in excess of operating expenses will be donated to organizations supporting evacuee relief efforts. The idea behind this initiative, explained Newland, is to support the evacuees and our community, not to make a profit. It is our duty as socially-responsible private organizations to help our community flourish and succeed. Helping these evacuees connect to jobs will help them rebuild their lives and help our community prosper. About LatinoJobsOnline.com LatinoJobsOnline.com is owned and operated by Newland Associates Group, Inc., a Hispanic-owned talent management organization. Its brands include recruitment practice Newland Associates Executive Search, which provides talent to many top organizations around the country; they are also the Florida/Caribbean partner for Career Partners International, one of the largest providers of outplacement and leader development services in the world with over 300 locations worldwide; and they are also founders of HRfrenzy.com, the nations first and only online platform for freelance HR consultants and recruiters. More information is available at http://www.LatinoJobsOnline.com or by calling 407-771-4141, ext. 240. Please email smora(at)latinojobsonline(dot)com for comments or inquiries. Photo courtesy of Austin Eastciders, Austin, Texas. It's similar to what happened in craft beer several years ago. We are having a parallel movement as cider drinkers look to support local brands. The United States Association of Cider Makers (USACM) is pleased to report that Regional Cider saw significant growth in the first three quarters of 2017, according to recent findings from Nielsen and other industry tracking agencies. There has been a lot of chatter within the media about a slowing down of the cider category, but its misleading, explains Michelle McGrath, USACM Executive Director. When you remove the national brands from the analysis, you see continued growth for the combined categories of regional and local ciders. The data shows that where there is a strong regional cider brand, the overall hard cider trends in the market are much better than the national average. According to the Nielsen data commissioned by USACM for their members, Quarter 3 of 2017 (vs. Q3 of 2016) shows a substantial increase in off-premise sales of regional cider brands, with sales up 35.6%. Examples of major gains for Q3 regional cider are seen in the following markets: Virginia (+33%), North Carolina (+55%), California (+26%), Texas (+73%), Oregon (+49%), Washington (+42%), and New Englanddefined by Vermont, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Maine (+45%). Regional cideries are adding production capacity and new markets to their distribution. Combined with increased sales, all signs indicate that the development of strong regional brands is a national trend. McGrath explains that the trend reflects cider drinkers eagerly exploring local offerings. Its similar to what happened in craft beer several years ago. We are having a parallel movement as cider drinkers look to support local brands. Today, there are around 800 cider companies in the United States. That number represents a doubling in the number of producers in the last three years, and new cideries continue to open every month. Traditionally, cider sees a significant boost in sales this week as consumers purchase cider to enjoy for Thanksgiving. After the 4th of July, Thanksgiving is the biggest week of the year for cider. Youll see cideries all over the country offering specials right now, commented McGrath. Below are regional examples of category growth. Please contact USACM for additional local market examples. Examples of regional cider brands with tremendous increases in sales include: ACE Cider (CA), who has seen continued steady growth at 25-30% per year since 2008. Shacksbury Cider (VT), who grew from roughly 20,000 case equivalents in 2016 to over 40,000 case equivalents in 2017. 2Towns Cider (OR), who anticipates seeing over 50% for 2017, and has maintained 50%+ every year since inception in 2010. Seattle Cider (WA) who saw exceptional growth in their home market as well as around the country with some states up over 100% year over year. Golden State Cider (CA), who produced 350,000 gallons in 2017, up from 150,000 gallons from the previous year. Austin Eastciders (TX), who saw a 144% increase of sales of Q3 2017 versus Q3 2016. Bold Rock (VA and NC), who saw a 61% in sales in the past year. Examples of regional cider brands adding significant production capacity include: Reverend Nats Hard Cider (OR), who is moving its cidery into a new space in 2018 that will quintuple its cider-production capacity. Austin Eastciders (TX), who opened a new 1,960-square-foot tasting room in November 2017, allowing the brand to host cider fans in their own space for the first time. This has been a major goal for the company, said CEO Johnny Heiselberg. Stowe Cider (VT), who tripled its square footage for production recently. Noble Cider (NC), who recently expanded their production facility to accommodate 3-4 times their current production and will open a second Taproom in 2018 with a restaurant. Urban Orchard Cider (NC), who announced today that they will be adding a second tasting room with additional production capacity. Stem Ciders (CO), who will add a new production facility and a food-focused taproom in 2018. Examples of regional cider brands adding new markets to their distribution include: Noble Cider (NC), who added distribution to parts of Georgia and South Carolina and plans to fill in distribution for both of those states and the rest of North Carolina in 2018. Stowe Cider (VT), who added four new markets in 2017 including Maine, Washington D.C., Connecticut and Upstate New York. Reverend Nats Hard Cider (OR), who will expand cider distribution to the east coast and Europe in 2018, the result of its new cidery. Seattle Cider (WA), who added Tennessee, South Carolina, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island in 2017 and is poised to add 3-5 additional states in 2018. Stem Cider (CO), who expanded distribution to Illinois in early 2017. Austin Eastciders (TX), who added Kansas to their distribution this year. About USACM: The USACM is an organization of cider and perry producers in the United States. Its mission is to grow a diverse and successful U.S. cider industry by providing valuable information, resources and services to our members and by advocating on their behalf. BIA Baldy View Chapter President Ali Sahabi. As an organization dedicated to bringing out the very best of what our industry can accomplish, our chapter felt it was right to honor the exceptional accomplishment of seemingly opposing groups working together for a common good. The Building Industry Association Baldy View Chapter will honor both industry and environmental regulators when it celebrates collaboration at its best at the associations annual holiday gala next month in Pomona. Proceeds will benefit HomeAid, a leading nonprofit provider of housing for todays homeless. Vulcan Materials Company, the nations largest producer of construction aggregates, will be honored along with representatives of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, California Department of Fish and Wildlife and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers all of which worked together to create one of Southern Californias first and most successful habitat conservation areas. The Presidents Award will be presented to all three as a part of BIA Baldy Views 2017 Annual Holiday Charity Gala to be held Thursday, Dec. 7, at the Sheraton Conference Center, 601 West McKinley Ave., in Pomona. For information, visit http://bit.ly/2iVEpYZ. Vulcan worked with state and federal regulators to establish the Cajon Creek Conservation Area, which now covers 1,360 acres in Muscoy, California, and supports more than 45 special status species including the Santa Ana River woolly star, slender-horned spineflower, and the San Bernardino kangaroo rat. Since 1998, 50 area construction projects completed by government and private entities have benefitted from the ever-expanding mitigation bank, including Caltrans, the cities of Highland and Fontana, Metropolitan Water District, Hillwood Development, Regency Retail Group and BNSF Railway. This years Presidents Award honors the spirit of collaboration the idea of people from the public and private sectors teaming up for the benefit of local communities, said BIA Baldy View President Ali Sahabi. As an organization dedicated to bringing out the very best of what our industry can accomplish, our chapter felt it was right to honor the exceptional accomplishment of seemingly opposing groups working together for a common good. BIA Baldy View Chief Executive Officer Carlos Rodriguez emphasized the benefits that come from the blending of both industrial and conservation interests in shaping the future of the region. Vulcan provides much-needed aggregate that fuels the construction of new homes, buildings and infrastructure projects for our Baldy View region. That translates to jobs and a growing local economy, Rodriguez said. On the other hand, it is important to protect sensitive habitat and threatened species to preserve nature as it was intended to be. The BIA praises Vulcan, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Army Corps of Engineers for working together to accomplish something that allows for both outcomes, with universal benefits. The conservation area is composed of a network of large parcels within and immediately adjacent to Cajon Wash from Highland Avenue to Devore Road. As a conservation bank, it accepts funding from proposed construction projects to establish dedicated habitat area and permanently manage the survival of threatened species. Over the last 20 years, Vulcan has been working to conserve this rare and critical habitat, said Michael Linton, Vulcans Western Division Vice President of Property and Land Development. Our successful collaboration with our resource agency partners has been invaluable to the success of these conservation efforts and it is a partnership we are very proud of. Vulcan looks forward to continuing this relationship and working together to further preserve and enhance this ecologically important watershed. Conservation banking provides landowners with a straight-forward solution to offset impacts from development while furthering conservation and management of large blocks of habitat, said Paul Souza, Regional Director for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services Pacific Southwest Region. We are proud of our 20-year partnership with Vulcan Materials on the Cajon Creek Conservation Bank. For the buyer, or user of credits, Conservation and Mitigation Banking provides one-stop permit compliance, including habitat protection, long-term management, maintenance, and monitoring, and for the ecosystem it provides for the in-perpetuity protection and restoration of larger, more functional ecological systems, said Leslie MacNair, Inland Deserts Regional Manager for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Our on-going partnership with Vulcan is a great example of what teamwork can achieve to add to conservation efforts in the region. We need to work together to find solutions that will enhance opportunities for Californians to pursue the American Dream of homeownership, said the BIAs Sahabi, who is also president of the land planning and development firm Optimum Group LLC. California is the second most expensive housing market in the nation behind Hawaii. The Cajon Creek Conservation Area facilitates the development process to ultimately drive down costs for the consumer. It serves as a model of effective collaboration between public and private entities can help create mutually beneficial solutions that enhance the affordability of housing in our state. ABOUT BIA BALDY VIEW CHAPTER The mission of the Building Industry Association of Southern California, Baldy View Chapter is to promote, advocate for and grow the home-building industry through member representation and community education at the local level. In addition, the Baldy View Chapter maintains a presence and influence on industry-related issues at regional, state and national levels. Visit http://www.BIAbuild.com. Pictured left to right: Atty. Neil ODonnell, Sandee Olshefski, Atty. Cathy ODonnell, Lourdes Cardinez, Noelle Stefanoski, Brenda Bower, & Tanya Kohler. Absent from photo: Atty. Michael ODonnell. Everyone immediately wanted to pitch in, said Catherine ODonnell, an attorney with ODonnell Law. The team at ODonnell Law Offices of Kingston, Pennsylvania, is helping families who are related to a fellow co-worker. All three of these families live in Puerto Rico and have been hurt by Hurricane Maria. Many items are still unavailable or excessively expensive on the Island. Lourdes Cardinez, an Administrative Assistant at ODonnell Law Offices, is originally from Puerto Rico. When her co-workers found out that several of her relatives, three separate families, who continue to live on the Puerto Rican island were suffering, they all wanted to help as part of the Offices traditional holiday acts of kindness. Lourdes told them all the items her family needed, including canned goods, slippers, socks, can openers, all sizes of batteries, water filters, etc. Everyone immediately wanted to pitch in, said Catherine ODonnell, an attorney with ODonnell Law. We just sent our first packages (it currently takes about two weeks to get there) and look forward to sending more. What a great way to know you are really helping those in need. ODonnell Law Offices has been recognized in the rankings of U.S. News and World Report and Best Lawyers 2018 with a Best Law Firms ranking. Attorneys Neil T. And Catherine R. ODonnell have been selected to the Martindale-Hubbell Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers. Both Neil and Catherine have been selected to the Pennsylvania super Lawyers list for several consecutive years, with Neil also named to the Top 100 Super Lawyers in Pennsylvania. Michael ODonnell has been listed as a 2017 Rising Star by Pennsylvania Super Lawyers. About ODonnell Law Offices ODonnell Law Offices is a Northeastern Pennsylvania personal injury law firm which has successfully represented all types of personal injury claims, ranging from auto and trucking accidents to product liability claims, to medical malpractice and wrongful death claims. The firm is located in Kingston, Pennsylvania, and its superb team of attorneys provides top quality legal representation and unparalleled service to its clients and the community. ODonnell Law has been representing clients for nearly three decades, and in that time has received numerous awards and recognitions. Visit http://www.odonnell-law.com or call 570.821.5717 for more information on the firm. Deerfield Insurance Holdings, Inc. (Deerfield Holdings) announced today that is has entered into a definitive agreement to sell Ashmere Insurance Company (AIC), a workers compensation specialty insurance company. Deerfield was founded by Fort Lauderdale serial entrepreneur, Steven M. Mariano in 2016 to be a leading next generation Workers Compensations Insurance carrier. Based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, AIC is a new workers compensation specialty insurance company focused on delivering expertise and high value services to the underserved market segment of rurally located low volume insurance producers. AIC transforms a complex line of commercial insurance into a fast, simple and accurate process that delivers affordable pricing to small commercial customers with preferred risk characteristics. The sale is subject to closing conditions, including regulatory approval. Steven M. Mariano, CEO of Deerfield Holdings stated, As a long time entrepreneur and founder of this company, it is always rewarding to see something you built being recognized. With the deal terms including a meaningful capital contribution into surplus, Ashmere can build itself into a premier workers compensation specialty insurance carrier. About Ashmere Insurance Company Ashmere Insurance Company was a new business in October 2016 started by a group of long-term insurance industry executives who desired to transform the relationship between small commercial workers compensation policy holders and their insurance company. AICs business platform is two-fold: 1) to operate a disciplined underwriting model with imbedded predictive analytics that identifies and appropriately prices small accounts with preferred risk characteristics and 2) to operate the company so efficiently that access to the process and services can be delivered over a wide scale, including agents with smaller commercial insurance books of business. The capabilities of this program are vast, and industry professionals should be taking full advantage of them. New England College of Business (NECB) announced today that it will host a no-cost webinar on Microsoft Excel on Wednesday, November 29. The webinar will take place at 12 p.m. and will last for one hour. The instructional webinar will be taught by Professor Donna Viens, CPA, CMA, CGMA. Viens has held a variety of roles in the business world, including senior auditor, chief financial officer and controller. She now works at NECB as the Dean of Undergraduate Studies and teaches a variety of classes, including Managerial Accounting and Principles of Banking. Viens utilized Excel extensively during her time in the business industry, and continues to stay up to date through Microsoft Excel trainings. In her classes, she teaches students important Excel skills and functionalities that simplify business reporting. In the November 29 webinar, Viens will delve into the various manual tasks that can be streamlined using Microsoft Excel. Titled Excel Part 3: Beyond the Basics, this webinar is the third in a three-part series focused on Excel capabilities. Building on knowledge and skills participants gained in the first and second sessions of the series, Beyond the Basics will cover advanced formulas, tables, graphs and other tools from which Excel users can benefit. Microsoft Excel is one of the most powerful tools that is used in business today. The capabilities of this program are vast, and industry professionals should be taking full advantage of them, said NECB President Howard Horton, Esq. Participants in this webinar will come away with knowledge that can directly impact their effectiveness in the workplace. The Webinar ID is 667-569-571. To register for this free webinar, click here. About New England College of Business Founded in 1909, New England College of Business (NECB) is a leading higher education institution offering quality education and online degrees at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Serving students across the United States, NECB is an online college accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) and is licensed by the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education. For information on NECB, visit https://www.necb.edu/, follow NECB on Twitter or connect with the school on Facebook. We are thrilled that we have the opportunity to collaborate with our customers and are happy to continue this program for a tenth year. Wayne Homes, an Ohio-based company that specializes in on-your-lot custom homes, has announced the start of their annual Not-So-Random Acts of Kindness program. Each year during the holidays, Wayne Homes joins with their customers to raise money for charities in their local community. The program will begin on Monday, November 27 and will run through Sunday, December 31. For very home sold during that period, Wayne Homes will donate $150 to the buyers charity of choice! Each office has selected three charities for customers to choose from, including St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital, American Cancer Society, Wounded Warrior Project, and a number of local humane societies and homeless shelters. The Not-So-Random Acts of Kindness program is unique because it allows our customers to give back through the purchase of a new home during the holiday season, George Murphy, President of Wayne Homes, said. We are thrilled that we have the opportunity to collaborate with our customers and are happy to continue this program for a tenth year. Wayne Homes has held the Not-So-Random Acts of Kindness program for the last nine years and has donated more than $57,000 to charities through the program. With this program, Wayne Homes hopes to make a meaningful difference to those less fortunate this holiday season. The Not-So-Random Acts of Kindness program is one of the many community involvement programs Wayne Homes carries out every year. For more information about Wayne Homes community involvement programs, Ask Julie by Live Chat. To find out more about becoming part of the Wayne Homes team, see current job opportunities. About Wayne Homes Wayne Homes is a custom home builder in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Michigan, and West Virginia (see all Model Home Centers). We offer nearly 50 fully customizable floorplans and a team dedicated to providing the best experience in the home building industry. For more information, Ask Julie, our online sales team, by live chat or call us at (866) 253-6807. 2. The Kremlin will take action against Google if articles from Russian news websites Sputnik and Russia Today are placed lower in search results. Alexander Zharov, head of media regulator Roskomnadzor, said his agency sent a letter to Google requesting clarification about how the Russian websites would be treated in search. 3. The US warned citizens to "consider the risks" when travelling to Saudi Arabia due to militant threats and the threat of ballistic missile attacks on civilians by rebels in Yemen.The warning comes two weeks after Saudi Arabia said it had shot down a ballistic missile fired by Iran-aligned Houthis from Yemen towards the Saudi capital Riyadh. 4. Some European Union members are resisting EU plans to raise the tax bill of tech multinationals, EU draft documents seen by Reuters show.EU finance ministers are expected to seal a preliminary deal on EU digital taxes when they meet on Dec. 6, after pressure from large states that accuse firms like Amazon, Google, Apple and Facebook of slashing their tax bills by rerouting their EU profits to low-tax countries such as Luxembourg and Ireland. 5. A US congressional plan to ease banking rules for some large institutions goes too far and could endanger the financial system, a leading bank regulator said.allow banks with less than $250 billion in assets to reduce capital goes too far. 6. Senior Russian lawmaker and businessman Suleiman Kerimov was arrested by French police at Nice airport in connection with a tax evasion case. Kerimov is ranked by Forbes magazine as Russia's 21st wealthiest businessman, with a net worth of $6.3 billion. 7. Ireland expects to make progress in recovering up to 13 billion in disputed taxes from Apple in the coming weeks, following EU criticism that Dublin was moving too slowly. The European Commission ruled in August 2016 that Apple had received unfair tax incentives from Ireland and said last month it was taking Dublin to the European Court of Justice over its delays in recovering the money. 8. CME Group said it still plans to launch a futures contract for bitcoin this year, but that a notice on its website stating the contract would begin trading on Dec. 11 was posted in error. As bitcoin passed above the $8,000 level for the first time on Monday, cryptocurrency-related websites were abuzz with news of the CME notice. 9. Royal Bank of Canada has joined a list of lenders deemed important to the stability of the world's financial system, becoming the first Canadian back to join the global group of 30 required to hold extra capital. The annual list of globally systemically important banks was issued by the Financial Stability Board, which was established after the global financial crisis to protect the world from shocks. In the lead-up to Black Friday 2017 which falls on November 24 budget airline Ryanair has launched a major flight sale with fares from London Stansted to Europe for as low as 4.99 one way. The airline's weeklong Black Friday flight sale began on November 21 and will last until November 26. There are new flight deals each day, which can be used for travel from December 2017 to June 2018, depending on the offer but you need to be quick, as each day's deals end at midnight that day. Today's offer is 10% off one million seats, according to Ryanair, with fares starting from 4.99. In order to land the deal, you need to book by midnight tonight (November 22) and travel between April and June 2018. The airline is also offering a 20% discount on all bags booked this week. The offers from London Stansted include flights to destinations in Denmark and Norway for 4.99, fares to places in France, Sweden, Germany, and Poland for 7.99, and seats to Italy, Spain, Montenegro, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Ireland, Luxembourg, and Romania for 9.99. You can also get to the likes of the Netherlands and other popular European holiday destinations including Copenhagen (Denmark) and Pisa (Italy) for 12.99, and Bari (Italy) and Alicante (Spain) for 14.99 each. Flights from Edinburgh to European destinations start at 9.99. The full list of today's Ryanair Black Friday deals can be viewed here. The latest flight sale comes after the airline cancelled hundreds of thousands of bookings in September and October due to a pilot rostering error. A federal grand jury has indicted Sayfullo Saipov, the 29-year-old Uzbeki national accused of killing eight and injuring 11 when he rammed a truck into cyclists and pedestrians in lower Manhattan last month. Saipov faces 22 federal charges, including eight counts of murder in the aid of racketeering activity, 11 counts of attempted murder in the aid of racketeering activity, one count of providing material support and resources to the terrorist group ISIS, and one count of violence and destruction of motor vehicles. The deadly attack began in the afternoon of October 31, when prosecutors say Saipov drove a rented Home Depot pickup truck onto a busy Manhattan bike lane, veering into his victims and colliding with a school bus before jumping out and brandishing two guns that were later determined by police to be fake. Saipov was arrested after being shot by a police officer shortly after the crash. He waived his Miranda rights verbally and spoke to law enforcement officials about the attack, according to a criminal complaint released earlier this month. Saipov admitted to authorities that he wrote a note found near the crashed truck, which was written in Arabic and said the Islamic State would endure forever, according to the complaint. He said he was was motivated to carry out the attack after watching a video featuring ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi asking what Muslims in the US were doing to respond to the killing of Muslims in Iraq. Saipov also asked during his interview with authorities if he could display the ISIS flag in his hospital room after the attack. He told them that "he felt good about what he had done," the complaint said. Each of the counts Saipov faces carries a maximum sentence of the death penalty, although it's unclear whether federal prosecutors will seek it. Law enforcement in Hyderabad, India is racing to round up the city's beggars and homeless in preparation for White House adviser Ivanka Trump's visit for the eighth annual Global Entrepreneurship Summit just after Thanksgiving. The city's police commissioner issued the unprecedented order earlier this week to ban begging and detain the city's homeless population just days before 1,500 international business leaders and government officials, including Trump, arrive for the two-day event. But authorities deny that the push is in preparation for the international gathering, according to CNN. "It's a permanent drive," V.K. Singh, the director of Hyderabad's prisons, told CNN. "The government, since 30 years, have been trying to figure out what to do about them." The city reportedly plans to renew the two month begging ban after it expires in January. The police commissioner said the begging, pervasive in many Indian cities, is "causing annoyance and awkwardness." About 6,000 people are expected to be taken to "rehabilitation facilities" set up in the city's prisons and homeless shelters, according to the Indian Express. "We were surprised by those reports," a senior administration official told CNN. "We know that the Indian government is really firmly committed to raising individuals out of poverty to create economic opportunity for its large and diverse population, and we think they're making great progress, although obviously there are still strides that it needs to take." The city also cracked down on begging in the lead-up to former President Bill Clinton's visit in 2000, but this campaign is reportedly much larger in scale. Trump will give a keynote address at the summit, which will focus on women's empowerment one of the first daughter's top White House priorities. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promoted Trump's visit for months, and will host an elaborate dinner next Tuesday for the first daughter, India Today reported. "We look forward to welcoming you @IvankaTrump," Modi tweeted last week. "Closer economic cooperation between India and USA helps our people, particularly our talented and innovative entrepreneurs." After attending the summit, Trump is expected to go shopping at an open-air mall, which the city is also rushing to finalize construction of, and do some sightseeing in the region, according to Newsweek. Queen Elizabeth II has ruled for so long that most people in the United Kingdom have never known another monarch. She became queen when her father, King George VI, died on February 6, 1952 (though her official coronation was on June 2, 1953). During her reign, she has outlasted 14 British prime ministers and 13 US presidents. After Robert Mugabe was ousted as president of Zimbabwe on Tuesday, the Queen became the world's oldest head of state, at 91 years old. When she dies, life will turn upside down for Brits, and many others who admire her from across the globe. The impact will be even deeper because 80% of UK residents weren't alive when Queen Elizabeth ascended the throne. According to the UK Office for National Statistics, only 12 million UK residents were alive when King George was on the throne in 1952. That's only 20% of the UK's population of 66 million. Since the most recent UK census data was from 2014, we used age-specific death rates to calculate how many Brits who were over 63 in 2014 would likely still be alive today. Around 3 p.m. local time on November 13, the defector sped toward a bridge in a Jeep as soldiers pursued him on foot. He tried to drive past the Military Demarcation Line, the line dividing North and South Korea but he ran into an obstruction and could go no farther. As North Korean soldiers from the adjacent guard tower ran toward the vehicle, the defector quickly got out and ran south across the MDL. In the video, several North Korean soldiers can be seen firing their weapons at the defector, who appears to be only a few feet away. One North Korean soldier appeared to cross the MDL for a few seconds, then run back toward it. The UNC said it found that North Korea had breached the 1953 armistice agreement that ended the Korean War. The Korean People's Army "violated the armistice agreement by one, firing weapons across the MDL, and two, by actually crossing the MDL," a spokesman said during a news conference Tuesday. In the video, as US-South Korean forces are alerted about the incident, North Korean troops can be seen mobilizing from Panmungak, one of the main North Korean buildings near the Demilitarized Zone. The defector is seen resting on a wall in a pile of leaves. South Korea has said North Korean forces fired 40 rounds, and doctors said the defector was shot at least five times. Heat signatures from cameras show two Joint Security Area soldiers crawling toward the defector. They then drag him out US forces then airlifted him to the Ajou University Medical Center. No South Korean or US forces were harmed during the incident, according to United States Forces Korea. During multiple surgical procedures, doctors found dozens of parasites in the defector's digestive tract, which they say sheds light on a humanitarian crisis in North Korea. He is reportedly in stable condition. Sources told the South Korean newspaper The Dong-a Ilbo that as he received medical care, the defector asked, "Is this South Korea?" After he received confirmation that he was, in fact, in South Korea, he said he would "like to listen to South Korean songs," The Ilbo reported. Although the defector's name and rank have not been disclosed, the South has said it believes he is in his mid-20s and a staff sergeant in the KPA. Watch the video: John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, knew a thing or two about leadership. During his short presidency, he served at the height of the Cold War, oversaw the Cuban Missile Crisis, and supported the Civil Rights movement. He was assassinated 54 years ago this Wednesday, but his observations and comments about integrity, leadership, and human rights endure. We put together 14 quotes from the president about leadership below. "The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened." He continued: "One hundred years of delay have passed since President Lincoln freed the slaves, yet their heirs, their grandsons, are not fully free. They are not yet freed from the bonds of injustice. They are not yet freed from social and economic oppression. And this Nation, for all its hopes and all its boasts, will not be fully free until all its citizens are free." JFK said that line while the Civil Rights Address over radio and television on June 11, 1963, in which he proposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. "The times are too grave, the challenge too urgent, and the stakes too high to permit the customary passions of political debate. We are not here to curse the darkness, but to light the candle that can guide us through that darkness to a safe and sane future." JFK said that line in his presidential nomination acceptance on July 15, 1960. "For courage not complacency is our need today. Leadership not salesmanship. And the only valid test of leadership is the ability to lead, and lead vigorously." JFK said that line in his presidential nomination acceptance on July 15, 1960. "Dante once said that the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in a period of moral crisis, maintain their neutrality." The that Dante actually never said that verbatim, although he does allude the idea in one scene of his "Inferno." JFK said this at the signing of a charter establishing the German Peace Corps in Bonn, West Germany June 24, 1963. "Let us not think of education only in terms of its costs, but rather in terms of the infinite potential of the human mind that can be realized through education. Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our Nation." JFK said this in his on American Education Week, 1961, on July 25. "Freedom is not merely a word or an abstract theory, but the most effective instrument for advancing the welfare of man." JFK said this in a to the Inter-American Economic and Social Conference at Punta del Este, Uruguay on August 5, 1961. "United, there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided, there is little we can do for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder." JFK said this in his inaugural on January 20, 1961. "The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men who can dream of things that never were and ask 'why not?'" JFK said that line in an before the Irish Parliament in Dublin on June 28, 1963. "...civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate." JFK said this in his inauguralon January 20, 1961. "...what does truth require? It requires us to face the facts as they are, not to involve ourselves in self-deception; to refuse to think merely in slogans. If we are to work for the future of the city, let us deal with the realities as they actually are, not as they might have been, and not as we wish they were." JFK said the above quote in an to students at West Berlin's Free University on June 26, 1963 during his visit to Berlin, Germany. "No President should fear public scrutiny of his program. For from that scrutiny comes understanding; and from that understanding comes support or opposition. And both are necessary." He continued: "This Administration intends to be candid about its errors; for as a wise man once said: "An error does not become a mistake until you refuse to correct it." We intend to accept full responsibility for our errors; and we expect you to point them out when we miss them." JFK said that line in an before the American Newspaper Publishers Association (ANPA) on April 27, 1961. "The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining..." He continued: "We sometimes chafe at the burden of our obligations, the complexity of our decisions, the agony of our choices. But there is no comfort or security for us in evasion, no solution in abdication, no relief in irresponsibility." JFK said this in his State of the Union address on January 11, 1962. "A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on. Ideas have endurance without death." JFK said this in for the opening of the USIA Transmitter at Greenville, North Carolina on February 8, 1963. "For of those to whom much is given, much is required." "And when at some future date the high court of history sits in judgment on each of us recording whether in our brief span of service we fulfilled our responsibilities to the state our success or failure, in whatever office we hold, will be measured by the answers to four questions: First, were we truly men of courage with the courage to stand up to ones enemies and the courage to stand up, when necessary, to ones associates the courage to resist public pressure, as well as private greed? Secondly, were we truly men of judgment with perceptive judgment of the future as well as the past of our mistakes as well as the mistakes of others with enough wisdom to know what we did not know and enough candor to admit it? Third, were we truly men of integrity men who never ran out on either the principles in which we believed or the men who believed in us men whom neither financial gain nor political ambition could ever divert from the fulfillment of our sacred trust? Finally, were we truly men of dedication with an honor mortgaged to no single individual or group, and comprised of no private obligation or aim, but devoted solely to serving the public good and the national interest?" It was the first time many of them in the Bekwai and Offinso municipalities, Sekyere North, Bibiani-Anhwiaso-Bekwai, Bosomtwe, Atwima-Mponua, New Edubiase and Goaso districts were using the computer and the internet. The programme targets children from poor backgrounds. This was made possible by the Otumfuo-Agroecom Mobile Library Project (OAMLP) - a subsidiary of the Otumfuo Charity Foundation, in partnership with Agroecom Ghana Limited, a licensed cocoa buying company (LBC). Mr. Muhammadu Muzzammil, Country Coordinator Agroecom Ghana Ltd, said the goal was to assist ensure that children in deprived communities had the same learning conditions as those in the cities and urban areas. It was also to encourage basic school children to adopt the habit of reading and the use of information and communication technology (ICT). He added that the project was playing vital role to bridge the gap between pupils in urban communities and their counterparts in the hard-to-reach areas. OAMLP is focusing priority on reading, promotion of ICT and good agricultural practices. Mr. Muzzammil expressed concern about the situation where ICT teachers in some of the schools, did not have the relevant tools - textbooks and computers to effectively teach the examinable subject. He said it was this challenge that the mobile library project was helping to address by providing basic academic resources including reading books and computer lessons to children in basic and senior high schools. With the help of generators, staff of the project spend days in communities where the children and other members of the community, would take turns to use computers, access internet services and read variety of library books. The LBC had in last June, presented a cheque for GHc1.4 million to the Otumfuo Charity Foundation to support the project for the next four years. The money was meant for the purchase of a pickup vehicle, a cargo van, 60 laptop computers, generator, two projectors and screens and video camera among other things. Agroecom Ghana Ltd has been operating in Ghana since year 2013 when it took over Armajaro's Global Cocoa. Pragya, Abhi, Aliya and Raj who are among the main cast of the series arrived in Ghana last Friday and spent the weekend interacting with fans in Accra, Tamale and Kumasi. Among those who criticized Ghanaians for buying a ticket was the leader of the Ebenezer Miracle Worship Center, Prophet Ebenezer Adarkwa. The man of God who is popularly known as Opambour or Prophet 1 said it was sad to see people willing to pay such amounts to see "just some Indian stars". Speaking on his TV network the pastor could not reconcile why one would spend GHC 600 to take photos with another human being like them. The stars of the popular show thrilled their fans at the meet and greet sessions in Accra and Kumasi on Friday and Saturday respectively. News of Rebecca Awanus inhumane act defeats the World Children Day celebrated barely two days ago, which sought to conscientise people about the rights of children and the need to protect them. READ MORE: British Airways plane carrying Christians attacked by strange birds midair According to reports, Headmaster of Odumprala MA Basic School, Emmanuel Atisey, disclosed to Oman Fm that the victim had been absent from school for three weeks after she had been reported ill of malaria. He said when the little girl finally reported to school on Wednesday, Gentian Violet was found applied to wounds on her legs. Though the girl was unwilling to disclose her ordeal, an investigation by the school authorities revealed severe wounds all over her buttocks sustained from burns. School authorities then took the girl to the hospital and examinations revealed that she suffered serious burns. Police said the girls vagina had been damaged and infected per the report from the Amasaman Hospital. Interestingly when she reported the matter to the church where Donald was a youth leader, she was told that it was against church policy to take a Christian brother before a heathen judge or even the police. As if that was not enough, they further told her if she was a better wife to the husband, he wouldnt find interest in the 2-year-old daughter. George Donald has been sentenced to seven years jail term by Pretoria Regional Court after he finally admitted guilt for the offence and apologized to his daughter. According to the mirror.co.uk, he was living in South Africa in the 1980s when he abused his daughter between age 2 and 10. The abuse was as frequent as twice a week. Traumatised Cordelia who lives in Scotland now said He was no father he was a monster that lived in my house, lurking in the corners, taking what he believed was rightfully his. No child should go through that torture. George Donald was always seen by many as a true and respectable Christian, but Cordelia did not mince her words at all when she said, Behind this perfect family impression lay a sinister secret of a man who thrived on the ability to control, manipulate, lie and abuse many around him. I was victim to sexual, physical, psychological and emotional abuse. As a child growing up in this environment, I lived in fear, confusion and hyper vigilance. I would jump if I heard a car pull up or a lock turned. I was constantly scared. She added that I felt that by saying nothing, I was protecting my family because Donald had threatened to kill her and the entire family fit his conducts were exposed. The traumatized but brave Cordelia revealed that Ive had counselling and I believe I have mainly dealt with the abuse. I am not broken he has not won. I feel nothing for him. READ ALSO: British Airways plane carrying Christians attacked by strange birds midair He is as much a stranger now as he was the monster in the cupboard when I was a child. I hope other people come forward, knowing he is in prison and knowing they will be believed, so they can find a sense of justice. It is not clear where the plane took off from and where it was bound. One Pastor Brian who was also onboard the plane said after disembarking that It happened this morning as our plane was about to take off, the Devil and his Demons in forms of birds attacked the plane on air, they wanted to break into the pilot positions and finally make the plane fall down and crash. Our lord Jesus Christ said it was not yet our time. Kofi Asiedu pleaded guilty of defiling a 14-year-old girl under the guise of delivering her from a witchcraft spirit, and the court sentenced him on his own plea. READ MORE: Students came out of exam hall crying because of this mathematical question The convict reportedly committed the crime at Begoro in the Fanteakwa District of the Eastern region. Prosecution told the court that, father of the victim sought the help of Mallam Isaah in July this year, to get rid of a witchcraft spirit he suspected might be responsible for her deviant conducts. Both the complainant and the convict arrived at an agreement that the victim would stay with the spiritualist for the period within which the exorcism would be done. Prosecution said the convict took the victim into a room where he bathed her with some herbs, smeared sheer butter in her vagina and then had sex with her, claiming that the spirit was hiding in her stomach hence the need to have sex with her to drive it away. The victim revealed her ordeal to her father who then reported the incident to the Begoro Police, leading to the arrest of the convict on November 16, after the victim had been issued a medical form to seek treatment. The mother-of-one who was once married to Kwadwo Sarfo, registered her union with Olusegun Olowookere, popularly known as Iceberg Slim in a private ceremony. READ ALSO: 5 sex positions women hate The celebrity bride looked gorgeous in her wedding dress and her partner wore a suit for their big day. Earlier this month, the screen goddess warned her new husband in an interview that Ghanaians will deal with the musician if he decides to end their relationship. Ghanaians are listening, the whole country is behind me. If you mess upif you mess up Iceberg SlimI see the comments from my Ghanaian fans like if you try it, if you mess Juliet up, we will deal with you," the actress warned. Speaking on Joy FM, the celebrity couple revealed they meet and fell in love during a trip to South Africa. Their common interest was music and the fact that Iceberg Slim is also into music was enough to kick things off. Asked what he likes about Juliet Ibrahim, Iceberg Slim said: "There is no word in the dictionary to actually explain. Its just a feeling and its a happy feeling. She has great heartshe is a very caring person, Iceberg Slim added. Speaking at post-budget forum organized by KPMG in Accra, Ms Cuba said that the government has created a predictable environment that allows businesses like Vodafone to focus on their mandate. Theres pretty much a predictable environment. The depreciation in the currency has been manageable, we have not had any kind of shock, to be honest with you, in the last eight months. To me, thats a stable macroeconomic environment. Everything that I have put into my budget is coming to pass just as I have expected, she said. She, however, said that the government will get a perfect score if it works towards creating a predictable policy environment. What I mean is that there is a difference between what is stated as the intention of the country and how I experience such intention. When I actually go from department to department in order to facilitate my business, then I dont feel the ease of doing business is a reality. When I look at all the competitive indexes and I see us a country we are dropping down a couple of notches, it doesnt feel like it is that easy to do business in our country, she said. Do you also eat here? I asked him. Because you have started eating here, the restaurant will become too expensive for some of us o. It is a common joke I share when I meet the top presenters of Multimedia at a restaurant. I have always been eating here, he told me. Then how come Ive never met you here? I asked and went to take my seat. Kaba was not his usual jolly self that Thursday afternoon. He did not respond with laughter or a joke. He just went on with his meal. After eating, he sat for what appeared to be a long time. When I lifted my eyes from my phone, I saw him staring fixedly and meditatively at nothing in particular. I took particular notice of him and started to gossip about him with myself. He had shaved freshly. A bump at the back of his head had healed completely. Some time back, it appeared these bumps had no cure and men had them at the back of their heads, I thought to myself. Then his wedding came to mind. He had invited me to the reception at the Banquet Hall of the State House, but I couldnt make it. It was a week or so after I had brought trouble upon myself by publishing a story about a Ford Expedition gift a contractor who had been awarded government of Ghana contracts gave to the President of Ghana. I had decided to stay out of the limelight and did not want to meet politicians, who were sure to attend Kabas wedding reception. As these things replayed in my head, I watched Kaba take out a 10 cedi note and produced another five cedi note from his side pocket before calling the attendant to come for the money. He left the restaurant without saying goodbye to me. This was uncharacteristic of Kaba. He would have called out loudly, Manass! or Bongo Boy! emphasizing the B in the Bongo. Later that evening when he was leaving the station after his show, I met him at the stairs in front of the Multimedia radio building chatting with a female Joy News reporter. Kaba, do you know Favour? I asked him. Thats his girlfriend, I said, pointing at the lady. We all laughed and I walked away. The following morning, I travelled to Kete-Krachi. I had not heard or thought about Kaba since our last meeting until my friend and Member of Parliament for Kumbungu, Ras Mubarak, called me Saturday morning to ask whether what he was hearing about Kaba was true. What have you heard? I asked him nervously.I hadnt been on social media that morning so I quickly went to the Whatsapp platform of my media house. I kept scrolling and reading posts, knowing that the news appeared to be true, but still hoping against hope that it would turn out to be the usual social media hoax. I kept reading, trying to find an authentic confirmation or denial until I came across a post from someone who had spoken with another person at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, where Kaba had been sent: Unfortunately, it is true. I called Ras Mubarak back and repeated those same words, Unfortunately, it is true. It is true that Kaba has ceased to live. It is true that his life and works on this planet had ended. It is true that audiences of his popular afternoon political talk show on Asempa FM, Ekosii Sen, will not hear him again. If they ever hear any voice of Kaba, then it is a recording of what transpired before Saturday, November 18, 2017. I have always doubted the sincerity of tributes, but Kaba is one of the people whose tributes are generally a reflection of his personality. He was not an angel. Like everyone else, he obviously had his faults. But as a journalist, especially a broadcaster as he was, much of his life was lived in the public domain. So people who have heard him or encountered him on the personal level will testify about his good human relations. He is one person you cannot get angry with, myjoyonlines editor, Malik Abass Daabu, observed. You could not pass by Kaba without noticing his imposing figure. Apart from his figure, one thing you could hardly miss on him was a perpetual smile. Kaba was a household name. He earned fame. But he learnt to tame them. READ ALSO: Ghanaian journalists react to KABA's shocking deathMost radio and TV personalities tend to be arrogant and snobbish, as if the whole world were a delicate egg that rested on their shoulders and that everything else would collapse if they decided to smash it. They walk about with the presence of mind that they are the best things that ever happened to humanity after Jesus Christ. They go about with the thats me! disposition. Kaba was not like that. He had no issues with his ego. If he did, he left it at home before coming to work each day.I had appeared on his show a number of times to talk about my investigations and have had the chance to make a suggestion or two to his show. A month ago when he hosted the president of the diabetes association, I rushed to his producer and requested to take charge of the production because we had information that would nail her. The woman had said she would not speak to Joy FM so being on Asempa FM was good enough for us. The producer agreed and alerted Kaba immediate. It was delightful producing Kaba. My intervention was at a very short notice, but he cooperated and within a minute or two, Elizabeth Denyo, for that was the guests name, was fumbling and contradicting her earlier claims. READ ALSO: Here is how KABA got employed at Multimedia GroupThe death of Kaba is an enormous loss. These are hard times for his parents. He was their only child. These are hard times for his wife, with whom they had spent less than a year and a half of married life. His seven-month old daughter, Nana Yaa, will have her grief postponed until she is old enough to know what Saturdays misfortune really means.The Multimedia Group will find it tough having to go without a colleague and even tougher to proceed without one of its top presenters. The enormity of the loss will be different on everyone depending on how Kaba touched them with his 37-year old life on this planet.Death is the biggest irony of Gods creation. It happens everyday but it still remains a mystery. We expect it and know it can strike anybody at anytime but it still leaves shock in its wake anytime it hits a target. We know it can happen to anyone young or old, rich or poor, saint or sinner, healthy or sick yet we are always unprepared for it.While we mourn Kaba or any loss of friends or relatives, we should console ourselves with the biggest lessons their deaths teach us. If there is any benefit of death, then that is its constant reminder to the living about the things that really matter while we have breath.Before Ras Mubarak and I ended our conversation on Saturday, we talked about how meaningless life could be. We spoke about how nothing matters anymore when the moment of truth arrives, how nothing we toil and struggle to acquire has no say in how long we live or how we die.After that conversation, I was thinking about it and it occurred to me that our lives on this planet is like checking into a hotel. The hotel is not a permanent home. It is temporary. And when youre leaving the hotel, you leave behind the things you met there. The fittings and furnishing and the architecture and the things you see may be marvelous in your eyes and but when youre checking out, you leave them behind.So like each one of us, Kaba lived in a hotel. The difference between this proverbial hotel of life and the real life hotel is that occupants of the former have no idea when they are checking out. That makes it even more worrying. Besides, in the hotel of life, you dont check out with your own belongings.Kaba would not go with his cars, clothes, house or anything he acquired in his nearly four decades of hustle. Now matter how big his wardrobe is, he will go with only one attire.What matters is the legacy he left behind. All those paying tributes to him do not mention anything about his material possession. They talk about his character or how he touched them in one way or the other with his God-given potential. This reminds me of Nelson Mandelas potent words:In judging our progress as individuals, we tend to concentrate on external factors such as ones social position, influence and popularity, wealth and standard of educationbut internal factors may be even more crucial in assessing ones development as a human being: humility, purity, generosity, absence of vanity and readiness to serve our fellow men qualities within the reach of every human soul.I am not in anyway preaching against the acquisition of wealth. There is nothing wrong with it. And we must not fear death and refuse to sleep. But there is something we should be concerned about in our pursuit of better living conditions and that elusive treasure called happiness.When one looks at certainty of death and the uncertainty of when, where and how it will come, there is no point in being greedy, fraudulent, corrupt or murderous in ones pursuit of wealth. If you were told that you had 12 hours, 12 days or 12 months more to live, what would be your priority?Sometimes people say, they are employing crooked means to build a solid foundation for their children but there is no guarantee that parents will die before their children`. In Kabas case, his parents will have the painful ordeal of burying him.Like Kaba, we are all living in hotels. We dont know when, where and how we will be compelled to check out without any notice. When its time to leave, we will go empty handed. What will matter most in our unannounced exit will be the impact we make in the lives of others.The noblest of all human achievements are within the reach of every human soul.May Kaba rest in peace. And may we live in peace. The Minister was speaking at the launch of the Child Protection Social Drive which was held in Accra. Otiko condemned the act and said this is depriving children especially girls in the area of their rights. READ ALSO: Manhyia palace cancels curfew You sell a child for as low as GHC20; that the worth of a child is less than the worth of a fowl or a goat, that is not the Ghana our ancestors left for us. You cannot allow your child to go and prostitute to feed you, that is shirking your responsibility. There is no pride in selling out your 12-year old into marriage, it is a dishonourable event, it is indeed haram and it must stop. She added that over 90 percent of children in Ghana have suffered either sexual or physical abuse. READ ALSO: Couple arrested for stealing food meant for SHS students In 2014, Child prostitution topped the list of the most common Child Sexual Tourism (CST) in the country. Findings from the Global Study on Sexual Exploitation of Children in Travel and Tourism, Ghana Section 2015 revealed that 30 out of 44 respondents, approximately 68.2 percent, selected child prostitution as the common form of CST in tourist destinations. Ghana's growing middle class offers new opportunities for Danish eco-tech and food businesses. During the next four days, led by Her Majesty Queen Margrethe, the Danish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Anders Samuelsen, and the Minister for Environment and Food, Esben Lunde Larsen, 39 Danish businesses will have the opportunity to open the doors to the Ghanaian market. The Minister for Environment and Food has high expectations to the trade mission. "Ghana is currently demanding some of the food products and technological solutions within which Denmark holds a strong position. However, even though Denmark has strong solutions, the potential for Danish exports to Ghana is far from realised. Therefore, it is important that we promote Danish businesses, so they are first in line when Ghana invests in food products or in water and eco-technology," said the Minister for Environment and Food, Esben Lunde Larsen. During the visit, the Minister for Environment and Food will focus on establishing relations to the Ghanaian authorities and opening doors for the Danish businesses. In 2016, Danish exports to Ghana amounted to approx. DKK 270 million (EUR 36 million). In the first seven months of 2017, Danish exports to Ghana rose to an extraordinary level of almost DKK 1 billion (EUR 134 million) due to a major order landed by the oil industry. "Even though Danish exports to Ghana rose during 2017, there is still a huge unfulfilled potential for Danish businesses in Ghana. For example, Ghana currently has a water loss of more than 50 percent, whereas Denmark loses less than 8 percent of water from waterworks to consumers. Moreover, with Denmark's high level of food safety, high level of efficiency and climate-friendly food production, we can supply both high-quality food products and technology to the West Africans. I look forward to showing the Ghanaians what Danish businesses can offer," said Esben Lunde Larsen. The trade mission will take place from 23 November to 25 November. Extracts from the programme: 23/11: Speech by the Danish Minister for Environment and Food at the opening ceremony for the Danish state visit. 23/11: Ceremony for Danish businesses with signing of agreements with Ghanaian authorities and businesses. 23/11: Bilateral meetings with Ghanaian ministers for water resources and sanitation, the environment as well as food and agriculture. 24/11-25/11: Visits to the Danish-founded FanMilk, the Ghanaian Weija Waterworks and Blue Skies juice Factory. Facts about Ghana and Danish exports: Ghana has 28 million inhabitants. Ghana was Denmark's 84th largest export market in 2016, corresponding to DKK 272.7 million (around EUR 37 million) or 0.04% of total Danish exports. In the first seven months of 2017, Danish exports to Ghana rose to almost DKK 1 billion (EUR 134 million). Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! He compared the budget of the then opposition NPP to the governing NDC and said the latters budget was nowhere close to the former. In the last elections, we outspent the NPP if it was a matter of resourcesNPP could not come anywhere near us, yet the NDC lost in the 2016 election. READ ALSO: Bawumia reacts to death of radio presenter Dr Kwabena Donkor said this at a town hall meeting with the youth wing of the Tertiary Educational Institutions Network (TEIN) of the University of Education, Winneba, Kumasi Campus. Money does not win electionsbig rallies do not also win elections, he added. He said the NDC should have learnt from the 2008 experience of the NPP. In 2008, if you saw NPPs rallies and all the musicians after themunfortunately we failed to learn. In 2016, we repeated the same mistakes with big rallies and musicians. You do not do same things and expect different outcomes, he pointed out He said the party lost because they failed to pay attention to the grassroots and branches of the party. Zimbabwean President, Robert Mugabe, on Tuesday resigned from his position after ruling the southern African country for 37 years since 1980. The 93-year-old's resignation came after a week of intense pressure from the military and the public. Despite an army takeover and expulsion from his own ruling ZANU-PF party, Mugabe had refused to step down in a defiant televised speech on Sunday, November 19, 2017. However, he sent a letter of resignation to the Zimbabwean parliament on Tuesday, November 21. Commenting on the development on Twitter, John Mahama wrote: A sad ending for a liberation hero, a patriot and a great Pan Africanist. I pray the dramatic events of November serve as a reboot for democracy and prosperity in #Zim. History will remember Comrade Mugabe kindly. But his tweet has not gone down really well with many people, and the former president has since come under attack from many on the micro-blogging site. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said he is worried about the security of Mugabe and wants the African Union to take interest in how the 93-year-old will be treated by the military who succeeded in pressurizing him to resign. Robert Mugabe, on Tuesday resigned from his position after ruling the southern African country for 37 years since 1980. The 93-year-old's resignation came after a week of intense pressure from the military and the public. Despite an army takeover and expulsion from his own ruling ZANU-PF party, Mugabe had refused to step down in a defiant televised speech on Sunday, November 19, 2017. However, he sent a letter of resignation to the Zimbabwean parliament on Tuesday, November 21. Commenting on the development, Mr Ablakwa, who is also the Minority Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs said Akufo-Addo must invite Mugabe back to Ghana. He said that even though he is grateful that the military treated the Zimbabwean leader with dignity, he fears the situation might change since he is no more in power. "Mugabe already has close ties with Ghanahe was trained as a liberation fighter; he married his first wife in Ghana; his son was buried in Ghana, he loves Ghana. The blast happened during early morning prayers at the Madina mosque in the Unguwar Shuwa area of Mubi, some 200 kilometres (125 miles) by road from the Adamawa state capital, Yola. "So far we have at least 50 dead from an attack at a mosque in Mubi," Adamawa state police spokesman Othman Abubakar told AFP. "Several people were injured. We don't have the figure now because they have been taken to several hospitals for treatment." "It was a (suicide) bomber who mingled with worshippers. He entered the mosque along with other worshippers for the morning prayers." "It was when the prayers were on that he set off his explosives." Asked who was responsible, Abubakar said: "We all know the trend. We don't suspect anyone specifically but we know those behind such kind of attacks." The attack bore all the hallmarks of Boko Haram, the Islamist militants whose insurgency has left at least 20,000 people dead and more than 2.6 million others homeless since 2009. Haruna Furo, head of the Adamawa state emergency management agency, and Musa Hamad Bello, chairman of the Mubi north local government area, both confirmed the attack. They gave lower death tolls but both said the number of those killed was likely to rise. Another emergency services official described the blast as "devastating". He said only that there were "high casualties". Roof blown off Abubakar Sule, who lives near the mosque, said he had just returned home when he heard the blast. "I was there when the rescue was on and 40 people died on the spot and several others were taken to hospital with severe and life-threatening injuries," he added. "The roof was blown off. People near the mosque said the prayer was mid-way when the bomber, who was obviously in the congregation, detonated his explosives. "This is obviously the work of Boko Haram." Boko Haram briefly overran Mubi in late 2014 as its fighters rampaged across northeastern Nigeria, seizing towns and villages in its quest to establish a hardline Islamic state. The town's name was changed temporarily to Madinatul Islam, or "City of Islam" in Arabic, during the Boko Haram occupation. But it has been peaceful since the military and the civilian militia ousted them from the town, which is a commercial hub and home to the Adamawa State University. In recent months, Boko Haram activity has been concentrated on the far north of Adamawa state, around Madagali, which is near the border with neighbouring Borno state. Earlier this month, at least two civilians were killed when dozens of Boko Haram fighters tried to storm the town of Gulak but were repelled by soldiers. There have been repeated suicide bombings in the area, which lies not far from the Sambisa Forest area of Borno, where the militants had a base. A short time ago we terminated Charlie Roses employment with CBS News, effective immediately, the network said in a statement. CBS News has reported on extraordinary revelations at other media companies this year and last. Our credibility in that reporting requires credibility managing basic standards of behavior. That is why we have taken these actions, it added. The bombshell Post report said the eight women were employees or aspired to work on the broadcasters eponymous Charlie Rose, which aired on public broadcaster PBS. They complained that the unwanted advances included lewd phone calls, groping and walking naked in front of them. All were in their 20s and 30s when the alleged harassment took place from the 1990s to as recently as 2011. Rose, now 75, is the latest in a series of powerful men accused of misconduct in the wake of the downfall of Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, which opened the floodgates of sexual assault and harassment accusations in many industries. Rose on Monday issued a public statement apologizing for what he called inappropriate behavior and said he was greatly embarrassed, but that he did not believe that all of these allegations are accurate. The assembly on Friday had voted overwhelmingly to let him out while he awaits trial, arguing it had authority over sitting politicians. That vote prompted fury from many in a city exasperated with rampant corruption and crime. According to prosecutors, Picciani was part of a graft scheme headed by state governor Sergio Cabral, who a year ago was convicted and sentenced to more than 14 years prison. Picciani is a member of the center-right PMDB party of President Michel Temer, himself the first president in Brazil to be charged with corruption while in office. Unifying Syria is an extremely difficult proposition, with the country currently divided between forces loyal to Kremlin-allied strongman Bashar al-Assad, the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and several jihadist groups and rebel units. The two presidents emphasized the need to implement UN Security Council Resolution 2254, which calls for a ceasefire and humanitarian access as part of efforts to end the conflict, and UN-led peace talks in Geneva, the White House said in a statement. The aim is "to peacefully resolve the Syrian civil war, end the humanitarian crisis, allow displaced Syrians to return home and ensure the stability of a unified Syria free of malign intervention and terrorist safe havens," it said. The United States has backed various rebel forces in Syria as well as the SDF, which has battled the Islamic State jihadist group, while Russia is an even more active party to the conflict, carrying out air strikes directly in support of Assad's forces. President Donald Trump told White House reporters on Tuesday that AT&T's proposed acquisition of Time Warner is "not good for the country." His comments echo sentiments he voiced on the campaign trail in October 2016, and they come one day after the US Department of Justice sued to block AT&T's $84.5 billion takeover of Time Warner. Uber reportedly paid hackers $100,000 to cover up a cyberattack that exposed the personal data of 57 million people here's how they hid the breach. Meg Whitman, one of Silicon Valley's best-known execs, is stepping down from the CEO job at Hewlett Packard Enterprise. She told employees that news of her departure should come as "as no surprise." Meanwhile on Wall Street, Tourbillon Capital, a $3.4 billion hedge fund firm led by Jason Karp, is suffering, according to a note to investors seen by Business Insider. In other news: how to make a killing in the market this Black Friday Senate GOP tax bill fails a key test doubled his bitcoin forecast to $11,500 Amazon's move into pharma According to Reuters, Mnangagwa will become Zimbabwes president and the swearing-in ceremony is expected to hold either on Wednesday or Thursday (November 22 or 23, 2017). ZANU-PF's Chief Whip, Lovemore Matuke also confirmed this information, and stated that Mnangagwa will serve the remainder of Mugabes term until the next general elections, which is scheduled to hold by September 2018. Mnangagwa was sacked by Mugabe on November 8, 2017 as the country's vice President. He later fled the southern African country claiming a threat to his life. This move triggered a military action, and the army seized power. It is this process that led to the resignation of Mugabe on Tuesday, November 22. On Sunday, November 20, 2017, Mr Mugabe was replaced with Mnangagwa as the Chairman of the ruling ZANU-PF by the party's congress. This move consolidates the military support for Mnangagwa, and re-enforced his choice as the right man to succeed Mr Mugabe. Who is Emmerson Mnangagwa? Emmerson Mnangagwa was the first Vice President of Zimbabwe since 2014 and was sacked from the position by Mugabe on Monday, November 6, 2017. Mnangagwa was the more prominent of the country's two vice presidents and had been part of Mugabe's cabinet since independence. Also Read: Emmerson Mnangagwa - Meet the man who may be the next President of Zimbabwe He was the countrys former minister of defence, before becoming the vice president. Thus, he enjoyed a strong support from military generals and war veterans. Calls for Michigan Rep. John Conyers to step aside from his post as top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee or from Congress all together are increasing as revelations about his alleged sexual misconduct continue to emerge. Conyers' Democratic colleagues in the House, including Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and House Whip Steny Hoyer, have demanded an investigation by the Ethics Committee and are repeating calls for an overhaul of the way Congress handles sexual misconduct issues. The Ethics Committee swiftly launched an investigation into Conyers after BuzzFeed reported that a woman was fired for not complying with his sexual advances. Conyers admitted to a settlement, but denied any wrongdoing. Some have suggested further action be taken. New York Rep. Gregory Meeks told CNN on Wednesday that Conyers should leave his post as ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee while the Ethics Committee conducts its investigation. " The 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, has ruminated on her relationship with conservative media outlets during the campaign. In an interview with the conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt released on Tuesday, Clinton a longtime critic of right-wing media outlets explained her aversion to appearing for interviews with right-leaning media, many of which made it known that the Clinton campaign repeatedly rebuffed or ignored interview requests. When Hewitt asked why she avoided listening to or participating in interviews on conservative talk radio, Clinton said she was alienated by anger on such radio programs, as well as the various conspiracies pushed by some right-wing pundits. "I'm a little allergic to the kind of bombast and craziness that I sometimes hear from others, because I think it has really undermined our ability to work together across partisan lines," Clinton said. She added: "We can have our differences, and I've always thought you were one of the people who was on that side like, OK, I have real differences, I'm going to explain what I think, but even having me on your show today demonstrates that you're somebody who wants to have a real discussion about the issues that we face." Hewitt said he regretted that Clinton's staff "was very protective during the campaign." "They kept you away from, I mean, the thoughtful people on the right, and they are legion," he said. "They sealed you off from it." He also pressed Clinton on whether she "hit back too hard at legitimate critics and questions," pointing to her criticism of The New York Times' coverage of her use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. "I did think that I had to be careful in public, and probably I did have my guard up too much," Clinton said. "Those days are over." She continued: "I will take responsibility, because clearly, it is challenging when the press, and not just the press on the right, but the press in general decide that, you know, my emails are the most important story of the campaign. And that clearly was just pounded day after day after day. And you know, I take responsibility for the mistakes I made, but it was a you know, it was a pretty overblown scandal, as far as scandals go." Clinton also railed against what she characterized as attempts by the right-wing media to consistently use her as a punching bag, pointing to the recent focus of many on the right on connecting her to a 2010 deal in which the US approved the sale of the Canadian energy company Uranium One to a Russian nuclear-energy firm. "There is a deliberate effort to misinterpret facts like the whole Uranium One charge, you know, that is something that has been kept alive despite constant debunking, similar to the tragedy in Benghazi, where, you know, I testified at length," Clinton said. "I do have mixed feelings, I think it's fair to say, and I am going to try to do more with people like you because I think it's important that we talk to each other," Clinton said. "So yes, I'm going to talk to people who I believe are interested in talking disagree with me, I disagree with them, whatever it might be. But if we don't start talking and listening to each other, I am really worried about what happens to our democracy." After the 2016 election, many Clinton allies reevaluated how Democrats should interact with the conservative media. Groups like Media Matters, a left-leaning watchdog organization, committed to monitoring more far-right personalities online, while some Democratic lawmakers have tried to appear more regularly on Fox News. The wife of Sen. Rand Paul lambasted the media on Wednesday for "delighting" in spreading rumors about the attack earlier this month that left the Kentucky Republican with six broken ribs and lung damage. In a CNN op-ed, Kelley Paul described the incident as a "deliberate, blindside attack" perpetrated by the couple's Bowling Green neighbor and not, as some media outlets have portrayed it, a "scuffle," "fight," or "altercation." "This has been a terrible experience; made worse by the media's gleeful attempts to blame Rand for it, ridiculing him for everything from mowing his own lawn to composting," she wrote. She continued: "As his wife, I have been distraught over seeing him suffer like this. There have been several nights where I had my hand on my phone ready to call 911 when his breathing became so labored it was terrifying." Kelley Paul added that her husband had not taken a single breath without pain since the incident on November 3. She accused media outlets of victimizing her husband "a second time" as he recovered from his injuries, as well as "concocting theories about an 'ongoing dispute,' based on nothing more than speculation from an attention-seeking person with no knowledge of anything to do with us." Kelley Paul appeared to be referring to Jim Skaggs, who developed the gated community in which the Pauls live. Skaggs did not witness the attack but has opined on it to various media outlets, saying Rand Paul and his neighbor had a long-running dispute about the landscaping on their properties. "I think it was a neighbor-to-neighbor thing," Skaggs told The New York Times. "They just both had strong opinions, and a little different ones about what property rights mean." Kelley Paul shot down that assessment on Wednesday, saying that neither she nor her husband had spoken with his attacker in a decade, "other than a casual wave from the car." "The only 'dispute' existed solely in the attacker's troubled mind, until, on a beautiful autumn day, he ran down the hill on our property and slammed his body into Rand's lower back as he stood facing away, wearing noise-canceling headphones to protect his ears from the lawnmower," she wrote. Police have charged Rene Boucher, a 59-year-old retired anesthesiologist, with fourth-degree assault. In a bizarre statement released shortly after the extent of Paul's injuries were made public, Boucher's attorney, Matthew Baker, said the incident had nothing to do with either man's political beliefs. "It was a very regrettable dispute between two neighbors over a matter that most people would regard as trivial," Baker said. "We sincerely hope that Senator Paul is doing well and that these two gentlemen can get back to being neighbors as quickly as possible." Attorney General Jeff Sessions has taken a methodical approach to pushing a staunchly conservative agenda as the head of the justice system for the past 10 months. He's ramped up immigration enforcement and begun new fights against drugs and gangs. He's rolled back Obama-administration-era policies on LGBT rights, voting rights, and criminal justice and police reforms. The Justice Department is perhaps most forcefully carrying out the agenda paraded by President Donald Trump for over a year on the campaign trail. But no one member of Trump's Cabinet has faced more ire than Sessions both from Trump and from his allies. He has been stuck in the doghouse since in March he recused himself from all matters related to the campaign and, by proxy, investigations involving Russia. And more recently, he has been targeted for not pushing harder for another investigation into the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton. "I think Jeff Sessions is one of the greatest disappointments of Trump's Cabinet," Ned Ryun, CEO of the conservative grassroots organization American Majority, said on Fox News following Sessions' recent testimony before the House Judiciary Committee. "He should never have recused himself, and if he was going to, he should've refused the appointment." "Sessions is a big disappointment," Jeff Kuhner, a conservative Boston radio host, tweeted earlier this month. "Trump should replace him with an AG who will go after Hillary's crimes. Drain the swamp!" Trump and allies ask why Sessions wont investigate Clinton In a piece Kuhner wrote on the subject, he said Sessions' refusal "to investigate the seminal scandal of our time," the 2010 Uranium One deal, made his firing a necessity. That deal in which nine US government agencies, including the Clinton-led State Department, approved the sale of the Canadian energy company Uranium One to a Russian nuclear-energy firm has received renewed scrutiny on the right as the special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia's meddling in the 2016 election expands to examine any connections between Trump's orbit and Russia. Jeff Crouere, a columnist for the conservative news outlet Townhall, echoed that sentiment in a column titled "The Biggest Disappointment in Trump's Presidency." He wrote that Sessions was "handicapped" by his recusals "from the serious issues that need his attention." While the attorney general "has been vocal on the issue of combating illegal immigration, he has been unwilling to act on critical matters that impact the survival of the Trump administration," Crouere wrote, calling for Trump to give Sessions the "you're fired" treatment. Trump earlier this month also expressed disappointment in the Sessions-led Justice Department after excoriating the attorney general for his recusal from all campaign-related matters and then calling upon the Justice Department to investigate the Clintons. Asked if he would fire Sessions, Trump said, "I don't know." In his hearing before the House Judiciary Committee last week, Sessions was, of course, pressed most extensively on two topics: Russia and investigating the Clintons. It led to a memorable exchange with Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, a leading member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus. After describing what he characterized as evidence of Clinton's wrongdoings and listing his arguments for why an appointment was necessary, Jordan said, "What is it going to take to actually get a special counsel?" "It would take a factual basis that meets the standards of the appointment of a special counsel," Sessions said, adding: "We will use the proper standards, and that's the only thing I can tell you, Mr. Jordan. You can have your idea, but sometimes we have to study what the facts are and to evaluate whether it meets the standard that requires a special counsel." Sessions later said, "'Looks like' is not enough basis to appoint a special counsel." Sessions is getting a bit of a raw deal As one Trump ally explained to Business Insider, the frustration with Sessions may not extend to rank-and-file Trump supporters. But it has become engrained in the Trump political class. The ally said, however, that as attorney general, Sessions had carried out Trump's agenda about as closely as anyone would have expected. "I do think the guy is getting a bit of a raw deal," a former White House official told Business Insider. Barry Bennett, a former Trump campaign adviser, told Business Insider that Sessions had "done a great job" from "an anti-establishment point of view." "It's hard to dig your way out of [this] hole," he said, pointing to the criticism Sessions has received from the right. "But his wins are filling that hole." Rick Tyler, the communications director for Republican Sen. Ted Cruz's 2016 presidential campaign, told Business Insider that he was neither a critic nor a fan of Sessions. Tyler is often critical of Trump, who he said had "so diminished" Sessions that his job had become "really difficult." "I do think his entanglement, self-inflicted, in the Russia scandal has caused him to take focus off his agenda, and what he wants to do, and what he wants to hopefully accomplish," he said. "I get the sense that this was his lifetime dream job, and now he has it, he's occupying it at a time that's made it really difficult for him." Criticism of Sessions from the right, he said, isn't coming "from the right place." Tyler said, however, that Trump had a point when he said he wouldn't have hired Sessions had he known his attorney general would have to be recused from all Russia-related matters. "You don't want an attorney general who has to recuse himself from the biggest investigation going on in the Justice Department," Tyler said. Tyler said Sessions was correct that no standard had been met to appoint a special counsel in any investigation related to the Clintons, calling the push a case of "what-about-itus" that had emerged as a response to the deepening Russia investigation. And Trump's public pushing for Sessions to investigate Clinton is "very dangerous," Tyler said. Using Glassdoor, Business Insider looked into some of its employee benefits. Glassdoor users gave Apple's overall perks a 4.5 out of 5 stars on the site. One of its flashiest draws is its "beer bash" a regular event featuring snacks, free booze, and celebrity cameos. Throwing around lots of fancy employee perks seems to be the norm in the tech world. Business Insider took a look at Apple's Glassdoor reviews to see if the tech giant was any different. On Glassdoor, users gave Apple's overall benefits a 4.5 out of 5 stars on the site. Reviews indicated the company's tempting perks range from free, star-studded concerts to gym benefits. Here's a look at some of the benefits Apple offers its employees: According to Glassdoor, Apple employees get an annual 25% discount when they purchase an iPod, computer, or iPad. Every three years, workers can get $250 off an iPad or $500 off a Mac. Apple software is 50% off. The company also offers other discounts for family and friends, depending on the product. Source: Apple allows mothers to take four weeks of paid leave before giving birth and 14 weeks after. Non-birth parents get six weeks of paid time off, according to TIME. Source: The tech company also covers the cost of egg freezing. Source: Employees are treated to free beer and appetizers at the company's beer bashes not to mention some of the biggest names in music. Stevie Wonder, Demi Lovato, and OneRepublic have all performed at these semi-regular events. Source: , , An employee based in Manhasset, New York, reported Apple provides employees with a $300 gym credit annually. Source: At Apple, new hires get 12 days of paid time off but Glassdoor reviewers report it increases over time. Jocko Willink: Hi, I'm Jocko Willink. I'm retired from the military and just wrote a book called "Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual." People ask me if I'm worried about the threat, a nuclear threat from North Korea, and I think it is something you have to be concerned about. Obviously they have the weapons. They have the technology. It may not be perfect, but it doesn't have to be perfect for them to do some real damage. So its something we have to be very cautious of we have to pay attention to. And we need to be careful. One of my most popular tweets that I have put out was, surprisingly it was a remark that I made about someone asked me about what to do in North Korea. I replied that the thing to do would be to drop 25 million iPhones into North Korea and then give them free Wi-Fi satellite coverage. And of course, you know, some people came back and said, Well, how would they get power for the phones? And people broke down the strategic plan. It wasn't meant in that way. What it was meant to say is there's people in North Korea that are living under severe repression under a brutal dictator. They starve. They don't have energy. They don't have food. They don't have progress. Scott Galloway. Professor of marketing, NYU Stern. Despite how outrageously expensive college is, it's still a pretty good plan B. If a billionaire shows up and offers you $10,000 to drop out of college, punch that person in the face. It's sort of, in my opinion, obscene that a billionaire with an undergraduate degree and a graduate degree is running around the nation trying to convince people to drop out of college. It appears that it worked pretty well for him. If you look at new millionaires over the last 20 years, the vast majority of them have two things in common. One is they work out every day. Physical fitness is very important in terms of your own levels of confidence and avoiding things like depression and having more energy every day. But the number one thing all these folks have in common? They went to college. I just think it's obnoxious that a man who went to Stanford and then got a law degree and became a billionaire off of the credibility he was able to raise money off of is now telling kids to drop out of college. I think it's f------ obnoxious. I mean if Steve Jobs or if Bill Gates was doing it, they have some credibility or some license to say it, but a guy with a graduate degree? Drop out of college? I tried to do this through Berkeley, and they didn't want to do it. I said to Berkeley, I said " I'll give kids, pick 10 smart kids" I just endowed a scholarship at Berkeley and said "lets track 10 of them versus the 10 that Thiel and we're going to win." And they said, "well, we dont want to embarrass the other kids." But who would you bet on? 10 Berkeley grads, who are smart students with a college degree or... There are always going to be the JAY-Zs of the world. There's going to be the Kobe Bryants. Theres going to be the Mark Zuckerbergs, the people that drop out of college. This move is part of the growing Pan-African network of MEST incubator programs. The plan is aimed at extending the incubators activities beyond its flagship headquarters in Accra, Ghana. The launch of an incubation centre was also planned for Cape Town on Thursday, November 23, 2017. MEST is aimed at helping young African entrepreneurs with needed skills, mentorship and resources to scale their businesses. This new incubator in Nigeria's economic centre, Lagos, is a strategic move towards partnering with the state government in changing the future economy of the state through its support for new businesses, empowering millennials and providing more jobs," said Mr Tunde Durosinmi-Etti, Lagos State Commissioner for Wealth Creation and Employment. "With its 9-year track record in Ghana, we are glad to finally see MEST expand their footprint into Nigeria. MEST made its initial footprint in Nigeria in 2015 with the Nigerian and South African Entrepreneurs-in-Training (EITs). At present, the incubator is in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa and Cote dIvoire. What is MEST? MEST is a Pan-African entrepreneurial training program, seed fund and hub for technology entrepreneurs. The centre is also planned to be a co-working station for young entrepreneurs and startups. According to the centres mission, young African tech entrepreneurs will be provided with critical skills training needed to scale their businesses. These areas include software development and communication skills. Selected entrepreneurs for the MESTs program will undergo a 1-year technology training program in Ghana. This will be followed by a potential seed funding and incubation as MEST portfolio companies. Theres always been an understanding on a Hollywood movie set: the director is king. But that thinking gets a little blurred when a superstar actor is in the mix. Whether it is Tom Cruise or Meryl Streep, the director often has their job only because the star "okayd" it. If things go right, director and star work together, tolerate one another, and maybe even enjoy the experience enough to do it all over again on another movie. If things go wrong, a huge power struggle ensues and the studio heads pray every night the press doesnt catch on. Dan Gilroy has been around the business first as a reporter for Variety, then as a screenwriter (Reel Steel, The Bourne Legacy, the scrapped Tim Burton Superman movie) long enough to be very aware of all this. But hes also aware of the trick to keep a project from being tainted by a power hungry star (or studio). And Gilroy pulled it off with Roman J. Israel, Esq. (opening in theaters on Wednesday). The trick is this: You write the script without the studios involvement, and you write it with only one actor in mind to do it with. The process began when Gilroy got an idea for a movie about a lawyer who, for most of his career, has been fighting the causes of the underdog. However, when his partner (and the face of the firm) is taken ill and may not recover, the lawyer has to come out of the shadows. And then what he faces makes him question what hes been fighting for his entire career. So Gilroy had an idea. But instead of pitching the idea to a studio many of which had been knocking down Gilroys door to work with him after his hit directorial debut Nightcrawler Gilroy took a year and a half and wrote the entire script on spec. Then he presented the completed script to the only actor he wanted for the movie: Denzel Washington. Convinced only Washington could play the role, Gilroy promised himself that if Washington passed, he would throw the script in a drawer and move on. Giving Washington a setting where he could comfortably create I've never written so specifically for an actor that if they passed on it I wouldn't have done it, Gilroy told Business Insider. I always had a list of people I would have followed up with. This one I did not. I felt very strongly that the character is somebody who believes deeply in things, he's someone who believes there's something bigger than him, and Denzel is a guy who in real life believes in something bigger than himself. Him welding to that character was a quality I wouldn't be able to find in another actor. I felt very strongly about that. Gilroy jumped through the usual rings: Getting the script to Washingtons reps, waiting patiently for a response, and shock when he got word several months later that Washington wanted to meet. In that meeting, Gilroy was even more shocked by the outcome. We sat down to have lunch and an hour into it he stuck out his hand and said, Let's do this movie together, Gilroy said. Now Gilroy had a finished script and one of the greatest living actors packaged for his movie. Sony won the auction to make and release the movie. A major reason for this entire journey to make the movie was because Gilroy wanted Washington to be a collaborator with him on Roman J. Israel, Esq. And not just in the creation of the title character, but in every facet of production. The two broke down every part of the script and tweaked things to Washingtons suggestions. When the two took a break so Washington could go direct and star in Fences, Gilroy said Washington returned with an understanding about the character that had gone beyond his own. This included everything from the characters look on screen to things he would say in the middle of a take. There's a scene where he goes through a metal detector and before putting his iPod through it Denzel said the line, I lost the bass range on Gil-Scott Heron's Winter in America last time I put this in there. That was a line Denzel came up with on the spot, Gilroy said. So the choice of song that's a very heavy song but also apropos to what the guy is doing. He would do stuff like that in many scenes. I'm not looking for him to give that to me. Theres another scene when hes looking for a job and he starts to cry. That wasnt in the scene, but what hes playing becomes real to him. Washington checked his ego at the door But the collaboration didnt end when filming stopped. Gilroy wanted Washington in the edit room with him as well. I couldn't have really conceived before this of letting an actor come into the cutting room. Most actors are not objective, Gilroy said. But I knew I wanted him to come in and look at the character and in the process we started asking each other, do we need this scene? Should we trim this? Egos really got checked at the door. Gilroy believes he was so comfortable in welcoming Washington into all the phases of the movie because hes been married to actress Rene Russo for 25 years. He said watching her prepare and craft parts for years has left him with a comfort with actors that many directors do not have. However, another reason was he was only going to make Roman J. Isreal, Esq." with Washington, why wouldnt he utilize him to the fullest? There are quite a few directors who would not welcome this process, Gilroy said. They would want to tell the actor their vision. I feel for myself, as much as I trust my instincts, you lose a tremendous asset when you're working with a great actor and you're not listening and rethinking or realizing this can be approved upon. I wanted to create a space that Denzel felt comfortable creating in. That was my biggest thing. Thanks for signing up for our daily insight on the African economy. We bring you daily editor picks from the best Business Insider news content so you can stay updated on the latest topics and conversations on the African market, leaders, careers and lifestyle. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's data regulator, said on Wednesday that it plans to investigate a huge data breach that Uber concealed. Uber said on Tuesday that a hack in 2016 affected 57 million Uber customers and drivers. The San Francisco taxi app kept the breach a secret and paid the hackers $100,000 (75,000) to delete the data. When asked whether the ICO plans to issue Uber with a fine, a spokesperson told Business Insider: "It's too early to say but it's something that we'll definitely be investigating." James Dipple-Johnstone, ICO deputy commissioner, said in a statement: "Uber's announcement about a concealed data breach last October raises huge concerns around its data protection policies and ethics. "It's always the company's responsibility to identify when UK citizens have been affected as part of a data breach and take steps to reduce any harm to consumers. If UK citizens were affected then we should have been notified so that we could assess and verify the impact on people whose data was exposed. "We'll be working with the NCSC plus other relevant authorities in the UK and overseas to determine the scale of the breach, how it has affected people in the UK and what steps need to be taken by the firm to ensure it fully complies with its data protection obligations. "Deliberately concealing breaches from regulators and citizens could attract higher fines for companies." The breach took place in October 2016. The hackers were able to steal the names, emails, and phone numbers for 50 million riders globally, in addition to the personal information of 7 million drivers. This included US driver's license numbers, but no Social Security numbers, according to Uber. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi quietly published a blog post about the incident on Tuesday. "As Uber's CEO, its my job to set our course for the future, which begins with building a company that every Uber employee, partner and customer can be proud of. For that to happen, we have to be honest and transparent as we work to repair our past mistakes. "I recently learned that in late 2016 we became aware that two individuals outside the company had inappropriately accessed user data stored on a third-party cloud-based service that we use. The incident did not breach our corporate systems or infrastructure." None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it," said Khosrowshahi. "While I can't erase the past, I can commit on behalf of every Uber employee that we will learn from our mistakes. We are changing the way we do business, putting integrity at the core of every decision we make and working hard to earn the trust of our customers." An Uber spokesperson was unable to say how many people in the UK were affected. A spokesperson for Prime Minister Theresa May released this statement about the Uber breach: "These are obviously concerning reports and the National Cyber Security Centre is working closely with domestic and international agencies including the national crime agency and the information commissioners office to investigate how this breach has affected people in the UK. "We have not seen evidence that financial information has been compromised. It is unclear at this stage what countries were affected by the attack. The data breach, which occurred in October 2016, was not made public until Tuesday when Uber quietly published a blog post about the incident. But Uber's former CEO Travis Kalanick was made aware of the breach just a month after it occurred. "None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it," Dara Khosrowshahi, who joined Uber as CEO in September, wrote in the post. "We are changing the way we do business, putting integrity at the core of every decision we make and working hard to earn the trust of our customers." Among the info stolen was trove of data including the names, emails, and phone numbers for 50 million riders globally, as well as the personal information of 7 million drivers. This included US driver's license numbers, but no Social Security numbers, according to Uber. Two of the people responsible for Uber's handling of the breach are no longer with the company as a result of the findings, Khosrowshahi wrote in the post. One of them is Joe Sullivan, Uber's chief security officer, who was asked by Khosrowshahi to resign, according to Bloomberg. Sullivan had previously worked at Facebook. One of Sullivan's direct reports, a lawyer named Craig Clark, was fired, according to the report. In the hours since Bloomberg first published its report, New York State Ahas opened up an investigation into how Uber handled the hack, Tech Crunch reports. Phillip Sharp has worked at Two Doors Down, a bar in Maryville, Tennessee, for nine years. This Wednesday, the bar will have extra security on hand. Not because Two Doors is expecting any trouble. More to help the tavern's wait staff traverse the expected throngs. That's because Wednesday is the night before Thanksgiving, one of the biggest bar nights of the year. "People always talk about New Year's Eve," said Sharp. "It isn't that big compared to that Wednesday. For us, it's all hands on deck." The same can be said for many bars across the US as they brace for Thanksgiving eve, increasingly one of the top drinking holidays on the calendar, up there with St. Patrick's Day, Super Bowl Sunday, and July Fourth. It's even taken on underground-legend status in some locales. An unofficial holiday with many names A Chicago bar manager told Business Insider the day is commonly known as "Black Wednesday" a la Black Friday. Last year, the Chicago Tribune reported that extra police were on hand for that night in suburban Chicago neighborhoods like Naperville. Bar owners on Long Island refer to the night as "Big Wednesday." There are references on some drinking blogs to Drinksgiving, while Urban Dictionary has a listing for "Blackout Wednesday." It's easy to understand why Black Wednesday is a big night for bars. The majority of Americans have the day off on Thanksgiving. Many return to their hometowns to visit families and for college students it's often the first time they're back in town since leaving for campus. The temptation to see old friends, or one's ex, is high. "A lot of people are staying at their parents house for the weekend," said Kevin Culhane, an owner at Churchill's, a bar in Rockville Centre, New York. "So they go out to see people they graduated high school with. The whole village is hopping." Plus, unless you are cooking the next day, the next day centers on sitting around and overeating just the right way to recover from a night out. Still, it's hard to get a reliable source on how big a business surge Black Wednesday delivers for bars, other than anecdotes. Business Insider reached out to restaurant-industry analysts and tavern associations, but none tracked the collective industry revenue value for the night. Matt Giunta, who works for the Anheuser-Busch distributor Clare Rose, said the night is known as "the holiday before the holiday for the beverage industry." "It's by far the biggest night of the year for us as far back as I know," said Timothy Murray, who runs Mulcahy's Pub and Concert Hall in Wantagh, New York. Murrays' father has owned Mulcahy's since the 1980s. "It's definitely a long night, and everyone who works here works that night," said Murray. "But it's a lot of fun. The beauty of it is, you don't have to promote it. You just open the door." Murray said that typically translates to a strong weekend overall, since once Thanksgiving wraps up, "Everyone's sick of their families, or they go out with cousins and uncles." Going back to where everybody knows your name Black Wednesday seems to be more of a suburban phenomenon than urban. Shane Smyth, who owns two bars in the Boston area, said the one located in the city's financial district is typically pretty dead on Thanksgiving eve, while Hugh O'Neill's in the suburb Malden, is jumping. Smyth estimates that on that night which he calls "Thanksgiving 'Eve Homecoming Party" business is up 400% versus the average Wednesday. "We hit capacity pretty early in the night," he said. The evening is even bigger than St. Patrick's Day, which is saying something in Massachusetts. Because of its suburban foothold, Black Wednesday has become one of the biggest nights of the year for Uber. The company is offering free rides on Long Island to help discourage drunk driving, reported Newsday. Uber has also been running ads on its app in cities like Denver, New York and San Francisco driving people to the Uber blog to check out local bars to celebrate that night: Where Denver Uber riders celebrate the day before Thanksgiving. Meanwhile, at Two Doors Down in Maryville, Tennessee, Black Wednesday typically starts off slow. "Then a 10:30 or 11 o'clock all of a sudden we're slammed," said Sharp. This year, the bar is also featuring karaoke. Just months after raising a few billion dollars for itself, WeWork is passing along some of its good fortune. In its largest investment to date, the coworking space provider led a $32 million funding round for The Wing, a New York startup that runs women-only community spaces. The round, which was announced Tuesday, is one of the largest series B fundraising efforts ever by female founders, according to Audrey Gelman, The Wing's cofounder and CEO. "Not to mention that my partner was eight months pregnant while we did that," Gelman said, referring to Lauren Kassan, The Wing's chief operating officer and other cofounder. Gelman and Kassan launched The Wing in 2015 as a coworking and community outlet that emphasizes empowering social programming and providing networking opportunities. At its chicly decorated spaces, the company hosts "happenings," with themes ranging from paper doll making parties to in-person interviews with senators. The Wing offers spaces to work and a few private offices, and it charges a $215 monthly membership fee. That's comparable to what WeWork customers pay for that company's "hot desk" offering, which allows them to work at table in an open space in one of WeWork's offices. But Gelman doesn't see WeWork as her competition. Unlike WeWork customers, most of The Wing's members are there for its social offerings, she said. The Wing currently has two spaces in Manhattan and plans to open locations in Brooklyn and Washington, DC next quarter. It plans to use the money it raised in its latest funding round to expand to San Francisco, Los Angeles, and, eventually, internationally. "We've gotten a lot of outreach from women in London and Paris. We got a request this week from a woman in Latvia," Gelman said. "So that's the core thing just expanding our physical footprint." The Wing first met with WeWork through Julie Rice, the co-founder of SoulCycle Jen Berrent, WeWork's chief operating officer, will be joining The Wing's board. Gelman said she's eager to take advantage of that connection to tap into WeWork's expertise in "construction, real estate, development and infrastructure." But Berrent isn't The Wing's only personal connection to WeWork. Gelman and Kassan connected with people at the company through their advisor, Julie Rice, who cofounded SoulCycle. Rice announced Monday that she's joining WeWork as chief brand officer. Berrent wrote in a blog post she thinks WeWork and The Wing have similar outlooks and missions. Most of us grew up hearing stories and watching movies about it while others were fortunate or unfortunate (depending on how you look at it) to have witnessed a deliverance session. Today, we share some insight on this interesting topic. Here are five things you should know about spirit husbands and wives. They are demons To some, these kind of spouses are mere myths, to a lot of people in the church they are definitely real. According to Christian Truth Center, they are demons, which explains why they can not be seen with normal eyes. Sex in dreams is one of their tactics Apparently, this is a sure way to tell if you have a spirit husband or wife. They cause sexual immorality Spiritual spouses do not just have sex with you, they make their victims sleep around. According to the website, they also cause pornography, masturbation, homosexuality and prostitution. They cause confusion in homes This site tells us that having a spiritual spouse is most likely to lead to problems in any home. This is because they cause the wives to disrespect their human husbands and vice versa. They also incite fights. They have been known to cause infertility Reportedly, this is another foolproof way of knowing if one has a spiritual spouse. Using the parable of the talents in Mathew 25:1430, he emphasised the importance of really understanding who God is. According to him, this parable makes us understand how important it is to have a true idea of God. The pontiff encouraged people to stop seeing God as harsh as this mistaken image of God stops our lives from being fruitful, because we will live in fear and this will not lead us to anything constructive. In his words, Fear always immobilizes and often leads us to make bad choices. Fear discourages us from taking the initiative, and encourages us to seek refuge in safe and guaranteed solutions, and so we end up doing nothing good. We must not be afraid, but we have to trust, in order to move ahead in life, he added. Pope Francis used the Old Testament to explain the true nature of God saying that Exodus describes Him as merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. He did the same thing with the New Testament when he said that Jesus proves that God is not a severe and intolerant master, but a father full of love and tenderness, a father full of goodness, adding that we can and must have immense trust in him. ALSO READ: 3 different sides of God you are most likely to see nowadays Going back to the parable of the talents, Pope Francis said the story urges us to have a personal responsibility and fidelity which become capable of continually placing ourselves on new roads, without burying the talent, which is are the gifts that God has entrusted to us and of which he will ask us to account for. Catholic News Agency reports that he said all of these on Sunday, November 19, 2017, while addressing pilgrims in St. Peters Square. After his sermon, Pope Francis had lunch with 1,500 poor and needy in Vaticans Paul VI Hall in honour of the first-ever World Day for the Poor. The beautiful Ghanaian actress took to her Instagram page on Wednesday, November 22, 2017, where she thanked everyone for their love and support but debunked claims of her marriage to Iceberg Slim. "Wow! @iamicebergslim and I have received so many congratulatory messages and well wishes, we must say the love and support are unbelievable! However, we will like to inform the general public that we are not married yet. When we decide to go down that path together, we will certainly be the ones to let the world, our friends, family, supporters, and fans know. "The image circulating isn't a court wedding photograph, it is a leaked behind-the-scenes image which was taken during a photoshoot for a new project, which we will soon unveil to the world. God bless everyone for the love and well wishes. I love you all," she explained. ALSO READ:10 eligible celebrity bachelors now Banky W is married This is coming barely 24 hours after a picture of the couple kissing dropped on social media with a lot of people speculating that they have had their court wedding. Well, one can't blame their teaming fans and admirers as these guys keep giving us couple goals every day. We can take your minds back to the celebrity wedding of Banky W and Adesua Etomi which took place on Sunday, November 19, 2017. Besides being the first edition to be held outside the relative sanctity of Eko Hotel, it is also the first time in over a decade that any artiste will be attempting to pack 20,000 odd Lagosians into one place for a night of music. It goes without saying that this will pose new challenges, the most important of which will be security. Concerts in Lagos are not exactly hotbeds of crime but here are five ways Olamides team can manage security problems at his tribute to the mainland he so fervently represents. (1) Charge a gate fee: Olamides team needs to consider crowd control, especially with managing who makes it into the main bowl of the stadium and the concert proper. The rapper will be the first to tell you that he makes music of and for the streets. His verses are made of intimidating street narratives, celebratory hooks and victory laps made especially for the people who endure the realities he speaks of. As such, the concert will invite persons who are not exactly paragons of society. Also, the prospect of so many people in one place at night will attract petty thieves with the intention to pilfer and mug. Olamides team would do well to pre-empt this by considering a gate fee that may at least discourage some people with ulterior intentions. Not many of his die-hard fans will be pleased with this but it may prove necessary if the concert is to be a success. (2) Pay attention to the inner roads: Teslim Balogun Stadium is located at a sweet spot close to many of Lagos busiest and most infamous suburbs; the notorious Mushin, Ojuelegba and Surulere. Most of the fans at #OLIC4 will come from these places. During and after the concert, especially when night falls, there is every chance of criminals lurking in the shadows so moving around or heading home before daybreak will be a very risky proposition. Informing people about the risk of moving around at night will be very helpful in this regard. The Olamide camp, with the support of the Lagos State government, can also provide a security presence along major in-roads like Lawanson, Ogunlana and Ayilara Streets to protect fans on their way home. (3) Control entry into the stadium: 24, 255. Thats the number of people it will take to technically fill up Teslim Balogun Stadium. Olamide is expected to attract around that number of people on the 17th of December, and if past Nigerian concerts are anything to go by, the gates will be filled with people trying to squeeze through in disorganized lines. Managing the flow of human traffic will be instrumental. The answer may lie in borrowing a leaf from Dbanjs manual for the 2012 Koko Concert. Get heavy security presence courtesy of the state government. Bouncers and security officers can vet tickets at the main gate where maintaining order will be most difficult. A little further down, clerks can exchange tickets for tags and direct concert-goers into the main arena. (4) Create multiple exits and make sure people see them: Managing tens of thousands in a frenzied crowd is not as easy as it seems. In the unlikely event that something very dangerous happens, law enforcement will lose all the control they had very quickly. This is why multiple exit points are needed to allow people leave as freely and quickly as possible. These exit points will be useful at the end of the show to avoid the risk of stampedes or a single exit clogged by fans who are too eager to get home. (5) Cut off empty spaces: Teslim Balogun Stadium is one of the most familiar and accessible arenas in Lagos; it easy to forget that is also a stadium, which means it has all the infrastructure to support sporting activities. During the concert, most of these spaces will be deserted. It is not unusual for unwitting fans to wander into such spaces, only to assaulted and waylay-ed in the shadows. Maryam Aliyu who claims to be a close friend of Sanda, took to her Facebook page to claim that the deceased who was the son of former PDP Chairman, Haliru Bello, was cheating on his wife and got what he deserved which to her, his death at the hands of his wife was justified. has got a strong support and endorsement from one of her friends and namesake, Maryam Aliyu, who says the deceased, Bello, got what he deserved because he was cheating on his wife. Aliyu whose profile shows that she is a divorcee from Kangiwa Local Government Area of Kebbi State, not only endorsed the murder of Bello by his wife but gave reasons why no one should blame Sanda for what she did. She started her post with the words: "He [Bilyaminu] was a cheating piece of filth. He got what he deserved." Writing further, Aliyu justified her support for Sanda with the following words: "Many people weighing into these Maryam Sanda and Bilyaminu Halliru talk ignorantly without knowing the details. There isn't enough evidence that she committed the said murder; matter of fact, the only mystery proven is he was a cheating piece of filth and if you ask me, he got what he deserved. And even if Maryam killed him which I doubt, he deserved to die because he was cheating on her with several women. I'm leaning more on the argument that he died in a fight and tay strong Maryam, Allah is with you." Recall that on the night of Sunday, November 19, 2017, Bello was reportedly stabbed several times to death by his wife after she reportedly found a text message on his phone purportedly sent to him by another woman. According to Punch reports, the gang struck in the early hours of Tuesday, November 21, 2017, and left its trademark of blood, tears, and sorrow with the killing of a woman and her two children. The victims who identified as Mrs. Iyabo, David, a four-year-old boy and his eight-year-old sister, Rachael, were reportedly killed around 2 am while they were asleep at a Celestial Church of Christ parish which also serves as their residence. See how a suspected Badoo gang member was almost lynched to death in Ikorodu: This Badoo gang suspect is lucky to be alive It was also gathered that the assailants had scaled the fence of the church to gain entry and thereafter used a grinding stone to hit the heads of their targets after which they wiped the blood and brain membranes and escaped. A resident of the area who identified himself as Adeshina Idowu, said the family moved to the area six months ago, noting that the community was stunned by the attack. The family moved into the community about six months ago. Somebody rushed into my house this morning [Tuesday] and said that Mama David was dead. It was when I got to the scene that The scene of the attack indicated that Badoo was at work because there was a stone at the scene. I dont know how the assailants got into the community because we have security guards patrolling everywhere. How they entered into the victims compound is a mystery to us, Idowu said. Another resident, Tajudeen, said the incident was reported to the police at the Agbowa Police Division, adding that policemen came and took the corpses away. The family just returned to the village on Monday. Initially, we thought it was a robbery. But when we entered their apartment, we saw a stone used by the assailants and there was no sign that any property of the family was stolen. That was when it occurred to us that the assailants were members of Badoo. Confirming the incident, the State Police Public Relations Officer [PPRO], ASP Olarinde Famous-Cole, said a landlady and a commercial motorcycle rider had been arrested over the killings. A case of murder was reported at the Agbowa Police Station. The landlady and an Okada rider [motorcyclist] who reside in the compound have been arrested and transferred to the homicide section of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Yaba." Daily Mail reports that Chikerema used weapons like axe, knives and an iron to stab the mother of his four children at least 40 times, before driving her body to a Lidl car park in Marston Green, Birmingham, the United Kingdom, where he dumped her. The jealous Chikerema, it was gathered, was found guilty of the murder charge by a jury at Birmingham Crown Court for allegedly murdering his wife by stabbing and bludgeoning her to death in a car after suspecting she was having an affair. Judge Michael Chambers who said Chikerema will be sentenced on a later date, said: "You have clearly been convicted of a very serious offence of which the sentence is life imprisonment." During the trial, the court heard how the 42-year-old Chikerema and his wife ran a nursing home but he had always suspected that his 35-year-old wife was seeing another man and had hired a private detective to follow her. After killing the wife, the convict reportedly drove the corpse to the park and left her in the car where the body was later found. The prosecuting counsel Kevin Hegarty, QC, while addressing the court, said: "When he attacked her, she was sitting in the front passenger seat of their Nissan car. He used an axe to strike his wife over and over again. The blows were She died in the car with her seatbelt on. She could not get away. She was strapped in the car and she was effectively defenseless." The jury was told the Chikerema tilted the passenger seat down and covered the body with a blanket before returning home to change his blood-stained clothes. He then used the axe to attack two cars of men he believed to be in relationships with his wife. West Midlands Police Detective Inspector Paul Joyce, from Force CID, said: "Chikeremas actions mean four children now have to live without their mother; a family has been tragically ripped apart and he will have to live with the consequences of his brutal attack forever. He suggested he was not of sound mind at the time of the killing and pleaded not guilty on the grounds of diminished responsibility. The village which is nothing but a warren of streets serves as a market where different types of electronic devices are sold. As a matter of fact, there is nothing related to Information and Communications Technology (ICT) accessories that will not be found in this market. And apart from the sales of Information and Technology accessories, computer village is also renowned for the repair of computers and mobile phones. This is why it is said to be the home of computer engineers and technicians. Another important fact about Computer Village is that it has created a lot of job opportunities for both certified and uncertified youths. From the entrance of the market, which of course are numerous, hundreds of boys and girls are seen around sourcing for customers that will help patronize their sales. Also, the number of computer engineers and phone technicians that are specialized in the repair of faulty computers and mobile phones seems uncountable. The sales representatives are also included in this circle as well. However, Computer Village is an example of a perfect market. This is because like every perfect market, no dealer has the power to influence the price of the product it buys or sells within the market. The number of buyers that comes to the market is enormous. And just like the countless sellers, a lot have almost complete information on any particular product that is of interest to them. Thus making purchase a matter of willingness to buy at a certain price with respect to the buyer's need and income. Nevertheless, this doesn't alter the fact that quite a good number of people have, in one way or the other, been schemed. Computer Village, if viewed from another angle, can also be said to be the streets of dishonest hustlers Unqualified engineers and fraudsters take advantage of the ever busy market to sell counterfeit products and services. The rate at which stoles phones and other electronic devices find their way to the market is also high. There are several related stories of these activities. However, these unlawful acts are usually perpetrated by unregistered traders and retailers. A large number of this group often sell in displaced and unaccountable fashion. They transact their business on vehicles' hoods, walkways, and disorganised display units rather than a proper brick-and-mortar store. Therefore, visitors should bear in mind that there are two major categories of traders in the market: The registered and unregistered or free traders. And they are advised to do their buying or repairing at a proper shop. Even at that, the importance of alertness and vigilance should not be underrated. Be that as it may, the fact still remains that when it comes to the buying, selling and repairing of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) accessories, Computer Village is the first place to think of in the whole of Africa. It has won the reputation for itself. And there is no other market that has what it takes to bring down this reputation, anytime soon. "We needed to draw lots in both cases," Estonian EU Affairs Minister Matti Maasikas, who chaired the meeting and in both cases made the decisive selection from a big transparent bowl. During voting so tight they were both decided by a lucky draw, EU members except Britain chose Amsterdam over Italy's Milan as the new home of the European Medicines Agency and Paris over Dublin to host the European Banking Authority. Both currently are located in London. The European Union went back to its roots Monday by picking cities from two of its founding nations -- France and the Netherlands -- to host key agencies that will have move once Britain leaves the bloc in 2019. Frankfurt, home of the European Central Bank, surprisingly failed to become one of the two finalists competing for the banking agency. The relocations made necessary by the referendum to take Britain out of the EU are expected to cost the country over 1,000 jobs directly and more in secondary employment. The outcomes of the votes also left newer EU member states in eastern and southern Europe with some bitterness. Several had hoped to be tapped for a lucrative prize that would be a sign the bloc was truly committed to outreach. Some 890 top jobs will leave Britain for Amsterdam with the European Medicines Agency, giving the Dutch a welcome economic boost and more prestige. The EMA is responsible for the evaluation, supervision and monitoring of medicines. The Paris-bound European Banking Authority, which has around 180 staff members, monitors the regulation and supervision of Europe's banking sector. After a heated battle for the medicines agency, Amsterdam and Milan both had 13 votes Monday. That left Estonia, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, to break the tie with a draw from the bowl. Copenhagen finished third, ahead of Slovakian capital Bratislava in the vote involving EU nations excluding Britain. One country abstained in the vote. "A solid bid that was defeated only by a draw. What a mockery," Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said on Twitter. Dutch Foreign Minister Halbe Zijlstra was elated. "It is a fantastic result," he said. "It shows that we can deal with the impact of Brexit" The European Medicines Agency has less than 17 months to complete the move, but Amsterdam was considered ideally suited because of its location, the building it had on offer and other facilities. Even though rules were set up to make it a fair decision, the process turned into a deeply political contest. Zijlstra said that "in the end, it is a very strategic game of chess." Atiku called on the Federal Government to focus on intelligence gathering so as to forestall future attacks. According to Daily Post, It is noteworthy that homes are the take-off points in the fight to flush out terrorism from a community as parents must get full information about the activities of their wards and children. Terrorists are representatives of dark and evil forces. Parents and guardians must ensure that their children and wards do not get enlisted by these criminal agents of darkness. Terrorists seek to instill fears, but through our collective courage and determination we shall triumph. We must ensure that liberty trumps fears and domination. By being vigilant and through a collaborative team spirit between the civic public and the security apparatus we must fight for liberty. We are all soldiers of liberty. ALSO READ: 50 people dead The attack occurred in the early hours of Monday 21, 2017, when a suicide bomber detonated his bomb while people were praying. According to The Adamawa state Police Command, the death toll from the attack has risen to 50. The President of the AfDB, Dr Akinwumi Adesina announced this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja. Adesina said that the bank would implement the support under its Second Climate Action Plan for 2016 to 2020. When it comes to Climate Financing, what we will do is to support Nigeria, especially to have access to Crop insurance." A lot of pastoralists actually needs to have insurance as well because lack of access to water can become a big problem because of drought." Also, I have being a big supporter of the need for the global climate financing mechanism to support countries to pay the premium to insure them against catastrophic risk." For example, there is a facility, which is called Africa Risk Capacity and this is the Africa Union Facility that allows countries to buy insurance." It allows countries to buy insurance and if there is drought and flood, they will pay it back into the confer of government to cover a lot of recovery activities. The Boards of Directors of AfDB had, on Nov. 8, approved the Africa Thriving and Resilient: The Bank Groups Second Climate Change Action Plan, 2016-2020 (CCAP2). The approval of this document is propitious as it echoes at just concluded Climate Change Conference (COP23) in Bonn, Germany. This is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change and achieve the Paris Agreements goal of keeping global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius. According to Adesina, the Chair of the Africa Risk Capacity Facility is the former Minister of Finance in Nigeria, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. I consider it as unfair that Africa, which has been shortchanged by climate change, is now shortchanged in terms of climate financing. It is very important therefore, that the global mechanism for climate should pay insurance for African Countries that are suffering this disproportionate in negative impact of climate change. I have reached out as well to President Buhari on this issue because I know within the context of what is trying to push for Lake Chad Basin. If somebody pays the premium, if there is any catastrophic event, they will be able to get money from Africa Risk Insurance. I have said that Africa Development (Bank) is willing to co-finance the premium payment. I dont want Africa to be short-changed because we are suffering quite a lot from the impact of Climate Change, he said. Adesina, however, said that the international community had bought into the idea and it would also form part of the agenda at the forthcoming World leaders meeting. I have discussed it with the former UN Secretary-General and incumbent UN Secretary and I have discussed it with a number of G7 leaders. Also, I have discussed it with President Buhari and several African Heads of State; we will continue to push it and look forward to One World Summit in December. This is for me a big agenda that I am pushing. I think Africa must have access to financing, to adapt to the impact of Climate Change and mitigate the issue of greenhouse gases emission. On Tuesday, November 21, 2017, the EFCC stormed apartments of immediate past Director of the DSS, Ita Ekpeyong and sacked DG of the NIA, Ayodele Oke, in the Asokoro district of Abuja. The mission was to arrest both men and spirit them out of Asokoro for grilling. However, it didnt quite pan out that way. EFCC personnel were stopped from gaining access to the property of both men by gun wielding DSS and NIA agents. ALSO READ: Guns were cocked, muscles were flexed and shouting matches rented the Abuja skyline as agents from the security agencies battled for some supremacy. Declining invitations The brawl was arguablythe most discussed subject on Nigerian social media all Tuesday. EFCC operatives who spoke to Pulse on the basis of anonymity explained that they had valid warrants of arrest with them. Former DSS boss Ekpeyong had been on the EFCC radar for alleged complicity in the $2.1B arms scandal which starred former NSA Sambo Dasuki,Pulse was told. Both men had declined repeated invitations to our offices. They left us with no choice,Pulse was told. Oke was going to be arrested for the N13B found in an Ikoyi apartment back in April. During an event in Abuja on Wednesday, acting EFCC chairman Ibrahim Magu declared that no one was above the law while referencing the ugly incident. A bunch of unnamed EFCC operatives told Punch newspaper that DSS and NIA personnel who prevented them from effecting the arrests, went beyond their briefs. Mr. Ekpeyong Ita is being investigated for offences bordering on alleged theft and diversion of public funds. Shortly after we arrived, the DSS reinforced its security presence at the property, with the deployment of about 30 armed operatives. The refusal of the DSS operatives to allow the EFCC execute valid search and arrest warrants is really worrisome. I dont know whether it is within their brief to prevent a law enforcement agency from executing arrest or a search warrant on a property belonging to a retired member of staff of the agency. The suspect in question is not a serving officer of the DSS, which makes this action particularly reprehensible. 'No wrong done' However, there are reports that the DSS and NIA operatives said they were acting on orders from above when they stood in the EFCCs way. They said they had done no wrong. After a four-hour standoff, the EFCC withdrew from Asokoro without arresting either of Ekpeyong or Oke. It is unclear if operatives will return for a second try on some other day. On Wednesday, November 22, Mamman Nasir street, Asokoro had been deserted and EFCC tapes had been yanked off the buildings of both men. The heads of EFCC and DSS (Magu and Lawal Daura respectively) have beenengaged in some worrisome rivalry for some time now. It was Daura who authored the letter in which Magu was accused of corruption and living above his means. The letter was addressed to the senate and cost Magu his confirmation--twice before lawmakers. The report emanated from an independent study conducted by a Maritime Consulting firm: Ships & Ports Ltd. and a don at the Lagos Business School, Dr Frank Ojadi. The report issued by Mr Bolaji Akinola, the Chief Executive Officer of Ships & Ports Ltd., explained that truckers that genuinely had business to do in Apapa Port spent an average turnaround time of two days. This report was prepared with the purpose of giving insight into the number of container trucks coming into Apapa Port in relation to the total number of trucks sighted within Apapa environs." Two points were selected the start of Creek Road at the tip of Liverpool Bridge and the start of Wharf Road near Area `B Police station to collect information on trucks coming into Apapa." It was observed that 44 per cent of the containers coming into Apapa community through these access points were intended for transactions in Apapa Port, while 56 per cent did not have any form of transactions in the port." The data gathered was analysed to show the time and frequency taken from sighting to entry into the port, the report said. According to the report, a total of 5,515 trucks were surveyed at both observation points over a period of two weeks. The report explained that the prolonged closure of the Ijora Bridge for repairs, which was the main exit point from Apapa , was a major contributing factor to the perennial traffic congestion in the area. The Ijora Bridge is the main exit point from Apapa but it was closed for repairs. The repairs were expected to last 22 days but it was still closed more than 30 days after. An alternative route is the Leventis exit by the bridge but this exit is narrow and riddled with several bad spots. The Leventis exit is also characterised by truckers moving against traffic, thus blocking the outbound traffic for several hours. The truckers are aided by security officials who collect money and pass trucks and tankers, the report said. The report also found that there was no presence of a traffic management system to coordinate the affairs of the multiple government agencies responsible for traffic control in Apapa. According to the report, there was no engagement or communication with stakeholders before roads were closed and to control abuses and corrupt practices. There were also no tow trucks or rescue equipment to address the constant breakdown of trucks and containers falling along the road. The collapse of the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, which is the major entry and exit points for trucks accessing the Tin Can Island Port, the Apapa Port and several tank farms in the area, led to an increase in the number of trucks accessing these facilities through the narrow Apapa-Wharf road. This compounded the congestion on this stretch of road, the report said. It said that various stakeholders interviewed in the course of the study suggested that the solution to the Apapa gridlock would be to compel shipping lines to receive all empties at their empty depots. The report, however, said that While the popular notion on the return of empty containers has no direct impact on port operations, the study supports the assumption that it may compound the Apapa gridlock. This is because more than 80 percent of truckers perform dual transactions. That is, drop off empties and pick up imports. This implies that the return of empty containers to depots will add more trucks to the road when they have to return the empties to the terminals, it said. The report also said that Apapa Port recorded significant drop in gate transactions in the last few weeks due to the traffic gridlock. The teachers under the auspices of Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) made the call on Wednesday during a protest at the legislatures premises in Benin. Chairman of the union in the state, Mr Iyalomhe Akhagbeme, who led the protest, said that transferring the salary from state to local government would jeopardise smooth payment of primary school teachers in the state. He, however, stated that the teachers were not opposed to autonomy for local government. Akhagbehme said that funding of education should remain the responsibility of State and Federal Government. He said we are not against local government autonomy but they should know that primary education is the bedrock for every educational development. The teachers carried placards with inscriptions Save Primary Education from Imminent Collapse, Funding of Primary Education is Joint Responsibility of State and Federal Government. Receiving the teachers on behalf of leadership of the Assembly, the Public Relations Officer, Mr Dayo Erimiakhena, told them that the legislature was not in session as it had adjourned on Tuesday for a short period. Addressing journalists in Abuja on Wednesday, November 22, 2017, the minister noted that rice has become a staple food in most Nigerian homes. He said the federal government has put in place measures to make Nigeria self-sufficient in rice production in rice by drastically cutting down rice importation and encouraging local production. The minister said rice importation from Thailand, which supplies the bulk of the parboiled rice being imported into Nigeria had dropped from 644,131 Metric Tonnes to about 21,000 Metric Tonnes between September 2015 and September 2017. ''We are happy to tell Nigerians of a giant stride made by the administration in the agriculture sector, specifically rice production: Nigeria is inching closer to achieving self-sufficiency in rice, due to the success recorded by the administration in the local production of rice,'' he said. ALSO READ: FG denies deliberately injecting people with Monkey Pox virus Alhaji Mohammed averred that as a result of the success in local production, some investors from Thailand have shown interest in establishing rice milling plants in Nigeria, a development he said would further boost rice production in Nigeria. ''A few years ago, this (Thai investors establishing rice mills in Nigeria) would not have been possible since Nigeria was not considered a top rice producing country. Today, Nigeria is one of the largest producers of rice,'' he said. The minister said the increase in rice production across the country did not happen by accident, But was largely due to the , initiated by to support farmers through inputs distribution and loans to boost rice production, and the among others. He said the increased rice production has, in turn, led to the establishment of rice mills, including the 120,000MT WACOT Mill in Kebbi and the 1,000,000MT Dangote Rice Mill. Alhaji Mohammed said with the Buhari administration targetting rice production of 7 million MT by 2018, the country was closer than ever to achieving self-sufficiency in rice, going by the fact that as at 2015, rice demand in the country was 6.3 million MT. The House also directed its committees on Public Safety and National Security, Defence and Police Affairs to carry out thorough investigation into the remote and immediate causes of the attacks. This was sequel to a motion under matters of urgent national importance by Rep. Abubakar Moriki (Zamfara-APC). Moving the motion, Moriki explained that armed men suspected to be cattle rustlers invaded Tungar Mai Kahu and Mallamawa villages between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Friday. He said that the attack led to the death of 25 persons and loss of property worth millions of Naira, recalling that some other communities in the local government also suffered similar attacks in the recent past. The lawmaker expressed concern that the situation had deteriorated in view of reports of sustained attacks on the communities. He lamented the inability of security agencies to handle such attacks, which had resulted in continued fear and insecurity on the part of the citizens. In her contribution, Rep. Nnenna Elendu-Ukeje (Abia-PDP), who decried the attacks, noted that it was time for the countrys climate change policy to be looked at again in addressing insecurity. She added that the change in the Lake Chad Basin was also contributory to reasons why herders resorted to invading communities and killing members of such communities. Elendu-Ukeje also decried what she said was over-stretching of the Nigerian Armed Forces due to the fact that it also took on roles meant for the police which was under-manned. She therefore called for more funding for the police to enable it recruit more men. Similarly, Rep. Mohammed Monguno (Borno-APC) urged that more men be recruited into the armed forces and be provided a conducive environment to work. Monguno called on the House to look for ways to increase the defence budget for the purpose of recruitment as well as operations. He advised the Zamfara Government to engage the youths to also assist security agencies in curbing further attacks. The motion was unanimously adopted by members when it was put to a voice vote by the presiding Deputy Speaker, Mr Yussuff Lasun. The House directed the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to provide relief materials to the affected victims. Meanwhile, the Speaker of House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara, has described as callous, insensitive and cowardly the suicide bomb attack at a mosque in Mubi, Adamawa, which claimed many lives. In a statement on Tuesday by Mr Turaki Hassan, his Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, the speaker expressed shock and concern that the killing was targeted at innocent worshippers performing their obligatory religious duty. I am deeply pained by this tragic incident which is a setback to our successes recorded in the restoration of peace in the North-East. A cigarette case, a handwritten musical score, three diaries and two pairs of John Lennon's signature metal-rimmed glasses were among stolen goods belonging to the Beatles' star that have been recovered in Germany. Berlin police spokesman Winfrid Wenzel on Tuesday called the recovery of the trove of about 100 John Lennon items a "great success" for the music world and also for Lennon's widow Yoko Ono. This was sequel to a motion on: The Passing on of Former Vice President, Dr Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme (1932-2017), sponsored by Deputy President of the Senate, Mr Ike Ekweremadu, at plenary. He noted that thelate elder statesman was an intellectual giant and consummate professional, who pioneered architecture in modern Nigeria and paid his dues to the social, economic, and political development of Nigeria. The late Dr Alex Ekwueme was a bridge builder, patriot and pan-Nigerian, who played a major role in the post-war reconciliation process in Nigeria. As Vice President of Nigeria, Ekwueme led exemplary life of unassailable probity and unimpeachable integrity, such that even the military tribunal that tried him during his 20-month detention after the 1984 coup discharged and acquitted him. The tribunal also empathically stated that Ekwueme left office poorer than he was when he entered it, and to ask more from him was to set a standard, which even angels could not meet, Ekweremadu said. He described Ekwueme as a legend, fearless soldier of democracy, who, among other efforts, mobilised 34 eminent Nigerians on the platform of G34 to demand an end to military rule and pushed for enthronement of democracy. Contributing, Sen. Enyinnaya Abaribe (PDP -Abia) said the fondest memory of late Ekwueme was that he remained the only former vice president that left office and still became poor. Also, Sen. Bala NaAllah (APC- Kebbi) said though the deceased hailed from the South East, he was a single Nigerian who contributed immensely to Nigerias democracy and future of the country. NaAllah, who is Deputy Leader of Senate, called for the immortalisation of the former vice president in view of his loyalty to former President Shehu Shagari, with a national institution in Sokoto State. In his remarks, President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, said the death of Ekwueme was a great loss to Nigeria. ALSO READ:7 quotes by deceased Alex Ekwueme He was a great patriot, detribalised and simple person that put Nigeria first. Ekwueme will be missed by all, Saraki said. These names are familiar because they are all paragons in their fields, revered, a mark of excellence even. The other thing they have in common is that they have rejected awards and other sundry honours from the Nigerian government. Nigeria has an abusive relationship with consistency and truth that has left its history battered and its people somewhat forgetful. As such, many important names have been left out of the history books. It is not strange for historians or storytellers to leave important names out of their accounts of the past for a lack of information. The government has also played its own distasteful role. Military dictatorships suppressed voices in the past, or worse still, as with Ken Saro-Wiwa and Dele Giwa, killed them in their prime. Today, a select few and their legacies are deliberately ignored for anything from political affiliation, such as Bola Ige, one of Nigeria's finest ever lawyers, to just plain neglect, like all of the countrys war veterans. Even today, not many of this generations icons have their name in lights. Fortunately for them, social media has become a platform where some of these persons are celebrated. 20 years ago, Oby Ezekwesilis constant demand for accountability would hardly be acknowledged on this l without the substantial following and support that platforms like Twitter have afforded her. It is commendable, even if that appreciation can come in the form of viral videos and fleeting conversations. But what happens to the great Nigerians whose legacies have been eroded by time or disavowed till very few people remember who they were? ALSO READ: Senate urges FG to immortalize Alex Ekwueme What are the hopes of remembrance for a person like Dr. Stella Adadevoh, who gave her life to save millions when the Ebola outbreak of 2014 crossed Nigeria's borders. If we can be practical, many of these names do not need to be remembered or immortalised. Certain people are hugely influential and special enough to be remembered, but like Major. Nzeogwu or Tafa Balogun, there is a risk of encouraging the behaviour they will be most remembered for. Others, like Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe, live in the continued influence of their work. The stories in "A Man of the People" (Ambition, Class oppression, Corruption) or "The Lion and the Jewel" (Power, Love, Tradition and Morality) still hold relevance in todays society. Theirs was an uncanny ability to tell the Nigerian truth in relatable stories. The best way to preserve their legacies would be by paying continuous reference to their nuanced and well-expressed perspective of things, and for telling us our truth in their simplest terms. A prophet is never valued in his hometown. At the countrys expense, some of the greatest Nigerians have become icons in other climes that were more willing to acknowledge and to be fair, support their abilities. Musicians like William Onyeabor, one of the progenitors of neo-funk music, was a legend in the American underground music scene. Till his death, he was hardly a footnote to fans of music in Nigeria. Some, like Fela, are revered at home but only so much because they have become global citizens, adopted by anyone with a need for conscience and identity in the image of one eclectic musician. ALSO READ: Stella Adadevoh deserves to have more schools named after her Many do not fall in these classes. Some of their names hardly incite a glance, but like Ayodele Awojobi, they used the power of the press and loud voices to incite young students and everyone else to demand change. In attempting to remember the icons of Nigerias past, we should acknowledge that the greatest persons impact the lives of many around, and beyond them. We can only immortalise those of bygone eras when we can appreciate the extent of their influence and their place in the scheme of things. It is easier to create a place in the pantheon of heroes when one learns that Dele Giwa was one of the founders of NEWSWATCH, a publication that revolutionised journalism in Nigeria, and a vocal investigative reporter who would only get letter-bombed for his troubles. In a sense, this also means coming to factual terms and studying the history of this storied country, something not many people tend to do. In the long run, no-one has the resources or the information to appreciate and immortalise Nigerias heroes more than the government. That purpose has been served in the past by conferring awards, dishing out appointments or naming infrastructure after people thought worthy of deserving these nods; but today, it is not enough. To truly respect these heroes, the government needs to go beyond the safe luxury of conferring titles to actually supporting the projects and ideals that these persons were known for. For instance, it would not be out of place to create a fund for law students and lawyers-in-training in honour of the late Gani Fawehinmi. As news of Dr. Alex Ekwueme continues to draw reactions, the government would do well to remember his first loves; architecture and his voracious appetite for knowledge. It would only be sensible to immortalise him in a way that supports those of lesser means who crave information and the opportunities it brings. According to a report by the BBC, research by scientists has revealed that a certain species, the Pacific Beetle Cockroach, feeds its bug babies a formula which is remarkably rich in protein, fat and sugar. The species, also known as Diplopterapunctata, nourishes its growing embryos with a nutrient-rich liquid secreted in its uterus-like brood sac. Unlike most cockroaches that lay eggs, the Pacific beetle gives birth to live offspring by the dozen and produces food for them with the liquid formula. According to the research published in July in the journal, International Union of Crystallography, as soon as the embryo ingests the liquid, protein crystals develop within its midgut. Leonard Chavas, one of the scientists behind the research, explained that the crystals have a whopping three times the energy of an equivalent mass of buffalo milk and about four times the equivalent of cow's milk. He also said, "The protein crystals are milk for the cockroach infant. It is important for its growth and development." After extracting one of these crystals to learn more about it and its potential nutrition, Chavas and his colleagues determined that it was a complete food. "It is what one would need: protein, essential amino acids, lipids and sugars," he said. He further explained that the energy content is so high that it helps infants within this unique species grow much bigger than cockroach babies of other species. He said that before humans can start to reverse bioengineer cockroach milk, researchers must first understand the exact biological and chemical mechanisms underlying the process. "For now, we are trying to understand how to control this phenomena in a much easier way, to bring it to mass production," he said. On tasting the cockroach milk himself, Chavas describes it as having "no particular taste", but also imagines "a flavor with honey and crispy pieces." Subramanian Ramaswamy, a biochemist at the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine in Bangalore, India, also told The Washington Post in 2016 that his colleague who once ate a sprinkling of the crystals said, "It doesn't taste like anything special." According to the result announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Obiano got 234, 071 votes to defeat other candidates in the race. The President also told the Anambra state Governor to use his second term to build on the good work which he has done. According to Vanguard, Buhari, in a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said that the processes leading to the election and its peaceful conduct and outcome, have shown that our electoral reform is bearing positive fruits. This is very encouraging and I am determined to give Nigeria free and fair elections, no matter which way the results swing. ALSO READ: Buhari commends INEC The President also commended INEC, security agencies and Anambra people for the peaceful conduct of the election. Buhari also called on INEC to improve its logistics arrangement ahead of the 2019 elections. He called on Nigerians to support the President for another term in office. Okorocha made the statement in Owerri on Tuesday, November 21, while addressing leaders of the 'Democratic Youths Congress for Buhari 2019', who paid him a courtesy visit at the Government House. He added that all the Governors in the country, except two, are in support of a second term for Buhari. Okorocha said, "President Buhari is the best for the country at the moment and that there could not have been a better option now. "I am a believer of Buhari and I made it clear years ago that if President Buhari is running for president, I will not run. "Now God has chosen him to be the president of Nigeria and some of us are witnesses that Buhari was and is still the best for Nigeria at this material time". The Governor also praised Buhari for Nigeria's 'quick exit' from economic recession, adding that it was a testament to Buhari's tenacity. "Supporting Buhari for a second tenure will bring about the new Nigeria we are talking about. This will put Nigeria first and the unity we are looking for will be guaranteed under this administration", the Governor stated. "Our nation is going through a challenging moment and we will require a man of his calibre to see us through this period. "People should not use the Anambra election result to judge the support for Buhari as it does not reflect the support. "Even the government and people of Anambra support President Buhari, what happened was that an internal disagreement among the leaders in APC in Anambra cost us the election." ALSO READ: 7 times Okorocha has baffled Nigerians According to Daily Post, the Governor also alleged that the Federal Government is hatching some evil plans against his administration. Wike said this while speaking with a group of lawyers who paid him a courtesy call at the Rivers state Government House on Tuesday, November 21, 2017. He said What is good is that we have not abandoned our people, who are our strength. The agents of the APC Federal Government will come with guns and security, but they will fail. They came with guns and security during the rerun, but our people were vigilant. They have nothing to tell our people to convince them to follow the APC. ALSO READ: As we head to 2019, they will form activity in Ogoni land and other communities, flagging off fake projects. But our people will not be deceived. The hub is to be known as NG_Hub from Facebook. Facebooks Head of Platform Partnerships, Middle East and Africa, Mr Emeka Afigbo, made this known during a news conference on Wednesday in Lagos. According him, the hub would be a multi-faceted creative space, which would connect developers, start-ups and the wider community to collaborate, learn and exchange ideas. According to him, the hub to be located in Lagos, will also host a start-up incubator programme, as well as bespoke trainings, guest speakers and a dedicated event space. Afigbo said that the aim would be to attract the best talents and drive innovation in Nigerias technology ecosystem. Additionally, across Nigeria, Facebook will be supporting a number of existing technology hubs to serve the communities outside Lagos." The hubs will function as learning centres for local communities, providing multiple opportunities for training." Nigeria is producing a new generation of exciting start-ups that have incredible potential." We understand the important role Facebook plays here in Nigeria with developers and start-ups, he said. Afigbo said that Facebook had passion for nurturing technology and start-up communities. According to him, NG_Hub was informed by the creativity and entrepreneurship spirit in Nigeria. Facebook needs a driving ecosystem in every community so as to keep its mission running." I am excited to announce our partnership with the Nigerian tech hub ecosystem to create the NG_HUB space here in Lagos, he said. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Facebook, which was founded in 2004, enables users to connect to their friends and families online and share information. On staying in office "Some are saying 'Mr Mugabe is old, so he should step down'... No! When my time comes, I will tell you." 2014. "Only God who appointed me will remove me -- not the MDC (opposition), not the British." 2008 On coming to power Mugabe's speech when Zimbabwe won independence was more conciliatory. "It could never be a correct justification that because the whites oppressed us yesterday when they had power, the blacks must oppress them today." 1980 On seizing farms "You are now our enemies because you really have behaved as enemies of Zimbabwe. We are full of anger. Our entire community is angry and that is why we now have the war veterans seizing land." 2000 On Britain, former colonial ruler "The British were brought up as a violent people, liars, scoundrels and crooks... I am told that (former British prime minister Tony) Blair was a troublesome little boy at school." 2001 On gay people "Worse than pigs and dogs... Those who do it, we will say, they are wayward. It is just madness, insanity." 2010 On gay marriage "(President Barack) Obama came to Africa saying Africa must allow gay marriages... God destroyed the Earth because of these sins. Weddings are for a man and a woman." 2013 On Nelson Mandela "Mandela has gone a bit too far in doing good to the non-black communities, really in some cases at the expense of (blacks)... That's being too saintly, too good." 2013 On Hitler "I am still the Hitler of the time. This Hitler has only one objective, justice for his own people, sovereignty for his people, recognition of the independence of his people. "If that is Hitler, then let me be a Hitler tenfold." 2003 On his affair Before his first wife died in 1992, Mugabe started a relationship with Grace, whom he married in 1996. "I wanted children and this is how I thought I could get them. I knew what I was doing and my wife knew." 1998 On colonialism "African resources belong to Africa. Others may come to assist as our friends and allies, but no longer as colonisers or oppressors, no longer as racists." 2015 On death False reports of Mugabe dying were a feature of his old age. "I have died many times. That's where I have beaten Christ. Christ died once and resurrected once. I have died and resurrected and I don't know how many times I will die and resurrect." 2012 On resigning And therell probably be no shortage of countries whose leaders will open their arms to welcome the old man of African politics. Heres a shortlist Mugabe can work with. 1. South Africa Jacob Zuma is one person Mugabe can always call friend. Plus, South Africa lies just across the border from Zimbabwe. Zuma and Mugabe also share depraved values and all. Not a bad exile destination, huh? 2. Uganda Yoweri Museveni has been in power since 1986. Over 31 years as president? Thats something that Mugabe would be proud of. And both men could spend plenty of time with the other under the moonlight, telling tales of longevity in office and sit-tight leadership. 3. Cameroon Like Mugabe, Paul Biya doesnt intend to leave office any time soon. Hes been Cameroon president for 35 yearsjust two years shy of Mugabes record. Biya wouldnt mind asking Mugabe how he made it to 37, while listening attentively at the feet of Robert. 4. Equatorial Guinea Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo is another strong man of African dictatorship who would love a Mugabe company. Obiang beats Mugabes record. Hes been in power for 38 years and Mugabe would love to hear how he did it without being greeted with protesters on the streets and soldiers pointing guns to his head. ___________________________________ Other countries whose leaders rig elections and crackdown on dissent like Chad's Idriss Deby and Sudan's Umar al-Bashir could also be happy campers for Mugabe Actress Park Shin-hye donated W50 million won to a relief organization to help children in the earthquake-stricken city of Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province on Thursday (US$1=W1,094). "Park has participated in various campaigns for people in need. This time, she sent us W50 million for children in Pohang," Korea Food for the Hungry International said on Monday in a press release. The donation will be used to improve living conditions and treat post-traumatic stress disorder for needy children in the city. Park started her philanthropy with the aid organization in 2011, and has engaged in a variety of charity activities for deprived children in Korea. In the words of ChancellorAngela Merkel's chief of staff Peter Altmaier, a "stable and reliable government ... is our trademark, like 'Made in Germany'". But the collapse of coalition talks between Merkel's conservative CDU-CSU alliance, the pro-business FDP and left-leaning ecologist Greens flung German politics into uncharted territory. Overnight, Europe's economic and political heavyweight was left without a viable coalition for weeks, if not months, to come. Instead, it has a lame-duck government unlikely to take bold policy action at a time when the European Union needs a strong hand as it negotiates Britain's exit, and while Paris seeks Berlin's support for bold reform plans. "The bitter truth is that Germany has been waiting for years for a French partner willing to meet it head-on as an equal power - only to now find itself as the problem, as France emerges once again as the instigator of fresh economic and political purpose in the EU," said the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily. Europe's latest problem German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who now holds the cards due to his constitutional power to call snap polls, underlined the seriousness of the situation. "We have before us an unprecedented situation in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany, that is, in the last 70 years," he said, urging political leaders to reconsider their positions and return to the negotiating table. With the Social Democratic Party stubbornly refusing to renew an alliance with Merkel after their humiliating defeat in September's polls, the veteran chancellor has little room to manoeuvre. She could seek a minority government -- an option she shuns because of its inherent instability -- or face new elections, likely not before February. But fresh polls carries a high risk, as Merkel could lose still more voters to the AfD, a party that has harnessed anger over her liberal refugee policy that brought 1.2 million asylum seekers since 2015. In addition, her Bavarian allies the CSU are engulfed in intense infighting which would spell a major distraction in a new electoral campaign. "No matter what Merkel does next, Germany has become Europe's latest problem," said Judy Dempsey, analyst from political think-tank Carnegie. "The expectation that the country, under Merkel's helm, would be predictable and stable is no longer a given." 'Paralysed nation' The fact that Merkel was forced to ask parties of very different stripes to form a coalition government was in itself due to the reality that Germany is not immune to the wave of populism sweeping the West. The September 24 election saw the rise of the anti-immigration protest party the AfD with 13 percent of the vote, a shock in a nation where no far-right party had entered parliament in large numbers in the post-World War II ear. The entry of dozens of lawmakers of the protest party fractured the political landscape further, making it harder to build a majority. Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff of the German Marshall Fund noted that "for the first time since 1949, there is no majority grouping willing to form a government." "The stable colossus in the middle of Europe is suddenly instable. This will have severe consequences. The suspects, aged 20 to 28, were detained in dawn raids that saw some 500 police officers swoop on residences in the cities of Kassel, Essen, Hanover and Leipzig. The men are accused of belonging to "the foreign terrorist group that calls itself the Islamic State", Christian Hartwig, a spokesman for the Frankfurt prosecutor's office, said in a statement. "The accused are also suspected of preparing an attack on a public target in Germany using weapons or explosives," Hartwig said. The investigators believe the men had not yet finalised their attack plan, he added. But the local Hessischer Rundfunk radio station, citing sources close to the probe, said the accused "had planned an attack on the Christmas market in Essen", a city in western Germany. Such an attack would have revived painful memories of last December's truck rampage in Berlin when a failed Tunisian asylum seeker smashed into a crowded Christmas market, killing 12 people. Police and prosecutors declined to comment on reports citing Essen's Christmas market as the target, which also appeared in Germany's best-selling Bild newspaper. The six detained Syrians all arrived in Germany as asylum seekers between December 2014 and September 2015, at the height of Europe's migrant crisis. Prosecutors gave no further details about the case, saying the inquiry was still ongoing. German daily Die Welt said it was fellow refugees who tipped off the police about the suspects. German security forces have been on high alert following a spate of Islamist attacks, of which the Berlin rampage was the deadliest. Last month, police arrested a 19-year-old Syrian suspected of preparing an Islamist terror attack in the country using "powerful explosives". Domestic security services estimate there are some 10,300 radical Islamists in Germany. Mayor Adel Shakur al-Bayati said 24 people were killed. A doctor at the town's general hospital put the number of wounded at 80, some of them lightly injured. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Suicide attacks in Iraq are usually claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group, which has suffered a string of military defeats and last week lost control of the last town the jihadists held in the country. Tuz Khurmatu is home to a mixed Kurdish, Arab and Turkmen population. It was the scene of deadly violence in mid-October when Iraqi forces retook it from Kurdish control in response to a Kurdish independence referendum. Turkmen MP Niazi Maamar Oglu said an attack of Tuesday's magnitude had not been seen in the town "for years". A security chief in Salaheddin province, Mehdi Taqi, told AFP that a curfew was imposed immediately after the bombing. The meeting comes as Iran, Russia and Turkey hold a summit in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, pressing their diplomatic dash to resolve Syria's six-year conflict with a new round of UN-brokered peace talks set to open in Geneva next Tuesday. The Riyadh meeting is being co-chaired by UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura and Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, who said the aim was to reach "fair solution" to the conflict. De Mistura said the aim was to give momentum to next week's talks in Geneva by forging a unified opposition delegation, as long demanded by the Syrian government. He said he would travel to Moscow on Thursday for talks with Russian officials. "I'm always optimistic... especially in this moment," he said. The 140 or so delegates from a wide range of opposition platforms are under heavy pressure to row back on some of their more radical demands after a series of battlefield victories in recent months gave President Bashar al-Assad's regime the upper hand. Absent are several former leading figures who were seen as unwilling to compromise. Among them is Riad Hijab, who stepped down as head of the opposition High Negotiations Committee ahead of the meeting complaining that there were "attempts to lower the ceiling of the revolution and prolong the regime." Multiple rounds of talks hosted by the UN have failed to bring an end to the war, which has killed more than 330,000 people and forced millions from their homes. Factions opposed to Assad have been plagued by divisions throughout the maelstrom. Participants in the Riyadh meeting include members of the Istanbul-based National Coalition as well as of rival Cairo- and Moscow-based groups seen as more favourable to the regime, and independent figures. Forming 'the right opposition' Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he expected that the withdrawal of Hijab and other hardliners in recent days would "help the Syria-based and foreign-based opposition unite on a constructive basis." Observers said it could clear the way for a new negotiating team that would water down some of the opposition's longstanding demands, notably Assad's immediate ouster. His fate has been one of the chief obstacles to progress in peace talks, with the opposition demanding he step down at the start of any transition. "Riyadh is going to come out with a group, an agreement, on the opposition's proposal for the constitution and for parliamentary elections," said Randa Slim of the Middle East Institute think-thank. "Gone is any kind of emphasis on political transition or on Assad." The outcome of the Riyadh meeting would be "the right opposition that will agree to sign off on the deal that's going to be negotiated," she said. Ahead of the meeting, dozens of prominent civilian and armed opposition figures appealed to participants not to compromise on the "ouster of Bashar al-Assad and his gang". "No one should back down or quietly circumvent" it, they said in an online statement. HNC member Yehya al-Aridi acknowledged some participants, notably the Moscow platform, were more flexible on the president's future. But they "do not represent the choices of the revolution or the Syrian people," Aridi told AFP. And Hisham Marwah, another National Coalition member, said his group's "positions toward Assad have not changed". "Whoever is betting on the Riyadh conference to legitimise the presence of Assad is delusional," Marwah told AFP. On Tuesday, hundreds of armed men in military fatigues without insignia blocked access to government buildings in what one of the soldiers described as military drills ordered by the Lugansk interior ministry. The blockade remained in place on Wednesday. An AFP correspondent saw about ten military trucks and a grenade launcher driving around the city. Four armoured personnel carriers were parked near the buildings housing the local government and the interior ministry. Patrols began after Lugansk leader Igor Plotnitsky earlier this week sacked his interior minister, Igor Kornet, in an apparent spike in infighting between rebel factions plaguing the war-scarred region. "Kornet was removed from his post but apparently the little man has great ambitions," Plotnitsky told journalists during a news conference on Wednesday. He accused Kornet of being behind an "armed attempt to seize power" in Lugansk and added that his supporters had detained several employees of the local prosecutor's office. Speaking in video footage released by his office earlier Wednesday, Plotnitsky said that "we underestimated the number and the nature of offences or, as we can now say, crimes that the former head of the interior ministry committed". "Together with the general prosecutor's office we'll discuss the situation that happened overnight," Plotnitsky added. "The police are starting to work, there will be no lawlessness." The sacked minister, who has refused to step down, released no immediate comment. Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin was aware of the situation but declined immediate comment. Outside the cordoned-off area, Lugansk residents went about their daily lives as usual. "What is the use of holding any meetings with them when they close our office? Our meetings begin from our office, and the arrangements are there," Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Malki told AFP. "In practice by closing the office they are freezing all meetings and we are making that official." A spokesman for the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) confirmed that it had received instructions from Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas "regarding closing down all communication lines with the Americans". The PLO, which the international community sees as representing all Palestinians, must have its permission to operate premises in the US capital renewed by the State Department every six months. But last week the department refused to renew the permit. US officials cited comments by Abbas about possibly taking Israel to the International Criminal Court. In 2015, the US Congress introduced a provision that Palestinians may not try to wield influence over the ICC concerning investigations into Israelis. The US consulate in Jerusalem declined to comment on Tuesday, instead referring back to a statement on Saturday which said it was hopeful that any "closure will be short-lived," "We are not cutting off relations with the PLO," that statement said. The declaration does not automatically mean the mission will close. A single strike on November 8 "marked fewest strikes/munitions dropped" in the more than three-year-old campaign against IS, coalition spokesman Colonel Ryan Dillon said on social media. "Nearly all territory once controlled by ISIS retaken; 7.5 million people no longer under Daesh control," wrote Dillon, using alternative acronyms for IS. Coalition aircraft have conducted dozens of strikes, which can each consist of multiple engagements, in November, a month that saw heavy fighting to dislodge IS from its last remaining bastions. Syrian regime and allied forces this month retook the town of Albu Kamal, which lies on the border with Iraq, where anti-IS forces also retook Rawa, the last town the jihadists held in the country. Nonetheless, major operations -- such as those that saw tens of thousands of troops battle for several months to retake Mosul, Iraq's second city, in July, and Raqa, the jihadists' main hub in Syria, last month -- are over. At its peak, when coalition-backed forces were battling IS on multiple fronts across the "caliphate" IS proclaimed in July 2014, the daily count of air strikes could top 50. Reflecting the decline in anti-IS operations, the coalition announced on Tuesday that it would only divulge the details of its strikes twice weekly instead of daily. In August 2014, then US president Barack Obama sent warplanes to carry out strikes against IS when the jihadist group was massacring members of the Yazidi minority in the Sinjar region of northern Iraq. A coalition was formed soon after with the support of around 60 nations, although only a handful such as Australia, Britain and France, played a significant military role. The number of surviving, active IS fighters has dropped drastically to a few hundred in recent months, and holdout jihadists are now mostly confined to pockets in remote desert areas along the Iraq-Syria border. Those areas need to be cleared before a definitive victory against IS on the ground can be claimed. - 1996: Aged 31, she marries Robert Mugabe, 72, for whom she had been working as a secretary and having an affair. The couple already have two children. - 2002: She is included in an EU asset freeze and visa ban against members of Zimbabwe's political and military elite. The United States also imposes a visa ban. - 2009: Grace Mugabe allegedly assaults a British journalist trying to photograph her leaving a Hong Kong hotel. She is granted diplomatic immunity from prosecution. - 2010: Wikileaks releases a US diplomatic cable from 2008 that says that she is among Zimbabwean elites who gained millions of US dollars from illegal diamond mines. She sues the local The Standard newspaper for publishing the story. - September 2014: She is awarded a doctorate just months after enrolling at university, sparking student protests. - December 2014: Grace Mugabe is appointed president of the ruling ZANU-PF party's powerful Women's League and a member of its central committee, placing her high among the contenders to succeed her husband. - August 2017: She is accused of beating a model at a South African hotel with an extension cord. The South African government grants her diplomatic immunity from prosecution. "These designations include companies that have engaged in trade with North Korea cumulatively worth hundreds of millions of dollars," US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said. "We are also sanctioning the shipping and transportation companies, and their vessels, that facilitate North Korea's trade and its deceptive maneuvers." On Monday, Trump had said the sanctions announcement would be the first in a series of moves over the next two weeks that would reinforce his "maximum pressure campaign" against Kim Jong-Un's regime. As had been expected, the Treasury measures make use of existing US directives against North Korean trade, but expand their scope to take in more companies and individuals. Most importantly, they expand the list of Chinese firms accused of doing business with the North despite promises from Beijing that it will honor UN-backed punitive measures. Trump met China's President Xi Jinping earlier this month and is bullish about the US-China relationship, but concerns remain that Beijing is not ready to take tough measures against Kim. 'More should be done' In particular, China has been reluctant to cut off oil supplies through a pipeline to North Korea's lone refinery, fearing that regime collapse could lead to chaos on their common border. And, according to US officials, some Chinese-based banks and trading firms continue to do business with the North in defiance of UN sanctions and US threats of unilateral measures. "We still hope all relevant parties can contribute to easing tensions," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Tuesday, after the US terror designation. "More should be done in that regard," he added. China has pushed for a "dual track approach" which would see the United States freeze its military drills in South Korea while North Korea would halt its weapons programs. Washington has rejected that approach. According to Mnuchin, the sanctions would not only increase Pyongyang's isolation but also expose "its evasive tactics." In all, the new measures add one individual, 13 trading entities and 20 ships to US sanctions lists. Any property or assets of the firms involved that are found to be in areas under US jurisdiction are to be frozen, and Americans are banned from trading with them. Three Chinese firms -- Dandong Kehua Economy and Trade, Dandong Xianghe Trading Company and Dandong Hongda Trade -- are said to have sold computers, minerals and ore to North Korea. Chinese businessman Sun Sidong and his company Dandong Dongyuan Industrial are accused of exporting vehicles, machinery, radio navigation and "items associated with nuclear reactors." In addition to slapping sanctions on the firms and North Korean ships, the Treasury added the Korea South-South Cooperation Corporation to its sanctions list. The firm is alleged to have sent North Korea guest workers to China, Russia, Cambodia and Poland. Foreign workers are a major source of income to the regime. The White House has said it will not tolerate the North's testing or deployment of an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead to US cities. Experts believe Pyongyang is within months of such a threshold, having carried out six nuclear tests since 2006 and test-fired several types of missiles, including multi-stage rockets. Both Trump and Kim have previously raised fears of open conflict as they exchanged insults and threats of devastating military strikes. A grand jury returned a 22-count indictment against Sayfullo Saipov after prosecutors initially announced only two: provision of material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization, and violence and destruction of motor vehicles. His initial court appearance in connection with the indictment is scheduled for November 28. He is expected to enter a plea at that time. If convicted on the murder and vehicle destruction charges, he would face a maximum penalty of life in prison or death, prosecutors said. President Donald Trump has called for him to be executed, but a capital punishment case would be extremely rare in New York, which has abolished the death penalty at the state level. The October 31 attack was the worst in the US financial capital since the September 11, 2001 Al-Qaeda hijackings that brought down the Twin Towers. Saipov allegedly drove a rented pickup truck down a mile-long stretch of bike path in Manhattan, where children and their parents were preparing to celebrate Halloween. Of the eight people killed, five were friends from Argentina celebrating 30 years since their high school graduation. Twelve other people were wounded. The attack ended when police shot Saipov in the abdomen. A North Korean soldier who fled through a hail of bullets across the border regained consciousness on Tuesday and told doctors his name and age. The 25-year-old has recovered enough to ask for food and to watch TV. But he is scheduled to undergo a third round of surgery on Wednesday and needs more time to fully recover from his gunshot wounds, doctors said. The soldier fled to South Korea through a hail of bullets in the Joint Security Area last week and suffered five gunshot wounds to the lungs and abdomen. He made worldwide headlines when a 27-cm worm and other parasites were found in his gut during an operation, something unheard of even in most Third World countries. According to hospital officials, the soldier was taken off the respirator last Saturday and was able to breathe on his own. He was then taken off sedatives and slowly regained consciousness. Mugabe had earlier refused to resign,after several weeks of pressure from the countrys military who took over government and placed him under house arrest. Trouble started for Mugabe when he sacked his Vice-President and closest ally, Emmerson Mnangagwa also known as 'The Crocodile', a move many said was to pave way for Grace to replace him as President. In his resignation letter, the former Zimbabwe President said he was resigning voluntarily. Mugabe also said that he took the decision out of concern for the welfare of the people of Zimbabwe and a desire to ensure a smooth, peaceful and non-violent transfer of power. See the resignation letter below: State House Harare, Zimbabwe 21 November 2017 The Honourable Jacob Mudenda Notice of resignation as President of the Republic of Zimbabwe In terms of the provisions of section 96 (1) of the constitution of Zimbabwe, amendment number 20, 2013. Following my verbal communication with the Speaker of the National Assembly, Advocate Jacob Mudenda at 13:53 hours, 21st November, 2017 intimating my intention to resign as President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, I Robert Gabriel Mugabe in terms of section 96 (1) of the constitution of Zimbabwe hereby formally tender my resignation as the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe with immediate effect. My decision to resign is voluntary on my part and arises from my concern for the welfare of the people of Zimbabwe and my desire to ensure a smooth, peaceful and non-violent transfer of power that underpins national security, peace and stability. Kindly give public notice of my resignation as soon as possible as required by section 96 (1) of the constitution of Zimbabwe. Yours faithfully, Robert Gabriel Mugabe President of the Republic of Zimbabwe. ALSO READ:Robert Mugabe just fell asleep in his first public appearance According to reports, the former Vice-President, Emmerson Mnangagwa will be sworn in as President. Until now, the second place was held by Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe who had ruled the country since independence in April 1980 but who resigned on Tuesday. Mugabe began his 37-year reign first as prime minister, then as president. At 93, he was also the oldest head of state in power in the world. Here is a rundown: More than 30 years - Obiang has been leader of the tiny, oil-rich Equatorial Guinea for 38 years. He came to power in a coup on August 3, 1979, ousting his own uncle, Francisco Macias Nguema, who was shot by a firing squad. He was re-elected to a fifth seven-year term in 2016. - In Cameroon, Paul Biya has 35 years under his belt. He became president on November 6, 1982 after serving seven years as prime minister. - Congolese President Denis Sassou Nguesso has spent 33 years in office, but not in one go. He first served from 1979 to 1992 and then came back to run the country in 1997 at the end of a civil war. Sassou Nguesso was re-elected in March 2016 and could run again when his current term expires. - In Uganda, Yoweri Museveni has been in power for more than 31 years. He took office in January 1986 after winning the war that ousted Idi Amin Dada, with help from neighbouring Tanzania. He was elected to a fifth term in February 2016 despite allegations of fraud. - King Mswati III of Swaziland is Africa's last absolute monarch. He acceded to the throne of the tiny southern kingdom in April 1986 and has ruled for more than 31 years. More than 20 years - In Sudan, Omar al-Bashir has ruled for 28 years since he staged a successful coup in June 1989. - Chad's leader Idriss Deby took over the north-central African nation in December 1990, giving him 27 years in power. Deby won a disputed fifth term in April 2016. - Eritrea's head of state Issayas Afewerki has been around since 1993, giving him 24 years in power. Previous records Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie holds the record for the longest time in power on the African continent. After reigning for 44 years, he was ousted in 1974. Libya's Moamer Kadhafi, who ruled with an iron fist for nearly 42 years, was slain on October 20, 2011, after a protest movement turned into an armed conflict. Gabon's Omar Bongo Ondimba died in June 2009 after more than 41 years in power. But will his resignation stand, forcing negotiations on a new government, or might he withdraw the decision? Here are some of the possible scenarios in the coming days. Hariri's resignation stands Under Lebanon's constitution, the president is bound to accept a prime minister's resignation however it is tendered, Lebanese constitutional expert Edmond Rizk told AFP. "The Lebanese constitution doesn't talk about the nature of a resignation. It just stipulates that if the head of government resigns, then the government has resigned," Rizk said. Such a decision automatically brings down the government, and the president then engages in consultations to select a new prime minister to form a cabinet. Although it is not outlined in the constitution, Rizk said, custom dictates that "this resignation is supposed to be submitted to the president of the republic." Hariri announced he was stepping down in a television broadcast from Riyadh on November 4, but Lebanese President Michel Aoun has insisted he will not officially accept it before Hariri presents his decision in person. The shock resignation from outside the country is unprecedented in Lebanese history, and provoked wild speculation that Hariri had stepped down under Saudi pressure and was even being detained. Aoun himself accused Riyadh of holding Hariri, and reiterated that he would not consider the premier's resignation until they were able to meet. In Paris, Hariri acknowledged he would see Aoun once back in Beirut to discuss his decision. "As you know I have resigned, and we will discuss that in Lebanon," he told reporters. Forming a new government If Hariri's resignation stands, consultations will need to begin on who will form a new government, just under a year after the last one was agreed. In the interim, the resigned prime minister and cabinet continue functioning in a "caretaker" role until a new government is announced. Forming a government in Lebanon usually takes months of wrangling among the country's deeply divided political factions. On the one side is Hariri's bloc, backed by Saudi Arabia and deeply suspicious of Iranian influence in the country and the broader region. On the other is a coalition led by Iran-backed Hezbollah, which includes Aoun and his allies. A deal between Hariri and Aoun across political lines allowed the formation of the last government in December 2016, but it came after a stalemate that left the country without a president for two-and-a-half years. The smoothest scenario would see Aoun name Hariri as prime minister again, with widespread backing from Lebanon's political class, as part of a similar deal to the 2016 settlement. "If Hariri's consultations lead to a new government, that would be a way out," said Rizk. But a potential obstacle lies in Hariri's harsh criticism of Hezbollah, whom he blasted in his resignation statement but whose support he would need to pull together a new cabinet. If Hariri is unwilling, or unable, to form a government, Aoun could then name a different prime minister. Under a power-sharing agreement, Lebanon's top political posts are distributed among the country's religious sects, with the prime minister's office reserved for a Sunni Muslim. There are several candidates within the Sunni community, but it is unclear whether any of them would be better able to negotiate a deal to produce a new government. Hariri withdraws resignation A final scenario, and perhaps the least destabilising for the country, would be for Hariri to withdraw his resignation. Hariri has left the door open to this possibility, saying in his only interview since stepping down that he would be willing to "rescind the resignation" if Hezbollah withdrew from regional conflicts. He accuses the powerful Shiite group of violating Lebanon's so-called "disassociation policy" intended to keep the country out of conflicts like that in neighbouring Syria. Hezbollah is actively fighting on the side of President Bashar al-Assad in the six-year war, and also stands accused of supporting Shiite rebels against Saudi Arabia in Yemen, a charge it denies. "We need to respect the disassociation policy," Hariri said in the interview. On Monday, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said: "All of us in Lebanon are waiting for the return of the prime minster, who for us has not resigned. The tweets, later followed by a formal White House memorandum, set off a roar of protest -- with several service members and rights groups quick to sue. Trump's predecessor Barack Obama took the historic decision to allow openly transgender troops to serve in the military, a move that was due to go into full effect in July this year. On Tuesday, US District Judge Marvin Garbis said the "lack of any justification for the abrupt policy change," coupled with the "discriminatory impact" on troops in question "cannot possibly constitute a legitimate governmental interest." The ruling follows a similar move on October 30 by US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who ordered the government to "revert to the status quo" that was previously in effect. The most recent ruling came in a case filed by Brock Stone and other transgender personnel. Stone, who is 34 and has served 11 years in the Navy, has been undergoing hormone therapy as a medically necessary part of his transition, court documents state. Trump stressed to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis that the Pentagon should no longer cover the costs of medical treatment associated with the sex reassignment surgery of those troops already serving. He gave the Pentagon until March 23, 2018 to craft a new policy on transgender service members. Garbis's ruling prevents the government from denying funding for sex reassignment surgeries. Here is a snapshot of the turmoil of the past two weeks: Vice president sacked November 6: Mugabe fires Mnangagwa in an apparent bid to clear the way for his wife Grace, 52, to take over as president. But the move angers the military, which has close ties to Mnangagwa. Army takeover November 14: In the evening, tanks move towards Harare, with gunfire heard around Mugabe's residence a day after a blunt warning from army chief General Constantino Chiwenga. By the early hours, military vehicles are on the capital's streets, but the army denies staging a coup, giving a televised address saying the 93-year-old leader is safe and that they are "only targeting criminals around him". November 15: South Africa says Mugabe has told its president, Jacob Zuma, by telephone that he is under house arrest but is "fine". The European Union and former colonial power Britain urge a peaceful resolution of the crisis while South Africa warns against any "unconstitutional changes" of government. Mugabe digs heels in November 16: Mugabe refuses to step down during talks with generals, a source close to the army leadership says, in a move which enrages many Zimbabweans who see it as a bid to "buy time" to negotiate a favourable end to his 37-year reign. A day later he appears at a university graduation ceremony, acting as if nothing has happened. Meanwhile, opposition is gathering pace within his own ranks, with eight out of the 10 branches of Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF taking to state television to demand he stand down. Zimbabwe's influential war veterans association also demands he step down immediately, urging people to join huge street protests planned for the weekend. Mass protests November 18: Tens of thousands of people joyfully take to the streets across the country to demand Mugabe's departure and celebrate his apparently imminent demise in scenes of public euphoria not seen since independence in 1980. The display of open defiance would have been unthinkable just a week earlier. Ousted as party chief November 19: ZANU-PF sacks Mugabe as leader and demands he resign as head of state. It also expels his wife Grace and names ousted VP Mnangagwa as the new party chief. Adding to its stunning reversal of allegiances, it threatens to impeach Mugabe if he does not resign by Monday midday. Mugabe meets with the army chiefs before making a defiant televised address in which he shows no sign of leaving, frustrating widespread hopes he would resign. Endgame November 21: After Monday's deadline passes without Mugabe resigning, ZANU-PF says it will start impeachment proceedings on Tuesday. Adding to the pressure from parliament, Mnangagwa issues a statement saying citizens had an "insatiable desire" for Mugabe to go, and the influential war veterans call for immediate protests. He summoned a cabinet meeting on Tuesday but most ministers stayed away, state media reported. Parliament passes a motion to begin a debate on impeaching him. The parliament speaker interrupts proceedings to read a letter from Mugabe in which he resigns, ending 37 years of often brutal rule. Massive celebrations erupt across the country and the international community expresses hope that Zimbabwe will change for the better. 'Crocodile' Mnangagwa to return A group of 85 Korean tourists were denied entry into the U.S. at an airport in Georgia on Sunday and sent back to Seoul, the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday. The ministry said the Korean Consulate General in Atlanta was notified. The travelers arrived on two separate flights, and all of them obtained a travel authorization in advance through the Electronic System for Travel Authorization under a visa waiver. According to U.S. media reports, about 50 of the visitors arrived aboard a Delta Air Lines flight and the rest came on a Korean Air flight. But they were made to wait for 24 hours at HartsfieldJackson International Airport and returned to Korea on Tuesday. They were all part of a single group. They had apparently visited the U.S. before to take part in a retreat but engaged in commercial activities like selling vegetables. A Foreign Ministry official said, "They were refused entry because the purpose of their visit in their documents differed from what they told immigration officials. We confirmed that they were not refused entry for political reasons." The Foreign Ministry said it will hold further talks with U.S. customs so that Korean visitors can be properly informed to prevent similar incidents. North Korea's verbal attacks against the U.S. have intensified after Washingtons decision Monday to put the North back on a list of state sponsors of terrorism. Pyongyang's state-run media have focused their florid verbal attacks on U.S. President Donald Trump. CAMBRIDGE The radium removal plant hasnt gotten state approval yet and the bids probably wont be awarded until April, but it could come in at half the cost. Village administrator Dwaine Van Meenen told trustees Monday at a committee-of-the-whole that he just learned the villages average household income qualifies for 50 percent forgiveness on a state loan of up to $800,000. He said the average is $57,554 and Cambridge is $2,753 below that and while he was sorry income is down, he was glad there is a bright side. He said it means the village can probably get by with a $1 per month rate increase, since the loan would cost half of what we were looking at before. Im tickled pink, he said. Mr. Van Meenen noted the village doesnt have the loan yet, but he hears theres a good chance of getting it. The committee also heard recommendations from retired Rock Island City Manager John Phillips, now a volunteer senior adviser for the Illinois City-County Management Association. He had tips on the process of hiring a new village administrator. Mr. Van Meenen is retiring at the end of April. Mr. Phillips stressed the importance of finding someone who would be engaged in the community. Those are things I think you ought to look at in addition to all the other challenges you face, he said. He offered to ask around and find someone to act as a consultant for the village in the search process rather than going to the expense of hiring a large firm. The village may contract with a firm that insures residents against water leaks. Trustees heard a telephone presentation from a ServLine representative who said each resident would be billed $1.30 per month for coverage for leaks up to $500 once a year. Trustee Amanda Johnson asked whether the program could be opt-in, rather than automatic enrollment and opt-out. The rep said utilities and the National Rural Water Association were adamant they needed all the customers in the program to start with. Village property taxes could remain the same as last year. Mr. Van Meenen said he recommended holding the tax levy the same. He said the villages equalized assessed valuation of $17,965,151 is down from 2010, but coming back up. Last years E.A.V. was $17,911,778. He noted three new businesses have gone into the commercial park, the tax-increment financing district is bringing in more money than property taxes, and the telecommunications tax is up. Theres no reason we shouldnt leave our tax levy the same as it is, he said. The trustees told one resident, Rocky Spanton, they would contact BP gas station to suggest, following a dye test, that the source of a water issue is on their property. Mr. Spanton said he has invested more than $9,000 on drain tiles and other efforts to fix basement flooding in his Poplar Street home. When it was flooding, it was shooting out of my walls, he said. Strive For Unity So We Can Thrive Once the dust settles (in our minds at least) after the Midterm Election, with some new people in office, a few being members of different... Letters To The Editor Lessons From Ukraine To The Editor: After occupying the Crimea in 2014 without any pushback by world powers, Russian President Putin decided to invade Ukraine... Koreans spent a record amount of money overseas in their summer holidays this year. The Bank of Korea said Tuesday that Koreans spent US$4.39 billion overseas in the third quarter from July to September, up 15.9 percent from the same period of 2016 and 4.9 percent from the second quarter. But at home, credit card spending grew only 4.4 percent on-year. The main reason is that more and more people travel abroad. According to the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute, 7.01 million Koreans traveled abroad in the third quarter, up 14.8 percent on-year and surpassing 7 million for the first time. At the same time, credit card spending in Korea by foreigners shrank. Foreigners spent $2.1 billion here in the quarter, down a whopping 23.6 percent from a year earlier, mainly due to a Chinese boycott. But the figure rose 11.7 percent from the previous quarter. In the first three quarters combined, foreigners spent $6.4 billion in Korea on their credit cards, down 20 percent on-year. The public prosecutor has brought the criminal case against NS and its subsidiary Abellio, former NS CEO Mr Timo Huges, former Veolia Netherlands CEO Mr Rene de Beer and four other individuals. The Province of Limburg launched the tender for all regional bus and rail services within its jurisdiction in 2014, and subsequently selected NS subsidiaries Abellio and QBuzz, which made a joint offer for the contract, as preferred bidders. However, soon after the concession was awarded serious irregularities were uncovered by NS, which reported its findings to the provincial government. The contract with Abellio and QBuzz was cancelled and the concession was later awarded to Arriva, which took over operations from Veolia in December 2016. The prosecutor is seeking a prison term of up to one year for Huges, accusing him of failing to intervene and prevent NS committing the irregularities. De Beer could face up to eight months in jail, while former Abellio director Mr Jeff Hoogesteger could receive a 10-month prison sentence if found guilty. Other NS, QBuzz and Abellio managers could be sentenced to community service. The manager of consultancy firm PTRM, another NS subsidiary, has also been charged as it was through this company that de Beer was able to work secretly for NS, contravening an anti-competition regulation with his former employer Veolia. The prosecutor is seeking a 3m fine for NS Group. In June NS was fined 41m by the Dutch anti-monopoly office (ACM) for abusing its dominant position in the market. A verdict in the Limburg tender fraud case is expected on December 21. The PDPs responsibilities will include overall project management; detailed design, procurement planning and construction management, including testing and commissioning of infrastructure; interface and stakeholder engagement; assisting in the planning of tunnels; and provision of knowledge transfer for operation and maintenance. According to the tender notice, MyHSR seeks a contractor with comprehensive knowledge of local Malaysian railway construction best practices, regulatory requirements, and supply market conditions. A tender briefing will be held for eligible firms on December 4. Land acquisition is now underway in Malaysia for the 350km line, which is is due to open in 2026. Newcastle-upon-Tyne transport authority Nexus launched public consultation last November on the renewal of the train fleet, which is a core component of the 1bn Metro and Local Rail Strategy approved by the leadership board of the North East Combined Authority in July 2016. Nexus submitted a detailed business case for the fleet renewal programme to the Department of Transport at the end of last year. The new trains will replace the fleet of 84 two-car trains built by Metro-Cammell in 1975-81. The fleet was refurbished by Wabtec between 2010 and 2015 at a cost of 30m with the aim of extending its service life until 2025. Nexus plans to issue an invitation to tender in January with the aim of awarding the contract by February 2020. The first trains are expected to enter service at the end of 2021. With his nomination as Federal Railroad Administrator awaiting Senate confirmation, Ronald L. Batory has been named as a special assistant on railroad matters to Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao. Batory, who retired earlier this year as president and chief operating officer of Conrail, this summer was nominated to head the FRA by President Donald Trump. A veteran of 46 years in the railroad industry, Batory will serve on Chaos staff pending his confirmation as FRA administrator by the Senate. Senators from New York and New Jersey have held up his confirmation in an effort to obtain funding for the Gateway tunnel project, among other Amtrak projects on the Northeast Corridor. The FRA has been led by Deputy Administrator Heath Hall, who was appointed in June. Welcome to Railway Gazette. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. By continuing to browse this site you are agreeing to our use of these cookies. You can learn more about the cookies we use here. OK Premier Li Keqiang on Nov 21 met with a Japanese economic delegation of more than 250 representatives in Beijing. The delegation was led by the chair of the Japan Business Federation, Sakakibara Sadayuki; the president of the Japan-China Economic Association Shoji Muneoka, and the chair of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Akio Mimura. Premier Li said this year marks the 45th anniversary of normalization of diplomatic relations between the two nations, and the next year will be the 40th anniversary of the China-Japan Peace and Friendship Treaty. [Photo/China News Service] Stable and healthy China-Japan relations serve the common interests of both sides, the Premier said. He added that an improved China-Japan relationship lies in mutual trust and good civil exchanges. Mutual trust may hurt from time to time, but requires constant efforts of all social sectors to recover. Premier Li expressed his hope that both sides will cherish and consolidate current improving bilateral relations, moving towards the right direction, and avoid any setbacks and interruption. According to the Premier, economic and trade cooperation is always an important part of the China-Japan relationship. He hoped Japans economic circle will play its role, making peace, friendship, and cooperation the consensus of all Japanese sectors in the development of bilateral relations. The Premier said both nations should learn from history and face up to the future, and promote a stable and bright bilateral relationship based on the four political documents. Chinas economy, the Premier said, will continue to maintain a stable and improving trend, and the nation will further expand opening-up and create a fair business environment for all. [Photo/Xinhua] He hoped both sides could take each others development as an opportunity, and promote growth through innovation and healthy competition, contributing to the building of the East Asian Community and win-win cooperation. He added that China and Japan should maintain economic globalization, and accelerate negotiations on the China-Japan-ROK free trade agreement (FTA) and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), contributing to regional and global stability and prosperity. [Photo/China News Service] The heads of the Japanese delegation said the Japanese economic sector welcomes improving bilateral relations, and Chinas economic restructuring has increased their confidence in bilateral economic and trade cooperation. With huge potential, the bilateral economic cooperation also can play a role in boosting Asian and global development, they said. The heads also expressed their hope for high-level results from China-Japan-ROK and RCEP negotiations, and their willingness to contribute more to bilateral relations during the two important years. This was the 43rd visit of the Japanese delegation to China, and the largest one in recent years. Newspaper journalist fined for illegal work activity in Russia MOSCOW, November 22 (RAPSI) The Basmanny District Court of Moscow has fined a reporter for Novaya Gazeta newspaper Ali Feruz (Khudoberdy Nurmatov) 5,000 rubles (about $84) for illegal labor activity in Russia, the courts spokesperson Yunona Tsareva has told RAPSI. Addotionally, the court ordered his deportation from Russia. However, the journalists deportation is suspended over the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), Tsareva added. The deportation process will remain halted while his case is reviewed by the Strasbourg court. On August 3, a court in Moscow held that Ali Feruz must be deported to Uzbekistan for violating emigration rules. He was also fined 5,000 rubles and put in a special temporary residence center for foreign citizens. The journalist pleaded not guilty. Feruz said that his life would be in danger if he is deported. On August 4, the ECHR held that Feruz cant be deported during the hearing of his case in Strasbourg. Feruz, who applied for refugee status in Russia in 2014, was forced to leave Uzbekistan in 2008 because of refusal to cooperate with the countrys security agencies and tortures. The Union of Journalists, Amnesty International and Russia's Presidential Council for Human Rights have already asked the authorities not to deport Feruz. The Human Rights Council claimed that the ordered deportation of Feruz to Uzbekistan contravenes Russia's Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights. The Presidents spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in turn that the authorities are aware of this problem. The situation is rather complicated, and several factors do not allow to put aside the occurred violations, he added. Russian businessman appeals sentence for hostage taking in Supreme Court MOSCOW, November 22 (RAPSI) The Supreme Court of Russia will consider an appeal against the 12-year prison sentence given to businessman Aram Petrosyan for taking hostages and threating to trigger an explosion in a Moscow bank on December 12, the courts press service told RAPSI on Wednesday. In September, the Moscow District Military Court convicted and sentenced Petrosyan. Medical examination has found that Petrosyan is suffering from psychological disorder not requiring compulsory treatment, but affecting his ability to take independent decisions, his lawyer Stanislav Maltsev told RAPSI earlier. According to investigators, on the evening of August 24, 2016, Petrosyan entered a branch of Citibank at Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street in central Moscow, where he took four people hostages. He threatened to trigger explosion of an object resembling a bomb. After several hours, he released all hostages and surrendered. The bomb that he threatened to explode turned out to be a hoax. The Investigative Committee stated that Petrosyan wanted to bring attention to his problem and did not want to kill anyone. Before capture of hostages, a video has been released on the Internet, featuring a man resembling the one who took hostages. Video message was published under the name of Aram Petrosyan. In particular, he said that on August 24 he is going to commit "violation of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation". He said that he intends to commit a crime because of bankruptcy, which, according to him, turned into epidemic in Russia. He demanded Russian authorities to create a body that would deal with the issue of bankruptcy. Russian penitentiary ex-heads sentence in embezzlement case takes effect MOSCOW, November 22 (RAPSI) The Moscow City Court on Wednesday upheld prison terms given to former head of Russias Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) Alexander Reimer and his accomplices for embezzling funds allocated for procurement of ankle bracelets, the courts press service told RAPSI. However, the court overturned fines imposed on convicts. The sentence became effective. On June 14, the Zamoskvorestsky District Court of Moscow sentenced Reimer to 8 years in a penal colony, fined him 800,000 rubles (about $14,000), and stripped of his General rank. Reimers former deputy Nikolay Krivolapov, and ex-director of FSINs Information and Technical Support Center Viktor Opredelyonov, received 5 years and 8 months, and 6 years in prison respectively. Krivolapov was fined 600,000 rubles ($10,500) while Opredelyonov got a 700,000-ruble fine ($12,300). Lawyers of the defendants asked to repeal or soften the sentences. A lawyer representing Reimer said that the Zamoskvorestsky District Court issued a ruling with numerous violations and that it did not study some of the case documents. According to investigators, Reimer, Krivolapov and Opredelyonov conspired with businessman Nikolay Martynov to embezzle monetary funds from the Russian state budget. Between 2010 and 2012, Reimer and his accomplices stole money allocated for the purchase of ankle bracelets for persons placed under house arrest. The procurement was pursued at an enormously overvalued price. Damage allegedly caused to the state budget was estimated at no less than 2.7 billion rubles ($47.3 million at the current exchange rate). The defendants have been charged, depending of their role, with abuse of office and embezzlement committed through abuse of office. Krivolapov was additionally charged with illegal possession of ammunition. They pleaded not guilty. A case against Martynov was reviewed separately as he fully admitted his guilt in large-scale embezzlement. The businessman cooperated with investigators and announced that he is going to compensate the government with delivery of 7,000 new ankle bracelets. Martynov is a head of NPF Meta company that was supplying bracelets for prison inmates. Moscow region child rights ombudsman proposes ban on vape sales near schools Context State Duma lawmaker proposes ban on vape smoking in parks MOSCOW, November 22 (RAPSI) The Moscow region childrens rights ombudsman Ksenia Mishonova has proposed a ban on selling e-cigarettes (vapes) and accompanying accessories near education institutions, according to the ombudsmans press service. Currently, the Moscow Region Duma is considering bills equating vapes and cigarettes, the statement reads. Vaping constitutes a serious threat to the young generations health, the ombudsmans press service quotes Mishonova as saying. Earlier, Russias childrens rights ombudsman Anna Kuznetsova said that it is necessary to ban sales of e-cigarettes to minors at the federal level. Foreign media to be granted free access to ballot stations CEC Head Pamfilova MOSCOW, November 21 (RAPSI) Ella Pamfilova, the Head of Russias Central Electoral Commission (CEC), has stated that no barriers will be introduced to hinder foreign press accreditation for covering activities at voting stations in Russia because of the law on foreign agent status with respect to media outlets, the website of Russias Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights reads on Wednesday. According to Pamfilova, at the moment she does not anticipate any accreditation problems foreign media wishing to cover the upcoming Presidential elections in Russia may encounter because of the law. The CEC Head has excluded any barriers to the coverage of the elections on the part of media already accredited by the Russian Foreign Ministry and reminded that the Electoral Commission has its own accreditation mechanism. On November 15, the lower house of Russias parliament adopted a bill which allows the state to recognize foreign media receiving financing from abroad as foreign agents. Decisions regarding registration of media as foreign agents are to be made by the Ministry of Justice. The document is also to establish regulations such as what markers are going to be used for this kind of media or whether there is a need for a special registry in this case. In November, the U.S. Ministry of Justice ordered Russia Today TV channel to register as a foreign agent. The channel implemented the requirement on November 10. Head of RT Margarita Simonyan said that it was a forced choice between registration and a criminal case. Russian President Vladimir Putin called this situation an attack on freedom of speech and members of the State Duma initiated preparation of symmetrical response measures. The Russian law adopted in November 2012 requires that all NGOs engaged in political activity and receiving foreign funding register as foreign agents. Under the amendments to the law, which were adopted this year, political activity is linked to such fields as state-building, securing Russias sovereignty and territorial integrity, enforcement of law, order and security, national defense, foreign policy, political system integrity, social and economic and national development of the country, regulation of rights and freedoms of man and citizen. NGOs which are engaged in organization and holding of public events, including meetings, manifestations, demonstrations, discussions and performances would be deemed to be involved in political activity. Moreover, those NGOs which are involved in work aimed at achieving certain results during elections or referendum, vote monitoring practices, establishment of election commissions or support of political parties would also be put on the list of those organizations which are engaged in political activity. How long did World War II last? For the United States, it started in 1941 when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. For Germany, the United Kingdom, and France, it started in 1939 when they all declared war on each other over a treaty the latter two had with Poland. For the Soviet Union, it started in 1941 when Germany launched a sneak attack on the Bolshevik republic. For Japan and China, though, the timeline for participation in World War II is muddled. The two countries started fighting each other in 1937 at the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, long before hostilities between the UK and France began with Germany. This war, which is known as the Second Sino-Japanese War, bled into World War II as the Japanese Empire began expanding into the colonial empires of France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and, of course, the United States. The battles between Japan and the United States are, for various reasons, usually more well-known than the battles between Japan and other regional players. Here are 10 battles fought in World War IIs Pacific Theatre not involving America: ONE. Battle of Taiyuan - Sept. 1, 1937-Nov. 9, 1937: This was a major battle fought between Japan and mostly Chinese nationalist forces (remember: China was in the midst of a civil war between communists and nationalists before Japan decided to crash the party). The Japanese Army routed the undertrained Chinese forces and the battle helped lay the groundwork for Japans invasion and eventual conquest of all of northern China. TWO. Battle of Nanking - Sept. 1937-Jan. 1938: This is the infamous battle during which Chinas nationalist forces lost to Japan and resulted in the Rape of Nanking. Tokyos Imperial Army moved quickly through Chinese terrain and attacked Nanking with a force of about 200,000 soldiers. The nationalist soldiers, mostly volunteers, were slaughtered, as were a large number of civilians. The treatment of Nankings citizens led to Chinas decision to not pursue peace with Japan, which in turn led to Japan being forced to contend with not only Western empires but the Chinese as well. THREE. Battle of Wuhan - June 11-Oct. 27, 1938: This battle involved more than 1 million Chinese troops and 350,000 Japanese troops. China suffered heavy losses, and Japan ultimately captured the city of Wuhan. China was able to inflict heavy losses on Tokyos Imperial Army. Some estimates put the number of dead on both sides at over half a million. The Battle of Wuhan also had some limited Soviet involvement, as Moscow sent volunteers to help out the nationalist (not communist) forces in their fight against the Japanese. FOUR. Battle of Changsha - Sept. 17-Oct. 6, 1939: This was a battle between evenly matched forces, and the casualties - 40,000 on each side - show this to be the case. China had more men and Japan had better technology and generals, but thanks to this battle, it became apparent that the Chinese were getting smarter as the war dragged on. Changsha was the first Chinese city to successfully fend off the invading, marauding Japanese army. FIVE. Hundred Regiments Offensive - Aug. 20-Dec. 5, 1940: This was a large counter-offensive undertaken by Chinas communist forces that had a lot of political ramifications for Chinas domestic scene after the war. One of Mao Zedongs generals decided it would be a good idea to blow up as much transportation infrastructure and as many coal mines as possible in the hopes of slowing down the Japanese. The Japanese responded by brutally stamping out suspected communist cells. Because Maos general disobeyed him, or at least took matters into his own hands, the Hundred Regiments Offensive was used by communist officials after the war as a propaganda tool to squash dissent. SIX. Battle of Jitra - Dec. 11-13, 1941: This was one of the heaviest defeats suffered by the British army during the war. The Japanese forced the British military to retreat from Malaya to Singapore and captured military equipment and food supplies. The UKs commander did not want to retreat from Malaya with so much on the line and thus ordered a stand at Jitra. It soon became apparent that Jitra would be lost and so a demoralizing retreat through the jungle highlands to Singapore was ordered. Part of the larger Malayan Campaign, the UK got its backside handed to it by Tokyo and this is considered to be one of the worst military disasters in British imperial history. SEVEN. Naval Battle of Malaya - Dec. 10, 1941: This event occurred just a few days after Japans attack on Pearl Harbor, and it showcased the prowess of Tokyos Imperial Navy. The Japanese used bombers armed with torpedoes to sink two of the United Kingdoms most feared warships, the HMS Prince of Wales and the HMS Repulse. With this battle, the Japanese demonstrated to Western policymakers that it would be a force to be reckoned with not only strategically but technologically as well. EIGHT. Battle of Badung Strait - Feb. 19-20, 1942: Fought at night between the Japanese Navy and a combined British-Dutch force, the Japanese Navy was protecting supply vessels through the strait and was completely outnumbered. The Japanese won the battle decisively and proved that their nighttime fighting prowess was second-to-none in southeast Asia. The Dutch lost particularly badly. The Netherlands top admiral was killed and its navy was crippled for months after the battle, which freed up Japanese forces to fight elsewhere. NINE. Battle of Java - Feb. 28- March 12, 1942: Java was (and still is) a densely populated island and was the heart and soul of the Dutch East Indies. The Japanese struck hard and fast and by the end of March in 1942, Japan had a clear shot at Australias coastline. TEN. Battle of Imphal - March 8-July 4, 1944: Japan had marched all the way from China to British India, where Tokyos Imperial forces, bolstered by secessionist-minded guerillas, attacked British Imperial troops with the aim of invading India itself. Instead, Japanese generals were tricked into thinking that marching through the Burmese jungles was a piece of cake. When the Japanese did arrive, the British Imperial Army slaughtered about 50,000 tired, sick, and hungry Japanese troops and drove the rest back into Burma. This was Japans worst loss to date and helped shut down the Japanese Empires Burma Campaign for good. Further thoughts The Age of Empires ended with the surrender of Japan to the United States in 1945. The colonial empires of France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the United States, and Japan collapsed and in their place was a loose coalition of brand new nation states roughly under the umbrella of US protection. China, war-torn and divided, decided to chart its own path. If you look back into the battles of World War 2, can you spot the patterns that have led to the state of the world as we know it today? Property details: THIS IS IT, FINAL PRICE REDUCTION. Own your own beautiful land in Alturas, California within the Modoc National Forest. 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Price: $ 1 Seller State of Residence: Texas State/Province: Vermont Number of Bedrooms: 1 City: Bolton Valley Location: , Bolton Valley, Vermont You will be redirected to eBay Nearby Bolton Valley The victory gives Republicans the power to rein in Biden's agenda, as well as to launch potentially politically damaging probes of his administration and family. According to experts, banks have found better arbitrage opportunities in dollar terms in mature economies with mortgage and leverage rather than take equity exposure on Indian real estate. At a time when US-based KKR and Blackstone are pouring millions of dollars in Indian properties, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley, two of the biggest American banks, have put on hold their private equity (PE) investments in Indian real estate. Though PE funds of most global investors such as Wachovia, Merrill Lynch, Citigroup either exited or became dormant in Indian real estate after Lehman Brothers crisis in 2008, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley continued and were looking to raise new property funds. JPMorgan, sources said, could not scale up real estate investments in India the way it wanted. For instance, they could raise half of the $600 million India-focused fund they set out to raise. Recently, Chanakya Chakravarti, managing director of global alternatives, real estate Asia, JPMorgan, quit the company to join Canadian property investment firm Ivanhoe Cambridge as head of its India operations. JPMorgan invested in the country till early 2016. It had struck a deal with Pune-based Kolte Patil in December 2015 and reportedly struck a Rs 200-crore deal with Bengaluru-based Assetz Property Group in early 2016. When contacted, a JPMorgan spokeperson said, JPMorgan Asset Management has a long-standing presence in real estate in India, with an established team in place since 2006. "We continue to focus on driving results for our clients, maximising investment performance and providing exceptional client service. Morgan Stanley has also put on hold its PE investments in real estate in the country. It has put off plan to float a $500-million India-focused property fund, sources said. According to sources, Morgan Stanley was earlier in discussions with Mumbai-based Oberoi Realty to form a Rs 1000-crore joint venture (JV) to invest in the latters malls in Mumbai. But Oberoi Realty has shelved plans to float a JV and invest in malls through internal accruals and debt. Morgan Stanley did not respond to a mail on the subject. Morgan Stanley shifted all its Indian real estate investments to Proprium Capital, set up by its former employees in 2013. Now, Proprium manages its investments in Bengaluru-based Mantri Realty, pune-based Panchshil, among others. It is evident that the prop books of the these institutions have rolled up more to the US regulations where bank balance-sheets can be used outside the US market, and the concurrent risk weightage. "Also, exits on past investments have not been adequately demonstrated, said Anuj Puri, chairman at ANAROCK Property Consultants. Puri said global players such as Blackstone and sovereign funds will make their decisions based on funds available for deployment, the larger gestation and holding periods involved, and the opportunities available in the Indian market. Also, the Indian real estate sector has not demonstrated enough meaningful exits for foreign institutional investors to keep pumping money into the sector. "This is the first time we are seeing a downward cycle, and once it settles down, the investment thesis for India through foreign institutional investors (FIIs) may well be rewritten, Puri said. Amit Goenka, managing director & chief executive officer of Nisus Finance Services said global investors have been shy of coming back into Indian real estate for blind pool private equity play. In blind pool, fund managers have the discretion to invest in any projects or company of their choice. Banks have found better arbitrage opportunities in dollar terms in mature economies with mortgage and leverage rather than take equity exposure on Indian real estate, Goenka said. Image used for representational purpose. Photograph: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters. However, some of the provisions in the draft Bill needs scrutiny, as these could scare away international investors India has come out with a draft space activities Bill focused on allowing private players to build satellites, rockets and space vehicles for domestic and global needs. So far, most space activities has been government driven - developing satellites and launching these on homegrown rockets to create capacity for the country's needs. The lack of a space law was being seen as a hindrance to exploit the country's potential as a hub for global space activities by private firms, say experts. "The enabling law gives confidence to private companies to take risks and invest in space activities in India," says K R Sridhara Murthi, a space policy expert and a former managing director of Antrix Corp, the commercial arm of India's space agency. The draft law is open for public comments for a month, following which it will go to Parliament for approval. India is a signatory of all space agreements, except one on moon, under the United Nations. Another legal expert says the draft law does not have clarity on use of space objects, has clauses that give arbitrary power to the government to look into research activities and lacks clarity on a regulator for penal provisions. These could hurt business. "The fact that India has drafted this law is welcome. However, some of the provisions in the draft Bill needs scrutiny, as these could scare away international investors, says Rishabh Sinha, a counsel at TRA, a law firm based in Delhi that advises technology firms. "Space requires high investments and long gestation for returns. Any serious investor will look twice before putting money in space tech, if these are not amended. A law would help global space players to use India as a hub for commercial space activity, including making satellites and using Indian rockets to launch satellites. The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) is also looking at this to build a base for private players to exploit this opportunity and generate jobs in the country. It has already begun transferring its technology for satellites and rockets to private players. A consortium led by Alpha Design has already built a navigation satellite for Isro, while it has floated a tender to outsource manufacturing of 35 satellites to private players. Isro is forming a consortium of players, including Larson and Toubro, Godrej and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, who can build its workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) by 2020. Isro chairman A S Kiran Kumar told Business Standard in an interview: "We are enabling industries working for Isro and new companies to not only provide solutions and systems to us, but also provide to global space systems. "Now, there is an opportunity because some things can happen at a significantly lower cost in India compared with others. "So, these companies can become a part of the global supply chain. Isro sees a sweet spot in a revival of space activities by private players globally. Over 6,200 small satellites (of less than 50 kg) are expected to be launched by 2026 - 70 per cent from commercial operators who are planning large constellations, according to Euroconsult, a global space researcher. The total market value of these small satellites could triple to $30.1 billion in the next 10 years, up from $8.9 billion over the previous decade, it said in a July 2017 report. Photograph Reuters The onus of the tax dues of Rs 22,100 crore on Vodafone Indias British parent could also fall on the merged entity. While Vodafone India and Aditya Birla group firm Idea Cellular are in the final stages of the proposed merger to become the largest telecom firm in the country, the onus of the tax dues of Rs 22,100 crore on Vodafone Indias British parent could also fall on the merged entity. According to income-tax (I-T) officials, a no-objection certificate (NOC) has been issued in reply to the merger proposal of Vodafone India-Idea. However, the NOC was given along with an explanatory remark about the outstanding tax liabilities of Rs 22,100 crore (which included interest accruing since the date of the original demand) on Vodafone group. The remark also has a brief explanation of the tax dispute between the Indian tax authority and Vodafone Plc. Vodafone India was also told that it is an Indian subsidiary of UK-based Vodafone Plc, which has a tax dispute pending. In an emailed response to Business Standard, a Vodafone Plc spokesperson said it was not aware of any such certificate being issued. Queries to Idea Cellular did not elicit any response. According to an I-T official privy to this case, the NOC was given with a caution about the pending legal status of the case. According to him, the tax authorities have no issues with the proposed merger and hence they will not go to court against it. However, since the outstanding liabilities were on the parent and the pre-merged entity (as Vodafone group), the same liabilities would go with the merged or combined entity, according to law. The Vodafone spokesperson added that when Indian companies merge, the assets and liabilities of the two businesses that are combining become the responsibility of the merged company in line with general Indian legal principles and the I-T Act. Any such responsibilities are subject to tax indemnities/agreements between the parties. "We have no comment to make on the agreement between Vodafone and Aditya Birla on the treatment of such assets and liabilities, he added. A merger or amalgamation requires an NOC from the tax department, said an I-T officer. As the merger of any two companies transfers all the commitments and liabilities to the merged entity, the tax liability also goes on to the merged entity unless there is a specific exclusion or exemption. He added that the law allows tax authorities to confiscate Indian assets of the entity if the tax is not paid. At the time of the merger announcement earlier this year, Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao had said the pending tax demand would not impact the merger as it was against the Vodafone group. However, a tax official explained that Vodafone India would also be liable to pay the tax because it was an offshore deal involving transfer of an underlying Indian asset. Experts said this would create uncertainly among investors of the merged entity. It will put investors of the combined entity in discomfort. Giving such a note with the no-objection indicates taxmen have all the right to catch the neck even if the outstanding demand is on the overseas entity, said Amit Tandon, founder of proxy advisory firm IIAS. On September 29, 2017, Vodafone said it had received an electronically generated demand in respect of alleged principal, interest and penalties of Rs 19,070 crore, PTI had reported. Last year, too, the company had received a similar notice. The Vodafone case pertains to a Rs 7,990-crore demand raised by the government on Vodafone International Holdings for failing to deduct tax on capital gains made during its acquisition of a 67 per cent stake in Hutchison Essar. The matter is currently under arbitration overseas, under international laws. An international arbitration tribunal will begin trial in February 2018 on Vodafones challenge to India using a retrospective legislation to seek Rs 22,100 crore in taxes. Sources said the British parent had sought advice on how to deal with the retrospective tax in case it went ahead with the merger during its initial talks with the Idea, so that these should not cloud the merger process. Photograph: Mukesh Gupta/Reuters Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Global Entrepreneurship Summit and launch Hyderabad Metro Rail next week. Hyderabad is busy, extremely busy these days and guarded too. The city is getting ready for two big events - the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) and launch of Hyderabad Metro Rail. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate both next week, the presence of US President Donald Trumps daughter Ivanka at the GES is keeping officials in the Telangana government on edge. The Telangana State Secretariat, just adjacent to the seat of the Andhra Pradesh government, is where all the action is. Meetings in the city are either getting rescheduled or cancelled as officers try to keep things in order at the GES conference venue - Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC). Close to the IT hub, Hitec City, the roads leading to HICC are vigorously getting repaired or painted. Even trees lining the roads in the vicinity are getting painted pink, yellow, and green. Jayesh Ranjan, IT and industry secretary in the Telangana government, is the man of the moment, coordinating on anything from the celebrity list at the 8th edition of the summit to planning a stellar show from November 28 to 30. That the American authorities are keeping everything secret due to security threat perceptions is making the Indian sides nervous. However, when asked about challenges in organising such a big event, Ranjan said, We have organised much bigger events in the past. The NITI Aayog and Telangana government, along with the US, are organising the event, but there are many other stakeholders. For instance, t-hub (Telangana hub) - the biggest incubator for start-ups in India - has had a critical role in pitching for organising the GES in Hyderabad. NITI Aayog chief executive officer Amitabh Kant had acknowledged that in a Twitter message recently. Jay Krishnan, chief executive of t-hub, told Business Standard how several rounds of pitching had happened over 2016 and 2017. The Hyderabad Metro launch is coinciding with the GES but officials are tight-lipped about the itinerary. The Prime Ministers Office (PMO) is working the phones incessantly to keep a check on the minute by minute calendar of both the GES and Metro launch. In fact, last-minute clearances were given to Hyderabad Metro for a launch next week. Top officials at Hyderabad Metro said they were intensely caught up in the launch drill especially as the PM is inaugurating. Prominent hotels including the Falaknuma (scheduled for official dinner being hosted for Ivanka Trump) and Westin (where Ivanka may stay, though theres no confirmation) are being monitored by the security agencies of both the US and India. Nobody quite knows whether Ivanka will visit historical places such as Charminar or not, but nothing is being left to chance and many parts of Hyderabad look severely gated. If thats not enough, celebrity guests such as Deepika Padukone have started pulling out, perhaps because of the threat following her role in the controversial film Padmavati. Bollywood actress Aditi Rao Hydari is likely to be the last-minute entry as a celebrity speaker at the GES. Its a work in progress, an official said. The final guest list should be out any moment, he added. After Padukone dropped out of the summit on Monday, the state government got into damage-control mode to find a celebrity speaker. Photograph: Reuters Stars go on the loveliest holidays -- exotic locations with a lot of adventure thrown in. We bring you their travels in a special series. Bani J had an amazing trip to Hong Kong. Aamir Khan took his family to Italy for a holiday. Parineeti Chopra had an awesome Australian vacation. Kunal Kapoor took us on a road trip from Dharamsala to Kaza in Himachal Pradesh. Television actors Suyyash Rai and Kishwer Merchant went on a trip to California. Singer Kanika Kapoor visited Maldives. This week, let's visit South Africa with Preity Zinta! 'What an unbelievable trip this is turning out to be - Love Love Love being in South Africa with the family,' Preity writes. What is this about? Preity posts a picture of her husband Gene Goodenough and tells us. 'So we land in South Africa 4our first family holiday. Everyone is back at the hotel & my Pati Parmeshwar is here Ting !' 'You know you are having the trip of a lifetime when you go for a walk and see 3 Cheetahs chilling on the dirt road,' Mrs Goodenough says of her African safari. Posing at Lion's Head in Cape Town, Preity writes, 'The need to go a little higher after reaching the top of the mountain is motivation for this photo.' Nothing beats the feeling of climbing the top of a mountain! The start, the middle and the end of it all. Posing from the Durbanville Hills, Preity wrote, 'There is a major drought currently so we thought that we should save water & drink wine instead.' Preity confesses she is going to go back as a fan of South African wine and hospitality. 'A big thanks to the staff of #Durbanvillehills for an amazing day & experience #winetasting' 'This is what a wild traffic jam looks like,' she writes sharing a video. Preity's mountain climbing challenge. 'Ain't no mountain high enough conquering #TableMountain & loving every moment of it' After an hour and a half of hike, this is what the last 30 seconds looked like. Photographs: Kind courtesy, Preity Zinta/Instagram 'Minus Modi, the BJP will get only 50 seats.' 'He will undermine the BJP as an organisation and woo voters on his personal charisma.' 'He is planning 25 big meetings in Gujarat and that will make a difference.' IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra D Modi at the Bharatiya Janata Party's central election committee meeting at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi. Photograph: Vijay Verma/PTI Photo It has never been easy to predict the outcome of the Gujarat assembly elections, certainly not since Narendra Damodardas Modi became the chief minister in 2001. In every election since then, Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party have been written off by opponents and analysts alike, and each time leader and party have stormed to power with a strong majority. This election, the situation is different. Modi is not Gujarat's chief minister for the first time since the 2002 assembly election. Plus, there is a host of anti-establishment protests across the state, spearheaded by the Patidars and Dalits, all of which point to a deep layer of resentment across the state. How will it affect the BJP's chances at next month's election? Dr Vidyut Joshi -- former vice-chancellor, Bhavnagar University and former director of the Centre for Social Studies, Surat -- is convinced that a Modi-less BJP will see its seat tally tumble from 115 in 2012 to less than 100 this time, enough to form a government in the 182-member assembly, while a resurgent Congress will bag around 80 seats. The Congress will get more seats in rural areas and the BJP will get more seats in urban areas except for Surat because there the Patidar movement is strong, Dr Joshi, below, tells Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf. What is your prediction for the Gujarat assembly election? I feel the BJP will get between 95 and 98 seats, the Congress will get 85 seats. Whatever the small parties can take will be taken by the NCP (Nationalist Congress Party, AAP (the Aam Aadmi Party and Shankarsinh Vaghela's party. Why do you think the BJP's tally will decrease from the present 115? Obviously, anti-incumbency is one factor. Twenty-two years (the BJP has been in power in Gujarat since 1995) is sufficient for anti-incumbency. This happened at one point with the CPI-M (Communist Party of India-Marxist) in West Bengal too. (Trinamool Congress chief and present West Bengal Chief Minister) Mamata Banerjee had no organisation as good as the CPI-M. But still, there was a reduction of seats. The same is the case now. There are 10 major movements going on in Gujarat right now against the BJP. What are these? The Patidar movement, the OBC movement, the Dalit movement, small traders' movement, ASHA (accredited social health activists) workers movement, anganwadi women's movement, fixed salary workers movement, and ambulance workers movement. These movements have caused anti-incumbency against the BJP. Particularly, the OBC and Dalit movements, as they are openly saying that they will vote against the BJP. Has a fatigue factor set in against the BJP? After 22 years if you see the same face, you develop repulsion. So why not change? People feel they (ministers) have not done their work. Also, in the name of speedy industrialisation, the BJP has overlooked rural areas. Farmers are agitating for crop pricing and insurance. The Congress will get more seats in rural areas and the BJP will get more seats in urban areas except for Surat because there the Patidar movement is strong. Before every election, analysts say the BJP will not do well but when the results arrive, the BJP has won a thumping majority. That is why I am giving 95 to 98 seats to the BJP, and it is only because of Modi. The way Indira Gandhi undermined the Congress and approached voters, Modi will do the same thing. He will undermine the BJP as an organisation and woo voters on his personal charisma. He is planning to organise 25 big meetings in Gujarat and that will make a difference. Minus Modi, the BJP will get only 50 out of 182 seats in Gujarat. Is there no popular second-rung leader in the Gujarat BJP? A charismatic leader will never develop a second-rung leader. Indira Gandhi did not do that and Modi too has not done. Any charismatic leader will never want to have a second leader. Everyone is talking about the caste combination in Gujarat. Will that be Amit Shah's strategy? If the BJP gives tickets considering caste, then the Congress will also give tickets accordingly. So where is casteism? It is not only Amit Shah who is working on it, but Ahmed Patel too who is at work. Will Rahul Gandhi's visits to temples to project the Congress as a pro-Hindu party work with voters?? It is not a question of a pro-Hindu party, but playing with the emotions of people. I have observed that Rahul has improved a lot. Earlier, it looked like he was not speaking to people, but now it looks like he is speaking to them. He is listening to questions from people and giving answers. This interactive method is a different approach. And every place where he goes, he visits people of the dominant castes. This is a big change, but still, he is no match for Modi. 80 seats will be a big victory for Rahul, isn't it? It will be. The Congress will definitely get 80 plus seats. Opinion polls say the Congress will get fewer than 80, but I don't believe that. There are no big Congress leaders in Gujarat and yet you claim it will get 80 plus seats. Why? In any given constituency the candidate is the face. Like the Congress, the BJP too has no face in Gujarat. Narendra Modi is the national face and the BJP has no face in the state. There is not a single leader in the Congress who is acceptable, and the same is applicable to the BJP. What about the communalism factor in Gujarat? The BJP will play that card. In the UP (Uttar Pradesh) elections, Modi played the Kabristan-Shamshan game, which was Amit Shah's strategy. Anti-incumbency is not only against the BJP, but also against its local leaders. This situation reminds me of Indira Gandhi's time. Internally, the Congress was not working and there was chaos, but Indira Gandhi's charisma was fetching votes for the party. People will vote in the same way for Modi. The day Modi comes to Gujarat, he will visit every nook and corner and people will follow him as if he is a Pied Piper. Therefore, I am saying the BJP will get 95 seats. So, people will vote for Modi only because of Gujarati pride? Gujaratis are not regional. 40 percent of Gujarati investments are outside Gujarat. They cannot afford to be chauvinists. They cannot be like the Shiv Sena where there is regional pride for Marathi people. What will be the impact of this election on the 2019 general election? I think the BJP will not be able to repeat its 2014 success in Gujarat. They will not win all 26 (Lok Sabha) seats like they did in the 2014 election. In 2019, Modi will not get 282 seats like he got in 2014. He will get less than that. Why? My reading is that Modi is now isolated. He looks fatigued. A section of the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) has come out against Modi. Do you know that Sanjay Joshi (a RSS leader and Modi's arch-rival) visits Gujarat every week? Political drama unfolded late Tuesday night when veteran actor and Bharatiya Janata Party MP Paresh Rawal wrote and deleted a tweet in response to the meme posted by the Congress on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In the tweet that is now deleted, he wrote, Our chai-wala is any day better than your bar-wala! The 67-year-old actor-turned-politician was responding to the Indian Youth Congresss online magazine Yuva Desh, where they tweeted a picture of Prime Minister Modi in conversation with United States President Donald Trump and United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May. However, later he issued an apology and wrote, Deleted the tweet as its in bad taste and I apologise for hurting feelings. For the unversed, Yuva Deshs meme showed a picture of Modi in conversation with the United States President and UK Prime Minister, asking them if they were aware of the various memes on him, which have been circulated on social media by the Opposition. To which May responds that Modi should stick to just selling tea. The Congress disapproved and rejected its online magazines derogatory tweet, saying that the partys culture imbibed respect for the prime minister and all political opponents. However, the Bharatiya Janata Party refused to accept the apology with Union Ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad, J P Nadda and Piyush Goyal hitting out at the Congress over the post. The arrogance of the Congress Party and shameful anti- poor stand gets exposed from the official twitter of the Youth Congress that a person born in poverty in the family of a tea vendor cannot become the Prime Minister. No lessons learnt. Insulting popular mandate. Madam Sonia Gandhi and Mr Rahul Gandhi do you still believe that only you have a divine right to rule India? Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said in a series of tweets. He said the country expects the two leaders to respond to the meme which is shameful and insulting to poor, he said. -- With inputs from Agencies Image: A snapshot of Paresh Rawal's now deleted tweet. Rawal apologised for the tweet, saying it was in bad taste. Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani said on Wednesday that his government would not allow the release of Bollywood movie Padmavati in the state as it hurts sentiments of the Rajput community. "There are issues with the film, our sympathy is with those who are protesting against it and that is the reason we will not allow its release in the state till those issues are resolved," Rupani said in Ahmedabad. The decision to not screen the movie has been taken keeping in mind the law and order situation in the poll-bound state, he said. The Sanjay Leela Bhansali film has been facing opposition over allegations that it twists historical facts. "The Government of Gujarat will not allow Bollywood movie Padmavati to be released in the state as it is hurting sentiments of the Rajputs," Rupani said. We can't allow our history to be distorted, he said. "We believe in freedom of speech and expression but any foul play with our great culture will not be tolerated," the chief minister said. Bharatiya Janata Party ruled states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have already expressed reservations about the film. Rupani also referred to the assembly polls to be held in two-phases on December 9 and 14 saying his government does not any row in the poll-bound state. "Election are also approaching and we do not want any row here. The matter comes under law and order situation and that is the reason we have taken this decision," he said. Asked if he had seen the film, Rupani said, "The makers of the film should screen it for those who are protesting against it and resolve the issue. Our concern is protests and law and order situation at the time of elections. Till this issues is resolved we will not allow screening of the film in Gujarat." On November 20, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had said Padmavati will not be allowed to be screened in the state if historical facts are 'distorted' in the film. Meanwhile, the Karni Sena, which is leading the protests against the film, continued its offensive. "Its reel should be consigned to the flames of jauhar," Lokendra Singh Kalvi, chief of the outfit, told reporters in New Delhi. He lashed at Padukone for her remarks that no force could stop the film's release. "Who is Deepika Padukone? Is she the president or the prime minister? This film will not be released at any cost," he said. Asked on what basis was he claiming that the film distorted history, Kalvi said it was his "assumption" based on an alleged statement of Ranveer Singh, who plays Alauddin Khilji in the movie. Director Bhansali recently clarified that rumours about a romantic dream sequence between Rani Padmavati and Khilji's characters were not true as he was careful in depicting "Rajput honour and dignity". Kalvi also alleged to have received "life threats" from unknown numbers, one of which "was traced back to Karachi". Many groups have been protesting against the movie alleging distorting of history. Historians, however, are divided even on whether Rani Padmavati existed. A Tamil film producer allegedly committed suicide at his house, with a suicide note recovered from the spot blaming a Madurai-based film financier for pushing him to take the extreme step, police said. The alleged suicide of Ashok Kumar has shocked the industry, bringing back grim memories of the alleged suicide of well-known producer G Venkateswaran, brother of ace director Maniratnam. A purported suicide note of Kumar, a relative of well-known actor-director Sasikumar, blamed a Madurai-based film financier for allegedly pushing him to the extreme step, police said. Kumar reportedly accused the financier of charging exorbitant interest on some loans obtained by him, and harassing him over the same. Kumar was found hanging at his house in Chennai, they said adding a case has been registered and three teams have been formed to solve the case. Police is on their way to Madurai to carry out further investigation, including possible arrest of the financier. A post-mortem on the body of Ashok Kumar was done in Chennai. The Tamil Film Producers Council (TFPC) expressed grief over Kumar's alleged suicide. TFPC president and actor Vishal alleged that this was a case of 'usury,' and said while it has affected common people so far, it has now extended to the film industry also. He gave an assurance that solutions will be provided if producers affected by 'usury' approached the TFPC for redressal. 'Producers should stay united...We are struggling hard to ensure fellow producers do business without any impediments,' he said in a statement. 'If there is any intimidation or threat (from lenders), please approach us (TFPC) immediately,' he added. Let this be the "last death" over usury, Vishal said, and urged the police to nab the culprits at the earliest and wished such incidents did not recur. Besides Venkateswaran, who produced super hit films like Thalapathi and Anjali, directed by his brother Maniratnam, another well-known producer, M Kajamydeen, attempted suicide earlier. A man and his wife had set themselves and their two kids afire at the Tirunelveli Collectorate complex allegedly due to harassment by a money lender in that district last month. While the woman and her two children died on the day of the incident, the man succumbed to injuries later. Following the incident, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami had directed district collectors and police officials to act swiftly on complaints of exorbitant interest charged by money lenders. Patidar quota stir leader Hardik Patel on Wednesday pledged his support to the Congress for the Gujarat assembly elections, in a major fillip to the party's bid to sew up a new caste combination to wrest the state from the Bharatiya Janata Party after being out of power for 22 years. The 24-year-old Patel, who was playing cat and mouse game with the Congress for the last few weeks, declared that his Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti will back the main opposition party after the latter accepted its demand for reservation for the Patel community. Hardik, who is not eligible for contesting elections due to his young age, said the Congress also assured the PAAS that it would include its promise of reservation for the Patidars in the party manifesto. The young quota agitation spearhead, who led violent protests in support of the demand that left several people dead in police action, said the promised quota would go beyond the 50 per cent cap set by the Supreme Court for the Scheduled Castes, Schedule Tribes and OBCs. With Hardik extending his support to the Congress, the party has been able to rope in three young caste group leaders in the state whose emergence on Gujarat's political firmament had roots in agitations. Earlier OBC leader Alpesh Thakor of the Gujarat Kshatriya-Thakor Sena had joined the Congress. The 39-year-old Thakor is known for his campaign against liquor in the dry state, and is believed to wield influence among youth belonging to backward classes. Jignesh Mewani, a lawyer-activist who shot into prominence after organising a string of protests against the Una incident where Dalits skinning a dead cow were flogged on the suspicion of slaughtering it, has also indicated his support to the Congress. Mewani, 37, had met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in Surat recently. Though the Dalit leader did not explicitly commit that he would campaign for the Congress, he said he would do everything possible to prevent the BJP from coming to power in Gujarat. "My fight in Gujarat is against the BJP and that is why we will directly or indirectly support Congress (in the elections) as it has accepted our demand for reservation," Hardik told reporters in Ahmedabad. Under the proposal, the influential Patels, traditional voters of the BJP, would get reservation in government jobs and educational institutions beyond the 49 per cent quotas for the SC, ST and OBCs. Referring to the Supreme Court's cap of 50 per cent on reservation, he said it was just a "suggestion". "In our Constitution, there is no mention of 50 per cent cap on reservation. I am of the firm opinion that reservation can be given over 50 per cent," Hardik said. The Patel leader said there were no differences with the Congress over seat-sharing. "We had not demanded any seats, but we had asked the Congress to put up candidates of our community who have a strong character," he said. He said PAAS members who had already filed nominations ceased to be members of the outfit. Reacting to the development, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the "Congress-Hardik club" is one of mutual deception. "The law of the land is very clear and that is laid down by the Supreme Court and only last week in the Rajasthan case it has been re-affirmed that the 50 per cent cap cannot be increased." The Supreme Court in its verdict in the Mandal Commission case ruled that the total reservation for SC/ST and other backward classes or special categories should not exceed 50 per cent. Referring to the bid for awarding quota to Gujjars in Rajasthan, Jaitley said the judiciary has re-affirmed that the 50 per cent cap cannot be increased. Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi suggested that Jaitley was ignoring the fact that the BJP-ruled Rajasthan has "breached" the 50 per cent cap and asked the minister to not engage in "doublespeak". "We are not in power in Gujarat today...when we will come in power there, we will implement it (quota) staying completely within constitutional framework. We have the capabilities to do that," Singhvi said. On Jaitley's "mutual deception" jibe, Singhvi said "deception" will happen only if the Congress "does anything wrong" after coming into power in the state. "But as we have said again and again, unlike the BJP, we are law-abiding and we will take steps within the Constitutional daayara (framework)," he added. Singhvi further accused the BJP of befooling the people of Rajasthan by promising quota to one or the other community. Despite being in power, the BJP has not fulfilled promises made to people on quota, he added. Hitting out at Hardik Patel for declaring support to Congress, Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said the formula of reservation above the cap set by Supreme Court was something "offered by fools and also accepted by fools." "Though it is very much clear that reservation quota cannot go beyond 50 per cent in any situation, Hardik is trying to misguide the Patidar community with the formula offered by the Congress. In my opinion, this formula of reservation is a big joke," Patel told reporters in Ahmedabad. Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal thanked Hardik Patel for declaring his support to the party after it accepted the Patidar community's quota demand, and said their united fight would ensure that the BJP was dethroned. Sibal, however, held his cards close to chest when asked about the details of the formula the Congress and the Patel- led PAAS had worked out, adding the related issues would be decided later. "We are very happy that a 'sanjha morcha' (united front) will now fight against the BJP... We thank him that they (PAAS) have joined us with an ideology to contest the election by coming together... Our target is to win the election and fulfil promises made to the people," Sibal told reporters in New Delhi. Elections in Gujarat will be held on December 9 and 14. Image: Hardik Patel with Dinesh Bhambaniya during a press conference in Ahmedabad on Wednesday. Photograph: Santosh Hirlekar/PTI Photo Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed will soon walk free after a Pakistani judicial body on Wednesday ordered his release from house arrest, in a setback to India's efforts to bring to justice the perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack. The banned head, who carries a bounty of $10 million announced by the United States for his role in terror activities, has been under detention since January this year. Rejecting the government's plea to extend his detention for another three months, the Judicial Review Board of Punjab province comprising judges of the Lahore high court unanimously ordered Saeed's release on the completion of his 30-day house arrest which will expire on Thursday. "The government is ordered to release JuD chief Hafiz Saeed if he is not wanted in any other case," said the board which was headed by Justice Abdul Sami Khan. Saeed's counsel Advocate A K Dogar told PTI that his client will walk free on Thursday. "The JuD chief was illegally detained for 297 days. Hafiz Saeed always worked for Pakistan and the government could not prove any allegation against him," he said. The fire-brand cleric may walk out free if the government does not detain him in any other case. Soon after the verdict, Saeed resorted to rhetoric and said all efforts by India have failed and he was released. "It was not mine but Pakistan's case. Today, India faced embarrassment as it is proved that Pakistan is an independent country. I tell you... India can do no harm to me and Kashmir will soon get freedom," he said in a statement. India has repeatedly asked Pakistan to re-investigate the Mumbai terror attack case and also demanded trial of Saeed and Lashkar-e-Taiba operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi in the light of evidence it had provided to Islamabad. Before the board's decision, a federal finance ministry official appeared before it and submitted "some important evidence" against Saeed to justify his detention. The board, however, could not be convinced by his arguments. The board had asked the ministry to explain how release of a single individual would affect the entire country. Punjab Assistant Advocate General Sattar Sahil said the government law officer had presented had 'some important evidence' to justify detention of Saeed but all three members of the board unanimously rejected it and ordered his release. Earlier, the home department of the Punjab government told the board that Pakistan might face sanctions from the international community if Saeed is released. On January 31, Saeed and his four aides -- Abdullah Ubaid, Malik Zafar Iqbal, Abdul Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Hussain -- were detained by the Punjab government for 90 days under Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 and the Fourth Schedule of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997. However, the last two extensions were made on the 'public safety law'. The board refused to give further extension to the detention of Saeed's aides. They were set free last month. Earlier, the home department produced Saeed before the board and sought a three-month extension in his detention. Dogar said he told the board that those four aides of Saeed it (board) had set free last month had not created any law and order situation in the country after their release as was being alleged by the home department. "The same allegation the department has levelled against his client which is unfounded. Saeed has been placed under house arrest only to please the US and India," Dogar said and warned the government from detaining Saeed again in any other 'fake' case or charges. "We will move the court without any delay if the government does not comply with the order of the judicial board and set him free tomorrow," he said. Strict security arrangements were taken at the LHC premises during Saeed's appearance before the board. A large number of JuD workers also gathered on the courts premises. Saeed's supporters chanted slogans in favour of their leader. Welcoming the board's decision, JuD spokesman Yahya Mujahid said, "The friends of India are disappointed today." Last month, the board had allowed 30-day extension to the detention of Saeed. Meanwhile, a source in the Punjab government told PTI that Saeed may not walk out free as the government is mulling to detain him in another case. "The government cannot afford to set Saeed free in the current circumstance. It cannot face international backlash in the event of releasing the JuD chief," the official source told PTI. Under the law, the government can detain a person for up to three months under different charges but for extension to that detention it needs approval from a judicial review board. Separately, the LHC on Wednesday held hearing on Saeeds petition challenging his detention and adjourned the proceedings for December 6. The JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the banned Lashkar-e-Tayiba which is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attack. Saeed was put under house arrest after Mumbai terror attacks in November 2008 but he was freed by court in 2009. Ten LeT militants killed 166 people and wounded dozens in Mumbai in November, 2008. Nine of the attackers were killed by police while lone survivor Ajmal Kasab was caught. Kasab was executed after a court found him guilty and handed down death sentence. Pak 'hoodwinking' global community: India on Saeed's release Hafiz Saeed's release order the judicial body shows how Pakistan is "hoodwinking" the international community on the issue of terrorism, government sources said. It is also reflective of Islamabad's "duplicity" in tackling terrorism, they said and asked Pakistan to "walk the talk" on its assurances to the international community over dismantling terror infrastructure and not allowing its soil to be used for terror acts. Saeed's release may also coincide with the anniversary of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. "The release order only shows that Pakistan provides free space to terrorists to indulge in acts against other countries. And in case of Saeed, a designated terrorist, it also shows how Pakistan is hoodwinking the international community on the issue of terrorism," a source said. Pakistan keeps giving assurances to the international community that it is making all efforts to tackle terrorism but it never implement its assurances in reality and this (Saeed) is one example, another source asserted. Saeed is terrorist leader designated by UN and US: Trump administration Hafiz Saeed is a terrorist leader designated by both the United Nations and the United States, the Trump administration said hours after the court ordered his release from detention. "The US is aware of media reports that Pakistan (court) ordered release of Lashkar-e-Tayiba leader Hafiz Saeed from house arrest," a State Department spokesperson told PTI when asked about the decision of the Judicial Review Board of Punjab province which refused to extend Saeed's detention. Responding to a question, the State Department was quick to express its displeasure over the potential release of Saeed from house arrest. In May 2008, the United States Department of the Treasury designated Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under Executive Order 13224, the spokesperson said. "Saeed was also individually designated by the United Nations under UNSCR 1267 (UN Security Council Resolution) in December 2008 following the November 2008 Mumbai attack," the official said. LeT and several of its front organisations, leaders, and operatives remain under both State Department and Treasury Department sanctions, the State Department official noted. "The US reiterates its stance that LeT is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organisation responsible for the death of hundreds of innocent civilians in terrorist attacks, including a number of American citizens," the spokesperson told PTI. Ahead of Ivanka Trumps arrival for the three-day Global Entrepreneurship Summit from November 28, the Telangana government is ensuring that they put their best foot forward. IMAGE: Roads and pavements in Telangana are being painted over and being cleaned ahead of Ivanka Trump's visit from November 28. Photograph: SnapsIndia The government is replacing every worn stone with interlocking tiles and new pavements and flower beds are being laid. Roads that needed repairs for months are being resurfaced. In addition to this, walls along the roads are being painted in beautiful hues and the famous Charminar is also undergoing renovation. Authorities are also rounding up beggars ahead of Ivanka's visit. More than 200 beggars have been transported to separate male and female shelter homes located on the grounds of two city prisons. Authorities have been strictly enforcing a begging ban on the city's streets and in other public places. IMAGE: Roads that needed repairs for months are being resurfaced and new pavements and flower beds are being laid. Photograph: SnapsIndia US President Donald Trumps daughter and adviser, Ivanka Trump, said that the GES being hosted by India with the US is a testament to the strong friendship between the two countries. Ivanka is leading a high-powered American delegation of officials, women entrepreneurs and businessmen for the GES in Hyderabad from November 28-30. Ivanka would deliver the key note address at the three-day summit, which would be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. IMAGE: According to the officials, during her visit, Ivanka is likely to spend some time on sightseeing, including a possible stop at the Charminar. Photograph: SnapsIndia For the first time, in its eight editions, the summit has been themed Women First and Prosperity for All, which demonstrates the administrations commitment to the principle that when women are economically empowered, their communities and countries thrive, Ivanka said in a preview of her India trip. IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be hosting a dinner for Ivanka Trump at the Falaknuma Palace at the 101 dining table, one of the world's largest dining tables. Photograph: SnapsIndia Ivanka said she very much looks forward to her visit. India, she said, is a great friend and partner in the US. The goal of the collaboration is to grow the shared economic and security partnership, she said. IMAGE: Hyderabad police have amped up the security measures in the area. Photograph: SnapsIndia She will also attend a dinner at Falaknuma Palace hosted by the PM on November 28 where the VIPs will dine at a Nizam-era table with 101 seats. Ahead of her visit to the Palace, the security at the area is being tightened. Beautification works are also ongoing in the area ahead of Ivankas visit. -- With inputs from PTI The Last Coffee Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Author Reem Said Publication Date 24 October 2017 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, The Last Coffee, 24 October 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a152d614.html [accessed 17 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. On Wednesday, March 21, 2012, we decided to flee our town. After the inhuman regime bombing of Sahel al-Ghab in southern Hama countryside, we ad lost all hope that the situation would calm down and life would go back to normal. We realised it was all in vain. We had intended to seek sanctuary in a nearby village, but that escape attempt turned into a displacement. We had hoped that the other village would be less tense but unfortunately, it wasn't. I remember that day so well. It was a very quiet morning, not only because there was no firing or shelling, but also because of the absence of voices. Most of the 10,000 townspeople had left except me, my family and some neighbours. So there were only about fifty people left in the town, in addition to a few young men from the Free Army. They stayed to protect the abandoned houses from looting. At about 1pm, my sister, my neighbour and I sat down to drink coffee on the balcony of the house. We were very happy that until that moment we hadn't seen a single bullet fired. But before we could even finish our coffee, we saw a huge missile flying at what seemed the speed of light directly above us. Our mouths fell open in astonishment, and then we heard the deafening sound of the explosion. We felt as if the whole village was sinking into the earth. The sounds of shouting, crying and begging for help began to rise up. The Free Army soldiers started running towards the site of the explosion. We went out onto the street to discover what had happened and where the missile had fallen. It was so close to our home that, although dust obscured our vision, we could see what was happening from our doorstep. We didn't dare to come too close in case we would be hit by another missile. The regime used to take advantage of the opportunity of a crowd gathering where a missile had fallen to begin bombing again and so kill the largest number of people possible. My father was at home, and immediately headed towards the car, started it and told us to get in. The bombing was so heavy, we didn't know the best way to leave town. Shells fell on all the roads leading to the entrances and exits. My father was trying to be very careful as he drove but at the same time he was nervous. He kept turning left, then right. The shells were still falling nearby and the sound pounded our ears and our nerves. Despite the situation, I didn't cry. I was still in shock from the sound of the rocket that had passed over us and from the missiles thundering around us. In the middle of a road running between orchards, we encountered one of the young men of the village who was in the Free Army. As we had left our home before we knew the details of the explosion, my father asked about the victims of the attack. We were so shocked when we were told that our neighbour Yusuf had been killed. Yusuf was a 25-year-old man whose father had died when he was born. Married with two children, he had no political affiliations and there was no reason to target him. Our neighbour had been was sitting on the roof of his house smoking a hookah and sipping a cup of coffee. It seems that he had been enjoying that quiet morning, and then the missile hit him. Just 15 minutes before the attack, he had walked past our house and chatted to my father. "Apparently, there's only you and I left in this village," he had joked. We continued driving, full of fear, panic, shock and grief for Yusuf. The shelling continued and we could see how the residents of neighbouring villages were also running away, trying to escape from the bombs. We could women and children crying. Many people were barefoot. We saw one young man standing by the side of the road who stopped us and told my father, "Go this way, there's no bombing from here." And that's what we did, we took that road and it was safe. There was no missiles. We felt that we had passed the moment of immediate danger but we were still scared. We couldn't overcome our fear or the shock of our neighbour Yusuf's death. About an hour later, after what should have been just a ten minute drive, we arrived at the village where my sister was living. Even though we hadn't told her we were coming, we found her standing by the side of the road waiting, asking all the people coming from our direction if they had news of us. My sister started crying when she saw us. She hadn't expect to see us alive after all the sounds of bombardment coming from our town. To this day, I still cannot believe how we survived amid the missiles. Despite the harshness of what we experienced, I am fine. I can write about this incident with the hope that one day we will be able to write about what happened in Syria as if it was a all nightmare that we woke up from. But the bitterness is still there when I remember my first displacement and the death of our neighbour Yusuf, the first martyr in our village. Reem Said, 38, is a housewife and the mother of one child who is now a refugee in Turkey. Copyright notice: Institute for War & Peace Reporting I Hit My Daughter Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Author Amal Mohammed Publication Date 23 October 2017 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, I Hit My Daughter, 23 October 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a152dfd4.html [accessed 17 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. It was December 23, 2015, in the middle of a harsh, cold winter. Behind the walls of my parents' house, my children and I were alone. It was a month since my husband Ahmed had passed away. As I gazed at my children, unforgettable memories rushing through my head, my son Laith said, "I'm hungry, mother." "It's ok," I replied. "I'll prepare dinner for you and your siblings." I began cooking for my hungry children but I couldn't find any sugar. How would I make tea? I lived in a small room in my parents' house with my children. The rest of my family lived in the other rooms which were spacious and much nicer than mine. After my husband died, my parents began giving me money to feed my children. But I was too ashamed to ever ask, I used to wait for them to offer of their own accord. I looked in my wallet, where I found only 200 Syrian pounds, not enough to buy anything. I felt embarrassed but didn't ask my mother for money to buy sugar. Instead, I went to the kitchen where my sister was preparing dinner for her family and took a bit of sugar. I went back to my room, feeling very sad. I finished preparing dinner for my children. They ate, then slept. I stayed awake remembering how, when I came to visit my family with my husband, we used to bring them so many presents. I remembered how happy they were to see my children. Now, my parents wouldn't even agree to eat with them, because they said the children didn't know how to behave properly at the table. All night, the same thoughts kept running through my head. How long could I continue being a burden on my family? I wanted to look for a job so as to earn some money, but my parents refused to let me go out to work. Widows are weak in our society, how can a weak woman leave the house? Would I agree to ever get married again and let Ahmed's parents take my children away from me? No, my decision was to stay with my children and to bear all that I suffered just for them. Eventually, I had an idea. My husband had owned a piece of land together with his brothers and I decided to sell his share to help my children. After I reached that conclusion, I fell into a deep sleep. In the morning, I woke up to the voices of my children. The drama of the sugar was about to be played out again. I went back and took sugar from my family's kitchen and prepared breakfast. Then my husband's brother Basem came to visit us and see the children. I broached the subject of the land and suggested that he buy Ahmed's share, but my parents immediately intervened and said to me, "We aren't annoyed by your children, we will help you raise them." I tried to tell them that I wanted to take care of my children myself and that the proceeds from the land might allow me to do so. Basem agreed immediately, so I felt some hope. Then, two days later, he returned with the news that his brothers had refused to sell Ahmed's share of the land. They insisted that the land would remain for the children when they grow up, as a guarantee for their future. I was silent and I could say nothing. All roads had been blocked before me. My daughter Ahlam used to ask me to buy her clothes, so she could be like her schoolmates, treated to new outfits and their favourite foods by their parents. There was no sin in a little girl wanting to be like other children. But because of the bitterness inside me, because of the circumstances in which we were living and my terrible mental state, every time she asked me, I hit her. One day, she asked me for money to buy cookies. I said no, she insisted, and I hit her. Weeping, she said, "Why did you hit me? When I used to ask my father for money he used to smile and give me some, he never hit me. He used to give me everything I wanted. When he comes back, I will tell him that you hit m." I immediately began crying too. I hugged her and asked her to forgive me. I made a promise to myself to never hit her again. I tried to find the money to buy some of the things my children wanted. I received some aid items due to my status as a widow, and so I began selling whatever I could spare. I used the money to buy what my children wanted. But it was never enough. Prices were too high and we were forever running out of stuff. Why did this happen to me? It was like a nightmare I couldn't wake up from. I wanted to go back to my old life, to a time when I could still hold my husband Ahmed and prevent him from going away. But this was impossible. Ahmed was nothing more than a dream and my life had been shattered like broken glass, through no fault of my own. How can I ever be free and break away from the outdated customs and traditions that prevent me from working, just because I am a widow? How can I ever raise and support my children on my own? Amal Mohammed, 34, is a mother-of-three whose husband was killed in shelling. She fled Sahel al-Ghab to live in the town of Nqeir in the Idlib countryside, where she is now looking for work. Copyright notice: Institute for War & Peace Reporting Afghanistan: Teacher's Land Seized Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Author Fareed Tanha Publication Date 21 November 2017 Citation / Document Symbol ARR 580 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Afghanistan: Teacher's Land Seized, 21 November 2017, ARR 580, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a152e5f4.html [accessed 17 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. Teachers in Parwan province have complained that the local authorities are failing to deliver on promises to provide them with plots of residential land. Instead, local strongmen and their supporters have simply seized hundreds of acres allotted to teachers as part of a long-standing government programme. The authorities in Parwan say that they are powerless to forcible reclaim any of the state-owned land. In 2008, as part of efforts to incentivise people to pursue a career in education, the Afghan government decided that all teachers would be eligible for a 300 sq m plot of land on which they could build their own homes. Plans were drawn up for dozens of settlements around the country, but the scheme soon ran into problems. In many cases, local militias or people with powerful connections simply appropriated state-owned land, particularly in sought-after areas. President Ashraf Ghani used International Teachers Day last year to promise that land plots would be distributed within six months. This process is yet to be implemented. Abdul Rauf, 50, a teacher at the Hufyan-e-Sharif school in Parwan, is one of those missing out. Two years ago, along with his fellow teachers, he was promised a plot of land to build a house. But people connected to a local strongman seized the land, and Rauf was forced to rent a cramped house in the provincial capital Charikar which he shares with with 12 other family members. Rauf, who has been working as a teacher for the last 25 years, said he felt forgotten about. "Education is the foundation stone for a country's future, but teachers aren't appreciated and even have their rights violated in Afghanistan," he concluded. In Parwan, the first part of the teachers' town was built in 2011 on an area of just over 2,000 acres to the north of Charikar city. Zulmai Shaheed, director of Parwan's education department, said that further parcels of land were supposed to have been distributed to teachers this year by presidential decree as part of the second phase of this accommodation project. Around 40 per cent of this land, however, had been seized and his department was powerless to do anything. Mohammad Habib Khosti, the education ministry official in charge of so-called teachers' towns, said that this was a common problem. He explained that 96 so-called teachers' towns had so far been built in 26 provinces of the country. However, a third of these had been seized by local strongmen and the ministry had been unable to win back control. "We are facing similar problem in Parwan province," Khosti said. "We sent a delegation to Parwan to solve this problem, but the teachers' town has yet to be taken back from those who seized it." Shaheed said that the names of those involved in the seizures were well-known in Parwan, but that these individuals were so powerful they could act with impunity. "Everybody, including every government department, knows who is involved in the illegal occupying of these lands," he said, adding, "We don't have our own armed forces to enable us to confront them ourselves, but we have written to Parwan's governor, the security departments and attorney's office so alert them to these problems." But no action had yet been taken, he continued, and the problem was widespread. "As well as seizing land set aside for teachers, other areas related to Parwan's education department, such as parks and green areas, have also been occupied by powerful people," Shaheed said. Hameedullah Ameeri, director of Parwan's independent land authority, agreed that the situation was out of control. "It's not only land belonging to teachers' town that has been occupied illegally, but also other government land in the centre and the districts of Parwan," he said. Out of 25,000 acres of illegally appropriated state-owned lands, Ameeri continued, his department had this year been able to take back control of 5,000 acres. But this had come at a cost; Ameeri said that he personally had received numerous death threats. Charikar mayor Khwajah Rohullah Sidiqi said that many local militias linked to former jihadi commanders were involved in the land seizures. Parwan's security and justice departments were too afraid to challenge these groups. Parwan governor Mohammad Asim also said that those appropriating the land felt able to act with impunity. "Some people have sold government lands by making hundreds of fake title deeds," he said, added that building work often took place at night to avoid any clashes with the security forces and because acts on the ground were far harder to deal with. He alleged that both members of parliament and the provincial council were involved in these land seizures, using their private militias to scare off officials trying to take action, but also declined to provide any names. Parwan's provincial council head Ghulam Bahawuddin Jelani said there was no proof that any council members were involved in illegal land seizures. He declined to give any further comment. Parwan police chief Mohammad Zaman Mamozai said that "opportunists" were taking advantage of ongoing unrest and a vacuum of power to illegally occupy government lands in Parwan. "We have received an official letter from Parwan's education department about the occupation of government lands, but retaking possession of these lands is very difficult for a number of reasons," he continued, adding that extensive building had already been carried out, especially on the land apportioned for the local teachers' town It was extremely problematic to destroy private homes and pay compensation to their owners, not least because the land they were built on had been seized powerful people in the first place," Mamozai continued. "In order to solve this problem in the future, the government should include government lands in city planning and distribute residential lands [directly] to people," he said. " Parwan's local authorities confirmed that that they had begun looking into the issue. Abdul Hafiz Osoli, chief of Parwan's appellate attorney office, said, "We have received an official letter from Parwan's education department about the illegal occupation of government lands, but our investigations have yet to be completed and no one has so far been arrested." He acknowledged that "the seizure of teachers' town by powerful people has become a big challenge and a serious problem throughout the country". Teachers like Basheer Ahmad Omaid, a 56-year old resident of Qalah-e-Khwajah in Parwan's Bagram district who teaches at the Numan High School, said that the uncertainty was harming their work. "I had been serving as a teacher in Parwan province for 25 years when I found myself homeless," he said. "So I sent a request to Parwan's education department to ask for a 300 sq m plot of residential land in the second phase of the teachers' town development. But this zone has been illegally occupied by powerful people and my family and I are still homeless." Omaid said that the stress was not only affecting he and his family but also his students. "In class," he continued, "I all of a sudden remember that my family is homeless and I feel so hopeless that it affects my teaching." Copyright notice: Institute for War & Peace Reporting Turkey: Website editor's three-year jail term called "height of absurdity" Publisher Reporters Without Borders Publication Date 21 November 2017 Cite as Reporters Without Borders, Turkey: Website editor's three-year jail term called "height of absurdity", 21 November 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a152e914.html [accessed 17 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. An Istanbul court today sentenced Oguz Guven, the editor of the Cumhuriyet newspaper's website, to three years and one month in prison on charges of "terrorist propaganda". As Guven has appealed against his conviction, he remains for the time being on conditional release. "Turkish justice has reached a new height of absurdity and we dare to hope that this conviction will be overturned on appeal," said Johann Bihr, the head of RSF's Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk. Guven was found guilty of terrorist propaganda on behalf of the PKK Kurdish armed rebels and the Gulen Movement, which the government accuses of being behind the July 2016 coup attempt. One of the prosecution's main evidences against Guven was a tweet about a prosecutor's death in a car accident that was deleted 55 seconds after being posted. Arrested in May of this year (see below), Guven was held for a month before being freed conditionally pending trial. Four other Cumhuriyet employees are currently detained. 17.05.2017 - Website editor is 12th Cumhuriyet employee to be jailed Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns the persecution of Turkey's few remaining critical media outlets and calls for the immediate release of Oguz Guven, the editor of the opposition daily Cumhuriyet's website, who has just been jailed on a terrorism charge. He is the 12th Cumhuriyet employee to be imprisoned. Guven is facing up to seven and half years in prison on a charge of "propaganda for the terrorist organization led by Fethullah [Gulen]," the US-based Turkish cleric accused by the government of masterminding the abortive coup attempt in July 2016. He was placed in pre-trial detention on 15 May, three days after being taken into police custody. The grounds cited for the extremely grave charge against Guven, who has been a journalist for 32 years, is a single tweet that was posted on the Cumhuriyet Twitter account and was deleted after 55 seconds. "The charge brought against Oguz Guven is the height of absurdity and it is hard not to see it as an attempt to further undermine Cumhuriyet," said Erol Onderoglu, RSF's representative in Turkey. "The survival of the few remaining independent media outlets is at stake. The international leaders who are preparing to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at next week's NATO summit cannot just look on while media freedom is annihilated in Turkey." Guven is blamed for a controversial tweet reporting that Mustafa Alper, the state prosecutor in the western province of Denizli, had died in a road accident. Alper was handling the trial of several well-known figures accused of being involved in the abortive coup. When he appeared in court on 15 May, Guven told the judge that the tweet was a "mistake" and was "deleted within 55 seconds." He added: "We reported the reactions to this tragedy in another article. I completely reject the accusations being made against me." Guven is currently being held in Metris prison in downtown Istanbul. But if the appeal filed by his lawyers fails to obtain his release, he will be transferred to Silivri prison, 70 km west of Istanbul, where 11 other Cumhuriyet employees have been held for months. "There is not much more that can be done in the face of the current level of decay," Guven said, referring to the justice system, as he was taken off to prison. No date has so far been set for his trial. Ten detained Cumhuriyet journalists and administrators will complete their 200th day in Silivri prison tomorrow. To mark the event, journalists and civil society representatives will stage a demonstration at 11 a.m. outside the lawcourts in the Istanbul district of Caglayan. The other detained Cumhuriyet journalists include editor in chief Murat Sabuncu, columnist Kadri Gursel and cartoonist Musa Kart. The investigative reporter Ahmet Sk has also been held since December 2016, although he was one of the first journalists to write critically about the influence of Gulen's supporters within the state apparatus. Their trial is due to start on 24 July. The journalists petitioned Turkey's constitutional court, challenging the legality of their detention, but got no response, and they are now hoping for a quick ruling on their case by the European Court of Human Rights. After the closure of more than 150 media outlets in the wake of the coup attempt, Cumhuriyet is one of the very few outlets that still criticizes the Turkish government. As well as the imprisonment of 12 of its employees, there has been a concerted attempt to stifle it economically and an attempt to take control of its management. Former editor Can Dundar, who is now living in exile in Germany, has been one of President Erdogan's bugbears ever since he revealed in 2015 that the Turkish intelligence services had supplied weapons to Islamist groups in Syria. In Germany, Dundar has created a website called Ozguruz (We are free). Turkey is ranked 155th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2017 World Press Freedom Index. Ukrainian reporter held in Belarus on spying charge Publisher Reporters Without Borders Publication Date 21 November 2017 Cite as Reporters Without Borders, Ukrainian reporter held in Belarus on spying charge, 21 November 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a152f084.html [accessed 17 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) is very concerned about Pavlo Sharoyko, a Ukrainian radio journalist who has been held since 25 October in Belarus. The Belarusian Committee for State Security (KGB) announced yesterday that he is accused of spying for Ukrainian military intelligence. Sharoyko was held incommunicado for nearly a month without his detention becoming public knowledge. His employer, the Ukrainian public radio station, Ukrainske Radio, finally reported four days ago that he had been arrested and his detention was confirmed by the KGB yesterday. Sharoyko, who is facing up to 15 years on the spying charge, has not been allowed any visits and, so far, his only lawyer is the one appointed by the Belarusian authorities. He has been based since 2011 in Minsk, where he initially worked for the Ukrainian news agency UNIAN before joining Ukrainske Radio. A former member of the Ukrainian armed forces, he specializes in covering military stories and he contributed to several official publications and press services before retiring from the army. "The circumstances of Pavlo Sharoyko's detention are very disturbing," said Johann Bihr, the head of RSF's Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk. "He must be able to have access to an independent lawyer of his choice and he must be given a fair trial. We ask the Belarusian authorities to guarantee that he is treated well and that this case is handled with as much transparency as possible. And his detention is no longer essential since the investigative stage is over." According to the KBG, Sharoyko used his journalistic activities as a cover to create a spy ring in Belarus. Both he and a detained Belarusian citizen accused of "high treason" are said to have confessed. The KGB also claims that it found some of his intelligence reports in a search of his home. Questionable spying charges have been brought against several journalists in Belarus in recent years. The well-known Belarusian journalist Alyaksandr Alesin was held incommunicado for two weeks in 2014 on a charge of high treason but the case was eventually dismissed. A Ukrainian journalist, Roman Sushchenko, has been held in Russia on spying charges since September 2016. Belarus is ranked 153rd out of 180 countries in RSF's 2017 World Press Freedom Index. Zimbabwe: Post-Mugabe government must open new chapter of respect for rights Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 21 November 2017 Cite as Amnesty International, Zimbabwe: Post-Mugabe government must open new chapter of respect for rights, 21 November 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a152f674.html [accessed 17 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Responding to the news that Robert Mugabe has resigned as President of Zimbabwe, Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International said: "After more than three decades of violent repression, the way forward for the country is to renounce the abuses of the past and transition into a new era where the rule of law is respected and those who are responsible for injustices are held to account. "During 37 years of President Mugabe's leadership, tens of thousands of people were tortured, forcibly disappeared or killed. President Mugabe condoned human rights violations, defended criminal actions of his officials and allowed a culture of impunity for grotesque crimes to thrive. "Although Zimbabwe invested heavily in social services in the early years of independence, much of this progress was wiped out by later events such as the Operation Murambatsvina forced evictions campaign of 2005, which destroyed the homes or livelihoods of 700,000 people. "The people of Zimbabwe deserve better. The next generation of leaders must commit itself to upholding the constitution, living up to Zimbabwe's international human rights obligations and treating its people with dignity and justice." Background Robert Mugabe became Prime Minister of Zimbabwe in 1980 after the country gained independence from the United Kingdom. He officially became the President of Zimbabwe in 1987 and he has ruled the country unchallenged since then. Copyright notice: Copyright Amnesty International Turkey: Global figures join call to "end gross injustice" as trial of Amnesty Chair and Director and other rights activists resumes Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 22 November 2017 Cite as Amnesty International, Turkey: Global figures join call to "end gross injustice" as trial of Amnesty Chair and Director and other rights activists resumes, 22 November 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a1530794.html [accessed 17 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. More than 70 renowned cultural and political figures have come together to demand that Turkish authorities drop trumped-up terrorism charges against 11 human rights defenders, including Amnesty International's Turkey Director and Chair. The call made by more than 30 politicians and scores of artists - including Edward Snowden, Sting, Ai Weiwei, Anish Kapoor, Catherine Deneuve, Angelique Kidjo - comes as the trial of the 11 resumes in Istanbul on charges which carry jail terms of up to 15 years. "We are proud to add our voices to the global demand to end this gross injustice and to immediately and unconditionally release Taner Klc from jail," they write in the letter. "When human rights defenders are silenced, all our rights are put at risk. They are the ones that stand up for us. Now we must stand up for them." Amnesty International's Turkey Chair, Taner Klc, was detained on 6 June and sent to jail three days later, where he has been ever since. Ten other activists, including Idil Eser, the Director of Amnesty Turkey, were detained a month later. Seven of them were remanded in Turkey's highest security Silivri prison, with one remanded at Ankara's Sincan Prison. The eight were held for almost four months and released last month at their first hearing. They are all accused of "membership of a terrorist organization". The charges against the 11 include outlandish claims that standard human rights work amounts to 'assisting terrorist organizations'. Taner Klc is alleged to have downloaded and used the ByLock messaging application, which the prosecution has claimed was used by the Gulen movement to communicate with each other. However, two independent forensic analyses of Taner's phone commissioned by Amnesty International found that there is no trace of ByLock ever having been on his phone. So far, the prosecution have not provided any evidence to prove their claim. The forensic expert who prepared the detailed reports is expected to appear at the trial on 22 November. The signatories join a long list of governments, institutions and political figures that have demanded Taner's release including the European Commission, the US State Department, UN officials, Angela Merkel and the German government as well as the Austrian, Irish and Belgian governments. More than 20 British MPs have so far signed a parliamentary motion tabled last week calling for the immediate release of Taner and the dropping of charges against the 11. This follows similar calls last month by 22 members of the US Congress including 14 Senators as well as the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjrn Jagland, the President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, and the Chair of the Human Rights Committee in the European Parliament, Pier Antonio Panzeri. "What we are witnessing is a massive groundswell of opinion against what is clearly a politically motivated prosecution aimed at silencing critical voices within the country," said Aakar Patel, the Director of Amnesty India, who is attending the trial. "This trial has served not only to remind people of the importance of human rights, but the vital role played by those that defend them. The time has come for Taner to be released and for the charges against him and the Istanbul 10 to be dropped," said Fernando Nabais da Furriela, the Chair of Amnesty International Brazil, who is also attending the trial. For Amnesty International's analysis of the cases visit: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur44/7329/2017/en/ and https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur44/7329/2017/en/ Background The Istanbul 10 were attending a workshop on wellbeing and digital security on 5 July when police raided the building and detained them all. On 4 October an Istanbul prosecutor filed an indictment against the so-called Istanbul 10 and Taner Klc, who, it claims was aware of preparations for the Buyukada workshop and was in contact with Idil and another of the defendants. At his trial on 26 October, the judge accepted the prosecutor's application to join Taner's case with the case against the other 10 human rights defenders. The ten human rights defenders are Idil Eser (Amnesty International), Gunal Kursun (Human Rights Agenda Association), Ozlem Dalkran (Citizens' Assembly), Veli Acu (Human Rights Agenda Association), Ali Gharavi (IT strategy consultant), Peter Steudtner (non-violence and wellbeing trainer) and Ilknur Ustun (Women's Coalition), Nalan Erkem,(Citizens Assembly), Seyhmus Ozbekli (Rights Initiative) and Nejat Tastan (Association for Monitoring Equal Rights). More than 700,000 people have signed Amnesty International actions calling for the release of Taner and the dropping of the charges against the Istanbul 10. Open letter ahead of the upcoming trial of Taner Klc and the Istanbul 10 On Wednesday the trial of 11 human rights defenders including Taner Klc, and Idil Eser the chair and director of Amnesty International Turkey, will resume in Istanbul. The 11 face outlandish "terrorism" charges in what can only be described as a politically motivated prosecution aimed at silencing critical voices within the country. If convicted they could face jail terms of up to 15 years. This sends a chilling message not just to people in Turkey but around the world. With many people unfairly imprisoned as part of the crackdown following the bloody coup attempt in Turkey - including journalists, lawyers and civil society leaders - some may ask why focus on these 11 people? The answer is simple: when human rights defenders are silenced all our rights are put at risk. They are the ones that stand up for us. Now we must stand up for them. We are proud to add our voices to the global demand to end this gross injustice and to immediately and unconditionally release Taner Klc from jail. The Turkish authorities must know that the eyes of the world will be on Istanbul's central court for this trial. We will not stay silent. Defending human rights is not a crime. Signed Edward Snowden, human rights defender Sting, musician Catherine Deneuve, actor Ai Weiwei, artist Angelique Kidjo, musician Anish Kapoor, artist Peter Gabriel, musician Francois Morel, actor Elif Shafak, author Bianca Jagger, human rights activist Juliet Stevenson, actor Indira Varma, actor (Game of Thrones) Mogens Lykketoft MP, ex-President of the UN General Assembly Nacho Sanchez Amor, OSCE Human Rights Committee Chair Mirosaw Wyrzykowski, Constitutional judge, Poland Dr. Shashi Tharoor MP (former UN Under-Secretary General) Ryan Gage, actor Pasha Bocarie, actor Nazanin Boniadi, actor HK, musician C 215, artist Lucas Belvaux, film maker Laurent Gaude, writer El Moustach/Hicham Gaoua, artist Said Salhi, Vice president of LADDH (Algeria) Salil Shetty, Amnesty International Secretary General Ken Roth, Executive Director, Human Rights Watch Claude Rolin MP (Belgium) Tanita Tikaram, musician Mohamed Fahmy, journalist Peter Greste, journalist Mark Oakley, Canon Chancellor of St Paul's Cathedral Peter Tatchell, human rights defender Natacha Regnier, actor Franck Pavloff, writer Emily Loizeau, musician Romain Goupil, film director Nicolas Lambert, comedian Clotilde Courau, comedian Andre Dahmer, cartoonist Luiz Eduardo Soares, anthropologist and writer Sergio Haddad, professor Flavia Oliveira, journalist Ricardo Henriques, economist Sueli Carneiro, philosopher Pilar del Rio, president of the Jose Saramago Foundation Anti-Flag - Punk Rock group David Lammy MP (UK) Caroline Lucas MP (UK) Stephen McCabe MP (UK) Tom Brake MP (UK) Catherine West MP (UK) Carol Monaghan MP (UK Joan Ryan MP (UK) Christopher Stephens MP (UK) Kevin Brennan MP (UK) Jim Cunningham MP (UK) Rosie Cooper MP (UK) Eleanor Smith MP (UK) Wes Streeting MP (UK) Stephen Doughty MP (UK) Daniel Zeichner MP (UK) Stephen Kinnock MP (UK) Geraint Davies MP (UK) Marie Rimmer MP (UK) Grahame Morris MP (UK) Antoinette Sandbach MP (UK) Madeleine Moon MP (UK) Tonia Antoniazzi MP (UK) Preet Gill MP (UK) Phillipa Whitford MP (UK) Sarah Wollaston MP (UK) Gareth Thomas MP (UK) Jo Stevens MP (UK) Kerry McCarthy MP (UK) Richard Burden MP (UK) Olivier Py, France Paul Rondin, France Monika Patek, President of the Polish Association for Legal Education Adam Bodnar, former board of United Nations Fund for Victims of Torture Mikoaj Pietrzak, former Chair of the Human Rights Council of the Polish Bar Council Krzysztof Smiszek, co-founder of Polish Society of Anti-Discrimination Law UK Motion signed by British parliamentarians. Tabled on 15 November 2017 - https://www.parliament.uk/edm/2017-19/546 Tonia Antoniazzi, Hilary Benn, Peter Bottomley, Tom Brake, Tim Farron, Hugh Gaffney, Stephen Gethins, Helen Hayes, Lady Hermon, David Lammy. Clive Lewis, Caroline Lucas, Steve McCabe, Ian Mearns, Carol Monaghan, Joan Ryan, Jim Shannon, Dennis Skinner, Andy Slaughter, Chrisotpher Stephens, Jo Swinson, Catherine West. Letter signed by 14 US Senators, 24 October 2017 Senators John McCain, Marco Rubio, John Cornyn, Bernie Sanders, Martin Heinreich, Richard Durbin, Benjamin Cardin, Christopher Coons, Chris Van Hollen, John Boozman, Edward Markey, Tammy Baldwin, Robert Menendez, Jeanne Shaheen https://www.amnestyusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/mccain-menendez-letter-to-president-trump-re-turkey-s-edrogan-10-25-17-1.pdf Letter signed by 8 members of the US Congress, 16 October 2017 Sen Robert F Wicker, Rep Christopher H Smith, Sen Benjamin L Cardin, Rep Alcee L Hastings, Sen Marco Rubio, Rep Randy Hultgren, Sen Thom Tillis, Reb Robert B Aderholt, Rep Gwen Moore, Rep Sheila Jackson Lee https://www.amnestyusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/20171016-Helsinki-Comm-Letter-to-President-Erdogan-FINAL.pdf Letter signed by Hollywood stars - 12 October 2017 Zoe Kravitz, Nazanin Boniadi, Don Cheadle, Marisa Tomei, Adam McKay, Paul Haggis, Joshua Malina, Fisher Stevens, Claire Danes, Ben Stiller, Whoopi Goldberg, Mike Farrell, Eva Orner, Peter Sarsgaard, Tim Roth, Kathy Najimy, Mark Ruffalo, Zach Galifianakis, Bruce Cohen, Shira Piven, Mike White, Tim Kring, and James McAvoy https://www.amnestyusa.org/press-releases/celebrities-call-on-turkey-to-release-amnesty-director-and-chair-still-in-jail-after-100-days/ A number of well-known UK personalities also supported the campaign for the release of Taner and the Istanbul 10 over previous months including: Graham Linehan, Ken Loach, Rae Morris, Stephen Fry, Sir Patrick Stewart, Simon Rix, Paul Bettany, David Shrigley, Hollie McNish, Pasha Bocarie Copyright notice: Copyright Amnesty International Kenya: Rein in Police, Condemn New Abuses Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 21 November 2017 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Kenya: Rein in Police, Condemn New Abuses, 21 November 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a1531114.html [accessed 17 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. Kenyan authorities should condemn recent violence, rein in any police abuses, and investigate scores of killings, most of them by police, during the prolonged electoral period, Human Rights Watch said today. A series of protests and clashes between police and opposition supporters began on November 17, 2017, at the Nairobi airport while supporters of the opposition leader Raila Odinga escorted him to the town center. Protests and clashes continued in opposition strongholds in Nairobi and western Kenya following the Supreme Court decision on November 20 affirming President Uhuru Kenyatta's re-election. "Political violence has surged with people getting killed every day," said Otsieno Namwaya, Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Yet again, we are getting worrying reports that police are using excessive force, beating and killing protesters and even those not participating in protests." Police have used excessive force to contain protests since August, in a prolonged electoral period. In October, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International documented at least 67 killings, most by gunshot, during protests by opposition supporters after the electoral commission declared Kenyatta the winner of the August 8 election. The Supreme Court later nullified the results and Kenya held a fresh election on October 26. That election was also marred by violence, with police using excessive force against opposition supporters who protested to demand electoral reforms and changes in the electoral commission. The latest round of violence started after the authorities deployed police in and around Nairobi's main airport to prevent Odinga supporters from welcoming him back from an overseas trip. Police used teargas and water cannons to break up large crowds cheering him, media reports said. Unidentified gunmen shot at Odinga's car. Local and international media reported that, in the process, the police either shot or beat to death dozens of people. A photojournalist told Human Rights Watch that he witnessed four apparently unarmed supporters in Odinga's convoy shot by police along Landhies road and Haile Selassie Avenue, as the convoy entered central Nairobi. Nairobi City Mortuary received at least 15 bodies, according to a mortuary official who spoke to the media on November 18, most of them with gunshot injuries. Scores of the wounded were taken to hospitals. The police said that the crowds had beaten five people to death on November 17 for looting before the police arrived and promised to investigate the deaths. The police spokesman, George Kinoti, said police used only tear gas and not live bullets. According to reports by local media and local human rights activists, more than 10 people are believed to have been killed between November 18 and November 20. International media have reported at least 24 people killed by police since November 17. Human rights activists and a community mobilizer told Human Rights Watch that, since November 17, they had witnessed police killing protesters in Nairobi's Dandora Phase Four, Kibera, Mathare, and Kawangware neighborhoods, as well as in Kisumu and Migori in western Kenya. On November 19, opposition supporters engaged police in running battles in many parts of Nairobi as they protested the killing of another five people by unidentified attackers. On the morning of November 19, the bodies of four men and one woman, believed to be opposition supporters, were found along the Nairobi-Thika highway near their homes in Riverside neighborhood, Ruaraka area, residents and local leaders said. They were apparently killed either by gunshots or machetes. Neighbors who witnessed one of the attacks told Human Rights Watch they believed the attackers were members of mungiki, a pro-government armed group responsible for many killings in the 2007-2008 post-election violence. The Nairobi police commander, Japheth Koome, dismissed the allegations but promised to investigate. Such allegations are extremely sensitive. In August, the authorities threatened to arrest journalists and others who reported mungiki attacks. The authorities have failed to investigate similar attacks or to hold anyone responsible for the killings by police since the August 8 election. The court's decision affirming Kenyatta's victory sparked further protests in Nairobi and western Kenya, as well as celebrations in some neighborhoods of Nairobi, central Kenya, and parts of the Rift Valley. Odinga, who boycotted the repeat elections, said he considers Kenyatta an illegitimate president despite the court decision affirming his victory. This position and the planned inauguration of Kenyatta next week could trigger further protests. With the political tensions still high, it is crucial for Kenyan authorities to ensure that any use of force by the police is lawful, and urgently investigate all killings, Human Rights Watch said. "President Kenyatta and other government officials should condemn ongoing killings and ensure that there are thorough and independent investigations into such killings and the role of any armed groups in the violence," Namwaya said. "Kenya has to put an end to the culture of election-related violence, unlawful killings by police, and impunity for abusive officers." Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch Turkmenistan: Activists Threatened Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 21 November 2017 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Turkmenistan: Activists Threatened, 21 November 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a1531a24.html [accessed 17 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. Two outspoken women activists were threatened and harassed in recent days in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan's capital, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, International Partnership for Human Rights, and the Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights said today. Turkmenistan's international partners should publicly call on the Turkmen government to immediately end the abuses against activists and ensure that they are able to speak out without fear of retaliation. On November 14, 2017, two unidentified men followed Soltan Achilova, 68, an independent journalist, and insulted and threatened her repeatedly. The following day, police harassed and threatened to arrest Galina Kucherenko, 52, an animal rights activist who often expresses her views critical of the government on the Russian-language social media site Odnaklassniki.ru. "The latest harassment and threats against people who criticize the government highlight Turkmenistan's longstanding efforts to eradicate dissent," said Rachel Denber, deputy Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The rapid succession of these attacks, one day after the other, suggests a heightened campaign against activists that should end immediately." Achilova, who works for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Turkmen service, Radio Azatlyk, told the station that at least two men in a car followed her on November 14 as she was walking to the US Embassy Information Center in Ashgabat. Later that day, when Achilova was photographing people lined up to buy vegetable oil in a local store, a man she did not know grabbed her by the arm and yelled threats at her. Achilova told Radio Azatlyk that he said, "I will take a rock and hit you on the head. If you ever use a camera again, I will smash it together with you! Go home and never go out again. Otherwise you will die." This was the latest incident in a series of threats, including death threats, and other forms of harassment against Achilova in July that seemed aimed at preventing her from carrying out her work as a journalist. Achilova said she is under constant surveillance from the authorities. In recent years, Achilova and her fellow colleagues at Radio Azatlyk have been repeatedly harassed and threatened for their work. Achilova's home internet access has been blocked, as have been both her land line and mobile phones, presumably by the authorities. Kucherenko told Human Rights Watch that a police official called her on November 15, demanding that she sign a police summons and report to the police station. She said that the official told her that another activist, whom Kucherenko knows well, had filed a complaint against her. At first the official refused to state the nature of the accusation, but eventually said that the activist had complained that she had coerced her to write to "some American magazine," providing no further details. Human Rights Watch had received information that the activist had been previously harassed by the police, in October, and later told Kucherenko that she had not filed such a complaint. Fifteen minutes after the phone call, four men who did not identify themselves knocked on Kucherenko's door demanding that she sign a police summons, and alleging that she had no right to refuse. They remained outside her apartment door for about 25 minutes. Kucherenko told them through the intercom that she would not let them in and that they could leave the summons outside her door. They left no papers at her door. Kucherenko told Human Rights Watch that she fears for her safety and has not left her home since the incident. In recent months, Turkmen authorities have repeatedly tried to intimidate Kucherenko in retaliation for her critical posts on Russian-language social media, she told Human Rights Watch. On the eve of the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, which Turkmenistan hosted in September, police warned Kucherenko that she could face 25 years in prison without specifying for what. She has experienced persistent surveillance by agents in civilian clothes, and since September she has had unexplained internet outages and loss of cellular phone service at her home. By early November, she learned that her Internet Protocol address had been blocked, meaning that she cannot access the internet, and the representatives of the Ashgabat City Telephone Network told Kucherenko that her internet access would not be restored. "Turkmen authorities often threaten and harass people as a means to silence the voice of any person who dares to criticize or question government policies," said Denis Krivosheev, deputy director for research at Amnesty International's Europe and Central Asia Regional Office. "Since people in Turkmenistan risk different forms of reprisals only for speaking out about human rights abuses, it's critical for the international community to press the Turkmen authorities to ensure these abuses come to an end." The harassment of Kucherenko and Achilova follows a pattern of intimidation of human rights defenders and other activists in Turkmenistan, the groups said. "Turkmenistan is one of the most repressive and closed countries in the world." said Farid Tukhbatullin of the Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights. The government tolerates no dissent, allows no media or political freedom, and has driven into exile or imprisoned political opposition members, human rights defenders, and independent journalists. The government arrests, threatens, and harasses its critics - often through presumed proxies. In October, unidentified men in the city of Dashoguz attacked the home of the 76-year-old mother of Farid Tukhbatullin, and in August unidentified women verbally assaulted Natalia Shabunts, one of the few openly active human rights defenders inside Turkmenistan, shouting racial slurs and demanding that she go to Russia. Turkmenistan's international partners should call on the Turkmen authorities to promptly, effectively, and impartially investigate these incidents. They should also call on the government to respect and protect the right to freedom of expression, guaranteed under article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Turkmenistan has been a party since 1997. "This harassment further bolsters Turkmenistan's image as one of the most repressive countries in the world," said Brigitte Dufour, director of the International Partnership for Human Rights. "The latest reports of intimidation against Kucherenko and Achilova only further prove the extent to which free speech is virtually nonexistent in Turkmenistan." Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch Greece: As Winter Nears, Asylum Seekers Stuck in Tents on Islands Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 22 November 2017 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Greece: As Winter Nears, Asylum Seekers Stuck in Tents on Islands, 22 November 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a1533874.html [accessed 17 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 Greek government, with the support of EU member states, should act now to end Greece's "containment policy," 20 human rights and aid groups said today. The policy forces asylum seekers arriving on the Greek islands to remain in overcrowded, unsafe facilities, an urgent concern with winter approaching. Conditions on the Greek islands have continued to deteriorate in the month since 19 nongovernmental groups wrote an open letter to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, calling on him to move asylum seekers to the mainland, where better conditions and services are available. "This remains a matter of life and death," said Jana Frey, the International Rescue Committee's country director in Greece. "There is absolutely no excuse for the conditions on the islands right now - thousands of people crammed into overcrowded and desperately under-resourced facilities. We are in a race against time. Lives will be lost - again - this winter - unless people are allowed to move, in an organised and voluntary fashion, to the mainland." Members of the group recently asked to meet with Tsipras to discuss the most urgent needs on the islands and provide recommendations for addressing this increasingly dire situation. They have received no response. Over the past month, the Greek government has transferred 2,000 people from Samos and Lesbos to the mainland as a one-time emergency measure. When the government announced this initiative in October, these islands were already 5,000 people over capacity. It was clear then that this measure, while helpful, would not suffice. "Nothing can justify trapping people in these terrible conditions on the islands for another winter," said Eva Cosse, Greece researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Greece and other European Union member states should act urgently to remove the obstacles to people getting the care and assistance they need on the Greek mainland." As of November 20, 2017, the hotspots on Lesbos, Samos, and Chios are hosting 7,000 over capacity: 10,925 people are staying in facilities with a capacity of just 3,924. Thousands, including single women, female heads of households, and very young children, are being forced to live in summer tents, essentially sleeping on the ground, as the weather worsens. Some women are forced to share tents with unrelated men, putting their privacy and safety at risk. This will be the second winter asylum seekers have had to spend in unsuitable facilities on the islands since the EU-Turkey deal went into effect. "The EU-Turkey deal is condemning refugees and migrants to a second winter in squalor on the Greek islands. Instead of trying to maintain the deal at all cost, European countries and Greece should urgently work together and move asylum seekers off the islands," said Gabriel Sakellaridis, director of Amnesty International in Greece. EU and Greek officials have cited the EU-Turkey deal as a justification for the containment policy. However, forcing asylum seekers to remain in conditions that violate their rights and are harmful to their well-being, health, and dignity cannot be justified, the organisations said. As such, the groups have also written to EU member state ambassadors to Greece urging them to immediately call on the Greek government to suspend the containment policy. The groups urge Tsipras to protect the human rights of asylum seekers trapped on the islands by ending the containment policy, immediately transferring people to improved conditions on the mainland, and making a commitment to ensure that no one is forced to sleep in a tent. Because the "containment policy" is being implemented in response to the EU-Turkey deal, the organizations highlight the responsibility of the European Commission and the EU member states to address the situation on the Greek islands and to press the Greek government to reverse the policy. EU member states should support the Greek government's efforts to ensure the safety and dignity of asylum seekers in EU territory, including by expanding safe accommodation and access to services on the mainland. "In an effort to make the EU-Turkey deal work, the Greek islands have been transformed into places of indefinite confinement for asylum seekers who have risked their lives in search of safety and a better life in Europe," said Nicola Bay, head of mission for Oxfam in Greece. "The EU and the Greek government need to start putting people's lives ahead of politics and uphold Europe's commitment to human rights." The following organizations have signed: ActionAid Advocates Abroad AITIMA Amnesty International Arsis CARE Caritas Hellas Danish Refugee Council Greece Greek Council for Refugees Greek Forum of Refugees Greek Helsinki Monitor Help Refugees Human Rights Watch International Rescue Committee Jesuit Refugee Service Lesbos Legal Center OXFAM Praksis SolidarityNow Terre des hommes Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch Syria: In Talks, Focus on Protecting Civilians Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 22 November 2017 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Syria: In Talks, Focus on Protecting Civilians, 22 November 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a1533bf4.html [accessed 17 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. Russia, Turkey, and Iran should make protecting civilians a priority when they meet in Sochi, Russia on November 22, 2017, Human Rights Watch said today. Recent airstrikes by the Russian-Syrian joint military operation that hit a market and police station in an area of Northern Syria included in a recent safe zone agreement shows the risks facing civilians living in so called "safe zones." The attacks killed at least 75 civilians, including five children. The talks are taking place during escalating violence in Eastern Ghouta. The area has been hit with more than 181 airstrikes in the past four days, according to the Syrian Civil Defense, with 400,000 civilians in the area under a tightening siege creating risks of starvation and lack of adequate medical care. Russia has announced that the Sochi talks between the Iranian, Russian, and Turkish presidents will aim to discuss de-escalation zones and a settlement to the Syrian crisis. "If Russia is serious about protecting civilians in Syria, it needs to do more to spare civilians from its airstrikes and ensure that its ally in Damascus allows aid into besieged areas," said Nadim Houry, terrorism and counterterrorism director at Human Rights Watch. "Many of the de-escalation agreements have failed to deliver the promised protect for the residents there." On November 13, shortly after 2 p.m., an aircraft of the Russian-Syrian alliance carried out three airstrikes on Atarib, a town in Aleppo governorate 25 kilometers from the Turkish border. Atarib is part of the de-escalation zone announced in the Astana talks on September that cover Idlib province and areas of West Aleppo and Hama. The airstrikes hit a commercial street with a market and a police station. Human Rights Watch spoke to five residents, one of them a survivor of the attacks, by phone and reviewed photographs and videos provided by witnesses and publicly posted. Residents reported three strikes, each consisting of two bombs in the heavily populated area, with one hitting the police station and the other two the nearby market. Five bombs apparently detonated on impact while one near the police station remained unexploded. One witness shared a map of the impact sites. All witnesses said that there was no military presence or target, and no presence of Hay'et Tahrir al-Sham, the armed group excluded from the de-escalation agreement. One witness said the person knew almost everyone in Atarib, and that Atarib authorities have been consistently successful in excluding all armed factions from the city. The police station was a civil entity affiliated with the Syrian Interim government, an opposition body established in 2013, and the policemen did not carry weapons, all five residents said. Under the laws of war, police and police stations are presumptively civilian unless the police are taking a direct part in the hostilities, are incorporated into the armed forces, or police stations are being used for military purposes, Human Rights Watch said. Najib Bakour, head of the local Syria Civil Defense chapter, who was nearby during the attack, was a first responder said: "The market is the lifeline of Atarib, everyone thought it was safe because there was a de-escalation agreement in place and so people are always in the streets, the market is busy all the time. They thought there was nothing to be afraid of." Abdel Razzaq al-Faj, a resident who works in the police station and was there at the time of the strike said it caught them by surprise. The attack killed 75 civilians, with several more injured or missing, according to residents, first responders, and relatives who shared the names with Human Rights Watch. Among the dead were seven women, five children, and five people displaced from other areas. The dead also included 13 police officers and three detainees. The attack caused significant damage to the market, the street, and surrounding residential buildings, witnesses said. Mohammed Shakerdy, a resident whose office is on that street, was on his way back to work when the attack happened which damaged his office extensively. Based on the videos Human Rights Watch reviewed, and witnesses' descriptions, at least some of the munitions used in the attack were a variant of a BeTAB-500 air dropped bomb, a Soviet-era "bunker buster" type of munition that penetrates concrete and then explodes upwards. This type of BeTAB-500 bomb carries 12 rocket-assisted submunitions, each weighing 25-kilograms, capable of creating craters measuring four-square meters according to its Russian manufacturer. The same type of bombs were used in February 2017 at al-Tamanah in Hama. Al-Faj described the destruction: "The building [of the police station], is three floors. The first and second were destroyed, but the third remained standing. The rocket would go through the building, penetrate deep into the ground then a lot of pressure, a lot of black smoke as it pushed upward. I'd never seen or heard anything like it. How I survived, it was a miracle." Human Rights Watch reviewed three videos posted on social media, as well as photos provided by witnesses that show the missiles falling and black smoke rising. Pictures of the damage to the police station that witnesses shared with Human Rights Watch, also showed destruction consistent with "bunker busters." Human Rights Watch has been unable to find or examine images of remnants of the munitions. On November 13, Alexander Ivanov, the spokesman for the Khmeimim airbase used by Russia, denied that Russian aircraft committed a "massacre" at a civilian site in Atarib. If the Russian-Syrian alliance was targeting a populated area with no apparent military presence or target, it would violate international humanitarian law. Russia and Syria should comply with the laws of war in their military operations and take all feasible precautions to avoid civilian casualties, including taking adequate steps to determine that the sites targeted served a military objective and distinguishing between civilians and combatants. Russia and Syria should allow independent investigations into these strikes and make information about them available. "While the world talks about de-escalating conflict in Syria, residents in many of these supposedly safe zones are starving, lacking adequate medical care, or like the residents of Atarib, face deadly threats from the air," Houry said. "If President Putin wants to show that he cares about civilians, he should use the meeting in Sochi to deliver concrete protection for the civilians." Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch Australia urged to ensure protection, assistance and solutions for refugees on Manus Island Publisher UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Publication Date 21 November 2017 Cite as UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Australia urged to ensure protection, assistance and solutions for refugees on Manus Island, 21 November 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a1534634.html [accessed 17 November 2022] Background: In October, UNHCR appealed to Australia to stop a humanitarian emergency unfolding on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea, where the closure of a so-called Regional Processing Centre on 31 October and imminent discontinuation of critical services and support arrangements threaten safety and well-being of hundreds of refugees and asylum seekers who remain there in very difficult conditions. Manus Island, along with Nauru have been the focus of Australia's off-shore processing policy, introduced more than four years ago. Approximately 3,000 refugees and asylum-seekers have been forcibly transferred by Australia to 'offshore processing' facilities there since. Of these, some 1,200 remain in Nauru and 900 in Papua New Guinea. Although UNHCR was not party to the recent Australia-United States' relocation arrangement, UNHCR has helped facilitate the referrals of more than 1,200 refugees form Papua New Guinea and Nauru to the United States. To date, 54 refugees have departed for the US. Another 500 people are still waiting for the outcome of the refugee status determination processing being carried out by authorities in Papua New Guinea and Nauru, under the Australian arrangement. *** Nai Jit Lam, Deputy Regional representative, UNHCR, Australia: I am currently on Manus Island right now. And I want to share a very quick update on the situation here. Exactly three weeks since the closure of the regional processing centre on 31 October the situation on the ground is very serious, and it is deteriorating by the day. 300 refugees and asylum seekers continue to remain in what is now the decommissioned processing centre. As they [the refugees and asylum seekers] refuse to be moved the standoff remains. The people that we have spoken to are extremely angry and they see this as an opportunity to tell the world and to show the world, years of anger about how they have been treated over the four years, after being forcibly transferred to Papua New Guinea. Without distribution of food and clean water over the last three weeks, the situation is becoming quite difficult. We have seen today at the centre that there has been significant accumulation of waste and rubbish. Under the hot and humid weather, health and sanitation is becoming a very significant issue and can be quite concerning as well. The asylum seekers and refugees have received the last one month's supply of regular medication which was dispensed by one of the former Australian contracted health providers. We have seen for ourselves, while visiting the former processing centre this week that people are increasingly, physically and mentally unwell. The lack of clean water; As you probably have seen, the refugees and asylum seekers have been digging wells. Together with the associated risk of disease this is becoming a major concern. After three weeks and constant announcements that alternative accommodation outside the centre and together with the services are ready, what we have observed so far actually represents a very different picture. The accommodation outside of the former centre is still under construction. We were there and saw for ourselves that they are trying to complete the site as quickly as possible. But the fact remains that major work is still in progress and might take a couple of weeks before completion. Beyond the physical accommodation that we have been talking about, the most basic services needed for asylum seekers and refugees are still not adequately provided for outside the centre. We have mentioned earlier and it is still the case that where you have medical care, mental health and psycho-social support which is so important for some of the most vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers who have suffered under this Australian offshore policy It does not look like these have been in place outside the centre at the moment as well. We observed that initially four caseworkers were planned to look after over 700 individuals' wellbeing. From what we have observed firsthand, none are operating as of today. And this is due to local contractual disputes among people here as well. So it is quite concerning that it is still not up and running. The other concerning issues that we have observed are regarding security and the lack of interpreters on the Island, that brings about the issue of how they would communicate with local people or even the police as well. That remains a concern. Local community tensions still remain. In fact, in the last three to four days, there were two incidents reported. When we talked to people in the new accommodation site, one of the [security incidents] was in the middle of the night: Someone from the local village came and switched off the generator because it was too noisy. Yesterday there was a blockade of a road by local people at the main site of what we call West Lorengau Haus inside the accommodation in the community. So there is a lot of tension and a lot of anxiety and fear as well of what is happening. And that's hasn't been resolved. UNHCR has been maintaining a constant presence on the ground since before 31 October. In fact, I was here before the 31st and this is my second mission, while my colleagues and key members are doing so on a rotational basis to keep a continued presence here to monitor the situation. And like I said, this is becoming quite concerning because nothing has effectively changed very much and the stand-off continues as well. What we have been dealing with right now are the consequences of the problem that was created four years ago, when Australia forcibly transferred people, refugees and asylum seekers to PNG and Nauru under their offshore policy. What we want to say right now and what we are calling for is that Australia must take responsibility, continue to take responsibility and play an active role in achieving solutions. Australia must take responsibility for the protection, assistance and solutions for the refugees here on Manus Island. Additional notes on UNHCR's position: 1 - Australia remains responsible for the refugees and asylum seekers on Manus Island After three weeks without distribution of food and water or essential services including medical care, the situation for the people at the former regional processing centre is desperate. Outside of the former Centre, conditions and services are also profoundly inadequate. It is vital that Australia take responsibility and play an active role in achieving solutions for all the people Australia forcibly transferred to Papua New Guinea. This is a man-made and entirely preventable humanitarian crisis. It is a damning indictment of a policy meant to avoid Australia's international obligations. 2 - Efforts must be in place to prevent violence UNHCR reiterates its call to both Australia and Papua New Guinea to ensure the situation on Manus Island is resolved peacefully. UNHCR encourages the Australian and PNG authorities to engage in constructive dialogue with the remaining refugees and asylum-seekers at the former processing center. UNHCR is on the ground and in regular communication with the refugees and the PNG national and local authorities, and stands ready to support all efforts. Ultimately, however, the Australian government must do more to obtain lasting and safe solutions for people who have suffered immense harm under its approach throughout the past four years. 3 - UNHCR advocates for long-term solutions Australia has in effect created and then abandoned a humanitarian crisis at the doorstep of the international community. UNHCR - in carrying out its global protection mandate for refugees - is committed to working with the PNG government, other UN agencies, and NGOs to find ways to meet immediate needs on the ground and work to prevent loss of life and additional harm. UNHCR is grateful to other States in the region and beyond for their humanitarian gestures and concrete efforts to offer assistance and real solutions for this group of traumatized and vulnerable human beings. Establishing interim care for these refugees and asylum-seekers, and finding lasting solutions for them outside of Papua New Guinea, are now the most critical priorities. UNHCR urges States to continue their engagement with Australia and the PNG government and to advocate to bring an end to the human suffering. 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. Situation on Australian 'offshore processing' facility deteriorates by the day UN refugee official Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 21 November 2017 Cite as UN News Service, Situation on Australian 'offshore processing' facility deteriorates by the day UN refugee official, 21 November 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a1548234.html [accessed 17 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. Three weeks following the closure of the Manus Island regional processing centre, the situation on the ground is very serious and deteriorates by the day, a senior United Nations official on protection of refugees has said. "Without distribution of food and clean water over the last three weeks [and] significant accumulation of waste and rubbish in the hot and humid weather, the health and sanitation is becoming a very significant issue," Nai Jit Lam, Deputy Regional Representative of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), currently on Manus Island, told journalists in Geneva over the phone. "The people that we have spoken to are extremely angry and they see this as an opportunity to tell the world and to show the world, years of anger about how they have been treated over the four years, after being forcibly transferred to Papua New Guinea," he added. According to the UN refugee agency, the conditions and the lack of medicines, increasing number of refugees and asylum seekers at the former facility are falling physically and mentally unwell. Alternative accommodation and services outside the facility are still under construction and it could be another two weeks before they are ready. "We have observed [concerns] regarding security and the lack of interpreters on the Island, that brings about the issue of how they would communicate with local people or even the police as well," added the UNHCR official, noting that local contractual disputes hinder staffing of caseworkers to look after the wellbeing of those there, and tensions with local community also remains. Calling on Australian authorities for an active role resolve the situation, which Mr. Lam said that is a result of the forcible transfer of people, refugees and asylum seekers by Australia to Papua New Guinea and Nauru under its offshore policy. "Australia must take responsibility for the protection, assistance and solutions for the refugees here on Manus Island," he stressed. According to the UN refugee agency, Manus Island (located some 320 kilometres or 200 miles off the northern coast of Papua New Guinea) has been the focus of Australia's off-shore processing policy. Of the approximately 3,000 refugees and asylum-seekers forcibly transferred by Australia to facilities in Nauru and Manus, some 1,200 remain in Nauru and 900 in Papua New Guinea. UN chief condemns suicide attacks that leaves dozens dead in northern Nigeria town Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 21 November 2017 Cite as UN News Service, UN chief condemns suicide attacks that leaves dozens dead in northern Nigeria town, 21 November 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a1548624.html [accessed 17 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 suicide attacks that took place earlier Tuesday in Adamawa state, Nigeria, which resulted in scores of casualties, and called for those responsible for the "heinous acts" to be swiftly brought to justice. "The Secretary-General extends his condolences to the bereaved families and to the Government and people of Nigeria for the loss of life. He wishes a speedy recovery to the injured," according to a statement issued by Deputy UN Spokesman Farhan Haq. Through the statement, Mr. Guterres reiterated the solidarity of the UN with the Government of Nigeria in its fight against terrorism and violent extremism. "He also renews the commitment of the United Nations to continue to support regional counter-terrorism initiatives," the statement concluded. According to media reports, at least 50 people were killed in an early morning bomb attack at a mosque in the northern Nigeria town of Mubi, which is near the border with Cameroon. UNICEF warns of contaminated drinking water in camps for Rohingya refugees Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 21 November 2017 Cite as UN News Service, UNICEF warns of contaminated drinking water in camps for Rohingya refugees, 21 November 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a1548a64.html [accessed 17 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 United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is working with authorities in Bangladesh to urgently investigate high levels E.coli contamination in water drawn from wells inside the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar. The latest figures from the World Health Organization suggest that 62 per cent of water available to households is contaminated, UNICEF spokesperson Christophe Boulierac told reporters Tuesday at the regular press briefing in Geneva. We are also concerned by an increase in cases of acute watery diarrhoea (AWD) which have included several deaths, he added. Between 25 August and 11 November 2017, a total of 36,096 AWD cases were reported, including 10 related deaths 42 per cent, or 15,206, of which were children under age five. We are seeing an upward trend in infection rates. Whilst the exact cause of increased cases of AWD remains uncertain, it may be linked to contaminated food or water, Mr. Boulierac elaborated. Some of the wells inside the camps were dug too shallowly, less than 40 meters deep; have been poorly sited; and are very congested with no safeguards to prevent bacterial contamination at ground level. Contamination may be being caused through poor hygiene practices, such as the use of dirty containers [and] bad hygiene habits of the population in water handling, the spokesperson said. UNICEF and the Bangladesh authorities are investigating levels of contamination to ensure better construction practices for tube wells that meet international standards and have an appropriate ceiling. We are stepping up measures to distribute water purification tablets to provide for water treatment at the household level as well as promoting good hygiene practices, he said, noting that providing safe drinking water has been one of UNICEF's highest priorities in responding to the Rohingya refugees' needs. Smaller settlements at risk of being overlooked Since 25 August, some 622,000 refugees fleeing violence in Myanmar have sought refuge in Cox's Bazar bringing the total number of refugees there to an estimated 834,000. As international attention focuses on the main Kutupalong and Balukhali settlements, the thousands who have settled in smaller villages in the southern part of the district risk being excluded from humanitarian aid programmes, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said. Access to clean water is also a major concern across all the locations, particularly as the dry season approaches. Aid agencies providing water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services are racing to identify solutions to this potentially life-threatening problem. Although most are in the main settlements, 22,067 refugees live in Shamlapur, with 16 people sharing one latrine that are mostly full or dangerous; 22,130 in Leda, which has only one latrine per 47 people well below the humanitarian 'Sphere' standard of one per 20 people; and 29,915 in Unchiprang, where there is also only one well per 57 people. This totals more 74,000 Rohingya refugees in all. Many are contaminated with E.coli or are too shallow to provide enough clean water for the population through the dry season. IOM emergency managers say that the three sites urgently need to be developed, including providing vital infrastructure access roads, lighting and waste management. Most of the temporary pit latrines are full. With little to no land for de-sludging, they are becoming unusable and a danger to communities living nearby, said IOM WASH specialist Stephen Waswa Otieno. UN report urges Sudan to address plight of millions of displaced people in Darfur Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 21 November 2017 Related Document(s) The Human Rights Situation of Internally Displaced Persons in Darfur, 2014 - 2016 Cite as UN News Service, UN report urges Sudan to address plight of millions of displaced people in Darfur, 21 November 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a1549a54.html [accessed 17 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 United Nations human rights office has called on the Government of Sudan to pursue effective, transparent and durable policies to enable the 2.6 million people who have been internally displaced by the long-running conflict in Darfur to return home voluntarily or to reintegrate into host communities. I urge the Government to address fundamental issues that are preventing the return of displaced people, such as continued violence, including from armed militias, which raise continuing and justifiable fears for their safety and the lack of basic services that leave them dependent on aid, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said in a news release Tuesday. Complied by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the African Union-UN Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID), the report details the situation of internally displaced people (IDPs) from January 2014 to December 2016, a period largely marked by the Government military campaign Decisive Summer that led to mass civilian displacement. The report says there are reasonable grounds to believe that the military operations resulted in serious violations of human rights law and international humanitarian law. While calling on the Government to carry out a prompt and comprehensive disarmament of armed militias to create an enabling and safe environment for IDPs to return, the report emphasizes the need for extensive consultations with IDPs to ensure that their return and reintegration are carried out in full respect of their rights. The report however notes that despite a ceasefire between the Government and various armed opposition groups, which has largely held since June 2016, violence against IDPs remains widespread and impunity for human rights violations persists. Tensions between ethnic groups, frequently over land, continued to surface, often erupting in violence and triggering further displacement. While State governments, native administrations and traditional leaders have made considerable efforts to prevent and respond to such violence, the underlying causes of such conflict, remain unaddressed, the report says. In the majority of the 66 camps across Darfur, UNAMID continued to document cases of random shootings at night, acts of criminality and harassment of displaced persons and sexual violence, including rape, within and around IDP camps and farmlands. Victims cited the absence of police stations, lack of confidence in the authorities, social stigma and fear of reprisals as reasons for not reporting the attacks. The cessation of hostilities has provided the opportunity to focus on the situation of IDPs, which is so crucial to achieving peace. I urge the Government of Sudan to implement key elements set out in the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur, and renew my call to all parties to fully engage in efforts to bring lasting peace to Darfur, said UNAMID Joint Special Representative Jeremiah Mamabolo. Contributed photo/Not for resale COLLINSVILLE The popular Music for a Joyous Season concert returns to the Collinsville Congregational Church, 7 South St., on Sunday, Dec. 10, at 4 p.m. Presented by the Maxwell Shepherd Memorial Arts Fund as part of he Shepherd Music Series, the concert has been a highlight of the holiday season in Collinsville for the past nine years. The state Medical Examining Board Tuesday disciplined five doctors, including fining a Danbury obstetrician $5,000 for her lapses in care in connection with a baby girls death during delivery at Greenwich Hospital in June 2015. The board also reprimanded Dr. Marjan Hedayatzadeh and found that she failed to make an adequate assessment of the babys well-being and failed to order an ultrasound of the baby and her twin brother, according to a consent order that Hedayatzadeh agreed to with the board. Hedayatzadeh failed to accurately monitor the baby girls heart rate during three hours of labor and delivery, the consent order said. In signing the order, Hedayatzadeh did not contest the allegations or admit wrongdoing, the order said. The doctor has completed courses in fetal heart monitoring in the case of twin pregnancies and is now working under a protocol that requires an ultrasound in the case of all labor and deliveries, the order said. In a letter to the state Department of Public Health, the mother of the baby objected to the penalties, saying they were insufficient when compared to the harm she caused. The mothers name is redacted in the copy of the letter that was made public, but in an announcement of a lawsuit filed against Greenwich Hospital in January, her law firm identified her as Lauren E. Sorgen. The law firm, Silver Golub & Teitell, said that in hopes of preventing future infant fatalities at Greenwich Hospital, Sorgen and her husband, Grant D. Gulyassy, filed the wrongful death lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges that the hospital and Hedayatzadeh failed to monitor the heartbeat and failed to deliver the girl, Myriam Grace Gulyassy, by emergency cesarean section. Her brother was safely delivered. The suit claims the hospital failed to institute proper procedures for the delivery of twins and that led to Myriams death of oxygen deprivation. When the lawsuit was filed, the hospital told the Greenwich Time newspaper that it has instituted additional measures related to high-risk pregnancies. David Tilles, a DPH staff attorney, told the board the penalty was appropriate. This is obviously a tragic case, but we believe this is a remedy that protects the public going forward, he said, adding that Hedayatzadeh is receiving more extensive supervision in her new practice. Kathryn Emmett, chairwoman of the medical board, is married to David S. Golub, a partner in the Stamford firm. She recused herself from considering the disciplinary action against Hedayatzadeh. On Tuesday, the board also disciplined four other doctors. It reprimanded Dr. Stephen Zebrowski of Plainville and placed his medical license on probation for a year for failing to meet the standard care in prescribing and monitoring controlled substances for a patient from 2009 to 2015, a consent order Zebrowski signed said. The patient had chronic pain and a history of substance abuse, the order said. Zebrowski, who is retired from private practice but works in administration for ProHealth Physicians, did not to contest the allegations, which grew out of a complaint from a person who was fired from Zebrowskis practice, the consent order said. During the probation, Zebrowskis employer must send monthly reports to the state and if he returns to providing direct patient care, he will have to hire a doctor to monitor his practice, the order said. If Zebrowski leaves ProHealth, he will be placed on an additional years probation for additional monitoring, DPH Principal Attorney Matthew Antonetti told the board. Zebrowskis prescribing practices have been called into question before. In a case that appears unrelated to the case before the medical board, an expert doctor found for the state Workers Compensation Commission that Zebrowski had over-prescribed Fentanyl for a patients back pain, a 2015 commission report said. The doctor found that Zebrowskis over-prescribing of Fentanyl patches for the patient, Joseph P. Micale, likely contributed to Micales death from a Fentanyl overdose in 2012, the report said. In 2011, an analysis of drug company records by C-HIT.org found that Zebrowski was the highest prescriber of Oxycontin in Connecticut, dispensing 511 prescriptions - or 200 more than the next highest prescriber. He also was the second-highest prescriber of Roxicodone, the eighth-highest for Xanax and the fifth-highest for Duragesic, the brand name for the Fentanyl patch. Oxycontin, Roxicodone and Duragesic are narcotic painkillers considered highly addictive and prone to abuse; Xanax is used to treat anxiety. The board also reprimanded Dr. Donald Berman of Stamford, who is now practicing in Indiana, in connection with a Washington state disciplinary action against him. Washington officials found that in 2014, while working at a hospital in their state, two female patients complained that Berman examined their breasts without their consent, Connecticut state records show. Washington officials found the exams were not medically warranted, a consent order that Berman signed with Connecticut officials said. Berman chose not to contest the reprimand. State law allows the Connecticut medical board to discipline doctors with medical licenses in Connecticut if they have been disciplined in other states. On Tuesday, the board also reprimanded Dr. James Kessler, a radiologist from Roslyn, New York, in connection with findings by New York officials that in 2014, he committed professional misconduct by improperly accessing confidential patient information, records show. New York officials fined him $10,000 and Pennsylvania officials fined him $5,000 in connection with the incident, records from those states show. Connecticut officials did not fine him, and he did not contest the allegations in a consent order with Connecticut officials. The board also reprimanded Dr. Ernest Mar of Lakeside, Arizona in connection with disciplinary action taken in Arizona. A consent order Mar signed with the Connecticut board shows that in 2016, Arizona officials reprimanded him and placed his license on probation for two years for failing to properly treat a patient. Mar failed to disclose that disciplinary action to Connecticut officials in 2016, the order said. In June of this year, Arizona officials also placed his license on probation for one year for improperly treating two patients, the order said. Kate Farrish is a Conn. Health I-Team writer. This story was reported under a partnership with the Connecticut Health I-Team (c-hit.org). This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate TORRINGTON The spirit of Thanksgiving was on hand Tuesday at the Salvation Army church on Oak Avenue as volunteers handed out boxes of food for the holiday. Major Tina Streck said approximately 150 boxes, created through donations from the Connecticut Food Bank and the community, were to be distributed. People were greeted as they came down into the lower-level of the building and offered fruit, vegetables, a turkey, pumpkin pie and other holiday fare. Several of the volunteers said they were happy to give back with their time. Its a good time to help out, especially with the holidays, said Evelyn Luciano, who has been attending the church for approximately four years. Her daughter, in particular, had become interested in the place and wants to become a pastor. I love it... I see a lot of things happen and it touches my heart,Luciano said. Frank Morrell said he is a counselor at Prime Time House, and, after an internship at the Salvation Army, wanted to continue to volunteer his time there. I sleep better at night, said Morrell. Rena Fitzgerald quoted scripture when asked why she was there do unto others as youve have done unto you. McKenzie Robbs, a Torrington High School student, said he had been required to complete 10 hours of community service, among other mandates, after he was suspended for getting in trouble at school. He completed that in the last few weeks working at Friends in Service to Humanity, he said, but when the Salvation Army called asking for volunteers, he decided to help out. It made me feel like I made a difference in everybodys life, said Robbs. That 10 hours was just too low, and I could do more. Robbs noted that those he admired volunteered and demonstrated positivity in their life. He said he learned about people with the time spent volunteering. Theres so many people here that actually care about each other more than I thought there was, said Robbs. Everybody deserves a chance to prove themselves worthy of friendship. Leira Amador, the kettle coordinator, was greeting people as they came in the door upstairs. She said she had been a member of the congregation for about four years, and, after previously working as a volunteer, had just gotten the job in the last week. Theyve always been here for me, said Amador, referring to the Salvation Army. (Its provided) a safe haven, a place to come and talk, service on Sunday. Thomas McCracken said the Salvation Army provided a lifeline for him a place to get sustenance when food stamps run out. He said the box he received Tuesday would provide Thanksgiving dinner for him, his girlfriend and his 14-year-old stepson. It definitely helps me out when Im in need, said McCracken. It gets me through the rest of the month. When Im hurting, this is the only place I can go to. The Salvation Army will shift to working for the next holiday after Thanksgiving, Streck said. Its seeking volunteers to ring bells outside of Walmart as it begins to raise funds during the Christmas season. This year, the church will be offering food for the holidays, in addition to the toys it typically provides, she said. Streck has been the pastor and leader of the Salvation Army church since July, she said. She became involved with the group as a teenager the child of an alcoholic parent, Salvation Army officials took her under their wing in her native Pennsylvania. From there, she went to school and the seminary through the Salvation Army, and has now worked for the group for 25 years going from Vermont to Ohio to Rhode Island to Kentucky, among other places, and now to Torrington. This is my service to God. It has to be more than a job in the Salvation Army it has to be a calling, said Streck, who said she had enjoyed being a part of the city community so far. God gives us back... threefold what we give of ourselves. Reach Ben Lambert at william.lambert@hearstmediact.com. Hartford, CT -- (ReleaseWire) -- 11/22/2017 --For the third year in a row, the Connecticut Honda Dealers plan to host a food and fund drive to aid Connecticut citizens in need. This year's Honda Against Hunger Food and Fund Drive started in mid-October and will run through December 12. By collecting non-perishable food items and financial donations, the Connecticut Honda Dealers hope to support the Connecticut Food Bank and Foodshare with enough donations to make a significant difference in their local communities while raising awareness about the issue of hunger. The local organizations depend on individuals and businesses to provide healthy food so they can continue to aid others. "Nearly 500,000 citizens of Connecticut are at risk of hunger each day," says Matthew Hoffman, President of the Connecticut Honda Dealer Ad Association. "We are very excited to host the third annual Honda Against Hunger Food and Fund Drive and hope to bring people together to really make a difference in our state." The Connecticut Honda Dealers hope to collect double the amount of donations they collected during last year's food drive. The 2016 Food and Fund Drive ran from November 7 to December 12, during which time approximately 2,800 pounds of food was collected. Those who wish to donate non-perishable food items or make a monetary donation can do so at their local participating Honda dealers: - Brandfon Honda, 515 W. Main Street, Branford, 06405 - Cardinal Honda, 531 Route 12, Groton, 06340 - Courtney Honda, 767 Bridgeport Ave., Milford, 06460 - Executive Honda, 1194 N. Colony Rd., Wallingford, 06492 - Hoffman Honda, 40 Albany Turnpike, West Simsbury, 06092 - Honda of Watertown, 816 Straits Turnpike, Watertown, 06795 - Lia Honda Enfield, 20 Palomba Dr., Enfield, 06082 - Liberty Honda, 71 West Service Rd., Hartford, 06120 - Manchester Honda, 24 Adams St., Manchester, 06042 - Schaller Honda, 1 Veterans Dr., New Britain, 06051 - Sullivan Honda, 45 Migeon Ave., Torrington, 06790 - Westbrook Honda, 1 Flat Rock Place, Westbrook, 06498 "We are so grateful to the Connecticut Honda Dealers for their continued support of our organization and the local communities," says Bernie Beaudreau, CEO of the Connecticut Food Bank. "A small donation of $10 helps feed a local child for an entire week. We are looking forward to seeing the generosity of our state demonstrated yet again this year." For more information about the Honda Against Hunger Food and Fund Drive, visit www.CTHondaDealers.com. Providence, RI -- (ReleaseWire) -- 11/22/2017 --Five Rhode Island and Southern Massachusetts Honda Dealers are teaming up for the fourth year in a row to collect food and funds for local residents in need. The organization's fourth annual Honda Against Hunger Food and Fund Drive will run from now until December 12. Collections from the Honda Against Hunger Food and Fund Drive will be donated to the Rhode Island Community Food Bank, a local organization they've helped serve in years past. The organization aids 59,000 local residents in need each month and relies on food and monetary donations from individuals and businesses to provide healthy food so they can continue to aid others. "The holiday season is all about giving back, and we hope to see even more generosity from our employees and local residents than we have in years past," says Scott Birtles, President of the Rhode Island and Southern Massachusetts Honda Dealers Ad Association. "Doing the Honda Against Hunger Food and Fund Drive allows us to give back while raising awareness about the serious issue of hunger in our communities." The Rhode Island and Southern Massachusetts Honda Dealers hope to collect double the amount of donations they collected during last year's food drive, which ran from November 7 to December 12. Those who wish to donate non-perishable food items or funds can do so at their local participating Rhode Island and Southern Massachusetts Honda dealers: - Balise Honda of West Warwick, 509 Quaker Ln., West Warwick, RI 02893 - Colonial Honda of Dartmouth, 225 State Rd., Dartmouth, MA 02747 - Grieco Honda, 1880 Hartford Ave., Johnston, RI 02919 - Herb Chambers Honda of Seekonk, 185 Taunton Ave., Seekonk, MA 02271 - Majestic Honda, 1300 Eddie Dowling Hwy, Lincoln, RI 02865 "Hunger is a serious problem in our communities, and many citizens don't realize that a small donation of just $10 can help provide 25 meals to children and families in need," says Andrew Schiff, Chief Executive Officer of the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. "We are so grateful for the donations our communities have provided to us in years past and are looking forward to seeing their continued generosity with the help of the Rhode Island and Southern Massachusetts Honda Dealers." For more information about the Honda Against Hunger Food and Fund Drive, visit RISMAHondaDealers.com. The Chinese police are building a "big data" policing platform that can analyze massive amounts of citizens' personal information, using it to track rights activists, political opponents of the government, and ethnic minority groups, according to a U.S-based rights group. The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on the ruling Chinese Communist Party to halt its "abusive" system, called the Police Cloud. "It is frightening that Chinese authorities are collecting and centralizing ever more information about hundreds of millions of ordinary people, identifying persons who deviate from what they determine to be normal thought, and then surveilling them," HRW China director Sophie Richardson said in a statement. "With authorities increasingly able to track everyones every move, whats at stake across China isnt just peoples privacyits also many of the rights they hold," Richardson said. China's ministry of public security is currently exploring new technologies, including big data analytics and cloud computing-based systems, to analyze large volumes and varieties of data, including text, video, and pictures, HRW said in a report published this week. There are also moves afoot to link up existing databases at national and local level, as well as those held by private organizations. According to HRW, the Police Cloud includes details of people's medical history, supermarket purchases, delivery records, linking it to their national ID card numbers. "This allows the Police Cloud system to track where the individuals have been, who they are with, and what they have been doing, as well as make predictions about their future activities," HRW said. "The fact that these systems are designed in part to track groups the authorities deem politically or socially threatening raises serious concerns about social and racial profiling," it said. No legal redress The system can be used to track petitioners, those deemed to "undermine stability" through word or deed, those who are involved in terrorism, major criminals, those involved with drugs, wanted persons, and those with mental health problems who "tend to cause disturbances," according to HRW. "Local police can decide that virtually anyone is a threat and requires greater surveillance, especially if they are seen to be undermining stability," the report said. "There are no legal avenues for people to be notified of this designation, or contest it." Targeted groups include those who persist in complaining about the government through the petitioning system, and ethnic minority Uyghurs from the northwestern region of Xinjiang, it found. Citing official documents, the report said Police Cloud systems are now fully operational in some provinces, including Tianjin Municipality and Jiangsu. Medical records, petitions lodged with government departments, criminal convictions, corporate and individual use of social media and package delivery contents are among some of the data types now being linked by the new systems, it said. Residential addresses, family relations, birth control methods and religious affiliations, as well as hotel, flight, and train records, biometrics, CCTV footage, and information from other government departments and even private companies are also being added to the mix. The system "makes visible" hidden trends and relationships between people in the ocean of data, enabling keyword searches linking vast amounts of data. It allows the police to analyze those "who travel, who live, who work together; who go on the internet; who share the same household registration; who share the same family members; and who are involved in the same case, HRW said. Nationwide in five years Jiangsu-based dissident Wu Shimin said the system appears to be already in use in some parts of China, and will likely be fully operational by the time the 20th party congress rolls around in five years' time. "At the very least [to evade detection] you would need to change your phone number, and probably best use someone else's ID card to buy a train ticket to stay with friends or relatives, or to stay in a hotel," Wu said. "But you'd have to be sure that your friends and family had no history of petitioning or a record of dissent," he said. Shandong rights activist Zhang Enguang said he is likely on the list of persons "of interest" to be targeted by the Police Cloud. "But I think there is bound to be some opposition, whether it be from rights organizations or regular citizens," Zhang said. "This is a breach of privacy." "But even if you do protest, they'll still carry on collecting the data on the quiet anyway," he said. "Then they will use it in any way they can to frame you, and then they can detain you." Currently, Chinese privacy laws don't meet the standards laid down in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which China has signed but not ratified, HRW said. The covenant states that the collection, retention, and use of the personal data of individuals for policing purposes must be both a necessary and proportionate means to handle a genuine threat to a public interest such as national security or public order, and that it should employ the least intrusive measures needed to counter such a threat. Reported by Hai Nan for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Lin Ping for the Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie The ruling Chinese Communist Party is investigating its former deputy propaganda czar on suspicion of "disciplinary violations," a term generally used to mean corruption, official media reported. Lu Wei, once dubbed the "father" of the Great Firewall of government internet censorship, is being investigated by the party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), state news agency Xinhua reported. Several of Lu's associates and colleagues at the powerful Cyberspace Administration, which he headed until June 2016, have also been taken into custody by CCDI investigators for questioning, Caixin news service cited sources close to the investigation as saying. Lu, 57, was last seen in public on Oct. 24, on a Shaanxi-TV prime-time news bulletin, lauding President Xi Jinpings "vision," Caixin reported. Lu was greeted in Mandarin by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg during a December 2014 trip to the United States, during which he also told Apple's Tim Cook that Beijing would decide whether to allow products to enter the Chinese market. Guangdong-based rights activist Wang Aizhong said Lu's detention likely had more to do with Lu's political stance than any other factor. "In common parlance, we would say that [Lu] wasn't left-wing enough," Wang said. "It's very interesting, because there has been growing suppression of online speech via the internet and social media in the past few years." "And yet, to look at the official media, you'd think Lu Wei hadn't done enough," he said. "That should give you some idea of the huge political will that exists in China to crack down on freedom of expression online." Little difference seen Lu's detention will likely make little difference to China's ever-tightening grip on what its more than 730 million internet users can do, see, or say online, said online activist Wang Fazhan. "They are really slamming on the brakes on what people can say online, mostly by deleting posts and tweets and shutting down accounts," Wang Fazhan said. "It think it is much worse than before." "Some tweets, you can't even send in the first place, or if you do, nobody can see them," he said. "Their monitoring technology is getting more and more advanced." China was the years worst abuser of internet freedom for the third year running in 2017, according to an annual report from U.S.-based freedom-of-speech watchdog Freedom House. As the ruling Chinese Communist Party held its 19th Party Congress, enshrining the "new era" ideology of President Xi Jinping into its founding document, the government began enshrining many of its previously ad hoc censorship and surveillance strategies in law. Other new restrictions targeted citizen journalism, and several sought to prevent websites from republishing unverified news from social media, while websites not licensed by the government are now banned from providing any online news or information service at all, the report highlighted. Meanwhile, a draconian cybersecurity law passed in November 2016 forced large numbers of internet users to register for services with their real names, in preparation for a personalized "social credit" scoring system that could link people's online behavior to their access to jobs and services. Apps removed Lu's detention came as censors removed internet telephony app Skype from download stores, with Apple saying it had removed certain apps at Beijing's request. Skype is no longer available to Chinese users for download as an Android or an iOS app. "We have been notified by the Ministry of Public Security that a number of VoIP (voice over internet protocol) apps do not comply with local law, therefore these apps have been removed from the App Store in China," Apple said in a statement reported by Agence France-Presse (AFP). "These apps remain available in all other markets where they do business," it said, but gave no details of which laws had been violated. China is gearing up to host its fourth World Internet Conference next month, an event during which Lu Wei once floated the concept of online "sovereignty," whereby individual nation states have different rules and regulations regarding online content and conduct. Lu, a former Xinhua journalist and Beijing city government propaganda official, also presided over the active recruitment of some 10 million online web opinion-makers, known colloquially as the 50-cent army, to post pro-government articles, videos, and tweets. The Communist Party's Youth League said it planned to recruit four million pro-government commentators from universities, to "promote socialist core values and counter anti-socialism remarks and commentary through criticism, boycotts, and reports to the authorities," reports said at the time. Lu publicly called on China's youth to become "staunch defenders of internet sovereignty," they said. Reported by Yang Fan for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by the Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson talks to the media during a press conference after meeting with Myanmar's State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi in Naypyidaw, Nov. 15, 2017. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday declared that the crisis in Myanmars volatile northern Rakhine state, from where hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled during a military crackdown, constitutes ethnic cleansing and said Washington would pursue possible targeted sanctions on individuals who committed atrocities. Rights groups and some of the more than 615,000 Rohingya refugees who have sought safety in Bangladesh have reported a brutal campaign of indiscriminate killings, torture, arson, and rape by soldiers following a deadly attack on police outposts by Muslim militants in late August. Though the United Nations and rights groups said the militarys actions against the Rohingya amounted to ethnic cleansing, the U.S. previously declined to label the atrocities as such. Following meetings with Myanmars de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and military commander-in-chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing on Nov. 15 in Myanmars capital Naypyidaw, however, Tillerson said he would evaluate the atrocities to see if they amounted to ethnic cleansing. These abuses by some among the Burmese military, security forces, and local vigilantes have caused tremendous suffering and forced hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children to flee their homes in Burma to seek refuge in Bangladesh, Tillerson said in a printed statement issued by the U.S. State Department, using the former name of Myanmar. After a careful and thorough analysis of available facts, it is clear that the situation in northern Rakhine state constitutes ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya, he said. Though he reaffirmed the U.S.s commitment to the countrys ongoing transition to democracy, he cautioned that Myanmars response to the crisis is vital to determining the success of its transition and said that those responsible for the atrocities must be held accountable. The Myanmar government and armed forces have denied the reports and prevented a United Nations fact-finding mission from entering the country to conduct an independent investigation. The military, which conducted its own investigation of the Rohingya exodus and reports of abuse, concluded that soldiers abided by laws when conducting area clearance operations and did not use excessive force. It also blamed Muslim militants for torching Rohingya villages in northern Rakhine state before fleeing to Bangladesh. The United States continues to support a credible, independent investigation to further determine all facts on the ground to aid in these processes of accountability, Tillerson said in the statement. We have supported constructive action on the Rakhine crisis at the UN Security Council and in the UN General Assemblys Third Committee, he said, referring to the committee that handles a range of social, humanitarian, and human rights issues affecting people around the world. The United States will also pursue accountability through U.S. law, including possible targeted sanctions, he said. In early November, U.S. lawmakers proposed travel restrictions and targeted sanctions on senior military officials in Myanmar. Wanna Suansan, a suspect in the deadly 2015 Erawan Shrine bombing in Bangkok, receives a medical examination at Royal Thai Police headquarters following her arrest, Nov. 22, 2017. A Thai female suspect in a bombing that killed 20 people at Bangkoks Erawan Shrine in 2015 was arrested on Wednesday as she arrived in Thailand from Turkey, the deputy national police chief said. Wanna Suansan, a native of Pang-nga province in southern Thailand, allegedly rented apartments in Bangkok suburbs for suspected militants to construct bombs. Two Uyghurs who were arrested shortly after the attack on the Hindu shrine, a popular tourist destination in the Thai capital, are to return to a military court before years end for the resumption of their trial. They could face the death penalty, if convicted. We were informed by immigration officers that Wanna was coming to Thailand via Suvarnabhumi Airport, so we arrested her using the warrant. She is the third suspect captured, Police Gen. Srivara Ransibrahmanakul told reporters at the national police headquarters. Wanna and her Turkish husband, Emrah Davutoglu, fled to Turkey following the Aug. 17, 2015, deadly blast at the shrine in central Bangkok where more than 120 people were injured. They were accused of having roles in the terrorist plot. Wanna, who faces five criminal charges including first-degree murder and possessing war weapons, was being held for questioning at headquarters, only 100 meters from the site of the bombing. Police said she was not traveling with her husband and she identified herself when presented with the warrant. Following the blast and a small pipe-bomb attack on the Sathorn passenger pier in Bangkok the next day, police issued warrants for 17 suspects including Thais and foreigners. Adem Karadag (also known as Bilal Mohammed) and Yusufu Mierali, who identified themselves as Uyghurs from Urumqi in Chinas Xinjiang region, were arrested a few weeks after the bomb attack. Srivara said investigators are searching for the other 14 suspects. Malaysia: Escapee captured Meanwhile, Malaysian authorities arrested a Uyghur man in northern Kedah state who is believed to have crossed into Malaysia after escaping from a Thai immigration detention center on Monday morning, an official said. Kedah Police Chief Asri Yusoff said the man, in his 30s, was found Wednesday near a military post in Bukit Tangga. He said the suspect was detained by citizens, who alerted soldiers at the post before police were called. It is believed that the suspect was walking alone when he was found about eight kilometers (five miles) from Sadao, and checks revealed that he did not have any travel documents, Asri said. Previously, Thai police Capt. Surasak Siripan told reporters that 20 Uyghurs who had been held for two years at a detention facility in the southern province of Songkhla, near the border with Malaysia, escaped from their cells at about 2 a.m. Monday. Maj. Gen. Jessada Yaisoon, the chief of the Thai immigration polices 6th Region based in Songkhla, told BenarNews police from both nations have cooperated in the search for the Uyghurs. Jessada identified the escapee as Abdul Kayum, 28. We joined with Malaysian police to recapture Abdul. We took him to Sadao police station, Jessada told BenarNews by phone. We are looking for the rest and we suspect they are still in rubber plantation on Thai soil, or crossed into Malaysia. We have warrants [for] all of them. Reported by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service. From appetizers through the dessert course, Virginia craft brewers have plenty of suggestions for partnering their beer and cider with whats being served at Thanksgiving. Devils Backbones production brewmaster Josh French offers a couple of ideas to go along with the start of the meal. For popular appetizers like bacon-wrapped asparagus or dates, French advises, go with a balanced, more approachable beer. The sweetness of an amber, German-style lager like Devils Backbones Vienna Lager melds perfectly with dates while complementing the saltiness of bacon. Amber-style lagers have no heaviness or bitterness, leaving you with mild, toasted and caramel tastes. For a Richmond-brewed alternative specifically with an appetizer, French suggests Strangeways Phantasmic Belgian IPA: Id enjoy it with a spicy shrimp cocktail! Buskey Cider founder and CEO Will Correll began specialty cider brewing for Thanksgiving long ago, and now hes offering his creation to the public. For years while opening Buskey, Id make a special batch of cider to pair with a dish from my familys Thanksgiving dinner, Correll said. Last year for our first Thanksgiving as a company, we shared that batch, Cranberry Basil Cider, with our fans in the tasting room. ... Were bringing it back this year. Stefan McFayden, head brewer for Three Notchd Brewing Co. RVA Collab House, thinks an ale will go with almost anything served. His pick is Pay Day VA Rye Pale Ale, a recent with collaboration Dominion Payroll, which was brewed with nearly 100 percent all Virginia ingredients. This pale ale will pair well with just about any Thanksgiving plate as the rye contributes a light, spicy bite on your palate, balancing heavier foods. For the dessert course, brewers have several ideas to complement the sweet. For Trapeziums Kirk Candler: Im going to go with our Salted Caramel Brown Ale, which we just released. Its our award-winning American brown ale, and we added caramel and black Hawaiian sea salt to it. Brad Cooper, owner and head brewer at Steam Bell Beer Works, recommends its Tiramisu Stout. After a very filling, savory meal, it is customary to have a cup of coffee , he said. Instead of coffee, replace it with the Tiramisu Stout that is aged on locally roasted Ironclad Coffee. Tim Jones of Isley Brewing Co. thinks Isleys Up All Night Coffee Porter is just the thing for those bold enough to venture out for shopping after eating. Our Bribe Oatmeal Porter is infused with cold-press coffee from our neighbors at Lamplighter. The Roasted Barley and Chocolate Malts give this beer a rich chocolate flavor with a hint of roast, Jones said. It pairs well with heavier Thanksgiving dishes, and especially well with chocolatey desserts. Your reds are set pinot noir, zinfandel, Beaujolais. And the whites viognier, gewurztraminer and riesling are chilling. Yes, your wines are perfect for accompanying a traditional Thanksgiving meal. What have you forgotten? Ah, what should you serve as your family or friends linger after empty plates have been cleared and dessert has been served? Of course, a wine to go with that pumpkin pie, ambrosia or cheesecake. But what type of wine? Greg McGehee, director of restaurants and wine at The Jefferson Hotel, says to pay attention to one thing when you dash to your local wine shop for the last-minute purchase. As a general rule, the wine should be sweeter than the food it is paired with, said McGehee, who has worked at The Jefferson food services in some capacity since 2005. If the wine is not as sweet as the food its paired with, it will be an unpleasant pairing. It will be bitter or sour, depending upon the pairing. With that caveat in mind, McGehee, whos attained Level 1 from the Court of Master Sommeliers, offers wine pairings to go with specific desserts that can be served at Thanksgiving, Christmas or anytime: The dessert: pumpkin pie The wine: Guicciardini Castello di Poppiano Vin Santo From the malvasia bianca grape in Italy, its dry structure is balanced by a natural delicate sweetness that makes it a fine dessert wine. (Available: Barrel Thief, Once Upon A Vine $34.99/500 ml) The dessert: apple pie The wine: Chateau Roumieu-Lacoste Sauternes From France, a classic go-to pairing for apple pie, its sweet, balanced and complex with flavors of hazelnut, apricot and honey. (Available: Barrel Thief, $26.99) The dessert: pecan pie The wine: Broadbent Rainwater Madeira From Richmonder Bartholomew Broadbents staple of excellent Madeiras, this wine from Portugal is an excellent introduction to the world of Madeira; aromas of figs and dried dates followed by slight sweetness and flavors of candied nuts. (Available: Barrel Thief, Once Upon A Vine, $16.99) The dessert: ambrosia (fresh oranges, pineapple, strawberries; maraschino cherries, optional; and coconut) The wine: Cantine Elvio Tintero Moscato dAsti Light, slightly sweet, nice bubbles; from Italy. (Available: Barrel Thief, $19.99; Ellwood Thompsons, $12.99) The dessert: salted caramel cheesecake The wine: 2006 Chateau Pajzos Tokaji Aszu 5 Puttonyos Puttonyos is the unit given to denote the level of sugar (5 puttonyos is 120 grams per liter, right in the middle); ripe peach notes lead to spicy saffron and dry honey; from Hungary. (Available: $40 to $69 online at various locations) When in doubt, ask your wine merchant for suggestions, but McGehee says not to become too obsessed with pairing wines and food. As my father says, Its not what is on the table but who is around it, McGehee said. Dont stress too much about the perfect pairing. Drink what you like and enjoy the company of your friends and family. With that said, Ill be drinking Broc Cellars Vine Starr Zinfandel ($32 at www.broccellars.com or by the glass ($12) or bottle ($55) at The Jefferson). Its a lower-alcohol zinfandel from two vineyards: Buck Hill and Arrowhead vineyards in Sonoma County. Its a beautiful wine that goes well with the different types of food on the Thanksgiving (or any holiday) table. The sad part of the story: The Buck Hill vineyard, owned by Randy Apel, was completely destroyed by the wildfires recently along with his home and all of his personal belongings, McGehee said. In mid-October, Richmonds Asbury Court was all lit up for Christmas and drawing a crowd that filled the street. Thats two months before the houses typically light up for the holidays. A giant camera on a dolly filmed the crowd and an exhausted-looking Bobby Phifer for an episode of the ABC reality show The Great Christmas Light Fight. Im so tired, Phifer said, while he waited for celebrity judge Taniya Nayak to arrive. We just finished decorating last night. The houses at 9606 and 9604 Asbury Court have been a staple on the Richmond Tacky Lights tour for years. Phifer has been decorating his mothers house ever since he was a child. He even bought the house next door and started decorating that one, too. Together, the two houses have more than a million-and-a-half lights strewn over two yards. But his mother, Rose, died in the spring, and thats why he decided to compete this year. Phifer had been working feverishly since the summer, decorating both houses to meet the shows deadline. Normally, the family puts up the display in three months. But for the show, they had to decorate the two houses, yards and trees in six weeks. On the night of the filming, the whole Phifer family Bobby; his wife, Bobbie; their daughter; and family friends wore blue T-shirts that said A Phifer Christmas Since 1974 on the front and Light Crew on the back. The women wore hand-made flower crowns threaded with reindeer antlers. We were up last night until 2:30 a.m., just talking and getting everything ready, Phifer said. He seemed to catch a second wind when the producer shined a bright light on the family for the TV interview. The producer asked Phifer how he thought the judge was going to react to their display. Taniyas about to see the best display shes ever seen, Phifer said under the producers prompting. Weve got double the lights, double the Bobbys, double everything out here. A few hundred neighbors and friends of the family filled the street for the taping. Many of the onlookers got into the Christmas spirit, too. Even though it was the middle of October, one woman was dressed as a Christmas elf with elf ears, striped socks and pointy boots. Car! people yelled when a neighbor would try to drive by. A pair of young moms wore matching Will Ferrell Elf T-shirts. But many kids werent prepared for the temperatures that plummeted as the night went on, shivering in short sleeves and flip-flops while waiting for the two homes to light up for the judge. Sharon and Jessica Wenger, a mother-daughter duo, stayed warm by the hot chocolate station in the driveway. Jessica has been visiting the Phifer home since she was a baby. Now 35, she drove from Charlottesville to witness the ABC filming. Its magical, Jessica said of the Phifers light display. I remember being little and looking up at the trees wrapped in lights. It seemed like the lights reached to the stars. Sharon Wenger said that they visit the Phifer house every year because it feels like family. You can walk through it. And you always run into somebody you know. They said they wanted to be at the filming to watch the tradition continue. The crowd waited and waited until finally, the producer, Chad Harrison, grabbed a megaphone and shouted, Lets hear it for the Phifers! The group erupted into cheers and clapping. Phifer! Phifer! they chanted. This is my favorite part of the job, the producer said. When Nayak arrived in leather pants and green high-heeled boots to judge the display, the crowd cheered even more. Partly to keep warm, partly out of relief that she had finally arrived. Usually, the show allows only one property in the competition, but this year it made an exception to allow the Phifers double display to compete for the $50,000 grand prize. We found the Phifers on social media, the producer said. It has its own geo-tag. Phifer said that the show has approached him for years, but this year, he finally decided to compete in honor of his mom. I can tell theres going to be some heartstrings pulled, Nayak said before the cameras started to roll and the house lit up for the judging. I hope I have waterproof mascara on. The filming went on until 3 a.m., but the family went to bed with the lights on. The Phifers episode of The Great Christmas Light Fight will air at 8 p.m. Dec. 11. The Phifers cant disclose what happened until the show airs. But if you want to see the Phifers display before the nation does on TV, the Phifers will host their grand illumination at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. About a dozen people voiced strong opposition Tuesday to a Richmond city councilmans proposal asking the state to grant the city permission to remove Confederate iconography from Monument Avenue. The councils land-use committee held a public hearing on the proposal, put forth by 9th District Councilman Michael Jones. If approved, the plan would request that the Virginia General Assembly amend the citys charter, granting the council authority to remove from Monument Avenue the memorials to Confederate Gens. Robert E. Lee, J.E.B. Stuart and Stonewall Jackson; the president of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis; and oceanographer Matthew Fontaine Maury, who served as a Confederate naval commander. No one spoke in favor of the proposal Tuesday. Instead a series of speakers, many of whom identified themselves as residents of Monument Avenue, asked that the council strike it down, citing concerns that removing the monuments would erase important symbols of the city and states history and hurt tourism. Helen Marie Taylor, a longtime Monument Avenue resident, said she felt debating the future of the monuments was destroying the community and threatening a street she sees as an example of progress the city and state has made in its effort to bring forward a more perfect union. Theres a lot to be proud of in Virginia, not to be erasing our history and destroying our history and our monuments, but to take pride in them, Taylor said. Bill Gallasch, president of the Monument Avenue Preservation Society, questioned what effect removal of the monuments would have on tourism on the historic street. When people come to Monument Avenue, they come for one particular reason: the mystique of the whole street, said Gallasch, arguing that the monuments are central to what draws people to the avenue. Teresa Roane echoed Gallaschs point about tourism. She said she had sat by the Jefferson Davis monument with a small group in recent months to talk with passers-by about the statues. Theyre scratching their heads wondering why were having issues with these monuments. ... I want to know how youre going to make up that tourism money, said Roane, who added that there were other issues public education, mental health, homelessness, crime that were more pressing for city officials to address. The debate on the future of the citys Confederate monuments has been simmering for months. Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney formed the Monument Avenue Commission over the summer to examine how the city could add context to the statues. After the deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville in August, Stoney expanded his charge to the commission to include the consideration of removal or relocation. Last week, the commission held its first public meeting in three months. The panel laid out a plan to hold a series of meetings with community groups interested in discussing the matter, beginning in January. Commission members also received a briefing on a legal opinion that City Attorney Allen Jackson sent to council members in late September, outlining the citys shaky legal position if it seeks to alter, relocate or remove the statues. Jackson cited a charter provision requiring the city to preserve the monuments and a state law protecting war memorials. From the outset, Jones has presented his resolution as a path the council could take in lieu of the work of the mayors commission. However, his colleagues have largely deferred to the commission on the issue, saying they want to see what recommendations it makes. Those recommendations may not be formalized until May, the commissions co-chair said last week. After Jones introduced the resolution, it appeared on the land-use committees October agenda, but was continued at his request. Before Tuesdays hearing, 6th District Councilwoman Ellen Robertson, the committees chairwoman, said Jones had again requested that the committee continue the proposal, but the committee did not defer it. Second District Councilwoman Kimberly Gray, who serves on the mayors commission, said at Tuesdays committee meeting that she wants to see the debate resolved as soon as possible. I do not think this is productive for us as a body, Gray said of Jones proposal. The committee voted to forward the proposal to the full council with no recommendation, meaning it will appear on the regular agenda at the councils Dec. 11 meeting. Reached by phone after the meeting, Jones said he was pleased that the full council would weigh the matter. As for the opposition his proposal drew, he said it did not surprise him. We already know its a divisive issue, Jones said. Im not shocked there are people who want them to stay put. I respect their opinion, I really do. I can empathize with their position. A top Petersburg schools official is facing a charge of driving under the influence. According to court records, Cyndee Blount the chief academic officer for Petersburg schools was arrested Nov. 10 in Hanover County and charged with DWI, first offense. Hanover Sheriffs Office spokesperson James Cooper said that Blount was arrested at Highlander Place and Walnut Grove Road in Mechanicsville with a blood alcohol content between .15 percent and .20 percent. She was arraigned Tuesday in Hanover General District Court. Her next court date is scheduled for Feb. 20. Blount previously worked as the director of elementary education for Chesterfield County Public Schools. Petersburg schools spokeswoman Leigh Ann McKelway said in an email that Petersburgs school system does not comment on specific employee situations. In 1963, a father in western Hanover County sat down to talk about the importance of education with his son, Harry Watts, who would days later drop out of high school to enlist in the military. Not knowing his sons plans, Joseph Horowitz, a Sears, Roebuck and Co. appliance repairman, asked what Watts wanted out of life. It was a father-son kind of a talk, said Watts, now 73. Do you want to be a man or a mouse? kind of deal. Watts wanted adventure. Looking around the familys 4-acre home in the Montpelier and Beaverdam area, all the Patrick Henry High student could see was forest. I said, Theres got to be more to this than trees, Watts said. Still, he promised his father hed get his degree; a vow he never thought would take more than 50 years to fulfill. That wait came to an end this month during a Veterans Day ceremony at Patrick Henry High, when the school and a nonprofit Watts volunteers with teamed up to surprise him with an honorary diploma. I didnt know it was going to take so long, Watts said of getting his degree. Im a great procrastinator. Maria Gilliland, the executive director of On Faith Ministries, which helped orchestrate the ceremony, said she learned of Watts regrets about his diploma about a year ago. Watts volunteers with Gilliland organizing and distributing goods to people in need in Henrico County and Ashland. Not having that piece made him feel like he couldnt do certain things, Gilliland said. Sometimes he would tell us, Im not equipped to talk to these people. Im not educated. Despite getting a GED, serving two tours as a combat photographer in Vietnam with the Air Force, and later serving in the Army, Watts always felt self-conscious about not having a diploma. It was part of the reason he never went to Patrick Henry High reunions, despite living in nearby Glen Allen. Watts wondered what his father would have to say. You always had to do it the hard way, Watts mused. But you got it done. It was the Monday after that conversation with his father in January 1963 that Watts joined a group of boys who skipped school to enlist. How he ended up in the Air Force was a matter of pragmatism. When Watts and his friends got to the recruiting office on West Broad Street, he was the last one heading up the steps. Where you going, boy? a man called to him. Im joining the Navy. Do you know how to swim? Watts didnt. So the Air Force recruiter signed him up to eventually become a photographer in the Air Force. Documenting the war in Vietnam for military histories and the Library of Congress changed Watts. The death, destruction and cold reception home are fresh in his memory. I saw a lot of things, Watts said. It made me crazy. After the Air Force, Watts spent eight years in the Army doing air defense artillery work. Following the Army, Watts worked as a corrections officer at a detention center in New Mexico for five years and then he made computer chips for Intel. He came back to Virginia in 2000 and worked at Pamunkey Regional Jail for 12 years. Today, Watts is retired, has three children from a previous marriage, and his wife has three children. His passion is his religion and volunteer work. Ive been a busy fella, Watts said. Im in Gods army now. When he came home from Vietnam, there was no one there to pick him up at the airport, no patriotic homecoming, no one stopping him to thank him for his service. The Virginia State Board of Elections has postponed a meeting to certify the results of a close Fredericksburg-area House of Delegates contest after Democrats filed a lawsuit Tuesday to stop the process, even as Republicans threatened to file a lawsuit of their own if the state continued to delay accepting results showing their candidate won. House Democrats filed a lawsuit Tuesday afternoon contesting results in the 28th District because of system errors that resulted in at least 83 voters being assigned to the wrong House district. The 28th District election is one of a handful of close races that could decide which party controls the chamber after a wave election in which Democrats picked up at least 15 seats. The Democrats filed the complaint in U.S. District Court in Alexandria on behalf of three residents of the 28th District who were given ballots for the neighboring 88th District. Their suit sought an emergency order to stop the State Board of Elections from certifying the vote totals in the 28th District during a meeting scheduled for Wednesday morning in Richmond. With the Thanksgiving holiday looming and no time for the lawsuit to get into court before Wednesday morning, Elections Commissioner Edgardo Cortes said Tuesday night that the elections board meeting had been postponed until next Monday. In the 28th District, which includes parts of Fredericksburg and Stafford County, Republican Bob Thomas leads Democrat Joshua Cole by 82 votes. The district is currently represented by retiring House Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford. Republicans have claimed they held onto a 51-49 majority in the Nov. 7 election. If one of a handful of close finishes flipped to Democrats, the House would have a 50-50 party split. The additional delay in the 28th District opens the door for a possible Republican lawsuit that could seek to force the elections board to certify the numbers showing Thomas in the lead. State law dictates that the elections board must meet on the third Monday in November to certify election results, but allows for a delay of up to three days if the board cannot meet or cant determine election results for any other reason. On Monday, the elections board certified the results of all statewide races and 98 House races, but took no action on the 28th and 88th District races. An attorney representing the House Republican Caucus sent a letter to the elections board Tuesday calling its decision to delay certifying the results in the two districts improper and counterproductive. The Code of Virginia does not grant this board the authority to delay certification to allow for the filing of lawsuits or to resolve issues regarding whether a vote should or should not be counted, wrote Trevor M. Stanley, a BakerHostetler attorney representing the House Republicans. The appropriate course of action, Stanley said, would be to certify the results to allow a full recount to begin. Elections board Chairman James Alcorn said Monday that the results should be delayed to allow a court hearing on the issue, saying it was his understanding that a lawsuit would be filed shortly. A federal judge in Alexandria on Wednesday evening rejected Democrats' emergency bid to halt the State Board of Elections from certifying the vote totals in House District 28, increasing pressure on state elections officials to act in the Fredericksburg-area contest. U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III in Alexandria held a hearing on the case by telephone, then denied Democrats' motion for a temporary restraining order. The top Republican in the House of Delegates said that the Democrats' "effort to litigate their way to victory" is failing. We appreciate the court's immediate attention and unequivocal ruling," said Del. Kirk Cox, R-Colonial Heights, who is in line to become speaker of the House in January if Republicans maintain a slight edge in the chamber. "Judge Ellis said directly that the Board should do its statutory duty and certify the election results. That will allow the process laid out in state law to proceed." Democrats picked up 15 House seats in a wave election Nov. 7, but adding one more would result in a 50-50 party split in the House. Several recounts are expected, but Republicans are currently on track to keep a 51-49 majority. Democratic lawyer Marc E. Elias had filed the suit late Tuesday afternoon asking the elections board to delay certifying results in two Fredericksburg-area House districts, the 28th and the 88th, where Republicans appeared to have won but some voters were given the wrong House ballot. These voters were disenfranchised from voting for the delegate who is to represent them, Elias said in a statement announcing the suit on behalf of three residents of the 28th District who were given ballots for the neighboring 88th District. Earlier Wednesday, Cox accused the state elections board of abandoning its political neutrality by continuing to delay certifying election results while Democrats pursue lawsuits. The State Board of Elections exists to be an independent arbiter of our elections, but after the last three days no one could be faulted for questioning the independence of a board that seems to be working in lockstep with legal counsel for the Democratic Party, Cox said in a statement. Twice now the board has not just failed to carry out its statutory duty, but has actively delayed in order to allow Democrats to file a third lawsuit. James B. Alcorn, chairman of the State Board of Elections, said in a statement Wednesday afternoon that the boards duty is to ascertain the results of the election and that it intends to do just that. All three members of the board, including the Republican member, delayed certification to allow time to sort out potential irregularities in the election results, Alcorn said. This additional time is contemplated in the Code of Virginia and allows the board to do its due diligence in carrying out its legal responsibilities. The elections board was scheduled to meet to certify the results on Wednesday morning, but the elections officials announced late Tuesday that they had postponed the meeting until next Monday. According to state law, the board was required to meet Nov. 20 to certify the results. The board met Monday and certified all results but the 28th and 88th House races, pointing to a legal provision that allows for a three-day delay if the results cant be determined. The board has not explained its decision to postpone Wednesdays meeting until next week, but its members seem to be operating under the assumption that the Thanksgiving holiday gives them more leeway with the three-day window. If the board does not certify the results Monday, Cox said, Republicans will file a suit asking the Supreme Court of Virginia to force the board to act. Under Virginia law, the party that won the last gubernatorial election is entitled to a 2-1 majority on the elections board. The board is currently controlled by appointees of Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe. In the 28th District, Republican Bob Thomas holds an 82-vote lead over Democrat Joshua Cole, raising the possibility that severe voter problems could have affected the outcome of the race. In the neighboring 88th District, Republican Del. Mark L. Cole defeated Democrat Steve Aycock by a wide margin. The scope of the voter errors in the two districts remains unclear, but officials said theyve identified at least 83 voters who were assigned to the wrong district in the states system. Its not clear how many erroneous ballots were actually cast. Republicans filed in federal court earlier Wednesday seeking to intervene in the Democratic suit and ask the judge to throw it out, arguing that administrative errors in an election are a state matter and dont require federal intervention. The plaintiffs do not allege that they were denied a ballot or that their votes were not counted because they were given ballots, and their votes were counted, the Republican court filing states. It is simply not clear whether they were given the proper ballots, as defined by state not federal law. Republicans have argued the Fredericksburg issues can be sorted during the states recount process, which cant begin until the results are certified. Democrats argued state law cant help the plaintiffs because only candidates, not voters, can ask for recounts. In any case, because plaintiffs never received their ballots, a recount of the paper ballots cast on or before Nov. 7 would not address the deprivation of plaintiffs right to cast a ballot in the election, the Democratic filing states. Alcorn, chairman of the State Board of Elections, said the additional time is to allow the Department of Elections to provide the board with the additional facts that were requested during Mondays meeting. He added: Given the boards statutory charge to ensure legality and purity in elections, I contend that it is our responsibility to allow these conversations to occur before the board certifies the results of this Novembers election. Cox said in his statement Wednesday night: "The quicker we can resolve potential recounts, the quicker we can begin governing. Weve got a budget to balance, schools to improve, and an opioid crisis to fight, and we cant do that in a courtroom. Leave early, be patient and leave the gallon tubs of Dukes Mayonnaise out of your carry-on luggage. That was the collected wisdom from local travel experts as hundreds of thousands of Virginians get ready to hit the highways, ride the rails and step into security screening lines at airports this week. AAA projects that more than 1.4 million Virginians will travel 50 miles or more from home between Wednesday and Sunday, an increase of about 44,000, or 3.2 percent, over last year. That would make for the largest number of Thanksgiving travelers in the state in a decade. A strong economy and labor market are generating rising incomes and higher consumer confidence, fueling a strong year for the travel industry, which will continue into the holiday season, said Martha Mitchell Meade, manager of public and government affairs for AAA Mid-Atlantic. At Richmond International Airport, officials also are expecting higher volumes. Troy Bell, an airport spokesman, said the airport experienced strong passenger traffic in October and expects that to continue through Thanksgiving. Generally, between 120,000 and 125,000 passengers pass through the airport during the 12-day Thanksgiving travel period, which starts the Friday before Thanksgiving and ends the Tuesday after. Nationwide, Airlines for America, the industry trade organization for U.S. airlines, is predicting 28.5 million passengers will travel on U.S. airlines between Nov. 17 and Nov. 28, up about 3 percent from last year. Richmond expects to mirror those numbers, Bell said. And though there are 12-day spans at other times of year that see higher volumes, the nature of holiday travel, including traveling with food, relatives and children and what might be infrequent travelers, can make for airport congestion, Bell said. Bell reminded passengers to arrive 90 minutes in advance to compensate for new Transportation Security Administration screening procedures that require separate bins for all electronics larger than a cellphone. All food is subject to inspection also. Bell said the TSA is paying increased attention to large foodstuffs, though he noted that large items have long been restricted in carry-on luggage. He recalled an Arizona food blogger on separate occasions being forced to surrender a 1-gallon tub of Dukes Mayonnaise and a Smithfield ham. Bell said his own in-laws are fond of bringing fajita meat and tortillas from Texas when they visit. Apparently this year those types of materials are getting a little more attention than in the past, Bell said. *** It might not look like much, but Amtraks Staples Mill Station in Henrico remains the busiest passenger rail station in the South. Ridership surged at Staples Mill for the federal fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, when the station saw 373,832 passengers. Staples Mill served 356,189 passengers in the 2016 federal fiscal year, down from 361,996 the year before. And with the stations parking lots in the midst of an $8.5 million expansion that will double the number of spaces and make it easier to get in and out of what can be a clogged place at the best of times, officials are urging passengers to take a cab, use a ride-hailing service or get a lift to the station over the Thanksgiving holiday, the busiest time of the year. If you must park, Amtrak spokeswoman Kimberly Woods recommends arriving at least 45 minutes before your scheduled departure to make sure you can find a spot in lots that have shrunk from 288 spaces before construction started to 250. Spaces are tight; theyre filling up quickly, Woods said. Overflow parking is available at the Henrico County Park and Ride about five blocks away at Cloverdale Avenue and Crockett Street. When finished next summer, the stations parking lots will include a dedicated bus loading zone, bike racks, parking for taxis and drivers with ride-hailing services, improved pedestrian accommodations, additional parking for those with disabilities, and two entrances via Staples Mill Road and Bremner Boulevard. Neither Woods nor Jeremy Latimer, the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportations rail programs administrator, was aware of any passengers missing trains because of the parking crunch. The state is paying for the work, and Amtrak will continue to operate the parking lots when they are finished. On Tuesday afternoon, there were still spots to be had as a trickle of Thanksgiving travelers began arriving. One taxi driver said the drivers are looking forward to the day when they get their own lane and dont have to queue in front of parked cars. Anthony Toler, 82, who lives in South Richmond, was waiting to pick up his son, a university professor in Boston. A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind. Its tricky to write any sort of short and sweet item about Carnegie Hall without making reference to that old joke. (Practice, practice, practice.) If you want to ask, on the other hand, How do you get from Carnegie Hall to Roanoke? then soprano Penelope Shumate will know the answer. Shumate will be one of the soloists in the Roanoke Symphony Orchestras upcoming performance of Handels Messiah in the Shaftman Performance Hall at Jefferson Center. RSO marketing director Rodney Overstreet noted that, two days before the RSO performance, Shumate will be performing the same music at Carnegie Hall in a program called Messiah...Refreshed! Shumates a bit of a ringer, though, as she has performed multiple times at both Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. She was praised in The New York Times for her singing in a 2012 performance of Messiah in the centers Avery Fisher Hall, which is now known as David Geffen Hall. Tuesdays concert will be her first time performing with RSO. The program includes part one of Handels Messiah, plus the famed Hallelujah chorus. One in six Virginia children live in families that struggle with hunger. Across the state, schools are ramping up efforts to ensure students are getting the meals they wouldnt have otherwise especially breakfast. Through the end of the year, Virginia schools are competing for prizes and recognition through increased school breakfast participation. The second annual Virginia Breakfast Challenge encourages state schools to get more students to eat breakfast through a program Breakfast After the Bell that aims to break the stigma of eating school breakfast. In the first Virginia Breakfast Challenge last year, 1,325 schools participated and about 25,000 more students had school breakfast compared to when the challenge started. During the 2016-17 school year, Virginia schools served about 10 million more breakfasts than four years prior. The numbers are improving, but theres still room for improvement, said Claire Wilker Mansfield, Virginia state director for No Kid Hungry, a campaign of national nonprofit Share Our Strength. Theres still lots of work to do, Mansfield said. Nobody wants kids to be hungry. Only half of Virginia students who eat school lunch start the school day with school breakfast, according to No Kid Hungry, meaning about 260,000 students dont have school breakfast. The challenge is trying to change that. Breakfast After the Bell incorporates breakfast into the classroom, whether it be during a nutrition break in the morning, a grab-and-go style as they walk to class or having breakfast delivered to each classroom. The challenge runs through Dec. 31. Twelve school winners and four school division winners will be named in the spring. The top Republican in the Virginia House of Delegates on Wednesday accused the state elections board of abandoning its political neutrality by continuing to delay certifying election results while Democrats pursue lawsuits. The State Board of Elections exists to be an independent arbiter of our elections, but after the last three days no one could be faulted for questioning the independence of a board that seems to be working in lockstep with legal counsel for the Democratic Party, Del. Kirk Cox, a Colonial Heights Republican in line to become the next House speaker if Republicans hold the majority, said in a statement Wednesday morning. Twice now the board has not just failed to carry out its statutory duty, but has actively delayed in order to allow Democrats to file a third lawsuit. James Alcorn, chairman of the State Board of Elections, said in a statement Wednesday afternoon that the boards duty is to ascertain the results of the election and that it intends to do just that. All three members of the board, including the Republican member, delayed certification to allow time to sort out potential irregularities in the election results, Alcorn said. This additional time is contemplated in the Code of Virginia and allows the board to do its due diligence in carrying out its legal responsibilities. Democratic lawyer Marc Elias filed a suit in federal court late Tuesday afternoon asking the State Board of Elections to delay certifying results in two Fredericksburg-area House districts, the 28th and the 88th, where Republicans appeared to have won but some voters were given the wrong House ballot. These voters were disenfranchised from voting for the delegate who is to represent them, Elias said in a statement announcing the suit on behalf of three residents of the 28th District who were given ballots for the neighboring 88th District. The elections board was scheduled to meet to certify the results on Wednesday morning, but the elections officials announced late Tuesday that they had postponed the meeting until next Monday. According to state law, the board was required to meet Nov. 20 to certify the results. The board met Monday and certified all results but the 28th and 88th House races, pointing to a legal provision that allows for a three-day delay if the results cant be determined. The board has not explained its decision to postpone Wednesdays meeting until next week, but its members seem to be operating under the assumption that the Thanksgiving holiday gives them more leeway with the three-day window. If the board does not certify the results Monday, Cox said, Republicans will file a suit asking the Supreme Court of Virginia to force the board to act. Under Virginia law, the party that won the last gubernatorial election is entitled to a 2-1 majority on the elections board. The board is currently controlled by appointees of Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe. In the 28th District, Republican Bob Thomas holds an 82-vote lead over Democrat Joshua Cole, raising the possibility that severe voter problems could have affected the outcome of the race. In the neighboring 88th District, Republican Del. Mark L. Cole defeated Democrat Steve Aycock by a wide margin. Democrats picked up 15 House seats in a wave election Nov. 7, but adding one more would result in a 50-50 party split in the House. Several recounts are expected, but Republicans are currently on track to keep a 51-49 majority. The scope of the voter errors in the two districts remains unclear, but officials said theyve identified at least 83 voters who were assigned to the wrong district in the states system. Its not clear how many erroneous ballots were actually cast. Republicans filed in federal court Wednesday seeking to intervene in the Democratic suit and ask a judge to throw it out, arguing that administrative errors in an election are a state matter and dont require federal intervention. It wasnt immediately clear when an initial hearing on the lawsuit would take place. Alcorn, chairman of the State Board of Elections, said the additional time is to allow the Department of Elections to provide the board with the additional facts that were requested during Mondays meeting. The distinction between day and night is disappearing in the most heavily populated regions of the Earth, a rapid shift with profound consequences for human health and the environment, according to a paper published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances. Were losing more and more of the night on a planetary scale, journal editor Kip Hodges said in a teleconference on the papers findings. From 2012 to 2016, the artificially lit area of the Earths surface grew by 2.2 percent per year, according to the study led by Christopher Kyba of the German Research Centre for Geosciences. Kyba and his team analyzed high-resolution satellite imagery to measure the extent of artificial outdoor lighting at night. The study also found that areas of the planet already lit grew even brighter, increasing in luminosity at a rate of 2.2 percent per year. Earths night is getting brighter, Kyba said. One of Kybas images show the change in the amount of nighttime lighting from 2012 to 2016. Much of the increase is concentrated in the Middle East and Asia. The observed decrease in western Australia is actually due to wildfires in 2012 that were visible from space. These observations probably understate the true increase in lit areas and light intensity because the satellites used in the study are not sensitive to blue light wavelengths emitted by LED lights. The trend shows no sign of relenting. In the near term, it appears that artificial light emission into the environment will continue to increase, further eroding Earths remaining land area that experiences natural day-night light cycles, the paper concludes. The past few years have seen the rapid adoption of highly efficient LED lights for indoor and outdoor use. LEDs use just a fraction of the electricity of traditional incandescent lights a 20-watt LED bulb can generate the same amount of light as a 100-watt incandescent, representing an energy savings of 80 percent. Beyond that, LEDs also last 10 to 20 times as long as incandescents, representing more cost savings. But the rapid increase in nighttime lighting observed by Kyba and his colleagues suggests that people are responding to cheaper lighting options by simply adding more light. While we know that LEDs save energy in specific projects, Kyba said at the teleconference, when we look at our data and we look at the national and the global level, it indicates that these savings are being offset by either new or brighter lights in other places. The shift from incandescents to LEDs has been directly observable from space. People are particularly attuned to the short-wavelength blue light emitted by most LEDs, but its been implicated in sleep deficiencies and other human health problems. Last year, the American Medical Association issued a warning about health risks associated with this type of light. Bright nighttime lighting only started becoming widespread about 100 years ago, meaning we have little idea how humans or other species adapt to it at an evolutionary level. Artificial light at night is a very new stressor, said Franz Holker, one of the papers authors. The problem is that light has been introduced in places, times and intensities at which it does not naturally occur and [for] many organisms, there is no chance to adapt to this new stressor. The news isnt all bad. Studies have shown, for instance, that judicious use of low-level LED lighting can reduce light pollution without compromising peoples sense of safety. Lighting companies have been introducing warm LED lights that emit much less of the potentially harmful short-wavelength blue light. In the longer term, perhaps the demand for dark skies and unlit bedrooms will begin to outweigh the demand for light in wealthy countries, Kyba and his colleagues write. Baying hounds, horses, doughnuts and coffee its hard to imagine a better way to spend a Thanksgiving morning. For the 89th year, Keswicks Grace Episcopal Church will host its annual Thanksgiving Day Blessing of the Hounds prayer service with equine, canine and human members of the Keswick Hunt Club. The service attracts hundreds of area residents. Its just a lot of fun and a longstanding tradition for Grace and a great family event, said the Rev. G. Miles Smith, rector of Grace Episcopal. Its a traditional prayer service thats been adapted and you get the benefit of seeing the riders, horses and hounds. Its a great way to start the holiday. Its really neat to see the hounds playing, the horses and the riders in their red coats and jackets, said Alison Walden, senior warden of the church vestry. The animals really seem to enjoy it, and all the hounds baying is a beautiful sound. The service was first held in 1929, developed by the Rev. Frank Leslie Robinson, who served as the churchs rector from 1910 to 1942. A lot of the people from the parish were with the hunt club and he wanted to pique their interest and get them into the church, and this was one way to do that, Walden said. It used to be a small, neighborhood affair, but it has become a tradition in the community. Now we expect between 900 and 1,000 people to attend. After the hounds are blessed the horses, riders and foxes get a blessing, too the hunt club will set about its traditional Thanksgiving Day fox hunt. Well have doughnuts, coffee, cider and hot chocolate and people usually stay around to watch the hunt begin, Walden said. Its really a great experience. The service also helps nonprofit agencies in the area as the club and the congregation choose charities to receive proceeds from an offering at the service. We take up a collection and any proceeds will be split between the Rivanna Conservation Alliance and the Wildlife Center of Virginia, Walden said, noting that the collection often garners about $2,000. Its a nice way of giving back to the community. Both the church and the hunt club have a long history in Keswick. The congregation dates back to 1745 as one of the first six churches in the Virginia colony back when the Church of England was the official state-sanctioned religion. The original church was replaced with a new building in 1855 but a fire two decades later left only the tower and walls standing. Those were incorporated into the current church when it was rebuilt at the site north of Cismont on Route 231. The churchs 1,575-pound bell was salvaged and is still in use. In fact, it will ring 10 times at 9:45 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day to announce the 10 a.m. prayer service, calling the congregation, hunters, steeds and dogs together. According to its website, the Keswick Hunt Club was established in 1896 and formally recognized in 1903. There are currently about 200 individual and family memberships and the clubs estimated 60 hounds hunt on land in Albemarle, Louisa, Madison and Orange counties. The club hosts a variety of special events throughout the year, as well as regular hunts. Club members are awarded their colors at the Thanksgiving Day hunt, which affords them the honor of donning scarlet jackets and honorific accessories at formal hunts and events. Colors are often regarded as a badge of honor and as such are awarded this festive day to those members that have helped in the hunt field above and beyond the desire to fox hunt, the website states. Colors are worn with pride not only on formal meets but also formal dinners and dances. Smith and Walden said the event is open to all. For more information, call the church at (434) 293-3549. Its really quite a spectacle to see the horses and hounds at an outdoor service, Smith said. It really is a lot of fun and a great family event. Battling wildfires in the American West can also hurt us here in Virginia. This year, wildfires have already burned through more than 8.5 million acres and cost more than $2.4 billion the nations costliest wildfire season on record according to the National Interagency Fire Center. While emergency funds are available for damages and recovery from earthquakes, floods and similar disasters, wildfires drain funds directly from the budgets of federal agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service and Department of the Interior, including the National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Right now, as these agencies prepare their annual budgets, they must plan for costs based on past fire seasons. But each new season is proving to be anything but average. Catastrophic fires are happening more and more often, while more people now live near fire-prone forests. That combination is raising firefighting costs year after year. This flawed way to pay for fighting wildfires gives federal agencies an unfortunate choice: Put the fires out, or spend the money on the conservation and land management work that are central to their missions. While the priority is understandably to save lives and property, it means agencies take money from programs like recreation and forest health to make up budget shortfalls. But its that conservation work such as restoring forests and removing brush that helps reduce the risk of severe fire in the first place. Not all fires are bad or need to be put out. Here in Virginia, fire is as natural as rain or wind in our mountain and coastal forests. In fact, some of our native plants and animals cant thrive without fire. Plus, periodic burning, including controlled burns, help prevent the build-up of brush and other fuels that can feed much larger and destructive fires. When forests arent healthy and when forest managers lack the resources to carry out controlled burns and other critical stewardship, then we face increased risks of wildfires raging out of control. Such fires can destroy homes and communities, harm natural and cultural resources, and threaten human lives. It doesnt make sense to have firefighting come at the expense of projects that would make our lands healthier and less prone to wildfires in the first place. We need to break out of this cycle, and Congress holds the keys to a solution. Lawmakers are considering how to fix this problem so that we can pay for firefighting, reduce the risk of future megafires, and still benefit from conservation and other programs here in Virginia. The House of Representatives and Senate have introduced the Wildfire Disaster Funding Act (WDFA). The Senate also recently added a comprehensive fire-funding solution to a flood insurance bill. At The Nature Conservancy in Virginia, we think these are great ideas that cant be enacted soon enough. Were collaborating with a broad coalition ranging from sportsmens groups to other environmental organizations to show just how much bipartisan support is out there for these bills. You can help, too, by letting your representatives in Congress know that a wildfire funding fix is important to you. We know that firefighting costs are going to continue to rise. And under the governments current funding structure, the U.S. cant keep up. We need not only to fight wildfires, but also to keep our forests healthy and prevent those fires from ever starting in the first place. And we can protect our Virginia land, property and citizens at the same time. Emma Biggins A WOMAN is set to represent Rotherham in a national beauty pageant which could lead to an international final. Emma Biggins (33), of Magna Crescent, already holds the Ms South Yorkshire Galaxy title and is now preparing for the Ms Galaxy UK event in Lancashire next March. Blogger Emma, who spends much of her time in Marbella where she does some work for her sponsor South Spain Properties, heard about the pageant on the internet and was keen to take part. She said: It is my first pageant. I remember watching pageants like Miss World and thinking how glamorous and exciting it must be to get to do something like that. I cannot believe I will be taking part in a pageant myself. I just received my sash and it is starting to become very real. I hope to do South Yorkshire proud by bringing home the crown. The winner of Ms Galaxy UK will travel to the USA with contestants from all over the world to compete in the Ms Galaxy International final next summer. Emma added: The international final is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and will be a truly amazing experience. The UK has enjoyed some amazing success at the Galaxy International pageant winning an international crown eight times and had placements in every division for the past four years. Part of Emmas beauty queen role is to help fundraise for a good cause. She said: I will be fundraising up until March for a great charity called The Christie. It is a cancer charity and all money raised will go towards a proton beam therapy centre. I would like to thank my sponsors South Spain Properties who have made this possible for me. Visit justgiving.com/fundraising/mssouthyorkshiregalaxy to sponsor Emma. Lee Frecklington SKIPPER Lee Frecklington believes the Millers shouldnt let themselves get too down about their current league form, as the table can quickly change. Rotherham havent won in five league games and head in to Saturdays AESSEAL New York Stadium clash with second-place Wigan in ninth spot in League One. But midfielder Frecklington, who is vying for a starting spot after recovering from a back injury, is hopeful that a win this weekend could get Rotherham moving up the table. He told the Advertiser: I was looking at the table and there are five teams on 26 points. That just shows how tight our division actually is. There should never be too much doom and gloom because a couple of wins shoots you up the table again. It's all about consistency, the gaffer has been saying that from day one. Everyone expected our next opponents, Wigan, to be up there at the start. Probably them and Blackburn are the two big teams in the league. Frecklington nets a volley during a win over Walsall earlier this season The 32-year-old is the Millers longest serving player but is out of contract in the summer, with recent speculation linking him to old club Lincoln, among others. But Frecklington, writing in his Advertiser column last week, dismissed those reports, stating hed like to finish his career at the NYS. He said: Because I've moved back to Lincoln and I started my career there, everywhere I go around town people ask if and when I'm going to go back. Just because I'm in the last year of my contract here and it is running down, that is always going to happen. People are going to start talking about me returning to the club where it all started, thinking it is the perfect fairytale. In my ideal world I would like to finish my career at Rotherham and hopefully there will be another contract waiting for me when my current one expires. That's still a long way away. I need to prove my fitness, keep playing games and I'm hopeful that if I'm playing then there will be another contract for me here so I can put my return to Lincoln on hold a little bit longer. You can read Frecklingtons latest column in this Fridays Advertiser, as well as all the news from the New York Stadium. Debbie Wingham A MINERS daughter from Mexborough who created the worlds most expensive black diamond dress is organising a special festive event. Debbie Wingham, who attended Highwoods Junior and Infants School and Mexborough School, has teamed up with the National Union of Miners (NUM) to hold a Christmas fete in Barnsley on Saturday, December 2. The event will take place at the NUM premises on Huddersfield Road from 11am to 3pm. It will include a Great British Barnsley Bake Off contest, as well as mini workshops and tutorials with a celebrity stylist team, a kids fashion show, cake and cookie decorating, and T-shirt weaving. The free event will also coincide with the UK launch of Debbies autobiography From Coal Dust to Diamonds. Proceeds from the day will be going to Cash 4 Kids Mission Christmas appeal. Debbie said the fete is aimed at toddlers, teens and recycled teenagers. Debbie shot to fame five years ago when she created the worlds most expensive black diamond dress and since then has taken the title of worlds most expensive designer three more times. Her commissions have included a black diamond dress worth 3.5 million, a 48.5 million cake, and a pair of shoes valued at 15.3 million. Her clients have included Katy Perry, Kate Winslet, Drake, and Justin Bieber, and her work has been featured in James Bond, Sex in the City, Ugly Betty, Desperate Housewives, and Downtown Abbey. She also founded The Future of Fashion Academy to encourage young people to design their own collections and showcase them. People wanting to take part in the Bake Off contest need to create a one tier cake which is inspired by Christmas on a board no bigger than 10 inches, and it can be any cake flavour. Contestants should be 16 and over and cakes need to be dropped off at 10.30am before the event begins. Allan Ogle, Cash for Kids charity manager, said: Cash for Kids need an incredible amount of support to help these children at risk of not getting a visit from Santa. Events like these are helping raise valuable money well use to buy gifts to ensure that no local child misses out on opening gifts on Christmas Day morning. To donate, visit www.hallamfm.co.uk/mission, or text HALLAM to 70808 to make a 5 donation to Mission Christmas. Chris Kitchen, national secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers, said: The NUM Yorkshire Area is pleased to host the event organised by Debbie Wingham. Debbie is clearly proud of her roots. The event is like a mini Yorkshire Miners Gala which used to take place in towns and cities of the coalfield. Angolas SODIAM realises $28,7mln from fifth international diamond tender Angola's state-owned diamond trading company, SODIAM realised $28,7 million from the sale of 1,819.79 carats at its fifth international rough tender held in the capital, Luanda. The diamonds sold were special productions from Lulo, Catoca, and Luele... Christies presents Fancy Vivid Pink Diamond of 13.15 carats Christies presents one of the finest fancy vivid pink emerald-cut diamonds ever to be offered at auction which will be part of the Magnificent Jewels sale on 6 December during Luxury Week. The Fancy Vivid Pink Diamond Ring (estimate... Sama reports high-grade copper-nickel intercepts at Cote divoire project Sama Resources has reported high-grade copper-nickel intercepts following the drilling of 21 holes at its Samapleu deposit, in Cote d'Ivoire. Company chief executive Marc-Antoine Audet said this is an indication of the potential for additional high-grade... Kerala becomes the first state to introduce uniform gold price based on bank rate Kerala becomes the first state in India to launch uniform gold price based on the bank rate. The decision to introduce a uniform price on 916 purity 22-carat gold was taken at a meeting between officials of Malabar Gold and Diamonds, one of the largest... Parsons has begun providing technical advisory services for Metrolinx's Enhanced Train Control and Conventional Signaling (ETCCS) project, part of the Canadian agency's 10-year GO Transit regional/commuter rail expansion program consisting of C$13.5 billion in capital projects and $7 billion in state-of-good-repair works. The GO Transit network spans more than 2,500 square miles in southern Ontario and carries more than 200,000 passengers each day through more than 40 municipalities. As part of the GO expansion component of Metrolinxs Regional Transportation Plan, Metrolinx plans to modernize the system by adding stations, increasing system capacity, introducing 25-kV catenary electrification and replacing its diesel locomotives with electrified locomotives, adapting its existing fixed-block signaling system to the 25-kV traction power supply system, and deploying ETCCS on the wayside and rolling stock. This program will transform the GO Transit rail network with electrified trains running every 15 minutes or better, all day and in both directions, within the most heavily travelled sections of the GO network across Ontarios Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA), home to nearly 7 million people and one of the largest and fastest-growing urban regions in North America, the agency said. As Metrolinx specifies, procures and deploys ETCCS with conventional signaling upgrades, Parsons will provide design, procurement support, system engineering, system integration and migration management, testing and commissioning services. We welcome this opportunity to continue our long-standing relationship with Metrolinx, helping them advance the quality of life for all GTHA residents and visitors, said Mike Johnson, Parsons Group President. Parsons has extensive enhanced train control experience, and this technology increases both operational capacity and safety. Toronto Transit Commission Andy Byford, who has forged a rail transit career on three continents, will join the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority as President of New York City Transit, the agency responsible for New York City subways, buses, paratransit services and the Staten Island Railway, effective in January 2018. A seasoned and highly regarded transportation professional whose work has taken him across three continents over nearly three decades, Byford joins NYC Transit after a widely hailed five-year stint as the CEO of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), the third largest transit system in North America, NYMTA said in announcing his appointment. Byford began his transit career at London Underground where, over 14 years, he rose to the position of General Manager of the Central, Bakerloo and Victoria Lines, three of its busiest subway lines. He oversaw increases in customer satisfaction and operational performance. Byford then became Chief Operating Officer of Australias largest transit system, in Sydney. At TTC, Byford spearheaded several initiatives, including the development of a corporate plan aimed at completely modernizing the TTC and improving all aspects of operational performance. Under his leadership, subway delays have been reduced, customer satisfaction has hit record levels, and a number of major projects progressed, including the phased introduction of a [communications-based train control] system and the imminent completion of a major subway line extension, MTA said. These improvements led to the TTC being named by the American Public Transportation Association as its Outstanding Transit System of the Year for 2017. Byfords appointment comes after an extensive international search. He was very familiar to the MTA: In June, he was a member of a panel presenting about international best practices at the MTA Genius Transit Challenge, where he described his successful efforts to modernize and improve Torontos subway system. At NYC Transit, Byford will be responsible for leading the immediate and long-term modernization of one of the oldest and largest transit systems in the world, including ensuring the success of the Subway Action Plan, which aims to stabilize and modernize a subway system that in recent times has been plagued with delaysso much so that the system was the recent subject of an exhaustive New York Times investigative report that portrayed an agency whose infrastructure is rapidly deteriorating, troubled by political interference and ineptitude (starting with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo), bogged down in multiple management layers, and a cash cow for contractors and consultants. NYC Transit has nearly 50,000 employees throughout New York Citys five boroughs. The agencys most recent permanent President was Veronique Ronnie Hakim, currently MTA Managing Director. I look forward to working closely with Andy in his new role as President of New York City Transit, she said. Having held the position myself I can say with certainty that its an immensely challenging job but also deeply rewarding. Andy is incredibly well regarded in the transportation world and did outstanding things in Toronto. Im confident he will do the same here in New York. We are thrilled that Andy is going to lead NYC Transit during this time of great change, MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota said. Our transit system is the backbone of the worlds greatest city and having someone of Andys caliber to lead it will help immensely, particularly when it comes to implementing the Subway Action Plan that we launched this summer. In order to truly stabilize, modernize and improve our transit system, we needed a leader who has done this work at world-class systems and Andys successes in Toronto are evidence that he is up to this critically important task. To function as a first-rate transit system, you need a first-rate transit leader and Andy is precisely that, said MTA President Patrick Foye. His command of urban transit issues is second to none and he is invested in getting the details right. NYC Transit faces serious issues, but Andy is up to the challenge and we are excited to have him on board. Transit in a city as diverse as New York presents a unique set of challenges, and Andys global leadership experience make him well-suited for the task, MTA Chief Operating Officer Phil Eng said. I welcome him aboard and look forward to working alongside him as we strengthen and grow the transit system. Andy knows how to make tough choices and get people to buy in TTC Chair Josh Colle said. He is the consummate leader: driven, fair, passionate, and highly effective. Torontos loss is New Yorks gain, and I have little doubt that he will bring world-class leadership to the North Americas biggest subway system. While we are incredibly disappointed to see him go, we wish him the best in the Big Apple. Last but not least, Andy Byford: New York Citys public transit system has driven New York City to become the bustling, successful metropolis that it is, and its an honor to be trusted with the huge responsibility to modernize the system and bring it to the high levels of performance and customer service that New Yorkers truly deserve and rightfully expect. I look forward to working with my new colleagues and all the employees of New York City Transit and the MTA, and, most important, our customers. A native of the United Kingdom, Byford holds an honors degree from the University of Leicester. The Railway Supply Institute (RSI) said Mike O'Malley will become president of the association on Feb. 1, 2018, when current president, Tom Simpson, is scheduled to retire. Simpson joined RSI (formerly known as the Railway Progress Institute) in 1988 following a position with the Federal Railroad Administration between 1983-1988. He was named president of RSI in 2010. OMalley is a transportation expert and former vice president, procurement and supply chain management with CSX, who holds a Master of Business Administration from Northwestern Universitys Kellogg School of Management, a Master of Science in European Studies from the London School of Economics and a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Mikes rail industry background and deep expertise in public policy, government affairs, international trade, and global supply chains will advance RSIs mission to support, connect and advocate for railway suppliers, said Frantz. His track record of building relationships, executing strategy, and delivering results will benefit RSI and its members. We congratulate him on his appointment, stated RSI Board Chair Jim Frantz. He continued, Tom will act in a consulting capacity as the organization transitions to new leadership. On behalf of the RSI Board of Directors, I thank Tom for his many years of dedicated service and guidance. Leadership at a fellow industry association, Railway Engineering-Maintenance Suppliers Association (REMSA), said it was looking forward to working with OMalley to continue to grow supplier-railroad relationships. [Tom Simpson] has been an outstanding leader and advocate for the railway supply industry, said Bruce Wise, president of REMSA. Tom was instrumental in building stronger partnerships within our industry and a key player in the development of the largest North American railway trade show, Railway Interchange. We thank him for his service and look forward to continuing our strong partnership with Mr. OMalley. David Tennent, executive director and CEO of REMSA, added, We are excited to work with Mr. OMalley in growing supplier-railroad partnerships and believe he is well equipped to help lead our industry. I wanted to sincerely thank Tom for his leadership and friendship and note that his voice will be sorely missed. (Agencia CMA Latam) - Despite the efforts in the search operations for the submarine ARA San Juan, which disappeared from the radars last Wednesday, there are still no indications on the vessel's location, said the Argentinean Navy spokesman, Captain Enrique Balbi. The situation is critical, given that the authorities estimate that if the submarine remains at the bottom of the sea, the crew of 44 sailors, officers, and non-commissioned officers would have oxygen for only 24 more hours. "We still do not have contact with them. The alternative is to try to locate it either visually or with radar detection," said the spokesman. The search was impaired by strong winds and waves up to 6 meters high in the area where the submarine was when missed contact last week. Balbi noted that weather conditions are expected to improve, which would favor the search for the vessel. The search operation continues, the Navy reported, with 24-hour aerial exploration effort and, as the weather improves, its ships will be able to conduct an active maritime patrol. by Agencia CMA Latam For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com Economic News What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more. An American Naval aircraft carrying 11 crew and passengers crashed into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Japan Wednesday. The C2-A Greyhound transporter plane was en-route to the Navy aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, when it crashed into the ocean southeast of Okinawa at around 2:45 p.m. local time, the U. S. Navy's 7th Fleet said. The aircraft was conducting a routine transport flight carrying passengers and cargo from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni to the US aircraft carrier, which is currently operating in the Philippine Sea as part of an exercise with Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF). Japanese and American rescue teams rushed to the sea, and rescued eight people, who are said to be in "good condition." The search for the remaining three is continuing. The US Navy said the incident will be investigated. The Navy said the cause of the crash is not known, but the Japanese defense ministry says engine failure may have caused the crash. The names of the crew and passengers are being withheld pending next of kin notification. 17 US sailors died earlier this year in separate collisions involving two guided-missile destroyers belonging to the 7th Fleet in East Asia sea. The military plane crash comes just three days after a local resident was killed when a truck driven by a U. S. service member hit his vehicle in Japan's Okinawa island. The deadly truck crash prompted US authorities to impose drinking ban on all American troops stationed in Japan. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News Canadian stocks are set for an upbeat open Wednesday morning as crude oil prices rallied. Toronto's main index rose back near record highs in the previous session, helped by news that Nebraska has approved the controversial Keystone pipeline. In the wake of a recent oil spill, TransCanada (TRP.TO) has told some customers that it will cut deliveries by 85 percent or more Keystone crude pipeline through the end of the month, according to Reuters. SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. (SNC.TO) has been awarded a new project in the U.S. Delaware basin. Markets will be focused on U.S. economic news today. The Federal Open Market Committee's minutes of the nost meeting is expected at 2.00 pm ET. They are expected to signal a rate hike is imminent in December. The Commerce Department's Durable Goods Orders for October will be published at 8.30 am ET. The economists are looking for consensus of 0.4 percent, compared to growth of 2.2 percent in the previous month. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Market Analysis President Donald Trump's remarks at a White House press conference appear to be giving the benefit of doubt to Republican Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, who is accused of preying on teenagers. Talking to reporters Tuesday on the South Lawn before Marine One's departure, Trump of Moore, "Look, he denies it. He says it didn't happen. And you have to listen to him also. He said 40 years ago this did not happen." Five women have accused the Republican Senate candidate of making romantic or sexual advances on them when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s. When asked if Roy Moore, an alleged child molester, is better than a Democrat, the president said he doubted the stories presented by Moore's accusers and questioned why things said to have happened 40 years ago were emerging now, just weeks before the election. He slammed the Democratic nominee in the special election, Doug Jones, as "soft on crime." Trump said he will tell the press corps if he is going to campaign for Roy Moore next week. The president has broken with other Republican leaders, who have said the 70-year-old former state Supreme Court chief justice should drop out of the race. Opinion polls show Moore is trailing the Democrat candidate in the run up to the special election on December 12th. Responding to a question about what is his message to women is at a time the country is witnessing an unprecedented flurry of allegations of sexual misconduct against prominent males, Trump said, "I think that's good for our society, and I think it's very, very good for women. And I'm very happy a lot of these things are coming out, and I'm very happy it's being exposed". During the presidential election campaign last year, Trump confronted a long line of women who accused him of harassment, but he adamantly denied the claims. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Political News A prominent Detroit newspaper has called on Democratic Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., to resign, arguing the longtime Congressman used taxpayer dollars to pay "hush money" to a former employee who alleged she was fired because she would not succumb to the lawmaker's sexual advances. The call for Conyers' resignation by the editorial board of the Detroit Free Press comes after a report from BuzzFeed said the congressman's office paid the woman $27,000 in 2015 in exchange for a confidentiality agreement. Amid the news that the House Ethics Committee has opened an investigation into the allegations, the Detroit Free Press said Conyers should resign and allow the investigation to unfold without the threat that it would render him and the people he represents effectively voiceless. The Detroit Free Press said it reached the conclusion with an incredible amount of disappointment but called the BuzzFeed story absolutely devastating to Conyers' ability to stay in Congress. The paper's editorial board argued that Conyers flouted congressional rules by paying the woman as a temporary "no-show" employee in exchange for dropping her wrongful dismissal complaint rather than going through Congress' Office of Compliance. "This agreement disrupted the accepted process to deal with claims against members of Congress, and leveraged taxpayer funds without the oversight of the ethics apparatus of the body itself to make this claim go away," the Detroit Free Press said. "That's not acceptable, on any level." The editorial board added, "It's a betrayal that breaches the most fundamental trust that exists between a public servant and the people that person represents." The paper noted that Conyers' office defended the arrangement as a means to avoid "protracted litigation" and defended the sum as a "reasonable severance payment." "John Conyers Jr. must go after 53 years in Congress, after a stellar career of fighting for equality, after contributing so much to southeast Michigan and the nation," the editorial board said. "It's a tragic end to his public career," they added. "But it's the appropriate consequence for the stunning subterfuge his office has indulged here, and a needed warning to other members of Congress that this can never be tolerated." For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Political News iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- A federal court ordered a halt Tuesday to President Donald Trump's proposed ban of transgender service members from serving in the military. The court issued a preliminary injunction, which was publicly announced by the American Civil Liberties Union, which is a part of the lawsuit fighting against the ban. The legal move stops any ban on transgender individuals from serving in or being recruited by the military and allows any transition-related surgeries to take place, if those are a part of the individual's medical plan. The ACLU views the preliminary injunction as a win. "Today is a victory for transgender service members across the country," said Joshua Block, a senior staff attorney with the ACLUs LGBT & HIV Project, in a statement. "Were pleased that the courts have stepped in to ensure that trans service members are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve." First and foremost, the health and welfare of our service members is of the utmost importance, and one of our top priorities," US Army Major Dave Eastburn, a spokesman for the Pentagon, said in a statement to ABC News on Wednesday. "That said, current interim guidance laid forth by the secretary of defense clearly states that persons diagnosed with gender dysphoria, by a military medical professional, will continue to serve. The current policy is under review, and a recommendation will be made on the conditions of that policy from the secretary to the White House sometime early next year. For specific details on the verdict from the Baltimore District Court, I would direct you to the Department of Justice. Department of Justice spokeswoman Lauren Ehrsam said the department is considering its next move. We disagree with the courts ruling and are currently evaluating the next steps. Plaintiffs lawsuit challenging military service requirements is premature for many reasons, including that the Defense Department is actively reviewing such service requirements, as the president ordered, and because none of the plaintiffs have established that they will be impacted by current policies on military service," Ehrsam said. In a statement, White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley said, "The president's directive is legal and promotes our national security. The Department of Justice will vigorously defend it." This is the second legal blockage that Trump's proposed ban has faced. When ABC News reached the Department of Justice in late October about the first temporary blockage that stopped any ban on recruiting, a spokesperson said, "We disagree with the courts ruling and are currently evaluating the next steps." Trump's proposed ban was first announced in a series of tweets, in which the commander-in-chief said that transgender service members would be banned from serving in any capacity. Immediately following those July 26 tweets, military leaders worked quickly to assuage some of their service members concerns without directly contradicting Trump. Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, issued his own guidance the next day, saying there would be no immediate changes until further instructions were handed down from the president. "In the meantime, we will continue to treat all of our personnel with respect," Dunford said at the time. Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. The greatest part of any memorable adventure is spending it with family. And when youre in Samoa with your loved ones, a cold niu at hand is the best way to celebrate and cherish those moments. Thats what Sairah Walsh, Dylan Vernon and their one-and-half-year-old son, Eli, were doing. The family has come to love the niu (green coconut) since they arrived. But its just the start. The family from Auckland, New Zealand, look forward to what Samoa has got to offer. While the family was admiring the scenery around the Samoa Tourism Authority, Dear Tourist learned they came to know of Samoa through their friends back at home. The couple said the Samoan people were very friendly just like their friends back home. They took this as a good opportunity not just to relax but to find out more about Samoans. It is our first time here in Samoa and it is good to be here, just to have an understanding of different cultures because we have been to Rarotonga as well, they said. The family is at the Sheraton Samoa Aggie Greys Hotel for the next couple of days. The only issue they have is the heat. Still, Sairah and Dylan, are very keen to explore and find out more about the Samoan way of life. The Samoa of decades ago is not the same today. Its easy enough to see, says 49-year-old Legalo Fetaiai from the village of Faleula-Uta. Over the years, he has seen how things have changed. One of the most noticeable changes is the cost of living. Compared to the past, the cost of living in Samoa has increased rapidly. What we get from shops is getting very expensive today compared to what it was back then, he said. Back in those days, we could stretch $10 for more than three days. Today, you cant survive with $10 for a day. Today in Samoa nothing comes for free anymore like it used to be back then when people used faamolemole (please) when they do not have sugar or salt. Mr. Legalo also shared on how his family survives and copes with the expensive cost of living. Our family has two people working and that is basically where money for our family comes from and sometimes from our overseas families. Then theres me, I am the one working behind the scene to provide food from our plantation, but we dont sell anything. Mr. Fetaiai added youths of today were also an obvious impact of the influence of external factors. We have so many issues regarding the youths of today because they have lost the value and culture their parents taught them. The influence of technology to them is another major factor that has changed them not going to church on Sundays instead they get drunk. Mr. Fetaiai also added that he was worried that changes happening in Samoa were driving the Samoans overseas. The cost of living and all other social-related issues are causing Samoan people to migrate overseas and that is something that scares me. Life is not that hard if we change our attitude about work. This is the belief of Avamua Matau, 70, from the village of Faleula. Mr. Avamua met the Village Voice team while on his way home from his plantation in Faleula-Uta. He said for a country like Samoa, you just have to work hard so you could provide for your family. In Samoa we have our own land, and the reason we have land is to live or work on it so that you can be able to earn money, Mr. Avamua said. Samoa is blessed with a warm and tropical climate with land full of nutrients that you can cultivate for food and money. Like what Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi always says, money in Samoa is literally hidden under our land, so thats why we need to work. Mr. Avamuaa also commented on issues regarding family obligations. We have so many people in Samoa nowadays who are saying family obligations such as funerals and supporting churches cost them too much. We grew up in a society as such and this is what our ancestors did back then, but today we are questioning our culture and that is so disrespectful. Mr. Avamua added complaining about the high cost of living doesnt change anything. The cost of living will not become cheaper if we keep complaining about it, but I think it will help if we work hard and make smart decisions about budgeting. No one can oppose the high cost of living but the only thing we as Samoans can do to overcome the burden is to cultivate our land. Mr. Avamua added even though life was hard in Samoa, there was always a way of facing the challenges with a positive attitude. No doubt life in Samoa is hard, but then we do not have to stay that way without doing the best we can to cope with it. It will be easier when you work hard and work according to the motivation you receive from your family. The cyber bullying workshop organised by the Samoa Faafafine Association (S.F.A.) has been hailed a success. Held last week Saturday, the workshop was considered a milestone achievement for S.F.A. because it brought out in numbers the young members of the association between the ages of16 and 40. The turnout was impressive considering 30 percent of participants were non-S.F.A. members and 20 percent of participants were faafatama. The workshop, held at Hotel Millennia Conference Room, was a half day full on event and funded by U.N. Global Fund. Presenters included Kevin Schuster who was also the main facilitator, Taimalelagi Kaisarina Salesa, Program Coordinator for Samoa National Youth Council and Charlize Leo, the reigning Miss S.F.A. It was great to be part of the workshop especially placing emphasis on what cyber bullying is and understanding the signs so everyone can stay alert, said Mr. Schuster during his presentation. The presentations were all from different perspectives but were all aimed at educating the young faafafines and faafatamas on the issue of cyber bullying. While all three presenters bombarded the workshop on different definitions and takes on cyber bullying, the interactive sessions made all the learning more exciting for all the participants. Norris Latu Asi, a participant, spoke very highly of the workshop. Thank you to S.F.A. for spearheading this very useful and productive workshop. I am happy to say I have learnt a lot from this workshop and look forward to more similar initiatives by not just S.F.A but also other organizations like S.N.Y.C. Another highlight of the workshop was the discussions around the existing legislation in Samoa on cyber bullying. Taimalelagi highlighted Section 219 of the Crimes Act 2013 and provided clarity on what could be done from the legal side for the perpetrators of cyber bullying. This was thoroughly enjoyed by the participants and most of them, for the first time have learnt that they can report cyber bullies. Like all S.F.A. activities, there was a mixture of moods and emotions during the discussions. Whilst some were keen on speeding up their learning on the issue, others were quick to relate themselves to the discussions in humorous ways. This was turned around during the reigning Miss S.F.A.s presentation when a very emotional video of a former American youth, a victim of cyber bullying, and one that after years of torture on social media, she then committed suicide. This was clear evidence on the severity of cyber bullying and how it can affect young people and the ultimate objective of this workshop is to ensure none of our young Samoans would ever have to go through that. It was a pleasure for S.F.A. to have non-members and faafatamas at the workshop and also linking up with the Samoa National Youth Council on this initiative. The President of S.F.A. and Executive Council Members were also present. KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) A homeless man posed for photos with his dead wife, along with their newborn and toddler, before dismembering her body in a Kansas City hotel room, according to court records. Justin Rey, 35, who was arrested last month after being found with the remains at a Kansas storage unit, was charged Wednesday with abandonment of a corpse and child endangerment in Jackson County, Missouri. He's jailed on $1 million bond in Johnson County, Kansas, on child endangerment charges. Rey told police that his wife, Jessica Monteiro Rey, died after giving birth Oct. 20 and that he dismembered her body in a bathtub two days later with the children present. Rey put some of her body parts in a large cooler, a Kansas City police detective wrote in the probable cause statement. He used a stove to boil parts that wouldn't fit in the cooler and flushed some of remains down the toilet, the statement says. Hotel management said Rey tried to disguise his voice as a woman's when he called the front desk to check out on Oct. 23, the statement says. Surveillance video footage shows him pulling a red cooler with a black bag on top through the hotel, while pushing a stroller with a toddler walking beside him. Police found the remains on Oct. 24 inside a cooler and tote at a U-Haul Moving and Storage facility in nearby Lenexa, Kansas, after Rey slept there with the children. Emergency responders checked on the children, who were later taken to a hospital. The affidavit says the baby wasn't wearing adequate clothing and had an eye infection. After Rey was arrested and put in a police vehicle, he was asked about his wife's whereabouts. He responded that she had died several days earlier and was in the cooler and one of the totes, which he had been trying to remove from the storage unit, according to Kansas court records. The probable cause statement for the Missouri charges says the hotel room's bathtub train was removed and apparent human tissue was found. Traces of blood also were detected throughout the room. Missouri and Kansas court records don't say how she died, and Rey provided conflicting information. Rey said that his wife committed suicide after giving birth and also that she died during or after childbirth, the probable cause statement says. Rey had a series of run-ins with the law in the northwestern Arizona communities of Lake Havasu City, Kingman, Williams and Flagstaff between 2012 and last December for relatively minor offenses. Court records show eight cases, including four for theft and a pair of citations for driving without a valid license and insurance and a probation violation case. The records show he pleaded guilty in five cases and mainly faced fines, while two others were dismissed. He never served time in an Arizona state prison. Rey's attorney in the Kansas case, Courtney Henderson, did not return a call from The Associated Press seeking comment early Thursday. Rey doesn't yet have an attorney in the Missouri case. During a court appearance earlier this month, Rey was removed after a screaming rant against authorities. Looking forward to the exercise of true Independence of the Court in Samoa Letter to Editor | "What is overlooked is that the creation of an illegal way to sack the President of the Land and Titles Court, can also be used to sack the Chief Justice and other Judges." 07 November 2022, 4:33PM A breach of trust is unacceptable and the court will take a tough stand against this type of offending in the efforts to eradicate it. "There is a Samoan saying, A malu i fale, e malu foi i fafo which means: If you are safe in your family, you will also be safe outside. I sincerely hope that young girls of Samoa are safe. These points were made by Supreme Court Justice, Tafaoimalo Leilani Tuala-Warren, when she sentenced Vitale Iakopo, 37, to 15 years in jail for raping his wifes two sisters. They were aged 14 and 15 at the time. The accused is married with six children and during the time of the offenses, he was living in his wifes village. The charge of rape carries the highest penalty available under the criminal law and that is imprisonment for life, Justice Tafaoimalo said. Iakopo was accused of five counts of rape, seven counts of sexual connection and one count of an indecent act with victims under the age of 16. He was found guilty by assessors after a trial on the 4th October. Justice Tafaoimalo issued a suppression order to protect the identity of the victim as well as the village but the order does not extend to the defendant. She noted that according to the evidence, the 15 year old is the victim of five count of rapes and five counts of sexual connection while the 14 year old is the victim of two counts of sexual connection and one count of an indecent act. Sometime in between the 30th July 2015 and 1st December 2016 the accused was married to the older sister of the two victims making him the brother in law of the girls. During that time, he raped the 15 year old victim five times when he would ask for the victim to be sent to his house. The accused and his wife lived inland at the plantation while the victims were living on a government main road. On all occasions, he would commit acts of sexual connection on both victims. There was one occasion where he got both victims and engaged in a sexual activity with him. According to the pre-sentence report, Vitale was banned from his wifes village when news of the incident surfaced. He has maintained his innocence to the probation officer. In reading out the 15 year old girls Victim Impact Report, she said she feels shame because of what happened. She doesnt want to think about it anymore but she has forgiven the accused and she has a child to someone else. She was also unhappy as the accused is her sisters husband and yet he did this to her. She said she was scared when it happened and when it was discovered, she felt embarrassed. As for the 14 year old victim, she said in her report that she was scared and embarrassed because of what the accused did to her. She said he would come to her when his wife was not at home and she finds it hard to accept what happened however she has forgiven him and is trying to move on with her life. In reading out the aggravating features, Justice Tafaoimalo took into account the significant breach of trust. The accused is married to the victims older sister that makes him their older brother, said Justice Tafaoimalo. Instead of protecting them as his younger sisters, he took advantage of his position towards his wifes younger sisters. The other thing is the age of the victims. There is an age difference of 20 years between the accused and the victims. In handing down her decision, Justice Tafaoimalo also sent out a strong message to the accused as well as those who commit similar offences. There is a need to hold the accused accountable for the harm done to the victims, she said. The victims are young, vulnerable and innocent. There is also an overriding need to deter the accused and others committing similar offences and to protect the community from the accused. This is particularly important to the children who are most vulnerable in the community. It is also a concern of the court that these offences occurred in the sanctuary of a home and were committed by a family member. Uber Technologies Inc. admitted Tuesday that hackers stole personal data belonging to 57 million customers and drivers a fact it concealed for more than a year. The attack, which took place in October 2016, resulted in the worldwide theft of names, email addresses and phone numbers belonging to 50 million Uber riders, according to Bloomberg, which first reported the hack. For the record: An earlier version of this story misspelled Snyk Chief Executive Guy Podjarnys name. Personal information for 7 million drivers across the world was also stolen, including 600,000 drivers license numbers in the United States. Advertisement Uber was required to alert regulators and drivers whose drivers license numbers were compromised by the hack. Instead, Uber paid the hackers $100,000 to erase the stolen data and keep word of the breach hidden, according to Bloomberg. The New York attorney generals office said Tuesday it was launching an investigation into the data breach. Uber fired its chief of security, Joe Sullivan, and one of his deputies for keeping word of the attack hidden. The ride-hailing giants recently installed chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi, said in a blog post that he learned of the breach recently. He described it as an attack by two outside hackers that accessed the companys data stored with a third-party cloud-based company. Our outside forensics experts have not seen any indication that trip location history, credit card numbers, bank account numbers, Social Security numbers or dates of birth were downloaded, Khosrowshahi said. The hackers reportedly stole passwords belonging to Uber engineers from a private GitHub coding site. They used those credentials to then access company data stored on Amazon Web Services. They then contacted Uber, demanding money. Uber obliged. None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it. While I cant erase the past, I can commit on behalf of every Uber employee that we will learn from our mistakes, said Khosrowshahi, who has been tasked with rectifying Ubers image and business practices after replacing the companys controversial founder, Travis Kalanick, as head of the company in August. The coverup marks one more black eye for a company that has long clashed with regulators and city leaders across the world as it introduced its disruptive ride-hailing business. Under Kalanick, the companys ethics were repeatedly called into question for violating customer privacy and concealing data from regulators. Earlier this month, London revoked Ubers operating license. Its unclear what role Kalanick, who remains a member of Ubers board, played in the aftermath of the hack. A spokesperson for Kalanick declined to comment. Its not unusual for companies to pay criminal hackers who have compromised their systems. Companies that fall victim to ransomware often pay a fee to restore their systems. Businesses sometimes purchase data that hackers claim to have stolen in an attempt to determine if an alleged breach is genuine. Once deemed legitimate, experts say the company has an obligation to warn those affected. Uber has a responsibility to keep driver and passenger data safe. So they pay the hackers to reduce the chances of that data being spread, said Guy Podjarny, CEO of Snyk, a security company that finds and fixes vulnerabilities in open source code. The problem is not paying whats almost a fine for not keeping their system secure. The problem is concealing it after the fact. david.pierson@latimes.com Follow me @dhpierson on Twitter UPDATES: 5:25 p.m.: This article was updated with additional context about hacking. This article was originally published at 4:15 p.m. Oceanside voters could see a measure on the November 2018 ballot calling for a half-cent sales tax hike to help cover the increasing costs of everything from public safety to pothole repair. Revenue has not kept pace with population growth over the past decade, city staffers say. The proposed sales tax, if approved by more than 50 percent of voters in the election, would raise an additional $11.2 million annually to help pay for the citys day-to-day operations. Our finances are good, but I think that to enhance our services for our residents, a little more money would be very helpful, acting Mayor Chuck Lowery said Tuesday. Advertisement City staff is constantly evaluating what they can do to save taxpayer dollars, he said, but services have been cut as far as they can. The proposed seven-year tax hike would give the city time to bring in new businesses and other revenue sources to meet the needs of the citys 167,000 residents. A lot of other cities have adopted a local sales tax, Assistant City Manager Deanna Lorson said Monday, and its a possible solution Oceanside officials have been considering for some time. Oceansides total sales tax rate of 7.75 percent is the same as Carlsbad, Encinitas, Escondido, San Diego and most other cities in San Diego County. That rate includes the state sales tax rate of 7.25 percent, and the half-cent regional sales tax known as Transnet approved by county voters to pay for transportation projects. Cities with higher rates include Vista, where the 8.25 percent total includes a half-cent municipal tax approved by voters in 2006, and Del Mar, where voters approved a 1 percent increase last year to make the total 8.75 percent. Elsewhere in Southern California, sales tax tops out in Long Beach and Santa Monica, both with 10.25 percent. Sales tax rates across California dropped 0.25 percent this year with the expiration of Proposition 30, a four-year increase that voters approved in 2012 to raise money for public schools and colleges, and programs for seniors and low-income residents. Oceanside has reduced basic services such as crime prevention and street repairs and laid off more than 100 employees over the past decade, peaking during the Great Recession, a staff report states. A few positions have been replaced since then, but the number of city employees remains well below pre-recession levels, while the population has increased by 10,000 people. It is definitely a challenge to keep providing the same level of service year after year as the population grows, Councilwoman Esther Sanchez said last week when a report on the idea was presented to the City Council. We pride ourselves on doing what we can with what we have, she said, but she added that she looks forward to hearing residents thoughts on the proposed measure, and shed like to see it on the ballot. No vote was taken on the idea, though council members directed staffers to proceed with community outreach efforts. City officials said they hope the city has a better economic footing by the time the tax expires. If seven years is not enough, they could go back to voters for an extension. State law requires you to include the duration of the measure, Lorson said. That goes far enough out. Economic conditions change. The city approved a $39,687 consulting contract earlier this year with True North Research, Inc., of Encinitas, and subcontractor TBWB Strategies, based in San Francisco, to research the sales tax issue. Information they presented last week shows the tax measure has a good chance of passing. A telephone survey of 1,334 randomly selected Oceanside registered voters taken from Sept. 25. to Oct. 3 showed 62 percent of likely voters would support a half-cent sales tax measure, the consultants said. The surveys margin of error is estimated at plus or minus 2.64 percent. The city cant advocate for or against a ballot measure, said Jared Boigon of TBWB Strategies. However, the city can publicize the measure and work to present residents with information about the issue. City officials now are working with TBWB to develop an outreach plan that calls for the creation of a website, a series of community meetings and presentations to various service clubs, business groups and neighborhood organizations. We anticipate coming back to the council in June, Lorson said. The council has until Aug 10 to decide whether to place the measure on the Nov. 18 general election ballot. philip.diehl@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @phildiehl If the American Literacy Council, the Jazz Education Network and the National Association for Health and Fitness are seeking an eloquent and charismatic spokesman with unique qualifications, Joshua White is the man for the job. Not only is this acclaimed San Diego piano wiz a wonderfully gifted composer, soloist and band leader as his superb debut album, 13 Short Stories, readily attests he may also be the most fit and best-read jazz-and-beyond artist around. I work out twice a day, every day, for two hours in the morning and one hour in the afternoon, said White, 32, a devoted vegetarian who does not listen to music or watch TV while at the gym. Advertisement Instead, he is armed with four books, which he alternates reading in half-hour increments during his intensive workouts. Whites current gym reading list includes a biography on theoretical physicist Max Planck, actor Sidney Poitiers autobiography, a book on medical imaging in the 20th century and another chronicling the history of tuberculosis in America. But those are just the books he reads for enjoyment. When not in the gym, he has a completely different reading list. And White, who has been singled out for praise by jazz piano icon Herbie Hancock, completes an average of a book a day. The reason I read so voraciously is because thats where I get inspiration for musical ideas meaning reading literature or wrestling with difficult texts, he explained. When Im reading at the gym, its purely for fun. I cant read poetry, philosophy or literary criticism while Im at the gym. But, outside of the gym, I feel that reading the classics and fiction definitely provides fertile territory for me to cultivate ideas, musically, but not in direct translation. To really follow a narrative or a plot that interweaves complex ideas requires a lot of focus, as well as the ability to visualize. So I believe that studying literature helps me to visualize. And, for me, thats the number one thing you need as an improviser to negotiate these different musical terrains. Because whether its music or literature the root of everything is an idea and using the language. Just how well the classically trained White transforms his literary inspirations into compelling music is made vividly clear on 13 Short Stories. Released by the Barcelona-based record label Fresh Sound, this stunning debut album is as bold as it is assured. What results demonstrates Whites formidable skills as a composer, arranger, soloist, ensemble player and frequently ingenious improviser who is exceptionally well-versed in jazz history, totally in the moment and averse to being stylistically limited or pigeonholed. White has demonstrated his musical gifts performing alongside drum ace Alex Cline, bass greats Mark Dresser and Marshall Hawkins, and such esteemed jazz saxophonists as Lee Konitz, Rudresh Mahanthappa and Greg Osby. But he shines even brighter on 13 Short Stories, which hell celebrate with his quartet Friday at his album release concert at the all-ages Dizzys in Bay Park. The album teams him with three talented and unusually empathetic musical partners saxophonist Josh Johnson, bassist Dean Hulett and drummer Jonathan Pinson. Together, they create carefully considered music that bristles with excitement. What results is richly rewarding music that reinforces the notion White is a pianist and composer who thinks as intently as he plays. Just like in my piano playing, I wanted to capture a high level of spontaneity on the album, he said. So I was really trying to keep that energy within the band and trying to capture that on record. I didnt want the music to be overly composed, I like having a certain kind of edge and spontaneity within the pieces. I feel very good we were able to capture that vibe. Everything we did on the album, we did in one or two takes (in the recording studio). And if we did a second take, it was just o find a different approach. Sometimes, we picked the first take, because it had that raw energy. And thats my main concern capturing the musical decisions we make within the moment as opposed to me dictating and having everybody play something thats been dictated to them. That doesnt interest me. Bassist Dresser, a music professor at UC San Diego, went from teaching White at the annual UCSD Jazz Camp, to prominently featuring the pianist in his own bands. White is prominently featured on Sedimental You, Dressers outstanding 2016 album. Joshuas playing and music is both deeply personal and resonantly universal, Dresser said by email from a concert tour stop in Latvia.. His new album balances tunes that are angular, tunes that are directly placed in the modern jazz tradition,and a series of especially beautiful improvised piano solos that are interspersed on the album. His band is extremely tuned into his conception, and vice versa. Hes a great improviser, shining as soloist, but hearing him comp and interact with the band is one of the great pleasures. The whole album really adds up to a coherent artistic statement. Joshua and his band have really delivered! White returns to Dizzys for a Dec.15 concert with his trio, which also performs Dec. 8 at the Handlery Hotels 950 Lounge. He hopes to promote his album by embarking on his first European tour as a headliner next year With everything I do, I try to challenge or better myself, whether its intellectually or musically, White said. It all works into one big pot or reservoir. For me, the piano is the mode of expression, but whats most fascinating are the ideas. Joshua White album release concert When: 8 p.m. Friday Where: Dizzys, Arias Hall (behind the Musicians Association building), 1717 Morena Blvd., Bay Park. Tickets: $20 (general public); $10 (seniors, students and military) Phone: (858) 270-7467 Online: dizzysjazz.com george.varga@sduniontribune.com Twitter @georgevarga When self-taught New York documentarian Jon Alpert first traveled to Cuba in the 1970s, his state-of-the-art video equipment was so heavy that he and his wife and filmmaking partner, Keiko Tsuno, pushed it through Havana in a baby carriage. Over the next 40 years of visits, the hardware grew lighter and Alperts connection to the island nation deepened. As the dynamic Cuba and the Cameraman reveals, its a bond built on exuberance and curiosity. Initially drawn by the ideals of the Cuban Revolution, Alpert never loses sight of them as the first blush of romance gives way to a clear-eyed chronicle of the regimes failures and struggles. His encounters with working-class city dwellers and peasant farmers take him off the prescribed tourist path and are bursting with life. In different ways, so too are his interactions with the charismatic Fidel Castro, striking in their informality. But its the salt-of-the-earth Borregos, a trio of farmer brothers and their sister, who give the film its most involving through-line, and its heart. Theyre in their 60s when Alpert first meets them, happily working the soil. Thirty-odd years later, having weathered tough times, they remain as committed to the land as ever. When one brother faces medical challenges, Alpert steps in where the countrys underfunded but still free to patients healthcare system cant. Advertisement Alpert sums up his involvement in Cuba as making friends no small thing given the fraught U.S.-Cuba political divide. As a decades-long, ground-level portrait of the country, his vibrant film is unprecedented. ------------- Cuba and the Cameraman Not rated Running time: 1 hour, 54 minutes Playing: Laemmle Monica Film Center, Santa Monica; streaming on Netflix See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour Movie Trailers calendar@latimes.com In 2015, Mark Z. Jacobson of Stanford and several colleagues predicted that wind, solar and hydroelectric power could provide 100% of the energy demand in each of the 48 contiguous American states, at low cost, by about 2050. When their conclusions were published in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they created a sensation. Jacobson seemed to have produced a road map toward a power grid based on fully renewable sources, without even using natural gas, biofuels, nuclear power, or stationary batteries, his paper stated. Jacobson was widely quoted in the scientific and law press. Climate activists including Sen. Bernie Sanders and actor Mark Ruffalo picked up on his vision. He boasted of having laid to rest all the usual doubts about wind, solar and water power. Advertisement What weve shown is that all the claims that moving to 100% renewables is just too expensive, its impossible, the lights are gonna go out theyre just not true, Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford, told MIT Technology Review. Theres an important scientific debate that should be happening.... Its not happening, because this guy decided to sue the National Academy of Sciences. David Victor, UC San Diego If it seemed too good to be true, its because, a new report stated, it was. A critical paper published in the same journal in June, which listed 21 environmental experts as authors, picked apart Jacobsons conclusions and his methods in painstaking detail. Jacobson was granted space to come back at his critics in the very same issue. So far, so good. Thats the way peer-reviewed research journals are supposed to work: with claims, counterclaims and data, all laid out in public to be judged by the scientific community at large. But then the dispute took an ugly turn. On Sept. 29, Jacobson sued the National Academy of Sciences and the lead author of the critical paper, environmental scientist Christopher T.M. Clack, for defamation. In the lawsuit, filed in a Washington, D.C., court, hes demanding $10 million in damages from the Academy. Responses from the defendants are due in court Monday. The Jacobson lawsuit is only the latest example of a scientific dispute leaching into the court system. Typically, these lawsuits involve corporations targeting scientists whose research uncovers shortcomings in the companies products and are designed to intimidate, rather than establish the truth. That was the case with a lawsuit filed last year by supplement maker Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals against Pieter A. Cohen of Harvard Medical School, who had published a peer-reviewed study identifying an illegal amphetamine-like substance in the companys products. Cohen prevailed after a seven-day jury trial in federal court in Massachusetts. By then, the FDA already had ordered Hi-Tech to recall the products. Litigation in the scientific domain raises serious issues of freedom of scientific inquiry, says Nicholas Bagley, a University of Michigan law professor who co-wrote a recent analysis of such cases with Cohen and Aaron Carroll of Indiana University. It can make it harder to do controversial research that has real-world resonance that people actually care about. Litigation instantly raises the stakes in any dispute. It can force a settlement, but it also can make reaching an out-of-court settlement harder. In a case like this, which involves scientific data that by their nature are subject to conflicting interpretations, the chances that a jury or judge can resolve the disagreement are nil. Jacobson tries to get around that basic fact by asserting that his lawsuit is not really about science. The professors claim is that the NAS violated its own publication policies by designating the Clack critique as a research report rather than a letter. That gave the critique more credibility than it deserved, Jacobson contends. He says the critique had so many errors and baseless allegations about his work that it should not have been published at alland that these rise to the level of defamation. On the surface, the Clack paper made assertions about Jacobsons methods and models that may be verifiably false, though its another matter entirely to say they were made maliciously, as Jacobsons lawsuit asserts. Thats not to say the Clack critique was tactful. Indeed, it was withering, asserting that the Jacobson paper contains modeling errors; incorrect, implausible, and/or inadequately supported assumptions; and the application of methods inappropriate to the task. The National Academy, furthermore, did publish Jacobsons detailed rebuttal, and theres no reason to doubt that its journal and other peer-reviewed publications would have hosted further exchanges between the two sides. But its disingenuous for Jacobson to argue that hes not litigating science. Science is at the heart of the dispute between Jacobson and Clack, who was listed as a scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration when the paper was published and is currently CEO of Vibrant Clean Energy, a Colorado firm he founded in 2015. Many of Clacks coauthors, and many critics of Jacobsons legal strategy, are believers that nuclear power is an indispensable element of any move away from fossil-fuel power generation. Its a renewable fuel, they argue, albeit not an entirely green fuel when one factors in the burden of disposing of its radioactive waste and the threat of radioactive discharges into the environment. Others are critics of Jacobsons reliance in his model on a sharp increase in hydroelectricity. Indeed, that may be the core criticism of his paper. A large part of the substantive debate is about what we identified as a series of errors and misunderstandings [in Jacobsons paper] about how hydro dams operate in the real world, David Victor, an expert on energy and environmental law at UC San Diego and coauthor of the Clack paper, told me. (Victor isnt a defendant in Jacobsons lawsuit.) Unused hydro capacity cant be exploited to the extent Jacobson proposes, he says. Hydro is renewable, but its not completely environmentally benign, and when you look at it in the real world, its hard to scale. Its not hard to see why Jacobsons original paper fostered so much excitement. As he observed in Technology Review, the major rap against wind and solar power is that theyre intermittent they generate electricity only when the wind blows or the sun shines. That means keeping electricity flowing would require massive, expensive batteries in one form or another. Jacobson argued that these drawbacks could be overcome in part by more hydro power. Jacobson also was positing a world in which todays mix of electricity sources is turned upside down. According to the Department of Energy, natural gas, nuclear, coal and biofuels currently account for about 85% of the nations electrical generation; wind, solar and hydro for 13%. In Jacobsons world, the latter accounted for 100% and the former for nothing. Jacobsons lawsuit underscores how litigation stifles scientific debate. He and Clack both declined to comment on the case or the underlying dispute, referring me to their lawyers instead. Clacks Washington lawyer, Drew Marrocco, sent me a statement saying that Clack stands behind the integrity of the paper he submitted and that he will oppose any attempt to use the litigation process to silence respected scientists and experts. UCSDs Victor says the lawsuit has had a chilling effect on the very debate at its core. Even when Im talking with other scientists in an on-the-record setting, I find myself being careful about that I say because theres the threat of legal action out there, he told me. Thats the exact opposite incentive that you want in science. Science is about disputes and debates over the facts and the analysis of the facts. When you put the shadow of a $10-million lawsuit over that, people cant focus on the facts. Jacobsons lawsuit, like others over scientific claims, places the court system itself in a delicate position. We dont want to categorically foreclose the possibility of a lawsuit that might be directed at scientists who abuse their trust, Bagley says. But we also dont want scientists routinely to be pulled into court over bona fide scientific disputes, however heated they may get. Its up to judges, he says, to weed out frivolous claims that boil down to scientific disagreements, but its not easy for them to know where to strike the balance. All thats clear in the Jacobson case is that the focus is now on legal technicalities, not the techniques or the knowledge of scientists. Theres an important scientific debate that should be happening here, Victor says. And its not happening, because this guy decided to sue the National Academy of Sciences and the lead author of the paper. 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. ALSO Michael Hiltzik: In landmark ruling, court orders paint companies to pay to clean lead paint out of California homes Scientists aim to fight climate change with super plants The climate-change fire alarm from Northern California More than 100 volunteers distributed 10 times that many Thanksgiving meals to local enlisted families, part of a 10-year quest to thank the troops for their service while helping alleviate military poverty. Outreach Impacting Lives and San Diego Military Outreach Ministries on Saturday united to identify and deliver packages that included 15 lb. turkeys and 10 side dishes. Half of the meals went to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar and the other half to Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton. Over the past 10 years, Outreach Impacting Lives alone has spent nearly $150,000 to donate 4,200 meals to 17,000 service members and their families at Thanksgiving. Advertisement Hunger in the military is exacerbated by San Diego Countys high cost of living. When federal watchdogs from the Government Accountability Office visited Camp Pendleton in late 2015 they found four food pantries on base. One of them alone fed between 400 and 500 Marine families every month. The Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank estimates that it feeds more than 28,000 low-income armed forces personnel and veterans 29 tons of food distributed monthly through Military Outreach Ministries and other charities. San Diego Military Outreach Ministries, a nondenominational charity guided by Christian values, pinpointed the needy troops for the Thanksgiving program. Outreach Impacting Lives a nonprofit founded by in 2007 by John Wallace, the owner of JW Floor Covering & ReSource Floors, after he returned from a church mission in Mozambique with the mission to make lives better assembled and delivered the care packages. His companies motto of Service with Purpose reflects this ongoing commitment to improving our communities, said the nonprofits executive director, Tauna Rodarte, in an email to The San Diego Union-Tribune. Outreach Impacting Lives targets military families, veterans and the homeless for help. Because the nonprofits initiatives rely solely on volunteers, with no personnel costs, more than 96 percent of funds go directly to aid the needy. The charity estimates that its volunteers have donated nearly 55,000 hours of labor and almost $1 million to assist 22,500 people over the past decade. Military Videos On Now D-Day paratrooper from Coronado jumps again in France at age 96 On Now Remembering war's fallen, one name at a time On Now In Ramona, an airplane and an aviator provide living lessons on World War II 1:43 On Now Video: Navy's newest vessel sails into San Diego and a new future in surface warfare On Now Video: U.S. Navy files homicide charges over warship collisions On Now Stopping Marine hazing On Now Video: U.S. Navy Air Crew Grounded After Creating Vulgar Sky Drawing On Now Navy says Asia Pacific ship collisions were avoidable On Now Hundreds of recruits get sick at Marine boot camp On Now Cutler Dawson Talks Navy Federal cprine@sduniontribune.com San Diego State University and UC San Diego are among the top 25 colleges for LGBTQ students, according to rankings issued by BestColleges.com. State was 11th, and UC San Diego 25th. Two other Southern California schools were on the list, Harvey Mudd College (sixth) and UCLA (ninth). Advertisement BestColleges.com compiles rankings in dozens of categories, from Best Online Business Degree Programs to Americas Best Military-Friendly Colleges. The sites LGBTQ rankings draw heavily from another web site, campuspride.org, which issues an annual Campus Pride Index. State was awarded five out of five stars, with the Index noting the schools Pride Center and that it was the second public school in North America to offer an LGBT Studies major. UC San Diego was awarded four and a half out of five stars, and earned top marks for LGBTQ Support & Institutional Commitment. The university operates an LGBT Resource Center and has several LGBTQ student organizations, including oSTEM, which focuses on this communitys research in science, technology, engineering and math. It is an honor to be recognized as one of the nations top LGBTQ-friendly campuses, Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla said in a statement issued by the school. As a welcoming campus committed to diversity, equity and inclusion, we know it is essential to support our LGBTQ-identified students, who are valued members of our campus community. The top-ranked schools were, in order: Princeton University, Tufts University, the University of Pennsylvania, MIT and the University of Washington. Also, Harvey Mudd; University of Maryland, College Park; Williams College; UCLA and Cornell University. Four of the candidates running for the Board of Supervisors want to make significant changes to the countys social services programs, potentially overhauling one of the biggest duties of county government. The leading candidates all vying to succeed Supervisor Ron Roberts said there needs to be a new plan to address childhood poverty, education, job training and homelessness. They want an even greater emphasis on assistance for young children, while also providing a series of services for older San Diegans. I think you will find, philosophically, most of us are going to agree on a lot of these issues, said former District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, one of the candidates. Advertisement They all said theyre willing to spend more on social safety net services, provided their investments pay off later. From my perspective, the status quo on the Board of Supervisors has failed to truly invest in the lives of San Diegans, said candidate Nathan Fletcher, a former Assemblyman. They have failed to take meaningful and measurable action for those most in need. Former Assemblywoman Lori Saldana, another candidate, said that the county needs to do more to make sure that people who qualify for social services, like the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, are enrolled. You have people who are eligible trying to navigate a complicated system, Saldana said. The County of San Diego is losing out on millions of federal dollars when we dont maximize our use of the SNAP program. That takes money out of our region. Last week, Omar Passons, an attorney running for the seat, unveiled a plan that provides assistance from pre-birth until about the time young people enter the workforce. I want to be clear that were not talking about a program here, or a program there. Were talking about fundamental system change, for the long-haul, Passons said. This is a broad refocusing of youth in every business group in the county. Passon, who grew up in the countys foster care system, starts his plan with prenatal services for expectant parents. It includes increased access to affordable childcare to help children and their families, provides paid family leave for county employees, and expands education and nutrition programs at county libraries. His proposal also calls for job training, mentoring, work experience and free public transit for older children to give them experience as they head into the workforce. Children will start with a strong foundation, and can be assessed at different stages to make sure they are meeting certain milestones, and if theyre behind, provide with assistance to get them back on track, he said. This is how you ensure they are significantly less likely to experience homelessness. This is how you ensure they are significantly less likely to encounter the criminal justice system, Passons said. Passions, who hasnt served in public office before, is focusing on the details of his proposals to earn support. Dumanis, Fletcher, and Saldana all former elected officials so far are relying more on resumes. Saldana, the former chairwoman of the Assemblys Womens Caucus, touted her work to fund childcare, health care, and housing. She said that there are programs that assist certain vulnerable communities, like veterans, and that she aims to expand programs that already work well. I think that it makes sense to partner with vocational and workforce-training programs, and the county needs to have more partnerships with existing workforce-training programs rather than reinvent the wheel, Saldana said. The countys service providers need to be better compensated to increase retention and make county government a more attractive workplace, she said. Dumanis, who was a judge and a deputy district attorney before she became the countys top law enforcement officer, said the Head Start Program needs to be expanded. The nationwide program provides young children with nutrition, social skills, structure, and schooling that are crucial when they enter grade school. I think the importance cannot be overestimated for giving children the opportunity for preschool development, she said. She noted that funding for Head Start, a federal program that is often administered by local governments, is limited and subject to budget cuts, but the county needs to find a way to expand it. There also needs to be better outreach from Live Well San Diego so people who are eligible can receive social services, or children can receive academic assistance. Putting the services in the community where they live is the best approach. And have those services in a one-stop shop, to make processes more efficient and convenient, she said. Fletcher recounted his bills to streamline adoptions, child health care programs, and Chelseas Law legislation he championed that strengthened punishments for sex offenders who victimize children. The board needs to change its philosophy to overhaul its approach to social services, he said. I think the current board has an approach to governing that says Were going to do as little as possible, Fletcher said. Its a culture and a mindset that says Success, for us, is putting money in the bank. I want to change that. He wants the county to do more to increase enrollment in medical insurance, start a needle exchange program to protect intravenous drug users, an adoption program for older children, and other initiatives. He also wants to try programs that arent guaranteed ongoing funding if they seem promising. I am acutely aware of the need for appropriate reserves, but the county is at a place where they are not fulfilling their basic needs, he said. Social services are one of county governments biggest responsibilities, and most of the work falls to the Health and Human Services Agency, the second-biggest agency in county government, with $1.9 billion allocated for the current fiscal year. Other county government responsibilities, like public safety and land use policies, also impact social services and programs. Twitter: @jptstewart joshua.stewart@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1841 Gratitude. Essential as it is to the tradition of Thanksgiving, the misty-eyed emotion seems suddenly insufficient, not stiff enough. This year, the harvest feast has been braced by a historic reckoning, a viral moral audit. Advertisement Women with long memories are rising up with tidal strength to accuse powerful men who sexually bullied on the assumption that power buys, if not submission, silence. Well, the pillories in the press are filling with male heads pelted with rotten fruit. The once masterful (the list is too long to reproduce) are now feeling the scourge of public humiliation. San Diego had its sneak preview of the reckoning in 2013 when Mayor Bob Filner was forced out of office for serial transgressions. (Hes now back in the shame game with fresh recollections of a congresswoman trapped in an elevator.) Probing TV interviewer Charlie Rose, like scores of other men, is asking himself what went wrong with his character. Many men, I suspect, are looking back upon their past conduct and wondering if they might deserve to be inducted into the gallery of louts who turned the art of seduction, ideally founded on courtesy and mutual physical attraction, into displays of sadistic power over women in the workplace. From Al Franken to Roy Moore, the alleged offenses are all over the place, from the creepy to the criminal, but they share a common disregard for women. In our household, the national reckoning, nowhere near burned out, leads directly back to the Clinton White House. In 1998, I lost a bet, a dinner for four at Alfonsos in La Jolla, over the chances of Bill Clintons survival in office. After the Lewinsky affair erupted -- reviving the sordid (and criminal) allegations that Clintons political team, including his wife, had beaten back during and before the 1992 election -- my wife and I were sure Clinton would either resign or be expelled by the Senate. Whats more, we thought, Hillary would surely leave her smooth-talking husband to, if nothing else, preserve her own political future. Well, I lost that wager to an Episcopalian priest much wiser in the ways of the world. Not only did Bill Clinton elude banishment, he thrived as an ex-president leading a global foundation while commanding speaking fees beyond the dreams of avarice. Even Barack Obama, a barrier-breaking global rock star in his own right, had to kiss the Big Dogs rear end to reach the White House. If, however, Clinton had demonstrated the decency to quit the presidency in shame, or if Congress had shown the backbone to banish him, or if feminists had not made their Faustian bargain with the Clintons and not dismissed their accusing sisters as liars or bimbos, the reckoning would have come nearly two decades earlier. The male-dominated culture would have been changed at its core. Who knows? We might have had a woman in the Oval Office by now. Last year, we lost a good friend because we could not bring ourselves to vote for Hillary & Bill. (We almost lost another friend because we thought -- no, knew --Trump was, if anything, more monstrous than the Clintons.) So we swallowed the Aleppo gaffe and voted for Libertarian Gary Johnson as a protest, a choice that elicited scorn from committed partisans but was, in our view, the only bubble to fill that didnt require a shower afterward. This Thanksgiving, as we lift glasses in Los Angeles, the grownups wont speak of the reckoning, not with innocent little children at the table, one girl and four boys. But Ill be looking at our 6-year-old granddaughter who a year ago cried when The Girl lost the election. More than ever before, this country is ripe for a whole new genre of president, a clean break from a patriarchal order thats growing old, so old. More than ever before, righting the cultures values seems a good womans work, no matter which party. Ladies, its your turn. Step up. Allow me and millions of other men to hold the door for you. Thanks to the reckoning, the overdue cultural shift for which a righteous nation must give thanks, your vision for the White House should be 2020. A fire that apparently started with an unattended kitchen stove ripped through an apartment complex in Clairemont Tuesday night, displacing about 75 residents, San Diego fire officials said. The blaze at the complex on Caminito Aguilar off Mount Aguilar Drive was reported about 10:25 p.m. Firefighters knocked down the flames in about 10 minutes, officials said. The fire damaged the apartment where the flames broke out and at least one other unit. Officials said it caused an estimated $250,000 in damage to the exterior of the building and about $50,000 in damage to the units contents. Advertisement Investigators believe the fire was caused by an unattended stove, said San Diego Fire-Rescue Department spokeswoman Monica Munoz. The Red Cross was called to assist residents with temporary lodging. Breaking News Email: david.hernandez@sduniontribune.com Phone: (619) 293-1876 Twitter: @D4VIDHernandez UPDATES: 3:00 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details. This article was originally publised at 11:15 p.m. The body of a man found in a barrel weighted down by cinder blocks in the San Diego Bay last month was identified as a 28-year-old Chula Vista resident, police said Wednesday. Omar Medinas corpse was found in a 55-gallon oil drum about 200 yards from J Street Marina Park in Chula Vista. The Medical Examiners Office later confirmed Medina had been killed, but the cause of his death has not been released. Medinas family had started to look for him weeks earlier. His sister posted to Facebook that he was last seen and heard from on Sept. 30 and that his car was found in Chula Vista on Oct. 1. Advertisement She included a picture of Medina and his white sedan. On Oct. 12, the white barrel was spotted by two boaters before being pulled from the water by Harbor Police officers, police said. They immediately smelled the scent of decomposition. One officer donned a hazardous materials suit before opening the barrel and spotting the body. Homicide detectives from Chula Vista were called immediately. Police have released very few details about the death, saying doing so could jeopardize the investigation. Family members have asked for privacy in the wake of Medinas death, according to police. He was described as a giving young man who enjoyed producing music, according to a GoFundMe page created to help pay for funeral expenses. Twitter: @LAWinkley (619) 293-1546 lyndsay.winkley@sduniontribune.com San Diego police have released the name of an officer who shot an elder abuse suspect during a confrontation at a Bay Park home Friday. Officer David Sisto, who has been with the San Diego Police Department for seven years, fired his handgun when Kenny Bui, 47, pointed a replica rifle at him, Lt. Todd Griffin said Tuesday. Bui suffered a non-life-threatening bullet graze wound to his scalp, Griffin said. Advertisement Bui is accused of punching his 80-year-old father a week ago at the older mans home on Arnott Street. When officers arrived, Bui was gone, police said. His father was told to call police if Bui returned. The son went back to the home Thursday but left before officers arrived. During a search of the home, officers came upon what appeared to be a rifle, as well as live and spent ammunition, on the ground in a detached garage, Griffin said. On Friday, Bui returned again. Among the officers who responded was one who had gone to the home a day earlier. He notified other officers over a police radio about the apparent gun in the garage, Griffin said. As officers searched for Bui, an officer saw him walk out of the garage. Bui was instructed to stop, but he jumped into a next-door neighbors backyard instead. Bui refused to surrender and, at one point, turned toward Sisto, crouched down and pointed a replica rifle he was holding at the officer, Griffin said. Thats when Sito fired two rounds from his department-issued handgun at Bui, who lay on the ground and crawled out of Sitos view before hiding in thick brush behind the homes, Griffin said. Bui refused to come out of the bushes, so officers deployed a police dog, which bit him in one of his legs, police said. Officers took Bui into custody and seized the replica rifle and a fixed-blade knife he had. He was treated at a hospital, then jailed on suspicion of attacking his father and threatening a peace officer with a deadly weapon. Breaking News Email: david.hernandez@sduniontribune.com Phone: (619) 293-1876 Twitter: @D4VIDHernandez Three people have been arrested in Vista on suspicion of attempted murder on a peace officer after shots were fired at deputies during a pursuit Wednesday night, authorities said. Residents called 911 after hearing gunfire in the area of Cabrillo Lane and Anza Avenue around 11:30 p.m. Deputies searched the area but didnt find anyone shooting or evidence of a gun being fired. They determined there may have been a red truck involved and shortly after midnight, they spotted a truck matching the suspect vehicle and tried to pull it over, said sheriffs Sgt. Matt Mays. Advertisement The vehicle sped off with deputies pursing it. During the chase, numerous rounds from a shotgun and a semi-automatic rifle were fired at the deputies over several minutes, Mays said. Deputies did not return fire and they backed off from the pursuit for their safety and the safety of the public, the sergeant said. No deputies or bystanders were injured. The truck was found abandoned in the parking lot of an apartment complex on Meadow Lake Drive. The people who got out of the vehicle ran into an apartment inside the complex. Deputies surrounded the apartment and called them out using a public address system. They ended up removing five people from the apartment. Two who were not involved in the gunfire were released. Three others who authorities believe had been in the pickup were arrested, Mays said. karen.kucher@sduniontribune.com UPDATES: 7:55 a.m.: This article was updated with additional details. The article was originally publised at 6:45 a.m. A tan and black-spotted bundle of energy is enjoying her new home in a nursery at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. Visitors can see the frisky cheetah cub daily at the Safari Parks Ione and Paul Harter Animal Care Center. The cub arrived Nov. 13 at the age of six weeks from Fossil Rim Wildlife Center in Glen Rose, Texas. As the smallest member of a litter of six, the cub couldnt compete with her four brothers and sister for her mothers milk. Advertisement But she began putting on weight once her keepers started bottle feeding. Whe she arrived at the Safari Park, the cub weighed just over 4 pounds, and is now getting meat with her formula. In about three months, the energetic cub will move to the San Diego Zoo, where shell be an animal ambassador, educating people about the increasingly rare big cat. That function is a major part of San Diego Zoo Global, the Zoos conservation arm. Cheetah numbers are rapidly declining in Africa, making the species long-term future doubtful. They number about 7,100 worldwide, according to a 2016 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In 1975, there were about 14,000. In 1900, the estimated population was 100,000. Besides human encroachment on their habitat, cheetahs are threatened by an extreme lack of genetic diversity. That increases inbreeding, leading to lower fertility and less healthy offspring. This occurred about 12,000 years ago during a mass extinction of large mammals. Cheetahs survived in Africa in greatly reduced numbers, but were eliminated from North America, where the species originated. About 50 cheetahs survive in Iran, the last remnant of its Asian population, according to National Geographic. On Aug. 5, 2016, University of California President Janet Napolitano sent a letter to the UC Board of Regents explaining why she had placed UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi on administrative leave and ordered an investigation of her conduct. Napolitanos first sentence said Katehi exercised poor judgment and was not candid about her actions in various campus controversies, including her role in hiring family members and awarding contracts. Napolitano added that the investigation had established that the chancellor repeatedly misled UC leadership, the UC Davis community and the public about matters that would cast her in a negative light and that she had violated UC ethics standards that require university employees to conduct themselves ethically, honestly and with integrity in all dealings. Four days later, Katehi resigned. That history is crucial to remember when contemplating a new independent report commissioned by the regents and prepared by former state Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno and lawyers from Hueston Henningan on how the University of Californias Office of the President blatantly interfered with an attempt to assess its performance. The report detailed how in October 2016, state Auditor Elaine Howle sent survey questions to officials at UCs 10 campuses to grade Napolitanos office in various categories and specifically noted responses should be confidential. Yet after hearing of Howles request, Seth Grossman, Napolitanos chief of staff, and Bernie Jones, her deputy chief of staff, coordinated an effort to have the presidents office review the responses from each campus. Subsequently, UC San Diego, UC Irvine and UC Santa Cruz changed their responses to remove criticism of the presidents office and to strengthen praise. Advertisement At a state legislative hearing in May, in the Moreno report and again in a Monday telephone interview with The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board, Napolitano insisted that while she approved a plan to have her office review survey responses, it was because campuses wanted her offices help and because she wanted to ensure the responses were accurate. Napolitano wants the public to believe that her aides Grossman and Jones who she said resigned abruptly last week for family reasons independently decided to pressure campus officials to make her office look good. This is preposterous. While Morenos report finds no smoking gun showing Napolitano dictating how the surveys be handled, it comes close. It shows that campus officials perceived themselves as under pressure to not cast the presidents office in a negative light with dirty laundry. It shows her initial statements about the surveys created a chilling effect. And it shows chancellors didnt seek help with their responses at all contrary to Napolitanos claims and that when UC Santa Cruz sent in its response to Howle without running it by the presidents office, Chancellor George Blumenthal got what he described as a furious call from Napolitano. The UC president said her tone that day was measured and her concern was Blumenthal hadnt reviewed the response not that her office hadnt seen it. But the evidence is cumulatively bad. UC Santa Cruz subsequently rewrote its response. One poor and three fair ratings became good. Three good ratings became exceptional. No wonder Howle told the Legislature in May that in 17 years as state auditor, shed never seen such improper behavior from an agency she was reviewing. Yet last week, UC regents responded to these disclosures not by seriously considering removing Napolitano but by buying her cover story. They admonished her for accepting an office culture in which this manipulation of a state audit occurred then quickly and unanimously backed her continued leadership, according to board chairman George Kieffer. This is inconsistent with the high standards for behavior of UC officials outlined by Napolitano herself in her letter about Katehi. The U-T Editorial Board isnt calling for Napolitano to resign yet. But its hard to have faith in her or the UC regents now. They failed Californians and need to prove theyll conduct themselves ethically, honestly and with integrity in all dealings. Twitter: @sdutIdeas Facebook: San Diego Union-Tribune Ideas & Opinion Twitter: @sdutIdeas Facebook: San Diego Union-Tribune Ideas & Opinion Re More women describe encounters with Moore (Nov. 16): At the end of the article, a woman says about the accusations against Roy Moore, It could be true, it could be false, but hes led by God, and thats all that matters. First of all, we must believe in different gods, because the one that I worship would never lead anyone to be a sexual predator. Secondly, it does matter because the moral fabric of our leaders matters. I find such myopic tunnel vision to be disturbing and dangerous. John Schroeder Advertisement Chula Vista It looks like Alabama voters wouldnt mind sending a possible pedophile to the Senate as long as hes a Republican. Incredible! Yolanda Emery La Mesa I take exception to your Sunday front-page photos. Lumping Roy Moore in with others accused of sexual harassment is inaccurate. Hes been accused of being a pedophile, of molesting a young girl of 14 under the legal age of consent. Thats a completely different level of assault and should be made clear. David Hucknall San Diego ---------------------------------------------- Letters and commentary policy The U-T welcomes and encourages community dialogue on important public matters. Please visit this page for more details on our letters and commentaries policy. You can email letters@sduniontribune.com or leave a comment below. Follow @UTLetters on Twitter and UTOpinion on Facebook. ----------------------------------------------------- On Tuesday as our president, the moral leader of the free world, was leaving for a long weekend in Florida, he offered a shout-out to voters that was understood by millions, this way: No contest, Alabamians! On Dec. 12, when you choose between an accused sexual predator and a Democrat for a six-year term to the United State Senate, keep your priorities straight just as I always do. Vote for Roy Moore. Hell make America great again. Jeanne Atherton San Diego Weekly Newsletter The best of The Saturday Evening Post in your inbox! Join Modern art critics have often looked down their noses at Norman Rockwells realistic style of painting, dismissing his painstaking details as unnecessary and old fashioned. But for at least one person, the details in Rockwells painting led to a life-altering experience. In this 1944 Post cover, Rockwell painted a pretty young girl asleep in bed at midnight on New Years Eve. Rather than go out partying, she dreams about her soldier boy overseas. Rockwell literally selected the girl next door for his model. He asked his close friend and fellow illustrator, Mead Schaeffer, if Schaeffers sixteen-year-old daughter Lee would pose for the cover. Schaeffer lived just up the street from Rockwell in Vermont. Subscribe and get unlimited access to our online magazine archive. Subscribe Today Ever the perfectionist, Rockwell also selected just the right details to tell his story. That clock on the bedside table shows us that it is midnight and the young girl is not out celebrating in those fancy party shoes. The photos of her boyfriend none other than Rockwells favorite GI, Willie Gillis on the wall tell us why. But do extra details such as the envelope on the floor really make any difference? Rockwell was such a stickler for detail, when he painted that envelope he used Lee Schaeffers actual address. He assumed it would be too small and blurry to be legible when it was finally reproduced on the cover of the Post. The address was just one of the many details that Rockwell captured purely for his own satisfaction. Unfortunately, Rockwell underestimated the resourcefulness of our young G.I.s. Soldiers were so smitten by the lovely Lee that they got out their magnifying glasses. Before long, letters started streaming in to Lee Schaeffer at home. Lees mother became quite upset with Rockwell for putting her daughters address on the cover of the Post. She made sure that all of Lees fan mail went unanswered. But thats not the end of the story. A few years later, a young veteran named Bob Goodfellow, recently back from serving in the U.S. Navy Reserve on Iwo Jima, saw the famous cover. Like others before him, he fell in love with the slumbering girl. But unlike other soldiers, Goodfellow had an advantage. His fraternity brother knew the Schaeffer family and happened to be dating Lees sister Patricia. Goodfellow kept pestering his fraternity brother to arrange an introduction, and finally his persistence paid off. The fraternity brother gave in and arranged a double date with Lee and Patricia in New York City. Goodfellow met Lee on a blind date on December 3, 1949. Goodfellow must have made a good first impression because he was able to wrangle an invitation to Mead Schaeffers New Years party. There, Lee introduced Goodfellow to her parents, he passed the test, and the courtship began. Goodfellow and Lee Schaeffer were married on March 16, 1951, and they remain happily married in Vermont today. Next March will be their 67th anniversary. The famous Rockwell cover of the Post that started it all is framed and hanging on the wall above Goodfellows desk. Many modern art critics have insisted that the tiny details in Rockwells paintings are pointless. They should keep their eyes and minds open. You can never tell where paying attention might lead. Toronto, ON -- (SBWIRE) -- 11/22/2017 -- Canada Home Security, a leading home security alarm monitoring company in Canada, recently launched a free home security system offer for customers who sign up for the company's security monitoring services. The free home security system offer comes as great news to homeowners seeking to enhance the security level of their premises with top-of-the-range security monitoring from one of the most reputable firms in Canada. The offer includes an entire home security system package with a wireless control panel, 3-window or door protection points, an illuminated keypad display, a high decibel siren, a pet motion detector, and a keychain remote to arm or disarm the system from a distance. The system will be activated to monitoring centers that work 24/7 and additional registration with the local police and fire departments. Benefits of the home security system The free home security system offer is targeting smart homeowners who understand the value of installing a home security system. There are many reasons why homeowners seek to improve the security levels of their homes, from the peace of mind in the knowledge that their lives and property are better protected to simply the need to help deter unforeseen threats. Once the security system is installed and door or window security sensors tripped, the motion detector will be capable of sensing an intruder and relaying a signal to the nearest national monitoring center. The company's personnel will then alert the homeowner and the local emergency authorities when necessary. A high pitched siren will also be triggered to alert the homeowner or scare away the potential threat. The free home security offer is available for a limited time only and will require a one-time activation fee of $99 and purchase of the company's alarm monitoring services. It is nevertheless a great service from one of the best alarm companies in Toronto. About Canada Home Security Canada Home Security provides security systems and monitoring services to residents of major cities across Canada including Calgary, Montreal, Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Victoria, North York, Surrey, London, Scarborough, Laval, and many more. Company's customers enjoy numerous benefits including free risk assessment, 24/7 monitoring, easy to use arm, disarm, and status buttons, backup power, keychain remote controls, and savings of up to 20% on home insurance. The company provides a diverse range of home security options to suit its customers' needs. Other additional options include smoke detectors, medical alerts for the elderly or indisposed persons, CO2 alerts, 2-way voice communication with the monitoring center's personnel, and much more. Monitoring systems are also compatible with cell phones. Customers don't need to have a landline in their premises to benefit from the company's home alarm monitoring system. Smartphone technology allows the customer's security system to use a dedicated wireless connection to monitor his or home and communicate with the monitoring centers. As an authorized alarm systems in Toronto dealer, the company is currently providing Canadian homeowners an opportunity to enhance their home security with the free home security system offer. Contact: Scott Murray Canada home security systems http://canadahomesecuritysystems.com/ info@canadahomesecuritysystems.com Toronto Ontario Canada New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 11/22/2017 -- Military Surveillance Drones Market: Executive Summary Military drones are powered aerial vehicles that do not carry human operators and can fly autonomously and remotely. These drones are largely being used for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions. The drones can stay in air for hours or days at a time, and their high-tech cameras can scan a wide geographic area required for surveillance. Such drones are procured by several countries for monitoring their national and sea borders. The global military surveillance drones market is a very dynamic market and is expected to witness high growth over the forecast period. The global Military surveillance drones market is driven by various factors such as increase in Internal and External Security Threats, increasing Need for Border Monitoring and development of Next-Generation Drones. Drones are the next generation of aerial platforms that are being deployed by the defense ministries around the world. The demand for such unmanned systems has been fuelled by their successful deployment, during combat missions, majorly in countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan. In recent years, there has been a rise in the number of global conflicts such as the Russia and Ukraine conflict over Crimea, battle for supremacy in the South China Sea territory between China and South Korea, maritime disputes between Venezuela and Guyana, and the sea border dispute between Colombia and Nicaragua. This creates the need to up-date border surveillance systems and the treatment of operational information concerning threats. The global Military surveillance drones market is expected to grow at 11.96% CAGR during the forecast period. In 2016, the market was led by North America, with a 54.3% share, followed by Europe and Rest of the World with shares of 22.2% and 13.1%, respectively. Request Sample Report @ https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/2450434-military-surveillance-drones-market-research-report-global-forecast-to-2023 The global military surveillance drones market has been segmented on the basis of types, payload and regions. On the basis of types, the market has been segmented into Fixed Wing, Micro/ Nano and Mini. Whereas, the payload segmented has been divided into Electro-Optic/Infrared Sensor, Cameras, Electronic Intelligence, Maritime Patrol Radar and Others. Of all types, the fixed wing segment is projected to account for the largest market share. Fixed-wing drones are equipped with wings (rather than vertical lift rotors), which are similar to the normal airplanes, and are much efficient as compared to other type of drones. On the basis of payload, Electro-Optic/Infrared Sensor segment is dominating the global Military surveillance drones market. The key players of global Military surveillance drones market include Boeing (U.S.), Airbus Corporation (Netherlands), Lockheed Martin (U.S.), Northrop Grumman Corporation (U.S.), Thales Group (France), Elbit Systems Ltd (Israel), Saab Group (Sweden), Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. (Israel), AeroVironment, Inc. (U.S.) and General Atomics (U.S.). The report for Global Military surveillance drones market of Market Research Future comprises of extensive primary research along with the detailed analysis of qualitative as well as quantitative aspects by various industry experts, key opinion leaders to gain the deeper insight of the market and industry performance. The report gives the clear picture of current market scenario which includes historical and projected market size in terms of value and volume, technological advancement, macro economical and governing factors in the market. The report provides details information and strategies of the top key players in the industry. The report also gives a broad study of the different market segments and regions. For further information on this report, visit - https://www.wiseguyreports.com/enquiry/2450434-military-surveillance-drones-market-research-report-global-forecast-to-2023 Table of Contents 1 Executive Summary 12 2 Introduction 14 2.1 Definition 14 2.2 Scope of the Study 14 2.3 Assumptions 14 2.4 Market Structure 15 2.5 Key Takeaways 15 3 Research Methodology 16 3.1 Research Process 16 3.2 Primary Research 16 3.3 Secondary Research 17 3.4 Market Size Estimation 17 3.5 Forecast Model 19 4 Market Dynamics 20 4.1 Drivers: 21 4.1.1 Internal and External Security Threats 21 4.1.2 Increasing Need for Border Monitoring 21 4.1.3 Development of Next-Generation Drones 22 4.2 Restraints 23 4.2.1 Issues Associated with Data Processing 23 4.2.2 Prone to Cyber Attacks 23 4.2.3 Low Endurance and Flight Range 23 4.3 Opportunities 24 4.3.1 3D-Printed Drones 24 4.3.2 Evolution of Solar-Powered Surveillance Drones 24 4.3.3 Usage of Surveillance Drones as Laser Designators 25 5 Market Factor Analysis 26 5.1 Porter's Five Forces Analysis 26 5.1.1 Threat of New Entrants 26 5.1.2 Bargaining Power of Suppliers 27 5.1.3 Bargaining Power of Buyers 27 5.1.4 Threat of Substitute 27 5.1.5 Rivalry 27 5.2 Value Chain Analysis 28 5.2.1 Procurement of Raw Materials 28 5.2.2 Design and Development 28 5.2.3 Assembly and Customization 28 5.2.4 Distribution to End-Users 28 6 Patent Trends 29 7 Global Military Surveillance Drones Market, By Type 32 7.1 Overview 33 7.2 Fixed Wing 33 7.3 Micro/Nano 34 7.4 Mini 34 8 Global Military Surveillance Drones Market, By Payload 36 8.1 Overview 37 8.2 Electro-Optic/Infrared Sensor 37 8.3 Cameras 37 8.4 Maritime Patrol Radar 37 8.5 Electronic Intelligence 38 8.6 Others 38 Buy this Report @ https://www.wiseguyreports.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=2450434 Contact Us: Norah Trent sales@wiseguyreports.com Ph: +1-646-845-9349 (US); +44 208 133 9349 (UK) Brooklyn, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 11/22/2017 -- QYResearchReports.com reports the addition of a new report based on the United States market for automobile insurance. Titled as "2017-2022 Automobile Insurance Report on Global and United States Market, Status and Forecast, by Players, Types and Applications," the report is a study of the market status on the basis of drivers, opportunities and constraints, market segmentation and competitive landscape. The report elucidates upon the automobile insurance report on global and united states market status and forecast by players types and applications is likely to gain from the technological approaches, such as digitalization and cloud computing, being adopted by market players to reach out to a wider array of customers in order to strengthen their businesses. With the raising number of policyholders, the market for 2017-2022 automobile insurance market worldwide and United States market status and estimate by player types and applications has picked up a critical energy. Also, the noteworthy ascent in the disposable incomes of consumers and the expansion in per capita GDP in developing economies are required to support this market considerably finished the approaching years. The rising pool of high total assets people and the rise in the ownership of monetary resources are likewise anticipated to think about emphatically the interest for 2017 2022 automobile insurance give an account of worldwide and United States market status and conjecture by player types and applications soon. Get free sample report of the research study at: https://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=1334185&type=S Digitalization and distributed computing, being received by market players to connect with a more extensive exhibit of clients keeping in mind the end goal to reinforce their organizations. Be that as it may, constrained overall revenues and delicate estimating systems are foreseen to escalate the opposition inside the market between the new contestants and the set up organizations. On the basis of type of product, the automobile insurance market is essentially classified into liability coverage and full coverage. The Asia-Pacific will involve for more piece of the overall industry in following years, particularly in China, likewise quickly developing India and Southeast Asia regions. United States will even now assume a critical part which can't be overlooked. Any progressions from United States may influence the improvement pattern of Automobile Insurance. Some of the key players of the United States market for automobile insurance are Liberty Mutual Insurance, Pingan, Berkshire Hathaway, The Travelers Companies and State Farm Insurance. Read Complete Table of Content of the Report at: https://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/2017-2022-automobile-insurance-report-on-global-and-united-states-market-status-and-forecast-by-players-types-and-applications.htm/toc Table of Contents 1 Industry Overview 1.1 Automobile Insurance Market Overview 1.1.1 Automobile Insurance Product Scope 1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook 1.2 Global Automobile Insurance Market Size and Analysis by Regions (2012-2017) 1.2.1 United States Automobile Insurance Market Status and Outlook 1.2.2 EU Automobile Insurance Market Status and Outlook 1.2.3 Japan Automobile Insurance Market Status and Outlook 1.2.4 China Automobile Insurance Market Status and Outlook 1.2.5 India Automobile Insurance Market Status and Outlook 1.2.6 Southeast Asia Automobile Insurance Market Status and Outlook 1.3 Classification of Automobile Insurance by Product 1.3.1 Global Automobile Insurance Revenue (Million USD) and Growth (%) Comparison by Product (2012-2022) 1.3.2 Global Automobile Insurance Revenue (Million USD) Market Share (%) by Product in 2016 1.3.3 Liability Coverage 1.3.4 Full Coverage 1.4 Automobile Insurance Market by End Users/Application 2 Global Automobile Insurance Competition Analysis by Players 2.1 Global Automobile Insurance Market Size (Million USD) by Players (2012-2017) 2.2 Competitive Status and Trend 2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate 2.2.2 Product/Service Differences 2.2.3 New Entrants 2.2.4 The Technology Trends in Future 3 Company (Top Players) Profiles and Key Data 3.1 State Farm Insurance 3.1.1 Company Profile 3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview 3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions 3.1.4 State Farm Insurance Automobile Insurance Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017) 3.1.5 Recent Developments 3.2 Liberty Mutual Insurance 3.2.1 Company Profile 3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview 3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions 3.2.4 Liberty Mutual Insurance Automobile Insurance Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017) 3.2.5 Recent Developments 3.3 Allstate 3.3.1 Company Profile 3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview 3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions 3.3.4 Allstate Automobile Insurance Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017) 3.3.5 Recent Developments 3.4 Berkshire Hathaway 3.4.1 Company Profile 3.4.2 Main Business/Business Overview 3.4.3 Products, Services and Solutions 3.4.4 Berkshire Hathaway Automobile Insurance Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017) 3.4.5 Recent Developments 3.5 The Travelers Companies 3.5.1 Company Profile 3.5.2 Main Business/Business Overview 3.5.3 Products, Services and Solutions 3.5.4 The Travelers Companies Automobile Insurance Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017) 3.5.5 Recent Developments 3.6 Pingan About QYResearchReports.com QYResearchReports.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 QYResearchReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market. Contact US: Brooklyn, NY 11230 United States Toll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA) Tel: +1-518-618-1030 Web: http://www.qyresearchreports.com Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com Chinese President Xi Jinping wrapped up a fruitful state visit to Laos on Tuesday, after the two sides agreed to build an unbreakable community of shared future with strategic importance. Chinese President Xi Jinping wrapped up a fruitful state visit to Laos on Tuesday, after the two sides agreed to build an unbreakable community of shared future with strategic importance. Chinese President Xi Jinping (L), also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, shakes hands with Bounnhang Vorachit, general secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP) Central Committee and president of Laos, while jointly witnessing the signing of bilateral cooperation documents after their talks in Vientiane, Laos, Nov. 13, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua] In a joint statement issued in Vientiane, China and Laos pledged to further enrich and develop their long-standing and stable comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation with a high level of mutual trust, mutual support and mutual benefit, and hold the spirit of good neighbors, good friends, good comrades and good partners. It is the first visit in 11 years by a Chinese head of state and top Communist Party of China (CPC) leader to Laos. Xi, who is also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, hold talks with Bounnhang Vorachit, general secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party Central Committee and president of Laos, and met separately with Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith and President of the Lao National Assembly Pany Yathotou during the visit. The party and state leaders of the two countries briefed each other on their respective development progress, exchanged in-depth views on bilateral ties and international and regional issues of common concern, and reached important consensuses. Speaking highly of each other's development achievements, the two sides agreed to strengthen exchanges and mutual learning, pushing forward China's reform and opening up and Laos' reform and renewal. The Lao side spoke highly of the elevation of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era into the CPC's guiding principles during the 19th CPC National Congress. Laos was confident that under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Xi at the core, the Chinese people will forge ahead smoothly towards the two centenary goals and build China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally-advanced, harmonious and beautiful, said the statement. Since they established diplomatic ties 56 years ago, the two sides have continuously enhanced political mutual trust and expanded practical cooperation. They have also seen their people-to-people exchanges grow increasingly closer, as well as a comprehensive and ever deepening bilateral relationship, which have brought substantial benefits to the two peoples. The document noted that China and Laos, both communist party-led socialist states, share similar dreams and beliefs, political systems, and development paths. The two sides agreed that jointly building a community of shared future with strategic significance on the basis of mutual trust is in accordance with the fundamental interests and common expectations of the two parties, two countries and two peoples, and is also conducive to the noble cause of peace and development for mankind. They also pledged to maintain the fine tradition of high-level exchange of visits so as to guide the development of bilateral ties in the new era and strengthen inter-party exchanges and cooperation, deepen exchange of experience in the governance of the party and the state, and step up cooperation in diplomacy, defense, law enforcement and security. The two countries reaffirmed their firm support on issues related to each other's major interests, agreed to accelerate the synergy of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and Laos' strategy of turning itself from a "land-locked" country to a "land-linked" one. China and Laos agreed to jointly build a China-Laos economic corridor, forge ahead with landmark projects such as the China-Laos railway, elevate the scale and level of their economic and trade cooperation in a bid to promote economic complementarity of the two countries. They agreed to deepen cooperation in industrial capacity, finance, agriculture, energy, resources, water conservancy, telecommunication, infrastructure and health care, so as to better serve the general public of the two countries. They will also carry out closer coordination under multilateral frameworks including the United Nations, the Asia-Europe Meeting, East Asia Cooperation and Lancang-Mekong Cooperation mechanisms. On maritime issue, China and Laos called for relevant parties to reach agreement on a code of conduct in the South China Sea at an early date and jointly build the busy water body into a sea of peace, friendship and cooperation, said the statement. A series of cooperation documents in various fields such as building the China-Laos economic corridor, digital Silk Road, electricity, science and technology, were inked during Xi's stay. Both sides agreed that Xi's visit was successful and further consolidated the China-Laos traditional friendship and comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation, bearing landmark significance. Vientiane is the final leg of Xi's first overseas trip after the 19th CPC National Congress, which was held last month in Beijing. Prior to the Laos visit, he attended the 25th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders' Meeting in Vietnam's central city of Da Nang and paid a state visit to the country. FLORENCE, S.C. Wallace Gregg Elementary School Principal Debbie Donnelly was caught wearing Clemson orange on Tuesday afternoon, a sight students and staff had never seen before. The school completed "Yes We Can," a Clemson versus Carolina canned food drive, on Tuesday afternoon at the school. Since more items were donated by Clemson fans, Donnelly had to wear Clemson colors, but she could not bring herself to wear apparel with the Clemson logo. Students bantered with Donnelly leading up to the revealing of the final score. Donnelly is a dedicated Carolina fan, but for a worthy cause, she gave up her team loyalty for a few hours. Ann Darby Hunter, guidance counselor at the school, said the rivalry helps students get excited about the drive. However, she said, she emphasizes that when the school rallies together to help others, everyone wins. Even rivalry teams can pull together and help others, Darby Hunter said. If more items were donated by Carolina fans, Donnelly, a Clemson fan, would have worn Carolina apparel during Tuesday afternoon. Since Clemson won, she sported a Clemson hoodie. The school will donate more than 390 items to an area food bank. Pam Bullocks class was the leading homeroom collector, and fifth-graders Chase Grice and Nydiyah McFadden were the leading student collectors. This year marks the 17th school food drive with a Clemson versus Carolina twist. Darby Hunter said it is a fun, positive experience that shows character in action. HARTSVILLE, S.C. For most people, Christmas is celebrated in December, but for a select few, Christmas comes in April, too, when volunteers unite to repair homes of the less fortunate and elderly in Hartsville. James Samuel is one of the many helping hands who gives time and talent to Christmas in April. Samuels services were drafted by his father many years ago, even before he moved back to his hometown. I left Hartsville for the military when I was 17 and came back an old man 20 years ago, he said. After retiring from the military, he worked for the state of Delaware and the state of South Carolina. He retired from South Carolina Department of Vocational Rehabilitation. I started in 1989 (with Christmas in April), he said. I fell into it. I came home on vacation. I didnt know anything about Christmas in April, and the next thing I knew I was painting a house. He said his father volunteered with Christmas in April up to the last year of his life. I came back to help my dad, James J.W. Samuel, and the Second Baptist Church group with a house, Samuel said. When he moved back to Hartsville, Samuel became an official volunteer with the organization. Samuel said he didnt realize all of the work involved until he became a member of the board of directors a few years ago. He served on the Christmas in April board from 2011 until a few weeks ago when he stepped down. There is a lot more work than just that one Saturday in April, he said. Samuel said his special talent is finding people with different talents and putting them together to work as a group. My talent is assembling a group, putting the right people in the right spots, he said. He said Joann DeLong, executive director of United Way Hartsville and Christmas In April board chairman, is an example of the right person in the right place. He said it is her leadership that has kept the organization going. We both have/had common goals and that was to help as many people in our community as possible, with the talents and the resources that God has given us, DeLong said. Samuel encouraged Centenary United Methodist Church and its sister church, Kingsville UMC, to work together. He said together they have worked on as many as three houses in one day. With their skill level and commitment to Christmas in April, Samuel said, he sometimes pulls a house to work on that no one else will take because of its level of difficulty. Often the homes require more than one day of work. We took one this year that needed 16 windows replaced, he said. It took about two weeks to finish. He said one of the most difficult projects involved replacing a porch. It is a wonderful feeling to help others whom you know need it, he said. The most exhausting day you can feel is that Christmas in April Saturday, but it can also be the most wonderful feeling, he said. There has not been a Christmas in April since 1990 that I didnt get that feeling. Even though he has left the board, Samuel said, I wont every stop doing the projects as long as I am able. He also helps DeLong with United Way projects. One this year was to build a ramp for a woman whose son was in a wheelchair. Any time I needed anything, and I do mean ANYTHING, whether it was to pick up or deliver something to someone for United Way, or build a ramp, or Cool Seal a roof through Christmas in April, he always said, Sure, no problem, DeLong said. And many times he only had a one-day notice. He's a beloved member of his church and goes out of his way to help anyone genuinely in need. He will be greatly missed as a board member but has promised to continue to work as a team captain on Christmas in April's work day. He is a volunteer with addiction treatment centers Palmetto Center and Palmer Early Release Center, both in Florence and Lee Correctional in Bishopville. He speaks to the clients and addicts about places where they can find help. I also do this for Centenary and mentor people, he said. Samuel is a certified lay speaker. He is a stand-in for preachers. He does this about every other month for four Sundays. He said he was once given some good advice about speaking. I was told to always keep a sermon in the bag, he said. I have a couple on my cellphone, tablet and on paper. He said he can be ready to fill in as a speaker on a moments notice. This was something he was taught in the military: always be prepared. He also volunteers cutting grass for his church. I look for other things I can do, he said. He said his mother and father were good models and taught him the importance of giving a helping hand. Samuel hopes he has instilled the same volunteer spirit in his five children. He said they live all over the country and are busy raising their families. He has 12 grandchildren. He said grandchildren are another chance to get it right. HARTSVILLE, S.C. Voters should choose their representatives, not the other way around, according to a voter education group. This seems to be the rallying cry of the League of Womens Voters of South Carolina, whose local members held an information meeting recently at the Hartsville Memorial Library. The meeting went over the age-old problem of gerrymandering, in which elected officials attempt to keep voting districts favorable to one side of party affiliation or the other. Representatives of both major political parties seek partisan advantage from gerrymandering, according to a statement from the meeting. This is not a problem associated with one or another political party. Incumbent protection has also shaped South Carolinas districts. Dyan Cohen of the Darlington County chapter believes the S.C. General Assembly should amend the process. The League of Women Voters state and local goal for fair redistricting procedures would be for the General Assembly to create an independent commission that will use appropriate criteria following the census to redraw district lines, she said. As partisans, both political parties will tend to represent their preferences when districts are redrawn reflecting census changes. The league supports competitive elections, voters being satisfied their votes count, which will help restore trust in government. As an example, some voters dont need to look any farther than their own state or congressional districts to see how lines snake through some neighborhoods while avoiding others. At present, a high percentage of S.C. districts lack competitive general election races, league information said. Primaries effectively decide the outcome of the general election because opposition to the dominant party is perceived as fruitless. The league believes that an independent, nonpartisan commission should create the maps or district lines with no consideration of who is seated in office. It is the job of the League of Woman Voters, and its mission, to make sure that no ones vote is greater than that of someone else, said Bill Heitsman, a professor at Coker College. That is why I have joined the league and support the league's efforts to make redistricting truly democratic. There is some guidance from the Voting Rights Act, but state legislatures have managed to include those rules, while still maintaining control of districts, regardless of party affiliation. Self-interest is inevitable when legislators draw their own districts, a League of Women Voters statement said. An independent commission would provide greater voter confidence that all votes matter. Sheila Haney is the Darlington County League president and can be reached at hanleyls@yahoo.com. COLUMBIA, S.C. Students from the Darlington County School District placed in their categories in the 2017 S.C. State Fair Student Art Exhibition. Hartsville High Schools Keaton Meyers and Shayla Walters led the way with first-place ribbons in the Art of the Camelia contest. Meyers painting of a camellia flower earned first place in the two-dimensional category for high school students. Walters painted beautiful camellia flowers on a pair of shoes to take first place in the three-dimensional category for high school students. Krysten Holland, also a Hartsville student, took second place in the Art of the Camelia contests two-dimensional category behind Meyers. All three students are taught by Jennifer Pietrzak. Arieon Commander, a fifth-grader from Thornwell School for the Arts, won a merit award in the two-dimensional category. Stacey Johnson is Arieon's art teacher. In the sixth-grade two-dimensional category, Chassidy Leonard earned a merit award. Chassidy is a student at Hartsville Middle School who studies under Michelle McCall. Jennie Fort, a freshman at Hartsville High School, took home second place in the ninth-grade photography category. Maggie Wensik of Hartsville High School took home a merit award in the ninth-grade photography category. Marley Williams earned a merit award in the 10th-grade photography category. Blake Ringer placed second in the 11th-grade photography category. Fort, Wensik, Williams and Ringer all study under Pietrzak. Sarah Fender, a student at Mayo High School for Math, Science and Technology, earned a merit award in the 11th-grade two-dimensional category. Lyn ODonnell teaches Fender at Mayo High. Mickey King, a senior at Hartsville High School, took home a merit award in the 12th-grade three-dimensional category. Pietrzak also teaches King. MULLINS, S.C. More than 200 people helped celebrate the 30th annual Marion County Veterans Day activities on Nov. 11 in Mullins. The honor to veterans started with a parade down Main Street followed by a program and luncheon honoring veterans at Mullins High School. Marion County Veterans Affairs Office director Gloria Evans said she is thankful for the support from the community and sponsors donating door prizes. Mullins High School JAG students helped served meals and Marion County Councilman Milton W. Troy II was the keynote speaker for the event. Troy, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, said military service members need support groups. I didnt get much mail, he said. In my first tour in Vietnam in 12 months, I think I got two letters. One of which, Ill never forget was from my mother and father. My dad always told me since I was a little fella, Walk tall and keep your head up. Look a man in the eye and say what you mean and mean what you say. I wrote him back and said, This aint the place to be doing that, Pops. We dont try to stand tall around here. We try to get low, because when those bullets start flying, you dont want to catch them. Troy said he devoted more than 21 years for the rights of fellow citizens. I want some of you to understand that a lot of us are still serving, he said. Just because you say thank you for your service doesnt mean its over. The process is underway and the club hopes to get a licence sometime next year, which will then pave the way to bringing in an underwriter to be based in Hong Kong. Speaking after the club's Asian Members Forum in Hong Kong, Fuller reiterated that the move was meant to better serve the needs of its members rather than to try and seek new business. He noted that while about half of the club's members are in Asia, Britannia P&I has not traditionally been active in China and has no intention of doing so in future. The regional forum demonstrate the clubs strategy of providing members with a local personalised service, backed by a global presence in the market, Britannia said. The Asian Members Forum outlined Britannias strategy, which has included the club strengthening its presence in the region, with its managers having recently taken over a longstanding exclusive correspondent in Japan with offices in both Tokyo and Kobe, which has been renamed Tindall Riley (Britannia) Japan Ltd. The Asian Members Forum is an important event given that half of our membership is based in the region. Enhancing our personalised service to members by having dedicated Britannia owned local offices in key territories is vital, said ceo Andrew Cutler. Some 58 members from nine Asian countries attended the forum, including 13 from Hong Kong. The recent re-branding of the association has been received positively by members, reinforcing the aim of an accessible, modern and progressive Club backed by sound financial management, Cutler added. The forum also had good news for members, with the club announcing no general increase for 2018/19 and a further $10m capital distribution. Economy needs breakthrough firms The Vietnamese economy needs breakthrough businesses to improve competitiveness and the quality of GDP growth, experts said at a conference held in HCM City on Tuesday. Speakers discuss business breakthroughs at a conference in HCM City. The GDP has had good growth but the economic structure is adjusting too slowly to adapt to significant changes in the global economy, Tran Dinh Thien, head of the Viet Nam Economic Institute, said. The economy needs a breakthrough in every aspect, from administrative reform to business models, to catch up with the rest of the world, he said. Nguyen Thanh Nam, co-founder of the FPT Group and FUNiX University, said that to achieve success, we must spend a lot of investment for a long journey to discover, learn, fail and stand up again to do business patiently. Nam said that since innovative attitudes could lead to mistakes, companies should have their own mentors. We have over 2,000 mentors in our university to guide our students on what they should learn and do, he said He mentioned a new university model in US that has no lecture halls, no campus, and no lecturers and staff. It has 10,000 students and they learn and take self-examinations, with guidelines from the internet. And many of the graduate from the university can be recruited at big companies in Silicon Valley, he said. Do Anh Tu, former general director of Diana Unicharm and deputy chairman of management board of TP Bank, said that his breakthrough was to do the opposite of what people often do. When people want to immigrate to another country, I returned to Viet Nam. When all people focus on real estate, I chose business production. When people want to produce big products, I chose products with normal and daily usage. Thats why I developed Diana products for women, children and seniors, Tu said. But he stressed that each enterprise should develop its own way. All successful enterprises must learn by heart the four core values: what is their product, what is their price, how can they launch promotions, and how can they bring their products to customers. A breakthrough should be applied for each core value, he said. Tu also noted that enterprises would gain success if they appeal to the emotions of customers. For Diana products, instead of solving the monthly problem of women, we made a slogan be proud to be a woman, he added. After selling Diana Unicharm and buying TP Bank, Tu continued applying his opposite thinking. To reduce the number of bad loans, his bank promotes retail for individual customers instead of focusing on enterprises. To reduce expenditures, instead of opening more branch offices, TP Bank launched its live bank where customers are served by staff via teleconferences 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Three months after we launched the live bank, the Bank of America opened its first one in the US, he said. Hoang Thi Mai Huong, chairwoman of Publicis Viet Nam, said that a breakthrough must stem from right thinking. We can learn responsibility and limit greed. Tu changed from an enterprise to a bank, where he managed other peoples money and had many chances to do business every day, she said. From that, Tu could think about starting retail and live banks. That is a breakthrough. Nguyen Thi Thuy Binh, deputy general director of Vietjet Air said the companys breakthrough was when it realised that most Vietnamese had not flown in an airplane prior to opening its low-cost services Now, Vietjet Air would like to have another breakthrough by becoming a customer airline where we can meet all customer demands, from insurance, hotel, travel, shopping, and even buying tickets on installments, she said. Enterprises should create demand for customers and work with partners to serve customers better so they have more benefits, she added. Hoang Thi Mai Huong said: With Vietjet Air, the breakthrough was the way they recognised customers and discovered a market, along with combining technology. The meeting was the 10th Investment Conference organised by Nhip can Dau tu (Investment Bridge) magazine with the participation of 500 CEOs and leaders of the local business community. VNS Press Release November 22, 2017 Dispatch from Crame No. 200 Sen. Leila M. de Lima's Statement on Cayeyano's Defense of the Philippine Vote on the UN Rohingya Resolution 11 / 22 / 17 Secretary Cayetano's warped logic on the Philippines' Rohingya vote in the UN masks the real reason for the Philippines' "no" vote. And this is simply to avoid having the finger pointed at the Duterte regime for its own quasi-genocidal crimes against humanity in its drug war. Indeed, what right has the Philippines to call on Myanmar to allow international aid to the Rohingyas when its own President regularly curses and bad-mouths UN officials whenever investigation on his regime's EJKs comes up. Cayetano says the Philippines voted "no" on the UN Resolution to allow international aid and action to the Rohingyas so it would not intimidate Myanmar, which could preclude the entry of international monitors observing the Rohingya situation on the ground. Cayetano's logic is simply this: To help the Rohingyas, we must vote not to help them. Stupid as it sounds, it is classic Cayetano, the King of Oxymorons, who once said that we are as safe as Singapore because bodies are falling like flies on our streets in his master's campaign against drugs. No amount of doublespeak can justify the Philippine vote, because it is only in accord with the current regime's policy against human rights and international accountability for crimes against humanity. Cayetano's President has, in so many public speeches even way back, already declared war on human rights. The Duterte regime's vote against the Rohingyas is therefore only in harmony with its murderous policy that condemns human rights by killing its own citizens. Cayetano need not use warped logic to justify the Philippine vote. He only has to be consistent and cite his government's record that this Philippine administration no longer recognizes human rights, whether domestically or anywhere else in the world. Press Release November 22, 2017 HONTIVEROS: NO VAT REDUCTION, NO TRAIN "No lower VAT, no TRAIN." This was the statement issued today by Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros on Wednesday saying that she is amenable to supporting the proposed Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act (TRAIN) as long as the measure lowers the Value Added Tax (VAT) from 12 to 10 percent. "Bottomline" "My bottom line is a TRAIN with a lowered VAT. While I support the push for a comprehensive tax reform package, this should primarily protect and benefit the poor, who for the longest time have been at the receiving end of a largely regressive tax system," Hontiveros said. "Kung ibababa ang VAT, tataas ang suporta ng publiko sa TRAIN," Hontiveros added. Hontiveros said that TRAIN should reduce the country's VAT from 12 percent to 10 percent, and then to 8 percent to align it with the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), once VAT revenues reach 4.5 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which she said is what Thailand is able to collect with a 7 percent VAT rate. "Lowered VAT to benefit 1.7 million wage earners" The Senator explained that a lowered VAT is one of the safety nets she is pushing for to cushion the effects of TRAIN on 1.7 million "near poor" wage earners whom she said are in danger of becoming poorer once the law is passed and implemented. Hontiveros also said that the monthly transfers to the poor need to be made available for a longer period of time corresponding to the phased implementation of fuel excise tax increases. Hontiveros said that using the Department of Finance's (DoF) own "micro-simulation methodology," while poverty will be marginally reduced as a result of the P200 per month income transfer as provided by TRAIN, 1,796,730 near poor wage earners will also become even poorer. "Due to the said households' families' bigger size compared to the DoF's assumed typical household size in its computations or even compared to its sample of five (5) thousand households in each income grade, and because the National Housing Targeting System (NHTS) methodology is unable to identify 13 percent of the poor, millions of near poor people risk becoming poorer," Hontiveros said. Tobacco tax in TRAIN will generate additional P 50 B, reduce 1.5 M smokers Meanwhile, Hontiveros, who is the Vice-Chair of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, wants to include additional excise taxes on tobacco products in the TRAIN by doubling tobacco taxes, with an annual rate increase of 10 percent in the succeeding years. She said that additional tobacco taxation in the TRAIN will generate an additional P 50 Billion worth of revenues and reduce the number of smokers in the country by more than 1.5 million. "The proposal to include additional tobacco taxation in the TRAIN will hit two birds with one stone. It will generate the government billions of Pesos of needed revenues and prevent the prevalence of many life-threatening illnesses caused by smoking, which include lung cancer, stroke, coronary heart disease, chronic Bronchitis and other lung diseases," Hontiveros said. Press Release November 22, 2017 POE: CYBERSPACE AN 'INCREASINGLY DANGEROUS' PLACE FOR CHILDREN Sen. Grace Poe is renewing her call for a Senate investigation into the proliferation of child pornography and sexual exploitation in the country which she described as "disturbing" that is fast becoming a "pervasive and extensive problem." As the nation commemorates the National Children's Month, Poe delivered a privilege speech on Tuesday, Nov. 21, pushing for an investigation that will focus on "putting an end to this social epidemic." "We need to show our countrymen and women, as well as the rest of the world, that a Filipino child is not for sale," said the senator in light of reports that eight in 10 victims rescued from online sexual rings are minors, with some as young as two months old. Poe cited "Sex Trade in the Digital Age" by Plan International indicating that children are not only being put up for sale on websites, but also being engaged through social media sites such as Facebook, dating apps like Tinder and Grindr, messaging apps such as Viber and Whatsapp, and e-commerce platforms like Craigslist. "This makes cyberspace an increasingly dangerous place for children and young people as it is now being used to facilitate their exploitation... Sex offenders are not only able to contact children online but also the abuse itself can happen via livestreaming. In effect, accessing technology has significantly increased the risk of children and youth being sexually exploited. At the same time, it has also made detection, prevention, and response an all the more complex matter, as physical and geographic boundaries are torn down," Poe said. The senator also mentioned about the harrowing details of a woman in Leyte province who was arrested for allegedly abusing nine children, including her eight-year-old daughter. The woman asked for Php1,500 from her online clients in exchange for a "show," even telling online customers that she could sexually abuse children of any age, and that the children could do whatever sex act the customer wanted "until the children cried in pain." According to Poe, the woman's actions ran counter to a common concept that a child's first line of defense against abuse and exploitation is his or her family, saying it was "so disheartening to receive reports that family members are not only standing idly by, allowing their children to be subjected to sexual exploitation." "I thus urge the Senate to conduct an investigation on the proliferation of pornography involving children in the country amid measures already in place to punish perpetrators and criminalize unlawful acts. The dignity of a child cannot be bought; it must never be compromised," the senator added. Poe earlier filed Senate Resolution No. 237 that aims to push for the investigation toward crafting remedial measures, amending existing laws and capacitating implementing agencies to make them more responsive in deterring and penalizing child pornography and prostitution, as the United Nations indicated that cases of livestreaming criminal cases in the Philippines are continuously rising. She noted, for instance, that the country ranks fourth among nations with the most number of prostituted children. "We have become one of the top 10 countries producing child pornographic materials and we are included in the top five countries where the persons being trafficked are children. Evidently, the commercial sexual exploitation of Filipino children has become a social epidemic in the Philippines," said Poe. In a related development, Poe also pitched for the immediate approval of her twin nutrition measures--Senate Bill (SB) 160 seeking to provide institutionalize the government's feeding program for malnourished public school students and SB 161 or the proposed First 1,000 Days Act that ensures the nutritional well-being of pregnant mothers and young children. Poe said it is important to pass these measures to effectively address malnutrition among children in the country and to promote the well-being not only of children but also pregnant mothers. The fear over turning downtown San Jose into a business-killing construction zone has transit agencies fighting over how to dig a 5-mile tunnel that will bring BART to the heart of Silicon Valley. When the project is done by 2026 or so, BART trains will run all the way to Santa Clara, with three underground stations in San Jose. All but 1 mile of the 6 miles of track that must be laid from the nearly completed Berryessa Station in northeast San Jose will be underground, much of it beneath Santa Clara Street, a main artery through downtown San Jose. Getting there, however, has San Jose officials worried. They look at other big BART construction projects through cities and foresee nothing but trouble. When BART was constructed on downtown Market Street in San Francisco, it took two generations for the core of that city to recover, San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said Tuesday. He and other Silicon Valley leaders are fighting BARTs preference to rip up Santa Clara Street in basically the same fashion that Market Street was torn up in the 1960s. Its known as cut and cover excavate the street for side-by-side tunnels, then cover it back over when done. Cut and cover would mean taking much of Santa Clara Street out of service for up to five years, something South Bay officials say would hurt businesses, not the least of which is the planned 8 million-square-foot Google campus near the SAP Center arena. Theyre backing an alternative strategy hatched by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, which is in charge of building the extension that BART will then operate. The VTA wants to bore a single, 45-foot-diameter tunnel that would allow the BART tracks to be stacked on top of each other. VTA officials say the single tunnel drilled with a giant boring machine similar to whats been used for San Franciscos Central Subway would be both faster and less disruptive than digging up streets. BART says stacked tracks would make it harder to evacuate people in an emergency in the three downtown stations in Alum Rock, near City Hall and by the SAP Center. Another concern is cost: The VTA has been told its method could add $521 million to a project thats already going to cost $4.7 billion. Liccardo disputes the higher cost, but figures a little extra money would be worth it in the long run. In the heart of Silicon Valley, we should embrace innovative methods ... rather than clinging to construction approaches of the 1960s that will gut several blocks of our citys core, the mayor said The fight has pitted BART General Manager Grace Crunican against Nuria Fernandez, who runs the VTA. Neither one wants to give, but they did agree to bring in a panel of outside experts last week to judge the two approaches. The panel concluded that BARTs method was preferred, especially in fire/life safety and emergency situations, Crunican wrote to her board in a Nov. 15 memo released this week. Fernandez shot off a separate confidential memo to her board a day later, saying that although there were considerations related to fire/life/safety that would need to be addressed in the design, the single tunnel as presented could be operated. In other words, VTA spokeswoman Brandi Childress told us, we are not hearing that the single bore is not doable. Meanwhile, time is running short. The VTA board must act by early next year if it hopes to get in line for federal funds. So where does that leave things? Basically theres a standoff, says one high-level transit source, speaking on condition of anonymity because the person needs to work with both sides. The VTA is not going to build something it doesnt want to build, and BART is not going to operate something it doesnt want to operate. Gold rush: State Sen. Scott Wiener, who has adopted the cannabis industry as one of his major concerns, is taking aim at new state regulations for recreational marijuana that will allow for big growing operations in California. By not limiting the amount of land that can be cultivated by any one operation, we are basically inviting mega industrial-scale operations into the state, the San Francisco Democrat said. It will squeeze out the small farmers that have been at the forefront of the industry for many, many years. Wieners anger is directed at rules issued last week by three agencies the Department of Health, Department of Food and Agriculture and the Bureau of Cannabis Control that do not limit the number of licenses a grower can hold or the total acreage one can farm. He said he hopes to make some changes when the Legislature is back in session next year. Although there were no limits written into the voter-approved Proposition 64 that legalized recreational marijuana sales, small growers had hoped the state would set a cap of 5 acres per farmer for the first five years. One of the 2016 initiatives biggest backers, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, said there would be no new gold rush of corporate cannabis as a result of legalization. Newsom, who is running for governor, appears to be fine now with allowing for big growers. Legalization is a process unfolding over many years, and regulations will need constant re-evaluation, Newsom said in a statement from Mexico City, where he is talking marijuana issues with trade officials. But he added, Im not ideological about this; Im watching closely to ensure that the rules are being applied with tough anti-monopoly standards that create favorable market conditions for small legal businesses. 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 This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Most years, the amount of greenhouse gases spewed by Californias cars, factories and power plants drops slightly a hard-won result of the states fight against global warming. And in any given year, one big wildfire can wipe out that progress. Over the course of just a few weeks, a major fire can pump more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than Californias many climate change programs can save in 12 months. Scientists debate whether Californias vast forests are emitting more carbon dioxide through fires than they absorb through plant growth. As global warming raises temperatures, making fires like the ones that tore through the Wine Country last month more likely, it could turn into a vicious cycle. Thats the reality, as painful and ugly as it may be, said Jim Branham, executive officer of the Sierra Nevada Conservancy, a state agency charged with protecting the ecological and economic health of the Sierra region. The sooner we get people looking at that reality, the sooner we can address it. To get a sense of the problem, look at 2015. Greenhouse gas emissions across the California economy inched downward by 1.5 million metric tons that year, the most recent for which emissions data are available. And just one fire in 2015 the Rough Fire, in the foothills of Fresno County produced 6.8 million metric tons of greenhouse gases, according to an estimate from the U.S. Forest Service. Other fires that year on federally managed land within California emitted 16 million metric tons. And 2015 was not an isolated case. In 2013, for example, the states economy cut 3.89 million metric tons of emissions, while wildfires produced as many as 22.4 million metric tons, according to the Forest Service. The Rim Fire alone, started near Yosemite National Park that August by a runaway campfire, emitted between 10 million and 15 million metric tons. The Rim Fire burned 257,314 acres of forest. For comparison, this years Wine Country fires together burned about 210,000 acres of forest, grassland, vineyards and urban neighborhoods. The huge scale of the fire emissions calls into question the ability of California to meet its climate change goal of slashing greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent by 2030. The state agency that oversees most of Californias global warming programs the California Air Resources Board does not include wildfires in its annual inventory of emissions, the official scorecard of the states progress on global warming. When state officials talk about how much California has managed to cut its emissions so far, they dont factor in wildfires. That could change. The board has spent much of the last decade researching how to calculate and track wildfire emissions and is working on a year-by-year tally. Theres a lot of uncertainties in quantifying this, said Dave Edwards, chief of the boards greenhouse gas inventory branch. Its not like power plants burning fossil fuels. Not all fires, after all, will produce the same amount of carbon dioxide for each acre that burns. Far less carbon is stored in the plants found on an acre of open grassland than on an acre of redwood forest, whose massive trees have been absorbing CO2 for centuries and using it to grow wood. In climate policy, forests are usually seen as one of the only available tools for extracting carbon dioxide the most common greenhouse gas from the atmosphere at a significant scale. And yet large, severe fires have become so common in California that scientists debate whether the states forests have turned into net producers of carbon dioxide, rather than carbon sinks. The balance could tip from one to the other over time, said Dick Cameron, director of science for California land programs at the Nature Conservancy environmental organization. We can go from carbon sink to source in a five- to 10-year period, he said. One study commissioned by the Air Resources Board estimated that from 2001 through 2010, the amount of carbon stored in Californias natural and working lands decreased by 150 million metric tons, with 80 percent of those losses coming from wildfires. With at least 43 people killed by this years Wine Country fires and thousands more lives upended, the emissions that fires produce may seem a distant, abstract problem. But measures to prevent those emissions may also help prevent wildfire deaths. Those measures include careful management of Californias forests by removing dead or smaller trees that have been allowed to proliferate through decades of fire-suppression policies. That can be done through targeted logging or by small, intentionally set fires during times when weather conditions arent likely to spread them out of control as is already done in many forests around the state. We just have way too much fuel in our forested landscapes, Branham said. The forests of today do not at all look like the forests John Muir would write about. David R. Baker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dbaker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @DavidBakerSF As the cannabis industry takes shape in California, one place it wont be able to advertise is on San Franciscos public transportation. The Municipal Transportation Agencys Board of Directors on Tuesday banned ads for cannabis businesses from the transit systems buses, trains, cable cars, stations and bus stops. The ban was a response to concerns that such ads are inappropriate for young Muni riders and might promote marijuana use among children. Wilson Chu, president of the Chinese American Democratic Club, which had supported the legalization of both medical and recreational marijuana use in the state, was among those pushing the board to act. There are many students that travel on Muni to and from school, and I think its a good idea to limit their exposure to these kinds of ads, Chu told the board. The board approved the prohibition on a 6-0 vote, with Director Malcolm Heinicke absent. It takes effect Wednesday just six weeks before the sale of marijuana becomes legal throughout the state and covers all commercial advertising of cannabis and related products, businesses and services, and was supported by Mayor Ed Lee. Board Chairwoman Cheryl Brinkman said the ban was not intended as a statement about recreational marijuana use but was an attempt to protect children riding Muni from being surrounded by its promotion. We dont intend this as any value judgment, she said. Legalized marijuana will be the law of the land. But were falling in line with what standard advertising practices are. Like many transit agencies, Muni already excludes advertising for alcoholic beverages, tobacco products and firearms, but has allowed advertising for medical marijuana businesses since 2014. Three of the citys 46 licensed medical cannabis dispensary and delivery services Eaze, Urban Pharm and the Green Cross promote their enterprises on Muni. Muni has more than 100 ads for marijuana-related businesses on its property. They range from small posters aboard buses to large banner ads outside to buses entirely wrapped in baby-blue ads declaring, Marijuana has arrived. Under the ban, existing ad deals with cannabis businesses will be honored until the contracts expire, but future displays will not be allowed. With sales of recreational marijuana to adults becoming legal Jan. 1, the demand for advertising from cannabis businesses is expected to boom. But no one opposing the ban spoke at Tuesdays hearing. Muni appears to be the first transit system in the Bay Area to enact a ban on marijuana ads, but that doesnt mean the ads will start showing up on other agencies buses and trains in the region. BARTs advertising policy doesnt mention marijuana, but Jim Allison, an agency spokesman, said the transit systems general counsel believes cannabis ads would be rejected under an existing clause banning unlawful or detrimental conduct. Thats because marijuana is still illegal under federal law. With legalization looming, San Francisco is struggling to figure out how to regulate marijuana sales. Gail Stein, the MTAs finance manager, had suggested that the board reconsider the advertising ban in six months, once the uncertainty had cleared. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. But Brinkman said that if concern over exposing kids to cannabis advertising is the reason for the ban, that shouldnt change when regulations are adopted. She also suggested revising the advertising policy to specifically build in protections for children. The bans impact on MTA revenues is unclear. Advertising generates $19.6 million a year in revenue for Muni. Denying marijuana ads could decrease revenues, but Ed Reiskin, the MTAs transportation director, said other advertising is expected to make up for any loss. After the vote, Chu said he was pleased with the boards decision, describing it as family-friendly. Theres been an exodus of families, he said. This should help keep families in San Francisco. Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com twitter: @ctuan Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai released a controversial plan Tuesday that would change the way the federal government regulates Internet service providers. The plan, expected to win approval in December, would roll back Obama-era rules on net neutrality, which aimed to ensure that companies like Comcast and Verizon treat all data equally across their networks, regardless of the content or sender. Consumer advocates see the FCCs move as a blow, as do Silicon Valley giants like Facebook and Netflix, which fear that the rollback could mean that the Internet providers charge more to speed their content across the providers wires. Small content companies worry that they could get squeezed out in a price war if the Internet service providers require companies to pay more. Ending net neutrality would be terrible for consumers, said Ernesto Falcon, a legislative attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco. It will give companies free rein to discriminate (against certain content) by allowing the Internet service providers to cut special deals with big companies. Pai says there is little evidence to support such fears, and the debate shows that we have yet to determine how to fundamentally approach cyberspace. In 2015, the FCC issued the rules because it feared that providers could give faster speeds to larger corporations who paid them more for network access, shutting out smaller competitors. Theoretically, service providers could also charge higher prices to consumers who want to see content originally confined to slower speeds. In undoing those rules, Pai is essentially saying such preventive laws amount to regulatory paranoia. The rules a solution in search of a problem will only hurt innovation by drowning companies with unnecessary red tape, he said. But Pais deregulatory, hands-off approach seems a bit outdated. After all, we are now witnessing the very real threats the broader Internet poses to our democracy and economy. Companies like Google and Amazon are increasingly amassing enormous market power. And U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia spread misinformation through Facebook and Twitter to influence last years presidential election. These events are not directly related to net neutrality, but they create an environment that screams for government attention. The debate over net neutrality is not going to end until Congress says what the FCC can or cant do, said Larry Downes, project director of the Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy in Washington. The last time Congress did anything was 1996 (with the landmark law that deregulated the telecom industry). Were just going to keep going back and forth with these issues. For example, Pai suggested Tuesday that the Federal Trade Commission, not the FCC, should be responsible for policing the industry and protect consumers. As a result of my proposal, the Federal Trade Commission will once again be able to police ISPs, protect consumers, and promote competition, just as it did before 2015, he said in a statement. Notably, my proposal will put the federal governments most experienced privacy cop, the FTC, back on the beat to protect consumers online privacy. Proponents of net neutrality say the FTC is ill-equipped for the task. For one thing, its not clear whether the FTC even has the authority to regulate companies that offer both phone and Internet service. And the agency can only issue enforcement actions on individual cases brought by consumers against companies. In other words, the burden falls onto the consumer to alert the agency about wrongdoing. The average American is not going to be familiar with the process, Falcon of the Electronic Frontier Foundation said. Its a lot of work to file a complaint with the FTC. Moreover, the FCC can issue rules that the entire industry must follow, which would prevent fraud. The FTC doesnt have such broad power, which means the agency can act only after a company commits a violation. These cases would have to be brought one at a time, which favors the broadband providers, Anant Raut, a former FTC attorney and antitrust lawyer in the Justice Department, wrote in an opinion piece for The Hill, as opposed to the consumer-friendly way it works now, when the blanket prohibition prevents the activity from occurring in the first place. Eliminating net neutralitys bright-line rules would shift the burden of enforcement against multibillion-dollar corporations onto beleaguered consumers. More on Net Neutrality What to know about the FCCs upcoming plan to undo net... We understandably harbor deep ambivalence about the Internets reach and power. But while net neutrality might have been an abstract term just a few years ago, our increasing dependence on the technology means a strict hands-off approach is wildly unrealistic and naive. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes Sooner or later, all technology gets regulated. Its just a question of how and when. Thomas Lee is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: tlee@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ByTomLee Explaining net neutrality Net neutrality is a concept that requires companies that provide Internet access like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon to treat all content equally. In 2015, the Obama a dministration issue d rules that legally codified net neutrality. Advocates feared that big corporations could pay Internet service providers to transmit their content at greater speeds. Therefore, smaller companies, which cant afford to pay such tolls, would be shut out. But some major Silicon Valley companies fear that they too may have to pay more to get their content streamed quickly to consumers. And consumers, for their part, may lose out because they cant get access to information, or could have to pay more to watch shows, advocates say. Opponents of the Obama-era rules say they were unnecessary and would stifle innovation. On Tuesday, Federal Communications Commission C hairman Ajit Pai said he plans to repeal those rules. The commission is expected to vote in December. Thomas Lee San Francisco law firm Sedgwick, hit by an exodus of attorneys and unable to find a merger partner, told employees this week that it will shut down in early January. The 85-year-old firm specialized in defending insurance companies in lawsuits against the companies and their policyholders. It had expanded geographically and into other lines of business but has been hit by a wave of defections this year. In January, three Sedgwick partners, including Michael Tanenbaum, who served as the firms chairman from 2007 to 2015, left to start their own firm. They took with them 14 other Sedgwick attorneys, including three partners, plus 18 other staff members. The same month, Drinker Biddle & Reath announced it was opening a Dallas office staffed with 23 lawyers including nine partners from Sedgwick. From there the departures continued, forcing the firm to close offices in Washington; Houston and Austin, Texas; and Fort Lauderdale, Fla. By August, the firm was down to 106 partners and 210 total attorneys, compared with 131 partners and 271 total attorneys at the end of 2016, according to as legal website Law360. The firm still has offices in Chicago, Dallas, Kansas City, London, Los Angeles, Orange County, Miami, New York, New Jersey and Seattle, according to its website. Sedgwick Chairman Michael Healy did not return requests for comment. According to news reports, merger talks with Clyde & Co., a British firm with an office in San Francisco, fell through, but Clyde could end up hiring some Sedgwick employees. A lot of people thought (Clyde) might be the white knight. By the time they evaluated it, (Sedgwick) had lost so many revenue generators, partners, that they backed out, said Larry Watanabe, a recruiter in San Diego County who placed some Sedgwick attorneys with other firms. In an email, a spokesman for Clyde said those reports are entirely speculative and have not come from us, although we are a fast-growing law firm in the U.S. with a focus on the insurance sector and a sizable California presence. In 2015, Sedgwick was 35th on a list of law firms ranked by the number of attorneys in California. At that time in had 147 lawyers in the state, down 16 percent from 2015, according to the list published by California Lawyer, which included firms with headquarters outside the state. That same year, it ranked 14th on a list of law firms based in California, ranked by total number of lawyers nationwide. Its common for struggling law firms to merge or be acquired, but not shut down completely, Watanabe said. The last major San Francisco firms to close their doors were Heller Ehrman, which filed for bankruptcy in 2008, and Thelen, which dissolved less than a month later. The Great Recession took a toll on law firms as corporate clients moved to slash costs. The legal profession took a big sink in profitability and productivity after 2007, said San Francisco attorney Bradley Marsh, a shareholder with Greenberg Traurig. Since then it has recovered, but not by a whole lot. Many companies continue to move more legal business in-house, and are hiring accounting and consulting firms to take over much of the routine work normally done by law-firm associates, such as discovery and document review. Some firms survive by charging top dollar $700 to $1,100 per hour for partners in premium areas such as white-collar criminal defense, intellectual property and tax law. Others go for high-volume work in commodity areas, including insurance, where partners charge $350 to $400 an hour. That can work, until partners start leaving with a big chunk of the business. Watanabe doesnt know what sparked the exodus at Sedgwick, but said that once it starts, its hard to stop. When employees see partners leaving and offices closing, they get spooked, he said. Kathleen Pender is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: kpender@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kathpender Christmas movies thrive on the sense that were all in this together, fellow passengers to the grave as Charles Dickens put it. That sense was common in the 1940s and 50s, an era that produced some of our best Christmas movies. Thats in stark contrast to today, an era so steeped in self-glorification that the most popular genre is the superhero movie, which is all about expressing the self at all costs, even if it means the routine destruction of entire city blocks. So, coming when it does, The Man Who Invented Christmas is not just a good movie but a welcome relief. If youre waiting for that nice Christmas feeling, this movie brings it on. It tells the story of Charles Dickens creation of A Christmas Carol, which becomes a way for us to experience that classic once again, but from a different angle. Were transported back to the early Victorian period and get to see the various key moments from that story play out as if in Dickens imagination. The movie is based on the nonfiction book by Les Standiford, which deals with the creation of A Christmas Carol and with its importance in Christmas iconography. That novella, which Dickens wrote very quickly in the fall of 1843, defined the holiday forever as the calendars biggest celebration. It also defined the way we think of Christmas. If youve ever dreamed of how nice it might be to visit London during Christmas week, youre probably responding to A Christmas Carol. Apparently, when Dickens wrote the novella, he was coming off of two flops and was in danger of being regarded as a flash in the pan. He was 31 and didnt start writing until October, for a book that needed to be in the stores by Christmas week. Actually, if you go back and read A Christmas Carol, you can tell it was written quickly. The writing is much more expansive in the beginning, and the last chapter is remarkably condensed. Dan Stevens plays Dickens as a big personality, someone exhausting to live with, whose wife complains that she has to walk on eggshells, never knowing what mood he might be in. Hes an emotional man but a man of compassion, with a tortured history, and hes facing pressure from all sides financial pressure, pressure from the characters in his head wanting to come out and pressure to produce and live up to his already exalted reputation. Screenwriter Susan Coyne takes Standifords book and layers it with appealing fictional conceits. (Coyne is best known as one of the creators of the TV series Slings and Arrows, a Canadian show about life inside a Shakespearean theater, in which Coyne also played the office manager.) Here, Ebenezer Scrooge is called forth into Dickens writing room as soon as Dickens finds the perfect name for him. For most of what follows, Dickens and Scrooge, who is played with sneering relish by Christopher Plummer, argue about where to take the story. Coyne also has fun putting lines from A Christmas Carol into the mouths of various characters, as Dickens takes inspiration from the life around him. Rarely has a movie ever captured the importance of a writers having unbroken concentration in order to work. On repeated occasions in The Man Who Invented Christmas, Dickens is interrupted by his family while he is in midst of conversation with his various characters, and this produces an effect of impatience within the audience. We want him to work nothing seems more important. The Man Who Invented Christmas ends up hitting most of the notes Dickens sounded so memorably in his classic: forgiveness, forbearance, generosity, charity, family feeling. Just as we worry, in A Christmas Carol, over the health of Tiny Tim, the movie makes us worry over Dickens decision as to Tiny Tims fate even though we know already what it will be. Like the Victorians, we need to believe that gentleness and goodness can survive in our world, and movies like this help. Mick LaSalle is The San Francisco Chronicles movie critic. Email: mlasalle@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MickLaSalle The Man Who Invented Christmas Drama. Starring Dan Stevens and Christopher Plummer. Directed by Bharat Nalluri. (PG. 104 minutes.) If Roman J. Israel, Esq. is remembered for anything, it will be for the chance it gives Denzel Washington to do a pure character role. Here hes nerdy and socially maladroit and has weird hair; and for the first 10 minutes, you might assume the movie is set in the 1990s or even the 70s: He wears huge glasses, his ties are fat and his lapels are enormous. But, no, this is a modern-day story about a man out of his time, a lawyer who had his formative experiences in the 1970s and has never really changed. Its interesting to see Washington play someone out of touch and unaware, someone who doesnt know how hes going over, someone, essentially, without charm. That is, its interesting ... without being entirely satisfying. Washingtons charm is half his arsenal. Roman J. Israel may prove that he can play a role with one hand tied behind his back, but we like that hand. So having proved his point, he doesnt really need to do this again. Written and directed by Dan Gilroy, whose directorial debut was the brilliant Nightcrawler, Roman J. Israel is presented, from its first moments, as the story of a good and valuable lawyers slide into moral compromise. Interestingly, the scenario is like a mirror image of Michael Clayton, about a compromised lawyers path to redemption, which was written and directed by Tony Gilroy, Dans brother. In such a movie, whether it depicts the journey from compromise to virtue or from virtue to compromise, we have to believe in the characters specialness and moral importance; otherwise, who cares and why bother making the movie? Unfortunately, it is precisely this part of the equation that Roman J. Israel fails to get right. Roman starts the movie as the silent partner in a two-man law firm specializing in human rights cases. His partner litigates, and Roman sits at a desk, doing the paperwork and figuring out the legal angles. But two minutes into the film, his partner has a debilitating heart attack, and Roman is left with the full case load. He also finds himself out of a job, because he owns no interest in the law firm. The movie has an investment in the audiences believing that Roman is some kind of great guy. But what happens? In every single legal maneuver, Roman screws up. In every single contact with another person, Roman annoys and alienates. Watching Roman J. Israel, Esq. is like watching a very long episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, only without the laughs, and without a lead character who even knows that hes annoying. Roman has no self-awareness at all just anguish that he cant connect. Actually, he does make one contact, with a social justice lawyer, Maya, played by Carmen Ejogo. Maya is an important role, because she is the only person who sees Romans hidden virtues, but, as written, Mayas admiration is mixed with pity. Still, the sympathy and intensity of Ejogos gaze is almost enough to move the audience toward Mayas point of view. Like Maya, we would like Roman to be great, if only because it would make for a better movie. But Roman is bad at doing good, so when he starts showing promise in the other moral direction, it hardly seems like a tragedy. It seems like a smart career move. Plus, he gets to wear decent suits and finally starts looking like Denzel Washington. Mick LaSalle is The San Francisco Chronicles movie critic. Email: mlasalle@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Mick LaSalle Roman J. Israel, Esq. Drama. Starring Denzel Washington and Carmen Ejogo. Directed by Dan Gilroy. (PG-13. 129 minutes.) This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The director of operations for popular San Francisco restaurant Limon Rotisserie has been charged with embezzling more than $200,000 from the upscale Peruvian dining establishment. Lorenzo Castaneda, 29, was arraigned Monday in San Francisco Superior Court on three felony counts of grand theft. Castaneda, who oversaw Limon Rotisseries catering business, is accused of diverting more than $200,000 from the company into his private bank account between February and December of 2016, according to court records. Castaneda, a Daly City resident, was arrested by police on Oct. 18. He has since been released from San Francisco County Jail on $90,000 bond. Our local businesses, big or small, have to be able to rely on those they entrust with their finances, San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon said Tuesday. This individual exploited the trust his employer placed in him. One of Limons owners, who asked not to be named, said he did not want to discuss the case and that Castaneda is no longer working for the company. Castaneda was hired at Limon in March 2015 and was put in charge of all parts of the catering business, including handling the money, court records show. Part of his job was working with third-party clients that provided meals to Bay Area businesses. Limons owners, though, discovered their books were off, and uncovered the fraud in November of 2016, according to court papers. Castanedas Burlingame attorney, Ryan McHugh, said his client denies all the allegations, and hes going to fight the case. We look forward to his day in court, McHugh said. In a 2016 interview with Chewse, one of Limons third-party catering partners, Castaneda described himself as the right-hand man of Limons owner. Limon opened its first location on Valencia Street in San Franciscos Mission District in 2002 and soon grew in popularity as it became known for its bold, seafood-focused fare. In 2008, the restaurant was damaged by fire, but reopened the following year after being renovated. While Limons mothership restaurant was closed, its owners expanded, opening the more casual Limon Rotisserie less than a mile away on South Van Ness Avenue. Limon Rotisserie recently opened a third location in Burlingame. The company also has a food truck that can be found every week at different locations around the city. Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky The Justice Departments lawsuit to block AT&Ts proposed purchase of Time Warner asks us to believe that the Trump administration has suddenly joined the trust-busting vanguard, lurching not only away from its own invariably pro-corporate reflexes but also to the left of recent Democratic predecessors. That would be a hard sell even if President Trump hadnt offered a simpler impetus: his abiding hatred for a particular Time Warner property, CNN. Administration officials could, of course, have good reasons for opposing the deal. The trouble is that Trump has made it impossible to trust the governments motives. The merger would give a major Internet and television service provider AT&T, which owns DirecTV control over valuable content such as HBOs. The Justice Department isnt alone in noting that this could allow the new company to wield unfair advantages that could stifle competition. But the government hasnt fought such so-called vertical consolidations of companies that dont compete with each other for decades. Comcasts purchase of NBC Universal, for example, was approved with a number of conditions by President Barack Obamas Justice Department in 2011. Even the lawyer leading the governments case against the merger said in an interview last year that he didnt expect it to be controversial. Moreover, the Trump administration has shown precisely the opposite instincts in nearly every other case by pushing to roll back regulations. The day after the governments lawsuit was filed, Trumps Federal Communications Commission chairman announced his intent to dismantle net neutrality rules that prevent Internet service providers from discriminating against content through differential access or pricing. Its hard to imagine a clearer rejection of the principle the Justice Department claims to be upholding by opposing the AT&T deal. Its no wonder, then, that observers have searched for an ulterior motive and readily found one in Trumps obsessive loathing for Time Warners CNN. Trump frothed at the network on Twitter as recently as last week, calling it bad and FAKE. He previously posted a video from (speaking of fake) his pro wrestling days in which a CNN logo is crudely superimposed over the face of the man he is pummeling. He even mentioned CNN in the context of a threat to block the merger during a campaign speech last year. In short, Trump is far less interested in protecting consumer choice than he is in menacing the free press. This commentary is from The Chronicles editorial board. We invite you to express your views in a letter to the editor. Please submit your letter via our online form: SFChronicle.com/letters. Im always fascinated by the movement of chefs from one kitchen to another, and how they adapt to new environments. Sometimes they soar and in other cases, they fall flat. Recently Ive been following the career of Polly Lappetito, who came to prominence at Ciccio in Yountville and earned a place in the Top 100. Her soulful cooking was a perfect fit for the compact space of a century-old building that at one time was an Italian market. Diners could see her working in the open kitchen where she prepared her versions of Italian American specialties, which were written in script on the one-page menu. Her kitchen turned out some of the best pizza in the Napa Valley, as well as straightforward pastas, main courses like pork Milanese and house-made cannoli. In May she was lured to the restaurant at the Culinary Institute of America at Copia. Before she arrived, the restaurant had debuted by taking a page from State Bird Provisions in San Francisco. The chefs would prepare dishes compressed beets with Point Reyes blue cheese; beet-cured salmon with fennel; and hanger steak tartine and one of them would then circulate in the dining room to sell them. While novel, the concept was an awkward fit in the large, modern restaurant. Lappetito returned to conventional service and started preparing a menu that looks similar to Ciccio, without the pizza. On a recent visit, for example, the menu included only a dozen savory items, starting with chicken liver toast with crispy sage ($6) and a simple escarole salad with walnut vinaigrette ($11). Vitello Tonnato ($14) was right out of the Ciccio playbook: a linear pile of shaved meat on preserved tuna with aioli and dots of capers. There is a classic cacio e pepe ($16), bucatini with black pepper and Grana Padano cheese. Main courses included a rustic vinegar-braised chicken with onions, spinach and pancetta ($21), and pancetta-wrapped lingcod ($25). While every dish was good, some lacked the finesse I found at Ciccio. The vinegar on the braised chicken was a little too sweet, and obvious seasonings like pancetta were relied on too liberally. That ingredient flavored the braised chicken, lingcod, and white bean and kale soup ($9). The cannoli that was a must-order at Ciccio is also on the CIA menu; it was good but didnt taste as fresh as when I had it at Ciccio. I also returned to Ciccio to see how the kitchen was being handled under chef Bryant Minuche, her former sous chef. The food is in the same vein but missing the precision Lappetito brought to the menu. That is especially true of the pizza ($24), which was a little doughy. When paying $24 for any pizza (the cost of even the margherita), it should be perfect. The menu also seems to have expanded. It included a satisfying gnocchi with Sunday Sauce ($19), a rich tomato meat sauce with cherry peppers; and herb-crusted Mount Lassen trout ($26) atop golden beets and caper aioli. Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more. I was a little disappointed in the too-sweet semifreddo ($6). However, one thing that never disappoints is the offering of a half-dozen variations on the negroni. While Ciccio felt a little off kilter, the Restaurant at CIA Copia was better than what I remember. However, it still wasnt as good as the meals orchestrated by Lappetito at Ciccio. Part of the reason is that the CIA dining room has a more refined setting with carpeted floors and expansive windows. The more corporate vibe seemed slightly at odds with the more rustic food. However, the two might mesh over time as the chef gets more comfortable with the new, larger space and subtly adjusts the menu. Ciccio, 6770 Washington St., Yountville; (707) 945-1000. www.ciccionapavalley.com. Dinner 5-9 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday. The Restaurant at CIA Copia, 500 First St., Napa; (707) 967-2555. www.ciaatcopia.com. Lunch (or brunch) and dinner daily. Michael Bauer is The San Francisco Chronicle restaurant critic and editor at large. Email: mbauer@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @michaelbauer1 Instagram: @michaelbauer1 Ala Ebtekars rug was a month late for the art opening, but exhibition organizers saved a place for it in the middle of the 36 individual works that form Sanctuary, an art installation inside the Fort Mason Chapel. When the final piece was placed, in early November, the exhibition was complete and the polished wooden floor of the church got covered with intricately woven rugs as if they are yoga mats. You have no idea how the whole thing comes together until you walk in, says Ebtekar, after visiting the chapel for the first time. I think the exhibition is best experienced as a collective of voices. It demands that kind of engagement. Because the show is called Sanctuary and it is in a sanctuary, it is art you can sit on and art you can lie down on and art you can spend all afternoon with once you remove your shoes at the door. Clean socks are advised. If you dont have a pair, you can borrow a pair of slip-ons. Bare feet are not an option. The art and the footwear were put there by For-Site, the ambitious San Francisco public art organization that is headquartered at the Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture. It makes use of historic locations in the Presidio national park, and this is the first time it has employed the chapel, which sits off by itself on the upper campus, a white Mission-style building with a bell tower. For-Site is increasingly an activist foundation, and Sanctuary was a response to Executive Order 13769, commonly known as the travel ban or the Muslim ban. Thirty-six artists from 21 countries were invited to submit one design each. Those were sent to Pakistan to be converted by master rug makers into 4-by-6-foot rugs of wool yarn, each 3 inches thick. A team worked full time on the rugs, and they were shipped in groups when completed. The most intricate of the rugs took the longest, and that was the design by Ebtekar, a lecturer in art at Stanford University. Persian carpets are sacred where I come from, says the 39-year-old artist, who grew up in Berkeley but spent years studying in Iran. As such, he knows that the rug is the first thing that is laid down to make a home. His rug, titled Makan: A Sense of Place, is deep with Islamic mysticism. If you stare down at it, you will see four angelic figures embedded in multiple shades of purple, blue and indigo. Its this continuous inward outward movement that I am trying to point at, he explains. A doorway to another place. It takes some quiet concentration to understand it, and the chapel provides it. The chapel was built in 1942 when Fort Mason served as the Port of Embarkation for the war in the Pacific. You can imagine the troops who took their last moments of solitude here before going down the steps to the dock and shipping off to war. The pews have been removed for Sanctuary. You can lie on your back on the rugs and look up at a wooden ceiling designed to evoke the ribs of a boats hull. In the afternoon, the western sun filters through stained glass like a spotlight, shifting from rug to rug. Sam Whiting is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: swhiting@sfchronicle.com Instagram: @sfchronicle_art Sanctuary: 11 a.m.-6 p.m Wednesday-Sunday. Through March 11. Fort Mason Chapel, Franklin and Bay streets, S.F. www.for-site.org LOS ANGELES Americans from all walks of life have been elected president of the United States. There have been governors and generals, senators and members of Congress, secretaries of states and vice presidents. There was even a billionaire business executive chosen as commander in chief. But never in the 228 years since Gen. George Washington was sworn in as president has a sitting mayor been elected to the White House. Eric M. Garcetti, the mayor of Los Angeles, may be out to change that. The odds are long: Garcetti was sworn into his second term as mayor just five months ago, and has not built a particularly broad record of accomplishments to showcase to the nation. But over the past few months, Garcettis sights have clearly been set beyond the art deco tower that is Los Angeles City Hall. He has traveled to Florida, Louisiana and New Hampshire, and was in Las Vegas on Saturday, speaking to a convention of carpenters. He went to Indiana, to announce the creation of a group of mayors, business and labor leaders to promote infrastructure investments, and appeared on Chris Matthews Hardball to talk national politics. And in the course of an hourlong interview in his office, Garcetti, 46, a Democrat, made clear that, as unlikely as it might sound, he is considering a run for president, after announcing he would not run for governor. There are 23 states that have a population smaller than Los Angeles, he said. Garcettis attempt to test these waters and the fact that he is being watched with some seriousness despite never running a national or even statewide campaign before may say less about this citys mayor and more about the national political landscape. The success of Trump, a business executive who had never run for office before, appears to have lowered the bar on the qualifications needed to run for the White House. And the Democratic Party is grappling with a sparse bench of candidates many of its brightest prospects are in their 70s, like Joe Biden, the former vice president, or are relatively young and little known, like Garcetti. I dont think its crazy at all, said Dan Pfeiffer, White House communications director under President Barack Obama. The traditional definitions of electability have been turned on their heads. The skills that get someone through a presidential campaign are no longer resume-based. Obama had served two years in the Senate when he started running for president. Mike Murphy, a Republican adviser to the presidential campaigns of Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Jeb Bush, compared Garcetti to Jimmy Carter, little-known as a first-term governor from Georgia who ran as an outsider against Washington after Watergate. Its audacious, but its not insane, Murphy said. Hes good on his feet. Generational. Hes got a story: West Coast, the future. Incidentally, it has been nearly 40 years since a Californian was elected president, something that does not appear to scare off the mayor. Garcetti arrived at the interview loaded with statistics and sound-bites, as he offered himself as a member of an impatient next generation ready to lead a Democratic Party that he described as being as weak as he could remember. The classic rules of American politics are dying if not dead, if you look at the last two presidential elections, Garcetti said. An African-American could never be president until one was, a TV reality star couldnt become president until one was. Theres definitely an impatient next generation ready to move, he said. Despite broad support, Garcetti, has been criticized for being painstakingly cautious, in contrast to the previous mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, who constantly was throwing out ambitious and sometimes criticized as too ambitious ideas: planting a million trees, or taking over the school board. (That said, he succeeded in pushing through a major expansion in the regions transit system.) Garcetti may end up looking more attractive in places like New Hampshire than Los Angeles. The mayor running for president? Eli Broad, a philanthropic and civic leader, said archly. Hes showing quite some ambition. Hes stayed away from many controversial issues, Broad said. Pensions. Education reform. Hes done a lot of other good things for the city. But hes not Mike Bloomberg. Murphy, a Republican adviser who lives in Los Angeles, said that while Garcettis bearing and biography would win him a burst of early attention, he may not have the record to carry him through a competitive primary. He doesnt have an ideological profile, Murphy said. He cant brag about having done much of anything in Los Angeles. The reputation he has among California pols is as a showhorse, not a workhorse. Homelessness in the city has reached alarming levels, with clusters of tents showing up in neighborhoods and business districts. Crime here, as in many cities, is on the rise. The citys finances have benefited from the economic rebound of the past few years, but the budget faces shortfalls in the years ahead. That said, downtown Los Angeles is booming. Garcetti championed voter approval of a bond to finance $1.2 billion in housing for the homeless, as well as a sales tax to produce $120 billion to expand the mass transit lines over the next 40 years. He mentioned both measures as the kind of thing he could brag on should he run for president, as well as the success in luring the Summer Olympics back to the city in 2028. The White House is not where power comes from in this country, Garcetti said. The cities and the local communities of this nation are prepared to save Washington and not vice versa. Garcetti said he was proud to be a Democrat but I dont walk around with a D on my forehead. Im progressive and Im practical. In Los Angeles, Garcetti backed raising the minimum wage and reducing business taxes. In the interview, he said he supported a national single-payer health care program but was not ready to endorse another big priority of some party activists, impeaching Trump. California is not exactly viewed as representing mainstream American political thought these day, though Garcetti said he did not view that as a hindrance. I dont buy the idea that cities or where I am geographically are some sort of outlier. Adam Nagourney is a New York Times writer. A woman who recently moved into house in Danville wanted to dispose of a box of fireworks shed discovered, but when she dropped them off at a local fire station Tuesday morning, firefighters discovered an potentially explosive surprise. Found in the box with the fireworks was what appeared to be a homemade type pipe bomb, said Deputy Chief Lon Phares of the San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District. The homemade explosive device prompted police to shut down streets in Danville and call in a bomb squad, officials said. The name of the woman who dropped off the box was not disclosed, and neither was the Danville address of where she found the explosive. Phares said the fire department notified the Contra Costa County Sheriffs Office, Walnut Creek Police, and the FBI, per standard protocol. The Walnut Creek Police bomb squad was deployed to the Lusitano Street fire station where the box was dropped off and they dismantled the pipe bomb on the spot, Phares said, adding that transporting the device could have been more dangerous. With something like that we dont know how it was made, if its real, if its fake, Phares said. The streets surrounding the station were closed for more than an hour while the device was being dismantled. Phares said that there would be an investigation into how the pipe bomb made its way into the house, though he was unsure which agency would conduct it. The Contra Costa County Sheriffs Office did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the status of the investigation. Sophie Haigney is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sophie.haigney@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SophieHaigney A number of Fremont residents have successfully sued their condo complex over a rule that prohibited children from playing outside. The dozens of tenants living at the gated residence on Sequim Common had long been prohibited from allowing their children to run and play outside within the complex gates, due to a rule set up by the Homeowners Association, as KPIX reports. Plaintiff Domenicka Lewis told KPIX that notices were distributed to tenants, telling them that minors under the age of 14 were to refrain from riding bikes, skating, skateboarding, or playing outside, or else guardians could be subject to a fine. The HOA reportedly said the rules were instated due to safety concerns. Lewis, however, says she was subjected to threats and warnings from HOA board members, and that she and her two children were harassed. Now, however, the managers of the condo are being forced to pay $800,000 to the residents as the result of an effective class action lawsuit investigated by a housing nonprofit called Project Sentinel and brought forth by pro bono representation. Following the settlement, each household member will receive close to $2,300. Additionally, board members of the Silvertree Mojave Homeowners Association must undergo fair housing training and post signs indicating that children are allowed to play outside. In March, the Los Angeles Times answered a question from a reader who asked if a condo complex could prohibit children from playing on grassy areas outside the buildings. "The short answer is no," the columnist responded. "Children should generally be allowed to play in the common areas. Federal and state fair housing laws protect families with minor children from discrimination. These laws prevent housing providers from creating rules that single out children, because children have as much a right to use and enjoy the property as adult tenants." Alyssa Pereira is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at apereira@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @alyspereira. There's a spooky mystery brewing at the famous monarch butterfly sanctuary in Pacific Grove. Each morning, anywhere from a few dozen to a few hundred butterflies are found flying through the air dead. "We find monarch butterflies that are missing abdomens early in the morning. Seemingly something's eating them just before sunrise," Nick Strong of the Pacific Grove Museum told KSBW. "... They still have their brains and legs and everything so they can still move around a little bit." The zombie butterflies, as they're being called, can fly around for a few hours until they finally drop to the ground, dead. It's the second straight year this macabre sight has been witnessed, but scientists still don't know what's causing it. "We don't know that it's a bug. There are a handful of known monarch predators. Wasps, yellow jackets are one," Strong said. "But also squirrels have been witnessed eating monarchs here in the sanctuary." MORE: Beach weather takes hold of the Bay Area Last year, the grove saw 17,000 butterfly visitors, so it's not a terribly threatening epidemic. But it's nonetheless a disconcerting development for the already endangered monarch butterfly. "We believe there were at least 10 million butterflies in many of the years during the 1980s," associate professor of biological sciences at Washington State University Cheryl Schultz told the Chronicle in September. "It's gone down from 10 million to 300,000. That's why we were so shocked. We did not expect it to be that sharp of a decline." Scientists are still studying exactly what is leading to their dwindling numbers, but a lack of milkweed, decrease in habitat and the perils of pesticides, climate change and herbicides are likely among the top factors. The San Francisco Public Library tried being nice. Now its playing hardball. It wants its overdue books back, and its going to sic the tax collector on 13,000 of its worst offenders. In a new crackdown, which takes effect Jan. 1, the library will ask the office of the San Francisco tax collector the same outfit that evicts people from their homes for not paying their property taxes to get into the act. We have an opportunity to reach out to our patrons, said library spokeswoman Katherine Jardine, adding that its the first time the tax collector and the full range of debt collection strategies have been employed to settle library debts. In past years, the library has offered amnesty to scofflaw borrowers, waiving overdue fees and lost book charges to get books returned. Last winter, the library got back 2,000 missing books in its most recent amnesty program. (One of the returned books, a collection of short stories, had been borrowed in 1917 by the great-grandmother of the man who brought it back with a sheepish expression.) The library offered amnesty in 2009, 2004 and 1998 as well. But not this time. If you offer amnesty too often, say librarians, theres no incentive for scofflaws to return the books. They can just wait around for the next amnesty. Under the six-month crackdown, dreamed up by City Librarian Luis Herrera and announced at a recent meeting of the San Francisco Library Commission, the library will pay $73,000 to the Bureau of Delinquent Revenue arm of the tax collector to hire its debt collectors and have them use leverage mechanisms to resolve debt on a case-by-case basis. The mechanisms will start with a series of three letters and three emails that say tax collector on them, Jardine said, and ratchet up from there. If library patrons have moved, Jardine said, city debt collectors may use their resources to find out where the individual lives now. They can also put deadbeats on installment plans and accept partial payments to settle accounts, just like auditors from the Internal Revenue Service. But the library says there will be no heavy-handed debt collector stuff such as credit rating dings, late-night phone calls or property liens as punishment for such offenses as failing to return Green Eggs and Ham. This is not going to be the same thing as having a person come to repossess your TV in the middle of the night, promised Cathy Delneo, the librarys chief of branches. Herrera told the library commission that debt collectors techniques would be consistent with their collection efforts for other city departments such as San Francisco General Hospital. At present, the fine for overdue books is 10 cents a day, up to a maximum of $5. After that, the book is assumed lost and the borrower is billed for its replacement cost. The librarys 135,000 active borrowers owe $3.7 million in fines and fees. The new program is targeted at only the worst offenders, those who owe more than $100. Jardine said only 2 percent of borrowers are responsible for half the total outstanding fines and fees. Patrons with more than $10 in fines are forbidden from checking out more books and materials, although they are free to visit the library and read books on the premises and use facilities such as the restrooms, Jardine said. Steve Rubenstein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: srubenstein@sfchronicle.com This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 courtesy Petty Curse Books Show More Show Less 2 of 3 courtesy Petty Curse Books Show More Show Less 3 of 3 Celebrate Small Business Saturday at the San Francisco Ferry Building, where Paul Madonna will be hosting a meet and greet in conjunction with his recently released novel, Close Enough for the Angels. Madonna is a Bay Area darling, due in part to his long-standing comic series All Over Coffee, which ran in The Chronicle for 12 years. Close Enough for the Angels (from Petty Curse Books) incorporates more than 100 rich drawings, which bring a haunting visual element to a story of a mysterious disappearance and a former celebritys unwilling return to the limelight. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The Apple logo was green. The symbol for Foot Locker was a sneaker. And Starbucks? The famous siren on every Frappuccino and chai latte was not exactly the friendliest-looking sea dweller. When 156 people were recently asked if they could draw some of the worlds most famous brand logos from memory, some of their re-creations were laughably off the mark. But something was not so funny for the companies that have tried to sear their brands into the minds of people everywhere: For 10 major brands, including Walmart, Burger King and Ikea, the overall percentage of near-perfect drawings was just 16 percent. That means fewer than one-fifth of the participants could remember the correct positioning of the familiar blue-and-red rectangle of Dominos, or the three black stripes of Adidas. Even Target whose emblem involves a simple red bulls-eye above the brand name confused people: 41 percent forgot the number of circles. People spend so much on marketing to get people to recognize and remember their brand, said Nelson James, co-founder and chief operating officer of the e-commerce site Signs, which led the study. We just wanted to know does it work? The answer is that being able to recognize a logo and being able to re-create it appear to be vastly different things. Although participants thought they had a good grasp on the designs, expressing confidence that they could redraw them without seeing them, their actual reproductions proved otherwise. Logos are what companies use to help customers identify the brand, and choices like design, color and font are critical, James said. Having these logos where you cant correctly recall details means something. In an age of digital saturation, perhaps many of these carefully constructed logos are not as memorable as we think. A study conducted in 2014 by psychologists at UCLA similarly asked 85 participants if they could draw the familiar Apple logo from memory. More than half the subjects even identified themselves as strictly Apple users. Yet only one could draw the symbol perfectly, as scored by a 14-point rubric. Should Apple be worried? Not necessarily. Alan Castel, a psychology professor who was one of the authors of the study, said that the inability to accurately recall such daily ephemera as a brand logo really might be a beneficial quirk of our memory system. We dont burden our memory with things we dont need to know, Castel said. He referred to a famous study in 1979 by psychologists Raymond Nickerson and Marilyn Jager Adams, in which participants were asked to draw the face of a penny. Most struggled. Its rare that you really need to recall something from memory, Castel said. You simply recognize it, you see it on an item or a computer. You like it, you buy it. Many brands, including Uber, YouTube and Dropbox, have recently redesigned their logos, trying to make them more simple, more intuitive or more easily recognizable. In 2014, Airbnb announced its new logo, which it calls the Belo, in a video that noted that the design was easy for customers to draw. Paul Stafford, co-founder of DesignStudio, the agency that led the effort, said that Airbnb envisioned people renting out their homes and putting their own spin on the Belo on everything from magazines to bathrobes and shampoo bottles, like a hotel. We had to create something that was so simple that everybody could draw it and interpret it themselves, Stafford said. They also wanted people to be sharing it. Right down to the people tattooing the mark on their arms. Stafford, however, said that he did not think that being able to draw a logo necessarily indicates how well it resonates. People often see logos so much that they feel like they know it. But they rarely critique it or study it enough to reproduce fine details a phenomenon that psychologists like Castel call inattentional amnesia. When something is seen frequently, the information ends up being more easily ignored or forgotten. For instance, Castel said he would be curious how accurately people could recall the fine details of a stop sign. We know its red, but the more subtle features the exact shape of it, whether theres a white border around it these are things we often miss, even though weve seen it millions of times, he said. Perhaps the most surprising result of the Signs study was the company that fared best: Ikea. The Swedish furniture maker with the distinctive blue-and-yellow logo plastered across its giant retail stores was redrawn near-perfectly by 30 percent of the participants. Asa Nordin, who is a senior coordinator of Ikea trademarks at Inter Ikea Systems, said the unique shape, colors and longevity of the logo it has been around since 1983 most likely contributed to its memorability. The logo is merely the symbol for what the Ikea brand promises and delivers, Nordin said in an email. The logo shall mirror that promise as near as possible, as well as stand out from its surroundings. To be consistent and unique is clearly a strength of a logo. The hardest logo to draw was Starbucks, which was redesigned in 2011. It is also the most complex. Simplicity is key, James said. Thats not necessarily a new concept. But this definitely corroborates that idea. But is any logo overwhelmingly memorable? James is now curious. Initially, he resisted putting an overly straightforward and ubiquitous symbol in his study, like those of McDonalds or Nike. We thought it was too simple, James said. But, I wonder. Zach Schonbrun is a New York Times writer. Number of the day $8,000 Thats how much Tesla goes through every minute, according to Bloomberg. Thats $480,000 an hour during the past 12 months. At this pace, Bloomberg says, the company would exhaust its cash at 11:17 p.m. on Aug. 6. To be fair, most Tesla watchers expect the burn rate to slow. The company is increasing output of the Model 3, and CEO Elon Musk is asking for a $250,000 down payment on orders for the new Founders Series Roadster, even though it wont be delivered for more than two years. Berry bounty No need to hold back on cranberries this year. Supplies of the Thanksgiving staple have piled up amid a strong U.S. harvest and a surge in imports. Companies are hoping that the government will approve a program allowing them to turn excess fruit into fertilizer a first-of-its-kind program for cranberries, which are native to North America. The Department of Agriculture could rubber-stamp the disposal proposal as early as this week. So whatever doesnt make it into your feast might end up in the compost. Goodbye, golden arches The McDonalds museum in Des Plaines, Ill., a replica of Ray Krocs first restaurant, will be torn down next month, the worlds largest burger chain said. The Chicago Tribune reported that the site has been plagued by flooding, leading the museum to close off interior access in 2008. Visitors could still peek through the windows of the red-and-white-tile mockup restaurant, complete with mannequin crew and original milkshake mixers, grills and fryers. The museum opened in 1985. Daily Briefing is compiled from San Francisco Chronicle staff and news services. See more items and links at www.sfgate.com. Twitter: @techchronicle Roche Holding shares rose this week after experimental medicines for cancer and hemophilia, both developed by Roche unit Genentech of South San Francisco, succeeded in much-anticipated patient trials, boding well for the Swiss drugmakers ability to grow. A cancer treatment called Tecentriq delayed the worsening of lung tumors when given together with chemotherapy and an older Genentech medicine, Avastin. Meanwhile, a drug known as Hemlibra succeeded in a late-stage study of the biggest group of hemophilia A patients, putting the company in a position to shake up the $10 billion global market for treating the blood disorder. Both trials are key metrics of whether Roche, the worlds biggest maker of cancer drugs, can rebuild its portfolio as its best-selling treatments face cheaper copycat rivals for the first time. The company is entering a three-year transition period as it tries to push forward new treatments, Chief Executive Officer Severin Schwan told investors last month. Roche has delivered a best-case scenario, Jeffrey Holford, an analyst with Jefferies LLC in London, wrote in a note on Monday. Investors had been skeptical about both studies, according to Holford. The shares rose 6.6 percent in Zurich, their biggest increase since March 2. Roche has returned 8.8 percent this year, lagging the 19 percent increase in the Swiss Performance Index. The companys American depository receipts also rose. The lung cancer trial, dubbed ImPower 150, is a milestone as Roche races drugmakers including Merck, Bristol-Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca in the field of immune therapy: drugs that free the bodys own defenses to attack tumors. How best to combine the new medicines whether with existing chemotherapy or other immune treatments has been an open question. In a strategic wrinkle, Roche tested its candidate Tecentriq with Avastin, a combination that could prop up the older medicines sales as well. Bristol-Myers and Merck are trying to expand use of their drugs, although Mercks blockbuster Keytruda has been considered the leading medicine for previously untreated lung cancer. The recent withdrawal of a European regulatory application for Keytruda has raised concerns about its growth potential. Still to come in the first half of next year are results to show whether Roches new cocktail can help patients live longer. But showing it can extend the time before tumors get worse is an important first step. The results for Hemlibra, also known as emicizumab, suggest that the medicine could compete in the broader hemophilia market after winning Food and Drug Administration approval last week for a smaller patient group. Hemlibras previous success was in inhibitor patients, people who develop resistance to replacement therapy for factor VIII, the clotting protein that, when its missing, results in bleeds. The Roche hemophilia drug is priced at $448,000 a year for long-term treatment. Thats far below the cost of other prophylactic treatment for inhibitor patients, but competitive with medicines for the larger group of people studied in the latest trial, according to Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Full results of both studies will be presented at upcoming medical meetings. Naomi Kresge is a Bloomberg writer. Email: nkresge@bloomberg.net Meg Whitman, who oversaw the breakup of one of Silicon Valleys pioneering companies, is stepping down as CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. Hewlett Packard Enterprise said Tuesday that Whitman will hand over the reins of the company to its president, Antonio Neri, on Feb. 1. Whitman, 61, took over Hewlett-Packard Co. in 2011 after it suffered a series of losses amid rising competition under her predecessor, Leo Apotheker. She slashed jobs and reset expectations for how well the company, once known for its innovation, could perform at a time when customers were adopting cloud computing services that HP was ill-equipped to provide. After initially opposing efforts to break up the company, a tech industry institution founded in 1939, she eventually agreed to split Hewlett Packards PC and printing units from businesses that aided corporate computing. In 2015, Hewlett Packard was split in two: HP Inc. sells PCs and printers. Hewlett Packard Enterprise, led by Whitman, is focused on selling data-center hardware and other commercial tech gear to big organizations. The company spun off a big chunk of its business software lineup last year in an $8.8 billion deal with Micro Focus International. Both Whitman and Neri, 50, will serve on the Hewlett Packard Enterprise board. Whitman said Tuesday that she plans on taking a little bit of downtime after a 35-year career. And she ruled out working for a competitor. Ive become quite loyal to Hewlett-Packard and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, she said. I love this company and I wouldnt ever go to a competitor. She was in the running to replace Travis Kalanick as the CEO of San Francisco ride-hailing company Uber but that job went to Dara Khosrowshahi in August. Before HP, Whitman served as CEO of eBay, a company she steered from a fledgling startup with just 30 employees into a household name. She was with the San Jose company from 1998 until 2008. She also ran an unsuccessful California gubernatorial campaign, which cost her $144 million. Hackers stole the personal data of 57 million customers and drivers from Uber Technologies, a massive breach that the company concealed for more than a year. This week, the San Francisco ride-hailing company ousted Joe Sullivan, chief security officer, and one of his deputies for their roles in keeping the hack under wraps. Compromised data from the October 2016 attack included names, email addresses and phone numbers of 50 million Uber riders around the world, the company said Tuesday. The personal information of about 7 million drivers was accessed as well, including an estimated 600,000 U.S. drivers license numbers. No Social Security numbers, trip location details or other data were taken, Uber said. At the time of the incident, Uber was negotiating with federal regulators investigating separate claims of privacy violations. Uber now says it had a legal obligation to report the hack to regulators and to drivers whose license numbers were taken. Instead, the company paid hackers $100,000 to delete the data and keep the breach quiet. Uber said it believes the information was never used but declined to disclose the identities of the attackers. None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it, Dara Khosrowshahi, who took over as CEO in September, said in an email. We are changing the way we do business. After Ubers disclosure Tuesday, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman opened an investigation into the hack, his spokeswoman Amy Spitalnick said. The Uber breach, while large, is dwarfed by those at Yahoo, MySpace, Target, Anthem and Equifax. Whats more alarming are the extreme measures Uber took to hide the attack. The breach is the latest explosive scandal Khosrowshahi inherits from his predecessor, Travis Kalanick. Kalanick, Ubers co-founder and former CEO, learned of the hack in November 2016, a month after it took place, the company said. Uber had just settled a lawsuit with New York over data security disclosures and was in the process of negotiating with the Federal Trade Commission over the handling of consumer data. Kalanick declined to comment on the hack. Sullivan spearheaded the response to the hack last year, a spokesman said. Sullivan, a onetime federal prosecutor who joined Uber in 2015 from Facebook, has been at the center of much of the decision-making that has come back to bite Uber this year. Last month, the board commissioned an investigation into the activities of Sullivans security team. This project, conducted by an outside law firm, discovered the hack and the ensuing cover-up, Uber said. Heres how the hack went down: Two attackers accessed a private GitHub coding site used by Uber software engineers, then used log-in credentials they obtained there to access data stored on an Amazon Web Services account that handled computing tasks for the company. From there, the hackers discovered an archive of rider and driver information. Later, they emailed Uber asking for money, according to the company. A patchwork of state and federal laws require companies to alert people and government agencies when sensitive data breaches occur. Uber said it was obligated to report the hack of drivers license information and failed to do so. At the time of the incident, we took immediate steps to secure the data and shut down further unauthorized access by the individuals, Khosrowshahi said. We also implemented security measures to restrict access to and strengthen controls on our cloud-based storage accounts. Uber has earned a reputation for flouting regulations in areas where it has operated since its founding in 2009. The federal government has opened at least five criminal probes into possible bribes, illicit software, questionable pricing schemes and theft of a competitors intellectual property, people familiar with the matters have said. The company also faces dozens of civil suits. London and other governments have taken steps toward banning the service, citing what they say is reckless behavior by Uber. The new CEO said his goal is to change Ubers ways. Uber said it informed Schneiderman and the FTC about the October 2016 hack for the first time on Tuesday. Khosrowshahi asked for the resignation of Sullivan and fired Craig Clark, a senior lawyer who reported to Sullivan. The men didnt immediately respond to requests for comment. Kalanick was ousted as CEO in June under pressure from investors, who said he put the company at legal risk. He remains on the board and recently filled two seats he controlled. While I cant erase the past, I can commit on behalf of every Uber employee that we will learn from our mistakes, Khosrowshahi said in the email. Uber said it has hired Matt Olsen, a former general counsel at the National Security Agency and director of the National Counterterrorism Center, as an adviser. He will help the company restructure its security teams. Uber hired Mandiant, a cybersecurity firm owned by FireEye of Milpitas, to investigate the hack. The company plans to tell customers that it has seen no evidence of fraud or misuse tied to the incident. Uber said it will provide drivers whose licenses were compromised with free credit protection monitoring and identity theft protection. Eric Newcomer is a Bloomberg writer. Email: enewcomer@bloomberg.net One of the two inmates who escaped two weeks ago from a courthouse in Palo Alto was captured in Stockton, but the other remained on the loose after speeding off in a vehicle, prompting a California Highway Patrol officer to fire a shot, authorities said. Tramel McClough, 46, was taken into custody but John Bivins, 47, escaped a second time. McClough was arrested on Tuesday, when CHP officers tried to stop a vehicle he was driving northbound on Interstate 5, south of Eight Mile Road in Stockton, about 5:15 p.m., officials said. The officers pursued the vehicle off Interstate 5 to southbound Trinity Parkway, where McClough jumped out and ran into a Walmart. He was later taken into custody. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Show More Show Less 2 of 3 California Highway Patrol / / Show More Show Less 3 of 3 A passenger in the fleeing 1999 Ford Explorer was identified as Bivins, the CHP said. When McClough jumped out, Bivins got into the drivers seat and drove off. At least one CHP officer fired his gun during the incident. No officers were injured, said Officer Charlie Katzakian, a CHP spokesman. CHP officials said the California license plate number of the Ford Explorer is 7TTY505. The car is not registered to the inmates nor to two accomplices already under arrest. It was not reported as stolen, according to the California Department of Motor Vehicles. Detectives with the Santa Clara County Sheriffs Office tracked the men to Stockton after receiving tips throughout the two-week search, said Sgt. Rich Glennon, a sheriffs office spokesman. The agency asked Stockton Police and CHP to assist with surveillance. Detectives spotted the men, prompting the CHP to chase the vehicle they were in. We cannot overstate how thankful we are to Stockton CHP, Stockton PD, and all agencies in this collective law enforcement effort to bring both these individuals back into custody, Glennon wrote in an email Wednesday. Bivins and McClough, both charged in a cell phone store robbery in Sunnyvale, escaped from the Santa Clara County Superior Court in Palo Alto about 9:30 a.m. Nov. 6, following a court hearing. A sheriffs deputy was escorting the men down a public hall near an elevator when they broke free and bolted out an emergency exit, authorities said. The pair jumped into a U-Haul that authorities believe accomplices left for them outside the courthouse and drove away. Sheriffs officials said that at the time of the escape, one inmate was handcuffed with waist chains and removed his leg shackles after racing from the courthouse. The other inmate freed himself from handcuffs before leaving the courthouse. Investigators found discarded restraints and a handcuff key during the search, officials said. A day later, Rene Hunt and Marquita Kirk were arrested and booked on charges of conspiracy and accessory after the fact in connection with the escape. Hunt, 54, from East Palo Alto, allegedly helped arrange the vehicle the inmates used in the getaway. He is a known associate of at least one of the men, said Glennon. Kirk, 44, was taken into custody at her Sunnyvale home after authorities learned she rented the U-Haul van the fugitives used in the escape, officials said. Kirk had a long-standing relationship with McClough, authorities said, but declined to release further details on the nature of it. McClough and Bivins had been in jail since February, when they were arrested in connection with an armed robbery in Sunnyvale. The robbers, armed with a handgun and knife, forced store employees to open a safe, then tied them up and locked them in a bathroom, police said. They stole more than $64,000 worth of cell phones and other merchandise before they were caught after a brief police pursuit, officials said. Bivins and McClough were being held without bail before they escaped. Anyone with information on Bivins location is asked to call 911. Jenna Lyons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJourno Police arrested a man wanted on suspicion of a shooting in Berkeley on Halloween night and charged him with three felonies and an enhancement Tuesday, officials said. The shooting in the 1500 block of Fairview Street wounded a 25-year-old man in the leg, police said. A man was shot dead Wednesday under the Interstate 880 overpass in Oakland and police were searching for two people in connection with the slaying, officials said. Police dispatchers received information from a caller about 3:15 a.m. that a man with a gunshot wound was lying on the ground under the freeway overpass, just west of the intersection of E. 12th Street and 19th Avenue, said Officer Johnna Watson of the Oakland Police Department. A San Jose teacher was arrested on suspicion of lewd and lascivious acts with a 12-year-old girl while she was attending a math camp at which he taught, police said Tuesday. The incidents reportedly took place during a math camp in July where Chad Zitzner, a teacher in the San Jose Unified School District, was teaching at a session held in Saratoga. Math Enrichment, the summer camp, employs teachers from various school districts for its summer break classes. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate An investigation into the slaying of a Concord teenager this month linked five suspects arrested in the case to a shooting that wounded a woman in the city in October, authorities said. Four people, including two juveniles, had previously been arrested in connection to the Nov. 6 slaying of Lawrence Janson, 17. Police made two additional arrest on Friday, one in the teens slaying and the other in the earlier shooting, according to the Concord Police Department. A third juvenile was charged with murdering Lawrence outside of Olympic Continuation High School at Salvio and Beach streets in Concord in what police called a targeted attack. All five of the suspects in that case are linked to the MS-13 gang and now face murder charges for Lawrences killing and attempted murder charges in an incident that occurred weeks before. Detectives determined that the five male suspects were linked to a shooting Oct. 13 near Ellis Street and Clayton Road, just outside of Ellis Lake Park, according to the Concord Police Department. A woman was shot in the leg and was later released from a hospital, police said. A sixth suspect, a 17-year-old boy, was arrested and charged with attempted murder in the Ellis Street shooting. He does not have a connection to the killing. Kristhiam Uceda, 20, of Concord was facing murder charges for allegedly shooting the 17-year-old. He is now facing an attempted murder charge for the Ellis Street shooting. Bryan Sermeno-Chachagua, 18, of Concord, was charged with hiding the gun used in the killing and is now also being charged with murder. Three 17-year-old boys have been charged with the alleged murder of Janson and attempted murder in the Ellis Street shooting. All six are facing gang enhancements, police said Monday. Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani After shooting and editing the film that many have hailed as the greatest ever made, first-time director Orson Welles made an interesting decision. In Citizen Kane, he shared the all-important screen with the directors credit the point in credits, usually at the end, where the directors name would stand alone with his cinematographer, Gregg Toland. In a sense, Welles was admitting that the groundbreaking, eye-popping visuals that would go on to influence generations of filmmakers were a product of co-authorship. Unlike today, when cinematographers get their own stand-alone credit (usually before the screenplay, production and direction credits), films of the 1940s mostly credited these visual artists on a screenshot that included some 10 or so technical artists. Cinematographer names would be in the same small type as that of set decorators, makeup artists and sound engineers. So Welles gesture was generous, but certainly just. Films, we often forget, are collaborative achievements, complicating the auteur theory of directors as creative gods. In this spirit, the Berkeley Art Museums Pacific Film Archive is celebrating these unsung visual artists in an intriguing series, The Art of Cinematography, which runs through Dec. 29. The days after Thanksgiving, though, make up the key weekend of the series. In The Passion of Joan of Arc (3:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 24; also 2 p.m. Dec. 10), Citizen Kane (5:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 25), The Tarnished Angels (8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 25), and The Seventh Seal (5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 26), the series is celebrating Rudolph Mate, Toland, Irving Glassberg and Gunnar Fischer not so much Carl Dreyer, Welles, Douglas Sirk or Ingmar Bergman. The Polish-born Mate was instrumental to the development of Dreyer, the Danish master of bleakness, shooting his first two great films, The Passion of Joan of Arc and Vampyr. In Joan, Mate photographs the seething crowds from a low angle against a white sky, making them seem so dark and small; a contrast to the extreme close-ups of one of the great faces Renee Jeanne Falconetti, who as Joan turned in one of the great performances in cinema history in her only film role. Mate went on to provide visual intensity for Alfred Hitchcock (Foreign Correspondent) and Charles Vidor (Gilda) and, as a director himself, for the noir classic D.O.A. and an early science-fiction masterpiece, When Worlds Collide, in which he worked with famed matte painter and designer Chesley Bonestell a San Francisco native to create a new world despite severe budget limitations. Bergmans most celebrated collaboration with a director of photography was with Sven Nykvist, who became the Swedish master directors regular cinematographer with The Virgin Spring in 1960. But it was Fischer who helped Bergman hone his look and style as the director developed in the 1940s and 50s. When Bergman broke out as an international art house force in the 1950s, Fischer was there, shooting Smiles of a Summer Night, Wild Strawberries, The Magician and, of course, The Seventh Seal. Set during the Crusades, the plot famously involves a knight (Max von Sydow) playing a game of chess with Death (Bengt Ekerot). It may have been set during medieval times, but the film based partly on the Book of Revelation has its roots in modern, Cold War times. Bergmans film was about the search for God amid the constant threat of dread and death, and Fischer based some of the visual look on photographs of the nuclear devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as well as barren desert nuclear test sites. This weekends portion of the series, which will later showcase the work of cinematographers for Agnes Varda, Alain Resnais and Akira Kurosawa, among others, contains one misstep and one very inspired choice. I wouldnt dissuade anyone from seeing The Tarnished Angels, and Glassberg does a fine job, especially with the aerial sequences, but it is Sirks collaboration with Russell Metty on garish Technicolor classics such as All That Heaven Allows and Magnificent Obsession for which the filmmaker is best known. And that brings us to the 2006 documentary Manufactured Landscapes (3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 26), one of the most gorgeous documentaries of this century. Director Jennifer Baichwal works with photographer Edward Burtynsky to create an oddly beautiful look at industrial landscapes, many of them polluted and toxic. Industrialization has remade the world theres a good side to that and a bad side and the film makes us realize that industrialization is irretrievably a part of our global DNA, like it or not. Its almost a natural part of our Earth. Manufactured Landscapes screens right before The Seventh Seal, so create your own double feature of bleakness. Theyre such totally different films, from different eras and different cultures, but their pairing makes a bizarre, inspired kind of sense. G. Allen Johnson is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: ajohnson@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BRfilmsAllen LOS ANGELES With Charles Manson dead, the next chapter in the Manson family saga will involve follower Leslie Van Houten. Van Houten is one of several Manson followers who are still alive and in prison. They periodically come up for parole review, though none has been released. Van Houten, who was convicted along with other members of Mansons cult in the 1969 killings of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, was granted parole in September by a panel of state commissioners in Chino. It was the 21st time that Van Houten, 68, had appeared before a parole board, and the second time that commissioners found her suitable for release. Debra Tate, the sister of Manson cult victim Sharon Tate, expressed concern about Van Houten being released. Its important for people to know that these are individuals that are still brutal monsters capable of committing heinous crimes, she told ABC News. Although Ive forgiven, I have not forgotten, and I feel its very important that they stay exactly where they are until they die. While Charlie may be gone, its the ones that are still alive that perpetrated everything, and it was up to their imaginations for what brutal things were going to be done, Tate added. In an odd way, I see them as much more dangerous individuals. Gov. Jerry Brown will now decide whether to release Van Houten after more than 40 years in prison. Brown rejected her parole last year, concluding that Van Houten the youngest member of Mansons so-called family posed an unreasonable danger to society if released from prison. Her attorneys have long argued that she was only 19 when she took part in the crimes and that she has been a model prisoner. In recent years, Van Houtens attorneys characterized her as a model inmate, earning a bachelors in English literature and masters degree in humanities while running self-help groups for incarcerated women. Manson follower Patricia Krenwinkel was found guilty of seven counts of murder in the killings. She has been repeatedly denied parole. Follower Susan Atkins died in prison in 2009. Matt Hamilton, Hailey Branson-Potts and Alene Tchekmedyian are Los Angeles Times writers. 1 Proof of citizenship: Emboldened both by President Trumps claim that millions of noncitizens voted in 2016 and by his creation of a panel to investigate the alleged fraud, lawmakers in several states want to require people registering to vote to provide proof of their citizenship even though federal registration forms dont require it. This year at least four states Kansas, Maryland, Texas and Virginia considered proof of citizenship measures, according to the Brennan Center for Justice in New York. That means residents must provide documentation such as a passport or birth certificate when registering to vote. 2 Transgender lawsuit: A federal jury has awarded a transgender woman more than $1 million after finding Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant, Okla., discriminated against her and wrongfully denied her tenure. The Oklahoman newspaper reported Tuesday that jurors sided with former English professor Rachel Tudor. Tudors lawsuit alleged the university treated her differently than non-transgender professors, including subjecting her to unfair rules about bathroom use and what she could wear on campus. Tudor, 54, also alleged the schools tenure committee voted in favor of granting her tenure when she applied during the 2009-2010 cycle, but administrators didnt follow the recommendation. The university denied allegations of gender discrimination. LANSING, Mich. A former doctor accused of molesting girls while working for USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University pleaded guilty Wednesday to multiple charges of sexual assault and will face at least 25 years in prison. Larry Nassar, 54, admitted to abusing seven girls, mostly under the guise of treatment at his Lansing-area home and a campus clinic. All but one of his accusers was a gymnast. He faces similar charges in a neighboring county and lawsuits filed by more than 125 women and girls. Nassar lost his license to practice medicine in April. Olympic gymnasts Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney and Gabby Douglas are among the women who have publicly said they were among Nassars victims. Some of his accusers attended the hearing Wednesday in a packed Ingham County courtroom. Some were crying. For all those involved ... Im so horribly sorry that this was like a match that turned into a forest fire out of control, Nassar said. I pray the rosary every day for forgiveness. I want them to heal. I want the community to heal. Nassar admitted to digitally penetrating the victims, agreed that his conduct had no legitimate medical purpose and that he did not have the girls consent. The plea deal in Ingham County calls for a minimum prison sentence of 25 years, but a judge could set the minimum sentence as high as 40 years. In Michigan, inmates are eligible for parole after serving a minimum sentence. Sentencing was set for Jan. 12. A prosecutor said 125 women and girls have filed complaints with Michigan State University police. Judge Rosemarie Aquilina told Nassar: You used your position of trust ... in the most vile way to abuse children. ... I agree that now is a time of healing, but it may take them a lifetime of healing while you spend your lifetime behind bars thinking about what you did in taking away their childhood. She called the accusers superheroes for all of America, because this is an epidemic. The girls have testified that Nassar molested them with his hands, sometimes when a parent was present in the room, while they sought help for gymnastics injuries. After the hearing, one of his accusers, Larissa Boyce, said it was really hard to look at Nassar in the courtroom. This was a man we trusted. Hes admitting what he did was wrong and evil, she said. Separately, Nassar is charged with similar crimes in Eaton County, the location of an elite gymnastics club. He also is awaiting sentencing in federal court on child pornography charges. David Eggert is an Associated Press writer. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate California Attorney General Xavier Becerra led top attorneys from 10 states Wednesday in threatening legal action against the Trump administration for planning to more than double national park entrance fees. A letter drafted by Becerra and signed by representatives of the mostly blue states says the proposal to increase the price of admission at Yosemite and 16 other marquee parks to $70 per vehicle during the busy season is not only unfair to many less affluent Americans but is inconsistent with national park policies. Our goal as a nation should be to make our national parks supremely inviting and encourage more families to visit them, Becerra said in a prepared statement. Instead, the Trump administration proposes the complete opposite. Since the rate plan was introduced last month, more than 65,000 people have logged comments about the hikes, most with concerns about people being priced out of such iconic spots as the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone. Californias Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks and Joshua Tree are also slated for the increase. Now Playing: The National Park Service has programs that'll let you live among nature for free. Video: Travel & Leisure The state attorneys general in the letter scheduled to be mailed on Wednesday to Michael T. Reynolds, acting director of the National Park Service accuse administration officials of failing to justify the fee increases, as required by federal law. For example, officials did not show that the proposed rates are commensurate with visitor benefits, nor did they document what effects they would have on park users, the letter asserts. The lawyers also say the administration is providing too little time for public input. If the concerns laid out in the letter are not addressed, Becerras office said litigation would follow. Becerras opposition to the rate hikes is just the latest of many legal challenges hes made to the Trump White House. The first-year attorney general has taken stands against the presidents proposed border wall, restrictions on travel from some majority-Muslim nations and efforts to cut funding to sanctuary cities, often winning court battles and putting the brakes on administration policies. Administrators of the Department of Interior, the target of Becerras new objections, have defended higher park fees as a way to pay down the National Park Services mounting maintenance backlog. The federal parks are estimated to need $11.3 billion of repairs to roads, trails, campgrounds, water systems and other infrastructure, well beyond the means of the agencys annual $2.8 billion budget. National Park Service officials did not immediately return calls for comment Wednesday. The agencys proposed rate plan would raise vehicle fees, which are good for a week, at highly visited parks during peak seasons. At Yosemite and Sequoia-Kings Canyon parks, as well as such hot spots as Yellowstone, Bryce Canyon and Glacier, the $70 price would apply May 1 through Sept. 30. At Joshua Tree, the new rates would run Jan. 1 through May 31. The 17 parks slated for increases currently charge $25 or $30 per vehicle. The parks are also scheduled to raise motorcycle entrance fees to $50 and pedestrian fees to $30. The new rates are scheduled to kick in next year after a public comment period, which was recently extended from Thursday to Dec. 22. The annual park pass, which provides admission to all parks throughout the year, would remain $80. The attorneys general joining Becerra in signing the letter of opposition are from many of the same states that have sided with California in other fights against the Trump administration: Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington. Right-leaning Arizona is also a signatory. So is the District of Columbia. Beyond the legal arguments, the attorneys concur with other critics of the Trump administration who say the parks plan doesnt make fiscal sense. Though higher entrance fees will bring in more money, as much as $70 million a year, according to federal estimates, the administration is simultaneously proposing a roughly $300 million cut to the agencys annual budget. While we acknowledge and appreciate the ongoing, critical funding needs faced by the service, addressing these needs should not come at the expense of making national parks less accessible, the attorneys write. Given the size of the deferred maintenance backlog, the most prudent step for the administration to take would be to seek additional funding from Congress. Kurtis Alexander is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kalexander@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kurtisalexander This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate This week, California should give thanks for Cheech. Richard Anthony Marin deserves our gratitude not just because his new autobiography, Cheech Is Not My Real Name ... But Dont Call Me Chong, is the best California book of the year. Or because he provides hope that short, bald men still can be stars. The biggest reason to thank Cheech Marin now is that his life embodies Thanksgiving itself: a big, robust meal that includes many different flavors but is ultimately for everyone. This California entertainer reminds us, happily, that our states cultural mainstream is so much more interesting and inclusive than we acknowledge. Indeed, Marin is evidence of a California paradox: To stay in the mainstream here, it helps to start as an outsider. Though Marin is still identified as a cult figure one-half of the Cheech and Chong stoner comedy team, which made the 1978 film Up in Smoke his career has been much bigger and more mainstream than that. Indeed, the dirty secret of Marins life, as he tells it, is that hes a square, a middle-class kid who spent his early years in predominantly black South Los Angeles. His father was a Los Angeles police officer; his mother was president of the PTA. By his teens, the family had relocated to a white neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley. Racially and ethnically, he was an outsider in both places, so the future actor-musician-writer-comedian did everything he could to fit in: Cub Scout, Boy Scout, altar boy and a little wiseass who got straight As in Catholic schools. He even worked in the signature L.A. industry aerospace during college in Northridge, manufacturing airplane galleys at Nordskog. The books signature moment, recounted by Marin as the Apostle Paul might have recalled his trip to Damascus, is when he smoked marijuana for the first time and found that the allegedly mind-rotting substance expanded his perspective. He thought: What else have they been lying about? And with that, he discovered art, awakened politically, dodged the draft, met Tommy Chong and began playing shows all over the world. He bought a house in Malibu and even practiced Transcendental Meditation, as taught by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Marin proudly identifies as Chicano and Latino and sees his heritage as bridge, not niche. The glory of being Latino, he writes, is that you are part of a diverse demographic that contains multitudes. My face has some kind of international malleability to it. Add your own preferences or prejudice to it, and I could be anything, he writes. But narrow-minded Hollywood types couldnt see his natural breadth at first. Marin countered by writing his own material, most successfully in the 1987 film Born in East L.A. The movie is quintessential Cheech framing the Mexican American story as fundamentally American and demonstrating the absurdities of putting people in boxes. Marins other strategy was to find roles in middlebrow productions and make them his own. He did a spin-off of The Golden Girls and co-starred with Don Johnson on the police drama Nash Bridges, set and filmed in San Francisco. While living there, he appeared in the premiere of a Sam Shepard play, The Late Henry Moss, at San Franciscos Theatre on the Square. And he turned himself into a regular voice in Pixar films, most notably as Ramone in Cars. Marin is unapologetic about mainstream success. His book includes an entire chapter on how he became champion of Celebrity Jeopardy. By his account, his old partner, Tommy Chong, foundered because he was not willing to evolve to reach audiences. Marin has made news more recently as a leading collector of Chicano art. Riverside wants to turn over its main library for the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art, Culture and Industry. Marin, ever mainstream, emphasizes, Chicano art is American art. Despite his cult status, its hard to call Marin countercultural now. Antonio Villaraigosa, who performed Marins most recent marriage, is a leading candidate for California governor. In January, recreational marijuana will become legal in Marins home state. Now that Marin is an institution, maybe its time to honor him as one. Perhaps California could create its own version of Mount Rushmore; the natural place would be the Granite Mountains in the Mojave Desert. There would be many candidates for this pantheon. But why not start by carving the stoner in stone? Joe Mathews writes the Connecting California column for Zocalo Public Square. To comment, submit your letter to the editor at SFChronicle.com/letters. Nato Green has been a driving force for comedy in San Francisco, honing his own politically charged rebel-with-a-cause act while hustling to keep comedy alive by promoting and supporting shows at the grassroots level. Hell do both on Saturday, Nov. 25, at Docs Lab in North Beach, recording his second comedy release titled The Whiteness Album at a venue that has been welcoming to local rising comics. The consulting business has been very lucrative for Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Antonio Villaraigosa, who saw his gross income soar from $202,000 in 2012, his last full year as mayor of Los Angeles, to more than $1.4 million in 2016. Villaraigosa made his tax returns available to reporters for about two hours Tuesday at the San Francisco office of his campaign consultant, Eric Jaye. All four of the main Democratic candidates to replace termed-out Gov. Jerry Brown have now made their taxes public. In Villaraigosas case, however, there are still questions remaining about where his money has come from. While the former mayors 2013 federal tax return named his consulting clients and listed exactly how much money he received from each of them, a change in accounting practices meant those names and amounts did not show up in more recent years. While campaign officials handed out what they said was a complete list of clients for those other years, they declined to say how much those clients had paid Villaraigosa. That information will be included in the Statement of Economic Interests Form 700 all California candidates must file. From 2013 to 2014, the mayors (limited liability company) went from a single-member LLC to a multimember LLC because he added his children to the LLC, Michelle Jeung, a spokesman for the campaign, said in an email. Because of the change the mayor made to include his children as shareholders in the LLC, he was no longer required to report his clients on his individual tax return, which is why we provided a list of his clients and the dates he worked for them. Details of his client income will also be reported on his Form 700 when he files for office next year. That form, however, reports income only in broad ranges, such as $2,000 to $10,000 or $10,001 to $100,000. And since Villaraigosa is not currently a public official, he doesnt have to file this economic interest form until March 9, the last day anyone can file to run for governor. In 2013, for example, Villaraigosa reported $519,000 in business income, including $162,500 from Herbalife International, a health supplement company; $150,000 from Banc of California; and $100,000 from Pro Tour Memorabilia. He also received $68,750 for doing strategic consulting for Daniel Edelman, a national public relations firm, and $90,800 from speeches. But though Villaraigosas client list and his income grew over the next three years, theres no record of how much any of those clients paid. Instead, his returns only list overall pass through income of about $1.2 million in 2014, $1 million in 2015 and $1.1 million in 2016. Though campaign officials said Villaraigosa has not shut down his consulting business, AltaMed, a community health-care company, now is his only listed client. Some of Villaraigosas clients could become issues in the governors race. Herbalife, a multilevel marketing company that did much of its business with the Latino community, was forced to pay a record $200 million to nearly 350,000 people the Federal Trade Commission said were victimized by Herbalifes deceptive earning claims when they signed up to sell the companys supplements. In 2014, Villaraigosa also worked as a consultant for Cadiz, a company that wants to pump groundwater from the Mojave Desert to Los Angeles to supply an estimated 400,000 residents there. Its a plan thats opposed by Sen. Dianne Feinstein and California environmentalists. Since 2013, Villaraigosa has been receiving a pension for his eight years as mayor and his two years on the Los Angeles City Council. That pension brought him $98,631 in 2016. Other income included $94,665 in 2015 and $49,496 in 2016 for teaching a class in politics at the University of Southern California. Villaraigosas charitable giving hasnt matched his fast-growing income. While making about $189,000 as mayor of Los Angeles, Villaraigosa reported no charitable contributions in 2011 or 2012 and did not itemize deductions in 2013. Last year, he gave $8,000 to charity on adjusted gross income of $1.3 million, down from $11,680 in contributions in 2015 and $10,255 in 2014, years when he also earned about $1.3 million in adjusted gross income. By contrast, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom gave about $63,000 to charity in 2015 on adjusted gross income of $1.7 million. In 2016, Delaine Eastin, former state schools chief, gave $16,408 on taxable income of $170,520. State Treasurer John Chiang, another Democratic candidate for governor, has given an average of about $3,600 to charity each year over the past six years, and had an annual income of about $185,000 over that same period. A spokeswoman for Villaraigosas campaign said the former mayor has given more than money to charities over the years. Villaraigosa has worked consistently over the years in a volunteer capacity for numerous charitable causes and organizations, Jeung said in a statement. Although Brown refused to release his tax returns in either the 2010 or 2014 elections, thats not an option for Democrats now, since party leaders continue to attack President Trump, a billionaire developer, for declining to make any of his tax records public. Neither of the two leading GOP candidates for governor, businessman John Cox and Orange County Assemblyman Travis Allen, have yet made their tax returns public. John Wildermuth is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jwildermuth@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jfwildermuth This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A quarter century after its creation, the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary has become one of the worlds largest outdoor laboratories, with teams of scientists spread across thousands of square miles of ocean studying everything from humpback whales to bone-eating worms that live on carcasses at the bottom of the sea. Known to marine biologists as the Serengeti of the Sea, the Monterey sanctuary is a wonderland of screeching seabirds, frolicking sea otters, breaching whales, great white sharks and giant sea turtles. But it is also a playground for kayakers, scuba divers and tourists who come from across the country to see one of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world. The diversity of this area is just amazing, says Andrew DeVogelaere, research coordinator for the sanctuary, which protects sea life from the high tide line down to 12,800 feet deep. Within 20 minutes, you can visit an estuary, sandy beaches, rocky shores, kelp forests and the underwater equivalent of the Grand Canyon. The sanctuary, which turned 25 this fall, encompasses 6,094 square miles of the sea, from kelp forests to deep ocean, and 276 miles of rocky shoreline in five counties, from Marin County south to San Luis Obispo. It is home to dozens of marine mammals and thousands of birds, including 26 species listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. It is an ornithologists dream, a marine biologists nirvana and a magnet for scientific research. In the broader Monterey area, we have about 50 different research institutions that are doing marine science, DeVogelaere says. If you are a marine scientist, this is the place to be. The dominant feature is, of course, Monterey Bay, which for 10,000 years provided American Indians with enough abalone, mussels, clams, snails and fish to sustain them. About 40 different Indian tribes lived between San Francisco Bay and Point Sur when the Spanish began settling the area in the 1700s. At the time, sea otters, pelicans, sea lions and harbor seals were abundant, and every kind of shorebird imaginable lived in the wetlands and sloughs. Offshore, there were gray, humpback, fin and blue whales, dolphins, harbor porpoises and great white sharks that came to feed on the rookeries. There is not a country in this world which more abounds in fish and game of every description, wrote visiting French explorer Jean Francoise de La Perouse after he visited Monterey Bay, marveling at how his ships were surrounded by pelicans and spouting whales. The Spanish turned marshlands into pastures and hired Russian and Indian hunters to harvest sea otters. At about the same time, whalers began killing off the humpback and gray whales. Kelp, abalone, squid, shark and sea turtles were also harvested in the area. By the mid 1900s, whales, sea otters, abalone and many other species were all but gone. The Monterey Bay sardine trade made famous by John Steinbecks 1945 novel Cannery Row peaked between 1910 and 1930 before that fishery, too, collapsed. In the 1980s and early 1990s, a coalition of citizens groups fought proposals to drill for oil in the Monterey Bay area. The fight prompted Leon Panetta, then a congressman, to propose legislation that led directly to the establishment of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary in 1992. Im just one of many who have drawn inspiration from this very special piece of ocean, Julie Packard, executive director of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, wrote on the facilitys website. Well never run out of stories to tell about this place but, more and more, theyll be about people, not fish how humans are taking action to protect and restore the ocean that sustains us all. In 2009, the Davidson Seamount, an underwater volcano southwest of Monterey and west of San Simeon, was added to the sanctuary. The expansion was deemed necessary after scientists documented a dense population of large, ancient corals, some of them a century old. The seamount is part of President Trumps executive order to re-examine whether to open 3,500 square miles of protected state waters to energy development. No decision has been made, but conservationists who fought for decades to protect Californias coast from offshore oil drilling vowed to oppose any effort to rescind sanctuary protections at the 11 sites under review. Drilling would be insane, environmentalists say, given the sanctuarys status as a world renowned, and highly successful, experiment in ecosystem restoration. Sanctuary officials report amazing increases in the populations of whales, sea lions and elephant seals, which migrate from Alaskas Aleutian Islands. Although sea otters are still in trouble, the lush refuge known as Elkhorn Slough is home to the largest population of the furry creatures on the West Coast. Engangered Pacific leatherback sea turtles, which can weigh up to 1,500 pounds, swim across the Pacific Ocean every year from their breeding grounds in Indonesia to feed on the abundant jellyfish in the sanctuary. And with the increase in wildlife has come an influx of biologists clamoring for an opportunity to study a recovering ecosystem. Both scientists and tourists watch every spring as gray whales attempt to lead their calves through a gantlet of hungry orcas to reach their feeding grounds in Alaska. The annual extravaganza of death happens as the leviathans attempt to cross a deepwater depression, called the Monterey Submarine Canyon, at Point Pinos, that bisects their route from Baja, Mexico. The canyon, which is 12,800 feet deep, is where scientists recently discovered a dozen species of bone-eating worms that devour the skeletons of whales. The bizarre, previously unknown creatures, soften bones enough for hundreds of other deep-sea scavengers, including anemones and crabs, to feed, according to scientists with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. Another study 2 miles below the surface off Point Sur found 300 new types of corals, sponges, sea stars, crabs and shrimp. Among the new discoveries were 8-foot-tall orange and pink coral that can live over 1,000 years in complete darkness, and bioluminescent jellies. When you look at them, its like the Las Vegas strip, they light up so much, DeVogelaere says of the glowing jellyfish. The scenery is almost like Dr. Seuss imagery of corals and sponges in the deep sea. And a lot of these species are yet to be named. DeVogelaere is working on an experimental project to filter living cells out of ocean water and determine from DNA which animals have been in that area, a process he likened to a crime scene investigation. He is also studying sea life on a shipping container that was found 4,000 feet deep in Monterey Bay. The hypothesis is that large expanses of mud in the deep sea are a natural barrier to migration, he says, but when containers and other debris are dropped on the sea floor, they might be creating stepping-stones, possibly for invasive species. Sanctuary scientists are studying thousands of species of algae, octopus, mussels, sea stars and sea anemones in the lush intertidal zones and are working with UC Santa Cruz to collect endangered black abalone that are in danger of being smothered by landslides in the Big Sur area. Meanwhile, on the first week of every month, volunteers walk the beaches and record every dead bird or mammal they find, an invaluable resource for scientists studying population trends, algae blooms and disease. This area of the world is amazing for the amount of science we know, but it is also daunting in that we are learning how little we know, DeVogelaere says. We dont even know all of the species down there or how they interact ... but we are trying to better understand the area and protect it for future generations. Peter Fimrite is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: pfimrite@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @pfimrite THE HAGUE, Netherlands A U.N. tribunal convicted Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb former general, on Wednesday of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity in the slaughter of Bosnian Muslims during the breakup of Yugoslavia. He was sentenced to life in prison. From 1992 to 1995, the tribunal found, Mladic, 75, was the chief military organizer of the campaign to drive Muslims, Croats and other non-Serbs off their lands to cleave a new homogeneous statelet for Bosnian Serbs. Along with Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb leader convicted on similar charges last year, Mladic was found to have orchestrated a campaign of ethnic cleansing that made Bosnia and Herzegovina, a nation of 4.5 million at the time, the site of some of the worst atrocities of Europes bloody 20th century. The deadliest year of the campaign was 1992, when 45,000 people died, often in their homes, on the streets or in a string of concentration camps. Others perished in the nearly four-year siege of Sarajevo, the Bosnian capital, where snipers and shelling terrorized residents for more than three years, and in the mass executions of 8,000 Muslim men and boys after Mladics forces overran the U.N.-protected enclave of Srebrenica. Survivors called Mladic the Butcher of Bosnia. His defense lawyers argued that Mladic was largely following orders from politicians above him, and that any atrocities committed by his subordinates and militias were not done at his direction. Prosecutors asked for a life sentence for Mladic. The presiding judge, Alphons Orie, agreed, saying that his crimes rank among the most heinous known to humankind. Mladics lawyers said they would appeal. The verdict reverberated throughout the court building in The Hague where dozens of survivors of the bloodshed, many of them widows or refugees, filled the public gallery, while others watched from monitors set up by the tribunal or followed it online and across Europe. In Sarajevo, people watched in cafes and public areas, but there was little overt celebration. The U.N. human rights chief, Zeid Raad al-Hussein, welcomed Mladics conviction as a momentous victory for justice. Mladic is the epitome of evil, al-Hussein said in a statement. Marlise Simons is a New York Times writer. BEIRUT Saad Hariri pulled back on Wednesday from his resignation as prime minister, another surprise move that seemed to bring to a close a three-week international drama and to stem the threat of new political turmoil in the country. Hariri, speaking from the Presidential Palace in Beirut during celebrations of the countrys Independence Day, said he had agreed to delay his resignation to allow for dialogue with other political leaders about the relations with the rest of the region. Hariri had announced his resignation suddenly from the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on Nov. 4, saying that he had fled an assassination plot. He also warned that Iran was behind unrest in the region and said that Tehrans hands would be cut off. His abrupt departure from Lebanon, uncharacteristically direct language, and the fact that he did not inform even his closest aides of his intention to resign convinced many Lebanese, as well as Western diplomats, that Saudi Arabia had forced Hariri to announce his resignation. The moved appeared to be an effort to try to isolate Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militia and political party, by collapsing the government it participates in with Hariri. The machinations were widely seen as part of the increasingly tense rivalry between Saudi Arabia, a Sunni Arab kingdom, and Iran, which is majority Shiite Muslim, that has been playing out across much of the Middle East. A television interview with Hariri in Riyadh in which he denied that he had been forced to quit and during which he appeared tired and scowled at a mysterious person onscreen who was apparently trying to get his attention only broadened speculation that he was being held against his will. Hariri returned to Beirut late Tuesday. On Wednesday, Hariri said he had tendered his resignation to President Michel Aoun, who had asked him to hold off to allow for dialogue about its reasons. Hariri said he had agreed to the request. I confirm my complete commitment to cooperation with his excellency the president, Hariri said. He added that he sought to protect Lebanon from the surrounding wars and fires and all their ramifications. Ben Hubbard and Hwaida Saad are New York Times writers. MEXICO CITY After years of threats and attacks that Candido Rios blamed on a local mayor furious over his reporting, Rios home in Mexicos deadliest state for journalists was encircled by a fence topped with coils of barbed wire and surrounded by a half-dozen surveillance cameras he monitored on screens in the living room. None of that mattered the afternoon that he stopped, just like every other day on his way home from work, at a highway gas station store that is also a community meeting place of sorts. As Rios was chatting with a local rancher, armed men abruptly pulled up and opened fire, killing them and a former police inspector who had just come over. Rios, a hard-nosed crime reporter for Diario de Acayucan, had been in Mexicos federal protection program for journalists since 2013, its first full year. On Aug. 22 at the gas station in the Veracruz state town of Covarrubias, he became the first reporter enrolled to be slain, sending a chilling message to anyone else relying on the program to stay safe. Journalists and activists say the killing made it abundantly clear that the Mexico City-based program known as the Mechanism is incapable of protecting the nearly 600 enrollees working nationwide. The program has a staff of only about 30 and it has no security forces of its own. Protective measures boil down to such things as home security and panic buttons on cell phones, and reporters say that still leaves them dangerously exposed if they continue to work. They say seeking safety in exile or by hunkering down in safe spaces is no way to practice journalism. The measures they provided were effective for a time, but inside the home, said Cristina Rios Nieves, the slain journalists daughter. My father didnt work from home. His profession was to be outside the home working, walking, looking for stories. Plagued by drug gangs and corrupt officials who are often in cahoots with cartels, Mexico has become one of the worlds deadliest countries for journalists of nations not in open war. Nine reporters have been slain so far this year, and the free-speech activist group Articulo 19 counts more than 100 since 2000 in what observers call a full-blown crisis for freedom of expression. Rios, who covered crime just like most Mexican journalists who end up dead, had been under the Mechanisms protection longer than just about anyone. Christopher Sherman is an Associated Press writer. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Ahn Young-joon/Associated Press Show More Show Less 2 of 3 TOM BRENNER/NYT Show More Show Less 3 of 3 SEOUL Two days after President Trump re-designated North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism, the country responded on Wednesday by calling the decision a serious provocation and vowed to keep up its nuclear and missile programs as a deterrent against the hostile United States. The U.S., the kingpin of all kinds of terrorism who cannot even prevent terror in its own territory, is acting like an international judge on terrorism while attaching or removing the label of state sponsor of terrorism on sovereign countries, a spokesman of the Norths Foreign Ministry told its official Korean Central News Agency. This is a serious provocation and a violent infringement upon our dignified country. MOSCOW The leaders of Russia, Turkey and Iran met Wednesday to discuss ways to advance a political settlement in Syria as the Islamic State is nearing its defeat, while disparate Syrian opposition groups met in Saudi Arabia in a bid to form a united front for Syrian peace talks in Geneva. Militants in Syria have received a decisive blow, and there is a real chance to put an end to the civil war that has raged for many years, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the start of talks with Turkish and Iranian counterparts in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi. Putin noted that political settlement will require concessions from all sides, including Syrian President Bashar Assads government. Assad made a surprise trip to Russia late Monday for talks with Putin, which the Kremlin said were intended to lay the groundwork for the trilateral meeting Wednesday in Sochi. Speaking after the three-way talks, Putin said that the Syrian leader pledged to conduct constitutional reforms and hold new elections under U.N. supervision. In their joint statement after the talks, Putin, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan emphasized the need for all parties in the Syrian conflict to release all prisoners and hostages, hand over bodies and search for those missing to help create conditions for lasting cease-fire and the launch of political talks. We have reached a consensus on helping the transition to an inclusive, free, fair and transparent political process that will be carried out under the leadership and ownership of the Syrian people, Erdogan said. Even though Russia and Iran have backed Assads government since the start of the Syrian conflict in March 2011, while Turkey has supported his foes, the three countries have teamed up to help mediate a peace settlement. They have sponsored several rounds of talks between the Syrian government and the opposition in Astana, Kazakhstan, and also have brokered a truce between Syrias government and the rebels in four areas, helping reduce hostilities. Meanwhile, the U.N. envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, spoke at the opening of a three-day gathering of the Syrian opposition in Riyadh, where various opposition groups are expected to come up with a unified delegation and a vision for the Nov. 28 Geneva talks. De Mistura said he planned to have two rounds of talks in Geneva in December. Vladimir Isachenkov and Sarah El Deeb are Associated Press writers. A $55.4 million takeover of NZX-listed logistics firm Fliway Group is at the upper end of an independent valuation range, and unless a better bid emerges the pros outweigh the cons, according to the deal's independent adviser report. KordaMentha valued Fliway's shares at between $1.04 and $1.24 after putting the firm's financial under the microscope, putting Singaporean logistics firm Yang Kee Logistics' $1.22 per share offer at the upper end of the range. The deal has the backing of Fliway's board and its majority shareholder, chief executive Duncan Hawkesby, has already thrown his weight behind the transaction. Shareholders will vote on whether to approve the transaction, via a scheme implementation agreement, at a special meeting in Auckland on Dec. 8. "In our view, unless a superior proposal is forthcoming, the positives of approving the scheme outweigh the negatives," KordaMentha said in its report. "In particular, the proposed consideration is within our assessed valuation range and furthermore lies towards the high-end of our valuation range." The offer was a 13 percent premium to the trading price prior to the announcement. However, the shares were sold at $1.20 apiece in an initial public offering, the bottom end of the indicative range in March 2015, which valued Fliway at $54.5 million. The shares recently traded at $1.20. KordaMentha said if shareholders choose to reject the offer, it would likely reverse any gains since the announcement, although the longer-term consequences were harder to predict. It sees the near-term outlook for Fliway's joint venture with UPS and its international operations were relatively flat, and while the domestic business will likely bounce back from a poor 2017 financial year, there were risks surrounding that business. "It is possible that Fliway shareholders may be able to realise greater value through a change of control transaction in the future. However, it would be presumptive to assume that one will eventuate," the report said. "We understand that no alternative proposal has been forthcoming and that there are very few potential acquirers of Fliway, given its specialised freight services." (BusinessDesk) Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process. Related News: TRA - Weblink for Turners Half Year FY23 Results Presentation General Capital (GEN:NZ) Concludes Goodwill Discussions General Capital (GEN:NZ) Announces Discussions on Goodwill KMD - Trading Update NZME updates investors on strategic progress IPL - Interim Results HY23 NPH - 2022 Full Year Results November 17th Morning Report GWC - WasteCo Reverse Listing - Special Meeting of Shareholders CRP Executes Mining Services Agreement with Golding AFT Pharmaceuticals, which manufactures the Maxigesic painkiller, narrowed its first-half loss and said it is still on track to return to profitability this financial year or the next as it increases the number of markets where its products are sold. The Auckland-based company reported a net loss of $6.9 million, or 7 cents per share, in the six months to Sept. 30 from a loss of $11 million, or 40 cents, in the prior period. Operating revenue was $36.6 million versus $29.8 million in the prior period, primarily due to growth in the Australian market, it said. Australia's operating revenue grew 38 percent to $20.2 million and now makes up 55 percent of the group's operating revenue. "We anticipate Australia will continue to experience strong growth, particularly with the re-scheduling of codeine-based painkillers from over-the-counter to prescription only from Feb. 1, 2018," the company said, though it noted there is potential for a degree of patient stockpiling of codeine which could delay the uptake of products such as Maxigesic. New Zealand revenue grew 5 percent to $14.1 million and now represents 39 percent of the group total. AFT's Southeast Asia revenue was up 14 percent to $600,000 and the main market continues to be Singapore with over-the-counter-growth. In the rest of the world, its revenue was up 38 percent to $1.6 million. It sells products in Italy, the United Arab Emirates, the UK and Israel, and has added smaller markets such as Malta and Brunei. Maxigesic is now being sold in 10 countries and is licensed in 124, up from 110 in the 2017 financial year. AFT said there will be further launches prior to the end of the current financial year but noted the number will be lower than previously thought, due to slower regulatory transfers of the European Union licences. While the timing of sales in different parts of the world remains difficult to determine due to the multitude of countries and differing regulatory requirements "the estimates from licensees continue to indicate that the sales will increase significantly over the next two to four years, with new launches, growth in already launched markets and new line extensions," it said. As a result "we remain confident that we will return to profitability during the FY2018 or FY2019 time period," the company said, though timing will be dependent upon finalisation of a number of significant out-licensing agreements currently under arrangement. Regarding new products, its NasoSURF - a sinus treatment medical device - development is proceeding. The company has completed one clinical study in the US, there is one underway and an additional two are slated to take place before the end of the financial year. A further two studies will be needed in FY2019 and "completion of this program in order to file the registration in major territories is now a major development focus," it said. The shares were unchanged at $2.46, having dropped 11 percent so far this year. (BusinessDesk) Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process. Related News: TRA - Weblink for Turners Half Year FY23 Results Presentation General Capital (GEN:NZ) Concludes Goodwill Discussions General Capital (GEN:NZ) Announces Discussions on Goodwill KMD - Trading Update NZME updates investors on strategic progress IPL - Interim Results HY23 NPH - 2022 Full Year Results November 17th Morning Report GWC - WasteCo Reverse Listing - Special Meeting of Shareholders CRP Executes Mining Services Agreement with Golding #North Korea dog N. Korea registers Pungsan dogs as intangible cultural asset North Korea has registered its indigenous Pungsan breed of dogs as an intangible cultural asset, its state media said Thursday, amid a controversy in South Korea over a pair of suc... #Stray Kids Stray Kids become 'triple million-seller' for first time Stray Kids' latest album "Maxident" has sold a cumulative 3 million copies, setting the best record for the band and all K-pop acts managed by JYP Entertainment, the agency said Th... By clicking Agree, you consent to Slates Terms of Service and Privacy Policy and the use of technologies such as cookies by Slate and our partners to deliver relevant advertising on our iOS app to personalize content and perform site analytics. Please see our Privacy Policy for more information about our use of data, your rights, and how to withdraw consent. Agree Best Canadian Blog 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 About Kate Why this blog? Until this moment I have been forced to listen while media and politicians alike have told me "what Canadians think". In all that time they never once asked. This is just the voice of an ordinary Canadian yelling back at the radio - "You don't speak for me." (goes to a private mailserver in Europe) I can't answer or use every tip, but all are appreciated! Katewerk Art Support SDA I am not a registered charity. I cannot issue tax receipts. Want lies? Hire a regular consultant. Want truth? Hire an asshole. The Proper Procedure Poor Richard's Retirement Polar Bear Facts & Myths Polar Bears: Outstanding Survivors of Climate Change. Pilgrim's Progress Trump The Establishment Weather Shop Click to inquire about rates. Dow Jones What They Say About SDA "Smalldeadanimals doesn't speak for the people of Saskatchewan" Former Sask Premier Lorne Calvert "I got so much traffic after your post my web host asked me to buy a larger traffic allowance." Dr.Ross McKitrick Holy hell, woman. 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Zilkowsky Intelliweather Seismic Map Comments Policy Read this Best Of SDA Hide The Decline The Bottle Genie (ClimateGate links) You Might Be A Liberal Uncrossing The Line Bob Fife: Knuckledragger A Modest Proposal (NP) Settled Science Series Y2Kyoto Series SDA: Reader Occupation Survey Brett Lamb Sheltered Workshop Flakes On A Plane All Your Weather Are Belong To Us Song Of The Sled The Raise A Flag Debacle (Now on Youtube!) (.mwv Video) Abuse Ruins Life Of Girl Trudeaupiate Kleptocrat Jeans Child Labour I Concede Small Dead Feminist Protein Hoser: THK Interview The Werewolf Extinction Dear Laura (VRWC) We Wait Blogging The Oscars Jackson Converts To Islam Just Shut The HELL Up Manipulating Condi Gay Equality Rights Thank you for visiting the Daily Journal. Please purchase an Enhanced Subscription to continue reading. To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account. We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription. A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means youre helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much! After years of rumours, and not-so-patient waiting by many, Canberra's first H&M store will open on Thursday. Big crowds are expected on opening day at the Canberra Centre store, with just over 4600 expressing their interest in attending the launch festivities on Facebook. Models Jordi Silvera and Bonnie Jackson inside Canberra's first H&M store. Credit:Rohan Thomson Canberra marks the 26th store in Australian for the Swedish fashion retailer, which has existing stores across New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia, and H&M Australia country manager Hans Andersson said the expansion to Canberra was a, "natural progression". The 2,700 square metre store sits over two levels, taking over space that formerly housed Dick Smith, L'Occitane and Decjuba in the Canberra Centre. It includes clothing and accessories for men, women, kids and babies, but not a homewares department. Since 1949, 13 people have died in the lake's seemingly placid waters, including most famously five naval cadets from Duntroon who drowned when their boat overturned in freezing water in 1956. MYTH: Many believe that the bodies of these poor cadets were never recovered. FACT: Police records indicate that the body of each cadet was recovered, in some cases months later after the water levels dropped. Basking Bunyips MYTH: The most colourful legend surrounding Lake George is that of a Loch Ness-type monster that has occasionally been reported lurking in the murky depths of the lake (and allegedly retreats to subterranean mud caves when the lake is dry). In fact, an 1866 NSW Road Guide warned travellers "to be careful of a large water monster that occasionally surfaces for air". FACT: The same publication also claims that "the lake is surrounded by gigantic, towering mountains". As anyone who has driven past the lake will attest, apart from a small range (rising to about 50-150 metres above the lake bed), there are no "gigantic mountains" around Lake George. Given this level of exaggeration, the so-called water monster was probably just a large duck. Beam me up Scotty! MYTH: Lake George is a hot-bed of alien activity. Most reports are of strange celestial objects on the eastern side of the lake, spotted from the Federal Highway. The majority of these reports occur on misty evenings and involve a yellow-coloured object. FACT: Some of these reports can be explained by Venus rising in the east or the bright lights of a sand mine that has operated for many years near Bungendore. However an account on January 16, 1996 near Collector, when a mother and her daughter witnessed not one, but two UFOs land in a paddock adjacent to Lake George, still has sceptics puzzled. The eyewitnesses described the object, which "hovered above their car, emitting a number of sparks underneath it", as "large and with rows of coloured lights". Ghostly hitch-hiker MYTH: I'd like a dollar for every time I've heard this one. A regularly reported incident involves a girl in white, stopping cars on the Federal Highway, and asking for a lift. She asks the driver to take her to her grandmother's house in Queanbeyan, but when she's taken there, her grandmother says, "Oh [insert various girl names] died. She drowned in the lake 30 [or so] years ago." The little girl then disappears. FACT: Adding "credibility" to these reports is that a little girl, Brenda Lynch, did drown in the lake on January 12, 1958. Despite this, the hitch-hiker story is almost certainly an urban legend. The same story, but with different locations, appears in folklore all over Australia, and other parts of the world. More things you never knew about Lake George: Secret convict canal Tim checks-out the 180 year old convict canal which runs beneath the Federal Highway at Lake George. Credit:Tim the Yowie Man Hidden under part of the old Federal Highway at the Collector end of the lake is a curious convict-built canal constructed in the mid-1830s. The 50m x 4m canal was the brainchild of early landholder Terence Aubrey Murray, who had a chain gang of convicts build this folly to channel fresh water from Lake George into the stagnant swamp on his property Ajamatong, north of the lake, known as Murrays Lagoon. Unfortunately for Murray and his merry gang of labourers, the canal proved to be a futile exercise because of the failure to recognise that the lagoon level was in fact marginally higher than the lake's, not lower. According to one version of the story, when the canal was completed, water from the swamp flowed into the lake instead of in the reverse direction. From paddle steamers to hovercraft Moths and Minisails racing on Lake George in the Canberra Yacht Club's opening regatta on October 1, 1961. Credit:Tim the Yowie Man It might be hard to believe, especially during the lake's recent prolonged dry period, but a number of pleasure craft, including paddle steamers, once plied the lake's waters taking tourists for scenic cruises. An advertisement in September 1884 extolling the virtues of Douglas House, an historic former guesthouse on the lake's western shore, boasted it had 20 large and airy rooms and an unsurpassed view of Lake George, across which a grand little steamer, the Pioneer, carried visitors. The remains of the boiler of the Pioneer are still in a Bungendore backyard. Tim the Yowie Man joins Mick Nell on a hovercraft flight around Lake George. Credit:Tim the Yowie Man In 2017, during the filming of an episode of Tim the Yowie Man The Series, Mick Nell and Marc Calwell became the first adventurers to fly hovercraft across the lake. Other watercraft to explore the lake include sailing boats (in the 1950s, several sailing clubs built club houses at the lake), bath tubs (there's one still in the middle of the lake) and hollowed-out pumpkins (left over from the annual Collector Pumpkin Festival). A water pendulum When a group of settlers camped by the shores of Lake George in the early 1820s, they apparently awoke in the morning to discover that the shoreline had mysteriously retreated over a kilometre from where it was the night before. Where did all the water go? The explorers were left puzzled. The explanation actually lies above the lake in the air and in the ever-present wind that blows through the area. As the lake is shallow (an average of two metres deep when full), prevailing winds blow the water from one side of the lake to the other. Scientists call this pendulum effect a seiche. So the early explorers needn't have been mystified about where the water had vanished to it had simply blown to the opposite side of the lake. A Canberra man died in a motorcycle crash in The Snowy Mountains at the weekend. Emergency crews were called to the Alpine Way, south of Khancoban, about 12:30pm on Sunday following reports of a crash. "Police have been told a BMW motorcycle and a Hyundai Tucson crashed head on," NSW Police said in a statement on Wednesday. The rider of the motorcycle, a 56-year-old ACT man, was treated at the scene and taken to Canberra Hospital, where he later died. The driver of the car, a 64-year-old man from the United Kingdom, was not injured. Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the crash and a report will be prepared for the Coroner. A NSW woman who pleaded guilty to dozens of fraud charges and has been on the run since she skipped rehabilitation two years ago is behind bars in the ACT. Delphine Maree Charles, 35, was extradited from Wagga Wagga and brought before the ACT Magistrates Court, where prosecutors opposed her bid for bail, on Wednesday. The court heard Charles was bailed to attend Benelong's Haven drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre in May 2015. But she fled the centre after a few days and a warrant was issued for her arrest when she failed to return to court for sentencing on more than 40 fraud charges in August of that year. She went on to commit more offences in NSW and was jailed. She was released from custody in June. A Gungahlin childcare centre's operators believe a development proposed next to the centre could be in breach of the UN Convention against the rights of the child treaty. The operators of the YMCA Canberra Gungahlin centre said the Empire Global development could breach eight articles of the convention, including the right that children are protected from exploitation, abuse or harm and a number of articles in relation to the responsibilities centred on ensuring maximum development and protecting children from activities that could harm their health and development. YMCA Gungahlin early learning centre director Lauren Dunn with two-year-old Maaka Whakatihi. One of her main concerns was the traffic and dust created by the construction. Credit:Sitthixay Ditthavong But a spokesperson for the company behind the proposed development said the original design had already been modified to take into account potential impact on the childcare centre. YMCA Canberra chief executive officer Darren Black said the development was not only inappropriate from a planning perspective, but he was concerned no consideration had been given to the safety and welfare of the children. A Gold Coast businessman has had his assets frozen and his investment company has been forced into receivership for allegedly running an unregistered scheme. The Australian Securities Commission has accused Daniel Farook Ali of operating an unregistered managed investment scheme through his company DanFX Trade. The scheme has raised about $13 million from more than 200 investors. The Supreme Court last week has appointed receivers for DanFX Trade and associated entities and has placed freeze orders on Mr Ali and his entities' assets, including money and securities. The matter returns to the court on December 6. Ikea Australia is not issuing a recall on its "Malm" dressers and drawers, or any other ranges, despite an eighth child being crushed to death by a chest of drawers in the US. The death of a two-year-old Californian boy in May has prompted Ikea to relaunch its North American recall of six-drawer chests in the Malm range as well as a large range of other drawers and dressers, due to the risk posed by the dressers tipping over if not properly anchored to the wall. At least eight children under the age of three have been killed when an Ikea dresser fell on them, according to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission. The US recall offers consumers the option of a refund or repair, with Ikea providing free wall-anchoring kits and the option to have these installed by Ikea crews. A key executive from China's top economic regulator has met with Australian government ministers in Queensland as speculation mounts Chinese companies are poised to invest in Adani's massive coal and rail project in Queensland. The deputy head of the Chinese economic regulator, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), Ning Jizhe, met with Trade Minister Steve Ciobo and Northern Development Minister Matt Canavan in Cairns on Monday to discuss investment co-operation in northern Australia, Chinese media reported. The NDRC would need to give approval for any Chinese investment in Adani. Mr Ciobo had written to the NDRC in September in support of Adani, saying the Australian government "welcomed foreign lending" to the major project, and would be happy to discuss it further in a meeting. John McGrath's embattled real estate group, McGrath Ltd, has finally admitted considering options that could end its short life as a ASX-listed company. "I note recent commentary on the status of the company as a listed entity," McGrath chairman Cass O'Connor told shareholders at its annual meeting in Sydney on Wednesday. McGrath chairman Cass O'Connor has told investors the company has examined options around its ASX listing. Credit:Daniel Munoz "We have reviewed a number of options for shareholders, but have nothing to disclose at this time." Speaking after the meeting, Ms O'Connor and McGrath's chief executive, Cameron Judson, did not clarify exactly what avenues they were looking at for the company, except to repeat, "We will look at the composition of the board and focus on lifting performance and productivity of the agents and the existing network". Coca-Cola Amatil will cut the price of beverages outside its core fizzy drinks range as part of a $40 million push to revive sales, as it pushes to meet its profit promise to shareholders despite a weak start to the year. The company said on Wednesday it would pour the money into marketing, execution and equipment such as cafes and restaurants fridges. Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA) group chief financial officer Martyn Roberts said cutting prices would help grow the company's market share of products outside of its fizzy drinks range, which have seen declining sales as consumers become more sugar conscious "We're probably overweight in sparkling beverages, which has been declining slightly, and underweight some of those categories that we really want to accelerate our investment in," Mr Roberts said. Amazon's long-awaited arrival on our shores will double the rate at which Australians are shopping online, according to new research into how the e-commerce giant will change the nation's retail sector. The online powerhouse appears set to start trading locally as soon as this week, telling third-party sellers to prepare to accept orders by 2pm Thursday afternoon. Australia's $300 billion retail sector has been on tenterhooks ahead of Amazon's arrival, with fears the giant with its $US549 billion ($725 billion) market value would steal customers and drive down prices. However new research by investment bank UBS suggests local businesses are well placed to capture market share as Amazon sparks a more rapid uptake of online shopping. The breakdown of the same-sex marriage results by electorate has fired interest in the apparent disconnect between the position of many high-profile MPs and those of their electors. The disconnects were fascinating. There were winners from many parties, of course, including Malcolm Turnbull, Bill Shorten, Tanya Plibersek, Adam Bandt and the Greens' Richard di Natale, who all backed the "yes" case. Turnbull (81 per cent), Plibersek (84 per cent) and Bandt (84 per cent) represented top-10 "yes"-voting electorates, while Shorten (60 per cent) and di Natale led "yes"-voting parties; Turnbull had used his authority to support the "yes" case. But back to the disconnects. Most attention focused on western Sydney, where 10 of the 17 "no"-voting electorates were. These electorates were mostly held by Labor MPs, who were generally "yes" advocates. Some of the "no" votes were stunning, including in Blaxland, where 74 per cent voted "no". But equally interesting were the "yes"-voting electorates held by high-profile Coalition MPs on the "no" side. Among Liberals, these electorates included those held by the outspoken Tony Abbott (75 per cent), Kevin Andrews (57 per cent), Peter Dutton (65 per cent) and Andrew Hastie (60 per cent) as well as the state of Tasmania (64 per cent) represented by Liberal senator Eric Abetz. Quieter "no" advocates like Liberal senator Mathias Cormann (Western Australia, 64 per cent) and Scott Morrison (55 per cent) were also rebuffed by their own electors. The Victoria's Secret show has never exactly been a paragon of empowered womanhood, given that its premise is honed and preened models prancing down a catwalk in skimpy, jewelled lingerie for the pleasure of male viewers or to act as role models for the women watching. But this year's show - held in Shanghai on Monday - comes in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal. In recent weeks, fashion, film and politics have been rocked by allegations of sexual abuse and harassment. The #MeToo movement of women sharing their experiences has created a shift in mood that meant that all the usual arguments trotted out by the Victoria's Secret crew - namely, that it really is empowering to the women involved - look rather flimsy. For the show's producers, there was never any question that the show wouldn't continue in its typical provocative style. It's true that there have been no abuse allegations linked to Victoria's Secret or anyone associated with it. Yet the culture and messaging of its blingtastic blockbusters still sits uneasily with late 2017 sensibilities. The shows have only increased in scale, budget and volumes of glitter since they began in 1995. The Victoria's Secret argument for this is that they are portraying women as confident and in control. Maybe, but they're mainly confident about their conventionally sexy bodies (there are no plus-size models cast in the show), and what exactly are they in control of? Their much vaunted VS exercise and "clean-eating" regimes? Of a career that's entirely balanced precariously on the not always predictable fluctuations of their looks and the casting directors at VS? Zimbabwe faces a monumental task to rebuild after Robert Mugabe's 37-year reign, which saw the country's once-thriving economy completely collapse. Mugabe's resignation on Tuesday, which followed a November 15 military intervention to stop internal strife engulfing his Zanu-PF party, makes the task of reconstruction an urgent one. A man in Harare delights in the news that Robert Mugabe has resigned. Credit:AP Some have already dismissed Zimbabwe's business-minded new leader Emmerson "The Crocodile" Mnangagwa, who is due to be inaugurated as president any day now, but he should be given a chance. Mnangagwa's critics say he is tainted by his 57-year association with Mugabe but he deserves the benefit of doubt his most recent two statements, in which he promised a new era free from corruption and incompetency, suggest he is his own man. The Turnbull government's preferred energy plan uses modelling in line with an Emissions Intensity Scheme that it rejected while significant doubts remain over the application of its reliability rules, two factors that may stymie its acceptance by right-wing Coalition MPs and the states supposed to implement it. In a neat twist, Josh Frydenberg, the federal Environment and Energy Minister, will return to Hobart on Thursday to meet state and territory counterparts almost a year since he stood on the city's waterfront to rule out an EIS after a backbench revolt. Hard to swallow: Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull with Josh Frydenberg, the Environment and Energy minister. Credit:Andrew Meares This time around, the plan is called a National Energy Guarantee (NEG) that, as Fairfax Media has reported, promises to save $120 a year for average households from 2020. To be sure, the Australian Energy Markets Commission, which oversaw the NEG, says the scheme is not a dreaded EIS because there is no specific trading mechanism "of any kind". The Turnbull government's national energy guarantee is set for a rocky reception when energy ministers meet in Hobart, with one state declaring new modelling confirmed its "worst fears", and another saying it was "deeply disappointing". Federal Environment and Energy minister Josh Frydenberg will front the dinner on Thursday night and is expected to release a paper during Friday's talks that has yet to be shared with state and territory counterparts. The federal government provided a summary of its modelling for the energy guarantee on Wednesday, claiming wholesale prices would be as much as 23 per cent lower than business usual under the dual "guarantee" to cut emissions while improving reliability of the nation's ailing electricity grid. South Australia Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis indicated his state would reject the plan, which needs consensus from all parties to proceed. For historical reasons, changes to the National Electricity Market also need to pass the SA parliament. Papua New Guinea authorities have entered the decommissioned Manus Island detention centre and given some 400 men still in the facility an ultimatum to leave. There are unconfirmed reports authorities have been aggressive, and one detainee claimed two men had been "beaten up". One man was said to be unconscious. PNG police told Fairfax Media they would not use force against the refugees but confirmed they were in the camp talking to the men, hoping to convince them to leave. The early morning action follows repeated deadlines issued but not enforced by the PNG government over the three weeks since the centre was shut down. A ninth MP has been struck down by the citizenship fiasco that has engulfed the Federal Parliament, with NXT senator Skye Kakoschke-Moore announcing she will resign after discovering that she is a British citizen by descent. After an exhaustive search to determine her citizenship status, Ms Kakoschke-Moore has confirmed her mother was born British in Singapore at the time it was a colony and that the senator was, herself, a citizen of Britain. MPs are not permitted to be citizens of a foreign nation under section 44 of the constitution. Ms Kakoschke-Moore, who was born in Darwin and has not previously been connected to the citizenship crisis, said she had believed for her entire life she was not eligible because usually when a parent is born outside Britain they are unable to pass their citizenship on to their children also born outside Britain. Her father had even made inquiries as to whether she could get a British passport when the family lived in Oman when she was 12 but he was told she was not eligible. Suddenly the question is everywhere: can Malcolm Turnbull survive? It's arisen before, of course, but was written off as Labor mischief-making, or as political hypersensitivity syndrome, after the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd-Abbott-Turnbull careen made constant change seem inevitable. Now, for the first time, the question is real. Again. Turnbull's cabinet leaks. Ministers position on policy such as a banking royal commission as ciphers in personal power struggles. Backbenchers freelance without admonishment on Sky News. Talk of crossing the floor abounds. All of this without the slightest regard for the Prime Minister's prestige. Discipline has left the building. Turnbull is in danger of leaving too, having never fully been here. Professional and technical staff will walk off the job at Canberra's Deep Space Communication Complex on Wednesday, disrupting activities by US space agency NASA. Staff at the Tidbinbilla complex are protesting a push to change pay and conditions and have accused CSIRO management of trying to forcibly implement the federal government's controversial wage negotiation policy. The complex seen from above. Unions say about 70 staff will stop work after 2pm at the complex, which provides round-the-clock monitoring of 30 NASA spacecraft in a daily rotation system with two other facilities in California and Spain. NASA will delay handing over tracking from its California complex at Goldstone to Tidbinbilla by six hours as a result of the action, being led by members of the Electrical Trades Union, Professionals Australia and the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union. Australian academics and students are calling for a ban on sexual relationships between university staff and students. Many universities are too relaxed about these relationships and the "murky space" needs to be reviewed, according to Australian Council of Graduate Research convenor Denise Cuthbert. Academics warn of a danger power imbalance between student and lecturer. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer The RMIT professor said a massive power imbalance meant that students were unable to freely consent to sexual activity with lecturers, tutors and supervisors. "High ethical standards are quite properly applied to our research activities and yet there is an absence of these with our dealings with students." A public boycott of Streets ice-cream has ended after after the company's employees forged an agreement for better working conditions with its multinational owners. The workers at the factory at Minto, in Sydney's south-west, voted to ratify an in-principle agreement at a meeting on Wednesday, which ended the boycott of the brand's popular ice-creams. Streets Paddle Pops. "This is an enormous victory for fairness. We are pleased that Australians can get back to enjoying these iconic Australian-made ice-creams," Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) NSW secretary Steve Murphy said in a statement. Earlier this year, AMWU warned factory workers they faced a pay cut of up to 46 per cent of their wage if their agreement was terminated and they fell back onto the award. Luke Webb was 20 when he suffered a stroke and "hit a brick wall". He lost his ability to speak and control his right arm and leg. When he woke up that afternoon in a large Sydney hospital, it was in a geriatric ward with elderly patients "screaming" in pain caused by all sorts of illnesses. Luke Webb, a stroke survivor, says Australia needs more dedicated stroke units to improve survival and recovery rates. "The patient next to me was screaming out, others suffering, and it's a big shock, it takes a toll on you," said Mr Webb, now 24. He realised there was a long way to go in Australia's stroke care and services. A website that claimed it would help customers compare "roughly 65,000" health insurance policies engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has found. Finder.com.au allows users to compare services in several industries, such as energy and gas, telecommunications and financial services. Fred Schebesta, co-founder and director of Finder, says the company had no intention of misleading customers. Credit:Nic Walker Between February and May this year, Finder's website stated that its health insurance comparison service allowed customers to "compare roughly 65,000 policies". However, the ACCC said the number of policies actually compared was "substantially less than this". An allegedly homophobic complaint against four gay police officers was sent to the now Commissioner of Police Mick Fuller for assessment before they were investigated, a tribunal has heard. In 2015, the then superintendent of the Newtown Local Area Command, Simon Hardman, raised suspicions that the officers, Shane Housego, Steven Rapisarda, Christian McDonald and Christopher Sheehy, were taking drugs. The then assistant commissioner Mick Fuller headed the Central Metropolitan Region, which took in Newtown Local Area Command. The head of that command raised suspicions about his own officers. Credit:Jane Dyson Mr Hardman made a complaint that included references to the four being homosexual and frequenting gay bars, claiming that drug taking was "thought to be fundamental" to the "notorious" promiscuity of some in the group. The complaint suggested some of the officers may have shaved their hair and taken time off to avoid drug detection. No evidence to support the claims was found. Deputy Premier John Barilaro has been accused by Labor of encouraging vigilantes and seeking to foster "an American-style guns culture" after calling for an inquiry into the issue of self-defence using a firearm. Mr Barilaro, who is Nationals leader, has written to the Legislative Assembly committee on Law and Safety seeking an inquiry into the operation of the Firearms Act "in relation to persons who believe they are reasonably and proportionately responding to a threat imposed on themselves of their family". Deputy Premier John Barilaro is being criticised by Labor for wanting an inquiry into self defence using a firearm Credit:Karleen Minney The issue emerged before October's Cootamundra and Murray byelections at which the Nationals fought off the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party. Farmer David Dunstan was woken at 3.30am by a knock on the door of his family home near Albury by an 18-year-old man holding a knife and a large piece of wood. The NSW government will take the first steps to a major redesign of future classrooms with a call for new designs to replace old style "demountables" with prefabricated structures that can be rearranged but also have the same conveniences of permanent classrooms. Education Minister Rob Stokes will on Thursday invite the building and construction industry to develop flexible, prefabricated classrooms that can be constructed quickly but could also serve several purposes and use a range of building materials instead of shed-style structures. The lowering of a prefab classroom with a wooden exterior at Caulfield Grammar in Melbourne may be the future model for Sydney schools. "We're looking for innovative designs that will deliver high-quality classrooms that are great spaces to learn while remaining flexible for a public education," Mr Stokes said. "We need to be able to construct permanent buildings which are responsive to demand and growth in student populations." The state government is pushing back against criticism of its housing development zones across Sydney, saying that without them housing growth would not be matched by local infrastructure. The Labor Opposition says it would scrap the government's policy of declaring areas "priority precincts" targeted for extra housing and infrastructure. But according to the Department of Planning and Environment, only one in five new dwellings approved for development in Sydney recently has been within a so-called "priority precinct." The government has this month scrapped the "priority precinct" name, replacing it with "planned precincts." But it says these areas are not responsible for community angst around over-development. Pauline Hanson has used a visit to a rum distillery to say One Nation will scrap Labor's "nanny state" law on the sale of pre-mixed drinks at Queensland's pubs and clubs. Labor last year outlawed the sale of "rapid intoxication drinks" at pubs and clubs after midnight, including shots, drinks with more than 45ml of spirits, and pre-mixed drinks with more than 5 per cent alcohol. One Nation leader Senator Pauline Hanson (left) and Bundaberg candidate Jane Truscott are seen in the Bundaberg Rum Distillery. Credit:Paul Beutel/AAP But Senator Hanson said there were enough checks and balances in clubs and pubs and Labor's law simply prevented adults from making adult decisions. "Clubs and pub staff all have their RSA's (Responsible Service of Alcohol) which helps identify problem drinkers," she said. Hundreds of thousands of Australian Uber riders and thousands of local Uber drivers have been caught up in the breach that the ride-sharing company concealed for more than a year. It comes as The New York Times reported on Wednesday afternoon that not only did Uber conceal the breach, but it paid the hackers off to keep them quiet and disguised the payment as a reward. "The company tracked down the hackers and pushed them to sign non-disclosure agreements, according to the people familiar with the matter," the Times reported. "To further conceal the damage, Uber executives also made it appear as if the payout had been part of a 'bug bounty' a common practice among technology companies in which they pay hackers attack their software to test for soft spots," it added. Parents may have the power to prevent their children in state care from being vaccinated if a Supreme Court appeal is successful on Wednesday, possibly setting a dangerous precedent in the child protection system. A young Melbourne mother is fighting an order by the Children's Court compelling her children to be immunised while in the temporary care of the Department of Health and Human Services. A young Melbourne mother is fighting a Children's Court ruling for her children to be immunised while in temporary state care. Legal Aid, which is backing the woman's appeal, said the Supreme Court appeal to be heard on Wednesday would "clarify parental rights for many other families caught up in the child protection system". The case will test whether the government and Children's Court can make "major decisions" about children while they are in temporary state care including schooling, religion and medical procedures. A convicted fake war veteran claims he really was a special agent in Vietnam and Afghanistan, only he can't show any proof because it's all top secret. But a judge has decided Neville Donohue's war stories are lies, and warned him to drop an appeal bid or risk a lot more jail time. Fake veteran 'Major General' Neville Donohue. Donohue, 65, is appealing against a four-month jail term he received for impersonating a war veteran and other dishonesty offences. He spoke at an Anzac Day service in Kalorama in 2013, sporting rows of shining medallions from far-flung military campaigns. Construction will begin on a rail link between Southern Cross Station and Tullamarine airport within less than a decade, the Andrews government says. The Melbourne Airport rail link will also bring huge benefits to country Victoria, Premier Daniel Andrews will announce on Thursday, by untangling the V/Line rail network from congested metropolitan tracks in Melbourne's west. Planning is set to begin on building an airport connection that will also free up trains on the Geelong and Ballarat lines, and reduce travel times between the two regional cities and Melbourne. Journey times between Melbourne and Geelong could be cut to less than 40 minutes, under a model for airport rail being considered by the Andrews and Turnbull governments. Police have charged an 18-year-old man over an alleged assault on a teenage boy at a Yokine Shopping Centre on the weekend. The man is alleged to have assaulted the boy at Flinders Square Shopping Centre about 4.40pm on Saturday afternoon with a crowbar. The 15-year-old was allegedly attacked with a crowbar. Credit:Nathan Hondros / Mandurah Mail After suffering serious head wounds during the attack, the teenager was rushed to the emergency department of Royal Perth Hospital. Parts of the shopping centre were cordoned off while police investigated. Police are searching for a heartless thief who snatched a handbag from a woman in a wheelchair while she and her carer were leaving a shop in Bunbury last week. Bunbury Detectives said the incident happened at around 11am on November 15 on Wittenoom Street. The woman's carer tried to fight off the thief. Credit:Randy Faris/Fuse The woman and her carer, both in their 50s, were leaving a business when an unknown woman attempted to snatch a handbag which was hanging on the handle of the wheelchair. The carer and the offender struggled over the handbag and the carer was shoved to the ground. Shirley Finn's former driver claims a prominent detective told her Criminal Investigation Bureau boss Don Hancock murdered the brothel madam to save a future West Australian premier from scandal. Leigh Beswick told the WA Coroner's Court on Wednesday Mr Hancock pulled the trigger, but the 1975 hit was arranged by then Liberal MP Ray O'Connor, who became police minister and then premier seven years later. Kalgoorlie-Boulder brothel manager Leigh Beswick Credit:Tony Holmes "I knew that if anything happened to Shirley, Don and Ray would have something to do with it," Ms Beswick said. Ms Beswick, who went on to become a prostitute and ran her own brothel in Kalgoorlie, labelled Mr O'Connor "an evil man", pointing out he ended up being jailed as a corrupt politician. Delhi: A leading Bollywood actress has pulled out of a glitzy event in Hyderabad to be attended by Ivanka Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi after a member of his governing party issued a $US1.5 million ($1.8 million) bounty to behead her amid rumor-fueled outrage over a new film. Deepika Padukone's withdrawal is a blow to the government, which plans a whirlwind weekend to show off India as a forum for investment as host of the annual Global Entrepreneurship Summit, co-hosted by the US State Department. Bollywood actress Deepika Padukonels in Madrid last year. Credit:AP The setback is the result of a riotous controversy over Padukone's new movie Padmavati, based on the life of a legendary medieval queen Padmini. It began when members of the Rajput Karni Sena, a warrior caste group, claimed that the film was a "distortion of history" that depicted the queen in an unflattering light by showing love scenes between her and a Muslim king, and by showing her dancing for an audience, an activity that would have been beneath her royal status. The reports offended the Rajputs, who began violently attacking movie theatres and demanding a ban. The planned December 1 premiere was then delayed by the movie's producers, as the country's censor board weighs its approval. Washington: Fully armed North Korean troops violated the truce with the south when they fired weapons across the border last week while chasing a soldier who was defecting. Surveillance video shows a North Korean soldier running from a jeep as he defects. He was later shot by North Korean soldiers. Credit:AP One of the North Korean chasers briefly crossed the border before turning back in a hurry, another violation of the Korean War armistice, United Nations Command said. The defecting soldier was struck in a hail of five or six bullets and almost killed, before being dragged to safety by South Korean soldiers and taken to hospital for treatment. Abuja, Nigeria: A suicide bomber set off explosives Tuesday during morning prayers in a small, crowded mosque in northeastern Nigeria in a deadly attack that comes amid a raft of similar assaults on rural communities in the region. Othman Abubakar, a spokesman for the police in Adamawa state, where the attack took place, said at least 50 people had been killed. Late in the day Tuesday, the national emergency management agency said it had confirmed 23 deaths. The interior of a mosque after a deadly attack by a suicide bomber, in Mubi, Adamawa State, Nigeria. Credit:AP He said the assailant was a male teenager. He said the attacker had walked into the mosque and joined the worshippers crowded inside the small room. Other officials could not confirm the death toll but blamed Boko Haram for the blast. A teenage suicide bomber detonated his devide as worshippers gathered for morning prayers, killing at least 50 people. Credit:AP Boko Haram, a radical Islamist group that has waged war for the past eight years in Nigeria and in neighbouring countries, has dispatched suicide bombers in a wave of attacks in the past year on mosques, checkpoints, markets and even camps for some of the nearly two million people uprooted from their homes because of the conflict. Most of those bombers, many of whom are women and children, have been sent to attack Maiduguri, which is the capital of the Nigerian state of Borno and was the city where the Boko Haram movement was founded. But recently, assaults have also been carried out in towns and villages across the countryside and in small settlements in neighbouring countries. The attack on Tuesday took place in Mubi, not far from the border with Cameroon. Mubi, home to a top state university, is among a number of towns and villages where Boko Haram fighters once held control. But security forces ousted the militants three years ago, and the area has been relatively calm for months. Boko Haram's recent attacks in the state had taken place farther to the north. Tokyo: A US Navy transport plane carrying 11 people crashed in the Philippine Sea south of Japan on Wednesday as it flew to the aircraft carrier the Ronald Reagan, the fifth accident this year for the US Seventh Fleet. Eight people had been rescued, with the remaining three unaccounted for, a statement from the fleet said, adding that all of the rescued personnel were transferred to the Ronald Reagan for medical evaluation and were in good condition. "Search and rescue efforts for three personnel continue with US Navy and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) ships and aircraft on scene," the US Seventh Fleet said in a news release. "The incident will be investigated." Nairobi: Emmerson Mnangwagwa, whose political obituary was being written a fortnight ago, was preparing to return to Zimbabwe on Tuesday night to take over as the country's president. Having served the briefest of exiles in South Africa, Mnangagwa will be sworn in as leader of an interim unity government as early as today, said Zanu-PF, the ruling party. Completing his revenge against the man who triggered the coup by sacking him, Mnangagwa is expected to receive the offices of state from ousted Robert Mugabe in person, an exquisitely executed moment of final humiliation. "Never should the nation be held at ransom by one person again, whose desire is to die in office whatever the cost of the nation," Mnangwagwa said, shortly before Mugabe's resignation was announced. 1st Workwell Conference 2018 Posted by Publisher Telecommunication From 20 ? 21 March, 2018 the 1st Workwell Conference 2018 will take place in Berlin. On the focused two day event for senior executives, practical insights will demonstrate the employee experience in companies and the future of office culture. Leading Fortune 500 companies and innovative Start ups across Europe will discuss on how they bring together employee experience, change management and IT transformation to build a better employer brand. Department experts of People Development, Workforce Management, Customer Centricity, Data Management, and many more will share their experiences and strategies to bring employee engagement to the next level. Millennials make up over 50% of the workforce today and no companies are immune to their changing behaviours and whims. Therefore it?s very important for businesses moving forward young workforce tends to pay more attention to jobs with flexible hours, lax dress codes, decent holiday and innovative tools and tech to help get the job done. The agenda of the 1st Workwell Conference 2018 is focused on shifting companies to the next stage with how-to solutions to address all individual ongoing and specific challenges. Therefore these topics will be discussed at Workwell, among others: Creating an employee experience across all business lines and functions Adapting your culture to fit the flexible worker Opening communication between your individuals and your organization Measuring the ROI of change management in your organization As more and more retire, and less and less go into the workforce, a large resource shortage on an economic and organizational level will happen. So what do expert groups think that the secrets of the employee experience in Start up environments are? At the conference attendees will discover tips and tricks for quick face-lifts around offices to help change the working dynamic and also find out how to engage people to work differently tomorrow through influence of their office culture to create a physical space that meshes with company brand and culture to partner with architects effectively to realize a new innovative office In March 2018 the 1st conference on future office culture an exchange of expertise will take place in Berlin and will bring together change management and IT transformation. Some of the early confirmed major speakers work for Bombardier, Coca-Cola, Delivery Hero, Deutsche Bahn, FIFA, Unilever, wework, Zalando, Zurich Insurance, and many more. For further information on the conference program, please read the detailed agenda here: http://bit.ly/workwell_agenda IQPC und die Muttergesellschaft Penton Learning Systems (gegrundet 1973) haben durch innovatives Wissensmanagement und interaktive Foren mageblich zum Erfolg von zahlreichen Unternehmen und Organisationen beigetragen. IQPC hat Niederlassungen in Berlin, Dubai, London, New York, Sao Paulo, Singapore, Stockholm und Sydney. IQPC`s internationale Prasenz verleiht sowohl eine Globale Perspektive als auch die Chance zur umfassenden Informationsgewinnung. Befine Solutions Grows and Expands Internationally Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. 22 November 2017. At Befine Solutions, all the indicators are pointing to sustained growth. The German software company has moved into bigger offices in its home town of Freiburg. It is also pursuing its international expansion with a new subsidiary in the US, Cryptshare Inc., an important milestone in its growth strategy. It already has branch offices in the UK and the Netherlands. The firm has also increased its headcount to more than 40, most of whom are based in the new HQ in Freiburg. The facility also includes several departments involved in international operations, such as product development and international technical support. A few days ago, Befine Solutions moved into the large and modern open-plan space in Freiburg that is more than twice as big as its previous offices. It has enough space for over 50 staff and is well suited to the Scrum project management method used in the companys agile software development operations. Dominik Lehr, founder and CEO of Befine Solutions AG, explains the move. The positive order situation had a slight downside in that our old office was bursting at the seams, he says. With our move, weve created the right conditions for further growth over the next few years, while providing our staff with a more attractive working environment. It was important to us to stay in Freiburg and this region, where weve been feeling right at home since 2000. Security software made in Germany for the land of unlimited opportunities This initiative comes in parallel to the companys ongoing international expansion. As a response to increasing demand from US-based companies, Befine Solutions has established a subsidiary in America: Cryptshare Inc. It has already been running branch offices in the UK and the Netherlands for some time. The firm has hired a small sales team in the office in Boston, Massachusetts, which is being tasked with building up the North American customer base. Currently comprising four staff, the team is working on direct sales to new and existing customers. It is headed up by Michael Takla, who managed the inside sales team of a New York-based cyber-security firm before joining Cryptshare Inc. Cryptshare is now being used by customers in over 30 countries, notes Dominik Lehr. The growing number of users and increasing demand mean that, along with hiring more staff, the whole company needs to strike out in a new direction. The new office on the other side of the pond is an example of this. Were very pleased to have Michael Takla on board, a specialist who can support our growth with his knowledge, experience and contacts. Were already so happy with demand for our made in Germany security software that were thinking of opening an additional office on the east coast in 2018. Awards in the USA and German-speaking region The decision was spurred on by the fact that Cryptshare won the Cybersecurity Excellence Award in the email security category earlier this year in the US. The annual accolade goes to companies, people and products around the world that stand out due to their excellent performance and innovation in the area of information security. In parallel, Befine Solutions achieved a very good score in the current Softshell Vendor Report 2017. Softshell, a Munich-based value-added distributor of cybersecurity solutions, produced its third report on the market presence of cyber-security solutions in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Cryptshare was included for the first time and was rated with a score of 9.41 out of ten points. This was the highest ranking and was only achieved by four of the 1,279 companies surveyed. The ranking is calculated based on the average scores in nine categories. For example, Softshell verifies whether the solutions user interface and technical support are available in German and whether the company has salespeople, resellers and distributors in the German-speaking countries. In that way, Softshell estimates how effectively a provider can meet the requirements of its customers in that region. Further information The Softshell Vendor Report 2017 can be downloaded here https://www.cryptshare.com/en/about-us/awards/softshell-vendor-report-2017/, the information about Befine Solutions can be found here https://twitter.com/Cryptshare/status/931509168661463042. Images of Befine Solutions new offices are available here https://www.cryptshare.com/en/about-us/. The Dynamic Spectrum Alliance urges legislators to maximise connectivity through the European Electronic Communications Code London, UK, 22 November 2017: The Dynamic Spectrum Alliance (DSA) is calling for legislators to safeguard important provisions on the sharing and management of spectrum within the European Electronic Communications Code (EECC). In a position paper posted today, the DSA has urged the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament to ensure that the valuable resource of spectrum is being put to the best and most efficient uses to extend Internet connectivity for European citizens. Commenting as the two EU institutions reach the closing stages of the legislative process, the DSA strongly supports the proposals which would empower spectrum managers to reallocate unused or under-utilized spectrum. Maximising the availability of spectrum is crucial for enabling the additional capacity and Gigabit speeds needed to meet the connectivity demands of new technologies and bandwidth-hungry applications. The sharing and efficient management of spectrum is at the heart of the DSAs mission. Now the Council and Parliament are seeking a common position during trilogue negotiations, we want to publicly support the Councils approach to spectrum sharing and the empowering of national authorities to reallocate underused spectrum, said Kalpak Gude, President of the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance. Developments with the EECC also played a huge part in our decision to bring next years DSA Global Summit to the UKs capital city, London. The draft EECC provides the opportunity to make it easier for national spectrum authorities to reallocate spectrum which is being under-used, in Articles 19(2) and 45(3). While the Parliaments amendments would sensibly broaden the ability of a regulator to restrict and withdraw spectrum rights, the overall impact of their approach would be to make it much harder for spectrum authorities to repurpose spectrum. The draft Code gives more prominence to spectrum sharing as a tool for making more efficient use of spectrum while protecting incumbents. However, the DSA warns that the Parliaments approach (in Article 46(2) and Recital 113a) would weaken these significant provisions, raising barriers to the sharing of spectrum. The DSA also shares concerns over the potential introduction of minimum 25-year license terms, a period which would span multiple technology life-cycles. Commenting on the new proposed license terms, Gude continued: Such long-term licenses will delay the use of new and more efficient technology when it becomes available. Lengthy license terms inherently risk constraining competition and stifling innovation. They are also damaging greatly restricting the flexibility of national authorities to keep pace with the rapid advances of technology and evolving customer demand. As the lawmakers seek a compromise, the DSA advocates a middle ground which would avoid introducing legally-sanctioned and dangerously long license lengths and, instead, emphasize flexible licensing policies. To read the full position paper from the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance, please visit: http://dynamicspectrumalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/DSA-EECC-Statement.pdf To find out more about the DSA Global Summit 2018 (May 1-3, 2018), which is set to take place in London, UK, please visit: http://dynamicspectrumalliance.org/global-summit/. Solar Novus Today Has Been Integrated With Novus Light Technologies Today Visit Novus Light Technologies Today to see all the cutting-edge stories and products that you have come to enjoy on Solar Novus Today. In addition, you will find more information on related light-based technologies. Get the latest solar and renewable energy news delivered right to your inbox. Sign up for the Green Technologies newsletter CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR GREEN TECHNOLOGIES NEWSLETTER Federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh and two Sikh cabinet ministers have joined a chorus of international complaints about the alleged torture of a British national held in Punjab, India on suspicion of being involved in the targeted killings of Hindu leaders. Jagtar Singh Johal aka Jaggi, a British national of Indian origin was arrested by the Punjab Police recently after a terror cell allegedly involved in targeted killings of Hindu leaders in the past two years, was busted. Police in Punjab have rejected claims that the suspect was being tortured and issued a statement outlining the alleged terrorists connections to individuals in Brampton, Ontario and Surrey, B.C. both considered hotbeds for the Khalistani movement seeking a separate homeland for the Sikhs. Canadian minister of infrastructure and communities Amarjeet Sohi, who was himself branded a terrorist and tortured in police custody after he was arrested in 1988 in Bihar, tweeted, "From my own experience, everyone should have access to human rights and a fair trial. I have great sympathy for Jagtar Singh Johal." While re-tweeting Sohi, Canadian defence minister Harjit Singh Sajjan posted on his Twitter handle, "I echo my colleague's comments and greatly concerned about these reports. Human rights need to be respected." Two other MPs from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus Liberal Party have also raised the matter in a letter with Indias High Commissioner in Ottawa, Vikas Swarup. The letter was sent by Raj Grewal, who represents Brampton East in the House of Commons, and Randeep Sarai, MP for Surrey Centre. Jagmeet Singh, leader of Canadas federal New Democratic Party (NDP) who also waded into the controversy said reports of torture including electrocution by Indian authorities were deeply chilling and require immediate attention. Tweeting a report from the BBC, Singh noted , The allegations of torture should rattle lovers of democracy and human rights to their innermost core. Mukhbir Singh, president of the World Sikh Organisation (WSO) said they were alarmed by the treatment received by Jagtar Singh Johal in Indian custody. He also found it unacceptable that he has allegedly been subjected to torture in custody. We had seen these kinds of abductions and arrests during the 1980s and 1990s but it is shocking that they continue today. The WSO statement said, despite being a UK citizen, Johal was denied access to a lawyer or consular services during the first days of his incarceration. He has told his lawyer that for the first three days he was subjected to torture such as electrical shocks and body separation techniques. Speaking to HT, Punjab DGP Suresh Arora denied human rights violation in Johals investigation. We are investigating the case with sincerity and as per the law. We have gathered enough proof against Johal and other accused in the case, said the DGP. Last weekend, a Punjab police spokesman trashed media reports about the allegations of a frame-up and torture. Not only did we have sufficient evidence to prove the complicity of Jagtar alias Jaggi in the cases of targeted killings, the police had also ensured that there was no violation of his rights at any stage, the police spokesperson said. Besides being allowed to talk to his family members after his arrest, Jaggi was produced before a Judicial Magistrate within 24 hours of his arrest as laid down under the Criminal Procedure Code. The British High Commission was duly informed about the arrest of Jaggi, whose medical examination was also conducted as required under the procedure, the spokesperson said. The British Deputy High Commissioner in Chandigarh was in touch with Punjabs Director General of Police, said the spokesperson, adding that the envoy did not question the arrest of Jaggi. Jaggi has been found by the police to be a staunch supporter of terrorist activities in Punjab, the spokesperson said. The spokesperson added that there was a huge pile of evidence against Jaggi, who had been produced before the court several times and taken on police remand as per the courts orders, before he was sent on judicial remand to Faridkot Jail on November 17. Jaggis medical examination has also been conducted regularly since his arrest from Dakoha Fatak in Jalandhar on November 4, said the spokesperson, adding that his family members and relatives were allowed to meet him. Further, on November 15, Jagpreet Singh Chaddha, a lawyer, met Jaggi between 8 and 9 p.m. The next day, a team from the UK High Commission in New Delhi, comprising Margaret Partridge and Amit Kotecha, consular officers, met Jagtar Singh, the spokesperson said. Giving details of Jaggis involvement in conspiracy, coordination, funding and arranging of weapons for members of the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) module busted in connection with the targeted killings, the spokesperson said the accused came in contact with Gursharanbir Singh, also a British national based in Coventry, UK, who was involved in the killing of Rulda Singh, President of Rashtriya Sikh Sangat, Punjab, in July 2009. He said the Canada-based militant leaders Gurpreet Singh in Vancouver and Gurjeet Cheema in Toronto had also supplied arms to the terror cell between last May and June. According to the police spokesman; Jaggi, along with his family members, went to Surrey, Canada, in August 2016, and met militant elements Satinderpal Singh Gill, Maninder Singh Bual and Parupkar Singh in Surrey, British Columbia. Gursharanbir Singh from UK also came to Surrey and Jaggi met him to discuss ways of reviving militancy in Punjab, said the spokesperson. Since 2012, The Indian government has issued pointed and public warnings to Ottawa to mind what they see as alarming evidence of Sikh extremism on Canadian soil. The issue of internal extremism has been one that has shaken India to the core over the past several decades former prime minister Indira Gandhi was murdered by her own Sikh bodyguards after a string of events sparked by fundamentalists seeking their own separate, fundamentalist nation they would call Khalistan. Canada too has been rocked by related terrorism. Police believe the bombing of a 1985 Air India flight that killed 331 people was orchestrated by Sikh extremists based in Canada. Pockets of pro-Khalistan support are still visible in the Indo-Canadian community, after years of dormancy. Georgetown, SC (29440) Today Partly cloudy this evening followed by mostly cloudy skies and a few showers after midnight. Low 41F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%.. Tonight Partly cloudy this evening followed by mostly cloudy skies and a few showers after midnight. Low 41F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%. 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Privacy Statement President Steinmeier - who now, according to the German constitution, has the responsibility of guiding the process toward choosing the next chancellor - is one of those putting the most pressure on the Social Democrats. He himself is a former SPD minister, though his membership in the party is now on hold for the duration of his term as president. He would like to avoid new elections, saying the responsibility for forming a new government "cannot simply be handed back to the voters." Steinmeier plans a process that involves a series of one-on-one meetings with party leaders. The Social Democrats were as surprised as anyone by the collapse of the coalition talks. No one expected it - or prepared for it. And it has focused the spotlight on the party's ongoing leadership debate. SPD leader Martin Schulz is determined to stick to his rejection of a repeat of his party's outgoing coalition with the conservatives, a constellation known as a grand coalition. He prefers new elections and pushed through his decision with the party leadership at a meeting on Monday. The SPD executive then rushed to put that position in writing to avoid any impression of doubt within the party. "We believe it is important that the citizens are given the opportunity to reappraise the situation," the executive announced in a statement that had begun circulating publicly even before the meeting had come to an end. Schulz is backed by leading party figures like floor leader Andrea Nahles and deputy leader Olaf Scholz. All three see another grand coalition as dangerous for the party. They know how unpopular it is with the party grassroots, a position that was reiterated in recent weeks at a number of regional conferences. Everywhere, the message was the same: No new partnership with the conservatives! At the same time, all three are aware that the SPD could end up the biggest loser if an impression develops that the party is avoiding responsibility. That is why it is no longer taboo at party headquarters to discuss a change in strategy. Nahles has adopted a new formulation when enunciating her party's position: The SPD, she says, will of course enter discussions with Merkel, but it refuses to act merely as a tool for the chancellor to stay in power. At the Mercy of a Gambler This careful shift is likely a reaction to the horror among many Social Democrats at the prospect of new elections. No one knows what kind of campaign the party could run to have any real shot at power. And after new elections, wouldn't the party face the question of a grand coalition again anyway? "Making any kind of rushed decisions now won't help at all," warned Johannes Kahr, head of the party's conservative wing. "There will now be a lot of discussions. And we should be open going into those talks. Before we go to the voters, we should exhaust all options," he said. "I don't see any article in the constitution that stipulates there must be fresh elections if the leader of the FDP breaks off coalition talks," said Achim Post, head of the SPD group in the North Rhine-Westphalia parliament. "It's the opposite: parties and parliamentary groups have a duty, particularly in a difficult situation, to carefully take things step by step." And Martin Rabanus, the spokesman for the pragmatic wing in the party, the so-called Networkers, said: "New elections are not the right way. I am against the grand coalition, but we should calmly allow the president to hold talks and look at whether there are ways to avoid new elections." It could be a difficult few weeks for Schulz and Nahles. That much was clear on Monday afternoon during a meeting of the parliamentary group when it became clear that the SPD representatives were not happy with the fact that they had not been consulted on the party leadership's statement about elections. More than 40 Bundestag members spoke up during the meeting, around half of them addressed the party leaders' plans. Schulz in particular came under fire . Florian Post, a representative from Bavaria, complained that ever since the election, the SPD has been consumed by personnel debates. "If we run another campaign as great as the one last summer, we could end up below 20.5 percent not above 20.5 percent," he said, targeting Schulz. His comments were met with laughter, while Schulz was left reeling. All But Certain At the end of the three-hour meeting, Anette Kramme, a state secretary in the Labor Ministry, wanted to know who exactly would lead the party into a new election. It was a telling question: If Schulz's position as party leader was secure, the question would never have been asked. Schulz responded that he would be availing of his nomination right when the time came, so long as he was reelected SPD leader at the party conference in December. That had long appeared all but certain. However, in the light of the great unrest within the SPD the conference could take on a new dynamic. That is Schulz's dilemma. If he succeeds in his push for new elections then the issue of his leadership comes back into play. And that could be difficult as no one really sees him running for chancellor again. One way out for Schulz could be to make extremely tough demands on Merkel in any coalition talks. However, that is not so easy since the SPD has already pushed through so many of its key reforms, such as a minimum wage and reducing the retirement age to 63. A failed Jamaica coalition, the prospect of difficult new elections. For the chancellor, the end of the talks on Sunday marked a turning point. For the first time since taking office in 2005, she has no parliamentary majority, and for the first time, she faces the prospect of having no willing partner to form a government. Could Merkel accept a third option: a minority government? On Monday, she discussed that option with her team in the Chancellery. Merkel said she was against having to find majorities for every piece of legislation, sometimes with the backing of the SPD, sometimes with the Jamaica parties and sometimes perhaps even the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany. Such a situation was too unstable, she felt, particularly due to the current situation in Europe. They decided not to make that assessment public in order to avoid accusations from the SPD that Merkel was only interested in new elections. Merkel has sought to use the Lindner chaos for her own purposes. In an interview with public broadcaster ZDF, she said that in the event of new elections, she would again offer her services as her party's candidate for chancellor. She was a woman who "has responsibility and is also ready to continue bearing responsibility," she said. Nobody in her party objected, which doesn't mean that dissatisfaction among the party ranks has disappeared. It's just that there's no one to take her place. Keeping Silent In a telephone conference with party leadership, Merkel listed where the CDU had pushed through its policies in the coalition talks, from refugee policy to the dismantling of the solidarity tax. Many speakers praised the way she led the talks. Even one of her fiercest critics, Jens Spahn, who is sometimes mentioned as a possible successor, praised her. And she was applauded by the parliamentary group. It's clear that for now her enemies in the party are keeping silent. Even the weak election result in September is no longer a major theme in the party. In fact, a number of conferences that were scheduled to discuss it have now been cancelled. It's also unclear if the party conference in mid-December will go ahead as planned. It may be postponed, depending on how events unfold. The party leadership is meeting on Sunday and Merkel is to ask for their backing as she moves ahead. At the CDU party headquarters in Berlin, thoughts are already turning to what positions to take during an election campaign. Merkel's reputation as an imaginative negotiator, one who can always find a way to bring the sides together in the end, has taken a hit. However, the fact that the two sister parties, the CDU and the CSU, were not driven apart during the negotiations is being regarded as a success. And that could be an advantage should a new campaign be in the offing. Ultimately, Merkel believes, the result could be a run-back of her current "grand coalition" with the Social Democrats - a government she could have had without new elections. It is also one that would intensify the ongoing debate among conservatives regarding what exactly they stand for after well over a decade of Merkel's leadership. And it would play into the hands of the AfD. The chancellor doesn't see a way out of this dilemma. Many CDU leaders currently feel more closely aligned with the Greens than they do with the FDP, but are nevertheless wary of seeking to set up a conservative-Green minority government. The CSU would almost certainly make such a constellation difficult at best. As such, conservative parliamentarians are discussing a potential alternative scenario. Why not just go ahead with a chancellor vote in the Bundestag? There is a good chance, they believe, that Merkel would come away with an absolute majority, particularly since many SPD lawmakers are eager to avoid new elections out of fear of losing their seats. Plus, there are plenty of Green parliamentarians who want to see Merkel remain chancellor. The downside of such a scenario, however, is clear: Merkel would have to assemble a different majority every time she wanted to push a law through parliament. Plenty of Questions Conservatives from Merkel's wing of the party, meanwhile, have been generous in their praise of the conscientious role played by the Greens during the coalition negotiations. But it seems fair to doubt whether the grassroots of the Green party are open to such praise. Many believe the party leadership made too many compromises during the negotiations, with Greenpeace openly criticizing such conciliatoriness. The party is set to discuss the issue on Saturday in addition to settling on a strategy should new elections be called. There are plenty of questions to address, including whether the party is still behind the two lead candidates Katrin Goring-Eckardt and Cem Ozdemir. But the Greens also haven't yet had an opportunity to analyze and draw lessons from its own election results in September. "If we look closely at the result, we only received 0.5 percentage points more than four years ago, and back then, pretty much the entire party leadership had to step down," says a member of the federal leadership committee. The member says that the party can't simply carry on as though things had been perfect this time around - even if the party exhibited disciplined solidarity during the coalition talks. Indeed, leadership questions will likely be almost impossible to avoid on Saturday, given that many Greens would like to clear a path for Robert Habeck to a party leadership position. Habeck was a key player during the coalition negotiations, but he is currently the environment minister of Schleswig-Holstein and party rules prevent those holding state offices from taking a federal leadership position in the party. Given the amount of grassroots support Habeck has, though, that rule may now be abandoned. All of this is taking place because Christian Lindner would rather take his chances in opposition than assume the responsibilities associated with being in government. It is a risky bet, but can it succeed? The initial public reactions can't have been encouraging, but that doesn't necessarily mean much. Lindner's withdrawal from the coalition talks appears to be part of a long-term strategy: The ascent of the party to a position where it can operate at eye level with the conservatives. Lindner likes to see himself as a risk-loving gambler and his political career is full of audacious decisions that paid off, beginning with his fortuitous choice as a 19-year-old to stand for election to party leadership in the FDP state chapter in North Rhine-Westphalia. No less daring was his takeover of the federal party leadership after the FDP's disastrous showing in 2013 elections. When it became apparent that the FDP would lose all its seats in the federal parliament that year, Lindner writes in his book "Schattenjahre" (Shadow Years), he made his decision without extensive thought. In the shower, he writes, he decided "to go for it." 'All In' In his description of this moment, he uncoincidentally uses a term from the world of poker: "all-in." Risking everything at once. Yet Lindner is also an expert at making an early exit and has a dependable instinct for knowing when a cause has been lost. When a company that he helped found in 2000 faced bankruptcy, he managed to sell his stake just in time. And when the FDP, under the leadership of Philipp Rosler, began struggling mightily in 2011, Lindner resigned as general secretary to watch the party's rapid decline from the sidelines in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was his way of protecting himself from the collapse. Indeed, after the 2013 election day debacle, Lindner was the only remaining leadership figure in the party, with virtually all other senior members leaving politics. It was a blank slate, putting Lindner in a perfect position to reshape the FDP according to his own whims. And soon he had amassed more power within the party than any FDP leader before him. Lindner reorganized the tradition-rich party in accordance with the principles of modern-day business management. He brought in consultants to help the party better understand its image problem and to reorient itself. Relying on colorful graphs and charts, new positions were created and then filled. Initially, however, significant changes had no effect whatsoever. For more than two years, the FDP limped along with public approval ratings hovering between 3 and 4 percent, sometimes even relegated to the "other" category in opinion polls. But that changed with the arrival of the refugee crisis. Nothing helped the FDP get back on its feet more than Merkel's handling of the refugee question in 2015. She opened up the flank that Lindner so badly needed to sharpen his party's profile. He went hard after Angela Merkel, but he was even more unrelenting in his attacks on the right-wing populists from the AfD - effectively positioning the FDP on the right wing of the conservatives while maintaining the necessary distance from the far right. He provided a political home to those conservatives who were disappointed with Merkel's refugee policies but who didn't want to go so far as to vote for the AfD. By the beginning of 2016, the FDP was polling above 5 percent. In a speech held in January 2017, Lindner took a stab at analyzing Donald Trump's election victory in the U.S. The new president, he said, had taken on the establishment, "which has forgotten the broad majority of society." In Germany, he concluded, the situation isn't much different, with conservatives, the SPD and the Greens all neglecting the center. "This center of society," Lindner said, "must once again be offered a political home among the responsible parties." His FDP, Lindner suggested, was exactly what they were looking for. A Reasonable Alternative But Lindner was also able to take advantage of a second development: Merkel's sliding popularity. The more support the chancellor lost as a result of the refugee crisis, the better the FDP felt. The party, after all, had paid mightily for its role as junior coalition partner in Merkel's second government from 2009 to 2013, with many coming away with the feeling that the chancellor had taken advantage of the FDP's good faith. Lindner never forgot that feeling of humiliation at the hands of a conservative party that watched indifferently as the FDP slid beneath the 5-percent hurdle even as Merkel herself almost won an absolute majority. He also found Merkel's leadership style to be patronizing. He believes that, during her coalition with the FDP, she acted as "a kind of legal guardian to a pubescent FDP." Lindner has positioned his party as a kind of reasonable alternative to the Alternative for Germany, a place for voters to go who have been left behind by Merkel's leftward shift. That includes the conservative economic wing, a group that isn't fond of what they see as the Greens' environmental condescension. He also hopes to attract that group of voters who are frustrated with the "establishment" and who believe Merkel opened up Germany's borders without sufficient legal basis. One of Lindner's strategies for attracting such voters is euro-skepticism. During the coalition negotiations, he repeatedly quoted the new government in the Netherlands, under the leadership of Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his right-wing liberal party VVD. The coalition agreement between the VVD and several other parties is called "Confidence in the Future" and in the introduction to the Europe section, it says that "the EU has laid down rules that needlessly curtail member states' own responsibility." Lindner clearly sees the VVD and its leader Rutte as an example to be aspired to. Rutte, after all, has managed to transform the VVD - which has spent much of its existence as a junior coalition partner in governments led by other parties - into the country's strongest party. Lindner's calculation is a simple one. He believes that no matter what comes next - whether it is a grand coalition or new elections - voters will reward the FDP for its fidelity to its principles and refusal to compromise. No matter what happens, Lindner is confident that his youth and relatively brief time on the national political stage gives him an advantage when compared to Merkel. 'Good For Our Country' Still, even as Merkel's primary message is one of stability and continuity, Lindner relies on provocation. He claims to be catering to the needs of a neglected political center. In reality, however, he is deepening the societal divide he insists he is healing. It is a strategy that could very well blow up in his face. By walking out of coalition negotiations in the middle of the night, the FDP became the instant scapegoat for the failure of those talks. That could ultimately frighten away voters who saw the FDP as a clear alternative in the political center. "I don't understand Lindner's decision," says Gerhart Baum, a former FDP politician who was interior minister in the cabinet of Chancellor Helmut Schmidt from 1978 to 1982. "The (Jamaica) alliance could have been an interesting one." Baum says he doesn't know the details behind the collapse of the negotiations, but says "I know that it was possible to put something together that would have been good for our country." The German economy is also broadly displeased with Lindner's decision to turn his back on the talks, particularly in the digital sector, where many of his supporters are to be found. "A Jamaica coalition would have been a great opportunity for the younger generation," says Florian Noll, head of the German Startups Association. "Instead, we are now continuing to lose time." When compared to other countries, Germany's startup scene is far behind when it comes to access to capital and workers, Noll claims. Bernhard Rohleder, head of the Federal Association for Information Technology, had likewise been hoping to see the FDP in government. "That opportunity has now been wasted." There are, though, competing interpretations within the business community. BASF Supervisory Board Chairman Jurgen Hambrecht, who is an FDP member, defended Lindner's decision by saying: "Assignments of guilt from other parties are inappropriate." Daniel Zimmer, the former head of the Monopolies Commission in Germany, says the most important thing is that the FDP is back in parliament. The most important question for the party, though, is whether it will play much of a role on the long term if it isn't prepared to go into government. Had Lindner dared to take the plunge, the FDP could have proved itself as a pro-business party with an environmental conscience, particularly if the party had been given the prestigious Finance Ministry portfolio. But Lindner isn't the type for a traditional cabinet career. He doesn't want to be seen as the people's economist but as the people's voice - one who would rather stay out of government if it doesn't promise rapid success. His favored path to power, after all, doesn't lead through the ministries, but through the market square. By Benedikt Becker, Christiane Hoffmann, Veit Medick, Ann-Katrin Muller, Ralf Neukirch, Michael Sauga, Jan Schulte and Gerald Traufetter Shahid Elhafed, Nov 21, 2017 (SPS) - The President of the Republic, Secretary General of the Frente POLISARIO, Brahim Gali, affirmed on Tuesday, in his closing speech of the training for the Saharawi experts in charge of following the issues of the African Union, that "the battle against the Moroccan occupier will continue on all fronts until it accepts the right of the Saharawi people to build their independent State." The head of state stressed the importance of the battle against Morocco within the African Union, reiterating that "it will not cease until the Saharawi people have their independent State and impose their sovereignty over their natural resources," said Brahim Gali, before adding that said objectives "will not come without the resistance and sacrifice of the Saharawi people". He also said that the events within the framework of the African Union, "affirmed the position of the Saharawi State is an irreversible reality within the African peoples." SPS 125/090/TRA London (United Kingdom), Nov 22, 2017 (SPS) - The British Government reiterated its support for the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination on the basis of the principal of the United Nations Charter. In response to a question written by the deputy, member of the Parliamentary Group of Friends of Western Sahara, Alan Brown, the Minister of State in charge of Commonwealth affairs, Alistair Burt, has reaffirmed London's support for the "efforts" of the Personal Envoy of the Secretary General of the United Nations for Western Sahara, for seeking a "just and lasting" political solution to the conflict in Western Sahara. The British minister added that the solution must be "mutually acceptable" by the two parties, the Frente POLISARIO and the Kingdom of Morocco, and must guarantee the right of the Saharawi people to exercise their self-determination, in accordance with the rules and spirit of the Charter. SPS 125/090/TRA New York, Nov 22, 2017 Ahead of the UN Security Councils 22 November meeting on Western Sahara, the Front POLISARIO reiterates its support to the mission of the Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Western Sahara, Mr. Horst Kohler, and urges Council members to provide necessary contribution to the relaunch of the UN peace process. The Frente POLISARIO expects the Security Council to uphold its responsibility towards the People of Western Sahara and to ensure full respect to their inalienable right to self-determination and independence. The Council has the duty to guarantee that its own resolutions are respected and fully implemented. In this regard, UNSC resolution 2351(2017) has requested the Personal Envoy to provide an update on progress towards a lasting and just solution to the conflict of Western Sahara, as a question of decolonization, within six months of his appointment. This update to be held next February should comprise a concrete framework for the path forward that would culminate in urgent time-bound, face-to-face negotiations between the Frente POLISARIO and Morocco. In the interim, it is more than necessary that the Council addresses ongoing issues in order to create more favorable conditions for the new negotiating process. Morocco continues to reject the return to Western Sahara of the AU observers that were illegally expelled by Morocco in March 2016. There has still been no technical mission to the Guerguerat region of Western Sahara to examine the very serious problems created by Moroccos unilateral violation of the terms of the cease fire, as called for in UNSC Resolution 2351 (2017). Likewise, Moroccos ongoing, widespread human rights abuses and plunder of natural resources in the occupied Territory of Western Sahara suggest a culture of impunity that is not conducive to a constructive and lasting peace process. The POLISARIO welcomes increased regional engagement on these issues in the form of greater AU-UN cooperation on Western Sahara. With a new Personal Envoy in place and a clear Security Council mandate the peace process should be resumed bearing in mind that the respect of the right of self-determination of the people of Western Sahara must be the principal guidance for any credible efforts by the United Nations aimed at ensuring a lasting and just solution to the conflict of Western Sahara, the last African colony in the agenda of the United Nations. For the Frente Polisario, the right of self-determination of the people of our country is inalienable and, therefore, not negotiable, said Ahmed Boukhari, the Frente POLISARIOs Representative to the UN. SPS 125/090 There are a range of possibilities being talked about, said Russell Smith, the chair of the SCF, ranging from doing nothing to starting all over again with completely new law. Having consulted with our members over a long period of time it is clear that crofters do not want to lose any of their existing protection and rights and therefore want existing law, law that has evolved over many years, to be made fit for purpose. There is the perpetual hope that crofting legislation will interfere with crofting less and help it more. There are three fundamentals that can be done relatively quickly and to great effect, Mr Smith continued; To begin with, a lot of work has been done already by the Crofting Law Group on compiling the issues that need correcting to make the law work. The law can be fixed. Along with this, crofting development must be returned to the Crofting Commission which is best placed to implement it in conjunction with regulation. The Crofting Commission will then have a more holistic role in which to best serve crofting. However, the Crofting Commission cannot carry out all its functions if inadequately resourced. So we call on Scottish Government to sufficiently resource the Commission; if it cannot, this needs to be stated and an alternative plan for crofting put forward. A new project, which should be available on farms within the next three years, brings together the latest technology to remotely weigh and record data on calves and youngstock through to mature cattle. Not only will this help farmers to fine-tune their management to maximise performance, it will also enable them to identify sick animals at a very early stage, improving recovery speeds and reducing the use of antibiotics, explains Alan Beynon, director of PrognostiX, which is developing the technology. Working with the Nottingham University and British Telecom, the PrognostiX team expects the smart solution, named Y-Ware, to have far-reaching benefits for the industry from practical farm improvements to retailer traceability. By inserting a small bolus into the calfs rumen, and combining it with long-distance LoRa wireless technology, we can pull together all the data in one place, explains Mr Beynon. With identification capability it offers similar benefits to electronic ear tags but with far more data recording and the bonus of being completely tamper-proof. The project secured funding through Innovate UK and at 1.13m over three years is one of the biggest grants awarded through the scheme. It is also a true application of Internet of Things (IoT) technology within livestock farming. Its very exciting were taking technology developed for other industries and developing it specifically for agriculture to deliver real benefits at significantly lower cost so it will be accessible to all, says Mr Beynon. PrognostiX is developing the bolus and wireless weighing platform, with BT working on the software and Nottingham University the algorithms to turn statistics into meaningful alerts to farmers. The idea is to locate the weighing platform by a water trough whether inside or outside, it doesnt matter, explains Mr Beynon. Each animal will then be weighed every time it drinks, and the information along with its temperature will be processed by the Edge hub before it is sent wirelessly to the farmers computer or mobile device. Ginny Case #300 Ginny is a single mother of three children. Her youngest has severe developmental disabilities that require an incredible amount of support. Her commitment to her son's health never falters, however, it has left her ability to work as very limited. Ginny has a dream of moving her family to a safer neighborhood but has never been able to save enough money for a down payment for a better apartment as she is just trying to get by week to week. A gift of $500 this holiday season would help Ginny build savings toward a deposit to improve her family's safety and overall living environment. John Case #301 John is 68 years old and has been diagnosed with a chronic mental illness. He struggles each month to live on a very low income from social security benefits. His 11-year-old car is badly in need of repairs, but he cannot afford to have them done. A gift of $798 would cover the cost of four new brakes and other needed repairs on his car and keep him connected to the outside world. Bryan and Vonda Case #302 Bryan and Vonda have chronic mental disabilities and are struggling to live on low fixed incomes. Each month they often choose which bills they will pay in full and which bills they can only partially pay. They are currently backed up in paying the rent. A gift of $775 would help them become current with their rent and would give them considerable peace of mind for the holidays. Marie Case #303 Marie is a 29-year-old single mother of a 22-month-old baby with special needs. To help her son improve and reach his full potential, doctors strongly recommend Maria enroll him in an interactive gym located near her home. Marie works very hard to make ends meet, however, due to her limited income she can barely cover her basic needs: rent, utilities, food, and clothing. A gift of $500 will help Marie pay for her sons gym classes. Sophia Case #304 Sophia is a loving and dedicated 16-year-old single mother of a 1-year-old boy. Although her life changed dramatically after becoming a mother, dropping out school was never an option she considered. She is determined to graduate from high school and go to college, not only because it is important for her, but also because she wants to show her son that education is a priority and that with effort and commitment almost anything is possible. Sophia has little financial support and has a part time job on the weekends, which only pays a portion of the babysitter fee. A gift of $500 will help Sophia toward paying child-care expenses so that she can finish her education. Caroline Case #305 Caroline is a 19-year-old single mother of an 11-month-old baby. Due to her limited income, she and her son have been living with many family members, in a very small house, causing daily chaos and increasing family tension. Caroline has been saving money for over a year to rent a studio. A gift of $500 would help toward a security deposit, allowing her to have the space, independence and privacy she needs with her son. Annie Case #306 Annie is a 19-year old mother of two young children. Due to serious medical concerns, Annies daughter needs to be seen regularly by a specialist in New Haven. Finances were already very tight for Annie and her family and now even more so with the additional medical costs. A gift of $800 would help Annie cover the costs of transportation and co-pays when she regularly needs to take her daughter to the specialist. Wally Case #307 Wally is disabled and lives in public housing. Recent medical conditions have depleted his small savings account, and hes been struggling to pay rent for the last several months. He is now at risk of eviction if he doesnt pay back some of the rent hes fallen behind on. A gift of $500 will give Wally some much-needed stability. Andy Case #308 Andy is 47, and lives with multiple life threatening, chronic illnesses. He suffered a failed kidney transplant and is in the process of trying to get back on a transplant list. He has high blood pressure and is blind in one eye. Andy is on disability, however, and after he pays his bills he has very little left to live on for himself let alone his 14-year-old son. He lives in senior housing and often gets his lunch at a church in Port Chester where they offer it for free. He is unable to work due to his endless doctor appointments, which include regular visits to Yale-New Haven. A gift of $500 will allow Andy to take care of some utility bills that hes been unable to pay. Darcy Case #309 Darcy is managing multiple chronic health challenges. She has multiple myeloma, and as a result she has a compromised immune system and is constantly getting various illnesses that put her in and out of the hospital. Although she lives in public housing, after she pays her bills she barely has enough money for food for the end of each month. She loves fresh vegetables like kale, but is unable to afford the foods she needs to maintain her health. A gift of $500 would allow Darcy to purchase more healthy food options. Ally Case #310 Ally is a 17-year old who would like to be the first in her family to attend college. She meets with the counselor at the School Based Health Center to build her confidence that she can make it through her senior year. Her family does not see the point in going to college, leaving her to apply to schools on her own. She is very independent, and has a job to help her save for tuition. Her family computer is old and unreliable, though, and she could use a new laptop for applications and college. A gift of $300 for a laptop would support Allys dreams of furthering her education. Brigit Case #311 Brigits parents travel for weeks at a time for their jobs, leaving the 16-year-old with her older brothers to look after her. Money is extremely tight in the family, although her parents do their best to send home their paychecks. Not infrequently, the lights are shut off for a day or two, phone bills arent paid, and groceries become a luxury. $500 would assist Brigit and her brothers in keeping the lights and phones on consistently, and feeding the family. Evan Case #312 Evan lives with his father, who works long hours in a factory. Both men are silent types, hiding deep emotional scars from the wife and mother who left them many years ago. Evan is trying to bolster his self-esteem through counseling at the School Based Health Center, but many nights he also goes to the gym with his father, where the two of them work out and try to stay healthy. Evan would appreciate $300 for home gym equipment, so he can work out at home when his dad is working late. Grace Case #313 Grace is the youngest of three kids who still live at home, although the two oldest have graduated from high school. There is significant depression and alcoholism in the family and Grace is receiving counseling at the School Based Health Center to help address the impact of these issues on her life. Although dad has three jobs to try to keep the family afloat, mom is homebound and relies on her children for physical and emotional support. Grace would like to be a nurse someday, to support herself and help others. Right now, she needs a computer laptop to do her homework and take with her when she goes to college. A gift of $300 would help a lot. STAMFORD Tiffany S.W. Hamilton isnt sure what to call the neighborhood she and husband Ron C. Hamilton just moved to, but she at least knows its most important marker the nearby Metro-North stop. Ive learned to equate where I am by the train station, said Hamilton, a 37-year-old higher education administrator and motivational speaker. Were close to the Glenbrook train station, but were within walking distance of Noroton. Like two steps and were in Darien. Settling into their Glenbrook home, which the couple bought last month, capped off a whirlwind year for the new residents that included a wedding, a cross-country move, new jobs and a few moments in the television spotlight. The seeds for their journey to Stamford were planted more than a year ago, when Ron was tapped for an expanded role with Swiss Re in Armonk, N.Y. He had been working for the reinsurance company in Overland Park, Kan., for nearly a decade, which is where he met Tiffany, the former assistant dean for student success at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Ron and Tiffany had been friends for eight years she never liked any of his girlfriends, he says, and she nods in agreement and after being matched by an online dating site for the second time, they decided to give a romantic relationship a shot. But before they started dating, they embarked on couples therapy to make sure that even if their relationship went up in flames, their friendship would survive. Instead of flames, they found enduring chemistry. It wasnt long before Ron, 46, surprised Tiffany with a proposal in Paris. They were planning to tie the knot in 2017 but their dream nuptials guest list topped 800, and a big move to the Northeast was on the horizon. So last year they ended up inviting both of their families to a special catered Thanksgiving meal. Rons relatives were visiting from outside Missouri. Tiffanys closest relatives were local. After everyone arrived Ron addressed the room and soon it became clear what was about to happen. Moments later Tiffany appeared in a white dress and birdcage veil, ready to walk down the aisle. In August, Tiffany and Ron made the move to Stamford, living first in corporate housing downtown. The plan was for Tiffany to take time off from working full-time to focus on motivational speaking, which she had begun to do in Kansas City, sharing her experience of becoming a teen mom after getting pregnant at 15 and how she got to where she is today. Her daughter is now an undergrad at Hampton University in Virginia. East Coast living wasnt an adjustment for Ron, who grew up and went to college in Buffalo, N.Y. He had also previously lived in Stamford working for General Electric. When the couple was searching for homes, Connecticut beat New York because of the taxes. Stamford appealed to them because of the downtown and proximity to New York City. Tiffany said life in the Northeast hasnt been what her Midwestern family and friends warned her about. Shes half-kidding. The people are friendly and welcoming, she says, but there was real-estate sticker shock. I think the East Coast gets a bad rap, she said. For everything people tried to warn me about, Ive had the opposite experience. Tiffanys break from work didnt last long. Westchester Community College quickly hired her to fill the new role of chief diversity officer, helping the school and the State University of New York system to fulfill its mission of equity and inclusion, she said. And theres more. Around the time she accepted the job, Tiffany was reminded of a minute-long video her mother suggested she send to MSNBCs Morning Joe. It was for host Mika Brzezinskis Know Your Value conference, a womens empowerment event based on her best-selling book of the same name. Tiffanys video was chosen from more than 100 entries and she got to attend the event, which featured Sarah Jessica Parker and Martha Stewart, attend executive training sessions and appear on television. She also won $5,000. Know Your Value ended up connecting Tiffany with her first friend group on the East Coast, and she and Ron will be spending Thanksgiving in New Jersey with one of the women she met. There were so many people who came up to me afterwards and said theyre from the area and they want to connect, she said. Tiffany says she hopes to get involved in the community and with education. Our life motto is that you lead by serving and you gain by giving, she said. eskalka@stamfordadvocate.com STAMFORD The air in Miriam Martinezs tiny living room is thick with heat and nerves. Her husband of 13 years, Raphael Benavides, and their daughters, Brianna and Allison, are looping between the sofa and the kitchen. Her sister and niece are trailing her with their phones set to record. Martinez is pacing, or shes pulling her daughters close. Every so often a stranger appears at the door and Martinez, 53, extends her hand to welcome them. This is after theyve proven theyre not from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement the thing on everyones mind since Martinez defied the agencys orders to leave the country on Monday. Since then, Martinez and her family have hunkered down at their Seaton Road apartment, where they expect ICE could come knocking. It has become the command center for her supporters campaign to keep her in the country, led by Building One Community, a Stamford nonprofit dedicated to helping immigrants. As immigrants we come here to do nothing but our best, Benavides, 46, told one of the TV news crew crowding their home Monday night, sitting on the sofa across from a photo of their daughters posing at the mall. That we have these children, the job becomes bigger because you want to put them on the right path. Since Martinezs attorney, Glenn Formica, announced Monday that ICE rejected his request for a stay of deportation, state and local officials have thrown their support behind Martinez, who has been in the U.S. for 25 years and whose older daughter has juvenile diabetes. Martinezs supporters have argued that Martinez is the main custodian of Briannas medical care, and that it would be impossible to manage the 12-year-olds condition in Guatemala or with just one parent. Benavides works full-time operating a food truck in Yonkers, N.Y. (Brianna) needs me, Martinez said. They both need me. Now Playing: Supporters for Miriam Martinez Lemus hold a prayer vigil outside her Stamford home as the Guatemalan mother of two faces deportation from the United States. Video: CTGlobal Stamford officials and religious leaders gathered at a prayer vigil Tuesday for Martinez and her family on the lawn of their East Side apartment complex. My grandparents came to this country exactly 100 years ago, said Rabbi Joshua Hammerman of Temple Beth-El. Not everyone welcomed them with open arms, but even in the squalor of the Lower East Side (of New York), they could not have imagined the utter cruelty that we are experiencing here today and in our country. Mayor David Martin called Martinezs case a true miscarriage of justice that goes against the values of the local community and the nation. Here we are two days away from Thanksgiving, our nations most cherished holiday, Martin said. We give thanks for so much the fact that so many people in the country escaped oppression or they simply came here to live a better life. As Ive said before, as long as you come here to live an honest life and earn an honest living for your family, you are welcome in the city of Stamford. Martinez came to the United States in 1992 at 27 and immediately sought asylum, hoping to flee violence and unrest in Guatemala. Formica, who took her case on pro bono last week, has discovered conflicting dates for when Martinez was granted a voluntary departure. Whats certain, however, is that Martinezs request to extend her stay of deportation was rejected in August. Martinez has been wearing a GPS ankle bracelet for the past month while her case is pending. Formica also represents Nury Chavarria, the Norwalk woman from Guatemala who sought sanctuary in a New Haven church until she received an emergency stay of deportation, another ICE case that played out publicly since President Donald Trump vowed to take a tougher stance on immigration. Chavarria, who also wears a GPS device, was at the vigil to support Martinez who watched from the living room of her second-floor apartment along with about 80 others. I think its going to become history, said Toni Kahn, who runs Stamford Senior Centers Elderly Hispanic Program, where Martinez was a volunteer. This case is so strong and Im hoping at the end it resolves in a positive way and they can stay together. I cant imagine life without my father and my mother. Family has to be together. Luis Yumbla, a 46-year-old IT consultant who moved here from Ecuador 25 years ago, said theres a fear of mass deportations among immigrants. The community is nervous because we heard before that all the criminals need to go, he said. Shes not a criminal. Shes a decent, hardworking mother with beautiful kids. eskalka@stamfordadvocate.com My name-a Borat. I like you! As you probably know, several years ago Sacha Baron Cohen played the lead in Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, which is up there with the greatest movie titles of all time. One of the more memorable scenes in the movie, of which there are many, is when Borat dons a luminous green mankini and heads to the beach. Following the movie sales of the mankini went through the roof and its now a fairly common sight at parties and events. Including as it turns out, in Kazakhstan, where the movie was not so well received. Earlier this week six Czech tourists were fined and arrested for posing in their mankinis in the Kazakh capital of Astana. When he found out about the incident, Baron took to Facebook and offered to foot the bill. To my Czech mates who were arrested. Send me your details and proof that it was you, and Ill pay your fine, he said, directing injuries to [email protected] Isnt that dead sound? Via: Entertainment Weekly This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate WASHINGTON - In the eight years since Airbnb began operations in the District of Columbia, thousands of homeowners have used it to become short-term landlords, often illegally. But now, a practice welcomed as a novel way to augment income - and maybe befriend tourists - has become a flash point in the city's debate over gentrification. Opponents of Airbnb and similar companies are backing legislation before the District Council to prohibit some short-term rentals and regulate the rest. They say that renting houses and apartments for brief stays gobbles up living space that could ease the city's shortage of affordable housing. Many citizens also resent seeing a surge of transients disturb the residential character of their buildings or street blocks. Residents complain about noise, unfamiliar faces and loss of precious parking spaces. But Airbnb's defenders turn the gentrification argument on its head. Given the city's high housing costs, they say, people rent out rooms in their primary residences, or in second and third homes they own, to earn enough money to remain in the District. They also say that the housing shortage has resulted not from short-term rentals - which occupy a small fraction of the city's total housing stock - but from larger economic factors such as the desire of millennials to live in cities. The dispute over online, short-term rental services has erupted at community meetings, on neighborhood message boards, in courtrooms and in ads on television and radio. It pits entrenched interests in the hotel industry and their union against an upstart competitor in a classic example of how a new technology can threaten an established business model. At the core of the controversy are the same questions that grip the District over how redevelopment is transforming neighborhoods, raising housing costs, adding to congestion, and altering the city's economic and racial demographics. "Most of the Airbnb folks don't fit into the neighborhood that well," said the Rev. H. Lionel Edmonds, pastor of Northwest D.C.'s Mount Lebanon Baptist Church, who is helping lead a grass-roots campaign in favor of tough regulations. "They don't invest in the community. . . . It increases the gentrifying component." - - - The short-term rental market has exploded in the District since Airbnb got its start with homeowners renting space to visitors for President Barack Obama's first inauguration in 2009. Last year, the number of Airbnb guest arrivals jumped almost 80 percent, from 160,000 to 287,000. The number of people who hosted at least one trip jumped from 3,900 to 4,900. Although Airbnb is the largest and best-known short-term rental service in the city, other companies such as HomeAway and VRBO are active, as well. The rapid growth has stirred concerns. Brenda Shields, an advisory neighborhood commissioner in the low-income Congress Heights neighborhood in Southeast Washington, says Airbnbs victimize the needy citizens she sees when she volunteers at her church food pantry or delivers clothing and toiletries to the homeless. She's willing to let people rent rooms in their homes but wants a ban on Airbnbs in multiunit buildings. "You're taking away an apartment that somebody could live in, who's living in the streets," Shields said. "You're taking away from those people and giving to people who are here for a weekend or a week." Airbnb was a hot topic at a summer meeting of the Congress Heights Community Association, which was unable to reach a consensus. Mary Cuthbert, vice president of the association and an advisory neighborhood commissioner, warned that short-term rentals bring in transients who dilute a neighborhood's residential character and pose safety risks. "You see all sorts of strange people coming and going" at Airbnbs, Cuthbert said. "Somebody may want to rent a room who is a psycho killer." She said short-term rentals were also contributing to a change in the racial makeup of the community. "You have people coming in, and rents being pushed up, and minorities moving out to Maryland," Cuthbert said. But a short drive away, in River Terrace in Northeast, Shaun Johnson said he can afford to stay in the city only because of the extra income he makes as an Airbnb host. Johnson regularly rents out two bedrooms and the basement in his rowhouse and describes the extra $40 or $50 a night per rental as a "godsend" in meeting his mortgage payments. Johnson, a baggage ramp employee for American Airlines at Reagan National Airport, also says he has befriended many of his guests and especially enjoys introducing Washington to foreigners. "I feel like I'm an ambassador for the city and black Americans," he said. Johnson resents the accusation that he is contributing to a lack of affordable housing in the city. He says the government and big developers, not little guys trying to make a buck from Airbnb, are to blame for high housing costs. "Why should the burden of affordable housing be on me? I can barely keep a roof over my head in my own house," Johnson said. On Capitol Hill, which has the most short-term rentals of any neighborhood in the city, Dunnzy Levin is concerned because the proposed legislation would bar her and her husband from operating a building they own that has six units for corporate furnished rentals and short-term Airbnbs. "It's a huge deal for the income," Levin said. "It's giving us a little bit of a cushion to put some money away, because living in the city is kind of hand to mouth." If the legislation sets a limit lower than six for the number of units that a host can rent - as council members say is practically certain - then, Levin said, she and her husband would "change our business model." Another host concerned about the bill is Ruth Hamilton, who uses Airbnb to rent out one of two units in a rowhouse in Southwest that she and her husband own, in addition to the rowhouse where they live nearby. The Hamiltons' experience shows the financial incentive to rent through Airbnb rather than through a traditional, long-term lease. The downstairs unit, which is rented long-term, has been fetching the couple $1,500 a month - a rate they expect to jump to between $1,700 and $1,900 a month with the next tenant. But the upstairs unit, which they rent on Airbnb, yields an average of about $117 a night, and the unit is rented about three-quarters of the year. That works out to more than $2,500 a month. "I do make more on that apartment than I would if I rented it out on a long-term basis," Hamilton said. The extra money has helped cover her son's college costs. "It's really enabled us to do that without debt," she said. "I understand the concerns about big apartment buildings going Airbnb and the need for affordable units. In our circumstances . . . our real estate is our way of making ends meet in the city." - - - The legislation before the District Council was the subject of a lively hearing in April. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, D, expects the council to act on it by January. Both supporters and detractors say the bill could result in a satisfactory compromise. In theory, it would permit individuals and small operators to take advantage of the "sharing economy" by renting out their primary residence, while insisting that they meet basic safety and licensing requirements. At the same time, it would prohibit large-scale commercial operators from using short-term rental services as a way to operate as hotels while dodging strict regulatory standards required in that business. "We definitely want to go after the bad actors," said council member Kenyan McDuffie, D, who wrote the bill. People would still be free to market their property, provided they "submit to a clear, concise regulatory framework," he said. But there is no resolution of several major questions over how far the law would go. The outcome will affect whether large numbers of hosts can continue to rent out rooms and houses and whether it will still be profitable to do so. It hasn't been decided how many nights each year an absentee host could rent their primary residence. The bill would set a cap of 15 nights, although McDuffie expects that will be amended to 60 or 90. The industry is pushing for at least 180 nights a year. The biggest dispute may be over whether people can rent out a second home at all. The bill says no, and McDuffie wants to keep it that way. But Airbnb wants hosts to be able to rent at least three "entire home" units. That typically means a house, apartment or basement with its own entrance, as opposed to a single room in a residence. Short-term rental companies are also worried that new licensing and inspections requirements will discourage too many owners from taking advantage of the service. They say the hotel industry and its allies are stirring up exaggerated arguments about housing costs to protect a monopoly at consumers' expense. "We find the bill really onerous and overly restrictive for the vast majority of our hosts who occasionally rent out their home or room in their home," said William Burns, the public policy director for Airbnb. One potential advantage of the bill is that it would make it easier to get a license for short-term rentals - a legal requirement that is widely ignored. A large but unknown number of hosts are renting rooms or houses in violation of city zoning regulations, according to District officials and Council members. The city has mostly turned a blind eye to the violations, saying it doesn't have the resources to enforce the laws. In residential zones, where many Airbnbs operate, a single-family home typically can offer short-term rentals only if it obtains a bed-and-breakfast license with a home occupation permit. Many hosts lack such licenses, or are not serving breakfast to their guests, as the permit requires. "The estimated number of short-term rentals being offered do exceed the number of licenses that would cover that type of activity," the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs said in a written statement. The fine for operating without a license is $2,000, but the regulation is rarely enforced. In the past two years, DCRA has issued $30,000 in fines for individuals or business for operating unlicensed short-term rentals. The DCRA said enforcement is "complaint driven," and investigations "generally require considerable time to develop." The new legislation, if approved, "would require considerable additional staffing to implement," the DCRA said. - - - Much of the debate over short-term rentals has addressed the extent to which they are contributing to the city's chronic lack of affordable housing. Airbnb issued a report in April suggesting the impact was minimal. It found that of more than 300,000 housing units in the city, fewer than 9,000 "entire home" listings have hosted a trip via Airbnb. The results were reassuring to the Coalition for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development, which supports low-cost housing and requested the study from Airbnb. "We don't see alarming numbers," said Stephen Glaude, executive director of the coalition, said. Short-term rentals "do not have a major impact on the housing stock." But opponents note the housing shortage is so severe that it's harmful to lose even a small number of apartments or homes. For instance, in 2016, according to Airbnb, 1,242 "entire homes" were rented for 90 days or more. That is more than the approximately 1,000 affordable housing units created or preserved each year under Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser's much-praised $100 million annual contributions to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. Burns, of Airbnb, said there was no guarantee that the Airbnb units would be affordable if rented long-term. McDuffie says that even if the numbers are comparatively small, the rapid growth in short-term rentals is a threat to the city in the long run. "They are taking homes off the long-term rental market in favor or more lucrative short-term rentals," McDuffie said. "If that phenomenon continues without sensible regulations, it's going to have an impact. We have to look to the future." Two Pittsfield, Mass., men were arrested in connection with a human trafficking scheme that allegedly ran out of a nursing home. Randy Lambach, 45, and Joseph VanWert, 65, are charged with human trafficking, deriving support from a prostitute, knowingly permitting prostitution on the premise and sexual conduct for a fee, according to Pittsfield police. How to Submit an Obituary or In Memoriam Funeral homes often submit obituaries as a service to the families they are assisting. You may also submit the obituary on your own. Pricing for obituaries is based on word count. One photo is allowed. If you wish to submit an obituary or in memoriam notice, please contact us at 308-487-3334 or email us: Hemingford-Ledger News SCOTTSBLUFF An airport is more than the planes that fly in and out of them. Behind the scenes, there is always action, including fire trucks, which provide safety as well as the ability to expand airport services. Airport Director Darwin Skelton recently attended a four-state FAA conference in Kansas City to discuss the state of airports and federal regulations. Right after the state meeting, Skelton attended Scottsbluffs 139 meeting. The meeting discussed regional airports 139 certificates, which establish requirements for airports to operate. The people who put that (the conference) on come out here and decided whether or not we keep the 139 certificate, he said. The 139 inspection involves extensive inspections of all aspects of an airport, including the issue of fire safety. A few years ago, the FAA determined airports the size of Scottsbluff did not need larger, 1,500-gallon fire trucks anymore. FAA officials were going to force the airport to use a 500-gallon truck instead. That concerned us because of the diversions and casino charters, said Darwin Skelton, airport director. We disagreed with that terribly because 500 gallons is not going to do the trick if you get a fire. The airport was given the opportunity to file for a waiver. In the four-state region of Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska, several airports filed, but Scottsbluff was the only one approved. That all comes back to show how much diversion means, he said. A diversion, where an airplane makes an unscheduled landing, occurs for a variety of reasons, including an emergency landing, unexpected weather change, a need to take on more fuel or deicing. During the summer of 2017, there were nine diversion in one day due to storms at other airports. Seven of those were United planes. Diversions continue to increase at the airport and airport officials know having all the proper equipment means the difference between an airline choosing Scottsbluff or using another airport. The airport fire truck, and what it can do, plays a large role in whether or not an airline chooses to make a diversion into Scottsbluff. The airport has also had visits from United Airlines earlier this fall and other airlines, including Jet Blue, have inquired about setting up or increasing their the number of diversions they have in Scottsbluff. Skelton said Scottsbluffs name is getting out there and things are being said about the service they provide. They can get in and out easily. Its not complicated. They can get fuel, he said. Thats why you are seeing more diversions because we can provide what they need. The airport fire trucks also assist through interlocal agreements to help in the community when the situation arises. We have a much greater capability putting foam down and we can smother an oil fire pretty quickly, Skelton said. The airport is scheduled to get a new truck to replace its current 2004 fire truck. That truck can handle Purple-K, a dry-chemical fire suppression agent made with ppotassium but if that truck goes down, the airport is required to get something else in place within 48 hours or close down commercial service. The airports solution was to purchase a 400-gallon skid unit that can be placed in the bed of a pickup truck. An engineering agreement is currently being worked out and the new truck, which will have many new advanced features, will be ordered in 2018 and arrive in 2019. Until then, the airport will keep using the 2004 truck. When the new truck arrives, it will continue to be used for other front line duties. Those diversions were the biggest key to getting that fire truck, he said. The airport has another truck that is used for grass fires and oil fires. Once the new truck arrives, the airport will have four fire trucks. Two can handle the Purple-K in addition to the skid. With the increase in diversions and the truck availability, the airport could move up to a Class D airport, which is in Denvers range. We wont push that with them (the FAA), Skelton said. But we will be a class A that has the capability to run as a class D as needed. LINCOLN State Sen. Lynne Walz of Fremont called Tuesday for an investigation into state-licensed facilities for mentally ill Nebraskans that remain open despite repeated violations of state care standards. Walz said her interest stems from a veterans Sept. 3 death at Life Quest at the Coolidge Center in Palmer, Nebraska. The veteran, who suffered from mental illness and other health problems, was found dead in her room from an apparent fall. She had suffered uncontrollable vomiting and diarrhea for at least three days without treatment. I feel like this is a death that could have and should have been prevented, Walz said. These violations posed an immediate danger to the residents of Life Quest. Yet, there was no action until a tragedy happens. State Department of Health and Human Services inspectors had completed an inspection of the facility about a month prior. They took no action until Oct. 5, when they revoked the facilitys license and issued an 81-page report detailing several instances of abuse and neglect of residents and numerous care deficiencies. Walz said she plans to introduce a legislative resolution during the 2018 session that would create an investigative committee. The session starts Jan. 3 in Lincoln. She wants the committee to look at the situation at the Palmer facility, as well as at why Nebraska continues to rely on assisted living facilities and mental health centers that segregate, congregate and, unfortunately, warehouse people with mental illness. This is happening across Nebraska, Walz said. She said the state should work on developing more housing alternatives and services to help people live as independently as possible in the community. Disability Rights Nebraska, an advocacy group, questioned earlier why the state did not act more quickly against the Palmer facility. The advocacy groups CEO, Eric Evans, also called for stronger state oversight of facilities housing people with mental illnesses. The Palmer facility was the third such place in five years to be shut down because of abuse, neglect and mismanagement. Another mental health center, Life Quest at Belle Amis in Blue Hill, Nebraska, was fined $10,000 and placed on a yearlong probation starting Nov. 4. The sanction was issued after state inspectors found that the facility did not provide appropriate treatment for residents, lacked adequate staff and was not maintained in a safe and sanitary manner. State records show that Life Quest at Belle Amis is owned by Nancy Stephens of Doniphan. The administrator is Laura Downing, who is the president of Life Quest at Belle Amis Inc. State records list Stephens as the sole officer of Life Quest Inc., which owned the Palmer facility. Historians from all over Romania and abroad attended on Wednesday a symposium called "The Greater Union - the culmination of a millenary history," organised by the National Defence College Foundation and the National Defence College at the Central University Library in Bucharest, an event that is part of the series of events dedicated to the Centennial of the December 1, 1918 Greater Union. Academician Razvan Theodorescu spoke about "three country projects and two generations" that led to the Greater Union."It was the masterpiece of political thinking that was called January 1859. In my opinion, it is the smartest action taken by Romanians in all their history, namely the double election of Alexandru Ioan Cuza. The second project, which was the Independence of 1877, was largely conducted by the same people or others who accreted to those of 1859, which actually prolonged the 1848 revolutionary moment. Finally, there is the 1918 Union, which was certainly part of a general trend of unions in Europe, of the definitive formation of nations in the place of former empires, the fall of empires," said Theodorescu.According to him, nationalism is a "healthy" doctrine - the doctrine of Titu Maiorescu, Mihai Eminescu, Nicolae Iorga, and Constantin Radulescu Motru."Romania must once and for all join the civilised peoples that do not stupidly and idiotically make fun of the word nationalism. (...) Nationalism is a healthy doctrine, it is the doctrine of Titu Maiorescu, of Eminescu, Iorga and Radulescu-Motru, and we have to talk about that all the time," he said.According to him, there are no longer "statesmen" or "political people" in Romania."In Romania, we no longer have statesmen today. You can call me a subjective old man, but the last Romanian statesman is Professor Adrian Nastase. Historically speaking, after him there is nothing in any party and no horizon, which is unacceptable. We need at least politicians, if not statesmen, to think about the future elections - we have no such thing anymore - that is why mentioning the generations of statesmen who made Romania and who did some projects is absolutely necessary," said Theodorescu.In his opinion, "the only possible fourth country project" would be Romania's union with Basarabia.In his turn, university professor Ioan Scurtu approached the Greater Union of 1918 in a European context.He said that Romania had been made before other nation states like Italy and Germany, and the Treaty of Trianon was signed when the union was "a reality.""Romania was made before states like Italy. A smaller union of the Romanian Principalities took place in 1859. Italy became a nation state in 1861. And before another very important state, Germany, which came into existence in January 1871. Romanians had European priorities and that was due to their capacity to capitalise on the international context and to place the Great Powers before an accomplished fact, their own national fact (...) The Treaty of Trianon was signed on June 4, 1920, when the union was a reality, when Romania was led by a Transylvanian leader hailing from the united provinces; that was not some gift to Romania from the Great Powers,' said Scurtu.Professor Adrian Nastase spoke about the National Committee in Paris and its publications. He said it was interesting that one of the main problems of the Romanian representatives of the time in France was related to how to mobilise the French political elite in their support. AGERPRES President Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday stated that the Government must present some corrective measures in the case of the tax modifications, if determined to implement them, says Iohannis. "The so-called tax revolution or reform is a concept brought up by the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and developed by the government. If they are determined to go ahead with these changes, then some corrective measures are required," the head of state said after attending the debate "Romanian Cities after 100 years from the Great Union. A smart future for Ploiesti" organized at the Petroleum - Gas University. He argued that the government needs to intervene to settle the issue of mayors who fear that they will remain without money as a result of the implementation of the new tax measures. Further on, the head of state said that the Government must also present some "wise" measures for decentralization. Agerpres. President Klaus Iohannis said on Wednesday that the so-called tax reform approved by the Social Democratic Party (PSD), major at rule, has generated uncertainties that could affect investor confidence. "There is a series of worries with the business community over the so-called tax reform imposed by the PSD. These are measures that have generated uncertainties that could affect the confidence of investors, which is also reflected in the economy of your county," Iohannis told a debate called "The Cities of Romania 100 years from the Greater Union. A smart future for Ploiesti," organized at the Oil and Gas University of Ploiesti, Prahova County. He added that Prahova is a prosperous region, which is reflected in one of the highest Gross Domestic Products (GDP) in Romania, of 26.3 billion euros. Iohannis pointed out that Prahova County has attracted foreign direct investment of 2.1 billion euros, which ranks it third nationwide, adding that it is a notable result generating optimism. He said unemployment in Prahova is 3 percent, much below the national average. "Here, in Prahova, you have all the preconditions for high standards of living. The city of Ploiesti is today one of the most dynamic industrial and logistic hubs in Romania, and that is what explains its ambition to become a smart city where all resources are used for increasing the quality of life of its citizens, a city similar to what we admire elsewhere in Europe and the rest of the world. (...) A smart city is an attractive place to live and work, a community that makes it easier for people to access modern and high-quality public services. The concept of smart city also means (...) a more active involvement of the citizens in local government and community life," the President said. According to him, public administration becomes increasingly more efficient through dialogue and teamwork, in close partnership with citizens, economic players, universities and the civil society. "Communication and co-operation bring expertise that the administration cannot possess, no matter how modern and professional it may be, as well as a high degree of transparency and civic involvement," Iohannis said. He pointed out that the local administrations should have a privileged relationship with the academe, research centres, and also work to attract valuable Romanian scientists who have left for other cities or other countries. "The city of Ploiesti has a lot of advantages: it is the traditional capital of the oil and gas industry, and of higher education in the same area. There is already human resources expertise and expertise in a highly competitive economic field, a guarantee for a strong local business environment and a great potential for development. Beyond the traditional energy sector, a local research centre such as the Oil and Gas University can become a gateway to development and innovation, including in the renewable energy sector. This is the vision I believe we need to celebrate the Centennial, building for the future. Let us bequeath to the future generations a generous legacy, on which, in their turn, they will be able to build the future of Romania," Iohannis concluded. Agerpres. President Klaus Iohannis said in Ploiesti on Wednesday that there have been difficulties lately in communicating with Parliament, arguing that lawmakers are somewhat out of touch with what is happening in the country. "There have been difficulties lately in communicating with Parliament, which is somewhat out of touch with what is happening in Romania, and that's a pity," Iohannis told a debate called "The cities of Romania 100 years from the Greater Union. A smart future for Ploiesti," organised at local the University of Oil and Gas, in response to a question about metropolitan area legislation. He said that there is a great need for legislation harmonisation in this area. "I think it would help a little if more people would be more active and would visit, for example, the MPs, not the ones here: they are active, that's why they have come, but there are some who can be seen rather on TV or elsewhere than in contact with real citizens. I think that is an insufficiently exploited leverage," Iohannis said. The head of state indicated that large municipalities need room for development. "Such development room can only be reasonably created in two ways: either by establishing and regulating metropolitan areas, or by extending the boundaries of municipalities," Iohannis explained. Agerpres. The National Education Ministry (MEN) hosted on Wednesday the annual meeting regarding the cooperation in the education and professional training areas between Romania and France. The opening of the event was attended by Education Minister Liviu Marian Pop and France's Ambassador Michele Ramis. According to a release, the two dignitaries' speeches stressed the good relations between Romania and France, which have been recorded in the education area throughout the time, but also their shared interest in strengthening, diversifying and developing the traditional cooperation between the two countries."The interest that the National Education Ministry grants to the cooperation with the French Republic always has been and will remain very high, both on a bilateral and European level. I voice my satisfaction with the fruitful collaboration of Romania and France in the education area, and I assure you that the National Education Ministry will continue to do anything in its powers in order to develop the bilateral relations," Minister Liviu Pop stated, according to the quoted source."I am glad that priorities of France's Embassy and that of the Romanian state are very close, the excellent bilateral cooperation in the education area being a conclusive proof in this respect. One of our major concerns is the promotion of the French language in Romania, a context in which I appreciate and thank you for the constant support that you have granted," Michele Ramis stated, according to the source.The third edition of the Romanian-French annual meeting represents an occasion to review the bilateral cooperation actions of the previous school/academic year, but also the appropriate framework to propose, analyse and plan new common projects for the current school/academic year."The experts' discussions aimed at cooperation in the sphere of pre-university, university, vocational and technical education, linguistic cooperation, continuous training of teachers, as well as contributions that each of the two parties can have in consolidating the connection between the academia and the socio-economic environment. Among the examples of projects tackled during the discussions, there are the development of vocational and technical education, including the dual learning, pupils mobility, exchange of experience between teachers, mentoring and control, students and university staff mobility, as well as increased direct partnerships between education units and institutions of the two countries," the release mentions. AGERPRES The Minister for Romanians Abroad, Andreea Pastirnac, and Spanish officials have discussed the development of projects with impact on the Romanian community of Spain, including an information campaigns on the rights and obligations on Spain's labour market. In continuation of her working visit to Spain, Pastirnac met Belen Prado Sanjurjo, the deputy minister for social policies and family of the Community of Madrid, and Alberto Montero Soler, chair of the Employment and Social Security Committee of Spain's Congress of Deputies."At the proposal of the Romanian minister, the two sides agreed to carry out joint campaigns next year to inform Romanian nationals about the rights and obligations on Spain's labour market, to prevent and combat the risk factors arising from illegal employment, the legislation of the two countries, the promotion of gender equality, and the development of joint projects in the Madrid Community," the Ministry for Romanians Abroad (MRP) said Wednesday in a press statement.At the same time, Pastirnac extended an invitation to Spanish officials to join in the next sessions of the "Get Informed at Home to be Safe in the World!" national campaign initiated by MRP in collaboration with other Romanian institutions."Also discussed with the Spanish officials was the possibility of resuming the bilateral dialogue both at the level of experts and especially at a parliamentary level regarding the recognition of dual citizenship for Romanians residing in Spain. Another main item on the agenda was the possibility of including in the Spanish education curricula of the Romanian language, so as to ensure the preservation of the linguistic identity of Romanian young people enrolled with Spanish schools," according to MRP.The Spanish side particularly appreciated the good social integration of the Romanians, their high degree of insertion into the labour market and their significant contribution to the economic and social development of Spain, displaying openness toward enhancing bilateral co-operation. AGERPRES President Klaus Iohannis stated on Wednesday that he is concerned in respect to the Justice Laws, because there is "a dialogue of the deaf" among those who promote changes to the specific legislation and the judicial system. "It's very good that works are being carried out in Parliament night and day, what it's important is not when they work, but that the result be a reasonable one. I am very concerned because one can easily notice a dialogue of the deaf among those promoting changes to the specific legislation and the system which, afterwards, should put this legislation into practice. We have negative opinions from the CSM, the civil society and I believe that this would be the time, in the twelfth hour, that MPs understand the need of a real consultation, a steady one, with all the factors involved, because if the legislation must be changed in the Justice area, and probably some changes are needed, may those necessary changes be made and may they be made after a previous talk with all the ones involved and taking into account the opinions of those who come to improve this legislation," Iohannis stated after attending the debate called "Romanian cities 100 years after the Great Union. A smart future for Ploiesti," which was organised at the Oil-Gas University. Agerpres. Honourary chairman of the Gaudeamus 2017 book trade fair in Bucharest, playwright and journalist Matei Visniec, said on Wednesday, at the opening of event, that Romania is extremely competitive on a cultural level, adding that creativity, along with books and culture make up the mental binder of Europe. "Romania is extremely competitive, first and foremost on a cultural level. I am delighted to be here, surrounded by people who believe, like me, that Romania's gigantic, enormous asset is Romanian culture, Romanian creativity. Currently, it is the Romanian artists, more than any other professionals, that make Romania exist in the world imagination," said Visniec.He pointed out that his message comes at a moment of "frailty" in Europe. "I have come bearing this message at a time when Europe is frail. We are here in a temple of books, in a laboratory of imagination, and it is happens that imagination is precisely what we just need now to restart Europe. Because it is the only boat that contains us all. There is no other alternative, ideology or utopia, but this common house. When I pronounce Europe, this name to me conjures primarily the birthplace of this fantastic object that is the book. If we were to choose one word to describe Europe, we could use the word 'book' or 'culture.' (...) The true identity of this space that Romania has joined is culture. The book is Europe's mental binder and, first of all, creativity," Visniec said.In her turn, the head of the European Commission Representation in Romania, Angela Cristea, who spoke on behalf of the guest of honour of this edition of Gaudeamus, the European Union, whose stand is titled "Home in Europe," said that this is a world first."I think it is a world first for the European Union to be honoured at an international book fair, and so we have tried to prepare for you, the reading aficionados, a stand that will make you feel at home. We will discuss at this stand, in many events, issues of the workplace and personal life, because one of our preoccupations in the European Union is to help the citizen find the best balance between professional life and personal life," said Cristea.She mentioned workshops that talk about the Erasmus programme, the EU's investment plan, the future of the European Union, and about "how to read, eat healthy or enjoy the present."Pointing to the tradition of the 24 editions of the Gaudeamus Fair, Culture and National Identity Minister Lucian Romascanu announced that a series of "very concrete plans to encourage reading" had been set at a meeting with representatives of the Association of Romania's Book Publishers and Distributors."One of them will also include Gaudeamus, so that in partnership, because it is already the owner of an extremely important savoir faire, we can make the Gaudeamus Traveller event a meeting place not only for Radio Romania's local offices but also in all the county capitals, so that people, young people, students and children may have the opportunity to get their hands on a printed book, because there is no equal experience to reading a printed book," said Romascanu.President and CEO of the Romanian National Radio Broadcasting Corporation (SRR) Georgica Severin said that "perhaps the most successful cultural form in which SRR has manifested itself in the last quarter of a century is Gaudeamus, proof that when you love culture, when you love books and above all when you are not willing to compromise, this phenomenon may exist."Chair of the Romanian Cultural Institute (ICR), a Gaudeamus - Radio Romania partner, Liliana Turoiu, remarked that, just like at all trade fairs it has organised abroad, ICR at Gaudeamus speaks about the same thing, the publishing market of Romania.About 300 exhibitors, more than 800 around-the-clock publishing and professional events, personalities of the Romanian national cultural landscape, numerous workshops and events for the youngest visitors are the highlights of the 24th edition of the Gaudeamus International Educational Book Trade Fair, unfolding Wednesday through Sunday at the Romexpo central pavilion in Bucharest, open hours: 10:00hrs-20:00hrs. AGERPRES Updated at 3:47 p.m. JEFFERSON CITY Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawleys office says its investigating Uber over the ride-hailing companys massive data breach. Hawleys office sent a letter Wednesday telling Uber to notify customers if their personal information might have been affected and demanding that the company make changes to protect data. The companys chief executive had acknowledged in a Tuesday blog that the company had erred in handling the breach. The Missouri letter to Uber says the attorney generals office is investigating whether the company violated any state consumer-protection or data-privacy laws. Hawleys office said it might later issue subpoenas to get more information. The state attorneys general in at least four other states Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts and New York also said they had launched investigations into the breach. The Federal Trade Commission, which investigates companies accused of being sloppy with consumer data, also said it was closely evaluating the serious issues raised in Ubers handling of its hack last year. We are aware of press reports describing a breach in late 2016 at Uber and Uber officials actions after that breach. We are closely evaluating the serious issues raised, an FTC spokesman said. Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., called for a congressional hearing. If Uber did indeed secretly pay off the hackers to keep the breach quiet, then a possible cover up of the incident is problematic and must be investigated, Pallone said in a statement. Uber Technologies said Wednesday that it had been in touch with several states and the FTC. We stand ready to cooperate with them going forward, an Uber spokesperson said in a emailed statement. The money-losing ride-hailing service is known for the tough stance it has taken against regulators as it seeks to aggressively expand and compete with current taxi services. By the time a movie star of verifiable acting ability has been around for a few decades, you start seeing interviews such as a recent one in which George Clooney mentioned quitting acting at least until something like Paul Newmans role in The Verdict comes along. That movie has become an industry-veteran touchstone. Legal dramas featuring a flawed but nobly wily protagonist: These are catnip for maturing male beauties eager to remind audiences they can A) carry a character-driven project, and B) quit coasting on their charm, or their ability to pretend to kill people, for a couple of hours. In his 40s, Clooney took on such a role in writer-director Tony Gilroys Michael Clayton. Now, Denzel Washington has done the same, as the consciously un-smooth operator in nearly every shot of the flamboyant performance showcase Roman J. Israel, Esq., written and directed by Dan Gilroy, Tonys brother. Gilroy wrote the part for Washington. A bit of a savant is how one character describes Romans personality and compulsive behavior. For 26 years, this brilliant but socially maladroit activist, a Berkeley graduate, has worked in the LA law office of a well-known criminal defense attorney. His boss death pushes Roman into the public light, and its clear this throwback in the ill-fitting suit and retro Afro has no taste or tolerance for the grinding compromises of the criminal justice system. In a condescending spirit of pity, Roman is hired on by hotshot attorney George Pierce, played by Colin Farrell in silky, fast-talking menace mode. The conflict in Roman J. Israel, Esq. comes from Romans unsanctioned handling of a case involving a young man wrongly accused of murder. Without giving it away theres a genuinely effective twist involving the identity of a new client Roman breaks the law, comes into some money and spends the rest of the movie reckoning with that decision. Were set up for all this in an early throwaway line of Romans, inspired by real-life Equal Justice Initiative founder Bryan Stevenson: Each one of us is greater than the worst thing weve ever done. Gilroy made his feature directorial debut with Nightcrawler (2014), a sharp, efficient study in ethics and ambition starring Jake Gyllenhaal. As a writer, Gilroy (son of playwright Frank D. Gilroy, of The Subject Was Roses) hits about .500 for individual scenes, a believable one followed by an artificial construct. Early on, Roman explains the esquire designation to signify a standing slightly above gentleman, below knight. This is on-the-nose stuff. Roman meets a valiant civil rights activist (Carmen Ejogo of Selma) who invites him to a meeting of protesters, and it quickly goes south, with Roman getting upbraided by two young women (one played by jazz bassist Esperanza Spalding) for his old-school manners. Its not a short scene, but it peaks just when it gets interesting. The movie is a morality tale primarily about a good, sympathetic mess of a Don Quixote who screws up. Secondarily, its about the Farrell characters change of heart, brought about by the idealist in his midst. But the two mens crisscrossing transformations never quite convince.. Charles Dickens (Dan Stevens) needs a hit. His most recent books have bombed, and his status as one of the most popular authors of his time is in danger. So its no wonder hes in a panic. It doesnt help that Dickens neer-do-well father, John (Jonathan Pryce), is back in London and bothering him with his harebrained schemes. Or that the author is haunted by memories of a childhood in which he was forced to work in a dark and dingy factory, among uncouth youth who hated him for his polished upbringing. Dickens is all too aware that his upper-class life depends on his continued literary success. But a good idea for a new book eludes him until he comes up with a Christmas story that hes certain will dazzle readers. A story called A Christmas Carol. When his usual publisher is skeptical, Dickens forges ahead with a plan to release the book on his own at great personal risk. If it fails to engage the public imagination, poverty awaits. But his instincts prove to be correct. A Christmas Carol will give the world two of the most famous characters in literature: penny-pinching Ebenezer Scrooge and adorable Tiny Tim. Based on a book by Les Standiford, The Man Who Invented Christmas lacks the necessary lightness of spirit and raises the question: Why didnt the moviemakers simply use the resources available to them for a straight remake of A Christmas Carol? This origin story relies far too heavily on the Dickens tale without adding much interest. Working from a screenplay by Susan Coyne, director Bharat Nalluri maintains a pace that brings to mind a wagon loaded down with too many Christmas trees. Though the movie has a great look, its short on storytelling magic. Stevens, perhaps best known for his stint on Downton Abbey, is a competent but not particularly charismatic Dickens. Tiny Tim would probably skip this movie. In apparent violation of federal law and medical research protocol, Southern Illinois University associate professor William Halford injected people with an unapproved herpes vaccine in Springfield, Ill. hotel rooms. The vaccine testing, uncovered by a Kaiser Health News investigation, came three years before Halford conducted a herpes vaccine trial on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts, which also ran afoul of the law. Halford injected at least eight people with experimental vaccines at the Holiday Inn Express and the Crowne Plaza Hotel near his SIU lab on several dates in 2013, according to the Kaiser Health News investigation based on emails and interviews with the participants. The biology professor, 48, died of cancer in June after spending his career trying to develop a herpes vaccine. He was a professor at the Springfield campus. In 2016, Halford's company Springfield-Ill.-based Rational Vaccines flew 20 Americans and British citizens to the Caribbean island to test its Theravax herpes vaccine without U.S. oversight. The university holds a patent on the vaccine. An SIU spokeswoman told Kaiser Health News that the university was not involved in the offshore clinical trial but later found "serious noncompliance with regulatory requirements and institutional policies and procedures" in Halford's work. The university refused to comment to the news agency about Halford's 2013 experiments in Springfield hotel rooms. The unorthodox research by an employee of the university has garnered the attention of U.S. authorities, putting SIU's federal funding at risk. An email from Halford to a participant in the vaccine testing indicates he knew the experiments were illegal, calling it "suicide" if the work wasn't kept secret. Many of the emails uncovered by Kaiser Health News came from Halford's university address. An SIU graduate student was apparently involved in the testing, according to the emails. "Furtive unregulated live virus vaccine injections in a Holiday Inn? This is really, really out there," said Jonathan Zenilman, a doctor and an expert on sexually transmitted diseases at Johns Hopkins University, in an interview with Kaiser Health News. "Someone in the university had to know that this stuff was going on. If they didnt, they should have." The emails and interviews indicate the participants did not give written informed consent for the live virus testing, as required by federal law. Some patients, who had all previously been diagnosed with oral or genital herpes, believe they developed side effects from the experimental vaccine including a different strain of the virus or rashes and blisters at the injection site in the legs. At least one woman who participated believes she was cured of the virus, according to the report. Kaiser Health News reported that the participants, "who ranged in age from their 20s to 50s, were enthusiastic about the potential for the vaccine and freedom from often excruciating chronic symptoms" of genital herpes. Rational Vaccines plans to continue Halford's research on the herpes vaccine. FERGUSON A man was shot multiple times Tuesday afternoon in downtown Ferguson after an argument with the shooter, who claimed self-defense, police said. The victim, who appears to be in his 30s, was in critical condition and unstable at a hospital Tuesday night, police said. Witnesses told investigators the shooting stemmed from an argument between the victim and shooter just before 1 p.m. near South Florissant and Carson roads, police said. Officers who responded found the victim lying next to his parked vehicle on South Florissant Road, police said. He had multiple gunshot wounds. The shooter fled the scene in his vehicle but called police minutes later from a nearby location and said he shot a man in self-defense, police said. He told detectives the victim moved toward him aggressively and he thought the victim was drawing a gun. The shooter and victim did not appear to know each other, police said. Police recovered the gun from the shooter, who fully cooperated with investigators, police said. Detectives are consulting with the St. Louis County Prosecutor's Office in the investigation, police said. The intersection of South Florissant and Carson roads is in Historic Downtown Ferguson around the corner from Ferguson City Hall and just two blocks from the Ferguson police station. The incident was the second shooting after an argument on a roadway in the St. Louis area in less than a week. A driver on an exit road off Highway 40 (Interstate 64) in Richmond Heights shot another driver Nov. 14 after an argument at a stop light. The injured man was hit in the arm and taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The shooter fled. HAMEL Two sisters from Staunton were killed Tuesday night when a trucker on Interstate 55 plowed into their car and other vehicles. Those killed were identified as Madisen N. Bertels, 17, and her sister Hailey Joann Bertels, 20. They were in a 2010 Kia Forte that was struck by the tractor-trailer on southbound I-55 near Hamel. The crash involved eight vehicles ; about a dozen people survived but were hospitalized with injuries. Two of the injured are in critical condition. The trucker survived, and investigators are trying to determine why he ran into the cars in front of him at highway speed. The crash happened about 6:15 p.m. in the southbound lanes of I-55, at the 27.5 milepost. The area is south of Hamel in Madison County, about eight miles northeast of Edwardsville. Several witnesses told investigators a southbound semi truck traveling an estimated 60 mph had struck seven vehicles, running over some of them, Trooper Calvin Dye said. Several patients had to be rescued from their vehicles after the crash. Dye, the trooper, said he didnt know specifics about which car was hit first. He said they were all heading the same direction. None of the vehicles was stopped or slowed in traffic before being struck, Dye said. This was probably the worst crash a lot of us on the scene have ever been on, Dye said. The number of cars. Everywhere you turned and looked, there was another smashed-in, totaled vehicle. Madison County Coroner Stephen Nonn said Madisen Bertels was driving the Kia Forte. Hailey Bertels was a passenger in the back seat. They were both wearing seat belts and were pronounced dead at the scene. Nonn said another female passenger in the Forte was airlifted to a Missouri hospital for treatment. That passengers name and condition have not been released. Brett Allen, principal of Staunton High School, said Madisen Bertels was a senior at the school and her sister Hailey graduated in 2015. Both were model students, bright, positive young ladies, Allen said. Madisen was on the schools softball team. She played golf, too, and was in the homecoming court. Hailey Bertels was an intelligent young woman who was involved in many extracurricular activities as well, he said. They were loved by all the staff and their fellow classmates and peers, Allen said. On Wednesday, the high school was in session, and many counselors were there to talk with classmates. The school has about 400 students. Dye said, Everybody looks forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas and you dont want, every time these holidays roll around, to think about that tragedy. Thats what we are out there trying to prevent. These events are just unfortunate. Dye said troopers were cracking down on speeders and distracted drivers, but he said his district of troopers covered five counties in Illinois. Tuesday nights deadly crash came two days before the 10-year anniversary of another horrific crash that killed two sisters on I-64 in Illinois. On Nov. 23, 2007, Jessica Uhl, 18, and her sister, Kelli, 13, both of Collinsville, were heading west on Interstate 64 near the Scott Air Force Base exit when Illinois State Police Trooper Matt Mitchells patrol car crossed the median and struck their car. Mitchell lost his license and job after it was determined he had been driving more than 120 mph while talking on a cellphone and using a computer. Among those injured in Tuesday nights crash were six college students and a professor from Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, Mo. They were in a van returning from a model United Nations conference in Chicago. The students injuries are not life-threatening, said a university spokesman, Cassie Mathes. One was in surgery overnight in serious condition. The students injuries included a broken leg and head injuries. The professor, who was driving the college van, suffered a dislocated shoulder, she said. Its just so upsetting to hear something like this happening to any of your students, Mathes said. Southbound lanes near Hamel were closed after the crash, with traffic diverted from the area at Illinois Route 140. BERKELEY A man was fatally shot Tuesday night outside a gas station here, St. Louis County Police said. Arriving officers found the man with at least one gunshot wound inside a BP gas station at 4403 North Hanley Road, police said. The man was pronounced dead at the scene. Detectives believe the man was shot outside the gas station nearby and then entered the building before he died from his injuries. Berkeley officers responded to the gas station about 8:30 p.m. for a shooting call. As officers were en route to the gas station, police received an updated call for a person down and arrived to find the victim inside the gas station. Berkeley Police requested assistance from the St. Louis County Police Department's Bureau of Crimes Against Persons in the investigation. Authorities ask anyone with information about the shooting to call the St. Louis County Police Department at 636-529-8210 or CrimeStoppers at 1-866-371-8477. UPDATED Jan. 2, 2018, with Dierker's salary. ST. LOUIS Circuit Attorney Kim Gardners decision to hire a longtime St. Louis circuit judge to become her chief trial assistant in January is facing criticism over the judges published sentiments on feminism. Gardners announcement Monday has earned renewed criticism for Circuit Judge Robert H. Dierker Jr. over his views in his 2006 book, The Tyranny of Tolerance: A Sitting Judge Breaks the Code of Silence to Expose the Liberal Judicial Assault. The first chapter frequently uses the term femifascists and is titled The Cloud Cuckooland of Radical Feminism. Ward 24 Alderman Scott Ogilvie posted comments to Twitter on Tuesday blasting Dierker and saying Gardner should change her mind: If you believe women have a right to not be sexually harassed at work and hounded for sex outside of work by their bosses, you cannot also believe Robert Dierker is an appropriate person to be supervising prosecutions, Ogilvie tweeted. Moreover, imagine being a woman who has been victimized and having to rely on Dierker to supervise the prosecution of an assailant after the things hes written. His new job threatens the confidence residents have in our prosecutors office. Its (sic) a huge mistake. When you write a book about femi-Nazis, you have a serious ax to grind this is central to his worldview, Ogilvie said in an interview. Ogilvie called Gardners decision a mistake, and I think the sooner she corrects it, the better off the office will be. Dierker was appointed to the bench in 1986 by then-Gov. John Ashcroft. In response to Ogilvies criticism, Dierker told the Post-Dispatch on Wednesday that the book was out there and theres a First Amendment that the alderman enjoys as well as I do. My only response to that, is that the last time I checked, Ms. Gardner is a woman and I think her judgment counts more than the statements of people who dont really know me. Dierker has defended the books themes and welcomed criticism. Dierker is scheduled to take over the chief trial assistant position Jan. 1, a role held by former public defender Annette Llewellyn since January. Llewellyn, who will take over the offices diversion programs, earned a salary of $115,000. Dierker wouldnt provide his salary, but a spokeswoman for the circuit attorney's office, on Jan. 2, 2018, said it is $130,000. Missouris salary database lists his 2017 gross salary as a judge as about $162,000. His term ended in December 2018. Asked whether he thinks his new role could restore stability to an office facing about a 50 percent turnover since Gardner was sworn in, Dierker said, theres an aspect to that. I think the idea was to assist in maintaining the professional quality that the office has had over the years and let the trial attorneys know that theyre going to be supported. Its a matter of rebuilding the team, he said. The idea is to have people who are veterans in the system. Gardners spokeswoman Susan Ryan provided a statement from Gardner defending the hire. Gardners statement said Dierker was so aligned with her vision for the circuit attorneys office that he accepted a key role in the implementation of that vision. This is a strong testament to his commitment to challenging the status quo in an effort to reduce violent crime and promote a more just criminal justice system for our city. She continued, While I fundamentally disagree with Judge Dierkers characterization of feminist activism and other issues outlined in his decade-old book, I believe his body of work on the bench is the best measure of his ability to follow the law and separate his personal views from his work. Regarding those folks who think this isnt a good move for the city of St. Louis, I question their silence for all these years while Judge Dierker determined the future of peoples lives as a judge. I have confidence that his addition to my office is a positive move for this community, otherwise, I wouldnt have made such a bold decision. Despite Gardners announcement Monday, Ryan said she still did not have updated salary information for Dierker or Llewellyn. Editors note: An earlier version of this story gave an incorrect current salary for Circuit Judge Robert H. Dierker Jr. WASHINGTON While fights over health care and tax reform have captured the spotlight, President Donald Trump and the Republican Congress have spent 2017 methodically unraveling regulations of the previous administration that affect broad swaths of the American economy. Republicans say that its a necessary pendulum swing away from President Barack Obamas nanny state and that their work already has boosted the economy. We saw under the Obama administration, really, just an explosion in government overreach, and an explosion of red tape that, at the end of the day, was really hurting American families, said Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Ballwin. Democrats warn that the GOP is risking environmental degradation and a return to the lax regulations that led to the 2008 financial crisis. You are going to see less consumer protections, because of the rollbacks of certain regulations, you are going to see more environmental disasters and hazards because we are relaxing standards, said Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-St. Elizabeth, a former banker and senior member of House committees on financial services and small business, said that over the last few years of the Obama administration, business owners and entrepreneurs had begun to pull back from expansion or starting new businesses. They said that if we continue to get this onset of rules and regulations and we get no tax relief, we are going to have to hunker down to be able to survive, Luetkemeyer said. Small business folks who create the most jobs in this country were sitting on the sidelines. Wagner, Clay and Luetkemeyer all serve on the House Financial Services Committee, an epicenter of Trump-era regulatory rollbacks, many aimed at Dodd-Frank reforms put in place after the 2008 financial crisis. On one day in mid-November alone, the committee passed 23 separate financial-related regulatory rollbacks. The Senate has been slower to act, but activists on all sides of the regulatory issue agree that the Trump-led offensive has been broad and persistent. The Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free-market advocacy organization, estimates that regulatory compliance annually costs the American economy $1.9 trillion. That amounts to a hidden tax of roughly $15,000 on the average American family, the CEI says, a statistic often cited by Republicans. The pace of the amount of regulations that (Trump) is putting into the pipeline has gone way down, said Wayne Crews, vice president of policy at the CEI. And the regulations that were in the pipeline but were not final under Obama, he was able to slow that down. But Heidi Shierholz, who was the chief economist at Obamas Labor Department and who now directs a project on worker rights and wages at the liberal Economic Policy Institute, said that there were no credible studies showing that regulations cost American jobs. Some industries, such as the fossil fuel industry, may suffer disruption and losses, she said, but others such as renewable energy step in. She accused Trump of campaigning as a populist but governing as a big-business president when it comes to regulations to protect people. She said that her organization estimated that delaying implementation of the Obama rule requiring financial advisers to put their clients interests over fees will cost small investors more than $10 billion over the next decade. He is going to literally make it easier for financial advisers to not act in your best interests, Shierholz said. It is outrageous. Congress had invoked the Congressional Review Act only once before, in 2001. One of the first uses of that act this year came when Congress killed an Obama-era regulation that restricts coal companies from dumping mining waste in waterways. While environmentalists recoiled, Republicans hailed it as a first step to revive the coal industry they say had been regulated toward extinction under Obama. Trumps administration has pulled back on the Waters of the USA initiative by Obamas Environmental Protection Agency that was ostensibly aimed at preventing pollution nearer to the source of rivers and lakes. But critics said it was a big-government overreach into regulating virtually all waters in Missouri and other states. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., has given Senate floor speeches denouncing that rule as an overreach for years. In late November, Trumps EPA director Scott Pruitt, is scheduled to hold two days of hearings in West Virginia to repeal Obamas Clean Power Plan. Environmental groups had praised the plan as a giant step toward moving the U.S. toward cleaner energy; Blunt and others had said it would have punished energy users in Missouri because of the states high dependence on power generated from fossil fuels. The excessive new rules would have amounted to an additional tax any time someone flipped on a light switch, harvested a crop, or paid for groceries, Blunt said. Republicans say statistics bear out what Trump and the GOP Congress is doing to rein in what they call the regulatory state: As of Nov. 14, the administration claimed to have canceled 105 regulatory rules including 27 related to the environment, 15 to labor and finance, 16 on civil rights, 12 on healthcare and 12 on workplace and consumer protection. Nearly three dozen more rollbacks were in the works. Wagner pointed out that, as of Nov. 16, the Federal Register, which includes all proposed regulatory actions by the government, had 45,678 pages for 2017. Over the same period of Obamas last year in office, the Register had 67,900 pages. Everyone pays for the cost of compliance by government overreach, and it was on steroids during the Obama administration, said Wagner, who said that an aversion to government regulation had been in my DNA since she was 12 or 13 and she saw her father and mother have to replace a new sign in their carpet store because it was a few inches too wide. Luetkemeyer said he heard consistent complaints about government overreach from business owners in his district. One, he said, told him he was fined $5,000 for a broken taillight on a forklift even though the business owner offered to fix the light while the regulator was there. This is what is going on with our small business folks, Luetkemeyer said. It wasnt this one particular rule. They will tell you over and over again: It is not one, it is a compilation of all of them. Some Democrats do not defend all of the Obama-era regulations. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., is trying to repeal a rule requiring a magician from Springfield, Mo., to register his rabbit with the federal government and to have a disaster evacuation plan for the bunny. I am not against getting rid of regulations that make no sense and make businesses jump through hoops that arent necessary, McCaskill said, pointing out that she and Luetkemeyer had worked together on financial regulation rollback. But I am not going to let them dismantle the EPA. I am going to do everything I can to fight Scott Pruitt because they are nominating people (to administer federal environmental programs) that cant cite one clear air regulation they agree with. Clay said the financial industry had already adapted to the fiduciary rule that Trump had delayed, by putting in safeguards for the small investor. It is really part of a pattern of trying to undo the good things that the previous administration tried to do for the public, Clay said. Shierholz, of the Economic Policy Institute, said she believed the public did not grasp the full measure of what Trump and Republicans were doing because media focus had been on more shiny objects, such as the special counsel investigation of Russian influence in U.S. elections and ongoing Trump Twitter fights with everyone from Democratic leaders in Congress to North Korean dictator Kim Jung Un. I feel like there should be more attention on these things, Shierholz said. It is hard because there are so many other sensational things going on. This is being sold on this huge lie that deregulation is going to spur growth, that it is going to create jobs. But Trumps budget director Mick Mulvaney said regulatory reform, coupled with tax cuts and energy development, were the keys to Trumps promise to grow the economy. Mulvaney has dubbed it MAGAnomics, a play off Trumps Make America Great Again campaign slogan. When you put (tax reform) together with the other parts of the initiative ... which is our tax plan, plus the deregulatory plan, plus our energy plan ... you really do see a pathway towards sustained, 3 percent economic growth in this country, Mulvaney said. Rep. Gregory Meeks, a New York Democrat and a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, said Wednesday that his colleague Rep. John Conyers of Michigan should leave his post as the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee as he is the subject of a House Ethics Committee investigation. "No one is exempt from bad behavior, and I think that he's agreed and I clearly see where Leader (Nancy) Pelosi has said there will be an immediate ethics committee, a review," Meeks told CNN's John Berman and Poppy Harlow. "I really think that probably the appropriate thing right now is that he should step down as the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee and be subject to this ethics investigation." The House Ethics Committee announced on Tuesday that it had opened an investigation into allegations that Conyers, the longest-serving active member of the House, settled a wrongful dismissal complaint in 2015 after allegedly sexually harassing a staffer, according to an explosive report published by BuzzFeed News. Conyers said he is "expressly and vehemently" denying any wrongdoing. "In our country, we strive to honor this fundamental principle that all are entitled to due process," Conyers said in a statement. "In this case, I expressly and vehemently denied the allegations made against me, and continue to do so." Pressed later in the interview, Meeks said that it would "not be appropriate" for Conyers to remain the top Democrat on the committee given the multiple allegations against him. "If he defends himself and says and shows there is nothing there, then he could come back," he said. "But you can't, in my estimation, just in the scenario that we're in to be the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee at this time. I think that he should step down." Reports of another allegation that Conyers had sexually harassed a former staffer emerged Tuesday, based on court documents filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in March 2017. The lawsuit, which the woman later dropped after an unsuccessful attempt to seal it, was first reported by BuzzFeed News. Meeks' call for Conyers to step down from his committee post goes farther than members of House Democratic Leadership, who have not, so far, called for Meeks to abandon that role. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday that "any credible allegation of sexual harassment must be investigated by the Ethics Committee." Similarly, Rep. Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 Democrat in the House, called the report "very disturbing" and said that an ethics investigation is an "appropriate next step." Both Pelosi and Hoyer have also called for more sweeping reforms to overhaul the way in which sexual harassment is handled on the Hill, and support legislation sponsored by California Rep. Jackie Speier targeting the issue. Neither Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York nor Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California, two senior Democrats who also serve on the Judiciary Committee, have called on Conyers to leave his leadership position. Asked Tuesday, Nadler said it was important to have a "proper investigation" into the allegations surrounding Conyers. In an interview on CNN's "Erin Burnett OutFront," he stopped short of calling on Conyers to resign and said to wait for more facts as the ethics probe unfolds. "I think it's a little too early to say that," Nadler said of resignation. "Wait a little while before you make that conclusion." CNN's David Wright and Eli Watkins contributed reporting. Americans readily accept two opposing ideas about the first Thanksgiving one bright and highly idealized, the other grey and somber, but closer to the truth. Jean Ferris captured the first idea in a painting completed in 1915, some three centuries after the actual event. In his First Thanksgiving 1621, we see prosperous, black-clad Pilgrims in the company of new-found friends bare-chested Indians in feathered war bonnets (one of several historical inaccuracies). The thanks here are for a bountiful harvest and the early realization of America as a land of milk and honey. But how could it have been so easy for the settlers to carve a life out of the wildness in a cold and unknown land far from home? Simple answer: It wasnt, as most people instinctively recognize. Out of 102 passengers on the Mayflower who arrived in Plymouth, Mass., in December 1620, 51, or exactly half, died from malnutrition or disease within a few months. The bereaved survivors must have been painfully aware of the precariousness of their own existence. They included William Bradford, the author of the classic Of Plymouth Plantation, who went on to become governor of the colony for many years. Gravely ill, his young wife, Dorothy May, either fell or threw herself to her death as the Mayflower lay at anchor in Cape Cod. The Pilgrims did not build on a record of success. As Donna Curtin, the executive director of the Pilgrim Hall Museum points out, Many other colonies (in the Americas) had failed terribly. Set up in 1607, the original English settlement in Jamestown, Va., had all but collapsed three years later with 80-90 percent of its inhabitants lost to starvation and disease. In Ms. Curtins words, They had murder, cannibalism, you name it horrific, brutal conditions. No fewer than 10 colonies set up before Jamestown by the Spanish and French had also ended in disaster. The Pilgrim leaders were well aware of this string of failures, as we know from Bradfords journal. Coming with intact families and a strong sense of community, the Pilgrims bore more than a passing resemblance to the ancient Jews who sojourned in Egypt before going on to find their new home. Having fled religious persecution in England, the Pilgrims spent a dozen years in the Netherlands before fresh troubles there prompted many of their congregation to pin their hopes on the new world. However, within three years of their landing, Pilgrims faced major problems of their own. Bradford wrote: Famine began to pinch them (the Pilgrims) sore. The investors who paid their passage hoped to get an adequate payback on their investment in the founding company. Fearing that would not be possible if people were free to farm their own land, they insisted upon a common course and conditions over the first seven years under which there were no individual property rights and each member was entitled an equal share of total output. Bradford recognized the demoralizing aspect of this arrangement. The industrious would subsidize the slackers; the most productive would get no more in the division of the victuals and clothes than the least productive. Instead of fostering harmony, communal property led to laziness, envy, thievery, poverty, and social dysfunction just as it would in the 20th Century through the spread of communism. In 1623, Bradford and other leaders assigned to every family a parcel of land for its own use. With private property came economic freedom and individual initiative. This had a very good result, Bradford wrote, for it made all hands very industrious leading to a big increase in corn production and far greater contentment for the community as a whole. Thats how private property and economic freedom saved the Pilgrims. Happy Thanksgiving! Andrew B. Wilson is resident fellow and senior writer at the Show-Me Institute. Tryptophan, an amino acid in turkey, is unjustly blamed for what mere gluttony does, making Americans comatose every fourth Thursday in November. But before nodding off, give thanks for another year of American hilarity, including: A company curried favor with advanced thinkers by commissioning for Manhattans financial district the Fearless Girl bronze statue, which exalts female intrepidity in the face of a rampant bull (representing (1) a surging stock market or (2) toxic masculinity). Then the company paid a $5 million settlement, mostly for paying 305 female executives less than men in comparable positions. New Yorks decrepit subway system took action: Henceforth, gender-neutral announcements will address passengers rather than ladies and gentlemen. Washingtons subway banned a civil liberties groups ad consisting entirely of the text of the First Amendment, which ostensibly violated the rule against ads intended to influence members of the public regarding an issue on which there are varying opinions. California now can jail certain caregivers who willfully and repeatedly fail to use a residents preferred name or pronouns. A Massachusetts librarian rejected a donation of Dr. Seuss books because they are steeped in racist propaganda, and The New Yorker discovered that Thomas the Tank Engine is authoritarian. Always alert about planetary crises, The New Yorker also reported: The world is running out of sand. A food truck offering free lunches to workers cleaning up after Hurricane Irma was banished from a Florida town because its operator had no government permit to do that. United Airlines said: Assault? Dont be misled by your eyes. That passenger dragged off the plane was just being re-accommodated. Even Sen. Bernie Sanders went to Mississippi, to the Nissan plant in Canton, to help the United Automobile Workers with yet another attempt to convince Southern workers of the delights of unionization. The workers, 80 percent of whom are black, voted 2-to-1 against the UAW. A New York Times tweet about the South reported a shooting at a nightclub in downtown Arkansas. Louisianas Democratic Party joined the virtue-signaling by changing the name of its Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner. In toney and oh-so-progressive Malibu, the City Council voted to become a sanctuary city. The councilwoman who made the motion for protecting illegal immigrants said: Our city depends on a Hispanic population to support our comfortable lifestyle. In more-progressive-than-thou Oregon, where you can get state-subsidized gender reassignment surgery at age 15 without parental permission, the Legislature made 21 the age at which adults can buy cigarettes. UCLA researchers warned that because Americans pets eat meat, they endanger the planet by generating 64 million tons of carbon dioxide. Forty-two years after the government began (with fuel economy standards) trying to push Americans into gas-sipping cars, the three best-selling vehicles were the Ford, Chevrolet and Ram pickup trucks. A year after a NASA climatologist (from the settled science of climate) said California was in a drought forever, torrential rains threatened to break dams. Pierce College in Los Angeles was sued after it prevented a student from giving away Spanish-language copies of the U.S. Constitution because he was outside the .003 percent of the campus designated a free speech zone. Two years after social justice warriors convulsed the University of Missouri in Columbia, freshman enrollment was down 35 percent. An Arizona State University professor allowed some students in her human rights class to stage anti-Donald Trump protests in lieu of final exams. The University of Arizona guide instructed instructors to encourage students to say ouch when something said in class hurts their feelings. Clemson Universitys diversity training washed brains with this idea: Expecting punctuality might be insensitive because in some cultures time is considered fluid. The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that student snowflakes are not the only victims of academic suffering. It seems that after the nine-month school year, professors endure isolation, solitude and depression during their three-month vacations. Massachusetts continues to be surprised that the smuggling of cigarettes into the state increased when state cigarette taxes increased. Although San Franciscos hourly minimum wage has not yet reached its destination of $15, the city is surprised that so many small businesses have closed. McDonalds probably was not surprised when its shares surged after it announced plans to replace cashiers with digital ordering kiosks in 2,500 restaurants. Finally, Dominos Pizza is going to need bigger menus. Government labeling regulations require calorie counts for every variation of items sold, which Dominos says (counting different topping and crusts) includes about 34 million possible combinations. None, however, have excessive tryptophan. George Will Copyright The Washington Post The remnant of a garment of the Shu Brocade dating back to the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907). [Photo by Huang Zhiling/www.chinadaily.com.cn] The first floor of the Chengdu Museum in the heart of Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan province, has been thronged with visitors admiring the famous piece Water Lilies by French impressionist painter Claude Monet since it went on display Sept 27. The piece, which has been insured for the hefty sum of 200 million yuan ($30,143,180), is part of a modern and contemporary French art exhibition that will be on show until Dec 15, said Xiao Feige, a museum information officer. But visitors will have a pleasant surprise on Tuesday as they will be able to see the finest works of silk fabrics from all four schools of Chinese brocade. From now until March 4, an exhibition on the Shu Brocade in Sichuan, Song and Yun brocades in East China's Jiangsu province and Zhuang Brocade in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region will be held in the Chengdu Museum. Organized by the Chengdu Museum and Chengdu Shu Brocade and Embroidery Museum in Sichuan, Suzhou Silk Museum and Jiangning Weaving Museum in Jiangsu and the Guangxi National Museum in Guangxi, the exhibition marks the first time in the country that five museums are showcasing Chinese brocade together, according to Huang Xiaofeng, an official with the Chengdu Museum. Museumgoers will experience the luminous past of China's silk sector through some 140 pieces of brocade. "They can see the remnant of a garment made of Shu Brocade dating back to the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), replicas of dragon robes of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) made of the Yun Brocade, a replica of the court dress of an empress of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) made of Song Brocade in line with her dress in an ancient painting and the daily necessities the people of Guangxi made from Zhuang Brocade," said Zhang Jianfeng, a museum visitor. Few U.S. citizens are more thankful for American traditions on this day than the millions who live overseas. They do so for a variety of reasons, but very often they are adventurous expatriates whose employers have sent them abroad to earn a living. Expats are Americas true ambassadors because they interact on a very personal level every day with their foreign hosts. They explain our quirky presidents and democratic system to confused-looking locals. When outsiders want to hate us, expats are the friendly face that says: Dont judge all Americans based solely on the ones you dislike. Living abroad is a wonderful experience, but on days like Thanksgiving, the longing to be back home tugs particularly hard. Thanksgiving Day is one of those truly special, uniquely American experiences that is difficult, if not impossible, to duplicate anywhere else but here. Ive spent Thanksgivings in some weird and unlikely places: Beirut, Bogota, Panama City, Mexico City, Baghdad and London. Most of these places were entirely unsympathetic to the desire of their American guests to celebrate their silly little American holiday. For parents with kids, its particularly hard when the kid is required to go to school all day and, therefore, cannot experience the excitement of meal preparation, the wonderful aromas and relaxing fun with extended family members. And its doubly hard when youre trying to make a traditional meal in places where turkey is almost impossible to find, much less cranberries or canned pumpkin. For years, even when we were visiting the States in July, my wife would make a point of going to the supermarket to stock up on canned pumpkin. We stuffed it our luggage, hoping to sneak it past frowning Colombian and Panamanian customs inspectors. Then there were the Thanksgiving atmospherics that we tried so hard to re-create for our daughter as she grew up, particularly in Panama. She had read in books all about romping through piles of raked leaves on a crisp Thanksgiving morning. We had tuned the television to watch folks wrapped in heavy coats on the streets of Manhattan for the Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade. But, somehow, it was hard to embrace the holiday spirit when her teachers treated Thanksgiving like any other day and demanded that she attend class as usual. In late November in Panama, a steady, warm, dry breeze sways the palm trees, and the Pacific Ocean beckons nearby. As enticing as the aroma of a roasting turkey might be, its just not the same when the neighbors macaw continually squawks and whistles La Cucaracha. (Which was better than the macaw at the Commodore Hotel in Beirut, which whistled a perfect rendition of an incoming artillery shell.) In London, Thanksgiving ranked up there with the Fourth of July as one of those distinctly American traditions best not broached with Britons. Memories of 1776 are still too fresh. We tended to find some American friends and celebrate without much fanfare. That said, word has it that more and more Brits are adopting Thanksgiving dinner because the food is great, and who can argue with a day devoted to giving thanks? Thanksgiving 1985 in Baghdad still ranks among my strangest experiences. Iraqs war with Iran was raging. Saddam Husseins dictatorship controlled everything and watched all my movements. The American community tended to be insular and tightly knit. The only opportunity to mingle was when the U.S. Consulate would invite us to watch movies projected on a blank concrete wall on its rooftop terrace, provided the weather forecast didnt call for incoming Iranian Scud missiles. U.S. ambassador David Newton heard I was in town and sent an embossed invitation to my hotel for Thanksgiving dinner at his residence. I had packed primarily for visits to the warfront, so I had to apologize to Newtons wife for showing up at her doorstep with hiking boots and khakis as my dinner attire. The Newtons were more than gracious. We ate a magnificent feast unlike anything Id encountered in the Middle East. Afterward, a few guests repaired to a study, where I very ungraciously trounced the ambassadors wife in a game of Scrabble. The next time I returned to the embassy compound, in December 1990, sandbags abounded as war loomed. Newtons replacement, April Glaspie, had been recalled after a controversial meeting with Hussein in which she had failed to communicate how strongly the United States would oppose his idea of invading Kuwait. The United States was days away from unleashing the 1991 Gulf War. But thats a different story for another day. The great thing about this day is that, wherever Americans are in the world, we know that we share a common bond, united by our mutual sense of gratitude for the gifts we have. And thats something to be truly thankful for. As winter approaches, the prospect of sitting outdoors for hours on end with a huge cigar becomes less and less appealing. So, for a quick burst of short-lived flavor, I recently tried a couple Petit Robustos from Hoyo de Monterrey. I thought their stubby stature and reputation as small but powerful smokes made them excellent candidates to become go-to cold weather companions. And why shouldnt the Petit Rubusto be up for such consideration? Since its introduction in 2004, this Cuban puro has amassed a heap of praise from both mainstream cigar publications as well as the online stogie community. Last year, for example, Cigar Aficionado named it one of Todays Cuban Stars and granted the four inch by 50 ring gauge stick a generous rating of 92. The rich, toasty, and decadent character stimulates each taste bud in an elegant, creamy way, wrote James Suckling. Many seem to have fallen in love with this cigars compact power. At around $8-12 apiece, the Petit Robustowhich makes use of leaves grown on the banks of the San Juan y Martinez River in the Vuelta Abajo regionhas drawn accolades for its complex strength. Mr. Suckling says that potency may be due to Cuban factories use of better-aged ligero tobacco. Whatever the strategy, my truncated robustos certainly engage the senses before the first light. Spongy and lumpy from head to foot, the dark, toothy wrapper smells of cocoa and espresso. And something about the color and feel of the cigar makes it seem rugged, rustic, and real. The cap clips neatly to reveal a cross-section of tightly rolled tobacco, a perplexing sight given the sticks overall softness. The draw is smooth but deliberate. As I expected, the initial taste of peppercorn, roasted nuts, and dry cedar is dominant enough to satisfy even the most hardened fans of Don Pepin Garcia. Fortunately, the flavor becomes less abrasive and more nuanced after the first inch with the addition of a creamy undertone. There are little to no changes for the remainder of the 40-minute smoke. The Petit Robusto has a few physical flaws (not unlike many Cubans these days). The burn tends to meander and require a few touch-ups, and the ash is much flakier than expected. Thats part of the reason why I cant quite agree with the many reviewers whove fallen head over heels for this full-bodied cigarno matter what the weather. In my book, the slightly longer Epicure No. 2, which sells for approximately the same price, is a much finer, more complex cigar. But if you want to try the Hoyo de Monterrey Petit Robusto yourself, let me recommend picking up a three-pack before purchasing a box. I give this stout beast three and a half stogies out of five. [To read more StogieGuys.com cigar reviews, please click here.] Patrick A photo credit: Stogie Guys Focus in 6-year civil conflict now switching to political solution MOSCOW - Russian state TV reported on Tuesday that President Vladimir Putin has met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi. The report said the two leaders held bilateral talks on Monday evening and then met with Russian military chiefs. During the meeting, Putin congratulated his Syrian counterpart on Damascus' results in fighting terrorist groups, the Kremlin said on Tuesday. The two leaders agreed that the focus in the Syrian conflict was now switching from military operations to the search for a political solution. "I would like very much to discuss with you the main principles for organizing the political process, and the holding of a congress of the peoples of Syria, that is supported by you," Putin told Assad. "I would like to hear from you your assessment of the state of affairs today, and the prospects for the developments of the situation, including your view of the political process, which, in our view, must ultimately be carried out under the aegis of the United Nations." Assad, wearing a dark suit and sitting across a small coffee table from Putin, told the Russian leader: "At this stage, especially after we achieved victory over terrorists, it is in our interests to move forward with the political process. ... We count on the support of Russia to ensure the noninterference of outside players in the political process." For the meeting in Sochi, Assad stayed on Russian soil for a total of four hours, RIA news agency quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying. It was the second time Assad has traveled to Russia to meet with Putin in the course of the country's six-year civil conflict. The first was in October 2015, shortly before Russia launched its military campaign against extremists. Russia has now withdrawn the majority of its troops from the war-torn country since December, leaving air forces to back Syrian troops. On Wednesday, Putin was scheduled to meet the leaders of Iran and Turkey, two other powers with major stakes in the Syrian conflict. He said he would follow up his talks with Assad with phone calls to US President Donald Trump and to Middle Eastern leaders. "What is important now is the move into the political process in Syria and Russia is working with all sides in this regard," Syria's state news agency SANA quoted Putin as saying. The meeting came two days after Syrian troops and their allies captured the eastern town of Boukamal, the last major inhabited area held by Islamic State in Syria. The meeting also came a week before UN-sponsored peace talks are to resume in Geneva. Ap - Xinhua - Reuters - Afp Three temporary alcohol-free areas for this years summer and New Years Eve period are approved this week by Tauranga City Council. The areas include Mount Maunganui North and Gordon Spratt Reserve in Papamoa, along with ASB Baypark and surroundings. The extended alcohol-free zones are in response to a request from NZ Police to support the New Years Eve period 2017/18. The extension of the permanent alcohol-free zone for Mount Maunganui North, south to Hull Road and Tweed Street over the holiday period from Tuesday, December 26 to 6am on Saturday, January 6 2018, has been put in place. The extension was trialled at last years New Years Eve operations and will be part of the safety measures for this years New Years Eve period. At Papamoa, the permanent alcohol-free zone at Gordon Spratt Reserve is extended to include Alice Way from 10am on Sunday December 31, to 6am on Wednesday, January 3 2018. The extended alcohol-free period supports police operations at Councils New Years Eve community celebration as well as the park and ride location for the Bay Dreams Music Festival being held at ASB Baypark on Tuesday January 2 2018. The ASB Baypark extension applies to the park and ride pick up and drop off locations as well as the immediate surrounding areas of ASB Baypark. Temporary alcohol-free areas will be in place from 10am on Tuesday January 2 2018, to 6am on Wednesday, January 3 2018 to support Police operations in response to the Bay Dreams Music Festival at Baypark on Saturday January 2, 2018. The temporary alcohol-free zone extensions will enable NZ police to act early to stop any incidents at locations where the temporary alcohol-free zones are in place, says Western Bay of Plenty Police area commander Inspector Clifford Paxton. Nearly $20,000 has been raised for charities following the Tauranga Te Papa Rotary Club successful Melbourne Cup Charity Carnival event. Cure Kids and Alzheimers New Zealand Tauranga/WBOP will split the amount raised by the fundraiser. About 300 people participated in the event at ASB Arena, which was sponsored and supported by Farmlands, FMG, Classic Flyers, Sun Media, Bays Print Management, P&O Cruises, Palmers, Mills Reef Winery, TravelCom, Vosper Realty, Redco, and Gyrate. Attendees enjoyed a delicious three course meal, plenty of beverages, and bid on an exciting range of auction items, both silently and in a grand live auction hosted by Frank Vosper of Vosper Realty. Guest speakers were Matt Hibbard, sail maker from Emirates Team New Zealand, and Jim Gibbs, from the NZ Racing Hall of Fame, who had a successful career as a jockey before turning to training. Jim is known as Gentleman Jim The Trainers Trainer. Claire Rogers with daughter Leah Rogers from Sun Media judged Fashion in the Field. Juliet and Greg Allen won Best Dressed Couple, with Jennifer and Peter Glausiuss as runners up. Kay Shaloo won Best Dressed Female and Ken Shelby won Best Dressed Male. The Charity speakers were Whitney Smith from Cure Kids and Julie Sargisson from Alzheimers Tauranga/WBOP. Also attending the event was Rotary Youth Exchange student Lara Martins. Alzheimers Tauranga is a local charity supporting people affected by any type of dementia to live as well as possible in their own community for as long as possible. They currently provide education, information and other support to around 500 local families every year. A lot of the work we do is supporting families, says Julie. Particularly the main carer, of someone with dementia. It can be difficult for even very close friends and family to see the full impact of caring for someone with dementia. Peer to peer support groups are of immense help and we have a wonderful volunteer programme that provides friendship and socialisation for the person with dementia, and some time out for the primary carer. Cure Kids is the Child Health Research Fund that was established by Rotary in 1971 to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Rotary in New Zealand. With the ongoing support of Rotary, new initiatives are continually being developed to raise funds for medical research into childrens life-threatening illnesses. Research projects being funded include Batten Disease that claims the lives of children, research into new anti-biotics to combat new superbugs, and solar powered oxygen concentrators for Fiji to enable them to make oxygen to help children recover from pneumonia. Tauranga Te Papa Rotary Club president Nick Dangerfield was very pleased with the fundraiser, and the attendees enjoyed a relaxed and fun afternoon. The Tauranga Te Papa Rotary Club is well-established with an active membership of over 55 members. The club has formed long-term relationships with the likes of Classic Flyers in running the Tauranga City Airshows; Tauranga Yacht & Power Boat Club for the Annual Charity Yacht Regatta; and local businesses for the Melbourne Cup Charity Carnival Event and the new 2017 Charity Duck Race. A Tauranga rest home has been commended by Fire services for their quick response to an emergency earlier this morning. A New Zealand Fire Service spokesperson says a crew was called to attend a gas leak at Mitchell Court rest home at around 11.30am. A gas main was hit by a chain digger, fire crews responded from Tauranga and Mount Maunganui. It was a small domestic gas line that was struck, the immediate area was evacuated while fire crews investigated. Crews provided protection with breathing apparatus and monitored the situation until gas was isolated. Mitchell Court facility manager Ian Geddes-Cook says the evacuation effort by staff was fantastic. We had to evacuate our residents and we were commended by the fire crew who attended about how well we had done at evacuating residents before they got to the scene, says Ian. Thirty five residents currently live in the rest home. Ian says todays event was the first real evacuation they have been involved in. Wed just done a fire evacuation a week ago, so all our residents were drilled into evacuations. We had a contingent of around eight to nine staff who helped to evacuate residents and they were impeccable during it, they all knew it was the real thing this time and they just had to get on with it. Because were trained doing evacuations, it went excellent and everyone really gelled, he says. People who normally wouldnt do certain duties all pulled together as a team and even our most compromised residents who were in wheelchairs and the likes all got out on time. The evacuation lasted around two hours this morning with residents cleared from the premise within five minutes. Ian says only one injury occurred. We had one injury, there was a gentleman who fell and damaged his arm, and hes off to have his second x-ray later this afternoon. A Whakatane Lotto player will be celebrating today after winning more than $166,000 in last nights Lotto draw. The Bay of Plenty player is one of four people to be taking home $166,667. The other winners hail from Auckland, Wellington and Invercargill. The winning Lotto tickets were sold at Halfway Store in Whakatane, Te Aro Night n Day in Wellington, Windsor New World in Invercargill and on MyLotto to a player from Auckland. Meanwhile, two lucky players who are each taking home $19.1 million with Powerball First Division in last nights Lotto draw. The prize is made of $19 million with Powerball First Division and $166,167 with Lotto First Division. The winning tickets were sold at New World Warkworth in Warkworth and Fresh Choice Greytown in Greytown. Strike Four was also won by three players in Palmerston North, Upper Hutt and Greymouth, who each take home $66,667. The winning Strike tickets were sold at Countdown Kelvin Grove in Palmerston North, Trentham Mini Mart in Upper Hutt and New World Greymouth in Greymouth. Anyone who bought their ticket from any of the above winning locations should write their name on the back of the ticket and check it immediately at any Lotto outlet, online atmylotto.co.nz or through the Lotto NZ App. Players can phone Lotto on 0800 695 6886 if they want to enquire about the best way to claim a prize. Google has admitted to collecting the location data of Android devices, even when users choose not to allow it. Users have always had the choice of stopping tech companies from collecting data on them in exchange to giving up the benefits of certain services. In this case, however, it appears that Google has been tracking the location of Android users, whether they like it or not. Google Always Tracks Location Of Android Users An investigation by Quartz revealed that Google is always tracking the location of Android devices, even when users have turned off the location services option, closed all apps, and removed their carrier's SIM card. Even an Android device fresh from a factory reset is not excluded from the tracking. These precautions are done by users who prefer to keep their locations private. However, it apparently does nothing, as Android devices are still able to collect location data and send them back to Google if they are connected to the internet. According to Quartz, Google has been collecting the information of cellular towers near Android devices since the start of the year. Google confirmed that it is doing this, and a spokesperson for the company said that the cellular tower addresses are used to manage push notification and messages. The location data was never used or stored, the spokesperson said, adding that Google will now take steps to shut down the practice by the end of November. A spokesperson told The Verge that the cellular tower data was supposed to make message delivery faster, but Google decided to ditch the plan. A source, meanwhile, claimed that the cellular tower data was used to improve its Firebase Cloud Messaging, which needed regular pings to the server to keep messages arriving promptly. In any case, the data that Google has collected is enough to identify an Android device's specific location within a quarter-mile radius at most. The security implications are massive, especially with the risk of the data falling to the hands of criminal hackers. The Fight To Keep User Privacy The discovered Google practice again places the spotlight on the struggles of keeping user privacy in the modern age. In Germany, regulators have banned smartwatches for kids and even urged parents to destroy them, as they can be used to spy on people. There have also been allegations that Facebook is secretly using the microphones of mobile devices to listen to conversations. Google is no stranger to user privacy issues, with the Google Home Mini smart speaker found to be recording everything all the time. The company quickly disabled the feature that resulted in the privacy breach, but as with Quartz's investigation on location tracking, the question is whether Google would have done so if the problem was not discovered. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Apple supplier Hon Hai Precision Industry, more popularly known as Foxconn, is allegedly using illegal student labor in the iPhone X assembly line. The iPhone X supply problems have plagued the launch of the premium smartphone, and Foxconn has reportedly dipped into another shady labor practice in an attempt to keep up with the device's demand. Students Forced To Work In Foxconn According to a report by The Financial Times, over 3,000 student interns from Zhengzhou Urban Rail Transit School are illegally employed in a Foxconn factory in China to help assemble the iPhone X. The Financial Times were able to get in touch with six students ages 17 to 19 years old, who claimed that they routinely worked 11-hour days in the factory. According to the students, they were forced by their school to work in the Foxconn factory in a three-month internship that had nothing to do with their studies. The internship, however, was a requirement for their graduation. Yang, an 18-year-old student who wished for her first name to remain anonymous in fear of punishment, told The Financial Times that she assembled 1,200 iPhone X cameras daily. In light of the report, Apple and Foxconn said that they have learned of students being forced into illegal overtime and that they were taking actions to remedy the situation. Apple and Foxconn, however, reiterated that the students were working voluntarily in the factories and were properly compensated. The issue lies in the overtime hours of students, which is illegal under Chinese law. A Foxconn employee confirmed that the Apple supplier usually hires students every year from August to December to help meet the production demands for new iPhones. Over those few months, the staff at the Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou may triple from 100,000 workers to 300,000 workers. Foxconn Labor Issues, iPhone X Supply Problem This is not the first time that Foxconn has been named in shady labor practices. The most prominent reports against the company were in 2012, when investigations revealed poor working conditions, riots, and suicides in Foxconn factories. Foxconn has claimed to have implemented various improvements since then, but the iPhone X supply problem is a new matter. Previous reports claimed that the supply of iPhone X units will be extremely limited until next year, with only half of the expected iPhone X supply to be made available this year. The iPhone X supply problem stems from issues with its TrueDepth camera system along with its more complicated assembly process. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. photo courtesy of BigStock Its a perennial favorite. Once again, the Federal Communications Commission is putting the spotlight on net neutrality. But this time, the pendulum is swinging in the opposite direction. And that is likely to lead to the reversal of rules created during the Obama administration that require broadband providers to give consumers equal access to all internet content. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, however, considers these so-called Title II rules a barrier to broadband investment, to bridging the digital divide, and to innovation. He said as much in a piece he authored for todays issue of The Wall Street Journal. Pais piece lays out his argument in preparation for the upcoming Dec. 14 meeting at which the FCC will consider his proposal to dismantle Title II. The proposal is expected to pass in a 3 to 2 vote along party lines. Chairman Pai wrote that in the two years following the previous FCCs decision to implement Title II, broadband network investment dropped more than 5.6 percent. He also suggested that these rules are causing unserved and underserved customers to wait years to get more broadband; requiring smaller internet service providers, including members of the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association, to incur greater expense to comply with Title II rules and in the process delaying or reducing their network expansions; and prompting others to put new broadband builds on hold. However, should Pais proposal pass as expected, large broadband providers like AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon will be the big winners. Thats because it will free the big broadband outfits among others from current rules prohibiting them from blocking, charging more to deliver, or slowing the delivery of select content. Plus, it will enable them to give preferential treatment to their own content. That is noteworthy in light of AT&Ts ongoing attempt to buy Time Warner, Verizons recent Yahoo! acquisition, and the significant content assets of other big broadband companies like Comcast. Verizon expressed its support of Pais effort on this front in a press release issued today. Comcast posted a blog applauding the chairmans efforts to dismantle Title II. So did AT&T, whose bid to buy Time Warner is being challenged by the Department of Justice in whats being called an unprecedented move. AT&Ts blog, which the company attributed to Joan Marsh, said: Tomorrow, the FCC will release a draft order that will bring to an end this countrys brief and ill-conceived experiment with heavy-handed regulation of the internet. Abandoning decades of prudent, bipartisan regulatory restraint, the Wheeler FCC took the draconian step of dragging broadband access services into the morass of common carriage regulation, imposing a new conduct standard that effectively gas the FCC a blank check to shut down innovative new ISP services that consumers want based on little more than speculative concerns. Public Knowledge, meanwhile, lays out the situation this way. The groups Senior Vice President Harold Feld commented: For almost 20 years, both Republican and Democratic FCC Chairmen have pledged to protect the right of broadband subscribers to access any lawful content or application, and to prevent the cable and telephone companies that provide the on ramps to the internet from picking winners and losers. Today, for the first time, Chairman Pai proposes to leave internet subscribers completely unprotected by the FCC. Chairman Pais radical Carriers First, Consumers Last approach puts broadband subscribers at the mercy of local cable companies whose innovations have more to do with gouging consumers and crushing competition than with providing new services. Edited by Mandi Nowitz COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) The deaths of at least four fraternity pledges this year have helped fuel a re-examination of Greek life at U.S. colleges, which have long struggled with how to crack down on hazing, alcohol abuse and other unwelcome aspects without disbanding organizations that have loyal members and alumni. Changing attitudes, increased public scrutiny and fears of facing lawsuits also have caused schools to take action, anti-hazing advocates say. Tracy Maxwell, founder of HazingPrevention.org and a longtime Greek life consultant, sees parallels with the national discussion about sexual harassment. "People are at a breaking point, where they're not willing to accept behavior that has been acceptable in some circles for decades or centuries," she said. Four universities have suspended fraternity activities on their campuses within the past two weeks. Florida State suspended 55 fraternities and sororities following a pledge's suspected alcohol-related death. Texas State did the same when a student died following an initiation ritual. Events also were temporarily halted for many fraternities at Ohio State University and the University of Michigan, which emphasize student safety as a priority as they investigate allegations of misconduct. They join a growing list of schools hitting pause on the organizations over concerns about misbehavior. Twenty-six people are charged in the Penn State case over the February death of Tim Piazza, a 19-year-old student from New Jersey. Investigators said security camera footage from a fraternity house showed he was given 18 drinks within 90 minutes. At Louisiana State, 10 people were arrested on misdemeanor hazing charges in the alcohol-related death of 18-year-old Maxwell Gruver, and one suspect also was charged with felony negligent homicide. Texas State suspends fraternity, sorority activities after pledge death SAN MARCOS, Texas (AP) Texas State University has suspended all fraternity and sorority chapter activities following the death of a fraterni The U.S. has had at least one college hazing death each year since 1961, but the publicity of those cases has changed dramatically, said Hank Nuwer, a journalism professor at Indiana's Franklin College who has researched the history of hazing. Cases that were sometimes swept under the rug decades ago now become major headlines as parents speak out and threaten lawsuits, becoming activists for change, Nuwer said. Researchers have limited data about hazing and what strategies could best stop it which prompted a pending federal proposal to require that colleges report data on hazing incidents but they can learn from studies on related topics, such as bullying and public health, said Elizabeth Allan, a University of Maine professor who leads the Hazing Prevention Consortium . Fraternities say that they've long worked to tackle issues such as hazing and alcohol abuse in policy and practice, and that efforts made to hold individuals and chapters accountable are a sign of that. "Students are saying enough is enough, and we want to lead ourselves out of this, and we want to work with the university and our organizations and our stakeholders to enhance health and safety," said Heather Kirk, spokeswoman at the North-American Interfraternity Conference. +6 Family of LSU fraternity pledge Maxwell Gruver, university officials trying to battle hazing In a move to honor their lost loved one, Maxwell Gruver's family is taking a stand against hazing and urging young adults to be responsible an Broad suspensions also can sideline those who play by the rules or are just trying to get involved. Sophomore Jake Chobany planned to rush a fraternity at Ohio State this spring and was disappointed that it has halted recruitment and new member activities. "You look at all these people that want to do it, and now they can't because of the actions of another fraternity in a whole different state," Chobany said. After several months of imprisonment, a Louisiana native has returned home from Guatemala. Zachary Wilson, of Keithville, had been detained since March after old hunting ammunition was found in his bag as he was getting ready to board a plane home. He was returning from a mission trip with the Word of God church, but was placed under arrest. U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy and U.S. Rep Mike Johnson had worked to secure his freedom in the past months. It is fitting that Zachary Wilson arrives home the day before Thanksgiving, said Cassidy in a release. We do give thanks ... Congressman Johnson and I were privileged to be involved. Said Johnson: "I am pleased that all of our efforts have paid off and so he can finally come home. ... All of us look forward to welcoming Zack back to the United States." +2 Louisiana leaders working to free Shreveport man detained in Guatemala after church mission Two of Louisiana's members of Congress met with the Guatemalan ambassador over the case of a Shreveport man detained in the country while tryi Wilson previously had unsuccessfully petitioned the Guatemalan government to allow him to return to the United States for treatment for a medical condition while awaiting trial. Check back for more. Purchases made via links on our site may earn us an affiliate commission The Tangipahoa Parish school system's top administrator says he's disappointed that voters rejected three tax measures on the ballot Saturday that would have raised teacher salaries, helped build new school facilities and opened the door to $6.5 million in additional yearly state funding. "Our staff and our board members and a lot of stakeholders in the community tried to get the information out," Tangipahoa Parish School Superintendent Mark Kolwe said in an interview on Tuesday. "We felt we were as transparent as we could be." All three tax measures were defeated by large margins in a low turnout election on Saturday that saw fewer than one in five of the parish's registered voters going to the polls. Just under 60 percent of parish voters rejected a 10-mill property tax that would have raised $5.6 million annually to raise teacher and staff salaries. And 63 percent said no to two school-facilities proposals totaling 10 mills, according to the Secretary of State's Office. Those taxes would have raised $5.6 million per year to fund maintenance and finance a $33 million bond to reduce the number of modular building, school officials have said. Tangipahoa Parish voters to decide on three new property tax proposals for schools, teachers HAMMOND Tangipahoa Parish voters are being asked to consider new property taxes of 20 mills to upgrade school facilities and improve the qua If voters had approved the taxes, the 19,504 student school district would have gained an additional $6.5 million from the state, school system officials have said Kolwe said losing the election will mean teacher and staff employee salaries will remain at their current levels. Budgets will have to be trimmed to keep up with maintenance, and students will stay in temporary buildings, he said. He said the School Board and Vision 2020 commission, which was tasked with developing a long-term plan for Tangipahoa schools, will meet after the Thanksgiving holiday to discuss next steps for the district. Those steps could include floating another tax proposal. "Well have to continue to get our message out, and hopefully our voters will come around and realize we do need some additional funds," Kolwe said. Kolwe attributed the loss to an anti-tax mindset evidenced by the "no new taxes" signs posted around Tangipahoa Parish. He said it said it also was reflected in the failure of other school tax measures in the region. Voters in Jefferson Parish narrowly defeated an 8.45 mill property tax proposal Saturday that would have raised $28 million for teacher and school employee pay. In Washington Parish, voters said no to a $28 million bond for school construction in April. "From the federal government down, the people are just not real enthusiastic about new taxes right now," he said. The School Board had explained the need for the tax by telling residents that Tangipahoa Schools are some of the least funded in the state. The district's chief financial officer, Bret Schnadelbach, said earlier this month that residents in Tangipahoa paying the least amount of property tax per student $387 annually of any parish. The tax proposals were the product of 18 months work by the 200-person commission known as Vision 2020, Kolwe said. The committee of teachers, parents, school administrators and local stakeholders found 130 temporary, modular buildings in use and $65 million in improvements needed to bring facilities to an acceptable level. It also found a crisis in teacher turnover that the committee attributed to low pay and a lack of support for teacher development. The superintendent observed that the school tax fared a little better than in a 2011 election. In that election, Tangipahoa residents rejected three taxes proposed to settle the parish's longstanding desegregation case with 87 percent of the vote. "Weve improved but we still couldn't get over the finish line," he said. The school tax proposal had the backing of the Greater Hammond Chamber of Commerce. Passage of the millage would have made it much easier to serve the children of our community, but as heart-breaking as the loss may be, the fact is we have to keep moving forward. The future of our community depends on our resilience," Chamber Board Chairman Mark Dispenza said in a statement. Pop icon Britney Spears is doing it again: She's giving back to the home state, and one lucky fan will get to spend New Year's Eve in Las Vegas with her -- all to benefit Louisiana schools' recovery from last year's catastrophic floods. Spears, a Kentwood native, had already announced earlier this year that $1 of every ticket sold for her Las Vegas residency show, Britney Spears: Piece of Me at the Planet Hollywood, through the end of 2017 would go to public schools in Louisiana through a partnership with the Louisiana School Boards Association. Now, she's taking it a step further, turning to fundraising platform CrowdRise.com to bring in additional money for the LSBA Fund for Restoring Schools by raffling off a chance for a "VIP Vegas New Years." That means a two-night stay at Planet Hollywood, $2,000 travel stipend, two tickets to the final Piece of Me show, a meet and greet with Spears, a $100 gift card to Brooklyn Bowl and a pair of high roller passes. Each $10 donation to the school recovery fund will serve as an entry for the big prize. The winner will be picked on Dec. 12. Spears, 35, grew up in Louisiana before becoming an international pop star. She began her four-year residency in Vegas in 2013. The final show is scheduled for New Year's Eve, Dec. 31. EVANGELINE PARISH Gov. John Bel Edwards has hit the farm circuit a sharp change in scenery after a first year and a half in office focused on insider issues that kept the governor tethered to the State Capitol or, even worse, the state's disaster command headquarters. Edwards spent the past week meeting with farmers, on their turf, across the state part listening tour, part promotion for one of the state's largest industries. It's also the kind of retail politics that couldn't hurt as Edwards, Louisiana's lone Democrat elected to statewide office, seeks re-election in 2019. Unlike meetings he's held behind closed doors with local officials and business leaders to discuss ways to shore up the state budget, the agriculture tour events held in barns and fields have been open to the press and anyone else who wanted to see the governor. "We don't just feed Louisiana in Louisiana; we feed the world," Edwards said. During a recent stop here, on a rice farm just outside Ville Platte, people crowded around Edwards to take photos and tell him personal stories. A cellphone was passed to him from the crowd at one point so he could wish someone a happy birthday. "We have a lot of positive news across the state of Louisiana," Edwards said. Edwards said his main goal has been to get a clearer picture of "how we can do a better job of representing these constituents." Edwards has been traveling with Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain, a Republican who has led the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry for the past decade and introduces Edwards at each stop as "our friend." Strain said the tour has been in the works for more than a year, but several issues kept them busy, including last year's historic floods that, in addition to leaving thousands of families displaced from their homes, also affected the agriculture industry. Crop damage tops $277 million from August flood in south Louisiana Last month's historic south Louisiana flood will cost farmers $277 million, more than doubling an original estimate. "Instead of touring Louisiana, we were pounding the doors in Washington," Strain said. As they traveled from farm to farm last week, a few common concerns were frequently repeated: Several people brought up possible changes to temporary guest worker visa programs that could threaten labor that they need, particularly in the seafood industry. Many said they are concerned about the future of trade deals that affect the industry, including the Trump administration's withdrawal from the Trans Pacific Partnership and ongoing negotiations over the North American Free Trade Agreement. Some asked the governor about the outlook for future transportation projects in the state, noting that new weight restrictions on aging bridges have shifted hauling routes, making them more costly and time-consuming. Edwards said on nearly every stop he heard concerns about cuts to the state's agriculture research efforts at LSU and Southern University's ag centers. "We know that LSU alone has $20 million less to invest in ag centers this year than it did last year That is not in our best interest," Edwards said. "We need more research, not less." A little over a year ago, Edwards, Strain and an envoy of farmers, business leaders and economic development officials traveled to Cuba to establish relations ahead of what was expected to be continued steps toward ending the embargo. Strain said that efforts continue on making the case for increased trade opportunities with Cuba. Louisiana explores ways to develop Cuban ties outside of trade Louisiana could soon take more steps toward developing deeper relations with Cuba, even though federal restrictions continue to hamper trade efforts. "We're working hard to open that market," he said. Experts say the latest restrictions that the Trump administration has placed on U.S. business dealings with Cuba won't directly further restrict the already limited food exports currently allowed. But it is unclear whether there may be unintended challenges posed by them. "It's unfortunate because, they're gonna get inferior rice from Vietnam," Edwards said. "We're not gonna have that opportunity." Louisiana has continued to maintain contact with Cuban leaders to keep relationships open, he noted. "I hope we can find a path forward," he said. Acadiana rice farmer Richard Fontenot, whose farm hosted Edwards stop here, said he's disappointed that there hasn't been more opportunity to export to Cuba. "Cuba is still a goal of ours," Edwards said. "I think over time things will be resolved. We just have to get the right people engaged, and I think it will transpire." +3 Cuban trade officials, Louisiana business leaders meet at Port of New Orleans to talk trade opportunities The opening of trade between the United States and Cuba could be a boon across several industries in Louisiana, business leaders told Cuban of But he said he sees other positives happening in the industry in the meantime. Last week it was announced that Iraq will buy 90,000 metric tons of American rice through a new trade agreement the second so far this year. "It's picking up a void, of sorts," he said, crediting members of the Louisiana congressional delegation, particularly U.S. Rep. Ralph Abraham, an Alto Republican who serves on the Agriculture Committee, with helping facilitate. Strain is overall optimistic about the industry's future. "It's getting stronger, and I think you will see our ability to double it in the next 10 years," he said. "I'm very excited about it." It's an innovation that fish and farmers alike can get behind. Canberra's leading victims advocate has urged tough reforms to the ACT's use of suspended sentences, arguing the punishment often left "dissatisfied" victims and the community with the impression offenders who avoided jail had been "let off". Outgoing ACT Victims of Crime Commissioner John Hinchey said the sentences had benefits but were often controversial and "arguably inappropriate" for offenders convicted of serious crimes, in an issues paper released on Wednesday. Outgoing ACT Victims of Crime Commissioner John Hinchey. Credit:Graham Tidy Suspended sentences are a term of imprisonment that is imposed on an offender but served outside prison under the conditions of a good behaviour order. The offender risks being sent to prison to serve their sentence if they breach those conditions. Mr Hinchey recommended limiting the availability of fully suspended sentences for serious offences and beefing up good behaviour order conditions to bolster their "punitive and rehabilitative elements". Independent schools received notice late Tuesday of their federal government payments for 2018 - including how much extra money they will receive to help them transition to lower funding. Earlier, The Canberra Times reported that independent schools set to lose out from changes to the federal government's funding model had not been told how much cash they'd receive with less than three months until the 2018 school year begins. Canberra's independent schools are yet to find out how much transitional funding they will receive next year. Credit:Tamara Voninski TVZ The Association of Independent Schools of the ACT was still working with the federal government to sort out how much money the 10 Canberra private schools facing cuts would receive earlier this week. The cuts to annual funding come after the federal government earlier this year scrapped 27 agreements with schools and systems in favour of a single, needs-based model. Summer is surely creeping up, but we'll have a contrast to yesterday's dry heat with some rain predicted for today. The weather bureau is forecasting a top of 27 . That'll climb to 30 on Saturday. Opinions differ on social media etiquette, including on whether to get a friend's permission before posting a photo depicting them on Facebook. Now the Tax Office could be deciding for its own staff how they handle the question when it comes to a colleague. It would restrict staff from posting about work events and require them to ask permission before publishing photos of colleagues on their personal social media pages under draft new rules. In proposed changes to instructions for employees using social media privately, the Australian Taxation Office would direct tax officers to ask colleagues before posting photos of them to social media, while posts with "non-public" information about work activities and events would be off limits. For more on the ATO's draft rules for private social media use, read my story here. Tough suspended sentence reforms urged Real estate listings company REA Group has played up its attempts to diversify into areas such as publishing and financial services in the face of cooling property markets. REA chief executive Tracey Fellows told investors at the company's annual meeting on Wednesday that conditions were somewhat soft in the property market. REA Group chief executive Tracey Fellows has described their Lifestyle editorial strategy as "rich in video and content that we know our consumers want". Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui "While listings across the nation were flat, we did see an uptick in the markets of Sydney and Melbourne," Ms Fellows said. She then pointed to the new areas where the company has expanded their portfolio including a Lifestyle content vertical and a push into financial services including a partnership with NAB and an acquisition of a 80.3 per cent stake in mortgage brokers Smartline. The apparent willingness of Queensland LNP leader, Tim Nicholls, to consider a deal with One Nation in the event this weekend's state poll delivers a hung parliament highlights a major dilemma that has dogged the conservatives for decades. Organisations such as One Nation will always attract bigots and xenophobes from the Liberals, the Nationals and even the Labor party. But there is real danger for any mainstream party toying with the idea of doing a a deal with One Nation. John Howard, who joined forces with Kim Beazley to warn about the dangers to Australian national security and political stability implicit in many of Ms Hanson's policy positions earlier this week, was aware of this from the start. While he always took care to avoid vilifying her supporters, and successfully went on to woo many back by mirroring some of One Nation's policies on refugees, immigration and the like, the then PM was just as careful not to endorse One Nation through one-off preference deals. Saturday's election is the tale of two Queenslands and two leaders struggling to convince a wary electorate that they have a vision beyond tomorrow. And after talking to more than a dozen MPs, on both sides of the political divide, the outcome is as clear as mud. In the red corner, it's Labor, hoping to rule with a majority. Credit:Dan Peled/AAP Certainly, the ALP has had a late and welcome boost in south-east Queensland. While sandbagging has been taking place in some seats, like Bancroft (in Deception Bay) and Ferny Grove (held by the ALP with a 5 per cent margin), it is hopeful of stealing a handful of other seats, such as Mount Ommaney, Mansfield, Aspley and even Glass House. But that lift in the city has been balanced by a slide in the other parts of the state, and Annastacia Palaszczuk's best hope of retaining power resides in Brisbane. Ninety-three-year-old Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe's overthrow in a military coup is an overdue opportunity for the economically and socially bruised nation to regain some prosperity. But this is also a time of risk; military-led takeovers of governments do not necessarily lead to sustained improvements in people's lives. Protesters calling for the impeachment of President Robert Mugabe. Credit:Ben Curtis They can make things worse. What's required now in the southern African state is a clean and well-supported transition of interim power, followed by free and fair elections, due around the middle of next year. Mr Mugabe and his party have long held unbroken power by rigging elections. Australia's first foreign policy blueprint in 14 years calls for greater ambition in "shaping the character of our region" by keeping the United States involved, reaching out to like-minded democracies and stopping major powers such as China and Russia pushing others around. The Foreign Policy White Paper paints in frank terms an uncertain future, warning that "political alienation and economic nationalism in many countries are on the rise", powerful countries are "ignoring or undermining international law" and China's growing clout means the neighbourhood is "changing in ways without precedent". Its prescription is that Australia needs to do more to shape its neighbourhood. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop told Fairfax Media ahead of Thursday's release of the White Paper that this will include expanding the agreement with Washington under which Australia hosts rotations of US Marines and cutting-edge military hardware such as stealth fighters. "At a time when there's a debate in the United States about the cost of its global leadership, we have to be prepared to support US global leadership in practical ways that serve our interests," she said. Australia is a country worried about a future under a mighty and demanding China, and afraid that American leadership has already checked out. Those concerns have been the motive behind the Turnbull government's white paper on foreign policy. And the white paper itself is the government's plan for what to do about it. A breakthrough concept in the paper is that Australia should start something it has never done before. Balancing. Not balancing one priority against another, or balancing the US alliance against the China relationship. But balancing in the meaning of classical European statecraft. A Centrelink plan to outsource work to 1,000 staff from labour hire firms has met fierce resistance from critics who say it will endanger the social safety net and further privatise the public service. The Department of Human Services will use the contractors across multiple sites, possibly including its Queanbeyan office, in a move the main public sector union said amounted to giving up responsibility for the clean-up after the "robo-debt" saga. Centrelink will outsource work to 1000 labour hire firm staff. Credit:Erin Jonasson CPSU national secretary Nadine Flood described the decision as "new and scandalous", and said labour hire had no place in the public service. "Dealing with social security debts is an incredibly sensitive job that should be done by well-trained public sector workers. This is just another example of the government privatising our safety net," she said. A man has been convicted of murder after he killed his 12-year-old stepdaughter at their home in the NSW Hunter region two years ago. The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was charged after the girl was found dead in her room at Aberglasslyn, a suburb of Maitland, in the early hours of September 23, 2015. Police at the scene where the girl was murdered in September 2015. Credit:Cath Bowen She had been bashed by her stepfather and put to bed, where her body was discovered by her mother at about 5.45am. The man pleaded guilty in the NSW Supreme Court in Sydney on Wednesday, appearing via audio-video link from South Coast Correctional Centre. Always hang up on any caller who asks you to prove that you're really you, as it could be a scam to steal your identity. My home phone rarely rings these days, so when I picked it up the other day I knew it was probably someone trying to rip me off. There's no shortage of phone scammers, often ringing from offshore call centres with bogus claims that your computer is infected with a virus or you owe money to the tax man. Never prove your identity to some who called you. Credit:Sean Davey This offshore caller claimed to be ringing from TeleTech, on behalf of Telstra, to tell me that Bigpond recently increased my home broadband allowance. Before they'd go any further they wanted me to verify my identity for "security purposes". I flat out refused to cooperate, even though I am a Bigpond customer and knew that Telstra really had increased allowances. I had no way to be sure this caller was really from Telstra, but they were asking me for all the answers that a scammer would need to call Telstra and pretend to be me. Four academics from RMIT University have been dismissed following an e-book scandal in which students were forced to buy their lecturers' books in order to access mandatory tests. The disciplinary action comes after the university's College of Business students were told they had to purchase e-textbooks written by their lecturers for $50 or more. Four RMIT academics have been dismissed after forcing students to buy their e-books. Credit:Joe Armao When students bought the books from a site that sold textbooks written by a number of RMIT business lecturers, they received a password to access compulsory online quizzes. The College of Business academics were stood down on full pay in September while external auditors PwC investigated the scheme. RMIT University confirmed it had taken disciplinary action against the four academics and that their employment ceased on Wednesday. Firefighters have stopped the spread of a bushfire near Gembrook, east of Melbourne. More than 50 firefighters are battling the blaze in Bunyip State Park and are expected to contain the fire overnight. The blaze, was earlier out of control and travelling north from the Tonimbuk Road area towards Burgess Road, near the Four Brothers Rocks recreation site. It has so far burned through 24 hectares of land. Victoria's strained energy network is about to face its first real test of the summer several days before summer has even started. This week's mild November heatwave and the recent failure of two coal-fired power units in the Latrobe Valley have drained the state's energy grid of reserve supply and pushed it towards the danger zone for blackouts. The Australian Energy Market Operator issued two notices Wednesday afternoon forecasting a lack of reserve in the energy grid as the temperature soars towards the mid-30s on Thursday and Friday afternoons. The level one alerts are a signal that there is a shortage of back-up energy, meaning any further unanticipated loss of capacity or spike in demand has the potential to cause blackouts in parts of the state. WA victims of child sex abuse who did not report their abuse within six years may soon be eligible to seek compensation after the state government introduced a bill in Parliament to remove the statutory limitation period. If passed, the bill would clear the way for victims of historical sexual abuse, including abuse that took place within government or religious institutions, to take legal action. Attorney General John Quigley and Premier Mark McGowan (centre) announced the bill on Wednesday. Credit:Twitter The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse found the average time for a victim to disclose child sexual abuse was 22 years. The current WA law prevents civil claims for sexual abuse-related compensation being made after six years. Beirut: Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri has arrived in Beirut, ending a near-three-week absence to address a political crisis that's drawn in regional and global powers and raised concern that the fragile country would again be caught in a showdown between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Hariri, a longtime ally of Saudi Arabia, left Lebanon on November 3 and announced his shock resignation from the Saudi capital the next day, accusing Iran and the Hezbollah militant group backed by Tehran of destabilising his country. Coinciding with the arrest of senior royals and businessmen in Saudi Arabia, the resignation raised questions about whether the 47-year-old had been coerced into quitting. Saudi officials denied the accusations. Hariri drove straight from Beirut airport late on Tuesday to read a prayer at the grave of his father, Rafik al-Hariri, whose 2005 assassination forced him into politics. Asked if had a message for the Lebanese, who have largely united in demanding his return, Hariri said: "Thank you". THE HAGUE: Former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic was convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity by a UN war crimes tribunal for orchestrating massacres and ethnic cleansing during Bosnia's war and sentenced him to life in prison. The UN Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia found Mladic guilty of 10 of 11 charges, including the slaughter of 8000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica and the siege of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, in which more than 11,000 civilians were killed by shelling and sniper fire over 43 months. The killings in Srebrenica of men and boys after they were separated from women and taken away in buses or marched off to be shot amounted to Europe's worst atrocity since World War II. Mladic, 74, was hustled out of the court minutes before the verdict for screaming "this is all lies, you are all liars" after returning from what his son described as a blood pressure test that delayed the reading-out of the judgment. Sydney traffic is so notoriously bad our state government commissioned a public transport app to show us how late our next bus is running. But if you think our roads are clogged, wait until you see the masses of cars heading home for the holidays in Los Angeles, California. Aerial footage showed bumper-to-bumper cars leaving the city at peak hour as families tried to get ahead of other travellers for Thursday's US Thanksgiving holiday. It isn't a total nightmare: traffic is so dense that the cars' headlights have lit up both highway lanes with festive red and white. The Australian teacher murdered in Kenya last month was as a lover of music and language who played the violin and was fluent in Italian. Gabrielle Maina was shot dead by armed men riding a motorbike while walking in an upmarket suburb in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi on October 19. Her estranged husband and his cousin were arrested over the murder five days later but were later released without charge. Ms Maina, 40, was headmistress at junior high school Nairobi's Hillcrest Preparatory School. Washington: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson asked Saudi Arabia to ease its blockade of Yemen, two sources said, just days before the Saudi-led military coalition announced on Wednesday it would let aid flow through the Yemeni port of Hodeidah and allow UN flights to the capital. It was not clear if pressure from Washington was the direct cause of the Saudi change of heart but the request from Tillerson to Saudi Arabia's crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, was one of several U.S. attempts this month to have Riyadh soften its hawkish foreign policy. United Nations officials said Yemen would face the world's largest famine in decades if the Saudi-led coalition didn't lift the blockade. Credit:DemocracyNow Tillerson asked for a loosening of the blockade on Yemen during a roughly 45-minute phone call at the beginning of this week, according to a source familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity. RC Hammond, a top adviser to Tillerson, confirmed the exchange with Prince Mohammed. The secretary of state "has brought the request to (the) Saudis' attention several times over the past months", he added. High Commissioner given limited edition bottle Loch Lomond Group's High Commissioner blended Scotch has unveiled a limited edition bottle design celebrating the brand's heritage. Founded in 1856 by the Bulloch family, High Commissioner was the jewel of their whisky wholesale business. The High Commissioner Heritage Edition highlights the whiskys history, which dates back more than 160 years, and features a limited edition label design. The new label sees the introduction of a burgundy colour palette to reflect the high quality premium product and achieve stand out. The description on the label showcases the year and location in which High Commissioner was founded and provides an historical insight to communicate the history of the brand. Scott Dickson, marketing manager at Loch Lomond Group, says: High Commissioner has been the original blend since 1856 and the Heritage Edition is a celebration of over 160 years of dedication and craftsmanship. To this day, this premium blended Scotch whisky is crafted to perfection from an original Bulloch family recipe. High Commissioner Heritage Edition is priced at 13.99. There will be 100,000 bottles released which will be available to buy in the UK at selected Best One, Premier, KeyStore, Nisa, Costcutter, Iceland and Day-Today stores from November 2017. 22 November 2017 - Sam Coyne The Drinks Report, news editor We value your privacy. Focus Taiwan (CNA) uses tracking technologies to provide better reading experiences, but it also respects readers' privacy. Click here to find out more about Focus Taiwan's privacy policy. When you close this window, it means you agree with this policy. The Restaurant Monitor is a weekly listing of scores for restaurants inspected by the Brazos County Health Department. Inspections scores are on a 100-point scale. Generally, scores below 80 might cause the department to schedule a follow-up visit. A score below 70 results in the suspension of an establishment's health permit. The following inspections were conducted Nov. 9 through 16. BRYAN Crockett Elementary School Cafeteria, 410 Elm St. - 100; Readfield Meat, Inc., 2701 S. Texas Ave. - 100; Tacos La Morenita, 809 Ash St. - 100; Wienerschnitzel, 501 S. Texas Ave. - 100. Cici's Pizza, 2003 S. Texas Ave. - 81. Improper hot-hold temperature (135 F), food and nonfood contact surfaces improperly designed/used, physical facilities improperly installed/maintained, improper date marking/disposition, improper cooling method, eating/drinking/tobacco use, evidence of insect/rodent contamination, improper cold-hold temperature (41 F/45 F), toilet facilities improperly constructed/maintained, improper procedures and records. First Watch Daytime Cafe, 4501 S. Texas Ave. - 98. Inadequate hand-wash facilities. JCVV, 1805 Briarcrest Drive - 95. Improper cold-hold temperature (41 F/45 F), improper cooling method. MRC Crestview Retirement Community, 2505 Villa Maria Road - 95. Improper cooling method, improper cold-hold temperature (41 F/45 F). Pin-Toh Thai Cafe, 4345 Wellborn Road - 93. Food and non-food contact surfaces improperly designed/used, food not separated and protected during preparation, improper date marking and disposition. Restaurant San Jose Mexican Food, 414 N. Main St. - 95. Improper cold-hold temperature (41 F/45 F), improper cooling method. Sona Food Mart II, 401 N. Texas Ave. - 91. Required records unavailable, thermometers not provided/accurate/calibrated, food and ice obtained from unapproved source, garbage and refuse improperly disposed, inadequate ventilation and lighting. Taqueria La Patraca, 210 Trant St. - 94. Improper cold-hold temperature (41 F/45 F), wiping cloths improperly used/stored, unauthorized persons. Traditions Clubhouse, 3131 Club Drive - 99. Environmental contamination. COLLEGE STATION BBQ 13-0, 315 Church Ave. - 100; Cheddar's College Station, 1701 University Drive E. - 100; Creek View Elementary School, 10021 Eagle Ave. - 100; Gold's Gym, 200 Brentwood Drive - 100; Kettle Restaurant, 2502 S. Texas Ave. - 100; Residence Inn by Marriott, 720 University Drive E. - 100; Rock Prairie Behavioral Health, 3550 Normand Drive - 100. Catering Kitchen - Presidential Conference Center, George Bush Drive - 97. Food contact surfaces not clean and sanitized. Freebirds, 700 Earl Rudder Freeway - 95. Inadequate hand-wash facilities, unauthorized persons, other violations. Genghis Grill/Mongolian Dining Venture II, 700 E. University Drive - 96. Garbage and refuse improperly disposed, thermometers not provided/accurate/calibrated, wiping cloths improperly stored/used. Hyatt Place, 1100 University Drive - 98. Inadequate hand-wash facilities. Kolache Rolf's, 3525 Longmire Road - 99. Improper container labeling. Martinez Produce, 18939 Texas 6 - 98. Eating/drinking/tobacco use, other violations. Old Tyme Kettle Corn, 18939 Texas 6 - 96. Thermometers not provided/accurate/calibrated, food and nonfood contact surfaces improperly designed/used. Paolo's Italian Kitchen, 809 University Drive - 95. Eating/drinking/tobacco use, improper container labeling, improper procedures/records. Texas Roasted Corn, 18939 Texas 6 - 89. Ware washing facilities improperly installed/maintained/used, environmental contamination, inadequate hand-wash facilities, thermometers not provided/accurate/calibrated, unauthorized persons, utensils and linens improperly used/stored, other violations. Towne Place College Station, 1300 University Drive - 97. Environmental contamination, utensils and linens improperly stored/used, eating/drinking/tobacco use. Trader Town LLC, 18939 Texas 6 - 90. Wiping cloths improperly stored/used, food and nonfood contact surfaces improperly designed/used, improper cooling method, improper cold hold temperature (41 F/45 F), eating/drinking/tobacco use, physical facilities improperly installed/maintained. Vy's Kitchen Asian Cuisine, 102 Live Oak St. - 85. Food not separated and protected during preparation, single-use articles improperly stored/used, utensils and linens improperly stored/used, environmental contamination, eating/drinking/tobacco use, evidence of insect/rodent contamination, improper date marking/disposition, improper procedures and records, food and nonfood contact surfaces improperly designed/used. Wendy's, 202 Southwest Parkway - 96. Environmental contamination, evidence of insect/rodent contamination, wiping cloths improperly stored/used, other violations. Wingstop, 700 University Drive - 98. Garbage and refuse improperly disposed, other violations. Texas A&M doctoral candidate Luke Lyons never expected that his hobby would lead to much public attention, but with his creation of a Lego model of the university's Academic Building -- and campaign to get the design made into an official set -- fellow Aggies and members of the A&M community are noticing his work. Now, more than three years since he first began work on the design, Lyons said more than 2,100 of the necessary 10,000 people already have shown their support for his design through Lego's "Ideas" proposal system, and the reaction the model has received has been nothing short of "surreal." "The fact that is has that many people already in about two months, to realize it's over a fifth of the way there in such a short time -- that's amazing," Lyons said. "... This response wasn't expected. I thought it might be, 'Wow, that's cool,' but to sit here on campus and have someone come up and say they saw [my design] online and that they voted for it, those things are very surreal." Even beyond the official support the design has been given, Lyons said it has been "really cool" having people around campus react and show their interest in the model. "It's really weird, just a very foreign feeling to have someone recognize you but they don't know you at all -- they just recognize you for something you did that they saw on social media," he said. During an interview with The Eagle on Tuesday outside the model's life-size inspiration on campus, several students approached Lyons asking to take photos of or with the Lego Academic Building. Several told him they already had cast their vote in support of the design becoming an official Lego set. Spirit of Legoland Students Taylor Law, left, and Caitlyn Tunnell stop to watch as Luke Lyons reassembles his Lego model of the Academic Building at Texas A& Although the voting process is more complicated than simply casting a vote -- the process requires an account using a valid email address before visitors can place their vote -- Lyons said he hopes the Aggies who enjoy his design will take a couple of minutes to officially file their support with Lego. Lyons said if the design were to receive the support necessary to bring it before Lego officials for review, it would be the culmination of a lifelong fantasy. "I think it would exemplify the Aggie spirit," he said. "... If it got to actual review through Lego, it would almost be like a childhood dream. It would be the coolest thing to put on my C.V. as a future faculty member somewhere." On the design's Lego Ideas page, more than 140 visitors have commented on Lyons' model since it was posted in mid-September. One supporter expressed their enthusiasm for the design and said it "needs to be sold in Aggieland bookstores." The commenter added that "every engineering, construction science and architecture major would want one for graduation," and that "my Aggie would get one for Christmas." As of Thursday, the design has 542 days to reach its goal next milestone goal of 5,000 supporters. If advanced to the Lego Review Board, the design then will have the potential to be selected for mass production. A break from graduate work Before starting his pursuit of a doctorate in curriculum and instruction with an emphasis in science education, Lyons graduated from Texas A&M in 2008 with his undergraduate degree in biology. He said in 2014, while sitting in his office with then-officemate Kenneth Fleming, he decided to start digitally designing the historic campus building using Lego's software as a break from his studies and teaching duties. While he initially stopped after the design process started to become too complicated and time-consuming, he said he eventually came back to it in the summer of 2016. Once completed, Lyons said the Lego design software provides him with a "parts list," from which he could start what he said was the most challenging part of making the model a reality -- locating all of the pieces. Although many pieces were readily available, Lyons said he had to turn to secondary collectors' markets to obtain those that had been taken out of production. Lyons said after finally obtaining all of the necessary parts, actually constructing the model only took a few days. Although it may have taken him some time to finally getting around to finishing the design, Lyons said he is proud of how the model turned out. He said although the model is not a perfect replica, he believes the design is accurate while remaining aesthetically pleasing and practical. He said the only thing he would change if it were available would be to replace the columns and balcony railing pieces on the front of the design with a slightly darker shade of tan. Lyons said he credits his wife, Maria Lyons -- who also works for the university as an academic adviser in the department of biomedical engineering -- for rekindling his life-long interest in Lego models and encouraging him to pursue sets and projects that ultimately led to his design of the Academic Building. "She's extremely supportive," he said. "... She was the one who really encouraged me." Now -- as he said the chair for his dissertation, Carol Stuessy, pointed out to him -- he has come to view his Lego hobby as his "creative release." "My favorite thing about all of this is that it's a chance to tap into my inner creativity," Lyons said. Fond reminder of Aggieland Personally, Lyons said he believes the process of creating the model has been a fitting analogy to the work necessary to complete his graduate studies over the past few years. Lyons -- who hopes to successfully defend his dissertation in time to graduate in May -- said when the day comes that he leaves Texas A&M, he hopes to be able to look back on the model as a fond reminder not just of Aggieland, but of the people, community and support that he has experienced here. Spirit of Legoland Doctoral candidate and instructor Luke Lyons sits Tuesday beside his Lego model of Texas A&M's Academic Building. Lyons is hoping his desi "This was a journey itself, and if this is sitting in my office one day, it will always take me back home to campus here, and it will remind me of the journey I have been on and the journey that I'll continue to be on," Lyons said. "... It's just a reminder that there's always a journey and always a final goal. It's cool to look back on that whole process." To those interested in following his lead and pursuing a hobby in Lego designs, Lyons said even if it seems intimidating, no one should be afraid to try. He said he believes the best place to start to be by picking up an advanced Lego set and "learning from the techniques" used. "If you're new and wanting to get into trying to create your own Lego sets, I would say just to learn from any sets you have, pick up on techniques and then try something yourself," Lyons said. On a larger scale, Lyons said he hopes to use the design and the work he put in to make it a reality as a way to connect to his future students and remind them that there are "a lot of different ways to tackle anything you do, especially if you're teaching." "There's no one perfect way to do anything," he said. "Someone else could have tried to do this and done it another way. With teaching, there is no perfect way. It's always to the best ability of your students... So in the future, I'll be looking to this as an inspiration going forward." To vote for Lyons' design of Texas A&M's Academic Building -- officially named "Lego University Modular" -- visit ideas.lego.com. Brazos County firefighters battled four grass fires Tuesday evening at Texas World Speedway after an electrical problem. According to South Brazos County Volunteer Fire Department Chief Chet Barker, around 6:18 p.m. an electrical problem at the Speedway caused a chain reaction and several transformers blew. Sparks from live wires caused four grass fires. The fires were out within 30 minutes and no backup was needed, Barker said. However, as of 7:30 p.m., live wires were still active. Like many families gathering around the dinner table on Thanksgiving, Maggie Montoya Gray's family members -- all 27 of them -- will say what they are thankful for Thursday before starting their feast. Maggie said she thinks she already knows what will be brought up early and often as the family reflects on its sources of gratitude. "I have no doubt Harvey will be one of the main and first things that come up," she said, referring to the hurricane that devastated Texas cities along the Gulf coast in August. Within days of that deadly storm, the Bryan resident, who is a parent educator at Project Unity, took a trailer full of food and water to Pasadena, where her brother is a minister at a Baptist church. About two weeks later, more members of the Gray family traveled back to Pasadena to help clean up the destruction Harvey had wrought. "Our job was just to wrap our arms around them and love them," Gray said of those the family helped. Luckily, Gray's brother and his family were unharmed and their home undamaged, which Gray unequivocally describes as a "blessing." John Jones -- who, along with Wade Breaux and about 50 employees of his company, used their boats to rescue people displaced because of the hurricane -- called their rescue efforts "a life-changing event, and I'll never in my life I believe have the opportunity to positively affect so many people's lives in such a short time." "I'm thankful we were able to help people to be able to enjoy Thanksgiving with their families," he said. Matt Bobbitt, owner of Global Event Group, a Bryan-based catering company, said the reflection that comes with this holiday season -- just a few months after Hurricane Harvey -- "truly makes you thankful to enjoy the holidays." "The focus of family truly has been in the spotlight since we've done that, for sure," Bobbitt said of the 3,000 meals he and his roughly 60-member team made every day for those in need in Cypress, South and Northwest Houston in August. Bobbitt said he is currently raising money for Shoe Angels, a nonprofit he started with his wife, Cassie, to donate 2,000 new sneakers to children in Houston at the end of December. Carolyn Murphy, a Friendswood resident who came to south College Station with seven dogs to stay with her niece for about 10 days in August, heard from a neighbor while she was staying in Brazos County that her house hadn't been damaged from the storm. When she went back home, that comforting thought proved inaccurate: there was between a half-inch and two inches of water in her house, destroying all 1,600 square feet of laminate flooring. "I ended up with a mess to deal with," she said. But whenever she gets down thinking about the few weeks her home was "uninhabitable" because of the stench and mold, "I stop and think about the people whose homes had 10 feet of water in them." "I felt very fortunate because mine was an easy and quick thing to do," she said of the renovations her home underwent. Murphy said her many family members who live in Houston were spared the worst of Harvey's destruction, something they'll all undoubtedly be grateful for this Thanksgiving. Even Murphy considers herself lucky, considering 40 percent of the homes in Friendswood were flooded, some with up to 10 feet of water. "It's going to take them months to get their homes repaired," she said of those less fortunate. Despite her relative good fortune, Murphy said she needs to get away from the coast, so she's currently looking for a house in College Station. "I'm 68 years old, and I don't want to do another flood," she said. "I told the Realtor, 'I'm looking for a house on the top of a hill.' " She also wants "all hard surface floors" and, of course, a yard big enough for her dogs. Texas A&M University has named Kevin McGinnis as the latest addition to its administration in the role of chief risk/compliance officer. McGinnis' current position is executive director of risk management and employee benefits for The Texas A&M University System. He is set to begin his new role Jan. 2. The class of '88 A&M graduate said he is looking forward to having the opportunity to work for his alma mater. Once in the position, he said he will "bring a new set of eyes" to the task of assessing "compliance and risk management programs at the university, which have been ongoing and productive for years," as well as managing his responsibility of overseeing compliance programs and operational risks of the university. McGinnis said he will report directly to A&M President Michael K. Young as a member of his executive cabinet. Young said in a statement he is looking forward to working with McGinnis. "Kevin McGinnis brings many years of experience and expertise as a risk and compliance supervisor," Young said. "I am delighted that he is joining my executive team and look forward to working with him in this very important role." McGinnis said while he is excited to embark on his new role at the university, he will look back fondly on the two decades he spent at the A&M System offices. "I've always said I work for Texas A&M University System, and people don't quite understand what that means," McGinnis said. "As a former student, having daughters that are currently enrolled here [at A&M], it's an opportunity to be a part of a student body rather than a corporate office. ... My hope is just to lead the area and further compound on the successes that are already there. I just want to help the president reach his vision for this institution." WILTON Linda Packard, a plein air landscape artist from Bangor, Maine, describes her recent transition to mixed media as organic and personally expressive. The change happened suddenly, she said, when she found herself uninterested in painting landscape in her home studio in November 2016. For whatever reason, after seven years of building a reputation as a plein air artist, painting landscape seemed superficial or unimportant in that moment. And so, she began to experiment. First, she made marks with acrylic paint and then dumped India ink on top. Afterwards, she sponged it off to create different textures and watched as dried acrylic paint pieces floated up. The combination of different materials filled her with a new kind of excitement and before she knew it, she lost herself in mixed media art. It just became exploration every day of What would happen if I mix this and this?, Packard said. It may have been a situation of needing change. But instead of fighting it, I just kind of went with it. Now, Packard is finishing up her monthlong residency at Weir Farm. Though her original proposal was to work on a significant body of large scale paintings of trees, she decided to venture further into mixed media art combining her expertise in landscape painting and college education in drawing and printmaking. While her connection to art has been lifelong, she suspects her recent engagement with abstract art and mixed media are two-fold: the more meditative, contemplative process it provides and the personal responses the two art forms elicit from both the maker and the viewer. Theres nothing thats recognizable image-wise for somebody to have an opinion about, and I think thats a big part of whats drawing me to mixed media because Im not portraying a specific representation, Packard explained. Its just coming from my gut somewhere and the people that view it are viewing it from their personal experience as well. Although Packard has paintings in corporate and private collections throughout the U.S. it hasnt been long since she decided to pursue art full-time. She made the decision to leave behind a 20-year career in graphic design in 2009. Three years later, she spent time finding her artistic voice under the mentorship of the late Jon Imber, who died in 2014. She still cites him as one of her greatest influences, having taught her the importance of approaching a piece with an open mind and stepping away from a painting when it holds together as a whole. Packard applies those practices to her mixed media now, using her creativity to combine a variety of art and everyday supplies. During her time at Weir Farm, she used a five-year-old dried lemon peel, a collection of egg shells glued onto cardboard and pieces of an onion bag to create rubbings of different textures on rice paper and canvas. I sort of start with a blank sheet and build it and I have no idea where its going, Packard said, explaining her creative process. Every mark is an experiment, really. Its almost like the piece is emerging on its own and Im responding to the marks. For me, the joy is in the process, she added. With less than a week before she leaves Weir Farm on Nov. 28, Packard hopes her experimentation with mixed media will inform her paintings in the future. She also plans to expand on mixed media art and to reorganize her studio similar to her setup at Weir Farm. Former artists-in-residence who encouraged Packard to apply to the residency described the experience as a paradise, and she would agree. Of the few residencies she has attended, she said Weir Farm is the best one so far. The quiet, the freedom to do whatever I chose to do every day, and to work as late or as early as I want its made me realize several things about my own practice at home and that I could really benefit from having a separate studio, Packard said. It is full immersion, and Ive never experienced that before. Packard is represented by Courthouse Gallery Fine Art in Ellsworth, Maine, and is the last artist-of-residence for 2017. The program continues in February. skim@hearstmediact.com; 203-842-2568; @stephaniehnkim HOLSTEIN Steak isnt on the menu this Thanksgiving for Izabella Voelker and her family, but after she conquered a 5 percent chance of surviving, it was the first thing she wanted. Bella was diagnosed with pediatric brain cancer, pineoblastoma, on May 25, 2016. After she returned from Disney World on a family trip with her dad, she noticed horrendous elbow pain. The kind that would wake you up in the middle of the night screaming, said Bella, who is an eighth-grader at Kenesaw Public Schools. The diagnosis Bella returned on a Monday and noticed the pain on Tuesday. Within a week, they were taking out a brain tumor, said Bellas mom, Miki Eckhardt. Bellas older sister wondered what to do for Bellas pain while at their dads. Miki suggested a pain reliever, but it didnt help. The next day, Bella went to the doctor where she was diagnosed with a sinus infection. The severe elbow pain was still there, but no one knew how serious it would end up being. Miki would see Bella on Friday, so she said to take warm baths to see if the pain would go away. Saturday, she was in so much pain we rushed her to the ER, Miki said. Doctors ran tests, none of them coming up with anything. On Monday night, Miki realized something was really off. Bella was getting numbness in her arms and part of her face was starting to tingle. Miki started to do research. The only thing I could find with elbow pain was traumatic brain injury, Miki said, noting that Bella said she didnt hit her head. They followed up with Bellas pediatrician in Hastings on Tuesday. Miki said after a light was shined in Bellas eyes, they started to bulge. The doctor immediately sent Bella in for a CAT scan. There was a mass in the center of her brain that was causing all of the spinal fluid to build up in her brain, Miki said. Bella started to feel sick and show the usual symptoms for the cancer. She then had to have surgery to drain the spinal fluid in Omaha. She had a biopsy done and was diagnosed with pineoblastoma, which is aggressive and rare. Miki and her husband, Craig, said everything happened fast. The risky surgery We got lucky with the elbow pain, Craig said. Miki said when your kid feels achy, you dont first think that it could be cancer and that you could lose your child within a matter of days. If it wouldve been a headache and stomach pain, I wouldve lost her, Miki said. She said it was good that the elbow pain ended up finally alerting her. The doctors went in to remove the tumor, which was in the center of six vital blood vessels with the consistency of tissue paper. If they nicked one, Bella was done for. Doctors warned Miki that Bella could come out of surgery deaf, with vision difficulties, or could be in a coma. Oh, and Bella had a 5 percent chance of surviving the surgery, which ended up lasting about eight hours. But no big deal, it was all fine, Bella said, jokingly. It was all in my head. Miki said Bella was also told that she couldnt have any reaction, such as crying, because that would put more pressure and build up the spinal fluid. Any reaction like that could kill her. Her tumor was spired everywhere. By the time they did the biopsy, it was the size of a dime. When they did the surgery it was the size of a quarter, Miki said. Even at 12, Bella was very informed and aware of what was happening to her. I had a lot of tough decisions to make, she said. Before going into the eight-hour surgery, Bella really had to face the possibility of death. She asked her mom to leave the room for 15 minutes while she planned her own funeral. Within the last few years, Bella has had about 12 family members die, many from cancer. She was aware of what weight the word cancer held. I was prepared (to die), Bella said. The only thing I was scared about was what would happen to my family if I did (die). But Bella can hear just fine, she didnt go into a coma and shes still alive. She struggled with minor blurry vision, which improved with time. She is recovering from that and treatments. Homework that usually wouldve taken Bella a half hour to do now takes multiple hours. She can do everything but cross her eyes, and she couldnt do that before, Miki said. After her surgery, her first request was to eat steak. Craig said considering what shed gone through, hed let Bella have anything she wanted. That night, she ate filet mignon. Positive and humorous attitude When Bella was in the hospital, volunteers came in and asked if she needed anything. They didnt know what they were getting into, obviously. I wanted them to dance! Bella said. The jokester that she is, she seemed to brighten others days by the unique request. She told of a time a resident came in her room to check on her. He asked Bella to stick her tongue straight out to make sure she didnt have a stroke. As this was a routine thing, Bella decided to switch things up. She stuck out her tongue, but to the side. He asked her to stick out her tongue again, and again, she stuck it out to the side. The resident rushed toward the door, but stopped when he heard Bella giggling. I just remember he got so mad at me, Bella said. He said, Bella, you cant do that! Craig said he remembers going into a restaurant and Bella meeting a middle-age woman who had just found out she had breast cancer. The woman asked Bella a lot of questions, including about losing her hair. Craig said it was amazing to see Bella, a young adult, consoling the woman. Proton treatment Bella and her family made many tough decisions, one of them being choosing to go to San Diego so Bella could get proton radiation treatment. The type of radiation is more of a spot treatment than gamma radiation, which affects the whole body. Bella and her family decided it would be best and would affect Bella the least down the road. Nebraska doesnt have a facility that offers proton radiation, so Bella had to go to San Diego for two months. While there, she became close friends with older men there as prostate cancer patients. They bonded in the waiting room, and they loved Bellas personality. The feeling was mutual. Since she didnt want to be sedated for 30 days in a row, Bella proved to the doctors that she could stay still during treatments. She wore a special mask and was bolted to the table. At 12 years old, she stayed still for more than an hour while she got her radiation treatments. While in San Diego, Bella got to go to Sea World thanks to local people who bought her Go San Diego passes. Orcas are Bellas favorite, so it offered her an escape. It gave her a chance to relax after treatments, Miki said of Sea World. She became close with all the trainers and a special someone named Jack Hanna. They became an extended family for us, Miki said. Weve just had so many amazing people step into our lives. Bella was later offered an opportunity to study orcas in Washington state and has an offer on the table for an internship doing research. A community gathers together Craig said he was amazed at how the community was so willing to help them out through the whole process. Finances and bills are the furthest thing from your mind when your child is in a life or death situation, Miki said. But without the community and the Omaha nonprofit Angels Among Us, they wouldve lost their home. Angels Among Us helped them pay their house payment for 16 months. Without this organization, we would have been unable to make our house payments and would have not only had to worry about our daughters treatment, but also about maintaining our largest bill throughout this difficult time, Miki said. Craig said many local churches and community members pitched in for their expenses. The school even helped raise money for Bella. The entire community came together, Craig said. We have such a gratitude to the entire area here. Recovery and awareness Bella is back in school at Kenesaw after taking a year off. She still had work to do while going through treatments during the 2016-2017 school year. However, despite not being in school for a year, Bella tested as a second-semester eighth-grader. Shes right back where she left off, if not better than that. She still struggles with some short-term memory loss and is often tired, as her immune system isnt what it was. She has to learn in a different way than she used to. Miki said they were told it takes up to two years to get to normal after the burn damage from radiation. Miki said everything with Bellas situation seemed to fall into place. The surgeon who operated on Bella was one out of 11 in the world who was qualified to do the surgery, and he just happened to be in Nebraska. God just took care of us from the beginning to the end, Miki said. Her outlook on life has changed a lot, she said of Bella. In a few weeks, Bella and her family will fly to South Africa for her Make-A-Wish, where they will get to experience exotic animals up close and go ziplining. She plans to get going again with her jewelry business, SIAE, which she owns with her sisters. Bella also plays the flute and violin and loves to sing and draw. While in the hospital, Lindsey Stirling, a well-known violinist and one of Bellas favorites, helped get her through. Miki said they plan on having a good time this Thanksgiving, as they werent able to enjoy it last year with family. The traditional turkey is on the menu. The fact that were able to celebrate the holidays together is a big deal, she said. Bella is now a part of Team Jack, which helps fund research for pediatric brain cancer. She has also done a few speaking engagements to share her story and spread awareness. She said its important to inform people of pediatric brain cancer, especially coming from her firsthand perspective. Many times when she hears stories of kids having cancer, the actual kids dont say much because the parents speak for them. I think its important that the kids say something, Bella said. If one thing sums up her journey thus far, its her positive, thankful attitude. You have to stay positive through it, because if not, youre not going to have a good life, Bella said. The Hall County Sheriffs Department, Grand Island Police Department and Nebraska State Patrol are taking part in A Click It or Ticket campaign thats currently underway. Between last Monday and this coming Sunday, Grand Island police officers will work an additional 72 overtime hours, thanks in part to a $4,000 grant from the Nebraska Department of Transportations Highway Safety Office. The State Patrol received an $18,000 grant from the Highway Safety Office. The Hall County Sheriffs Department will have three deputies working a total of 26 hours of overtime, also made possible through a grant from the Office of Highway Safety. For the Sheriffs Department, the campaign started last Friday and will run through next Monday. Law enforcement officers from across the nation are participating in the Click It or Ticket mobilization. Officers will be paying particular attention to people who are not wearing seat belts, the Grand Island police said. Thanksgiving week is a busy time for our roads in Nebraska, Col. John Bolduc, superintendent of the Nebraska State Patrol, said in a news release. Weve seen record numbers of Nebraska motorists using seat belts already this year. About 90 local businesses and colleges talked with Northwest High School students on Wednesday morning at the school. Jessica Brondel, agriculture and FFA instructor, organized the fair. This was the third year of the college and career fair. It just kind of started with an idea I had one day, Brondel said. She said she collaborated with other teachers to make it happen. Brondel said the fair is important to help Northwest students be college and career ready. Students in each grade, freshmen through seniors, perused the booths in the gym. Breakout sessions were also held to give students a better idea of how to prepare themselves for the workforce and for college. Its more about making them aware of what opportunities are out there rather than go find a job, Brondel said. Tyler Ericson, a junior, said the fair offered him opportunities to find new careers and new interests he might have not thought about before. Its a great idea to get your name out there, Ericson said. He said hes interested in finance, but he also talked to the Grand Island Police Department at the fair, so he has his options open. Gage Evans, a senior, has gotten to see the growth of the college and career fair throughout its three years. Its really opened up my eyes to see a lot more opportunities that have opened up, Evans said. Evans said hes planning on attending the University of Nebraska at Kearney after he graduates. He plans to study construction management. Evans said since he has an idea of what he wants to go into, he got to narrow down his college and career fair experience and talk to more people in the construction business. He said he got to learn more from them about how people in construction work together. Brondel said the fair is a positive thing and hopes each student takes something away from it. We keep doing it for them, Brondel said. What led a Grand Island police officer to check to see if a cars license plate fit the vehicle last week? Whether an officer checks a license plate might have something to do with the time of day or if something about the vehicle is suspicious. At 1:18 a.m. Wednesday, Jeremie Mitchell was stopped at Cottage Street and North Huston. The officer observed that Mitchells 2005 Pontiac Grand GT bore a license plate that was registered to a different vehicle. By the time the traffic stop was over, the 38-year-old Mitchell had been arrested for a felony, two misdemeanors and an infraction. The felony involved the possession of methamphetamine. By punching a license plate number into their in-car computers, officers can easily access a vehicles registration information. Among other things, the information tells an officer the make, model and color of the proper vehicle everything thats on a cars pink slip. In Mitchells case, it was easy to spot the discrepancy. The plate checked by the officer should have been on an SUV instead of a four-door car. The officer probably ran the Pontiacs plate partly because of the time of day, the neighborhood and thought maybe it was suspicious, said Grand Island Police Capt. Jim Duering. Sometimes, an officer will notice that a car is dirty and the license plate is clean. Or the officer might notice the plate isnt fastened very well. There are lots of little indicators that the guys will look for, Duering said. With the in-car computer, it takes very little effort to check registration, Duering said. So at that time of the morning, if an officer thinks something is a little bit suspicious, it doesnt take a lot of effort to check the cars registration and do a little investigation, Duering said. Checking the registration doesnt do anything to inhibit the drivers progress. You can do that while youre just following behind them for a block or two, Duering said. So if the Pontiac had the correct plate, then Mitchell wouldnt have been stopped? Well, at least not for that cause, Duering said. If police had some suspicions, they probably would have watched the cars driving and pattern and done a few of those things for a couple of blocks, Duering said. But in this case, that wasnt necessary because the Pontiac clearly wasnt the vehicle it should have been. The difference was glaring, Duering said. Most Grand Island police officers have good enough knowledge of cars that they can quickly identify a make, Duering said. They can tell the difference, for example, between a Pontiac Grand Prix and a Chevy Impala, even though the two are similar vehicles, Duering said. The area involved also played a role in Mitchell being stopped. A lot of property crimes have been kind of up and down that Broadwell corridor, which is really close to where he was, Duering said. I think theyve been working that pretty hard anyway. Later Wednesday in Hall County Court, Mitchell was charged with possession of a controlled substance, possession or use of drug paraphernalia, no proof of insurance and fictitious plates. Possession of a controlled substance is a Class 4 felony. Mitchell was released on his own recognizance. Beginning with plates issued in January of this year, all Nebraska license plates come equipped with bar codes. The bar code is used only by the Department of Motor Vehicles when drivers obtain their plates. The information contains the plate number and the type of plate. Some Nebraska counties have scanners that scan a plate when its given to a motorist. Entering information that way eliminates the need to type it. Law enforcement personnel do not scan license plates, but some scan vehicle registration slips and drivers licenses. Both have bar codes on them. Nebraska State Patrol troopers scan those documents for the electronic warnings and citations they issue. Scanning registration and licenses saves time because the troopers then dont have to type the information. The stickers affixed to Nebraska license plates do not contain bar codes. Grand Island police have never had a scanner that reads the digits on a license plate. They are a really effective tool. Theyre something that I wouldnt mind having, Duering said. But theyre cost-prohibitive right now. Its just probably not going to happen. A few Grand Island students will get a rare opportunity. In fact, it will be the first in the state. Last week it was announced that Dramco Tool and the Career Pathways Institute have agreed to partner on the states first registered apprenticeship program. Two or three students at a time will be able to work at Dramco as registered apprentices. They will in reality learn while you earn, as it was put by John Albin, Nebraska Department of Labor commissioner. This is a great opportunity for Grand Island students. They will receive training and experience working at a manufacturer and they will be paid while doing it. Most importantly, though, is that it will give students exposure to a trade that will help them as they decide what sort of career to pursue. Knowing what interests you and what you are good at are two of the most important aspects of choosing a field. The best way to find out the answer to those questions is by getting experience or exposure to a certain field. Students may love the work there; they may not. At least they will have an idea, an inkling, of the work that is involved in the job. There is also a benefit to the employer. Dramco will get a good look at the students work ethic and habits and their skill level. They will know if this student would be a good hire in the future. Other manufacturers will benefit, too. These students/apprentices will be better prepared if they take a job elsewhere. Employers will be getting someone ready to go to work. Dramco now employs 10 people who are graduates of CPI or are current students. However, the students who are under 18 are limited in the work they can do. But with the new registered apprenticeship program, students who are 16 or 17 will be allowed to work on some of the machines. This will be valuable experience. To be part of the registered apprenticeship program, students will have to apply and be selected. Then during the summer between their junior and senior year, they will work full time as a registered apprentice. Dramco deserves praise for being so willing to work with CPI. In having the first registered apprenticeship program in the state, the company is really willing to step out. That Dramco is willing to be involved with it shows the great partnership theyve had with CPI in the past. This program should serve as a model for the state and other industries, particularly in health care, where there is a worker shortage. In all, the students, employers and the state all win in having a better prepared workforce. The Edwardsvile Fire Department is currently responding to a mass casualty accident on I-55, as of 6:45 p.m. this evening. Prior to tonights City Council meeting, Captain James Whiteford, of the Edwardsville Fire Department, was to be sworn in as Deputy Fire Chief. However, given the accident, he was called into duty along with the majority of the fire department staff. Six more people were indicted last week in a tech support scam that has defrauded more than 40,000 people nationwide, including several in Madison and St. Clair counties. The six worked for Client Care Experts, a business in Boynton Beach, Fla., that defrauded people of more than $25,000, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Donald S. Boyce. Law enforcement found that Client Care Experts had tried to convince victims that they had a serious computer problem so they could sell them unnecessary products and services. The six were indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury, bringing the total number of people charged in the case to 14. Eight others from the company formerly known as First Choice Tech Support, with offices in Pompano Beach were indicted last spring. The indictment alleges that Client Care bought pop-up ads that appeared without warning on the victims computer screen and locked up their browsers. The ads alleged that viruses, malware or other serious problems had been found on their computer, which put the users at risk of losing their data. They were told to call a number on their computer screen which put them in touch with a Client Care salesperson, according to the indictment. Victims were persuaded to allow the salesperson control of their computer. The salesperson then examined routine computer functions and then tried to convince the victims that these functions and processes were evidence of problems, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office. The salesperson also ran a system analyzer program on the victims computer. Regardless of what the program showed, the salesperson continued to persuade the victims that they had serious problems. The salespersons also failed to tell the victims they could make the pop-ups go away by unplugging or rebooting their computers, and that Client Care had paid for the ads that had frozen their browsers. Victims were usually charged $250 for a computer tune-up and also sold an anti-virus protection software for $400. The salespersons worked on commission. The six people were charged in federal court this week with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. They are: Cory Steven Bachman, 25 of Boynton Beach, Fla.; Tatum Elyse Espenshade, 26 of West Palm, Fla. Beach; Robert Thomas McCart, 32 of Boynton Beach; Timothy James Miller II, 27 of Schwenksville, Pa.; Jonathan Matthew Richardson, 27 of Lake Worth, Fla.; and Grant Clark Wasik, 35, of Boynton Beach. Bachman, Espenshade and Miller were salesmen. Richardson and McCart were Team Leaders who supervised the sales staff. Wasik was vice president of Client Care Experts, according to the indictment. Seven of the previously charged defendants have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing. The Florida Attorney Generals Office has brought a civil enforcement action against Client Care as a way to end the fraudulent activities there. The Federal Trade Commission is also working to shut down illegal tech support scams under a program known as Operation Tech Trap. More information can be found at www.ftc.gov. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin EDITORIAL (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, November 22, 2017 08:07 1821 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2a28ddd 4 Editorial #Editorial,setya-novanto,#SetyaNovanto,house-of-representatives,#HouseOfRepresentatives Free Enough is enough of the drama that insulted our intelligence prior to the detention of House of Representatives Speaker and Golkar Party chairman Setya Novanto on Sunday for his alleged role in the multimillion dollar e-ID card graft case. Now, all eyes are on the House and the party, the all-conquering political machine of the New Order era, to see how they will cope with the internal crisis Setya has inflicted. Outsiders, including former Constitutional Court (MK) chief Mahfud MD, have called Setya the worst House speaker since the beginning of reforms in 1998, for plunging the legislative body into troubled waters again and again. Nearly two years ago, the majority of the legislative bodys ethics council members found Setya guilty of holding an improper meeting with the president director of PT Freeport Indonesia to ask for shares in the gold and copper mining company. Setya stepped down as speaker just before the council announced its verdict. Within less than nine months, however, he regained the coveted post following dynamics within Golkar, which, in accordance with the 2014 Law on Legislative Institutions, holds the right to claim the top House post. It was business as usual again in the House and in Golkar, until the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) declared Setya a suspect in the e-ID card case last July. He stunned the KPK as the South Jakarta District Court upheld his challenge to the antigraft bodys decision to name him a suspect last month. Setyas celebration proved to be short-lived, as the KPK declared him a suspect for a second time and moved quickly to arrest him for fear he would destroy evidence. On Monday, after days of attempts to evade arrest, Setya was taken into KPK custody, making him another head of a state institution to be detained for graft after Constitutional Court chief Akil Mochtar and Regional Representatives Council (DPD) speaker Irman Gusman. Of course, Setya remains innocent until convicted in court. He also stands a chance to foil the KPKs efforts to prosecute him for a second time, if the court rules in favor of his pretrial challenge. But the way he has justified all means to dodge enforcement of the law, despite his job as a lawmaker, should convince us that he does not deserve the honorable state post, regardless of any possible maneuvering to cling onto power. It may look as if the KPK is singling him out and taking the e-ID card case too personally, but time will tell whether such concern is valid. A number of defendants in different graft cases have named him in their testimonies, but the KPK simply lacked evidence to ensnare him. It will be down to Golkars wisdom to find a replacement for Setya, both as party chairman and House speaker. The internal dynamics will surely test the partys commitment to anticorruption efforts and the rule of law. Or it will simply reproduce a new leader to dodge any trouble with the teflon qualities characterizing the disgraced Setya. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Kemenag (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta, Indonesia Thu, November 23, 2017 Islamic education in Indonesia must always preserve the tradition of combining both textual-based as well as rational academic approaches, which have been passed down by scholars of old and have resulted in a compassionate and moderate Islam in the country, says Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin. What we must observe is how academic tradition since back in the past, which was developed by our predecessors, is always based on texts that are maintained as best as possible, but also they are synergized together with an academic tradition that emphasizes reason and context, he said on Tuesday. Speaking at the opening of the International Islamic Education Expo in South Tangerang, Banten, the minister said Islamic education in Indonesia should pursue a middle path, as siding too much with one of the academic approaches and abandoning the other would be dangerous. Adopting a textual-based approach alone and negating reason would leave students unable to respond to the challenges of the times, he said, while too much emphasis on reason in understanding Islam would lead students to become too liberal and free. He added that although there were some Islamic education institutions that had gone to an extreme in deifying one academic approach over the other, most of the Islamic schools in Indonesia had sensibly merged the two academic approaches and as a result had created a situation in which the country can see Islam as it is supposed to be, which is Rahmatan lil Alaamin, or a mercy for the whole of mankind. We are grateful that our predecessors have wisely synergized these two approaches, not to have them clash against one another, but to complement one another. This is the responsibility of all of us together: to ensure Islamic education is able to always preserve these two approaches, which are both good, he said. The International Islamic Education Expo, held from Nov. 21 to Nov. 24 by the Religious Affairs Ministry, is aimed at promoting Islamic studies in Indonesia among the domestic and international community and the potential that Indonesia has to become an Islamic study destination. The Expo is being attended by important Muslim scholars and researchers from home and abroad, who will be holding talks and discussions on the topic of Islamic education. . (./.) Before the event was officially opened by the religious affairs minister, the audience of around 4,000 people witnessed the reading of the Serpong Declaration read out on stage by representatives of Indonesias Islamic mass organizations as well as leaders of some of Indonesias Islamic universities. The declaration was a symbolic vow of commitment to develop Islamic education as an agent of change. The Serpong Declaration is a commitment of our effort to make our life, not just in religious terms, but our lives as a nation better. This is our effort to make Islamic education improve the future of our civilization, Lukman said. The minister also thanked all the parties that helped established and shape Indonesias Islamic education institutions, which have made the country one of the world leaders in Islamic education. Global Islamic education Compared to other Muslim-majority countries, Indonesia has more Islamic educational institutions under the supervision of the Religious Affairs Ministry, starting from madrasa (around 75,000 institutions), pesantren (28,000), to Islamic higher education institutions (600). Up to 90 percent of these institutions, the minister said, were founded by private foundations and religious organizations, such as Al-Khairat, Al-Washliyah, Nahdlatul Wathan, Mathlaul Anwar, Muhammadiyah, Nahdlatul Ulama, Al-Irsyad, and Persatuan Islam (PERSIS). Some of the education institutions were present at the exhibition in stands and booth to not only promote their schools but also showcase their best works by their students, such as a smell detector tool on show at the Malang Islamic State University (UIN) booth, made by one of their students, as explained to the minister. In total, there were 200 education institutions and partners from home and abroad taking part in the exhibition. Held at the Indonesia Convention Exhibition (ICE) in Serpong, which is one of the most renowned and fully equipped MICE facilities in Indonesia, the expo also features an International Conference on Pesantren Studies and the 17th Annual International Conference on Islamic Studies or AICIS. This years AICIS conference, which is made up of several different simultaneous forums and discussions in separate rooms, carries the general theme of Religion, Identity and Citizenship. Among the sub-themes being discussed are the integration of Islam and science, sharia, identity politics and citizenship and religion and popular culture. In one of the discussions on Promoting Humanitarian Work for the Development of Islamic Science and Humanistic Studies, one of the speakers, Dr. Faizah Ali Syibromalisi from Syarif Hidayatullah Islamic State University (UIN) Jakarta, highlighted the importance of the role of the family in creating a golden generation that is not only physically and mentally strong but also displays excellent behavior. One of the biggest challenges of families is the busy activity outside of the house. This also effects the personality of children. The needs of children are not only material, but also non-material, including education, she said. Fellow speaker Dr. Aisha Fathi Yakan from Jinan University in Tripoli, Lebanon, emphasized the need to instill moderate education in children, which is the responsibility of every component of society. The role must be in every dimension of life. Whether it is family, campus, surrounding environment and other places, she said. With hundreds of international scholars and academics such as Dr. Yakan coming to the expo and learning about Indonesias unique Islamic education model, the Religious Affairs Ministry hopes that Indonesia can inspire the global Muslim community, which in some parts of the world is currently experiencing trials and tribulations. Given the unfavorable social political situation in a number of Muslim countries, the global Muslim community currently needs an alternative reference for a global Islamic education - an Islamic education that teaches friendliness, protection and maturity. We feel that this can be found right here in Indonesia, said Dr. Kamarudin Amin, director general of Islamic studies at the Religious Affairs Ministry. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin A. Kurniawan Ulung (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, November 22, 2017 09:07 1821 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2a2aea4 4 Art & Culture artist,#artist,Indonesian-artists,I-Made-Djirna,Jakarta-Biennale Free The Jakarta Biennale has opened its doors to the public at Gudang Sarinah Ekosistem in South Jakarta. Upon entering Hall B, your attention will be drawn to Singaporean Robert Zhao Renhuis work a sequence of gigantic photographs of a very old and large tree that collapsed near the artists home. Exploring the hall further, you will discover more captivating works by other artists, including from renowned Balinese artist I Made Djirna. Djirnas gigantic jungle-like installation will take your breath away, with visitors unable to leave without taking a photograph with it. The artwork, titled Unsung Heroes, deserves praise. It is not only beautiful and majestic but also took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to complete. The work is made from thousands of rocks the artist collected, sculpted and tied up one by one. The stones are not like those you can find on the street. They are pumice rocks sculpted to resemble human faces. One stone represents one individual, the 60-year-old Djirna, who crafted the stones at his home in Kedewatan, Ubud over three months, said. Read also: I Made Djirna: Paints his feelings They are the faces of the heroes we may not recognize in daily life, such as farmers and also scavengers, he added. Djirna found the pumice rocks scattered along the shoreline between Beraban Beach in Negara and Jumpai Beach in Klungkung. Pumice, a very light and porous volcanic rock, has numerous benefits, such as improving the condition of soil. However, like trash, it is often neglected along the shoreline. Djirna collected the stones in a gunny sack slung over his shoulder. People who saw him often thought he was a scavenger. The artist shows a lot of humility despite having held six solo exhibitions and participated in 24 joint exhibitions at home and abroad since 1978. He was not offended by the ridicule of those who thought he was a scavenger. Instead, it allowed him to experience the hard life scavengers lead. Like scavengers, people who voluntarily pick up nails from the streets to save motorists from accidents are also heroes for Djirna. Heroes are everywhere. But, their stories are never told because the things they do are considered insignificant, he said. Djirna refuses to be called an activist. He is a happy-go-lucky person, who does not like to explicitly talk about social and political issues through his artworks. His life, he says, is like water that flows in a river, passing through the surrounding world, while his works are a pure reflection of his honest feelings that spontaneously follow the flow of his journey. Djirna still feels the anger of his grandfather, who scolded him for scratching the sanggah (family temple) when he was a child and the happiness he felt when his father brought him to the city to see the fluorescent lights because, at that time, there was no electricity in his village. He has also never forgotten the fear of when he and his family evacuated during the eruption of Mount Agung in 1963, or when many of his neighbors houses were burned down after 1965 because they were accused of supporting the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). I saw the blaze and witnessed people being forcefully dragged [by others]. I hid with three babies under a brick burner. I did not understand what was happening, he said. Fascinated by the powerful depiction of good and evil spirits and the turmoil of the human soul, Djirna started his artistic journey as a painter. Born in 1957, he began to draw at the age of six, inspired by his observations of the details of nature, such as the movement of clouds, dogs fighting and the lines and patterns left by chicken footprints. I learned from nature, he said. I raise chickens, ducks, birds, cows, pigs and dogs. When he was in junior high school, Djirnas paintings were strongly influenced by the Young Artist style, which was created and developed by students of Dutch-born Indonesian painter Arie Smit, who lived in Ubud in the 1960s. After graduating from senior high school, he left Bali for Yogyakarta to hone his skills at the Indonesian Academy of Arts (ASRI) in 1978, which was the first fine arts campus in the country and is known today as the Indonesian Art Institute (ISI). At that time, he was among the first Balinese artists to study art academically at universities in Java. Preceding him were renowned painter I Nyoman Gunarsa and prolific artist Made Wianta at ISI. After graduating from ISI in 1985, he became more creative and instrumental. He refused to follow orders and declined to produce artworks that conveyed the identity of his home island through Hindu symbols alone. Following his heart, he transforms lines, colors, textures and figures into all manner of artistic compositions and expressions using various different media and techniques. I also do not want to get trapped into genres like realism, abstract art, naturalism or surrealism. I want to be free [from them], he said. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Alfred Bayle (Inquirer.net/Asia News Network) Wed, November 22, 2017 10:31 1820 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2a2d160 2 Books Rurouni-Kenshin,Nobuhiro-Watsuki,child-pornography Free The Japanese are abuzz over the arrest of Rurouni Kenshin creator Nobuhiro Watsuki on the charge of possessing child pornography. According to a report by Yomiuri Shimbun via Kotaku, investigators discovered DVDs featuring nude girls aged below 15 years old at Watsukis Tokyo office and in his home. Authorities came to search Watsuki due to suspicions that he purchases illicit DVDs; these suspicions surfaced during a separate child pornography case. Read also: New Rurouni Kenshin movie being planned but may be delayed Watsuki reportedly told authorities, I liked girls from the upper grades of elementary school to around the second year of junior high school. Nobuhiro Watsuki earned fame after Rurouni Kenshin debuted in 1994. The manga had since gained a loyal following. It inspired a well-loved anime series as well as several movies, in both animated and live-action formats. A new story arc for the Rurouni Kenshin manga had previously been announced, with Watsuki overseeing its production. How the new manga chapters will fare may depend on the outcome of the court hearings. Topics : This article appeared on the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper website, which is a member of Asia News Network and a media partner of The Jakarta Post Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, November 22, 2017 13:56 1820 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2a39e86 4 Business IMF-WB-meeting,bali,2018 Free Bali has been preparing to welcome delegates from the Task Force on the 2018 IMF-World Bank Annual Meeting in October, 2018. About 17,000 participants have reportedly registered to the World Bank. They are representatives from 189 countries, who will discuss the world economy in Bali in 2018. The information I received from the World Bank was that 17,000 people have registered, said head of Task Force 2018 IMF-World Bank Annual Meeting Peter Jacobs in Jakarta on Wednesday as reported by tempo.co. He said all finance ministers and central bank governors would take part in the meeting, held from Oct. 9 to 14, 2018. Jacobs said the meeting would project a positive image of Indonesia and help the country to boost investment, tourism, trade and job creation. Indonesia was elected to host the meeting after passing through a number of phases and later defeating other applicants, including Egypt and Senegal. Indonesia will become the fourth country from ASEAN to host the event. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, November 22, 2017 16:09 1820 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2a44065 4 Business airport-railway,operation,December,free-of-charge Free State-owned railway operator PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) will not collect fares during a month-long operation in December. The trains will drop passengers from Tangerang, Banten and Jakartas inner city at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. The airport trains will be free of charge in December. They will start to operate commercially next year, said KAI finance director Didiek Hartantyo in Jakarta on Wednesday, as quoted by kompas.com. Currently, KAIs management is still considering the ticket price, but it might be between Rp 75,000 (US$5.55) and Rp 100,000 per person per trip. Read also: Airport trains to start running early next month Didiek explained that the airport trains will run 80 times per day with headways of between 15 and 30 minutes. Previously, railway operator PT Railink, a subsidiary of PT KAI, said 10 trains have been prepared with a capacity of 33,000 passengers per day. For the time being, the trains will only stop at Soekarno-Hatta and Sudirman Baru station, but will also make stops at Manggarai, Duri and Batu Ceper in the near future. Didiek said the trains have to start from Sudirman Station in Central Jakarta because the facility at Manggarai Station in South Jakarta had not been ready for the operation. The carriages, produced by state-owned company PT Industri Kereta Api (INKA), are equipped with air conditioning, televisions, charging ports, information boards and toilets, while the stations are fitted with vending machines, tapping gates, escalators, ATMs, waiting lounges, commercial areas, meeting rooms, bathrooms and prayer rooms. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Safrin La Batu (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, November 22, 2017 21:00 1820 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2a51487 1 National Jokowi,Iriana-Joko-Widodo,National-Police,hoax,fake-news,Facebook Free The National Police have arrested a man over alleged hate speech and insults against President Joko Jokowi Widodo, First Lady Iriana and other national figures. The suspect, 38-year-old Hazbullah, was arrested at his home in Bandung on Tuesday evening, National Police cyber crime director Brig. Gen. Fadil Imran said in a press statement on Wednesday. Fadil said Hazbullah had used four different Facebook accounts to spread hateful content to different groups on the social media platform. To hide his identity, the suspect used a fake name, Fajrul Anam, in all of the four accounts and used Irianas photo as a profile picture. The police are investigating his motives for committing the crime, Fadil said. The exact nature of the content distributed to the groups remains unknown. However, Fadil said all of the content was posted as a provocative hoax. Hazbullah will be charged with Article 28 (2) of the Electronic and Information Transactions (ITE) Law and could face up to six years' imprisonment. The police are also investigating whether other people were involved in the alleged crime. (ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Jan Hennop and Jo Biddle (Agence France-Presse) The Hague, Netherlands Wed, November 22, 2017 18:37 1820 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2a4b572 2 World genocide,Serbia,Ratko-Mladic,tribunal Free UN judges Wednesday sentenced former Bosnian Serbian commander Ratko Mladic to life imprisonment after finding him guilty of genocide and war crimes in the brutal Balkans conflicts over two decades ago. The trial of the man dubbed "The Butcher of Bosnia" was the last before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and comes as the court prepares to close its doors next month. The court found him guilty on 10 counts including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the 1992-1995 war that killed 100,000 people and displaced 2.2 million as ethnic rivalries tore apart Yugoslavia. But they found him not guilty of genocide in the municipalities. "For having committed these crimes, the chamber sentences Mr Ratko Mladic to life imprisonnement," presiding judge Alphons Orie said, adding the crimes were "amongst the most heinous known to human kind". After rumours he would not attend the hearing, the former general, 74, who once cut a swathe of fear against Bosnia, gave a thumbs-up as he entered the courtroom in The Hague. But in extraordinary scenes he was ordered to be dragged from the court, when in an outburst he accused the judges of lying, after they refused to adjourn because he had high-blood pressure. "The circumstances were brutal. Those who tried to defend their homes were met with ruthless force. Mass executions occurred and some victims succumbed after being beaten," Orie said, outlining the facts of the case against Mladic. "Many of the perpetrators who had captured Bosnian Muslims showed little or no respect for human life, or dignity." Wednesday's verdict has been long awaited by tens of thousands of victims across the bitterly-divided region, and dozens gathered early outside the courtroom in The Hague, many clutching photos of loved ones who died or are among the 7,000 still missing. People celebrate as they watch a live TV broadcast from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Nov. 22, 2017 in Srebrenica, when UN judges announce the life sentence in the trial of former Bosnian Serbian commander Ratko Mladic, accused of genocide and war crimes in the brutal Balkans conflicts over two decades ago. (Agence France -Presse/Dimitar DILKOFF) "Bosnia and Herzegovina: No impunity for war criminals!", read one banner, while another had a picture of Mladic with a human skull saying: "Guilty of all!" "We will see today. Will he be found guilty or will he be seen as a hero?" Munira Subasic, president of the Mothers of Srebrenica, told AFP before the verdict. Prosecutors said Mladic and his political counterpart Radovan Karadzic sought through ethnic cleansing to "permanently remove" Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats from areas claimed by Bosnian Serbs. The mothers are crying as watching a verdict being handad down at the ICTY to Ratko Mladic. pic.twitter.com/0Uo5bykRwO Hasan Hasanovic (@srebrenicahasan) November 22, 2017 Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (AFP) Beijing Wed, November 22, 2017 09:54 1820 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2a2b6ef 2 Politics China,Internet,probe,corruption Free China's former internet czar, who oversaw a tightening of online censorship during his tenure, has become the latest top Communist Party figure to be ensnared in the country's anti-corruption drive. The party's anti-graft agency said in a brief statement on its website late Tuesday that Lu Wei, 57, was being investigated for suspected "severe disciplinary violations". Lu, who had stepped down from his post last year, was once named among the world's 100 most influential people by Time magazine and once rubbed shoulders with the likes of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. He had been in charge of supervising controls on online expression after taking over as head of the Cyberspace Administration of China in 2013. President Xi Jinping launched a major campaign against corruption when he took office in 2012 that has brought down 1.5 million officials since then. As he accepted a second term at a Communist Party congress that consolidated his power last month, Xi warned officials that the campaign against the "greatest threat" to the party would intensify. Lu was a powerful figure both at home and abroad, where he commanded the attention of global technology firms eager for a piece of the Chinese market. He was personally received by Zuckerberg in 2014 at Facebook's Silicon Valley headquarters, and appeared in the front row of a group photo alongside top executives from American tech giants such as Amazon and Xi when the president visited the US in 2015. Facebook is among a slew of Western websites, along with Twitter, Instagram and several news outlets, that are blocked by China's "Great Firewall" of internet censorship. Topics : China Internet probe corruption Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, November 22, 2017 12:18 1820 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2a34ec3 4 Business LRT,Jabodetabek,project-cost,increase Free The cost of the Greater Jakarta light rail transit (LRT) project, also known as LRT Jabodetabek, will swell to Rp 31 trillion (US$2.29 billion) from the initial cost of Rp 26.7 trillion. Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi explained that the increase was caused by changes in signaling technology. It is not swelling. The cost depends on the technology that we will use, Budi said in Jakarta on Tuesday as reported by tempo.co Read also: Double track to be built at Dukuh Atas transit hub He said the government had two choices of signaling technology, namely fixed block or moving block technology. He said the choice to use moving block technology was the reason for the increase in costs. He explained that using moving block signaling would help increase capacity on the LRT. With fixed block technology, the LRT's capacity will only be 300,000 passengers per day, while with moving block technology, the LRT could transport 430,000 passengers per day, he added. There are two LRT lines passing through Jakarta, namely the Greater Jakarta (LRT Jabodetabek) and the Jakarta LRT. The Greater Jakarta LRT will depart from Bogor, Bekasi, Cawang, Kuningan and terminate at Sudirman Station, while the Jakarta LRT will depart from Kelapa Gading, Rawamangun, Manggarai and also terminate at Sudirman Station. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, November 22 2017 Indonesias largest private bank, Bank Central Asia (BCA), launched a new debit card in collaboration with MasterCard on Tuesday that aims to give customers better services in terms of security and overseas usage. The debit card, called Paspor BCA Mastercard, will enable customers to be connected to 40 million merchants collaborating with Mastercard in 210 countries around the world. The debit card, which uses chip technology, comes in many variants: blue, gold, platinum, priority and solitaire. We launched this debit card to allow customers to conduct more secure transactions by encouraging them to use cards with chip technology, BCA director Santoso Liem said on Tuesday. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, November 22, 2017 17:34 1820 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2a4823e 4 Business human-resources,Ilham-Habibie,Kadin,comments Free Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) deputy chairman for telematics, broadcast, research and technology Ilham Habibie has criticized the government for focusing too much on investment and not enough on human resources development. Dont just issue pro-business [policies], but also those that are pro-human resources development. Business is important, but we will achieve more if we pay attention to human resources development, said Ilham, son of former president BJ Habibie, as reported by tempo.co. He was speaking at the Indonesia Economic Forum 2017 in Jakarta on Wednesday. He said weak human resources in Indonesia could be seen from Indonesian exports, which relied heavily on raw commodities. He said Indonesia needed to improve its human resources so that it could export more competitive products and not solely rely on natural resources as otherwise, the economy would not be able to grow significantly. Therefore, he added, Indonesia had to prepare human resources to assure the country could compete globally. Human resources is not only a matter of education, but it relates to character building he added. He called on Indonesians to use globalization to learn from foreigners, saying citizens of the country had long interacted with foreigners through trade, missionaries and other activities. Ilham is behind the development of 80-seat passenger planes -- R80 planes --, expected to fly in 2021. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, November 22 2017 The Jakarta Police have shot dead a Taiwanese citizen suspected of being a drug dealer, as he reportedly resisted arrest in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, on Monday night. We took firm but measured action. The perpetrator, however, died on the way to the hospital, said the polices drug unit head, Sr. Comr. Suwondo Nainggolan, at the National Police Hospital in Kramat Jati, East Jakarta as quoted by tribunnews.com. The suspect was identified as LW. In connection with the same operation, police arrested two others, an Indonesian identified as Y and another Taiwanese identified as YCY, and confiscated 10.2 grams of crystal methamphetamine. Suwondo added that the case had begun with residents reporting drug dealing in the Pramuka area of East Jakarta. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Jan Hennop (Agence France-Presse) The Hague, Netherlands Wed, November 22, 2017 13:02 1820 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2a3720a 2 World genocide,Serbia,Ratko-Mladic,verdict Free UN war crimes judges will on Wednesday seek to close a chapter in the brutal Balkans conflicts of the 1990s, handing down a historic verdict in the genocide trial of former Bosnian Serbian commander Ratko Mladic. Dubbed "The Butcher of Bosnia," Mladic's trial is the last before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), and the judgement has been long awaited by tens of thousands of victims across the bitterly-divided region. The man, who remains a hero to many in Serbia, has denied 11 counts including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the 1992-1995 war that killed 100,000 and displaced 2.2 million as ethnic rivalries tore Yugoslavia apart. Now 74, Mladic is the highest military commander to be judged by the tribunal set up in 1993 and based in The Hague. The verdict is set to start at 0900 GMT. Prosecutors accuse Mladic and his political counterpart Radovan Karadzic of seeking through ethnic cleansing to "permanently remove" Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats from areas claimed by Bosnian Serbs. Wednesday's verdict "is one of the most important in the history of the tribunal", chief prosecutor Serge Brammertz told AFP. Mladic "was the mastermind behind the killing of thousands of people," he said. In a twist of fate, former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic died in 2006 while on trial. Caught after 16 years on the run, Mladic faces two genocide charges including for the 1995 massacre in northeastern Srebrenica, where troops under his command slaughtered almost 8,000 Muslim men and boys. The killings, in which the victims were marched away, shot in the back and dumped in mass graves, was one of the darkest episodes in the conflict, and has been called the worst atrocity on European soil since World War II. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, November 22, 2017 10:39 1820 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2a2df55 1 City horse,injury,Central-Jakarta,euthanasia Free A horse that was injured after falling in Sarinah area, Central Jakarta, was euthanized on Sunday after suffering from a severe fracture to its foot. The Indonesian Armys horse veterinarian Joko Suranto said on Monday that he arrived at the site after Jakarta Animal Aid Network uploaded a picture of the horse falling into a hole while pulling a cart on social media. But when we were on the way, we received information that the horse had broken its foot and was taken to its stall in Kemanggisan area, he said on Monday as quoted by kompas.com. However, Joko said when he arrived at the stall, he was informed that the owner was going to take the horse to a butcher because its injured foot could not be cured. Thereafter, two donors bought the horse so it would not be slaughtered. [It was] impossible for the horse to have surgery because of the limited medical facilities in Indonesia. Therefore, we euthanized the horse after animal welfare activists comforted the horse and reduced its suffering, he said, adding that the horse was buried at horseback riding school APM Equestrian Center in Tigaraksa, Tangerang, Banten. (ecn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, November 22, 2017 14:17 1820 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2a3be0e 1 City Jakarta-governor,operational-fund,budget Free Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan and his deputy Sandiaga Uno are reportedly receiving Rp 4.5 billion (US$332,963) in operational funds per month, the same amount Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama's administration received, which the latter used to pay for, among other things, his expert staffers salary. Anies, meanwhile, has preferred to pay for experts staffers from the city's budget instead of using the operational funds, and increase its allocation in the citys 2018 draft budget to Rp 28.5 billion, much higher than the previous allocation of Rp 2.3 billion. He said such a scheme would be "more transparent and accountable." "For October, the total operational fund is still in accordance with the 2017 scheme," Jakarta Gubernatorial and Foreign Affairs Bureau head Muhammad Mawardi said on Tuesday. He explained that the governor and his deputy received a combination of Rp 4.5 billion, which was calculated based on 0.13 percent of Jakarta's generated income. Of the figure, Anies received Rp 2.7 billion, while Sandiaga received Rp 1.8 billion, kompas.com reported. Mawardi said Anies and Sandi were authorized to use the operational funds. He added that like Ahok's administration, the money had been channeled to the governors subordinates, including city secretary, mayors and regent, who respectively received Rp 100 million, Rp 50 million and Rp 30 million each. Anies claimed that the previous administration used money from private companies to pay for expert staffers. The claim has been denied. Rian Ernest, a staff member of Ahok during his tenure, said funds for expert staffers were usually taken from the governors operational fund. He went on to question why Anies does not use the governors operational fund to pay for his staff. On Ahok's Instagram account, which is run by an administrator, he said the operational funds were used for social causes, such as renovating houses of worship and purchasing wheelchairs. (fac) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Kharishar Kahfi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, November 22, 2017 15:13 1820 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2a3eb1c 1 Politics KPK,graft,corruption,auction,assets Free The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is scheduled to auction seized assets at its office in South Jakarta on Friday. We are cooperating with the Jakarta III States Assets and Auction Services Office [KPKNL] to auction 54 assets, said KPK prosecutor Irene Putri during a press conference on Tuesday. Among the 54 items on offer are gadgets, jewelry and cars, amounting to around Rp 5 billion (US$369,631). This is also the first time we are offer paintings, which were confiscated from graft convict Ahmad Fathanah, Irene went on to say. Ahmad was sentenced for his role in a corruption case centering on beef import quotas at the Agriculture Ministry and his involvement in money laundering. The beef graft case also implicated former Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) chairman Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq The auction is open to the public, but participants must first register at the Finance Ministrys Directorate General of State Assets website to receive an activation code and a catalogue. This will be the second open auction held by the KPK. It offered 22 assets during its first open auction on Sept. 22. The antigraft body has held graft asset auctioning events routinely since 2015. (ebf) Topics : KPK graft corruption auction assets Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, November 22, 2017 19:13 1820 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2a4d024 1 Business holding-company,mining,SOEs,house-of-representatives,rejection Free The House of Representatives has rejected the governments plan to establish a state-owned mine holding company involving several mining firms such as aluminum producer PT Inalum, diversified mining company PT Aneka Tambang (Antam), tin mining company PT Timah and coal mining company PT Bukit Asam. We see the establishment of a holding company as against the law, said Martri Agoeng, a member of House Commission VI overseeing mining affairs, in Jakarta on Wednesday. He said the House had rejected Government Regulation (PP) No 72/2017, a revision of PP No. 44/1915 on the procedure of the management and injection of state funds into state-owned enterprises (SOEs), which was a reference for the establishment of a holding company. He said the revised regulation had tried to eliminate the Houses role of monitoring the SOEs. After the establishment of a holding company, the current firms will become subsidiaries. Therefore, the House will not have the authority to monitor the firms, said Martri of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS). Antam, Timah and Bukit Asam held on Oct. 29 extraordinary shareholders meetings, which were believed to be an initial step toward the formation of the holding company. Another Commission VI member, Inas Nasrullah, criticized SOEs Ministry, which did not involve lawmakers when Antam, Timah and Bukit Asam handed over their respective Series B shares to Inalum, which was another step toward establishing a holding company. Inas said the commission would summons SOEs Minister Rini Soemarno to explain the issue. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Stefani Ribka (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, November 22, 2017 10:21 1820 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2a2be40 1 Business chicken,ducks,exports,Indonesia,Malaysia Free Malaysia plans to import chickens and ducks from Indonesia, following a visit by Indonesian delegates, Animal Farm Board secretary general Ade Zulkarnain told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday. A trade mission by the Agriculture Ministry to Malaysia on Monday offered to sell Malaysia livestock, including chickens and ducks from micro, small and medium size farms in Indonesia, Ade told the Post. The Malaysian government agreed with the offer so they [the private importers] are expected to start buying in the first quarter of next year. Representatives of the Malaysian government will inspect chicken and duck farming practices to ensure it is managed based on Good Breeding Practices and complies with World Organization for Animal Health standards. Some farms in Bogor and Purwakarta in West Java have been certified as free from Avian Influenza by the Indonesian government. Malaysia needs at least 30,000 day-old chicks monthly and 10,000 day-old laying ducks monthly. The Agriculture Ministrys livestock and animal health director general I Ketut Diarmita and farmers delegates met Malaysia's veterinary director general Dato Quaza in Putra Jaya, Malaysia, on Monday. (bbn) Topics : chicken ducks exports Indonesia Malaysia Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, November 22, 2017 17:03 1820 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2a46e58 1 National health,health-care,health-minister,Health-Minister-Nila-Moeloek,health-ministry,tobacco,TobaccoConsumption,TobaccoControl,tobacco-control Free Indonesia needs more studies conducted by local researchers to reveal the impact of tobacco consumption on health and health care costs to the country. This call was made by Health Minister Nila Moeloek on Wednesday. We have often talked about the impact of tobacco use in the country, but we are just quoting information and data on the matter from reports by researchers in foreign countries, Nila said, as quoted by Antara in Jakarta. As the National Health Insurance (JKN) program had been implemented in Indonesia, it is actually easier for researchers to conduct a study on the impact of tobacco consumption to public health and healthcare costs needed to treat tobacco-related diseases, she said. The Healthcare and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan) data shows that 20 to 25 percent of JKN expenditure went to the treatment of non-communicable diseases related to tobacco consumption, such as cardiovascular diseases and lung cancer. Nila said a study conducted by the Russian government found that the high number of tuberculosis incidences in the country was related to alcohol and tobacco consumption. Its probable that our researchers can conduct such a study given the high number of smokers in Indonesia. At Wednesday's event, Nila launched a book entitled Health and Economic Cost of Tobacco in Indonesia composed from a study conducted by the Health Ministry in collaboration with researchers from the University of Indonesia and Airlangga University. (afr/ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Brian Latham , Godfrey Marawanyika and Desmond Kumbuka (Bloomberg) Harare Wed, November 22, 2017 06:07 1821 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2a25fb8 2 World Robert-Mugabe,Zimbabwe,resignation Free Bowing to a nation that had turned against him, Robert Mugabe resigned as president of Zimbabwe, ending his 37-year rule and sparking scenes of wild celebration throughout the capital. House of Assembly speaker Jacob Mudenda announced the resignation during a joint sitting of lawmakers in Harare, the capital, called to vote on a motion of impeachment of Mugabe, who at 93 was the worlds oldest-serving leader. Cars honked their horns and cheers filled the streets as a party mood gripped the Harare city center. Mugabes resignation came days after the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front party fired him as its leader and ordered him to step down. Emmerson Mnangagwa, 75, who Mugabe dismissed as vice president this month, will take over as interim leader and be Zanu-PFs presidential candidate in elections next year, the party said. We have fought the lion and won, Lovemore Matuke, Zanu-PFs chief parliamentary whip, said in an interview after the announcement. A new interim president will take over in the next 48 hours, he said. The ruling partys decision to dump the president came four days after the military placed him under house arrest and detained several of his closest allies -- a move triggered by Mnangagwas dismissal. Mugabe initially dug in his heels, missing a party deadline to quit by noon on Monday or face impeachment, before finally agreeing to go. Armed forces commander Constantino Chiwenga, who led the military takeover, said any acts of vengeance would be dealt with severely, during a press conference Tuesday at the King George IV military barracks in Harare. The ecstatic jubilation on the streets of Harare this evening at the news of Mugabes resignation gives some sense of what it is like to live under the heel of a dictator, Charles Laurie, head of African analysis at Bath, England-based Verisk Maplecroft, said by email. The almost unbelievable tenacity of Mugabe to resist the will of his people and resign gives some sense of the near impossibility of removing this man from power at the ballot box over the past 37 years. The moves against Mugabe were the culmination of a battle for control of the ruling party between a military-aligned faction thats coalesced around Mnangagwa and another known as the Generation-40, which wants the presidents wife, Grace Mugabe, to succeed him. Mnangagwa emerged as the victor, with the party expelling Grace and her allies. It was long overdue. The president could no longer withstand the pressure, said Takavira Zhou, a lecturer at Great Zimbabwe University in the city of Masvingo. However, the key issue is when will we have a transitional government and how will it work -- will Zanu-PF go it alone. Mugabe leaves behind an economy in tatters. An estimated 95 percent of the workforce is unemployed, public infrastructure is crumbling and there are widespread shortages of cash and food. Many of the countrys woes are rooted in Mugabes support for the seizure of white-owned farms, which slashed agricultural production, export earnings and tax revenue. The son of a carpenter and a catechism teacher, Mugabe was born in Zvimba, a peasant-farming area west of Harare, and trained as a primary-school teacher. He was introduced to politics while studying at South Africas Fort Hare University, and went on to help found the Zimbabwe African National Union party in 1963. He was jailed the same year for calling for the violent overthrow of Ian Smiths white-minority government. Zimbabwe has an extraordinary opportunity to set itself on a new path, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a statement Tuesday. Whatever short-term arrangements the government may establish, the path forward must lead to free and fair elections. The people of Zimbabwe must choose their own leaders. During his 11-year incarceration, Mugabe obtained degrees in economics, education and law. A year after his release, he fled to Mozambique where he later became the leader of the then exiled Zanu, which controlled the biggest of two guerrilla armies fighting Rhodesia. A U.K.-brokered peace deal that ended the war brought Mugabe to power as the elected prime minister in 1980. While he initially preached reconciliation, violence erupted in 1982 when Mugabe accused his coalition partner, Joshua Nkomo, of plotting to overthrow him. He began a military crackdown that claimed about 20,000 lives in the western region of Matabeleland, according to Genocidewatch.org. After February 2000, Mugabe allowed his supporters to take over white-owned land, disrupting farming and creating food shortages in a country that had once been the biggest corn exporter in southern Africa. And in 2005, he authorized a slum-clearance program that left at least 750,000 people homeless, according to the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum. Electoral wins While Mugabe was the clear winner of the first four post-independence elections, his victory in a violence-marred 2008 vote was disputed and his party lost parliamentary elections. Mugabe refused to step down and international mediators coaxed him into a power-sharing deal with the main opposition. That lasted until 2013 when Mugabe reclaimed outright power in an election the opposition said was neither free nor fair. Mugabes exit wont necessarily usher in a new era of democracy in Zimbabwe, with the country now under the control of some of his hard-line former allies, whod helped him crush dissent. Mnangagwa, whos known by his nomme de guerre Ngwena, or crocodile in the Shona language, played a particularly pivotal role. He was the chief of intelligence when Mugabe ordered the Matabeleland crackdown by North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade, and is a leading securocrat within the ruling party. Hes previously served as the minister of defense and of justice. This is a great moment for the people of Zimbabwe, said Nelson Chamisa, deputy leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. We want to start a new beginning. With assistance by Michael Cohen, James Hertling, and Nick Wadhams Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Safrin La Batu (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, November 22 2017 Indonesia will hopefully be less vulnerable to cyberattacks as the newly established Cyber Body and National Encryption Agency (BSSN) prepares to take on the responsibility for safeguarding the computer systems of strategic sectors in the country. The appointment of the agencys chairman by President Joko Jokowi Widodo will be the final step before it begins to operate. The chairman will have Cabinet-ministerial rank. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (AFP) New Delhi Wed, November 22, 2017 15:13 1820 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2a3df0e 2 World journalist,killing,India Free An Indian soldier shot dead a journalist following a dispute in the country's third high profile media killing in barely three months, police said Wednesday. Sudip Dutta Bhaumik was shot dead Tuesday at a paramilitary base in the remote northeastern state of Tripura. The soldier opened fire after Bhaumik, a crime reporter, requested a meeting with a top officer at the headquarters of the Second Tripura State Rifles near the state capital of Agartala, media reports said. "He was shot dead inside the office of the commander by a soldier after they argued and scuffled over some issue," local police chief Abhijit Saptarshi told AFP. He said the accused soldier claimed the shot was fired in a scuffle after the journalist tried to snatch his rifle. The soldier has been arrested, the officer added. The journalist worked for the leading Bengali newspaper Syandan Patrika in Tripura where several tribal militant groups oppose Bengali-speaking immigrants. India's media has been shocked by a series of killings this year. One reporter was lynched by a mob on September 20 during clashes between police and warring political factions near Agartala. His mutilated body was found the next day. In September gunmen shot dead renowned journalist Gauri Lankesh in the southern city of Bangalore, amid allegations that she was targeted for her views on right wing Hindus. No arrests have been made in the case. Bhaumik's murder brings the number of reporters killed in India since the early 1990s to 30, according to Committee to Protect Journalists figures. India was ranked the deadliest country in Asia for journalists by Reporters Without Borders in 2015. In April, the press freedom group ranked India 136th of 180 countries in its world press freedom ratings. Despite criticism, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeatedly voiced his commitment to press freedom. Topics : journalist killing India Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, November 22, 2017 18:13 1820 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2a4ac54 1 City ojek-service,demonstration,Regulations Free Some communities of app-based ojek (motorcyle taxis) are going to hold a mass demonstration on Thursday morning, demanding the government issue a regulation that acknowledges their existence. Andre, the coordinator of Gojek Driver Activist (ADG), said the drivers would gather at the gate of the National Monument (Monas) at 9 a.m. before heading to the Transportation Ministry building and the Presidential Palace in Central Jakarta. "At first, we would like to apologize for the traffic jam and possible difficulty in finding drivers due to our actions tomorrow," Andre said at the Jakarta Citizen Forum (FAKTA) office in East Jakarta on Wednesday as quoted by kompas.com. He said the app-based ojek drivers wanted to have a legal regulation acknowledging their existence, just like what had been obtained by app-based ride-hailing taxis, and which are already regulated under the Transportation Ministerial Decree no. 108/2017 on non-route public transportation. "We promise that this is going to be a peaceful demonstration. We want to ask for legal regulation from the government," he said. Andre said ojek drivers from ride-hailing app Gojek were going to be represented by six communities in Jakarta, with a total of about 500 drivers. FAKTA head Azas Tigor Nainggolan said the app-based ojek drivers wanted to be acknowledged and protected by the government. "Regulation is needed to acknowledge, rule and protect their rights from ride-hailing app providers, which often take them for granted," he said. (ecn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, November 22, 2017 16:12 1820 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2a44541 1 National Australia,diplomat,ambassador,jusuf-kalla,JusufKalla,vice-president,Paul-Grigson Free Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Paul Grigson paid his last official visit to Vice President Jusuf Kalla before concluding his duty in the country next month. I will return to Australia by the end of this year and this is my last official meeting with Pak Kalla after my three-year tenure in Jakarta, Grigson said as quoted by Antara after the meeting. The ambassador said he and the Vice President touched on several topics during their meeting, including Indonesia-Australia bilateral relations on politics, economy and education. The Vice President was also interested in opportunities to improve human resources through training, education, skills upgrading [programs] and tourism. So, we discussed all this together, he said. Ambassador Grigson is a senior diplomat at the Australian Foreign Affairs and Trade Department. He started his job as the countrys ambassador in Jakarta in January 2015. He is very active in publishing his activities in Indonesia on his Twitter account. He was Australian ambassador to Thailand from 2008 until 2010 following his service as an ambassador to Myanmar from 2003 until 2004. (saf/ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Nethy Dharma Somba (The Jakarta Post) Jayapura Wed, November 22 2017 The first-ever Papua Special Autonomy (Otsus) Day was celebrated on Tuesday, 16 years after the political status took effect on Nov. 21, 2001. Expecting its people to celebrate it with vibrant activities, the Papua administration has made Otsus Day a holiday. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (AFP) Vatican City Wed, November 22, 2017 22:29 1820 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2a5300d 2 World Pope-Francis,Vatican,Rohingya-Muslims,Bangladesh Free Pope Francis will meet Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar in Dhaka when he visits the Bangladeshi capital next week, a Vatican spokesman said Wednesday. Francis, who has repeatedly spoken out over the persecution of the religious minority by the Myanmar authorities, will meet a small group of Rohingyas during an interfaith meeting scheduled for Friday December 1. The Argentine pontiff's trip to Bangladesh will be preceded by a three-day stop in neighbouring Myanmar, which will now include a private meeting with the head of the country's army, General Min Aung Hlaing. The meeting with the military chief was organised on the recommendation of Charles Bo, the archbishop of Yangon, who also advised the pope not to use the term "Rohingya", during his visit, for fear of inflaming tensions in the predominantly Buddhist country. Army and government officials decline to use a term they see as giving the Muslims of Rakhine state the status of an ethnic minority, whereas the official line is that they are illegal immigrants from mainly Muslim Bangladesh. The Vatican spokesman said the pope was not forbidden from employing the term but added that he planned to follow his archbishop's advice. International condemnation of Myanmar's treatment of the Rohingya has mounted in recent days with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson saying Wednesday that it amounted to ethnic cleansing. More than 600,000 Rohingya, around a third of them children, have fled to Bangladesh since the military launched counter-insurgency operations in Rakhine state in August. UN officials have also described what is happening as ethnic cleansing while Amnesty International has said the treatment of the Rohingya has been on a par with the institutionalised racism of apartheid South Africa. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Nurul Fitri Ramadhani and Margareth S. Aritonang (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, November 22 2017 Being named a graft case suspect by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has not deterred House of Representatives Speaker and Golkar Party Chairman Setya Novanto from tightening his grip on his chair. Several Golkar elites have confirmed that the calls to unseat Setya from the party chairman post seem to have hit a brick wall as Setya has threatened to disclose the list of individuals mostly political party elites alleged to have accepted the billions of rupiah he suspectedly transferred from the e-ID project. The e-ID graft case is one of the countrys biggest corruption scandals in its history. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Denpasar, Bali Wed, November 22, 2017 12:49 1820 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2a36ca5 1 National bali,Mount-Agung,#MtAgungVolcano Free Volcanic ash has fallen onto a number of villages surrounding Mount Agung in Bali following an eruption at the island's tallest volcano on Tuesday afternoon, less than a month after the alert level was lowered. At least five villages were affected by the ash, including Pidpid, Nawakerti, Bukit Galah, Sebudi and Abang Village. The villages are located within the danger zone of the volcano, kompas.com reported. Authorities from the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry's Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center (PVMBG) visited the villages following reports from local residents' to authorities at the Mount Agung monitoring station. "The PVMBG Emergency Response Team found [volcanic] ash, however, the intensity of the ash [falling on the villages] is still light," head of mitigation sub-directorate at PVMBG, Devi Kemal, said on Tuesday evening. Devi further advised residents not to panic and follow the authorities instructions. "Everyone should remain calm and follow PVMBG recommendations," Devi said. Mount Agung, which has been experiencing increased activity in recent months, erupted and spewed black smoke at 5:05 p.m. on Tuesday, with the height of the smoke reaching more than 700 meters from the peak of the mountain. Residents are advised to stay away from areas within a 6 kilometer radius of the volcano. The volcano's status is set at the third highest alert level, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) has previously said. The alert level for the volcano that had forced more than 100,000 residents to flee was lowered late last month, from the highest level to the third highest level, although authorities said there was still a chance of eruption. (afr) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Karangasem, Bali Wed, November 22, 2017 14:00 1820 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2a3a4a2 2 National Volcano,bali,Mount-Agung,evacuees Free Thousands living in the shadow of a rumbling volcano in Bali fled Wednesday as fears grow that it could erupt for the first time in more than 50 years. Mount Agung belched smoke as high as 700 metres (2,300 feet) above its summit late Tuesday afternoon, sparking an exodus from the settlements near the mountain. Nearly 1,600 people died when Mt. Agung last erupted in 1963. It stirred to life again in September, prompting about 140,000 people to leave the area. Many returned home after the volcano's activity waned, but thousands are now fleeing again. Some 30,000 people remain displaced, officials said. "There are 13 of us and we're afraid. Our neighbours have also fled," said Nyoman Sadi, a local resident who said she was leaving with her family. Disaster officials have warned that fresh activity at Mt. Agung could see it blow its top. But the head of Indonesia's volcanology center urged people to remain calm and said the mountain's alert level has not yet been raised. "Yesterday there was smoke and steam as high as 700 meters, and last night there were tremors for quite a while -- around three hours," Kasbani told AFP on Wednesday. "The mountain continues to spew smoke, but there hasn't been any big eruption so far." Mt. Agung lies some 75 kilometres (45 miles) from Bali's tourist areas, which attract millions of tourists every year. Flights have not been affected so far, but officials have estimated that concerns about an eruption over the past few months have cost the island at least $110 million in lost tourism and productivity as many locals moved to shelters. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Washington, United States Wed, November 22, 2017 12:01 1820 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2a344c1 2 World trump,White-House,military,scandal Free Military investigators are probing whether three soldiers who worked in the White House had "improper contact" with foreign women on President Donald Trump's recent Asia trip, The Washington Post reported Tuesday. Officials familiar with the situation told the Post that the three non-commissioned officers allegedly broke a curfew during Trump's Vietnam visit. The service members had been working for the White House Communications Agency, a specialized military unit that helps provide top officials with secure communications, the Post said. Pentagon spokesman Mark Wright confirmed the probe. "We are aware of the incident and it is currently under investigation," Wright told AFP, without providing additional details. The investigation is the latest headache for US security detail accompanying top officials on overseas trips. The Post said that four troops from the same White House team faced allegations around accompanying women, stemming from a trip to Panama in August with Vice President Mike Pence. In another incident in 2012, Secret Service agents in Cartagena, Colombia were caught soliciting prostitutes. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ganug Nugroho Adi (The Jakarta Post) Surakarta, Central Java Wed, November 22, 2017 19:15 1820 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2a4de65 1 National surakarta,flooding,landslide,landslides,Bengawan-Solo,BPBD,disaster Free Seven districts in Surakarta, Central Java, have declared an emergency alert status for flooding and landslides after high intensity rainfall in the area, which has caused the level of Bengawan Solo River to rise over the past week. Surakarta Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) executive chairman Gatot Sutanto predicted that we would see heavy rainfall accompanied by strong winds until the end of February. He said the agency had established three disaster emergency alert posts in three different locations. Uncertain weather and the continued rising water level of Bengawan Solo River have prompted us to declare a disaster emergency alert status. All areas across Central Java have also adjusted their alert levels to the current conditions, Gatot said on Wednesday. He said the three disaster emergency posts prepared by the Surakarta administration were located in Gading, Kotabarat and Pedaringan areas. The administration had also prepared logistics and personnel and mapped out locations for public kitchens and temporary shelters. A report from the Jurug observation post reveals that the water surface level of Bengawan Solo River has almost reached eight meters, up from the normal level of seven meters. This means we must stand guard, said BPBD Sukoharjo Suprapto. He said increases in Surakartas disaster vulnerability could be seen from extreme weather changes in the last two weeks. Both the duration and intensity of rainfall in the city had increased in the last several days. The alert status we declared will take effect starting from today [Wednesday] until the beginning of 2018, possibly until March, said Suprapto. (ebf) In crisis: Floodwater inundates the house of a local resident living on the riverbank in Kampung Semanggi, Surakarta, Central Java. (JP/Ganug Nugroho Adi) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin N. Adri and Sri Wahyuni (The Jakarta Post) Balikpapan/Yogyakarta Wed, November 22 2017 A student of Gadjah Mada University (UGM) in Yogyakarta has abused at least nine children during his service as an activist, according to reports filed by the alleged victims. PDW, 21, is accused of abusing and molesting teenage boys throughout his career as an environmentalist. The East Kalimantan Police revealed the identity of the suspect in a press conference on Tuesday. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, November 22, 2017 13:16 1820 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2a37a3e 1 City zero-percent-downpayment,housing,construction Free The city administration is set to build apartments in Pondok Kelapa, East Jakarta, under the zero rupiah down payment housing scheme next year, which will be developed by city-owned property developer Pembangunan Sarana Jaya. "Hopefully, early next year we can start with the first pilot project in Pondok Kelapa," Sarana Jaya president director Yoory C Pinontoan said at City Hall on Tuesday as quoted by kompas.com. Yoory said they were going to build two towers with approximately 700 apartments on a 1.3 hectare plot of land. He said his company was unable to build landed houses because of the limited availability of land in the city, "so, we have to build vertical housing." He added that the current project would be funded by the companys internal budget. However, he did not elaborate on the total budget required for the project. The city administration has allocated Rp 800 billion (US$59 million) for funding one of the key campaign promises of Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan. Deputy Governor Sandiaga Uno said the city administration would assist in the development of the pilot project. We will facilitate the issuing of permits, he said. (dis) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, November 23 2017 Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Paul Grigson paid his last official visit to Vice President Jusuf Kalla before concluding his duty in the country next month. I will return to Australia by the end of this year. This is my last official meeting with Pak Kalla after my three-year tenure in Jakarta, Grigson said as quoted by Antara after the meeting. The ambassador said he and the Vice President touched on several topics during their meeting, including Indonesia-Australia bilateral relations in politics, economy and education. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (AFP) Manila Wed, November 22, 2017 13:43 1820 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2a38a9d 2 SE Asia Rodrigo-Duterte,CommunistParty,Philippines Free Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has cancelled all future peace talks with communist rebels waging one of Asia's longest insurgencies, in a blow to efforts to end the half century-long conflict. In a speech Tuesday night, Duterte criticised the insurgents over deadly attacks against soldiers and police while threatening to categorise them as a "terrorist" group. "I have decided to cut talks with the NPAs," he said, referring to the communists' 3,800-member armed wing, the New People's Army (NPA). The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) has been waging an insurgency since 1968 to overthrow a capitalist system that has created one of Asia's biggest rich-poor divides. Peace talks to end the conflict, which the military says has claimed 30,000 lives, have been conducted on and off for three decades. They were revived last year after Duterte -- a self-declared socialist -- was elected president, with Norway and the Netherlands hosting the negotiations. "You tell the guys there in the Netherlands: I am no longer available for any official talk. Let's just go to war," Duterte added Tuesday, referring to rebel leaders living in European exile. Duterte's government had already shelved a round of negotiations in May and informal talks in July this year, citing deadly guerrilla attacks on security forces. His peace adviser Jesus Dureza on Wednesday confirmed Duterte's latest decision in a statement but declined to say if further meetings had been scheduled. The president said a rebel ambush in the southern Philippines this month had killed a police officer and four-month-old baby. "If you behave like that and we will go to war -- even the civilians are being dragged into this -- then we should just stop talking." Last month Duterte also accused the communists of plotting with his other foes to destabilise his rule. He added Tuesday he would issue a proclamation declaring the rebels a "terrorist" organisation and order the arrest of more than a dozen rebel leaders he had freed last year. Dureza said Wednesday he had informed Norway of Duterte's decision. "This is an unfortunate development in our work for peace. Never before have we all reached this far in our negotiations with them," his statement said. The rebels have yet to comment on Duterte's announcement but the CPP alleged this week that he was out to "perpetuate himself in power through a one-man rule". Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Pesona Indonesia) Jakarta Wed, November 22, 2017 20:35 1820 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2a50375 2 News Tourism-Ministry-Pesona-Indonesia,tourism-ministry-wonderful-Indonesia,film-festival,Lake-Toba Free Those looking for a new movie-watching experience should definitely sign up for the upcoming Lake Toba Film Festival (LTFF) 2017 that will be held for three days on Dec. 1-3. The event offers participants a unique chance to watch a movie while camping near the famed Lake Toba, it also has other movie-related activities such as awarding night, movie workshop, 1,000 camps, cultural performances and sharing session. Additionally, local band Tobakustik is slated to perform at the festival. Organized by Rumah Karya Indonesia (RKI), LTFF 2017 hopes to increase the values of local movies. Lake Toba was chosen because North Sumatra has the potential for cinema [industry], judging from its diversity, environment and culture. Through this festival, we hope that the creativity of the young people can promote the traditions of the Archipelago, told the committees head Ojax Manalu. (asw) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Pesona Indonesia) Jakarta Wed, November 22, 2017 19:33 1820 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2a4df9c 2 News Tourism-Ministry-Pesona-Indonesia,tourism-ministry-wonderful-Indonesia,Movie,North-Sulawesi Free Great news coming from North Sulawesi (Sulut) for film producers and filmmakers. The province has decided to give tax exemption for those who are filming in North Sulawesi. Ive instructed all regional leaders, when theres a movie shooting in North Sulawesi they are not allowed to ask for tax payment. This is done in order to improve the Indonesian film industry, said North Sulawesi Governor Olly Dondokambey. We are providing easy access to use our locations that includes the cash grants if 50 percent of the shooting is done in Manado. [The money] is not from the APBD but from CSR and investors, Olly added. Several Indonesian movies that filmed in North Sulwesi include Senjakala, Tommi N Jerri and Hujan Bulan Juni. Other than local films, television programs from South Korea and France also filmed several movies in the area. Actress Paramitha Rusady praised the rapid development in North Sulawesi. According to Paramitha there are plenty of beautiful destinations in the province such as Manado and Minahasa. Minahasa needs to prepare itself since it will welcome plenty of tourists. I hope that after Indonesian Film Festival (FFI), plenty of producers will be interested to shoot movies in North Sulawesi, she said. (asw) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Pesona Indonesia) Jakarta Wed, November 22, 2017 09:33 1821 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2a2b231 2 News Tourism-Ministry-Pesona-Indonesia,tourism-ministry-wonderful-Indonesia,Sail-Sabang,marine-tourism,aceh Free The Tourism Promotion and Culture of the Archipelago Educational Development (P3PKN) hosted a promotional event for the upcoming Sail Sabang 2017 and Aceh tourism called Aceh Night in Bali at Lippo Mall Kuta, Bali on Nov. 18. At the Tourism Corner booth, we provide information about different activities related to Sail Sabang and tourism information about Aceh, told P3PKN project officer, Deta Djurevwati. With an extraordinary beautiful nature, Sabang deserves the attention of travelers. There are plenty of marine-related activities available at Weh Island such as swimming, snorkeling, diving, surfing or even just relaxing by the beach, Deta added. At the event, visitors could try on several Acehnese dishes for free and saw performances of Saman Dance, Pukat Dance, Rapai Geleng, poem recitation, music and others. Sail Sabang 2017 will be held from Nov 28 - Dec 5 and feature 24 activities. We can confirm that Sail Sabang is the biggest tourism event in Indonesia for this year, said Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf at the events launching in Jakarta. After Bali, P3PKN will hold Tarik Pukat Charm event that will be joined by 600 dancers consisting of university students from all across Indonesia at Keraton Yogyakarta North Square and in Pahang, Malaysia. (asw) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Pesona Indonesia) Jakarta Wed, November 22, 2017 18:31 1820 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2a4b035 2 News Tourism-Ministry-Pesona-Indonesia,tourism-ministry-wonderful-Indonesia,bali Free State-run Bali Institute of Tourism (STP Bali) was crowned as the winner of Tourism Business Ideas 2017 competition, beating over 72 participants from all across Indonesia. STP Bali brought up the theme of Agrorange Kintamani to the competition. The total number of participants was 72 and the top 10 finalists were three groups from STP Bali, two groups from STP NHI Bandung, two groups from Akpar Medan, one group from Poltekpar Makassar, one group from Poltekpar Palembang and one group from Poltekpar Lombok, explained the Tourism Ministry's tourism development deputy Ahman Sya. The competition was initiated by six tourism colleges namely STP NHI Bandung, STP Bali, Akpar Medan, Makassar, Palembang and Lombok Tourism Polytechnics with School of Business and Management ITB. These schools have signed up a partnership deal that lasts from 2017 until 2019. The main theme of the competition was Tourism Village, Service Business and Creative Products that Support Local Tourism. The final round was held at Golden Palace Hotel Mataram. The three winners were given cash prizes for development, Ahman added. (asw) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Pesona Indonesia) Jakarta Wed, November 22, 2017 14:22 1820 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2a3c9a3 2 News Tourism-Ministry-Pesona-Indonesia,tourism-ministry-wonderful-Indonesia,Tourism-Ministry,Arief-Yahya,aceh,Sail-Sabang Free Tourism Minister Arief Yahya together with the Ministrys secretary Ukus Kuswara traveled to Aceh on Nov. 21 to oversee the preparation of Sail Sabang 2017. Arriving at Sultan Iskandar Muda International Airport, Aceh, the team immediately inspected the area around the airport. Ukus who arrived first went to several locations such as Ulee Lheue Port, Balohan Port and the location of Sabang Fair. The two ports will be the arrival points of participating yachts. The Ministry is determined to make sure that all facilities such as mooring buoys, portable toilets, petrol station and clean water supply will always be available. Additionally, the Ministry is also looking after the visa extension procedure, The visa extension procedure should be done at least 14 days before the expiration date, this is a problem for the tourists who are mostly going to spend their time at sea, Ukus added. After visiting the two ports, the group then headed to Sabang Bay or CT3 Port that will be the location for the events finale. The Ministry is also going to check on the transportation, accommodation, promotion, publication and documentation, Ukus said. According to Arief, Sail Sabang 2017 is a very important event because it is the first step in shaping Sabang to become a world-class yacht destination. Ill make sure that everything will go well. This event is the starting point of Sabang-Phuket-Langkawi route, also known as SaPhuLa Golden Triangle, said Arief. Sabang is a favorite destination among tourists who love to do water and sea activities. In Sabang they can go diving, snorkeling, fishing, tanning and others, he added. (asw) Agudath Israel of America, a national Orthodox Jewish organization, applauds President Donald J. Trump for his endorsement of providing federal financial relief to houses of worship devastated by hurricanes and other natural disasters. The Office of Management and Budgets recent supplemental hurricane recovery request to Speaker Paul Ryan explicitly notes the Administrations support for legislation that would make houses of worship eligible for disaster relief funding. FEMAs denial of disaster relief to houses of worship when zoos and other nonprofits receive such aid has been a glaring inequity and indignity. Synagogues and other houses of worship provide vital services to their communities before, during and after natural disasters strike. And they are key partners in providing the spiritual and emotional strength to help those whose lives have been devastated endure through these most difficult of times. Houses of worship deserve help to get back on their feet the sooner the better and all will be served by it. We are hopeful that the Presidents endorsement and request will boost efforts by Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO), and other cosponsors, to pass the Federal Disaster Assistance Nonprofit Fairness Act (H.R. 2405/S.1823), legislation that will amend current law to explicitly include houses of worship as eligible recipients of federal disaster aid. Agudath Israel is pleased to have worked closely over the course of many years with the bills sponsors in crafting and promoting the legislation, with the White House in helping to elicit its support for such a measure, and with the growing number of advocacy groups who are helping it find success. Break-ups on holiday are stressful. Break-ups on a spaceship would be astronomically more painful, with no way of leaving, hiding or escaping the conflict. The Journey, an upcoming play at Pleasance, presents a couple dealing with relationship issues while inconveniently trapped in space. Will Brown (photo credit Faye Thomas); Gabby Best ; Stuart Laws (photo credit Ed Moore) Written and directed by stand-up comedian Stuart Laws, and starring Gabby Best and Will Brown, the play combines humour with a complex discussion of gender relations. With an interest in sci-fi, Stuart says that setting the play on a spaceship seemed like the obvious thing. How much more stressful would it be, if youve broken up with somebody on holiday before, to take that to an extreme where theres no way out? he says. You cant even pop out and get a little jambon-beurre. While Will cracks up over Stuarts comment (a jambon-beurre?!), Gabby replies: I have tried to fix an argument with croquetas before on holiday, and you cant do that on a spaceship rocket-as, maybe. The three of them joke with warmth and quick wit throughout the interview, discussing The Journey with infectious enthusiasm. Sitting down to chat with The National Student, they discuss their experiences of being part of a two-hander play. Gabby starts by joking that its been quite trying, quite taxing, grating, problematic But with a laugh, she adds its been fun. Will agrees, Ive really enjoyed it; its very, very funny. Ive never done a two-hander before, he says. Its definitely something Ive always wanted to do. Gabby Best and Will Brown, The Journey Talking openly about their pre-show nerves and excitement, they all express similar feelings of mixed anticipation in the last few days leading up to the play. From a personal point of view, Stuart says, Im more nervous. He describes the move from stand-up into theatre writing as a dramatic change: Youre putting something out there that, by its very nature, is more serious; youre making a bit more of a statement than when you do comedy. The play has been described as a romantic comedy, but Stuart says it doesnt exist for the jokes. Combining his experiences in film and stand-up, he uses comedy as a tool to strengthen the plot. He approaches theatre with a background in comedy and around 10 years experience running a film production company. I wanted to come with a stand-up sensibility and a filmic vision", he says. Recognising a recent move in comedy toward more theatrical humour, Will agrees that the plays comical elements contribute to its powerful expressions of ideas. Ive got a bit of an issue with people going: this play is a comedy, says Will. When considering the relationship between theatre and comedy, he argues youve got to have lightness in every single play. Gabby says: I feel like theres a general move towards more introspective comedy that comes out of darker truths." Gabby Best, Will Brown and Stuart Laws, rehearsing Among the darker truths in the play is a commentary on the relationship between gender and power. Gabby recalls being drawn to the play as she was interested in its thought-provoking presentation of a power balance between men and women. It started as a short story that I started writing around 2010, says Stuart. I wanted to do something a little bit different. After asking a friend for advice, Stuart recognised that the story had the potential to be an interesting two-hander play, but it required a development of plot. When building on the themes and ideas in the play, he says thats where this development of the female/male power dynamic came about. Through the heightened tension in the play, where the male and female characters are alone in an intense, inescapable environment during a break-up, Gabby says that gender is the issue in The Journey. Stuart describes the play as very much delivered from the point of view of the male protagonist; as Wills character addresses the audience, he presents his biased side of the story. I do a lot of directing the lines to the audience, and interacting with them, and hopefully riffing off them, says Will. Its going to be a very interesting experience. They describe the creation process of The Journey as largely collaborative, with Stuart in conversation with Will and Gabby about ideas, themes, and sources of inspiration. I wanted to make sure I got everyones input so that it wasnt just one mad boys theatre wank dream, says Stuart. Is that fair? Gabby nods and tells him, I think that would be good for the poster. Will Brown and Gabby Best, The Journey When advising on the best ways to become involved in the arts, Stuart, Will and Gabby all emphasise the importance of drive and dedication. My biggest regret about uni is that I wish I couldnt give a shit more, Will says. Weve all written our own stuff, and in order to get better you have to. You cant just expect every single thing you do to be perfect. While at university, Will made the most of the acting opportunities available to him; in particular, he says that going to the Edinburgh Fringe is "the best thing you could ever do". Passion is so much more valuable than actual technical ability or technical knowledge, argues Stuart, for young people concerned they lack the experience to get involved in their goal industry. All of that can come on the job. In addition to meeting new people and making connections in your desired industry, Gabby views it as essential to never, ever, try and be trendy. While recognising that there are trends that come and go within comedy, she says if youre already trying to copy it, youve missed it. Agreeing, Will encourages young people to go with your instinct in your own head, because you might be genius; you might be setting the next trend. The unique premise of The Journey, along with the interweaving themes of gender politics and the natural light-hearted humour bouncing between Stuart, Will and Gabby, combine to promise a dramatic rom-com with a vital message. 'The Journey' will be showing at Pleasance, London at 19:45 on Wednesday 22 and Thursday 23 November, and performances will last 1 hour without intervals. You can buy tickets here. This final night of escapism was concerned with the innermost human emotional states: adapting to situations, struggling to let go of something or someone and attempting to accept and understand the unavoidable truth. Here are the highlights of the program.This psychedelic and elegantly created animated short is certainly an innovative and intriguing piece of art. The narrator could easily be compared to a Camus character with his steady and impersonal, rather disturbing manner of telling the story of a young disturbed man. The lost and rather unusual protagonist exists in a circular reasoning world of his own making, attempting to escape, but seeming incapable of doing so. The reason for this is that the antagonist is not an external creature, but a darker side to the protagonist himself, metaphorically presented in the form of beetles. The surreal feeling of the film is further emphasized when the voice-over causally states: His [the beetle] worlds were quiet enough for John not to understand him when awake, but loud enough to echo in his dreams. Beetle Trouble Trailer from Gabriel Bohmer on Vimeo Set in Nairobi two years ago, the film opens with an establishment of a tense and almost electric feeling in the air and on the streets of the city. The powerful portrayal of palpable terror and fear in the desolate city envelops the audience in the spatial and temporal reality of the short film and involves the viewers attention. A young woman is traveling by bus to see her sick mother, while an almost tangible sense of danger, elegantly conveyed through the cinematographic style of the film, is closing in on her. Eventually, the perceived danger abruptly shifts and reveals an overt blind fear and hatred, motivated by understandable personal tragedies. Eventually, we must understand the world and its rules arent clear-cut, and a grey area for humane connections is always present, even and perhaps especially in the most stressful of situations. Benraths work is moving, intimate and brutally honest.This Oscar long-listed stop motion animation is short and sweet. This work reveals to the audience something that isnt obvious at first glance- the creation of stop motion characters is an organic, slow and detailed process. The specific characters in this animation evolved from everyday materials, sometimes considered garbage. The stop motion puppets truly have an inherent gentle sadness about them, which makes them all the more thrilling to observe. Stems trailer from ainslie henderson on Vimeo Nero is an impressive, perhaps hand-drawn animated short. The seemingly simple, yet obviously quite evolved, unique, and established style of the artist is a pleasure to watch, especially when thematically it is reminiscent of another animated masterpiece from 2003- Destino. Through this world, the audience enters a world of strange ethereal places existing on the edge between sleep and wakefulness. Beautiful and bizarre shape-shifting creatures reveal the gradual, yet fatal transformation of a dream into a nightmare. Nero excerpt from Natasza Cetner on Vimeo This French drama was the winner for Best Sci-Fi at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Awards 2017. Set in a futuristic reality, Jakob exhibits signs that he possesses artificial intelligence with no natural one, which serves to prove that he is a product of human technological evolution. However, the protagonist struggles with his unforeseen development of sentience, making his existence torn between logic and chaos almost impossible to bear. After reaching a climactic point of acceptance of his inescapable acquired humanity, Jakob reaches a final resolution.Edith is a Scottish short drama concerning a quite typical story of loss and overcoming a devastating personal romantic tragedy, but presented in a charming and personal manner. The production quality of this work speaks of extreme professionalism with its crystal clear image, balanced framing, text-book perfect shots and unflinching camera. Furthermore, the subtle and obviously experienced editing of the film creates a sense of flowing action and natural transitions. The breathtaking and cleverly filmed natural landscapes leave the viewer in a state of rapture, further emphasising the emotional impact of the plot.Possibly one of the most intimate and emotionally excruciating films I have seen recently, Forever Now tells the story of two young lovers intense and compressed ride through their sentiment spectrum from ecstasy to sorrow in the spam of a Copenhagen night in their apartment. The gentle devastation arising from the final hours of a love story is both painfully familiar, yet insightfully different. In terms of production and post-production, it is necessary to state that the short film is pristine- setting the feeling of the scene with the use of light and contrast, interesting angles of shooting, and intimate close-ups of high emotional strain all come together to construct a remarkable work of art, which quite literally could bring tears to your eyes. Forever Now - Trailer from Flying Films on Vimeo Salt & Sauce - Teaser from Alia Ghafar on Vimeo PACO (Teaser) from C a t a l i n a on Vimeo In Heaven and Earth, Claire makes friends and enemies aboard The Porpoise, whilst Jamie finds himself imprisoned once again. With Claire sequestered on The Porpoise in attempt to stop the typhoid outbreak, Jamie demands that they pursue his kidnapped wife. Captain Raines refuses for safety reasons, and Jamie makes the gallant (but very stupid) decision to attack him. For his pains, Jamies carted off to the brig. On The Porpoise, Claires not letting her captivity get her down, and busies herself treating the sickly crew. Shes joined by an unlikely ally, a fourteen-year-old midshipman turned Claire Fraser hype man named Elias Pound. Claires suitably impressed by his diligence and the two quickly become friends. Its pretty obvious that Elias is destined to die, and Heaven and Earth spends a lot of time humanising the young midshipman, so the typhoid epidemic has some kind of emotional pay off. Its lucky then that Albie Marber and Caitriona Balfe have great chemistry, otherwise the predictability of events would ruin the episode. After identifying and quarantining a potential carrier of the disease, Claire angers the ships cook Mr. Cosworth, whos left without his final galley-hand. Following an emotional sequence where the dead crew are buried at sea, Cosworth questions whether Claire is really helping stop the epidemic. Elias asks Claire how she can be so calm in the face of death, and she explains that shes compartmentalising for the sake of her work. Now Elias, Claires number one fan, gives his new BFF the lucky rabbit foot his mother once gave him. Oh, Elias. You are so, so doomed. Back on The Artemis, Jamie pitches a poorly-thought through mutiny to Fergus, who reluctantly agrees to steal the jails keys in exchange for Jamies permission to marry Marsali. Despite successfully stealing the keys, Fergus decides Marsali would be in too much danger if the mutiny fails. Fergus rejects Jamies plan once again, accepting that this means he may never marry his fiancee. Somewhere in another bit of ocean, Claire treats a man for alcohol poisoning and discovers a Portuguese flag covering a sailor below deck. Claire goes in search of Captain Leonard, but finding his office empty, decides to look through his ledgers for clues. Although the flag wasnt taken from the ship that took Young Ian, Claire does learn that a crew member of The Porpoise named Harry Tompkins recognised Jamies true identity and informed the captain of his seditious past. Oops. So much for the Frasers peaceful Caribbean holiday. Claire is confronted by Mr. Cosworth, who finds her trespassing in Captain Leonards office, and escapes only by threatening to scream. Claire has Harry Tompkins summoned to her, claiming he may be a second carrier of typhoid. Tompkins, deeply scarred and hating life at sea, turns out to be the henchman who attacked Young Ian at the printshop. He informs Claire that the body Jamie concealed in a cask of creme de menthe was uncovered, and hes now wanted for murder. Captain Leonard is aware of Jamies crimes, and will have him arrested in Jamaica when he comes to get Claire. Claire proceeds to shoot the messenger and locks Tompkins away with Howard, warning him sadistically that he might contract typhoid. Pretty savage, Claire. Claires medical expertise has brought the epidemic to an end, but not without one final victim. Claire finds a delirious Elias lying near-death in a hammock, who hallucinates that Claire is his mother. Claire obliges his dying fantasy, and gives Elias back his rabbit foot before hes buried at sea. Annejke, the wife of the man with alcohol poisoning, resolves to help Claire escape after learning of Jamies predicament. Needing grass for the goats whose milk sustains the crew, Annejke provides Claire with an opportunity to escape whilst the herd grazes. Unfortunately for Claire, she runs into Captain Leonards patrol whilst heading for Jamaica. Leonard informs her that hes aware of Jamies identity, and that he cannot let her warn him of his arrest warrant. Over on The Artemis, Marsali persuades Captain Raines to let Jamie out, after Jamie gives him his word he wont try to mutiny. Jamie, finally convinced of the extent of their affection, gives Fergus and Marsali permission to marry. Aw, shucks. Annejke proves to be a resourceful ally, and gives Claire a second chance to escape The Porpoise. Taking her on deck late at night, Annejke shows Claire some barrels she can use as a raft if she jumps into the sea and drifts towards land. Initially reluctant, Claire eventually throws herself into the icy depths, all for a chance to stop Jamie from hanging. Despite fine performances from Balfe and Marber, the outbreak on The Porpoise had little emotional resonance. The episode livened up considerably once the threat to Jamie was revealed, forcing Claire into the moral ambiguity that characterised her choices towards the end of season two. With Claire now attempting to rescue her husband, Outlander is moving away from the tired trope of romantic heroines as damsels in distress. Allowing Claire to take control, even in the harshest of circumstances, should make for interesting viewing next week. Something tells me Claires ocean voyage to Jamaica wont be all smooth sailing. 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Its terrible on the military.Mr. Trump declined to say whether he would campaign for Mr. Moore in the final days before the election, adding that he would let reporters know next week about his plans. Asked by a reporter whether electing an accused child molester is better than electing a Democrat, Mr. Trump responded by saying that Mr. Moore denies the charges against him. German auto major Audi is gunning to regain over a period of time the top slot in Indian luxury vehicles segment which it had lost to rival Mercedes-Benz. The company plans to launch ten products this year, including a couple of completely new models as part of its ongoing efforts to enhance its position in the country. There has been a phase of consolidation (in India) and we are looking at a sustainable number one position here. Audi belongs there, Audi India Head Rahil Ansari told PTI. When asked how soon the company looks to overtake Mercedes-Benz again, he declined to share a timeframe. We need to be number one again at some stage of time. It doesnt have to be overnight but it cant take till 2030 either. What is important is that it has to be sustainable business for all involved, including our dealer partners, Ansari added. In 2015 Audi lost its number one position in the Indian luxury car market to Mercedes-Benz. It had taken the top spot from another German rival BMW in 2013. Audi has not shared its 2016 sales numbers in India. Mercedes-Benz sold 13,231 units in 2016, marginally down from 13,502 units in 2015. BMW on the other hand sold 7,861 units, up 14 percent from 2015. When asked about new product launches, Ansari said: For 2017 there will be 10 new launches, out of which there will be a couple of products which havent been introduced in the Indian market before. Audi has already launched the diesel version of its best selling sedan A4 in India. It is also preparing for the new A3 sedan. While the volume models are important, we will also be launching those cars which can give a Halo effect so that we can turn our car customers into fans, Ansari said, hinting at the companys plans to bring performance-oriented cars. Going forward, he said, in order to achieve its goals Audi will focus on new products, more customer targeted activities such as referral programmes to keep its existing buyers within the Audi family while also trying to convert potential new buyers. New standards for gold jewellery, including compulsory hallmarking are likely to be implemented in the country from January to safeguard the interests of consumers. Jewellers will get about six months to get the hallmarking licence from the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), top sources in the government told The Statesman. This will come as a big relief to the jewellers who fear incurring losses on account of hallmarking. Of a total of four lakh jewellers only 20,000 have the hallmarking licence. Currently, due to absence of standards, the gold jewellery sold in the market is of different carat value and quality, leaving consumers in doubt about the purity of the precious metal. Once the new regulation is implemented, all jewellers will have to sell hallmarked gold ornaments of only 14, 18 and 22 carat. BIS has been asked to frame hallmarking standards for jewellery made from 24 carat gold also, Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said on Wednesday. At present, there are BIS standards for hallmarking of jewellery made from 14, 18 and 22 carat gold. Earlier, jewellery could not be made from 24 carat gold. Now it is possible to make with the sophisticated technology available abroad. There is a demand to have standards for this category also, Paswan added. The new BIS Act came into effect from 12 October this year. The governing council of the BIS met on Wednesday to decide on the regulations for the hallmarking. It would take a couple of weeks to get all the required approvals before a notification is issued in January, said another source from the Ministry of Consumer Affairs. The ministry of Consumer Affairs has asked the BIS to finalise the rules by January. The cost of hallmarking comes to just Rs 35 per piece, of which Rs 7 goes to the government as royalty. Even as the consumers look forward to hallmarked gold jewellery, the jewellers have demanded that the new rules should be implemented in a phased manner, starting with the cities which have the hallmarking facility. Hallmarking centres are very few. It is not possible to get all the jewellery hallmarked by these 400 plus centres, Surendra Mehta, president, Indian Bullion and Jewellers Association (IBJA), told The Statesman. The policy should be implemented first in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Pune, Surat and Jaipur which already have hallmarking centres. Government can increase the number of centres to cover all the major cities and towns. Till then, it should allow big jewellers to self-certify their products, he said. There is a big risk involved in the transportation of the high value metal to far off hallmarking centres. So the shops dealing in bulk jewellery should be allowed to self-certify their ornaments. IBJA has also demanded that they be allowed to have hallmarking of 13, 14, 20 and 23 carat ornaments as there is demand for it in some markets. Jewellers have demanded that they should be given at least 3 months notice to dispose off their old stock. Meanwhile, the jewellers have reported a dip in gold sales as many consumers postpone their purchases till the implementation of hallmarking rules. Five members of a dacoit gang have been arrested from a West Bengal district bordering Bangladesh and weapons were seized from them, police said on Wednesday. The five were arrested from South 24 Parganass Hili on Tuesday, an officer said. Several sharp weapons and firearms have been seized from them. Hili, a town under Balurghat subdivision of the district, is a border checkpoint on the India-Bangladesh border. Police said the five, all Indian residents, gathered near a village fair in Hili few days back with the motive of dacoity. The five dacoits were produced before a Balurghat court on Wednesday where they have been remanded to 14 days judicial custody, the officer added. Journalist Sudip Datta Bhowmik, who was shot dead by a trooper in Tripura, was cremated on Wednesday, the final rites attended by hundreds of journalists and other professionals. Bhowmiks cremation took place at Battala. Earlier, after paying rich tributes at the Agartala Press Club and other media offices, a silent rally of journalists and other professionals was taken out in the city with the body of the 50-year-old journalist. According to police, Tripura State Rifles (TSR) Second Battalion Rifleman Nandu Kumar Reang on Tuesday shot dead Datta Bhowmik, 50, at Radha Kishore Nagar, 25 km from Agartala. Reang was the bodyguard of Second Battalion Commandant Tapan Debbarma. The slain journalist had gone to meet Debbarma at the battalion headquarters. Police have arrested both the trooper and the Commandant. Chief Judicial Magistrate Sharmistha Mukherjee sent them to 10-days police custody, West District police chief Abhijit Saptarshi told IANS. While the cortege was moving towards the crematorium ground, a large group of agitated journalists strayed from the procession and staged a demonstration in front of Chief Minister Manik Sarkars official residence. As a mark of protest, the journalists took off the safety jackets given them earlier by the police and set those on fire. The media persons also raised slogans against the Chief Minister as well as the TSR. Security around Sarkars residence has been beefed up. Nine more persons were arrested in Bihar on Wednesday on charges of misappropriating government funds of over Rs 13.50 crore meant for the construction of toilets in the state capital, an official said. Patna Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Manu Maharaj told the media here that the nine were arrested by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Bihar Police, taking the number of arrests in the scam to 19. Cases were earlier filed against two Bihar government officials and four non-governmental organisations in the case. The scam perpetrated under Lohiya Swachh Bihar Abhiyan during 2012-13, 2013-14, and 2014-15 was detected by district officials. It was found that money meant for beneficiaries was routed through four NGOs, instead of making it available directly and also that there was no record that it finally reached the real beneficiaries. Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal has been blaming Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for the toilet scam. Padmavati escaped a ban in BJP-ruled Haryana on Wednesday with Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar saying the state government would wait till the decision of the Central Board of Film Certification on the movie. Khattar told reporters after a state cabinet meeting that any decision on permitting the screening of the Sanjay Leela Bhansali-directed film in the state will be taken only after the CBFCs decision. However, he made it clear that nobody would be allowed to hurt the sentiments of people belonging to a particular community. On remarks made by Surajpal Singh Amu, Bharatiya Janata Partys chief media coordinator in the state, the CM said that those were the leaders personal views. The state government has nothing to do with them, he said. The party has issued a show cause notice to Ammu, Khattar said. He said he has learnt that a complaint has also been filed against Amu and the law would take its own course. Following the ban on Padmavati by Madhya Pradesh government, there was speculation that the Khattar government would also announce a ban on the period drama after the cabinet meeting. There have been protests in various parts of Haryana against the yet-to-be released movie. Haryana cabinet ministers and other state BJP leaders have already demanded a ban. Senior Minister Anil Vij had said he would demand a ban during Wednesdays cabinet meeting. Another cabinet minister Vipul Goel had earlier written to Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani asking her to ensure that there was no distortion of historical facts in the movie. Amu had offered a `10 crore reward for beheading director Sanjay Leela Bhansali and actor Deepika Padukone. In a fresh threat on Tuesday, he said the youth and the `warrior castes had the strength to set every cinema on fire. Unfazed by the show cause notice against him, Amu said he would not allow anyone to watch the movie, claiming that the heroic character of Rani Padmavati had been shown in a bad light. If the movie is run, you know Prime Minister Narendra Modis Swachh Bharat campaign is going on. The entire Kshatriya samaj will damage all the cinema halls of the country, he had said. The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) on Tuesday issued guidance for the imposition of a tariff-rate quota on imported washing machines, a remedy following the courts ruling that Samsung, LG and other international manufacturers were hurting domestic washing machine makers through unfair trade practices.The ITC suggested a 50% tariff on imported washing machines, which would take effect if imports exceeded 1.2 million units in the first 3 years. While Whirlpool ( WHR ), which brought the initial complaint against its South Korean rivals, Samsung and LG, earlier this year, recommended a 50% tariff on all washing machine imports, the ITC was conflicted over whether tariffs should be implemented if imports did not reach the 1.2 million threshold.Meanwhile, seven lawmakers expressed concern in a letter to the ITC chair earlier this month that a 50% tariff could have a negative impact on American jobs and American consumers.Meanwhile, seven lawmakers expressed concern in a letter to the ITC chair earlier this month that a 50% tariff could have a negative impact on American jobs and American consumers.At the heart of the issue for lawmakers is Samsungs soon-to-open $380 million manufacturing facility in South Carolina, which is expected to produce washing machines for the U.S. market. Lawmakers, with vested interests in the project, believe, and Samsung executives said during congressional testimony last month, that import restrictions could undermine competition in the marketplace and have a negative impact on our ramp-up and transition strategy for South Carolina.The plant is expected to begin making parts by January and to employ 1,000 Americans by the end of 2018. Actor-comedian Kapil Sharma has thanked megastar Amitabh Bachchan for lending his dynamic voice for his forthcoming film Firangi. Kapil said Big B has made his film big with his powerful voice. Dear sir Amitabh Bachchan, thank you so so much. Just saw and cant explain how big you made our movie with your powerful and dynamic voice, Kapil tweeted. Dear sir @SrBachchan thank u so so much.jus saw n cant explain how big u made our movie with ur powerful n dynamic voice. KAPIL (@KapilSharmaK9) November 22, 2017 Firangi, releasing on Friday, is set in the 1920s Punjab, and the story revolves around an Indian villager who faces trouble while serving the British government. It is directed by Rajiev Dhingra and also stars Ishita Dutta. The film was shot primarily in Punjab and Rajasthan. Actress Natalie Portman says she has 100 stories of sexual misconduct and harassment against her in Hollywood. When I heard everything coming out, I was like, wow, Im so lucky that I havent had this. And then, on reflection, I was like, okay, definitely never been assaulted, definitely not, but Ive had discrimination or harassment on almost everything Ive ever worked on in some way, Portman said at an event here, reports nydailynews.com. I went from thinking I dont have a story to thinking, Oh wait, I have 100 stories. And I think a lot of people are having these reckonings with themselves, of things that we just took for granted as like, this is part of the process, she added. Portman recounted one time when she was invited on a plane with a producer, only to find he had made a bed. Nothing happened. I was not assaulted. I said, This doesnt make me comfortable and that was respected, but was super not okay. That was really unacceptable and manipulative. I was scared, Portman said. The 36-year-old said she used to avoid taking on roles with sexual scenes. There was definitely a period where I was reluctant to do any kind of kissing scenes, sexual scenes. Because for my first roles, the reaction people would give in reviews was to call me a Lolita and things like that, and I got so scared by it, she said. A river is more than an amenity; it is a treasure. True to this saying, Haryana, one of the key stakeholders that have geared up for cleaning the Yamuna river that is facing acute water pollution due to domestic and industrial discharge in it, has come out with a fresh Action Plan for keeping the river clean. Keeping in view the seriousness of the issue, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal discussed the issue recently during a meeting in Chandigarh. Though the main issue of this Khattar-Kejriwal meeting was to discuss the air and water pollution, the Haryana government asked the neighbouring Delhi government to take steps for controlling the pollution the Yamuna witnesses after entering to the National Capital. The Delhi government has said that it was mulling setting up micro-STPs to treat the water going back to Yamuna. The plan includes, installing of more sewage treatment plants (STPs) and common effluent treatment plants (CETPs) along the drains out falling in and along River Yamuna in Haryana, in addition of laying of sewerage systems in 24 blocks of the state. As per the data accessed by The Statesman, it includes nearly 48 news STPs including 12 (under construction) while 36 such plants (proposed) while five new CETPs including four (under construction) and one proposed. For installation of the STPs and CETPs, the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) in its Action Plan has identified six major drains including Dhanaura escape, Main Drain No 2, Drain No 6, a bunch of three drains out falling into Najajgarh drain, Buriya Nallah drain and Gaunchi drain, falling out in River Yamuna in the state of Haryana. Giving further details, a senior official from the HSPCB said, The 54.96 kilometer-long Dhanaura Escape, ditch drain of Yamunanagar, which collects the industrial treated effluent of Jagadhri and Yamunanagar, outfalls in Dhanaura escape drain. As per the details, there are around 108 water polluting industries established in this stretch and there is no CETP established for the treatment of the industrial effluent, which is getting treated by the industries through their own ETPs. There are around 10 per cent of area still to be sewered by the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) in these towns. There is a gap of around 53.5 million litre per day (MLD) to be treated for which PHED is proposing three STPs with a capacity of 54 MLD at Badhi Majra (10 MLD), Parwaloo (24 MLD) and Radaur Road (20 MLD). While, Radaur Road STP is proposed to be completed by the end of June, 2019 and remaining two STPs at Badhi Majra and Parwaloo are proposed to be completed by 30 September, 2018. Around 722 water polluting industries are established in the stretch covered by another two such drains (Main Drain No 2 and Drain No 6) with total length of around 62.18 mm and around 44.40 km respectively, mostly in Panipat and Sonipat. The PHED is proposing one STP at Gharaunda, which is expected to be completed by 31 March,2018 while two more STPs are proposed by the Haryana Shehari Vikas Prathikaran (HSVP), expected to be completed by 31 March, 2018 and 31 December, 2018. Similarly, for Leg I, Leg II and Leg III (Badshapur Drain) drains from Haryana outfalling into Najafgarh Drain, points of sewerage have been identified were identified as joining in Leg I since no sewerage system is existing in the area, The Urban Local Bodies (ULB) Department has planned one STP is likely to be completed by June 30, 2019. In Leg II too, 10 points of effluent discharge have been identified while the HSVP has agreed to construct a STP with a capacity of 175 MLD that is expected to be completed by June 2019. In Leg III, 17 stretch, most of which are large and medium units, which contribute around 72 MLD of treated effluent. Directions are being issued for installation online monitoring devices in all the large and medium water polluting units in the stretch. For the Buriya Nallah Drain, the ULB Department is proposing two STPs with a capacity of 50 MLD and 40 MLD at Badshapur, expected to be completed by the end of December 2019. Similarly, for Gaunchi Main Drain, nearly five STPs have been planned. Bahadurgarh, Beri, Gannaur, Gohana, Hodal, Jagadhari, Jhajjar, Kalanaur, Karnal, Kharkhoda, Ladwa, Palwal, Panipat, Rohtak, Samalkha, Sampla, Sohna, Sonipat, Yamunanagar, Hathin, Ferojepur-Jhirka, Nuh, Punhana and Taoru have been identified for laying of sewerage system by the PHED. The Yamuna flows through Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, before merging with the Ganges at Allahabad. It has been recognised as one of the most polluted rivers in India. While it is the use of chemical fertiliser and insecticides that has helped agriculture meet demands of rising populations, it is now proving the block to ensuring sufficient food in coming decades. An alternative is to switch to farming without the use of chemicals and relying on natural fertilisers and pest control. Measures like this, however, would call for more land, including land where fodder for livestock is grown, to be brought under cultivation of food grain. And organic farming may still fall short of the quantity of food grain required. Adrian Muller, Christian Schader, Nadia El-Hage Scialabba, Judith Bruggemann, Anne Isensee, Karl-Heinz Erb, Pete Smith, Peter Klocke, Florian Leiber, Matthias Stolze and Urs Niggli, from institutes of research in agriculture, ecology and environment in Switzerland, Austria, Aber-deen and Potsdam, and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations in Rome report in the journal, Nature Communications, a comprehensive study of the economy of implementing rising levels of organic farming. While going organic is the way to escape chemical poisoning that conventional farming involves, the paper proposes a strategy to make the organic route practical. In 1798, Thomas Malthus said that the growth of population was so fast that food production would not keep up with the demand for food. The prediction of food scarcity did not come about, however, because synthetic fertilisers, insecticides and irrigation helped multiply agricultural produce. The worlds production of rice and wheat grew ten-fold since 1800 and by a factor of 2.5 since 1950. And the growth of world population, from 1 billion in 1800, to the present 7.6 billion, has been slower than what Malthus feared. But population is expected to rise to 9.6 billion by 2050, and with consumption of food having risen faster than production, whether there would be enough food in the coming decades is still in question. The problem is that al-though the land under crops has increased, the real driver of high production has been the greater output possible with synthetic fertilisers. In traditional farming, plants convert the suns energy into food, but only with the help of trace but essential traces, of phosphates, active nitrogen and some others. These agents enable plants to grow naturally in soil through breakdown of organic matter or from the plentiful, inactive nitrogen in the atmosphere by the action of microbes or energetic events like lightning. As agriculture depletes the soil, these nutrients need to be replenished. This can be done by leaving the land fallow, to regenerate, or by alternating crops or adding manure. Manure, by composting organic matter or the excreta of animals, is rich in active nitrogen and has been a traditional fertiliser. A far richer source of active nitrogen, however, is in the form of chemicals like ammonium phosphate, urea or superphosphate. The content of plant nutrients in these compounds can be 30 per cent by weight, against only 4 per cent in the case of natural fertilisers. Manufacture of chemical fertiliser became a major industry in the early 20th century and agricultural production rocketed. With the use of fertilisers rose large farms of one sole crop. This prevented natural pest control by a mix of species gro-wing together and created the industry of chemical insecticides. It was only later in that the spotlight turn-ed on the damage done by chemicals in the soil, apart from the coal burned to power factories. The downside of chemical fertilisers is that they are toxic if not used with plenty of water. And then the run-off water carries excess chemicals to poison ponds, waterways or fresh water sources. The high rate of production also creates imbalance in soil nutrients, calling for a cycle of additives. The Stockholm Resilience Centre has placed biochemical poisoning as one of the nine boundaries of pollution, which the Earth should not cross, and a boundary that active nitrogen discharge has crossed. The general solutions that are considered are switching to organic farming, releasing land from cultivation of fodder for livestock and avoiding waste or loss of food, which the FAO has found to be 30 to 40 per cent. With urban settlements pressing for expansion and encroachments of forests, finding land for agriculture is a challenge. Change in land use, in fact, is another of the nine planetary boundaries identified by the Stockholm Centre. Studies in the field, however, the Nature Communications paper says, have not followed a de-tailed food systems app-roach that acc-ounts for the interplay of the three strategies along the way to assuring a certain calorie intake for the world population. Nor, the paper says, have they captured the main agronomic characteristics of organic agriculture in a systematic way. The current study steps in with a software model, which is able to remedy this shortfall by considering the different factors involved in a mix of strategies and evaluating the land use needed to assure sufficient food calories, at different levels of organic farming. The model hence simulates changes in each of the different factors, to picture what happens in different conditions. The first result is a formal assessment of the land use involved if we were to shift to degrees of organic farming from 20 to 100 per cent. Against the present (2005-2009) land use, at 1.5 billion hectares, the projection for 2050, with no changes in the manner of farming is an increase to 1.7, 2.0 and 2.3 billion hectares depending on climate change with low, medium or high impact. And then, for higher levels of organic farming, the land use rises to 2.75 billion hectares with 100 organic farming and high climate impact. The simulation examined how land use was affected by levels of saving land for livestock fodder for agriculture and by steps to contain waste or loss. The results are displayed in the figure. Under conditions of zero per cent, 25 per cent and 50 per cent waste reduction, and then zero per cent, 50 per cent and 100 per cent reduction of land used for fodder, the percentage change in land required for crops are shown, under different levels of organic farming, according to less and greater impact of climate change. The boxes with negative figures represent conditions where the land use is less than the reference level. We can see that even 100 per cent organic farming becomes feasible under conditions of medium impact of climate change, 50 per cent reduction of waste and 100 per cent reduction of use for fodder. As greater organic farming implies improvement first in pollution by active nitrogen and then of the consumption of power and water, this study allows planning for the level of organic farming that is feasible or desirable, while considering the extent of limiting waste or reducing competing demands for use of land. The separate targets, organic yield and production, reducing animal numbers and consumption of animal products and then waste and loss, could hence be implemented in part and in combination, in place of being maximised in isolation, the study says, to help increase the sustainability of the global food system. The writer can be contacted at [email protected] For Karl Marx, the media was the most general way for individuals to communicate their intellectual being. It knows no reputation of a person, but only the reputation of intelligence. He was of the view that a revolutionary movement must partake in public life and educate the proletariat and that it is necessary to protect free speech, as newspapers are the primary instruments of public communication. Therefore, many new nations built either by revolution, partition or voluntary grants of dominion, in their written constitutions defined the scope of the governments power and guaranteed rights of citizens who had but recently been subjects with little voice in their own affairs. Some observers have viewed sceptically the repeated constitutional enunciation of democratic freedoms including freedom of media. The sceptics have doubted whether concepts deep-rooted in the experiences of Britain or the United States, for example, could effectively be transported to lands where different traditions and values had long prevailed. In our case the scepticism was more deep-seated because of unpleasant British Rule. Many repressive laws were decreed by the alien government to throttle the liberty of the Press. Act XV of 1857, Act XXV 1867, The Press and Books Registration Act, 1867, The Vernacular Press Act (The Gagging Act), The Newspapers (Incitement of Offences) Act, 1908, Indian Press Act, 1910, The Indian Press (Emergency Powers) Act 1931, Foreign Relations Act 1932, The Press (Special Powers) Act, 1947 are just a few. In addition, the Indian Penal Code also contained several legal provisions which could be used to limit the freedom of media. To some extent, the very existence of a free India pivoted upon the validity of this scepticism that in at least one of the new nations, the soil was well prepared to nourish the basic freedom, the freedom to express difference of opinion and freedom of media. With independence, the people of India fantasised about breathing freely and by the Constitution which they gave to themselves brushed aside all vestiges of subordination which the tyranny of the alien rulers had imposed upon them and declared all laws inconsistent with the fundamental rights to be void as if they had never been passed and had never existed. However, within hardly a year or so the constitutional dream was diluted with the First amendment of the Constitution that equipped the government with wider powers to stifle liberty by incorporating the phrase public Order and the Press Objectionable Matters Act, 1951, like those passed during 1910 and 1931. This Act after much hostility was allowed to lapse and Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru had to announce the appointment of a Press Commission which resulted in the Press Council Act, 1965. Mrs. Gandhis period saw the strident confrontation between the Government and the press. Central Censorship orders were passed under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act 1971. The Defence of India Act 1971 and other Acts came into force during this period. The Press Council (Repeal) Act 1976 repealed the Press Council Act and abolished the Press Council. The Parliamentary Proceeding (Protection of Publication) Act, 1976 was too repealed to curb the freedom of press. Some curative measures were taken by the ensuing government but the executive under the existing laws is still adequately equipped to restrain the liberty of press. The recent pandemonium on exhibition of the movie Padmavati, a famous character who appeared in Malik Muhammad Jayasis 1540 AD poem Padmavat, is an unconcealed specimen of the fact that Indian soil is not yet prepared to nurture the freedom of speech. The film is facing massive protests from fringe groups like Rajput Karni Sena. The Sena and its ideological vanguards in January (2017) destroyed the film sets, assaulted Bhansali and forced him to shift the venue. They are now publicly and bizarrely showing the courage to issue death threats to producer and actors of the film. It has blocked the historic Chittorgarh Fort for tourists and called for Bharat Bandh on 1 December 2017. Instead of taking stern action against these fringe elements, government of Rajasthan and some other States are obliquely encouraging them to do more mischief. If these state leaders are using this strategy for possible electoral gains now or in the future, they must realise that such actions go against the spirit of the Constitution and dilute the recent Supreme Court verdict in Abhiram Singh v. C. D. Commachen (2017) which affirmed that polarising voters in the name of religion, caste or community amounts to a corrupt practice. Any alleged distortion of historical facts must be dealt with in accordance with the procedure established by law. The Indian Cinematograph Act, 1952 and the Cinematograph (Certification) Rules 1983 empower the Central Board of Film Certification the Censor Board a regulatory body under the Act, to grant permission to exhibit the film with conditions, without conditions or refuse permission as it thinks appropriate. To bring objectivity in its decision and to study the impact of film on the public, it is mandated that Board may hold seminar of film critics, writers, historians, community leaders and persons engaged in the film industry. Central government is also vested with revision powers under the Act to deal with any exigencies. Failing all, we have our constitutional courts which have upheld freedom of speech as an uninhibited marketplace of ideas in which truth will ultimately prevail, rather than to countenance monopolisation of that market whether by the Government itself or a private licensee. People have the right to protest but by constitutional means. The government is bound to ensure that rule of law would reign in all circumstances and at any cost. The subsistence of private armies /sena/vigilantes is frightening and must be outlawed. The writer is Associate Professor of Law, National Law University, Odisha At the very outset, let me begin by first pointing out that it is strictly ensured in all 26 districts of West UP every Saturday that no lawyer does any work in protest against the Centre not setting up even a single bench of the High Court in any of these districts even though the Justice Jaswant Singh Commission headed by a former Supreme Court judge and appointed by former PM Indira Gandhi had recommended the setting up of three benches at Dehradun, Nainital and Agra. More intriguingly, on its recommendations benches were set up at Aurangabad as also at Jalpaiguri in West Bengal and Madurai in Tamil Nadu. To protest this third-class treatment meted out to West UP, it was decided to observe a strike every Saturday henceforth! This has been happening regularly since May 1981. It has been more than 36 years and even now it is very strictly enforced by the office bearers of every Bar in West UP. No lawyer undertakes any work on this day. The day after, that is November 25 is again Saturday and so lawyers of West UP will once again be on strike. They will not work; just chant slogans demanding creation of a high court bench in West UP. Interestingly enough, most of the lawyers voluntarily join the protest strikes. They say it is most shocking that the region with a population of more than 90 million and so many districts has not been considered fit enough to be given a bench and even recommendations of the Justice Jaswant Commission have been disregarded. The lawyers say they are determined that this shall continue till a high court bench is set up in West UP. Not just this, many times in last few years it has been noticed that lawyers even announce a strike on Wednesdays even though it is not as strictly enforced as the one on Saturday. To put things in perspective, it was way back in 2001 that the lawyers of West UP went on strike demanding a high court bench. The strike lasted for more than six months and was called off after the Centre assured that the demand would be considered in seriousness. Yet nothing happened. Only the striking lawyers of West UP know how they stayed hungry with no work agitating wholeheartedly for a high court bench and got nothing. Former UP CM Dr Sampoornanand had recommended a high court bench at Meerut in 1955 but the Centre refused. Another former CM Mayawati had even recommended West UP to be created as a separate state to be named Harit Pradesh but again nothing happened. Former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee had himself raised the demand of setting up a high court bench in West UP in Parliament way back in 1986. But as PM he could not do much because he was not in full majority. But what about the present PM Narendra Modi? He currently enjoys a brute majority. BJP President Amit Shah had himself assured lawyers of West UP more than a year back that a high court bench would be soon set up. Even Rajnath Singh who is Union home Minister had given similar categorical assurances but to no avail. Just recently Dr Satyapal Singh who has been made Union Minister said that high court benches must be set up at Meerut, Agra and Gorakhpur. Apart from him there are many other Union Ministers who have time and again raised their voice in support of the age old demand for a high court bench in West UP. Let me be direct in asking: Why does the Allahabad High Court which last year completed 150 years of existence and which is Asias biggest court have just one bench and that too just 200 km away at Lucknow created way back in 1948? Why is it even as 2018 is about to start that we have no bench either in West UP or in Bundelkhand or at Gorakhpur from where CM Yogi Adityanath hails? As a Member of Parliament, he had himself demanded a bench in 1998. Why is it that many other state capitals like Bhopal (MP), Bhubaneshwar (Odisha), Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) and Dehradun (Uttarakhand) and others have neither high court nor bench but Lucknow was chosen for a bench despite being so close to Allahabad and that too way back in 1948? Why did deserving areas such as West UP, Bundelkhand and Gorakhpur not get a bench despite people having to sometimes travel more than 1,000 km for justice? Why did states like Karnataka, Maharashtra, Assam etc which stand nowhere in terms of number of pending cases and crime as compared to UP have up to three high court benches apart from the main court? Simply put, it is West UP where maximum riots, maximum killings, maximum crime takes place. Yet it has no bench as both the high court at Allahabad and a single bench at Lucknow are both in Eastern UP. Eight other High Courts, and paradoxically even the Lahore High Court are closer to parts of West UP than Allahabad. It is poor people who face the problem of travelling without reservation for a full night, staying in Allahabad and engaging lawyers just because of the stepmotherly treatment meted out to West UP. In 2014-15 the lawyers of West UP went on strike for 3-4 months demanding a high court bench. They boycotted Lok Adalats and demonstrated outside courts throughout the night. But to no avail. Why this raw discrimination? It is to protest this that lawyers of West UP keep holding meetings, demonstrations, protests, padyatras and brave lathi-charges as happened on October 14. But still the Centre wont budge. For just four and eight districts of Karnataka at Dharwad and Gulbarga respectively, two high court benches were approved in 2012 with one being already there at Hubli. Karnataka has not more than 2 lakh pending cases and has three benches but UP which has more than 10 lakh pending cases, more than half of them in West UP, does not get this facility. Former UN Secretary General Ban ki Moon had slammed UP as rape and crime capital of India but the state has the least high court benches. Truth be told, the population of West UP is more than that of all states other than the one of which it is a part. The area of West UP is larger than that of Bihar. Let me also be direct in asking: How long will lawyers of West UP keep striking every Saturday? How long will lawyers of West UP keep holding meetings, calling for West UP Bandh, holding protests on national highways, blocking rail routes, roads etc just to highlight their age old demand of setting up a high court bench in West UP? How long will woman keep getting gang-raped as happened just recently in Muzaffarnagar in West UP and keep going to Allahabad for justice? The writer is a Meerut-based advocate. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday announced Rs two lakh compensation and jobs to kin of each person killed during the Gorkhaland agitation. All parties raised the compensation issue for the dead agitators who have no criminal cases against them. The kin of each of the dead will be given Rs two lakh and seriously injured Rs 50,000. One member of each bereaved family will be provided job, Banerjee told reporters after the fourth round of an all-party meetings in Pintel village in Darjeeling. Normal life was paralysed in the hills in Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts due to an indefinite shutdown called by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha since June 12 on the statehood demand. A number of clashes took place between the agitators and the security forces. The Chief Minister said teachers of school and colleges would also receive their salaries for the months the agitation took place but they will have to work during holidays to complete the syllabi. Special arrangement was proposed for other government employees so that they would get two-month salaries, out of three months, Banerjee said. These arrangements were decided on consensus, she said. Hailing the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration members and people of Darjeeling for restoring peace in the region, she said: Peace has returned to Darjeeling. I thank all parties and the GTA as far as development is concerned, there will be no compromise as much as we can do we will work towards it. In a major boost for the Congress ahead of the crucial Gujarat polls, PAAS leader Hardik Patel on Wednesday announced his support to the party after it agreed to give reservation to Patels. In a press conference in Ahmedabad, the firebrand Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) leader said Congress has agreed to give Patidars reservations under section 31 and provisions of section 46. Congress has accepted our demand and have agreed to give Patidars reservation under section 31 and provisions of section 46 Congress will bring in a bill when they come in power in, Patel said. Clarifying that he wasnt joining the Congress, Patel said the PAAS would ensure the defeat of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which has victimised the Patidar community in the state. I didnt ask for ticket from congress and I am not joining the party. We are not openly extending support to Congress, but we will fight BJP. So directly or indirectly, there will be support to Congress, he said. Hardik Patel was supposed to announce the support to Congress earlier but after differences cropped up between PAAS and the Congress over seat sharing in Botad assembly constituency, the announcement was postponed. It was only after the Congress accommodated as many as five of the 89 candidates in the first phase of polls that Hardik Patel decided to back Congress. The PAAS has been agitating against the government for more than two years over the issue of reservation for the Patidar community and has pledged to oppose the ruling BJP in the coming state assembly elections in December. The first phase of Gujarat Assembly elections for 89 seats will be held on December 9 and for the remaining 93 on December 14. The results will be announced along with that of Himachal Pradesh assembly on December 18. In a major shot in the arm for the defence forces, India on Wednesday successfully test fired the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from a Sukhoi-30MKI fighter jet, officials said. According to reports, the fighter jet took off from an air force base in West Bengal and fired the missile against a target over the Bay of Bengal. The air force version of 8.4-meter BrahMos missile, fastest in the world, has a strike range of 290 km and carries a conventional warhead up to 300 kg. BrahMos Aerospace, the joint venture between India and Russia, plans to conduct two tests from the Su-30 MKI. The Indian Army had in May successfully test-fired the advanced BrahMos Block III land attack cruise missile in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The supersonic cruise missile can be launched from submarine, ships, aircraft, or land. BrahMos Block-III is a joint Russian-Indian project, which is based on Russian P-800 Oniks missile. Block III had advanced guidance and upgraded software, incorporating high manoeuvres at multiple points and steep dive from high altitude. It is jointly developed by Indias DRDO and Russias NPOM. The land attack version of the missile has been operationalised in the Indian Army since 2007. The missile had a range of 290 km initially, which was increased to 450 km this year after India became a member of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). The fire-and-forget BrahMos has the capability to take on surface-based targets by flying a combined hi-lo trajectory, thus evading enemy air defence systems. Inclusion of the powerful weapon system in the Indian Army has given it a distinct operational advantage to knock down any enemy target even in the most difficult and hidden terrains. The missile has a Mach 2.8 speed. There is a big number of Muslims being associated with the BJP this time in Gujarat, whereas the community kept aloof after 2002 communal disturbances. But things seem to be changing for the Muslim Community as a lot of people from all over the state are now joining the BJP and public functions are held by BJP MLAs and other party members in Ahmedabad and Surat where scores of people are embracing saffron outfit in a hope that vikas will be delivered to them. Nearly 500 Muslim men and women joined BJP in a function organized by Jamalpur-Khadia MLA Bhushan Bhatt in Danilimda, Ahmedabad and communally sensitive Limbayat, near Surat where people were seen campaigning in skull caps and saffron scarves. This clearly shows that BJPs seriousness in its approach towards the minority votes is working and probably attracting young Muslims to join the party, they have kept distance with, till now. Most of those who joined the BJP seemed happy with the kind of development work that is going on in their area under the BJP government. Earlier people in the community even struggled to earn one lakh rupees per year are now earning much higher and the family incomes have substantially gone up. With this recent wave of people joining the party, it is boosting PM Modis motto of Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas, in his own home turf. They even are trying to woo Muslim voters through Rashtriya Muslim Manch (RMM) an arm of the RSS and an assortment of nearly 50 Muslim clergies are expected to arrive in Gujarat from the various BJP-ruled States in the run-up to the Gujarat polls to boost confidence among the voters. The drawing of Muslims towards BJP this time round could also be due to the successful verdict of the Supreme Court against Triple Talaq, a form of separation against which Muslim women have been campaigning since years. Now that the Supreme Court has termed it unconstitutional there is a chance that the BJP may attract a large number of Muslim women votes. Though the positive shift in how Muslims view of BJP is quite apparent, the party has not fielded a Muslim candidate in the state for many years. The coming elections also have no representation of the community in ticket allocation and not a single seat has a Muslim candidate from BJP. However, the long divide is slowly healing up and it would be interesting to see if the Muslim community will again embrace the party they have kept distance for since years. During Tuesdays Legislative session, District 15 Senator Lynne Walz of Fremont called for an investigative committee to examine the conditions and practices of State-licensed facilities that continue to operate with a history of continued and repeated violations. Her request stems from the death of a veteran that died Sept. 3 at Life Quest in Palmer, Neb. The deceased resident, who suffered from multiple health problems including mental illness developed uncontrolled vomiting and diarrhea during the last three days before her death, released information from Walz office says. The Department of Health and Human Services completed an inspection and issued an 80-page report during the month prior to the womans death; however, no action was taken to correct the violations or shut down the center until Oct. 5. Life Quest was shut down officially on October 20 after no appeal was filed. I feel like this is a death that could have and should have been prevented, Walz said through a released statement. These violations posed an immediate danger to the residents of Life Quest. Yet, there was no action until a tragedy happens. We need to take care of our most vulnerable citizens. I plan to introduce a legislative resolution to create an investigative committee to not only look at this case, but to examine why our State continues to rely on assisted living facilities and mental health centers that segregate, congregate, and unfortunately warehouse people with mental illness. Instead, we need to pursue strategies and practices that support best practices in the field. This includes providing supportive housing and the services people need to live as independently as possible in the community. The veteran who died at Life Quest in Palmer told workers at the facility she needed assistance and was denied the opportunity. They basically wanted her to wait for her VA (veteran affairs) meeting the following week, said Brandon Bayer, Sen. Walz legislative assistant during a Tuesday interview with the Tribune. Before that happened though she fell off of the bed and was found deceased. We have been working with quite a few groups to address services provided to people with disabilities, and its something weve been watching closely. After talking with those groups we believe this is something that needs to happen. During the last four years, three state-licensed facilities have closed their doors because of neglect, abuse and mismanagement, released information says. This is happening across Nebraska, many of which are last resorts for families in rural and urban areas, Walz said. This investigation will identify the problems and provide oversight to ensure the department makes the necessary changes and to make certain we are in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday expressed concern over large number of grievances of consumers and called for improvement in administrative arrangements to benefit them, an official release said. Modi, who chaired his twenty-third interaction through PRAGATI the ICT-based, multi-modal platform for Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation reviewed the progress towards handling and resolution of grievances related to consumers. The Prime Minister was briefed on the action taken to ensure speedy and effective disposal of consumer grievances. Expressing concern over the large number of grievances, the Prime Minister emphasised on the need for improvement in the administrative arrangements, so that consumers can be benefited, the release said. The Prime Minister also reviewed progress in implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Khanij Kshetra Kalyan Yojana (PMKKKY). He said that funds accruing to the District Mineral Foundations (DMFs) should be utilised to eliminate major development deficits and this should be done in a focused way so as to achieve the greatest possible results by 2022, the 75th anniversary of Independence. The release said that Modi reviewed the progress of nine infrastructure projects in the railway, road, power, and renewable energy sectors in several states including Uttarakhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Nagaland, Assam, Maharashtra, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. These projects are cumulatively worth over Rs 30,000 crore. The release said the earlier 22 meetings of PRAGATI have seen a cumulative review of 200 projects with a total investment of Rs 9.31 lakh crore. Resolution of public grievances has also been reviewed in 17 sectors. PAAS leader Hardik Patel on Tuesday said Gujaratis were believed to be very clever but they have not been for last 22 years, adding that Patel agitation leaders had not sought tickets from any political party or wished to contest polls. Hardik Patels statement comes in the wake of an agreement by the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) with the Congress on reservations for the Patels. Speaking at a public rally at Tragad village near Dholka town, an hours drive from Ahmedabad, Hardik Patel again did not speak on extending direct support to the Congress in the December assembly elections that would have been music to Congress ears. Quiet for the last 48 hours, the PAAS leader was expected to announce support for the Congress after the party bowed to PAAS pressure and changed as many as five of the 89 candidates in the first phase of polls on December 9. Continuing his tirade against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah, he said: I am openly saying we are fighting against the BJP and will defeat it. People in India and across the globe wrongly believe that we Gujaratis are clever as we are a business community. But the fact is we are not the only thing left now is to write on our forehead I am not clever, Hardik Patel said. The 182 legislators are not at fault. Neither is the Chief Minister or the Prime Minister. It is us who elect such donkeys as leaders. Maintaining that he did not oppose Modi at a personal level, he lashed out at the Prime Minister. He will become a dictator. After 2019, he will ensure there are no elections. He (PM) said in Uttar Pradesh that he gives 24-hour electricity in Gujarat but never did. He has used us across the country he is wrong, wrong, and wrong. So, I fight him, the PAAS leader said On quotas, Hardik said he never opposed or sought benefits extended to scheduled castes or tribes or other backward classes. What we asked for is benefits similar to the OBC community, he added. We never asked any political party for contesting or for tickets for elections. Our main and sole aim is to get reservation for the Patel community. The Class 11 student of Ryan International School in Bhondsi, accused of murdering Class 2 student of Pradyuman Thakur of the same school, was sent to juvenile home for 14 days by the the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) on Wednesday. On 8 September, Class II student Pradyuman Thakur was found with his throat slit in a bathroom of Ryan International School. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) also moved an application before the board seeking fingerprints of the juvenile delinquent. The arguments on fingerprints will take place on November 29. On Tuesday, the Gurugram District Court granted bail to Ashok Kumar, the bus conductor who was initially accused of murdering Class 2 student of Ryan International School in Gurugrams Bhondsi area. In a separate judgement, Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday granted conditional anticipatory bail to the Pinto family, owners of Ryan International schools, in the Pradyuman murder case. Justice Surender Gupta directed the Pinto family to join investigations in the case. The court barred them from leaving the country without permission. In the previous hearing, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had opposed the bail pleas of Ryan owners Augustine and Grace Pinto and group CEO Ryan Pinto. On Tuesday, the CBI summoned a relative of bus conductor Ashok Kumar on Tuesday. Kumar was arrested by the Haryana Police for murdering Class II student, Pradyuman Thakur, of Ryan International school in Bhondsi area of Gurugram. Earlier, CBI had made prima facie assertions that Ryan Augustine Pinto, chief executive officer (CEO) of Ryan group of Institution, may be involved in the in abetment or in a conspiracy behind the murder of seven-year-old student Pradyuman. The CBI said in Punjab and Haryana Court on Saturday that Possibility of him ( Ryan Pinto ) being member of the conspiracy behind murder of master Pradyumn in the washroom of Ryan International school, Bhondi, Gurugram on September 8 and its abetment, destruction of the evidence by him cannot be ruled out. Damage and removal of evidence cannot be disregarded, said CBI. The Supreme Court issued notices to the Pintos and the CBI on October 13. The apex court later asked the Punjab and Haryana High Court to decide on the bail pleas of Pintos within 10 days, or November 16. (With agency inputs) Ashok Kumar, the bus conductor who was initially accused of murdering Class 2 student Pradyuman Thakur of Ryan International School in Gurugram, was released from the Bhondsi jail on Wednesday. The 35-year-old father of two was lodged in jail for two months. Additional District and Session Judge Rajni Yadav granted bail to Ashok on furnishing a Rs 50,000 bail bond. The bail bond surety was furnished by a neighbour who pledged his car, according to media reports. On 8 September, Class II student Pradyuman Thakur was found with his throat slit in a bathroom of Ryan International School. Earlier in the day, the Class 11 student of Ryan International School in Bhondsi, accused of murdering Class 2 student of Pradyuman Thakur of the same school, was sent to juvenile home for 14 days by the the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) on Wednesday. On Tuesday, the Gurugram District Court granted bail to Ashok Kumar, the bus conductor who was initially accused of murdering Class 2 student of Ryan International School in Gurugrams Bhondsi area. Additional District and Session Judge Rajni Yadav granted bail to Ashok on furnishing a Rs 50,000 bail bond. The Singapore Government has offered technical support to J&K Government for capacity building in three key areas of Skill Development, Riverfront Development and Water Management. This was revealed on Wednesday by the Minister for Finance, Haseeb Drabu on his return from 3-day official visit to Singapore. Drabu said during his visit, he held extensive deliberations with the Ministers, government officials and experts in Singapore on how best the expertise of that country could be utilized for capacity building in some critical areas in J&K. He said the three key areas identified for collaboration include Skill Development, Riverfront Development and Water Management for which the Singapore Government will be extending technical expertise to J&K. The Finance Minister said after follow-up discussions at the official level, Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) would be signed between the concerned authorities in Singapore and the J&K Government to kick-start the collaborative mechanism in the identified areas. He said the Singapore Government has already established a Skill Development Centre in Assam and has also signed an MoU with Odisha Government in this regard. A similar collaboration between J&K Government and Singapore will certainly step up the quality of our skilled youth, Drabu said and added that as the J&K Government is in the process of developing human and social capital for enhancing the capabilities of its youth this partnership will go a long way in fulfilling this objective. He said similarly Singapore has made strides in Riverfront Development and Water Management under the countrys Waterfront Rejuvenation programme and replication of such a programme could help J&K in speedy restoration and revival of its waterfronts. Singapore as a separate Master Plan for Water-based Activities in the country and a similar concept could be implemented in J&K for rejuvenation of waterways and water resources, he said. The Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav, during his 79th birthday celebration event, on Wednesday said that Akhilesh is a son first and leader later and added that he had blessed his son Akhilesh Yadav, and would continue to do so. The father and son shared the dais at the party headquarters in Lucknow after nearly a year, as party workers gathered to wish the Mulayam Singh on his 79th birthday. Mulayam Sing Yadav was born on November 22, 1939, in Saifai village of the states Etawah district. SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav was greeted by party leaders, with Akhilesh touching his feet and welcoming him with a shawl. I have given my blessing to Akhilesh and will continue to do so. This is an issue of discussion in the country that I blessed Akhilesh. I want to say he is my son and is also in politics, Mulayam said. Mulayam also cut a cake on the occasion and offered the first slice to his son. Mulayam loyalist and Akhileshs uncle Shivpal Yadav did not attend the celebrations. He wished SP veteran leader on Twitter saying, best wishes to honourable Mulayam Singh on his birthday. But other supporters, including SP MLA Ashu Malik and Narad Rai, who joined the BSP during the Assembly polls, accompanied the patriarch. Mulayam talked about samajwad (socialism) and suggested party workers to read-up on Ram Manohar Lohia (Lohia was an activist for the Indian independence movement and a socialist political leader). He also held them responsible for the partys poor show in the Assembly elections, in which the party won only 47 of the 403 seats and also pulled up Akhilesh for giving party positions to those who cannot win (a seat) even at the level of their village polling booth. Akhilesh, who was unanimously re-elected the party president at the SP national convention in October, had claimed he had the blessings of his father, though Mulayam and his estranged uncle Shivpal Yadav had skipped the Agra event. Mulayam has not been on good terms with Akhilesh since his son ousted him from the post of the party national president in January. A birthday-bash was also held by family members and close friends at Mulayams residence in Lucknow on Tuesday night. (With agency inputs) Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy will submit a report to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on the killing of a journalist by a Tripura State Rifle (TSR) trooper on Tuesday. I am going to Delhi on Wednesday and would meet Home Minister Rajnath Singh to give a report on the killing of the journalist Sudip Datta Bhowmik by a TSR rifleman, Roy told the media before leaving for Delhi. He said: I would see the end of the killing. How a journalist was killed by a TSR personnel within the battalion headquarter complex? According to police, TSR Second Battalion Rifleman Nandu Kumar Reang on Tuesday, following an altercation, opened fire from his AK-47 assault rifle, killing Datta Bhowmik, 50, on the spot in Radha Kishore Nagar, 25 km from Agartala. Reang was the bodyguard of Second Battalion Commandant Tapan Debbarma. The slain journalist went to meet Debbarma at the battalion headquarters. Police arrested both the TSR trooper and commandant Debbarma. They would be presented in the court on Wednesday. The state government has handed over the case to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). Union Minister of State for Home Kiran Rijiju has also strongly condemned the killing of the journalist. Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, condemning the killing, has asked the Director General of Police to probe the incident. Bhowmik, who was a reporter with Syandan Patrika and television channel Vanguard, is survived by his wife, a government teacher, and two children. To protest the killing, both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress called a 12-hour and 24-hour statewide shutdown on Thursday respectively. Chief Minister Manik Sarkar should step down immediately, BJP state President Biplab Kumar Deb told the media demanding a judicial probe into the crime. Various journalists organisations in the northeast, including the Tripura Working Journalists Association, Tripura Journalists Union (TJU) and the Agartala Press Club, denounced the killing and demanded a high level probe into the incident. The TJU has also demanded the resignation of the Home Minister. The portfolio is held by the Chief Minister. On September 20, a television journalist, Santanu Bhowmik, 28, was killed allegedly by some activists of a party in Mandai, 35 km from here. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them, said the Bard. Experts in the field of international politics would perhaps disagree and affirm that nations acquire greatness, be it economic strength, political prominence or strategic domination, only through a painstaking process of building up its power base, though favourable natural condition or geographic location are contributing factors. Repeated use of the concept of Indo-Pacific, preceding and during the visit of President Trump to five Asian countries, China, Japan, Vietnam, South Korea and Philippines recently and its spirited defence by White House officials, who proclaimed that use of the term Indo-Pacific instead of the more frequently used Asia-Pacific is an explicit acknowledgement of Indias growing preponderance in the region. The claim begs the obvious question ~ Has India really arrived on the theatre of geo-politics of the Asia-Pacific in such a big way? Ever since the 1990s, there has been a steady shift in the foundational aspect of Indias foreign policy objectives and interests. A vast range of variables, including Indias freedom from the compulsions of Cold War-related political grandstanding and the resultant sense of autonomy, participation in the liberalization-globalization processes, rapid economic growth yielding a new sense of power and heightened aspirations, all brought about an urge to explore the possibility of having new partners in the external sphere. The Look-East policy adopted at that time as well as the propagation of extended neighbourhood concept was suggestive of Indias desire to redefine the behavioural and geographical contours of regional engagement. It carried an unmistakable message that India no longer viewed its destiny to be tied only to South Asia and that it was aiming high. As Prime Minister, Narasimha Rao had explicitly conveyed this message very early in 1994. He said: The Asia-Pacific could be the springboard for our leap into the global market place . The countrys growing engagement with the ASEAN bloc and other East Asian countries has continued through the successive governments. Ever since the summer of 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pursued an ambitious foreign policy vis-a-vis not only the immediate neighbourhood of South Asia but also, perhaps more significantly, the wider Asia-Pacific region as well. The Look-East policy has metamorphosed into Act East Policy with the objective of enhancing the countrys engagement with ASEAN and East Asia. Analysts believe that Modis assertiveness in the Asia-Pacific is indicative of growing confidence and ambitious re-evaluation of Indias self- perception about its role and importance in the affairs of the region. It signifies the arrival of India as a major player in the strategic chessboard of the region. Any attempt to contextualise the concept of Indo-Pacific must take into account this emerging scenario. The term Indo-Pacific has been increasingly in use in diplomatic and academic circles since 2010, and appears to have been first used by Gurpreet Khurana, an Indian naval officer, in his paper on India-Japan cooperation over oceanic security. Hillary Clinton is the first world leader to use the term in 2010 when in her capacity as the Secretary of State, she commented, We understand how important the Indo-Pacific basin is to global trade and commerce, she said. The stretch of sea from the Indian Ocean through to the Pacific contains the worlds most vibrant trade and energy roots linking economies and driving growth, and India straddling the waters from the Indian to the Pacific Ocean is, with us, a steward of these waterways. Since then, no American President used the term Indo-Pacific till President Trump recently avoided the expression Asia-Pacific and repeatedly mentioned their interest in the Indo-Pacific on the eve of the Presidents five-nation Asia tour. For analysts, the subtle nuances of this fascination for a new construct are quite engaging. The main theoretical reasoning behind a switchover from Asia-Pacific is that it is no longer correct to think about South Asia and East Asia separately. While Asia-Pacific conventionally focuses on the area from North Korea to the southern tip of China, Indo-Pacific includes countries on the Indian Ocean coastline, South-east Asia, and Australia, Indonesia, and New Zealand. At the heart of that area are two oceans ~ the Indian Ocean and the Pacific. Indo-Pacific blurs the division between these two stretches of water. By that token, the word Indo could mean more of Indian Ocean and less of India. As Chinas over-ambitious Belt and Road Initiative keeps pushing the limits of its sphere of influence to as far as Africa, Indo-Pacific may be viewed as a covert attempt to change the narrative of strategic prominence in the region by making China appear less important and giving a fillip to Indias position. President Trump and his team repeatedly articulated their objectives of promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific Region which carries with it both economic and strategic considerations. A US official explained that the President was making a long-term commitment to the region, based on the shared principles of rules, high standards, the economic system and reduction of chronic trade deficits. China must provide fair and reciprocal treatment, not just to the U.S. but to all countries in the region. Coupled with this is the appreciation for Prime Minister Modi and high expectations about the rise of India, whose democratic credentials have received profuse accolades. Mr. Modis arrival in Manila was preceded by the first meeting of the India-U.S.-Japan-Australia quadrilateral, a grouping first mooted in 2006 by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. It ended with statements on cooperation for a free, open, prosperous and inclusive Indo-Pacific region, a direct signal that it will counter Chinas actions in the South China Sea if necessary. Mr. Modis meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump saw a similar emphasis on cooperating in the Indo-Pacific, a term now widely adopted by the U.S. The Quad doesnt just pertain to maritime surveillance, it also aims at enhancing connectivity in accordance with the rule of law and prudent financing in the Indo-Pacific together, apparently, a US alternative to Chinas Belt and Road initiative. While all these augur well for Indias regional status, the hard reality is that with magnificent projection of power comes intense responsibilities to act on them, as has been acknowledged by Mr Modi himself. Indias Free Trade Agreement with ASEAN till now has had a limited impact; many connectivity projects are experiencing significant time-and-cost overruns; India has been hesitant to throw its weight around in the cauldron of the South China Sea dispute. In 2016, the navies of India and the ASEAN countries had conducted joint maritime exercises in South China Sea, in an apparent show of strength and solidarity. In foreign policy, the Prime Minister has abjured his robust attitude that is so very manifest in his domestic dealings and rightly so. Despite winning the war of nerves in Doklam, Mr Modi should be cautious and wary of Chinas enormous economic and military clout as well as its soaring ambition, which was vehemently articulated at the recent 19th Congress of the Communist Party of China. India should rather walk the tight rope of balancing China strategically while engaging with it economically in several important fora, such as BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. India also needs to follow up on the initiatives it has taken in the region, for example by deepening relations with the small Pacific Island nations. It should take forward the agenda of the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) by providing economic and technical assistance to these countries in combating non-traditional security threats like climate change and soft-pedalling the supremacy of its democratic set-up vis-a-vis China which can buttress its regional stature. Given Chinas wary reaction to Quad with the comment that regional cooperation groupings should avoid politicising or excluding countries, India should downplay any attempt to project the grouping as a front to counter Chinese influence. Our own house needs to be kept in order, pluralist democratic ethos jealously guarded and the process of slowing down of the economy in the wake of demonetisation reverted. India can truly aspire to become the rule-maker from rule-taker in the complex security matrix of the Indo-Pacific. As critical as the fresh cache of sanctions against the regime of Kim Jong-un has been its timing ~ exactly 24 hours after Donald Trump restored North Korea on the list of state sponsors of terrorism. It bears recall that in 2008, President Bush had removed the rogue nation from the list. North Korea is now one of only four countries with that label; an isolated country has joined the fearsome league of Iran, Sudan and Syria. Over the past decade, the North has consistently buttressed its nuclear ambition and with ever-increasing ferocity. And it must be open to question whether Tuesdays sanctions will compel Mr Kim to disband his nuclear programme, let alone bring his regime to its knees. Comparisons with Myanmar and Iran would suggest that sanctions can never quite address the core issue, whether it is a repressive junta as in Naypidaw or nuclear proliferation as in Tehran. Unlike Iran, however, the North will not readily negotiate with the US as did Hasan Rouhani in Barack Obamas time. The White House reprisal is intrinsically economic, indeed to ratchet up the pressure and isolate Pyongyang from its external sources of trade and revenue. The action targets one individual, 13 companies and 20 vessels that are engaged in trade worth hundreds of millions of dollars with North Korea. The reprisal is, therefore, fairly sweeping in its scope and is bound to have a severe impact on maritime trade and the operations of the Norths corporate sector. Several persons, who have been targeted in the announcement, are associated with the North Korean transportation industry or import or export goods to the country. Pyongyang is known to follow what they call deceptive shipping practices, notably ship-to-ship transfers, according to the Treasury Department which has announced the sanctions. President Trump has followed the praxis of exerting maximum pressure on North Korea to isolate the regime. The announcement that the hermit kingdom will once again be placed on the list of state sponsors of terrorism is intended to emit a signal to foreign countries ~ to stop doing business with North Korea. The decision to restore North Korea back to the list was ultimately a message to the regime about the US resolve to disrupt and dissuade certain countries from doing business with Pyongyang. There is thus bound to be a shift in the pattern of international trade. The booster dose of sanctions, that are said to be on the anvil, will bring such economic curbs against the North to the highest level ever. The latest economic offensive follows Trumps executive order, signed in September, saying that the White House will penalise any company or person doing business with North Korea by either cutting off their access to the US financial system or freezing their assets. When the history of the early 21st century is written, it will record that a significant turning point was reached with the election this week of Indias Justice Dalveer Bhandari to the International Court of Justice at the Hague, after the withdrawal of the United Kingdoms candidate, Sir Christopher Greenwood from the race. For the battle was not so much between two individuals or two judicial philosophies ~ the odds are that the two judges would have seen more reason to agree than to differ while serving on the prestigious bench ~ but between the old post World War II order and the emerging dynamics of world power. Well might London bemoan the absence of a British judge for the first time in the history of the Court, but the fact is that the writing on the wall of world events had emerged last June when the UN General Assembly by a 94-15 vote referred to the ICJ a Mauritius-backed resolution that questioned the legal status of the UKs hold over the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean. If that didnt make things clear enough, the repeated rebuffs to Sir Christophers candidature by the General Assembly ought to have made it clear that an overwhelming majority of the worlds nations were not enamoured by a claim that sought commitment to the old way of doing things. Sir Christophers case was resuscitated on each occasion by the 15-member Security Council ~ whose voting is secret ~ until the desperate embrace of a lost cause was abandoned because the UK thought it was wrong to continue to take up the valuable time of the Security Council and the UN General Assembly. The UN from its inception has clung to the outdated notion of some countries ~ Britain among them ~ being more equal than others. The will of the world as reflected in Justice Bhandaris election underscores the fact that the body will further lose its relevance if it does not undertake significant institutional reforms, especially of the Security Council. India has much to be happy about, but also some cause for reflection. The huge diplomatic offensive mounted by the Prime Minister, the External Affairs ministry and Indian diplomats has yielded the desired dividend. While Mr Narendra Modi has been gracious in crediting Mrs Sushma Swaraj and her team for the triumph, it must be acknowledged that it was his substantial presence on the world stage that swung things in Indias favour. But the cause for reflection must arise from the vote in the Security Council, where the Indian candidate was defeated 9-6. Besides the five permanent members ~ USA, UK, France, the Russian Federation and China ~ the Council comprises Bolivia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Senegal, Sweden, Ukraine and Uruguay. Within this group are some old and some new friends of India. While the positions of some of these nations are predictable for geostrategic reasons and of others as defenders of the old order, India would do well to reflect on who voted how and why. Chinese telecom giant Huaweis sub-brand Honor on Wednesday announced that its smartphone Honor 8 Lite, 64GB variant, is now available at Rs. 15,999. The smartphone was launched earlier this year in May at Rs. 17,999. Featuring Kirin 655 octa-core chipset backed by a 4GB RAM+64GB ROM, the 5.2-inch full-HD display device runs on EMUI 5.0 on top of Android Nougat. It is also equipped with 2.5D water droplet glass design. The smartphone has 12MP rear camera and a 8MP front camera with a 77-degree wide angle lens, coupled with an upgraded and highly-intuitive selfie mode. Here are all the specifications. Honor 8 Lite full specifications 5.2-inch full-HD (1080 x 1920 pixels) 2.5D curved glass display Huawei HiSilicon Kirin 655 SoC 4GB LPDDR3 RAM, 64GB storage, expandable up to 128GB 12MP rear camera with LED flash, 8MP front-facing camera, 77 degree wide-angle lens 3000mAh battery The Honor 8 Lite is currently available in black and blue colours. (Written with inputs from IANS) A special Bangladeshi tribunal today sentenced to death six hardline Islamists, including a former lawmaker, for committing crimes against humanity and siding with the Pakistani troops in carrying out the genocide in 1971. A three-judge panel of Bangladeshs International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-BD) handed down the capital punishment to the six members of the Jamaat-e-Islami saying, the charges against them were proved beyond doubt. They have convicted accordingly and sentenced there under to death under section 20(2) of the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act, 1973, pronounced chair of the panel Justice Shahinur Islam. The verdict came as Bangladesh nearly completed the long-delayed trial of 1971 war crimes since the high-powered tribunal was established in 2010. The tribunal is charged with the task to try persons responsible for committing genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and other crimes under international law committed during the countrys 1971 Liberation War. The six men sentenced to death hail from northwestern Gaibandha and belong to fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami, the party which was opposed to Bangladeshs 1971 independence and joined hands with Pakistani troops in carrying out the genocide. But only one of the six convicts faced the trial in person while the rest, including former Jamaat lawmaker Abu Saleh Mohammad Abdul Aziz Mia, was tried in absentia as they were on the run. Under a special law, the convicts, however, could challenge the judgement before the apex Appellate Division of the Supreme Court. Bangladesh has so far executed six 1971 war crimes convicts, five of them Jamaat leaders and one Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader, the main Opposition since the trial process began in 2010. Montreal, CA (H4T1V6) Today Mostly cloudy skies. A few flurries or snow showers possible. Low 27F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Mostly cloudy skies. A few flurries or snow showers possible. Low 27F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. remaining of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. Job Title: Driver Organisation: Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Uganda Duty Station: Kampala, Uganda Salary: 350 USD (Negotiable) About Us: The Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Uganda is the diplomatic mission of the Republic Of Korea. Experience: Qualifications, Skills andExperience: The ideal candidate for the Korean Embassy Driver job must hold a University degree Ability to perform driving duties but also administrative work is desired. Good computer skills How to Apply: All suitably qualified and interested candidates who wish to join the embassy are encouraged to send an Application letter, updated CV, copy of Driving Permit to the Embassy, Plot 14 Ternan Avenue, Nakasero, Kampala. Uganda th November 2017 Deadline: 24November 2017 For more of the latest jobs, please visit https://www.theugandanjobline.com or find us on our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/UgandanJobline Organisation: Makerere University Walter Reed Project (MUWRP) Duty Station: Kampala, Uganda Reports to: Laboratory Supervisor About US: The Makerere University Walter Reed Project (MUWRP) is a non-profit HIV research program that was established in 2002 as a result of a memorandum of understanding between Makerere University and The Henry M. Jackson foundation for Advancement of Military Medicine Inc. of USA (HJF). The primary purpose of MUWRP is to develop, evaluate and provide interventions to mitigate disease threats of public health importance to Uganda. Job Summary: The Research Associate will maintain proficiency in current laboratory procedures in flow lab and be responsible for operation of the flow laboratory in accordance with CAP standard and implementation of the MUWRP lab QMS policy. The incumbent is responsible for regular preventive maintenance of the FACS Calibur and FACS CANTO. The incumbent is expected to work closely with the flow consultant and BD engineers to ensure maximum operation efficiency of these equipment. The incumbent should be competent to perform general laboratory QA/QC, specimen accessioning, immunophenotyping, ICS assays, PBMC processing and thawing, and diagnostic assays. Additionally, the incumbent is expected to perform laboratory safety duties and learn new research techniques as they are introduced in the laboratory. The incumbent may be required to assist and support senior staff in teaching new technologists/technicians and volunteer students in laboratory practices. Furthermore, the incumbent is expected to prepare abstract/ articles for presentation/publication at national and/international meetings/ peer review journals. The incumbent may be required to perform their duties away from the main MUWRP lab in Kampala. MUWRP may have sites within Uganda which Research Associate may be required to work such as but not limited to Bundibugyo, Fort Portal, Masaka, Gulu and Kayunga. The incumbent is required to train and/or assess competencies of staff, students and volunteers in specimen processing and diagnostic testing within the laboratory. Key Duties and Responsibilities: Work in close coordination with the HOS maintains all standard operating procedures. Perform assay and equipment validations of all new testing procedures as they are introduced in the laboratory. Ensure smooth operation of the section by updating and following up on reagent and supplies inventories on a monthly basis The incumbent will support and be involved with organizing section meetings, GLP, scheduling and maintaining the laboratory to CAP/DAIDS/PPD compliance Proficiently perform Immunophenotyping, ICS assays, PBMC thawing and become proficient enough to conduct the assay without daily oversight. Proficiently perform diagnostic assays including but not limited to HIV, Hepatitis B and C, syphilis, and Herpes Simplex. Proficiently perform specimen accessioning and PBMC, Plasma and serum processing per SOP and in a training capacity when needed. Cell processing includes isolation of PBMCs and counting, in addition to freezing and storage of the samples. Perform General QA/QC, monthly/daily maintenance of all equipment in the flow section, including but not limited to service and repair as established by SOPs and QA/QC guidelines. The incumbent will be required to work closely with various heads of sections to accomplish designated safety tasks. Maintain lab databases and keep up with current software applications for specific departments. Report any issues with the data base to the Lab supervisor and IT if required. Perform other duties as assigned. Experience: Qualifications, Skills andExperience: The ideal candidate must hold a Bachelors degree in biomedical laboratory technology, Bachelors in medical laboratory sciences or any related science laboratory field. Possession of a Masters degree in any biomedical science is an added advantage. Previous experience in flow cytometry techniques will be an added advantage. He/she is required to be knowledgeable in all laboratory activities as well as all project related activities that pertain to the laboratory and its scientific development. Ability to professionally communicate in writing and verbally or other means deemed appropriate. How to Apply: application form, download here, attach it together with application letters, CVs, Photocopies of academic qualifications and three professional referees. The position number (Check top of advert) and preferred location should clearly be stated in the application letter. All suitably qualified and interested candidates should download theapplication form,, attach it together with application letters, CVs, Photocopies ofacademic qualifications and three professional referees. The position number(Check top of advert) and preferred location should clearly be stated in theapplication letter. Please send applications to: The HR and Administration Manager, Makerere University Walter Reed Project, Plot 42 Nakasero Road., P.O. Box 16524 Kampala. Uganda Deadline: 27th November 2017 find us on our facebook page For more of the latest jobs, please visit https://www.theugandanjobline.com Orfind us on our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/UgandanJobline Patnaik's close aides say that to understand him, one has to understand his empathy By Pratul Sharma/Photos Sanjay Ahlawat Linda Lenz and her granddaughter, Ellen Lenz, just returned from a 13-day trip to Mannheim, Germany. While there, they visited Ellen's sister, Jasmin McKenna, who is a Study Abroad Program in psychology through Iowa State University. The trio visited Heidelberg Palace, first mentioned in 1225. In the late 17th Century, the palace was attached by the French in the War of the Grand Alliance. It also survived two lightening strikes and fires. It in the 19th Century, it was elevated to a national monument. In the 17th Century, it was celebrated as the "Eighth Wonder of the World." While there, they took a six-hour train ride to spend two days in Berlin. There, they met up with Sophie, from Walsrode, Germany. She had spent four weeks in St. Ansgar with Jasmin's family, during the fall of 2013. They visited downtown Berlin, The Wall, the Holocaust Museum and Memorial, the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin Dom (Church), Reichstag (German Parliament), the Chancellor's Palace, Checkpoint Charlie and the Museum. They also attended the Grand Show. Sophie also pointed out bronze plaques in the sidewalk. The plaques represented the Jews who were killed during the Holocaust and where they lived. The trio then took a ten-hour, 190-mph, double-decker train ride to Paris. Two days were spent visiting the Mortmartre Church located on the highest point in Paris, Notre Dame, Louvre and the Mona Lisa, Eiffel Tower, an evening boat ride to see the sites lit up, Versailles and, of course, more shopping. Their last days were spent in Mannheim, while Jasmin was at class and then back to Heidelberg, for more shopping and site seeing, before leaving for home. Before arriving for class in September, Jasmin had visited Ireland, Scotland, London, Barcelona, Florence, Pisa. She also plans to visit Brussels, Belgium; Athens, Greecce; Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Switzerland, Austria and Luxembourg, before coming home in January. Her parents are visiting in December. Indian mining giant Adani is close to securing loans from China to build a 388-km railway in Queensland for its controversy-hit $16.5 billion Carmichael coal mine project, a media report said today. According to the report, days ago, a director of Adani Mining, an Australian subsidiary of the Adani Group's flagship company Adani Enterprises, told industry figures that the company had secured Chinese funding for the mine and the rail project between Abbot Point and Galilee basin in Queensland. "Adani Group is close to securing finance with an announcement expected in coming weeks that Chinese state-owned enterprises, banks, and export credit agencies are backing the venture," Australian media reported. The company, however, rejected the claim in a statement saying, "There have been incorrect reports in the media this morning stating that Adani is no longer seeking a loan from the NAIF". It said that Adani has not sought to become a subject of contention in the current Queensland election campaign and that it has held productive meetings with a wide-range of financiers for the Carmichael Mine and associated infrastructure. The report claimed the director had said that Adani would not need the loan from the Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) to fund the 388-kilometre railway. It claimed a formal announcement of "financial close" was imminent and that "China's money will come at the cost of local jobs". "However, this does not negate the need for support from the Federal and State governments including a NAIF loanevery cent of which will be repaid by Adani with interest," the company said. "The purpose of NAIF is to provide loans for economic infrastructure and, again, every cent of this loan will be repaid with interest. The infrastructure Adani is building will be common user infrastructure and will be able to be used by other projects creating opportunities for further jobs and investment," it said. The company reiterated its commitment to Queenslanders particularly regional Queenslanders which it said remained "rock solid". "Unlike some who are reducing their presence in regional centres, Adani will never tradeoff local jobs for short-term benefit. In fact, Adani's regionalisation strategy has cost the company money, not saved money," the company said. Meanwhile, protesters opposing the project continued to stop the construction work by trying to occupy Adani's Townville office. Last month, it was revealed that Australian federal ministers had written a formal letter to the Chinese government to confirm that the controversial coal project had passed all necessary environmental approvals. Adani and the Queensland government have highlighted that the mine, which after its completion will be Australia's largest coal mine, will prove beneficial for the region. Adani has claimed the massive project will create 10,000 direct and indirect jobs in central Queensland. The company, which has managed to clear 200 stringent conditions for the project and several legal challenges from environmental groups, is aiming to start exporting coal via its Abbot Point coal terminal in 2020. He is often called the retail czar of India, being one of the early entrants in the organised retail space, through Big Bazaar hypermarkets. Now, Kishore Biyani, the founder of Future Group, is eyeing the next trillion dollar opportunity from thousands of small stores. Biyani plans to leverage the potential of big data mining from lakhs of customers that walk in through Future Group's retail outlets, in addition to technology tools like WhatsApp and chatbots to drive the next phase of growth. As a part of its latest revamp under Retail 3.0, the group has plans to set up 10,000 members-only Easyday Club stores by 2022. The company already has 700 Easyday stores, which are being revamped to the new format and the count will increase to 1,100 by the end of the current financial year ending March 2018. These members-only stores will be like neighbourhood stores, tapping into the locality through big data mining with due assistance from tech giants like Google and Facebook and consulting firm Deloitte. Members will be charged Rs 999 annual membership, and will get 10 per cent discount on all purchases apart from home deliveries. The members will be even able to order products via WhatsApp and popular chatbots. "We see the opportunity of becoming Asia's leading integrated consumer company with a trillion dollar revenue by 2047," said Biyani, adding that he expects the group to clock a compounded annual growth of 20 per cent over the next 30 years. The Easyday Club stores will be spread over 2,500-3,500 square feet and will have 3,500 stock keeping units of groceries and other daily necessities. The customers will also be able to shop for a wider assortment of products digitally. The company is expected to invest around Rs 15 lakh on each Easyday Club store. Each store is expected to have 2,000 members and Biyani hopes that at least half of the members will have an average spend of Rs 1 lakh per annum. The company has inked a tie-up with Google, which will help identify the catchment area of the stores, by mapping consumer density, said Rajan Anandan, MD, Google India. "We are excited with the partnership with Future Group. We have 300 million smartphone users, who are spending about three hours a day online, we know where they are, what they are searching for... we are able to take these signals that we have from search engine, maps, etc, put it together, and have artificial intelligence figure out where should be the next Easyday store," said Anandan. Future Group is also building a data repository and has set up data labs in Kolkata and Bengaluru to focus on data science and predictive analysis. "We want to map customer visits, their current spends, and future potential. Based on the member data, we want to build customer archetypes," said Biyani, adding that the data mined will be only for the company to use and not for third parties. Experts say, despite the big e-commerce push, physical retail still accounts for almost 98 per cent of sales, particularly in the food and grocery space and therefore, companies will succeed by reaching out through physical stores, which will be increasingly technology-laden. Malayalam actor Dileep has been named the eighth accused in the chargesheet in the February 17 actress attack case that was submitted before the court on Wednesday. Manju Warrier will be one of the witnesses, reports claimed. The charge sheet was submitted Wednesday afternoon at the Angamaly court by the probe team. The probe team has listed eight reasons that prompted Dileep to commit the crime. Dileep wanted to wreak vengeance after his first marriage with Manju Warrier ended in a divorce. He presumed that the actress had a role in the marital discord and conspired to attack her, the chargesheet said. The subsidiary chargesheet has 14 accused, including Dileep, 385 witnesses and 33 confidential statements. More than 50 witnesses are from the cineworld. Only Dileep and prime accused Pulsar Suni are accused of conspiring the heinous crime in the charge sheet, according to sources. Anish, a cop from whose phone Pulsar Suni had called Dileep, and Vipinlal, who wrote a letter to Dileep, has turned approvers, according to reporters. The probe team had submitted the first charge sheet in the case on April 18 that named Pulsar Suni as the main accused. The names of the first seven accused are same as the ones on the initial charge sheetPulsar Suni, Vijeesh, Manikandan, Vadival Saleem, Martin, Pradeep and Charliethe criminals who were directly involved in the case and who tried to help the accused. Apart from the seven, the subsidiary charge sheet names Dileep, Meshtiri Suni, lawyers Pratheesh Chacko and Raju Joseph, and Suni's jail-mate Vishnu. The names of the other two accused were not immediately known. The first eight are accused of gang rape and conspiracy charges have been slapped on accused no. 8 to 12. The probe team had initially planned to name Dileep as the first accused. However, legal advisors said that such a move, without ample evidence, may backfire and prove to be a setback for the case. Dileep was arrested on July 10 for plotting the sensational crime. The Kerala High Court granted him bail on October 3, but imposed stringent conditions and said he should not tamper with evidence. The Kerala HC had Tuesday granted him permission to travel to Dubai for business purposes. Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said that his government would not allow the release of Bollywood movie Padmavati in the state as it hurts sentiments of the Rajput community. "There are issues with the film. Our sympathy is with those who are protesting against it and that is the reason we will not allow its release in the state till those issues are resolved," Rupani said. The decision to not screen the movie has been taken keeping in mind the law and order situation in the poll-bound state, he said. The Sanjay Leela Bhansali film has been facing opposition over allegations that it twists historical facts. "The government of Gujarat will not allow Bollywood movie Padmavati to be released in the state as it is hurting sentiments of the Rajputs," Rupani said. We can't allow our history to be distorted, he said. "We believe in freedom of speech and expression but any foul play with our great culture will not be tolerated," the chief minister said. BJP ruled states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have already expressed reservations about the film. Rupani also referred to the Assembly polls to be held in two-phases on December 9 and 14 saying his government does not any row in the poll-bound state. "Election are also approaching and we do not want any row here. The matter comes under law and order situation and that is the reason we have taken this decision," he said. Asked if he had seen the film, Rupani said, "the makers of the film should screen it for those who are protesting against it and resolve the issue. Our concern is protests and law and order situation at the time of elections. Till this issues is resolved we will not allow screening of the film here," the chief minister added. On November 20, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had said "Padmavati" will not be allowed to be screened in the state if historical facts are "distorted" in the film. Amid rumours of a romantic dream sequence between the legendary Rajput queen Padmavati and Alauddin Khilji's characters in the film, many Rajput groups have been up in arms against the movie, alleging that it distorts history. Historians, however, are divided even on whether Rani Padmavati existed. Judges and Central PSU workers received a bonanza after the Union cabinet on Wednesday gave its nod for a salary revision. The framework for Central public sector enterprises, approved by the cabinet, is likely to prove beneficial to 12.35 lakh PSU employees, of which 2 lakh are board level and below board level executives, while 9.35 lakh are unionised PSU workers, employed across 320 PSUs. The wage policy for the eighth round of wage negotiations that was cleared today also introduced the factor of a Central Public Sector Enterprises' (CPSEs) profitability to be taken into consideration while deciding on wage revision of its workers. The wage revision shall be subject to the condition that there shall be no increase in labour cost per physical unit of output. In exceptional cases, where CPSEs are already working at optimum capacity, the administrative ministry/department may consult the department of public enterprises considering industry norms, an official statement said. The cabinet statement said no budgetary support for any wage increase shall be provided by the government. The entire financial implication would be borne by the respective CPSEs from their internal sources. In those CPSEs in which the government has approved restructuring or revival plan, the wage revision will be done as per the provisions of the approved restructuring or revival plan only, the statement said. CPSEs will implement the negotiated wages after confirming with their administrative ministry or department that the wage settlement is in conformity with approved parameters. "This will mean that profitability of the unit would have to be considered for wage negotiations. Also, an added element would be to get approval of the ministry, which earlier would not be required," said Balraj Joshi, chairman National Hydroelectric Power Corporation, a CPSE undergoing a bank-led restructuring process. Revision of wage of judges had been pending for a long time, and with the recent revisions retired judges, Supreme Court judges and High Court judges would receive a windfall. "The increase in the salary and allowances etc. will benefit 31 Judges of Supreme Court of India (including the CJI) and 1,079 Judges (including the Chief Justices) of High Courts. Besides, approximately 2,500 retired judges will also be benefit on account of revision of pension/gratuity etc," an official statement said. The revisions considered by the cabinet include a 130 per cent hike in dearness allowances received by judges. This approval is believed to pave way for the passing of Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Act, 1958 and High Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Act, 1954. Undoubtedly, the new amendments, which sources say are now likely to be tabled in the winter session of Parliament, would ensure better pay and living conditions for judges, even as court complexes in the country cry for attention and petitioners wait years to receive justice on their pending cases. Arrears on account of revised salaries, gratuity, pension and family pension of judges would be paid by the exchequer to them for more than one year with effect from 01.01.2016, as one time lump sum payment. In keeping with Constitutional norms and a promise made in the union budget by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the union cabinet has given its nod for forming the 15th finance commission. "Now the members of the finance commission will be appointed and the terms of reference for the 15th finance commission would be decided in due course of time," said Jaitley, announcing the cabinet decision. The 14th finance commission was chaired by former RBI governor Y.V. Reddy. The 14th finance commission also set straight the relations and revenue sharing on indirect taxes, which it hiked to 42 per cent as state share from 32 per cent pegged earlier. The 15th pay commission will have a five year term and will make its recommendations to the government of the day in 2022, seeking to re-order Centre's fiscal discipline as well as its relationship with states. BJP president Amit Shah asked Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi to make his stand clear on Rohingya Muslim refugees as well as on the issue of autonomy for Jammu and Kashmir. Addressing a rally in poll-bound Gujarat, he said Gandhi and the Congress should state what the situation in Kashmir was when the party was in power. "Terrorists killed our soldiers and people with impunity during their rule," Shah said at the rally here. The BJP government, on the other hand, carried out a surgical strike against militants, he said. "We conducted a surgical strike. Our soldiers entered Pakistani territory, killed them and came back," Shah said. The BJP chief accused Congress leader and former Union minister P. Chidambaram of demanding autonomy for Kashmir. "The Narendra Modi government is trying to normalise the situation, while Chidambaram comes to Gujarat and demands autonomy for Kashmir," Shah said. Gandhi, he added, should clear his position on the issue. "Rahul Gandhi should make his stand clear whether he supports Chidambaram's demand for autonomy for Kashmir. People of Gujarat should ask him when he comes here next," he said. Chidambaram had said last month that he was for greater autonomy for the state. Shah also targeted Congress leaders on the issue of Rohingya Muslim refugees. "P. Chidambaram and Shashi Tharoor have written to the prime minister that they (Rohingya Muslims) should be allowed to enter India," Shah said. The people of Gujarat should ask the Congress to state its position on the refugee issue. "Can India play with its internal security? Can India compromise its security? The people of Gujarat should ask the Congress to make its stand clear on Rohingya Muslims," he said. The Centre wants to deport the refugees from India, while the Congress has urged the government to involve all parties and formulate a policy on the issue. The central government had taken several steps on India's security, Shah said at the rally in Gujarat, where Assembly elections are to be held next month. "The Narendra Modi government has taken many steps to ensure the security of the country and to make India stand with pride in the world order," the BJP chief said. Indian intelligence agencies have decried the sham carried out by Pakistan, in putting 26/11 Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed under house arrest to evade financial sanctions against the country and with the Lahore High Court paving way for his release on Wednesday. Saeed was detained days before the plenary session of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) the global watchdog for combating terror financing which was held in Paris in February 2017, where member-states voiced concern over Pakistan for not honouring its commitments to act against terror financing. The FATF members condemned Pakistan's actions and many members wanted Pakistan to be blacklisted for failing to act against terror financing of groups like Jama'at-ud-Da'wah (JuD) with Hafiz Saeed as its patron. In October 2017, the FATF met again and let Pakistan off the hooks, after an intervention by China to save its all-weather-friend. The move by China gave Islamabad enough time to comply with the concerns raised by member nations, especially India. The gravest concern for Pakistani authorities was the naming of State Bank of Pakistan (Pakistan's central bank) at the 2017 FATF Plenary in Argentina, for not regulating the flow of funds to the alleged terror financing groups. Given the fact that, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and JuD backed Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) banned by UN had bank accounts in Pakistani banks, the FATF had asked SBP to report to it in the next plenary session in February 2018, on actions taken to improve regulation over fund flows. The ban on Habib Bank by the US, for poor regulation over terror financing, also raised the concerns of Pakistani authorities, said an observer. ''It has become clear that Saeed's detention was Pakistan's desperate attempt to prevent any action being taken against it. Entering into the FATF blacklist meant ostracisation from the international banking system, where Pakistani financial institutions would come under cloud. It meant that no banking institution that banks with Pakistan would be allowed to bank with any other bank in the world,'' said a top intelligence official. With the looming economic threat over the tag ''sponsor of terror'' drifting away, the JuD chief has been set free again, said the intelligence official who keeps a tab on the developments in Islamabad. Saeed's house arrest was about to expire on November 24 and he is set to walk free after the High Court turned down a request by the government seeking an extension of his detention. Indian intelligence agencies appears to be livid over the decision to release Saeed. Officials said the latest move has exposed Pakistan's double game. ''Not only did Islamabad send a message to the Trump administration in the United States that it was acting tough on terror perpetrators on its soil, it was also simultaneously making a desperate bid to save itself from entering the FATF blacklist, that imposed enhanced surveillance on the country's financial systems,'' they said. It may be recalled that Pakistan had been put on the FATF blacklist after the 26/11 terror strikes, when investigations revealed that LeT had funded as well as orchestrated the terror strike with Saeed at its helm. But, the LeT and its alleged parent organisation JuD continued to operate freely on Pakistani soil, which prompted FATF to take action against Pakistan. In 2015, Pakistan was removed from the FATF blacklist, after Pakistan made commitments on multiple fronts. On Wednesday, the review board under the chair of Justice Abdul Sami Khan passed orders to free Saeed, after a senior finance ministry official failed to convince the board that the release of Saeed would bring diplomatic and financial setbacks to the country. During the last hearing, the Pakistan government had argued that Saeed could not be released because the move would result in financial sanctions and a halt in foreign funding to the country. In response, the board had directed the government to send an official from the finance ministry to explain how release of a single individual would affect the entire country. Saeed will now be walking free, not only within a month after Pakistan's temporary victory in FATF but also four days ahead of the ninth anniversary of Mumbai terror strikes. It will be a grim reminder of the fact that no action has been taken by Pakistan against the perpetrators and financiers of terror who continue to roam freely on its soil. November 26 brings back horrific memories of Pakistans terror siege in Mumbai, where 166 people were killed. OSAGE | An Osage man will serve a year of probation after pleading guilty to second-degree harassment earlier this month. Bryce Steven Zahradnik, 25, was originally charged with felony intimidation with a dangerous weapon in July. According to court documents, Osage police officers were dispatched at 12:25 a.m. July 10 for a domestic dispute at a residence in the 1000 block of Main Street. When officers arrived at the home, they said they found Zahradnik outside the front door of the home, which was locked. Zahradnik had just left the house and attempting to break in after threatening to kill his wife with a gun, according to court documents. Police said they found a handgun on the front passenger seat of Zahradnik's car. He admitted that he told his wife he had a gun when he was trying to break into the house. Zahradnik pleaded guilty and was sentenced on Nov. 15. Steve Bohnel The Tripura State Rifles (TSR) officer, who allegedly ordered opening of fire at a journalist in Agartala, killing him, was arrested on Wednesday. Chief Minister Manik Sarkar asked the director general of police to take the strongest possible action against anyone found responsible for the incident. Sudip Dutta Bhowmick (50) was called to the TSR office on Tuesday by Tapan Debabarma, the officer in charge of Second Battalion of the TSR. The journalist, who worked for a local TV channel, was abused for writing about corruption in the force. There was a heated argument between the journalist and the officer, which escalated. After this, Debabarma suddenly called a subordinate jawan, N Reang, and asked him to shoot at Dutta Bhowmick. He collapsed on the floor, bleeding profusely. He was brought dead to a private hospital. Dutta Bhowmicks brother is a renowned journalist in Tripura and editor of one of the best-selling Bengali newspapers in Tripura. According to Tripura Police, Debabarma was picked up from his house in Agartala. An officer of Agartala East Police said, It was established that he ordered N Reang, his subordinate, to fire at the reporter. I am stunned (at) hearing the news. Its so much painful that one cannot comprehend, Sarkar said in a message. Sarkar said the accused had been arrested and his arms seized. The commandant in whose office the entire incident took place has been transferred and an inquiry had been ordered about his role as well. He was also arrested after an initial inquiry pointed to his role in the gruesome act. Meanwhile, Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy expressed strong objection to the incident and sent a detailed report to Home Minister Rajnath Singh. The governor said, The incident was so pathetic. I will ensure the bereaved family gets justice. Meanwhile, the BJP in Tripura grabbed the opportunity to come down heavily on Chief Minister Sarkar. This is the second journalist who was killed in the last six months. We are afraid that the state kills journalists. In the case of Shantanu Bhowmick also, there was no justice faced by the perpetrators. Manik Sarkar should resign immediately, said Sudip Roy Barman, a BJP leader. The BJP decided to launch a major movement against the state Left Front government. A 12-hour bandh was called in Agartala, which was largely successful. Amidst reports of faulty functioning of EVMs and ruckus created by the voters, the first phase of Uttar Pradeshs municipal corporation polls ended on Wednesday. Twenty-four districts went to polls today with people turning up in large numbers to vote. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had cast his vote in Gorakhpur in the morning and urged people to cast their votes. Police had to resort to lathi-charge in Kanpur, Unnao, Hardoi, Jalaun, Chitrakoot and Hamirpur districts after voters resorted to stone pelting. In Meerut, BSP candidate Sunita Verma complained of anomalous functioning of the EVM and created a ruckus at the polling booth, leading to a tense situation. However, timely intervention by the district administration ensured that there was no unprecedented incidents. Verma had alleged that when she she pressed the button to cast her vote for BSP, the light blinked on lotus, which is the poll symbol of the BJP. Those present on the occasion made a video clipping and put it on various social media platforms. Complaints of EVMs not functioning well were also reported from Machariya ward of Kanpur where polling was suspended for an hour. Here too, the police had to resort to lathi-charge to disperse the agitating crowed. In Gazipur, a clash broke out between the supporters of two political parties after bogus voting was reported. Six people were taken into custody. A similar incident was reported from Badaun where two were held for bogus voting. In Sirathu, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Mauryas brother clashed with a senior cop. The police alleged he was trying to enter the polling station to influence voting. In mafia don-turned- politician Mukhtar Ansars district, some burka clad women were caught for trying to cast fake votes. In the first phase, 26,314 candidates contested and over one crore voters have cast their votes. In a major milestone, India successfully test fired the world's fastest supersonic cruise missile Brahmos from a Sukhoi-30 combat jet for the first time, bolstering the precision strike capability of its air force. The defence ministry said the test firing against a target in the Bay of Bengal reflected the capability of the armed forces to launch the weapon from air, apart from land and sea, completing the cruise missile triad for the country. The IAF said it became the first air force in the world to successfully launch a surface attack missile of this category and that the weapon provided it a much desired capability to strike from large stand-off ranges on any target in sea or land with "pinpoint accuracy" in all weather conditions. "The capability of the missile coupled with the superlative performance of the Su-30 aircraft gives the IAF a strategic reach and allows it to dominate the ocean and the battle fields," the IAF said. The successful test firing of the 2.5 ton missile, which flies almost three times the speed of sound at Mach 2.8 and has a range of 290km, paved the way for its induction into the IAF. The range of the missile, an Indo-Russia joint venture, can be extended up to 400km as certain technical restrictions were lifted after India became a full member of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) last year. "BrahMos, the world's fastest supersonic cruise missile created history today after it was successfully flight-tested for first time from the IAF's frontline fighter aircraft Sukhoi-30MKI against a sea based target in the Bay of Bengal," the defence ministry said in a statement. It said the successful maiden test firing of BrahMos Air Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM) from Su-30MKI will significantly bolster the IAF's air combat operations capability. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman congratulated 'Team BrahMos' and the scientists at Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for the "historic achievement". Giving details of the test firing, the ministry said the missile was "gravity dropped" from the Su-30 fuselage, and the two stage missile's engine fired up and straightway propelled towards the intended target at the sea. BrahMos ALCM, weighing 2.5 ton, is the heaviest weapon to be deployed on India's Su-30 fighter aircraft modified by state-run aerospace behemoth Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) to carry weapons. The IAF said the integration of the missile on the aircraft was very complex process involving mechanical, electrical and software modifications of the Su-30 jet. "The launch from the aircraft was smooth and the missile followed the desired trajectory before directly hitting the ship target," said the IAF. The missile was fired by the test crew comprising Wg Cdr Prashant Nair and Wg Cdr KP Kiran Kumar. BrahMos is a joint venture between DRDO of India and NPO Mashinostroyenia (NPOM) of Russia. S. Christopher, chairman of DRDO, congratulated the scientists and engineers for the "excellent text book kind of flight test". The missile test was witnessed by Sudhir Mishra, director general (BrahMos), along with senior IAF officials, scientists and officials from DRDO and BrahMos. Content marketing plays a critical role in an enterprises success in todays world. Companies who have invested in content marketing in the last few years have already reported the benefits. According to Content Marketing Institute, comparing year-on-year data, about 34 per cent of marketers felt that their content marketing efforts were more effective in 2016 compared to the previous year. While there were various factors that played a role in their success, understanding the key content marketing trends was something that essentially made the difference. In order to maintain this growth, it is important for marketers and organizations to stay abreast of the ever-changing content marketing landscape. Here are a few trends marketers and businesses should watch out for in the year 2018. Organizations will continue to invest heavily in content and content market Organizations around the world have realized that content is the king and content marketing is crucial without which, their audience wont notice them. Moreover, competition for organizations has gone beyond the web and entered other digital platforms. With these trends in focus, more and more organizations will continue to invest in content across digital platforms in order to stay relevant. As per TechDigg, Apple is about to invest $1 billion in original content. Google too is looking at buying original content from media companies to fill the content gap its algorithms have identified. Giants such as Amazon and Facebook too, are investing heavily in content. All these go on to show that investments in content and content marketing are just about to grow in 2018. Content roles will expand with changing content formats When companies first realized the importance of content, many of them started focusing on hiring content writers and churning out massive amounts of content. However, with various content formats coming out, the focus has to shift from flooding the audience with textual content. Successful organizations have realized that just hiring content writers wont cut it anymore and wont help in tying up all the various marketing strategies. It also wont help in addressing the issue of newer formats that are becoming popular among audience. This is why they have started creating a broader strategy and taking a wider approach. They work towards processes where ideas are constantly improved upon, adapted to new formats that people want to consume and customized for audience. This also means that they invest in not only content writers, but also in diverse set of talent and skills in order to meet customer demands. Content beyond web The truth is that content has already moved beyond the web today, thanks to mobility and internet of things (IoT). People dont need to sit on front of their computers or laptops to consume content from the internet. Content has already made its way into mobiles, hand-held and wearable devices in various formats. In fact, take the example of Apples or Googles voice search. The moment you key in a voice query or search, you immediately get a call-and-response content. Alexa, Amazons voice service is also becoming a doorway to share digital content for several organizations. In fact, many of them have already started using Alexa to share a vast variety of content with audience who do not like to be glued to the laptop. With the proliferation of IoT and content moving beyond the web, the opportunities in the B2B and B2C space are huge. For example, sensors, device pairing and beacon-based proximity marketing offer marketers exciting opportunities to connect with their customers and keep their interactions fresh and meaningful. Interactive visual content for customer engagement It is common knowledge that video has become one of the popular content formats that drive customer engagement. While they are very engaging and interactive, there is one more type of interactive visual content that has started creating a completely different form of experience for audience, and this is virtual reality (VR). Virtual reality offers organizations new opportunities for content marketing and customer engagement. As per International Data Corporation, based on forecasts and sales models, the revenue from augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) will grow from over $5 billion in the year 2016 to more than about $160 billion in 2020. Even Forbes Global shows that almost 30 per cent of consumer-facing brands will experiment with VR marketing in 2017. While virtual reality may seem a little expensive to jump into, there are ways organizations can test and implement marketing tactics in a strategic way that wont cost much. There will be greater focus on personalization With customers becoming smarter and demanding more individualized experiences from businesses, personalization will become extremely important for organizations in order to attract customers and earn revenues. Consequently, highly personalized content will play a crucial role in helping organizations achieve their business goals. Organizations are already using certain strategies and methods to collect important audience data from across the digital space to understand their preference and online behavior better. Businesses will continue to invest in strategies and approaches such as cookies, exit intent technology and people-based marketing in 2018 so that they can utilize consumer data to provide their audience with greater personalized offerings. A clear content strategy will become important More businesses are investing in content marketing every year. Yet, many fail to reap the benefits and ROI on their content efforts. Why is this? The problem lies in their inability in effectively scaling their content efforts and more importantly, lack of a proper strategy. Before planning to scale your content effort as an organization, you must form a clear content strategy for your business. With the right content strategy, you can plan, create, publish, re-purpose and manage useful content. This helps you to get the right content out in front of the right consumer at the right time so that your content engages them and inspires action. Organizations have slowly started realizing the importance of content strategy and more organizations can be expected to invest their time and efforts in creating content strategies in the coming year. The content marketing landscape is ever-evolving. What audience may like today may soon become the thing of the past. Hence, organizations must constantly look out for what their audience prefer so that they can tailor their content strategies accordingly. Above everything else, great content is what really attracts your customers and this has to be at the heart of every content marketing effort. The quadrilateral forum consisting of US, India, Japan and Australia , first initiated in 2007 but subsequently failed to take off because of Canberras reluctance seems to be getting a new lease of life with their meeting held at Manila at the sidelines of ASEAN summit. In Manila, the leaders of the four countries met each other individually while their lower-ranking officials met in the quad format. It is Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who had first floated the idea of quadrilateral forum otherwise known as alliance of democracies in 2005 with an objective of forming a broad front to balance China. The first QUAD collapsed as Australia walked out of the forum for reasons if its own with India following the suit. A decade later it was during US State Secretary Tillersons visit to India in October , 2017 that Alice Wells ,the acting assistant state secretary in charge of South said that Washington was looking at a working level quadrilateral meeting in the near term. The idea was to bring together countries that share the same values to reinforce those values in the global architecture. A couple of days earlier, Japans foreign minister Taro Kono had proposed reviving the quadrilateral forum , an idea that he had discussed with Tillerson and his Austrian counterpart Julie Bishop at the sidelines of a meeting in Manila in August. According to Kono the purpose of the idea was to seek a peaceful maritime zone from Asia to Africa. The evolving quadrilateral forum is essentially an extension of US-Japan- India trilateral which has been functioning for quite some time, by including Australia into its fold. Why is the revival of the quadrilateral, taking place after a gap of decade drawing so much of attention in India? After all India has joined so many multi-lateral forums since the end of the cold war. However , this is the first time India is joining a multi-lateral forum ostensibly led by Washington. Delhi joined Russia-India- China( RIC) trilateral forum that subsequently tuned into BRICS(Brazil-Russia-India -China-South Africa) that strives to transform US-led unipolar world order into multi-polar world. The revival of QUAD is taking place in the wake of growing Chinese unilateralism in Asia. That is why it makes sense if Quad sets the task of preventing the emergence of unipolar Asia. Though the Manila Quad forum did not produce any joint statement, the national statements talk about their shared interests on promoting connectivity, counter terrorism, addressing proliferation of nuclear weapons and encouraging law-based international order. It might take sometime before the real action on the ground begins. While making attempts to prevent Chinese unilateralism in Asian affairs makes logic, we should be very careful not to be lured into containment of China policy advocated by some circles in US. Nor should we be dragged into any kind of military alliance with US that hints about it so frequently and tacitly off late. India should set its own terms of engagement in the revived forum. While the proposal to promote cooperation between quad countries in defense, maritime security, and infrastructure development is welcome, providing military dimension to the forum would be suicidal and detrimental to our national interests. US President Donald Trump and his secretary of State Tillerson have drawn up a vision of a policy that seeks to replace the now abandoned Pivot. Washington administration is assiduously wooing India in to what could be a military alliance. India should not lose sight of the fact that US lip service to the term Indo-Pacific could be an instrument of including India in military calculations of US strategy in Pacific and Indo-Pacific merely could mean a Indian military commitment to the US-led alliance in the Pacific ocean. Arun Mohanty works as a professor at the School of International studies , JNU Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the publication Saad al-Hariri attended independence day celebrations in Beirut on Wednesday after returning to Lebanon for the first time since resigning as prime minister in a broadcast from Saudi Arabia. Hariri, whose sudden resignation on November 4 pitched Lebanon into crisis, flew into Beirut late on Tuesday. He stood alongside President Michel Aoun and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri at a military parade in central Beirut. Lebanese state officials and senior politicians close to Hariri say Riyadh forced him to quit and held him in the kingdom, which Saudi Arabia and Hariri have denied. The resignation took even Hariris aides by surprise. A long-time Saudi ally, Hariri cited fear of assassination in his resignation speech, and attacked Iran and its powerful Lebanese Shiite ally Hezbollah for sowing strife in the Arab world. The resignation thrust Lebanon to the forefront of regional tussle between the Sunni monarchy of Saudi Arabia and Shiite Islamist Iran, which backs Hezbollah. Hariris return to Lebanon followed an intervention by France. It is not yet clear if he will stick by his resignation or rescind it. Ahead of his arrival on Tuesday, Hariri said he would declare his political position in Beirut. Aoun has said he will not consider Hariris resignation until he returned to Beirut and delivered it in person. Hariri is expected to meet Aoun at the presidential palace later on November 22 Hariri left Riyadh for Paris at the weekend. He journeyed back to Beirut on November 21, stopping in Egypt and Cyprus. The resignation shook the power-sharing deal that brought him to office last year and resulted in Aoun, a Hezbollah political ally, becoming head of state. Hezbollah, a heavily armed military and political movement, is part of the Lebanese government. As he sipped water after a long interview at his official residence in Gandhinagar, some of it spilled on his table. The bell to summon help was nearby. Yet, Vijay Rupani, the chief minister of Gujarat, chose to clean the table by himself. Rupani is so down to earth that when he was named chief minister replacing Anandiben Patel last year, there was no excitement on his face. After all, he had not thought of becoming even an MLA, and everyone was expecting that senior minister Nitin Patel would be the chosen one. Rupani, however, was chosen as chief minister and Nitin Patel was made his deputy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah are planning a whirlwind campaign as Gujarat goes to the polls, yet the focus is also on Rupani as he takes on a rejuvenated Congress, which is eyeing a comeback. A few months ago, Rupani surprised everyone by opting to stay in the flood-affected districts of north Gujarat for five days. The Congress called it a political stunt, but Gujarat, for the first time, saw a chief minister who was prepared to wade into knee-deep slush. Rupani hails from a Jain Baniya family which migrated to Rajkot from Burma. Compassion runs in his blood. After the death of their son Pujit, Rupaniji and his wife, Anjaliben, set up the Shri Pujit Rupani Memorial Trust. It imparts education to ragpicker children, said Rajkot-based journalist Paresh Dave. And, they dont publicise their efforts. While in Rajkot, the Rupanis often take ragpicker children to amusement parks and personally serve them food. Rupani and Anjali have another son, Rushabh, and a daughter, Radhika, who is married. Anjali is quite active in the party. Rupani said she would campaign in the elections. A postgraduate in law, Rupani has been associated with the RSS since childhood. He has held important posts in the BJP, and was its state general secretary and president. Rupani has a stockbroking firm in Rajkot. Recently, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) imposed a fine of Rs 15 lakh on his Hindu Undivided Family and 21 others for manipulative trading of shares. The penalty has, however, been set aside by an appellate tribunal. Rupani said the allegations were baseless. As chief minister, Rupani successfully handled several mass agitations in Gujarat. He is much more accessible than his predecessors and meets party workers, MLAs and bureaucrats. While in Rajkot, even Congress workers approach him for getting things done and Rupani obliges them although they are in his rival camp. Kirit Pathak, deputy registrar of Saurashtra University, said Rupani was not vindictive and even if he did not get along well with someone, he would act keeping his partys interests in mind. Gandhinagar-based journalist Manish Vyas praised Rupanis humble and easygoing nature. He is the first low-profile and easily accessible chief minister after Shankersinh Vaghela, said Vyas. He was all praise for Rupanis slogan Vyatha nahi, vyastha karo (Do not cry, bring about solutions). And, that is what Rupani has been doing. He seems to have figured out answers to the problems posed by youth leaders Hardik Patel, Alpesh Thakore and Jignesh Mevani. Said Rupani, These three wont be seen after the results come. President Donald Trump and Russias Vladimir Putin discussed efforts to bring peace to war-torn Syria during an hour-plus phone call on Tuesday. Iran, North Korea and Ukraine also were on the agenda, the White House said. Trump called it a great call Tuesday afternoon as he left the White House to spend Thanksgiving in Florida. Noting the length, he said he and Putin spoke very strongly about bringing peace to Syria and very strongly about North Korea. Trumps phone call with the Russian president came a day after Putin met with Syrian President Bashar Assad. Putin hosted Assad at a Black Sea resort ahead of a summit later this week with Russia, Turkey and Iran. Assad was called to Russia to get him to agree to potential peace initiatives drafted by the other three countries, the Kremlin said. The Kremlin said Putin briefed Trump in the phone call about his talks with Assad and plans for a political settlement in Syria. Putin also called for coordination of anti-terror efforts with the U.S., the Kremlin said, adding that Afghanistan was also discussed. Trump and Putin spoke informally several times earlier this month when they attended a summit in Vietnam. They agreed on a number of principles for the future of Syria. (AP) ABC News(WASHINGTON) -- Lindsay Menz, who has accused Sen. Al Franken of groping her at the Minnesota State Fair in 2010, is speaking out about the alleged incident for the first time on camera this morning. My husband steps away from us to take the photo. I stand next to Sen. Franken and he pulls me into him and then he moves his hand to my butt, Menz, 33, told ABC News' chief national correspondent Tom Llamas. I was shocked. She added, I was surprised and kind of wondering, did that really just happen? Franken released a new statement on Thursday after reports multiple women recalled similar incidents as Menz, saying, Ive met tens of thousands of people and taken thousands of photographs, often in crowded and chaotic situations. Im a warm person; I hug people. Ive learned from recent stories that in some of those encounters, I crossed a line for some women -- and I know that any number is too many. Some women have found my greetings or embraces for a hug or photo inappropriate, and I respect their feelings about that, Franken continued. Ive thought a lot in recent days about how that could happen, and recognize that I need to be much more careful and sensitive in these situations. I feel terribly that Ive made some women feel badly and for that I am so sorry, and I want to make sure that never happens again. Menz's claim came just days after Los Angeles radio host Leeann Tweeden accused Franken of forcibly kissing and groping her in 2006. In a Nov. 16 blog post, Tweeden claimed that Franken, then a comedian, forcibly kissed me without my consent while rehearsing for a skit on a 2006 USO tour to entertain U.S. troops in Afghanistan. She also posted a photo in which she claims it shows Franken groping her while she was asleep on a military plane. Franken, who was elected as a Democratic senator for Minnesota in 2008, responded to the accusations in a statement obtained by ABC News. I certainly dont remember the rehearsal for the skit in the same way, but I send my sincerest apologies to Leeann. As to the photo, it was clearly intended to be funny but wasn't. I shouldn't have done it, he said. As a guest on ABC's "The View" on Nov. 17, Tweeden shared a letter she said Franken sent her that day: It says, Dear Leeann, I want to apologize to you personally. I don't know what was in my head when I took that picture. But that doesn't matter. There's no excuse. I understand why you can feel violated by that photo. I remember that rehearsal differently. But what's important is the impact on you and you felt violated by my actions, and for that I apologize. I have tremendous respect for your work for the USO. And I am ashamed that my actions ruined that experience for you. I am so sorry. Sincerely, Al Franken.' According to Tweeden, Franken also asked to meet with her personally. Menz told ABC News she wanted to speak publicly about her own alleged experience with Franken so that people believe Tweeden's story and she doesn't feel alone. A spokesperson for Franken told ABC News on Monday night that the senator doesn't plan to resign in light of the second accuser coming forward. The Senate Ethics Committee will investigate the allegations against Franken. Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. MAYIWANE Quality service delivery by the Swaziland Electricity Company (SEC) has been queried. This came about during public hearing consultative meetings at Mayiwane Inkhundla. The residents complained that they went for a week without electricity. They said calling the SEC toll free line was very expensive for them, urging other competitors to come on board and own the connection grid.A resident Duma Shabangu said electricity connection has been a challenge for a number of Swazis that wanted the service but could not afford it because they were financially handicapped. He wanted to know how soon the legislation would be quickened to accommodate them as poor citizens to connect electricity. Shabangu said as much as they needed and wanted to have energy in their homes they cannot as a result of the requirements by SEC that included very high charges. The country has a number of people that are living below the poverty line who need the energy service but could not afford it. There arent jobs and all essential services are expensive, he said. Another resident Jabulani Tsabedze wanted to know exactly what SECs standard connection charges were or they charged as they wanted to. Tsabedze said SEC charges were varied as they would charge some people lower charges and when another person connects from the same area they would charge more.This, he said happened in businesses and also at the homesteads. Charges of energy connection should be clear and we should know exactly what SEC standard connection charges are, he said. He suggested that the Fund should cater for majority of the charges and they only pay a minimum connection fee. According to Tsabedze those people who cannot afford the connection fee should be covered by the fund and get electricity free of charge. MBABANE The Swazi dance industry is not defeated. Tribal Misfits Mthobisi Jey Ar Dlamini has formed part of Idols SA dance team. He was seen gracing the screens on Sunday evening during Idols SA finale where he was dancing alongside big names in the dance industry, notably Somizi Mhlongo. Dlamini was the only local dancer among the 10 South African dancers. He performed alongside South Africas Somizi and Destruction Boyz, a group which rose to fame through their hit track Omunye Phezukomunye. Information that has been gathered is that Jey Ar has been rehearsing tirelessly to be a member of Idols SA Season 13 dance crew, since early September. Jey Ar recognised his dancing dream when local Tribal Misfits, a dancing duo in which he is part off, won the T55 talent search in 2015. Since then, the duo has been invincible and they have performed in a number of international stages, but Idols SA is by far the biggest platform for the young dancer. Applauded Swazilands well known choreographer and creative director Larry Mhlanga applauded Jey Ar, stating that this meant a sign of growth for the dancer, and Swaziland at large. I believe that this is a sign of growth for the industry and it shows that we are capable of showcasing our skills. Seeing Jey Ar on Idols SA stage working hard alongside remarkable choreographers like Somizi Mhlongo was amazing. One must note that South Africa is a country full of dancers who audition for such parts daily, but he made it through. MANZINI After a series of unmet needs of the people by the DPMs office, Members of Parliament (MPs) have called for the Deputy Prime Minister, Paul Dlamini, to put his house in order. The MPs raised concerns in what they termed lax approach by the DPMs office in addressing urgent matters that involved the society. These include the disbursement of grants for the new elderly and its preparedness for disaster management. The former has seen thousands of the elderly people who turned 60 years old this year not being incorporated to benefit from the social grants governed by the DPMs office. Another burning issue was the offices failure to avail assistance in the form of food to families affected by drought in some parts of the country. Governments response in all this was that there was no money allocated for new entrants for the social grants. However, this reaction was unsatisfactory to the MPs who said the situation would not have turned out to be in its current state if the DPMs office prioritised its mandate in terms of urgency and the implications that might entail if not speedily attended to. One of the concerned legislators was Mtsambama Member of Parliament (MP) Richard Simelane, who said in his opinion, the DPMs office had failed the elderly because it undermined them. Simelane said the period for which the elderly people, who were already in the departments database waited, was too long. Kubedzelela nje labantfu labadzala, period, he said. To ease the current situation, Simelane said it was for the DPMs office to regard the elderly as equal beings who deserved respect. In addition, Matsanjeni MP Phila Buthelezi said the DPMs office had serious challenges when it came to service delivery. MBABANE Following the Kings announcement that all ranks in the Correctional Services were upgraded to meet SADC standards, Correctional Officers want a salary increment. The warders have since taken the commissioner general and government to court. In their application, they stated that they wanted the increment to be backdated to June 6, 2014, which was the date when the King made the announcement. Other respondents in the matter are the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Public Service and the Attorney General. Applicants arel; Mancoba Lukhele, Jabulani Masimula, Sibusiso Nxumalo, Simiso Ginindza, Mzwandile Dlamini and Bheka Magagula. The applicants averred that they had a mandate of all officers between the rank of superintendent and warder to take this matter to court. In his founding affidavit, Lukhele stated that on June 2014, at Matsapha Correctional Services during a passing out parade, the Commander in Chief, His Majesty King Mswati III, announced to the nation that all ranks in the Correctional Services were upgraded to meet the SADC standards. He highlighted that the Commissioner of Correctional Services was then titled the Commissioner General. According to Lukhele, on July 7, 2014, the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Public Service, Evart Madlopha, acting on the mandate of government, issued Establishment Circular number 2 of 2014: Phase One Restructuring of the Royal Swaziland Police and His Majestys Correctional Services. HARARE Robert Mugabe resigned as Zimbabwes president yesterday, shortly after Parliament began an impeachment process to end his nearly four decades rule. The 93-year-old clung on for a week after an army takeover and expulsion from his own ruling ZANU-PF party, which also told him to leave power. I, Robert Gabriel Mugabe in terms of Section 96 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe hereby formally tender my resignation... with immediate effect, said Parliament Speaker Jacob Mudenda, reading the letter. The letter does not, however, mention of who he was leaving in charge of the country. The speaker added that he was working on legal issues to make sure a new leader was in place by the end of today. The bombshell news was delivered to a special joint session of Parliament. People danced and car horns blared on the streets of Harare at news that the era of Mugabe - who has led Zimbabwe since independence in 1980 - was finally over. After Mugabes resignation, his former Deputy Emmerson Mnangagwa, whose sacking led to the autocrats downfall, seems likely to be the next head of State. On Sunday, Mnangagwa was named president of the ruling ZANU-PF party in place of Mugabe. That put him one step away from the top job as Mugabe was told to quit or be forced out of office. Nicknamed Ngwena (The Crocodile) because of his fearsome power and ruthlessness, the 75-year-old Mnangagwa had appeared to have been outfoxed by Mugabes wife, Grace. The first lady, who is 41 years younger than her husband, lobbied the veteran head of State to ditch his vice president, a long-serving lieutenant, to further her own political ambitions. But Mnangagwa has close ties with the military, which was alarmed at Graces rise, and the generals intervened. It was the climax of a long feud between Grace and Mugabes deputy to be in pole position to replace the ailing leader when he died or retired. Mnangagwa - a long-time party loyalist and hardliner who, say some, could prove as authoritarian as Mugabe - initially fled to South Africa after his sacking. But the dramatic seizure of power by the military returned him to centre-stage. In the early days after independence from Britain in 1980, Mugabe made Mnangagwa, who was then a young trainee lawyer, minister for National Security. Mnangagwa thereafter occupied a host of Cabinet positions - but relations between him and his political mentor were not always cosy, and the younger man was no stranger to presidential purges. In 2004, he lost his post as the secretary for administration in the party after being accused of openly angling for the post of vice president.- AFP Comment The winds of change have blown through Zimbabwe where a nation united has successfully forced out long-serving President Robert Mugabe, who submitted his resignation letter to Parliament yesterday. Scenes of jubilation decorated every street corner as the people celebrated a new dawn filled with a hope reminiscent of Independence Day, that Zimbabwe would soon become great again. The celebrations contrasted any belief that Mugabe was always the peoples choice during his 37 years of rule. Rather, it exposed the subdued suffering compounded by the fear instilled in a highly intellectual nation that could have easily saved the country from its current economic paralysis. Once the breadbasket of Africa, well- endowed with natural resources that include coal, chromium ore, nickel, copper, iron ore, vanadium, tin, platinum and diamonds among others, Zimbabweans were too incapacitated by the might of the security forces to sustain the gains of post-independence. Today, however, jubilant Zimbabweans who are scattered all over the world, are less concerned about how the president was removed but more interested in why he had to go. They now want a leader who has their best interest at heart. Others will, no doubt, want justice for all the pain and suffering endured by hundreds of families over the years, during which many lives have been lost. There are many lessons to be learned from this episode which is history repeating itself with different characters. The most important of all being that the will of the people shall always prevail. This message could not be any clearer than to see an entire nation rallying behind a better evil a military coup. This is not the form of transition that ought to be encouraged but now that it has culminated in the wishes of the masses, we strongly urge the people of Zimbabwe to unite in restoring the rule of law and constituting a democratically elected government as soon as reasonably possible. Zimbabweans have the capacity to determine their own future but they deserve support from African nations which have become home to many, as the process of reconstructing their lives begins. Africa has much to gain from an economically sound Zimbabwe that should, once again, rise to play a significant role in the development of a continent that seeks to liberate itself from its economic colonialist masters. BRITT | A Britt man who had 13 grams of methamphetamine concealed on his body when being booked into jail in March will be sentenced Jan. 9. Robert Awbohakieem Yarbrough, 34, has pleaded guilty in Hancock County District Court to felony possession of more than five grams of methamphetamine with intent to deliver. Britt man accused of distributing meth, marijuana BRITT | A Britt man accused of distributing meth and marijuana in North Iowa has been charge The state and the defense have agreed to recommend he receive a prison term of up to 25 years, with a mandatory minimum of eight years and four months. The state has agreed to dismiss charges of ongoing criminal conduct, failure to affix a drug tax stamp, possession of marijuana, possession of marijuana with intent to deliver, possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Yarbrough has been a target in an investigation in 2016 and 2017 regarding the distribution of methamphetamine and marijuana, according to law enforcement. Yarbrough was stopped and arrested for a traffic violation in Hancock County on March 8. The arresting deputy stated in a criminal complaint that Yarbrough had a meth pipe in his pocket, and a K-9 sniff of the vehicle yielded a positive alert for the presence of drugs. When he was booked into jail, Yarbrough told officers he had methamphetamine concealed on his body. Officers found he was in possession of three bags of meth totaling 13.1 grams, according to the complaint. Yarbrough later told law enforcement he was selling meth to make money. Earlier this month Yarbrough received a suspended 10-year prison sentence and five years of probation for a Winnebago County conviction of possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver. A $1,000 fine was suspended. Yarbrough's vehicle was stopped on Dec. 22, 2016, in Forest City because his driving privileges had been suspended two days earlier, according to a criminal complaint. Small bags containing meth were found when the vehicle was searched. Saad al-Hariri landed in Beirut on Tuesday, his media office said, returning home for the first time since he resigned as Lebanon\s prime minister in a broadcast from Saudi Arabia and plunged his country into political crisis, Hariri\s sudden resignation on Nov. 4 thrust Lebanon to the forefront of a regional power struggle between the Sunni monarchy of Saudi Arabia and Shi\ite Islamist Iran, whose powerful ally Hezbollah is part of the Lebanese government. SOURCE: REUTERS CEDAR RAPIDS A federal jury on Wednesday found a Waterloo man guilty of sending threatening tweets to U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst in August. The jury deliberated more than four hours before reaching its verdict, which followed a one-day trial that took place Tuesday in U.S. District Court. Joseph Dierks, 34, was found guilty of three counts of transmitting a communication containing a threat in interstate commerce. Testimony showed Dierks admitted to sending the tweets that use expletives and threaten physical harm to Ernst. Dierks told Federal Bureau of Investigation agents and a Waterloo police officer that the three tweets sent to one of Ernsts Twitter accounts on Aug. 16 could be perceived as threatening, according to testimony. Dierks told the authorities he was attempting to get the senators attention because he wanted to join the military but because of his age, he would need a waiver from a high ranked officer. Ernst is a retired lieutenant colonel in the Iowa Army National Guard. Christopher Nathan, Dierks lawyer, during his opening statement said his client may have sent offensive tweets, but he never intended them to be threatening. Dierks didnt know they would be viewed that way, he added. Dierks faces up to five years on each charge. Sentencing before U.S. District Senior Judge Linda Reade hasnt been set at this time. Dierks will remain in jail pending sentencing. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate TROY The results of a grand jury investigation into Rensselaer County District Attorney Joel E. Abelove's handling of the 2016 police shooting death will be revealed at 1 p.m. Friday, Dec. 1. The Rensselaer County court clerk's office confirmed that Columbia County Court Judge Jonathan Nichols would be presiding in the county courthouse in Troy at that time. Nichols has been overseeing the grand jury investigation, which has been hearing testimony at the city courthouse in Rensselaer over the past two months. Nichols told Rensselaer City Court officials that they would no longer require use of that courtroom and that all future proceedings on the matter would be handled in Rensselaer County Court in Troy. The county court clerk's office could provide no additional information about the scheduled proceedings, which were first reported by WNYT. Next week also brings the deadline for Abelove to respond to a subpoena for all records related to cases in which he personally handled grand jury proceedings, according to a source with knowledge of the probe. Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's office investigated Abelove's management of the grand jury review that cleared Sgt. Randall French in the April 2016 fatal shooting of Edson Thevenin of Colonie less than a week after the man's death. French fatally shot Thevenin on the Collar City Bridge following a brief chase. Thevenin was not armed with a gun or other weapon when he was shot multiple times through his windshield. Schneiderman was empowered to investigate the shooting and its aftermath based on Gov. Andrew Cuomo's 2015 executive order allowing the attorney's office to probe police actions that result in the death of unarmed civilians. The attorney general's investigation marked Schneiderman's first pursuit of a sitting district attorney for the handling of a fatal police encounter with an unarmed civilian. The investigation also examined the actions of Troy police during and after the shooting, although it's unclear whether any police officers or supervisors are targets of the grand jury probe. However, Troy police officials had said they believed the 37-year-old was armed with his car and that he allegedly drove forward and pinned French's legs against the officer's police cruiser before he opened fire. Two civilian witnesses, who did not testify before the grand jury that Abelove convened last year, told investigators they did not believe French was in imminent danger when he fired. The attorney general's investigation has included using forensic experts to examine the trajectory of the eight rounds that French fired to determine where he was positioned when the shots were fired and whether he was moving. The Times Union reported last year that Abelove, who personally presented the case to the grand jury that cleared French, did not require the officer to sign an immunity-from-prosecution waiver when the officer testified before the grand jury that cleared him a highly unusual move that makes it virtually impossible for any prosecutor to pursue potential future charges against French for conduct surrounding Thevenin's death. After French was cleared, Schneiderman accused Abelove of making an "end run" around Cuomo's executive order by rushing the case before the grand jury at a time when the attorney general's office said it would review the shooting. A first-term Republican elected in 2014, Abelove has insisted he properly handled the Thevenin shooting. He has been an outspoken critic of the governor's order and unsuccessfully challenged it in court. Abelove also tried to have Schneiderman's office barred from investigating Thevenin's death, but a court rejected that request as well. Schneiderman's office obtained court authorization in August to convene the Rensselaer County grand jury, which began hearing testimony Sept. 20 at Rensselaer City Court, about nine miles away from the county courthouse where Abelove works. The attorney general's grand jury was empaneled for four months, with its term scheduled to end in late January. In late October, Abelove invoked his right to appear before the panel. Emerging from that session, he told reporters he was "very grateful for the opportunity ... to come in and tell the truth about what occurred in this case and to explain some of the decisions that were made." In addition to Abelove, Schneiderman's grand jury has heard from several Troy police officers, at least one civilian who witnessed the aftermath of the fatal shooting, and at least one former member of Abelove's staff. The grand jury also heard testimony that contrasted the rapid course of the French investigation with the far longer process that followed the August 2015 shooting of Thaddeus Faison by Officer Joshua Comitale. In that case, a grand jury convened by Abelove's office did not issue its findings clearing Comitale until more than 75 days after the shooting. Schneiderman's grand jury also heard from former Assistant District Attorney Vincent J. O'Neill, who was abruptly fired by Abelove on Oct. 6, several days after O'Neill was contacted by Schneiderman's office. A person briefed on the matter said O'Neill has been expected to testify about a conversation that he overheard last year between Abelove and Troy police Chief John Tedesco. The person said that Abelove informed the chief that a grand jury had cleared French, the investigation was over, and that they would need to "get out in front" of the issue with the press. Steve Hughes contributed. Local organizations and activists are rallying against the Rensselaer County Sheriff's Department after Sheriff Patrick Russo submitted an application to implement the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement 287(g) program in October. According to the ICE website, the 287(g) program "allows a state or local law enforcement entity to enter into a partnership with ICE," allowing them to enforce federal immigration law on a local level. Nearly 20 organizations, including the New York Immigration Coalition and New York for Civil Liberties Union, and hundreds of individuals signed onto a letter sent to Russo on Nov. 7 urging him to withdraw the county's application for the program. "The program has raised a lot of red flags and concerns not just for immigrant communities, but for law enforcement, and the budget implications for the local communities," said Anu Joshi, immigration policy director of NYIC. Russo said he decided to apply for 287(g) to increase revenue because "ICE would pay us to house ICE detainees in our facility." The 287(g) program reimburses a portion of the cost of detainment, and also provides a four-week training program for officers. However, a study by the American Immigration Council found that state and local governments are still responsible for costs such as "travel, housing, and per diem for officers during training; salaries; overtime; other personnel costs; and administrative supplies," and that the reimbursement of detention costs would "only cover a fraction of the costs spent by states and localities." Russo said he isn't worried about financial implications since the county already detains federal inmates through the U.S. Marshals Service with no issues. That agency pays the county to house and guard its prisoners. "I don't know how this is going to work out because I don't know the volume of people we'll be housing," Russo said, "but I do think if we house a number of people it could offset the cost." Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple also applied for the 287(g) program in October, but withdrew the application soon after. "We applied for the detention portion because we are certified to hold ICE prisoners," Apple said. "Little did I know about the portion about deputization. It was not our intent to deputize, just to hold, because when we hold federal boarders there's revenue that's generated for the county." Eventually, Apple withdrew the application because the backlash from the community made it "more trouble than it's worth." A main concern voiced by those opposing the program is not the financial implications of the 287(g) program, but the social implications. "Just knowing an agreement like this exists in the county is enough to cause the community to feel unsafe and not trustworthy of law enforcement officers," said Melanie Trimble, director of the NYCLU Capital Region Chapter. "Plus, ICE is already strongly present in the area there's no need to deputize local officers." Joshi added that an increased fear in the community would make people less likely to come forward as victims or witnesses of crime, although Russo disagreed, saying in his experience "people are more afraid to report because of retribution from gangs or organized crime." "I think the other problem is we have seen in some counties that have implemented the program increased incidents of racial profiling," Joshi said. "How does an officer ascertain whether they believe someone is in the country without documents? It's a very slippery slope." Despite concerns, Russo maintained that he's not worried about the program. "You can spin that," he said. "We don't get to pick and choose what laws we enforce. I don't foresee doing immigration sweeps throughout the county, but we will help ICE if they request it." The next of kin of Charles Manson have until a week from Wednesday to claim the remains of the man who inspired a cult following to commit mass murder. If they do not, the taxpayers of California who picked up the tab for Manson for the last 48 years of his life, all of which he spent in prison will pay once again to have his body returned to dust, most likely by cremation. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Bethlehem A $60 million expansion of the Air Products gases manufacturing facility on River Road in Glenmont appears to be under way after receiving town planning board approval two months ago. A little less than 10 acres of the 24-acre site were recently cleared in anticipation of the project, which is expected to be completed by December of 2018. Two historically sensitive areas that were found to have artifacts, however, have been preserved and will not be disturbed by the project. The Air Products facility was originally built in 1977 and has the capacity to make 400 tons per day. The upgrade, which will include the construction of a new 1,100-ton-per-day air separation unit and industrial gas liquefier, is being financed by a joint venture between Air Products and Linde North America that is being called East Coast Nitrogen. The new equipment will make liquid nitrogen, liquid oxygen and liquid argon for customers in New York and New England. Those gases are used by chemical, food, electronics, fabricated metals, health and medical, utilities and glass sectors. The Cuomo administration has offered the joint venture $1.3 million in cash and tax breaks because the expansion was under consideration for other out-of-state sites. A total of 66 jobs are expected to be preserved by keeping the facility open and expanding it. "The plant will use our latest technology and its capabilities will strengthen Air Products' presence in the Albany, New York area," said Marie Folkes, president of industrial gases Americas at Air Products. "The facility will also provide a higher production capacity for all three products to be produced at the location and will put us in a position to better serve our customers and their future growth." An Air Products spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday on the clearing of the property and when construction would begin. Since it is located near the Hudson River just south of Albany, the Air Products property is in a historically rich area that was used by both Native Americans and early Dutch and English settlers. The area is particularly important to the Mohican peoples, who made that part of the Hudson home. Across the river is Papscanee Island, once the home of Sachem Papscanee, a Mohican chief. After significant archaeological testing on the property, a consulting firm hired by Air Products that also consulted with the Stockbridge-Munsee tribe found trace amounts of Native American artifacts, although nothing of special significance. Another area of the property was found to have artifacts from what is believed to be a late 19th century or early 20th century tenant farmer residence that may have also been an encampment for railroad workers. "A tenant farmer may have lived on the property in a small house for a brief period of time while the land was in production during the turn of the twentieth century," the consultants' report states. Both the farming and Native American sites will be preserved and won't be disturbed by the project, with deed restrictions put in place. LECTURE Jaballa Matar, a political dissident who spoke out against the regime of Moammar Gadhafi, disappeared in 1990. Nearly a quarter century later, Matar's son, Hisham, returned to Libya to search for any trace of his father, who was incarcerated in Tripoli's Abu Salim prison, where thousands of prisoners were tortured and killed. That search is chronicled in Hisham Matar's moving, Pulitzer Prize-winning book, "The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land In Between." Matar will speak at an afternoon seminar before an evening book reading this week as part of the New York State Writers Institute's Visiting Writers Series. 4:15 p.m. seminar, 8 p.m. reading, Thursday. Free. University at Albany uptown campus (seminar in Standish Room, Science Center; reading in Assembly Hall, Campus Center), 1400 Washington Ave., Albany. 518-442-5620; http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst MASON CITY | The City Council will meet in special session Monday night to consider competing proposals from Gatehouse Mason City LLC and G8 Development on redevelopment plans that include a downtown hotel. The meeting is at 7 p.m. in the second floor conference room at City Hall. The council was set to vote on a development agreement with Gatehouse Tuesday night but received a competing proposal from G8 minutes before a noon deadline Tuesday. By state law, the council had to determine whether the G8 bid was "no less favorable" than the Gatehouse proposal. The council agreed the bid was competitive. G8 Development bids on Mason City hotel project MASON CITY | The hotel sweepstakes for downtown Mason City took a surprising turn Tuesday wh The law then requires a "bid-off" to take place between the bidders. Gatehouse and G8 representatives, via conference call, will be given opportunities to improve their bids. It will take place at 9 a.m. Monday. Each party will be given a half-hour to improve its bid in response to the competitor's last bid. This process is to last no longer than three hours. The council will then meet at 7 p.m. Monday to either approve Gatehouse's proposal or to hold a public hearing Dec. 28 on G8's proposal. Mayor Eric Bookmeyer said Wednesday the city informed Gatehouse representative David Rachie on Tuesday that a competitive bid had been received and of the bid-off specifics. Rachie was not at the council meeting. Contacted by the Globe Gazette Wednesday, Rachie had no comment. Philip Chodur, president of G8 Development, didn't respond to a phone message from the Globe Gazette Wednesday. Loni Dirksen, who spearheaded the "Mason City Says YES" campaign that led to 75 percent voter approval of two issues related to the Gatehouse plan, said Wednesday she recognizes the City Council's responsibility. "Last night the majority of the council agreed that the new proposal brought forward is indeed competitive," she said. "I trust that the council will choose what is in the best interest of Mason City for the River City Renaissance Project." The council vote was 4-1 with Bill Schickel voting against. John Lee was absent. Schickel said he felt the public had spoken in favor of Gatehouse with the 75 percent votes on Nov. 7. He also had concerns about how the Iowa Economic Development Authority will react to more changes in the city's application for $10 million in state funding through the Iowa Reinvestment Act. Bookmeyer said the bid-off and special council meeting were set for Monday less than a week after the competitive bid came in because the city's lawyers said a public hearing needs to be held within 30 days and by the end of the year. The only way to accommodate those guidelines was to get the process started Monday. Interim City Administrator Kevin Jacobson said Chodur has agreed to drop his lawsuit against the city if his proposal is accepted. G8 had an agreement with the city to build a Marriott hotel next to City Hall. When Chodur failed to meet deadlines for starting construction, he defaulted on the agreement and the city sought other developers. Chodur then sued the city for breach of contract. A court date has been set for November 2018. Chodur has a franchise agreement with Marriott. Gatehouse has been working with Hyatt but has no signed agreement. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate GODLESS Netflix New series! In Steven Soderbergh's seven-part Western series the first original limited series for Netflix notorious criminal Frank Griffin (Jeff Daniels) and his gang of outlaws are on a mission of revenge against Roy Goode (Jack O'Connell), a son-like protege who betrayed the brotherhood. While on the run, Roy seeks refuge with hardened widow Alice Fletcher (Michelle Dockery), an outcast herself, in the worn-down, isolated mining town of La Belle, N.M., governed mainly by women. When word reaches La Belle that Griffin is headed their way, the town bands together. A CHARLIE BROWN THANKSGIVING ABC, 8 p.m. Break out the pingpong table and fix yourself some popcorn and toast, because the annual holiday special that spotlights the importance of Thanksgiving (well, and Charlie Brown and Snoopy's shortcomings in the kitchen) returns. The Peanuts gang also stars in Charles M. Schulz's "This Is America, Charlie Brown: The Mayflower Voyagers," which airs immediately after. IHEARTRADIO MUSIC FESTIVAL: NIGHT 1 The CW, 8 p.m. This music event was taped in September and originally scheduled to air in early October, but the broadcast was delayed out of respect to the victims of the Oct. 1 Las Vegas massacre. This year's festival lineup includes performances from Coldplay, the Chainsmokers, the Weeknd, DJ Khaled, Chris Stapleton, Lorde, Kings of Leon, Big Sean, P!nk, Miley Cyrus, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Niall Horan, David Guetta, Thomas Rhett and Harry Styles. WITH LOVE, CHRISTMAS Hallmark Channel, 8 p.m. Original film! Emilie Ullerup stars as Melanie, a woman who takes her office's Secret Santa a little too seriously. When she's assigned her secret crush, Donovan (Aaron O'Connell), her thoughtful gifts and spot-on notes cause Donovan's heart to melt. But when someone else starts stealing Melanie's credit by pretending to be his Secret Santa, Melanie must work to prove she is the right Santa and girlfriend material. NATURE: "NATURE'S MINIATURE MIRACLES" PBS, 8 p.m. Great things come in small packages. This film tells the epic survival stories of the world's smallest animals, from a tiny sengi, the "cheetah" of the shrew world, to a small shark that walks on land. POLAR BEAR TOWN Smithsonian Channel, 8 p.m. Season premiere! Return to Churchill, Manitoba, known as "the polar bear capital of the world," where every fall, 10,000 tourists descend, hoping to see polar bears as they migrate through Churchill waiting for the bay ice to return. Season 2 kicks off with the episode "Bears vs. Belugas." SEAL TEAM: "THE EXCHANGE" CBS, 9 p.m. In the new episode, Jason (David Boreanaz) and the SEALs have mixed feelings about a prisoner exchange involving an American soldier who was captured after deserting. PROPERTY BROTHERS AT HOME: DREW'S HONEYMOON HOUSE HGTV, 9 p.m. Season premiere! Love is in the air sawdust, too! Renovation pros Drew and Jonathan Scott redo the L.A. pad that Drew and fiancee Linda Phan call home. A SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE THANKSGIVING SPECIAL NBC, 9 p.m. Give thanks for more than 40 years of SNL with this look back at some of the comedy/variety series' most memorable Thanksgiving-themed sketches from over the decades. NOVA: "EXTREME ANIMAL WEAPONS" PBS, 9 p.m. Every animal has some kind of weapon, whether claws or horns, fangs or stings. But why are some armaments huge and extreme, far beyond any practical need? CRIMINAL MINDS: "NEON TERROR" CBS, 10 p.m. The BAU investigates when an unsub in Miami sensationalizes his crimes through the local media in the new episode "Neon Terror." Brought to you by the publishers of TV Guide. TV Guide 2017 There are treasures throughout W. Somers Bookseller shop in Schenectady, but it requires some digging. Nearly every possible spot in the place is piled high with used books, a bibliophile's dream. Owner Wayne Somers guesses his inventory totals about 20,000. While buying someone a rare book for the holidays is a major level up from a hardcover popular book, it's risky. Surprises don't work well for book gifting. (I've been there.) Ask for a wish list of books they want to read; there's no shame in that. And if you're considering a rare book, it might be something you discuss with your intended recipient. It's an investment, after all. Or buy it for yourself and give it to your significant other to give to you. (My usual plan.) "We don't specialize in rare books," Somers said. "Most of our customers buy books for their personal libraries or for gifts from the large stock in the under $10 range we've built up over 46 years. But we do have a section of special books suitable as gifts." "For instance, at the high end, we have a very nice copy of the first major history of the American Revolution, by David Ramsay, published in Philadelphia just six years after the Revolution. That's a bargain at $2,000." He keeps the rare, special books in a section near the front of the store, up a few steps with a handy stool positioned nearby because you might be there for awhile. There are a few places to sit around the store, including in a middle section, almost situated like a fort, for books of nautical interest. There are framed photos of authors throughout the shop, like Colette and Hemingway, as well as Charles Steinmetz, one of General Electric's influential electrical engineers. "Here in Schenectady we see strong interest in the history of electricity," Somers said. The shop, he adds, has the first edition of Heinrich Hertz's "Electrical Waves" ($500), Charles Steinmetz's "Theory and Calculation of Transient Electric Phenomena and Oscillations" ($130). "For military buffs, we have a copy of a 1761 book entitled "Essay on the art of war" for $300.00. Some of the nicest gifts are attractively printed editions of classics. For instance, The Limited Editions Club printings of Darwin's "Descent of Man" ($90) or Machiavelli's "The Prince" ($100), both of which are limited to 1,500 copies." The Darwin is signed by Fritz Kredel, who drew animals throughout. And in the window of the store in the 1906 building is the "Encyclopedia of Union College History," written by Somers, who worked in Union College's library as a bibliographer. Perhaps a special book for an alum? Another option for a gift book is to check out your local museum shops, like the Albany Institute, the New York State Museum and MASSMoca. Artist books and catalogues of recent shows may be found, perhaps including it with a membership. And on Sunday, Nov. 26, you can head over to the Albany Book and Paper Fair at the Polish Community Center for the event formerly known as the Albany Antiquarian Book Fair (albanybookandpaperfair.com). In years past, I've picked up wonderful old postcards there. Those would make sweet stocking stuffers. If you don't give books for the holidays, it might be worth starting a new tradition. In Iceland, they give them on Christmas Eve and everyone goes to bed with their book. For the price of a hardcover, you may be able to snag a few used books for winter reading from Somers' shop. However, it will be up to you to navigate the piles and rows of books. "It's up to the customers to find things," he said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate It's hard to perfect upon good music. Some tweak sound equipment and expand their influences. Others make beer. "We're doing something we've never done before," says Jason Keller, afternoon host for Manchester, Vt.-based WEQX. The independently owned radio station has paired with Shmaltz Brewing Co., in Clifton Park, to debut Independent Ale, a new collaboration beer born from the idea that great music should have its own beverage to round-out the aural experience. "It was about creating a beer that we all thought would go well at an EQX concert, but also goes well with just listening to the radio," Jeremy Cowan says. As owner and founder of Shmaltz, he's no stranger to collaboration brewing. (A term coined to describe beer made with participation of two or more breweries.) Shmaltz has spent the better part of 20 years co-opting the stories and processes of breweries disparate or complementary to create a folio of beers that bring the best of each brewery together for one quenchable brew. From the aptly named Immaculate Collaboration beer made with Cathedral Square (St. Louis, Mo.) to Reunion Ale, an annual creation with Terrapin Beer Co. (Athens, Ga.), the list is extensive. Shmaltz's latest collaboration with WEQX is described by Cowan as "clean, light and crushable" and harkens to the history of his company. "I thought it would be super cool. It's the kind of stuff we used to do in New York City with Coney Island (Cowan's former beer brand) all the time." More Information Stewart's beer tasting Stewart's is making visible efforts to move toward the craft beer crowd, while still appeasing value beer lovers. Now, customers can choose from Goose Island and Sierra Nevada brews while still getting their Coors Light fix. Maria D'Amelia, public relations specialist for Stewart's Shops, says that cold-storage "beer caves" have been added to more than 70 shops, based on the opportunity to fill the growing segment of specialty beer lovers that need the convenience Stewart's already offers. Being intrepid reporters, we at the Times Union took it upon ourselves to sample some of the premium IPAs (short for India Pale Ale) found at Stewart's - including High Cliff IPA, the latest beer under the Stewart's brand. Here, our tasting notes and ranking of our preferred beers from four that we tried. FIRST PLACE Uinta Brewing Co. Hop Nosh IPA (Salt Lake City, Utah) Retails for $10.49 per six-pack at Stewart's Shops Appearance: A darker complexion than other beers, ranging from golden caramel to red. Tasters found it hazy and cloudy with a creamy, lasting head Taste: A nutty, chocolate flavor with hints of yeasty bread that had estery, sweet notes with subtle pine characteristics from hops Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied with a smooth, long and warming finish Other notes: Ranked highest among tasters as their favorite beer overall. (All but one taster listed it as their preferred IPA of the day) TIED FOR SECOND Rebel IPA, Samuel Adams (Boston) Retails for $10.49 per six pack at Stewart's Shops Appearance: Varied between "pale gold" and "copper" for tasters, with a general clear appearance and light lacing on the head Taste: "Toasty," "nutty" and "spicy" were prominent flavors, with a sour-tart finish Mouthfeel: "Silky" and "velvety" described this beer Other notes: "For lager lovers" said one taster, while another qualified it as, "typical of a west coast IPA - a hoppy mess." One more described the beer as "complex and pleasant" TIED FOR SECOND Legacy IPA, Saranac Brewing Co. (Utica) Retails for $9.99 per six pack at Stewart's Shops Appearance: Tasters gave it a hazy gold-caramel description with subtle carbonation Taste: Overwhelmingly rated as having a biscuit/bread quality, while being slightly roasted. Herbal, earthy notes from hops were present while a slightly sour finish Mouthfeel: Crisp and smooth with a long finish Other notes: "Ok, a bit stronger/tarter than others" said one taster. "Not a typical IPA, but a nice change-up," said another. One taster put it squarely as, "middle of the road" FOURTH PLACE High Cliff IPA, Stewart's Shops (Saratoga Springs) Retails for $8.99 per six pack at Stewart's Shops Appearance: Tasters said it was gold in color, with a variance between a clear and hazy appearance. The head, when poured, diminished quickly Taste: Some found it to be "fairly bitter," while another thought it had a metallic aftertaste. Overall, tasters found it to be floral and citrusy Mouthfeel: Overall, tasters found High Cliff IPA to be crisp, light and very drinkable Other notes: One taster thought it was "too bitter," while another said, "nicely balanced and not too hoppy." "Light on the hops for an IPA," said a taster See More Collapse Though developing a beer with non-brewing entities is a stretch beyond the common usage of "collab brews," pairing with a radio station was a natural fit. "Shmaltz and Jeremy specifically, we've been working with them for a handful of years," says Keller, noting that the culture of the Shmaltz brand (and craft beer as a whole) aligned with the WEQX mission of remaining fiercely independent. He adds that the station has been limited on how many projects it has licensed its name to. "It had to make sense with the lifestyle of the station." "It's important to have collaborations that are meaningful," Cowan said. "Personally, I have fun being interdisciplinary." Collaboration brewing pervades the craft beer industry, with new projects being released weekly. "I think there's a couple of reasons. For one, consumers love it when two of their favorite breweries get together to make a beer that appeals to them," says Paul Leone, executive director of New York State Brewers Association. He also finds that brewers take personal enjoyment in the process: "They get to make a beer they aren't used to making and be creative in beer." Collaborations are a marketing ploy as much as a fun gimmick, however. "It's all about selling beer," Leone said, adding that choosing to work with brewers in other locales allows for greater market reach and quick introduction into a new region. David Gardell, owner of The Ruck, a nationally noted craft beer bar in Troy, agrees. "Collaboration brewing helps shed light on newer, smaller breweries. It gives them street cred in a new market." He relates the role of larger, established breweries collaborating with smaller upstates as a master-apprentice arrangement. "A smaller brewery gets helped by someone they emulate or regard. Brewers are surprisingly generous and giving with their knowledge and intellectual property," he said. Gardell has participated in various collaboration brews, including with Sloop Brewing Co., located in Livingston, and the annual Troy Craft Beer Week beer that is brewed with Troy-based breweries. One of those breweries is Rare Form Brewing Co., which has reached across the Hudson to work with Nine Pin Cider (in Albany) for the autumnal release of Hardcore Leaf Peeping, a beer and cider blend that is conditioned with cranberries. "It came out of a friendship with Kevin (Mullen) at Rare Form and wanting to work together. It's interesting for a cidery to collaborate with a brewery. It's also difficult, too," said Alejandro del Peral, an owner and cidermaker at Nine Pin. The difficulty stems from the differences in production between beer and cider. That's part of the reason why beer collaborations far outnumber wine or cider collaborations. "You don't hear of wine collaborations," says del Peral, and he notes that the creativity and expanded availability of styles and ingredients along with a "rising tide lifts all boats" mentality is what makes collaboration beer successful. (Nine Pin has collaborated in other ways, however, for cider-infused goods with Rad Soap Co. in Albany and Collar City Candles in Troy.) Other businesses rely on the collaboration approach to reach a new audience, as well. Shmaltz has been contract brewing High Cliff IPA for Stewart's Shops since July 2017, a concept that Cowan says, "was intriguing from the beginning." "We see craft beer and IPAs as a growing segment," said Maria D'Amelia, public relations specialist for Stewart's Shops based in Saratoga Springs. Stewart's has been selling its Mountain Brew line of beers (Ice and Light varieties) since 2010, but chose to work with a local company to produce its first craft offering to ensure quality control and engage in testing that is more difficult with the Wisconsin brewery that makes Mountain Brew. While Shmaltz and Stewart's collaborated to develop the taste of the beer (Cowan calls it, "balanced, approachable but clearly quality,") the beer is made through a contract brewing arrangement, and not through licensing like other beer projects. "Contract brewing is definitely about economy. It keeps the lights on and covers overhead. It helps us invest in quality, including lab services and a staff large enough to maintain the facility. The goal is to keep paying the bills. But it is also interesting to be on this side, to see the business from a different side," Cowan said. He says 70 percent of Shmaltz's production is focused on contract brewing agreements, a dramatic shift from being a beer brand that was solely produced by contract brewing at other facilities as few as five years ago. "One thing about the craft consumer is they are always looking for something new," Leone said, and whether that's a new tap offering at a favorite bar, made by two local beverage producers, or a cold-case six pack grabbed at the nearest convenience store, the market for collaboration brews hasn't yet lost its fizz. Deanna Fox is a food and agriculture journalist. www.foxonfood.com @DeannaNFox Surprises are so much harder to find in cinema, with previews and social media and marketing demands and a willingness to break down elements of a film that no one has seen. The recent "Thor: Ragnorak" movie was built around a surprise appearance by the Hulk, which was spoiled dozens of times per day before the film was released on every other TV commercial, movie poster, toy aisle and bus shelter in existence. So what a joy to watch "Coco," filmmaking that actively sandbags the viewer, with the emotions of an artist and the mind of a pool hustler. Pixar's new Dia de los Muertos-themed animated movie crams the first sequences with exposition, and then takes a colorful yet light spin through the land of the dead. But everything is leading up to a powerhouse finish. The success of this final act, and the way it transforms the entire film, is remarkable. It's less a twist than a series of puzzle pieces coming together, each one designed by director Lee Unkrich and the story team to make you feel a little more. The end credits sequence becomes a necessary respite. There you sit, composing yourself from an ugly end-of-movie crying jag, wondering what hit you ... More Information **** Movie review "Coco" Rated: PG for thematic elements Running time: 109 minutes See More Collapse "Coco" doesn't always seem headed in that direction. Miguel (voiced by Anthony Gonzalez) is the 12-year-old son of Mexican shoemakers who refuse to let him play music, a set-up that feels like "Ratatouille," with dead music star Ernesto de la Cruz as a spirit guide instead of a dead chef Auguste Gusteau. The beginning includes such a breezy onslaught of history and new characters and context, the writers finally make a joke about how much information they just threw at you. At first, Miguel's arrival in the skeleton-filled realm of the dead seems to confirm that this is just a good movie, not a great one. A goofball character is introduced bumbling grifter Hector (Gael Garcia Bernal) in a film that already met its goofball character quota when it introduced Dante the street dog. But as Unkrich showed in "Toy Story 3," the filmmaker is prone to sudden detours into dark places, expanding his artistic playing field, while trusting that the risks will lead to reward. Miguel's mostly consequence-free adventures develop real stakes, and the traditions of the Day of the Dead develop weight and meaning. (Cool added benefit of this movie, and Raina Telgemeier's 2016 best-selling graphic novel "Ghosts": Idiot adults who think Latino community Dia de los Muertos celebrations are simply an excuse to drink to excess should fall into a shame spiral that lasts until at least 2027.) The film also fulfills a promise that Pixar's artists have repeatedly made, that hasn't necessarily been conveyed in the sunny advertising for "Coco": These movies are being conceived to amuse and move adults, not children. That's great news or a warning, depending on your cinematic entourage; as much as the 45-year-olds were turning into puddles of exposed emotions, there were scared 3-year-olds at my screening who had a steady eye for the exit. "Coco" is the best-looking Pixar movie since the tonally uneven "The Good Dinosaur." The colorful afterlife is the centerpiece, but excellence is found in unexpected places. Miguel's animated fingers are actually playing the correct notes on his guitar. You'll note the knockoff Buzz Lightyear and Woody pinatas in the background of a marketplace scene, and wonder why an animated film has never won a production design Academy Award. But the greatest impact is in the written word. Look at the scene with Hector's lonely friend Chicharron, voiced by Edward James Olmos, who exists on borrowed time. What seems like another comic detour turns into a lesson in savoring every moment, then knowing when to let go. The effect of this scene, and the ones that follow, is like taking a slow climb up a roller coaster track, before you start whipping around random corners and through pitch black tunnels. Except imagine all of the above happening without realizing you're on the ride, until you've started barreling down that first hill. This is the element of surprise that makes Pixar Pixar. "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" begins where most stories should begin, already in progress. The pivotal event, the tragedy from which the central character can never recover, has already happened, and what we see is the aftermath, the crazy things that take place after the world has already tipped its hand and revealed its madness. The movie represents a leap forward for writer-director Martin McDonagh. "Three Billboards" is as clever and imaginative as McDonagh's "In Bruges," in terms of how it makes characters collide in delightful and unexpected ways. But there's just something more going on here, an underlying sense of loss and impending loss, an awareness of sorrow and of the importance of human connection. Extreme behavior pervades "Three Billboards," so it comes as a surprise to look up and realize that it doesn't contain a single major character that is entirely or even mostly evil. In fact, in the strangest way imaginable, this is a rather warm movie, something like the Coen Brothers in its zaniness and bone-deep pessimism, but with a heart. It provides an ideal showcase for Frances McDormand's intensity and single-mindedness. She plays Mildred, a divorced mother whose daughter, seven months earlier, was raped and then murdered by being set on fire with gasoline. McDormand plays Mildred as if seeing that horror before her eyes at every waking moment. More Information ***** Review "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" Rated: R Running time: 113 minutes See More Collapse As the movie begins, she notices three empty billboards outside town and decides to rent them with a message criticizing the local police chief, Willoughby, for inaction. In fact, Willoughby (Woody Harrelson) isn't a bad guy at all. He's genuinely trying to solve the case, which is difficult, while coping with a serious health problem. It's a wonder how much emotional nuance McDormand can convey behind a mask of seeming implacability. She doesn't play for sympathy, and she conveys underlying pain without actively playing pain. She has a lovely scene when she lets her guard down and talks to a deer that appears out nowhere. She also has a beautiful flicker of a moment, when the ailing police chief, in the midst of a fairly contentious conversation, accidentally (and to his own horror) coughs up blood on her. He assures her he didn't mean to do that, and she says, "I know, baby." It's hard to imagine anyone but McDormand bringing to this role such odd combinations of rage, bitterness, perception, tenderness and probity. She is nicely matched by Harrelson, who brings to the police chief the odd suggestion that knowing the worst of human nature can actually make a person more forbearing, not less. "Three Billboards" is very much a screenwriter's movie. Audiences will delight in the dialogue, its virtuosity as well as its economy, while also appreciating the mechanical brilliance of McDonagh's inspiration. Whenever, for example, two characters absolutely must not meet, McDonagh figures out a way to bring them into contact immediately. Watching this movie with an audience, you can feel people catch their breath before some scenes even start, in anticipation of fireworks. That's a serious gift, but one all the more impressive when combined with a penetrating understanding of character. Where another director might settle for stereotypes, McDonagh gives us human beings. Thus, Sam Rockwell an original and underused actor finds one of his best roles in years, playing a dumb cop who starts the movie unable to express any doubt, discomfort or emotional pain except through violence. It's a wonderfully intuitive performance, full of illuminating touches, as when the cop laughs inappropriately in moments of stress and embarrassment. Like the best movies often do, "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" leaves audiences with a complex set of emotions, and with a hard-to-define hint of the profound. There's no message here, exactly, but instead a definite feeling of an undercurrent working beneath life's surface chaos, something worthwhile and humane. If "Roman J. Israel, Esq." is remembered for anything, it will be for the chance it gives Denzel Washington to do a pure character role. Here he's nerdy and socially maladroit and has weird hair; and for the first 10 minutes, you might assume the movie is set in the 1990s or even the '70s: He wears huge glasses, his ties are fat and his lapels are enormous. But no, this is a modern-day story about a man out of his time, a lawyer who had his formative experiences in the 1970s and has never really changed. It's interesting to see Washington play someone out of touch and unaware, someone who doesn't know how he's going over, someone, essentially, without charm. That is, it's interesting without being entirely satisfying. Washington's charm is half his arsenal. "Roman J. Israel" may prove that he can play a role with one hand tied behind his back, but we like that hand. So having proved his point, he doesn't really need to do this again. Written and directed by Dan Gilroy, whose directorial debut was the brilliant "Nightcrawler," "Roman J. Israel" is presented, from its first moments, as the story of a good and valuable lawyer's slide into moral compromise. Interestingly, the scenario is like a mirror image of "Michael Clayton," about a compromised lawyer's path to redemption, which was written and directed by Tony Gilroy, Dan Gilroy's brother. More Information ** Review "Roman J. Israel, Esq." Rated: PG-13 Length: 129 minutes **** Excellent *** Good ** Fair * Poor See More Collapse In such a movie, whether it depicts the journey from compromise to virtue or from virtue to compromise, we have to believe in the character's specialness and moral importance; otherwise, who cares? And why bother making the movie? Unfortunately, it is precisely this part of the equation that "Roman J. Israel" fails to get right. Roman starts the movie as the silent partner in two-man lawfirm specializing in human rights cases. His partner litigates, and Roman sits at a desk, doing the paperwork and figuring out the legal angles. But two minutes into the film, his partner has a debilitating heart attack, and Roman is left with the full case load. He also finds himself out of a job, because he owns no interest in the lawfirm. The movie has an investment in the audience's believing that Roman is some kind of great guy. But what happens? In every single legal maneuver, Roman screws up. In every single contact with another person, Roman annoys and alienates. Watching "Roman J. Israel, Esq." is like watching a very long episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm," only without the laughs, and without a lead character who even knows that he's annoying. Roman has no self-awareness at all, just anguish that he can't connect. Actually, he does make one contact, with a social justice lawyer, Maya, played by Carmen Ejogo. Maya is an important role, because she is the only person who sees Roman's hidden virtues, but as written, Maya's admiration is mixed with pity. Still, the sympathy and intensity of Ejogo's gaze is almost enough to move the audience toward Maya's point of view. Like Maya, we would like Roman to be great, if only because it would make for a better movie. But Roman is bad at doing good, so when he starts showing promise in the other moral direction, it hardly seems like a tragedy. It seems like a smart career movie. Plus, he gets to wear decent suits and finally starts looking like Denzel Washington. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Anyone in the market for a zoo, complete with animals, housing, and ample land? On the market for a year now, Alvin's Bayou Wildlife Zoo has yet to find a buyer. First profiled by Chron.com in November 2016, Clint Wolston's property has had a few nibbles from buyers, according to real estate agent Carolyn Spencer, but no one has ponied up the dough. RELATED: Underrated Texas landmarks you have to visit at least once Speaking of ponies, actual horses would come with the 80-acre zoo. It's located along on FM 517 in Galveston County and is now listed at $6 million instead of the previous $7 million figure. The 81-year-old Wolston is ready to slow down, according to Spencer. Running a zoo is a young man's or woman's game. The property and the animals weren't harmed during Hurricane Harvey since Wolston prepared decades ago for biblical rains. Back in 1979, the city of Alvin was inundated as Tropical Storm Claudette gifted the area with 42 inches of rain in one 24-hour period. This made Wolston build his animal enclosures and shelters somewhat higher than needed. RELATED: What did your favorite Houston landmarks look like during construction? "Everyone was high," jokes Spencer. "If not dry." The zoo survived Harvey no worse for the wear, according to the agent. Wolston employs 10 people, who are in charge of taking care of the animals and guiding roughly 90,000 visitors a year on tram tours. Spencer says there have been offers from prospective buyers from as close by as Round Rock and as far as California. No one has yet to come to the terms that Wolston has set forth. (Don't worry, this video isn't from Bayou Wildlife Zoo...) Now Playing: Herd of Camels Surround Family Car Video: Jukin Media The facility's 500 animals are included in the listing. Animals at the zoo include zebras, a zonkey (not a typo), a white rhino, ostriches, alligators, kangaroos and ring-tailed lemurs. RELATED: Is the Houston Zoo haunted by the ghost of a former daredevil zookeeper? As previously reported, there is a covered picnic area for 400 people, 16 barns, a souvenir shop, sales office, six restrooms, a fleet of Jeeps, and seven trams. To maintain the 80-acre spread, a buyer will also become owner of a bulldozer, grader, backhoe, tractor, trailers, fencing, and other ranch equipment. The property features two miles of trails, 15 lakes and ponds, native trees, and 3,500 feet of waterfront on Dickinson Bayou. The property is between Houston and Galveston, near Interstate 45, the main highway connecting the two cities. The zoo rakes in about $1 million in annual sales and runs at a more than 30 percent profit margin. Wolston said he's looking for someone who can take on the responsibility of such an expansive park. It probably won't be an easy task, but Matt Damon did it in "We Bought A Zoo," so how hard could it be? Just hire Scarlett Johansson. Craig Hlavaty is a reporter for Chron.com and HoustonChronicle.com. He's an intolerable native Texan with too much ink in his skin and too much brisket stuck in his teeth. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate ALBANY Taron Robinson, who was released early from federal prison last year after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, is accused of gunning down a 27-year-old father just months later. Robinson, the 30-year-old nephew of a city councilman and a onetime enforcer for West Hill's notorious Jungle Junkies street gang, was arrested Tuesday after an eight-month manhunt. He was charged with second-degree murder in the death of Christopher Hardy. Robinson is accused of shooting Hardy in his abdomen at 4:50 p.m. on the corner of First and Quail streets. Law enforcement sources said they believed the two men had exchanged gunfire and threats in the days leading up to Hardy's slaying. Previously: Suspect, victim in Albany slaying both have City Hall ties Hardy was the biological brother of Mayor Kathy Sheehan's adopted teenage son. Taron Robinson is the nephew of Mark Robinson, a city councilman who reformed his life after emerging from federal prison a decade ago. Taron Robinson was arrested at a home on New Scotland Avenue around 1 p.m. Tuesday, and arraigned on one count of second-degree murder and violating the conditions of his parole. He is being treated at an area hospital and is in the custody of the Albany County Sheriff's Office. Albany police spokesman Officer Steve Smith declined to discuss how officers found Robinson, what condition doctors were treating or whether the man was injured during his arrest. Previously: Gun violence in Albany: 63 shootings reported in 2016 Police sources and a member of the Robinson family have said that Taron Robinson is battling terminal cancer, and the severity of his disease was a factor in his early prison release. He was among dozens of Albany gang members arrested in a 2006 racketeering case that involved multiple law enforcement agencies, including the FBI. Two years later, he was sentenced to 11 years in prison for selling crack cocaine. Robinson was a violent enforcer for the Jungle Junkies and linked to incidents of gun violence, according to federal court records. He was released from federal prison in May 2016 but was transferred to state custody to serve a three-year sentence for assault. In January, Robinson was released under the supervision of state parole officers until he allegedly fled after the April shooting. BERNE - Think your vote doesnt count? Think again. In Berne, Republican Frank Brady leads by one vote over Democratic challenger Joel Willsey for a Town Board seat and Republicans are putting up a fight to keep it that way. The tally is at 617- 616. Berne Republican Committee Chairman Randy Bashwinger, the towns highway superintendent, said the GOP filed papers with state Supreme Court Monday to keep the Albany County Board of Elections from opening two absentee ballots that could swing the Town Board race. The remaining two absentee ballots werent opened during the paper ballot count Nov. 15 because Berne Democratic Committee Chairman Gerald O'Malley handed in more than the number allowed by a designated "third party." Presumably, those two votes would go to Democrat Willsey. An eight-ballot limit was imposed after a court ruling in a lawsuit alleging that in a March 2004 special primary an "unlawful effort to seize control of large numbers of absentee ballot applications" by Albany County Board of Elections, Albany Housing Authority and several individuals. The case was settled with an agreement that the elections board would adopt written policies and procedures about handling absentee applications and ballots, and limiting the number of completed ballots brought in by third-party individuals designated to pick up voters' ballots. OMalley handed in 10. He said he wasnt aware of the limit. I wonder how many times hes actually done this, Bashwinger said. Up here in the Hilltowns, the Republicans have never been this close except for the past few years. It doesnt come down to absentee ballots, so weve never really check them. Typically occupied by Democrats, several of the Hilltowns elected Republicans in this years local elections. Should Republicans prevail in keeping the two absentee ballots out of the count, Berne would see a majority in elected office. This year, Republican Sean Lyons won the supervisor's seat by defeating from incumbent Democrat Kevin Crosier and will take office on Jan. 1. Republican Dennis Palow beat Democratic incumbent James Cooke for Town Board, and Bashwinger held on to his post as highway supervisor. Party Chairman O'Malley, who is the town tax collector, won another term this year by defeating Republican Joanne Brady. Town Board Democrats Karen Schimmer and Dawn Jordan werent up for re-election, and will serve through 2019. Republicans also won in Knox, Westerlo and Rensselaerville, which usually go blue, Bashwinger said. In 20 years, there have only been five Republicans who have been in elected positions in Berne. Hopefully on our end, we can make history here. Bashwinger said in the last six months he helped create Republican committees in many Hilltowns, rallying support. To have all these towns come out and basically change the way they vote, and vote for a united party is really impressive, he said. It shows that people want change and want things to loosen up a little bit. BALLSTON SPA - Without a court order for a recount, Saratoga County Board of Elections will certify the Saratoga Springs charter vote next week. And with no military ballots returned on Monday, the referendum to change the 100-year-old government will go down by 10 votes. Commissioner Bill Fruci said Tuesday that the board is expected to certify the vote by Saturday, Dec. 2. The vote will be certified by the state on Friday, Dec. 15. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate ALBANY Former U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey, a Democrat who represented parts of the Hudson Valley, Catskills and Southern Tier, died Wednesday. He was 79. His death was confirmed in a statement from Rep. John Faso, the Kinderhook Republican who represents much of Hinchey's former district. Faso called Hinchey "a fierce defender of the environment" who "left an important mark on New York State from his years as Chairman of the Committee on Environmental Conservation." "I served with Maurice in the state Assembly and knew him to be an articulate and dedicated proponent of the causes he believed in and the people he served," Faso said. Hinchey had been suffering from a rare brain disorder that was taking away his ability to speak and caused Parkinson's-like symptoms, his family said earlier this year. The illness, frontotemporal degeneration, manifested after Hinchey overcame colon cancer almost five years ago. There is no medication to cure or treat FTD, which is a form of dementia. The disorder affects an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 Americans, according to the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration. "He's not a person to ask, 'Why me? Why me?'" Hinchey's wife, Ilene Marder Hinchey, said earlier this year. The Saugerties lawmaker joined the state Assembly in 1975, serving until 1992. He was elected to Congress that year. He served in Washington until 2013. Hinchey was one of the first members of Congress to oppose the war in Iraq and was known for his environmental efforts, including efforts to rid the Hudson River of PCBs. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Albany A $10,000 donation in memory of an Albany Memorial Hospital employee who was shot and killed in June has helped kicked off Albany Countys nine-year old gun buyback program with more money than any other year, and allowed it to expand to Troy. The donation from St. Peters Health Partners, parent of Albany Memorial, in memory of 46-year-old Terrance Deke Roberts brought this years donations to the Gifts for Guns program to $17,000, according to Heather Streeter Orth. The Albany County Sheriffs Office donated $4,000, and the Capital Gun Group, a gun shop, has contributed $3,000. We want to make sure we are doing our part to help realize the vision of a community without illegal guns, Virginia Golden, chief executive of St. Peters and Albany Memorial hospitals, said in presenting the health systems gift Tuesday at St. Peters Hospital. We also hope our involvement and support will inspire other organizations and businesses to get involved, and get their colleagues involved as well. Roberts was killed in June at an annual Fathers Day cookout in the citys South End. A fight had broken out between his wife and another woman, and Roberts was shielding his spouse when someone pulled out a gun, his niece, Latoya Wimbush, told the Times Union then. Roberts was shot more than once, with at least one bullet striking his head, police said. A second St. Peters Health Partners employee was at Crossgates Mall when shots were fired there about a year ago, Golden said. She recounted to health system officials the ordeal of running for her life with her grandchild to get safely out of the mall. Illegal guns have no place in our community, Golden said. The Gifts for Guns program has taken more than 650 guns out of the community since its inception in 2008, said Albany County District Attorney David Soares. The program was launched after 8-year-old Kathina Thomas was shot and killed by a bullet intended for someone else. Soares office partnered with Pastor Charlie Muller of Victory Christian Church to create the program. How to exchange illegal guns In Albany County, call Pastor Charlie Muller at 519-434-6100 to make arrangements for an exchange. In Rensselaer County, visit the Victorious Life Church at 1838 5th Ave., on the first four Saturdays of December from 10 AM to 2 PM. See More Collapse Through the program, anyone can exchange an illegal gun for a $150 Crossgates Mall gift card. The idea of offering gift cards came about after officials learned that people were being robbed in the Guilderland malls parking lot for holiday shopping money, Muller said. Its been an incentive, and its worked, Muller said. We go with what works. This years donations are expected to allow Gifts for Guns to take 125 firearms off the street. Muller said he is hopeful the program will be able to run right through the spring and summer months. Shootings have gone up, and people are outside, he said. According to Albany police data, there were 63 incidents of shots fired in the city last year, injuring 28 people and killing one man. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate GUILDERLAND The small share of town residents who were saddled with unexpectedly large school tax bills this fall would see some relief next year under a package of legislation proposed by local state representatives. Assemblywoman Pat Fahy and state Sen. George Amedore proposed three bills Tuesday that would address the unusual spike, which was caused by a significant drop in the town's equalization rate, and prevent spikes like it from happening again without sufficient advance notice. "Families in Guilderland were shocked when they received dramatic increases in their property tax bill almost overnight," Fahy said. "This package of legislation is a multi-pronged approach to offer some relief to these families." Not all Guilderland residents were equally affected by the changed equalization rate, which is used to determine taxes and fell from 88 percent last year to 75 percent this year. Town residents who live within the Guilderland school district saw minor increases. The equalization rate change forced homeowners within the boundaries of the Voorheesville, South Colonie, Schalmont and Mohonasen school districts to pick up a larger share of the tax levy in their respective school districts. Their tax rates climbed anywhere from 12 to 19 percent, resulting in school tax bills that in some cases were more than $1,700 larger than the year before. State officials say there was no way to help taxpayers once the bills had already been issued. But one of the proposed pieces of legislation would allow the town to create special segmented equalization rates for the affected communities that would ultimately help offset the spike in their school bills next year. A second and third bill would increase transparency when it comes to setting equalization rates and allow residents to be better informed when a large hike might be on its way. One of the bills would require municipal assessors in New York to notify their municipal, county and school district leaders when the local level of assessment is significantly different than the state-set level of assessment, which is determined by the state Department of Taxation and Finance. By law, if a local assessment level is within five percentage points of the state-set level, the state will defer to the locally-set level. In Guilderland's case, the local level of assessment was far outside this five-point range. The town appealed the state's level in August, but lost. "What's interesting is the school districts and the Town Board weren't aware there was such a large discrepancy between these rates," said Fahy spokesman Jake Egloff. "Of course, the town had planned on appealing it, but we learned it's actually relatively rare for these appeals to be successful." The proposed legislation would require assessors to keep officials who might be affected in the loop early on, so they can sufficiently warn residents of a possible fluctuation in their tax bill. Another bill would require the state Department of Taxation and Finance to certify equalization rates no later than 30 days before property taxes are levied. Because Guilderland appealed its rate, it wasn't certified until late August. Tax bills arrived in the mail less than two weeks later. Town Supervisor Peter Barber maintains the state-set equalization rate was unfair, and the result of a short-staffed state agency. "These proposed legislative acts should reduce school tax bills in 2018, and will ensure that the town and its impacted residents have an adequate opportunity to challenge proposed rate changes," he said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate ALBANY - The state's top court apparently cannot "bare" to hear another legal argument from a Latham strip joint on the state taxing its admission fees. At least not yet. The Court of Appeals, which includes the seven most powerful robes in New York, rejected the bid from Nite Moves - a club on Route 9 that features dancers who are decidedly disrobed. But an attorney for Nite Moves explained the rejection by the Court of Appeals appeared to be procedural. Call it naked ambition, but he remained optimistic. "I see a ray of light," Nite Moves lawyer Andrew McCullough said. The legal wrangling is not new. The last time a Nite Moves case came before the high court, McCullough explained to the judges that pole dancing was up for consideration to be an Olympic sport. Alas, in a 4-3 ruling in 2012, the Court of Appeals shot down the club's argument that its dances were exempt from sales tax because under state tax law, dramatic or musical arts performances" or "cabaret or similar places" are allowed exceptions. Then in 2015, an administrative law judge ruled that admission charges were tax-exempt because dances on Nite Moves' main stage constituted art. The private dances did not fit the description. In August 2016, the state's Tax Appeals Tribunal determined there was no way for a customer to pay for private dances without paying first for the admission fees. The tribunal found, in turn, that admission fees cannot be exempt from taxes. Nite Moves appealed. The Appellate Division of state Supreme Court, Third Department, in Albany said no. But McCullough said Tuesday the Third Department rejection was over a "filing procedural error." He said the Court of Appeals rejected the appeal of that decision because the club still had other remedies. McCullough said he plans to re-file an appeal with the Appellate Division. "If we do not succeed in the appellate courts, we believe we have found the key to win before the appeals tribunal, and we await our third audit so we can," he said. "It would be in the interest of all parties to settle this on established principles; but the state is resisting this." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A scammer who ripped off a number of people in an upstate county is among the suspects State Police say they are searching for as part of their Warrant Wednesday initiative. John Nemec III, 46, is wanted by State Police in Poughkeepsie for allegedly fleecing a number of people in Dutchess County out of $79,000. A fraud complaint was filed against Nemec in May 2014 in Beekman Town Court, troopers said. He is charged with second-degree grand larceny. Ryan Chillemi, 30, is wanted by State Police in Monroe on a charge of fourth-degree grand larceny. Troopers said Chillemi was caught stealing approximately $1,725 worth of merchandise from a local Home Depot. The warrant was issued in Monroe Town Court. Cierra M. Bell, 30, is wanted by State Police in Queensbury on charges of criminal personation and unlawful possession of marijuana. She was convicted of the charges in April 2017 and sentenced to 52 days in jail but never showed up to serve her sentence, police said. Lamell S. Davis, 22, is wanted by State Police in North Syracuse on charges of drug possession. Troopers said a warrant was issued for Davis' arrest on June 30, 2016 that accuses him of possession of heroin and cocaine while he was being searched by authorities. Jesse J. Kneller, 26, is wanted by State Police in Binghamton on a charge of reckless endangerment. Troopers said after failing to appear in court. Daniyal Khalid, 21, is wanted by State Police in Farmingdale for allegedly driving drunk on the Southern State Parkway in 2015. Carmen A. Arlotta, 32, is wanted by State Police in Boston on charges of driving while intoxicate, marijuana possession and failure to use an interlock device after failing to appear in court. Arlotta was arrested in August 2016 after a traffic stop. Anthony J. Schuster, 35, is wanted by State Police in Fultonville is wanted on a misdemeanor drug possession count. State Police said they arrested him on Dec. 31, 2012, for driving with illegally tinted windows. Troopers said Schuster was caught with controlled substances. The recent changes to federal rules on travel to Cuba are an attempt by the Trump administration to roll back the relaxation of the unfair blockade against Cuba. These actions are detrimental to both our countries. The benefits of "people to people" travel between the United States and Cuba bring our people and countries together. Cubans gain the economic benefits of tourism. U.S. citizens gain better understanding of this sovereign nation, which provides all its citizens with free health care as well as free education through college. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that passed the House of Representatives last week proposes sweeping tax reform, including several measures that could harm the nonprofit sector. As the Adirondack region's community foundation, Adirondack Foundation fights for policies that maximize the nonprofit sector's ability to do the most good for the area. In the Adirondack region, nonprofits are vital to the social and economic health of our communities. A 2013 study by Adirondack Foundation found that the economic impact of just 36 nonprofit organizations was more than $422 million annually, accounting for 1 in 10 jobs. In many cases, nonprofit organizations like the Wild Center, Adirondack Health, Adirondack Experience and others are anchor institutions in their community major sources of employment, draws for visitors, and hubs for social activity. As the Senate debates this bill, Adirondack Foundation urges senators to carefully consider changes that affect charitable giving. We applaud Congress for removing overly restrictive policies on Donor Advised Funds and for keeping the charitable deduction intact, but we're troubled by proposals that could hinder the ability of nonprofits to provide the best services possible to their constituents: Doubling the standard deduction: If approved, this would likely result in fewer people itemizing their taxes, thus removing an important incentive to give to charity. Limiting, and eventually eliminating, the estate tax: The estate tax serves as a major incentive for the wealthy to donate via bequests bequests that often serve as foundational sources of support for nonprofits. Taxing nonprofit college and university endowments to pay for tax cuts: The bill would impose a new excise tax of 1.4 percent on net investment income of nonprofit colleges and universities with assets valued at more than $250,000 per full-time student. Adirondack Foundation believes that all well-managed nonprofits maintain reserves so they can adjust to changes or seize new opportunities. We're also keeping close tabs on a proposal that would allow churches to speak out on partisan matters. Traditionally, nonprofits and churches have been protected from political candidates seeking endorsements. In its current form, it's unclear whether these changes would also apply to other types of religious institutions or other nonprofits. Sign up for the Observation Deck newsletter Read the latest Times Union opinion, perspective and letters to the editor on Mondays by signing up for our Observation Deck newsletter. The Council on Foundations last week released its analysis of the bill. We urge people to visit http://www.cof.org and learn more about the effects this legislation would have on the charitable sector. Independent Sector, a national group of charities, states that the legislation would decrease charitable deductions by 40 percent, or $95 billion, from current law. We have and will continue to communicate our ideas and concerns to Rep. Elise Stefanik and New York's congressional delegation. Through our partnership with the Council on Foundations and Community Foundation Public Awareness Initiative, we will stay engaged as tax reform talks move ahead in Washington. Doug Jones, the Democratic Senate candidate in Alabama, made his name as a U.S. attorney in the late 1990s, when he successfully prosecuted two members of the Klu Klux Klan for the notorious 1963 bombing of a Birmingham church that killed four black girls. The two men were convicted in cases that drew national attention; Bobby Frank Cherry died in prison 2004; Thomas Blanton remains incarcerated on a life sentence. So it came as a surprise to many that President Donald Trump attacked the aspiring senator as "soft on crime." "I can tell you for a fact we do not need somebody that's going to be bad on crime, bad on borders, bad with the military," Trump said in a brief statement to reporters in which he seemed to tacitly endorse Republican candidate Roy Moore. "You don't need somebody who's soft on crime like Jones." The criticism echoed long-running Republican talking points about Democrats. But some said that the attack rang particularly hollow given both Jones's record as the U.S. attorney in Alabama as well as the accusations of sexual misconduct toward teenage women that have swirled around Moore for the past few weeks. MSNBC host Chris Hayes summed up many of the reactions when he tweeted incredulously about the remark. "So Doug Jones, a lifelong prosecutor who convicted the monsters that murdered four little girls is 'soft on crime,' but Roy Moore, the district attorney alleged to have molested a child and sexually assaulted a 16yo is not?" he wrote. "Got it." Hayes added: "Maybe when the president talks about 'crime' he's not actually talking about crime, but something else entirely." Renato Mariotti, a Democrat and a former federal prosecutor in Illinois, pointed out the famous Birmingham case. "I guess Trump doesn't care about that kind of crime, so he's supporting a man who molested little girls," he wrote. Moore has vigorously denied the allegations, with his campaign casting the accusations as a "political farce" drummed up by his enemies. "Ironically, Jones had a tough on crime track record," wrote Joyce Alene, the U.S. attorney in Birmingham during the Obama administration. She cited cases he worked on against Eric Rudolph, who was convicted in 2001 for bombing an Alabama abortion clinic, as well as others she said targeted voter fraud, corrupt police and drug dealers. "Moore on the other hand, often sided with defendants," she wrote, citing a New York Times report that showed how Moore, as an Alabama Supreme Court judge, sided with those accused of sexual crimes or misconduct more than his colleagues, and showed empathy for defendants in other cases. Others have pointed out Moore's record of ignoring court orders as a judge, related to his infamous display of a statue of the Ten Commandments in a state building, as well as a decision, as chief justice of the state in 2013, to reportedly direct probate judges to uphold the state's same-sex marriage ban in defiance of a Supreme Court ruling. For Jones, the Birmingham bombing case features prominently on his campaign website bio. Years in the making, the Klu Klux Klan case was well in progress by the time Jones was appointed to the U.S. attorney post by President Bill Clinton in 1997. In his opening remarks in Blanton's case in 2001, Jones sought to bring jurors back to a darker time in the city's history when it had earned the nickname Bombingham and a reputation for racial brutality. "'When the bomb went off the clock stopped and time for Birmingham stood still,"' Mr. Jones said, according to a New York Times report from the trial. Sign up for the Observation Deck newsletter Read the latest Times Union opinion, perspective and letters to the editor on Mondays by signing up for our Observation Deck newsletter. The explosion "sounded like the whole world was shaking," recalled Rev. John Haywood Cross, according to court documents, blowing plaster off the walls and peeling the face off the image of Jesus in a stained-glass window. A key piece of evidence included a surveillance tape played for the jury of Blanton telling his wife where he had done the planning for the bombing: the area under a bridge where a local group of Klansmen met. Blanton was convicted in 2001. Cherry was convicted the next year, with a case Jones built on testimony from family members, including one of Cherry's ex-wives, and one of his granddaughters, who testified that he once said that he had "helped blow up a bunch of n - s back in Birmingham." "The people of the state of Alabama proved for the second time in about a year that justice delayed does not have to be justice denied," Jones said at the time. Earlier this month, Jones called prosecuting the Klansmen "the most important thing I have done." He tweeted "Pres. Trump on Doug Jones, challenger of embattled Senate candidate Roy Moore: 'We don't need a liberal person in there, a Democrat.' " - - - The Washington Post's DeNeen L. Brown contributed to this report. At a meeting of Titusville City Council, City Manager Larry Manross read a press release detailing why the city felt it was necessary to resci Microsoft's Skype VoIP App Banned in China By Erik Linask , Group Editorial Director The Chinese government is at it again with its attempts to undermine Western tech companies. This time, it has banned the Skype app, which has been pulled from Apples App Store and Android stores. The Chinese Ministry of Public Security told Microsoft the VoIP app does not comply with local regulations. Microsoft is the latest company to be banned in the country; Google, Twitter, and Facebook were blocked years ago. For small businesses that rely on cost-effective VoIP solutions, like Skype, this latest ban hampers their ability to conduct business whether they are local businesses, or international firms with customers or suppliers in China. But, it does highlight the fact that there are many cost effective VoIP services available that will enable them to communicate effectively within and across borders. The hosted cloud-based communications services that are starting to dominate business communications offer not only cost-effective alternatives to voice apps as well as traditional telephony, but they provide an array of business features that make communications more effective, including conferencing, mobile integration, web-based management and control, cloud-based fax, and of course, professional service and support. They also provide a much higher quality of service than Skype, WhatsApp, and other communications apps that are designed for consumer use, but have found a home in many businesses looking to cut costs and corners. According to Infonetics, the cloud PBX market will eclipse the $12 billion mark next year, with more than 62 million seats. Gartner suggests that cloud, as a percentage of overall UC spend, will grow by almost 50% from 2015 to 2020. If theres any doubt as to the viability of cloud communications, recent significant acquisitions in the space should help dismiss it. Cisco acquisition of BroadSoft and Mitels deal to buy ShoreTel are a clear indicator that cloud is the future of business VoIP. So, while Skype may seem like a reasonable option, especially for small businesses, the business VoIP services available today cater specifically to those types of businesses and providing a much more professional communications infrastructure that will reflect positively on any business. As for Skype, the app reportedly still works in China, but users have complained for some time about an inability to update the app or buy Skype credit. While Microsoft says it is trying to have the app restored, businesses everywhere should take the opportunity to reconsider their communications capabilities, whether they currently use consumer apps or still rely on their legacy PBXs. Please enable JavaScript to view the Edited by Mandi Nowitz VANCOUVER, B.C., Nov. 21, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aton Resources Inc. (TSX-V:AAN) (Aton or the Company") is pleased to provide investors with an update on exploration activities at the Semna and East Eradiya prospects, currently underway at the Companys 100% owned Abu Marawat concession (Abu Marawat or the Concession), located in the Eastern Desert of Egypt. Highlights: Channel and grab sampling at the Semna prospect has returned assays of 18.05 g/t Au from individual channel samples and intersections of up to 9.7m @ 5.17 g/t Au from channel sample profiles, and assays up to 10.8 g/t Au from grab samples; Field inspection of the East Eradiya prospect has revealed the presence of hitherto unreported and unknown ancient workings on a very extensive scale, largely obscured by alluvial wadi sediments; A deep ground penetrating radar geophysical survey has recently been undertaken and completed over the Waayrah, Miranda VMS, Abu Gaharish, Sir Bakis, Semna, Bohlog and East Eradiya prospects, with encouraging preliminary results. Mark Campbell, President and CEO of Aton, stated: "Results from the area around the old Semna mine are extremely encouraging. I believe that we have identified a large and significant gold deposit. We will be planning on drilling this soon after West Garida. These results and the exciting new discovery of the hitherto unrecognised ancient workings at East Eradiya, just continue to confirm the huge overall potential of the Abu Marawat Concession area. Our recent two year time extension means that the potential to make multiple large commercial discoveries increases significantly. Semna Prospect The Semna prospect is located approximately 27km ENE of the Companys Hamama West mineral deposit (see Figure 1), and is accessed via desert tracks from either Hamama or the Abu Marawat deposit to the north. The Semna area has a long history of gold mining, during both ancient and modern times. There is archaeological evidence in the area suggesting that mining took place during the early Arab, Ptolemaic, and New Kingdom periods, and possibly dates back to as far as the Old Kingdom period, over 4,500 years ago. In modern times, Semna was exploited by the British between 1904-1906 by two companies, the Eridia (Egypt) Exploring Company Limited and Fatira (Egypt) Exploring Company Limited, that worked the Main Vein on two underground levels. By about 1908 however, the British gold mining industry in Egypt had been almost totally eclipsed by the discovery of oil, and was more or less moribund. There was also some further development work of Semna in the 1950s by a subsidiary of the Egyptian Phosphate Company. It has been reported that the Semna mine had the widest vein exploited during the British era of mining in Egypt, which reached up to 6m width in places, and the British reported mining grades of over 2 ounces per ton. Reports from the British Mining Journal from 1905 indicated that some pillars within the ancient stopes assayed up to 5.5 ounces per ton gold. The mineralisation at Semna is hosted in a heterogeneous quartz diorite body that has been intruded into a package of metasediments with BIF horizons, which outcrop to the west and north of the main Semna mine area. Recent mapping has identified small bodies of outcropping pink granites, probably related to the Younger Granite suite, approximately 750m south of the mine workings. There are 4 distinct mineralized zones the Main Vein and the South Vein have been the primary focus of historic mining, but there are also workings developed on the North Vein and the Central Veins zone (see Figure 2). The mineralization is strongly structurally controlled, and the mineralization is hosted in a series of steeply dipping shear zones that contain the gold-bearing quartz veins. These sub-parallel quartz veins strike approximately east-west and dip 60-70 to the south, but the dip and strike is quite variable within each vein, and the veins noticeably pinch and swell. The auriferous quartz veins carry significant amounts of accessory sulphide minerals, and are typically quite gossanous and rich in iron oxides at surface, as a response to weathering. Levels of copper are elevated, notably in the Main and North Veins. Figure 1: Abu Marawat regional geology, showing the location of the Semna and East Eradiya prospects http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/2a2e1626-3d38-45cc-885c-658c9ea4278c The Company has recently completed a programme of surface sampling over the Semna area collecting a total of 313 samples (see Figure 2). Of these 278 were collected from a series of channel profiles, and 35 were point samples, either grab or short chip channel samples. Channel samples were manually taken using a hammer and chisel, and were collected over nominal 2m intervals perpendicular to potential mineralization, but their lengths were adjusted according to relevant geological controls and features. Samples were dispatched to ALS Minerals at Rosia Montana, Romania for gold fire assay analysis with analytical code AA-Au23 (repeated by AA-Au25 for samples which returned gold grades greater than 10 g/t Au). Widespread gold mineralization at surface was identified from this sampling programme. Figure 2: Surface sample and channel profile sampling plan of the Semna project http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a42b6970-85b8-4a7f-a1d3-0e123ad257f2 The 63 channel sample profiles varied between 2m and 32m, averaging 8m, in length. Of the 278 samples collected, 69 (or 25% of the samples) returned assays of greater than 1 g/t Au, of which 16 samples returned assays greater than 5 g/t Au (6% of the samples). Mineralization was identified in almost all the profiles sampled, and surface channel sample intersections were returned from all the areas sampled (Figure 2). Mineralized intersections included 9.7m @ 5.17 g/t Au (from channel SMC-039 on the South Vein), 6.9m @ 4.24 g/t Au (from channel SMC-010 on the Main Vein), and 12.9m @ 1.55 g/t Au (from channel SMC-058 on the North Vein). A selection of the intersections is tabulated below in Table 1, and all surface intersections are presented in Appendix A. Channel Profile ID Intersection Zone From (m) To (m) Width (m) Au (g/t) SMC-003 0.0 4.5 4.5 4.11 Main Vein SMC-010 0.0 6.9 6.9 4.24 Main Vein SMC-035 0.0 10.2 10.2 2.20 South Vein SMC-039 0.0 9.7 9.7 5.17 South Vein SMC-040 0.0 10.8 10.8 2.43 South Vein SMC-058 0.0 12.9 12.9 1.55 North Vein SMC-063 2.0 9.6 7.6 3.01 Main Vein Table 1: Selected surface channel sampling mineralised intersections Of the 35 grab and individual channel samples, 10 (or 29% of the samples) returned assays of greater than 1 g/t Au, of which 3 samples returned assays greater than 5 g/t Au (9% of the samples), up to a maximum of 10.8 g/t Au from a folded and sheared quartz vein. Results of all grab and individual channel samples are presented in Appendix B. East Eradiya Prospect The north zone, the main area of interest at East Eradiya is located approximately 1000m to the east of the Eradiya granite pluton (see Figure 1), in a broad area of low relief and was identified from satellite imagery which indicated a large area of scattered ancient buildings and ancient workings (see Figure 3). Initial inspection of the imagery suggested that the workings were washing sites and no signs of mining were identified. Earlier field inspection of a previously identified site, the south zone, about 0.7 km to the SE had suggested the presence of ancient processing waste only and no evidence of in situ extraction. Follow-up field inspection of the north zone indicated the presence of large amounts of processing waste from ancient mining activity, and the main area of interest is littered with crater-like dumps with distinctive bowl shaped hollows in their centers (see Figure 4), which initially appeared to be washing sites. However, on closer inspection some of these appear to contain the remains of inclined shafts and several possible crown holes were identified. The sites of at least three shafts are clear, but piles of excavated spoil are widespread and probably indicate further shafts. Crown holes away from the shafts indicate that underground workings are extensive and the amount of surface spoil is very significant compared to other ancient mining sites in the area, again suggesting the ancient workings are very extensive. The whole area is covered by a thin veneer of alluvial debris which largely obscures the underlying geology, but around the shafts this can be seen to be less than 1m thick. Figure 3: East Eradiya prospect (modified from Google Earth) http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/2da6412a-1f98-4c69-85dc-d43514b9a2a4 From the very limited exposure it is clear that the ancient miners were targeting quartz reefs hosted by a shallowly eastward dipping shear zone. The sheared rock is highly weathered and appears to have been intensely hydrothermally altered. Two sets of quartz veins are visible, one sub-vertical, and the other set of veins dipping parallel to the fabric of the shear zone. The vein quartz is heavily copper-stained with supergene chrysocolla and malachite, and limonite after sulphides. From the limited exposures and the surface topography the shear zone would appear to sub-crop over an area a little under 500m long and 180m wide, striking NNE. Other ancient workings have been identified to the west of the East Eradiya, close to the granite contact. The host rock appears to be a tuffaceous andesitic unit, mostly comprising lapilli tuffs. Figure 4: Ancient workings at the East Eradiya north zone prospect (the water erosion feature in the nearest pit appears to be an old shaft) http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c8da1676-d4d4-4421-920a-91fbc62cfe2f Following the identification of extensive ancient workings in the area a programme of deep ground penetrating radar geophysical profiling has been carried out at the East Eradiya north zone. Surface trenching is also planned to expose the mineralised structures to allow mapping and sampling at East Eradiya. Activity update: Metallurgical testwork on the four 120kg bulk composite samples of oxide and transitional mineralised material from the Hamama West deposit delivered to Wardell Armstrong International in the UK is well underway, and preliminary coarse bottle roll and agitated leach tests on the samples have been completed with encouraging results. The crushed metallurgical samples are currently undergoing percolation and agglomeration testing, after which the column leach tests will be expected to be started shortly. Cube Consulting have commenced work on a revised mineral resource estimate for the Hamama West deposit. This revision will incorporate the results of the spring 2017 drilling programme, and will include also results from the Crocs Nose Zone to the south-west of the Hamama West Main Zone, which was not included in the maiden mineral resource estimate. A deep ground penetrating radar geophysical survey has recently been undertaken and completed over the Waayrah, Miranda VMS, Abu Gaharish, Sir Bakis, Semna, Bohlog and East Eradiya prospects, with encouraging preliminary results. The programme was undertaken by Terravision Exploration of the UK, industry leaders in the provision of deep GPR services to the mining and exploration sector. Detailed interpretation of the results is underway, and it is anticipated that the final report on this programme will be completed within the next month. Further sampling programs have now been completed over several of the regional target areas, including the Sir Bakis, Abu Gaharish, Bohlog and Massaghat prospects, and results from these sampling programs will be reported shortly. About Aton Resources Inc. Aton Resources Inc. (TSX-V:AAN) is focused on its 100% owned Abu Marawat Concession (Abu Marawat), located in Egypts Arabian-Nubian Shield, approximately 200 km north of Centamins Sukari gold mine. Aton has identified a 40 km long gold mineralized trend at Abu Marawat, anchored by the Hamama deposit in the west and the Abu Marawat deposit in the east, containing numerous gold exploration targets, including three historic British mines. Aton has identified several distinct geological trends within Abu Marawat, which display potential for the development of RIRG and orogenic gold mineralization, VMS precious and base metal mineralization, and epithermal-IOCG precious and base metal mineralization. Abu Marawat is over 738km2 in size and is located in an area of excellent infrastructure, a four-lane highway, a 220kV power line, and a water pipeline are in close proximity. Qualified Person The technical information contained in this News Release was prepared by Roderick Cavaney BSc, MSc (hons), MSc (Mining & Exploration Geology), FAusIMM, SEG, GSA, SME, Vice President, Exploration, of Aton Resources Inc. Mr. Cavaney is a qualified person (QP) under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. For further information regarding Aton Resources Inc., please visit us at www.atonresources.com or contact: Mark Campbell President and Chief Executive Officer Tel: +1-936-689-2589 Email: mcampbell@atonresources.com Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements Some of the statements contained in this release are forward-looking statements. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions; by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results in each case could differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. 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. Appendix A Semna channel profile intersections Channel Profile ID Length (m) Start Location End Location Intersection X Y X Y From (m) To (m) Width (m) Grade (g/t) SMC-001 14.0 558592 2924755 558581 2924750 12.0 14.0 2.0 1.60 SMC-003 12.5 558579 2924814 558578 2924804 0.0 4.5 4.5 4.11 SMC-004 3.0 558617 2924807 558618 2924805 0.0 3.0 3.0 1.45 SMC-005 7.8 558626 2924800 558621 2924798 0.0 3.3 3.3 1.18 SMC-006 3.6 558636 2924795 558634 2924793 0.0 3.6 3.6 3.81 SMC-007 6.8 558645 2924796 558641 2924793 0.0 6.8 6.8 2.55 SMC-009 2.0 558699 2924768 558699 2924767 0.0 2.0 2.0 2.06 SMC-010 6.9 558709 2924759 558712 2924763 0.0 6.9 6.9 4.24 SMC-011 4.0 558716 2924750 558716 2924752 0.0 4.0 4.0 2.92 SMC-012 7.7 558750 2924752 558750 2924757 0.0 5.1 5.1 2.05 SMC-013 7.8 558762 2924760 558763 2924766 1.8 5.8 4.0 2.52 SMC-014 12.2 558796 2924733 558799 2924723 0.0 1.3 1.3 2.88 SMC-020 2.4 558669 2924700 558669 2924700 0.0 2.4 2.4 0.91 SMC-021 8.0 558669 2924688 558674 2924692 0.0 6.0 6.0 1.22 SMC-022 2.7 558681 2924695 558681 2924697 0.0 2.7 2.7 1.14 SMC-023 8.5 558660 2924679 558666 2924682 6.5 8.5 2.0 1.47 SMC-026 12.0 558697 2924670 558688 2924667 6.0 12.0 6.0 1.40 SMC-027 5.2 558696 2924691 558696 2924694 0.0 5.2 5.2 1.40 SMC-034 12.5 558749 2924606 558747 2924596 4.0 8.5 4.5 1.22 SMC-035 10.2 558591 2924567 558589 2924559 0.0 10.2 10.2 2.20 SMC-036 6.0 558617 2924567 558620 2924570 0.0 2.0 2.0 9.15 SMC-037 3.5 558626 2924567 558627 2924566 0.0 3.5 3.5 2.83 SMC-038 4.0 558636 2924558 558635 2924556 0.0 2.0 2.0 1.08 SMC-039 9.7 558641 2924568 558636 2924562 0.0 9.7 9.7 5.17 SMC-040 10.8 558611 2924563 558610 2924554 0.0 10.8 10.8 2.43 SMC-043 9.0 558668 2924606 558662 2924602 5.0 7.0 2.0 1.01 SMC-044 32.0 558613 2924716 558625 2924743 20.0 22.0 2.0 3.28 SMC-046 11.0 558649 2924721 558645 2924713 4.0 9.0 5.0 1.24 SMC-049 9.7 558573 2924602 558566 2924601 0.0 7.7 7.7 1.25 SMC-056 3.7 558799 2924868 558797 2924868 0.0 3.7 3.7 1.47 SMC-058 12.9 558826 2924867 558818 2924859 0.0 12.9 12.9 1.55 SMC-059 6.4 558907 2924881 558903 2924881 0.0 2.0 2.0 2.62 SMC-061 4.0 558955 2924928 558954 2924929 0.0 2.0 2.0 3.20 SMC-062 20.0 558891 2924600 558958 2924889 0.0 6.0 6.0 1.24 SMC-063 9.6 558700 2924776 558696 2924769 2.0 9.6 7.6 3.01 Notes: Channel profiles sampled over nominal, but not exclusively, 2m intervals Intersections calculated using a 0.5 g/t Au cutoff grade Intersections both less than 2m in width and grading less than 1 g/t are not included in this table Start location refers to the start coordinate of the first channel sample; end locations refers to the start coordinate of the end sample, and not its end coordinate Appendix B Semna grab samples and individual channel samples Sample ID X Y Au (g/t) Sample Type Sample Description 14667 558583 2924755 10.80 Grab Folded quartz vein in shear zone 14678 558713 2924759 2.61 Chip channel Small stockwork quartz veins in sheared, altered hangingwall diorite 16308 558890 2924600 1.46 Chip channel Underground working 40cm wide shear zone, with 5cm quartz vein 16325 558725 2924640 0.92 Grab Main Vein quartz vein in old workings, with some sulphides 16388 558669 2924700 0.18 Chip channel Highly sheared diorite hangingwall of the Main Vein 16402 558715 2924699 4.11 Chip channel Altered diorite footwall 16409 558728 2924600 0.68 Chip channel Hangingwall contact, sheared diorite & 10cm quartz vein 16411 558727 2924601 0.11 Chip channel Footwall, of sheared diorite rock 16412 558715 2924596 0.18 Chip channel Intermediate dyke with 2 quartz veins 16417 558671 2924562 3.81 Grab Shear zone with 10cm quartz vein in old adit 16418 558670 2924563 0.22 Grab Grab sample from old adit, mainly vein quartz 16446 558560 2924612 1.42 Grab Main Vein quartz vein 16539 558517 2924831 0.01 Chip channel Altered and sheared diorite 16541 558509 2924775 0.05 Chip channel Shear zone in altered diorite, with small quartz veins 16542 558554 2924732 0.02 Chip channel Sheared diorite footwall of mined out quartz vein 16543 558556 2924732 0.07 Chip channel Altered sheared diorite, with 10cm quartz vein 16553 558526 2924698 <0.01 Chip Altered, sheared diorite, with 3cm quartz vein 16554 558522 2924664 0.01 Chip Shear zone, with 10cm vuggy quartz vein 16555 558523 2924646 <0.01 Chip Sheared diorite 16556 558522 2924645 0.01 Chip Sheared diorite, with 1cm quartz vein 16564 558575 2924607 7.51 Grab Quartz vein material with 90% oxidised sulphides, from South Vein 16565 558579 2924602 3.99 Grab Dump material from South Vein 16569 558633 2924714 0.90 Chip Altered sheared diorite (hangingwall) 16603 558630 2924724 0.64 Grab Grab sample of quartz with high sulphide 16604 558605 2924772 0.17 Chip Highly sheared rock, with some small quartz veins 16605 558612 2924775 0.07 Chip Highly sheared rock, with some small quartz veins 16612 558467 2924832 0.03 Chip Chip sample from quartz vein 16618 558710 2924972 0.02 Grab Grab sample from quartz vein 16638 558908 2924893 0.01 Grab 2 quartz veins (40cm & 30cm) in diorite 16642 558956 2924924 0.11 Grab 2 intersecting quartz veins 16643 558954 2924924 0.14 Chip channel Highly sheared diorite & sheeted quartz veins, 10cm 16644 558953 2924913 0.29 Grab Grab sample from c.2m wide quartz vein 16645 558954 2924913 1.18 Chip Shear zone & small quartz vein 16651 558930 2924832 9.63 Chip channel Shear zone 16652 558930 2924833 0.29 Chip channel Sheared, altered rock & quartz vein Kentucky Governor Announces New Substance Abuse Initiative Call Center Governor Matt Bevin announced a new substance abuse center is being launched by The Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet and Operation UNITE. The goal is to unite patrons across the Kentucky with proper drug treatment; this initiative is set to begin December 1. Operation UNITE handles roughly 1,000 calls per month from critical locals, desperate for assistance with substance abuse. The new initiative will allow Kentuckians who are either battling substance abuse or have a family member in the holds of abuse, to chat with specialists regarding treatment and resources. Not only must the representatives be properly trained on the fundamentals of call center technology, but these specialists must be well-trained in the area of substance abuse in order to properly screen and assess callers to match them with the best treatment program available. There is also a level of empathy the specialist needs to have to allow the caller to be vulnerable as well as to accept help. This is a debilitating illness and it must be taken seriously. All of these elements must be properly addressed in order for the call center program to be successful. There are so many people across the commonwealth who have nowhere to turn when confronted with their own addiction or that of a loved one, said Nancy Hale, President/CEO of Operation UNITE. They are desperate for answers. They are desperate for help. This call center will guide people toward recovery. It will give them hope. The new Kentucky Call Center will offer referrals to patients who need either private or public treatment, based on insurance. This will also include assistance with medications and those desiring faith-related treatment; a live agent will be responsible for making sure all of the factors are covered down to cost and locale of treatment. This epidemic is gripping people in every corner of our state and every part of our society, said Gov. Bevin. If people dont know about the ability to get help, then help is not going to be given to people. This phone number will connect callers to a live person who understands this exact issue and will link them to community resources that can help. Specialists are being staffed at the Kentucky Help Call Center through UNITE with funding from the Kentucky Justice Cabinet in the amount of one million dollars total over two years. Kentucky residents struggling with substance abuse can get in touch with a specialist by calling 1-833-8KY-HELP (1-833-859-4357). [November 21, 2017] The artificial intelligence in transportation market is projected to grow from USD 1.21 billion in 2017 to USD 10.30 billion by 2030 NEW YORK, Nov. 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- "The rising number of accidents due to human error and increasing focus toward reducing transportation operating cost will fuel the demand for the artificial intelligence in transportation market" Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05210110 The artificial intelligence in transportation market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 17.87% during the forecast period, and the market size is expected to grow from USD 1.21 billion in 2017 to USD 10.30 billion by 2030. The development of autonomous vehicles and industry-wide standards to implement safety features such as the adaptive cruise control (ACC), collision warning, lane-keep assist, and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) would drive the growth of the artificial intelligence in transportation market. Also, the growing demand for convenience and safety has created an opportunity for OEMs to develop new and innovative artificial intelligence systems that would attract customers. At the same time, the high cost of artificial intelligence systems and lack of infrastructure development have been major obstacles to the growth of the artificial intelligence in transportation market. "The market for autonomous trucks is estimated to witness the fastest growth in the artificial intelligence in transportation market" The development of autonomous trucks is considered the key focus of the artificial intelligence technology in the transportation industry. In a fully autonomous truck, the system performs all driving functions on all road types, at all speed ranges and environmental situations. While fully autonomous trucks have not yet entered the market, several companies are planning to develop them in the near future. The increasing concern for road accidents caused due to human error and a global shortage of truck drivers have accentuated the need for autonomous trucks. "The market for deep learning technology is estimated to hold the largest share in the artificial intelligence in transportation market" The increasing adoption of autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles is driving the market for deep learning technology in the artificial intelligence in transportation market. Deep learning technology uses artificial neural networks to study multiple levels of data such as images, text, and sound. Deep learning technology thrives on data. In this technology, a large amount of data and experiences needs to be fed. This helps to identify and generalize the patterns experienced from the data and helps to drive safely. The autonomous vehicle needs to see, think, drive, and learn. Many companies are investing in the development ofautonomous vehicles in which the deep learning technology is used for image processing, speech recognition, and data analysis. Presently, the deep learning technology is used in object detection, advanced driver assistance system (ADAS), crash avoidance, and vehicle telematics control using speech recognition and others. " North America : The largest region in the artificial intelligence in transportation market" North America is estimated to dominate the artificial intelligence in transportation market. Factors such as strong financial position, shortage of truck drivers, strict government regulations for road safety, and presence of leading technology firms have made North America the largest market for artificial intelligence in transportation. According to a New York Times report, the US government spent USD 4.00 billion in 2016 to accelerate the acceptance of autonomous vehicles on US roads. The US accounts for the largest share of the North American artificial intelligence in transportation market. The demand and sales of commercial vehicles are expected to grow in the US in the future. Most of the vehicles in the US are equipped with advanced features such as adaptive cruise control, lane departure, warning systems, voice recognition system, gesture recognition, and blind spot detection. These factors would contribute to the growth of artificial intelligence in transportation market in this region during the forecast period. BREAKDOWN OF PRIMARIES The study contains insights provided by various industry experts, ranging from automotive OEMs to artificial intelligence technology providers. The breakdown of the primaries is as follows: By Company Type: OEMs20%, Tier-II50%, and Tier-I30% By Designation: D level20%, C level45%, and Others**35% By Region: Asia Oceania38%, North America12%, Europe25%, and RoW25% Note: Tier-I are hardware suppliers, Tier-II are service/solution providers **Others include researchers, consultants, and sales managers/marketing managers. Company tiers are based on the value chain; revenue of the company has not been considered. The report provides detailed profiles of the following companies: Continental ( Germany ) Daimler ( Germany ) Scania ( Sweden ) Paccar (US) MAN ( Germany ) Magna International ( Canada ) Bosch ( Germany ) Valeo ( France ) ZF Friedrichshafen ( Germany ) NVIDIA (US) Alphabet (US) Intel (US) Microsoft (US) Peloton Technology (US) Nauto (US) Xevo (US) Zonar Systems (US) Research Coverage: The report provides a picture of the artificial intelligence in transportation market across different verticals and regions. It aims at estimating the market size and future growth potential of the artificial intelligence in transportation market, by application, offering, machine learning technology, process, region, and truck platooning market for artificial intelligence. Furthermore, the report also includes an in-depth competitive analysis of the key players in the market along with their company profiles, competitive landscape, recent developments, and key market strategies. Reasons to Buy the Report: The report provides insights into the following points: Market Penetration: The report provides comprehensive information on artificial intelligence technologies offered by the top players in the industry. Market Development: The report provides comprehensive information on various artificial intelligence technology trends. The report analyzes the markets for various artificial intelligence in transportation technologies across the countries. Market Diversification: The report provides exhaustive information about emerging technologies, recent developments, and investments in the global artificial intelligence in transportation market. Competitive Landscape: The report offers an in-depth assessment of recent developments of the supply chain players which include OEMs, software/solution providers, Tier-1 companies, and startups. Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05210110 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. __________________________ Contact Clare: [email protected] US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001 View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-artificial-intelligence-in-transportation-market-is-projected-to-grow-from-usd-121-billion-in-2017-to-usd-1030-billion-by-2030-300560740.html SOURCE Reportlinker [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [November 21, 2017] Systech International and NKP Pharma Expand Presence in India to Deliver Pharmaceutical Serialization and Traceability Solutions PRINCETON, New Jersey, Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Systech International, a global technology leader in serialization, product safety, and consumer and brand protection, and NKP Pharma, an innovator in the field of designing and manufacturing pharmaceutical packaging machinery, today announced a strategic agreement. The accord allows the two companies to provide software/hardware solutions to the Indian pharmaceutical industry that meet serialization and traceability regulations. "Regionally specific serialization regulations are rapidly rolling out and Indian pharma must meet them to ensure full compliance in order to continue serving a global market," said Harry Saint-Preux, Director - Global Alliances & Channels. "Our partnership with NKP allows for simplified regulatory compliance with a high-end, integrated hardware and software solution." "Systech is the gold standard in the industry for providing premium solutions to meet global serialization an traceability mandates," said Darshan Mevada, Managing Director of NKP. "Our relationship with Systech allows us to provide a fully integrated software-hardware solution that will verifiably meet U.S. DSCSA, EU FMD, and other regulations," said Mevada. To discuss solutions, compliance, and integrated capabilities, meet with Systech and NKP Pharma at CPhI India, 28-30 November 2017 in Mumbai , Stand B50/Hall 6. Systech's software solutions are used by 19 of the top 20 global pharmaceutical companies. Systech is the only company that offers the full stack of Level 1 to Level 5 solutions. Systech, in tandem with NKP's hardware and integration services, can provide the Indian industry with complete and unified serialization solutions that meet audit and validation requirements. About Systech International: Systech pioneered serialization and is defining the future of authentication. For 30 years, Systech has led best practices for global brands across pharmaceutical, life sciences, and consumer packaged goods industries. Systech's presence includes offices in North America, Europe, India, and a partner network in South America, the Middle East, China, and Japan. Cloud-based authentication services are available to companies who want to uniquely identify, authenticate, and trace products from manufacturer to consumer. About NKP Pharma: NKP is a world leader in the field of designing and manufacturing pharmaceutical packaging machineries. Its wide range of pharmaceutical machineries are equipped with the most advanced features for a broad spectrum of industry applications. NKP is committed to client satisfaction with the best usages of its machines. Contact: Systech International Stacey Owens-Perrotta T +1 609 235 3639 [email protected] [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [November 22, 2017] SAI Global Expands Middle East Presence with Dubai Office New office opens in response to increasing regional demand for world-class environmental health and safety (EHS) and IT risk management solutions DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- SAI Global, a leading provider of integrated risk management solutions, today announced the opening of an office in Dubai to help organizations throughout the Middle East enhance their risk management programs. The new office addresses increasing demand and growth the company has experienced since it first entered the region in 2015. SAI Global will build upon a solid customer base established across the region's banking, energy and oil sectors, including Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC). These businesses rely on the company's integrated risk software and learning solutions to mitigate risk through practices that bring transparency, consistency, and accountability. "The market for risk management solutions and compliance training is rapidly growing throughout the Middle East," said Peter Granat, CEO of SAI Global. "There's strong demand among companies in the region for our leading environmental health and safety (EHS) and IT risk software solutions. These companies are ambitious in their goals to be among the best managed companies in the world and our enhanced presence here better enables our commitment to these customers." According to a representative of Agility, a logistics leader in Kuwait "To protect our hard-earned brand reputation and build public trust, it's essential for us to cultivate an ethical culture across ourorganization. SAI Global has really helped us to create awareness, increase transparency and reduce risk. This has enabled us to align our employee conduct with our company values, as well as establish an effective, defensible compliance program with measurable results." SAI Global's Dubai office will be headed up by a locally appointed team of risk management experts responsible for evolving the company's business in the region. As referenced in Gartner's 'Magic Quadrant for IT Risk Management Solutions' (June 2017), "according to 200 inquiries in 2016 and 2017, bringing efficiencies in managing compliance and regulatory reporting for IT-related risks continues to be the primary driver to evaluate IT risk management (ITRM) solutions. We also continue to see more interest among buyers trying to answer inquiries from their boards or customers about ITRM's close link to cybersecurity initiatives. This is especially true in North America and Europe; however, the Middle East, Brazil and India are also showing signs of increased interest in ITRM solutions' capabilities." * SAI Global was positioned the highest for ability to execute and furthest for completeness of vision in the Challengers quadrant of this Magic Quadrant for its digital risk management software. Additionally, in SC Media's recent comprehensive product review, SAI Global's digital risk management software solution achieved "five stars" for the fifth consecutive year. *Source: Gartner, "Magic Quadrant for IT Risk Management Solutions," Khushbu Pratap, Jeffrey Wheatman, Matthew T. Stamper, 29 June 2017. Required Disclaimer: 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 SAI Global SAI Global's world-class solutions and expertise help companies take an integrated approach to the risk management lifecycle. The company has global reach with locations across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific. For more visit www.saiglobal.com. Media enquiries: Bria Lamberton Global Channel Communications Manager SAI Global Level 38, 680 George St, Sydney NSW 2000 M: + 61 (0) 428 009 117 E: [email protected] View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sai-global-expands-middle-east-presence-with-dubai-office-300560832.html [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [November 22, 2017] MIMOS' smart controller for buildings to harness full potential of Industrial IoT BUKIT JALIL, Malaysia, Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- National research and development (R&D) centre in information and communications technology (ICT), MIMOS through its unit MIMOS Semiconductor (M) Sdn Bhd (MSSB) has unveiled a smart controller system for smart buildings that allows facility managers to not only better understand their energy consumption patterns, but also have direct control over it. The Secured Smart Controller (SSC) is an interlinked network of hardware and software, which monitor and control the environment, space and facilities in commercial and industrial buildings. The SSC system ensures optimum operational performance of the facility as well as the comfort, energy-saving and safety of building occupants. The SSC coupled with an Autonomous Intelligent Ambient Control System is an Internet of Things (IoT) solution capable of turning an industrial building into a smart establishment. Reliable and secure, the SSC system has been shown to possess energy savings of up to an estimated 50 percent in lightings and 30 percent in air conditioner applications. Designed to be simple to use, the system autonomously monitors and controls ambient parameters such as temperature, and room space brightness. In unveiling the product, MIMOS has also announced that it is working together with Reneon Technologies, a Malaysian startup that specialises in IoT, smart building and energy efficiency services and solutions. MSSB General Manager an Azli Wan Ismail, who is also MIMOS Vice-President for E&E Sector said: "MIMOS supports local startups company by transferring our technologies. Partnering with Reneon Technologies allows MIMOS to integrate our SSC with Reneon's cloud-based energy management platform to produce a comprehensive energy management solution." Reneon Director Ashwin Menon said: "Our collaboration with MIMOS has allowed Reneon to speed up the R&D process for product development. The expertise and vast knowledge provided by MIMOS together with the market experience provided by our company has allowed us to build a solution that caters to the requirement of the market while keeping costs low and without compromising on features and quality." "This collaboration has certainly been very useful to us and we hope there can be more such collaborations in the future. A market roll-out for the SSC system has been planned by first quarter of 2018," he added. About MIMOS MIMOS is Malaysia's premier Applied Research and Development Centre in Information and Communications Technology, Industrial Electronics Technology and Nano-Semiconductor Technology. As a strategic agency under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI), MIMOS contributes to raising Malaysia's competitiveness by pioneering market creation for Malaysian technopreneurs through patentable technology platforms, products and solutions. Over the past 12 years, MIMOS has filed more than 1,800 Intellectual Properties in various technology domains and across key socio-economic areas. Serving a central role in Malaysia's transformation journey and ICT Vision, MIMOS endeavours to create a culture of innovation by nurturing relationships with internal and external stakeholders, in the spirit of smart partnerships and inclusive growth models and strategies. About Reneon Technologies Reneon Technologies is an electrical engineering company that specializes in IoT, Smart Building and Energy Efficiency services and solutions. Our goal is to assist our commercial, industrial and residential clients in managing their electricity usage effectively which will inadvertently contribute to environment conservation for future generation. To date, we have advocated energy conservation through our solutions for various projects including police stations, local municipality buildings, F&B outlets, office spaces, universities, hotels, factories and condominiums. In total we have completed over 50 projects primarily in Malaysia. Moving forward we would be bringing our technology and solution to other Southeast Asian countries. Reneon Technologies aims to position itself as the Green and Smart Building Solution Provider in the region. SOURCE MIMOS Berhad [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [November 22, 2017] Web Werks Cloud is Ready-to-go With Completion of Meghraj Government Cloud Empanelment MUMBAI, November 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Web Werks, the two-decade data center provider in India has successfully completed the STQC (Standardization Testing & Quality Certification) audit from Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) for its cloud hosting services. The STQC stands for the quality assurance services in IT and electronics through its countrywide network of laboratories. Built up in the year 1980, Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) Directorate is an office of the Department of Electronics and Information Technology, Ministry of Communications & IT and Govt. of India. STQC began its services in the range of Testing and Calibration based on the need for small and medium-sized electronic industry in the country. From a simple testing, calibration and quality assurance support to electronics hardware sector, STQC has situated itself as a prime assurance service provider to both hardware and software divisions. STQC is a globally perceived Assurance Service providing association and claims accreditation by proficient bodies e.g. RvA, IECEE, IECQ, ABL, QCI and more. STQC was appointed by MEITY to audit all cloud service providers and ensure that they meet rigorous Government standards to meet cloud needs of various departments. "As we clear the empanelment of Meghraj Government Cloud by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity), it really makes us proud as we are now authorized to serve Indian Government. This audit proves that our Cloud services, Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and Disaster Recovery as a Service, all are as per the standards required by Government of India . With this, we aim to bid for Indian Government contracts and support the initiative of our Honorable Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi ," said Nikhil Rathi , Director of Web Werks. About Web Werks Established in 1996, Web Werks is an ISO 9001:2015, ISO 27001:2013 and ISO 20000 - 1 and Uptime Institute Certified Cloud Data Center Service Provider in India. Web Werks has been awarded 'the best web hosting award 2017', 'Retailer Of The Year For Best Cloud Data Centers And Internet Exchange', 'Great Indian Workplace Award (GIWA) 2017' and much more. Web Werks focuses on quality-driven, self-managed and fully managed solutions to host services that include cloud solutions, dedicated servers and VPS hosting services on Linux and Windows operating platforms. They also deliver disaster recovery services, Innovative Rapid Cloud backup technologies, work area recovery services, CDN services, etc. They have collaborated with more than 1,000+ organizations globally that include Fortune 500 companies across various business verticals. This also includes Government sectors such as Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited, Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation, NABARD, NPCI etc. For more information, kindly visit, http://www.webwerks.in. Media Contact Priti Shetti [email protected] +91-88283-35555 Corporate Communications Data Center News Web Werks Data Centers [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [November 22, 2017] Frost & Sullivan Recognizes Rift Valley Energy (RVE) for Its Strong Competitive Strategy, Innovation and Leadership in Renewable Energy in East Africa Through innovative strategic partnerships and faultless execution RVE harnesses the power of local energy generation and spurs regional development, through its own innovative (pre-paid) rural distribution network and associated "productive use of electricity" program CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Based on its recent analysis of the renewable energy development and distribution industry in East Africa, Frost & Sullivan recognizes Rift Valley Energy (RVE) with its 2017 East African Competitive Strategy Innovation and Leadership Award. RVE, a majority-owned subsidiary of Rift Valley Corporation, was originally founded in 2009 to satisfy the energy needs of its sister companies, but soon discovered the vast potential of renewable energy resources in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania, for both electricity generation and its rural distribution. RVE develops, owns, and operates renewable energy infrastructure projects throughout Eastern and Southern Africa and - as a local corporation - understands how to address the communities' energy needs best, while also facilitating enterprise growth that will elevate the community. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/608794/Rift_Valley_Energy_Tanzania_Award_Logo.jpg Through continued close collaboration with government stakeholders (e.g., Ministry of Energy and Minerals, Rural Energy Agency, TANESCO, EWURA, NEMC), developmental funders (e.g., the European Union, AECF, the Swedish Energy Agency), commercial funders (e.g., CRDB, AgDevCo), the local tea industry (e.g., the Mufindi Tea Company Ltd., Unilever Tea Tanzania Ltd., TATEPA), and local or international NGOs (e.g., the Tea Research Institute of Tanzania, Energy 4 Impact, Forestry Development Trust) RVE continuously develops and makes available a reliable supply of local renewable-energy industrial generation capacity, while concurrently spurring local and regional economic development through continually expanding electricity access. "Leveraging its parent company's decades-long relationships in agriculture, RVE has a strong reputation for facilitating successful renewable energy infrastructure projects that resonate among communities and businesses," states Frost & Sullivan's Energy & Environment Director, Travis Hough. "RVE revitalizes alliances with local government and surrounding communities, while harnessing domestic and international development financing institutions to bring renewable energy projects to East Africa that would be difficult to develop without strategic partnerships and foreign direct investment." In partnership with the UK-based non-profit organization Energy 4 Impact, RVE launched in 2017 its Productive Use of Electricity (PUE) program. During the feasibility study, 38 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from different sectors and villages in the project region were assessed and about 20 of those (such as agro/food processing and manufacturing) selected for a test-partnership with a local micro-finance institution (MFI). The MFI provides financing to the SMEs enabling enterprises to buycommercial appliances, which helps them with a cleaner and more efficient production. If this test phase proves successful, the PUE will obviously be inflated to cover several hundreds of potentially eligible SMEs in the whole project region (32 villages). Furthermore, only 11% of SMEs are owned or run by women. Through helping women overcome technical and financial hurdles - i.e., business planning and/or access to finance - RVE expects to expand the female service sector with investments in enterprises such as hair salons, egg incubator businesses, and sewing shops. This support will raise substantially the female-owned SME presence in the community, while serving the local institutions, business community, and rural population best by overcoming electricity illiteracy. "RVE understands how public-private partnerships can work towards the mutual benefit of stakeholders," continues Hough. "RVE empowers these local enterprises to improve their productivity and profitability." Although a growing number of corporations value green energy options, pricing is in many instances a constraint. RVE offers an attractive price structure, slightly below TANESCO's (a Tanzania state-owned electric supply company) tariff. "Through decentralizing distributed generation and cautiously capitalizing on the falling cost of renewable energy solutions, RVE's unique energy solution provides industrial capacity at an affordable price, welcoming more local organizations into the electricity fold," said Hough. RVE helps bridging the large supply-demand gap for power in East Africa, making a strong and commercially sustainable investment case for international developers. By leveraging its technical expertise, extensive local network, expert team and stakeholder integration, RVE turns project opportunities into sustainable operating businesses with a huge developmental impact in the region. RVE's faultless execution of strategy, which reflects the needs and circumstances of all stakeholders, is unparalleled. Despite the challenge of long lead times associated with developing infrastructure projects, RVE boasts far better returns than its competitors with well-structured projects that make the default rate almost negligible. For the above reasons, RVE earns Frost & Sullivan's 2017 East African Competitive Strategy Innovation and Leadership Award. Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that leverages competitive intelligence to successfully execute a competitive strategy that results in stronger market share, competitive brand positioning, and customer satisfaction. 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 Rift Valley Energy RVE is - as a renewable-energy infrastructure project development company - a majority-owned subsidiary of Rift Valley Corporation (a Zimbabwean headquartered Sub-Saharan agriculture enterprise with activities in tobacco, timber, bananas and agricultural trading). Founded in 2009 to satisfy the energy needs of its sister companies, RVE develops, owns and operates renewable energy infrastructure projects throughout Eastern and Southern Africa. RVE currently runs a total generation capacity of 4.6 MW in Zimbabwe and Tanzania and operates also a rural distribution network company (in Tanzania only) servicing its neighbouring rural communities under its own "Mwenga Power" brand. In Tanzania, RVE is primarily operating in the Southern Highlands, where the company currently services more than 2,500 rural domestic customer connections across 21 villages, spread out over an area of about 1,000 square kilometres in the Mufindi district. Additionally, 26 schools, 13 health centres, 300 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and the offices of all local authorities are also currently connected to the rural network, yielding widespread developmental effects within the communities in which it operates. Moreover, RVE supports the local tea and timber industries through the provision of either permanent or standby power supply agreements. The rural network in this district continues to grow rapidly, and by the end of 2017, it is expected to cover all 32 villages present in the area. To further expand its business across other parts of the Southern Highlands, RVE is currently in construction of an additional 6.5 MW of hydro generation capacity, spread across four separate locations, each with their own associated rural distribution network. The full RVE project pipeline totals approximately 150 MW and includes a mixture of hydro, wind and solar technologies at varying stages of development. By 2019, RVE expects to be supplying a total of 7,000 customer connections across the area in which it operates. Please visit also www.riftvalleyenergy.com for further information or contact Mr. Franz Kottulinsky under [email protected]. 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: Ana Arriaga P: 210.247.3823 F: 210.348.1003 E: [email protected] SOURCE Frost & Sullivan [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [November 22, 2017] Wirecard Partners with Capital Float to Provide Small Retailers Fast and Customized Loans in India ASCHHEIM, Germany and BANGALORE, India, November 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The leading global financial technology company Wirecard has entered into a unique alliance with Capital Float, the largest digital lending platform in India. Through this alliance, Capital Float will offer its recently launched Proprietor Finance product to Wirecard's agents, comprising of thousands of small retailers in India. The goal is to offer these retailers a unique revolving credit facility called Pay Later. Developed in-house at Capital Float, this working capital finance solution helps SMEs to make vendor payments on time. The small retailer segment in India, comprising a total market of over 15 million retailers, has traditionally been underserved by conventional financial institutions. These businesses can now avail hassle-free working capital from Capital Float, which will help them manage their inventory and cash flows. Pay Later will serve a significant portion of Wirecard's partner base - digital remittance shop owners - as it will enable them to geometrically increase scale of transactions on the platform, resulting in sizeable larger earnings for the retailers. "We are excited to announce our partnership with Wirecard. With close to 20 years of vintage in payment services, they possess immense multinational expertise and a robust network of small retailers. Through this collaboration, we believe that we can expand our borrower base to newer SME segments. We are currently providing finance to Wirecard agents in the greater Chennai area to start off with and we intend to expand our scope to other metros and large tier 1 cities over the next few mnths. We aim to disseminate more than thousand loans to Wirecard agents in the near future," said Gaurav Hinduja, Co-Founder of Capital Float. "We are pleased to be collaborating with Capital Float, the leading digital lending company in India. We are convinced that their top notch processes and products will significantly bolster the business relationships we have with our agents across India. By enabling them with lines of credit, they will be able to maximize their income on the Wirecard platform," said Georg von Waldenfels, Executive Vice President Consumer Solutions and Member of the Board of Wirecard India. 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. Wirecard media contact: Wirecard AG Jana Tilz Tel.: +49(0)89-4424-1363 E-Mail: [email protected] About Capital Float: Capital Float is the pioneer of digital lending in India. With its technological expertise and Big Data Analytics competencies, the company has significantly simplified the process of applying for and disbursing loans. Capital Float frequently evaluates and services segments that are high potential, but traditionally underserved by financial institutions. Founded in 2013, Capital Float is the trade name for Zen Lefin Private Limited, a Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) registered with the Reserve Bank of India. The company has partnered with ecosystems across various verticals such as e-commerce (Amazon, Flipkart, PayTM, Shopclues, eBay, Alibaba, Amazon, etc), travel and hospitality (VIA and Yatra), retail (Mswipe, Pine Labs, Bijlipay, ICICI Merchant Services), digital remittances (Payworld, Eko) etc. The company has raised funding from esteemed venture capitalists like Ribbit, SAIF, Sequoia, Aspada and Creation Investments Capital Management, LLC. Capital Float is headquartered in Bangalore with offices in Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai. http://www.capitalfloat.com Capital Float media contact: Rajath Kumar Marketing Manager Tel.: +91-99161-46475 E-Mail: [email protected] [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [November 22, 2017] Program on Foundations of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning From IIIT-Hyderabad Gets Massive Response HYDERABAD, India, November 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- First batch comprising 250 tech professionals has been enrolled and closed Enrolments for the second concurrent batch open today Special scholarships announced for women in technology Program to be executed with support from TalentSprint IIIT-Hyderabad's Foundations of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, a new state-of-the-art program for technology professionals announced four weeks ago, has received a massive response. 250 software professionals, with a good range of industry experience, have joined the first batch. The program is slated to start at IIIT-Hyderabad's Machine Learning Laboratory beginning January 2018, and will be executed in association with TalentSprint. Registering the response to the first batch, IIIT-Hyderabad and TalentSprint announced that enrolment for a second concurrent batch has begun. The focus this time around is to get more women professionals on board as an overall initiative to promote diversity in technology companies. To this end, special scholarships for women professionals are being offered by the organizers of the program. According to Dr. P.J. Narayanan, Director, IIIT-Hyderabad, "Digital Transformation is an existential imperative that enterprises have embarked upon in recent years. Awareness of current technology trends and development methodologies are needed to be relevant to today's enterprise IT environments. AI systems that were until recently largely in academic research labs,i> have suddenly moved into the mainstream. Added to this, over the past year, is the rapid emergence of AI/ML-based solutions in the mainstream enterprise space." Dr. Santanu Paul, Co-Founder and CEO of TalentSprint said, "The entire narrative in the technology space has changed. AI/ML capabilities amongst working professionals have become a key requirement for career progression and professional relevance. What is interesting is that we have already seen enrolments from across fifty companies, cutting across products, services, and start-up sectors. These are professionals who want to make an immediate impact in their current roles with AI/ML solutions. This is a clear indicator that the market is ready for high-end programs." Ranga Pothula, President of HYSEA, said, "Our diversity and inclusion agenda includes encouraging more women to join and grow in technology companies. Time and again it is proven that women bring distinctive and creative solutions to technology issues. We are delighted that women are being encouraged via special scholarships to join the IIIT-H program on AI/ML. This is great news for the industry." The program is directed by Dr. C.S. Jawahar, a leading expert in the field of AI and ML. He will be supported through the program by a team of academicians and industry leaders. Industry professionals may apply for the program by visiting: https://cie.iiit.ac.in/aiml/. About IIIT-Hyderabad: The International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIIT-H) is an autonomous research university founded in 1998 that focuses on the core areas of Information Technology, such as computer science, electronics and communications, and their applications in other domains through inter-disciplinary research that has a greater social impact. Some of its research domains include visual information technologies, human language technologies, data engineering, VLSI and embedded systems, computer architecture, wireless communications, algorithms and information security, robotics, building science, earthquake engineering, computational natural sciences and bioinformatics, education technologies, power systems, IT in agriculture and e-Governance. About TalentSprint: TalentSprint is a new-age platform to transform the lives of young and practicing professionals. Its blended bootcamps empower professionals with advanced skills in automation, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. Its AI-powered exam preparation platform enables learners to get ahead and stay ahead in a hyper-competitive world. Funded by Nexus Venture Partners and the National Skill Development Corporation, TalentSprint aims to empower One Million professionals. For more information please contact: Sunory Dutt Head of Communications IIIT-Hyderabad. [email protected] Tanushree Kulkarni [email protected] +91-8861005345 Candour Communications [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [November 22, 2017] NEXT Biometrics to Exhibit Latest Advances in Fingerprint Sensor Technology at TRUSTECH 2017 OSLO, Norway, Nov. 22, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NEXT Biometrics Group ASA (Oslo Bors:NEXT), a leader in fingerprint sensor technology, will exhibit its newest products and technologies at TRUSTECH 2017. The annual event focuses on secure transactions, authentication and connectivity solutions used in the financial services and retail industries, enterprise, security and Internet of Things applications, as well as to meet government identification requirements. NEXT advised Media and Industry representatives of its activities: What: At TRUSTECH, NEXT Biometrics will showcase smart cards using its flexible fingerprint sensor modules in addition to demonstrating a new generation of fingerprint sensor technology and scanners./p> For more information, please visit www.nextbiometrics.com. Where: TRUSTECH 2017 will be held at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France. NEXT Biometrics will be demonstrating its advanced flexible and rigid fingerprint sensor technologies at Booth LER C019. When: Nov. 28-30 About NEXT Biometrics: Enabled by its patented NEXT Active Thermal principle, NEXT Biometrics (www.nextbiometrics.com) offers large high-quality area fingerprint sensors in both rigid and flexible formats. The sensors can be implemented in a wide range of product formats, including smart cards, notebooks, time and attendance, USB-sensors, smart card readers, secure tokens and access control systems, and many more are targeted. NEXT Biometric Group ASA is a publicly-listed company headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with sales, support and development subsidiaries in Seattle, Silicon Valley, Taipei, Prague and Shanghai. Contacts: Tom Beermann, [email protected] 408-807-9475 Brian Dobson, DobsonPR.com, [email protected] 203-613-2222 NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN AUSTRALIA, CANADA, THE HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA, JAPAN OR THE UNITED STATES, OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION IN WHICH SUCH RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION WOULD BE UNLAWFUL. Schibsted ASA ("Schibsted" or "the Company") is pleased to announce the successful completion of the offering of 11,880,397 million new B-shares announced on 21 November 2017, equal to 5.2% of the existing total share capital of the Company or equal to 10.0% of the B-shares outstanding (the "Offering"). The Offering consisted of a private placement to institutional investors in Norway and internationally. The Offering received good investor support, and was completed at an offer price of NOK 211 per share, which was determined through an accelerated book-building process. Settlement is expected to occur on or around 24 November 2017. Gross proceeds of the Offering amounted to approximately NOK 2,507 million or approximately USD 305 million assuming a NOK/USD exchange rate of 8.22. The net proceeds from the Offering will be used to strengthen the Company's capital base and to finance strategic acquisition activities, especially within the Online Classifieds segment, where the Company sees opportunities to do value accretive in-market consolidation. The Company's overall strategy remains firm: to continue to build online classifieds traffic and brand leadership positions and to deepen the footprint in the real estate, car and jobs verticals. The recent acquisitions of real estate portal Habitaclia.com in Spain, Avendrealouer.fr in France as well as the purchase of Telenor's 25% interest in the Brazilian operations olx.com are a testimony of Schibsted's strategic leadership focus. Within Media, the ambition is to carry on the transformation into world-class media houses based on strong editorial products. Schibsted retained Arctic Securities, DNB Markets and Goldman Sachs International as joint bookrunners in connection with the Offering (jointly the "Managers"). As part of the Offering, Schibsted has entered into a placement agreement with the Managers. In accordance with the authorisation granted to the Board of Directors at the Company's Annual General Meeting held on 12 May 2017, the Board of Directors has approved the issuance of 11,880,397 new shares (the "New Shares") at a price per share equal to the offer price for the Offering. In connection with the Offering, the Board of Directors of the Company has resolved to set aside the pre-emptive rights of the existing shareholders. The Board of Directors considers this to be in the best interests of the Company and the shareholders since it allows the Company to raise capital more efficiently, at a lower discount and with lower transaction costs than in a rights offering. Following the completion of the Offering and the issue of the New Shares, Schibsted's share capital will increase by NOK 5,940,198.50 to NOK 119,343,994.00, comprised of 108,003,615 A-shares and 130,684,373 B-shares with a nominal value of NOK 0.50 per share. Schibsted and Blommenholm Industrier AS have entered into a share lending agreement in order to facilitate delivery of the New Shares allocated in the Offering on a delivery versus payment basis. As a result, the shares allocated in the Offering will be settled with existing and unencumbered B-shares already listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange borrowed from Blommenholm Industrier AS. Upon settlement of the Offering, the capital increase will be registered in the Norwegian Register of Business Enterprises. It is expected that the New Shares will be issued on or about the time of settlement of the Offering. When the shares are issued, they will be delivered to Blommenholm Industrier AS to satisfy obligations under the share lending agreement. Schibsted has agreed not to undertake a further issue or sale of B-shares or securities convertible into such shares for a period of 90 days following settlement of the Offering with the Managers, subject to customary exceptions. For further information, please contact: Trond Berger, CFO. Tel: +47 916 86 695 Oslo, 21 November 2017 Schibsted ASA Jo Christian Steigedal Head of Investor Relations In any EEA Member State that has implemented Directive 2003/71/EC (such Directive and amendments thereto, including Directive 2010/73/EU together with any applicable implementing measures in the relevant home Member State, the "Prospectus Directive"), this communication is only addressed to and directed at qualified investors in that Member State within the meaning of the Prospectus Directive. In addition, in the United Kingdom, this announcement is not being distributed, nor has it been approved for the purposes of Section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 ("FSMA"), by a person authorised under FSMA and is directed only at persons (i) who are 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 (ii) persons who are high net worth entities falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order, or (iii) other persons to whom it may lawfully be communicated ("relevant persons"). Under no circumstances should persons who are not relevant persons rely or act upon the contents of this announcement. Any investment or investment activity to which this announcement relates in the United Kingdom is available only to, and will be engaged only with, relevant persons. This announcement is not an offer for sale of securities in the United States. Securities may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission or an exemption from registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended. Schibsted ASA does not intend to register any part of the offering in the United States or to conduct a public offering in the United States of the shares to which this announcement relates. This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act. [November 22, 2017] Mundipharma and APR Applied Pharma Research S.A Announce a New Alliance for the Distribution of Nexodyn AcidOxidizing Solution in Africa and the Levant Mundipharma International Corporation Limited (Mundipharma) and APR Applied Pharma Research SA (APR) announce that they have signed a licensing, distribution and marketing agreement for Africa and the Levant Region for the innovative active wound cleanser Nexodyn AcidOxidizing Solution AOS (Nexodyn AOS), currently marketed in Europe, Turkey and soon available in Middle East countries. Mundipharma will have exclusive rights to the product in more than 35 African markets and countries of the Levant including Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, Algeria, Lebanon, Jordan, Tunisia and Morocco. The first launches in these markets will begin in the incoming months following the registration and the obtaining of local authorizations for tariffs and refunds. The global advanced wound care market is expected to grow significantly in the next years as a result of the increasing incidence of chronic wounds, which triggers the need for products ensuring faster and effective wound healing and thus allowing potentially a reduction of overall healthcare costs. The innovative wound cleanser by APR, Nexodyn AOS, can offer HCPs and caregivers a new option for an optimized wound care: while cleansing the wound bed, Nexodyn AOS is able to modulate the lesion's microenvironment contributing to the control of the microbial burden and protecting from the risk of local infection, thus actively sustaining the physiological healing process.1 Moreover, Nexodyn AOS contains hypochlorous acid (HClO), a known antimicrobial agent acting as a preservative by inhibiting the growth of microorganisms within the solution, and preventing wound contamination by exerting a local antimicrobial effect on the wound surface. The antimicrobial properties have been demonstrated against the most common bacteria and, importantly, against multidrug- and antibiotic-resistant strains.1 On the other hand, Nexodyn AOS has a very favorable benefit/risk profile on cell viability preservation when compared to commonly used solutions1, further favoring the physiological healing process. "We are excited to expand our wound care portfolio and look forward to rapidly advancing development and commercialization Nexodyn AOS in Africa and the Levant to maximize its success. We are delighted to have the opportunity to work with Applied Pharma Research S.A and the prospect of growth that this collaboration bring" - says Dr. Ashraf Allam, Regional Vice President, Mundipharma Middle East and Africa region. "We are proud to welcome Mundipharma, a well-known and solid pharmaceutical company, into Nexodyn AOS international partners network. Thanks to this agreement, Nexodyn AOS distribution will further expand across the world, confirming how it fills a gap within the current array of wound care solutions on the market."- says Paolo Galfetti, Chief Executive Officer of APR. About Nexodyn AcidOxidizing Solution AOS Nexodyn AOS is an AcidOxidizing spray solution, characterized by pH<3, RedOx >1000mV and stabilized Hypochlorous Acid (>95% of free chlorine species) - intended for use in the debridement, irrigation and moistening of acute and chronic wounds, ulcers, cuts, abrasions, burns and other lesions. Nexodyn AOS has been developed based on APR's proprietary and patented technology TEHCLO, enabling the production of super-oxidized solutions containing free chlorine species, of which stabilized Hypochlorous Acid (HClO) in very high concentration (> 95%). A wide array of non-clinical experiments and clinical observations suggest Nexodyn AOS to act as a valid support to the activation of the physiological processes that restart wound healing, in presence of a favorable safety and tolerability profile. The convenient and easy-to-use spray formulation completes Nexodyn AOS's profile, providing healthcare professionals with a new tool for an optimized wound care. For more info, please visit: http://www.apr.ch/apr-pharma-products/medical-prescription/nexodyn-wound-healing/#nexodyn-formula About Mundipharma Mundipharma and its network of privately owned Independent Associated Companies (IACs) is dedicated to alleviating human suffering and improving quality of life for the human race. The Mundipharma story, spanning over six decades brings together a visionary approach and a pioneering spirit - what is best told through its patients, employees and the communities across six continents in which they serve. Mundipharma is focused on business transformation by leveraging global leadership in pain and, through a shared spirit of innovation, building a growing presence in antisepsis, respiratory, oncology, ophthalmology, consumer healthcare and other specialty areas. For more information, please visit: www.mundipharma.ae About APR Applied Pharma Research s.a. APR is a Swiss, independent developer of science driven, patent protected healthcare products. The Company identifies, develops and licenses science driven, value added products designed to address patient or consumer needs in niche or rare therapeutic areas on a global basis. In particular, APR is currently focused on 2 (two) areas: (i) internally developed and financed (alone or together with our co-development partners) proprietary, value added products to be licensed to healthcare companies for their commercialization, and (ii) support to third party projects by offering added value R&D services under contract and fee for service arrangements. APR has a balanced pipeline of revenue generating branded products marketed in all major markets combined with a compelling pipeline of products at different stage of development. APR has entered into licensing and partnership agreements with pharmaceutical companies in over 70 countries with international sales on a worldwide basis. For more information, please visit: http://www.apr.ch/ 1. Giarratana N. and Reiner G. Antimicrobial and tolerability profile of a sprayable acid oxidizing solution for wound care. EWMA, Amsterdam, NL, 3-5 May 2017. [Abstract no. EP081] View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171122005215/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [November 22, 2017] NSE Academy Limited names ALPHABETA certified partner for its online courses MUMBAI, India and CHENNAI, India, Nov. 22, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The NSE Academy Limited (NAL) a wholly owned subsidiary of National Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSEIL), has named ALPHABETA INC as a certified partner for online education. NAL currently offers certificate programs in extensive finance subjects in collaboration with select educational and financial institutions. Starting with a certificate course in Equity Portfolio Management, ALPHABETA will grow its offerings and will progressively deploy its courses to enhance the NAL product offerings. ALPHABETA is NALs choice due to the revolutionary nature of its inclusive pedagogical approach using an active learning space which makes the complex concepts of finance intuitively simpler for learners from diverse backgrounds who may lack the mathematics training that has traditionally been a prerequisite. The proprietary app (available on iOS, Android, Mac OS X, Windows) is targeted at graduate, undergraduate and high school students, investment managers, traders and wealth managers. Kirthi Ramakrishnan, President of ALPHABETA, said, The partnership with the NAL is a major validation of ALPHABETAs revolutionary pedagogy using data visualization and exploratory learning in a mobile-first, data-intensive, next-generation app environment. We believe that we are at the forefront of a generational shift in the teaching of finance aligned with the irreversible trends of democratization of investing opportunities and investing knowledge. Even as the platform becomes part of the core curriculum in top business schools around the world, it is institutions like NAL that will truly bring financial inclusion through mass adoption by the wider population and we are proud to be part of that solution. Mr. Ravi Varanasi, CEO NSE Academy Limited, said, The adoption of innovative learning methodologies has always been a priority at the NSE Academy Limited. As smart phone penetration increases, the interactive learning on mobile applications will enable imparting education on anywhere and anytime basis extending the barriers of reach and time. We are very excited to introduce this new concept with ALPHABETA, and believe that the immersive learning experience of the platform will revolutionize the learning of complex financial concepts. Media Contacts: Jennifer Bersamin: +1 646.979.5002, [email protected] For company information: www.alphabeta.io [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [November 22, 2017] iLOOKABOUT Announces Renewal of MPAC Agreement for Municipal Connect Application TORONTO, Nov. 22, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- iLOOKABOUT Corp. (TSXV:ILA) (iLOOKABOUT or the Company) today announced that the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) has executed a multi-year renewal to its agreement with iLOOKABOUT to host and manage MPACs Municipal Connect platform (Municipal Connect) which is used by Ontario municipalities to access detailed property and assessment related information in their jurisdictions. Municipal Connect supports thousands of users from Ontarios 444 municipal jurisdictions to support the delivery of MPACs data to its municipal stakeholders. On the Municipal Connect platform, iLOOKABOUT has integrated MPACs assessment data with iLOOKABOUTs street level imagery, aerial imagery and spatial analytics. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Municipal Connect is a current core offering within the suite of products that we have implemented for MPAC and this multi-year renewal reinforces our long-term relationship while solidifying future cash flow generation, said Laurence Rose, iLOOKABOUTs Chief Executive Officer. The multi-year renewal of our services agreement with MPAC regarding Municipal Connect validates the utility of our comprehensive analytical tools designed to assist municipalities to access MPAC data, stated Jeff Young, iLOOKABOUTs Prsident. About MPAC The Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) is an independent, not-for-profit corporation, responsible for assessing and classifying more than five million properties in Ontario in compliance with the Assessment Act established by the Government of Ontario. MPAC also provides products and services such as propertyline, a secure e-commerce solution for property information, to a number of sectors including banks, mortgage firms and other assessment jurisdictions. propertyline enables users to purchase Assessment, Site, Structural, and Sales data on all types of properties across Ontario in an easy-to-use online store format. Information is refreshed from MPACs database weekly to ensure users have access to the most current property information in Ontario. propertyline can be accessed at www.propertyline.ca About Municipal Connect Municipal Connect is an online platform that provides Ontario municipalities access to assessment data through MPAC in an easy-to-use, comprehensive interface. About iLOOKABOUT iLOOKABOUT is a software, data analytics and visual intelligence company focused on real property. The Company primarily serves the property assessment, property taxation, municipal, insurance, and appraisal sectors, both public and private, in North America. iLOOKABOUT provides powerful data analytics to the real estate industry through its Real Property Tax Analytics software offering. The Companys proprietary StreetScape imagery and real property focused web-based application, GeoViewPort, unifies property related data and enables desktop review of properties. iLOOKABOUT has integrated analytics and workflow management applications into GeoViewPort which create highly valued service offerings for its clients. To augment its technology based offerings, the Company provides real estate consulting services, with a focus on the Property Tax and Valuation sectors. iLOOKABOUTs common shares are traded on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol ILA. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Contact: Laurence Rose Chief Executive Officer [email protected] 1 (647) 920-6383 Jeff Young President [email protected] 1 (519) 671-2188 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [November 22, 2017] Paygilant Meets New RBI Guidelines and Marches India's Wallet Security Forward TEL AVIV, Israel, November 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Paygilant's on-device fraud prevention solution meets the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) most recent Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPI) guidelines. The latest RBI guidelines from October 2017 require PPI issuers to meet the challenges of fraud and customer protection with a strong risk management system in place. These guidelines include: mandatory two-factor authentication for virtual cards, successive wallet payment transactions, and for increasing capped transaction values. Other requirements for wallets include an inactivity time feature, restriction on multiple login attempts, a separate login required for the wallet, a cooling period before adding beneficiaries and a check on the number of transactions per day per beneficiary. These regulations have been introdced in light of the overnight success of mobile wallets in India after the Prime Minister Modi's demonetization policy of last November. According to a recent join report by Google and Boston Consulting Group, the digital payments industry is estimated to reach $500 billion by 2020 and contribute to 15% of India's GDP. The RBI's intention is to encourage the growth of digital wallet transactions but also protect its citizens against payment and identity fraud. Payment providers fear that such strict guidelines will cause friction in transactions and hurt mobile wallet adoption in India. "Instead of additional authentication which negatively impacts the user experience, Paygilant allows banks and mobile wallets to embrace robust risk-based authentication for all transaction amounts on mobile devices in the pre-transaction phase. Paygilant's ability to provide visibility into the payment activity of the user through in-depth behavioral mapping can accurately identify fraudulent attempts and trigger authentication only upon these suspicious and risky transactions. This type of risk-based fraud detection brings greater security and significantly fewer false positives than current anti-fraud solutions, as well as a positive customer experience," says Ziv Cohen, CEO of Paygilant. About Paygilant: Paygilant provides an on-device mobile payment fraud detection solution that minimizes both mobile payment fraud as well as customer authentication friction. The solution detects fraud on the mobile device itself in the pre-transaction phase using device specific parameters as well as user behavior and transaction history information. Contact: Tamar Weiss Marketing Manager +972-52-877-1099 [email protected] SOURCE Paygilant [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [November 22, 2017] Wipro Positioned in 'Winner's Circle' of HfS Blueprint Report on Embedded and Semiconductor Engineering Services Wipro (News - Alert) Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO), a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company today announced that it has been positioned in the 'Winner's Circle' of Embedded and Semiconductor Engineering Services' by the leading analyst firm, HfS Research. The report, titled 'HfS Blueprint Report on Embedded and Semiconductor Engineering Services', was authored by Pareekh Jain, Senior Research Vice President, HfS Research. The firm evaluated the capabilities of 20 service providers on Design, Development, Testing, and Support Services. The report is based on the feedback from customers who have evaluated service providers based on their experience. The service providers were also evaluated based on factors such as innovation, execution and market share. In the report, HfS gives a market analysis and highlights the key trends driving the embedded and semiconductor engineering services. It also provides an insight into the service provider dynamics. This report is a testimony to the exemplary work carried out by Wipro for more than two decades now. Wipro has strong service offerings and consulting capabilities in the embedded and semiconductor engineering space. Wipro's ability to provide integrated solution, incubate new technologies, end-to-end product development capabilities, wide range of offerings and a strong clientele are its key differentiators. The report recognizes Wipro's complete service range, capabilities, strong patent portfolio and innovation credentials, investment in developing workforce capability and client portfolio. Pareekh Jain, Senior Research Vice President, HfS Research said, "Wipro is an embedded and semiconductor industry pioneer with more than 25 years of experience and has strong capabilities across the value chain. They have a large partner ecosystem with critical capabilities, for providing the full stack of embedded and semiconductor services to clients. They are well appeciated by the clients for going the extra mile with thorough and detailed methodology to execution. Among all the service providers included in our report, Wipro has the highest number of clients across the geographies." Anita Ganti, Senior Vice President and Global Head, Product Engineering Services, Wipro Limited said, "We are delighted to be listed as one of the leaders in the HfS Blueprint report. Our deep domain expertise backed by innovative technological products in the embedded and semiconductor space have enabled us to build a large partner and client ecosystem. Wipro also has one of the highest number of patents among the service providers in the industry." About Wipro Limited Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO) is a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company. We harness the power of cognitive computing, hyper-automation, robotics, cloud, analytics and emerging technologies to help our clients adapt to the digital world and make them successful. A company recognized globally for its comprehensive portfolio of services, strong commitment to sustainability and good corporate citizenship, we have over 160,000 dedicated employees serving clients across six continents. Together, we discover ideas and connect the dots to build a better and a bold new future. Forward-looking and Cautionary Statements Certain statements in this release concerning our future growth prospects are forward-looking statements, which involve a number of risks, and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding fluctuations in our earnings, revenue and profits, our ability to generate and manage growth, intense competition in IT services, our ability to maintain our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which we make strategic investments, withdrawal of fiscal governmental incentives, political instability, war, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, unauthorized use of our intellectual property, and general economic conditions affecting our business and industry. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. We may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by us or on our behalf. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171122005294/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [November 22, 2017] Azoya and UnionPay International Team Up to Help International Retailers Increase Black Friday Opportunities in China NEW YORK and SHENZHEN, China, Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Azoya, a leading turnkey e-commerce solutions and services provider, today announced a joint program with UnionPay International, to introduce international online retailers to UnionPay cardholders around the world via a cross-border marketing platform U Plan. The platform is enabling five of Azoya's retail partners from the U.K., Australia and Germany, to launch promotions and drive sales during the Black Friday online shopping festival this week. U Plan is the world's first open cross-border marketing platform to be launched by a bankcard organization. The platform includes a digital alliance of banking applications, Online Travel Agency (OTA) services, deal websites, airlines and online influencers, which provide multiple marketing channels for overseas retailers. Azoya's retail partners, including Feelunique (U.K.) and Pharmacy Online (Australia), are among the first online merchants to participate, alongside Amazon Japan and other major international ecommerce businesses. "We are always looking to improve customer experience and make shopping with Feelunique as convenient as possible," said Joel Palix, CEO of Feelunique. "Our aim is to become a go-to local retailer and Union Pay, with its huge customer base, will enable us to extend our reach even further into China." With support from UnionPay International, Azoya has released promotional banners and targeted campaigns for its retail partners in preparation for te Black Friday sales. In addition, Chinese consumers will enjoy an extra discount when leveraging UnionPay's payment gateways when purchasing from the webstores of Azoya's participating retail partners, with a combined value of over one million yuan as the first phase of U Plan. As the growing affluence of Chinese consumers continues to drive a consumption upgrade, UnionPay is helping to evolve the digital marketing landscape for overseas retailers. The U Plan platform exists to help international retailers ease their entry into the Chinese market, grow market awareness, target customers with better accuracy and improve trust. "Finding the best ways to reach online shoppers is an ongoing challenge for international retailers looking to crack into the Chinese market, as cross-border ecommerce continues to skyrocket," said Don Zhao, co-founder and executive director of Azoya. "By deepening our partnership with UnionPay, we're helping increase the opportunities international retailers have to promote their businesses and drive revenue growth in the market." Black Friday is a feast for cross-border e-commerce, and it could mean a lot more for international retailer. This video demonstrates how Azoya helps international retailers tackle Black Friday sales: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kc4Y7rCb7EY&t=47s. About Azoya Azoya is a leading turnkey e-commerce solutions provider, which endeavors to help overseas retailers break into China via cross-border e-commerce. The company prides itself as being the e-commerce leader that has signed exclusive agreements with the largest number of overseas retailers in China. With its all-encompassing services and dedicated specialist team, the company has won trust from more than 35 overseas retailers in 12 countries. For more details, visit https://www.azoyagroup.com/ About UnionPay International UnionPay International (UPI) is a subsidiary of China UnionPay focuses on international business. In partnership with more than 1,700 institutions worldwide, UnionPay International has extended its card acceptance to 162 countries and regions globally with issuance in 42 countries and regions. UnionPay International provides high quality, cost effective and secure cross-border payment services to the world's largest cardholder base and ensures convenient localized services to a growing number of global UnionPay cardholders and merchants. Now, more than 10 million online merchants based outside the Chinese Mainland accept UnionPay cards. Contact: Dan Dyer Tier 1 Public Relations FOR: Azoya Phone: 513-478-7818 E-mail: [email protected] View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/azoya-and-unionpay-international-team-up-to-help-international-retailers-increase-black-friday-opportunities-in-china-300560951.html SOURCE Azoya [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [November 22, 2017] New York Students to Speak with NASA Astronauts on Space Station WASHINGTON, Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Students at U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York, will speak with NASA astronauts living, working and doing research aboard the International Space Station at 9:15 a.m. EST Monday, Nov. 27. The 20-minute, Earth-to-space call will air live on NASA Television and the agency's website. Randy Bresnik, Mark Vande Hei and Joe Acaba will be asked questions by students. The discussion will include topics about life aboard thespace station, NASA's deep space exploration plans, and scientific research in space. This is Bresnik's second mission to the station, and he serves as the station's Expedition 53 commander. Bresnik launched to the orbiting laboratory on July 28 and is scheduled to return to Earth in December. Vande Hei and Acaba both arrived at the space station on Sept. 12. This is Vande Hei's first space mission and Acaba's third. Both will return to Earth in February 2018. Vande Hei was an assistant professor of physics at West Point. He and his crewmates will speak to cadets in the Department of Physics and Nuclear Engineering. West Point was selected through a competitive process to host a downlink with the station. Media interested in attending the event should contact Kimberly Lewis at [email protected] or 845-938-7907. United States Military Academy is at 900 Washington Road in West Point. Linking students directly to astronauts aboard the space station provides unique, authentic experiences designed to enhance student learning, performance and interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). This in-flight education downlink is an integral component of NASA's Year of Education on Station which provides extensive space station-related resources and opportunities to students and educators. Follow the astronauts on social media: https://www.twitter.com/NASA_astronauts/ See videos and lesson plans highlighting research on the International Space Station at: https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation/ View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-york-students-to-speak-with-nasa-astronauts-on-space-station-300561005.html SOURCE NASA [November 22, 2017] Community Health Systems to Participate in Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2017 Leveraged Finance Conference Community Health Systems, Inc. (NYSE: CYH) today announced that management will participate in the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2017 Leveraged Finance Conference to be held November 28-30, 2017, at The Boca Raton Resort & Club in Boca Raton, Florida. The investor presentation will begin at 8:50 a.m. Eastern time, 7:50 a.m. Central time, on Wednesday, November 29, 2017, and will be available to investors via a live audio webcast. A link to the broadcast can be found at the investor relations section of the Company's website, www.chs.net, and a replay will be available for 30 days using that same link. Community Health Systems, Inc. is one of the largest publicly traded hospital companies in the United States and a leading operator of general acute care hospitals in communities across the country. The Company, through its subsidiaries, owns, leases or operates 127 affiliated hospitals in 20 states with an aggregate of approximately 21,000 licensed beds. The Company's headquarters are located in Franklin, Tennessee, a suburb south of Nashville. Shares in Community Health Systems, Inc. are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "CYH." More information about the Company can be found on its website at www.chs.net. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171122005060/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [November 22, 2017] Dream Act Advocacy Brings Bitwise CEO to Capitol Hill FRESNO, Calif., Nov. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Bitwise Industries, the mothership of technological education, collaboration and innovation in Fresno, California, is taking a stand in regard to the repeal of the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Together with FWD.us, a bipartisan organization comprised of leaders from the tech community who are mobilizing in support of comprehensive immigration reform, Bitwise's co-CEO, Irma Olguin Jr. traveled to Washington, D.C., where she met with members of Congress to advocate for the passage of the Dream Act prior to the close of the year. "At Bitwise, we've fostered a culture of acceptance and celebrate differences," said Irma Olguin Jr., co-CEO of Bitwise Industries. "Whether it's Dreamers that study with us at Geekwise Academy, work for us or are simply our neighbors here in the Central Valley, they are single-handedly changing the face of technology and many other industries. We owe it to them to find a solution. I'm proud to stand alongside them and business leaders from some of the most renowned technology companies the world has to offer, as we urge Washington to act and fight not only for reform, but their futures." The day of advocacy, organized by FWD.us, brought together more than 100 Dreamers and business leaders from major technology corporations, including IBM, Microsoft and LinkedIn. While in D.C., these Dreamers and business executives met with members of Congress where they discussed in great detail the positive impact that Dreamers have had on contributing to the growth of this country and highlighted the ramifications that removing them from the workforce woud have, specifically the loss of $460 billion in GDP over the coming decade. More importantly, Dreamers had the opportunity to share their own personal stories and fears with legislators as the deadline for a vote draws near. On Capitol Hill, Irma Olguin Jr. spent time with legislators representing the state of California. Throughout the day, meetings were held with: "Should Congress fail to act, the human impact will be immeasurable, not to mention the billions of dollars in annual GDP lost in the state of California alone," said Irma Olguin Jr., co-CEO of Bitwise Industries. "There are roughly 225,000 DACA recipients in our state, with a disproportionate number of those Dreamers - those human beings - residing in the Central Valley. Under DACA, these Dreamers were able to legally work, receive an education and even open their own businesses. They've directly impacted this region and helped the Central Valley emerge as one of the fastest-growing tech hubs in the US. Without Congress passing a legislative solution, these Dreamers will lose their deportation protections and have their work permits revoked. The incredible economic progress we've made together will be quickly undone with repercussions, seen and unseen, for years to come." For additional information regarding FWD.us and its mission to bring forth commonsense immigration reform, please visit its website dreamers.fwd.us. To learn more about Bitwise Industries' support of the Dream Act and immigration reform, visit www.bitwiseindustries.com/In-the-News About Bitwise Industries Bitwise Industries is the mothership of technological education, collaboration, and innovation in Fresno, California. Founded in 2013 in downtown Fresno, it is currently headquartered at Bitwise South Stadium. Bitwise is comprised of Geekwise Academy, Hashtag, and Shift3 Technologies. Learn more about Bitwise at www.bitwiseindustries.com. Media Contact: Kyle Kappmeier JConnelly [email protected] 908-975-7827 View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dream-act-advocacy-brings-bitwise-ceo-to-capitol-hill-300561059.html SOURCE Bitwise Industries French English Rueil Malmaison, November 22nd 2017 Refinancing of Arcour, concessionaire of the A19 motorway between Artenay and Courtenay in France Arcour, a VINCI Autoroutes subsidiary, finalized yesterday the refinancing of its credit facilities granted in 2008 by a pool of commercial banks. Arcour signed a concession contract with the French state on March 31st 2005, for 65 years, covering the design, finance, build, and operation of the A19 motorway section between Artenay and Courtenay. After 8 years of operation, Arcour issued a 417 million euro private placement of project bond type, amortizable over 30 years with a fixed rate of 2.817% and subscribed by investors represented by Allianz Global Investors, AXA M - Real Estate, La Banque Postale Asset Management and MEAG MUNICH ERGO AssetManagement GmbH. Concurrently, the 191 million euro loan granted by the European Investment Bank in 2008 has been maintained, and its amortization profile and maturity were lengthened to be aligned with those of the new bond. Thanks to this very long-term refinancing, Arcour improves its financial structure on a sustainable basis. PRESS CONTACT VINCI Press department Tel.: +33 1 47 16 31 82 Media.relations@vinci.com About VINCI VINCI is a global player in concessions and construction, employing more than 183,000 people in some 100 countries. We design, finance, build and operate infrastructure and facilities that help improve daily life and mobility for all. Because we believe in all-round performance, above and beyond economic and financial results, we are committed to operating in an environmentally and socially responsible manner. And because our projects are in the public interest, we consider that reaching out to all our stakeholders and engaging in dialogue with them is essential in the conduct of our business activities. www.vinci.com 2017 IT TMC Labs Innovation Awards Welcome to the 18th annual INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine TMC Labs Innovation Awards, where we honor innovative technologies from a wide range of areas. Winners this year are quite diverse from phones to BSS and 911 solutions. There has been emphasis on bringing solutions to market more quickly, which has obviously been enabled by the cloud. We hope you read them all. But some that stood out to us include the new phone from Digium (News - Alert) as well as the Escene Communication phone dock, which works with Android and iOS. Htek also has a solid showing in the phone space. Other companies we want to highlight are Intelepeer for its Atmosphere Communications Platform as well as TELoIP and Viptela for the SD-WAN solutions. Digium Inc. D80 IP Phone https://digium.com Since the advent of Asterisk, Digium has stood for quality products that are cost-effective as well. The D80 with its touch-screen buttons has an executive-level look and feel, but because its affordable and intuitive, it allows anyone in an organization to have one on their desk. Its completely touch-driven, using a 7-inch color HD screen. It provides a fully-integrated experience, giving users an unparalleled level of functionality with simple, flexible, and robust call handling. The D80 supports up to 100 Rapid Dial Keys / Busy Lamp Fields / Status Indicators and provides touch-screen access to advanced phone applications like visual voicemail, user presence, intelligent contacts, and visual call parking. Although the D80 speaks standard SIP, it also integrates extremely well with the companys Switchvox (News - Alert) UC platform and Asterisk/DPMA. In the IP endpoint space, particularly for its target markets, Digium saw the need for a high-quality, low-cost, high-definition touch-screen telephone. The company felt the competitors in this space either focused on high cost or low quality. To strike a balance, the company took the audio and user-experience lessons learned from earlier generations of Digiums IP phones combined with a wave of lower cost hardware options to bring the D80 to market as a high-quality, low-cost alternative to the competition. The company focused on reliability as well as excellent sound quality across all audio paths, particularly the speakerphone and handset. Because the keys are all software-based, the company can tailor the user interface to the specific context that the user is experiencing for any given function. The large, 800 x 1280 pixel high-definition display with capacitive touch screen also provides a crisp and detailed canvas thats aesthetically pleasing, and graphics that are smooth and snappy to use. The D80 is an extremely easy-to-use tool for making telephone calls and speeding workflow without burdening users with the complexity they might find in other devices. We were impressed with the capacitive touch capacity of the device the same as an iPad, as well as the tight integration with Digiums phone systems. For users, this is a win-win as they can have this integration with open source Asterisk as well as the companys SwitchVox phone systems. Escene Communication Co. Ltd. U7KS Dock IP Phone www.escene.cn/en; www.univois.com The Escene/Univois U7KS is a dock IP phone, stand and a charging port which can dock cell phones and tablets to make a U7KS smart IP phone. It can also be used with UC apps such as Skype and provides superior voice quality than the speaker and microphone of a typical consumer electronics device. There is built-in Bluetooth that can support a mobile phone line feature, allowing users to dock their cell phone as a line of the U7KS. Then an IP phone can answer the incoming call for the mobile phone; transfer the mobile phone call to another IP phone extension; or make a conference call with another IP phone extension. In addition, the phone supports a 5.8G Wi-Fi dongle, which is helpful if there is no wired network connection nearby. The U7KS is the first dock IP phone on the market to dock iOS as well as Android devices (cell phones and tablets) and can use them with those devices to support multiple features. The device uses SIP with the addition of BYOD, so it easily supports OTT clients as well as typical office UC clients and video talking clients. And it integrates personal BYOD-type devices with the IP phone. What we like about this phone is the versatility it works with everything on the market worth working with. That means workers can use whatever devices they like with their work phones. HTEK UC926 / UC46 http://www.htek.com The UC926 is a sleek, versatile, affordable, executive deskphone adhering to the latest SIP standards. And it is designed to meet and exceed the performance expectations of the most demanding of users. The UC926 also is packed with the latest high-speed networking capabilities and LCD technology. The company uses advanced manufacturing capabilities and materials, and the UC900 series products come with a two-year warranty as standard, which should be especially important to ITSPs and dealer networks. There is also an optional UC46 Expansion Module, which can daisychain six units. Each has a color LCD screen with a resolution of 800*480 and 20 programmable keys, each with a dual color LCD. In addition, the company uses the latest Texas Instruments independent dedicated DSP voice processing chipset, the AIC3100, resulting in improved performance characteristics and exceptionally improved audio clarity, unlike other alternatives which use integrated, single, multi-purpose chipsets. Firmware updates are inevitable, and such updates, despite the best operational and contingency planning, can sometimes fail. This is why the Htek UC900 series is designed to withstand such failure. With advanced technical capabilities, the devices will keep in memory the last known working version of firmware and will automatically roll back to this version in the event of firmware update failures, reducing operational downtime with the resultant loss. With the Htek provisioning services, deployments are made fast, easy, automatically, and remotely which saves travel costs and time. Using HTTPS Remote Provisioning Server, simply set the MAC address into the Cloud RPS, and then dispatch the phone(s) to the desired user(s) and location(s). The user then simply plugs the phone or phones into the LAN, the phone(s) connect to the Cloud RPS, where the MAC address is recognized and matched against the user details, and the RPS then starts to automatically provision the phone for use. Additionally, Htek has wide ranging support for the worlds most popular PBX and telephony platforms, including, but not limited to: 3CX Broadsoft UC-One Alcatel-Lucent Asterisk Bicom Systems (News - Alert) Elastix FreePBX Yeastar Xorcom IntelePeer Atmosphere Communications Platform www.intelepeer.com The Atmosphere Communications Platform combines cloud communications, cloud contact center, and enterprise voice solutions into one complete business communications offering. Atmosphere Cloud Communications powers Cloud Calling and Cloud PBX for Cisco Spark unified communications. Its a full-featured contact center solution with IVR, ACD, predictive dialer, agent scripting, cloud routing, and analytics and reporting capabilities. Atmosphere Voice Services enable global voice connectivity over an all-IP network for enterprises and platform providers. Atmosphere also provides services enablement features and capabilities that allow carriers and platform providers to deliver full PSTN provisioning, management, and access to their global customers through any UC platform. Agents can receive calls either through the Atmosphere Contact Center agent interface or through their Salesforce agent interface. It also provides business communications through Cisco Spark applications and endpoints, including traditional desk phones and the new Spark Board. Atmosphere Voice Services delivers high availability, high quality, highly secure voice services to customer premises and data centers via SIP trunking. Some of the product accomplishments are as follows: Fully-integrated voice services platform providing PSTN access and management for Cisco Spark and Meraki; Complete business communications offering that combines network, application, and delivery for seamless service turn-up, reliability, and cost savings for business users, contact centers, and platform providers alike; and A full communications services layer that enables carriers and application providers alike to deliver global PSTN ordering, management, and calling capabilities through any UC solution. The Atmosphere Services Layer leverages APIs, SIP, SIP registration, and soon WebRTC, to enable global delivery of voice services and service management to a wide array of UC solutions and customer endpoints. The first fully integrated deployment was within Cisco Spark and Meraki for IntelePeer customers in the United States in March of 2016. Since then, they have enabled a global carrier in the U.S. and a Canadian carrier to deliver their voice services through Cisco Spark. Using the system, carriers and providers can in as little as four steps deliver their voice services through any UC platform in any region of the world. What we like best about the product is addition of orderable edge devices to enable turn-up of voice services for legacy TDM-based PBXs and for special use cases such as TLS/SRTP for customers who need security but lack the technical capabilities or know-how. We also think the tight integration with Cisco products is a big plus. Finally, the system can be operational as a complete call center in under a month, another big positive. Panamax Inc. BillCall www.panamaxil.com/billcall BillCall is a robust BSS interconnect solution for telecom operators, LTEs, VoIP carriers, aggregators, and clearing houses. It offers accurate billing, charging, routing, accounting, fraud management, revenue assurance, and business management automation. Being interoperable with next-generation network switches, BillCall is equipped with a complete suite of reconciliation and settlement features for mediation, origination, termination, roaming, and transit traffic. The solution helps telecom industry players comply with industry regulations and safeguard business processes with timely alerts, notifications, and detailed reports including mobile applications. BillCall 4.0 was designed to handle painpoints such as different interconnect billing systems for voice, SMS, and data; manual accounting entries; monthly recurring costs; and the complexities of deal agreements, dispute management, and forecasting and financial reports of telcos and carriers. The 4.0 version further simplifies billing processes and reduces operations costs with better time to market. The updated solutions components include the following: Mediation This is the ability to process and normalize the collected CDR files based on the filtration rules and business logic. Workflow Management This triggers email alerts for each approval request. Reprocess Summary Application Reprocess summary generation is based on the status of request as completed. Alert & Notification These allow for deal alerts, costing and rates alerts, FTD, MTD, LTD Alerts, roaming alerts, and more. Reports That includes finance reports, summary reports, a number report, and more. Here are some details about the architecture of the solution and why these aspects of it are important. The BSS interconnect solution comes with a modular architecture and offers an array of carrier-grade features in the form of distinctive modules. Converged Mediation The mediation layer is a critical component of a competitive billing solution, which integrates network elements and data sources. BillCall mediation and its network architecture cover entire billing mediation processes for different communication services like voice, SMS, and data, with a major focus on different processes of OSS, BSS, and network management. A single platform processes various billing models and service provisioning activities. The solution handles all the daily requirements of a converged platform, covering almost all the business segments and services management. Converged Interconnect BillCall Convergent Billing is a scalable and versatile billing system with modular architecture for various interfaces to external systems. It aligns well with the service provider business model and offers an end-to-end billing solution for all types of networks, services, and subscribers. This convergent real-time rating, charging, and billing system with extensive financial management capabilities integrates all service charges into a single customer invoice and gives a unified view to customers. Roaming Interconnect International roaming business is currently going through some major changes like increased competition, diverse roaming regulation, economic crisis, and increased traffic steering potential. BillCall Roaming Interconnect solution helps increase the scope of wholesale roaming negotiations between operators for different services. The system provides billing information for roaming partners, their billing vendors, and data clearinghouses, which helps operators in inter-carrier financial settlement and end user billing for roaming related charges. BillCall Roaming Interconnect enables operators to concentrate on their roaming negotiations and provides steps to be taken for improving their profitability on international roaming. Carrier Interconnect - BillCall is a multi-tasking resource management system for wholesale carriers. It generates dynamic reports and helps business processes like sales, support, disputes, rates, routing, and accounts & finance to run smoothly. BillCall Billing Management solution can easily maintain call detail records that serve as the output to any billing system format, easing the integration with third-party billing platforms. Deal Management This enables the SMEs and large enterprises to create deals and obtain various reports based on a deal and its execution. This segment of wholesale VoIP allows participants to increase the revenue by exchanging volume or time-based destination rates. Dispute Management - BillCall Dispute Management is a proficient and efficient system of dispute handling, capable of tracking and managing all types of disputes in the system. The system identifies the discrepancies as soon as they occur, verifies the loopholes, and resolves them instantly. It settles general disputes or inconsistencies on the basis of agreement and through vendor invoice reconciliation. Fraud Management - Telecommunications fraud is one of the largest causes of revenue loss for service providers and has been a fact of life in the telecommunications business. BillCall Fraud Management helps to overcome frauds and activities like account provides evidence of a NO Intention To Pay (NITP) for the services used. Revenue Assurance - Revenue assurance is a business process to identify, measure, and prevent the risk point of revenue leakage, the difference between expected revenue and actual revenue for minimum opportunity loss. BillCall Revenue Assurance limits the amount of money lost due to faulty billing systems, redundantly provided services, and fraud. It helps improve customer experience and increase billing accuracy by removing the inconsistencies in the bill. It involves all the data quality and process improvement methods that improve profits, revenues, and cash flows without influencing the demand. Dynamic Routing Manager - BillCall Route Management is a scalable, fully automated least cost routing system, using complex longest-digit match algorithms to manage routing for VoIP switches. Least cost routes are prioritized on profitability, and non-profitable routes are blocked automatically. It is also designed to minimize the amount of hands-on time required to manage the routing and updating of user switches. This solution automatically imports carriers, codes, and rates from existing billing systems, eliminating duplicate data entry errors. Dynamic Rating Manager - BillCall provides advanced Rate Management. It automates customer rate notifications and manages the vendor rates for relevant dates, codes, and country group minutely with optimum accuracy. All the carriers use a different rate format for rate presentation while some of them use CSV, the others use Excel format. The interactive rate upload process of BillCall Rate Management provides a comparison between new and existing rates and reviews the uploaded rates for validity and accuracy. All of these BillCall modules can be offered as an all-in-one bundle for complete BSS Interconnect Solution or each one of them can be provisioned separately, depending upon the needs of MNOs/LTEs/MVNOs, carriers, aggregators and other communications service providers. The solution brings automation with billing, charging, routing, dispute, contract management, trouble ticketing, deals, alerts with synchronization, and business intelligence. The solution helps them offer best-in-class services to their customers with accuracy, while the system handles all other functions and operations for them. BillCall easily integrates with any third-party tools and leverages the existing infrastructure to offer extended services with minimum SaaS, PaaS, and license models. We were most impressed with the Fraud Management and Dispute Management capabilities of the BillCall solution as they target important and costly painpoints for a variety of global operators. TELoIP VINO SD-WAN www.teloip.com TELoIP provides SD-WAN-as-a-Service, including core transport and orchestration, delivered in a 100 percent channel model. It eliminates barriers to SD-WAN adoption by leveraging a turnkey, multi-tenant cloud (the TELoIP Cloud) with nine points of entry in North America. Each is located in a carrier-neutral facility, allowing the company to provide a plethora of blended transit services co-located in these sites. Partners use their VINO Edge technology to access the TELoIP Cloud and build managed SD-WAN solutions for their customers. TELoIPs strategy is based on the premise that MPLS cannot meet the growing WAN and public cloud needs of business customers, they need to do something disruptive. SD-WAN allows enterprises to take advantage of broadband pricing across multiple aggregated service provider connections while ensuring reliability and performance at MPLS levels. The TELoIP Cloud creates a Virtual Intelligent Network Overlay (VINO) that unifies all branch traffic into a single cloud-managed SD-WAN overlay connection. TELoIP provides a comprehensive solution to replace MPLS for private cloud applications and ensure unbreakable tethers for public cloud applications while optimizing both WAN and internet traffic. TELoIP was founded in 2002 and has spent the past 15 years developing and patenting core technology elements of software-defined networks. It currently holds 18 granted patents with another 20 in various stages of approval, giving the company a very strong intellectual property position. The following infographic describes the services offered by TELoIP: The following diagram describes the placement of technology within the TELoIP SD-WAN-as-a-Service solution: Heres a description of whats happening in this diagram, working from left to right. At the customer location a VINO Edge CPE is installed. This CPE can aggregate up to eight underlay circuits to create a VINO. The VINO overlay links each branch to the proximal point of presence, which has fully redundant versions of the VM9000 controller and gateway software running on black box OEM hardware under VMWare in a resilient architecture. Each PoP is located in a carrier-neutral facility, allowing it to take advantage of transit services from providers such as GTT and NTT. All analytics traffic is passed to Google (News - Alert) BigQuery, which acts as the data lake for the VINO Portal. Thats a network orchestration platform including all key functions required to run a managed service with full multi-tenant/role-based access control capability for order entry, MACD (move, add, change, delete) sub-system and full NMS with complete network and applications visibility. At each PoP they break out to the public internet to create unbreakable Cloud Tethers to pubic SaaS services like Office365, hosted voice (i.e. Jive), etc. Finally they can provide access up to 1 Gbps for HQ/data centers with active/active or active/passive HA configurations. There is a lot to like about the solution some of our favorites include: The six patent-protected technologies: ANA, MDPS, IPDE, VWAN, Multi-PoP, cloud orchestration; Underlay circuit management (bring your own broadband internet, MPLS or LTE); No missing diagnostic tools (a complete analytics and diagnostics solution is provided by the VINO Portal) and Full multi-tenancy and role-based access control across the solution. Moreover, we really like the companys IPDE WPD (Weighted Packet Distribution) used for traffic shaping with the following features: Batch packet processing efficiency within the aggregation & RLA Bandwidth function; Zero Weight Payload for high cost backup links when all the other links go down; and Phase-2 failover used by MDPS sets a link to zero weighted payload until recovered. Finally, we were very impressed with the following recent improvements: Support for policy-based routing in control plane supporting per application/port controls and decisions and traffic tromboning; VINO Portal support for all CPE configuration parameters; Enhanced tools for VoIP call analytics and troubleshooting including PCAP capture, trace analysis, and call replay; Network-wide QoE visualization and analytics; Cloud-based management of UTM firewall and NAT functions; and North American-wide enhancement of TELoIP Cloud capacity. Viptela Viptela SEN (Secure Extensible Network) platform http://viptela.com/ Viptela has developed the Viptela SEN (Secure Extensible Network) platform SD-WAN technology that virtualizes wide area network infrastructure to allow for fast roll out of voice, video, and data applications using links across the extended enterprise, including remote offices, branches, ATMs, retail outlets, campuses, data centers, and more. For service providers, Viptela SD-WAN platform opens up new opportunities by unifying WAN connection management (MPLS, internet, and 4G/LTE), segmenting traffic, enabling cloud transformation, providing zero-touch provisioning, and supporting application-aware routing for enterprise customers. The platforms technologies for virtualizing the WAN allow enterprises to modernize and optimize their infrastructure for agility and high performance. Bandwidth requirements generated by cloud, mobile, voice, and unified communications applications are making the use of MPLS connections cost prohibitive. Viptela solves these challenges by enabling enterprises to deploy an SD-WAN that supports any combination of connections (MPLS, broadband, wireless 3G/4G LTE, etc.) and unifies provisioning and management across cloud and data center resources for hundreds or even thousands of sites. Viptela SEN virtualizes WAN infrastructure to allow for fast rollout across the extended enterprise, including remote offices, branches, etc, at a 50 percent lower cost with 10 times more bandwidth and five times higher voice and cloud performance than some alternatives. Turning on broadband is challenging. Voice and video applications are sensitive to latency, jitter, and packet loss. Viptela SD-WAN determines in real time which links will meet service level agreements for voice and video traffic to avoid network performance issues and outages. Viptela introduces resiliency at every level of the network: link, device, network, controller, application, etc. So there is reliable performance on voice and every other real-time application. The solution natively supports any transport method including 3G/4G/LTE wireless for resiliency and to support sites that use wireless LANs, rely on mobile/cellular connections and retail/ATM branches that want to use wireless as a backup circuit. Instead of independently managing hundreds or thousands of network devices and their configurations, Viptela centralizes management using a policy-based virtualized network overlay. This enables service providers to implement WAN policy or configuration changes that used to take six to 18 months, within days. Viptela also provides a single view of resource usage and application performance, and automatically steers application traffic through the best paths based on changing network conditions. This leads to reliable performance even during failures, and on average increases bandwidth by more than 10 times and decreases latency for cloud applications up to 500 percent. Viptela is able to roll out out zero-touch deployments at thousands of sites with centralized management. Existing customers have brought up 20 to 40 remote sites in a single day; and major carriers including Verizon and Singtel are using Viptela to deliver managed SD-WAN services. The Viptela SEN solution contains various components. vEdge routers, which can be deployed in HW as well as SW form factors, are customer premises equipment devices that are deployed at the customer branch, data center, and cloud locations. Control-plane components (vSmart, vBond, vManage) are hosted in Viptela cloud or in a partner cloud like Verizon or Singtel. For operational teams, Viptela reduces the number of control points for operating a 1,000-site network from 1,000 to one. MPLS services may take three months to be delivered by a carrier. With Viptela, a site can be up and running instantly using wireless LTE, and then supplemented by broadband or MPLS when available. Viptelas SD-WAN was purpose built to provide secure, scalable, resilient WAN, and improve the user application for a cloud-ready enterprise. Some of the key innovations of Viptelas SD-WAN solution are: Separation of control plane and data plane: Viptela SD-WAN provides a clear separation between management plane, control plane, and data plane. This allows each component to work independently and efficiently. It also enables scaling of the different components based on the needs of the network. Zero-trust: Viptela SD-WAN is built based on the zero-trust model. All of the components mutually authenticate each other, and all of the edge devices are authorized before they are allowed into the network. Every packet across data plane, control plane, and management plane that flows through the network is encrypted using SSL and IPSec technologies. The Viptela solution has differentiated capabilities to build a large scale IPSec network across thousands of branches. Zero-touch provisioning: All of the vEdge routers are enabled for zero-touch provisioning. This allows customers to significantly reduce their operational expense in device activations and deploy 25 to 40 sites per night. Cloud delivered: Viptela SD-WAN is cloud delivered. All of the controllers are hosted in the Viptela cloud or in a partner cloud, and customers can log in to the Viptela dashboard to centrally manage the WAN. Viptela vManage provides the ability to manage all aspects of the WAN from provisioning, monitoring, and upgrading routers to getting application visibility and troubleshooting the WAN. Security and segmentation: As more and more devices are internet connected and as new applications get rolled out in an enterprise branch, it becomes extremely critical for enterprises to isolate different types of traffic to avoid any threats coming out of different networks. Viptelas SD-WAN provides fine-grained granular segmentation capabilities to segment various applications and users. For example, IT can create separate segments for guest Wi-Fi, PCI traffic, business applications, inventory applications, and video surveillance as well as voice calls. Active-active architecture: Every aspect of the Viptela architecture supports active-active deployment. From two circuits on an edge device to two edge devices at a site, all of these components of the deployment can be employed in active-active mode. In addition, all of the controllers are deployed in horizontally scalable architecture, and they all concurrently maintain state of the WAN network. East of management: Viptela vManage provides centralized provisioning capabilities for the edge router. Once provisioned using vManage, the edge router is locked from local changes, preventing accidental changes at a remote location. In addition, the vEdge router has the ability to automatically roll back in case of a control-connection loss when a new version of software or a new config is pushed to the router. What impressed us most was some new enhancements the companys certification with the ADVA Ensemble Orchestrator for Network Functions Virtualization. This integration enables carriers and managed service providers to combine SD-WAN functionality from Viptela with other network functions, such as security, on a single customer premises or data center device. In addition, in December, Viptela announced a solution on Amazon Web Services that allows enterprises to seamlessly add AWS resources to their wide area network. This relationship extends all the SD-WAN capabilities offered by the Viptela platform to AWS so resources can be managed and provide the same user experience as if they were hosted in a companys own data centers. This enables the Viptela SD-WAN platform to provide ubiquitous connectivity, zero-trust security, end-to-end segmentation with application-aware SLA, and QoS policies for enterprise WANs that span data centers, branches, remote offices, and cloud resources. Organizations can mix and match a variety of connections from different service providers including MPLS, broadband, 3G/4G LTE, and satellite and point-to-point links, and manage them as a single network. VOCALCOM Vocalcom Cloud Contact Center www.vocalcom.com Vocalcom's Cloud contact center software allows companies to connect to customers using the latest innovations in web, mobile, and location awareness to grow their business faster and improve their customer experiences. Vocalcom allows companies to drive a 360 customer experience and improve daily customer engagement. Due to the obvious financial benefits and flexibility, and the fact that regular upgrades and ongoing innovation are available without any additional burden on internal IT resources, thousands of companies worldwide are better able to focus on differentiating their customer experience and reducing customer effort, which is what drives customer satisfaction. The companys cloud solution allows full web experience with no back office equipment sitting at the customer premises except a workstation with a browser and internet access; they could use embedded softphone or IP desk phones as well. At the hosted location, it has application servers, databases, clustering for redundancy, voice server resources, telecom termination (SIP trunking), voice and video recording storage. Applications and data are hosted on Amazon Web Services. Vocalcom Salesforce edition is available without any third-party application to deploy on the customer site with a USB headset. It is able to set up (provisioning, billing) and deliver within a day a dedicated and fully operational environment designed for 250, 500, or 1,000 concurrent users. Here are some key KPIs that outline the capacity: Time to create the complete environment multichannel, databases included (Oracle or SQL): one hour; SIP trunking routing: 30 minutes, including DID provisioning; Email account settings: 15 minutes; and Tests and acceptance: two hours. One of our favorite new features is RecordSign, a full vocal digital subscription and digital marketing solution. Other areas that caught our eye were the forthcoming chatbot capabilities with integration to the Microsoft (News - Alert) framework and Facebook AI engine. Finally, we like the end-to-end Mobile Platform Solution for the contact center; it connects self-service, the contact center, social and mobile. Finally, we like Personalized Real-time Videos, which leverage customer profile and call-specific data to personalize the video of the resolution recap of customer issues, provide tips on how to self-serve, and recommend relevant products and/or services through engaging and personalized, real-time video experiences. Votacall Votacall SalesForce Access www.votacall.com SalesForce Access is a native Salesforce App providing seamless integration between a phone system and SalesForce with deep and seamless communications integration. Rather than develop a bridge or connector that is not truly a part of SalesForce, Votacall took the approach to develop an app that resides in and looks like SalesForce to promote the UX. SalesForce Access is the most intuitive Salesforce app for phone system integration on the market. There are no OS requirements, no constraints other than that users must be users of SalesForce. It promotes CX initiatives through customizable dashboards, reports, and analytics. The Missed/Unreturned Call report that the app comes with may become a customer service game changer. Our favorite feature is the Missed/Unreturned Call report that the app also comes with out of the box. It can be very useful for businesses that want to maximize service levels and revenue. VOZTELECOM OIGAA360 SA OIGAA Work www.voztele.com Oigaa Work is a Chrome extension that multiplies the value of an enterprise PBX by bringing it into Gmail. While Gmail has built-in communications capabilities, it doesnt integrate well with the enterprise telephony. On the other hand, while a PBX can do POTS, its typically isolated from the rest of an organizations business information flow. In other words, users cant just pick up your phone and call to the last person who emailed them. Neither can they ask a handset to reply to a conversation they had with Bob where they told him We are going to have problems if we do that. The company realized the PBX is mostly foreign to the information world. Even with the use of TAPI, it lives outside the constant innovation that the browser, and in particular, G Suite, represent. This is why the company thought it should bring the business phone to the core of the productivity space which, for many, is the Gmail browser application. Oigaa Work allows users to send and receive telephone calls from an Gmail inbox, either using the browser as a phone or interacting with an existing business phone or mobile device. The extension uses the information available in the G Suite environment to enhance the communications experience and at the same time adds to Gmail complete interaction information like like call logs, audio recordings, or call transcripts. The search functions are accessed from the extensions search applet. The implemented search functionalities are the following: Contacts search: Search among all Google and PBX Contacts and call them with one click. The search query can be typed or given via voice commands. Google search: Search for a business, person, or any other entity phone number in Google and call with one click Call log: Click-to-call display of the list of calls made, answered, or lost by the user in the telephony system enhanced with the contacts information. Frequent contacts: Convenient list of the most frequent contacts the user interacts with. The ranking is calculated after analysis of the user call patterns. Most probable next call contact appears first. In terms of call functions, the extension has different modes of operation that allow user to make or receive the calls either from the browser itself or from a business phone or mobile terminal. When using the browser as a softphone may provide notification of incoming calls by showing the incoming call applet. Incoming calls can be answered, rejected, or played an audio message. If the latter is chosen, an entry on the calendar of the user reminding him or her of a pending call is automatically added. Here are some other details about this aspect of the product: Active calls trigger the active call applet. It provides the classical call management features like mute/unmute, DTMF, add participant or call forwarding. Other functions include the ability to continue a call a business phone, which also works for mobile devices. The load emails feature automatically loads all the emails coming from the call party in the Gmail Inbox. Calls are made using the Opus audio codec which uses around 40 Kbps for download and upload. The codec is standard for WebRTC and provides high quality calling at reasonable bandwidth aside from optimal resistance to bad network conditions. The Share Desktop feature lets user share the content of their desktop (or of any application in particular) with a call party without requiring any additional software. The only requirement is to have a recent version of Chrome or Firefox and an email address to which an invitation with a link can be sent. The link leads to a web application that will provide the screen content in real time. The Add Video feature works in a similar way. It allows users to add a video feed to the call by sharing a link that leads others to a web app that consists basically of a video call. The audio remains on the phone, and the only requirement for the interlocutor is to have a WebRTC-enabled version of Firefox or Chrome and a working email address for the invitation link. Recording of the calls can be activated or deactivated at anytime during a call. At the end of the call the audio is uploaded to the users Google Drive and an email related to the recording is sent. The email contains a link to the recording with a transcription of the call, which helps people review and search for content in the conversation at a later time. And the Call conference and Call wait features allow the switching of two ongoing calls or their join. Once joined into a conference, calls can be later split at any time. This solution also has contextual email functions. Every time the user opens an email the extension adds a contextual panel on the right with some useful information related to the open email. The panel shows the participants in the thread with their phone numbers, both the ones in Google Contacts and the PBX directory. If the email thats open contains telephone numbers in its body, they are displayed as well for convenience. Clicking on any of the phone numbers triggers a call, making the typical action of calling upon reading very easy and convenient. Everything runs on JavaScript and HTML5. Theres no java, flash, or any proprietary technology. The software is provided as a Chrome extension, which means that it has been developed using JavaScript. To interact with the Google environment, the official Google APIs have been used. The solution also employs various open source JavaScript libraries for different purposes. One important library is InboxSDK, which was used to safely extend Gmail. What we like about this product is the integration with Gmail. It allows communications to have more value because it makes communications part of the companys information flow. The company believes a call triggered from an email has more value than a call placed from a browser and far more than one dialed from a phone. We are also impressed with the Asterisk-FreeSWITCH architecture, with the big data provided by Postgres DB. It also includes a least cost transcoding routing feature that allows users to migrate the computing intensive Opus codec transcoding function between different cloud computing providers in a real-time, financially optimized fashion that can reduce the cost of computing by up to 90 percent. ZIP911 Emergency Contact Network http://zip911.com ZIP911 is an approved Tier 1 provider with complete PSAP coverage. Any provider worldwide can instantly provision E911 for DID numbers in the USA. The 911 coverage requires no number porting, so voice services are never at risk during activation and deactivation. The product they provide on top of the E911 service is their Real-Time Emergency Contact Network. This service provides communications in real-time to loved ones, business executives, and medical physicians in the event of an emergency 911 call. The company further provides alerts with the following communication options during a 911 emergency call: API Voice Call SMS Email The emergency contacts are able to listen in on live 911 calls during an event. The emergency contacts are not able to interfere with the 911 caller and operator, however, if there are multiple emergency contacts being alerted (mother, father, office manager, CEO etc.) and they are able to communicate with each other while the call is being monitored. This allows real-time planning when every moment counts. In addition, if the Emergency Contact is not in a situation where they can listen in on the live 911 call, they also send the call recording of the 911 call so they may understand what transpired. They send the call recording via the following methods: API SMS MMS Email What we like most about the solution is its different and quite useful. Allowing loved-ones to be kept in the loop is an idea similar to Facebook Check In but able to tie into the emergency phone network. Edited by Erik Linask OTTAWA, Nov. 22, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Avivagen Inc. (TSXV:VIV) (OTC Pink:CHEXF) (Avivagen or the Corporation), a life sciences innovation company with a series of patent protected products that support and optimize human and animal health, is delighted to welcome Mr. Aubrey Dan to the Board of Directors. Mr. Dan is a Canadian businessman, philanthropist and Tony-Award winning theatre producer (MEMPHIS) as well as the Principal of the Dancap Family Investment Office (dancap.ca) and is also on the board of directors of Porter Airlines and CannTrust (CSE:TRST). Following his graduation from Western University in 1985, Aubrey joined Novopharm Limited, one of the largest generic drug manufacturers in Canada, in the role of a sales representative and then progressing to Director of Sales. He later served as President of Wampole Canada Inc., a Novopharm subsidiary. Wampole is a herbal supplement and vitamin manufacturer. Novopharm was later acquired by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. in 2000. Kym Anthony, Avivagens Chairman & CEO commented: We are both excited and delighted to have Aubrey Dan join our Board of Directors. Aubrey brings a wealth of experience within the healthcare sector, as well as a tremendous business acumen for marketing and strategy, attributes which will both strengthen our board and help Avivagen achieve its true potential. Aubrey Dan commented, I am always on the lookout for opportunities that are going to have a lasting, positive impact on society and where I can bring my knowledge and resources to support that vision. Following many months of due diligence and on reviewing opportunities to be actively involved in helping this company grow both at the Board level and in support of the founders and management I was delighted to accept the invitation to join the Board of Directors. Kym and I and the rest of the team already see many opportunities and we look forward to sharing those with our stakeholders at the appropriate time. The appointment of Mr. Dan as a director is subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval. Additional Information about Mr. Aubrey Dan: Aubrey is a generous philanthropist, donating millions of dollars, primarily to health and education charities, and other worthy causes. Together with his wife Marla, the Dans have donated millions to organizations that include: Sunnybrook Foundation for the Aubrey & Marla Dan Centre for Women and Babies ; University of Western Ontario to the DAN Department of Management and Organizational Studies; Baycrest Centre Foundation in on honor Marla's father, Reuben Cipin Healthy Living Community; Judy Dan Research and Treatment Centre (named in memory of Dans mother who passed away in 1995 due to Diabetic complications); University of Toronto, Leslie Dan Facility of Pharmacy in honour of his father. Most recently the Dans made a significant donation at Queen's University for the Dan School of Drama and Music as well as to the Tel Aviv University for the Dan Department of Communication. Mr. Dan received an honorary Doctorate of Laws Degree (honoris causa) from Assumption University in 2008, and a Professional Achievement Award from Western University in 2015. He is a Governor at Tel Aviv University. About Avivagen Avivagen Inc. is a public Corporation traded on the TSXV under the symbol VIV and is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, based in partnership facilities of the National Research Council of Canada and Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. For more information, visit www.avivagen.com. About OxC-beta Technology and OxC-beta Livestock Avivagens OxC-beta technology is derived from Avivagen discoveries about carotenoids, compounds that give certain fruits and vegetables their bright colors and is a non-antibiotic means of maintaining optimal health and growth. OxC-beta Livestock is a proprietary product shown to be effective and economic in replacing the antibiotics commonly added to livestock feeds. OxC-beta Livestock is currently registered and available for sale in the Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand. Avivagens OxC-beta Livestock product is safe, effective and could fulfill the global mandate to remove all in-feed antibiotics as growth promoters. Numerous international livestock trials with poultry and swine using OxC-beta Livestock have proven that the product performs as well as, and, sometimes, in some aspects, better than in-feed antibiotics. About Vivamune Health Chews (Vivamune) Vivamune is an all-in-one chew that can dramatically simplify a pets supplement routine. Featuring a newly-discovered, novel immune-supporting active ingredient: OxC-beta compound, Vivamune targets joints, skin and digestive health all in a single, tasty chew a pet will love. Vivamune is available for sale in the US. For more information, visit www.vivamunehealth.com. Forward Looking Statements This news release includes certain forward-looking statements that are based upon the current expectations of management. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties associated with the business of Avivagen Inc. and the environment in which the business operates. Any statements contained herein that are not statements of historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking, including those identified by the expressions aim, anticipate, appear, believe, consider, could, estimate, expect, if, intend, goal, helps, hope, likely, may, plan, possibly, potentially, pursue, seem, should, whether, will, would and similar expressions or opinions of management. Statements relating to Avivagens ability to identify and capitalize on opportunities for its business and the ability of its products to fulfill the global mandate to remove all in-feed antibiotics as growth promoters are all forward-looking statements. Avivagen faces risks and uncertainties in connection with its business, including, but not limited to, risks relating to the following: Avivagens ability to continue as a going concern; whether the Corporation can expand its global regulatory advisor network in order to gain market approval of OxC-beta; whether the Corporation can obtain market approval in additional geographies, if at all; whether it will be able to replace the antibiotics added to livestock feeds as growth promoters, whether it will confirm and expedite potential regulatory approvals of Avivagens OxC-beta for Livestock in major markets around the world, whether it will seek and be able to confirm the regulatory pathway for approvals in the U.S., Europe, South America and all other important markets, whether it will confirm, define and potentially expedite regulatory pathways for approval, whether any such approvals will be applied for or received in a timely manner or at all, whether it will increase the market access of OxC-beta for Livestock, whether it will secure potential licensing and distribution partners in those markets and whether it can assure the full potential for the Corporation. Avivagen may decide not to seek regulatory approval for its products in additional jurisdictions, regulatory approvals for Avivagens products may not be available in one or more additional jurisdictions in a timely or cost effective manner, if at all, and, if received, such approvals may not have the anticipated positive effects on the Corporations business and prospects. Readers should also refer to the risk factors in Avivagens annual information form and other securities law filings from time to time. Accordingly, readers should not place undue or even any reliance on forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, Avivagen assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. For more information: Avivagen Inc. Drew Basek Director of Investor Relations 100 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0R6 Phone: 416-540-0733 E-mail: d.basek@avivagen.com Kym Anthony Chief Executive Officer 100 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0R6 Head Office Phone: 613-949-8164 Website: www.avivagen.com Copyright 2017 Avivagen Inc. OxC-beta is a trademark of Avivagen Inc. Hello. I am thinking of buying a new laptop, but can only afford under 300, so I wondered if it would be worth having the old one refurbished or just buy new. I currently have a Toshiba L450-12X satellite pro, 7-8 years old. It uses windows 7 home and I use open office, no windows 10. It has 1gb ram 160gb hard drive. 512kb processor cache, 2.1ghz processor clock speed, SI-42 processor model number, ATI radeon - HD3200, 1407mb shared graphics, AMD Sempron. Don't know what half this stuff is! The laptop has trouble buffering/connecting/staying connected to the internet, a short task can take hours or I have to give up. I assume this is down to only having 1gb ram, but I'm no expert. I don't have trouble with using tablets or phones here so I don't think broadband is the problem, except in being received by the Toshiba. I think the hard drive storage wise is fine because I'm not a heavy user, although I do have files of songs and photos but together probably do not exceed 1000. The battery is completely dead so use via mains (battery won't recharge) so obviously that needs sorting and bigger ram needs adding but not sure about processors etc and even though my hard drive seems fine is it the wrong type? Can anyone tell me if the costs of upgrades would be so much, bearing in mind a local computer shop would have to do the work as I couldn't, that I may as well just buy a new laptop? Would buy for under 300 so storage may be less, but my current laptop is fine to hold my files, songs etc so I'm not worried about that at moment (would need to replace battery still). New one would be mainly for the internet and new docs/songs produced from internet, NO gaming, movie streaming, photo shop etc. Been looking at laptops with 4gb minimum & 64gb, 500gb, 1tb hdd or 128gb ssd (on own not ssd/HDD together, I think!). Also being so untechy could a computer repair shop see me as a soft target and say this and that needs doing when it doesn't and end up costing as much or more than a new laptop. Would only buy from known and walk-inable shops eg Argos, Curry's etc NOT amazon, online small companies etc or get an online refurbished. Any advice would be appreciated, and quite soon as I was looking if going the new route to get one in the current black Friday deals. If it passes the 24th don't worry you can still advise because even if I buy a new one now it may still be worth having the Toshiba refurbished so my son can have a laptop to himself if he goes to uni or leaves home. Remember keep it in simple terms for me! Thanks Platte County woman charged after 1-year-old tests positive for meth Posted: Wednesday, November 22, 2017 12:32 PM EST Updated: Wednesday, November 22, 2017 12:33 PM EST PLATTE COUNTY, MO (KCTV) - A Platte County woman faces criminal charges after court records show that her one-year-old daughter tested positive for methamphetamine. Brionna Colvin, 23, has been charged with second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor. Tragic trend for 2017 holiday season hard times. Here's the latest, sad metro story of another metro baby ingesting meth. Read more: Kansas City Cold Case Legacy One year after he went missing, Brandon Herring's murder still unsolved It's been one year since Brandon Herring went missing. His body was found in earlier this year near 67th and Lewis in Kansas City. His murder is still unsolved. On Tuesday, family and friends gathered to remember Herring, trying to focus on the happy times but still struggling Those who love Herring call him "Mac Bear." Inner-Suburban Power Struggle New ordinance allows Raytown City Manager to review police personnel decisions New ordinance allows Raytown City Manager to review police personnel decisions Opponents say this move would allow the City Manager to micromanage the police department The City Manager now has the power to review the police chief's personnel decisions before they go to the board for approval in Raytown. More Arson Accusations After Deadly Blaze The Killed To Kansas City Firefighters New charge filed against woman accused of setting 2015 fire that killed two KCMO firefighters KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A new charge has been filed against the woman accused of setting a fire that killed two Kansas City, Missouri, firefighters, prosecutors announced Tuesday. Thu Hong Nguyen was previously charged with one count of arson, two counts of second-degree assault, two counts of second-degree murder and one count of causing catastrophe. Janitor Gunman Fakers Stalk Meth Town Suspects impersonating maintenance men arrested in Independence after attempted armed burglaries Two different families say armed men tried to trick them into opening their front doors to rob them. Investigators say the suspects even faked needing help to try to force their way inside. Just before noon, a woman living in an apartment complex off East 5th Street in Independence heard a knock. Overland Park Car Crime Suspect Duo Auto burglary in Overland Park Breaking News The Overland Park Police Department needs your assistance in identifying two suspects in an auto burglary and criminal damage to property which occurred on November 13th 2017 in the 13600 block of Metcalf. Youngster Crooks Target Working Mom Teenage thieves with gun rob single mom during night out in KC, then show up at her house KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A 37-year-old single mom says she has a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving after two crooks robbed her at gunpoint early Monday morning. It happened near 39th and Terrace streets, and after the thieves got away, the woman says things got even scarier. KCPD Signs Up Your Spy Cam How to help KCPD Watch KC By Paul Thompson Northeast News At least once in the recent past, a private security camera has helped the Kansas City, Missouri police department solve a violent crime in the Historic Northeast. Killing The Future Trending In KCK KCK school students mourning after death of fourth student this year The Kansas City, Kansas School District is in mourning. December Htoo, a 15-year-old student at J C Harmon High School in KCK was found shot to death over the weekend inside the laundromat where he worked. Htoo's death is weighing heavily on students. "It's pretty quiet," said friend Diana Bueso. Quick look at all of the important crime-related local news links for right now . . .Developing . . . Ross Ferguson/KMBC SOURCE: Ross Ferguson/KMBC Firefighters pulled two people out of a burning home in east Kansas City early Wednesday morning. Authorities received the call of a fire in the 4100 block of Locust Street just before 5 a.m. Wednesday. There were also downed power lines that were still live when crews arrived on scene. Downtown Kansas City Tax Break Workout $30M YMCA project is a 'game changer' for downtown Kansas City - Kansas City Business Journal The Missouri Development Finance Board's unanimous approval of a tax credit application for the project means the YMCA will be able to raise up to $8 million from donors who can then claim a 50 percent tax credit for contributing to the project. Golden Ghetto Booze Suspects 2 men sought in 2 Overland Park liquor store robberies Overland Park police are hoping to identify two men wanted on suspicion of robbery at two liquor stores. Police said the robberies were reported in the 7000 block of West 83rd Street and in the 10300 block of Mastin Street. Both robberies happened within minutes of each other, police said. Meth Town Dude Suspect Targets Veterans Independence PD search for man who stole $800 bronze plaque from veteran's headstone The employee says a white man on a bike pried the plaque from the headstone and put it in his backpack. (Independence PD) The employee says he later saw the suspect give the backpack to another white man sitting in a Ford Taurus. (Independence PD) Greater Kansas City Biz Class Party Pix See who celebrated KC's success at chamber dinner [PHOTOS] - Kansas City Business Journal The Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce's annual dinner gathered the area's top business, civic and government leaders to look back at a year of accomplishments, ahead to new leadership and anoint a new Kansas Citian of the Year. Sound Of Kansas City Legacy How Got What U Like Records became a cultural beacon in south Kansas City Photo by Aaron Rhodes Mark Harper was a child when he dug his first crate, rifling his older brother's vinyl collection. His brother, who is 10 years his senior, had moved out, but he often invited Harper over to hang out on the weekends. Quick peek at the midday with the help of hottie August . Take a look:And this is thefor right now . . . CHECK MAYOR SLY RAGING AGAINST THE REPUBLICAN HEGEMONY IN MISSOURI AND PREZ TRUMP FOR THE HOLIDAYS!!! Here's the kicker of a somewhat bitter Thanksgiving message from Mayor Sly James: "We continue to build upon our momentum in spite of dysfunction at the state and federal level . . . Additionally, were watching and waiting to see what happens with tax reform at the federal level. Right now, theyre proposing to eliminate Private Activity Bonds and Advanced Refunding Bonds, tools that have been and continue to be essential to critical infrastructure projects in this city and every city in the country. To make matters worse, the Senate tax bill would also repeal the individual mandate, which has been fundamental to the Affordable Care Acts success in providing health care access to more people." ADMIT THE MAYOR SLY IS NOW MORE SALTY THAN FROSTY. In a bittersweet message on the topic of family, life and local hype . . . Kansas City's top elected official lashed out at Republicans who dominate the ranks above him.To wit . . .In his latest missive the Mayor admitsThe outrage seems to negate a great deal his well wishes as the Mayor's image becomes increasingly standoffish insomuch as even his most strident supportersTranslation . . . Those smiling campaign mailers were filled with lies and the jolly fat man at City Hall is just as imaginary as Santa Claus.You decide . . . TORONTO, Nov. 22, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Plateau Uranium Inc. (Plateau Uranium or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:PLU) (FRANKFURT:QG1) (OTCQB:PLUUF), a lithium and uranium development company is pleased to announce continued excellent drill results from the next two drill holes at the new Falchani discovery, located in the Chaccaconiza area of the Companys Macusani Plateau Project in southeastern Peru. Results from the second and third diamond drill holes from the first platform intersected identical rocks to the first drill hole reported November 15, 2017, with continued thick uranium mineralization from surface and very high-grade lithium mineralization in the older felsic tuff unit. Falchani Discovery Drilling Highlights High-grade lithium-mineralization remains open at depth as none of the drill holes intersected the lower contact of the Li mineralized unit. Drilling continues with additional holes yet to be reported from Platform 1 and additional Platforms planned to expand mineralized footprint. PT-PCHAC01-TNE - Drilled at 055 Az at -55 inclination; 183.2 m total length (see Figure 1) Intersected 56.0 m averaging 511 ppm U 3 O 8 and 421 ppm Li from surface 0.0 to 56.0 m downhole (45.9 m true thickness) with one higher grade uranium intersection within this interval hosted in rhyolites. O and 421 ppm Li from surface 0.0 to 56.0 m downhole (45.9 m true thickness) with one higher grade uranium intersection within this interval hosted in rhyolites. Intersected 18.0 m at 762 ppm Li (0.16% Li 2 O) from 104.0 to 122.0 m downhole (14.7 m true thickness) in older volcaniclastic breccia/lapilli tuff transitioning to aqua-lain felsic ash fall tuffs, below. O) from 104.0 to 122.0 m downhole (14.7 m true thickness) in older volcaniclastic breccia/lapilli tuff transitioning to aqua-lain felsic ash fall tuffs, below. Intersected 61.2 m at 3,670 ppm Li (0.79% Li 2 O) from 122.0 to 182.2 m (End of Hole) in older aqua-lain felsic ash fall tuffs, ending in these rocks/mineralization (minimum 50.0 m true thickness). PT-PCHAC01-TSE - Drilled at 130 Az at -55 inclination; 118.5 m total length (see Figure 1) Intersected 27.5 m averaging 901 ppm U 3 O 8 and 414 ppm Li from surface 0.0 to 27.5 m downhole (22.5 m true thickness) with a higher grade uranium intersection within this interval hosted in rhyolites. O and 414 ppm Li from surface 0.0 to 27.5 m downhole (22.5 m true thickness) with a higher grade uranium intersection within this interval hosted in rhyolites. Intersected 37.5 m at 3,525 ppm Li (0.76% Li 2 O) from 81.0 to 118.5 m (End of Hole) in thin volcaniclastic breccia transitioning quickly to aqua-lain felsic ash fall tuffs, ending in these rocks/mineralization (minimum 30.7 m true thickness). The Falchani prospecting discovery is the largest of 6 areas of highly anomalous radioactivity in the newly accessed Chaccaconiza area located in the south central region of the Plateau Uraniums extensive 910 km2 land package. Drilling commenced in late September and these latest results reinforce that Falchani is a significant discovery from multiple drill holes. Thick, high-grade lithium mineralization averaging 3,670 ppm Li over 61.2 m was intersected below thick uranium mineralization of 511 ppm U 3 O 8 over 56 m from surface in the drill hole drilled to the northeast. The third reported drill hole from Falchani was drilled to the southeast and intersected 27.5 m of 900 ppm U 3 O 8 from surface overlying deeper, high-grade lithium mineralization that averaged 3,525 ppm Li over the bottom 37.5 m of the drill hole. Lithium mineralization remains open at depth as both drill holes also terminated in high-grade Li to the end of holes. Ted OConnor, CEO of Plateau Uranium, commented: The next two drill holes from the Falchani discovery continue to deliver strong uranium and lithium grades and thicknesses greater than our published resources. This previously unknown felsic tuff unit consistently contains >3,500 ppm Li metal and remains open at depth, but through the latest drilling, now has a minimum true thickness of over 50 m from the deepest drill hole to date. We are now even more confident of the possibility that the Falchani discovery will evolve into a large uranium and lithium deposit as we continue drilling to expand the mineralized footprint at this exciting prospect. The two inclined drill holes presently reported from Platform 1 both intersected excellent uranium mineralization from surface and very high-grade lithium mineralization to the end of hole. The high-grade lithium-mineralization remains open at depth as drill holes did not intersect the lower contact of the Li mineralized unit. The significance of this unit was not recognized until the initial analytical sampling results were received. Drilling continues with additional holes to be reported on from Platform 1. Continued drilling from additional platforms is planned in order to expand the drill indicated footprint of the Falchani discovery. In subsequent drilling, the Company will attempt to drill through to the lower contact of the sub-horizontal Li-rich tuff unit to determine the actual thickness of the high-grade lithium discovery now that the technical team better understands the geology and volcano-stratigraphy of the area. Falchani Drilling Details Analytical results have been received from the second and third diamond drill holes collared from Platform 1 testing the Falchani discovery (see Table 1, below). All holes are drilled using large diameter HQ core. Table 1 Falchani Drill Hole Results Uranium and Lithium Intersections URANIUM LITHIUM PT-PCHAC-01-NE 183.2 m depth -55 inclination @ 055 Azimuth From To Thickness (m) Grade U 3 O 8 (ppm) Grade U 3 O 8 (lbs/ton) From To Thickness (m) Grade Li (ppm) Grade Li 2 O (ppm) 0.0 56.0 56.0 511 1.024 0.0 56.0 56.0 421 906 including 15.5 22.5 7.0 2,752 5.505 104.0 122.0 18.0 762 1641 122.0 183.2 61.2 3,670 7,902 (0.79%) PT-PCHAC-01-SE 118.5 m depth -55 inclination @ 130 Azimuth From To Thickness (m) Grade U 3 O 8 (ppm) Grade U 3 O 8 (lbs/ton) From To Thickness (m) Grade Li (ppm) Grade Li 2 O (ppm) 0.0 27.5 27.5 901 1.802 0.0 27.5 27.5 414 893 including 19.5 25.5 6.0 3,138 6.276 27.5 81.0 53.5 463 997 81.0 118.5 37.5 3,525 7,589 (0.76%) * The widths above are drill intercepts and not true widths. True widths have not been determined. Chaccaconiza and Falchani Target Details Prospecting and sampling work has been on-going since August with several uranium occurrences discovered at 6 main areas. Several of the surface showings have visible uranium mineralization with radioactivity of 25,000 to 100,000 cps (the limit of the scintillometers and spectrometers used for uranium prospecting). Surface sampling at Falchani yielded results up to 9,766 ppm U 3 O 8 with 12 samples exceeding 0.1% U 3 O 8 and Li values up to 1,140 ppm Li with 16 samples exceeding 400 ppm Li. This discovery is significant because all previously known uranium deposits discovered and drilled to date are located in the uppermost/youngest volcanic rhyolite units located in the northeastern project area. The Chaccaconiza discoveries are located at higher elevations, but are hosted by lower/older rhyolite units of the Quenamari volcanics. The discovery of the highly enriched Li-bearing ash fall tuff, never encountered previously, underscores the Macusani Plateau area is one of the worlds largest lithium-rich volcanic regions known. This highlights the prospectivity of the Companys entire project area with many concessions remaining un-explored or under-explored. The Falchani occurrence covers ~2 km2 area of elevated radioactivity and shows the highest uranium prospectivity directly at surface. The drill program completed to date at Falchani as well as geological mapping and sampling of the older Li-rich unit in outcrop has delineated a >50 m thick sequence of water-lain tuffs that is at least 550 m East-West and over 300 m N-S. Additional mapping suggests the Li-rich tuff unit is much more extensive than this. The Company is currently continuing to drill the new discovery at Falchani with additional diamond drill holes planned to expand the mineralized footprint with this initial drill program. Macusani Uranium-Lithium Deposits The Macusani Plateau uranium district hosts unique, low temperature supergene-surficial uranium deposits formed in per-aluminous, alkaline volcanic rhyolite host rocks that are approximately 7 million years old. The host rhyolites are inherently enriched in U, Li, K, Al and SiO 2 , as well as other Large-Ion Lithophile Elements (LILE Cs, Rb, etc). The uranium mineralization is less than 1 million years old, as young as ~40,000 years old and comprised primarily of the hexavalent uranium mineral meta-autunite, and is totally unrelated to volcanic processes. The uranium was scavenged from the host rhyolites by melting glacial waters circulating through the porous rhyolites well after eruption and cooling, with uranium precipitation due to evaporation, water table fluctuation, changes in fluid flux and mixing with resident groundwater of subtly different chemistry. The low-temperatures and benign conditions of uranium deposit formation translates into uranium mineralization that is easily leached with weak sulphuric acid and represents what the Company believes to be one of the lowest potential production cost opportunities globally. The lithium enrichment is widespread and related to the original chemistry of the host rhyolites. Lithium and other LILE metals were not mobilized during the uranium mobilization-deposition. Lithium is enriched in volcanic glass phases and biotite in the host rhyolites and is easily leached with warm sulphuric acid. The potential of producing lithium as a co-product of uranium production is beginning to be understood, but indications are that lithium co-production represents an excellent opportunity to add value to the Companys robust uranium project. The Falchani ash fall tuffs hosting high-grade Li were previously unknown and the extent of this unit beneath the uranium-mineralized rhyolites is being assessed through the current drill program. Quality Assurance, Quality Control and Data Verification Drill core samples are cut longitudinally with a diamond saw with one-half of the core placed in sealed bags and shipped to Certimins sample analytical laboratory in Lima for sample preparation, processing and ICP-MS/OES multi-element analysis. Certimin is an ISO 9000 certified assay laboratory. The Companys Qualified Person for the drill programme, Mr. Ted OConnor, has verified the data disclosed, including drill core, sampling and analytical data in the field and lab. The program is designed to include a comprehensive analytical quality assurance and control routine comprising the systematic use of Company inserted standards, blanks and field duplicate samples, internal laboratory standards and also includes check analyses at other accredited laboratories. Qualified Persons Mr. Ted OConnor, P.Geo., CEO and a Director of Plateau Uranium and a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information contained in this news release. About Plateau Uranium Plateau Uranium Inc. is a Canadian uranium and lithium exploration and development company focused on its properties on the Macusani Plateau in southeastern Peru. The Company controls all reported uranium resources known in Peru, significant and growing lithium resources and mineral concessions covering over 91,000 hectares (910 km2) situated near significant infrastructure. Plateau Uranium is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol 'PLU', quoted on the OTCQB under the symbol PLUUF and the Frankfurt Exchange under the symbol 'QG1'. The Company has 64,227,151 shares issued and outstanding. Forward Looking Information This news release includes certain forward-looking statements concerning possible expected results of exploration and future exploration activities. Forward-looking statements are frequently identified by such words as "may", "will", "plan", "expect", "anticipate", "estimate", "intend" and similar words referring to future events and results. Forward-looking statements are based on the current opinions and expectations of management. All forward-looking information is inherently uncertain and subject to a variety of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, including risks and uncertainties relating to the interpretation of drill results, the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; the possibility that any future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with our expectations; mining and development risks, including risks related to accidents, equipment breakdowns, labour disputes (including work stoppages and strikes) or other unanticipated difficulties with or interruptions in exploration and development; the potential for delays in exploration or development activities; risks related to commodity price and foreign exchange rate fluctuations; risks related to foreign operations; the cyclical nature of the industry in which we operate; risks related to failure to obtain adequate financing on a timely basis and on acceptable terms or delays in obtaining governmental approvals; risks related to environmental regulation and liability; political and regulatory risks associated with mining and exploration; risks related to the certainty of title to our properties; risks related to the uncertain global economic environment; and other risks and uncertainties related to our prospects, properties and business strategy, as described in more detail in Plateau Uraniums recent securities filings available at www.sedar.com. Actual events or results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements and Plateau Uranium cautions against placing undue reliance thereon. Neither Plateau Uranium nor its management assume any obligation to revise or update these forward-looking statements. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. For further information, please contact: Plateau Uranium Inc. Ted OConnor, CEO ted@plateauuranium.com +1-416-628-9600 info@plateauuranium.com Website: www.plateauuranium.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/plateauuranium/ Twitter: www.twitter.com/plateauuranium/ Overtaxation is one of the most critical problem of Greeces booming tourist industry Public services, stores and businesses were closed on the islands of Chios and Samos on Wednesday as residents protested against the imminent abolition of a lower VAT regime that exists for the Greek islands. In Chios, residents organized a rally on Vounaki square and in Samos on Pythagoras square. Speakers at the rallies noted the high cost of living which will increase further if VAT is raised, as well as the high transport cost for products and people which islanders have to pay. During the rally in Chios island, protesters marched towards the offices of SYRIZA MP Andreas Mihalidis and ND MP Noti Mitarachi. Read more here. RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons Copyright: Pe-sa License: CC-BY-SA Source: ANA-MPA German mass daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung recently referred to a growing trend of voluntary repatriations of third country migrants stranded in Greece The municipality of Lesvos called a general strike on Monday to protest the overcrowding and living conditions of refugees and migrants on the island. Due to the strike, public services, clinics, pharmacies and shops will remain shut. "They have put a noose around our necks. We'll remove it," island mayor Spyros Galinos said in a press conference last Friday, adding that "Lesvos' voice will be heard and reach the decision-making centers in Athens." More than 8,400 people are currently trapped in Lesvos and Mytilene in particular, waiting to be processed in the hope of leaving Greece. Of those, 6,500 people live in Moria's camp in tents or shacks they've constructed themselves inside and outside the camp. Nevertheless, German mass daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung recently referred to a growing trend of voluntary repatriations of third country migrants stranded in Greece, in an article reported from Athens. Read more here. RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons Copyright: Phelim123 License: CC-BY-SA Source: ANA-MPA The accolades keep coming in for Greece in the tourism and hospitality sector with yet another distinction with hotel Grace Santorini taking out the award for Best Hotel Bar in the world at the recent European Hospitality Awards held in London, according to the following report by greekcitytimes.com: The hotel won the award for its 363 Champagne Lounge which sits 363 meters above sea level overlooking the breath-taking Caldera on the island of Santorini. The distinction of the 363 Champagne Lounge undoubtedly proves the high-quality services offered by the Grace Hotels. The wide range of the European Hospitality Awards confirms, in the best possible way, the groups global recognition, noted Lena Livanidou, Grace Hotels head for the Mediterranean and Africa. We will continue setting the bar high by offering unique experiences to demanding visitors from all over the world, she continued. Now in their ninth consecutive year, the European Hospitality Awards reward enterprises that have made a difference in the European hospitality sector. Read more here. RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report Photo Source: gracehotels.com Tourexpi, turizm haberleri, Reiseburos, tourism news, noticias de turismo, Tourismus Nachrichten, , travel tourism news, international tourism news, Urlaub, urlaub in der turkei, , holidays in Turkey, , global tourism news, dunya turizm, dunya turizm haberleri, Seyahat Acentas, This site is best viewed with Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0+, at a minimum screen resolution of 1024 x 768. The construction sector in Saudi Arabia is poised for solid growth, with over 4,700 active construction projects worth $852.3 billion and more than 700 projects set to begin work in the next few months, said a report released ahead of a major industry event to be held next year in Jeddah. The eighth edition of The Big 5 Saudi, a premier construction event in the region, will run from March 5 to 8 at the Jeddah Center for Forums & Events. Of these active projects, around 170 of them are worth $1 billion or more, stated the report prepared by BNC Network for Big 5 Saudi, indicating the tremendous growth potential of the kingdom's construction market. Nineteen months after its announcement, Saudi Vision 2030 is proving effective, with the kingdoms construction sector showing increased growth potential, said the report titled Saudi Arabias Construction Market Overview 2018 and Beyond. Currently, there are $284.3 billion worth of projects in the early stages of development in Saudi Arabia, it stated. Thanks to recent reforms and renewed spending, construction activities are picking up after the slowdown that affected the industry over the past two years, the report added. According to the BNC report, the ambitious Saudi Vision 2030 plan to move the economy away from oil profits is driving construction activities in both residential and non-residential segments. Reforms aimed at increasing the private sectors contribution in growth industries such as mining, manufacturing, and health care, are offering new investment opportunities in the form of joint ventures or public-sector partnerships, it added. "Today, there are over 3,300 projects in the urban construction sector, which represent approximately 70 per cent of all construction activities in Saudi Arabia," revealed Nathan Waugh, portfolio event director of The Big 5 Saudi. "Housing is indeed the most significant area of expenditure under the Saudi plan, aiming to grow the real estate sector contribution to GDP from 5 per cent to 10 per cent by 2030," he noted. Moreover, the rapid growth of the Saudi population and strong urbanization trends are fueling the urban construction sector, he added. According to Waugh, Saudi Vision 2030 is driving demand for construction products in the country. "We see a rejuvenated interest in the Saudi construction market by international players this year, said Waugh ahead of the eighth edition of The Big 5 Saudi. "The exhibition will bring under one roof over 500 manufacturers of construction products from around the world. The three-day event is expected to attract 15,000 visitors," he added.-TradeArabia News Service Veda France (GV2), a leading designer, manufacturer and seller of a comprehensive range of firestop systems, will be back this year at The Big 5 expo in Dubai for a second time. The move is aimed at boosting its presence in the UAE, Asia, Africa and beyond. The top European company also manufactures joints for the construction industry: expansion joints, control joints, joint covers, firestop systems and stair nosings. "Our solutions are suitable for all types of buildings (shopping malls, hospitals, schools, industrial buildings and airports) for both standard and seismic joints," said a company spokesman. "As a specialist manufacturer of building joints, our savoir-faire is widely recognized by all the professionals: architects, engineering firms, general contractors and sub-contractors" he stated. "We are committed to developing reliable innovative products, which has enabled us to become a world leader in firestop systems for horizontal and vertical expansion joints, heads of walls, curtain walls and facade panels for applications in seismic zones (or not)," he added. The French group's key firestop solutions include: Vedafeu C: They are the best available firestop solution for joint gaps up to 120 mm and have a firestop rating of four hours. Vedafeu M mattresses: These are ideal for joint gaps up to 450 mm. They have a firestop rating of two hours and have been developed to resist seismic movements. Vedafeu N blankets: These are the ideal solution for very large joint gaps up to 840 mm. They have a firestop rating of four hours. Lineafeu filler board: It is a true all-in-one product: formwork, fire barrier and thermal/acoustic insulation. They are suitable for joint gaps up to 100 mm and have a firestop rating of 4 hours. Vedafeu PU foam: These are the simplest and quickest solutions for passive fire protection and has a firestop rating of 4 hours for joint gaps up to 40 mm. Veda France (GV2) said its range of passive fire protection products (ropes, mattresses, blankets, filler boards and foam) were internationally recognised: (EN) European Norms, (UL) Underwriters Laboratories US, (BS) British Standard. These international certifications are issued by world-renowned official independent laboratories (Efectis, CSTB, TUV Singapore, Exova, etc.), said the spokesman. "Our presence in the Middle East region has grown considerably thanks to the certification of our products and systems by the local authorities (UAE Civil Defence, Qatar Civil Defence, Kuwait Fire Department, etc.) and our participation in the 2016 Big 5 Dubai exhibition," he added.-TradeArabia News Service Thales, a global technology leader for the aerospace and transport sector, has been awarded a three-year contract by Egypt National Railways (ENR) for the modernisation of the signalling and telecommunications systems and all works related to a 180-km section of line between the towns of Asyut and Nagh Hammadi, located in the Upper Egypt portion of the AlexandriaCairoAswan rail corridor. The project is part of an ambitious plan, promoted by the Ministry of Transport and completely financed by the World Bank, aimed at transforming Egypt's railway infrastructure. It is aimed at improving traffic safety and security to allow trains to travel at speeds of up to 160 km/h, as opposed to the current 120 km/h, and traffic volumes are expected to double. All of these changes will increase passenger and goods transport capacity across the backbone line that links the North and South of the country from Alexandria to Cairo all the way up to Aswan. This solution is designed to work together with the existing ATP system (Automatic Train Protection) and a future European Train Control System (ETCS). As per the contract, Thales will help in the installation of leading-edge electronic interlocking systems besides implementing an integrated signalling and communication solution to improve railway security and safety and allow trains to increase their speed from 120 km/h to 160 km/h. The project includes full protection of signalling and telecommunications systems against cyberattacks to ensure safety and system availability, said the statement from Thales. This is the group's second contract in this domain in Egypt and follows the project awarded in 2013 to modernise the line connecting Alexandria with Cairo.-TradeArabia News Service Bahrain will host an India Week next year to boost trade and investment between the two countries, a key project resulting from a partnership between Indias PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Bahrain-based Al Hilal Group. The two groups signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) yesterday (November 21), under which Al Hilal Group, one of the GCCs leading media houses, will act as the regional representative office of PHD Chamber. The MoU was signed at an event organised by Hilal Conferences and Exhibitions (HCE), a unit of Al Hilal Group, to present Best Stand Awards for companies that took part in the exhibitions organised by HCE. It was signed by Al Hilal Group chairman Anwar Abdulrahman and PHD Chamber president Anil Khaitan. PHD Chamber, established 1905, is a multi-state apex organisation in India and acts as a catalyst in the promotion of industry, trade and entrepreneurship. Addressing the gathering, Abdulrahman said: Futures of nations are not drafted by governments but individuals and the nations that expect everything to be given to them by the government will have very little voice or choice. Today it is the business leaders of the world that can change the world as an inch of enterprise is worth more than a mile of an estate," he said. It is the duty of businessmen to create jobs to create opportunities for people because when they create individuals they build institutions also. He said Al Hilal remained committed to promoting Bahrain through its media and exhibitions. The MoU will result in India and Bahrain focused forums and exhibitions in the two countries, said Khaitan on the sidelines of the event. There will also be a Bahrain Week hosted in India, he said. The office will represent and promote the business interests of PHD members across the GCC and promote bilateral trade between India and the entire GCC region. He said the MoU will help the PHD Chamber to tap into the immense opportunities available in the GCC, be it establishment of joint ventures, setting up of distributorships or technology transfer. The immense footprint of Al Hilal Group as a major media house in the region opens the doors to us in a big way, he said. The key areas the Chamber will look at initially are renewable energy, pharmaceuticals and construction sectors, he added. Khaitan said the chamber had received excellent support from Al Hilal Group in its activities in the region and hopes to expand this relationship. TradeArabia News Service Egypt and Cyprus have agreed to begin talks next month on the construction of a pipeline to transport natural gas from Cypriot fields to Cairo, a media report said. The agreement includes the construction of gas lines on the Mediterranean coast, the first of which will be dedicated to receive Cypriot gas from the Aphrodite and Cyprus 1 fields, in Damietta, Egypt, for liquefying gas, reported Daily News Egypt, citing government sources. The second line extends from Egypt across the Mediterranean Sea, reaching Cyprus and from there, extending to Crete, Greece, and then continuing to northern Europe. Egypt is liquefying the gas from the Aphrodite field for re-export to Europe, receiving revenues from liquefied gas, and consuming part of it in the local market, thus diversifying gas resources, the sources said. Egypt and Cyprus have also signed a cooperation protocol for the electrical interconnection process across the Mediterranean seabed, according to the report. British Airways is celebrating 85 years of flying into Kuwait with the launch of several new products including its new luxurious Club World sleep proposition by spring 2018 and revamped catering menus. The airline has launched 22 new routes this year, expanding its network of onward connections for customers from Kuwait The UK's flagship carrier launched its inaugural flight to the Middle East and arrived in Kuwait in October 1932. More than eight and a half decades later, British Airways now operates 93 flights a week between its hub at London Heathrow and the Middle East during its winter schedule. Remaining a key market for the airlines global network of more than 200 destinations, British Airways has confirmed that plans to roll out its new luxurious sleep proposition by spring 2018 and revamped catering menus will be introduced to Kuwait during the year, among other investments. Our services in Kuwait are among one of the first regional operations to receive the new Club World sleep offering in 2018, following our 400-million ($528 million) investment in this cabin, remarked Robert Williams, the head of sales (Asia Pacific and the Middle East) at British Airways during his recent visit to Kuwait. "We have a long legacy of flying to Kuwait and will continue to invest in our product and services to ensure our customers living there enjoy the best of British hospitality in the air and on the ground," stated Williams. The commitment forms part of the airlines multi-million-pound investment plans that focuses on excellence in the premium cabins and more choice and quality for all, announced earlier in the year by British Airways CEO Alex Cruz. Set to roll out over the next five years, the UK carrier will take delivery of 72 new aircraft and introduce new interiors on 128 aircraft within its existing fleet. Reiterating Cruzs comments shared at the recent World Travel Market in London, Williams pointed out that British Airways would continue to offer more low fares, ensuring that the airline remains competitive for customers in the global market. He added that there are plans to expand its route network to destinations on customers' most wanted list. British Airways luxurious sleep proposition includes the airlines partnership with The White Company to offer exclusively designed bedding within its premium cabin. "Club World guests will be offered a large luxuriously soft pillow and white cotton pillowcase, a super-soft woven blanket with satin trim, a specially developed luxury duvet, as well as a padded mattress cover giving an extra layer of comfort," explained Willaims. Additionally, The White Company has also designed new Club World amenity kits that will come in elegantly designed bags which contain products from the retailers 'Restore & Relax Spa Collection', as well as a super-soft jersey eye-mask, offering a further touch of luxury in the sky. Enhancing the customer dining experience, British Airways will roll out a new culinary boutique service, with display trolleys allowing customers to select dishes from a choice of freshly prepared starters and desserts served on beautiful new table settings. "While significant investment is being made in our premium cabins, we are dedicated to ensuring that British Airways is for everyone," observed Willaims. "We recognise the need to create product options that cater to different travel budgets to stay ahead of the new competitive forces within the aviation industry," he added. According to Willaims, the economy catering will see investments to provide customers with an upgraded service on long-haul, fast Wi-Fi will be introduced across all cabins on both its short-haul and long-haul routes, and self-service check-in and biometric boarding gates will continue to be introduced at London Heathrow. Furthermore, British Airways is also developing options for a new Club World seat that offers direct aisle access by 2019. Back in 1932 our motto was To Fly. To Serve and this is ethos is a living reality at British Airways, remarked Williams. "With a network of more than 200 destinations, we offer some of the best onward connections via London Heathrow to Europe and North America for our customers in Kuwait. We will be adding new routes to our network in 2018, widening the global access for residents in Kuwait and wider Middle East," he added.-TradeArabia News Service English Latvian Riga, 2017-11-22 15:52 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Yesterday, November 21, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted an ordinance to support the capital release of Latvenergo AS. The capital release in the amount of 454 million EUR is related to the repurchase of 75 per cent of the future state commitments from Latvenergo AS regarding its cogeneration power plants Riga TEC-1 and Riga TEC-2 (CHPPs) by making a one-off compensation payment in the amount of 454 million EUR corresponding to the value of assets of Riga CHPPs, as supported by the Cabinet of Ministers on 29 August 2017. The compensation is financed by using the funds generated through capital release of Latvenergo AS. The Shareholders Meeting where the resolution on the capital release will be adopted will take place on 24 November in the headquarters of Latvenergo AS at Pulkveza Brieza iela 12. Additional information: Janis Irbe Group Treasurer Phone: +371 67 728 239 E-mail: investor.relations@latvenergo.lv www.latvenergo.lv About Latvenergo Latvenergo Group is the largest pan-Baltic power supply utility operating in electricity and thermal energy generation and trade, natural gas trade, electricity distribution services and lease of transmission system assets. Latvenergo AS has been acknowledged as the most valuable company in Latvia for several times. International credit rating agency Moodys has assigned Latvenergo AS an investment-grade credit rating of Baa2/stable. Latvenergo Group is comprised of the parent company Latvenergo AS (generation and trade of electricity and thermal energy, trade of natural gas) and seven subsidiaries - Latvijas elektriskie tikli AS (lease of transmission system assets), Sadales tikls AS (electricity distribution), Elektrum Eesti OU (trade of electricity and natural gas in Estonia), Elektrum Lietuva UAB (trade of electricity and natural gas in Lithuania), Energijas publiskais tirgotajs AS (administration of mandatory electricity procurement process) and Liepajas energija SIA (generation and trade of thermal energy in Liepaja, electricity generation). All shares of Latvenergo AS are owned by the state and held by the Ministry of Economics of the Republic of Latvia. Maine is known for its coastline and lakes, mountains and woods, Acadia National Park and the terminus of the Appalachian Trail. Those recreational opportunities are a draw not only for 38 million tourists each year, but also for a number of outdoor brands that call Maine home, including Trailspace. Building on that allure, Trailspace this week helped launch Maine Outdoor Brands, a trade group to help grow the state's $8.2B outdoor recreation economy, promote outdoor product brands, and attract manufacturers and a younger workforce. While Maine has the oldest workforce in the country, the outdoor industry tends to skew younger, a priority for the state's economic development. Maine Outdoor Brands (MOB) began in casual conversations between six Maine brands, including Trailspace, at the Outdoor Retailer trade show back in January. On Monday, the alliance was formally announced to the public with 28 member companies. Companies like Good To-Go, makers of gourmet dehydrated meals, which does all of its manufacturing in the state. "We're fully committed to being Mainers," said David Koorits, co-founder of the company with his wife and head chef, Jennifer Scism. "I'm looking forward to seeing what MOB can do for the state." David Koorits, co-founder of Good To-Go (Photo Credit: BST Photography) Steve Smith, President and CEO of L.L. Bean, said, "I love the fact that we are organizing in Maine." Even though some MOB members may be competitors, "we are always better together." In a videotaped address, U.S. Senator Angus King said Maine Outdoor Brands is a great idea because "Maine is an outdoor brand." "To bring this emphasis into focus, to give it more publicity and more attention, I just think is a great idea for the businesses involved, but also for everyone in the state," said King. MOB members range from makers of classic canoes (Old Town) to custom-built snowboards (Winterstick) to ultralight backpacks and shelters (Hyperlite Mountain Gear). Many of those brands make products right here in the state. You could share a favorite mountain, trail, or river with the folks behind the very gear that helped get you there. I've attended outdoor industry trade shows for more than a decade. I get emails daily from representatives of outdoor brands. But, I didn't know the breadth of outdoor brands in my own state until we began to develop MOB and connect. When I looked deeply, I discovered scores of interesting, committed entrepreneurs, craftspeople, and employees designing, producing, and even handcrafting outdoor products and supporting and managing those brands. Together they possess a wealth of outdoor leadership, knowledge, and creativity. Below is a list of initial MOB members. It's far from a comprehensive lineup of the state's outdoor brands and organizations. We hope to reach even more product and service brands and see them join MOB and its efforts; Monday's announcement already helped bring in numerous new member applications. There are undoubtedly new outdoor brands in the making here in Maine even now. Like any tourist destinations, scams are reported in different places in Vietnam from time to time. (TRAVPR.COM) VIETNAM - November 22nd, 2017 - Vietnam is a country that is relatively safe for any traveler. Most of tourist love the fantastic experience during their trips in Vietnam. However, it is not always a perfect place. Like any tourist destinations, scams are reported in different places in Vietnam from time to time. Though people still enjoy the holidays in Vietnam, it is a really frustrating experience that makes tourists disappointed when traveling. When people can know what scams there are before travel to Vietnam, it will increase the chance of a safe and trouble-free customized Vietnam tour. Now, lets take a look to the common travel scams in Vietnam and our suggestions to avoid them. Street Vendor Scams One of the typical images of Vietnams cities is the local street vendors. They are mostly women selling all kind of products from fruits to flowers or postcards. At the beginning, you can be quite impressive with these street vendors as there are no such things in Western culture. The vendors try to approach tourists with friendly smile and offer chances of taking photo with their bamboo carrying pole and baskets. After that, they would ask or even force tourists to buy something with extortionate price or to give them some tips. Sometimes the street vendors may cause so much trouble and annoyance for travelers while they are walking around the city. That will leave a bad impression of Vietnam in tourists eyes. How to avoid: Say a firm but polite No, thank you will help to push the vendors away. In some cases, you can pretend that you do not listen and walk away. If you would like to buy something from the vendors, check the price carefully and prepare small bills, do not give them big bills as they will try to ignore giving back the changes. Taxi scams Just like many places in the world, you may encounter a tricky taxi driver looking to overcharge you during your Vietnam customized tours. The common trick they use is using a modified meter that can run faster the normal ones or sometime they ignore to turn on the meter to rip off tourists. They may drive a longer route, circle around to maximize the fare and pretend that they do not have changes to give you back. How to avoid: The best way to avoid the taxi scams is trying to use the reputable taxi companies such as Mai Linh, Taxi Group or Vinasun. Remember to ask the driver to turn on the meter. You can ask the hotel staff to help arranging taxi for you. Now, applications on smart phone such as Uber or Grab are also great solutions to avoid taxi scams because the price is indicated clearly with the drivers numbers and cars plate numbers. Cyclo scams Cyclo ride is one of the best experiences of any Vietnam custom tours, it is very popular in major tourist destinations like Hanoi, Hue, Hoi An and Ho Chi Minh City. However, it is possible to meet a tricky cyclo drivers, especially when you try to manage the ride on your own. They might overcharge tourist, shorten the agreed tour or cycle slowly through less streets of the tour in order to ask for more money if the tourist want to complete the whole ride. How to avoid: Remember to bargain the price before taking a cyclo ride, the reasonable price for 1 hour is around 100,000 VND or 3,5 USD. Travelers should have the agreed price, traveling time and perhaps destinations with the driver. If not, go away and find other drivers. There are many cylco drivers around the city. Another suggestion is to book the cyclo ride through your hotel or tour operator who can help you to negotiate everything before the ride. Restaurant scams Vietnamese food is so well-known and every travelers want to try the local dishes when traveling on a Vietnam classic tour. Besides many good restaurants that can satisfy even the most demanding customers, Vietnam still has bad restaurants that care about nothing but their profit. They usually do not list the price on the menu. They will try to avoid answering the price when being asked or just answer vaguely. After the meal, they will show their cheat when the bill is issued. It is normally unacceptable, much more expensive than the other restaurants and the actual quality of food. The problem is that guests already ate the food and could not argue so they have to pay the bill to leave the restaurant. Certainly, tourists never come back that place, but the restaurants do not care as they will have new victims every day. How to avoid: Look for good recommendations from the hotel, travel agents or your private tour guide when traveling. Moreover, there may be a black list of bad restaurants on some travel forum which can be helpful to have a look before going the have the meals. Hotel scams Many tourists just know a little about the country before going for their holidays in Vietnam. Some people might have done a research and book a hotel based on the good reviews. However, there are many bad hotels use attractive names or copy names of reputable hotels and create fake reviews on the internet. So they could gain the fake reputation and easily trap the inexperienced tourists. Sometimes, they could give a really good rate but when check-in, they will say that rate is applied for just standard rooms and they are full already. Then, travelers must pay the extra fee for the deluxe rooms. In some worst cases, the hotels may put travelers in a room with already broken equipment and when checking out, they will add more fee on the bill for the damage that travelers do not cause. When it comes to that kind of scenario, no one could help the poor travelers as there is no proof and it will be a painful experience. How to avoid: Book the hotels in advance through a trusted local tour operator as a part of a Vietnam tour package is a safe way. The local tour companies know exactly about the hotels in Vietnam and can identify the bad ones easily. It may be a smart choice to spend some money at first than waste it reluctantly later. It is also a good idea to check the room conditions when check-in and inform the receptionist of any damage immediately. Online tour scams There are illegal travel agents in Vietnam, who are not authorized to operate Vietnam Tours or do not have the license for being international tour operator. Though they are inexperienced, they still offer interesting Vietnam travel packages with relatively cheap price. Be careful as there are possible many hidden costs which will happen when you are already on tour. So, cheap but not cheap at all. How to avoid: Check the license of the tour operator that you are about to book your trips in Vietnam with. Are they allowed to organize travel service in Vietnam? Or are they highly recommended on site like Trip Advisor? If not, your valuable Vietnam custom holidays may be operated by a third party and it can be a risky journey. Look for the price, inclusions and exclusions carefully to make sure there is no hidden cost. Book your Vietnam private tour with a reliable local tour company is advised when you are traveling on honeymoon, as a couple or with family. During the Vietnam tour, the private tour guide will escort the group, you will have no worry, just enjoy the trip. What to do if you were scammed? If such scams happened to you or you are concerned about a scam, you can report to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) at address: 80 Quan Su st, Hoan Kiem dist, Hanoi, Vietnam. Tel: 84-243 942 2760. Scams are likely to happen on the independent travelers. If you are traveling with Nadova Tours, you will be escorted most of the time by a private tour guide and driver and they also give good tips for avoiding such scams when you have your free time. However, you can always contact to the tour guide or travel consultants in case you encounter a scam. ### FORM 8.3 PUBLIC OPENING POSITION DISCLOSURE/DEALING DISCLOSURE BY A PERSON WITH INTERESTS IN RELEVANT SECURITIES REPRESENTING 1% OR MORE Rule 8.3 of the Takeover Code (the "Code") 1. KEY INFORMATION (a) Full name of discloser: P. Schoenfeld Asset Management LLP (b) Owner or controller of interests and short positions disclosed, if different from 1(a): The naming of nominee or vehicle companies is insufficient. For a trust, the trustee(s), settlor and beneficiaries must be named. (c) Name of offeror/offeree in relation to whose relevant securities this form relates: Use a separate form for each offeror/offeree Booker Group Plc (d) If an exempt fund manager connected with an offeror/offeree, state this and specify identity of offeror/offeree: (e) Date position held/dealing undertaken: For an opening position disclosure, state the latest practicable date prior to the disclosure 21 November 2017 (f) In addition to the company in 1(c) above, is the discloser making disclosures in respect of any other party to the offer? If it is a cash offer or possible cash offer, state "N/A" Yes, Tesco Plc 2. POSITIONS OF THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE If there are positions or rights to subscribe to disclose in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 2(a) or (b) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security. (a) Interests and short positions in the relevant securities of the offeror or offeree to which the disclosure relates following the dealing (if any) Class of relevant security: 1p ordinary Interests Short positions Number % Number % (1) Relevant securities owned and/or controlled: (2) Cash-settled derivatives: 21,553,530 1.21 (3) Stock-settled derivatives (including options) and agreements to purchase/sell: TOTAL: 21,553,530 1.21 All interests and all short positions should be disclosed. Details of any open stock-settled derivative positions (including traded options), or agreements to purchase or sell relevant securities, should be given on a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions). (b) Rights to subscribe for new securities (including directors' and other employee options) Class of relevant security in relation to which subscription right exists: Details, including nature of the rights concerned and relevant percentages: 3. DEALINGS (IF ANY) BY THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE Where there have been dealings in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 3(a), (b), (c) or (d) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security dealt in. The currency of all prices and other monetary amounts should be stated. (a) Purchases and sales Class of relevant security Purchase/sale Number of securities Price per unit (b) Cash-settled derivative transactions Class of relevant security Product description e.g. CFD Nature of dealing e.g. opening/closing a long/short position, increasing/reducing a long/short position Number of reference securities Price per unit 1p ordinary Equity Swap Reducing a long position 1,800,000 2.119 GBP (c) Stock-settled derivative transactions (including options) (i) Writing, selling, purchasing or varying Class of relevant security Product description e.g. call option Writing, purchasing, selling, varying etc. Number of securities to which option relates Exercise price per unit Type e.g. American, European etc. Expiry date Option money paid/ received per unit (ii) Exercise Class of relevant security Product description e.g. call option Exercising/ exercised against Number of securities Exercise price per unit (d) Other dealings (including subscribing for new securities) Class of relevant security Nature of dealing e.g. subscription, conversion Details Price per unit (if applicable) 4. OTHER INFORMATION (a) Indemnity and other dealing arrangements Details of any indemnity or option arrangement, or any agreement or understanding, formal or informal, relating to relevant securities which may be an inducement to deal or refrain from dealing entered into by the person making the disclosure and any party to the offer or any person acting in concert with a party to the offer: Irrevocable commitments and letters of intent should not be included. If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state "none" None (b) Agreements, arrangements or understandings relating to options or derivatives Details of any agreement, arrangement or understanding, formal or informal, between the person making the disclosure and any other person relating to: (i) the voting rights of any relevant securities under any option; or (ii) the voting rights or future acquisition or disposal of any relevant securities to which any derivative is referenced: If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state "none" None (c) Attachments Is a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions) attached? No Date of disclosure: 22 November 2017 Contact name: Alan Chan Telephone number: +1 212-649-9500 Public disclosures under Rule 8 of the Code must be made to a Regulatory Information Service and must also be emailed to the Takeover Panel at monitoring@disclosure.org.uk. The Panel's Market Surveillance Unit is available for consultation in relation to the Code's disclosure requirements on +44 (0)20 7638 0129. The Code can be viewed on the Panel's website at www.thetakeoverpanel.org.uk. Dallas, Nov. 22, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Startup Evo, a Dallas-based venture firm, expands its offerings to include Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) services to startups and small cap companies. We recognized the need for these services after being contacted by multiple companies, said Steven Gehfeld, Director of Operations. These companies include startups with less than fifty employees and larger companies with market capitalizations that would put them in the small cap range. The services most in demand include book and general preparations to support due diligence, valuation, and transaction terms. Most companies erroneously focus on just the paperwork and quickly completing the transaction. Companies should be more focused on maximizing the companys valuation; otherwise they are leaving serious money on the table. This means establishing a M&A strategy and completing preparation activities before talking to a buyer. Preparation includes: Improving the brand strength through various means appropriate for their specific industry such as the web site, social media, press releases, and community outreach. Ensuring the company has documented, and is following good governance and operational policies and processes. Knowing what key terms you are willing to accept and not accept, such as valuation and earn outs. And finally, making sure the team is prepared and aligned, said Mr. Gehfeld. Engaging a buyer before you are truly prepared, will only leave you outmaneuvered. Other services offered include advisory board, general management and turnaround consulting, and commercialization of intellectual property (IP). Over the past year, the team at Startup Evo has: - helped clients win SBIR contracts, grants, and key accounts - provided board, advisory, marketing, and M&A services to multiple companies - advised on M&A transactions and spinouts of venture and IP-backed companies - established strategic partnerships with VC and PE firms totaling over $7B in capital under management - raised venture funds for early stage investing The most recent fund is an annual fund that will invest in companies at the series seed through C capital financing rounds in 2018. Robert Brevelle, Managing Director, will oversee the fund. The fund was established earlier this month and has been fully subscribed and funded at $4M. The investment thesis and strategic business plan identified the agritech, aerospace, and cyber security industries as focus areas. In general, VC investment activity in 2017 reflects growing investor confidence and enthusiasm in early stage, venture-backed companies, said Robert Brevelle. If we look at the broader global and local marketplaces and their indices, there have been notable pickups in investment, trade, and consumer spending. These factors, coupled with other healthy macroeconomic conditions, as well as favorable reactions to changes in the U.S. government, fostered an opportunity rich year for investors and entrepreneurs. This year, investment into venture-backed companies is on track to set a new record since 2007. However, overall deal flow and mega-deals reflect a continuing trend of larger investments but fewer deals. This aligns with our disciplined approach of due diligence and partnering with larger firms that traditionally lead or syndicate, said Mr. Brevelle. As a result, our 2017 fund overachieved against targets, which bolstered investor confidence and facilitated a significant increase of capital for the 2018 fund. We remain focused on investment opportunities in agritech and aerospace, and for 2018, cyber security has been added to our target portfolio. About Startup Evo: Startup Evo is a leading accelerator that develops entrepreneurs and startup companies to achieve growth and success. The company manages a venture capital seed fund and invests at the pre-seed, seed, and series A. We lead a global network of investors, mentors, entrepreneurs, corporate partners, and financial institutions to accelerate startups. Our diverse experiences and perspectives allow us to see the critical intersections between talent, ideas, and teams. Together, we unlock potential. Innovation. Acceleration. Wealth Generation. Learn more at startupevo.com. The idea behind the District Administrative Complex (DAC) was to ensure that all government departments function under one roof, thereby giving respite to residents who can get their administrative work done easily. The same can be said about the Judicial Complex. The state government went ahead and built the buildings of both entities near Mallikpur Chowk. So far so good! However, instead of solving the problem, the authorities actually compounded it by constructing both DAC and the Judicial Complex nearly 7 km away from the heart of the city. Residents now have to cover long distances to reach these buildings. Those without their own vehicles have to be dependent on auto-rickshaws. They actually fleece the residents by taking a two-way fare by claiming that there are no takers while returning. On numerous occasions, residents have complained against them but to no avail. It is a classic case of vote bank politics. Moreover, to compound matters, the auto-rickshaws are an extended family and have a strong union. Red blood malta may find more space The famous and immensely likeable red blood malta (orange) is likely to find more space in the city. A quick survey has been done by orchard owners who now claim that growing this variety will bring more money. This variety had actually become a rare commodity but now things are bound to change with more and more orchards owners opting for it. Kinnows, which were the favourite of residents and orchard owners, will stay but the focus to be on its cousinred blood malta. Renowned physician Dr Arvind Kalra, who also owes orchards, says the variety is a bit difficult to grow because of the care it requires. This variety is popular among fruit lovers. It got its name as the fleshy portion of the fruit has a reddish tinge and even the juice has a tinge of bright red colour, Dr Kalra adds. The red blood malta disappeared after orchard owners started growing Kinnows on a large scale in the early eighties. Kinnow, which has its origins in California, killed this fruit which has a high medicinal value because of rich contents of Zink and Magnesium, said a Kinnow grower. Wife of former BJP MP back in action Kavita Khanna, the industrialist wife of former Gurdaspur BJP MP Vinod Khanna, is back in action. Denied the party ticket by the BJP high command to contest the recently concluded parliamentary elections, she had flown back to Mumbai. Now, she is back in the city. She makes it a point to attend almost all social gatherings being held in the town. She is a member of the BJP national executive. Now, she is all set to stage a comeback in the organisational set-up of the party. Her detractors claim that non-Punjabi speaking Kavita is a misfit in politics but the lady herself is undeterred by such comments. Khanna has made it clear to all and sundry that she is in contention for the party nomination for the 2019 General elections. Ravi Dhaliwal Tribune News Service New Delhi, November 22 The Union Cabinet has approved Indias membership for European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a move intended to enhance Indias international profile and promote its economic interests. Steps will be initiated by the Department of Economic Affairs to acquire the membership, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said after the Cabinet meeting. The membership of EBRD was under consideration as it was considered appropriate that India should expand its presence on the global developmental landscape beyond its association with the Multi-lateral Development Banks (MDBs) such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and African Development Bank. The decision to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the New Development Bank (NDB) was taken earlier in this backdrop, an official statement said. The membership will increase the scope of cooperation between India and the multilateral institution through co-financing opportunities in manufacturing, services, information technology and energy. It will also help India to obtain funding in various areas including services and manufacturing. Initially, we will take 100 shares, Jaitley said, adding that the Finance Ministry will decide on increasing its shareholding through negotiations. An official statement said it will also help enhance the competitive strength of Indian firms and provide a greater access to international markets in terms of business opportunities, procurement activities and consultancy assignments. Akash Ghai Tribune News Service Mohali, November 22 Nine accused in the murder case of local advocate Amarpreet Singh, aka Lucky, were convicted today and awarded life sentence by the court of the District and Sessions Judge here. The accused Dharminder Singh, Rajat Sharma, Jaswinder Singh Khattu, Sunil Bhanot, Sunvir Singh, his uncle Onkar Singh, Kevin Sushant, Deepak Kaushal and Vishal Sharawat were awarded life sentence by District and Sessions Judge Archana Puri here today. Lucky (33) was shot dead at 8.10 pm on February 27, 2013, in full public view by the miscreants in front of his residence at Phase 3A over a petty issue of parking in the locality. Lucky, whose heart and lungs were ruptured after receiving two bullets, died on the spot while his cousin Gaganjot Singh and the latters friend, Simarjit Singh, sustained bullet injuries in indiscriminate firing by the miscreants. Lucky was a nephew of Mohalis current Deputy Mayor Manjit Singh Sethi and Gaganjot Singh is his (Sethis) son. Today, the court pronounced life sentence on all nine accused under Sections 302 (murder) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC along with fine of Rs 50,000 each. In case of non-payment of the fine, the term will be extended by four months. All accused have also been convicted under Sections 506 and 148 for which the court has awarded them a jail term for five years and two years, respectively. Dharminder Singh, who had shot the victim, has been convicted under Section 302 while the rest eight accused have been convicted under Section 302 with Section 149 of the IPC. The court also convicted Dharminder under Sections 468 and 471 of the IPC for which a term of four years along with a fine of Rs 12,500 has been awarded. The court also convicted Dharminder, Vishal, Sunvir and Onkar under Section 307 with Section 149 for which they have been awarded a seven-year term with a fine of Rs 20,000 each. In case of default, the term will be extended by two months. Sunil Bhanot, Rajat Sharma and Kevin Sushant have been convicted under Section 307 of the IPC for which they also got a seven-year term with a fine of Rs 20,000 each. Five of the accused Jaswinder Singh, Sunil Bhanot, Rajat Sharma, Dharminder Singh and Kevin Sushant have been convicted under Section 25 of the Arms Act for which they got a three-year jail term. Mohali District Attorney-cum-Public Prosecutor Gurdeep Singh said a total of 36 witnesses (30 prosecution witnesses and six witnesses of the defence) were examined during the trial, which ran for around 57 months. During the trial, only three accused Sunvir Singh, Jaswinder Singh Khattu and Onkar Singh were granted bail. The court convicted all accused in the morning and sentenced them at 3.15 pm. All convicts were sent to Nabha Jail. 2 accused break down, others seen smiling While most of the accused were seen smiling and whispering when the Judge was about to pronounce the quantum of sentence after holding all of them guilty of murder, two of them later broke down when they met their family members after coming out of the court. What was to happen has happened, said an accused while coming out of the court. Later, all of them appeared calm. Victim was an aspiring criminal lawyer Lucky was young and an aspiring civil and criminal lawyer, having an experience of eight years. Having social and friendly nature, Lucky was popular among his colleagues and friends. The victim was married and had a four-year-old son at the time of the incident. Flashback On February 27, 2013, the victim, Lucky, along with his cousin Gaganjot Singh and the latters friend, Simarjit Singh, were standing outside their residence at Phase 3A when Deepak Kaushal, who had come to visit Dharminder and Vishal (residing as paying guests on the top floor just two houses away from Luckys house), parked his car in front of the victims residence. When Lucky objected, Deepak told him that he would return soon. Deepak returned along with Dharminder and the other accused while firing shots. Lucky, who received two bullets, died while Gaganjot Singh and Simarjit Singh received bullet injuries and were rushed to Fortis Hospital. Luckys heart and lungs were ruptured by bullets, which led to his death, according to the postmortem report of the deceased. Family satisfied Though members of the victims family expressed satisfaction over the court verdict, they said he would not return with this. Luckys father Amarjit Singh and uncle Manjit Singh Sethi, who were present in the court complex on Wednesday, broke down when they heard the verdict. We are satisfied with the verdict. Justice has prevailed, said Amarjit Singh and Manjit Singh. Luckys mother Joginder Kaur and his wife Surinder Kaur were not in a position to talk. We are satisfied but also sad as we have suffered a huge loss, which is irreparable, said Surinder Kaur while sobbing. Luckys son, Gursifatjit Singh, is still too small to understand the situation, said the family members. Nitin Jain Tribune News Service Mohali, November 22 Nine people have been given life sentence for the murder of advocate Amarpreet Singh alias Lucky here in 2013. District and Sessions Judge Archana Puri on Wednesday convicted the nine. The convicts, some of whom were staying as paying guests in the vicinity, had shot him dead following a brief altercation over parking in front of the victims house. Tribune News Service Mohali, November 22 In the shootout at Dwarka, New Delhi, yesterday, the Mohali police team kept waiting for notorious gangster Sampat Nehra for over five hours near the hideout of the miscreants there. The team, which got success in nabbing five gangsters along with 17 firearms and 112 cartridges after an operation lasting half an hour in the main residential area of Dwarka, had a tip-off that Nehra would visit the house in which the gangsters were putting up. However, Nehra did not turn up and the team decided to start the operation, said sources. Nehra is the right-hand man of Lawrence Bishnoi, a notorious criminal lodged in a jail at Jodhpur. In Bishnois absence, Nehra was running the gang, which had over 15 members, said the police. The sources said a 15-member team, led by Mohali DSP (Investigation) Kanwaljit Singh, reached Dwarka around 6 am. The team members remained in their vehicles, which they had parked near the house of the miscreants, and kept waiting for Nehra. The team also kept watching the movements of the five gangsters present in the house. Some of them also came out of the house to fetch certain things/eatables. As Nehra did not turn up till 11 am, the team members decided to start the operation, said the sources. During the half-an-hour operation, a total of 21 shots were fired by both parties. While nine shots were fired by the gangsters, 12 shots were fired by the police team in retaliation. The police arrested five gangsters Deepak from Hisar, Naresh, alias, Sumit, alias Arjun, from Abohar, Tiku from Delhi and Krishan and Sunil, both from Jhajjar, and recovered 17 firearms (five .32 bore pistols, five .315 bore pistols, five .22 bore pistols, one .315 bore rifle and one .12 bore rifle) with 112 cartridges from their possession. The Delhi Police, which have registered a case under Sections 307, 353 and 186 of the IPC and under the Arms Act on a complaint of Mohali DSP Kanwaljit Singh at the area police station in Dwarka, on Wednesday produced the accused in the court, which remanded Naresh in one-day police custody and the remaining four in judicial custody, said Delhi Police Inspector Anil Barewal. Production warrants The Mohali police will apply for production warrants of the gangsters on Thursday in a court in New Delhi. 1 gets police remand, four judicial The Delhi Police, which have registered a case under Sections 307, 353 and 186 of the Indian Penal Code and under the Arms Act on a complaint of Mohali DSP Kanwaljit Singh at the area police station in Dwarka, on Wednesday produced the accused in the court, which remanded Naresh in one-day police custody and the remaining four in judicial custody, said Delhi Police Inspector Anil Barewal. Chandigarh: Dr Neerja Bharti, Professor in the Department of Anaesthesia and Critical Care, PGI, here, has been awarded as one of the finalists for the BMJ Award South Asia 2017 in the category of non-communicable diseases initiative of the year for her contribution to the field of oral cancer pain management. Over 2,000 doctors from eight South Asian countries participated for this award, organised by the British Medical Association in New Delhi. TNS Honour for PGI Chandigarh: The PGI has been judged as the second best for medical education, research and also multi-speciality patient care among 15 best institutes in India. The All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, stands first. As a hospital, the PGI once again stands second best among the top fifteen multi-speciality hospitals in India and also having second best research facilities by The Week-NIELSEN Best Hospitals Survey 2017 published in The Week. Among the best hospital specialities, PGI stands second in pulmonology; third in diabetic care, gastroenterology and neurology. Specialities of orthopaedics, obstetrics and gynaecology and paediatrics are fourth and cardiology and ophthalmology are eighth. The hospital is also the second best public hospital in the North Zone of the country. TNS First national workshop ends Chandigarh: The PGI successfully completed its first national workshop on pharmacogenomics using next generation sequencing. Organising chairman Dr Bikash Medhi and organising vice-chairman Dr Ajay Prakash said the workshop was highly successful with participants from AIIMS, New Delhi, ICMR, JIPMER, PGIMER and other premier institutes and ranged from both industry and academia. The workshop was inaugurated by remarkable speeches of Director PGI Prof Jagat Ram and Prof Rajesh Kumar, Dean, Academics. The topics covered were from basics of pharmacogenomics to advanced topics like next generation sequencing. There was also practical hands-on session on primer designing, DNA extraction and next generation sequencing data analysis. TNS Zirakpur, November 22 A four-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a 28-year-old youth at Baltana here last night. The accused, who hails from Abheypur village near Panchkula, has been arrested. A case has been registered against him under the IPC and the POCSO Act on a complaint of the victims father, a migrant labourer. The police said the accused, Raju (28), who stays in the same locality, took the minor on the pretext of buying her biscuits from a nearby shop. The incident came to light when the minor did not return home till late at night. The victims parents approached the police after their search for their daughter turned futile. The police said they heard cries from a jungle behind the police chowki and found the accused forcing himself on the minor. Satinder Singh, in-charge of the Baltana police chowki, said the victims medical examination confirmed rape. OC Manas Dasgupta Manas Dasgupta In the last four Assembly elections of Gujarat, one could safely predict a BJP victory without the risk of being proved wrong. But not this time. Even as the BJP claims to secure 150-plus seats and the Congress is hoping to bag around 120 in the 182-member House, the elections of 2017 are a neck and neck contest. And in case a pro- or anti-Narendra Modi wave were to set sail, either of the two parties sweeping the poll will surprise none in Gujarat. Urban-rural divide In the 2015 local body elections, the Congress swept the polls in the countryside and it was considered to be a one-time aberration. Since then, three factors have brought about a clear rural-urban divide: 1) the impact of demonetisation that caused immense hardships to the farming sector that largely depend on the co-operative banking system; 2) the failure of the government to provide remunerative prices to the farmers for their produces; 3) the absence of adequate governmental assistance to the people hit by natural calamities. This divide may get reflected in the coming elections. That is if, as promised by the government, the hardships caused to the trading community due to the "faulty implementation" of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) are mitigated before the polling on December 9 and 14. If not, a larger chunk of the urban votes may also go the Congress way. While many urbanites have forgotten the suffering and many had even taken it as the "price" for the "unearthing of black money", not many in the farming community seem to have forgiven Modi. The RBI banning rural cooperative banks from changing the demonetised notes had caused immense hardships to the ruralites, 90 per cent of whom depend on cooperative banks. Many farmers had to miss one crop as they had no money to buy seeds or fertilisers and were hardly amused by the promise to unearth black money or convert the country into "digital India." The BJP leaders are taking the impact of demonetisation lightly, seeing the record-breaking victory in UP as a sign of its acceptance and believe that rural Gujarat too would follow suit. Casteist politics Casteist politics is not new in Gujarat; it has ruled supreme in the elections since 1980 till Modi's communal politics in the aftermath of the 2002 riots replaced it. With Modi and the BJP this time purely depending on "development" to take the party through, the Congress has revived the casteist politics through the support it has garnered from Other Backward Classes (OBC) leader Alpesh Thakore, Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani and Patel community leader Hardik Patel. Particularly in rural Gujarat where caste may rule the roost. Not that the BJP is ignoring the caste factor: in selecting its candidates: the ruling party has taken due care. But except for the "Patidars" who stood divided between the Congress and BJP, to which it was cent per cent loyal for the last three decades, most other caste combinations are this time favouring the Congress in the villages. BJP vs Cong factors The likely anti-incumbency factor, particularly when its "magic" leader is away in Delhi though he maintains a remote control both over the party and the government in the state, has forced the BJP to drop several sitting candidates and also to accommodate many "parachute" candidates who were promised ticket to break them away from the Congress. But this has caused heart-burning among the loyal workers. Internal disturbances over the selection of candidates are common in parties but become intense when the expectations grow, as it is this time. Since the Congress is virtually fighting a last-ditch battle for political supremacy in Gujarat, the infighting in it is marginally less but has not totally disappeared. A major problem that the Congress faced is its own state unit president Bharatsinh Solanki, considered to be a liability for the party. Besides his sullen image, Solanki has not been able to hold the party together. Many leaders such as former chief minister Shankarsinh Vaghela and Vijay Kella, among others, left the party in protest against Solanki's handling of affairs. It was the first time in many years that the Congress had not changed the state president on the eve of elections to demonstrate unity in the party, but many believe that it may prove to be a blunder. Rahul vs Modi The Congress campaign mainstay the national Vice-President Rahul Gandhi also suffered from a poor image, particularly when compared to his main competitor, Modi. Rahul has aroused a keen interest among a section of the voters, both in the urban and the rural areas, during his recent campaign tours of the state. With all parties having mastered the art of crowd-pulling, attendance in the public meetings is no longer a criterion to judge any party's popular support. It is also not clear how much of the pro-Rahul image will survive Modi's "carpet-bombing" when he addresses over 50 public meetings in the last 15 days of campaigning. Which party has the edge? Is the BJP invincible in Gujarat? Consider this: in the elections that the BJP contested under Modi, the number of seats only showed a marginal decrease directly benefiting the Congress. In the height of communal polarisation of votes following the bloody carnage, the BJP claimed 127 seats in 2002, an increase of 10 seats from what it clinched under the leadership of Keshubhai Patel in 1998. But in 2007, the party lost the 10 seats to return at 117 and further declined to 116 in 2012. In contrast, the Congress which had won 53 seats in 1998, declined only by two to 51 in 2002 despite the strong "Modi wave," and went up again to 59 in 2007 and to 60 in the last elections. History favours the Congress this time. Except in the 1980s when non-Congress parties were virtually wiped out from most parts of the country, first due to failure of the Morarji Desai government and later because of the sympathy wave following Indira Gandhi's assassination, Gujarat has voted differently in the Assembly and the Parliamentary elections since 1975, except for the six years of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government when the BJP was in power both in Deli and Gandhinagar. By this yardstick, it should be the turn of the Congress to take over in Gandhinagar since the BJP is holding forte in Delhi, unless the BJP's campaign this time that the same party government at the centre and in the state would be the key for Gujarat's development impressed both the urban and rural voters. But none of these calculations would work if the "Modi magic" descended on his home state on these crucial days of December 9 and 14. manasdasgupta2000@gmail.com Main hurdle for Congress A major problem that the Congress faces is its Gujarat unit president Bharatsinh Solanki as he is considered to be a liability for the party. Main hurdle for BJP While many urbanites have forgotten the suffering caused by demonetisation, not many in the farming community seem to have forgiven Modi. KC Singh KC Singh TOXIC smog lingered over North India in the first half of November, dissipating after showers and strong winds. The air quality in New Delhi and the NCR remains poor as Particulate Matter (PM 2.5) hovers above safe limits. First to be blamed were farmers of Punjab and Haryana, although stalk burning after paddy harvesting is done across many states, and in Pakistan. Climate experts later argued that the crisis was actually exacerbated by a sandstorm in Arabia, well to Indias west. The political drama that followed reflects lack of accountability among Indian leaders. The chief ministers of Delhi, Haryana and Punjab commenced a blame-thy-neighbour game. Arvind Kejriwal sought meetings with the other two hoping to escape being pilloried, normal for any mishap in Delhi even though both the Lieutenant-Governor and the Union government plead before the Supreme Court that he has no powers. Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh only wanted the PM to convene a meeting as he needed thousands of crores to coax his farmers to not burn stubble. The CM of Haryana, ML Khattar met Kejriwal after some dithering. But PM Modi was not seen or heard. What baat, if any, was in his mann could only be deciphered from his intervention at the East Asia Summit in the Philippines on November 14, or at election rallies in Gujarat. There was naturally no mention of the crisis across North India. But the issue is broader than a tri-state squabble. The pollution levels in PM Modis own constituency, Varanasi, at the far end of UP were equally hazardous. Senator Sherry Rehman, senior leader of Pakistan Peoples Party and friend of the late Benazir Bhutto, bemoaned in The Express Tribune that half of Pakistan is enveloped in a nasty toxic smog. She argued that these weather vagaries were attributable to climate change which was costing Pakistan 6 per cent of GDP. Quoting a UNDP report, she warned that Pakistan, already water stressed, would be dry by 2025 if it did not stop diverting 90 per cent of its waters to crops. She sensibly linked water, climate, energy and agriculture. The Union government announced that the National Thermal Power Corporation is to now buy stubble from farmers for power generation. The question arises why this was not done after a similar crisis last year, when besides the odd-even scheme and the shutting of schools, no long-term solution was put in place. As usual, the National Green Tribunal rushed in where angels feared to tread, assuming the role of executive, and in effect, even stalling whatever little the Delhi Government was planning to do. Coincidently, nearly 200 nations converged on Bonn for the review of action on nationally determined contributions (NDCs) under the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. Ironically, India and China having come on board at Paris on President Barack Obamas urging by giving up their standard developing country chant that polluters pay, now found themselves left holding the baby as President Trump walked out of the accord. Fortuitously, US withdrawal is not implementable before November 4, 2020 a day after the next US presidential election. The leadership of climate change action thus falls on Europe and the big emitters, India and China. Germany, the biggest European economy and host at Bonn, conceded that it would be unable to meet its commitment to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions to 40 per cent below the 1990 level, by 2020. That is due to its reliance on coal for power production due to its decision to abandon nuclear power generation after the Fukushima nuclear disaster as well as its strong growth and low oil prices. UN climate chief Patricia Espinosa lamented that we need more action, more ambition and we need it now. That is, indeed, necessary if the world has to ensure that global temperatures do not exceed 2 degree Celsius above the mean pre-industrial age temperature. The pledges at Paris were, unfortunately, voluntary and the current trajectory of global warming can lead to the melting of ice-sheets by the end of this century and their disappearance from Greenland and Antarctica. The consequent rise in sea levels and climate change leads paleo-climatologist Lee Kump to conclude that the rate at which we are discharging carbon dioxide is 10 times the level when mass extinction occurred during the pre-dinosaur stage which killed 90 per cent of life in the ocean and 75 per cent on land. India and China succeeded, along with 137 nations of the G-77 plus China, to make developed countries concede that acceptance by developing nations of voluntary commitment at Paris was contingent on the developed nations cutting emissions and providing finance for adaptation and mitigation by the developing world. At Paris, developed nations promised $100 billion by 2020 to help dispense green technologies. Canada and the UK formed this time at Bonn a 19-nation alliance to phase out coal power by 2030. Nuclear power, once considered the answer to clean energy, is being abandoned by the developed world. Two new reactors Westinghouses AP1000 and Arevas EPR are about to be commissioned in China and Finland, respectively. They are considered proofed against natural disasters, terror attacks or even missile hits. India will have to choose a middle path between reducing dependence on thermal power and choosing renewables plus nuclear power. The obvious conclusion is that India needs to reassess its relations with China and Pakistan as climate change is a shared threat and a cause for collaboration that rises above narrow nationalistic divisions. Senator Sherry Rehman has framed the issue well. The smog that choked millions did not stop at the India-Pak or India-Nepal borders. Nor at the borders of Indian states. What matters for India is not merely electoral victories for PM Modi, but what he does with the power he wields. Instead of tilting at windmills, why does he not start with swacch air? To do that he needs an integrated plan that is greener and yet equitable for the farmer, the worker, the urbanite and the entrepreneur. His Gujarat model, as is now being argued, is skewed in favour of the last. The writer is a former Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs CHANDLER, Ariz., Nov. 22, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OnTrac, a logistics company specializing in delivery services in the Western United States, surpassed their company goal of donating 5,000 cans of food to the 10th annual 102.5 KNIX Million Can Crusade. The Valleys biggest canned food drive supports St. Vincent de Paul in their efforts to feed hungry families this holiday season across the greater Phoenix area. In addition to the canned food donation from OnTrac, the logistics company also donated $1,500 at the event kickoff, which is equivalent to 15,000 cans of food. In total, OnTrac donated 24,192 cans of food. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8df73f44-77d7-4b0d-999d-ceb8495eb747 In time for Thanksgiving, 102.5 KNIX announced on Wednesday, November 22, 2017 that the goal of collecting one million cans was reached. A grand total of 2,376,063 was donated and will fill the St. Vincent de Pauls community food pantries. From there, the cans will be placed into food boxes and delivered to hungry families throughout the Valley. All of us at St. Vincent de Paul are so blessed to have partners like OnTrac that allow us to help so many people in our community, especially during the holiday season, says Shannon Clancy, associate executive director and chief philanthropy officer from St. Vincent de Paul. Each dollar and can of food donated not only provides hungry families with the food they need, but also lets them know that they are not alone in their moment of need. We are grateful to our friends at OnTrac who demonstrate the kindness, love and generosity of this community that cares. Thank you, OnTrac, for all that you make possible for those in need all year long. About OnTrac OnTrac specializes in delivery services throughout the eight western area states, an area that is home to over 65 million people. OnTrac was founded in 1991, and has grown to become a top choice for e-commerce and companies looking to speed up parcel distribution without the cost of express shipping. In 2014, OnTrac launched DirectPost, and became the first regional logistics company to offer a USPS Package Consolidation Service. OnTrac is a SmartWay Transport Partner, a USPS Workshare Partner, and is integrated with over thirty different multi-carrier software providers. OnTrac is comprised of three divisions based on service offerings; overnight, messenger, and international. For more information on overnight services, call 800.334.5000 or visit ontrac.com. For more information on messenger services, call 888.334.5001 or visit ontracmessenger.com. For more information on international services, call 800.628.4868 or visit ontracinternational.com. Katrina Fox OnTrac 602-333-4579 kfox@ontrac.com Tribune News Service Chandigarh, November 22 Less than two years after senior police officers magically appeared at Sukhdev Dhaba and escorted women up to the Delhi border, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today questioned Haryana once again over call details of police officers in the Murthal rape case. At the very outset, the Division Bench of Justice Ajay Kumar Mittal and Justice Amit Rawal questioned Advocate-General BR Mahajan whether the call details had been gathered by the state. Responding to the query, Mahajan told the Bench that the details were ready and would be placed in court on the next date of hearing. Assisted by Haryana Additional Advocate-General Pawan Girdhar, Mahajan told the Bench that the statements of all 573 witnesses recorded under Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure by the Haryana Police during the course of investigations would also be placed in court, along with final status report on the probe carried out by the special investigating team. The Bench was told that the details would be shared with amicus curiae Anupam Gupta well before the next date of hearing. The assertions came as the state sought a short adjournment for apprising the Bench of the status of investigation carried out so far. Taking up the suo motu case, the Bench had, on the previous date of hearing, asked the state government to provide call details of the Inspector-General of Police, Superintendent of Police, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Station House Officer and other personnel present in the Murthal area. The Bench had made it clear that call details from February 19 to 22, 2016, were required to be furnished. The Bench had also called for the statements of all 573 witnesses recorded after the High Court took cognisance of reports carried in these columns on the rapes in the fields of Murthal. The orders were issued after Gupta submitted that he was not in a position to ascertain whether or not the investigation was proceeding in the right direction in the absence of statements of the witnesses and other related record. Seeking directions to the state to provide case-related details, Gupta referred to Supreme Court judgments on providing amicus curiae access to documents pertaining to investigation of cases. Restating the demand for CBI probe, Gupta submitted that investigation by the premier agency was the only hope for unveiling the truth behind the rapes. He reiterated that information available with him suggested that Sukhdev Dhaba owner Amrik Singh knew the truth. MC Thakur MANALI, NOVEMBER 22 Nine villages of upper Manali have decided to move Supreme Court against the Rohtang ropeway project. The villagers had called an emergency meeting at Kothi village after their lawyer informed them that National Green Tribunal (NGT) has ordered to complete the ropeway project as soon as possible. The villagers are being supported by taxi operators and several associations and unions formed by tourism activity operators. They discussed in details the pros and cons of the project. They observed that the project would destroy all options of their livelihood and also harm the environment. They concluded that they have no other choice but to move SC to oppose the project. Roshan Thakur, president of Nine Villages Committee, said they are not against the development but development should not be at the cost of livelihood and environment. He said locals had expressed their problems before the NGT but their all issues have been ignored. He said government had promised rehabilitation plan but now nobody talks about it. He further added that the people in the locality have the only right i.e. not to issue NOC if they do not like the project. The villagers complained that despite that they did not issue the NOC to the project, none of its representatives came to discuss the issue with them. They said that nobody was watching its negative consequences in the long run. After discussion various issues, those present in the meeting said they would challenge the project before SC. Taxi operators also attended the meeting. Him-Aanchal Taxi Operators Union president Raj Kumar Dogra said this project would affect the livelihood of hundreds of operators. He added that the union would support the villagers in opposing the project before the SC. The Rohtang project is proposed to build between Kothi and Rohtang Pass. Having the length of about 9 km, the project will have three stages Kothi to Gulaba, Gulaba to Marhi and Marhi to Rohtang. MC Thakur Manali, November 22 A week after heavy snowfall blocked the Manali-Rohtang-Keylong highway, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) today cleared the stretch. Vehicles are expected to cross Rohtang on Thursday. According to an official of the BRO, snow has been cleared from both sides of the 13,050-ft Rohtang Pass, the gateway to Lahaul-Spiti. He said the surface was still slippery due to the presence of a thick layer of ice. Till the filing of this report, no vehicle had crossed the Rohtang Pass. A large number of people in Lahaul valley are eagerly waiting for the authorities to open the road. Koksar rescue post in-charge Pawan Kumar said although snow had been cleared, the road was still slippery. He said 46 persons, who were waiting for the road to open at Koksar, were being provided food and shelter. We have been asked to send vehicles from Lahaul to Koksar first. Today, we checked the road condition and found a number of frozen stretches between Koksar and Rohtang, he said. The BROs 38 Border Road Task Force commander Col Arvind Awasthi said the highway would not be opened to the general public, but in case of an emergency, vehicles would be allowed to pass. According to officials in Lahaul, first preference would be given to those who were stuck in the valley and only then vehicles from Manali would be allowed to come towards Rohtang. Many people who wanted to go to Lahaul from Manali had booked taxis to reach Lahaul via Kishtwar route which takes about two days.Meanwhile, the Manali administration is not letting tourists go beyond Kothi. A truck driver, Rajender Kumar, who resides in Mandi district, was coming from Leh towards Keylong when he was trapped in blizzards at Bharatpur on Thursday. He spent two nights in the truck and eventually decided to walk over thick snow towards Keylong. After walking for about 25 km, he reached Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment at Patseo where he was given shelter. A rescue team from Keylong went to Patseu today to bring Rajender to Keylong. He and other stranded persons are expected to cross Rohtang on Thursday. Tribune News Service Jammu, November 22 The rich cultural heritage and untapped tourism potential remains in a state of neglect in Jammu city, famously known as the City of Temples. As the state is celebrating World Heritage Week, attention has been again drawn towards the failure of the successive governments to safeguard some of the finest historical monuments in the state, especially in the Jammu region. Despite having a rich historical past, Jammu, once the seat of the Dogra dynasty, has remained neglected when it comes to preserving its history. World Heritage Week commenced on November 19 and will conclude on November 25. The Department of Archaeology and Archives has initiated several public events showcasing the literary and historical heritage of the state, but monuments need a comprehensive plan. While the government has formulated several events in the capital cities, Mubarak Mandi Palace, Bahu Fort and forts at Samba, Akhnoor and Reasi remain in a state of neglect. The crumbling historic Mubarak Mandi complex the insignia of royal memorabilia and residence of the erstwhile Dogra rulers in Jammu and Kashmir craves for a new lease of life. The government apathy could be gauged from the fact that in more than nine years of the restoration project being initiated, a meager 7 per cent of the total estimated cost has been released so far, while the actual expenditure on the project is even lesser at 5 per cent. As a face-saving exercise, the Department of Archives, Archaeology and Museums has organised an exhibition of archival records, natural heritage, historical documents and rare books at Mubarak Mandi. At the erstwhile Prince of Wales College, now GGM Science College, theauthorities have organised events to celebrate Heritage Week. Tribune News Service Jammu, November 22 Days after Beijing envoy Luo Zhaohui suggested alternative routes through Jammu and Kashmir to address Indias concerns regarding the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has favoured the need to rediscover traditional routes of Kashmir. Reinforces the need to rediscover traditional trade routes of Kashmir. Will open avenues for greater economic ties and cultural exchanges, Mehbooba wrote on Twitter while reacting to the Chinas proposal for alternative routes for CPEC via J&K and Nepal. CPEC, flagship project of Chinas prestigious One Belt One Road (OBOR), passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and the estimated cost of the project is nearly $60 billion. The project comprises construction of about a dozen power projects, grand road, railway network connecting Kashghar city of China with Gwadar port city of Pakistan, 11 industrial zones and laying of fibre optic from Kashghar to Islamabad. This is not for the first time when Mehbooba has come out in support of projects like the CPEC. In March this year, she had said it was time to move beyond border skirmishes to be partners in economic growth and also partners in projects like CPEC. While describing J&K as the Gateway to Central Asia, Mehbooba had said: J&K could become a corridor of economic activity in the region and the country could take huge benefit from the economic activities going on across the Line of Control. Why cant we be partners in economic growth and share the benefits of projects like CPEC? Let us move beyond skirmishes. Beyond borders This is not for the first time when Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has come out in support of projects like the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. In March this year, she had said it was time to move beyond border skirmishes. Ranjit Thakur Doda, November 22 Tourists from across the country are flocking to Bhaderwah after its upper reaches received a snowfall two days ago. Tourism stakeholders are now pinning hope on winter for the revival of the sector. As the Kailash mountain range, Asha Pati, Seoj Dhar, Chattar Gali, Goldanda, Jaie and Hanga in Bhaderwah have received snow, hoteliers and people connected with the tourism industry are upbeat and hope that the tourists will arrive in large numbers. President, Tours and Travel Association, Bhaderwah, Tariq Choudhary said: Tourists have already started pouring in from Mumbai, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Bangalore and Delhi. We are hopeful that tourists will converge in large number this season. We received moderate snowfall which is good for the tourism industry. Tourist can enjoy the snow and easily travel to snow-covered high-altitude destinations, he said. Expressing concern over the governments step-motherly treatment to the tourism sector in Bhaderwah, Choudhary said: The government has been giving preference to Kashmir and ignoring Bhaderwah. We have held a number of meetings with officials and the minister in Kashmir and Jammu to boost tourism, but nothing has happened so far. Many roads leading to tourists destinations of Padri and Jaie gets blocked by heavy snowfall and it becomes difficult for us to take tourist to these places. As a result, tourists cancel their bookings and we have to suffer losses. We hope the government uses its machinery to keep the roads open in all seasons so as to boost tourism. A local radio anchor, Nadim Khan, said: People of Bhaderwah connected with tourism are hopeful of a good income this winter. The mesmerising view of Bhaderwah and its snow-covered peaks are tempting people to visit but the government is not playing its part in uplifting the industry. The Bhaderwah Development Authority should focus on attracting people from Dalhousie which is just 50 km from here. Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Bhaderwah Development Authority, Bal Krishan said: The Nashri Tunnel has increased the flow of tourists to Bhaderwah. Now schoolchildren are coming from Udhampur for a day-out in Bhaderwah which was not possible earlier because of a long distance. He said: For the past few years, we have put in great efforts to attract tourists from all over the country. Around 4.5 lakh tourists visited Bhaderwah this summer. We are focusing on creating infrastructure, including a food court, in Bhaderwah, which has been a demand of visitors. In the past one year, nearly 10 hotels have come up in Bhaderwah city. The day is not far when Bhaderwah will become the biggest tourist destination in the Jammu region. the CEO said. New Delhi/Ahmedabad/Chandigarh, November 22 Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Wednesday said film Padmavati was hurting sentiments and would not be screened in the poll-bound state till issues were resolved even as a parliamentary panel sought a report from the I&B Ministry and CBFC on the matter. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said a call on allowing the Sanjay Leela Bhansali-directed period drama in his state would be taken after the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) decides on it. The row over the Bollywood flick, meanwhile, continued to simmer with the Shri Rajput Karni Sena demanding that its reels be consigned to the flames of Jauhar. In Lucknow, a complaint was filed in a court seeking prosecution against Bhansali for showing the film to three journalists without the censor nod. BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha waded in questioning what he called the silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani. Former CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat, in an editorial in party organ Peoples Democracy, compared the protesters with cow vigilantes, and said mob rule had become one of the hallmarks of the Modi raj. In Ahmedabad, Chief Minister Rupani joined counterparts from BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan in expressing reservations about the film. The Government of Gujarat will not allow Bollywood movie Padmavati to be released in the state as it is hurting sentiments of Rajputs, he announced. We cant allow our history to be distorted. We believe in freedom of speech and expression but any foul play with our great culture is not tolerated, the chief minister said. He referred to the upcoming state polls and said the government had taken the decision in the interest of law and order as it did not want any row. There are issues with the film, our sympathy is with those who are protesting against the film and that is the reason we will not allow its release in the state till those issues are resolved, Rupani said in Ahmedabad. In Chandigarh, Haryana Chief Minister Khattar, however, chose to wait for the censor boards decision in the matter. The government will take a call upon the screening of Padmavati after the decision by CBFC, Khattar said adding that nobody would be allowed to hurt sentiments. Khattar distanced himself from the Haryana BJP chief media coordinator Surajpal Singh Amus remarks about offering a bounty of Rs ten crore to anyone beheading Bhansali or lead actress Deepika Padukone. The BJP has also issued a show cause notice to Amu, he said while also pointing to an FIR against the state leader. The controversy over the medieval drama also reached the portals of Parliament as a House panel sought a report on the film from the I&B Ministry and the censor board. The matter was taken up for consideration by the Lok Sabha Committee on Petitions after two BJP MPs from Rajasthan, CP Joshi and Om Birla, filed a plea regarding objectionable content in the movie. Joshi told PTI that the movie should be shown to historians and the descendants of the erstwhile royal families, who trace their lineage to Padmavati, before release. PTI Tribune News Service Guwahati, November 22 The commandant of the 2nd battalion of the Tripura State Rifles (TSR), Tapan Debbarma, was today arrested in connection with the killing of a journalist inside the battalion headquarters near Agartala yesterday and remanded in police custody for 10 days by a local court. Superintendent of Police Harkumar Debbarna said the commandant of the counter-insurgency paramilitary force was arrested for conspiring to kill the scribe, Sudip Datta Bhowmik, inside the battalion headquarters at Radhakishore Nagar yesterday. TSR constable Nandalal Reang, who allegedly shot dead the journalist and was arrested last night, was also sent to police custody for 10 days. The BJP, meanwhile, has demanded the resignation of Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar over deteriorating law and order situation in the Left-ruled state even as the saffron party called for a 12-hour Tripura bandh tomorrow to protest the murder of the journalist by a man in uniform. The state government, for its part, has ordered a CID inquiry. The murder has sparked sharp protests from the media fraternity as well as public all over the Northeast today even as journalists in Tripura staged demonstration in front of Sarkars residence demanding exemplary punishment to the culprits. Journalists in Agartala took out a protest march with the body of the slain journalist. BJP state president Biplab Deb has accused the Left government of letting loose a reign of terror in the state through the state police. Nobody is safe in Tripura today, the situation is that bad, he said, demanding a statement from the government on the murder. Second killing in two months The killing of Sudip Datta Bhowmik was second of a journalist in Tripura in around two months. On September 20, a young journalist, Santanu Bhowmik, was shot dead in the state New Delhi, November 22 The Cabinet on Wednesday approved the setting up of the 15th Finance Commission which will assess the tax resources of the nation and suggest a formula for their devolution among states. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) The members of the Commission and its terms of reference will be notified in the due course of time, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said after the Union Cabinet meeting. Its recommendations will have to be in place before April 1, 2020, he said. "Normally, it takes 2 years for Finance Commission to give its recommendations." As per Article 280 of the Constitution, the Commission is required to make recommendations on the distribution of the net proceeds of taxes between the Centre and the states. The Commission also suggests the principles which should govern the grants in aid of the revenues of the states out of the Consolidated Fund of India. This time it will have to take into account the impact of the Goods and Services Tax, which kicked in from July, on the resources of the central as well state governments. On who will head the 15th Finance Commission, Jaitley said: "The members of Finance Commission will appointed soon." When asked whether the 15th Commission will also allocate more resources to the states, he said: "I think let us not pre judge the situation. India is a Union of states, the Union also has to survive." The 14th Finance Commission was set up on January 2, 2013. Its recommendations cover the period from April 1, 2015 to March 31, 2020. PTI Ravi Dhaliwal Tribune News Service Batala, November 22 The Batala police, on the hunt for a highway robber who had created terror on the Amritsar-Batala-Pathankot stretch for months now, have finally tasted success, arresting an ex-serviceman and his accomplice and seizing weapons, including an AK-47 assault rifle. The IG (Border), Surinder Pal Singh Parmar, rushed to Batala from Amritsar to oversee the operation. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Truckers had been complaining that a well-built man carrying an assault rifle had been looting their goods and vehicles. Terrified, they had decided to commute in batches. It was a cat and mouse game with the robbers outsmarting the police on several occasions. We decided to launch a covert operation and succeeded in nabbing ex-serviceman Gurpreet Singh. His accomplice, John Masih of Johal Nangal village, was arrested too, said Opinderjit Singh Ghuman, SSP. Gurpreet Singh has confessed to having committed at least 12 robberies. He told us he had purchased the rifle from a man in Doda, Jammu and Kashmir. We have summoned the Doda man to Batala for questioning, IG Parmar said. A case under Sections 379-B, 212 and 216 of the IPC and the Arms Act has been registered against the accused. French English Paris, 22 November 2017 - Atos, a global leader in digital transformation, has been selected by PSA Finance Bank (BPF), an international supplier of mobility services, to accelerate BPF's digital transformation thanks to Big Data applied to banking, consumer credit and consumer experience. According to the five-year contract, Atos will manage and modernize BPF's application portfolio, particularly in light of PSA Group's new challenges related to transforming the automotive experience from ownership to everyday use. This international digital transformation project, based on agility and industrial excellence, is based on Atos service centers located between France and Spain. Remy Bayle, CEO of PSA Finance Bank, comments on the contract : With this contract, we are targeting a short-term transformation of the entire application portfolio in order to accelerate the time-to-market of new financial services in support of the PSA Group's commercial performance and support for dealers. Jean-Marie Simon, Head of Atos France and Group Executive Vice President, adds: We are proud to contribute to BPF's performance and support its digital acceleration through a technological partnership encompassing expertise, know-how and innovation. *** About Atos Atos is a global leader in digital transformation with approximately 100,000 employees in 72 countries and annual revenue of around 12 billion. 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Press contact: Terence Zakka | terence.zakka@atos.net | +33 1 73 26 40 76 | @Mr_Zakka New Delhi, November 22 The controversy over period drama Padmavati today reached the portals of Parliament as a House panel sought a report on the film from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and the Censor Board. After a plea by BJP MPs CP Joshi and Om Birla from Rajasthan referring to objectionable content in the movie, the matter was taken up for consideration by the Lok Sabhas Committee on Petitions. Joshi, who is also a member of the panel, said the movie should be first shown to historians and the descendants of the erstwhile royal families who trace their lineage to Padmavati, before its release. The panel has referred the matter to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and the Censor Board. It has also asked them to submit a report before November 30, said senior BJP leader Bhagat Singh Koshyari, who heads the panel. Amid rumours that there was a romantic dream sequence between Padmavati and Alauddin Khiljis characters, various Rajput groups have been protesting against the film, alleging it distorts history and hurts the sentiments of the people. Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and UP Chief Ministers have already opposed the release of the movie. PTI Gujarat bans release Ahmedabad: Even though the producer of the film has indefinitely put off the release of the film, the Gujarat Government on Wednesday banned the release of Padmavati in the state till the controversy surrounding the film subsided. Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said the government would not allow the film release in the state as it had caused a lot of heart-burning among communities Girja Shankar Kaura Tribune News Service New Delhi, November 22 The Centre today approved revision of salaries of Supreme Court and High Court judges. The decision came at a meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by PM Narendra Modi here. The revision would include salary, gratuity, allowances, pension, etc, of sitting and retired judges. The decision follows the implementation of recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission in respect of civil servants. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) The approval will pave the way for necessary amendments to the two laws Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Act, 1958 and High Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Act, 1954 which govern the salaries of the Chief Justice of India (CJI), judges of the Supreme Court, Chief Justices and all judges of High Courts. The government intends to move Bills to amend these two Acts in the forthcoming winter session of Parliament. The increase in emoluments will be effective from January 1, 2016, and benefit 31 judges of the Supreme Court (including the Chief Justice of India) and 1,079 judges (including the Chief Justices) of High Courts. About 2,500 retired judges will also benefit from the revision. The arrears on account of revised salaries, gratuity, pension and family pension will be paid from January 1, 2016, as one-time lump sum payment, said Law and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad while briefing the media about the Union Cabinet decisions. Once the hike is effected, the salary of judges will be on a par with those of bureaucrats. A Supreme Court judge at present gets Rs 1.5 lakh a month in hand after all deductions from salary and allowances. The CJI gets a higher amount than this, while judges of the High Courts get a lesser amount. Approval given to 15th Finance panel The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved setting up of the 15th Finance Commission to assess the tax resources and devise a formula for their devolution among states. The commission members and its terms of reference will be notified later, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said. Its recommendations will have to be in place before April 1, 2020. Normally, it takes two years to give recommendations, he said. 550 ex-CAPF men at airport counters The Centre has decided to hire 550 ex-paramilitary personnel to bolster manpower of the short-staffed immigration counters at airports. The Intelligence Bureau has written to various Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), seeking nomination of recently retired officials in the rank of sub-inspector. The aim is to boost the strength of the Bureau of Immigration amid growing passenger traffic at international airports. Vijay Mohan Tribune News Service Chandigarh, November 22 Coinciding with the golden jubilee of the commissioning of IAFs only Param Vir Chakra recipient, Flying Officer Nirmaljit Singh Sekhon, the Air Headquarters has drawn up plans to revive the squadron that he had served in. The squadron will be re-formed on the indigenously-built Light Combat Aircraft Tejas. Sekhons outfit, No. 18 Squadron, also known as Flying Bullets, had been de-commissioned or number-plated, as it is called in Air Force terminology, two years ago after the MiG-27 aircraft that it was equipped with were decommissioned. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) We met Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa this week and he told us that the IAF is making sure that Sekhons contribution to the nation and the force is never forgotten, Air Marshal AK Singh, former Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Air Command, who is Sekhons batchmate, said. The process of revising the war heros squadron is part of this endeavour, he added. The squadron was formed on April 15, 1965, with Gnat fighter aircraft. It first saw action during the 1971 Indo-Pak war and operated out of Srinagar with the task of defending the Kashmir valley. Sekhon, then just 28 and hailing from Ludhiana, was part of the deployment. On December 14, 1971, Sekhon, along with another officer, scrambled to counter an attack by Pakistan aircraft and shot three enemy Sabre jets in aerial combat. His own aircraft was hit and he went down. For his actions, he was decorated with the highest gallantry award. After the war, the Gnats were replaced with HAL Ajeet in 1975. In May 1989, when the squadron was at Hindon, it received the MiG-27 and its role changed from air defence to ground attack. It then moved to Kalaikunda in the North-East, where it was awarded the Presidents Standards in 2015 before flying into the sunset. Several of Sekhons batchmates from the 97th Pilots Course, who were commissioned in June 1967, had met the IAF chief and presented him a plaque dedicated to Sekhon that would be displayed in the Air Force Museum at Palam. Reviving the squadron, however, could take time as new aircraft are yet to come in. Last year, the IAF had raised its first Tejas unit, No. 45 Squadron, the Flying Daggers, to be based at Salur in Tamil Nadu, but it has just a handful of planes and is not fully operational. Smita Sharma Tribune News Service New Delhi, November 22 In a setback to India, Hafiz Saeed, accused of masterminding the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, is expected to walk free just ahead of the ninth anniversary of the 2008 terror strikes. A Lahore High Court Judicial Review Board today denied further three-month detention of Saeed, as sought by the Punjab provincial government in Pakistan. The government is ordered to release Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed if he is not wanted in any other case, it ordered. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Local media said the order was passed after a finance ministry official failed to cite sufficient evidence to link Saeeds release to diplomatic and financial funding problems for Pakistan. Reacting to the development with disappointment, an Indian official source said, This exposes Pakistans duplicity on terror. It proves Pakistan has not put in much effort to ensure an internationally proscribed terror mastermind is punished and stays in jail. The courts move comes just days after a proposal in the US Congress to delink action against Lashkar-e-Toiba, the parent organisation of JuD, from the certification process required to sanction funds to Pakistan. Saeed has been designated a global terrorist by the United Nations for his role in the Mumbai attacks that claimed 166 lives. The US department of justice has a bounty of $10 million for actionable information against Saeed. Saeed was placed under house arrest on January 31 under the Anti-Terror Act for 90 days along with four aides. The detention was extended under the same Act. But subsequently, on July 28, Saeed was booked under the Public Safety Act or Maintenance of Public Order Act of 1960, with terrorism charges against him withdrawn. The court gave 30 days extension for Saeeds detention last month. He is expected to walk free of his house arrest once this detention expires. According to sources, a high-level official meeting of the Punjab government has been convened. Options are being mulled to slap fresh charges on Hafiz Saeed before his current detention expires. Public Prosecutor in the Mumbai trials, Ujjwal Nikam, while speaking to television stations, called the development a befooling act. Azhar Qadri Tribune News Service Srinagar, November 22 A soldier, Sepoy Mandeep Singh, 32, from Chahal Khurd village in Batala, Gurdaspur, was killed as troops repelled an infiltration bid which left a militant dead in the remote Keran sector of north Kashmirs Kupwara district today. Two soldiers have been injured and shifted to hospital, Defence spokesman Col Rajesh Kalia said. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) An operation is underway to trace the militants who may have sneaked into the Kashmir valley. Reinforcements have been rushed to the area, he added. With winter approaching, there has been a rise in the number of infiltration attempts this month as heavy snowfall cuts off Valley routes. Keran sector is a key infiltration route for the militants from across the border. The fresh infiltration attempt in the sector comes a day after three militants and a soldier were killed in two gunfights in the frontier district. Agartala, November 22 Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy will submit a report to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on the killing of a journalist by a Tripura State Rifle (TSR) trooper on Tuesday. I am going to Delhi today (Wednesday) and would meet Home Minister Rajnath Singh to give a report on the killing of the journalist Sudip Datta Bhowmik by a TSR rifleman, Roy told the media before leaving for Delhi. He said: I would see the end of the killing. How a journalist was killed by a TSR personnel within the battalion headquarters complex? According to police, TSR Second Battalion Rifleman Nandu Kumar Reang on Tuesday, following an altercation, opened fire from his AK-47 assault rifle, killing Datta Bhowmik, 50, on the spot in Radha Kishore Nagar, 25 km from Agartala. Reang was the bodyguard of Second Battalion Commandant Tapan Debbarma. The slain journalist went to meet Debbarma at the battalion headquarters. Police arrested both the TSR trooper and commandant Debbarma. They would be presented in the court on Wednesday. The state government has handed over the case to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). Union Minister of State for Home Kiran Rijiju has also strongly condemned the killing of the journalist. Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, condemning the killing, has asked the Director General of Police to probe the incident. Bhowmik, who was a reporter with Syandan Patrika and television channel Vanguard, is survived by his wife, a government teacher, and two children. To protest against the killing, both the BJP and the Congress called a 12-hour and 24-hour statewide shutdown on Thursday, respectively. Chief Minister Manik Sarkar should step down immediately, BJP state president Biplab Kumar Deb told the media demanding a judicial probe into the crime. Various journalist organisations in the northeast, including the Tripura Working Journalists Association, Tripura Journalists Union (TJU) and the Agartala Press Club, denounced the killing and demanded a high-level probe into the incident. The TJU has also demanded the resignation of the Home Minister. The portfolio is held by the Chief Minister. On September 20, a television journalist, Santanu Bhowmik, 28, was killed allegedly by some activists of a party in Mandai, 35 km from here. IANS Guwahati, November 21 A senior journalist, Sudip Dutta Bhowmick, was allegedly shot dead by a Tripura State Rifles (TSR) constable following an altercation at the headquarters of TSR 2nd battalion at RK Nagar in Agartala around 1 pm today. The journalist had gone there on an assignment. Bhowmick, 48, was a senior reporter of Agartala-based Bengali daily Chandan Patrika. After reaching the spot, we found the journalist lying in a pool of blood. We took him to GB Hospital in Agartala where the doctors declared him brought dead, said West Tripura SP Abhijit Saptarshi. A TSR constable has been arrested in this connection, the SP said. The incident has numbed the journalist fraternity in the poll-bound Left-ruled state. Tripura Journalist Union president Syed Sajjad Ali condemned the killing, calling it a cold blood murder by a man in uniform and demanding a judicial probe into the incident. The killing comes two months after a TV journalist, Santanu Bhowmick, was stabbed to death by miscreants belonging to the Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura on September 20. TNS/PTI Washington, November 22 The US has congratulated Justice Dalveer Bhandari for his re-election to the ICJ, but asserted that it is against any change in the current veto structure of the UN Security Council, even as it favours a modest expansion of the 15-member body. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Indias Dalveer Bhandari was on Tuesday re-elected to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) with more than two-thirds of the UN members backing him, forcing Britain to withdraw its candidate amidst high drama in the hard-fought race to the world court. Read: Diplomatic coup, Bhandari re-elected Responding to questions on reform of the 15-member apex wing of the world body, a State Department spokesperson said: The United States remains open in principle to the idea of UN Security Council reform, including a modest expansion of the Security Council. We believe a reformed council must reflect the realities of the 21st century and be able to meet the challenges of this century with enhanced and not diminished effectiveness and efficiency. To this end, we remain opposed to any alteration or expansion of the veto, the spokesperson said. The spokesperson was asked about reform of the UNSC in view of the differences that emerged between the General Assembly and the Security Council during the just-concluded election to the ICJ. For the last remaining seat, the General Assembly and the UNSC had to carry 11 round of voting before judge Christopher Greenwood from Britain withdrew from the race, leaving Indias nominee Bhandari to be re-elected for a nine-year term. We congratulate Judge Dalveer Bhandari of India for his re-election to the International Court of Justice, as well as the other candidates who were elected or re-elected..., the spokesperson said, thanking Judge Greenwood for his service to the ICJ. However, the official refused to comment on the 11 rounds of voting. Were not going to comment on the prior rounds of voting. In the end, Judge Bhandari received the unanimous support of the UNSC and an absolute majority in the UN General Assembly for his re-election to the ICJ, the spokesperson said. PTI New Delhi, November 22 The Congress on Wednesday took on the BJP for its Bihar unit chief saying that any finger or hand raised against the Prime Minister would be chopped off and asked if Narendra Modi or party president Amit Shah would apologise for the comment. Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala also hit out at a section of the media and asked if bhakt channels would hold discussions on Bihar BJP president Nityanand Rais comments on Monday. Will hands and fingers now be chopped off for asking Modiji questions? Will Amit Shah dare act against his Bihar BJP chief? Surjewala asked on Twitter. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Will Modiji, Amit Shah apologise? Will bhakt channels hold discussions on this? he added. Rai had said at a function on Monday that the Prime Minister is the son of a poor man and should be honoured. Any finger or hand raised at him should be either broken or chopped off, he had said. On Tuesday, he expressed deep regret if the comment caused any hurt and said he withdrew it. I used a muhavra (idiom) to express my sentiments. My words were not to be taken literally. However, if it has caused any hurt, I express my deepest regret and withdraw my comment, Rai told reporters in Patna. PTI Imphal/New Delhi, Nov 22 Union Minister KJ Alphons was confronted by an enraged woman passenger at the Imphal airport over the delay in her Kolkata-bound flight she was taking to rush to Patna to attend a funeral of her relative. Alphons today said he was not responsible for the delay of the flight due to VVIP security protocol after a video footage of the passenger identified as a woman doctor arguing and directing her ire at him on seeing the minister at the Imphal airport went viral. The video of the incident that happened yesterday showed the woman complaining to Alphons about the flight being delayed due to VIP movement. Alphons, who is Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Tourism, had come to Imphal to attend the Northeast Development summit, which was inaugurated by President Ram Nath Kovind yesterday. President Kovinds aircraft was due to land in Imphal around the time of departure of the Kolkata-bound aircraft. I have to reach Patna. The body is waiting, otherwise the body will decay. I am a doctor, I know that. The body is still at home, the woman can be heard pleading with Alphons, who tries to soothe her anger. She was also heard asking Alphons to give in writing what time her flight would take off. The woman was booked on an IndiGo flight from Imphal to Kolkata from where she had to take a connecting flight to Patna. On her repeated insistence to give her in writing as to what time the flight would depart, the minister is heard saying he does not have the authority to do so. Imphal Airport Director SK Panigrahi said over phone at Kolkata that three flights were delayed due to the visit of President Kovind to the state yesterday. The commercial flights were delayed since the Presidents flight was scheduled to arrive, he said, adding none of the flights were cancelled. The airport director said the three commercial flights were delayed between 90 minutes and two hours. According to Alphons, he approached a woman crying at the airport. She was crying and I wanted to know what happened. She started saying that she had to go to Patna to attend a relatives funeral which was scheduled in the afternoon. She was distraught because her flight was delayed and she feared the body will decay. As a representative of the government of India, she wanted me to intervene, Alphons said, amid allegations that he was the cause for the delay of the flight. PTI Panama City, Florida, Nov. 22, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Department of the Navy posted a solicitation for information from manufacturers of Maritime SATCOM (Mobile Satellite Communication). The potential procurement will be for at least eight rugged, weather resistant radio systems, with the possibility of up to twenty-four. To gage sources for the procurement, the Naval Station Weapons Center Panama City Division (NSWC PCD) will be holding an Industry Day on January 9, 2018 at the La Quinta Inn on Coastal Palms Blvd in Panama City Beach, Florida. Eligible federal contractors are asked to provide a static display of their proposed system. Among other technical specifications, acceptable SATCOM systems should demonstrate their ability operate under salt fog conditions, withstand dust penetration, be protected from snow and resist fungal growth. Interested vendors should contact Tommy Bushman by email at tommy.bushman1@navy.mil with a capability checklist and market research information, both of which can be found on the Federal Business Opportunitys webpage. No contract will be awarded at this time from responses to this solicitation as this just the information gathering stage of the possible procurement. Companies that respond to and attend this Naval Industry Day must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) Database. US Federal Contractor Registration, the worlds largest third-party contractor registration firm, will assist businesses who have not yet registered in SAM or need to renew registration. An experienced, dedicated case manager at USFCR will help any business communicate professionally with the government in order to reach their full potential in government contracting. Vishav Bharti Tribune News Service Chandigarh, November 21 When Ghulam Mustafa joined Lahores Government Dyal Singh College as a lecturer in 1987, there was a strong attempt by certain sections to rename the college as Data Sahib College. But some roshan khayal (progressive) teachers fought back and the name stayed. Will intellectuals in India fight back too, asks Mustafa, referring to the move to rename Delhis Dyal Singh College as Vande Mataram Mahavidyalaya. Now an associate professor, Mustafa says a group of teachers got Dyal Singh Majithias portrait installed in the staff room. Now young students often ask us about the portrait and we proudly tell them that this man spent his fortune on building a college for you. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) The college has emerged as one of the key centres of academic activism, says Dr Shafiq Butt, joint secretary, Punjab Professors and Lecturers Association. Even after 1987, there were numerous attempts to rename Sir Ganga Ram Hospital and Dyal Singh College. These were resisted by the people. Even the Lahore HC upheld that these institutions should be known by their original names. Dr Chaman Lal, a former JNU professor, visited Lahores Dyal Singh College and Library and the newly established Dyal Singh Foundation in 2008. Foundation director Dr Zafar Cheema welcomed us with open arms and gifted us a book on Shaheed Bhagat Singh in Gurmukhi. The Pakistan Government has set up foundations in memory of Dyal Singh Majithia as well as Sir Ganga Ram. On the other hand, the Indian Government is trying to erase Majithia's legacy as it doesnt suit its political agenda, he says. Haroon Khalid, known for documenting works on Pakistan's minorities, says while Dyal Singh College and trust continue to exist in Pakistan, which is an Islamic state, a secular India, in its pursuit of a uniform culture, is ignoring the fact that there is beauty in diversity. Mahmood Awan, Punjabi writer and columnist for News International Lahore, agrees with him. There seems to be a well-thought-out plan to divide Punjabis further and to alienate them from their history and heritage. Punjab heritage belongs to all Punjabis, he remarks. Post 1972, the Dyal Singh Trust-run college in Lahore was taken over by the Pakistan Government and renamed as Government Dyal Singh College. It now has 2,300 students and 92 faculty members. Adjacent to the college is a library that is run by Dyal Singh Trust. Sirsa meets Principal NEW DELHI: Though DSGMC general secretary Manjinder Singh Sirsa on Tuesday met Dyal Singh College Principal IS Bakshi, asking him to oppose the decision to rename the evening college as Vande Mataram Mahavidyalaya, sources said college governing body chairman Amitabh Sinha remained adamant. Officiating principal Dr Ashok Singh argued this was not the only evening college to be converted into a regular one. Desh Bandhu College and Ramlal Anand College too were renamed, he said. Anirudh Gupta Ferozepur, November 22 The district administration has started the Ek Prayaas project under which regular remedial classes are being held in 121 government schools of the border district for strengthening the fundamentals of various subjects of students. While talking to The Tribune, Ramvir, Deputy Commissioner, said, To begin with, we are focusing on English and maths, for which daily revision and periodic assessment have been made an integral part of the learning process. There are daily two-hour special classes of English and maths, one hour before and one hour after regular school timings for which resource persons have been appointed to conduct the remedial classes. Ramvir added that the resource persons were selected from the local area as far as possible to ensure punctuality and regularity. The selection of resource teachers is done by the principal of the school with active involvement of the parent-teacher association, he added. Vineet Kumar, ADC, who is the coordinator of the project, said the teachers were also being imparted periodic training for the subject matter as well as about best teaching practices. The funding is being met through donors, both individual as well as institutional, he said, adding that the programme also envisaged a voluntary contribution scheme which was locally funded and not reliant on any outside financial support. The project started with 50 schools in June this year and had been extended to all the 121 higher and senior secondary schools this month with a monthly expenditure of Rs 4 lakh. We also ensure regular parent-teacher meeting to discuss on each childs learning outcomes, said the ADC. Interestingly, the state government has now also launched somewhat similar plan for over 45,000 Class X students all over the state to improve their performance in science and math. Amarjit Thind Tribune News Service Chandigarh, November 22 The travails of the farming community so far viewed with indifference by the urbanities are now at the centre stage since it is being widely felt that something is amiss in the demand and supply food chain. This was evident in the wide coverage of the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) at its two-day Kisan Mukti Sansad, which concluded in Delhi yesterday. It was the first time that the protesters highlighted only two demands implementation of the Swaminathan Committee report and a complete debt waiver. The social media was abuzz with the problems being faced by the peasantry and the active role played by young volunteers who took to modern information tools like Facebook and Twitter to plead the cause of the farmers. The presence of youngsters and women even surprised the organisers of over 184 organisations from across the country. So far, such protests were largely viewed as periodic shows of resentment against the unfair farm policies and were largely ignored by the urban population. This time, the huge participation of women, who head over 20 per cent of the rural farm holdings, was an eye opener. So was the case of youngsters who virtually covered all aspects of the protest, unheard of in the past. The traditional banners and slogans of yore had given way to slick posters highlighting the plight of the farming community. As Jagmohan Singh of the BKU (Dakonda), who participated in the event, said: Times have changed. The younger lot realise that they have to harness all means to get their message across to the government and the people. The farmers now want to take on the government at all levels, be it new media, policy debates, recourse to judicial activism and street mobilisation, he added. The protest has shown that ground mobilisation across the country was logistically and ideologically possible. The first-ever womens parliament yesterday was an acknowledgement of the role of women farmers. The gathering also noted that despite thousands of farmers, including hundreds of farm suicide affected widows, marching to Delhi neither the PM nor any of his colleagues cared to listen to the plight of the farmers. It was resolved to hold a Kisan Mukti Diwas on January 26 across the country. Under debt, 40-year-old takes poison Faridkot: A 40-year-old farmer of Hariaewala village in the district allegedly ended his life by consuming pesticide here on Wednesday. Gurmit Singh, who owed three acres, had taken loan from banks and private moneylenders. He had taken some agriculture land on lease some time ago, but for the low return from this land and high lease rate, he was unable to cope with his mounting debts. He is survived by two children and wife. TNS Nikhil Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Ludhiana, November 22 Two days after the collapse of multistorey polybag manufacturing factory at Mustak Ganj chowk which claimed the lives of 13 persons, the police today arrested factory owner Inderjeet Singh Gola. Stringent IPC section has also been added to the already registered FIR. Earlier, the police had booked the factoru owner under Section 304 A IPC(causing death due to negligence), a bailable offence. Now, they have converted it to Section 304 IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), which is a non-bailable offence. Police Commissioner RN Dhoke said the earlier case was registered on the basis of preliminary reports, but after the probe team found illegalities in the construction of the multistorey building, a stringent section had been imposed. Meanwhile, the rescue operation has slowed down due to the presence of heavy iron bars and cemented blocks. Three firemen are yet to be traced. An official said: So far only 30 per cent rubble has been cleared. The iron bars and cemented blocks are being broken manually by the rescue team to allow the JCB machines to clear debris. Two mobile phones were recovered from the debris today. It is not yet clear who owned them. Factory record summoned VK Meena, Divisional Commissioner, Patiala, who is heading the probe committee, on Wednesday visited the site and met the injured at hospital. He asked the MC to provide the record of property tax, building plan, sewerage and water supply documents pertaining to the factory. He has also sought its allotment letter and NOCs, if taken from the PPCB and the Fire Department. Meena said samples of the collapsed building would be sent to forensic lab to know about the cause of the blast and the presence of any illegal chemicals. Funds for firemen uniforms Chandigarh: Perturbed at the sight of firefighters using wet sacks and scarves on their heads in the rescue operation, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Wednesday ordered immediate release of funds for new uniforms. He also asked Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu to assess if the personnel could be covered under fire insurance schemes. TNS Archit Watts Tribune News Service Muktsar, November 22 Teachers as well students of the Panjab University Regional Centre here are up in arms against the move of the state government and university authorities to shift it from Muktsar town to neighbouring Kauni village in Gidderbaha subdivision. There is a PURural Centre at Kauni village, which has so far failed to serve its purpose. The centre is running with most of the seats lying vacant. Now, Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal wants to make it fully functional and Gidderbaha MLA Amrinder Singh Raja Warring has stressed on shifting the Muktsar centre to Kauni village in his constituency. Irate teachers and students of the Muktsar centre sent memorandums to the university authorities, warning that they would lodge a stir if any such decision was taken. Meanwhile, a team of the university is now scheduled to come to Muktsar on November 27 to assess the situation. The Muktsar centre has been doing well since its inception in 1998. It has even produced some judges, bureaucrats and gold medalists. The centre at Kauni village, which was inaugurated in 2010 by Manpreet, has so far proved to be a white elephant for the authorities as not even a single student has taken admission in the BBA and PGDCA courses here till date. The students say unfriendly location and lack of transportation are the reasons behind its failure. PS Dhingra, Director, PU Regional Centre, Muktsar, said, If the authorities want to make the Kauni village centre successful, it must offer skill development and vocational courses. This is not a right step to shift a successfully running centre to a village. He added, The Muktsar centre had last year got five-acres along the Government College and got a boundary wall constructed. Presently it is being run from a rented building of a gurdwara, which has been declared unsafe. The authorities should either repair the building or release funds for the construction of the new building, which is the right step. Students from neighbouring districts are unwilling to be shifted to Kauni village. Prof RD Bansal, a PU Syndicate member, said, The centre at Muktsar is already getting indifferent treatment and move to shift it is illogical. Tribune News Service Dehradun, Nov ember 22 Uttarakhand Congress president Pritam Singh today accused state BJP government of totally failing on law and order front. Addressing a press conference, Pritam Singh said the law and order scenario had gone from bad to worse under the BJP government. He said the government, which is completing eight months in office now, has left law and order neglected. Referring to the killing of gangster in Roorkie inside the court premises a day back, Pritam Singh said the government was least bothered to establish rule of law in the state. He alleged that even family members of various ministers have been found to be involved in anti-lawful activities in the past, adding that the name of husband of one of ministers in the Trivendra Singh Rawat government has come to the fore some time back in alleged kidney racket. He also asserted that the state government had completed eight months in the office but has not done even a single work which can be taken as an achievement of his government. He said the ministers in the state government have become arrogant. The Hague, November 22 A UN tribunal on Wednesday convicted former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic of genocide and crimes against humanity for orchestrating massacres and ethnic cleansing during Bosnias war and sentenced him to life in prison. Mladic, 74, was hustled out of the court minutes before the verdict for screaming this is all lies, you are all liars after returning from what his son described as a blood pressure test which delayed the reading-out of the judgment. The UN Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) found Mladic guilty of 10 of 11 charges, including the slaughter of 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica and the siege of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, in which more than 10,000 civilians were killed by shelling and sniper fire over 43 months. The crimes committed rank among the most heinous known to humankind, and include genocide and extermination as a crime against humanity, Presiding Judge Alphons Orie said in reading out a summary of the judgment. Many of these men and boys were cursed, insulted, threatened, forced to sing Serb songs and beaten while awaiting their execution, he said. Mladic had pleaded not guilty to all charges. His legal team said he would appeal against the verdict. The Butcher of Bosnia to his enemies and critics, Mladic was the most notorious of the ICTYs 161 indictees, along with former Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic and late Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic. In its summary, the tribunal found Mladic significantly contributed to genocide committed in Srebrenica with the goal of destroying its Muslim population, personally directed the long bombardment of Sarajevo and was part of a joint criminal enterprise intending to purge Muslims and Croats from Bosnia. Prosecutors said the ultimate plan pursued by Mladic, Karadzic and Milosevic was to purge Bosnia of non-Serbs a strategy that came to be known worldwide as ethnic cleansing and carve out a Greater Serbia in the ashes of Yugoslavia. ICTY Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz called the judgment a milestone. It is the last major decision by the ICTY, which plans to close its doors soon after sentencing 83 Balkan war criminals since opening in 1993. Aleksandar Vucic, President of Serbia whose late nationalist strongman Milosevic was Mladics patron but died in a tribunal prison before the end of his trial, said Serbia respects the victims and called for a focus on the future. Serbia, once the most powerful Yugoslav republic, is now democratic and seeking ties to the European Union. Reuters Was at large for 16 years before 2011 capture Taipei/Beijing, November 22 Air China Ltd has indefinitely suspended flights between Beijing and Pyongyang, citing poor demand as North Korea faces growing sanctions from the US over its nuclear weapons and missile programmes. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) An official in the companys Beijing-based press office, who only gave his surname as Ding, told Reuters on Wednesday that flights were suspended because business was not good. He declined to comment on when flights might resume. The suspension by Chinas national flag carrier comes shortly after a visit by a senior Chinese envoy to the city and also coincides with a US decision to put North Korea back on a list of state sponsors of terrorism. Air China flights to Pyongyang, which have traditionally operated on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, began in 2008, but have frequently been cancelled because of unspecified problems, state media has said. Last year, Air China halted flights seasonally for winter but resumed them in March. So far it is not selling tickets for any 2018 flights, according to Routes Online. One staff member in the companys Pyongyang office who declined to give his name told Reuters that Air China can resume the flights whenever there is enough demand and the office will operate normally even while there are no scheduled flights between Beijing and Pyongyang. Air Chinas Beijing-based press office declined to provide further comment. The company cancelled some flights in April but later said that it would increase their number in May. The United States has urged China to do more to press North Korea to stop what the United States sees as belligerent defiance of UN resolutions. Chinas foreign ministry on Tuesday said that it hoped all parties could contribute to resolving the issue on the Korean peninsula peacefully. It also said that it was not aware of the Air China situation, adding that airlines made their decisions based on market needs. Reuters Islamabad, November 22 A top Chinese official has expressed concern over the prevailing political instability in Pakistan that could negatively impact the pace of the projects started under the ambitious $50 billion CPEC initiative, according to a media report today. The Chinese delegation expressed weariness during the Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) meeting held here on Tuesday. The meeting was co-chaired by Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal, who is also Minister for Planning and Development Reforms and Wang Xiaotao, Vice-Chairman of National Development and Reforms Commission (NDRC) of China. The delegation complained about the political instability in Pakistan that would negatively impact on the pace of the CPEC progress, official sources were quoted as saying by the Dawn News. According to officials, in Pakistan alone, China is reported to have committed to invest $50 billion and some estimates even put the amount to more than $60 billion in the ambitious CPEC project, connecting Chinas Xinjiang province with Balochistans Gwadar port. India has protested to China over the CPEC project as it traverses through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir(PoK) and boycotted a high-profile Belt and Road Forum organised by Beijing in May. Iqbal said that in 2014 Pakistan Tekree-e-Insafs chief Imran Khans sit-in had delayed the CPEC launching. He alleged that various methods and attempts were being made to crash Pakistans economic takeoff. Despite hiccups, the JCC approved the Long-Term Plan (LTP 2017-30) envisaging broad parameters for future cooperation, but could not conclude agreements on development projects and special economic/industrial zones, the report said. They also could not finalise taxation issues and stood short of final agreement on inclusion for financing of special economic zones. He said two hydropower projects of a joint capacity of 180MW in Gilgit-Baltistan had been made part of the CPEC framework. Iqbal, who is Pakistans focal person for the CPEC, said the LTP had been under preparation for several months involving consultations among all stakeholders in Pakistan and China. Today we have reached the agreement and approved the LTP that will encompass bilateral economic cooperation until 2030. He said the CPECs first phase involved removing energy and infrastructure bottlenecks in Pakistan to make them enablers of economic growth and hence USD 35 billion out of USD 46 billion portfolio went to the energy sector, resulting in $27 billion worth of projects now in implementation stage. The minister said the LTP has now finalised a comprehensive framework for bilateral cooperation, particularly towards industrialisation, value-addition and job creation. Under the framework, he added, investments would now flow to the special economic zones, while a joint working group (JWG) on agriculture had been created because China had made great progress from moving out of low value commodities to technological advancements in agriculture output. The meeting agreed to expedite work on the Gwadar Port and Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi would inaugurate the Gwadar Eastbay Expressway project later today. Iqbal said the 19 km expressway also included a 4.5 km bridge over the sea that would link the Gwadar Port with the Eastern side. He said the two sides also agreed that work on the Gwadar airport should start by the middle of next year. He said the two sides exchanged views on issues of taxation and security and formulated a working group to settle issues of taxes in a comprehensive manner. PTI CHARLOTTE, N.C., Nov. 22, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Waterstone Defeasance recently closed a defeasance transaction for a $6.7 million CMBS loan, secured by a mobile home property located in Davie, Florida. Waterstone guided the owners through the defeasance process coinciding with the owners sale of their property. As the defeasance consultant, Waterstone managed the activities of the numerous parties involved with the transaction in order to meet the borrowers closing schedule. Parties associated with a defeasance transaction typically include the servicer, servicers counsel, borrower, borrowers counsel, securities broker, custodian, accountant, rating agencies, and the successor borrower. Since the property was in Florida, hurricane activity forced the transaction to be delayed. We were happy for our client that there were no serious issues and the sale did close within six weeks of their original closing schedule. - Carol Tillman, COO at Waterstone. About Waterstone Defeasance Waterstone Defeasance, LLC is an independent consulting firm specializing in assisting commercial real estate borrowers through the defeasance process. Since 2005, Waterstone has assisted owners and their advisors achieve the lowest possible defeasance costs. Waterstone has developed an industry-leading online defeasance calculator so clients can get a quick defeasance estimate on their website (defeasanceservices.com). Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the company also has offices in New York, Dallas, and Irvine. Contacts: Carol Tillman COO 704.926.6508 DefeasanceServices.com Beirut, November 22 Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri today said he was suspending his surprise resignation, pending talks, providing a potential way out of a political crisis that has rocked the country. And in a rousing address before large crowds of supporters gathered outside his Beirut home, he pledged he would stay in the country and protect its stability. Lebanon has been thrown into turmoil by Hariri's shock November 4 announcement from Saudi Arabia that he was stepping down, as well as his prolonged absence afterwards. The resignation was seen as a ratcheting up of tensions in the long-running rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and raised fears that Lebanon would be paralysed by regional tensions. Hours after his arrival back in Beirut, Hariri met with President Michel Aoun, who had refused to accept the premier's resignation until he returned to Lebanon. I discussed my resignation with the president of the republic who asked me to wait before submitting it... and allow for more consultations, Hariri told reporters afterwards. I agreed to this request. Hariri said he hoped his decision would allow for a responsible dialogue in a serious manner... that would settle disputes. In announcing his resignation, he had levelled harsh criticism at Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah, saying they had taken over Lebanon and were destabilising the region. He also said he had been forced to leave Lebanon because of threats to his safety, invoking the 2005 assassination of his father, former prime minister Rafik Hariri. But he left the door open to withdrawing the resignation if the powerful Shiite Hezbollah group pulled back from involvement in regional conflicts. AFP Harare, November 22 Zimbabwes former Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who made a triumphant return to the country today, will be sworn in as President on Friday. Mnangagwa told adoring crowds in Harare today that they were witnessing unfolding full democracy as he returned to take power after Robert Mugabe stepped down after 37 years in power. It was his first public speech since Mugabe fired him on November 6 over a succession tussle with the former first lady, a move that prompted the militarys intervention to force Mugabe from power, leading to his resignation. Mnangagwa, who has close ties to the army and the security establishment, will be sworn in as President at an inauguration ceremony on Friday, officials said. Today we are witnessing the beginning of a new and unfolding full democracy in our country," he said in front of hundreds of supporters, some wearing shirts emblazoned with images of the 75-year-old leader. We want to grow our economy, we want jobs... all patriotic Zimbabweans (should) come together, work together, he said. He was surrounded by a large security detail and arrived at the headquarters of the ruling ZANU-PF party in a presidential-style motorcade. Two young men held a stuffed crocodile above their heads, a reference to Mnangagwass nickname, earned for his reputation for stealth and ruthlessness. He had flown in earlier to Harare's Manyame airbase from South Africa, and met key ZANU-PF officials before heading to the State House, the nerve centre of Zimbabwe's political establishment, for a briefing. Mugabe's iron grip ended yesterday in a shock announcement to parliament, where MPs had convened to impeach the 93-year-old leader who dominated every aspect of Zimbabwean public life for decades. He had last been seen in public on Friday and had given a televised address on Sunday, but neither he nor his wife Grace have been seen since, with their whereabouts unknown. AFP Mugabe leaves a complex legacy Washington, November 22 The United States has unveiled new sanctions targeting North Korean shipping and Chinese traders doing business with Pyongyang, again raising the pressure on the pariah state to abandon its nuclear programme. The measures came a day after President Donald Trump declared North Korea a state sponsor of terrorism, a spot on a US blacklist Pyongyang had shed nearly a decade ago. These designations include companies that have engaged in trade with North Korea cumulatively worth hundreds of millions of dollars, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said. We are also sanctioning the shipping and transportation companies, and their vessels, that facilitate North Koreas trade and its deceptive maneuvers. On Monday, Trump had said the sanctions announcement would be the first in a series of moves over the next two weeks that would reinforce his maximum pressure campaign against Kim Jong-Uns regime. As had been expected, the Treasury measures make use of existing US directives against North Korean trade, but expand their scope to take in more companies and individuals. Most importantly, they expand the list of Chinese firms accused of doing business with the North despite promises from Beijing that it will honor UN-backed punitive measures. Trump met Chinas President Xi Jinping earlier this month and is bullish about the US-China relationship, but concerns remain that Beijing is not ready to take tough measures against Kim. In particular, China has been reluctant to cut off oil supplies through a pipeline to North Koreas lone refinery, fearing that regime collapse could lead to chaos on their common border. And, according to US officials, some Chinese-based banks and trading firms continue to do business with the North in defiance of UN sanctions and US threats of unilateral measures. We still hope all relevant parties can contribute to easing tensions, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Tuesday, after the US terror designation. More should be done in that regard, he added. China has pushed for a dual track approach which would see the United States freeze its military drills in South Korea while North Korea would halt its weapons programs. Washington has rejected that approach. According to Mnuchin, the sanctions would not only increase Pyongyangs isolation but also expose its evasive tactics. In all, the new measures add one individual, 13 trading entities and 20 ships to US sanctions lists. Any property or assets of the firms involved that are found to be in areas under US jurisdiction are to be frozen, and Americans are banned from trading with them. AFP. SREBRENICA, near Bosnias eastern border with Serbia, had been designated a safe area by the United Nations and was defended by lightly armed UN peacekeepers. But they quickly surrendered when Mladics forces stormed it on July 11, 1995 The killings in Srebrenica of men and boys after they were separated from women and taken away in buses or marched off to be shot amounted to Europes worst atrocity since World War Two and the Dutch peacekeepers looked on helplessly A bronzed and burly Mladic was filmed visiting a refugee camp in Srebrenica on July 12. He was giving away chocolate and sweets to the children while the cameras were rolling, telling us nothing will happen and that we have no reason to be afraid, recalled Munira Subasic of the Mothers of Srebrenica group. After the cameras left, he gave an order to kill whoever could be killed, rape whoever could be raped and finally he ordered us all to be banished and chased out of Srebrenica, so he could make an ethnically clean city, she said. The remains of Subasics son Nermin and husband Hilmo were both found in mass graves by International Commission of Missing Persons (ICMP) workers. The ICMP have identified some 6,900 remains of Srebrenica victims through DNA analysis. Reuters CHICAGO, Nov. 22, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mr. Mallmes is recognized as one of Western Canadas leading entrepreneurs, community advocates, and political change agents. As an entrepreneur Mr. Mallmes successfully owned, operated and financially backed several profitable and growth oriented corporations in Western Canada. From his origins in the welding, fabrication, and auto parts businesses, under Mr. Mallmes' leadership and direction he has contributed toward major infrastructure expansion in the civil, industrial, and oil & gas sectors in British Columbia and Alberta. The past 35 years of private sector success has now allowed Mr. Mallmes to enter the public sector as an elected official working with local government. His platform focuses on economic development through fiscally responsible capital projects and community driven initiatives including researching and building district energy systems, establishing advanced technology to improve forest conservation (Community Forest), developing water shed modules, and working with local stakeholders building affordable homes for Canadian Veterans. Mr. Mallmes will support Quantum Energys efforts in growth and development drawing from his entrepreneurial accomplishments, business acumen and investor prowess. His unique skill sets will be a great asset to the success of Quantum, and each operating subsidiary. Quantum will benefit from his proven methodologies for sustainable business growth and profitability. His background in the public sector, and its consensus environment, coupled with experience working with First Nations, will enable Quantum to effectively balance strategic business objectives with corporate social responsibility. Mr. Kacic is an experienced oil & gas executive and investment banker. Mr. Kacic served as a director of Quantum and as Chief Executive Officer from March 2014 to July 1, 2016. Mr. Kacic will focus his efforts on the completion of the S 1 that the Company filed with the SEC on March 6, 2017. Mr. Kacic also serves as a Principal of Advisory Services Inc. (formerly, A.J. Kacic & Associates Inc) a corporate advisory and consulting firm. He has been the President of Advisory Services Inc. since 1986. Quantum (OTC Pink:QEGY) is an energy focused company with emphasis in energy projects including land holdings, refinery development, oil and gas exploration, drilling, well completion, and fuel distribution in the U.S. and Canada, through its subsidiary Dominion Energy, as well as commodities trading through its wholly owned subsidiary FTPM Resources, Inc. www.quantum-e.com. Safe Harbor Forward-Looking Statements To the extent that statements in this press release are not strictly historical, including statements as to revenue projections, business strategy, outlook, objectives, further milestones, plans, intentions, goals, future financial conditions, future collaboration agreements, the success of the Company's development, events conditioned on stockholder or other approval, or otherwise as to future events, such statements are forward-looking, and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking statements contained in this release are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the statements made. For Company Contact: Andrew J. Kacic 480-734-0337 In 2015 my husband and I flew to Placencia, Belize, and then took a long, rough boat ride so we could stay at an off-shore resort close to where the Whale Sharks swim. In the three days we were there, no guest divers or snorkelers saw a Whale Shark. One day the resorts dive operator took some of us snorkelers out to see the sharks in less than ideal conditions because they knew we were unhappy we hadnt been able to get off the island. We were crazy to go out on the boat. The water was too rough; people were throwing up before we even got to the snorkel site. Waves were 10 feet high. When we were in a trough between waves, we couldnt see the boat and the boat couldnt see us. The dive master, a black man in black swim trunks with black snorkel equipment was impossible to see in the dark open water, and he made no effort to stay with us. Soon my husband and I were all alone. It was very frightening. When we finally found the boat with no help from the dive master getting back on board was like riding a bucking bronco. I came back with bruised legs and arms. It was a terrible, dangerous experience, and we didnt see any sharks. Later the resorts manager admitted they hadnt seen any Whale Sharks that season and their numbers had been decreasing for years. Save your money, youre unlikely to see Whale Sharks in Belize. Instead, save your pennies to go to Cenderawasih Bay in Indonesia. The Whale Sharks congregate around floating docks where fisherman clean their catch. Seeing sharks there is virtually a slam dunk. I spent 10-12 hours in the water with these behemoths over two days, and the sharks even followed us back to our boat so they could hang out with us some more. It was the most amazing experience of my life. We went to Cenderawasih Bay with the Oceanic Society, and it was worth every penny. Thats the way to see Whale Sharks. It seems likely that 2018 will be looked back on as the year North American Class 8 trucks made serious moves toward a more efficient and safer future. The past 12 months have seen a flurry of activity on the Class 8 front as OEMs launched significantly upgraded or all-new trucks. These new and enhanced trucks will be the building blocks and enablers for much of the new technology coming to trucking over the next decade. Yet despite much talk about futuristic trends such as autonomous driving, platooning, drones and electric trucks, the bulk of the introductions are clearly focused on the human factor making drivers safer, more comfortable, and more productive. New interiors being introduced across truck brand lines were developed with heavy driver input. And aerodynamic and powertrain improvements are driving further increases in fuel efficiency. At the same time, OEMs are significantly expanding the concept of a connected truck that is constantly gathering data and sharing it with fleets, capable of over-the-air (OTA) powertrain upgrades and leveraging telematics to slash downtime. The next five years are going to be insane given the amount of technology that is coming into trucking. Its going to be fast and furious, said Bill Kozek, who is tasked with identifying future transportation trends for Navistar, at the North American Commercial Vehicle Show in Atlanta in September. Kozeks comments echoed others at the show, such as those by Richard Howard, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Freightliner. He said his companys current theme was to be 100% connected in terms of vehicle capability. Daimler Trucks North America President Roger Nielsen noted that the company is performing real-world platooning tests now in both Oregon and Nevada. David Pardue, vice president of Mack Trucks connected vehicle technologies, said the company will have OTA powertrain updates available for its 2018 model year trucks by the end of this year. At a recent roundtable discussion, Lars Stenqvist, chief technology officer of Volvo Group, said data connectivity, electric power, and autonomous driving are the three technologies that have the greatest potential to change trucking in the near future. Yet none of this will come to pass without a modern vehicle platform to work from. Which brings us back to 2018 model Class 8 trucks: A new crop of vehicles with capabilities that are stunning in their own right but that will also serve as a launching pad for a wide array of new technologies. The latest enhancements to Freightliners new Cascadia include 48-, 60- and 72-inch mid-roof XT sleeper cabs in both 116- and 126-inch BBC platforms. Freightliner adds sleeper configurations to new Cascadia Freightliner was early out of the new-technology gate when it launched its new Cascadia tractor in late 2016. Since then, Daimlers flagship North American brand has largely focused on fleshing out options for the truck, including mid-roof cab configurations for regional overnight haulers and segments such as bulk haul and flatbeds, announced at the NACV Show. The configurations include 48-, 60- and 72-inch mid-roof XT sleeper cabs in both 116- and 126-inch BBC platforms. All three configurations offer two levels of aerodynamic packages, the Aero or AeroX, Freightliners most fuel-efficient specification. The new configurations are available to order now, for delivery in January 2018, in addition to the Driver Loft option, available in the 72-inch mid-roof XT configuration featuring a two-seat dinette/work table and opposing seating. These seats can be folded flat to allow a full Murphy-style bed to swing down in less than 15 seconds. The new sleeper options build on the new Cascadias other high-profile enhancements, which include all LED-lit interior and exterior lights, as well as the eVault, a dedicated and protected centralized housing for all of the trucks high-tech electronic control modules. On the telematics front, the new Cascadia comes with Detroit Connect and Detroit Assurance 4.0 to offer enhanced fleet management, increased uptime and improved safety. Freightliners complete 2018 Class 8 lineup includes the Cascadia and Cascadia Evolution models, as well as the SD vocational truck (now available with an auto hauler package). All Freightliner Class 8 models can be specd with Detroit DD13, DD15 or Cummins engine options. Internationals new, HV Series tractor is the companys first severe-duty truck available with the new A26 12.4-liter diesel engine. International makes splash with new HV Series International didnt wait for the NACV Show before it started making Class 8 news with a refresh of its distinctive LoneStar highway tractor (see Quick Spin on page 40). And at NACV it unveiled the new HV Series severe-duty truck, designed to deliver a smarter approach to serious work, said Denny Mooney, senior vice president of global product development, noting the new model is the first severe-service truck available with the Internationals new A26 12.4L big-bore engine. While the new HV doesnt differ much visually from its predecessor, Mooney emphasized that it was redesigned from the inside out. The hood and grille remain the same, but the HV Series interior was crafted with driver and body company feedback. New doors offer better visibility. Under the hood, the truck has been redesigned with uptime in mind, he said, starting with the powertrain. The A26 is built from the MAN D26 engine crankcase, which produces up to 475 hp and 1,700 lb.-ft. of torque from a design that International says is 600-700 lbs. lighter than a traditional 15L big-bore engine. The HV Series is also available with the Cummins B6.7 and Cummins L9 engines. The HV also was designed for easy body mounting and features the Diamond Logic electrical system for the automation of tasks and interlocks to help protect equipment and crew. Internationals new regional haul RH Series debuted in April and will be offered in multiple configurations, including day cab, 56-inch low roof sleeper, 56-inch high-rise sleeper, day cab with roof fairing, and 56-inch high-rise sleeper with roof fairing. The truck features a host of new features designed to improve driver comfort in the cab while also yielding up to a 6% improvement in fuel efficiency. Engineers also focused on reducing the RHs overall weight. The RH Series also features the Bendix Wingman Advanced Collision Mitigation system as standard, an industry first in the regional market, according to International. Internationals 2018 Class 8 stable includes the retro-styled LoneStar, the LT Series highway tractor, the new RH Series, the new HV Series vocational truck, and the HX severe-duty vocational model. Engine offerings include the Navistars new A26 diesel, the Navistar N13 or the Cummins X15. All the new trucks feature new driver-focused interiors developed with extensive driver input. Kenworths T680 is available with the proprietary Paccar Automated Transmission as an option for a fully integrated, all-Paccar powertrain. Kenworth adds proprietary transmission Kenworth now has a fully integrated, automated transmission for its Class 8 models with the Paccar Automated Transmission. With the recent addition of the Paccar axle, Kenworth now offers a fully integrated Class 8 powertrain. We have spent a lot of time over the past few years working on proprietary calibrations for the transmission and the MX engines, said Kenworth Marketing Director Kurt Swihart. The result is a deeply integrated powertrain that will deliver everything customers would expect from such a design. The new transmissions, developed in conjunction with Eaton, will hit the street with many features that Eaton customers are familiar with, such as Urge to Move, Creep Mode and Blended Pedal. But company officials emphasize the new transmission was designed from the ground up as automated. Drivability enhancements include optimized gear selection, which selects appropriate starting gears and makes optimized shift decisions based on vehicle weight engine torque, grade and throttle position. More fuel-saving features are offered as options. Kenworths line-haul Class 8 models for 2018 include the T680 and the T680 Advantage fuel economy package, as well as its classic W900 conventional tractor. Vocational models include the T680-derived T880 and the T800 model. Kenworth models can now be specd with a Paccar powertrain, powered by MX-11, MX-13 and PX-9 diesel engines, and it offers Cummins engine options including the ISLG, ISX12 and X15. The Allison TC10 automatic transmission is now also available as optional equipment, while the also-new Eaton-Cummins Endurant automated transmission is available as an option with Cummins engines. Macks new Anthem highway tractor is available in several configurations, including a daycab, an all-new 48-inch flat top sleeper, and an all-new 70-inch stand-up sleeper. Mack returns to roots with Anthem highway tractor Macks launch of its new Anthem highway tractor is a two-fisted return to form for the truck company, with aggressive styling evocative of classic Macks from years past plus improved fuel economy. (See Test Drive on page 44.) The Anthem features an all-new exterior design with optimized aerodynamics for improved fuel efficiency. New driving and sleeping environments were crafted with an emphasis on increasing driver comfort and productivity. Its available in several configurations, including a daycab, an all-new 48-inch flat top sleeper, and an all-new 70-inch stand-up sleeper. As one of the most significant new trucks in Macks 117-year history, the Anthem combines our latest innovations with more than a century of truck-building know-how, said Dennis Slagle, president, Mack Trucks. Anthem is available with the 13L Mack MP8 engine with ratings as high as 505 hp and 1,860 lb.-ft. of torque. The 11L Mack MP7 is available as an option on the Anthem with ratings up 425 hp and 1,560 lb.-ft. of torque. Macks SuperEconodyne downspeeding packages are available with both Mack MP7 and MP8 engines. Available exclusively with SuperEconodyne is the Mack MP8-TC engine featuring turbo compounding, which captures and converts waste energy from the exhaust into mechanical energy that is fed back to the engine. This feeds up to 50 additional horsepower back to the crankshaft, for additional performance while improving fuel efficiency. Combined with the Anthems aerodynamic improvements, the Mack MP8-TC engines provide up to an 11.8% improvement in fuel efficiency compared with a baseline from previous Mack models equipped with GHG2014 engines. Mack also updated its Granite and Pinnacle models for 2018 with new interiors aimed at attracting and retaining drivers. A new gauge cluster and dash layout is designed to improve visibility and readability and puts frequently used controls at the drivers fingertips. Switches are repositioned higher on the dash, while the Mack mDrive automated manual transmission shift pad is now within easier reach as well. The dash panel has room for up to 18 switches, which feature laser etched labeling that wont rub off. Along with interior changes, Mack introduced LED headlights and a new grille for its Pinnacle model that echoes the Anthem. The axle-back Pinnacle is being phased out in 2018. The axle-forward Pinnacle, formerly known as the CH, will continue but will be called the Pinnacle. In addition to the Anthem and Pinnacle models, Mack continues to offer its Class 8 Granite and LR and TerraPro cabover vocational model. All trucks can be specd with an all-Mack Econodyne drivetrain, powered by MP7, MP8 and MP8TC diesel engines. Paccars new, fully integrated powertrain featuring the all-new Paccar Automated Transmission offers customers 399 lbs. of total vehicle weight savings and 7% total fuel economy savings on the Model 579 Epiq model. Peterbilt adds Paccar automated transmission Upgrades to Peterbilts fuel economy-focused Model 579 Epiq package deliver an 8% fuel economy improvement for the 2018 model year, says the company. Among the enhancements are a new predictive cruise control option on Paccar MX engine-equipped models, for fuel economy improvements of up to 3%, and a new Paccar 40,000-pound tandem drive axle, now standard with the Model 579 for line-haul applications. Paccar also unveiled its new Paccar Automated Transmission, giving Peterbilt a complete proprietary and fully integrated powertrain option. Kyle Quinn, general manager at Peterbilt, noted that altogether, the Paccar integrated powertrain offers customers 399 lbs. of total vehicle weight savings and 7% total fuel economy savings. The transmission can be specd with the Predictive Cruise Control option for maximum fuel efficiency. The new transmission was developed with Eaton and designed from the ground up as an automated transmission, as opposed to a converted manual gearbox design. Peterbilt began offering the new transmission as an option on its Models 579 and 567 last month. It will be paired with the MX-13 engine at first, and will be available with the MX-11 engine in early 2018. Another new option for 2018 Peterbilt Class 8 trucks is the Endurant AMT for Model 579 and 567 trucks from Eaton Cummins Automated Transmission Technologies. The purpose-built Endurant was engineered for integration with the Cummins X15 engine to provide improved fuel efficiency, performance, and low-speed maneuverability. It offers engine ratings up to 510 hp and 1,850 lb-ft of torque, and weight savings up to 105 pounds over competitive automated transmissions, according to Eaton. Peterbilt will offer its aerodynamic Model 579 and conventional Model 379 for linehaul applications in 2018. Vocational truck offerings will include the Model 567, Model 367, and Model 365. Full Paccar powertrains are now available, featuring MX-11 and MX-13 diesel engines. Cummins ISX12 and ISX15 are also options. For the first time in North America, Volvos Globetrotter trim levels will be available on the VNL 760 and VNL 860 sleeper models. Volvo unveils all-new on-highway and regional tractors Hard on the heels of summers launch of the all-new VNR vocational/regional Class 8 tractor, the company revealed its new Volvo VNL series highway tractor, available in several configurations, including an all-new, 70-inch sleeper. The new truck builds on Volvos established styling cues combined with new features, such as swept-back headlights that include signature Volvo daytime running lights, and a bold new Volvo grille and hood. Airflow up and around the cab has also been optimized with new chassis and roof fairings. Driver productivity and comfort were also key design priorities, resulting in an all-new dashboard that puts often-used controls easily within the drivers reach. There are four sleeper cab configurations, including an all-new, full 70-inch sleeper available in the Volvo VNL 760 and 740 models. All VNL sleepers feature curved cabinets that open toward the back to maximize space, as well as an integrated, reclining bunk, which Volvo says is a first in North America. For the first time in North America, Volvos high-end Globetrotter trim levels will be available on the VNL 760 and VNL 860 sleeper models. The new VNL comes standard with the 13L Volvo D13 engine. Daycab and VNL 400 models can be speced with the 11L Volvo D11 as an option. The 15L Cummins X15 is also available in the VNL series. Volvos VNR is available in three base configurations; the day-cab VNR 300, a flat-roof sleeper model called the VNR 420 that comes with a 42-inch sleeper compartment for overnight trips, and the VNR 640, which features a 61-inch mid-roof sleeper intended for week-long excursions. It has enough room for a 42-inch mattress, a vertical closet, a fridge and microwave as well as a flat-screen TV. Powertrain options for the VNR include the Volvo D11 with 325-425 hp and 1,250-1,550 lb-ft, or the beefier Volvo D13 offering 375-500 hp and 1,450-1,850 lb-ft. The D11 is nearly 350 pounds lighter than the D11, for weight-sensitive applications. The engine can be mated to any of the currently available Volvo I-Shift configurations as well as popular Eaton-Fuller manual boxes or Allisons 5- or 6-speed automatics. Volvo will also offer two vocational choices in 2018. Its VHD model can be specd as a straight truck or a tractor. The severe duty VNX model remains in the Volvo stable as well, although the company has discontinued its D16 engine. The VNX will be offered with a high-horsepower Volvo D13 engine; additional engine options may become available in the future. Western Stars 5700XE flagship highway tractor can be specd with the fuel-efficient Detroit DD15 engine. Western Star turns 50 with Class 8 upgrades Western Star celebrated its 50th anniversary this year by announcing a host of new options and upgrades for its Class 8 model lineup, including a new Western Star 5700 truck configuration for expeditor and RV applications available in a day cab or sleeper. The truck can be specd with a throwback paint scheme recalling the companys 1970s truck show colors, as well as RollTek Seats, which inflate side-impact airbags, tighten seat belts and compress air suspension seats to the lowest position to prevent serious injuries to the driver, in the event of a rollover. The 5700XE, the brands fuel-efficient highway tractor, can be specd with the fuel-efficient Detroit DD15 engine, which features the lighter and less complex asymmetric turbocharger, a variable speed water pump that reduces parasitic loads when full output is not required. The GHG14 version of the DD15 also has the next-generation Amplified Common Rail Fuel System that delivers up to 36,000 psi injection pressure for finer atomization of the fuel and a more complete burn. The 5700XE is also available with the DD13 and DD16 engines. It comes standard with the Detroit DT12 automated manual transmission that can be mated to any of the Detroit engines offered. For maximum fuel efficiency, DTNA offers the integrated Detroit Powertrain featuring the new downsped DD15 engine rated at 400 hp and 1750 lb.-ft. torque, DT12 transmission with Intelligent Powertrain Management, and Detroit axles with specific configurations and gearing. Western Stars 2018 on-highway lineup features the aerodynamic 5700 model, which is also offered in an XE (Extreme Efficiency) package, plus the more conventionally styled 4900, offered in set-back axle, set-forward axle, extended hood, twin-steer and extreme duty configurations. Also offered is the 4800 straight truck model in set-back and set-forward axle configurations as well as a twin-steer variation. The 6900 is Western Stars severe duty truck. It can be configured as an on-highway, Class 8 model or as a an off-highway hauler. Western Stars Model 4700 is a Class 7 truck that can be specd as a Baby 8 for weight sensitive applications. COVINGTON With the shadows of towering wind generators nearby, workers are setting up more than 38,000 photovoltaic panels that will cover 80 acres on the north edge of this small Garfield County farming community. The solar farm will be the second for Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co. The 10-megawatt solar power plant being built by California-based SunPower Corp. will generate electricity for 1,000 homes in Oklahoma. The plants cost is forecast to be around $20 million. OG&E built its first solar farm with 2.5-megawatts in 2015 at its Mustang power plant on the western edge of Oklahoma City. Solar is a new thing coming out, says Kathleen OShea, manager of corporate communications for OG&E. This second solar farm is just recognition that solar technology is a viable energy source. The Covington plant will use the Oasis system, which has 50 percent fewer parts than conventional solar plant systems, an integrated solar tracker design and SunPowers P-series solar panels, designed to produce more energy than conventional panels through the lifetime of the system. The beauty with solar is the output goes directly into our grid system and can be used by anyone who is our customer, OShea said. The Covington plant qualifies for Oklahomas zero-emissions tax credit, a program that ended for wind energy July 1. The incentive offers a 0.5 cents per kilowatt hour tax credit that can be carried forward for 10 years. The credit is refundable for 85 percent of its value. OG&E has a waiting list for its community Solar Power program, where residential customers can sign up for special rates at different times of the day. Covington represents a quiet, under-the-radar revolution in the Oklahoma energy industry. The state ranks sixth in the nation for solar power potential with over 3,000 sunlight hours a year. Last year Oklahoma saw 2.9 megawatts of solar capacity set up. Solar jobs in Oklahoma City skyrocketed by 106 percent in 2016 over the previous year. Red River Valley Rural Electric Association has erected 950 solar panels near Marietta, enough to power 35 homes. Anadarko-based Western Farmers Electric Cooperative has put up a solar farm with 20,000 solar panels near Cyril in southwestern Oklahoma providing enough power for 400 homes. WFEC is also setting up solar farms at Tuttle, Hinton, Marietta and south of Fort Cobb. Tri-County Electric Cooperative has a solar farm near Hooker in the Oklahoma Panhandle, and Oklahoma Electric Cooperative operates a solar farm near Norman. Eastern Oklahoma, especially around Tulsa, though, is lagging behind. American Electric Power-Public Service Company of Oklahoma is just now making plans to enter the solar arena, pressured by the fact that its last coal generator is scheduled to shut down at Oologah in 2026. We plan to get into it in the next couple of years, around 2020, and then add a little bit year after year, said AEP-PSO spokesman Stan Whiteford. He said the company will include solar in its portfolio as both a means to diversify and to reduce its dependency on coal. But, as OShea points out, one problem providers are having in entering the solar market is cost. The cost of solar technology continues to decline, but our rates are so low in Oklahoma that its not that economical, said OShea. Marine Corps veteran Marcus Morgan was bringing home about $55,000 a year as an airports auditor. He was content. But something was missing. A purpose. One of the biggest things that touched me was veterans suicide, Morgan said. You have over 20 veterans a day committing suicide. I asked myself. What am I doing? Why is that happening? I was in a place where I was comfortable. I was good. We were doing good things for ourselves, but were not really giving back in any way. Bent on making a difference, Morgan quit his job at the Tulsa Airports Improvement Trust and opened Our Troops Consignment and More LLC in August at 11118 E. Admiral Place. Staffed by veterans company partners are his wife, J.J. Morgan, and Sam Pickle, also fellow Marines the 10,000-square-foot store assists people with a military background by offering them affordable furniture and other wares. I told my wife I had to get a presence in the community and start showing people that Im actually helping people, Morgan said. Our Troops also provides $15-an-hour services such as lawn care, garage and storm clean-up, and residential moving. Were not licensed professionals, but were hard workers, Morgan said. The more services we can provide, the more veterans we can hire. When Army veteran Cory VanPutten didnt have a permanent place to stay, Morgan took him into his Beggs home, helping him with financial and transportation issues, even taking his children to the doctor. Pretty much any way he could help, he helped, said VanPutten, who works at Our Troops. Pickle was employed by Starbucks when he was contacted by Morgan about his venture. I told him the first or second week after we started that this is the most exhausted Ive ever been after a day of work, Pickle said. But Im also happier than Ive been in a few years, because its rewarding. I believe in the vision. Its something I can stand behind and feel like Im doing actually doing something a little bigger with my life. Crow Agency, Montana, Nov. 22, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Crow/Northern Cheyenne Hospital, a 24-bed inpatient, Indian Health Service facility, has issued a Request for Quotation from contractors providing Certified Nurse Midwife Services. A 9-month contract beginning October 2018 with options up to 2022, will be awarded to the vendor who provides the best possible all-inclusive daily rate offer. Quotations should reflect one clinic per week from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm with the option for an additional clinic each week if demand increases. The hospital anticipates 8-10 patients per day at 30 minutes per patient. An eligible Certified Nurse Midwife would be able to provide healthcare, counseling and education to families of childbearing years and women of all ages. The provider who wins the contract will also be working with and assisting in on-the-job training of current Indian Health Service and Tribal staff as required; therefore, the Contractor must demonstrate sensitivity to cross-cultural and language differences. Interested applicants must be certified through an accredited nursing program in the state of Montana as well as be ACLS, BLS and PALS certified. Indian Health Services will provide all necessary equipment and supplies. Interested vendors should respond to kenneth.nicholson@ihs.gov by December 5th, 2017. In addition to position specific requirements, to submit a quote for this opportunity, businesses must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) database. This SAM database allows contracting officers to accurately vet your business. SAM registration is free, but complicated. To ensure proper registration and for the best possible chance at obtaining a contract, businesses should contact US Federal Contractor Registration. USFCR is the worlds largest third-party government registration firm. An experienced, dedicated case manager at USFCR will help any business, especially a small business, communicate professionally with the government to obtain this contract with the Crow/Northern Cheyenne Hospital. A man who claimed police mistook him for a carjacker was convicted of the crime Tuesday by a federal jury. Joshua Flangen Wofford, 33, was found guilty of carjacking a family on June 4. Following a two-day trial in Tulsa federal court, he was acquitted of a charge of using and carrying a firearm during a crime of violence. Wofford faces not more than 15 years imprisonment on the carjacking conviction. His sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 26. A grand jury on Aug. 7 named Wofford in the two-count indictment following his arrest by Tulsa police. Wofford was arrested in a wooded area near the 3800 block of North Harvard Avenue about two hours after the carjacking. Trial evidence indicated that a couple and their three children traveling in a Chevrolet pickup stopped about 10:40 p.m. at QuikTrip, 28 N. Harvard Ave. After the husband exited the truck and entered the store, a white male who had been standing in front of the store approached the woman and children and ordered them out of the vehicle at gunpoint, the evidence indicated. Woffords federal public defender, Robert Ridenour, during his closing argument honed in on a store surveillance video that depicted the carjacker taking the truck. I dont know who that guy is but its not Josh Wofford, Ridenour said, referring to the person in the video who carjacked the family vehicle. This is America, Ridenour said later. We dont guess a man into a felony conviction. Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Johnston countered by saying the poor quality of the video made it difficult to clearly see a tattoo that is on Woffords neck, or another on his face. Rather, a discoloration seen on the man's neck in the video looked like a tattoo, Johnston said. Johnston also suggested that Wofford had time after leaving the convenience store before he was arrested two hours later to change his appearance by removing the white shirt, leaving on a dark-colored shirt that he was wearing underneath. He said Wofford probably had to remove his shoes to shed the long wind pants that the man in the convenience store surveillance video appeared to be wearing. Wofford was wearing shorts, a dark shirt and no shoes when a police K-9 unit located him about 150 yards from the abandoned stolen truck. Ladies and gentlemen, no one is asking you to guess a man into a felony conviction, Johnston said. Johnston urged the jury to look at the evidence, follow the law and use their common sense to arrive at a guilty verdict. Reducing violent crime is a priority for the United States Attorneys Office. We will aggressively pursue prosecutions against violent criminals in our jurisdiction, U.S. Attorney Trent Shores said. We are pleased the jury returned a guilty verdict for carjacking, and we thank them for their service. This case is the result of the great partnership among ATF, TPD, and the US Attorneys Office. OKLAHOMA CITY Gov. Mary Fallin on Tuesday said she had signed executive orders that could lead to administrative consolidation or annexation in higher and common education. Fallin said lawmakers who refused to support revenue-raising measures during the recently concluded special session indicated they wanted to see cost savings and efficiencies first. One of Fallins executive orders requires that by Sept. 1, 2018, and every year after, the Board of Education must compile a list of school districts that spend less than 60 percent of their budget on instruction. The Board of Education will then make recommendations for administrative consolidation or annexation of the districts to be implemented in the 2020-21 school year. Prior efforts to consolidate administrative functions found little support in the Legislature. Oklahomans support additional dollars going into the classrooms, and we have to make sure those dollars make it there, Fallin said. According to a 2014 report, Oklahoma ranked sixth among states in the percentage of funds spent on district administration. This is unacceptable. Shawn Hime, executive director of the Oklahoma State School Boards Association, said Fallins order was typical of the cheap political theater we continue to see at the state Capitol. He said the governors action ignores the difficult reality facing schools in Oklahoma, which he said invests $1,500 less per student in public education than surrounding states. Telling our schools to again turn over the couch cushions in search of pennies isnt leadership, Hime said. School districts spend less than 4 percent of their budgets on administrative costs. State law already caps how much school districts can spend on administration. Steffie Corcoran, executive director of communications for the Oklahoma State Department of Education, said the agency was not notified that the order was coming until about 90 minutes before it was issued. We were surprised this afternoon to learn that the governor was issuing an executive order related to school finances. The Governors Office did not consult or seek input from Superintendent Hofmeister or State Department of Education staff. We will be reviewing the matter in the coming weeks. A second executive order calls on the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education to develop a plan by December 2018 for the administrative consolidation of universities, colleges, centers and branch campuses and submit it to the governor and Legislature. The executive order says the plan shall be executed by December 2019. The Governors Office said the order is compatible with efforts underway by the state regents Task Force on the Future of Higher Education. Fallin is term-limited and will leave office in 13 months. Her executive orders are not binding on the incoming governor. In addition, she signed an executive order prohibiting agencies from purchasing promotional items, also called swag. The ban starts June 30. Between July 1, 2019, and June 30, 2020, promotional items cant exceed $10 million, according to the order. Promotional items include pens, cups, trophies, bumper stickers and book bags. The order has exemptions for the Oklahoma Department of Tourism and Recreation, the Oklahoma Department of Commerce and the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education. Fallin called the Legislature into special session on Sept. 25 after the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that lawmakers had illegally passed a $1.50 a pack tax on cigarettes. The action blew a $215 million hole in the current fiscal year budget. Lawmakers adjourned the special session Friday after passing a budget fix bill that relied on cash and cuts to agencies. Fallin vetoed most of the provisions in the measure but kept intact temporary funding for social services. She said the measure did not create long-term structural solutions for the states budget. Fallin said she will announce next week the date for a second special session. She said her office had been overwhelmed with comments and public support for her line-item veto. I think we can do better as Oklahomans, Fallin said. She and the Senate supported revenue-raising measures to fund core services, but the House could not obtain the supermajority needed for tax increases. The notion that Oklahomas state government is running out of money is at best based on incomplete information and at worst on a lie, state Rep. John Bennett told a Republican group Tuesday night. People have been told weve got to raise taxes to save our services, Bennett, R-Sallisaw, told the Tulsa Area Republican Assembly. Its a lie. And theyre about to pull the same the-sky-is-falling routine again. Bennett was referring to a second legislative special session Gov. Mary Fallin has said she will call to address structural problems in the state revenue and budget system. Bennett said he would vote for a tax increase if he can be shown one is really needed, but indicated he thinks that is unlikely. A crushing audit on the three largest state agencies would find enough to give every teacher in the state a raise, Bennett said. Bennett is a favorite of one of the most fiscally and socially conservative branches of the state GOP. Tuesday, he exhorted the 50 or so in attendance to hold Republican candidates and lawmakers accountable. There is a lot of waffling going on, he said. Bennett and others see opportunities to move the party and the Legislature further to the right in the 2018 elections as several more moderate Republicans some of whom Tuesdays crowd consider not Republicans exit office or come under attack from within the party. Dan Hicks, who is seeking a term-limited seat in southeast Tulsa, told Bennett that Republicans are going to be annihilated next year if GOP lawmakers dont start pushing back on the idea that schools are short of money. People are drinking the Kool-Aid, Hicks said. Thats what they keep hearing in the media. If you try to tell them differently, they think youre lying. Hicks said he believes teachers should be paid as professionals, but doesnt believe doing so requires a tax increase. A former Tulsa Zoo train conductor will serve 30 years in prison after pleading guilty in Osage County to sexually abusing a girl younger than 12 and two other charges related to his use of child pornography. Kim Michael Bowman, 65, entered pleas Nov. 16 to one count each of child sexual abuse against a person under 12, aggravated possession of child pornography and distribution of child pornography. He was accused of sexually abusing a girl age 8 or 9 and of having more than 100 pornographic images of children on electronic devices. Osage County Judge Stuart Tate imposed 30-year sentences for the abuse and possession counts, as well as 20 years in prison for the distribution charge in accordance with a plea agreement. The sentences will be served concurrently, according to court minutes. A plea-of-guilty form completed by Bowmans attorney states that he assaulted the girl in 2016 and downloaded child pornography to his computer at his Osage County residence, which is in the Tulsa city limits. Tulsa police arrested Bowman Dec. 8, and he was charged in Osage County District Court five days later. Bowman had been a part-time employee at the Tulsa Zoo since March 2015 and was suspended following his arrest. A spokeswoman said at the time that he passed the required background checks, and court records do not show he had previous felony convictions. Authorities have said the girl victimized in the case was someone Bowman knew outside of his employment at the zoo. State and county authorities are investigating the suspicious deaths of two people whose bodies were found Tuesday afternoon near Henryetta. Area residents discovered the bodies of a man and a woman around 3 p.m. about seven miles east of Henryetta near Interstate 40 and Tiger Mountain Road, said McIntosh County Sheriff Kevin Ledbetter. Ledbetter said the state Medical Examiners Office is trying to determine the identities of the people and when they died. Authorities did not comment on the possible causes of the deaths. Special agents with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation are assisting the Sheriffs Office in the homicide investigation. Anyone with information about the bodies are encouraged to contact the Sheriffs Office at 918-689-2526. From staff reports Finnish English Press Release 22 November, 2017 Espoo, Finland - Nokia Foundation has granted its 2017 Recognition Award to professor emeritus Erkki Oja for his contributions to the development of machine learning, pattern recognition and neurocomputing, which are key technologies in artificial intelligence and robotics. Erkki Oja was honored with the award tonight at the annual Nokia Foundation award ceremony in Helsinki, Finland. Professor emeritus of Finland's Aalto University and a holder of honorary doctorates from three universities, Erkki Oja is one of the most widely cited researchers in the world of machine learning based techniques, with more than 300 scientific articles leading to over 46 000 citations in the field. In his research, Oja has focused especially on unsupervised machine learning that allows computer algorithms to automatically analyze very large masses of data. In addition to his research work, he has made a significant impact on teaching young researchers, over 50 of whom currently hold a doctoral degree, active in both industry and academia. Oja has also promoted Finnish science and ICT in his several positions of trust, including the chairmanship of the Academy of Finland's Research Council for Natural Sciences and Engineering, which under Oja's leadership has launched several notable national and international research programs. "After doing research on machine learning and neural networks for a long time, it is very rewarding to see how these technologies are now being implemented in a growing number of commercial and other applications. Artificial intelligence is clearly becoming practical. I am happy that we started these activities very early and were able to train a large number of experts to fill the great demand," said Erkki Oja. "Machine-learning and artificial intelligence are among the most significant technological developments in recent history. The foundational and long-term research path Erkki Oja has pursued, along with his focal role in the development of the research community around the technologies, has resulted in having 100-year-old Finland in a distinctly good position to fully embrace this data-intense era. Erkki Oja's work has been noted widely internationally, too, and we are proud to recognize this year his outstanding contributions in the field," said Timo Ali-Vehmas, Chairman of the Board of Nokia Foundation. Nokia Foundation has granted over 1 600 scholarships during its 22-year existence. In 2017, the Foundation will grant scholarships and awards totaling around 420 000 euros. About the Nokia Foundation Nokia Foundation's purpose is to support the scientific development of information and telecommunications technologies and to promote education in the sector in Finland. Nokia Foundation provides scholarships and awards for this mission. The Foundation was established on the initiative of Nokia Oyj in 1995; it is an independent, non-profit organization under Finnish foundation law. www.nokiafoundation.com About Nokia We create the technology to connect the world. Powered by the research and innovation of Nokia Bell Labs, we serve communications service providers, governments, large enterprises and consumers, with the industry's most complete, end-to-end portfolio of products, services and licensing. From the enabling infrastructure for 5G and the Internet of Things, to emerging applications in digital health, we are shaping the future of technology to transform the human experience. www.nokia.com Media Inquiries: Nokia Communications Tel. +358 (0) 10 448 4900 Email: press.services@nokia.com NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE U.S. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Nov. 22, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Body and Mind, Inc. (Body and Mind or the Company) is pleased to announce that it intends to complete a non-brokered private placement of up to 637,273 units (the Units) at a price of CDN $0.66 per Unit for aggregate gross proceeds of up to CDN $420,600 (the Offering). The net proceeds of the Offering will be used for general working capital of the Company. Each Unit will consist of one common share in the capital of the Company (a Share) and one common share purchase warrant (a Warrant). Each Warrant will entitle the holder to purchase one additional common share in the Capital of the Company (a Warrant Share) at a price of CDN $0.90 per Warrant Share for a period of 24 months from the closing of the Offering. Each Warrant is subject to acceleration provisions following the six-month anniversary of the date of closing of the Offering, if the closing trading price of the Shares on the Canadian Securities Exchange (the Exchange) is equal to or greater than CDN $1.20 for seven consecutive trading days, at which time the Company may accelerate the expiry date of the Warrants by issuing a press release announcing the reduced warrant term whereupon the Warrants will expire 21 calendar days after the date of such press release. The Company may pay finders fees on the Offering within the amount permitted by the policies of the Exchange to eligible finders. Closing of the Offering is subject to a number of conditions including receipt of all necessary corporate and regulatory approvals, including the Exchange. All of the securities issuable in connection with the offering will be subject to a statutory hold periods under applicable Canadian and United States securities laws for a minimum hold period of four month and one day after the date of issuance in accordance with applicable securities legislation. The securities will also be subject to a mandatory hold period of six months and one day after the date of issuance. The Company intends to complete a portion of the Offering pursuant to Multilateral CSA Notice 45-318 Prospectus Exemption for Certain Distributions through an Investment Dealer (CSA 45-318) and the corresponding instruments, orders and rules implementing CSA 45-318 in the participating jurisdictions (collectively with CSA 45-318, the Investment Dealer Exemption). In addition to conducting the Offering pursuant to the Investment Dealer Exemption, the Company will also accept subscriptions for Units where other prospectus exemptions are available. In accordance with the Investment Dealer exemption, the Company advises that, as at the date hereof, there is no material fact or material change in respect of the Company that has not been generally disclosed. The securities referenced herein have not been registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registrations or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. For further information please contact: Darren Tindale, CFO Body and Mind, Inc. Email: stonerockltd@gmail.com Completion of the proposed offering is subject to a number of conditions, including receipt of appropriate regulatory approvals. The offering cannot close until all such conditions are satisfied. There can be no assurance that the offering will be completed as proposed or at all. This news release contains forward-looking information, which involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual events to differ materially from current expectations. Important factors including the availability of funds, the results of financing efforts and the parties due diligence reviews, and general market conditions that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations are disclosed in the Company's documents filed from time to time on SEDAR (see www.sedar.com). Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. The company disclaims any intention or obligation, except to the extent required by law, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. We seek safe harbour. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has welcomed the government's decision to bring Ireland into line with the European Union (EU) law that regulates the provision of accommodation to asylum-seekers, and provides for the right to work where they do not receive a decision within nine months. "Yesterday's decision by the government to opt in to the Recast Reception Conditions Directive will for the first time set out comprehensively in law the rights of asylum-seekers while they await a decision on their application. This development will, in tandem with other improvements and reforms to the accommodation system for asylum-seekers, help to restore public confidence in the direct provision system. It will also ensure better integration prospects for refugees", said Enda O'Neill, Head of Office with UNHCR Ireland. "The earlier people can access the labour market the better their chances of integration in the long term. Long periods spent waiting in direct provision for a decision on your application can lead to dependency and disempowerment among people seeking protection here." Further details on the exact regulations to be introduced are awaited. Although the Directive requires States to offer labour market rights to asylum-seekers waiting nine months or more for a decision, UNHCR recommends that access to the labour market be granted no later than six months from the date of lodging the application. This timeline would coincide with Article 31 (3) of the recast Asylum Procedures Directive, which foresees a six month maximum timeline (save for exceptional cases/circumstances) for processing applications for international protection. However with asylum-seekers now waiting up to two years to receive their first decision on applications, UNHCR urged the government to bring overall processing times down over the following months. "Deploying an adequate number of staff to the decision making bodies would ensure that only small numbers of applicants would ultimately need to have recourse to any new provisions on labour market access. Importantly, it would also provide people in need of international protection the opportunity to begin their integration process as soon as possible, and to reduce lengthy periods of time spent in Direct Provision, including vulnerable persons and children." Biofuels have huge potential in augmenting economic growth: Pradhan New Delhi, Nov 22 (UNI) Minister of Petroleum and natural Gas, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Dharmendra Pradhan said on Wednesday that 1-G and 2-G Ethanol, Biodiesel, MSW to Fuel and Bio-CNG together with Methanol (DME) have huge potential in augmenting economic growth, generating employment and doubling farmers income. Addressing a consultative workshop on New National Policy on Biofuels & Pradhan Mantri Ji- Van Yojana, he said this will be instrumental in achieving the target of 10 per cent import reduction by 2022 set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said during the workshop many constructive suggestions related to feedstock management, technology, capacity augmentation, fiscal incentives and Supply chain management were received. Mr Pradhan said he is happy to share that all the technologies are indigenously developed in India and will immensely boost Make In India campaign. The workshop was organised by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas for inviting suggestions for drafting a suitable roadmap for Biofuels in India as the government is promoting Biofuels with an objective to reduce dependency on import of crude oil, savings in foreign exchange, provide better remuneration for the farmers and address growing environment concerns in the light of Prime Minister Narendra Modis Commitment at COP 21. During the day long workshop 5 Working Groups on 1-G Ethanol, 2-G Ethanol, Biodiesel, Municipal Solid Wastes to Fuel & Bio-CNG comprising of all the stakeholders (producers, bankers and buyers) deliberated issues related to their segment in detail and came up with many constructive suggestions and inputs. UNI ADP RSA 1936 Masud bin Momen contract appointment for another 2 years 16 Nov 2022 | 11:53 PM Dhaka, Nov 16 (UNI) The Bangladesh government has appointed Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen on contractual basis for another two years. see more.. First Consular Consultations held between Bangladesh and UAE 16 Nov 2022 | 10:47 PM Dhaka, Nov 16 (UNI) The first Consular Consultations between Bangladesh and the UAE held in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, according to a press release. see more.. Ukraine extends martial law, mobilization 16 Nov 2022 | 8:17 PM Kiev, Nov 16 (UNI) Ukraine extends the period of the martial law and mobilization for another 90 days until February 19, 2023, Ukrainian lawmaker Yaroslav Zheleznyak said on Wednesday. see more.. Modi talks trade, mobility, defence with UK PM 16 Nov 2022 | 5:50 PM Bali, Nov 16 (UNI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his United Kingdom counterpart Rishi Sunak on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit here. see more.. Cong attacks AAP after 3 held in cash-for-ticket case 16 Nov 2022 | 10:43 PM New Delhi, Nov 16 (UNI) The Congress on Wednesday attacked the AAP after the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) arrested three people, including kin of its MLA in an alleged cash-for-ticket case for the forthcoming Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) polls. see more.. Railways approves special provision for supervisory cadre to hike their pay scale up to group A 16 Nov 2022 | 10:37 PM New Delhi, Nov 16 (UNI) Fulfilling the long pending demand of a supervisory cadre, the Ministry of Railways on Wednesday approved a special provision "Pay upgradation" to hike their salary and position equivalent to Group A (level 9). see more.. Railways to construct boundary wall on 1000 km stretch to prevent cattle run over incidents 16 Nov 2022 | 10:32 PM New Delhi, Nov 15 (UNI) After the recent cattle run over incidents involving the Vande Bharat Express train on Gandhinagar- Mumbai route, the Railway Ministry has decided to construct a boundary on a 1000 KM stretch in the next six months. see more.. Prez, PM condole loss of lives in Mizoram quarry 16 Nov 2022 | 6:13 PM New Delhi, Nov 16 (UNI) President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday expressed deep grief over the loss of lives due to a stone quarry collapse in Mizoram. see more.. Two labourers dies in landslide 16 Nov 2022 | 11:47 PM Shimla, Nov 16 (UNI) Two migrant labourers died Wednesday afternoon after an under-construction wall caved in over them at Bada-Khaich village of Dharmpur Subdivision of Solan district, senior police officer confirmed. During the construction of St Mary School Kasouli building, three persons came under the debris. see more.. Giving lessons of Hinduism to Gaddar MLAs is a joke: Danve 16 Nov 2022 | 11:46 PM Aurangabad, Nov 16 (UNI) Maharashtra Legislative Council opposition leader Ambadas Danve on Wednesday criticized BJP's training in Hindutva lessons that it is ridiculous that the BJP would teach the lessons of Hindutva ideas of Hindu leaders Balasaheb Thackeray and Veer Savarkar to separatist traitors (Gaddar) MLAs. see more.. Big investment in Aurangabad industrial sector in future: Fadnavis 16 Nov 2022 | 11:43 PM Mumbai, Nov 16 (UNI) Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday asserted that the state government will provide all necessary support to provide industry-friendly environment required by the industries and entrepreneurs are coming forward to invest heavily in Aurangabad and various parts of the state in the coming time and it will boost employment generation. see more.. Telangana will witness a Congress wave in 2023 elections: Cong 16 Nov 2022 | 11:42 PM Kamareddy, Nov16 (UNI) Former Minister & ex-Leader of Opposition in Telangana Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir on Wednesday claimed that Telangana would witness a wave of Congress party in the next Assembly elections in 2023. see more.. Lebanon's Hariri leaves Cairo for Lebanon - Egypt airport sources CAIRO, Nov 21 (Reuters) Saad al-Hariri, who resigned as Lebanese prime minister on Nov. 4, left Cairo for Lebanon on Tuesday after a brief meeting with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Egyptian airport sources said on Tuesday. Hariri announced his resignation during a visit to Saudi Arabia but has yet to return home. He has said he will clarify his position once he returns to Lebanon. His surprise resignation has triggered a political crisis in Lebanon, which finds itself in the midst of a bitter regional rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran. RICHMOND, British Columbia, Nov. 22, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- All Lucille wants for Christmas this year is a fashionable choker necklace so she can give it to her daughter as a gift that will help cover the tracheotomy scar on her neck. Mary just wants peace and love for the world. Roberta is asking for wool so she can continue to knit warm items to help others in need. These are actual wish list items from seniors and the elderly who are part of the Stocking Stuffers for Seniors program. Its eye-opening to go through the seniors wish lists and learn what they have asked for, when many of the items are things we tend to take for granted, said Perry Lubberding, Store Manager. Its very emotional for our staff to see people request Christmas gifts of soap, a can of soup or warm gloves. London Drugs stores across Western Canada are partnering with hundreds of low-income, assisted living, or palliative care seniors homes and organizations to help make this years holidays brighter for the seniors living in our communities. The program concept originated in BCs Okanagan with significant growth in Edmonton in 2015. Initially, the programs goal was to help 40 inner-city seniors. Due to high demand, the program quickly expanded. In Edmonton alone, Stocking Stuffers for Seniors will support 4,000 seniors this Christmas. Stocking Stuffers for Seniors is something each of our employees can be proud of, and its an amazing way for us to connect our generous customers and seniors in our communities during the busy holiday season, says Lubberding. To be part of something so special where we get to deliver these items the seniors asked for while also providing a quick visit during an often lonely time of the year, is simply remarkable. We cannot thank our customers enough for joining us to support this effort. To support Stocking Stuffers for Seniors, visit any London Drugs between November 20 and December 11 and take a tag with a seniors wish list from the tree. From there, simply fulfill the items on the list and bring them back to the location in which they picked up the tag. Santa and his volunteer elves will deliver all personalized gifts before Christmas. 10 POPULAR GIFTS FOR SENIORS - Blankets or throws - Slippers or socks - Candy and chocolate - Coffee or travel mugs - Warm clothes such as gloves or scarves - Paper products such as paper towels and tissues - Gift cards for groceries and toiletries - Books or magazines - Board games or puzzles - Kitchen essentials Stocking Stuffers for Seniors supporters are being asked to post a photo of their personalized tag to social media using the #StockingStuffers4Seniors hashtag to be entered to win a special prize package from London Drugs as thanks for their support of our seniors. About London Drugs Founded in 1945, B.C.-based London Drugs currently has 80 stores in more than 35 major markets throughout British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Renowned for its creative approach to retailing, the company employs more than 7,000 people and carries a diverse range of health and consumer electronic products. With its strong commitment to innovation and customer appreciation, London Drugs has established itself as a reputable and caring company and continues to position itself for future growth and development. For media inquiries please contact: Wendy Hartley Phone: 604-817-2758 Email: wendy@hartleypr.com Malaysia, Indonesia say EU palm resolution will affect millions KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 22 (Reuters) Millions of people running small-time oil palm plantations will suffer if the European Parliament goes ahead with "unfair" measures that could curb palm oil use, the world's two largest palm oil producers said on Wednesday. In April, the European Parliament backed a call for greater vetting of palm and other vegetable oils used in biofuels to prevent the European Union's renewable transport targets for post-2020 leading to deforestation. Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak and Indonesian President Joko Widodo said the resolution by the European Parliament singles out palm oil, even as the production of other vegetable oils has "shown to contribute to the deforestation". Nepal: Printing of ballot papers completed Kathmandu, Nov 21 (UNI) The Election Commission of Nepal (ECN) has completed printing of the ballot papers for upcoming federal and provincial elections. The printing of ballot papers around 52.5 million was completed on Sunday night. We have started dispatching them to 32 districts where the elections will be held in the first phase, said ECN spokesperson Navaraj Dhakal, according to a report in The Kathmandu Post on Tuesday. The election body had started printing ballot papers in two phases beginning with the ballots for the polls under proportional (PR) system on October 3 followed by those for the first-past-the-post (FPTP) category on October 29. The elections are scheduled to be held in two phases on November 26 and December 7. There were concerns whether the ballot paper could be printed on time when the Supreme Court ordered the EC on October 25 to print two sets of ballots for federal and provincial elections under the FPTP category. Pakistan court orders release of Islamist blamed for Mumbai attacks By Mubasher Bukhari LAHORE, Pakistan, Nov 22 (Reuters) A Pakistani court on Wednesday ordered the release from house arrest of an Islamist leader accused by the United States and India of masterminding attacks on Mumbai in 2008 in which 166 people were killed, a prosecutor said. Hafiz Saeed was put under house arrest in January after years of living freely in Pakistan, one of the sore points in its fraying relationship with the United States. His freedom had also infuriated its arch-foe India. Thailand arrests woman wanted over deadly 2015 bombing at shrine By Patpicha Tanakasempipat BANGKOK, Nov 22 (Reuters) Police in Thailand on Wednesday arrested a woman wanted in connection with a 2015 bombing in Bangkok that killed 20 people, 14 of them foreign tourists. The blast at a central Bangkok shrine popular with visitors from China and elsewhere in Asia raised fears of a spillover of violence from China's western Xinjiang region, where some members of the Uighur Muslim minority oppose Beijing's rule. UN asks Sudan to address plight of displaced people United Nations, Nov 22 (UNI) The United Nations human rights office has called on the Government of Sudan to pursue effective, transparent and durable policies to enable the 2.6 million people who have been internally displaced by the long-running conflict in Darfur to return home voluntarily or to reintegrate into host communities. I urge the Government to address fundamental issues that are preventing the return of displaced people, such as continued violence, including from armed militias, which raise continuing and justifiable fears for their safety and the lack of basic services that leave them dependent on aid, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said in a news release on Tuesday. Complied by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the African Union-UN Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID), the report details the situation of internally displaced people (IDPs) from January 2014 to December 2016, a period largely marked by the Government military campaign Decisive Summer that led to mass civilian displacement. US Navy plane crashes in Philippine Sea with 11 crew and passengers TOKYO, Nov 22 (Reuters) A US Navy transport plane carrying 11 people crashed in the Philippines Sea south of Japan on Wednesday as it flew to the aircraft carrier the USS Ronald Reagan, the US Seventh Fleet said. Eight people had been rescued, with the remaining three unaccounted for, Japan's public broadcaster NHK reported. A spokesman for the US Navy in Japan said that it had no information on whether anyone on board had been picked up. "USS Ronald Reagan is conducting search and rescue operations. The cause of the crash is not yet known," it said in a press release. US welcomes judges investigating 2009 Guinea massacre Washington, Nov 22 (UNI) The United States has welcomed the progress made by the panel of Guinean judges investigating the September 28, 2009 massacre of more than 150 protesters and rape of 100 women by security forces during a peaceful protest in Conakry, Guinea. On November 9, 2017, the domestic panel reached an important milestone when the judges formally concluded their investigation and brought charges against more than 14 suspects. Department of State spokesperson Heather Nauert said: "the US was encouraged by this impressive progress including the hearing of testimony from more than 450 victims and extensive witness interviews but stress that there is still important work to be done in order to ensure justice for victims and accountability for those responsible for this atrocity. We stress that the Government of Guinea is primarily responsible for administering justice for its people. We call on Guinea to guarantee a fair trial for those accused, ensure the safety and security of all involved, and keep Guineans informed of the trials progress, as appropriate." ATLANTA, Nov. 22, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HAVERTYS (NYSE:HVT) (NYSE:HVT.A) announced that members of management will be attending the KeyBanc Capital Markets 2017 Consumer Conference on Tuesday, December 5, 2017 at the InterContinental New York Barclay in New York City, NY. Steven G. Burdette, executive vice president, operations and Richard B. Hare, executive vice president and chief financial officer, will host meetings at the conference. About Havertys Havertys, established in 1885, is a full-service home furnishings retailer with 124 showrooms in 16 states in the Southern and Midwestern regions providing its customers with a wide selection of quality merchandise in middle to upper-middle price ranges. Additional information is available on the Companys website havertys.com. Contact: Havertys 404-443-2900 Jenny Hill Parker SVP, Finance, Secretary and Treasurer VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Nov. 22, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aldershot Resources Ltd. ("Aldershot" or the "Company") (TSX-V:ALZ) (FRANKFURT:ASL1) (OTC PINK:ALZTF) is pleased to announce that the Company has engaged the services of Al Maynard Geological to conduct a National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") report on the Brittania Well Gold Prospect area (hereinafter the "Prospect") located about 8km SSW of Mt. Magnet Township south of the Yalgoo Road, in Western Australia comprising one tenement covering a total area of 90.97 has. The Prospect was staked by Ragged Range Mining Pty Ltd ("RR"), a company controlled by Mr. Philip Crabb, a director and significant shareholder of Aldershot. Ragged Range has agreed to sell its interest in the Prospect to Aldershot in exchange for its costs estimated to be approximately $15,000 Australian at closing. BACKGROUND There are numerous abandoned mine workings along the length of the Brittania Well Shear Zone confirming that there has been considerable gold mining activity in the past. The Prospect is therefore located in a favourable geological and structural environment in which both abandoned gold workings and significant gold in soil anomalies have been previously identified. Gold mineralization occurs in a variety of settings including quartz veins within mafic-ultramafic rocks, banded iron formations and associated felsic rocks close to a granitoid contact and also within late-stage felsic intrusives. Consequently, zones of gold mineralization are considered likely to occur in all rock types where they are cut by favourable structures or along felsic intrusive contact zones. Recent rock chip sampling of hematite - altered late stage, silicified felsic intrusives (sodic keratophyres) in adjacent P58/1285, Jumbulyer North Prospect was undertaken. This style of mineralization identified is new to the Mount Magnet region and could be highly significant. Outcrop in the prospect area is poor and regional Mobile Metal Ion (MMI) soil sampling in conjunction with geological, structural and geophysical data is recommended as first phase exploration to identify surface gold targets. All known anomalous gold targets will undergo subsequent field checks. A combination of trenching and or drill programs will test anomalies. Prior to this work appropriate POW (Permit of Work) applications will be expedited. LOCATION AND ACCESS The tenement is centered 8km SSW of Mt. Magnet in a zone trending southward and west of the Brittania Well South open cut mine. Access is by way of the sealed Mt. Magnet-Yalgoo road thence south along tracks to Brittania Well. From Brittania Well there are tracks servicing various old mine workings and pastoral station wells. PREVIOUS EXPLORATION The first gold find in the Mount Magnet area was recorded in 1891. At the turn of the 19th century, Hill 50 Gold Mines Ltd. ("Hill 50") was the dominant mine out of 30 gold mines in the Mt. Magnet district and it was regarded as a mine which would last forever, but fell into decline after 1915, when many miners went off to fight in WWI. Hill 50 acquired the Sidar and Zion leases and started mining them in 1936, closing the mines in 1961 after producing 1.4 million ounces of gold from 3.6 million tonnes of ore. From 1970 to present, regional exploration has been carried out by various companies namely RGC Exploration Pty Ltd, Goldfields Exploration Pty Ltd, Brunswick NL, Metana, Mt Magnet Gold NL, Equinox Resources NL, Dundas Gold Corporation NL, Falcon Aust. Limited and Mount Magnet South. REGIONAL GEOLOGY The geology of the Prospect comprises the Mount Magnet greenstone belt composed of ultramafic, mafic and felsic volcanic rocks, with subordinate volcanogenic sediments, banded iron-formation (BIF) and chert. It is intruded by minor felsic and mafic rocks and surrounded by massive to gneissic granitic batholitic intrusives. The greenstone belt has been complexly deformed into a major steeply plunging domal structure, which was formerly referred to as the Boogardie Synform. However, recent geological mapping and interpretation by independent consultants, using the most recent 2003, 1:25,000 scale DOLA coloured aerial photography, Land Sat imagery and detailed aero magnetic data, indicates that the Boogardie structure is in fact an anticline, comprising a series of overlapping, northwardly displaced, thrust sheets. Major faulting occurs along the eastern and western margins of the greenstone belt causing it to be faulted against slightly younger, intrusive syn-orogenic batholithic granitoids and gneiss. Numerous, mainly circular, usually small stocks of post-orogenic granitoids intrude the greenstones throughout the district and even younger plugs, dykes and sills of felsic (commonly keratophyric- volcanic rock of intermediate composition) composition intrude all other rock types. It is speculated that this late stage intrusive event introduced gold-bearing fluids into the older rocks to produce the gold deposits being exploited today. PROJECT GEOLOGY The geology of the eastern side of the project area is reasonably well exposed and comprises both weathered mantle and fresh rock which is overlain by a thin veneer of soil and colluvium. In the west, over the posttectonic Jumbulyer Granite, outcrop is sparse. Structurally, the project tenements cover greenstones forming the eastern limb of the regional Boogardie Anticline where it is cut by the north-south trending Brittania Shear Zone and splays off it. The greenstones are bounded to the east and west by late stage post-tectonic granitoid intrusives. The greenstone assemblage within the project area includes typical Boogardie Formation lithologies that are dominated by BIF/chert, mafic to ultramafic volcanics and intrusives which have been intruded by a younger suite of felsic porphyries, microgranite and aplite and a distinctive pink-coloured sodic keratophyre that has been found to commonly contain gold (e.g. at the Jumbulyer North Prospect). Many of the felsic intrusives show evidence of brecciation, silicification and tourmalinisation (often a good indication of possible gold mineralization). MINERALIZATION The sheared fold limb structure passing through Brittania Well hosts a number of occurrences of gold mineralization, with similar mineralized cross structures splaying off the main Brittania Well Shear and other sub-parallel fault zones. The gold resource originally identified by WMC and Metana and later mined by Harmony in 2007 as the "Brittania Well South" pit is located adjacent to Metana's PLA 58/1569. Mining stopped at the lease boundary and is anticipated to extend into Metana's project area to the south. Gold also occurs in silicified and chloritised shears along the contact of deformed greenstones and granitoids and these structures are thought to have been the source of much of the coarse alluvial gold mined and/or detected by local prospectors (e.g. around Faircloughs Reward and at Thomass Patch just north of Metana's P58/1354). QUALIFIED PERSON The technical elements of this press release have been approved by Mr. Allen Maynard of Al Maynard Geological, a Qualified Person under NI 43-101. Allen J. Maynard is a Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists (MAIG), a Corporate Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining & Metallurgy (AusIMM) and a geologist with more than 35 years continuous experience in mineral exploration and surface and underground mining for a range of commodities including precious and base metals (Au, PGE, Ni, Cu, Ag-Pb-Zn, Fe, Sn, Ta, Nb, W, U) industrial minerals (phosphate, potash, coal, mineral sands), precious and semi-precious gemstones (diamond, ruby, emerald), project generation and evaluation plus technical valuation of mineral properties in Australia, Africa, north & south America, western Europe, central & southeast Asia, China and Greenland. JOINT VENTURE UPDATE In addition, Aldershot announces that further to its press release dated November 24, 2016 with respect to entering into an Option and Joint Venture Agreement (the "Agreement") between the Company and Transition Metals Corp. ("Transition"), the Company has issued 4,000,000 common shares of the Company to Transition at a deemed price of $0.05 per share in satisfaction of the amount due to Transition upon the first anniversary date of the Agreement. ABOUT ALDERSHOT The mission of Aldershot is to find and develop a gold prospect to create wealth for shareholders. This is being achieved by identifying quality gold properties and exploring those that have the highest potential for future discoveries, sale or development of existing mineral resources into mineable reserves. On a regular basis management will rationalize all of its core mineral property holdings to maintain percentage ownership. Management will sell its properties when it feels value for shareholders has been created and management is able to obtain fair value for the assets. The Company is a publicly listed corporation whose shares are traded on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol ALZ. FOR AND ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD Jeremy Caddy President, CEO and Director Forward-looking statements: This press release may contain forward-looking statements about certain of the Company's current exploration plans, goals and expectations, and the closing of the acquisition of an interest in the Brittania Well Gold Project. Statements containing the words: 'believes', 'intends', 'expects', 'plans', 'seeks' and 'anticipates' and any other words of similar meaning are forward-looking. All forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to future events and circumstances beyond the Company's control. As a result, the Company's actual financial condition, performance and results may differ materially from the plans, goals and expectations set out in the forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this release and, other than as required by applicable securities laws, the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. A description of assumptions used to develop such forward-looking information and a description of risk factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking information can be found in the Company's disclosure documents on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.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. Jeremy Caddy President, CEO and Director 604 727-7148 jcc4tlx@intergate.ca www.aldershotresources.com 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. (Nov. 22, 2017) -- To provide support to Sutherland Springs and surrounding communities as they go through the process of healing after the November 5 shooting tragedy, Whataburger has pledged $150,000 to support counseling and wellness services in partnership with The University of Texas at San Antonios Academy for Crisis and Trauma Counseling. UTSA and its team of nationally renowned mental health professionals will collaborate with local community leaders and hold meetings with the community to listen and identify the best location, times and services needed. Faculty, staff and students at UTSA recognize there are tremendous needs within the Sutherland Springs and neighboring communities as they deal with this tragedy. We are dedicated to working with area partners and local officials to provide our neighbors any support we can, and to hopefully make a difference in the lives of all those impacted by these horrific events, said Dr. Thelma Duffey, chair of the UTSA Department of Counseling and co-director of the academy. The Academy for Crisis and Trauma Counseling, based within the universitys Department of Counseling, along with UTSAs Sarabia Family Counseling Center, will coordinate and bring free services and programs to the community. Through this partnership, the team will work with the Sutherland Springs community and local officials, including Wilson County Sheriff Joe D. Tackitt, Jr. and Wilson County District Attorney Audrey Louis, on evolving needs during recovery. Community partners, including the Childrens Bereavement Center, The DoSeum and Region 20 Education Service Center, will also play a critical role in bringing joy back into childrens lives. Duffey will lead this initiative with Dr. Shane Haberstroh, co-director of the academy, and faculty members within the UTSA Department of Counseling. Duffey and UTSA faculty worked with counselors, teachers and families in Newtown, Conn. after the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The UTSA community is saddened by this tragedy that hit so close to home. We are fortunate to have faculty experts in the field of crisis and trauma, and proud that UTSA is part of this partnership to provide resources for healing and recovery, said Dr. Taylor Eighmy, President at the University of Texas at San Antonio. The Academy will also focus on gathering community stakeholders and experts together to develop strategies and a framework that can be used to assist other communities who may face similar tragedies and possibly help prevent future tragedies. The horror and sadness has marked our hearts forever, and well never forget those 26 lives ended much too soon. The road ahead is long, but we want Sutherland Springs to know were with them, said Tom Dobson, Whataburger Chairman. Were fortunate to have the best minds in the nation right here at UTSAs Academy for Crisis and Trauma Counseling, and appreciate their willingness to help this community heal. Whataburgers $150,000 contribution will cover costs to support the services provided directly to the Sutherland Springs and surrounding communities. Services will include clinical specialists, supervisors and outreach programs to provide respite and promote healing within the community. More details will be available here following upcoming community meetings. Wyoming Business Tips for Dec. 3-9 A weekly look at Wyoming business questions from the Wyoming Small Business Development Center (WSBDC), part of WyomingEntrepreneur.Biz, a collection of business assistance programs at the University of Wyoming. By James Drever, WSBDC regional director and certified cybersecurity specialist Can you please tell me about the human firewall? Karen, Laramie Many cyberattacks are successful because they prey on humans instead of devices. It is easier for criminals to take advantage of people than it is to hack into a system. To protect your business, employees need to be trained on what to do and what not to do to keep systems and data protected, and become your human firewall. Here is a list of habits that can do wonders: -- If you did not look for a piece of software, do not install one because a website or email is convincing you to. This includes email attachments that say you need to install something to view it. -- Do not just click on links in emails, even from people you know, because they might have been hacked or their addresses spoofed. Some are just like receiving a scam phone call. Instead, hover your cursor over the email address, examine the actual destination and make sure it makes sense. -- If you receive a file from someone, maybe a PDF or Word document, especially from a stranger, think before opening it. Are you expecting it? Is this normal? Instead, how about calling the sender to verify? PDFs and Microsoft Office documents are great tools to get into your computer, because people trust them. -- Limit your public social media footprint, and dont fill in those 10-question chain posts that often include verification information for someone pretending to be you. A common method of guessing passwords is to find the persons social media pages and make a note of names, family members, pets, locations, birthdays and other things to make a list. They then make variations and combinations to try until they get in. -- Dont use the same password. All database-hacked passwords are free to download. When they get your username/password, they will try it on other sites, including banking sites and shopping sites. Try using a password manager, instead, that generates and keeps track of long and random passwords for each of your online services. This will help protect you from attacks that have led to many of the breaches, spyware and ransomware we have seen with Wyoming businesses. If your business is interested in free cybersecurity training from KnowBe4, the Wyoming SBDC can provide a limited number of free licenses. For more information, email Drever at james@uwyo.edu. A blog version of this article and an opportunity to post comments are available at www.wyomingsbdc.org/blog1/. The WSBDC is a partnership of the U.S. Small Business Administration, the Wyoming Business Council and the University of Wyoming. To ask a question, call 1-800-348-5194, email wsbdc@uwyo.edu, or write 1000 E. University Ave., Dept. 3922, Laramie, WY, 82071-3922. By: Dezan Shira & Associates Editor: Koushan Das The original Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) signed in February 2016, included the US along with Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. By January 2017, the new US administration pulled out of the pact, forcing the remaining members to continue with the agreement, known then as TPP-11. In November 2017, all the existing parties to the agreement met at the APEC summit in Da Nang and reaffirmed their commitment to the agreement, now called as the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). RELATED: Pre-Investment Advisory Services from Dezan Shira & Associates TPP to CPTPP: what has changed The total GDP of TPP members stands at US$ 28.7 trillion, largely due to the US, while the CPTPPs GDP stands at US$ 10.1 trillion. In terms of GDP, CPTPP will account for 13.5 percent of the global GDP, down from 40 percent had the US stayed in TPP. The market size has also reduced considerably from 822 million to 499 million under CPTPP. In terms of the agreement text, most of the commitments related to goods, services, procurement, and investment remain unchanged. Only 20 provisions of the TPP have been suspended in the CPTPP. Most of these provisions were in place at the urging of the United States, and are mostly from the Intellectual Property chapter of the agreement such as protection for copyright, patent extensions, protection of data, and offenses regarding the protection of encrypted program-carrying satellite and cable signals. Apart from the suspended provisions, there are four provisions that are still to be finalized by Brunei, Canada, Malaysia, and Vietnam, which includes: a cultural exception for Canada; exceptions regarding trade sanctions for Vietnam; exceptions for state-owned enterprises in Malaysia; and exceptions regarding coal production in Brunei. In addition, CPTPP would still have the ISDS legal system, which would allow foreign investors and corporations to legally challenge countries for its violation of investment-related commitments. RELATED: Vietnams Growth Accelerates to 7.46 percent in Q3 2017 Reduced benefits In comparison to the TPP, Vietnam will have reduced benefits under the CPTPP. According to Vietnams National Center for Socio-Economic Information and Forecasting, CPTPP will lead to an increase of 1.32 percent in Vietnams GDP, much less than 6.7 percent as predicted under the TPP. The gains from tariff elimination will reduce from 6.79 percent to 1.1 percent as a share of its GDP. Exports are forecasted to grow by 4 percent under CPTPP, while under TPP, Vietnamese exports were predicted to grow by 15 percent. Imports will also reduce from 10.5 percent to 3.8 percent in comparison to TPP. Gains for Vietnam Even without the US, CPTPP will still contribute to the Vietnams economy and trade, and most importantly, will lead to numerous policy reforms. Vietnam will have access to newer markets and can expand their exports to countries such as Canada, Mexico, and Peru with whom it does not have a trade agreement. Exports are forecasted to grow by 4 percent. Labor-intensive industries such as garments and footwear will benefit the most from increased exports. There will also be an increase in imports, but the effect will be minimal, as Vietnam already has trade agreements with most of the members of the CPTPP. In addition, CPTPP will lead to numerous institutional reforms such as labor reforms leading to an easier and faster integration into the global supply chains. It will also push Vietnam in improving regulations, introducing administrative reforms, and investing further in innovation to remain competitive. Without the US, CPTPP also helps its members in reducing their dependency on major economies such as US and China for a successful trade agreement. RELATED: Market Entry Modes for Vietnam Entry into force Once six members out of the 11 ratify the CPTPP, it will come into force among those ratifying nations. After the ratification requirements are met, it would take another 60 days for it to enter into force. Most of the tariff reductions on goods will be in effect when the agreement comes into force, as well all provisions for services and investment. The members are pushing for a mid to late 2018 deadline for entry into force. Dezan Shira & Associates Brochure Dezan Shira & Associates is a pan-Asia, multi-disciplinary professional services firm, providing legal, tax and operational advisory to international corporate investors. Operational throughout China, ASEAN and India, our mission is to guide foreign companies through Asias complex regulatory environment and assist them with all aspects of establishing, maintaining and growing their business operations in the region. This brochure provides an overview of the services and expertise Dezan Shira & Associates can provide. An Introduction to Doing Business in Vietnam 2017 An Introduction to Doing Business in Vietnam 2017 will provide readers with an overview of the fundamentals of investing and conducting business in Vietnam. Compiled by Dezan Shira & Associates, a specialist foreign direct investment practice, this guide explains the basics of company establishment, annual compliance, taxation, human resources, payroll, and social insurance in this dynamic country. Managing Contracts and Severance in Vietnam In this issue of Vietnam Briefing, we discuss the prevailing state of labor pools in Vietnam and outline key considerations for those seeking to staff and retain workers in the country. We highlight the increasing demand for skilled labor, provide in depth coverage of existing contract options, and showcase severance liabilities that may arise if workers or employers choose to terminate their contracts. The opening of the new classrooms of Don Sai Primary School The new facilities represent a total investment capital of VND800 million ($35,243). With the help of friends and other donators, the group has completed the construction and handed over the new classrooms to teachers and students, who now have two more kindergarten classrooms, three more classrooms for primary level students, and two other multi-function classrooms equipped with tables, chairs, and other study facilities, a toilet, and an outdoor play area equipped with essential toys for students. Also at the inauguration ceremony, many practical gifts were presented to the students of this school. In addition, as the school site is far from the provinces center, there is no power grid, so the group has donated solar power generators and cooking utensils to support the teachers to cook lunch for the students. To reach the school site, the teachers and students had to travel long distances from the highway, passing through high hills and streams, so the group has also upgraded the road section linking to the highway. "Looking at the finished school with its new classrooms and the fresh bright faces of the students, us volunteers and friends feel very happy. These are all important factors to help encourage students to go to school, despite the many remaining difficulties," said a representative of the group. Grab co-founder Hooi Ling Tan claimed far higher tax payments than the company paid in reality (Source: Zing.vn) On November 21, in the framework of his working visit to Vietnam, Hooi Ling Tan, co-founder of Grab, revealed that in the ten months of this year, Grab paid VND140 billion ($6.16 million) to the Vietnamese budget and emphasised that it complies with its tax obligations to support Vietnam to develop public infrastructure as well as public services. However, Dang Duy Khanh, deputy director of the Inspection Division under the General Department of Taxation (GDT), said that in reality, Grabs tax payments are far less than VND140 billion ($6.16 million) and that the figure mentioned by Tan was unfounded. Earlier on October 27, the GDT revealed that both Grab and Uber operated with massive losses in Vietnam. In particular, despite being one of the biggest ride hailing service firms in Vietnam, Grab incurred an accumulated loss of VND938.26 billion ($42.65 million) in the 2014-2016 period. An official of GDT's Inspection Division said that Grab collected a total revenue of VND1.75 trillion ($79.77 million) in the period and paid VND9.53 billion ($433,181) in taxes. Previously, as requested by GDT, the Ho Chi Minh City tax agency inspected Grabs payments between 2014 and 2016. Accordingly, Grab accumulated VND2.28 billion ($103,909) in tax arrears. Furthermore, the Hanoi Taxi Association gave voice to suspicions that Grab might be involved in tax evasion after the company published a revenue of VND192 billion ($8.45 million) and a massive loss of VND443 billion ($19.49 million) in 2016. Grab has only paid VND5.8 billion ($255,270) in tax in 2016. However, a representative of Grab denied this information. Grab started operations in Vietnam in February 2014 and has chartered capital of VND20 billion ($909,090). The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport revealed that by the end of September, there were 25,000 under nine-seat cars working in the ride hailing networks of Grab and Uber, more than double the total of traditional taxis that only reach 11,000 vehicles. Voting results: 88.8 per cent in favour, 1.43 per cent against, 0.2 per cent abstained This motion was one of the five plans to restructure CIs under special control as approved by the NA. Specifically, 90.43 per cent of the delegates voted to amend and supplement a certain number of articles of the Law on Credit Institutions, and 88.8 per cent voted in favour of the amendments. In accordance with the passed draft law, the five options for CI restructuring under special control were: restoration; mergers and acquisitions, consolidation, and transition of shares and capital contribution; business dissolution; compulsory transition; and bankruptcy. A noteworthy addition, the option of bankruptcy for CIs has never before been pushed through the NA, marking a new chapter for the banking industry. Vu Hong Thanh, chairman of the NA Economic Committee, stated that the NAs amendment to rescue poorly-performing CIs under special control would significantly hurt market economy as well as increase financial burdens on the state by transferring to it copious non-performing loans and liabilities. The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) will take charge of submitting the decision of bankruptcy made by CIs under special control to the government, to ensure compliance with the regulations on legal remedies. Le Minh Hung, Governor of SBV, highlighted that the top priority of SBV must be to secure the nations financial stability, the trust of citizens, and the legal rights of depositors regardless of whether ill-performing CIs under special control filed bankruptcy or not. 30 days after the government decided on opening the option of bankruptcy for CIs under special control, the special banking control board is in charge of co-ordinating with the CIs to secure the existing deposits in the Vietnamese territory as well as to plan the bankruptcy options which will in turn be submitted to SBV. In case of constructing bankruptcy plans for peoples credit funds, the special banking control board is responsible of co-ordinating with the credit funds in question to secure the existing deposits in the Vietnamese territory and those under the management of Cooperative Bank of Vietnam (Co-opBank). After 30 days of a filing for bankruptcy, SBV will take charge of considering and assessing the feasibility of the option, then submitting it to the government for approval. The four key points emerging in the bankruptcy options are: Assessing the status quo and the handling process of CIs under special control undertaking bankruptcy proceedings; Assessing the impacts of the bankruptcy proceedings on the safety and security of the CI system; Constructing reimbursement tools for individual customers; Mapping the schedule of the bankruptcy process. With regard to bankruptcy arrangements, SBV plays a vital role in providing guidelines, inspection, and supervision over the course of the implementation of the approved bankruptcy processes, which includes requesting the CIs under special control to file for bankruptcy at court. Additionally, in special events, SBV must seek approval from the government to amend and supplement the bankruptcy option. (File photo: AFP/Ted Aljibe) "The coastguard is flying a plane to the area and a patrol ship is heading there too," a spokesman told AFP. "But we haven't been able to confirm the safety of the seven members." The capsized Japanese boat was found earlier in the day 410km southwest of Palau after the crew sent an SOS on Monday. Nearby vessels including a ship from Japan's National Fisheries University joined the search and Japan had asked Guam for cooperation, the spokesman added. Petri Peltonen, Under-Secretary of State at the Finland Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, and 15 Finnish companies at Vietnam Waste Solutions headquarters A high-level delegation of 15 Finnish companies led by Petri Peltonen, Under-Secretary of State at the Finland Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, visited Da Phuoc Waste Treatment Complex on November 10. The delegation paid a working visit to Vietnam to explore the local market, look for investment opportunities in the waste-to-energy sector, and establish contacts with leading companies in the field. Vietnam Waste Solutions (VWS) is among the leading companies in Vietnams waste treatment sector, with technology that complies with US environmental standards for solid waste and leachate treatment. During their visit to the Da Phuoc complex, representatives from Finnish companies expressed interest in collaborating with VWS. VWSs director of Operation Kevin Moore introduces the Da Phuoc Waste Treatment Complex to the under-secretary of state Kevin Moore, director of Operation of VWS, told the delegation that California Waste Solutions has sent American experts to Vietnam to develop an incineration factory, a wastewater treatment system, and a 12-megawatt power plant at Da Phuoc Waste Treatment Complex. This investment reaffirms VWS commitments to the Ho Chi Minh City Peoples Committee in upgrading technologies for landfill waste reduction. VWS plans to treat mixed waste that contains impurities in order to collect organic waste. This waste will be processed at the incineration plant with an output of 1,000-1,500 tonnes per day. Only 5 per cent of the mixed waste will be buried in landfills, most of it will be burned to produce power and compressed natural gas (CNG) for public use, transporting solid waste and producing fluid and compost fertilizers. To step up its operations, VWS plans to develop transfer stations to link Da Phuoc Waste Treatment Complex in the city with the Green Technology Park invested by VWS in the southern province of Long An. The firm is exploring the potential areas to build the stations, using barges to connect the complexes which will form a closed system for waste treatment without environmental contamination. They hope to complete this project by 2020. VWS-4 technologies are introduced to the under-secretary of state According to Moore, VWS has built a compost fertilizer factory, but there is not enough organic waste to run it. The main reason is that mixed waste is not separated at the source, so more time and effort are needed to isolate the organic waste, which lowers the complexs operational efficiency. Waste to bio-gas technology is promising, but it fails to completely treat odour, contributing to atmospheric pollution. Therefore, VWS applies cutting-edge technology to produce CNG, which will be converted into energy to operate the complex as well as to transport solid waste. As VWS highly values sustainable development, the firm has invested in solutions to ensure the complex operates smoothly, especially when overloaded or during power outages. With this proactive approach, VWS is set to handle a growing volume of waste discharged by urban areas. At peak season, VWS could receive up to 500 garbage trucks per day, equivalent to 10 tonnes of garbage. Moore pointed out that Ho Chi Minh City has a waste collection company. However, waste treatment fees are only paid for household waste. VWS facility can process different types of waste, including hazardous waste, medical waste, industrial waste, and much more. This poses many challenges for VWS in the waste treatment process. KAWET is impressed by VWS technology Most recently, 42 experts from Korea Association of Waste to Energy Technology (KAWET) visited Da Phuoc Waste Treatment Complex. Environmental experts from Korea are impressed by the scale and infrastructure of the complex. The delegation spent much time studying waste treatment systems, from garbage trucks entering the complex to the process that controls the smell. Yongseung Yun, chairman of KAWET, said, We are impressed by the scale and technology invested by VWS, which is more advanced than that used in California and Korea. The results of this visit will serve as a basis for us to study, evaluate, and plan for investment in Vietnam in the future. KAWET was founded in 1996 under Koreas Ministry of Environment. The association currently has more than 500 members, including professors, researchers, government members, and engineers from Korean enterprises. When a large amount of mixed waste is sent to the complex, VWS has to use several technologies with contingency plans. Our principle is to ensure the operation is absolutely safe. This is the commitment of VWS board of directors to Ho Chi Minh City leaders, Moore said. According to Huynh Lan Phuong, vice president of VWS, the firm is willing to connect and exchange information with domestic and foreign partners. It has a long-term vision to apply modern technology, promote transparency, and develop sustainably with the community. After the trip to VWS, Peltonen commented that Da Phuoc Waste Treatment Complex has applied cutting-edge technology. The firm has brought the latest waste treatment technology to Vietnam, which turns waste into valuable products. According to Peltonen, Ho Chi Minh City is developing rapidly, so the city should apply state-of-the-art technology to convert waste into power for economic growth. With regards to potential collaboration between Finland and Vietnam in the field, Finnish companies have developed both technology and expertise in the waste treatment industry. During this trip to Vietnam, the delegation had meetings and discussions with several partners to explore investment opportunities in waste-to-energy and bio-gas technology. I believe that the partnership between VWS and Finnish companies provides more optimal solutions for effective waste treatment and renewable energy, he added. Saku Liuksia, Finpro programme manager of Waste to Energy and Bioenergy, said that Vietnam has ample potential for clean energy projects using different types of raw materials, such as urban solid waste, agricultural residue, and wastewater. Finpro has showed a great deal of interest in Vietnams waste-to-energy sector in the past two years, so they are aware of all the challenges and potential of the field. According to Saku, there are also many delegations from Finland to Vietnam to research the market and showcase their technologies. In the time to come, there will be more projects and collaborations between Finnish and Vietnamese companies. Schools Mark International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women November 25th is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Violence against women and girls is one of the most widespread, persistent and devastating human rights violations in our world today. The Department of Equality has, once again this year, worked with the Department of Education in order to raise awareness of this issue with school pupils. Todays event has been built upon last years very successful celebration of International Day of Elimination of Violence against Women organised at Bayside which also included representatives from Westside and the Gibraltar College. This morning students from Bayside School, Westside School and the Gibraltar College together with their teachers gathered at the Victoria Stadium to create a heart, the symbol of love, as a means of promoting a positive message and locked arms in solidarity to collectively represent their rejection of domestic abuse. Present at this event were the Minister for Equality, the Hon. Samantha Sacramento, and Minister for Education, the Hon John Cortes. Both Ministers were delighted with the students efforts and thanked the students for their commitment to repudiating violence in all its forms. This symbolic representation is the culmination of work at the three educational institutions over the past weeks on the subject and their education on issues of domestic abuse, in addition, and in preparation, students have carried out various initiatives including art work, displays, role-play activities and whole school assemblies. The aim of these initiatives, together with PSHE lessons, has been to raise the students awareness of domestic abuse and the importance of respectful communication within relationships. In addition to the work done on the subject at the comprehensive schools and the college, this year a total of twelve local schools have participated in ways that are sensitive and age-appropriate. Primary and middle schools have worked on a range of initiatives ranging from whole school assemblies, art projects, posters, songs, drama and PSHE lessons around the theme of Respect and Healthy Relationships. Minister for Education, Dr John Cortes said, Education is much more than academic attainment, the Department of Education also has a role in educating children on real social issues that may affect them. We generally do this through PSHE. Domestic abuse is clearly an important issue and we are now developing a strategic approach to this learning as part of the strategy being developed by the Ministry for Equality. By working together we will achieve more effective results. I would like to thank the teachers and staff from the Department of Education and Department of Equality and all the students for all their fantastic work in putting this event together. Education on the subject is not just about todays event; today is the result of a lot of work that has been undertaken on the subject and that we will continue to develop." Minister for Equality, the Hon. Samantha Sacramento MP, said: Working against domestic abuse is an important part of my Gender Equality portfolio. The work that we are doing with the Department of Education from part of our national strategy of prevention through education and awareness. Our primary objectives are prevention through education, by teaching that such behaviour is unacceptable and by empowering individuals from an early age to stand up to abuse. Our co-ordinated approach with the Department of Education, as well with our other stakeholders are yielding very positive results. It is important to continue to raise awareness about this issue and it is important to work collectively to end all forms of violence, particularly violence against girls and women. I would like to thank my team at the Ministry of Equality and all the professionals and students at the Department of Education who have worked so hard to make the events this week and those leading up to it a success. Photo: Sony Pictures Classics No matter how much you love your family, the holidays can be hard to navigate, especially if you have that family member with those thoughts on the tyranny of PC culture coming to Thanksgiving dinner. Fortunately, late November is right in the midst of peak film season, giving you plenty of good reason to escape to the theater or your preferred streaming platform. To make life easier, weve compiled the best movies you can watch this Thanksgiving weekend (which are either available to stream or playing somewhere in the country) and handily grouped them together based on situations likely to befall us all. Grab the popcorn, the gravy, and the familial ennui. If You Have Kids at Your Thanksgiving and Nobody to Watch Them Thor: Ragnarok Taika Waititis easygoing, people-pleasing Thor installment is not just fun, but hilarious and utterly strange, bringing some much-needed levity to the Marvel Cinematic Universe that a person of any age can enjoy. Our film critic David Edelstein writes, Its camp that elevates Thor: Ragnarok into the stratosphere This one is probably my favorite, being the most unlike the others. Plus, it doesnt hurt to expose kids at an early age to the wonders of Jeff Goldblum. Coco If telling you that tearjerking-powerhouse Pixar made Coco still leaves you uncertain as to why the movie will be good for kids and for you then allow our critic Emily Yoshida to persuade you: Coco is as indebted to Ratatouille as it is to Studio Ghiblis Spirited Away, but the combination of sensibilities and the colorful, semi-spooky milieu of the afterlife realm where most of the film is set is not at all unwelcome. The music isnt bad either. Yoshida writes that the songs range from pleasantly nap-inducing (helpful, in this sense) to outright rousing. Jane 2017 really needs Jane Goodall, one of the last model human beings. Plus, who doesnt love watching chimpanzees for an hour and a half? Brett Morgens documentary about the famed primatologist jumps between footage of her early years in Africa and her life now. Edelstein loved it, noting, We disagree on many things, but we can all agree on Jane Goodall. Gazing on wild chimpanzees, her patience is seemingly limitless, as if there were nowhere on Earth shed rather be than perched for hours in her cargo shorts in the wilderness of Gombe. Faces Places Since you likely wont be able to escape your house, let French New Wave legend Agnes Varda and her partner in crime, street artist JR take you (and the kids) on a virtual road trip through the rural villages of France. There is a real sweetness to this film, especially in Varda and JRs intergenerational chemistry, and its unfussy tone serves it well, writes Yoshida, adding that, despite some shortcomings, Faces Places mostly gets by on its insistent simplicity. Wonder Wonder has an overflowing humanism, writes Edelstein about Stephen Chboskys drama in which Jacob Tremblay portrays a child who is scrutinized over his facial deformities. Not only does the film end up being a beacon of kindness, Tremblay also continues to prove that he can convey worlds of emotions through understatement, according to Edelstein. While at times melodramatic, our critic found the film moving, leaving him with a hopeful sentiment: I want to believe that people can be good, if not instinctively good, then by following the right examples, or even through shame at doing bad. If Your Family Loves Crying in Public Call Me by Your Name Luca Guadagninos gorgeous, wrenching Call Me by Your Name won over Sundance in January, and audiences havent stopped showering it with praise since, with many (including our own Kyle Buchanan) pegging it to be an Oscar front-runner. Like the best Oscar darlings of the past, this one is for sure going to make you cry. The romance slash coming-of-age story is so powerful that once filming wrapped, star Armie Hammer was genuinely devastated to be leaving the shoot. Lady Bird Another Oscar contender, another nostalgic drama. This directorial debut from Greta Gerwig is about the last year of high school for one teenage girl (Saoirse Ronan) and is nearly perfect according to Edelstein. Gerwig has a gift for skipping along the surface of her teenage alter egos life and then going deep quickly, without fuss before skipping forward again, evoking the tempo of a life lived whimsically but over an emotional abyss. Bonus points if you see this (and cry) with your mom. The Florida Project Sean Bakers film about impoverished kids blissfully living in an Orlando motel among the shadows of Disney World will have you shedding tears, not just because of its gut-punch ending, but also because its young stars are insanely adorable. This is a near-perfect film, writes Yoshida, and a heightening in every way of everything that was great about Bakers last movie [Tangerine]. The Meyerowitz Stories What better way to spend time with your family than to watch Noah Baumbachs drama about a highly dysfunctional one? Dustin Hoffman, Ben Stiller, and Adam Sandler give moving performances as Upper East Siders coming together and (sort of) reconciling past grievances. Yoshida writes, This unhappy movie family ends on a kind of elliptical, life-goes-on note that so many unhappy movie families have ended on before. But what a lovely note that is. (Stream The Meyerowitz Stories on Netflix.) Mudbound Mudbound could have easily turned out as a kind of dusty, respectable period drama that looks important while advancing nothing, writes Yoshida, but it exceeds expectations with every new layer. Dee Reess 1940s period piece follows the lives of interconnecting white and black families in the rural South; institutional racism and the effects of war make for a profound, crushing tearjerker. (Stream Mudbound on Netflix.) A Fantastic Woman This indie is a vehicle for its star Daniela Vega, a trans actress who Buchanan, among others, thinks may make Oscar history with a potential Best Actress nominaion for her knockout performance. Vega is Marina, a trans woman mourning the loss of her boyfriend, Orlando, in the face of his scornful family. While the film is occasionally frustrating, Yoshida finds Vegas performance to be not just fantastic, but extraordinary: The sidelong glances she gets even from the most well-meaning people she crosses paths with is enough to make anyone want to hide out at home in sweatpants forever in sympathy; that Marina keeps making herself an inconvenience for Orlandos horrible family is enough to make her a worthy heroine. If You Want to Kickstart That Political Conversation Everyone Has Been Avoiding The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson David Frances documentary investigates the death of the eponymous trans icon and activist, which was controversially ruled a suicide despite little investigation. Edelstein found the film to be shattering yet enthralling detective work, adding, I hope the film inspires a new generation of amateur sleuths so that the injustices of history will stand plainly in the living present. (Watch The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson on Netflix.) One of Us The latest film from Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing follows three people as they attempt to leave the Hasidic community in Brooklyn, only to be greeted with varying degrees of harassment, intimidation, and exile. Edelstein found the film fascinating, noting that the co-directors use music as scary as in any horror film, with no interest in making an objective documentary. (Stream One of Us on Netflix.) A Gray State Erik Nelsons documentary follows aspiring filmmaker and alt-right conspiracy theorist David Cowleys descent into paranoia, which resulted in his suicide and the murder of his wife and daughter. The film is extremely dark, and Yoshida noted how it expertly points to the ways that gun and war culture influenced Crowley, writing, Whats ultimately troubling about A Gray State is how familiar all this is, and how, no matter how off the deep end he ultimately goes, David Crowley is merely an extreme example of something already deeply embedded in politics and Hollywood. Novitiate In Margaret Bettss 1964-set drama, the pursuit of a fledgling nun (Margaret Qualley) to commit her life to loving Christ evokes eroticism and obsession. Edelstein praised the films provocative material, noting, Betts has succeeded in capturing a watershed moment in the life of the Catholic Church a push to adapt that is, in important ways, at odds with its very origins. Her irresolution makes for excellent drama. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Martin McDonaghs mouthful of a movie may veer into gory surrealism, according to Edelstein. But, as he writes, The movie is instantly gripping, a finely calibrated mixture of foggy melancholy and quirk, the rude comedy pushing at the boundaries of the tragic premise. That tragic premise: A girl has been raped and killed, yet the police have made little progress, stirring her mother (Frances McDormand) to buy the titular billboard space to publicly question the delay. Come for McDonaghs signature mix of dry comedy and gratuitous violence, stay for McDormands Oscar-worthy performance. If You Need An Extremely Dad Movie For Your Dad Last Flag Flying Leave it to Richard Linklater (a top-tier Dad filmmaker) to make a war movie (always good Dad fare) into a road-trip flick (even better Dad fare). Vietnam vets Steve Carell, Bryan Cranston, and Laurence Fishburne journey to bury Carells son, who perished in the first years of the Iraq War. Although the banter is high-flying, its a grim slog from the semi-stupor of grief and age (and alcohol) to something that acknowledges even the possibility of transcending the misery of 21st-century America, writes Edelstein. The movie is so laden its hard to endure. But worth it. Roman J. Israel, Esq. Dan Gilroy of Nightcrawler fame has combined the solid Dad elements of a crime drama and a legal film into one package, and gotten the always-excellent Denzel Washington whom your Dad (and, okay, everyone) loves to star. And, as Edelstein writes, its a bit old hat, but takes some surprising turns: This is a formula movie but Gilroy is no hack. He hits the expected beats but with more color and depth than you expect. The legal issues seem thought-through. And he comes up with a doozy of a twist, which leads to a sharp, vise-tightening final act. My Friend Dahmer For the Dads fascinated by serial killers, Marc Meyerss biographical film follows the infamous Jeffrey Dahmer (Ross Lynch) in his formative, pre-murder, necrophilia period. Damned if My Friend Dahmer doesnt offer a fascinating Portrait of the Artist as a Young Freak, writes Edelstein, adding, It would be misleading to call My Friend Dahmer entertaining, but I got off on its fuzzy sense of dread, its poker-faced ghoulishness. Darkest Hour Dads around the nation stack their bedside tables with biographical tomes about Winston Churchill, so why not treat the Dad in your life to Joe Wrights film, in which the unrecognizable, at times inaudible Gary Oldman stars as the celebrated prime minister? As with many Great Man Biopics, Yoshida finds the film lacks some nuance, but writes, If all this makes Darkest Hour propaganda, then the shoe may fit, though its hard to find fault with its protagonists aims, at least in this small of a scope. Brimstone and Glory Dads love turkey almost as much as explosions, making Viktor Jakovleskis 67-minute documentary about the National Pyrotechnic Festival in Tultepec, Mexico, a perfect watch after Thanksgiving dinner. The annual festival is a remarkably unsafe spectacle in which fireworks bombard the sky, an exhibition Yoshida finds captivating, poetic, and frightful: The people of Tultepec, the visitors, and Jakovleski all seem to understand that pain and injury are the price to pay for this tradition, and the pride of the town. If You Want to Genuinely Horrify Everyone Around You The Killing of a Sacred Deer Yes, Yorgos Lanthimos and Colin Farrells second film together is that messed up just wait until the last scene to find out how messed up. Without revealing too much, well tell you that Farrells doctor is haunted by the slightly annoying, very scary Martin (Barry Keoghan) in a world where great harm can be inflicted on others without any explanation and everyone speaks in emotionless deadpan. This will certainly screw with your family, and youll absolutely get a kick out of it, too. As Yoshida writes, To see an unfettered nightmare like this from such an idiosyncratic director feels like a cruel treat, and a welcome stylistic stretch. If You Just Saw The Killing of a Sacred Deer and Need to Feel Better Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold So you made it through Killing of a Sacred Deer? Are you doing alright? Well, Griffin Dunnes documentary on his aunt Joan Didion, the famed writer and reporter, is an informative and beautifully distracting watch for you. Based around interviews with Didion herself, as well as her contemporaries and devotees, writes Yoshida, The Center Will Not Hold is a loving late-career tribute that never feels overstated. Also, this film has informed the world that Harrison Ford was once Didions carpenter! Isnt life funny and not horrible, like in Killing of a Sacred Deer? (Stream Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold on Netflix.) Our Souls at Night Nothing mends psychological damage like Robert Redford and Jane Fonda. The two reunite here in a contrived but surprisingly enjoyable return visit with two frequent co-stars and a few other wonderful actors, writes Edelstein. The two play widowers who eventually get together, and the good vibes linger, our critic adds. Netflix is putting the film in a few theaters, but its online now to watch. You should. Its a nice little movie. (Stream Our Souls at Night on Netflix.) Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond While this isnt a feel-good movie like the two above, Chris Smiths doc will let you get lost in the mind of Jim Carrey as he gets lost in the mind of Andy Kaufman. Using archival footage of when the actor went crazily Method portraying the late, great Kaufman in the 1999 biopic Man on the Moon, Carrey offers modern-day commentary on his performance and the toll of being a celebrity. Edelstein found the film to be not just amazing but sadly revealing, writing, You come away from Jim & Andy wondering not for the first time about the cost to great artists of what they do, envious of their talent and thinking, Im glad thats not me. (Stream Jim & Andy on Netflix.) Photo: Getty Images About halfway through Yorgos Lanthimoss The Killing of a Sacred Deer, a doctor played by Colin Farrell visits the home of a teenage boy (Barry Keoghan) whos put a mysterious curse on his family. The boys mother comes out to offer some pie, and wait a second, thats Alicia Silverstone! The Clueless star only appears in two brief scenes, but she makes a definite impression, cooing over the softness of Farrells hands and generally adding to the freaky vibe. I remember thinking, How on earth will I fit into this movie? the actress told Vulture. Because when I read the script, it was just so wonderful. When you admire something so much, its a little bit hard to imagine how you fit into it. While speaking to Vulture over the phone, Silverstone discussed her whirlwind one-day shoot for Sacred Deer, why she loved being in the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid film, and her upcoming Paramount Network series American Woman. How did you get into this movie? My agent called and said, You need to go on this thing. Its worth it. You should start preparing immediately. I think the audition was 24 hours later, it happened very quick. Francine Maislers people were casting, and luckily Francine had seen me in a play two summers ago so Ive been in her graces lately. And then I got a call saying that Yorgos would like to speak with me over Skype. One thing he said was, I really liked what you did on your first instinct with the role before we started getting direction so just trust your gut. Youll be great. What were your instincts telling you that first time? I think that she was very lonely, very needing, very desperate and wanting. She had a big, big need to be filled, and thats what I played. Everyone whos worked on this movie has such nice things to say about Yorgos. Hes so brilliant. Hes such an inspired artist. I was delighting in every word he said on set. I would love to spend more time with him. He lives in another country, so I cant. He just is a really cool cat. Everyone that was there was so happy to be there. You could feel that. I remember stepping off that set and going to do another film and the hair and makeup people were so jealous that I was working with Yorgos. He creates such a good vibe. Theres a fun, artistic energy to the set. Ive done tons of theater, and it reminds me of when I was doing a play with Laura Linney on Broadway. I remember when Laura would go to the bathroom, Id wait to go to the bathroom with her. I had to pee and I didnt want to leave the table because the conversations were so inspiring. In the movie, Colin plays your dead husbands heart surgeon. What was your interpretation of what happened between your characters before the film starts? I dont think much. I think shes had her eye on him. He was the doctor to her husband. So its fun to think, was she flirting with him back then? Or is it only now that its this psychological thing somehow hes responsible for fixing my life too and replacing my husband? Who knows all of the wacky things that could be interpreted? Its so much fun. And then youre in a scene with Barry, who is so freaky in this movie. With Barry, I just remember going, Hes good. Hes really, really weird. I dont mean as a person, but what he was doing with his art was so interesting. Theres a funny, odd kind of swagger. He has a rhythm with his body almost, the way the language would come out. I dont know, I found him kind of mesmerizing. Have you gotten a lot of feedback on the film? I had a few people tell me that they had seen the film and how great it was. And then I think I heard some nice things were said in reviews. I havent read them. Is that a rule you have? Oh, it comes and goes. Sometimes I try really hard not to. Usually if somebody sends you something, then you cant help but click it. But in general when doing theater, you have a rule of do not look at the reviews. It can really mess with your head. Even if they say wonderful things, it can be very confusing. But other actors read every single thing. Good and bad, they just dont care. They soak it all up. But I dont know. Im also a mother and really busy trying to write books and do my business projects. You know, I have this vitamin company. So I dont really have the time to do all that. Are you picky about roles now? For sure. Lately Ive been making some tougher decisions about big parts that would be sort of commercial, but not necessarily satisfying to your soul. Its not worth it to me. Id rather a day on a Yorgos film than three months doing something Im not passionate about. Shooting American Woman, it was all-consuming. Bear [Silverstones 6-year-old son] came around quite a bit, and every weekend I dedicated to him. But its a lot, so you want to make sure that the time that youre spending away, its for something youre passionate about. Luckily when I did Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Bear came with me and he spent the whole time on that job with me. That sounds like a kids dream. When I went in on Wimpy Kid, I thought that was going to be a small part. I didnt realize it was a leading role. We didnt have scripts, I just went in on the audition. We started negotiating timing and schedule around American Woman and Yorgoss film, and they were all happening at the same time. Everybody worked together. Yorgos helped us to push my date and Diary of a Wimpy Kid held the movie for a week or two for me. But I remember at the time, I was like, Why is this so difficult? I didnt understand. I probably only have a few scenes, cant they just work around me? They kept saying, You have to be there every day. And I was like, Why would I have to be there every day? Im just the mom. And thats when they were like, I think you need to read the script. Ohhh, I get it. But I loved it. I thought it was exciting to do something that later on in life, my kid is going to think is really, really cool. I hope he already thinks its really, really cool. To be on set with a ton of kids, where my kid could just be a part of it all, it felt like a really good choice. American Woman is based on the life of Real Housewife of Beverly Hills Kyle Richards. Are you a fan? No, I had never seen that show. But Im a big fan of John Wells [the veteran producer who also worked on E.R. and The West Wing], and Im a big fan of wonderful parts. Its once in a lifetime to get to play this kind of fiery character. Shes such a trailblazer in a way, a badass woman. 1975 was a very exciting time. Two years after Roe v. Wade. Women couldnt get a loan without a man. Equal education was just introduced. Girls couldnt even play sports. Women were supposed to be virgins, and men were allowed to sleep around. Couples were having group sex and open marriages, and nudist groups and porn were catching on fire. And Bonnie [Silverstones character, based on Richardss mother] just has this really magnetic draw. Shes very traditional, but shes also super sexual. Shes kind of really reckless. She cares so much about her kids, but then shes a bad mom at times. And obviously women havent really found our 100 percent equal footing yet, so 40 years later its kind of cool to see how far weve come. This interview has been edited and condensed. No, youre crying. It had to end: Weve reached the fourth and final part of Call Me by Your Name, Ghost Spots. Oliver has left Italy for America, and Elio has gone back home. Their romance, as they knew it, is over, but Elio spends the next few days, then years, and finally decades, revisiting that summer romance. And just as Call Me by Your Name has come to a close, so too, has this iteration of of our book club. We thank you for going on this journey with us, and we hope that youll look back and think of us someday. Alex: This final section is so devastating to read. Its like a sadder, more realistic version of Before Sunset when Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy meet each other again a decade after their whirlwind night together. Instead of getting back together like they do, Elio and Oliver simply wonder if the other still remembers, if he left as big an imprint on his life as the other did on his. I think we all have Sliding Doors moments in our lives when we wonder, What would have happened if ? Its impossible to know how Elios life would have gone without Oliver, but we know that by being with Oliver, knowing Oliver, and loving Oliver, his life was irrevocably changed. In the years that follow their romance, Elio says that he met many people who either eclipsed [Oliver] or reduced him to an early signpost. But I dont believe him. Weve already established that Elio is an unreliable narrator someone who likes to tell himself stories to dull the pain. Because 15 years later, Elio drops by the university where Oliver works and they get a drink. Elio still wants to know if seeing Oliver would stir something within him again. Of course it does, because Oliver is Oliver: It would finally dawn on us both that he was more me than I had ever been myself, because when he became me and I became him in bed so many years ago, he was and would forever remain, long after every forked road in life had done its work, my brother, my friend, my father, my son, my husband, my lover, myself. That passage encapsulates so much of the bond between them that weve talked about before. Aciman has said that once he had figured out the outline of the story, he wrote his first draft in about four months. Something about that makes sense to me, because its fast like a drug hitting your veins. The swiftness of the prose, the first-person narration, and the extremity of the emotions all feel like what its like when youre swept away by your first love. Hunter: Wow, you really want to just jump right into then, Alex. My brother, my friend, my father, my son, my husband, my lover, myself thats the whole novel distilled into one line. Theres such a sense of displacement in this chapter. Their love story was so rooted in their youth, in summer, in Italy. The fact that they meet again in New England the total opposite of an Italian romance is a harbinger of this finale where they dont end up together. Elio doesnt visit to rekindle his love with Oliver so much as hes come to remember it, to make sure that everything that they had was a real as it felt that night. And it always was, even when Elio tried to bluff his way through those intervening years, (rudely!) saying Oliver was just a regular fork in the road. But isnt that what we do when were grasping at an impossibility try to discount and smother it, instead of feeling that loss? Which is exactly what Olivers father advises him against in a beautiful moment toward the end of the book. (Elio takes this advice, mostly.) Feeling anything even that loss and that homesickness for Oliver and their love is a gift. We can talk more about what an absolute gem Dr. Perlman is in his great monologue, but what I love (and really relate to) is that Elios initial reaction to his fathers acknowledgement of their relationship is that hes dumbstruck to have been found out. He thought he was being very adult and private about this very intense desire, but his parents saw right through him! And not only that, but he starts to consider that maybe his father has a whole inner life he knows nothing about. Thats so teenage. Alex: We are young Hunter! (Well, I sort of am.) And if this book has taught us anything, its to seize the moment and not waste our lives as half-finished versions of ourselves. Am I being dramatic? Maybe, but lets live life dramatically. After all, as Elios father says in that splendid and sagacious speech: But remember, our hearts and our bodies are given to us only once. Most of us cant help but live as though weve got two lives to live, one is the mock-up, the other the finished version, and then there are all those versions in between. If anything, reading this book makes me want to be more daring than I am. And this is where I think about Oliver. Oliver tells Elio that had his parents known about them, he would have been institutionalized. In many ways, the threat of homophobia exists more palpably in the shadows for Oliver to me. Maybe its because he lives in the American context, but I can imagine the pressure he must have felt to get married to a woman and have children, and to compartmentalize Elio. His time in Italy then must have felt like an impossible fantasy. What must it have been like to have known paradise only to leave it? It must be like exile. Their relationship is like amber crystallizing a moment in time so that it can exist whole and safe from the outside world. It is, in some sense, unreal, because its untested by the exigencies of daily life. I wonder then, how you interpret the end of the book, where they meet again 20 years later. To me, there is a slight note of ambiguity, a feeling that even after all of these years, anything is possible. Hunter: I go back and forth about the ending. Sometimes I think its devastating the audacity of Oliver to get married and start this whole other family! and sometimes I find it hopeful. I remember good things only, Elio tells Oliver, when Oliver asks if hes been forgiven for choosing his traditional lifestyle. It makes me think of Elios bravery in the first chapter: He did the hardest thing in the world! Is it better to speak or to die? He chose to speak, and Oliver did not, and now hes living Elios Sliding Door life, that mock-up. Even though he seems single after the time jump, hes grown into himself. Hes cutting right through the abstraction: You are the only person Id like to say goodbye to when I die, because only then will this thing I call my life make any sense. And if I should hear that you died, my life as I now it, the me who is speaking with you now, will cease to exist. You bring up paradise, Alex, and how Oliver must miss it. But I think everyone Aciman introduces us to in the book is feeling nostalgia for it. Elio, his parents, Marzia, too summer is paradise, Italy is paradise, the pool is heaven. Thats what makes me sad. Paradise never lasts, but you can dip back into it, or at least visit its ghost spots. Does the ending make you sad? I cry when I read it because Acimans prose is so beautiful, but dont they get some version of what they want, the warmth of those memories? Alex: They do, and I think youre right that this book, Elio and Oliver, Billowy, Rome, their relationship, everything, could only exist within the prism of memory. It could be so perfect, so sun-dappled and delicious, because memory is able to fill in holes and smooth over inconsistencies. I thought it was funny how Elio had forgotten that he got so wasted that last night in Rome and tried to bring a girl back home with them. What a perfectly imperfect memory you have, Elio. But it does make me sad because I do think they had a Great Love one that Elio still thought about a full two decades later. Instead, they both went into a coma or a parallel life on better days and Elio says he went on to have other Great Loves. But still, he thinks about Oliver, Oliver, Oliver. Oliver is the one who haunts his home in Italy and the alleyway in Rome. Oliver is the one Elio wants to say good-bye to before his death, and the one he wants to call him by his name. I so wish that they could have lived in a world where they could have lived a life together, but maybe that is the price of perfection: that you cant have more than a moment in the sun. Excerpt from Doomsday Clock. Photo: DC Comics / Gary Frank and Brad Anderson. To review DC Comics Doomsday Clock is to row into the choppy waters where art meets commerce. Do you merely assess the work, or must you also pass judgment on whether the work should exist in the first place? After all, there are those who consider it an abomination. Its a sequel to Watchmen, the mid-80s graphic novel often regarded as the greatest superhero story ever told, but that works creators writer Alan Moore and artists Dave Gibbons and John Higgins had nothing to do with it. It takes that works bitterly cynical characters and introduces them to the Day-Glo cohort of the mainstream DC superhero universe. Moore openly detests DC, but the publisher owns the underlying intellectual property, so whatever his wishes might be, theyre moot. You can argue that Doomsday Clock is a step back for creators rights, and you wouldnt be wrong. Even I had serious doubts about it, way back when it was still being gestated. So if you were to ask me to review the process that put the first issue of Doomsday Clock on stands today, Id tell you that I dont exactly approve of it, though my disapproval isnt vehement. No laws were broken and no one is bankrupting Moore or his collaborators. (If you want a persuasive and detailed argument against the comic on ethical grounds, check out Chase Magnetts essay over at Comics Bulletin.) If you can look past the circumstances of its birth, youll find this opening chapter to be one of the better single issues of a superhero comic published this year. The pedigree behind the work is high. It comes from the drawing board of penciler Gary Frank; the paintbox of colorist Brad Anderson; and the word processor of DCs president, chief creative officer, co-head of movie operations, and all-around golden boy, Geoff Johns. That team was responsible for the delightful graphic novel Batman: Earth One, a stand-alone Batman tale that displayed Franks expert textures and facial acting and Andersons knack for mood-setting. But most important, it represented a leap forward for Johns. In Earth One, the acclaimed superhero scribe demonstrated a facility for setting a tone of anxious dread, drawing out his pace, and twisting existing characters in ways that didnt feel like cheap gimmicks. It was, in my opinion, his best work to date, but he might be on track to outdo it with Doomsday Clock. Maybe. Here, we open in media res but perhaps open isnt the right word, as the story begins before you even get to the first page. The cover an angry mob bathed in the orange light of flame, a placard reading THE END IS HERE stationed at the center is the first panel of the story. This was a technique that Moore and Gibbons employed for Watchmen, and Doomsday Clock is nothing if not faithful to the technical idiosyncrasies of the work that preceded it. Narration comes not in the form of a third-person omniscience but rather the grim ramblings of the fatally principled vigilante Rorschach (who may not be what he seems), panels often mirror one another compositionally and thematically, theres post-narrative back matter in the form of documents from within the storys universe, and the chapter is both titled and concluded with an excerpt from a work of literature. The choice of that quotation is a nice demonstration of Johnss clever efforts to both honor and expand upon Moore. Rather than opting for a hoary verse from scripture or a line from an eye-rollingly well-known novel, the writer plucks from the poem Ozymandias but not the one by Shelley, which was so prominently employed in Watchmen. No, he goes with the more obscure companion poem of the same name, written by Horace Smith and published just a few weeks after Shelleys in 1818. It works as an homage, but the lines apply well to the tale hes trying to tell, all portent and pessimism. That tale is both a thrill and a logical extension of the situation at the end of Watchmen. Its 1992, a little over half a decade past the day the worlds smartest man, Adrian Veidt, executed a hoax alien invasion that killed millions in the name of ending the Cold War and averting nuclear disaster. The original story concludes with the ethical quandary of whether or not that step was justified, but makes it clear that, at the very least, it accomplished its aims of bringing about global stability. In Doomsday Clock, we learn that the peace was fragile, and that it outright crumbled when the hoax was revealed for what it was. The nascent European Union has collapsed. Russia is threatening to march on Belarus. The American vice-president has, for reasons unexplained, murdered the attorney general. Martial law is imposed. Its all a smidge over the top, but if youre going to revisit the pre-apocalyptic tone of Watchmen, you might as well pump the gas a little. Plus, the geopolitical Grand Guignol is tempered significantly by the tight, naturalistic approach to the core story, in which Rorschach (or a Rorschach) recruits some previously unseen allies for a mysterious crusade. Johns has found a muse in the form of Moores beloved and philosophical killer, providing terse verbiage that titillates in the way it harks back to his original incarnation (e.g., God turned his back, left Paradise to us. Like handing a five-year-old a straight razor. We slit open the worlds belly. Secrets came spilling out. An intestine full of truth and shit strangled us). The new additions are welcome, too: one is, believe it or not, a killer mime, and Franks rendition of a balletic beat-em-up pairs well with Johnss rendition of what, exactly, a killer mime would do to get what he wants. It all serves to butter us up for the most controversial part of the narrative, the one that has everyone nervous about how Doomsday Clock will play out: the arrival of the mainstream DC superheroes. One of Watchmens great virtues was its independent status it was a self-contained story that was wholly removed from the world of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and their spandex-clad ilk. That was the only way it could convey one of its central points, which was that superherodom is a fundamentally perverse endeavor, and that a real-life superhero would be unlikely to have any actual superpowers. The tout of Doomsday Clock is that itll allow the DC and Watchmen universes to encounter one another, which is quite the dicey gambit. Along those lines, this first issue may well be the last to focus primarily on extending the Watchmen narrative. The tightly gripped secrets of this much-hyped series could reveal themselves as the crude, fleeting delights of a mash-up. As such, the real test will come with issue number two next month. The clock is ticking. Photo: Channel 4 Just like a fine mousse oozing out of the bottom of a black forrest gateau, terror emerged in late October across the pond, when new Great British Bake Off host Prue Leith accidentally tweeted out the winner of the show 12 hours too early. The situation was apprehended quickly, but the damage was already done: Her legion of Twitter followers couldnt un-see her congratulatory words to the crowning baker who we wont name for you here, in the hopes the new season comes to PBS soon and the finale, dare we say, was spoiled a la scrambled egg custard. Unsurprisingly, Leith didnt discuss her faux pas in the immediate aftermath of the finale due to embarrassment, but shes now opening up about how awful and suicidal she felt, which was attributed to her confusing travel schedule. I think that was one of the worst half an hours, that first half an hour when I realized what I had done, she said on ITVs This Morning. It turns out Leith was in Bhutan for a work trip, and suffered from a simple case of mixing up the time-zones. Then as soon as it went I thought oh my God and I went into a panic mode where I couldnt work my phone and I didnt know how to delete it quickly, she continued. I couldnt think and in the end I just rang my trusty PA and she said, Ive already deleted it, and it was 89 seconds after I had done it and that was too late, it had been retweeted. And thats the way the cookie crumbled. Mel and Sue are not amused. Godless An Incident at Creede Season 1 Episode 1 Editors Rating 5 stars * * * * * Previous Next Previous Episode Next Episode Photo: Ursula Coyote/Netflix Scott Frank and Steven Soderbergh worked together on the masterful Out of Sight, and theyve finally reunited to create Netflixs Godless, a show that filters the cliches of the Western through a modern take on female empowerment. With wonderful performances from top to bottom and cinematic production values, this is the kind of series that should make for addictive binge viewing over the Thanksgiving holiday. While Godless boasts quite a deep ensemble, this premiere episode centers on the introduction of four characters on three separate story arcs, so lets break them down separately as we dive into the series. Roy Goode & Alice Fletcher The male protagonist of the show, played with just the right blend of heroism and mystery by Jack OConnell (Unbroken), Roy Goode is a former outlaw turned hero. After betraying his villainous father figure, the infamous Frank Griffin (Jeff Daniels), Goode goes on the run and winds up at a ranch on the edge of a town called La Belle. Arriving in the middle of the night, Roy doesnt declare himself or his intentions quickly enough and gets shot by Alice Fletcher (Michelle Dockery of Downton Abbey fame). She nurses him back to health with the help of her son Truckee (Samuel Marty) and mother-in-law (Tantoo Cardinal), before learning the truth about Goodes criminal background and how badly the most notorious gang in the state wants him dead. Given that threat, Alice just wants Roy gone as soon hes healed. As hes doing that, we learn more about her day-to-day life on the ranch, including the fact that shes teaching Truckee how to read. She goes through Roys stuff, finding a letter addressed to him in New Mexico from another Goode in California. We also learn that Roy is something of a horse whisperer, which it appears Alice could really use. Truckees grandma may not like this newcomer, but the boy needs a father figure and Alice isnt much of a wrangler herself. It certainly helps that Roy is also a crack shot: When a townswoman brings her baby to Alice and her mother-in-law to whip up a treatment for roseola, he shoots a coiled rattlesnake moments before it attacks the child. As Alice and Roy warm to each other, we get some background for her character. (This happens while they literally mend a fence. Thats just how people got to know each other in 1884, I guess.) Alice came to La Belle when she was only 17, promised to marry the son of her fathers business partner. They were looking at their property when a six-foot-tall wall of water washed her future away from her in front of her eyes. She wandered alone for eight days until she was found, although she saves the details about exactly who found her (and how that man became her second husband) for a future episode. Ultimately, we can tell in the premiere that Alice Fletcher is independent but could use some help, and Roy Goode may have stumbled onto her property at just the right time in her life. Sheriff Bill McNue We meet the good sheriff of La Belle with mud on his eyes while hes sitting in a tent, searching for spiritual help. Played with wonderful world-weariness by Scoot McNairy (Halt and Catch Fire), Bill McNue is a man going blind. He lost his wife a few years ago, and seems to be disengaging from the world more with each passing day. He tells his wifes tombstone that he cant forgive his daughter, which likely means that she died in childbirth. Bill is wallowing in grief as the lights dim out on him, but perhaps the arrival of Roy Goode will give him another chance at finding a purpose. Nobody seems to like Bill, including his sister Mary Agnes (Merritt Wever of Nurse Jackie), who has become something of a masculine figure since becoming a widow, taking control of her own life. You see, La Belle lost almost all of its men in a mining accident, and Mary isnt just going to sit around and wait for another man to save her. She suggests that Bill go to Alice to see if shell sell them some horses. Later in the episode, Bill meets Marshal John Cook (Sam Waterston), who comes to town to drop some exposition about Roy Goode and Frank Griffin. By the time Bill gets to Alices farm and discovers that Roy is staying there, he knows precisely how dangerous he is. Even if his villainous days are behind him, Roy will surely attract Frank Griffin and his crew soon enough. After trying to convince Alice to help a town that she feels betrayed her it seems that the ladies may have shot her second husband in the back Bill meets Roy face-to-face. The outlaw turns himself in, telling the truth about Griffin and what happened between them: He was trying to draw his malevolent leader away from the town of Creede by stealing money the gang was robbing from a train. It didnt work. He claims he held off 32 men in a canyon, but lost the cash in the river. Frank Griffin Which brings us to the villain of Godless, played with bushy gray beard by Jeff Daniels. Griffin is a lunatic. We know this before the opening credits even roll, when we see the body of a child hanging in the middle of a slaughtered town, later learning that it was the work of Griffin and his men, who killed everyone in Creede. These are the kinds of people who would kill a child, and they are hunting down the man who not only ruined their robbery but betrayed the gang: Roy Goode. It doesnt even seem to matter much to Frank that he just lost an arm due to a bullet wound during his last run-in with Roy. Hes the one-armed man of this Western epic, and hes determined to get revenge. The premiere is all about setting up the legends of Roy Goode and Frank Griffin. To that end, Frank rides his horse right into a church, trotting all the way up to the pulpit while he sings Nearer My God to Thee. Hes the closest thing to God in this country, and he delivers a warning to the congregation: Anyone who protects Roy Goode will suffer like our Lord Jesus. And Frank knows from suffering. We learn as much during an extended flashback that stands out from the rest of the episode in style. Its action- and music-heavy, amplifying the sense that these men are already more legend than truth. Still, its a bit heavy-handed, especially when a swooning Daniels begins shouting, You folks want a lynching!? You got one! Again, theres a legendary aspect to this flashback that makes the hyperbole forgivable, but one hopes it doesnt bleed into the present-day material. In the episodes final scene, we see Griffin and his men riding through a river, water splashing, silhouettes against the sky. Theyre coming for Roy Goode, and theyll kill anyone who stands in their way. Other Notes If youre thinking about the gender politics of the show, consider how each of the major characters is introduced: Roy and Frank both have bullets in them; Bill has filth on his eyes; Alice shoots someone to protect her family; and Mary Agnes is defiant and independent. The men are weak and injured, while the women are strong. You probably saw Jack OConnell in Unbroken, but if you like him here, you should seek out his great performances in Starred Up and 71. Godless was clearly inspired by Western literature and film, so Im going to pick a particular movie that pairs well with each episode, in case you want to continue the genre journey. With its lyrical takes and infamous characters, the pilot brings to mind Andrew Dominiks excellent The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Franks ear for dialogue is so good. A few of my favorite quotes from this episode: I seen my death this aint it; My twilights come home, and I didnt even hear it knocking; You shot him least you can do is feed him something; and I have heard of you, Marshal, and of your mustache. Photo: Getty Images If you didnt know Hari Kondabolu last month, you might know him now. The 34-year-old comic from Queens has seemingly been everywhere this fall, anchoring a raft of print, radio, and online coverage of his documentary, The Problem With Apu, which premiered Sunday on TruTV. The Indian-American resentment of Apu isnt new to the people Kondabolu roped into the documentary, most of them South AsianAmerican actors and actresses such as Kal Penn, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Aziz Ansari, and Sakina Jaffrey (full disclosure: This writer appears in the documentary as well), but it can still confound those untouched by the shadow Apu casts, one of the imbalances that inspired Kondabolu to make a movie analyzing the cartoon character in the first place. The term soft racism comes up frequently in coverage of the documentary, a term evocative of another recently in the news, hipster racism, after novelist Zinzi Clemmons used the latter to indict a wide section of the comedy world. In a Facebook post that went viral, Clemmons disavowed power players who excuse transgressions as jokes. Kondabolus frustration with The Simpsons similarly stokes easy dismissals, from the very people tasked to change things: Call out Apu, and you inevitably hear that The Simpsons makes fun of everyone, that its characters are all caricatures, that if you cant take a joke, you should get out of the glow of the TV. As Ambudkar, the actor who voices Apus son in an episode created to update the character, after complaints went public, puts it: The Simpsons always wins. In Kondabolus doc, Ambudkar describes his regret when watching the episode after it aired. As he read it, its writing was designed to make critics of Apu look sillier than the character himself. Nothings simple in representational politics. Vulture recently sat down with Kondabolu to discuss the making of a movie few comics would touch with a pole, how he positioned Apu in the annals of American race politics, and what lies ahead after tackling his nemesis, gloves off. You got quite a crew. It was almost everybody I wanted. Howd you get them? It was personal. It wasnt something where I had to convince them. Think about the culture were in now. Its not that everyones more thoughtful, its that youre scared to not be thoughtful. You want to be on the right side of history, and you dont even think about that character. Well, we think about it. Most of the people I pitched to, its like oh my god for them, its sitting right there. It was fun to make a movie and to interview so many people, but the actual heart of the issue, it was a 101 course. I honestly wanted to call it Seriously? I need to explain this? Because we all know this. Its obvious. But I had to educate people. Theres a part of the film where I had to be reminded, this is going to mainstream America. This isnt a film thats in festivals. I need to explain basic ideas. I really need to explain minstrelsy? I really do? And Im like, yeah, I do. This stuff used to be called inaccessible though. Were at least in the era where its now mind-blowing. How do you think in terms of an audience where you are starting at square one about issues that are almost old hat to you? You find the common ground. If I talk about the minstrelsy, thats hard. If I talk about The Simpsons, we have shared ground. Its this classic show thats global. The issue isnt so much the character. Im a 35-year-old man. Its not an offensive thing, its a little insulting, especially when I was a kid. To me, its like, how did that happen, how does that still happen, how do we keep doing it? Its not like its over. We still think about representation, we still think about erasure or one-dimensional representation. This is a classic example, but its one example. Apu is grandfathered in. Its like a fossil in nectar, you know what I mean? Its a great example for us to see because its both then and now. Times have changed, but ultimately for me it wasnt just about Apu. Its really about where we are as a culture and the fact that racism isnt a singular thing. Its a virus. It mutates, and every era, it changes. The film spiraled out of a bit you did a few years ago for Totally Biased With W. Kamau Bell. How did that come about? I pitched the idea of doing the story [tied to the] Mindy Project premiere. He said I should do it, that itd be more genuine. Was that your first on-air segment? That was my first one. I didnt want to. I was like, This is Kamaus show. I want to focus on him, as a writer. He was like, If you dont do this I will fire you. I was like, Okay, you make a good point. Youve always been politically minded, and the question of Apu is about identity politics. But in general, do you feel pressure at all to talk about Indian stuff? What I talk about onstage is what I want to talk about, its not like Im thinking, This is the political angle. My first thought is, Who has the power in a situation and how are they using that power? I usually see myself as the person who has less power, so its natural to me that its observational more than it is political. But there is pressure at the end of the day. Anything you wish youd done differently with the film? Theres this one anecdote we didnt put in that kills me. I did some research, and Peter Sellers and Satyajit Ray knew each other [Editors note: Peter Sellers starred in The Party, in a role Hank Azaria has compared to Apu; Ray created The Apu Trilogy, the famous Bengali series that the Simpsons Apu got his name from.] Ray wanted Sellers to be in his first attempt for a film, called Alien. They hit it off. Then Ray saw Sellers in The Party and was horrified. I just met this man. This is what he thinks of me? And the voice he uses. Peter Sellers has a monkey pet in the movie. The monkeys name is Apu, and thats not a coincidence, especially during [the time of the release of Rays Apu Trilogy]. I hear that story and I think about Apu, the cartoon character. You take [Rays] main character and give him this voice you know he would hate. The fact that [Apu the monkey] wasnt squashed this is what happens when you dont squash it. It doesnt look the same way, but it still survived. The casualness of those choices recalls the Dana Gould quote [in the Apu doc] about how its just funny the Indian accent, that is. I love the fact that Dana was so honest. People are like, How can you deal with Dana Gould being such a jerk? Im like, he wasnt a jerk. He was being honest. Do you want him to say sorry and move on? Thats not interesting. Thats the great thing about the fossil quality of Apu. Yes its a fossil, but its a living fossil. You can access the people making it. Theyre still in the business. Hank is still doing the voice. Its not enough to be simply aware that something is wrong. That Huffington Post piece that youve done [an article I wrote, in which Azaria commented on misgivings about Apu] he was aware and still kept doing [the voice], kept doing it publicly. Thats so weird to me. A couple years after you and I did that interview [for the HuffPost story], they had Utkarsh [Ambudkar] on [to play Apus son]. To me, it was very much, Okay, we did our bit. We can keep doing Apu. Did you hear the rumors that they were thinking of killing Apu off? Thats lazy. If Apu dies, Ill be the guy who killed Apu. You wouldnt be proud of that? Id feel mixed about it. If hes gonna do the voice, hes gonna do the voice. Do I want a brown person doing it? I dont want anyone to do the voice. If theres some truth to the South Asian convenience-clerk trope, well, a lot of those people end up buying the business. How about we make him a small-business owner? Hes always an employee, subservient. Why dont we get him an opportunity to own? His kids could be voiced by brown actors. Theres more creative solutions, but its easier to kill off the character than change. [Meanwhile] Smithers is out. Its a cartoon. You can do whatever you want. Its been 30 years. Hes been in the same place. Plus the show its a little stale. That could give it a completely new angle. Because what I love about The Simpsons is the creativity. Thats why Apu is so frustrating. Its not creative, its hacky. Anybody could do that character. To kill him off is extremely lazy and a cop-out. Youve talked about not fitting into a black-white binary or Latino identity, which one could think of as the triad of American public identities. And I know in media theres a sense, too, that East Asian or South Asian concerns are seen as secondary. A kind of, why do you have complaints? Youre not minorities youre just like white people. Or that using the language of the Civil Rights Movement or black actors is piggybacking, taking something thats not yours. Is that an issue with the documentary? Do you have to justify even having problems, and figure out how to frame them? I think its about how you explain your position. The importance of having Whoopi Goldberg [who appears in the film] is to talk about the larger legacy. I didnt want something void of history. Theyre going after brown people, but thats not how this started. Theres a history of how people of color are used and how their bodies and images are monetized. Any South Asian in this country has faced it considerably easier [than black people]. When we talk about big moments, we talk about 9/11. Youre being held by law enforcement, seen as a threat. Black people deal with that every day. So its from this large legacy, but its not the same. There are moments where I wish I were clearer because thats important. To say, this is not the same. Its part of the larger [story]. [At this point, a group of kids ran into the cafe where we were sitting, in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn. It was Halloween, and they wanted candy.] I grew up in Queens. This is what it was like. We had community. Not necessarily running into shops [for Halloween]; we had homes to go to. But this feels closer to home than other neighborhoods in Brooklyn. I actually wanted to ask about your childhood. Oh, yeah, Im so sorry it couldnt work out with my parents. [Id hoped to interview Hari at his family home.] My dad had a heart procedure. Im so sorry to hear that. Its fine. Hes fine now. I mean, hes an older South Asian man. He eats too much rice. It comes for all of us. Speaking of South Asian, can you talk more about Queens? I have this magnetic pull to it, and am actually thinking about moving there. Where would you go? When I go, I go to Jackson Heights. [Where all the Indians live.] If Im going to go to Queens, not with my folks, I would go to Jackson Heights. Its gentrifying. Put another brown face there. When I saw the Starbucks, I was like, This is not good. When I saw the indie coffee shop, I was like, This is the end. Did you grow up there? Until I was 9. Then we moved to Floral Park, Queens, which turned into a more suburban Little Asia. Was it indian? Lots of Malayalis. [Indians from Kerala]. Youre Telugu, right? No Im Kannadiga. Rao is common to both. Were your people Telugu when they moved? Actually, no. My moms family was Maharashtran at some point, before they became Kannadigas. My dads side is Tamilian, from Coimbatore. Its funny because if we talked to someone from the north, theyd be like, youre the same. Where is Kannada spoken? Is that Bangalore? Yep. I did a gig there, when I toured India. Is the documentary playing in India? I hope so. If not, I dont care if its bootlegged or not. I wish it werent, but I want people to see. Im already getting emails, messages from there, Europe. The reach of this film is massive. Its a Simpsons movie above all else, and people love The Simpsons. Its part of their childhoods, a huge influence. And no one has ever made a film critical of The Simpsons. This is the first. Its also a little nerve-wracking to think about how I was going to deal with the [backlash] in comedy and Simpsons fans and people who hate anyone who doesnt like something. Thats another reason why the whole Hank Azaria not participating thing annoys me. [Editors note: The film follows Kondabolus attempts to talk to the actor.] I put my butt on the line to do this at the end of the day. If you think it makes you look bad [not to talk], I think it looks better if you do. The Dana Gould rule. Dana Gould was gutsy. The doc would have been different if we had Hank. We had to use archival stuff instead. Im surprised because, with me, he wanted to talk about it. He sort of wanted to come clean. We spoke on the phone. Its not on the film because it was a private phone call. Its public information, but we didnt film it. I was geeking out. Im a Simpsons fan, and heres the voice of Mo, on the one hand. What did he say? He was like, Youre really funny. Ive watched your stuff. What youre doing is really great. But Ive been involved in docs and Im worried about throwing myself at the mercy of your edit. The compromise is we do the interview done by Marc Maron or Terri Gross so I cant screw with the edit. And I said yes because the films about accountability. He said hed think about it. He gets back to me and he said no. That was the mail that I read in the movie. Im like, what else can I do? I gave you the thing you said youd need if you want to have an open discussion recorded by a third party. What else can I give you? At the end of the day, either he or Fox was against doing this project. I sympathize with him. Its not an easy place to be in when youve played this character for so long and things change. But at the same time, youre not 24. This isnt your first job. Even I get weirded out by how much things have changed sometimes. Like, how are we able to talk about his? Its crazy that no one ever said it was weird [before now]. No one even said, kind of. A friend of mine, her theory about the minimizing of the Asian experience is that white people dont want another group to feel bad about. Which I thought was interesting. How much can the culture apologize for? I think at some level theres that. Thats so selfish though. Who cares about apologies? Apologies dont mean anything. Its what can we do to make something better. Its a public thing that influences a lot of people. Sure, there are some things as Ive gotten older Ive had to change and learn to understand. Gender, sexuality. Those are areas where I didnt think critically when I was 15. But I never stopped learning. I always learned. Thats our responsibility as humans to try to listen and respect as much as possible where each other is at. Im in the industry as well, and I have different pressures. Im a stand-up and not necessarily as famous [as Azaria]. Theres a way to balance your professional responsibility and your growth at the end of the day. I hope we do have a conversation that allows us to talk about how come there arent more writers of color on staff, including on The Simpsons. One of the most compelling arguments in favor of diversity one of those words that can shut peoples minds off as soon as they hear it, because it feels like such a chore is that it shouldnt be a chore. The quality of creation gets better from an objective standpoint the more diverse the people dreaming it up. Like, do you want to be doing bad comedy or cutting-edge comedy? This is boring to some degree to me and it is cutting edge to a lot of people. Theres a backlog. Chris Rock talked about this with Marc Maron, about his time on SNL. Even though the writers were incredible writers, they didnt know how to write black [referential] comedy. When they had sketches of them theyd use these broad stereotypical images everybody knew. They only knew the hits, they had no subtlety, no understanding of the deeper repertoire. The deep cuts of black culture. Whereas we know all the deep cuts for white people. We have to. I think that imbalance can be frustrating. Ive had to study white people. If I dont study white people, I cant understand anything. If I watch Cant Hardly Wait and my first thought is theyre white, I cant enjoy this then I cant enjoy anything. Meanwhile, if theres a lead or theres one or two black characters, its a black show. They have the option to experience a totally white culture. For us, its much harder to isolate yourself in that way. For our survival, we have to make sure we dont isolate ourselves. If we keep it to ourselves its going to make it difficult to make money or move forward. After a former model accused Russell Simmons of sexual assault, the Def Jam co-founder has penned a statement for The Hollywood Reporter denying the allegations. Former fashion model Keri Claussen Khalighi told the Los Angeles Times that Simmons and friend Brett Ratner invited her back to an apartment to watch a music video, where Simmons began making aggressive sexual advances and yanking off her clothes. Khalighi said Ratner, who is facing several other allegations of sexual misconduct, did nothing as Simmons coerced the then-17-year-old into giving him oral sex. In a Wednesday interview on Megyn Kelly Today, Khalighi said Simmons has privately apologized for the encounter, despite denying it publicly. In his THR statement, Simmons discusses humanity and transition, before saying that he has signed statements from witnesses corroborating that his encounter with Khalighi was consensual. As a yogi I believe intent is very important. My intent always came from a joyful, playful place. I can sleep at night because I know who I am. And I know who I was. I never committed any acts of aggression or violence in my life, he writes. See his full statement below: Humanity is going through a powerful and wrenching shift of consciousness that I believe will ultimately lead to a mass awakening in all humankind. Like all lasting change, this transition is filled with painful disruption and confrontation against an entrenched system. It may sound odd to some that I am encouraged about this time in our history, but I am. The daily news detailing the growing number of experiences of women being victimized are being brought to the light. I do not doubt that the vast majority of the allegations these brave survivors are sharing are true and dignified. I see their stories giving a voice to the voiceless, which has been the central theme of my lifes journey. I also know from recent painful personal experience that some recollections can be cast in a light away from the actual facts. In my case, three witnesses [Anthony McNair and two anonymous witnesses] have signed statements that our experiences that weekend with Keri Claussen Khalighi 26 years ago were consensual. My longtime loathing of any form of violence and abuse has been woven into all of my personal interactions, as most who know me will attest. In our meeting many years later, and subsequent conversations, Keri never accused me of what she has said publicly. She insisted I was not violent. She did tell me her boyfriend and many others found out about our long weekend together and she said she was ashamed by that discovery. I am sorry for the embarrassment she recounted to me. I have made choices that have offended some of the women in my life. Its not cool to be a playboy and a new consciousness understands this. Now, as I hear these voices, I do as well. Though never abusive in any way, my remarks were often cavalier and thoughtless, and for this I am humbled. I am a work in progress. I am human. The fact that I come from the world of music or a specific place or generation justifies nothing. That has been an ongoing deep transition in my life. As a yogi I believe intent is very important. My intent always came from a joyful, playful place. I can sleep at night because I know who I am. And I know who I was. I never committed any acts of aggression or violence in my life. I would never knowingly cause fear or harm to anyone. For any women from my past who I may have offended, I sincerely apologize. I am still evolving. As the dialogue progresses, lets not lose sight of whats truly happening, a shift in power and all that entails. I want that shift. It must lead to a space where women and also men can heal, even if it means attacking me. I remain an activist for womens rights and all things unjust. This is my lifes work and journey, and God knows my heart. To all the #MeToo campaigns and women around the world, I support your healing and will continue to be an honest and imperfect advocate for the voiceless (including animals) and humanity as a whole. Almost three weeks after a Lacy Lakeview man was charged with robbing a smoke shop at gunpoint, police added a second robbery charge, alleging the man also robbed a customer in the store. Lacy Lakeview police arrested Joey McCain, 48, on the original charge Nov. 3. McCain entered a smoke shop at 121 N. Lacy Drive, displayed a gun and robbed the store, Police Chief John Truehitt said. No one was hurt during the robbery, but McCain fired a shot into the ceiling during the incident, Truehitt said. Police later learned McCain allegedly robbed a customer who was in the store at the time, he said. Another customer followed McCain after the robbery and alerted police to his location, Truehitt said. With help from Texas State Technical College, Connally Independent School District, and West police departments, McCain was taken into custody on New Dallas Highway, near West. McCain was initially arrested on a first-degree felony charge of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon. A second aggravated robbery charge was added Tuesday. McCain remained in custody Wednesday at McLennan County Jail with bond listed at $120,000. Dwayne Densman Aug. 14, 1956 - Nov. 19, 2017 Alfred Dwayne Densman, 61, of Robinson, lost a decade long, never give-up, battle with cancer on Sunday, November 19, 2017, at Providence Hospice, surrounded by his faithful family. Celebration of Life will be held 1:00 p.m., Friday, November 24, at Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey Funeral Home. Burial will follow at Rosemound Cemetery. A celebration reception will follow at George's party and banquet room, Waco, Texas. Dwayne was born August 14, 1956, in Waco to Alfred and Louise Densman. He attended Waco schools and graduated from University High School in 1974 and TSTC in 1977. He met his once in a lifetime love, Jacquelyn Anne "Bird" Williamson in 1977, and they married January 13, 1979. Their love story is a special and rare one. They loved to spend every minute together. They were happy doing everything together or nothing at all. They had two daughters, Amity and Autumn. Dwayne spent most of his career as a marketing representative with Sysco Food Service, until his illness forced his retirement in 2015. He is a member of Robinson First Baptist Church, where he renewed his faith in the Lord and loved his prayer times with Pastor Brooks. He is preceded in death by his parents, Alfred and Louise Densman; his sister and brother-in-law, Patsy and Buddy Sikes; brother-in-law, Scotty Williamson; and other loved ones. He is survived by his wife, Jackie; two daughters, Amity Pitcher of Bryan, and Autumn and husband, Ryan Amthor, of Robinson; grandchildren, Madeline and Mackenzie Harrell of Bryan and Ashtyn and Aceyn Amthor of Robinson; sister, Betty Bryant and husband, Bob, of Aquilla; and sisters-in-law, Cinda Hestilow and husband, Joe, of Lorena, Vicki Williamson and David Hammons of China Spring, and Susan Williamson of San Marcos; and brother-in-law, Ron Williamson of Woodway. He is also survived by other loving uncles, aunt, nieces and nephews who he adored and spent lots of time with. Dwayne, the "Godfather", was a simple man who loved his God, his family and his brotherhood of Goodfellas, an organization he helped organize over 20 years ago to help Central Texas' unfortunate children at Christmas. His smile and stature commanded any room and could make any day a better one simply by being in his presence. He truly was a Gentle Giant with a heart to match. His infectious heart and smile attracted everyone he met. He fought harder than anyone and his amazing spirit allowed him to live. His enormous circle of friends, from every walk of life, was evidence of the way he lived and made you feel just by knowing him. His friends had an undying love and support for him like none other and never quit fighting with him. We will forever cherish our lives, love and the fun and special memories with him. Thank you for the fun and loving life we had and being my best friend always. It was my honor to love and care for you, my sweet, sweet angel who I will miss every minute until we meet again. We will strive to continue to live as you did by making us all want to live better and love harder. Special thanks to Providence Hospice and Dr. Nick Schwedock, who was amazing, and to Auddie Williams, Gay Fox and the nursing staff. Pallbearers will be Ryan Amthor, Joe Hestilow, Jeff Oliver, Randy Crook, Paul Ancira, Brad Wilson, Keith Roberts, Randy Roberts, Sammy Citrano, Jim Wetzel, Abel Reyna, Tom Ash. Honorary Pallbearers will be Waco Goodfellas, Sysco Family, Frank Traplena, Wayne Redding, Wayne Green, David Hammons, Bimbo Hand, Bubba Denman, Billy K Crawford, Doug Mills, Frank Valdez, Richard Valdez, his nephews, and all his many brothers who he loved like family. "We can no longer see you with our eyes; touch you with our hands; but we will feel you with our hearts forever." In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his name to Waco Goodfellas, 505 Keys Creek, Waco TX 76708, or Robinson First Baptist Church, Robinson Texas. The family invites you to leave a message or memory on our "Tribute Wall" at www.WHBfamily.com. Sign the Guest Book at www.wacotrib.com President Trumps critics argue that GOP calls for the Justice Department to investigate Hillary Clinton and Democrats ties to Russia are an effort to distract from the real Russia investigation into potential Trump-Russia collusion. No, they are not. Ever since Watergate, the mantra of all major corruption investigations has been to follow the money. Well, Americans of all political stripes should be outraged by the fact that both Democrats and Republicans in Washington are up to their eyeballs in Kremlin cash. Russian money found its way into the pockets of not only Trump advisers like Paul Manafort and Rick Gates recently indicted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller but also Democratic power lobbyist Tony Podesta, Bill Clinton and the Clinton Foundation. This should suggest to objective observers that Russia was using its money to influence both sides in order to advance the Kremlins interests. And it means any impartial investigation of Russias efforts to influence our political process needs to follow the Russian money flowing into the coffers of the Clintons, their foundation and their top associates. The New York Times reported in 2015 that shortly after the Russians announced their intention to acquire a majority stake in Uranium One, [former President Bill] Clinton received $500,000 for a Moscow speech from a Russian investment bank with links to the Kremlin that was promoting Uranium One stock. In total, $145 million went to the Clinton Foundation from interests linked to Uranium One, which was acquired by the Russian government nuclear agency Rosatom. Think that was just a coincidence? As former federal prosecutor Andy McCarthy points out, the Uranium One deal is not a national security scandal, it is a corruption scandal involving Clinton family self-dealing. Ask yourself: How many half-a-million-dollar speeches has Bill Clinton given to Kremlin-linked banks since Hillary Clinton was defeated? How much Russian money is flowing into the Clinton Foundations coffers today? If Donald Trump had given a $500,000 speech paid for by a Kremlin bank, and his private foundation had accepted $145 million from Vladimir Putin-linked oligarchs and their Western business partners, do you think that his critics would be insisting there was nothing to see here? Then there is Tony Podesta. It is now front-page news that Podesta has been forced to step down from his soon-to-be-defunct lobbying firm, the Podesta Group, after being ensnared in the same scandal that led to the indictment of Trump campaign aides Manafort and Gates. The Podesta Group failed to register as a foreign agent for Russian interests while lobbying on behalf of the European Center for a Modern Ukraine a front group that Muellers indictment says was under the ultimate direction of Ukraines Putin-backed president and his political party. We should all be deeply concerned by how much Russian cash was sloshing around Washington and how much of it found its way into the bank accounts of the Clintons and those around them. And we should all, Democrats and Republicans alike, want to get to the bottom of it. As Americans, it goes against our sensibilities to encourage the Justice Department of one party to investigate the vanquished candidate of the other party. But does the fact that Clinton lost mean Americans dont deserve to know the full extent of Russias efforts to influence our political process? None of this absolves the Trump campaign or calls into question the intelligence communitys conclusion that Putin and the Russian Government aspired to help . . . Trumps election chances. But it does underscore that the Russians were smart in what the intelligence community calls their efforts to undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic process. They played both sides and, in so doing, preyed on the singular weakness of the Clintons and those around them greed. Any impartial investigation of Russias efforts to meddle in our democratic process needs to include a full inquiry of the Russian money flowing into Clinton world. This is critical to restoring public faith in American democracy. No matter how you happen to feel about President Trumps policies and pronouncements, even his most avid supporters concede his scathing tweets and unguarded condemnations have aggravated the national dialogue. While one might hope or expect a U.S. president to rally constituents on at least some issues if only for the sake of his legacy the Age of Trump has instead left Americans more polarized. We all seem meaner, angrier, less tolerant of one another. And this can leave some of us mighty conflicted about Thanksgiving 2017. We can just imagine the scene over a lovingly prepared Thanksgiving feast: Someone mentions Trumps being a sociopath with dictatorial tendencies. Someone else mentions how Hillary Clinton ought to be locked up. Someone mentions Niger. Someone mentions Benghazi. Someone mentions Al Franken, comedic sex pervert. Someone mentions Roy Moore, biblical child molester. Before you know it, police have been called over hill and dale, Christmas plans are shelved and Grandma and Grandpa are writing certain people out of the will. Nobody is left particularly thankful. A few words of advice about holiday gatherings: With the time-honored authority of host, the wise head of every household should declare specific time periods during which politics can and cannot be discussed. This ensures time is spent on such subjects as Jeremys missionary trip to Zimbabwe or Uncle Jims colonoscopy, things more worthy of the family circle. Someone should declare off limits anything read on Facebook or heard on talk radio. Family members can exaggerate first-hand experiences not those gathered through hearsay and the evil political motivation to mislead. Thanksgiving usually falls close to the anniversary of President Lincolns 1863 Gettysburg Address. As important as any founding document, it reminds us that Americas greatness is rooted in the Declaration of Independence. Lincoln said our nation was conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Common foot soldiers reminded Lincoln of this time and again before he wrote this. They said their sacrifices in the Civil War were not just to piece the union back together as it had been but to reassemble it to stress something more than even the Founders could manage to ensure we really did pursue and champion equality for all. This means each of us has a right to raise the roof about whats best for our country and one another. Thats what this page of the newspaper is all about. Its for everyday folks to sound off as strongly as pundits and politicians do on issues close to the heart. And as much as we might dislike opinions of others, lets remember that if they lose the right to speak out, we in time will also. Lets remember that speaking out, in civil fashion, wonderfully reaffirms certain blessings for which we should all be thankful, blessings that go beyond flags, anthems and monuments and underline principles, declarations and cherished rights. To honor such liberties, it would help if we listened to others a little more before speaking up. The holiday family gathering seems like a perfect place in which to practice this. Editors note: Betty and Bob Gianella of Waco have made humorous Christmas cards for 30 years. Both say this 30th edition of the cards will be their last as theyve gotten older and making them has proved more difficult. They have mailed out about 300 cards each year to family and friends as the cards became more and more popular and requested. Betty shares their card story here along with a glimpse of their cards through the years. It all began at Lake Louise in Banff National Park, Canada. Bob, my husband, and I had been attending the 88 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada. A side trip found us in a horse-drawn carriage slight in a snow-covered wonderland. I was enchanted with the stunning beauty all I could think of was to get a photo to capture this magnificent site! And, of course, I wanted us to be in that picture so that we could relive the memory of it. That photo of us by the horse-drawn sleigh carriage on frozen Lake Louise became our first Christmas card. The response from our friends was mundane: Where was that taken? I was disappointed. I loved the card. Why didnt they? Objectivity, here I come. It really looked like a travel ad. The background was pretty there are millions of pretty backgrounds on this planet. There are millions of Christmas cards with pretty backgrounds with people staring mindlessly into the camera with fake smiles. What makes a good card? Interest, action, or words that tell a good story and humor. I had an epiphany! My card was boring. I needed to make a paradigm change. That was the beginning of my designing a card that is unique, personal, humorous and based on a Bible verse. This is to be a Christmas card. I decided my cards are to be my ministry. Jacqueline Frahm had just returned from Europe. She received our Christmas card. Jackie loved it she had seen the original Stairway to Heaven in Europe. It is a mosaic-tiled staircase with a colorful nature theme. It was made by artists of note. Jackie made 100 copies of our card with the angels prancing on the Stairway to Heaven and mailed them to her friends and family in Europe. I was thrilled! Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. This card, which I named Unholy Angels, is my favorite of the cards. Bobs favorite is the pink tutus. We are dressed like ballet dancers and I am trying to teach Bob to dance ballet. This card has been the most popular of all. The Stairway to Heaven is located in downtown San Francisco. I had to convince Bob that we had to dress up as angels for our story. Reluctantly, he acquiesced. We climbed up the staircase. Then we started to dance down the staircase. As we were dancing, Gabrielle was shooting the photos. By now, a small crowd was gathering. Bob told them that the photo was for People magazine. They clapped and told us to have a nice trip. What a fun time we had. Dr. Patricia Prewitt wrote, When are you two leaving for Hollywood? Im sure you get offers daily. The Rev. Aaron Zimmerman said, I love the cards. I think my favorite is The Bishop and the Nun. Special Treat Last year I happened to be reading the Austin American-Statesman newspaper and Nancy Flores wrote an article about dads celebrating a Fathers Day in their favorite chair. She asked readers to send in photos of their dad in his favorite chair. Gabrielle, our daughter, had just done a photo shoot of Bob and me on the motorcycle sidecar for our Christmas card. Just for fun, I asked her to send in the photo. Much to my surprise, the Statesman published the photo on the front page of the Sunday edition! I called our other daughter Stephnie, who lives in Austin. I asked her, Have you read the newspaper this morning? She replied, No. Why? I mumbled, There is something in it that you may find of interest. A few minutes later she was screaming on the phone, Oh my God! No wonder why our friends have been leaving us so many messages. I explained to her how our picture appeared in Austins newspaper. We laughed and laughed. Personal Note I have tremendous gratitude for my familys role in assisting me with our Christmas cards. Bob, my husband, has the major role of being a clown in my story. There would be no cards without him. He is truly the star of the show. I wish to thank our daughter, Gabrielle, who has been our photographer for most of the cards. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from the University of Texas in Austin. Later, she returned to the university to get a B.S. degree in science to prepare herself to apply to the University of St. Augustine Health Sciences Institute of Physical Therapy. She is now a doctor of physical therapy, employed at a rehabilitation facility in Austin. Our daughter Stephnie was our photographer when Gabrielle was away at school. She is a social worker in Austin. In her free time she is a licensed tour guide of Austin and Texas. With the general big game season ending Nov. 26, many hunters are turning their focus again to the elk shoulder season. This winter marks the second year of Montanas statewide antlerless elk shoulder season primarily on private land after the end of the general elk season. Like last year, 43 hunting districts statewide are open in six Fish, Wildlife and Parks regions. Regulations differ among the hunting districts, and hunters need to know the difference. For example, some of the hunting districts are open only to holders of B licenses obtained through the drawings earlier this year. A few districts are open to holders of unfilled general elk licenses. And not all the districts have the same opening and closing dates. All the districts, license types and shoulder season dates are listed on page 10 of the deer, elk and antelope regulations and on the FWP website: http://fwp.mt.gov/ For the shoulder season in FWP Region 4, hunting is allowed only on private, Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation and Bureau of Land Management lands. No elk shoulder seasons will occur on federal Forest Service lands, the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge or any FWP wildlife management areas. Because this is primarily an elk season on private lands, it is the hunters responsibility to obtain landowner permission and find a place to hunt. Occasionally a landowner will ask FWP for hunters, but thats not guaranteed. Hunters should prepare to hunt elk before showing up in a town or hunting district, said Gary Bertellotti, FWP Region 4 supervisor. I would ask hunters to do their homework. See if they or a friend have a connection in a shoulder season district; like a relative, friend or coworker who is or knows a landowner. Often hunters ask about how FWPs Block Management Program fits into the shoulder season. Block management ends Jan. 1. Some, but not all, of the block management areas are participating in the shoulder season. To find out if a BMA is taking part, refer to the rules on the back of each BMA map. FWP has also hired hunt coordinators to help hunters and landowners in hunting districts near Great Falls and White Sulphur Springs. In Great Falls, shoulder season questions can be answered by visiting the FWP office or calling 406-595-6689, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. In White Sulphur Springs, shoulder season information is available by calling 406-836-0451, seven days a week, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., except for holidays. Prospective hunters should be aware that the hunts may not be easy, especially for those who are not familiar with the area, Bertellotti said. The majority of access and retrieval will be walk in only. People should not have unrealistic expectations, Bertellotti said. This is not a game damage hunt. At times this will be an arduous hunt. MALMO Four individuals have been arrested this morning after a bank robbery in Malmo. Saunders County Chief Sheriffs Deputy Steve Malina said Security Home Bank in Malmo was robbed at gunpoint just after 8:30 a.m. this morning. Only one individual entered the bank for the robbery, but four left the scene. The group left the scene in three vehicles with an undisclosed amount of cash and headed toward Omaha. Two of the individuals were arrested by Saunders County Sheriff deputies, one driving a brown Hyundai and another driving a blue Chevy Malibu. They were arrested within six minutes of the call, Malina said. The third vehicle with two individuals in it made it into Douglas County with Yutan Police Chief Tim Hannan in pursuit. Malina said the Yutan police cruiser wrecked in Douglas County during the pursuit, but the driver was not injured. The two individuals that left Saunders County were arrested in Douglas County with the aid of Omaha Police and Nebraska State Patrol, Malina said. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is handling the bank robbery investigation, Malina said. Security Home Bank personnel said they have no other comment other than everyone in the bank is safe and ok. It is not known at this time whether the bank robbers are connected to any other robberies in Saunders County or any surrounding counties. CERESCO Members of Evangelical Covenant Church in Ceresco have reason to rejoice. The vacant ministry position was filled this summer by Matt Norlen. Norlen said he found out about the opportunity from superintendents of the Evangelical Covenant Church of America and felt it was a great opportunity. He said he had heard of the Ceresco church and thought it would be a good fit for him. I really enjoy rural ministry, he said. Since becoming pastor in July, Norlen said he has really enjoyed working with the churchs young members. Theres a lot of youth in this congregation, he said. As a church, I think we could always do a better job of forming and teaching the young. In addition to its youth programs, Norlen said the church has a food pantry for area residents facing need. We want to be out in our community making a difference, he said. The new Ceresco pastor said he hopes these efforts will help his congregation become better connected with both its members and others outside of its membership. Our number one vision is to be a connectional church, Norlen said. Norlens path to the Ceresco pulpit started with multiple interviews with the churchs search com-mittee. In late July, he was given the chance to preach in front of the congregation as a guest minister and then offered the job. Norlen graduated from Northwest Missouri State in 1994, with a degree in sociology and a minor in fine arts. He then worked for two years at Cooper Village Home for Boys in Omaha. I always knew that I wanted to work with people, he added. But during this time in Omaha, Norlen said he felt God was calling him to a different path. As a result, he began classes and was ordained in 2000 at the Central Theological Baptist Seminary in Kansas City, Kan. He was at three different churches before finding his way to Ceresco. RAYMOND The Raymond Central Board of Education is trying something new with future superintendent evaluations. The district sent out a 360 evaluation survey to stakeholders last week. Superintendent Derrick Joels contract requires two evaluations during the first year of his service. The board of education expressed interest earlier this year in using a different format for the evaluations, Joel wrote in a letter published last month in the high school newsletter. The board is seeking input from a variety of stakeholders throughout the district. The effort is a collaboration with the Nebraska Associa-tion of School Board (NASB). It is our hope that this new process will provide me with constructive feedback relating to my goals and performance as I begin my tenure with the district, Joel wrote in the letter. Keeping the process open and transparent is important to me as well. We will follow-up with the process again in the spring, hopefully noting growth in areas that need improve-ment. The NASB will compile all of the survey information from local business owners, parents, residents and students and provide it to the board. I think one of the exciting things to note here is that this is a pilot, and the fact that we are working in collaboration with multiple stakeholders, said Board President Harriet Gould at the Nov. 15 board meeting. NASB is providing services for us at no charge. If you go out to do a 360 with this magni-tude, youre talking a couple thousand to get this done. A professor at Drake University plans to take the information and publish an article in an education journal, Joel said. Theres possibilities down the road to look at other people want to replicate and duplicate what it is, Gould said. The bottom line here is the feedback that were going to garner. Because Joel serves as a representative of the school and member of the community, the feedback will be vital. To have feedback from a variety of people lets him know and us know more information than if we just sat and filled out a form and checklist, Gould said. Thats valuable. Thats how we learn and grow. In other business last week, the board voted to allow students to opt into the district at any time dur-ing the year. The board considered two different routes for option enrollment students in the district. The first would allow students to opt into the district at any time of year, while the second would limit opting in to a certain timeframe. You either can rely on the window or you can keep your open status, Joel said. Denying students is difficult, Joel said, with the primary reason for denial being overcapacity. Many schools of Raymond Centrals size have more open option enrollment policies, Joel said. Under the window model, the district would only accept students between March and September for the following school. State aid does not become a factor until option students are on the plus side. The district is currently around 20 negative. Dennis Stewart said he and his wife, Michelle, had the rest of their lives planned out. But Stewart said a series of circumstances brought Amelia and Stephan into their lives. The Stewarts were part of an adoption ceremony at the Capitol on Tuesday afternoon where 15 adoptions were finalized. When Stephan and Amelia came to live with the Stewarts, it was supposed to be for two weeks. A year and eight months later, we are going through the adoption of my beautiful children, Stewart said. Tuesday marked the 21st annual Helena adoption ceremony as part of National Adoption Awareness Month. District Court Judge Kathy Seeley brought up each family and signed off on paperwork to make adoptions and name changes official. Sheila Hogan, director of the Department of Health and Human Services, said she has looked forward to the ceremony since she started as director in January. I have waited patiently for this event, she said. What a way to start the holiday season. Jayme Tuoimi, who finalized the adoption of her five grandchildren, was given an award from Catholic Social Service of Montana. I never dreamt at 52 Id be raising a 1-year-old, she said. Tuoimi finalized the adoption of her grandkids, ages 1 to 10, in August. She congratulated the families, some who have been together for a long time already. Tuoimi said shed been raising her grandkids for a good part of their lives by the time the adoption was finalized, but still felt joy in the sense of permanency. Gov. Steve Bullock joined the families, and thanked them for opening their homes. He also thanked all the organizations providing services to make adoptions possible. This work is not easy, he said. This content is expired! Unfortunely this content is expired and cannot be viewed anymore; if You are the owner of this content please login to our Website, go to our access panel and enable this content again. Wanted in Rome is a monthly magazine in English for expatriates in Rome established in 1985. The magazine covers Rome news stories that may be of interest to English and Italian speaking residents, and tourists as well. The publication also offers classifieds, photos, information on events, museums, churches, galleries, exhibits, fashion, food, and local travel. KALISPELL Icy roads west of Kalispell contributed to a single-vehicle crash that killed two people and injured four others on Tuesday. The Montana Highway Patrol said the crash happened just before 1:30 a.m., when a Toyota Land Cruiser was heading west on U.S. Highway 2 near McGregor Lake near Marion. The driver lost control on black ice and went off the north shoulder of the road, rolling the vehicle. Two passengers from Kalispell, a 31-year-old man and a 33-year-old woman, were ejected and killed. Neither was wearing a seat belt. The driver and other passengers in the Toyota two men and two women, all wearing seatbelts were injured in the crash and were taken to the hospital in Kalispell. The names of the two people killed have not been released, pending notification of family members. The Turnbull government will ramp up pressure on the states and the federal opposition to support its national energy guarantee with new modelling confirming it would generate $120 per year in savings for households from 2020. A coalition of 15 business, and environmental groups, as well as the Australian Council of Trade Unions have also backed the call for compromise to deliver the national energy guarantee, citing the need for investment certainty for the electricity sector. Businesses could realise even larger savings than households under the proposed energy guarantee because of the reduction in wholesale energy prices - which could be 23 per cent lower compared to business as usual - according to the new modelling by Frontier Economics that was commissioned by the Energy Security Board. The household savings figure of $120 is slightly more than the original figure of $115 suggested when the guarantee was unveiled in October. Beirut: Lebanon's Saad al-Hariri on Wednesday shelved his decision to resign as prime minister at the request of President Michel Aoun to allow for dialogue, easing a crisis that had deepened tensions around the Middle East. Hariri made his announcement after returning to Beirut for the first time since he quit abruptly in a November 4 broadcast from Saudi Arabia. At the presidential palace near Beirut, Hariri said he hoped this move would open "a new gateway for a responsible dialogue ... that deals with divisive issues and their repercussions on Lebanon's relations with Arab brothers." "I presented today my resignation to President Aoun and he urged me to wait before offering it and to hold onto it for more dialogue about its reasons and political background, and I showed responsiveness," he said in a televised statement. BOZEMAN A 37-year-old Bozeman man is charged with deliberate homicide in the stabbing death of his father. Tanner Franks appeared in Gallatin County Justice Court on Wednesday, where his bail was set at $1 million. He did not enter a plea. The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports Franks told the judge he didn't know why he was in court and that his father was still alive. Police say Tanner Franks was arrested during a traffic stop Tuesday, hours after 72-year-old William Franks was stabbed in his kitchen. Tanner Franks lived in a basement bedroom at his parents' house. Court records say Jamie Franks told police her son stabbed his father. William Franks was a former teacher and administrator at Bozeman High School. HELENA The Montana Supreme Court has ruled a fellow justice illegally accepted a "no contest" plea while overseeing a sexual assault case in 2015. Justices vacated Gary Hansen's 60-year prison sentence for raping an 8-year-old girl in 2006 and sent the case back to District Court in Great Falls where Hansen can enter a legal plea, reach a new plea agreement or take the case to trial. The justices, in a Nov. 14 opinion, found then-District Judge Dirk Sandefur violated a state law that prohibits "no contest" pleas in cases involving sexual offenses. Hansen, who is now 61, was charged in in 2013. The plea agreement was reached in June 2015, just before his trial was to begin. Sandefur was sworn in as a Supreme Court justice in January 2017. He did not participate in the five-justice panel that considered the case and all concurred on the opinion. Nor did Justice Mike Wheat, who is retiring Dec. 31. Opponents of two gold mines proposed near Yellowstone National Park pressed Tuesday for Montana's lone U.S. House member to seek federal legislation to withdraw public lands near the park from future mining. After a measure stalled in the Senate, businesses and conservation groups said the support of U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte is crucial to making permanent a temporary mining ban enacted last year on 47 square miles of land north of Yellowstone. Gianforte and Republican U.S. Sen. Steve Daines have said they support the concept of a permanent ban. But Gianforte has previously said legislation needs "something in it for both sides" and has criticized environmental groups for blocking mines in northwest Montana despite local support. Gianforte said in a statement Tuesday that he intends to introduce legislation on the issue but did not specify when that would happen or offer details on its contents. "I continue working toward a permanent solution that protects the Paradise Valley community, its economy, and its way of life," Gianforte said. A Yellowstone-area mining ban measure sponsored by Democrat U.S. Sen. Jon Tester has stalled in the Senate in the face of Republican opposition. Mining opponents say gold exploration proposals from Lucky Minerals and Crevice Mining Inc. threaten to degrade waterways and turn away tourists who come to the Paradise Valley north of the park for its natural beauty. "We need desperately to introduce identical legislation in the House," said Colin Davis, who owns a resort, Chico Hot Springs, near one of the mining sites. "We're protecting our jobs. We're protecting our way of life." At the invitation of Mr. Aly Malla, Director General of Customs, Mozambique Revenue Authority, in his capacity as host of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) Heads of Customs Meeting, WCO Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya attended the XXXII Meeting of CPLP Directors General of Customs in Maputo, Mozambique on 21 November 2017. In his opening speech, Secretary General Mikuriya referred to the historical footprint of the Portuguese language on trade and to the strength and usefulness of a Customs network based on a common language and culture in terms of enhancing connectivity among CPLP Members and beyond. He recalled the close cooperation between the WCO and the CPLP, including the Career Development (Professional Associate) Programme, aimed at maintaining and improving links between CPLP countries and the WCO, and the growing use of Portuguese in WCO capacity building activities. Mr. Francisco Curinha, Secretary General of the Conference, and Ms. Amelia Nakhare, President of the Mozambique Revenue Authority, welcomed the delegates and stressed the importance of harmonized border procedures for cooperation and economic development. The topics for discussion at the Meeting of CPLP Directors General included the Portuguese versions of the Harmonized System and the Revised Kyoto Convention as the basis for Customs harmonization. The delegates also shared their experience and best practices in the Customs area, including trade facilitation and e-commerce. The Meeting of Directors General was followed by a Strategic Planning Workshop. From 1 July to 30 September 2017, the World Customs Organizations (WCO) conducted Operation Save REP, targeting the illicit trafficking of rhino horns, elephant tusks and pangolin scales in the west, east and southern regions of sub-Saharan Africa. Save REP proved to be one of the most successful counter-wildlife trafficking operations conducted on the African continent in recent years: an estimated 193 kg of rhino horn was seized, as well as 677 kg of elephant ivory, 3 pangolin hides and 70 kg of pangolin scales. Twenty-five individuals were arrested pursuant to this operation and multiple, active ongoing investigations are currently underway. Numerous smuggling patterns, methods and techniques were identified during the operation, both as a result of the intelligence assessment employed and as part of the operational phase. Composed of three phases capacity building/investigative training, intelligence training, and operational planning training the operation involved the participation of 10 Customs services from sub-Saharan nations: Angola, Botswana, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia, as well as observers from Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. This was the first WCO wildlife trafficking operation in which one of the participating Customs services the Uganda Revenue Authority hosted the Operational Control Unit (OCU). The WCO strategy for designing the operation with an African nation hosting the OCU was in furtherance of developing sufficient national expertise to afford participating Customs services the ability to initiate and host other sub-regional wildlife trafficking operations, thus multiplying the outputs of WCO training and enforcement efforts. In May 2017, during a five-day WCO Operation Planning Workshop in Windhoek, Namibia, WCO trainers offered a wide variety of scenarios to a group of 26 country representatives, which addressed the regional challenges in combating the smuggling of CITES-listed wildlife items and the formulation of a plan to counter such illicit trafficking. Knowing the nodes, such as commercial airline passengers, air cargo, international mail and express courier businesses, every participating Customs service designed its own individual national operation plan in support of the broader regional effort. Furthermore, the WCO invited DHL to participate and contribute to the training and to provide value-added intelligence for the design of the operation plans. Private-public sector partnership in counter-wildlife trafficking operations is critical to tackling the exploding numbers of trafficked CITES-restricted wildlife items in sub-Saharan Africa. Operation Save REP has been fully endorsed by the participating Customs Services, and all participants support the expansion of this model for future endeavours in the same arena. The WCO plans to engage many of these nations in sub-regional efforts along the same lines in the coming years. It is only through collaborative, border-transcending efforts that the WCO and its Member Customs administrations can hope to contain the scourge of illicit wildlife trafficking in sub-Saharan Africa. The WCO believes this to be the best model for countering illicit trade and for saving critically-endangered African animals, whose very existence is threatened due to a heartless, economically driven trade. The operation fell within the scope of the INAMA Project, aimed at strengthening the enforcement capacity of Customs services in sub-Saharan Africa, while focusing on the illegal trade in wildlife, particularly on species listed in the appendices of the CITES Convention regulating the international trade in endangered species of wild fauna and flora. Montana is rich in natural resources, and developing them is a big part of our economy. I was fortunate enough to make a living off of timber, producing structural beams in the foothills of the Cabinet Mountains. But it came with responsibility. The Cabinets, and the mountains clean water and wildlife, are a priceless treasure that belongs to all of us. Careful stewardship ensures our forests continue providing the building materials and jobs we count on -- and supports our outdoor heritage with clean water and wildlife habitat. That same stewardship principle should hold true for any industry that relies on natural resources. Mining is different from forestry, but we can use a simple rule -- one most children learn by the time they are 5 years old -- to govern responsible behavior: If you make a mess, clean it up. Unfortunately, Montanas Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is letting the Hecla Mining Company flout this simple rule. DEQ has issued the company permits to develop the Rock Creek and Montanore mines underneath the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness, even though Hecla is led by an individual whose former Montana mining venture left us with huge, expensive messes. The President and CEO of Hecla, Phillips S. Baker Jr., formerly served as a top executive at Pegasus Gold. Pegasus went bankrupt and left Montana taxpayers with the cleanup costs for the Zortman-Landusky, Beal Mountain and Basin Creek Mines. Montana Attorney General Tim Fox, a staff attorney for DEQ at the time, called Pegasus bankruptcy liquidation plan abysmal for Montana, according to a recent Missoulian article. The state and federal agencies have already spent over $74 million at Zortman-Landusky alone, and Montanans are on the hook for an additional $2-3 million every year for water treatment that will be required to deal with acid mine drainage indefinitely. Letting the leadership of Pegasus profit from new mining projects in Montana while the public is still paying to clean up that companys old messes is unfair and irresponsible. The good news is we have a law on the books to hold these bad actors accountable. The law says that companies and their top executives must clean up their old mines before receiving a permit for a new one. They are required to reimburse Montana for any cleanup costs, and ensure that the work is done, before opening a new mine in the state. DEQ should hit the brakes on the permitting process. State law says these mines simply cannot proceed until the previous mess is cleaned up and taxpayers repaid. Discouragingly, Senator Daines and Representative Gianforte are now doing Hecla political favors by urging federal agencies to fast track the permitting process for the Rock Creek and Montanore mines. In a September 28, 2017, letter to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, they pledged to personally assist Hecla in advancing its projects, including through legislative vehicles. Last I checked, our Congressional representatives served the interests of Montanans, not mining companies. Montana has seen its fair share of companies come in and profit from mining our natural resources without cleaning up after themselves. Daines and Gianforte should be defending Montanans who are still suffering from the harm Bakers former companies caused and who want to see the Cabinet Mountains protected from his new enterprises. Natural resource jobs are critical to Sanders County and Montanas other rural communities. Yet we must be responsible, and balance the need for jobs with the long-term health of the land, water and economy. The Montana Supreme Court has a history of striking down constitutional initiatives that restrain government power. Voiding CI-116 (Marsys Law) is only the latest example. The court treated CI-116 the same way it treated CI-23, CI-27, CI-30, and CI-75. A 2012 Montana Policy Institute report documented the tribunals handling of ballot measures over three decades. Every measure expanding government power survived the Montana Supreme Court. Almost every measure restraining government died in the Montana Supreme Court. A pattern like this is does not arise by accident. It arises from a system inherently biased and in need of reform. Plaintiffs generally cannot maintain a lawsuit much less get a decision unless they show concrete injury. But in the case of CI-116 and its predecessors, the court demanded no proof of injury. It even let the challengers jump to the head of the line instead of proceeding through the normal trial and appeals process. There was no trial court hearing, no testimony, and no findings of fact. Such conduct is unlike that of any other judicial panel this side of the Third World. To their credit, Justices Rice and Baker dissented. In view of this history, it is difficult to take seriously the courts stated reasons for its decision. But lets examine them: First: The justices ruled that the state constitutions separate-vote provision allows them to review an amendments content. They misconstrued the provisions meaning. Its background shows it is a direction to the secretary of state on how to designate voter initiatives and legislative referrals. It has nothing to do with an amendments content. Second: The court decided that separate provisions can render an amendment several amendments rather than one. By that logic, the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution would be six amendments because it guards six different rights. The Fifth Amendment would be five, and the Fourteenth at least seven. Of course, the First Amendment is really not six, nor the Fifth Amendment five, nor the Fourteenth seven. In common American usage an amendment is any measure the ratifiers adopt as an amendment. How many parts it has is the concern of the ratifiers not of the judges. Third: The majority defended strict content review because it assumed deliberation in the initiative process is inferior to deliberation in the legislative process. This assumption is wrong. Consideration in the legislature is often hurried, logrolling is common, and lawmakers frequently settle for unsatisfactory language in hope of a later cure. By contrast, an initiative is drafted slowly, usually without logrolling. By law, each draft is reviewed by expert state attorneys, often leading to further revision. A lengthy petition process and an election campaign offer months for public discussion. An official pamphlet makes the text and pro- and con- arguments available to every voter. The deliberation factor argues for less judicial monitoring of initiatives than of bills not more. Fourth: The court adopted an Oregon rule even though Oregons constitutional language differs from Montanas. An amendment, the court said, may not make two or more substantive changes unless the changes are closely related. The justices were neither able to define closely related nor did they take testimony as to which provisions were closely related. This may explain why they ruled that an accuseds right to bail is not closely related to victims rights. I daresay most people would disagree. A victim has a right to be protected from a second assault by one inadvisably released on bail. Stunningly, the majority did not even count the number of CI-116s substantive changes correctly. As the dissent observed, the majority repeatedly double-counted single changes by counting language as one change and effect as another. Under this holding, it is almost impossible for Montanans to amend their own constitution. Dont think that even stark simplicity save an amendment. Suppose an initiative states only, The freedom of the press shall not be abridged. Under the courts rule, the new language counts as one change. Its effect on the legislatures power is a second change. Its effect on the executive power is a third change. Its effect on the Montana University System a fourth change, and so on. The press is not closely related to the legislature, the executive, or the university system. Hence, the amendment is void (particularly because it restrains government). When the court struck down the CI-75 vote on taxes amendment in 1999, I pointed out publicly that the court was threatening the constitutional initiative process. Many people criticized me for saying so. But intervening events fully vindicate my position. Montanans MUST reform the state supreme court before they lose whatever democracy they have left. Finally: The messenger of uncomfortable facts is often attacked with false charges hence the following disclosures: (1) I was not paid to write this article. (2) I have never voted for or otherwise supported a Marsys law. (3) In the only Montana Supreme Court case in which I was a party, our side won. (4) I was the unpaid drafting committee chairman for CI-75, but not a party or attorney in the ensuring case. Christmas comes to the Homeplace 1850s Saturday after Thanksgiving URBANA A 44-year-old Decatur woman has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for defrauding a Medicaid waiver program. Charissie Davis pleaded guilty on May 5 to submitting false Home Services Program time sheets to receive payment from the program, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of Illinois. She was sentenced Monday, ordered to pay restitution of $50,244 and told to report to federal prison on Jan. 23, 2018. The Home Services Program provides funding to pay personal assistants who help individuals that qualify for the program in performing household tasks and personal care. Personal assistants in the program may also perform certain health care procedures with permission of a doctor. From February 2011 to February 2013 and from June 2013 to March 2014, Davis previously admitted that she filled in hours that her son worked for services that he never provided for her, prosecutors said. They said she forged her son's signature to endorse the time sheets, which he could not have done because he was in prison. By West Kentucky Star Staff Nov. 13, 2017 | 08:22 AM | PADUCAH, KY This afternoon, the U.S. Capitol Christmas tree will make a stop in Paducah for the second straight year.The 81-foot tall Engleman spruce tree was cut down a few weeks ago in the Kootenai National Forest of Montana. The tree has already traveled more than 2,000 miles across the northern tier of states, and starts this morning in Poplar Bluff at the Menard's parking lot.This evening, the tree will be pulled into the Noble Park ball field parking lot, the same spot where it was on display last year. It will be available for viewing during the kickoff to Paducah Power Systems Christmas in the Park. Festivities include the lighting ceremony at 5:30 pm, followed by a Walk Under the Lights that will allow participants to see the lights up close. There is no charge for the tour but bringing canned goods or cash donations for local charity is appreciated.We are thrilled that the U.S. Capitol Christmas tree will visit Paducah for a second year, said Andrea Underwood, Director of Community Relations for Paducah Power System. The visit and ceremony on the night before Thanksgiving gives families an opportunity to kick off the holiday season in a special way.Independence Bank will sponsor horse drawn trolley rides by Johns Pass Carriage Company. Lone Oak First Baptist Church will provide a shuttle service from the Park Avenue Kroger parking lot. All activities are free and open to the public.The tree will leave Paducah on Thanksgiving morning, and there will be no more public stops for the rest of the route. The tree will arrive at Joint Base Andrews on Sunday the 26th, then will be installed on the U.S. Capitol lawn on the 27th, where it will be decorated. On the Net: Advertisement By West Kentucky Star Staff Nov. 22, 2017 | PADUCAH, KY By West Kentucky Star Staff Nov. 22, 2017 | 11:48 AM | PADUCAH, KY A West Paducah man was arrested Tuesday after police noticed a Facebook post in which he bragged about shooting a deer illegally. The McCracken County Sheriff's Office says detectives learned 35-year-old Robert Morris Sr. of West Paducah had killed a deer and posted a picture of the deer and rifle on Facebook. Morris, a convicted felon, is unable to lawfully possess a firearm or ammunition. Deputies went to Morris' home on Childress Road and saw the truck matching the one in his Facebook post. Detectives saw Morris standing beside the truck in hunting attire, and he reportedly admitted that he had rifle in the truck. They also found ammunition on him during a search. A search of the truck revealed a .243 bolt action hunting rifle, antlers from a deer and numerous other items used for hunting. Morris was arrested and booked into the McCracken County Regional Jail on charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, hunting without a license and illegal taking of a deer. Email To : Multiple e-mail addresses must be separated with a comma character(maximum 200 characters) Email To is required. Your Full Name: (optional) Your Email Address: Your Email Address is required. Advertisement By West Kentucky Star Staff Nov. 21, 2017 | PADUCAH, KY By West Kentucky Star Staff Nov. 21, 2017 | 11:47 PM | PADUCAH, KY Congressman James Comer has written his first bill, which is designed to hold federal employees more accountable, and he thinks it may pass the House this week. Comer's legislation extends the probationary period for a new federal employee before they become permanent. Comer told West Kentucky Star, "When you look at problems with the VA and other federal bureaucracies, I think it's a good government bill that holds employees more accountable and allows the management to be able to have a longer period of time to evaluate employees." He said many conservative groups, such as Heritage Foundation and Freedom Works are excited about the bill, and it has support of the Trump administration. Mark Meadows, Chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, has co-written the bill with Comer, who believes it will be voted on this week. Comer recently met with President Donald Trump and took advantage of the opportunity to take a "selfie" with the Commander-in-Chief and posted it on Facebook. However, he doesn't use social media nearly as much as the President. "I try to be a little more disciplined," he said. "I'm at the end of the bench and he's the main guy, that's for sure." Constituents have suggested that Comer tell Trump to stop Tweeting as often as he does, but the Congressman hasn't broached the subject. "So many people have told him that, I think that makes him Tweet more, so my strategy is 'don't even mention it to the President.' He's gonna keep Tweeting, I think he enjoys harassing the liberal media and that's one reason he continues to do it," Comer said. The first district representative said he thinks the President is beginning to make progress. He said some of the older, more established legislators are frustrated with Trump because of how he operates, including how he uses Twitter. Comer said, "I think that's what the American people want, they're not satisfied with business as usual. So there's some new members of Congress and this President, and I think we're trying to make the change the American people want, and I believe you're going to see the results." The freshman congressman said progress is being made on bringing manufacturing jobs back to the United States. He said this is being done by reducing regulatory burdens from the previous administration, cutting taxes, and re-negotiating trade deals. He's optimistic tax cut legislation the House passed last week will also pass the Senate. Comer disagrees with opponents of the bill who say middle-class taxpayers will be in worse shape than they are now. He said, "The average wage in this district is $28,000 a year. If you're married and have a child, the standard deduction goes from $12,000 to $24,000. Then, with the child tax credit, if you're making $28,000 a year, you don't pay any federal income tax under this bill. So, I don't see how some of the people who are complaining about the tax bill can say it raises taxes for working poor or middle-class people when it eliminates taxes for the average wage earner in the first congressional district." As for the recent increase in sexual harassment claims in the nation's capital, Comer believes everybody has gotten the message, and is taking the situation very seriously. He said if there have been legislators who have used taxpayer dollars to pay settlements, they must be held accountable. He knows colleagues are looking into it. Comer said, "I think there's a lot of digging going on. It's getting a lot of attention in Washington, as it should. Hopefully, if there is a culture - I have not seen that culture - but if there is a culture of bad behavior in Washington that it will be changed immediately." By West Kentucky Star Staff Nov. 21, 2017 | 04:55 PM | FRANKFORT, KY Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes on Tuesday initiated discussions about Kentucky medical marijuana legislation with a panel of experts and advocates in Frankfort. She had announced the effort last week."I came to Frankfort to help people, and there are thousands of Kentuckians who need and are begging for medical marijuana to help ease their pain," said Grimes. "Today's discussions were productive and informative, and we heard more from the very people medical cannabis has and will benefit. We're here so that Kentucky's medical cannabis legislation will be patient-centered. It shouldn't be anything less."The group includes members of Kentucky's medical community, including doctors, nurses and medical administrators, as well as representatives from law enforcement and state agencies with regulatory oversight, medical marijuana advocates, and military veterans.Medical marijuana is legal in 29 states and the District of Columbia.Jaime Montalvo, founder of Kentuckians for Medicinal Marijuana and a member of Grimes' panel, suffers from multiple sclerosis. He has been lobbying Kentucky legislators for legalizing medical cannabis for several years."Kentucky has the opportunity to have gold standard legislation on medical cannabis," said Montalvo. "This issue is about compassion for patients. For the people who live in pain every single day. My life depends on it and so many more. We have to get this done."State Rep. John Sims, who will sponsor medical marijuana legislation in the 2018 legislative session, is co-chairing the effort with Grimes."The outpouring of support we've seen so far on this issue is very encouraging. There is no doubt in my mind medical marijuana would change the lives of so many Kentuckians for the better," said Sims. "I am convinced that together this group will produce a piece of legislation that everyone can endorse and eventually vote for. This is about improving the health of Kentuckians who are suffering every day. It's a no-brainer to me."A press release from Grimes' office says significant evidence exists showing marijuana counters side effects of a large number of illnesses and diseases, including cancer, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, Crohn's disease, hepatitis C, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Advertisement By The Associated Press Nov. 22, 2017 | FRANKFORT, KY By The Associated Press Nov. 22, 2017 | 04:44 PM | FRANKFORT, KY Some state workers are refusing to cooperate with an investigation of a secret sexual harassment settlement involving four Republican lawmakers. House Republican leaders have hired a Louisville law firm to investigate the settlement. The firm was supposed to present its initial report Wednesday. But acting House Speaker David Osborne agreed to extend the deadline to Dec. 1 because lawyers said they could not complete the report without the employees' cooperation. Osborne said, "I understand that procedural hurdles and a lack of cooperation by at least two people have hindered progress. I am very disappointed in the procedural delays the investigators experienced and will be addressing these issues in the days ahead." Former House Speaker Jeff Hoover resigned his leadership position earlier this month after acknowledging the settlement paid to a member of his staff. The settlement involves three other Republican lawmakers. GOP leaders have removed all three from leadership positions, and Governor Bevin has said all four should resign. Osborne says he is considering turning the investigation over to an outside agency that would have the power to subpoena witnesses. DECATUR The generous, can-do spirit of the city was celebrated during the 65th annual Thanksgiving Community Luncheon. About 800 residents attended the luncheon in the Decatur Civic Center, a yearly reminder to celebrate the community and be thankful, said Mirinda Rothrock, president of the Greater Decatur Chamber of Commerce, which hosted the event. The keynote speaker, Chris Olsen gave the For this we give thanks" address. Olsen, community and government affairs vice president at Tate & Lyle, emphasized recognizing and appreciating the good things Decatur has to offer while continuing to move forward as a community. Decatur is lucky to have hundreds, if not thousands, of people doing their part, he said, encouraging those in attendance to give back and share their talents and gifts. What makes for a good community and success is opportunity mixed with self-determination, Olsen said. An important question inspired by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. that he encourages every person to ask themselves is, What are you doing to help other people? Olsen recognized four volunteers who exemplify that spirit: Stacey Corzine, a volunteer with Macon County CASA Jim Thompson a volunteer at Decatur Memorial Hospital Marilee Gordon, a volunteer with HSHS St. Marys Hospital Austin and Tyler Yutzy, who work at Tate & Lyle Gordon has volunteered more than 23,000 hours at St. Marys during her 50 years of service. She began volunteering the day her daughter left for kindergarten, she said. Corzine works with troubled youth at CASA and specifically ensured one young woman finished high school and is now pursuing a higher education. Austin and Tyler Yutzy gathered donations for Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma victims, as well as people in Puerto Rico who were devastated by Hurricane Maria. Along with his work at DMH, Thompson volunteers with hospice patients and at the Veteran's Administration clinic every friday. Thompson said he was surprised to be honored, but he enjoys his work as a volunteer: It is an honor to do it, and I love what I do. Olsen said he hopes the feelings and choices can last all year long. Find something new to be thankful for, Olsen said. It will keep Decatur growing and going in the right direction. The head table featured many residents who enrich of the community and give of themselves, Rothrock said. They were each honored with a single clap and a final ovation after their introductions. Guests included, Sheriff Howard G. Buffett, who was inducted into the Decatur Wall of Fame before the luncheon. Sitting at the head table with other guests of honor was Dr. John Wasem, who has attended the luncheon since it began in 1953. "It's nice the community can get together," Wasem said. SO FAR, NO BOYCOTTS: LISTENERS, SPONSORS, ADVERTISERS HAPPY WITH RUSH ON WHKP ARTICLE BY DEREK LACEY...HENDERSONVILLE TIMES-NEWS: Advertisers on Hendersonville radio station WHKP are the target of a boycott from a local citizens group that is asking those businesses to withdraw their ads from the Rush Limbaugh Show. The group says the radio host has coarsened American political discourse and mainstreamed racism, sexism and homophobia. A letter, sent by the group Citizens for Responsible Radio to area business that advertise during the Rush Limbaugh Show on WHKP, which runs from noon to 3 p.m. on weekdays, says As principled conservatives and liberals, Democrats, Republicans and independents, we have a moral duty to condemn this dangerous, divisive rhetoric. The unsigned letter does not include any names and lists only a Post Office box for an address. WHKP President and General Manager Art Cooley says the only reaction the station has received from businesses and listeners has been positive. He added that none of the roughly 50 advertisers with ads that air during the show have made any changes to their relationship with WHKP. The letter, he said, wasnt mailed to the station, but to advertisers, including some who dont advertise with the station at all. Citizens for Responsible Radio does not have a Facebook page or website, and a web search did not yield any results. In an editorial, Cooley says WHKP is being attacked for freedom of listening choice. This is wrong. This violates the very fabric of our Constitution, which obviously includes freedom of speech. The radio station began carrying Limbaughs show after hearing about the broadcaster at a state broadcast convention 30 years ago, Cooley said. Limbaugh was described then as a politically conservative radio voice making a name for himself in talking national politics. We signed up to carry his daily three-hour radio show and his ratings literally went through the roof here in Hendersonville, Cooleys editorial says, adding that Limbaugh has become the most-listened-to voice in American talk radio with 25 million listeners a week. The show is also one of WHKPs most listened to. The letter says the group will vow to not patronize any businesses that continue to finance Limbaugh through advertising dollars. Limbaughs angry tirades have incited followers to bully and abuse his targeted populations, the letter says. It asks businesses to respond by returning an included self-addressed postcard. In the letter, the group also says it will communicate to neighbors, friends, relatives and all who will listen, including on social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter. The statement will be simple: This company finances the Rush Limbaugh Show on WHKP, the letter continues. The demographics of Hendersonville are changing. It is time WHKP and its sponsors consider compassionate, productive programming that acknowledges a diverse community, one more interested in finding responsible solutions to difficult problems than the misinformation heard daily on the Rush Limbaugh Show. Statements by Limbaugh listed on the letter include comments the radio host made mocking Michael J. Fox by saying the actor exaggerated the effects of his Parkinsons Disease in a commercial, in saying that no official data shows a dangerously warming climate, and that Climate change is one of the biggest scams ever perpetrated on the people of the world. Unfortunately, our First Amendment free speech guarantees allow deception, misinformation, and outright lies to be broadcast on our airwaves, the letter concludes. Companies who provide financial support through their advertising budget are complicit in spreading these lies. They are catering to a dying demographic. It is time to demand sane, sensible, positive programming at WHKP. Boycott these companies now. This is the first boycott the station has experienced, Cooley said, and so far its having no effect. He said the only feedback the station has received has been from listeners wanting the station to continue broadcasting Limbaughs show. Over the years, he added, the station has conducted listener surveys, which have also given positive feedback about the show. His editorial concludes, We will never be bullied by the cowardly unidentified enemies of conservatism. WHKP stands by our listeners our sponsors and we stand by Rush Limbaugh. DECATUR Kathleen Koester's parents both passed away five years ago. It happened quite close together, said the Shelbyville woman, who attends Mount Calvary Lutheran Church in Decatur. When the holidays came up, it broke my heart to see their empty chairs. It made her think that there were probably people who didn't have family nearby or at all, and she and her husband, Rodger, issued a blanket invitation at church that anyone who doesn't have somewhere to spend Thanksgiving is welcome to come to their home. We've had as few as four and as many as six or eight, Koester said. We're fortunate, I guess, that most of the people (at church) have family to go to. Everyone always offers to bring a dish to pass, but that's not required. "It's mostly the older generation, which is kind of nice, because it's my mom and dad's generation, and for my children and grandchildren, it's kind of like having a grandma and grandpa around the table. Friendsgiving events such as this have become more popular, though the idea isn't a new one. Welcoming friends to the family feast is as old as Thanksgiving itself. But setting aside a time just for friends to celebrate together, sometimes without family at all, is a fairly new concept that seems to be credited to millennials. The expense of traveling or avoiding family drama might motivate some, or it may be that having a separate celebration with friends is a rare chance to catch up and hang out, as it is with Jacob Singleton and his friendsgiving. We got started five years ago, when we were sophomores in high school, said Singleton, a student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. We've done it every year at a different person's house. It began because he and his group of friends were especially close, and they liked cooking. It gave them something to do during their break from school when they were younger and lived near one another, and they all also celebrated with their families on the actual holiday. Now that they're older and spread around at different colleges, Singleton said, they seldom have a chance to get together as a group. It's something that everybody makes a big effort for, Singleton said of their annual Friendsgiving. People are flying in from different states. It's pretty cool. It'll be seven or eight of us. Nobody in the group is a big fan of turkey, so they get rotisserie chicken instead, and they coordinate dishes so that everybody brings something different, but there are always lots of pies, he said. College roommates Sophia Peters and Karen Liu held their celebration prior to Thanksgiving so everyone would still be free to go home to their families for the holiday, Liu said. It was my roommate's idea, Liu said. I think the reason why is we're sophomores, and we have a big friend group, and we don't see each other as much as we'd like to anymore. This is a great opportunity to bring everyone together and celebrate before the break. Unlike Singleton's group, Liu's had turkey, thanks to a friend brave enough to give it a try, and Liu said it turned out well. The others each brought a different dish. I think it was definitely worth the work, Peters said. We all decided to make a separate dish. It was a ton of fun. We all live really close to each other, and it was fun to have everyone at a big table, an unconventional Thanksgiving. Millikin University had a Thanksgiving-style feast for the international students where the holiday is a foreign idea. Briana Stephens, coordinator of international student services, said it's a way to show those students a quintessentially American tradition. "They come here for the experience of attending an American college," she said. Ashleigh Martens, a student from Victoria, British Columbia, said most students spend the holiday with friends or traveling to see more of the area while classes are out for the holiday. Many receive invitations from American friends to join their families, but having a dinner at Millikin is also a way to get together and enjoy each other's company before the break. Emily Steele and her boyfriend, Jake Bonnett, hosted a Friendsgivingmas celebration for her Theatre 7 friends, cramming all the fall holidays into one big bash. She'd never made turkey before and never had a dinner party like it, so she spent some time researching recipes for the main dishes, while friends supplied side dishes, drinks and desserts. They wound up the evening with a board game and a video of the last Theatre 7 show. I knew we were all going to be busy with the holidays coming up, and I like throwing parties and couldn't do a Halloween one this year, said Steele. My family also lives in the Chicago area, and I'm going up there for Thanksgiving weekend, so I wouldn't have been able to celebrate with my Decatur family otherwise. Welcome to The Independent Herald E-Edition! Check back each week on Tuesday to see our[Read More] DECATUR Community leaders named Macon County Sheriff Howard G. Buffett as the latest inductee to Decaturs Wall of Fame on Tuesday, citing support for Decatur that has included tens of millions of dollars in donations in recent years. Buffett joins 26 other inductees on the wall in the lobby of the Decatur Civic Center, 1 Gary K. Anderson Plaza. We all love him and thank him, said former Macon County Sheriff Thomas Schneider, who appointed Buffett to take over his position in September. Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe announced the winner Tuesday morning before the 65th Annual Community Thanksgiving Luncheon. She called Buffett a man of purpose whose contributions to the community go beyond simply writing checks. She said it seems like every week Buffett is doing something new for the community. With everything he does, he is trying to make a difference, she said. Thank you for everything you do. Buffett, a 62-year-old philanthropist and son of billionaire investor Warren Buffett, was named sheriff Sept. 15 after Schneider retired, citing stress and health-related reasons. He is set to serve until the end of the term in November 2018; he has said he will not seek the office in the upcoming election. Its an honor to be selected for this, but I honestly feel there are so many people that work much harder and make bigger sacrifices than I do, Buffett said. Buffett said the award came as a surprise because he feels like there are many more deserving people in the community. I dont think of me as needing to be up there, Buffett said. Last years inductees were former Macon County Sheriff Roger Walker Jr. and longtime Archer Daniels Midland Co. Chairman Dwayne Andreas. Buffetts donations to the Decatur community in recent years have touched a wide variety of areas, from funding for the Boys and Girls Club of Decatur to money for an amphitheater in Nelson Park to support for a new city-owned fiber network. I had it instilled in me that you have to be in the community and be a part of the community, he said. Most of Buffetts recent donations have been tied to law enforcement, including consultants to look at improvements for the Macon County jail, police vehicles and a program targeted at addressing opioid addiction. In October 2016, he pledged $15 million to build a law enforcement training center on the citys south side, where police recruits from around the state are housed and trained for 12- to 14-week sessions. The foundation in October announced that it would build a new $4.2 million facility nearby for the Central Illinois Regional Dispatch Center, which opens Jan. 1. If we build something unique here, it makes Decatur a destination by itself for law enforcement, he said, explaining the thought process behind some of those gifts. And I know how to do that in law enforcement, but I dont know how to do that for other things. For example, Buffett said, he writes checks to the Childrens Museum of Illinois and Scovill Zoo because he doesnt know how to make those organizations the best or most unique in the state, but he believes others can. Most recently, the Decatur City Council on Monday voted to accept a $1 million grant from the Buffett Foundation to pay for neighborhood revitalization efforts. Buffett said he supported the neighborhood revitalization effort in part because he believes in improving the community so people want to live in Decatur. Theres a lot of good people in those neighborhoods but they don't have the resources to do what they would like to do, Buffett said. So the citys got to do it for them and that takes a lot of money sometimes. DECATUR Tavona Rice is hosting Thanksgiving at her house for the first time this year. She was excited to do it but needed some help with the turkey and other fixings from the Northeast Community Fund, where she also goes once a month to supplement her groceries. Its what I need, she said. It helps out a lot. The Northeast Community Fund, which provides food, clothing and other services for low-income residents, is a partner agency of the United Way of Decatur & Mid-Illinois, but it does not receive funding from the agency. To make more stories like this possible, the United Way will follow a new community-centered approach as it designates funds for community programs. Executive Director Debbie Bogle said the adjusted plan will help the people who support United Way, whom they call investors, see results. The United Way of Decatur & Mid-Illinois provides funding for 21 organizations in Macon County, 11 in DeWitt County and nine in Moultrie County, and the goal for 2017-18 is to raise $1.6 million to help. Every six years, the United Way does a community needs assessment, Bogle said, but in 2014 the assessment dug deeper into the community and data to assess effectiveness. Community leaders, businesses, educators and social service providers helped decide the biggest needs to be included in the common community approach, Bogle said. This is not United Way saying what we think; this is the entire community saying what we know, she said. The new model, developed over three years, lays out more in-depth, concrete objectives and goals for programs. Bogle said the plan is to ensure the money United Way donates helps the community work toward the overall goal of a self-sufficient population. The new approach identifies areas that prevent the community from reaching that goal, she said. Everything should be pushing toward changing an individual's condition in life, said James Keith, director of community impact. Start moving people out of crisis into another level of self-sufficiency. The former process included vision areas for the community but with very broad goals and without the specifics the new process seeks to address, Keith said. The new process is also aimed at changing the mindset from giving to charity to making an investment, Bogle said. The lines of effort: youth education adult education and training health safety inform Each category has objectives and outcomes that, Bogle said, they hope will help the community achieve specific goals. The five lines of effort impact each other, and the categories can be fluid, Keith said. For instance, bad health will impact education, and if someone isnt safe then they may not do well in a job or have good health. Some goals for youth education include increased preschool access/attendance rates, increased graduation rates, increased college readiness scores, decreased unemployment rates for ages 17 to 25 and increased college degree (associate and bachelor's) completion. These goals overlap with the adult education and training line of effort. For the health line of effort, the goals are decreasing chronic disease, obesity, mortality, teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, suicides, overdoses, alcohol poisoning, arrests and incarcerations. The goals for safety include increasing convictions of abuse/trauma and violent crime offenders, decreasing repeat victimization and offender recidivism, and minimizing loss of possessions due to disasters. Increasing social service program use and awareness and increasing community investment in the these programs is the inform portion. Those who support the United Way want to see observable outcomes, Keith said. It is important to have data that shows the lines of efforts and the programs being supported are working for the community, he said, and if they arent, then they will change their approach. This truly is a community development effort, which I dont know if weve had before, Keith said. Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect that the Northeast Community Fund is a partner of the United Way of Decatur & Mid-Illinois but does not receive funding. Executive Director Debbie Bogle's name was corrected in one instance as well. Farm loan officers at commercial banks are returning to their offices from their fall conference in Omaha, ready or not for the lending season that will stretch into next spring. It will be a long and mentally tedious one for the folks on either side of the desk, the lender on one side and the farm borrower on the other. That is because many farmers may have to visit their lender more than once, and some will have to visit several lenders before they can secure adequate financing for the 2018 farming season. Some farmers will get a quick rejection on an operating line of credit to buy crop inputs and pay for cash rent. Others will be told to revise their financial projections for 2018, sell some assets to improve their liquidity and revise their cash flow projections downward to be more in line with reality. Lenders dont like to say no, because that sends business elsewhere and reduces their personal income from earnings on loans. But if loans from prior years have not been repaid, those become bank liabilities instead of assets, since interest income may not have been earned from last years loan. But because of the farm economy there will be an increasingly number of farmers turned down for loans next year. We are in the fourth consecutive year with a grain crop that was above the trend line level. The fourth consecutive year of prices lower than they were the prior year. And the fourth consecutive year that farmers have been forced to fall back on their equity in an effort to pay the bills. Unfortunately, the equity has been used up by many, and they will have to come up with real cash this year or seek financial support from a lender. But farm financial statements already reflect the outcome of the lender meeting for many, and some farmers have been taking some type of remedial action. Various pieces of farm equipment have been put on the market. Full-time farmers have looked for part-time employment. Spouses have sought full-time employment, along with the health insurance benefits that have been costly for many farm families. Those actions will be looked upon favorably by lenders. If you know your cash flow already is going to be a problem, communicate early with your lender. Many lenders spent the past couple of winters restructuring existing farm debt to stretch out principal payments and free up depleted working capital. These same lenders could be reluctant to restructure loans anytime soon without commitment from the borrower to improve their cash flow management to meet existing debt obligations. Most cash flow problems will appear by late December and January, said Iowa State University ag economist Steven Johnson. Expect some lenders to require the use of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agencys guaranteed loan program before advancing additional funds. Completing paperwork and getting necessary loan guarantee approval could take several months. Farms without access to typical farm operating loans should use caution before advancing family living and farm expenses on credit cards or higher interest-bearing debt, say financial advisors and other agricultural economists. Farmers not ready to seek help from a lender can utilize other means of raising cash. The Farm Service Agency offers a low-interest, nine-month non-recourse marketing loan on harvested grain, but requires that the on-farm stored bushels be measured or the commercially-stored grain is under warehouse receipt. This marketing loan is limited to the county loan rates, which may be below the national loan rates of $1.95 per bushel for corn and $5 per bushel for soybeans. Thus, the marketing loan program is not a marketing strategy --- just access to cheaper interest for up to nine months. Another alternative is to deliver grain in December. By communicating with your grain merchandiser in advance, farmers can use a basis contract or a minimum price contract. Much of the actual cash price of the grain will be received upon delivery. Thus, you generate needed cash flow and eliminate storage costs, basis risk and accrued interest. Work with grain merchandisers to learn the pros and cons, however such actions can provide some cash flow in times of financial stress. Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy Fun fact: Under U.S. law, sexual assault allegations are now adjudicated by political election. Don't believe me? Just ask White House officials, Republican lawmakers and right-wing pundits, who lately argue that an electoral win provides absolution for any past sexual misconduct. This troubling claim is being applied to (who else?) our president. But it also sets a terrible precedent for what happens if alleged child molester and sexual predator Roy Moore wins an Alabama Senate race. Last week, after President Trump mocked Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., for sexual misconduct, a reporter asked the White House if it was fair to investigate similar accusations against the president by more than a dozen women. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said no. Those allegations had all been nullified by the election last November. "Look, I think that this was covered pretty extensively during the campaign," Sanders said. "We addressed that then. The American people I think spoke very loud and clear when they elected this president." That's right, my fellow Americans. When you voted last November, it turns out you were actually volunteering for national jury duty. And you didn't even get your $40 daily stipend! Sanders is not the only one making this argument. On CBS's "Face the Nation" on Sunday, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., was asked by host John Dickerson whether the country's increasing willingness to believe victims of sexual harassment and assault should cause a "re-evaluation of those who came forward" against the president. "Well, it happened in the middle of the campaign last year, John," he replied. "And the American people had their say on that as well." Meanwhile, on Fox News, MediaBuzz host Howard Kurtz questioned why the media would "resurrect" allegations against Trump in the first place. "He's called these women horrible liars. There's certainly a debate about whether they should be believed," Kurtz said. "There's about a dozen of them. But we had an election after that. And he won." To hear Trump apologists tell it, the 2016 election exonerated its victor not only of any past sexual misdeeds, but also of every possible transgression or broken norm. Such as not releasing his tax returns. On Sunday, on NBC's "Meet the Press," White House budget director Mick Mulvaney was asked why anyone should believe Trump when he claims the Republican tax agenda will raise his tax bills, since the public still has no idea what Trump's current taxes look like. Mulvaney ducked the question. "I can't speak to the president's taxes. I think that was sort of litigated by the American public during the election," he said, echoing language that White House aide Kellyanne Conway has used on this subject. These excuses are both dumb and dangerous. Dumb because, well, if the American electorate was indeed serving as jury last year, its verdict was not exactly unanimous. Or even in the right direction, for Republicans' purposes. A majority of American voters voted against Trump, as you may recall. If you buy Republicans' logic, that would mean the public found Trump guilty of sexual misconduct and wanted him to disclose his tax returns. Moreover, casting a ballot for a politician does not necessarily mean you endorse a candidate's every policy stance, character trait and action. When choosing between candidates, voters have to select one bundle of beliefs and behaviors or another. It's a combo plate. No substitutions allowed. Maybe Trump's supporters backed him because they don't believe the allegations made against him. Or maybe they supported him in spite of finding those claims credible. (They heard him admit to grabbing women "by the p -- y" on tape, after all.) In any case, by arguing that victory refutes all allegations against Trump, Republicans are laying the groundwork to welcome Moore to Washington if he wins next month. Already, White House officials are ducking questions about whether Moore should be allowed to serve as senator. A mere week ago, Conway said there was "no Senate seat worth more than a child." On Monday, when asked whether Alabama voters should cast their ballots for Moore, she denounced his Democratic opponent and said, "I'm telling you that we want the votes in the Senate to get this tax bill through." Sure, some Republican senators have said they believe Moore's accusers. Some, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), have even suggested that they might try to expel him if he gets elected. But with tax cuts hanging in the balance, don't be surprised if they lose their nerve once "the voters have spoken." Charges filed Tuesday describe the unnerving circumstances in which a West Baraboo man allegedly left his 4-year-old daughter behind after she was thrown out of the window in a drunken driving crash. Investigators say 25-year-old Alex L. Shultis pickup truck was severely damaged. Its rear windows had been shattered and its head lights were not working after it rolled into a ditch while trying to negotiate a turn Friday night along County Highway T in the town of Fairfield. Shultis twin 1-year old girls were secured in car seats in the back of the truck wearing nothing but diapers, and were covered with glass and debris from the crash, according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday by the Sauk County District Attorneys Office. It was around 8 p.m., and the temperature was in the 30s when Shultis decided to flee the scene, driving about 9 miles back to his apartment in the village of West Baraboo, the complaint states. Authorities were contacted by bystanders who found Shultis 4-year-old daughter walking along the road near the scene of the crash. Witnesses said the girl who suffered minor injuries was screaming for her father. Around 8:30 p.m., another deputy was called to Shultis apartment complex on Connie Road, where he allegedly was arguing with several people in the parking lot. When questioned by the deputy, Shultis initially denied that he had just been in an accident, and said his truck had been damaged in a crash several days before. The deputy reported that there were numerous opened and unopened cans of beer in the truck. Shultis later changed his story, the deputy reported. He said he began drinking beer around 2:30 p.m. after he got off work and was on medication that is not supposed to be mixed with alcohol, according to the complaint. Shultis allegedly admitted to fleeing the scene of the crash, but said he did not realize his 4-year-old daughter was no longer in the truck until he got about 1 mile down the road. When asked why he proceeded to return to his apartment after he realized his daughter had been ejected, Shultis allegedly responded that it was because his headlights were not working. He said he planned to get a different vehicle and come back to the scene to look for his daughter, according to the complaint. Investigators calculated the drive from the scene of the crash to Shultis apartment would typically take about 19 minutes. Prosecutors charged Shultis with three felony counts of first-degree reckless endangerment, and one felony count of causing injury by drunken driving with a child passenger. He also faces misdemeanor charges of driving drunk with a child (two counts), child neglect (three counts), and obstructing an officer. Shultis was issued traffic citations for violating child safety restraint requirements, failure to keep his vehicle under control, inattentive driving, failure to notify police of an accident and having open intoxicants in the vehicle. In court Tuesday, Sauk County Assistant District Attorney Sue Mueller requested a $2,500 cash bond for Shultis. Sauk County Circuit Court Judge Guy Reynolds set bond at $1,000 cash. If he is released, Shultis must maintain absolute sobriety and submit to breath tests as requested by law enforcement. He also may not drive without a valid license or with a child in the vehicle, and is not to have unsupervised contact with his three children. He is due to appear in court Dec. 29. Jay Clemens owns land near Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota and wants to do what he can to preserve the beauty of the area. However, hes limited because he doesnt own the mineral rights. That means oil companies can drill on his land. As Bismarck Tribune reporter Amy Dalrymple explained, Clemens has been working with the oil industry to limit its footprint on his property. Its not possible to eliminate all signs of development, but he has made strides. A native of Mandan, North Dakota, Clemens now lives in the San Francisco Bay area. He purchased two properties, one across from the Elkhorn Ranch unit where Teddy Roosevelt lived. His goal is to keep the land as much like it was when Roosevelt roamed the area as possible. He serves on the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation and has been active in conservation activities. One of the properties he purchased was the Buckhorn Ranch, directly across from the area Roosevelt chose for his ranch in the 1880s. Clemens wanted his land included in the Theodore Roosevelt Elkhorn Ranchlands Historic District. To reduce the impact on his land, Clemens has done a number of things with the oil industry to protect the views from the Elkhorn Ranch. Hes weighing a request for a pipeline to move saltwater, a waste byproduct of oil production. While he doesnt like to disturb his land, he also wants to reduce truck traffic. It becomes a trade-off, selecting the less intrusive option. At the same time, he rejected a request to access water from the Little Missouri River because hes unsure of the impact of industrial uses on the river. NP Resources, an oil company operating in the area, is trying to minimize impact in the sensitive Badlands areas. It has been drilling multiple wells from a single location, using existing well sites when possible and connecting to pipelines right away so natural gas is flared only in emergencies. The company doesnt use above-ground pump jacks that bob up and down, instead using submersible pumps with below-ground equipment. At a well site near Clemens property, NP Resources drilled a saltwater disposal well on the same pad as oil wells so wastewater can be injected there rather than piped or trucked elsewhere. Landowners working with oil companies can reduce the impact on the land, but they dont eliminate the impact. Some companies are easier to work with than others. Clemens and NP Resources are examples of working together in the oil patch. It can only be helpful in the long run. The Badlands Advisory Group released recommendations in May after an assessment of oil development in the Badlands. The group found most people favor oil development, but also want more attention paid to protecting surface resources, another indication that cooperation is wanted in the oil patch. With the pace of resource extraction in the Badlands no longer as frantic, this is a good time to look at the Badlands Advisory Groups recommendations and explore ways for landowners and the oil industry to find a common ground. We need to find ways to preserve the Badlands when possible. JUNEAU A 35-year-old Watertown man was found guilty Tuesday of operating the drug house where the drugs that killed a Clyman woman were purchased. Jason Twaite entered a no contest plea to a charge of maintaining a drug trafficking place as a party to a crime in the 2016 death of 41-year-old Holly Nehls. Dodge County Circuit Court Judge Brian Pfitzinger accepted Twaites plea with a misdemeanor charge of possession of drug paraphernalia being dismissed and read into the record. A 12-month jail sentence was imposed and stayed, and Twaite was placed on probation for two years. He must undergo an AODA assessment, pay court costs, maintain absolute sobriety and not enter any establishment whose primary business activity involves the sale or distribution of alcoholic beverages. He shall not use or possess any controlled substances without a valid prescription or drug paraphernalia, or be in the presence of anyone who does, and must actively and go to treatment at least one time a week. Twaite is one of three people charged in connection to Nehls heroin death on May 31, 2016. Gabriel Joseph Brandl was found guilty of first-degree reckless homicide/deliver drugs and was sentenced on Jan. 20 to seven years in prison. Brandl, 30, helped Nehls inject the heroin that led to her death and then attempted to hide her body to avoid criminal charges. Terence Jannke of Watertown, 50, was found guilty of first-degree reckless homicide; maintaining a drug trafficking place as a party to a crime, second and subsequent offense; and possession with intent to deliver heroin, second and subsequent offense. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 8. Officers were called to Watertown Memorial Hospital, 125 Hospital Drive, on May 31, 2016, to investigate the death of Nehls, whose body had been brought to the hospital earlier that day. Officers were directed to a maroon 2010 Dodge Charger that was secured with police crime scene tape where Nehls body was in the front passenger seat. Officers learned that Brandl was the one who had brought Nehls body to the hospital at approximately 10:30 a.m. The complaint states that Brandl told officers Nehls had died of a heroin overdose. Hospital staff informed officers that Nehls was dead upon arrival. Brandl was interviewed by officers and, according to the complaint, he identified Jannke as his primary drug dealer. Brandl told officers he and Nehls had bought heroin from Jannke the previous afternoon. He said they went to Clyman Park at approximately 3:30 p.m. and Jannke arrived at 5:30 p.m. Brandl said they stayed at the park for about 45 minutes before Nehls became unconscious. Brandl alleged that he told Jannke they should take Nehls to a hospital but that Jannke convinced him that she would snap out of it soon. Brandl claimed that Jannke drove them around for three hours before they returned to Jannkes town of Lebanon residence, 100 Warbler Way, to do more heroin, leaving Nehls in the car. Brandl told officers that she was still snoring and out of it when he and Jannke went to do more heroin. Brandl said he returned to the vehicle 20 minutes later and Nehls was still snoring. Brandl told officers he went to Wal-Mart in Watertown when he noticed that Nehls was no longer breathing. He allegedly told officers he tried to give her CPR in attempts to revive her, but she was already dead. A confidential informant told officers that they had previously bought heroin from Jannke at his residence. A search warrant was executed at the home July 1. Officers learned the residence was inhabited by both Jannke and Twaite. In Jannkes bedroom, officers located many hypodermic syringes, foil packaging and writings identified as a drug ledger with records of names and dollar amounts next to the names. Syringes were located in the common area of the home and in Twaites bedroom. Neither Twaite nor Jannke were home at the time of the search. Shortly after the search, Twaite and Jannke were stopped by police in a vehicle owned by Twaite, who was in possession of a kit containing items used to inject heroin including a rope, cotton ball, hypodermic syringe and a metal cap with residue. The confidential informant told officers that Jannke and Twaite had left their residence on July 1 between 7 a.m. and 7:30 to acquire heroin in Illinois. The two allegedly traveled to Rockford, Illinois, where Jannke entered a residence and shortly thereafter returned with a bag of containing three grams of heroin, which was located in the vehicles glove box. Jannke and Twaite were both convicted of delivery of cocaine in Jefferson County in 1992. Twaite was also convicted of felony disorderly conduct in 2013 in Dodge County. Parasitic worms and a chronic liver infection identified in a North Korean soldier who dramatically defected are providing clues into health conditions inside the secretive rogue state, experts said Wednesday. The soldier was shot up to five times November 13 while making a run for the South Korean side of the border through the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone, according to dramatic security video released this week. North Korean soldiers fired at him about 40 times, hitting him with bullets from both pistols and an AK-47, violating the armistice agreement between the two countries after the Korean War, the UN Command said. The defector, whose last name is Oh, required emergency treatment for his wounds, including extensive surgery. Doctors discovered a large number and multiple forms of parasitic worms. Some of the parasites removed were as long as 27 centimeters (more than 10 inches), according to the South Korean doctors who treated him. One type of worm they discovered is typically found in dogs. "In my 20 years as a surgeon, I have only seen something like this in a medical textbook," Lee Cook-Jong, the man's surgeon, told reporters on November 15. At another briefing Wednesday, Lee revealed the soldier also had hepatitis B, which is a serious risk factor for liver cancer. David Heymann, professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told CNN that the transmission of hepatitis B was usually a good indication of a country's poor sterilization practices in hospitals. "Hepatitis B is mainly transmitted either through unsterilized needles or syringes ... or by sexual activity," he said. It isn't the first time a North Korean defector has been found to have large numbers of stomach parasites or hepatitis B. A 2015 study of 169 defectors by Dankook University College of Medicine in South Korea found that out of the 17 female subjects who provided stool samples, seven had parasites. One in ten of the total subjects were also discovered to have hepatitis B. Choi Min-ho, a professor at Seoul National University College of Medicine who specializes in parasites, told CNN the use of human fertilizer on crops and poor sanitary conditions led to the transmission of parasitic cysts in North Korea. Intestinal worms are typically transmitted through contact with feces or unwashed hands. Infections are easily treated with drugs. "It is a vicious cycle that is hard to stop in North Korea. They are so desperate to make ends meet that they cannot take proper preventive measures," he said. Choi said he believed at least half of North Korea's population were likely to have parasites. "For those who can eat well and are healthy, parasitic infections might not be a big deal. But for those malnourished, this can be much more critical as parasites steal much-needed nutrition." North Korea has a long history of serious food shortages and famines, including a devastating drought between 1995 and 1999 that killed as many as 1 million people. Meanwhile, the UN World's Food Programme estimates as much as 70% of the country's 25 million people still don't eat a "sufficiently diverse diet." Doctors described the soldier's condition now as great, with Lee saying all parasites had been removed from his system. CNN's Jake Kwon contributed to this report. St. Marys Catholic Church is seeking delivery drivers for its free Community Thanksgiving Dinner. Volunteers need only show up at St. Marys School around 10:45 a.m. Thursday to let organizers know theyd like to help. It will take about an hour to help. We like as many drivers as we can get because that way the foods hot, Amy Jo Fisher said. We usually only have a couple of drivers, so the more drivers they find Thursday, the better. Portage residents may make reservations for their food orders by calling 608-742-6998, ext. 223. The church also will accept orders made on Thanksgiving Day. Deliveries of meals generally go to individuals or families who have difficulty leaving their homes. Last year, the church delivered 95 meals and another 20 were scheduled for carryout. Dinner will be served from noon to 2 p.m. at St. Marys School. The event is for anyone and everyone, Fisher said. The meals are made possible because of many volunteers who order, prepare and cook the food. Other contributors included to-go containers from Culvers and extra funds from General Engineering in Portage, raised during its annual soup cook-off. Theres no reason anybody should have to be alone on Thanksgiving," Fisher said. "Know that youll find a friendly face when you come here. Volunteers served meals to about 200 people on-site last year. This year the church ordered 150 pounds of turkey 10 more pounds than last year and any leftovers will be taken to the Portage Fire Department and Divine Savior Healthcare. The church also gives extra food to the River Haven homeless shelter. We make the rounds depending on the supplies we have, Fisher said. Attendees should expect classic holiday choices including stuffing, cranberries, mashed potatoes and gravy. The event, Fisher said, is locally known for its variety of pie choices, so if residents would like to contribute by bringing their pies to St. Marys, the church always can use more. All of it is homemade, Fisher said of the whole spread. Obviously, for people who have nowhere to be on the holidays, we want them to feel like family here. But this is also for people who dont feel like making a mess in their kitchens. Everybody is welcome. Showing love and support is what its all about. Millions of eyes will be on Portage High Schools marching band on Thanksgiving Day. Portage is one of 10 school bands that will perform during the Chicago Thanksgiving Day Parade, to be broadcast by WGN America from 8 to 11 a.m. The broadcast is expected to draw 3.6 million viewers in addition to the 400,000 spectators lining the streets in Chicago. Portage is 82nd in the parade lineup and likely will receive airtime sometime between 9:45 and 10:30 a.m., said band director Tom Shaver. Parade organizers also asked Portage to be part of its broadcast finale as the credits roll, involving students from various schools dancing and waving at the cameras. This gives them an opportunity to do things they dont normally get to do, Shaver said of his 103 students who will march Thursday and play Excelsior by Robert W. Smith. I think that because they know its such a large audience, theyre trying to make sure everything they can take care of is taken care of. Recording Thursdays broadcast would probably be a good idea for those interested in seeing Portage students on TV, Shaver said, since each schools band will likely get only about 25 seconds of total airtime. Are they nervous? I dont think so, Shaver said. Thats the cool thing about this band. Its a large team, so they know everyone will do their part to make it the best experience for everyone else. Students leave for Chicago today and will eat dinner with all of the other marching bands at the Sheraton Grand Hotel. During their stay in Chicago, band members also will visit the Skydeck at Willis Tower, the Cloud Gate (the bean at Millennium Park) and the Hard Rock Cafe. They will partake in a Thanksgiving Day cruise on Lake Michigan and go shopping at Magnificent Mile on Black Friday. Later Friday, students will return home in time to march in the Downtown Portage Holiday Lighted Parade. Participating in the Chicago parade gives Portage High School a chance at qualifying to march in even larger events, like the Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York. Thats the ultimate goal, Shaver said. His band also will march at Disney World over spring break. Some of these students havent been out of the state, really, Shaver said of events like Thursdays. Band is about life-enriching opportunities. It takes them to places theyve never seen before. Now in France at the invitation of that countrys Ministry of the Interior, Armenian Minister of Emergency Situations Davit Tonoyan has met with Minister of the Interior Gerard Collomb; Jacques Witkowski, Director General of La Direction Generale de la Securite Civile et de la Gestion des Crises; and Meteo-France Director General Jean-Marc Lacave. The meetings were designed to explore cooperation opportunities between the two countries when it comes to dealing with emergencies. Photo (from left): Minister Tonoyan, Minister Collomb Instead of relying on a Hmong neighbor, friend or co-worker to explain the Hmong culture, a new certificate program at Edgewood College will offer five weeks of training for professionals to gain a deeper understanding of and better support the Hmong community. The Madison School District improved its state report card score for the 2018-19 school year, but remained in the meets expectations category. More of its schools scored higher on the annual evaluation. China News on Women Sorry, the page you requested was not found. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Womenofchina.cn, try visiting the Womenofchina Home page The RCC and the Madison Police Department want everyone to know they can contact the police or RCC for any type of sexual assault, harassment or abuse, no matter when it occured. Report outlines Ontario nuclear refurbishment benefits and risks 22 November 2017 Share A new report by Ontario's Financial Accountability Office (FAO) has confirmed the province's plan to refurbish ten nuclear reactors at Bruce and Darlington, and extend the life of six reactors at Pickering will provide the a long-term supply of relatively low-cost, low emissions electricity over the period to 2064. The Bruce power plant (Image: Bruce Power) An Assessment of the Financial Risks of the Nuclear Refurbishment Plan looks at how financial risk would be allocated among ratepayers, the province, Ontario Power Generation (OPG) and Bruce Power. The FAO estimates the plan will result in nuclear generation supplying a "significant proportion" of Ontario's electricity demand from 2016 to 2064 at an average price of CAD80.7 ($63.3) per MWh, in 2017 Canadian dollars. The effect of the plan on electricity prices will vary over its duration, with prices projected to increase in the short term as the reactors are being refurbished. Prices are expected to peak in 2027, gradually decreasing after that as the refurbished reactors return to service. The CAD80.7 per MWh estimated average cost of nuclear over the period to 2064 is lower than the electricity price of CAD114.9 per MWh currently paid by most of the province's residential and small business ratepayers, the FAO said. The FAO reviewed the financial risks to the refurbishment plan arising from cost overruns, higher-than-anticipated station operating costs, lower-than-expected electricity demand, and the potential for a lower-cost, low-emissions alternative generation option to emerge. Ratepayers bear the risk of increases in refurbishment costs for the Bruce reactors until 12 months before each reactor refurbishment begins, at which time the risk is transferred to Bruce Power. They bear the risk of all cost increases "prudently incurred" by OPG, which is owned by the province (the province itself bears the risk of any cost increases not prudently incurred), but benefit from any cost savings. The risks of cost overruns are mitigated by options to terminate refurbishments (known as 'off-ramps'), but these have limited value to ratepayers due to economies of scale at nuclear generating stations and the current cost of low-emissions alternative generation options, the FAO concluded. Most of the risk that the cost of operating the Bruce reactors will be higher than planned is transferred to Bruce Power through its contract with Ontario's Independent Electricity System Operator, with ratepayers receiving about 50% of the benefit if costs are lower than planned. Ratepayers and the province - through OPG - bear the risk but will receive all the benefit of increasing or decreasing costs of operating Pickering and Darlington. The primary method of protection to ratepayers from increases in OPG operating costs is Ontario Energy Board (OEB) oversight. The final financial risks analysed by the FAO are lower-than-expected electricity demand, and the potential for a lower-cost, low-emissions alternative generation option, both of which refer to the emergence of unfavourable market conditions. "The Nuclear Refurbishment Plan requires a CAD25 billion capital investment and price projections are based on costs being spread over a large amount of electricity generation over a long period of time. As a result, reducing nuclear generation or shutting down nuclear reactors in response to unfavourable market conditions is not always economical," the FAO notes. Insufficient demand for electricity could see the province forced to curtail nuclear generation, export electricity at low or negative prices, or permanently shut down one or more reactors, the report finds. The financial risks of such developments would be borne by ratepayers and, in the case of OPG, the province. Demand-side and supply-side mitigations that could limit demand risk, include increased electrification through Ontario's Climate Change Action Plan, actions to smooth out demand fluctuations, the planned shutdown of the Pickering nuclear power plant by 2024 and the staged shutdown of the Bruce and Darlington reactors beginning in 2043. The risk that Ontario's commitment to nuclear refurbishment could preclude it from taking advantage of alternative, lower cost, low-emissions grid-scale electricity generation options - should they emerge - would likewise be borne by ratepayers and the province. "There are currently no alternative generation portfolios that could provide the same supply of low-emissions baseload electricity generation at a comparable price to the Nuclear Refurbishment Plan," the report finds. Should such alternative options emerge over the life of the plan, economic off-ramps in the Bruce contract and the province's ability to terminate refurbishments at Darlington would go some way to mitigating the risks, it adds. Bruce Power and OPG have welcomed the FAO's report, agreeing there are currently no alternative generation portfolios that could replace nuclear generation in terms of costs and emissions. "The FAO's report validates that refurbishing Ontarios Bruce and Darlington nuclear stations is the best generating option to keep costs low for electricity customers and to protect the environment," the companies said in a joint statement. OPG began the CAD12.8 billion refurbishment of its four-unit Darlington station in October 2016. One year into the refurbishment project, which will enable the reactors to operate to 2055, work on Darlington unit 2 is almost 40% complete and overall the project remains on time and on budget, the company said. Pickering will continue to operate until 2024 to provide baseload electricity during the refurbishment of the Darlington plants and the first units at Bruce. Bruce Power's Life Extension Programme began in January 2016 and will see the investment of CAD$13 billion into six of Bruce Powers eight reactors, allowing the site to operate to 2064. The FAO provides independent analysis on the state of the province's finances, trends in the provincial economy and related matters important to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Researched and written by World Nuclear News Related topics The Vietnam War is also known as the Second Indochina War. It was fought in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia between North and South Vietnam. The North was supported by China and the Soviet Union while the South was supported by the United States, Thailand, Australia, and South Korea. The National Liberation Front, also known as the Viet Cong, was a South Korean armed resistance that aided the North Vietnamese Army (NVA). The resistance and the NVA fought to unify the country while the South sought to establish independence from the North. Today, the Vietnamese people refer the war as the Resistance War Against America. Unlike other wars, there was no declaration of the Vietnam War. However, it is believed and accepted by many that the war began on November 1, 1955, and ended on April 30, 1975. The U.S involvement in Vietnam had started as early as 1950 when Harry Truman sent military advisors to aid the French. However, the US started direct military action in Vietnam in 1964 until 1973. Causes of the Vietnam war Since the 19th century, Vietnam had been under colonial rule. During the Second World War, Japan invaded the country. Vietnamese political leader Ho Chi Minh inspired by Chinese and Soviet communism formed the League for the Independence of Vietnam (Viet Minh) with the aim of driving out both the Japanese invaders and the French colonialists. After the United States forced Japan to surrender during the Second World War, it withdrew its troops from Vietnam leaving the Emperor Bao Dai in power. Ho Chi Minh saw an opportunity to seize control and immediately rose up in arms. He took control of Hanoi and declared the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) and himself the president. Backed by the French, Emperor Bao set up the state of Vietnam in July 1949 choosing Saigon as the capital city. Although both parties wanted a united country, Ho and his supporters favored communism while Bao and many others wanted to establish a country based on western culture. The difference in ideology resulted in one of the worlds longest and brutal wars. The North won the battle at Dien Bien Phu in May 1954 and ended the French rule in the South. In July 1954, a treaty to split the county along the 17th parallel was reached. However, the treated also called for an election two years later to unify the country. A year later, anti-communist leader Ngo Dinh Diem ousted emperor Bao from power and became the president of South Vietnam. The Domino Theory In 1961 President John F. Kennedy sent out a team of experts to report on the conditions in South Vietnam. The team advised the president to increase the presence of American soldiers, and technical and economic aid to help the south fight the Viet Cong resistance. Kennedy believed that if communism thrived in one Southeast Asian country, the rest would be compromised and communism would spread uncontrollably. Kennedy increased economic aid to the south Vietnam and deployed thousands of U.S troops to the country. By 1962, about 9,000 American troops were stationed in the country, a huge increase from 800 in the 1950s. MP calls on Home Office to support work tackling antisocial behaviour in Wrexham Town Centre This article is old - Published: Wednesday, Nov 22nd, 2017 Wrexham MP Ian Lucas has called on Home Office Ministers to support work being done to tackle antisocial behaviour in the town centre. Mr Lucas has written to Victoria Atkins, who has just taken up the role of Under Secretary of State for Vulnerability, Safeguarding and Countering Extremism. In his letter he sets out some of the work currently being undertaken in Wrexham, including the Gold Command group with himself, the council, the police, and others to tackle issues in the town, particularly relating to Novel Psychoactive Substances or so-called legal highs. The letter continues onto state: In Wrexham, particularly since the General Election, I have been working intensively with local council, police and health services to address an acute NPS challenge in the town and we have, collectively, developed an approach which we believe may be useful as a model for other areas of the country with similar issues. We are, however, encountering a severe strain on resources. We would all welcome the opportunity to present to you the approach we have taken, the preliminary results and discuss how we can both sustain the work and, potentially, use the project as a pilot for other communities. Some of the work being done in Wrexham has already received financial backing with funds being allocated to help homeless people by the late Carl Sargeant as Communities Minister in the Welsh Government during the summer. There has also been an additional two members of staff taken on to work on community safety issues in the town centre. Mr Lucas said: I know that people remain concerned about anti-social behaviour in Wrexham, but the combined approach which is now being taken is starting to have an impact. This is a complicated issue, and not one which will be solved overnight. One of the areas where I think we can move things forward is by sharing the work we are doing locally with other areas who are facing similar issues, and listening to the action people are taking in those areas. In Parliament, I have worked with several colleagues including Lucy Powell and David Hanson to set up a group looking at the issue of NPS. That group will be holding an inquiry in the New Year, and Ill make sure Wrexhams voice is heard. We also need Ministers to listen, and to provide proper financial support, and thats why Im making a plea to the Home Office to come and see whats being done in Wrexham. The Grenfell Fire Forum is holding the fourth in a series of regular meetings on Saturday, December 9, at 2 p.m. at the Maxilla Hall Social Club, North Kensington, London. The first meeting of the Forum, established by the Socialist Equality Party, was held on September 30 and discussed the opening of the Grenfell Tower Fire inquiry and the way forward in opposing the governments cover-up and establishing the truth about the fire and those responsible. The SEP has warned that the inquiry is a fraudaimed at covering up for those responsible for the economic, social and political decisions that led to at least 71 deaths. We will dissect the inquiry and expose its lies and evasions. This work of political exposure is an essential part of mobilising workers and youth independently of the political establishment to secure genuine justice for all those affected. All are welcome to this democratic discussion forum. Grenfell Fire Forum Saturday December 9, 2 p.m. Maxilla Hall Social Club 2 Maxilla Walk, North Kensington London, W10 6SW Visit and share this event on the Grenfell Fire Forum Facebook page Last week, the RCDS (Ring of Christian Democratic Students), the student organization of the two governing parties in Germanythe Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian Social Union (CSU)--published two statements in which it called for the banning of the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) at German universities. The demand is part of a campaign to suppress socialist and anti-militarist opposition on campus. The two statements were written by the Leipzig branch of the RCDS, published on its Facebook page and distributed on the Leipzig University campus. The organisation welcomed the decision of the Leipzig Student Council to deny the IYSSE the status of a working group, which is required for a student group to use university facilities and campaign on campus. The RCDS called the decision an important step in the fight against extremism. The statements say that fundamental democratic rights should not apply to the socialists of the IYSSE because they exploit them in order to act against the system in a revolutionary way. Anyone who refers positively to the October Revolution is in violation of the basic democratic order, the right-wing university group claims, employing standard anti-communist rhetoric. Finally, it slanders the IYSSE as being anti-Semitic and violent. Anyone who has followed the political activity of the IYSSE knows that these are outrageous lies. The IYSSE strictly rejects individual acts of violence as a political method. As a Marxist organization, it does not oppose the democratic order; it opposes capitalism, which once again, as in the 20th century, is leading to war and dictatorship. At universities, it fights against militarist and racist ideology and the trivialization of Nazi crimes. The RCDS, which has numerous links with the right-wing milieu, is not concerned with defending democracy, but with abolishing fundamental democratic rights and making universities conform on the basis of an extremely right-wing programme. In its eyes, any criticism of the German governments militaristic policies, social attacks and mass deportations of refugees should be banned from the campus. The RCDS leaves no doubt about this. On October 27, the RCDS Federal Association published a catalogue of demands on its website for the establishment of a type of university regime seen only in military dictatorships and fascist states. The RCDS wants to ban all political activity by students that has not been accredited by the German Secret Service. Thus, its university group calls for a ban on the cooperation by student bodies and universities with organizations classified as extremist by the Secret Service. The Secret Service, known in Germany by the Orwellian name Verfassungsschutz (Office for the Protection of the Constitution), is not subject to any democratic control and is intertwined with the right-wing terrorist milieu. It alone, according to the RCDS, should be able to decide for whom students are allowed to vote as their representatives and with whom they may associate. But even that is not enough. The intelligence services are also to decide whether a student organization can be accepted as a university group, and thereby have the ability to participate in the democratic process at the university. The national chairman of the RCDS, Henrik Warner, even wants to compulsorily de-register critical students from universities. We have to deal with the question of whether we want to allow this type of student to study at our universities, he said. In the 1970s, the German government responded to the student revolt by imposing employment bans on alleged radical leftists, preventing them from working in the public sector. The RCDS wants to go much further today and expel everyone from the university who criticizes militarism and capitalism. The RCDS is reacting, with its demands for dictatorial measures, to the growing resistance to right-wing politics among workers and students. As a university association of the governing parties, the RCDS careerists see their role as ideologically preparing and promoting the politics of militarism and social attacks. For example, the RCDS defends radical right-wing professors against student criticism, organizes events with them, and regularly obstructs the work of left-wing university groups. One of their heroes is the far-right Professor Jorg Baberowski, who is notorious throughout Germany for his incitement against refugees and his trivialization of Nazi crimes. Like no other, Baberowski combines his falsifications of history with calls for brutal wars and military interventions. He is defended by the RCDS at Humboldt University in Berlin, as is his militarist colleague Herfried Munkler, who wants to make Germany Europes taskmaster. There is opposition to such right-wing and militaristic ideologues at many universities. In Bremen, the RCDS had to cancel a planned event with Baberowski because the local Student Union called for broad protests. The student parliament at Humboldt University overwhelmingly passed a resolution opposing Baberowski. Only the three members of the RCDS voted against the resolution. Numerous student bodies throughout Germany have expressed their solidarity with the Bremen Student Union and the IYSSE. This is why the RCDS is now calling for dictatorial measures at the universities. The struggles on campus reflect fundamental social developments. Everywhere, the ruling class is increasingly relying on police state measures and dictatorship. In Spain, the CDUs sister party, the Partido Popular (PP), brutally attacked peaceful participants in a referendum on Catalan independence and then sacked the democratically elected regional government and placed the region under Madrids rule. The Austrian Peoples Party (OVP) is currently elevating the openly extremist right-wing Freedom Party into the government in order to carry through extreme-right and xenophobic policies. The chairman of the RCDS in Leipzig, Lucas Schopphofen, campaigns on the Internet for the OVP candidate for Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who has long advocated far-right policies. In Germany too, basic democratic rights are being attacked to impose the governments policy of rearmament and social attacks against the population. In recent years, under the leadership of the CDU/CSU, systematic spying on the population has been implemented, the separation between police and intelligence services has been for all practical purposes abolished, and most recently, the Network Enforcement Act has been adopted, establishing the infrastructure for systematic censorship. With the prohibition of the website Indymedia, a precedent has been established for the arbitrary criminalization of left-wing media outlets. The RCDS provides the foot soldiers for these policies at the universities. It appears to feel encouraged to demand even more radical attacks on democratic rights in the aftermath of the mass neo-Nazi demonstration in Warsaw and the offensive of the ultra-right around the world. The denial of working group status for the IYSSE in Leipzig sets an important precedent for the RCDS to deprive socialist student organizations of their standing as university groups at all universities and to thus abolish fundamental democratic rights. We call on all students to oppose this reactionary attempt. * * * Open letter to the Student Council of the University of Leipzig From the Leipzig IYSSE November 11, 2017 The following letter was sent by the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) group at the University of Leipzig to the members of the Student Council (StuRa). Dear StuRa members, At its first session in the new semester, the StuRa has decided to deny working group status to the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE). This is an attack on the fundamental right of freedom of expression and association. The StuRa presumes to decide which political views are allowed on campus and which are to be censored. While right-wing university groups such as the RCDS are granted working group status, provided offices and allowed to work on campus, left-wing and socialist groups are to be banned. At the StuRa plenary session, for the RCDS and right-wing groups in the anti-German milieu, no lie was too bold for use in justifying censorship of the IYSSE. They claimed that the IYSSE opposed the fundamental democratic order because it calls for the expropriation of banks and corporations. Socialist criticism of capitalism was declared to be a conspiracy theory and anti-Semitic. All of these claims are absurd. They serve to cover up the right-wing agenda of the above-mentioned groups. In fact, the IYSSE is a Marxist student group, which, like no other, opposes all forms of nationalism, militarism and racism. As the youth and student organization of the Fourth International, it operates worldwide and has groups at universities and colleges in many countries around the world. In Germany, the IYSSE is one of the largest groups in the student parliament at Humboldt University in Berlin. Because it publicly criticized right-wing extremist Professor Jorg Baberowski for his trivialization of Nazi crimes, a storm of indignation was unleashed by the right-wing mediafrom the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung through Cicero to Junge Freiheit. The courageous stance it has taken against right-wing and militaristic ideologues has made the IYSSE known throughout Germany. The Student Unions at the Technical University of Berlin, the Ruhr University Bochum and the University of Bremen have organized meetings with the IYSSE on the subject and several other student bodies have declared their solidarity. The fight against the right wing and for a socialist perspective is more urgent today than ever. With Trump's threats against North Korea, the world stands closer to nuclear war than ever before. All the unresolved problems of capitalism are breaking out again, threatening to once more plunge humanity into a catastrophe. The German elites are reacting to the growth of nationalism with military rearmament. They want to dominate Europe in order to play a role in world politics and impose their economic interests internationally. This is the background of the shift to the right that has led to the rise of the Alternative for Germany (AfD). Now, all parties are reacting to the electoral success of the right-wing extremists by adopting the far-rights slogans and stepping up the policies of deportations, social attacks and militarism. Your decision to deny the IYSSE working group status at Leipzig University sets a dangerous precedent. In the face of the right-wing offensive, the trivialisation of Nazi crimes at German universities, and the return of German militarism, you are blocking the work of a left-wing, Marxist university group that is keenly opposed to these developments. Without working group status, university groups are not allowed to use university facilities and work politically on campus. While the RCDS, which invited the right-wing radical Professor Baberowski to the University of Bremen, gets rooms for free in Leipzig, you are censoring critics of this policy. You are creating a campus on which the right can grow, and Marxist politics are banned. This recalls the policy of political conformity enforced at universities under the Nazis. Especially here in the state of Saxony, where the AfD became the strongest force in the recent general election, and here in Leipzig, where a professor like Thomas Rauscher spreads right-wing extremist propaganda on Twitter, we not only have the right, but the duty, to counteract these trends. We hereby emphatically apply again for working group status. IYSSE Leipzig Week after week, the worlds media has bombarded its viewers and readers with denunciations and warnings of the dangers of fake news. The vast bulk of these articles uncritically regurgitate the unsubstantiated claims emanating from Washington, London and other capitals that President Vladimir Putin has set up an army of internet trolls operating fake accounts to subvert the democratic process in furtherance of Russias interests. An article by George Monbiot in Britains Guardian newspaper has the unintended benefit of making clear that the ultimate political goal of the anti-Russia campaign is to silence all voices of opposition to the ruling elites agenda of stepped-up militarism, war and social reaction. Aligning himself openly with the political and military-intelligence apparatus in the US and Britain, Monbiot focuses on legitimising the intervention of the imperialist powers in Syriaboth direct and using Islamist proxiesaimed at replacing the government of Bashar al-Assad with a client regime. He brands reputable and high-profile journalists and political commentators as the purveyors of fake news. His article, A lesson from Syria: its crucial not to fuel far-right conspiracy theories, or How a chemical weapons attack in Syria spawned a shameful series of conspiracy theories, sees Monbiot posture as the defender of democracy and informed choice. It is a thoroughly lazy and dishonest piece. Monbiot accuses veteran investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, who comprehensively debunked Washingtons false claims of a Syrian government chemical weapons attacks in August 2013 and again on April 4, 2017, of fuelling right-wing conspiracy theorists. He levels the same charge at journalist John Pilger and Professor Noam Chomsky for citing Theodore Postol, Professor Emeritus of Science, Technology and International Security at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a critic of the US governments analysis of the 2013 Ghouta chemical attack in Syria. Postol had suggested that the Syrian government could not have carried out the 2017 attack at Khan Sheikhoun because the Syrian government had got rid of its stock of chemical weapons under United Nations supervision, as the UN Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) had confirmed in January 2016. He said jihadists had been using nerve gases and sarin for some years and suggested an explosive device laid on the ground had set fire to a weapons depot belonging to the rebels. Monbiot accuses Pilger, Chomsky and Postol of creating a toxic atmosphere around the issue. He makes great play of the fact that several right-wing US politicians, including former representative Ron Paul and Representative Thomas Massie, have also questioned why Assad would have launched a chemical attack on his own people that would give him no benefit at all. In this way, Monbiot makes an amalgam between voices on the right and left in order to prevent those sceptical of the traditional news outlets from searching and finding honest, progressive and socialist sources of information. He makes no investigation himself of the incident on which he focuses his readers attention. The explosion in rebel-held Khan Sheikhoun, in Syrias northwestern Idlib province, killed at least 83 people and injured many more. The victims appeared to have suffered from a chemical attack, possibly sarin, a colourless, odourless liquid or gas capable of causing respiratory arrest and death and banned under international law. The US used the attack to justify ratcheting up its war effort against Assad. Before any of the facts had been established, the US launched 59 Tomahawk missiles air strikes at the Shayrat air base, from which it said the sarin attack was staged, killing five Syrian soldiers and nine civilians. The chemical attack had all the hallmarks of a false flag operation designed to justify precisely such an intervention. Monbiot is an environmental and political activist who has made his reputation as an investigative journalist and an advocate of truth and openness. But the methods he uses in his article are a travesty of the honesty and thoroughness one might reasonably expect. He accepts uncritically the official line promoted by the US and its allies about the Syrian regimes use of chemical weapons, and the very limited conclusions of the OPCWs report, based on its Fact-Finding Mission (FFM), without carefully scrutinising its evidence. Indeed, it seems doubtful whether he even bothered to read it. He says that the OPCW concluded in its report in October that the atrocity was caused by a bomb filled with sarin, dropped by the government of Syria, but says nothing about the FFMs actual investigation. The FFMs stated brief, in its own words, was to establish the facts surrounding allegations of the use of toxic chemicals for hostile purposes in the country, it is not mandated to reach conclusions about attributing responsibility for chemical weapons use. The FFM based its report on interviews, bio-medical samples from victims, open-source research, documents and other records, and the characteristics of the samples including those provided by the Syrian Government, which it said engaged constructively with its investigation. Crucially, it states explicitly that it did not visit Khan Sheikhoun because it was, and still is, held by Islamist rebels, including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and Ahrar al-Sham and their affiliates, making it too dangerous. No international monitoring groups were able to enter Idlib to access the site of the alleged attack. Jerry Smith, the lead field investigator for the UN-backed operation to remove Syrias chemical weapons in 2013, warned that without access to the site it was impossible to collect empirical data with an objective chain of custody (emphasis added). Monbiot cites a journalist from the Guardian who apparently accessed the site and concluded there was no weapons depot near the scene of the contamination that could have caused the sarin gas explosion. The newspaper is the only news organisation in the world to do so, Monbiot states. How was this possibleoutside of collusion with rebels in control of the area? We are not informed. The FFM concluded that a large number of people, some of whom had died, had been exposed to sarin or a sarin-like substance, and that such a release could only be determined to have been the use of sarin as a chemical weapon. It did not say who it thought was responsible for the dissemination of the substance. But it also noted that the various hospitals appeared to have begun admitting some 57 casualties of the attack between 0640 and 0645 hours, that is before the alleged attack, with 10 of the patients admitted to a hospital 125 kilometres away from Khan Sheikhoun, and another 42 patients to a hospital 30 kilometres away. The OPCW also reported the use of sarin in a separate incident in the village of al-Lataminah, 25 kilometres south of Khan Sheikhoun, five days before the main attack, which the mainstream media has ignored. It did not consider the implications of this for its Khan Sheikhoun investigation. It had previously been thought that the Khan Sheikhoun attack was the first sarin attack since the August 2013 attack on Ghouta, near Damascus. Monbiot simply dismisses the possibility of a false flag attack, writing, I have found no credible evidence that Syrian jihadists have access to sarin. Yet even the UNs own mission stated in its report after the August 2013 sarin attack on Ghouta that both sides of the war possessed chemical weapons in a quantity capable of producing mass casualties. Furthermore, it noted that in five sites where chemical weapons were used up until then, none of the victims were members of the armed rebel opposition, while in three sites the victims were Syrian army soldiers and army personnel and civilians. Thus, it was highly improbable that the attacks had been launched by the Syrian government. The report thus confirmed the suspicions of Carla Del Ponte, a leading member of a UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, who had been one of the first, in May 2013, to raise the possibility that rebels have used the nerve agent, sarin. She had said there were strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof. As the Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh explained in the article Whose sarin? in the London Review of Books in December 2013, In the months before the attack, the American intelligence agencies produced a series of highly classified reports, culminating in a formal Operations Ordera planning document that precedes a ground invasionciting evidence that the al-Nusra Front, a jihadi group affiliated with al-Qaeda, had mastered the mechanics of creating sarin and was capable of manufacturing it in quantity. When the attack occurred, al-Nusra should have been a suspect, but the [Obama] administration cherry-picked intelligence to justify a strike against Assad. Only recently, the US State Department issued a warning to travellers to Syria admitting that the core rebel groups in northwest Syria, whom it directs from Turkey, not only possess but had used chemical weaponsthe very crimes it has accused the Syrian government of committing. It states, Tactics of ISIS, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, and other violent extremist groups [al-Nusra successors and split-offs] include the use of suicide bombers, kidnapping, small and heavy arms, improvised explosive devices, and chemical weapons. The OPCW stated that it had formally received 15 allegations related to rebel groups acquisition, possession or transfer of, or intent to use, chemical weapons or toxic chemicals, two of which referred to ISIS and seven to al-Nusra, since last June. If Monbiot found no credible evidence that Syrian jihadists have access to sarin, then it is because he chose to ignore it. To portray the entirely valid criticisms of the official line on the Khan Sheikhoun attack as fuelling far-right conspiracy theories is politically criminal. It is a transparent attempt by the Guardian to block any challenge to the military operations, overt and covert, carried out by US and British imperialism and their regional allies in the Middle East under cover of humanitarian concerns and the responsibility to protect. The Guardian speaks for the nominally liberal bourgeoisie. While it claims to stand for progressive opinion, its real role is to police public discourse and support the strategic imperatives of imperialism. That is why it has come out and attacked some of the worlds most famous crusaders against propaganda, thereby declaring that any criticism of US and British war plans is beyond the pale and cannot be tolerated. The Guardians role is to help create the necessary political climate to further an agenda of war, censorship and domestic repression. As part of the celebration of the centenary of the October Revolution in 1917, the World Socialist Web Site is publishing a series of profiles of leaders of the Russian Revolution.This is the second of a two-part profile of Nikolai Muralov.The first part was posted here. Due to the bloody and protracted Stalinist and bourgeois reaction against the revolution, these individuals remain largely unknown to the international working class. Yet they rank among the most complex and formidable figures of the 20th century and are an important part of the proud heritage of the working class. The stunning and often tragic vicissitudes of their political and personal lives mirror the complicated development of the Bolshevik Party itself, and the rapid succession of revolution, war, and reaction. This series seeks to introduce our readers to the major contributions these figures made to the struggle for socialism, and how their lives intersected with the development of the Russian Revolution. Unless otherwise indicated, all translations from the Russian are by this author. On January 21, 1924, Vladimir Lenin, whose name, like no other, was associated with the emergence and conquest power of the Bolshevik Party, died after a prolonged illness. Beyond the immediate sense of real political and personal loss that Muralov and thousands if not millions of others felt, Lenins death had far-reaching political implications. It deprived the Bolshevik Party of its most respected leader and intensified the inner-party struggle that had emerged in previous years. In 1924, a centrist faction, headed by Stalin, and, until 1925, by Kamenev and Zinoviev, launched a vicious campaign against what they called Trotskyismin reality, the theory of permanent revolution, of world socialist revolution, which had formed the political and theoretical basis for the Bolshevik seizure of power in 1917. It was the beginning of a protracted and vicious political betrayal of the Russian Revolution, which would lead only 15 years later to the physical liquidation of virtually the entire old Bolshevik Party leadership. The slogan of building socialism in one country became the central programmatic axis of the Stalinist factions struggle against the Left Opposition. This national orientation resulted in a subordination of the interests of the international revolution and the Communist International to those of the Stalinist bureaucracy. Lenin had begun to take up the struggle against what he perceived as a growing nationalist and bureaucratic tendency within the party shortly before his death. In the months leading up to the creation of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics in December 1922, Stalin headed a substantial faction in the Bolshevik Party that argued for greater centralization of political and administrative power in the Russian party and state apparatus, while aiming to restrain the autonomy of the fledgling Soviet republics with national minority populations like Georgia and Ukraine. The struggle came to a head in the Georgian Affair, which prompted Lenins last active, forceful intervention in the inner-party struggle. Ordzhonikidze, a close ally and compatriot of Stalin, essentially bullied the Georgian Central Committee, which, along with the Central Committees of other Communist parties in what was to become the USSR, strongly opposed Stalins proposed curtailment of national autonomy of the republics. Lenin condemned Ordzhonikidzes behavior in the strongest terms, warning of the reemergence of the Great-Russian chauvinist, in substance a rascal and a tyrant, such as the typical Russian bureaucrat is. [15] What was at stake, Lenin emphasized, was not just the inner cohesion of the USSR itself, but the impact that developments in the Soviet Union had on the consciousness of the millions of workers in the capitalist world. He wrote: [T]he harm that can result to our state from a lack of unification between the national apparatuses and the Russian apparatus is infinitely less than that which will be done not only to us, but to the whole International, and to the hundreds of millions of the peoples of Asia, which is destined to follow us on to the stage of history in the near future. It would be unpardonable opportunism if, on the eve of debut of the East, just as it is awakening, we undermined our prestige with its peoples, even if only by the slightest crudity or injustice towards our own non-Russian nationalities. The need to rally against the imperialists of the West, who are defending the capitalist world, is one thing. There can be no doubt about that, and it would be superfluous for me to speak about my unconditional approval of it. It is another thing when we ourselves lapse, even if only in trifles, into imperialist attitudes towards oppressed nationalities, thus undermining all our principled sincerity, all our principled defense of the struggle against imperialism. [16] In hindsight, it is clear that what Lenin fought in late 1922 were the early signs of a powerful nationalist tendency within the party and state apparatus, which would subsequently betray every single tenet of the international socialist struggle against imperialism. Due to Lenins illness and eventual death, the brunt of leading the struggle against this nationalist faction, which was strengthened with every defeat of the socialist revolution abroad, fell upon Leon Trotsky and a series of other leading old Bolsheviks. In the fall of 1923, several leading old Bolsheviks published the Declaration of the 46, the founding document of the Left Opposition. Muralov signed the Declaration of the 46 without hesitation, and his signature counted for much. [17] To the objection of his comrades who urged him to leave the Trotskyist opposition, Muralov reportedly responded: I support the old Bolsheviks, and not Trotsky. Stalin acts and proceeds not in the Leninist manner. [18] The Stalinist leadership swiftly proceeded to demote Muralov. In May 1924, he was replaced in his capacity as the commander of the Moscow Military District by Voroshilov, a close ally of Stalin and opponent of Trotsky since the days of the Civil War. Yet there was no way to remove him from public and party life entirely, at least not yet. At the 14th party Congress in 1925, Muralov was elected to the partys control commission. He also continued to hold different positions in the Red Army and the Gosplan. His last position in Moscow was that of director of the Timiriazev Academy. During these years, Muralov was among the comrades closest to Leon Trotsky. His niece wrote, In the years of the Civil War and thereafter, N.I. Muralov often ended up working with L.D. Trotsky. They were friends. My uncle respected Trotsky for his organizational talents, for his ability to quickly orient himself in even the most difficult military situation, and provide assessments of difficult events. As I now understand, Trotsky was also an authority for Nikolai Ivanovich when it came to many political issues. [19] In My Life, Trotsky fondly wrote: He was a fearless marshal of the revolutionary war, always steady, simple, and unaffected. In his campaigning he was a tireless living example; he gave agricultural advice, mowed grain, and in his free moments gave medical treatment to both men and cows. In the most difficult situations, he radiated calm, warmth, and confidence. After the close of the war, Muralov and I always tried to spend our free days together. We were united too by our love of hunting. We scoured North and South for bears and wolves, or for pheasants and bustards. [20] Like his brother Aleksander, Nikolai Muralov was a delegate to the 15th Party Congress in December 1927 at which the Party would expel the Left Opposition from its ranks. However, while Aleksander supported the line and policies of the dominant Stalinist faction, Nikolai spoke as a representative of the Left Opposition. Yet doing this at a Party Congress had already become all but impossible. In the first session of the Congress, Nikolai Muralov tried to speak, but the great leader of the revolution in Moscow and the Civil War was frequently interrupted, shouted down and eventually prevented from speaking at all. [Nikolai] Muralov: The wars have ended, we have proceeded to peaceful construction, but before us were and still are the most daunting tasks of building a socialist state, the dictatorship of the proletariat (murmur)for the first time in all of humanitys existence. (One voice from a seat: But you are undermining this building!) When there is a one-sided discussion the truth becomes, of course, very difficult to clarify or, rather, it is being obfuscated. (Voices: You are the ones who are obfuscating!) Measures have been taken in relation to those who do not agree with the policies, the direction of the policy of our Central Committees, that have been unheard of in our party. If someone from the opposition was talking about the necessity to raise the wages for the workers, they screamed: this is demagogy (noise), when they were talking about a differentiation that was taking place in the countryside, that the kulak is growing, that the poor peasant (bedniak) is being neglected, they screamed: this is demagogy. (Voices: This is a lie, down with him! He is again presenting the platform! You go and work a bit in the countryside! Noise). Finally, things went so far as to result in the most extraordinary, greatest, unheard-of repressions in the party in relation to old, dedicated party members, revolutionaries. They were accused of being agents of Chamberlain. (Loud noise. Voices: Its enough, down with him!) ... When I am criticizing, it means that I am criticizing my party, and its actions and I am criticizing in the interest of the cause, and not for the purpose of flattery. (Loud noise.) [21] Finally, the chair of the session, Petrovsky, told Muralov to yield the floor. In a long resolution, the Congress denounced the Opposition as anti-Soviet, Menshevik, falsely accused it of trying to build a second, Trotskyist Party [the Left Opposition insisted on working within the Third International until 1933], and confirmed the expulsion of Leon Trotsky and Grigory Zinoviev by the Central Committee on November 14, 1927. It also resolved to expel 75 leaders of the Left Opposition, among them Smilga, Rakovsky, and Muralov. Some 1,000 Left Oppositionists had already been expelled from the party before the Congress. Further, the Congress decided to authorize the C.C. and C.C.C. [Central Control CommissionCW] to take all measures for ideological persuasion of the rank-and-file members of the Trotskyist Opposition with the object of convincing them, simultaneously purging the Party from all obviously incorrigible elements of the Trotskyist Opposition. [22] Henceforth, former members of the opposition could reapply for party membership only on an individual basis, with the Central Committee deciding about their application six months after its submission. Above all, the oppositionists had to renounce the Platform of the 83 of the United Left Opposition from 1927which had been signed by some 3,000 party members, many of them with high and long standingand all other main opposition platforms. [23] Kamenev and Zinoviev, who had played a central role in the struggle against Trotskyism, i.e., permanent revolution, in 1923-25, and had joined the United Opposition in 1926, with many differences unresolved, capitulated to the partys demands already during the Congress, seeking to be readmitted immediately. However, the Congress rejected even discussing their statement. Other leading Trotskyist Left Oppositionists, such as Muralov and Smilga, submitted very different statements and declarations. Muralov was a signatory of two of them. The most important one was the longer declaration which he signed along with Ivar Smilga, Karl Radek, and Christian Rakovsky. Another statement to the chairman of the Congress, signed only by Muralov and Rakovsky, said: Submitting to the decision of the Congress, we cease all our factional work, dissolve all factional organizations, and call upon our fellow thinkers to do likewise. We categorically reject the path of a second party, and consider every attempt in that direction to be absolutely counter to the existence of the proletarian dictatorship and therefore doomed to failure. At the same time, we think that our views laid down in the platform and thesis can be defended by everyone of us in the Party within the limits of its Statutes. To renounce the advocacy of our views in the Party is politically tantamount to a renunciation of the views themselves. Such renunciation would be our duty if we were convinced of their incorrectness, *i.e.*, that they are not in keeping with the program of the C.P.S.U. or are of minor importance from the point of view of the fate of the Party and the proletarian dictatorship. Otherwise to renunce (sic!) the defiance of these views would really be renunciation of the right to fulfill the most elementary duty in relation to the Party and the working class We firmly believe that the Party will find a way of readmitting to its ranks those who have been expelled and liberating from prison those under arrest for Opposition activity. [24] What followed were mass expulsion, imprisonments and demotions of leading revolutionaries to minor posts in Siberia or Central Asia. Nikolai Muralov was sent to Novosibirsk in Siberia. Half a year later after the Congress, on June 6, 1928, Muralov wrote in a defiant letter to Leon Trotsky, who was by then already exiled to Alma-Ata: We wrote in an honest and correct manner to the XVth Congress (signed by four of us); nothing better could be written, nothing new could be added. Do they really intend to send anyone related to us into exile? This is not our argument, but the argument of the Uglanovs, the Voroshilovs, and others like them. This is a fight to the death, Menzhinskii told Smilga. Kamenev and Zinoviev, who have weak nerves, and are not entirely courageous, chickened out and crawled through the door of the pigsty, whose floor was scattered with all sorts of trash; We crawled into the party on our bellies (Zinovievs exact words). As you will remember, we both rejected such an unattractive, unaesthetic, unhygienic entry into the revolutionary Bolshevik party because our party was a structure absolutely unlike a pigsty, or any other building for piglets, chickens and other beasts or animals. If we cannot now go to the sailors (and it is true that we cannot), then it is all the more important that we do not go to the VTSiK. But to write a confessionI would rather die than write one, I would rather be drawn and quartered than write one. Even if am aloneI will not write it. We are formally without a party. We are honest workers, we will do everything correctly that they tell us to, we will contribute our relatively broad knowledge to the majority of ignoramuses (which is really a misfortune and one of the reasons for our defeat), both in the economy, and in specific questions of Soviet agriculture. But neither the little nor big cowards, not those who are braver, will turn us into philistines and imposters. This will no more happen than the Irtysh starts flowing from the Arctic Ocean. Greetings, N. Muralov. [25] While seeking repeatedly to be readmitted to the party, Muralov for years categorically refused to renounce his criticisms of and views on the party line. For this reason, none of his requests for readmission to the party were ever accepted. One letter to the Central Committee from April 12, 1930, which Muralov signed along with Christian Rakovsky, V. Kasparova, and V. Kosior, provided an early and sharp criticism of one of the greatest crimes and disasters produced by the Stalinist regimeforced collectivization in the Soviet Union. This document is worth quoting. Along with numerous articles by Leon Trotsky, and other documents and statements by the Left Opposition, it provides irrefutable evidence that the massive loss of human life in Ukraine and Central Asia during the famine cannot be ascribed to communism or socialism, as is now the fashion among anti-Communist and right-wing academics. In its declaration to the CC and CCC (TsKK) of October 4 of last year, the opposition of Bolshevik-Leninists warned against extreme administrative measures in the countryside, because they would have negative political consequences The CC issued a directive which in and of itself constitutes the most grotesque deviation from socialism. The slogan of complete collectivizationregardless of whether it is scheduled for 15 years, as it was done initially, or for 1 year, as they then didconstitutes in and of itself the greatest economic absurdity. We are Marxists and we know that new property forms can emerge on the basis of new relations of production. But these new relations of production do not yet exist. It was also economically absurd to abolish both the kulaks as a class and the NEP [New Economic Policy] by decree. Complete collectivization has been undertaken in violation of the most basic principles of Marxism, and in disregard of basic warnings by Lenin about collectivization, the middle peasants, and the NEP. [26] Muralov did in the end capitulate, just a few months before his final arrest and execution. The exact reasons for his capitulation are not entirely clear, but several people, including his niece, suggest that his younger brother Aleksander Muralov as well as his good friend, the Old Bolshevik Reingold Berzin, exerted a substantial amount of pressure on Muralov. It is very well possible that they were genuinely concerned about his life in the wake of the murder of Kirov on December 1, 1934, which all thinking party members understood to be the prelude to an escalation of the Stalinist terror. In his confession, Muralov wrote: I have not abandoned the Bolshevik party since 1903. ... I can no longer remain outside of its ranks. I again want to be in the ranks of my partythe party of Lenin and Stalin, and devote my strength and energy to it. I hope that the CC will reinstate me in the ranks of the party and I hereby ask for it. [27] His confession was sent to all Central Committee members on January 7, 1936. But it did not help him at all. In his diary, Reingold Berzin suggested that Yagoda and other members of the Politburo continued to suspect Muralov of sympathies for the Left Opposition, as he had failed to denounce Trotsky in his letter of capitulation. Before the six-month period formally required to review a readmission had passed, the NKVD arrested Muralov on April 17, 1936, in Novosibirsk to prepare him for the first Moscow Show Trial. [28] There is great tragedy in the end of Nikolai Muralov. Judging by all accounts, it took months of torture to break him. Rebecca Boguslavskaya, the daughter of one of Muralovs co-defendants, recalled seeing the tortured Muralov in the Moscow prison Lubyanka when visiting her father: Unexpectedly, I saw a convoy that accompanied an older man in his sixties in a warm Tolstoyan shirt. The man being escorted attracted my attention with his energy, his grey, magnificent hair, the grey beard and mustache and his small steps which did not harmonize at all with his appearance. I told myself, it must be painful for him to walk normally. I was nailed to the wall. I could not stop looking at him, my eyes filled with pity, and one thought burned in my head: who is he? [29] The man was Muralov, who had apparently been tortured so severely that he could hardly walk. The last blow to crush Muralov was the arrest of his beloved 16-year-old son Vladimir on November 6, 1936. He signed his false confession just a few weeks later, on December 5, 1936. [30] Soon thereafter, he was tried at the Second Moscow Trial in the so-called case of the parallel anti-Soviet Trotskyist center. Other defendants included Georgy Piatakov, Karl Radek, Leonid Serebriakov, and Grigori Sokolnikov, Mikhail Boguslavsky and Yakov Drobnis. Along with 12 of the other defendants, among them, Serebriakov, Piatakov, Drobnis and Boguslavsky, Nikolai Muralov was shot on February 1, 1937. (Only four defendants were not executed immediately, but they all were killed within the next four years.) As Leon Trotsky observed, the chief purpose of the show trials was to discredit the October Revolution, by dragging its best-known and most important representatives through the mud. Of course, the accusations of espionage for the secret services of the fascist governments of Germany and Japan, and of participating in a counterrevolutionary Trotskyist conspiracy, were despicable lies. The false testimonies and confessions given by the defendants like Muralov, who still rank among the greatest men produced by the 19th and 20th centuries, remain a profoundly tragic and disturbing read. While the names of the defendants were henceforth wiped out from Soviet accounts of the revolution, the Civil War, and early Soviet historyleading to the most absurd distortionsthese false and humiliating confessions were distributed in thousands of copies by the Soviet press in the USSR and around the world. The Muralov family, like so many of the great revolutionary families whose fate was intimately tied to the October Revolution, was destroyed almost entirely in the terror. Aleksander Muralov, who had written a letter to the Central Committee vouching for his older brother, was convicted and executed on June 28, 1937. His sister, Sofia Ivanovna, also an old Bolshevik, perished in the camps in 1943. Nikolai Muralovs son, Vladimir, was arrested and sentenced to eight years in a labor camp. He died in 1943, reportedly of diphtheria. His daughter, Galina (whose later married name was Poleshchuk), seems to have been the only immediate relative who was not executed or sent to the camps. Muralovs wife, Anna Semionova (who seems to never have been very political), was imprisoned in a camp and not released before the late 1950s. She would learn of her sons fate only in the late 1950s. For decades, she tried unsuccessfully to fight for the rehabilitation of her husband. He was rehabilitated only in late perestroika, in 1987 (along criminal lines) and in 1990 (along party lines), several years after her death. The rest of his family had been rehabilitated after the XXth Party Congress in 1956 under Khrushchev. Whatever his tragic end, the role of Muralov in the October Revolution and the Civil War was so visible, and Muralov himself so greatly admired, that he left an enduring imprint on Soviet culture and literature. Vladimir Mayakovsky mentioned Muralov in an early version of his poem, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. But now from a distance, from there, from the red banners, the cold, and our silent honor guard, hear someones voiceit must be Muralovs Forward, march! [31] The great Soviet writer Varlam Shalamov, himself a supporter of the Left Opposition in the 1920s and a victim of the terror, once aptly noted that the Great Purges were directed against all those who had remembered the wrong part of Russian history. This wrong part of Russian history included literally every document and figure of the Trotskyist movement, not least among them Muralov, a man who, by all accounts, made a profound and lasting impression on everyone whom he met and worked with. In The First Chekist, one of his Kolyma Taleswhich rank among the most important literary documents of the crimes of StalinismShalamov provides a glimpse into how traumatizing and agonizing Muralovs persecution and slander was for the people who had been trained and educated by him. In the story, he describes his encounter with Alekseev, one of Muralovs Moscow soldiers in a prison cell, who is accused of conspiracy against the government: He argued very often. Prison life, the life of being interrogated, makes you prone to arguments. You need to know this, to understand it, and always control yourself or be able to distract yourself. ... Gavriil Alekseev did not understand these subtleties of prison life, and threw himself into arguments, into fights. This one reproached Gavriil Alekseev, that one insulted Muralov. Muralov was Alekseevs god. He was the god of his youth, the god of his entire life. When Vasia Zhavoronkov, a railway mechanic from the Stahelski depot, said something about Muralov in the vein of the latest party textbooks, Alekseev threw himself on Vasia, and grabbed the copper kettle, with which we distributed tea in the cell. Alekseev, the strongman, the Hercules, courageously grabbed the kettle by the handle, but could not move it from its place. The kettle was filled with waterit was still a long time until the dinner, when they brought the kettle away. Thus, everything ended in laughter, even though Vasia Zhavoronkov had become pale and was prepared to meet the blow. [32] Shalamov was influenced by the literary and inner-party struggles of the 1920s and remained friends with the family of the Trotskyist literary critic Alexander Voronsky until his death in 1982. In 1927, he was arrested for participating in a demonstration by the Left Opposition on the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution. After his second arrest in 1937 for counterrevolutionary Trotskyist activity, he spent some 20 years in Kolyma. In 1990, a few months before the dissolution of the USSR, a small volume appeared in Russia with a biographical essay on Muralov, memories of contemporaries, and several essays and speeches by Muralov himself, as well as pictures and documents from his familys archive. This 200-page volume contains an enormous amount of highly significant material on the October Revolution and the Left Opposition. While little has been added to this material since the dissolution of the USSR, we should hope that it shall prove only the beginning of more extensive research into the life and times of one of the major figures of the working class. To conclude this profile of one of the most impressive figures of the October Revolution, it seems fitting to cite Leon Trotskys scathing indictment of Stalinism: No one, not excluding Hitler, has dealt socialism such deadly blows as Stalin. This is hardly astonishing since Hitler has attacked the working class organizations from without, while Stalin does it from within. Hitler assaults Marxism. Stalin not only assaults but prostitutes it. Not a single principle has remained unpolluted, not a single idea unsullied. The very names of socialism and communism have been cruelly compromised, from the day when uncontrolled policemen making their livelihood by communist passport, gave the name socialism to their police regime. The memory of mankind is magnanimous as regards the application of harsh measures in the service of great historical goals. But history will not pardon a single drop of blood shed in sacrifice to the new Moloch of self-will and privilege. Moral sensibility finds its highest satisfaction in the immutable conviction that historical retribution will correspond to the scope of the crime. Revolution will unlock all the secret compartments, review all the trials, rehabilitate all the slandered, raise memorials to the victims of wantonness and cover with eternal infamy the names of the executioners. Stalin will depart from the scene laden with all the crimes which he has committednot only as the gravedigger of the revolution but as the most sinister figure in the history of mankind. [33] Literature on Nikolai Muralov Muralova, Yulia, O tom, chto nikogda ne zabudetsia [About what can never be forgotten]. The Russian original is available here: http://scepsis.net/library/id_3568.html Poleshchuk N. (ed.), Nikolai Muralov, Moscow: Moskovskii rabochii 1990. This volume comprises several essays on Muralov, autobiographical works of his, as well as original documents and recollections of his contemporaries. Poleshchuk N., I. P. Donkov, Sud ba bol shevika [The fate of a Bolshevik], in: Oni ne molchali [They would not remain silent], ed. by A. V. Afanasev, Moscow: Politizdat 1991, pp. 86-101. Endnotes: [15] Vladimir Lenin, The Question of Nationalities or Autonomisation (December 31, 1922). https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1922/dec/testamnt/autonomy.htm [16] Ibid. [17] Poleshchuk N., I. P. Donkov, Sudba bolshevika [The fate of a Bolshevik], in: Oni ne molchali [They would not remain silent], ed. by A. V. Afanasev, Moscow: Politizdat 1991, p. 93. [18] Ibid. [19] Yulia Muralova, O tom, chto nikogda ne zabudetsia [About what can never be forgotten]. The Russian original is available here: http://scepsis.net/library/id_3568.html [20] Leon Trotsky, My Life, Ch. 26. https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1930/mylife/ch26.htm [21] This incident does not appear in the official transcript of the Congress which was printed and distributed by the Comintern. The passages quoted are taken from Yulia Muralova: O tom, c hto nikogda ne zabudetsia. [22] Quoted from: Report of the XV Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Official Report with Decisions and Discussions. Published by the Communist Party of Great Britain, London 1928, p. 407. [23] Ibid., p. 410. [24] Ibid., p. 391. [25] Quoted from: Poleshchuk N., I. P. Donkov, Sudba bolshevika [The fate of a Bolshevik], in: Oni ne molchali [They would not remain silent], ed. by A. V. Afanasev, Moscow: Politizdat 1991, pp. 96-97. [26] Quoted from: Ibid., pp. 95-96. Emphasis in the original. [27] Quoted from: Ibid., p. 98. [28] Ibid., pp. 98-99. [29] R. M. Boguslavskaya, Vstrecha na lubianke, in:Poleshchuk N. (ed.): Nikolai Muralov, Moscow: Moskovskii rabochii 1990, p. 185. [30] Poleshchuk N., I. P. Donkov, Sudba bolshevika, p. 100. [31] Vladimir Mayakovsky, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, in Selected Works in Three Volumes, Volume 2, Raduga, 1986, p. 203 (in a different translation). [32] Varlam Shalamov, Pervyi chekist. For the Russian original story, see: https://shalamov.ru/library/1/15.html. The translation from the Russian is by this author. Only a few of Shalamovs Kolyma Tales have been translated from Russian, and The First Chekist is not among them. [33] Leon Trotsky, The Beginning of the End (October 1937). https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1937/10/begin.htm. Over the last several days three workers have been killed and scores of others injured in three separate industrial accidents in New York State. A series of explosions and a fire occurred at 10:15 a.m. at Verla International, a cosmetics manufacturer in Newburgh, New York, a Hudson Valley town, 68 miles north of New York City. Bill Huntington, 57, was killed in a second blast when he reentered the building to make sure everyone was evacuated. Twenty-six workers along with seven firefighters were injured. The private company employs an estimated 250 workers at the 50,000 square-foot factory where firefighters fought the blaze into the night. Verla International was fined for six serious violations and nine in total by the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). It was fined over $63,000 but this was discounted by 35 percent to $41,000 as part an informal settlement with OSHA. One particular violation, the improper storage of large quantities of flammable liquids, is likely a leading cause of the disaster. Workers throughout the US often have to tip off federal and state safety agencies, which lack funds and are chronically understaffed. In many cases, workers are temporary or contract employees who lack training on specific equipment and processes and are often fired for the slightest cause. Registering a safety complaint with management can be a sure bet to lose ones job. The Verla International case was opened after it appears that a worker anonymously filed a complaint with OSHA, reporting unsafe conditions at the factory back in November 2016. OSHA records also revealed that the violations and initial fines were issued on April 28 of this year. The majority of the safety violations were listed as being abated on June 6, meaning it took the company and OSHA over a month to address the safety violations while workers were still possibly exposed to safety risks. According to OSHA records, this is the only safety inspection of the company, which has been in business since 1980. It is not known if Verla will receive fines, even discounted ones, resulting from another OSHA investigation. Many of the workers at the factory are likely to reside in the adjacent city of Newburgh where the poverty rate, according to the US Census Bureau, was 34.2 percent and 46.7 percent for children under 18. Corporations exploit these desperate conditions with low wages and poor safety conditions commonplace across upstate New York. Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, in an effort to appear concerned over workers wellbeing, dispatched a number of representatives of state agencies to the scene to assist OSHA investigators. A second worker, Gregory Eliopoulos, was killed in the northern city of Watertown on Monday night in the citys waste water treatment plant. The details of the death of the 10-year veteran of the plant are unknown and the Public Employee Safety and Health of New York (PESH) is investigating. A young farm worker in Lowville, New York was also killed last Sunday after he was crushed in machinery at the Marks Dairy farm. Ryan C. Ouellette was 32 years old and a father of four young children. Eric Schmidt, the executive chairman of Googles parent company, Alphabet, confirmed this weekend that the worlds largest Internet company is, in close coordination with the state, manipulating search results to censor sites critical of the US government. Responding to a question about the manipulation of information on the Internet during an appearance at the Halifax International Security Forum, Schmidt announced that Google is working on algorithms that will de-rank Russian-based news websites RT and Sputnik from its Google News services, effectively blocking users access to either site. Schmidts remarks at the gathering of military and national security officials confirm the World Socialist Web Sites charges that Google has been deliberately altering its search algorithms and taking other steps to prevent people from accessing certain information and specific websites through its search engines. The WSWS has itself been a principal target of these efforts. The statements expose as lies the companys previous claim that changes to its search engine were aimed at improving search results and that these changes were politically unbiased. Googles efforts are just one part of a much wider government-corporate drive to assert control over the flow of information over the Internet, involving Amazon, Twitter and Facebook, as well as Internet service providers such as Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Verizon and AT&T. The FCC announced this week that it will eliminate net neutrality regulations, allowing service providers to limit which sites customers can access, either by throttling Internet download speed or charging extra fees. Earlier this month, the US Justice Department forced RT to register as a foreign agent in a move aimed at delegitimizing the site as a news source and intimidating its journalists and guests. Google removed RT from its preferred channels on YouTube last month, and Twitter has blocked the news service from advertising. Schmidts statements, however, are the most direct to date. He asserted that Google is trying to engineer the systems to prevent users from seeing content from RT and Sputnik. Schmidt denied that this would amount to censorship while claiming that Googles anti-RT algorithm would block information that is repetitive, exploitative, false, [or] likely to have been weaponized. A campaign against fake news has now become a campaign against weaponized news, meaning true information that is critical of or damaging to the political establishment. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has claimed that when her campaign's emails and her Wall Street speeches were leaked by WikiLeaks they had been weaponized. Under Googles new censorship rubric, any article written about the true information in the Clinton leaks would be a candidate for censorship. As for repetitive, exploitative, false and weaponized information, by any objective measure this applies above all to the campaign over claims that Russia is sowing divisions in the United States. The endless and unsubstantiated stories in the media, channeling the intelligence agencies, are being used to prosecute a war against democratic rights. The anti-Russian campaign that began as an effort by the Democratic Party to ensure that the Trump administration maintained a hostile position towards the Kremlin has been transformed into a general clampdown on free expression and the free exchange of information. While RT and Sputnik are the immediate targets of this campaign, the real concern is any website that exposes the lies of the American government and promotes stories critical of the official narrative promoted by the American ruling class. The WSWS first reported in July that Googles new algorithm launched in April under the guise of combatting the spread of fake news was blocking access to a broad range of left-wing, progressive, antiwar and democratic rights organizations. Since April, search referrals from Google to the WSWS have fallen by 75 percent. Just last month the WSWS and other left-wing journalists were removed from Google News. In an open letter to Schmidt and other Google executives published in August demanding an end to the censorship, David North, the chairperson of the WSWS International Editorial Board, stated: The facts prove that Google is rigging search results to blacklist and censor the WSWS and other left-wing publications. This raises a very serious question, with far-reaching constitutional implications. Is Google coordinating its censorship program with the American government, or sections of its military and intelligence apparatus? While Google has so far refused to respond to direct inquiries from the WSWS, we now have a definitive answer: Yes. That Schmidt makes such a statement so openly is a warning that the campaign to censor the Internet is entering a new stage. An increasingly open and unrestrained attack on free speech and political expression is being prepared. The crackdown on the Internet comes amid historic and ever-growing levels of social inequality. The American ruling class fears the growth of social opposition and anti-capitalistic and pro-socialist sentiments that are building beneath the surface of official life. Above all they fear the development of a conscious movement of the working class fighting for the overthrow of the rotten capitalist system. We urge our readers and supporters to take up the fight to defend a free and open Internet. Join the thousands who have already signed the petition demanding that Google cease censoring the WSWS and other left-wing websites. Help take the fight against Internet censorship to all sections of workers and youth, in the United States and internationally, connecting the fight against the attack on democratic rights with the fight against war, dictatorship and social inequality. Editor Emeritus Dave Zweifel has been with The Capital Times since he graduated from UW-Madison in 1962, serving as the paper's editor in chief from 1983 to 2008. He was president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council for 15 years, served as a Pulitzer Prize judge in 2000 and 2001, and named to the Wisconsin Newspaper Hall of Fame in 2011. A native of New Glarus, Wis., where he grew up on a farm, he serves on several non-profit boards and is a military veteran, having served on active duty as a field artillery officer in the early 1960s and for 26 years in the Wisconsin Army National Guard where he retired as a colonel in 1993. In a desperate manoeuvre on Monday, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull abruptly cancelled next weeks scheduled sitting of the House of Representatives, the lower house of the Australian parliament. He also unilaterally delayed, from December 1 to December 5, the deadline for all members of parliament to lodge documents proving they are not entitled to citizenship of any other country. Whatever the immediate calculations of Turnbull, who is clinging to office by a thread, the postponement of the parliamentary sitting is the latest in a series of crises pointing to the unravelling of not just his ruling Liberal-National Coalition, but the parliamentary establishment as a whole. A decade of instability since 2007, during which time no government has lasted a full parliamentary term, is being intensified by the mounting tensions produced by the Trump administrations aggression toward North Korea and China, and growing social inequality and political disaffection. If Turnbulls edict stands, the lower house will not return from a five-week recess until December 4, even though the Senate, the parliamentary upper house, resumed last week. The prime ministers instruction to the House of Representatives Speaker to halt next weeks session overturned a parliamentary timetable that was set at the start of the year. These actions indicate that the Turnbull is no longer confident that the Coalition can control the numbers in the lower house, where the government is currently in a minority after two of its MPs were disqualified or resigned for being entitled to dual citizenship. Eight MPs have been removed already this year following an October 27 ruling by the High Court. The judges applied a literal interpretation of the 1901 Constitution, insisting that MPs must have single-minded loyalty to Australia, with no foreign loyalties or obligations, including even entitlement to dual citizenship in another country. Today, the ninth MP fell victim to the nationalist and profoundly anti-democratic witch-hunt. Australian-born Nick Xenophon Team senator Skye Kakoschke Moore resigned on the basis that she is entitled to claim British citizenship because her mother was born in Singapore in 1957 before it was granted independence from Britain. Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, the leader of the rural-based National Party, and John Alexander, a Liberal backbencher, are presently contesting by-elections to seek to regain their seats. Even if the government wins the by-elections on December 2 and 16, it evidently fears that another slew of Coalition MPs could be disqualified once their citizenship papers are tabled, further undermining its survival. The Coalition now has only 73 votes in the lower house, while Labor has 69 and could persuade crossbenchers, or dissident Coalition MPs, to back it on votes that endanger the government. Labor Party leader Bill Shorten yesterday secured support from four of the five crossbenchers to write a joint letter to Turnbull demanding that he bring back the lower house next Monday as scheduled. The immediate trigger for Turnbulls move was apparently a threat by several government MPs to support a motion to force the government to conduct an inquiry into the countrys rapacious banks. Such a defeat for the government on the floor of the lower house could be taken as a vote of no confidence, possibly precipitating the governments fall or a new general election. However, the crisis goes far deeper. Since the landslide defeat of the Howard Coalition government in 2007, followed by the eruption of the global financial breakdown in 2008, successive Labor and Coalition governments have been unable to fully impose the austerity agenda demanded by the corporate ruling class. This is due to seething popular hostility to the ongoing destruction of full-time jobs, living conditions and basic services. Support for the two major parties has fallen to historic lows, with a variety of right-wing populists being the immediate beneficiaries. The present turmoil is another milestone in the breakdown of the two-party system that has prevailed since World War II. The conflict over the banking inquiry is symptomatic of the broader divisions wracking the Coalition. This reportedly includes threats by its most right-wing MPs to break away and possibly join a Liberal Party defector, Senator Cory Bernardi, in seeking to create a Trump-style nationalist formation to divert social unrest. In the latest manifestations of these rifts, an unnamed government MP has threated to quit the Liberal Party unless Turnbull is removed as party leader. Ex-Prime Minister Tony Abbott, whom Turnbull deposed in September 2015, last night publicly criticised Turnbulls postponement of the parliamentary session. Various right-wing government members, including Treasurer Scott Morrison, are further stoking divisions in the Coalition. They are demanding that laws be enacted to legalise discrimination against same-sex couples, following last weeks announcement that a postal survey produced a 61 percent national majority for legal recognition of same-sex unions (see: After Yes vote for same-sex marriage, Australian government moves to entrench discrimination). Turnbull attempted to justify delaying the parliamentary session by asserting that the extra week would enable the Senate to finalise proposed changes to the Marriage Act so it can be sent to the lower house. This was a transparent ploy, not least because 53 other bills are currently under debate in the House of Representatives. Turnbull said the lower house would then sit for a week, or possibly longer, before Christmas, but only to deal with the marriage bill and the disqualification of MPs over citizenship. The prime ministers gambit has been lambasted in the corporate media. There is widespread dissatisfaction in ruling circles with Turnbulls failure to deliver on his promises to find a way to impose the sweeping budget cuts and other pro-business policies that his predecessor Abbott also proved unable to deliver. By attempting to shield his government from the complexity and acrimony of parliament, Malcolm Turnbull has only added to his political woes, yesterdays Australian editorial proclaimed. It declared that a depleted government under siege is running away. Turnbull sought to divert from the crisis by telling a Business Council of Australia dinner on Monday night that he was working with Morrison to develop a package of income tax cuts to accompany promised company tax cuts. No details were provided, however, compounding the frustration within the corporate and media ruling elite. Significantly, earlier on Monday, Turnbull declared his governments strong support for US President Donald Trumps aggressive decision to re-list North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism. Turnbulls immediate backing for Trumps latest escalation of the confrontation with North Korea marks yet another commitment to back a potentially catastrophic war that could draw in China and Russia. When he was in opposition, Turnbull was a critic of unconditional Australian alignment with Washington. Since taking office, however, he has repeatedly pledged full support for US military actions. His alignment is shared by the Labor Party, with both parties anxious to retain Washingtons backing. In 2010, the US embassy worked with key Labor Party leaders, including Shorten, to oust then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who had advocated trying to convince the US to accommodate itself to the economic rise of China. The short-term outcome of the turmoil in Canberra is not yet clear. A defeat for the Liberal-National Party in this Saturdays state election in Queensland could hasten a move against Turnbull, the break-up of the Coalition or a split in the Liberal Party. What is certain is that the old parliamentary order is breaking apart. The political system is being refashioned along nationalist lines by the purge of MPs, at the behest of the High Court, who allegedly lack sole loyalty to Australia. As the WSWS warned in its Perspective on November 17: The stoking of patriotism is motivated by the fear of the ruling elite. It is a desperate attempt to cultivate a right-wing constituency that will defend the nationthat is, the class interests of the capitalist oligarchsfrom the inevitable eruption of struggle by the working class against the danger of war and social inequality. As a US-backed Saudi tightening of the blockade against the impoverished and war-ravaged country of Yemen enters its third week, the International Committee of the Red Cross has reported that pumping stations and sanitation facilities in both the Yemeni capital of Sanaa and the south-central city of Bayda have run out of fuel, leaving 2.5 million in crowded urban areas without access to clean water. The ICRC had reported last Friday that the Yemeni cities of Taizz, Saada and Hudaydah had been deprived of clean water and sanitation due to the blockade. It added on Monday that water and sewage systems in the cities of Dhamar and Amram are operating at only half their normal capacity. The aid agency warned that this breakdown threatened to reignite the worst cholera epidemic in modern history, with over 940,000 people already infected and more than 2,200 reported deaths due to the disease just since April. New cases are still being reported at the rate of some 2,600 per day and that number is now expected to rise sharply. Meanwhile, a rapidly spreading diphtheria outbreak has also placed at least 1 million Yemeni children at risk. The blockade has shut down nearly all airports, seaports and borders since November 6, leaving a country dependent upon imports for 90 percent of its food on the brink of mass starvation. A US-funded famine survey released on Tuesday warned that thousands of Yemenis will die daily if the Saudi-led blockade is not lifted. The Famine Early Warning Systems Network noted that, even before the tightening of the blockade, at least 15 million Yemenis were confronting a severe food crisis or worse. Therefore, a prolonged closure of key ports risks an unprecedented deterioration in food security to Famine across large areas of the country, the survey said. Last week, the relief group Save the Children warned that hunger and disease will kill at least 50,000 Yemeni children under the age of five before the years end as a result of the desperate conditions created by the nearly three-year-old US-backed war against Yemen. Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council and the UNs former aid chief, issued a stark and pointed warning in a tweet Tuesday: US, UK & other allies of Saudi [have] only weeks to avoid being complicit in a famine of Biblical proportions. Lift the blockade now. This follows a statement signed last week by a number of international relief agencies, including the UN, the International Rescue Committee and Save the Children, which stated: Ongoing obstruction by the Saudi-led coalition to the delivery of critical supplies is a measure which may amount to collective punishment of millions of Yemeni people. It exacerbates the worlds worst humanitarian crisis where almost three years of war have left over twenty million people in need of assistance, seven million of them on the brink of famine. What is unfolding in Yemen is unquestionably a war crime and one of the worst acts of collective punishment against a civilian population since Hitlers Third Reich. The US government and military have played an indispensable role in enabling the reactionary Saudi monarchy to carry out this crime. Massive arms deals have supplied the Saudi air force with missiles, cluster bombs and other munitions that have been used to reduce Yemeni schools, hospitals, residential areas, farms, factories and basic infrastructure to rubble. US Air Force planes are flying refueling missions to allow the Saudis to carry out round-the-clock bombing, while intelligence officers are supplying them with targets. The US Navy is deployed off Yemens coast backing up the Saudi blockade. In Saudi airstrikes Monday, three civilians were killed in the northern province of Sadaa, while another nine were killed and three more wounded when a Saudi warplane bombed a vehicle in Hudaydah province. The day before, a Saudi airstrike killed eight children and three women in a residential area in Yemens northern Jawf province. The Trump administration has signaled the Saudi regime that it enjoys unconditional support from Washington in carrying out this near-genocidal aggression. The US is seeking to build up a military alliance with Saudi Arabia and the other Sunni Persian Gulf oil sheikdoms, together with Israel, in a bid to reverse the growth of Iran as a regional obstacle to the imposition of American hegemony in the oil-rich Middle East. The administration has remained silent on the catastrophic deepening of the worst humanitarian crisis on the face of the planet, issuing a protest only over Yemens Houthi rebels firing a missile that was shot down on November 4 near the Saudi capital of Riyadh before doing any serious damage. This justifiable retaliation for the merciless bombing of civilian targets in Yemen was attributed by both the Saudi regime and the USwithout any evidenceto Iran, and seized upon as the justification for the imposition of the crippling blockade. While Iran has voiced sympathy for the Houthis and denounced the Saudi war, there has been no serious substantiation of any Iranian involvement in the fighting in Yemen or any significant arms shipments from Iran. Saudi Arabia has intervened in Yemen, the poorest country in the Arab world, because it fears the emergence of any regime on its border that is not a puppet of the House of Saud. The US role in the war to starve the Yemeni people into submission has developed behind the backs of the American people, with the complicity of the Congress, both major political parties and the corporate media. Support for the war began under the Obama administration and has only escalated under Trump. Last week, Democrats and Republicans in the House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a cowardly and toothless resolution that called for an end to actions in Yemen inconsistent with the laws of armed conflict and unobstructed access for humanitarian organizations, while praising the Saudi regime and denouncing Iran. While the initial bill included language threatening a cut-off of military support to the Saudi aggression, that was stripped from the legislation, as was a reference to the 1973 War Powers Act, which requires the US president to end foreign military interventions within 60 days unless they are approved by Congress. The bill that was passed merely noted impotently: To date, Congress has not enacted specific legislation authorizing the use of military force in Yemen. Meanwhile, the CBS News program 60 Minutes broadcast a segment on Yemen Sunday titled When Food Is Used as a Weapon, which managed to present a stark picture of the intense human suffering in Yemen, while deliberately obscuring the fact that the US is fully complicit in inflicting these conditions upon the Yemeni people. Not a word was said in the broadcast about direct US military participation in the Saudi war or the massive arms deals that have allowed it to continue. This deliberate misinformation from the politicians and the media is designed to keep the American public in the dark as Washington creates the conditions for a new region-wide war against Iran that could rapidly eclipse the immense carnage inflicted upon Iraq and Afghanistan, while paving the way to a third world war. People vote at Robious Elementary School on Nov. 7 in Midlothian, Virginia, against a backdrop of a mural that art educator Andrew R. Woodward designed and students created for Veterans Day. Among those elected to the House of Delegates was Lee Carter, a democratic socialist who defeated a GOP incumbent. PHOTO BY ASSOCIATED PRESS Trempealeau County District Attorney Taavi McMahon on Monday ordered his only assistant prosecutor out of the office for two weeks. McMahon assigned assistant district attorney John Sacia to the Monroe County District Attorneys office, Trempealeau County Corporation Counsel Rick Niemeier said. Niemeier did not know why McMahon ordered the assignment and had not spoken to McMahon. McMahon declined to comment to the Tribune, citing a personnel issue. Sacia had 94 cases on Trempealeau County Circuit Courts calendar on Tuesday alone. So far this year, Sacia is prosecuting 70 percent of the countys 166 felony cases and 61 percent of the misdemeanor cases, according to court records. He is needed in Trempealeau County, Niemeier said. Sacia on Tuesday said he was unable to comment. Sacia will assist on cases under review in Monroe County and fill in on bond hearings, Monroe County District Attorney Kevin Croninger said. Amid concerns McMahon declined to prosecute a high volume of cases, the Tribune on Nov. 9 asked him to release the number of cases Trempealeau County law enforcement referred to his office for prosecution and the number of cases he declined to prosecute from 2014-17. McMahon has repeatedly said he will comply with the request under the states open-record law, but has not released the records. The newspaper also asked each law enforcement agency in the county to produce the number of cases it referred to McMahon for prosecution in the same period. Three have complied; the rest are pending. McMahon also told the Tribune he would move to seal a trial transcript sought by the newspaper. In that case, the judge declared a mistrial for a man accused of sexually assaulting a child and chastised McMahon for his lack of preparation. ... (T)heres been such a flurry of preparation in the last few days, were off track, Jackson County Circuit Judge Anna Becker said. This needs to be something thats not a circus but its an orchestrated demonstration to the jury as to what the facts are they should consider. Not some crazy last-minute throw together what we think might work or might not work and have these arguments about whether we talked about it. This is a situation where counsel should have been well aware of what the issues were going to be. We had those rulings ahead of time for a reason. A Trempealeau County committee raised concerns about McMahons job performance in a letter to Gov. Scott Walker in early October. The countys Executive and Finance Committee asked for assistance and guidance after McMahon shuttered his office for a funeral and suspended an employee who refused to attend, was rarely in the office and could have used county funds to buy a laptop for personal use, according to the letter. We believe that he is derelict in his duties, according to the letter. It is our understanding that law enforcement in Trempealeau County have little confidence in his abilities as DA. In a response letter to the committee, McMahon wrote that he is prohibited from discussing personnel issues and maintained the computer is used for state business. The governors staff encouraged the county committee to discuss the issues with Niemeier, who said the issues are still being addressed. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A Florida official is offering tips to help shoppers avoid scams on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Florida Department of Agriculture Commissioner Adam H. Putnam gave the suggestions. He says keep these tips in mind while shopping on Black Friday: Some retailers may inflate prices ahead of Black Friday to create the illusion of a drastic price cut. Research the regular retail price of items to check how much will actually be saved. Price matching policies may be suspended by some retailers between Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Be wary of unexpected emails that claim to contain coupons with significant discounts and ask for personal information. Don't click on any suspicious links. These may contain malware to compromise your identity. Read the fine print at the bottom of sales ads, as sales may be limited to certain time periods, brands or quantities. Below are precautions to take on Cyber Monday: Avoid websites with odd or incorrect spellings of legitimate companies. Domain names that include hyphens are often red flags. Beware of bogus websites promising unbelievable deals. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Be wary of "delivery failure" or "order confirmation" emails for items you did not order. These may be used to gain a consumer's personal information. Use a credit card for online orders. It is easier to dispute and mediate fraudulent charges with a credit card than a debit card. Use strong passwords for credit cards and bank accounts. Consumers who believe fraud has taken place can contact the department's consumer protection and information hotline at 1-800-HELP-FLA (435-7352) or, for Spanish speakers, 1-800-FL-AYUDA (352-9832). For consumer protection information and resources, visit FloridaConsumerHelp.com. MOBILE USERS: Download our WTXL news app on your Apple and Android devices for the latest from South Georgia and North Florida. Also, download our WTXL Weather Now app for Apple and Android devices to get the latest local weather wherever you go. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for additional local news and hourly updates. Copyright 2017 WTXL via Raycom News Network. All rights reserved. WAKULLA COUNTY, Fla. (WTXL) - UPDATE 9:20 AM 11/23/2017 - The search continues for two escaped inmates from Wakulla County after one was arrested in North Carolina. Authorities are still searching for Joel Teraill Cooper and Donald James Cotterman. According to WBTV's report, the Rowan County Sheriff's Office believes all three men may have been involved in the theft of a 2007 Pacifica recreational vehicle that was stolen from Rowan County. Deputies said the vehicle was taken out of state. The Sheriff's Office says that there is evidence showing the three men may have been involved in several property crimes in Georgia and Virginia as well as Rowan County. Cooper and Cotterman may be in possession of stolen guns, including an AR-15 and a .22-caliber rifle, deputies say. They say both men were with Casey Brandon Martina, the inmate captured in Rockwell, NC, Tuesday, before his arrest. Deputies believe the fugitives are possibly driving in a white commercial work truck with a Georgia tag. The truck is described as being white and having green panels on an oversized bed like one on a landscaping truck. The Rowan County Sheriff's Office confirmed with WBTV that a truck used in an ATM theft in another North Carolina county Tuesday is the same truck stolen by the three escapees. When deputies arrived to the incident, they found that the entire ATM machine had been stolen. Surveillance video from the store shows two men using a logging chain to load the ATM into the back of a white four-door work truck. The logging chain was left behind at the scene, deputies say. The men then left the store heading in an unknown direction. The fugitives may be running away from North Carolina in the western part of the state, according to the sheriff's office. Cooper and Cotterman face felony larceny charges in Rowan County. Martina, was arrested Tuesday in Rockwell, NC. People who see any of the escapees, or know of information concerning their whereabouts, are asked to use caution and contact the Wakulla County Sheriffs Office immediately at 850-926-0800 or 850-745-7100. UPDATE 10:33 AM 11/21/2017 - An inmate that escaped from Wakulla County Jail last week has been arrested in North Carolina. Casey Brandon Martina is one of the three inmates that escaped the jail through the ceiling Friday, November 17. He was captured in Rockwell, NC on Tuesday. According to arrest documents, 25-year-old Martina was arrested by deputies just after 3:00 a.m. on Tuesday. He was reportedly found by deputies sleeping on a couch in a living room of a home after they received an anonymous tip. When they searched Martina, they found the keys to a car in his pocket. The Rowan County Sheriff said they discovered the keys were to a 1999 black Jeep Cherokee stolen out of Virginia. Inside the car, deputies found toolboxes, hardware and broken locks. The Sheriff speculates that the broken locks may have been from storage unit facilities Martina had broken into. Deputies also discovered in two boxes of ammo, 22 cal. and other ammo inside the car though they never found a weapon. Martina is charged with possession of a stolen vehicle and as a fugitive from justice. The Sheriff's Office says they have no reason to believe the other two men are hiding in the county but will actively pursue any leads should they come in. There's no word on why Martina was in Rowan County. The Wakulla County Sheriff's Office says the escapees, Joel Teraill Cooper, Donald James Cotterman, and Martina managed to get through the ceiling of the law library last Friday and escaped by going across the building's roof. Martina was being held in Wakulla County Jail for burglary, theft, vehicle theft, and criminal mischief. He is now being held on a $250,000 bond in the Rowan Detention Center. The Wakulla County Sheriff's Office is working to get Martina extradited to Tallahassee. UPDATE 10:08 AM 11/20/2017 - Following three days of searching, the Wakulla County Sheriff's Office is opening up a criminal investigation into the escape of three inmates through a jail ceiling. The Sheriff's Office says the search for the escapees, Joel Teraill Cooper, Donald James Cotterman, and Casey Brandon Martina, has transitioned from an initial search phase to an investigative phase. They say detectives are now breaking up the investigation into two parts. The first part involves getting the charges levied against the escapees and any of their accomplices, and the second part involves finding the inmates through investigating any and all leads. The Sheriff's Office says that at this point in the investigation, very few details will be released to the general public or the media to prevent the escapees from using that information to their advantage. "It is requested that if a citizen is questioned by CID (Criminal Investigations Division) Detectives, that you keep that information confidential until this matter is resolved," deputies wrote in a press release. As of now, WCSO says they can't predict how long it will take to capture the runaway inmates. They say they will work diligently to capture and prosecute each and every person involved in the escape. Once the case is fully solved and closed, the Sheriffs Office will make all of the information available to the public. While the criminal investigation is ongoing, WCSO says their professional standards division will conduct an internal affairs investigation to see what policies may have lead to the escape to prevent incidents like this in the future. If anyone has information beneficial to this matter, please call (850) 745-7100. UPDATE 5:00 p.m. 11/17/17 - The Wakulla County Sheriff's Office says they are still actively searching for three escaped inmates from the Wakulla County Jail. Deputies are now expanding their search in Wakulla County and are currently conducting follow-ups on leads and have multiple units spread out across the county. However, they believe the inmates may have escaped the area. As of now, they say they are collecting information from people known to associate with the inmates to develop leads. They say they've been assisted by numerous agencies in their search with ground units from the Florida Highway Patrol, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Leon County Sheriff's Office, and the Department of Corrections. They have also used air patrol with assistance from FWC and LCSO. WCSO warns not to approach these subjects. Instead, if you see them, call the Wakulla County Sheriffs Office (850) 745-7100. Anonymous tips may also be submitted to Crime Stoppers at (850) 574 TIPS (8477). The Wakulla County Sheriffs Office says the three inmates appear to have escaped early Friday morning through a breach of the ceiling of the law library. "It appears that they then made there way across the building above the ceiling to an exit point where they made their escape from the facility," Wakulla County Sheriff Jared Miller wrote in a Facebook post. The inmates escaped at 12:09 a.m. Friday. The sheriff says there is a heavy law enforcement presence in the Rehwinkle and Tafflinger Road area. "Many of the searches are taking place in heavily wooded areas and away from main highways so the many units involved may not be easily visible to you the citizens," he wrote, "but we assure you that we have a large force working non-stop until we locate these escaped inmates." Miller said he has not issued orders for people to remain indoors but asks that people exercise caution and remain alert. He said there is no indication the escaped inmates are armed. The escaped inmates' descriptions and charges follow: Joel Teraill Cooper black male, 508, 187 lbs. Date of birth: 12/7/1973. Charges: burglary of business Donald James Cotterman white male 511, 156 lbs. Date of birth: 01/19/1973. Charges burglary, criminal mischief and weapon possession. He is also registered as a sexual offender. In 1995, Cotterman was convicted of sexual battery on a victim under 16 in Leon County. Five years later, he was convicted of rape and another sexual offense in Ohio. Casey Brandon Martina white male, 602, 210 lbs. Date of birth: 07/05/1992. Charges: burglary, theft, vehicle theft, and criminal mischief All three suspects are wearing grey or white sweats and long johns. A news release said the Wakulla County Sheriffs Office recommended that Wakulla County Schools be canceled on Friday. The search for the inmates also caused other schools to close, including the Wakulla Christian School as well as the Wakulla Environmental Institute and the Tallahassee Community College Wakulla Center. People who see any of the escapees, or know of information concerning their whereabouts, are asked to use caution and contact the Wakulla County Sheriffs Office immediately at 850-926-0800 or 850-745-7100. Agencies assisting in the search include the Florida Highway Patrol, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the Florida Department of Corrections and the Leon County Sheriff's Office. MOBILE USERS: Download our WTXL news app on your Apple and Android devices for the latest from South Georgia and North Florida. Also, download our WTXL Weather Now app for Apple and Android devices to get the latest local weather wherever you go. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for additional local news and hourly updates. Copyright 2017 WTXL via Raycom News Network. All rights reserved. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) Florida law-enforcement officials are encouraging people to remain vigilant and report suspicious behavior to prevent terrorist attacks. Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Rick Swearingen said that If You See Something, Say Something," you should call 855-FLA-SAFE or report online at FDLEs website. "Our nations security is a shared responsibility and every citizen plays a critical role in identifying and reporting suspicious activities and threats," Swearingen said. "The See Something, Say Something campaign urges citizens to report possible terrorist activity to law enforcement. Reporting like this can prevent terrorist attacks. Tips received through the hotline and online reporting form are answered by the Florida Fusion Center, a 24-hour watch desk at FDLE. There intelligence analysts assess the information and work with the states Regional Domestic Security Task Forces. To learn more about suspicious activity and how you can help, visit the "If You See Something, Say Something Tool Kit on-line at http://www.fdle.state.fl.us. Officials encourage anyone who sees suspicious activity to report it to local authorities or call 1-855-FLA-SAFE (1-855-352-7233). It can also be reported online through FDLEs website at www.fdle.state.fl.us. For all emergencies, call 911. MOBILE USERS: Download our WTXL news app on your Apple and Android devices for the latest from South Georgia and North Florida. Also, download our WTXL Weather Now app for Apple and Android devices to get the latest local weather wherever you go. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for additional local news and hourly updates. Copyright 2017 WTXL via Raycom News Network. All rights reserved. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - One of the four Democrats running to be Florida's next governor, spent the day helping a Tallahassee woman prepare a huge thanksgiving meal. Gwen Graham did her part to help Annie Johnson get ready for Thanksgiving. How much celery does it take to prepare a feast for 1,400 people? "Miss Annie is just an angel on earth, and she said that she took this on as a mission to help people who were hungry to get people food," said Graham. "It's, for me, a very joyful opportunity to help prepare the food." Graham has been on the campaign trail for more than six months now. She said it's been a "very positive experience," with less than a year to go before the election. "My commitment is to wake up everyday as governor and look out for the people that are going to be walking through these doors in a couple days -- and the people all across the state of Florida," said Graham. As the governor's race heats up, she says she welcomes the competition, knowing that if she wins, she would be the first woman to lead the Sunshine State. "For little girls, for little boys, for all Floridians, it's time that we have a governor that is someone that people can look up to and feel what's in my heart," said Graham. With four Democrats in the race so far, Graham says she's ready to show Floridians why she should vote for her in the primary. "It is time!" she asserted. "It is time to get back to having a governor that just is doing it for the people, is doing it for the state, and is doing this with integrity and a commitment to getting things done again." This was Graham's first workday in Tallahassee since she started running for governor. As for Annie Johnson, she says she still needs more sweets and baked goods for her meal on Thanksgiving. LOS ANGELES (KCBS/KCAL/CNN) While holidays may mean hugs for many, the Girl Scouts of America is reminding parents that physical boundaries and consent are important lessons to teach, even if it means refusing hugs from relatives. A blog post by the Girl Scouts tells parents, She doesnt owe anyone a hug, not even at the holidays. The hugs addressed here are clearly of a non-sexual nature, but according to the Girl Scouts post, they can influence how girls set boundaries in the future. "Allowing children, particularly girls, the space to decide how they want to show affection, said Kenya Yarbrough, a spokesperson for the Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles. Yarbrough says the post is a timely lesson in consent. "It's important for kids to feel empowered and brave enough to share how they want to share, she said. Girl Scout Jillian King says the post has taught her you can say I love you in a variety of ways. "You don't have to use your body to tell people that. You can just use your words, Jillian said. Some people on social media have accused the Girl Scouts of blowing an innocent family interaction out of proportion. "Girl Scouts, I think you're overreacting very, very ridiculous, said mother of two, Gianini Haro. Haro says her family plans on plenty of holiday hugs. "You don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, and you didn't have that chance to hug and kiss somebody in your family, she said. Others, like former Girl Scout Barbara Blumenthal, say this is a lesson they could have used as a kid. "Even in college and after that in working situations, I've been forced to hug people that I'd rather not touch me, Blumenthal said. The Girl Scouts suggested some alternatives to hugging in the post, including a handshake, a high-five or a thumbs-up. For more information, read the blog post on the Girl Scouts website. Copyright 2017 KCBS, KCAL, Girl Scouts of America via CNN. All rights reserved. MOBILE USERS: Download our WTXL news app on your Apple and Android devices for the latest from South Georgia and North Florida. Also, download our WTXL Weather Now app for Apple and Android devices to get the latest local weather wherever you go. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for additional local news and hourly updates. Copyright 2017 WTXL via Raycom News Network. All rights reserved. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - The Leon County Sheriff's Office is seeking information about a man wanted for grand theft. Charles Brent Hughes, 35, is described in a wanted poster as standing 6'2" and weighing 180 lbs. People are asked to share information about Hughes by calling a hotline at (850) 574-TIPS (8477). MOBILE USERS: Download our WTXL news app on your Apple and Android devices for the latest from South Georgia and North Florida. Also, download our WTXL Weather Now app for Apple and Android devices to get the latest local weather wherever you go. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for additional local news and hourly updates. Copyright 2017 WTXL via Raycom News Network. All rights reserved. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Local law enforcement are remembering and honoring Leon County Sheriff's Office Deputy Chris Lynd Smith, who was shot to death during an ambush on Nov. 22, 2014. Both the Tallahassee Police Department and the Leon County Sheriff's Office shared tributes on Facebook. In the post, TPD wrote Smith "paid the ultimate sacrifice while serving Leon County," when he responded to reports of a house fire and got ambushed. LCSO posted a tribute video to Deputy Smith on its Facebook page. Smith was among the first to arrive at Caracus Court about 10:22 a.m. and was immediately shot and killed by a man who had approached him from behind. The attacker took Smith's firearm and fired at other responders, including people from the Tallahassee Fire Department and the Tallahassee Police Department. Another sheriff's deputy was shot and wounded before an off-duty Tallahassee police officer who lived nearby shot and killed the attacker. Previously a dispatcher and corrections officer, Smith served with LCSO for almost six years. He is survived by his wife and children. MOBILE USERS: Download our WTXL news app on your Apple and Android devices for the latest from South Georgia and North Florida. Also, download our WTXL Weather Now app for Apple and Android devices to get the latest local weather wherever you go. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for additional local news and hourly updates. Copyright 2017 WTXL via Raycom News Network. All rights reserved. BAKER COUNTY, Fla. (WTXL) - UPDATE 10:47 a.m. 11/22/2017 - Deputies have arrested a Baker County Detention Center employee in connection to an inmate's escape from the facility Monday evening. The Baker County Sheriff's Office says they arrested 43-year-old Gregory Shedd, who is contract food service employee at the detention center. They say Shedd is the employee who pushed an inmate, Dakota Carter, out of the detention facility in a garbage cart on Monday, helping Carter escape the premises. Detectives issued warrants for Shedd's arrest on Monday. The next evening, Shedd turned himself in. He has been charged with introduction of contraband into a detention facility and aiding in an escape. A $100,000 bond was assigned for each charge. The Baker County Sheriff's Office has captured an escaped inmate and arrested the accomplice who aided him. According to the Sheriff's Office, the inmate, Dakota Carter, escaped from the Baker County Detention Center Sunday evening by hiding in a garbage cart. They say surveillance footage captured Carter on the facility's premises Monday at 7:45 p.m., about 15 minutes before deputies responded to the detention center for the escape. Deputies say Baylee Barber picked Carter up from a location near the detention center to help him escape. However, he was found and arrested early Monday morning at a hunting camp in Echols County. Both Carter and Barber have been charged for the escape. Prior to his escape, Carter was facing charges of: Possession of a weapon by convicted felon, possession of methamphetamine within a specified area, possession of drug paraphernalia, armed burglary to a dwelling or structure, grand theft and grand theft of a firearm. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A Tallahassee woman was arrested after stabbing a man with a kitchen knife. Shonterria L. Conner, 23, was arrested Monday and booked into the Leon County Detention Center on charges of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and aggravated assault without intent to kill. On Saturday, officers were called to Vista Rise Apartments about an assault. Tallahassee Police Department officers wrote that when they arrived on the scene they saw five males and a female in a heated argument in front of an apartment. An officer separated the group and saw blood on the victim's right shirt sleeve. According to an arrest report, a witness, who is the stabbing victim's brother, told police that the knife was meant "for him." He said that earlier that day, his girlfriend left the apartment and went to Conner's house. Shortly after leaving, the witness said several men showed up to his house and started banging on the door, threatening to kill him. When the witness came out of the apartment to confront the men, according to the arrest report, the victim noticed his young cousin walking out of his brother's door unattended and went to get the child. However, the victim says he was then assaulted by two of the men and was stabbed in the arm by Conner. The officer wrote in the report that "[the victim] had a minor stab/cut on the back of his right bicep area and some swelling on his left cheek" and refused to be transported to a hospital. Witnesses corroborated the account, telling investigators that they saw Conner armed with the kitchen knife and swinging it at males as she chased them. Police could not find Conner on the day of the stabbing. But they found her Monday while responding to a report that she was chasing her boyfriend around the parking lot. Conner remained in jail on Wednesday and applied for criminal indigent status to try to get the appointment of a public defender. MOBILE USERS: Download our WTXL news app on your Apple and Android devices for the latest from South Georgia and North Florida. Also, download our WTXL Weather Now app for Apple and Android devices to get the latest local weather wherever you go. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for additional local news and hourly updates. Copyright 2017 WTXL via Raycom News Network. All rights reserved. VALDOSTA, Ga. (WTXL) - Valdosta police discussed the possible reasons behind the crimes in their city and ways to prevent them. Valdosta has lately been faced with a rise in crime, ranging from armed robberies to vehicle break-ins to homicides. Valdosta police officers are saying it's going to take the community as a whole to reduce the rise of wrong doing throughout the city. Lt. Adam Bembry says the Valdosta Police department will continue searching for ways to increase safety and decrease crime in the community. MOBILE USERS: Download our WTXL news app on your Apple and Android devices for the latest from South Georgia and North Florida. Also, download our WTXL Weather Now app for Apple and Android devices to get the latest local weather wherever you go. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for additional local news and hourly updates. Copyright 2017 WTXL via Raycom News Network. All rights reserved. China is on a steady track to meet its 2017 growth target despite some short-term fluctuations as the government focuses on quality over speed in its pursuit of economic growth. If you are sending a Letter To the Editor, please be sure to follow these rules: Letters have a firm 200-word limit and will be edited for grammar, clarity and accuracy. The person who signs the letter must be the author. Anonymous letters will not be considered. Letters must address the editor, not a third party. We will not print form letters, libelous letters, business promotions or personal disputes, poetry, open letters, letters espousing religious views without reference to a current issue, or letters considered in poor taste. Letters reflect the opinion of the writer. The Yakima Herald-Republic cannot verify the accuracy of all statements made in letters. Writers are limited to one published letter per calendar month. "I dont think there should be extra compensation for doing what the job is. All this nickel and diming the taxpayers . . . just do your job! If you dont like it, dont run for it. It is absolutely ridiculous and irresponsible to suggest a raise like this and then to get an additional $2,000 a year after that! Kurt Bulgrin, York County Commissioner YORK The Tuesday conversation regarding elected officials requests for substantial pay increases was quite frank, lively and sometimes with strong opinion as the commissioners considered the proposal. Based on a study/survey done by the Nebraska Association of County Officials (NACO), the elected county officials (clerk, treasurer, assessor, clerk of the district court, public defender, sheriff and county attorney) have asked the commissioners to increase the salaries of those positions to take effect in 2019. They said the current salaries are less than the low end of the ranges recommended by NACO. It was also brought forward at this time with the theory of setting the future salaries before Dec. 1, which is the first day for candidates to file for the 2018 election cycle. But on Tuesday, York County Attorney Christopher Johnson said revised state statutes now call for the salaries to be set by Jan. 15 of the election year, so that removes the necessity of setting the salaries before Dec. 1. Because they dont have to be set until Jan. 15, that allows more time before you set the wages for the timeframe of 2019-2022. Initially, the matter was set on the agenda for discussion in executive session. The elected officials remained in the room with the commissioners, to talk with the county board members in private. But the executive session quickly ended, with Commissioner Kurt Bulgrin challenging the executive session. He read state statutes that explain how an executive session can be challenged and said he wanted to have the conversation we were having privately, I want this to be discussed publicly. The other commissioners agreed to end the executive session and have a public discussion about the matter. They then asked Johnson to recap the salaries that the county officials are seeking. He explained again, on their behalf, that they are seeking to have the salaries for the clerk, treasurer, assessor, clerk of the district court and public defender be increased to $65,000 a year, which would be an 11 percent jump. They are also asking that the position of sheriff be paid $75,000, which would be an 8 percent increase, and a 27 percent increase for the county attorney to bring it to $100,000 a year. The basis of the increases for the sheriff and county attorney is that the position holder is on call 24-7. What has also been discussed was extra pay for extra work, Johnson added, saying some of the county officials who do multiple jobs are requesting additional money, on top of the raises. An example of this would be that the clerk is also the election commissioner and the registrar of deeds. With that said, with the new statute to set these by Jan. 15, it is not mandatory for the board to act today, Johnson said. And I need to point out that this is setting the salary for the position, not for the person, as all these positions will be up for election in 2018 and others might be elected. I also want to point out that the NACO recommendation for the commissioners is $29,000 a year, Johnson added. York County Clerk Kelly Turner also noted the county officials were additionally seeking specific annual raises set in dollar figures for subsequent years, rather than have them being based on cost of living percentages (as they had been in the past). Was there any discussion among the county officials about doing these increases by steps over the next four years, to do it gradually? asked Commissioner Bill Bamesberger. It was a very brief discussion, Johnson said, regarding an earlier meeting of the county officials. The point of all of this is to get the positions up to $65,000 as a starting point in 2019 rather than as an ending point in 2022. Bamesberger said hed rather look at giving those positions increases of $2,000 each year for four years and then to eliminate cost of living and other pay increases. Some said they were concerned that even if the $65,000 was achieved by 2022, it would again be at the low end of the recommended range as the NACO range would just continue to increase. Commissioner Bulgrin asked Johnson to reiterate the increases the elected officials were requesting, which Johnson did. With increases on top of that? Bulgrin asked. Yes, thats what they are asking, Johnson said. And that would include all their benefits also? Bulgrin asked. I believe that figure is salary only and doesnt include any benefits, Johnson said. So then they get free insurance on top of that too, Bulgrin commented. NACO puts this out every four years before the election, said Commissioner Randy Obermier. This is a 34-page opinion and I didnt read every word of the 34 pages. But I did read on Page 6 that it says they are aware it is difficult to compare these positions with others (in the workforce), but that we also need to be aware of other salaries (in the local economy). There is nothing we can really compare them to. I dont want to kick the can down the road on this, as these salaries need to be set. I do like the idea of doing dollar figures (regarding future increases rather than percentages). And yes, these are for the positions, not for specific people. Yes, NACO looks at current salaries in the different counties and we can compare those. We are close but not necessarily leading the way. And yes, a job paying a $60,000 wage with a benefit package that pushes that up to $90,000 a year in York County, thats a pretty nice job, I think. We probably need to play a little bit of catch-up, but how much and how, that we need to decide. And theres that issue with certain positions doing multiple jobs, said Bamesberger. They want more money for that but then look at the sheriff, who handles five different budgets and he doesnt get a dime more for that. Commissioner Jack Sikes also noted that many other counties probably have county officials doing the same multiple tasks as the county officials in York County are doing or not. How many do exactly the same thing? Unless we do a study of that . . . State statutes give the authority of setting elected officials salaries to the county board, correct? Bulgrin asked Johnson, with Johnson affirming that is the case. And NACO is not authorized to set the elected officials salaries, correct? Bulgrin said further. Johnson said that was certainly the truth that NACO is simply a lobbying entity. You know, there comes a time . . . well, Im going to say that I dont care what Seward County is doing or Sheridan County or whoever, Bulgrin said. Im accountable to the York County taxpayers. Part of the components of this study was the valuation of the county, correct? Yes, valuation was one component, Johnson said. So my question is if they want salary increases like this, based on the countys valuation increase, then would they be comfortable with their wages going down if the valuations start going down? Bulgrin asked. Sikes pointed out that the salary increases were being proposed for the positions, not the people currently holding the positions. Yes, but if you live by the study you die by the study, Bulgrin added. If the valuations go down, then the salaries should go down, if you are basing it on that. It was questioned whether salaries can be decreased after they are set. Well, if you cant lower it, then you cant raise it, Bulgrin added. And as far as people doing multiple jobs somehow everyone has been able to manage over the years doing those duties without extra pay. The commissioners are also the board of equalization, so should our salaries double? I dont think so. I cant make a decision on this today . . . well, I should say I shouldnt make a decision on this today. Bamesberger said he did some quick math and found that if all the salaries were increased to the proposed levels, that would mean an extra 1/3 of a penny on the countys levy. Well, I dont think it should be based on valuation at all, Bulgrin said, to which Bamesberger agreed. It shouldnt be based on valuation, it should be based on what the job is and what they do. When we look at that multiple job situation, what do we want to do? asked Bamesberger. There havent been any additional jobs added to any of these positions since these officials have signed on for their positions, Obermier said. So, I would say no regarding the additional pay for that. The elected officials knew, like we knew, when we all signed on, what they were signing on for. Then could the elected officials hire additional people to do these jobs? asked York County Sheriff Dale Radcliff. And now we are getting back to what the taxpayers will put up with, Obermier said. You all know I am not going to file to run again, so this has nothing to do with me, the sheriff said, revealing the first time in public that he was moving toward retirement. But, just as an example, some police chiefs make $80,000 a year and they dont run a jail. Running a jail, as an example, is a lot of responsibility. We all have additional, multiple duties, said York County Veterans Service Officer Nick Wollenburg. Not just the elected officials, we all do. I dont think there should be extra compensation for doing what the job is, Bulgrin added. All this nickel and diming the taxpayers . . . just do your job! If you dont like it, dont run for it. It is absolutely ridiculous and irresponsible to suggest a raise like this and then to get an additional $2,000 a year after that! I dont think we should vote today, said Commissioner Paul Buller. I make a motion we table this. I second it, Bulgrin said. I, myself, havent come up with a number yet, Obermier said. I would support having an exact number of dollars a year, to be put in a resolution. What those numbers are, I dont know yet. My question is what has changed in a year that a salary should jump $8,000? Bulgrin asked. How do we justify that to the taxpayer? There is no way you can back that up. And just one more note -- $29,000 for the county commissioners is way too much also. I will vote in favor of tabling this, but I caution all of you to do your homework and craft a plan so we dont procrastinate another 30 days on this, Bamesberger said to the other board members. Everyone but Sikes voted in favor of tabling the matter. YORK Hannah Sabatas request for parole drew unanimous support from the Nebraska State Parole Board early Wednesday morning. Sabata, then 19, was convicted of robbing the Cornerstone Banks Waco branch at gunpoint on Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2012. She was subsequently convicted of felony robbery, given 10-20 years and began serving that sentence at the Nebraska Correctional Center for Women the following June 17, 2013. Sabata, 25 early next month, spoke softly as she answered questions from parole board members Teresa Bittinger, Layne Gissler and Rex Richard. Bittinger conducted the hearing and had the most interaction with Sabata among the three. Bittinger read into the record that no opposition to parole was received from any of the public officials canvassed about Sabata, who will be released to the custody and care of Living Water Rescue Mission in York on Saturday. Sabata answered in the affirmative when asked about her participation and completion of pre-release programs at the prison. What has she learned, asked Bittinger? How to take responsibility for my actions, she answered, and about having relapse prevention in place. Asked by Bittinger if she understood what relapse triggers are and, more specifically, which ones she needs to be especially wary of, Sabata answered, Old friends and old places. Sabata was told she will be assigned a parole officer whose job it will be to keep her from tripping any triggers. Her first phone call on the outside, she said, will be to that parole officer. Make that person your best friend, Bittinger said, to genuinely confide in and lean upon. LaVerna Smith at Living Water said she and Sabata have become comfortable with each other through Monday meetings at the prison. Asked why she chose Living Water, Sabata said she is frightened of California where she has family and doesnt want to go there. She said shes familiar with and comfortable in the York area. Asked why she robbed the bank that day, Sabata thought for a moment before answering, I couldnt keep a job, she said. Asked by Bittinger about her workplace skills, Sabata said, I have a paralegal certificate. In response Bittinger commented, You have some brains and you know how to use them. She told Sabata, Robbery is a bad crime. Its a violent crime. We need to keep the public safe. We need to be sure you dont do the same things again. Can you be successful? Do you want to be successful? Bittinger asked. Yes, answered Sabata. Did you like living here? she asked to an immediate no from Sabata in answer. Richard, who had little to say during the proceedings, told Sabata, Two years ago I couldnt envision ever supporting you for parole because of her behavior up to then. In those past couple years, however, he complemented Sabata for making a remarkable turnaround in that regard. Bittinger made a motion to approve Sabatas release to Living Water on her parole eligibility date of November 25. Richard seconded the motion and voted in favor. Are you going to let us down? asked Gissler. No, answered Sabata. Then I vote yes, he said. After making certain Sabata understood all the terms of release, Bittinger made the vote unanimous. Sabata must complete the one-year program at Living Water without incident, must pledge to maintain her medications and to abide by all the rules and regulations there. We have a lot of rules here, she said. They do too. Youve been doing well, Bittinger said. Dont mess around. Be a success story. Expert Advice with Kevin Turner. 23/11/2017 How can investors fast-track their childs financial future? Maybe by teaching them a few life lessons. Philippe Brach is the CEO for Multifocus Properties & Finance and author of called Property Wealth in Any Market: How You Can Build a High Performance Property Portfolio has some thoughts about how we can all help our kids and grandkids. Listen to the interview now :- Transcript Kevin: Im delighted to have back on the show the author of a book we have mentioned on a few occasions, Property Wealth in Any Market: How You Can Build a High Performance Property Portfolio. It was written by Philippe Brach. Philippe is the CEO for Multifocus Properties & Finance and joins us once again. Philippe, nice to have you on the show. Thank you. Philippe: Thank you, Kevin. Kevin: I wanted to talk to you specifically about how investors can fast-track their childs financial future, maybe by teaching them a few lessons. What are some of the things that you could tell us about that, Philippe? Philippe: The first thing is in terms of helping your kids build a financial future, the best thing you can do and its one of the greatest gifts you can give your children is actually empowering them to be successful. That works through education about financial matters, which unfortunately, lacks a bit at school, so parents have the responsibility to actually help their children to understand the big, wide world out there. That can go initially through teaching them how to build up savings and then probably also talking to them about how compounding works. A great part of the education is as they grow into young adults, you can start discussing with them the various ways they can get ahead in life. That includes, obviously, the possibility of investing in property, either being a home or an investment property or even both. Kevin: There are many topics, arent there? You talked about compounding, but also building equity in property and using it to get some gearing. These are all good lessons for you. How soon can you start teaching kids this, Philippe? Philippe: It will depend on the maturity of the child, but when you are starting to teach them about savings and their pocket money, etc., you can start fairly young. Some parents would disagree, saying a child shouldnt become a young adult too soon, but at the end of the day, the sooner they get the good habits that will help them in life, the better it is. Kevin: I suppose we need to understand, too, that theyre like sponges. They absorb information, so you have to be very careful around the dinner table how you talk and what you talk about. You may not even be talking to them, but theyre going to be listening and absorbing that all the time. Philippe: Absolutely correct. The topics you can teach them, as you said, because they are sponges, the earlier you start, the better it is and the better it gets into their mind. Everybody wants to have successful kids, and you want them to start thinking long term rather than just short term. Kevin: Philippe, help me here. Lets just take one of those topics and talk about how we can educate young people. You mentioned compounding. How would you describe that to a child? Philippe: Its a good question. Once you get to talk to a child, it depends, obviously, on the age you start talking to them about compounding, but trying to explain to them that if you put $1 in and that $1 grows at a certain rate, it will double in a certain time. Probably the best way to do that is to talk to the kids about the famous Rule of 72, which I think from memory, Einstein was playing with in his spare time. Pretty much, it says if you put $1 in the bank at 7.2%, it will double in value in ten years. Conversely, if you put $1 into the bank in your savings account at 10%, it will double in value in 7.2 years. You can play with little games like this to make sure it sticks in the childs mind. I think that notion of saying 7.2% doubles in ten years, then you can extrapolate. What if its not 7.2%, but its less? Then you can start interesting the child in finding out. If its only 5%, its not going to double in ten years, but you do your calculation and it ends up doubling in 15 years. The other thing you can do, using that same example, is to say, If that $1 doubles in ten years, and you keep pushing that calculation, you actually get another $1 after 15 years. The compounding means that the longer you invest, the more it accumulates and the better it works for you. Kevin: I love that. Thats fantastic, the Rule of 72, 7.2%. We can apply that to a market, too. If a market is growing at 7.2% annually, then the property will double in value in ten years. Philippe: Thats right. Thats why its common out there when people talk about property growth, they say, Oh yeah, its going to double in ten years, because weve been used to having these rates of growth around the 7% or 8% mark, so it makes sense. Nowadays, in the current market, excluding Sydney and Melbourne, youre talking on average about 5%, which means your property will double in 15 years. The important thing is for an adult and a young adult to understand how this works, that the difference between 5% growth and 7% growth makes five years difference into your investment objectives. Therefore, the younger you start, the better it is. Kevin: Philippe, its great talking to you. Thank you so much. Philippes book is Property Wealth in Any Market: How to Build a High Performance Property Portfolio. Its a great book. Ive read it. I recommend it to you. Philippe is the CEO from Multifocus Properties & Finance. Id love to have you back again on the show. You make so much sense. Philippe, thank you for your time. Philippe: Thank you, Kevin. Real Estate Talk the only place where you hear all Australasias leading property experts. Originally published as: https://www.realestatetalk.com.au/teach-the-kids-some-life-investment-lessons-philippe-brach/ ................................................................................................................................................... Kevin Tuner worked in radio as General Manager of various east coast radio stations. He started in real estate in 1988 and was ranked in the Top 10 Salespeople in the state until he was appointed as State CEO 1992. He operated a number of real estate offices as business owner and was General Manager of several real estate offices in Christchurch. He now hosts a real estate show on Radio 4BC and a weekly podcast at www.realestatetalk.com.au. He is the host of a daily 7 to 10 minute podcast show for real estate professionals at www.reuncut.com.au. To hear more podcasts by Kevin Turner, click here Disclaimer: while due care is taken, the viewpoints expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Your Investment Property. CRIBZ, the online property assistant built specifically for millennials, is now available on Google Assistant. The launch comes on the heels of the real estate apps launch on Facebook Messenger last month making it the first real estate app on both platforms to target Gen Y users in Australia. CRIBZ was founded on the premise that the conventional property search process is outdated. Most real estate sites start with the location as the first question and then give you a bunch of classified ads from agents, Peter Esho, CEO of CRIBZ, told Your Investment Property. We start with more important questions: Your budget, transport options and lifestyle preferences. We do this in a conversational format, serving neighbourhood suggestions in guide format as results. Once the investor knows the right neighbourhood, they can commence their search for individual properties. CRIBZ provides a comprehensive guide to 45 Sydney neighbourhoods, scoring each on criteria such as: Budget (summarises the latest buy and rent prices) Demographics (gives users more info about their potential neighbours) Mobility (measures users transit times to and from work) Internet (evaluates the neighbourhoods internet speeds) Fitness (measures access to gyms and health clubs) CRIBZ is currently available on both Facebook Messenger and Google Assistant in an open beta. We plan to have a functional Amazon Alexa app by early 2018. We intentionally didnt build a native app as its tedious to get users to visit the app store and download it, Esho said. While the app is only available in Sydney right now, Esho wants to expand to new cities in 2018. Focus for now though is firmly on Sydney the largest real estate market in Australia. Related Stories: Does Technology Make It Easier To Invest? Rent-Bidding Apps To Shake Rental Market News Washington, DC - The United States condemns todays terrorist attack in Mubi, Adamawa State and extends our sincere condolences to the Nigerian people and the families of the victims killed in the attack. That the victims were targeted and killed in a place of worship demonstrates yet again the brutal nature of the terrorists whose sole aim is to threaten the peace and security of Nigerian citizens. Such ruthless attacks on innocent civilians only serve to strengthen our resolve towards meeting these threats in cooperation with our Nigerian and regional partners. Latest News Yuma, Arizona - In December 2017, retired Yuma County Sheriffs Office Detective Eric Frost will present Crime Prevention at Yuma County Libraries. Learn crime prevention tips to protect your property and loved ones. There is no charge to attend. Friday, December 8th @ 1:00 p.m. Wellton Library, 28790 San Jose Avenue (928) 785-9575 Tuesday, December 12th @ 4:30 p.m. Foothills Library, 13226 E South Frontage Road (928) 342-1640 Eric Frost graduated from Central Arizona Regional Law Officers Academy in 2006, and was hired by the Yuma County Sheriffs Office. During his tenure as a Deputy Sheriff, he worked as a Hostage Negotiator on the Crisis Management Unit, Special Operator on the Special Response Team, Gang Officer, and Narcotics Officer on the Yuma County Narcotics Task Force. From 2010-2015, Mr. Frost supervised the Criminal Investigations Division as Lead Detective, and had a 100% solvability rate on homicides and attempted homicides. During his career with the Yuma County Sheriffs Office, he received the Outstanding Achievement award, Agitator of the Year, Special Merit award, and Officer of the Year. In October 2016, Mr. Frost had to retire from the Yuma County Sheriffs Office after being seriously injured on duty. After retiring, he launched Eric Frost Consulting to teach companies, small businesses, families, schools, and winter visitors to protect their property, loved ones, employees, customers and themselves. For more information, visit www.ericfrostconsulting.com Yuma News Yuma, Arizona - A state-mandated recount of Yumas close election for City Council confirms that Karen Watts has been elected to the third and final seat, the City learned Tuesday. In fact, the recount tallied votes identically to the original final count. The margin between Watts and fellow candidate Gregory Counts was only five votes when tallies of the Nov. 7 general election were released. Per Arizona law, that triggered an automatic recount. The Council canvassed the election Nov. 15 and issued a finding of fact which identified the need for a recount and referred it to the court. The case went to Yuma County Superior Court Judge Larry Kenworthy, who ordered Yuma Countys elections board to conduct the recount. The identical vote tally between the final results and the recount instills confidence in both the process and vote count for our local elections, noted City Administrator Greg Wilkinson. The other lesson from this is, every vote counts. Watts will join Mayor Douglas Nicholls, current Deputy Mayor Gary Knight and Councilmember-elect Leslie McClendon on four-year terms that begin Jan. 1, 2018. Review of election totals A total of 7,579 ballots were cast, including: Early ballots. Poll results from all of the 3 voting centers. Following are the final, unofficial results, in order of votes received. City Council / Votes Cast / Percentage of Ballots Cast Knight, Gary 3,669 48% McClendon, Leslie 3,289 43% Watts, Karen 3,261 43% Counts, Gregory 3,256 43% Rosevear, Ken 3,187 42% Rojas-McNair, Kristina 2,819 37% Mayor Douglas Nicholls and Presiding Judge James Coil were both re-elected to four-year terms as a result of the Aug. 29 election, having each exceeded 50 percent of the vote. ZIUA de Constanta lanseaza, in curand, Indreptarul de iubire Zi dupa zi, pana la Ziua Dobrogei, ZIUA de Constanta va fi semnalul, apelul, constiinta care #sarbatoreste Dobrogea The story of how the United Kingdom played a central role in the building of the city of Constanta has its origins in the Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s and the growing realisation that the British Isles were no longer self-sufficient in food. Across Western Europe other governments were grappling with similar challenges of feeding their populations. The repeal of the Corn Laws provided an impetus to a British policy of support and encouragement for free trade, which has been a defining characteristic of the United Kingdom to this day.In their search for sources of grain to meet the burgeoning demands in Western Europe, British merchants looked with great interest at the fertile lands of Wallachia and Moldavia. But in the late 1840s and early 1850s there was a problem. The export route for the grain was the Danube River, but its mouth was a delta with multiple channels, under the control of Russia. The latter had no interest in seeing grain exports along the Danube becoming rivals to its own exports from Odessa, and thus Russia did much to hinder the trade, for example through burdensome quarantine restrictions and paying only lip-service to its commitments to dredge the channels.This Russian obstructionism in developing the Danube grain trade was indeed one of the factors which encouraged the United Kingdom to join with Turkey in the Crimean War against Russia.Russias defeat in that conflict was to provide a powerful impetus to British investment in developing the Danubian grain trade, both in the provisions of the Treaty of Paris regarding free navigation of the Danube and in providing a more stable footing for the Ottoman Empire, which was thus better able to conduct business affairs. In his 1857 memoir The Danube and the Black Sea, Thomas Forester wrote: By a law of compensation in the wise order of Providence, the hurricane of war, like the tempest and the thunderstorm, clears the atmosphere; and, while sweeping the earth with desolation, prepares it for fresh processes of culture and improvement. The clouds dispersed, halcyon days succeed, which, turned to profit, afford new scope for industrial pursuits (p. 2).The Treaty of Paris established a European Commission for the Danube, whose task it was to improve the navigability of that river, to promote trade. But the challenges around the shallow and meandering channels of the Danube Delta looked daunting, and British investors searched for other routes through which the grain trade might more easily be developed.They focused in particular on the geographical quirks of the course of the Danube River which, after flowing eastwards for hundreds of miles, marking the current border between Romania and Bulgaria, turns sharply north, just east of the town of Calarasi. In doing so, it is brought, at Cernavoda, to a point just 40 miles from the Black Sea, at the present day port of Constanta. If grain could be conveyed from Cernavoda to Constanta, the tribulations of navigation through the Danube Delta could be avoided.The French had constructed a cart track along this route during the Crimean War, to supply food and fodder for their armies in Crimea. A British entrepreneur named Thomas Wilson proposed the construction of a canal, and secured the approval of the Ottoman administration through a decree, or firman, to work up the project. He brought in the services of a British engineering company, Liddell and Gordon, who were to prove highly significant in the development of Constanta. Charles Liddell was a distinguished civil engineer, who helped develop the Midland railway in England, and whose niece was the model for Alice in Lewis Carrolls Alice in Wonderland.Lewis Dunbar Brodie Gordon was to become the UKs first ever professor of engineering, at Glasgow. Liddell and Gordons report on the feasibility of Wilsons canal project was however discouraging, and investors focused instead on an alternative and apparently more straightforward project: the construction of a railway, coupled with the development of Constanta as a free port.Thomas Foresters memoir The Danube and the Black Sea is in essence a promotional pamphlet for this project. Forester describes the town of Kustendjie, as Constanta was then called, as a degraded one, having suffered Russian predations, and which according to him now contains a population of only 40 inhabitants. (p32) But Forester sees huge potential in the place, writing that there can scarcely be imagined a more favourable site for a commercial city. (p62)Forester sets out the objectives underpinning the proposal in strongly commercial terms, writing: It proposes to link the East and the West of Europe by the bonds of a commercial intercourse mutually beneficial, providing a new channel for the corn trade of territories teeming with cereal wealth - a matter of the last importance to the governments and populations of Western Europe - while it opens markets in the corn-producing countries for the manufactures and colonial luxuries demanded by a growing civilization (p. 78-79).Foresters enthusiasm for the project is seen in his glowing descriptions of the resources, wealth and climate of Wallachia, writing:From April to December they have seven months of a genuine Grecian summer - cloudless skies, balmy breezes and out-of-door life (p. 86).Probably the only time that the climate of Romania in December has been likened to that of a Grecian summer. And he is at pains to contradict what he identifies as a prevailing view in the West of Dobrudja as an unhealthy region.Foresters pamphlet is firmly underpinned by the unshakable confidence in the advantages of free trade, writing: Upon the sound principles now firmly established in the country, it is no part of the government or the legislature to interfere with the relations of commerce, except in the way of removing its burthens and restrictions and granting facilities for its expansion (p. 137).For Forester, free trade in corn was the best safeguard against famine. And if the Danube to Black Sea Railway was built, and the port of Constanta developed, he predicted that:The Danubian Provinces, alone, are capable of exporting, on the average of years, a very large proportion, perhaps one half, of the six or seven million quarters of grain required to meet the general deficit of European production (p. 136).But in true Victorian style Forester also dwells on a view that this commercial project will bring in its wake considerable philanthropic benefits. While lamenting what he indentifies as a degraded character of the local peasantry, Forester is convinced that:He may be raised from his apathy by better prospects, and stimulated to industry by security for his gains and the comfort and independence they procure (p. 94).He argues that his scheme therefore claims the sympathy of the philanthropist for the moral and social benefits which must naturally follow in its train (p. 79).Forester is convinced that the construction of the railway and the development of the Port of Constanta will generate British settlement in the region: At least a sprinkling of neat English homesteads would take the place of the mud huts and rush hovels of the Wallachian and Bulgarian peasants, and form models for their imitation (p. 161).And not just the English. Forester believes that large numbers of German migrants would follow and that the tide of population, after flowing westwards for 400 years, [would] be turned back to the East (p. 167). Forester argues that this immigration would be beneficial for the project, though it would not be essential to its success. And he cites a wide range of other potential advantages for the scheme, including the strategic advantage for Turkey in the development and fortification of the port of Kustendjie. He envisages the scheme helping to revive the ancient trade of the Euxine, providing a means for conveying the commodities of the East to Europe (p. 192).He laments that: For four centuries the commerce of the Black Sea has been nearly stagnant under Turkish rule, and since the Russian czars extended their frontier to its northern coasts it has been further circumscribed by their jealous restrictions (p. 197). And he believes the scheme will develop tourism to the region, in which: The English colony of Kustendjie may naturally become a pleasant resting-place, where the traveller will halt to refresh himself after his fatigues, and prepare for further enterprises (p. 209).The Ottoman government accordingly agreed a concession contract with the Danube and Black Sea Railway and Kustendjie Harbour Limited, which was given the land needed for the project for a term of 99 years, but on condition that the railway was ready for use in three years. Invested capital of some 400,000 was put up by 64 British shareholders. Many of these were linked to the Midland Railway company, such that the line between Cernavoda and Constanta came to be regarded in some quarters as a distant overseas cousin of the Midland. Prominent investors included Sir George Ernest Paget, Chairman of the Midland Railway; Herbert Ingram, founder of the Illustrated London News; and shipping magnate Sir Samuel Cunard.The concession contract was signed on behalf of the company by John Trevor Barkley, who also served as project manager. With the company working to such a tight deadline, they did not have time to appoint a contractor. The consultancy was the work of engineering company Liddell and Gordon. Among the by-products of the new railway was the building up of Medgidia, on the line, as a new town, named after the then Ottoman Sultan, to serve as an economic hub for central Dobrudja and to house refugees from the Crimean War.Work on the railway began in 1857, with Barkley joined by his younger brothers, Henry, George and Robert, and by his brother-in-law, Douglas Austhwaithe Stanley. Henry Barkley wrote an account of his experiences, Between the Danube and Black Sea or Five Years in Bulgaria, published by John Murray in 1876. But he is better known today for his 1896 book, Studies in the Art of Rat-Catching, ostensibly intended as a practical guide for English public school boys, and based on the fictional recollections of master rat-catcher Bill Joy. It was reworked by the US actor, director and writer, Crispin Glover as Rat Catching in 1988.The railway was dully finished in 1860. But the Danube and Black Sea Railway faced unexpected difficulties arising from the impressive work of another British engineer. This was Sir Charles Hartley, chief engineer for the European Commission for the Danube, whose engineering feats in eliminating the obstacle to navigation provided by the Sulina Bar facilitated trade from Galati and Braila to the Black Sea via the Danube Delta, earning Hartley the popular title of Father of the Danube. This gave the railway unwelcome competition.Nonetheless, the new Danube and Black Sea Railway and the modern port of Constanta performed efficiently. Locomotives for the railway were produced at the Bayer and Peacock works in Gorton, Manchester. One of them, locomotive 683, named Thighina by the Romanians, built in 1861, was still in use in 1944, when it was destroyed by US bombing in Bucharest. In 1864 a private Danube and Black Sea Railway Company post was established with its own stamps, providing the postal link between Constanta and Cernavoda, and between maritime and Danube River shipping companies.But the strategic and commercial importance of cereals from the Danube Principalities was declining. Wheat from the area was no longer considered a strategic resource since Western European demand was being met by rapidly growing supplies from the expanding North American frontier. Tellingly, Britain and other Western European powers did not involve themselves in the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-78. A distinguished role was nonetheless played by Edward Harris, General Director of the Danube and Black Sea Railway Company from 1868 to 1882, in helping to avert the destruction of Constanta during the war. And indeed the operation of the railway continued throughout the war, with those Russian troops using the trains reportedly even paying for their tickets.In a sign of the importance played by the Danube and Black Sea Railway in the development of Constanta, Carol I, in his first official visit to Dobrudja in 1878 following its unification with the Romanian State, insisted on being the guest of Edward Harris while in the city.Harriss last key role was as part of the team negotiating the sale of the Danube and Black Sea Railway to the Romanian State in 1882. The companys final dividend was paid in 1884. Among its joint liquidators were Charles Liddell and George Barkley.The UK then played a central role in the development and modernisation of the city and port of Constanta. My own visits to Constanta over the past three years have taken in a bilateral business event jointly hosted with the Constanta Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a regional ports event, showcasing the strengths of British companies in supporting the modernisation of port facilities across Central Europe, and the visits of British T-45 destroyers, among the Royal Navys most modern warships, part of the strengthening of our bilateral defence ties. All of these are signals of Britains continuing engagement with Constanta, a city in whose role in helping to build the UK is proud.Cotidianulpublica, in aceasta perioada, mesaje dedicate Zilei Dobrogei, in cadrul proiectului, dedicat implinirii a 139 de ani de la revenirea provinciei la Romania si a 17 ani de activitate jurnalistica. Fie ca Dobrogea este locul lor natal sau nu, personalitati din diferite domenii si reprezentanti ai institutiilor de pe plan local si national ni s-au alaturat in acest proiect aniversar, transmitand pentru cititorii nostri mesaje dedicate celebrarii provinciei istorice dintre Dunare si mare. Ramaneti alaturi de noi pentru a marca aceasta sarbatoare! In fresh trouble for former US president Bill Clinton, four women have made fresh allegations of sexual assault against him. According to Daily Mail, the former president allegedly assaulted the women in early 2000s. The women, who have made the allegations, were at the time of incident employed at the organisation of Ron Burkle, playboy billionaire investor. However, reports also say that the incidents took place after Clinton was out of the White House. The Telegraph reported that the incidents might have occurred when Clinton helped Burkle in his business and flew around in his private luxurious jets with flock of young women. Though the complainants remain anonymous, but they are reportedly planning to file four separate lawsuits against the former US president. Clinton has faced many cases of sexual assault and harassment. The most famous case against him is concerning her affair with Monica Lewinsky, who was an intern at the White House. The scandal came to light in 1998. Years later, addressing Forbes Under-30 Summit, Lewinsky had narrated how she was the first person whose global humiliation was driven by the Internet as overnight she went from being a completely private figure to a publicly humiliated one. A tell-all book released in 2014 had also claimed that Clintons steamy phone sex with Lewinsky was used for blackmail by Israel. Author Daniel Halper had also claimed that the former US president included British actress Elizabeth Hurley on a "hit list" of women he wanted and that UK, Israeli and Russian spies monitored the X-rated calls, the Mirror reported. The book `Clinton, Inc.` claims while Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu used the tapes to try to get Clinton to free Jonathan Pollard, an American jailed for spying for the Middle East country. In the run up to the US presidential elections 2016, Democrat Hillary Clinton, the wife of Bill Clinton, had said that she had moved on. Clinton had said she was unwilling to talk about the scandal that nearly ended her husband's presidency. WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump defended embattled U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore on Tuesday, saying the Alabama Republican had denied allegations of sexual misconduct and emphasizing that he did not want Moore`s Democratic opponent to win. Trump previously said that Moore should step aside if the allegations were true. Speaking to reporters at the White House before leaving Washington for Florida, Trump left open the possibility of campaigning for Moore, saying he would make an announcement on that next week. The president also ripped into Moore`s opponent, Democrat Doug Jones, describing the former prosecutor as liberal and soft on crime. The comments represented a shift in strategy for the White House, which previously tried to keep its distance from the controversy sparked by a Washington Post report detailing accusations by four women that Moore pursued them when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s. More women have since spoken out with allegations of their own. "He totally denies it. He says it didnt happen. And, you know, you have to listen to him also," Trump said. Trump`s position was a break from that of other national Republicans. U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other prominent lawmakers have pressed Moore to quit the race. It also contrasted with comments from his daughter Ivanka Trump, a White House adviser who told the Associated Press there was a "special place in hell for people who prey on children." She said she had no reason to doubt the women`s accounts. Moore, 70, has denied any wrongdoing. The married Christian conservative has said he is the victim of a witch hunt and has declined to drop out of the race. Reuters has not been able to confirm any of the accusations independently. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump himself faced accusations from several women that he had in the past made unwanted sexual advances or inappropriate personal remarks about them. Trump denied the allegations, accusing Democrats and the media of a smear campaign. `DON`T NEED LIBERAL PERSON IN THERE` Trump supported Moore`s opponent, Senator Luther Strange, in the Republican primary race for the open U.S. Senate seat vacated by now-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, but he backed Moore after the former Alabama chief justice won the nomination. Republicans hold a slim 52-48 majority in the Senate. They are eager to hold on to that advantage to pass Trump`s legislative agenda on taxes, healthcare and other priorities. Since the accusations against Moore were reported, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders has said repeatedly that Alabama voters should decide the election and called the allegations "troubling." The White House also backed the Republican National Committee`s decision to withdraw support for Moore. But the administration`s position appeared to start evolving this week when White House counsellor Kellyanne Conway criticized Jones during an interview with Fox News and said the White House wanted a Republican to win the seat in order to support Trump`s plan for a tax overhaul. Trump, who had declined until Tuesday to answer questions about the Alabama race, was prepared with a list of complaints about Jones when facing reporters on the south lawn of the White House. "I can tell you one thing for sure: We don`t need a liberal person in there, a Democrat, Jones," Trump said. "I`ve looked at his record. It`s terrible on crime. It`s terrible on the border. It`s terrible on the military. I can tell you for a fact, we do not need somebody that`s going to be bad on crime, bad on borders, bad with the military, bad for the Second Amendment." Before the allegations came to light, Moore was heavily favored to defeat Jones, a former federal prosecutor, in the special election on Dec. 12. Two opinion polls last week showed Moore now trailing Jones. "Doug believes the women, and that the people of Alabama will hold Roy Moore accountable," Jones` spokesman, Sebastian Kitchen, said in a statement. Among those prosecuted by Jones when he was a U.S. attorney in Alabama were two former Ku Klux Klan members for their involvement in a 1963 church bombing in Birmingham that killed four girls. A military aircraft with 11 people aboard has crashed into the Philippine Sea while en route to an aircraft carrier, the US said Wednesday, the latest accident to hit its armed forces in East Asia. "A United States Navy aircraft carrying 11 crew and passengers crashed into the ocean southeast of Okinawa," a statement from the Navy said. "Personnel recovery is under way and their condition will be evaluated by USS Ronald Reagan medical staff. "The aircraft was en route to the US Navy aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, which is currently operating in the Philippine Sea. "USS Ronald Reagan is conducting search and rescue operations. The cause of the crash is not known at this time." The US miltary has a heavy presence in the western Pacific, with tens of thousands of troops and hundreds of pieces of hardware stationed in Japan and South Korea. The USS Ronald Reagan last week was one of three American aircraft carriers that held rare joint drills in the region, joined separately by Japanese navy and South Korean warships over the weekend. The drills come as tensions persist between Washington and North Korea over its missile and nuclear programme. US military vessels have been involved in a number of accidents in recent months in East Asia. The USS John S. McCain collided with a tanker off Singapore in August, killing 10 sailors and injuring five others. Two months earlier in June, the USS Fitzgerald and a cargo ship smashed into each other off Japan, leaving seven sailors dead. There were also two more, lesser-known incidents. In January USS Antietam ran aground near its base in Japan, and in May, USS Lake Champlain collided with a South Korean fishing vessel. Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Bhupendra Singh on Wednesday said, the Bhopal gang rape victim will be given an award for her bravery, adding, it is yet to decide whether the award will be named after Rani Padmavati or not. "She (the rape victim) faced all that bravely and confidently narrated her ordeal later. She definitely deserves an award for it," state Home Minister Singh told ANI. However, he added that it is yet to decide on which award will be given to her. "We will make a decision on which award is to be given to her," Bhupendra Singh said on if Rani Padmavati award will be given to Bhopal gang rape victim. Speaking on the issue of rape, the state home minister said, they are going to propose death by hanging for those who rape minor girls. "We are asking for death sentence for those who rape minor girls and will be presenting the same in the cabinet today as well. This will be presented in the Vidhan Sabha too. Madhya Pradesh will be the first state in India to implement something like this, especially with Prime Minister Modi`s save daughters, educate daughters` agenda," Singh said. Earlier this month, a 19-year-old civil services aspirant was allegedly abducted by four men and gang-raped near the Habibganj Railway Station in Bhopal. All the four accused are in custody. Following their arrest, two doctors of Madhya Pradesh`s Sultania Women Hospital were suspended on November 11 after they produced an erroneous medical report stating that the victim indulged in consensual sex with the accused. The Jabalpur High Court then ordered the state government to file a report in the case citing actions taken in the regard. The court also raised questions over the role of police and doctors. Bhopal: Amid ongoing protests over noted film director Sanjay Leela Bhansali's yet-to-be-released movie Padmavati, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday said that Queen Padmavati's life will be made part of school textbooks across the state. The MP Chief Minister also referred to Queen Padmavati the subject of Bhansali's controversial movie as 'Rashtramata Padmavati'. 'Rashtramata Padmavati to be included in Madhya Pradesh school textbooks, Shivraj Singh Chouhan said. Rashtramata Maharani #Padmavati will be taught in schools from next syllabus. Our children will get to know from books about her greatness and not depend on distortions: MP CM Shivraj Chouhan pic.twitter.com/FIcTVxyc7u ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2017 However, the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government had earlier said that a film, which has "distorted facts" about Rajput queen Padmavati and allegedly shows disrespect to her, will not be released in Madhya Pradesh. "The insult will not be tolerated," Chouhan had said, eliciting a rousing applause from the audience. While calling Padmavati 'Rashtramata' (mother of the nation) Chouhan said, "The film which distorts facts and disrespects 'Rashtamata' Padmavati will not be allowed to screen in any part of Madhya Pradesh." He said that queen Padmavati was a "true reflection of the Indian woman". "We have been studying about the rare sacrifice and dedication of queen Padmavati since our childhood," he said referring to the legend that the queen had committed 'jauhar' (self-immolation) before Chittor could be captured by Alauddin Khalji in 13th-14th century. He went ahead to say that even if the movie is passed by the Censor board for release in the country, it won't make it to the screens in the state. Interestingly, the MP government has also constituted an award in the name of the erstwhile Rajput Queen. A 'Rashtramata Padmavati Award' has been instituted by the state government for people doing outstanding work for the protection of women, he had said. He said a memorial of the queen would be built at a site in the state capital, where a memorial for the country's brave soldiers has been proposed. Chouhan made this announcement at an event where BJP's Madhya Pradesh chief Nandkumar Singh Chauhan called Bollywood director Sanjay Leela Bhansali a 'sinner' and alleged that in the movie 'Padmavati', history had been tampered with for the sake of money. Meanwhile, Maharashtra Tourism Minister Jaykumar Rawal today demanded a ban on the screening of the controversy-ridden film "Padmavati" in the state. Rawal also wrote a letter to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) demanding that the movie be shown to a committee of expert historians for scrutiny. "I have written a letter to the chief minister demanding a ban on the movie if it distorted historical facts," the BJP leader said. He said any "objectionable scenes" in the movie should be deleted before its release is allowed. Rawal said he has written to the CBFC to cancel the "certificate given to the movie" and that it be shown to a committee of expert historians. "Requesting the CBFC to immediately cancel the certificate given to the movie 'Padmavati'. A committee comprising expert historians be allowed to watch the movie and edit the defamatory fantasies for the language, script and scenes which undermines, devalues and insults the great valour and sacrifice of Rani Padmavati which is being worshipped by lakhs of people," the letter read. The Sanjay Leela Bhansali film starring Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh is based on Rajput queen Padmavati. Amid rumours that there was a romantic dream sequence between Padmavati and Alauddin Khilji's characters, various Rajput and other groups have been protesting against the film, alleging it "distorts" history and hurts the sentiments of the people. Historians are, however, divided on whether Rani Padmavati even existed. Rawal said actor Ranveer Singh should not have played the character of Delhi sultan Alauddin Khalji in the movie. "He (Ranveer Singh) should have thought what role is he playing," he said. Khalji has been projected as a hero in the movie and today's generation believe in movies, he said. "Do they want them to believe that Khalji was a hero?" the minister asked. Chief Ministers of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh - all BJP ruled states - and Punjab, ruled by the Congress, have already opposed the release of the movie. With PTI inputs Brittany Graber isn't just excited about having more space and a new location across the street from the Apple store. The upgrade for her Ulla Eyewear store at Hilldale Shopping Center will mean Graber will be able to transform her boutique into more of a full-service destination. Graber, who purchased the company from her father in 2009 and has worked at the shop since her college days, will add a part time optometrist beginning in January. It's something she's been thinking about for over a year but didn't have the space in her 900-square-foot store in the Macy's vestibule. Graber's new 1,400-square-foot store that opened this month next door to Twig's on the south end of the shopping center will provide enough room for an exam room and to display racks of colorful European designer glasses. "This is the time to do it," Graber, 41, said. "It will be great to do full service and offer that convenience. We've built a lot of trust and a ton of repeat customers so it will be nice to offer this." Since being founded in 1998 by Joe Graber and his wife, Ulla, the shop now in its third Hilldale location, has been an extra step for customers after getting their eye exam elsewhere. The addition of an optometrist is designed for more of a one-stop convenience, Brittany Graber said. She is in the process of buying and equipping the exam room with about $50,000 worth of equipment and furnishings and is in negotiations with an optometrist who will likely be paid on an hourly basis and hold exam hours, initially, two days a week and every other Saturday. "The interesting thing with eye doctors is that there is a good percentage of them who work in two different locations," Graber said. "I'm pretty sure that as we continue to push the word out to our customers that we'll be able to fill those (exam) spots pretty easily." Graber started managing the store in 2001, has 10 employees and more than 700 different types of glasses, 80 percent of which are exclusive to the Madison market. The lineup includes designer names like Lindberg, Barton Perreira, Theo and Salt that range in price from $400 to $700 a pair. On the high end, the offerings include feather-light glasses by Tom Davies of London made from pressed buffalo horn and priced at $1,200. Ulla's economy line of glasses from Bellinger, a Danish company, range in price from $275 to $300. The shop also has sunglasses, children's eyewear and readers. Graber, a West High School graduate who attended the University of Minnesota and then studied graphic design at Madison Area Technical College, comes from a family of entrepreneurs that include not only her father but two uncles and her grandfather. "With business you either get it or you don't. It's not necessarily something you learn in school," Graber said. "I really enjoy it and I enjoy trying to figure out how to make a business run efficiently. We've built a good reputation in Madison and I love that we're local and not a big business." Mumbai: Kangana Ranaut, who is all set to portray the fearless warrior Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi in Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi, injured herself on the sets of the film in Jodhpur reports suggest. She was immediately rushed to a hospital for treatment. And going by the latest buzz, she has flown to Mumbai to recover. However, this isnt the first time Kangana got injured while working on the film. A few months back, while enacting a sword fighting scene, Kangana was hit by the weapon and she started bleeding from her head. While giving an interview to the Filmfare magazine, she opened about the whole incident. She said, "I was doing a sword-fighting scene with three men. I guess Nihar (Pandya, who plays Rao Saheb) forgot his cue and he hit on my head. There's no way of avoiding something so unfortunate like this. Especially, when it's choreography related. The coordination of the various elements is difficult. It was a bad accident. It exposed my bone and my face was full of blood." She also shared that if you give blood to play such a woman, it's worth it. "There's something about being in character. You cannot be a warrior without adopting the body language and the demeanour. When the metal sword hit my head, I felt it. I saw blood streaming down my face. There were stains on my dress. I asked Nick (Powell, Hollywood action director) whether I needed stitches. He said yes. I asked how many. He said around 10. I asked him to take me to the hospital, to the best plastic surgeon. Nick and my producer, Kamal Jain found it amusing that it was me who was guiding them. Usually, I'm scared of blood. But in this case I wasn't," she shared. "But when you talk about Laxmibai, she was the general of an army. She was an extraordinary woman. How many battles she fought in the prime of her youth! She was like a 'killing machine'. So it would be a shame to try to get into character superficially through clothes, make-up, hair styles and jewellery. And if you give blood to play such a woman, it's worth it. To be honest, I'm only happy. You can't hope to immortalise the greatest warrior of all times without having a battle scar on your face. So it's justified." Manikarnika: The Queen Of Jhansi has some fine performers in the star cast. Atul Kulkarni is on board to play Ramchandra Pandurang Tope also known as Tatya Tope; Sonu Sood will portray a character named Sadashiv, Ankita Lokhande will play Jhalkaribai a brave warrior and advisor to Rani Lakshmibai; Nihar Pandya will essay Baji Rao II. The film directed by Krish and jointly produced by Zee Studious, Kamal Jain and Nishant Pitti, will mark the Bollywood debut of TV actress Ankita and model Nihar Pandya. The epic film will release on April 27, 2018. Mumbai: The release date of Sanjay Leela Bhansalis magnum opus Padmavati starring Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh may be pushed to next year. The controversy-stricken film, which hasnt yet got a clearance from the Central Board of Film Certification, was initially slated to hit the silverscreen on December 1. But now that the film hasnt been viewed by the CBFC members, it is likely that the certification process may take some more time and it may be ready for release only next year. Media reports have claimed that the film is now pushed for next year and the promotions have been put on hold. The producers of Padmavati will take a call on its release only after the censor board's go-ahead, a source said Tuesday. The film has been in the eye of the storm owing to his historical content. Soon after the film went on floors last year, rumour mills said that the film had a dream sequence between Deepika (who plays Rani Padmavati) and Ranveer (who essays Alauddin Khilji). However, the makers, issued statements, addressed protestors via a video message clarifying that the film doesnt have any objectionable content. Unfortunately for the producers, the film has caused a nationwide stir leading to violent protests and condemnable statements. Following massive protests, heres what the makers decided to do: On Sunday, Viacom18 Motion Pictures, the studio behind Padmavati, announced in a statement that they were voluntarily deferring the release of the film out of "respect and regard for the law of the land" including the Central Board of Film Certification". They said a new release date will be announced once the "requisite clearances" are in place. What did the Censor Board say? CBFC chief Prasoon Joshi had Monday said that the board should be given adequate time to come up with a balanced decision about the movie. A source in the CBFC Tursday echoed Joshi's views. "In CBFC, 68 days is the maximum time (to certify a film), it can be less also. We normally do it in a month or over a month's time (certification). With a film like this, you need to be careful, take opinions, so it takes a little bit of time. It does not mean that nothing will happen before 68 days. If they (makers) want a certificate on time, it is advisable that they take this much time in consideration," the source said. The CBFC had initially returned the application to the makers of Padmavati, saying it was incomplete. The makers have re-applied. The source said: "We have followed the normal process. Once the application comes to us, we scrutinise it. In this case, it was incomplete so we returned it. There was no disclaimer (that it is a work of fiction)... Which is required for a film like this." "If the application is proper, we give them a date for the screening. We have an examining committee which will see the film. We will also have historical experts (for the screening of the film)... We are just following the procedure," the source added. When asked if the new application has been scrutinised, the source at the CBFC said, "No, it takes time as we have other films (to certify) as well and 'Padmavati' is just one of them. We have a limited staff, we can't just dump everything aside and concentrate on this. It will take the normal time." The film also stars Shahid Kapoor in the lead role. He plays brave Rajput warrior Maharawal Ratan Singh, Rani Padmavatis husband. Bhansali has assured that the film upholds the pride and glory of the Rajputs and that there wouldnt be anything distasteful in the film. (With PTI inputs) New Delhi: The Shree Rajput Karni Sena on Wednesday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, even though silent on the Padmavati row, must have had a role to play in the deferral of its release date from December 1. As the Karni Sena continues to gather support in opposing the release of Padmavati, its patron-founder Lokendra Singh Kalvi said he was hopeful of increasing supporters from "four to 14" till director Sanjay Leela Bhansali announces a new release date for his historic drama. Kalvi said even though the Padmavati makers have claimed they have "voluntarily" deferred the movie's release, Modi would have had a "role" to play. "The deferral of the release date has happened because of multiple roles people have played. CMs have a role, PM has a role, and most of all the social organisations who have been protesting aggressively and passionately have made it happen," Kalvi told IANS. Padmavati is in the eye of a storm following allegations that the movie distorts history about Rajput queen Padmavati, who is known to have committed Jauhar (self-immolation) to protect the honour of her community during the siege of Chittor in 1303. At an earlier press conference here, Kalvi said he had already garnered the support of Chief Ministers of four states. "I will make it from four to 14 till the next date is decided. I am meeting three more Chief Ministers in the next two days. This film will not run," he said. He said his appeal to Modi to "intervene" in the controversy was merely via the media. Do they plan to make a written appeal to Modi? "We will make a written appeal to PM if there's a need. I haven't written any appeal to any Chief Minister or the Prime Minister.... I am going to Maharashtra... They will ban it, I am confident," Kalvi told IANS. Karni Sena has been up in arms against Bhansali since he began shooting the film and had even assaulted him on the sets of his film in Jaipur last year over fears that the movie showcases objectionable scenes. Now, it is calling for a ban. Will the Karni Sena go to the Supreme Court? Kalvi told IANS: "There's no need. We are in the people's court and it has a lot of strength." But the apex court has already rejected two pleas regarding the stalling of the film. "Those were pleas by over-excited people who have no evidence," Kalvi said. Calling Bhansali a 'repeat offender', Kalvi said: "He does the opposite of what he says and never does what he says. Why did they leave the section of genre in the censor board application form blank? He knew whether he writes historical or fiction, he will land in trouble." New Delhi: IndiGo Airlines on Wednesday clarified it does not accept INR for on-board sales on its international flights in accordance with the prevailing regulations. The clarification by the airline comes in the wake of allegation by a businessman that said the crew in an IndiGo flight plying from Bengaluru to Dubai refused to accept Indian currency. Pramod Kumar Jain, who boarded flight 6E95 from Bengaluru, filed a police complaint in Delhi and said the airline insisted on foreign currency. Responding to the matter, IndiGo, in a statement, said, "IndiGo does not accept INR for on-board sales on its international flights in accordance to the prevailing regulation 3 of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) Regulations and this clearly is mentioned in our on-board sales menu. "The statement further clarified that the airline had filed a request for carrying on-board sales in INR (above 25,000) with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on February 26, 2014 and June 5, 2014."We are in active discussions with the concerned authorities in this regard," it added. The passenger in his complaint had said, "I had travelled from Bengaluru to Dubai on IndiGo flight 6E95 on October 10. I boarded the flight at 7:20 am. As I was getting late for the flight, I had left for the airport without eating anything thinking I would have breakfast on board. After boarding the flight, I placed an order after going through the menu card. However, to my shock and horror, the crew refused to accept Indian currency and despite my repeated requests the crew refused to listen to me. I told them that I had nothing since morning but they were not bothered." He added that another Indian co-passenger went through the same humiliation as he too was carrying Indian currency. "IndiGo is an Indian company and I am a citizen here. I had Indian currency with me but this is the way they humiliated me and other Indians on board showing complete apathy to us. Through the flight, I kept requesting and pleading with the airline crew but they did not listen," Jain said. He further said Airlines, much like hotels, belong to the service industry, adding, "Should they not have the basic courtesy of providing a sandwich to a guest who had not eaten since morning and was on a four hour flight to Dubai and is ready to pay for it? If I had been in there place I would have given a meal for free in such a situation". The complaint further read, "On coming back to India I checked with other airlines and found that they accept Indian currency and there is no government regulation barring airlines from accepting Indian currency. This is just 'IndiGo dadagiri'. Misbehaving with guests and passengers has become their habit". Jain filed a complaint at the Sarojini Nagar Police Station in Delhi for sedition and a case with the consumer forum. New Delhi: The corporate affairs ministry has approved filing of prosecution cases by the SFIO against defaulter businessman Vijay Mallya and others in the Kingfisher Airlines matter, a senior government official said today. In its detailed report on the matter submitted to the ministry recently, the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) flagged various violations by individuals and entities related to the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines, which was owned by Mallya. The ministry has given its approval for the SFIO to file prosecution cases in the Kingfisher Airlines matter, the official said. The charges for prosecution would be filed against Mallya and others for various violations of provisions under the companies law before a special court here. Specific details could not be immediately ascertained. Sources said that a meeting of various probe agencies like the SFIO and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was recently held to discuss taking "collective action" in this case. Mallya, who has been based in the UK for a long time, is wanted in India for Kingfisher Airlines' default on loans worth nearly Rs 9,000 crore and some other matters. The ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) have already filed their separate charge sheets against the businessman and other accused. According to sources, the SFIO is believed to have recommended various actions against individuals and entities for violations in the Kingfisher Airlines matter. Among others, the white collar crime probe agency had recommended examining the role of some banks as well as bank officials in sanctioning credit facilities to the airline apart from action against promoter directors, they said. The probe agency had red-flagged a slew of violations of companies law by Mallya, Kingfisher Airlines and officials, including serious corporate governance lapses. The role of independent directors and whether they failed in discharging their duties during their tenure at the airline has come to the fore, sources had said earlier. The probe agency, which comes under the ministry, had investigated alleged diversion of funds and financial reporting frauds at the carrier, which was grounded in 2012. SFIO, which investigates violations under the Companies Act, requires the ministry's approval before filing prosecution cases. The 61-year-old flamboyant businessman was?arrested in London in October in a money laundering case filed by the Enforcement Directorate, before being released on bail by Westminster Magistrates' Court. Mallya, already out on bail on an extradition warrant executed by the Metropolitan Police earlier this year, was released on the same bail conditions as before to appear for his trial on December 4. NEW DELHI: In a shocking incident, parents of a minor girl on Wednesday registered a case of sexual assault against their daughter's classmate at a school in Delhi's Dwarka. A unique case of tampering emerged in a well-known school in Dwarka in Delhi today where a four-year-old student was reportedly sexually exploited by her classmate of the same age. The police have registered a complaint under section 376 of Indian Penal Code and POCSO Act. The victim's mother told the police that she came to know about the incident on November 17 after the girl shared her ordeal with her on her way back to home from the school. She told the police that her daughter was inappropriately touched by her classmate. The girl complained of pain in her private parts and claimed that one of her classmates reportedly exploited her sexually. The victim's mother then approached the police and filed a complaint against the minor accused in this regard. The mother alleged that she also filed a complaint with the school authority, however they did not take any action. The girl was taken to a hospital where doctors confirmed sexual assault, police said. New Delhi: The Central government on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that the aid and advice of the Delhi Council of Ministers is not binding on the Lt. Governor as Delhi government does not have any executive powers which are entirely vested in the Centre. Appearing for the Central government, Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh told the five judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra that before taking any decision, the Delhi government has to take prior approval of the Lt. Governor and after the decision has been taken (by the Council of Ministers), the same should be communicated to the Lt. Governor before being implemented. It is not undemocratic for the Lt. Governor to have an absolute control over the executive to administer the national capital, he said, adding that the Constitution's Article 239AA that provides special provision for Delhi says Lt. Governor will be the administrator of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. Responding to a poser from Chief Justice Misra as to if the Lt. Governor can assume all powers to himself, Maninder Singh said that to the extent that Lt. Governor can't pass orders on his own, but only with the consent of the Council of Ministers. The constitution bench is hearing a batch of petitions by the Delhi government challenging Delhi High Court order that held that the Lt Governor had the final authority in the governance of the national capital. The Centre is defending the High Court verdict. Besides Chief Justice Misra, others on the bench are Justice A. K.Sikri, Justice A.M.Khanwilkar, Justice D.Y.Chandrachud and Justice Ashok Bhushan. The elected government must discuss all the issues with Lt. Governor as that is the scheme provided under the constitution, the ASG told the bench saying that the national capital territory of Delhi belongs to the entire nation and Union of India alone will have an absolute control over its administration. Elected government can't say that NCT belongs to Delhi and it will take the decision, he added. As he hammered the point that Delhi can't be given statehood, senior counsel Indira Jaising sought to clarify that they, on behalf of Delhi government, had never argued for status of state for Delhi. As Chief Justice Misra said that there were conflicting positions in the arguments of the counsel who appeared for Delhi government, Jaising said that there could be difference of nuances but not conflicting positions. When she sought to make a statement on behalf of the counsel who appeared for Delhi government that none of them have pressed for statehood for Delhi, the Chief Justice said they should file common written submissions stating their common stand. Meanwhile, the ASG said that power over Delhi Police belongs to the Central government and the Aam Aadmi Party government without jurisdiction tried to hire police personnel from Bihar Police for its anti-graft body, the Anti-Corruption Bureau. This created disharmony and Centre had to step in to say that ACB had no authority to probe Central government officers, he added. On government services, the ASG said that services under a union territory would squarely fall under the Centre. "You may give nomenclature of UT cadre but the powers of appointment, posting and transfer are with the Centre. The Centre had on Tuesday told the top court that Delhi can never be considered as a state as the Constitution never envisaged such a status for it and doing so would lead to an "inevitable chaos". New Delhi: Reacting to the release of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Saeed from Pakistan's jail, the Congress on Wednesday took a dig at Narendra Modi government, asking "where is the 56-inch chest and strong diplomacy now". The party said Pakistan was a principal conspirator in 2008 Mumbai terror attack, so it would not punish the "co-conspirator". Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said in Twitter, "The reason is clear. Pakistan is the protector of nefarious terrorists. Where is the 56-inch chest and strong diplomacy now." "I am certainly not surprised. I would have been surprised if the consequence would have been the opposite of what you said," said another Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi. "Pakistan has never and is never going to learn this lesson. Pakistan is in active collusion and the principal conspirator cannot punish the co-conspirator. It can never happen," he added. Singhvi further said: "Pakistan does not have even a medium-term vision to realise that this will lead to the implosion of itself. "India must be relentless in its pursuit of the programme to expose Pakistan in each country of the United Nations with material, evidence, CDs, documents and dossiers to show that this is the utmost limit of hypocrisy by Pakistan," he added. A Pakistan court on Wednesday ordered the release of LeT founder Hafiz Saeed who had been under house arrest since January this year. New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected the plea for the recall of its order banning the use of pet coke and furnace oil by industries in the National Capital Region (NCR). The court also rejected a plea by the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) seeking extension of time to switch over to an alternate fuel. Rejecting the plea by some of the industries and their associations based in NCR, the bench of Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta told the petitioners that the government itself has banned the use of polluting fuel in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. As senior counsel Kapil Sibal, appearing for an industry employing 2,000 people, told the bench that they would be forced to shut down, Justice Lokur taking exception to the argument said `don`t make such arguments`. "We might as well shut down this court." The apex court in its order in October, had banned the use of pet-coke and furnace oil in the NCR. However, the Centre in pursuance to the court order issued a notification banning the use of polluting fuel in entire Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana. New Delhi: The Cabinet on Wednesday approved the setting up of the 15th Finance Commission which will assess the tax resources of the nation and suggest a formula for their devolution among states. The members of the Commission and its terms of reference will be notified in the due course of time, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said after the Union Cabinet meeting. Its recommendations will have to be in place before April 1, 2020, he said. "Normally, it takes 2 years for Finance Commission to give its recommendations." As per Article 280 of the Constitution, the Commission is required to make recommendations on the distribution of the net proceeds of taxes between the Centre and the states. The Commission also suggests the principles which should govern the grants in aid of the revenues of the states out of the Consolidated Fund of India. This time it will have to take into account the impact of the Goods and Services Tax, which kicked in from July, on the resources of the central as well state governments. On who will head the 15th Finance Commission, Jaitley said: "The members of Finance Commission will appointed very very soon." When asked whether the 15th Commission will also allocate more resources to the states, he said: "I think let us not pre judge the situation. India is a Union of states, the Union also has to survive." The 14th Finance Commission was set up on January 2, 2013. Its recommendations cover the period from April 1, 2015 to March 31, 2020. Chris Drosner Chris Drosner writes the Beer Baron column for the Wisconsin State Journal. Follow Chris Drosner Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today Three years into Levi Funks sour beer experiment, the beer world knows about his Funk Factory Geuzeria, and Madison is just starting to figure it out. For a short spell early this month, nearly six months after the Funk Factory taproom opened on June 23, all eight of the draft lines were pouring Funks beers. This is a far cry from a brewpub filling eight taps with, say, a brown ale, a blonde ale, an amber, a stout and four IPAs. Those beers take perhaps two weeks to make, from grain through stainless steel to glass. But inside Funk Factorys home on Madisons South Side, Funk uses traditional methods that require at least three months to produce each batch of beer. So having eight of those in line is both an achievement his goal was four Funk Factory beers at a time and an opportunity. While Funk Factory is well known by intense devotees of sour beer Good Beer Hunting recently called it one of the most-watched breweries in the States Funk is looking to spread the sour gospel to more locals. I think were still trying to let Madison know that we exist, but I think the experiment of, Can a sour taproom work in Madison? is going well, Funk said. When Funk began aging beer in his own place in early 2015, buzz about Funk Factory was already building based on the Geuzerias first releases, made in partnership with Oso Brewing. These beers were true lambic-style beers, spontaneously fermented and aged for 18-24 months in used wine barrels, then aged again with fruit. Bottles of beers such as Bosbes (blueberries), Framrood (raspberries) or Door Kriek (cherries), were sold online and picked up during events at Oso or, more recently at Funk Factory. Some newer iterations of Funk Factorys lambics or, as American producers have begun calling them, Methode Traditionnelle beers are available at the taproom, in 375-milliliter bottles that must be drunk on site at a cost of $18-$30 a pop. In this case, time certainly is money. Obviously it doesnt work for Funk Factory to have a taproom moving significant amounts of that kind of beer, so the new flagship is a beer called Meerts, which rhymes with hurts. Funk describes Meerts a baby brother to the lambics, also with fruited variants. Its not going to be as intense flavor, and youre not going to have a crazy complex beer that you have to sit and dissect, he said. Its more a casual drinker. Someone whos never had a sour beer and comes down (to the taproom) and has a Cherry Meerts and theyll hopefully enjoy it. Meerts is born as a wort thats unfermented beer in another brewery, most recently primarily Octopi Brewing in Waunakee, because Funk Factory does not have brewing equipment and no plans to add any. Back at the barrel warehouse, the wort is put in one of three 1,000-gallon wooden vessels known as foeders. The wood is key, because its where the microorganisms primarily yeast and bacteria that ferment the beer live between batches. When the wort hits the wood, the bugs come out and begin eating its sugars, imparting alcohol, carbonation and Meerts host of sour, funky and fruity flavors. These bugs are not as efficient at fermentation as lab-cultured yeast, so the tradeoff with all those delightful flavors is a lot of waiting three months for a typical batch of Meerts. For the fruit variants, the beer is moved from the foeders to separate tanks to mingle with their chosen fruits for three to six weeks, fermenting some of those fresh sugars along the way. Funk so far has made big batches of cherry, cranberry, peach-pluot, blackberry and mango-passionfruit and a couple of smaller, more experimental batches. He says a Kiwi Meerts is in the works. Making more beer that still represents what Funk Factory is about is more than just good business for Funk, whos an economist by day. He sees it as outreach to his neighbors who may have heard about Funk Factory but not been able to taste any of its beer. You need to have a connection with your local community, and to my fault Ive never had product up until now that Ive been able to even connect to Madison, Funk said. Now the Meerts is flowing. Heres a closer look at my and Funks favorite version. Cherry Meerts Style: Though Funk lists it on Untappd as a fruited lambic, he says Meerts is a revival of an archaic variant of lambic made in Belgium many years ago. Brewed by: Funk Factory Geuzeria, 1602 Gilson St., Madison. What its like: The closest analogue to Cherry Meerts I can come up with is a fruited Berliner weisse, but that sells this beer way short. It really does have hints of actual lambics flavors and complexity, with the volume turned down. Its meant to be an entry point into sour beer and mixed fermentation, Funk said. Where, how much: You may see a bottle here or there at a local shop, but for the most part youll need to go to the source. At Funk Factory, pints of Meerts are a reasonable $5 ($6 for fruited variants), with 6-ounce pours available for $3 for wider sampling. Take-home 750-milliliter bottles are $10-$12. The beer: The lightly effervescent Cherry Meerts pours a brilliant, clear rose hue with an acidic-sweet aroma of tart cherries and a little woodiness reminiscent of a cherry pit. A sip reveals that assertive acid from the aroma to be deceptive, as this Meerts is pleasantly and only moderately tart. The mixed fermentation and fruit provide nearly all the flavor here; if you can pick up traditional malt and hop character, your palate is sharper than mine. Instead, theres an almond-like woodiness and just a touch of funk. Overall its not particularly sweet, but a tart, sugary note lingers well into the dry, refreshing finish. While its nowhere near as complex as its lambic big brothers, Cherry Meerts is remarkable in its own right. Booze factor: An early batch of Cherry Meerts, including the bottle I reviewed here, was 6 percent ABV, but subsequent batches have been dialed in closer to regular Meerts 4 percent. The buzz: The nomenclature around American wild or sour ales made in the Belgian lambic tradition has been the source of consternation in the brewing world lately, and Levi Funk is at the center of whats emerging as the way forward. Lambic is a term treasured and guarded by the traditional Belgian producers and their trade group, seeking similar status for it as French wineries have won with Champagne. In response, a group of American brewers this fall rolled out a program with the goal of replacing lambic with Methode Traditionnelle as the style description for such beers made in America but under the Belgian tradition. Funk Factory is one of three breweries on the steering committee that developed the designation, along with two giants in the sour beer world: Jester King of Texas and Black Project of Colorado. About six weeks after the rollout, Funk said, about 40 breweries have expressed interest in using Methode Traditionnelle. Funk said he hopes the designation future lambic releases from Funk Factory will bear the logo on the label will proliferate and help consumers differentiate between something thats on par with the original Belgian lambics and something thats well, not, and not made the same way. Theres a big disconnect in whats happening and how things are being labeled, and were trying to clean that up as best as we can, Funk said. Im interested in 10, 20, 50 years from now, the word lambic still means something. New Delhi: After a gap for over 80 years, the black bear has returned to Nevada's Great Basin in the US through conservation with their population believed to be over 500, a new study said on Wednesday. The study from Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the Nevada Department of Wildlife and the University of Nevada-Reno finds that conservation efforts have resulted in successful re-colonisation of black bears into portions of their historic ranges. In addition to habitat regeneration, public education, investing in bear-proofing communities, reducing conflict rates between carnivores and people and reduced human-caused carnivore mortality rates were the steps initiated jointly by the WCS and the Nevada Department of Wildlife for 20 years to bring them back from certain extinction. As a result of the efforts, a once negative population growth rate for bears in urban-interface areas became an average annual growth rate of 16 per cent for more than a decade, and re-colonisation of historic ranges in the mountains of the Great Basin ensued. "This study represents a great partnership between wildlife management and geneticists," an official statement said quoting Jason Malaney, lead author of the genetic study. "Wildlife managers deploy long-term field surveys of black bears, collect tissue samples along the way that are then used to better understand the complexities of re-colonisation. This results in improved management outcomes." The authors of the study conclude that based on their results, black bears in the western Great Basin appear to currently maintain levels of connectivity between various mountain ranges that are sufficient to prevent genetic bottlenecks following recolonisation. Further, black bears in the western Great Basin best represent a genetic metapopulation, a group of populations separated but of the same species with individuals that interact with other populations. As the human-footprint expands over time in the region, this level of genetic connection among various mountain ranges may not last without conservation efforts to maintain connectivity, says the study. "The recovery of large carnivores is relatively rare globally yet this is the goal of conservation," said WCS Conservation Scientist Jon Beckmann. "Understanding the mode of recolonisation and its genetic consequences is of broad interest in ecology and critical to successful conservation programs." The study 'Natural rewilding of the Great Basin: Genetic consequences of colonisation by black bears (Ursus americanus)' appears in the current edition of Diversity and Distributions. New Delhi: Notorious tiger poacher Bhima was on Tuesday convicted and awarded three-year imprisonment in a 2012 case by an environment court in Faridabad in neighbouring Haryana, officials said on Tuesday. The special environment court also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on him under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1971 in a case of seizure of tiger skin, tiger bones, ivory, and other wildlife contraband from him on August 1, 2012. He was earlier arrested in 2005 from Bijnore in Uttar Pradesh, in 2008 from Gurugram in Haryana, in 2014 from Pauri in Uttarakhand, and in 2016 from Gurugram. The poacher is still under trial in other wildlife cases detected and investigated by the WCCB, New Delhi, officials said. "Bhima is a repeat offender involved in organised wildlife crime. Bhima was first convicted by the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Chamoli, on February 2002," said Tilotama Varma, Additional Director of Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB). FIFA World Cup 2022 Qatar: Cristiano Ronaldo to Lionel Messi, stars likely to play their last WC Ahmedabad: In more bad news for noted film director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, the government in Gujarat on Wednesday banned the release of his controversial movie Padmavati across the state. The announcement in this regard was made by Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, who said that the film, which ''distorts facts and hurts the sentiments of Rajputs'' will not be allowed to be released. Govt of Gujarat will not allow Padmavati - a movie hurting sentiments of Rajputs - to get released in the State. We cant allow our history to be distorted. We believe in freedom of speech and expression but any foul play with our great culture is not tolerated, Rupani tweeted. The Government of Gujarat will not allow #Padmavati - a movie hurting sentiments of Rajputs - to get released in the State. We cant allow our history to be distorted. We believe in freedom of speech & expression but any foul play with our great culture is not tolerated. Vijay Rupani (@vijayrupanibjp) November 22, 2017 With this Gujarat has become the fifth state to ban the release of Padmavati, which has landed in troubled waters over allegations of ''blatant distortion of historical facts and negative portrayal of the Rajput Queen.'' The film, which was slated to be released on December 1, also awaits clearance from the Censor Board. The Sri Rajput Karni Sena, which is leading the protest against Padmavati, had even called for a Bharat Bandh on December 1 the day when the film was scheduled to be released. Besides Rajput Karni Sena, several right-wing outfits, political parties, direct descendants of the Queen Padmavati and several state governments have opposed the film's release. Earlier today, the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh also banned the film's release. However, it said that the life of Rajput Queen Padmavati will be made part of school textbooks across the state. The MP Chief Minister also referred to Queen Padmavati the subject of Bhansali's controversial movie as 'Rashtramata Padmavati'. 'Rashtramata Padmavati to be included in Madhya Pradesh school textbooks, Shivraj Singh Chouhan was quoted as saying by a leading TV news channel. Chouhan had earlier said that a film, which has "distorted facts" about Rajput queen Padmavati and allegedly shows disrespect to her, will not be released in Madhya Pradesh. "The insult will not be tolerated," Chouhan said, eliciting a rousing applause from the audience. While calling Padmavati 'Rashtramata' (mother of the nation) Chouhan said, "The film which distorts facts and disrespects 'Rashtamata' Padmavati will not be allowed to screen in any part of Madhya Pradesh." He went ahead to say that even if the movie is passed by the censor board for release in the country, it won't make it to the screens in the state. Interestingly, the MP government has also constituted an award in the name of the erstwhile Rajput Queen. A 'Rashtramata Padmavati Award' has been instituted by the state government for people doing outstanding work for the protection of women, he had said. He said a memorial of the queen would be built at a site in the state capital, where a memorial for the country's brave soldiers has been proposed. Chouhan made this announcement at an event where BJP's Madhya Pradesh chief Nandkumar Singh Chauhan called Bollywood director Sanjay Leela Bhansali a 'sinner' and alleged that in the movie 'Padmavati', history had been tampered with for the sake of money. The Sanjay Leela Bhansali film starring Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh is based on Rajput queen Padmavati. Amid rumours that there was a romantic dream sequence between Padmavati and Alauddin Khilji's characters, various Rajput and other groups have been protesting against the film, alleging it "distorts" history and hurts the sentiments of the people. Historians are, however, divided on whether Rani Padmavati even existed. Rawal said actor Ranveer Singh should not have played the character of Delhi sultan Alauddin Khalji in the movie. "He (Ranveer Singh) should have thought what role is he playing," he said. Khalji has been projected as a hero in the movie and today's generation believe in movies, he said. "Do they want them to believe that Khalji was a hero?" the minister asked. Chief Ministers of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh - all BJP ruled states - and Punjab, ruled by the Congress, have already opposed the release of the movie. With PTI inputs Ahmedabad: Patidar leader Hardik Patel today declared his support for the Congress in the Gujarat elections next month and said the opposition party had accepted its demand for reservation for the Patel community. The Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) leader said the Congress will include the extension of reservation benefit to Patidars in its election manifesto. "The Congress has agreed to provide reservation to the Patidar community," Patel told reporters here. The Congress, which has mounted a hectic campaign to dislodge the long-ruling BJP in the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and saffron party chief Amit Shah, has been wooing the Patel stir spearhead for quite some time. Elections in Gujarat will be held on December 9 and 14. Rajkot: Launching a scathing attack on Rahul Gandhi over his visits to temples in poll-bound Gujarat, senior BJP leader GVL Narasimha Rao on Wednesday accused him of following in the footsteps of medieval sultans like Alauddin Khalji and Aurangzeb. "Aurangzeb (a Mughal emperor) had destroyed many temples during his rule. However, when the common people opposed him, he promised to build two-three temples. Alauddin Khalji did the same... And now Rahul Gandhi is going in the same direction," Rao said. During his campaign trail, Gandhi visited a string of temples in Gujarat, including the famous Akshardham shrine. The BJP has accused him of playing the soft Hindutva card in a bid to attract the majority community. Talking to reporters, Rao termed as "good" the proposal of the Uttar Pradesh Shia Waqf Board on resolving the Ayodhya issue and asked Gandhi to clarify the party's stand by breaking his "silence". He also asked the Congress to explain how its viewed "invader" Mughal emperor Babur, who is believed to have constructed the mosque in Ayodhya in 16th Century. "Gandhi's visits to temples is a drama. Gandhi is trying to mislead the people by embarking on temple visits, which has become a compulsion for the Congress vice president in view of the elections," the BJP leader said. He said the Congress' "dream" of celebrating "Muhammad Ghazni Jayanti" in Gujarat would never become a reality as the party would never win the polls. "The Congress is celebrating Tipu Sultan 'jayanti' in Karnataka, and is now dreaming of celebrating Muhammad Ghazni Jayanti in Gujarat," Rao said. Ghazni had plundered the Somnath temple in Gujarat in 1024 AD. "Tipu Sultan had converted many Hindus to Islam and included them in his army. Is Tipu Sultan the ideal of the Congress? As part of its vote bank politics, the Congress' top priority would be to celebrate the Ghazni jayanti if they are voted to power in Gujarat, which is not possible," Rao added. Gandhi, who is battling allegations of displaying soft Hindutva in Gujarat, had last week clarified that he is a devotee of Lord Shiva. GURUGRAM: Ryan International School bus conductor Ashok Kumar, who was first arrested by the Gurugram police in connection with the murder of 7-year-old Pradyuman Thakur, was on Wednesday released from the Bhondsi jail. Kumar was lodged in the jail since last two months. Pradyuman, a class II students, was found dead in the toilet of the school with his throat slit on September 8. Hours later, the city police detained the school bus conductor claiming it had cracked the case. Gurgaon Police Commissioner Sandeep Khairwar had declared in a press meet on September 10 that Ashok was the killer and that he had tried to sexually assault Pradyuman. However, on November 6, in a sudden turn of events, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) apprehended a Class 11 student in connection with the killing and said that it did not find any evidence against Ashok, who was apprehended by the Gurgaon Police. The Class 11 suspect is also from the same school and is said to have murdered Pradhuman in a bid to create a situation whereby the upcoming examinations would get postponed. Mohit Verma, lawyer of bus conductor Ashok said, "Police had planned everything, an innocent was trapped. Police had done injustice to Ashok, adding that As soon as the closure report comes, we will file the bail plea for Ashok and once he is discharged, we will file a defamation case against the police and the school management. The CBI's stunning revelation derailed the Haryana Police version of the gory crime which led to the arrest of the school bus conductor. Pradyuman's family had always insisted that Ashok was being framed. The family of deceased Pradyuman had accused the police of botching up the investigation and said the CBI meticulously collected circumstantial evidence and facts. The victim`s family demanded that the juvenile student be tried as an adult and be given a harsh punishment. Jhajjar: A court in Jhajjar town in Haryana has sentenced a woman to 30 years imprisonment for brutally murdering her husband by cutting him into eight pieces. Additional Sessions Judge HS Dahiya sentenced Puja for murdering Baljeet, 38, in April last year in Asanda village in Jhajjar district, court sources said on Wednesday. The court, however, acquitted four other people named in the case, saying only Puja was responsible for the brutal killing. Police investigations revealed that the woman murdered her husband as she had an extra-marital affair with another man and wanted to get rid of her husband. Baljeet's brother Kuljeet had complained to the police on April 26 last year that his brother had gone missing. The brother claimed that he and his sisters had gone to their brother's house and his wife (Puja) did not give satisfactory replies on his whereabouts. His sisters felt some foul smell from another room. On checking, they found the smell coming from a suitcase. On opening it, they recovered the headless body of their brother. Later, they found that Puja had cut Baljeet into eight pieces and had hidden them at different places in the house. Baljeet's head was buried by digging the floor of the house. The court on Tuesday held Puja guilty of brutally murdering Baljeet and sentenced her to 30 years imprisonment. Jhajjar town is around 55 km from Delhi and 285 km from Chandigarh. New Delhi: A first-year student of Chennai's Sathyabama University allegedly committed suicide after he was reprimanded for copying during an examination. The student was allegedly scolded after he was found copying. The student, it is reported, may not have been able to handle the emotional trauma and committed suicide. Following the incident, enraged fellow students set college property ablaze and armed cops were called in to tackle the situation. NEW DELHI: Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani on Wednesday hit out at the Congress, saying the grand old party can't endure Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as he has set an example of politics of development. Coming down hard at the Congress over a meme on official Twitter handle of the Indian Youth Congress online magazine 'Yuva Desh' targetting the Prime Minister, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said, The person (PM Modi) whom they taunt as 'chaiwala' is the one under whose leadership India saw a phenomenal jump in Moody's & Ease of Doing Business rankings. Irani's statement comes a day after, the Congres in a potentially self-damaging act ahead of the Gujarat polls, the party's youth wing on Tuesday circulated a meme about PM Modi's 'chaiwala' past, provoking a backlash from the BJP, and prompting a red-faced Congress to distance from it. Though the IYC chief Amarinder Singh Raja apologised, he maintained the Twitter handle was handled by volunteers and not by the youth body as such. The meme -- in which British Prime Minister Theresa May was portrayed as asking Modi to "go sell tea" -- was deleted after it was reported by the media. "Although the handle @Yuvadesh is run by youth volunteers and not by @iyc , we do not approve of such humour and apologise. Despite political differences with the BJP and having suffered everyday abuse from their leaders, we respect the Prime Minister and all political opponents," Raja tweeted. The Union Minister also slammed Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav for his "don't advertise for the donkeys of Gujarat" comments. Irani was referring to Yadav's February comment. During the Uttar Pradesh election campaign, the SP leader had a piece of advice for megastar Amitabh Bachchan, "don't advertise for the donkeys of Gujarat". "Ek gadhe ka vigyapan aata hai. Main iss sadi ke sabse bade mahanayak se kahunga ke ab aap Gujarat ke gadhon ka prachar mat kariye (There's an ad on TV which shows donkeys. I appeal to century's biggest star, please stop endorsing the donkeys of Gujarat)," Akhilesh had said. A Lake Geneva man who allegedly threw explosives from his pickup truck in a mobile home park parking lot was arrested Tuesday afternoon, with police shutting down the area during the investigation. Robert Leathers, 46, was tentatively charged with recklessly endangering safety, possession of explosives and disorderly conduct, the Bloomfield Police Department said. Police from Bloomfield and Lake Geneva responded to N2020 Highway H for a man driving recklessly in a gravel parking lot. The address is that of Pioneer Estates, a mobile home park just south of Lake Geneva near the intersection of Highways 120 and H. Witnesses said some of the explosives went off and Leathers also was firing a gun. Nobody was hurt. The Kenosha County bomb squad responded to the scene and started collecting the explosives. Police didn't say what type of explosives were being thrown from the pickup truck. Highways adjacent to the crime scene were shut down for almost six hours while crews worked at the scene. A lady draped in saree, with a stethoscope, with hospital beds in the backdrop. This is the picture that you would come across when you visit the Google website today. The lady in the picture is Rukhmabai Raut, one of the first practicing women doctors in India under the British rule. The Google doodle is dedicated to the woman, who is also credited for the enactment of the Age of Consent Act, which raised the age of consent for sexual intercourse for all females. She also fought against child marriage and for rights of women. Married off at the age of 11, she refused to go the house of her in-laws, and stayed with her mother and step father. Pressure from her husband, Dadaji Bhikaji Raut, led to her moving the court and fight a series of court cases. She was also known for her letters published in newspaper. Her pen name was A Hindu Lady. This even led to the creation of a fund that helped her study medicine. She studied the same in England, and later worked in India, primarily at a womens hospital in Rajkot. He story has inspired characters in novels and movies. Rukhmabai breathed her last at the age of 91 on September 25, 1955. New Delhi: The Centre is contemplating convening the Winter Session of Parliament from December 15, a day after the second phase of the Gujarat Assembly polls, government functionaries said on Wednesday. The Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs (CCPA) headed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh today met here to deliberate upon the dates of the session. The session would likely be held from December 15 till January 5, they said on the condition of anonymity. Later, briefing the reporters on the Cabinet decisions, Finance Ministry Arun Jaitley said the Winter Session schedule would be such that it did not overlap with the assembly elections, and it would be a "regular" session. He said in a democracy when elections were on, political parties addressed the people directly. "...Normally the elections and Parliament session don't overlap," he said to queries. "Therefore, we are going to ensure that a regular Winter Session is held, but elections and session dates don't overlap," he said. In an apparent dig at the Congress, Jaitley said the Gujarat polls were important for the BJP and it would be busy campaigning there, but he was not sure whether its opponents would be busy in the campaigning or not. Asked whether a session which begins in December can continue in January without the customary address of the president, Jaitley said the issue was settled long back. He said if the session spilled over to January, it was not considered a fresh session. The president addressed the first session of a calendar year, the minister said. The functionaries indicated that the dates of the Winter Session would be formally announced after two ordinances placed before the Cabinet today were promulgated. An ordinance cannot be issued when the dates of the session are announced. The opposition had attacked the government for delaying the Winter Session, claiming that it was being done to avoid a debate on scams, including the Rafale deal, ahead of Gujarat Assembly polls. The BJP, however, rejected the Congress's tirade as a "chorus of baseless allegations" and insisted that previous governments, including the UPA, had also scheduled sessions after state polls as politicians were busy campaigning. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar had said the Winter Session, which generally starts from November's third week, would be convened in December. Lahore: Pakistan's Punjab Judicial Review Board on Wednesday ordered the release of Mumbai terror attacks mastermind and banned Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed. The JuD chief has been under house arrest since January. Saeed had earlier approached the Lahore High Court to challenge the October 24 order of the Punjab's Home Department to extend his detention for another one month under a public safety law. Under the law, the Pakistan government can detain a person for up to three months under different charges but to extend the detention, it needs approval from a judicial review board. Rejecting the Pakistan government's plea to extend his detention for another three months, the board today ordered the immediate release of Hafiz Saeed. "The government is ordered to release JuD chief Hafiz Saeed if he is not wanted in any other case," the board said, according to PTI. Last month, the board had allowed a 30-day extension to the detention of Saeed which expires next week. The board's order paved the way for Saeed's immediate release from house arrest. On January 31, Saeed and his four aides - Abdullah Ubaid, Malik Zafar Iqbal, Abdul Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Hussain - were detained by the Punjab government for 90 days under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 and the Fourth Schedule of Anti- Terrorism Act 1997. Saeed's four close aides were set free in the last week of October. The US administration of President Donald Trump has offered a USD 10 million bounty on Saeed. The JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the banned Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), which is responsible for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. With PTI Inputs New Delhi: Mumbai terror attacks mastermind and JuD chief Hafiz Saeed's release order by a Pakistani judicial body shows how Pakistan is "hoodwinking" the international community on the issue of terrorism, government sources said on Wednesday. It is also reflective of Islamabad's "duplicity" in tackling terrorism, they said and asked Pakistan to "walk the talk" on its assurances to the international community over dismantling terror infrastructure and not allowing its soil to be used for terror acts. The sharp reaction came within hours of the Judicial Review Board of Punjab province comprising judges of the Lahore High Court ordering Saeed's release on the expiry of his 30-day house arrest which is going to expire in a couple of days. Also Read: Hafiz Saeed, 26/11 attacks mastermind, to be freed from house arrest in Pakistan Saeed's release may also coincide with the anniversary of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks in which at least 166 people were killed. "The release order only shows that Pakistan provides free space to terrorists to indulge in acts against other countries. And in case of Saeed, a designated terrorist, it also shows how Pakistan is hoodwinking the international community on the issue of terrorism," a source said. Pakistan keeps giving assurances to the international community that it is making all efforts to tackle terrorism but it never implement its assurances in reality and this (Saeed) is one example, another source asserted. The banned Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) head, who carries a bounty of USD 10 million announced by the US for his role in terror activities, has been under detention since January. "The government is ordered to release JuD chief Hafiz Saeed if he is not wanted in any other case," said the Pakistani board which was headed by Justice Abdul Sami Khan. Saeed may walk out free in a couple of days if the government does not detain him in any other case. India has repeatedly asked Pakistan to re-investigate the Mumbai terror attacks case and also demanded the trial of Saeed and Lashkar-e-Taiba operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi in the light of the evidence it had provided to Islamabad. The JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the banned Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) which is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attacks. Saeed was put under house arrest after Mumbai terror attacks in November 2008 but he was freed by a court in 2009. Ten LeT militants killed 166 people and wounded hundreds in Mumbai on November 26, 2008. Nine of the attackers were killed by police while lone survivor Ajmal Kasab was caught. Kasab was executed after a court found him guilty and handed down a death sentence. (With Agency inputs) New Delhi: Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani on Wednesday jumped in the defence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who had become a target of a controversial meme posted by the Youth Congress magazine Yuva Desh, evoking a sharp reaction from the ruling BJP. The firebrand BJP leader hit back at the Congress party for making the 'chaiwala' barb at the PM, saying, ''India's credit rating rose under the same 'chaiwala'.'' Congress cannot endure PM because he has set an example of politics of development. The person whom they taunt as chai-wala is the one under whose leadership India saw a phenomenal jump in #Moody's & Ease of Doing Business rankings: Smriti Irani on Yuva Desh's tweet demeaning PM pic.twitter.com/lMqq3hcVdS ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2017 Slamming the Congress party over several scams and cases of corruption, Irani said that it is under the leadership of PM Modi that the ease of doing business ranking has gone up. The reactions from Irani came a day after Yuva Desh tweeted an objectionable meme showing Prime Minister Narendra Modi in conversation with US President Donald Trump and UK Prime Minister Theresa May. The word clouds indicating a conversation between the three leaders showed UK PM Theresa May yelling at PM Modi, "You go and sell tea." Interestingly, in 2014, senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar had made fun of PM Modi and even invited him to "distribute tea" at an All India Congress Committee convention. PM Modi was then the NDA's prime ministerial candidate. The Congress leader's barb backfired and BJP under PM Modi registered a landslide victory in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. In view of a massive outrage over its controversial meme, Yuva Desh later deleted the 'chaiwala' meme after Amarinder Singh Raja, the National President of the Indian Youth Congress, said that his organisation did not approve of such humour. Sincere apologies Raja Sir. As directed by you the tweet has been deleted. Will ensure that the mistake does not happen again. https://t.co/lAEWkO5Ryi Yuva Desh (@yuvadesh) November 21, 2017 "Despite political differences with the BJP and having suffered everyday abuse from their leaders, we respect the Prime Minister and all political opponents," he said. The meme was severely criticised by a section of Congress leaders, several top BJP ministers and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah. Hitting back at Congress, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that it seems that the Grand Old Party hadn't learned any lesson till now. All this happened just days after Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi told over 2,200 young campaigners in Gujarat's Ambaji not to cross the limits of decency and insult Prime Minister Narendra Modi, no matter what the provocation. Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad has reportedly prepared a hit-list with names of top Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, including some Cabinet members of the Narendra Modi government. According to reports, JeM chief Masood Azhar has even formed a special squad to attack the politicians in the hit-list. Reports also said that Indian authorities had already begun investigation into the same. The JeM has reportedly planned to carry out the operation in collaboration with Hafiz Saeeds Lashkar-e-Toiba, the dreaded terror outfit responsible for the Mumbai attacks of 2008. Both the terrorist groups are using a cadre based in Bangladesh for this purpose. And if reports are to be believed, some of the terrorists have already sneaked into the Indian territory. Unconfirmed reports also said that the terrorist groups plan to target a Chief Minister. This comes almost two weeks after Masood Azhars nephew was killed by security forces in an encounter in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama district. The slain JeM terrorist was identified as Talha Rasheed, who was also acting as a local commander of the Pakistan-based terrorist outfit in Kashmir. Besides JeM chief's nephew, two other terrorists were killed in the encounter. One was divisional commander Muhammad Bhai and the other was Waseem, a resident of Drubgam Pulwama. The joint operation was conducted by Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Rashtriya Rifles (RR) and the Jammu and Kashmir Police in Kandi Aglar village of Pulwama. US made M4 carbine rifle was recovered from the encounter site. This was the first instance of recovery of such weapon in J&K. The forces also recovered Russia made AK-74 rifle from the encounter site A Lok Sabha committee has asked the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to submit report on the controversy surrounding filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansalis period drama Padmavati, which stars big names from Bollywood like Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh. They have sought the report by November 30. Officials from the CBFC and the I&B Ministry will also appear before the Parliamentary panel in this regard. This comes even as reports said that the film, marred by controversy, is unlikely to hit the theatres this year. The makers of the film had sought expedition of certification process, owing to the protests and politics over Padmavati, but the request was turned down by the Censor Board, which maintained that it would the chronological order as per the list of films pending before it. Following this, the makers of Padmavati, Viacom18, had announced that it would defer the release of the film. Meanwhile, the government of many states, including Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, have said that they would not allow the magnum opus to release in theatres if there is any distortion of historical facts in the movie. Several fringe groups, led by Rajput Karni Sena, have demanded a ban on the movie, terming it as a disrespect to the Rajput community. The Karni Sena even alleged that the movie was funded by underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. Hours after the release date of 'Padmavati' was deferred, a fringe group had targeted actress Deepika Padukone, announcing a reward of Rs 1 crore for anyone "burning her alive", a matter, which the police said, it was looking into. The Members of the Akhil Bhartiya Kshatriya Mahasabha (ABKM) burnt over a hundred effigies of Padukone, who plays legendary Rajput queen Padmavati in the movie, and Bhansali at Damodar Swarup Park in Bareilly and shouted slogans against them. Meanwhile, breaking his silence on the controversy, actor Ranveer Singh, who plays Alauddin Khilji in the movie, on Tuesday said he stood by the movie and its director Sanjay Leela Bhansali "200 percent". The film was initially slated to release on December 1. (With agency inputs) NEW DELHI: In a U-turn, Australia's advertising watchdog on Wednesday ruled that controversial advertisement featuring Lord Ganesha and other divinities promoting consumption of lamb meat violated the country's advertising standard code. According to the latest decision, the board noted, "Lord Ganesha was a deity that signified perfection so to criticise his appearance would be likely to be seen as ridiculing the Hindu religion and by extension some followers of that faith." The advertisement was released in September by the Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA), enraged members of Hindu community and overseas and triggered widespread protests from the community. Reacting to the ASB's latest decision, Melbourne-based Hindu community member Karthik Arsu said, "This is a Great Victory for the entire Hindu Community. The community got united and each and every one contributed to fight against a giant like Meat & Livestock Australia, we lost in the complaint process, but we stood together and persisted," "So happy to receive this good news, still not sure how it will transpire in getting that derogatory advertisement removed from online platforms, but the whole community is feeling ecstatic!," he said. "The decision reinforces the belief that no one can denigrate a community in Australia on the basis of religion, colour or the size of the community!," he added. According to Jay Shah of Overseas Friends of Bharatiya Janata Party (OFBJP), Australia "the advertisement was very hurtful and I am happy that ASB accepted my review plea and gave a decision in support of Hindu community." Members of the Hindu community of Australia filed a complaint with the Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB) at that time claiming it had hurt their religious sentiments and demanded a ban on the campaign. Earlier, the ASB dismissed complaints that the advertisement breached any code saying that Lord Ganesha was depicted positively and that the intent was to be inclusive. Besides Lord Ganesha, other divinities including Jesus, Buddha, Thor and Zeus have been shown sitting around a dining table tucking into lamb at a barbecue in the ad. The ad says "to lamb - the meat we can all eat". Reacting to it, Nitin Vashisht said the Ganesha ad is highly 'insensitive'. "He is shown as ... Eating lamb and looking for a new marketing strategy for himself. [That] is really very insensitive to the community", Vashisht was quoted as saying. People have also reacted angrily to the ad on social media. NEW DELHI: The BJP on Wednesday accused the Congress of having an 'English mindset', a day after the Congress' youth wing posted a meme mocking Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'chaiwallah' past and English speaking skills. BJP national spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao said the post--deleted after it created a controversy in the run-up to the Gujarat polls--was an 'insult' to the common people of the country who do not speak English. "The tweet posted by the magazine against the Prime Minister is wrong. It is an insult to the common people who do not speak English language," Rao told reporters here. The official Twitter handle of the Youth Congress' online magazine "Yuva Desh" had kicked up a row by mocking Modi's 'chaiwallah' past and English speaking skills through a photograph showing him in conversation with British premier Theresa May and US President Donald Trump. Congress has once again displayed its anti-poor mindset through such tweets. Upcoming elections will be another reality check for them. pic.twitter.com/Qxj2aGXxPM Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) November 21, 2017 Another derogatory tweet by Yuva Desh which was posted on November 20, has not been deleted yet pic.twitter.com/EJcq224xtV November 21, 2017 The blurbs show PM Modi telling the two leaders about the Opposition's memes targeting him. He is shown mispronouncing the word and Trump correcting him, while May tells him to go and sell tea. After the flutter caused by the meme, the tweet was deleted and Indian Youth Congress (IYC) president Amarinder Singh Raja tendered his apology. Rao claimed it was wrong on the part of the Congress to 'insult' the country's prime minister in public although healthy criticism was acceptable in a democracy. He said though the common people were using smartphones and social media, they did not use the English language for communication. UW-Madison students who signed up for a federal food assistance program can now use their benefits at a campus convenience store to buy items like cold sandwiches and packaged food. Students who participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, also known as food stamps, can now use their benefits to buy some types of food at the Flamingo Run store at the Gordon Dining and Event Center, said UW-Madison housing spokesman Brendon Dybdahl. More locations across campus could follow. The change is intended to make it easier for low-income students to find food on campus and to give them a similar experience to their peers in better financial situations, he said. We want to provide those food resources to people on campus and normalize their experience as much as possible, Dybdahl said. Memorial Union submitted an application with the federal government Nov. 1 to accept SNAP benefits at its Union South Badger Market on West Dayton Street, said UW-Madison spokeswoman Meredith McGlone. In addition, other Flamingo Run locations could start accepting SNAP benefits in the future, Dybdahl said. For UW-Madison graduate Brooke Evans, who was homeless for much of her time as a student, the move is a positive step in addressing hunger among college students. Students have always gone hungry in college and its never been OK, she said. I want people to see the signs at UW that they take SNAP and I want that to educate people. According to a 2016 UW-Madison survey of more than 8,600 students released this fall, 12 percent said they couldnt always afford sufficient food and housing. Evans, who pushed administrators to make the change, said it was difficult at first to get them to see that there are students struggling to feed themselves on campus and that allowing food stamp use was necessary. As of Nov. 13, there were 26 SNAP transactions, Dybdahl said. Federal government rules limit what can be purchased with SNAP benefits, he said. Cafeteria food and hot prepared food like pizza cant be purchased. While Dybdahl said its difficult to estimate the number of UW-Madison students who use the federal benefit, 414 families with students at the university used SNAP benefits in 2017. In a 2015 Wisconsin HOPE Lab survey of about 1,000 low- to moderate-income students at 10 Wisconsin colleges and universities, 6 percent reported using food stamps. In the 2016 UW-Madison survey, students who said they struggled to afford food reported feeling like they didnt belong on campus and that they felt less welcome. Food insecurity can also hamper students academic success, a 2016 report by the National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness and three other organizations found. But its difficult to qualify for the assistance program as a student. To qualify for SNAP benefits, students generally must be enrolled less than half-time, participate in a federal or state work-study program, work more than 20 hours a week or already receive some public assistance, among other qualifications, according to the United States Department of Agriculture, which administers the program. Single parents enrolled full-time with children under the age of 12 can also qualify. Evans said she felt excluded from the larger campus community as a student because she couldnt use her SNAP benefits to buy food on campus or in dining halls. Instead, she would have to leave campus and find a business that accepted SNAP. I want to be able to eat with other students. You want to be like other people and you want to be part of a shared experience, she said. I would have to leave campus to get just a water bottle. That was extremely frustrating. New Delhi: Whether to file an appeal against an acquittal in a case is a decision taken by the investigative agencies on the merits of the case and there is no meddling by political bosses in this decision making, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said here on Wednesday. Jaitley's observation came in response to a query pertaining to reports of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) going for special leave petition against the acquittal of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan by the state's High Court in a corruption case dating back to the 1990s, but not doing so in BJP chief Amit Shah's case who was an accused in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh fake encounter. "I think these are decisions that the CBI takes on merits of appeal. Each case in which appeal is to be filed or not ... it is for the investigative agency to decide and the political executive doesn't come into it," Jaitley said. Vijayan was probed by the CBI in the SNC-Lavalin case, a Canadian firm that was given contract in 1998 to repair three major hydroelectric projects in Kerala at a cost of about Rs 375 crore. The Keral High Court acquitted Vijayan in August this year in the case, saying there was no evidence of a conspiracy by the accused in the case. He had earlier been acquitted in the same case by a lower court in 2013. Reacting to the reports and Jaitley's reply, the Congress said going by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s ways, "there is obviously no ground for appeal against Amit Shah in any case but there is every ground for appeal in every other CBI case". "The whole country is aware of their double standards. This is a clear political bias. I am not commenting on the merits at all. I am saying this is brazen political double standards," Congress Spokesman and senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi said. Here is what is making headlines today: 1. Padmavati: Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh starrer may not release this year The release date of Sanjay Leela Bhansalis magnum opus Padmavati starring Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh may be pushed to next year. The controversy-stricken film, which hasnt yet got a clearance from the Central Board of Film Certification, was initially slated to hit the silverscreen on December 1. Read More 2. Rahul Gandhi dares PM Narendra Modi to 'stop hiding' and face Parliament on Rafale Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to hold the Winter Session of Parliament and answer questions related to the Rafale deal. Read More 3. India's first mission to study the Sun scheduled for 2019: ISRO Dominating the space scene with its commendable space program, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) now has its vision set on the Sun. Read More 4. Bill Clinton faces fresh allegations of sexual assault by 4 women In fresh trouble for former US president Bill Clinton, four women have made fresh allegations of sexual assault against him. According to Daily Mail, the former president allegedly assaulted the women in early 2000s. Read More 5. Google doodles A Hindu Lady: Who is Rukhmabai Raut A lady draped in saree, with a stethoscope, with hospital beds in the backdrop. This is the picture that you would come across when you visit the Google website today. The lady in the picture is Rukhmabai Raut, one of the first practicing women doctors in India under the British rule. Read More NEW DELHI: After three states calling for a ban on Deepika Padukone-starrer 'Padmavati', Maharashtra Tourism Minister has demanded a ban on the screening of the controversy-ridden film in the state. Tourism Minister Jaykumar Rawal, who is associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has written to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis demanding a ban on the Sanjay Leela Bhansali movie if it distorted historical facts. Rawal said he has written to the CBFC to cancel the "certificate given to the movie" and that it be shown to a committee of expert historians. Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana all BJP ruled states - and Punjab, ruled by the Congress, have already opposed the release of the movie. The Sanjay Leela Bhansali film starring Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh is based on Rajput queen Padmavati. Amid rumours that there was a romantic dream sequence between Padmavati and Alauddin Khilji's characters, various Rajput and other groups have been protesting against the film, alleging it "distorts" history and hurts the sentiments of the people. The producers of the film Padmavati will take a call on its release only after the censor board's go-ahead, a source said on Tuesday. The film starring Deepika Padukone as Rani Padmavati, Shahid Kapoor as Maharawal Ratan Singh and Ranveer Singh as Sultan Alauddin Khilji was earlier scheduled to release on December 1. Meanwhile, breaking his silence on the controversy, actor Ranveer Singh on Tuesday said he stands by the movie and its director Sanjay Leela Bhansali "200 percent" amidst the ongoing controversy over its alleged content. "I am 200 percent with the film and I stand by it as well as Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Given that it is very sensitive time right now, I have been specifically asked not to say anything. Whatever official communication with regards to the film needs to be made, you will receive it from the producers," Ranveer told the media. What Yogi Adityanath said Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has said those who have threatened "Padmavati" director Sanjay Leela Bhansali and actress Deepika Padukone are wrong. Adityanath also said that Bhansali should respect the sentiments of people protesting against the film. "Bhansali has no right to play with the emotions of people. If people are protesting, he should respect their sentiments," he said. Vasundhara Raje's take on Padmavati Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje has said that 'Padmavati' will not be released in Rajasthan till necessary changes as per the suggestions given to the Centre were incorporated in the Sanjay Leela Bhansali movie. In the letter to Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani last week, Raje had suggested that a committee of historians, film experts and members from the Rajput community be formed to look into the film's subject and necessary changes be made to it so that it does not hurt the sentiments of any community. Padmavati distorts history: Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said that the historical period drama that "distorts history" and was "against the respect of the country's mother Padmavatiji" would not be allowed to be screened in the state. "If historical facts are distorted, and if anything is shown or said in the movie against the respect of the country's mother Padmavatiji, then that movie cannot be allowed to release in the land of Madhya Pradesh," Chouhan said. Punjab CM Amarinder Singh's reaction Amarinder Singh on Monday backed the Rajput community in its protests against Sanjay Leela Bhansali's historical drama that is mired in controversy. "If historical facts are distorted, and if anything is shown or said in the movie against the respect of the country's mother, Padmavatiji', then that movie cannot be allowed for release in Madhya Pradesh," Chouhan said while addressing members of the Rajput community here at his residence. "And I am saying this because people of the country and Madhya Pradesh cannot accept disrespect of its pride," the BJP leader added. Amarinder Singh, in his comments said: "Anything that is historical event... no one will object. But here they are distorting history," Singh told reporters. "I have also gone to Chittor and returned and seen all things there... So, this is distortion of history and no one will accept it." "And if communities are objecting to it then it is their right to object," the Punjab Chief Minister added. However, the Punjab CM on Tuesday decried attempts by some vested interests to misinterpret his statement on the issue. The Chief Minister said that he had neither supported a ban on the movie nor backed those issuing threats to the actors and crew of Padmavati. The National Security Guard (NSG) is planning to train their commandos exclusively to deal with lone wolf terror attacks using vehicles at public places. The elite security force has taken this decision in the wake of some recent incidents across the world where terrorists used vehicles to mow down people at crowded places. According to sources, the NSG is likely to send their commandos to European countries to get training to deal with lone wolf attacks. This comes amid Indian authorities fearing a possible attack by the Islamic State on places of religious significance like Kumbh Mela. Following a 10-minute audio clip, released recently, which talked of Las Vegas-like terror attack on Kumbh Mela and Thirssur Pooram, Indian agencies have said that the threats cannot be ruled out, conceding that they need to prepare to counter any such eventuality. Earlier this month, the audio clip was released in Malayalam and it warned of lone wolf terror attack by the Islamic State in the country in the days to come. The male voice in the audio clip quoted verses from the Quran while warning of the attack. It is believed to be the 50th such clip from Daulatul Islam - a regional IS outfit. The clip also made clear references to the Las Vegas shooting where several innocent people were killed at a music concert. You use your intellect. Poison them in food. Use trucks. Drive over them at Thirssur Pooram or at Maha Kumbh Mela. IS Mujahideen are doing it in several parts of the world. In Las Vegas, one of our supporters killed many people at a music concert. At least you should try to derail a train. Or use a knife, the male voice in the clip had said. In Las Vegas, a lone wolf gunman carried out Americas deadliest mass shooting in a meticulously planned attack at a festival crowd of 22,000 recently. Kerala Police sources had said that the audio clip was transmitted over Telegram Messenger from a location in Afghanistan. The male voice in the audio clip is believed to be of Rashid Abdullah - an alleged leader of the Islamic State module in Kasaragod. He had left the country to join the outfit in Afghanistan. Rashid Abdullah has been chargesheeted by the NIA under IPC sections 120B r/w 125 and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) Sections 38,39 and 40. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday expressed concern over large number of grievances of consumers and called for improvement in administrative arrangements to benefit them, an official release said. Modi, who chaired his twenty-third interaction through PRAGATI - the ICT-based, multi-modal platform for Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation - reviewed the progress towards handling and resolution of grievances related to consumers. "The Prime Minister was briefed on the action taken to ensure speedy and effective disposal of consumer grievances. Expressing concern over a large number of grievances, the Prime Minister emphasised on the need for improvement in the administrative arrangements, so that consumers can be benefited," the release said. The Prime Minister also reviewed progress in implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Khanij Kshetra Kalyan Yojana (PMKKKY). He said that funds accruing to the District Mineral Foundations (DMFs) should be utilised to eliminate major development deficits and this should be done in a focused way so as to achieve the greatest possible results by 2022, the 75th anniversary of Independence. The release said that Modi reviewed the progress of nine infrastructure projects in the railway, road, power, and renewable energy sectors in several states including Uttarakhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Nagaland, Assam, Maharashtra, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. These projects are cumulatively worth over Rs 30,000 crore. The release said the earlier 22 meetings of PRAGATI have seen a cumulative review of 200 projects with a total investment of Rs 9.31 lakh crore. Resolution of public grievances has also been reviewed in 17 sectors. NEW DELHI: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to hold the Winter Session of Parliament and answer questions related to the Rafale deal. "The truth does not go away because you hide from it. Modi ji, stop hiding and open the Parliament so the truth of what you did on Rafale can be heard by the nation,(sic)" he tweeted. The truth does not go away because you hide from it. Modi ji, stop hiding and open the Parliament so the truth of what you did on Rafale can be heard by the nation. https://t.co/bwUGTNPyal Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) November 21, 2017 He has been repeatedly attacking the government over the Rafale deal with France asking why the contract was awarded to a company with "no defence experience". The Congress has alleged that the cost of each aircraft as per the deal is much more than what its government had finalised with France in 2012. Repeatedly accusing the Modi government of sabotaging the Winter Session, Congress president Sonia Gandhi had also recently hit out at the Prime Minister claiming that he "lacks the courage to face Parliament." However, the BJP has defended itself saying that this is not for the first time that the session is delayed and this has happened in the past by the UPA government too. Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad attacked Rahul and Congress over this "sudden dedication towards Parliament." He said: "I'm surprised with the dedication that the Congress is showing towards Parliament. We want to ask Congress that for how long does Rahul Gandhi even attend the session." "Whenever there was a discussion on demonetisation and the moment Congress realised we are showing facts which made Congress uncomfortable, they walked out of Parliament," Ravi Shankar added. The winter session is traditionally convened in the third week of November and lasts till the third week of December. LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath mocked Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi over his recent visits to the temples, claiming that he does not even know how to sit in a temple. "I am saddened and amused at the same time when he (Rahul Gandhi) goes to a temple...The poor fellow does not even know how to sit in a temple," Adityanath said. He claimed that when Rahul visited Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi recently, he sat as if he was going to offer namaz. "The priest then told him it is a temple and not a mosque. If you have to sit in a temple, sit in the 'paalthi' (cross-legged) posture," he added. Attacking Rahul for visiting temples ahead of elections, Adityanath said that at least wandering from one temple to another will 'purify' his mind. Giving a piece of advice to the UP CM, former Jammu and Kashmir CM Omar Abdullah said: "We don't sit for namaz Yogi ji so when you decide to tell lies to polarise voters how about you lie about things you know about." The BJP has been claiming that Rahul is visiting temples in Gujarat only to garner votes. "Why is Rahul Gandhi only visiting temples ahead of elections? People know their intentions that they want to get votes by such gimmicks. They have no inclination of devotion as during Rahul Gandhi's earlier visits he never visited any temple," Deputy Chief Minister of Gujarat Nitin Patel said. The Congress has, however, defended Rahul's visits asking if anyone has a 'patent on devotion'. New Delhi: Russia today congratulated India for Dalveer Bhandari's re-election to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and said it demonstrated the strength of the global community. "First of all congratulations. My satisfaction is that the global community has demonstrated its strength. India's victory has added strength to the international court," Russian Ambassador to India Nikolay Rishatovich Kudashev said. He was speaking to reporters after meeting Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju here. The UN Security Council and the General Assembly Monday voted overwhelmingly in support of India. Judge Bhandari received all 15 votes in the UN Security Council and 183 of the 193 votes in the UN General Assembly. Bhandari, 70, will have a nine-year term at the ICJ beginning early next year. AGARTALA: Tapan Debbarma, a commandant of second Tripura State Rifles, was arrested on Tuesday night in connection with the murder of journalist Sudip Datta Bhowmik in Tripura. He will be produced in court on Wednesday. The 48-year-old journalist was shot dead around 2 pm on Tuesday inside the headquarters of the 2nd battalion of TSR at RK Nagar allegedly by a constable of the Tripura State Rifles (TSR) following an altercation. He was taken to G B Hospital in Agartala where the doctors declared him brought dead. The editor of the 'Syandan Patrika', Subal Dey alleged that Bhaumik was killed by Tapan Debbarma as he had written a series of articles on corrupt practices of the officer. "It was Debbarma who called Bhaumik to the battalion headquarters...Bhaumik's mobile phone is missing, but all other belongings such as money bag and pen were recovered," Dey claimed. He had called for the immediate arrest and suspension of the commandant. TSR Second Battalion Rifleman Nandu Kumar Reang was arrested on Tuesday in connection with the case. According to police, Reang opened fire from his AK-47 assault rifle, killing Bhowmik on the spot. Reang is the bodyguard of Debbarma. Meanwhile, Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy will submit a report to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on the murder. Union Minister of State for Home Kiran Rijiju has also strongly condemned the killing of the journalist. Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, condemning the killing, has asked the Director General of Police to probe the incident. Bhowmik, who was a reporter with "Syandan Patrika" and television channel "Vanguard", is survived by his wife, a government teacher, and two children. To protest the killing, both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress called a 12-hour and 24-hour statewide shutdown on Thursday respectively. This is the second killing of a mediaperson in Tripura in two months. Earlier on September 20, television journalist Santanu Bhowmik was killed allegedly by some activists of a party in Mandai. Imphal: A female passenger, doctor by profession, who had to attend to a critical patient in Imphal, was seen confronting Union Minister Alphons Kannanthanam after her flight reportedly got delayed due to VVIP arrival schedule at the airport. The angry woman was seen shouting at the union minister and others as she could not reach on time to attend a critical patient after her flight got delayed. The doctor asked Alphons if he could give her in writing that her flights will not be delayed further. "Yesterday no scheduled flight was diverted or cancelled.But, 3 scheduled flights were delayed by around 2 hrs due to President of Indias flight movement. We heard that 1 pax who was travelling from Imphal to Patna argued with Union Minister KJ Alphons," Airport Director of Imphal said. However, the minister dismissed the report saying there was no controversy at all. "I don't think there is any controversy at all. I saw this lady in distress and I went up to talk to her. She said she had to attend a funeral in Patna. I told her that there is a protocol when President is landing no flight can take off," Alphons said on Imphal Airport incident. "Apart from Prime Minister and President, there is no protocol for any minister. The woman had to talk to someone. It is fine with me that she vented her anger on me," he added further. Earlier, as many as 13 flights were diverted out of Delhi and many were delayed due to a VIP movement. Many passengers were left stranded as nearly 90 domestic flights, arriving at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, were either delayed or diverted due to the VIP movement. WATCH:Angry passenger shouts at Union Minister KJ Alphons at Imphal Airport after flights were delayed due to VVIP arrival schedule #Manipur pic.twitter.com/0EWHjIA30n ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2017 On the other hand, the woman passenger who screamed at the minister said she approached him thinking that a ministe can do everything. "I was waiting and crying so I approached the Minister (KJ Alphons), thinking a Minister can do everything," Dr. Nirala, woman who shouted at KJ Alphons, was quoted as saying by ANI. A Wisconsin kindergartener is among the first youngsters to bag a buck under a new law that eliminates the states minimum hunting age. Lexie Harris, 6, is no stranger to the woods. Her dad, Tyler Harris, has taken her along on his hunts since she was 3. But it wasnt until Gov. Scott Walker signed the new law on Nov. 12 that Lexie could legally shoot a deer. Until then, a state resident had to be 12 years old to buy a hunting license or hunt with a gun. Children as young as 10 could participate in the mentored hunt program. The new law lets anyone of any age participate in a mentored hunt and the mentor and student are allowed to carry their own weapons. Harris bought his daughter a youth rifle, which is easier for her to handle and less powerful and has taken her to the shooting range to practice. He also attached a smartphone to the gun scope to make it easier to train the firearm on her target. On Sunday, Nov. 19, the two headed out to the woods near their rural Medford home in Taylor County, where Harris has built a heated hunting enclosure. Harris carried his daughters gun. They saw several deer during their time in the wooded shelter, but waited for the one that would provide a good shot, Harris said. Soon, a six-point buck strolled into their view. Harris helped his daughter set up for a shot. She was shaking, Harris said. He told her she could take a shot, but only if she wanted to. Lexie pulled the trigger and the buck was hit. The two tracked a blood trail to the carcass not far away. She looked at me right away and said, Im not gutting it because thats gross, Harris said. So, he field dressed the deer and hauled the carcass out of the woods. Lexies grandmother, Karen Zubke, said shes glad her son believes his child doesnt have to be a boy to hunt. He beams, Zubke said describing her son. Hes so proud of her. New Delhi: The Congress today took on the BJP for its Bihar unit chief saying that any finger or hand raised against the prime minister would be chopped off and asked if Narendra Modi or party president Amit Shah would apologise for the comment. Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala also hit out at a section of the media and asked if "bhakt channels" would hold discussions on Bihar BJP president Nityanand Rai's comments on Monday. "Will hands and fingers now be chopped off for asking Modiji questions? Will Amit Shah dare act against his Bihar BJP chief?" Surjewala asked on Twitter. "Will Modiji, Amit Shah apologise? Will bhakt channels hold discussions on this?" he added. Rai had said at a function on Monday that the prime minister is the son of a poor man and should be honoured. "Any finger or hand raised at him should be either broken or chopped off," he had said. Yesterday, he expressed his deep regret if the comment caused any hurt and said he withdrew it. "I used a 'muhavra' (idiom) to express my sentiments. My words were not to be taken literally. However, if it has caused any hurt, I express my deepest regret and withdraw my comment," Rai told reporters in Patna. London: The London stock market firmed Wednesday in cautious trade before Britain's annual budget, but Frankfurt fell on continued political uncertainty in Germany. The British capital`s benchmark FTSE 100 gained 0.2 percent as investors awaited finance minister Philip Hammond`s budget presentation to parliament, due at 1200 GMT. The chancellor of the exchequer will unveil his Conservative government`s tax and spend plans against a backdrop of Brexit tensions and sluggish UK economic growth. Hammond has already trailed plans to build 300,000 homes every year, unveiling billions of pounds of investment alongside new powers and planning rules. He will meanwhile likely lift his annual borrowing targets and cut economic growth forecasts."We are still stuck in the pre-budget phase, meaning the markets are not doing too much just yet," noted Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell. "In terms of potential market-movers, the housing sector is arguably the one to watch given the amount of chatter there has been about Britain`s need to build new homes." It was the travel sector which grabbed investors` attention however in Wednesday trading, with shares in Thomas Cook slumping more than 11 percent on London`s second-tier FTSE 250 index after the group`s poorly-received earnings update. Elsewhere in Europe, Frankfurt`s DAX 30 index slinked lower after talks on forming a government coalition in Germany collapsed over the weekend. Pressure mounted Wednesday on Germany`s Social Democrat leader Martin Schulz to reconsider an alliance with Chancellor Angela Merkel`s conservatives to stop Europe`s biggest economy from sinking into months of paralysis. Schulz has repeatedly said the SPD would not return as the junior coalition partner in a government led by Merkel, after suffering a stinging defeat in September`s general election. Frankfurt stocks sank "presumably due to the lack of political progress in Germany", noted Campbell.Europe`s markets diverged following Asia`s rally, which saw Hong Kong finish above the 30,000 points mark for the first time in 10 years after another record close on Wall Street. Asian and US investors were back in buying mood this week on optimism about the world economy and earnings, while they remain upbeat that US lawmakers will eventually push through much-vaunted tax cuts. All three main stock indices in New York closed at all-time highs once again Tuesday as dealers there begin to wind down for Thursday`s Thanksgiving holiday. The positive energy flowed through to Asia, where Hong Kong pushed 0-6 percent higher Wednesday, sitting above the 30,000 barrier for the first time since late 2007. In commodities trading, global oil prices rallied to near two-year highs. The latest peaks came after data pointed to a drop in US stockpiles, while investors are awaiting a meeting of OPEC next week hoping it will extend an output cut.London - FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 7,429.79 points Frankfurt - DAX 30: DOWN 0.4 percent at 13,119.60 Paris - CAC 40: FLAT at 5,364.84 EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.1 percent at 3,582.10 Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.5 percent at 22,523.15 (close) Hong Kong - Hang Seng: UP 0.6 percent at 30,003.49 (close) Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.6 percent at 3430.46 (close) New York - DOW: UP 0.7 percent at 23,590.83 (close) Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1759 from $1.1740 at 2200 GMT Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3250 from $1.3244 Dollar/yen: DOWN at 112.09 yen from 112.44 yen Oil - Brent North Sea: UP 76 cents at $63.33 per barrel Oil - West Texas Intermediate: UP $1.17 at $58.00 New Delhi: The Sri Rajput Karni Sena on Wednesday warned that it won't allow noted film director Sanjay Leela Bhansali's controversial movie Padmavati's release even if changes are made in the film by its makers. "My party members and I are totally against the film Padmavati's release. Even after the changes, we will not allow it to hit the theatres. We will come out on the streets along with other social organisations and protest against it if it gets a release date," Karni Sena chief Lokendra Singh Kalvi told ANI. The warning from Kalvi came hours after the producers of Padmavati reportedly said that they would take a call on its release only after the Censor Board's go-ahead. "Every person has an objection to the film 'Padmavati'. It's not just the Centre, but everyone is raising the issue over the movie. I totally feel that it should not be released anywhere in India. I will also appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to get this film banned," Kalvi said. Meanwhile, earlier in the day the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) chairman Prasoon Joshi refused to comment on 'Padmavati,' saying, "I don't want to talk on this topic as of now." At the 48th International Film Festival in Goa, the 46-year-old said, "I'm here for a movie on kids and let's only talk about it. If I have anything to say about it (Padmavati) then I will tell you everything in detail." However, on November 20, at the red carpet India International Film Festival (IFFI) 2017, when he was asked about the certification process of 'Padmavati,' Joshi said, "We are trying to follow the procedure. At this point, instead of all the chaos, a discussion is required." Padmavati- based on the life of a Rajput Queen Rani Padmavati - is in the eye of the storm following protests from right-wing groups over alleged tampering with historical facts, a charge which Sanjay Leela Bhansali has categorically denied. The film features Deepika Padukone in the titular role as Rani Padmavati, alongside Shahid Kapoor as Maharawal Ratan Singh and Ranveer Singh as Sultan Alauddin Khilji. The release of the film, which was earlier slated for December 1, has now been deferred as the filmmakers are yet to secure a censor certificate. The Rajput Karni Sena had even called for a Bharat Bandh on December 1 to protest against the controversial film over what it calls ''blatant distortion of facts'' by its makers. New Delhi: Any policy tweak on Kashmir is to ensure normalcy in the state, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Wednesday in response to a query about the Centre advocating withdrawal of cases against first-time stone-pelters in the Valley. "The government's policy is (aimed) to normalise the situation in Kashmir and bring peace there. The government works on the basis of what steps are supposed to be taken to bring normalcy back to the Valley," Jaitley said. "There was a situation when civil disobedience (in the Valley) was at its peak, when stone-pelters would come in thousands, terrorists could pick their targets as they wished and Hurriyat would give a call (for bandh) whenever they liked and paralyse everything," he added. "Today, the situation has changed. Security forces have an upper hand. It has become difficult for stone-pelters to gather a crowd. The Hurriyat has been exposed," the minister said. The central government has advised the Jammu and Kashmir government to withdraw cases against first-time offenders involved in stone-pelting during the 2016 unrest. At the same time, the Centre has also offered to bear the cost of treatment of those who were injured in firing by security forces. The move comes close on the heels of the Centre appointing former Intelligence Bureau chief Dineshwar Sharma as its interlocutor for Jammu and Kashmir. Sharma is likely to visit the Valley soon for a second time. His first visit as interlocutor was between November 6 and November 10. Jaitley said the government, through its interlocutor, intended to engage all those interested in talks to resolve the Kashmir issue. "In a situation like this, the government through its new initiative is engaging with those who want to talk. We are trying to bring back normalcy. What efforts are to be made will be decided by our special representative and the state government," he said. Srinagar: A soldier was killed today in an encounter between security forces and militants in Keran sector of Kupwara district in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said. The gun-battle broke out at Choken Post in Keran sector near the Line of Control at around 7.30 am, they said, adding a soldier was killed in the exchange of firing between the two sides. The operation was going on when reports last came in, the officials added. Kochi: The Kerala Police team, probing the actress abduction case, on Wednesday submitted the chargesheet which has named Malayalam superstar Dileep as eighth among the 12 accused and his former wife, actress Manju Warrier, as a key witness. Pulsar Suni, who master-minded the kidnap in February this year, is the first accused and the charges slapped include rape and conspiracy. The chargesheet, running into 650 pages, was filed before the Angamaly Magistrate court and it includes secret depositions by 12 people and among the list of witnesses, there are around 50 from the film industry. The popular actress was abducted in February when she was on her way from Thrissur to Kochi, forcibly driven around in her vehicle for about two hours and allegedly molested before being dumped near an actor-director's home. The key accused Suni and his accomplices involved in the actual abduction were arrested a week later. Incidentally, on Tuesday, the Kerala High Court permitted Dileep, who is currently out on bail, to travel to Dubai. The court directed that the actor's passport, currently with the trial court in Angamaly, be handed over to him for six days so that he can be in Dubai for four days later this month. Dileep, who owns restaurant Dhe Puttu in Kochi, is opening a new outlet in Dubai and sought the court's permission to be there for the opening ceremony. He was arrested on July 10 after police found evidence to link him to the conspiracy part of the case. After 85 days in jail, he got conditional bail and has been on a religious sojourn. THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday said that the state Cabinet has accepted Justice Antony commission report in the Mangalam channel phone chat scandal. As per earlier reports, the Justice Antony commission report had recommended the cancellation of Mangalam channel's licence and continuation of police cases registered against it. The commission was investigating the matter involving allegations of sexual harassment against former Kerala transport minister AK Saseendran. The Justice PS Antony Commission was set up by the state government after a Malayalam television channel had released an audio clip, in which was allegedly speaking inappropriately with a woman. Claiming that it was Saseendran's voice in the clip, the channel had alleged that he had sought sexual favours from the woman in the video. While Saseendran resigned on 'moral grounds', he dismissed the charges as 'baseless'. "I have no negative thoughts. I have only positive thoughts about the report," Saseendran had earlier said reacting to the Justice Antony commission report. Reacting to the submission of the report, Saseendran said he had appeared before the commission as and when summoned. "Whatever I knew, I have told the panel," he said. Justice Antony had earlier said that a comprehensive probe was held and that the Chief Minister will provide report details. Only 17 of the 22 witnesses appeared before the commission. "Media should be guided by public interest, not commercial interest...The copies of the report will be sent to the Information and Broadcasting ministry and Press Council of India," he said. The commission has also made observations on the right to privacy, extent of freedom of media and its misuse, he said. Kolkata: Three suspected terrorists, who were arrested by the Special Task Force of the Kolkata Police yesterday, were sent to police custody till December 5 by a local court on Wednesday. The suspected terrorists, believed to be associated with Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) were arrested by a Special Task Force team following credible inputs from the central intelligence bureau. The STF team also seized several documents linked to the al Qaeda from their possession. The terrorists, identified as Montosh Dey (46), and two Bangladeshi nationals - Sanshad Miya (26) and Rizaul Islam (25), are members of the Anshar Bangla Team (ABT) - a banned terrorist outfit in Bangladesh and other countries. Kolkata Special Task Force (STF) Deputy Commissioner Murlidhar Sharma had told media that the suspected terrorists had been living illegally in India for last one and a half years and were arrested on the basis of inputs provided by the Intelligence Bureau. The three men are also allegedly involved in the killing of several Bangladeshi bloggers, Sharma said. Patna: The Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government has a new task for teachers in Bihar photograph those defecating or relieving in the open. School principals have been asked to supervise the task. Educators are not too happy with this new charge. Protesting against it, general secretary of Bihar Secondary Teachers Association Shatrughan Prasad Singh said, "Teachers are already overworked. They are used in a number of non-teaching works like census, preparation of voters list etc. This new order on open defecation is not only an addition, it is also an insult to their dignity." The instructions have been issued by Block Education Officers, as a part of the state's Open Defecation Free (ODF) campaign. The idea is to shame and name people defecating in the open. Currently, teachers have been allotted one of the two shifts to discharge this duty - 5:00 am and 4:00 pm. This is not the first time that Bihar`s teachers have been asked to do a job outside their profession.In the past, teachers have been posted on census duty, election duty, and have had to compile voters` list. Defending the move, State Education Minister Krishna Nandan Prasad Verma said, "There's unnecessary controversy. Teachers are respected in society. Department thought if they make people aware, they'll be heard and followed. They weren't asked to set aside teaching for it." He, however, agreed that clicking photos while in the 'act' may not be that nice. "Clicking selfies with defaulters is different matter, personally I didn't like it. We just want teachers to exercise their influence in society and bring awareness," he added. With agency inputs Former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi has claimed that many people in Bihar are ready to 'slit PM Narendra Modi's throat and chop off his hand'. They say fingers of those accusing Narendra Modi will be chopped off. Do so and no one in the country will stay quiet. Will the people of Bihar not say anything? There are many people here who are ready to slit PM Modi's throat and chop off his hand," she said. #WATCH: Many in Bihar ready to slit PM's throat and chop his hand, says Former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi (21.11.17) pic.twitter.com/nTbOe7jC6f ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2017 She added that for this, they can send people to jail. "People of Bihar will go to jail together," she said at a public meeting on Tuesday. Her remark comes days after Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Bihar president and MP Nityanand Rai said: "all fingers and hands raised against the prime minister should be broken or chopped off." However, he later apologised for the controversial comments saying he only used a colloquial expression in Hindi. He also said he regretted hurting peoples sentiments. Speaking at the same event, Rabri said she could not be "cowed down" by the central investigating agencies whose "character" she knew well. The former CM has skipped appearance before Enforcement Directorate despite numerous summons in cases related to benami property. "Be it ED, CBI or IT (income tax) I know their tiriya charittar (character). What wrong have we done. The Centre should give an answer and so should the state government", she said while addressing the Rashtriya Janata Dal's national council here. "Let them send any number of notices. I am not going to get afraid. If they are so eager to interrogate me, then they should come to Patna and question me", she added. A Madison committee on Tuesday selected a Chicago performance analyst to fill the City Councils new chief of staff position. Kwasi Obeng currently works for Chicagos Office of Inspector General, where he managed performance audits of departments, and previously worked for Atlantas City Auditors Office. He earned a doctorate in political science from Clark Atlanta University. The Common Council Executive Committee chose Obeng from three other finalists for the position, which will be salaried between $96,252 to $129,939. Council President Marsha Rummel said Obeng brings a breadth of experience and will help the council as it undertakes a comprehensive review of Madisons governmental structure. As chief of staff, Obeng will assist the 20 City Council members in program development, policy responsibilities and oversee the councils three current staff members. The other finalists were Jim Bohl, a Milwaukee City Council member; Melanie Conklin, communications director for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin; and Astra Iheukumere, assistant director for Community Networks and National Partnership with the UW-Madison Population Health Institute. Obeng is to begin the job Jan. 8. Market vote delayed At a City Council meeting later Tuesday, members pushed back a vote on selecting an operator for the Madison Public Market project. Some council members raised questions about why the Madison Public Market Foundation has been chosen to run the market, proposed at the corner of East Washington Avenue and First Street, because the foundation was formed by three members who sit on a city committee overseeing the public market project. Mayor Paul Soglin said the process of forming a new nonprofit foundation that works closely with the city is similar to what other cities have undertaken on their public market projects. The Madison Public Market Foundation was created by Ald. Larry Palm, whose district includes the project site, Anne Reynolds and Mayra Medrano. All three are on the citys Public Market Development Committee. Ald. Shiva Bidar-Sielaff asked the City Attorneys Office to draft a memo about any conflicts of interest the relationship could create before the councils Dec. 5 meeting. Ald. Matt Phair also introduced a proposal that would let residents dispose of animal droppings in their own trash bins. Currently, city law limits disposal of animal waste to burying it where legally permitted, flushing it down a toilet or putting it in an approved animal waste receptacle. The change would also make it illegal for someone to let their animals urinate or defecate on an elevated porch or deck thats above someone elses property. New Delhi: Former Bigg Boss contestant Sofia Hayat has often been a headline maker. The controversial celebrity took the entire social media by shock after she became 'Gaia Mother Sofia'. The drastic transformation made headlines last year and now Mother Sofia has done it again. After Manushi Chillar made India proud by winning the Miss World 2017 title. Interestingly, the title came back to the country after 17 long years. Priyanka Chopra was crowned Miss World way back in 2000. However, Sofia trashed the whole concept of this beauty pageant. She took to her Instagram and posted Manushi's picture with a caption that read: Are they still running this contest..I though it died with the dinosaurs .. who judges beauty these days when beauty does not have a single face or form..you gotta laugh at such prehistoric ideals..beauty is not there to be judged..why isn't a woman in a hijab there..or a somalian with a lip plate there..or a painted American Indian..or a transgender..are they not beautiful?..why is there not a size 16 woman with curves or a bald woman? Miss World is out dated..the real Miss World..is a woman who is Mother nature..a woman with a child..a woman who has stretch marks on her body to show she has lived..to show she like the world..is diverse and different..but mostly..Miss World..would never allow herself to be judged by the standards of others..let alone a committee! Here is to the real Mrs and Miss Worlds of this beautiful planet. Our World..our earth..does not judge her children. Namaste Shalom Salaam. Gaia Mother Sofia Allah Maa. Followed by another post on beauty contests with a caption: Miss or Mrs Worlds! They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes! We as women are not here to be judged by anyone!. Miss or Mrs Worlds! They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes! We as women are not here to be judged by anyone! A post shared by Sofia Hayat (@sofiahayat) on Nov 19, 2017 at 5:55am PST We are 1 A post shared by Sofia Hayat (@sofiahayat) on Nov 19, 2017 at 12:11pm PST She went on with her rant against beauty being judged on the basis of physical features and posted similar stuff on Instagram. New Delhi: Major telecom operators Airtel, Jio, Vodafone and Idea are all set to roll out the Aadhaar-sim linking via OTP as the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has approved the blueprint presented by them to operationalise new modes. The deadline for linking Aadhaar with the mobile SIM card is February 6, 2018. The OTP based Aadhaar-based SIM reverification of existing subscribers will be rolled out from December 1. The government last month had announced three new ways to complete the process of linking mobile phone numbers with Aadhaar to enable existing subscribers to undergo SIM re-verification exercise from the comfort of their home. As per the new methods that were permitted, mobile numbers can be linked with Aadhaar through OTP (one-time password), app or IVRS facility -- the measure aimed at simplifying the entire process and making it convenient for people. While the authentication of mobile phone number with Aadhaar, a process called re-verification, by visiting stores of telecom firms will continue, the government has ordered the companies to carry out the exercise at the doorsteps of the disabled, chronically ill and senior citizens. Mobile companies have assured the UIDAI that they will implement OTP-based verification of mobile numbers by month- end and this will allow people to get the verification done without actually visiting the store or retail agent, UIDAI CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey told PTI last week. He said the new methods would also help achieve the (re-verification) task in the given timeframe (February 6 deadline) and make the whole system more secure as it will prevent misuse of mobile number by unscrupulous elements. How does Aadhaar-sim linking work? First you will have to make sure that your mobile number is registered with Aadhaar. Only after linking your mobile number with Aadhaar card can you initiate the OTP linking process. Those with a registered mobile number will get the OTP sent to their mobile number from UIDAI. If your mobile is not linked to Aadhaar, you will have to go to the telecom operator store and get the verification done for your new mobile number. You will have to carry your Aadhaar card and a fingerprint scan will be required for the re-verification of your mobile number Simultaneously, you can also change your mobile number details online. Once your new mobile number gets linked to the Aadhaar number, you should start receiving SMS from UIDAI. Ludhiana: The owner of a plastic factory, which collapsed on Monday and leaving 13 people dead, was arrested by the Punjab Police on Wednesday. Inderjit Singh Gola, owner of the factory, who had gone underground since Monday, has been arrested, Ludhiana Police Commissioner RN Dhoke said here. The victims included six firemen and a municipal corporation official. Several people were trapped under the debris of the collapsed five-storeyed building, located in a congested part of the Industrial area near Cheema Chowk. The factory building, which was engulfed in a major fire on Monday morning, collapsed later in the afternoon following a powerful blast. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday ordered a detailed inquiry by the Patiala Divisional Commissioner into the incident and announced compensation for the kin of those killed. The two injured men, identified as Rohit Kumar and Sunil Kumar, are undergoing treatment at CMC Hospital Ludhiana. The rescue operation continued on Wednesday. Teams of the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF), Army, Punjab Police, the Fire Department and a local NGO were engaged in rescue work. Chennai: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) candidate Thiruparankundram Sarvanan raised doubts over the death of former Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa, claiming that Apollo Hospital had given contradictory reports on her 75-day-long treatment. "I have appeared before the commission and given the explanation. I have highlighted that there are contradictions between the actual condition of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa as presented by the Apollo Hospital found on the official website and various press releases given by the hospital over the due course of over 75 days of treatment," Sarvanan told ANI. He added that there are a lot of contradictions between the actual health state of former CM in the press release of Raj Bhawan and the condition which was explained to the public. "Tomorrow, I am submitting some important documents regarding the fingerprints and forged signatures, and the commission will continue its investigation as well," he said. Earlier on November 3, the Supreme Court dismissed a plea challenging the enquiry commission constituted to probe former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa`s death. On October 30, a probe relating to the death of former the Tamil Nadu chief minister begun. In September, Retired Madras High Court judge, Justice Arumugasamy, was appointed to head the probe into the death of Jayalalithaa, following Chief Minister E Palaniswamy`s announcement in this regard. The Tamil Nadu government had set up the inquiry commission in September to investigate Jayalalithaa`s death. Report is to be submitted in three months. This decision of the state government comes after Tamil Nadu`s Minister for Forests Dindigul Sreenivasan revealed that all ministers of the state had lied to the people about hospitalisation and death of the former AIADMK general secretary and said that only former confidant V K Sasikala and her family had access to see ailing Jayalalithaa. Hyderabad: Debate is considered essential for a vibrant democracy. Fine. But when a debate turns into controversy, and too on the issue of National Anthem, then it is something serious to think about how much worth it is. To stand up or not when the National Anthem is played in cinema halls has brought into sharp focus yet another debate and division which our great nation is witnessing. However, very far from these debates and divisions, a small village in Telangana unites and just stands up every day at the stroke of 8 am when the National Anthem- Jana Gana Mana- is played on loudspeakers facilitated by the local police. And mind you, all those who stand and salute when the 52-second National Anthem is played do so voluntarily. There's no force whatsoever on them. It's been 100 days today ( Nov 22, 2017 ) wherein the entire Jammikunta village in Karimnagar district of newly-formed Telangana state have been celebrating everyday by standing, saluting and singing together our National Anthem. On the 100th day today ( Nov 22, 2017 ), the villagers had a special celebration wherein festive atmosphere prevailed. Sweets were distributed, cakes were cut with a sense of pride that National Anthem has definitely brought them together. Started by Pingili Prashant Reddy, the Circle Inspector of Jammikunta Police Station, on August 15 this year ( 2017 ), the love for National Anthem is getting stronger with each passing day in Jammikunta village. ``Believe me, I am overwhelmed every day when people of Jammikunta come together every day at 8 am for the 52-seconds National Anthem,'' says Inspector Prashant Reddy. ``Irrespective of religion, caste, political affiliations all of them come together every morning and in fact, it was one of my endeavors to inculcate the spirit of togetherness and oneness among the villagers,'' he adds. In fact, the villagers helped the local police in installing public address system, loudspeakers along with CC Cameras ( There are 62 close circuit cameras installed in this village ). The crime rate ratio has drastically come down. ``Everyone knows everyone in our village but meeting them every day during National Anthem is making our bonds stronger. We get at least some time to share our thoughts, well being,'' says Dr.Rajashekaram, who practices as a physician in this village. Another interesting aspect of this National Anthem singing is that the locals are saying it has improved their lifestyle. ``There is a good reason to get up early in the morning, start our day early at 8 am. I like coming to the police station every day at 7.30 am and set up address system. It is giving me immense satisfaction,'' Mohammad Pasha, constable, says. Even the youngsters are taking great pride. ``Can't we stand for 52 seconds for the pride of our nation,'' says Md. Jani, a student, who supports his education by riding an autorickshaw. A small village like Jammikunta has definitely shown that if there's a will there's a way and National Anthem does bind them together. BALIA: A woman attending Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's rally in Ballia on Tuesday was asked by police officers to take off her burqa. In the video, a police officer can be seen asking a woman to take off the burqa. Reacting to the incident Balia SP Anil Kumar said that he has no information of any such incident. However, he added that everyone had the instructions to see that no one shows black cloth to the UP CM. He added that the incident will be probed and action will be taken. The woman said that she did not know why she was being asked to remove her burqa. Th woman and her husband both are BJP workers. The incident comes days after the UP CM was shown black flags by some protesters while he was addressing an election meeting in Meerut on Saturday. The protesters were later thrashed by BJP workers and detained by the police. Adityanath was in Meerut to campaign for the municipal body polls in the state. During the public meeting, his speech was disrupted by protesters who raised slogans against him and waved black flags. Meanwhile, polling to elect chairmen of local bodies is underway in 24 districts of Uttar Pradesh. In the three-phase election, 24 districts of Uttar Pradesh are going to polls on Wednesday, while 25 districts would go to the polls on November 26, and 26 districts on November 29. TAIPEI/BEIJING: Air China Ltd has indefinitely suspended flights between Beijing and Pyongyang, citing poor demand as North Korea faces growing sanctions from the United States over its nuclear weapons and missile programs. An official in the company`s Beijing-based press office, who only gave his surname as Ding, told Reuters on Wednesday that flights were suspended because "business was not good". He declined to comment on when flights might resume. The suspension by China`s national flag carrier comes shortly after a visit by a senior Chinese envoy to the city and also coincides with a U.S. decision to put North Korea back on a list of state sponsors of terrorism. Air China flights to Pyongyang, which have traditionally operated on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, began in 2008, but have frequently been cancelled because of unspecified problems, state media has said. Last year, Air China halted flights seasonally for winter but resumed them in March. So far it is not selling tickets for any 2018 flights, according to Routes Online. One staff member in the company`s Pyongyang office who declined to give his name told Reuters that Air China can resume the flights whenever there is enough demand and the office will operate normally even while there are no scheduled flights between Beijing and Pyongyang. Air China`s Beijing-based press office declined to provide further comment. The company cancelled some flights in April but later said that it would increase their number in May. The United States has urged China to do more to press North Korea to stop what the United States sees as belligerent defiance of U.N. resolutions. China`s foreign ministry on Tuesday said that it hoped all parties could contribute to resolving the issue on the Korean peninsula peacefully. It also said that it was not aware of the Air China situation, adding that airlines made their decisions based on market needs. New York: American Airlines and United Airlines have agreed to a USD 95.1 million settlement with the developer of the World Trade Centre over the September 11, 2001 attacks, ending 13 years of litigation. Insurers will cover the payout to World Trade Centre Properties, owned by developer Larry Silverstein, according to court papers filed yesterday. Six weeks before the attacks Silverstein signed a 99 year lease for the site, which is owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. After the suicide airliner attacks that felled the Twin Towers, Silverstein received from his own insurers USD 4.55 billion in settlements after years of negotiations. But he also fought to receive damages from American and United, whose hijacked planes were used in the attacks. He initially sought USD 12.3 billion from the airlines and airport security companies. Now the two sides have reached a settlement that must still be approved by US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein. The September 11 attacks on the Twin Towers by hijackers loyal to Al-Qaeda killed more than 2,750 people. Another hijacked plane hit the Pentagon in Washington, while a fourth crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. Altogether around 3,000 people died in the attacks. Washington: Powerful Democratic lawmaker John Conyers, the longest-serving US congressman, settled a wrongful dismissal complaint after a former staffer said she was sacked because she would "not succumb to (his) sexual advances," BuzzFeed News reported. The 88-year-old representative from Detroit, a prominent civil rights activist, said today that he "expressly and vehemently denied the allegations," but would cooperate if the US House of Representatives decides to probe the matter further. Conyers is the latest public figure to be accused of sexual harassment in an ever-widening scandal following the downfall of movie mogul Harvey Weinstein last month. In addition to the 2015 settlement worth just over USD 27,000, BuzzFeed said it had also obtained notarized affidavits from other staff members accusing Conyers of making repeated sexual advances, caressing their hands and rubbing their legs and backs in public. The employee who was fired said on one occasion, the congressman asked her to work from his hotel room and began talking about his sexual desire, urging her to touch his penis. Conyers did not admit liability as part of his settlement, which came about as part of a process that BuzzFeed described as secretive and designed to make victims feel they had no choice but to accept what was on offer. Two other staffers meanwhile alleged in their 2014 testimony that Conyers used congressional resources to fly in women they believed he was having affairs with. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, a Republican, described the report as "extremely troubling," adding that a process was underway to reform the way Congress deals with such cases. Conyers is the most senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee and would be in line to head it if his party gains a majority in next year's elections. US politics has recently been hit by several sexual misconduct scandals -- Democratic Senator Al Franken stands accused of groping by two women and could face an ethics committee, while Republican senate candidate Roy Moore is reported to have preyed on teenage girls when he was in his thirties. Last week two female lawmakers from the House of Representatives said they knew of two male colleagues who engaged in harassment on the Hill. And yesterday, Democratic congresswoman Diana DeGette told MSNBC that former representative Bob Filner attempted to pin her against the wall of an elevator and kiss her several years ago. Gov. Scott Walker is blocking political opponent State Schools Superintendent Tony Evers from choosing a lawyer to represent him in a lawsuit brought by a conservative law firm seeking to diminish Evers power. Attorney General Brad Schimel and other Department of Justice attorneys notified the Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday that they were replacing the state Department of Public Instructions attorney in the case. The conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty alleges Evers violated a new law that requires state department officials to ask Walker for permission to craft administrative rules. WILL is asking the state Supreme Court to take the case. The move means attorneys from a department aligned with Walker and Republicans will represent Evers, a Democrat who is challenging Walker in the 2018 governors race, in the case even though they side with the group suing Evers. I think its connected with the campaign for governor, Evers said in an interview. I cant imagine going into the Supreme Court and the person representing me doesnt agree with me I have a hunch Id lose. DPI spokesman Tom McCarthy said the department will ask the conservative-leaning court next week to ignore the move. Its bizarre, he said. We are very optimistic the court will see this for what it is its a political ploy. Tom Evenson, a spokesman for Walker, rejected McCarthys characterization. He said because Evers is being sued in his capacity as a state official, Schimel has the authority to represent him and determine the arguments that are in the best interest of the state. We believe DPI should be held to the same high level of transparency and accountability taxpayers expect of any other state agency, Evenson said. Superintendent Evers should welcome greater accountability at DPI, not dodge it. Its not politics, its the law. Latest attempt to weaken Evers power Republicans have for years tried to weaken Evers power as a constitutional officer. Hes the only Democrat leading a state agency. Though the high court ruled last year to uphold Evers powers in a similar lawsuit, WILL again this week asked the Supreme Court to reconsider by alleging Evers is violating a new law passed this summer that requires state agencies to ask Walker to approve policy changes, even though the courts 2016 ruling says Evers can write policy alone. DOJ told DPI it is seeking to represent Evers in this case despite disagreeing with his position in the matter. In 2016, however, DOJ wouldnt represent DPI in a federal lawsuit because they didnt agree with DPIs stance in the case. Evers did not privately object in that case, but publicly blasted DOJ for the move. The Attorney General is committed to the rule of law, and as such, will articulate the States position in this matter, DOJ attorney David Meany told DPI attorney Ryan Nilsestuen in an email Tuesday indicating the DOJ would support WILLs position. We believe this is the only correct position that the State can take in this litigation. Nilsestuen replied by saying he did not believe Schimel is willing or able to provide effective legal representation in this matter. The Attorney Generals position is identical to that of the petitioners. A spokesman for Schimel did not respond to a request for comment. Its just another indication why people in this state believe its rigged. Its rigged against me right now, Ill tell you Evers said. Were not giving up without a fight, by golly. BEIRUT: Saad al-Hariri attended independence day celebrations in Beirut on Wednesday after returning to Lebanon for the first time since resigning as prime minister in a broadcast from Saudi Arabia. Hariri, whose sudden resignation on Nov. 4 pitched Lebanon into crisis, flew into Beirut late on Tuesday. He stood alongside President Michel Aoun and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri at a military parade in central Beirut. Lebanese state officials and senior politicians close to Hariri say Riyadh forced him to quit and held him in the kingdom, which Saudi Arabia and Hariri have denied. The resignation took even Hariri`s aides by surprise. A long-time Saudi ally, Hariri cited fear of assassination in his resignation speech, and attacked Iran and its powerful Lebanese Shi`ite ally Hezbollah for sowing strife in the Arab world. The resignation thrust Lebanon to the forefront of regional tussle between the Sunni monarchy of Saudi Arabia and Shi`ite Islamist Iran, which backs Hezbollah. Hariri`s return to Lebanon followed an intervention by France. It is not yet clear if he will stick by his resignation or rescind it. Ahead of his arrival on Tuesday, Hariri said he would declare his "political position" in Beirut. Aoun has said he will not consider Hariri`s resignation until he returned to Beirut and delivered it in person. Hariri is expected to meet Aoun at the presidential palace later on Wednesday. Hariri left Riyadh for Paris at the weekend. He journeyed back to Beirut on Tuesday, stopping in Egypt and Cyprus. The resignation shook the power-sharing deal that brought him to office last year and resulted in Aoun, a Hezbollah political ally, becoming head of state. Hezbollah, a heavily armed military and political movement, is part of the Lebanese government. Beirut: Lebanon`s Prime Minister Saad Hariri said Wednesday he had agreed to suspend his surprise decision to resign, at the request of President Michel Aoun, pending talks on the political situation. The new decision came hours after the premier landed back in Lebanon for the first time since announcing his resignation in a statement from Saudi Arabia on November 4. "I discussed my resignation with the president of the republic who asked me to wait before submitting it... and allow for more consultations," Hariri told reporters after meeting Aoun. "I agreed to this request." Lebanon has been gripped by the political crisis precipitated by Hariri`s resignation, including the question of whether the premier was being detained in Saudi Arabia, where he remained for two weeks after stepping down. Aoun had refused to accept Hariri`s resignation while the premier was still abroad, and even accused Riyadh of having "detained" the prime minister. Hariri holds dual Saudi-Lebanese citizenship, and denied he was being held against his will by Riyadh, a close political ally, but accepted a French invitation to visit Paris, leaving the kingdom on November 18.After stops in Egypt and Cyprus on Tuesday, he landed in Beirut close to midnight, and on Wednesday appeared at the country`s Independence Day celebrations marking 74 years since the end of France`s mandate in Lebanon. He appeared relaxed, at times smiling and appearing to joke with those alongside him during the military parade to mark the national holiday. In announcing his resignation, Hariri had said he feared for his life, invoking the 2005 assassination in Beirut of his father, former prime minister Rafik Hariri. He also harshly criticised Saudi Arabia`s arch-rival Iran, and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah, saying they had taken over Lebanon and destabilised the region. The resignation of the Sunni leader was seen as raising the temperature in a long-running rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran that has played out across the region. In Lebanon, the political scene is deeply divided between Hariri`s Saudi-backed bloc, and that led by the powerful Shiite Hezbollah group, which is backed by Iran. Hariri`s decision to suspend his resignation now opens the way for discussions on a possible resolution to the crisis. He had already signalled that he could consider rescinding his resignation altogether if Hezbollah pledged to respect Lebanon`s policy of "disassociation" from regional conflicts. Hariri and his allies say the group, with Iranian support, has violated this policy by fighting in neighbouring Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad`s government, as well as providing assistance to Huthi rebels battling Saudi Arabia in Yemen. Hezbollah`s chief Hassan Nasrallah has said the group still considers Hariri the country`s prime minister and suggested it was open to talks, though whether any real compromise could be reached remained unclear. "When he comes, we will see. We`re open to all dialogue and discussion," Nasrallah said on Monday. If no deal is reached and Hariri`s resignation stands, Aoun has two options -- rename him premier or choose another prominent Sunni figure to lead a new cabinet.Under Lebanon`s power-sharing arrangement, the country`s top political posts are reserved for different sects, with the presidency set aside for a Maronite Christian, the prime minister`s office for a Sunni Muslim, and the parliament speaker for a Shiite Muslim. Hariri`s resignation comes less than a year after he took office, as part of a deal with Aoun, whose party belongs to the bloc led by Hezbollah. The agreement ended a two-and-a-half year stalemate that left the post of president empty and put Hariri back in the office of prime minister for a second time. His first term as prime minister ended abruptly. In January 2011, as he was meeting then-US president Barack Obama in Washington, Hezbollah and its allies withdrew their ministers and brought down Hariri`s government. Hariri`s resignation has been seen as part of a broader pattern of escalating tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia. On the day he resigned, the kingdom said it intercepted a ballistic missile fired at Riyadh airport by Shiite rebels in Yemen. The announcement also coincided with a purge of more than 200 Saudi princes, ministers and businessmen. Seoul: North Korea denounced on Wednesday US President Donald Trump`s decision to relist it as a state sponsor of terrorism, calling it a "serious provocation and violent infringement", North Korean state media reported. Trump put North Korea back on a list of state sponsors of terrorism on Monday, a designation that allows the United States to impose more sanctions and risks inflaming tension over North Korea`s nuclear weapons and missile programmes. In North Korea`s first reaction to the designation, a spokesman for the foreign ministry denied in an interview with the state media outlet KCNA, that his government engaged in any terrorism. He called the state sponsor of terrorism label "just a tool for American style authoritarianism that can be attached or removed at any time in accordance with its interests". The U.S. designation only made North Korea more committed to retaining its nuclear arsenal, the official said. "As long as the U.S. continues with its anti-DPRK hostile policy, our deterrence will be further strengthened," he said, referring to North Korea by the initials of its official name, the Democratic People`s Republic of Korea. "The U.S. will be held entirely accountable for all the consequences to be entailed by its impudent provocation to the DPRK." The designation came a week after Trump returned from a 12-day, five-nation trip to Asia in which he made containing North Koreas nuclear ambitions a centerpiece of his discussions. Announcing the designation, Trump told reporters at the White House, "In addition to threatening the world by nuclear devastation, North Korea has repeatedly supported acts of international terrorism, including assassinations on foreign soil." Islamabad: A Pakistan Army Major was killed in a shootout with militants today during a raid on a terrorist hideout in the restive Dera Ismail Khan district near the Afghanistan border, a senior military official said. Director General Inter-Services Public Relations Major General Asif Ghafoor said that 28-year-old Major Ishaq was killed in Kulachi of Dera Ismail Khan district. "We have a sacred duty at hand of cleansing & defending our motherland; We shall do it," Ghafoor tweeted, confirming the death of the Army officer. He, however, did not give any details about casualties suffered by militants in the operations. Ghafoor said that army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and other senior officers, including Corps Commander Peshawar Lt Gen Nazir Butt attended the slain officer's funeral. Dera Ismail Khan is a gateway to the North and South Waziristan tribal regions. These were once a base for local and foreign militants. Major Ishaq is the fourth army officer to be killed during operations against terrorists by security forces in the last three months, Geo News reported. Islamabad: Pakistan's parliament has rejected an Opposition bill aimed at preventing ousted premier Nawaz Sharif from heading the ruling PML-N party. Sharif, 67, was re-elected as the chief of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in October after he stepped down as the president of his party following a decision by the Supreme Court on July 28 to disqualify him as prime minister in the Panama Papers case. Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) lawmaker Syed Naveed Qamar on Tuesday introduced the bill to remove section 203 from the recently passed Election Act 2017, which allows a person disqualified by the court to become the head of a political party. The law passed in September benefited Sharif who was forced to resign as the president of PML-N following his disqualification. Opposition parties have been demanding an amendment to restore the previous law which stated that a disqualified person was not eligible to lead a political party. But the National Assembly rejected the PPP-sponsored bill with 163 lawmakers voting against it. Only 98 members voted in favor of the bill. The new law has already been challenged in the Supreme Court by the Opposition and now it can be only annulled if the court ruled it as against the Constitution of the country. New York (AP): Harvey Weinstein paid USD 1 million to silence an Italian model who accused him of groping her in 2015 after prosecutors decided not to charge him, and in the 1990s, his brother paid other accusers from his personal bank account, a magazine reported today. Ambra Battilana Gutierrez told The New Yorker she signed a nondisclosure agreement before knowing the media mogul had a pattern of sexually harassing and abusing women. But she felt at the time pressured to sign the agreement. "I didn't even understand almost what I was doing with all those papers," she told the New Yorker. "I was really disoriented. My English was very bad. All of the words in that agreement were super difficult to understand. I guess even now I can't really comprehend everything." She recalled that, across the table, Weinstein's attorney was trembling visibly as she picked up the pen. "I saw him shaking and I realised how big this was. But then I thought I needed to support my mom and brother and how my life was being destroyed, and I did it," she told me. "The moment I did it, I really felt it was wrong." Weinstein attorneys Blair Berk and Ben Brafman said in a statement to the magazine that because of pending investigations it would be inappropriate to respond to each of the details in the article. "Suffice it to say, Mr. Weinstein strongly objects to any suggestion that his conduct at any time has ever been contrary to law," according to the statement published in the magazine. "Be assured that we will respond in any appropriate legal forum, where necessary, and fully expect that Mr. Weinstein will prevail against any claim of legal wrongdoing." Gutierrez had told police the movie magnate touched her thigh, grabbed her breasts and asked "are these real?" during a meeting in his Manhattan office on March 27, 2015. Investigators conducted a sting, listening to a call between the two and getting the model to record an in-person encounter in which Weinstein alternated between trying to persuade her to come into his hotel room and apologizing for his conduct at his office. No charges were brought, because the district attorney concluded they were not supported. Gutierrez told the magazine the decision shocked her. "We had so much proof of everything," she said. "Everyone was telling me, 'Congratulations, we stopped a monster.'" After the recent flood of allegations against Weinstein brought new scrutiny of that decision, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance's top assistant prosecutor said that police had arranged the 2015 sting without prosecutors' knowledge and that there were other "proof issues." The NYPD pushed back, saying it had used established investigative techniques to present prosecutors with a recording that corroborated Gutierrez's complaint, plus other statements and information. Weinstein also once asked his brother and business partner to settle claims made by two women, and Bob Weinstein sent them 250,000 British pounds, the magazine reported. Bob Weinstein told the New Yorker that he had no knowledge of what the payments were for. His publicist didn't immediately return a message from the AP. The New York Times published an expose of sexual harassment allegations against Harvey Weinstein, leading to his firing from the company he co-founded and his expulsion from the organization that bestows the Academy Awards. Since then, more than 100 women have come forward to tell similar tales of harassment or assault. The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they speak publicly, as Gutierrez has done. Moscow: The leaders of Russia, Turkey and Iran met on Wednesday to discuss ways to advance a political settlement in Syria as the Islamic State group is nearing its defeat, while disparate Syrian opposition groups met in Saudi Arabia in a bid to form a united front for Syrian peace talks in Geneva. "Militants in Syria have received a decisive blow, and there is a real chance to put an end to the civil war that has raged for many years," Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the start of talks with Turkish and Iranian counterparts in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi. Putin noted that political settlement will require concessions from all sides, including Syrian President Bashar Assad's government. Assad made a surprise trip to Russia late Monday for talks with Putin, which the Kremlin said were intended to lay the groundwork for the trilateral meeting Wednesday in Sochi. Speaking after the three-way talks, Putin said that the Syrian leader pledged to conduct constitutional reforms and hold new elections under U.N. Supervision. In their joint statement after the talks, Putin, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan emphasized the need for all parties in the Syrian conflict to release all prisoners and hostages, hand over bodies and search for those missing to help create conditions for lasting cease-fire and the launch of political talks. "We have reached a consensus on helping the transition to an inclusive, free, fair and transparent political process that will be carried out under the leadership and ownership of the Syrian people," Erdogan said. Even though Russia and Iran have backed Assad's government since the start of the Syrian conflict in March 2011, while Turkey has supported his foes, the three countries have teamed up to help mediate a peace settlement. They have sponsored several rounds of talks between the Syrian government and the opposition in Astana, Kazakhstan, and also have brokered a truce between Syria's government and the rebels in four areas, helping reduce hostilities. Meanwhile, the U.N. Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura spoke at the opening of a three-day gathering of the Syrian opposition in Riyadh, where various opposition groups are expected to come up with a unified delegation and a vision for the November 28 Geneva talks. De Mistura said he planned to have two rounds of talks in Geneva in December. He is set to travel to Moscow later this week. "It is our common interest that today, you elect the best and most inclusive team among yourselves," de Mistura said. "A strong, unified team is a creative partner in Geneva and we need that." The Riyadh meeting, however, has already been marred with disagreements. The notoriously fragmented opposition is divided by visions of a future role for the incumbent Syrian President Bashar Assad, the length of a transitional period as well as the constitution that will see the country move toward elections. Around 30 various opposition delegations are attending the meeting. The conflict in Syria, now in its seventh-year, has all but been frozen amid a series of cease-fires. A political solution has long been elusive. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said in opening remarks that the opposition meeting comes amid international consensus to reach a resolution. "There is no resolution to the crisis without Syrian consensus that achieves the demands of the Syrian people and ends their suffering," al-Jubeir said, adding that a resolution must be based on U.N. Resolutions. Russia, which has welcomed the Saudi efforts to unify the opposition, will also be hosting a meeting in Sochi that's expected to bring the opposition and Syrian government together in early December. Russia, Turkey and Iran have pledged to help the success of that meeting. Putin, whose military intervention in the war saved Assad's government from imminent defeat, called President Donald Trump, Saudi King Salman, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el- Sissi on Tuesday to brief them on his talks with Assad and coordinate the planned peace efforts. Putin's broad outreach highlighted a key role Russia has come to play in the Syrian conflict and reflected Moscow's desire to engage all key players. Some of the opposition delegations in Riyadh are backed by Gulf countries, which had sided with the anti-Assad rebellion, while others have been backed by Russia. Another opposition group is backed by Egypt, which has also kept contacts with the Syrian government. The Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV said some members of the Russia-backed delegation withdrew from the meeting. A member of the delegation, Qadri Jamil, said they withdrew to object other delegations putting conditions on the talks, including limiting a future role for Assad. The Russia-backed opposition is promoting political reform under Assad's rule. SARAJEVO: The U.N. war crimes tribunal for former Yugoslavia delivers its verdict on Wednesday in the trial of Ratko Mladic, the ex-Bosnian Serb military commander charged with genocide and crimes against humanity in Bosnia`s 1992-95 war. Here is a timeline of events leading to his arrest as well as important aspects of his trial: 1995 July 25 - The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) indicts Mladic and wartime Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the laws and customs of wars. Nov. 21 - The United States brokers the Dayton Accords that formally end Europe`s worst conflict since World War Two, with 100,000 dead and 2 million homeless. A NATO-led force deploys in the shattered country to secure implementation of the deal. Late 1990s - Mladic is believed to move to neighbouring Serbia to avoid possible capture by international forces in Bosnia. Occasional reports surface of Mladic appearing in public in Belgrade. Karadzic also moves secretly to Serbia. 2000 - Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic is toppled by a pro-democracy uprising and successor authorities hand the former strongman over to the ICTY in 2001 for trial. ICTY Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte renews demand for arrest of Mladic and Karadzic. 2006 - A Serbian military intelligence report discloses that Mladic was using army premises until mid-2002. The European Union suspends talks on relations with Serbia over its failure to arrest war crimes fugitives including Mladic and Karadzic. March 11, 2006 - Milosevic dies in his prison cell before his trial can be completed. 2008 - Serbian authorities arrest a disguised Karadzic and extradite him to the ICTY in The Hague. 2010 June 16 - Mladic`s family launch court proceedings in Serbia to declare him dead, saying he had been in poor health and they had had no contact with him for over five years. Oct. 28 - Serbia raises reward for information leading to the arrest of Mladic to 10 million euros. 2011 May 26 - Mladic is arrested at the farmhouse of a relative in a small town in northern Serbia. May 29 - Serbian nationalists assault police at a Belgrade rally where about 10,000 people demand the fall of the government over Mladic`s arrest. May 31 - Serbia extradites Mladic to the ICTY. June 3 - Mladic appears at an ICTY hearing, calling the charges against him "obnoxious" and "monstrous words". He declines to enter a plea, saying he needs more time to study the charges. Judge Alphons Orie schedules a new hearing for July 4. July 4 - Judge Alphons Orie removes Mladic from the courtroom after he refuses to listen to the charges against him. Orie enters a not-guilty plea on Mladic`s behalf on all 11 charges against him. 2012 May 16 - Mladic`s trial begins. July 9 - The first witness, a survivor of a 1992 massacre, confronts Mladic and breaks down in tears as he tells the court about the last time he saw his father, one of 150 Muslim men killed by Bosnian Serb forces in the village of Grabovica. 2013 April 10 - Mladic gets removed from court for challenging harrowing testimony from a survivor of the July 1995 massacre in Srebrenica of 8,000 Muslim men and boys by Bosnian Serb forces. 2014 Jan. 28 - Mladic appears as a witness against his will in the trial of Karadzic and sidesteps questions from his old ally. April 5 - The ICTY upholds a life sentence against Zdravko Tolimir, the former head of Bosnian Serb military intelligence who reported directly to Mladic, for genocide over his role in the Srebrenica massacre. 2016 March 24 - The ICTY convicts Karadzic of genocide for the Srebrenica massacre, the worst atrocity in Europe since World War Two, and sentences him to 40 years. 2016 December - Prosecution and defence teams deliver closing arguments in Mladic`s trial. Prosecutors demand life in prison for Mladic for the execution-style killings of Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica and their burial in mass graves, the long siege and bombardment of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, and "ethnic cleansing" of Muslims and Croats in other areas. Defence lawyers argue that Mladic never ordered the Srebrenica killings and say the case against him was systematically biased. 2017 March - Mladic`s lawyers seek his provisional release, arguing he is not getting adequate medical treatment at the U.N. detention centre in The Hague. Prosecutors argue against this. May 11 - Judges reject Mladic`s requests for provisional release. They will reject his appeals and similar requests for release on medical grounds regularly through November. Nov. 22 - Verdict and potential sentencing. ($1 = 0.8530 euros) Washington D.C.: United States President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, spoke over the phone for a little over an hour, discussing a range of international concerns.Syria, Iran, North Korea and Ukraine were on the agenda, the White House said. The two leaders discussed the situation in Syria and terrorism more broadly, as well as the state of affairs in Afghanistan, Ukraine and North Korea, reported CNN, quoting the White House.Trump called it a "great call".Noting the length, he said he and Putin spoke "very strongly about bringing peace to Syria" and "very strongly about North Korea." This comes a day after Putin met with Syrian President Bashar Assad where the two leaders spoke about military operation and the need to launch political processes in the country, according to a Russian government statement. Putin hosted Assad at a Black Sea resort of Sochi ahead of a summit later this week with Russia, Turkey and Iran. The trilateral talks are scheduled for November 22. Putin and Trump had lately met on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Vietnam. The two leaders, earlier, had issued a joint statement on the Syrian conflict that stated that they "agreed that there is no military solution to the conflict in Syria," and pledged to work to develop an "ultimate political solution" to the conflict. United Nations: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has condemned a suicide bombing in Nigeria in which 50 people were killed. In a statement on Tuesday through his spokesman Farhan Haq, Guterres extended his condolences to the bereaved families and to the government and people of Nigeria for the loss of life, and wished a speedy recovery to the injured, Xinhua news agency reported. He called for those responsible for these heinous acts to be swiftly brought to justice. Guterres reiterated the solidarity of the United Nations with the Nigerian government in its fight against terrorism and violent extremism, and renewed the commitment of the United Nations to continue to support regional counter-terrorism initiatives, said Haq. A suicide bomber set off explosives on Tuesday during morning prayers in a mosque in Mubi, a small town in the northeastern state of Adamawa. The dean of UW-Madisons College of Letters & Science acknowledged this week a failure to provide a safe environment in the wake of a Wisconsin State Journal report on a culture of persistent sexual harassment in a university department. One of the women who spoke to the State Journal also wrote an open letter to UW-Madison leadership, saying her efforts to report the behavior of one professor were met with skepticism from the departments head and warnings from the universitys legal department that she would be on her own if she were sued by the professor for defamation. Due process cannot be a justification for inaction or a barrier to clear and confidential reporting options and tangible whistleblower protection, former graduate student and current administrator of the art history department Clare Christoph wrote. Without these, campus assurances that sexual harassment will not be tolerated will continue to be meaningless and women who experience this demoralizing and damaging behavior will not feel safe coming forward. The State Journal did not identify Christoph at her request in the article published Sunday. But she provided the newspaper with a copy of the open letter Tuesday. In his monthly message to faculty and staff, Letters & Science Dean John Karl Scholz wrote that no one at this university should feel constrained to come forward, as it seems some did over the years. We have failed if colleagues or students must rely on a whisper network to warn about harassment, Scholz wrote. We must create an environment where those who have complaints do not fear reprisal. The State Journal article revealed that a faculty review committee report released in February described the Department of Urban and Regional Planning as having a legacy of sexism that requires immediate, serious attention. A subsequent consultants review published in July concluded the department fostered a boys will be boys mentality that normalized toxic behavior, based on interviews with 13 women, 10 of whom reported personally experiencing or witnessing sexual harassment. One professor, 65-year-old Harvey Jacobs, was accused of staring at womens breasts, making inappropriate comments about appearance and unwanted physical contact. Jacobs didnt respond to a request for comment Tuesday. In her Tuesday letter, Christoph wrote that when she reported incidents she had witnessed and experienced to a department head, associate dean and other campus officials starting in fall 2015, she was told she didnt have enough evidence to file a Title IX complaint. The department head, she wrote, said there might have been alternative explanations for the professors behavior including maybe he just needs his eyeglasses adjusted (to explain the breast staring), he might be on the autism spectrum, he might just be socially awkward like Albert Einstein was and do you think maybe youre more sensitive than other people? She was also warned the professor might sue anyone who brought defamatory allegations, that a Title IX complaint couldnt be brought anonymously and that she wouldnt be protected from legal fallout. After decades of an open secret and continuous reporting attempts, a person identified as a serial sexual harasser still teaches, mentors, and advises students, maintains access to women staff, and continues to collect his full taxpayer-funded salary, Christoph wrote. This is why the whisper network exists and why most victims give up, if they bother reporting at all: because leadership calls this promptly and substantively responding to concerns. Ken Genskow, a professor in the urban planning department since 2005 and department head since late 2015 when he said he first heard informal complaints about staff members, told the State Journal previously his response has been proportionate to the information that I had available to me. I think we would have had more options open to us had complainants been willing to pursue a formal process, Genskow said. But, respecting the decisions that they were making, I think I felt that we were taking the actions we could. I can see how that would be frustrating to someone who would want more expedient resolution, but I felt my actions were appropriate. Genskow met with one faculty member multiple times, documenting concerns in writing and helping to set and monitor specific expectations for and constraints on behavior with primary support from others in the department, college and office of the provost, UW-Madison spokesman John Lucas said Tuesday. Lucas did not identify the faculty member. When the behavior did not meet expectations, the response escalated, Lucas said. A formal complaint against the faculty member was received by the provosts office, but it has not been resolved. University taking steps to respond In his letter to faculty, Scholz listed steps the campus has taken to more effectively prevent and respond to harassment, including: Creating a full-time Title IX Coordinator position in 2015 and placing that position in a newly created Office of Compliance in 2016 Requiring sexual harassment/sexual assault prevention training for graduate and undergraduate students Requiring sexual harassment/sexual assault prevention training for all employees, beginning in July 2017 Updating policies on sexual harassment, including better defining which university employees are Title IX responsible employees and have an obligation to report complaints to the Title IX Coordinator Adopting a policy and grievance processes to address hostile and intimidating behavior Hiring two (for a total of three) additional victim advocates in fall 2016 in Survivor Services. Centralized reporting system planned The university also noted on its website Sunday that it is continuing to look for ways to improve prevention and reporting of sexual harassment on campus including creating a central reporting system and database for sexual harassment and sexual assault reports and complaints. The university said it is continuing the collaboration between the Title IX coordinator and the human resources office to improve record keeping, training and referral processes. The State Journal in August reported that UW-Madison does not require supervisors or human resources officials to keep records of anonymous sexual harassment complaints that are brought forward by students or employees. Failing to document those cases could make it much more difficult for officials to know whether an employee has been disciplined for sexual harassment in the past, according to two experts on the federal gender discrimination law Title IX. They also warned that failing to record complaints could make UW-Madison vulnerable to lawsuits from harassment victims. UW-Madison is committed to an environment that is safe and free from harassment and intimidation, Lucas said Tuesday. We have emphasized to the campus community that it is more important than ever that departments, schools/colleges and the university overall pay close attention to concerns and complaints that are raised, including investigating and taking appropriate action in a timely manner. Washington: Mumbai attack mastermind and banned Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed is a terrorist leader designated by both the United Nations and the United States, the Trump administration said on Wednesday, hours after a Pakistani court ordered his release from detention. The banned Jamaat-ud-Dawah head, who carries a bounty of USD 10 million announced by the US for his role in terror activities, has been under detention since January this year. "The US is aware of media reports that Pakistan (court) ordered release of Lashkar-e-Taiba leader Hafiz Saeed from house arrest," a State Department spokesperson told PTI when asked about the decision of the Judicial Review Board of Punjab province which refused to extend Saeed's detention. As such, Saeed is all set to be released from house arrest after the expiry of the detention order on Thursday. Responding to a question, the State Department was quick to express its displeasure over the potential release of Saeed from house arrest. In May 2008, the United States Department of the Treasury designated Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under Executive Order 13224, the spokesperson said. "Saeed was also individually designated by the United Nations under UNSCR 1267 (UN Security Council Resolution) in December 2008 following the November 2008 Mumbai attack," the official said. LeT and several of its front organisations, leaders, and operatives remain under both State Department and Treasury Department sanctions, the State Department official noted. "The US reiterates its stance that LeT is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organisation responsible for the death of hundreds of innocent civilians in terrorist attacks, including a number of American citizens," the spokesperson told PTI. The JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) which is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attack. Washington: The United States is warning Americans travelling to Saudi Arabia about the risk of ballistic missile attacks from neighbouring Yemen. A new US travel warning follows a Houthi missile attack in early November near the international airport in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. The missile was intercepted. Both the US and Saudi Arabia say the Houthis got the missile from Iran. The Houthis are Shiite rebels who control much of Yemen. The travel warning says several long-range missiles have been fired from Yemen at major cities in the last year. It also says terrorist attacks "can occur without warning anywhere" in Saudi Arabia. The State Department also says that US government workers and their families are prohibited from travelling to the areas of Qatif and Hofuf in Saudi Arabia. Theres a consensus aborning: There should be zero tolerance for sexual harassment, exploitation and violence of any kind. Enthusiasm for the new dawn varies widely. Some think its a great feminist or moral awakening. Others see an era of witch hunts, prudery and weaponized politics in our future. Put me down for all of the above. As a conservative, this seems natural to me. Almost every good thing comes with a downside, and virtually every bad thing comes with an upside. Weve seen cultural, political and religious awakenings before. The abolition movement also brought with it John Brown. Prohibition had some positive (though hotly debated) effects on public health, and the temperance movement helped pave the way for womens suffrage. Anti-communism was a good thing in my book, but no one can honestly dispute that it had its unfortunate excesses. Whenever popular passion swamps politics, true-believing zealots and opportunistic demagogues will exploit that passion. The zealots will overreach. The demagogues will demagogue using a good cause to destroy political enemies and defend unworthy allies. Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore is credibly accused by nine women of preying on teenagers, one as young as 14. Harvey Weinstein is credibly accused by at least 50 women of a long list of offenses, including rape. Democratic Sen. Al Franken has been accused by two women of inappropriate advances or groping. These are just the recent lowlights. A host of prominent journalists as well as Hollywood actors, writers and producers have been accused of varying degrees of misconduct. We shouldnt stand for any of it. And yet, the severity of our intolerance should run on a spectrum. Rape should put you in jail. Making a pass at a subordinate in the workplace should have consequences. Making one at a bar? It depends. Taking harassment seriously also requires making serious distinctions. The problem is that the logic of zero tolerance often renders every bad act as equally unacceptable. As much as I dislike Franken, making a gross pass at an adult woman is different than molesting a 14-year-old girl. Groping a womans backside is not the same thing as raping a woman. And yet Frankens name is routinely listed alongside Moores and Weinsteins. Some of this leveling is simply journalistic laziness. But a lot of it is partisan demagoguery and opportunism. Partisanship also leads to what you might call anti-leveling: people who ignore wrongdoing on their side even as they attack their enemies. Some Republicans insist Franken must resign but say the people of Alabama should decide what to do about Moore. (Meanwhile, Sen. Bernie Sanders says the people of Minnesota should determine Frankens fate.) When asked why people should judge the accusations against Moore and President Trump differently than accusations against Franken and others, the White House says Moore and Trumps denials inoculate them from condemnation or any practical consequences. Denials should matter, and accusations absent additional evidence should invite skepticism. But the upshot here is that alleged miscreants should simply deny rather than admit wrongdoing and apologize. According to this logic, Bill Clinton deserved the benefit of every doubt until he was finally forced by the evidence to admit (some of) his misdeeds. Worse, implicit to the White House argument is that on-the-record testimony from victims doesnt count as evidence, even when corroborated by testimony from confidantes. But the most dangerous and corrupting force in all of this is not the weaponization of bad behavior, but the weaponization of hypocrisy. The pastor Franklin Graham even argues that the real villains are Moores critics, who are guilty of doing much worse than what Moore has supposedly done. This obsession with hypocrisy leads to a repugnant immorality. In an effort to defend members of their team, partisans end up defending the underlying behavior itself. After all, you can only be a hypocrite if you violate some principle you preach. If you ditch the principle, you can dodge the hypocrisy charge. Were seeing this happen in real time with some of Moores defenders, just as we saw it with Clintons in the 1990s. Well sort it all out eventually, but not before it gets even uglier. Edgardo Antunano is leading a team in Texas and Brian McGonagle is promoted in Florida. Team Worldwide, a freight forwarder and 3PL company, opened a team branch office in McAllen, Texas, on Monday under the leadership of Edgardo Antunano. Antunano (pictured above), a 24-year veteran in transportation and global logistics, joined forces with custom house brokers in the McAllen and Reynosa, Mexico, border area under the umbrella of Team Worldwide. Antunano and his group operate a 70,000-square-foot facility in McAllen that offers transborder service northbound and southbound and a 63,000-square-foot multiclient storage depot in Monterrey, Mexico. We are excited to welcome Mr. Antunano and his team to our Team Worldwide family. TEAM recognizes the importance of transborder relationships in global trade. With Mr. Antunanos many years of experience and commitment to customer service, Team Worldwide customers can expect superior transborder services and a very knowledgeable, capable team to assist them with all of their transportation needs, said Jason Brunson, president and chief executive officer of Team Worldwide. The Lee County Port Authority (LCPA) has named Brian W. McGonagle division director of administration. The division oversees the areas of air service development, communications and marketing, finance, human resources, information technology and properties for Southwest Florida International Airport and Page Field in Fort Myers, Fla. McGonagle joined LCPA in 1997 as a budget analyst, was promoted to manager of budget and accounting and then named director of finance in 2004. Prior to joining LCPA, McGonagle worked for more than 12 years in accounting and finance at the Bank of Boston. He started his career as a cost accountant for United Airlines flight kitchen in Boston. After nine years of dormancy due to internal warfare and economic woes, Iraq wants to resume its effort to gain full membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO). After nine years of dormancy due to internal warfare and economic woes, Iraq wants to resume its effort to gain full membership in the World Trade Organization. Iraq is fully committed to the process of economic reform and to be part of the global economic system, Adel Al-Masoodi, director-general of the Foreign Economic Relations Department of Iraqs Ministry of Trade and vice chairman of the Iraqi National Committee on Accession to the WTO, in a statement. We look forward to opening new horizons for co-operation with the WTO, all international organizations and the international community. Accession into the WTO is a lengthy process that can take years. However, the WTO applauded Iraqs renewed commitment to joining the global trade body. The accession of Iraq is important for the WTO and the multilateral trading system at large, said Omar Hilale, the WTOs chairman of the Working Party overseeing Iraqs accession. Iraq is one of the largest economies still outside that system. It is one of the most populous states in the Middle East with over 35 million people. It has a large and diverse economy with a GDP of roughly USD 167 billion. It lies at the crossroads of the Middle East, and is home to countless historic and cultural treasures, he added. Given its regional and, indeed, global strategic importance, it is thus appropriate that Iraq should take its place among the members of the organization whose rules govern over 98 percent of global trade. The Working Party on Iraqs accession was established in December 2004. Nine months later, in September 2005, Iraq circulated the Memorandum on the Foreign Trade Regime, which was reviewed together with the initial set of questions and answers by the Working Party at its first meeting in May 2007. The examination of Iraqs trade regime continued during a second meeting in April 2008 on the basis of the second round of questions and answers, together with additional negotiating inputs including a legislative action plan, checklists for sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures and technical barriers to trade, a questionnaire on trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS) and agricultural supporting tables. The WTO noted that no activity had taken place at the Working Party level for Iraqs accession since the second meeting. The Working Party chairman said if Iraq submits all the necessary updated negotiating inputs under the latest timeline, the next accession meeting will be held in 2018. The Commerce Department will begin assessing antidumping duties on imports of carbon and alloy steel wire rod from Belarus, Russia, and the United Arab Emirates, Commerce said in a statement Tuesday. The U.S. Commerce Department will begin assessing antidumping duties on imports of carbon and alloy steel wire rod from Belarus, Russia, and the United Arab Emirates, the department said in a statement Tuesday. Dumping occurs when a foreign company sells its products in the United States at less than fair value. In its Belarus investigation, Commerce assigned a dumping rate of 280.02 percent to Byelorussian Steel Works (BSW) and all other Belarusian producers and exporters of wire rod. Commerce in its Russia investigation found that Abinsk Electric Steel Works Ltd. and JSC NLMK-Ural, were dumping wire rod on the U.S. market at margins of 756.93 percent. For all other Russian producers and exporters of this product, the department established a dumping margin of 436.8. In its UAE investigation, Commerce found that Emirates Steel Industries PJSC was dumping wire rod in the U.S. market at a margin of 84.1 percent. The department established a dumping margin of 84.1 percent for all other UAE producers and exporters of wire rod. Commerce will now instruct Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to collect cash deposits from importers of wire rod from the three countries based on these final rates. Since Commerce also found that critical circumstances exist with respect to all Russian producers and exporters, Commerce will instruct CBP to collect cash deposits retroactively on all entries of wire rod from Russia for a period starting 90 days before the preliminary determinations (Sept. 5, 2017). The department estimated in 2016 that steel wire rod imports from Belarus, Russia and the UAE were valued at $10.4 million, $32.3 million and $7 million, respectively. The petitioners for these Commerce investigations include Gerdau Ameristeel US Inc. of Florida, Nucor Corp. in North Carolina, Keystone Consolidated Industries of Texas, and Charter Steel in Wisconsin. The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) is scheduled to make its final determinations in these antidumping investigation by Jan. 5, 2018. If the ITC makes affirmative final determinations that these imports harm the domestic industry, Commerce will issue antidumping orders. However, if the ITC makes negative determinations of injury, the investigations will end. YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. President Serzh Sargsyan sent a congratulatory address on the occasion of the birthday of Leonid Azgaldyan, as the recipient of the 1st class Combat Cross Order would turn 75 years old today, the Presidents Office told ARMENPRESS. He was one of the legendary commanders of the Artsakh Liberation War, with his activities and struggle, his martyrdom, he wrote one of the heroic chapters of our peoples history. The Independence Army and Liberation Army, led by him, played a major role in the defense of Armenias borders and Artsakh. The term he said about Artsakh has long become an idiom and slogan for us: This is Armenia and thats it. The entire ideology and stance of Leonid Azgaldyan, the true patriot, serious scientist and talented organizer is concentrated in this term, the entire path of this meaningful life and meaningful immortality, the President said in the address. YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. Georgian media said armored infantry vehicles are being dispatched to the outskirts of Tbilisi, where for more than 16 hours authorities are enagegd in an anti-terror operation. According to Rustavi 2 TV, Cobra infantry vehicles have arrived to the location, while the state security service hasnt yet commented. Earlier authorities had said that an anti-terror operation is underway in the Tbilisi suburbs, and terror suspects have opened gunfire at special forces. Sounds of explosions and gunfire were heard overnight. Additional special forces were dispatched in the morning. Local media said authorities are trying to arrest to foreigners suspected in terrorism. YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. The opening ceremony of Armenias Cooperation Office was held in the Chinese city of Qingdao with the participation of Armenian Ambassador Sergey Manasaryan and Armenia's commercial attache to China Hrant Abajyan, the Armenian ministry of economic development and investments told Armenpress. The Office, which is financed by the Belt & Road Collaborative Innovation Center, will enable the Armenian businessmen to establish the representations of their enterprises. The Office will be engaged in presenting and selling the Armenian goods and services in the Chinese market, boosting tourism and establishing Armenian-Chinese business ties. The functions of the Office will be conducted by Armenias Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Union of Manufacturers and Businessmen. The total area provided to the Office is 500 square meters which later can be expanded in case of necessity. The opening of the Center was launched by the signing of respective agreements between the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Union of Manufacturers and Businessmen, the Armenian Embassy and the Belt & Road Collaborative Innovation Center. YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. Armenias minister of education and science Levon Mkrtchyan is convinced that there are no contradictions between military service and science under the new law on military service which limits the right to deferment for education. During a round-table discussion with representatives of the For The Development of Science initiative in the Parliament, the minister said: I am 100% convinced that now we are dealing with concerned people, who really think that certain issues must be regulated. I respect their position. We must try to understand what issues exist and how to solve them. The minister held many meetings with university lecturers, students, and held active discussions with all circles to understand the main issues which need to be solved. You remember that during the meeting with the PM we talked about the possibility of solving the issues through the sub-legal field. First of all, we must together try to identify and fix all issues, to engage in further work in this direction and solve them, he said. I would like to stress that its about principle, and the law was adopted to fix this principle. The main principle is that every male citizen of Armenia who turned 18, who is entering a new life and doesnt yet know if he will become a scientist, a businessmen, or lead another path, must serve for his homeland. This is the first principle, which is not subject for discussion, because it is acceptable. In case of preserving the first principle, the continuous education wont be interrupted, because the young men will serve in the army after graduating school, and then will be able to receive education uninterruptedly, he said. He added that there are indeed certain professions that require uninterrupted education. Here we have to hold serious discussions and try to solve the issue with the defense ministry. Ensuring the transition from the masters education to PhD program is easier, because we will mainly deal with oriented scientists, he said. The minister proposed to regulate the proposed solutions under governmental sub-legal acts, stemming from the law. He said a serious commission should be formed to design those acts, which will include both officials and students and scientists. The minister also said the government will be able to provide deferment to individual distinguished students. YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. Youth from the COAF beneficiary villages of Hatsik and Aragatsavan had the opportunity to take part in a virtual reality experience with writer/director Terry George (The Promise, Hotel Rwanda, In the Name of the Father), producer Dr. Eric Esrailian, and Armenian youth from Los Angeles and Amman, the COAF told Armenpress. Held on International Day for Tolerance, the Siroun VR Project was organized by Global Nomads Group to foster dialogue and understanding about various injustices occurring around the world. A group of students from both villages gathered at the local school renovated by COAF in the community of Hatsik. Siroun is an educational resource that supplements the central theme to the film The Promise- injustice is enabled by silence. As a virtual reality experience, it gives viewers an opportunity to immerse themselves in a rural Ottoman village at a critical moment in history, creating a foundation of empathy to consider the choices and experiences of everyday people caught at the crossroads of conflict, civil war and genocide. Students exchanged their viewpoints on why they believe the Armenian Genocide remains unrecognized, how to prevent bullying at school for kids who are perceived as different, and why intolerance has led to so many atrocities around the world. We were very happy to see our kids embracing more tolerant and open mindsets as opposed to retaining anger and resentment rooted in historic memory, said Ester Hakobyan, COAF Programs Director. YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. The Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) has become a full member of the Robert Schuman Institute, Armen Ashotyan RPA Vice President, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on foreign affairs, told Armenpress. This Institute is an educational center of Christian-Democratic and Right-wing parties. It is also one of the biggest analytic centers of the European Peoples Party. We are working with this Institute since 2012 and have actively taken part in their educational and analytical programs. Dozens of RPA members have underwent training within the frames of their educational programs, in Budapest, Strasbourg, Brussels and etc, Ashotyan said. He added that they attache a great importance to the full membership to the Robert Schuman Institute since it enables the party to further expand the international ties especially on political education and analytical directions. The RPA Vice President noted that as a full member of the Institute they expect a close cooperation, joint seminars and lectures. I want to state that the Republican Party of Armenia, as the first political force that established a political school in Armenia which is named after Andranik Margaryan, attaches a great importance to the role of the political education and analytical capacities in politics, thus, it will try to create an agenda for additional cooperation, he said. The Robert Schuman Institute is located in Budapest, but is a pan-European structure. From its inception and through the whole course of its political life the Republican Party of Armenia has gradually developed tight relations with international political forces and political organizations. In this context the RPA assumed cooperation with the Communist Party of China and United Russia party. Over years on the collective initiative of the parties different political events including a number of visits and joint projects had been arranged aimed at boosting inter-party cooperation. International inter-party relations are also promoted on the parliamentary level, where in recent years RPA has been conducting an extremely productive cooperation with the EPP party. On February 9, 2012 the EPP political assembly held a session during which RPA received the status of EPP observer member. YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. The traffic department of Georgias ministry of infrastructures told the Armenian ministry of transport, communication and information technologies that on November 22, as of 15:00, the Stepantsminda-Lars highway is open only for light passenger vehicles, the Armenian ministry told Armenpress. At the moment the highway is closed for heavy trucks due to snow. YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. Armenia has great potential to develop scientific tourism. A targeted work is being carried out to develop this tourism direction, Mekhak Apresyan first vice president of the State Tourism Committee, told a press conference in Armenpress, adding that discussions are being held with the concerned sides aimed at outlining the upcoming steps. Armenia has huge opportunities for the development of scientific tourism. It is an important direction for us, and we are working to ensure a development in the field. We need to identify two groups in the scientific tourism. The first group includes people who want to visit Armenia to study the discovered items, as well as conduct a scientific work. On the other hand, works can be done with tourist groups who visit Armenia just to see the scientific result, Mekhak Apresyan said, attaching importance to the work with the tour companies. Boris Gasparyan researcher at the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography in the National Academy of Sciences, said Armenia needs to be well prepared in order to develop the scientific tourism. Excavating a monument, explaining it scientifically are not enough. The process requires an inter-related work. In particular, after the excavations that monument should be actively promoted. Its a very important component, he said. He also highlighted the issue of ensuring infrastructures since in case of them the entry of tourists to an archeological site will be safe. Armenia is a part of the ancient world, it has a great potential to develop different tourism directions, but we need to understand that not only our country is like this. Thus, there is a huge competitiveness, and this supposes a daily consistent work in order to increase the tourism flow, the research said. Robert Minasyan rector of the Armenian Tourism Institute, highlighted the issue of personnel. According to him, today the tour-guides are not well-prepared for working on a scientific tourism. Scientific tourism is quite comprehensive, we need to understand how to work with which direction. The work with archaeologists requires another approach, that with the architectures another, and with astronomers another. Consistent work is needed with the people of the field, he said. YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans desire to raise the Karabakh issue at the meeting with Russian and Iranian presidents in Sochi will not turn into reality, Ruben Safrastyan, director of the Oriental Institute, expert on Turkish studies, told Armenpress, stating that Erdogans such statements on the Karabakh conflict are nothing new. Erdogan made such a statement before the meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but after that the issue was not discussed. Now we see that Erdogan is trying hard to raise this issue. I am convinced that he will not manage to include the issue in the discussion agenda of the three presidents, Ruben Safrastyan said. According to him, the negotiations over the settlement of the Karabakh conflict are being held by the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group which maintains its key significance. I think that both the president of Russia and the Iranian president will not react to Erdogans cunning. Erdogans such step is nothing new, he regularly raises the Karabakh issue, tries to show that he plays a key role in the region, tries to be included in the Co-Chairs circle, but all his attempts failed, Ruben Safrastyan said. The expert on Turkish studies noted that Putin-Rouhani-Erdogan meeting agenda focuses on Syria. The peaceful settlement stage launches in Syria in which the Russian, Iranian and Turkish presidents play a key role. Erdogan on November 22 announced that he is going to raise the Karabakh issue during the meeting with the Russian and Iranian presidents. Russia is the only power that can solve this issue, Erdogan said. YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. Armen Ashotyan, chairman of the Armenian parliamentary standing committee on foreign affairs, on November 22 held a meeting with Heribert Hirte - German Bundestag lawmaker, deputy chairman of the Committee on the Affairs of the European Union, member of the Committee on Legal Affairs, press service of the parliament told Armenpress. Heribert Hirte visited Armenia to participate in the OSCE/ODIHR conference on 'Countering and preventing hate crimes against Christians and members of other religious groups' on November 22 in Yerevan. Welcoming the guest in the Armenian Parliament, Armen Ashotyan attached importance to the productive cooperation with the German Bundestag, stating that the Armenian side is ready to make the necessary efforts to develop and deepen the relations with the Bundestag. In his turn the Bundestag lawmaker thanked for the warm reception and highlighted the high level of Armenia-Germany ties, stating that he is ready to take practical steps to boost the inter-parliamentary ties between the two states. Commenting on the issues faced by the Christian communities, in particular, in the Middle East, Armen Ashotyan attached importance to issues relating to the protection of security and cultural heritage of the Armenian communities. Ashotyan appreciated the effective and constructive activity between the friendship groups of the two parliaments. He expressed hope that the German MPs, whose names are linked with the Azerbaijani Laundromat corruption scandal, will not be included in the Armenian-German inter-parliamentary friendship groups. During the meeting Armen Ashotyan highlighted the issue of the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the international community, stating that the recognition of the Genocide is a step to prevent new crimes against humanity. Ashotyan also proposed his German partners to participate in the restoration works of the Armenian church in Deir ez-Zor. YEREVAN, 22 NOVEMBER, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs Armenpress that today, 22 November, USD exchange rate is up by 0.09 drams to 483.75 drams. EUR exchange rate is up by 1.41 drams to 568.65 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate is up by 0.06 drams to 8.21 drams. GBP exchange rate is up by 0.65 drams to 640.87 drams. The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals. Gold price is down by 41.39 drams to 19959.06 drams. Silver price is down by 2.21 drams to 264.4 drams. Platinum price is down by 121.72 drams to 14417.56 drams. YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. During a recent Capitol Hill meeting, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) and the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) explored concrete steps the United States can take to strengthen official, civic, cultural, educational and other ties with the Republic of Artsakh, ARMENPRESS was informed from the official website of ANCA. The Congresswoman, who serves on the influential House Foreign Affairs Committee, is a rising star in the Democratic Party known for fostering open and democratic debates regarding outdated orthodoxies of the U.S. foreign policy establishment. We value the legislative leadership of Congresswoman Gabbard on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, in particular her willingness to forcefully challenge morally unsustainable and clearly counter-productive elements of U.S. foreign policy, remarked ANCA Government Affairs Director Raffi Karakashian. Her travel to Artsakh over objections from both Baku and our own State Department speaks to her independence, her strength, and her character. In a meeting with ANCA Chairman Raffi Hamparian, Congresswoman Gabbard discussed new and innovative ways in which to enhance Americas relationship with Artsakh, including on matters related to travel and communication. The ANCA and the Congresswoman also discussed issues related to the OSCE Minsk Group peace process and why it is imperative for the Republic of Artsakh to have a seat at the negotiating table. The ANCA raised the State Departments troubling pattern of discouraging U.S. legislators from visiting Artsakh, stressing that free travel and open dialogue among both officials and civil society represent pathways to peace, while also allowing U.S. lawmakers to witness firsthand the benefits of the U.S. aid program to Artsakh. Commenting on her visit to Artsakh at a San Francisco Bay Area ANCA gathering earlier this year, Gabbard noted: it was great to see, everywhere that we went, how focused people are and they literally are its not a figure of speech to say that on building a bright future. Literally, that is what is happening, with their hands, and with their feet, and with their hearts. At that same event, the Congresswoman noted Azerbaijans destabilizing role in the region, sharing that Aliyevs continuous acts of aggression along the border have undermined the whole [peace] process and all the work that has gone on for decades to be able to try to reach this agreement. YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. The presidents of Russia, Iran and Turkey have adopted a joint declaration on their countries cooperation in resolving the Syria crisis, Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters on Wednesday after the trilateral summit, ARMENPRESS reports, citing TASS. "The document defines priorities for further cooperation of Russia, Turkey and Iran, which have the upper hand in Syrian issues, and sets concrete tasks for the future," Putin said. "We have just completed with President of Iran Mr. Rouhani and President of Turkey Mr. Erdogan quite substantive talks on Syria, which were held in a constructive and businesslike manner," the head of the Russian state said, commenting on the results of the summit. According to the Russian leader, at their meeting "the presidents discussed in detail the basic aspects of the Syrian settlement and agreed to continue taking the most active efforts to solve the main task: to establish peace and stability in that country, preserve its sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity." As Putin stressed, "We are united in the intention to promote the interaction of the three countries within the Astana format, which has already proven its efficiency and helped reduce considerably the level of violence in Syria and create conditions for the return of refugees and internally displaced persons.". Russia, Iran and Turkey will conduct work on a date and composition of a future Syrian National Dialog Congress in Sochi, he went on. "I can state with satisfaction that the presidents of Iran and Turkey welcomed the idea of convening a pan-Syrian forum - a Syrian National Dialogue Congress. It has been agreed to arrange for this most important event at the proper level and to ensure participation in it of the wide strata of Syrian society. The foreign ministries, special services and defense ministries were instructed to work on a date and composition of the Congress to be held here in Sochi," Putin said. Syrias social and economic restoration demands a large amount of work and the issue was discussed at the summit. "At todays talks we did not leave out an issue of Syrias economic and social restoration. Loads of work should be done. Actually, the Syrians should be helped to rebuild infrastructure, to revive the industry, agriculture and trade and to reopen vital facilities - hospitals, schools and kindergartens," Putin said. YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. The Canada-Armenia Parliamentary Friendship Group (CAPFG) held its annual general meeting in Ottawa on November 21, where MP Bryan May of Cambridge was elected as its new chair. This was the first meeting of the friendship group after the untimely passing of its former chair, the late Arnold Chan, ARMENPRESS was informed from the official website of the Armenian National Committee of Canada. A significant number of parliamentarians from all major political parties, along with guests from the Embassy of the Republic of Armenia in Canada and the Armenian National Committee of Canada were present at the meeting. Also present were co-chairs, MP Harold Albrecht (Conservative Party of Canada), MP Alexandre Boulerice (New Democratic Party of Canada), and a number of newly registered members. Along with several topics concerning the advancement of political and economic ties between the two countries, the meeting specifically discussed the relations of the two countries within international organizations and especially within the Organization of La Francophonie. Pursuant to the motion passed at the last meeting, the friendship group unanimously agreed to continue working with Global Affairs Canada, urging them to actively pursue the establishment of a permanent Canadian diplomatic representation in Yerevan, Armenia. Armenias ambassador to Canada, HE Levon Martirosyan and the president of the Armenian National Committee of Canada, Mr. Shahen Mirakian also addressed the meeting, where they congratulated the newly elected chairman and discussed certain topics of importance to the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian-Canadian community respectively. At the end of the meeting, the friendship group reiterated the importance of further advancing the ties between Canada and Armenia and discussed upcoming initiatives that are aimed towards the advancement of relations. QUEBEC CITYCPA Network CrakRevenue has announced the launch of DEAL4PORN.com. Just in time for Black Friday, DEAL4PORN features dozens of CrakRevenues top-converting offers at discounted prices for all users. With more exclusive deals than most can shake a stick at, the CPA network has said it hopes its latest release becomes the number one discount provider when it comes to adult related offers. We've worked diligently to build this tremendous multi-offer, diverse offering, says Stephanie Bedard, business manager at CrakRevenue. Bedard adds, Everybody involved has been thrilled with the project from the very beginning. Everyone from advertisers to our in-house media buy team, everybody has contributed to make DEAL4PORN what it is today and Im really grateful for it. DEAL4PORN is without a doubt the best way to monetize adult traffic during promotional seasons like Black Friday, says Maxime Bergeron, CrakRevenues sales director. Affiliates can send their traffic to this offer knowing that their users will find the best deals on the market while receiving the industry's most competitive payouts for every conversion," adds Bergeron. DEAL4PORN doesnt fall short on the incentives, according to CrakRevenue. The main site has an active countdown with the number of days/hours left to boost your conversions. A CrakRevenue rep says, We also list the offers previous price in contrast to the temporary, seasonal discounted rate. Some of our biggest affiliates tested this offer during its early beta stage and we discovered that it was a hit immediately, says Bergeron. Now that the site has been officially released, most will enjoy the sites crazy conversion rate and the crazy uphill ride, he remarked. In addition to these incentives, the CPA network plans on offering optimized monetization solutions with DEAL4PORNfor both affiliates and advertisers alike. As for the offers, the offers will be constantly optimized by CrakRevenues Media Buying team. If you have a product and want to have it featured on DEAL4PORN.com, you can contact our team by email at [email protected], says Olivier Bourque, VP of business development at CrakRevenue. There are hundreds of ways to promote your brand through this deal-central adult megasite. For more information, check out CrakRevenues official blog. Access the offer on CrakRevenue's platform here. LOS ANGELESThe TEAs (also known as the Transgender Erotica Awards) have announced their 2018 nominees. It's that time of the year again. The Grooby staff have worked diligently to get all the pre-nominations organized and come up with a final list for each category and that's never an easy task, said Steven Grooby. We do understand the gravity of what being nominated (or not) does mean to some people so it's not taken lightly. Some of the categories this year are incredibly competitive with not one clear model standing out, and I think the panel of judges are going to have an equally difficult time. The 2018 TEAs have posted nominees in over 15 categories at their official website, theTEAshow.com. Additional categories such as the Fan Choice Award, Transcendence Award, Lifetime Achievement Awards, Best Industry Professional, Grooby Girl of the Year, Stroker of the Year, Bobs TGirls Model of the Year, and Kinks Kinkiest T-Girl Domme will be announced at the awards show in March. Thank you to everyone who helped get this list togetherand if you didn't make the categories you wanted, please remember, the TEAs are much more than an award show; they're the one time a year that everyone in our industry can come together and celebrate, support, and honor each other," Grooby added. "So I hope to see you all in March. The 2018 sponsorship packages are now posted on the website here. Sponsor and media inquiries can be directed to Kristel Penn at [email protected]. The 2018 TEAs are a three-day event held in Hollywood, CA, kicking off with an official pre-party at the Bardot on March 9, a daytime fan convention at the Avalon on March 10, and ramping up to the awards ceremony on March 11 at the Avalon. The awards will be hosted by TEA Lifetime Achievement recipient TS Madison. More details about the event will be released in the months to come. Those interested may visit the official website at theTEAShow.com. LOS ANGELES Mandy Muse returned to Reality Kings Monster Curves site on Tuesday for the third time. While her previous videos for the site were both one-on-one encounters, this was about Muses birthday, and required something special. Mandys boyfriend, played by Logan Long, came through for her big day. At first, thinking her surprise was simply a blindfold, she quickly donned it, ready for some fun. Her real present though, was Ramon Nomar, who snuck in a short time later. Together Logan and Ramon had one more gift for Muse, being double penetrated! Muse says, I love working for Reality Kings, so I was so excited to come back. Especially since I finally got to shoot a threesome and get DPd for them! Check out Muses latest releases, including Interracial Surrender Threesomes (Team Skeet), Best In Anal, Dark Meat 9, and Anal Cheaters, all from Evil Angel. Next week fans can see Muse in Massive Anal Booty 3 from Elegant Angel. Mandy Muse is represented by Society 15 and is available for B/G, G/G, B/B/G, B/G/G, IR, creampie, anal, and more. Follow Mandy Muse on Twitter and Instagram. BakePlan Software has been given a 43,600 grant by innovation agency Innovate UK to create a system to reduce food waste across retailers. The grant will be invested in machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies to develop a system that can see food products, count them and record data about them autonomously. BakePlan Software specialises in demand-forecasting software, which advises supermarket bakers and other in-store food production staff on the right products to make at the best times of the day. RedBlack Software created BakePlan Software as part of a restructure, with the aim of focusing on reducing waste for the retail and convenience sectors. The firm was awarded the funding after participating in Innovate UKs Emerging and Enabling Technologies programme. This award from Innovate UK will enable us to take our concept from the drawing board to reality, said Jane Tyler, managing director of BakePlan Software. We will do this by mixing machine learning, autonomous imaging, speech recognition and mobile/cloud internet data delivery. Britains leading retailers have all pledged to cut their food waste by 20% by 2025 as part of the Courtauld Commitment. Governor Cooper welcomes hundreds of new jobs in Wilson Contact: Ford Porter Ford Porter govpress@nc.gov RALEIGH: Frseenius Kabi, a global health care company that specializes in medicines and technologies for infusion, transfusion and clinical nutrition, will expand its manufacturing operations in Wilson County, Governor Roy Cooper announced today. The expansion project will bring hundreds of new jobs and more than $100 million in investment to Wilson, where the company currently employs more than 100 people.said Governor Cooper.Fresenius Kabi's plans in North Carolina include expansion of its current pharmaceutical production facility in Wilson and the construction of a new manufacturing facility, also in Wilson. Both sites will be dedicated to manufacturing products used in hospitals and clinics throughout the United States and Canada. Fresenius Kabi has owned its Wilson site, which specializes in the production of ready-to-administer syringes, since January 2016.said Steven R. Nowicki, senior vice president, global operations for Fresenius Kabi North America.Fresenius Kabi will add a variety of job functions with this expansion, including production specialists, engineers, scientists and managers.said North Carolina Commerce Secretary Anthony M. Copeland.Fresenius Kabi's expansion in Wilson County will be facilitated, in part, by a Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG) approved by the state's Economic Investment Committee earlier today. Over the course of the 12-year term of this grant, the project will grow the state's economy by an estimated $853 million.Under the terms of the grant, the company agrees to create 445 jobs over five years. Using a formula that takes into account the new tax revenues generated by the new jobs, the JDIG agreement then authorizes the potential reimbursement to the company of up to $7.2 million, spread over 12 years. State payments only occur following performance verification by the departments of Commerce and Revenue that the company has met its incremental job creation and investment targets. JDIG projects result in positive net tax revenue to the state treasury, even after taking into consideration the grant's reimbursement payments to a given company.Because Fresenius Kabi chose to locate in Wilson County, classified by the state's economic tier system as Tier 2, the company's JDIG agreement also calls for moving as much as $803,300 into the state's Industrial Development Fund - Utility Account. The Utility Account helps rural communities finance necessary infrastructure upgrades to attract future business. Even when new jobs are created in a Tier 2 county such as Wilson, the new tax revenue generated through JDIG grants helps more economically challenged communities anywhere in the state. More information on the state's economic tier designations is available here.Fresenius Kabi recently broke ground on a $250 million expansion at its pharmaceutical manufacturing site in Melrose Park, Illinois. In total, the company employs more than 3,000 people in the U.S. and its U.S. headquarters is in Lake Zurich, Illinois. More information about the company can be found at www.fresenius-kabi.com/us. Fresenius Kabi's global headquarters is in Bad Homburg, Germany.The North Carolina Department of Commerce and the Economic Development Partnership of N.C. (EDPNC) led the state's support for the company's expansion.Partnering with North Carolina Department of Commerce and the EDPNC on this project were the North Carolina General Assembly, the North Carolina Community College System, The North Carolina Biotechnology Center, Wilson County, and the Wilson Economic Development Council. 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. Yearsno, decadesago, I lived in Emacs. I wrote code and documents, managed email and calendar, and shelled all in the editor/OS. I was quite happy. Years went by and I moved to newer, shinier things. As a result, I forgot how to do tasks as basic as efficiently navigating files without a mouse. About three months ago, noticing just how much of my time was spent switching between applications and computers, I decided to give Emacs another try. It was a good decision for several reasons that will be covered in this post. Covered too are .emacs and Dropbox tips so that you can set up a good, movable environment. For those who haven't used Emacs, it's something you'll likely hate, but may love. It's sort of a Rube Goldberg machine the size of a house that, at first glance, performs all the functions of a toaster. That hardly sounds like an endorsement, but the key phrase is "at first glance." Once you grok Emacs, you realize that it's a thermonuclear toaster that can also serve as the engine for... well, just about anything you want to do with text. When you think about how much your computing life revolves around text, this is a rather bold statement. Bold, but true. Perhaps more importantly to me though, it's the one application I've ever used that makes me feel like I really own it instead of casting me as an anonymous "user" whose wallet is cleverly targeted by product marketing departments in fancy offices somewhere near Soma or Redmond. Modern productivity and authoring applications (e.g., Pages or IDEs) are like carbon fiber racing bikes. They come kitted out very nicely and fully assembled. Emacs is like a box of classic Campagnolo parts and a beautiful lugged steel frame that's missing one crank arm and a brake lever that you have to find in some tiny subculture on the Internet. The first one is faster and complete. The second is a source of endless joy or annoyance depending on your personalityand will last until your dying day. I'm the sort of person who feels equal joy at finding an old stash of Campy parts or tweaking my editor with eLisp. YMMV. A 1933 steel bicycle that I still ride. Check out this comparison of frame tubes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khJQgRLKMU0. This may give the impression that Emacs is anachronistic or old-fashioned. It's not. It's powerful and timeless, but demands that you patiently understand it on its terms. The terms are pretty far off the beaten path and seem odd, but there is a logic to them that is both compelling and charming. To me, Emacs feels like the future rather than the past. Just as the lugged steel frame will be useful and comfortable in decades to come and the carbon fiber wunderbike will be in a landfill, having shattered on impact, so will Emacs persist as a useful tool when the latest trendy app is long forgotten. If the notion of building your own personal working environment by editing Lisp code and having that fits-like-a-glove environment follow you to any computer is appealing to you, you may really like Emacs. If you like the new and shiny and want to get straight to work without much investment of time and mental cycles, it's likely not for you. I don't write code any more (other than Ludwig and Emacs Lisp), but many of the engineers at Fugue use Emacs to good effect. I'd say our engineers are about 30% Emacs, 40% IDEs, and 30% Vim users. But, this post is about Emacs for CEOs and other Pointy-Haired Bosses (PHB)1 (and, hey, anyone whos curious), so I'm going to explain and/or rationalize why I love it and how I use it. I also hope to provide you with enough detail that you can have a successful experience with it, without hours of Googling. Lasting Advantages The long-term advantages that come with using Emacs just make life easier. The net gain makes the initial lift entirely worthwhile. Consider these: No More Context Switching Org Mode alone is worth investing some serious time in, but if you are like me, you are usually working on a dozen or so documentsfrom blog posts to lists of what you need to do for a conference to employee reviews. In the modern world of computing, this generally means using several applications, all of which have distracting user interfaces and different ways to store, sort, and search. The result is that you need to constantly switch mental contexts and remember minutiae. I hate context switching because it is an imposition put on me due to a broken interface model2 and I hate having to remember things my computer should remember for me in any rational world. In providing a single environment, Emacs is even more powerful for the PHB than the programmer, since programmers tend to spend a greater percentage of their day in a single application. Switching mental contexts has a higher cost than is often apparent. OS and application vendors have tarted up interfaces to distract us from this reality. If youre technical, having access to a powerful language interpreter in a single keyboard shortcut ( M-: ) is especially useful.3 Many applications can be full screened all day and used to edit text. Emacs is singular because it is both an editor and a Lisp interpreter. In essence, you have a Turing complete machine a keystroke or two away at all times, while you go about your business. If you know a little or a lot about programming, you'll recognize that this means you can do anything in Emacs. The full power of your computer is available to you in near real time while you work, once you have the commands in memory. You won't want to re-create Excel in eLisp, but most things you might do in Excel are smaller in scope and easy to accomplish in a line or two of code. If I need to crunch numbers, I'm more likely to jump over to the scratch buffer and write a little code than open a spreadsheet. Even if I have an email to write that isn't a one-liner, I'll usually just write it in Emacs and paste it into my email client. Why context switch when you can just flow? You might start with a simple calculation or two, but, over time, anything you need computed can be added with relative ease to Emacs. This is perhaps unique in applications that also provide rich features for creating things for other humans. Remember those magical terminals in Isaac Asimov's books? Emacs is the closest thing I've encountered to them.4 I no longer decide what app to use for this or that thing. Instead, I just work. There is real power and efficiency to having a great tool and committing to it. Creating Things in Peace and Quiet Whats the end result of having the best text editing features I've ever found? Having a community of people making all manner of useful additions? Having the full power of Lisp a keychord away? Its that I use Emacs for all my creative work, aside from making music or images. I have a dual monitor set up at my desk. One of them is in portrait mode with Emacs full screened all day long. The other one has web browsers for researching and reading; it usually has a terminal open as well. I keep my calendar, email, etc., on another desktop in OS X, which is hidden while I'm in Emacs, and I keep all notifications turned off. This allows me to actually concentrate on what I'm doing. I've found eliminating distractions to be almost impossible in the more modern UI applications due to their efforts to be helpful and easy to use. I don't need to be constantly reminded how to do operations I've done tens of thousands of times, but I do need a nice, clean white sheet of paper to be thoughtful. Maybe I'm just bad at living in noisy environments due to age and abuse, but Id suggest its worth a try for anyone. See what it's like to have some actual peace and quiet in your computing environment. Of course, lots of apps now have modes that hide the interface and, thankfully, both Apple and Microsoft now have meaningful full-screen modes. But, no other application is powerful enough to live in for most things. Unless you are writing code all day or perhaps working on a very long document like a book, you're still going to face the noise of other apps. Also, most modern applications seem simultaneously patronizing and lacking in functionality and usability.5 The only applications I dislike more than office apps are the online versions. My desktop arrangement. Emacs on the left. But what about communicating? The difference between creating and communicating is substantial. I'm much more productive at both when I set aside distinct time for each. We use Slack at Fugue, which is both wonderful and hellish. I keep it on a messaging desktop alongside my calendar and email, so that, while I'm actually making things, I'm blissfully unaware of all the chatter in the world. It takes just one Slackstorm or an email from a VC or Board Director to immediately throw me out of my work. But, most things can usually wait an hour or two. Taking Everything with You and Keeping It Forever The third reason I find Emacs more advantageous than other environments is that it's easy to take all your stuff with you. By this, I mean that, rather than having a plethora of apps interacting and syncing in their own ways, all you need is one or two directories syncing via Dropbox or the like. Then, you can have all your work follow you anywhere in the environment you have crafted to suit your purposes. I do this across OS X, Windows, and sometimes Linux. It's dead simple and reliable. I've found this capability to be so useful that I dread dealing with Pages, GDocs, Office, or other kinds of files and applications that force me back into finding stuff somewhere on the filesystem or in the cloud. The limiting factor in keeping things forever on a computer is file format. Assuming that humans have now solved the problem of storage 6 for good, the issue we face over time is whether we can continue to access the information we've created. Text files are the most long-lived format for computing. You easily can open a text file from 1970 in Emacs. Thats not so true for Office applications. Text files are also nice and smallradically smaller than Office application data files. As a digital pack rat and as someone who makes lots of little notes as things pop into my head, having a simple, light, permanent collection of stuff that is always available is important to me. If youre feeling ready to give Emacs a try, read on! The sections that follow dont take the place of a full tutorial, but will have you operational by the time you finish reading. Learning To Ride Emacs - A Technical Setup The price of all this power and mental peace and quiet is that you have a steep learning curve with Emacs and it does everything differently than you're used to. At first, this will make you feel like youre wasting time on an archaic and strange application that the modern world passed by. Its a bit like learning to ride a bicycle7 if you've only driven cars. Which Emacs? I use the plain vanilla Emacs from GNU for OS X and Windows. You can get the OS X version at http://emacsformacosx.com/ and the Windows version at http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/. There are a bunch of other versions out there, especially for the Mac, but I've found the learning curve for doing powerful stuff (which involves Lisp and lots of modes) to be much lower with the real deal. So download it, and we can get started!8 First, You'll Need To Learn How To Navigate I use the Emacs conventions for keys and combinations in this document. These are 'C' for control, 'M' for meta (which is usually mapped to Alt or Option), and the hyphen for holding down the keys in combination. So C-h t means to hold down control and type h, then release control and type t. This is the command for bringing up the tutorial, which you should go ahead and do. Don't use the arrow keys or the mouse. They work, but you should give yourself a week of using the native navigation commands in Emacs. Once you have them committed to muscle memory, you'll likely enjoy them and miss them badly everywhere else you go. The Emacs tutorial does a pretty good job of walking you through them, but I'll summarize so you don't need to read the whole thing. The boring stuff is that, instead of arrows, you use C-b for back, C-f for forward, C-p for previous (up), and C-n for next (down). You may be thinking "why in the world would I do that, when I have perfectly good arrow keys?" There are several reasons. First, you don't have to move your hands from the typing position, and the forward and back keys used with Alt (or Meta in Emacspeak) navigate a word at a time. This is more handy than is obvious. The third good reason is that, if you want to repeat a command, you can precede it with a number. I often use this when editing documents by estimating how many words I need to go back or lines up or down and doing something like C-9 C-p or M-5 M-b . The other really important navigation commands are based on a for the beginning of a thing and e for the end of a thing. Using C-a|e are on lines, and using M-a|e , are on sentences. For the sentence commands to work properly, you'll need to double space after periods, which simultaneously provides a useful feature and takes a shibboleth of opinion off the mental table. If you need to export the document to a single space publication environment, you can write a macro in moments to do so. It genuinely is worth going through the tutorial that ships with Emacs. I'll cover a few important commands for the truly impatient, but the tutorial is gold. Reminder: C-h t for the tutorial. Learn To Copy and Paste You can put Emacs into CUA mode, which will work in familiar ways, but the native Emacs way is pretty great and plenty easy once you learn it. You mark regions (like selecting) by using Shift with the navigation commands. So C-F selects one character forward from the cursor, etc. You copy with M-w , you cut with C-w , and you paste with C-y . These are actually called killing and yanking, but it's very similar to cut and paste. There is magic under the hood here in the kill ring, but for now, just worry about cut, copy, and paste. If you start fumbling around at this point, C-x u is undo... Next, Learn Ido Mode Trust me. Ido makes working with files much easier. You don't generally use a separate Finder|Explorer window to work with files in Emacs. Instead you use the editor's commands to create, open, and save files. This is a bit of a pain without Ido, so I recommend installing it before learning the other way. Ido comes with Emacs beginning with version 22, but you'll want to make some tweaks to your .emacs file so that it is always used. This is a good excuse to get your environment set up. Most features in Emacs come in modes. To install any given mode, you'll need to do two things. Well, at first you'll need to do a few extra things, but these only need to be done once, and thereafter only two things. So the extra things are that you'll need a single place to put all your eLisp files and you'll need to tell Emacs where that place is. I suggest you make a single directory in, say, Dropbox that is your Emacs home. Inside this, you'll want to create an .emacs file and an .emacs.d directory. Inside the .emacs.d , make a directory called lisp . So you should have: home|+.emacs|-.emacs.d | -lisp You'll put the .el files for things like modes into the home/.emacs.d/lisp directory, and you'll point to that in your .emacs like so: (add-to-list 'load-path "~/.emacs.d/lisp/") Ido Mode comes with Emacs, so you won't need to put an .el file into your Lisp directory for this, but you'll be adding other stuff soon that will go in there. But wait, that says that .emacs and .emacs.d are in your home directory, and we put them in some dumb folder in Dropbox! Correct. This is how you make it easy to have your environment anywhere you go. Keep everything in Dropbox and make symbolic links to .emacs , .emacs.d , and your main document directories in ~ . On OS X, this is super easy with the ln -s command, but on Windows this is a pain. Fortunately, Emacs provides an easy alternative to symlinking on Windows, the HOME environment variable. Go into Environment Variables in Windows (as of Windows 10, you can just hit the Windows key and type "Environment Variables" to find this with search, which is the best part of Windows 10), and make a HOME environment variable in your account that points to the Dropbox folder you made for Emacs. If you want to make it easy to navigate to local files that aren't in Dropbox, you may instead want to make a symbolic link to the Dropbox Emacs home in your actual home directory. So now you've done all the jiggery-pokery needed to get any machine pointed to your Emacs setup and files. If you get a new computer or use someone else's for an hour or a day, you get your entire work environment. This seems a little difficult the first time you do it, but it's about a ten minute (at most) operation once you know what you're doing. But we were configuring Ido... C-x C-f and type ~/.emacs RET RET to create your .emacs file. Add these lines to it: set up ido mode(require `ido)(setq ido-enable-flex-matching t)(setq ido-everywhere t)(ido-mode 1) With the .emacs buffer open, do an M-x evaluate-buffer command, and you'll either get an error if you munged something or you'll get Ido. Ido changes how the minibuffer works when doing file operations. There is great documentation on it, but I'll point out a few tips. Use the ~/ effectively; you can just type ~/ at any point in the minibuffer and it'll jump back to home. Implicit in this is that you should have most of your stuff a short hop off your home. I use ~/org for all my non-code stuff and ~/code for code. Once youre in the right directory, you'll often have a collection of files with different extensions, especially if you use Org Mode and publish from it. You can type period and the extension you want no matter where you are in the file name and Ido will limit the choices to files with that extension. For example, I'm writing this blog post in Org Mode, so the main file is: ~/org/blog/emacs.org I also occasionally push it out to HTML using Org Mode publishing, so I've got an emacs.html file in the same directory. When I want to open the Org file, I will type: C-x C-f ~/o[RET]/bl[RET].or[RET] The [RET]s are me hitting return for auto completion for Ido Mode. So, thats 12 characters typed and, if you're used to it, a lot less time than opening Finder|Explorer and clicking around. Ido Mode is plenty useful, but really is a utility mode for operating Emacs. Let's explore some modes that are useful for getting work done. Fonts and Styles I recommend getting the excellent input family of typefaces for use in Emacs. They are customizable with different braces, zeroes, and other characters. You can build in extra line spacing into the font files themselves. I recommend a 1.5X line spacing and using their excellent proportional fonts for code and data. I use Input Serif for my writing, which has a funky but modern feel. You can find them on http://input.fontbureau.com/ where you can customize to your preferences. You can manually set the fonts using menus in Emacs, but this puts code into your .emacs file and, if you use multiple devices, you may find you want some different settings. I've set up my .emacs to look for the machine I'm using by name and configure the screen appropriately. The code for this is: set up fonts for different OSes. OSX toggles to full screen.(setq myfont "InputSerif")(cond ((string-equal system-name "Sampo.local") (set-face-attribute 'default nil : font myfont : height 144) (toggle-frame-fullscreen)) ((string-equal system-name "Morpheus.local") (set-face-attribute 'default nil : font myfont : height 144)) ((string-equal system-name "ILMARINEN") (set-face-attribute 'default nil : font myfont : height 106)) ((string-equal system-name "UKKO") (set-face-attribute 'default nil : font myfont : height 104))) You should replace the system-name values with what you get when you evaluate (system-name) in your copy of Emacs. Note that on Sampo (my MacBook), I also set Emacs to full screen. I'd like to do this on Windows as well, but Windows and Emacs don't really love each other and it always ends up in some wonky state when I try this. Instead, I just fullscreen it manually after launch. I also recommend getting rid of the awful toolbar that Emacs got sometime in the 90s when the cool thing to do was to have toolbars in your application. I also got rid of some other "chrome" so that I have a simple, productive interface. Add these to your .emacs file to get rid of the toolbar and scroll bars, but to keep your menu available (on OS X, it'll be hidden unless you mouse to the top of the screen anyway): (if (fboundp 'scroll-bar-mode) (scroll-bar-mode -1))(if (fboundp 'tool-bar-mode) (tool-bar-mode -1))(if (fboundp 'menu-bar-mode) (menu-bar-mode 1)) Org Mode I pretty much live in Org Mode. It is my go-to environment for authoring documents, keeping notes, making to-do lists and 90% of everything else I do. Org was originally conceived as a combination note-taking and to-do list utility by a fellow who is a laptop-in-meetings sort. I am against use of laptops in meetings and don't do it myself, so my use cases are a little different than his. For me, Org is primarily a way to handle all manner of content within a structure. There are heads and subheads, etc., in Org Mode, and they function like an outline. Org allows you to expand or hide the contents of the tree and also to rearrange the tree. This fits how I think very nicely and I find it to be just a pleasure to use in this way. Org Mode also has a lot of little things that make life pleasant. For example, the footnote handling is excellent and the LaTeX/PDF output is great. Org has the ability to generate agendas based on the to-do's in all your documents and a nice way to relate them to dates/times. I don't use this for any sort of external commitments, which are handled on a shared calendar, but for creating things and keeping track of what I need to create in the future, it's invaluable. Installing it is as easy as adding the org-mode.el to your Lisp directory and adding these lines to your .emacs , if you want it to indent based on tree location and to open documents fully expanded: set up org mode(setq org-startup-indented t)(setq org-startup-folded "showall")(setq org-directory "~/org") The last line is there so that Org knows where to look for files to include in agendas and some other things. I keep Org right in my home directory, i.e., a symlink to the directory that lives in Dropbox, as described earlier. I have a stuff.org file that is always open in a buffer. I use it like a notepad. Org makes it easy to extract things like TODOs and stuff with deadlines. It's especially useful when you can inline Lisp code and evaluate it whenever you need. Having code with content is super handy. Again, you have access to the actual computer with Emacs, and this is a liberation. Publishing with Org Mode I care about the appearance and formatting of my documents. I started my career as a designer, and I think information can and should be presented clearly and beautifully. Org has great support for generating PDFs via LaTeX, which has a bit of its own learning curve, but doing simple things is pretty easy. If you want to use fonts and styles other than the typical LaTeX ones, you've got a few things to do. First, you'll want XeLaTeX so you can use normal system fonts rather than LaTeX specific fonts. Next, you'll want to add this to .emacs : (setq org-latex-pdf-process '("xelatex -interaction nonstopmode %f" "xelatex -interaction nonstopmode %f")) I put this right at the end of my Org section of .emacs to keep things tidy. This will allow you to use more formatting options when publishing from Org. For example, I often use: #+LaTeX_HEADER: usepackage{fontspec} #+LATEX_HEADER: setmonofont[Scale=0.9] {Input Mono} #+LATEX_HEADER: setromanfont{Maison Neue} #+LATEX_HEADER: linespread{1.5} #+LATEX_HEADER: usepackage[margin=1.25in] {geometry} #+TITLE: Document Title Here These simply go somewhere in your .org file. Our corporate font for body copy is Maison Neue, but you can put whatever is appropriate here. I strongly discourage the use of Maison Neue. Its a terrible font and no one should ever use it. This file is an example of PDF output using these settings. This is what out-of-the-box LaTeX always looks like. It's fine I suppose, but the fonts are boring and a little odd. Also, if you use the standard format, people will assume they are reading something that is or pretends to be an academic paper. You've been warned. Ace Jump Mode This is more of a gem than a major feature, but you want it. It works a bit like Jef Raskin's Leap feature from days gone by.9 The way it works is you type C-c C-SPC and then type the first letter of the word you want to jump to. It highlights all occurrences of words with that initial character, replacing it with a letter of the alphabet. You simply type the letter of the alphabet for the location you want and your cursor jumps to it. I find myself using this as often as the more typical nav keys or search. Download the .el to your Lisp directory and put this in your .emacs : set up ace-jump-mode(add-to-list 'load-path "which-folder-ace-jump-mode-file-in/")(require 'ace-jump-mode)(define-key global-map (kbd "C-c C-SPC" ) 'ace-jump-mode) More Later That's enough for one postthis may get you somewhere you'd like to be. I'd love to hear about your uses for Emacs aside from programming (or for programming!) and whether this was useful at all. There are likely some boneheaded PHBisms in how I use Emacs, and if you want to point them out, I'd appreciate it. I'll probably write some updates over time to introduce additional features or modes. I'll certainly show you how to use Fugue with Emacs and Ludwig-mode as we evolve it into something more useful than code highlighting. Send your thoughts to @fugueHQ on Twitter. Uber's Chief Security Officer Joe Sullivan and his top aide have both been forced out of the company in an act of penance for the revelation that the company suffered a breach in October 2016 in which hackers stole personal data from 50,000,000 riders and 7,000,000 drivers, including 600,000 drivers' US driving license numbers; Uber says the disgraced employees acted alone when they then paid the hackers who stole the data $100,000 to hush it up. Joe Sullivan was a former US Federal Prosecutor. The hackers gained access to an Uber AWS store by leveraging an insecure private Github repository, then stole the accounts and threatened Uber with public humiliation if they were not bribed into silence. Uber bribed them. Uber says that it believes that the hackers then deleted its customers' and drivers' data and never used it to commit a fraud. It provides no evidence for this belief. Uber has now hired an ex-NSA general counsel to advise the company on security. They do not state whether this lawyer is in any way qualified as a security practitioner. Ironically, the NSA is best known for illegally gathering, storing and sharing personal information and then lying about it. Joe Sullivan, the outgoing security chief, spearheaded the response to the hack last year, a spokesman told Bloomberg. Sullivan, a onetime federal prosecutor who joined Uber in 2015 from Facebook Inc., has been at the center of much of the decision-making that has come back to bite Uber this year. Bloomberg reported last month that the board commissioned an investigation into the activities of Sullivan's security team. This project, conducted by an outside law firm, discovered the hack and the failure to disclose, Uber said. Uber Paid Hackers to Delete Stolen Data on 57 Million People [Eric Newcomer/Bloomberg] Massive income inequality, combined with Republican attacks on the taxation of the wealthiest, has produced a situation in which the state increasingly depends on extracting fines, interest and debt service from people who grow steadily poorer and less able to pay, and thus the state must turn to ever-more-extreme measures to extract the money it needs to survive. Terrorizing people who are unable to pay into paying anyway is a fine art, honed by loan-sharks' arm-breakers over the centuries. Governments sometimes outsource their debt-collection to these firms for years, deliquent student loans were collected by criminal thugs under government contract, and now they are again, thanks to pyramid-scheme millionaire Betsy DeVos, a predator whom Trump placed in charge of the nation's education. But those public-private usury partnerships are nothing compared to the awesome might of the state used to directly coerce payments from the poorest and most desperate people in the country. Part of the untold story of the Ferguson uprising was that the city funded itself by overpolicing and overfining black people and then throwing them in debtors' prisons, a practice endemic to black cities in America. In states across America, people who can't pay their court fines and fees can have their drivers' licenses suspended. Since most people rely on their drivers' licenses to get them to their jobs, this also ensures that they will never be able to pay their fees and fines, leading to another cycle of fees and fines and further penalties. Likewise, in 20 states, you can have your professional qualifications suspended for failure to pay money owed to the court, which means that cash-strapped firefighters, nurses, teachers, lawyers, massage therapists, barbers, psychologists and real estate brokers will be unable to earn a living and pay their fees and thus will end up deeper in debt. On the face of it, this is hard to understand: someone without a job can't pay their fines, so taking away peoples' employment is an absurd way to extract debt payments from them. But when understood as part of a larger loan-sharking practice, it makes perfect sense. When a loan-shark breaks your elbows, he's depriving you of your ability to pay just as surely. But in both cases, the target isn't your debt, it's the debt of everyone who observes your plight. By making an example out of you, the arm-breaker inspires everyone else to do whatever it takes to pay up steal from relatives, sell their bodies, anything, to avoid your fate. Thus, the more grotesque your fate is, the better the tactic works. The mayor's office in Washington this month started a pilot program to allow district residents returning home from prison with unpaid traffic debt to have their licenses reinstated, noting that this is a vulnerable time when the mobility to look for work and attend appointments is crucial. "The No. 1 reason for recently released men and women being re-incarcerated is for driving without a valid license, which also can lead to additional charges for failing to stop and other related crimes," Susana Castillo, a spokeswoman for Mayor Muriel Bowser, said in an email. The Washington program provides for those returning home from prison to defer payment for up to a year while they look for work, or to pay a significantly reduced amount up front, according to the mayor's office. The lawsuits tell the stories of people jailed for driving after having had their licenses suspended for failure to pay court debta situation that critics liken to debtors' prison. Robert Taylor is a plaintiff in the Virginia case who was earning $9.62 per hour working for T-Mobile and was pulled over for running a red light. This set off a cycle of debt, license suspensions, and new convictions for driving with a suspended license that landed him in jail for 20 days last year. He still owes more than $4,000 in court debt. The Vicious Cycle of Losing a Driver's License Over Court Debt [Beth Schwartzapfel/Vice] Despite making progress on "bread and butter" issues, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said differences remain between Canada and the U.S. on a number of key chapters of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Speaking to reporters as the fifth round of negotiations concluded in Mexico City, the Toronto-area minister said "significant" sticking points include the U.S. push to change the rules of origin which could be detrimental to the Canadian auto industry and demands for a five-year sunset clause in the deal. "There are some areas where some extreme proposals have been put forward, and these are proposals that we simply cannot agree to," she said, while adding the U.S. position of these contentious issues, which were introduced in earlier rounds of negotiations, are largely unchanged. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer issued a statement expressing similar pessimism Tuesday, saying he remains concerned with the "lack of headway" on some issues. "Thus far, we have seen no evidence that Canada or Mexico are willing to seriously engage on provisions that will lead to a rebalanced agreement. Absent rebalancing, we will not reach a satisfactory result," he said in the statement. When asked if Canadians should prepare for life without NAFTA, Freeland said Canada's position is to "hope for the best and prepare for the worst and Canada is prepared for every eventuality." Freeland said the addition of a sunset clause would be redundant as there is already an exit mechanism by simply giving six months' written notice that any of the three countries could invoke to leave NAFTA. Indeed, U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to do so on a number of occasions, although, despite the rhetoric, he has kept his negotiators at the table through successive rounds of talks. For Canada, the sunset clause is one of its so-called "red lines," at least as it is currently written. Story continues "I've been married for 19 years, when my husband asked me to marry him he didn't say every five years we're going to check whether we want to get divorced or not. We don't think that's a good foundation for a lasting relationship," Freeland told reporters in the foyer of the House of Commons ahead of question period. Canada is reluctant to plunge the partners into protracted talks every five years, which would add a generous dose of uncertainty to the continental economy. Another area of disagreement is a U.S. proposal that would alter rules around autos. The Trump administration wants half of the content of all North American-built autos be produced in the United States and the broader, North American allotment to be increased to 85 per cent from 62.5 per cent. There is currently no rule governing U.S.-only production. The U.S. also wants to expand an existing "tracing list" to demand more products including all steel originate in North America. Trump has continually rallied against the loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs to Mexico and has proposed these stringent requirements to reverse the flow of work to the lower-wage jurisdiction and rebalance the country's large automotive trade deficit with its southern neighbour. But the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a trade group of car makers operating in the U.S., including GM and Ford, has warned such requirements are too onerous and would actually lead to further job loss as companies could simply move manufacturing offshore to China use whatever parts they want and then export the car back to the U.S. paying a relatively marginal tariff of just 2.5 per cent. Freeland said both Canada and Mexico feel the plan is entirely unworkable, and would damage an already deeply integrated North American auto manufacturing market. "The net result would be negative for both of our countries," she said. Much of the "good progress" achieved at the latest negotiations in Mexico were on areas highly technical in nature. She said the three parties agreed to provisions on anti-corruption and good regulatory practices, telecommunications, areas relating to sanitation, and customs and trade facilitation. Rumble Our lives are full of moments where we must interact with each other and make compromises for the sake of coexisting. We face complicated social involvements that require some give and take to get things done and to benefit everyone. A life full of selfish decisions and actions would make everything harder for all involved. But occasionally, this compromise is difficult and emotions and pride get the better of us all. Tact an diplomacy gives way to anger and resentment and the sparks fly. This is what happened here in a simple and easily solved dilemma. As cars made their way through the parking lot, two met bumper to bumper and reached an impass. Onlookers could hear horns honking and impatient voices. It seemed that either could have backed up a little to make way, but the moment became tense and both dug in their heals. Cameras came out as people watched the exchange. Two grownups should have been able to resolve the matter without a spectacle. The man in the car with the trailer has difficulty in backing up. And in fairness, he has not blocked anything but his own lane. He wants to go forward and around the corner. The lady coming around the curve has entered into the middle of the lane and she could either adjust to her right, or back up out of the way. But she has her sights on a parking spot that is being blocked by the car and trailer. She may be afraid to back up, but she has the option to veer out and to her right. The car and trailer could pull forward and completely resolve the matter. What she does not like is the escalation in his voice as she hesitated and tried to decide what to do. Her initial reaction was to stop and do nothing. The man honked. She stared at him. He gestured and told her to move her car. And this is where it seemed to become unfriendly. Her passenger got out of the car, stood in the lane and began smoking a cigarette. She said she could not move as she was waiting for him to get back in. This was clearly a move of defiance. The camera recorded the moments that followed that initial meeting and up to that point. The man's impatience is now at a peak as the minutes have dragged on. Traffic has built up behind both vehicles. Backing up now is tricky for the woman, and impossible for the man. Other horns honked. The man began to swear and the passenger of the woman's car makes a deliberate show of taking his time getting back into the car. Spectators began to talk about intervening with advice or a reprimand. The cars behind both vehicles backed up and out of the way, leaving just the two in the predicament. The man finally got into the vehicle and the woman made a very slow move forward and out of his way. For Canada, this is an unusual display of impatience that left people shaking their heads. What had gone on for nearly 5 minutes was a seemingly needless showdown. Who is more to blame in this scenario? Is it the man with his rude demands, or the woman with her reluctance to move her car over to the right? How thousands of Norwegian sailors 'made quite a stir' in this seaside town A Nova Scotia town's unlikely role as a haven for thousands of Norwegian soldiers during the Second World War is being remembered by their descendents in a new video project. The Camp Norway Project tells the story of 2,000 servicemen who over the years found shelter in Lunenburg after Norway was invaded by Nazis. The first to arrive in 1940 were the whaling ships, pursued by German U-boats hungry for oil they carried. "They came to town but they didn't have anywhere to go at first," said Lunenburg resident Freda Martin, whose dad was one of the sailors. "They had to stay on the ships that they came in on until they built Camp Norway." The waterfront training facility on Tannery Road housed sailors who threw parties on Saturday nights and received impressionable young sea cadets as visitors. These stories have been collected for the first time in a video project by the South Shore Genealogical Society and Blue Dory Productions. Epic parties at the camp Martin, one of 14 people interviewed for the project, has been hearing stories about Camp Norway since she was a kid. "It was really exciting for me, really exciting," she said of the chance to be interviewed about her family's history. Clyde Conrad was 12 years old when he visited the base as a sea cadet. He remembers only being shown the dining room, even though the plan had been to tour the barracks. "But on a Saturday night it's a night that you don't take on invitations, not with Norwegians," he said with a chuckle. "They liked to party, and they were partying Saturday night." Camp Norway is an important part of the history of the South Shore, said Cheryl Lamerson, president of the South Shore Genealogical Society, because it's proof the war effort happened right on Canadian soil, not just overseas. "People took them into their homes, invited them for dinner. This was Lunenburg at its best, welcoming these people," she said. Story continues Having a military training camp in a small town also meant a huge influx of eligible young bachelors. "They made quite a stir," said Lamerson. But what sticks out to her from the hours of interviews she's watched are the stories of struggle. "For five years, many of them didn't know how their families were at home, they didn't know if their homes were even there," she said. Many of the Norwegians stayed in Nova Scotia for decades after the war because they simply didn't have the money to return home. But others stayed, or returned years later, because they'd fallen in love. That was the case for Martin's parents. Her dad returned to Norway after the war, but 11 years later made his way back to Canada and married her mom. Martin has visited Norway a couple times, and even ran into a fellow Lunenburger during her first trip there. "It's very important, very important, and my children, I've always talked to them about where their grandfather came from and just things I feel they should know," she said. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Email Telegram His Excellency Prime Minister of Algeria Ahmed Ouyahia Doctor Saadan Street Algiers, Algeria 16000 Via Fax: +213 21 736118 Wednesday, November 22, 2017 Dear Prime Minister Ouyahia, The Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent press freedom advocacy organization, writes to urge your government to drop the charges against and immediately release freelance journalist and fixer Said Chitour, who is being held in Algiers El-Harrach Prison pending trial on allegations of espionage. Police arrested Chitour at Algiers International Airport on June 5 as he returned from Spain, according to media reports and the journalists family. After months of detention without charge, on November 12, 2017, the Bir Mourad Rais Court charged Chitour with leaking sensitive government documents to foreign diplomats and sent his file to the criminal court, according to news reports and his sister Alia Farhat. Chitours family told CPJ that the journalist denied leaking any documents to foreign officials, and would not have even had access to the kind of documents described in the charges against him. Chitour works as a freelance journalist and fixer, including for international news outlets such as the BBC, France 24, and The Washington Post. His work covered a wide range of topics from politics to social and cultural life. Producers and reporters at the BBC confirmed to CPJ that Chitour had regularly worked with the outlet as a journalist. Chitours prolonged detention sends a chilling message to journalists in Algeria, especially those working with foreign media. The journalist also suffers from several chronic diseases, including diabetes, and his health has deteriorated in prison, according to his family. In an October 25 interview with state-owned Algerian radio broadcaster Chaine 3, Your Excellency reaffirmed Algerias commitment to press freedom, and denied any intentions to pursue legal action against critical voices. In the absence of any evidence that Said Chitour did anything other than practice journalism, we urge you to ensure that he is released immediately and that all the charges against him are dropped. Thank you in advance for your attention to this urgent matter. Yours Sincerely, Sherif Mansour Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator CC: His Excellency Minister of Interior Noureddine Bedoui His Excellency Minister of Justice Tayeb Louh His Excellency Algerian Ambassador to Washington D.C. Madjid Bouguerra Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Email Telegram Nairobi, November 22, 2017Ugandan authorities should immediately release eight employees of the national newspaper Red Pepper who are being held in government detention without charge, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Ugandan police on November 21 arrested three editors, the chief executive officer, and four senior managers from Red Pepper after authorities raided the newspapers office in Kampala on allegations that the paper had published a controversial story, according to media reports and Ugandas police spokesperson Emilian Kayima. Ugandan authorities have not formally charged the editors and managers. In a press statement published on November 21, Kayima said that initial investigations were being carried out under section 37 of Ugandas penal code that provides for sentences of up to seven years for people who published material likely to disrupt public order and security. However, the police said that they have not ruled out charging the detained editors and managers with other offences. During the raid on Red Peppers office, police confiscated employees phones and computers, according to a report from the privately owned Daily Monitor newspaper. Red Peppers lawyer, Maxma Mutabingwa, told Reuters news agency that police also searched the homes of some of the staff. The arrests and raid came after Red Pepper published an article on November 20, which stated that Ugandas president Yoweri Museveni was planning to overthrow Rwandas President Paul Kagame. According to Reuters, the article cited unnamed sources. In a statement published on November 20, the Ugandan Foreign Ministry accused Red Pepper of reproducing a malicious article. According to Reuters, newspapers in Uganda have recently reported on tensions between Uganda and Rwanda. Uganda is trying to intimidate Red Pepper journalists and staff into silence with arrests and raids, said CPJ Africa program coordinator, Angela Quintal from New York. Reporting on politics is not a crime. Journalists in Uganda must be able to report without fear of retaliation. We call on the Ugandan authorities to immediately release the Red Pepper editors and managers. Kayima told CPJ in a telephone conversation that it was not clear when the arrested Red Pepper staff members would be charged. The Daily Monitor reported that the arrested are editors Ben Byarabaha, Richard Kintu, and Tumusiime Francis Tinywana. Authorities are also holding Red Peppers chief executive officer, Richard Tusiime, alongside senior managers Patrick Mugumya, Arinaitwe Rugyendo, James Mujuni, and Johnson Musinguzi Byarabaha. Police are holding the editors and managers in Nalufenya Detention center in Jinja, a town in eastern Uganda, according to Kayima. Red Pepper has previously drawn the ire of Ugandan authorities. In June, police interrogated the newspapers editor Ben Byarabaha on allegations of offensive communications, and in October police questioned editors from the paper on similar charges. : MLA , 41 Migrants at Archidona prison in Malaga province. Garcia-Santos More information From the migrant boat to prison The arrival of hundreds of illegal immigrants on the southeastern coast of Spain late last week caught authorities unprepared. Faced with a lack of proper facilities, the Interior Ministry on Monday transferred a group of around 500 immigrants to a penitentiary still under construction in Archidona (Malaga), where they received food, water and medical assistance. This is a much better solution that setting up a campground, said sources at the Interior Ministry, insisting that the move is temporary. Spanish legislation sets a maximum holding period of 60 days But the use of this facility as a provisional migrant holding center has triggered an outburst of criticism from non-profit groups, unions and political parties. The Socialist Party (PSOE) and the leftist Unidos Podemos called the situation illegal. And the regional government of Andalusia, run by Socialist premier Susana Diaz, warned that a prison is not the right place to keep migrants. Around 30 non-profit groups have filed a complaint with the Ombudsmans Office, including SOS Racismo, Andalucia Acoge, the Pro-Human Rights Association of Andalusia (APDHA) and the Jesuit Service for Migrants. The Popular Party (PP) government said on Tuesday that it has a legal report backing the move. The document references a European directive that, it argues, contemplates the option of sending illegal migrants to a prison facility when it is not possible to provide accommodation in a specialized center. Mass arrivals Hundreds of migrants began landing on the coasts of Murcia and Almeria on Friday. Two days later, police officers showed up before a judge in Vera (Almeria) with 10 undocumented migrants that they had intercepted at Los Muertos beach in Carboneras, inside the Cabo de Gata natural park. The judges report states that officers requested authorization to transfer the migrants to the Archidona facility. The lawyer representing the group told EL PAIS that neither he nor his clients were informed that they were going to be kept inside a prison, and said he would request their release because of what he considers an illegal act. The ministry sent in 2,000 food rations and thousands of water bottles On Sunday morning, the Spanish secretary of state for security, Jose Antonio Nieto, telephoned the mayor of Archidona, Mercedes Montero, to tell her that the Interior Ministry was going to use the new prison facilities as a migrant holding center exceptionally and provisionally. He told me the migrants would arrive soon, but did not specify a date, said Montero. On Monday, 464 immigrants were brought in. I called him again and he admitted that the first [people] should not have arrived until Tuesday, but things were speeding up. Because the facilities still lack a kitchen service, the ministry sent in 2,000 food rations on Tuesday, as well as thousands of bottles of water because the tap water at the penitentiary is still not fit for drinking. Also on Tuesday, two doctors and two health technicians were dispatched to the site. Red Cross personnel are expected to join them in the coming days to provide medical backup. The Archidona prison is scheduled to open in January. The ministry insisted that inmates and undocumented migrants will not be held at the facility at the same time. The government says it has a legal report backing the move Spanish legislation sets a maximum holding period of 60 days for illegal migrants. The network of holding centers in Spain, known as CIEs, has regularly come under fire from non-profit groups that say living conditions there are subpar. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 8,162 people landed on the shores of the Iberian Peninsula last year. In 2016, the number of migrants who made the dangerous sea journey doubled compared to 2015, according to the IOM. According to Interior Ministry figures seen by EL PAIS, 89.9% of interns last year came from Africa, compared with 4.3% from the Americas, 3.3% from Europe and 2.5% from Asia. English version by Susana Urra. These are the responsibility of the editor and convey the newspaper's view on current affairs-both domestic and international Main entrance to the prison in Archidona. Garcia-Santos (EL PAIS) Criticism is raining down on the Interior Ministry and justly so over its decision to send nearly 500 undocumented migrants to the future penitentiary at Archidona (Malaga). The extraordinary wave of boat arrivals in Murcia over the weekend has, once again, collapsed Spains deficient facilities for the holding and deporting of migrants who are considered to be here illegally. The law specifically prohibits holding them inside prisons, and the solution adopted by the Interior Ministry is to be rejected on principle, even if judges gave it the go-ahead. The Interior Ministry claims that the Archidona center is not yet a prison The transfer of migrants to a prison that has yet to be inaugurated crudely illustrates a situation in need of a definitive solution that will afford a more dignified stay to the thousands of people who risk their lives on makeshift boats, while they await either deportation or a new life in this country. The future prison at Archidona has a thousand individual cells, cafeterias, a sick bay and lounges conditions that are not always available at some of the seven official migrant holding centers in Spain. These centers, known as CIEs, are true prisons, as denounced by this newspaper and by several non-profit groups and political parties. Although improvements have been made, they are still in urgent need of reform. The law specifically prohibits holding migrants inside prisons The Interior Ministry claims that the Archidona center is not yet a prison, and says the solution is temporary. But it is hard to believe that the government has been unable to find a better provisional solution for these migrants, considering that the number of inmates at the CIEs are currently much lower than those registered a decade ago. English version by Susana Urra. Former French prime minister Manuel Valls at the debate. ALVARO GARCIA Former French Prime Minister Manuel Valls suggested on Tuesday that Spaniards need to debate their own identity in order to reinforce their common project as a nation. Speaking at Espana 40-40, a debate series organized by EL PAIS to discuss four decades of Spanish democracy and the challenges up ahead, Valls said that Spaniards should ask themselves what it means to be Spanish. Spain is an inhibited power without an important role Moises Naim, political analyst Spain has not answered that question yet. The Spain narrative is missing, said Valls, who was himself born in Barcelona. The French politician was part of a panel of experts that included EL PAIS columnist Moises Naim, former US ambassador to Spain Alan D. Solomont, National Transplant Organization director Beatriz Dominguez-Gil, film director Rodrigo Cortes and the architect Rafael Moneo. The speakers were introduced by EL PAIS editor-in-chief Antonio Cano. Valls believes that the 40-year-long Franco regime, and the fact that many people still associate shows of patriotism with that era, helps explain why Spaniards have failed to talk about the homeland in all the time since the dictator died, back in 1975. Alan D. Solomont speaking at the debate forum. Santi Burgos It is imperative, he said, to craft a narrative that synthesizes the need for an open world while fomenting a sense of belonging to a country, group or family. All countries are suffering from a cultural identity crisis because of globalization, the political crisis, social media, the refugee problem, said Valls. All this poses the question of who we are, and I think Spain has yet to answer this question: what does it mean to be a Spaniard today? The French politician said that there are two options for doing politics in Spain. There is the nationalist, populist way, which is to always blame somebody Madrid, capitalism, Brussels, Washington, foreigners, Muslims... Spain sells itself short. It doesnt exude the confidence that I think it warrants Alan D. Solomont, former ambassador But there is also another answer, which is an open answer while also being proud of who we are, added Valls. And I think that Spain can be proud of these 40 years of democracy, of its history, of its cultivated men and women, of its system, even though everything can naturally be improved. Valls insisted that Spain is too humble: A new patriotism needs to be consolidated in Spain. France has a superiority complex. Spain has an inferiority complex. Alan D. Solomont, who served as the US ambassador between 2009 and 2013 and currently chairs the US-Spain Chamber of Commerce, agreed with this view. Spain sells itself short. It doesnt exude the confidence that I think it warrants. And this lack of confidence is inconsistent with all the things that Spain has to be proud of, he said. Solomont first visited Spain and Portugal as a young man in 1971, then returned 40 years later as ambassador. Other speakers agreed that Spaniards underestimate their own shared successes. Nobody is harder on Spaniards than Spaniards themselves, they said. EL PAIS editor-in-chief Antonio Cano at the event. Santi Burgos People abroad view us as extremely well prepared, as a country full of ideas, and they admire our flexibility, our innate ability to find solutions, said Rodrigo Cortes, a movie director who has made a name for himself in Hollywood with films such as the 2010 thriller Buried. Spaniards are above all hung-up people who are best at underrating themselves, he continued. We are constantly using the term third-world to talk about conditions here; that is, until we go abroad and see what a hospital in England looks like. Moises Naim, a political analyst, said that part of the problem is that people are not getting involved in politics. Parties are viewed as the natural habitat of opportunists and the corrupt, he noted. This needs to be reversed. Politics needs to go back to being the place for those who want to change the world. Democracy is not possible without reinforcing political parties. Naim added that Spaniards have suffered from weak, divided governments, political fragmentation and not enough power to get traction: Spain is an inhibited power without an important role. The Espana 40-40 debate series is being sponsored by BBVA, Iberdrola, Iberia, Repsol, Santander and Telefonica. The next debates will be held in Brussels on December 18 and London in January. English version by Susana Urra. Responding to a letter written by the IRGC Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani, Irans Supreme Leader announced that eliminating the Islamic State (IS) militant group in Iraq and Syria was a service to humanity. The elimination of Daesh (ISIS) Takfiri (infidel) terrorists from Iraq and Syria was a service to all humanity and a blow both to the terrorist group and its creators and supporters, including the United States, ayatollah Ali Khamenei said. According to Irans official news agency, IRNA, Khamenei said on November 21 that eliminating IS was not only a blow to the group but a stronger blow to the evil policy that was aimed at fomenting civil war in the region, weakening independent governments, and destroying the Resistance Front against Israel. The latter is a term employed by Iranian leaders to describe Syria under Bashar al-Assad, Lebanese Hezbollah, and a number of armed Palestinian groups It also dealt a blow to the current and former U.S. governments and their vassal regimes in the region who created the terrorist group and provided it with full support to expand their dominance in the Middle East and help the occupying Zionist regime (Israel) dominate the region, local media cited Khamenei as saying. Khamenei has repeatedly maintained that the United States and other Western countries created IS and supported it to spread their ominous dominance in the region and lay the groundwork for Israels the supremacy over the whole region. Iranian officials have also accused Saudi Arabia of creating IS. Khamenei repeated his allegations even though IS has been under heavy bombardment by coalition forces led by the United States. The bombardments were so effective that U.S.-backed Syrian armed groups recently managed to liberate Raqqa, the self-declared capital city of IS. In the past, Khamenei also asserted that he had rejected the United States request for Tehrans cooperation in neutralizing IS. During the very first days of ISs emergence in Iraq, the Americans, through their ambassador in Baghdad, requested our cooperation in confronting IS, but I rejected it since their hands were defiled, Khamenei had said in 2014. In his response to Soleimani, Khamenei cautioned, Those who made a huge investment in creating Daesh would try to re-hatch their evil plots in another part of the region or in other forms; therefore, the enemys deceit should not be ignored. In his letter, Soleimani had declared the defeat of IS its flag had been brought down in Abu Kamal and replaced with Syrias. Abu Kamal, the last stronghold of IS, is located on eastern part of Syria close to the Iraq border. The operation for the liberation of Abu Kamal left five Iranians, including two IRGC top commanders, dead. Reportedly, Soleimani had personally led the operation. Tehran and Moscow are close allies of Syria, where a civil war has been raging since 2011, when popular protests began against Assads rule. The peaceful rallies soon turned into armed clashes after military and security forces led by Assad brutally suppressed the protesters. Soleimanis declaration of the end of IS comes at a time when Iran is insisting its role in the Syrian conflict goes no further than deploying military advisers at the request of Damascus. However, U.S. officials have repeatedly criticized Tehrans military involvement in Syria and Iraq, describing it as detrimental to stability and peace in the region. Former U.S. President Barack Obama went even further, saying Tehran and Moscow were responsible for the massacre of civilians in Aleppo. Meanwhile, several analysts inside Iran say it was Soleimanis mismanagement and the destructive role played by the Quds Force in the region that led to the creation of IS. A prominent dissident inside Iran, Mehdi Khazali, said last year, If Soleimani were not present in Syria, there would have been no IS. Six Iranian citizens accused of acting against national security for following the Bahai faith have been sentenced to a combined total of 18 years imprisonment, a representative of the Bahai International Community (BIC) told Radio Farda. All six Bahais, residents of the impoverished Sistan and Baluchestan Province in southeastern Iran, were tried at a Revolutionary Court in Zahedan, the capital of the province. In Iran, Bahais have long been victim to systematic discrimination and persecution for their faith. We cannot yet confirm the reports, but we know that three of these Bahais -- Houshang Mokhtari, Bijan Eslami, and Ali Anvari -- were detained three or four months ago and later released on bail. Now, sadly, we have heard they have all been sentenced to prison, BIC spokesman Padiedeh Sabeti told Radio Farda. Sabeti, based in London, said pressure on Bahais in the provinces of Sistan and Baluchestan, Kerman, Kermanshah, and Hormozgan has intensified in recent months. Last month in Kerman, nine Bahais were detained but released after being subjected to persecution. Based on social media reports, many of the detainees properties were confiscated, she said. Along with those suspected of opposing the ruling system in Iran, Bahaiis are often charged with actions against national security. The term is quite vague, Sabeti said. Many international institutions defending human rights have repeatedly asked [Iran] to deliver a clear definition of the term. Nevertheless, they have received no response. The trial of the six Bahais was held some time ago, and their sentences were issued on the basis of a summons handed down on November 16 by the Zahedan court. Each was sentenced to three years, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA). The group categorically rejected the charges of acting against national security, saying they are simply citizens persecuted for their religious beliefs. According to HRANA, the convicted Bahais plan to appeal their sentences within the next 20 days. Meanwhile, many Bahai businesses have been sealed off by Iranian security officers. The action was in apparent reprisal for owners closing their businesses in observance of the recent Bahai holidays celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Bahaullah (the prophet of the Bahai faith), which is of particular importance to the worldwide Bahai community. Members of the Iranian parliament have urged the government to start paying its massive debt to the countrys Social Security Organization. In a letter to President Hassan Rouhani on November 20, 157 MPs referred to a law requiring the government to pay its debts to the organization within 10 years and demanded that the government allocate sufficient funds for this purpose in its next years budget. The government's debt to the Social Security Organization, a public institution that operates independently, is estimated to be more than $36 billion. Most of the accumulated debt is due to delayed government contributions to the fund and its interest. Irans Social Security Organization provides health insurance and pension to its members that include workers, government employees, and even self-employed individuals. More than 42 million Iranians (ca. 52% of the population) receive some type of benefit from the organization. The Social Security Organization provides services to the most vulnerable groups in the society, namely workers and therefore it is important for the government to meet its financial obligations, the Iranian MPs say. According to the letter, not paying the organizations debts would weaken it which could have undesirable social, economic, and political consequences and finally lead to its bankruptcy as several other retirement funds have experienced. Ahmad Alavi, an Iranian economist residing in Sweden is not optimistic that the demand of the Iranian MPs can be fulfilled. The government is already facing a massive budget deficit and has many other financial commitments that prevent it from being able to pay its debts to the Social Security Organization, Alavi told Radio Farda. According to experts such as Mr. Alavi, most of the damage to the organization was inflicted during the Mahmoud Ahmadinejads administration, which wasted money on subsidies and buying off various individuals or groups by engaging in favoritism. Alavi also says that the government owes substantial amounts of money to private contractors too, who over the years have worked on government construction and other projects. One reason why some companies do not pay their workers on time, is the fact that the government does not pay what it owes to these companies for work already completed. Not paying workers wages for months leads to labor protests, which has become a frequent phenomenon in the past year. According to the officials of Iran's Social Security Organization, the financial constraints have affected the quality of the services provided by their institution. The results of a recent poll conducted by the organizations shows that 52% of the pensioners are financially struggling. Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Gulgiz Muradova Trend: Trends interview with Dr. Farid Babayev, Assistant Representative of UNFPA Azerbaijan Country Office Q: The UN previously stated that Azerbaijans population is expected to hit 10.68 million people by 2030 and 11.03 million people by 2050. In terms of economic reasons, what are the key factors favoring steady population growth in Azerbaijan? A: Azerbaijan is the most dynamic nation in the South Caucasus in terms of demographic development with a population twice that of Georgia and three times that of Armenia. One of the most important characteristics features of Azerbaijans demographic situation is the relative rate of increase of the population number that depends on the fertility and mortality rates, balance of the external migration and the peculiarities of the population structure by sex and age. In the next three decades Azerbaijans population is projected to grow by over half a million people per decade. It is expected that during the 21st century the population of Azerbaijan is likely to increase by over 3 million people and 70 percent growth will occur in the first half of the century. So, Azerbaijan will certainly retain its position of the demographic leader in the South Caucasus throughout the century. Population growth in Azerbaijan was and continues to be ensured mainly (and almost exclusively) by the excess of the number of births over the number of deaths; while the impact of external migration on the change in the population size in Azerbaijan is insignificant. The dynamics and the peculiarities of economic and social development in any country largely depend on the characteristics of the age structure of the population. The proportion of children, youth and people of retirement age are key factors of the structure of social expenditure on public health, education and pensions. Finally, the working age structure of the population is an important factor determining the state of the labor market. Azerbaijans working age population has been growing rapidly over the past few decades. According to the UN medium projections , this growth will continue until 2018, with the number of females aged 20-59 and males aged 20-63 expected to reach six million (an almost 68% increase). Azerbaijan will experience a big increase in the labor force during the first half of the 21st century when the population group aged 18-20 enter the labor market. Azerbaijans 18-20 population age group alternates every 10 years or so. The highest risk for youth unemployment took place between 2009-2011 when the number of 18-20 year olds was more than 550,000. This eventuality may occur again in the mid-2030s when this age group is again expected to number 500,000, despite the anticipated decrease in number to 330,000 in the early 2020s. Hence, the problem of youth employment in Azerbaijan will remain a development agenda priority in the decades to come, despite the stabilization of the size of the working-age population. Q.: What is your assessment of the current state of reproductive health and family planning in Azerbaijan, what major milestones could you outline in particular? The protection of reproductive health, including the health of mother and newborns, is under close attention of the state. The Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan "On protection of public health" and other normative legal acts arising from this law are the guarantee of protection of public health, including maternal and children's health. The obstetrics and perinatal care are organized according to the three-level principle within the framework of the regionalization of perinatal care. To this end, seven perinatal centers have been established in the country: six in the regions and one in Baku (the Republican Perinatal Center). National clinical protocols and standards based on the principles of evidence-based medicine for the provision of services during pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum period and care of newborns have been developed; regular monitoring are carried out on the quality of services (antenatal, midwifery and neonatal care) in the regions by the staff of the Research Institute of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Center for Public Health and Reform. Since January 2017, the pilot implementation of compulsory health insurance has been launched in two regions. Since 2018-2019 years it is planned to introduce compulsory health insurance in the whole country. The basic package of compulsory health insurance includes services on reproductive health, including antenatal care and obstetrics, perinatal care. The global challenges facing all workers of maternal and child healthcare services are the reduction of maternal and child mortality, improvement of the quality of medical care for newborns, reduction of the morbidity and mortality, and protection of health of adolescents and young people. The early antenatal coverage of pregnant women, that is, registration before 12 weeks, makes up 74.1 percent according to data for 2015. The country lacks effective incentives for pregnant women to promote their early registration at antenatal care services. Due to a shortage of staff in remote regions of the Republic, difficulties arise with the involvement of specialists of various profiles in the pre-divisional preparation for the family, especially women with extragenital diseases. Azerbaijan needs to adopt a state program to provide women with iron, folic acid medicaments, and enriched flour during pregnancy and in the post-natal period. The analysis of the number of premature births reveals a general rising tendency of this indicator. In 2005-2014, the figure gradually increased from 1.8 to 2.7 percent, and the increase in the indicator in 2015 to 3.7 percent is due to the transition on new criteria of live birth. At the same time, there is a decrease in the level of home births in the republic, whereas in 2008 the share of giving births at home was 2.5 percent, in 2015 it is 0.9 percent. The cases of home births are recorded mainly in remote villages, and there is a positive trend towards a decrease in this indicator. To get a clearer and more detailed picture of the preventable causes of maternal mortality in Azerbaijan, it is necessary to improve the collection of information and implement the WHO methodology for the analysis of critical cases in obstetrics. Geographical location of remote regions of the Republic, especially in the winter season, creates certain problems in transportation, as well as in providing timely emergency assistance to pregnant women, parturients, mothers and newborns. In the same localities, there are difficulties in collecting statistical data, analyzing and reporting on reproductive health. Q.: What are some examples of organizational or governmental efforts that you can point to as best-practice cases that have been particularly successful in Azerbaijan to ensure stable population growth? A.: Following the adoption of the Cairo Programme of Action in 1994, Azerbaijan began implementing a number of comprehensive population development measures. The Cairo Conference provided a new impetus to policy-makers to seek solutions to the population and development challenges in the country. By adopting the Programme of Action the national government recognized that investing into human capital, broadening peoples choices and creating opportunities to realize their capabilities were fundamental for sustained economic growth and sustainable development. Since the Cairo Conference Azerbaijan has continued to pursue a comprehensive approach to mainstreaming population issues into national development policies and strategies. The principal objective of the national policy for demographic development is to ensure quantitative and qualitative population growth by curbing negative demographic trends, consistent with the long-term national development strategy. This priority is also duly stipulated in the development concept Azerbaijan - 2020: The Vision of the Future as well as the draft State Programme on Population Development and Demography of the Republic of Azerbaijan (2017-2030) was prepared with the technical support of UNFPA Country Office in Azerbaijan. The development of this Programme draft has been acknowledged the milestone achievement reflected the Governments efforts and commitment to better address population and development issues in the country. UNFPA pays continuous attention and renders substantive support to the activities aimed at raising critical awareness and drawing public attention on broad range of population issues among wide public circles of Azerbaijan at national and regional level. One of the major UNFPA interventions in the area of Population and Development is to institutionalize inclusion of population issues and concerns in development policy dialogue, and to integrate population factors into development strategies that are people-centered and recognize that demographic, social, economic and environmental factors are interrelated. Q.: Can you please provide an update on the prospects of UNFPAs cooperation with Azerbaijan, in particular future projects planned for implementation with the country? A.: The UNFPA plays a unique role within the United Nations system by addressing population and development issues in partnership with national governments and other agencies, and emphasizing reproductive health and gender equality. In Azerbaijan, our mission is particularly focused on issues related to reproductive health and rights, gender equality and women empowerment and population dynamics. Our office supports the government of the Republic of Azerbaijan in the integration of population and reproductive health issues into policies. The United Nations Population Fund has closely cooperated with the World Health Organization in the development of the second cycle of National Strategy on Reproductive Health and Family Planning, which is expected to continue from 2017 until 2025. The new cycle is expected to enable health providers to identify and focus on the following national priorities aspects of health care: safe care for mothers and newborn babies, family planning, control and prevention of Sexually Transmitted Diseases and developing an adequate response to gender based violence and so on. Responding to violence against women in development and humanitarian settings is a strategic priority for UNFPA. This includes eliminating harmful practices such as child marriage and others. The Fund also collects data to accurately document incidents of violence, and helps to develop, enforce and reform national laws and policies on gender-based violence. In Azerbaijan, UNFPA owns the USAID-funded project striving to eliminate gender-based violence through conduction of systematic and standardized collection of quantitative and qualitative data on GBV as well as development of inter-agency GBV database that will not only elaborately collect data on GBV incidents throughout the country, but also facilitate evidence based decision making. UNFPA is one of the worlds largest supporters of population data collection. In addition to supporting censuses and surveys, UNFPA works with policymakers, civil society, health-care providers and educators at all levels to promote sexual and reproductive health and rights including voluntary family planning. One of the major UNFPA interventions in the area of Population and Development in Azerbaijan is to institutionalize inclusion of population issues and concerns in development policy dialogue, and to integrate population factors into development strategies that are people-centered and recognize that demographic, social, economic and environmental factors are interrelated. Supporting the government, at its request, in integration of population and reproductive health issues into its planning and policy making has been one of the key strategic direction of UNFPA activities since its establishment in Azerbaijan. A special emphasis was made to strengthen national capacity in collection, analysis, dissemination and utilization of reliable and gender-sensitive population, demographic and health, including reproductive health data, as it plays a fundamental role for policymaking and generation the political will to appropriately address both current and future needs. The support was provided to the Government with the development of the population projection by economic regions of Azerbaijan for 2016-2050. The development of the State Program on Population Development and Demography (2017-2030) has been acknowledged the milestone achievement reflected the Governments efforts and commitment to better address population and development issues in the country. UNFPA pays continuous attention and renders substantive support to the activities aimed at raising critical awareness and drawing public attention on broad range of population issues among wide public circles of Azerbaijan at national and regional level. -- Follow the author on Twitter:@GulgizD Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 Trend: The 13th high-level meeting on Addressing the Humanitarian Challenges of a Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, jointly organized by the Nizami Ganjavi International Center and the Marianna V.Vardinoyannis Foundation and aimed at preparing the 6th Global Baku Forum, kicked off in Athens, Greece on Nov. 22. The forum is attended by Azerbaijani Presidents Assistant for Public and Political Affairs Ali Hasanov, Chairman of the State Committee on Work with Diaspora Nazim Ibrahimov, prominent statesmen and politicians of countries of the European Union and the Mediterranean, members of the Management Board of Nizami Ganjavi International Center former presidents of Latvia Vaira Vike-Freiberga, Valdis Zatlers, former president of Serbia Boris Tadic, former president of Croatia Ivo Josipovic, former president of Bulgaria Petar Stoyanov, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Marianna Vardinoyannis, public figures, heads of Azerbaijani diaspora organizations in Europe, scientists and media workers. The goal of the event is to share ideas and initiatives for prevention of humanitarian crises in the Mediterranean, to discuss migration, integration, national identity and multiculturalism, in particular, separatism and self-determination issues. Addressing the event, Ali Hasanov noted that the partnership of the Nizami Ganjavi International Center and the Marianna V. Vardinoyannis Foundation plays an important role in strengthening the ties between the countries and the whole region. He said the high-level Athens meeting is dedicated to a very relevant topic that concerns the modern world. It is very important to hold discussions to find a way to solve the crises caused by dangerous trends such as international terrorism and ethnic separatism, he noted. We are all concerned with the difficulties in addressing refugee and migrant problems, human trafficking and smuggling, and threats to political and economic stability, transportation and energy security, said Hasanov. Observations show that ethnic separatism and its negative manifestations have a special place among these threats. The top official noted that the strengthening tendency of ethnic separatism in the modern world is one of the important factors that negatively affect the regional and international security, mankinds life in peace and tranquility. Today, there are more than 50 main centers of ethnic separatism in the world, which cover an area of 12.7 million square kilometers and more than 220 million people. More than 20 conflicts that have arisen as a result of ethnic separatism lead to military clashes, said the Azerbaijani top official. He said that after the end of the Cold War, a new wave of ethnic separatism tendencies emerged in the former Soviet Union. Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in Azerbaijan, Abkhazia and Ossetia conflicts in Georgia, and Transnistrian conflict in Moldova have become sources of potential threat to the regions stability. These conflicts lead to gross violations of international legal principles and emergence of serious threats to territorial integrity and sovereignty of states, he said. Hasanov emphasized that the resolute fight against ethnic separatism by such authoritative international organizations as the UN, OSCE and the Council of Europe is one of important issues today. Otherwise, ethnic separatism, as a negative trend, can turn a large part of the world into an arena of interethnic conflicts, he added. Unfortunately, currently, the double standards policy in the system of international relations hinders the resolution and principled fight against ethnic separatism, said Hasanov. In some cases, leading international organizations are indifferent whether all the states of the world follow the legal norms, which include the elimination of ethnic separatism, the effective methods of fighting and a mechanism for punishing criminals, he added. This casts shadow on the objectivity of organizations such as the UN, OSCE and the Council of Europe, Hasanov noted, adding that therefore, those leading international organizations should abandon the double standards and increase their efforts to resolve ethnic conflicts within international legal norms. Having declared its keenness to establish relations with the European Union back in 1993, my country embarked on collaboration with this organization in a variety of fields. The European Union highly appreciates what Azerbaijan has done under the Neighborhood Policy and Eastern Partnership initiatives as well as in the field of civil society building. Azerbaijan and the EU share common geopolitical interests with regard to the regional security of the South Caucasus and the Caspian-Black Sea basin, with large transnational corporations from the EU being closely involved in transnational projects in the region, said Hasanov. The implementation of transnational energy and transport projects such as Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum oil and gas pipelines, as well as Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway has been possible due to the strategic partnership between Azerbaijan and the EU. The EU supports Azerbaijans policy of joint use of the Caspian Seas energy resources and their export to the European markets through alternative transnational projects, and reconstruction of multiple transit systems within the East-West and North-South transport corridors to modern standards, noted the presidential assistant. He noted that the partnership agreement signed between the EU and Azerbaijan in 2007 was one of the important steps towards the implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor. Initiated by Azerbaijan, projects such as the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) and Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) have won necessary support from the EU and have been included in the list of the European Commissions priority energy security projects that serve common interests. The EU also highly appreciates what Azerbaijan has done on the Southern Gas Corridor project, which envisages delivery of big energy resources of the Caspian basin and the Middle East to the European markets, said Hasanov. He noted that Azerbaijan is considered as one of the EUs reliable partners not only thanks to its role in ensuring energy supply and security of Europe and partnership within Neighborhood Policy, but also for its direct involvement in peace-building processes in different parts of the world, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Balkans, etc., and for provision of NATO with non-military resources and a safe air corridor. Currently, negotiations are underway on a new agreement between the EU and Azerbaijan, said Hasanov. I believe the signing of this document will open up plenty of opportunities for reinforcing wide-ranging cooperation in political dialogue, human rights, trade, investment, economy, legislation, culture, etc., he noted. The presidential assistant added that unresolved issues, such as the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, hinder the development of Azerbaijans high-level partnership with the European Union. Despite the demands of the relevant UN and EU resolutions, Armenia continues its occupation policy against Azerbaijan, noted Hasanov. We believe the EUs tough stance regarding this aggressor state may be one of the important factors strengthening the strategic partnership ties between Azerbaijan and the structure, he added. In conclusion, Ali Hasanov once again wished success in the work of the high-level meeting. Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Elchin Mehdiyev Trend: Azerbaijan is rapidly developing, the countrys Deputy Speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament Bahar Muradova said Nov. 22 during the discussions on the state budget for 2018 at a plenary session of the parliament. At the same time, there are some problems created by the development itself, which must be analyzed, she said. She touched upon the issues related to the work of the judicial bodies, the difficulties faced by lawyers and investigators and an increase in the number of judges. Stressing the need to increase the number of judges, Muradova proposed to take this issue into account in the budget. "The actions, taken in Azerbaijans legislative sphere in connection with a number of defenders performing the functions of lawyers, require attention, she said. Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov.22 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: The upcoming Eastern Partnership Summit to be held in Brussels will inject new dynamism into relations between the European Union and Azerbaijan, Johannes Hahn, European Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, said in an interview with Trend. He pointed out that being at the crossroads between Asia and Europe, Azerbaijan can play an important role in bringing the two continents together. In particular, he mentioned the importance of the recently commissioned Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway in enhancing connectivity between Europe and Asia. I was pleased to see the inauguration just a few weeks ago of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, which has the potential to provide better connectivity, new business opportunities and also increased trade between the EU and Asia, said the commissioner. Hahn went on to add that Azerbaijan is also EUs strategic partner in the energy area, best demonstrated by the ambitious Southern Gas Corridor project. The EU is also supporting Azerbaijans efforts to diversify its economy, particularly in the areas of education as well as regional and rural development, he added. Progress in the area of democratic reform and civil society participation is at the core of the Eastern Partnership, said the EU commissioner, adding that strengthening of rule of law, fundamental rights and democratic institutions is in the long term interest of Azerbaijan. On our bilateral relations, we are negotiating a comprehensive new agreement with Azerbaijan to replace the 1996 Partnership and Cooperation Agreement and better take account of the shared objectives and challenges the EU and Azerbaijan face today, offering a renewed basis for political dialogue and mutually beneficial cooperation between the EU and Azerbaijan, said Hahn. Talking about his expectations from the Eastern Partnership Summit, where Azerbaijan will also be represented, he noted that the Summit is an opportunity to build on the achievements to-date and also to inject new dynamism into the partnership, through focusing on issues on which the European Union and partner countries can advance together. The Summit will show the strong commitment of the European Union and the partner countries to the Eastern Partnership and show that the initiative is delivering and will continue to deliver tangible results to citizens in a visible manner, according to the commissioner. In this respect, the EaP architecture will be streamlined to ensure an efficient delivery mechanism, he added. To really focus on what we can collectively deliver, we have developed a vision of "20 deliverables for 2020", which will bring results across each of the four priority areas identified at the last Summit in Riga: economic development and market opportunities; strengthening institutions and good governance; connectivity, energy efficiency, environment and climate change; mobility and people-to-people contacts. We have made progress in all of these areas, said Hahn. The commissioner recalled that the Eastern Partnership initiative was launched in 2009 with the main focus on regional cooperation in the EUs eastern neighborhood. Since then, the Eastern Partnership has evolved; the substance of the policy has broadened, deepened and been adapted to changing realities. We need to focus on implementation of what we have set out to achieve, he said. The Eastern Partnership needs to be ambitious, realistic and credible, meaning that we have to embrace differentiation, different levels of engagement, and various priorities. The results of the Eastern Partnership have to date showed that we are stronger by working together. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn Details added (first version posted on 13:09) Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 Trend: The 13th high-level meeting on Addressing the Humanitarian Challenges of a Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, jointly organized by the Nizami Ganjavi International Center and the Marianna V.Vardinoyannis Foundation and aimed at preparing the 6th Global Baku Forum, kicked off in Athens, Greece on Nov. 22. The forum is attended by Azerbaijani Presidents Assistant for Public and Political Affairs Ali Hasanov, Chairman of the State Committee on Work with Diaspora Nazim Ibrahimov, prominent statesmen and politicians of countries of the European Union and the Mediterranean, members of the Management Board of Nizami Ganjavi International Center former presidents of Latvia Vaira Vike-Freiberga, Valdis Zatlers, former president of Serbia Boris Tadic, former president of Croatia Ivo Josipovic, former president of Bulgaria Petar Stoyanov, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Marianna Vardinoyannis, public figures, heads of Azerbaijani diaspora organizations in Europe, scientists and media workers. The goal of the event is to share ideas and initiatives for prevention of humanitarian crises in the Mediterranean, to discuss migration, integration, national identity and multiculturalism, in particular, separatism and self-determination issues. Addressing the event, Ali Hasanov noted that the partnership of the Nizami Ganjavi International Center and the Marianna V. Vardinoyannis Foundation plays an important role in strengthening the ties between the countries and the whole region. He said the high-level Athens meeting is dedicated to a very relevant topic that concerns the modern world. It is very important to hold discussions to find a way to solve the crises caused by dangerous trends such as international terrorism and ethnic separatism, he noted. We are all concerned with the difficulties in addressing refugee and migrant problems, human trafficking and smuggling, and threats to political and economic stability, transportation and energy security, said Hasanov. Observations show that ethnic separatism and its negative manifestations have a special place among these threats. The top official noted that the strengthening tendency of ethnic separatism in the modern world is one of the important factors that negatively affect the regional and international security, mankinds life in peace and tranquility. Today, there are more than 50 main centers of ethnic separatism in the world, which cover an area of 12.7 million square kilometers and more than 220 million people. More than 20 conflicts that have arisen as a result of ethnic separatism lead to military clashes, said the Azerbaijani top official. He said that after the end of the Cold War, a new wave of ethnic separatism tendencies emerged in the former Soviet Union. Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in Azerbaijan, Abkhazia and Ossetia conflicts in Georgia, and Transnistrian conflict in Moldova have become sources of potential threat to the regions stability. These conflicts lead to gross violations of international legal principles and emergence of serious threats to territorial integrity and sovereignty of states, he said. Hasanov emphasized that the resolute fight against ethnic separatism by such authoritative international organizations as the UN, OSCE and the Council of Europe is one of important issues today. Otherwise, ethnic separatism, as a negative trend, can turn a large part of the world into an arena of interethnic conflicts, he added. Unfortunately, currently, the double standards policy in the system of international relations hinders the resolution and principled fight against ethnic separatism, said Hasanov. In some cases, leading international organizations are indifferent whether all the states of the world follow the legal norms, which include the elimination of ethnic separatism, the effective methods of fighting and a mechanism for punishing criminals, he added. This casts shadow on the objectivity of organizations such as the UN, OSCE and the Council of Europe, Hasanov noted, adding that therefore, those leading international organizations should abandon the double standards and increase their efforts to resolve ethnic conflicts within international legal norms. Having declared its keenness to establish relations with the European Union back in 1993, my country embarked on collaboration with this organization in a variety of fields. The European Union highly appreciates what Azerbaijan has done under the Neighborhood Policy and Eastern Partnership initiatives as well as in the field of civil society building. Azerbaijan and the EU share common geopolitical interests with regard to the regional security of the South Caucasus and the Caspian-Black Sea basin, with large transnational corporations from the EU being closely involved in transnational projects in the region, said Hasanov. The implementation of transnational energy and transport projects such as Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum oil and gas pipelines, as well as Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway has been possible due to the strategic partnership between Azerbaijan and the EU. The EU supports Azerbaijans policy of joint use of the Caspian Seas energy resources and their export to the European markets through alternative transnational projects, and reconstruction of multiple transit systems within the East-West and North-South transport corridors to modern standards, noted the presidential assistant. He noted that the partnership agreement signed between the EU and Azerbaijan in 2007 was one of the important steps towards the implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor. Initiated by Azerbaijan, projects such as the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) and Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) have won necessary support from the EU and have been included in the list of the European Commissions priority energy security projects that serve common interests. The EU also highly appreciates what Azerbaijan has done on the Southern Gas Corridor project, which envisages delivery of big energy resources of the Caspian basin and the Middle East to the European markets, said Hasanov. He noted that Azerbaijan is considered as one of the EUs reliable partners not only thanks to its role in ensuring energy supply and security of Europe and partnership within Neighborhood Policy, but also for its direct involvement in peace-building processes in different parts of the world, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Balkans, etc., and for provision of NATO with non-military resources and a safe air corridor. Currently, negotiations are underway on a new agreement between the EU and Azerbaijan, said Hasanov. I believe the signing of this document will open up plenty of opportunities for reinforcing wide-ranging cooperation in political dialogue, human rights, trade, investment, economy, legislation, culture, etc., he noted. The presidential assistant added that unresolved issues, such as the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, hinder the development of Azerbaijans high-level partnership with the European Union. Despite the demands of the relevant UN and EU resolutions, Armenia continues its occupation policy against Azerbaijan, noted Hasanov. We believe the EUs tough stance regarding this aggressor state may be one of the important factors strengthening the strategic partnership ties between Azerbaijan and the structure, he added. In conclusion, Ali Hasanov once again wished success in the work of the high-level meeting. Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 Trend: School of Project Management (SPM) successfully continues its activities at Baku Higher Oil School (BHOS). It has been established with financial support from BP and its partners, organizational support from the Higher School and technical support from British company TwentyEighty Strategy Execution (Stratex). All SPM training modules are developed on the basis of teaching programs of The George Washington University, the USA. Representatives of state organizations and private companies express a strong interest in study at SPM, which helps the students obtain theoretical and practical knowledge of various aspects of project management. Upon successful completion of the study, the trainees are awarded with Master certificate from The George Washington University. Two SPM courses of core curriculum were conducted at BHOS new campus, which was officially opened with participation of President of the Azerbaijan Republic Ilham Aliyev in May this year. The Quality for Project Manager training for Stream 16 group was conducted by John Pelham, one of the most experienced instructors of Stratex. The participants learned how to integrate project quality management into the entire project life cycle, plan effectively for project quality management, assess and improve their organizations current quality capabilities to ensure that projects will meet specified quality standards, ensure customer satisfaction by monitoring results using project quality control tools. The trainees also attended practical lessons and participated in group discussions. At the same time, Stratex instructor Didier Estibals, who was invited to Baku to teach the module, conducted Risk Management course for Stream 17 group. The trainees were taught to use a practical, eight-step process to manage project risks, identify threats and opportunities and weigh their relative value in their project, control multiple risks using limited strategies, and make risk and opportunity integral components of their next project plan. Upon the training completion, BHOS Rector Elmar Gasimov presented students of the Stream 16 group Associates Certificates in Project Management. The certificates are jointly awarded by Twenty Eight Strategy Execution and The George Washington University upon completion of first three training courses of the core curriculum of Project Management program. Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 Trend: Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, founder and head of IDEA Public Association Leyla Aliyeva met UNICEFs regional director for Europe and Central Asia Afshan Khan. Leyla Aliyeva, highly appreciating the activities of UNICEF towards improving conditions of children throughout the world, emphasized that ensuring childrens well-being, health and education is the most valuable investment into our future. She noted that Azerbaijan has recently reached great progress in this sphere, expressing confidence that the works associated with this issue will be continued and extended further. Touching upon the significance of childrens being educated and enlightened on protection of the environment, Leyla Aliyeva gave comprehensive information about the numerous projects implemented for the last six years by IDEA Public Union towards extending childrens environmental awareness, including Eco laboratories, camps, courses, and publications. Afshan Khan, in turn, thanked Leyla Aliyeva for her active endeavours aiming to enlighten children on the environment and sustainable development. She said that UNICEF was interested in including such subjects as climate change, sustainability and other ecological subjects into the education programme, highly appreciating IDEAs activity in this direction. The sides also discussed perspectives of possible cooperation in childrens ecological education, and exchanged views on integration of children with restricted health condition, social protection and rehabilitation thereof, and issues concerning education. Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Azad Hasanli - Trend: Azerbaijan's Ministry for Labor and Social Protection of the Population has developed amendments to the Labor Code, the ministry reported. Representatives of the Ministry, the Confederation of Trade Unions and the National Confederation of Entrepreneurs discussed this issue at a meeting of the tripartite commission on social and economic issues in Baku. Minister of Labor and Social Protection of the Population Salim Muslimov, speaking at the meeting, noted that the amendments are aimed at developing social partnership, clarification of imperative and dispositive norms, grounds and rules for the termination of labor contracts, and the elimination of certain gaps and collisions. "The documents of a civil-law nature do not give grounds for the registration of labor relations, therefore one of the goals of amending the Labor Code is to clarify the concept of" labor relations, "the minister said. Muslimov further added that the amendments will take into account the comments of the Constitutional Court, which will ensure the adoption of the Labor Code in accordance with international standards. Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Huseyn Valiyev Trend: The first auctions on the sale of the property of the closed Bank Standard will be held in November-December. Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Azerbaijan Deposit Insurance Fund (ADIF) Vugar Abdullayev announced about this at a meeting with the bank's creditors. Abdullayev said the auctions will be open to everyone, including the bank's creditors. The bank's liabilities are 1.2 billion manat, and assets are estimated at 800 million manat. "In this regard, the bank will not be able to repay all its obligations, but the solution to the problem can be turning to the judicial authorities with a complaint against the founders of the bank and the return of the remaining funds in this way," chairman of the creditors committee, lawyer Akram Hasanov said. So far, ADIF has paid compensation for insured deposits of the bank amounting to 437.75 million manat (99.2 percent of all insured deposits of the bank). On Nov. 21, Bank Standard's creditors meet with the ADIF management in Baku. The agenda of the meeting included three issues: a meeting with the leadership of the fund, progress on the liquidation of the bank and forthcoming work. The license of Bank Standard was revoked on Oct. 1, 2016, and on Oct.4 the bank was declared bankrupt. Over this period, depositors were paid more than 430 million manat compensation. Bank Standard was founded in 1995. It was one of the largest private commercial banks in Azerbaijan and was one of the market leaders in terms of deposits. (1.7002 manats = 1 USD on Nov. 22) Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Nigar Guliyeva Trend: In Seoul, an agreement was signed to establish an Uzbek-Korean joint venture to produce jewelry, Uzbek media reported. The state research and production enterprise FONON and South Korean Hwachon Plant-Gemco signed an agreement on the establishment of a joint venture in Tashkent. The deal was undersigned by FONON General Director Mukhsin Ashurov and the executive director of Hwachon Plant - Gemco Shik Shin Cheol. The statutory fund of the joint venture, created on a parity basis, will amount to $ 30 million. Next year Uzbekistan intends to launch a full-scale industrial production of various jewelry.It is planned to produce gold products worth $ 16.4 million, and silver - $ 111,900 in 2018. Already by 2020, the country will bring the annual output of jewelry products to more than $ 40 million. For three years, the output of silver products is planned to increase 6.2 times - from $112,000 in 2018 to $760,500 in 2020, and from gold - 2.4 times, from $16.4 million to $39.6 million. Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Nigar Guliyeva Trend: Georgia's exports increased by 28 percent compared to last year, said First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Dimitry Kumsishvili. Kumsishvili, talking to IMF at the sidelines of the IMFs Annual Meetings, said that the economy is growing quite well and the latest growth figure is much stronger than was estimated either by the IMF or the government . "Tourism is booming, generating 28 percent more revenues than last year. Exports have grown by 28 percent, remittances transfers by 22 percent compared to last year. In the first two quarters, the private sector created an additional 5 percent of new jobs," he said. The minister noted that to achieve such robust growth, the government worked out a four-pillar reform agenda combining the four strategic directions of economic reforms, open governance, infrastructure investment, and reforms in education. The Georgian economy has performed well in the past years, posting a 4.7 percent growth rate for the first eight months of 2017, according to the IMF. Georgias foreign trade turnover in the first nine months of 2017 increased by 12.1%, compared to the same period of last year, reaching $7.56 billion, according to the preliminary figures released by the state statistics office, Geostat. Exports from Georgia increased by 28.3 percent year-on-year to $1.94 billion and imports were up by $7.4 to $5.62 billion in January-September, with trade gap standing at $3.68 billion. Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Nigar Guliyeva Trend: The Asian Development Banks (ADB) Board of Directors has approved a total of $30 million in grants to assist the Kyrgyz Republics efforts to strengthen technical and vocational education and training. The ADB reported that its assistance is comprised of a $12 million policy-based grant to support key policy reforms and an $18 million project grant to finance investments that are needed to implement the reforms on the ground. Both grants are financed from the Asian Development Fund, ADBs grant financing window. Jouko Sarvi, Lead Education Specialist at ADBs Central and West Asia Department said that ADB is committed to working with the government to prioritize skills training as a driver of growth, including supporting the establishment of centers of excellence for demand-driven skills development. The Skills for Inclusive Growth Sector Development Program is aligned with key government strategies to achieve inclusive growth through improved workforce skills and productivity in the Kyrgyz Republics key economic sectors. It aims to establish a market-responsive, entrepreneurial, and inclusive TVET system in the country. The program will train more than 5,000 people under the Skills Development Fund and improve the teaching quality and learning environments in TVET by improving the competence of 3,000 teachers in skills training and 4,000 students in priority occupations. Support also will be provided to help strengthen work-based learning, introduce entrepreneurship education, and implement efficient partnerships between industry and TVET institutions. ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration. Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Azad Hasanli Trend: Azerbaijans PASHA Holding has created a new subsidiary - PASHA Investments, the Vergiler newspaper of the countrys Ministry of Taxes reported. The authorized capital of the company is 10,000 manats. Earlier, Jalal Gasimov, first deputy CEO of PASHA Holding, said that the holding plans to strengthen its investment activity. In addition, currently, the holding also includes another investment company - PASHA Capital, which operates in the securities market. (1.7002 manats = 1 USD on Nov. 22) Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Azad Hasanli Trend: Ambassador of Azerbaijan in Pakistan Ali Alizada has invited the members of Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry to set up various facilities, particularly in the pharmaceutical sphere, at Azerbaijans Free Trade Zone in Baku, the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry said in a message. The pharmaceutical products cannot only be supplied to the Azerbaijani market but also to other countries as there is huge demand for pharmaceutical products in the region, he said. He also touched upon the possibility of developing business ties among entrepreneurs on the supplies of rice and textiles to Azerbaijan and strawberries, grapes and pomegranates to Pakistan. Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Nigar Guliyeva Trend: A cheaper lari [the national currency of Georgia] stimulated economic activity by encouraging exports, said National Bank of Georgia Governor Koba Gvenetadze. Gvenetadze, talking to IMF at the sidelines of the IMFs Annual Meetings, noted that Georgia was indeed hit by lower demand in the region, driven by lower oil prices in 20142016 and geopolitical tensions. "We responded with a flexible exchange rate, which proved to be a very good way to absorb the shock and to make the economy withstand the difficult times. As a result, lari was depreciated by 34 percent against the US dollar, but the economy continued to grow by 2.9 percent in 2015 and 2.8 percent in 2016. A cheaper lari stimulated economic activity by encouraging exports; incomes grew, which helped debt payers meet their financial obligations," he said. He went on to day that after the shock of 201516, the financial regulator realized a need to deal more proactively with high dollarization [the ratio of foreign exchange deposits and loans to total deposits and loans] in Georgia. "It represents a high risk for the most vulnerable groups because the fluctuations of the US dollar against lari immediately affect their finances. Following discussions with the IMF, we put together a 10-point program to reverse this dollarization trend. This long-term project already has some early results; for instance, loan dollarization decreased by 9 percentage points, to 56 percent of total loans in 2017. The drop in household dollarization was even larger, at 12 percentage points. Deposit dollarization has also been declining," he added. Gvenetadze noted that the banking system is now resilient and highly transparent. "All Georgian banks are privately owned, with 85 percent of foreign ownership. The two largest banks of the Georgian banking system are listed at the premium segment of the London Stock Exchange, which sets very high standards for accountability and transparency," he said. From October 30 November 17, U.S. Embassy Baku invited four young entrepreneurs from Azerbaijan to visit the United States under the auspices of the State Departments long-established International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP). Their program in the United States, fully funded by the Department of State, focused on Promoting and Supporting Entrepreneurship. While on the program, the participants visited Washington D.C., Miami, FL, Bozeman and Butte, MT, Austin, TX and Kansas, MO where they examined how: Social, economic, and political factors that influence and encourage development of private enterprise in the U.S.; Federal, state, and local government policies to advance and support small and medium sized business development and entrepreneurship; The role of NGO and grassroots organizations in supporting and empowering the development of SMEs and entrepreneurs; Public policy and public as well as private sector programs that support and advance women in entrepreneurship and small business ownership; Effective interaction and public-private partnerships among government, NGO, and banking and commercial entities to support entrepreneurship and SME development; The latest and most innovative trends in the United States, including private and publicly funded research laboratories where new U.S. technologies are being developed to explore the best models to create new business, pursue new technologies, and support new initiatives. The IVLP is a cultural and professional exchange program administered by the U.S. State Department in conjunction with American government representatives, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), private businesses, and volunteers from throughout the United States. Beyond professional enrichment, a principal objective of these visitor exchange programs is to enhance mutual understanding between our invited guests and the people of the United States. For more information about the IVLP program, please visit: https://eca.state.gov/ivlp. Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Nov. 22 By Diana Aliyeva Trend: Uzbekistan intends to supply textile products worth $70 million to South Korea till late 2018, the Uzbek media reported. Reportedly, a delegation of Uzbekistans O'zbekyengilsanoat joint stock company held talks with the heads of big Korean trading companies, namely, Posco Daewoo, Solsang International Corp, Ratel E & T Co., Ltd., Korea Factory, Lotte Mart retail network and reached an agreement. The contracts envisage the supply of dyed and melange yarn, as well as terry and hosiery products of the Uztex Group, Osborne Textile Ltd. Moreover, the heads of the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) and Korea Trade Network Co. Ltd. (KTNET) reached an agreement on the promotion of Uzbek textile products in South Korea through KTNET in 2017-2018. The possibility of rendering e-customs clearance services was also considered. Since early 2017, various textile semi-finished and other products worth $23.4 million have been exported to the Korean market. O'zbekyengilsanoat company consists of more than 300 textile, sewing and knitting factories, including joint ventures. Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Nigar Guliyeva Trend: In 2018, in Uzbekistan, beans, mung beans and peas will occupy more than 374,000 hectares of territory after harvesting wheat, that is 40 percent of the total crop area, Uzbek media reported referring to the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources. The analyses show that 317,200 hectares will be allotted for mung, 29,300 hectares for beans and 28,100 hectares for peas. The main crop of leguminous is accounted for the farmers of Tashkent (59,000 hectares), Djizak (52,000 ) and Samarkand (38,000) areas. The forecasted harvest of beans from the lands released after harvesting grain crops is 562,200 tons, according to official data. It is assumed that farmers of the Tashkent region will produce 88,800 tons of beans, Djizak - 78,000 tons, Samarkand - 57,000 tons. In 2017, farmers of Uzbekistan began to grow a new type of Black Matre mung bean for export to India. In 2016, Uzbekistan exported more than 67,000 tons of mung bean - three times more than in 2015. In total, the country sold beans, mung beans and peas in the amount of 120,200 tons. Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Nigar Guliyeva Trend: A serial production of Hyundai cars maybe launched in Uzbekistan. This was announced by the press center covering the visit of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to the Republic of Korea Nov.22. President of the Korean Evergreen Motors Kim Chang-keon and chairman of the State Investment Committee of Uzbekistan Azim Akhmedkhojayev signed a memorandum of understanding on the organization of mass production of Hyundai cars. The cost of the project is $ 200 million. Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Nigar Guliyeva Trend: JSC "Uzkimyosanoat", the major chemical company in Uzbekistan, and South Korean Samsung Engineering signed an agreement on the implementation of four projects for a total of $556 million. This was announced by the press center covering the visit of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to the Republic of Korea Nov.22. The parties agreed to implement the project on "Modernization of ammonia and carbamide production facilities at Ferghanaazot JSC worth $91 million. The project on "Modernization of the production of ammonium nitrate AC 72M and non-concentrated nitric acid AK 72M at JSC" Ferganaazot" will also be implemented. The cost of the project is $15 million. The two will also implement projects on "Organization of ammonia production" in Almalyk with a capacity of 300,000 tons a year and "Organization of carbamide production" in Almalyk with a capacity of 350,000 thousand tons a year worth $ 300 million and $150 million, respectively. To implement the projects, funds in the amount of $ 321 million will be barrowed. Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Huseyn Valiyev Trend: Millers Oils Azerbaijan Ltd., a resident of the High-Tech Park of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS) will organize a presentation on the occasion of launching the production of premium motor oils on November 23, the High Tech Park told Trend Nov. 22. The production is expected to be launched after the official presentation. ANAS President Akif Alizade, UK Ambassador to Azerbaijan Carole Mary Crofts and Managing Director at Millers Oils Ltd Jamie Ryan will attend the presentation. The High-Tech Park is already exporting lubricating oils to Turkey and Georgia. Now, we plan to expand the export of these products to Russia and the countries of Central Asia, Babayev noted. Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Nov. 22 By Diana Aliyeva Trend: Several meetings have been held with the heads of the South Korean leading clinics at the Uzbek Health Ministry, the press center for coverage of the state visit of the President of Uzbekistan to the Republic of Korea said Nov. 22. Among those clinics are Gachon University Gil Medical Center in Incheon, Myongji Hospital in Seoul, Medical Leaders Corporation, Chonnam National University Hospital in Gwangju and Kwai Chung Hospital. A wide range of issues, in particular, telemedicine, leading Korean experts master classes in Uzbekistan, improving of the skills of Uzbek doctors and training of students in Korea, the construction of high-tech and modern clinics in Uzbekistan, were discussed. Following the talks, the sides agreed on signing relevant agreements and memorandums of understanding between the Uzbek Ministry of Health and a number of Korean clinics. Two more agreements are expected to be signed with Myongji Hospital in Seoul and Chonnam National University Hospital in Gwangju. Negotiations were also held with the minister of health and welfare of Korea, where priority directions for the development of bilateral relations were discussed. Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Anvar Mammadov - Trend: An increase in the expenditures of the Azerbaijani state budget without having a permanent income can lead to unnecessary risks, said the countrys Finance Minister Samir Sharifov Nov. 22 answering the questions of MPs during the discussions on the state budget for 2018 at a plenary session of the parliament. "I do not deny the fact that some expenses should be increased, he said. But an increase in expenditure without a constant income will take a short time and can lead to unnecessary risks." We should optimally regulate our expenses and try to increase revenues through the non-oil sector, while oil revenues should be kept in reserve, as they are always required during a difficult period, "Sharifov said. The minister also commented on the statements of MPs about the big expenditures of state administration. He said that the expenditures of state administration must be considered on the basis of specific figures. "It is wrong to see this figure as a percentage, he said. As a result of the reforms carried out in 2017, the country saved over 17 million manat in terms of expenditures on state administration. (1.7002 AZN = $1 on Nov. 22) Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov.22 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project, which envisages transportation of Azerbaijani gas to Europe, will contribute to achievement of decarbonisation goals, said Clara Risso, TAP Italy. "TAP looks to the future and continues to be available for dialogue and to inform about the benefits and positive impacts on the territory through which it passes. We will contribute to the achievement of the decarbonisation goals, added Risso. TAP is a part of the Southern Gas Corridor, which is one of the priority energy projects for the European Union. The project envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz Stage 2 to the EU countries. The pipeline will connect to the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) on the Turkish-Greek border, run through Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Italys south. TAP will be 878 kilometers in length (Greece 550 kilometers, Albania 215 kilometers, Adriatic Sea 105 kilometers, and Italy 8 kilometers). TAPs shareholding is comprised of BP (20 percent), SOCAR (20 percent), Snam S.p.A. (20 percent), Fluxys (19 percent), Enagas (16 percent) and Axpo (5 percent). --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Berat Albayrak during his visit to Sochi, Russia Nov. 22 will discuss energy issues with Russian Minister of Energy Alexander Novak, the Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources told Trend. The parties intend to discuss joint energy projects, including the Turkish Stream and the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant, the ministry said. The discussions will be held within Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans visit to Sochi Nov. 22 where he will meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Earlier it was reported that Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation hopes to obtain a license for the construction of the Akkuyu plant in Turkey no later than March 2018 to commission the first unit of Akkuyu plant on October 29, 2023 on the centennial anniversary of the Turkish Republic. An intergovernmental agreement between Russia and Turkey on cooperation in construction and operation of the Akkuyu plant was signed in 2010. Meanwhile, Turkish Stream gas pipeline project envisages construction of two branches of the main gas pipeline under the Black Sea, the capacity of each branch being 15.75 billion cubic meters of gas. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: The Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources of Turkey has denied permission to a number of Turkish companies to conduct oil and gas exploration in the country, the ministry told Trend Nov. 22. Oil companies Hanedan Enerji Yatirimlari Sanayi Ticaret A.S., Albedo Es Elektrik Uretim A.S., Celikler Taahhut Insaat ve Sanayi A.S., Guney Yildizi Petrol Uretim Sondaj Muteahhitlik ve Ticaret A.S. and Abe Petrol Dogalgaz Enerji Maden A.S. were denied permission to carry out oil and gas exploration in the country. All the companies planned to carry out oil and gas exploration in the vicinity of Istanbul. The ministry didnt disclose the reason for the refusal. Earlier, the ministry also denied permission to two Turkish companies (Memba Enerji ve Madencilik A.S. and Alpay Enerji A.S.) to conduct oil and gas exploration in the country. In April 2014, a legislation allowing oil exploration in forests and national parks came into force in Turkey. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Maksim Tsurkov Trend: The joint venture of Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR and US KBR Engineering Company - SOCAR-KBR Limited Liability Company (SKLLC) has been awarded a Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) contract for the topsides of the Absheron Early Production Project, KBR said in a message Nov. 22. The platform will be located at SOCAR's Oil Rocks facility and will deliver gas and condensate into the SOCAR network. The contract value has not been disclosed. Earlier, SOCAR and Total signed a framework agreement in late 2016 on the main contractual and commercial principles regulating the program for the first phase of development of the Absheron field. At the first stage, the field development includes drilling one well at a depth of 450 meters. The extraction will amount to 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas a year, which will fully flow to the domestic market of Azerbaijan, as well as significant amounts of condensate. According to SOCARs geologists, Absherons reserves are estimated at 350 billion cubic meters of gas and 45 million tons of condensate. The Absheron project will be operated by the Joint Operating Company Absheron Petroleum (50 percent SOCAR, 50 percent Total). Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Maksim Tsurkov Trend: Gazprom Export LLC and Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR agreed on resuming natural gas deliveries to Azerbaijan, said the Russian company in a statement. The relevant contract was signed in Moscow on Nov. 21, 2017. The deliveries will be carried out starting from Nov. 22, 2017. Under the contract, it is planned to deliver 1.6 billion cubic meters of Russian gas to the Azerbaijani market in general. We are connected with Azerbaijan by long-standing partnerships in the field of trade in natural gas. Its nice to note that they are successfully developing and are advancing to a new level, said Director General of Gazprom Export LLC Elena Burmistrova, according to the statement. In October 2009, Gazprom Export LLC and SOCAR signed a medium-term contract to deliver gas from Azerbaijan in 2010-2015 through the Shirvanovka point at the Russian-Azerbaijani border. During the period, 5.4 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas were bought. In 2015, a subsidiary of Gazprom Export LLC, Gazprom Schweiz AG, carried out deliveries to Azerbaijan Methanol Company (AzMeCo). Under the contract, 107.4 billion cubic meters of gas were delivered. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @MaksimTsurkov Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Nigar Guliyeva Trend: Uzbekistan's energy company Uzbekenergo and a consortium of South Korean companies POSCO Daewoo and Hyundai Engineering and Construction signed agreements in Seoul on the implementation of three energy projects. The documents worth $ 1.84 billion were signed during the state visit of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to the Republic of Korea, the press service covering the president's visit reported. Under the agreements, the parties will build a combined-cycle plant with a capacity of 450 MW at the Navoi thermal power plant. The construction of a 220 kV transmission line with a length of 327 km from the Takhiatash Thermal Power Plant to the North-West and South-West Power Units is also planned. Furthermore, in 2018-2021, modernization of electric grids and power equipment will be carried out in Bukhara, Samarkand and Djizak regions. Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Nov. 22 By Diana Aliyeva Trend: Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has arrived in Seoul, the capital of South Korea, on a state visit at the invitation of the countrys President Mun Zhe Ying, the press service of the Uzbek president said in a statement. During the talks at the highest level, it is planned to discuss a wide range of issues on the bilateral agenda, prospects for further development of interstate relations in the political, trade-economic, financial-investment, scientific-technical, cultural-humanitarian and other spheres, as well as exchange views on regional and international issues. Mirziyoyev will also meet with speaker of the National Assembly and prime minister of South Korea, visit the Uzbek-South Korean business forum with the participation of heads of leading economic and financial institutions, major entrepreneurs of the two countries. Following the visit, it is expected that the presidents of Uzbekistan and South Korea will adopt a joint statement on the comprehensive deepening of strategic partnership, as well as sign about 70 documents between various departments of the two states providing for strengthening and expanding mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields. Tehran, Iran, November 21 By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend: On Tuesday, the Rural Development Department of Irans Presidential Office held a meeting with some 20 members of Parliament to streamline a rural development plan which has been under consideration for some time. During the meeting, which was headed by Vice President Abolfazl Razavi, the officials scrutinized the executive minutiae of the plan, Trend correspondent reported from the meeting. The plan considers allocation of self-employment loans to go to eligible rural residents with the aim to boost rural employment and shore up Irans economy against foreign sanctions. The total amount of loan given to the plan is $1.5 billion, authorized by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last year, out of the National Development Fund and will be given as low-interest loan to those starting a business in rural areas with employment for one or more rural residents. An official with the department told Trend that all due care is being taken so that the implementation of the plan satisfies all involved authorities, including representatives in the Parliament, and that misuse chances are minimized. The meeting parties decided that the loans will range from 1 billion to 20 billion rials (1 USD = 35,244.23 IRR in the official market). According to Razavi, the loans will preferably serve finance rather durable businesses, such as in areas of agriculture, handicraft, garment, mines, and technology. In a meeting in one week, the Rural Development Department and the lawmakers will wrap up the executive instructions of the plan to be communicated to provincial governments for implementation. Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Khalid Kazimov, Mehdi Sepahvand Trend: Iran is apparently looking for new oil markets in Europe after India, the worlds third largest energy-consuming economy, decided to cut oil imports in retaliation for Tehran's persistence to negotiate a better deal over a major offshore gas deposit in the Persian Gulf, Farzad B. The new strategies adopted by India and China have led the traditional suppliers of oil to modify their sells strategies, an official with Iranian oil ministry told Trend. Saying that under the new strategies India seeks to have a strong presence in the upstream sector of the supplier countries, he added that the volume of trade turnover has a key role in selecting the energy suppliers. This has caused the suppliers to think of new plans to deal with the new strategies of the oil importers. For instance, Middle East oil giant Saudi Aramco has decided to invest in Indias oil sector. Aramco earlier in October announced its expansion with the opening of its Asia Indias new office in New Delhi. This is while the Islamic Republic has been planning to lure Indian investments into its upstream sector in order to protect its share from the Asian market. Chabahar port and Farzad B gas field are among the main projects that could contribute to the total trade of Iran-India and eventually encourage Indians to continue oil purchase from Iran. I believe that India is somehow stepping up pressure on traditional suppliers like Iran in order to gain privileges from the Islamic Republics market such as Farzad B gas field. In the other words, Indians are trying to use the issue of imports as a tool to gain advantages in short-term, said the official. Iran and India have already held several rounds of talks over the long-awaited deal to develop the Farzad B field, but the two sides are at odds over the price of Iran's natural gas. On the other hand, India is making efforts to expand its relations with the US in order to obtain unconventional technologies. However, this will not work in long-term in particular after balancing the oil market, the official added. In this situation, countries like Iran should make efforts to create new markets and that is why Tehran is now looking to find partners in the Europe. But there are some restrictions in the EU regarding fossil energies and that is why the major suppliers cannot consider the Europe as a lucrative market. Iranian deputy oil minister, Marzieh Shahdaei, earlier said that the country is in talks with new customers in the EU, to export its crude. We are in talks with new customers for selling oil. We mostly tend to increase our exports of crude to European countries, Marzieh Shahdaei said on Tuesday. The drop in the volume of the purchase of Asian importers does not mean that Irans oil exports have weakened, she added. India is among the major importers of Irans oil which has decreased its oil purchase after failing to secure the deal to develop Frazad B gas field. India has reportedly decided to replace Irans oil with the US oil. Irans crude oil and condensate exports amounted for 2.6 million barrels per day (mbpd) in September 2017. The country exported 2.25 mbpd of crude oil to Asian and European markets in the period. China and India were the main consumers of the Iranian oil with over 1 mbpd of purchase. Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Khalid Kazimov Trend: Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar-Zanganeh has said that US President Donald Trumps advice calling on oil importers to refrain from purchasing Irans crude, failed to leave a negative impact on the Islamic Republics exports. Trumps remarks have, so far, left no impact on Irans oil exports, IRNA news agency quoted him as saying. He further denied that India has decreased its oil imports from Iran in retaliation for Tehran's persistence to negotiate a better deal over Farzad B gas field. The purchase of Irans oil by India is going on and there is no specific problems in their imports of oil, he added. According to IRNA Trump wrote in a statement issued on November 18 that because there is enough supply of oil from other countries, it is possible to limit the purchase of oil and its derivatives from Iran. Iran currently exports about 2.5 million barrels of oil and condensate per day. About 60 percent of this amount is shipped to Asian countries and 40 percent is exported to Europe. The countrys oil exports during the sanctions era stood about one million barrels per day. Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 18 By Fatih Karimov Trend: Iran has exported 1.2 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Iraq, since June, when Tehran started gas exports to the neighbouring country, Saeed Tavakkoli, head of Iran Gas Transmission Company, said. Tehran exports 14 million cubic meters of gas to Iraq per day through existing network in Irans western Ilam and Kermanshah provinces for usage in power plants, Tavakkoli said, the oil ministrys official news agaency reported Nov. 18. He further said that Iran can increase the figure depending on itself domestic gas consumption. Once the sixth cross country gas pipeline is completed Irans gas export capacity to Iraq will reach 25 million cubic meters per day, Tavakkoli added. Iran started a much-awaited project to export natural gas to Iraq's capital Baghdad in June, following two years of negotiations between the two countries. Iran and Iraq initially signed an agreement in 2013 based on which the Islamic Republic was to export natural gas to power stations around Baghdad via a 270-kilometer pipeline. Iran has also signed a contract to export gas to southern Iraqi city of Basra. Tavakkoli said that Iran will start gas export to Basra as soon as the Iraqi side expresses readiness. Irans gas export capacity to Basra city will be 25 million cubic meters per day, same as the capacity for export to Baghdad city, he added. Iraq now is the second gas customer of Iran after Turkey which imports 30 million cubic metres of natural gas per day. With 33.5 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, Iran has the largest conventional gas reserves in the world. Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Khalid Kazimov Trend: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has described the trilateral summits scheduled to take place on Wednesday in the Black Sea resort of Sochi as very important. Today a very important meeting will be held in Russias Sochi in the level of presidents of the three countries of Iran, Russia and Turkey, Rouhani told reporters ahead of his departure to Russia on Nov. 22. He touched upon the victory of Muslim fighters in fight against the Islamic State terrorist group (IS aka ISIS/ISIL) in Syria and Iraq, adding that this does not mean that the issue of terrorism is resolved in the region but their pillars have collapsed. They do not have territories anymore, to claim that they are capable of creating a state. They will exist in the region in the forms of small terrorist groups for a while, Rouhani said. Iran's president expressed hope that the trilateral summit and its declaration would pave the ground for a better fate for Syria, adding that the foreign forces and superpowers will not decide on the fate of Syria as the Syrian people must decide their own future. Territorial integrity, national sovereignty and the independence of Syria is of high importance for Iran. In the meantime, the issues of the reconstruction of the country and the return of refugees are very important, said Rouhani. From the outset, the Islamic Republic said that terrorism, the plans on changing the borders of the countries and the meddling of superpowers like the US will not get any result in the region Iran is not after tension in the region. Iran wants stability in the region and it is not looking for confrontation with any other country, noted Iran's president. Iranian, Russian and Turkish Presidents Hassan Rouhani, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan are expected to discuss the Syria issue today in Sochi. (First edition published at 18:30) Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Fatih Karimov Trend: Irans President Hassan Rouhani said there is no excuse for foreign countries to remain in Syria without permission of Syrian government. The Iranian president made the remarks during a trilateral meeting with his Russian and Turkish counterparts, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in Russias Sochi on Nov. 22, the Iranian state-run IRINN TV reported. The meeting was aimed at discussing the results of Syria peace talks in Astana, Kazakhstan, and the beginning of a political process within Syria. The achievements in the fight against terrorism in Syria as well as future steps to be taken to bring about sustainable stability in the country were also on the agenda of the meeting. Iran, Russia and Turkey are the main guarantors of the Syria peace talks in Astana. Rouhani said the main foundations of the the "Islamic State" terrorist group (IS aka ISIS/ISIL) have collapsed, but the fight against terrorism is not yet over. He added that fighting against terrorism is necessary in Syria until eradicating all its cells in the country. The Iranian president further said that grounds are prepared for political settlement in Syria. The Syrian national sovereignty should be respected, Rouhani said, adding that interference of foreign powers in the country would not be legitimate. Those who created, funded the IS terrorist group in the Middle East will face repercussions of terrorism, the Iranian president said. He also said the Islamic Republic will stand against plots to create split in the Middle East. Iran is acting based on UN regulations to ensure stability and security of the region, Rouhani said, adding that Iran is serious in fighting against terrorism. He further called on international community to focus on alleviating the suffering of Syrian people and reconstruction of the country. Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Azer Ahmadbayli Trend: On the eve of trilateral summit in Russian Sochi, where Iran, Russia and Turkey are going to launch process of political reconciliation in Syria, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has made a symbolic statement, saying that the Islamic State terrorist group has been eliminated. There will be many right things said about future of Syria: surely peace should be established in Syria and it should be a single state with nation-wide elected president and government and so on. But it is not a secret that behind the right things there are interests. Despite that all the involved parties were repeatedly voicing that their aim in Syria was to defeat ISIS, it is obvious that their plans go beyond the public declarations and they wouldnt mind to get a piece of the "Syrian pie". Though the US has not had a mandate from Syrian current government to military stay in the country, Washington has sent a firm signal that it is not going to leave Syria now. The US representative to the UN, Nikki Haley said last week that with the unity of the UN Security Council, or alone, Washington will continue to fight for justice and accountability in Syria. It is also hard to imagine that Iran, which has made great efforts to stake a claim to its particular role in Syria, will easily abandon its influence in the country. On the contrary, it will try to consolidate its position in Syria as much as possible to have a springboard for Israeli deterrence. All possible arguments are used to reinforce positions prior to beginning of negotiations. President Rouhanis words have not been a simple statement of fact but a clear reminder of Irans exclusive role in the victory with which everyone should reckon. Also, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah had said that the militant group will pull out of Iraq once Baghdad confirms Islamic State has been completely defeated and he will divert his forces to "areas where they are needed" another hint at that Iran is a powerful negotiator. Turkeys key condition is to ensure the states security by clearing Turkish-Syrian border regions of the Kurdish YPG (Peoples' Protection Units) terror groups. Turkey also insists on the protection of the demographic structure in north-western Syria particularly in Afrin, where ethnic Turkmens live. Earlier President Erdogan accused the US of supporting YPG in sprawling out Syrian towns Raqqa, Manbij and Deir az-Zor, captured after ISIL quit places where Kurds never lived. We dont want to face the same situation again in Afrin, he said. Another demand of Turkey is Assads leave. President Putin was quite sincere when in his time at the end of 2015 he said that Russias permanent military presence in Syria was not necessary. Russia is pursuing quite another purpose which is to mend relations with US on a par with all the attendant consequences such as recognition of Russias role as a global, not regional power, lifting sanctions, non-interference in the post-soviet geopolitical space that, Russia believes, is of its jurisdiction, etc. So, Syria is no more than one of the bargaining chips in Russian arsenal to achieve the main goal that is to come to terms with the US. This is the key point in the whole story where other participants will have to settle only for tactical acquisitions. Meanwhile, Russia will try to achieve its goal, in part or fully, at any cost, due to its most preferable position among the three Assad visited President Putin the day before the summit for good reason. Syrian president understands that further rapprochement with Iran could cause new unwanted issues in Syria, not to mention Turkey, which opposes the Assads regime. What price would Russia be prepared to pay in order to advance its national interests fate of Bashar Assad or breaking up Shiite Arc by letting Iranian influence in Syria down, or oil fields in eastern Syria? Stakes are high, but what about people of Syria? Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who fled to Bangladesh from violence in Myanmar have been drained by the trauma they suffered during the crisis and a struggle to overcome desperate want, the United Nations refugee chief said on Wednesday, Reuters reports. More than 600,000 Rohingya have fled Buddhist-majority Myanmar since late August this year for neighboring Bangladesh, driven out by a military clearance operation in Rakhine State. The refugees suffering has caused an international outcry, spurring appeals by aid agencies for millions of dollars in funds to tackle the crisis. I found this was a population that had almost no response. Very passive, said Filippo Grandi, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, describing his visit late in September to camps where the refugees were staying. He saw the lassitude as a symptom of trauma, he added. We havent seen this kind of trauma for a very long, long time, the Italian diplomat said. Maybe I saw it in the 90s in central Africa. Grandi coordinated UN humanitarian activities in the Democratic Republic of Congo during its 1996-97 civil war. The success of aid efforts by the United Nations and non-government bodies depends on the Myanmar government to defuse the hostility facing humanitarian workers in Rakhine, Grandi said. Its not political work, its not to favor one community over the other, he said. On the contrary, its directed to all those who are in need. And when members of the Buddhist community are in need, they certainly qualify for that. I think its important that they stress that, they do that more, said Grandi. A U.S. Navy transport plane carrying 11 people crashed in the Philippine Sea south of Japan on Wednesday as it flew to the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan, the U.S. Seventh Fleet said, Reuters reports. Eight people were rescued, with three others missing, it said, adding that all of the rescued personnel were transferred to the carrier for medical evaluation and were in good condition. Search and rescue efforts for three personnel continue with U.S. Navy and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) ships and aircraft on scene, the U.S. Seventh Fleet said in a news release. The incident will be investigated, it added. The plane was conducting a routine transport flight carrying passengers and cargo from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni to the carrier, which was operating in the Philippine Sea as part of an exercise with Japanese forces, it said. U.S. President Donald Trump was briefed on the crash at his Mar-a-Lago retreat in Florida, where he is spending the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, said White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters. The @USNavy is conducting search and rescue following aircraft crash. We are monitoring the situation. Prayers for all involved, Trump wrote in a Twitter post. Japanese Minister of Defence Itsunori Onodera told reporters the U.S. Navy informed him that the crash may have been a result of engine trouble. The propeller-powered transport plane, a C-2 Greyhound, carries personnel, mail and other cargo from mainland bases to carriers operating at sea. C-2 aircraft have been in operation for more than five decades and are due to be replaced by the long-range tilt-rotor Osprey aircraft. The US military says it has killed more than 100 militants in an airstrike on a camp of the al-Shabab extremist group in Somalia. In a statement on Tuesday, the US Africa Command (AFRICOM) said the aerial raid was carried out 125 miles (200 kilometers) northwest of the capital Mogadishu. "In coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia, US forces conducted an airstrike in Somalia against an al-Shabab camp on Tuesday, November 21, at approximately 10:30 am local Somalia time (0730 GMT), killing more than 100 militants," the statement read. The Pentagon revealed on Thursday that the United States now has some 500 troops on the ground in Somalia even as it denies a build-up of forces in the country. Somalia has been the scene of deadly clashes between government forces and al-Shabab since 2006. The Takfiri militant group was forced out of the capital by the African Union troops in 2011 but still controls parts of the countryside and carries out attacks against government, military and civilian targets seemingly at will in Mogadishu and regional towns. The extremist group is just one of the challenges facing the new Somali government, which is still struggling to expand its authority beyond the capital and other selected areas. AFRICOM, which was established in 2008 under then US President George W. Bush, has been operating in at least 35 countries across the African continent. French police officers in Nice have detained Russian businessman Suleiman Kerimov, a legislator from the Federation Council upper house of the Russian parliament, TASS reported, citing the press service of the Russian Embassy to France. "Suleiman Kerimov was detained at the airport of Nice late on November 20, he was taken to a police station," the embassy said, adding that Russian diplomats immediately headed to the site and are now providing all possible consular assistance to Kerimov. The Russian senator is still kept at a police station in Nice, the embassy said. At least 30 women and children of the Fulani ethnic group have been killed in Numan district of Nigerias northeastern Adamawa state by suspected members of the Bachama ethnic group, spokesman of Adamawa police command said, Sputnik reported. Thirty Fulani [ethnic group] children and women were killed during the attacks in Numan villages by suspected Bachama farmers and already investigation has commenced to arrest the suspects, Othman Abubakar said as quoted by the local Premium Times newspaper. The newspaper also suggested that the Bachama youths had been threatening herdsmen in the area to leave the territories. The incident is another major attack on Nigerias civilians over the past days. On Tuesday, at least 50 people were killed by a suicide attack in a mosque in the city of Mubi in northeastern Nigeria. Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov.22 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: If there were ever any Russian efforts to co-opt either of the Armenian lobbying groups in the US, one might expect American policy makers to take notice, said the article published in the International policy digest (IPD). The article by Neil Richards says that something under half of one percent of Americans can trace their ancestry back to the tiny South Caucasus nation of Armenia. There are probably three times as many Welsh Americans, but despite the numbers, Armenian Americans have extraordinary influence in Washington, DC, where not one but two well-funded and aggressive lobbying organizations toil on their behalf, the author wrote. The two, the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) and the Armenian Assembly of America (the Assembly), are rivals in a sense, with ANCA focusing on grass-roots activity and fund-raising and the Assembly relying principally on funds raised from major Armenian-owned businesses Yet they share largely the same primary goals, said the article. The author says that on their websites, both organizations boast of their close relations with senior Congressional figures. And because of its grass-roots activism and heavy concentrations of Armenian Americans in specific areas, ANCA has electoral clout too. In fact, the ethnic Armenian lobby is so effective that the embassy of Armenia in Washington hardly needs to lobby at all. And thats the strange bit. Armenia has in effect out-sourced its lobbying in the US to these American non-profit organizations, said the article. The author notes that yet the Republic of Armenia is effectively a Russian client state, heavily reliant on Moscows trade and funding. So if there were ever any Russian efforts to co-opt either of the Armenian lobbying groups in the US, one might expect American policy makers to take notice. For instance, when Moscow-born Sergey Sarkisov was named Consul-General for Armenia in Los Angeles questions could have been raised. The insurance magnate hes the 96th richest man in Russia currently represents Armenia to 13 western US states, said the article. Richards further notes that theres even evidence of what might be politely termed a confluence of interest between the Armenian lobby and Russia, concerning Iran, a Russian ally. Russia is strongly opposed to the White Houses announced intention to seek amendment of the Iran nuclear deal. As it happens Armenia is opposed also. And now Armenian Americans are being urged to oppose any changes as well. There is some tortured logic behind this. As Armenian analyst Areg Galstyan recently wrote, US relations with Armenia have been closely tied to attitudes towards Iran. Galstyan sounds a warning that the Armenian lobby, which is mainly focused on the Democratic Party, should be interested in blocking any initiatives against Iran, said the article. The author asks an obvious question: is that advice purely for Armenias own benefit or is the Russian big brothers interest reflected in it as well? Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: Unknown people have opened fire in a cafe in Istanbul, the Turkish media reported Nov. 22. Three people were injured as a result of the shooting, according to preliminary information. The gunmen managed to escape from the scene of the accident. All the wounded are Turkish citizens and they were taken to the nearest hospitals. Currently, the Istanbul police conduct a search to detain the criminals. Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: Turkey will receive the first S-400 Triumph air defense systems from Russia in 2019, the Turkish media quoted the National Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli as saying Nov. 22. Canikli added that Turkey has every right to ensure its security by acquiring the S-400 Triumph systems. Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Russia and Turkey are negotiating terms of a loan for the purchase of S-400 Triumph. Reportedly, Turkey will buy several S-400 Triumph systems for $2.5 billion. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow was ready to sell the S-400 Triumph systems to Ankara, but the issue of localization of production in Turkey would depend on the readiness of Turkey's industry. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: Turkey will not leave the shooting range incident during NATO exercises in Norway unanswered, the Turkish media quoted the National Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli as saying Nov. 22. Canikli added that NATO will receive a worthy response from Turkey in connection with the incident. The shooting range incident took place during NATO exercises in Norway. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announcing the withdrawal of Turkish servicemen from the exercises said his and first president Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's photos were placed as conditional enemy images on the shooting range during the exercises. Erdogan added that such behavior does not correspond to the spirit of cooperation and alliance between Turkey and NATO. The Turkish president said that around 40 Turkish servicemen were to participate in the exercises. It is time to reconsider Turkey's membership in NATO, Yalcin Topcu, chief adviser to the Turkish president said earlier while commenting on the incident between NATO and Turkey. The Turkish parliament must reconsider Ankara's membership in NATO as soon as possible, he said. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg apologized to Turkey in connection with the scandal that occurred during the exercises. ---- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani held a meeting in Russias Sochi, the Turkish media reported Nov. 22. Reportedly, the sides exchanged views on the settlement of the Syrian crisis, as well as the development of bilateral relations. President Erdogan will also meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The settlement of the Syrian crisis is expected to be discussed at the meeting. Syria has been suffering from an armed conflict since March 2011, which, according to the UN, has claimed more than 500,000 lives. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: A trilateral meeting of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Russian President Vladimir Putin kicked off in Russias Sochi, the Turkish media reported Nov. 22. Reportedly, the meeting of the presidents is being held behind closed doors. The main topic of the talks is the settlement of the Syrian crisis. Syria has been suffering from an armed conflict since March 2011, which, according to the UN, has claimed more than 500,000 lives. The Kyoto Shimbun - Nov 18, 2017 - 14:23 | All, Japan Since ancient times, people in Kyoto have always regarded unfortunate events and mishappenings like natural disasters or epidemics or defeat in political power games as something of a curse. It is a well-known fact in Japan that Kyoto's Kitano Tenmangu Shrine was founded to temper the curse of Sugawara no Michizane (845-903), the scholar-politician who fell out of favor with the emperor and died in exile. The nobles back then treasured yin-yang practitioners who used "jujutsu," or the art of cursing. The cursing industry In taking a look at cursing's place in modern Kyoto, a quick search online finds numerous advertisements offering to put a curse on someone, like Nippon Jujutsu (Japan Cursing Association) headquartered in Kyoto's Shimogyo ward. "We visit shrines and temples on the hour of the ox (at dead of night) and nail a straw doll," said a 46-year-old male practitioner with Nippon Jujutsu. He says the association has 35 members nationwide who are priests and practice at their own temples or shrines. Fees range from 20,000 yen ($178) to 50,000 yen ($446). "Around 20 years ago, most of the requests came from women who wanted to get back at their husbands' lovers. But now, they're more and more becoming men who hate their boss," the man says. Junichiro Kisaragi, the 63-year-old head of the association, said in most cases, he and the members try to convince clients to wish for their own good fortune, rather than pray for bad things to happen to others. "We only curse someone when that person is clearly at fault," Kisaragi says. Sometimes, Kisaragi's association receives requests from politicians wanting their competitors to lose in an election, but they no longer oblige. Instead of straw dolls to nail, they use daruma dolls to bring good luck. Story behind Kifune By many in the cursing business, Kifune Shrine in the Sakyo district is regarded as a mecca of sorts. "We find it very troubling," says the shrine's chief priest Kazuhiro Takai, 75. Kifune enshrines a god of love and is known for Izumi Shikibu, a famous poet of the Heian era (794-1185) who lyricized about the change of heart of her lover as she won his heart back. Why then, has the shrine come to be known for faith of the polar opposite? In the tale of "Uji no Hashi Hime" (Princess Hashi of Uji), which is included in "Heike Monogatari" (stories of the Taira clan), Princess Hashi sought to curse her husband at Kifune Shrine and became a demon. The tale was eventually adapted into the popular Noh play "Kanawa." Such a story combined with the shrine's custom of accepting nighttime visits have contributed to its reputation, according to Takai. To this day several times a year, people still pin straw dolls to the sacred tree at Kifune. "A fictional tale first told hundreds of years ago won't go away," Takai said. "If you curse someone, it will come back to haunt you." Frightening words Yasui Konpiragu in Higashiyama of Kyoto draws visitors from all over the country seeking to break off bad relationships and starting new, good ones. Some of the wooden pictorial plaques -- or ema -- at the shrine carry messages so horrendous that they're beyond print. "We remove ones that are too hideous," says Hajime Torii, Yasui Konpiragu's 58-year-old chief priest. "We recommend people stay away from any form of negativity that may interfere with their happiness." The Kyoto Shimbun official KYODO NEWS - Nov 22, 2017 - 01:18 | All, World Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's 93-year-old president, resigned Tuesday, ending his 37-year rule of the southern African nation after having been put under house arrest by the military. The world's oldest head of state had been in power since Zimbabwe's independence from Britain in 1980. His resignation followed anti-Mugabe demonstrations by tens of thousands of people in the capital Harare on Saturday. Eight of the 10 regional chapters of the ruling ZANU-PF party had recently adopted resolutions calling for Mugabe to step down, the state-run broadcaster said Friday. While lauded as a symbol of the black liberation movement in Africa for his role in resisting white minority rule, Mugabe has also attracted criticism over a crackdown on opposition forces. He also failed in agricultural reforms since 2000, leading to the country's economic collapse. The United States, Britain and other European countries have imposed sanctions against Mugabe amid allegations of electoral fraud and human rights abuses. $10 Million to Be Paid By Defendants in Virgin Islands Methyl Bromide Case DOJ and EPA alleged the Virgin Islands pest control company illegally applied fumigants containing methyl bromide in multiple residential locations in the U.S. Virgin Islands, including the condominium resort complex in St. John where a family of four became seriously ill in March 2015 after the unit below them was fumigated. Terminix International Company LP and the U.S. Virgin Islands operation Terminix International USVI LLC were sentenced Nov. 20 for violations of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act in the U.S. Virgin Islands, EPA and the U.S. Department of Justice announced. DOJ's news release said the Virgin Islands pest control company illegally applied fumigants containing methyl bromide in multiple residential locations in the U.S. Virgin Islands, including the condominium resort complex in St. John where a family of four became seriously ill in March 2015 after the unit below them was fumigated. According to the plea recommendation, TERMINIX LP and TERMINIX, USVI are to pay a total of $10 million in criminal fines, community service, and restitution payments. Under the agreed recommendation, TERMINIX, USVI will pay $4 million in fines and $1 million in restitution to the EPA for response and cleanup costs at the St. John resort. TERMINIX LP will pay a fine of $4 million and will perform community service related to training commercial pesticide applicators in fumigation practices and a separate health services training program. "The sentences in this case reflect the serious nature of the defendants' illegal actions and the unacceptable consequences of those actions," said EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. "This case should serve as a stark reminder that pesticides must be applied as intended and that those who ignore laws that protect public health will be held accountable by EPA and our law enforcement partners." "The tragic incident at issue in this case shows the extreme danger posed by the improper use of toxic pesticides," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey H. Wood of the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. "Businesses using these products must take appropriate cautions to safeguard the public, or else the consequences can be devastating. We trust that the result in this case shows how imperative it is that users of these products take the time to review, understand, and employ appropriate techniques and uses." "This case demonstrates how critical it is to comply with environmental laws and regulations," added Acting United States Attorney Joycelyn Hewlett for the District of the Virgin Islands. "An entire family suffered horrendous and life-altering injuries. We will continue to aggressively enforce environmental laws to help prevent something like this from ever happening again." EPA banned the indoor use of methyl bromide products in 1984. The few remaining uses are severely restricted and largely limited to commodity applications for quarantine and pre-shipment purposes. According to the information filed in federal court in the U.S. District Court of the Virgin Islands, the defendants knowingly applied restricted-use fumigants at the Sirenusa resort in St. John for the purpose of exterminating household pests on or about Oct. 20, 2014, and on or about March 18, 2015. The companies were also charged with applying the restricted-use pesticide in 12 residential units in St. Croix and one additional unit in St. Thomas between September 2012 and February 2015. According to the factual basis of the plea agreement, TERMINIX, USVI provided pest control services in the Virgin Islands including fumigation treatments for Powder Post Beetles, a common problem in the islands. These fumigation treatments were referred to as "tape and seal" jobs, meaning that the affected area was to be sealed off from the rest of the structure with plastic sheeting and tape prior to the introduction of the fumigant. Customers were generally told that after a treatment, persons could not enter the building for a two- to three-day period. On or about March 18, 2015, two employees of TERMINIX, USVI, performed a fumigation pesticide treatment at the lower rental unit of Building J at Sirenusa in St. John. The upper unit in Building J was occupied by a Delaware family of four; methyl bromide migrated to the upper unit of Building J, causing serious injury to and hospitalization of the family. EPA regional staffers responded immediately to the incident in St. John, securing the scene, performing testing, and addressing the contamination. Within days, the EPA sent out a pesticide use warning to pesticides applicators in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, followed by a broader pesticide notice to regulators in all states, the British Virgin Islands, and to other Caribbean and Latin American countries. After the government began its investigation, TERMINIX LP voluntarily ceased its use of methyl bromide in the U.S. and in U.S. territories. The government has notified the district court that the defendants have made full restitution to the Esmond family. The family is satisfied with the criminal resolution and has asked that their privacy be respected, according to the release. By PTI: Police New Delhi, Nov 22 (PTI) The mother of a four-year-old girl has alleged their daughter was "inappropriately touched" by a classmate, police said. The incident occurred on Friday and the family approached police the next day. The girl returned home after school on Friday and complained of pain in her private parts. She was taken to a hospital where doctors confirmed sexual assault, police said. advertisement The mother alleged she informed the school authorities but they did not take any action. Based on a complaint filed by the mother, police have registered a case under relevant provisions of the law at the Dwarka (South) police station. The school administrations has been booked for alleged negligence, they said. PTI SLB GVS --- ENDS --- What's the biggest ETF story of 2017? That's a tough one, because there have been so many good stories this year. If you ask five different people, you might get five different answers. The story of the VanEck Junior Gold Miners ETF (GDXJ), where the $4.2 billion fund changed dramatically after becoming too big for its index, was certainly interesting. Then there was the drama-filled story of the ousting of PureFunds from being associated in any way with the $1 billion cybersecurity ETF that once bore its name (now the ETFMG Prime Cyber Security ETF (HACK)). Both those stories were intriguing, but not necessarily that impactful for most investors. Granted, it's a subjective exercise to pick out the biggest stories, but from where I stand, there were a handful of stories that stood out above the rest. I'm sure my colleagues will chime in during the next several weeks with their own opinions, but here are my four biggest ETF stories of 2017, in no particular order. The Bitcoin ETF Saga Bitcoin has, hands down, been one of the most exciting financial market stories of 2017. No matter your views on the digital currency, it's been impossible to ignore the meteoric rise of this intangible-yet-valuable asset. From $950 at the start of the year, bitcoin rocketed to more than $8,000 this week, and is showing no signs of slowing down. Its ascent has gotten people around the world buzzing and asking questions: Is bitcoin the new gold? Is it a bubble? Are cryptocurrencies a legitimate asset class? Bitcoin Price Those questions will likely be answered in the months and years to come. Another question that will likely be answered is whether the first bitcoin ETF will come to market anytime soon. For all the excitement about bitcoin this year, ETFs have been left out of the party, though not for want of trying. The Securities and Exchange Commission shot down a few potential bitcoin ETFs earlier this year, which at first seemed like the nail in the coffin for such a fund. Story continues Then after Cboe Global Markets, parent company of ETF.com, announced it would launch bitcoin futures as early as this year, those hopes were reignited. If bitcoin futures launch as expected, the first bitcoin ETF could follow shortly thereafter. For better or for worse, ETF investors could soon be joining the bitcoin party. Record-Low Volatility Heading into 2017, many investors were bracing for a rocky market environment, and who could blame them? The previous year was a tumultuous one; the Federal Reserve was gearing up for an accelerated pace of rate hikes; and the U.S. had just witnessed one of the biggest upsets ever in a presidential election. Yet, far from being rocky, this year turned out to be one of the least-volatile periods in market history. Consider these astounding facts: The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) hit 8.84 in July, the lowest level ever recorded in the VIX's 24-year history. The largest peak-to-trough drawdown in the S&P 500 this year has been 2.8%, the smallest in any calendar year on record. The S&P 500 is on track to rise every month this year, an unprecedented feat. Perhaps the market will throw us a curveball and suddenly take a big dive in December, but even if it does, 2017 will forever be in the history books for its serenity. Anyone that was contrarian enough to bet on low volatility, especially by buying ETFs that short the VIX, has made off handsomely this year. The VelocityShares Daily Inverse VIX Short-Term ETN (XIV) and the ProShares Short VIX Short-Term Futures ETF (SVXY) returned 140% apiece so far in 2017, making them some of the top-performing ETFs of the year. Monster ETF Inflows If there's one story we've written about the most at ETF.com, it's the record amount of money coming into ETFs this year. Every week, we've highlighted the billions of dollars worth of inflows that U.S.-listed ETFs are seeing. As of last Thursday, the amount of ETF inflows for 2017 stood near $400 billion, blowing past the previous annual record from last year of $287.5 billion. If the pace keeps up, inflows for the year could eclipse $450 billion. To put that in perspective, an average of $1.8 billion in new money has entered ETFs every trading session this year. There's now $3.27 trillion in U.S.-listed ETFs, up from $2.56 trillion at the start of the year. There are a few reasons for this avalanche of money that's come into ETFs. The first is the ongoing trend of investors shifting from active funds to passive funds. It's the dynamic that's driving investors from largely active mutual funds to largely passive ETFs. That passive-to-active shift has taken place for years now, and on its own, can't explain this year's record inflows. But add on top of that two other factors and it starts to make sense. One is a general increase in confidence among investors about global equities. Every major economy is on track to grow this year, according to Charles Schwab, the first time that's happened in a decade. Moreover, confidence about U.S. equities in particular has been turbo-charged by expectations of corporate tax cuts. All this translates into investors wanting equities; ETFs are their preferred way to get that exposure. Two, the fiduciary rule, which went into effect earlier this year, compels advisors to put investors interests first when choosing products for retirement. While the Department of Labor has delayed the total implementation of the rule until 2019, the consequences of it are clearlow-cost ETFs are the beneficiaries. Fee War Heats Up This brings us to the fourth big story of the year, the ETF fee war. Like the inflows, the fee war in the ETF space has been an ongoing theme, but one that seems to have reached a new gear in 2017. Issuers are doing everything they can, including self-indexing, to bring expense ratios as low as they can go. Investors in turn are responding by rewarding the cheapest fundseven if they are only a basis point or two lower than the competitionwith their assets. According to FactSet, there are now 137 ETFs with annual expense ratios of 0.10% or less. Together, they hold 41% of all U.S.-listed ETF assets. In other words, only 6.5% of ETFs own 41% of ETF assets. Along with exposure to broad market U.S. equity and bond ETFs, investors can now have access to smart-beta ETFs like the Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta U.S. Large Cap Equity ETF (GSLC) and single-country ETFs like the Franklin FTSE Italy ETF (FLIY) for less than 0.10%. Talk about cheap. Contact Sumit Roy at sroy@etf.com Research All ETFs Related to This Story Permalink | Copyright 2017 ETF.com. All rights reserved At the Old Homestead Steakhouse in New York City, you can experience America's most extravagant Thanksgiving it might just set you back a bit. The restaurant is offering a $76,000 Thanksgiving package that is so over-the-top, it's hard to imagine ever going back to a home-cooked meal. To put the cost in perspective, it's about $16,000 more than the median U.S. household income, according to the Census Bureau . "What we focused on is using the most expensive ingredients that we possibly could find from all over the world," explains Marc Sherry, who co-owns the restaurant with his brother Greg. "Not only is this a culinary extravaganza, it's a cornucopia of inedible amenities." The restaurant started offering the concept three years ago at a price of $35,000, but has added something different each year. A Thanksgiving dinner in 2015 featured a 2-carat emerald cut diamond engagement ring hidden in the stuffing at the base of the turkey, which one customer used to propose to his girlfriend at the restaurant. This year's edition, which features everything from $475-per-pound imported Japanese Wagyu beef lollipops to gravy infused with $3,300 special reserve Pappy Van Winkle bourbon, is meant to impress up to 10 diners. But that's just the beginning.Whipped sweet potatoes are topped with $1,600-per-ounce black caviar sourced from the Caspian Sea. The meal's traditional mashed potatoes boast $455-per-pound, imported Swedish moose cheese. Even the stuffing is a combination of $46 sourdough bread shipped in from the U.K., $54-per-pound foie gras and Wagyu beef.The free-range, organic turkey, which costs $105 per pound, is basted with a $17-per-ounce Italian olive oil and seasoned with a blend of spices from the Middle East. Organic whole cranberries are mashed and infused with Grand Marnier and a touch of a $1,750 French Cabernet Sauvignon to complete the sauce.For dessert, mixed wild berries are served with a vintage 1968 Cristal sabayon cream sauce.After the meal, the Thanksgiving experience continues with non-edible exuberance. This year's package boasts four tickets to Hamilton, a $7,500 shopping spree on Fifth Avenue in NYC, a two-night stay at a Mandarin Oriental luxury suite overlooking Central Park and a watch from Swiss manufacturer Ulysse Nardin that costs more than $20,000. Transportation for the weekend also includes personal limousine service and a carriage ride through Central Park, complete with flowers and chocolates."When you spend $76,000 on a Thanksgiving dinner, you're not just buying dinner you're creating memories," Sherry says.Last year, Old Homestead sold seven of its Thanksgiving packages at $50,000 each. So far this year, Sherry has sold two, and he's confident the clientele shares his appreciation for the tradition."I'm in love with the holiday. I'm in love with the creativity of a $76,000 dinner. I'm proud of my staff and the way they put it out," Sherry says, adding that his team spends a couple of months putting the experience together. "I love seeing the people buy this. I love seeing the expression on their faces."Whether or not the facial expressions are induced by the cost of the whole thing remains to be seen, but for those more financially conscious patrons, Sherry notes the restaurant still offers a more traditional Thanksgiving meal for under $100 per person. Video by CNBC's Mary Stevens and Nate Skid . Don't miss:How to spend nearly $7,000 in one day eating the most extravagant food in New York CityFor $80,000 a week, you can stay at the most exclusive hotel on Earth in AntarcticaSee inside 5 of the world's most amazing underwater hotels and restaurants Like this story? Like CNBC Make It on Facebook ! At the Old Homestead Steakhouse in New York City, you can experience America's most extravagant Thanksgiving it might just set you back a bit. The restaurant is offering a $76,000 Thanksgiving package that is so over-the-top, it's hard to imagine ever going back to a home-cooked meal. To put the cost in perspective, it's about $16,000 more than the median U.S. household income, according to the Census Bureau . "What we focused on is using the most expensive ingredients that we possibly could find from all over the world," explains Marc Sherry, who co-owns the restaurant with his brother Greg. "Not only is this a culinary extravaganza, it's a cornucopia of inedible amenities." The restaurant started offering the concept three years ago at a price of $35,000, but has added something different each year. A Thanksgiving dinner in 2015 featured a 2-carat emerald cut diamond engagement ring hidden in the stuffing at the base of the turkey, which one customer used to propose to his girlfriend at the restaurant. This year's edition, which features everything from $475-per-pound imported Japanese Wagyu beef lollipops to gravy infused with $3,300 special reserve Pappy Van Winkle bourbon, is meant to impress up to 10 diners. But that's just the beginning. Whipped sweet potatoes are topped with $1,600-per-ounce black caviar sourced from the Caspian Sea. The meal's traditional mashed potatoes boast $455-per-pound, imported Swedish moose cheese. Even the stuffing is a combination of $46 sourdough bread shipped in from the U.K., $54-per-pound foie gras and Wagyu beef. The free-range, organic turkey, which costs $105 per pound, is basted with a $17-per-ounce Italian olive oil and seasoned with a blend of spices from the Middle East. Organic whole cranberries are mashed and infused with Grand Marnier and a touch of a $1,750 French Cabernet Sauvignon to complete the sauce. For dessert, mixed wild berries are served with a vintage 1968 Cristal sabayon cream sauce. After the meal, the Thanksgiving experience continues with non-edible exuberance. This year's package boasts four tickets to Hamilton, a $7,500 shopping spree on Fifth Avenue in NYC, a two-night stay at a Mandarin Oriental luxury suite overlooking Central Park and a watch from Swiss manufacturer Ulysse Nardin that costs more than $20,000. Transportation for the weekend also includes personal limousine service and a carriage ride through Central Park, complete with flowers and chocolates. "When you spend $76,000 on a Thanksgiving dinner, you're not just buying dinner you're creating memories," Sherry says. Last year, Old Homestead sold seven of its Thanksgiving packages at $50,000 each. So far this year, Sherry has sold two, and he's confident the clientele shares his appreciation for the tradition. "I'm in love with the holiday. I'm in love with the creativity of a $76,000 dinner. I'm proud of my staff and the way they put it out," Sherry says, adding that his team spends a couple of months putting the experience together. "I love seeing the people buy this. I love seeing the expression on their faces." Whether or not the facial expressions are induced by the cost of the whole thing remains to be seen, but for those more financially conscious patrons, Sherry notes the restaurant still offers a more traditional Thanksgiving meal for under $100 per person. Video by CNBC's Mary Stevens and Nate Skid . Don't miss: How to spend nearly $7,000 in one day eating the most extravagant food in New York City For $80,000 a week, you can stay at the most exclusive hotel on Earth in Antarctica See inside 5 of the world's most amazing underwater hotels and restaurants Like this story? Like CNBC Make It on Facebook ! More From CNBC Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation also announced a direct bi-weekly Air India flight from Delhi to Imphal from January next year. By PTI: To provide a major boost to air connectivity in the Northeast, 92 new routes will be opened in the region in the second round of the governments Udaan scheme, Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha said here. Sinha also announced a direct bi-weekly Air India flight from Delhi to Imphal from January next year, which he said would be made a daily service when the demand picks up. advertisement No-frills private airlines Indigo will soon start services from Guwahati to Silchar and Aizwal, he said yesterday. He also announced that Spicejet will be procuring seaplanes that could seat 9-10 passengers and land on smaller airstrips. "The carrier is buying a large number of these seaplanes and is looking to operate in the Northeast, connecting smaller airstrips. These planes will accommodate about 9-10 people. This will also improve connectivity in the Northeast," Sinha said. He was speaking at the inaugural session of the North East Development Summit, a two-day event organised by India Foundation, a think tank with links to the BJP, and the Government of Manipur. Sinha also informed that the construction of the Pakyong airport in Sikkim was complete and it will make reaching the northern part of the state, especially tourist attractions such as Nathu La Pass, easier. The second round of bidding for Udaan scheme was in its final stages, he said. "With this bidding round, we have 92 new routes that are going to be started in the Northeast," Sinha said. Udaan is a regional connectivity scheme under which the government plans to provide connectivity to remote areas and enhance access in under-served regions. The scheme has enabled the government to add 30 new airports on the aviation map in tier-2 and tier-3 cities under the first round. The second round of bidding commenced in August. The civil aviation ministry has received as many as 141 initial proposals for operating flight and helicopter services on 502 routes, connecting 126 airports and helipads. He said that there are 19 "new airports or underserved airports", and among these airports such as More in Manipur, Rupsi in Assam, and Tura in Meghalaya were going to get air services. "Nineteen new airports and seven heliports are going to be added to the aviation network ... through Udaan round 2. The bidding processes are underway," he said. --- ENDS --- Apple Inc AAPL CEO Tim Cook has been vocal about augmented reality (AR) for quite some time now. He views it as the next big computing platform. To boost its efforts, Apple has purchased Canada-based AR headset maker, Vrvana for $30 million, per a TechCrunch Report. Vrvana Totem Vrvana is best known for its Totem headset, which combines AR and virtual reality (VR) technologies. The headset also has inside out tracking. The company on its website describes Totem as immersion at its finest. While describing Totem, the company adds that Totems ability to produce truly opaque blacks and seamlessly blend the real world with the virtual enables the creation of unique mixed reality experiences so credible that your customers will actually believe that they are in the action. Apple Inc. Revenue (TTM) Apple Inc. Revenue (TTM) | Apple Inc. Quote Per Vrvana, Totem boasts a 1440p low persistence OLED screen with a field view of 120 degrees for both AR/VR. The camera comes with RGB 6 MP per eye (ultra low latency pass through). Apples AR Efforts To ramp up its efforts, Apple has also acquired several smaller firms with expertise in AR hardware, 3D gaming and virtual reality software. These include SensoMotoric, Flyby Media, Emotient, TupleJump, Turi, Metaio and PrimeSense. Moreover, Apple unveiled the ARKit at WWDC this year that will help third-party developers to work on creating AR experiences for the iOS platform. Cook had stated back then that by putting ARKit on iPhones, Apple has overnight become the largest AR platform. Though Apple was rumored to retail AR glasses by this year end, Cook in an interview with The Independent trashed such rumors. He told Independent that Apple is not bothered about being the first in the AR glasses market but is concentrating on giving consumers the best quality stuff. Today I can tell you the technology itself doesnt exist to do that in a quality way. The display technology required, as well as putting enough stuff around your face theres huge challenges with that. The field of view, the quality of the display itself, its not there yet. Story continues He believes that the rise of AR will be dramatic just like the evolution of mobile apps. He said that earlier, people were wary that apps wont find mainstream adoption but today there is a robust app economy. Users are now more than ever dependent on apps for their needs like health monitoring, shopping and for a ride back home. AR/VR and the Tech Giants Given the massive growth potential, there is tremendous interest in AR/VR. Right from Facebook FB to Alphabet GOOGL to Microsoft MSFT, all are pumping in resources to develop these technologies. Facebook has directed about $3 billion to develop VR technology while Alphabets Google is giving tough competition to Apple with its all new ARCore developer Kit. Similar to ARKit, ARCore will let developers create AR experiences for Android Platform. Android is indeed one of the most popular mobile operating platforms. On the other hand, Microsoft has (and cautiously) directed its efforts toward something called mixed reality. Microsoft created the term mixed reality, which stands for a combination of AR and VR. A few days back, the company announced that the upgraded version of the Windows 10 operating system (OS) will support both AR and VR technologies. HoloLens is Microsofts another noted mixed reality product. It remains to be seen how this market eventually pans out in the coming days. Though at present AR/VR application may be limited to gaming, it has the potential to evolve into the next computing platform. Only time will tell how. Zacks Rank and Stock Price Movement At present, Apple carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. In the past year, shares of Apple have registered growth of 55.7% compared with the industrys gain of 54.5%. Wall Streets Next Amazon Zacks EVP Kevin Matras believes this familiar stock has only just begun its climb to become one of the greatest investments of all time. Its a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in pure genius. Click for details >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Facebook, Inc. (FB) : Free Stock Analysis Report Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) : Free Stock Analysis Report Apple Inc. (AAPL) : Free Stock Analysis Report Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Hello, readers! This is Sy. Courts ruled 11 years ago that big tobacco companies had misled the general public about the health effects of smokingand that they should pay a price for it. That price didnt end up being a direct fine; but tobacco firms were told to issue corrective statements in marketing materialsincluding television adsto make up for the dubious claims they issued over decades. And the effort will finally launch this weekend with anti-smoking ad campaigns funded by industry giants like Philip Morris USA owner Altria Group and Reynolds, reports the Associated Press. Tobacco manufacturers once had relatively free reign on the airwaves before being banned from television and radio advertising in 1970 when President Richard Nixon signed the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act into law. (This followed the landmark 1964 U.S. Surgeon General report prominently highlighting the health dangers of smoking.) The fact that companies that make products like Marlboro and Camel cigarettes are now paying for campaigns discouraging their use may seem like karmic irony. But some critics argue that its too little, too lateespecially considering that the anti-smoking advertising effort is focused on more old-school media like network television and newspapers. Those may not be the best avenues to reach the population at highest risk of becoming lifelong smokers: Young people who get hooked early. Read on for the days news. DIGITAL HEALTH A cell-modifying tech for relapsed leukemia patients. Stanford researchers have been working on a new form of cell-modifying cancer treatment that may prove promising for leukemia patients who have relapsed. This is a part of the new field of cell therapies which involves taking out patients immune cells to program them to become cancer killers; but the new research centers on targeting a different kind of biological marker which may open up the underlying treatment platform to more patients. Story continues INDICATIONS European drug regulator to move to Amsterdam after Brexit. The European Medicines Agency (pretty much the EUs version of the Food and Drug Administration) is leaving its 20-year-plus home of London for Amsterdam. The reason? Brexit. (Milan was the other contender for the EMA after the U.Ks decision to leave the EU.) (Science) THE BIG PICTURE Is owning a dog good for your heart? In one of those sounds too-good-to-be-true studies, new data from Swedish scientists suggests that owning a dog is associated with a lower risk for cardiovascular disease (with the inevitable caveat that correlation isnt the same thing as causation). Organizations like the American Heart Association (AHA) have previously suggested similar links; the problem is, its hard to accumulate accurate data on both pet ownership and health records in an observational study. (NPR) REQUIRED READING CEOs Are Talking a Lot About Bitcoin, Data Shows, by Grace Donnelly Zimbabwes Robert Mugabe Resigns After Nearly 4 Decades of Rule, by Reuters 5 Tips to Help You Optimize Your Black Friday Shopping, by Don Reisinger This Chinese Giant Is Now Worth More Than Facebook, by Keshia Hannam Produced by Sy Mukherjee @the_sy_guy sayak.mukherjee@fortune.com Find past coverage. Sign up for other Fortune newsletters. Meg Whitman expressed strong confidence in her successor to the helm of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE: HPE) , President Antonio Neri, Wednesday, just one day after announcing she would step down as CEO . "Antonio's ready, the company's ready, and it's the right time," Whitman said in an interview with CNBC's " Squawk on the Street ." "I've said for many years the next CEO of this company needs to be someone we have promoted from within, someone who is a deep enterprise technologist, who knows the company loves the company." Whitman joined Hewlett-Packard in 2011 and oversaw the company's split into two brands. She remained on as CEO at the newly streamlined HPE, prioritizing cloud services and spinning off other businesses.Her departure leaves the business world with one fewer female executive a trend she said "is of concern.""I think in the last couple of decades, we made a lot of progress in the number of CEOs and number of female executives in the C-suite. It has stalled out in the last decade, if you look at the data, and I think that's concerning," she said.She's leaving a different company than the one she joined six years ago, having pushed for the company's split."I believe the future belongs to the fast," Whitman said. "And it was just too big and too cumbersome and competed in too many markets to do the very best job in all of them."Her tenure at HPE saw a ramping up of acquisitions eight in the last two years, she told CNBC."[Neri] and I have been joined at the hip in deciding about those acquisitions," Whitman said. "He's been really my right-hand executive for well over four years."Neri has been with the company since 1995, working his way up to the company's top ranks.Whitman said she is not yet sure of her next step, but that any next CEO position would have to be "exactly the right opportunity." She has previously sought political office as a California gubernatorial candidate and reportedly spoke to Uber about a CEO position after the ride-hailing company booted founder Travis Kalanick . Whitman told analysts Tuesday that she'd be taking a little downtime and said there's "no chance" she will join a competitor to HPE or HP. She told CNBC she would "definitely not be running for office." Neri will take on the role of CEO at HPE as of Feb. 1, 2018, and both Whitman and Neri will be on the board, the company announced Tuesday . HPE shares are down more than 7 percent in premarket trading following the news.--CNBC's Anita Balakrishnan and Jordan Novet contributed to this report. Meg Whitman expressed strong confidence in her successor to the helm of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE: HPE) , President Antonio Neri, Wednesday, just one day after announcing she would step down as CEO . "Antonio's ready, the company's ready, and it's the right time," Whitman said in an interview with CNBC's " Squawk on the Street ." "I've said for many years the next CEO of this company needs to be someone we have promoted from within, someone who is a deep enterprise technologist, who knows the company loves the company." Whitman joined Hewlett-Packard in 2011 and oversaw the company's split into two brands. She remained on as CEO at the newly streamlined HPE, prioritizing cloud services and spinning off other businesses. Her departure leaves the business world with one fewer female executive a trend she said "is of concern." "I think in the last couple of decades, we made a lot of progress in the number of CEOs and number of female executives in the C-suite. It has stalled out in the last decade, if you look at the data, and I think that's concerning," she said. She's leaving a different company than the one she joined six years ago, having pushed for the company's split. "I believe the future belongs to the fast," Whitman said. "And it was just too big and too cumbersome and competed in too many markets to do the very best job in all of them." Her tenure at HPE saw a ramping up of acquisitions eight in the last two years, she told CNBC. "[Neri] and I have been joined at the hip in deciding about those acquisitions," Whitman said. "He's been really my right-hand executive for well over four years." Neri has been with the company since 1995, working his way up to the company's top ranks. Whitman said she is not yet sure of her next step, but that any next CEO position would have to be "exactly the right opportunity." She has previously sought political office as a California gubernatorial candidate and reportedly spoke to Uber about a CEO position after the ride-hailing company booted founder Travis Kalanick . Whitman told analysts Tuesday that she'd be taking a little downtime and said there's "no chance" she will join a competitor to HPE or HP. She told CNBC she would "definitely not be running for office." Neri will take on the role of CEO at HPE as of Feb. 1, 2018, and both Whitman and Neri will be on the board, the company announced Tuesday . HPE shares are down more than 7 percent in premarket trading following the news. --CNBC's Anita Balakrishnan and Jordan Novet contributed to this report. More From CNBC A challenging industry backdrop has been hampering the performance of most restaurant chains and The Cheesecake Factory Inc. CAKE is no exception. Nonetheless, the company has been expanding in domestic as well as international markets. Also, it remains focused on opening its restaurants at high grade sites to hit targeted returns. Recently, the company announced the opening of its first restaurant in Toronto, Canada. The restaurant offers over 250 menu items including Saturday and Sunday Brunch. More than 50 cheesecakes and desserts are also available here. Cheesecake Factory currently has 211 company-owned restaurants. Of these restaurants, 197 are operated under The Cheesecake Factory brand, 13 under the Grand Lux cafe brand and one under the RockSugar Pan Asian Kitchen brand. Internationally, the company operates 18 The Cheesecake Factory restaurants under licensing agreements. It also manages two bakery production facilities. Apart from expanding its presence in domestic market, the company is foraying into lucrative markets like the Middle East, North Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, Turkey, Mexico, Kuwait, and Lebanon and Chile. This is in line with the companys strategy to keep up with industry peers like Buffalo Wild Wings, Inc. BWLD and Brinker International Inc. EAT. In 2017, the company is set to open eight company-owned restaurants along with four to five restaurants internationally, under licensing agreements. Further, it expects to open four to six domestic restaurants in 2018 including one Grand Lux Cafe as well as four to five international restaurants. However, Cheesecake Factorys shares have declined 24.5% year to date, as against the industrys growth of 10.7%. Given the prevailing challenging restaurant environment, Cheesecake Factorys sales have also come under pressure. Evidently, the company witnessed a comps decline in the last two reported quarters, after posting 29 consecutive quarters of positive comps at The Cheesecake Factory restaurants. Moreover, continued consumer spending uncertainty might continue to weigh on the companys comps and in turn sales. Additionally, higher labor and pre-openings costs along with expenses related to sales initiatives are likely to pressurize profits in the near term. Yet, efforts to boost comps via increased focus on menu innovation, food efficiency, improving its speed of service and training its servers are encouraging. Various technology-enabled initiatives coupled with focus on driving sales via off-premise channels also bode well. Furthermore, Cheesecake Factory is one of the most recognized upscale casual restaurants operating in the United States. Its differentiated menu, operational distinction and unique ambiance appeal to customers too. We thus expect this Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) companys continuous expansion plans to add to the top line and boost its overall performance. A better-ranked stock in this sector is Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc. ARCO holding a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Arcos Dorados 2017 earnings moved up 13.2%, over the past 60 days. Wall Streets Next Amazon Zacks EVP Kevin Matras believes this familiar stock has only just begun its climb to become one of the greatest investments of all time. Its a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in pure genius. Click for details >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (CAKE) : Free Stock Analysis Report Buffalo Wild Wings, Inc. (BWLD) : Free Stock Analysis Report Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc. (ARCO) : Free Stock Analysis Report Brinker International, Inc. (EAT) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Saudi Arabia and Iran's ongoing battle for power and influence rages on in the Middle East but analysts aren't convinced that an all-out war will happen, yet. Many neighboring countries have been drawn into the conflict with Qatar, Yemen, Syria and Lebanon becoming proxy battlegrounds in the fight for regional dominance. Relations between Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia and Shia-dominated Iran have deteriorated to a new low recently, particularly over the ongoing civil war in Yemen and the political crisis engulfing Lebanon which has seen its Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri resign over what he called Iranian meddling. This has led to speculation that all-out war could be declared by one or another of the Middle Eastern superpowers. A source in the Iranian government, who asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the situation, told CNBC last week that Iran was a "peaceful nation" but that it was prepared for conflict if that was the only option left to it. "We love peace, we're not looking for war but sometimes you should be prepared for war," the source said. 'Pursuing divisions and creating differences' At the weekend Saudi Arabia convened its Arab League allies in Cairo for an emergency meeting to discuss what it said were "violations" in the region. The group criticized Iran and its Lebanese Shi'ite ally Hezbollah and also called for a united front to counter Iranian interference , Reuters reported. "The kingdom will not stand by and will not hesitate to defend its security," Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir told the assembly, according to Reuters, adding, "We must stand together." Iran's foreign minister responded to the meeting by saying Saudi Arabia and its allies were "pursuing divisions and creating differences." Pat Thaker, regional director for the Middle East and Africa at the Economist Intelligence Unit, told CNBC that against a backdrop of "historic intense rivalry" between the two countries, it "doesn't take much for tensions to flare up." If there was a conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran, however, Thaker said "it would be the most dangerous times for the Middle East and the world. But neither Saudi Arabia nor Iran want war." Thaker also characterized the tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran as a struggle for religious authority in the Middle East, saying that Saudi Arabia was prepared to go to extreme lengths to stop any spread of Iranian influence. "Saudi Arabia will fight tooth and nail to retain that position as the head of Islam and the Middle East. It will even go to bed with Israel to stop Iran," she said, alluding to the fact that the Jewish state is hardly a natural ally for the Islamic kingdom although they both fear and resent the rise of Iran. On Sunday, Israel's energy minister confirmed that there had been what he called "covert" contacts between Saudi Arabia and Israel amid concerns over Iran but suggested that Saudi Arabia had wanted to keep "the ties quiet," Reuters reported. Proxy wars Saudi Arabia and Iran have rival interests and alliances across the Middle East, from Syria to Lebanon, Yemen to Qatar. Regional conflicts in these countries often see Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia and Shia-majority Iran supporting different factions that are often split down religious lines . With Yemen's civil war, for example, Saudi Arabia backs the Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, a Sunni. Meanwhile, Iran backs the Shia Houthi rebels loyal to the country's former President Ali Abdulla Saleh. Tensions ratcheted up a notch several weeks ago when Saudi Arabia accused Iran of being behind a ballistic missile attack carried out by Houthi militias. The missiles were intercepted as they headed to the Saudi capital Riyadh, Saudi Arabia said, adding that it perceived the attack as a "declaration of war" by Iran. Iran described the allegations as "unfounded." Meanwhile, tensions between Saudi Arabia and Qatar already high due to Saudi-led economic blockade on the country have also risen because Qatar restored diplomatic ties with Iran. Attentions have also turned to Lebanon after the surprise resignation of Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri due to what he said was Iran's meddling in his country and his fears of an assignation plot. There has been speculation that Hariri's resignation made when he was in the Saudi capital of Riyadh was orchestrated by the country's leadership and that he was held against his will, claims which he has denied. Amid continuing confusion over the resignation, Hariri has since traveled to Paris at the invitation of French President Emmanuel Macron, before returning to Beirut in time for the country's Independence Day celebrations on Wednesday where he suspended his resignation . Cold War Marcus Chevenix, Middle East and North Africa (MENA) analyst at TS Lombard, told CNBC Monday that Saudi Arabia's foreign policies, under the aegis of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, are hard to understand. "Domestically his (Mohammed bin Salman's) actions are radical but comprehensible, but on a foreign stage they're very hard to make sense of at all," Chevenix said. "His intervention in Yemen was rash yet we could at least see what he was trying to do. His intervention in Qatar was, yet again, maybe a little reckless maybe a little quick but it was certainly effective against Qatar. But in Lebanon it's really hard to see what this does for him at all." The analyst believes that it might have been a "reactive move" aimed at bringing down the coalition government of Lebanon to somehow destabilize the position of Hezbollah. He perceived it as a pushback against Iran by whatever means available, but suggested that war was not currently a possibility. "It's hard to see where Saudi Arabia could get to a position where its actions were intolerable to the Iranians. Iranian actions are already intolerable to Saudi Arabia, we know that, but the Saudi Arabians struggle to really find a way to aggravate Iran, that's why we're not looking at a hot war situation right now," he told CNBC. More From CNBC When AT&T (NYSE: T) and Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) announced their $85 billion blockbuster merger in October 2016, politicians immediately said the deal would be scrutinized for its potential to raise prices for consumers. But then- Pepperdine University law professor Makan Delrahim, who had served in the Justice Department's antitrust division under President George W. Bush, offered a slightly more nuanced view in a Canadian television interview around the time the deal was announced. The sheer size of the deal and the fact that it involved major media would certainly attract a lot of attention, he told Canada's BNN , but "I don't see this as a major antitrust problem." Delrahim, who also once lobbied on behalf of communications and technology companies, has since become antitrust chief in the Justice Department under President Donald Trump. On Monday, he sued to block the deal, calling it an "illegal" combination that harms consumers and stifles innovation.Many legal minds not least among them AT&T's legal team have questioned the government's stance. It certainly would appear to be a major shift in thinking for Delrahim, at least as far as the views he shared during the Canadian television interview last year.AT&T and Time Warner would be a "vertical merger," one that combined AT&T's vast communications distribution network with Time Warner's marquee movie and television production assets, such as Warner Studios and the CNN news channel. But this wasn't the type of vertical merger like Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) 's 2011 purchase of NBC Universal, he said, which combined a cable operator and a broadcaster, and it is not akin to a merger of direct competitors like DirectTV and Dish Network (NASDAQ: DISH) . "That's not to say that there aren't going to be some concerns and antitrust issues of you know, one distributor owning various content and it might somehow impact other distributors, but it doesn't raise the same challenges as some of those other transitions have brought," Delrahim said last year.Dan Petrocelli, AT&T's outside counsel, told CNBC on Tuesday the last time the government won a case challenging a vertically integrated merger was during the Nixon administration. The government has the burden of proof, and it hasn't been able to win these cases. On Delrahim's comment last year, Petrocelli said: "The reality is he was absolutely right. It doesn't pose any problem whatsoever."The DOJ didn't immediately return a call for comment.Here is a transcript of the portion of the Canadian television interview in which he discusses the transaction:INTERVIEW DATED: OCT. 24, 2016QUESTIONS ARE PARAPHRASED, ANSWERS ARE VERBATIMDelrahim: "This certainly is an interesting deal. We've already heard over the weekend in Washington both the Republican and Democrat leaders of the Senate antitrust subcommittee issue a statement expecting a close examination of this transaction. You know, I've been reading a bit over the weekend and there has been some talk about the regulatory aspects. You know, this is more of what we would call a vertical merger, a content with distribution rather than two competitors merging. I anticipate that the FCC will have little if any role and it will be a pure antitrust it shouldn't be just the sheer size of it and the fact that it's media I think will get a lot of attention, however I don't see this as a major antitrust problem."Q: Given that Donald J. Trump has stated publicly that this is a deal that he would not allow to go through, and even though you don't think it will come up against any regulatory hurdles, can you maybe flesh out for us what potential regulatory hurdles there could be that could kill the deal?Delrahim: "Sure. It'll go through the typical merger review going through the antitrust division of the Justice Department. In the United States, one of the interesting parts of it is that there is a law, and the agency if they find that it somehow is harmful to competition and that the exact legal standard is 'it substantially lessens competition' then they will bring a lawsuit. They would have to go to court before an independent federal judge and prove their case, and the burden's with the Justice Department. Unlike other areas, or a deal that requires FCC review, this would be not so much up to an administration an administration can oppose it however a judge would also have to agree with them. There's very defined legal and econometric standards for these. For example, when I was at the Justice Department, the division brought a lawsuit against Oracle's acquisition of Peoplesoft. The DOJ thought that that was harmful to competition, they sued, went before a court, and a court disagreed with the DOJ, saying it didn't meet its burden, and the merger went through. There certainly is a lot of power within the administration, however, it's not the ultimate power."Question: Are comparisons between this deal and the Comcast-NBC Universal deal fair?Delrahim: "I have seen some of the comments and some of them are misplaced in that you have a broadcaster and a cable company coming together or you have two competitors like AT&T and T-Mobile trying to merge. Comcast-Universal with the NBC transition: The part that is different certainly there are similarities in that you're buying a content producer and the various media assets that NBC Universal had however, NBC was a broadcaster, which is a form of distribution, which was being bought by Comcast, which was a cable operator trying to buy media. Here, because Time Warner and some of the confusion may be the fact that Time Warner doesn't own any cable operations anymore, they sold those off and so you're just dealing with pure content. That's not to say that there aren't going to be some concerns and antitrust issues of you know, one distributor owning various content and it might somehow impact other distributors, but it doesn't raise the same challenges as some of those other transitions have brought. Like DirectTV-Dish at one point attempted to merge and those two competitors would have raised a whole different set of issues than this would. From a technical standpoint, I think these folks would have an easier route toward approval than a merger of two competitors." CNBC's Tom Franck contributed reporting. Disclosure: Comcast is the owner of NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC and CNBC.com. When AT&T (NYSE: T) and Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) announced their $85 billion blockbuster merger in October 2016, politicians immediately said the deal would be scrutinized for its potential to raise prices for consumers. But then- Pepperdine University law professor Makan Delrahim, who had served in the Justice Department's antitrust division under President George W. Bush, offered a slightly more nuanced view in a Canadian television interview around the time the deal was announced. The sheer size of the deal and the fact that it involved major media would certainly attract a lot of attention, he told Canada's BNN , but "I don't see this as a major antitrust problem." Delrahim, who also once lobbied on behalf of communications and technology companies, has since become antitrust chief in the Justice Department under President Donald Trump. On Monday, he sued to block the deal, calling it an "illegal" combination that harms consumers and stifles innovation. Many legal minds not least among them AT&T's legal team have questioned the government's stance. It certainly would appear to be a major shift in thinking for Delrahim, at least as far as the views he shared during the Canadian television interview last year. AT&T and Time Warner would be a "vertical merger," one that combined AT&T's vast communications distribution network with Time Warner's marquee movie and television production assets, such as Warner Studios and the CNN news channel. But this wasn't the type of vertical merger like Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) 's 2011 purchase of NBC Universal, he said, which combined a cable operator and a broadcaster, and it is not akin to a merger of direct competitors like DirectTV and Dish Network (NASDAQ: DISH) . "That's not to say that there aren't going to be some concerns and antitrust issues of you know, one distributor owning various content and it might somehow impact other distributors, but it doesn't raise the same challenges as some of those other transitions have brought," Delrahim said last year. Dan Petrocelli, AT&T's outside counsel, told CNBC on Tuesday the last time the government won a case challenging a vertically integrated merger was during the Nixon administration. The government has the burden of proof, and it hasn't been able to win these cases. On Delrahim's comment last year, Petrocelli said: "The reality is he was absolutely right. It doesn't pose any problem whatsoever." The DOJ didn't immediately return a call for comment. Here is a transcript of the portion of the Canadian television interview in which he discusses the transaction: INTERVIEW DATED: OCT. 24, 2016 QUESTIONS ARE PARAPHRASED, ANSWERS ARE VERBATIM Delrahim: "This certainly is an interesting deal. We've already heard over the weekend in Washington both the Republican and Democrat leaders of the Senate antitrust subcommittee issue a statement expecting a close examination of this transaction. You know, I've been reading a bit over the weekend and there has been some talk about the regulatory aspects. You know, this is more of what we would call a vertical merger, a content with distribution rather than two competitors merging. I anticipate that the FCC will have little if any role and it will be a pure antitrust it shouldn't be just the sheer size of it and the fact that it's media I think will get a lot of attention, however I don't see this as a major antitrust problem." Q: Given that Donald J. Trump has stated publicly that this is a deal that he would not allow to go through, and even though you don't think it will come up against any regulatory hurdles, can you maybe flesh out for us what potential regulatory hurdles there could be that could kill the deal? Delrahim: "Sure. It'll go through the typical merger review going through the antitrust division of the Justice Department. In the United States, one of the interesting parts of it is that there is a law, and the agency if they find that it somehow is harmful to competition and that the exact legal standard is 'it substantially lessens competition' then they will bring a lawsuit. They would have to go to court before an independent federal judge and prove their case, and the burden's with the Justice Department. Unlike other areas, or a deal that requires FCC review, this would be not so much up to an administration an administration can oppose it however a judge would also have to agree with them. There's very defined legal and econometric standards for these. For example, when I was at the Justice Department, the division brought a lawsuit against Oracle's acquisition of Peoplesoft. The DOJ thought that that was harmful to competition, they sued, went before a court, and a court disagreed with the DOJ, saying it didn't meet its burden, and the merger went through. There certainly is a lot of power within the administration, however, it's not the ultimate power." Question: Are comparisons between this deal and the Comcast-NBC Universal deal fair? Delrahim: "I have seen some of the comments and some of them are misplaced in that you have a broadcaster and a cable company coming together or you have two competitors like AT&T and T-Mobile trying to merge. Comcast-Universal with the NBC transition: The part that is different certainly there are similarities in that you're buying a content producer and the various media assets that NBC Universal had however, NBC was a broadcaster, which is a form of distribution, which was being bought by Comcast, which was a cable operator trying to buy media. Here, because Time Warner and some of the confusion may be the fact that Time Warner doesn't own any cable operations anymore, they sold those off and so you're just dealing with pure content. That's not to say that there aren't going to be some concerns and antitrust issues of you know, one distributor owning various content and it might somehow impact other distributors, but it doesn't raise the same challenges as some of those other transitions have brought. Like DirectTV-Dish at one point attempted to merge and those two competitors would have raised a whole different set of issues than this would. From a technical standpoint, I think these folks would have an easier route toward approval than a merger of two competitors." CNBC's Tom Franck contributed reporting. Disclosure: Comcast is the owner of NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC and CNBC.com. More From CNBC Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site. More than a year after AT&T and Time Warner first proposed one of the biggest mergers of all time, the U.S. Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit Monday challenging the deal, claiming that the combined company would lessen competition and result in higher prices for consumers. According to the suit, if the $108 billion merger is allowed to proceed, AT&T could use its control of Time Warners popular programming as a weapon to harm competition. The proposed merger would bring companies such as CNN, HBO, and DirecTV under one roof. The text of the DOJ complaint claims that consolidation would hinder the companys rivals by forcing them to pay hundreds of millions of dollars more per year for Time Warners networks." The DOJ also claimed that the new company would be able to wield its market power to slow the industry transition to new video distribution models. This isnt the first time the federal government has challenged this type of vertical mergerwhere a distributor buys the company that supplies a product, in this case, TV and movies. The DOJ initially filed a lawsuit in 2011 to block Comcast from purchasing NBC Universal, but ultimately allowed that merger to proceed under conditions that the agency designed to try to protect competitiona legally binding settlement called a consent decree. The Case For and Against Consolidation AT&T has long maintained that acquiring Time Warner would benefit consumers, saying that pairing Time Warners content with AT&Ts distribution will foster innovation, disrupt the current pay-TV industry, and make TV more affordable for consumers due to targeted advertising and the elimination of traditional all-in-one cable bundles. When Consumer Reports reached out to AT&T for a response to the DOJs antitrust action, the company referred us to a statement that calls the complaint a radical and inexplicable departure from decades of antitrust precedent. The DOJs suit has been complicated by president Donald Trumps well-documented dislike of Time Warners CNN. Earlier this week, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson referred to the issue as the elephant in the room, suggesting that the administration may be putting pressure on the DOJ. Consumer advocates, including Consumers Union, the policy and mobilization division of Consumer Reports, applauded the DOJs action. In December of 2016, Consumers Union submitted a written statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee opposing the merger, as well as a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions in July of this year. Jonathan Schwantes, senior policy counsel for Consumers Union, expressed concern about reports that the White House may have influenced the DOJs decision, but the fact remains that there are serious, legitimate reasons this merger should be blocked, he says. A merger between AT&T and Time Warner is a bad deal for consumers and the DOJ is making the right decision by rejecting it, Schwantes says, adding that combining the two companies would create a massive telecommunications and media company with its fingers in almost every pot of these increasingly connected industries. Other consumer groups agree. Harold Feld, Senior Vice President of Public Knowledge, sees multiple avenues of potential consumer harm from a merged AT&T-Time Warner. For example, the company, which would own DirecTV and its DirecTV Now service, could either refuse to deal directly with a rival like Dish Networks streaming service, Sling TV, or raise the price for popular content to a point where potential competitors cant possibly hope to compete on price, says Feld. (Dish declined to comment to Consumer Reports on the DOJs lawsuit.) As for past mergers that were allowed to go through under certain conditions, like the Comcast/NBC Universal deal, those companies failed to deliver on promises to protect consumers, advocates say. Comcast has found ways to get around those conditions, which are about to expire with nothing left to help protect consumers, Feld noted. Story continues In one example, which was noted by Consumers Union in remarks to the DOJ opposing Comcasts proposed merger with Time Warner Cable in 2014, Comcast favored its own news programming on CNBC and MSNBC over Bloomberg by exiling Bloomberg to a more remote channel. Bloomberg was ultimately forced to litigate the issue for years in order to get Comcast to treat it fairly, CU noted. Even the DOJ's antitrust division admits that consent decrees don't always do enough to protect consumers. At times antitrust enforcers have experimented with allowing illegal mergers to proceed subject to certain behavioral commitments. That approach is fundamentally regulatory, imposing ongoing government oversight on what should preferably be a free market, Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim noted at the American Bar Associations Antitrust Fall Forum last week. Delrahim added that he expects the DOJ to cut back on the number of long-term consent decrees it has in place, and instead, return to the preferred focus on structural relief to remedy mergers that violate the law and harm the American consumer. What Happens Next? As with any court case, the two parties could find common ground and agree to settle, and that means a consent decree is still a possibility for AT&T-Time Warner as part of the terms of any such settlement. However, if AT&T and Time Warner cant come to terms with the DOJs concerns, they may end up taking the issue all the way through the court system. "Fortunately, the Department of Justice doesnt have the final say in this matter, AT&T said in its statement. "Rather, it bears the burden of proving to the U.S. District Court that the transaction violates the law. We are confident that the Court will reject the Governments claims and permit this merger under longstanding legal precedent." More from Consumer Reports: Top pick tires for 2016 Best used cars for $25,000 and less 7 best mattresses for couples Consumer Reports is an independent, nonprofit organization that works side by side with consumers to create a fairer, safer, and healthier world. CR does not endorse products or services, and does not accept advertising. Copyright 2017, Consumer Reports, Inc. By PTI: Chandigarh, Nov 22 (PTI) Afghanistans Ambassador to India Shaida Mohammad Abdali today met Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and discussed the potential for promoting business and trade between the war-torn country and Punjab. Abdali proposed the revival of the Amritsar-Kabul air corridor and a pilot project for 1,500 tonnes of cargo trade to further boost Afghanistans traditionally close ties with Punjab. advertisement Singh said the two share historical relations and presented to the envoy a book Baba Ala Singh by Kirpal Singh, founder of Patiala state. The book traces the Afghan connection with Punjab, which Amarinder showed keenness to strengthen further through trade and other avenues. The Indian and Afghan association goes back to centuries and we need to strengthen it further to complement each others progress, Singh said, pointing out that both Punjab and Afghanistan had a similar economy, focused on agriculture. The ambassador suggested opening a trade corridor through a cargo trade pilot project with pharmaceutical goods, engineering products, woolens, dairy items, fresh and dry fruits, meat, processed food and milk powder. He also suggested that Punjab should import meat products from Afghanistan. The chief minister expressed interest in the proposal and directed his officials to hold further discussions with Afghanistan and work out the modalities for the pilot project, which would contribute to Punjabs efforts to promote industry in the state. The Afghan envoy, who has already visited Amritsar and plans to go to Sirhind tomorrow, also saw huge potential for education for his countrys youth in Punjab. There were at present around 16,000 Afghan students in India, he said, adding that he found the university education in Punjab to be good. PTI CHS KJ --- ENDS --- The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced Tuesday that it plans to dismantle net neutrality regulations on internet providers, in one of several attempted reversals of the Obama-era policy. FCC chief Ajit Pai, who previously worked for Communications before President Donald Trump appointed him to his role in January, said that the commission will vote to rescind the open internet rules on Dec. 14. Today, Im proposing to repeal the heavy-handed Internet regulations imposed by the Obama Administration and to return to the light-touch framework under which the Internet developed and thrived before 2015, Pai wrote on Twitter Tuesday. (Trump reconfirmed Pai for a five year term in October.) But what does net neutrality mean and how will it affect your Internet use if regulations are reversed? Heres what you need to know right now. What is net neutrality? This term has been kicking around for several years, but most people struggle to define it. When net neutrality is enforced, as it is right now, all internet service providers must allow equal access to apps and content, regardless of the source. If it were not enforced, your internet service provider could make it harder for you to access parts of the internet at its own discretion. For a while it was a running joke that people knew net neutrality was important, but struggled to describe it. Back in 2015 (in the era of the dress debate), Saturday Night Live did a sketch that hinged on none of the invited guests -- all people who made a living on the web -- understanding how these net neutrality policies would work. John Oliver broke it down in 2014 on his show Last Week Tonight and again in May of this year, when the FCC announced that it would be accepting comments on the new net neutrality rules. "The Internet is the repository of all human knowledge -- and goats singing Taylor Swift songs, said John Oliver on Last Week Tonight, rejoicing in the fact that the Internet is an incredible place, wrote Time reporter Melissa Locker when the below clip first aired. However, according to Oliver, that is threatened by the Trump administration's decision to roll back protections for net neutrality. Story continues What will the internet look like without net neutrality? Without the assurance of net neutrality, large internet companies could favor their own business interests. Telecom giants and Silicon Valley titans are likely to lobby lawmakers in the coming days and weeks, but for now, net neutrality could affect everything from internet speed to overall access. Slower speeds The elimination of net neutrality means that internet providers can carve up service into fast and slow lanes, charging more for higher speeds. could demand fees from , for example, in exchange for preferential treatment. (In response to the FCC plan, Netflix took to Twitter to show strong support for net neutrality.) If content companies don't want to pay, internet service providers could make them so slow that they're unwatchable or even block access to competitors' sites. The FCC is getting ready to overturn #NetNeutrality. If they succeed, ISPs will be able to split the net into packages. This means that you will no longer be able to pay one price to access any site you want. pic.twitter.com/vEkNxPmVlu Ro Khanna (@RoKhanna) November 21, 2017 Higher prices Reversing net neutrality rules could cost more to binge your favorite shows on Netflix or Hulu, to play video games, send messages on social media, or even to watch porn. These fees will likely be absorbed by consumers. So those with wallets fat enough for the price hike will enjoy higher speeds, but lower income browsers will get only a limited view of what was once a more open and egalitarian web. More choices (maybe) The argument for eliminating net neutrality posits that less regulation will lead to more investment and more competition in the internet service provider sector. FCC Chairman Pai said in May that this could benefit consumers and increase the number of Americans with internet access. The lack of competition in certain areas of the country means that greater choice for customers would be hard to achieve and the biggest beneficiaries of eliminating net neutrality will be the largest internet service providers. This change would likely result in paying for bundles or packages to access to different parts of the web, a model similar to the one that has worked out so well for cable. Which countries do not have net neutrality? Whats happening in the U.S. isnt without precedent. In Portugal, there are no net neutrality rules and internet packages, like whats described above, already exist. The other countries without net neutrality enforcement include Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, France, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Russia, South Korea, and Slovenia. See original article on Fortune.com More from Fortune.com FRANKFURT (Reuters) - SAP (SAPG.DE) faces fresh questions about its sales practices in emerging markets after executives in charge of its business dealings with Iran have resigned or been put on administrative leave recently, the German business software said on Wednesday. Europe's largest technology company, whose financial controls software is used by the world's biggest multinationals, told Reuters the company is investigating sales practices in its Gulf States region, which oversees the company's Iran dealings. A source familiar with the situation said Tayfun Topkoc, SAP's country manager for the United Arab Emirates, has resigned from the company, while Przemek Oledzki, SAP's Oman country manager - whose LinkedIn profile identifies him as chief of staff for the UAE, Iran and Oman region - was put on administrative leave. The source said the departures were connected to business dealings in Iran but provided no further details. (Reporting by Tom Arnold in Dubai and Eric Auchard in London; Editing by Tom Sims) Angela Merkel during the first session of the German parliament since the collapse of coalition talks - Getty Images Europe The German president held talks with the heads of political parties on Tuesday in a bid to end the crisis over forming a new government and avert new elections. President Frank-Walter Steinmeier met with Christian Lindner, who pulled his Free Democrat Party (FDP) out of coalition talks with Angela Merkel at the weekend, in an effort to persuade him to return to the negotiating table. In an interview with a German newspaper released shortly after spending one hour with the president, Mr Lindner said further coalition talks "made no sense". Earlier, Mr Steinmeier met separately with the leaders of the Green Party, who have said they are willing to resume talks. The most lively discussions are expected on Wednesday, when the president is set to meet with Martin Schulz, the leader of the Social Democrats (SPD). Walter Steinmeier and FDP Chairman Christian Lindner at the beginning of their meeting Credit: Guido Bergmann/Bundesregierung via Getty Images President Steinmeier, himself a former SPD leader, is said to be furious at Mr Schulzs refusal to consider talks on a new coalition with Mrs Merkel, and determined to use his influence to change the partys mind. Those who apply for political responsibility in elections must not shirk it when they hold it in their hands, he said this week. The chances of a minority government rose after another senior SPD politician said the party could be prepared to support Mrs Merkel from the outside. We have to consider how we can shape a process that will lead our country to a stable new government, Andrea Nahles said. Mrs Merkel has said she would prefer new elections to a minority government. But it is not up to her: under Germanys constitution, only the president can call new elections. The crisis has thrust Mr Steinmeier centre-stage and presented him with a challenge no postwar German president has faced before: to hold the country together without an elected government. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier gives a statement after a meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel Credit: REUTERS/Axel Schmidt It is not a role the 61-year-old Mr Steinmeier can have expected when he became president earlier this year. Normally, the German presidency is purely ceremonial. Story continues But the crisis has made Mr Steinmeier the most powerful man in Germany. He alone can call new elections or appoint a minority government. And he has complete discretion over how long talks can last. Mr Steinmeier was not Angela Merkels preferred candidate for president, but she must be grateful that for once she did not get her own way, because he is almost uniquely qualified to get Germany and her out of this mess. Unlike his predecessor, Mr Steinmeier is a career politician. After twice serving as Mrs Merkels foreign minister, he has handled tougher negotiations than party talks, including face-offs with Russia over Ukraine and Syria. As a former SPD leader, he can exert considerable pressure on the party. He is known to have enjoyed a close working relationship with Mrs Merkel in government, despite standing against her as chancellor in 2009 and losing. Profile | Angela Merkel In his early years in politics Mr Steinmeier had such a formidable reputation as a back room operator he was known as the Grey Efficiency. As chief of staff to former chancellor Gerhard Schroder, he helped push through controversial welfare reforms that laid the ground for Germanys economic success today. In coalition under Mrs Merkel he began to enjoy a public profile of his own, becoming as the second most popular politician in the country after her. But he remained at heart a quiet fixer, allowing Mrs Merkel to set foreign policy. When they differed, she let him express his views in public, most recently when he denounced her decision to allow the prosecution of a popular German comedian for offending the Turkish leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. At times he has angered the US with his openness towards Russia, and last year he accused Nato of inflaming the situation with sabre-rattling and warmongering. But he is legendary in Germany for an extraordinary 2014 campaign speech in which he lost his temper at pro-Russia protestors and silenced them with a passionate defence of Western values. The word in Berlin is that Mr Steinmeier is similarly angry with Mr Schulzs refusal to consider entering coalition talks, and that the SPD leader can expect a dressing down today. Mr Schulz faces re-election as party leader next month, and dissenting voices are beginning to emerge within the party, but Mr Schulz and his allies remain adamant. A new poll released Tuesday suggested that new elections would return a similarly divided parliament and do nothing to end the impasse. The SPD has rejected suggestions it could be open to a coalition under a new chancellor, and Mrs Merkels party has closed ranks around her for now at least leaving Mr Steinmeier to find a solution to the crisis. When he became president in March, Mr Steinmeier provably expected a quiet and dignified final chapter to his career. Instead, he may have arrived at its defining moment. Germany is having its Brexit moment, political observers have warned, as coalition talks to form a new government collapsed. Conservative chancellor Angela Merkels talks on forming a coalition with the pro-business Free Democrats and traditionally left-leaning Greens fell apart on Sunday night. On Monday, the centre-left Social Democrats, Mrs Merkels partners in the outgoing government, said they will not budge from their refusal to enter a new administration led by Mrs Merkel. If that stands, a minority government or new elections are the only options. Angela Merkel arrives for a meeting with German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier at Bellevue Palace in Berlin (Picture: PA) Christiane Hoffmann, from German magazine Der Spiegel, said: The crisis of parliamentary democracy, which has led to profound changes in the party system in many Western countries, has now reached Germany as well. Its the German Brexit moment, the Trump moment. Most popular on Yahoo News UK Gaia Pope death not being treated as murder as three people arrested are released without charge Worlds longest aircraft the Flying Bum seriously damaged after it crashes AGAIN Heres how to see messages someone has deleted on WhatsApp Fugitive taunts police by posting sightseeing pictures on Facebook while on the run The Queen and Duke of Edinburghs 70 years of marriage in pictures Just like during the nights of the Brexit vote and the Trump election, everyone believed right up to the end that it would not be so bad that state-political reason would prevail over party-political interests. Germany is now in a political crisis, and its president urged the party leaders to reconsider their positions and get back to the negotiating table to form a new government. President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he will meet the various parties this week and urged them to rethink. Mr Steinmeier said: There would be incomprehension and great concern inside and outside our country, and particularly in our European neighbourhood, if the political forces in the biggest and economically strongest country in Europe of all places did not fulfil their responsibility. Story continues An election in September produced an awkward result that left Mrs Merkels two-party conservative bloc seeking a coalition with the pro-business Free Democrats and the traditionally left-leaning Greens. The combination of ideologically-disparate parties had not been tried before in a national government, and came to nothing when the Free Democrats walked out of talks on Sunday night. The leader of the Free Democratic Party of Germany, Christian Lindner (Picture: PA) Mrs Merkel said her conservatives had left nothing untried to find a solution. She said that she will do everything to ensure that this country is well-led through these difficult weeks. But the leader of Germanys main centre-left party says it will stick by its refusal to join a new government under Mrs Merkel. The Social Democrats have been the junior partners in a grand coalition government of Germanys biggest parties since 2013. But their leaders have said since the party slumped in September to its worst election result since the Second World War that it would go into opposition. Party chairman Martin Schulz said on Monday that the Social Democrats are not available for a repeat of the outgoing coalition. Mr Schulz said his party is not afraid of a new election. The past few weeks have been an emotional roller coaster for Ryan Hill. The fourth-year Ph.D. candidate studying economics at MIT has been keeping a close eye on the GOP tax plan, worried that if the bill that passed the House earlier this month becomes law, it could have a dramatic impact on his familys finances. Hill and his wife rely on his graduate stipend and her part-time work as a photographer to support themselves and their 14-month-old daughter, Norah. But the House tax bill would classify graduate students tuition waivers which they receive in exchange for teaching or conducting research as taxable income, a measure that Hill estimates would cut his take-home salary nearly in half. Before we had our baby, we were about breaking even, I would say maybe had a little bit extra to save or spend. Once we had our baby, with those expenses, as you can imagine, were not even breaking even now, Hill said. If this passed, we would either have to take on more student loans or just use all of our savings. Just thinking about what the implications are is somewhat frightening, he added. Hill isnt alone. Graduate students across the country are sounding an alarm on the devastating tax increase they could see under the House GOP tax plan. Many are making worst-case-scenario plans to drop out of their Ph.D. programs, alter their career paths, transfer schools or take out more student loans if it becomes law. Graduate students and workers attending school part-time could see the largest tax increases, tax experts Kim Rueben and Gordon Mermin wrote in a recent post for the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. What youre doing is increasing the cost of going to graduate school and ignoring the fact that the government makes much more money if people have more education, Rueben, a senior fellow at the center, told NPR. The Senate is currently considering a tax bill that does not include the provision on graduate tuition waivers. If the Senate passes the bill, which could come to a vote this week, Republicans would then need to reconcile the two versions of the tax plan. Graduate students and their advocates are pushing lawmakers to eliminate the tuition provision in that process. Story continues For Hill, the impact of the House GOP tax bill is alarming. He currently takes home about $27,000 a year from his graduate stipend, after taxes. Under the House bill, he estimates that he would would take home about $15,000 a year. Graduate tuition at MIT costs about $50,000, and Hill receives a $30,000 stipend; the GOP plan would require him to pay income taxes on that combined $80,000. Even before expenses like food and diapers, $15,000 would not be enough to pay his familys $1,800-per-month rent in MIT graduate student housing their most affordable option in Cambridge, Mass., whose housing market ranks among the most expensive in the country. While the GOP tax plan includes a provision to expand the child tax credit and would qualify Hill for a lower marginal tax rate, he said thats all offset and more by adding my tuition as taxable income. To me, its just completely inconsistent politically with the goals of either party, he said. And the Republican Party has not offered any kind of justification economically or politically for why they want to pass this provision. Republicans have argued that the bill will simplify the tax code and reduce taxes overall, but an analysis by the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center found that high-income households would see the largest cuts and that 25% of taxpayers would see a tax increase by 2027. Ohio State University graduate students Alex Davis (L) and Noah Charles (R) speak at a protest against the GOP tax plan at Ohio State on Nov. 13. Noah Charles, a Ph.D. student in physics at Ohio State University, helped organize a protest against the tax plan on campus last week as well as a sit-in at the local office of Republican Ohio Rep. Pat Tiberi, who voted for the bill. A spokesperson for Tiberi declined to comment, but pointed to remarks last week by Texas Rep. Kevin Brady, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, who said the committee will work with lawmakers in the Senate to reach a positive solution on tuition assistance. Charles, 25, currently lives in a house with five roommates, makes monthly payments on his car and student loans, and tries to budget carefully when traveling to visit his fiance two hours away. Under the House GOP tax plan, he estimates that the taxes he pays out of his $25,000 stipend would increase about 225% after his tuition is factored in as income. Because he cant afford to take on more debt, he would have to rush his dissertation and graduate as soon as possible. Ive been racking my own mind trying to think about ways that I could save, and I havent been able to come up with all that many ways to shave off the hundreds of dollars that would be necessary, Charles said. My career plans would change enormously, he added. I could get out, but that would basically make it impossible for me to find any kind of job after graduating in higher education. Many fear that the bill could do lasting damage to higher education, driving people away from pursuing careers in academia or turning it into an exclusive profession open only to students from wealthy families. If this happened five years ago, then I probably would never have gone to grad school because I would be hopelessly priced out, said Evan Johnson, a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate studying physics at Ohio State. Hes too far along in his program to reverse course, but he said his sister, a first-semester Ph.D. student, is especially worried about the long road ahead. The American Council for Education projected that the House bills various provisions related to higher education would increase the cost to students by more than $65 billion by 2027. That would just be a step backwards for all the research thats going on. Wed have less people conducting research, less people being trained to be the future of innovation and technology and development, said Sarah Goodman, the president of the Graduate Student Council at MIT, where students have been holding phone banks to call lawmakers and encourage them to vote against this provision. I think the big problem is that the people who are considering going to graduate school now will be much less likely to go, especially if theyre already from a lower-income family and cant get support from elsewhere, said Hill, the MIT graduate student. I think we lose that competitiveness that America has in innovation and growth. In my mind, thats the real tragedy. Then-U.S. presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton inspects a robot CNC machine while touring the New Hampshire Technical Institute Community College in Concord, New Hampshire, April 21, 2015. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told radio host Hugh Hewitt that humanity is racing headfirst into a new era of artificial intelligence without sufficient preparations of how that will impact the world. Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking, a lot of really smart people are sounding an alarm that were not hearing, Clinton said in an interview promoting her new book. And their alarm is artificial intelligence is not our friend. It can assist us in many ways if it is properly understood and contained. But we are racing headfirst into a new era of artificial intelligence that is going to have dramatic effects on how we live, how we think, how we relate to each other. Artifical intelligence (AI) is the simulation of human intelligence processes such as learning, reasoning, and self-correction by machines. The technology has advanced rapidly in recent years, leading to innovations including smart home assistants and automated stock trading. At the same time, the evolution of AI has led to fears that AI could eventually surpass human understanding and upend societies. Elon Musk, founder, CEO and lead designer at SpaceX and co-founder of Tesla, checks out the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition II in Hawthorne, California, U.S., August 27, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Blake We just dont know Contrary to Clintons claim, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates hasnt actually said that artificial intelligence is not our friend. In the foreword of Microsoft CEO Satya Nadellas book, Gates wrote that AI is on the verge of making our lives more productive and creative while also highlighting inherent challenges: How do we help people whose jobs are replaced by AI agents and robots? Will users trust their AI agent with all their information? Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is perhaps the most apocalyptic voice when it comes to AI, asserting that the technology poses a fundamental risk to the existence of civilization and is the most likely cause for World War III. Theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking is ambiguous on AI, recently stating that creating effective AI could be the biggest event in the history of our civilization. Or the worst. We just dont know. So we cannot know if we will be infinitely helped by AI, or ignored by it and side-lined, or conceivably destroyed by it. Story continues Then-Microsoft President Bill Gates (L), accompanied by University Vice-Chancellor Professor Alec Broers, meets Professor Stephen Hawking on a visit to Cambridge University October 7, 1997. REUTERS We are totally unprepared Speaking to Hewitt, Clinton highlighted the potential negative consequences of integrating AI into society. You know, what are we going to do when we get driverless cars? she continued. It sounds like a great idea. And how many millions of people, truck drivers and parcel delivery people and cab drivers and even Uber drivers, what do we do with the millions of people who will no longer have a job? We are totally unprepared for that. What do we do when we are connected to the internet of things and everything we know and everything we say and everything we write is, you know, recorded somewhere? And it can be manipulated against us. Whatever happens, Hawking stressed, humans should be ready. Unless we learn how to prepare for, and avoid, the potential risks, AI could be the worst event in the history of our civilization, he told the Web Summit technology conference in Lisbon, Portugal earlier this month. It brings dangers, like powerful autonomous weapons, or new ways for the few to oppress the many. It could bring great disruption to our economy. In 2015 Musk and Hawking joined other tech pioneers and academics in signing an open letter urging significant research on the societal impacts of AI. Clinton, who lost to Donald Trump in last years presidential election, noted that one thing I wanted to do if I had been president was to have a kind of blue-ribbon commission with people from all kinds of expertise coming together to say what should Americas policy on artificial intelligence be? SEE ALSO: Russian investigative journalist: Snowden is a sort of ghost Google Jigsaw CEO: All future wars will begin as cyber wars What tech companies can do within reason to combat terrorism By PTI: Lucknow, Nov 22 (PTI) With a message that all was well in the faction-hit Samajwadi Party, former chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav today said he had blessed his son Akhilesh Yadav, and would continue to do so. The father and son shared the dais in the party headquarters here after a long spell, as workers gathered to wish the SP founder on his 79th birthday. advertisement "He is a son first and leader later," Mulayam Singh Yadav said while addressing the workers. As Mulayam walked to the dais, he was greeted by party leaders, with Akhilesh touching his feet and welcoming him with a shawl. "I have given my blessing to Akhilesh and will continue to do so. This is an issue of discussion in the country that I blessed Akhilesh. I want to say he is my son and is also in politics," Mulayam said. He conveyed his message of unity to the SP, which has seen a group led by his supporters rise against party president Akhilesh, as songs hailing the veteran leader -- such as Jai Jai Jai Mulayam" and "Man se Mulayam, Iradey Loha hain" -- played in the background. Mulayam loyalist and Akhileshs uncle Shivpal Yadav did not attend the celebrations. But other supporters, including SP MLA Ashu Malik and Narad Rai, who joined the BSP during the Assembly polls, accompanied the patriarch. Giving lessons of "samajwad" (socialism) to the workers, Mulayam held them responsible for the partys poor show in the Assembly elections, in which the party won only 47 of the 403 seats. "You should all read Lohiaji. Our party always fought for the cause of women and discrimination on the basis of caste, religion and region," Mulayam said. "What is samajwad," he asked the workers and told them it was about "equality" and "happiness" and advised the cadre to connect with the masses. Claiming that the BJP won the Lok Sabha polls with "false promises", including the claim that it would give Rs 15 lakh to everyone, Mulayam said the saffron party must ensure that its pledges were fulfilled. "Not fulfilling promises is corruption. They can give Rs 15 lakh in instalments. Give Rs 3 lakh every year and in five years, the promise is met," he said. He also pulled up Akhilesh for giving party positions to those who "cannot win (a seat) even at the level of their village polling booth". advertisement "Those who could not ensure the victory of the party are being given big posts in the SP. There are many, not just one," he said. He cited the example of a leader who, Mulayam said, had won only nine votes in his village, when his family itself had 51 members. "This is a matter of shame that we won only 47 seats despite the welfare work being done by Akhilesh," he said. Mulayam also cut a cake on the occasion and offered the first slice to his son. Akhilesh, who was unanimously re-elected the party president at the SP national convention in October, had claimed he had the blessings of his father, though Mulayam and his estranged uncle Shivpal Yadav had skipped the Agra event. Mulayam has not been on good terms with Akhilesh since his son ousted him from the post of the party national president in January. Mulayam was born on November 22, 1939, in Saifai village in the Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh. PTI ABN SMI BDS --- ENDS --- Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen will step down from the central bank's board in February once her replacement as chair is sworn in (AFP Photo/SAUL LOEB) (AFP/File) Washington (AFP) - US central bank chief Janet Yellen announced Monday she will leave the Federal Reserve in February once her successor as chair is sworn in. The decision comes less than three weeks after President Donald Trump broke with tradition to replace Yellen rather than name her for another four-year term. He tapped Fed governor Jerome Powell to take over the helm of the central bank. Yellen's term as chair expires in February but her position on the Board of Governors runs until 2024. Fed chiefs typically have stepped down from the board after finishing their term as chair. In her resignation letter to Donald Trump, Yellen said she was pleased by the US economy's continuing recovery from the Great Recession of 2008-2009. She also mentioned the positive impact of the financial reforms put in place after the global financial crisis, which the Trump administration has moved to curtail. "I am gratified that the financial system is much stronger than a decade ago, better able to withstand future bouts of instability and continue supporting the economic aspirations of American families and businesses," she wrote. Observers said Yellen had hurt her chances of winning a second term over the summer by publicly defending reforms under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform laws enacted in 2010, which have drawn some criticism especially for the burden imposed on small banks. Yellen said she was confident Powell would carry on the Fed's mission. He was seen as a consensus, continuity candidate -- unlikely to raise rates quickly and dampen economic expansion but also more amenable to the administration's deregulation push. Trump is the first president in his first term since Jimmy Carter not to reappoint the sitting central bank chief. Yellen's departure brings the number of vacancies on the Fed's seven-member board back to four, expanding Trump's ability to determine the direction of monetary policy and banking regulation. Story continues Former President Barack Obama left office in January with two Fed seats unfilled after nominations stalled in the Senate. Successive departures since then have swelled the number of openings. "Assuming Powell is confirmed, Lael Brainard will be the only other Obama appointee on the board," Chris Low of FTN Financial said in a note to clients. Media reports said last week Trump was considering appointing Allianz economic advisor Mohamed El-Erian as a Fed vice chair. By Promit Mukherjee and Yuka Obayashi MUMBAI/TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's JFE Holdings Inc and India's JSW Steel Ltd are lining up a joint bid with a private equity firm for the assets of India's insolvent Bhushan Steel Ltd, two industry sources familiar with the matter said. Under the plans, JFE would set up a special purpose vehicle with the two partners to manage the assets. JFE would hold a majority stake in the vehicle, while JSW Steel would operate Bhushan Steel's plants, said the sources who did not want to be named as the details are not public. JFE already owns a 15 percent stake in JSW. The bid, if successful, will give JFE a bigger foothold in the fast-growing Indian market where it has had a presence since 2010 in partnership with JSW Steel. It will also help JSW Steel expand in northern and eastern India without overstretching its balance sheet. With unpaid debt of nearly 450 billion rupees ($6.9 billion), Bhushan Steel was pushed into bankruptcy proceedings a few months ago after India's central bank steered 12 of the country's biggest loan defaulters to insolvency proceedings. The final bids for Bhushan Steel are due in late December. JSW Joint Managing Director and Group CFO Seshagiri Rao would neither confirm nor deny the planned acquisition vehicle with JFE as the majority partner, but told Reuters: "It is not necessary that everything has to be built on the balance sheet of JSW." Rao said JSW Steel was interested in five steelmakers that were in bankruptcy proceedings, including Bhushan Steel, but had not taken a final decision on whether to bid for all of them. He also said JSW was examining several models for possible bids. JSW Steel would look to create a structure that does not increase its debt to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) ratio beyond 3.75 and its debt-equity ratio beyond 1.75, Rao said. In response to a query from Reuters, a JFE spokesman said the Japanese group was considering all possible business opportunities as part of an agreement with JSW. "But there is no concrete deal that has been firmed up," the spokesman said. Story continues Bhushan Steel has an annual steelmaking capacity of 5.6 million tonnes, and is one of the biggest producers of cold-rolled steel products used to make cars and consumer durables such as refrigerators and washing machines. ($1 = 64.9100 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Promit Mukherjee; Editing by Susan Fenton) Now that Meg Whitman is stepping down as CEO of Hewlett Packard (NYSE: HPE) , there's a "50/50 chance" she'll run for president in 2020, O'Shares ETF Investments chairman Kevin O'Leary predicted on Tuesday. Whitman announced on Tuesday she would be leaving her role as CEO early next year . She will remain on the board. "Let me be the first to speculate this outcome Meg Whitman, Democratic nominee, presidential race 2020. I can't wait for the Whitman-Trump debates. It's going to be absolutely spectacular," O'Leary said in an interview with CNBC's " Closing Bell ." "Watch it happen. She's running for president."Whitman threw some cold water on the speculation Tuesday, however, saying in a statement that she has no plans to run for public office."I stay active in politics by contributing to candidates from both sides of the aisle who I agree with on core issues, but aside from that, I have no plans to get involved directly," she said.Whitman is no stranger to politics. She co-chaired Republican Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign in 2008 and she ran for governor of California in 2010, losing to former Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat.And despite being a Republican, Whitman endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race."I think she's destroyed her equity in the Republican Party. She will be embraced by the Democrats just to put somebody up against Trump," said O'Leary, a judge on ABC's "Shark Tank."Jeff Sonnenfeld, senior associate dean at Yale School of Management, believes Whitman would be a strong candidate, calling her "battle tested.""She'd be an incredible crossover. She's not likely to be an independent. This is not the Republican Party that she'd grew up in, so I'm not quite sure she'd find she had a home there," he said in an interview with "Closing Bell."He thinks it's also possible Whitman stays in the corporate world."She's got a great track record across platforms," Sonnenfeld said, pointing to her decade as CEO of eBay. As for where she may land, he said if the Mattel deal comes through, Hasbro could be "interesting." Disclosure: CNBC owns the exclusive off-network cable rights to "Shark Tank," which features Kevin O'Leary.Watch: She'd be an incredible crossover politician: Yale's Jeff Sonnenfeld Now that Meg Whitman is stepping down as CEO of Hewlett Packard (NYSE: HPE) , there's a "50/50 chance" she'll run for president in 2020, O'Shares ETF Investments chairman Kevin O'Leary predicted on Tuesday. Whitman announced on Tuesday she would be leaving her role as CEO early next year . She will remain on the board. "Let me be the first to speculate this outcome Meg Whitman, Democratic nominee, presidential race 2020. I can't wait for the Whitman-Trump debates. It's going to be absolutely spectacular," O'Leary said in an interview with CNBC's " Closing Bell ." "Watch it happen. She's running for president." Whitman threw some cold water on the speculation Tuesday, however, saying in a statement that she has no plans to run for public office. "I stay active in politics by contributing to candidates from both sides of the aisle who I agree with on core issues, but aside from that, I have no plans to get involved directly," she said. Whitman is no stranger to politics. She co-chaired Republican Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign in 2008 and she ran for governor of California in 2010, losing to former Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat. And despite being a Republican, Whitman endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race. "I think she's destroyed her equity in the Republican Party. She will be embraced by the Democrats just to put somebody up against Trump," said O'Leary, a judge on ABC's "Shark Tank." Jeff Sonnenfeld, senior associate dean at Yale School of Management, believes Whitman would be a strong candidate, calling her "battle tested." "She'd be an incredible crossover. She's not likely to be an independent. This is not the Republican Party that she'd grew up in, so I'm not quite sure she'd find she had a home there," he said in an interview with "Closing Bell." He thinks it's also possible Whitman stays in the corporate world. "She's got a great track record across platforms," Sonnenfeld said, pointing to her decade as CEO of eBay. As for where she may land, he said if the Mattel deal comes through, Hasbro could be "interesting." Disclosure: CNBC owns the exclusive off-network cable rights to "Shark Tank," which features Kevin O'Leary. Watch: She'd be an incredible crossover politician: Yale's Jeff Sonnenfeld More From CNBC As TransCanada Pipeline officials continue to clean up a leak in the Keystone Pipeline near Amherst, South Dakota, the Nebraska Public Service Commission voted 3-to-2 on Monday to approve the controversial extension of the pipeline through seven counties in that state. The approval of the Keystone XL Pipeline constitutes the final major regulatory hurdle to constructing the controversial pipeline, which would carry about 800,000 barrels of oil per day from the oil sands region of Canada to refineries along the Gulf of Mexico, where it would then be exported to the global market. The Public Service Commission was not allowed to take the new spill, or even pipeline safety in general, into account in making its decision. SEE ALSO: The social strategy that is super-sizing the climate movement The Commission did not grant approval for TransCanada's preferred route, however, instead giving the green light to an alternative path to the east. The alternative route means landowners who had thought they were not in the path of the project will now be affected, and must negotiate right-of-way agreements with TransCanada. It could also lead to new lawsuits that will further slow the project. Though the decision paves the way for the pipeline to be built, it does not guarantee that it will be completed. In addition to other lawsuits, TransCanada still needs to determine that the pipeline makes economic sense, since drilling tar sands oil in Alberta and transporting it to the Gulf of Mexico is far more costly than energy projects in other countries, such as the Middle East. If the company determines it has enough buyers for the oil, it will go forward. When the project was first proposed nine years ago, the price of oil was far higher than it is today, making the project more lucrative. Interestingly, TransCanada's statement responding to Nebraska's decision was somewhat muted. Story continues "As a result of today's decision, we will conduct a careful review of the Public Service Commission's ruling while assessing how the decision would impact the cost and schedule of the project," said Russ Girling, TransCanada's president and CEO. Environmentalists have fiercely opposed the project on multiple grounds, including concerns about oil spills and worsening climate change. In 2015, the Obama administration rejected the pipeline in part because it would enable the burning of more carbon-intensive oil that would worsen global warming. The Trump administration quickly approved the pipeline upon taking office, but Nebraska still loomed as a potential roadblock to the project. While pro-pipeline interests celebrated the decision, environmentalists were quick to denounce it. "The Keystone XL pipeline is and has always been a disaster from a climate perspective, from a risk perspective, and from an investment perspective," said David Turnbull, strategic communications director for Oil Change International, an environmental advocacy group. "The tar sands are a losing bet, as evidenced by fleeing investment and stagnant development. Any new pipelines out of the tar sands would be entirely out of step with the goals of a safe climate future enshrined in the Paris Agreement. At the end of the day, we remain confident that this pipeline will never be built," Turnbull said in a statement. Thank goodness TransCanada has achieved final regulatory approval for the Keystone XL Pipeline. Likely would have been built by now were it not for the Obama Administration's obstructionism. #kxl https://t.co/gGlJczqwGh Jason Kenney (@jkenney) November 20, 2017 Bill McKibben, co-founder of 350.org and a prominent environmental activist, said in a statement, "No one should give up. For seven years now public pressure has kept 800,000 barrels a day of tar sands oil underground, and in the process helped spawn a worldwide fight against fossil fuel infrastructure. We will work with our colleagues in the upper Midwest on the next steps to defend their land and our climate. A study in the journal Nature in 2015 found that if the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement are to be met meaning that global warming is limited to well below 2 degrees Celsius (or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels by 2100 then much of Canada's tar sands oil needs to stay in the ground. In fact, the study found that 75 percent of Canadian oil is un-burnable in a 2-degree scenario. Canada's government, however, is intent on exploiting those resources. "No country would find 173 billion barrels of oil in the ground and just leave them there," said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, at an energy conference in Houston in March. Ride hailing giant Uber is in the headlines again, and not for a good reason, again: the company has revealed that about a year ago, hackers stole personal data of 57 million customers and drivers, and in Ride hailing giant Uber is in the headlines again, and not for a good reason, again: the company has revealed that about a year ago, hackers stole personal data of 57 million customers and drivers, and instead of disclosing the breach, Uber decided to cover it up. According to Bloomberg, the hacked data included names, email addresses, and phone numbers of 50 million Uber riders all over the world, as well as personal information, including about 600,000 drivers license numbers, of roughly 7 million drivers. Uber said that no Social Security numbers, credit card data, trip location details, or other information were taken. Uber said that two hackers were able to gain access to proprietary information used by Uber and stored on GitHub, which is a collaboration service that allows engineers to work on code. Then, these hackers downloaded the sensitive data, and proceeded to email Uber asking for money; Uber ended up paying them $100,000 to keep the breach secret. Co-founder Travis Kalanick and former Uber head apparently learned of the hack a month after it happened, in November 2016, when the company was negotiating the handling consumer data with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. Current CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, who was named chief executive back in August after Kalanick was ousted this summer, said that he had only recently learned of the data breach, and that none of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it. While I cant erase the past, I can commit on behalf of every Uber employee that we will learn from our mistakes, Khosrowshahi said. We are changing the way we do business, putting integrity at the core of every decision we make and working hard to earn the trust of our customers. After the discovery, two employees, chief security officer Joe Sullivan and a deputy, Craig Clark, who were involved in Ubers response to and eventual concealment of the hack, were fired. Story continues Khosrowshahi said the company was beginning to notify regulators, and according to a spokeswoman, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has launched an investigation into the hack. Additionally, U.K. regulators, including the National Crime Agency, are looking into the scale of the breach as well, notes Bloomberg; London in particular took major steps earlier this year towards banning Uber in the city. The CEO also said that he hired former NSA general counsel Matt Olsen in order to restructure Ubers security teams and processes; Uber has also hired cybersecurity firm Manidant, which is owned by FireEye FEYE, to investigate the data breach. Uber has plans to release a separate statement to customers addressing the data hack soon, reassuring them and saying it has witnessed no evidence of fraud or misuse tied to the incident. Wall Streets Next Amazon Zacks EVP Kevin Matras believes this familiar stock has only just begun its climb to become one of the greatest investments of all time. Its a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in pure genius. Click for details >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report FireEye, Inc. (FEYE) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - November 21, 2017) - Legend Gold Corp. (the "Company" or "Legend") (TSXV: LGN) announces that, further to its press release of October 11, 2017, it has executed a definitive binding arrangement agreement (the "Agreement") with Altus Strategies Plc ("Altus"). Altus, is a UK-based prospect generator with a portfolio of projects in Africa and is listed on AIM (ALS). The Agreement sets out the terms and conditions pursuant to which Altus will acquire through an all-stock transaction the entire issued and outstanding common shares of LGN Holdings (BVI) Inc. ("LGN") being the owner of the Legend Projects, by way of a Plan of Arrangement pursuant to the laws of the province of British Columbia in Canada (the "Arrangement"). The Arrangement is subject to, among other things, Legend Shareholder, Court, and regulatory approvals. Under the Arrangement Legend will distribute the common shares in Altus ("Altus Shares") it receives, to Legend shareholders on the basis of three Altus Shares for each common share they hold in Legend ("Legend Shares"). The holders of outstanding warrants of Legend ("Legend Warrants") will be entitled to receive, upon exercise of their securities, the number of Altus Shares which the holders would have been entitled to receive as a result of the Arrangement, if immediately prior to the effective date the holders had exercised their Legend Warrants. Following the completion of the Arrangement, LGN will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Altus and existing Altus shareholders and Legend shareholders will each own approximately 72.4% and 27.6% of the combined company, respectively, on a non-diluted basis. Highlights of Arrangement: Legend shareholders to own 27.6% of the enlarged undiluted issued share capital of Altus Legend shareholders to receive three (3) Altus Shares for each Legend Share they hold (the "Exchange Ratio") Michael Winn (CEO of Legend) to join the board of Altus as a non-executive director Legend valued at approximately 3.4m / C$5.7m based on current price of Altus Shares The Arrangement is subject to, among other things, Legend shareholder, court, and regulatory approvals Altus to seek a dual listing on the TSX-V concurrently with the closing of the Arrangement Story continues Michael Winn, Chief Executive and Chairman of Legend, commented: "Our combination with Altus will be positive and transformational for all Legend stakeholders, with an immediate premium for current shareholders. Altus is a Project Generator focused on Africa, which was founded and is managed by a team who have a considerable track record in creating shareholder value from mineral exploration in the region. Altus was established in 2007 and listed on London's AIM exchange in August 2017. Despite the bear market since 2011, Altus has grown a substantial and diversified portfolio of projects; including discoveries in Cameroon, Ethiopia, Liberia and Morocco, principally in gold, copper-silver, bauxite and iron ore. Altus has a strong shareholder register including its board and management. Not only does Altus have the requisite skills and expertise to advance Legends' projects, our shareholders will benefit significantly from exposure to their diversified project generator portfolio and clear growth trajectory." Steven Poulton, Chief Executive of Altus, commented: "We are delighted to have concluded this agreement with Legend which has a portfolio of high quality and strategically located gold projects in western and southern Mali. We are also delighted that, on completion of the Proposed Transaction, Michael Winn will be joining the Altus board as a non-executive director, Dr. Demetrius Pohl will be joining as an advisor and Ambogo Guindo will join our team as an advisor to the Mali operation." Benefits of the Arrangement for Legend Shareholders: Delivers a significant premium to their current investment in Legend Continued exposure to Legend's assets through the enlarged entity New exposure to a portfolio of projects, diversified by commodity and geography in Africa A strengthened management team with a strong track record in creating shareholder value Enhanced liquidity from a larger well-established company with a strong shareholder base Benefits of the Arrangement for Altus Shareholders: Acquisition of an advanced portfolio of strategically located gold projects in Mali The Diba oxide gold resource is located 20km from the Sadiola gold mine Artisanal workings indicate significant exploration upside at Lakanfla and other projects Deal brings a joint venture partner in Resolute Mining Ltd, earning in on Pitiangoma Est Opportunity to list Altus on the TSX-V with an established North American shareholder base Arrangement Agreement Altus will acquire all of the outstanding LGN Shares and effectively a 100% interest in the Legend Projects. Legend shareholders will receive three Altus Shares for each Legend Share they hold. This Arrangement will result in the issuance of an aggregate of 41,060,256 new Altus Shares to Legend shareholders, representing 27.6% of the enlarged issued share capital of Altus immediately following the Arrangement, based on the current Altus issued share capital of 107,680,814. The Arrangement will be implemented by way of a Plan of Arrangement under the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia) and is subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to: receipt of all necessary regulatory, shareholder, court and third-party approvals and compliance with all regulatory requirements, including without limitation, receiving all necessary approvals from Legend shareholders, the TSX-V and AIM; and no material adverse changes in the financial condition, assets or liabilities (contingent or otherwise) of either Altus or Legend having occurred. Board of Directors Support and Recommendations Altus' officers and directors holding in aggregate approximately 40% of the currently issued and outstanding shares of Altus, have agreed to vote in favor of any Altus shareholder resolutions required to complete the Proposed Transaction. Altus will seek shareholder authority for the issue of the new Altus Shares and a disapplication of pre-emptive rights to permit the issue of Altus Shares to the shareholders of Legend. Legend will seek shareholder authority to approve the Proposed Transaction. Legend's directors, officers and consultants holding approximately 58% of the currently issued and outstanding shares of Legend, have agreed to vote in favor of the Arrangement. About Altus: Altus is a diversified and Africa focused project generator in the natural resource sector. Through their subsidiaries they seek to discover new projects and attract third party capital to fund their growth, development and ultimately have a positive exit option. This strategy enables Altus to remain focused on the acquisition of new opportunities to be fed into the project generation cycle and aims to minimize shareholder dilution. Altus' business model is designed to create a growing portfolio of well-managed and high-growth potential projects which is diversified by commodity and by country. Altus aims to position its shareholders at the vanguard of value creation, but with significantly reduced risks traditionally associated with investments in the mineral exploration sector. The following is a summary of the Altus's key projects: Cameroon - Gold Altus holds the 189 km2 Laboum gold exploration license in northern Cameroon through its 99% owned subsidiary Auramin Ltd. At Laboum, an approximately 18 km long by 5 km wide gold-bearing shear zone has been discovered. In addition, close to 1 km of quartz veins have been discovered with exposed widths of between 1 m and 40 m. High resolution ground geophysics and a concurrent gold-in-soil survey are defining priority targets for a systematic trenching program. Morocco - Copper Altus holds the 60 km2 Agdz copper-silver exploration license in central Morocco through its 100% owned subsidiary Aterian Resources Ltd. Five prospects have been defined on the license to date. The project is located close to a number of operating mines, notably the recently commissioned Bouskour Cu-Ag mine located 14 km NE of Agdz. Altus'100% owned subsidiary Aterian Resources Ltd also holds 226 km2 across five exploration licenses throughout Morocco. The licenses areas are prospective for zinc, lead, copper, tin, tungsten and gold. Ethiopia - Copper Altus holds the 322 km2 Tigray-Afar and Negash copper-silver exploration licenses ('Tigray-Afar') in northern Ethiopia through its 100% owned subsidiary Altau Resources Ltd. Tigray-Afar is subject to a memorandum of agreement with Japan Oil Gas and Metals Corporation (JOGMEC) and contains manto style copper-silver mineralization, as lenses, pipes and veins. Cameroon Bauxite & Iron Ore Altus holds the 601 km2 Birsok & Mandoum bauxite exploration licenses in central Cameroon through its 97.3% owned subsidiary Aluvance Ltd. The Birsok & Mandoum licenses are subject to a joint venture agreement with ASX-listed Canyon Resources Ltd. The project is within 10 km of an operating rail line to the port of Douala on the Atlantic Ocean. Altus also holds the 400 km2 Bikoula & Ndjele iron ore exploration licenses in southern Cameroon through its 97.3% owned subsidiary Aluvance Ltd. Liberia - Gold Altus holds the 639.6 km2 Bella Yella gold exploration license in western Liberia through its 99% owned subsidiary Auramin Ltd. At Bella Yella a 7.5 km NE-SW striking gold in soil anomaly has been defined. A number of artisanal gold workings have been discovered on the anomalous area. For further information regarding Altus, please visit its website www.altus-strategies.com or contact: Altus Strategies Plc David Netherway, Non-Executive Chairman Steven Poulton, Chief Executive Matthew Grainger, Executive Director Greg Owen, VP Corporate Development Tel: +44 (0) 1235 511 767 E: info@altus-strategies.com All information in this news release regarding Altus has been provided by Altus. Qualified Person Dr. Demetrius Pohl, PhD., Certified Professional Geoscientist (CPG), Legend's V.P. of Exploration, is the Company's Qualified Person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosures for Mineral Projects of the Canadian Securities Administrators, and has approved the written disclosure of the technical information contained in this news release. About Legend: Legend is a Canadian mineral exploration company focused on gold exploration in Mali. Legend's flagship projects include the Diba and Lakanfla projects. Further information is available at the Company's website www.legendgold.com . FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Michael Winn, President and Chief Executive Officer Email: mwinn@seabord.com Telephone: (604) 696 9396 Dave Miles, Chief Financial Officer Email: dmiles@seabordservices.com Telephone: (604) 696 9396 This press release has been prepared by Legend Gold Corp. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Statements contained in this news release that are not historical facts are "forward-looking information" or "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "Forward-Looking Information") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation and the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-Looking Information includes, but is not limited to, disclosure regarding possible events, proposed completion of the Proposed Transaction, conditions or financial performance that is based on assumptions about future economic conditions and courses of action; the timing and costs of future exploration activities on the Company's properties; success of exploration activities; permitting time lines and requirements; time lines for technical reports; planned exploration and development of properties and the results thereof; and planned expenditures and budgets and the execution thereof. In certain cases, Forward-Looking Information can be identified by the use of words and phrases such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", budget", "scheduled", "suggest", "optimize", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", "potential" or "does not anticipate", believes", "anomalous" 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". In making the forward-looking statements in this news release, the Company has applied several material assumptions, including, but not limited to, that the current exploration and other objectives concerning its mineral projects can be achieved and that its other corporate activities will proceed as expected; that the current price and demand for gold will be sustained or will improve; that general business and economic conditions will not change in a materially adverse manner; the continuity of the price of gold and other metals, economic and political conditions and operations. Forward-Looking Information involves 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 Information. Such risks and other factors include, among others, risks related to the availability of financing on commercially reasonable terms and the expected use of proceeds; ability of Legend to obtain all necessary approvals and comply with regulatory requirements in relation to the Proposed Transaction and to ultimately complete the Proposed Transaction; operations and contractual obligations; changes in exploration programs based upon results of exploration; future prices of metals; availability of third party contractors; availability of equipment; failure of equipment to operate as anticipated; accidents, effects of weather and other natural phenomena and other risks associated with the mineral exploration industry; environmental risks; certainty of mineral licenses; community and governmental relations; delays in obtaining governmental approvals or financing; fluctuations in mineral prices; the nature of mineral exploration and mining and the uncertain commercial viability of certain mineral deposits; the Company's lack of operating revenues; governmental regulations and the ability to obtain necessary licenses and permits; changes in environmental laws and regulations and changes in the application of standards pursuant to existing laws and regulations which may increase costs of doing business and restrict operations; risks related to dependence on key personnel; and estimates used in financial statements proving to be incorrect; as well as those factors discussed in the Company's public disclosure record. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could affect the Company and may cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in Forward-Looking Information, 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 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. Except as required by law, the Company does not assume any obligation to release publicly any revisions to Forward-Looking Information contained in this news release to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Melania Trump busted out the plaid on Monday. (Photo: Getty Images) Picking out a Christmas tree is serious business. Even more serious? Greeting the official White House Christmas tree, which is why the first lady wore an appropriate and expensive coat to do the honors. Photo: Getty Images On Monday, Melania Trump and son Barron took part in the time-honored tradition, during which a military quartet played holiday music as a horse-drawn wagon carried the 19.5-foot fir from Wisconsin up the White House driveway, according to US News & World Report. For the very special occasion, Melania wore a subtly holiday-themed outfit consisting of a red turtleneck and a long red-and-blue plaid wool coat that she draped over her shoulders as usual. The coat is Calvin Klein and retails for $3,200 (although it is on sale right now for $1,600). It comes with a belt, but Melania nixed it for todays activities. Her almost $700 red cashmere ribbed turtleneck was from Ralph Lauren. She also wore a pair of leather knee-high heeled boots by Victoria Beckham that cost $1,650. Photo: Getty Images And she wasnt the only Trump wearing plaid yesterday. First daughter Ivanka Trump stepped out in a black top with a light checked pattern, along with matching flared pants. Mad-for-plaid minds think alike. Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. By PTI: New Delhi, Nov 22 (PTI) Starting January 1 next year, any citizen from around the world, including India, holding a valid passport, can enter Rwanda by air, sea, or road, by getting a visa-on-arrival, its envoy said here today. The facility is currently available only to African countries and a few countries outside of the continent, Rwandas High Commissioner to India Ernest Rwamucyo said. advertisement "With India we already have good bilateral relations, which was elevated to a strategic level. And, during Indias (former) Vice President Hamid Ansari visit to our country in February, an agreement was signed to allow the two countries to mutually exempt visa requirements for diplomatic and official passport holder," he said. That agreement has been "ratified" and so will come into effect soon. But, our government recently took a very bold decision on relaxing visa regime for all travellers, he said. "From January 1 next year, any citizen from around the world, holding a valid passport, can enter Rwanda by air, sea, or road, and get a visa stamped on their arrival. So, we are really opening up our borders to people globally," Rwamucyo said. The Rwandan High Commissioner was interacting with journalists at the Foreign Correspondents Club here on India-Rwanda ties and later fielded a number of question on various subjects. "The visa-on-arrival would be applicable for 30 days under the new relaxed visa regime. The entrants would need to pay a fee where applicable. "As of now, the visa-on-arrival facility is available only to African countries and few other countries like the US, the UK, Germany, Singapore. Also, for some countries in Africa, no visa fee is charged," Rwamucyo said. On the new Indian mission proposed to be opened in its capital city Kigali, billed one of the cleanest and the safest cities globally, he said, "Work is going on, on that as well." On the new RwandAir service that was launched on April 3 this year, in pursuant of Ansaris visit, from Mumbai to Kigali, he said, the response so far has been "good". The envoy also congratulated India on winning a seat in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as Dalveer Bhandari, was re-elected to the post. Asked if India or the US should feel worried about China operating a military base in Djibouti, he said, "Africa is attracting every one. And, for Rwanda, I can say, as long as the entering country brings good deal to us, they should be welcomed. That good deal means, bringing business, jobs and helping in addressing poverty." advertisement On other question about its Commonwealth status, the envoy said, "We became a member of the Commonwealth in 2009. It is good for us." Nicknamed the land of a thousand hills, Rwanda is a country blessed with mountains, rain forest, and is also home to gorillas. The country saw a traumatic period in 1994 when it suffered a terrible genocide, but rebuilt itself and today stands as a country that is attracting attention of both the investors and travellers, he said. PTI KND KJ --- ENDS --- By Kevin O'Hanlon and Valerie Volcovici LINCOLN, Nebraska/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nebraska regulators voted on Monday to approve a route for TransCanada Corp's Keystone XL pipeline through the state, lifting the last big regulatory obstacle for the long-delayed project that U.S. President Donald Trump wants built. The 3-2 decision by the Nebraska Public Service Commission helps clear the way for the pipeline linking Canada's Alberta oil sands to refineries in the United States, but is likely to be challenged in court by opponents who say the project is an environmental risk. The commission's approval was not for TransCanada's preferred route, but for a slightly longer alternative that could prove more difficult and costly to build. It was unclear whether the company will decide to pursue the project as it considers the commercial viability. TransCanada did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the commission's vote. TransCanada stock rose as much as 2 percent to the sessions high of C$63.80 after the decision, while the broader Canada stock index was up 0.2 percent. Trump, a Republican, has made Keystone XL's success a plank in his effort to boost the U.S. energy industry. Environmentalists, meanwhile, have made the project a symbol of their broader fight against fossil fuels and global warming. The White House said the president was "pleased" with the decision. "We look forward to seeing another promise fulfilled," said Hogan Gidley, a deputy press secretary. The proposed line has been a lightning rod of controversy since it was first advocated nearly a decade ago. The administration of former President Barack Obama, a Democrat, considered the project for years before rejecting it in 2015 on environmental grounds, under pressure from activist groups. Trump swiftly reversed that decision after coming into office this year, handing TransCanada a federal permit for the pipeline in March and arguing the project will lower fuel prices, boost national security, and bring jobs. Story continues Nationwide, the White House said on Monday that Keystone XL would create 42,000 jobs. But a 2014 State Department study predicted just 3,900 construction jobs and 35 permanent jobs. Trump's decision placed the pipeline's fate into the hands of the obscure regulatory body in Nebraska, the only state that had yet to approve the pipelines route. Permits along Keystone XL's proposed 1,179-miles (1,897-km) path have been approved in Canada, Montana and South Dakota. Opposition to the line in Nebraska has been driven mainly by a group of around 90 landowners whose farms lie along the proposed route. They have said they are worried spills could pollute water critical for grazing cattle, and that tax revenue will be short-lived and jobs will be temporary. A lawyer for the landowners, Dave Domina, said the commission's decision was a partial victory, because it denied TransCanada its preferred route. But he added: "We will carefully evaluate the Order and meet with our clients." Billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer denounced the commission's decision. "We will not stop making our voices heard until this project is dead," he said in a statement. Just days ago, TransCanada's existing Keystone system spilt 5,000 barrels in South Dakota and pipeline opponents said the spill highlighted the risks posed by the proposed XL expansion. The project could be a boon for Canada, which has struggled to bring its vast oil reserves to market. But there are questions about demand for the pipeline after a surge in drilling activity in the United States. (Editing by Diane Craft) General view of the outside of AkzoNobel's new paint factory in Ashington, Britain September 12, 2017. REUTERS/Phil Noble/Files By Greg Roumeliotis and Toby Sterling NEW YORK/AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Nippon Paint Holdings Co Ltd made an all-cash offer on Tuesday to acquire U.S. coatings company Axalta Coating Systems Ltd, two people familiar with the matter said, ending merger talks between Axalta and Dutch peer Akzo Nobel. Nippon Paint confirmed it has made "a proposal" to Axalta but declined to give details, adding there is no assurance the two will reach any agreement. Axalta and Akzo Nobel said earlier on Tuesday they had ended negotiations about a "merger of equals" because they were unable to reach terms. Axalta, whose largest shareholder is Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc, said it continued to pursue other "value-creating alternatives" although it did not disclose Nippon Paint's role, if any, in the termination of the discussions. Nippon Paint, Japan's biggest paint supplier and 39 percent owned by Singapore-based investment company Wuthelam Holdings Ltd, made the all-cash offer at a premium to where Axalta shares ended on Monday at $33.54, one of the sources said. The offer was credible enough for Axalta to end negotiations with Akzo Nobel, the source added. It was not clear how far the negotiations with Nippon Paint would progress, and Axalta could also choose to engage in deal talks with other interested parties, the second source said. Axalta has a market capitalization of $8.2 billion while Nippon Paint has a market capitalization of 1.2 trillion yen ($10.7 billion). Nippon Paint shares fell 4.5 percent on Wednesday morning before trade was suspended in the wake of the Reuters report. The Osaka-based company has previously expressed a desire to expand in the United States and Europe to become a "global paint major". Axalta shares reversed losses in extended trading hours in New York after Reuters reported on Nippon's offer, to trade up 3.3 percent at $35.01. For Akzo Nobel, the breakdown in the talks with Axalta marks the end of a difficult year in which it rejected a 26 billion euro ($30.5 billion) takeover offer from PPG Industries Inc, in favor of a standalone plan. Story continues Based on Dutch takeover rules, PPG could return with a new offer as early as next month. However, PPG CEO Michael McGarry has indicated his company is no longer interested after Akzo Nobel spurned three offers in March and April. Akzo said in a statement it would now continue to pursue that strategy of selling or seeking a stock market listing for its specialty chemicals division, which has an estimated value of up to 10 billion euros. Akzo Nobel promised to return the "vast majority of proceeds to shareholders". The failure of the talks comes days before Akzo Nobel's shareholders are to meet on Nov. 30 to approve the demerger of its specialty chemicals arms. Since PPG walked away in June, former Akzo Nobel CEO Ton Buechner and former CFO Maelys Castella have resigned, citing health reasons, while Chairman Antony Burgmans is due to retire in April. Akzo Nobel's new CEO, Thierry Vanlancker, said in a statement on Tuesday the company remained focused on the strategy developed under Buechner and Burgmans. For Nippon Paint, an Axalta deal would help it crack open the U.S. market and boost earnings from automotive coatings, SMBC Nikko Securities analyst Shinobu Takeuchi wrote in a note to clients on Wednesday. "However, we would focus on how the firm plans to execute an all-cash buyout, which would demand considerable capital," the Tokyo-based analyst said. In March, Nippon Paint acquired U.S. paint company Dunn-Edwards Corp for $608 million. (Reporting by Greg Roumeliotis in New York and Toby Sterling in Amsterdam; Additional reporting by Taiga Uranaka in Tokyo; Editing by Clive McKeef and Stephen Coates) The ongoing political turmoil in Germany could actually benefit Chancellor Angela Merkel, a political analyst told CNBC Tuesday. There have been reports that the current political impasse in Germany is affecting the popularity of the German leader, but according to Peter Matuschek, chief political analyst at polling company Forsa, "it's quite the opposite." "If we look at the polls, about half of the Germans want her to stay in power, want her to run again if there would be new elections, so I think she could even benefit from the situation as she forged an image as crisis manager during her three terms in office," Matuschek said.In September, Merkel's conservatives suffered their worst election result since 1949 as the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) saw a surge in support. The CDU and its Bavarian sister-party the Christian Social Union (CSU) won 33 percent of the vote, but that was down from 41.5 percent in the 2013 election. Following the collapse of coalition talks, Merkel said Monday that she would rather a new snap election than lead a minority government, and that Germany is stable despite doubts over the next leadership. Otto Fricke , a member of the Federal Board of the pro-business FDP the party that decided to walk out from the negotiations told CNBC Tuesday that Merkel is still able to lead Europe, despite the political impasse.The opinion of Germany is crucial for European policy making. As the largest euro economy, Germany has a strong influence to determine the future of Brexit, the deepening of the euro zone as well as debt restructuring for Greece, among other issues. The ongoing political turmoil in Germany could actually benefit Chancellor Angela Merkel, a political analyst told CNBC Tuesday. There have been reports that the current political impasse in Germany is affecting the popularity of the German leader, but according to Peter Matuschek, chief political analyst at polling company Forsa, "it's quite the opposite." "If we look at the polls, about half of the Germans want her to stay in power, want her to run again if there would be new elections, so I think she could even benefit from the situation as she forged an image as crisis manager during her three terms in office," Matuschek said. In September, Merkel's conservatives suffered their worst election result since 1949 as the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) saw a surge in support. The CDU and its Bavarian sister-party the Christian Social Union (CSU) won 33 percent of the vote, but that was down from 41.5 percent in the 2013 election. Following the collapse of coalition talks, Merkel said Monday that she would rather a new snap election than lead a minority government, and that Germany is stable despite doubts over the next leadership. Otto Fricke , a member of the Federal Board of the pro-business FDP the party that decided to walk out from the negotiations told CNBC Tuesday that Merkel is still able to lead Europe, despite the political impasse. The opinion of Germany is crucial for European policy making. As the largest euro economy, Germany has a strong influence to determine the future of Brexit, the deepening of the euro zone as well as debt restructuring for Greece, among other issues. More From CNBC TORONTO/SAN FRANCISCO Struggling ride-hailing firm Uber faces a fresh regulatory crackdown after disclosing it paid hackers $100,000 to keep secret a massive breach last year that exposed personal data from around 57 million accounts. Discovery of the U.S. company's cover-up of the incident resulted in the firing of two employees responsible for its response to the hack, said Dara Khosrowshahi, who replaced co-founder Travis Kalanick as chief executive in August. "None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it," Khosrowshahi said in a blog post. Britain's data protection authority said on Wednesday that concealment of the data breach raises "huge concerns" about Uber's data policies and ethics. "Deliberately concealing breaches from regulators and citizens could attract higher fines for companies," James Dipple-Johnstone, deputy commissioner of the UK Information Commissioner's Office, said in a statement. Current British law carries a maximum penalty of 500,000 pounds ($662,000) for failing to notify users and regulators when data breaches occur. The stolen information included names, email addresses and mobile phone numbers of Uber users around the world, and the names and license numbers of 600,000 U.S. drivers, Khosrowshahi said. Uber declined to say what other countries may be affected. "There is no question that the previous management and security team at Uber failed in their responsibility to their drivers, to regulators, to justice and above all to customers. That's a pretty long list." Khosrowshahi also said Uber had begun notifying regulators. The New York attorney general has opened an investigation, a spokeswoman said. Regulators in Australia and the Philippines said on Wednesday they would also look into the matter. Long known for its combative stance with local taxi regulators, Uber has faced a stream of top-level executive departures over issues from sexual harassment to data privacy to driver working conditions, which forced its board to remove Kalanick as CEO in June. Story continues In recent months, London's transport regulator stripped Uber of its license to operate citing the company's failure to deal with public safety and security issues, although Uber is appealing against the decision and the new CEO has held talks with Transport for London to resolve the stand-off. The agency said it was seeking more information from Uber. "We are pressing them for the full details of what has happened so that we can be satisfied that all the right protections are in place for the personal data of drivers and customers in London," a Transport for London spokesman said. Britain's National Cyber Security Centre said it was working with other national authorities to determine how UK citizens may have been affected, but added that it has no information, so far, that customer financial details had been compromised. Who knew what when?The breach occurred in October 2016 but Khosrowshahi said he had only recently found out about it. Bloomberg News first reported the data breach on Tuesday. But Kalanick learned of the breach in November 2016, a month after it took place, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. At the time, the company was negotiating with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission over the handling of consumer data. A board committee had investigated the breach and concluded that neither Kalanick nor Salle Yoo, Uber's general counsel at the time, were involved in the coverup, another person familiar with the issue said. The person did not say when the probe took place. Uber said on Tuesday it was obliged to report the theft of the drivers' license information and had failed to do so. "There is no question that the previous management and security team at Uber failed in their responsibility to their drivers, to regulators, to justice and above all to customers," said Rik Ferguson, vice president of security research at software firm Trend Micro. "That's a pretty long list." There is no evidence of fraud against passengers as a result of the data breach, while drivers whose license numbers had been stolen are being offered free identity theft protection and credit monitoring, Uber said. Two hackers gained access to proprietary information stored on GitHub, a service that allows engineers to collaborate on developing software code. There, the two people stole Uber's credentials for a separate cloud-services provider where they were able to download driver and rider data, the company said. A GitHub spokeswoman said the hack was not the result of a failure of GitHub's security. "While I can't erase the past, I can commit on behalf of every Uber employee that we will learn from our mistakes," Khosrowshahi said. Who got firedUber is negotiating with a consortium led by Japan's SoftBank Group for fresh investment that could be worth up to $10 billion, sources told Reuters earlier this month. SoftBank declined to comment on whether the security breach could lead it to renegotiate terms of its proposed deal. Uber said it had fired its chief security officer, Joe Sullivan, and a deputy, Craig Clark, this week over their role in the handling of the incident. Sullivan, formerly the top security official at Facebook and a federal prosecutor, served as both security chief and deputy general counsel for Uber. Sullivan declined to comment when reached by Reuters. Clark could not immediately be reached for comment. Kalanick, through a spokesman, declined to comment. The former CEO remains on the Uber board of directors, and Khosrowshahi has said he consults with him regularly. Although payments to hackers are rarely publicly discussed, U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation officials and private security companies have told Reuters that an increasing number of companies are paying criminal hackers to recover stolen data. Uber has a history of failing to protect driver and passenger data. Hackers previously stole information about Uber drivers and the company acknowledged in 2014 that its employees had used a software tool called "God View" to track passengers. Khosrowshahi said on Tuesday he had hired Matt Olsen, former general counsel of the U.S. National Security Agency, to restructure the company's security teams and processes. The company also hired Mandiant, a cyber security firm owned by FireEye Inc, to investigate the breach. The new CEO has traveled the world since replacing Kalanick to deliver a message that Uber has matured from its earlier days as a rule-flouting startup. "The new CEO faces an unknown number of problems fostered by the culture promoted by his predecessor," said Erik Gordon, an expert in entrepreneurship and technology at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. Reporting by Jim Finkle in Toronto; Heather Somerville, Joseph Menn and Stephen Nellis in San Francisco, Manolo Serapio Jr in Manila, Byron Kaye in Sydney, Sam Nussey in Tokyo and Eric Auchard in London. Related Video: Regulators circle Uber as data-breach details emerge originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 22 Nov 2017 09:20:00 EST. LONDON, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Germany's 10-year bond yield fell to its lowest level in around 1-1/2 weeks in early Monday trade, after talks to form a coalition government failed and raised the risk of fresh elections. The political crisis in Europe's biggest economy boosted demand for safe-haven government debt, while the euro fell sharply against other major currencies and German's benchmark stock index was expected to open lower. Germany's 10-year Bund yield dipped around 1.5 basis points to 0.35 percent, its lowest level since Nov. 9. In Germany, the pro-business Free Democrats unexpectedly pulled out of more than four weeks of negotiations with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative bloc and the ecologist Greens, citing irreconcilable differences. (Reporting by Dhara Ranasinghe; Editing by Toby Chopra) A woman doctor, who had to attend to a funeral at her destination, blasted Union Minister KJ Alphons Kannanthanam after her flight got delayed, assuming it's his arrival that delayed her flight. By India Today Web Desk: A woman doctor blasted Union Minister State for Electronics and Information Technology, Culture, and Tourism KJ Alphons Kannanthanam assuming it's because of his arrival there that her flight her delayed. The doctor lashed out at the minister because she had to catch a flight to Patna and to attend a funeral. Slamming the new minister in the Narendra Modi Cabinet, the woman doctor asked Kannanthanam to give it in writing to her that her flight won't be delayed further. advertisement The doctor could have missed the connecting flight as well. The woman could be seen screaming at the minister and some others present at the scene while KJ Alphons could be seen trying to calm her down. "I had no idea about another flight getting delayed," Kannanthanam is said to have told the doctor. Update: Imphal airport director has told ANI, "Yesterday, no scheduled flight was diverted or cancelled. But three scheduled flights were delayed by around two hours due to President of India's flight movement." He also said, "We heard that one passenger, who was travelling from Imphal to Patna, argued with Union Minister KJ Alphons". WATCH THE VIDEO HERE: Editor's note: The initial version of the story said the doctor had to attend to a critical patient in Patna, but it was later brought to our notice that it was a funeral that she had to attend. --- ENDS --- An image of Patent No. 6,179,053, the patent at issue in Oil States Energy Services Inc. v. Greenes Energy Group. Source: Google Patents Update: The Supreme Court upheld so-called patent death squads in a 7-2 ruling on Tuesday, April 24. The fate of a major patent reform law, enacted in 2011 to improve patent quality, will hang in the balance on Monday, when the U.S. Supreme Court hears a constitutional challenge to one of its key provisions. The law, the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA), created a fast, inexpensive, administrative mechanism whereby anyone can ask the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to reassess the validity of a patent on certain grounds. Since the law came into effect, patent challengers have filed more than 7,700 petitions to trigger the procedure, known as inter partes review (IPR), according to Unified Patents, resulting in the cancellation of more than 20,500 patent claimscomponents of a patent that can serve as the basis for a lawsuit. Most of these claims were, in fact, being asserted in litigation at the time the IPR petitions were broughtoften against multiple defendants. (Unified Patents is a company that tries to protect corporate clients from patent suits by, among things, bringing IPR proceedings.) Apple alone has filed 267 IPR petitions since 2012more than any other petitioneraccording to a brief it submitted in the case, known as Oil States Energy Services, Inc. v. Greenes Energy Group. The company says it has thereby saved itself many millions of dollars, averting expensive, unpredictable, and lengthy patent litigation. Patent death squads Not surprisingly, IPR is loathed by many patent holders, who protest that it has undervalued and undermined their property rights. Former chief judge Randall Rader of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has famously termed the administrative panels that decide IPRs patent death squads. IPR has taken all hope away from inventors who hope to use the patent system to thrive and succeed, asserts Richard Greenspoon, an attorney for Chicagos Flachsbart & Greenspoon, in an interview. Greenspoon wrote an amicus brief in the case for 32 small inventors organizations. Story continues This is the most important patent case since the Alice decision, asserts Stanford Law School professor Mark Lemley, referring to a landmark 2014 ruling that made it harder for software and business methods patents to survive court scrutiny. The IPR procedure has proven to be a quick and cheap way to resolve patent validity. Lemley has co-authored an amicus brief in the current case on behalf of 72 intellectual property law professors who urge the court to uphold the legislation. The case before the court began in late 2012, when Houston-based Oil States Energy Services Inc. sued a rival oilfields service company, Greenes Energy Group, in federal district court in Tyler, Texas. It claimed that Greenes was infringing its patent on a way of protecting wellheads during hydraulic fracking. In a Monday, June 26, 2017 photo, Halliburton employees work at a three wellhead fracking site in Midland Texas. ( Steve Gonzales//Houston Chronicle via AP) In December 2013, while that litigation was pending, Greenes Energy petitioned the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB)the PTO unit that hears IPRsto open an IPR proceeding. Greenes alleged that the original patent examiner who approved the patent in issue had not been made aware of an earlier invention that, had he known of it, would have led him to reject the patent application (due to obviousness or lack of novelty). In June 2014, PTAB agreed to review the claims. The judicial power and public rights Although most federal judges stay litigation when an IPR is filed, the Tyler judge declined to do so, and, instead, issued a pretrial ruling that upheld the validity of Oil States patent, notwithstanding Greenes claims about the earlier invention. But the IPR continued, too, and a PTAB panel ruled for Greenes in May 2015, cancelling key claims of Oil States patent. Oil States appealed to the Federal Circuit, but the latter affirmed in May 2016. This past June, the Supreme Court agreed to take the case. Before the High Court, Oil States argues that IPR is unconstitutional because it is conducted before a panel of executive-branch officials, rather than before a U.S. District Judge. The company claims that this violates Article III of the Constitution, which dictates that the federal judicial power should be exercised only by life-tenured judges appointed by the president. In addition, Oil States claims, IPR violates the Seventh Amendment, which guarantees a right to a jury trial in certain types of civil lawsuits. In response, Greenes Energy argueswith the support of the U.S. Solicitor Generals Office, which will also be defending the AIA before the courtthat the IPR procedure was well within Congresss constitutional power, bestowed in Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8, to create and oversee a patent system. Furthermore, they contend, patents are public rightsrights integrally related to a federal regulatory schemewhich the Supreme Court has repeatedly allowed to be adjudicated by specialized administrative bodies rather than by Article III judges. In fact, hundreds of such specialized disputes are decided every day by a wide range of non-Article III decision-makers, including administrative law judges, immigration judges, and bankruptcy judgesnone of whom are appointed by the president. Indeed, a ruling for Oil States in this case could have repercussions well outside the realm of patents, and could even be seen as striking a blow against the Administrative State, as some conservative critics have termed our contemporary governmental bureaucracy. One curiosity of the caseand potential challenge for Oil Statesis that while it has challenged the constitutionality of IPR, it has not challenged the similar and longstanding administrative procedures that it replaced. Congress first set up a procedure whereby a third party could petition the PTO to reexamine a patent in 1981. At that time, however, if the PTO chose to convene such a hearing, only the patent holder could participate in itnot the petitioning third-party. As a consequence, this was known as ex parte review, because only one party could participate. In 1999, Congress tweaked the process to give the third-party petitioner a right to participate, albeit only to a very limited extent. The process was then renamed inter partes reexamination, because both parties could participate. 650,000 patent applications; 8,000 patent examiners With the AIA in 2011, Congress significantly revamped the process, giving third parties far greater rights of participation, turning the procedure into an adversarial adjudication, resembling litigation. The new procedure, renamed inter partes review, crossed the line into unconstitutionality, Oil States argues, because the PTAB was now exercising judicial power. According to the House Report endorsing the AIA, the IPR process addressed a growing sense that questionable patents [were] too easily obtained and too difficult to challenge. Specifically, the thinking was that overburdened patent examiners, deluged by the flood of new patent applications, simply did not have the time to do adequate research into prior arti.e., earlier inventions that might render an application invalid. (Last year, for instance, the PTOwhich employs about 8,000 examinersreceived about 650,000 patent applications, and issued 334,000 patents, according to an amicus brief submitted by Intel. The average patent was examined for less than 20 hours, according to the brief.) With IPR, third partiesoften accused infringerswere now permitted to do their own searches for prior art and then to bring what they found to the PTOs attention. The results have been dramatic. About 68% of petitions for IPR lead to the institution of such proceedings, according to Unified Patents, and, once instituted, 86% of IPRs lead to cancellation of at least one claim. The IPR rulings can be appealed to the Federal Circuitwhich is composed of Article III judgesbut that court has affirmed 76% of IPR rulings in their entirety, while entirely reversing only 10%, according to the AIA Blog of Finnegan law firm. Apple targeted in 40 patent suits in 2012 Nearly 60 amicus briefs have been submitted in the case, about evenly split between the two sides. To a large extent they fall into the factions that are often seen in patent disputes. Groups of inventors, together with the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, including companies like Allergan and Celgene Corporation, are lining up with Oil States, fighting for the broadest possible enforcement rights for patents. Top 20 patent litigation defendants by number of new litigations in 2012. They are joined, also, by groups supporting strong enforcement of private property rights, including the Cato Institute and Eagle Forum. Among the key voices defending IPR, on the other hand, are those of trade groups and leading companies from the tech and internet industries, whose members are the defendants most frequently targeted in patent suits. Apple, which, as previously mentioned, submitted its own brief in the case, was named in 40 new patent suits brought by patent holding companies (pejoratively known as patent trolls) in 2012, making it the worlds No. 1 target that year, according to statistics kept by RPX Corp. (RPX is a public company devoted to minimizing corporate clients patent exposure.) Last year, howeverperhaps due to the impact of IPRApple was named in only 16 new suits by patent holding companies, according to RPX. Other leading tech amici defending IPR before the court include Dell (which says that it and its EMC unit have participated in 86 IPRs), Facebook (76 IPRs), Google, and Intel. But in an apparent reflection of the degree to which software and the internet have permeated the economyrendering those companies, too, targets of patent holding companiesthis side also includes representatives of the financial services industry (banks, insurers, and securities dealers); the retail industry; and the auto industry (including Ford, General Motors, Toyota, and Volkswagen). In addition, a number of companies that have found themselves on both sides of IPR hearings, including General Electric Company and Gilead Sciences, have voiced support for the process, citing its speed and cost efficiency. Though the case is filled with complexity, and the amici pick through hundreds of years of Anglo-American legal history to marshal support for their opposing conclusions, Oil States may have a hard time overcoming a gut-level argument for upholding IPR. The PTO grants patents, says Andy Pincus of the law firm of Mayer Brown. The idea that it cant redetermine its own decisions, as a matter of common sense, just seems bizarre. How could it possibly be that Congress couldnt create this system? Pincus co-authored a brief defending IPR on behalf of BSA/The Software Alliance, a trade alliance of software and hardware tech companies. Though the courts vote on the case is likely to be extremely close, a ruling striking down IPR would cause so much tumult and legal uncertaintyboth within the patent system and beyondthat affirmance has to be counted as the more likely outcome. And the more sensible. Roger Parloff writes about law and business. More from Roger Parloff: Supreme Court case threatens to set back workers rights by 80 years LinkedIns blocking of data-scrapers bots raises weighty 1st Amendment issues Apples and Qualcomms fight may end up drawing blood 11 judges will soon decide the fate of a polarizing US agency Time is running short for a lawyer accused of defrauding Chevron (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Justice's move to block AT&T Inc's $85.4 billion acquisition of Time Warner Inc was "foolish" because the deal posed no threat to consumers, the wireless carrier's trial lawyer Dan Petrocelli told CNBC on Tuesday. The Justice Department on Monday sued AT&T arguing that the U.S. No. 2 wireless carrier would use Time Warner's content to force rival pay-TV companies to pay "hundreds of millions of dollars more per year for Time Warner's networks." AT&T has vowed to defend the deal. "We want to go to court as soon as possible," Petrocelli told CNBC, saying the burden of proof was on the government. The case was initially assigned on Tuesday to Judge Christopher Cooper in federal court in Washington but later reassigned to Judge Richard Leon. The case will be closely watched because U.S. President Donald Trump has been a vocal critic of Time Warner's CNN, and opposed AT&T's purchase of Time Warner on the campaign trail last year, saying it would concentrate too much power in AT&T's hands. In antitrust circles, the court fight will be closely watched since the Justice Department has not successfully litigated to stop a vertical deal - where the merging companies are not direct competitors - since the 1970s, when it prevented Ford Motor Co from buying assets from spark-plug maker Autolite. (Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Bengaluru; and Diane Bartz in Washington; Editing by Bernard Orr and Bill Rigby) With votes for the GOP tax bill getting harder to whip, Donald Trump has voiced support for Roy Moore in the race for Alabamas Senate seat, defending the Republican candidate against charges of sexual misconduct. Previously the president said it should be up to Alabama voters to decide their election between Democratic candidate Doug Jones and Moore, the Republican candidate who has been alleged to have had or pursued relationships with underage women when he was in his 30s, according to The Washington Post. If you look at what is really going on, and you look at all the things that have happened over the last 48 hours, he totally denies it, said the president. He says it didnt happen. Stopping short of a full-throated endorsement of MooreTrump did endorse Moores opponent Luther Strange in the Republican primariesthe president said hed reveal more information about campaigning with the candidate next week. Regardless of those details, the president was clear in his statement of support for Moore, in light of the possibility of losing Alabamas Senate seat to the Democrats. We dont need a liberal person in there, a Democrat, Jones, said the president. The announcement from Trump comes the day after Kellyanne Conway went on Fox News, essentially campaigning for Moore, saying that a vote for Jones would be a vote against the Trump administrations tax reform. We want the votes in the Senate to get this tax bill through, she said. The Chief Electoral Office of Gujarat has taken note of an undercover investigation done by IndiaToday.in against the state's cash couriers, popularly known as angadias. By Virendrasingh Ghunawat: Within 24 hours of India Today's exposure on cash couriers in Gujarat Election, the Chief Electoral Office of Gujarat has taken the cognizance of undercover investigation done by IndiaToday.in against angadias i.e. cash couriers, and directed all the concerned State department and agencies to probe it further. B B Swain, chief electoral officer, Gujarat, in an exclusive telephonic conversation told IndiaToday.in that "Our team has seen the sting operation conducted by India Today group against angadias. At present, I could only say that we have directed all the state departments and agencies to look into this matter and probe it further." advertisement On the query of further action-plan on angadias captured on camera, Swain declined to comment. He maintained saying, "It's too early to make a statement. Let our agencies examine it and get back to us." OPERATION GUJARAT HAWALA In an undercover investigation, IndiaToday.in unraveled a devastating reality. In their damning confessions caught on camera, some of the state's traditional diamond or cash couriers i.e. angadias revealed how political groups have been using their well-entrenched network to route black money for campaign. Earlier, sources within the Income Tax (I-T) department in Gujarat also confirmed IndiaToday.in that department has begun its discreet enquiry against all angadias, in the State. One senior I-T official in Ahmedabad investigation wing, on the condition of anonymity told IndiaToday.in that a "discreet enquiry" has begun and found "most of the prominent angadias in Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot and Vadodara were shut down today". When queried on further action-plan, the I-T officials remained silent, but indicated that the department is awaiting specific directions from Election Commission (EC). Queried sent to Sushil Chandra, Chairman, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) remained unanswered. For next month's Gujarat assembly election, the EC has capped expenditure at Rs 28 lakh for each candidate in the fray. In fact, leaders across the political spectrum have also repeatedly called for "cleaner" politics. LAME DUCK Senior I-T officials in Gujarat explained IndiaToday.in, how Gujarat's economy has become a lame duck before these cash couriers. "From small traders to leading politician, all of them transport their unaccounted money through this route. In fact, a monthly settlement do takes place with angadias, which are never reflected in their book of accounts", an official said. ROLE OF ANGADIAS Adv Rahul Sharma, former Indian Police Service (IPS) summed up by saying that entire political system in Gujarat is managed by angadias. "These angadias are so deeply-rooted that no establishments or political parties in Gujarat have the power to stop this illegal business. Their networks are so strong that most of them handle foreign funding during elections", Sharma said. advertisement According to Sharma, unaccounted money of around Rs 900 crore would be used by political parties (Rs 2-5 crore per constituency) in Gujarat Election. "Angadias would play crucial role by handling almost 40-50 per cent of these black money," Sharma added. Tried and tested by diamond merchants, angadias have been ferrying gems between Gujarat, Mumbai and New Delhi for generations. Most of them, in fact, are the backbone of the industry. WATCH | EXPOSED: How Gujarat's high-stakes polls are funded on black money --- ENDS --- Companies that are recently trading at a market price lower than their real values include Spackman Equities Group and Newfoundland Capital. Investors can profit from the difference by investing in these stocks as the current market prices should eventually move towards their true values. If capital gains are what youre after in your next investment, Ive put together a list of undervalued stocks you may be interested in, based on the latest financial data from each company. Spackman Equities Group Inc. (TSXV:SQG) Spackman Equities Group Inc., an investment holding company, invests into and develops small/medium-sized growth companies primarily in Asia. Spackman Equities Group was established in 2006 and with the companys market cap sitting at CAD CA$6.70M, it falls under the small-cap stocks category. SQGs stock is now hovering at around -45% below its actual value of $0.08, at a price tag of $0.05, based on its expected future cash flows. The difference between value and price signals a potential opportunity to buy SQG shares at a discount. In addition to this, SQGs PE ratio is currently around 1.6x while its media peer level trades at 25.4x, implying that relative to its peers, you can buy SQG for a cheaper price. SQG is also in great financial shape, as current assets can cover liabilities in the near term and over the long run. SQG has zero debt on its books as well, meaning it has no long term debt obligations to worry about. TSXV:SQG PE PEG Gauge Nov 22nd 17 Newfoundland Capital Corporation Limited (TSX:NCC.A) Newfoundland Capital Corporation Limited operates as a radio broadcaster in Canada. Started in 1949, and run by CEO Robert Steele, the company currently employs 800 people and with the market cap of CAD CA$327.82M, it falls under the small-cap group. NCC.As shares are currently hovering at around -41% below its intrinsic value of $21.49, at a price of $12.61, according to my discounted cash flow model. The difference between value and price signals a potential opportunity to buy NCC.A shares at a discount. Additionally, NCC.As PE ratio is trading at around 10.8x relative to its media peer level of 25.4x, suggesting that relative to its peers, we can invest in NCC.A at a lower price. NCC.A is also in great financial shape, with current assets covering liabilities in the near term and over the long run. The stocks debt-to equity ratio of 74% has over the past couple of years signalling NCC.As capability Story continues TSX:NCC.A PE PEG Gauge Nov 22nd 17 High Arctic Energy Services Inc (TSX:HWO) High Arctic Energy Services Inc. operates as an oilfield services company in Western Canada and Papua New Guinea. Started in 1993, and currently lead by Michael Binnion, the company size now stands at 809 people and with the companys market capitalisation at CAD CA$206.85M, we can put it in the small-cap category. HWOs stock is now trading at -31% less than its intrinsic value of $5.47, at the market price of $3.78, based on my discounted cash flow model. signalling an opportunity to buy the stock at a low price. In terms of relative valuation, HWOs PE ratio stands at around 8.3x against its its energy equipment and services peer level of 28.7x, implying that relative to its comparable company group, we can invest in HWO at a lower price. HWO is also strong in terms of its financial health, as current assets can cover liabilities in the near term and over the long run. Its debt-to-equity ratio of 5% has been dropping for the last couple of years showing its capability to reduce its debt obligations year on year. TSX:HWO PE PEG Gauge Nov 22nd 17 For more financially sound, undervalued companies to add to your portfolio, you can use our free platform to explore our interactive list of undervalued stocks. To help readers see pass the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price sensitive company announcements. The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. After weeks of relative silence, President Donald Trump on Tuesday finally weighed in on the allegations of sexual assault against Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore. "He denies it, he denies it," Trump said of Moore, speaking on the South Lawn of the White House. "He says it didn't happen, and you have to listen to him also. And he said, 40 years ago, that this did not happen."Nine women have alleged that Moore pursued inappropriate sexual relationships with them in the late 1970s and early 80s, when they were teenagers and Moore was in his 30s. Two of these women allege that Moore assaulted them when they were minors. Moore denies the allegations.Trump stressed the need to keep Moore's opponent, Democrat Doug Jones, out of the Senate. "I can tell you one thing for sure we don't need a liberal Democrat in there," he said.The president brushed off questions about whether he believed the women's accounts, which have been corroborated by family members and witnesses. "Roy Moore denies it, that's all I can say, and by the way, he totally denies it," Trump said. The comments were the first from the president himself in the nearly two weeks since The Washington Post published allegations by four wome n, the youngest of whom said she was 14 when Moore sexually assaulted her. Since then, another five women have come forward to describe sexual advances by Moore that made them uncomfortable, and in a number of cases, made them feel violated.Trump also left open the possibility that he would campaign for Moore in the coming weeks, ahead of a special election on December 12. Moore has fallen in the polls since news of the allegations first broke, and Trump enjoys widespread popularity with Alabama Republican voters."I'll be letting you know next week about campaigning," Trump told reporters as he prepared to board Marine One, adding, "We don't need someone who's soft on crime, like Jones," in the Senate.Trump declined, however, to weigh in on separate allegations of sexual misconduct leveled recently against two Democratic members of Congress, Sen. Al Franken, D.Minn., and Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich."I don't want to speak for Al Franken ... I don't know what happened," Trump said, noting that he had only just heard about allegations against Conyers "As far as Franken concerned, he should have to speak for himself," Trump said.The president is in a precarious position on matters related to allegations sexual misconduct: During his 2016 presidential campaign, more than a dozen women came forward to allege that Trump had groped or fondled them against their will.As for Moore, additional reports indicate that at one point he was even banned from a local mall in Gadsden, Alabama, because of his aggressive sexual pursuit of teenage girls. At the time this allegedly occurred, Moore was working as a prosecutor in the District Attorney's office, a job that Moore's accusers say made him seem especially powerful.WATCH: Trump stands by Roy Moore in wake of sexual misconduct allegations After weeks of relative silence, President Donald Trump on Tuesday finally weighed in on the allegations of sexual assault against Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore. "He denies it, he denies it," Trump said of Moore, speaking on the South Lawn of the White House. "He says it didn't happen, and you have to listen to him also. And he said, 40 years ago, that this did not happen." Nine women have alleged that Moore pursued inappropriate sexual relationships with them in the late 1970s and early 80s, when they were teenagers and Moore was in his 30s. Two of these women allege that Moore assaulted them when they were minors. Moore denies the allegations. Trump stressed the need to keep Moore's opponent, Democrat Doug Jones, out of the Senate. "I can tell you one thing for sure we don't need a liberal Democrat in there," he said. The president brushed off questions about whether he believed the women's accounts, which have been corroborated by family members and witnesses. "Roy Moore denies it, that's all I can say, and by the way, he totally denies it," Trump said. The comments were the first from the president himself in the nearly two weeks since The Washington Post published allegations by four wome n, the youngest of whom said she was 14 when Moore sexually assaulted her. Since then, another five women have come forward to describe sexual advances by Moore that made them uncomfortable, and in a number of cases, made them feel violated. Trump also left open the possibility that he would campaign for Moore in the coming weeks, ahead of a special election on December 12. Moore has fallen in the polls since news of the allegations first broke, and Trump enjoys widespread popularity with Alabama Republican voters. "I'll be letting you know next week about campaigning," Trump told reporters as he prepared to board Marine One, adding, "We don't need someone who's soft on crime, like Jones," in the Senate. Trump declined, however, to weigh in on separate allegations of sexual misconduct leveled recently against two Democratic members of Congress, Sen. Al Franken, D.Minn., and Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich. "I don't want to speak for Al Franken ... I don't know what happened," Trump said, noting that he had only just heard about allegations against Conyers "As far as Franken concerned, he should have to speak for himself," Trump said. The president is in a precarious position on matters related to allegations sexual misconduct: During his 2016 presidential campaign, more than a dozen women came forward to allege that Trump had groped or fondled them against their will. As for Moore, additional reports indicate that at one point he was even banned from a local mall in Gadsden, Alabama, because of his aggressive sexual pursuit of teenage girls. At the time this allegedly occurred, Moore was working as a prosecutor in the District Attorney's office, a job that Moore's accusers say made him seem especially powerful. WATCH: Trump stands by Roy Moore in wake of sexual misconduct allegations More From CNBC CNN Trump Reuters / Carlo Allegri President Donald Trump told White House reporters on Tuesday that AT&T's proposed acquisition of Time Warner is "not good for the country." The comments echo those made by Trump on the campaign trail in October 2016. Trump has been a staunch opponent of the deal for over a year, and has repeatedly voiced his displeasure with CNN, which is owned by Time Warner. The hits keep coming for AT&T's proposed acquisition of Time Warner. President Donald Trump spoke to reporters on the White House lawn on Tuesday afternoon, saying, "Personally, I always felt that was a deal that's not good for the country. He also said, "I'm not going to get involved it's litigation." His comments come one day after the US Department of Justice sued to block AT&T's $84.5 billion takeover of Time Warner. The statements echo comments Trump made on the campaign trail back in October 2016, when he said a successful deal would result in "too much concentration of power in the hands of too few," and also said "deals like this destroy democracy." Trump's Justice Department most notably Makan Delrahim, the antitrust chief he nominated would seem to agree. In a complaint filed on Monday, the regulatory body focused on what it sees as potentially anti-competitive behavior that could result from a completed deal. AT&T already owns DirecTV, which is mentioned throughout the complaint as a particular cause for concern. The news of the antitrust lawsuit followed recent reports that the Justice Department demanded AT&T and Time Warner sell Turner Broadcasting, the group of channels that includes CNN, to receive approval for the deal. The entire ordeal comes amid Trump's repeated insistence that CNN is "fake news." Regulatory concerns about the merger have ramped up since Delrahim started in his new role. After assuming duties in September, he pushed for the divestiture of either Turner Broadcasting or DirecTV during negotiations, according to a Bloomberg report. Story continues Trump's concerns echo those expressed by many critics of the deal who think that too much consolidation in the media and telecom industries is ultimately bad for both. Still, antitrust experts have said that on a strictly legal basis, fighting the deal might be difficult for the DOJ. Whether the deal can proceed will be up to a federal judge. It's also possible the two sides will negotiate a settlement that would allow it to continue. AT&T's stock slid 0.9% for Tuesday's session, while Time Warner shares were little changed. Screen Shot 2017 11 21 at 4.05.19 PM Markets Insider NOW WATCH: THE BOTTOM LINE: Chipotle's earnings disaster, Amazon's new headquarters, and the unstoppable stock market See Also: SEE ALSO: AT&T will face an antitrust lawsuit over its $84.5 billion Time Warner deal Trump Soho Sarah Jacobs/Business Insider The Trump Organization is cutting ties with Trump SoHo. The upscale hotel has struggled to fill rooms and bring in guests following the election. A restaurant in the hotel closed earlier this year after "the Kardashians stopped coming" post-election. Trump SoHo the Trump Organization-run, five-star Downtown Manhattan hotel will no longer carry the Trump name or be affiliated with the family. Trump hotel soho Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters On Wednesday, the Trump Organization reached a deal to allow the company to cut ties with the property, The New York Times reported. According to The Times, the hotel has struggled to fill rooms and sell condominiums as President Donald Trump has risen in political prominence. Koi, a restaurant located in the hotel, closed earlier this year after a reported drop in business following Trump's win in the 2016 election. "Before Trump won we were doing great. There were a lot of people we had, our regulars, who'd go to the hotel but are not affiliated with Trump," Jonathan Grullon, a busser and host at the restaurant, told New York Magazine's GrubStreet. "And they were saying if he wins, we are not coming here anymore." Another restaurant worker told GrubStreet that, following the election, "the Kardashians stopped coming" and business plummeted. While Suzanne Chou, Koi Group's general counsel, "declined to speculate" why business declined, she said that "obviously since the election it's gone down." A new restaurant called Spring & Varick recently opened in the space that formerly belonged to Koi. Earlier this year, WNYC reported the five-star hotel was planning to lay off workers and reduce some of its services. The hotel will continue to be owned by CIM, an investment firm in California. Now, however, the Trump Organization will no longer manage day-to-day operations or brand the hotel under the Trump name. Story continues In 2010, the Major Economic Crimes Bureau of the Manhattan District Attorney's office opened an investigation into Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. for reportedly misleading buyers in the Trump SoHo project. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. dropped the case after receiving a donation from the Trump Organization's lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, as ProPublica reported in October. NOW WATCH: Gary Shilling: Here's how I'd fix the Fed See Also: SEE ALSO: Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. were once under investigation by the DA for a failed condo project Photo credit: Hearst Communications, Inc. All rights reserved From ELLE Today, in keeping with White House tradition, Donald Trump pardoned Drumstick, a turkey who won an online poll. Just so you're aware, arbitrary public polls is how we'll be doing pardons in 2018. Text "Save Kushner" to 1-888-IDOLS-45 to make your voice heard. Drumstick beat the other turkey, Wishbone, 60% to 40% in the poll, so Drumstick is the Hillary Clinton of turkeys. As is tradition, the president granted a pardon to the turkey and wished "all" Americans a happy holiday. I tuned in looking for a complete disaster because I guess that's what we've come down to, but secretly I knew it would be fairly standard and much less terrible than everything else he's doing. See? There's a bright side to everything. To be honest, this macabre ceremony is exactly the kind of thing Trump was built for. Unlike many turkeys across the nation, Drumstick has a bright future ahead of him, Trump said in his opening remarks, reminding us that turkey murder is rampant and few of us are without blame. Complicity is now an American holiday value. It's not totally his fault. I mean, yes, when this administration gathers around a table to say what they're thankful for, the most frequent thought is "That I haven't been caught yet unlike those other suckers." But, it's not like Trump made up the Turkey Pardon himself. For years presidents have been plucking turkeys from the jaws of death as a heartwarming holiday reminder of the fecklessness of fate. Put that on a Starbucks cup! As many of you know, I have been involved in overturning a great many of my predecessors executive actions, he said, literally rubbing our faces in his attempted evisceration of Obamas legacy. For a moment, he dangled the prospect that this too would go the way of many humane and live-saving actions, but no. Turkey freedom is one of his core beliefs, apparently. Trump lives for this kind of thing - the wanton wielding of power, the fealty of the less fortunate, the ability to make proclamation, the emptiness of every possible gesture. I imagine if he could pardon a turkey every day, he would. He even has a pardoning hand, like a priest absolving you of your sins. It's incredible. Story continues Trump's like "To this turkey, I am God. Is it possible to run this turkey for the Alabama Senate seat? How would this turkey like to be the HHS Secretary? Does this turkey own a private jet?" The pardon itself was surprisingly slight. There was no paperwork of any sort, which seems to open up the administration to a lot of judicial headaches. Poor forgetful Jeff Sessions doesn't need this kind of stress in his life right now. He's going about his day like the character from Memento just trying to who he is and how he got here. Have mercy! Drumstick!" Trump bellowed suddenly. "You are hereby pardoned! He paused and looked off to the side as if anticipating the great cheer that would go up from grateful turkeys across the land who, while experiencing no benefit in their own lives are just glad that 0.1% of turkeys will have an easier time of it thanks to the president's work. No cry went up and the president whipped his head back to face the bird, who, shockingly, had not yet said thank you. Done with the ungrateful bird, the president turned on his heel, shook a few hands, and went back into the White House, leaving the turkey alone on the podium to bask in its freedom. A great day for justice in America. Follow R. Eric Thomas on Twitter. You Might Also Like Motley Fool Carnival says it will use the proceeds from this debt offering to pay off principal on existing debt (i.e., roll over the old debt), as well as for general corporate purposes. In theory, this should mean that Carnival will be paying off notes that carry higher interest rates, with money from new notes that cost it less in interest. Logically, when we consider that interest rates have been trending higher as the Fed continues to hike its targeted federal funds rate, it seems more likely that Carnival would end up paying more on any new debt it issues, than what it pays on the debt it's replacing. A photo illustration shows the Uber app on a mobile telephone, as it is held up for a posed photograph, in London, Britain November 10, 2017. REUTERS/Simon Dawson By Jim Finkle and Heather Somerville TORONTO (Reuters) - Governments around the globe launched investigations into Uber Technologies Inc after the company disclosed it had covered up a breach that exposed data on millions of customers and drivers, the latest scandal to rock the ride-hailing firm. Authorities in Britain and the United States, two top Uber markets, as well as Australia and the Philippines said on Wednesday they would investigate the company's response to the data breach. Some U.S. lawmakers called for Congressional hearings and implored the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to look into the matter. Uber said on Wednesday that it has been in touch with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and several states to discuss a hack last year that exposed data on millions of customers and drivers, the latest scandal to rock the ride-hailing firm. "We've been in touch with several state Attorney General Offices and the FTC to discuss this issue, and we stand ready to cooperate with them going forward," an Uber spokesperson said in a emailed statement. Uber said on Tuesday that in late 2016 it had paid hackers $100,000 (75,213.29) to destroy data on more than 57 million customers and driver stolen from the company and decided not to report the matter to victims or authorities. The company's chief executive had acknowledged in a Tuesday blog that the company had erred in handling the breach. (http://ubr.to/2AmxlQt) The money-losing ride-hailing service is known for the tough stance it has taken against regulators as it seeks to aggressively expand and compete with existing taxi services. Attorneys general in at least four U.S. states, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts and New York, said they had launched investigations into the breach. We have serious concerns about the reported conduct, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said in a statement. U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal took to Twitter to call for the FTC to investigate Uber, describing the company's behaviour as "inexplicable" and asking for the FTC to impose "significant penalties." Story continues The FTC, which investigates companies accused of being sloppy with consumer data, said it was looking into the matter, but declined to say if it had launched a formal investigation. "We are aware of press reports describing a breach in late 2016 at Uber and Uber officials actions after that breach. We are closely evaluating the serious issues raised," an FTC spokesman said. U.S. Representative Frank Pallone called for a Congressional hearing. "If Uber did indeed secretly pay-off the hackers to keep the breach quiet, then a possible cover up of the incident is problematic and must be investigated," Pallone said in a statement. Britain's data protection authority said it would work with agencies in the United Kingdom and overseas to investigate the matter. "If UK citizens were affected, then we should have been notified so that we could assess and verify the impact on people whose data was exposed," James Dipple-Johnstone, deputy commissioner of the UK Information Commissioner's Office, said in a statement. British law carries a maximum penalty of 500,000 pounds ($662,000) for failing to notify users and regulators when data breaches occur. "Deliberately concealing breaches from regulators and citizens could attract higher fines for companies," Dipple-Johnstone said. The stolen information included names, email addresses and phone numbers of 57 million Uber users around the world, and the names and license numbers of 600,000 U.S. drivers, according to a blog post by Uber's new chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi, who replaced co-founder Travis Kalanick as CEO in August. Uber said it fired its chief security officer, Joe Sullivan, and a deputy, Craig Clark, this week over their role in the incident. Sullivan, formerly the top security official at Facebook Inc and a federal prosecutor, served as both security chief and deputy general counsel for Uber. Sullivan declined comment. Clark could not be reached for comment. Kalanick, through a spokesman, declined to comment. The former CEO remains on the Uber board of directors, and Khosrowshahi has said he consults with him regularly. A stream of executives have left Uber in recent months amid controversies involving sexual harassment, data privacy and business practices in Asia. The board removed Kalanick as CEO in June. London's transport regulator recently pulled Uber's operating license, saying the company failed to deal with public safety and security issues. Uber is appealing the decision. The agency said on Wednesday it was seeking more information about the breach. "We are pressing them for the full details of what has happened so that we can be satisfied that all the right protections are in place for the personal data of drivers and customers in London," a Transport for London spokesman said. Uber said earlier this month it had struck an agreement to allow Japan's SoftBank Group to invest up to $10 billion, most of it by buying shares from existing investors. The final price has yet to be decided, and SoftBank could back out if not enough Uber investors are willing to sell at the right price. (Reporting by Jim Finkle in Toronto and Heather Somerville in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Diane Bartz in Washington; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli and Nick Zieminski) FILE PHOTO: The logo of Uber is seen on an iPad, during a news conference to announce Uber resumes ride-hailing service, in Taipei, Taiwan April 13, 2017. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo - By Jim Finkle and Heather Somerville TORONTO/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Struggling ride-hailing firm Uber [UBER.UL] faces a fresh regulatory crackdown after disclosing it paid hackers $100,000 to keep secret a massive breach last year that exposed personal data from around 57 million accounts. Discovery of the U.S. company's cover-up of the incident resulted in the firing of two employees responsible for its response to the hack, said Dara Khosrowshahi, who replaced co-founder Travis Kalanick as chief executive in August. "None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it," Khosrowshahi said in a blog post. (http://ubr.to/2AmxlQt) Britain's data protection authority said on Wednesday that concealment of the data breach raises "huge concerns" about Uber's data policies and ethics. "Deliberately concealing breaches from regulators and citizens could attract higher fines for companies," James Dipple-Johnstone, deputy commissioner of the UK Information Commissioner's Office, said in a statement. Current British law carries a maximum penalty of 500,000 pounds ($662,000) for failing to notify users and regulators when data breaches occur. The stolen information included names, email addresses and mobile phone numbers of Uber users around the world, and the names and license numbers of 600,000 U.S. drivers, Khosrowshahi said. Uber declined to say what other countries may be affected. Khosrowshahi also said Uber had begun notifying regulators. The New York attorney general has opened an investigation, a spokeswoman said. Regulators in Australia and the Philippines said on Wednesday they would also look into the matter. Long known for its combative stance with local taxi regulators, Uber has faced a stream of top-level executive departures over issues from sexual harassment to data privacy to driver working conditions, which forced its board to remove Kalanick as CEO in June. In recent months, London's transport regulator stripped Uber of its license to operate citing the company's failure to deal with public safety and security issues, although Uber is appealing against the decision and the new CEO has held talks with Transport for London to resolve the stand-off. Story continues The agency said it was seeking more information from Uber. "We are pressing them for the full details of what has happened so that we can be satisfied that all the right protections are in place for the personal data of drivers and customers in London," a Transport for London spokesman said. Britain's National Cyber Security Centre said it was working with other national authorities to determine how UK citizens may have been affected, but added that it has no information, so far, that customer financial details had been compromised. WHO KNEW WHAT WHEN? The breach occurred in October 2016 but Khosrowshahi said he had only recently found out about it. Bloomberg News first reported the data breach on Tuesday. But Kalanick learned of the breach in November 2016, a month after it took place, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. At the time, the company was negotiating with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission over the handling of consumer data. A board committee had investigated the breach and concluded that neither Kalanick nor Salle Yoo, Uber's general counsel at the time, were involved in the cover-up, another person familiar with the issue said. The person did not say when the probe took place. Uber said on Tuesday it was obliged to report the theft of the drivers' license information and had failed to do so. "There is no question that the previous management and security team at Uber failed in their responsibility to their drivers, to regulators, to justice and above all to customers," said Rik Ferguson, vice president of security research at software firm Trend Micro. "Thats a pretty long list". There is no evidence of fraud against passengers as a result of the data breach, while drivers whose license numbers had been stolen are being offered free identity theft protection and credit monitoring, Uber said. Two hackers gained access to proprietary information stored on GitHub, a service that allows engineers to collaborate on developing software code. There, the two people stole Uber's credentials for a separate cloud-services provider where they were able to download driver and rider data, the company said. A GitHub spokeswoman said the hack was not the result of a failure of GitHub's security. "While I can't erase the past, I can commit on behalf of every Uber employee that we will learn from our mistakes," Khosrowshahi said. FURTHER FALLOUT Uber is negotiating with a consortium led by Japan's SoftBank Group (9984.T) for fresh investment that could be worth up to $10 billion, sources told Reuters earlier this month. SoftBank declined to comment on whether the security breach could lead it to renegotiate terms of its proposed deal. Uber said it had fired its chief security officer, Joe Sullivan, and a deputy, Craig Clark, this week over their role in the handling of the incident. Sullivan, formerly the top security official at Facebook Inc (FB.O) and a federal prosecutor, served as both security chief and deputy general counsel for Uber. Sullivan declined to comment when reached by Reuters. Clark could not immediately be reached for comment. Kalanick, through a spokesman, declined to comment. The former CEO remains on the Uber board of directors, and Khosrowshahi has said he consults with him regularly. Although payments to hackers are rarely publicly discussed, U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation officials and private security companies have told Reuters that an increasing number of companies are paying criminal hackers to recover stolen data. Uber has a history of failing to protect driver and passenger data. Hackers previously stole information about Uber drivers and the company acknowledged in 2014 that its employees had used a software tool called "God View" to track passengers. Khosrowshahi said on Tuesday he had hired Matt Olsen, former general counsel of the U.S. National Security Agency, to restructure the company's security teams and processes. The company also hired Mandiant, a cyber security firm owned by FireEye Inc (FEYE.O), to investigate the breach. The new CEO has traveled the world since replacing Kalanick to deliver a message that Uber has matured from its earlier days as a rule-flouting startup. "The new CEO faces an unknown number of problems fostered by the culture promoted by his predecessor," said Erik Gordon, an expert in entrepreneurship and technology at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. (Reporting by Jim Finkle in Toronto; Heather Somerville, Joseph Menn and Stephen Nellis in San Francisco, Manolo Serapio Jr in Manila, Byron Kaye in Sydney, Sam Nussey in Tokyo and Eric Auchard in London; Editing by Lisa Shumaker, Stephen Coates and Adrian Croft) Firm paid hackers $100,000 to delete data and keep breach quiet Chief security officer Joe Sullivan fired for concealing October 2016 breach Ubers CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, said: None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it. Photograph: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images Uber concealed a massive global breach of the personal information of 57 million customers and drivers in October 2016, failing to notify the individuals and regulators, the company acknowledged on Tuesday. Uber also confirmed it had paid the hackers responsible $100,000 to delete the data and keep the breach quiet, which was first reported by Bloomberg. None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it, Ubers chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi, said in a statement acknowledging the breach and cover-up. While I cant erase the past, I can commit on behalf of every Uber employee that we will learn from our mistakes. (January 1, 2017) #DeleteUber goes viral Ubers decision to lift surge pricing during a New York taxi drivers work stoppage in protest of the Trump travel ban prompts a viral #DeleteUber campaign. (February 1, 2017) Susan Fowler speaks out Former Uber engineer Susan Fowler publishes a blog post with allegations of widespread sexual harassment and gender discrimination. (March 1, 2017) Greyball deception revealed The New York Times exposes Ubers use of Greyball, a tool to systematically deceive authorities in cities where Uber was violating local laws. (May 1, 2017) Drivers underpaid by millions Uber admits it has for years been underpaying New York City drivers by tens of millions of dollars. (June 1, 2017) Toxic culture reaches breaking point, Kalanick resigns Uber fires 20 employees following the conclusion of an investigation into sexual harassment and workplace culture. Uber is sued by an Indian passenger who was raped by an Uber driver after reports reveal that a top executive had obtained the womans medical records, allegedly in order to cast doubt upon her account. CEO Travis Kalanick resigns. (August 1, 2017) Unsafe cars leased in Singapore The Wall Street Journal reports that Uber had rented fire-prone cars to drivers in Singapore, despite knowing that the vehicles had been recalled over serious safety concerns. Story continues (September 1, 2017) Uber loses London license Uber loses its license to operate in London due to a lack of corporate responsibility. The company is appealing the decision. (November 1, 2017) Massive hack cover-up revealed Uber admits concealing a 2016 breach that exposed the data of 57 million Uber customers and drivers, failing to disclose the hack to regulators or affected individuals. The company paid a $100,000 ransom to the hackers to destroy the information and keep the breach quiet. Hackers stole personal data including names, email addresses and phone numbers, as well as the names and drivers license numbers of about 600,000 drivers in the United States. The company said more sensitive information, such as location data, credit card numbers, bank account numbers, social security numbers, and birth dates, had not been compromised. In his statement, Khosrowshahi said the company had obtained assurances that the downloaded data had been destroyed and improved its security, but that the companys failure to notify affected individuals or regulators had prompted him to take several steps, including the departure of two of the employees responsible for the companys 2016 response. Ubers chief security officer, Joe Sullivan, was one of the two employees who left the company, Bloomberg reported. The companys failure to disclose the breach was amateur hour, said Chris Hoofnagle of the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology. The only way one can have direct liability under security breach notification statutes is to not give notice. Thus, it makes little sense to cover up a breach. Under California state law, for example, companies are required to notify state residents of any breach of unencrypted personal information, and must inform the attorney general if more than 500 residents are affected by a single breach. The hack and the cover-up is typical Uber only caring about themselves, said Robert Judge, an Uber driver in Pittsburgh, who said he had yet to receive any communication from the company. I found out through the media. Uber doesnt get out in front of things, they hide them. Uber said in a statement to drivers that it would offer those affected free credit monitoring and identity theft protection. According to Bloomberg, the breach occured when two hackers obtained login credentials to access data stored on Ubers Amazon Web Services account. Paul Lipman, CEO of cybersecurity firm BullGuard, said that the fact that the data was being stored unencrypted was unforgivable. Thats just a complete misstep from an information security viewpoint, he added. The CEO of Uber, Dara Khosrowshahi. Photograph: Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images The New York state attorney generals office has opened an investigation into the data breach, a spokeswoman confirmed. Ubers potential civil liability from the breach is complicated by the fact that the United States various federal appellate courts are divided over how to treat data breach lawsuits. Some courts allow individuals to join class action lawsuits if they are simply at greater risk of having their identities stolen due to a breach, while other courts require plaintiffs to show that their personal information has actually been misused. In June, health insurer Anthem settled litigation over a 2015 breach affecting 79 million people for a record $115m. Non-disclosure creates a practical risk in the hundreds of millions, said Hoofnagle, who noted that companies can pay third parties to handle the fallout from a security breach including notifications for fees in the tens of millions. Heres the good news: drivers will finally squeeze money out of Uber. The hack and subsequent concealment is just the latest in a string of scandals and crises that Khosrowshahi inherited from his predecessor, Travis Kalanick, who was forced out of the $68bn startup in June. The year started out with the trend-setting #DeleteUber viral boycott campaign, which arose after the company was accused of exploiting a New York taxi drivers work stoppage protesting against Trumps travel ban. Then in February, former employee Susan Fowler published a blogpost alleging a pervasive culture of gender discrimination and sexual harassment at the company. The next month saw a New York Times report that for years Uber had been running a secret program to systematically deceive law enforcement officials in cities where its service violated regulations. Officials attempting to hail an Uber during a sting operation were greyballed; they might see icons of cars within the app navigating nearby, but no one would pick them up. Fowlers blogpost prompted Uber to commission an investigation of its workplace culture, and led to a public airing of the startups considerable dirty laundry. The company had soared to its position as the highest-value startup and dominant ride-hail app by defying rules and regulations, but the post-Fowler reckoning saw at least 20 employees fired and the company acknowledge that it needed to change. It also led to the eventual ousting of Kalanick himself. Khosrowshahi displayed the new conciliatory style in September when Transport for London decided not to renew its license to operate in London. Weve got things wrong along the way, the CEO said at the time. On behalf of everyone at Uber globally, I apologise for the mistakes weve made. Follow Guardian Business on Twitter at @BusinessDesk, or sign up to the daily Business Today email here. Ashok Kumar, arrested by Gurgaon Police on charges of killing seven-year-old Pradyuman Thakur, walked out of jail after being granted bail by a local court. By India Today Web Desk: A full 75 days after Ashok Kumar was arrested by Gurgaon Police for allegedly murdering seven-year-old Pradyuman Thakur, the Ryan International School conductor today walked out of jail. Kumar was granted bail by a local court in Gurgaon earlier this week after the Central Bureau of Investigation, in a sensational allegation, turned the Pradyuman murder case on its head by detaining a Class XI student for the crime. advertisement The CBI, which refused to give Kumar a clean chit, said it had no evidence to say Ashok Kumar was involved in killing Pradyuman. The central agency, which was handed the murder probe after sustained demands from Pradyuman's parents, claimed the detained juvenile murdered the child in an attempt to get a scheduled examination postponed. Pradyuman Thakur was killed inside a washroom of Gurgaon's Ryan International School on the morning of September 8 this year. That very evening, the Gurgaon Police claimed to have cracked the case and arrested bus conductor Ashok Kumar. The local cops claimed Kumar had already confessed to the crime. According to the police theory, Kumar came across Pradyuman at the Ryan washroom, tried to sexually abuse the boy and then slit his throat when the child resisted. CBI COMES INTO PICTURE Pradyuman Thakur's parents, however, voiced their suspicion of the police probe and said they suspected a cover-up over the murder. They demanded the Central Bureau of Investigation be deputed to investigate their child's murder. The ML Khattar government in Haryana finally agreed to the parents' demands, and turned the probe over to the CBI on September 15. Since then the agency was largely silent on the status of its probe. On November 8, the CBI made the startling revelation that it had detained a juvenile boy in connection with Pradyuman's murder. The boy allegedly killed Pradyuman in the hopes that the incident would cause the Ryan International School to declare holidays and, in the process, postpone an examination and a parent-teacher meeting. The CBI also said it had not found any evidence to support a "sexual abuse angle", rejecting the Gurgaon Police's theory and probe into the murder. Later on November 16, while making its submissions to a Gurgaon court, the CBI said its probe had revealed that local cops tortured Ashok Kumar in order to get him to 'confess' to killing Pradyuman. The agency, however, refused to give him a clean chit. advertisement "When we will get all reports and our investigation will be complete, only then we can decide on Ashok Kumar," the CBI had said then as it went on to oppose Kumar's bail plea. The court, however, went ahead and granted bail to Kumar, who was finally released today from a jail in Gurgaon. "We are poor people that's why no one was listening to us," Kumar's father had said yesterday after his son was granted bail. WATCH | Ashok Kumar's family reacts to Ryan murder accused getting bail --- ENDS --- Volkswagen AG VLKAY will pump in 22.8 billion ($26.9 billion) for the development of its main car brand over a period of five years. This announcement follows the recently reported investment of 2.4 billion ($2.8 billion) by its commercial-vehicle division, MAN, in its revamp production facilities (Read more: Volkswagen's MAN to Invest $2.8B in Plant Upgrade). Of the total, 14 billion will be utilized on the automakers German plants. Also, the company will be developing its Zwickau plant into an e-mobility facility, which includes an investment of 1 billion. At this plant, the company has plans to focus on the production of electric vehicles (EVs) based on the new modular electric drive kit (MEB). The MEB technology will enable the company to offer electric vehicles with rapid charging capabilities, operating capability from 400 to 600 kilometers and package assistance at a price of a similar diesel car. Volkswagen AG Price and Consensus Volkswagen AG Price and Consensus | Volkswagen AG Quote In 2020, the first next-generation electric vehicle, Volkswagen I.D., will be unveiled in the market. This recent investment by Volkswagen is to boost its Transform 2025+ strategy, via which, it aims to develop its modular production and incline more toward e-mobility. Per management, the companys goal is to hold a leading position in volume segments and obtain a major place in e-mobility. Price Performance Last month, shares of the company have outperformed the industry it belongs to. The stock has gained 9% compared with the industrys 2.3% rise. Zacks Rank & Key Picks Volkswagen carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A few better-ranked companies in the auto space include American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc. (AXL, Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd. YAMHF and Navistar International Corporation NAV, each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. American Axle has an expected long-term growth rate of 8.1%. Its shares have been up 30.1% in the last three months. Yamaha has an expected long-term growth rate of 10.6%. Shares of the company have been up 24.5% in the last six months. Navistar has an expected long-term growth rate of 5%. Its shares have been up 25.3% in the last three months. Wall Streets Next Amazon Zacks EVP Kevin Matras believes this familiar stock has only just begun its climb to become one of the greatest investments of all time. Its a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in pure genius. Click for details >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Volkswagen AG (VLKAY) : Free Stock Analysis Report Navistar International Corporation (NAV) : Free Stock Analysis Report American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc. (AXL) : Free Stock Analysis Report Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. (YAMHF) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. ajit pai Reuters/Kevin Lamarque The Federal Communications Commission has officially voted to ditch net neutrality, which requires internet providers to treat all data online equally. A Portuguese internet provider hints at what the American internet could eventually look like. The company charges people more for additional "zero-rated" data based on the kind of app they want to use, such as those for messaging or for video. On Thursday, the US Federal Communications Commission officially voted to roll back Obama-era rules governing net neutrality. Simply put, net neutrality means that all data on the internet is treated equally. An internet service provider can't prioritize certain companies or types of data, charge users more to access certain websites and apps, or charge businesses for preferential access. Advocates of net neutrality argue that it ensures a level playing field for everyone on the internet. Telecoms firms, however, are largely against it because of the additional restrictions it places on them. Pro-net neutrality advocates have vowed to fight the FCC in the courts but what might the American internet look like without net neutrality? Take a look at Portugal. The country is bound by the European Union's net-neutrality rules, but it allows for certain kinds of pricing schemes that hint at what a net neutality-less internet might look like. The country's wireless carrier Meo offers a package where users pay for traditional "data" for their smartphones and on top of that, they can pay for additional packages based on the kind of data and apps they want to use, "zero-rating" those services. meo internet net neutrality portugal MEO Really into messaging? Then pay 4.99 ($5.86 or 4.43) a month and get more data for apps like WhatsApp, Skype, and FaceTime. Prefer social networks like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Messenger, and so on? That'll be another 4.99 a month. Zero-rating for video apps like Netflix and YouTube are available as another add-on, while music (Spotify, SoundCloud, Google Play Music, etc.) is another, as is email and cloud (Gmail, Yahoo Mail, iCloud, etc.). Story continues Net-neutrality advocates argue that this kind of model is dangerous because it risks creating a two-tier system that harms competition people will just use the big-name apps included in the bundles they pay for, while upstart challengers will be left out in the cold. For example: If you love watching videos, and Netflix is included in the video bundle but Hulu isn't, you're likely to try to save money by using only Netflix, making it harder for its competitors. (Note: Hulu isn't available in Portugal, but you get the idea.) And without net neutrality, big-name apps could theoretically even pay telecoms firms for preferential access, offering them money and smaller companies just couldn't compete with that. (It's not clear whether any of the companies named above have paid for preferential access.) An ISP could even refuse to grant customers access to an app at all unless they (or the app company) paid up. Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California originally shared the Meo example on Twitter in October, though he mischaracterised Portugal's net neutrality laws. "In Portugal, with no net neutrality, internet providers are starting to split the net into packages," he wrote. "A huge advantage for entrenched companies, but it totally ices out startups trying to get in front of people which stifles innovation. This is what's at stake, and that's why we have to save net neutrality." Yonatan Zunger, a former Google employee, recently retweeted Khanna's tweet, adding: "This isn't even the worst part of ending net neutrality. The worst part happens when ISPs say 'we don't like this site's politics,' or 'this site competes with us,' and block or throttle it." Tweet Embed: https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/933024240546193408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Basically, it's a huge giveaway to companies like Comcast and AT&T, who get to charge everyone else piles of money for nothing they aren't doing now. That money comes from your business, and from every company you buy things from - which means it comes from you. NOW WATCH: What happens when vegetarians eat meat for the first time See Also: SEE ALSO: Tech firms are starting to speak up against the FCC's plan to kill net neutrality: 'We are disappointed' For Immediate Release Chicago, IL November 22, 2017 Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include RH RH, The Children's Place, Inc. PLCE, The Home Depot, Inc. HD and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. WMT. Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1Stock of the Day pick for free. Here are highlights from Tuesdays Analyst Blog: Add These 4 Stocks to Your Black Friday Shopping List With Q3 earnings season nearly over, the focus is likely to shift to the retail sector, which hogs all attention with the advent of the holiday season. Retail stocks get a thrust during this busiest part of the year, which is often a make-or-break time for retailers. As the countdown to Black Friday begins, investors also scurry for bright spots in the space. Eye-popping Black Friday deals usher in the Christmas shopping bonanza. Apart from price-matching policies, retailers try to sweep buyers off their feet with early-hour store openings, huge discounts, promotional strategies and free shipping on online purchases. Competition will certainly be tough, be it at the brick-and-mortar stores or online portals. Per the survey conducted by RetailMeNot, consumers are likely to spend an average of $743 this year during the Black Friday weekend through Cyber Monday up from the prior-year figure of $505. Retailers such as Amazon, Best Buy, Target and others are efficiently allocating a large chunk of their capital toward a multi-channel growth strategy focused on improving merchandise offerings, developing IT infrastructure to enhance the web and mobile experience of customers, renovating stores with a modern look, and developing fulfillment centers to enable speedy delivery. Retail Space Rides on Favorable Indicators The rebound in oil prices from all-time lows, an improving labor market, along with a rising housing market and manufacturing sector signal that the economy is in recovery mode that rose 3% in the third quarter of 2017. Further, the Feds indication of a likely rate hike in December reflects the underlying fundamental strength of the economy. Story continues Analysts believe that buoyant stock market, gradual wage acceleration, fall in the unemployment rate to 17-year low, and a lift in the economic activity post hurricanes were enough to boost consumer confidence. We anticipate this positive sentiment to translate into higher consumer spending that may help increase sales in the current retail landscape, which is witnessing a sea change with the focus gradually shifting to online shopping. The nation's largest retail trade group, National Retail Federation projects a 3.6-4% rise in November and December sales (excluding autos, gas and restaurant sales) to $678.75-$682 billion, up from $655.8 billion last year and better than the five-year average sales growth of 3.5%. Data compiled by eMarketer forecasts 3.1% jump in holiday sales (November and December) to $923.15 billion, while retail e-commerce holiday season sales are anticipated to rise 16.6%. Indeed, shopping season is likely to be more blissful for retailers. So, how about betting your bucks on lucrative options? 4 Prominent Picks Here we have highlighted four Retail/Wholesale stocks with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy) and a VGM Score of A or B. These stocks are backed by sound fundamentals, surging share price and a track record of better-than-expected results. Not only this, these stocks have outperformed their respective industries. RH, a home furnishing retailer, is a lucrative option. The stock has a long-term earnings growth rate of 29.3% and a VGM Score of A. We note that in a year, the stock has soared over 100%, while the industry has gained 1.7%. The company has delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 21.7% in the trailing four quarters. It carries a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. We also suggest investing in The Children's Place, Inc. with a VGM Score of A and a long-term earnings growth rate of 9%. In a year, this Zacks Rank #2 stock has advanced roughly 25.4%, while the industry witnessed a decline of 22.1%. This children's specialty apparel retailer delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 14% in the preceding four quarters. Another lucrative option is The Home Depot, Inc., which operates as a home improvement retailer. The stock has a long-term earnings growth rate of 13.4% and a VGM Score of B. The company has delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 3.9% in the trailing four quarters. It carries a Zacks Rank #2. We note that in a year, the stock has advanced approximately 30.2%, while the industry has gained 23.2%. Investors can count on Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. that has a long-term earnings growth rate of 6.1% and a VGM Score of B. In a year, this Zacks Rank #2 stock has increased roughly 39%, while the industry advanced 29.3%. This operator of discount stores, supermarkets, hypermarkets and warehouse clubs delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 2.2% in the preceding four quarters. Zacks' Hidden Trades While we share many recommendations and ideas with the public, certain moves are hidden from everyone but selected members of our portfolio services. Would you like to peek behind the curtain today and view them? Starting now, for the next month, I invite you to follow all Zacks' private buys and sells in real time from value to momentum...from stocks under $10 to ETF to option movers...from insider trades to companies that are about to report positive earnings surprises (we've called them with 80%+ accuracy). You can even look inside portfolios so exclusive that they are normally closed to new investors. Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1 Stock of the Day pick for free. About Zacks Equity Research Zacks Equity Research provides the best of quantitative and qualitative analysis to help investors know what stocks to buy and which to sell for the long-term. Continuous coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks. Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights to developments that affect company profits and stock performance. Recommendations and target prices are six-month time horizons. Strong Stocks that Should Be in the News Many are little publicized and fly under the Wall Street radar. They're virtually unknown to the general public. Yet today's 220 Zacks Rank #1 "Strong Buys" were generated by the stock-picking system that has nearly tripled the market from 1988 through 2015. Its average gain has been a stellar +26% per year.See these high-potential stocks free >>. Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/zacksresearch Join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Zacks-Investment-Research/57553657748?ref=ts Zacks Investment Research is under common control with affiliated entities (including a broker-dealer and an investment adviser), which may engage in transactions involving the foregoing securities for the clients of such affiliates. Media Contact Zacks Investment Research 800-767-3771 ext. 9339 support@zacks.com https://www.zacks.com/ Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Home Depot, Inc. (The) (HD) : Free Stock Analysis Report Children's Place, Inc. (The) (PLCE) : Free Stock Analysis Report Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT) : Free Stock Analysis Report Restoration Hardware Holdings Inc. (RH) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research English French JCDecaux wins Yarra Trams landmark outdoor advertising contract in Melbourne Paris, 22 November 2017 - JCDecaux S.A. (Euronext Paris: DEC), the number one outdoor advertising company worldwide, announced today that its Australian company, JCDecaux Australia, has won, following a competitive tender, the 7 year exclusive contract for the entire portfolio of outdoor advertising assets (tram-shelters, Trams and billboards) operated by Yarra Trams in Melbourne, representing one of the largest outdoor advertising concessions in Australia. This contract, which was previously operated by HT&E (formerly APN News & Media) for the tram-shelters and APN Outdoor for the Trams, includes 1,400 advertising panels on tram-shelters and 450 Trams (10% of which can be fully wrapped) as well as 6 light rail billboards. The contract will commence on 30th November 2017. Yarra Trams is proud to operate the world's largest tram network and to deliver a world-class service on more than 200 million passenger trips a year. Trams have been a part of Melbourne's history for more than 100 years and operate across an impressive 250km of double track. Yarra Trams keeps Melbourne moving with a fleet of more than 450 trams operating across 25 routes and serving more than 1,700 stops. Jean-Francois Decaux, Chairman of the Executive Board and Co-CEO of JCDecaux, said today in Melbourne: "Winning this landmark outdoor advertising contract in Melbourne which is Australia's fastest growing city with more than 4.5 million residents and the largest tram network in the world is a game changer for our Australian company. The newly-combined tram shelters and tram body advertising contract provides both the most visible types of outdoor advertising in Melbourne as well as a single point of access for street furniture advertising in Sydney and Melbourne. These cities capture nearly 70% of OOH revenues in Australia. Melbourne is now set to become the 3rd largest digital street furniture advertising network in the world after London and New-York with the initial installation phase of more than 300 digital screens in existing tram-shelters in 2018." Key Figures for JCDecaux 2016 revenue: 3,393m, H1 2017 revenue: 1,641m JCDecaux is listed on the Eurolist of Euronext Paris and is part of the Euronext 100 and Euronext Family Business indexes JCDecaux is part of the FTSE4Good and Dow Jones Sustainability Europe indexes N1 worldwide in street furniture (559,070 advertising panels) N1 worldwide in transport advertising with more than 220 airports and 260 contracts in metros, buses, trains and tramways (354,680 advertising panels) N1 in Europe for billboards (169,860 advertising panels) N1 in outdoor advertising in Europe (721,130 advertising panels) N1 in outdoor advertising in Asia-Pacific (219,310 advertising panels) N1 in outdoor advertising in Latin America (70,680 advertising panels) N1 in outdoor advertising in Africa (29,820 advertising panels) N1 in outdoor advertising in the Middle-East (16,230 advertising panels) Leader in self-service bike rental scheme: pioneer in eco-friendly mobility 1,117,890 advertising panels in more than 75 countries Present in 4,280 cities with more than 10,000 inhabitants Daily audience: more than 410 million people 13,030 employees Communications Department: Agathe Albertini +33 (0) 1 30 79 34 99 - agathe.albertini@jcdecaux.com English French MONTREAL, Nov. 22, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The date of November 26 marks the 20th anniversary of the final report of the Commission of Inquiry on the Blood System in Canada, commonly known as the Krever Commission. The Commission was set up in 1993, following Canadas worst public health tragedy in which 1,200 people were infected with HIV and many thousands with hepatitis C through infected blood and blood products, transfused in the 1970s and 1980s. To mark this event, the Canadian Hemophilia Society (CHS) has released its Report Card on Canadas Blood System (bit.ly/2mMzSx6). This Report Card constitutes the sixth time in the last 20 years that the CHS has reported to Canadians on the state of the countrys blood system. Previous reports can be found at: bit.ly/2Aa3mec. It is widely accepted, said Paul Wilton, president of the CHS, that the Krever Commission has had a profound impact on the blood system in Canada and beyond our borders. Justice Krevers findings are still frequently quoted in publications and at conferences around the world. In the wake of the report, Hema-Quebec, for the province of Quebec, and Canadian Blood Services (CBS), for the remaining Provinces and Territories, were given responsibility to operate Canadas blood system. Since then, representatives of the Canadian Hemophilia Society have been named to almost every committee overseeing the supply of safe blood and blood products for Canadians. Following the terrible events of the 1980s, said Mr. Wilton, many of our volunteers committed themselves to doing everything they could to help avoid such a tragedy ever happening again. The report analyzes which of the 50 recommendations of the Krever Report have not been implemented. It gives marks to Hema-Quebec, CBS and the Provinces/Territories related to the provision of a safe supply of blood and blood products to Canadians. The report was prepared by the Canadian Hemophilia Society Blood Safety and Supply Committee with input from Canadian Blood Services, Hema-Quebec and the patient groups part of the Network of Rare Blood Disorder Organizations (nrbdo.ca). About the Canadian Hemophilia Society Founded in 1953, the Canadian Hemophilia Society is a national voluntary health charity. Its mission is to improve the health and quality of life of all people in Canada with inherited bleeding disorders and ultimately to find cures. Its vision is a world free from the pain and suffering of inherited bleeding disorders. Contact information: Chantal Raymond 1-800-668-2686 or 1-514-848-0503, ext.226 craymond@hemophilia.ca www.hemophilia.ca/en By PTI: By Anisur Rahman Dhaka, Nov 22 (PTI) A special Bangladeshi tribunal today sentenced to death six hardline Islamists, including a former lawmaker, for committing crimes against humanity and siding with the Pakistani troops in carrying out the genocide in 1971. A three-judge panel of Bangladeshs International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-BD) handed down the capital punishment to the six members of the Jamaat-e-Islami saying, the charges against them were "proved beyond doubt." advertisement "They be convicted accordingly and sentenced there under to death under section 20(2) of the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act, 1973," pronounced chair of the panel Justice Shahinur Islam. The verdict came as Bangladesh nearly completed the long-delayed trial of 1971 war crimes since the high-powered tribunal was established in 2010. The tribunal is charged with the task to try persons responsible for committing genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and other crimes under international law committed during the countrys 1971 Liberation War. The six men sentenced to death hail from northwestern Gaibandha and belong to fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami, the party which was opposed to Bangladeshs 1971 independence and joined hands with Pakistani troops in carrying out the genocide. But only one of the six convicts faced the trial in person while the rest, including former Jamaat lawmaker Abu Saleh Mohammad Abdul Aziz Mia, were tried in absentia as they were on the run. Under a special law, the convicts, however, could challenge the judgement before the apex Appellate Division of the Supreme Court. Bangladesh has so far executed six 1971 war crimes convicts, five of them Jamaat leaders and one Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader, the main Opposition since the trial process began in 2010. PTI AR AMS AKJ AMS --- ENDS --- Washington, Nov 22 (IBNS): The meaning behind infants screeches, squeals and wails may frustrate and confound sleep-deprived new parents. But at an age when babies cannot yet speak to us in words, they are already avid students of language. Even though there arent many overt signals of language knowledge in babies, language is definitely developing furiously under the surface, said Elika Bergelson, assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University. Bergelson is the author of a surprising 2012 study showing that six to nine-month-olds already have a basic understanding of words for food and body parts. In a new report, her team used eye-tracking software to show that babies also recognize that the meanings of some words, like car and stroller, are more alike than others, like car and juice. By analyzing home recordings, the team found that babies word knowledge correlated with the proportion of time they heard people talking about objects in their immediate surroundings. Even in the very early stages of comprehension, babies seem to know something about how words relate to each other, Bergelson said. And already by six months, measurable aspects of their home environment predict how much of this early level of knowledge they have. There are clear follow-ups for potential intervention work with children who might be at-risk for language delays or deficits. The study appears the week of Nov. 20 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. To gauge word comprehension, Bergelson invited babies and their caregivers into a lab equipped with a computer screen and few other infant distractions. The babies were shown pairs of images that were related, like a foot and a hand, or unrelated, like a foot and a carton of milk. For each pair, the caregiver (who couldnt see the screen) was prompted to name one of the images while an eye-tracking device followed the babys gaze. Bergelson found that babies spent more time looking at the image that was named when the two images were unrelated than when they were related. They may not know the full-fledged adult meaning of a word, but they seem to recognize that there is something more similar about the meaning of these words than those words, Bergelson said. Bergelson then wanted to investigate how babies performance in the lab might be linked to the speech they hear at home. To peek into the daily life of the infants, she sent each caregiver home with a colorful baby vest rigged with a small audio recorder and asked them to use the vest to record day-long audio of the infant. She also used tiny hats fitted with lipstick-sized video recorders to collect hour-long video of each baby interacting with his or her caregivers. Combing through the recordings, Bergelson and her team categorized and tabulated different aspects of speech the babies were exposed to, including the objects named, what kinds of phrases they occurred in, who said them, and whether or not objects named were present and attended to. It turned out that the proportion of the time that parents talked about something when it was actually there to be seen and learned from correlated with the babies overall comprehension, Bergelson said. For instance, Bergelson said, if a parent says, here is my favorite pen, while holding up a pen, the baby might learn something about pens based on what they can see. In contrast, if a parent says, tomorrow we are going to see the lions at the zoo, the baby might not have any immediate clues to help them understand what lion means. This study is an exciting first step in identifying how early infants learn words, how their initial lexicon is organized, and how it is shaped or influenced by the language that they hear in the world that surrounds them, said Sandra Waxman, a professor of psychology at Northwestern University who was not involved in the study. But, Waxman cautions, it is too early in the research to draw any conclusions about how caregivers should be speaking to their infants. Before anyone says this is what parents need to be doing, we need further studies to tease apart how culture, context and the age of the infant can affect their learning, Waxman said. My take-home to parents always is, the more you can talk to your kid, the better, Bergelson said. Because they are listening and learning from what you say, even if it doesnt appear to be so. This research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (T32 DC000035, DP5-OD019812, HD-037082). By India Today Web Desk: Bigg Boss 11 court will continue its proceedings tonight and Arshi's lawyer Vikas Gupta will start his argument by saying that Hina Khan acted like a villain in breaking 'Arshi Khan and Hiten Tejwani's marriage'. Vikas will brought up a previous instance where Zubair had made a derogatory comment on Arshi and Hina had supported him. advertisement Hina will tell Sapna that if at any moment her arguments gets weak, support her. Sapna during the proceedings will start supporting Hina saying that Arshi's family is the root of all trouble. When Bandgi will put her point, Sapna will tell her that she doesn't like certain things and Bandgi is free to hold her own opinion. On the issue of hurling abuses, Sapna will say that Puneesh makes inappropriate comments. When Puneesh will ask her to elaborate, she will say that he has been saying things about her behind her back. This will not go down well with him and the two will be seen in the middle of an ugly spat. Will this courtroom drama get more dramatic than this? Guess, we will have to wait for the tonight's episode --- ENDS --- Without distribution of food and clean water over the last three weeks [and] significant accumulation of waste and rubbish in the hot and humid weather, the health and sanitation is becoming a very significant issue, Nai Jit Lam, Deputy Regional Representative of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), currently on Manus Island, told journalists in Geneva over the phone. The people that we have spoken to are extremely angry and they see this as an opportunity to tell the world and to show the world, years of anger about how they have been treated over the four years, after being forcibly transferred to Papua New Guinea, he added. According to the UN refugee agency, the conditions and the lack of medicines, increasing number of refugees and asylum seekers at the former facility are falling physically and mentally unwell. Alternative accommodation and services outside the facility are still under construction and it could be another two weeks before they are ready. We have observed [concerns] regarding security and the lack of interpreters on the Island, that brings about the issue of how they would communicate with local people or even the police as well, added the UNHCR official, noting that local contractual disputes hinder staffing of caseworkers to look after the wellbeing of those there, and tensions with local community also remains. Calling on Australian authorities for an active role resolve the situation, which Lam said that is a result of the forcible transfer of people, refugees and asylum seekers by Australia to Papua New Guinea and Nauru under its offshore policy. Australia must take responsibility for the protection, assistance and solutions for the refugees here on Manus Island, he stressed. According to the UN refugee agency, Manus Island (located some 320 kilometres or 200 miles off the northern coast of Papua New Guinea) has been the focus of Australias off-shore processing policy. Of the approximately 3,000 refugees and asylum-seekers forcibly transferred by Australia to facilities in Nauru and Manus, some 1,200 remain in Nauru and 900 in Papua New Guinea. Photo: Australian Government DIBP Source: www.justearthnews.com The headline of the UPI report called attention to the position of Iran in pushing for this OPEC agreement. Iran is a leading member of the oil cartel, but was exempted from cuts after the initial agreement, based on Iranian negotiators insistence that the country should be permitted to recover from sanctions before signing onto any such agreement. Most sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran were suspended at the start of 2016 with the implementation of the nuclear agreement the country had reached with six world powers. Iran personally identified a roughly four million barrel per day output of oil as the target to be reached before joining the agreement. This was ostensibly in line with the countrys pre-sanctions output, although other analysts have disputed the figure. Additionally, the initially rapid growth of Iranian oil output slowed down considerably as it drew close to the self-identified benchmark. As long as Iran is permitted to excuse itself from ongoing cuts, it has an opportunity to challenge shares of the oil market that are currently held by regional rivals, chiefly Saudi Arabia. This fact and the associated tensions are arguably underscored by Irans repeated boasting about the multilateral support that exists for extension of the agreement that it is not currently participating in. Iran and Saudi Arabia have been engaged in an escalating war of words for many months, and that escalation seemed to accelerate this month after Iran-backed rebels in Yemen fired a missile deep into Saudi territory. At the same time, the Saudis backed the resignation of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who used that opportunity to speak out against deepening Iranian influence in his country through the paramilitary group and political party Hezbollah. Despite the danger of this influence in Lebanon, Yemen and elsewhere becoming more entrenched as a result of Iranian revenue streams, neither Saudi Arabia nor its close allies in OPEC have shown an interest in undermining the output agreement, which benefits Iran in the short term but will presumably benefit virtually all oil exporting countries over the long term. As such, the UPI report quoted one American market analyst as saying that Saudi support for the extension of the output limits was all but guaranteed. Vying for Influence But this is not to say that the Gulf Arab states are declining to push back against the danger of further Iranian ascendancy in the region and in global markets. Quite to the contrary, Reuters reported that Saudi Arabia had called for an emergency meeting on the topic. With support from the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Kuwait, the meeting was held on Sunday in the Egyptian capital of Cairo and focused on developing strategies for diminishing the interference of Iran and Hezbollah into the internal affairs of Arab nations. However, for its part, Iran has been making clear efforts to work together with its allies in order to strengthen its own foothold in those same areas. Notably, the Cairo meeting took place on the same day as Iranian officials met with their Russian and Turkish counterparts to discuss the future of post-civil war Syria, where the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad has been preserved in large part through the efforts of Iran-sponsored Shiite paramilitary groups. A coalition of those groups has now reportedly been integrated into the Syrian armed forces, thus complicating the project of extricating Iranian influence from that country on the east coast of the Mediterranean. Tehran enjoys similarly entrenched influence in neighboring Iraq, which joined Syria as the other major theater of conflict against the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Now that that fight is largely ended, other parties to the conflict are struggling to advance their own interests in the region, and Iran is particularly prominent among them. Whats more, the Iranians also seem to be particularly blatant about this project, which involves not only the operation of proxy groups linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps but also the direct, on-the-ground influence of the IRGCs foreign special operations branch, the Quds Force. On Monday, the Middle East Monitor reported that photographs had been released showing Qassem Suleimani, the head of the Quds Force, in Syria on November 14. This lends additional credence to the claims of opposition, the National Council of Resistance of Iran regarding the leading role played by Suleimani and the IRGC in recent activities in the region, including the retaking of the Iraqi city of Kirkuk and the surrounding areas from Kurdish forces that had previously captured them from ISIL. The storming of Kirkuk helped to stifle a push for Kurdish independence, and it ostensibly returned the oil-rich region to the control of the Iraqi national government. But various analysts have maintained that in reality the region was largely handed over to Iran, as evidenced by the emergence last week of an agreement granting Iran control over increasing quantities of Kirkuk oil. The visual confirmation of Suleimanis presence in Syria also reinvigorates calls for action by the international community to punish Iranian agents and the Islamic Republic itself over the violation of restrictions that remain in place even after the implementation of the nuclear agreement at the start of last year. Suleimani is personally subject to sanctions from multiple nations over his support for terrorism by way of the Quds Force. These activities also justify a United Nations travel ban, which Suleimani has routinely violated throughout the time his involvement has been reported in Syria and Iraq. Influence Equals Minority Persecution The issue of terrorist activity by the Quds Force and its affiliates is becoming a more prominent issue in some circles following the loss by ISIL of all towns and cities in the areas where it had formerly laid claim to a Sunni Islamic caliphate. As organizations like the NCRI had previously warned, the defeat of ISIL has in many ways led to the upsurge of comparable extremism and human rights abuses centered in Tehran. Algemeiner published an article on Monday that partially illustrated this trend. That article points to comments by Wahida Yaqo Hormuz, a Christian representative in the parliament of the Kurdish Regional Government in Iraq, regarding the flagrant injustice being done to Christians and other minorities in areas that are now effectively ruled by Irans Shiite proxies. Previous reports had similarly indicated that those proxies had in essence taken over for ISIL in persecuting religious minorities that are perceived as threats to militants on both sides of Islams sectarian divide. As well as directly attacking Christians who are subject to their authority, the Shiite paramilitaries are also reportedly preventing displaced Christian populations from returning. This is in line with Irans apparent efforts to partition much of the Middle East along sectarian lines, thereby securing lasting influence over local populations that are almost entirely Shiite. But to the extent that this project is recognized by minority groups who have the potential to be affected, it presents an opportunity for Saudi Arabia and other opponents of the Islamic Republic to develop alliances with those groups in order to push back against Iranian influence where it is not yet entrenched. This was the focus of an article that appeared at LobeLog on Monday. Though generalizable to religious minorities, the article actually focused on the Ahwazi Arab ethnic minority, which is largely Shiite but occupies an area of Iran known as Khuzestan that is resource-rich but very poorly served by the Iranian government. Tehrans persistent neglect of the minority has already led to the development of closer ties between some Arab movements to counter Iranian imperialism. Naturally, these people have also expressed support for regime change in Tehran a goal that was officially endorsed by former Saudi intelligence chief Turki al-Faisal last year, as well as being tacitly endorsed by the White House at several points since President Donald Trump took office. The LobeLog article suggests that the frustration of marginalized and persecuted minorities is something that could be exploited as part of a strategy for confronting Iran. The article does not explicitly take a position on the advisability of such a course of action, saying only that the White House would have to weigh the matter carefully if the Saudis tried to stir up more action by such minorities. On the other hand, the BESA Center was somewhat less non-committal in a similar article that was published on its website last week. The article pointed to recent revelations about Irans relationship with al Qaeda and other jihadist groups as justification for the tough Iran policy being pushed by the Trump White House. It also made reference to revived agitation by Kurds, Baloch, and Azeris, calling it expressions of longstanding and deep-seated grievances and suggesting that this might be leveraged for the goal of regime change. In illustrating that possibility, the article called attention to a January statement by the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan in which it announced the resumption of armed struggle and specified that this was motivated less by separatist sentiment and more for the sake of a struggle against the Islamic Republic for all of Iran. According to a report by the Saudi Gazette, The Cabinet issued a communique that stressed the necessity for Iran to desist in their support of groups that incite sectarian conflicts in Arab Gulf counties. Following the foreign ministers extraordinary meeting in Cairo on Sunday, Awwad Alawwad, Minister of Culture and Information for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, said that the Cabinet condemning all terror acts being perpetrated by Iran. It also condemned Irans interference in the internal affairs of Arab countries and its feeding of sectarian conflicts. During the session, the Cabinet praised the noticeable progress that was shown in the Quarterly Budget Performance Report for the third quarter in the fiscal year 1438/1439H (2017), commonly known as the Q3 2017 general budget performance report. The Q3 report affirms the Kingdom of Saudi Arabias commitment of transparency and financial disclosure, and this most recent one highlights progress in achieving the defined objectives within the Financial Balance Program. The report reflected the headway made in achieving the specified goals within the financial balance program as part of the goals of the Kingdoms Vision 2030, the Cabinet said. The Q3 budget report released on Sunday put the Kingdoms total third quarter revenue at SR142.1 billion, which is up 11 percent year-on-year. Non-oil revenue jumped 80 percent year-on-year to SR47.8 billion in the third quarter. Additionally, according to the cabinet, the Kingdom committed to taking all necessary measures to counter climate change, so as to achieve sustainable development in line with Vision 2030. The Cabinet stressed Saudi Arabias firm position that was voiced at the United Nations regarding the Palestinian cause. It said that this was considered the prime Arab and Muslim issue. The Kingdom will vote in favor of a resolution on the permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people over the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Al-Quds, and in favor of the sovereignty of Arab people in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights over their natural resources. The Kingdom will support the return of the Palestinian people to their land, and reject Israeli policies that do not respect international laws and norms, the Cabinet said. Imran is the former head of the Iranian-influenced 5th Iraqi Army (IA) Division, which is based in Diyala, Iraq. Jordanian media and a Facebook page linked with Imran show photos of him in Iraqi, closely coordinating with Iranian proxy Badr Organization leader Hadi al Ameri in 2015. The Dijla Operations Command (DOC), of which the 5th IA Division is a component, is responsible for security in Iraqs Diyala Province along the Iraq-Iran border. According to an article by Omer Kassim with Jennifer Cafarella, and Zachary Goulet for the Institute for the Study of War, Irans influence over the DOCs leadership is a template for how the security structure in Kirkuk will likely evolve. Irans proxies have disproportionate influence over the DOC. Vice News publisher a video in February 2015 that shows the former head of the DOC, Abdul Amir al Zaydi, taking direct orders from Ameri. Kassim, Cafarella, and Goulet write that, Imran will likely provide a durable conduit for Irans proxies to dominate Kirkuks security structure similar to their role in Diyala. On October 18, Abadi demanded that that the Iranian proxy-dominated Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) withdraw from Kirkuk, thereby handing control of security to the Counterterrorism Services (CTS) and local police. The PMF did not comply. Prime Minister Abadis attempt to constrain armed group in Kirkuk failed. On November 5th, a double suicide vest attack, said to have been carried out by the Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham (ISIS), targeted a location near the Kirkuk city headquarters of Saraya al Salam an armed group affiliated with nationalist Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Allegedly, Sadr then ordered Saraya al Salam to withdraw, but the presence of his unit on November 5th appears to demonstrate that he initially ignored Prime Minister Abadis withdrawal order. Apparently, Irans proxy group Asaib Ahl al Haq (AAH) also retains presence in the city. Iraqi Kurdish media indicated in unconfirmed reports that the ISIS attack targeted AAH in addition to Saraya al Salam. Additionally, Rebwar Taha, the head of the Kirkuk Provincial Council also accused AAH of occupying his home in Kirkuk during a press conference on October 20. According to Kassim, Cafarella, and Goulet, Irans proxies also continue to dominate the areas around Kirkuk Province. The Iranian proxy Badr Organizations Turkmen unit, also known as the 16th PMF Brigade, retains a strong presence south of Kirkuk City and is now deployed in the northern Kirkuk countryside up to the outskirts of Altun Kupri district, about 50 kilometers south of Arbil City. Abadis decision to appoint Imran as the head of the Kirkuk operations command reflects a concession to Irans proxies and a recognition that he cannot constrain them. In order to continue enjoying our site, we ask you enter in the text you see in the image below so we can confirm your identity as a human. Thank you very much for your cooperation. Many countries place limits on the amount of time a leader can serve in office. The need to change leaders after a limited number of terms in office is written into the laws of a number of countries. This is often because many people believe that leaders with too much power for too long become corrupt. Limiting a persons time in office is seen by many as a way to improve governance. Some leaders, however, do not agree. There are leaders who go so far as to change their countrys constitution to remain in power. A wealthy Sudanese businessman, Mohamed Ibrahim, thought of a way to influence leaders to willingly give up power. He promised a reward of $5 million for any African leader who led his country well and who observed term limits in the interest of democracy. Since 2007, only four presidents have received what is known as the Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership. A number of leaders of African countries have been in power for generations. Paul Biya of Cameroon is the longest-serving leader in the world. His 42 years as either prime minister or president have been marked with election fraud and human rights abuses. Biya spends a lot of time in Switzerland at the Hotel InterContinental in Geneva. He has been criticized as one of the worlds worst dictators. He also convinced the National Assembly to change the Constitution to remove term limits. The BBC reported in 2012 that Biya spent a vacation in France three years earlier in which he spent $40,000 a day on 43 hotel rooms. Teodoro Obiang Nguema became the president of Equatorial Guinea in 1979, after deposing his uncle. At every election, with or without an opponent, Obiang wins over 90 percent of the vote. Last year, he appointed his son, Teodorin Obiang, as the vice president. In February 2012, French police raided a mansion in Paris belonging to Obiang and they discovered luxury goods inside worth millions of dollars. In July 2012, the French issued an arrest warrant for Obiang. Police seized the mansion, and Obiang was found guilty of money laundering, although he was not present for the trial. Long-serving leaders are not only in Africa, however. Nursultan Nazarbayev has been the president of Kazakhstan for 33 years. In May 2007, the Parliament of Kazakhstan approved a constitutional amendment. The law permits Nazarbayev to seek re-election as many times as he wishes. This amendment applies only to Nazarbayev. It states that the first president will have no limits on how many times he can run for office. Subsequent presidents, however, will be limited to a five-year term. Opposition members often claim he has hidden more than $1 billion in a Swiss bank. Kim Il-sung was the leader of North Korea from 1948 until 1994, serving as either a prime minister or president. He passed power to his son, Kim Jong-il and then to his grandson, Kim Jong Un. These three generations are considered responsible for creating a cult of personality in the country. However, North Koreas economy has declined in the last 50 years. United Nations experts on North Korea say this economic weakness led to a four-year famine in the mid-1990s that caused the deaths of up to 3 million people. Leaders who serve without limits are often called dictators. They often attack opposition members. Another result of having an unlimited leader is that often economic and technological development slows. For this reason, many western democracies have put limitations on their leaders, including the United States. Americas 32nd president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, was elected to four presidential terms, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. After the death of the only American president to serve more than two terms, the U.S. Congress approved the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution. The amendment says no person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice. Im Susan Shand Susan Shand wrote this story for Learning English. Mario Ritter was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page. ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story depose - v. to remove (someone) from a powerful position mansion - n. a large and impressive house : the large house of a wealthy person luxury - n. a condition or situation of great comfort, ease, and wealth money-laundering - v. to make money acquired through corruption appear to be honest subsequent - adj. happening or coming after something else cult n. a situation in which people admire and care about something or someone very much or too much Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has resigned after 37 years in office. Parliamentary speaker Jacob Mudenda read Mugabes resignation letter to Zimbabwes Parliament Tuesday. Mugabe wrote, My decision to resign is voluntary on my part and arises from my concern for the welfare of the people of Zimbabwe and my desire for a smooth, non-violent transfer of power. The letter said the resignation was effective immediately. Celebrations broke out in parliament. Lawmakers had gathered to begin legal action to remove the 93-year-old Mugabe from office. People also danced in the streets of Harare and blew car horns in reaction to the announcement. The Zimbabwean military placed Mugabe under house arrest on November 15. The military took action a little more than a week after Mugabe dismissed Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa. That dismissal appeared to put Mugabes wife, Grace, in a position to become the next leader. Pressure to resign increased after statement Mugables ruling ZANU-PF party had been pressuring him to resign since his house arrest. Hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans publicly demonstrated in protest of the ousted president. On Sunday, Mugabe spoke to the nation. He said he would remain in office and lead the ZANU-PF meeting in December. His statement led lawmakers to take action to remove him from office. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai of the MDC party spoke Tuesday before the resignation announcement. He said the culture of the ruling party must end and everyone must work together toward free and fair elections. Mugabe has led Zimbabwe since it became a fully independent and recognized country in 1980. But the countrys economy had weakened severely, leading to calls that Mugabe step down. Im Caty Weaver. Caty Weaver wrote this story for Learning English based on VOA, AP and Reuters news reports. Mario Ritter was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section. _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story welfare n. the state of being happy, healthy, or successful transfer v. to move (someone or something) from one place to another horn n. a device that makes a loud noise By PTI: (EDs: Recasting overnight story) Patna, Nov 22 (PTI) A controversy has arisen over directions to school teachers in certain Bihar districts to dissuade people from defecating in the open and click pictures of those who refused to pay heed. Orders issued by block education officers asked teachers to do rounds in various wards and panchayat areas in the mornings and evenings and ask people to use toilets. advertisement They were also directed to click photographs to shame those who insisted on relieving themselves in the open. However, teachers were not happy with the extra load of work. "Teachers are already overworked. They are used in a number of non-teaching works like census, preparation of voters list etc. This new order on open defecation is not only an addition, it is also an insult to their dignity," general secretary of Bihar Secondary Teachers Association, Shatrughan Prasad Singh, said. State Education Minister Krishna Nandan Prasad Verma, however, defended the move, saying "Teachers are intellectuals and can perform the task of convincing people not to defecate in the open, much better than others." "Moreover, the teachers do not have to keep a tab on those defecating in the open throughout the day. They will have to take some time off in the mornings and the evenings. This will not affect their teaching work," he said. Achieving open defecation free (ODF) status has become a priority in Bihar in view of the Swachch Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Seven Resolves of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, both of which aim at providing every household with sanitation facility. PTI NAC NN RCJ --- ENDS --- The Roma are Europe's largest ethnic minority. Official reports say the group, also known as Romani people, has up to 12 million members in Europe. The Roma are among Europe's most disadvantaged populations. Across the continent, a high number of Roma experience social exclusion. They are often treated differently from other Europeans in the workplace, in housing and education. In several countries, Roma children attend the poorest schools or face discrimination in schools where they are the minority. Some children are unfairly sent to "special education" centers for students with learning difficulties. In other cases, the children may be denied access to education because they lack documentation. Or they are simply unable to attend classes because they live far from the nearest school. As a result, Roma communities often suffer from low levels of education. International experts say this has created a form of inter-generational poverty. Low registration and high drop-out rates Throughout Europe, Roma children have lower school registration and attendance rates and higher dropout rates than the general population. In central and southeastern Europe, only about 20 percent of the children complete primary school compared to 90 percent of non-Roma youngsters. And a 2012 study of 11 European Union, or EU, nations found that only 15 percent of Roma children finish upper-secondary school or job-related training. Nora Shabani is an education specialist for UNICEF -- the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund. She told VOA that many Roma children have a number of needs, and school access alone is only one. "They lack food. They lack clothing. They lack documents. They have problems with the language of instruction, and these needs really require engagement from many partners and service providers." In addition, experts say, Roma children face discrimination and even racism in some schools, one reason they leave school at a higher rate than non-Roma children. Others stop attending classes to help the family earn money, take care of the home, or because they are expected to marry. Realities of Roma life in Europe Even with these realities, Romani people are not a homogenous group. A growing Roma middle class exists. Some Roma communities have remained settled in parts of Europe for hundreds of years, while other Roma are more nomadic. The ancestors of modern Roma come from Northern India. They migrated to the continent about 1,000 years ago. Most live in central and eastern Europe, but for centuries, smaller communities of Romani have existed in Western Europe. In recent years, more Roma have been moving to Britain, France and other countries in search of a better life. For a long time, Roma have been the subject of myths about their culture, like that they prefer stealing or asking for money from strangers to working hard. Today, fewer than 1 in 3 Roma in 11 EU countries have a job, and 90 percent live in poverty. In central and southeastern Europe, Roma unemployment rates are more than five times that of the general population. But extreme poverty was not always the case. A European Commission report notes that, for years, Roma were well-established in rural areas. They worked mainly in trade occupations, such as blacksmithing and craftsmanship, or as musicians. But industrialization, the end of communist rule in Eastern Europe, and the Balkan wars of the 1990s combined to cause intense hardship for Roma. Six million Roma live in the European Union, and most are EU citizens, which means they have the right to live in any EU member country. Yet many people in Western Europe often think of Roma as foreigners or outsiders. A number of European leaders speak openly of the "Roma problem" and ways to slow their migration. Housing and school access In Western Europe, many Roma migrants live in informal camps. They have little access to running water and waste removal systems. In France, for example, between 15,000 and 20,000 Roma live in informal camps and face threats of eviction. And, two-thirds of the children rarely go to school or do not attend at all. Radost Zaharieva is from the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) a public interest law group. She is the country representative for France. Zaharieva says that access to education for Roma children in France is tied to their housing. These families face repeated forced evictions, some of them many times per year, which is a real barrier for them to settle in one place and to have the needed time for doing every administrative procedure to get access (to) their rights. Most French cities require a residency permit for school enrollment. Some non-governmental organizations and community centers do provide families with mailing addresses. But it is each citys mayor who decides whether to accept them. Evictions from camps are also common for Roma in Italy. Rosa Mangiacavallo is the Italian representative to the ERRC. In an email, she noted children in informal camps there can enroll in school but said the evictions prevent enrollment and regular attendance. In addition, she said, the camps are often set up in industrial areas, far from schools. In a 2016 statement, the Council of Europe, the United Nations and other agencies warned European officials that they are required to offer housing options to homeless individuals. They also said that continued evictions prevent Roma children from accessing education and healthcare. Roma children face continued segregation For the majority of children in non-EU member countries, there are three fairly common situations: poorly financed schools where most students are Roma; schools where Roma are the minority; and special education centers for children with learning disabilities. In areas where most students are Roma, UNICEFs Nora Shabani notes, the schools are overcrowded, buildings are in poor condition, and teacher quality is low. In schools where Roma children are the minority, she says, they can face discrimination from administrators, teachers and students. They often are sent to separate classes or kept separate from other children within the classroom. The Open Society Institute found that negative beliefs about the academic ability of Roma children are common throughout Central and Eastern Europe. Sometimes, Shabani adds, Roma are given academic placement tests. Very often, because of discrimination, Roma children are not accepted and, even worse, they often have to go (take) entry tests and during these entry tests, they are often given qualification (the result) as they are not eligible to attend regular education and they are directed toward 'special' schools. The system of sending Romani children to special education schools is now being fought in courts throughout Europe. Closing the achievement gap A 2011 study by Central European University and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences looked at reading and mathematics tests. The study found that the achievement gap between Roma and non-Roma children is the result of social disadvantages, such as poverty and the parents' lack of access to the labor market. Between 2005 and 2015, a 12-country program called the Decade of Roma Inclusion sought to address social inclusion and the socio-economic condition of the Roma. Shabani says that the Roma Decade was successful in increasing access to school for Roma children. But, she notes, access alone does not keep children in school. She says early childhood education will address most of the social and economic disadvantages Roma children face. Both UNICEF and the World Bank note that access to preschool would lower the chances of Roma children being sent to "special" schools and increase their chances of completing secondary school. Beyond grade school, non-governmental organizations such as the Roma Education Fund offer a number of university scholarships to Roma students. In addition, some European universities now have admissions policies designed to support Roma students. Others offer programs that help the students prepare for college. I'm Alice Bryant. And Im Bryan Lynn. Alice Bryant wrote this story for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor. _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story disadvantage - n. something that makes someone or something worse or less likely to succeed than others access - n. a way of being able to get or use something primary school - adj. a school in which children receive primary education, usually between ages 5-12, coming after pre-school and before secondary education homogeneous - adj. made up of the same kind of people or things nomadic - adj. a member of a group of people who move from place to place instead of living in one place all the time myth - n. an idea or story that is believed by many people but that is not true informal camps - n. a place where people build temporary shelters to live eviction - n. the act of forcing someone to leave a place procedure - n. a series of actions that are done in a certain way or order enrollment - n. the act of registering a child for school negative - adj. harmful or bad eligible - adj. able to do or receive something achievement gap - n. differences in educational performance or attainment among different groups of students A United Nations Yugoslav war crimes court has ruled against former Bosnian Serb army leader Ratko Mladic. Mladic was found guilty of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for actions during the conflict in the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s. The court found him guilty on 10 of the 11 charges he faced, including persecution, extermination, murder, terror and unlawful attacks on civilians. He was sentenced to life in prison. The court said Mladic tried to destroy the Bosnian Muslim population in the town of Srebrenica. And it said that, in Sarajevo, he personally directed a campaign of shelling and sniping meant to spread terror among civilians. It noted that Mladic had talked about a desire to create an ethnically homogenous Bosnian Serb republic. Mladic was in the courtroom on Wednesday, but was not present when a judge started reading the courts findings. He asked to go to the restroom for five minutes, but did not return for 45 minutes. His lawyer said Mladics blood pressure was dangerously high. He asked the judge to either stop reading the verdict or go straight to the judgment. When the judge refused, Mladic began shouting until he was removed from the courtroom. Zeid Raad Al Hussein is the United Nations human rights chief. In a statement, he called the courts ruling a momentous victory for justice and the epitome of what international justice is all about. He also said the verdict is a warning to the perpetrators of such crimes that they will not escape justice, no matter how powerful they may be nor how long it may take. Mladic is the last former military leader to face war crimes charges in the court, which was set up to deal with the crimes that took place during the Bosnian war. The fighting lasted from 1992 until 1995, when the Dayton Peace Accord was signed. The agreement kept Bosnia as one country divided into two parts: the Serb Republic and the Bosnia-Croat Federation. Mladic was charged with leading sniper campaigns in Sarajevo and with the 1995 killings of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica. In 1995, at the end of the war, Mladic lived in Serbia, protected by family members and members of security forces. Many Serbs consider him to be a war hero. He was able to avoid arrest for almost 16 years. He was arrested at the home of a family member in rural northern Serbia in 2011. He has been in jail for more than five years. Radovan Karadzic was the political leader of the Bosnian Serbs. In March, 2016 he was found guilty of war crimes and sentenced to 40 years in prison. Im Bryan Lynn. VOAs Chris Hannas reported this story from Washington. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted his report for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section, or visit our Facebook page. _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story persecute v. to treat (someone) cruelly or unfairly especially because of race or religious or political beliefs exterminate v. to destroy or kill (a group of animals, people, etc.) completely snipe v. to shoot at someone from a hidden place homogenous adj. made up of the same kind of people or things momentous adj. very important; having great or lasting importance epitome n. a perfect example; an example that represents or expresses something very well perpetrate v. to do (something that is illegal or wrong) The U.S. Thanksgiving holiday is symbolized by its traditional food, a large bird we call a turkey. But turkey is certainly not from Turkey. In fact, its English name is based on one big mistake. We could say it is a case of mistaken identity. Lets set the record straight. The word Turkey has meant the land of the Turks since ancient times. The word turkey as it refers to the bird first appeared in the English language in the mid-1500s. The misunderstanding over the word happened because of two similar-looking kinds of birds. There is an African bird called the guinea fowl. It has dark feathers with white spots and a patch of brown on the back of its neck. Portuguese traders brought the guinea fowl to Europe through North Africa. This foreign bird came to Europe through Turkish lands. So, the English thought of the bird as a Turkish chicken. When Europeans came to North America, they saw a bird that looked like the guinea fowl. This bird was native to the North American continent. Orin Hargraves is a lexicographer, someone who writes dictionaries. Hargraves explains what happened. Some Europeans saw an American turkey, thought that it was the guinea fowl, which at that time was called the turkey cock, and so gave it the same name." Hundreds of years later, we continue to call this North American bird turkey, even though it has no connection at all with the country Turkey, or even with Europe. But English is not the only language with interesting -- and even questionable -- names for this North American bird. The Turkish, for their part, call turkey hindi, the Turkish name for India. The reference to India probably comes from the old, wrong idea that the New World was in Eastern Asia. The French call it dinde, a name that also connects the bird to India. DInde means from India in the French language. Turkey has similar names in several other languages. So, what do they call this North American bird in India? Well, in the Hindi language, turkey is tarki. But wait, theres more. In Portuguese, the same bird is called Peru, after the South American nation. Thanks to our VOA Learning English Facebook friends, we have a few more names for turkey to share with you. The Vietnamese word for the bird is ga tay or western chicken. Our Facebook friend Nguyen Duc explains that local chicken is smaller than western chicken. A Facebook friend in Myanmar explained that the Burmese word for turkey is kyat sin. The name translates to elephant chicken in English. That animal looks like a big chicken, Zaw Myo Win explained. The Dari language name for the bird, "fel murgh" also translates to elephant chicken. Abdulla Kawer explained to us that here in Afghanistan this name represents the size of this delicious meal. He adds that he thinks the descriptive name elephant chicken is better than a country name. Im Ashley Thompson. Ashley Thompson wrote this report, based on an earlier Learning English report by Anna Matteo. Kelly Jean Kelly was the editor. How do you say 'turkey' in your language? Let us know in the comments section! ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story symbolize - v. to represent or express a particular idea or quality translate - v. to change words from one language into another language PPG Industries, Inc. manufactures and distributes paints, coatings, and specialty materials worldwide. The company's Performance Coatings segment offers coatings, solvents, adhesives, sealants, sundries, and software for automotive and commercial transport/fleet repair and refurbishing, light industrial coatings, and specialty coatings for signs; and coatings, sealants, transparencies, transparent armor, adhesives, engineered materials, and packaging and chemical management services for commercial, military, regional jet, and general aviation aircraft. It also provides coatings and finishes for the protection of metals and structures, such as metal fabricators, heavy duty maintenance contractors, and manufacturers of ships, bridges, and rail cars; paints, wood stains, adhesives, and purchased sundries for painting and maintenance contractors, and consumers for decoration and maintenance of residential and commercial building structures; and paints, thermoplastics, pavement marking products, and other technologies for pavement marking. The company's Industrial Coatings segment offers coatings, adhesives and sealants, and metal pretreatments, as well as services and coatings applications for appliances, agricultural and construction equipment, consumer electronics, automotive parts and accessories, building products, kitchenware, and transportation vehicles and other finished products; and on-site coatings services. It also provides coatings for metal cans, closures, plastic tubes, and promotional and specialty packaging; amorphous precipitated silica for tire, battery separator, and other end-uses; TESLIN substrates for labels, e-passports, drivers' licenses, breathable membranes, and loyalty and identification cards; and organic light emitting diode materials, displays and lighting lens materials, optical lenses, color-change products, and photochromic dyes. The company was incorporated in 1883 and is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The following companies are subsidiares of Ingersoll Rand: 13125882 Canada Inc., 211 E. Russell Road LLC, 4458664 Canada Inc., ACCUDYNE INDUSTRIES ASIA PTE. LTD., ACCUDYNE INDUSTRIES BORROWER S.C.A., ACCUDYNE INDUSTRIES INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED, ACCUDYNE INDUSTRIES LLC, ACCUDYNE INDUSTRIES MIDDLE EAST FZE, ACCUDYNE INDUSTRIES SERVICES LIMITED, ASTRUM IT GmbH, Accudyne Industries Acquisition S.A r.l, Accudyne Industries Canada Inc., Accudyne Industries S.A r.l., Air Dimensions, Air Dimensions Inc., Albin Pump SAS, BOC Edwards Global Low pressure Air business, CISA S.p.A., Cameron-Centrifugal Compression, Comercial Ingersoll-Rand (Chile) Limitada, Comingersoll-Comercio E Industria De Equipamentos S.A., CompAir, CompAir (Hankook) Korea Co. Ltd., CompAir Acquisition (No. 2) Ltd., CompAir Acquisition Ltd., CompAir BroomWade Ltd., CompAir Finance Ltd., CompAir GmbH, CompAir Holdings Limited, CompAir International Trading (Shanghai) Co Ltd, CompAir Korea Ltd, CompAir South Africa (SA) (Pty) Ltd., Consolidated Distribution Holdings Ltd., DV Systems Inc., Dosatron International SAS, Emco Wheaton Gmbh, Emco Wheaton USA Inc, Enza Air Proprietary Limited, FlexEnergy Holdings LLC, Frigoblock Grosskopf Gmbh, GD Aria Holdings Limited, GD Aria Holdings Limited, GD Aria Investments Limited, GD First (UK) Ltd, GD German Holdings GmbH, GD German Holdings I Gmbh, GD German Holdings II GmbH, GD German Investments GmbH, GD Global Holdings II Inc., GD Global Holdings Inc., GD Global Holdings UK II Ltd., GD Global Ventures I B.V., GD Global Ventures II B.V., GD Global Ventures III B.V., GD Industrial Products Malaysia SDN. BHD., GD Investment KY, GD UK Finance Ltd., GPS Industries, Gardner Denver (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Gardner Denver Austria GmbH, Gardner Denver Bad Neustadt Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver Belgium NV, Gardner Denver Brasil Industria E Comercio de Maquinas Ltda., Gardner Denver CZ + SK sro, Gardner Denver Canada Corp (Canada), Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments II Limited, Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments Limited, Gardner Denver Deutschland GmbH, Gardner Denver Engineered Products India Private Limited, Gardner Denver FZE, Gardner Denver Finance II LLC, Gardner Denver Finance Inc & Co KG, Gardner Denver France SAS, Gardner Denver Group Svcs Ltd, Gardner Denver Holdings Limited, Gardner Denver Hong Kong Investments Limited, Gardner Denver Hong Kong Ltd, Gardner Denver Iberica SL, Gardner Denver Inc., Gardner Denver Industries Ltd., Gardner Denver Industries Pty Ltd., Gardner Denver International Inc., Gardner Denver International Ltd., Gardner Denver Investments Inc., Gardner Denver Italy Holdings S.r.L., Gardner Denver Japan Ltd., Gardner Denver Kirchhain Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver Korea Ltd., Gardner Denver Ltd., Gardner Denver Machinery (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Gardner Denver Nash Brasil Industria E Comercio De Bombas Ltda, Gardner Denver Nash LLC, Gardner Denver Nash Machinery Ltd., Gardner Denver Nederland BV, Gardner Denver Nederland Investments B.V., Gardner Denver Oy, Gardner Denver Polska Sp z.o.o., Gardner Denver Pte. Ltd., Gardner Denver S.r.l., Gardner Denver Schopfheim GmbH, Gardner Denver Schopfheim Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver Schweiz AG, Gardner Denver Slovakia s.r.o., Gardner Denver Sweden AB, Gardner Denver Taiwan Ltd., Gardner Denver Thomas GmbH (f/k/a ILMVAC GmbH), Gardner Denver Thomas Inc., Gardner Denver Thomas Pneumatic Systems (Wuxi) Co. Ltd., Gardner Denver Thomas Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Garo Dott. Ing. Roberto Gabbioneta S.r.l., Ghh-Rand Schraubenkompressoren Gmbh, HASKEL EUROPE LTD., HASKEL HOLDINGS UK LIMITED, HASKEL INTERNATIONAL LLC, Hamworthy Belliss & Morcom, Haskel France SAS, Haskel Sistemas de Fluidos Espana S.R.L., Hibon Inc., Highspeed Newco LLC, Hingerose Limited, ILMVAC (UK) Ltd., ILS Innovative Labor Systeme, ILS Inovative Laborsysteme GmbH, INGERSOLL RAND ITS JAPAN LTD., INGERSOLL-RAND (CHANG ZHOU) TOOLS CO. LTD., INGERSOLL-RAND (CHINA) INDUSTRIAL EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURING CO. LTD., INGERSOLL-RAND CHINA LLC, INGERSOLL-RAND COMERCIO E SERVICOS DE MAQUINAS E EQUIPAMENTOS INDUSTRIAIS LTDA., INGERSOLL-RAND DE PUERTO RICO INC., INGERSOLL-RAND INDUSTRIAL COMPANY B.V., INGERSOLL-RAND INDUSTRIAL SP. Z O.O., INGERSOLL-RAND INDUSTRIAL U.S. INC., INGERSOLL-RAND PHILIPPINES INC., INGERSOLL-RAND SPAIN S.A., INGERSOLL-RAND U.S. HOLDCO INC., IR HPS Holdco. Inc., ITO Emniyet, Ingersoll Rand Cyprus Investments Ltd., Ingersoll Rand Finance LLC, Ingersoll Rand Global Investments LLC, Ingersoll Rand Global Ventures LLC, Ingersoll Rand Hong Kong Investments Limited, Ingersoll Rand Inc., Ingersoll Rand Investments (SG) Pte. Ltd., Ingersoll Rand Investments B.V., Ingersoll Rand Schweiz Investments Gmbh, Ingersoll Rand Technology R&D (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Ingersoll-Rand (Australia) Ltd., Ingersoll-Rand (China) Investment Company Limited, Ingersoll-Rand (Guilin) Tools Company Limited, Ingersoll-Rand (Hong Kong) Holding Company Limited, Ingersoll-Rand (India) Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Ab, Ingersoll-Rand Air Solutions Hibon Sarl, Ingersoll-Rand Beteiligungs Und Grundstucksverwaltungs Gmbh, Ingersoll-Rand Colombia S.A.S., Ingersoll-Rand Company Limited (Uk), Ingersoll-Rand Company South Africa (Pty) Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Cz S.R.O., Ingersoll-Rand De Mexico S.A. De C.V., Ingersoll-Rand Equipements De Production S.A.S., Ingersoll-Rand Holdings Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Industrial Ireland Limited, Ingersoll-Rand International (India) Private Limited, Ingersoll-Rand International Holding Llc, Ingersoll-Rand Italia S.R.L., Ingersoll-Rand Italiana Manufacturing S.R.L., Ingersoll-Rand Korea Holding Llc, Ingersoll-Rand Korea Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Lux Investments II S.A R.I., Ingersoll-Rand Lux Investments S.A R.L., Ingersoll-Rand Luxembourg Industrial Company S.A R.L., Ingersoll-Rand Machinery (Shanghai) Company Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Malaysia Co. Sdn. Bhd., Ingersoll-Rand S.A. De C.V., Ingersoll-Rand Services And Trading Limited Liability Company, Ingersoll-Rand Services Company, Ingersoll-Rand Services Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Singapore Enterprises Pte. Ltd., Ingersoll-Rand South East Asia (Pte.) Ltd., Ingersoll-Rand Superay Holdings Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Technical And Services S.A.R.L., Ingersoll-Rand Technologies And Services Private Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Technology R&D (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Ingersoll-Rand Tool Holdings Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Trading Gmbh, Ingersoll-Rand Vietnam Company Limited, Instrum Rand JSC, Interflex Datensysteme, Ir Canada Holdings Ulc, Ir Canada Sales & Service Ulc, Ir France Sas, Kryptonite corp, Lawrence Factor Inc., LeROI, LeRoi International Inc, MILTON ROY (HONG KONG) LIMITED, MILTON ROY (UK) LIMITED, MILTON ROY EUROPA B.V., MILTON ROY EUROPE SAS, MILTON ROY INDUSTRIAL (SHANGHAI) CO. LTD., MILTON ROY LLC, MILTON ROY US PURCHASER INC., MP Pumps Inc., Maximum AG Technologies Inc., Maximus Solutions, Mb Air Systems Limited, Nash Elmo, Officina Meccaniche Industriali Srl, Oina VV, Oina VV Aktiebolag, Plurifilter D.O.O., Pt Ingersoll-Rand Indonesia, Robuschi, Runtech Systems, Runtech Systems (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Runtech Systems Inc., Runtech Systems OY, SEEPEX, Seepex (M) SDN, Seepex Australia Pty Ltd, Seepex Beteiligungs-Gesellschaft mit Beschrankter Haftung, Seepex France S.a.r.l., Seepex GmbH, Seepex Inc., Seepex India Private Ltd., Seepex Italia SRL, Seepex Japan Co. Ltd., Seepex Nordic A/S, Seepex OOO, Seepex Pumps (Shanghia) Co. Ltd., Seepex UK Ltd., Shanghai CompAir Compressors Co Ltd, Shanghai Compressors & Blowers Ltd., Shanghai Ingersoll-Rand Compressor Limited, Shenzhen Bocom System Engineering Co., Superay, Syltone, TIWR Real Estate GmbH & Co. KG, Tamrotor Marine Comp AS Norway, Tecno Matic Europe s.r.o., Thomas Industries Inc., Trane Technologies, Tri-Continent Scientific Inc., Vacuum and Blower Systems division, Welch Vacuum Equipment (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Zaxe Technologies Inc., Zeks Compressed Air Solutions Llc, Zinsser Analytic, Zinsser Analytik GmbH, Zinsser NA Inc., and crayon interface. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Abbott Laboratories: 3A Nutrition (Vietnam) Company Limited, ABON Biopharm (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd., AGA Medical Belgium, AGA Medical Corporation, AGA Medical Holdings Inc., ALR Holdings, AML Medical LLC, APK Advanced Medical Technologies LLC, ATS Bermuda Holdings Limited, ATS Laboratories Inc., Abbott, Abbott (Jiaxing) Nutrition Co. Ltd., Abbott (UK) Finance Limited, Abbott (UK) Holdings Limited, Abbott AG, Abbott Asia Holdings Limited, Abbott Asia Investments Limited, Abbott Australasia Holdings Limited, Abbott Australasia Pty Ltd, Abbott B.V., Abbott Bahamas Overseas Businesses Corporation, Abbott Belgian Investments, Abbott Bermuda Holding Ltd., Abbott Biologicals B.V., Abbott Biologicals LLC, Abbott Bulgaria Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Capital India Limited, Abbott Cardiovascular Inc., Abbott Cardiovascular Systems Inc., Abbott Delaware LLC, Abbott Diabetes Care Inc., Abbott Diabetes Care Limited, Abbott Diabetes Care Sales Corporation, Abbott Diagnostics GmbH, Abbott Diagnostics International Ltd., Abbott Diagnostics Technologies AS, Abbott Doral Investments S.L., Abbott Equity Holdings Unlimited, Abbott Equity Investments LLC, Abbott Established Products Holdings (Gibraltar) Limited, Abbott Finance Company SA, Abbott Financial Holdings SRL, Abbott France S.A.S., Abbott Fund Tanzania Limited, Abbott Gesellschaft m.b.H., Abbott GmbH & Co. KG, Abbott Health Products LLC, Abbott Healthcare (Puerto Rico) Ltd., Abbott Healthcare B.V., Abbott Healthcare Costa Rica S.A., Abbott Healthcare LLC, Abbott Healthcare Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Healthcare Private Limited, Abbott Healthcare Products B.V., Abbott Healthcare Products Ltd, Abbott Holding (Gibraltar) Limited, Abbott Holding GmbH, Abbott Holding Subsidiary (Gibraltar) Limited, Abbott Holding Subsidiary (Gibraltar) Limited Luxembourg S.C.S., Abbott Holdings B.V., Abbott Holdings LLC, Abbott Holdings Limited, Abbott Holdings Poland Spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Abbott Hungary Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Abbott Iberian Investments (2) Limited, Abbott Iberian Investments Limited, Abbott India Limited, Abbott Informatics Asia Pacific Limited, Abbott Informatics Canada Inc, Abbott Informatics Corporation, Abbott Informatics Europe Limited, Abbott Informatics France, Abbott Informatics Germany GmbH, Abbott Informatics Netherlands B.V., Abbott Informatics Singapore Pte. Limited, Abbott Informatics Spain S.A., Abbott Informatics Technologies Ltd, Abbott International Corporation, Abbott International Enterprises Ltd., Abbott International Holdings Limited, Abbott International LLC, Abbott International Luxembourg S.ar.l., Abbott Investments Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Ireland, Abbott Ireland Financing Designated Activity Company, Abbott Ireland Limited, Abbott Japan Co. Ltd., Abbott Kazakhstan Limited Liability Partnership, Abbott Knoll Investments B.V., Abbott Korea Limited, Abbott Laboratories (Bangladesh) Limited, Abbott Laboratories (Chile) Holdco (Dos) SpA, Abbott Laboratories (Chile) Holdco SpA, Abbott Laboratories (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Abbott Laboratories (Mozambique) Limitada, Abbott Laboratories (Pakistan) Limited, Abbott Laboratories (Philippines), Abbott Laboratories (Puerto Rico) Incorporated, Abbott Laboratories (Singapore) Private Limited, Abbott Laboratories A/S, Abbott Laboratories Argentina Sociedad Anonima, Abbott Laboratories B.V., Abbott Laboratories C.A., Abbott Laboratories Finance B.V., Abbott Laboratories GmbH, Abbott Laboratories Inc., Abbott Laboratories International LLC, Abbott Laboratories Ireland Limited, Abbott Laboratories Limited, Abbott Laboratories Limited - Laboratoires Abbott Limitee, Abbott Laboratories NZ Limited, Abbott Laboratories Pacific Ltd., Abbott Laboratories Poland Spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Abbott Laboratories Products B.V., Abbott Laboratories Residential Development Fund Inc., Abbott Laboratories S.A., Abbott Laboratories SA, Abbott Laboratories Services Corp., Abbott Laboratories Slovakia s.r.o., Abbott Laboratories South Africa (Pty) Ltd., Abbott Laboratories Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Abbott Laboratories Trustee Company Limited, Abbott Laboratories Uruguay S.A., Abbott Laboratories Vascular Enterprises, Abbott Laboratories d.o.o., Abbott Laboratories de Chile Limitada, Abbott Laboratories de Colombia S.A., Abbott Laboratories de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Abbott Laboratories druzba za farmacijo in diagnostiko d.o.o., Abbott Laboratories s.r.o., Abbott Laboratories(Hellas) Societe Anonyme, Abbott Laboratorios S.A., Abbott Laboratorios S.A., Abbott Laboratorios del Ecuador Cia. Ltda., Abbott Laboratuarlari Ithalat Ihracat ve Ticaret Ltd.Sti, Abbott Laboratorios Lda, Abbott Laboratorios do Brasil Ltda., Abbott Limited Egypt LLC, Abbott Logistics B.V., Abbott Management GmbH, Abbott Management LLC, Abbott Manufacturing Singapore Private Limited, Abbott Mature Products International Unlimited Company, Abbott Mature Products Management Limited, Abbott Medical (Hong Kong) Limited, Abbott Medical (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Abbott Medical (Portugal) Distribuicao de Produtos Medicos Lda, Abbott Medical (Schweiz) AG, Abbott Medical (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Abbott Medical (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical Australia Pty. Ltd., Abbott Medical Austria Ges.m.b.H., Abbott Medical Balkan d.o.o. Beograd (Novi Beograd), Abbott Medical Belgium, Abbott Medical Canada Inc./ Medicale Abbott Canada Inc., Abbott Medical Danmark A/S, Abbott Medical Devices Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical Espana S.A., Abbott Medical Estonia OU, Abbott Medical Finland Oy, Abbott Medical France SAS, Abbott Medical GmbH, Abbott Medical Hellas Limited Liability Trading Company, Abbott Medical Ireland Limited, Abbott Medical Italia S.p.A., Abbott Medical Japan Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical Korea Limited, Abbott Medical Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Abbott Medical Laboratories LTD, Abbott Medical Nederland B.V., Abbott Medical New Zealand Limited, Abbott Medical Norway AS, Abbott Medical Overseas Cyprus Limited, Abbott Medical Sweden AB, Abbott Medical Taiwan Co., Abbott Medical U.K. Limited, Abbott Medical spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Abbott Middle East S.A.R.L., Abbott Molecular Inc., Abbott Morocco SARL, Abbott Nederland C.V., Abbott Nederland Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Netherlands Investments B.V., Abbott Norge AS, Abbott Nutrition Limited, Abbott Nutrition Manufacturing Inc., Abbott Operations Singapore Pte. Ltd., Abbott Operations Uruguay S.R.L., Abbott Overseas Cyprus Limited, Abbott Overseas Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Overseas S.A., Abbott Oy, Abbott Point of Care Canada Limited, Abbott Point of Care Inc., Abbott Poland Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Procurement LLC, Abbott Products (Philippines) Inc., Abbott Products (Spain) S.L., Abbott Products Algerie EURL, Abbott Products B.V., Abbott Products Distribution SAS, Abbott Products Egypt LLC, Abbott Products Limited, Abbott Products Limited Liability Company, Abbott Products Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Products Operations AG, Abbott Products Operations LLC, Abbott Products Romania S.R.L., Abbott Products Tunisie S.A.R.L., Abbott Products Unlimited Company, Abbott Resources Inc., Abbott Resources International Inc., Abbott S.r.l., Abbott Saudi Arabia Trading Company, Abbott Scandinavia Aktiebolag, Abbott Sociedad Anonima de Capital Variable, Abbott South Africa Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Strategic Opportunities Limited, Abbott Trading Company Inc., Abbott Universal LLC, Abbott Vascular Devices (2) Limited, Abbott Vascular Devices Limited, Abbott Vascular Inc., Abbott Vascular Instruments Deutschland GmbH, Abbott Vascular International, Abbott Vascular Japan Co. Ltd, Abbott Vascular Limitada, Abbott Vascular Netherlands B.V., Abbott Vascular Solutions Inc., Abbott Ventures Inc., Abbott West Indies Limited, Abbott drustvo sa ogranicenom odgovornoscu za trgovinu i usluge, Advanced Neuromodulation Systems Inc., Alere, Alere (Shanghai) Diagnostics Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Healthcare Management Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Medical Sales Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Technology Co. Ltd., Alere A/S, Alere AB, Alere AS, Alere AS Holdings Limited, Alere BBI Holdings Limited, Alere Bangladesh Limited, Alere China Co. Ltd., Alere Colombia S.A., Alere Connect LLC, Alere Connected Health Limited, Alere Connected Health Ltd., Alere Diagnostics GmbH, Alere DoA Holding GmbH, Alere GmbH, Alere GmbH (Austria), Alere GmbH (Germany), Alere HK Holdings Ltd., Alere Health B.V., Alere Health BVBA, Alere Health Corp., Alere Health Sdn Bhd, Alere Health Services B.V., Alere Healthcare (Pty) Limited, Alere Healthcare Connections Limited, Alere Healthcare Inc., Alere Healthcare Nigeria Limited, Alere Healthcare S.L., Alere Holdco Inc., Alere Holding GmbH, Alere Holdings Bermuda Limited, Alere Holdings Pty Limited, Alere Home Monitoring Inc., Alere Inc., Alere Informatics Inc., Alere International Holding Corp., Alere International Limited, Alere Lda, Alere Limited, Alere Limited (New Zealand), Alere Medical BVBA, Alere Medical Co. Ltd., Alere Medical Pakistan (Private) Limited, Alere Medical Private Limited, Alere North America LLC, Alere Oy Ab, Alere Philippines Inc., Alere Phoenix ACQ Inc., Alere Pte Ltd, Alere S.A., Alere S.r.l., Alere S/A, Alere SAS, Alere San Diego Inc., Alere Scarborough Inc., Alere Spain S.L., Alere Switzerland GmbH, Alere Technologies GmbH, Alere Technologies Holdings Limited, Alere Technologies Limited, Alere Toxicology AB, Alere Toxicology Inc., Alere Toxicology S.r.l., Alere Toxicology Services Inc., Alere Toxicology plc, Alere UK Holdings Limited, Alere UK Subco Limited, Alere ULC, Alere US Holdings LLC, Alere s.r.o., Alisoc Investment & Co, Amedica Biotech Inc., Ameditech Inc., American Generics S.A.S., American Medical Supplies Inc., American Pharmacist Inc., Antares S.A., Apica Cardiovascular Limited, Aquagestion Capacitacion S.A., Aquagestion S.A., Arriva Medical LLC, Arriva Medical Philippines Inc., Arvis Investments Limited, Atlas Farmaceutica S.A., Avee Laboratories Inc., Axis-Shield AD III AS, Axis-Shield AD IV AS, Axis-Shield AS, Axis-Shield Diagnostics Limited, Axis-Shield Ltd., BBI Animal Health Limited, BBI Diagnostics Group 2 Public Limited Company, Banco de Vida S.A., Bioabsorbable Vascular Solutions Inc., Bioalgae S.A., Biohealth LLC, Biosite Incorporated, Bosque Bonito S.A., Branan Medical Corporation, Brandex Europe C.V., British Colloids Limited, CFR Chile S.A., CFR Interamericas EL Salvador Sociedad Anonima de Capital Variable, CFR Interamericas Nicaragua Sociedad Anonima, CFR Interamericas Panama S.A., CFR Pharmaceuticals, California Property Holdings III LLC, CardioMEMS LLC, Caripharm Inc., Cephea Valve Technologies, Cephea Valve Technologies Inc., Colibri Medical Aktiebolag, Comercializadora y Distribuidora CFR Interamericas Honduras S.A., Concateno South Limited, Concateno UK Limited, Consorcio Tecnologico en Biomedicina Clinico-Molecular S.A., Continuum Services LLC, Cozart Limited, Dextech S.A., Diagnostik Nord GmbH, Distribuciones Uquifa S.A.S., Domesco Medical Import-Export Joint-Stock Corporation, Duphar International Research B.V., Endocardial Solutions, Epocal (US) Inc, Esprit de Vie S.A., European Chemicals & Co, European Drug Testing Service EDTS AB, European Services S.A., Evalve Inc., Evalve International Inc., FARMINDUSTRIA S.A., Fada Pharma Paraguay Sociedad Anonima, Fadapharma del Ecuador S.A., Farmaceutica Mont Blanc S.L., Farmacologia Em Aquicultura Veterinaria Ltda., Farmacologia en Aquacultura Veterinaria FAV Ecuador S.A., Farmacologia en Aquacultura Veterinaria FAV S.A., Fernwood Investment S.A., First Check Diagnostics LLC, Focus Pharmaceutical S.A.S., Forensics Limited, Forestcreek Overseas S.A., Fournier Pharma Corp., Fournier Pharma GmbH, Fournier Pharmaceuticals Limited, Framed B.V., Gabmed GmbH, Garden Hills LLC, Global Analytical Development LLC, Globapharm & CO LP, Glomed Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Golnorth Investments S.A., Gynocare Limited, Gynopharm Sociedad Anonima, Gynopharm de Centroamerica S.A., Gynopharm de Venezuela C.A., Hi-Tronics Designs Inc., IDEV Technologies Inc., IG Innovations Limited, IMTC Finance B.V., IMTC Holdings B.V., IMTC Technologies Inc., Ibis Biosciences LLC, Igloo Zone Chile S.A., Igloo Zone S.L., Inmobiliaria Naknek S.A.C., Innovacon Inc., Instant Tech Subsidiary Acquisition Inc., Instant Technologies Inc., Instituto de Criopreservacion de Chile S.A., Integrated Vascular Systems Inc., Inverness Canadian Acquisition Corporation, Inverness Medical (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Inverness Medical Innovations Australia Pty Ltd., Inverness Medical Innovations Hong Kong Limited, Inverness Medical Innovations SK LLC, Inverness Medical Investments LLC, Inverness Medical LLC, Inverness Medical Shimla Private Limited, Inversiones K2 SpA, Inversiones Komodo S.R.L., Ionian Technologies LLC, Irvine Biomedical Inc., Kalila Medical, Kangshenyunga S.A., Knoll UK Investments Unlimited, LLC VeroInPharm, Laboratoires Fournier S.A.S., Laboratorio Franco Colombiano Lafrancol S.A.S., Laboratorio Franco Colombiano del Ecuador S.A., Laboratorio Internacional Argentino S.A., Laboratorio Synthesis S.A.S., Laboratorios Lafi Limitada, Laboratorios Naturmedik S.A.S., Laboratorios Pauly Pharmaceutical S.A.S., Laboratorios Recalcine S.A., Laboratorios Transpharm S.A., Laboratory Specialists of America Inc., Lafrancol Dominicana S.A.S., Lafrancol Guatemala S.A. Sociedad Anonima, Lafrancol Internacional S.A.S, Lafrancol Peru S.R.L, Lake Forest Investments LLC, Lightlab Imaging Inc., Limited Liability Company Abbott Laboratories, Limited Liability Company Abbott Ukraine, Limited Liability Company VEROPHARM, Lung Fung Hong (China) Limited, Mansbridge Pharmaceuticals Limited, MediGuide LLC, MediGuide Ltd., Medscreen Holdings Limited, Metropolitana Farmaceutica S.A., Midwest Properties LLC, Murex Argentina S.A., Murex Biotech Limited, Murex Biotech South Africa, Murex Diagnostics Inc., Murex Diagnostics International Inc., Natural Supplement Association LLC, Negocios Denia Sociedad Anonima, Neosalud S.A.C., Nether Pharma N.P. C.V., NeuroTherm LLC, Normann Pharma-Handels GmbH, North Shore Properties Inc., Novamedi S.A., Novasalud.com S.A., Nutravida S.A., OJSC Voronezhkhimpharm, Omnilab Iberia Sociedad Limitada, OptiMedica, Orgenics France SAS, Orgenics International Holdings B.V., Orgenics Ltd., PBM-Selfcare LLC, PDD II LLC, PDD LLC, PT Alere Health, PT. Abbott Indonesia, PT. Abbott Products Indonesia, Pacesetter Inc., Pantech (RF) (PTY) LTD, Pembrooke Occupational Health Inc., Penagos S.A., Pharma International Sociedad Anonima, Pharmaceutical Technologies (Pharmatech) S.A., Pharmatech Boliviana S.A., Polygon Labs S.A., Quality Assured Services Inc., RF Medical Holdings LLC, RTL Holdings Inc., Ramses Business Corp., Recben Xenerics Farmaceutica Limitada, Redwood Toxicology Laboratory Inc., Rich Horizons International Limited, SC VEROPHARM, SJ Medical Mexico S de R.L. de C.V., SJM International Inc., SJM Thunder Holding Company, SPDH Inc., Saboya Enterprises Corporation, Salviac Limited, Scanax AS, Sealing Solutions Inc., Selfcare Technology Inc., Shandong Abbott Dairy Product Co. Ltd., Shanghai Abbott Medical Devices Science and Technology Co. Ltd., Shanghai Abbott Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Shanghai Si Fa Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Sinensix & Co., Spinal Modulation LLC, St. Jude Medical, St. Jude Medical AB, St. Jude Medical ATG Inc., St. Jude Medical Argentina S.A., St. Jude Medical Asia Pacific Holdings GK, St. Jude Medical Atrial Fibrillation Division Inc., St. Jude Medical Brasil Ltda., St. Jude Medical Business Services Inc., St. Jude Medical Cardiology Division Inc., St. Jude Medical Colombia Ltda., St. Jude Medical Coordination Center, St. Jude Medical Costa Rica Limitada, St. Jude Medical Europe Inc., St. Jude Medical Export Ges.m.b.H., St. Jude Medical GVA Sarl, St. Jude Medical Holdings B.V., St. Jude Medical India Private Limited, St. Jude Medical International Holding, St. Jude Medical LLC, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings II, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings NT, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings SMI S.a r.l., St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings TC S.a r.l., St. Jude Medical Mexico Business Services S. de R.L. de C.V., St. Jude Medical Middle East DMCC, St. Jude Medical Operations (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., St. Jude Medical Puerto Rico LLC, St. Jude Medical S.C. Inc., St. Jude Medical Systems AB, St. Jude Medical Turkey Medikal Urunler Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Standard Diagnostics Inc., Standing Stone LLC, Swan-Myers Incorporated, TC1 LLC, Tendyne Holdings Inc., Tendyne Medical Inc., Thoratec Delaware LLC, Thoratec Europe Limited, Thoratec LLC, Thoratec Switzerland GmbH, Tobal Products Incorporated, Topera GmbH in Liquidation, Topera Inc., Tremora S.A., Tuenir S.A., TwistDx, UAB Abbott Laboratories, UAB Abbott Medical Lithuania, Union-Madison Realty Company Inc., Unipath Limited (dba Alere International/aka Cranfield), Unipath Management Limited, Unipath Pension Trustee Limited, Veropharm, Veropharm Limited Liability Partnership, Vida Cell Inversiones S.A., Vida Cell S.A., Vivalsol, W&R Pharma Handels GmbH, Western Pharmaceuticals S.A., X Technologies Inc., Yissum Holding Limited, ZonePerfect Nutrition Company, eScreen Canada ULC, eScreen Inc., ( ), and Abbott Laboratories Baltics. Read More Bihar government's latest initiative is to shame open defecation defaulters by clicking their picture while they indulge in relieving themselves and sharing it on the internal WhatsApp group. By Rohit Kumar Singh: Bihar government's latest initiative to shame open defecation defaulters by clicking their picture while they indulge in relieving themselves and sharing it on the internal WhatsApp group of the government has triggered massive protest. The problem is big amongst the teachers, who were entrusted the task to photograph the defaulters. The teachers association have written to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to roll back the decision. advertisement "The govt should immediately withdraw its decision asking teachers to patrol villages in the morning and evening to check open defecation. This is not only humiliating for us but also puts our lives at risk", said Shatrughan Singh, General Secretary of Bihar Madhyamik Shikshak Sangh. India Today is in possession of three letters issued by the block development officers (BDOs) of Bhagwanpur in Vaishali district, Kurhni in Muzaffarpur district and Deo in Aurangabad. In all of these places, teachers were directed to visit villages to check open defecation in the morning between 5 am to 7 am and from 6 pm to 7 pm in the evening and photograph the defaulters to shame them. "I went to a village today in Akbarpur Malahi village in Muzaffarpur and when I began clicking the defaulters, I was chased and warned to get off from the area or I would be beaten up", said Raghunath Kumar, a govt teacher in Muzaffarpur. While 61 teachers have been tasked to patrol open defecation in Aurangabad's Deo block, 144 teachers have been given this responsibility in Muzaffarpur's Kurhni block. WATCH VIDEO | Sharad Yadav's divorce with Nitish imminent. Marriage with Lalu on cards? --- ENDS --- Genesee & Wyoming Inc. owns and leases freight railroads. It operates through three segments: North American Operations, Australian Operations, and U.K./European Operations. The company transports various commodities, including agricultural products, autos and auto parts, chemicals and plastics, coal and coke, food and kindred products, lumber and forest products, metallic ores, metals, minerals and stone, petroleum products, pulp and paper, waste, and other commodities. It owns or leases 122 freight railroads, including 105 short line railroads and 2 regional freight railroads located in the United States, 8 short line railroads located in Canada, 3 railroads located in Australia, 1 railroad located in the United Kingdom, 1 railroad in Poland and Germany, and 2 railroads in the Netherlands with a total of approximately 16,200 miles of track. The company also operates 6,200 additional miles of track that is owned or leased by others. In addition, it operates deep sea maritime containers and provides bulk haulage, including coal, aggregates, cement, and infrastructure services. Further, the company provides rail service at approximately 40 ports; rail-ferry service in North America, Australia, and Europe; and contract coal loading and railcar switching for industrial customers. Genesee & Wyoming Inc. was founded in 1899 and is headquartered in Darien, Connecticut. "Hardik is speaking the language of Congress. He has been totally exposed today," Gujarat's Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said in a press conference in Ahmedabad. By India Today Web Desk: Moments after Hardik Patel made his deal with the Congress official, the BJP hit back, saying the 24-year-old PAAS convener has been "totally exposed today" and claiming that the Congress was behind the Patidar quota stir in Gujarat. "Hardik is speaking the language of Congress. He has been totally exposed today," Gujarat's Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said in a press conference in Ahmedabad. Patel said the Congress-Hardik duo has misled the Patel community in Gujarat. advertisement "Reservation was never an issue for them," he said, adding that the Congress made it a poll issue with Hardik. Earlier today, Hardik Patel, who is the convener of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), announced that the Congress has accepted his quota demand and made his pact with the party official. Hardik Patel also attacked the BJP for "fooling" the people of Gujarat for 22 years, and accused the saffron party of trying to buy him and other PAAS leaders by offering Rs 1200 crore. WATCH | Congress has assured us of Patidar quota: Hardik Patel --- ENDS --- Its been almost half a year since Google unveiled Google Lens, a new Android feature called Google Lens that allows you to identify items using your phones camera, and then allow you to get more information about those items. Now Google Lens is starting to roll out to a handful of phones in a handful of markets. Lens actually made its debut with the launch of the Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL smartphones, but at the time it was built into Google Photos. The only way to use Google Lens was to first snap a picture, then open it in Google Photos and tap the Lens button. Now you can use Lens directly from Google Assistant, which means you dont need to save and open a picture. Among other things, Google Lens can identify landmarks like historic buildings, famous artworks, movie posters, or books, all sorts of objects. For example, using the Google Photos version with a picture of my cat, it was able to bring up a Google image search for other cats. When I snapped a picture of Philadelphia City Hall, it knew what it was looking at. And you can get movie showtimes or reviews by pointing the camera at a poster. You can also use Google Lens as a barcode or QR code scanner or you can scan text to save the contact info on a business card or open the URL on a poster, flyer, or menu. Google Lens in Assistant is rolling out first to Pixel (and Pixel 2) phones set to English, and itll be available initially in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, India, and Singapore. Greetings, all, and welcome to our special two-hour, pre-Thanksgiving chat! If you're cooking today (and/or tomorrow), you've come to the right place for last-minute advice. Of course, we've already given you plenty: Bonnie's menu and strategies for the T-Day procrastinator (including a brilliant tested recipe for roasting a turkey from frozen); Tim's fun take on stuffing/dressing as the dish that demonstrates America's diversity; yet another great piece from Tim on his own history with Thanksgiving, starting as a picky child; a spotlight on some of our reader's favorite dishes for the holiday; Kara's roundups of our favorite soup, salad, potato, side dish, dessert, gravy, bread, veg main and cranberry sauce recipes; Fritz and the rest of the drinks team's suggestions for how to handle holiday imbibing responsibly (and deliciously); and more. (Don't forget all the great content we had for you last Wednesday, including Julia Turshen's tips for a stress-free Thanksgiving; and my own contribution to the plant-based table with Biryani Stuffed Pumpkins.) We have special guests today: Julia Turshen, recipe maven and cookbook author extraordinaire (her latest is "Feed the Resistance"), and Erin McDowell, author of "The Fearless Baker" (and guest on a recent FB Live here). They will help us regulars handle any and all dilemmas or other questions you may have today! We will have giveaway books to entice your questions today -- one each of Erin and Julia's latest book! For you PostPoints members, here's today's code: FR6782 . Remember, you'll record and enter it at the PostPoints site under Claim My Points to earn points. The code expires at midnight, so be sure to enter the code by 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday to get credit for participating. Let's do this! State-owned airline Air China suspended flights yesterday between Beijing and North Korea due to a lack of demand, deepening the Norths isolation amid mounting U.N. sanctions over its nuclear and missile programs. The move followed U.S. President Donald Trumps decision to add Pyongyang to a list of governments that support terrorism but there was no indication that prompted Air Chinas decision. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said he had no information. The suspension left North Koreas Air Koryo as the only airline with regularly scheduled service to the North. Its website lists flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Shenyang and Dandong in China and Vladivostok in Russia. Beijing has supported U.N. curbs on North Korean exports meant to pressure the government of leader Kim Jong Un to drop its pursuit of nuclear and missile technology but has argued against measures that might harm the countrys public. Flights were temporarily suspended due to unsatisfactory business operations, said an employee of Air Chinas press office who would give only his surname, Zhang. A foreign ministry spokesman, Lu Kang, said he hadnt heard about Air Chinas cancellation. He said such decisions would be made based on the state of operation and the market. Airlines have steadily reduced the frequency of flights to North Korea as mounting political tensions depressed the already small number of business travelers and tourists visiting the North. Air China Ltd. announced in April it was cutting the frequency of flights to North Korea due to lack of demand. Some other Chinese carriers offered charter services to the North but those also have been canceled. Zhang said the last Air China flight to Pyongyang was Monday and he didnt know when service might resume. The status of Air Koryos flights was unclear. Phone calls to the carriers Beijing office werent answered. The flight information website for the Beijing airport showed its Pyongyang flight on yesterday took off as scheduled. Lu, the foreign ministry spokesman, appealed for measures to ease the tense standoff. Given the highly complex and sensitive situation on the peninsula, we hope all relevant parties can do something conducive to alleviating the tension and pulling all sides concerned back to the track of negotiation and dialogue to settle the peninsular nuclear issue, he said at a regular news briefing. (See p13) AP Bitcoin slipped from a record after the USD31 million theft of a cryptocurrency peer renewed concern about the security of digital coins. The company behind tether, a cryptocurrency used by bitcoin exchanges to facilitate trades with fiat currencies, announced the theft yesterday. It said in a statement that a malicious attacker removed tokens from the Tether Treasury wallet on November 19 and sent them to an unauthorized bitcoin address. The company said its trying to prevent the stolen coins from being used. Bitcoin dropped as much as 5.4 percent to $7,798.73, before paring the decline to 0.7 percent at 11:32 a.m. in London. The incident is the latest in a long list of hacks that have dented confidence in the safety of cryptocurrencies. Its likely to fuel the debate on Wall Street over whether digital coins are secure enough to enter the mainstream of finance. The effect seems short-lived on bitcoin, which after exceeding the $133 billion value of McDonalds Corp. over the weekend erased most of its loss yesterday and was little changed at $8,190.15. MDT/Bloomberg Tourists total spending in Macau (excluding gaming expenses) amounted to MOP15.93 billion in the third quarter of 2017, up by 8.8 percent year-on- year and 15.9 percent quarter-to-quarter. According to information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC), total spending of overnight visitors (MOP12.99 billion) and same-day visitors (MOP2.94 billion) rose by 9 percent and 8.2 percent respectively year-on-year. In the third quarter of 2017, per-capita spending of visitors was MOP1,926, up by 6.7 percent year- on-year and 7.8 percent quarter-to-quarter. Per-capita spending of visitors from mainland China increased by 4.6 percent year-on-year to MOP2,197, while the average amount spent by those traveling under the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) grew 11.8 percent, to MOP2,586. Per-capita spending of visitors from Singapore, Japan, and Malaysia went up by 10.1 percent, 10.4 percent and 4.8 percent respectively year-on-year. Regarding the type of spending, visitors spending lay mainly in shopping (46.4 percent), accommodation (26.7 percent) and food and beverage (19.3 percent). Meanwhile, the proportion of visitors who were satisfied with the services of travel agencies (73.3 percent) registered a notable increase of 9.6 percentage points quarter-to-quarter. A relatively low proportion of visitors were satisfied with the services of public transport (63.8 percent), down by 3.8 percentage points quarter-to-quarter. On the other hand, 56.1 percent of the visitors commented that there were an adequate number of tourist attractions in Macau, up by 5.2 percentage points over the previous quarter. By PTI: to clear stand Rajkot, Nov 22 (PTI) The BJP today termed as "good" the proposal of the Uttar Pradesh Shia Waqf Board on resolving the Ayodhya issue and asked Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi to clarify the partys stand by breaking his "silence". The UP Shia Waqf Board on Monday proposed relinquishing its right over the disputed land in Ayodhya, and building a masjid-e-aman" in Lucknow to resolve the Ram Janmabhoomi- Babri Masjid tangle. A draft for resolving the issue, prepared by the Shia Waqf Board, was submitted in the Supreme Court on November 18. advertisement "The Shia Waqf Board has put forward a good suggestion by filing an affidavit in the Supreme Court stating that a Ram temple be built in Ayodhya and a mosque in Lucknow. Its a good suggestion to resolve the issue," BJP national spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao told reporters here. He was in the city to campaign for the BJP Assembly poll candidates. "The BJP is of a clear opinion that a glorious temple of Lord Ram be built in Ayodhya, but what the Congress wants to say? We demand that Rahul Gandhi make his partys stand clear by breaking his silence on the issue", Rao said. He said the BJP supported the Shia Waqf Boards suggestion but also wanted to hear a reply from the Congress. Rao claimed that outfits like Nirmohi Akhada have also extended their support to the Shia Waqf Boards suggestion on the Ayodhya issue. "We demand a clarification from Rahul Gandhi before the apex court begins hearing on the issue on December 5," he said. PTI VJA NSK SC --- ENDS --- Guangzhou Automobile Group Co. is in talks with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV to deepen their tie-up in China, as the worlds largest car market looks to relax some regulations and the Chinese maker prepares to sell its own Trumpchi brand in the U.S. Models, production and sales are at the core of the discussions with Fiat Chrysler, Guangzhou Automobile President Feng Xingya said yesterday. Shareholders of both companies are exploring ways to expand the scope of cooperation. With China increasingly accounting for a larger share of revenue, foreign automakers are bolstering their local partnerships while mainland manufacturers explore markets abroad to become globally competitive. Making our company a global player is a very important breakthrough for us in our five-year plan through 2020, Feng said. Guangzhou Automobile makes vehicles in China under the Jeep and Fiat brands through a Fiat Chrysler joint venture, whose sales more than tripled to 146,439 units last year. UM presents first BNU chair professor of finance The presentation ceremony of the commemorative Professor Chair of the first BNU Chair Professor of Finance Prof. Jacky So was held at BNU main office yesterday, the bank announced in a statement yesterday. Rector of The University of Macau and Vice Chair of the University of Macau Development Foundation Executive Committee Prof. Wei Zhao and BNU Chief Executive Officer Mr. Pedro Cardoso, amongst others, witnessed the handover. BNU is under the third year donation for the commitment of MOP10.65 million in 2015 to establish an endowment fund in the University of Macau Development Foundation, with the aim of supporting both teaching and academic research of a chair professor in the Faculty of Business Administration. In appreciation of this contribution, the university has created its first named chair professorship in honour of BNU. BNU has been supporting the educational system in Macau, including a donation of retail spending percentage of the universities BNU affinity credit cards for education and research purposes. Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group Ltd.s profit increased for a second consecutive six-month period as demand for gold products lifted sales at the worlds leading jewelry retailer. Net income rose 46 percent to HKD1.78 billion ($228 million) in the six months through September, the Hong Kong-based company said in a statement yesterday. Revenue climbed 15 percent to HKD24.8 billion. The results mirror the continued recovery in demand for luxury goods in China after a two-year slump amid a corruption crackdown in the country. Sales at the companys stores are picking up and more customers are also purchasing its products online as the worlds second-largest economy is on track for its first full-year acceleration in seven years. In the period, retail sales of Chow Tai Fook in mainland China increased 16 percent, and 13 percent in Hong Kong and Macau. Growth momentum was fueled by gold products, the company said. The current financial year will be a turning point for our business given the nascent jewelry market recovery, the company said. Although the recovery is gradual and mild, the industry is expected to return to a stable yet sustainable growth. The retailer expanded the number of outlets in mainland China to 2,358 at the end of September. It will continue the expansion in view of the improving general consumer sentiment, coupled with the rising opportunities from the development of shopping malls in the region, Chow Tai Fook said. In Hong Kong and Macau, the company will optimize outlets in tourist centers and selectively open stores in residential neighborhoods. The company expects its total rent cost declining 15 percent in the current financial year, Hamilton Cheng, finance director, said at a press briefing in Hong Kong after the results. Shares of Chow Tai Fook have climbed 48 percent this year, compared with the 36 percent gain in the benchmark Hang Seng Index. The results were announced after the close of trading. Demand for jewelry, watches and clocks, and valuable gifts has been picking up. Sales of these products in Hong Kong rose 4.3 percent this year through September, compared with a 17 percent plunge in all of 2016. Luxury-watch retailer Hengdeli Holdings Ltd. said this month its boosting orders for the upcoming Chinese New Year, expecting stronger demand from shoppers in Hong Kong. Tourists from mainland China, who account for more than three quarters of arrivals to Hong Kong, grew in the nine months through September. With more Chinese tourists likely to travel to Hong Kong next year as the yuan strengthens against the Hong Kong dollar, retailers are poised to benefit from the rise in store sales and falling rents, according to Catherine Lim, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. Daniela Wei, Corinne Gretler, Bloomberg Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno said that he met with President Donald Trumps former campaign chairman this year together with a group of Chinese businessmen interested in acquiring a stake in the nations power company. In a statement, Moreno said the meeting in Quito involved Paul Manafort and representatives of an unidentified Chinese company who proposed to privatize the state-owned National Electric Corp. He said the proposal was rejected because it would have violated Ecuadors constitution. Moreno, who didnt say if any other issues were discussed, broke his silence about the May meeting with Manafort after being criticized by former President Rafael Correa. Its very worrying that there should be a meeting with types like Manafort and that it should be kept hidden from the Ecuadorean people, Correa said in an interview Saturday with The Associated Press. Manafort was recently indicted in the U.S. on money laundering charges and other counts tied to his work for Ukraines pro-Russian ruling party. According to court documents in the case, Manafort visited Ecuador using a phone registered under a false name and traveled on one of three U.S. passports he possesses before going to Mexico and China weeks later. Manafort wasnt under indictment at the time of his visit to Ecuador, and Moreno said the meeting with the former Trump adviser was one of many contacts he had as president-elect to court new economic and political partnerships. For the second time in two years, federal prosecutors have charged foreign businessmen with paying millions of dollars in bribes to secure business deals, with one of the schemes relying on gifts paid to a former president of the United Nations General Assembly. Dr. Chi Ping Patrick Ho, 68, of Hong Kong, and Cheikh Gadio, 61, of Senegal, were charged in a criminal complaint in Manhattan federal court with violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, international money laundering and conspiracy to commit both. As alleged, Hos Ugandan scheme was hatched in the halls of the United Nations in New York, when the countrys current foreign minister served as the president of the U.N. General Assembly, and then continued unabated upon his return to Uganda, Acting U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim said in a news release announcing the arrests yesterday. William F. Sweeney Jr., head of New Yorks FBI office, said Ho and Gadio wanted to get their hands on the rights to lucrative opportunities in Africa. He said the U.S. government alleged they were willing to throw money at the leaders of two countries to bypass the normal course of business, but didnt realize that using the U.S. banking system would be their undoing. Angel M. Melendez, head of New Yorks Department of Homeland Security office, said the men offered millions of dollars in bribes disguised as charitable donations to gain business advantages. He said Ho used his position as a consultant to the U.N. Economic and Social Council to further the bribery schemes. Hos attorney, Paul Kreiger, declined to comment. Gadios attorney, Robert Baum, said his client was surprised by the charges. Mr. Gadio has a distinguished career in public service, served as a college professor, and worked in the public interest on numerous projects. He has been a broker for peace in Africa and overseen the expenditure of millions of dollars. His integrity and honesty have never been questioned, Baum said in an email. Both men made initial court appearances. Ho was being held on consent of his attorneys, while Gadio remained incarcerated on USD1 million bail. Once released, he will face electronic monitoring and home incarceration. Beginning in October 2014, prosecutors said Ho and Gadio arranged bribes to secure business advantages for a Shanghai-headquartered multibillion-dollar conglomerate that operates internationally in the energy and financial sectors. The company wasnt named but details indicated it was CEFC China Energy, a privately owned firm seen as an up-and-coming player in the countrys oil and gas sector. After arriving on the scene just a few years ago, the company now has investments in the Middle East, Africa and Russia, owns thousands of gas stations in Europe, and has a stake in Czech airline CSA. Fortune magazine last year dubbed Chairman Ye Jianming Chinas newest oil baron but some wonder whether the company has Beijings support given its rapid ascent. Prosecutors said that in one scheme, Ho and Gadio were charged with causing the energy company to offer a USD2 million bribe to the president of Chad to obtain valuable oil rights from the Chadian government without facing international competition. According to a criminal complaint, Gadio the former foreign minister of Senegal and the operator of an international consulting firm connected Ho with the president of Chad in return for a $400,000 payment from Ho. In a second scheme, Ho Hong Kongs former home affairs secretary caused a $500,000 bribe to be paid to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uganda shortly after he finished his term as president of the U.N. General Assembly, the complaint said. Prosecutors said the bribe was meant to secure business advantages for the energy company, which was not identified in court papers. Ng Lap Seng, a Chinese billionaire, was convicted in July of paying more than $1.7 million in bribes to U.N. ambassadors to secure rights to build a U.N. conference center in Macau to serve struggling Southern Hemisphere nations. The center was never built. Former U.N. General Assembly President John Ashe was once charged in that case, but he died in an accident at his home as he awaited trial. Larry Neumeister, New York, AP The CEO of Dragon Corp., the company that wants to build a USD300 million floating cryptocurrency casino in Macau, has denied that the territorys most notorious former gangster is involved in financing the project. Broken Tooth (Wan Kuok Koi), a sexagenarian ex-triad boss who once ruled Macaus 14K group, was spotted in September at a Hong Kong signing ceremony for the companys initial coin offering (ICO). Broken Tooth is not involved in Dragon, CEO Chakrit Ahmad told Business Insider just before Lisbons Web Summit conference earlier this month. Do we know him? We know of him. We know him. Not to a great extent. He came to the event introduced by someone else as a prominent figure in Macau. [] He is not involved in Dragon and he is not financing Dragon in any way. Broken Tooth was arrested in the late-1990s for several charges including money laundering, loan- sharking and the bombing of a car belonging to a former chief police inspector. Upon his release in 2012, the former gangster promised that his triad days were over, instead signaling an interest in the junket business. The property, tentatively titled Dragon Pearl Hotel Casino, is envisioned as a floating casino based near the Macau shore. It will be majorly financed by the Norwegian government, which has extensive experience in building offshore platforms, while Norwegian company, Brova Idea, designed the structure and says that it hopes to complete it by 2020. Dragon Corp. wants to enter the Macau game with a different offering to incumbent casino operators, trimming the role that junkets have historically held, by providing another avenue for wealthy individuals to move money out of mainland China. The company is designing its business model around a casino that will exchange cryptocurrency coins for non-negotiatable gaming chips. Dragon Corp. hopes its property will cater to both gamblers who want to wager on baccarat and digital currency investors. However, whether Macau regulatory authorities will permit such a project remains to be seen. The head of the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, Paulo Martins Chan who has overseen a tightening of the casino regulatory environment has given no indication that the government would approve the floating casino. In an effort to curb capital outflows and reduce rampant money laundering particularly in the south of China mainland regulators earlier this year imposed a blanket ban on initial coin offerings. They also instructed cryptocurrency exchanges to surrender to the government information on their clients bank accounts. These obstacles potentially represent a roadblock for Dragon Corp., making it unlikely that the resort will ready by 2020. A Japanese woman was arrested yesterday after police say she confessed to putting four newborns in concrete-filled buckets two decades ago and having been filled with guilt over not caring for her babies. Human remains were identified in four buckets found in her condominium, an Osaka police official said, requesting anonymity due to department policy. Mayumi Saito, 53, was arrested on charges of abandoning bodies, a day after she turned herself in at the police station. Saito was quoted by police as saying she put the bodies into concrete from 1992 through 1997 because she had been too poor to raise them, but she had been filled with guilt over the years. Saito had a part-time job, but details of her work, family and comments were not available. The causes of the babies deaths were unclear. It is fairly standard in Japan for criminal charges to be added later as an investigation progresses. Although Japan is the worlds third-largest economy and has a reputation as being economically advanced, poverty remains a problem, especially among women. Social support such as affordable daycare is lacking for women to work while child-rearing, as well as to get counseling and other help to cope with parenting duties and mental stress. Japanese media reports quoted the woman as saying she had no one to talk to or turn to. Yuri Kageyama, Tokyo, AP The Secretary for Administration and Justice, Sonia Chan, along with several department leaders from her secretariat, were present at the Legislative Assembly (AL) to answer the lawmakers questions about 2018 Policy Address. Agnes Lam asked the government how will it improve its principal officials accountability mechanism. Lam also asked how it will help civil servants who occupy lower positions, but hold prestigious education degrees, to be promoted. Ng Kuok Cheong, in line with expectations, criticized the appointment mechanism for the office of Chief Executive. If the CE were elected by universal suffrage, would it be possible for the CE to pass his responsibilities to his subordinate, asked Ng, adding that the Basic Law does not exclude direct election of members for non-political municipal organizations. Lao Chi Ngai, Chan Hong, and Lam Lon Wai sought an indication of the top officials sense of patriotism. They asked questions about non-political municipal organizations, suggested the building of more children playgrounds, and proposed the establishment of a big data system for Macau. Sonia Chan, replying to Agnes Lams question on accountability, said: The government has always been paying importance to assessing the top officials accountability, [] we want to solve this problem. Chan told Ng that she disagrees with the belief that a non-directly elected municipal organization is unable to represent the public. According to the Secretary, in December, the government will consult with civil servants on their assessment system. Chan also noted that her secretariat has already put on its legislation agenda whether civil servants non-civil service working experience can be regarded as civil service working experience. Pang Chuan, Lau Teng Pio and Ma Chi Seng questioned the government on the restriction of spaces that recreational art groups can use, new fresh food wholesale market regulations, and the development of the rule of law, respectively. In reply, Sonia Chan said that the government is not restricting spaces for recreational art, but is helping art groups to improve their operational environment and benefit from Macaus economic development. Chan noted that regulating arts recreational spaces was beyond the concerns of public security and hygiene. Mak Soi Kun pointed out that more and more expenditure has been [diverted to] human resources. If you [the government] are simplifying the administration, why do you keep hiring people? Spending money is not a problem, as long as things are done, which is the most important [thing], said Mak, who also questioned the government representatives about the legal process surrounding the amendment of the procurement law. During the Policy Address yesterday, Pereira Coutinho told Chan directly that several lawmakers have already expressed their dissatisfaction towards you [Sonia Chan]. He criticized Chans departments for not having included legislation to ensure principle officials accountability in next years legislation schedule. Coutinho pointed out that the top officials, especially the secretaries who are at the top of the administration, should firstly be held accountable for the deaths recorded during typhoon Hato. The higher the officials are, the more responsibilities they have, said Coutinho, adding that the leaders have passed responsibility amid Typhoon Hato to the former Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau (SMG) director and deputy director. Chan, instead of responding to this question, invited Kou Peng Kuan, Director of the Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau (SAFP), to do so. Kou said that the government will have a full range of work assessments of civil servants in order to create a system for holding principal officials to account. Chan noted that her department announced it would deliver five bills to the AL next year. She pointed out that, currently, the Legal Affairs Bureau only has 25 professional law draftsmen and 15 translators. Their responsibilities and working pressure are significant. Association says policy address is meaningless THE MACAO Community Development Initiative has characterized the governments 2018 Policy Address as empty, according to the Chinese press. Topics surrounding livelihood occupied the biggest portion of the Policy Address presentation, but the association criticized the fact that even those topics lacked new ideas. Some aspects related to disaster prevention were added into this years policy address; however, the association deemed this new content to have no practical significance. They pointed out that the government did not even comment on the exact implementation schedules of short-term measures for disaster prevention. One month before the Trump administration sparked outrage by reversing a ban on trophies from threatened African elephants, federal officials quietly loosened restrictions on the importation of heads and hides of lions shot for sport. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began issuing permits Oct. 20 for lions killed in Zimbabwe and Zambia between 2016 and 2018. The agency is also currently studying whether to add three additional countries to the list Mozambique, Namibia and Tanzania. Previously, only wild lions killed in South Africa were eligible to be imported. In two recent tweets, President Donald Trump said he will delay the new policy on allowing elephant trophies, but he made no mention of lions. Trump, whose adult sons are avid big-game hunters, also expressed skepticism about his own administrations claim that killing threatened animals could help save them by helping raise money for conservation programs. Big-game trophy decision will be announced next week but will be very hard pressed to change my mind that this horror show in any way helps conservation of Elephants or any other animal, the president tweeted on Sunday. Trump weighed in after a strong public backlash against reversing an Obama-era ban on elephant trophies, which became public through a written notification posted in the Federal Register. Officials said there was no such legal requirement for notifying the public about the policy change on lions. In late 2015, the Obama administration added two subspecies of African lion to the list of animals protected under the Endangered Species Act. Due to poaching and habitat loss, the number of lions living in the wild is in sharp decline from an estimated 200,000 a century ago to less than 20,000 today. The additional protections were added a few months after Minnesota dentist Walter Palmer sparked international outcry by killing Cecil, a beloved 13-year-old lion who lived in Zimbabwes Hwange National Park. Palmer paid USD54,000 to bow-hunt Cecil on private land just outside the park. A photo of Donald Trump Jr. holding a knife and the bloody severed tail of an elephant he reportedly killed in Zimbabwe in 2011 has also drawn ire from animal rights activists. Wayne Pacelle, the president and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States, said he is encouraged that the president is taking a second look at the issue. Keeping elephants and lions alive is a key to economic progress in so many African nations, Pacelle said. Trophy hunting robs these nations of their greatest resources, diminishing the wildlife-watching experiences of so many tourists. Any U.S. sanctioning of trophy hunting sends a particularly contradictory message at a time when the world has been rallying to save elephants and lions. Michael Biesecker, Washington, AP The Vatican and China are planning a first-ever exchange of artworks for exhibits in China and the Vatican Museums, as the two states forge ahead with soft diplomacy amid a stalemate in negotiations to heal decades of diplomatic estrangement. The parallel exhibits announced yesterday, involving an exchange of 40 works of art from the Vaticans collection of Chinese bronzes, ceramics, cloisonne and paintings, and 40 works from China, are due to open simultaneously in March in the Forbidden City and the Vaticans Anima Mundi ethnological museum. The head of the governments China Culture Industrial Investment Fund, Zhu Jiancheng, told a Vatican news conference that he hoped the exchanges would reinforce friendship, build mutual trust and contribute to the normalization of diplomatic relations. The dual exhibitions would open a new era in people-to-people exchanges between China and the Vatican, he said. The exhibit in China will travel to four other cities after its Beijing inauguration, including Xian and Shanghai. The investment fund is a Chinese government and Communist Party vehicle for monetizing soft power initiatives in media, culture and exhibitions. Its shareholders include the Bank of China, the Ministry of Finance and China International Television Corporation, which operate under orders from Chinas Cabinet, the State Council, and the ruling partys Central Committee led by President Xi Jinping. Pope Francis, and before him Pope Benedict XVI, has made normalizing relations with China a priority. But the Vatican and China remain at odds over the Vaticans insistence that the pope have the authority to name bishops. China views the Vatican position as an infringement on its sovereignty. Scholars and human rights activists say they only expect Xis attitude toward religious and ethnic minorities to become tougher following his appointment to a second term as party leader during the recent party congress. Vatican Museum officials declined to enter into the diplomatic standoff, or hopes that it might end, during yesterdays news conference announcing the initiative, deferring to their Chinese guests. But the head of the Vatican Museums, Barbara Jatta, said beauty and art were an extraordinary vehicle for dialogue. China cut relations with the Holy See in 1951, after the Communist Party took power and set up its own church outside the popes authority. China has an estimated 12 million Catholics, many of whom worship in non-state sanctioned congregations faithful to the pope that often overlap with the government-sanctioned church. Nicole Winfield, Vatican City, AP As numbers are on their side the combine will dominate Rajya Sabha and Council elections in 2018. By Kiran Tare: The numerical and majority equations in the Rajya Sabha and the Legislative Council in Maharashtra are all set to change in 2018. Biennial elections to 6 Rajya Sabha (RS) seats are due to be held before April 2018 and between May and July 2018 as many as 21 seats in the Legislative Council fall vacant. Given the respective numerical strengths of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena combine, and the opposition Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in the Legislative Assembly, the BJP-Sena combine can increase their numerical strength both in the Rajya Sabha and Legislative Council, tilting the scales of numerical majority in their favor. advertisement Six Rajya Sabha seats are due to fall vacant on April 2, 2018. Out of these 2, each are currently held by NCP and Congress, 1 each by BJP and Sena. The retiring sitting RS MP's include: Vandana H Chavan and D P Tripathi (both NCP), Rajeev Shukla and Rajani A Patil (both Congress), Anil Desai (Sena) and Ajaykumar S Sanchetti (BJP). The electoral college for the RS comprises of the 288 members of the Legislative Assembly and the quota of votes needed to win a seat is 42 votes. Given the numerical strength of the ruling BJP-Sena combine and the opposition Congress-NCP, the BJP can manage to bag 3 seats and the Sena, Congress and NCP can win 1 seat each. If the BJP and Sena form an alliance then along with the Independents and smaller parties, they can have 205 votes. Whereas, the opposition Congress-NCP combine with the support of like-minded smaller parties have a total vote share of 87 votes. There is a mega election in the Legislative Council where elections are due to be held for 21 seats in May-June-July 2018. Out of these, a major chunk of 11 seats of the Elected by MLAs (EMLAs) constituency are due to be held in July 2018. The rest of the 10 seats that are due to go to polls are as followed: 6 Local Authorities constituency (May-June) and 2 each of Graduates and Teachers constituency (July). Out of the total 21 seats, currently the NCP has 8 sitting MLCs, Congress 4, BJP 4, Sena 2, PWP-I 1, JD-U (Lok Bharti) 1 and Independent 1. The electoral college for the 11 seats of EMLA constituency comprises of the 288 MLAs of the lower house and the first preference quota of votes required to win the elections is 25 votes. Again if the ruling BJP and Sena form an alliance with smaller parties, then they have 205 votes. The BJP will try to win at least five seats, the Sena 2 and the opposition Congress-NCP alliance can hope to win 3 seats. If the BJP wants to get a fifth candidate from its quota, then it will need just three more votes than its official strength of 122 MLAs in the lower house. advertisement The 11 sitting MLCs from the EMLA constituency who are due to retire on July 27, 2018 include: NCP 4, Congress 3, BJP 2 and 1 each of Sena and Peasants and Workers Party of India (PWP-I). Prominent amongst those who are retiring include: Deputy Chairman of Legislative Council, Manikrao Thakare, Sanjay Dutt and Sharad Ranpise (all Congress), Amarsingh S Pandit and three others of NCP, Vijay Girkar, Minister for Dairy Development, Mahadev Jankar (both BJP). Sena's Anil Parab and Jayant Patil (PWP-I) are set to retire. The current party wise strength in the 78 member Legislative Council is as followed: NCP 23, Congress 19, BJP 17, Sena 9, JD-U 1, PWP-I 1, PRP 1, Independents 6 and vacant 1. While the current party wise strength in the 288 member Legislative Assembly is as followed: BJP 122, Sena 63, Congress 42, NCP 41, PWP-I 3, BVA 3, MIM 2, MNS 1, Samajwadi Party 1, BBMC 1, CPI-M 1, RSP 1, Independents 7 and Nominated 1 (Vacant). The party wise strength of the 19 Rajya Sabha seats from Maharashtra is as followed: NCP 5, BJP 5, Congress 4, Sena 3, RPI-A 1 and Independent 1. --- ENDS --- advertisement Staphylococcus aureus - Antibiotics Test plate. Credit: CDC Killer bacteria - ones that have out-evolved our best antibioticsmay not go away anytime soon. But a new approach to tracking their spread could eventually give us a fighting chance to keep their death toll down. Using data from a 2008 outbreak of one of the most-feared "superbugs," and modern genetic sequencing techniques, a team has successfully modeled, and predicted, the way the organism spread between and within dozens of healthcare facilities. The approach can tell if the bug is spreading within a hospital, nursing home or long-term acute care hospital - or if a new patient transferred from another facility has brought it there. In other words, if fighting superbugs is like a horror movie, the approach can tell if the call is coming from inside the house, or if the killer is lurking outside and about to barge through the door. And just like in a horror movie, getting an answer quickly can guide what kinds of barricades and weapons health professionals should use against the villain. The approach, published in Science Translational Medicine , combines current epidemiological approaches with whole-genome sequencing - spelling out the entire DNA sequence of bacteria from each infected patient. This makes it possible to use the tiny changes in superbug DNA - the kind of mutations that happen naturally over timeto track their spread within and between healthcare facilities. The approach was developed by teams from Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and the University of Michigan Medical School, with funding from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Prevention Epicenters Program. The teams used data on a 2008 outbreak of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumonia (CRKP) in the upper Midwest. "These organisms permeate regions, but it hasn't been understood in detail how that happens - why they spread like wildfire in one region and don't make headway in another," says Evan Snitkin, Ph.D., a U-M assistant professor specializing in bioinformatics and systems biology. "Because this was the first outbreak of CRKP in the Chicago region, we decided to try to trace its initial movements based on patient transfers and whole-genome sequencing of samples. If we can understand what drives transmission in a region, we hope to be able to intervene to prevent further spread." Back in time Rush's hospital identified the second case of CRKP in the region. The hospital team identified the outbreak after a patient arrived at their emergency department in a transfer from an acute care hospital in Indiana. A team led by Mary K. Hayden, M.D., an infectious diseases physician who also directs Rush's Division of Clinical Microbiology, conducted and published its own investigation of the outbreak, using the best techniques available at the time. They concluded that the bug had spread from a single patient in mid-2007, and eventually infected 42 people treated in 14 acute care hospitals, two LTACHs, and 10 nursing homes. Transfers of patients among these facilities - for example, from an LTACH or nursing to a hospital for short-term acute care, and then back again - was identified as a major driver of spread. A single LTACH was identified as a key hub for transmission. In this outbreak, many patients died. Nationwide, death rates for CRKP are even higher, and it tends to prey upon the sickest, most vulnerable patients. Old samples, new analysis Back in 2008, whole-genome sequencing of this many samples was not feasible. "Although our research fellow at the time, Dr. Sarah Won, conducted an exhaustive outbreak investigation, the molecular epidemiologic tools available in 2008 did not allow us to determine timing and direction of spread for many cases," says Hayden. "We saved the isolates with the hope that more discriminating techniques would be available in the future. We were very excited when the future arrived!" The Rush team brought the samples to U-M's Center for Microbial Systems for sequencing, and Snitkin's team started to put the genome data together with what Hayden's team had found out about the outbreak. This included something that hadn't been available before the original outbreak report: clinical data on 'patient zero,' the person whose infection with CRKP dated back to mid-2007, and who Hayden's team had previously identified as the origin of the outbreak. This allowed the team to create a 'family tree' of the CRKP outbreak, back to that first patient on the trunk. They mapped the spread from patient to patient, and facility to facility, based on both the sleuthwork Hayden's team had done and the new genomic sequence information. They could see which cases had resulted from transmission within the facility - because of practices that allowed bacteria from the infected patient to reach others - and which had been introduced because a patient was transferred with the bacteria already inside them. Then, they tested the approach by trying to predict which facility each patient's CRKP infection had come from, using only the genomes of the other patients already treated in the outbreak - and none of the information from patients treated later. This real-time analysis, similar to what might happen in a real outbreak, successfully pinpointed the facility where the infection came from for every patient. "The genome sequence is powerful for finding pathways, but having epidemiological data about exposures and movement between facilities makes everything make sense," says Snitkin, who holds positions in the U-M Medical School's departments of Microbiology & Immunology and Internal Medicine. "We envision that we will be able to use this same approach on other organisms, too, though efficacy will vary." Adds Hayden, "This approach might be particularly useful in identifying pathways of transmission soon after emergence of a superbug in a region. The earlier we can intervene to contain an outbreak, the more likely it is that we can eradicate it." The complementary expertise of the Michigan and Rush teams made the project possible, he adds. Going forward, the team hopes to test the approach in other settings, to see if they can find the hubs of antibiotic-resistant bacteria development and transmission. They also will test the approach for its ability to trace the origin of transmission for an organism that's already present in an area. This could be much harder than tracking a newly introduced type of infection that has just entered a region. The role of LTACHs, where patients may live for months at a time receiving hospital-level care such as constant ventilation, is one they also hope to explore further. Such facilities may be especially prone to the development of antibiotic-resistant organisms simply because of the kind of care they provide to a very vulnerable and immobile population with weak immune systems. In the long run, the researchers hope their approach could be adapted broadly by public health authorities and infection control specialists in healthcare facilities - and used to steer interventions very early in an outbreak to prevent transmission across broad networks. To get to that point will require the development of public-domain software for public health disease detectives to use routinely, or even to automate the process. More information: E.S. Snitkin el al., "Integrated genomic and interfacility patient-transfer data reveal the transmission pathways of multidrug-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae in a regional outbreak," Science Translational Medicine (2017). Journal information: Science Translational Medicine E.S. Snitkin el al., "Integrated genomic and interfacility patient-transfer data reveal the transmission pathways of multidrug-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae in a regional outbreak,"(2017). stm.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi/ scitranslmed.aan0093 Most people in Switzerland die in hospitals and nursing homes. Their specific needs are often not adequately met. In addition, professional caregivers are not sufficiently well coordinated. This situation could be improved by promoting palliative care, which cares for people's every need at the end of life. These are the conclusions reached by the National Research Programme "End of Life". Death is the unavoidable, final phase of life. However, how a person dies can be shaped. In youth or old age, at home in an institution, lonely or cared for, the manner in which this final phase unfolds is not the sole responsibility of that individual. Society can create conditions that allow people to die with dignity and self-determination, and as far as possible without fear and pain. However, this cannot be achieved without knowledge about where and how people die today, and how they would prefer to die. In the scope of National Research Programme "End of Life" (NRP 67), 33 research projects have studied dying in Switzerland for the past five years. Palliative care has great potential Regardless of age or the type of terminal illness, the majority of people living in Switzerland die in hospitals or nursing homes. Sometimes their basic needs are not given sufficient consideration. The candid conversations that the dying and their next of kin hope for do not always take place. Professionals in the field often do not cooperate closely with each other. There is a lack of coordination and, as a result, care for the dying tends to be fragmented. Palliative care has great potential and may be able to improve this situation. It takes a holistic approach to care, focusing on pain relief, maintenance of quality of life and self-determination. "Palliative care ought to be more widely available in Switzerland," says Markus Zimmermann from the University of Fribourg, president of the NRP 67 Steering Committee. "It is therefore important to raise public awareness and ensure that caregivers and doctors receive better training in this area." Public is willing to bear high costs The high costs of treatments in the final phase of life are often the subject of public debate. Findings of NRP 67 show that the costs associated with dying are typically lower for older people than for younger ones. One of the reasons for this is the fact that older people are less likely to die in a hospital. The treatment of cancer patients at the end of life is particularly expensive. However, the public is on the whole willing to bear the high costs incurred at the end of life - in French-speaking Switzerland even more so than in the German-speaking part. Decisions at the end of life can be highly diverse Death is often preceded by decisions about medical treatment and care. In 70 per cent of the non-sudden deaths recorded in 2013, a decision was made to either forego further treatment, break off an ongoing therapy or initiate pain and symptom relief measures that might have a life-shortening effect. Only 3 per cent of deaths were preceded by life-ending decisions. These include active euthanasia on request, or in the absence of any explicit request from the patient, and assisted suicide. A striking number of patients are sedated in their last phase of life, and they therefore do not consciously experience dying: in 2013, every sixth person who died in Switzerland died in this manner. Deep sedation is a drug-induced deep sleep until death, which medical staff resort to if certain symptoms are not otherwise containable during the dying process. However, if people who are not at the end of life are sedated in this manner, this is considered intentionally life-ending and forbidden in Switzerland. Decision-making capacity is difficult to determine When taking account of patients' rights, the crucial point is whether the person is still capable of making decisions or not. But this faculty is difficult to determine in many cases, and doctors are often unsure when they have to assess a patient's competence for decision-making. An ideal legal concept of the self-determined patient who independently makes end-of-life decisions is unrealistic. Any revision of the adult protection law should therefore take into account that subjective aspects necessarily play a role in the assessment of an individual's decision-making capacity. In addition, it would be important to define the roles of patient representatives more clearly. Spiritual needs at the end of life Dying people often have existential questions and questions pertaining to meaning. Caregivers should be aware of this, given that spiritual wellbeing or the prevention of an existential crisis can play a crucial role in improving the quality of life of the dying. In addition to traditional beliefs, for example those held by Christians of all denominations, various forms of so-called "alternative religiosity" have been gaining ground in our society. Health professionals and the relevant institutions need to take account of these changes when tending to the dying or talking to their next of kin. More information: Synthesis report of NRP End of Life (NRP 67). Synthesis report of NRP End of Life (NRP 67). www.snf.ch/synthesis-report-nrp-67 Maintaining your mental health is critical to readiness. People suffering from depressive disorders can experience slowed physical reactions, impaired judgment and indecision, all of which can risk the mission. Treatment for mental health issues can show real improvement in as little as four weeks. If you, or someone you know, may be dealing with depression, get treatment now. Credit: Air Force Graphic Mental health is a critical part of every Airman's medical readiness. Although many service members worry that seeking mental health care will negatively effect their career, the opposite is usually true. With early identification and the right treatment by a medical professional, most mental health issues get better quickly without any negative career impact. Unfortunately the reverse is also true, says Maj. Joel Foster, a psychologist and chief of deployment mental health for the Air Force Medical Service. Left untreated, even relatively minor mental health issues can become more serious, evolving into depression or suicidal thoughts and actions. These present serious risks for an Airman and an Air Force career. "It's absolutely true that having an impaired mental state can negatively affect an Airmen's ability to complete their mission," said Foster. "People suffering from depression can experience symptoms like difficulty sleeping, fatigue, indecisiveness or poor decision making, and inability to focus. It's easy to see how these symptoms can put an Air Force career at risk." Numbers bear this out. Complications from mental health issues are one of the most common reasons for medical evacuation of Airmen from theater. "Most, if not all jobs in a combat zone require high cognitive function," said Capt. Jordan Fields, an Air Force clinical psychologist at Wilford Hall Ambulatory Surgical Center at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. "Someone in a deployed environment can't afford to be distracted by depressive thoughts. This can decrease their reaction time, affect their ability to make decisions, and diminish their ability to prioritize things." Deployed environments are often stressful and Airmen are isolated from their usual support network. Beginning deployment with even a low or moderate level of depression is a recipe for possible problems, says Fields. "We always try to tackle mental health issues before deployment. A real challenge for us as mental health providers is getting patients to reach out to us before problems get so severe as to affect an Airman's readiness." The good news is that treatment for mental health issues is far more effective than most people realize. Once a patient is in treatment, they are very likely to see real improvement within four visits to a mental health professional. "People respond quite quickly to evidence-based treatments for depression. Weekly treatments usually lead to major improvement within a month," said Fields. "It's critical to get people in, start to change behaviors and give them some hope. Even patients with severe depression can experience significant relief quickly, and get back to being mission-fit." Depression pulls people away from family and friends, valued activities, and other engagements. Treatment for depression focuses on rebuilding those connections. Simple things like renewing social activities, basic self-care activities, eating well, exercise, and sleep are critical parts of therapy. These deceptively simple actions can reverse the downward spiral of depression. "For many Airmen, the most challenging part of treatment is just coming through the door to begin," said Fields. "Not everyone who feels sad is depressed, and sadness is a common and even natural symptom of other traumatic events. For anyone struggling with depression, or other mental health issues, that first step to get treatment is the most important one they take." Recent Air Force research shows that Airmen who seek earlier help for depression see better outcomes from therapy and fewer negative outcomes to their careers. Self-referral for mental health care can be very challenging, but more education will help break down some of those barriers. "Every patient is different, but one constant we see is that depression usually doesn't get better on its own," said Foster. "Many depressive symptoms are self-perpetuating. If you feel alone, you are likely to isolate yourself. Social isolation keeps building. Patients shouldn't worry that something bad might happen if they seek help. They should worry about what might happen if they don't." Provided by Air Force Office of Scientific Research (HealthDay)In patients with birch pollen allergy, intranasal administration of omalizumab does not result in relevant change of allergen-specific and total immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels, according to a pilot study published online Oct. 30 in Allergy. Julia Eckl-Dorna, M.D., Ph.D., from the Medical University of Vienna, and colleagues performed a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to assess the effect of a challenge involving intranasal administration of major birch pollen allergen Bet v 1, omalizumab, or placebo on the levels of total and allergen-specific IgE in patients with birch pollen allergy. Measurements of total and allergen-specific IgE, immunoglobulin G, and basophil sensitivity were taken before and eight weeks after the challenge. Controls included subjects treated subcutaneously with either omalizumab or placebo. The researchers found that intranasal challenge with Bet v 1 induced increases of Bet v 1-specific IgE levels by a median of 59.2 percent, which was significantly more than in the other treatment groups. In patients challenged with omalizumab, there were no relevant changes in allergen-specific and total IgE levels. Significant rises in total IgE and the presence of IgE-omalizumab complexes were seen with subcutaneous administration of omalizumab. "Intranasal administration of allergen induced rises of allergen-specific IgE levels whereas intranasal administration of omalizumab did not enhance systemic total or allergen-specific IgE levels," conclude the authors. One author disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry. Copyright 2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved. Credit: CC0 Public Domain Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects 1 in 7 people in the United States, according to the U.S. National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). These individuals have a very high risk of cardiovascular disease, and some will also progress to kidney failure requiring dialysis and transplantation. However, few options exist to treat them, and few major breakthroughs have been made during the last 30 years. More than 660,000 Americans have kidney failure, according to the NIDDK. A new study that included researchers from Norway, the University of Washington, the University of California San Diego and The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (now called UT Health San Antonio) found that dozens of small molecules called metabolites are altered in this disease. "We analyzed these small molecules in the blood and urine of non-diabetic patients with chronic kidney disease and compared the results to samples obtained from a group of healthy individuals," said Stein Hallan, M.D., first author of the study published in EBioMedicine. "Importantly, our study identified that a group of molecules called tri-carboxylic acid (TCA) cycle metabolites are significantly affected in chronic kidney disease." Chronic kidney disease, fatigue and metabolism The TCA cycle is a process in which fuel molecules are converted into energy. This activity occurs in mitochondriathe energy centers of all types of cells. The fact that the TCA cycle is significantly impacted in chronic kidney disease supports the view of CKD as a state of mitochondrial dysfunction, said study senior co-author Kumar Sharma, M.D., FAHA, chief of nephrology and founding director of the Center for Renal Precision Medicine at UT Health San Antonio. "Typically, patients with more advanced stages of CKD suffer from severe fatigue, and many other organs (muscles, brain, gut and others) are also not functioning well," Dr. Hallan said. "The clinical picture indicates that there is a general underlying defect in mitochondrial function of these patients." Dr. Hallan has been an active collaborator with Dr. Sharma and has done several sabbaticals with Dr. Sharma in San Antonio and San Diego. This discovery builds on the Sharma group's earlier work. Since 2013, when the team was based at UC San Diego, the clinical investigators published several research papers supporting that mitochondrial dysfunction is an important mechanism in diabetic and other types of kidney diseases. The new study also found that in patients with CKD, expression of genes that regulate the TCA cycle was significantly reduced compared to healthy individuals. Molecular clues to kidney disease therapies Researchers hope that a new breakthrough therapy could arise from these insights. "This is certainly our goal," Dr. Sharma said. "Metabolomics, the analysis of small molecules in biological samples, has revealed numerous abnormalities in the blood of uremic patients, whose kidneys are unable to eliminate the body's waste products. Further exploration of the TCA cycle, using metabolomics, may identify novel therapeutic targets for CKD and in turn may help us evaluate the effects of promising interventions." The Center for Renal Precision Medicine at UT Health San Antonio contributed to the work and will expand upon it in future studies. The Kidney Precision Medicine Project, which is funded by the National Institutes of Health at centers including UT Health San Antonio, and The University of Texas System STARs Program will be part of the ongoing research. STARs awards, established by the UT System Board of Regents in 2004, are granted to UT System institutions to help attract and retain the best-qualified faculty. (STARs is short for Science and Technology Acquisition and Retention.) More information: Stein Hallan et al, Metabolomics and Gene Expression Analysis Reveal Down-regulation of the Citric Acid (TCA) Cycle in Non-diabetic CKD Patients, EBioMedicine (2017). Journal information: EBioMedicine Stein Hallan et al, Metabolomics and Gene Expression Analysis Reveal Down-regulation of the Citric Acid (TCA) Cycle in Non-diabetic CKD Patients,(2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2017.10.027 Diagram shows the workflow for extracting radiomics features from T1-weighted and diffusion-tensor images. FA = fractional anisotropy, MD = mean diffusivity, AD = axial diffusivity, and RD = radial diffusivity Credit: Radiological Society of North America Information from brain MRIs can help identify people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and distinguish among subtypes of the condition, according to a study appearing online in the journal Radiology. ADHD is a disorder of the brain characterized by periods of inattention, hyperactivity and impulsive behavior. The disorder affects 5 to 7 percent of children and adolescents worldwide, according to the ADHD Institute. The three primary subtypes of ADHD are predominantly inattentive, predominantly hyperactive/impulsive and a combination of inattentive and hyperactive. While clinical diagnosis and subtyping of ADHD is currently based on reported symptoms, psychoradiology, which applies imaging data analysis to mental health and neurological conditions, has emerged in recent years as a promising tool for helping to clarify diagnoses. Study co-author Qiyong Gong, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues at West China Hospital of Sichuan University in Chengdu, China, recently introduced an analytical framework for psychoradiology that involves cerebral radiomicsthe extraction of a large amount of quantitative information from digital imaging features that can be mined for disease characteristics. Radiomics, combined with other patient characteristics, could improve diagnostic power and help speed appropriate treatment to patients. "The main aim of the current study was to establish classification models that can assist the psychiatrist or clinical psychologist in diagnosing and subtyping of ADHD based on relevant radiomics signatures," Dr. Gong said. This flowchart shows feature selection and model training. Rectangles in blue represent data and rectangles in gray represent the processes. The all-relevant features selection step was nested in repeated 10-fold cross validation. Credit: Radiological Society of North America With the help of his West China Hospital colleagues Huaiqiang Sun, Ph.D., and Ying Chen, M.D., Ph.D., Dr. Gong studied 83 children, ranging in age from of 7 to 14, with newly diagnosed and never-treated ADHD. The group included children with the inattentive ADHD subtype and the combined subtype. Researchers compared brain MRI results with those of a control group of 87 healthy, similarly aged children. The researchers used a relatively new feature that allowed them to screen relevant radiomics signatures from more than 3,100 quantitative features extracted from the gray and white matter. No overall difference was found between ADHD and controls in total brain volume or total gray and white matter volumes. However, differences emerged when the researchers looked at specific regions within the brain. Alterations in the shape of three brain regions (left temporal lobe, bilateral cuneus and areas around left central sulcus) contributed significantly to distinguishing ADHD from typically developing controls. Within the ADHD population, features involved in the default mode network, which is a network of brain regions active when an individual is not engaged in a specific task, and the insular cortex, an area with diverse functions related to emotion, significantly contributed to discriminating the ADHD inattentive subtype from the combined subtype. Overall, the radiomics signatures allowed discrimination of ADHD patients and healthy control children with 74 percent accuracy and discrimination of ADHD inattentive and ADHD combined subtypes with 80 percent accuracy. "This imaging-based classification model could be an objective adjunct to facilitate better clinical decision making," Dr. Gong said. "Additionally, the present study adds to the developing field of psychoradiology, which seems primed to play a major clinical role in guiding diagnostic and treatment planning decisions in patients with psychiatric disorders." The researchers plan to recruit more newly diagnosed ADHD patients to validate the results and learn more about imaging-based classification. They also intend to apply the analytic approach to other mental or neurological disorders and test its feasibility in a clinical environment, where the fully automatic analytic framework can be readily deployed, Dr. Gong said. More information: "Psychoradiology utility of MR Imaging for Diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Radiomics Analysis." Radiology, 2017. Journal information: Radiology "Psychoradiology utility of MR Imaging for Diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Radiomics Analysis.", 2017. (HealthDay)Sexual harassment (SH) is a continuing occupational health problem, according to a report published recently in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology. James Campbell Quick, Ph.D., and M. Ann McFadyen, Ph.D., from the University of Texas at Arlington, discuss SH in the workplace and examine whether progress has been made toward reducing the burden of SH. The researchers note that there was a 28 percent decrease in SH complaints over two decades. However, there has been an increase in complaints by males. Evidence exists that coworkers, subordinates, customers, and clients harass, as well as superiors, and women who violate traditional feminine ideals are also targets of harassment. Women tend to report more adverse effects after SH than men, including negative mood, eating disorders, drug and alcohol abuse, work turnover intentions, long-term anxiety, job stress, and/or burnout. Men who experience SH do not find the experience as anxiety provoking, although one study indicated that SH results in depression and anxiety for men. The lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, and transgender workforce is more likely to face gender and sexual orientation SH than gender SH alone. Laws and company policies, together with training on these laws and policies, have been used to combat SH in the workplace. "There has been progress on some fronts but not on others and the problem has morphed, becoming more complicated for a variety of reasons," the authors write. Copyright 2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved. "The Gorky shipyard in Zelenodolsk prepared four Gepard frigates for the Defense Ministry of Vietnam. Two of them are already operational. The other two are to be supplied to Vietnam by the end of the year," he said. Four project 11661 Gepard-class frigates were ordered for the Vietnamese Navy at the Gorky shipyard in Zelenodolsk. In 2011 the enterprise delivered the first two warships to Vietnam, the third Gepard was floated in April 2016 and the fourth in May 2017. The warships are designated to search for and fight submarines, surface ships and air targets, patrolling and escorting operations, as well as the protection of economic sea zone. They are armed with artillery, antiship, antiaircraft and antisubmarine weapons. The missile test will "significantly bolster" the Air Force's air combat operations capability from stand-off ranges, the Defence Ministry said in a statement. By India Today Web Desk: The BrahMos supersonic cruise missile was successfully tested for the first time from a Sukhoi-30MKI fighter jet on Wednesday. The Brahmos Air Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM) was tested on a sea-based target in the Bay of Bengal, the Ministry of Defence said in a statement. "The missile was gravity dropped from the Su-30 from fuselage, and the two stage missile's engine fired up and straightway propelled towards the intended target at the sea in Bay of Bengal," the statement read. advertisement The missile test will "significantly bolster" the Air Force's air combat operations capability from stand-off ranges, the MoD said. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman congratulated the BrahMos team and DRDO in a tweet. India creates a world record and completes Supersonic Cruise Missile Triad by successfully testing #BRAHMOS #ALCM from Indian Air Force Sukhoi-30MKI fighter aircraft. Smt @nsitharaman congratulates Team Brahmos & @DRDO_India for this historic achievement.- Raksha Mantri (@DefenceMinIndia) November 22, 2017 The completion of tactical cruise missile triad will significantly bolster the IAFs capabilities in long-range air combat operations. #BrahMos https://t.co/Eq0WVmgUMu pic.twitter.com/wapmG6WM2G- Raksha Mantri (@DefenceMinIndia) November 22, 2017 WATCH | BrahMos missile tested successfully from IAF's Sukhoi fighter jet --- ENDS --- Oil prices may reach $120 a barrel and stay at this level for 2 years Zelenskyy receives 'signals' that Putin wants direct talks Security Service of Ukraine puts Ramzan Kadyrov on wanted list Unidentified men open fire at market in Izeh city in southwestern Iran Karen Donfried tries to explain State Department's decision to exempt Azerbaijan from 907th Amendment Philip Reeker says U.S. administration representatives have no access to Nagorno-Karabakh Rimac Nevera sets speed record for production electric cars Reeker: Pace and depth of current talks between Yerevan and Baku demonstrate potential to resolve conflict FBI director considers TikTok threat to US National Security Bob Menendez says Ukraine supplies Azerbaijan with phosphorus bombs it used in Karabakh Delegation headed by Speaker of Armenian Parliament is in Tbilisi Austin: U.S. intends to continue supplying weapons and aid to Ukraine during winter Armenian politician charged with abuse of office, money laundering Karen Donfried says Armenia and Azerbaijan have historic opportunity to establish lasting peace Bob Menendez: How can the U.S. justify security assistance to the Baku regime? Azerbaijan fires at residents of Sarushen village of Artsakh Head of Portugal's Finance Ministry: EU countries must work faster on energy intervention Kuwait executes 7 prisoners Czech Republic plans to train up to 4,000 Ukrainian servicemen next year Ukraine once again asks US for powerful drones Belarusian border guards shoot down drone intruding into airspace from Ukraine Armenian Deputy PM: Regional electricity export opportunities significantly increased Greek authorities temporarily ban export of firewood from country Azerbaijan protests to France in connection with Senate resolution Blinken calls on Aliyev to observe ceasefire and limit provocations Pashinyan: We're advancing rights of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. Pashinyan: Armenia invites Azerbaijan to sign framework agreement on peace Pashinyan: Most of the arable land of 4 villages in Tavush Province is occupied by Azerbaijanis Armenian Prime Minister: Let the opposition loudly reject Russia's proposals Pashinyan: 2023 budget growth in social protection compared to 2018 is 56% Inflation in UK up to 41-year high of 11.1% in October Pashinyan: We don't want to provoke war between CSTO and Azerbaijan Pashinyan's explanation: How should we fight inflation? Pashinyan: Armenia submitted its proposals for peace treaty to Azerbaijan, we are waiting for a response Pashinyan: Army budget 2023 more than doubled compared to 2018 CNN: CIA director visits Kyiv Macron urges Iran to calm down and respect the French IRGC forces detain Mossad spy in southern Iran Iranian Foreign Minister expresses dissatisfaction with number of 'unrealistic comments' by Azerbaijani officials Parliament Vice-Speaker: Armenian military-industrial complex able to establish serial production of military products Armen Grigoryan receives Major General Daniel Lasica Poland says Ukrainian missile could be cause of explosion Ivanka Trump says she will not participate in her father's presidential campaign KGB of Belarus states about 'threat of intervention' from Baltic States, Ukraine, and Poland Belarus says AFU blew up bridges in direction of Gomel and Mozyr 22-year-old soldier dies in accident with army truck in Armenia Indonesian president hands over G20 presidency to India Azerbaijani Ombudswoman's distorted perception of reality: French Senate Resolution 'will undermine peace in the region' Nikol Pashinyan holds telephone conversation with Irakli Garibashvili Four explosions blow up in sky over Belgorod NATO Secretary General to hold meeting of alliance on incident in Poland Finnish Foreign Ministry: Many in NATO believe that Turkey has created an awkward situation for the alliance Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem receives group of wounded participants of 44-day Karabakh war AP: Drone with explosives attacks oil tanker off the coast of Oman LPR announces attack by AFU from Popasna to Kharkiv Oblast Toyota reveals next-generation Toyota Prius hybrid Central Bank head: State Budget deficit in Armenia to grow to 3.1% of GDP in 2023 Erdogan believes Russia had nothing to do with the missile incident in Poland Thanasis Bakolas shares concerns that Armenian politician banned from leaving Armenia Biden and Sunak discuss missile incident in Poland at G20 summit Russian Defense Ministry: Elements of the Ukrainian S-300 system fell in Poland Erdogan: Biden administration is determined to sell F-16s to Turkey Gold price remains stable Copper falls in price Microsoft to leave Azerbaijan G7 and NATO leaders say they are ready to support Poland in investigation of bombings Joe Biden asks Congress for new funding for Ukraine Finance Minister: Capital expenses will greatly increase in Armenia in 2023 Azerbaijani MFA accuses French Senate of undermining relations normalization process between Baku and Yerevan Armen Grigoryan to pay working visit to India AP: Missile falls in Poland may have been fired by Ukraine to shoot down Russian missile Erdogan plans to discuss fertilizer transportation and grain deal with Putin Oil price falls Blinken calls on Armenian Prime Minister to maintain momentum of peace talks with Azerbaijan CNN: NATO aircraft tracked the trajectory of the missile that fell in eastern Poland Armenian FM to visit Tunisia Yerevan draft budget 2023 revealed U.S. Embassy: Major General Daniel Lasica arrives in Armenia Armenian MOD refutes another misinformation of Azerbaijani MOD Media: Fire in Istanbul is caused by several explosions, not just one Drone 'allegedly' blows up oil depot in Oryol Oblast Trump officially announces that he will run for president in 2024 Anwar Gargash: UAE has no interest in choosing sides between great powers Ukraine suspends oil pumping through Druzhba pipeline towards Hungary Germany urgently needs gas turbines to stabilize power grids Polish media report on fall of two missiles on country's territory Economic downturn worsens in eastern EU due to a spike in inflation U.S. believes that meeting between Biden and Jinping was strong signal to rest of world Karabakh MFA welcomes resolution adopted by French Senate Italy bans facial recognition technology and smart glasses Germany to establish maintenance center in Slovakia for weapons supplied to Ukraine Energy Ministry: Russia carried out most massive shooting of Ukraine's energy system since war starts French Senate passes resolution calling for sanctions against Azerbaijan Rishi Sunak hints that he will abandon plans to declare China 'threat' to national security EU supports any call to phase out fossil fuel use Secretary of Security Council of Armenia receives delegation of EU special envoys, member states Armenian President Vahagn Khachatryan receives newly appointed ambassador of Cyprus Zelenskyy's adviser: The situation after Russian shelling is critical Newly appointed ambassador of Cyprus visits Armenian Genocide memorial Borrell: EU countries must work together to replenish their military stocks YEREVAN. Countering hate speech, intolerance and xenophobia was one of the main priorities of Armenia during its Chairmanship of the Council of Europe (CoE) in 2013. The Foreign Minister of Armenia, Edward Nalbandian, on Wednesday noted the aforementioned in his statement at the conference in capital city Yerevan, and entitled: Preventing and Countering Hate Crimes against Christians and Members of other Religious Groups - Perspectives from the OSCE and beyond. I would like to warmly welcome all participants of the conference and thank the OSCE Austrian Chairmanship and the ODIHR for its organization in cooperation with Armenia, Nalbandian said, in particular. The theme and the focus of the Conference are timely and well-chosen providing an ample opportunity for addressing the challenges faced by Christians and members of other religious groups. Several reasons contribute to the importance of this Conference for Armenia. First, historically being situated on the crossroads of different civilizations Armenia has cultivated deeply rooted traditions of coexistence and respect towards other cultures and religions. Being the first nation to adopt Christianity as a state religion, Armenians stand among the foundations of the Christian civilization. We always have had very strong relations with Muslim nations and states, as well as with others. As a nation that has communities in around hundred countries of the World Armenians have first-hand knowledge on the value of tolerance and on the problems of discrimination and hate speech. We consider this Conference in Yerevan as an opportunity for presenting and sharing our national experiences. Second, being historically persecuted in their homeland under foreign domination, including based on the religious grounds, after rejoining the family of sovereign states Armenians cannot close eyes to the sufferings of those who continue to experience religious discrimination and hate-motivated crimes. We actively contribute to the international efforts aimed at preventing identity based discrimination and violence. Our most recent initiatives in this regard include the adoption of the resolution on Genocide prevention at the UN Human Rights Council in 2015 and the adoption in the same year of the resolution on International Day of commemoration of the victims of genocide at the UN General Assembly. These efforts will continue. Countering hate speech, intolerance and xenophobia was one of the main priorities of Armenia during its Chairmanship of the Council of Europe in 2013. At the wake of terrorist activities of Daesh [(ISIS)] and other terrorist groups, Armenia has been among the first in the United Nations and the OSCE to raise the issue of protection of religious and ethnic groups and strongly advocate for the strengthening of the international commitments in this regard. Third, the hosting of this Conference in Armenia is a further step in our efforts to raise awareness on the plight of endangered religious groups. I recall the two high level events on Supporting the Rights of Christians, particularly in the Middle East and on Mutual Respect and Peaceful Coexistence as a Condition of Interreligious Peace and Stability: Supporting Christians and other Communities, held respectively in 2015 and 2017 in Geneva in the frameworks of the UN Human Rights Council, co-organized by Armenia, Russia, Holy See and Lebanon alongside with other partner countries. We have also supported the initiatives of on streamlining issue of protection of religious and ethnic groups in the Middle East. Armenia contributed to the International Conference on the Victims of Ethnic and Religious Violence in the Middle East, in Paris in 2015 and the Conference on victims of ethnic and religious violence, in Madrid this June. Armenia has also focused on the plight of refugees and migrants from the vulnerable groups of the Middle East during such recent international events as the 2016 UN Summit to Address Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants, 2016 Leaders Summit on Refugees, 2017 OSCE Mediterranean conference on large movements of migrants and refugees. YEREVAN. Numerous Armenian churches, monasteries, cemeteries destroyed, erased, confiscated and appropriated in the 1990s and 2000s in the places from where the indigenous Armenian population has been expelled stand as a stark reminder of the cleavages between the commitments and their implementation. Such situations should not be permitted. The Foreign Minister of Armenia, Edward Nalbandian, on Wednesday said the abovementioned in his statement at the conference in capital city Yerevan, and entitled: Preventing and Countering Hate Crimes against Christians and Members of other Religious Groups - Perspectives from the OSCE and beyond. There is no doubt that all those conferences and discussions that I have mentioned and many others to which Armenia has actively contributed are of great importance, Nalbandian said, in particular. Their aim is to set up and improve the mechanisms and bring us closer to the implementation of our obligations. In the OSCE alone we have developed a broad range of commitments to combat racism, xenophobia, discrimination, anti-Semitism and intolerance, including against Christians, Jews, Muslims, other religious groups and to prevent and respond to hate crimes. There is a consensus among participating states that adherence to these commitments is crucial for the maintenance of peace, stability and security. Thus, it is high time now to ensure that the OSCE possess effective mechanisms and expertise to assist participating States in taking appropriate action to protect Christians and members of other religions. I would like to bring one example in this regard. The Cracow Document endorsed by the 1994 OSCE Budapest Summit stipulates that the participating States will pay due attention to monuments and objects of religious origin whose original communities no longer use them or no longer exist in the particular region. Numerous Armenian churches, monasteries, cemeteries destroyed, erased, confiscated and appropriated in the 1990s and 2000s in the places from where the indigenous Armenian population has been expelled stand as a stark reminder of the cleavages between the commitments and their implementation. Such situations should not be permitted. Recent international reports draw a quite appalling picture with regard to the religious freedom in the world. According to one of them nearly 80 percent of the humanity lives in places where restrictions on religion are either high or very high. According to others reports about the deterioration of the situation in this regard, including in some OSCE participating states that are in the immediate neighborhood of Armenia. In these countries the areas of particular concern are the rising numbers of the prisoners of conscience, dissemination of the hatred, especially through the media and education. There is a certain tendency in the OSCE area among those participating states whose non-compliance with the OSCE human dimension commitments particularly with respect to the fundamental freedoms is well known, to disguise human rights violations by depicting themselves as islands of tolerance and non-discrimination or even best examples to be followed by others. Portraying themselves multicultural, multireligious in one organization, seeking religious solidarity in other organization and finally nurturing own population by hatred as a substitute to human rights may work only as a short-term propaganda but will certainly undermine stability and security in the region. Unfortunately, religious dimension has often been invoked to mobilize support in the conflict situations that have never had anything to do with the faith. Some organizations, which are based on religious solidarity, support these claims potentially exacerbating already complex conflict situations. We believe that the OSCE and first and foremost those participating States that are members of such religion-based organizations should resolutely reject such threatening practices. In reality most of the current destructive conflicts take place not between but within the same religion and this is evident especially on the example of the modern Middle East. By PTI: Lucknow, Nov 22 (PTI) Shahi Imam of Delhis Jama Masjid Maulana Ahmed Bukhari today questioned the proposal of the Uttar Pradesh Shia Waqf Board for resolving the Ayodhya dispute saying in which capacity is it coming up with a formula as it is not a party to the case. "There is no point in giving a formula. Earlier too there were some formulae which were presented, but no solution was found. The matter can be resolved only through courts. Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has no formula... As far as the formula of the Shia Waqf Board is concerned, the Shia community itself does not endorse it..." he told reporters here. advertisement "Apart from this, the Shia Waqf Board is not a party to the Ayodhya case. If all the parties sit together and derive a formula, then this could be understood. But, if someone who is not a party, then in which capacity is it coming up with a formula," Bukhari asked. Bukhari was here to wish Samajwadi Party patron Mulayam Singh Yadav on his birthday. On November 20, UP Shia Waqf Board proposed relinquishing its right over the disputed land in Ayodhya, and building a masjid-e-aman" in Lucknow to resolve the Ram janmabhoomi- Babri masjid tangle, a move rejected by the Muslim protagonists involved in the protracted legal feud. The board, which is the mutawalli (caretaker) of the Babri Mosque, proposed giving up its right over the land in Ayodhya, and a draft for resolving the issue, prepared by the Shia Waqf Board, has been submitted in the Supreme Court on November 18, its chairman Wasim Rizvi had said. Claiming that the formula for resolving the matter proposed by the Shia Waqf Board was the best, Rizvi said it is of the view that instead of Ayodhya, a masjid-e-aman (the mosque of peace) be constructed in Lucknows Hussainabad area. PTI NAV ZMN --- ENDS --- Iran, Russia and Turkey will continue cooperation for ultimate defeat of the Islamic State, the presidents of three countries said in a joint statement. The statement reads: The Presidents expressed satisfaction with the current level of tripartite coordination on maintaining and strengthening the ceasefire regime in Syria, of which Iran, Russia and Turkey are guarantors. The Heads of state noted that, following several years of international efforts to defeat unsc-designated terrorist groups in Syria, over the 11 months since the establishment of the ceasefire regime on December 29, 2016, a breakthrough had been made in bringing closer the elimination of ISIL, Nusra Front and all other terrorist organizations as designated by the UNSC and agreed that Iran, Russia and Turkey will continue cooperation for their ultimate defeat. The Presidents emphasized that the creation of the de-escalation areas established in Astana process in Syria have been quite efficient and greatly helped to reduce violence, alleviate the humanitarian suffering, curb the flow of refugees, and start working to provide conditions for the safe return of refugees and internally displaced persons. The Presidents acknowledged that the Astana format and its achievements have become an effective instrument for contributing to peace and stability in Syria. The Presidents decided that Iran, Russia and Turkey would continue their coordinated efforts to ensure that the progress in reduction of violence is irreversible. They agreed to assist the Syrians in restoring unity of the country, and achieving political solution of the crisis through an inclusive, free, fair and transparent Syrian-led and Syrian-owned process leading to constitution enjoying the support of the Syrian people and free and fair elections with the participation of all eligible Syrians under appropriate un supervision. The Heads of state reaffirmed their strong commitment to sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of The Syrian Arab Republic and emphasized that under no circumstances the creation of the above-mentioned de-escalation areas and at political initiative to solve the Syrian crisis undermine the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of The Syrian Arab Republic. The Presidents expressed their support for broad intra-Syrian dialogue involving representatives of all segments of Syrian society. The Presidents called on the representatives of The Government of The Syrian Arab Republic and the opposition that are committed to the sovereignty, independence, unity, territorial integrity and non-fractional character of the Syrian state to participate constructively in the Syrian national dialogue congress in Sochi in near future. They agreed to actively contribute to the success of the Congress. Iran, Russia and Turkey will consult and agree on participants of the Congress. The Presidents underscored the need for rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access and emphasized the need for the Syrian parties to take confidence-building measures, including the release of detainees/abductees and the handover of the bodies as well as identification of missing persons to create better condition for political process and lasting ceasefire. They called upon members of the international community to support the process of de-escalation and stabilization in Syria, inter alia, by sending additional aid to the Syrian people, facilitating the humanitarian mine action, preserving historical heritage, and restoring basic infrastructure assets, including social and economic facilities. The Presidents expressed the hope that the progress in resolving Syrian crisis achieved through cooperation of Iran, Russia and Turkey would have positive effect on the overall situation in the region, and reduce the risk of ethnic and sectarian divide. The Presidents decided to meet again as needed. The Presidents of Islamic Republic of Iran and The Republic of Turkey expressed their sincere gratitude to President of The Russian Federation, . Vladimir Putin, for hosting this tripartite summit in Sochi. WASHINGTON, D.C. The Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly) and its Capital Region Council hosted its Annual Holiday Reception this month, with special guest His Imperial Highness Prince Ermias Sahle-Selassie of Ethiopia. Prince Ermias spoke highly of the bilateral relations between Ethiopia and Armenia that dates back centuries. At this point, it is both important and gratifying to know our two people - Ethiopia and Armenia - have been colleagues longer than most of the nations on this planet. Indeed, the Imperial Family has taken note of the active trade and civil relationships between Ethiopians and Armenians, extending back to the 3rd Century A.D. Moreover, Armenians and Ethiopians share a rich and historic connection as members of the same branch of Orthodox Christianity, as well as perhaps lesser known stories of the invaluable Armenian contributions to Ethiopian history, Prince Ermias said. Prince Ermias, President of the Crown Council of Ethiopia, recalled the story of his grandfather, Emperor Haile Selassie I, and his encounters with Armenians. In 1924, when the Emperor was visiting Jerusalem, he came across a marching band of forty Armenian youngsters. When he asked who they were, he was told that they were all orphans who had escaped Ottoman Turkey during the Armenian Genocide. After listening to the band play, the Emperor was struck by the band's musical talent. Thereupon the Emperor asked for permission from the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem to adopt and bring the musicians to Ethiopia. The Armenian musicians were then known as the Arba Lijoch, which means forty children in Amharic, and were trained in Ethiopia by musical director Kevork Nalbandian. Nalbandian was an Armenian Genocide survivor, originally from Aintab in the southeastern region of the Ottoman Turkish Empire. The Armenian musicians came to form the Royal Imperial Brass Band, beginning a tradition in modern Ethiopian music of heavily using brass instruments. Amazed by their progress and skill, Emperor Selassie asked Nalbandian to compose a national anthem for Ethiopia. On November 2, 1930, the Emperor's coronation day, the Arba Lijoch unveiled the Imperial National Anthem, Marsh Teferi, which was Ethiopia's official anthem from 1930 to 1974. Prince Ermias told the audience that these Armenians became known as the "forerunners in the modernization of mainstream music in Ethiopia." Assembly Board Member Annie Totah expressed her gratitude to Prince Ermias, her personal friend, for his kind words about the Armenians. "We thank you so very much for joining and educating us about the situation in Africa, and thank you for having presented to us the history about Armenians in Ethiopia. Emperor Haile Selassie welcomed us - the Armenians - and we have an ideal, mutually beneficial and fantastic relationship between both countries," Totah said. Over 100 guests attended the Holiday Reception, including Armenian Ambassador to the United States His Excellency Grigor Hovhannissian with his wife Victoria and Artsakh Permanent Representative to the U.S. Robert Avetisyan with his wife Elvina. In his remarks, Ambassador Hovhannissian noted that Ethiopia has a special place in the hearts of Armenians. He also recognized the Assembly's advocacy work, as well as the grassroots activism and dedication of its members. We are very mindful and cognizant of the tremendous effort that the Armenian Assembly of America has been making towards the development of Armenia and towards building and strengthening relations with the United States, Ambassador Hovhannissian stated. You have many, many dedicated members, and Armenia is blessed to have them among its most committed friends, he added. Assembly Executive Director Bryan Ardouny briefed the audience on the Assembly's accomplishments this past year and explained the challenges ahead. He emphasized the continued efforts to increase membership in the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, which is currently at 113, as well as urging Members to withdraw from the Turkish and Azeri Caucuses. Both Ardouny and Totah encouraged the audience to contact their Representatives and educate them on the importance of strengthening U.S.-Armenia and U.S.-Artsakh relations. Following the speeches, Dr. Naira Babayan, a member of the Armenian Assembly, performed an Armenian musical selection, including Krunk (Stork) by Komitas, Six Dances by Komitas, and Dance of Sasun by A. Arutiunian. One criminal was detained and three others were killed during the special operation against an armed group suspected of terrorism in Tbilisi, security administration deputy chief Nino Giorgobiani told reporters. Members of the criminal group were not citizens of Georgia, she said, adding that the surveillance of the suspects had been going on for several weeks, Interpressnews reported. Relevant measures are underway to establish criminal ties in order to fully identify members of this group within the framework of international antiterrorist cooperation, Giorgobiani said. No locals have been affected during the operation on Gabriel Salosi Street, Georgian interior ministry said in a statement. The special operation started late on Tuesday evening and continued for more than 20 hours. Fire and explosions were heard. One Georgia special services serviceman was killed and four others were injured. Overall, around 100 servicemen of the state security service and internal ministry participated in the operation. Patrol Police, in cooperation with the State Security Service protected the perimeter throughout the special operation in order to ensure safety of the local residents. Police conducted time- phased evacuation of the building dwellers. Law enforcers strictly monitored movement of the local residents along the perimeter. Every action of Patrol Police was directed to ensure safety of the citizens, internal ministry said in a statement. Georgian Prime Minister Georgiy Kvirikashvili said the residents of Tbilisi are not under threat and can move in the city freely. I also want to respond to speculation that the operation lasted too long. Our priority was to protect the security of the population. Everything was done so that there were no victims, and our special forces managed to do this. We saw special operations in other countries when they break down buildings. We have a different style, and I want to thank everyone who, at the cost of his life, achieved this result, Kvirikashvili said. By PTI: areas New Delhi, Nov 22 (PTI) The Cabinet is learnt to have approved today an ordinance which seeks to amend the Indian Forest Act to exempt bamboo grown in non-forest areas from the requirement of felling or transit permit. The move seeks to encourage bamboo plantations by farmers which will contribute to achieving the objective of doubling the farmers income by 2022. advertisement The amendment to Section 2(7) of the Indian Forest Act, 1927 was approved by the Cabinet, sources said. Bamboo grown in forest areas shall continue to be governed by the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, sources in the know of the development said. It seeks to provide the desired equilibrium for enhancing farmers income on one hand and protecting the environment by maintaining the areas under forests on the other hand. Currently bamboo though taxonomically a grass is treated as tree for the purpose of the Indian Forest Act, 1927 and therefore, attracts the requirement of transit permit under Section 41 of the Indian Forest Act, even if it is grown on private land. The amendment approved today seeks to allow for free movement of bamboo and ensure that the production and the consumption centres are seamlessly integrated, sources said. PTI TDS SC --- ENDS --- Black Friday shopping doesn't result in as many black eyes as it used to, but that doesn't mean chasing after its deals isn't dangerous. According to the site Black Friday Death Count, three people were killed and seven people were injured during last year's Black Friday shopping alone. Shootings in New Jersey, Nevada and Texas brought the 2016 Black Friday death toll level with that of the previous-worst Black Friday in 2008, when a Walmart worker was trampled to death in Long Island and a fight between shoppers in California led to two men shooting each other to death. Yet the seven injured during last year's Black Friday shopping was far fewer than the 46 people hurt on Black Friday in 2011. That doesn't security measures and shoppers themselves improving. Instead, it may mean that fewer people are heading out to stores on Black Friday -- leaving doorbuster sales to more hardened and desperate consumers. The folks at analytics site Reviews.org, realizing the gravity of the situation, compared states' crime data from the Federal Bureau of Investigations with Google search interest in Black Friday to determine the riskiest states for Black Friday violence. Shoppers in Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana and Nevada have the most reason to be nervous, while the Midwest, Pacific Northwest and New England seem like fairly safe bets. However, they also note that 57.1% of Black Friday incidents within the last decade have taken place at Walmart (WMT) - Get Free Report stores, with malls coming in a distant second at 17.9%. If you are involved in Black Friday violence, however, it's likely going to be ugly. Roughly 30% of all Black Friday incidents involve trampling, while another 26.7% involve shootings. Throw in the 16.7% of incidents that involve car crashes, and you'll be rooting for pepper spray or a simple fistfight (6.7% each). Luke Hopkins, assistant chair of the Department of Marketing at Florida State University's College of Business and co-director of FSU's Center for Retail Innovation, notes that violence and even predictions of sluggish brick-and-mortar sales this year don't tend to deter the most determined shoppers. Hopkins notes that they see "doorbuster" deals as a finite opportunity, despite the growth of Thanksgiving day, Cyber Monday, Small Business Saturday and other retail holidays. "The concept of scarcity is frequently used to explain why customers are willing to endure bad weather, long lines and mobs of deal seekers," he says. "Combine scarcity with the tradition of Black Friday shopping, as well as the heightened energy of the holiday season, and you begin to see why our usual rational buying behavior can quickly shift to a more primal, 'must-have' mentality." The National Retail Federation (NRF) estimates that 164 million people will shop on Thanksgiving weekend. However, of that group, just 115 million will shop on Black Friday. By the National Retail Federation's own estimates, that's fewer than the 122 million people who shopped online on Cyber Monday last year. Though the NRF didn't say how many people chose to shop in stores or online this year, just 40% said they planned to shop in stores on Thanksgiving weekend in 2016, compared to 44% who planned to shop online. That would leave 46 million people shopping in stores on Black Friday. "While the utility of the weekend will continue to draw shoppers into stores and online to efficiently and inexpensively check off their lists, we're also seeing consumers report tradition and the opportunity to partake in holiday cheer as reasons for shopping, too," says analyst Pam Goodfellow of Prosper Principal, which conducted the NRF's survey. "By now, people know what sort of deals they can expect to see during the weekend and are budgeting for them accordingly, and in many cases expertly." On Black Friday, planning accordingly can mean planning your way around crowds. If the percentage of in-store shoppers holds from 2016, it would mean there are overall fewer people shopping in stores than there were just three years ago. Foot traffic at brick-and-mortar stores on Black Friday dropped 12% in 2015 from a year earlier. Last year, the number of in-store shoppers was flat. It's hard to blame people for staying safely behind their laptop screens and smartphones on Black Friday. Back in 2009, Marine Cpl. Phillip Duggan was stabbed in the back at a Best Buy store in Augusta, Ga., by a suspected shoplifter. A 64-year-old man in Queens was killed for a Black Friday television in 2009, dozens of people were pepper sprayed by overzealous Black Friday shoppers in Los Angeles and Kinston, N.C., in 2011. When a guy in Vancouver whipping people with a belt over sneakers during an Adidas Black Friday event last year is considered a lighthearted entry in the holiday-shopping crime blotter, it's rough out there. But it doesn't have to be. As the NRF discovered, 10% of shoppers have their holiday shopping completely finished by Black Friday weekend as retailers including Toys R Us, Marshalls (TJX) - Get Free Report , Target (TGT) - Get Free Report , Amazon (AMZN) - Get Free Report and others accept holiday returns of many items purchased in October or even as early as September. Another 17% don't make a dent in their lists until December. As, a result, according to accounting firm Deloitte, even more shoppers may be avoiding Black Friday weekend altogether this year. Of those who replied to its 2017 holiday survey, 20% say they'll finish holiday shopping before Thanksgiving, while one in five shoppers will spend 23% of their holiday budget after Dec. 25. Roughly 51% of that group says they'll still be buying gifts for the current holiday season. A whopping 53% say they don't rely on Black Friday as much as they used to, and it may be due to how we shop now. Roughly 51% of all shoppers surveyed by Deloitte say they'll be shopping online via laptop, tablet or mobile device. That outpaces the 42% who'll be shopping in-store, but is slightly less than the 59% who tell the NRF that they'll be shopping online -- making it the preferred destination over department stores (57%) and discount stores (54%). Roughly 50% prefer shopping online to going to physical stores, compared to 36% who feel the opposite. In fact, when online shoppers do go to stores, 43% do so only because they've ordered online and are picking something up. Some 62% will do so to avoid shipping charges, while 48% do so to get their products faster. For many Black Friday sale items, that's an option that keeps shoppers out of stores in the hectic morning hours and allows them to arrive and leave quickly after things have calmed down a bit. Black Friday and its brawls, beatings and otherwise criminal behavior may not be the only forces driving Thanksgiving weekend shoppers online, but the idea that consumers may have to die for their deals certainly doesn't help steer people into stores. More of What's Trending on TheStreet: Sochi (Russia) (AFP) - The presidents of Russia, Turkey and Iran will meet on Wednesday for the first in a series of summits aimed at re-booting the peace process in Syria, now regime forces have an upper hand over rebels and the Islamic State group. Russian leader Vladimir Putin will host Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iran's Hassan Rouhani in the Black Sea resort of Sochi ahead of parallel UN-led talks in Geneva set for November 28. The meeting -- the first such three-way summit between the trio -- comes as Ankara, Moscow and Tehran cooperate with increasing intensity on ending the over six-year civil war in Syria that has left 330,000 dead and millions homeless. The cooperation comes despite Turkey still officially being on an opposite side of the Syria conflict from Russia and Iran, which are key backers of President Bashar al-Assad. Turkey has backed the rebels seeking Assad's ouster but has muted its criticism of the Syrian regime. "The open-war phase in the Syria conflict will soon be over and the question of a political solution will become more pressing than before," Russian political analyst Azhdar Kurtov told AFP. "Russia, Iran and Turkey each have their own interest in Syria. It is clear that they also have disagreements. And they are meeting to try to smooth over these disagreements," he said. The three countries have backed negotiations in the Kazakh capital Astana that have brought together the representatives of the opposition and the regime seven times this year. The talks have led the creation of four so-called "de-escalation zones" that have produced a drop in violence, but sporadic fighting and bombardment has continued. Moscow is now seeking to steer the process, which has so far focused on military questions, in a political direction. The Sochi summit will help to "relaunch direct negotiations between the Syrian government and the range of the opposition", said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Story continues "As a victory over Islamic State in Syria...grows closer, there are conditions for the relaunch of political negotiations," he said Friday. Moscow's military intervention in Syria from 2015 is widely seen as tipping the balance in the conflict. Since then the Syrian army has reclaimed the ancient city of Palmyra from the Islamic State group and driven rebels out of their northern bastion Aleppo. This week regime forces ousted the Islamic State group from its last urban stronghold in the country, Albu Kamal, which has changed hands several times. - Assad's fate - Previous attempts to end the war have stalled over the question of the fate of Assad. But Turkey is showing greater flexibility on that issue, even if it remains unlikely that it will officially accept the prospect of the Syrian president remaining in power, said Timur Akhmetov, an Ankara-based Turkey expert at the Russian International Affairs Council. "For now, to keep a say in the future political negotiations is more important for Turkey than to have Assad departed from power," he told AFP. At the Sochi summit "Turkey may try once again to persuade Russia from giving diplomatic support to the Kurds", whose militia controls part of northern Syria, he said. The last attempt by Moscow to bring together the regime and the opposition in Russia was coldly received by the rebels and no date has been fixed for a meeting which was originally set for November 18. Different factions of the Syrian opposition will meet from Wednesday in Riyadh in talks hosted by Saudi Arabia. The aim of the Saudi-backed High Negotiations Committee is to reach consensus on a strategy for talks in Geneva, which will focus on a new constitution for Syria and fresh elections. Hadi al-Bahra, a member of the opposition Syrian Coalition's political bureau, said the Sochi summit was an attempt to undermine UN-backed talks in Geneva. "We see that holding this (Sochi) summit now, before reaching an agreement in Geneva, represents an attempt to render void all relevant UN Security Council resolutions," he told AFP. "Any international effort must contribute to supporting the Geneva political track, not weakening or dispersing it." Russia and the United States this month issued a rare joint statement on Syria, saying there was "no military solution" to the conflict, but Moscow and Washington remain at loggerheads over the war. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - UN peacekeeping hit a rock-bottom low when blue helmets in Bosnia failed to prevent the Srebrenica massacre in 1995, a year after peacekeepers pulled out of Rwanda as it was convulsed by mass atrocities. The debacles in Bosnia and Rwanda loom large over UN peace operations to this day and have brought about a shift toward more robust missions focused on protecting civilians. Two decades later, UN peacekeepers are still tested in their mandate to protect, from South Sudan to Haiti. - SOUTH SUDAN - After violence broke out in Juba in July 2016, peacekeepers abandoned their posts and failed to respond to pleas for help from aid workers under attack in a nearby hotel compound. South Sudanese soldiers gang-raped foreign aid workers and killed a local colleague in the July 11 attack at the Terrain hotel. Victims phoned UN peacekeepers stationed a mile (1.6 kilometers) away and begged for help, but none came. The Kenyan commander of UNMISS was dismissed after a UN report showed a failure to protect civilians. - MALI - Described as the most dangerous UN mission in the world, MINUSMA has lost 149 peacekeepers to jihadist attacks since 2013, the highest toll of all current UN peace operations. Peacekeepers are seen by insurgents as foreign occupiers in the vast lawless north of Mali. - CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC - The MINUSCA mission faces scores of allegations that its peacekeepers sexually abused vulnerable women and girls. The mounting cases have seriously damaged the UN's reputation. The United Nations maintains that its peacekeeping force deployed in the Central African Republic saved the country from genocide in 2013. But violence between armed groups in the countryside has increased this year. - DR CONGO - The vast country in the heart of Africa hosts the UN's biggest mission, MONUSCO, with some 21,000 personnel including 16,000 troops. Heavily deployed in the east, the peacekeepers were largely absent when violence broke out in the Kasai region this year, reportedly killing thousands. Nearly 90 mass graves have been identified in the Kasai where MONUSCO has since set up new operations. Story continues - HAITI - The United Nations closed its 13-year peacekeeping mission in Haiti this year, but Haitians were not sorry to see it go. A deadly cholera epidemic that broke out in 2010 was traced back to Nepalese soldiers serving in MINUSTAH. More than 10,000 people died and 815,000 people have fallen ill from cholera. It took six years for the United Nations to apologize for the disaster. - KOSOVO - Hundreds of ethnic Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians in Kosovo were resettled by UN peacekeepers in camps contaminated by lead after the 1998-1999 war. It took over 10 years for the UN mission to relocate the people to a safer area even though it was aware of the health risk since 2000. In May, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres set up a trust fund to help those affected. - GOLAN HEIGHTS - As the war in Syria raged in August 2014, fighters from the Al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front crossed a UN-monitored demarcation line in the Golan Heights and seized dozens of UN peacekeepers from far away Fiji while trapping dozens more from the Philippines who were in their UNDOF camps. The Filipino peacekeepers managed to escape and the Fiji contingent was released two weeks later. UN peacekeepers returned to the camp on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights two years later. Some 110,000 peacekeepers are deployed in 15 peace operations worldwide. Mark Wilson/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said she supports repealing the Affordable Care Acts individual mandate, a key provision in the Senate Republican tax bill, but she refrained from offering a full endorsement of the tax package. "I believe that the federal government should not force anyone to buy something they do not wish to buy in order to avoid being taxed," Murkowski wrote in an op-ed for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. That is the fundamental reason why I opposed the Affordable Care Act from its inception and also why I co-sponsored a bill to repeal the individual mandate tax penalty starting as early as 2013. And that is why I support the repeal of that tax." Murkowski, who was one of three GOP senators to vote against a partial repeal of Obamacare this summer, notably did not say whether she would vote for the Republican tax plan the Senate will consider after Thanksgiving break. Murkowski is among a number of Republican holdouts on the tax plan. If all Democrats oppose the measure, Senate Republicans can only afford to lose two votes. On Sunday, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, told ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos that she wants to see revisions to the plan. "I want to see changes in that bill, and I think there will be changes," Collins, who opposes the individual mandate repeal, said on ABC News' "This Week". Last week, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., announced his opposition to the Senate tax plan, saying it favors corporations over pass-through businesses. Sens. Bob Corker, R-Tenn.; Jeff Flake, R-Ariz.; and John McCain, R-Ariz., have also voiced concerns about the measure. The House passed a $1.5 trillion tax plan that decreased the number of tax brackets and cuts the corporate tax rate to 20 percent. The Senate Finance Committee advanced a bill similar to the House plan out of committee last week, but the Senate measure includes a repeal of the individual mandate. If the Senate passes a tax package, the bill would be reconciled with the measure passed by the House. President Trump has said he wants to sign a tax bill by Christmas. "We're going to give the American people a huge tax cut for Christmas -- hopefully that will be a great, big, beautiful Christmas present, Trump said Monday. Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Students at Chennai's Sathyabama University went on a violent rampage, burning university property, after a fellow batch mate committed suicide in her hostel. By Pramod Madhav: The Sathyabama University campus in Chennai tonight saw violence and arson after students, angry over the suicide of a batch mate, went on rampage and set fire to university property. First reports of the violence came in at around 8.30 pm tonight. According to early reports, the violence and unrest were sparked by the suicide of Ragamoulika, a first year BSc Computer Science student who hung herself to death inside her hostel. advertisement The students claimed Ragamoulika had been acutely insulted by university staff and that this was the reason she took the drastic step of ending her life. A member of the university management, however, said Ragamoulika was caught cheating during exams and was simply issued a warning over the act. Ragamoulika was from Andhra Pradesh and initial reports of the violence indicated that the protesting students were from the same state. This is the second controversial suicide of a student in Chennai in recent past. On October 26, Prakash, a fourth year student at a government-run arts college in Chennai, committed suicide. Fellow students, who observed a sit-in protest to demand justice, claimed Prakash killed himself after being unable to deal with the pressure put on him by his head of department. --- ENDS --- This is the only reason I havent cut my Netflix .. loved season 1 so much and cant wait for season 2. Im going to miss Claire Foy :( Reply Thread Link That outfit in the tweet looks like something Hyacinth Bucket would wear. Reply Thread Link It's pronounced 'Bouquet' Edited at 2017-11-22 02:52 pm (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Link That's so sad :( Reply Parent Thread Link Do you have any recs for more on the Royal Family's history? Books, docs, etc? Would love to read these tidbits! Reply Parent Thread Link the whole family is fucked up tbh Reply Parent Thread Link How is Jackie Kennedy?! Reply Thread Link I haven't found anything great on Netflix in a while so I'm really looking forward to this. I've been watching Victoria on Prime and I'm enjoying it. Reply Thread Link Victoria is so dumb and pretty I love it so Reply Parent Thread Link lol this is accurate Reply Parent Thread Link Have you watched the second season? I just watched the first one and while it wasn't bad, the acting is okay, and the production is beautiful but the writing is so bad. I definitely want it to get a different writer/showrunner 'cause there were just so many missed opportunities with this show. Reply Parent Thread Link hells yes gimme this glorious period majesty. i'm really looking forward to philip's backstory. his upbringing and the losses he suffered were fucking awful. Reply Thread Link i love margaret. Reply Thread Link i love her but i don't get how she was genuinely the Worst to diana next to charles like girl you knew how being ostracized in that family felt what is your fuckin deal Reply Parent Thread Link I'm so EXCITED! I got my mom really into the show too Reply Thread Link So many people I know said this was epically boring and I'm just flabbergasted by that as a response. Then again, I watch so many of these period dramas that I'm steeped in British character actor knowledge and I recognize people in nearly every scene and it's kinda like playing "what are they from" bingo. The sets and costumes and design on this show are aces and reason enough to keep watching, I think Reply Thread Link Look at those ears on Charles. Perfect. I'm looking forward to exploring his childhood. I think he's close with Elizabeth now, but I think he probably had a very lonely childhood. Reply Thread Link Awww Charles's ears are so cute Reply Thread Link Idgaf about Philip. But I do love royal family drama so I am here for this show. Reply Thread Link I am trying to finish s1 but my god..it can get so bo...r...ing Reply Thread Link should i watch the punisher or the crown (from season one, i haven't seen it yet)? Reply Thread Link Finished s1 a few weeks ago so I'm excited for this. Reply Thread Link I couldn't finish Season 1 because I hated Philip so much. Reply Thread Link Charles had a shitty childhood and, hell, majority of his life. If theres one thing i will always feel for Charles, its pity. Yes, yes, rich white man, etc. i dont pity him that much. But hes just a sad man and it shows. Reply Thread Link This and Victoria s2 will probably get me through the dull winter. Reply Thread Link How the fuck do you trademark a color combo! Reply Thread Link Well didnt Christian Louboutin trademark the red sole or something? Reply Parent Thread Link When it is well known and theres recognition of it in the market. Like the 7/11 colors Reply Parent Thread Link those slides are definitely a rip off but trade marking a color combo like that is dumb and for some reason, I thought F21 was korean. Reply Thread Link they are American, but racist fashion industry only like to think of them as koreans, not even korean-american. even though the company was founded and operated in USA since 1981. Reply Parent Thread Link Korean Americans founded it, if thats what youre thinking of. Reply Parent Thread Link Forever21 sucks and is a creative thief. This is why I never shop there aside from the fact that its the basics favorite shop. Reply Thread Link Yeah i think theyve stolen from small time artists Reply Parent Thread Link i've definitely seen etsy artists calling them out Reply Parent Thread Link They steal from everyone and are shameless about it. Their design team probably consists of interns browsing Instagram for "ideas". Reply Parent Thread Link lol amazing write up, op. i feel like i've just been through an adventure novel. team nobody Reply Thread Link Thanks! Team nobody fo real. It all seems so ridiculous n funny considerin these big brands are notorious thieves. Reply Parent Thread Link forever 21 is full of junk Reply Thread Link F21 has some of the worst quality clothes i've ever seen. i don't know HOW people wear it. maybe if i was model-size where everything i put on looked good on me regardless, but like ... no. Reply Thread Link And its overpriced for being so cheap Their stuff never fits me either. They dont carry xs which is weird bc a lot of young ppl shop there. their S is way too big even tho i fit into smalls at other places Edited at 2017-11-22 02:55 pm (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Link i've actually bought 2 nice, quality, well-fitting jackets from them, but literally everything else I bought was absolute shit Reply Parent Thread Link I used to really like their basic tops. I have SO many t-shirts, v-neck sweaters and tank tops from there that are still in good shape and I bought in like 2008 or 2009. Now they just focus on really trendy stuff that falls apart immediately. I went in there looking for a basic white t-shirt a few weeks ago and couldn't find anything. Reply Parent Thread Link idk, I have an embarrassingly large amount of forever 21 clothes and I've never had anything fall apart on me. Do you have a rough washing machine? Reply Parent Thread Link they're hit and miss tbh, some of the highest quality shit i wear is from there and im like how??? and then other stuff looks like i got it at claries lmao Reply Parent Thread Link It's so tacky Reply Parent Thread Link IDK, I've bought some really nice dresses from there that have held up really well. People are always crazy surprised when I tell them it's from F21 because of the quality. I'm incredibly picky about what I buy from there though, so that may be why those particular pieces have been good. Reply Parent Thread Link Every once in awhile they will have a high quality item, but 99.9% is junk Reply Parent Thread Link I love these petty fashion lawsuits "you can't trademark a COLOR" "watch me BITCH" Reply Thread Link Lmao I love it as well. messy and tons of drama Reply Parent Thread Link Those and the fuzzy ones always look so unsanitary and diseased Reply Parent Thread Link I have a pair theyre comfy for around the house Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Lol I only wear my (generic) fuzzy ones at home, and theyre riddled with cat teeth marks because theyre my cats favorite chew toy apparently. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link lmao yes, they're horrible Reply Parent Thread Link forever 21 is trash Reply Thread Link come on gucci. Reply Thread Link adidas will sue for 4 stripes, 2 stripes, 1 stripe and and even 5 stripes. which is crazy and they always win. even though they only have rights to 3 stripes. Reply Thread Link omg theres this skirt with five stripes from a super small/nobody brand (that they sell at my work) and they were sued by adidas within 3 weeks lol Reply Parent Thread Link They tried to sue an Irish company who use three stripes (and existed before Adidas) and lost! Think it's like the only other company that can use three stripes Reply Parent Thread Link is that why Kswiss is dead? Reply Parent Thread Link the stripe color combo trademark? it's stupid, i agree. whatever. but forever21 has a history of ripping off other brands' designs so fuck them. Reply Thread Link Yet all of the designers who blatantly steal from indie designers and even from entire fucking Native tribes or other cultures that arent able to legally defend themselves... that has no consequences. Capitalism is a joke Reply Thread Link F21 are thieves but fuck Gucci, Adidas, and Puma Reply Thread Link OT. The new leaked details of the Infinity War trailer.... MY POOR HEART. [ Spoiler (click to open) ] - Falcon, Black Widow and Captain America go to Wakanda and they join Black Panther, Shuri and Bucky to fight Proxima Midnight. - Spiderman, Ironman, Doctor Strange, Wong and Scarlett Witch protect Vision and his infinity stone locking him up in the NY sanctum. - Loki gives Thanos the tesseract so he wont destroy the Asgard ship but Thor, Hulk and Valkirye fight them, Thanos wins. Thor is floating in the universe and runs into the guardians. - The guardians and Thor try to protect the Collector but Thanos destroys his lair and steals the stones. - The final shot is all the avengers around Heimdall to protect him from Thanos. :'( via reddit. Edited at 2017-11-22 09:34 pm (UTC) Embarrasing move tbh. Marvel's better anyway.OT. The new leaked details of the Infinity War trailer.... MY POOR HEART. Reply Thread Link HEIMDALL IS DAD AND DAD IS DAD. Reply Parent Thread Link So Heimdall has the Soul gem in his person? Reply Parent Thread Link I'm screaming and this is only from the trailer. Reply Parent Thread Link ruh roh Reply Parent Thread Link LET HEIMDALL LIVE!!!!! they already killed off the warriors 3 and sif is like mia cuz she's busy doing her tv show Reply Parent Thread Link I WISH IT WOULD LEAK ALREADY Reply Parent Thread Link Ha I was right about Loki giving the tesseract to save the asgardians. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link NOT HEIMDALL!!11! Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Lady Sif is going to be completely ignored isn't she? Reply Parent Thread Expand Link No! Not Hemidall. Reply Parent Thread Link I'm like Deadpool and wolverine cant be killed that way lol Reply Parent Thread Link dgaf about vision but noooooo heimdall THIS HAS NEVER OCCURRD TO ME Reply Parent Thread Link HEIMDALL BETTER NOT FUCKIN DIE! Reply Parent Thread Link Wait why do people think Heimdall is going to die? Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I love how you used a spoiler cut and people are still spoiling it. *rolling eyes emoji* Reply Parent Thread Link omg your last point my HEART!!!!!!!!!! Reply Parent Thread Link JFC where is the fucking trailer already Reply Parent Thread Link arg. If Loki and Heimdall bite the dust, I'm rioting. Reply Parent Thread Link A family reunion. D: It makes me weepy when they're all together. Reply Parent Thread Link IF THEY TOUCH HEIMDALL!!! OH LORD Reply Parent Thread Link i'm ~S H O O K. legit fucked up RN. i can't wait for this OMGGG i need it! and Heimdall better survive somehow T___T Reply Parent Thread Link but where is sif??? this injustice mcu deals her Reply Parent Thread Link HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA YES Reply Thread Link Im shookus Reply Thread Link i've started using this phrase irl lmao Reply Parent Thread Link that looks like some mortal kombat shit!! freakin hilarious hahahaha Reply Thread Link but who is good enough to embody live action Terry McGinnis??? Will's voice is all I hear when I think of him! Reply Parent Thread Link lmao holy shit Reply Thread Link this is fake news Reply Thread Link is it? kinda sad if so, bc the drama is funny, but. it's also so pathetic to watch. Reply Parent Thread Link lmao i mean, the poster looks fake as hell, but whatever the case may be, the order didn't come from the top (how ya been, dude?) Reply Parent Thread Expand Link aside from it being ridic and looking badly photoshopped, can't they get in legal trouble for this? can't marvel sue them for using their characters? Reply Thread Link yeah this is an IP lawsuit waiting to happen so no way they are official in any capacity lol Reply Parent Thread Link Marvel and Fox are both gonna have a fit lbr Reply Parent Thread Link China has... interesting copyright laws. Reply Parent Thread Link you're acting like wb/dc actually officially released these posters, come on. Reply Thread Link lmao right Reply Parent Thread Expand Link marvel stans can't read/aren't smart Reply Parent Thread Link that's marvel stans for ya. Reply Parent Thread Link ikr, ppl are suddenly acting like old folks on Facebook Reply Parent Thread Link MTE Reply Parent Thread Link Lol, mte. This just reminds me of when that one Chinese theater used a photoshopped Thor/Loki poster instead of an official one for Thor 2 Reply Parent Thread Link Lmaoooooo this truth. Reply Parent Thread Link I wish BvS would have not changed its release date. ahahahaha` Dam. Edited at 2017-11-22 09:38 pm (UTC) that is the only way DC would have decent box office numbers.I wish BvS would have not changed its release date. ahahahaha`Dam. https://media.giphy.com/media/TJKm32CqAr0CA/giphy.gif Reply Thread Link Yas! Make Avengers 5 Avengers vs Justice League Reply Parent Thread Link as someone with no expectations of the movie (literally hadn't even watched the trailer) and not a usual superhero film fan, I quite liked it....but maybe that says something. Reply Thread Link That's pretty funny even if it's fake lol Reply Thread Link Mte Reply Parent Thread Link the source literally says"the doctored poster", this isn't WB's doing so how is this a desperate move Reply Thread Link I love your icon <3 Reply Parent Thread Link Thor would annihilate Batman. Supes would be the only real competition for him lbr. Reply Thread Link Wonder Woman is the obvious choice against Thor since they're both gods. Reply Parent Thread Link So can Superman, for that matter. Also, Wondy can lift Mjolnir. #canon So can Superman, for that matter. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I remember over the summer, Chris said that WW would kick Thors ass. lol And hes right. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Crane Operator Certification Deadline: November 2018 OSHA final rule this month sets Nov. 10, 2018, as the date for employers in U.S. construction industries to comply with a requirement for crane operator certification. An OSHA final rule this month sets Nov. 10, 2018, as the date for employers in U.S. construction industries to comply with a requirement for crane operator certification. The final rule itself became effective Nov. 9, 2017. OSHA issued its final cranes and derricks rule in August 2010, and stakeholders then raised concern about the rule's certification requirements. OSHA published a separate final rule in September 2014 extending the crane operator certification and competency requirements by three years; the new one-year extension provides additional time for OSHA to complete a rulemaking to address stakeholder concerns about the standard. OSHA reported that its Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health recommended delaying enforcement of the certification requirement and extending the employer assessment responsibilities for the same period. Think You Know Your Turkeys? Both the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Smithsonian.com offer more than a mouthful of details about the birds. Authorities dispute some of the lore about turkeys, but they agree that Americans may not know as much about the birds that many of them consume each Thanksgiving Day as they should. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service posted fun facts about wild turkeys earlier this month, and Smithsonian.com's "14 fun facts about turkeys" post featured more useful information, some of it conflicting with the USFW data. Both offered more than a mouthful of details about the birds. Sounds: Turkeys make all kinds of sounds: fly-down or fly-up cackle; kee kee run; excited yelp, and more, according to USFW, which included a link to the National Wild Turkey Federation's page of wild turkey sounds. Gender: The two sources agreed that a turkey's droppings tell its sex and age. Plumage: An adult turkey has 5,000 to 6,000 feathers on its body, USFW reported. Speed: USFW said turkeys "can clock more than 12 miles per hour, beating chickens by three miles per hour. But Smithsonian.com contends they can run up to 25 miles per hour and fly as fast as 55 miles per hour. Symbolism: The Fish and Wildlife post says Ben Franklin thought the wild turkey "would make a better national symbol." The post on Smithsonian.com, however, tells us that "Benjamin Franklin never proposed the turkey as a symbol for America, but he did once praise it as being 'a much more respectable bird' than the bald eagle. One more thing, from USDA: Its Meat and Poultry Hotline, 1-888-MPHotline, will be open and taking calls from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern time on Thanksgiving day this year. The hotline, a free service launched on July 1, 1985, receives more than 80,000 calls a year asking questions about food safety. On a sunny but chilly day in early September 1917, Italian immigrant pastor August Giuliani led a band of Protestant evangelists from Milwaukees heavily Italian Third Ward on a jaunt to the smaller Italian enclave of Bay View. Giuliani, a former priest, had hopped the Delaware Avenue streetcar with some of his flock on the previous two Sundays, too, setting up on the corner of Bishop (now Wentworth) and Potter Streets with an organist and two trumpeters. There, they sang patriotic songs and encouraged those in the neighborhood to do their duty and support the American war effort. Each time, Giuliani met with resistance from people he deemed anti-war anarchists. But Giuliani was unwelcome, it was said in the neighborhood, not because he preached patriotism but because he defamed Catholicism in his attempts to convert the Italians. So, after being shouted down twice, Giuliani approached the authorities, and four policemen were on hand for his third meeting at Bishop and Potter on that Sunday, Sept. 9, 1917. The tune of "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean" was struck up, and the faithful began to sing. A crowd gathered, and Giulianis group was jeered. When the police approached the hecklers, guns were drawn and shots began to whiz and whirr through the intersection as the crowds dispersed. When the smoke cleared, two policemen were hurt, two Bay View Italians were mortally wounded and two more were injured. One was shot in the back. On Nov. 24, a bomb linked to the Bay View affair by the pastor, police and the newspapers was found at Giulianis Third Ward church. It was carried to the central police station by a parishioner, where it exploded, killing nine policemen and a civilian. The tragedy marked the largest loss of police life in a single incident in the United States until Sept. 11, 2001. Not a week later, the trial of the Bay View Italians began in a city inflamed with fear, distrust and vengeance. After a trial marked with bickering among attorneys and irregularities, such as Giuliani being tapped as translator for the statements of the accused the jury having deliberated for 17 minutes found all 11 defendants guilty of conspiracy to "assault with the intent to kill and murder." Each was sentenced to serve 25 years at the state prison in Waupun. Soon, nationally recognized figures like attorney Clarence Darrow and radical heroine Emma Goldman would become involved in the Milwaukee affair, and Darrow would lead the appeal to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, where nearly all the convictions were overturned and the accused deported (though some would later return to the U.S.). Local police recruits are told little about the 1917 bombing that claimed the lives of nine of their predecessors. One officer was quoted in a 1992 magazine article as saying that the only thing he was told about the incident was "dont bring bombs into police stations." The names of the fallen officers are inscribed on a monument to policemen killed in the line of duty that stands in Downtown in MacArthur Square itself the scene of one incident in a rash of pipe bombings in 1984 behind police headquarters. A display in the police academy also includes photographs of three of the men who perished in the 1917 explosion. Auxilio Lacouture is the pseudonym of a Milwaukee-raised and schooled artist currently living in Austin, Texas. She originally got her start studying photography at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design but, thanks to a diverse foundational study, has kicked out the corners of her artistic capabilities. "While my education was meaningful to me," she states, "self-education has probably been more meaningful and more relevant." Lacoutures newest endeavor is her Shapeshifter Collection, named for the numerous options of form in her wearable contour drawings and typography made of hammered gold. Lacouture expects her creations will come to represent her personal history over time. Maybe more obviously though, this jewelry contains themes that are not typically seen or talked about in open society; the sculpted swear words and genitals are shocking, crass and vulgar. But Lacouture begs to differ. "Thats just it sexuality is not crass, nor are vulgarity and bad words," she notes. "In the same way that Ebonics is a creative, inventive language involving word play and style, my concepts play with misconceptions and contradictions of sex, thought and fashion. "After Warhol No.1 Choker" by Auxilio Lacouture "I love the dicks so much for a number of reasons. Firstly because Andy Warhol was openly gay when several male contemporaries remained in the closet for fear of discrimination. Secondly, we also see a lot of dick mockery visualized in pop culture funny scribbles in toilet stalls or dicks used as straws for bachelorettes but as a feminist simply, a human seeking equality between the sexes I wanted to articulate the same beauty and respect I have for men that I often dont feel reciprocated. To some extent, Id like to be exemplary of what I expect." And so, the little, humorous and offensive contour drawing holds a lot of depth. "Warhol No.1" is more than a silly penis. "Its about evolving the conversation, challenging the preconceptions and being prepared to answer questions," she says. "As a parent to a little girl, because Im toting dick earrings and naughty words, I have to be prepared to talk about it. "Andy, before fame, was the recipient of good parenting and who in the face of so much rejection, loneliness and unrequited love because of he was different, shy and gay pressed on. No doubt, his mom was a huge part of who he was to become, because of her constant support. So they are not so much about one thing singularly, but enfolded within is a dialogue about art, history, human relationships, sexuality, family and art again. "That being said, theres a lot of humor involved, too. When you talk about the parts that we hide and the reasons we do, youve got to drop a few jokes to make everyone feel comfortable with a stereotypically uncomfortable subject." Vugarity and crassness can also indicate a higher level of honesty. "Vulgarity No.1: Fuck" by Auxilio Lacouture "Vulgarity No.1 is really about honesty and deception. If you follow the link, youll come to an article about a study that found foul-mouthed people more honest. Politicians are often the most politically correct, using decisive, strategic speech. The study found vulgar speech to be more upfront and honest. Now, that doesnt make a foul-mouthed person more politically correct, but it may make them more authentically themselves and you may not be left wondering what lies beneath or how much." And how do people react to seeing such honesty on display? "I wear my designs all the time," she notes. "Most reactions are visceral and usually very positive. Someone bought After Warhol No.1 right off my head on Saturday last." The Shapeshifter Collection is not entirely comprised of naughty words and naughty bits. As the name indicates, themes will move and develop over time and include personal thoughts, experiences, calls for justice and more, "like memorializing ideas that I dig, like self-realization, as in Lauras Sailboat." "Skull" by Auxilio Lacouture "Mommas Rose" by Auxilio Lacouture "Never Forget: Kalief Browder" by Auxilio Lacouture You can peruse Lacoutures gallery and make purchases at Lessons for Mutants. "If you find something you like, please consider ordering for your lover, sister, mother or another strong woman you do not fail to admire for her undeniable badass-ery," says Lacouture. "And expect a quick turn around and sexy packaging." By PTI: justice remark New Delhi, Nov 21 (PTI) Congress leader P Chidambaram today denounced Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for his remarks that some people suffer from life-threatening diseases because of sins committed in the past, saying "that is what switching parties does to a person". Sarma, who was with the Congress earlier, had switched over to the BJP last year. advertisement "Cancer is divine justice for sins says Assam Minister Sarma. That is what switching parties does to a person," Chidambaram tweeted. At a function organised for distribution of appointment letters to teachers in Guwahati yesterday, Sarma had said, "God makes us suffer when we sin. Sometimes we come across young men getting inflicted with cancer or young men meeting with accidents. If you observe the background you will come to know that its divine justice. Nothing else. We have to suffer that divine justice." PTI ENM GVS --- ENDS --- Ecuador has told WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to avoid making statements that could affect the country's international relations after he expressed support for Catalonian independence from Spain, the foreign ministry said Wednesday. Assange, who initially moved into London's Ecuadorian embassy five years ago to avoid arrest over now-dropped Swedish rape charges, angered Madrid after addressing hundreds of people in Barcelona via video link in September. "The Ecuadorian authorities have reiterated to Mr Assange his obligation not to make statements or activities that could affect Ecuador's international relations, which must be preserved, as is the case with Spain," the foreign ministry said in a statement. It added Assange "has formally committed to observe behavior that is compatible with the will of the Ecuadorian state." Although Swedish prosecutors dropped their rape probe, Assange -- who denied all allegations -- remains in the embassy over fears he will be extradited to the United States and put on trial for WikiLeaks publishing leaked secret US military documents and diplomatic cables in 2010. US justice authorities have never confirmed that they have Assange under investigation or are seeking his extradition. But, when asked in May if arresting Assange was a "priority" for Washington, US Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that "we will seek to put some people in jail." Bangkok, Thailand. 22 November 2017 ONYX Hospitality Group continues its portfolio expansion with the introduction of OZO Phuket in Thailand. Currently under development and scheduled to open in mid 2019, the hotel will offer 255 guest rooms and features which deliver the midscale OZO brands hallmarks of sleep, connectivity and exploration. Located a short walk from the Kata beachfront on the western coast of Phuket, OZO Phuket will offer guest rooms specifically designed for enhanced sleep, smart connectivity of personal devices in rooms and public areas, and curated destination tips by team members presented through interactive digital panels. The hotel will also feature OZOs signature EAT all-day dining restaurant best known for energising breakfasts, the EAT2Go grab-and-go deli, TONE fitness centre and TALK meeting room. A unique highlight of OZO Phuket is its two separate pools an activity pool designed for kids adjacent to a free-form main pool. Douglas Martell, President and CEO of ONYX Hospitality Group, said: Capping off an eventful year of hotel openings and new deal agreements across several Asian countries, we are proud to announce this new development in a prime destination within our home base of Thailand. This new hotel will complement our flagship Amari Phuket, which has been relaunched following extensive renovations and the introduction of an all-suites Ocean Wing. We look forward to offering travellers more options with our two distinct brands present on the island. OZO is a smart, simple and savvy midscale hotel brand offering an enhanced sleep experience and seamless connectivity for travellers who are keen to embark on a deeper exploration of the destination. Since the opening of the first OZO in Hong Kong in 2013, the brand has generated consistently positive feedback and continues to exceed midscale accommodation expectations. OZO is currently available in Hong Kong, Koh Samui, Colombo and Kandy, with new hotels being developed in Hoi An, Pattaya, Phuket, Johor, Penang and Xiamen. 2017 has been a significant year of expansion for ONYX Hospitality Group, with its flagship Amari brand being launched in new locations including Sri Lanka, Malaysia and China. Based in Bangkok, ONYX Hospitality Group has a growing regional portfolio of 44 operating properties across three core brands in eight countries. The Group has a robust development pipeline of over 20 new properties in markets such as Vietnam, Indonesia and Australia, and has set a target of having 99 hotels open by 2024 as part of its journey towards being the best medium-sized hospitality player in the region. Dark matter map of KiDS survey region (region G12). Credit: KiDS survey Researchers have hypothesized that the universe contains "dark matter." They have also posited the existence of "dark energy." These two hypotheses account for the movement of stars in galaxies and for the accelerating expansion of the universe. But according to a researcher at UNIGE, these concepts may be no longer valid, as universal phenomena can be demonstrated without them. This research exploits a new theoretical model based on the scale invariance of empty space. This research is reported in The Astrophysical Journal. In 1933, the Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky claimed there is substantially more matter in the universe than we can actually see. Astronomers called this unknown matter "dark matter," a concept that was to take on yet more importance in the 1970s, when the U.S. astronomer Vera Rubin invoked this enigmatic matter to explain the movements and speed of the stars. Scientists have subsequently devoted considerable resources to identifying dark matter in space, on the ground and at CERN, but without success. In 1998, a team of Australian and U.S. astrophysicists discovered the acceleration of the expansion of the universe, earning the Nobel Prize for physics in 2011. However, in spite of enormous science resources, no theory or observation has been able to define this energy that is allegedly stronger than Newton's gravitational attraction. In short, dark matter and dark energy are mysteries that have stumped astronomers for decades. A new model based on the scale invariance of empty space The way physicists represent the universe and its history are described by Einstein's equations of general relativity, Newton's universal gravitation and quantum mechanics. The consensus at present is that of a Big Bang followed by expansion. "In this model, there is a starting hypothesis that hasn't been taken into account, in my opinion," says Andre Maeder, honorary professor in the Department of Astronomy in UNIGE's Faculty of Science. "By that, I mean the scale invariance of empty space; in other words, empty space and its properties do not change following a dilatation or contraction." Empty space plays a primordial role in Einstein's equations as it operates in a quantity known as a "cosmological constant," and the resulting model depends on it. Based on this hypothesis, Maeder is now re-examining the Standard Model of the universe, pointing out that the scale invariance of empty space is also present in the fundamental theory of electromagnetism. When Maeder carried out cosmological tests on his new model, he found that it matched observations. He also found that the model predicts the accelerated expansion of the universe without having to factor in dark energy. In short, it appears that dark energy may not actually exist since the acceleration of the expansion is contained in the equations of the physics. In a second stage, Maeder focused on Newton's law, a specific instance of the equations of general relativity. The law is also slightly modified when the model incorporates Maeder's new hypothesis. Indeed, it contains a very small outward acceleration term, which is particularly significant at low densities. This amended law, when applied to clusters of galaxies, leads to masses of clusters in line with that of visible matter (contrary to what Zwicky argued in 1933). This means that no dark matter is needed to explain the high speeds of the galaxies in the clusters. A second test demonstrated that this law also predicts the high speeds reached by the stars in the outer regions of galaxies (as Rubin had observed), without having to resort to dark matter to describe them. Finally, a third test looked at the dispersion of the speeds of the stars oscillating around the plane of the Milky Way. This dispersion, which increases with the age of the relevant stars, can be explained very well using the invariant empty space hypothesis, while there was before no agreement on the origin of this effect. Maeder's discovery paves the way for a new conception of astronomy that will raise questions and generate controversy. "The announcement of this model, which at last solves two of astronomy's greatest mysteries, remains true to the spirit of science: nothing can ever be taken for granted, not in terms of experience, observation or the reasoning of human beings," concluded Andre Maeder. More information: Andre Maeder. Dynamical Effects of the Scale Invariance of the Empty Space: The Fall of Dark Matter?, The Astrophysical Journal (2017). DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/aa92cc , iopscience.iop.org/article/10. 847/1538-4357/aa92cc , On Arxiv: arxiv.org/abs/1710.11425 Journal information: Astrophysical Journal This map shows the locations of 12 Iowa towns, marked by stars inside green circles, determined to be shrink-smart. Credit: David Peters You can still live large in a small town. A new report from an Iowa State University sociologist identifies a dozen Iowa towns where residents believe quality of life in their community is improving at the same time the population is shrinking. David Peters, an associate professor of sociology and author of the report, said these towns, described in the report as "shrink-smart" communities, show that a smaller population doesn't necessarily denote a withering community. "People tend to think of rural America as declining. They equate decreases in population with overall decline in quality of life," Peters said. "We wanted to ask if that's really true, and we found that it doesn't have to be." Peters drew on U.S. census data as well as responses from the Iowa Small Town Poll, a regular ISU survey of rural Iowa communities currently led by Peters. He compared changes in population with survey data regarding attitudes toward jobs, local government, schools, medical services, housing, childcare services and elderly care. The report looked at small towns with populations between 500 and 10,000 with populations that declined between 1994 and 2014. The survey data showed 12 Iowa towns fitting those parameters where citizens reported improved quality of life at the same time the populations decreased. What did those 12 towns have in common? Socially involved citizens Peters said the survey results showed a focus on social interactions within those communities. The towns labeled shrink-smart in the report demonstrate high levels of local involvement, such as volunteering in community organizations. Peters called this "bridging social capital," a sociology term describing diverse and inclusive networks that tie residents together across demographic and economic lines. He also noted that economic factors, such as income and poverty rates, were not significantly different from the 12 shrink-smart towns and towns that showed declining quality of life and shrinking populations, a result that surprised Peters. He said the results in the report may empower rural communities across the state because the data show that social interactions playing a major role in attitudes regarding quality of life can be improved quickly and cheaply. Peters said some communities view population declines as a major problem that can be solved only through major investments in infrastructure or by attracting new employers. His report suggests encouraging a more open and welcoming atmosphere in a community may go a long way toward boosting quality of life, regardless of potentially expensive new investments. Jobs that fit the market The data also showed shrink-smart towns tended to demonstrate growth in "goods-producing" jobs such as construction and manufacturing. These jobs provide good wages and benefits while also requiring some training or education beyond high school but not a college degree, a fit for the labor markets of rural Iowa communities, Peters said. Peters said he intends to work with officials in the 12 shrink-smart towns identified in his report to determine what strategies the communities implemented regarding community involvement and quality of life. From there, he hopes to formulate best practices that can be transferred to other rural towns across the state. Peters' research is part of a National Science Foundation project on shrink-smart towns led by the ISU College of Design. "We found that you can live in a thriving community even with a population in decline," Peters said. "Towns can control their own quality of life without requiring a lot of money or time, and we think that's a very empowering message for Iowa's rural residents." Makame Makame from the Zanzibar Malaria Elimination Programme holds one of the drones used to map malaria vectors. Credit: Andy Hardy On a typically hot and humid July day in Stonetown, the capital of Zanzibar, a gaggle of children, teenagers and the odd parents watched our small drone take flight. My colleagues Makame Makame, Khamis Haji and I had finally found the perfect launch spot. With a high-pitched humming, the drone took to the air. It sounded like a big mosquito appropriate, since we were testing the use of drones for mapping aquatic malaria habitats. These shallow sunlit water bodies teem with mosquito larvae. In a matter of days, the larvae will emerge as adult mosquitoes in search of a blood meal. If one of those mosquitoes bites a human infected with malaria, it will become a vector for the disease and continue its deadly transmission cycle. Zanzibar is a Tanzanian archipelago off the coast of East Africa. Both it and mainland Tanzania have fought a long, well documented battle with malaria. Globally, the disease infects over 200 million people annually and is responsible for killing approximately 500,000 people each year. The Millennium Development Goals prompted a number of large scale campaigns across sub-Saharan Africa to combat malaria. Millions of bed nets were distributed. Insecticide was supplied to spray in homes across communities. The aim was to stop people getting bitten, interrupting the transmission cycle. It's been a real success story, leading to a notable decrease in the disease's prevalence. Some areas of Zanzibar have seen prevalence levels drop from 40% of the population having malaria to less than 1%. Now epidemiologists and public health managers are looking to complement indoor-based nets and spraying with outdoor based solutions. In effect, they're taking the battle to mosquitoes. And drones are a crucial part of their armoury. One of the main challenges to disease managers is finding small water bodies that mosquitoes use to breed. This is where drones come in for the first time, drone imagery can be captured over large areas which can be used to create precise and accurate maps of potential habitats. Tracking mosquitoes We know that once an adult mosquito has fed and rested, it will typically go in search of a mate. Then it moves on to a suitable location an aquatic habitat like the fringes of river channels, roadside culverts and irrigated rice paddies to lay its eggs. Public health authorities need to be able to locate and map these water bodies so they can be treated using a larvicide like DDT. This process is known as larval source management, and was successfully used in Brazil and Italy many decades ago. There, the DDT killed mosquito larvae but could also be devastating for local ecology as well as having adverse effects on human health. Collation of drone imagery recorded using a DJI Phantom 3 over a range of sites across Zanzibar. Today much safer, low toxicity replacements have been developed. The problem is that they come at a cost. Resources are also needed to disseminate the larvicide and to locate the water bodies that host the mosquito eggs and larvae. Some of these hideaways are tough to find on foot, and if water bodies are accurately mapped a larvicide campaign could end up being a waste of time. My institution, Aberystwyth University in Wales, is working with the Zanzibar Malaria Elimination Programme to fly drones over known malaria hot spots. In 20 minutes, a single drone is able to survey a 30 hectare rice paddy. This imagery can be processed and analysed on the same afternoon to locate and map water bodies. This has proved to be highly accurate and efficient. This is all using one of the most popular off-the-shelf drones, the Phantom 3 made by DJI. These are about the size of a shoebox, weighing a little more than a bag of sugar (1.2 kg) and are used throughout the world for both leisure and commercial photography. We started off working in test locations across Zanzibar but now, with the support of the Innovative Vector Control Consortium a non-for-profit partnership aiming to create novel solutions for preventing disease transmission we're widening our range to explore how this technology can be incorporated into operational malaria eliminating activities. It doesn't stop there. We plan to incorporate the drone imagery into smartphone technology to help guide larvicide spraying teams to water bodies on the ground, and to track their progress and coverage. There's also an exciting drive towards automatically disseminating larvicide from the drones themselves. Getting people involved Despite these exciting advances, operators need to be mindful of the negative side of drones: invasion of privacy; collisions with aircraft and birdlife; their association with warfare. These are very real concerns for the public. In Zanzibar, we worked alongside village elders to show them the drones and explain exactly what we plan to use them for. We also encouraged people to gather around when we were looking at live-feed footage from the drone's onboard camera. This introduced people to our work and gave them a chance to see how drones and similar technologies, used alongside traditional indoor-based interventions, can really help to make malaria elimination in their community a reality. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. The popular pet bird, the yellow-fronted canary, was one of the most traded wild bird birds before EU's trade ban on wild birds in 2005. Today, the most traded wild birds globally are parrots. Credit: Derek Keats, 2016 Trade of wild birds has dropped about 90% globally since the EU banned bird imports in 2005. A study published today in the recognized scientific journal Science Advances demonstrates how the EU's ban decreased the number of birds traded annually from about 1.3 million to 130.000. International trade of wild birds is a root cause of exotic birds spreading worldwide. The study was led by scientists from the Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, University of Copenhagen and CIBIO-InBIO Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources, University of Porto. Birds are the most traded animals in the world. Historically, Europe has been the main importer of wild birds globally. Before 2005, when the EU banned trade of wild birds, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain accounted for the import of two thirds of all wild birds sold on the global market. The birds mainly came from West Africa, with 70% of exported birds coming from Guinea, Mali and Senegal. Diederik Strubbe from the Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, University of Copenhagen, elaborates, When wild birds are caught and sold to another country it has consequences in both areas. In the country the birds are captured, it can lead to biodiversity loss. Likewise, our study shows that international bird trade is a main cause of exotic birds spreading around the world. The birds can damage local ecosystems, destroy crops and outcompete local birds. The EU trade ban, and the following dramatic drop in the number of traded birds, has strongly reduced this risk across most of the globe. Flows of wild bird trade among different biogeographical regions, before (A) and after (B) the EU ban. Credit: Reino et al., 2017 Before 2005, almost all wild bird exports were concentrated around two groups of birds. Passerines, which include popular pet birds such as the yellow-fronted canary and the common waxbill, constituted almost 80% of exported birds while parrots accounted for about 18%. After the EU trade ban, the picture reversed. Today, passerine birds constitute less than 20% while parrots have increased to almost 80% of all traded birds. Parrots are the most threatened group of bird species, and the bird most likely to establish in countries it not naturally occurs. Trade routes have shifted away from Western Europe West Africa's role as main exporter of wild birds has been taken over by Latin America, and the continent is now responsible for more than 50% of global wild bird exports. Important new buyers on the market include countries such as Mexico and the USA, whose imports have increased from about 23.000 to 82.000 birds annually. Luis Reino, from the CIBIO-InBIO Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources, says, The Ring-necked parakeet is one of the birds imported in high numbers to Europe. The species has established in European cities. When exotic birds spread to areas it not naturally occur they can damage local ecosystems, destroy crops and outcompete local birds. Credit: Diederik F. R. Strubbe Worryingly, we document a shift in wild bird trade towards areas with a high biodiversity. For example, several south-east Asian nations have emerged as important bird importers. These regions are now exposed to a higher risk of bird invasions. Thus, our results clearly speak for a global wildlife trade ban, if we want to reduce the number of traded birds, and minimize the risk of exotic birds spreading. The positive thing is that our study shows such a policy will likely be effective. More information: L. Reino el al., "Networks of global bird invasion altered by regional trade ban," Science Advances (2017). advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/11/e1700783 Journal information: Science Advances Credit: Stellenbosch University Here is some advice for landowners who want to remove pine trees from their properties in the hope of seeing fynbos plants grow there again: if you have any choice in the matter, do so before the trees have grown there for more than 30 years. The longer you wait, the less likely the chances that any fynbos seeds will be left in the soil to sprout successfully. This is according to research in the South African Journal of Botany that was conducted by researchers from Stellenbosch University and the City of Cape Town in South Africa. Soil and plant samples were analysed by Stellenbosch University postgraduate student Alistair Galloway of the Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology. Galloway says he decided on the topic because not as much research has gone into the restoration of fynbos veld after the removal of pines as have been done about the clearing of acacia trees. His efforts not only led to him now publishing his first peer-reviewed paper, but also receiving his department's Daniel Booysen Memorial Award for the best 4th year project conducted in 2016. Galloway recently also received a Rector's Award for Academic Excellence from Stellenbosch University. His co-authors and supervisors are three respected researchers of matters relating to the impact of invasive species on the Cape Floral Kingdom's indigenous fynbos plants. They are Dr Pat Holmes of the City of Cape Town's Environmental Management Department (and an Extraordinary Associate Professor of the Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology), Dr Mirijam Gaertner of the Nurtingen-Geislingen University of Applied Sciences in Germany, and Prof Karen Esler of Stellenbosch University's Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology. Galloway's project was funded through the Centre of Excellence for Invasion Biology based at Stellenbosch University, to which Gaertner, Holmes and Esler are also affiliated. The study was conducted in the Helderberg Nature Reserve, which is managed by the City of Cape Town. It's a reserve that Galloway, who hails from Somerset West, has frequented since childhood. For his research project, Galloway compared sites where naturally occurring vulnerable Cape Winelands Shale fynbos grow with those on which Pinus radiata pines were planted in the 1960s. The study sites were all burnt in the autumn of 2015. Trees in three of the plantation sections were felled between 1992 and 1994. Over the past 20 years, the natural plants that used to grow there have had an opportunity to regrow. Trees from another three sections were only felled in the winter of 2014, and were therefore under pine plantations for about 50 years. The sooner, the better for fynbos Galloway took soil samples to find out if there were still any viable fynbos seeds left in the soils of the former plantation sites. He also noted how the natural vegetation grew back after the trees were removed and the areas burnt. A high number of seeds from different types of native fynbos species were still to be found in the soils of areas from which 30-year-old pines were removed. The fynbos plants also regrew at a similar density to that of the undisturbed fynbos areas. However, the same could not be said of the areas on which 50-year-old trees had stood, as there was little left of the native seed bank stored in the soil. According to Galloway, seeds that survive in the soil makes it possible for some of the plants that used to be found there to regrow on the 30-year-old plantation sites. Active restoration steps to re-introduce species from surrounding areas might be needed on the 50-year-old sites, to ensure the recovery of native plants that once grew there, and to prevent possible soil erosion on the cleared area."Because there's very little native seed left in the ground, restoration work on older sites will be much more time consuming and costly," he says. According to Prof Esler, pine plantation and invasion management in the Fynbos biome should consider for how long pines have grown in an area. The shorter, the better for the rehabilitation of fynbos veld. "This helps to maintain the native seed bank and the recovery potential of fynbos, and minimises the need for active restoration," adds Prof Esler. "Long-term follow-up control of several alien species will also need to be implemented so that the alien seed bank can be depleted, and the survival of restored native species can be maximised." More information: A.D. Galloway et al, The impact of pine plantations on fynbos above-ground vegetation and soil seed bank composition, South African Journal of Botany (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.sajb.2017.09.009 Provided by Stellenbosch University A couple of spacewalkers explore the barren and dry landscape of Lanzarote in the Canary Islands to simulate a planetary mission. Credit: European Space Agency A mini-rover, tools once used on the moon and lasers for 3-D mapping are in the backpack of the explorers of tomorrow. The terrain will be hazardous and it will be dark in volcanic caves, but this equipment could one day help to scout other planets. The alien-like landscapes of Lanzarote, Spain, are almost surreal but this volcanic island is helping to bring future space missions to reality. This month, an expedition with a dozen of experiments mobilised 50 people and four space agencies during five days in five different locations. This pioneering exercise is Pangaea-X, an extension of ESA's Pangaea geology training. "We are supplementing the training with the latest technologies in instrumentation, navigation, remote sensing, 3-D imaging and geoscience equipment," says ESA project leader Loredana Bessone. "Tests in a real environment with so many geological analogies to the moon and Mars will allow us to learn much more than in any possible artificial simulation," notes geologist Francesco Sauro, scientific director. European astronauts, scientists and engineers work side by side to prepare for human and robotic operations away from Earth. Volcanoes, caves and underground highways formed by lava are included. Like on Mars, some of the caves are large enough to accommodate highways. Roving in Lanzarote. Credit: European Space Agency From high-tech to 1970s tools There is a lot to be tested, from spacewalks in rough areas to underground communications. Together with high-tech scanners, a drone and a rover, there is sampling and in-situ DNA analysis of microorganisms. While a set of lasers help to create spectacular 3-D views of the lava caves, European astronauts are wearing smartphones on their wrists displaying instructions and DNA results on the spot. "We have to test all this technology and a full set of analysis tools in the field and learn how to best integrate it into future operations," adds ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer. An expedition of astronauts, planetary scientists and engineers collect samples in a lava tube in Lanzarote, Spain. Credit: European Space Agency Not everything will be state-of-the-art technology. Spacewalk experts are carrying NASA replicas of sampling tools used during Apollo missions on the moon to assess if they are suitable for future missions. They are encountering obstacles and mobility constraints all along the way. "It is essential to optimise the tools and equipment for exploration. Safety and efficiency will be key for the success of future spacewalks on the moon," says ESA spacewalk instructor Herve Stevenin. Pangaea-X is running until 24 November. The organisations involved will benefit from ESA's expertise in astronauts operations and training, as well as from the knowhow of scientists, technicians and planetary field geology instructors. An expedition of astronauts, planetary scientists and engineers test equipment for space exploration in Spains Canary Island of Lanzarote, also known as the island of a thousand volcanoes. Credit: European Space Agency The annual Carbon Budget report found that, after remaining steady between 2014-16, fossil fuel emissions are on the rise again in 2017, says atmospheric sciences professor Atul Jain. Credit: L. Brian Stauffer Illinois atmospheric scientist Atul Jain was among the many scientists worldwide who contributed data to the Global Carbon Budget 2017, released Nov. 13. Jain talked about this year's findings with News Bureau physical sciences editor Lois Yoksoulian. What is the primary purpose of the annual carbon budget assessment? The budget estimate is essential to better understand the global carbon cycle, support the climate policy process and project future climate change. The process helps determine accurate annual assessments of human-generated carbon dioxide emissions and their redistribution among the atmosphere, ocean and terrestrial biosphere. What is different about this year's findings? Global CO2 emissions from fossil fuel burning are on the rise again in 2017 after three years of stability between 2014 and 2016. The study suggests that global CO2 emissions from all human activities will reach 41 billion tons in 2017, following a projected 2 percent rise in burning fossil fuels. The most significant contributing factor in the reversal of global emissions growth is that China, the top CO2 emitter, was behind the unexpected recent slowdown in emissions growth but is again a key driver with a projected emission growth of 3.5 percent in 2017. Carbon dioxide emissions are expected to decline by 0.4 percent in the U.S., the second top emitter, which are smaller declines than what we saw during the previous decade. It is important to note that 2017 will be the first time in five years that U.S. coal consumption is projected to rise by about 0.5 percent. However, India's emissions are expected to grow by just 2 percent. This projection is down from over 6 percent per year during the past decade. Our study findings suggest that an actual decline in global emissions might still be beyond our immediate reach, especially given projections for stronger economic growth in 2018. At the same time, the emission-reduction commitments of many countries to make the Paris Agreement a success suggest that CO2 emissions may not return to the high growth rates experienced in the 2000s. However, it remains to be seen if the countries stick to their commitment. Otherwise, the Paris Agreement goals to stabilize our climate at well below 2 degrees Celsius of global warming could quickly slip out of reach. Why is it important to reassess the annual carbon budget annually and not, say, every five years? Performing the process each year, rather than every five years, improves the accuracy of the estimated carbon budget over time. The global carbon budget assesses the mean, variations and trends in the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere since about 1860 the beginning of the Industrial Era. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has assessed the CO2 average decadal budget for the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. The Global Carbon Project has adapted the IPCC approach but also projects fossil fuel emissions and atmospheric CO2 concentrations for one additional year. For example, this year, GCP reported the budget for the decade 2007-16 and the fossil fuel emissions and CO2 concentrations for the year 2017. The report mentions a difference in how the assessment is performed now. Why is that? The carbon budget is determined by using a combination of data, algorithms, statistics and model estimates of carbon stocks and fluxes and their interpretation by a broad scientific community. Global fossil fuel and land use emissions and how they are partitioned among the atmosphere, ocean and land are, in reality, in balance. However, due to the uncertainty of some of the estimated numbers and smaller terms not included in our budget estimate, their sum does not necessarily add up to zero. Therefore, this year we introduced a budget imbalance, which is a measure of the mismatch between the estimated emissions and the estimated changes in the atmosphere, land and ocean. The term "uncertainty" is used a lot in carbon budget calculations and is often misunderstood to mean that scientists are unsure of what they are doing. Can you elaborate? In science, uncertainty does not imply ignorance, but how statistically confident we are about our results, and we reduce uncertainty in our results by research. Even though we may be able to detect a change in CO2 emission trends and variations in carbon sinks today, it may take many more years to confidently and independently verify a sustained change in emissions using measurements of atmospheric concentrations of CO2. Therefore, each year GCP updates and revises the data along with any changes in analysis, results and the most up-to-date interpretation of the behavior of the global carbon cycle. Illustration showing sectional view of a heart with the soft robotic system helping to draw blood into (left) and pump blood out (right) of the heart's right ventricle. Credit: Boston Children's Hospital Soft robotic actuators, which are pneumatic artificial muscles designed and programmed to perform lifelike motions, have recently emerged as an attractive alternative to more rigid components that have conventionally been used in biomedical devices. In fact, earlier this year, a Boston Children's Hospital team revealed a proof-of-concept soft robotic sleeve that could support the function of a failing heart. Despite this promising innovation, the team recognized that many pediatric heart patients have more one-sided heart conditions. These patients are not experiencing failure of the entire heartinstead, congenital conditions have caused disease in either the heart's right or left ventricle, but not both. "We set out to develop new technology that would help one diseased ventricle, when the patient is in isolated left or right heart failure, pull blood into the chamber and then effectively pump it into the circulatory system," says Nikolay Vasilyev, MD, a researcher in cardiac surgery at Boston Children's. Now, Vasilyev and his collaboratorsincluding researchers from Boston Children's, the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard Universityhave revealed their soft robotic solution. They describe their system in a paper published online in Science Robotics today. Getting to the heart of the challenge Although other existing mechanical pumps can help propel blood through the heart, they are designed so that blood must run through the pump itself, exposing blood to its unnatural surface. Narrated video outlining the novel function and implications of Payne et al.s soft robotic ventricular assist device. Credit: Carla Schaffer / AAAS "Running blood through a pump always requires a patient to be placedpermanentlyon anticoagulant medication to prevent blood clotting," Vasilyev says, who is a co-senior author on the paper. "It can be very difficult to keep the right balance of medication, especially in pediatric patients, who are therefore at risk of excessive bleeding or dangerous clotting." So, using external actuators to help squeeze blood through the heart's own chamber, the team has designed a system that could theoretically work with minimal use of anticoagulants. "We've combined rigid bracing with soft robotic actuators to gently but sturdily help a diseased heart chamber pump blood effectively," Vasilyev says. The rigid brace component is deployed via a needle into the heart's intraventricular septum, the wall of tissue between the heart's chambers, to prevent the septum from shifting under the pressure of the artificial "muscle" of the soft actuator. "With the use of classic left ventricular assist devices, there are patients who experience a septum shift towards the right side and subsequent ballooning of the right ventricle, which can cause secondary right heart failure," Vasilyev says. "Here, the rigid brace keeps the septum in its original position, protecting the healthy right side of the heart from the mechanical load of the left ventricular assistance." In contrast, existing ventricular assist devices (VAD) don't involve the septum at all. Video with design and demonstration of the soft robotic ventricular assist device. Credit: Payne et al., Sci. Robot. 2, eaan6736 (2017) Tailoring the concept for future translation Altogether, the system involves a septal anchor, a bracing bar and sealing sleeve that pass through the ventricle wall, and a frame embedded with soft actuators that is mounted around the ventricle. The researchers designed two distinct versions of the system for the right and left ventricle. In animal studies, the soft robotic system contributed significantly to the diseased ventricle's ability to eject blood. The researchers speculate that the system's effectiveness is due in part to its integration with the septum, which plays a key role in the heart's ability to pump blood. The system also made significant improvement in its ability to draw blood into the ventricles, which is just as important as the heart's ability to pump it out. "As the actuators relax, specially-designed elastic bands help return the heart's wall to its original position, filling the chamber sufficiently with blood," Vasilyev says. Based on these initial proof-of-concept results, Vasilyev and his team are working on key design modifications that can bring this system closer to use in humans, such as portability and miniaturization of the components. They also need to do longer tests in animals to see how the system impacts the heart over prolonged periods of time. More information: C.J. Payne el al., "Soft robotic ventricular assist device with septal bracing for therapy of heart failure," Science Robotics (2017). robotics.sciencemag.org/lookup /scirobotics.aan6736 Journal information: Science Robotics By PTI: (Eds: Incorporates related stories) New Delhi, Nov 22 (PTI) The Congress today called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a "serial abuser" and the BJP "mother of crass statements", drawing a strong rebuttal from the ruling party which insisted Modi was a "victim" of abuses. With political discourse often getting reduced to vituperative outburst, senior Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi targeted Modi and the BJP over it, and sought apology. advertisement "BJP is mother and producer of derogatory, insulting, foul language...the sheer brazenness with which BJP escapes any blame after indulging in crude, crass and coarse language is appalling...we demand the BJP apologise for lowering quality of public discourse," Singhvi told reporters. Singhvi listed several cases where the prime minister allegedly made derogatory remarks by calling his predecessor Manmohan Singh a "night-watchman", Congress president Sonia Gandhi a "jersey cow" and the partys vice president Rahul Gandhi a "hybrid calf" in the past. Singhvi also said the prime minister recently called the Congress a "termite". The BJP mounted a spirited counteroffensive with Union minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore insisting: "If somebody has been abused the most after independence, it is Narendra Modi. He is a victim." He cited a host of "abusive" comments made by Congress leaders, including its president Sonia Gandhi and her deputy Rahul Gandhi, in the past to target Modi. Sonia Gandhi called Modi maut ka saudagar (merchant of death), while her son accused him of khoon ki dalali (broker of blood), Singh said, adding that Priyanka Gandhi had used the word neech (despicable) against the prime minister. He also cited several others abusive comments made by Congress leaders to make his point. A bitter war of words broke out between the two parties after the Congress youth wing yesterday circulated a meme about Prime Minister Narendra Modis chaiwala past, provoking a backlash from the BJP, and prompting a red-faced Congress to distance from it. The meme that unleashed a political firestorm contained photograph of Modi, US president Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Theresa May engaged in a conversation. Modi is seen telling the two leaders about the oppositions memes targeting him. He mispronounces the word as "mainmain". Trump corrects him, saying the word is pronounced as "meem", while May tells him to go and sell tea. PTI EMN KR SMN SC SK SK --- ENDS --- Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Tracking the aerosols carried on the winds let scientists see the currents in our atmosphere. This visualization follows sea salt, dust, and smoke from July 31 to November 1, 2017, to reveal how these particles are transported across the map. The first thing that is noticeable is how far the particles can travel. Smoke from fires in the Pacific Northwest gets caught in a weather pattern and pulled all the way across the US and over to Europe. Hurricanes form off the coast of Africa and travel across the Atlantic to make landfall in the United States. Dust from the Sahara is blown into the Gulf of Mexico. To understand the impacts of aerosols, scientists need to study the process as a global system. The Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center has developed the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS), a family of mathematical models. Combined with data from NASA's Earth observing satellites, the supercomputer simulations enhance our scientific understanding of specific chemical, physical, and biological processes. During the 2017 hurricane season, the storms are visible because of the sea salt that is captured by the storms. Strong winds at the surface lift the sea salt into the atmosphere and the particles are incorporated into the storm. Hurricane Irma is the first big storm that spawns off the coast of Africa. As the storm spins up, the Saharan dust is absorbed in cloud droplets and washed out of the storm as rain. This process happens with most of the storms, except for Hurricane Ophelia. Forming more northward than most storms, Ophelia traveled to the east picking up dust from the Sahara and smoke from large fires in Portugal. Retaining its tropical storm state farther northward than any system in the Atlantic, Ophelia carried the smoke and dust into Ireland and the UK. Tracking aerosols over land and water from August 1 to November 1, 2017. Hurricanes and tropical storms are obvious from the large amounts of sea salt particles caught up in their swirling winds. The dust blowing off the Sahara, however, gets caught by water droplets and is rained out of the storm system. Smoke from the massive fires in the Pacific Northwest region of North America are blown across the Atlantic to the UK and Europe. This visualization is a result of combining NASA satellite data with sophisticated mathematical models that describe the underlying physical processes. Music: Elapsing Time by Christian Telford [ASCAP], Robert Anthony Navarro [ASCAP] Computer simulations using the GEOS models allow scientists to see how different processes fit together and evolve as a system. By using mathematical models to represent nature we can separate the system into component parts and better understand the underlying physics of each. GEOS runs on the Discover supercomputer at the NASA Center for Climate Simulation (NCCS). Tracking aerosols over land and water from August 1 to November 1, 2017. Hurricanes and tropical storms are obvious from the large amounts of sea salt particles caught up in their swirling winds. The dust blowing off the Sahara, however, gets caught by water droplets and is rained out of the storm system. Smoke from the massive fires in the Pacific Northwest region of North America are blown across the Atlantic to the UK and Europe. This visualization is a result of combining NASA satellite data with sophisticated mathematical models that describe the underlying physical processes. A Kyoto University-based team has unraveled the mystery of gamma-ray emission cascades caused by lightning strikes. Credit: Kyoto University/Teruaki Enoto A storm system approaches: the sky darkens, and the low rumble of thunder echoes from the horizon. Then without warning... Flash! Crash!lightning has struck. This scene, while familiar to anyone and repeated constantly across the planet, is not without a feeling of mystery. But now that mystery has deepened, with the discovery that lightning can result in matter-antimatter annihilation. In a collaborative study appearing in Nature, researchers from Japan describe how gamma rays from lightning react with the air to produce radioisotopes and even positronsthe antimatter equivalent of electrons. "We already knew that thunderclouds and lightning emit gamma rays, and hypothesized that they would react in some way with the nuclei of environmental elements in the atmosphere," explains Teruaki Enoto from Kyoto University, who leads the project. "In winter, Japan's western coastal area is ideal for observing powerful lightning and thunderstorms. So, in 2015 we started building a series of small gamma-ray detectors, and placed them in various locations along the coast." But then the team ran into funding problems. To continue their work, and in part to reach out to a wide audience of potentially interested members of the public as quickly as possible, they turned to the internet. "We set up a crowdfunding campaign through the 'academist' site," continues Enoto, "in which we explained our scientific method and aims for the project. Thanks to everybody's support, we were able to make far more than our original funding goal." Spurred by their success, the team built more detectors and installed them across the northwest coast of Honshu. And then in February 2017, four detectors installed in Kashiwazaki city, Niigata recorded a large gamma-ray spike immediately after a lightning strike a few hundred meters away. It was the moment the team realized they were seeing a new, hidden face of lightning. When they analyzed the data, the scientists found three distinct gamma-ray bursts. The first was less than one millisecond in duration; the second was a gamma-ray afterglow that decayed over several dozens of milliseconds; and finally there was a prolonged emission lasting about one minute. Enoto explains, "We could tell that the first burst was from the lightning strike. Through our analysis and calculations, we eventually determined the origins of the second and third emissions as well." The second afterglow, for example, was caused by lightning reacting with nitrogen in the atmosphere. The gamma rays emitted in lightning have enough energy to knock a neutron out of atmospheric nitrogen, and it was the reabsorption of this neutron by particles in the atmosphere that produced the gamma-ray afterglow. The final, prolonged emission was from the breakdown of now neutron-poor and unstable nitrogen atoms. These released positrons, which subsequently collided with electrons in annihilation events releasing gamma rays. "We have this idea that antimatter is something that only exists in science fiction. Who knew that it could be passing right above our heads on a stormy day?" says Enoto. "And we know all this thanks to our supporters who joined us through 'academist'. We are truly grateful to all." The team still maintains over ten detectors on the coast of Japan, and are continually collecting data. They look forward to new discoveries that may await them, and Enoto hopes to continue seeing the participation of ordinary citizens in research, expanding the bounds of scientific discovery. More information: Teruaki Enoto et al, Photonuclear reactions triggered by lightning discharge, Nature (2017). DOI: 10.1038/nature24630 Journal information: Nature A global survey of 61 countries which host male escort websites found an emerging market for male escorts who count women and couples among their clients. Credit: QUT A quarter of Australia's 516 male escorts cater to women and couples, a global survey of the 61 countries which host online male escort websites has found. But Australia is well behind the United Kingdom in sites catering for women or couples where more than 50 per cent of the 5487 male escorts cater to women and couples, the survey, conducted by by Professor John Scott and Adjunct Professor Victor Minichiello from QUT's Crime and Justice Research Centre and researchers from The Kirby Institute at the University of New South Wales, found. "Uganda and Argentina are the only other countries that have more male escorts seeking females and couples than solely male clients," Professor Scott, from QUT School of Justice, said. "It's assumed that men are the primary market for male escorts, and while it is true that most escorts target male clients, our survey suggests a significant emerging market for women who pay for sexual services from men. "While more than 57 per cent of identified websites catered to male customers only, 11 per cent were specifically for female clients and a similar number of sites were for couples, most of the opposite sex. "As expected, we found twice as many male escorts had male clients only (72,106) as against the 32,948 escorts for women or couples." The results of the survey are contained in the blog About Male Escorts and will be published as a book chapter in Male Sex Work and Society (Volume II), to be released in 2018. The survey found a total of 324,852 profiles of male escorts online but after eliminating duplications (many male sex workers list on multiple sites) there were 105,009 male escorts. Credit: Queensland University of Technology Professor Scott said Mexico's nine websites led the table in this emerging aspect of the sex industry. "Mexico had 14,531 male escorts prepared to cater to women and couples; Brazil (6892) the United States (3481), the United Kingdom (2926), Spain (2357), Germany (359), and Japan (327) followed. "Other countries with a high percentage of escorts for women and couples include Chile (41 per cent), Germany (42 per cent), Hungary (45 per cent) and Malaysia (46.5 per cent)." Professor Scott said even traditional, socially conservative societies hosted male escort websites with escorts who advertised online as catering for women and couples. "Malaysia has 88 escorts on its nine sites and 41 of them provide for women and couples, and the United Arab Emirates has 124 escorts for women or couples out of 337 male escorts," he said. "In jurisdictions where sex work or same-sex relations are heavily penalised, it is possible that escort sites are known only to participants within relatively closed social networks. They may also be listed on the 'dark web' - these sites were not included in the survey. "If you are a woman or a couple seeking a male escort using online male escort services, you are out of luck in Costa Rica, Finland, Israel, Panama and Taiwan where the male escorts have male clients only. Credit: Queensland University of Technology "There are slim pickings in Bulgaria, China, Estonia, Uruguay and Paraguay where each country has just one male escort who has found a niche in the market and offers this service." "The average price worldwide seems to be $200 an hour but it can be thousands of dollars for a weekend, especially among the international male escorts who list on websites around the world. "It's important to note that websites such as Rentmen and Hourboy included escort profiles from around the world and were often hosted in countries where sex work was legal. These websites were among the largest overall and mostly cater for male clients." Professor Scott said the survey counted only male sex workers operating online, not those in brothels or massage parlours or outdoor settings. "The figures fluctuate over time with sex workers and websites entering and leaving the market. The fluidity makes the online marketplace appealing for many." To check for the validity and emerging trends over time, a similar survey will be conducted annually. Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova is captured using a telescope on December 22 from Farm Tivoli in Namibia, Africa. Credit: Gerald Rhemann When comet 45P zipped past Earth early in 2017, researchers observing from NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility, or IRTF, in Hawai'i gave the long-time trekker a thorough astronomical checkup. The results help fill in crucial details about ices in Jupiter-family comets and reveal that quirky 45P doesn't quite match any comet studied so far. Like a doctor recording vital signs, the team measured the levels of nine gases released from the icy nucleus into the comet's thin atmosphere, or coma. Several of these gases supply building blocks for amino acids, sugars and other biologically relevant molecules. Of particular interest were carbon monoxide and methane, which are so hard to detect in Jupiter-family comets that they've only been studied a few times before. The gases all originate from the hodgepodge of ices, rock and dust that make up the nucleus. These native ices are thought to hold clues to the comet's history and how it has been aging. "Comets retain a record of conditions from the early solar system, but astronomers think some comets might preserve that history more completely than others," said Michael DiSanti, an astronomer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and lead author of the new study in the Astronomical Journal. The cometofficially named 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakovabelongs to the Jupiter family of comets, frequent orbiters that loop around the sun about every five to seven years. Much less is known about native ices in this group than in the long-haul comets from the Oort Cloud. To identify native ices, astronomers look for chemical fingerprints in the infrared part of the spectrum, beyond visible light. DiSanti and colleagues conducted their studies using the iSHELL high-resolution spectrograph recently installed at IRTF on the summit of Maunakea. With iSHELL, researchers can observe many comets that used to be considered too faint. The spectral range of the instrument makes it possible to detect many vaporized ices at once, which reduces the uncertainty when comparing the amounts of different ices. The instrument covers wavelengths starting at 1.1 micrometers in the near-infrared (the range of night-vision goggles) up to 5.3 micrometers in the mid-infrared region. iSHELL also has high enough resolving power to separate infrared fingerprints that fall close together in wavelength. This is particularly necessary in the cases of carbon monoxide and methane, because their fingerprints in comets tend to overlap with the same molecules in Earth's atmosphere. "The combination of iSHELL's high resolution and the ability to observe in the daytime at IRTF is ideal for studying comets, especially short-period comets," said John Rayner, director of the IRTF, which is managed for NASA by the University of Hawai'i. While observing for two days in early January 2017shortly after 45P's closest approach to the sunthe team made robust measurements of water, carbon monoxide, methane and six other native ices. For five ices, including carbon monoxide and methane, the researchers compared levels on the sun-drenched side of the comet to the shaded side. The findings helped fill in some gaps but also raised new questions. The results reveal that 45P is running so low on frozen carbon monoxide, that it is officially considered depleted. By itself, this wouldn't be too surprising, because carbon monoxide escapes into space easily when the sun warms a comet. But methane is almost as likely to escape, so an object lacking carbon monoxide should have little methane. 45P, however, is rich in methane and is one of the rare comets that contains more methane than carbon monoxide ice. It's possible that the methane is trapped inside other ice, making it more likely to stick around. But the researchers think the carbon monoxide might have reacted with hydrogen to form methanol. The team found that 45P has a larger-than-average share of frozen methanol. When this reaction took place is another questionone that gets to the heart of comet science. If the methanol was produced on grains of primordial ice before 45P formed, then the comet has always been this way. On the other hand, the levels of carbon monoxide and methanol in the coma might have changed over time, especially because Jupiter-family comets spend more time near the sun than Oort Cloud comets do. "Comet scientists are like archaeologists, studying old samples to understand the past," said Boncho Bonev, an astronomer at American University and the second author on the paper. "We want to distinguish comets as they formed from the processing they might have experienced, like separating historical relics from later contamination." The team is now on the case to figure out how typical their results might be among similar comets. 45P was the first of five such short-period comets that are available for study in 2017 and 2018. On the heels of 45P were comets 2P/Encke and 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak. Due next summer and fall is 21P/GiacobiniZinner, and later will come 46P/Wirtanen, which is expected to remain within 10 million miles (16 million kilometers) of Earth throughout most of December 2018. "This research is groundbreaking," said Faith Vilas, the solar and planetary research program director at the National Science Foundation, or NSF, which helped support the study. "This broadens our knowledge of the mix of molecular species coexisting in the nuclei of Jovian-family comets, and the differences that exist after many trips around the sun." "We're excited to see this first publication from iSHELL, which was built through a partnership between NSF, the University of Hawai'i, and NASA," said Kelly Fast, IRTF program scientist at NASA Headquarters. "This is just the first of many iSHELL results to come." More information: More information about NASA's IRTF: irtfweb.ifa.hawaii.edu/ Journal information: Astronomical Journal Provided by NASA Light can be split into many wavelengths and a rainbow illustrates this in visible light. Each color is a different wavelength of light. NASAs TSIS- 1 will see more than 1,000 wavelength bands of sunlight reaching the top of the atmosphere, including light we cannot sense with our eyes. Credit: Matthew Almon Roth (via Creative Commons) High in the atmosphere, above weather systems, is a layer of ozone gas. Ozone is Earth's natural sunscreen, absorbing the sun's most harmful ultraviolet radiation and protecting living things below. But ozone is vulnerable to certain gases made by humans that reach the upper atmosphere. Once there, they react in the presence of sunlight to destroy ozone molecules. Currently, several NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellites track the amount of ozone in the upper atmosphere and the solar energy that drives the photochemistry that creates and destroys ozone. NASA is now ready to launch a new instrument to the International Space Station that will provide the most accurate measurements ever made of sunlight as seen from above Earth's atmospherean important component for evaluating the long-term effects of ozone-destroying chemistry. The Total and Spectral solar Irradiance Sensor (TSIS-1) will measure the total amount of sunlight that reaches the top of Earth's atmosphere and how that light is distributed between different wavelengths, including ultraviolet wavelengths that we cannot sense with our eyes, but are felt by our skin and harmful to our DNA. This is not the first time NASA has measured the total light energy from the sun. TSIS-1 succeeds previous and current NASA missions to monitor incoming sunlight with technological upgrades that should improve stability, provide three times better accuracy and lower interference from other sources of light, according to Candace Carlisle, TSIS-1 project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "We need to measure the full spectrum of sunlight and the individual wavelengths to evaluate how the sun affects Earth's atmosphere," said Dong Wu, TSIS-1 project scientist at Goddard. Antarctic ozone hole, Oct. 10, 2017: Purple and blue represent areas of low ozone concentrations in the atmosphere; yellow and red are areas of higher concentrations. Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4), which was once used in applications such as dry cleaning and as a fire-extinguishing agent, was regulated in 1987 under the Montreal Protocol along with other chlorofluorocarbons that destroy ozone and contribute to the ozone hole over Antarctica. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center TSIS-will see more than 1,000 wavelength bands from 200 to 2400 nanometers. The visible part of the spectrum our eyes see goes from about 390 nanometers (blue) to 700 nanometers (red). A nanometer is one billionth of a meter. "Each color or wavelength of light affects Earth's atmosphere differently," Wu said. TSIS-1 will see different types of ultraviolet (UV) light, including UV-B and UV-C. Each plays a different role in the ozone layer. UV-C rays are essential in creating ozone. UV-B rays and some naturally occurring chemicals regulate the abundance of ozone in the upper atmosphere. The amount of ozone is a balance between these natural production and loss processes. In the course of these processes, UV-C and UV-B rays are absorbed, preventing them from reaching Earth's surface and harming living organisms. Thinning of the ozone layer has allowed some UV-B rays to reach the ground. In the 1970s, scientists theorized that certain human-made chemicals found in spray cans, air conditioners and refrigerators could throw off the natural balance of ozone creation and depletion and cause an unnatural depletion of the protective ozone. In the 1980s, scientists observed ozone loss consistent with the concentrations of these chemicals and confirmed this theory. The picture on the left shows a calm sun from October 2010. The right side, from October 2012, shows a much more active and varied solar atmosphere as the sun moves closer to peak solar activity, or solar maximum. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) captured both images. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/SDO Ozone loss was far more severe than expected over the South Pole during the Antarctic spring (fall in the United States), a phenomenon that was named "the Antarctic ozone hole." The discovery that human-made chemicals could have such a large effect on Earth's atmosphere brought world leaders together. They created an international commitment to phase out ozone-depleting chemicals called the Montreal Protocol, which was universally ratified in 1987 by all countries that participate in the United Nations, and has been updated to tighten constraints and account for additional ozone depleting chemicals. A decade after the ratification of the Montreal Protocol, the amount of human-made ozone-destroying chemicals in the atmosphere peaked and began a slow decline. However, it takes decades for these chemicals to completely cycle out of the upper atmosphere, and the concentrations of these industrially produced molecules are not all decreasing as expected, while additional, new compounds are being created and released. More than three decades after ratification, NASA satellites have verified that ozone losses have stabilized and, in some specific locations, have even begun to recover due to reductions in the ozone-destroying chemicals regulated under the Montreal Protocol. As part of their work in monitoring the recovery of the ozone hole, scientists use computer models of the atmosphere that simulate the physical, chemical and weather processes in the atmosphere. These atmospheric models can then take input from ground and satellite observations of various atmospheric gases, both natural and human-produced, to help predict ozone layer recovery. They test the models by simulating past changes and then compare the results with satellite measurements to see if the simulations match past outcomes. To run the best possible simulation, the models also need accurate measurements of sunlight across the spectrum. TSIS-1 will be affixed to the International Space Station in December 2017 TSIS-1 operates like a sun flower: it follows the Sun, from the ISS sunrise to its sunset, which happens every 90 minutes. At sunset, it rewinds, recalibrates and waits for the next sunset. Credit: NASA/LASP "Atmospheric models need accurate measurements of sunlight across the to model the ozone layer correctly," said Peter Pilewskie, TSIS-1 lead scientist at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in Boulder, Colorado. Scientists have learned that variations in UV radiance produce significant changes in the results of the computer simulations. Overall, solar energy output varies by approximately 0.1 percentor about 1 watt per square meter between the most and least active part of an 11-year solar cycle. The solar cycle is marked by the alternating high and low activity periods of sunspots, dark regions of complex magnetic activity on the sun's surface. While UV light represents a tiny fraction of the total sunlight that reaches the top of Earth's atmosphere, it fluctuates much more, anywhere from 3 to 10 percent, a change that in turn causes small changes in the chemical composition and thermal structure of the upper atmosphere. That's where TSIS-1 comes in. "[TSIS] measurements of the solar spectrum are three times more accurate than previous instruments," said Pilewskie. Its high quality measurements will allow scientists to fine tune their computer models and produce better simulations of the ozone layer's behavioras well as other atmospheric processes influenced by sunlight, such as the movement of winds and weather that are. TSIS-1 joins a fleet of NASA's Earth-observing missions that monitor nearly every aspect of the Earth system, watching for any changes in our environment that could harm life. Provided by NASA Map of proposed Yersinia pestis circulation throughout Eurasia. A) Entrance of Y. pestis into Europe from Central Eurasia with the expansion of Yamnaya pastoralists around 4,800 years ago. B) Circulation of Y. pestis to Southern Siberia from Europe. Only complete genomes are shown. Credit: Aida Andrades Valtuena. Andrades Valtuena et al. (2017). The Stone Age Plague and its Persistence in Eurasia. Current Biology. A team of researchers led by scientists at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History has sequenced the first six European genomes of the plague-causing bacterium Yersinia pestis dating from the Late Neolithic to the Bronze Age (4,800 to 3,700 years ago). Analysis of these samples, published in Current Biology, suggests that the Stone Age Plague entered Europe during the Neolithic with a large-scale migration of people from the Eurasian steppe. Plague caused by Y. pestis has been responsible for major historical pandemics, including the infamous Black Death in the 14th century AD. By analyzing ancient forms of the disease, the researchers hope to learn more about the evolution of the plague and how it became more virulent over time. For this study, the team analyzed over 500 tooth and bone samples from Germany, Russia, Hungary, Croatia, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia and screened them for the presence of Y. pestis. They recovered full Y. pestis genomes from six individuals, greatly increasing the number of Y. pestis genomes available for study over this time period and providing an unprecedented opportunity to study how the disease evolved after its introduction into Europe. Plague likely arrived in Central Europe at approximately the same time as steppe nomads The scientists found that the Y. pestis genomes from this time period, which were found in different parts of Europe, were all fairly closely related. "This suggests that the plague either entered Europe multiple times during this period from the same reservoir, or entered once in the Stone Age and remained there," explains Aida Andrades Valtuena of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, first author of the study. In order to clarify which scenario was more likely, the scientists examined their data in the context of the existing archaeological and ancient DNA evidence regarding the movement of peoples during the same period. A male individual (6Post) from the Haunstetten Postillionstrae site, with a dagger, flint arrow heads, bracelet and bone pin. Credit: Stadtarchaologie Augsburg Beginning around 4,800 years ago, there was a major expansion of people from the Caspian-Pontic Steppe into Europe. These people carried distinct genetic markers that allow their movements and genetic influence, present in essentially all modern-day Europeans, to be traced. Interestingly, the earliest indications of the plague in Europe coincide with the arrival of steppe ancestry in the human populations. This supports the concept that the plague spread along with the large-scale migration of steppe nomads. "In our view, the human genetic ancestry and admixture, in combination with the temporal series within the Late Neolithic-Bronze Age Y. pestis lineage, support the view that Y. pestis was possibly introduced to Europe from the steppe around 4,800 years ago, where it established a local reservoir before moving back towards Central Eurasia," explains Alexander Herbig of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, a corresponding author of the study. Analysis confirms changes in plague virulence genes The plague genomes recovered by the researchers confirm that changes were occurring during this period in genes related to plague virulence, as suggested in prior research. Further research will be needed to confirm how these changes affected the severity of the disease. However, it is possible that Y. pestis was already capable of causing large-scale epidemics before it developed these traits. Johannes Krause, director of the Department of Archaeogenetics at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History and lead author of the study, explains, "The threat of Y. pestis infections may have been one of the causes for the increased mobility during the late Neolithic-early Bronze Age period." In other words, the steppe people could have been moving to get away from the plague. Furthermore, the introduction of the disease in Europe could have played a role in the genetic turnover of European populations. "It's possible that certain European populations, or the steppe people, may have had a different level of immunity." Further research to analyze even more samples, from both Y. pestis and humans, from a broader temporal and geographic range will be needed to better answer these questions. Provided by Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History Wolves, such as this one seen in France in 2015, are at risk of local extinction in Norway, where there are 105 to 112 individuals, according to the latest count A researcher in Norway launched the latest salvo Wednesday in a fierce, sometimes caustic debate on how legal hunting impacts the poaching of large predators. Many regional and national governments in Europe and North America have long promoted the controlled killing of wolves, bears and big catssome of them endangered speciesas a way to discourage illegal hunting. Farmers, meanwhile, favour such policies because they decrease the number of predators preying on livestock. A controversial study published last year challenged the rationale for these practices, reporting that poaching of wolves in two US stateswhere policies flipped back and forth a half-a-dozen times within a decadeincreased when culling was permitted. The findings were widely reported, and hailed by conservationists as evidence that state-sponsored culling is bad policy. But Audun Stien, an applied ecologist at the Norwegian Institute of Nature Research, told AFP this research has "severe shortcomings" and "should be ignored". "The conclusion that poaching increases with legal culling is without empirical support," he said. Both the original studyled by Guillaume Chapron, an researcher at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciencesand Stien's critique were published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, a leading scientific journal. Stien's objections are three-fold. He accuses Chapron and his co-author of selectively ignoring earlier research from Wisconsinthe only other study on the questionthat appears to reach the opposite conclusion. Chapron notes that he cited the study, and explicitly rejected its findings as lacking in rigour. Ruffled feathers Stien's other criticisms are methodological, and turn on whether reproduction or growth rates are the best metric for declines or increases in wolf populations. Reproduction tracks the number of newborns, while growth also takes into account the number of deaths. "My conclusion is that there is negligible evidence for legal state culling resulting in increased levels of poaching in these data," Stien said, referring to Chapron's study. For conservation scientist Chris Darimont, an expert on large carnivore management at the University of Victoria in Canada, Chapron's conclusions emerge unscathed, perhaps even strengthened. "I find Stien's criticism unconvincing," he told AFP. Indeed, trends highlighted in the critique "actually support the general hypothesis ... that culling can reduce population growth," he said. The apparently narrow academic quarrel reflects a wider debate with entrenched interests on either side, Darimont noted. "I find it interesting that when researchers confront long-held and fundamental assumptions in wildlife managementin this case, that 'tolerance killing' actually helps populations by reducing poachingthere is so much criticism of the work," he said by email. "Challenging the status quo ruffles a lot of feathers as well as threatens wildlife managers with the possibility that their strategies to date might have been misguided." When the new research also threatens powerful lobby groups, such as hunters, "the criticism is often especially pronounced," Darimont added. As if to illustrate the debate, a Norwegian court on Tuesday issued an injunction stopping the hunt of 12 wolves in the Oslo regionfive of which have already been killedpending a final decision on their fate. The wolves are caught in a tug-of-war between sheep farmers and environmental activists. There are 105 to 112 wolves in Norway, according to the latest count. The species is at risk of local extinction. More information: Blood may buy goodwill - no evidence for a positive relationship between legal culling and poaching in Wisconsin, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, rspb.royalsocietypublishing.or .1098/rspb.2017.0267 Journal information: Proceedings of the Royal Society B 2017 AFP The three surviving reclones at 2 month of age. They were dervived by SCNT of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ASCs) taken from Snuppy at five years of age. Credit: Scientific Reports (2017). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-15328-2 (Phys.org)A team of researchers with Seoul National University, Michigan State University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has re-cloned the first dog to be cloned. In their paper published in the journal Scientific Reports, the group describes duplicating the clone and offers an update on how the dogs are doing. Back in 2005, researchers at Seoul National University reported that they had cloned an Afghan hound, the first dog to be cloned. Since that time, hundreds of other dogs have been cloned, as well, offering an opportunity to learn more about the potential benefits and possible drawbacks of cloning animals for. Now, in another first, the researchers with this new effort report having cloned the clone they cloned. The story started with Tai, a normal Afghan hound. The team cloned him by inserting his cells into the eggs of a female donor after removing the original nucleus and then implanting them in the female's uterus. By all accounts, he lived a normal dog life on the campus of Seoul National University, which gave his name: Snuppy. At the age of five, researchers there collected stem cells from Snuppy and used them to inseminate other females. In all, 94 embryos were implanted, which led to four successful pregnancies and births. Shortly thereafter, one of the puppies died, leaving three clones of the cloned dog Snuppy. The researchers wrote a paper describing their results, noting that the dogs, which were nine months old at the time, seemed to be healthy and normal. They have only now published that paper. The purpose of the research is to learn more about the viability of cloning animals. Despite a lot of research, scientists still do not know for sure if cloned animals suffer unknown birth defects, or if their life spans are shorter than normal animals. There is a growing consensus, however, that cloning results in neither. A lot of animals have been cloned and studied, and thus far, there is little to no evidence indicating that the cloning process introduces flaws. Less work has been done in studying clones of clones, however, which means that others in the cloning community will be watching for reports on the progress of the now seven-year-old dog re-clones very closely. The researchers note that both Tai and Snuppy died of cancer, though of different types, and that neither was rare or unique. They note also that it is not uncommon for one of a litter of puppies to die, though it is disconcerting that in this case, it was due to a bout of unexplained diarrhea. More information: Min Jung Kim et al. Birth of clones of the world's first cloned dog, Scientific Reports (2017). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-15328-2 Abstract Animal cloning has gained popularity as a method to produce genetically identical animals or superior animals for research or industrial uses. However, the long-standing question of whether a cloned animal undergoes an accelerated aging process is yet to be answered. As a step towards answering this question, we compared longevity and health of Snuppy, the world's first cloned dog, and its somatic cell donor, Tai, a male Afghan hound. Briefly, both Snuppy and Tai were generally healthy until both developed cancer to which they succumbed at the ages of 10 and 12 years, respectively. The longevity of both the donor and the cloned dog was close to the median lifespan of Afghan hounds which is reported to be 11.9 years. Here, we report creation of 4 clones using adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells from Snuppy as donor cells. Clinical and molecular follow-up of these reclones over their lives will provide us with a unique opportunity to study the health and longevity of cloned animals compared with their cell donors. Journal information: Scientific Reports 2017 Phys.org Credit: University of Reading A Roman temple uncovered in a Hampshire farmyard by University of Reading archaeologists may be the first building of its kind in Britain to be dated back to the reign of Emperor Nero. The temple remains were found within the grounds of the Old Manor House in the Roman town at Silchester, along with rare tiles stamped with the name of the emperor, who ruled AD54-68. The temple joined two others to make a group of three when it was investigated in Silchester in autumn 2017, and is the first to be identified in the town for more than 100 years. The three temples are located in a walled sanctuary, numbered Insula XXX by Victorian archaeologists. It would have been a striking gateway to the city for travellers from London. Four fragments of tiles stamped in Nero's name were found in a ritual pit within the temple site the largest concentration ever found in the town along with another three at the kiln site which made the tiles in nearby Little London. These provide further evidence that the temples could all have been part of a Nero-sponsored building project in Silchester. Professor Mike Fulford at the University of Reading, who is leading the Silchester archaeology team, said: "These findings are a crucial piece of the jigsaw as we look to solve the mystery of Nero's links to Silchester. This is something that has puzzled archaeologists for more than a century. "Only a handful of Nero-stamped tiles have ever been found in the UK, so to unearth this many was very exciting. It adds to the evidence that Nero saw Silchester as a pet project where he could construct extravagant buildings like those seen in Rome, to inspire awe among his subjects in the UK." The three temples are the earliest known masonry constructions in Silchester, the city of Calleva in Roman times. They would therefore have been the most prominent buildings in the city, being erected decades before others, like the great complex of the forum basilica in the centre of the town, were rebuilt in masonry. They were aligned north to south at the eastern end of the Roman town. Credit: University of Reading The remains of the first two temples on the Insula XXX site were first found during grave-digging in St Mary's churchyard in 1890, with evidence of the third building unearthed in 1902. However, its identity as another temple was overlooked until now. Ground-penetrating radar, and a follow-up excavation this autumn, have confirmed three temples once stood on the site. They had a typical 'double-square' plan a central cella (shrine) surrounded by a walkway. This design originated in the late Iron Age, and is rare in Britain but more common in France and Germany. The foundations suggest the temples could have been up to 15m high. The dimensions of the third temple, 15m by 17.5m, are similar to those of the southernmost Insula XXX temple but smaller than the central one, which still remains the largest known of its type in Roman Britain. Although the religious purpose of the temples remains a mystery, evidence uncovered at the latest temple site suggests it was built in the 50s or 60s of the first century AD within Nero's short reign. Similarities in the layout within the three temples suggest all three were conceived and built at a similar time, although further excavations by the team will test this theory. Nero's reign is associated with brutality and extravagance. He was known for the persecution of Christians as well as his grand building plans, some of which were constructed after Rome's great fire, before his suicide. Nero's buildings were made in high-quality stone, as well as ceramic brick and tile, but only the tiles found at Silchester are stamped in his name. The existence of one of his buildings in Roman Britain, as well as evidence he might have visited, has always remained elusive. However, the find of the seven tiles, adding to only 14 previously found in the UK, only at Silchester and Little London, validates the theory that Nero was keen to sponsor a building project in Silchester. Another Nero tile found close to the public baths in Insula XXXIIIA in the south-east of the Roman town suggests the baths were built early in the town's development. Excavation to test this will take place in the summer of 2018. The Burrup Peninsula, or Murujuga, contains over a million individual works of rock art by the Yaburara people. Credit: Shutterstock.com Scientific studies used to monitor the impact of industry on Aboriginal rock art in north west Western Australia are inadequate, potentially exposing more than a million individual artworks to damage, according to a recent paper published by myself and co-authors in the journal Rock Art Research. The rock art is located near the towns of Dampier and Karratha and is known as the Burrup Peninsula, or Murujuga. It is a priceless, irreplaceable, cultural and archaeological treasure. The peninsula is also home to industry including an iron ore export port, natural gas processing, liquefying and export facilities, an ammonia-urea fertiliser plant and most recently, an ammonium nitrate production facility for explosives. The industry and port produce thousands of tonnes of acid-forming emissions each year, permitted under environmental regulations. The impact of these emissions has been monitored through several scientific studies, which claimed there was no consistent impact on the rock art. However our paper shows that the four main studies cannot be used to monitor the impact of industry on the art due to methodological errors. For example, one study subjected rocks to acid-forming emissions and concluded that there was no consistent change in colour. But there were just not enough repeat measurements to gain any sensible conclusion about the effect of emissions on rock colour. Another experiment examining the effects of varying acid and other chemical concentrations was conducted using iron ore, which has no relevance to the rocks on which the art is situated. Measurements of colour change between 2004 and 2014 were also made on the rock art and background rock at seven different sites. But the instruments used for measuring change in rock surface colour were designed for indoor use and were inappropriate for the highly variable, hot rock surfaces of Murujuga. Typically, instruments were located at only one place on the rock surface during a measurement each year and this was insufficient to represent the highly variable rock surface. These studies form the basis for government regulation, which permits industry to release acid-forming emissions. While there is no conclusive evidence that industry emissions have damaged the rock art, recent measurements of the surface of rocks near industry by Dr Ian MacLeod, former Director of the Western Australian Maritime Museum, found acidity to have increased 1,000 times above pre-industrial levels. We showed in another scientific paper published earlier this year that acid dissolves the outer surface layer of the rocks causing them to become thinner, lighter in colour and to flake away. Once the outer surface layer is removed, the rock art is lost. The federal government is conducting a senate inquiry into the health of the Murujuga rock art, with a delayed final report due in late November. I argue that, at the very least, industry must install technology to reduce acid emissions and ammonium nitrate dust particles to virtually zero. Other rock art experts have called for a cessation of all industry on the peninsula in a recent editorial in Rock Art Research. Priceless history The Murujuga rock art captures over 45,000 years of human culture, activity and spiritual beliefs through ever changing environments from when the sea was more than 100 km from its current position and through the last ice age, 20,000 years ago. The petroglyphs include some of the oldest known representations of the human face in the world. There are images of extinct mammals including megafauna, the fat-tailed kangaroo and thylacine. There are elaborate geometric designs that could have been used for navigation or an early form of mathematics. There are many depictions of hunting and cultural ceremonies as well as existing animals, birds and sea creatures. The Murujuga inhabitants created this rock art until February 1868, when virtually the entire Yaburara indigenous population was exterminated in a massacre. Massacre of the Yaburara, only three years after European settlement in 1865, has deprived us from knowing the storylines and cultural meaning of the petroglyphs. Equally significantly, the massacre broke continuous inhabitation of the area, which has allowed successive Western Australian governments to develop in the midst of the rock art one of the largest industrial complexes in the Southern Hemisphere. Industry and art Construction of the industries is estimated by archaeologists working on Murujuga to have resulted in the destruction of over 30,000 petroglyphs through removal and physical damage. Atmospheric emissions from the industries are immense. Dampier port, which is adjacent to the petroglyphs, is one of the busiest bulk-ports in the world with over 19,000 ship movements each year. These ships burn high sulphur bunker fuel, with one ship emitting as much as 5,000 tonnes of sulphur dioxide per year. The gas and fertiliser plants emit around 34,000 tonnes of acid forming compounds into the air each year. The recent starting up of the ammonium nitrate plant revealed a huge yellow-orange cloud of nitrogen dioxide with concentrations of over 1,000 parts per million. The emission of nitrogen dioxide from the plant will occur around six times each year, whenever certain industrial chemicals needed for ammonium nitrate production require replacing. These emissions are permitted under state and federal environmental regulation. Both nitrogen and sulphur dioxide react with water to form acids which are deposited on the rock surfaces. Extraordinary origins The rock art at Murujuga is threatened by acid because of its unique geological properties. The natural blue-grey rock, formed from cooling magma, weathers very slowly to form a yellow coloured weathering rind, which may grow by 5 mm in 30,000 years. The yellow coloured rind is covered with a dark brown-black coating called a patina or rock varnish. The petroglyphs were formed by using hard pieces of rock to break through the patina and expose the rind. This patina is an extraordinary substance. It is formed by specialised bacteria and fungi on the rock surface, where there is seldom moisture and rock temperatures can exceed 70. To survive the harsh conditions, the organisms build a mineral sheath. When they die, their body and sheath combine with clay from the dust to form the hard, dark-coloured patina. Destruction of the outer patina results in disappearance of the rock art. There is evidence that the patina is flaking on some rocks with petroglyphs. The patina becomes thin and flakes away under acidic conditions. Protecting the art Elsewhere in the world countries have been vigilant in protecting natural and cultural heritage from acid emissions. In the US cars are banned or severely limited in many national parks because the acid formed from nitrogen dioxide, produced from vehicle exhaust, will damage the forests. In France, the 1.4 million annual visitors to the 17,000-year-old Lascaux cave paintings do not see the actual paintings, but a replica in an adjoining cave because of the damage caused by emissions from human breath. Similarly, the UK government announced in January this year they are building a 1.4 billion tunnel to remove cars form the vicinity of their 4,500-year-old heritage in Stonehenge. While removing industry may be the best solution to ensure the rock art's safety, it may not be practical. Governments and industry must recognise their social responsibilities and ensure sufficient technology is in place to reduce acid forming emissions to near zero. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. At a time when Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi is battling against allegations of 'soft Hindutva', Maharashta Congress Committee secretary Shehzad Poonawalla petitioned to the chief ministers of Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir seeking minority status for Hindus in their respective states. By Mail Today Bureau: At a time when Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi is battling against allegations of 'soft Hindutva' approach for his temple visits, Maharashta Congress Committee secretary Shehzad Poonawalla on Tuesday petitioned to the chief ministers of Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir seeking minority status for Hindus in their respective states. Shehzad said he has sought the provision in his individual capacity and not as a functionary of the Congress. advertisement A civil rights activist, Shehzad told Mail Today, "This is an issue that every secular person must be on board with. Nehruvian secularism is looking at every religion from the same perspective. This is a legal issue not political and is long overdue." The UPA I had moved an amendment in Article 340 to redefine minorities but it was not pursued further. WATCH VIDEO | India Today-Axis My India Opinion Poll: Congress unlikely to dent BJP hold in Gujarat --- ENDS --- Peridotite from the deep mantle (green) enclosed in lava (black) from a Patagonian volcano, which was found by the researchers. Credit: UGR An international group of scientists, with the participation of the University of Granada (UGR), has shed new light on the origin of gold, one of the most intriguing mysteries for the scientific community. Their work, which has been recently published in Nature Communications, has established that gold came to the Earth's surface from the deepest regions of the planet. Thus, the Earth's set of internal movements would have favored the ascent and concentration of gold. The researchers have found evidence of this process in the Argentinean Patagonia, which also represents the first finding of gold beneath the South American continent at a depth of 70 kilometers. UGR researcher Jose Maria Gonzalez says that the interior of the Earth is divided into three layerscrust, mantle and core. "The minerals we extract and which support our economy are located in the crust. And although we are experts in taking advantage of them, we still know very little about their true origin. The search for gold has motivated migrations, expeditions and even wars, but its origin is is an open question." The mantle is the layer separating the nucleus from the crust, and its upper limit is located at about 17 kilometers under the oceans and 70 kilometers under the continents. "This distance is unreachable for mankind, since we don't possess the means for reaching the mantle and thus knowing more about it in a direct way yet," Gonzalez says. Nevertheless, the mantle can reach the crust, thanks to volcanic eruptions, which carry small fragments, or "xenoliths," from the mantle under the continents to the surface. This research concerns rare xenoliths, inside which the researchers have found tiny native gold particles with the thickness of a human hair, and which originate in the deep mantle. The researchers studied the region of the Deseado Massif at the Argentinean Patagonia, one of the largest auriferous provinces in the world, and whose gold mines are still being exploited. Since the concentration of gold is very high there, the researchers have been able to figure out why mineral deposits are limited to some specific regions of the planet. Their hypothesis is that the mantle under that region has a unique tendency to generate gold deposits on the surface due to its history. "Its history dates back 200 million years, when Africa and South America were part of the same continent," Gonzalez Jimenez says. "Their separation was caused by the ascent of a 'mantle plume' from the deep mantle, which broke the much thinner and more fragile crust and caused the separation of the two continents. The ascent of the deep mantle plume generated a true chemical factory that enriched the mantle with metals, which would later generate the conditions for the creation of gold deposits. This time, the process was caused by the movement of one tectonic plate under another, allowing the circulation of metal-rich fluids through the cracks, which precipitated the metals and concentrated them near the surface." The findings of the research team shed new light on the formation of mineral deposits, which are generally attributed to an origin in the crust itself, without taking into account the role of a deeper root from the mantle. This new scientific evidence could contribute to a more advanced exploration of deposits that takes into account not only surface images or 'radiographies' of the crust, but also studies the depths of the mantle, a region where the origin of gold could be traced. More information: Santiago Tassara et al, Plume-subduction interaction forms large auriferous provinces, Nature Communications (2017). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-00821-z Journal information: Nature Communications One in four women in the United States will experience forced intercourse by the time they're 44, and the risk is greater for women who have attended little or no college compared to those who attend four or more years of college. Women who have attended little or no college are at about 2.5 times greater risk for experiencing forced intercourse. About 8 percent of men report forced intercourse, and men with less than four years of college have four times higher odds of experienced forced intercourse, according to a study by William Axinn, a researcher at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research and professor of sociology and public policy. After completing a survey about sexual assault on a college campus, Axinn wanted to study the rate of this kind of assault among people who haven't attended college. To study this, he and his colleagues used data from the U.S. National Survey of Family Growth. The nationally representative survey queries about 5,000 American men and women ages 15-44 annually about their family-related behaviors and outcomes, including whether the respondent has experienced forced intercourse. The survey focuses on family and reproductive health for both men and women. Some of its questions measure intercourse, including what it terms "forced intercourse." The survey doesn't use the word "rape": according to the National Academy of Science, surveys may undercount sexual assault when they use the word "rape." "When I first saw how high the rates were on campus, like most Americans, I was deeply disturbed," said Axinn, a research professor in both the Survey Research Center and the Population Studies Center at ISR. "When I thought through the processes and imagined it could be even worse off campus, I was disturbed that we're paying so much attention to the on-campus issue and not giving enough attention to young people who are not fortunate enough to be enrolled in college." Data from the National Survey of Family Growth tend to be high quality because respondents answer sensitive questions through audio-computer assisted self-interviewing, which provides greater privacy than speaking with an interviewer. These questions include whether a sexual encounter happened during violent assault, intoxication, verbal pressure or verbal degradation. "Intoxication was a common circumstance for sexual assault, but more common was verbal pressure or verbal abuse," Axinn said. "The parallel between this national result and campus-specific results was striking." Axinn and fellow researchers Maura Bardos and Brady West, both of the Survey Methodology Program in the Survey Research Center, found that men and women who have the most college experience have the lowest rates of forced intercourse. The reasons are many and hard to quantify, but Axinn thinks it has to do with the resources of college students' parents as well as the benefits of a college environment. The children of wealthy parents are more likely to go to college, which delays dating, entering into sexual relationships and marriage, Axinn says. On the other hand, people who don't attend college begin dating and having sexual relationships earlier, which increases the risk of sexual assault, Axinn says, pointing out that sexual assault is more likely to be perpetrated by people known to the victim. College students are also more likely to be supervised. "Although a campus puts men and women in close physical proximity to each other, it does so in a pretty structured environment: dorm living, supervised classes, libraries. There are people everywhere," Axinn said. "People of the same age who are not enrolled in college may have less supervision in their lives and more opportunity for a relationship to transition into being sexualwhich could be lovely, or could be unwanted." Axinn also stresses that his team's findings are of forced intercourse, which account for less than half of sexual assault, according to previous studies. Other forms of sexual assault that included unwanted touching, kissing or other sexual contact likely drives the 25 percent statistic much higher. The study was published in the journal Social Science Research. More information: William George Axinn et al. General population estimates of the association between college experience and the odds of forced intercourse, Social Science Research (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2017.10.006 Journal information: Social Science Research The theft of the personal data of 57 million Uber riders and drivers highlights how vulnerable we make ourselves when we install apps on our mobile phones and tablet computers. What happened? Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi said Tuesday that hackers had compromised personal data from some 57 million riders and drivers in a breach kept hidden for a year. Stolen files included names, email addresses, and mobile phone numbers for riders, and the names and driver license information of some 600,000 drivers, according to Uber. Uber is notifying drivers whose license numbers were swiped, and offering them credit and identity theft protection. The company also said it is notifying regulators, and monitoring affected rider accounts for signs of fraud. How did hackers do it? The stolen data are thought to have been stored on an external server of Amazon Web Servicesa division of Amazon offering cloud data storage facilities. Two hackers gained access to it using the log-ins of Uber employees taken from an account at the software development platform, GitHub. What did Uber do wrong? Aside from the problem of safeguarding the data, Uber sought to keep the breach quiet. CEO Khosrowshahiwho took over at the end of Augusthas acknowledged wondering why it took Uber a year to make the breach public. He also admitted that the company failed in not immediately informing the users affected or the authorities. His predecessor, Uber's co-founder Travis Kalanick, was advised of the breach shortly after it was discovered, according to a source familiar with the situation. Uber paid the hackers $100,000 to destroy the data, not telling riders or drivers whose information was at risk, the source said. Who is affected? A lot of people. While Uber has not said exactly which users were affected, the number of 57 million is enormous, considering that former CEO Travis Kalanick said in October 2016roughly when the breach took placethat Uber had 40 million users worldwide. Sean Sullivan, security advisor at Finnish company F-Secure, suggested that companies tend to downplay the number of people affected, while the hackers exaggerate their "booty". An outside party was needed to undertake an in-depth investigation, he said. Gerome Billois, cybersecurity specialist at consultancy Wavestone, said that nasty surprises or "aftershocks" could not be ruled out. "In the case of private individuals, we need to wait a bit," he said. What are the consequences for users? For the moment, not a lot, even if the volume of the data would represent a sizeable market value for cybercriminals. Users may perhaps receive a lot of spam or ads on their mobile phone. Experts quizzed by AFP pointed out, however, that with the names, email addresses and telephone numbers, hackers could orchestrate phishing campaigns by creating fake Uber accounts, asking users to "confirm" their banking details or to click on links that would allow viruses into their devices. What can you do? "Not a lot," said Jerome Robert, marketing chief at EclecticIQ, a Dutch company specialising in cyber threats. Users could try to protect their identity by providing the wrong date of birth, or a false telephone number. But "in the end, that won't work because there are verifications," he said. It may just be a matter of crossing your fingers and hoping for the best. We all more or less have to trust the apps we download. But don't provide personal data to apps that aren't trusted. At the very least, use an alternative email address for these sorts of services, not your main address. What are the consequences for Uber? Fines, certainly, especially as Uber sought to hide the breach. In the United States, Donald Trump's administration might be more lenient than that of his predecessor Barack Obama, said Sean Sullivan of F-Secure. In Europe, the General Data Protection Regulation is scheduled to come into force in May 2018. Under that measure, companies that have lost personal data may be fined up to four percent of their revenues. In the case of Uber, this would be $260 million. Sullivan said Uber might find it more difficult to have its licence renewed in London, not to mention the bad publicity. "If they don't pay a fine, they are going to pay a cost." 2017 AFP Will Stone, Cat Hayes, and Duke Nguyen talk turkey as they review data from the mass spectrometer. Credit: Virginia Tech For Virginia Tech biochemistry majors Cat Hayes, Duke Nguyen, and Will Stone, turkey has taken on a whole new meaning. The three, along with their General Biochemistry classmates, were challenged by Richard Helm, an associate professor in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences' Department of Biochemistry, to consider the science behind Thanksgiving. The professor gave his students the opportunity to dig into the experiment by analyzing large data sets and spending time in the lab with state-of-the-art instruments. Taking the HokieBird as inspiration, the students conducted a protein analysis of turkey, looking at leg, thigh, and breast meat. They were asked to investigate the difference between white and dark meat by analyzing the proteins that give turkey its color. "You can sink a lot of time into data sets," said Helm. "You can get more questions than answers. But this is something many students are not challenged to do. I wanted them to examine real data from a real experiment where they had the first shot at the analysis." The students looked at the most essential proteins, exploring high-quality protein identifications. They also learned how to pinpoint contaminants in the turkey samples to see how clean the tissue was. In order to understand the numerical difference between breast, thigh, and leg tissue proteins, the students analyzed spreadsheets with thousands of fieldsa daunting task. They then developed their own formulas, color coding, filters, and other methods to allow them to see differences and evaluate statistical significance. "I was both scared and excited," said Stone, a junior from Springfield, Virginia. "After staring at the data on my computer for at least an hour, I just jumped in the water to figure out how to sort it all." Nguyen also used a whiteboard to plot out information, along with Venn diagrams. The turkey testers were also able to get some high-tech help courtesy of a mass spectrometer coupled to a liquid chromatography unit. This newly acquired instrumentation is able to conduct highly sophisticated assays, showing the young investigators the relative abundance of various turkey proteins. Although the Helm Laboratory members operated the machine, the students were able to learn how to read data provided by the instrument. The machine also helped them validate their results. The researchers discovered that enzymes involved in glycolysis, the metabolic pathway that converts glucose into energy, were similar in the turkey thigh and leg, and different in the breast. The concentrations of glycolysis proteins in breast were higher because this muscle is used for flight in birds, a process that relies heavily on glycolysis. The thigh and leg meat contained relatively less glycolysis protein and more proteins associated with mitochondria because these tissues receive greater levels of oxygen, and these muscles are used more frequently when the turkey is standing or moving. Although their focus was on proteins, the students also analyzed lipids in the three turkey tissues and found that thigh meat lipids oxidized faster than breast or leg meat. This, according to Helm, could drive further turkey research comparing frozen versus fresh, wild versus domestic, organic versus traditional, and so forth. "It was a lot of fun," said Hayes, a junior from Plainfield, Illinois. All three of the students learned that they can conquer intimidating data sets as well as apply their biochemical knowledge to real data. They are also eager to see what other research may be inspired by their work. Just in time for Thanksgiving, a subset of the students' findings will be published in BioRxiv, a free online archive and distribution service for unpublished preprints in the life sciences. By Vidya : Mumbai sessions court next week will be passing an order on the bail applications of three jail constables who are behind the bar since last few months in the murder case of jail warden Manjula Shetye. All six accused including jailor Manisha Pokharkar and the five constables had filed bail applications. However, the jailor and two others withdrew their applications and now the court will be passing the order on the bail applications of jail constables Bindu Naikode, Waseema Shaikh and Surekha Gurdev. advertisement During the arguments, defence lawyer Vaibhav Bagade told the court that all the injury marks on victim Manjula appeared to be inflicted post her death. He also said that it is unbelievable that a jail inmate would be killed over two missing eggs and pav and if there was any issue, then the senior officers whose offices were next to accused jailors' cabin, would have noticed something. However, public prosecutor in the case, Vidya Kasle told the court that the bail applications of the accused should be rejected on the ground that it is a case of protector turning predator. She told the court that the accused in the case had created such a terror that Manjula, who had been serving her sentence in Yerwada over a case of murder, requested to be transferred back to Yerwada jail after she was moved to Byculla and couldn't bear the situation there. Kasle pointed out that Manjula's conduct in Yerwada jail in Pune was very good. Kasle also brought to light the statement of another Byculla jail inmate who quoted an accused jail official saying that they had been planning to beat up Manjula for a few days. Kasle said that the egg and pav issue was only a pretext to beat her up which was premeditated. "See the modus operandi. They knew in jail meant for women, cctv cameras are only on the outside and not inside the barrack so they took her there to beat her up for almost half an hour," said Kasle. On the argument of Bagade that the jail inmates did not complain to the magistrate who was visiting the jail at the very moment Manjula was beaten up, Kasle said, "The magistrate was there for just a few seconds. She climbed the stairs and came down. The officials did not take her to the barrack. The magistrate knew and so was seeing only what jail officials showed. And when jail officials are there with the magistrate, which inmate will dare to complain? They were threatened," said Kasle. Manjula, a murder convict, had served over 10 years in jail and had been transferred to Byculla Jail from Pune's Yerwada Jail this year to complete her sentence. Manjula was appointed as the jail warden. She was declared dead on admission at the JJ Hospital on 23 June. advertisement A riot in jail had broken out the next day as the news of her death spread through the jail. It was alleged that it was done at the instance of Sheena Bora murder accused Indrani Mukerjea. An FIR was later registered on 25 June where the complainant alleged that Manjula had been beaten up by jail officials and left to die. --- ENDS --- Lucovas FIIT POE Named Top 10 Most Trusted POS Solution SUNNYVALE, Calif., Lucova, the provider of technology that uniquely turns the point-of-sale into a Point-of-Experience, is proud to announce that its FIIT Point of Experience (POE) solution received top honors by Insights Success Magazine. Recognized as one of the top 10 most trusted POS solutions, the FIIT POE platform leverages all the best technologies of cashless payments, AI and operation efficiencies to provide the best possible experience for the merchant and its customers. Using a patented beacon technology, FIIT POE accesses customer profiles from a smartphone to provide staff with all the information needed to deliver a personalized and unforgettable experience. With customer recognition technology, hands-free and mobile pay, mobile ordering and a user-friendly app, FIIT POE is not just a point of sale system; its a point of experience. We make transactions every day but the human experience gets lost and thats killing brick and mortar sales, said Amit Jhas, co-founder and CEO of Lucova. When all the best technologies are combined properly, from AI for personalized marketing, to customer identity, it is possible to win back the customer. FIIT POE is re-establishing the value of offline commerce by transforming physical touch points into more personal and memorable experiences. When campus diners and operations are introduced to the technology they all immediately realize the value. Features that immediately lay the foundation for success include FIIT POEs beacon technology, which checks students using the mobile app into the system the moment they walk into a venue. Other user-friendly features that make FIIT POE a crowd pleaser include the ability to pre-order food, digitize meal cards, and quickly check account balances. This is a big win for campus retention programs that are measured by student engagement and improved student life experience. The system can also be optimized for other industries. In addition to campus life, FIIT POE has proved itself in retail and QSR locations. Lucova is looking to expand to other industries that need simple, intuitive and powerful tools to win the moments that matter. About FIIT POE FIIT POE, powered by Lucova, delivers a unique point-of-experience platform that combines a point-of-sale, a branded mobile platform and marketing engine working together to deliver enhanced student experiences. FIIT POE leverages all the best technologies of cashless payments, AI and operation efficiencies to ensure your business and staff perform on your student-life aspirations. For more information, visit www.fiitpoe.com. More POS news: Inventory needs to be managed and managed well, or you are going to get in recurring trouble, and lose your credibility and hard-earned conversions, whether Read more Australia and Southeast Asia have joined forces to choke financing for militant networks, Canberra said Wednesday, amid concerns about the Islamic State group gaining a foothold in the region. IS militants seized the southern Philippine city of Marawi in May, a move Philippine officials and analysts say was part of the group's plan to establish a base in the region. Dozens of Australians were also killed in a militant attack on the Indonesian resort island of Bali in 2002, one of the worst such attacks in the region. The alliance aims to disrupt the funding of militant groups through enhanced financial intelligence sharing, Australian Justice Minister Michael Keenan said Wednesday at a counter-terrorism conference in Kuala Lumpur. "The stability and security of Southeast Asia is of critical importance to Australia," said Keenan, who also assists Australian Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull on counter-terrorism issues. Canberra "is committed to defeating the threat posed by terrorist groups, including ISIL, in the region," he added, referring to IS by another name. Under the initiative, participating states will "directly target and disrupt the funding lifeline of terrorist groups" by denying them access to the international financial system and other sources of funding, Keenan said. Australia's financial intelligence agency AUSTRAC and the Philippines' Anti-Money Laundering Council will lead the group. The alliance -- named the South East Asia Counter Terrorism Financing Working Group -- is the latest effort to enhance regional cooperation against militants. Earlier this year, Australia sent two Orion aircraft to provide surveillance support to Philippine troops in their bloody five-month battle with militants in Marawi. Australia has been sharing intelligence with some Southeast Asian countries for many years but those arrangements need to be institutionalised, Keenan told reporters on Wednesday. "We all know that the key weapon that we have in this war against terrorism is information. And... we must find ways that it is shared seamlessly and shared in a timely way." Story continues The head of the Malaysian police counter-terrorism division said Kuala Lumpur had arrested 20 suspected militants involved in terrorist financing activities this year. "They're channeling money through Daesh members in Syria to Daesh members in Philippines," Ayub Khan Mydin Pitchay told reporters, using another name for IS. "Some of them are businessmen. Some of them they sold their house, their property. They are involved in small businesses," he said, adding that they used legal banking channels to transfer the funds. He added there was still no confirmation that Malaysia's Amin Baco, dubbed the new "emir" of IS in southeast Asia, was among those killed in Marawi. Amin, involved in militant activities in the region since 2001, was supposed to have replaced Filipino militant Isnilon Hapilon, the leader of the Marawi seige who has been confirmed killed by Philippine troops. "Amin Baco, he is an experienced chap... he's one of the bomb experts. The most important thing is he is married to one of the daughters of Isnilon Hapilon," Ayub Khan added. Each week, Yahoo Lifestyle Singapore profiles a beauty blogger that is based in Singapore. Get to know their beauty secrets and find out how you can improve your daily skincare and make-up regime. This week, we feature Jamie Tan, who runs the blog JAMIETYJ. Singapore beauty blogger Jamie Tan. (Photo: Jamie Tan/Instagram) 1. How did you start becoming a beauty blogger? I started out by taking part in CLEOs Next Top Beauty Blogger back in 2010. Prior to this, I had no idea that this industry existed. I was an avid reader of CLEO and decided to send in my review to them to take part in the contest. I managed to get in and become one of the 10 finalists and it opened a new door for me. 2. Can you describe what a typical day is like for you? It usually differs day to day, but will usually consist of events and/or going for beauty appointments. Some days I also spend time filming YouTube videos and editing them. 3. Whats your morning beauty regime? My current morning routine consists of cleansing my face using my Clarisonic Pro. Following that, Ill apply a toner, serum, eye serum, and a moisturiser. After that, Ill apply my sunscreen. If I have any special events that day, Ill apply a wash-off mask after I cleanse my face. 4. Whats your night-time beauty regime? My night-time routine starts with removing my make-up (if Im wearing any) with either a micellar water or cleansing oil, followed by cleansing with my cleanser and Clarisonic Pro. If my skin looks parched or dull, Ill apply a face mask. Following that, Ill apply my toner, 2 different serums, eye serum, eye cream, moisturiser, and lip balm. 5. What are your current favourite beauty products? Why? My current favourites are the Lancome Genifique Advanced Concentrate, Kat Burki Vitamin C Intensive Face Cream, and Caudalies Cru La Creme. They are all very lightweight on the skin (perfect for Singapores hot and humid weather) but delivers great results without making my skin oily. 6. What is the most common beauty mistake youve heard or seen Singaporeans making? How would you wish to correct it? Not applying sunscreen! I think brands should push out more lightweight sunscreens to encourage people to protect their skin from the sun. Story continues 7. Is there a beauty secret that you swear by? Always remove your make-up and do your skincare! Take good care of your skin and youll be able to get away with applying so much less make-up on your skin. Not only will make-up adhere better and look great, a little will also go a much longer way. 8. How big is your beauty collection now? Way too big haha. I have drawers and drawers full of make-up and probably well over 200 lipsticks. Singapore beauty blogger Jamie Tan. (Photo: Jamie Tan/Instagram) Read also: Follow Yahoo Lifestyle Singapore on Facebook. Did Rani Padmavati of Chittor and Turkish emperor Alauddin Khilji ever meet each other? By Lakshana N Palat: Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Padmavati starring Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor, has fallen down a rabbit hole, and unlike Alice's Wonderland, there are only thugs and vandals here. The film has been in the lion's den ever since the actors started shooting. Earlier in the year, the group Shri Rajput Karni Sena heard a vague rumour that there would be a romantic dream sequence between Rani Padmini and Turkish invader Alauddin Khilji. They attacked Bhansali on the sets of Padmavati, and accused him of distorting history. Bhansali and his team have clarified ample times there is no such scene, but the groups refuse to listen. Bhansali has even said that Ranveer (Khilji) and Deepika (Padmavati) don't even share screen space. advertisement The film is based on the 1303 siege of Chittorgarh, by Alauddin Khilji. Legend says that he was so enamoured by Rani Padmini's beauty that he decided to invade Chittorgarh. To escape falling into his hands, Rani Padmini and all the other women in the fort committed jauhar (self-immolation). But the biggest mystery today is did Rani Padmavati and Alauddin Khilji ever meet? We try to unravel the tangled legends surrounding these two historical characters. JAYASI'S VERSION The epic poem Padmavat, written in Awadhi around 1540 by Sufi poet Malik Muhammed Jayasi mentions Padmavati (Rani Padmini) for the first time. According to this tale, after hearing about Rani Padmini's beauty, Khilji set out to Chittorgarh. He set up camp there, and sent word to Maharawal Ratan Singh that he wished to catch a glimpse of the beautiful queen. After doing so, he promised to leave. Ratan Singh was not pleased with the request, as Rajput tradition did not allow women to meet strangers. However, he knew that offending Khilji could result in an attack. So he agreed to let Khilji see Rani Padmini. Rani Padmini did not want to meet Khilji personally. So, she arranged the mirrors in the palace in such a way, that the Sultan could see the queen's reflection, and she wouldn't need to meet him in person. Legend goes that Khilji was so struck by her beauty that he decided that he won't leave Chittor without the queen. While heading back to the camp, he was accompanied by Ratan Singh. He captured him, and sent a message back to the palace, saying that if they wanted to see their king alive, Padmini would have to come with him to Delhi. The two loyal generals of Ratan Singh, Gora and Badal, devised a plan. They sent a message back, saying that the queen had agreed to go with him. The next day, around 100 palanquins made their way to Khilji's camp. It was a trick, as the queen wasn't in any of them. Soldiers had hidden inside the palanquins, and fought fiercely to free their king. advertisement Enraged, Khilji decided to raid Chittorgarh. Rani Padmini had no desire to fall into his hands, and chose to commit jauhar (self-immolation) instead. According to Jayasi's story, they did not meet at all. Khilji's lust for Rani Padmini was based on a reflection. It is not possible that he could have met her personally during the siege of Chittor, as Padmini had already killed herself by then. JAMES TODD'S ANNALS In the 19th century, James Todd, the Scottish annalist of Rajputana, made Padmini a part of Mewar's history, through his annals. These were based both on manuscripts that he collected, as well as bardic accounts that he heard and translated. While the story remains similar to Jayasi's version, In Todd's account, Padmini becomes the daughter of Hamir Sank of Ceylon and the wife of Bhimsena of Mewar, and not Ratan Singh. The tale of Padmini reached Bengal, where she found space in Ranglal Bandhopadhyaya's Padmini Upakhyan (1858), Jyotindranath Tagore's Sarojini ba Chittor Akraman (1875), Kshiroprasad Vidyavinod's Padmini (1906), Yajneshwar Bandopadhyaya's Mewar (1884) and Abanindranath Tagore's Rajkahini (1909). The story was further embroidered and embellished, and Padmini became the embodiment of Hindu feminine virtues. advertisement PADMINI UPAKHYAN The versions of Padmini in Bengal borrow heavily from Todd's versions. Ranglal's poem begins with the description of Rani Padmini's beauty. Rani Padmini here, incidentally, is the wife of Bhimsena. The Upakhyan moves to describing Khilji's motives for attacking Chittor, and describes his first siege of the fortress. Khilji's son dies, and he is filled with revenge towards the Rajputs. This is a new detail, which is not mentioned in other accounts. In order to appease him, Bhimsena lets him see his wife, Rani Padmini, in a reflection. Following this, the palanquin angle remains the same. Khilji returns to besiege Chittor. After his eleven sons are killed, Bhimsena chooses to die, and sends his surviving son away from the fort, and Padmini immolates herself, along with the rest of the women. SAROJINI CHITTOR AKRAMAN Written by Jyotindranath Tagore, this play revolved around the final attack on Chittor. According to this tale, the first attack on Chittor is repelled and Bhimsena has been rescued. Here, another character is introduced, Rana Lakshmansinha's daughter, Sarojini. Khilji attacks the fort, and sees Sarojini about to jump in the pyre. He mistakes her for Padmini, and begs her to desist. She scornfully tells him that Padmini had already immolated herself. And then she jumps into the fire. advertisement Over the 19th and 20 centuries, the goddess of Chittor starts making an appearance in stories. In Abanindranath Tagore's book Rajkahini (1909), Padmini wore the ornaments of the goddess of Chittor, and becomes one with her. This elevated her to a status as a goddess. The tale captured European imagination as well, and inspired French composer Albert Roussel to write an Opera ballet, Padmavati, which opened in Paris in 1923. In the finale of the opera, Padmavati killed her mortally wounded husband before immolating herself in his pyre. The one line that seems to run clearly in these versions is that Rani Padmini and Alauddin Khilji never met. The story is hinged on a reflection seen by Khilji in the water, or mirror in some stories. In fact, in one version, Rani Padmini actually smashes the mirror to stop him from looking at her. The stories relate with great pride, that Rani Padmini did not meet Khilji personally, as Rajput tradition did not permit a woman to meet a stranger. Thus, in each retelling, the contours of the story and the characters within it, including Padmini, have changed over centuries. Bhansali's version of Padmavati is just another version. ALSO WATCH | Padmavati row: Yogi Adityanath justifies threats against Bhansali and Deepika Padukone --- ENDS --- Czech President Milos Zeman on Tuesday called for an end to EU sanctions against Russia imposed over the Ukraine crisis, as well as the retaliatory measures introduced by Moscow. Zeman, a pro-Russia veteran of the left in EU member the Czech Republic, made the remarks following a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Black Sea resort of Sochi. "I have not accepted these sanctions... I have been opposed to them for a long time. This is not just a question of European sanctions towards Russia, but also of Russian sanctions towards the EU," Zeman said. "Mr President, we must put an end to this!" Relations between Brussels and Moscow nosedived after Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula in 2014. The European Union introduced heavy economic sanctions mainly targeting banks and also defence and oil companies. Russia responded by banning the import of food products from EU member states. "A normalisation of relations between Russia and the EU would be in the common interest" of Moscow and Prague, Putin said, thanking Zeman for "the efforts he has made towards the development of Russian-Czech relations". Zeman, 73, faces elections in January where is favoured to win a second term. By Ellen Francis and Laila Bassam BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's Saad al-Hariri on Wednesday shelved his decision to resign as prime minister at the request of President Michel Aoun, easing a crisis that had deepened tensions in the Middle East. Hariri made his announcement after returning to Beirut for the first time since he quit abruptly on Nov. 4 in a broadcast from Saudi Arabia. Top Lebanese officials have said Riyadh forced him to quit and held him in the kingdom. Riyadh and Hariri deny this. At the presidential palace near Beirut, Hariri said he hoped his move would lead to "a responsible dialogue ... that deals with divisive issues and their repercussions on Lebanon's relations with Arab brothers." Hariri said all Lebanese sides must commit to keeping the country out of regional conflicts, a reference to the Iran-backed Hezbollah political and military movement. Hezbollah's regional military role has greatly alarmed Saudi Arabia, Hariri's long-time ally. "I presented today my resignation to President Aoun and he urged me to wait before offering it and to hold onto it for more dialogue about its reasons and political background, and I showed responsiveness," he said in a televised statement. The resignation had shocked even Hariri's aides. He returned to Lebanon late on Tuesday night after French intervention. Aoun, a political ally of Hezbollah, had refused to accept the resignation because it happened in "mysterious circumstances" abroad. He had called Hariri a hostage in Riyadh. REGIONAL RIVALRY Hariri appeared to express relief that Aoun had not accepted the resignation right away. He thanked Aoun on Wednesday for respecting constitutional norms and "his rejection of departing from them under any circumstances". The resignation pitched Lebanon to the forefront of the regional rivalry between Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite Islamist Iran, which backs Lebanon's Hezbollah, and raised concerns of a protracted crisis. Story continues In his resignation speech, Hariri had cited fear of assassination, and attacked Iran along with Hezbollah for sowing strife in the Arab world. Hundreds of Hariri supporters packed the streets near his house in central Beirut, waving the blue flag of his Future Movement political party. The Sunni leader told them he would "stay with (them) ... to be a line of defence for Lebanon, Lebanon's stability and Lebanon's Arabism". "His presence in the country alone brings stability," said Manar Akoum, 26, as she stood with the celebrating crowd. Hariri's resignation was followed by a steep escalation in Saudi statements against the Lebanese government, which includes Shi'ite Hezbollah. Riyadh said the government as a whole - not just Hezbollah - had declared war against it. Western governments including the United States struck a different tone, affirming their support for Hariri and the stability of Lebanon, which hosts 1.5 million Syrian refugees - nearly one in four of the population. "The United States welcomes the return of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri to Lebanon," a State Department official said on Wednesday. Washington is also encouraged by Hariri's discussions with Aoun and his statement reaffirming his commitment to Lebanon's stability, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Ahead of his return to Beirut, Hariri had stressed the importance of the Lebanese state policy of staying out of regional conflicts, notably Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition is battling Iran-backed Houthi fighters. PRESERVING LEBANESE "COEXISTENCE" Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who had also called for Hariri's return, said on Monday his group was open to "any dialogue and any discussion". Nasrallah also issued his clearest denial yet of any Hezbollah role in Yemen. A senior source in a political alliance that includes Hezbollah said Hariri's move on Wednesday would start a breakthrough in the crisis. "This step is not detached from the framework of a complete solution whose features will appear in the coming days," the source told Reuters. Lebanese dollar bonds, which had fallen in response to Hariri's resignation, gained following Wednesday's announcement. A government minister from the United Arab Emirates, a close ally of Saudi Arabia, said Lebanon must implement its policy of keeping out of Middle East conflicts in order to get out of its own crisis as well as regional troubles. "The main problem facing that is the selective implementation of (this) principle and the functional Iranian role of Hezbollah outside the Lebanese framework," Anwar Gargash, minister of state for foreign affairs, wrote on Twitter. Cyprus, where Hariri had briefly stopped on his journey home, said it would attempt to help defuse the crisis. "Our common objective is stability in Lebanon, stability in our area. Within this context ... the President of the Republic will undertake some initiatives precisely to promote this objective: stability in Lebanon," Cypriot government spokesman Nikos Christodoulides said. Hariri took office last year in a power-sharing deal that made Aoun head of state. He arrived in Beirut in time for independence day celebrations on Wednesday morning, taking the premier's seat alongside Aoun and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. Hariri said he looked forward to "real partnership with all the political powers, in placing Lebanon's interests high above any other interests" and preserving coexistence among Lebanese. (Additional reporting by Lisa Barrington, Tom Perry and Sarah Dadouch; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by William Maclean and James Dalgleish) AFP News Kenya's former president Uhuru Kenyatta arrived Tuesday in eastern DR Congo's main city of Goma, as fresh clashes with M23 rebels occurred just to the north, sending thousands fleeing. Troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) were battling M23 fighters in Kibumba, 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of Goma, security officials and local residents said. The M23 has recently seized swathes of territory in North Kivu province, displacing tens of thousands of people in their advance. Kibumba is considered one of the last obstacles to the rebels before Goma, a commercial hub of one million people on the Rwandan border. On Tuesday afternoon, rumours that the M23 was approaching sent a fresh wave of people fleeing to the Kanyaruchinya displacement camp, south of Kibumba. About 40,000 people are currently in the camp, according to its head. A security official who asked for anonymity said that people began to flee after seeing soldiers themselves retreating towards Goma after clashes with M23 rebels. North Kivu's military governor, General Constant Ndima, urged people to remain calm late Tuesday. "I want to reassure you... Loyalist forces are containing the enemy on the heights of Kibumba," he told reporters. The crisis has cratered relations between the DRC and its smaller central African neighbour Rwanda, which Kinshasa accuses of backing the militia. Uhuru Kenyatta, a mediator for the seven-nation East African Community (EAC), arrived in Goma on Tuesday and visited Kanyaruchinya. He told reporters late Tuesday that the stories he had heard were "heart-breaking". "I cannot ignore what I have seen," Kenyatta said. "I must say to all parties: You cannot negotiate in the face of human catastrophe". - 'De-escalation' - Kenyatta's visit to the DRC is the latest in a round of diplomatic bids to defuse the crisis in the impoverished country's volatile east. The former president landed in the Congolese capital Kinshasa on Sunday for talks, following on the heels of a visit from Angolan President Joao Lourenco. The EAC has also called for a "peace dialogue" in Kenya's capital Nairobi on November 21. In addition, the bloc has agreed to send a peacekeeping mission to eastern DRC. Kenyan troops arrived in Goma over the weekend, as part of that operation. On Monday, Kenyatta urged armed groups to put down their arms and return to the negotiating table. "There is nothing that can be gained through the barrel of a gun," he had told reporters. On Tuesday, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he had discussed the situation with Rwanda's Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta, on the margins of the G20 meeting in Indonesia. "I underscored the United States deep concern about the continuing violence in eastern DRC, and called on Rwanda to take active steps to facilitate de-escalation," he said in a tweet. - Rebel return - Biruta, for his part, tweeted that Rwanda is committed to regional diplomatic mechanisms to bring peace to eastern DRC, as well as to finding a political solution to the crisis. Over 120 armed groups roam the region, many of which are a legacy of regional wars which flared at the turn of the century. The M23 -- a mostly Congolese Tutsi group -- first leapt to prominence in 2012 when it briefly captured Goma before being driven out. But the rebel group returned in late 2021 after years of dormancy, claiming the DRC had failed to honour a promise to integrate its fighters into the army, among other grievances. It captured the strategic town of Bunagana on the Ugandan border in June. In recent weeks, the rebels have also won a string of victories against the Congolese army, edging closer towards Goma. The DRC expelled Rwanda's ambassador in late October amid the renewed M23 offensive. Despite official denials from Kigali, an unpublished report for the UN seen by AFP in August pointed to Rwandan involvement with the M23. Rwanda accuses the Congolese government of colluding with Hutu militants who fled across the border after the 1994 Rwandan genocide. hbm-at/eml/kjm By Mubasher Bukhari LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - A Pakistani court on Wednesday ordered the release from house arrest of an Islamist leader accused by the United States and India of masterminding attacks on Mumbai in 2008 in which 166 people were killed, a prosecutor said. Hafiz Saeed was put under house arrest in January after years of living freely in Pakistan, one of the sore points in its fraying relationship with the United States. His freedom had also infuriated its arch-foe India. Saeed, who is expected to be freed on Thursday, thanked the court judges in a video message released by his Islamist charity. "Thanks to God, this is a victory of Pakistan's independence," he said. The government of Pakistan's Punjab province had asked for a 60-day extension to Saeed's detention but the request was turned down by the court, prosecutor Sattar Sahil told Reuters. "His previous detention for 30 days is over, which means he would be released tomorrow," said Sahil. Saeed has repeatedly denied involvement in the Mumbai attacks in which 10 gunmen attacked targets in India's largest city, including two luxury hotels, a Jewish centre and a train station in a rampage that lasted several days. The violence brought nuclear-armed neighbours Pakistan and India to the brink of war. The United States had offered a $10 million bounty for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Saeed, who heads the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD). Members say the Jamaat-ud-Dawa is an charity but the United States says it is a front for the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant group. "The review board of the Lahore High Court asked the Punjab government to produce evidence against Hafiz Saeed for keeping him detained but the government failed," Saeed's lawyer A.K. Dogar told Reuters. "The court today said that there is nothing against Saeed, therefore he should be released," he added. A spokesman for India's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Story continues India accused Pakistan of sponsoring the attacks through the LeT, which Saeed founded in the 1990s. Pakistan has denied any state involvement in the attack. It placed the LeT on a list of banned organizations in 2002. "The leader of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, Hafiz Saeed's (may God protect him) internment is over," Nadeem Awan, a media manager for JuD, wrote on Facebook after the court order. (Additional reporting by Tommy Wilkes; Writing by Saad Sayeed; Editing by Nick Macfie and John Stonestreet) Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic on Wednesday urged his country to look to the future instead of "suffocating in tears of the past" after Ratko Mladic, the wartime Bosnian Serb military chief, was given a life sentence for genocide. "We should start looking to the future, thinking about our children, peace, stability in the region," Vucic said, to ensure that "war and its horrors are not repeated." There is a need to "revitalise factories, construct buildings, instead of suffocating in tears of the past," he said. But Vucic also voiced regret that the UN court had not sentenced people suspected of war crimes against ethnic Serbs, despite "living witnesses" of the alleged crimes. "We are capable of accepting our responsibility, but I'm afraid that the others are not. This shows our strength, not our weakness," he said. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague ruled Wednesday that Mladic must spend the rest of his life in prison over 10 counts including war crimes and crimes against humanity during the country's inter-ethnic war in the 1990s. Vucic, once an ultranationalist and close ally of the Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic -- who was also facing war crimes charges when he died in custody in 2006 -- has become a staunch pro-European liberal who hopes to bring Serbia into the EU. Biljana Plavsic, a former Bosnian Serb president who was given an 11-year prison term for crimes against humanity by the UN court in 2003, said she was "scandalised" by the Mladic verdict. "I'm scandalised by the fact that such an institution ignores justice and truth," she told AFP. Plavsic, accused of playing a leading role in persecution against Croats and Muslims, is the only woman to be convicted by the UN court. She was released in 2009. Her sentiment was shared by many other Bosnian Serbs, reflecting the deep divisions that remain 22 years after the bloody war ended. "It is obvious that this is a project whose goal is to satanise the Serbian people," Milan Jolovic, a Bosnian Serb military veteran in Pale, near Sarajevo, told AFP. "It will certainly reinforce the opinion of Serb people that general Mladic is a historical hero and a patriot, said Milorad Dodik, president of the autonomous Bosnian Serb region of Republika Srpska. Vojislav Seselj, a Serb nationalist who was acquitted by the ICTY of charges he orchestrated the murder of Croats, Muslims and other non-Serbs, denounced the court as an "illegal and anti-Serb tribunal". "They did not prove any link between Mladic and the events that he is charged of," he told AFP. DMK member, P Saravanan, claimed that there has been a lot of discrepancies throughout Jayalalithaa's stay in the hospital and the fingerprints that have been submitted in the documents. By Akshaya Nath: The retired Justice, Arumugasamy headed commission began its inquiry into the circumstances leading to Jayalalithaa's death on December 5, 2016 after her 75-day treatment at Apollo Hospital in Chennai. Today, DMK's member, Dr P Saravanan, who was a contestant for the DMK in Thiruparankundram by-polls that took place in November 2016, submitted Form B which was submitted by the AIADMK contestant for the by-polls and claimed that the fingerprints in the forms are suspected to be not of Jayalalithaa's. advertisement "There has been a lot of discrepancies throughout Jaya's stay in the hospital and the fingerprints that have been submitted in the documents don't have any proper ridges (impression) and this is clearly not hers or was not taken when she was alive," said Dr P Saravanan, who is also a petitioner in the case regarding Jaya's fingerprints. The DMK even expressed its doubts regarding the date on which Jaya passed away. "Looking at the fingerprints it can be said that it might have been possible that she died much earlier as an fingerprint impression as the one collected in the documents happen only in a decomposing body," said Dr Saravanan. He also claimed that the DMK doubts that Jaya might have died anytime between October 11, 2016 and October 27, 2016 and is seeking for a forensic investigation. As speculations and conspiracy theories surrounding Jayalalithaa's death remain, political analyst say that a quick report on the death can help solve some of the present issues. "Multiple doctors from abroad as well as India who treated Jaya have given their versions, but several speculations still remain. A proper enquiry and a quick report by the commission can be of help to stop the talks," said Radhakrishnan, political analyst. Also watch: The geometry of Tamil Nadu politics --- ENDS --- The self-proclaimed leader of the Moscow-backed rebel stronghold of Lugansk on Wednesday accused an ex-minister of masterminding a coup attempt as infighting spiralled in eastern Ukraine. The so-called Lugansk People's Republic, one of two regions controlled by the rebels, has for years been blighted by leadership squabbles and several senior leaders have been assassinated. On Tuesday, hundreds of armed men in military fatigues without insignia blocked access to government buildings in what one of the soldiers described as military drills ordered by the Lugansk interior ministry. The blockade remained in place on Wednesday. An AFP correspondent saw about ten military trucks and a grenade launcher driving around the city. Four armoured personnel carriers were parked near the buildings housing the local government and the interior ministry. Patrols began after Lugansk leader Igor Plotnitsky earlier this week sacked his interior minister, Igor Kornet, in an apparent spike in infighting between rebel factions plaguing the war-scarred region. "Kornet was removed from his post but apparently the little man has great ambitions," Plotnitsky told journalists during a news conference on Wednesday. He accused Kornet of being behind an "armed attempt to seize power" in Lugansk and added that his supporters had detained several employees of the local prosecutor's office. Speaking in video footage released by his office earlier Wednesday, Plotnitsky said that "we underestimated the number and the nature of offences or, as we can now say, crimes that the former head of the interior ministry committed". "Together with the general prosecutor's office we'll discuss the situation that happened overnight," Plotnitsky added. "The police are starting to work, there will be no lawlessness." The sacked minister, who has refused to step down, released no immediate comment. Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin was aware of the situation but declined immediate comment. Outside the cordoned-off area, Lugansk residents went about their daily lives as usual. A conflict between Russia-backed fighters and Ukrainian troops has killed more than 10,000 people since 2014, when pro-Russian forces declared parts of eastern Ukraine independent following Moscow's annexation of Crimea. In Joe Wrights Darkest Hour, Gary Oldman plays Winston Churchill. I make a point of mentioning this because even if you go into the movie knowing that fact, it is difficult to hold in your mind. Focus on the eyes and the mouth, particularly in still images from the film, and you can almost see Oldman inside his Churchill suit, his face cradled in cushions of prosthetic fat applied by makeup artist Kazuhiro Tsuji. But in motion, the resemblance drops further away until the Oldman weve known for decades all but vanishes. Advertisement Oldmans is a ferociously big performance, but its not smothered by self-seriousness or a forced sense of occasion. That Wright cast Oldman, who was part of a wave of British actors from working-class backgrounds in the 1980s, as the ultimate in British establishment figures signals Wrights determination to blow the dust off the World War II movie. Darkest Hour, which opens on the eve of Churchills ascension to prime minister in May 1940, begins with the camera plunging toward the House of Lords from a great height, as if its just been dropped out of a German bomber. Where Wrights Pride and Prejudice and Atonement glided laterally through a crowded dance and the Dunkirk evacuation, Darkest Hour favors the vertical axis, switching between the facts on the ground and the view from the air. Theres no getting around the fact that Anthony McCartens script is the blueprint of a great-man movie, the story of how one plucky politician harrumphed his way to power and used the power of oratory and selective truth to urge a nation toward victory. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But as magnetic as Oldmans Churchill can be, the movie manages to pry itself away long enough to take in the people around him: his antagonists, Neville Chamberlain (Ronald Pickup) and Viscount Halifax (Stephen Dillane); his wife, Clementine (Kristin Scott Thomas); his secretary, Elizabeth Layton (Lily James), whose entree into Churchills service is accompanied by shouting and tears; and his king, George VI (Ben Mendelsohn), a skeptic wary of Churchills brusque manner and bellicose aims who is eventually won over to his side. Oldmans Churchill is a creature of appetite and temper, an inspiring orator who has difficulty addressing individual people as if they are not part of a crowd. He has a knack for drawing out the very worst in those who are trying to help him the most, his wife frets. A part like this can seem like a ripe fruit just waiting to be harvested, but its also a trap for an unwary actor, an opportunity to declaim and detach and to hog the limelightto behave, in short, as if the movie itself were a mere formality standing between them and their inevitable awards. Oldmans is a ferociously big performance, but its not smothered by self-seriousness or a forced sense of occasion. His Churchill hasnt been pressed between the pages of history books yet; hes not even sure there will be a history to remember him. He eats and drinks as if every day could be his last, and brooks no interruptions or obstacles that might keep him from his goals. Hes a fusty old manhe not only tut-tuts, he actually says Tut-tutbut hes filled with a vigor for life that he hopes to pass on to his despairing country. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Like Christopher Nolans Dunkirk, an even more ambitious attempt to strip away the veneer of history, Darkest Hour remains at a remove from the battlefield itself; theres more visceral experience of 20th-century warfare in Wonder Woman. Even though British soldiers are already dying in great numbers, and Churchill at one point faces the danger of losing the entire British army in a matter of days, the cost of war remains an abstraction, which may be why Chamberlain and Halifaxs dream of a world where they make peace with Hitler and save Britain at the rest of Europes expense still has a certain appeal. (Any resemblance to the Brexit debate is purely intentional.) Its difficult to separate Darkest Hour from Dunkirk, especially since the formers fleeting glimpse of the Dunkirk evacuation features a similar-looking boat. (Dunkirk Cinematic Universe?) But Churchills speeches, whether delivered in the houses of Parliament or via national broadcast, are insistent in their physicality: If this long island story of ours is to end at last, he argues in one tense Cabinet meeting, let it end only when each one of us lies choking in his own blood upon the ground. And although the movies Churchill is thoroughly de-sexedwhen he stumbles out of the tub naked and sends his secretary scurrying, its only out of absentmindednesshes clearly framed as a man among mice, one whos doing the will of the common people even though he has virtually no contact with them. (The movies biggest misstep is an invented encounter where an Underground car full of plebs gives Churchill the go-ahead to wage war.) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its difficult to fully separate Darkest Hour from Dunkirk, especially since the formers fleeting glimpse of the Dunkirk evacuation includes a boat similar to one that figures heavily in the latter. (Dunkirk Cinematic Universe?) And it doesnt help that the two movies climax with the delivery of the same Churchill speech, which, no matter how stirring Oldmans delivery, cant match the poignancy or inventiveness of Nolans crafty staging. Its sometimes said of Nolans movies that if you undid their structural trickery and simply laid the scenes out in chronological order theyd lose much of their interest, and while thats not an especially trenchant criticism, if you were to go through with it youd end with something like Darkest Hour, an engaging but safe journey towards a predetermined destination that engages the mind but not the heart. The movie doesnt quite extract blood, sweat, or tears, even if it does toil. They will also carry more passengers. Font size: A - | A + The trains travelling on the route between Nitra and Prague will be quicker and carry more people. Regarding the big interest of passengers we will use double, and in some cases even triple train sets, said Laszlo Ivan, head of the routes operator in Slovakia, the Arriva company, as quoted by the SITA newswire. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement The very first connection between these two cities was launched last year. Read also: Read also: First direct train connection Nitra-Prague established Read more The new timetable will become valid on December 10. The most time will be saved in the case of the afternoon train departing from Prague every day at 14:19. Under the new timetable, the train will leave at 14:30 and will arrive in Nitra 23 minutes sooner. The Friday and Saturday morning express currently leaving Prague at 8:19 will depart at 8:30 and arrive in Nitra 17 minutes sooner. Moreover, the trains will no longer stop in Kolin, SITA reported. A total of 3.71 million guests were accommodated in Slovakia between January and August 2017. Font size: A - | A + This years summer tourist season has been successful, since the record numbers from last years summer were exceeded. In the first eight months of this year, 3.71 million guests were accommodated in Slovakia, roughly 300,000 more than a year ago. Moreover, visitors spent more than 10 million nights in our country, the Transport Ministry reported on November 20. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Tourism is currently in very good shape, confirming that it is a sector that offers value, Transport Minister Arpad Ersek said, as quoted by the SITA newswire. It gives people work, because in the all corners of our country it employs more than 300,000 people and provides a lot of fun and leisure, he said. The Minister added that he hoped his department would be able to maintain the trend they embarked on, and for the country to maintain its appeal for tourists. The number of visitors to Slovakia grew this summer 8.2 percent y-o-y, up more than 130,000 guests, thus maintaining the previous growth trend. During the high season, the Slovak Republic hosted approximately 1.75 million guests who spent more than 5.4 million nights in the country. The average length of a stay was 3.1 nights. Domestic visitors dominated, accounting for 56.6 percent of all tourists. The number of foreign guests grew dynamically as well, since there were 8.3 percent more than last year. The biggest numbers were from the Czech Republic one third of the total, ministry spokesperson Karolina Ducka told SITA, adding that it was followed by Poland, Germany, Hungary and Austria in number of visitors in terms of visitors coming from these countries. As for the regions, the most visited one was the Bratislava Region, a total of 1.1 million overnight stays were reported. The fastest rate of visitors was marked in the Trnava Region (+18.7 percent); and as for number of overnight stays, the Nitra region growing the fastest (+29.5 percent). The biggest attractions were mostly regions with hiking sites around the cities of Poprad, Liptovsky Mikulas and Zilina, Ducka noted. In summer, the visitors rate naturally also concentrated in regions with thermal spas and water parks near Nove Zamky, Dunajska Streda, Senec and Piestany. The most visited places included the cities of Bratislava, Trencin, Nitra, Bardejov, Kosice, Banska Stiavnica and Banska Bystrica. In some defined cases, merchants will and online shops will not be allowed to require consumers to pay with a debit or credit card issued in another country; this means discrimination by online shops based on a consumer's location, a practice known as geo-blocking. Font size: A - | A + Online shopping should be easier within the European Union (EU). The European Parliament, Council, and the European Commission agreed on ending the unjustified geographical blocking for consumers who buy online products or services via internet across the EU. In some defined cases, merchants will and online shops will not be allowed to require consumers to pay with a debit or credit card issued in another country. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement The new rules define three situations, in which there are no objective criteria for a different approach towards clients in other EU member states, the EC representation in Slovakia informed the SITA newswire on November 21. These include sale of goods without physical recommendation, sale of electronically rendered services, and the sale of services provided on a specific physical site. New rules shall become effective within nine months from publishing in the EU official reports, which should give enough time to react for small retailers as well. Slovak representatives reacting to the ban We managed to remove another obstacle on the digital market, head of the EC representation in Slovakia, Dusan Chrenek, told SITA. People will have more freedom when buying online, he said, adding that thanks to this measure, Europeans will be able to buy appliances, concert tickets or hire cars across the EU under similar conditions to home. For companies, on the other hand, the new rules offer greater legal certainty in cross-border business. The new rules will not include audiovisual content, however. When building the unified digital EU market, it is necessary to find a compromise between the need for free data spreading and the necessity of protecting the copyrights and intellectual property rights of companies and individuals, MEP Ivan Stefanec opined. He deems the proposed draft legislation on the protection of copyright filed by the EC too one-sided and focused on copyright, not taking into consideration the progress in technologies. The new technologies are posing problems that would have even existed several decades ago, he noted. On the one hand, the voices calling for absolute freedom in spreading data are growing stronger; but on the other hand, without financial stimuli, no good-quality content can exist. He also said, as cited by SITA, that before the new piece of legislation is adopted, potential impacts on creators, users and the preservation of European culture as a whole will have to be studied. The people of Slovakia deserve the credit for the remarkable progress that this country has made over the past twenty-five years, US ambassador writes. Font size: A - | A + Together with our Slovak friends and partners, the US Embassy marked one of the most meaniningful of Slovak public holidays on November 17: the Day of Struggle for Freedom and Democracy. This day reminds us of the heroic struggles of ordinary Slovak and Czech students against Nazi occupation in 1939, and the calls for freedom and democracy in 1989 in Bratislava and Prague. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement As Slovakia looks towards its twenty-fifth anniversary of independence in just a few weeks, now is also a time to assess how well the dreams of those who fought for a free and sovereign homeland in Europe have been realized. I believe that the answer is extremely well. Slovaks must nevertheless remain vigilant to safeguard their hard-won security, prosperity, and independence. The former politician/TV manager accused of ordering the murder of his business partner received an electronic location bracelet. Font size: A - | A + Former economy minister and former CEO of the private TV channel Markiza, Pavol Rusko, who is being investigated for ordering the murder of his former business associate Sylvia Volzova, was released from custody at the ruling of the Bratislava Regional Court on November 21. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement By doing so, the regional court annulled a previous decision made by a district court, which last month placed Rusko in custody due to concerns that he could attempt to influence witnesses, the Sme daily wrote. He has to announce to the authorities his whereabouts and submit his passport within 24 hours of his release. He will be supervised by electronic locators, regional court spokesperson Pavol Adamciak said. Read also: Read also: Former owner of TV station allegedly ordered murder of his business partner Read more Rusko was detained after former Banska Bystrica gang boss Mikulas Cernak, who is currently serving a life sentence, testified that the former had ordered Volzovas murder. Rusko dismissed all of Cernaks accusations as a lie and fabrication. I have not done anything like that, he said, as quoted by Sme. Nothing of that kind has happened, and I believe that this investigation will not only answer the question that not only I have nothing to do with, now becoming even clearer, but especially who came up with this whole case. Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed's lawyer told India Today that both federal and provincial governments of Pakistan failed to produce any evidence, including India's dossiers implicating Saeed in 26/11 Mumbai attacks, to detain Saeed. By India Today Web Desk: AK Dogar, the lawyer of UN-designated global terrorist and Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, spoke exclusively to India Today after a court in Pakistan ordered Saeed's release from house arrest. Saeed will be set free on Wednesday after he was put under house arrest since January this year. "No evidence, whatsoever, was produced against Hafiz Saeed . Many a times, the court had been telling the federal government and the provincial government that please bring anything against him [Saeed] and we'll recommend his detention. But government failed to produce any evidence," said Dogar. advertisement Dogar claimed that the Pakistan government never produced any evidence, including India's dossiers implicating Saeed in 26/11 Mumbai attacks, in any court of law in Pakistan. The dossiers included details of investigations carried out by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, details of the 26/11 terror attack on Mumbai, convicted terrorist David Coleman Headley's account of the alleged role of the JuD chief in the attack. "It is a review board which has after examining the entire record against Hafiz Saeed, they have recommended to the government of Punjab, that Saeed should not be detained any longer. Because there is no material or evidence against him. Anyone who is kept in custody, it is only when he is found to be acting in a manner which is prejudicial to the public safety," Dogar told India Today's Gaurav Sawant. SAEED TO BE RELEASED Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind of the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai, will be released from house arrest on Wednesday. The Lahore High Court ordered his release citing lack of evidence. The Punjab government had asked for an extension to Saeed's detention but the request was turned down by the court. A provincial law officer had told the Lahore High Court during the last hearing that a provincial review board would review Saeed's detention. The JuD chief, through his lawyer A K Dogar, had challenged his detention orders, submitting that the requirements laid by the Supreme Court for the purpose were not fulfilled. He requested the court to set aside the detention and order his release. WHAT HAS HAPPENED SO FAR Hafiz Saeed and his four aides--Abdullah Ubaid, Malik Zafar Iqbal, Abdul Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Hussain--were detained by the Punjab government for 90 days under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 and the Fourth Schedule of Anti- Terrorism Act 1997 on January 31. On September 25, the house arrest of Saeed and others was extended for another 30 days by the Punjab government. The Lahore High Court (LHC), which heard a plea against Saeed's detention on October 10, said he will be freed if the Pakistan government fails to submit evidence against him. Hafiz Saeed's four aides were set free in the last week of October. advertisement The United States has offered a USD 10 million bounty for the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks mastermind. The JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) which is responsible for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. ALSO WATCH: Hafiz Saeed's lawyer AK Dogar: Pakistan govt did not produce Indian dossiers in court --- ENDS --- Hundreds of new jobs should be created in the foreseeable future in western Slovakia. Font size: A - | A + A total of 347 new jobs should be created in Slovakia, in the western part of the country but outside Bratislava Region, in Trencin and Nitra Regions, the Pravda daily wrote on November 22. Three foreign companies Dongil Rubber Belt, Pankl Automotive, and Rochling Automotive plan to invest more than 48 million in the towns of Topolcany, Nove Mesto nad Vahom and Povazska Bystrica. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement The companies have already asked the state for investment aid for their projects, totaling 4.5 million, according to the Economy Ministry. Who are the investors and what are their plans? Pankl Automotive wants to establish in Topolcany (Nitra Region) a highly effective centre for the production of gearbox and engine coverings. The company plans to invest more than 12 million, as well as create 120 new jobs. It asks for tax relief aid, amounting to 1.55 million. The investment intent should be launched this year, the SITA newswire wrote. The Korean Dongil Rubber Belt company wants to expand its production plant for rubber gaskets in Povazska Bystrica (Trencin Region), investing 19.2 million and creating 150 new jobs. If approved by the cabinet, the company should receive a tax relief of 1.95 million. The German company Rochling Automotive plans to build a new plant in the village of Kocovce, in the Nove Mesto nad Vahom district (Trencin Region), to produce plastic car components. This investor is expected to create 77 jobs and invest more than 16.8 million. The investor applied for state aid in the form of tax relief. Slovakia will have to display unity and inventiveness for Brussels to recognise it among the cluster of strange democracies east of Germany L-R: President Zemand and PM Babis form the fate of the Czech Republic but impact also that of Slovakia. (Source: MAFRA, Dan Materna) Font size: A - | A + Political somersaults in the Czech Republic can easily threaten Slovakia. If the presidential elections and government formation in Prague take a wilder turn, the country beneath the Tatra mountains will become the last island of liberal democracy in a region full of "strange" regimes resistant to the European Union. According to Paris, Brussels and Berlin, we have a problem in the continental east. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement What will Babisconi do In mid-November, the founding session of the new Czech parliament took place. Chairman of the winning ANO party, Andrej Babis, put together a cabinet while President Milos Zeman dominated the presidential campaign before the first round of the 2018 elections. Since its establishment 25 years ago, the Czech Republic has never been so close to an anti-democratic split. Babis leads cabinet negotiations differently from all other prime ministers, both in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. In Slovakia, PM Robert Fico progressed from the 2016 general election to parliament without the support of the SNS, Most-Hid and Siet parties.These actions are repetitive, furthering the idea that several Smer party members have: with good ministers and an amazing manifesto, surely others will have to support us. A different methodology is followed in the Czech Republic where parties like the communist KSCM and Sloboda a Priama Demokracia (Freedom and Direct Democracy) of Tomio Okamura are in parliament. (Together with ANO, they have a comfortable majority of 115 votes). These parties have serious problems with democracy but a huge appetite for occupying the cabinet. Thus, the Czech Republic can get a one-party cabinet consisting of Andrej Babis and gain trust along with a budget approved by undisclosed coalition partners, KSCM and Okamura. The price of this trade will be high. So far, Babis has promised taxation of churches restitution which, in turn, will replace the heads of the secret service along with the president, general prosecutor, dozens of key offices, and heads of big state companies like CEZ (power utility), Lesy CR (state forests), and Ceske drahy (state railways). This procedure of a thousand executive steps will switch the country into an autocratic company regime. To do this, Babis does not need parliament, the Senate or the Constitutional Court, subsidies that would surely prevent Babis's unconstitutional dreams from coming true. Andrej Babis has the biggest conflict of interests in central Europe (his trust fund includes the huge Agrofert group which has a big media division). He is a registered agent of the communist-era secret service, StB, and was criminally prosecuted due to suspicion of subsidy fraud surrounding his Capi Hnizdo resort (he gained immunity through the election, on which the parliament will decide). Italian press nicknamed him Babisconi, citing their infamous ex-PM, Silvio Berlusconi. Partying with Zeman and Okamura Czech president Milos Zeman, on the other hand, resembles US President Donald Trump. The influential news website Politico wrote a story about him with the headline, Anti-Havel of the Czech Republic: He is foul-tongued, provocative and unabashedly politically incorrect, often accused of racism and cynical opportunism Zeman is most dangerous in his efforts to turn the Czech Republic to the east. He collaborates with Putin and works to remove sanctions against Russia, imposed after the Russian annexation of Crimea. Thus, the Czech president is acting in conflict with the EU and Czech policy. Recently, he proposed the Ukraine should swap Crimea whose conquest is a flagrant violation of international law and was condemned by the whole civilised world for oil and gas supplies. It's hard to tell if Zeman is more concerned about Czech or Russian interests. He speaks scornfully of the EU. Moreover, let us imagine that at the end of the cabinets mandate (in 2021) neither Europe nor the Czech Republic experience strong economic growth with low unemployment rates and good salaries, but rather crisis; people will become angry and desperate, losing jobs in the hundreds of thousands. Who, then, will win the next election? A worst version of todays Okamura? Or some kind of a Czech Kotleba? The victory of Andrej Babis and Milos Zeman's probable re-election are proof that traditional political parties like CSSD, the Peoples Party, TOP 09 of Kalousek and Schwarzenberg, and part of ODS have failed. They failed in the general election and also failed to match Zeman with a widely supported candidate. If Babis and Zeman start changing the Czech Republic following in the footsteps of Orban and Kaczynski, the European politicians and western-European public will mix everything into some kind of eastern part of the old continent, from where only bad news come. A sort of new Balkans This is strikingly different to Slovakia, where opposition parties managed to reach agreement before the regional elections. Patients unwilling to wait at the doctors office may be able to make appointments starting next year, for a fee of 50. Font size: A - | A + The fees paid by patients unwilling to wait at the doctors for long hours once ranged between 5 to 15 before former health minister Viliam Cislak (of the second government of Prime Minister Robert Fico) eliminated the service altogether. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Now, Health Minister Tomas Drucker (Smer nominee) is trying, once again, to re-introduce the appointment plan but only during the afternoon, after surgery hours, for a much higher amount. Doctors will be obliged to treat paying patients within 15 work-days of their booking. Moreover, patients will have to pay 50 out of their own pockets for preferential examination, the Sme daily reported. Read also: Read also: Patients may pay more at emergency wards Read more Fifty euros is the maximum payment for a visit according to the price list, Drucker said, as quoted by Sme. But it is a voluntary basis; people do not have any reason to pay a single euro. He already tried to push for new fees for examination earlier this year, but doctors bluntly rejected his proposal. Now the ruling coalition is returning to this proposal with changed wording submitted by MP Juraj Blanar (Smer). A part of the parliamentary opposition dislikes provisions in the draft amendment to the Health-Care Act tabled by the ruling coalition MP Tibor Bastrnak (Most-Hid) at parliamentary health-care committees meeting. What's in the proposal A doctor can designate up to 30 percent of their office hours for paying patients, according to the proposal. In the current chaos and decadence of our health-care system, when patients wait for months for an appointment with a specialist, this is the cheapest way to solve the problem, MP for the opposition Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OLaNO) movement and shadow Health Minister Marek Krajci told the SITA newswire. If the governance in health care continues in this way, in the future patients can expect free parking on overfilled parking lots, but high-quality health care will be available only to the rich, Krajci added, as quoted by SITA Read also: Read also: Furore erupts over doctors fees Read more Back in 2005, the possibility of paying for an appointment with a doctor was first introduced. At the time, this service cost 10 at most, and doctors could allocate a maximum of one-quarter of their office hours for such patients, Miroslav Beblavy, independent MP and leader of the emerging political party Spolu Obcianska Demokracia (Together Civic Democracy) said on November 22. This possibility existed for 10 years before parliament cancelled it at the proposal of Smer in 2015, arguing that such fees are anti-social and unjust, he continued, as quoted by SITA. Ten-euro fees were considered anti-social and unjust and now, 50-euro fees for basically the same service are proposed, but in a way that will not even deliver the desired result. The proposal, resembling the one criticised by doctors at the beginning of 2017, will be discussed at the next parliamentary session, on November 2, the TASR newswire wrote. However, it still hasn't signed a new rental agreement with the city of Bratislava. Font size: A - | A + The US Embassy in Slovakia is ready to pay an annual rent amounting to 480,000. The council has repeatedly failed to obtain a quorum necessary for approving our rent of the security circuit which would legally enable us to pay the sum, reads the statement provided to the SITA newswire. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement The rent of the plots under the building expired last year, which now makes the fence, raised after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, an illegal construction. The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, however, stipulates that the security zone is part of the embassy and the adjacent plots, regardless of ownership, SITA wrote. Some call for removal The area has been used by the embassy as a security zone since 2005 and is enclosed by a security fence, steel posts, barrier flower containers and a retractable car barrier. Some critics have been calling for the fence removal for years, claiming it makes Hviezdoslavovo Square in downtown Bratislava look ugly. The city council has discussed the fences removal several times, most recently at their late September session. They have repeatedly failed to approve the lease of the plots on which the fence is standing. The original agreement expired last August. Read also: Read also: Bratislava Council votes down land lease for US Embassy, again Read more Under the new proposal, the embassy would pay 481,000 annually for renting the plots. The lease was to be signed for a definite period, i.e. until August 15, 2019, with the option to prolong it to August 2021. Meanwhile, a local survey was carried out in front of the embassy building in mid-November. City councillor Martin Borgula, who is one of the fences critics, said there is no need for additional legalisation on the construction. The US Embassy considers it unfortunate that the safety of US and Slovak employees as well as Bratislavas citizens and embassy visitors has become a political question. The Vienna Convention requires the host countries to secure the safety of diplomatic missions, the embassy wrote in the statement, as quoted by SITA, adding that US laws require keeping the fence to protect its employees and visitors. Back in 2002, the embassy signed an agreement with the city of Bratislava and its Old Town borough that permitted the construction and maintenance of the security fence, as reported by SITA. Meanwhile, the US Embassy is looking for new premises. It plans to rent a 4.6 hectare plot situated close to the Slovak National Theatre. It has not made an agreement with the local authorities and other parties yet. Valley National Bancorp operates as the holding company for Valley National Bank that provides various commercial, retail, insurance, and wealth management financial services products. It operates through Commercial Lending, Consumer Lending, and Investment Management segments. The company offers non-interest bearing, savings, NOW, money market, and time deposit accounts; commercial and industrial, commercial real estate, residential mortgage, and automobile loans; loans secured by the cash surrender value of life insurance; home equity loans and lines of credit; and secured and unsecured other consumer loans. It also invests in various securities and interest-bearing deposits with other banks; and provides international banking services, such as standby and documentary letters of credit, and related products, as well as foreign exchange transactions, documentary collections, foreign wire transfers services, and transaction accounts for non-resident aliens. In addition, the company offers investment services for individuals and small to medium sized businesses; and trusts and custom -tailored investment strategies for various retirement plans. Further, it provides trust services, such as living and testamentary trusts, investment management, custodial and escrow services, and estate administration to individuals; tax credit advisory services; property and casualty, life, health, and title insurance agency services; and health care equipment lending and other commercial equipment leasing services, as well as owns real estate related investments. Additionally, the company offers online, mobile, and telephone banking services; and overdraft, drive-in and night deposit, automated teller machine, remote deposit capture, and safe deposit facility services. As of December 31,2021, it operated 232 branch offices in New Jersey, New York, Florida, and Alabama. The company was incorporated in 1927 and is headquartered in New York, New York. Banco Santander-Chile, together with its subsidiaries, provides commercial and retail banking products and services in Chile. It operates through Retail Banking, Middle-Market, Corporate Investment Banking, and Corporate Activities segments. The company offers debit and credit cards, checking accounts, and savings products; consumer, automobile, commercial, mortgage, and government-guaranteed loans; and Chilean peso and foreign currency denominated loans to finance various commercial transactions, trade, foreign currency forward contracts, and credit lines, as well as mortgage financing services. It also provides mutual funds, insurance and securities brokerage, foreign exchange, financial leasing, factoring, financial consulting and advisory, investment management, foreign trade, treasury, and transactional services, as well as specialized services to finance projects for the real estate industry. In addition, the company offers short-term financing and fund raising, and brokerage services, as well as derivatives, securitization, and other tailor-made products. It serves individuals, small to middle-sized entities, companies, and large corporations, as well as universities, government entities, and local and regional governments. As of December 31, 2021, the company operated 326 branches, which include 220 under the Santander brand name, 14 under the Select brand name, 7 specialized branches for the middle market, and 22 as auxiliary and payment centers, as well as 1,338 ATMs, including depository ATMs. Banco Santander-Chile was incorporated in 1977 and is headquartered in Santiago, Chile. You might not believe it, but the current US President has played an inadvertent role in today's fashion. By Shreya Goswami: You might or might not believe it, but Donald Trump has turned out to be a major fashion influencer. No, not because of the way he dresses himself--there's only so much the Republican-red ties and regular suits can inspire for menswear. It's actually the current US President's disrespectful remarks towards women that have inspired a new wave in women's fashion. advertisement Trump's misogynistic remarks--from talking about grabbing women by a certain body part, to referring to Hillary Clinton as a "nasty woman"--have done something unprecedented since the Presidential election debate in 2016, and especially since the inauguration in January 2017. It has brought about a revival of the women emancipation movement of the '70s and '80s, with very contemporary sensibilities. Also Read: Trump ate shark-fin soup in Vietnam, despite his country battling against shark-fin trade And, quite like the last time around, this has influenced global fashion trends. According to the Inquirer.net, Lidewij Edelkoort--one of the world's major trend forecasters, who was once listed as one of the world's 25 most-influential personalities in fashion--has been observing Trump's influence on macro trends across the world this year. In case you didn't know, macro trends represent the bigger picture in the world that can influence the micro trends, specific fashion details. Trump is a macro influencer, and his brand of misogyny has clearly had an effect on fashion designers and everyday women. Annika Moller Henry, the trend and colour manager for the fashion brand Vero Moda, also concurs with Edelkoort's study. Protesters wearing pussyhats at the Women's March in Washington DC. Photo: Reuters Moller Henry is, in fact, calling this new wave a "female revolution" in fashion. The more Trump puts women down, the more they are adapting their own ways of lashing back through what they wear. While the trends inspired by Trump's negative remarks, to put them mildly, have had a broad effect, there are two particular trends that can be marked out very clearly. 1. Power dressing Trump's remarks clearly show that he doesn't trust women to handle power in any form. And that's precisely what has led to women across the world opting for power dressing this year, more than ever before. It's not just about pantsuits--which we have seen Indian celebs like Shilpa Shetty Kundra and Priyanka Chopra don more of this year as well--but pronounced shoulders and exaggerated sleeves in other outfits as well. What thick, shoulder pads and fringes did in the '80s, is being reiterated by these power-dressing trends in 2017. 2. Pink is back This trend first emerged during the Women's March on January 21, 2017, with major cities across the world flooded by people protesting Trump's inauguration, dressed in pink. The colour has since become "a symbol of emancipated femininity", as Inquirer.net describes it. Moller Henry also describes how the resurgence of pink has been embraced in all the hues the colour comes in, and has also inspired combinations with other colours like orange, lilac and denim blue. advertisement Also Read: A group of American Sikhs served Langar at the Women's March A protester wearing the patriotic hijab at the Women's March. Photo: Reuters Apart from these broad trends, two kinds of headwear trends have also picked up since January 2017: 1. Pussyhats: As a direct answer to Trump's remark about grabbing women by their genitals, this new kind of knitted hat was worn by women at the Women's March. The hat is characterised by the cat ears, and comes in shades of pink and purple combined often with other colours. 2. The patriotic hijab: Trump's remarks about Islam and Muslims in the US, and elsewhere, sparked the creation of this headwear. The American flag was first wrapped like a hijab by Saba Ahmed, the founder of the Republican Muslim Coalition, in 2015. After that, artist Shepard Fairey created a poster showing the patriotic hijab for the Women's March. Many protesters also took to donning this headscarf at the March, making it quite a headwear trend. advertisement Smaller trends like "nasty woman" and "the future is female" tees have also become quite popular. So, while Trump might not be a fashion icon himself--and his negative attitude towards women is definitely not going to change during the rest of his lifetime--he is making quite a difference to how women see themselves, even if it is inadvertent. --- ENDS --- By PTI: (Eds: Adding USD revenue figure in para 4) New Delhi, Nov 21 (PTI) Beverages major Coca-Cola India today said it expects its softdrink Thums Up to be a USD 1 billion brand in the next two years, for which it is adding variants to the home-grown product. With the introduction of Thums Up Charged, the company today added the first ever variant to the 40-year-old brand. "We expect Thums Up to become a USD 1 billion brand in next two years. The launch of Thums Up Charge will help accelerate the journey of becoming the first home-grown billion dollar beverage brand," Vijay Parasuraman, Vice President, Marketing, Coca-Cola India and South West Asia, said here. At present, Thums Up has a revenue of Rs 5,000 crore (about USD 770 million), he said. Coca-Cola India said the company, along with partner bottlers, will invest suitably in enhancing the brand, launching new packs, expanding distribution and augmenting manufacturing capacity to increase sales of Thums Up by 2020. advertisement The new Thums Up Charged will be available in seven different packs-?180ml can, 200ml can, 300ml can, 330ml can, 250ml PET, 400ml PET, 500ml PET, it added. Besides Thums Up, the company has identified brands such as Maaza and Limca which have the potential to grow to reach similar size. "For Maaza, it would take around five years to reach that scale," said a company official. Coca-Cola globally has 21 brands which are in billion dollar club and a large chunk of them has come from other countries, he added. The company introduced Thums Up Charge last week in some markets and expects it to be available pan-India by the second week of December. The new variant would have around 150 PPM caffeine while the old Thums Up has around 85 PPM of caffeine. Coca-Cola would invest on branding and marketing of Thums Up Charge and its teaser is expected to come in December. "This belief is crucial to Thums Up as it enables the brand to inspire millions of Indians and make them look up to Thums Up as an icon of masculinity," said Parasuraman. PTI KRH RKL SBT --- ENDS --- The account page of the clothing store Bonobos leaks full credit card details to FullStory. The screenshot of Chromes network inspector shows the leaked data being sent letter-by-letter as it is typed. The users full credit card number, expiration, CVV number, name, and billing address are leaked on this page. Email address and gift card numbers are among the other types of data leaked on Bonobos site. Credit: freedom-to-tinker.com (Tech Xplore)File under Uncomfortable. A study by a Princeton team finds you may be watched (and watched and watched) as you go on about your business of using the Internet and visiting sites. This is the imposing New World of something called "scripts and session replay." In New Scientist, Abigail Beall said that "A website you visit might have hundreds of scripts running in the background; some deposit cookies, others track you to other websites." Researchers at Princeton University, combing through hundreds of websites to examine the scripts they were running, see "use of a type of script, called a session replay, that logs everything you do on a website, including what you type," she wrote. The study authors explored "session-replay scripts," third-party scripts on websites. Wake-up call: Your every keystroke in such circumstances could be recorded. Researchers at Princeton University have found that 482 globally popular websites are keylogging data and sending it to third-party servers. These are 482 of the world's top 50,000 sites, based on Alexa's ranking. Findings of the study did not sit easily with Dan Goodin, security editor at Ars Technica. "No, you're not being paranoid. Sites really are watching your every move" was the Ars Technica headline on Monday. Who is providing these session replay scripts and what is their goal? Goodin in Ars Technica: "Session replay scripts are provided by third-party analytics services that are designed to help site operators better understand how visitors interact with their Web properties and identify specific pages that are confusing or broken." Steven Englehardt, Gunes Acar, and Arvind Narayanan are the study team and they even released data showing the list of sites with third-party session-replay-scripts. Lately, there have been more sites using such scripts. Keystrokes, mouse movements, and scrolling behavior are recorded, along with contents of the pages visited, and sent to third-party servers. This is not a typical analytics services providing aggregate statistics. They said the scripts "are intended for the recording and playback of individual browsing sessions, as if someone is looking over your shoulder." Goodin said the sites discovered in the study use scripts "that record visitors' keystrokes, mouse movements, and scrolling behavior in real time, even before the input is submitted or is later deleted." All in all, clicks, inputs and scrolls can be recorded and played back later. "Checking the 'do not track' option built into some browsers also failed to stop the logging," Goodin said. And keystrokes typed into a field may be logged even if the visitor later deletes the field and does not press the submit button. "Session replay scripts are used by companies to gain insight into how their customers are using their sites and to identify confusing webpages," said Louise Matsakis, Motherboard. "But the scripts don't just aggregate general statistics, they record and are capable of playing back individual browsing sessions. The scripts don't run on every page, but are often placed on pages where users input sensitive information, like passwords and medical conditions." The researchers analyzed seven of the top session replay companies. They found these services in use on 482 of 50,000 websites, "usually with no clear disclosure," said Goodin. They said they found the services in use on 482 of the Alexa top 50,000 sites. The authors set up test pages and installed replay scripts from six of the seven companies. Based on test results plus analyzing several live sites, the team highlighted four types of vulnerabilities: 1. Passwords. Yes, services they studied try to prevent password leaks by excluding password input fields from recordings. Mobile-friendly login boxes using text inputs to store unmasked passwords are not redacted by this rule, though, unless the publisher manually adds redaction tags to exclude them. 2. Sensitive user inputs are redacted in a partial, imperfect way. 3. Manual redaction of personally identifying information displayed on a page is an insecure model. 4. Recording services may fail to protect user data. Arvind Narayanan, a team member, said on Monday that "We are publishing this study as a series of blog posts in which we reveal our findings, and then plan to compile them into a paper where we will go into detail on our methods and innovations." So now for the big question. What can you do about this? One of the researchers said in Motherboard that it was difficult for the user to understand what was happening unless one dug deep into privacy policies Goodin said it was unclear what recourse a user can have that would be meaningful to prevent data collection, as ad-blockers can filter out some, but not all of the replay scripts. "Until more robust protections are available, people should remember that just about anything they do while visiting a website can be logged," said Goodin. 2017 Tech Xplore I was recently at a Capital Markets conference in Turkey where the main first day keynote speaker is Professor James A. Robinson from the University of Chicago and co-author of Why Nations Fail, a book that changed thinking about what makes for successful countries and what makes them fail. I had assumed that James was going to be an American, but it turns out hes a Brit like me. Good on ya Jimmy! Anyway, he summarised the book in a 40 minutes presentation that went from North Korea to Colombia via China, Russia and America on the way. His first slide was pretty intriguing, and showed North and South Korea at night. Theyre a little bit different, as in South Koreans stay up, watch TV, make some coffee, drink some wine, entertain some friends and have a jolly good evening out. Meanwhile, their Northern country folks just go to bed. James made it clear that this wasnt a political statement, and that there are plenty of communist and capitalist countries that are failing and succeeding. Its all to do with how government and the economy inter-operate, and he classified these as inclusive governments and economies, and extracted governments and economies. An inclusive economy is one that encourages ideas and innovation, and the USA is a great example. It encourages people to file patents and discourages monopolies. It believes that monopolistic tendencies lead to anti-trust practices that are bad for the economy. Thats why the USA often takes entrepreneurs to task, and tests their mettle. At this point, James pointed to Bill Gates as a great example. One of the worlds richest men was taken before the Senate Committee in 1998. Meanwhile the worlds other richest man, Carlos Slim, runs a monopoly across Mexico that was gifted to him through his political connections. As a result, Mexico has lost almost $120 billion in lost opportunities due to the anti-trust practices of his empire, more than Mr. Slims total fortune. Or at least, thats what James thinks. The point he was making is that if you encourage innovation, patents, anti-trust practices and encourage entrepreneurialism, you will have a successful nation, and thats what the USA illustrates well: inclusive government and an inclusive economy. If you discourage competition and innovation, and stifle ideas then you will have a nation that fails, like North Korea and Mexico. The bit that intrigued me were James thoughts on China, and he wasnt encouraging. He likened what is happening in China to Russia fifty years ago. Back then, the worlds leading economist Paul Samuelson wrote the best-selling book on economics called Economics (not much imagination there then). It was regularly updated and in 1961 this chart appeared: This is in the middle of the Cold War with Russia and, due to Russias investments in their economy, Mr. Samuelson predicted that their economy would grow faster than the USAs and overtake America as the global superpower before the end of the century and maybe as soon as 1984. By 1970, it hadnt happened and Samuelsons book was updated with the dates slipping back. By 1980 the dates were 2002 to 2012. Why hasnt Russia achieved the predicted economic success that Sameulson predicted? Because of a lack of inclusive economy due to an extracted political structure where control, and therefore power and wealth, is held by the few and not distributed amongst the many. That is what James calls an inclusive government: one that offers access and opportunity for all, not just the few. For this reason, he thinks China will be similarly disappointing in the long-term, because China has an inclusive economy with an extracted government. He doesnt think that works, long-term. The example he gave is the scary tracking of citizens through data that has recently emerged (doubleclick image to see a bigger version). China is monitoring the social, financial and commercial activity of everyone in real-time, and giving scores of your levels of trustworthiness as a result. The social credit score. Is this that scary? Through the NSA, America tracks most of our digital thoughts is China so different? James seemed to imply that China is an extracted government, but I think that is legacy thinking. Im not saying I wholly embrace all of the PRCs policies, especially those on Tibet and human rights, but I think China is opening up to the world, as stated in a recent blog, and that thinking of the country as a narrow government is under-estimating what is happening in China. We shall see, but perhaps the thing that most people believe could bring down China is debt. China has grown through massive subsidisation and that subsidisation is now slowing down. Total debt was 150% of GDP in 2008 and that has risen to 260% this year. U.S. billionaire investor George Soros has noted an eerie resemblance between conditions in China and those in America leading up to the 2008 financial crisis. Its similarly fuelled by credit growth and an eventually unsustainable extension of credit, he told the Asia Society in April 2016. According to Bloomberg Intelligence, corporate debt has seen the biggest increase, rising over the ten years to 2015 by 60 percentage points to reach 165 percent of GDP. Household debt climbed to more than 40 percent of GDP, up 23 percentage points, while government borrowings reached 22 percent of the economy. Hmmm. We shall see but, all in all, an interesting presentation and I learned something new, namely that Jamess great -great-grandfather built ships and his great-great-great-grandfather was a fisherman. The much-awaited river bus service, the first of its kind in Ho Chi Minh City, is set to launch on November 25, with a ten-day free ticket promotional campaign to attract passengers. Following three months of technical setup and a survey trip earlier this month, the waterway bus will officially launch this Saturday, its operator, Thuong Nhat Co Ltd, said on Monday. The 10.8-kilometer route is set to connect Bach Dang Port in District 1 with Linh Dong Ward in the outlying district of Thu Duc, running along the Saigon River and Thanh Da Canal. The water bus will pick up passengers at three stops along the 30-minute route, namely Binh An (District 2), Thanh Da (Binh Thanh District) and Hiep Binh Chanh (Thu Duc District). The service will be available for free for the first ten days of launch, Thuong Nhat Co. director Nguyen Kim Toan was quoted by Nguoi Lao Dong (Laborer) newspaper as saying. The promotional program is intended to attract passengers and to create the habit of traveling by water bus among local residents, Toan said. Normal fares will cost VND15,000 (U$0.66) per person per trip, with ticket booths installed at the services two terminals and stops. Toan said five water buses, capable of carrying 80 passengers each, will be deployed for the Bach Dang-Linh Dong service. The Bach Dang-Linh Dong route is the first of two waterway bus services Thuong Nhat plans to develop, realizing a dream the company has held on to for decades. The second service, connecting Bach Dang with Lo Gom in District 6, began development at the same time as the Bach Dang-Ling Dong route, but is yet to be completed as a sewer construction is blocking the waterway near Ben Nghe Canal, according to Nguoi Lao Dong. Thuong Nhat Co. is calling on the developer of the sewer to speed up construction so it can put its second river bus route into service next year. The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism has proposed banning individuals from working as tour guides unless they are contracted employees of specific travel firms, or members of a travel association. The proposal has sparked outrage amongst local freelance guides, many of whom will lose their livelihoods if the suggestion is enforced. According to the VNAT, starting January 2018, a tour guide will only be allowed to operate if they have a license, and a contract with a travel firm, a tour organizer or are members of a travel society or tour guide association. The tightened controls are in line with new tourism laws, taking effect in 2017, the tourism watchdog said. Tour guides protest Under the current law, individuals wishing to operate as tour guides already have to apply for a license in order to be considered legal. However, not all licensed tour guides wish to sign contracts with a single company and prefer working as freelancers, meaning they can enter short-term agreements to work for multiple travel firms. The arrangement also works for travel firms who do not want to pay wages to contracted employees in the off-season, when they have very few customers, making the use of freelance tour guides is a sensible option. Tour guides themselves say that working freelance allows them to be more flexible. If, for example, company A fails to attract enough bookings to launch a tour, company B may have multiple packages fully booked and be in need of licensed tour guides, one insider wrote on Facebook. As a freelancer, I can offer to work for company B right away and cooperate with company A whenever it needs me. This is impossible if I were a contracted employee of company A. Necessary rule Despite the outcry from freelance tour guides, industry insiders have thrown their support behind the proposal. Le Dinh Huy, chairman of the tour guide club of the central city of Hue, said the new regulation would keep the market free of freelance tour guides who behave improperly. Many tour guides have organized their own packages without permission from travel firms, and take their guests to restricted or dangerous areas, or try to squeeze money from them, Huy elaborated. Huys view is echoed by Luu Duc Ke, director of Hanoitourist, who said a few bad apples have spoiled the reputation of Vietnams tourism industry. He said the new regulation will also curb the phenomenon of freelance tour guides overcharging their guests. Pham Le Thao, deputy head of the travel department under the VNAT, said several freelance tour guides had damaged the reputations of the travel firms they had worked with. Thao recalled one case in which a travel firm hired a freelance tour guide to pick up a group of international tourists, but he failed to show up or notify the company. The foreign visitors had already completed immigration and were left abandoned after passing through the border gate with the tour guide nowhere to be seen. Incidents like this severely impact the reputation of Vietnams tourism industry. Thao said that the VNAT proposal is not a mandate that all tour guides must join specific companies. They can choose to either become a contracted employee of a company, or a member of a travel association, she said. Two researchers from Vietnam and the UK have been awarded the prestigious Newton Prize for a project that facilitates communicating in the event of disasters. Lead researchers Dr. Vo Nguyen Son from Vietnams Duy Tan University and his UK-based counterpart Dr. Trung Duong from Queens University Belfast won the 200,000 (US$265,000) prize for their jointly designed communications system that can work even when extreme weather and natural disasters strike. The award was presented to the researchers by British Ambassador to Vietnam Giles Lever and Vietnams deputy minister for science and technology Tran Quoc Khanh in Hanoi on November 16, the British Embassy Hanoi announced on Wednesday. Their Newton Fund project, Building a foundation for sustainable development networked societies for the cities of tomorrow, designed an integrated heterogeneous wireless system (IHWS), which is robust in maintaining communications during disasters such as floods, landslides and droughts, according to the embassy. The system copes with issues such as physical destruction of telecommunication networks, lack of power supply and network congestion, and also provides early warning of natural disasters by detecting water level, vibration and wind. In cities, the IWHS can detect increases in dust, temperature, noise and carbon dioxide levels. Academic staff and students from 20 universities throughout Vietnam have been trained in the system and several leading telecommunication companies are interested in bringing it into production. Natural disasters are a big problem not just in Vietnam but throughout the whole world and the impact is worse for those in remote and isolated areas with no access to the ICT facilities that are essential to providing vital warning information and aiding in rescue missions, Dr. Duong said. This prize money will allow myself and my team to develop the system further and to work with the key telecommunications companies in Vietnam. By doing so we can provide citizens with better warning, measurement tools and education initiatives. Third anniversary for Newton Fund Programme Vietnam The Newton Prize is an annual 1 million fund awarded for the best research or innovation that promotes the economic development and social welfare of developing countries. More than 150 Newton funded projects, fellowships or other awards applied for the Newton Prize from the eligible countries for this year India, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. There are 25 shortlisted applications in total and five Prizes of up to 200,000 will be awarded to each winner to be used to advance or develop existing Newton funded work. The November 16 event in Hanoi was attended by more than 100 people, including researchers, representatives of the Vietnamese government and Vietnamese delivery partners, to celebrate three years of the Newton Fund Programme Vietnam and its growing success in research and innovation collaboration between the UK and Vietnam. As a dynamic emerging economy with a strong vision of the importance of science and innovation in human development, Vietnam is a natural partner for the global Newton Fund, ambassador Lever remarked at the event. I am excited to think about the future possibilities, and look forward to a bright future for the Newton Fund Programme Vietnam. The Newton Fund Programme Vietnam is the first formal research and innovation partnership program between the UK and Vietnamese governments. The program aims to support Vietnams economic and social development through science and innovation as well as recognize challenges and support Vietnams research and innovation to be more impactful. Over the last three and a half years, the fund has disbursed nearly 5 million and rolled out 35 calls over 15 schemes. This has resulted in 162 grants that benefit nearly 400 individuals, mostly researchers from 60 Vietnamese and 43 UK research organizations. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Only nine out of the 12 puppies were found later, rest are still missing. By Abhishek Anand: Twelve newborn puppies from two dogs were allegedly thrown out from a posh society to curb 'dog menace'. However, the action taken by the society irked the animal rights activists and a member of People For Animals (PFA) registered an FIR against the society secretary, the security agency and the builder under sections for cruelty with animals. advertisement The incident occurred on Sunday evening when the security guards of Prateek Wisteria, a posh high rise at Sector 77 of Noida, pushed 12 newborn puppies out of the society gates following an RWA order. A local PFA member Kaveri Rana Bhardwaj was informed about the incident by a dog lover of the society. The very next day she visited the locality but found only nine out of the 12 puppies that were thrown out. "The poor puppies were not even a month old and could barely walk. Three of them are missing and rest of them had taken shelter in an empty plot near the society. I don't know what happened to the three puppies," Kaveri told reporters here. When she tried to enquire about the incident, the security guard of the society confirmed that the puppies were thrown out following RWA orders. After a failed talk with the RWA for reuniting the puppies with their mothers, Kaveri went to the local police station and filed an FIR against the secretary of the society, the security agency and the builder under sections 428 and 429 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act. A senior official posted with Sector 49 police station of Noida said, "We have registered a case against the society following the complaint of a woman. The case is being investigated." However, the officer said that they have also registered an FIR against the PFA members following a complaint from the society secretary who accused them for threatening her. Repeated attempts to contact the RWAs turned futile. The officer investigating this case, however, said that the residents threw the puppies out alleging too many incidents of dog bites. "The proper way to handle such situations is to call the animal shelter home or the authority. The case is under investigation," he said. ALSO WATCH | Mayhem in Noida society after maid is beaten up by her employer --- ENDS --- Ho Chi Minh City authorities are reviewing proposals to open more food streets in its downtown district following the recent debut of the model. Chairman of the Peoples Committee in District 1 Nguyen The Thuan and leaders of administrations in Pham Ngu Lao, Ben Thanh, and Cau Ong Lanh Wards conducted an examination of several streets in the neighborhoods on Tuesday morning. The trip was made to review several proposals to open food streets in seven wards of the district, aimed at providing venues for local vendors and to contribute to ongoing sidewalk clearing efforts. Local authorities are now mulling over the establishment of two new food corners featuring some 60 stalls along two sections of Nguyen Thai Hoc Street. The citys first-ever food street was opened along Nguyen Van Chiem Street on August 28. A total of 40 businesses take turns to operate in two shifts; between 6:00 am and 9:00 am in the morning, and 11:00 am to 1:00 pm in the afternoon. The second food hub was introduced in Bach Tung Diep Park in early October, home to up to 30 catering businesses run by former street vendors, who also take turns to occupy the stalls in two shifts: from 6:00 am and 9:00 am, and from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. Nguyen The Thuan (R), chairman of the Peoples Committee in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, evaluates the situation on Nguyen Thai Hoc Street on November 21, 2017. Photo: Tuoi Tre Following the Nguyen Van Chiem Street debut, some vendors have said that they had been able to sell more compared to when they were operating along local sidewalks. However, some sellers were concerned that the number of buyers might decrease given the lack of diversity. Critics say that the two shifts are too short, adding that the food streets should remain open in the evening to attract more customers. Others claim that parking lots are necessary, while customers should also be able to eat their food on the side of the street, which is not currently an option on Nguyen Van Chiem Street. According to chairman Thuan, the District 1 administration will consider adjusting the timetable of the food streets. Specific measures will also be applied to prevent the operation of these food corners from becoming traffic congestion hazards, he added. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Check out what is in the news today, November 22 Society -- The Peoples Committee in Truong Sa District, administered by the south-central province of Khanh Hoa, has proposed opening a net weaving plant on three islands on Vietnams Truong Sa Archipelago, the provincial Department of Industry and Trade disclosed on Tuesday. -- Tuoi Tre (Youth) reporters nabbed five prizes for their entries in a writing competition themed Vietnam- Global Integration at an award ceremony in Hanoi on Tuesday. -- Prolonged torrential rain in the past few days brought about by this years 14th recorded storm in Vietnam have left streets in central provinces seriously inundated and scores of houses unroofed while claiming at least three lives. A new flooding was forecast to hit the region on Wednesday. Business -- The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism has proposed tightening control over freelance tour guides in observance of a new regulation under the law on tourism which will take effect on January 1, 2018. -- The Peoples Committee in the central province of Quang Ngai confirmed to Tuoi Tre they would take into careful consideration a project proposed by two Japanese enterprises to grow elephant garlic on a pilot basis in Ly Son Island, which is famous for its hallmark quality garlic, amidst local farmers concerns. -- Representatives of national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines revealed on Tuesday they were offering discounts to online bookers in an Online Gold Week program, to run until Sunday this week. -- Two high-quality bus routes carrying passengers from the downtown area in Ho Chi Minh City to its suburbs will be launched on a pilot basis in December, the municipal Department of Transport confirmed at a regular press meeting on Tuesday. -- Leaders of District 1, Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday took a survey trip of sidewalks in the downtown area in preparation for the launch of cuisine streets in seven wards that will operate at designated times during the day. Education -- After five years of preparation, the Vietnam-Korean Institute of Science and Technology (V-KIST) came into operation in Hanoi on Tuesday, and aims at growing into a leading multi-discipline research institution. A Jetstar Pacific passenger who was denied check-in after his name failed to show up on the airlines system livestreamed his demand for an official apology from the budget carrier. Doan Vu Thanh Hoang bought a last-minute ticket from south-central Vietnams Cam Ranh City to Ho Chi Minh City last Friday. According to his 21-minute livestream, he had paid VND1.6 million (US$70) for the Jetstar flight departing at 7:20 pm. However, as he arrived at the check-in counter, Hoang was told that his name was not showing up in the airlines booking system, with the ground service agent suggesting that he might not have paid for the ticket. A Jetstar employee later confirmed that his ticket was valid, but failed to apologize for the mix-up, citing system errors, according to Hoang. Ive bought my ticket, but when I arrived at the counter I was told that it hadnt been paid for, Hoang said in his livestream, which attracted thousands of viewers at its peak. They shooed me out of the check-in counter. What I want is an apology, not money, Hoang added. I may not be rich, but I expect my dignity. At one point during his Facebook broadcast, a ground security officer intervened, asking him to end the livestream. As of Wednesday, the footage had been viewed over 1.8 million times and shared by nearly 17,000 Facebook users. A still image from the Facebook livestream of Doan Vu Thanh Hoang on Friday, November 17. A Jetstar representative who responded to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspapers request for comments said the airline regretted that such an incident had occurred. According to the representative, its check-in counters at Cam Ranh Airport are manned by the airports ground service staff and not its own, and Hoangs ticket being purchased at the last minute could have meant that the system may not have been updated in time for his arrival. The misunderstanding would have been resolved quickly if Hoang had visited the airlines ticket counter to confirm his ticket status, the representative added. Jetstar Pacific Airlines, based in Ho Chi Minh City, is a budget airline majority-owned by Vietnams state-owned flag carrier Vietnam Airlines, with the Australian-based Qantas Group owning 30 percent holding. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! After five years of concept development, a project to build the Vietnam-Korea Institute of Science and Technology (V-KIST) in Hanoi has been officially launched. With the South Korean government contributing half of the projects total budget of US$70 million, V-KIST is the largest non-refundable project ever given to Vietnam by South Korea. It aims to foster science and technology cooperation between the two countries, in celebration of the 25th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations. Chairing the launch ceremony on Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam said the idea of V-KIST had been conceived from the Vietnamese governments realization that changes in policy and management were needed to quickly implement scientific advances in real life. Through V-KIST, its hoped that scientific organizations in Vietnam will be inspired to form research networks that operate under a new model. V-KIST was conceived in 2012 after a state visit to South Korea by former Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung. The then Vietnamese head of government expressed his wish to establish an institute in Vietnam similar to the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST). Since then, there has been a step-by-step plan for a V-KIST project that would occupy approximately 200,000 square meters in the pre-existing Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park in Hanoi. Half of the development cost will be funded by the South Korean government to cover infrastructure, equipment, consultancy, and training. The long-term project will be developed in three stages, with the final stage set to be completed in 2034. Vietnam aims to turn V-KIST into a leading multidisciplinary research institute in applied sciences and advanced technology and become a driving force for the development of a sustainable economy. Information technology and biotechnology are the two fields of study that will spearhead the institutes program of scientific research. Vietnamese and Korean researchers at V-KIST will enjoy the highest endowments allowed by Vietnamese law, as well as subsidies from the South Korean government. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! International visitors to state agencies in Vietnam wont be short of opportunities to try locally-made drinks, as the country considers banning the use of imported beverages while hosting foreign guests. The Vietnamese Ministry of Finance is collecting feedback on a draft circular that stipulates how the state budget can be used to host foreign guests at state agencies or when they take part in international conferences in Vietnam. The finance ministry is encouraging state agencies and other relevant units to exercise thrift in spending for these types of activities, with the draft bill recommending a limit on welcome flowers or gifts, hiring meeting venues and dining costs. According to the draft circular, state agencies will be allowed between VND500,000 (US$22) and VND1.2 million ($53) per day to cover two meals, including beverages, for one international guest. Vietnamese-made alcohol or other drinks should be used to host international guests, the ministry underlined in the document. The proposal has won support from some officials and is expected to come into effect next year. Nguyen Mai Bo, a member of the Committee for National Defense and Security, under the lawmaking National Assembly, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Tuesday that the proposal is appropriate as it will have save taxpayers money. A bottle of imported wine could cost a few thousand dollars, and it is a huge waste of taxpayers money if we were to use the state budget to buy these types of products, he said. The Living Room this week adopts an Indonesian flavour as Dr. Chris is in Lombok and Miguel whips up a Nasi Goreng. No volcano eruptions, thanks! Food with Miguel Maestre: Nasi Goreng Known for amazing spices and big flavour, Indonesian food has become a favourite among Australians. Miguel meets up with an Indonesian cuisine guru Aunty Wahwan to learn the secrets of cooking a perfect Nasi Goreng. Renovation for Profit with Cherie Barber: One Bedroom Apartment How far can $6000 go to renovate a whole apartment? Renovation guru Cherie Barber thinks she can renovate the entire place. Cherie helps Gladesville homeowner Jen to transform her cramped, dated, one-bedroom apartment before it hits the property market, and the result is unexpected. Travel with Chris Brown: Lombok The Other Bali Bali is a great place to visit, but one downside is that it is full of other tourists. Chris may have discovered the perfect alternative in Lombok, Balis sister island. Lombok shares the wonder and beauty of Bali, without the crowds. Chris explores this beautiful island sampling a local delicacy, visiting a monkey forest and diving in a spectacular location. 7:30pm Friday on TEN. Officials of Gas Exporting Countries Forum Summit are seen before a session in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, November 22, 2017. REUTERS/David Mercado By Marianna Parraga SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia (Reuters) - Bolivia's government on Tuesday signed natural gas development deals with Spain's Repsol , Brazil's Petrobras, Royal Dutch Shell and Pan American Energy that are expected to draw $1.6 billion (1.21 billion) in investment and boost output. The deals cover blocks in the Iniguazu, San Telmo Norte and Astillero gas areas. Repsol, Shell and Pan American Energy will participate in the Iniguazu consortium, while Petrobras will be a partner in the other two. Several units of Bolivia's state-run YPFB will participate in all the projects. "We are very confident and we have hope," Bolivia President Evo Morales said the signing ceremony at the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) that started on Tuesday in Santa Cruz. "We are committed to secure transparent contracts." Bolivia's declining gas production is seen by analysts as an obstacle for boosting exports to key customers in Argentina and Brazil. The country finished 2016 with reserves of 0.3 trillion cubic meters, the same as 2015, and production of 19.7 billion cubic meters, a drop of 3 percent, according to BP's statistical review. Morales said the projects with foreign partners could add about 21 million cubic feet per day of output, with early production coming on line as early as 2020 or 2021. Repsol Chief Executive Antonio Brufau said at the ceremony that he expected the Iniguazu project to go well: "As there is existing infrastructure (near Iniguazu), if the exploration phase succeeds, we will be able to supply gas to the market very fast." Morales said he expected that project alone to bring in $900 million of investments. Repsol, Shell, Pan American and YPFB last year extended a previous contract to produce gas at the Capipendi fields for 15 more years until 2046, involving a $980 million investment. The blocks produce some 8.6 million cubic meters per day of gas. (Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Richard Chang) FILE PHOTO: A sign is seen outside a Thomas Cook shop in central London, November 26, 2014. REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett/File Photo (Reuters) By Alistair Smout LONDON (Reuters) - Travel group Thomas Cook reported lower profit margins in its British business due to tough competition in Spain, sending its shares down more than 10 percent and leaving it reliant on a recovery in Egypt and Turkey to ease the pressure. Tour operators and airlines have expanded capacity in Spain and other western Mediterranean destinations in response to security concerns in markets such as Tunisia, Egypt and Turkey. That has prompted a price war among tour operators serving Spain, while allowing hotels to increase prices that Thomas Cook must pay, squeezing margins from both sides. A weaker pound has made the situation more difficult. The company said that while bookings for next summer were at an early stage, better demand for trips to Egypt and Turkey in 2018 should help alleviate some of the margin pressure. "My experience tells me that (the Spanish market) is balancing out," Chief Executive Peter Fankhauser told reporters on Wednesday. "As soon as Turkey, Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean destinations (have) increased demand, the Spanish hoteliers will see that they will have to adapt their prices to level it out." Fankhauser said that 42 percent of holidays in summer 2017 were to Spain, but that should go down, with some capacity redirected into Egypt. The stock was down 10.9 percent at 0950 GMT, hitting its lowest level since July, after Thomas Cook said that margins in Britain were lower after four consecutive years of profit growth. Larger rival Tui was down 2 percent, the top FTSE 100 faller. STRONG START Underlying earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) were 330 million pounds in 2016-17, Thomas Cook said, a little ahead of an analyst consensus of 327 million pounds. The group said it was "well positioned" to achieve current market expectations for 2018, given strong early bookings for next summer. One positive element was the performance of the group's airline business, which improved profits by 24 million pounds in the year, helped by a recovery for German carrier Condor. Story continues Fankhauser said that the performance was especially encouraging in a year when Air Berlin, Monarch and Alitalia have all gone into administration, partly as a result of the intense competition in the industry. Analysts at Panmure Gordon said the UK business would be the focus for investors and detracted from the bright spots in its airline business and Europe. "Momentum in Condor and Continental Europe is encouraging, but UK profits and margins are down and commentary is more cautious than we would like to see given the challenging macro backdrop," analysts at Panmure Gordon said in a note. (Editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Keith Weir) University of Bristol students excavated a Viking camp dating to a winter in the 870s (PA) A Viking camp that dates back to the 870s has been been unearthed by archeologists in the small village of Repton in Derbyshire. The new discoveries were located at a campsite in the village, which has been known about since the 1970s. Techniques including ground penetrating radar were used to reveal evidence for workshops and ship repairs over a much larger area. A team from the University of Bristol also discovered structures, dating from the winter of 873-874, such as paths and possible temporary buildings. Excavations showed these to be gravel platforms that may have held temporary timber structures or tents. There were fragments of Saxon millstones and a cross fragment from the monastery, as well as broken pieces of weaponry including fragments of battle-axes and arrows. A fragment of an arrow head was unearthed at the Viking camp (PA) Evidence for metal working was discovered, as well as a substantial number of nails, the archaeologists said. Two of the nails had roves, a particular feature of Viking ship nails, as well as several lead gaming pieces. These were similar to those found in large numbers at the camp in Torksey, Lincolnshire, and appear to be connected to the early Viking armies. MOST POPULAR STORIES ON YAHOO UK TODAY Trumps tweets about Russia investigation could be an obstruction of justice Two WW2 machine guns handed in to police during firearms amnesty North Korea leader Kim Jong-Un has banned singing and drinking Rescued Papua New Guinea explorer denies it was all just a publicity stunt Loch Ness Monster is spotted for NINTH time this year as sightings soar Student, 19, who took legal high asked Is this real? before falling to his death Cat Jarman, a PhD student at the University of Bristol, said: Our dig shows there was a lot more to the Viking Camp at Repton than what we may have thought in the past. It covered a much larger area than was once presumed, at least the area of the earlier monastery, and we are now starting to understand the wide range of activities that took place in these camps. Story continues According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the Great Army moved to Repton in 873, driving the Mercian king Burghred from his kingdom. The discoveries were made in the small village of Repton (Geograph) Repton was partly chosen because of its location on the River Trent, but also due to a monastery that housed the remains of several Mercian kings. In 1975, archaeologists uncovered a D-shaped enclosure measuring 1.5 hectares on the banks of the river, believed to be the Viking camp. Some experts have recently considered the enclosure too small to house the Great Army as another Viking camp at Torksey covers around 26 hectares. The research also confirmed that a grave of almost 300 people fits a date of 873, and is consistent with the remains being Viking war dead. The results of the work will be featured in Digging For Britain on BBC Four at 9pm on Wednesday, presented by Professor Alice Roberts. (Updates prices) By Bruno Federowski SAO PAULO, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Brazilian stocks rose on Tuesday, touching a three-week high amid rising investor hopes that lawmakers will approve a plan to streamline the social security system, while the Mexican peso strengthened to its highest level in a month. Concerns over Brazilian President Michel Temer's ability to pass the controversial measure had spooked local markets following a smaller-than-expected show of support for the center-right president in a recent vote. But efforts by Temer to appease Brazilian lawmakers have rekindled expectations that the bill, seen as critical to boosting long-term growth, will be approved, even if the government needs to water it down to do so. Temer tapped an ally of House Speaker Rodrigo Maia as minister in a bid to garner more lawmakers' support, three sources told Reuters on Monday, further assuaging investor worries. "Signs of common ground between Temer and Maia suggest some sort of political compromise and real chances that the pension reform is approved," analysts at Lerosa Investimentos brokerage wrote in a client note. The benchmark Bovespa stock index rose 1.58 percent, with blue-chip shares such as lender Itau Unibanco Holding SA and miner Vale SA posting gains. In Mexico, the peso strengthened 1.06 percent, as the fifth round of talks to repurpose the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) drew to a close with major differences yet to be resolved, casting doubt on whether a deal could be reached by the end of March 2018 as planned. The 1994 agreement underpins much of the more than $1 trillion in annual trilateral trade between the United States, Mexico and Canada, but Washington's repeated threats to walk away from the pact unless it is reworked in the United States' favor have spooked markets. Canada and Mexico object to a series of contentious demands the United States unveiled during the fourth round last month and the three countries made little progress in Mexico City. The peso traded at 18.7905 pesos per dollar on Tuesday afternoon. Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 2107 GMT: Stock indexes Latest Daily YTD pct pct change change MSCI Emerging Markets 1,152.53 1.45 31.76 MSCI LatAm 2,813.48 1.8 18.07 Brazil Bovespa 74,594.61 1.58 23.86 Mexico IPC 48,190.23 0.7 5.58 Chile IPSA 5,199.04 2.42 25.24 Chile IGPA 26,150.52 2.13 26.12 Argentina MerVal 27,266.05 0.51 61.17 Colombia IGBC 10,822.33 0.04 6.85 Venezuela IBC 699.28 -0.06 -97.79 Currencies Latest Daily YTD pct pct change change Brazil real 3.2580 -0.19 -0.27 Mexico peso 18.7905 1.06 10.40 Chile peso 634.15 0.51 5.76 Colombia peso 2,992.75 0.51 0.29 Peru sol 3.236 0.06 5.50 Argentina peso (interbank) 17.4700 0.09 -9.13 Argentina peso (parallel) 18.07 0.11 -6.92 (Reporting by Bruno Federowski and Gabriel Stargardter; editing by G Crosse) See Also: Adya, 7, died of dengue at her house after being treated at Gurugram FMRI for 15 days. By Ajay Kumar: The high-end Fortis Memorial and Research Institute (FMRI), Gurugram, has come under the Union health ministry's scanner over the death of a seven-year-old dengue patient this September. Union health minister JP Nadda has taken the matter into consideration after the girl's family approached him complaining of negligence in Adya's treatment on the part of the hospital. Nadda has termed the incident unfortunate and asked the health secretary to look into it. "We have asked the hospital to submit a detailed report to the health ministry," Nadda said in Delhi. advertisement Adya died at her house on September 14 - the day her father decided to take her back from the hospital - as she was not showing any sign of recovery. Haryana health minister Anil Vij has asked Fortis to come clean on Adya's death. He has also asked the hospital to explain why it charged the girl's family a hefty amount of Rs 18 lakh. "We have directed the Gurugram civil surgeon to form a team to investigate this matter," Vij said. Gurugram civil surgeon BK Rajora has constituted a team of three doctors, headed by district malaria officer. Meanwhile, Jayant Singh, the father of the deceased has accused Gurugram Fortis of putting his daughter on ventilation without taking him into confidence. "The hospital had been negligent from day one. We suspect that my daughter had been provided wrong treatment. She did not show any sign of recovery for even a day," he alleged. Adya got admitted in Gurugram FMRI on August 31 after having suffered from severe dengue fever for five days and succumbed to the disease 15 days later. "After Adya's death, the hospital handed us a bill of Rs 18 lakh, of which Rs 4 lakh was charged for her medicines. The hospital mentioned in the bill that it had used 2,700 hand gloves and 500 injection syringes during her treatment," "It also charged us for her clothes, which are generally offered by the hospital," the father informed. Meanwhile, FMRI in its defence, has said, "She was suffering from severe dengue which progressed to dengue shock syndrome and was managed on IV fluids and supportive treatment as there was a progressive fall in platelet count and hemoconcentration. As her condition deteriorated, she had to be put on ventilation. The family was informed." "On September 14, the family decided to take her home against medical advice and she succumbed the same day," an FMRI statement read. It also claimed that all standard medical protocols were followed in treating Adya and all clinical guidelines were adhered to. WATCH VIDEO | Fortis Hospital charges Rs 16 lakh for 15-day dengue treatment --- ENDS --- advertisement By Rania El Gamal, Osamu Tsukimori and Dmitry Zhdannikov DUBAI/TOKYO/LONDON (Reuters) - Iraq has hired Japan's Toyo Engineering <6330.T> to help build a gas pipeline to Kuwait and a related petrochemical plant as Baghdad looks to reduce flaring and finish paying reparations owed for its 1990 invasion of its neighbour. The project, details of which have not been reported before, would allow Kuwait to diversify its gas imports in the wake a political crisis between Gulf states and major supplier Qatar. It would also deal a blow to Royal Dutch Shell , which aimed to be the dominant gas player in Iraq before relations with Baghdad soured following Shell's exit from large oil projects. "Iraq needs to urgently reduce gas flaring as it trails behind all targets it has promised the World Bank," said a senior industry source working on the project but not allowed to discuss it publicly. "The Kuwaiti gas project is a quick fix and an easy way to monetise gas resources." The World Bank, which has repeatedly made reducing gas flaring a condition of lending to Baghdad, did not respond to a request for immediate comment. Toyo is proposing to construct a gas pipeline and start deliveries after 2019, industry sources said. Toyo's chief financial officer, Kensuke Waki, told Reuters that talks about a pipeline and a petrochemical plant were ongoing but a final investment decision had not yet been made. Kuwait is very keen on the project and has offered a sovereign guarantee for up to 80 percent of the costs, industry sources said. No total cost has been announced. Kuwait's oil ministry did not respond to a request for immediate comment. Oil minister Issam Al-Marzouq said last month that talks between Kuwait and Iraq were focused on a proposal to use gas to help pay Baghdad's final $4.6 billion (3.4 billion) in war compensation payments. Iraqi oil ministry spokesman Asim Jihad said talks were focusing on price and confirmed that supplies could be used to help pay off reparations. Story continues DIFFERENCES OVER PRICE, PLANT Industry sources told Reuters the talks have faltered over price, however. They said Kuwait is pushing for a price of less than $3 per mbtu (million British thermal unit), in line with U.S. Henry Hub prices. But that is less than half what Iraq pays in the north when importing gas from neighbouring Iran. "The price of gas remains the key sticking point for now," one of the sources said. He also said both Iraq and Kuwait were pushing to have the petrochemical plant built on their territory to further capitalise on gas deliveries. Discussions with Iraq are ongoing, a senior Kuwaiti oil industry source with knowledge of the project said, adding that it was not yet clear if gas would come from West Qurna 2 operated by Russia's Lukoil or from Rumaila, operated by BP . Iraq used to supply Kuwait with gas from Rumaila. Volumes reached as much as 400 mcf per day but stopped shortly after the 1990 invasion. More than a million claimants in Kuwait have been paid as part of Baghdad's $52.4 billion reparations bill for the invasion. But Iraq, hurt by the 2014 fall in oil prices and its war with Islamic State militants, requested a delay on the last and largest tranche, which is due this year. CHALLENGE TO SHELL Kuwait, although one of OPEC's leading oil producers, has struggled to meet growing domestic gas demand. The shortfall has been estimated at 500 million cubic feet per day and is being covered mainly by LNG imports, including from Qatar. A decade ago Kuwait tried to build a pipeline from Qatar, but the move was blocked by Saudi Arabia. With relations between Riyadh and Doha worsening this year, Kuwait is looking to diversify its gas imports. Last year, Kuwait said it would be ready to buy up to 200 mcf/day of gas from Baghdad. Iraqi oil ministry spokesman Jihad said volumes could start at 50 mcf/d rising gradually to 200 mcf/d. Iraq's gas reserves of 3.7 trillion cubic metres rank as 12th largest in the world but represent only a tenth of those of Iran, the world's largest. It extracts large quantities of gas together with oil, however, and that gas is currently being flared. Iraqs gas development plans have long focused on the Basra gas company, a $17 billion, 25-year project in which Iraq has 51 percent, Shell owns 44 percent and Japans Mitsubishi Corp <8058.T> 5 percent. The project was designed to aggregate gas from fields in the south including West Qurna 1 operated by Exxon Mobil Corp , Zubair operated by Italy's ENI and BP's Rumaila. "Shell's main aim was always to develop an LNG terminal and ultimately a petchem complex in Iraq," said a Shell insider who worked on the gas project. With Iraq refusing to agree on a gas price with Shell, the project has hit a major impasse, industry sources said. Talks have also been complicated by Shell pulling out of the Majnoon oil fields earlier this year. "Iraq is furious at Shell and prospects don't look that great for the Basra gas company," one Iraqi industry source said. Asked about the negotiations, both Shell and the Iraqi oil ministry said discussions were ongoing and both sides remained committed to the project. (Additional reporting by Aaron Sheldrick and Ahmed Rasheed; writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov; editing by Jason Neely) By Steve Scherer ROME (Reuters) - A deal with Libya that has slashed the number of migrants reaching Italy could scupper the ruling centre-left Democratic Party's (PD) already dwindling hopes of staying in power next year as it is opposed by the PD's potential coalition partners. The deal, struck in February, is popular with the Italian public and with right-wing and anti-establishment parties now ahead in opinion polls, but it has drawn criticism from the United Nations, rights groups and many on Italy's left. Under the accord, Italy and the European Union pledged to finance migrant camps in Libya, and Rome also agreed to train the Libyan coastguard, part of a crackdown on migrants attempting the hazardous sea crossing to Europe. But the deal has also led to tens of thousands of migrants being trapped in Libya, where humanitarian groups say they are locked up in appalling conditions, bought and sold, and subjected to crimes on a daily basis. One politician who wants changes to the agreement is Emma Bonino, a former foreign minister in a centre-left government. "I've always criticised this agreement with Libya. It's a cork in a bottle that cannot hold," Bonino told Reuters. "Italians have the perception that they are being invaded by Muslim foreigners. It's not true. Fear is fantastic for winning elections, but it's simply useless for controlling migration." Bonino is considering forming a pro-EU party with other left-leaning figures that could support the PD ahead of next year's national election, which must be held by May. In other criticism of the Libya deal, Giulio Marcon, the top lawmaker in the lower house for the Italian Left party, said: "We cannot be complicit in migrant push backs." Left-wing voters hold humanitarian values dear, said Marcon, whose party has so far refused an alliance with the PD. ANTI-IMMIGRANT PARTIES GAINING The PD needs the support of other parties, on the left in particular. It trailed the populist 5-Star Movement in a recent poll with 24 percent to 29 percent, while a centre-right coalition that includes the anti-immigrant Northern League, Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia (Go Italy!) and the far-right Brothers of Italy has combined support totalling about 36 percent. Story continues The deal with Libya, modelled on a similar one struck between the EU and Turkey, has been successful in reducing the flow of migrants into Italy, with arrivals down by about a third so far this year compared to the same period in 2016. In October alone arrivals were down about 80 percent from a year earlier. Ordinary Italians, alarmed by the arrival of some 600,000 migrants in the past four years, have welcomed the trend. An SWG poll this month showed two thirds of Italians do not want more immigrants, fearing they will take away jobs and increase crime. The Northern League, tapping into the anti-immigrant mood, has seen its popularity more than double to about 15 percent in three years. Its leader, Matteo Salvini, has accused "fake refugees" of "invading" Italy and bringing crime with them. Not to be outdone, the 5-Star Movement's candidate for prime minister, Luigi Di Maio, this summer accused charity ships rescuing migrants piled onto overcrowded and unseaworthy boats of being a "taxi service". Under the February deal, Libya's coastguard has so far picked up about 20,000 migrants, including refugees. They are then forced into detention centres where they can be held indefinitely. Last week the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights condemned the EU's support for the Libyan coastguard as "inhuman" because intercepted migrants were imprisoned and subjected to "unimaginable horrors". Former U.N. secretary-general and Nobel Peace Prize winner Kofi Annan said the Libya deal suggested Italy was complicit in a breach of the Geneva Convention, which says refugees cannot be returned to a place where they may be persecuted. "Under the Convention, you cannot push them (refugees) back. But if you make an arrangement with somebody else to keep them from moving, in a way you are complicit," Annan said during a trip to Rome this month. ($1 = 0.8530 euros) (Additional reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Gareth Jones) This is the shocking moment a solider defecting from North Korea was shot five times by his former comrades as he raced to the border with the South. The video shows the soldier speeding down a tree-lined road in a vehicle as shocked North Korean soldiers begin to run after him. He then crashes the jeep into a ditch near the border before his former comrades run towards him, firing handguns and AK rifles at him. The defector was shot at by North Korean soldier as he ran towards the border with the South (AP) One of the soldiers can be seen rushing across the line that divides the North and the South before running back to the northern side. South Korean soldiers then crawl up to the defector, who fell injured into a pile of leave before he was dragged to safety. A UN Command helicopter later transported the defector to the Ajou University Medical Centre near Seoul. MOST POPULAR STORIES ON YAHOO UK TODAY Trumps tweets about Russia investigation could be an obstruction of justice Two WW2 machine guns handed in to police during firearms amnesty North Korea leader Kim Jong-Un has banned singing and drinking Rescued Papua New Guinea explorer denies it was all just a publicity stunt Loch Ness Monster is spotted for NINTH time this year as sightings soar Student, 19, who took legal high asked Is this real? before falling to his death After undergoing two surgeries last week to repair internal organ damage and other injuries, the soldier is now conscious and no longer relies on a breathing machine, according to hospital official Shin Mi-jeong. While his condition is improving, doctors plan to keep him at the intensive care unit for at least several more days to guard against possible infections. While treating the wounds, surgeons removed dozens of parasites from the soldiers ruptured small intestine, including presumed roundworms that were as long as 27cm, a sign of poor nutrition and health in North Koreas military. The soldier sped towards the border in a jeep before crashing (AP) North Koreas actions during the defectors escape at Panmunjom violated the armistice agreement that ended the 1950-53 Korean War because North Korean soldiers fired across and physically crossed the border in pursuit of the soldier, according to US Colonel Chad G Carroll. Story continues Panmunjom is inside the two-and-a-half-mile-wide Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) that is jointly overseen by the American-led UN Command and by North Korea. It is guarded by mines, barbed wire fences, tank traps and combat troops on both sides, making any defection a risky venture. The Demilitarised Zone stands between North and South Korea (Rex) The latest defection will be a huge embarrassment for the North, which claims all defections are the result of Seoul kidnapping or enticing North Koreans to defect. About 30,000 North Koreans have fled to South Korea, mostly via China, since the end of the Korean War. Logged trees are seen after logging at one of the last primeval forests in Europe, Bialowieza forest, Poland August 29, 2017. Sign reads "More than 100 years". REUTERS/Kacper Pempel WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland reacted coolly to a warning it could incur fines for continuing to log in the Bialowieza forest, a UNESCO World Heritage site, saying on Tuesday its actions were lawful. The Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice (ECJ) said on Monday Poland would be fined 100,000 euros ($117,360.00) a day if it did not stop large-scale logging in the ancient forest straddling the border between Poland and Belarus. The court also reiterated its July stance that Poland must stop the logging immediately pending a final ruling in a case the EU's Brussels-based executive brought before the tribunal. Speaking to radio Wnet in the government's first response to the court, environment minister Jan Szyszko did not make clear whether Poland planned to halt logging to avoid the fine, but added: "We fulfil the tribunal's recommendations 100 percent." "We will be doing everything to avoid the fines," Poland's Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski told radio RMF. The row feeds into a wider clash between the EU and its biggest eastern member where the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party is accused of undermining democratic standards, including weakening judicial independence. When asked at a conference whether Poland would stop logging in Bialowieza to avoid the fines, Szyszko replied "Why are you talking about logging?" and did not provide a clear answer. HEAVY EQUIPMENT Szyszko considers "logging" as unsuitable description of state-approved actions in Bialowieza. The ministry has referred to "sanitary cutting" or "actions taken" in the forest. The minister also said there is no risk Poland will have to pay the fine as it observes EU law and the court's decision. Szyszko reiterated that the actions in Bialowieza were aimed only at guaranteeing the safety of visitors. Konrad Tomaszewski, the head of State Forests, a state-run company managing most of Polish forests, said it had decided to stop using heavy vehicle-born cutting equipment to cut down trees in Bialowieza as they were no longer needed. Story continues Szyszko approved a tripling of the quota of wood that can be harvested in one of three administrative areas of the Bialowieza Forest in March 2016, triggering environmentalists' protests and dividing Polish society. He has argued that it would help stop a beetle outbreak unseen in decades that harms spruce and ensure the safety of people strolling in the forest, where trees have been weakened. Katarzyna Jagiello from Greenpeace told reporters in front of the ministry's building that trees from the Bialowieza Forest continued to be "logged, taken away and sold." About 180,000 cubic metres were cut in Bialowieza Forest this year, equivalent to 400 percent of average annual logging volumes there, said Adam Bohdan from Wild Poland Foundation. But Tomaszewski said this year's harvesting had been one of the smallest in the past years and is in line with the plan approved by Szyszko. ($1 = 0.8521 euros) (Reporting by Agnieszka Barteczko, Editing by William Maclean; Additional reporting by Pawel Florkiewicz) OSLO (Reuters) - Ex-Bosnian Serb general Rakto Mladic's conviction for war crimes did not come as a surprise, Serbia's prime minister said on Wednesday. "We need to look to the future, so we finally have a stable country," Ana Brnabic told reporters during a visit to Oslo. "We need to leave the past behind," she said. A U.N. tribunal convicted Mladic of genocide and crimes against humanity for orchestrating massacres and ethnic cleansing during Bosnia's war and sentenced him to life in prison. (Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis, writing by Terje Solsvik; Editing by Toby Chopra) A villager looks at Mount Agung following a phreatic eruption in Rendang Village, Karangasem, Bali, Indonesia November 22, 2017. REUTERS/Johannes P. Christo (Reuters) JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's Mount Agung volcano in Bali has let out a puff of black smoke and ash in a small eruption, prompting Singapore to advise its citizens to be ready to evacuate the holiday island at short notice amid concern about a bigger eruption. Authorities have not changed the alert status on Agung, which remains at one level below the highest and there have been no reports of flight cancellations. "Singaporeans should defer non-essential travel to the affected areas of the island at this juncture," Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a travel notice on Wednesday. "You should also be ready to evacuate at short notice." Eruptions could result in ash clouds that could "severely disrupt air travel", it said. Agung looms menacingly over eastern Bali at a height of just over 3,000 metres (9,842 feet). It last erupted in 1963, killing more than 1,000 people and razing several villages. Indonesia has nearly 130 volcanoes, more than any other country. Many of them show high levels of activity but it can be months before an eruption. A spokesman for Indonesia's National Disaster Mitigation agency, said via a text message that there had been a "phreatic eruption" late on Tuesday with black smoke reaching 700 metres (2,300 ft), followed by falling ash, gravel and sand. "These types of eruptions called phreatic are the product of rock that already exists being shattered violently when water heated by the rising magma under Agung quickly turns to steam," according to a blog post on the Discovermagazine.com website. The disaster agency recommended against any activity within 6-7.5 km (3.7-4.6 miles) of the crater. It said that 29,245 people were staying in 278 evacuation camps. At one stage, after authorities put Agung's alert status at the highest level of four in September, more than 130,000 people left their homes. The alert level was lowered to three on Oct. 29. Story continues Australia left its travel advice unchanged and told citizens to "monitor local media reports, follow the instructions of local authorities, and stay outside the existing exclusion zone". Bali, famous for its surf, beaches and temples, attracted nearly 5 million visitors last year, but business has slumped in areas around the volcano since September when Agung's volcanic tremors began to increase. Tourism, a cornerstone of Bali's economy, is Indonesia's fourth-biggest earner of foreign currency after natural resources like coal and palm oil. (Reporting by Jessica Damiana; Writing by Ed Davies; Editing by Robert Birsel) The hospital medical bills show that the large quantities of gloves and syringes were used during the 15 days of treatment. By Anand Patel: Ever since the tragic story of seven-year-old Adya who died due to dengue at Fortis hospital in Gurugram came into the fore, the hospital has been receiving a lot of flak on social media for billing the family of the deceased Rs 16 lakhs. The hospital medical bills show that the large quantities of gloves and syringes were used during the 15 days of treatment. Experts allege that hospitals are maximizing use of medical consumables with high profit margins. Medical bills of Adya Singh show that a total of 660 syringes and 2700 gloves were used. advertisement The family of the deceased baby girl had to shell out a total of Rs 2.73 lakhs for the medical consumables. The hospital made her parents pay for the medical consumables at MRP. However, documents with India Today suggest these are available to the hospital at a much cheaper price. Comparison of ex-factory price and MRP shows sterilized gloves (powdered) are available at ex-factory price of Rs 9.61 (per pair) but MRP is Rs 49. Sterilized gloves (powder free) come at ex-factory price of Rs 20 (per pair), while MRP Rs 75. Similarly, examination gloves have ex-factory price of Rs 1.55 but its MRP is kept at Rs 5.00. In the case of disposable syringe (5 ML with needle), documents show they are available in the ex-factory price range of Rs 1.40 to Rs 1.80 + 12% GST but their MRP ranges between Rs 6.50 to Rs 23.00. Another important medical consumable, the intravenous set that comes at ex-factory price between Rs 3.50 to Rs 9.50 +12% GST but the MRP is kept between Rs 35 to Rs 115. Similarly, the intravenous cannula (20G) comes with ex-factory price range between Rs 4.60 to Rs 25 + 12% GST but the MRP is Rs 102 to Rs 132. The Modi government has already given relief to millions of heart patients by capping price of heart stents and Orthopedic devices. But activists are demanding price capping for medical consumables as well. Health activist Malini Aisola told India Today, "We have been saying this all along that there needs to be price regulation for medical devices. The current list of medical devices that include syringes, gloves, there is a critical need to cap the prices of these. Just like in the case of syringes, the ex factory price is just Rs 2 but its MRP is Rs 20. So those are the margins involved." The medical device industry is also demanding rationalization of prices to stop this unfair trade practice. Rajiv Nath of the Association of Indian Medical Device Industry said, "Hospitals are buying medical devices from those manufacturers who keep high MRP of their products despite low Ex factory prices. This is nothing but profiteering at the cost of patients, this practice is putting a lot of pressure on other manufacturers to do the same." advertisement The Alliance of Doctors for Ethical Healthcare has called the Fortis episode an act of criminal medical extortion. The association has been fighting for rationalization of MRPs of Drugs and Medical consumables keeping in view the ex factory cost. Watch the video below: SHOCKING: Fortis Hospital charges Rs 16 lakh for 15-day dengue treatment --- ENDS --- The woman was arrested shortly after a sheriff posted this image (Facebook) A woman who was targeted by a Texan sheriff for displaying an anti-Trump sticker on her car has said she is considering legal action. Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls posted a photo on Facebook of Karen Fonsecas truck with a sticker on the back reading F TRUMP AND F YOU FOR VOTING FOR HIM. If you know who owns this truck or it is yours, I would like to discuss it with you, Nehls wrote in a post, which has since been deleted. Our Prosecutor has informed us she would accept Disorderly Conduct charges regarding it, but I feel we could come to an agreement regarding a modification to it. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) responded: No, Sheriff Troy E Nehls, you cant prosecute speech just because it contains words you dont like. The owner of this truck should contact the ACLU of Texas. No, Sheriff Troy E. Nehls, you can't prosecute speech just because it contains words you don't like.The owner of this truck should contact the ACLU of Texas. Posted by ACLU on Wednesday, November 15, 2017 The day after Nehls made the post, Fonseca was arrested on an outstanding felony warrant. She was released later that day on $1,500 bond, according to The Washington Post. But at a news conference Monday, Fonseca said she is considering launching lawsuit against Nehls. The trucks owner Karen Forsenca (KPRC2) Im just one person, she said. But if I can be used as bait for Troy Nehls to try to gain supporters for him in his upcoming race for Congress against Pete Olson, then this is how the system works: Pick on the people who are vulnerable and step in and turn their lives around for gain. Fonsecas attorney, Brian Middleton, that Nehls acted like a cyber bully in his Facebook post. Fonseca is accusing Nehls of violating her civil rights for political gain. It is protected speech, he said. Anyone who has a sticker like that is within their rights. He acted like a cyber bully and threatened her with prosecution. According to BuzzFeed, Nehls office will not be charging Fonseca with disorderly conduct. Story continues Fort Bend County District Attorney John Healey told the New York Post that the sticker does not meet the elements of the crime of disorderly conduct. I dont believe it does, nor did a select group of prosecutors in my office who reviewed the matter, he said. SARAJEVO (Reuters) - The U.N. war crimes tribunal for former Yugoslavia delivers its verdict on Wednesday in the trial of Ratko Mladic, the ex-Bosnian Serb military commander charged with genocide and crimes against humanity in Bosnia's 1992-95 war. Here is a timeline of events leading to his arrest as well as important aspects of his trial: 1995 July 25 - The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) indicts Mladic and wartime Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the laws and customs of wars. Nov. 21 - The United States brokers the Dayton Accords that formally end Europe's worst conflict since World War Two, with 100,000 dead and 2 million homeless. A NATO-led force deploys in the shattered country to secure implementation of the deal. Late 1990s - Mladic is believed to move to neighbouring Serbia to avoid possible capture by international forces in Bosnia. Occasional reports surface of Mladic appearing in public in Belgrade. Karadzic also moves secretly to Serbia. 2000 - Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic is toppled by a pro-democracy uprising and successor authorities hand the former strongman over to the ICTY in 2001 for trial. ICTY Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte renews demand for arrest of Mladic and Karadzic. 2006 - A Serbian military intelligence report discloses that Mladic was using army premises until mid-2002. The European Union suspends talks on relations with Serbia over its failure to arrest war crimes fugitives including Mladic and Karadzic. March 11, 2006 - Milosevic dies in his prison cell before his trial can be completed. 2008 - Serbian authorities arrest a disguised Karadzic and extradite him to the ICTY in The Hague. 2010 June 16 - Mladic's family launch court proceedings in Serbia to declare him dead, saying he had been in poor health and they had had no contact with him for over five years. Oct. 28 - Serbia raises reward for information leading to the arrest of Mladic to 10 million euros (8.86 million). Story continues 2011 May 26 - Mladic is arrested at the farmhouse of a relative in a small town in northern Serbia. May 29 - Serbian nationalists assault police at a Belgrade rally where about 10,000 people demand the fall of the government over Mladic's arrest. May 31 - Serbia extradites Mladic to the ICTY. June 3 - Mladic appears at an ICTY hearing, calling the charges against him "obnoxious" and "monstrous words". He declines to enter a plea, saying he needs more time to study the charges. Judge Alphons Orie schedules a new hearing for July 4. July 4 - Judge Alphons Orie removes Mladic from the courtroom after he refuses to listen to the charges against him. Orie enters a not-guilty plea on Mladic's behalf on all 11 charges against him. 2012 May 16 - Mladic's trial begins. July 9 - The first witness, a survivor of a 1992 massacre, confronts Mladic and breaks down in tears as he tells the court about the last time he saw his father, one of 150 Muslim men killed by Bosnian Serb forces in the village of Grabovica. 2013 April 10 - Mladic gets removed from court for challenging harrowing testimony from a survivor of the July 1995 massacre in Srebrenica of 8,000 Muslim men and boys by Bosnian Serb forces. 2014 Jan. 28 - Mladic appears as a witness against his will in the trial of Karadzic and sidesteps questions from his old ally. April 5 - The ICTY upholds a life sentence against Zdravko Tolimir, the former head of Bosnian Serb military intelligence who reported directly to Mladic, for genocide over his role in the Srebrenica massacre. 2016 March 24 - The ICTY convicts Karadzic of genocide for the Srebrenica massacre, the worst atrocity in Europe since World War Two, and sentences him to 40 years. 2016 December - Prosecution and defence teams deliver closing arguments in Mladic's trial. Prosecutors demand life in prison for Mladic for the execution-style killings of Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica and their burial in mass graves, the long siege and bombardment of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, and "ethnic cleansing" of Muslims and Croats in other areas. Defence lawyers argue that Mladic never ordered the Srebrenica killings and say the case against him was systematically biased. 2017 March - Mladic's lawyers seek his provisional release, arguing he is not getting adequate medical treatment at the U.N. detention centre in The Hague. Prosecutors argue against this. May 11 - Judges reject Mladic's requests for provisional release. They will reject his appeals and similar requests for release on medical grounds regularly through November. Nov. 22 - Verdict and potential sentencing. (Reporting by Maja Zuvela in Sarajevo and Toby Sterling in The Hague; editing by Mark Heinrich) KAMPALA (Reuters) - Uganda on Wednesday denied its foreign minister had engaged in corrupt activities with a Hong Kong man who has been charged with bribery and other violations by U.S. authorities. Chi Ping Patrick Ho, 68, who heads the China Energy Fund Committee (CEFC), a charity based in Hong Kong and the U.S. state of Virginia, was charged with violating the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Ho was accused of among other issues of being involved with bribes and promises of other benefits to Sam Kutesa, Uganda's foreign affairs minister, in exchange for promises of business contracts for an unnamed Chinese firm. Kutesa is also a former president of the U.N. General Assembly. The Ugandan foreign ministry said the "interaction and engagement" that Kutesa had with Ho was "in fulfilment of his official functions as president of the U.N. General Assembly". "It is therefore erroneous to insinuate or infer that Hon. Sam Kutesa, from references made to him and CEFC...is linked to the bribery allegations," a statement said. Ho's attorney has declined to comment to Reuters on the charges. (Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; editing by Jeremy Gaunt) Fluorspar developer Tertiary Minerals updated the market on Thursday, on the progress of the mine permit appeal process for its Storuman fluorspar project in Sweden. The AIM-traded company said, subsequent to the update it provided on 13 December in the annual report, it has now been informed by the Swedish Government that the case has been referred to the Swedish Mining Inspectorate for reassessment taking the new case law of the Norra Karr Mine Permit into account. It said the reassessment will now include the impact that mining activity may have on its surroundings. Taking into account that new case law, Tertiarys board said it believes that the re-assessment is the preferred route for the case at this stage in the process and that the Environmental Impact Assessment prepared by Tertiary and selected Swedish consultants provides a sufficient description of the expected environmental impact on the wider area based on the extensive and detailed baseline environmental studies and reindeer husbandry impact analysis completed. Once the case file has been received by the Swedish Mining Inspectorate, the company said it will continue to co-ordinate closely with them and will update the market accordingly as and when significant news is available. We are pleased to see progress is being made, said managing director Richard Clemmey. [We] are confident that the quality and extent of our EIA coupled with the expected continued support from key stakeholders in the project will provide support for a positive outcome for Tertiary in this process. Tell us more You are seeing these quotes based on previous browsing related to sectors such as Theresa May's Big Brexit Speech in Florence may dominate the narrative on Friday, though for traders and investors there's PMI surveys and one from the CBI, with results from Sage and Smiths Group. With the big central bank policy meetings now out of the way, said Deutsche Bank's Jim Reid, May's speech "feels like the next significant hurdle for markets". Analyst Kathleen Brooks at City Index said the importance of this speech cannot be over-emphasized: "When UK PM Theresa May takes to the stage in Florence on Friday to give her lauded Brexit speech, she had better deliver. Not only will the eyes of the world and the financial market be upon her, but this speech has held up the fourth round of Brexit negotiations by a week." Ahead of May's Italian sermon, reports and rumours were swirling about what sort of offers or concessions she was likely to make in order to get stalled Brexit talks back on track. Having this month stressed that while European Commission has appointed Michel Barnier to negotiate the exit with the UK, "the decision will be taken by leaders, suggesting the speech will be directed over the Frenchman's head to the leaders of the 27 other EU member states. One strong rumour is that the address will push for Chancellor Philip Hammond's 'status quo transition' of up to two years, while preventing freedom of movement remains a core tenet to guide what post-Brexit model the UK will pursue. This followed reports earlier in the week that May will offer the EU 20bn to help plug the post-Brexit hole in the bloc's budget, though previous estimates of a so-called divorce bill from the bloc pointed to liabilities of about 60bn. "We expect it to focus on the UKs future relationship with the EU, rather than on the financial settlement associated with the UKs exit from the EU," said RBC Capital Markets. HSBC said that for a status quo transition, where the UK remains in the single market and the customs union for the duration of the transition phase, "the PM might also use her speech to say that a significant financial settlement is a moral if not legal obligation for the UK. "Whether this would then be enough for the EC to decide at its 19 October meeting that the UK has made enough progress to move onto the next phase of talks, will depend on the success of the two final rounds [on 25 September and 9 October]." HSBC thinks that moving onto the next phase, to discuss the UKs future relationship with the EU, including any possible transition arrangement, would likely increase market optimism about a deal being done by March 2019. City Index's Brooks noted that the EUR/GBP has been in consolidation mode and GBP/USD has also hesitated, which she says suggested markets are waiting for Mays speech before they make their next sterling move. "This speech will be a good indicator of whether the UK government has shifted its stance from a hard Brexit to a softer approach, which means that the outcome of the speech could be a binary one for the pound: a softer approach is pound positive, while a hard Brexit could send the pound tumbling once again." ECONOMIC DATA May's speech is certainly going to see the GBP-EUR whipsawing about on Friday, while 'flash' purchasing managers' index (PMI) surveys on services and manufacturing for the eurozone and constituent countries will also have some influence on the single currency. Survey compiler Markit also will publish US services and manufacturing PMIs later in the day. For the eurozone, the composite PMI remained unchanged at 55.7 in August and for September's 'flash' survey' services is expected to remain at 54.7 last time and manufacturing give up some of its earlier gains to 57.1 from 57.4 to bring the flash measure down to 55.5. With forward-looking components a mixed bag last time, with manufacturing new orders increased but services new business component decreased further, HSBC said it expected manufacturing PMI to ease a little and for the services PMI should continue its downward trend to 54.4. COMPANY NEWS Smiths Group, the FTSE 100 diversified industrial group, is due to publish final results. In the first half of the year, to end-March, underlying revenue was flat but up 18% on a reported basis and operating profits up 8% on an underlying basis and 27% on a reported basis as currencies provided a benefit. As in recend periods the over group was solid as poor oil market conditions for the John Crane business were offset by other divisions. The Medical devices division is expected to be helped by new products while US construction should boost its Flex-Tek arm, while the Detection business is exposed to counter-terrorism and government budgets. Key numbers to look for will be Medical organic growth after the 2% fall in the first half, said broker Numis, with Detection margins 17.0% in H1 assisted by contract deliveries but likely to have drifted a little in the second half. John Crane's recovery is expected to be limited, the broker said, given its oil and gas exposure is predominantly an aftermarket business. "Outside issues include further corporate restructuring of the portfolio, asbestos/Titeflex liabilities and how the investment for growth is going. "Most interesting elements will not be to do with the numbers; i) any news on new CFO given the abrupt departure of Chris OShea, ii) How the Morpho integration is going and iii) how the new product introductions in Medical are lining up." Interim results are also due from Saga. "An optimist would say that Saga is one of a select few companies so dominant in its field that its name has slipped into everyday vernacular," said analysts at Hargreaves Lansdown. "While Google has to settle for being a verb, Saga is aiming to become a way of life for their customers. Unfortunately, this is where the pessimists view of the company differs. Maybe due to its over 50s profile, Saga has never commanded the aspirational image it might like." "Nevertheless, with the baby-boomers hitting retirement, the number of potential customers fitting the affluent pensioner profile is increasing. In these results, well be looking out for customer growth in the key insurance division, and also for signs the group is making headway with its plans to better cross-sell its numerous services." Numis is house broker to the FTSE 250 group and expects underlying PBT for the half to be broadly flat on the comparative period, which it felt would be consistent with Saga meeting implied full year growth guidance of 5-6%. "The new strategic initiatives announced with the final results at the end of March this year are still young and are therefore unlikely to impact these results. "Instead we expect the interim results to show a continuation of the key trends from last year. Specifically the main profit growth driver is likely to be the cruise and holidays segment. In contrast, headline performance of the insurance business is likely to be dampened by a reduction in reserve releases as per previous guidance. A likely key area of interest for the market will be whether the new motor broking panel is driving overall motor insurance customer growth or merely migrating existing customers from being underwritten in-house to underwritten externally. Friday September 22 UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS CBI Distributive Trades Surveys (11:00) INTERIMS Saga INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Anglo American, Clarkson, FDM Group (Holdings), Henderson Opportunities Trust, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Hostelworld Group , Ibstock , Low & Bonar, LPA Group, Marshall Motor Holdings, National Express Group, Paddy Power Betfair, Polypipe Group , Rotork, Stock Spirits Group , Vesuvius, Virgin Money Holdings (UK) QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE Alpha Real Trust Ltd., BP, Real Estate Credit Investments Ltd, UIL Limited (DI) FINALS Smiths Group AGMS Accrol Group Holdings, Sirius Real Estate Ltd. FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Best of the Best, Dixons Carphone , FIH Group , JPMorgan Brazil Inv Trust , Miton UK Microcap Trust, Solid State, SSE, Supergroup Swiss pharmaceutical manufacturer Lonza Group has agreed to buy US capsule products maker Capsugel for $5.5bn in cash from KKR. The deal, which is expected to close in the second quarter of next year, will be financed with a combination of debt and equity financing. Chief executive officer Richard Rindinger said: The acquisition of Capsugel meets Lonzas strategic and financial goals. It accelerates our healthcare continuum strategy by giving us broader exposure to the fast-growing pharma and consumer healthcare markets. We expect the transaction to be accretive to our core earnings per share in the first full year post closing. This new integrated approach will benefit our customers, who will gain from the simplicity and efficiency of working with one company that can provide world-leading support from APIs to excipients and dosage forms. The combined business will allow us to partner with our customers to help them bring highly differentiated products to market more quickly and efficiently. Lonza anticipates that the deal will be accretive to its core earnings per share from the first full year after closing and said it intends to retain its current dividend policy. It expects to achieve operating synergies of around CHF30m per year, which are expected to be realised by year three, in the areas of corporate, procurement and IT, as well as various efficiency gains. In addition, the group sees tax synergies of around CHF15m a year. At 0955 GMT, Lonza shares were down 6.6% to CHF158.40. Shares in Hastings Group spiked on Wednesday afternoon after the insurer confirmed that Rand Merchant Investment was acquiring a 29.9% stake. RMI, which will be able to nominate a director for appointment to the board of the FTSE 250 company, has agreed to buy the shares from Hastings Investco and certain individual shareholders for a total of between roughly 487.3-499.5m. The board of Hastings hailed an investment that will make RMI its largest shareholder once the purchases are complete, which is expected to become effective by no later than 30 April next year. Chief executive Gary Hoffman welcome RMI's CEO Herman Bosman, who will be the first appointed representative. "RMI has a number of investments in insurance businesses in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and the UK. Given this experience, Hastings will look to explore potential areas of cooperation with RMI and OUTsurance in the future that would accelerate execution of our existing strategy including in the areas of home, data analytics, mobile propositions and operational efficiencies." Hastings shares were up 5% at 232.32p by 1540 GMT on Wednesday. By India Today Web Desk: This story was based on a post by a woman who claimed to be Gal Gadot's former roommate and a rape survivor. The post titled 'Here's How Gal Gadot Actually Responded When Her Friend Raped Me' was removed from the website it was first published on. A cached version of the post can be found here. --- ENDS --- advertisement Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca confirmed disappointing news to investors on Thursday, with updated guidance from US regulators recommending against its FluMist Quadrivalent influenza vaccine. The FTSE 100 firm said the updated guidance from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended against FluMist for the 2016-2017 flu season. It was based on CDC vaccine effectiveness data from the last three flu seasons in the US, which indicated FluMist did not demonstrate statistically significant effectiveness in children aged between two and 17. The US CDC effectiveness data for 2015-2016 season contrast with studies by AstraZeneca as well as preliminary independent findings by public health authorities in other countries, AstraZenecas board said in a statement. As influenza vaccine effectiveness varies from season to season, it is evaluated in annual observational studies. The CDC states that when there is a good match between the strains in the vaccine and those that circulate during the influenza season, vaccines are typically 50-60% effective, it added. AstraZenecas board said it is working with the CDC to better understand its data to help ensure eligible patients continue to receive the vaccine in future seasons in the US. US product sales of FluMist Quadrivalent in the 2015 financial year amounted to $206m, with the updated recommendation from regulators expected to result in very limited US demand in the second half of 2016. The firm said it will take an inventory write-down of $80m in the second quarter of the year, though it maintained its full-year financial guidance. The distribution and use of the vaccine in other countries are progressing as planned for the forthcoming influenza season, pending the annual release process from relevant regulatory authorities, the board explained. By PTI: By Kunal Dutt New Delhi, Nov 22 (PTI) A global study on the hidden causes of deaths of children aged under five will soon be conducted in India, using "minimally-invasive" techniques and advanced laboratory methods, the ICMR chief said today. Soumya Swaminathan, Director-General of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said the study, titled Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance (CHAMPS), funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will start on a pilot-basis in a "month or two" in the country. advertisement "The idea behind this study is to try to understand the causes of death of children under the age of five. In most countries, including India, the maximum burden of premature mortality happens in children under five. "So, it is important to prevent that, in fact that whole world is now focussed on reducing that through various interventions such as vaccination, improving water, sanitation, access to antibiotics, but unless we understand what are the causes that are killing the children, we cant take preventive measures," she said. The ICMR chief, who will soon take charge as the Deputy Director General for Programmes, the World Health Organization in Geneva, said the study has already started in "South Africa, Mozambique and Mali". "It will now be done in Bangladesh and India. We will start the pilot very soon, in Safdarjung Hospital here, in a month or two, because the Ethics Committee approval, and everything, has been done," Swaminathan told PTI. As part of the study, the Centre-run hospital will act as the Expert Guidance Centre, where the paediatrics departments doctors will get trained, will be able to do further training. "An international team of experts will be coming, from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), Atlanta, in the US. And, the laboratory testing will be done in collaboration with the CDC," she added. This study will uses a lot of advanced laboratory methods, to uncover the "hidden causes of death", she said. "The study will be done through taking minimally-invasive tissue biopsies, tissue samples, after the child has died, like taking samples of vein, lung, liver, spleen, blood, and then do a number of microbiological and pathological investigations," the ICMR chief said. The National Institute of Pathology (NIP) at the Safdarjung Hospital will be the main institute involved i in the study. "After hospitals, we want to take it to the field areas, where there is a lot of child mortality, so that we can actually capture, ultimately the cause of deaths of children in the community. Also, we want to look at a large number of pathogens and disease conditions," she added. advertisement Swaminathan said the idea originated through discussions on global fora. "The fact that previous autopsy studies have shown quite surprising things. Most of these autopsy studies have been done in Africa. An autopsies are very difficult to do for many reasons. "And that is when they came up with this concept of minimally-invasive biopsies, which is more acceptable to the families, and easier to do also for doctors," she said. The ICMR chief, said though there is still a lot of reluctance socially, but "things are changing". "If you look at organ donation, more and more people are coming forward. So, it is the way you approach, tell the families the logic and the larger cause, that the child in the neighbourhood could be the next one, so a larger context is important," she added. According to the CHAMPS official website, "Every year, nearly six million children under the age of five die. Unfortunately, the causes of these deaths often remain a mystery due to gaps in disease surveillance, death registries and data to inform evidence-based policy, especially in low- resource countries, where mortality rates are the highest." PTI KND SMN SMN --- ENDS --- advertisement Not that the imagery isnt stirring. too the cinematographer is four-time Oscar nominee Bruno Delbonnel (Amelie). Director Joe Wright, 45, already staged Dunkirk in 2007s Atonement at least as well as Christopher Nolan did this year, so this film concentrates on the home front: jittery citizens staring up through bombed-out buildings that frame their terror, Churchills stricken face conveying the fear behind the public bravado. Nolan's and Wright's latest films make a perfect pair, one cerebral and visual, the other passionate and verbal as Wright says, Darkest Hour could be sold with Dunkirk as a boxed set. This Churchill doesnt start out powerful. Hes the despised oddball loser responsible for World War I's Gallipoli disaster, drunk and irritable at breakfast, defying the upper-class twits Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (Ronald Pickup) and the slyly reptilian Viscount Halifax (Stephen Dillane) who have the upper hand and plan to surrender to Hitler. Only political deadlock accidentally causes his appointment to the most important job on earth at the seemingly washed-up age of 65. Then begins the barrage of orotund oratory. Its a war of words, dramatized with theatrical flair, and the Surrender Brits seem more menacing than the Germans. Oldman rises exhilaratingly to the occasion, while suffering in private the most soul-scarring doubt in the cause he champions with such uncanny persuasiveness. In what should be a nothing role, Oscar nominee Kristin Scott Thomas, 57, makes Churchill's wife, Clementine, an indomitable, vivid figure in amazingly few scenes. As King George VI, Emmy winner Ben Mendelsohn (Bloodline), every inch the great actor that Oldman is, makes you forget all about Colin Firth and focus on the emotional duel that ends with the deeply self-doubting King Bertie as Churchills vital ally. Writer Anthony McCarten (The Theory of Everything) is great at fitting history into heroic formula drama, and Wright (Anna Karenina) has a gift for propulsive storytelling. He also has the weakness of staginess, so he won't likely collect an Oscar himself. Yet his vices are also his virtues: The not-historically-accurate scene where Churchill descends into the Underground and chats with ordinary Britons is totally on the nose, an obvious contrivance, with Churchill quoting Macaulay's rousing poem "How can man die better / Than facing fearful odds" and patriotic citizens chiming in with the next rousing lines. What a crock of audience manipulation. And how well it works! Still, nobody in Hollywood is raving about the movie the way they're raving about Oldman. He invested blood, toil, tears, sweat and over 220 hours in prosthetics and makeup devised by Kazuhiro Tsuji (who will likely win an Oscar on his third nomination). Oldman dld what one rival says Churchill did: "mobilized the English language and sent it into battle. And won. Director Spike Lee, 60, was just 29 in 1986 when he released his 86-minute debut film Shes Gotta Have It, the story of sex-loving, nonmonogamous Brooklyn artist Nola Darling, who juggles three boyfriends at the same time. It now has morphed into a 10-episode Netflix series Lees TV first premiering Nov. 23. If the film debuted today it mightve been his last because its notorious rape scene would be ruthlessly scrutinized in light of the nations sex-harassment scandals. But Lee tells AARP that he has done the story right this time, thanks to the love and smarts of a good woman. You made Shes Gotta Have It for $175,000 at 29. Have you learned anything since? If Ive not learned something between 1986 and 2017, I must be a true idiot. In 1986 I wasnt a husband or father, and I think Ive gotten much more mature in politics. People ask, is there one thing you would take back? My answer is, the rape scene. But it did occur in a context of making fun of hypocritical guys who behave like dogs but cant stand an independent ... Yeah, but-but-but. Theres no excuse for that rape! But ... No buts! There aint no rape in this show. Im not defending it, just the idea of exploring sex roles. Except for that one screwup Thats a big screwup! the film anticipated some of todays female free spirits on Girls or Scandal. Now you redo the story with the wisdom of age, more skill and your executive producer-wife Tonya Lewis Lees input. It was my wifes idea to do the show. Now is the time to revisit it. With Netflix and Amazon and everybody, theres room to do stuff that cable and network TV dont. Not even movies. She watches TV; I dont, except for sports. She has been very impactful on my portrayal of women. She will pull my coattails. Are there more Nola Darlings today? Oh, there are way more than back in the day, but women like Nola are still ahead of their time. Some feminists complained that Nola was a guy imagining himself into a womans head. It was the opposite, about how men thought about women, not how Nola thought about the men. She was living her life sexually as they do, and they have a problem with it. Is the show more focused on Nola (DeWanda Wise)? In each and every way, Nola is the focus of all 10 episodes. I direct all 10. DeWanda carries the whole show on her broad black shoulders. We have a bigger canvas to dig deeper into her character, and the others, and new themes like gentrification in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. If youd rather walk through fire than go to an actual brick-and-mortar store Friday, you might want to search for the best sales online with the help of a new browser. Mike Catania, chief technology officer at PromotionCode.org, told the Today show: Dynamic [customer-based] pricing has spread from travel to retail over the past year, and consumers are not going to be on the prevailing side of it. A website can detect previous visits and browsing patterns from your cookies, and couple those data points against internal records to determine how much it thinks youre willing to pay. Catania advises consumers to use the Google Chrome browser and an incognito window for holiday shopping. So besides Kohls, what other stores are offering the best bargains? Good Housekeeping has put together a list of 37 best Black Friday deals everyone needs to know about. Here are just a few takeaways from the site. Ikea Starting on Black Friday, for every $100 Ikea gift card purchased online, youll receive a $20 Ikea eGift card. Furthermore, among the major discounts offered online on Thanksgiving Day, only Solsta sleeper sofas will sell for $100 and Franklin barstool prices will start at $20. Costco Although stores will be closed Thanksgiving Day, you can take advantage of sales in stores and online through Nov. 27. Deals include $50 off a Google Home and a Fitbit Charge 2, and $130 off a Dyson Ball Animal Upright vacuum. Discounts on TVs, laptops and Bluetooth speakers are also available. Sears Hours vary by location, but most stores will be open starting a 6 p.m. Thanksgiving Day. Discounts include 52 percent off Kenmore washer-dryer combos and 40 percent off French door refrigerators. Youll get an extra 10 percent off online purchases with the code SAVE10. Amazon The online powerhouse is offering a wide range of bargains through Nov. 25, including $20 off the Echo Dot, $30 off Echo Plus and $30 off Kindle Paperwhite. Target Targets Black Friday preview sale is already happening. Theres a wide array of deals being offered, including more than 2,000 toys priced at less than $20 a pop. You can also get 30 percent off bedding and bath items, and up to 20 percent off kitchen appliances and cookware. Head over to Good Housekeeping to read about other Black Friday sales. Happy shopping! | From writing code in Silicon Valley to making parts for planes in the heart of Kansas, older workers are finding their career ambitions thwarted by age discrimination. And theyre fighting back in court. Over the past 50 years, the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) and a strong network of state laws have protected the workplace rights of people over age 40 who legally could have been sidelined in the generations that came before. Flowers & Gifts Proflowers 25% off sitewide and 30% off select items View Details See All Benefits See more Flowers & Gifts offers > {"hideCategory":false,"useAlternateLanguage":false,"headlineIconAltText":"","listItems":[{"categoryTitle":"Flowers \u0026 Gifts","categoryUrl":"/benefits-discounts/?category\u003dshoppingandgroceries-flowersandgifts","categoryDeeplinkParam":"shoppingandgroceries-flowersandgifts","isLimitedTimeOffer":false,"offerJson":{"offer_id":"","offer_title":"25% Off Flowers, Plants \u0026 Gifts","offer_short_title":"","offer_short_description":"25% off sitewide and 30% off select items","featured_offer":"","last_updated_by":"","offer_description":"\u003cp\u003eAs an AARP member, you automatically save 25% sitewide or you can save 30% on select items with promo code AARP30. 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Discounts are applied to the standard retail prices set forth on the PROFLOWERS.COM website (standard retail prices shall not include sale prices) and are not available on: (a) product customizations including vases or product add-ons, or (b) service, shipping, delivery, care and handling fees (collectively, Service Fees), or any other fees and applicable taxes. The discount is available online and through the special toll-free number. Discounts cannot be combined. Quantities may be limited. Delivery for Floral and Gifting Items: For each item delivered by a local florist or shipped direct, a standard Service Fee will apply (the standard Service Fee is waived for ProPerks Icon members). Service Fees may be higher based on day of delivery or product type, or during high volume holiday periods. If an item is not available, a comparable substitute may be provided. Due to the perishable nature of our products, please make any customer service inquiries within 7 days of delivery. 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Come back again to check out all of the AARP Member Benefits and unlock the full power of membership.","ty_ctaText":"Continue","ty_socialMissionFlag":"","hideRestrictionsTab":"","hideLeavingAARP":"false","hide_lto":"","lto_model_heading":"Limited Time Member Offers","lto_model_heading_spanish":"Ofertas para socios por tiempo limitado","lto_advertisement":"Member Exclusive Advertisement","lto_advertisement_spanish":"Anuncios publicitarios exclusivos para socios","lto_daysleft":"Days Left","lto_daysleft_spanish":"Dias restantes","geoloc_experience_type":"full_location","geoloc_tab_label":"Locations","geoloc_tab_label_spanish":"Ubicaciones","geoloc_hide_tab":"true","geoloc_find_location_label":"Find a Location","geoloc_find_location_label_spanish":"Encuentre una ubicacion","geoloc_tab_hint_text":"Enter an address, city, or ZIP","geoloc_tab_hint_text_spanish":"Ingresa tu direccion, ciudad o codigo postal","geoloc_search_icon":"","geoloc_total_results_label":"Result(s)","geoloc_total_results_label_spanish":"Resultado(s)","geoloc_see_more_button_text":"See More","geoloc_see_more_button_text_spanish":"Ver mas","geoloc_see_more_label_text":"See More","geoloc_see_more_label_text_spanish":"Ver mas","geoloc_see_more_limit_option":"","geoloc_provider_link_cta":"Learn more about this benefit by visiting the provider website","geoloc_provider_link_cta_spanish":"Obtenga mas informacion sobre este beneficio visitando el sitio web del proveedor","geoloc_provider_link_cta_url":"","geoloc_provider_legal_info":"You will leave AARP.org and go to the website of a trusted provider. 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Three cases making their way through the courts could deliver answers to key questions about how much shelter the current age discrimination laws offer older workers. Can job seekers be rejected for having too much experience? Thanks to age discrimination laws, employers can no longer post want ads that say things like no one over the age of 55 need apply. But what about a job description that says candidates cant have more than a particular number of years of experience? Surprisingly even after five decades of antidiscrimination law its unclear whether job applicants are protected from tactics like these that arent explicitly discriminatory but seem highly likely to hurt older workers in practice. In 2014, Dale Kleber, an experienced attorney who was then 58, applied for a job as senior counsel at CareFusion, a medical device company in Illinois. When he wasnt granted an interview the company hired a 29-year-old instead Kleber filed an age discrimination suit, citing the job descriptions stated maximum of seven years of experience. In its response to the lawsuit, CareFusion stated that it set the cap based on the "reasonable concern" that a candidate with experience beyond the seven-year maximum would be dissatisfied with job responsibilities and would "lead to issues with retention." There are many reasons why an employer might not want to hire people who exceed the minimum qualifications for a job, but they shouldnt be ruled out arbitrarily, says Laurie McCann, who as a senior attorney at AARP Foundation Litigation is part of the legal team representing Kleber. To win, theyll have to first convince the court that the ADEA protects applicants, like Kleber, from age-neutral employer policies or practices that have an adverse impact on individuals age 40 and over an argument the district court rejected. The case is now before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago, with a ruling expected early next year. Events this week include an opera at NSU, Winterfest and Miss Aberdeen Looking for something to do this week, check out an opera at NSU, Winterfest or the Miss Aberdeen coronation. By PTI: New Delhi, Nov 22 (PTI) The Centre today approved setting up of Mahila Shakti Kendras across 115 most backward districts of the country for reaching out to rural women and facilitating skill development, employment, digital literacy, health and nutrition. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had first announced setting up of such kendras at 14 lakh anganwadi centres during his budget speech this year and allocated Rs 500 crore for the scheme. advertisement The Union cabinet has approved setting up of 920 Mahila Shakti Kendras at block-level in the 115 most backward districts, an official statement said. More than 3 lakh student volunteers from local colleges will be engaged in the process, while an association with NSS/NCC cadre students will also be explored, it said. The NDA-led central government has also approved expansion of the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme from 161 districts to 640 districts. The statement added that another 150 One Stop Centres will be set up to provide integrated services to survivors of sexual violence. PTI JC SRY --- ENDS --- WASHINGTON President Donald Trump and Russias Vladimir Putin discussed efforts to bring peace to war-torn Syria during an hour-plus phone call on Tuesday. Iran, North Korea and Ukraine also were on the agenda, the White House said. Trump called it a great call Tuesday afternoon as he left the White House to spend Thanksgiving in Florida. Noting the length, he said he and Putin spoke very strongly about bringing peace to Syria and very strongly about North Korea. Trumps phone call with the Russian president came a day after Putin met with Syrian President Bashar Assad. Putin hosted Assad at a Black Sea resort ahead of a summit later this week with Russia, Turkey and Iran. Assad was called to Russia to get him to agree to potential peace initiatives drafted by the other three countries, the Kremlin said. The Kremlin said Putin briefed Trump in the phone call about his talks with Assad and plans for a political settlement in Syria. Putin also called for coordination of anti-terror efforts with the U.S., the Kremlin said, adding that Afghanistan was also discussed. Trump and Putin spoke informally several times earlier this month when they attended a summit in Vietnam. They agreed on a number of principles for the future of Syria. EL PASO The FBI is offering a reward of up to $25,000 dollars for information as it investigates a potential assault that caused the death of a Border Patrol agent and serious injuries to his partner. We call it potential because we do not have the full picture of what transpired, said FBI Special Agent in Charge Emmerson Buie Jr. of the El Paso Division during a press conference. Border Patrol agent Rogelio Martinez, 36. died Sunday from traumatic head injuries and broken bones while on patrol in a remote area just off Interstate 10 near Van Horn. His partner is in critical but stable condition at an El Paso hospital recovering from a traumatic head injury as well as other wounds. Authorities are not releasing his name. The agents were checking to see what triggered a ground sensor. The job of the border patrol is dangerous, said Victor Velasquez, acting Border Patrol Chief for the Big Bend Sector at the press conference. Our men and women deal with the constant presence of the unknown ranging from those seeking illegal entry into the U.S., smugglers of human cargo and drugs, transnational criminal organizations and the dangerous terrain, Velasquez said. Velasquez said the Big Bend Sector is in mourning after losing one of their own. Martinez joined the Border Patrol in 2013 and is survived by a fiancee, a son, three stepchildren, his parents and other relatives in El Paso. The National Border Patrol Council, the union representing agents, initially said Martinez was attacked with rocks and President Donald Trump said the surviving agent was badly beaten. FBI Special Agent in Charge Buie declined to comment on those allegations. Our purpose in our investigation is to do everything in our power to identify the facts as theyre presented, he said. Culberson County Sheriff Oscar Carillo was among the first responders at the site where the agents were found badly injured in a culvert late Saturday night. He said its important to wait for evidence before speculating about the cause, but also asked the question, Was it accidental while walking in the dark, a fall? Bloodhounds were still scouring the area Tuesday as part of the FBI investigation. Weve been out aggressively pursuing every lead that we have as well as processing the scene, which I consider a crime scene, Buie said. A jury on Tuesday found Steve Martinez guilty of drunken driving his eighth conviction, according to a spokesman for the District Attorneys Office. Martinez, 61, faces a mandatory 10 years in prison, DAs Office spokesman Michael Patrick said. Prosecutors must still show proof of the prior convictions at a sentencing hearing. Police said Martinez drove through a sobriety checkpoint on Lomas in March and then led officers on a short chase. When they caught up to him, they found three open beer cans in his pickup truck and reported that he smelled of alcohol and had slurred speech, a prosecutor said. He was also found guilty of reckless driving and evading police, Patrick said. SANTA FE Charges against three protesters who were arrested after the Fiestas de Santa Fe Entrada in September were dropped Monday because the criminal complaints filed against them were too vague, a defense attorney said. Also on Monday, an Espanola man who was involved in the protest, but not arrested, says he was verbally assaulted at a restaurant by a woman who he says is connected to the Fiesta Council and filed a police report. Criminal trespass charges against Chad Browneagle, Julian Rodriguez and Trenton Warden were dropped by Municipal Court Pro Tem Judge Ann Yalman Monday. Wardens attorney, John Day, said Yalman ruled the criminal complaints filed against them by the Santa Fe Police Department were too vague to proceed to trial. Day also said that Yalman told a city prosecutor to take a lot into consideration before possibly refiling the charges. She was very stern and told the city attorney that the city should think long and hard before filing these charges, Day said. She believed there were First Amendment issues with who the city tried to arrest. Assistant City Attorney Alfred Walker, who prosecuted the three cases, could not be reached Tuesday. SFPD spokesman Greg Gurule said Tuesday that the department still hasnt seen the judges written order and wont be providing a comment until then. Charges against one protester were dropped last month, while charges against other demonstrators are still pending. One protester who was not arrested is 32-year-old Lee Moquino. Moquino wore a feathered headdress and carried an eagle talon staff while shouting at performers during the Entrada an annual re-enactment of the Spanish resettlement of Santa Fe in 1692, 12 years after the Pueblo Revolt. Moquino was the sole protester before others started to gather near the Plaza stage. Moquino told the Journal om Tuesday that he was having lunch at the Sunrise Family Restaurant on St. Michaels Drive and Sixth Street around 11:30 a.m. when he went and said hi to Theresa Lucero, who was also eating lunch there. Lucero, whose family Moquino says is involved in Fiesta business, called Moquino a half-breed and a (expletive) Indian. He said he was escorted out of the restaurant after shouting back at Lucero. When she was calling me a half-breed and a (expletive) Indian, I raised my voice and told her not to call me a half-breed or (expletive) Indian again, Moquino said. Then the owner came out and told me I had to leave. Moquino filed a police report for simple battery Monday for Lucero slapping his cellphone out of his hand while he was recording a video of her. Gurule said the case was still under investigation Tuesday and no details were ready to be released. Lucero or Fiesta Council officials could not be reached Tuesday. WASHINGTON It seems more than coincidence that the first year of Donald Trumps presidency coincides with a trend that was heretofore unrecognized groping. Gropers abound, it seems. From Harvey Weinstein to Alabama GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore to Minnesota Democratic Sen. Al Franken and dozens in between it would seem women are swimming in groper-infested waters. One can hardly turn on the news without landing on a panel discussion of groping and punishment. How long before groper-fatigue sets in? The challenge for everyone, but especially the media, is to not overwhelm ourselves with trivial pursuits and blind leads. Groping is wrong and bad and awful, but it doesnt rise to the level of rape as we commonly understand it. And while a forced kiss is disgusting and you want to brush your teeth forever it wouldnt seem to be a life-altering event. Im not excusing anyones behavior. I find the whole bunch of accused men, including the president of the United States, revolting and pathetic. May every groper find a larger mans hand down his britches and see how he likes it. Crude my apologies. But this is what its come to. While the debate about these offenses is, one hopes, constructive, theres a tendency to put all these monkeys in the same barrel. There are notable differences of degree among them. Do I believe every accuser who has come forward? Im inclined to. In fact, without good reason otherwise, Im inclined to first believe the woman in any case. This isnt because I happen to be a woman but because men historically have been unfairly believed over women. Assuming no relevant pathologies, why not believe the woman? In Moores case, of course, there is credibility in numbers. Several women unknown to each other reported similar experiences. But are these alleged offenses from so long ago sufficient to end his Senate campaign and his political career? The fact that Moore totes the Ten Commandments around like an ash sack of piety makes the allegations all the more repulsive. But is it really fair to judge him based on unprovable recollections by women who were teens at the time? Is it not possible that Moore has repented or that, as he claims, these things never happened? Might four decades have changed him? Or dont we care? We have to ask. Franken is helped only insofar as he wasnt yet a Minnesota senator when his guerrilla groping took place. The fact that he expressed remorse and didnt deny his acts is hardly courageous given that weve all seen a photograph of him as hes about to grab a womans breasts while she was sleeping. He and the woman, Leeann Tweeden, whom he reduced to an inhuman object for his audiences amusement, were on a USO tour at the time. Context for Franken may simply have been his outdated sense of humor. Whats funny for one generation isnt remotely humorous to the next. How does one punish a Franken? Democrats may be willing to sacrifice him since Minnesotas Democratic governor would appoint another Democrat to replace him. Trump, whom more than a dozen women have accused, is the gorilla in the ointment. We know that hes an admitted forced-kisser and a groper, thanks to the Access Hollywood tape.What will happen to Trump is probably nothing. He, like Moore, stands only accused. We may not be at a point where recompense is possible for past aggressions, but there can be little doubt that groping, the trend that suddenly defined 2017, is on its way out. Parkers columns, including those not published in the Journal, can be read at abqjournal.com/opinion look for the syndicated columnist link. Copyright, Washington Post Writers Group; e-mail to kathleenparker@washpost.com. I was Ubering down Pennsylvania Avenue the other day when I passed my favorite Washington location that demands a wrecking ball. Its not a statue to some forgotten slaveholder nor a memorial to some Jim Crow booster Woodrow Wilson, for instance but a building bearing the name of a racist, anti-communist zealot who, in the name of God and the American flag, set out to destroy Martin Luther King Jr. I am talking about J. Edgar Hoover and the lump of cement named for him. The J. Edgar Hoover Building, headquarters of the FBI since 1975, is almost as great a wonder as the Great Pyramid of Giza. What keeps it standing and bearing his name is impossible for me to understand. Throughout the country, indignant people have taken to the streets to demand the toppling of this or that statue famously, Robert E. Lees in Charlottesville, Va., just recently. At Princeton, some students demanded the obliteration of Wilsons name from some school buildings. He was once the universitys president. Much of Hoovers legacy is odious, and it is repellent to honor it anywhere. But Washington is a special place. It may no longer be known as Chocolate City the first major American city to have a black majority but it remains 48 percent African-American and as liberal as a city can be. Yet, Hoover reigns unnoticed and unprotested, as if his attempts to destroy King do not matter. Of course, the percentage of blacks in Washington or the number in Congress 48 in the House and three in the Senate is wholly beside the point. King was an American, revered by people of all races for making this country better for us all. Hoover, though, was a man who thought the Constitution did not apply to him. He was also a man of his time, of course intolerant of gays, lesbians and even FBI agents who did not dress neatly. Amazingly, his record as a gangbuster is a bit spotty. For years, he even denied the existence of the Mafia. The 1957 gathering of mob bosses at Apalachin, N.Y., forced him to finally acknowledge reality. Hoover was an accomplished blackmailer and every president knew it. President Truman early on noted Hoovers interest in the sex lives of others, saying we want no Gestapo or secret police. The FBI is tending in that direction. Under Hoover, the FBI so thoroughly infiltrated the Communist Party that William G. Hundley, a savvy Justice Department prosecutor, once remarked that Hoovers informants were nearly the only ones that paid the party dues. It was Hoovers malignant belief that King was under the influence of Communists that led him to bug the civil rights leaders room at Washingtons Willard Hotel. What he heard was reportedly plenty gamey but no crime. Nevertheless, it delighted Hoover. This will destroy the burrhead, he said of the future Nobel Peace Prize winner. The bugging was approved by Attorney General Robert Kennedy. They are out to break me, King said. They are out to get me, harass me, break my spirit. The FBI recorded that, too. The unlawful and totally outrageous attempt to undermine and/or destroy King was Hoover at his most egregious. Yet he also directed the so-called COINTELPRO program in which the FBI engaged in burglary and illegal wiretaps, spread false rumors, forged documents and otherwise acted as if it was above the law. And it did so with impunity. The program only ended in 1971 after it was exposed by some gutsy anti-war activists. As for Hoover, its true that he essentially created the FBI and served as director of the bureau until his death in 1972. That aint nothing. But when I look down Pennsylvania Avenue and see Hoovers name still on the FBI Building, I dont think of the longevity of his career, but of his abuses, particularly his attempt to ruin Martin Luther King Jr. Its a small remedy, but the name has to go. E-mail: cohenr@washpost.com. Copyright, Washington Post Writers Group. There is no plan B. And when plan A, for the second game in a row, pretty much failed to bother the opposing team, the University of New Mexico Lobos looked lost. UNM allowed 49 fast-break points and their signature full-court press was rendered ineffective in a gut-punch 104-96 loss Tuesday to Tennessee Tech in Dreamstyle Arena. It is the second loss in a row for the Lobos (2-2). In just the fourth game of the Paul Weir era, and third home game, a few of the announced 9,703 fans in the Pit were heard booing by games end. They were frustrated watching the layup line the visiting Golden Eagles (4-1) performed throughout the night scoring 24 fast-break points in the first half, mostly by breaking the Lobos press, and then 17 points off 10 second-half Lobo turnovers. I didnt think we were that bad of a passing team, but tonight we really were, Weir said. It was unfortunate to see and it was embarrassing. I apologize to fans. I apologize to people that came out. We looked like the ninth-place team in the Mountain West tonight (UNM was picked ninth in the 11-team league in a preseason poll), which I never thought we were going to be. And weve just got to do everything in our power to make sure this is not going to be our final destination. Asked if his Lobos could win when the press wasnt working, Weir didnt directly answer, instead explaining he thought the team made the necessary adjustments. I thought the first half they did a really good job of breaking the press and scoring, Weir said. We made some adjustments at halftime I thought really helped. The second half was really just all turnovers. I dont know if they really scored at the back of our press the second half as much as I mean, they had 13 steals and they had just as many points off turnovers as we did. Tennessee Tech coach Steve Payne knew it was his teams handling of the press that was the difference. I thought making them pay at the back of the press was important, Payne said. It kind of took some wind out of their sails. TTUs Aleksa Jugovic scored a game-high 31 points, including 7-of-7 from 3-point range, most after breaking the press in the first half. The Golden Eagles shot 55.7 percent from the floor in the game. Jugovic had 24 of his points in the first half and the Lobos held him in check until the final 90 seconds. He hit a bucket with 1:27 remaining to give TTU a 94-91 lead and then a corner 3 with 57 seconds left pushed the lead to 97-93 and sealed the upset. UNM was led by 29 points and six assists from junior guard Chris McNeal, who hit seven 3-pointers. But he also had 10 of those second-half turnovers. Sam Logwood added 21 for UNM, who shot just 40.6 percent and was outrebounded 39-32. McNeal, like Weir, said he didnt think the press was the reason UNM lost the game. Its not the press. Its kind of us, McNeal said. Our energy was pretty bad the past two games. Its basically all on us. Its nothing about the press. NO TROY: Junior guard Troy Simons, who was ejected from Fridays loss at NMSU after drawing two technical fouls, was held out of the first half on Tuesday. Weir said Monday he was not being disciplined. Asked Tuesday about the first-half benching, Weir said, Coachs decision, and did not elaborate. SANTA FE State Rep. Nick Salazar New Mexicos longest-serving legislator plans to retire rather than run for re-election next year. Salazar, a Democrat from Ohkay Owingeh, is in his 45th year in the state House, after having won 23 elections in a row since 1972. Its about time that I spend some time with my family, Salazar said in an interview Tuesday. Salazar, whos retired from Los Alamos National Laboratory, is one of the 10 longest-serving members of any legislature in the country. But I suppose he isnt interested in challenging the national leader Wisconsin Sen. Fred Risser, a Madison Democrat elected in 1956 to the state Assembly and in 1962 to the Senate. Salazar, 88, has had occasional health problems in the Legislature. He was driven to the hospital at one point in this years session after falling ill, and he had a medical scare in the 2015 session. OTHERS LEAVING: Salazar is the fourth member of the state House to announce he wont seek re-election next year, when all 70 seats are up. The others are Dennis Roch, R-Logan; Stephanie Garcia Richard, a Los Alamos Democrat whos running for state land commissioner; and Bill McCamley, a Las Cruces Democrat running for state auditor. Democrats now hold a 38-32 edge in the New Mexico House. Garcia Richards district is sure to be a well-contested race. It was once considered a Republican stronghold, but Garcia Richard won the seat in 2012. Salazars northern New Mexico district covers parts of Rio Arriba, Mora, Colfax and San Miguel counties. PRC CANDIDATE: Former state Sen. Steve Fischmann, D-Las Cruces, plans to challenge Public Regulation Commissioner Sandy Jones in next years Democratic primary. Fischmann, co-founder of the New Mexico Fair Lending Coalition, served in Senate from 2009 to 2013. My goal as a PRC Commissioner will be to transform the PRC from an agency thats guided by monopoly utility interests, to an agency that guides utilities in the public interest, Fischmann said in written announcement. The motto of this campaign will be Consumers First. The PRC is a five-member board that oversees regulation of utilities and other industries in New Mexico. Dan McKay: dmckay@abqjournal.com By PTI: New Delhi, Nov 22 (PTI) The policy of the government is aimed at bringing normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said today. Responding to a question on the Centres proposal to withdraw cases against first-time stone-pelters in Kashmir Valley, he said that the governments aim was to ensure peace and it worked on the basis of what steps were required to bring normalcy back. advertisement "There was a situation when civil disobedience was at its peak. Thousands of stone-throwers used to come out. Terrorists were picking their targets at will. Hurriyat (Conference) would give a call whenever they liked and everything was paralysed," Jaitley told reporters here. He said the situation today has changed. Security forces have an upper hand and it has become difficult for stone- pelters to gather a crowd. "The Hurriyat leadership has been exposed," he said. Through its new initiatives, the government intends to engage with all who want to talk to ensure return of normalcy. "What efforts are to be made will be decided by our special representative and the state government," he said. The Centre has appointed former Intelligence Bureau chief Dineshwar Sharma its special representative for Kashmir. Taking the suggestion of the Centres special representative forward, over 4,500 cases against youths involved in stone pelting for the first time will be dropped in a bid to win hearts in Kashmir Valley, officials said yesterday. PTI NAB SMN SMN --- ENDS --- Copyright 2017 Albuquerque Journal Add a hike or a bike ride to your Thanksgiving Day plans this year, and dig out the shorts and T-shirts. A record-breaking high temperature is forecast for the holiday this year, and the warm weather is likely to stick around into next week, the National Weather Service said Tuesday. A high of 68 is forecast for the Albuquerque International Sunport on Thursday, which would make it the warmest Thanksgiving Day on record, meteorologist Chuck Jones said. The record high on a Thanksgiving Day was 67, set in 1949. Clear skies and warm weather are expected into next week, Jones said. Overall, its dry and above normal, he said. Highs are typically in the low 50s in late November. Average highs in Albuquerque are in the low 50s for late November. A high of 63 is forecast for Albuqueque today, with a low of 39 tonight. A high-pressure ridge strengthening in the West is expected to move slowly across New Mexico through the rest of the week, bringing rising temperatures and clear skies. Highs near 70 and lows around 40 are predicted through Saturday. A cold front is expected to move into New Mexico late Monday, bringing high temperatures down to the 50s by Wednesday, but little chance of rain is forecast, Jones said. A citywide project hopes to shine some light on Albuquerques future. This is a new day, community activist Frank Martinez said as, behind him, brand new LED streetlights illuminated the streets of Martineztown. Its going to be significant in our future and in the quality of our life, Martinez said to a crowd of around 20 people Tuesday evening at the unveiling of the EnvisionABQ project. The Martineztown neighborhood served as a pilot project and, eventually, the city expects to have such LED lights shine from every pole in the city. The company in charge of the project, Citelum, plans to complete the $20 million project in 12 months and will maintain the streetlights for another 15 years. When this is fully implemented, the citizens are going to be tickled pink and were going to be a lot safer for it, Martinez said. He said the new lights will be a crime deterrent, enhance public safety for cyclists and pedestrians while improving traffic flow and boosting economic development. Martinez praised Mayor Richard Berry and others in the outgoing administration for giving neighborhoods the running room necessary to get projects like this done. Berry thanked those who live in South Martineztown for leading the pilot project and called Martinez a mentor and hero. Im just really proud to be here and kick this off, the mayor said to a crowd of residents, community members and construction workers. Berry said the citywide project will pay for itself through an estimated $19 million in energy savings and involve no tax increase while keeping the streets better lit. LED, or light-emitting diode, lights last longer and use less electricity than the high-pressure sodium street lights currently used. Over the years, the conversion will reduce the citys carbon footprint by almost 123,000 metric tons, Berry said, equivalent to taking 26,000 cars off the road. This initiative will not only make our city more beautiful and energy efficient, but it will also improve public safety, he said. Crime does not like a stage and by strategically lighting up our neighborhoods we can make Albuquerque safer. Berry said the cost savings generated through energy efficiency can go toward additional lighting and other public safety measures in high crime areas of Albuquerque. During the unveiling, Roy Reine admired the brightness and span of the new LED streetlights compared with the older ones that extend into the distance. Reine, who has lived in Martineztown for 38 years, said there has always been a lighting problem in the neighborhood. Its always dim, he said, particularly around Longfellow Elementary School and the nearby park where the lights would be turned off during weekends. Reine said during one late-night stroll, his walking partner tripped over a curb and broke her arm. Its not just bad visibility, however, he said. In the past few years, the neighborhood has had a new issue arise. We have a lot of vagrants that are coming incamping out, Reine said. It gives them an opportunity to move around and not have people looking at them, people watching them. Although Reine often sees the homeless pitch tents and sleep around Longfellow Elementary and the nearby park, he knows the problem stretches across the city. Everybody needs it, he said of the brighter streetlights. More at the park, more at the school, more everywhere. THE HAGUE, Netherlands An unrepentant Ratko Mladic, the bullish Bosnian Serb general whose forces rained shells and snipers bullets on Sarajevo and carried out the worst massacre in Europe since World War II, was convicted Wednesday of genocide and other crimes and sentenced to spend the rest of his life behind bars. Defiant to the last, Mladic was ejected from a courtroom at the United Nations Yugoslav war crimes tribunal after yelling at judges: Everything you said is pure lies. Shame on you! He was dispatched to a neighboring room to watch on a TV screen as Presiding Judge Alphons Orie pronounced him guilty of 10 counts that also included war crimes and crimes against humanity. Human-rights organizations hailed the convictions as proof that even top military brass long considered untouchable cannot evade justice forever. Mladic spent years on the run before his arrest in 2011. This landmark verdict marks a significant moment for international justice and sends out a powerful message around the world that impunity cannot and will not be tolerated, said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty Internationals Europe director. For prosecutors, it was a fitting end to a 23-year effort to mete out justice at the U.N. tribunal for atrocities committed during the Balkan wars of the early 1990s. Mladics conviction signaled the end of the final trial before the tribunal closes its doors by the end of the year. But legal battles will continue. Mladics attorneys vowed to appeal his convictions on 10 charges related to a string of atrocities from the beginning of the 1992-95 Bosnian war to its bitter end. The defense team considers this judgment to be erroneous, and there will be an appeal, and we believe that the appeal will correct the errors of the trial chamber, Mladic lawyer Dragan Ivetic said. Mladics son, Darko, said his father told him after the verdict that the tribunal was a NATO commission trying to criminalize a legal endeavor of Serbian people in times of civil war to protect itself from the aggression. Presiding Judge Alphons Orie started the hearing by reading out a litany of horrors perpetrated by forces under Mladics control. Detainees were forced to rape and engage in other degrading sexual acts with one another. Many Bosnian Muslim women who were unlawfully detained were raped, Orie said. The judge recounted the story of a mother who ventured into the streets during the deadly siege of Sarajevo with her son as Serb snipers and artillery targeted the Bosnian capital. She was shot. The bullet passed through her abdomen and struck her 7-year-old sons head, killing him. In Srebrenica, the war reached its bloody climax as Bosnian Serb forces overran what was supposed to be a U.N.-protected safe haven. After busing away women and children, Serb forces systematically murdered some 8,000 Muslim males. Many of these men and boys were cursed, insulted, threatened, forced to sing Serb songs and beaten while awaiting their execution, Orie said. Mladic looked relaxed as the hearing started, greeting lawyers, crossing himself and giving a thumbs-up to photographers in court. But midway through the hearing Mladics lawyer, Dragan Ivetic, asked for a delay because the general was suffering from high blood pressure. The judge refused, Mladic started yelling and was tossed out of court. When he started speaking, it was not about his health but much more I think trying to insult the judges, Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz said. The conflict in the former Yugoslavia erupted after the countrys breakup in the early 1990s, with the worst crimes taking place in Bosnia. More than 100,000 people died and millions lost their homes before a peace agreement was signed in 1995. Mladic went into hiding for around 10 years before his arrest in Serbia in May 2011. Mladics political master during the war, former Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadzic, was also convicted last year for genocide and sentenced to 40 years. He has appealed the ruling. The man widely blamed for fomenting wars across the Balkans, former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, died in his U.N. cell in 2006 before tribunal judges could reach verdicts in his trial. The ethnic tensions that Milosevic stoked from Belgrade simmer to this day. Top Bosnian Serb political leader Milorad Dodik said the tribunal only underscored its anti-Serb bias by convicting Mladic. Dodik said the court was established with the single purpose of demonizing Serbs. This opinion is shared by all the Serbs, Dodik said, describing Mladic as a hero and a patriot. Serbian President Alksandar Vucic, a former ultranationalist who supported Mladics war campaigns but now casts himself as a pro-EU reformer, agreed that the court has been biased against Serbs but added that we should not justify the crimes committed by the Serbs. We are ready to accept our responsibility for war crimes while the others are not, he said. For a former prisoner of Serb-run camps in northwestern Bosnia who was in The Hague, the verdict was sweet relief. Fikret Alic became a symbol of the horrors in Bosnia after his skeletal frame was photographed by Time magazine behind barbed wire in 1992 in a Bosnian Serb camp. Justice has won, he said. And the war criminal has been convicted. ___ Associated Press writers Jovana Gec and Dusan Stojanovic in Belgrade, Sabina Niksic and Amer Cohadzic in Sarajevo, Eldar Emric in Srebrenica and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report. SAN FRANCISCO Uber is coming clean about its cover-up of a year-old hacking attack that stole personal information about more than 57 million of the beleaguered ride-hailing services customers and drivers. So far, theres no evidence that the data taken has been misused, according to a Tuesday blog post by Ubers recently hired CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi. Part of the reason nothing malicious has happened is because Uber acknowledges paying the hackers $100,000 to destroy the stolen information. The revelation marks the latest stain on Ubers reputation. It also brought an investigation from New Yorks attorney general and threats of larger-than-normal fines from British authorities for failing to promptly disclose the hack. The San Francisco company ousted Travis Kalanick as CEO in June after an internal investigation concluded he had built a culture that allowed female workers to be sexually harassed and encouraged employees to push legal limits. Its also the latest major breach involving a prominent company that didnt notify the people that could be potentially harmed for months or even years after the break-in occurred. Yahoo didnt make its first disclosure about hacks that hit 3 billion user accounts during 2013 and 2014 until September 2016. Credit reporting service Equifax waited several months before revealing this past September that hackers had carted off the Social Security numbers of 145 million Americans. Khosrowshahi criticized Ubers handling of its data theft in his blog post. While I cant erase the past, I can commit on behalf of every Uber employee that we will learn from our mistakes, Khosrowshahi wrote. We are changing the way we do business, putting integrity at the core of every decision we make and working hard to earn the trust of our customers. That pledge shouldnt excuse Ubers previous regime for its egregious behavior, said Sam Curry, chief security officer for the computer security firm Cybereason. The truly scary thing here is that Uber paid a bribe, essentially a ransom to make this breach go away, and they acted as if they were above the law, Curry said. Those people responsible for the integrity and confidentiality of the data in-fact covered it up. The heist took the names, email addresses and mobile phone numbers of 57 million riders around the world. The thieves also nabbed the drivers license numbers of 600,000 Uber drivers in the U.S. Uber waited until Tuesday to begin notifying the drivers with compromised drivers licenses, which can be particularly useful for perpetrating identify theft. For that reason, Uber will now pay for free credit-report monitoring and identity theft protection services for the affected drivers. Kalanick, who still sits on Ubers board of directors, declined to comment on the data breach that took place in October 2016. Uber says the response to the hack was handled by its chief security officer, Joe Sullivan, a former federal prosecutor whom Kalanick lured away from Facebook in 2015. As part of his effort to set things right, Khosrowshahi extracted Sullivans resignation from Uber and also jettisoned Craig Clark, a lawyer who reported to Sullivan. Clark didnt immediately respond to a request for comment sent through his LinkedIn profile. Efforts to reach Sullivan were unsuccessful. On Wednesday, New York Attorney General Eric Schneidermans office confirmed that it had opened an investigation into the data theft, but a spokeswoman wouldnt comment further. New York law requires that companies notify the attorney general and consumers if data is stolen. In London, Britains Deputy Information Commissioner James Dipple-Johnstone said Wednesday the company faces higher fines because it concealed the hack from the public. The Information Commissioners Office and the National Cyber Security Center are working to gauge the severity of the problem for British Uber users. Ubers silence about its breach came while it was negotiating with the Federal Trade Commission about its handling of its riders information. Earlier in 2016, the company reached a settlement with the New York attorney general requiring it to take steps to be more vigilant about protecting the information that its app stores about its riders. As part of that settlement, Uber also paid a $20,000 fine for waiting to notify five months about another data breach that it discovered in September 2014. PHOENIX A man is dead after being shot by a woman after he reportedly forced his way into her home in what Phoenix police say apparently was a robbery attempt. A Police Department spokeswoman says witnesses reported that the Tuesday night incident began when the suspect grabbed the victim as she entered her residence in north Phoenix. Sgt. Mercedes Fortune says the victim tried to close the door and ended up retrieving a handgun and shooting the suspect after he forced his way inside. Fortune says the suspect then ran off and was later located at a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead. No identities were released. The incident occurred near North Seventh Street and the Loop 101 freeway. MOSCOW The leaders of Russia, Turkey and Iran on Wednesday discussed ways to promote a peaceful settlement in Syria, including the return of refugees, humanitarian aid and prisoners exchange, while fractured Syrian opposition groups were meeting in Saudi Arabia in a bid to overcome their divisions and form a united front for Syrian peace talks in Geneva. Militants in Syria have received a decisive blow, and there is a real chance to put an end to the civil war that has raged for many years, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the start of talks with Turkish and Iranian counterparts in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi. Putin noted that political settlement will require concessions from all sides, including Syrian President Bashar Assads government. Assad made a surprise trip to Russia late Monday for talks with Putin, which the Kremlin said were intended to lay the groundwork for Wednesdays trilateral meeting. Speaking after the three-way talks, Putin said the Syrian leader pledged to conduct constitutional reforms and hold new elections under U.N. supervision. The process of reforms isnt going to be easy and will require concessions and compromises from all those involved, including the Syrian government, he said. In their joint statement after the talks, Putin, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan emphasized the need for all parties in the Syrian conflict to release all prisoners and hostages, hand over bodies and search for those missing to help create conditions for a lasting cease-fire and the launch of political talks. They also called on other countries to provide humanitarian aid, clear Syrian territory of mines and restore vital infrastructure destroyed by the war. We have reached a consensus on helping the transition to an inclusive, free, fair and transparent political process that will be carried out under the leadership and ownership of the Syrian people, Erdogan said. Even though Russia and Iran have backed Assads government since the start of the Syrian conflict in March 2011, while Turkey has supported his foes, the three countries have teamed up to help mediate a peace settlement. They have sponsored several rounds of talks between the Syrian government and the opposition in Astana, Kazakhstan, and also have brokered a truce between Syrias government and the rebels in four areas, helping reduce hostilities. U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq, asked about the trilateral meeting of the leaders, said: Our focus remains on the meetings that will begin in Geneva on Nov. 28. We hope that all the other processes that are underway will contribute to a successful round of talks in Geneva. Meanwhile, the U.N. envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura spoke at the opening of a three-day gathering of the Syrian opposition in Riyadh, where around 30 opposition groups are expected to come up with a unified delegation and a vision for the Geneva talks. De Mistura said he planned to have two rounds of talks in Geneva in December. He is set to travel to Moscow later this week. It is our common interest that today, you elect the best and most inclusive team among yourselves, de Mistura said. A strong, unified team is a creative partner in Geneva and we need that. The Riyadh meeting, however, has already been marred with disagreements. The notoriously fragmented opposition is divided by visions of a future role for Assad, the length of a transitional period as well as the constitution that will see the country move toward elections. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said in opening remarks that the opposition meeting comes amid international consensus to reach a resolution. There is no resolution to the crisis without Syrian consensus that achieves the demands of the Syrian people and ends their suffering, al-Jubeir said. Russia, which has welcomed the Saudi efforts to unify the opposition, will also be hosting a meeting in Sochi thats expected to bring the opposition and Syrian government together in early December. Turkey and Iran pledged Wednesday to help the success of that meeting. Earlier this month, the first attempt to convene it failed amid differences, reportedly including the participation of Kurds. Turkey sees U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish fighters as a terror group and an extension of Kurdish militants that have waged a three-decade-long insurgency inside its borders. Erdogan on Wednesday strongly reaffirmed Turkeys objection to Kurdish Syrian militia playing a part in negotiations on Syrias future. The exclusion from the process of terrorist elements that target Syrias political unity and territorial integrity as well as our national security will continue to remain our priority, he said. No one should expect us to come under the same roof, to appear on the same platform as a terror organization. Russia has been involved in a delicate diplomatic dance, trying to engage the Kurds without offending Turkey. Putins spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, dodged a question about Kurdish participation in the planned Sochi meeting, saying only that it should be inclusive. Putin, whose military intervention in the war saved Assads government from imminent defeat, called President Donald Trump, Saudi King Salman, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi on Tuesday to brief them on his talks with Assad and coordinate the planned peace efforts. Putins broad outreach highlighted a key role Russia has come to play in the Syrian conflict and reflected Moscows desire to engage all key players. Some of the opposition delegations in Riyadh are backed by Gulf countries, which had sided with the anti-Assad rebellion, while others have been supported by Russia. Another opposition group is backed by Egypt, which has also kept contacts with the Syrian government. The Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV said some members of the Russia-backed delegation withdrew from the meeting. A member of the delegation, Qadri Jamil, said they backed out to object other delegations putting conditions on the talks, including limiting a future role for Assad. The Russia-backed opposition is promoting political reform under Assads rule. ___ Sarah El Deeb reported from Beirut. Aya Batrawy in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Abdullah al-Shihri in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow, and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, contributed to this report. Despite a recent spate of shootings involving deputies over the past four months, Bernalillo County Sheriff Manuel Gonzales continues to refuse to consider equipping his staff with body-worn cameras and has said he worries video recordings would be manipulated by the media. Theyre being used against agencies for the adjudication of cases and for the media to take very small parts of those recordings and make a story, Gonzales said in a news conference Monday. There is nothing showing they create trust in law enforcement. Gonzales routinely waits several days before releasing information about a shooting and still has not provided any information about two people who were found dead after deputies opened fire on a stolen truck they had chased into Albuquerques West Side. A BCSO spokeswoman said a news conference will be held about it next Tuesday 11 days after the shooting. Gonzales said the media take only sound bites from the news conferences and do not show the whole story. Weve stood here repeatedly, numerous times, offering all of the information, and oftentimes were only seeing a snapshot of what were saying, he said. Sometimes that actually shows or gives it a lopsided story. I think thats a disservice to the public. There have been nine shootings involving deputies over the past four months. Five people have been killed, three have been injured and two were not hit. Gonzales has held numerous news conferences and occasionally has played selected belt tape audio or surveillance video. He repeatedly has defended his use of belt tape audio recorders rather than body-worn cameras. Gonzales cited a recent study conducted by another police department that found there is no indication that cameras change the behavior of the suspects or law enforcement or keeps people safer. But according to a survey of police departments around the country conducted by the Police Executive Research Forum, a nonprofit police research and policy organization, police chiefs whose agencies use such equipment reported an increase in transparency and accountability in their departments and fewer use-of-force incidents and complaints from civilians. Gonzales stance has drawn criticism from civil rights groups and lawyers. Those sound like the comments of a sheriff who doesnt want to be held accountable by the community that he serves, said Peter Simonson, the executive director for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico. Most departments in large cities around the country these days are implementing the use of on-body video recording devices, and for the sheriff of the largest county in the state to so quickly dismiss the possible utility of body-worn cameras strikes me as a very worrisome comment about his commitment to transparency and his commitment of accountability in department. New Mexicans can look forward to another holiday season with low home-heating bills. Mild weather combined with robust natural gas supplies locally and nationally, mean this winters heating costs for the average New Mexico family will be about the same as last year, said Gary Murray, director of gas supply for the New Mexico Gas co. Prices have remained at record lows for most of the last decade, thanks to the shale-gas revolution that has pushed domestic production to its highest level in U.S. history. Thats meant affordable warmth for New Mexicans during most winters since 2009. Natural gas prices right now are about the same as this time last year, maybe even a slightly lower by a couple of pennies, Murray said. If the mild weather holds, we expect overall bills to be quite similar to last year. In November, average consumer prices for natural gas remained at 36 cents a therm, or less than half the 88 cents a therm New Mexicans were paying in 2008, before the shale-gas boom began. We havent finalized the December price yet, but the prevailing rate now is 38 cents a therm, said company spokesman Tim Korte. Last winter, the average New Mexico heating bill was $99 in January, $83 in February, and $67 in March. Those are good starting points to estimate bills this winter as well, Murray said. People turn their thermostats up or down as the weather climbs and falls, but based on what we see now with the weather, we dont project any big swings. Theres a lack of cold weather coming into the state, said company gas supply manager Josh Tilbury. Forecasting for December-February is also for above-normal, or warmer-than-normal temperatures. That could change with unforeseen weather spikes. But overall, this year is looking like a repeat of last years mild winter. Murray said. Higher prices have no impact on company profits, which instead come from delivery of gas to customers. By law, the utility simply passes through the cost of fuel on customer bills. While consumers nationwide are benefitting from robust supplies, national gas storage is currently about 3 percent below normal. But it would likely take sustained below-normal storage levels of 5 to 10 percent to impact prices, Murray said. New Mexico Gas customers also benefit from proximity to the San Juan Basin in the Four Corners area and the Permian Basin in southeast New Mexico and West Texas. All the gas distributed by the company comes from those basins. New Mexico Gas, owned by Canadian firm Emera Inc., is the largest natural gas distribution utility in the state, serving about 520,000 residential and commercial customers. By the developments so far, it appears that the crucial battle of prestige will be fought between caste and 'Gujarati asmita'. By Kumar Shakti Shekhar: The battle lines are now drawn for the next month's Gujarat Assembly election. And so have the issues. By the developments so far, it appears that the crucial battle of prestige will be fought between caste and 'Gujarati asmita'. The last three Assembly elections in Gujarat since 2002 had got polarised mostly on Hindu-Muslim communal lines. However, the Congress, along with Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) convener Hardik Patel, OBC leader Alpesh Thakor and Dalit activist Jignesh Mewani, is raking up caste in the forthcoming poll in the western state. advertisement On the other hand, the BJP is focusing on Gujarati 'asmita (pride)' along with development issues. CASTE The Congress is pitching for a caste-based electoral politics. While Thakor has joined the Congress, Mevani has pledged support to it. Besides entering into seat sharing agreement with the Congress, Patel has also extracted a promise from the principal opposition party. Patel today announced that the Congress has assured him of reservation for his community in educational institutions and jobs. "The Congress will make Patel quota part of its manifesto and bring the reservation bill after coming to power," he said. But close on the heels of Patel announcing the quota deal with the Congress, the BJP hit back, saying the PAAS chief was "totally exposed". It alleged that the Congress was behind the Patidar quota stir in Gujarat. Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said the Congress-Hardik duo has misled the Patel community in Gujarat and reservation was never an issue for them. GUJARATI ASMITA As against the Congress and its supporting groups, the BJP is focusing on developmental issues. But more than that, the BJP's electoral politics revolves around Gujarati asmita. For the BJP, its Gujarati pride pitch is grounded on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's image. The party in power at the centre since 2014 and in Gujarat since 1995 seeks to turn the state election into a prestige battle. BJP president Amit Shah has been appealing to the voters that they had given 127 of the total 182 seats to the party when Modi was the Gujarat chief minister and that they should now give at least 150 seats when the latter is the prime minister now. The Congress gave a handle on Tuesday to the BJP to raise the Gujarati asmita issue with gusto. Yesterday, Yuva Desh, the online magazine of Indian Youth Congress, tweeted a derogatory meme of Modi. In the meme, the prime minister is seen along with US President Donald Trump and UK Prime Minister Theresa May where May is shown as telling Modi 'You sell tea'. advertisement A battery of BJP leaders jumped to attack the Congress. Among them was Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani who condemned the act and hinted that the party will be take it up during the election campaign for the state, portraying personal comments on Modi as an attack on "Gujarati asmita". This blatantly classist and anti-poor Tweet by the Youth Congress shows their mindset towards Indias poor. Does Crown Prince @OfficeOfRG support this? https://t.co/gOqRqWIfL4- Vijay Rupani (@vijayrupanibjp) November 21, 2017 It is now upto the Gujarati voters to choose between caste politics or Gujarati asmita. WATCH | Congress has assured us of Patidar quota: Hardik Patel --- ENDS --- Opel/Vauxhall will change its media agency at the beginning of 2018. As of January 1, the European market leader MediaCom will be responsible for the media strategy, the placement and the purchase of advertising space in all the European markets of Opel/Vauxhall. MediaCom follows the agency Carat, which had partnered Opel/Vauxhall in the previous eight years. As already announced in June, MediaCom will also take over the media business of the three other Groupe PSA brands, Peugeot, Citroen and DS Automobiles at the beginning of the New Year. During the presentation of our plan for the future PACE! two weeks ago we announced that we would significantly increase the efficiency of our marketing spend. With the merger of our advertising budget within Groupe PSA, we achieve great synergies, which will clearly improve our cost efficiency right from the start of 2018, said Peter Kuspert, Managing Director Sales and Marketing, Opel Automobile GmbH. We are very much looking forward to working with MediaCom. At the same time I would also like to express my thanks to the team from Carat, who have given us excellent support over the years. MediaCom is delighted to have earned the opportunity to apply its unique expertise and scale to Opel Vauxhall in the years to come. These two brands, alongside Peugeot, Citroen and DS, are some of the most revered and historic in the automotive industry. We are very excited to have the opportunity to drive their global growth. said Stephen Allan, MediaCom Worldwide Chairman & CEO. Staying true to the promise of being the destination for Hollywood Blockbusters, Star Movies brings to the Indian Television audiences, a fan favourite film Trolls. Directed by Mike Mitchell and Walt Dohrn, Trolls stars the likes of Justin Timberlake, Anna Kendrick, Zooey Deschanel, Kunal Nayyar among others who have given their voice to the characters in the film. The movie, much loved by adults and children alike, makes it to the Indian television screens for the first time on Star Movies, 26th November 2017 at 1PM and 9PM. The movie is another animation masterpiece from Dreamworks, the studio that gave us Shrek, Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon. Not only does the animation catch the attention, the music too hits the right note. A highlight of the film is the music and it features the Academy Award nominated song, Cant Stop the Feeling by Justin Timberlake. Trolls is a story that sheds light on Poppy, the happiest among the race of Trolls. Like the rest of the Trolls, Poppy always sings, stays content and remains optimistic. Their enemies are the Bergens, who are always pessimistic. So when the Bergens invade the Troll village in search of happiness, things get quite interesting. What ensues is a storyline that leaves you in splits but also pulls at your heartstrings as the Trolls fight for survival. Owen Gleiberman from Variety summarises the film quite aptly when he writes, What's the nature of happiness? Trolls is the right film to pose that question, because it's an ecstatically happy movie, a giddy EDM kiddie musical that sends you out on a high. Just one of the examples to show that Trolls is not just for kids, it appeals to all age groups and is a complete family experience. Trolls will premiere on Star Movies and Star Movies HD on November 26, 1PM and 9PM. VML India has been appointed by Abbott as Eau Thermale Avene s partner, to launch a brand awareness campaign in India on social media channels Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Eau Thermale Avene part of the Pierre Fabre Group, marketed in India by Abbott is the Number 1 dermo-cosmetic brand in the European pharmacies and dedicated to sensitive skin. All Eau Thermale Avene products are formulated with the Avene Thermal Spring Water; derived from a natural spring in the South of France. Its unique therapeutic properties are used at the Avene Hydrotherapy Center to address a variety of dermatological skin conditions. Understanding that everyones skin has different needs, Eau Thermale Avene has ranges of products that cover all needs and skin types: anti-aging, acne care, essential care dry skin, irritated skin, intolerant skin and sun protection. Eau Thermale Avene was launched in India in 2010 & has had exponential annual growth since then. Eau Thermale Avene is very well established in the medical environment and is recommended by top dermatologists in India and worldwide. VML has been appointed by Abbott India to enable Eau Thermale Avene to establish themselves as the first choice of brand and top of mind for those who have sensitive skin. VML will create interactive campaigns that drive direct awareness to the target audience. By putting the consumer at the heart of the digital experience and pushing Eau Thermale Avene socially, VML intends to shift the typical behaviour of how dermo-cosmetic brands are selected. Ritesh Rajput, Senior Manager Digital Initiatives from Abbott India says The Eau Thermale Avene Quality Charter is our four points promise to our consumers that our products are of the highest quality, with optimised ingredients for sensitive skin and a wealth of research to demonstrate their suitability. We are excited to be partnering with VML to launch this product range campaign socially and really bring Eau Thermale Avene to the heart of the Indian consumer. We can help you make sense of the agribusiness industry, extending from chemicals and fertilizers used as inputs into agriculture, to the commodities, food and by-products that are an output to farming, with policy and regulation applied at every step of the value chain. Aiken, SC (29801) Today Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low 36F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low 36F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph. Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said that Sanjay Leela Bhansali-directed Padmavati will not be allowed to release in the state. By India Today Web Desk: The Gujarat government today decided that Padmavati will not be screened in the state till the Assembly elections. Gujarat goes to poll on December 9 and 14, and the counting is to take place on December 18. In a press conference, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said that apart from the Kshatriya Samaaj, other communities have also expressed apprehension about the release of the film. advertisement "Till the issues are resolved, Padmavati will not be screened in Gujarat," said Rupani. "Such issues spoil the environment. The threat of violence can spoil the environment during elections. Keeping law and order issues in mind, Padmavati will not be released in Gujarat. The Home department has initiated the process to look into the matter," said Rupani. He later tweeted, "The Government of Gujarat will not allow #Padmavati - a movie hurting sentiments of Rajputs - to get released in the State. We can't allow our history to be distorted. We believe in freedom of speech & expression but any foul play with our great culture is not tolerated. (sic)" The Government of Gujarat will not allow #Padmavati - a movie hurting sentiments of Rajputs - to get released in the State. We cant allow our history to be distorted. We believe in freedom of speech & expression but any foul play with our great culture is not tolerated.- Vijay Rupani (@vijayrupanibjp) November 22, 2017 Sanjay Leela Bhansali's controversial period drama, Padmavati, has been in dire straits for a while now. Several right-wing groups have been vehemently opposing the film on the grounds that it supposedly degrades the honour of the Rajput queen, Rani Padmini. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said today that he would take a decision on whether Padmavati will be released in the state only after the film is cleared by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). "We will not allow anyone's sentiments to be hurt. We don't think it is right to ban (a film) before censor board's decision," he told ANI. Incidentally, the CBFC delayed the certification of Padmavati after the makers failed to submit all the documents required. The release of the film has now been pushed indefinitely. "This might be his personal opinion; the government has nothing to do with it. We have issued him a show cause notice," Manohar Lal Khattar said, when prodded about Haryana BJP's (Bharatiya Janta Party) chief media coordinator Suraj Pal Singh Amu, who was booked by the Gurgaon Police on Tuesday. Suraj Pal Amu was vocal in his support of the bounty of Rs 5 crore announced by the Meerut Kshatriya Samaj on the heads of Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Deepika Padukone. When a complaint was lodged against him, he declared that his voice will not be subdued and threatened to "set fire to each screen in the country". advertisement Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has maintained a somewhat neutral stand on Padmavati. While he is strictly opposed to violence and threats issued by some agitated protesters, he told IANS that anyone whose sentiments were hurt by the distortion of historical facts had the right to protest. He emphasised that protests and threats were not the same thing. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has voiced his support for the protestors and said that Padmavati will not be allowed to release in the state even if it is cleared by the censor board. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said yesterday that if action is being taken against the people issuing threats against Sanjay Leela Bhansali, action should be taken against the director as well for hurting sentiments. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, however, took the opposite route and said that she condemned this 'attack on freedom' and that it was 'super emergency'. advertisement Padmavati stars Deepika Padukone in the titular role, Shahid Kapoor as her husband, Maharawal Ratan Singh, and Ranveer Singh as Alauddin Khilji. ALSO WATCH | Padmavati row: Yogi Adityanath justifies threats against Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Deepika Padukone --- ENDS --- November 21, 2017 CAIRO Egypt has officially announced that the technical negotiations with Ethiopia and Sudan over the Renaissance Dam have failed. The announcement came following a round of tripartite deliberations between all the countries' ministers of water in Cairo on Nov. 11 and 12 regarding the completion of the impact assessment of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Egyptian Minister of Water and Irrigation Mohamed Abdel Aty said in a Nov. 12 statement, Egypt is worried about the failure of the technical negotiations because it jeopardizes the future of cooperation between Sudan and Ethiopia and their ability to agree on the Renaissance Dam and to avoid its potential risks while preserving Egypts water security. The statement of the Egyptian Ministry of Water and Irrigation was a bold revelation of the reality of the negotiations behind closed doors. The negotiations began when Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and his Ethiopian and Sudanese counterparts signed the Declaration of Principles in March 2015 as a cooperation framework on the Renaissance Dam issue. Ever since, Egypt has taken part in a series of deliberations involving experts and state officials. However, despite the deliberations, the two most contentious points concerning the filling and operation of the dam remain unresolved. Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia had formed a tripartite national committee that chose two French consultancy firms to conduct a technical study on the hydraulic, environmental, economic and social impact of the Renaissance Dam on Egypt and Sudan. After agreeing on the terms and the implementation method of the studies, contracts were signed in September 2016 to conduct the studies over a period of 11 months. But the disputes began surfacing when the consultancy firms started their work. In the statement issued by the Egyptian Ministry of Water and Irrigation, Egypt accused Sudan and Ethiopia of trying to introduce amendments to the Declaration of Principles "in their interest, knowing that such amendments would undermine the results of the studies and render them useless. An official in the Egyptian negotiation delegation revealed to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity the real reasons behind the dispute, saying, Egypt wants the technical studies to produce clear results about the negative effects of the Renaissance Dam on its water security, in particular the impact on water flow rates to the High Dam lake, the impact on the salinity in Egyptian agricultural lands in the Delta and the drop in electricity generation in the High Dam. But Ethiopia and Sudan are trying to direct the studies in a way that portrays the Renaissance Dam as having positive impacts and plays up shared interests. The official added, The most contentious issue is the impact of the Renaissance Dam on Egypts current utilization of [its historical share of] the Nile Water guaranteed under the 1959 agreement, which Ethiopia refuses to acknowledge. The dispute is pivotal, and the Egyptian delegation cannot let it go it because it is a pillar to ensuring Egypts water interests. The official noted, Sudan raised another issue of dispute related to the suitability of the mechanism to measure its share of the Nile Water, estimated at 18.5 billion cubic meters. He went on, Egypt realized the danger of wasting time on the technical track in light of the intransigence of the other parties. It was important to reveal the truth after its efforts to use legal and technical arguments to support its stance in the course of the negotiations failed. A plan to take diplomatic, legal and technical action to garner regional and international support for the Egyptian position is underway. Sudan condemned Egypts statement. Sudanese Ambassador to Egypt Abdul Hamid Abdul Mahmoud told Al-Monitor, Egypts reaction stirs suspicion about the future of negotiations and does not pave the way for any sort of action, be it in the interest of Egypt or any of the negotiating parties. He asserted, Sudan has tried to save the technical and political negotiations, and it has the right to take the path that would serve its interests best. Cairo did not stop with the press statement. Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met with his Saudi counterpart Adel al-Jubeir on Nov. 14. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry released a press statement in the wake of the meeting, saying, The kingdom understands Egypts concerns over its water security and the importance of committing to the rules of international law. Egypts Cabinet issued a statement during its first meeting following the Nov. 15 negotiations, saying, We will take the necessary measures on all levels, since water security is central to Egypts national security. Rawiya Toufic, assistant professor at the University of Cairo and researcher at the German Development Institute, told Al-Monitor, Egypt finally admitted the failure of the technical track, which reached a dead end. Egypt still has to outline the next steps to overcome the crisis. She went on, The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Irrigation as well as the cabinet should take action in the next phase to clarify Egypts stance on all levels to the public at home and abroad. Toufic argued, Egypts presidential intervention at this point will bring nothing new to the table. The presidential summit of the Nile Basin countries in Uganda in June proved that. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Irrigation should take the lead now and give a clear idea of Egypts stance, the concessions it expects Ethiopia to make and what Egypt can offer in return. On Egypts escalatory steps so far, Toufic commented, Legal action at this point might not give decisive results in Egypts favor, because there is no tangible harm done yet. Besides, the political tools are weak amid the complex regional context. Gulf countries are preoccupied with their disputes and do not hold real cards to pressure Ethiopia. Eritrea is also fighting its own internal demons, and Sudans stance is known and grows firmer by the day. With the deteriorating negotiations that have not produced any solutions to appease Egypts concerns about the Renaissance Dam, the Egyptian administration has no options left but to expose the truth of what is happening at the negotiation table and focus on direct ways of coming to agreements. But like most Egypt's moves in the matter, any further efforts are likely to come too late, as the Declaration of Principles recognizes Ethiopias right and sovereignty in building and operating the dam without binding it to any written pledges to involve Egypt in the storage and operation processes. November 21, 2017 "Art belongs to everybody and nobody. Art belongs to all time and no time," said award-winning British writer Julian Barnes in his novel The Noise of Time. This phrase inspired a group of Egyptian artists to choose transition as the theme of their photography and videography festival in Cairo. The first edition of the festival titled "Cairographie" is currently underway (Nov. 5-Dec. 31) and aims to create awareness of contemporary issues such as the environment, protests, migration and the youth through photos and videos. Organized by Darb 1718, a contemporary art and culture center in Cairo that was founded in 2008, the festival is supported by Photopia, a hub for photographers in Egypt. "We want to shed more light on art especially photography and videography to enrich the art movement in Egypt," Moataz Nasr, the founder of Darb 1718, told Al-Monitor. Nasr, one of Egypts most famous visual artists, represented his country in the 2017 Venice Biennale, arguably the most important art event in the world, with an exhibition called This too Shall Pass. "The group exhibitions create a broad discussion between the audience and the artists. This [dialogue] is the core reason for launching a festival like this," he said, adding that the video and photographical works of 43 artists were displayed. We selected the theme of 'transition' this year to highlight the change and transformation that has taken place in Egypt after the January 25 Revolution, Karim El Hayawan, one of the organizers and the developer of the theme, told Al-Monitor. "The change can be a very personal topic with a very broad message. It is an open concept in which the participating artists can express their vision about it through photos or videos. Hayawan said that the festivals theme enabled the artists to express transition and change in their own way, whether it is political, philosophical, ideological, religious or intellectual. The works reflect both personal experiences and/or sociopolitical topics such as Egyptian workers, the youth, daily life or architecture. Participant Reem Akl displayed the suffering of some dark-skinned refugees in Egypt with several photos. "Some refugees in Egypt suffer from racism due to their dark skin. Uneducated people usually mock them in the streets. This is a change that has occurred recently in Egyptians," Nasr said. Farida Nader, another photographer, participated in the exhibition with a series of photos that showed a tree in the street where she lived. The photos showed how the scenery changed after the tree was cut down. In addition to displayed artworks, the festival features talks and workshops by the artists to share ideas and experiences. In one of these talks, titled "Born to Change: Young Artists on the Rise," Young photographers shared their views and experiences with the audience. Hamada Elrasam, a freelance photographer, said that after the revolution, the crowds on the Egyptian streets had become hectic and disorganized, so he felt that he had to choose a different photography style to express the chaos. "In 2012-13, there were demonstrations for and against [former President] Mohammed Morsi. When I went to take pictures of pro-Morsi protesters, people thought that I was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. When I wanted to take photos for the other side, people thought that I was against Morsi. When I went to cover a protest that had no relation with the previous ones, people asked me why I was there and told me to go cover more important protests," Elrasam said. "I had the idea of mixing three photos of the three protests together, using the triple exposure. With this project I wanted to express the hectic scene in Egyptian society at that time," he added. During his talk, Elrasam also expressed his perspective on education in Egypt and what the labor market needs. He showed a large photo divided into two parts, one of which showed a man sitting in a cafe looking sad and the other showing pupils in a class talking, playing and paying no attention while the teacher explains the lessons to a few focused pupils. The man in the cafe reflects the realization that not everyone who completes his studies can find a suitable job, Elrasam noted. Nelly El Sharkawy, in her 30s, talked about photography and how she started taking photos of her friends and nature when she was only 17. Then she wanted to create something different. "I mixed two photos to make a single but different one by using double exposure. The result was good," Sharkawy told Al-Monitor. Then she started taking photos of historic places in different governorates and reflecting on different ideas for her photos. "In Alexandria, for example, I took photos of the poor fishermen and how they live, instead of the usual shots of the sea," she said. Photography has a great impact on my personality. I became more courageous and know more people and have seen more places than before," Sharkawy concluded. November 21, 2017 A senior delegation from the European Union traveled Nov. 19 to Iran for high-level talks between Iran and the EU. Helga Schmid, the deputy of EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, led the delegation in this third round of talks. Previous summits were held in Brussels and Tehran. According to Irans official IRNA news agency, energy, the environment, the economy, counternarcotics, human rights and regional matters were among the most important issues discussed between Tehran and the EU. In an interview with Irans Economy Radio, Abbas Araghchi, who is serving as the deputy of Irans foreign minister for legal and international affairs, spoke of the details of the meetings with the EU delegation. As a result of these talks, we reached [an agreement] over the agenda of the Iran-EU relationship of the future," Araghchi said Nov. 20. Araghchi saidboth sides have disagreements over political and regional issues. Still, he said Iran and the EU made very good progress on economic cooperation. One of the issues that was discussed was the bilateral cooperation in the areas of banking, financing and investment. There are obstacles in this area that stem from the measures of US President Donald Trumps administration, he added. Hinting at talks over the nuclear deal, Araghchi said, The European side once again emphasized its support for the nuclear deal and reiterated its commitment to it. He added, During the talks, the European side emphasized the issue that the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] is not renegotiable. We also heard the sentence from the European side that all sides must remain committed to the agreement. I wholly think the discussions on this issue were useful. Tehran and the P5+1 countries (the United States, the UK, France, Russia, China and Germany) reached a deal over Irans nuclear program in 2015. Mentioning a possible US plan for withdrawing from the nuclear deal, Araghchi said, The European Union has [some] ideas about this [prospect], and we shouldnt forget that the EU is seeking to preserve and support the JCPOA as well as secure the interests of European companies and banks under the JCPOA." Araghchi also talked about the current status of the JCPOA in the United States. The ball of the JCPOA is now in Congress court, and currently various lobbies are active to affect Congress' [decision] one of them is the EU lobby," he said. Araghchi added, What has happened so far indicates that the JCPOA has [enough] strength that scrapping it and restoring the sanctions wont be easy. This strength has led Trumps attempts in the last 10 months to kill the JCPOA to nowhere. Araghchi said that Tehran is ready for any scenario, but any US decision to withdraw from the deal won't be easy under the current circumstances. In a separate interview Nov. 21, Araghchi said talks about opening an EU office in Tehran weren't on the agenda. Moreover, Irans government spokesperson Mohammad-Bagher Nobakht said Nov. 21, We havent had a serious discussion in the government and Supreme National Security Council [about the opening of an EU office in Tehran] so far, and if we make any decision [regarding this issue], it will be announced. The Iran-EU talks continue until Nov. 22. Additionally, Schmid met with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Nov. 20. November 22, 2017 When Benjamin Netanyahu returned to the prime minister's office in 2009, he met with his old political patron, former Defense Minister Moshe Arens. As a senior Likud member, Arens advised him to make equal rights for Israel's Arab citizens the major item on his agenda and to correct the long years of discrimination that they had faced. Arens later recalled that meeting in an interview with Al-Monitor. "Go to Nazareth," he told Netanyahu. "Talk with the Arabs. They are your citizens." Arens then bemoaned that his entreaty had had no effect on Netanyahu. "But that doesnt fit with him, it doesnt speak to him, and thats a shame.'' Arens believed that fostering and helping the Israeli Arab community would provide an unequivocal response to their growing sense of alienation, which can be traced to long-standing inequality in budgets and infrastructures, along with other issues. Arens assumed that focusing on Israeli Arabs, instead of the Palestinian issue, would be ideal for Netanyahu in every possible way: It would not lead to conflict with the right in his tenuous coalition, and it would be an important legacy encompassing all of Israel. The rest is history. Netanyahu focused on the Iranian nuclear program and other issues instead, while Israel's Arab population got pushed to the bottom of his list. It is safe to assume that Arens was not overly impressed by reports on Nov. 21 that Netanyahu had participated in the festive dedications of two new police stations in the Arab sector: one in Jisr az-Zarqa and the other in Kafr Kanna. The prime minister attended with Police Commissioner Roni Alsheikh and Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan. After all, almost a decade had passed since Arens had had that talk with Netanyahu. The disparities between the Jewish and Arab populations have grown since then, and Netanyahu is no different from prime ministers on the left who hid their heads in the sand when it came to the Arab population. What sets him apart is that this tendency to ignore the Arabs is complemented by his use of rhetoric to incite against them whenever it serves his political needs. This only adds to the feelings of prejudice, discrimination and alienation that the Arabs feel. One example of this is Netanyahu's famous remark on election day in 2015 to rally Jewish turnout: "Arab voters are coming out in droves to the polls." A few days later, he apologized for this remark. In a speech he delivered at the site of an attack on a Tel Aviv pub in January 2016, Netanyahu proved that his apology was little more than lip service. He has no problem using incitement as a weapon against the entire Arab population whenever it serves his interests. At the time, Israelis were reeling from the midday news that an Israeli Arab had just killed several Jews in the heart of Tel Aviv. Netanyahu wanted to appeal to public sentiment, particularly among his right-wing electorate. He declared that he would not accept a state within a state, and declared, "Whoever wants to be Israeli, must be Israeli all the way." It was a harsh verbal attack with racist undertones. The prime minister had just painted all Israeli Arabs, some 20% of the population, with a single stroke, insinuating that they were all responsible for the horrific incident. Instead of uniting the country, he divided it. He threw his support behind right-wing incitement against Israeli Arabs. It was a very different Netanyahu at this week's ceremony at Jisr az-Zarqa. He made the pompous statement that this was a day of celebration for the rule of law in Israel, noting, "Arab society is a part of the State of Israel. There are no two states here. We act on behalf of all the residents and citizens of this country, Jews and non-Jews alike." After that, he proceeded with Alsheikh and Erdan to Kafr Kanna, where they dedicated the new police station as part of a program to open 17 stations in the Arab sector. A few hours later, Netanyahu posted a video on his Facebook page, in which he congratulated himself for investing in the Arab sector. The unanswered question is why did he wait almost a decade? A reminder of the current, volatile state of the Arab sector came in the form of several dozen Israeli Arab demonstrators at the event, including Knesset member Jamal Zahalka of the Joint List. Some of them even raised a Palestinian flag. Zahalka told Al-Monitor that the Netanyahu government treats the organized crime among the Arab sector lightly. There is widespread belief among Israeli Arabs that the police find it more convenient to ignore crime in Arab localities and might even quietly encourage it. While there is no basis to this conspiracy theory, it does give voice to a very real and painful reality. Crime levels in Israel are highest in Arab settlements. For example, Jisr az-Zarqa is a small town, with just 14,000 residents, but it has experienced four murders this year as well as countless other instances of violence. There is good reason the town is called "Israel's Wild West." There are plenty of police reports and professional studies about the high levels of crime in the Arab sector. Unemployment rates are higher there than among the Jewish sector. Discrimination and other expressions of racism against Arabs are common. All of that finds its way onto the agendas of the Knesset's Arab members, including the most moderate among them, such as Zouheir Bahloul of the Zionist Camp. It has already been noted that Netanyahu is no different from his predecessors Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert, or for that matter, their predecessors, too. They all participated in the years of institutional neglect of the Arab sector. The events of October 2000 that led to the second intifada saw 12 Israeli Arabs and one non-Israeli Palestinian killed by Israeli police. This should have been a warning and was a missed opportunity for change. One finding of the state-appointed Or Commission, which investigated the October 2000 events, was that the main reason for violence among Arabs stemmed from their feeling that they faced discrimination. "The Arab citizens of Israel live in a reality in which they face discrimination because they are Arabs," the findings stated. "This inequality has been described in surveys and professional studies. In the opinion of many, including official sources assessing the situation, it constitutes a major factor behind the unrest, both within the Arab sector and beyond it." Almost two decades have since passed. Netanyahu has been prime minister for about half that time. This means that he could have taken Arens' advice and sealed his place in posterity without paying a political price by putting an end to the sense of alienation and unrest among Israel's Arab population. While the new police stations in the Arab sector are a positive step forward, they are still little more than a drop in the bucket, especially since it will take no more than a second for Netanyahu to kick the bucket over and start inciting against the Arabs again. The Lahore High Court today ordered the release of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed, who has been under house arrest since January this year. Hafiz Saeed's release is unlikely to sit well with India. Photo: Reuters. By Hamza Ameer: Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind of the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai, is set to be released from house arrest tomorrow. The Lahore High Court today ordered the release of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed, who has been under house arrest since January this year. The Punjab government had asked for an extension to Saeed's detention but the request was turned down by the court. advertisement A provincial law officer had told the Lahore High Court during the last hearing that a provincial review board would review Saeed's detention. The JuD chief, through his lawyer A K Dogar, had challenged his detention orders, submitting that the requirements laid by the Supreme Court for the purpose were not fulfilled. He requested the court to set aside the detention and order his release. WHAT HAS HAPPENED SO FAR Hafiz Saeed and his four aides--Abdullah Ubaid, Malik Zafar Iqbal, Abdul Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Hussain--were detained by the Punjab government for 90 days under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 and the Fourth Schedule of Anti- Terrorism Act 1997 on January 31. On September 25, the house arrest of Saeed and others was extended for another 30 days by the Punjab government. The Lahore High Court (LHC), which heard a plea against Saeed's detention on October 10, said he will be freed if the Pakistan government fails to submit evidence against him. Hafiz Saeed's four aides were set free in the last week of October. The United States has offered a USD 10 million bounty for the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks mastermind. The JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) which is responsible for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. ALSO WATCH: Pakistan admits terrorist Hafiz Saeed is a liability, refuses to recognise his political party --- ENDS --- November 22, 2017 Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman surprised everyone by dropping a bomb on the Cabinet table this week. Back in 2015, then-Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon and Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot had agreed to Israel's defense budget as part of a multi-year plan to cover defense costs up until 2020. Liberman now insists that he needs an urgent injection of another 4.8 billion shekels ($1.4 billion). The official reason given for this is "new threats" in the region. The unofficial reason being discussed by critics of Israel's defense establishment is that Israel has invested the lion's share of its money and efforts over the last few years contending with strategic threats in a third, more distant circle, while neglecting its first circle of defense. Israel's security doctrine is based on different strategies vis-a-vis the three circles of threats according to closer/more distant enemies. Israel's working assumption has been that there will be no real land-based threats along the northern border (first circle) in the foreseeable future. But that assumption is now falling apart right in front of the country's leaders. As an earlier Al-Monitor article claimed, Israel was premature in delivering a eulogy for President Bashar al-Assad's Syria. Now, Syria is back, and it is not alone. It comes with a stronger, reinvigorated, better trained and more experienced Hezbollah, and the movement is more determined than ever. It also comes with Shiite militias, which accumulated combat experience under Iranian influence and also, apparently, under Iranian command. And we havent even mentioned the factories to manufacture missiles with precision accuracy that Iran is trying to set up in the region or the port and land bases that it is trying to build for itself in Syria and Lebanon. As one Israeli Cabinet member told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, "We discovered that while we were all focused on the third circle, the first circle has come back to life." The main problem is that according to quite a few sources in the Israeli defense establishment, our land forces are ill-prepared to deal with the old-new challenges piling up against it. Liberman's demand is based on a clause in the multi-year plan for defense funding: "This agreement will not be open to further negotiations unless there is an economic or security shift described by the relevant ministries [Finance and Defense] as major." According to Liberman, the changes taking place around us are major-plus. "Assad won, and he now controls about 90% of Syria's populated territory," Liberman said in a briefing for military correspondents on Nov. 20. "He is starting to build up new divisions and brigades, including aerial defenses. The Syrian army is training more. They are better prepared, and there are more attempts to signal to us that they are ready to face us. They have SA-22 batteries, which are very effective weaponry, but they don't know how to use them yet." There are several main concerns behind the Finance Ministry's stubborn opposition to Liberman's demands. In the past few years, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) invested huge sums to prepare itself for the strategic threat posed by Iran. Deals such as the acquisition of F-35 stealth fighter jets consumed a large part of available resources, but they are irrelevant to the current situation. No one in Israel thought that the war in Syria would be over or even die down quickly in 2017, with a clear winner in the person of Assad, or that Assad would bring Iran, Hezbollah and the Shiite militias along with him. The IDF is late in acquiring Namer APCs (armored personnel carriers) and equipping Israeli tanks with "Windbreaker" defenses to deflect the threat posed by 9M133 Kornet missiles. These missiles were responsible for numerous casualties in the Israeli Armored Corps during the Second Lebanon War in 2006. All in all, Israel's attitude toward Hezbollah has undergone a significant transformation over the past two years. It once considered Hezbollah to be a guerrilla movement that could do little more than annoy Israel with massive rocket attacks on the home front. In the last two years, however, Hezbollah has become a well-trained and hostile regular army with accumulated experience in important battles in Syria. Hezbollah is now capable of operating offensively and even of capturing territory on the Israeli side of the border. The IDF has been keeping a tense watch on Hezbollah's Radwan commando units and on many developments in the group such as the short-range Burkan rocket a sort of hybrid rocket with a warhead of 0.5-1 ton. In the past few years, Hezbollah also obtained unmanned aircrafts and even a small number of tanks and armored vehicles. The group is still light-years behind a real matchup with Israel's military might, and particularly with the Israeli air force. Still, Israel's superiority on the battlefield is no longer quite as absolute as it once was. The IDF may yet miss the days when Hezbollah fighters avoided real contact with Israeli forces, preferring guerrilla warfare from a distance as they did during the Second Lebanon War. The second concern behind Liberman's demand for an immediate budget increase is the fact that the nuclear deal with Iran is no longer as stable and safe as it was under former President Barak Obama. Israel is paying the price for its success in convincing President Donald Trump to challenge the agreement and gnaw away at it. Right now, this is mostly verbal, but the Israeli defense establishment is no longer convinced that the agreement will last until its scheduled expiration date. There are other scenarios, including the collapse of the agreement or having one of the parties either Iran or the United States rebuffing it. If that happens, the strategic Iranian threat against Israel would immediately reappear on the list of current threats. Liberman believes that Israel must prepare itself and be ready to provide a response for this scenario, too. It can be assumed that the main motivation behind Liberman's demand for additional funding can be found in the first reason above. Israel's failure to prepare for the victory of Assad and the Shiite axis is contributing to a loss of self-confidence. Furthermore, Israel also failed to convince the Americans not to abandon the region and not to cede it to the mercy of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Jerusalem has been voicing serious disappointment now that Trump is allowing Putin to do whatever he wants in the new Syria. The warm embrace between Putin and Assad in Sochi on Nov. 21, the statement by Russia's foreign minister that an Iranian presence in Syria is legitimate, and the clear victory of the Shiite axis, which now stretches from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea, are resulting in a chain of powerful responses from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem Israel's defense and political echelons. According to one of his associates who spoke on condition of anonymity, Liberman regularly jokes that "nothing good is threatening us." As 2018 approaches, the joke is on him. His tongue-in-cheek remark is coming true right before his eyes. November 21, 2017 MOSCOW Syrian President Bashar al-Assad made a snap, four-hour visit Nov. 20 to Sochi. On Nov. 22, this southern resort city which is Russian President Vladimir Putins preferred residence during the cold months will be hosting the Russia-Iran-Turkey summit. All of the developments are in large part guided by Moscow's efforts to settle the six-year Syria crisis. Assad's meeting was carried out in utmost secrecy and not announced until the early morning in Moscow, when Assad was back in Damascus. Assad's trip this week marks a new milestone for the Syrian war on at least two fronts. First, its a symbolic gesture to officially set off a transition from military operations to political processes. Second, its a sign that Russias own military campaign is coming to an end and Moscow will have to turn to other means to ensure its presence and exert influence in Syria. It was important for Putin to articulate these two things to Assad clearly. I believe that terrorism is a global problem and the fight against it is, of course, far from over. As for our joint efforts against the terrorists in Syria, this military operation is nearing completion indeed," Putin told Assad. "I believe that the main task now is to launch the political process. I am glad that you are ready to work with anyone who wants peace and conflict resolution. The Assad visit was deemed to have a big public relations component, and the way it was played in and echoed through the media suggests it reached its objective. The two leaders praised their joint successes, with Putin speaking highly of the negotiations in Astana, Kazakhstan, and the idea for the de-escalation zones, and Assad stressing the pivotal role Russia played in Syria. It should be acknowledged that the [Russian] operation brought progress to the political settlement in Syria," said Assad. "And the process that was started and that Russia promoted with various efforts continues. The same goes for the plans to hold the Syrian National Dialogue Congress," which is tentatively set for early December. On a substantive level, Putin wanted to have Assad come to Sochi to coordinate views on the next steps for a number of key issues Moscow is promoting, in particular the expected congress with the Iranian and Turkish presidents, which Assad supports. Moscow is aware of the risks Assad could pose if he doesn't cooperate when a consensus is reached on the Syrian political transition, and he could also upset further Russian initiatives, so having a face-to-face conversation was vital. Moscow also wants to engage all stakeholders to ensure success for its Syria plan. The batter for the Syrian settlement has been beaten and is now being baked, and the Putin-Assad talks will be the icing on the metaphorical cake. Speaking to Al-Monitor not for attribution, a senior Russian diplomat who had been working on the Syria issue from the Russian end said, Moscow had started to work on a Syrian plan a while ago. The Putin-Trump agreement was an important element to this plan. We made some good progress with this agreement and the Nov. 8 memorandum, the diplomat said, "but even if the Americans had declined to work with us under the agreed framework, we would have continued on our own by working with the Astana partners [Turkey and Iran]. The agreement was important in that it politically allows the settlement to be discussed within Geneva sooner rather than later. The diplomat declined to provide details of what this plan constitutes, saying only that Moscow is interested to ultimately take the settlement process into Geneva but escape the mistakes and problems we all faced there previously. He recommended, Read our official documents carefully, our intentions are all in there." Meanwhile, in the runup to the Sochi meeting Nov. 22, a lot of back-channel shuttle diplomacy and military contacts have been underway, both within the Astana troika and between them and Damascus. On Nov. 19, the foreign ministers of Russia, Turkey and Iran gathered in Antalya, Turkey, to discuss details of preparations for that meeting including the most thorny issues, such as the Kurds participation in the Syrian National Dialogue Congress, the potential creation of a fifth de-escalation zone in Syria and the possible presence of monitors from the guarantor countries in the Idlib de-escalation zone. The final decisions on these issues are supposed to be made in Sochi. The military representatives of Russia, Turkey and Iran, including the heads of the general staffs, are having their own consultations at a separate venue. Soon after his meeting with Assad, Putin had a phone conversation with Qatar Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on preparations for the trilateral summit. On the same day, Nov. 20, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov met in the United Arab Emirates with the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, with the same mission. On Nov. 21, Putin had separate phone conversations with US President Donald Trump, Saudi King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Therefore, by the time Putin sits down with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Erdogan in Sochi, Russia will have coordinated its positions with major actors and will have a more solid mandate to negotiate an ultimate deal. Putins remark at the meeting with Assad that Moscow hopes the UN will join the [political] process at its final stage suggests Putin was again referring to the Geneva process, and that Russia eyes the UN as the ultimate decision-making body. Russia also doesnt seem to be worried about the parallel process taking place in Riyadh. Moscow is delegating its Syria envoy, Alexander Lavrentyev, for the opening and closing of that meeting, as well as a news conference to stay abreast of the process. But Russia's minimal level of involvement suggests it believes staying its own course is more efficient at this stage. With this in mind, Moscow moves to the trilateral summit Nov. 22 in Sochi. November 21, 2017 A major blunder in NATO has brought bitter political rivals in Turkey into a rare demonstration of unity. Parties across the political spectrum are announcing their distrust of the international alliance. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke of the major scandal, as it is being referred to in Turkey, during an address to officials from his Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Ankara Nov. 17. Erdogan said he had been informed by Chief of the General Staff Hulusi Akar and EU Affairs Minister Omer Celik that Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish Republic, and Erdogan had been depicted as NATOs enemies during a recent NATO military exercise in Norway. He was referring to a military exercise held Nov. 8-17 in Stavanger, Norway, that, according to NATO, was a Command Post/Computer Assisted Exercise without troops on the ground. Once Erdogan heard of the insult, he ordered the withdrawal of the 40 Turkish officers who were to participate in the military exercise. Speaking to the AKP, he said, You cannot have such an alliance or such an ally. The value of Turkeys NATO membership is being questioned now, with some officials calling for Ankara to ditch the alliance. There are experts, however, who say quitting NATO would leave Turkey weaker in terms of its security interests. According to Turkish media reports, the blunder was double-pronged. First, Ataturk was depicted as an enemy of NATO in a poster. Then, a fake social media account was opened in Erdogans name during the exercise containing anti-NATO messages. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg issued an immediate apology for the offense, saying both incidents were the result of an individuals actions and do not reflect the views of NATO. The value of Turkeys NATO membership is being questioned now, with some officials calling for Ankara to ditch the alliance. He said, Turkey is a valued NATO Ally, which makes important contributions to allied security. Turkey is the only predominantly Muslim member of NATO, with the second largest army in the alliance, and is participating in NATO operations against the Islamic State and in Afghanistan. Stoltenberg also apologized to Erdogan personally over the phone. Norways Defense Minister Frank Bakke-Jensen said the two incidents involved an external contractor hired for the exercise, who was subsequently dismissed. He added that an investigation had also been opened. Turkish media said the person involved was a Norwegian of Turkish origin, who was promptly blamed for being a supporter of Fethullah Gulen, the Islamic preacher who is accused of masterminding the July 2016 coup against Erdogan. Still fuming, Erdogan told supporters in the Black Sea city of Rize Nov. 18 that the offense to Turkey in Stavanger was the outward expression of a skewed attitude toward Turkey that we have been observing for some time. Indicating that the reliability of NATO was in question, Erdogan added that the insult could not be dismissed with a dry apology. Government spokesman Bekir Bozdag referred to the matter as one of the greatest scandals in NATOs history and said they wanted the investigation to include the commanding officers at the exercise. Erdogan political adviser Yalcin Topcu suggested that Turkey should quit NATO. He claimed the alliance had supported every military coup in Turkey and said it was time to question Turkeys NATO membership. This organization, which shows all forms of enmity toward its member, is not indispensable for us, Topcu said. His sentiment was shared by Devlet Bahceli, the leader of the far-right Nationalist Action Party. Bahceli said Turkey was around long before NATO, adding, It will not be the end of the world if we are not in this structure. In a rare example of support for the government, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the main opposition Republican Peoples Party, said that while everyone could criticize Turkey, no one had the right to insult its leaders and its history. We strongly condemn this, Kilicdaroglu said. He added that the matter could not be dismissed with a simple apology. To the surprise of many, the pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party which many Turks see as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party also condemned NATO, referring to its blunder as unacceptable. Retired Ambassador Suha Umar, who has served as Turkeys deputy head of mission at NATO, said this latest development showed where Turkeys prestige within the alliance stands today. No one would have thought for one second to do such a thing in the past, Umar told Al-Monitor. The question to be asked here is how Turkey could have been allowed to end up in this position. Responding to the argument that NATO has always undermined Turkey, Umar said, Why did it remain in NATO for so long then if that is the case? He added that even if this claim was true, which he believes it is not, then Turkey is in a better position to prevent moves against it as a NATO member. Turkeys already strained ties with key NATO members were further shaken after Heidi Grant, the US deputy undersecretary of the Air Force for international affairs, told Defense News that the United States might consider restrictions to Turkey's purchase of F-35 fighter jets if Ankara finalized its deal with Moscow for S-400 air defense systems. Ankara says existing restrictions on its military purchases from various NATO members who cite the state of democracy in Turkey is forcing it to look elsewhere for its military hardware requirements. Grants remark, and the incidents in Norway, are seen by pro-government Turkish commentators as the latest examples of NATOs attempts to undermine Erdogan and his achievements. Conversely, NATO has been traditionally targeted as an enemy of Turkey by the Turkish left and right wings, as well as by Turkish Islamists. The left wing has always argued that NATO is the instrument of capitalist and imperialist powers, a claim that is shared by the nationalist right wing. Erdogans Islamist supporters, for their part, see NATO as a US-led, anti-Islamic and pro-Israeli alliance that kills Muslims in Afghanistan and the Middle East, and would be happy to see Turkey leave the alliance. In line with Ankaras growing quarrel with the West, there are also Western voices calling for Turkey to be kicked out of NATO. Shared strategic security interests have nevertheless forced the sides to continue this relationship, despite tensions between Turkey and key NATO members. Retired Brig. Gen. Naim Baburoglu said that talk about the need for Turkey to ditch NATO is unrealistic and mainly aimed at domestic consumption. If Turkey left, would it have the capacity to establish a national defense system like Israel without relying on others? Baburoglu told Al-Monitor. Global powers can change sides, but medium-sized powers cannot escape the consequences of doing so. Veering toward Russia would not ensure Turkeys security needs given that Moscow and Ankaras regional interests do not overlap, Baburoglu said. Baburoglu also indicated that quitting NATO would also deprive Turkey of its power of veto as a full member and leave it unable to block undesired developments, such as the inclusion of Cyprus in the alliance. Umar believes that both sides have done what was necessary in this case and should let the case rest. Turkey objected as it had to, and NATO apologized at the highest level," Umar said. "NATO also said it has taken the necessary steps, and also initiated an investigation. Continuing to ask for more heads to roll is only aimed at a domestic audience. Turkey will obviously not quit NATO, but this latest affair has highlighted just how much distrust has developed between the sides. Silk Way West Airlines, a growing cargo operator based in Azerbaijan, and Alaska Airlines on Thursday signed contracts with Boeing for two freighters apiece but that is where the similarities ended. Silk Way West said it will take two 777-8s, the largest plane available from Boeing (NYSE: BA) and one so modern it isnt [] The number of Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping vessels operating outside the Caspian Sea has now reached 12, with 11 being dry cargo vessels, the company said. The Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping Co. says it is expanding its presence in international waters via its dry cargo vessel Gafur Mammadov, which is beginning cargo transportation operations outside the Caspian Sea. The Gafur Mammadov vessel will contribute to the further strengthening of the position of the shipping company in the market of cargo transportation abroad, Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping Co. said in a Nov. 17 statement announcing the move. The Gafur Mammadov, which has a deadweight of 5,500 tons, a length of 108.3 meters (355 feet), a width of 16.5 meters (54 feet), and a full-load draft of 4.79 meters (15.7 feet), has been moored at the Port of Taganrog in Russia for carrying out cargo operations and is being moved to Izmir, Turkey, Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping Co. also revealed. Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping Co. says that the dry cargo vessel, which will float in the basins of the Azov, Black and Mediterranean Seas, will have its operation and maintenance provided by Caspdry, an Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping Co. subsidiary in Turkey that was founded in the first quarter of this year specifically for the purpose of the transportation of bulk cargo along the Caspian Sea. Out of a total of 59 merchant ships, the number of Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping vessels operating outside the Caspian Sea has now reached 12, with 11 being dry cargo vessels and the other a tanker, the company said. Four handsets from Motorola will soon receive the Android 8.0 Oreo soak test update in Brazil, which essentially means that a test build of Android 8.0 Oreo is coming to those phones. These four handsets are the Moto Z, Moto Z2 Force, the Moto Z Play, and the Moto Z2 Play. In an email sent to a select set of users, Motorola is inviting individuals to test the preview version of the operating system. To qualify for this program, the person should be a member of the Motorola Owners Forum, and once they are signed up, they will take part in the companys testing program dubbed as the Motorola Feedback Network. The tech firm will then ask the participants to provide their feedback regarding the software using the provided questionnaire. The feedback is useful in identifying software bugs that need to be fixed. The first beta updates will reportedly roll out within the next 48 hours while the majority of the devices will likely receive the update by the third week of December. Owners of the four Motorola handsets will soon experience the latest features of Android 8.0 Oreo. Once the updates are installed, users may now view two apps at the same time through the Picture-in-Picture mode wherein one app is placed in a smaller window on top of another application. Another new functionality is the Notification Dots, which allows the user to know if an app has a new notification right on the home screen. Pressing on the dots will choose from a selection of quick actions that may include replying to messages or sharing content. Google Play Protect, a service that scans installed applications for potential malware, is now a built-in feature while the status of the smartphones security can now be viewed on the settings screen. The Android Instant Apps feature is also supported by Android Oreo, which means users may now test certain applications without actually installing the software. Other additional enhancements included reduced bootup times and a new autofill feature. In addition, features that are specific to Motorola handset are likely included into the operating system upgrade. For people who are participating in the soak test, it is important that the contents of the device are backed up to a personal computer or a microSD card and that the battery has sufficient charge to last the entire installation process to prevent the loss of potentially important data. Forbes has released its list of richest families in Asia and, surprisingly enough, the family behind the well-known tech giant Samsung namely the Lee Kun-hee family only managed to take second this year despite taking first last year. The Reliance Group, owned by the Ambani family of India, took the top spot with a total of $44.8 billion in assets. Meanwhile, the rankings, which only take under considerations families owning a business over the course of more than three generations, placed Samsungs Lee Kun-hee family from South Korea at $4 billion short of that mark landing at $40.8 billion. The Lee Kun-hee family had held the top spot since the lists first inception in 2015. Thats hardly surprising, with consideration for the noteworthy standing of Samsung as both a mobile device and chipset manufacturer. In fact, Samsung has also moved into the top spot as the worlds most profitable smartphone manufacturer, thanks largely to its chipset division which is also an area where the company managed to surpass Intel earlier this year. The family behind Samsung was also the only mobile-specific company from the region to make the top ten of the list. Falling much later in the list of most wealthy families owning businesses in Asia, at 28th, is the Koo family behind LG. That company only managed around $8.7 billion. Of the 40 families included in the list, four originate from both South Korea and Indonesia. The largest group resides in India, with no fewer than 18 families hailing from the region. Rounding out the figures, nine originate from Hong Kong, while five are based out of Singapore. Interestingly though, Forbes has also indicated that this list may not be entirely accurate due to the time constraints on whether or not a family qualifies to make the list. In fact, nearly a full half of Asias most wealthy families are based in China but arent included because they are only run by either first or second-generation family members. That could point to an even bigger shakeup of the list over the next couple of years if those companies remain well-managed enough to make it to third-generation family ownership. Xiaomis newly opened Spanish unit appears to be taking a cue from the book of the companys China and India operations, having just announced that its Black Friday sale will see some Mi 6 flagships and other Android smartphones discounted to just 1, i.e. $1.18. As always, the catch lies in the fact that the company is planning a highly limited sale at such prices, with only 50 devices in total being planned to be sold for a single euro. The lucky buyers will be selected through a raffle scheduled to run over three days, with more than 10,000 ($11,786) in handset vouchers also being up for grabs besides the phones themselves. The first raffle will be held on Black Friday when ten lucky winners allowed to purchase the Mi 6 for 1 will be selected. Saturday will see a similar event, with the Chinese original equipment manufacturer being set to select 20 participating consumers wholl be given a chance to buy the Redmi Note 4 for 1, whereas 20 more will be picked on Sunday, with their rewards being Redmi 4A handsets with an identical price tag. Raffle-based giveaways became a hallmark of Xiaomis retail efforts in recent years, having been originally popularized in Asia. Such events are still advertised as sales to attract the attention from the general public due to their unrealistically low prices, consequently promoting Xiaomis brand and getting more eyeballs on some actual sales that the company is usually running simultaneously with its raffles. The Spanish giveaway can be entered by any resident of the country free of charge and only requires them to play a wacky browser mini-game to participate. Refer to the banner below for more details on Xiaomis new raffle. Xiaomi only officially entered Spain earlier this month, having described its move as the latest step in its overseas expansion efforts which are largely focused on Europe. India remains the companys largest foreign market for the time being, with Xiaomi being close to local market leader Samsung in terms of shipments and sales, according to numerous industry trackers. Xiaomis European endeavors are likely to intensify next year, both in terms of new devices and markets. "The Congress has agreed to what the BJP has denied us for years. It has assured us of the quota," Patel said. By Jumana Shah: Breaking his silence on the tie-up with the Congress in the crucial Gujarat Assembly election, firebrand Patidar leader Hardik Patel today said the Congress has assured him of reservation for his community in educational institutions and jobs. "The Congress has agreed to what the BJP has denied us for years. It has assured us of the quota," Patel, 24, said in a press conference in Ahmedabad. "The Congress will make Patel quota part of its manifesto and bring the reservation bill after coming to power." Congress will bring in a bill when they come in power in #Gujarat: Hardik Patel on reservations pic.twitter.com/leIgDSPCT7- ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2017 advertisement WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR Denying that he is joining any political party, Patel said he has not asked for tickets for himself or anybody. He also denied there is any rift within the PAAS. The Patidar leader attacked the BJP for "constantly maligning me" and accused it of "trying to buy him" by offering Rs 1200 crore. "Several horsetrading attempts are being made with our conveners in North Gujarat. Rs 50 lakh was recently offered. BJP is using its tactics as it fears defeat," Patel said. "We are not openly extending support to the Congress, but we will fight the BJP. So directly or indirectly, there will be support to the Congress," he said. Patel said the Congress quota formula is acceptable to him, and that discussions with the party are on over sharing of the seats for the two-phase Gujarat election beginning December 9. Hardik has been campaigning for reservation under the OBC quota for the Patidars. The ruling BJP has refused the reservation under the OBC category, but had offered 10 per cent quota under a new category of economically backward class (EBC). The Congress, which has not ruled Gujarat for 22 long years, claims to have worked out a formula under which it will be able to offer inclusion for the Patidars without reducing any existing benefits to the OBCs. et for the last 72 hours, the Patidar Anamat Aandolan Samiti (PAAS) convener was expected to announce support for the Congress after the party bowed to PAAS pressure and changed as many as five of the 89 candidates in the first phase of polls on December 9. The deal between the PAAS and the Congress appears to have been worked out with sources in the Congress saying atl east four seats have been given to Patidar candidates in consultation with Hardik. On Tuesday, Hardik Patel had called off his press conference after differences cropped up with the Congress over the Botad constituency. Putting an end to the logjam, the Congress replaced Manhar Patel, an NCP defector, with DM Patel. WATCH | Congress has assured us of Patidar quota: Hardik Patel --- ENDS --- A 30-year-old woman in Haryana having an extramarital affair with a man murdered her husband and cut his body in eight pieces. Headless body of her husband was found in a suitcase. By India Today Web Desk: A 30-year-old woman has been sentenced to 30 years imprisonment by a court in Jhajjar town in Haryana. The woman brutally murdered her husband when she cut the man she married in eight pieces. Additional Sessions Judge HS Dahiya sentenced 30-year-old Puja for murdering 38-year-old Baljeet. Puja murdered Baljeet in April 2016 in Asanda village in Jhajjar district. advertisement However, there were four other people who were also named in the case have been acquitted. The court said that only Puja was responsible for the gruesome murder of her husband, according to an NDTV report. The investigation by police unraveled that Puja had an extramarital affair with another man and Baljeet was murdered because Puja wanted him out of her way and her new-found love in another man. BALJEET WENT MISSING Baljeet's brother Kuljeet had filed a complaint with the police on April 26 in 2016 that his brother has gone missing. According to Kuljeet, when he and his sisters went to Baljeet's place, Puja could not provide satisfactory answers on Baljeet's whereabouts. Soon the sisters could feel some foul odour which was coming from another room. Upon inspection, they found the stench was coming from a suitcase kept in the room. When the suitcase was opened, they gasped in horror as they found Baljeet's headless body there. Soon they found out that Puja had cut her husband's body into eight pieces which were hidden at different places in the house. JUDGEMENT The court on Tuesday held Puja guilty of savagely murdering Baljeet. Puja was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment. --- ENDS --- By PTI: Cuttack, Nov 22 (PTI) Orissa High Court today took suo motu cognizance of media reports on pictures of repair work in Puri?s Jagannath Temple going viral and issued notice to Sri Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA). The High Court has asked the chief administrator of SJTA, which had been set up by the state government, to file a report by December 6 explaining how the pictures were in the public domain. Photos of repair work of Jagamohan, the hall facing the sanctum sanctorum of the 12th century shrine, were found posted on the social media. advertisement A division bench of the HC headed by Chief Justice Vineet Saran adjudicating over a PIL in this regard and monitoring the repair works undertaken by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) of the 12th century shrine expressed concern over the sensitive issue. SJTA chief administrator P K Jena had sought explanation from ASI on the matter within three days for taking further action. Meanwhile, in response to last week?s HC notice about the ongoing repair works, the Temple administration sought some more time to file the latest status report. The HC asked the temple administration to file the status report also on December six. PTI COR SKN KK KK RT --- ENDS --- The largest law firms in America often give different parental-leave benefits to lawyers and support staff, a study has found.Data from 44 of the Am Law 100 that shared leave policies with Bloomberg Law show that lawyers who are primary caregivers get an average of 5.7 to 8.3 more weeks of paid leave than support staff, depending on the staffs employment status.On average, birth-mother primary caregivers who are lawyers get 17 weeks of paid parental leave, while staff average nine to 11 weeks, the publication said. Lawyers who are secondary caregivers receive 2.2 to 2.7 more weeks of paid leave than staff.And thats while law firm staff get more paid parental leave than staff with comparable pay in other industries.Some Am Law 100 firms do not give paid parental leave to staff members. Some, however, are generous.Some firms which include Polsinelli, Husch Blackwell, and Fragomen offer 12 weeks paid leave for lawyers and staff who are primary caregivers. Some firms gave staff 12 weeks, but they even gave more to lawyers. Morrison Foerster gives staff who are primary caregivers 16 weeks, while its lawyers get 20 weeks.The most generous among the firms that shared data are Arnold & Porter and Mintz Levin, the publication said, as the firms give all primary caregivers 18 weeks. These firms secondary caregivers are given six and eight weeks paid leave, respectively.Bloomberg Law said that the data, while giving a rough idea of paid parental leave benefits in the largest law firms in America, do not paint a complete picture. It said many firms reported ranges for leave policies, which depend on employee status and whether they are working in a managerial role. The averages are for total weeks of paid time off, but they do not reflect differences in policies between paid time off and paid disability leave or policies that give paid time off at a percentage of an employees salary, it said. An insurance focused international law firm which opened in 1933 is to close following a turbulent period in which it lost many partners.Sedgwick LLP told staff this week that it will close at the end of the year and said that it believes the best way for its lawyers to continue offering great service to clients is for them to move to other law firms.The firm has lost 35% of its headcount in 2017 including a team in Bermuda who defected to Kennedys last month.There were talks of a merger with leading insurance-sector firm Clyde & Co but it failed to materialize. This, according to Law360.com was due in part to the large amount of capital owed to many of the 45 partners who have left the firm this year.As well as its US headquarters in San Francisco, Sedgwick has nine US offices and one in London.A partnership between MinterEllison and software firm the Safetrac Group has developed a new solution to help clients with boardroom governance and compliance.Boardtrac Plus was conceived by MinterEllison partners Tony Dhar, Paul Kallenbach and John Steven and builds on the original Boardtrac which launched in 2012.Its capabilities are a first for the Australian market providing a secure and easy-to-use digital App solution that really simplifies board administration and brings great efficiencies to Directors; especially those sitting on multiple boards, said partner John Steven.Norton Rose Fulbright has launched a Capital Markets Academy in Singapore to help banking professionals with key issues.The global firm hosted around 50 banking clients at its inaugural training program in Singapore which comprised three sessions focusing on debt capital markets, structured finance including securitisation, Islamic finance and covered bonds, and derivatives.The sessions were led by NRF partners from Hong Kong, London, Dubai and Singapore.The rise of social media is putting judges under intolerable pressure according to the most senior judge in England.Lord Chief Justice Sir Ian Burnett said that people taking to social media to slam the decisions of judges undermines the rule of law. He told BBC radios Law in Action that while the judiciary should be open to criticism that is not the same as the abuse that individual judges suffer online.Sir Ian, who became Lord Chief Justice last month after 9 years as a High Court judge, said that the abuse was beginning to dissuade people from become judges. This will be the last year Sedgwick will exist.The Am Law 200 firm has told lawyers and staff that it will permanently cease operations at the end of December. The closing comes after an exodus of partners left it reeling, with more than 30 partners having left the firm by the end of August.By the end of October, more than 45 partners have moved on to other firms. Including other senior lawyers and staff, the firms headcount dropped 35% this year.We have concluded that the best way to allow our lawyers to continue providing great service to our clients is by ceasing operations and moving to other excellent law firms. We are pleased that most of our lawyers and staff have opportunities with very fine firms, the firm told The American Lawyer.While this news deeply saddens all of us, we are very proud and appreciative of all those who helped make Sedgwick the great firm it has been since 1933. From the bottom of our hearts, we thank our clients, attorneys and staff for everything you have done for us for decades, and we wish anyone who has ever crossed paths with this wonderful law firm the best and brightest future, the firm said.One of the very fine firms taking on a large number of Sedgwick lawyers when its doors close is UK-headquartered firm Clyde & Co, which was earlier involved in merger negotiations with Sedgwick. Partner departures scuttled those plans.Sedgwick had an income of US$170m and 274 lawyers in 2016, according to the latest Am Law 200 rankings. Stanislav Roth Stanislav Roth thinks that while technology has the power to disrupt the law and many other industries, a more fundamental challenge actually threatens the business of law more.This law firm founder is also increasingly wary of the term NewLaw, which has often been associated with his firm Source Legal because it operates a unique business model and offers clients a different service than traditional law firms.In this interview, Roth also talks about his challenging start in Australia, why he established his own law firm, and what he prefers to change with his job.I always had an inclination towards a language-based profession. This became a challenge when I moved from the Ukraine to Australia at the age of 19 with little English. Nevertheless, after a few years of hesitation and improving my English I decided to take the plunge.I also felt that law would provide opportunities to be closely involved in business at a relatively senior level straight away. This is why I decided to go in-house quite early in my career. I wanted to be part of a business and be involved in strategy and important decisions.I have always been a bit restless and entrepreneurial. When I worked as a corporate lawyer, although I worked in a senior role, I felt I could do more. I wanted to do more than just legal work I wanted to create and run my own business.Also, I saw there was a real opportunity to create a new way of providing legal services, especially to SMEs. I found that many businesses could not get access to high-quality and right-sized legal support at an affordable and fixed (rather than open-ended) price. This is what Source Legal does.I enjoy the variety every day brings legal work, client management, marketing, or meeting new people. This challenges me and keeps me interested every day.But if you ask what gives me most satisfaction the answer is simple; it is a happy client who has just experienced our unique service and discovered, often to their surprise, that it can be enjoyable and rewarding to work with lawyers.In order to grow my business I need to do less legal work and more business development. I am working on this.My passion (or to be frank, obsession) is swimming. I try to swim every day (actually maybe this is really why I started my own business to have the flexibility to swim every day). It is my sport and my therapy. I find that good ideas often spring to mind while I swim.I also love cinema, theatre and literature; and, of course, my family.I think building Source Legal into a successful and award-winning business is my most important achievement to date. The recognition that the business of the year award brings is a major breakthrough for us. [2017 Business of the Year, Optus My Business Awards] Our clients already love our model and approach, but we were like a best-kept secret. Suddenly, hundreds and thousands of businesses will hear about us and our unique approach. This is a game changer for us.There is a huge amount going on now.For example, we have recently rolled out our free one-page contracts at 1pagecontracts.com.au. To put it bluntly, we are cutting the crap out of contracts, so that businesses can actually understand them and not be intimidated by unnecessary legalese. We will be expanding them in 2018.We have a subscription service for start-ups and micro businesses at sourcelegalonline.com.au where we offer unlimited legal support for a very small monthly fee. We already have plans to expand in this space. For example, we are planning to establish a legal academy for start-ups and SMEs offering free legal workshops, and, in partnership with other businesses, providing a broader range of business training. Weve got international ties in the start-up space, particularly in Israel and Singapore, which both have really exciting start-up sectors so that means weve got a huge amount of experience and insight that were keen to share.We are pursuing many growth initiatives, such as partnering with other professional service providers to expand our reach, so that an increasing number of SMEs can access high quality legal support at the affordable value-based price that we offer. We are ramping up our marketing, PR and social media presence.The bigger picture for me, of course, in the wake of the recent award is to consider our overall growth strategy. This award is a testament to the strength and robustness of our business model. It is now a question of how best to tap into the broader market and with what resources. I feel that now is the right time to consider strategic investments or partnerships.I think many people would answer this question by pointing to the current technological revolution for example, artificial intelligence that promises to disrupt and fundamentally change the legal industry, and all industries for that matter.However, my answer is a bit different. I think the real issue is that the legal industry is disconnected from real business. This is evident in many ways. For example, lawyers continue to produce highly complex and lengthy contracts that are beyond the comprehension of most business people. Most lawyers continue to charge by the hour while businesses really want to pay for the value of the service they get, i.e. a piece of timely advice, a contract, or a resolved dispute. I think the most pressing issue the legal industry is facing is the question of how to bridge the gulf that exists between what lawyers do and what businesses need.The best advice I was ever given was always to go an extra mile. Just when you think you have done your best, do a bit more.This is the advice I would offer to young lawyers. This extra mile will be noticed by their clients and employers and will pave the way to success.I find that I like the term NewLaw less and less these days. What drives us is much more down to earth than this buzzword might suggest; quite simply, we work hard to provide amazing service to our clients at a price that reflects the value of the service to them and that they, as a result, are genuinely happy to pay. The lawyers we want to join us are those who share this mindset and want to work in a flexible, entrepreneurial and creative environment.Also my advice for lawyers looking to transition to a firm like ours is to try setting up and running their own business or side project. Deep legal expertise coupled with an understanding of what makes businesses tick creates a whole new mindset thats very useful in practising law. Two months ago, the City of London announced it would not renew Uber's license to operate within its limits. The statement at that time said that "TfL (Transport for London) considers that Uber's approach and conduct demonstrate a lack of corporate responsibility in relation to a number of issues which have potential public safety and security implications.The new CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, who was appointed a few weeks before the London situation, is faced with dragging the multi-billion company out of the pit it had dug for itself and prepare it for the completely different future that awaits us.One of the directions that Uber seems to be determined to follow is that of autonomous driving, a technology that would immediately eliminate the biggest cause of problems for the company, not to mention reduce the costs significantly: the drivers.This Monday, Uber announced it would buy 24,000 Volvo XC90 SUVs from the Swedish manufacturer which would serve as the fleet for its RoboTaxi program, suggesting the self-driving project is up and running at full speed.Now, though, a new situation has surfaced, this time brought forward by the company itself. It seems like more than a year ago, a group of hackers managed to break into Uber Technologies Inc.'s database and gain access to the personal information of 57 million customers and drivers worldwide.The hackers obtained the names, email addresses, and telephone numbers of the victims, as well as about 600,000 driver's license numbers from Uber drivers. The company highlighted that credit card information or Social Security numbers of their clients were never in danger.According to Bloomberg , Uber covered everything up for more than a year by paying the hackers $100,000 in exchange for their silence. Now, though, Dara Khosrowshahi decided to bring the whole thing forward in an attempt to show the company's new way of doing business. Joe Sullivan, the chief of security, has been dismissed from the company.While I cant erase the past, I can commit on behalf of every Uber employee that we will learn from our mistakes, Khosrowshahi said. None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it. We are changing the way we do business. California Gov. Jerry Brown met earlier this month with top executives at Norway-based Statoil to discuss the company's pursuit of wind power off the Golden State's coastlines. Why it matters: It's a glimpse into the future: Statoil is among the most aggressive oil companies pursuing green investments to hedge against a lower-carbon economy, and California is the most aggressive state pursuing actions to cut carbon emissions. Just one offshore wind farm exists in the U.S., off Rhode Island. Quoted: "It's great, all that wind blowing, if we can get it, if the price is right, if the technology is there, if we can get through appropriate analysis," Brown told me on the sidelines of a climate conference in Bonn, Germany, last week. "I think it may have real potential, but there's lots of issues there." Gritty details: Brown met with Bjrn Otto Sverdrup, Statoil's top sustainability officer, in Oslo, Norway, on Nov. 9 en route to the Bonn climate conference, where Brown spoke out several times urging U.S. action on climate despite President Trump's retreat on the issue. "Bjrn shared our work on climate and they discussed opportunities for offshore wind in North America, including California," a spokeswoman for Statoil said in an email. Go deeper: Exxon, Shell, BP and five other big oil and natural gas companies have announced that they are joining forces to work on ways to cut emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from natural gas production, according to Wall Street Journal. Why it matters: There has been growing pressure from government and consumers on the energy industry to find more environmentally-friendly energy sources and production methods, and Exxon's participation leaves Chevron as the only major U.S. oil company not part of the group. These companies have already made significant investments in fossil fuels, which they believe will be an important source of energy stability even as renewables gain popularity, and natural gas is the cleanest compared to oil and coal. The companies' joint statement: "The commitment was made as part of wider efforts by the global energy industry to ensure that natural gas continues to play a critical role in helping meet future energy. Its role in the transition to a low-carbon future will be influenced by the extent to which methane emissions are reduced." Facebook will tell users whether they followed pages set up by Russian operatives as part of a broad campaign to interfere in the 2016 election. The company, along with Twitter and Google, have faced pressure from lawmakers to be more transparent about how far the Russian ads, pages and propaganda spread on their platforms and who was exposed to it. The details: The social network said Wednesday that it will create a page on its support website that will tell a user which pages and accounts they followed on Facebook and Instagram that have been linked to a Russian troll farm involved in the election campaign. Users will also be able to see when they followed the account. The announcement coincides with the deadline to respond to a letter from Sen. Richard Blumenthal asking the company to "individually notify any and all users who received or interacted with these advertisements and associated content." He also sent letters to Google and Twitter. What they're not doing: Telling users whether they were exposed to content from the pages in their Newsfeed, even if they didn't follow them. Users may have seen content that spread organically or as a result of a paid ad. Facebook has argued that it's especially difficult to be able to show that information. The former head of the Office of Government Ethics has filed a legal complaint against Kellyanne Conway, arguing that she violated the Hatch Act when she encouraged Alabama voters not to support Doug Jones, per Politico. Why it matters: Walter Shaub's action is an attempt to hold Conway accountable for failing to limit her political involvement, advocating or encouraging certain political outcomes, particularly since she is counselor to the president. But it's important to note that the president holds the power to enforce any punishments against those who have violated the Hatch Act. By PTI: New Delhi, Nov 22 (PTI) The Indian Council of Medical Research is likely to get a new regional centre in Gorakhpur soon, to carry out research on Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) child mortality and malnutrition, the ICMR chief said today. "It will be our additional Regional Medical Research Centre and should be inaugurated soon," Director-General of the ICMR, Soumya Swaminathan, said. advertisement In the past few months, several children had lost their lives due to AES at a state-run hospital in Uttar Pradeshs town of Gorakhpur. Japanese Encephalitis (JE) and AES have been claiming lives of many children in the state in the last few years. The new centre, therefore, is likely to boost the health infrastructure capabilities in the state. According to the official website of the ICMR, the top research body has Regional Medical Research Centres in Bhubaneswar, Dibrugarh, Port Blair, Jabalpur, Jodhpur and Belgaum. The ICMR chief, who will soon take charge as the deputy director general for programmes, the World Health Organisation in Geneva, held a press conference today on the future of medical research in the country. She also said a new two-year study will begin in January next year, seeking to "improve the system of reporting of the causes of all deaths in India". "The study is related to verbal autopsy, wherein you go to a household and record the circumstances around death, when did the person fall ill, how long was the person unwell, among other details. "The study will be started on a pilot basis in three districts. We want to evolve a system that we want that India will adopt it. So, we are just doing to demonstrate it," she said. The three states would be Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Assam, the ICMR chief added. She also shared information on tuberculosis vaccine research and clinical trials. PTI KND KJ --- ENDS --- Disney and Pixar Animation Studios Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter alerted employees to the decision in a memo after acknowledging "painful" conversations, according to The Hollywood Reporter. THR was preparing a story on alleged sexual misconduct by Lasseter, which it also published Tuesday, when it obtained the memo. Why it matters: It's another example of a high-profile media executive allegedly abusing a position of power. Lasseter is known for directing Disney classics, such as Moana and Frozen as well as pre-Disney acquisition Pixar classics, like A Bug's Life and Monster's Inc. Meg Whitman is stepping down as CEO of HP Enterprise early next year, and will be succeeded by current company president Antonio Neri. Why it matters: This marks the end of Whitman's complicated second act, after having previously served as CEO of eBay during its stratospheric growth. She helped Hewlett-Packard navigate the broader tech industry's move to the cloud, but her early decision to hold onto the PC business was effectively scrapped in 2014 when she decided to split the company in half (she chaired the board of PC/printer-focused HP Inc. until this past summer). Whitman had been in talks earlier this year to become CEO of Uber, but talks ultimately broke down after word of the discussions got leaked. She also continues to be mentioned as a future political candidate, despite having been handily beaten in the 2010 California gubernatorial election by Jerry Brown. Meg Whitman's statement, via HPE: "Now is the right time for Antonio and a new generation of leaders to take the reins of HPE. I have tremendous confidence that they will continue to build a great company that will thrive well into the future." HPE shares were down around 7% in aftermarket trading. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a moderate Republican who broke ranks over the summer to vote against GOP plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act, has written an op-ed declaring her support for a repeal of the ACA's individual mandate. She writes, "I believe that the federal government should not force anyone to buy something they do not wish to buy in order to avoid being taxed." Why it matters: The Senate tax plan includes a repeal of the mandate, which helps stabilize insurance markets by incentivizing healthy people to buy coverage. This may be a signal Murkowski intends to vote yes on the plan. The Jerusalem Post reports: "Palestinians have frozen ties with the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem and American officials visiting the West Bank ... If Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's senior adviser, or Jason Greenblatt, the administration's main peace envoy came to the West Bank, PA officials would not be able to meet with them."Why it matters: A senior adviser to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said they're freezing communications because the State Department won't renew the certification of the Palestinian Liberation Organization's representative office in Washington, D.C. If the office is forced to close, it would almost certainly derail the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations being brokered by the Trump administration. The details: The PLO office is the de facto Palestinian embassy to the U.S. and was an important symbol for Palestinian diplomatic achievements. The Palestinians say closing the office would be the equivalent to cutting diplomatic ties between the U.S. and the Palestinian Authority, and would be a proof the Trump administration can't be an honest broker in future peace talks. Between the lines: There's been speculation that the Trump administration's refusal to certify the Palestinian office was a tactic to gain leverage over the Palestinians in the peace talks. That's false. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had to sign a letter of decertification regarding the PLO office because the law obliged him to notify Congress if the Palestinians are encouraging the International Criminal Court to prosecute Israel for alleged war crimes (which Palestinian President Abbas did in his UN speech in September). Until now, the Palestinian actions and rhetoric regarding their relations with the U.S. had been mostly symbolic.What we're hearing: Both sides are still talking to each other, and the office is still open for now. Relations are not suspended yet. State Department officials tell us they're still in contact with Palestinian officials about the status of the PLO office, as well as about the administration's larger efforts to advance a lasting and comprehensive peace. The bottom line: The Trump administration is sorting through its political and legal options to navigate this tense and potentially disastrous situation.Sign up for Axios newsletters to get our smart brevity delivered to your inbox every morning. Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his team are looking into contacts Jared Kushner had with foreign leaders, including over a December UN resolution condemning Israeli settlements, before President Trump took office, the Wall Street Journal reports. Why it matters: It's illegal under the Logan Act for a private citizen to communicate with a foreign government to attempt to influence U.S. policy, but no one has been convicted under that law and it's unclear whether that's what Mueller is investigating. What is clear is that the Mueller investigation is going far beyond collusion with Russia to influence the election. California Congressman Dana Rohrabacher has come under scrutiny in recent months from special counsel Robert Mueller and the Senate Intelligence Committee for his close ties to the Kremlin, according to the New York Times. One eye-catching line: "the F.B.I. warned him in 2012 that Russia regarded him as an intelligence source worthy of a Kremlin code name." Why it matters: Rohrabacher, a Republican, had no role in President Trump's election, but there have been several instances of him "showing up" at moments relevant to the Russia investigation, per the Times. His position as chairman of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats is also a point of concern for some. He accepted a "confidential" memo including accusations against Democratic donors in April 2016 in Moscow, which later resurfaced in the Trump Tower meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and Russian lawyer Natalia V. Veselnitskaya. He met with last August at the Ecuadorean Embassy with Julian Assange , who is believed to have "acted as a conduit for Russian operatives seeking to release a trove of hacked Democratic emails." He had dinner with Alexander Torshin, the deputy governor of a Russian central bank that tried to set up a "backdoor" meeting with then-candidate Trump and Vladimir Putin. Rohrabacher said "none of the meetings were untoward or inappropriate," per the Times: "I want to treat Russia as if it is a nation state that deserves to be judged as all other nation states are judged." Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other GOP Senate leaders are reportedly discussing the legality behind a new drastic option to save the up-for-grabs Alabama Senate seat contested by Roy Moore: they are considering having current Alabama Sen. Luther Strange resign in order to trigger a new special election, per Politico. Why it matters: There's no guarantee that having Strange resign is actually a legal option under Alabama state law, but it shows just how far Republicans are willing to go to find a creative solution in order to save what should be a perfectly reliable GOP Senate seat. Three military personnel who worked for the White House Communications Agency are being reassigned for alleged "improper contact with foreign women" during President Trump's Asia trip, according to the Washington Post. The service members are responsible for providing "secure communications" to the president, vice president, and secret service. Flashback: Four members of the same team faced similar allegations in August while in Panama ahead of Vice President Pence's arrival in the country. A public utilities regulator has approved a second water tariff rise within just over a year sought by a French company that became Armenias single operator in late 2016. This time, however, the increase will be subsidized by the Armenian government for a year. The French company, Veolia Djur, had formally asked the Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) to raise the tariff from 180 drams to 194.3 drams (some 40 U.S. cents) per cubic meter for the vast majority of consumers. The PSRC on Wednesday decided to partly satisfy the French companys request. Garegin Baghramian, the head of the PSRCs Tariff Policy Department, said the water tariff will be increased by 11.4 drams to 191.4 drams per cubic meter. (According to the current exchange rate, one U.S. dollar is about 485 Armenians drams). The new tariff will become effective from January 1, 2018. On November 2, Prime Minister Karen Karapetian instructed the State Water Committee (SWC) head to submit a proposal to the government on how to keep the existing retail water tariff if a new rise is approved. At todays session of the PSRC a representative of the SWC and the Commissions head announced that the government will fulfill its promise and during 2018 consumers in Armenia will continue to pay 180 drams per cubic meter of water. The difference between the current tariff and the tariff to be applied from January 1 should be subsidized at the expense of lease payments, said Armen Sergoyan, head of the SWCs Water Supply and Drainage Systems Department. PSRC Chairman Robert Nazarian said: Certainly the tariffs for our consumers will remain at the same level as they are today. I think the State Water Committee will submit a relevant draft decision to the Government at one of its upcoming sessions and it will be adopted. The regulators already sanctioned a nearly 6 percent rise in the water price last December. The PSRC head told Veolia Djur representatives at that time to operate in a way that will preclude further tariff increases. He said the Armenian subsidiary of Frances Veolia utility group must specifically crack down on illegal water consumers. Veolia Djur General Manager Christian Lefaix was also present at todays meeting. Addressing him, Nazarian noted that there are numerous shortcomings in terms of water consumption volumes, which have also been revealed as a result of a relevant monitoring. I should ask Mr. Lefaix today to use all his reserves and potential in this direction and do everything possible so that we do not raise the tariffs due to the volume of water consumption, the PSRC head said. Armenias drinking water and wastewater treatment facilities are run by Veolia in accordance with a 15-year management contract which it signed with the Armenian government in November last year. Before that the French company for a decade managed the water and sewerage network of Yerevan. It significantly improved water supply in the Armenian capital in that period not least because of capital investments made in the aging network. In a November 2016 statement, Veolia said that it will attract $200 million in funding from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the German development bank KfW over the next four years for similar infrastructure upgrades across the country. By 2030 the entire population of Armenia will thus be supplied with drinking water [around the clock] thanks to Veolia, said the statement. Patel said according to the Balaji judgment, there cannot be any reservation beyond 50 per cent. By Anjana Kashyap: Patidar quota activist Hardik Patel has demanded that a caste survey should be conducted for giving reservation to the deserving communities. Talking to India Today, the convener of Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) said, "My country is made of castes. That is why we proudly say 'my country is great'. Why should we not talk of castes? Patels are uneducated and they do not get jobs. What is wrong in demanding welfare of Patels?" advertisement SUPREME COURT RULINGS He also questioned the 50 per cent cap on quota. "Why cannot quota be given above 50 per cent? There is no such law. The Supreme Court has given three judgments - Balaji, Indrani Sahni and Nagraj - on the issue and all of them are different," he said. Patel said according to the Balaji judgment, there cannot be any reservation beyond 50 per cent. Also read: How Hardik Patel and chaiwala row sum up caste vs Gujarati asmita battle in state poll In the Indrani Sahni ruling, he said, reservation beyond 50 per cent can be given if circumstances in a state demand so. Hardik Patel further said the Nagraj judgment allows more than 50 per cent if a survey is done."Get a survey done. If it comes out that Patels are rich, I will immediately end my agitation," he said. SEX CD MADE ME POPULAR Hardik Patel alleged that the BJP got his sex CD made. He said that the people wanted to see CD on developmental issues like the progress in Saurashtra and North Gujarat and on GST. However, he said the sex CD had made him famous. "We had expected 30,000 people to turn out in a rally just two days after the CD was released. But more than 40,000 people came," he claimed. He asked whether the BJP should peep into the bedrooms of honest IAS and IPS officers who go out for honeymoon. He also accused the BJP of making the sex CDs of former BJP leader Sanjay Joshi and party MP Varun Gandhi. NOT DIRECTLY WITH CONGRESS He said PAAs will campaign against BJP but will not campaign for the Congress. However, if their campaigning benefits the Congress, so be it, he said. "My hands are not fully extended towards Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi. I will not be seen with him," he said. According to Patel, the Congress had tortured his community people when that party was in power. But the BJP is worse, he alleged. advertisement "The Congress did not urinate on Patels' houses nor they drag out the youths and shoot them," he alleged. He alleged that the BJP was threatening those who were speaking against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He called himself an agitationist. "But I also understand politics," he said. Watch the video below: Congress has assured us of Patidar quota: Hardik Patel --- ENDS --- 22 November 2017 10:06 (UTC+04:00) By Trend Over the past 24 hours, Armenias armed forces have 138 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said on November 22. Armenians were using large-caliber machine guns and 60-mm mortars (2 shells). The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 22 November 2017 17:23 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov Three consecutive years Armenia has been third in the report Global Militarization Index, annually prepared by the Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC). However, this is not an indicator Armenia can boast about. In the case of this poor South Caucasus country, the militarization does not correspond to the potential of its state budget. The arms build-up devours most of the countrys financial capabilities. Given that Armenia has big difficulties with funds as its economy is in a permanent crisis, the military expenses intercept the funds that could have been spent on social sector, agriculture and other suffering spheres. Armenian media themselves confirm this. For instance, Zhoghovurd newspaper writes that the high level of Armenias militarization limits economic development by exhausting economic resources. Now there is an opinion that as a result of the Nation-Army program launched since last year and subsequent steps, Armenia can challenge Israel, which ranks first in the list of the most militarized countries, the newspaper writes. Russian political analyst and expert on international issues Evgeny Mikhailov, however, believes that despie excessive militarization Armenia will hardly be able to "become Israel". It is necessary to distinguish between the levels of militarization and of the armed forces, he said in an interview with Day.az, noting that even though Armenia is shown as highly militarized, the country is very far from Israel in terms of the level of the armed forces. Armenia is not Israel and will never become it, and any comparison here will be absolutely inappropriate, Mikhailov said. The military power of Israel is supported by a literate economy. Moreover, it has many enemies. And who threatens Armenia? The expert added that if the country is afraid of Turkey and Azerbaijan, then it should know that these countries do not need Armenias territory: If Armenia gave back foreign lands itself, it would live peacefully. It is obvious that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and occupation of over 20 percent of Azerbaijani lands is among the main reasons for Armenias present sorrowful situation. Armenias ungrounded illegal claims cut off the country from many regional projects and lead it into a deadlock. Mikhailov also touched upon the controversial law the Armenian Parliament has recently adopted: Today Yerevan has to refuse to postpone military service even for university students, and this is already the indicative of the imminent collapse, both economic and military-political. The Nation-Army program, restriction of students right to defer military service and many other ideas of the Armenian government are obviously aimed at the further militarization of the country, which will bring nothing but deterioration of Armenia's condition and more people dissatisfied with life in their poor country. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 22 November 2017 10:00 (UTC+04:00) By Keetie Roelen Being poor is a highly shameful experience, degrading ones dignity and sense of self-worth. While the manifestations and causes of poverty differ, the humiliation that accompanies it is universal. Recent research conducted at the University of Oxford found that from China to the United Kingdom, people facing economic hardship even children experience a nearly identical assault on their pride and self-esteem. Yet, despite the clear evidence linking poverty to psychological distress, policies tacking poverty do not typically take shame into account. Rather, poverty reduction efforts tend to focus on tangible manifestations of deprivation such as lack of income or education. As a result, solutions to poverty often implicitly assume that more material wealth or improved living conditions will automatically translate into non-tangible benefits, including improved mental wellbeing. This lack of focus on the psychosocial side of poverty the interaction between social forces and individual attitude or behavior is misguided. If we are to alleviate human suffering and achieve the UNs premier Sustainable Development Goal of ending poverty in all its forms by 2030, addressing the intrinsic and instrumental roles that shame plays in poverty must be front and center in our efforts. The crippling sense of dishonor that accompanies poverty, and impedes people from taking positive action to improve their situation, has been seen around the world. In India, the shame associated with crop losses and financial stress has pushed farmers to substance abuse and, in extreme cases, suicide. In Tanzania, researchers studying bilingual education have found that a fear of being mocked can prevent students with weaker English skills from participating in class. And in Uganda, poor high school students say the inability to pay fees, purchase uniforms, or obtain school supplies is a constant source of humiliation. To address poverty-related shame, and adequately account for the role shame plays in perpetuating poverty, a number of steps must be taken. For starters, policymakers should recognize the problem. Rather than seeing shame as an unfortunate byproduct of living in poverty, human development planners should consider how poverty undermines human dignity. The Nobel economics laureate Amartya Sen, one of the most influential voices on poverty reduction, has long argued that shame is a driver of absolute poverty. Taking shame seriously must be part of any poverty-reduction strategy. Moreover, shame, a lack of self-confidence, and low self-esteem can negatively impact how people view their ability to affect change, sustaining a perception of inadequacy that can be debilitating and trap them in poverty. To help people escape, human development strategies must consider how to bolster personal agency, aspiration, and self-efficacy the belief in ones ability to influence events that affect ones life. Finally, policymakers must be aware that programs aimed at reducing poverty, if not properly implemented, can actually increase feelings of shame. For example, researchers working in India in 2005 found that Indian women stopped going to health clinics in order to avoid debasing treatment by health workers to the detriment of their own wellbeing and that of their children. Women in South Africa applying for child support grants have reported similar experiences, as have food bank users in the UK. In fact, many respondents in Britain said the stigma of receiving free food was so severe that fear and embarrassment were common emotions. The issue of shame, and the need to take it more seriously in poverty-reduction policies, is slowly gaining traction. Academics who research human suffering have recognized that recipient dignity is a crucial component of successful poverty alleviation. For example, a 2016 review of cash transfer programs in Africa found that the absence of stress and shame enhanced confidence in recipients, leading to improved decision-making and productivity. Building on such evidence, the University of Oxford is extending its research on the shame-poverty nexus, to study how the international development sector can shame-proof anti-poverty policies. Programs aimed at reducing poverty are moving in the right direction, but much work remains to be done to integrate the psychosocial component of poverty into policy and planning. Only when policymakers truly grasp that dignity and self-respect are unavoidable prerequisites in the struggle against deprivation rather than outcomes of its alleviation will the world have a fighting chance of eradicating poverty in all its forms. Copyright: Project Syndicate: Poverty Is Also a Psychosocial Problem --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 22 November 2017 11:31 (UTC+04:00) By Sara Israfilbayova Azerbaijan will switch to a new system of customs duties in 2018. In order to improve effectiveness of foreign economic activity by modernizing the mechanism of setting customs tariffs, strengthening state support for domestic production and non-oil exports, protecting the domestic market, as well as switching to a system with fewer customs duties, was approved a new document- Commodity Nomenclature of Foreign Economic Activity, Rates of Import and Export Customs Duties. Earlier, Aydin Aliyev, head of Azerbaijans State Customs Committee, told Trend that the committee submitted proposals to the Cabinet of Ministers regarding transition to a three-level customs tariff system, which envisages changing customs duties on raw materials and goods imported to the country. Proposals for the transition from a multi-level to a three-level differentiated tariff system provide for the preservation of customs duty rates at 0, 5 and 15 percent in Azerbaijan. Today, the customs rates of 0, 0.5, 1, 3, 5, 10 and 15 percent are applied in the country. Previously, it was suggested to keep four rates - 0, 5, 10 and 15 percent, but later a 10-percent rate was excluded from the proposed package. It is proposed to exempt the majority of the goods (raw materials and equipment) from customs duties. This applies to those types of commodity groups (in particular, 84 and 85 groups), which already, under the order of the Cabinet, are subject to VAT at zero rate when importing. The semi-finished products will be subject to a customs rate of 5 percent. It is proposed to raise the custom duties for the import of finished products to Azerbaijan to 15 percent, Aydin Aliyev noted. On the one hand, this will stimulate and support domestic production, and on the other hand, it will prevent the outflow of foreign currency. Earlier, the government discussed changes in excise tax rates for tobacco and alcohol products, relying on the fact that excise tax rate in Azerbaijan is quite low. When raising excise tax rates, we carefully analyze the situation. Tobacco and alcohol products are not essential goods, and in addition, the increase in excise tax rates will not be too sharp, he said. Changing excise tax rates for imported products is considered within the draft amendments to the Tax Code of Azerbaijan for 2018. It was expected that the change in excise tax rates will lead to the increase in prices for cigarettes with a share of 1.92 percent in countrys total import. At the same time, such a decision may result in further development of local production of tobacco and alcohol. At present, the excise tax rate on malt beer imported to Azerbaijan is 1 manat per liter; wines from fresh grapes, including fortified wines; grape must 2 manats per liter; sparkling wines - 2.5 manats per liter; whiskey, vodka, liqueur, rum and other alcoholic beverages - 6 manats per liter. The customs authorities transferred over 1.95 billion manats ($1.15 billion) to the state budget in January-September 2017, which is 18 percent higher than the figure of the same period of last year. The forecast for customs revenues to the state budget of Azerbaijan for 2017 is 2.205 billion manats ($1.3 billion). --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 22 November 2017 14:13 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping Company has completed the repair of the ferry vessel Mercury-1, the company said in a message on November 22. The ship has successfully passed sea trials. The main and auxiliary engines, pump and electric motors were repaired, pipes were installed, the deck and hull were painted, and the cabins were equipped with new furniture. The ferry was returned to service for the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route for the carriage of railway cars in the directions of Turkmenbashi, Kuryk and Aktau. Mercury-1 with a capacity of 28 cars, length of 154.5 meters, width of 18.3 meters, and the maximum speed of 15 knots, was repaired at the Zykh Shipbuilding-Shiprepair Plant. Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping Company was established by merging countrys two largest fleets - the Azerbaijan State Caspian Sea Shipping Company and the Caspian Sea Oil Fleet of SOCAR, on October 22, 2013. Currently, it is the only ferry operator in the Caspian Sea. The Shipping Companys fleet includes 13 ferries, which are involved in transportation on the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route. The route, which is designed to provide transport connections between the East and West of Eurasia, runs through China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and then to Europe via Turkey and Ukraine. In addition to ferries, the Shipping Company has 34 tankers, 14 universal dry-cargo ships, two Ro-Ro ships, and 35 different auxuliary ships. Last week, the company increased the number of its vessels sailing in international waters by introducing the dry-cargo ship Gafur Mammadov. The vessel with a deadweight of 5,500 tons was built in Nizhny Novgorod. Its length is 108.3 meters, width - 16.5 meters, draft - 4.79 meters. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 22 November 2017 15:48 (UTC+04:00) By Sara Israfilbayova Ambassador of Azerbaijan in Pakistan Ali Alizada has invited the members of Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry to set up various facilities, particularly in the pharmaceutical sphere, at Azerbaijans Free Trade Zone (FTZ) in Baku. The Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry said in a message that the pharmaceutical products cannot only be supplied to the Azerbaijani market but also to other countries as there is huge demand for pharmaceutical products in the region, he said. He also touched upon the possibility of developing business ties among entrepreneurs on the supplies of rice and textiles to Azerbaijan and strawberries, grapes and pomegranates to Pakistan. Earlier, Pakistani Ambassador to Baku Saeed Khan Mohmand said that several pharmaceutical companies currently eye partnership with Azerbaijan. He stressed that Pakistan's pharma industry is quite huge and owns modern technologies, further mentioning that Azerbaijan can also import surgical goods and medical instruments from Pakistan. Pakistan has a very vibrant pharma industry, with about 400 pharmaceutical manufacturing units including those operated by 25 multinationals present in the country. The Pakistan Pharmaceutical Industry meets around 70 percent of the countrys demand of Finished Medicine. President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on March 17, 2016, on measures to create a Free Trade Zone type special economic area covering the territory of the Baku International Sea Trade Port in the Alat township of Bakus Garadagh district. FTZ is expected to bring up to $1 billion just in the first few years. Special tax and customs policy, which will be pursued in the territory of the free trade zone will also stipulate further development and simplification of a number of procedures. FTZ will be located within the grounds of the new port, covering an area of 100 hectares. Since the new port is being built at the major railway juncture connecting the North-South and the East-West railway lines in Azerbaijan, FTZ will also have rail access. Serving as a multimodal transit logistics hub, the new port and FTZ will become a major consolidation and distribution centre in Central Eurasia that provides a wide range of value added services. Pakistan and Azerbaijan have friendly and warm relations characterized by common views on major global and regional issues. Bilateral relations between Pakistan and Azerbaijan are constantly on the move. Exchange of visits of Azerbaijan and Pakistani leaders as well as the other high level delegations played a pivotal role in cementing the links between the countries. The trade turnover between the countries amounted to $7.34 million in January-October 2017. Almost $5.7 million fells on the import of Pakistani products, according to Azerbaijans State Customs Committee. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 22 November 2017 14:32 (UTC+04:00) By Laman Ismayilova A lecture "Inspiration of a Wanderer" led by artist Jamali Rahmanli will be held in Nur Art House on November 29. The meeting is organized within "Conversations on Art" project by the Russian Information and Cultural Center in Baku, Trend Life reported. The lecture will be divided into two parts - "Wanderers" and "Expanding in the way." Young artist on the example of the 20th-century artists and her own works is going to tell about wanderings that radically influenced their life and creativity. She will also speak about the peculiarities of creating works on travel. The gallery will exhibit paintings by Jamali Rahmanli, written under the impression of visiting the Seychelles, Ireland, Germany, France, Italy, as well as travel on her native land. The event starts at 19:00. The Russian Information and Cultural Center's activities are aimed at informing the Azerbaijani public about Russia's achievements in various fields, its spiritual heritage, its rich scientific and cultural potential, promoting bilateral cultural, educational, scientific and technical programs, and business connections, supporting Russian language teaching, and interacting with non-governmental organizations and friendship societies. --- Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 22 November 2017 17:52 (UTC+04:00) By Laman Ismayilova A creative evening dedicated to the 70th anniversary of an outstanding Latvian violinist Gidon Kremer will be held in Baku. The world-famous musician will surprise guests with an original concert program at the Azerbaijan State Philharmonic Hall on December 14,Trend Life reported. The concert starts at 19:00. After the solo performance of the famous Chakona JS Bach, the violinist will perform 24 preludes of one of the talented, but unfortunately, little known composers of the twentieth century Mechislav Weinberg. The album "Kremerata", featuring Weinberg's works by Gidon Kremer was nominated for the Grammy Award 2015. The 24 preludes of the composer in the arrangement of Gidon Kremer for violin are accompanied by a video installation from the works of the recognized Lithuanian humanist photographer Antanas Sutkus "In search of lost time". In the second part of the evening, a video preview of a short film "Images d'Orient - "Pictures from the East", conceived by Gidon Kremer and created by the Georgian director Sandro Kancheli will be presented to the audience. Inspired by the miniatures of the Syrian sculptor Nizar Ali Badr, it features music of Karlheinz Stockhausen and Robert Schumann, performed by Gidon Kremer and Kremerata Baltica Chamber Orchestra. Syrian sculptor said that his unique language of sculpture from pebbles should spread happiness and love among war, destruction, death, migration, flight, chaos, poverty and injustice. He is sure that the war will end soon. Gidon Kremer has gained a worldwide reputation as one of his generations most influential and compelling artists. His repertoire encompasses standard classical scores and music by leading twentieth and twenty-first century composers, several of which have been dedicated to him. His name is closely associated with such composers as Alfred Schnittke, Arvo Part, Giya Kancheli, Sofia Gubaidulina, Valentin Silvestrov, Luigi Nono, Edison Denisov, John Adams, Michael Nyman, Philip Glass, Leonid Desyatnikov and Astor Piazzolla, whose works he performs in ways that respect tradition while being fully alive to their freshness and originality. Gidon has recorded over 120 albums, many of which have received prestigious international awards. His long list of honours and awards include the Ernst von Siemens Musikpreis, Moscows Triumph Prize, the Unesco Prize and the Una Vita Nella Musica Artur Rubinstein Prize, and in 2016 received Praemium Imperiale prize that is widely considered to be the Nobel Prize of music. In 1997 Gidon Kremer founded the chamber orchestra Kremerata Baltica to foster outstanding young musicians from the Baltic States. The ensemble tours extensively and has recorded almost 30 albums for the Nonesuch, Deutsche Grammophon, Burleske and ECM labels. After Mozart (Nonesuch, 2001) received an ECHO prize and a GRAMMY award in 2002, while their recent release on ECM of works by Mieczysaw Weinberg was nominated for a GRAMMY in 2015. This year marks the 70th birthday year of maestro and 20th anniversary of Kremerata Baltica orchestra, which was founded by him. The artists celebrated their double anniversary by successful tours to the cities of Canada, US, Europe, Asia. Concert in Baku is also a part of this world landmark tour. Media partners of the event are Trend.az, Day.az, Milli.az, Azernews.az --- Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 22 November 2017 11:10 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov No excessive optimism on the Karabakh talks can be expected, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a joint briefing with his Armenian counterpart Edward Nalbandian in Yerevan, Sputnik Armenia reported on November 21. He reminded that the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers have recently held meetings with the three co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group from Russia, France and the U.S. We will analyze with the American and French colleagues at what point we are and make active efforts for the settlement. But unfortunately, the whole experience of negotiations shows that the problem is difficult and the negotiations will not be completed quickly, Lavrov said. As he noted in Baku three days ago, Lavrov reiterated that the components of the talks on the conflict have long been known. They are contained in many documents that were deposited at the OSCE headquarters in Vienna in 2007, 2009 and 2011. These principles remain on the negotiating table in their entirety, Lavrov stressed. I will emphasize what I said in Baku. These components are formed into a package, and it is very difficult to take one or two of them and propose them as a basis, because then other balancing components will drop out, Lavrov said. He further expressed satisfaction with the positive feedback from the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan about the results of their last meeting in Geneva. Lavrov noted that the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs will continue to provide assistance that would help resolve the problem. During his visit to Baku on November 19-20, the Russian FM met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov. While meeting with President, Lavrov noted that Russia, as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, is interested in helping in every possible way to seek solutions and ensure the movement towards the settlement of the conflict. He also said that diplomacy can help move the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict from a dead point. Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. While the OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, the occupation of the territory of the sovereign state with its internationally recognized boundaries has been left out of due attention of the international community for years. Until now, Armenia ignores four UN Security Council resolutions on immediate withdrawal from the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, thus keeping tension high in the region. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 22 November 2017 15:35 (UTC+04:00) By Trend A delegation headed by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee of Pakistans Armed Forces, Army General Zubair Mahmood Hayat will pay a visit to Azerbaijan on November 22. During the visit to last until Nov. 24 the Pakistani delegation is expected to hold meetings at the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry and the countrys other state organizations, the Ministry said in a message on November 22. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By PTI: New Delhi, Nov 22 (PTI) India has asked the United Nations to declare 2018 as the International Year of Millets and promote it as nutrition-rich smart food across the world. A letter in this regard has been written to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres by Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh. In the letter, Singh said there is a need to promote millets as the "awareness is low" among consumers, policy makers, industry and R&D sector. advertisement Sorghum, Bajra and Ragi are some popular millets in India. "Promotion of production and consumption of millets through conscious efforts at global level is likely to contribute substantially in the fight against the targeted hunger and mitigate the effects of climate change in the long run," he said. The yield of millets can be increased three times and they have multiple untapped uses such as food, feed, biofuels and brewing. Therefore, millets are smart food and good for consumers, farmers and the planet, he added "Considering the importance of millets ...the Government of India along with other country governments urges the UN to declare 2018 as the International Year of Millets," Singh said. This will go a long way in popularising millets which would benefit future generation of farmers as well as consumers, he added. Singh said millets are nutritionally superior to wheat and rice owing to their higher level of protein with more balanced amino acid profile, crude fibre and minerals. They are traditionally grown in resource poor agro- climatic region. PTI LUX ANU --- ENDS --- 22 November 2017 13:45 (UTC+04:00) By Sara Israfilbayova Oil prices continue to rise during trading on Wednesday and are trading close to the maximum for two years after the growth on the eve of data on reduction of fuel stocks in the U.S. In addition, the participants of the oil market are preparing for the upcoming meeting of the representatives of the OPEC + states, which will be held on November 30 in Vienna and where the issue of extending the term of the current agreement on limiting oil production will be discussed. There is growing consensus that OPEC will extend their production cut deal at the end of the month. This confidence along with the current geopolitical environment has kept ICE Brent trading firmly above $60 per barrel, Dutch bank ING said. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures are at $57.83 per barrel up $1, or 1.8 percent from their last settlement, while Brent crude futures are at $63.20 per barrel, up 63 cents, or 1 percent, according to Reuters. As the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported on November 21, oil reserves in the U.S. fell by 6.36 million barrels last week. Official data from the U.S. Energy Department will be released on November 22, and experts expect that they will indicate a decrease in stocks by 2.2 million barrels. Moreover, Saudi Arabia reduced oil exports by 2.4 percent in September, as compared with the previous month and increased production by 0.2 percent, according to the Joint Organization Data Initiative (JODI). The volume of exports decreased to 6.549 million barrels per day, as compared to 6.708 million barrels per day in August. At the same time, the indicator fell by 16.2 percent, as compared to September 2016. Meanwhile, Colombia was invited to participate in the meeting of OPEC + but refused to participate, Bloomberg reported. OPEC and non-OPEC producers reached an agreement in December 2016 to curtail oil output jointly and ease a global glut after more than two years of low prices. OPEC agreed to slash the output by 1.2 million barrels per day from January 1. Non-OPEC oil producers such as Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Equatorial Guinea, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Russia, Sudan, and South Sudan agreed to reduce output by 558,000 barrels per day starting from January 1, 2017. OPEC and its partners decided to extend its production cuts till March 2018 in Vienna on May 25, as the oil cartel and its allies step up their attempt to end a three-year supply glut that has savaged crude prices and the global energy industry. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 22 November 2017 16:38 (UTC+04:00) By Trend Azneft Production Union of Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR will additionally produce about 12,800 tons of oil and 6.94 million cubic meters of gas annually, thanks to commissioning wells after capital overhaul at Sangachal Deniz-Duvanny Deniz-Khara Zira and Alat Deniz offshore fields, said Azneft in a message on November 22. The wells were returned to operation from the inactive fund. Oil with a debit of 10 tons per day and gas with a debit of 4,000 cubic meters per day are extracted within the interval of 4,452-4,428 meters at the well located at the Sangachal Deniz-Duvanny Deniz-Khara Zira, says the message. Oil with a flow rate of 25 tons per day and gas with a debit of 15,000 cubic meters per day are extracted within the range of 2,998-2,996 meters at the well located at the Alat Deniz offshore field. Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR produced 6.2 million tons of oil from offshore and onshore fields in January-October 2017 as compared to 6.32 million tons in the same period of 2016. In 2016, SOCAR produced 7.52 million tons of oil from Azerbaijans offshore and onshore fields, as compared to 8.16 million tons in 2015. Oil production, in total, stood at 41.03 million tons in 2016, as compared to 41.58 million tons in 2015. SOCAR includes such production unions as Azneft (the enterprises producing oil and gas onshore and offshore), Azerikimya (the chemical enterprises) and Azerigas (distributor of gas produced in the country), as well as oil and gas processing plants, service companies and the facilities involved in geophysical and drilling operations. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 22 November 2017 17:50 (UTC+04:00) By Trend Gazprom Export LLC and Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR agreed on resuming natural gas deliveries to Azerbaijan, said the Russian company in a statement. The relevant contract was signed in Moscow on November 21, 2017. The deliveries will be carried out starting from November 22, 2017. Under the contract, it is planned to deliver 1.6 billion cubic meters of Russian gas to the Azerbaijani market in general. We are connected with Azerbaijan by long-standing partnerships in the field of trade in natural gas. Its nice to note that they are successfully developing and are advancing to a new level, said Director General of Gazprom Export LLC Elena Burmistrova, according to the statement. In October 2009, Gazprom Export LLC and SOCAR signed a medium-term contract to deliver gas from Azerbaijan in 2010-2015 through the Shirvanovka point at the Russian-Azerbaijani border. During the period, 5.4 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas were bought. In 2015, a subsidiary of Gazprom Export LLC, Gazprom Schweiz AG, carried out deliveries to Azerbaijan Methanol Company (AzMeCo). Under the contract, 107.4 billion cubic meters of gas were delivered. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 22 November 2017 10:54 (UTC+04:00) By Trend Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed interest during phone talks on Tuesday in building up cooperation in various areas, including between the respective security services, Sputnik reported, citing the Kremlin press service. "The leaders expressed interest in the further expansion of mutually beneficial cooperation in various areas, including contacts between security services," the press service said. Putin and Netanyahu have also pointed out the progress in the fight against terrorism in Syria. "A substantive exchange of views was held on the prospects for the development of the situation in the Middle East region, primarily in the context of the final stage of the fight against international terrorism in Syria," the press service said in a statement. Putin, Sisi Discuss Progress of Anti-Terrorism Fight in Syria Vladimir Putin and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi discussed in phone talks on Tuesday the progress made in Syria and further efforts in the political settlement of the Syrian conflict, the Kremlin press service said. "Vladimir Putin informed the Egyptian leader in detail about the Russian assessments of the latest developments in the situation in Syria in the context of the final stages of the military operation to destroy terrorists in that country and discussed the results of the recent talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad," press service of the Russian president said. Moreover, Russian President and Egyptian Leader have discussed in phone talks on Tuesday major joint projects, including in the nuclear energy sector, press service said. "The topical issues of the bilateral agenda were touched upon, with focus on the implementation of major joint projects, including in the nuclear energy sector. The sides reaffirmed mutual satisfaction with the overall development of friendly Russian-Egyptian relations," the statement said. Russian President, Saudi King Discuss Syrian Conflict Settlement Vladimir Putin has discussed the situation in Syria in phone talks with Saudi King Salman on Tuesday. "The leaders continued the exchange of views on the situation in the Middle East region and discussed issues related to the prospects for a long-term settlement of the Syrian conflict in light of recent successes in the fight against terrorist groups there," the press service said in a statement. According to the statement, the Russian president noted that the Syrian National Dialogue Congress, to be held in Sochi, will give impetus to the intra-Syrian contacts and to the settlement of the Syrian conflict in general, as well as stimulate work under the UN aegis in Geneva. The Kremlin press service also said in a statment that Putin has informed all of his counterparts about the Monday meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad, as well as about the main issues on the agenda of the upcoming summit of the countries-guarantors of the Astana process Russia, Iran and Turkey in Sochi on November 22. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 22 November 2017 10:35 (UTC+04:00) By Trend Georgian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Teimuraz Sharashenidze has expressed confidence that Azerbaijan will restore its territorial integrity in the nearest future. He was speaking in Baku on November 21 at an event marking the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. He noted that during this time, relations of good-neighborliness, friendship and mutual respect developed between Georgia and Azerbaijan. Our relations should serve as an example for the region and for the whole world, he said. Speaking about joint projects, the ambassador noted that the launch of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline is a historic event. The pipeline provides transportation of energy resources of the Caspian region to Europe, Sharashenidze added. The project demonstrated unique opportunities of Azerbaijan and Georgia in ensuring energy security of Europe, he said. He further noted the importance of such projects as Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum and the Southern Gas Corridor. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 22 November 2017 10:42 (UTC+04:00) A new print edition of the AZERNEWS online newspaper was released on November 22. The new edition includes articles about Baku Port eager to achieve Green Port status, Zagatala gathers all for first Hazelnut Festival, More national brands to enter largest Russian supermarkets, EMINs first duet album released 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. 22 November 2017 11:46 (UTC+04:00) By Kamila Aliyeva Over 15,000 vehicles were produced in Kazakhstan in January-October 2017, the Kazakhstans Union of automotive industry enterprises KazAvtoProm reported. According to the results of 10 months of this year, as many as 15,014 vehicles (including passenger cars, trucks, buses, special vehicles and trailers) totaling 115.1 billion tenge were produced in Kazakhstan, KazAvtoProm noted. The volume of output in kind exceeded the last year indicator by 2.7 times, approaching the result achieved in the twelve months of 2015 (15 210 units). In particular, the production of passenger cars increased by 3.3 times, reaching 12,986 units. Of these, 72.4 percent accounted for the share of AZIA AVTO JSC and 27.6 percent - for SaryarkaAvtoProm LLP. The number of buses produced amounted to 545 units and exceeded the last year indicator by 3.3 times. The production of specialized vehicles amounted to 182 units, showing an increase of 1.7 times compared to the same period last year. The output of trucks was 1,117 units and almost reached the figures of the previous year (1,133 units), reducing the gap to 1.4 percent. In the context of regions, East Kazakhstan region holds the largest share in the structure of auto equipment production (9,620 units, or 64.1 percent). It is followed by Kostanay (3,988 units, 26.6 percent), Akmola (617 units, 4.1 percent), Almaty (419 units, 2.8 percent) and Karaganda region (4 units, 0, 03 percent). Lada (7,413 units), Hyundai (1,605 units), KIA (1,544 units), Chevrolet (1,168 units) and JAC (562 units) entered the top five most popular brands of passenger cars of Kazakhstan assembly in January-October 2017, according to KazAvtoProm. The list of brands offered by domestic enterprises includes Ravon (500 units), SsangYong (251 units), Skoda (236 units), Peugeot (151 units) and Geely (27 units). Sales rating of cars of local manufacture was headed by models of Lada brand - Lada 4x4 (3,332 units), Lada Granta (1,394 units) and Lada Largus (1,263 units). The list of popular models for Kazakhstanis was also supplemented by Hyundai Elantra (718 units), Lada Vesta (706 units), Hyundai Tucson (685 units), Ravon Nexia (447 units), Chevrolet Cruze (417 units), JAC S3 (409 units) and Lada XRAY (398 units). In the first ten months of this year, Kazakh cars - 1,187 cars (7.9 percent of the industry sales) - were mainly sent to China, Russia, Belarus and Tajikistan for export. The bulk of overseas sales (83.2 percent or 988 units) fell on Lada cars supplied by AZIA AVTO plant to the market of China. Also, 129 units of Hyundai commercial vehicles, 66 JAC cars and 4 SsangYong cars were shipped abroad. The contribution of the industry's enterprises to the GDP structure of the republic for ten months amounted to 111.1 billion tenge, which far exceeds the similar figures of the pharmaceutical and light industry. Investments of enterprises of the automobile industry in fixed assets reached 3.6 billion, KazAvtoProm said. Car manufacturing is growing at an unprecedented rate in Kazakhstan and significant expansion is planned in coming years. As of November 2015, the number of registered vehicles reached 5 million automobiles, a 63 percent growth from 2013 (a 10 percent compound annual growth rate). On average, there is a car in every second household in the country. However, official car dealers reported a decrease in the amount of sales of new cars by 28.2 percent in first quarter of 2017 compared to the same period of 2016. As much as 29 percent of all cars sold in 1Q2017 were assembled in Kazakhstan. --- Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 22 November 2017 13:54 (UTC+04:00) By Kamila Aliyeva World's fifth-largest cotton producer, Uzbekistan, will supply textile products worth $70 million to South Korea until the end of 2018. The relevant agreements were reached during the negotiations of the Uzbekengilsanoat delegation with the leaders of the major Korean trading companies Posco Daewoo, Color Paradise, Solsang International Corp, Ratel E & T Co., Ltd., Korea Factory, as well as the Lotte Mart retail network. During the meeting with the leadership of the Korean International Trade Association (KITA) and the national electronic trading platform (KTNET), agreements on joint activities to promote Uzbek textile products in Korea in 2017-2018 through the electronic trading platform KOREA Trade, as well as on providing services through representations of Uzbek companies in Korea or Korean importers and transport companies for electronic customs clearance were reached. Korean businessmen especially liked the dyed and melange yarn, terry and hosiery of the group of companies Uztex, Osborne Textile, as well as knitted and denim products of Uzbek brands Bofanda and Bonito, the press center which covers the visit of the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev to South Korea reported. The Uzbek leader has arrived in Seoul, the capital of South Korea, on a state visit at the invitation of the countrys President Mun Zhe Ying on November 22. Since the beginning of the year, various textile semi-finished and other products worth $23.4 million were exported to the Korean market. Meanwhile, a successful supply of knitted goods to the Lotte Mart retail networks, dyed and melange yarn for manufacturers of knitted goods from Korea was launched this year. Uzbekistan is expected to achieve full processing of cotton fiber in 2021. By 2020, the capacity of local enterprises will ensure the full processing of cotton produced in Uzbekistan, which can lead to a significant decrease in the export supplies of this crop. Only in 2017, the country intends to bring internal processing of cotton fiber to 70 percent. At the same time, by 2021 the production of textile and clothing and knitted products will increase by 2.2 times compared to 2016, including ready-made fabrics - 2.7 times, knitted fabrics - 3 times, knitted goods 3.4 times, hosiery 3.7 times. It is planned to increase the export of products by 2 times. One of the policy priorities of Uzbekistan, the worlds fifth-largest cotton exporter, is further development of its textile industry. Annually, the country grows about 3.5 million tons of raw cotton, produces 1.1 million tons of cotton fiber. Uzbekistan takes consistent steps to increase the volume of cotton fiber processing. In particular, it is planned to create 112 modern, high-tech industrial factories, expand, modernize and technologically upgrade 20 operating capacities. All this will increase the export potential of the industry up to $2.5 billion a year and create more than 25,000 jobs. In the period 2010-2014, the textile industry of Uzbekistan received and spent foreign investments worth $785 million while 147 new textile enterprises with participation of investors from Germany, Switzerland, Japan, South Korea, the U.S., Turkey and other countries were commissioned. Export potential of these enterprises amounted to $670 millions. --- Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 22 November 2017 14:42 (UTC+04:00) By Kamila Aliyeva Islamic countries are experiencing hard times, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said while addressing the 33rd session of the OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation) Standing Committee on Economic and Commercial Cooperation (COMCEC) in Istanbul on November 22, Turkish media outlets reported. He noted that today one of the main problems of the Islamic world is related to the threat of terrorism. The Islamic State (IS), Al-Qaeda terrorist groups have turned a number of Islamic countries into ruins, Erdogan said. The Turkish president added that to the great regret, the West uses the weakness of the Islamic world exclusively for its own purposes. The goal of the West is to paralyze Muslim countries, he said. Erdogan also underlined that the crisis and humanitarian disaster in Syria revealed the true face of the West. Iranian, Russian and Turkish Presidents Hassan Rouhani, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan are expected to discuss the Syria issue today in Sochi. All three countries are involved in Astana talks aimed at finding political solution to the long-lasting crisis. Turkey, which backs the opposition, and Russia and Iran, which support Bashar Assad, are the guarantor countries which brokered a ceasefire in Syria. Syria has been locked in civil war since March 2011. According to UN's special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, around 500,000 people have died in the conflict while half the population has been driven from their homes. --- Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 22 November 2017 16:51 (UTC+04:00) By Trend Turkey will not leave the shooting range incident during NATO exercises in Norway unanswered, the Turkish media quoted the National Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli as saying on November 22. Canikli added that NATO will receive a worthy response from Turkey in connection with the incident. The shooting range incident took place during NATO exercises in Norway. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announcing the withdrawal of Turkish servicemen from the exercises said his and first president Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's photos were placed as conditional enemy images on the shooting range during the exercises. Erdogan added that such behavior does not correspond to the spirit of cooperation and alliance between Turkey and NATO. The Turkish president said that around 40 Turkish servicemen were to participate in the exercises. It is time to reconsider Turkey's membership in NATO, Yalcin Topcu, chief adviser to the Turkish president said earlier while commenting on the incident between NATO and Turkey. The Turkish parliament must reconsider Ankara's membership in NATO as soon as possible, he said. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg apologized to Turkey in connection with the scandal that occurred during the exercises. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By PTI: Kolkata, Nov 21 (PTI) India and US are co-hosting the global entrepreneurship summit next week in Hyderabad and the two countries can work more in sectors such as health, US Consul General Craig Hall said here today. The summit was held in Silicon Valley last year and it would be held in India this time, Hall said at a press meet. advertisement "While we are working at the business level which is the key, we have the resources to do other things. "While our economies are growing together to create wealth and prosperity, the two countries can do more together in space, in health, on inventing new technology. That kind of thing can be done," Hall said. On the global entrepreneurship summit, he said entrepreneurs of the entire world would gather at the summit. "Not just participants from India and US, there will be people from 100 countries and more than half of them would be women as the summits focus will be on women this year," Hall said. "We must not forget that prosperity can be gained by including women as core members of entrepreneurial communities," he said. Observing the Indo-US trade has grown more than five times in the past 10 years, Hall said, the bilateral trade last year was to the tune of 115 billion dollars "which sounds like big but actually not." Leaders of two countries have taken up the challenge that the bilateral trade should be 500 billion dollar a year, he said adding that the US remains Indias largest trading partner, but from the US perspective, it still remains small. He said, "Some of the new technologies and some leading tech companies headed by Indian-Americans remind how Indians and Americans are already doing great things together.... We work together here on developing new businesses and new innovations." Hall also announced an entrepreneurship initiative Y4BIZ - Youth for Business - organised by the American Center Kolkata in association with social enterprise Contact Base. It is a hunt to identify 50 young emerging and early stage entrepreneurs in Eastern India with a focus on Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. PTI SUS NN --- ENDS --- 22 November 2017 16:23 (UTC+04:00) By Trend Turkey will receive the first S-400 Triumph air defense systems from Russia in 2019, the Turkish media quoted the National Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli as saying on November 22. Canikli added that Turkey has every right to ensure its security by acquiring the S-400 Triumph systems. Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Russia and Turkey are negotiating terms of a loan for the purchase of S-400 Triumph. Reportedly, Turkey will buy several S-400 Triumph systems for $2.5 billion. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow was ready to sell the S-400 Triumph systems to Ankara, but the issue of localization of production in Turkey would depend on the readiness of Turkey's industry. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 22 November 2017 16:58 (UTC+04:00) By Kamila Aliyeva Kyrgyzstan intends to increase the volume of mutual trade turnover with Russia, the press service of the Kyrgyz Economy Ministry reported. Today, on November 22, Kyrgyz Economy Minister Artem Novikov held a meeting with Russian Minister of Economic Development Maxim Oreshkin in Moscow. This meeting is the second one between the two ministers and taking into account the strategic importance of deepening trade and economic cooperation, the sides expressed their intention to continue the established trend further. Novikov assured the Russian side that in spite of the current situation on the border, Kyrgyzstan intends only to increase the volume of mutual trade with Russia as one of the main trade partners for the Kyrgyz Republic. In this regard, the parties discussed the possibility of joint construction of trade and logistics centers in the territory of the Kyrgyzstan, as well as the localization of Russian production of construction materials, pharmaceutical products, medical preparations and other enterprises on the territory of Kyrgyzstan. The sides also agreed to work out the issues on the supply of residual fuel to Kyrgyzstan in accordance with the indicative balance for 2017, signed in September 2017, and to clarify the indicative balance for 2018. In the course of his visit, Kyrgyz minister also met with Ilya Lomakin-Rumyantsev, Chairman of the Presidium of the Association of Retailers (ACORT), and the management of Russian large retail chains. During the meeting, the chairman of the ACORT Bureau confirmed his readiness to render assistance in the supply of domestic producers' products to Russia's trade networks. In his turn Novikov noted that more companies are ready to be connected in the process of work. This project will involve only companies and products, for which our producers can take full responsibility, both in terms of the quality of the goods (the product itself, packaging, format, brand, certification, etc.), and "business interaction" between the parties. At the same time, the Minister noted that the benefits for entry fees, retro bonuses, especially the requirements for minimum volumes of supply of products are important moments for both the companies and producers. Finally, the sides agreed to hold a Retail Forum entitled Supplier's Day - Open Dialogue in Bishkek in January 2018, where representatives of Russian trade networks and entrepreneurs of Kyrgyzstan interested in export to the Russian market will take part. This forum will discuss the basic requirements for exported products, as well as the basic principles and rules for working with large trading networks in the Russian market. It is also planned to develop a list of goods that have the greatest export potential and will be competitive on the shelves of Russian retail chains. Kazakhstan - which lies between Kyrgyzstan and Russia - introduced additional control measures on the Kyrgyz-Kazakh and Russian-Kazakh state borders on October 10, 2017. The measures are taken as part of planned activities, according to Kazakh side. Meanwhile, the average daily number of persons and vehicles from Kyrgyzstan decreased by 2.4 times at major and busiest checkpoints Ak-Zhol and Ak-Tilek after the introduction of additional control measures by the Kazakh side. Since October 10, as many as 3,000 persons and 300 transport units cross the border daily. Previously, a number were more than 8,000 persons and over 600 transport units. Later, on October 18, during the meeting of Kyrgyz Prime Ministers Sapar Isakov and his Kazakh counterpart Bakytzhan Sagintayev in Astana, the parties agreed to ensure the priority order of crossing the state border for individuals with personal luggage, vehicles carrying out regular passenger transportation, motor transport, and empty cargo vehicles. To date, the issues with loaded vans remain unresolved. Russias share in the export of the Kyrgyz Republic amounts to 21.3 percent following the results of 2016. --- Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 22 November 2017 17:36 (UTC+04:00) By Kamila Aliyeva Uzbekistans State Committee for Investments and South Korean company Evergreen Motors signed a memorandum of understanding on the organization of mass production of Hyundai cars in Uzbekistan. This was announced by the press center covering the visit of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to the Republic of Korea on November 22. The total cost of the project is $200 million. The parties did not announce which models will be produced in Uzbekistan.In addition, Evergreen Motors will launch production of forklifts, with a total value of over $50 million. GM Uzbekistan, located in Andijan region, is the countrys main car manufacturer. In addition, a part of the plants production facilities is also located in the Khorezm region and Tashkent. The design capacity of the company currently reaches 250,000 cars per year. GM Uzbekistan, formerly known as UzDaewooAuto, was created in 1996 on a parity basis by Uzbekistan and South Korean Daewoo Motors. In 2005, Uzbekistan acquired Daewoo's shares in UzDaewooAuto. In 2007, Uzavtoprom (Uzbek Association of Automotive Industry Enterprises) and the U.S.-based General Motors signed an agreement to establish the GM Uzbekistan with an authorized capital of $266.7 million. General Motors owns 25 percent shares in the GM Uzbekistan plus one share with a possibility of increasing it to 40 percent. At the moment, 75 percent of the shares belong to the UzAvtosanoat. Currently, GM Uzbekistan produces cars under ten brands: of them, five are sedans - Nexia, Cobalt, Lacetti, and Malibu, two subcompact models - Matiz and Spark, the Captiva SUV, the Orlando minivan, the Damas minivan and the Labo mini-truck. On the domestic market of the country, GM Uzbekistans cars are sold under the Chevrolet brand. GM Uzbekistan products are sent for export under the Ravon trademark. --- Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 22 November 2017 18:24 (UTC+04:00) By Trend JSC "Uzkimyosanoat", the major chemical company in Uzbekistan, and South Korean Samsung Engineering signed an agreement on the implementation of four projects for a total of $556 million. This was announced by the press center covering the visit of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to the Republic of Korea on November 22. The parties agreed to implement the project on "Modernization of ammonia and carbamide production facilities at Ferghanaazot JSC worth $91 million. The project on "Modernization of the production of ammonium nitrate AC 72M and non-concentrated nitric acid AK 72M at JSC" Ferganaazot" will also be implemented. The cost of the project is $15 million. The two will also implement projects on "Organization of ammonia production" in Almalyk with a capacity of 300,000 tons a year and "Organization of carbamide production" in Almalyk with a capacity of 350,000 thousand tons a year worth $ 300 million and $150 million, respectively. To implement the projects, funds in the amount of $ 321 million will be barrowed. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 22 November 2017 17:48 (UTC+04:00) By Kamila Aliyeva Losses of Central Asian countries due to lack of cooperation in the water related issues are currently estimated at $4.5 billion a year. This was announced by Executive Director of the Regional Environmental Center for Central Asia (CAREC) Iskandar Abdullayev within the framework of the conference held in Almaty. Without a system partnership and dialogue on transboundary water management in the region, serious competition for water resources can arise. We and our partners are working on small rivers, supporting the work of regional working groups and promoting a comprehensive discussion of these issues, he said. CAREC Executive Director also stressed that the de facto countries of the region are at the point where the lack of dialogue on water issue has a price. Today, the region has developed a common understanding that ignoring the issues of joint use of natural resources is more expensive and simply economically unprofitable. The loss of the region in the absence of partnership makes at least $4.5 billion, he said. These losses can be attributed to the insufficient productivity of agriculture due to lack of water resources, and to the high price of electricity and the unreliability of this system, according to the expert. This is also related to the limited access to international finance which is caused by the presence of many unresolved issues among the countries of Central Asia. Abdullayev believes that maintenance of a political dialogue between the countries of the region is one of the decisions that will result in establishing an effective water partnership. The project of the European Union, which was completed, is precisely the solution of these issues. We must understand that the water issue is not just a technical issue. This is a political issue, it is interaction in legislation, the involvement of those people who make decisions. Without such platforms we still have a half-way approach, he explained. At the same time, he added that within the framework of the project such platforms were launched. For example, participation in the World Water Week in 2016 contributed to this aim. After that, the first meeting of the participants of the countries of the region was held in Almaty, and the second one in Stockholm. The discussion at both venues was very interesting and productive, according to the expert. Research and expert work aimed at reviewing the best practices in the world was also launched withing the framework of the project. CAREC head noted that within 25 years the regional countries began to develop new approaches to water resources management. It was important to systematize best practices, and also to understand the process of improving water resources. In conclusion, the expert said that the main objective of the project was to stimulate cross-border trust in the countries of the region and their active involvement in this process. Water remains one of the greatest challenges for Central Asian nations due to the lack of cooperation and regional dialogue on resource management between the upstream and downstream countries. The reason for poor water management lies in the fact that downstream countries (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan) and upstream countries (Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan) have conflicting interests in how these water resources should be used. Downstream countries are strongly dependent on irrigated agriculture while upstream countries are more focused on expanding reservoir capacity and hydroelectric power generation. In summer the downstream countries want water for irrigation while the upstream countries want to accumulate it for winter power generation. In the Soviet times a system of compensation for the upstream countries with oil and gas from the downstream countries was introduced, but currently all five countries have their own national interests. --- Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 22 November 2017 18:36 (UTC+04:00) By Leman Zeynalova/ Trend If there were ever any Russian efforts to co-opt either of the Armenian lobbying groups in the US, one might expect American policy makers to take notice, said the article published in the International policy digest (IPD). The article by Neil Richards says that something under half of one percent of Americans can trace their ancestry back to the tiny South Caucasus nation of Armenia. There are probably three times as many Welsh Americans, but despite the numbers, Armenian Americans have extraordinary influence in Washington, DC, where not one but two well-funded and aggressive lobbying organizations toil on their behalf, the author wrote. The two, the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) and the Armenian Assembly of America (the Assembly), are rivals in a sense, with ANCA focusing on grass-roots activity and fund-raising and the Assembly relying principally on funds raised from major Armenian-owned businesses Yet they share largely the same primary goals, said the article. The author says that on their websites, both organizations boast of their close relations with senior Congressional figures. And because of its grass-roots activism and heavy concentrations of Armenian Americans in specific areas, ANCA has electoral clout too. In fact, the ethnic Armenian lobby is so effective that the embassy of Armenia in Washington hardly needs to lobby at all. And thats the strange bit. Armenia has in effect out-sourced its lobbying in the US to these American non-profit organizations, said the article. The author notes that yet the Republic of Armenia is effectively a Russian client state, heavily reliant on Moscows trade and funding. So if there were ever any Russian efforts to co-opt either of the Armenian lobbying groups in the US, one might expect American policy makers to take notice. For instance, when Moscow-born Sergey Sarkisov was named Consul-General for Armenia in Los Angeles questions could have been raised. The insurance magnate hes the 96th richest man in Russia currently represents Armenia to 13 western US states, said the article. Richards further notes that theres even evidence of what might be politely termed a confluence of interest between the Armenian lobby and Russia, concerning Iran, a Russian ally. Russia is strongly opposed to the White Houses announced intention to seek amendment of the Iran nuclear deal. As it happens Armenia is opposed also. And now Armenian Americans are being urged to oppose any changes as well. There is some tortured logic behind this. As Armenian analyst Areg Galstyan recently wrote, US relations with Armenia have been closely tied to attitudes towards Iran. Galstyan sounds a warning that the Armenian lobby, which is mainly focused on the Democratic Party, should be interested in blocking any initiatives against Iran, said the article. The author asks an obvious question: is that advice purely for Armenias own benefit or is the Russian big brothers interest reflected in it as well? --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Here are 10 opportunities for independent physicians and ASCs to build their business from Fred Davis, MD, president and CMO of ProCare PainSolutions and a clinical assistant professor at Lansing-based Michigan State University. Dr. Davis will be speaking at the Becker's 16th Annual Future of Spine + The Spine, Orthopedic and Pain Management-Driven ASC Conference. To learn more and register, click here. Contact Maura Jodoin at mjodoin@beckershealthcare.com or Kristelle Khazzaka at Kkhazzaka@beckershealthcare.com for further information about sponsorship and exhibitor opportunities. Question: Where do you see the biggest opportunities for independent physicians and ASCs to build their businesses? Dr. Fred Davis: 1. Choosing locations that are not overcrowded by competition. 2. Settling in communities served by older physicians who will be retiring soon. 3. Maintaining strong ties to the community they practice in. 4. Having a personality that is compatible with practice building and visibility. 5. Keeping a strong focus on patient services and value based care. 6. Choosing service lines smartly. 7. Collaborating with other likeminded professionals 8. Building functional relationships with clinically integrated networks that control the patient populations they serve. 9. Shifting from a provider-centric to patient-centric model of care. 10. Seeking ways of meeting the needs of the patients they serve, including a change in hours of operation or treatment location. For both of these situations another option is to become part of an MSO with other independent practices or ASCs. This allows for large scale professional management resources, marketing, business development, contracting, IT services, compliance with regulatory changes, revenue cycle management, credentialing, recruitment, human resources and a higher level of administrative skills than can be obtained individually. This model is being used in our pain medicine network in Michigan where ProCare Pain Solutions manages three separate independent practices with a total of 13 clinical locations across the state. Here are six updates on GI companies from the past week: SGS United Kingdom withdrew GI Dynamics' CE Mark for its EndoBarrier device. IQuility is releasing IsolateIBS-IBD, a RNA-based blood test that can help physicians identify irritable bowel syndrome or inflammatory bowel disease. After discontinuing a drug therapy program that "did not live up to its promise," Outpost Medicine shifted its focus towards OP-687, an oral therapy for overactive bladder and irritable bowel syndrome. After announcing positive results from its second phase III trial, Global Data Healthcare Analysts' Maria Sudul said Ardelyx's Tenapanor is in line to make a "successful market entry." Lumendi completed the first in-human trials of its DiLumen Endolumenal Interventional Platform technology, meeting the study's primary endpoint. The U.S. Patent and Trademarks Office granted Immuron a patent for its non-alcoholic steatohepatitis treatment. The Becker's Hospital Review website uses cookies to display relevant ads and to enhance your browsing experience. By continuing to use our site, you acknowledge that you have read, that you understand, and that you accept our Cookie Policy and our Privacy Policy A man claimed that when he asked for a sandwich and tried to pay in the Indian currency, IndiGo refused to accept the money. He claimed that even after repeated requests, the crew didn't provide him food since it conflicted the airline's policy. By India Today Web Desk, Nagarjun Dwarakanath: A passenger on IndiGo flight 6E95 Bangalore-Dubai has filed a complaint against the airline with Delhi Police alleging that IndiGo refused to accept the Indian currency while purchasing food on board. Passenger Pramod Jain took the flight at 7.20 am on October 10 and in his complaint, he says that he was shocked to hear that an airline based out and operating majorly in India did not accept the Indian currency but wanted the American Dollars which is part of IndiGo's policy. advertisement Pramod claimed that even after repeated requests, the crew did not provide him food on humanitarian grounds. "I ordered for a sandwich which was costing me Rs 300 and I offered to pay them in the Indian currency but the crew refused to accept the money," Pramod said. "They wanted US Dollars. I requested them to offer me food as I hadn't eaten anything since morning and even then they denied me food on board," he added. Pramod after returning from his trip, wrote to the airline and received a reply, and upon not being satisfied with the airline's reply, he decided to take it up with the Delhi Police. The complaint copy read that Pramod was completely traumatised. "I was traumatised seeing the insult caused by an Indian company and in the presence of foreigners in the flight by refusing to accept the Indian currency. The said act also amounts to demeaning of the Indian currency, a legal tender under Constitution of India, and that too by an Indian company," Pramod said. INDIGO'S POLICY Indigo on the other hand says it's the company policy not to accept Rupees on any inbound and outbound International flight from India. In a statement, the airline said, "IndiGo does not accept INR for on-board sales on its international flights in accordance to the prevailing regulation 3 of FEMA Regulations. And this clearly is mentioned in our on-board sales menu. We have filed a request for carrying on-board sales in INR (above Rs 25,000) with Reserve Bank of India on February 26 2014 and June 05, 2014. We are in active discussions with the concerned authorities in this regard." Meanwhile, sources in Ministry of Civil Aviation say that the ministry does not have a standard policy on the matter and each airline can decide their policies. Former Director General of Civil Aviation, Kanu Goain said that an Indian airline while flying in Indian airspace needs to accept Rupees. --- ENDS --- Barely one out of four hospitals consistently has emergency hand and facial trauma specialists available, according to a recent study in the November issue of Annals of Plastic Surgery. The study gathered data from 52 New York State hospitals, which were selected from the New York State Department of Health website and surveyed via phone between May 2012 and October 2013. Only 27 percent of hospitals surveyed had consistent coverage for emergency hand trauma and only 29 percent of hospitals had a facial specialist consistently available. For elective procedures, researchers found 88 percent of the hospitals offered specialist hand surgeries and 79 percent offered facial surgeries. Facial and hand traumas make up more than 20 percent of the roughly 40 million injuries treated in U.S. emergency departments annually, the study authors wrote in the Annals of Plastic Surgery. If not treated by a specialist, or if treatment is delayed to transfer the patient to a location where a specialist is available, these injuries can have poorer outcomes and ultimately higher costs, the study team writes. "Nearly every small town has a small hospital, and these hospitals deliver elective care, but there's not anyone available 24/7 for emergencies," Ashit Patel, MD, senior study author and chief of plastic surgery at Albany (N.Y.) Medical College, told Reuters. Dr. Patel said sharing data with state legislators is a key to making changes. He has spoken with members of both parties and found similar studies that show discrepancies in access to trauma specialists in Tennessee and New Jersey. The following hospital and health system credit rating and outlook changes and affirmations took place in the last week, beginning with the most recent. 1. Moody's revises Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital's outlook to negative Moody's Investors Service affirmed its 'Baa3' on Yakima (Wash.) Valley Memorial Hospital's revenue bonds, affecting $31 million of rated debt. 2. Moody's assigns 'A2' to Blanchard Valley Regional Health Center's bonds Moody's Investors Service assigned its "A2" rating to Findlay, Ohio-based Blanchard Valley Regional Health Center's proposed $83.7 million series 2017 revenue bonds. 3. Fitch revises Prime Healthcare Foundation's outlook to negative Fitch Ratings assigned its "BB-" rating to Ontario, Calif.-based Prime Healthcare Foundation's proposed $123 million series 2017A and $127 million series 2017B. 4. Moody's upgrades UMass Memorial Health Care's rating to 'Baa2' Moody's Investors Service upgraded Worcester, Mass.-based UMass Memorial Health Care's rating to "Baa2" from "Baa3," affecting $100 million of outstanding debt. 5. Fitch affirms 'BBB' on University Hospital's revenue bonds Fitch Ratings affirmed its "BBB" rating on Newark, N.J.-based University Hospital's series 2015A revenue bonds, affecting $255 million of debt. 6. S&P revises Montrose Memorial Hospital's outlook to negative S&P Global Ratings affirmed its "BBB-" rating on Montrose (Colo.) Memorial Hospital's series 2003 bonds. 7. Moody's affirms 'Baa3' on Jefferson Regional Medical Center Moody's Investors Service affirmed its "Baa3" rating on Pine Bluff, Ark.-based Jefferson Regional Medical Center's bonds, affecting $93 million of debt. 8. Moody's affirms 'Ba2' on St. Vincent Hospital Moody's Investors Service affirmed the "Ba2" rating on Erie, Pa.-based St. Vincent Hospital's outstanding bonds, affecting $82 million of debt. 9. Moody's downgrades Southeast Georgia Health System to 'A3' Moody's Investors Service downgraded Brunswick-based Southeast Georgia Health System's revenue bonds from "A2" to "A3," affecting $142 million of outstanding debt. 10. Moody's assigns 'Aa3' to University of Pennsylvania Health System Moody's Investors Service assigned its "Aa3" rating to Philadelphia-based University of Pennsylvania Health System's proposed $200 million series 2017 taxable bonds as well as its proposed $400 million series A of 2017 revenue bonds. A group of Ohio hospitals have lost an appeal in their lawsuit against CMS challenging how the agency counts beds used for inpatient care for the purpose of calculating Medicare reimbursement. Here are six things to know about the lawsuit. 1. Medicare reimburses hospitals for providing inpatient care through the Inpatient Prospective Payment System, which pays hospitals a fixed amount for each patient regardless of the actual costs incurred. To account for differences among hospitals, the reimbursement formula includes several supplemental adjustments. 2. In 2015, a group of 10 Ohio hospitals sued CMS over two of the adjustments: the Indirect Medical Education adjustment, which supplements payments to hospitals that train medical residents; and the Disproportionate Share Hospital adjustment, which supplements payments to hospitals that serve a disproportionate share of low-income patients. Both of the adjustments at issue in the lawsuit are calculated based on the number of inpatient beds at a hospital. 3. CMS previously excluded swing beds and outpatient beds from a hospital's total bed count when calculating the adjustments. However, this policy was challenged in 2001 by two Kentucky hospitals that fell short of the bed count required for the DSH adjustment. In 2003, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled in favor of the hospitals, stating that CMS' method for counting hospital beds conflicted with the plain language of the applicable regulation. 4. In response to the court's decision, CMS amended the regulation to permit its preferred method for counting beds. The agency included a provision in the IPPS rule for 2004 that expressly excluded swing and observation beds from the adjustment formulas. However, due to the court's decision, CMS said it would include swing and observation beds in the total bed count for hospitals located in the Sixth Circuit for discharges until the final regulation took effect. 5. In their 2015 lawsuit, the Ohio hospitals, which are located in the Sixth Circuit, were seeking to exclude swing and observation beds from their total bed count when calculating reimbursements for discharges that occurred prior to CMS' amendment to the regulation. The hospitals advanced several arguments in their case, including that CMS acted arbitrarily and capriciously in its approach to the reimbursement issue. 6. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia agreed with the district court in rejecting the hospitals' arguments. The court ruled that CMS acted reasonably in adopting a regulation that treated hospitals in the Sixth Circuit differently. More articles on legal and regulatory issues: Woman accused of attacking nurse at Minnesota hospital Georgia hospital, affiliates to pay $12.9M to settle billing fraud allegations Sutter Health destroys evidence in antitrust case over inflated prices St. Charles Health System, a four-hospital system in Bend, Ore., is planning to eliminate jobs, cut employee pay and suspend merit-based raises to avoid a $25 million to $35 million shortfall next year, according to KUOW. St. Charles Health System President and CEO Joe Sluka said the system is seeing revenue decline and expenses increase. He said the revenue decline may be due to an influx of patients with high-deductible health plans, according to the report. Since patients are already having trouble paying their hospital bills, Mr. Sluka said raising prices was off the table when officials examined how to improve the health system's financial picture. Instead, the health system plans to suspend merit-based raises, lay off 30 workers, cut pay for salaried workers by 5 percent for at least six months, and offer buyouts to 70 employees, according to the report. St. Charles Health System CFO Jennifer Welander told KUOW employees who accept the buyouts will be given one week of pay for every year of service up to 12 years, plus a fixed bonus payment. St. Charles Health System is the largest employer in Central Oregon, with approximately 4,200 employees, according to the report. More articles on healthcare finance: Shuttered Tennessee hospital needs patients to pay up to cover $40k in past-due wages CMS offers payment boost to certain hospitals hit by two-midnight rule CHS in negotiations to extend nearly $2B in debt Here are seven recent news updates on health IT companies. 1. Apple CEO Tim Cook discussed a physician-facing app, VisualDx, during a recent company earnings call. 2. EpicMD, a company that offers cloud-based telehealth technology, selected Jack Karabees to serve as president and vice president of sales. 3. Forward, a San Francisco-based startup, recently opened a concierge medical practice in the Westfield Century City mall in Los Angeles, marking its first location outside of San Francisco. 4. GE Healthcare's Centricity Practice Solution EMR and Centricity EMR achieved certification under ONC's 2015 edition health IT product criteria, the company announced Nov. 21. 5. Steven Lin, MD, medical director of Palo Alto, Calif.-based Stanford Family Medicine, is working with Google Research to launch a pilot study on "digital scribes." 6. Amerigroup will cover telehealth services through LiveHealth Online for members of its five Medicare Advantage plans in Texas beginning in 2018, the payer announced Nov. 13. 7. About 200 employees at Outcome Health took a voluntary buyout this week after the company offered the opportunity to some employees Nov. 17. In September, CMS issued a request for information seeking feedback on what it called a "new direction" for its Innovation Center. The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation was established to help evaluate payment and delivery system models for Medicare and Medicaid programs, but the agency hoped to use it to promote patient-centered care and market-driven reforms. Comments were due Nov. 20 on ways CMS could "empower beneficiaries as consumers, provide price transparency, increase choices and competition to drive quality, reduce costs and improve outcomes." Here is how four healthcare groups responded. 1. The American Hospital Association argues CMMI should apply principles such as transparency, fully integrated care, balancing risk against reward and providing timely availability of data. It adds CMMI should guard against fragmentation, account for risk adjustment, be wary of regulatory burden and demolish barriers to clinical integration and care coordination. 2. The American Medical Informatics Association believes CMMI should offer "innovation support, not simply financial support, to transform care delivery." AMIA recommends CMMI consider models and pilots that promote and optimize informatics tools and capabilities to support patient care, as well as evaluate application requirements across models to ensure they leverage informatics. 3. The American Telemedicine Association recommends CMMI allow state Medicaid to cover those eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid. To this end, CMS could "fully explore consumer-directed, technology-enabled, site-neutral tools of care to meet growing healthcare delivery challenges." 4. The EHR Association warns against adding more EHR regulations that may over-burden physicians and organizations. "[T]he Association encourages CMS to collaboratively engage with health IT developers to ensure that the technology we are delivering to providers aligns with the needs of the models." More articles on health IT: Robot reaches milestone, passes medical licensing exam Stanford Health Care recruits Eric Yablonka as new CIO Hewlett Packard CEO Meg Whitman steps down The Cook County Board unanimously approved a $5.2 billion budget Tuesday that will lay off 321 county employees, including 34 workers at Cook County Health and Hospitals System, according to the Chicago Tribune. The board was tasked with filling a $200.6 million budget hole after they voted to repeal the sweetened beverage tax in October. The original budget planned to cut 425 jobs, but the layoffs were eventually reduced to 321. Of the 34 health system layoffs, the majority will be licensed practical nurses. The last day of work for nonunion employees will be Dec. 8, while union workers will work through Jan. 5. Many legislators view the budget cuts as a result of the beverage tax repeal. "The people should really wonder what kind of government we are when we are laying off this many people at this time of year," said Commissioner Larry Suffredin, D-Evanston, who voted against the beverage tax repeal. "The people losing their jobs will never, never find a better job than the one theyve lost." The Maine Medical Association reminded physicians to remain vigilant about the rules surrounding sexual harassment after the Maine Board of Licensure in Medicine received at least two sexual harassment complaints were filed within the last month, according to the Bangor Daily News. Official complaints are not very common in Maine, but MMA Deputy Vice President Andrew MacLean said recently publicized reports of celebrity sexual harassment led the organization to send the reminder to physicians. "We put it out there as a risk-management effort to remind physicians to be cautious in this area," Mr. MacLean told the Bangor Daily News. "Every day, there's some new news story about this topic. We thought it best to remind physicians what the guidance is." The following healthcare mergers, acquisitions, partnerships and general transactions took place or were announced during the past week. 1. HCA, Cleveland Clinic among finalists to take over Florida hospital The two boards that oversee Vero Beach, Fla.-based Indian River Medical Center selected four finalists to take over the hospital. 2. TLC Health Network plans merger with Brooks Memorial Hospital Irving, N.Y.-based TLC Health Network confirmed plans to merge with Dunkirk, N.Y.-based Brooks Memorial Hospital and affiliate with Buffalo, N.Y.-based Kaleida Health. 3. Advisory Board finalizes $1.3B deal with UnitedHealth's Optum Advisory Board shareholders approved a deal to sell the company's healthcare division to Minnetonka, Minn.-based UnitedHealth Group's Optum arm for $1.3 billion. 4. Trinity Health to merge 2 of its Michigan health systems Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health revealed plans to merge two of its Michigan health systems into a single 10-hospital organization. 5. OHSU, Adventist Health Portland finalize affiliation Portland, Ore.-based OHSU and Adventist Health Portland finalized an agreement to integrate the organizations' clinical activities and services. 6. Judge approves UNC Health Care's bid to purchase bankrupt North Carolina hospital A bankruptcy judge approved the $11.5 million sale of Eden, N.C.-based Morehead Memorial hospital to Chapel Hill, N.C.-based UNC Health Care. 7. Vanderbilt University Medical Center begins operating 14 Walgreens clinics Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanderbilt University Medical Center began operating and providing clinical services at select retail health clinics within 14 Walgreens locations statewide. 8. DeKalb Medical, Emory Healthcare to form strategic partnership Decatur, Ga.-based DeKalb Medical signed a letter of intent to form a strategic partnership with Atlanta-based Emory Healthcare. 9. LHC Group, Almost Family to merge into 781-facility home health behemoth Lafayette, La.-based LHC Group agreed to enter into an all-stock merger-of-equals transaction with Louisville, Ky.-based Almost Family. 10. Highmark Health to integrate Pennsylvania hospital Pittsburgh-based Highmark Health formed an affiliation agreement with Warren (Pa.) General Hospital, an 89-bed community hospital. 11. UPMC children's hospital, West Virginia facility partner on newborn care The Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC and Morgantown, W.Va.-based Mon Health Medical Center formed a partnership to provide enhanced delivery and pediatric medicine services for families with newborns in West Virginia. 12. State OKs Hartford HealthCare deal to affiliate with Connecticut hospital The Connecticut Department of Public Health Office of Health Care Access approved Hartford (Conn.) HealthCare's certificate of need application to affiliate with Charlotte Hungerford Hospital, a 109-bed facility in Torrington, Conn. More articles on healthcare industry transactions: CHS to sell additional hospitals worth $2B in revenue Wellmont, MSHA outline next steps following merger approval University Hospitals partners with Salem Regional Medical Center on cancer care Nurses at Boston-based Tufts Medical Center may be planning a strike on Christmas, according to Boston Business Journal. Nearly 1,200 nurses represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association went on strike July 12 after failing to reach a contract agreement with Tufts. Though the nurses returned to work the next day, the two parties have still not agreed on a contract. They have been negotiating since April 2016. During a meeting between Tufts officials and MNA representatives Friday, Tufts officials expressed worry over rumors they heard about a possible strike on Christmas day, Dec. 25. Jennifer Johnson, a spokeswoman for the MNA, told Becker's Hospital Review she could neither confirm nor deny the rumors of a Christmas strike. However, she noted a majority of the nurses at Tufts would have to vote to authorize a strike, and no strike authorization dates have been scheduled. More articles on human capital and risk: Care New England CFO: Memorial Hospital employees' pensions secure despite closure Maine Coast Memorial Hospital workers seek unionization Harrison Medical Center workers picket over staffing Subjecting female recruits to a test that determines their virginity is disregarding and disrespectful, a human rights group said. By India Today Web Desk: Indonesia Police continues to perform the two-finger test on female recruiters. The World Health Organization (WHO) had declared the test useless three years ago since it had no scientific validation, an international human rights group said. Cruel and discriminatory tests were performed under the guise of these examinations being important for mental and psychological health. The human rights group also appealed to the President Joko Widodo to order the police to ban the two-finger test. advertisement "The Indonesian government's continuing tolerance for abusive 'virginity tests' by the security forces reflects an appalling lack of political will to protect the rights of Indonesian women," said Nisha Varia, women's rights advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. The human rights group is of the opinion that subjecting female recruits to a test that determines their virginity is disregarding and disrespectful. Female officers from six different Indonesian cities said in an interview that they had undergone the 'two-finger' test. A 24-year-old Indonesian woman said she was among 20 applicants who underwent the test, reported an interview recorded by the human rights group. "I feared that after they performed the test I would not be a virgin anymore. They inserted two fingers with gels, it really hurt," she said. Another woman from the city of Pekanbaru whose identity was not disclosed said, "I don't want to remember those bad experiences. It was humiliating." "Why should we take off our clothes in front of strangers? It is not necessary. I think it should be stopped," she said. The issue was highlighted last year when the education chief suggested that girls should undergo a virginity test before getting enrolled in the senior high school. --- ENDS --- A Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic employee stole $300,000-plus in 2016, according to the system's federal 990 tax filing with the Internal Revenue Service. The clinic uncovered the theft last year, according to the Star Tribune. A former employee who handled cash for Mayo Clinic was responsible for the theft. "Additional tangible items" found during the investigation may also be stolen property, according to the filing. The system reported the theft to the FBI in 2016, Mayo Clinic spokesperson Susan Barber Lindquist told the Star Tribune. She added the investigation is ongoing, and no other details are available. Mayo Clinic terminated the employee upon the discovery and implemented "improved cash handling practices," according to the filing. More articles on legal and regulatory issues: Georgia hospital, affiliates to pay $12.9M to settle billing fraud allegations Sutter Health destroys evidence in antitrust case over inflated prices 6 latest healthcare industry lawsuits, settlements Becker's Hospital Review reported these six contract resolutions and dissolutions between payers and providers since Nov. 3, beginning with the most recent. 1. Hartford HealthCare, Anthem reach 3-year agreement Hartford (Conn.) HealthCare ended its contract impasse with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield through a new three-year contract. 2. UnityPoint Health reaches contract impasse with Medicaid insurer covering 54k West Des Moines, Iowa-based UnityPoint Health notified about 54,000 patients it may end its contract with Amerigroup of Iowa, one of two insurers managing Medicaid coverage in the state. 3. Mission Health, BCBS head to negotiating table Asheville, N.C.-based Mission Health System and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina resumed talks more than a month after their contract expired. 4. Anthem, Mercy Health ink provider agreement Cincinnati-based Mercy Health's The Jewish Hospital-Mercy Health, located in a Cincinnati suburb, joined Anthem's Medicare Advantage provider network. 5. Northwest Texas Health System, BCBS sign provider agreement Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas members gained in-network access to Amarillo-based Northwest Texas Health System facilities under a new contract. 6. Kaiser Permanente Northwest expands Oregon footprint with PeaceHealth agreement Vancouver, Wash.-based PeaceHealth and Portland, Ore.-based Kaiser Permanente Northwest collaborated on healthcare delivery and coverage in Lane County, Ore. More articles about payer issues: Good Samaritan Health, 800-member physician group align with Cigna for health plan Proposed CVS-Aetna deal likely to gain approval, analysts say CMS says most states will deplete CHIP funding by March: 4 things to know All states will exhaust federal Children's Health Insurance Program funding in fiscal year 2018, according to a recent CMS bulletin. Here are four things to know. 1. Congress allowed CHIP funding, which covers roughly 9 million low-income children, to expire Oct. 1. 2. Nationally, CMS projects next year's CHIP funding shortfall will total about $13 billion. This is compared to the estimated $3 billion in funding available for redistribution. 3. The first state to use all of its CHIP funds will do so this month. The majority of other states will exhaust funding by March 2018, CMS estimates. 4. If Congress does not appropriate additional funding for CHIP, states will need to transfer children off the program. States with their own CHIPs can phase out coverage and transition children to their state Medicaid plan. If a child is ineligible for Medicaid, the state should steer affected beneficiaries to the public exchange, according to CMS. From Cigna announcing an alliance with San Jose, Calif.-based Good Samaritan Health System to Hartford HealthCare ending its contract dispute with Anthem, here are four notable payer stories making headlines this week. 1. Good Samaritan Health, 800-member physician group align with Cigna for health plan San Jose, Calif.-based Good Samaritan Health System and its 800-physician medical group will operate a joint health plan with Cigna. 2. Proposed CVS-Aetna deal likely to gain approval, analysts say Two analysts project President Donald Trump's administration is unlikely to block CVS Health's proposed $66 billion-plus bid for Aetna. 3. UnitedHealthcare adds Samsung, Garmin wearables to its wellness program UnitedHealthcare and a Qualcomm subsidiary integrated Samsung and Garmin wearable devices into UnitedHealthcare's wellness program. 4. Hartford HealthCare, Anthem reach 3-year agreement Hartford (Conn.) HealthCare ended its contract impasse with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield through a new three-year contract. New Baltimore, Mich.-based Harbor Oaks Hospital which has been facing scrutiny for understaffing and abuse claims allegedly inflated staff levels in anticipation of an audit by the Joint Commission, according to WXYZ. Current and former nurses at Harbor Oaks Hospital, including Linna Sikon and Charmaine Allagreen, claim the psychiatric hospital increased staffing levels right before the audit. Ms. Sikon adds that Harbor Oaks then cut staffing by "nearly half" after the hospital passed the Joint Commission survey. She immediately filed a complaint with Michigan's Occupational Safety and Health Administration. "It was immediately after [the commission] left that the staffing was cut," Ms. Sikon said. A spokeswoman for the Joint Commission told WXYZ that the organization will evaluate the allegations and if they prove true, they could deny Harbor Oaks Hospital its accreditation. The allegations are the latest calling into question the safety of the patients at Harbor Oaks. Earlier this year, the Michigan Occupational Health and Safety Administration found 76 incidents of assaults on hospital staff by patients, which is a result of understaffing. "We take any and all concerns with a deep sense of care, thorough investigation, and resolution; including coordination with appropriate regulators and agencies," a Harbor Oaks spokesperson told WXYZ. The extra 660 million allocated to Northern Ireland in the Budget would be much better being spent by devolved ministers, the Secretary of State has said. James Brokenshire urged the region's rowing politicians to resolve their differences so they could return to making "local decisions for local people". The powersharing crisis has left civil servants in charge of Northern Ireland's public services for most of this year. "At the moment, as we all know, Northern Ireland is being run by the Civil Service, they have been doing a tremendous job in maintaining public services and ensuring that things do continue," Mr Brokenshire said. "What we want to see is an executive in place, an executive that is able to harness the benefits of the Budget that the Chancellor has announced today, to make those local decisions for local people. "That's what we want to see. "I think it is that focus we still need to being having very firmly in our minds as to getting the executive back up and running, so it is those local politicians who can look toward the 18/19 budget and beyond and really shape the future of Northern Ireland's economy, which is why we want the executive there, those locally elected politicians making those decisions and taking this forward." The additional funding announced by the Chancellor, which the Government insists will see spending in Northern Ireland increase in real terms, will be spread across the next three years. The majority of the money will be spent on capital projects. In terms of Northern Ireland specific measures, the Budget also included a review on tourism VAT and short haul air passenger duty (APD). The DUP urged a reduction in the VAT rate and the abolition of APD in its 2017 general election manifesto and the review of both policies had been promised by the Conservative Party as part of its confidence and supply deal with the unionist party at Westminster. Chancellor Philip Hammond also announced negotiations would start on the terms of a "city deal" package for Northern Ireland. The bespoke deals, which are already in operation in major urban centres in Great Britain, hand city councils greater powers to lead infrastructure developments, generate wealth and access finance. Sinn Fein MLA Mairtin O Muilleoir and DUP MP Sammy Wilson, both former Stormont finance ministers, delivered contrasting assessments of the the Budget. Mr O Muilleoir said it would continue "relentless austerity and deepening inequality". He said in terms of day-to-day resource spending the block grant would suffer a real term cut. "So there is no good news in this Budget for our public services and for public sector workers who have already borne the brunt of years of Tory austerity cuts to the block grant," he said. "There is no extra money for health. No extra money for education. No extra money for our frontline services staff. "The reference to 650 million additional firepower for the north is a bad joke." He added: "Once again, this Budget shows the folly of the DUP's decision to give a blank cheque to the Tories as part of their pact with Theresa May. "The DUP committed to supporting all finance and Brexit legislation as part of that arrangement so now they will find themselves supporting further cuts to our block grant and further pressure piled on our public services." Mr Wilson welcomed measures in the Budget. "This Budget reinforces the relationship which we now have with the Government," he said. "We are pleased that our influence has not just delivered for Northern Ireland but also good policies for the whole United Kingdom. "Northern Ireland will experience a further increase in its block grant of 650 million over the next three years along with the additional billion pounds already delivered (through the confidence and supply deal). "This will lift pressure on government departments and enable important investment to take place." He added: "We are pleased that with our role in Westminster we have had an opportunity to help shape this Budget which helps take the UK forward addressing skills, productivity, fiscal improvement, helping young people, supporting the low paid and getting us ready for life outside the EU. "We will continue over the next five years to play a positive role in working with the Government while Corbyn and his crew bluster and seek ways of bankrupting the country." Female business leaders in Northern Ireland are less likely than male bosses to take risks such as first-time exporting or taking on new staff, according to a study today. The Ulster Bank Boost Index found that female leaders were less likely than men to be considering investing and expanding. Over three-quarters of female business leaders told the survey that their company does not export, compared to 58% of male business leaders. The index researched around 200 firms with up to 50 employees in sectors such as manufacturing and food and drink. But Joanne Liddle, MD of IPC Mouldings in Carrickfergus, told the Belfast Telegraph it was not shying away from growth. "We have recently announced expansion and investment in new machinery, new technology and additional jobs to support growth. Over the last year our business exported, directly or indirectly, over 90% of our product," said the managing director. "I can't comment for other companies that are women-led, but growth, investment and export is a matter of course for IPC and one we don't shy away from." According to Ulster Bank, 38% of male respondents said that they were likely or very likely to consider investing in their firms, compared to 18% of females. Two-thirds (68%) of female business leaders said they were not willing to take on more people, compared to 43% of males. Lisa McCaul, Ulster Bank business growth enabler, said: "When it comes to exporting, part of the differential between men and women can perhaps be explained by the types of businesses being led by each, with a higher proportion of females leading services business. However, this certainly doesn't explain all of it. "Other studies internationally have found that female CEOs tend to be associated with lower levels of risk taking. "This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is important to understand that there are risks inherent in doing business and being an entrepreneur and some of these risks are acceptable." A decision on the controversial electricity inter-connector between Co Tyrone and Co Meath must be taken by the Department for Infrastructure "as soon as possible," it has been claimed. Businesses called for a swift decision after the Planning Appeals Commission (PAC) announced that it had sent its recommendation on whether the 60km of overhead pylons - intended to improve security of supply across the border - should be built. It held a public inquiry into the plans in Co Armagh earlier this year. However, the PAC has not disclosed the nature of its recommendation. The infrastructure, which would go through Tyrone, Armagh, Cavan, Monaghan and into Meath - is proposed by electricity system operator System Operator Northern Ireland (SONI) and its owner EirGrid in the Republic. The Republic's planning body has already given the green light to the part of the interconnector which would be built in the Republic. The Department for Infrastructure in Northern Ireland is now expected to review the PAC report and prepare an executive summary with its own recommendation. That will then be sent to the department's Permanent Secretary - or the minister in the department, should the Executive be restored. The process of preparing an executive summary is expected to take four to five weeks - and the PAC report and recommendation will not be made public until after the final decision. But residents of border areas around Co Tyrone, Armagh and Cavan have said they are opposed to the North-South Interconnector, arguing that, instead, pipes should be laid below ground - an option which SONI has said is not feasible. However, SONI's proposals have the support of major business bodies in Northern Ireland. Christopher Morrow, head of policy at the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce, said: "We look forward to the Department for Infrastructure announcing a decision as soon as possible. "Delivery of the North-South Interconnector is a top priority for the Northern Ireland Chamber's membership. "Businesses and employers need access to electricity in the most cost-efficient manner possible, and the proposed interconnector is key to achieving this. "It is an essential piece of infrastructure which will allow the all-island electricity market to do what it was designed to do - achieve savings for all consumers north and south. "This piece of infrastructure has real value to business and therefore to our members, and we will continue to vocalise our support until a decision is made by government - hopefully no later than the end of this year." Robin McCormick, general manager of SONI, added: "The interconnector remains an urgent requirement to ensure we have enough electricity to meet demand in the coming years, and is also needed to reduce electricity costs to domestic and commercial consumers throughout the island. "The PAC has been very professional in its approach to the proposal, and we now look forward to the Department for Infrastructure announcing a decision as soon as possible." Angela McGowan, CBI NI regional director, said the interconnector was an "economically vital project" that would be key to improving competitiveness. Cyber security has made it out of the IT department and into the boardroom as a pressing issue for local companies, according to a survey. BT Business in Northern Ireland said firms were increasing their investment in cyber security after high-profile attacks worldwide such as the WannaCry ransomware attack on NHS systems in May. Firms told BT they were spending more on security technology, tools and resources, including staff awareness. They added cyber security was being discussed at board level rather than just being regarded as an IT problem. Some are also turning to third parties to protect their businesses, while others are developing in-house security expertise. Paul Murnaghan, regional director for BT Business in Northern Ireland, said companies needed to be fully prepared. "As this survey shows, both the public and private sector face big challenges, not least the constantly evolving cyber security threat. For some, even if it is readily available, there is a lack of trained cyber security expertise to manage and deal with that threat. "Understandably, not every firm can afford to have this in-house, but that's where BT can help. "As a leader and innovator in security, BT has the scale, expertise and reach that can provide local business and organisations with the support to meet the challenge of the ever-evolving security threat." Budget airline easyJet has seen annual profits nosedive by 17% after taking a 101m hit from the weak pound, but confirmed a boost from the demise of rivals and recent woes at Ryanair. In her last set of results before taking on the top job at ITV, chief executive Carolyn McCall said it had been a "difficult" year for the industry as she posted headline pre-tax profits of 408m, down from 494m the previous year. The pound's plunge since the Brexit vote took its toll on the carrier's bottom line, while a price war also left revenues per seat falling 7.8% with currency changes stripped out. But the blow to its profits was not as bad as first feared thanks to a record performance in the final three months after a shambolic showing from rival Ryanair, which has had to cancel hundreds of flights after miscalculating pilot leave. The group also said trading so far in its new financial year has been "encouraging" thanks to last month's collapse of Luton-based carrier Monarch, as well as the demise of Air Berlin and Alitalia going into administration. Forward bookings are higher than a year earlier, at 88% for the first quarter and 26% up for the second quarter. EasyJet flies to around 25 destinations from Belfast International Airport. Ivanka Trump will lead a high-powered American delegation of officials, women entrepreneurs and businessmen at the GES in Hyderabad from November 28-30. By PTI, Press Trust of India: The Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2017 being hosted by India along with the US is a testament to the "strong friendship" between the two countries, US President Donald Trump's daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump said today. Ivanka, 36, is headed to India after a Thanksgiving ritual. She will lead a high-powered American delegation of officials, women entrepreneurs and businessmen at the GES in Hyderabad from November 28-30. Ivanka will deliver the key note address at the three-day summit, which will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. advertisement For the first time, in its eight editions, the summit has been themed "Women First and Prosperity for All," which "demonstrates" the administration's "commitment to the principle that when women are economically empowered, their communities and countries thrive," Ivanka said in a preview of her India trip. The summit, to be attended by 1,500 entrepreneurs from 170 countries, would have around 350 participants from the US, a large number of whom are Indian-Americans. Among prominent members of the administration joining her on the trip are US Treasurer Jovita Carranza, administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Neomi Rao, USAID administrator Mark Green, and Overseas Private Investment Corporation president and CEO Ray Washburne. Women will represent 52.5 per cent of the entrepreneurs, investors and ecosystem supporters at the GES 2017. In fact, more than 10 countries including Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Israel will be represented by an all-women delegation, the State Department said. The entrepreneurs attending the GES also reflect a very young team with nearly 31.5 per cent of them being either aged 30 or below. The youngest entrepreneur is aged 13 while the oldest one is 84. At #GES2017, women from 127 countries will participate with an all-female delegation from 10+ countries. Women First, Prosperity for All! pic.twitter.com/4TlUpeMyXb- NITI Aayog (@NITIAayog) November 18, 2017 INDIA A 'GREAT FRIEND AND PARTNER' Ivanka said she "very much" looks forward to her visit. India, she said, is "a great friend and partner" in the US. The goal of the collaboration is to grow the shared economic and security partnership, she said. during her India visit, Ivanka is likely to spend some time on sightseeing, including a possible stop at the Charminar, according to officials. She will be participating in two panels: The plenary session : "Be the Change -- Womens Entrepreneurial Leadership," (Tuesday evening) and "We Can Do It! Innovations in Workforce Development and Skills Training." (Wednesday morning) WATCH | Ivanka to visit India for entrepreneurship summit on PM Modi's invite, says Trump --- ENDS --- The figure of 646 is treble the previous year of 213 in the year 2015/2016. More than 600 pupils were suspended in Northern Ireland last year for physical assaults on teaching staff, it has emerged. The figure of 646 for the year 2015/16 is treble that of the previous year where there were 213 suspensions. Justin McCamphill of the teaching union NASUWT said the figures did not surprise him and that due to budget cuts there are fewer resources for specialist support. He told the BBC Stephen Nolan Show: "This is no surprise to us. "Class sizes are getting bigger and schools are losing any specialist support they did have for vulnerable young people. "Discipline is breaking down and class sizes are part of it." There were 536 boys suspended and 110 girls in one year. Mr McCamphill added: "I know a school last week where the police had to be called to deal with a pupil who seriously assaulted a teacher, and when the police arrived he assaulted police. "That is happening in our schools. We surveyed all our teachers in 2015/2016 and 13% reported to us that they have been physically assaulted." One caller to the programme said he witnessed a primary seven pupil threaten the school principal. Brian in Lambeg said: "I was doing business with a primary school in belfast. And I was talking to the principal and a P7 was brought to him for being disruptive. When the principal told him to stand in the hall and wait til he was finished. "He said 'I don't f***** think so. Why don't you and me go out int he playground and I'll give you a digging'." "He said 'that's nothing new - if it's not me it's one of the other teachers'." Mr McCamphill says he attributes the rise in teachers' sick days to the attacks - which has seen the cost of substitute cover rise. He said: "I'd attribute that increase to assault on teachers. When a teacher is assaulted they have to take time off to see a doctor and it can cause mental stress. "It has a knock-on effect." He said that the total number of attacks could be more than 1,000 as the figures didn't include attacks in special schools. "We are dealing with several members who had to take time of work but I'm sure there are some that have left their jobs because of it. "We do take a zero tolerance on it. Last year, there were two other schools where we balloted for a refusal to teach ballot. And in both those schools members refused to teach the pupils who were involved in assaulting teachers. "We are saying to members and to all staff, whether teachers or not, they have to report it to the police. "It does appear to be a reluctance to report assaults. "Report it to police and so so we can log that it's happening." Another caller to the Nolan show said recalled an incident as he said that when young people strike out it's "because there is an underlying trauma". Rob from north Belfast told of an example when he had been driving through Belfast when a young person threw a stone at his vehicle. He challenged him and he ran to his house. He said his anger turned to sympathy when he reached the door as he could smell alcohol and drugs when the door was opened. "When I told them (his dad) 'there's been a wee accident there'. He said 'I'm going to knock him out'." He said that while this is not the case for all young people involved in the attacks - but it's the environment for some. He added: "We need to get it into perspective." A home in Conlig, Co Down has been targeted by arsonists. The home in the Henderson Avenue area was set on fire just after 1pm on Wednesday. Detective Sergeant Bell said Police attended the scene along with other emergency services. A resident was treated by paramedics at the scene for smoke inhalation. "I am appealing that anyone with information contact 101 quoting reference 576 of 22/11/17, or if they wish to remain anonymous Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Brexit and the current Stormont stalemate could bring about a push for Irish unity, former US diplomat Richard Haass has claimed. Haasst, who previously chaired political negotiations here, said poor leadership, Brexit and failure to deal with the legacy of the past was to blame for the impasse. Dr Haass, the current president of the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations, expressed hope that the political deadlock would not usher in a return to violence. He tweeted: "Northern Ireland at a crisis point, the result of poor leadership, Brexit and a failure to deal with the past. "Agree that the current impasse likely to lead to restructuring of its politics and/or push for Irish unification. Hoping it does not lead to any resumption of violence." Dr Haass was in 2013 drafted in to chair talks aimed at averting the collapse of power-sharing. Despite weeks of cross-party negotiations in Belfast, the American diplomat failed to find a breakthrough on the thorny issues of flags, parading and the legacy of the Troubles. He previously served as special envoy to the region under the presidency of George W Bush. Prime beneficiaries of Philip Hammonds autumn Budget announced were the city of Belfast, our hospitality industry and first-time home buyers. Air passenger duty could also finally be scrapped The lack of a Northern Ireland Executive could prevent Northern Ireland nurses getting a pay rise. In his budget, Chancellor Philip Hammond said if the independent public sector review body recommended nurses should get a pay rise of more than one percent he would find the money to pay for it. However, as health is a devolved matter it could potentially mean Northern Ireland workers lose out as it would require a minister at Stormont to introduce the measure. Read More Secretary of State James Brokenshire has resisted introducing full-blown direct rule, which could allow the pay rise, despite ongoing political wrangling meaning there has been no Executive for the year. He has however, said Northern Ireland is on a "glide path" to rule from London. Asked what would happen if the pay increase was approved by the Chancellor, Mr Brokenshire told the BBC: "I want to see an Executive back in place that's why the Prime Minister met the DUP and Sinn Fein this week for that purpose of trying to engender the parties to come together to find a resolution of the outstanding differences. Read More "Because it is this pressure we are seeing at the moment, on not being able to have the political decision making on really important issues such as on public sector pay where unless there is an existing policy pay awards can't be made. "That isn't right." John (on right of photo) with two people who Karen believes may be relatives A woman in England has pleaded for information about long lost relatives after she discovered her father has two siblings in Northern Ireland. Karen Eve Young (42) from the West Midlands said that it would be "something special" to find the family that they have never met. Before her father, John Young, passed away in early October it came to light that he had an elder half brother and sister who lived in Belfast. Karen and her sister Gina (45) are now the last remaining relatives, other than their children, and they say they are "desperate" to trace any other family they may have on their father's side. They have discovered that their grandfather, George Young Snr was born on October 14, 1900 or 1901 in Ballymena, before moving to Belfast to work for Harland & Wolff. George met a woman called Sadie and they had two children, George Jnr and Lily. When George and Lily were in their late teens, George Snr left his family behind to work in Birmingham in the early 1940s in a factory on an old army base. There, he met Karen's grandmother, Lily Ellen Walters. They married and John was born on December 27, 1945. George Snr died on June 14, 1969, just a month after seeing John marry and before either Karen or Gina were born. After their father left Belfast, George Jnr had seven children and his sister Lily had three, meaning there are potentially 10 half cousins for Karen and Gina to unite with. Sadly, it is thought that George Snr's first wife Sadie was killed during the Troubles. Karen took to social media in an attempt to track down her relatives. She said: "Dad left us when I was nine and we kind of drifted apart, but we did make things up before he died. He started to write down everything he knew about his family. He wrote down all he could, but he died a few days after. "Since my post online, quite a few people have contacted us and mentioned names and places, but it's like searching for a needle in a haystack. "One woman got in touch to say she had found George Young Snr in a census in Ballymena in 1911. We know that they were Protestant Irish and in the Orange Order. "If George and Lily were still alive then they would be in their late 90s so it is doubtful, but we know they have had children." She added: "It would be amazing to find our family." Anyone with information can reach Karen at kareneveyoung@gmail.com Democratic Unionist chief Arlene Foster and Sinn Fein's Stormont Ieader Michelle O'Neill have been urged to set aside their differences and travel to Washington together to lobby for jobs at Bombardier's Northern Ireland factory. Uncertainty hangs over jobs at the aircraft manufacturer's Belfast site amid a trade dispute between Bombardier and rivals Boeing. In September, the US Department of Commence announced its intentions to impose trade tariffs of 220% on Canadian-based Bombardier's C Series jets, after Boeing claimed the firm had received excessive government support which gave an unfair business advantage in breach of trading regulations. In October, a further 80% tariff was proposed, raising concerns that job cuts could follow at the Belfast site. In an evidence session of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee at Westminster, representatives from trade union Unite, which represents many Bombardier employees, told MPs that despite the powersharing crisis at Stormont, Ms Foster and Ms O'Neill should travel to the US to lobby on behalf of workers. George Burnside, a senior lay representative for the union, told MPs: "We feel let down that none of the representatives from the DUP or Sinn Fein have gone to Washington. The main parties should be in Washington, on Capitol Hill, rapping doors. "They seem more interested in language and flags, and everything else is going down the tubes. It's a serious situation." He added: "I know there's obviously not a powersharing government in Northern Ireland, but I think it would be helpful if maybe someone out of this committee, the Defence Secretary and Arlene and Michelle would go to America themselves, at least it should be seen that the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee is doing something, the two main Northern Ireland parties are doing something." Responding, Lady Sylvia Hermon, an independent unionist MP on the committee, suggested it could write to Ms Foster and Ms O'Neill to ask them to attend as "Acting First Minister and Acting Deputy First Minister". Lady Hermon said: "I have to say I'm shocked that they have not already been to Washington but it might be helpful if we were to write and ask them to go as a matter of urgency. "If they were to go together, that would send out such a powerful message. That's what we need. It's not about how they vote, it's about saving jobs in Northern Ireland, and they should be standing shoulder to shoulder to save those jobs. It's obvious." Northern Ireland has been without an executive at Stormont since January, when powersharing between the DUP and Sinn Fein collapsed. Since then, there have been numerous rounds of negotiations with a view to returning to government but no deal has been reached. The parties remain at odds over a number of issues related to language and cultural issues. Ms O'Neill and Ms Foster attended separate meetings at 10 Downing Street with Theresa May on Tuesday, where the Prime Minister urged them to continue working to reach an agreement. A final ruling on whether tariffs will be imposed on Bombardier is expected in the new year. Stephanie Ford with children Maddison and Calvin during their holiday in Paris A horrified mum says her family faces six months of "living hell" as they await the outcome of medical tests, after her two-year-old son was injured by a syringe which she believes was taped to a handrail at a Paris airport. Newtownards mum-of-two Stephanie Ford was returning from a family holiday to Disneyland Paris last Friday evening when the incident occurred outside Charles de Gaulle airport. The family had decided to holiday close to home as Stephanie's son Calvin (2) suffers from a disorder which affects his mobility, and is awaiting a formal medical diagnosis. Stephanie had been pushing little Calvin and her daughter Maddison (6) in a buggy when she slipped on vomit outside terminal 2D. After regaining her balance, she heard her son exclaim "ouch" in pain, and her daughter told her that Calvin had "got something". "I looked around and Calvin had a used needle in his hand, and it looked like he had been scratched on several sites," shocked Stephanie said. "There was clear tape on the needle. It looked like it had been taped to the handrail which he had been running his hand along while I was pushing him in the buggy. "We grabbed the needle, threw it to the ground and ran to get help. "Someone who worked at the airport just shrugged and walked away, so I ran into the terminal like a lunatic and found a man who worked for Fedex, who rang the French authorities. "But due to the language barrier they hung up the phone. Then some security guards came running and treated his wounds, and we went up to the airport's hospital bay. Expand Close The needle / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The needle "We were referred to Robert Ballanger hospital and had to make our own way there in a taxi. "They took swabs of the needle and gave us a prescription for anti-viral drugs, but told us that it wouldn't be ready until Saturday evening at the earliest, and more likely Sunday. "The doctor advised us to get Calvin home to Northern Ireland as soon as possible." Having missed their original flight home, the desperate family paid over 1000 for hotel accommodation and flights to Dublin to get Calvin treatment as soon as possible. They arrived into Dublin airport on Saturday evening, and went to the out-of-hours doctor in Newtownards at midnight. They then attended the Royal Victoria Hospital's A&E department on Sunday afternoon, where Calvin finally received a Hepatitis B antiviral treatment. However, due to his young age and his pre-existing medical condition, doctors advised against prescribing antiviral drugs for HIV and Hepatitis C. Distraught Stephanie said she has been left "worried sick," as Calvin now faces a six-month wait to get the all-clear from the potentially life-threatening diseases. "We went through 48 hours of hell before we got to the Royal," Stephanie continued. "They said that the risk of contracting HIV or Hepatitis C was very low. But there is a risk. "The preliminary results in France came back clean, but they haven't got back to us with follow-up results yet. "We are waiting on blood test results from the Royal at the minute, then we have to come back in four weeks' time to get another set of blood tests and a Hepatitis B booster, and there will be more blood tests up to the six month mark. "The next six months will be a living nightmare". Stephanie said she was "still in shock" at what happened, and slammed the person who left the needle as "sick and in need of help". "It's an act of pure evil," she continued. "It's a terrible thing to condemn an innocent child to this suffering. "Calvin is too young to understand exactly what has happened but he has become clingy - he remembers being held down in hospital and blood being taken from his arms. "This is sickening, just harrowing. "Luckily my daughter didn't pick up the needle as well - she has been in a right state and thought her brother was going to die. She's pretty traumatised." Stephanie is now warning other parents to be on their guard. "I am livid with Charles de Gaulle airport - there were piles of vomit in the area and the needle suggests it is popular with drug users, but there was an empty police car nearby and we have been told it is probably a blind spot for CCTV," she continued. "The doctors at the airport seemed to think it was just an insulin needle. I think they were trying to play it down, as it could have been anything. "I want to alert other families to be on their guard, as there are sick people out there who don't care that they might hurt an innocent child or anyone else. "You worry about terror attacks and you think your kids will be safe if you put them in a buggy, but this shows that isn't the case. I don't want any other family to suffer the agony that we are going through." A spokeswoman for ATP, which manages Charles de Gaulle airport, told this newspaper that it was the first time such an incident had happened there. She stated: "We have cleaning teams, surveillance teams and safety teams who check both inside and outside the terminals, but this must have happened between two inspections. "The syringe was taken to our doctors at the airport, they checked and inside it was insulin. We have no information about drug use occurring at the airport. "No official report as such was made to the police, but the information was passed on. The safety and security of our travellers is our first priority." The spokeswoman said she "did not know" whether the needle had been "purposefully left" and that it was "not reported" that it had been taped to a handrail. The judge said the incident highlighted the dangers of bringing glasses and bottles onto dancefloors. A Crown Court judge on Wednesday raised concerns about the potential dangers of bringing glasses and bottles onto the dancefloors of clubs. Judge David McFarland issued the warning as a man appeared in court on a charge arising from a glassing in a Belfast nightclub. George Anderson (33) admitted wounding a fellow reveller on the packed dancefloor of the Fly on February 26 of this year, after a scuffle broke out. Anderson, a petrol station manager from Milewater Close in Newtownabbey, swung round and punched another man whilst holding a glass bottle in his hand. The bottle smashed and the injured man was taken to hospital, where he was treated for several lacerations. Belfast Crown Court heard he had been left with scarring to the back of his neck. A prosecutor said that after the incident, Anderson was arrested - but had to go to hospital himself for an injury to his hand caused by the broken bottle. Defence barrister Denis Boyd, instructed by Reavey and Co, told Judge McFarland that Anderson co-operated fully with police. Mr Boyd also revealed Anderson branded his behaviour as stupid, adding: "He knows it was a moment of madness." Judge McFarland said he accepted the incident was not pre-meditated, and that Anderson had not armed himself with a bottle, but had swung a punch with a bottle in his hand. This, the Judge said, highlighted the dangers of bringing glasses and bottles onto dancefloors. After watching CCTV footage of the incident, Judge McFarland said it was clear alcohol had been consumed. Telling Anderson "you are unlikely to re-offend again", he was handed a 18-month prison sentence, which was suspended for two years. A Northern Ireland road is likely to remain closed for some time after a truck hit a bridge. The incident happened on the Ballysallagh Road between Bangor and Dundonald on Wednesday evening. Police have had to close the road until an assessment of the damage can be made by structural engineers. Road users have been warned the road will likely be closed for the "foreseeable future". Police described the impact of the incident on traffic as "a nightmare" and urged anyone to avoid the area if possible. It's thought the low bridge has been hit on a number of occasions and the road closure will cause delays on the A2 between Bangor and Belfast. "This incident has to potential to cause significant traffic disruption during peak periods," Transport NI said. By Srijani Ganguly/Mail Today: It all began in 1998, when Jamuna Tudu formed the 'Van Suraksha Samiti' with five women, in an effort to deter the forest mafia from felling trees near her village. Now, the 'Van Suraksha Samiti' consists of more than 300 groups of around 30 people. Such is her success story that she also gets invited to speak at events all over India. advertisement People from other villages also reach out to Tudu. "People from other villages come to me for help," she says, "Depending on the problems and issues, I help them accordingly." In her own village of Mathurgham, Jharkhand, she and her team pay visits to the forest (50 hectares in area) in three shifts - in the morning, afternoon and evening. Also Read: Chef Vikas Khanna plants trees to fight air pollution, while launching his new book for children And when the mafia tries to set fire to forest at night, Tudu and her team are ready to counter it by paying visits into the forests at night as well. Since they are up against a dangerous force, Tudu and her team remember to arm themselves with arrows, bows and sticks. Her team is also helped by the police and the forest department. The latter has adopted the village and helps with the water supply and school facilities. While Tudu herself is an inspiration to many, her own idol is her father. "I was inspired by my father in my mission to save plants and trees. And now, I have an entire which follows his principles," she says, adding, "I consider trees as my brothers. I tie rakhis on trees on every Rakshabandhan day." Apart from deciding to join the forces of 'Van Suraksha Samiti', women in her village plant 18 trees when a girl is born, and ten trees when a girl gets married in the village. Tudu, truly, is an inspiration to women in her village and the entire world. --- ENDS --- Presbyterian Moderator Dr Noble McNeely has celebrated the 500th anniversary of the Reformation with Christians in Egypt. The event at Kasr El-Dobara Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Cairo was one of the largest Christian events to take place in the Middle East in recent years and was organised by the Protestant Churches of Egypt. Dr McNeely said it was important to show solidarity and attend the event. "For many Christians of all denominations across the Middle East, the outworking of their faith in our Lord Jesus Christ has resulted in violence, death and general persecution on a scale that has not been witnessed in many years," he added. The Irish government will oppose any form of amnesty for security force members as part of measures to address the legacy of the Troubles. Dublin last night pledged to challenge the statute of limitations proposal which is to be floated in a British Government public consultation document. Human rights and victims groups also came out strongly against the move. An Irish Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman warned it would "not look favourably" on any form of amnesty for security forces or paramilitaries. "There are no amnesties from prosecution provided for in the Good Friday Agreement or any subsequent agreements including the Stormont House Agreement," he said. "The government's position is and will remain that the rule of law, including the requirement under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, for effective investigations of unlawful killings, must be upheld by all responsible authorities." Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams accused London of an "act of bad faith" and said neither his party nor the Irish government had been consulted about the proposal while the SDLP and Alliance also voiced their opposition. Amnesty International said any statute of limitations imposed to block investigations for killings or torture carried out by the security forces would be "an utter betrayal of victims' fundamental rights to justice". Relatives For Justice said the proposal was "a slap in the face to victims of state violence - it once again casts them as second class citizens". A range of mechanisms to deal with the Troubles legacy were agreed by the parties in the 2014 Stormont House Agreement - an amnesty was not among them. The agreed proposals included a new independent investigatory unit, a truth recovery body and an oral archive. They were put on hold due to ongoing political disagreement with republicans fearing the UK Government would cite national security as a reason to withhold documents from victims' families. Secretary of State James Brokenshire announced in September that he was planning to launch a public consultation exercise in an attempt to move the situation on. It was expected to focus on the Stormont House Agreement mechanisms, but Sinn Fein emerged from its meeting with Prime Minister Theresa May (above) yesterday claiming that a new statute of limitation proposal had been inserted into the consultation document. A Northern Ireland Office spokesman said the Government believed the Stormont House Agreement proposals still represented the "best means" to address legacy issues. However, he said that for it to be an "open and meaningful consultation" the public should have its say on alternative approaches, such as the statute of limitations proposal. Support for an amnesty is strong among DUP and Tory MPs. However, UUP MLA Doug Beattie (inset) said legal experts believed it would "inevitably have to be extended to cover all Troubles-related deaths and open the door to a general amnesty for everyone, including terrorists". He added: "We need to be very careful that in our desire to prevent former police officers and soldiers from being the victims of a witch hunt, we do not inadvertently open the door to an amnesty for the very terrorists they risked their lives to defeat." SDLP MLA Dolores Kelly added: "The British Government cannot allow any amnesty for any violent perpetrators. "Victims and survivors of the Troubles deserve truth and justice. The British state and others must deliver that justice. No-one should be off-limits to the rule of law." Alliance Leader Naomi Long said: "Justice and the rule of law cannot be adjusted to make people differently accountable for their actions. "In all cases, we should follow the evidence to wherever that leads. "Members of the armed forces should be treated exactly the same as anyone else in a similar situation." Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald has denied having any prior knowledge about a legal strategy to discredit a Garda whistleblower. The former justice minister made a statement in the Dail on Tuesday night after coming under political pressure to reveal how much she knew about the tactics used by lawyers acting for former Garda commissioner Noirin O Sullivan against Sergeant Maurice McCabe. Ms Fitzgerald admitted she had received an email in May 2015 about a disagreement between An Garda lawyers and legal representatives for Sergeant McCabe. She said she was only reminded about the email by her department last Thursday. Ms Fitzgerald said what was reported to her in the email was a "serious criminal complaint against Sergeant McCabe, which he has always denied, had not been properly investigated" by An Garda. She insisted however she only became aware of an alleged smear campaign by gardai against Sergeant McCabe when it became public knowledge in May 2016. Ms Fitzgerald said: "Neither I nor the Department of Justice had any hand, act or part in the legal strategy of the former commissioner. I am very clear that I did not have a role in that." She added that as minister for justice she strongly encouraged Garda management "put in place comprehensive procedures for whistleblowers" and "at all times sought to support and protect whistleblowers". "My record speaks for itself and my commitment to deal with these issues in a comprehensive, committed and fair manner," she added. "I pay tribute to the work Sergeant Maurice McCabe has done." Ms Fitzgerald said Taoiseach Leo Varadkar had spoken to Sergeant McCabe on Tuesday evening to discuss issues within the email. Earlier on Tuesday Mr Varadkar told the Dail he had not seen the email until 11.30pm on Monday night. He also paid tribute to Sergeant McCabe as "one of the bravest people I have ever encountered in public life". "He is somebody who I think has been very much wronged by the state on a number of occasions because of his bravery and his willingness to shine a light in dark places," the Taoiseach added. Last year it emerged the legal team appointed by the former Garda commissioner was instructed to question Sergeant McCabe's motivation and credibility at the O'Higgins Commission, which was set up in February 2015 to examine allegations of Garda malpractice. The strategy pursued against Sergeant McCabe is being examined by the disclosures tribunal, chaired by Mr Justice Peter Charleton. There are a record number of people sleeping rough in Dublin A record number of people have been found sleeping rough in Dublin. The winter headcount found 184 people in parks, streets, doorways and shopfronts on November 7. The unprecedented numbers were released as the government announced it would open another 200 emergency beds across the city by December 18. Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy said: "No person should have to sleep on our streets or be without shelter at any time of the year." The Dublin Regional Homeless Executive (DRHE) said the previous record number for rough sleepers was 168 in the winter of 2014 and the new level is up from 161 in the spring and 142 last winter. Mr Murphy, who opened a new homeless facility run by the Peter McVerry Trust on the Cabra Road in Dublin, said there should be enough beds across the city this winter to give everyone shelter who needs and wants it. "Given the extreme cold weather expected over the coming days, arrangements are in place since last night with our partners like Peter McVerry Trust and Focus Ireland to ensure that additional temporary shelter can be brought into use across a range of existing services and facilities for singles and couples on a temporary basis," he said. In Cork another 25 temporary beds are in place, in Galway 34 and in Limerick another 10. The rough sleeper count involves 50 teams being deployed across set geographic areas of the city and county. It includes staff from Phoenix Park and St Stephen's Green to ensure people in the parks are counted. Depa ul Ireland offered 102 emergency beds this time last year and now has 198 beds and two emergency family rooms with demand constant and increasing. Chief executive Kerry Anthony said the rough sleeper numbers are extremely worrying. "Homelessness is a complex issue and needs a consistent, holistic approach," he said. "While these rough sleeper figures are cause for concern, it is essential that we remain committed to Rebuilding Ireland and that policy makers take heed of the recommendations of voluntary organisations like Depaul in order to make progress." The Chancellor unveils more more for the NHS (Peter Byrne/PA Wire/PA Images) NHS bosses are to meet to discuss what it is possible to deliver for patients with the money available after the health service in England did not get the funds it requested from the Treasury, officials have indicated. Sir Malcolm Grant, chairman of NHS England, said the money promised by the Chancellor will go some way towards filling the widely accepted funding gap. But he said the NHS can no longer avoid the difficult debate on what can be provided by the health service on the funds it is operating on. The NHS England board will discuss the matter next week, he added. We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference In a statement, Sir Malcolm said: The extra money the chancellor has found for the NHS is welcome and will go some way towards filling the widely accepted funding gap. However, we can no longer avoid the difficult debate about what it is possible to deliver for patients with the money available. The NHS England board will need to lead this discussion when we meet on November 30. Meanwhile, Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, national medical director for NHS England, said the money promised by Chancellor Philip Hammond will force a debate about what the public can and cant expect from the NHS. We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference He warned that longer waits for care seem likely/unavoidable. The comments come after the Treasury pledged more money for the NHS in England, with the specific aim of helping the health service get back on track with soaring waiting lists and A&E targets. Mr Hammond acknowledged the NHS is under pressure as he committed resource funding of 2.8 billion to the NHS in England. This includes 350 million to cope with pressures over the coming winter, 1.6 billion in 2018/19 and the rest the year after. Earlier this month, NHS England boss Simon Stevens said that without more money for the NHS, the number of patients waiting to be admitted to hospital in England to have surgery will rocket to five million by 2021. This means one in 10 adults will be on the waiting list, he said. We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference Mr Stevens also indicated that controversial rationing policies adopted in some parts of the NHS could be rolled out nationally without more money and he said expansion plans for mental health and improvements in cancer care could stall. He drew on a new analysis by the Health Foundation, the Kings Fund and the Nuffield Trust which calculated the NHS needs 4 billion more next year to prevent patient care from deteriorating. In his Budget speech, Mr Hammond said: We acknowledge that the service remains under pressure and today we respond. We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference First we will deliver an additional 10 billion package of capital investment in frontline services over the course of this parliament to support the Sustainability and Transformation plans which will make our NHS more resilient. Investing in an NHS fit for the future. But we also recognise that the NHS is under pressure right now. I am therefore exceptionally, and outside the Spending Review process, making an additional commitment of resource funding of 2.8 billion to the NHS in England 350 million immediately to allow trusts to plan for this winter, 1.6 billion in 2018/19 with the balance in 19/20, taking the extra resource into the NHS next year to 3.75 billion in total. Meaning that our NHS will receive a 7.5 billion increase to its resource budget over this year and next. Father of the House Ken Clarke picked up a new nickname during Prime Ministers Questions without even uttering a word. As Speaker John Bercow called order to quieten the loud and boisterous jeers in the Commons, he told them to emulate the zen-like calm and statesmanship of the Father of the House. And so Ken The Zen or Zen Ken was born. Expand Close Prime Ministers Questions PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Prime Ministers Questions We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference Clarke, who was first elected as MP for Rushcliffe in June 1970, is the current Father of the House, the name given to the longest-serving MP. He was chancellor in John Majors government from 1993 to 1997 and notably the last chancellor to deliver the Budget in autumn, rather than spring, and with an alcoholic drink to hand. The SNPs Angus MacNeil tweeted from the chamber that it was hard to be Zen like Ken. We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference He wrote: Corbyn voted for UK out of Customs Union that is a hard border in Ireland!! hard to be Zen like Ken with that nonsense ! The aircraft was heading to US Navy carrier the USS Ronald Reagan (Yonhap/AP) Eight people aboard a US Navy plane that crashed in the Pacific have been recovered in good condition and a search continues for three other missing personnel. The navy said in a tweet that the eight were brought aboard the USS Ronald Reagan. Their C-2 Greyhound transport aircraft crashed on its way to the carrier about 90 miles north-west of Okinotorishima, a Japanese atoll. The navy said the ship was operating in the Philippine Sea, which is east of the Philippines, when the crash occurred. The names of the crew and passengers are being withheld pending next of kin notification. The cause of the crash was not immediately clear, the navy said. The plane was taking part in a joint US-Japan naval exercise in waters surrounding Okinawa from November 16-26. The 7th Fleet has had two fatal accidents in Asian waters this year, leaving 17 sailors dead and prompting the removal of eight top navy officers from their posts, including the 7th Fleet commander. The USS John S McCain and an oil tanker collided near Singapore in August, leaving 10 US sailors dead. Seven sailors died in June when the USS Fitzgerald and a container ship collided off Japan. The navy has concluded that the collisions were avoidable and resulted from widespread failures by the crews and commanders, who did not quickly recognise and respond to unfolding emergencies. A navy report recommended numerous changes to address the problems, ranging from improved training to increasing sleep and stress management for sailors. AP The White House said President Donald Trump has been briefed on the incident. Mr Trump said in a tweet: "We are monitoring the situation. Prayers for all involved." AP By PTI: stone-pelters Jammu, Nov 22 (PTI) Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today announced withdrawal of cases against youths involved in stone-pelting for the first time. The decision has been taken considering the suggestion of the Centres special representative Dineshwar Sharma. Mehbooba said this confidence building measure reaffirms the central governments commitment to creating an atmosphere for sustained dialogue. advertisement "It gives me immense satisfaction to restart the process of withdrawing FIRs against first-time offenders involved in stone pelting. "My government had initiated the process in May last year but it was stalled due to the unrest," she posted on Twitter tonight. "It is a ray of hope for these young boys and their families. This initiative will provide them an opportunity to rebuild their lives," she said in another tweet. "It is encouraging that the interlocutor has started on a positive note. His recommendations are being taken seriously by both the central and state government," she said. Taking the suggestion of Sharma forward, over 4,500 cases against youths involved in stone pelting for the first time will be dropped in a bid to win hearts in the Kashmir Valley, officials had said earlier. Sharma, who visited the Valley earlier this month, was flooded with requests from various individuals and groups for withdrawing cases against youths who were booked by the police for indulging in stone pelting. Over 11,500 cases have been registered against stone pelters since July last year when unrest broke out in Kashmir following the death of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani in an encounter, they had said. Out of these, over 4,500 cases were registered against youths who were found indulging in stone pelting for the first time, the officials had said. PTI AB GVS --- ENDS --- The United States is declaring that the violence against Rohingya Muslims in Burma constitutes ethnic cleansing. More than 600,000 Rohingya from Burma's Rakhine State have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh amid the violence, seeking refuge from what the military called "clearance operations." Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, acting on a recent recommendation from the State Department, has now said: "No provocation can justify the horrendous atrocities that have ensued" for which he blames Burma's forces and "local vigilantes". He added that those responsible "must be held accountable." US lawmakers and rights groups have been urging the Trump administration to call the violence ethnic cleansing. The declaration is likely to increase pressure on the Trump administration and Congress to move toward new sanctions on Burma. The crisis started in August, when Rohingya insurgents attacked Burmese security forces, leading to a brutal crackdown in which soldiers and Buddhist mobs killed men, raped woman and burned homes and property to force the Rohingya to leave. Mr Tillerson travelled to Burma last week in the highest level visit by a US official since President Donald Trump took office. He met with the country's civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and powerful military chief, Min Aung Hlaing. He said the US would consider targeted sanctions against individuals deemed responsible for the violence, but he was not advocating broad-based economic sanctions against the entire nation. Sanctions on the south-east Asian nation were eased in recent years as the country made steps towards democracy. Although the "ethnic cleansing" label does not carry specific legal requirements for the US, it is likely to intensify calls for the Trump administration and Congress to move toward new sanctions on Burma. Earlier this year the US restored restrictions on granting visas to members of Burma's military, and the State Department has deemed units and officers involved in operations in Rakhine state illegible for US assistance. AP News of a military coup would normally be a cause for condemnation and a hope for a return to a normal life, although, in this case, the Zimbabwean coup is met with cheers. The dictator Robert Mugabe is one of the few truly evil people in the world with the ability to act on his impulses. A decrepit 93-year-old man would hardly seem dangerous for long, but the creation of a political and military structure with potential successors (admittedly, his younger wife) is what we need to fear. Successive generations of unsupported leadership seems unlikely, but North Korea provides the role model and with a less-generous view arguments can be developed for a number of monarchies to be considered in the same way. Although there are many ways leadership can be enacted, it should be with the support of those being led and, although maybe it is a biased viewpoint, I see a democratically elected leadership as the best way forward. The world will be a better place without Mugabe in it - a sad epitaph. DENNIS FITZGERALD Melbourne, Australia A representative of the Catalonian independence movement addressed the Sinn Fein ard fheis last Saturday morning in Dublin. In that address, he called for support for an independent Catalonia and was received with rapturous applause throughout his passionate address. When he ended, he was given a standing ovation, punctuated by enthusiastic cheers and raucous whistling. A short time later, the ard fheis heard a series of equally enthusiastic speeches from senior Sinn Fein figures, who consistently demanded a border poll in Northern Ireland to end partition and bring about a united Ireland. At one point, the TV camera refocused on the Catalonian representative, who was now enjoying being feted in the front row of the excited gathering. One wondered whether the Catalonian representative might have been a bit perplexed by the creative ambiguity of the Sinn Fein position of ardent support for the partition of Spain, but an end to the partition of Ireland. He might not have realised that it was quite simple for Sinn Fein, which sees no contradiction in ending the border in Ireland and building a new border (hard or soft) in Spain. Comradely greetings were also extended to a number of international delegates, including the Cuban Communist Party. While warmly greeting the Cuban comrades, Gerry Adams failed to highlight the persistent and extreme human rights violations (including summary executions and internment without trial) carried out over several decades by the Castro regime. Not a word of criticism of Castroism and its history of inhumanity. Interestingly, Castro even set up concentration camps to 're-educate' gay people in Cuba. So much for the consistency of Sinn Fein's rights-based strategy, which highlights the issue of same-sex marriage as being a 'red line' issue that prevents them from entering into government with the DUP. But therein lies the genius of the Gerry Adams-led Sinn Fein, a political conjuring act, in which the facts magically disappear, if they are inconvenient, or simply don't fit. A bit like the 'Disappeared', whose corpses were hurriedly buried in the dead of night to confuse and deceive their anxious relatives for decades. Those relatives were deprived of the truth that their loved ones were killed. This flagrantly dishonest approach to human rights, or to Brexit, or to welfare reform, that is expendable of truth, or consistency, is reminiscent of the political satire Animal Farm by George Orwell, where the dominant ruling elite, the Pigs, who have taken over Animal Farm from farmer Mr Jones (in the style of 20th century totalitarian regimes), subtly change words and slogans to suit the new circumstances in which they found themselves, but deceive the other enslaved and subjugated farm animals. Thus, the revolutionary slogan, 'All animals are equal' becomes, 'All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others'. The ard fheis agreed to the removal of the Eighth Amendment to the Irish constitution, which established the equal right to life of both the mother and the unborn child. This life-affirming constitutional protection has saved many lives of unborn children since its approval by referendum in 1983. But, worse still, Sinn Fein has now agreed to support abortion on the grounds of not just fatal foetal abnormality, rape, or sexual abuse, but also 'where a woman's life, health, or mental health is at serious risk, or in grave danger'. This is, in effect, abortion on demand and, in practice, would be the same as the Abortion Act 1967 in Britain in all but name. This is a cynical decision to court electoral popularity in the south, as they were in danger of being outbid on the abortion issue by the Left-wing parties, including the People Before Profit party, who support abortion on demand. Sinn Fein calculates that the north's compliant nationalist electorate will obligingly vote along sectarian lines for the party, irrespective of the new policy of abortion on demand. So much, then, for Michelle O'Neill's doublespeak assertion at the weekend that 'Sinn Fein isn't in favour of abortion'. If this enlargement of abortion policy is not in favour of abortion, what is it in favour of, scarely pro-life? Animal Farm again springs to mind. Even Daithi McKay, former Sinn Fein MLA for North Antrim and a sympathetic commentator, believes that the change will bring the party's policy 'broadly into line with the 1967 Abortion Act'". This is a far cry from October 2008, when Adams, along with fellow Assembly leaders Peter Robinson, Reg Empy and Mark Durkan, signed a joint letter to each Westminster MP, urging them to vote down a Bill to extend the 1967 Act to Northern Ireland. It is extraordinary how a principled opposition to abortion can mutate to being pro-abortion in a few years. The only good news from the ard fheis was Adams's announcement that he is stepping down as leader next year. But can we be sure? ein Google-Unternehmen Google-Dienste anzubieten und zu betreiben Ausfalle zu prufen und Manahmen gegen Spam, Betrug und Missbrauch zu ergreifen Daten zu Zielgruppeninteraktionen und Websitestatistiken zu erheben. Mit den gewonnenen Informationen mochten wir verstehen, wie unsere Dienste verwendet werden, und die Qualitat dieser Dienste verbessern. neue Dienste zu entwickeln und zu verbessern Werbung auszuliefern und ihre Wirkung zu messen personalisierte Inhalte anzuzeigen, abhangig von Ihren Einstellungen personalisierte Werbung anzuzeigen, abhangig von Ihren Einstellungen Wenn Sie Alle ablehnen auswahlen, verwenden wir Cookies nicht fur diese zusatzlichen Zwecke. Nicht personalisierte Inhalte und Werbung werden u. a. von Inhalten, die Sie sich gerade ansehen, und Ihrem Standort beeinflusst (welche Werbung Sie sehen, basiert auf Ihrem ungefahren Standort). Personalisierte Inhalte und Werbung konnen auch Videoempfehlungen, eine individuelle YouTube-Startseite und individuelle Werbung enthalten, die auf fruheren Aktivitaten wie auf YouTube angesehenen Videos und Suchanfragen auf YouTube beruhen. Sofern relevant, verwenden wir Cookies und Daten auerdem, um Inhalte und Werbung altersgerecht zu gestalten. Wir verwenden Cookies und Daten, umWenn Sie Alle akzeptieren auswahlen, verwenden wir Cookies und Daten auch, umWahlen Sie Weitere Optionen aus, um sich zusatzliche Informationen anzusehen, einschlielich Details zum Verwalten Ihrer Datenschutzeinstellungen. Sie konnen auch jederzeit g.co/privacytools besuchen. For the first time ever, cases against youths involved in stone-pelting have been withdrawn. By Press Trust of India: For the first time ever, cases against youths involved in stone-pelting have been withdrawn, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti announced on Wednesday. The decision has been taken considering the suggestion of the Centre's special representative Dineshwar Sharma. Mehbooba said this confidence building measure reaffirms the central government's commitment to creating an atmosphere for sustained dialogue. advertisement "It gives me immense satisfaction to restart the process of withdrawing FIRs against first-time offenders involved in stone pelting. My government had initiated the process in May last year but it was stalled due to the unrest," she posted on Twitter tonight. It gives me immense satisfaction to restart the process of withdrawing FIRs against first time offenders of stone pelting. My government had initiated the process in May, 2016 but it was unfortunately stalled due to the unrest later that year.- Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) November 22, 2017 "It is a ray of hope for these young boys and their families. This initiative will provide them an opportunity to rebuild their lives," she said in another tweet. It is a ray of hope for these young boys and their families. This initiative will provide them an opportunity to rebuild their lives.- Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) November 22, 2017 "It is encouraging that the interlocutor has started on a positive note. His recommendations are being taken seriously by both the central and state government," she said. Taking the suggestion of Sharma forward, over 4,500 cases against youths involved in stone pelting for the first time will be dropped in a bid to win hearts in the Kashmir Valley, officials had said earlier. Sharma, who visited the Valley earlier this month, was flooded with requests from various individuals and groups for withdrawing cases against youths who were booked by the police for indulging in stone pelting. Over 11,500 cases have been registered against stone pelters since July last year when unrest broke out in Kashmir following the death of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani in an encounter, they had said. Out of these, over 4,500 cases were registered against youths who were found indulging in stone pelting for the first time, the officials had said. --- ENDS --- They have showed that the gene which prevents malaria transmission in the genetically modified mosquitoes can be passed on to their offspring. This implies that, in several generations, the entire population of A.stephensi in the wild can potentially be replaced by one incapable of transmitting malaria. India might become testing ground for a new but controversial technology that can wipe out malaria from the country, provided the technology of U.S. developers is approved by regulators. Malaria is spread by female mosquitoes of genus Anopheles with several species capable of carrying the parasite. Using gene-editing technology, researchers at the University of California (UC) -- at its campuses in Irvine (UCI) and San Diego (UCSD) -- modified the Anopheles Stephensi mosquitoes to create a strain that resists infection by Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite that causes malaria. And employing what is called "Gene Drive", they showed that the gene which prevents malaria transmission in these genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes can be passed on to their offspring. This implies that, in several generations, the entire population of A.stephensi in the wild can potentially be replaced by one incapable of transmitting malaria. But, will this silver bullet that works in laboratory, perform in the real world? That is what the US team is planning to find out using malaria endemic India as the test-bed for their experiment under a generous $70 million (Rs 460 crore) grant from India's Tata Trusts. This is the largest foreign investment ever received by UCSD and 50 per cent more than the annual budget (Rs 300 crore) of National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) -- India's nodal agency for the control of all vector-borne diseases, not just malaria; reports IANS. Suresh Subramani, professor of molecular biology at UCSD, says his team will work with a new Centre being created in India at the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine (InStem) in Bengaluru. The collaboration, he says, "Represents a fantastic opportunity to train scientists of Indian origin in the new technology of 'active genetics' for the benefit of society." According to UCSD spokesman Mario Aguilera, "Gene Drive technology has not yet been applied for vector control anywhere." Field trials in India, if allowed, will be the world's first. Some scientists like P.K. Rajagopalan, former head of Vector Control Research Centre in Puduchery, says GM mosquito field releases should never be allowed. "I am 88 and have spent all my life with mosquitoes in the field," Rajagopalan told this correspondent. "Mosquitoes had evolved by natural selection long before man. To think one can replace the natural population with another is a pipe dream." Rajagopalan noted that Sri Lanka controlled malaria "by super-active surveillance and hard field work, making the environment inhospitable for mosquito breeding. Nowhere in the world has anyone controlled mosquitoes or vector borne diseases using GM releases." R.S. Sharma and A.C. Dhariwal, two former NVBDCP directors, agreed. "Now everybody is pushing their agenda without knowing the biology of vector diseases in the field," Sharma said. Dhariwal wondered "why the Tata Trust is pumping money into a California University and not into the Indian Council of Medical Research". The Trust's chief trustee, R. Venkataramanan, did not reply to request for a comment. Govindarajan Padmanabhan a renowned biochemist at the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru, is an ardent proponent of GM crops but is wary about Gene Drives. "There are issues of stability of the genetic elements over generations and also potential for resistance development to the spread," he told this correspondent, adding: "The environmental and ecological consequences are also being debated globally and I am not sure release of such engineered mosquitoes would ever become a reality in India, where even the Bt brinjal embargo has not been lifted." But not everyone is opposed. L.S. Shashidara, biology professor at Indian Institute of Science Engineering and Research (IISER) in Pune, does not want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. "I am quite confident that this is a safe technology," he said. "Of course, it has to be proved beyond doubt. By not doing research itself, we may miss a great opportunity to help the society." "This new approach is at a very early stage," admitted K. VijayRaghavan, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, responsible for ensuring safety from the use of GM organisms. "Results from laboratory studies will determine how fruitful this approach is." It is not the first time India is sought after as testing ground for release of GM mosquitoes. In 1975 a US-funded project that planned to release them at Sonepat in Haryana for control of dengue, was terminated by the then government on suspicion that the data collected from the experiment could have implications in biological warfare. Since then, India has been wary about similar proposals under the banner of collaboration. Permission is pending for another proposal by the British firm Oxitec for release of GM mosquitoes for controlling dengue. Resistance to the field trial of the anti-malarial GM mosquitoes by the UCSD team is likely be fierce because of the unpredictability of Gene Drives and the potential they hold for altering entire ecosystems. And, a recent report in the journal "Nature Methods" said: "Gene-editing technology can introduce hundreds of unintended mutations into the genome." Recognising these pitfalls, the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine said: "Gene Drive systems raise many questions with respect to their safety related to public and environmental health due to their intrinsic qualities of rapid spread and irreversibility." The Convention on Biological Diversity has called for "a moratorium on development and release of genetically engineered gene drives". Gene Drives are also considered controversial because their self-propagating nature makes them an ideal tool in the hands of would-be bioterrorists to spread disease-causing organisms. While consensus is still to emerge, the US team indicated it will not push this untested technology on unwilling people. Asked when the Indian field trial with his GM mosquitoes for malaria control will start, UCI vector biologist Anthony James told this correspondent: "It will depend entirely on community acceptance and the regulatory requirements. I do not have a way to put a date on these." Is AMR Modern-day FRANKENSTEINS MONSTER? Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) continues to pose a significant public health problem in terms of mortality and economic loss. The rising AMR is a matter of huge concern that needs to be tactfully handled and health authorities of several countries, including India, have formulated action plans for its containment. Significant efforts by the government, an active involvement of startups and diagnostic players is a good start. The question remains, whether this will be enough. For Feedback, please email us at: communications@mmactiv.com By PTI: Jodhpur/Mumbai, Nov 22 (PTI) Actor Kangana Ranaut was today discharged from the hospital after being treated for a leg injury that she suffered on the sets of her upcoming film "Manikarnika - The Queen of Jhansi" in Jodhpur. Kangana, who is playing the title role of Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi in the movie, suffered a ligament tear in her right ankle last night, while shooting for some action sequences in the movie. advertisement She was brought to Goyal Hospital here at 4.00 am. The actor interacted with the media present at the hospital and said that she was doing better. "During this scene, I stumbled and injured my right ankle. There was nothing serious, It was just a sprain," Kangana told reporters here. Dr Pulkit Goyal, who treated the actor, said she has been prescribed to take some rest. "We did an X-ray and found that there was no fracture. It was just a sprain, after which we put a cast and recommended her to rest for some time," he said. After being discharged, Kangana was taken back to her hotel, where she rested for the day until flying back to Mumbai in the afternoon. The National Award-winning actor was in the city for over a week. She had also made a public appearance last week when she visited a renowned restaurant here. According to a source close to the actor, the accident took place last night when she was performing a scene at the Mehrangarh fort, where she had to jump off from a 40- feet-high wall with her adopted child in the film, who is tied to her back on a horse. "Kangana did not land properly and in an attempt to save the kid from any injury she ended up hurting her ankle. "She was taken to a hospital immediately and it has been discovered that it is a ligament tear. She has been advised rest for one week," the source added. The "Simran" actor already finished shooting for major action sequences last month and this was the final dangerous stunt left. Earlier in July, Kangana got severely injured during a sword-fighting sequence with co-star Nihar Pandya, when the latters sword accidentally hit her forehead, causing a deep cut. "Manikarnika..." is scheduled to be released in April. PTI KKP NRB CORR RDS RDS --- ENDS --- With its plans to carry out terror attacks in Kashmir being thwarted, Pakistan's ISI is looking to target Hindu leaders in India to create communal tensions with other communities. By Manjeet Negi: Frustrated by the failure of terrorist activities in Kashmir and other places, Pakistan's ISI is now planning to target Hindu leaders in India to create communal tensions with other communities, top government sources have said. Sources said the ISI carried out the first such attack in Punjab, where RSS leader Ravinder Gosain was shot dead in Ludhiana in broad daylight on October 17 by gunmen hired using money routed through Europe, Dubai and Mumbai. advertisement According to sources, investigation has revealed that the Pakistani spy agency would try to follow the same modus operandi in other parts of the nation as well. Eight Hindus at the local level have so far been targetted by terrorists in Punjab. Investigation into these cases has been handed over to the NIA. ISI has been employing petty criminals to target leaders to trigger riots and violence in India in the run-up to 2019 polls. Security of key leaders has been tightened to thwart the ISI's plans. WATCH VIDEO | Another RSS worker shot dead, this time in Punjab's Ludhiana city --- ENDS --- Mangalam Channel, on the day of its launch in March this year, shocked Kerala by airing lewd conversations allegedly between then Kerala transport minister Saseendran and a housewife. Former Kerala transport minister A K Saseendran was given a clean chit by the judicial commission investigating the honey trap case. Photo: ANI. By Jeemon Jacob: Kerala government has decided to act tough against television channels which violate media ethics and thrive on blackmail journalism in the state. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan announced that the cabinet today has accepted the recommendations of retired Justice P S Antony Commission which probed honey trap against former transport minister A K Saseendran and recommended cancellation of the broadcasting licence of Mangalam TV to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. advertisement In its 405-page report in two volumes, the Antony Commission made 16 recommendations, including prosecution against CEO R Ajithkumar for violating media ethics and for involving in criminal conspiracy to honey trap the 70-year old minister. Mangalam Channel, on the day of its launch in March this year, shocked Kerala by airing lewd conversations allegedly between the then transport minister Saseendran and a housewife, and the minister seeking sexual favours from the woman. Minister Saseendran submitted resignation on moral grounds within two hours after the conversation went on air even as he denied the allegations. The Pinarayi government constituted a judicial commission headed by retired Justice P S Antony to probe the criminal conspiracy in the honey trap run by the channel through sting operations. Five journalists were arrested, including Mangalam TV CEO R Ajithkumar. The commission's report has exonerated the minister but blamed him for not being vigilant while interacting with the journalist. The clippings of the audio tape have not been traced despite police raiding the news channel's office twice. According to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, a committee headed by the chief secretary will recommend future course of action based on the suggestions of the judicial commission. The commission observed that the channel with an intention to get prime ratings and public attention was involved in a criminal conspiracy to honey trap the minister. Police will register cases against Mangalam TV and its parent company under IPC sections 120 B, 201, 294, 463, 464, 469 and 470. Government will also set up a special court for cyber crimes in Kochi. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that with judicial commission exonerating A K Saseendran of all charges, he can return to the ministry if his party, NCP, nominates him again. ALSO WATCH: Kerala CM orders judicial probe into sexual misconduct of minister --- ENDS --- By PTI: Ahmednagar, Nov 22 (PTI) A sessions court here will pronounce the quantum of sentence for the three convicts in the Kopardi rape and murder case on November 29. The court had convicted three men for raping and murdering a 15-year-old girl in Kopardi village in 2016, sparking a huge outcry across the state, especially from the Maratha community. advertisement Jitendra Babulal Shinde, Santosh Gorakh Bhawal and Nitin Gopinath Bhailume were held guilty of rape, murder and criminal conspiracy. Bhawals lawyer Balasaheb Khopade pleaded that Bhawal may not be given the capital punishment. However, special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam argued that this was a "rarest of the rare case" and hence the tree convicts should be awarded the death sentence. The victim, who belonged to the Maratha community, was found murdered after being raped on July 13 at Kopardi village in Ahmednagar district. District and Additional Session Judge Suvarna Kevale today said she would pronounce the quantum of sentence on November 29.PTI CORR NRB DV --- ENDS --- Shares in the mining services company and medium-sized iron ore producer Mineral Resources leapt a massive 12.6 per cent, or $2.12, on Wednesday. That made it one of the best-performed stocks on the ASX for the day, after the company outlined a buoyant outlook for fiscal 2018 at its annual general meeting in Perth. The company told shareholders that it had maintained "a minimum" earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation estimate of $500 million for the year, with key drivers of earnings to be iron ore exports, which are expected to be 1 million tonnes higher than last year, the company's crushing operations and lithium exports. Mineral Resources has a 43.1 per cent stake the Mount Marion lithium mine in Western Australia. A result of a $500 million EBITDA for fiscal 2018 would be a significant jump on the company's 2017 outcome, when it recorded EBITDA of $464 million. Mineral Resources' 2017 EBITDA was itself 62 per cent up on the previous year. After its sharp share price jump on Wednesday, Mineral Resources shares closed at $18.99. Managing director Chris Ellison told shareholders the company was "creating a sustainable iron ore business". A slide presentation outlined the company's Pilbara logistics supply chain infrastructure. The company was developing port export infrastructure to support its Bulk Ore Shuttle System, a 330-kilometre low-cost rail system expected to be constructed from the September quarter of 2018 onwards, the presentation said. Do you see an angel, an astronaut or a kid with a backpack? Mysterious blue signs have appeared along many of the ACT's footpaths this month - and they already have Canberrans scratching their heads. The mystery signs have been shared across social media by curious Canberrans in recent days. Credit:Dr Terhi Nurmikko-Fuller The cryptic stencil was shared across social media as locals spotted fresh additions underfoot in both the territory's north and south. Theories around possible meanings ranged from permitting jetpack travel to warning of an impending winged alien invasion. Residents of a Belconnen apartment tower say developer Geocon has told them ongoing disturbances in the building are being caused by thermal temperature changes. Representatives of the company met with a group of residents last week after reports of persistent loud banging noises in roof and wall spaces in the Wayfarer building on Eastern Valley Way. The Wayfarer building in Belconnen. At least one owner has moved out of the 330-apartment tower because of ongoing interruptions in the day and night, but weeks of investigations have so far failed to find a solution. A Geocon spokeswoman said the company had a positive and constructive meeting with Wayfarer residents, but refused to detail what was causing the noises or when necessary remediation would be completed. Rick Thorburn has been indicted for the murder of Queensland schoolgirl Tiahleigh Palmer. The Crown presented formal indictments for murder and interfering with a corpse against the 12-year-old Logan girl's foster father in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Wednesday morning. Rick Thorburn on the day he was arrested over his foster daughter's death. His defence asked for a lengthy" adjournment to deal with a number of issues relating to the matter. Mr Thorburn, who is in custody, was not required to appear. He has not entered a plea to the charges. The exploding popularity of Airbnb hosting in Melbourne has launched the city into the world's top 20 for short-term rentals. More than 12,000 properties are now available after the site launched here five years ago, according to Inside Airbnb, which scrapes data from Airbnb's website. The Melbourne properties are concentrated in the CBD and inner suburbs, are mostly entire homes rather than single or shared rooms, and the average price is $139 a night, according to Inside Airbnb. But the soaring popularity is not without its teething issues. Victoria is set to follow cities including Paris, Berlin and Vancouver in tightening laws covering Airbnb. Most days, Jane* sees her colleagues get either spat on, yelled at or hit. The Flinders Street Station worker has been groped by a drunken passenger, pushed and even climbed on. She has been threatened with rape and murder. Flinders Street Station worker Jane* who says she often sees her work colleagues being abused.. Credit:Eddie Jim Jane says there would be a physical assault about every two weeks at Melbourne's busiest train station, and violence skyrockets during night shifts and events like New Year's Eve and White Night. "Sometimes it feels like it comes with the territory," she says. A man has been charged with breaking into a Perth property armed with an axe, threatening the home owners and smashing up their vehicle and house in the early hours of the morning last month. At around 2.55am on November 12, the man forced his way into a home on Athena Court in Cooloongup with an axe. He is due in Rockingham Magistrates Court on Wednesday. Credit:James Croucher Police say he threatened the terrified homeowners, and then used the axe to smash a bathroom door and the windscreen and side windows of a vehicle parked at the house. It is understood the man left the scene shortly after, and no one was injured during the incident. Delhi Police have nabbed the rapist of a minor girl, whom they were in search of for over a month. By Ajay Kumar: In what resembles the plot of a Bollywood flick, Delhi Police have nabbed the rapist of a minor girl, whom they were in search of for over a month. A female police constable befriended accused Alok Ranjan Jha, 22, on Facebook and after having gained his trust, managed to drive him to a spot, from where the police arrested him. advertisement Since, Jha was hard to track, RS Meena, station House officer, Begampur police station, laid a trap. Meena asked the woman constable to search for him on Facebook. The woman constable scanned over 5,000 individuals on the social media site, before she zeroed in on a picture that matched the description, which the police were provided by the victim. The constable, having posed as a Delhi University student of BA 2nd year, sent the accused a friend request on Facebook and as planned, also started chatting with him. Alok used to talk to her from various mobile numbers and introduced himself as the son of a Delhi-based businessman. "Since the police were aware of his nature, they managed to trap him in no time. It was Alok, who ended up asking the constable out, after which she fixed a meeting," an officer said. On the day of their meeting, police had put Alok's number on surveillance to monitor his activities minutely. "As per the plan, the accused was asked to come to a mall near Netaji Subhash Place in Rohini. He arrived at the said time and ended up falling into the trap," he added. Jha had kidnapped a minor girl in Begampur a year ago and took her to Badayu in UP, where she was captivated in a house for over a year. "The accused had raped her in an inebriated state in this period daily," said an investigating officer of this case. In the second week of September, when a drunken Alok was sleeping in his house, the victim managed to flee, and somehow reached Badayu bus stand and caught a bus for Delhi. After she reached home and narrated her ordeal to her family members, they approached Begampur police station in Rohini on September 14. The victim had even fallen ill due to malnutrition. "The accused was quite cunning and used to take steps like a professional kidnapper. He used to change SIM cards every 10 to 15 days and kept his cellphone switched off for most of the time in order to evade arrest," the officer said. advertisement He added: "We had previously raided his several hideouts - including the house at Netaji Subhash Place in Delhi and Badayu - but in vain." The role of the woman constable had thus come into picture and played a big role in luring the accused into the trap. Alok was produced in Rohini court on Monday. He has sent him to 14-day judicial custody. --- ENDS --- A snap inquiry into religious freedom has failed to deter conservative MPs from plans to amend same-sex marriage legislation to beef up exemptions for the faithful, as divisions on the government's right flank continue to mount. Philip Ruddock - a Howard government minister who in 2004 introduced the bill enshrining the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman - has been tapped by Malcolm Turnbull's cabinet to review Australia's protection of religious freedom. Philip Ruddock, pictured on Wednesday, says religious freedom must be understood and respected. Credit:Nick Moir The idea, publicly floated by Immigration Minister Peter Dutton last week, is designed to clear the way for the smooth passage of Liberal senator Dean Smith's same-sex marriage bill by deferring debate over religious and conscientious objections until next year. But other conservatives on Wednesday signalled they would not be cowed, insisting the best way to ensure freedom of religion was to bolt amendments on to Senator Smith's bill - ensuring a messy end to the parliamentary year, with Coalition MPs bitterly divided. Charges have been laid over vile CFMEU protests as an LNP-sponsored attack ad in Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls safe Brisbane seat seeks to tie his Labor opponent to the controversy. The electoral commission is looking into whether the flyer, labelling Labor candidate for Clayfield Philip Anthony Your Local CFMEU Champion complies with the Electoral Act, after complaints from Labor supporters. An election flyer attacking Labor candidate for Clayfield Philip Anthony. Credit:Fairfax Media. The ad highlights CFMEU members' threats to rip out the spines and rape the children of workers who refused to strike at Glencores Oaky North mine and has been labelled "defamatory" by the solicitor candidate. The letterbox drop came as Mr Nicholls continued to ramp up his attack against Labor, having started the Queensland election campaign warning of a personal and dishonest scare campaign from Labor. Paris: The French group designing and building Australia's new $50 billion fleet of submarines says it will ensure that whatever caused an Argentinian submarine to vanish in the South Atlantic will not happen. The Argentinian navy's German-built ARA San Juan reported an electrical malfunction shortly before disappearing last week with 44 crew on board. "Whenever there's an accident we want to understand what happened and make sure this accident cannot happen on our boats," said Jean-Michel Billig, from the French Naval Group, executive director of the Australian Future Submarine program. If it was necessary to adapt the design of Australia's submarines, due to enter service in the early 2030s, then they would, Billig told a visiting group of Australian journalists at Naval Group headquarters in Paris on Wednesday. London: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad made a secret trip to Russia where he met Vladimir Putin for three hours and thanked him for helping to save his country It was only his second trip outside Syria since 2011 and was revealed as the two leaders were preparing to meet Iran and Turkey for talks about finding a political solution to end the Syrian war. The two presidents struck a triumphant note as they concluded that the Syrian regime was moving "towards the final and inevitable defeat" of Islamic State and Syrian rebel groups. "I have conveyed to [Putin], and on his behalf to the Russian people, our gratitude for Russia's efforts to save our country," Assad said as he met Russian generals on Monday. Moscow: Dozens of armed men occupied the centre of the city of Luhansk in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday, blocking the entrances to several government buildings during a standoff between two top officials in the Russian-backed separatist enclave. Armoured vehicles appeared on the streets and the city's inhabitants were fleeing the area en masse, according to local news media reports. APCs and armed men drive in the centre of Ukraine's eastern city of Luhansk on Wednesday. Credit:AP The menacing deadlock in the so-called Luhansk People's Republic began on Monday, after the interior minister refused to step down after being dismissed by the prime minister for what was called illegal activity. Both breakaway republics in eastern Ukraine, Donetsk and Luhansk, have been plagued by murderous rivalries from the start of the conflict there in 2014, with factions vying for political control, financial gain and Moscow's blessing. Bali: Some travel insurers are refusing to provide cover for any volcano-related travel disruptions if insurance policies are taken out after Mount Agung in Bali erupted on Tuesday, saying it would no longer be an "unforseen event". Bali's international Airport has not been affected by the minor eruption of steam and ash from the volcano, which is about 75 kilometres away, and Virgin Australia and Jetstar both said their flights to and from Bali were operating as normal. The Indonesian government has maintained the current volcano warning alert, a level three issued on October 29. However at least two travel insurers - Travel Insurance Direct and 1Cover Travel Insurance - have issued cover cut-offs for any claims that might arise from the volcano once the eruption became a "known event". By PTI: (Eds: Updating with fresh inputs) By K J M Varma Beijing, Nov 22 (PTI) China today said outgoing Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe is still its "good friend" and respect his choice to resign, lauding the contributions made by the African leader for bilateral ties during his 37-year-old authoritarian rule. "Mugabe has long been committed to friendship between China and Zimbabwe and China-Africa and made important contributions in this regard," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Lu Kang told media briefing here. advertisement "So we respect his choice to resign and he is still our good friend," Lu said. Mugabe made historic contribution to the national independence and liberation cause in Zimbabwe and an advocate of pan-Africa movement, he said. Mugabe, 93, resigned yesterday, after years of authoritarian rule following military takeover and public pressure. China last week played down the significance of the visit of General Constantino Chiwenga, commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces to Beijing ahead of his move to take control of power saying that it was part of the normal military exchanges. After Chiwenga took control, Mugabe was put under house arrest. China also denied reports that Zimbabwe Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa visited Beijing before the military take over. Mnangagwa was widely tipped to take over power after Mugabes resignation. "I can only tell you that his visit is a normal military exchange mutually agreed upon by China and Zimbabwe", Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told media here on November 15. China is the biggest investor in Zimbabwe besides sharing extensive political and military ties during the over 37-year long tenure of Mugabe. Lu also rebuffed the calls by the US and the UK to hold free and fair elections after Mugabes exit saying that other countries should refrain from interfering in Zimbabwes domestic affairs. China upholds the principle of non-interference in internal affairs in other countries and we respect the choice of Zimbabwe people, he said. "We also hope that other countries could refrain from interfering in its domestic affairs," he said. About speculations that Mnangagwa could be Zimbabwes next leader, Lu said, "We respect the choice made by the people. We will not interfere in their domestic affairs. The friendly cooperation between China and Zimbabwe is comprehensive one and it benefits the two sides." Chinese analysts said Mugabes exit will bring Zimbabwe even closer to China. Mnangagwa, 75, has ties with Beijing as he received military training in China in the 1960s during Zimbabwes fight for independence from colonial and white-majority rule, Hong Kong based South China Morning Post reported. advertisement He also attended the Beijing School of Ideology, run by the ruling Chinese Communist Party, it said. "Mnangagwa had a similar background to Mugabe in that he rose to power after fighting in the countrys struggle for independence. Wang Hongyi, an expert at the Institute of West Asian and African Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences was quoted as saying by the Post. PTI KJV AJR AKJ AJR --- ENDS --- Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams 88th Precinct Fort GreeneClinton Hill Bloody ride Cops cuffed two suspects for assaulting a guy on a Euclid Avenue-bound C train near the Fulton Street station on Nov. 18. The 42-year-old victim told police he hopped on the train near Greene Avenue at about 5 pm when he got into a fight with one of the suspects who punched him in the eye. The suspect also stabbed the victim twice in the stomach with a folding knife as the second suspect looked on, slapped the victim in the face, and scratched him with her fingernails, according to authorities. Caught red handed Cops cuffed a guy for breaking into a Carlton Avenue apartment on Nov. 15. The 21-year-old suspect forced open the window near Flushing Avenue a little after midnight, according to authorities. Police caught him and found a plastic bag filled with marijuana in his pocket, officials said. What a tool A prowler broke into a guys truck parked on Clermont Avenue and stole a bunch of tools, according to authorities. The pilferer broke the lock on the vehicle parked between Willoughby and Myrtle avenues at about 9:15 am and swiped hammers, monkey wrenches, a set of nuts, channel locks, and a pump worth a total of $400, officials said. Breaking and entering A nogoodnik broke into a guys work truck parked on Carlton Avenue on Nov. 18, police said. The guy told police he was working inside a nearby building near Myrtle Avenue when the punks broke the lock on the van and fled with a dewalt saw and drills worth $679, according to authorities. Jewel thief A bandit broke into a womans Saint James Place apartment and swiped thousands in her jewelry, officials said. The woman told police some looter broke into her apartment between Dekalb and Lafayette avenues and stole a white stone necklace, metal chain, and a white pendant key chain worth a total of $7,500, according to authorities. Julianne Cuba Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams 78th Precinct PArk Slope Bar brawl Some punks beat a man outside a Garfield Place watering hole on Nov. 10. The victim told cops he was outside the bar near Fourth Avenue at 5:49 pm, when the fiends socked him the face. But when members of New Yorks Finest arrived, the victim did not cooperate, refusing to describe the perps and to press charges, according to police, who have since closed the case. Drunk in love Police busted a man for driving drunk on Flatbush Avenue after he was spotted engaging in a lewd act with his passenger on Nov. 11. A patrolman spotted the suspect engaging in the inappropriate act behind the wheel of his 2007 Nissan between Prospect Place and Seventh Avenue at 12:15 am, according to a report. The office stopped the man and gave him a Breathalyzer test, which recorded his blood-alcohol content as .095, cops said. Shutter snatch A thief stole a mans camera he ordered via Ebay after it was delivered to his Seventh Street apartment on Nov. 2, authorities said. The man told police a delivery person dropped off the package at his home between Fourth and Fifth avenues at 6 pm, and that some goon stole it before he returned to collect the parcel containing the camera a few hours later. Pedal pilfer Some crook rode off with a mans $730 bike he chained up on Fourth Street on Nov. 7. The victim told officials he locked his bike to a pole between Fifth and Sixth avenues at 10 am, before heading into a nearby barber shop in search of a fresh new look. But when he returned a few minutes later, the man discovered the thief snatched his high-end Trek bicycle, authorities said. Special steal A filcher nabbed a womans $600 bike she parked on Fifth Avenue on Nov. 5. The victim told cops she used a U-lock to secure the Specialized-brand bicycle between St. Marks Place and Warren Street at 9 pm, and returned the next morning to find it was gone. Colin Mixson Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams Its an armory armistice. A Crown Heights pol who for months opposed the citys plan to redevelop the nabes Bedford-Union Armory announced newfound support for the scheme at a Nov. 21 Council hearing, after officials and developers agreed to axe luxury condos and include more affordable housing in the proposal to earn her endorsement. Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo (DCrown Heights) declared her change of heart in front of her colleagues on a Council subcommittee, describing the revised plan for the military structure at 1579 Bedford Ave. as a historic victory for local residents before the legislators voted unanimously to approve it. This is revolutionary in the sense we have not seen this level of affordable housing come to the Crown Heights community in decades, she proclaimed at a meeting of the Council Subcommittee on Planning, Dispositions, and Concessions. The new version of the scheme does not include 48 swanky condominiums, which the head of the citys Economic Development Corporation told Council members on Nov. 14 were necessary to fund the plans proposed affordable housing and a new community center that developer BFC Partners is required to construct as part of the deal in exchange for a 99-year lease on the publicly owned armory. The city and developer also agreed to expand the projects so-called affordable housing component from 166 to 250 units, and reduced the prices of those apartments which originally ran as high as around $2,300 per month to between approximately $640 and $1,280 per month. But BFC Partners will still be allowed to build 149 market-rate rentals on the site as part of the revised proposal. Following the subcommittees vote, members of the Councils Committee on Land Use also approved the project. The results of a Nov. 30 full Council vote on the plan its final hurdle in a months-long approval process in which Community Board 9 and Borough President Adams opposed earlier iterations of it were not available by press time, but members all but certainly voted in line with Cumbo as the building is in her district. Activists and critics of the city-backed redevelopment plan argued its inclusion of market-rate housing in any form was a giveaway to the developer, and slammed Cumbo for failing to abide by her 2017 re-election campaign promise to fight any proposal that did not include 100-percent affordable units. Laurie Cumbo ran her whole election saying she would vote no unless it was 100-percent affordable, and then she comes back with a deal thats not even close to that, and calls it revolutionary, said Cea Weaver, who works for housing-advocacy group New York Communities for Change. Some pro-Cumbo fliers allegedly circulated during her primary campaign stated the councilwoman stands against the Bedford-Union Armory project until 100 percent of units are made affordable. But when this newspaper provided a digital copy of one leaflet to the pols spokeswoman, Kristia Beaubrun, she said she could not comment without knowing its source. Cumbos biggest Democratic primary challenger, who lost to the incumbent by less than 3,000 votes, expressed her frustration with the legislator for so quickly changing her tune on a project that she said still lacks in affordability. Im disappointed, though not surprised, that Cumbo flip-flopped again in her position on the armory. She promised she would only support a project that included 100-percent affordable housing in all her mailers during the campaign, yet just two months later is set to approve a project that still includes market-rate housing on public land, said Ede Fox. At a time when public trust of politicians is at an all-time low, we need elected officials that will represent the people, not say anything they have to in order to get elected. Opponents of the redevelopment scheme packed the meeting room for the Nov. 21 Council subcommittee session, and one attendee who listened to Cumbo justify her newfound support for the armory plan in which he said she referred to the Black Lives Matter movement and suggested the proposed recreation center will reduce gun violence in the community blasted the pol for her rhetoric. She said this was going to make things safer and better for young people, which is so disingenuous, said Bedford-Stuyvesant resident Skipp Roseboro. This is going to gentrify the neighborhood, and it will force most of those kids out of the neighborhood before they have a chance to use the facility. Reach reporter Colin Mixson at cmixs on@cn gloca l.com or by calling (718) 260-4505. Irish company Fleetmatics today announced its plans to move its team into a state-of-the-art campus in Sandyford, Co. Dublin. The move facilitates the continued growth at the company which has already hired more than 100 people in the past year. This recent recruitment brings the total workforce in the rapidly growing company to about 250 people. The company was founded in Ireland in 2004 in a small office in Templeogue, Dublin, employing about 10 people in the first year of operation. In 2016, Verizon Communications Inc. acquired Fleetmatics, enabling the company to further grow, scale and bring its fleet and mobile workforce management solutions to more organisations in more countries across the globe. Current and future employees are due to move into the new campus by mid-2018. Speaking today, Chief Technology Officer at Fleetmatics, Peter Mitchell said, "As an Irish company, were proud of the growth weve achieved in recent years. To have evolved from a start-up based in a small office in Dublin, to being a large telematics player in Europe is something that continues to drive our Irish workforce to innovate and create new solutions for our customers. Since joining forces with Verizon Telematics, we have been able to further accelerate innovation in our sector and Im looking forward to seeing this continued growth into 2018." Source: www.businessworld.ie Paris won over Dublin in a lucky dip after a voting run-off produced a tied result on Monday evening. Frankfurt, seen by many as favorite, did not even make it to the final two in the battle to replace London as home to the organization that sets banking rules across the bloc and employs 185 people. Frankfurt and Paris are at the forefront of the race among European cities to attract London businesses that need an EU hub to continue serving customers in the bloc after Britain leaves in March 2019. Goldman Sachs has said it will make Paris and Frankfurt its European hubs after Brexit. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said the decision to put the EBA in Paris sent exactly the sort of signal that big banks such as Goldman and Morgan Stanley were waiting for. "It's a very strong signal, firstly that financial stability will be decided in Paris," Le Maire said on the sidelines of an innovation conference at the Finance Ministry. "The second signal, which I think is excellent news for Paris, is that Paris will become one of the big European financial centers, if not the biggest. It's also a signal to big international institutions." Le Maire said the government still had to take several important decisions, notably on labor costs, but that he expected many big banks to come to Paris. Bagging the EBA marks an unexpected win for the French capital, given that its bid was among the least generous financially. It is also unusual because it puts two such regulators in one location, joining the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and prompting some officials to speculate that they could cooperate more closely to exert greater influence. "Personally, I'm very happy with this decision. Paris was top of my list," said EBA spokeswoman Franca Rosa Congiu. Though the EBA employs only 185 staff, it plays a core role in turning EU banking law into rules for supervisors to enforce. It also runs the biannual stress test of leading EU lenders. Financial Services Ireland (FSI), the Ibec group that represents the sector, has described the decision not to locate the European Banking Authority in Dublin as disappointing and unsurprising despite the Governments best efforts. FSI Director Marc Coleman said: "Employment in international financial services has grown further since 2015 and with Brexit this is set to accelerate. Locating the EBA in Dublin would have added hundreds of jobs directly in the short term with a significant additional positive indirect impact in the longer term. He added that there will be a growing risk of Ireland's interests being sidelined by the EU in financial services if regulatory power is concentrated in larger member states. "As well as costing many new jobs this decision reminds us that a significant number of existing Irish jobs could be in jeopardy if financial regulation favours larger member states" he said. FSI will shortly issue a report showing that employment in the international financial services sector exceeded 40,000 in 2015. (Reuters) Source: www.businessworld.ie Ibec, the group that represents Irish business, yesterday welcomed the High Court ruling to dismiss three legal challenges against plans for a new 320 million runway at Dublin Airport. The second runway has been deemed vital by business, as it aligns with plans of the DAA to turn the airport into an international hub, offering high quality international connectivity to and from Ireland. Ibec say the proposed second runway is crucial for both trade and tourism and is particularly important in a post-Brexit context. The group warns that the Government must ensure the airport has the appropriate operational flexibility to facilitate this growth in connectivity. Speaking yesterday, Ibec Planning and Infrastructure Policy Executive, Orla Casey said, "We want Ireland to be an attractive place to do business, create jobs and invest. The proposed second runway at Dublin Airport is a vital piece of infrastructure and critical for the Irish economy to achieve this. Recent growth in passenger numbers has meant that the airport is often at full capacity during peak periods. Completion of the proposed North Runway by 2020 will help to relieve this." She added, "International connectivity needs to be consistently improved, expanding tourism and trading opportunities globally. Increased strong growth in frequencies and services at Dublin Airport will play an essential role in our economic prosperity. This investment is vital not just for today or tomorrow, but to ensure the growth or our economy for the next 50 years." Source: www.businessworld.ie Britain's pound trod water on Wednesday, with traders wary of taking on any large new positions on the currency ahead of a budget statement from the country's finance minister Philip Hammond. Most analysts said the statement would be unlikely to have any great impact on sterling, as investors were already largely prepared for lower growth forecasts, and because the finance minister had little room for any kind of bold budget moves. Hammond, who is fighting for his political future as well as the fortunes of Britain's economy as it prepares to leave the European Union, is under fire from many Brexit supporters who say he is taking an overly cautious approach to the talks with Brussels. But he is still expected to tread carefully, with measures to speed up house-building and improve Britain's weak productivity. "The UK government has little room for maneuver when setting fiscal policy and so the details of the budget are unlikely to have a material impact on the pound," said MUFG currency strategist Lee Hardman. "(But) if the budget is badly received, there will be intensified pressure on Theresa May - particularly from hard Brexit supporters - to appoint a new Chancellor. The pound would likely prove sensitive to any further signs of political instability," he added. The pound edged up 0.1% to $1.3251 ahead of the 1230 GMT statement, staying within the narrow $1.3190-$1.3280 range in which it has traded all week. Against the a stronger euro, the pound eased back 0.2% to 88.78 pence. "Sterling's still very cheap and still reacts more to good than to bad news as a result. Today may just bring confirmation that the Chancellor has very little room for fiscal handouts," said Societe Generale macro strategist Kit Juckes. Away from the budget, traders were still closely watching developments around Brexit negotiations. Britain's parliament is debating legislation which will enact Britain's exit from the EU in March 2019 and copy EU law into British law - described by officials as "one of the largest legislative projects ever undertaken in the UK." May's government averted a rebellion in parliament on Tuesday over plans to ditch the EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights, promising to review its approach and make changes if needed. (Reuters) Source: www.businessworld.ie Based on the contracts signed between microlenders and their funders, the default risks of borrowers are absorbed by the microlenders themselves, not their sources of funding. Photo: Visual China Regulators in China are gearing up to tackle risks in the booming microloan industry. To hold back the sector, cooperation between banks and microlenders will be temporarily suspended, sources close to a central government body tasked with monitoring internet finance risk told Caixin. On Tuesday, the same central government body released a formal document that called for a temporary halt in approving licenses for microloan companies, as well as cross-province lending. Next, regulators will release unified regulations for the industry and set a higher barrier to entry for online microlending firms, sources close to the central government body told Caixin. Companies that do not meet the new standards will need to cease operations, the sources said. The unsecured, short-term loan industry has already surpassed 1 trillion yuan ($151 billion), according to statistics released earlier this month by research firm Wangdai Zhijia Chinese for Online Lending House. The sources of funds for microlenders can come from shareholders, banks and other financial institutions such as trusts that take deposits from the public, and from issuing asset-backed securities. Often, when microloan firms work with banks, they recommend those financial institutions to borrowers for a fee. Based on the contracts signed between these microlenders and funders, default risks of borrowers are actually absorbed by microlenders themselves, not other funding sources behind them. The bank is essentially extending credit to microlenders, a source close to regulators explained. Draft measures on online microloan management is currently being reviewed internally at the China Banking Regulatory Commission, multiple sources told Caixin. The draft measures propose barring banks from working with unlicensed microloan companies to provide loans. It is unclear when the draft will be publicized, but it would represent further strengthening from previously proposed measures seen by Caixin in August that would only affect privately owned banks. Contact reporter Liu Xiao (liuxiao@caixin.com) Patrick Ho, who was the secretary general of CEFC China Energy Co.s China Energy Fund think tank back in 2011, was not authorized to engage in such business behavior, CEFC said in a statement. Photo: Visual China Two former government officials from Hong Kong and Senegal were arrested in New York last week, the U.S. Justice Department said, for allegedly bribing senior African government officials on behalf of a Chinese energy company, as well as money laundering. The Justice Department said in a statement Monday that former Senegalese Foreign Minister Cheikh Gadio was arrested on Friday, and former Hong Kong Secretary of Home Affairs Patrick Ho on Saturday. Both were found to have violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and committed money laundering, it said. The statement did not name the Chinese energy company. It only said the company, which funded a non-governmental organization of which Ho was the head, is a Shanghai-headquartered multibillion-dollar conglomerate that operates internationally in the energy and financial sectors. Based on public records, Ho was the secretary general of CEFC China Energy Co.s China Energy Fund back in 2011. CEFC, one of Chinas largest private energy companies, made headlines some two months ago with its purchase of a 14.16% stake in Russias Rosneft for $9.1 billion. On Tuesday, CEFC said in a statement it did not authorize Patrick Ho or any other party to engage in such business behavior. According to the Monday statement from the U.S. Justice Department, Ho and Gadio allegedly offered $2 million to Idriss Deby who has been president of Chad since 1990 for oil rights, and deposited $500,000 in an account controlled by Ugandan Foreign Minister, Sam Kutesa. The department also accused the pair of providing gifts and promises of future benefits to those officials, including offering to share the profits of a potential joint venture in Uganda that will involve the energy conglomerate as well as businesses owned by the families of Kutesa and Yoweri Museveni, Ugandan president since 1986. The couple also allegedly wired almost $1 million in bribes through the banking system of New York, the department added. CEFC denied its connection with the arrest. The (China Energy) Fund is not involved in any of the commercial activities of CEFC China, the companys statement said. CEFC Chinas investment project in Uganda is only a financial investment by CPC Corporation, Taiwan... It does not have any so-called interest-based relationship with the Chadian government. CEFC China ranked 222nd among Fortune 500 Companies this year with a total revenue of $43.7 billion. It has been on the list since 2014. Sources told Caxin that Ye Jianming, CEFCs founder and chairman, is politically savvy and very well connected. Ye established China Energy Fund of Hong Kong and named Ho as its head when CEFC was still an energy trader back in 2011. In fact, public records also show that Ye had connections with officials in Uganda and Chad. Ye met with Kutesa, also then president of the United Nations General Assembly, in Hong Kong on August 2, 2015. Ye was also a special adviser at the United Nations. Two months later, Ye met with Deby and Chads ministers of oil and economic affairs in Beijing. Deby expressed at that occasion that CEFC China is the most trustworthy company, whose cooperation is highly valued by Chads government. Besides acquiring assets in the oil industry, CEFC China also tried to expand into the financial industry in the U.S. The company signed a strategic agreement with U.S. investment bank Cowen Group in March 29, aiming to buy up 19.9% stake of the firm for $100 million to become the controlling shareholder. However, CEFC China said Sept. 15 that it will withdraw its application to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. The company has not elaborated on the matter. Contact reporter Leng Cheng (chengleng@caixin.com) Afroz Shah has given up his ambitious campaign to clean the largest beach in Mumbai, thanks to administrative lethargy and goons creating ruckus, hindering the work. By India Today Web Desk: In October 2015, Afroz Shah, a Mumbai-based lawyer began an initiative to clean the largest beach in Mumbai. Led by Afroz, volunteers have been cleaning the city's Versova Beach for 109 weeks now. The largest beach clean-up drive was, however, stopped by him on Sunday. Afroz shared the reason behind stopping the campaign on Twitter. Week 109 cleanup.Volunteers abused by goons for picking up garbage.Administrative lethargy,non clearance of picked up garbage and abuses is what we are https://t.co/ydEzp638C6 largest beach cleanup is suspended.Tried my best and I failed.Forgive me my ocean and my country. pic.twitter.com/XdFJMfZNeV- Afroz Shah (@AfrozShah1) November 19, 2017 advertisement In his tweet, he said, "non-clearance of picked up garbage and abuses by goons" are what led to the campaign being stopped after almost two years. The effort made by Afroz was recognised and highly appreciated by the United Nations and he was honoured with the Champions of the Earth award. Afroz, along with his team, cleaned the beach for a good 108 weeks despite various hindrances. Afroz and giving up the elephantine effort after his team being at logger heads with the authorities for almost six weeks is proof of the sorry state of affairs in our country with regard to the attitude of the authorities. He said that the authorities would deny picking up the collected waste. "We have collected nine million kg of waste. We all struggled, the infrastructure was there but if some people are not willing to clean our oceans then there is no way out," Afroz told The Logical Indian. Afroz claims the ocean and the beach were cleaner and healthier than before since 40 tonnes of waste were pulled out by volunteers from 12 countries. Week 108 ends .Thank you @LeylaAcaroglu , @unschools , @LavekarBharati , @yogirajdabhadka , @MMHSGOREGAON , Dhai Akshar for the amazing cleanup. Kids , Citizens , MLA and Volunteers from 12 countries were working hard to protect the ocean.40 tons of plastic plucked out.. pic.twitter.com/aURcJfFqlg- Afroz Shah (@AfrozShah1) November 12, 2017 The team also helped in cleaning toilets for the people living in slums and spreading education about sanitation. But what proved to be discouraging for Afroz and his team was that that certain hooligans would sit on the beach and create ruckus. The women volunteers were also said to be chased with sticks. The goons would constantly interrupt the cleaning process. The authorities did not address the complaints which eventually pushed Afroz to stop the campaign. --- ENDS --- Modified On Dec 02, 2017 03:49 PM By CarDekho After being launched in China, the Kwid EV is expected to enter India by 2022 Renault has finally confirmed that it is planning to launch an EV in China. Based on the Kwid, it will be rather affordable, considering the fact that low-cost EVs are the ones that sell well in China. The manufacturer has also confirmed that if the Kwid EV is successful in China, it will be exported to other markets like India, Brazil and the Middle East. Carlos Ghosn, CEO and Chairman of Renault, has reportedly said, In China, we can't sell the Leaf. Too expensive and too sophisticated. We can't sell the Renault Fluence. Too expensive. What sells in China? Low-cost electric cars. So we are putting engineers from the alliance to develop a low-cost Renault Kwid EV for China. I just test drove the car in China. It will be a very well engineered car at a very low cost. And once it works in China, there's no reason you're not going to export the car to India, to Brazil, to the Middle East. The Kwid EV will most likely enter the Indian market by 2022. But before this, many other manufacturers have already announced their plans to launch EVs in India. Recently, Suzuki and Toyota announced a joint venture. According to the JV, Suzuki will manufacture and supply EVs for the Indian market, while Toyota will provide technical support for the same. The first EV to come out of the JV is expected to be a small car. This is reaffirmed by the fact that Toyota has already signed an MOU with the Andhra Pradesh government to deliver a small electric car for its Amaravathi smart city project. The project is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2018. Moreover, if thats the case, the small EV from Toyota will give a serious competition to the Kwid EV when it is launched in India. Read more: Renault Kwid - Variants explained Other than these Japanese giants, homegrown automaker Tata is also planning to launch its EV in India soon. Tata is already producing the Tigor EV to meet the 10,000 EV order it received from EESL and we think it wont take long to reach showrooms. However, Tata Motors has voiced its concerns over the supply chain challenges it is facing over the EESL order fulfilment. With all things said, we think Renault really needs to ramp up its EV development if it wants to hold a commanding position in Indias EV market. Especially since manufacturers like Suzuki, Toyota and Tata have already fast-tracked their efforts and might have an upper hand over Renault. Also Read: Tata Will Make Money On Every EV Sold To EESL; Claims CEO Upcoming Electric Cars In India Source Read More on : KWID AMT The Internet giant paid the tribute to Rukhmabai Raut, on her 153rd birthday by illustrating Google Doodle on the Indian page. Raut was the first practicing female doctor in India when the country was under colonial rule. The illustration which is an ode to the exceptional woman was designed, Shreya Gupta. Rukhmabai was born in the Bombay presidency to Jayantibai and Janardhan Pandurang. At the age of 11, she was married to Dadaji Bhikaji who was 8 years elder to her. The couple never lived together as Raut went forward to finish her education. From a very young age, Rukmabai was a free-thinker who stood up for herself. Role as a Feminist and Contributions to Reforms Dadaji's intention was to get hold of the inheritance which was left to Raut by her mother. Rukhmabai was against the marriage and argued that the union had happened at an age she couldn't have even given consent. This became a legal issue as Dadaji pressed charges. Rukhmabai went with it and fought the case, which resulted in the verdict in her favor which was also a historic moment, where the case questioned issues like child marriage, consent and women's rights. Top 10 schools for medicine in UK She wrote a couple of articles under the pen name 'A Hindu Lady' when she had to fight for herself as the case reopened. She wrote against child marriage and the treatment of widows. After the case, she was given the option to either stay with her husband or to spend 6 months in jail, and she gladly went for the latter. The Queen intervened and changed the verdict, which was historic and the marriage was dissolved. The verdict became famous and media took it up. The discourse finally reached a point where the Age of Consent Act was passed in Britain. First Female Physician Rukhmabai was supported by Dr. Edith Pechey who helped her with the funds to conclude her education in medicine. She achieved her degree from London School of Medicine for Women and started treating patients. She provided medical services to women through the funds provided by Eva McLaren, Walter McLaren and the Countess of Dufferin. She worked in a hospital in Surat from where she worked as the Chief Medical Officer for 35 years. While doing medical service she kept her fight against misogyny, working for reform by publishing pamphlets like ' Purdah-the need for its abolition' As the first female physician and a fighter for women's rights Rukmabai stood out and become a symbol of women's liberation and education. Homeopathy: Scope and Career Opportunities The SSLC examinations are nearing and students are working their fingers to the bones to make sure they do their best. In just four months the examination which is crucial to Class 12 students in the state of Karnataka will be conducted. The SSLC board has developed a quick and simple process which will bring down the schools' responsibility by a majority. This new system which will be applied soon will be done by importing the information from Students Achievement Tracking Systems (SATS) The Director of Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board (KSEEB), Sumanagala V, stated that the school will only have to use two minutes to fill in the data for each student. "There were two rounds of manual work which we undertook. The schools used to fill the data of students in a given format and send it to us. We used to generate the OMR of the student and send the sheet back to the school for verification," she further said talking about the system adopted before. The SATS will have the entire information related to each student across Karnataka. The data can be attained by anyone in the department and this system is claimed to be another great feat for the Department of Public Instruction. CBSE Board Exams to Start In March As Usual, Changes Rolled Back The Director said, "The principal or the headmasters will be given a password to log into the system and then they can add or modify data. As of now, we need the school's help in attaching photos and signatures of students apart from other minor details. Also, if a student falls under the disability category, the school has to make the necessary updations. This is just a small work which schools need to do now. The rest we are taking care of." Training programme for the process is under conduction by on nodal officers by KSEEB. Post the verification of OMR, the school will be sending it back for correction of any errors. After the rectification process, the hall tickets will be released The procedure will enable the distribution of hall tickets without any delays or mistakes. Also Read:Google Pays Tribute to Dr. Rukhmabai, First Female Physician in India If you have just started your journey in an online casino or are looking for a new site to play,... Americans face much uncertainty surrounding the longevity of Social Security. But about 61% of beneficiaries income came from Social Security, as of 2014, according to the Social Security Administration. Thats alarming considering the average monthly payout is only about $1,342 per month. Some people have begun investing elsewhere to ease the pressure of a potentially dismal payout in the future. Other Americans? Not so much. You cant rely on a 401(k) if you dont have one or more commonly if it gets depleted within a few years because you didnt save enough. Luckily, Social Security is guaranteed retirement income you can count on for now. So where will Americans have to rely on Social Security the most? The most obvious choice is in places where people are likely to have no other income options. To get a definitive ranking of states where this is the case, The Cheat Sheet analyzed states whose populations are the worst with money, are least likely to be saving for retirement, and have the largest senior population. Put all these financial factors together, and it could become a not-so-perfect storm in which retirees need cash faster than states can provide it. Here are 15 states where people are banking on Social Security the most. 15. Connecticut Connecticut ranks No. 43 in terms of money management, and has the third highest average credit card balance ($4,907) in the nation. How much youll need to rely on Social Security depends largely on your history with money management. CreditCards.com used credit scores and the average credit card balance in comparison to household income to determine each states track record with money management. It seems retirees wont be doing themselves any favors when it comes to preparing for retirement in Connecticut. With a track record of irresponsible spending and credit debt, theyre likely to need Social Security more than most. Next: A state crawling with retirees 14. Florida Nearly a fifth of Floridas population is made up of seniors. Floridas sunny climate attracts a flock of seniors looking to spend their retirement in warmth each year. According to World Atlas ranking of states with the largest senior population, Florida tops the list with just over 19% of its residents over the age of 65. This means Florida will be forking over billions in monthly Social Security payouts. Luckily, residents in this state fare surprisingly well in terms of financial responsibility, so they should be able to make do with what theyre getting for now. Next: A tiny New England state 13. Rhode Island Despite East Coast income, Rhode Island is not a place overpopulated with savers. Get Rich Slowly compiled the list of states least likely to be successful savers by examining the income tax rate, credit card debt, and total deposits per capita as told by the FDIC in every state. It seems Rhode Island residents will need that Social Security check to pay those high taxes and other daily expenses because this state didnt show the best track record for saving. Rhode Island ranks No. 37 for saving money and getting ahead. Next: A trendy state with a need for Social Security 12. Colorado Both CreditCards.com and Get Rich Slowly thought residents in Colorado could put a bit more effort toward money management and saving strategies especially if retirees in this outdoorsy state plan to use their income to explore everything the Rocky Mountains have to offer. Both studies scored Colorado in the bottom 15 for states with irresponsible habits that will affect available funds in addition to Social Security. Next: The deal with Washington 11. Washington Most West Coast states are going to pose additional threats to a secure retirement simply due to a higher cost of living than, say, Southern states. Washington residents received $16.5 billion in Social Security payouts in 2012, which averaged to about $1,298 per month per person, according to AARP. With a history of poor savings and bad money management, Washington retirees will lean on guaranteed income, such as Social Security. Next: The Palmetto state 10. South Carolina The coastal state of South Carolina is becoming increasingly attractive for retirees. Cities, such as Charleston, are rich with Southern charm and full of exciting opportunities to explore. But people in South Carolina will likely need to lean heavily on Social Security benefits for funding as theyre not exactly known for their saving abilities. Plus, the states 7% income tax bracket affects anyone who earns over $14,600. Yikes. Next: The inconsistencies in New Hampshire 9. New Hampshire Retirees in New Hampshire will be in for a tough time if their Social Security ever runs dry. CreditCards.com says the population has a bad credit debt history. Add a high cost of living and lofty tax rate into the mix, and New Hampshire residents might have to start looking for additional sources of income to supplement their Social Security compensation after a few years of retirement. Next: California is so not golden. 8. California Raise your hand if youre surprised to see California on a state list about retirement. Didnt think so. Get Rich Slowly and CreditCards.com both say California residents are definitely not golden when it comes to socking away money for retirement. But who could blame them? Their cost of living is sky high, and they have an income tax rate as high as 13.3%. Unless retirees have millions in the bank and most do not Californians will be relying greatly on Social Security payouts for daily living. Next: Many New Jersey residents rely on Social Security as their sole source of income. 7. New Jersey On average, New Jersey retirees get $1,337 a month from Social Security, as of 2012, according to AARP. And 3 in 10 rank this monthly payment as their sole source of income. And while many retirees pass the time enjoying the Jersey Shore beaches, thats about all they will be able to afford once their checks get allocated elsewhere. Get Rich Slowly found New Jersey residents havent capitalized on savings as much as they could have and will feel the heat once their income is cut during retirement. Next: Arizona will need Social Security. 6. Arizona Warm temperatures year-round make Arizona another prime destination for retirees. A substantial population of senior residents means this state will rely heavily younger resident contributions to fund its Social Security program. For older residents, it seems paying off debt took a front seat to saving for retirement, meaning Social Security will be a welcome payout for Arizona retirees each month. Next: We go way north for our next state. 5. Alaska Alaska has the highest credit card debt in the nation at a whopping $5,868, according to CreditCards.com. With such debt looming, it makes sense residents in the Frontier State would be heavily reliant on guaranteed income, such as Social Security. Once that average $1,195 per month check is allocated to food, health care, and housing, theres likely to be little left over for living an enriched life during retirement. Next: Maryland residents dont manage money well. 4. Maryland Maryland is another state that will rely on Social Security. This is not necessarily due to its large senior population, but rather its reputation for bad money management. Thats unfortunate for hopeful retirees in this mid-Atlantic state. Taxes are quite high, with residents paying a median of $6,470 in annual state and local taxes. And the cost of living is steeper than most. This means retirees will be practically stalking the mailman for their monthly Social Security check to make ends meet. Next: The nations capital 3. Washington, D.C. Even though the retirement population in Washington, D.C., is nothing to write home about, its clear the ones who do remain will face a tough road ahead of them. The cost of living and taxes are high, making it difficult for any retirees to fund a rewarding lifestyle without substantial savings to fall back on. Social Security payouts will be a welcome reprieve to those living on a tight budget in the nations capital. Next: The fate of Vermont 2. Vermont Social Security in Vermont generates about $3 billion in economic output, which is handy as World Atlas cites a statewide senior population of beneficiaries at about 17%. Unfortunately, Vermont residents have a history of poor money management, which means theyll be relying on Social Security the most. Even though their need for this program is high, it doesnt hold a candle to our No. 1 state for Social Security reliance. Next: Social Security or bust on the big island 1. Hawaii Hawaii outperforms its competitors by scoring dismally in all categories The Cheat Sheet analyzed. While many retirees flock to the state to enjoy sublime weather year-round, sticker shock takes hold almost immediately thereafter. Not only has our research uncovered a history of debt (about $4,667 in credit card balances on average), but expensive utilities, groceries, and cost of living will drain your savings. Without that Social Security check, retirees could find themselves kicking it with the beach bums sooner rather than later. Follow Lauren on Twitter @la_hamer. More from The Cheat Sheet: 7 Things Evangelicals Can Be Thankful for in 2017 Indeed, 2017 has been a tumultuous year leaving much to grumble about in America. When your family sits down around the Thanksgiving dinner table, pause a moment to ask the time-honored question: "What are you thankful for this year?" Indeed, 2017 has been a tumultuous year leaving much to grumble about in America. Despite all the sadness and difficulties, God is still at work. This means there is much reason for Evangelicals to give thanks. In case you need a helpful reminder, here are seven things Evangelicals can offer our gratitude to the Lord for what He has done in 2017 through the workings of His Church: (1) Christianity is making a comeback around the world Despite doom-and-gloom reports of increasingly non-religious people, Americans and Europeans are as religious as ever while the number of Christians around the globe is on the rise. The Institute on Religion and Democracy's Joseph Rossell reported in February 2017 that Christianity in China, India, and Latin America, for example, is witnessing tremendous growth. "At current rates of increase, there could be 250 million Christians in China by 2030, predominantly Evangelicals, according to Purdue sociologist Fenggang Yang as reported by The Washington Post," wrote Rossell. "If this projection holds true, China would contain more Christians than any other country in the world." (2) Disaster Relief Efforts Led by Church-Affiliated Organizations Natural disasters are impossible to predict. This yearand only weeks apart hurricanes left Texas, West Louisiana, Florida, and Puerto Rico with devastating flooding and wreckage. We thank God that faith-based organizations and Christian volunteers provided leading disaster relief aid efforts. As Ed Stetzer, writing for USA Today, put it: In a disaster, churches don't just hold bake sales to raise money or collect clothes to send to victims; faith-based organizations are integral partners in state and federal disaster relief efforts. They have specific roles and a sophisticated communication and coordination network to make sure their efforts don't overlap or get in each others' way. Thank God specifically for the disaster relief efforts of the Salvation Army, Samaritan's Purse, United Methodist Committee on Relief, Operation Blessing, Southern Baptist Disaster Relief (SBDR) and Send Relief, and many more as they continue to aid hurricane victims in affected communities. (3) Global Evangelical Christmas Project Outreaches to Record Number Children in Need Operation Christmas Child, a project of the international evangelical ministry Samaritan's Purse, sends shoe boxes filled with gifts and the story of Jesus to impoverished children. In February 2017, Samaritan's Purse reported collecting an all-time high 11.4 million shoeboxes from donors to send abroad. "I've seen it firsthand for more than 20 yearsthese shoebox gifts bring hope to children around the world and show them the love of Jesus Christ," stated Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan's Purse. "For many of these boys and girls, it is the first gift they have ever received, and they will never forget it." (4) Fastest-Growing UMC Congregations Led by Evangelical Pastors The United Methodist Church (UMC) is the third largest denomination in the United States. We give glory to God that vital, thriving UMC congregations are largely shepherded by orthodox, evangelical leadership who uphold the authority of Scripture, traditional sexual ethics, historic Christian teaching, and an urgency to share the transforming hope of Christ with lost souls. According to a list compiled by Len Wilson, Creative Director at St. Andrew UMC in Plano, Texas, the fastest-growing large congregations within the denomination are helmed by evangelical Methodist pastors and/or trained at Asbury seminary, an evangelical Methodist education institution. "Professional decline managers in our denominational bureaucracy are fond of claiming that there is no relationship between the growth or decline of congregations and how orthodox/evangelical vs. liberal/revisionist the leadership's spiritual teaching is," commented IRD's UMAction Director John Lomperis. "However, in at least a strong majority (at least 16 out of 25, or 64 percent) of these top United Methodist congregations, the rapid growth occurred under the shepherding of an evangelical senior pastor." (5) Nabeel Qureshi's Leaves a Godly Legacy After a year-long battle with stomach cancer, author and evangelist Nabeel Qureshi passed away on September 21, 2017. But throughout his radiation treatments, Qureshi continued to proclaim the Good news. While undergoing treatment, Qureshi posted regular video updates. On one occasion, Qureshi remained Gospel-focused, writing "who am I to say this tragedy is of the worst order?" Taking the opportunity to point to Christ's death and resurrection, Qureshi shared: But no matter what is going on, I cannot think of something worse than being crucified. And of all the reasons to be crucified, I cannot think of anything worse than to be crucified because I love the people who are crucifying me to save the very people that are crucifying me. That is the worst! A former Muslim, Qureshi used his personal testimony to share the Gospel with hundreds of thousands of men and women around the world. Such was his impact on the world, that 14,000 viewerswatched Qureshi's memorial service online. We thank God for Qureshi's faithful witness in the midst of suffering. May the Lord comfort and guide Qureshi's wife Michelle and young daughter Aya. (6) Trinity Lutheran Church Wins U.S. Supreme Court Case Religious liberty saw a major victory at the U.S. Supreme Court in June, 2017. The court ruled in favor of Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Missouri after the State of Missouri denied the church of an environmental award of funding to use recycled material from tires for the church's school playground. The court held the First Amendment prohibited the state from denying the church's school a public benefit because of its religious affiliation. "This is a tremendous victory," said Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel David Courtman to radio host Hugh Hewitt. "Because now any type of program, and again, as the dissent points out, there's 39 states that have these type of restrictions, they can no longer use those restrictions to say whatever program we set up, we can't just go ahead and exclude religions organizations or people of faith from them, solely on that basis." (7) Protestants Continue Increased Presence at March for Life On Friday, January 27, 2017 hundreds of thousands gathered to commemorate the more than 57 million unborn lives lost to abortion. Thankfully, the March for Life's predominantly Catholic crowd added more evangelical Protestants to their ranks in 2017.This year, evangelical Protestant church-affiliates hosted several pro-life events in conjunction with the March for Life. Anglican bishops ignited a strong public pro-life witness with the second-annual Anglicans for Life conference. This year's all-day summit theme was "Defining and Defending the Sacredness of Life." On January 27, Anglicans for Life participants met for a Morning Prayer and worship service before walking together in the March for Life. The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS) hosted it's pro-life "Life 360" conference in conjunction with the March for Life. The LCMS event focused on the Synod's new "Eyes of Life" campaign, an initiative to change the public conversation on life issues through activism. And while faithful Methodists gathered at the United Methodist Building in Washington, DC for prayer and worship service before the March for Life, the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) and Focus on the Family held their second annual Evangelicals for Life conference. On Tuesday, Yuva Desh tweeted a meme showing Prime Minister Narendra Modi in conversation with US President Donald Trump and UK Prime Minister Theresa May. The speech bubble above May reads, "You sell tea." By India Today Web Desk: Narendra Modi, the man the Youth Congress' magazine called a 'chaiwala' yesterday, is the same leader on whose watch India saw its credit ratings and ease of doing business ranking grow, Union Minister Smriti Irani pointed out Wednesday. On Tuesday, Yuva Desh tweeted a meme showing Prime Minister Narendra Modi in conversation with US President Donald Trump and UK Prime Minister Theresa May. The speech bubble above May reads, "You sell tea." advertisement In 2014, senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar mockingly invited Modi, who was then the NDA's prime ministerial candidate, to "distribute tea" at an All India Congress Committee convention Congress cannot endure PM because he has set an example of politics of development. The person whom they taunt as chai-wala is the one under whose leadership India saw a phenomenal jump in #Moody's & Ease of Doing Business rankings: Smriti Irani on Yuva Desh's tweet demeaning PM pic.twitter.com/lMqq3hcVdS- ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2017 Today, Smriti Irani said the Congress mocking Gujaratis wasn't a new phenomenon, and recalled how Akhilesh Yadav, an erstwhile Congress ally, asked Amitabh Bachchan not to campaign for "the donkeys of Gujarat." He meant Modi and Amit Shah, the national president of the BJP. The people of poll-bound Gujarat would give the Congress an answer on counting day, she added. In UP elections Congress' companion Akhilesh Yadav said 'dekho chunav mein Gujarat se do gadhe aaye hain' so it is not new that they mock Gujaratis & insult them but real response will be given by Gujarat's people when #GujaratElection results are announced: Smirit Irani pic.twitter.com/hbsAdij3eO- ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2017 Later, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that if the Congress hadn't learn its lesson till now, he didn't think they ever would. If Congress has not learnt their lesson till now, then I don't think they will ever learn it: FM Arun Jaitley on Yuva Desh derogatory tweet on PM Modi- ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2017 The Yuva Desh apologised for posting the 'chaiwala' meme after Amarinder Singh Raja, the National President of the Indian Youth Congress, said his organisation did not approve of such humour. "Despite political differences with the BJP and having suffered everyday abuse from their leaders, we respect the Prime Minister and all political opponents," he said. Sincere apologies Raja Sir. As directed by you the tweet has been deleted. Will ensure that the mistake does not happen again. https://t.co/lAEWkO5Ryi- Yuva Desh (@yuvadesh) November 21, 2017 All this happened just days after Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi old over 2,200 young campaigners in Gujarat's Ambaji not to cross the limits of decency and insult Prime Minister Narendra Modi, no matter what the provocation. (Input from ANI) WATCH | Congress self goal before Gujarat polls: Youth wing deletes tweet with meme on tea-seller Modi --- ENDS --- advertisement Dreamers Are Thankful My mom and I are Christians today because God's people welcomed the stranger. With the recent cancellation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, these are especially difficult times for nearly 800,000 DACA recipients (also known as Dreamers), immigrants brought into the country as children and who are without legal status, and continuously so for millions of undocumented immigrants living in the shadows in the U.S. Beginning next March, unless Congress intervenes, approximately 30,000 DACA-recipients per month will lose their work permits and be made eligible for deportation, even though they generally had no say in coming into the country and have often only known America as home. I am a DACA-recipient. Yet despite great uncertainties ahead, I recognize that I have many reasons to be thankful this seasonthe most important being that I came to know Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord as an immigrant, an undocumented immigrant. Yes, I'm a product of the church welcoming the stranger. My story began with my mom, who landed in the U.S. as a graduate student in the mid-1990s. We come from an atheist family background in China, but by God's grace, there were Christians where my mom was studying in Iowa who were committed to living out the biblical commandment to practice hospitality, which in the Greek of the New Testament literally means to practice loving strangers. Her first English teacher, Mary, and a school librarian, Sherril, both welcomed her, a foreigner, and showered her with love in Jesus' name. When mom finished her studies, and landed a job in Chicago, Sherril and Mary made sure to connect her to their extended family members and to a local church. Mom was still a seeker at the time, hesitant to give into "religion" but profoundly grateful for the hospitality and authenticity of her friends and sensing a difference that their Christian faith had made in their lives. Soon after my mom obtained her work visa, I was able to join her in the U.S. on a dependent visa. It was hard for me to adjust to life here at first without knowing any English, but, over time, I learned the language and made friends. I would also tag along with mom to church events, and came to learn about God's love for me, for all of creation, radically displayed through Jesus' life, death and resurrection. Around this same time, I also came to find out that our immigration attorney had made serious mistakes on our paper work, compounded by other factors outside of our control, that resulted in me losing my immigration status as a 12-year-old. My mom tried to appeal our case, but to no avail. The discovery of my undocumented status turned my world upside down. I questioned my identity and my worth intensely, as a lack of documentation meant that I couldn't work, drive, or (at the time) attend university. Did God still love me the same? As an insecure adolescent wrestling with questions of my own identity, I desperately wanted to know. The answer to the question, of course, is an unquestionable yes. But it's not always so apparent given the ways that undocumented immigrants are portrayed in the media, or even talked about in the Church. And I, too, needed a lot of reassurance arriving at that conclusion, first from God's word, and, perhaps just as importantly, from God's people. While some may have distanced themselves from me because of my undocumented status, there were more people who proactively loved on me and stood up for me. My former youth pastor, for one, didn't avoid me or my situation because it was too controversial or too messy, but actively learned about the issue and spoke up for me in and outside the church, including with legislators. Our Christian family friends encouraged mom and me through words and action, and prayed fervently for and with us. Organizations like World Relief and the Evangelical Immigration Table lived out Proverbs 31:8 and advocated for policies that would allow undocumented immigrants like me to come out of the shadows and earn our way toward legal status. My mom and I are Christians today because God's people welcomed the stranger. Our faith is stronger today, despite the circumstances, because we study the life and example of Jesus, and witness Christ's love and justice tangibly manifested through his followers, transcending cultural, social, and political affiliations. The Church's response on immigration, as the response on poverty, abortion, environment, racial inequality and other social issues, is part of Gospel work. Any issue that concerns human life and dignity concerns God, and should therefore His people. Jesus himself lived the ultimate example of justice while on earth: feeding the hungry, healing the sick, crossing cultural and, yes, even religious boundaries to love people in Truth. Jesus chose to spend most of his time with the very people that we are, paradoxically, quick to marginalize or castigate today. But I know the story doesn't have to end with the stranger being turned away. Mom and I are living proof of that. As we prepare to spend our eighteenth Thanksgiving in the U.S. with Mary, my mom's former English teacher from Iowa, and her extended family, I realize that it just took one person to show radical hospitality to a stranger, an immigrant, to help change the course of our lives for eternity. For that, I'm forever grateful. Liz Dong now works with World Relief as the Midwest Church Mobilizer for the Evangelical Immigration Table; she is one of several leaders responsible for launching the Voices of Christian Dreamers project. Gloria Allred, Please Turn the Yearbook Over for Forensic Examination Either a good man is being slandered in the ugliest ways or a man claiming to be good is covering up an ugly past. From day one, I have made my views clear on Judge Roy Moore. I hope that he is innocent of the charges brought against him and would love to see him serve as Alabama's next senator. But if the charges are true, not only did he sin 40 years ago but he is compounding that sin today by lying about the past, in which case he must drop out. So, my appeal here to Gloria Allred is not based on a blindly partisan position. Rather, it is based on the pursuit of truth. Either a good man is being slandered in the ugliest ways or a man claiming to be good is covering up an ugly past (and slandering underage minors he abused). A major key towards uncovering the truth is found in the yearbook allegedly signed by Judge Moore. The day that Beverly Young Nelson (Allred's client) brought her tearful accusations against Moore, a female conservative colleague of mine, herself very much in Moore's camp ideologically, responded to a pro-Moore, email chain with these words: "I believe her." That's how compelling Young's witness appeared to be in the eyes of many viewers. Adding insult to injury, Allred and Nelson then produced a yearbook allegedly signed by Moore, and signed with affection and appreciation at that. How could he wriggle himself out of this? Moore immediately responded with indignation, claiming he never met the woman, which led to the immediate question: "Then how did you sign her yearbook if you never met her?" His answer: It's a forgery. Since then, serious questions about the signature have been raised, most particularly the fact that appended to the signature are the letters "D. A." This was a supposed reference to Moore signing as "District Attorney," except that he was the Deputy District Attorney rather than the District Attorney. More importantly, Moore's team produced a copy of Nelson's divorce certificate, which was signed by Moore, followed by the initials "D. A." Moore explained that when his assistant Delbra Adams, stamped his signature in a document, she appended her initials to make clear she was the one stamping it. Could it be, then, that someone named Roy signed Nelson's yearbook, then the rest of it was forged? This is obviously a drastic countercharge, but in recent days, a missionary who dated Nelson at the time in question has said that he doesn't believe her account, while her own step-son claims that her accusations are a "one hundred percent lie." Are these men further compounding the pain of a victim of Moore's alleged sexual predation? Or are they exposing a vicious attack against a man of integrity? It's true, of course, that Nelson is only one of a number of accusers who have brought weighty charges against Moore, and every one of them could be telling the truth. But, as one of my Twitter followers noted, "There is no evidence to prove his guilt. However this yearbook can either prove or disprove this particular allegation [whether] it's true or a conspiracy. Only hard evidence available right now. So let's independently investigate it!" Last week, I asked on Twitter, "If the yearbook signature was proven to be forged would that cause you to doubt all the other accusers?" In response, 67 percent said "Yes," 30 percent said "Only that accuser," and three percent said "I'd still believe her." So, not only is Nelson's credibility at stake in the eyes of many, but the credibility of Moore's other accusers is at stake in their eyes as well. My appeal, then, to Ms. Allred is manifold: For the sake of the people of Alabama, for the sake of the accusers, and for the sake of Judge Moore, please release the notebook for forensic investigation without playing games (like calling for a Senate panel to review the allegations when Moore is not a Senator). It's true that the testimony of the other accusers doesn't rise or fall on the veracity of the yearbook signature, but if the signature is verified, then Moore is exposed as a hypocrite and liar, helping to vindicate his other accusers. If the signature is proven false, those claiming there is a vast conspiracy against Moore have fresh wind in their sails. Speaking for myself, if I had hard evidence that backed my case, I would bring it into the full scrutiny of the light for everyone to see. Ms. Allred, what is stopping you from doing the same? 'Criminal Minds' season 13 episode 8 spoilers: BAU hunts down attention-seeking killer In the next episode of "Criminal Minds," the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) hunts down a killer who likes to film his victims' deaths and leak the footage to the media for attention. The trailer for the upcoming installment titled "Neon Terror" was recently released and showed David Rossi (Joe Mantegna) analyzing footage of a murder. "Whoever filmed this had to be there when it happened," he says to the team. They soon realize that the person capturing the video is the actual killer. Emily Prentiss (Paget Brewster) then tells her team, "The media is feeding his ego directly." Apparently, the attention the killer is getting from the news stations and media outlets is encouraging him even more to commit more murders. The wall-to-wall coverage coming from reporters and the media discussion are making him push the envelope even further. The killer is then shown checking his phone for the number of hits his murder reports are getting. His footage is projected on his wall as he spreads out his arms to embrace it. It is clear that the murderer is mentally unstable and may strike again. "He created the story, that's it," Jennifer Jareau (A.J. Cook) says to her partner. The perpetrator seems to be making a narrative which may not end well. It remains to be seen if the BAU will be able to capture the killer before he threatens anyone else. In the last episode, the team caught troubled tattoo artist Desi Gutierrez (Doris Morgado) who mutilated women's faces to get back at her estranged mother Lara (Michelle Bonilla). She deeply resented her mom and tried to kill her but Luke Alvez (Adam Rodriguez) and the team arrived just in time to save her. "Criminal Minds" season 13 episode 8 will air on Wednesday, Nov. 22 at 11 p.m. EST on CBS. 'Days of Our Lives' spoilers: Hope gets demoted; Abe promotes Rafe to commissioner; Ciara returns, spends time with Theo It looks like Hope (Kristian Alfonso) and Rafe (Galen Gering) will be faced with more obstacles lately. "Days of Our Lives" spoilers indicate more trouble for their relationship, both professionally and personally. Things have been tense for Hope and Rafe as of late, and it is not going to get any better any time soon. Ever since Hope got promoted to commissioner of the Salem Police Department, fans knew that trouble was brewing for her and for Rafe. Plus, Rafe's apparent obsession with Sami (Alison Sweeney) only made things worse. Previously, Hope lashed out at him for not being there for her when she needed him, even noting that he would drop everything for Sami if she asked him to. It suddenly turned into an argument about how she handled JJ's (Casey Moss) situation. They easily put that fight to rest, however, an even bigger fight is coming next week. Abe (James Reynolds) is obviously still devastated and furious about how she dealt with JJ. He will think that JJ acted on impulse and demand his immediate dismissal. Of course, Hope will understand where he is coming from. She knows, better than a lot of people, the pain of losing a child, so she will certainly connect with him on that. However, Hope will maintain that they have to go by the book. It is standard procedure that they launch an investigation for JJ's sake. She will also think that they have to put their emotions out of the way to do it as well but Abe will disagree. Abe will think that he is entitled to take action as the mayor of Salem, especially when it involves his son. Theo is still in a coma and it is unclear if he will ever wake up. Fortunately, fans know that Theo will survive this ordeal, but Abe will find that out later. Rafe will stand by Abe's decision to have JJ dismissed. He will say that it is for the best. Rafe's agreement will make Abe think that maybe he made the wrong decision when he promoted Hope to commissioner. Abe will change his mind and make Rafe commissioner instead. When Hope finds out, she will definitely be furious, but Rafe will maintain that he did not take anything that was not earned. He will add that Abe gave it to him because he was willing to listen. Of course, Hope will see it differently. She will point out that Abe is still very emotional to make big decisions like that. She will also be hurt that Rafe would actually take the job. Hope will be appalled that he would throw her under the bus in order to get a leg up on his career. Compared to the first time, this is not a fair fight. Later on Rafe, will call Hope out on how long they have been engaged. He will feel like they are never going to get married because he is not Bo (Peter Reckell). A nasty breakup is waiting for them down the line, but it does not seem like the end of it all. They could still get back together, but for now they will have to jump over so many hurdles. Hope's spirits may be down, but at least there will be someone who will cheer her up. "Days of Our Lives" spoilers reveal that Ciara (Victoria Konefal) is back in town! Ciara will be arriving in Salem a little while after Rafe and Hope break up. Obviously, she will be there to not only cheer her mother up, but she will also give her some words of wisdom. While Hope may have a lot more life experience than Ciara, a new perspective is always needed. Hope will enjoy reuniting with her daughter, especially now that she is back in time for Christmas. Ciara will be coming back next week, and it seems like she will have a grand entrance. From the audition tapes that were seen so far, it seems that the character will have a motorcycle when she arrives in Salem. Ciara might speed into Salem on her motorbike. It is clear that Ciara is now a lot feistier this time around. If the show wants her to act like Bo and Hope's daughter, then Ciara has to be adventurous and a little stubborn. She will also want updates on Theo. Ciara will have obviously heard about what happened to him, and she will hope that he gets better soon. Theo may still be in a coma by the time Ciara stops by to visit, but she will try to stay strong. She will hate that they left things on a bad note. She will want a chance at making things right with Theo and it seems like she will get that. As previously mentioned, Theo will eventually wake up and talk to his loved ones. Since Theo suffered a stroke, he will have to check into a facility for special treatment and physical therapy. Before that happens, Ciara and Theo will spend some time together. She will hold his hand in his last few scenes, so they will be in a good place before he leaves. "Days of Our Lives" airs Mondays to Fridays at 1 p.m. EST on NBC. 'Designated Survivor' season 2 episode 8 spoilers: President Kirkman goes on secret mission in Afghanistan In the next episode of "Designated Survivor," President Tom Kirkman (Kiefer Sutherland) goes on a secret mission to deescalate tension between U.S. and Afghanistan. The trailer for the upcoming installment titled "Home" was released just recently and showed Kirkman being greeted by Agent Hannah Wells (Maggie Q) in Afghanistan. They shake hands and immediately get to the business at hand. "This cycle of violence must stop," he says to the team. Apparently, Kirkman has to meet with two infamous warlords to determine who he can trust to hand over territories to the U.S. If he makes a wrong decision, the warlord could betray the president's trust and break his promise. Moreover, he could also use the resources gained from the U.S. to pursue his own agenda. Needless to say, Kirkman will have his hands full trying to assess which foreign faction to trust. "All of our intel and we still don't know which one we can trust. If we get this wrong, we could be responsible for our nation's next 9/11," the president says to his agents. All of a sudden, there are explosions heard all around as the camp is under attack. The secret service immediately grabs the president and escorts him out of the camp. Kirkman appears concerned but unfazed as he is brought to the helicopter. It remains to be seen if he will be able to get to safety and if his plans will come to fruition. In the last episode, Kirkman gave Turkish President Faith Turan (Troy Caylak) an ultimatum to stay with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) otherwise he would reveal at a press conference that the foreign nation was conspiring to undermine him. Turan conceded to Kirkman's demands. "Designated Survivor" season 2 episode 8 will air on Wednesday, Nov. 29 at 11 p.m. EST on ABC. JFK died on this day: He represented light where Trump oozes darkness On this date in 1963, John F. Kennedy was assassinated and, so the cliche goes, America lost its innocence. But was that such a cliche after all? Though iconic, Kennedy was, like many of us, deeply flawed. Yet his all-too-brief presidency represented a sense of optimism in the US and around the world. Contrast that with the reign of Donald Trump, and you seem to conjure images of two wholly different Americas and worlds. On the surface, both men shared a faith: Jack Kennedy was the first and only Catholic leader of what was then confidently called the free world; Trump claims to be a believing Christian, and appears increasingly influenced by the leaders of white evangelicals who helped to propel him into office. Yet their forms of belief, as with their presidencies, were of course very different. As my colleague Joseph Hartropp wrote in a profile of the man many called 'Camelot' last year: He didn't often discuss God in public; as biographer Thurston Clarke wrote of Kennedy, "Few presidents have been as religiously observant yet reluctant to discuss their faith." Kennedy's faith is mysterious, but where we see it emerge, it is important and profound...Kennedy could have disowned his religion, which clearly wasn't helping him get elected, yet he stood steadfast. He won the West Virginia primary, but in September 1960 a group of 150 Protestant ministers gathered in Washington to insist that Kennedy publicly repudiate the Catholic Church's teaching as a sign of his independence from Rome. In response, Kennedy made a now famous speech to a Protestant gathering at the Greater Houston Ministerial Association. He emphasised the importance of the separation of Church and State, and how subsequently there should be no religious test for the office of the Presidency. He said: 'I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish; where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source; where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials; and where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against all. 'For while this year it may be a Catholic against whom the finger of suspicion is pointed, in other years it has been, and may someday be again, a Jew or a Quaker or a Unitarian or a Baptist. It was Virginia's harassment of Baptist preachers, for example, that helped lead to Jefferson's statute of religious freedom. Today I may be the victim, but tomorrow it may be you until the whole fabric of our harmonious society is ripped at a time of great national peril.' Kennedy wasn't just defending himself as a Catholic, but pointing to something even more profound: religious freedom in society and the opportunity to serve in office whatever your personal beliefs may be... The contrast with the approach of Trump, who has sought to instigate a 'ban' on entry into the US of foreign Muslims perhaps the Catholics of today and who vilifies his opponents, could not be more stark. True, Kennedy had, like Trump, what could be called a problem with women. True, too, his involvement in the Bay of Pigs disaster shows that his foreign policy was, similarly, far from perfect. But Kennedy symbolically radiated optimism where Trump oozes pessimism and darkness. He represented, even if he didn't instigate, the hopeful civil rights movement. He was, apart from anything else, a civilised human being who loved his nation, in all its many colours. He was inclusive where Trump is deliberately divisive. And his premature death united the country and much of the world in grief. The past really is another country. Loving CS Lewis: Why the author of Narnia still unites the Church and inspires the world On this day in 1963, the artist, theologian and towering Christian intellectual CS Lewis died. It was a moment that was famously overshadowed by the passing of another icon US President John F Kennedy was assassinated on the same day. Renowned English writer and philosopher Aldous Huxley died on the same day too. It was a sad and remarkable coincidence that inspired a novel by author Peter Kreeft imagining the three figures meeting in Purgatory. Although his passing was at first eclipsed by the death of a president, CS Lewis's legacy has undoubtedly endured to this day it wouldn't be an overstatement to call him the most influential Christian writer of the 20th century. A humble figure such as Lewis would probably have distanced himself from such adulation, but his special capacity to unite Christian traditions remains an impressive feat. He himself was an Anglican, but he's now as much as beloved in Roman Catholicism as he is among conservative evangelicals. Part of Lewis' appeal may be due to the drama of his own life, wisely narrated by Lewis biographer and enthusiast Alister McGrath in his CS Lewis A Life. The Northern-Irish-born Clive Staples Lewis was first and for much of his youth a sceptical atheist, hardened by his experience of the First World War, and keen to disprove the surely far-fetched claims of Christianity. Yet over time, the Oxford literature professor experienced God's 'compelling embrace', and became as he would put it 'the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England'. Lewis married his deep faith with his intellectual prowess in his most famous non-fiction work, the epochal apologetics book Mere Christianity, in which he lays out how Christian faith could not only stand up to scrutiny but provide the most profound and satisfying explanation for all of life. He told his more personal account of his faith journey in another classic: Surprised by Joy. Lewis famously wrote: 'I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.' Against a depressing materialism, Lewis made the case for meaning, hope and wonder in the world best seen through the eyes of faith. Lewis was gifted not only with refined communicative skill and intellectual rigour, but an infectious imagination something best seen by turning to Lewis's other most famous work: The Chronicles of Narnia novels, a seven-book series written for children but adored by adults too. In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, he told an enchanting story that also served as a Christian allegory with profound theological insight the image of the roaring lion Aslan representing Christ is one that still moves many today. He also crafted more adult works like his Space Trilogy, which includes provocative social commentary about the future of humanity. Another standout work is The Screwtape Letters, in which he imagined this discourse of a senior demon Screwtape to his nephew Wormwood, advising him on how to bring about the damnation of a human soul. It created an entertaining and challenging device: the inverted, demonic lens provided a sharp satire on contemporary Christianity and a wealth of insight into the human condition. Lewis married late in life to the American writer Joy Davidman, but he lost her four years late when she died of cancer. As McGrath writes, he 'had to think about life's great questions because they were forced on him by his own experiences. Lewis is no armchair philosopher. His ideas were forged in the heat of suffering and despair'. He was never ordained, only a layman in the Church of England, which perhaps again is part of Lewis's appeal. He accomplished so much, but remined approachable, humble and unconsumed by his immense fame. At a decisive time in the 20th century, he offered a prophetic witness for the Church and to the world an invitation to faith, hope and love in a war-ravaged reality that may have given up on such ideals. It's a testament to Lewis - and the wonder he pointed to - that he hasn't been forgotten. You can follow @JosephHartropp on Twitter Shocking Rise In Religious Persecution Fuelled By 'Islamist Hyper-Extremism' Report The emergence of "Islamist hyper-extremism" is primarily responsible for a shocking rise in religious persecution across the world, according to a new report released on Thursday. Violent terror attacks inspired by Islamist ideology have now taken place in one in five countries, the report found, highlighting that most religious persecution is from militant organisations and not governments. "A virulent and extremist form of Islam emerged as the number-one threat to religious freedom," according to the report, Religious Freedom in the World, by Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). Researchers examined 196 countries across the globe and of these, 38 showed "unmistakable evidence of significant religious freedom violations". Out of the 11 countries that had worsening levels of persecution, "nine were under extreme pressure from Islamist violence", the report found. And out of the 11 countries with consistent levels of persecution, seven faced huge problems relating to Islamism both from non-state militant groups and and state-sponsored oppression. The report was launched in Parliament on Thursday morning and came after iconic landmarks across London were lit up red on Wednesday evening to mark the suffering of those persecuted for their faith. The report defined "hyper-extremism" as a radical creed combined with systematic attempts to drive out groups not like them. The tactics go beyond suicide attacks to include mass killings "glorying in the brutality inflicted on its victims, which is paraded on social media". "It emerged that a massive upsurge in violence and instability linked to Islamism had played a significant role in creating an explosion in the number of refugees," the report said. It found a "key objective" of Islamist hyper-extremism is to eliminate other religious communities from land, which has resulted in a mass exodus from the Middle East. "The frequency and intensity of atrocities against Yazidis, Christians, Baha'is, Jews and Ahmaddiyya Muslims is on the rise," wrote John Pontifex, editor of the report. "The atrocities committed by these aggressive Islamist groups in Syria, Iraq, Libya and by their affiliates elsewhere have arguably been one of the greatest setbacks for religious freedom since the Second World War," he added. "What has properly been described as genocide, according to a UN convention which uses that term, is a phenomenon of religious extremism almost beyond compare." As well as non-state militant groups, the report also criticised countries such as India, Pakistan and Burma which have a state religion. In these countries "steps have been taken to defend the rights of that faith as opposed to the rights of individual believers," the report found. But it also found that the threat of religious extremism was used as a justification for a crackdown on freedom of speech or belief. This is particularly the case with the Rohingya Muslims in Burma, whom the report described as the "most persecuted minority in the world". It added: "An upsurge in arrests, legislation restricting religious freedom, state rhetoric against religious plurality and sporadic acts of government-inspired violence have put renewed pressure on faith groups." 'The Shannara Chronicles' season 2 episodes 9 and 10 spoilers: Wil's group hunts down the Warlock Lord In the next episodes of "The Shannara Chronicles," Wil Ohmsford (Austin Butler), the druid Allanon (Manu Bennett), Mareth (Malese Jow), and Eretria (Ivana Baquero) go after Bandon (Marcus Vanco) and the Warlock Lord. The trailer for the upcoming installments titled "Wilderun" and "Blood" were just released recently and showed Allanon giving Ohmsford one last hug before they set out to defeat the Warlock Lord. Apparently, Ohmsford is the only one who can vanquish the powerful villain by using the Sword of Shannara. The druid will be there by his side to support him. In the meantime, Eretria confesses to Ohmsford that a wraith has entered her and that she is unable to control most of her actions. "I'm not who you think I am," she says to him. This will put her in a position to rethink whether or not she should follow the group. Meanwhile, Garet Jax (Gentry White) goes to the Kingdom of Leah to inform the Crimson that their leader General Riga (Desmond Chiam) has been killed by the warlock. Seeing Riga's decapitated head, the Crimson surrender to Jax and the gnomes. However, instead of imprisoning them, Jax asks them to join him in the fight against the Warlock Lord to save the Four Lands in exchange for their freedom. The Crimson agree to his terms and follow him. In the last episode, Bandon resurrected the Warlock Lord using the skull, sword, and heart. They planned to take over the realm and kill anyone who stood in their way. Ohmsford's sword was repaired when he finally realized that he had to let go of Amberle Elessedil (Poppy Drayton). Together with Allanon, Eretria, and Mareth, they headed for the Graymark to come face-to-face with the powerful warlock. "The Shannara Chronicles" season 2 episodes 9 and 10 will hit the airwaves back-to-back on Wednesday, Nov. 22 at 10 p.m. EST on Spike. Trump defends Roy Moore from sexual misconduct allegations: 'He totally denies it' Donald Trump has defended Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore amid allegations against the Republican legislator of sexual misconduct with teenage girls. 'He denies it. He totally denies it. That's all I can say,' the US President said yesterday when asked about his stance on Moore, as he left the White House ahead of a Thanksgiving break, according to The Telegraph. Trump took the opportunity to draw attention to Moore's Democrat opponent, Doug Jones: 'I can tell you one thing for sure, we don't need a liberal democrat in that seat. We don't need a liberal person in there.' Roy Moore is accused of sexual misconduct with a 14-year-old, and with five other teenage girls while he was a lawyer in his thirties. He has denied the allegations. Several Congressional Republicans have called for Moore to step down from the senate race, though some conservative evangelical allies of Moore have also been vocal in their support for him and their dismissal of the allegations. High-profile evangelical and president of Samaritan's Purse Franklin Graham tweeted: 'The hypocrisy of Washington has no bounds. So many denouncing Roy Moore when they are guilty of doing much worse than what he has been accused of supposedly doing. Shame on those hypocrites.' The President has also faced several allegations of sexual misconduct, all of which he has denied. When asked about the spate of women coming out with allegations of sexual harassment at the hands of men, in both the halls of Washington and of Hollywood, Trump said: 'Women are very special. I think it's a very special time, a lot of things are coming out and I think that's good for our society and I think it's very, very good for women and I'm very happy.' By Hemender Sharma: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitious Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana that aims to 'fund the unfunded' is being used to rob the poor in Madhya Pradesh. Touts, who have fanned across the state, are coercing illiterate ineligible rural people to apply for loans. An India Today investigation reveals how unsuspecting rural people are being made to shell out money in the name of 'processing fees' for loans which they will never get. advertisement The stated aim of the ambitious Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana that was launched in April 2015 was to meet the financial needs of non-corporate small business units. All non-farming micro businesses that generate income and require financial aid up to Rs 10 lakh are eligible for loans under this scheme and no processing fee is to be paid. One of the prerequisites for availing a loan under this scheme is to have a comprehensive business plans. But, in Madhya Pradesh people are being fleeced in the name of providing loans. India Today tracked down people who have been duped into filling forms and supplying documents for which they have been charged a processing fees. According to 54-year-old Ganesh Ram Kushwaha, a labourer, of village Kla Khedi in Ganj Basoda Tehsil of Vidisha district, he was approached by a tout saying he could get a loan of Rs 3 lakh for him under the Mudra Yojna provided he paid an initial fee of Rs 120. The tout gave him a receipt which has Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana and Udyog Adhar card written in bold at the top. The receipt is in possession of India Today. "They took Rs 120 from me saying they will get a loan of Rs three lakh for a business for me. I could do any business, but I don't have any business. The man who took the money has not returned since," Ganesh Ram said. Ganesh Ram is not the only one who has been preyed upon by the touts. India Today tracked villagers from across all the 10 tehsils of Vidisha who had been cheated like him. "My brother Moti Singh was cheated. They promised loan of Rs two to three lakh. we don't have any business," Kesri Singh, who is a farmer, told India Today. India Today next tracked the touts who had approached the villagers. They disclosed to us that they had taken papers of around 10,000 people from Vidisha alone. And they settled for whatever fees the villagers gave them. The touts also showed us publicity material that they distributed amongst the villagers. One such pamphlet had Uttar Pradesh Finance Management Development Corporation written on it. The touts too complained that they were cheated into cheating the villagers. "They invited us for a job. We were unemployed, they promised us Rs 10,000 per month along with Rs 100 for petrol per day. They gave us the forms and receipt books and we approached people. When we came to know that this was a fraud, we stopped it. People are approaching us, but we have done nothing wrong," Bhagwan Singh Gurjar, who asked villagers to fill the forms, told India Today. advertisement The touts gave the address of the man who had hired them and he operates from a 100 square feet shop in Vidisha. The shop has the banner with Prime Minister Modi's picture 'Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana' written in bold. The banner also has the telephone number of Vikas Rajput, the man who is running the show. We tried getting in touch with Vikas, but he was evasive. On phone he told us that a he was hired by a Luknow-based company and that he was an authorised dealer. He also denied taking any money and claimed he was making udyog Adhar cards for 63 government schemes. The Mudra Yojana is said to have benefited over six crore people who till now were outside the ambit of institutional finance. Who are these six crore beneficiaries? The government will have all the data on this, but on the ground poor people are being cheated in the name of the scheme that was actually designed to help them. --- ENDS --- advertisement American politics has been largely free of military influence since George Washington defused an incipient army mutiny at Newburgh, New York, in 1783. There have been relapses, including George McClellans presidential maneuverings before the 1864 election, and the insubordination of the politically ambitious Douglas MacArthur in 1951. But military deference to Americas elected civilian leadership has been so consistent for so long that even faint political activism by high-ranking officers stands out. Recently, a three-star Air Force general nudged up to, if not across, that thin linetaking to YouTube to accuse the institution, its cadets, and its staff of racism. Academy Superintendent Lieutenant General Jay Silveria stirred the Internet in September whennot to mix military metaphorshe ordered the institutions 4,900 cadets and staff to shape up or ship out following the discovery on campus of racist graffiti. If you demean someone in any way, you need to get out, Silveria said in a speech that quickly scored more than 1 million YouTube hits. If you cant treat someone from another race, or different color skin, with dignity and respect, then you need to get out. It was a textbook social-justice-movement momentjudgment first, facts afterwardinsofar as Silveria had no clue who had scrawled the slur, no apparent interest in finding out, and no hesitation in spreading responsibility for it as widely as possible. And when the hate crime turned out to have been a hoaxthe perp was a black student enrolled in an academy-preparatory program and one of five alleged targets of the slurthat didnt slow down the academys virtue-signaling. By embracing our differences, we help create a culture of respect and dignity, said the academys director of culture, climate and diversity, Yvonne Roland. As an institution of higher education and a military installation, we prepare our cadets to meet the challenges of an ever-changing global environment and to value ethics and human dignity. Whatever that means. Certainly, scant effort was expended to assign personal responsibility for the event. And Silveria dug the hole he was in even deeper when he tried to explain away the problem that the entire incident was a hoax. [It has been] suggested that maybe my [YouTube] words were over the top . . . or perhaps that my words are inappropriate because [of who] actually wrote [the graffiti]. I disagree. Regardless of who wrote the words, regardless of the circumstances, regardless of who put that slur on the wall, it was written. Whoever wrote it, it was still written. Well, yes it wasbut not by a cadet, not by a faculty member, not by an academy staff member, and not by any of the thousands of individuals Silveria tarred with his broad brush. Personal responsibility, accountability, and loyalty are laudable attributes in civilian life. In the military, they are the stuff of life and death. The service academies have personal honor codesobserved in the breach, in this caseprecisely to promote trust in the ranks and confidence at the command level. Thats how wars are wonor, unhappily, sometimes lost. Silveria trashed this principle without the faintest notion of who had done what. And when an investigation revealed the truth, he showed no contritionif anything, he doubled down. This wasnt strictly partisan politicking, but the general deliberately inserted his institution into an ugly national political controversy. America has been at war for more than 16 years now. For the most part, the nations armed forces have performed brilliantly, but cracks are beginning to show. Underfunded, over-extended, and often buffeted by purely political civilian goals, the services are suffering from inadequate training and operational leadership failures. Among the byproducts: collisions at sea and in the air, troop retention and recruiting shortfalls, and high-profile discipline and loyalty scandals. Add to that list an air force generals enlistment in the social-justice wars. Defense Secretary James Mattis would do well to call Silveria out for his spurious activism, which has no place in Americas armed forces. Photo: US Air Force The Charity Commission was accused of a "disproportionate" focus on Muslim charities in its investigatory work, by Baroness Warsi, a Conservative peer, in a speech last night. A spokesman from the regulator said it "refutes any allegation that it is biased against Muslim charities". Warsi also criticised the government for not engaging properly with Muslims, and urged the charity sector to create more spaces for communities. She was giving the Hinton Lecture, which is organised annually by NCVO in memory of its former director Nicholas Hinton. She outlined how life had become increasingly difficult for Muslims in British life. She said coexistence was no longer enough and called for better connections between different communities. Warsi said that Shawcross appointment as chair of the regulator was part of the problem. She said his term as chair, which is due to conclude early next year, was from the outset the focus of concerns because of his previous statements on Islam, Guantanamo, Israel/Palestine, the Iraq war and his association with the likes of the Henry Jackson Society". She said: His statement on the risks of donor money leaking out to support terrorism led to a community under scrutiny despite there being no evidence of this charge, as Tom Keatinge said as part of a Demos report in 2014. She said that even though Muslims are among the most generous there had been a disproportionate number of Muslim charities in recent years" that had been subject to Commission inquiries. Warsi also said there had been an increase in the number of allegations relating to terrorist abuse of charities, many of which were Muslim, and that this was a disproportionate increase in allegations when number of Muslim charities has remained more or less the same. But she said experts agree that extremist abuse of the charity sector has and remains negligible. She described the regulator had used what a Cabinet colleague called the Al Capone method of policing". I call it McCarthyism. She thanked Sir Stephen Bubb, former chief executive of the Charity Commission, for his support of the Muslim charity sector and being a tremendous friend to Muslim charities. Shawcross and other Commission spokespeople have repeatedly denied that the Commission has targeted Muslim charities. The increase in scrutiny of Muslim charities has coincided with a wider increase in the Commission's regulatory work. Government policy of non-engagement must end Warsi also told the audience last night that successive governments have had a policy of disengagement when it comes to British Muslims and refuses to work with many people viewed as beyond the pale. She said Muslim charities, like Human Appeal and Islamic Relief, and other community organisations had come under scrutiny. She said they needed to be sure they are whiter than white. They are not allowed to make mistakes, she said. She called for an end to lists which prevented people from being told they are considered dangerous and prevented from engaging. Warsi also called on the government to tackle growing inequalities in the UK and said the wealth gap has expanded and social mobility has decreased. I am not sure I would be who I am today if I had been born today, she added. She criticised the government for ending funding for community development during austerity and then replacing it using money from anti-terrorism funds because it was easier to justify. For example, she said claiming that money to help Muslim women learn English to prevent terrorism was wrong because speaking the language has nothing to do with terrorism. My Mums English wasnt great but she didnt produce any terrorists, she said. Get to know our communities Warsi urged everyone to get to know our local community better and said charities had a key role to play in providing space and opportunity for this. She suggested people take small steps of friendship, go visit place worship or see a comedian. She gave National Citizen Service as an example of charities being able to bring different people together and said this is more important now as different communities dont necessarily live side by side anymore. Warsi urged mainstream charities to look at ways of connecting with Muslim charities in local areas to address issues, and said that Muslim charities were increasingly focused on UK issues, as well as international aid. And she challenged the sector to stand up and take a position on issues and to make the case for diversity and the case for tolerance. Charity Commission statement A spokesman for the regulator said: The Commission refutes any allegation that it is biased against Muslim charities, or any other type of charity, and does not recognise many of the figures stated in yesterdays lecture. We produce and publish, as part of our transparency data, a regular analysis of charities subject to a statutory inquiry, compliance or monitoring case. This information tells a different story of our casework and helps provide assurance that there do not appear to be any areas of significant over or under-representation in the charities into which inquiries or compliance cases are opened. "We regulate independently and prioritise and carry out all of our casework according to a strict risk framework which is publically available on our website. "Unfortunately we do come across instances of the abuse of charities for terrorism and extremism related purposes and when this does happen it can cause significant damage to the charity or charities in question, as well as to public trust and confidence in the charitable sector more widely. Where this occurs, we will of course get involved to ensure charity trustees are taking steps to protect their charity and beneficiaries from harm and ensure that charitable funds are not diverted from their intended destination. The latest transparency analysis of Commission inquiries shows that in 1 April 2016/31 March 2017 there were 286 statutory inquiries open, of which 14 were classified under religious activities. Of these just two were classified as Islamic charities. Commission must be seen to be independent In response to Warsis comments on the Charity Commission, Sir Stuart Etherington, chief executive of NCVO, said that it highlighted the need for reform of the Charity Commissions governance He said: The views expressed by Baroness Warsi remind us of why it is important that the chair of the Charity Commission is seen to be clearly independent of the government of the day: so that the Commission can avoid the damaging accusation that it is being politicised and doing the government's bidding. We made a number of proposals to strengthen the Commissions independence, including giving parliament greater power in the appointment of the chair. These were not taken forward by the minister at the time but they evidently remain relevant and we hope to see the government commit to demonstrating the importance of the Commissions independence. The three UK charity regulators have published new guidance calling on auditors and independent examiners to be more proactive in reporting concerns, in response to a parliamentary report into Kids Company which criticised the charity audit process. The Charity Commission for England and Wales, the Scottish Charity Regulator, OSCR, and the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland have produced a joint publication Reporting of relevant matters of interest to UK charity regulators. The publication advocates a when in doubt, report it approach, and includes examples of relevant matters which may be reported. The guidance provides examples of the matters that may be reported to the charity regulators, which differs from the separate guidance of matters that must be reported as a legal duty. The publication follows last years Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee report on Kids Company. Nigel Davies, head of accountancy services at the Charity Commission for England and Wales, said the report showed that "auditors have been too reticent when it comes to reporting matters of concern that would be of interest to the regulator". He said: Through this new publication we are encouraging and enabling the profession to step up and engage with us more readily on a proactive basis. Examples of relevant matters that should be reported include insecure funding putting beneficiaries at risk; a donation that may indicate vulnerability to abuse, and lack of financial oversight by the whole trustee body. See also The regulators said that there is no requirement for auditors or independent examiners to undertake any additional audit or independent examination work to identify relevant matters for reporting. The matters that are reported will be those identified during the course of an audit or independent examination. Myles McKeown, head of compliance and enquiries at Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, said: With over 200,000 registered charities operating across the UK we as regulators cannot possibly upturn every stone, and so auditors and independent examiners have an incredibly important role to play in helping us regulate effectively. Laura Anderson, head of professional advice and intelligence at OSCR, said: This document is a collaborative initiative between UK regulators. This joined-up approach to guidance has enabled us to provide the most consistent and comprehensive insights on areas we encourage auditors to report to us, drawing on UK-wide experience across the sector. Development charity WaterAid received less income, and was forced to use up reserves to protect spending, due to the impact of Brexit, according to recent documents. WaterAid filed its annual report and accounts for the period to March 2017 last week. It said in the trustees report that Securing institutional funding within the UK and Europe was more difficult in 2016/17, due to political and economic changes that negatively impacted this source of funding. It also said that: The reduced value of the pound after the Brexit vote meant we could buy less overseas currency. To ensure our work in countries was not adversely affected we reduced some of the planned expenditure in the UK and used some of our operational reserves. But the charity said it had not reached as many people as it planned. WaterAid income fell by 4.4m to 81.1m, after several years of relatively rapid growth. Total funds fell by 6.4m to 25.7m, although reserves remained within the charitys target range. While the charity said that institutional income was under pressure, the largest fall was actually in donated income, which fell by 7.8 per cent in the year to 49.7m. Staff costs rose by almost 2m during the year, to 24.4m, despite the number of staff falling from 860 to 775. The fall in the value of sterling pushed seven salaries over 60,000, meaning the charity now has 28 people earning over that level. The charity also reported on its fundraising complaints. It made 4.82 million donor contacts, generating 615 complaints. Civil Society Media is hosting its NGO Insight 2017 conference on 28 November 2017. For more information, and to book, click here. By PTI: New Delhi, Nov 22 (PTI) Expressing concern over large numbers of peoples grievances, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today laid emphasis on the need to improve administrative arrangements for early redressal of complaints. At a meeting of Pragati where he reviews various projects in different sectors, Modi also took stock of the progress of nine infrastructure projects in the railway, road, power and renewable energy sectors. advertisement These projects are spread over several states including Uttarakhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Nagaland, Assam, Maharashtra, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. These projects are cumulatively worth over Rs 30,000 crore, according to a statement. The prime minister also reviewed the progress in the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Khanij Kshetra Kalyan Yojana, a scheme for the welfare of areas and people affected by mining related operations. He said that funds accruing to district mineral foundations should be utilised to strategically focus on eliminating major development issues or deficits these districts currently face. He said this should be done in a focused way, so as to achieve the greatest possible, tangible results by 2022, the 75th anniversary of Independence. Todays was the 23rd interaction through the ICT-based, multi-modal platform Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation (Pragati). The first 22 meetings of Pragati have seen a cumulative review of 200 projects with a total investment of Rs 9.31 lakh crore. PTI NAB SMN --- ENDS --- This week on The Kicker, Meg speaks with Cenk Uygur, host and founder of The Young Turks, about the role of anti-establishment media under President Donald Trump, as well as what it was like to interview Andrew Breitbart. Then Pete is joined by senior staff writer Alex Neason and senior editor Christie Chisholm to discuss the media news of the week, including the unionization of newsrooms and the latest sexual harassment scandals. Plus, well share what were thankful for in journalism and media this year. Subscribe via iTunes Stitcher RSS Feed SoundCloud SHOW NOTES: Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Meg Dalton and Pete Vernon are CJR Delacorte Fellows. Find Meg on Twitter @megdalts and Pete @ByPeteVernon. Earlier this month, ProPublicas investigative star Julia Angwin wrote about a strange attack on her reporting team: Each staff member had their inboxes flooded with emailnewsletter confirmation emails, spam, so much to sift through that it became impossible to work. Angwin highlighted the incident as one simple example of how easy it can be to prevent journalists from working. In order to solve the problem, ProPublica had to block all email coming into their accounts, meaning that important emails were bounced back amidst the flack. Email bombing is just one method of intruding on journalists jobs and personal lives. A recent spate of articles has provided proactive steps journalists can take to lessen their chances of being doxxed or trolledand, if they are targeted, to make such attacks less harmful. ProPublica published a set of tips covering everything from how to keep your personal information safe on social media to how to remove yourself from various online address listings and data brokers. Motherboards exceedingly comprehensive Guide to Digital Security also walks you through how to act online, and how to perform threat modeling to test your own systems. ICYMI: Were the dominant publication in the most populous, wealthiest state in the country These are good resources for individual journalists, but newsrooms are also at risk. KQEDs Jon Brooks writes for CJR about the NPR and PBS member stations ransomware attack over the summer, which crippled their systems for months. Ransomware is so named because hackers hold data hostage by encrypting it, demanding, in KQEDs case, thousands of dollars in bitcoin to unlock it. KQED, like many newsrooms around the US, ended up having to sacrifice convenience for securitya balance that Brooks suggests managers think about before this happens to their newsrooms. Triaging the situation, and managing employees expectations, will also take a load off IT staff as they work to correct the situation: Our network systems engineer rated the stress as way worse than that caused by a past bout he had with cancer, Brooks writes. ICYMI: He won a corned-beef-eating contest in college, where he estimates his GPA was 1.9. Sign up for CJR 's daily email More on journalism in the digital world: Last year, ProPublica reported that Facebook was enabling housing discrimination by allowing companies to target their housing ads by race, among other demographic criteria. Facebook said they fixed the issue, but ProPublica recently retested and found persistent issues. The concerns about fake news affecting last years US election are nothing compared to the effects of misinformation in other countries such as Myanmar , writes CJRs Mathew Ingram: The leader of an anti-Rohingya group has been able to spread his message thanks to an orchestrated Facebook campaign. The rise of a new position at publishers: the chief customer officer , tasked with ensuring consistent and high-quality consumer experiences across platforms. Uber concealed a hack in November 2016 of its system, which included personal details (but not payment info) of 50 million riders, and the drivers license numbers of over half a million riders, reports Bloomberg. The FCC released a plan to roll back the net neutrality rules established by the Obama administration. Other notable stories BuzzFeed used an unlikely figure as a source for a story on sexual harassment allegations against Michigan Congressman John Conyers after Mike Cernovich approached the publisher with a tip. Cernovich had offered $10,000 on Twitter for the details of settlements against Conyers last week, though it remains unclear if Cernovich actually made good on that offer. The sexual harassment saga continues to unfold: Charlie Rose was fired by CBS News on Tuesday, and PBS dropped his show. His now-former-co-anchors on CBS This Morning spoke bluntly about the allegations against him. I cant stop thinking about the anguish of these women, what happened to their dignity, what happened to their bodies, what happened maybe to even their careers, said Gayle King. Life after ESPN: Columnist Jayson Stark has turned to Facebook to publish his post-game analyses, reports The Ringer , along with other stories of how beloved sports writers and personalities are moving on. Today in Whoville, Politicos Jack Shafer Grinch-ingly tears into a letter by Times columnist Nicholas Kristof thanking readers for their support of the paper. I tolerate his heavy moral preening and self-indulgence so that I can read the rest of the Times package, writes Shafer. His gratitude is the last thing I want from the paper. Were off tomorrow and Friday. Happy Turkey Day, and take a gander at what were thankful for at CJR . See you Monday! Love this audio of @CJR folks talking about what (in journalism) they're thankful for. (And especially thankful for @megdalts for pulling it together.) pic.twitter.com/KvPxxpGb2t Kyle Pope (@kylepope) November 21, 2017 Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Nausicaa Renner is digital editor of CJR. When El Nuevo Dia reporter Benjamin Torres Gotay came to a remote neighborhood in western Puerto Rico nearly two weeks after Hurricane Maria, some residents thought he was with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Help, they hoped, had finally arrived. The Category 4 hurricane, which lashed the island with 150 mph winds and claimed more than 50 lives, seemed to linger in Lares, where Pezuela is located, Gotay later wrote in his story about the storms effect on the area. Neighborhoods faced daily torrential rain and subsequent landslides. Families rationed food and apportioned water. In one suburb, Gotay encountered a mother who had only two bottles of distilled water left, the only kind her sick 5-year-old son could drink. They were, frankly, desperate, the newspaper reporter says. Reporters from outside Puerto Rico have done important work to portray the storms devastating effects. Their coverage, however, doesnt convey the long-term tasks awaiting local reporters like Gotay, who are left to document the storms toll on the island while also grappling with the same aftermath in their personal lives. RELATED: Puerto Rican newspapers lay off journalist in hurricanes wake Gotay has covered natural disasters before. In 2016, he went to Haiti to cover the damage caused by Hurricane Matthew, where locals had almost no infrastructure and no functioning government. But he was able to end that trip with a sense of normalcy. A day after his last dispatch, he enjoyed drinks and live music with friends in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. After Hurricane Maria, there was no such escape from the devastation. Its like being a nurse or a doctor in an ER. You almost to a certain degreeI dont want to say shut down, but you continue to forge ahead and tell their stories. Sign up for weekly emails from the United States Project Local government officials, operating on meager budgets, were overwhelmed by their inability to provide food for their constituents, much less clean the roads or contact the central government. Everywhere he looked, Gotay saw roofless houses, decimated buildings and piles of trash covering the island where he lives. This time, you cover the disaster and after working you go back to the disaster, Gotay says. You talk to people who dont have electricity, water, food, and after work you have to find precisely those things for your own family. For Puerto Ricos local journalists, reporting on Hurricane Marias aftermath meant grappling daily with downed communication lines, impassable roads and a population desperate for basic necessities. Initially, Gotay said only a few outlets could operate normally newspapers El Nuevo Dia and Primera Hora, both owned by GFR Media, and local station WAPA Radio. Telemundo Puerto Rico (WKAQ-TV), using generators and cellular technology, provided 12 hours of live coverage a day on the stations website for nearly four weeks after the storm hit. It took five days before the stations over-the-air capabilities were restored. Local reporters, producers and managers interviewed for this story stressed the emotional toll of documenting a humanitarian crisis in their backyards. Its like being a nurse or a doctor in an ER, says Jose Cancela, president and general manager of Telemundo Puerto Rico. You almost to a certain degreeI dont want to say shut down, but you continue to forge ahead and tell their stories. Reporters, forced to juggle constant coverage with providing humanitarian aid, came back with similar details: shelters without clean water, lines for gas stretched on for miles. After Hurricane Maria landed on September 20, El Nuevo Dia approached its coverage methodically, says executive producer Omayra Gonzalez. The newspaper divided the island into 16 zones and assigned a reporter and photographer to each. Within days, El Nuevo Dias reporters had reached 20 towns, says Gonzalez. Reporters, forced to juggle constant coverage with providing humanitarian aid, came back with similar details: shelters without clean water, lines for gas stretched on for miles. Each team was equipped with three days worth of provisions, Gonzalez said, but most came back empty handed. Theyll come back and say, All that you gave me, I gave to this family because they didnt have anything, Gonzalez says. They get there and they see the need and they want to give all they have. RELATED: Journalists help connect families as crisis unfolds in Puerto Rico During the first days after the storm, Telemundo Puerto Rico and El Nuevo Dia faced another formidable challenge: accounting for their staff. With no cell phone coverage available, outlets used satellite phones, social media, and word of mouth to ensure employees welfare. Gonzalez said it took some reporters two or three days to return to the newspaper. Some suffered property damage; one person on Gonzalezs team lost their home. In one case, says Gonzalez, the newspaper called emergency services to rescue a reporter who had climbed to the roof of a house in the Levittown suburb to escape flood waters. The neighborhood, part of San Juans metropolitan area, is normally a 20-minute drive from the newspapers offices. One of El Nuevo Dias reporters, Ricardo Cortes Chico, says his father died of a stroke in his home shortly after Hurricane Maria. Somehow, I think that he might have had a better chance of surviving the stroke if the communications were better at the time, Chico says. But a simple phone call to 911 here is incredibly hard right now. The newspaper and TV stations buildings became a temporary home for employees, family members and visiting journalists. Cancela, Telemundo Puerto Ricos president, says his station housed 31 people, including members of an NBC team after the generator at their hotel exploded. At El Nuevo Dia, about 100 employees and their families turned meeting rooms into apartments. Those staying at the newspaper became like family, Gonzalez says. The children, especially, became a reprieve from the devastation outside. Youre working, and this small face will smile and give you this sticker, she says. It makes you feel more human. Six weeks after the hurricane, cell phone coverage has been restored to about 60 percent of the island. Telemundo Puerto Ricos broadcasts, initially consumed primarily by people in the states, are regaining local viewers as power returns to parts of the island. Were a month out from the storm and we only have 25-percent power output. If this was a state, this would be a nightly national story. But Puerto Rico is hardly back to normal. Cancela says the island needs more national outlets to draw attention to the conditions inhabitants are still suffering. He points to the TV stations recent coverage of a neighborhood in Toa Baja, where rotting trash and furniture piled on the sides of the roads have attracted mice, cockroaches and other vermin. Were a month out from the storm and we only have 25-percent power output, Cancela says. If this was a state, this would be a nightly national story. For people outside the island, the scope of the disaster is hard to grasp. Its difficult to encapsulate, even in person, Gotay says. But its a crisis that demands increased federal response and national coverage, he adds. Every day I have to take five minutes, breathe deeply and plead with myself not to get frustrated, he says. You have to see it to understand it. Its kind of frustrating as a reporter, feeling unable to convey the magnitude. ICYMI: CNN vs. BuzzFeed: A media spat for the digital age Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Tadhg Hylier Stevens is an independent journalist living in Seattle, Washington. Their work focuses on the media, the LGBT community, and the triumphs and trials facing marginalized communities throughout the US. Follow them on Twitter at @tadhgstevens. Standing on his front porch last Sunday afternoon, Michael Fogarty pointed to the hills and mountains that surround Canaan Village. From each of those high points, he said, water makes its way down to Mirror Lake Brook, Orange Brook or the Indian River, forming a natural watershed and, at times, trouble for those who live there. Its a lot of water and it can only go one place, and thats the river valley, said Fogarty, a licensed geoscientist, during a tour of the New Hampshire village. Fogarty, who owns the Tower House Inn, has witnessed several floods overwhelm the banks of the nearby Indian River and cover Route 4. All of those floods varied in strength, he said, but most result in some type of damage and cause traffic delays along an important artery connecting the Upper Valley and the central part of the state. During Tropical Storm Irene in Canaan in 2011, water covered the village green and several businesses and crested near Fogatys front door on Route 118. In that instance, he said, the town registered about $700,000 in property damage. That scenario nearly was repeated about a month ago, when dozens of volunteers waded through knee-deep floodwater to stack sandbags around downtown buildings. Flooding is such a problem in the village that Canaan officials began meeting five years ago to discuss ways to limit damage. They eventually sought the help of the Littleton, N.H.-based Headwaters Hydrology PLLC. The firm issued a report this year that found much of the villages problems stem from the way the embankment on Route 4 is constructed. Because the land surrounding the Indian River is fairly steep, flood waters are often pushed into the village, especially between Canaan Village Pizza and the Route 4 bridge, the consultants found. That was the case last month, Fogarty told group of eight people following him on Sunday. When the culvert under Route 4 becomes stressed, he said, water swells over the road and creates a strong flow near the pizzeria and post office. Initially, the consulting firm recommended anywhere between $2.1 and $5.4 million in spending to stop the flooding using a system of culverts, spillways and relocation of a nearby road. Fogarty took the group, which included residents and members of the nonprofit Mascoma Watershed Conservation Council, out to the sites where improvements were proposed, taking the time to point out the rivers choke points and where people could hope to see changes. He also blamed flooding on the Route 4 bridge and its embankment, saying state officials didnt provide enough space underneath for the water to pass. They didnt get it right, he said, adding its also unlikely New Hampshires Department of Transportation will pay to make things right. Town officials appear to have taken the same stance. They held two public meetings this summer and narrowed down the consultants recommendations to the creation of several spillways along the rail trail. The project would cost $670,000 and is a likely candidate for state emergency flooding mitigation funds, according to the town newsletter. Construction of the spillways would also save 18 buildings downtown from flooding, and leave another two with basement flooding, the newsletter said. However, those plans would not address the problems at the Route 4 bridge. Fogarty also endorsed the spillways on Sunday, saying theyll largely prevent the level of flooding seen in the past while saving millions on other costly improvements. That should be more than adequate to make sure this is no longer a bottleneck that backs up, he said, standing beside a meandering point in the river. Residents along the walk appeared to agree. Weve had flooding a number of times since we moved in back in the late 70s, said Alice Schori, who is also a member of the Council. If they could do something to mitigate it, it seems like it would be worthwhile. Steve Thomason said he took steps to flood proof his home in Canaan Village after moving in during the 1980s. But his neighbors didnt and saw nearly 20 inches of water flood their basement last month, forcing them to replace a furnace and hot water heater. Honestly, it is an ongoing problem, he said. But, Thomason said, there is a valid concern for those in other parts of town who wouldnt want to spend the money on a problem that doesnt affect them. Its hard to justify it if you dont benefit somehow, he said. Town officials would like the state to contribute to whatever project goes forward, according to Canaans website. Currently, theyre lobbying to have improvements put on New Hampshires Ten Year Transportation Plan, which is currently under review. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Volvo Cars said Monday it will sell tens of thousands of self-driving cars to Uber, which is expanding to become an operator and owner of its own car fleet. Volvo said in a statement that it would provide the San Francisco-based ride-sharing company with its XC90 premium SUVs complete with autonomous driving technologies, from 2019 until 2021. The framework deal is non-exclusive. The automotive industry is being disrupted by technology and Volvo Cars chooses to be an active part of that disruption, said Volvo Cars CEO Hakan Samuelsson. The carmaker, owned by Chinas Geely Holding since 2010, didnt disclose the agreements value or the precise number of vehicles. Media reports suggest Uber is buying up to 24,000 autonomous Volvo cars. The deal is based on an alliance Volvo announced with Uber last year when the two companies said they would collaborate on developing self-driving cars, pledging to invest a combined $300 million to the project. Jeff Miller, Ubers head of auto alliances, said Monday the company was thrilled to expand its partnership with Volvo. This new agreement puts us on a path towards mass produced self-driving vehicles at scale, Miller said in a joint statement with Volvo. Volvo Cars key manufacturing plant is located in Goteborg, Sweden. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Though the number of physician dispensed prescriptions declined considerably from just a few years ago, the workers compensation industry continues to battle an adapting market seeking to maintain high prices by changing drug strength and formulations. The impact of physician dispensed pharmaceuticals and drug compounding on workers compensation systems nationwide was highlighted recently during a session hosted by the National Conference of Insurance Legislators Workers Compensation Insurance Committee at its annual meeting held in Phoenix, Arizona. According to Kathy Fisher, assistant director of external engagement at the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI), a 2017 study examining physician dispensing across 26 states revealed that both prescribing frequency and pricing decreased in all the states with reforms and even some without reforms. The study examined 2011-2014 data, an important timeframe during which reforms were instituted in several states. Twenty-two states currently have reforms in place. Fisher outlined the two types of reforms instituted: Price-focused reforms For high price, repackaged drugs, caps instituted at the wholesale price. Limiting reforms Institutes restrictions to a certain type of drug or for a certain time period. According to Fisher, the study examined prices, frequency of prescribing and cost share, relative to all prescription drug costs to uncover trends. It compared data between reform and non-reform states, as well. Some findings: In Florida, the number of prescriptions of Ibuprofen/Naproxen increased due to the introduction of a new product. Prices were static or increased in non or pre-reform states. In all post-reform states there was a reduction in physician dispensing. For example, in South Carolina, there was a 63 percent reduction. In Tennessee and Indiana, physician dispensing went down by 23 percent. Fisher said there was a significant decrease in cost share of physician dispensed drugs to all prescription drugs in many reform states. The states with the most physician dispensed drugs California, Florida and Illinois saw a significant increase in new drug strengths and formulations of certain existing drugs, said Fisher. This offset any other decreases. In these states, 54-64 percent of all total prescription payments were to physician dispensers. While many of the reforms were aimed at high-priced, repackaged drugs, its likely that costs didnt go down in these states, said Fisher, because manufacturers came up with new formulations and drug strengths. Some examples of new drug strengths or formulations: 7.5 mg cyclobenzaprine HCL (Flexeril) 150 mg extended release Tramadol HCL (Ultram) 2.5-325 mg Hydrocodone-Acetaminophen (Vicodin) (2.5 -Lowest dose, highest cost) Lidocaine-menthol (new formulation of a pain patch). The changes in drug strength and formulations reveal just how adaptable the supply chain is, said Joseph Paduda, principal of Health Strategy Associates. The only solution, he said is to cut off repackaging. The manufacturer can set whatever price they want, he added, noting the only reason they do that is to make money. In states with limiting reforms, Fisher said there was a 12 percent decrease in opioid physician dispensed drugs in Kentucky, with similar decreases noted in Indiana and Tennessee. Because opioid prescriptions dropped dramatically after the reforms, Paduda said the narcotics should have never been considered. What that said to me is they should have never been prescribed in the first place, said Paduda, a firm supporter of allowing employers the ability to direct injured workers to a specific network of pharmacies to combat physician dispensing and drug compounding issues. Texas House Member, Tom Oliverson, an anesthesiologist, commented that the problem is systematic and widespread, and much bigger than a bunch of greedy physicians. He said that because quality of care is measured based on lowering pain, work needs to be done to change that philosophy within the entire healthcare system. Bad policy is what started all of this, said Oliverson. Paduda turned the focus of the session to drug compounding. He noted that while physician dispensing and compounding are different issues, they are both driven by the same financial motivation. He explained that drug compounding is the preparation, mixing, assembling, packaging or labeling of a drug. There are valid reasons for using compounding drugs, including patients that may be allergic to a binder in standard medication, patients with swallowing issues and children who may require a smaller dose. According to Paduda, compounded drugs account for less than 1 percent of prescriptions in the country. Though valid reason may exist for their use, there is currently little testing or oversight of compounded drugs. Workers compensation systems are seeing a rise in dermal absorption compounded drugs, something Paduda said is potentially dangerous and likely ineffective. He has seen prices range between $300-$21,000 for compounded medication. Many states have no control over price or the number of scripts, he added. To get around bans and restrictions, compounding kits are being created for physicians to mix and dispense topical medication to patients. Some possible solutions, he said, include placing reimbursement limits per script or per ingredient, capping the number of ingredients or the total cost per script. Other ideas include allowing employers a retrospective review with the option to deny coverage for a medication, allowing pre-authorization subject to certain requirements and allowing employers the ability to direct injured workers to a network of specified pharmacies. By PTI: By Shirish B Pradhan Kathmandu, Nov 22 (PTI) Nepal today geared up for the first round of provincial and parliamentary polls seen as the last step in the countrys transition to a federal democracy, with all the parties making all-out efforts to convince voters by holding rallies and door-to-door campaigning. Nepal is holding provincial and parliamentary elections in two phases on November 26 and December 7. advertisement The elections are being seen as the final step in Nepals transition to a federal democracy following a decade-long civil war till 2006 that claimed more than 16,000 lives. General Secretary of the ruling Nepali Congress, Shashank Koirala has said that people should vote for his party to safeguard democracy. He said that the Nepali Congress will emerge victorious in the elections despite an alliance forged among the CPN-UML, CPN-Maoist Centre and other fringe leftist groups. Speaking at an election rally in Solukhumbu district, he said that the Left alliance was born out of selfish interest, and it would collapse soon after the elections. "The leftist electoral alliance would endanger democracy in the country," he claimed. Meanwhile, CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli has said the upcoming elections are vital for the economic prosperity and political stability in the country and the alliance between his party and CPN (Maoist Center) is essential. Speaking at another programme in Nawalparasi district, Oli alleged that the Nepali Congress leadership could not bail the country out of the current political crisis. With stiff competition expected from the UML-Maoist alliance in the polls, the Nepali Congress and Madhes-based parties are under pressure to forge electoral alliances across the Madhes districts neighbouring India even at the eleventh hour, according to political observers. Party insiders said there was mounting pressure from local level leaders and cadres in various districts to work further on the electoral alliance. Earlier, the NC and the two Madhes-based parties had been engaged in negotiations, but could not forge an electoral alliance. Meanwhile, police arrested five cadres of Netra Bikram Chand led Nepal Communist Party (NCP) from Syangja district in western Nepal and three from Ilam district in eastern Nepal today. The police said that the NCP cadres were arrested for carrying out anti-poll activities. Around half a dozen small bombs were exploded in various parts of the country over the weekend targeting candidates, in which at least a dozen people were injured. The role of the NCP is suspected in some of these incidents. Election campaign will end on Friday mid-night, 48 hours ahead of the polls. advertisement The polls are taking place under a new Constitution passed by lawmakers in September 2015 as part of a peace process that began with the end of a decade-long civil war. The polls are a major step toward implementing the new Constitution. PTI SBP NSA --- ENDS --- By PTI: Melbourne, Nov 22 (PTI) Scientists have developed a new dipstick technology that enables pathogen detection and the rapid diagnosis of human, animal and plant diseases in even the most remote locations. The technology developed by researchers from the University of Queensland in Australia could extract DNA and RNA from living organisms in as little as 30 seconds without specialised equipment or personnel. advertisement "We have successfully used the dipsticks in remote plantations in Papua New Guinea to diagnose sick trees, and have applied it to livestock, human samples, pathogens in food, and in detecting environmental risks such as E coli- contaminated water," said Jimmy Botella, Professor at Queensland. "This technology will give people in developed and developing nations a new way of tackling a range of agricultural, health and environmental problems," said Botella, who led the research published in the journal PLOS Biology. Current commercial kits could isolate DNA and RNA through a long and cumbersome process requiring specialised laboratory equipment that was impractical in the field. The research team initially developed the dipstick technology for particular plants and later found it could purify DNA from many agriculturally important species. "We found it had much broader implications as it could be used to purify either DNA or RNA from human blood, viruses, fungi and bacterial pathogens from infected plants or animals," Botella said. The technology eliminates the need for a specialised laboratory for sample preparation, and is a lot simpler, faster and cheaper than anything else available, making diagnostics accessible to everyone, Botella said. "Our dipsticks, combined with other technologies developed by our group, mean the entire diagnostic process from sample collection to final result could be easily performed in a hospital, farm, hotel room or even a remote area such as a tropical jungle," he said. PTI SAR SAR --- ENDS --- By India Today Web Desk: BrahMos supersonic cruise missile tested successfully from IAF's Sukhoi fighter jet The missile test will "significantly bolster" the Air Force's air combat operations capability from stand-off ranges, the Defence Ministry said in a statement. 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed to be released from house arrest in Pakistan tomorrow The Lahore High Court today ordered the release of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed, who has been under house arrest since January this year. advertisement Hong Kong Open: PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal advance, Parupalli Kashyap bows out PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal won their respective women's singles matches to reach the second round of the Hong Kong Open while Parupalli Kashyap and Sourabh Verma bowed out. Tiger Zinda Hai to Fukrey Returns: How the delay in Padmavati release will benefit other films With Padmavati release pushed indefinitely, other films are benefiting from its delay. --- ENDS --- At the Old Homestead Steakhouse in New York City, you can experience America's most extravagant Thanksgiving it might just set you back a bit. The restaurant is offering a $76,000 Thanksgiving package that is so over-the-top, it's hard to imagine ever going back to a home-cooked meal. To put the cost in perspective, it's about $16,000 more than the median U.S. household income, according to the Census Bureau. "What we focused on is using the most expensive ingredients that we possibly could find from all over the world," explains Marc Sherry, who co-owns the restaurant with his brother Greg. "Not only is this a culinary extravaganza, it's a cornucopia of inedible amenities." The restaurant started offering the concept three years ago at a price of $35,000, but has added something different each year. A Thanksgiving dinner in 2015 featured a 2-carat emerald cut diamond engagement ring hidden in the stuffing at the base of the turkey, which one customer used to propose to his girlfriend at the restaurant. When CNBC's Jim Cramer talks about the "era of good feelings," he's not referencing the U.S. history books. "No, I'm talking about this week of Thanksgiving, where the buyers pay up and the sellers walk away," the "Mad Money" host said. "It's almost as if there's a selling ban." Cramer found more than a few examples of this in Tuesday's market layout, beginning with the stock of Apple . Even with several articles casting Apple's new HomePod as worse than the Amazon Echo and news that the smart speaker's release will be delayed until next year, shares of Apple steadily climbed intraday. "Negative, negative, negative, negative. What does the stock do? Rallies three bucks. Why? Because the sellers are on strike," Cramer said. Shares of Facebook were also rising despite a Buzzfeed story about the social media giant's trepidatious standing in Russia, a piece about Chinese tech player Tencent surpassing Facebook in valuation and an unfavorable tweet from Mark Cuban: "I think the big losers of the DOJ suing to block the @ATT deal will be @FB and @Google," Cuban wrote. "Their media advertising , content and distribution dominance will be a defense at trial. That could create bigger issues for them." The stocks of Micron and Western Digital , which some fear may eventually overwhelm the market with supply of DRAM and flash chips, also lifted on Tuesday. "In this era of good feelings, money managers suspend their critical faculties," Cramer said. "It's almost as if these longtime worries have up and vanished. But nothing's changed. The sellers are just letting the stocks lift and the buyers are reaching like mad." Certainly, there were several areas where the sellers remained on Tuesday, namely the turbulent oil stocks, the discount retailers after a disappointing quarter from DSW and the stock of General Electric after a brutal price target cut by Deutsche Bank. Cramer said that this lapse in selling is typically a "Thanksgiving phenomenon," but given the state of the bull market, even the "Mad Money" host wasn't so sure when it would end. "Maybe investors have simply decided they should pay more for the same earnings numbers, giving us the gift of multiple expansion," he said. "The bottom line? I've got an idea: if you really are scared of this market like so many are, if you truly believe there will be a crash or something terrible is out there a view I do not subscribe to then feel free to use the era of good feelings to lighten up. Nobody ever got hurt selling into strength." A huge online advertising scam has been exposed that could be costing businesses, primarily in the U.S., almost $1.3 million a day. Over the past eight weeks, thousands of publishers have been subject to bots creating fake versions of their websites, a technique called "domain spoofing," according to a paper published Wednesday by ad technology company Adform. Brands inadvertently bought advertising space on these fake sites via ad exchanges, promotions that were seen by computers not humans, meaning that advertisers wasted money and publishers missed out on ad dollars. Adform suggests that this new bot, dubbed "HyphBot," is three to four times the size of the Methbot scam discovered by White Ops in December 2016. Methbot was said to originate in Russia and used a network of bots to fake views of as many as 300 million video ads per day. Adform estimates that HyphBot cost businesses between $262,000 and $1.28 million a day, adding that clients using its platform were protected, costing them less than $1,000 a month. This Black Friday, brave the crowds to save on books, movies and music but consider staying home if you're looking for deep discounts on jewelry and clothing. Those are the results of an analysis by WalletHub, a website that offers free credit reports. Analysts on the site took to Amazon.com in October and November to study the prices of an array of items. Afterward, they compared those data to prices listed in this year's Black Friday ads to quantify the amount of savings. The study found that shoppers who wait until Black Friday to snag books, movies and music save more than half off the advertised price. (Click the graphic below to enlarge.) Scott Mlyn | CNBC "This year has been a rewarding one for stock investors. Anyone who missed the rally probably wonders if it is too late to join the party. We don't believe it is," said Andrew Swan, BlackRock's head of Asian and global emerging markets equities. The high returns seen in Asian equities, he added, have been led by a better-than-expected and synchronized global economic expansion, which helped companies register better earnings growth a trend that looks set to continue into 2018. Asia is a big beneficiary of a continued recovery in the global economy, Swan said. And a weak U.S. dollar, which is not expected to pick up much next year, will add to the region's advantage, he added. Even though valuations have gone up, they are only "back to multi-year averages" at the moment, compared to other asset classes globally where prices are "on the expensive side versus history," Swan said. "So Asia still remains cheap relative to history and relative to other asset classes," he said. watch now Two Boeing 747-400s sold on an Alibaba -owned e-commerce website for $48 million, making the pair of jumbo jets the highest-value sale ever for Taobao. The two "Queens of the Sky" were from a bankrupt cargo company, Jade Cargo International, and sold to Chinese logistics company SF Express, according to the listing. The Intermediate People's Court of Shenzhen City had attempted six previous offline auctions, BBC reported, before putting the planes up on Taobao. The bids on one of the planes opened Monday at 135 million yuan, with 27 bids placed before the final sale of just over 162 million yuan, or about $25 million. A third plane went unsold due to only one buyer registering to bid, Chinese news agency Xinhua reported. The bids still are not the highest-ever sale on an online auction site, according to BBC. The No. 1 sale remains a superyacht that went for $85 million on eBay in 2006. Alibaba, eBay and Boeing did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The sales represent the next chapter in the 747's long history, as the jumbo jets face retirement among passenger carriers, though they are still used as air freighters. Earlier this month, United Airlines retired the 747 from its fleet with a final flight to Hawaii. Delta Air Lines , now the last U.S. carrier operating the plane, plans to offer its last commercial flights aboard its 747s at the end of the year. CNBC's Leslie Josephs contributed to this report. Boston Dynamics has wowed the world with its series of two and four-legged robots, but one analyst said Wednesday they are yet to become the military's best friend. Last month, a sneak preview of the firm's upgraded SpotMini robot was released. The short video showcased its new color scheme, angular movement and prancing style. SpotMini is the latest evolution in Boston Dynamics' family of ambulatory (walking) robots that started with the BigDog system, developed with support from DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) and the U.S. Marine Corps. The U.S. military is leading the charge on ground robotics as it looks to produce an unmanned vehicle that can accompany troops moving on foot. But Huw Williams, editor of Jane's International Defence Review magazine, told CNBC by email Wednesday that the reception from the army has been mixed. "They can operate in a lot of terrain, but don't have the mobility to go everywhere," he said. "Their noise signature is an issue battery technology isn't where it needs to be to meet the power requirements of larger systems, so they have been powered by traditional combustion engines, which are noisy." By PTI: Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 22 (PTI) Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan today said there were no intelligence reports, stating that he was facing a threat to his life. Vijayan was talking to reporters after a cabinet meeting here. Asked about a report in a Malayalam newspaper about intelligence reports stating that there was a threat to his life, Vijayan replied in the negative. advertisement There were no such intelligence reports, the chief minister said. On the media not being allowed inside the secretariat yesterday, he said neither he nor his office had given any instructions to keep the media at bay. Yesterday, media personnel, including those from TV channels besides photographers, were not allowed to enter the secretariat to cover the handing over of the Judicial commission report on sleaze talk allegations against former Transport minister A K Saseendran. Security personnel had stopped them near the Cantonment gate and did not allow them entry. "We have no intention to prevent the media from doing its work," the chief minister said. However, he said, the media personnel should not try to "forcibly" elicit reactions from anyone. "It is time the media draws up a protocol in this regard," he said.PTI UD BN RBS --- ENDS --- Whitman, who ran unsuccessfully for governor of California in 2010 as a Republican and endorsed Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, told CNBC she would "definitely not be running for office." "I've said for many years the next CEO of this company needs to be someone we have promoted from within, someone who is a deep enterprise technologist, who knows the company loves the company." "Antonio's ready, the company's ready, and it's the right time," Whitman said in an interview Wednesday on CNBC's " Squawk on the Street ." Hewlett Packard Enterprise 's stock price tumbled Wednesday a day after the company announced that Meg Whitman is stepping down as CEO. Whitman joined Hewlett-Packard in 2011 and oversaw the company's split into two brands. She remained as CEO at the newly streamlined HPE, prioritizing cloud services and spinning off product and consumer hardware to HP Inc. Whitman is leaving a decidedly different company than the one she joined six years ago, having pushed for the company's split. "I believe the future belongs to the fast," Whitman said. "And it was just too big and too cumbersome and competed in too many markets to do the very best job in all of them." Her tenure at HPE saw a ramping up of acquisitions eight in the last two years, she told CNBC. Neri has been with the company since 1995, working his way up to the company's top ranks. Whitman will remain on the board and Neri will join it, the company said. "[Neri] and I have been joined at the hip in deciding about those acquisitions," Whitman said. "He's been really my right-hand executive for well over four years." Whitman said she is not sure of her next step, but that any next CEO position would have to be "exactly the right opportunity." She reportedly spoke to Uber about a CEO position after the ride-hailing company booted founder Travis Kalanick in June. The company selected Dara Khosrowshahi. Whitman told analysts Tuesday that she'll be taking a little downtime and said there's "no chance" she will join a competitor to HPE or HP. CNBC Global CFO Council represents some of the largest public and private companies in the world, collectively managing more than $4 trillion in market capitalization across a wide variety of sectors. watch now A majority of North American CFOs (54.2 percent) say they support the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which the Senate is expected to vote on Friday, but they also revealed a truth about the limits of trickle-down economics that won't make American workers happy: If tax reform passes, don't expect a raise. Only one-third of CFOs (33.4 percent) said they think corporate tax reform will lead to increased wages for workers. Twenty-one percent of CFOs said the tax-reform plan will not lead to higher wages, while 45.8 percent were ambivalent or were uncertain of the bill's effect on worker pay. CFOs are confident that the bill's reforms will have a positive impact on U.S. economic conditions. In addition, 70.9 percent agree (29.2 percent strongly) that corporate tax reforms will create more U.S. jobs, while 83.3 percent agree (20.8 percent strongly) that corporate tax reforms will stimulate U.S. economic growth. The CNBC Global CFO Council represents some of the largest public and private companies in the world, collectively managing more than $4 trillion in market capitalization across a wide variety of sectors. The quarterly poll was conducted from Nov. 3Nov. 16. Questions about tax reform were asked of North American members only. North American CFOs have frequently cited corporate tax reform as the most important issue to their companies. After President Donald Trump was elected in November 2016, 73.9 percent of CFOs said corporate tax reform should be his administration's No. 1 priority. But for the last 12 months, they have remained skeptical that the Republican-controlled Congress can make it happen. Income Tax Regulations books sit in the House Ways and Means Committee before the start of a markup hearing on the Tax Cut And Jobs Act in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, Nov. 9, 2017. Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images On Thursday the Joint Committee on Taxation projected that the Senate plan would add $1 trillion to the deficit, but GOP leaders said Friday they remain confident about a successful vote. Measures reportedly being debated to make up the budget gap include increasing the proposed corporate rate above 20 percent something Trump and influential corporate donors, including the Koch brothers, are dead-set against. Or possibly raising the rate on repatriated assets cash held overseas by corporations. Roughly 46 percent of CFOs in the survey group said their company's effective tax rate won't be lower in 2018 compared to 2017, a sign that some are unsure about tax reform passing, while other companies already may be paying lower effective tax rates. Repatriation A year ago repatriation of overseas cash ran a distant second in terms of administration priorities for CFOs, with 17.4 percent of U.S. CFOs calling for a repatriation holiday or permanent lower tax on overseas profits brought back to the United States. Now just under 46 percent of U.S. CFOs say they would take advantage of the tax plans reduced rate to repatriate some or all of their repatriated cash. And 8.3 percent say they would not take advantage, while another 37.5 percent say their firms are not holding a significant amount of cash overseas. Asked what they would do with the repatriated funds, 29.2 percent say they would buy back stock, the most popular response. The percentage of those who use overseas cash to invest in new plants, equipment or technology: 20.8 percent, compared to 12.5 percent who would raise dividends. Only 8.3 percent plan to use repatriated cash to increase headcount. Other big business stories this year While 20 percent of respondents answered "tax reform" to the open-ended question, "What is the biggest business news story of 2017?," another said "euro strengthening" is the biggest story alongside tax reform. Brexit was the next most common answer among the global council and, not surprisingly, the most common response among EMEA CFOs. Other CFOs cited a wide range of stories as the most important business news story of the year, including multiple responses about Trump, ranging from "Trump impact on financial markets" to "Trump presidency and resulting uncertainty" to "Washington dysfunction." The CNBC survey of CFOs across the globe found that chief financial officers think bitcoin "is for real," but many also think the digital currency is in a bubble. Here are the full results of this quarter's survey: A citizen shows new 100 yuan notes she withdrew at a counter of China Construction Bank in the Hangzhou province of China. China has been pumping a lot of cash into its system to lift market sentiment, as the world's second-largest economy walks a thin line between curbing debt and keeping everything running smoothly. Last week, the People's Bank of China injected cash totaling 810 billion Chinese yuan ($122.4 billion) in five straight days of daily liquidity management operations. Those actions, which represented the largest weekly net increase since January, were in part a Beijing response to its 10-year sovereign bond yields spiking to multiyear highs, experts said. "Surging Chinese government bond yields hit the nerve of policymakers, so in order to further prevent a greater surge, they injected liquidity into the system to improve market sentiment," said Ken Cheung, a foreign exchange strategist at Mizuho Bank who focuses on Chinese currencies and monetary policies. Nomura analysts said last week in a note that the bond rout was due to fears of regulatory tightening from Beijing. Bond yields, which move inversely to prices, briefly hit 4 percent in China for the first time in three years. A rise in the benchmark government bond yield threatens to drive up overall borrowing costs and potentially worsen the country's debt situation. On Monday and Tuesday of this week, the PBOC injected a net 30 billion yuan ($4.5 billion), but it didn't expand that money supply on Wednesday. Analysts said that pause may have been due to market sentiment seemingly stabilizing, but it may be short-lived. As Chinese 10-year yields are still near the psychologically important 4 percent level, Cheung told CNBC he expects more injections ahead if necessary, as Beijing needs to "maintain liquidity to please the market." President Donald Trump (C) speaks before signing the Energy Independence Executive Order at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Headquarters in Washington, DC, March 28, 2017, with Vice President Mike Pence (L) and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt (R). Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images During a question-and-answer period at the America First Energy Conference in Houston this month, an audience member had an inquiry for panelists at a session billed as one of the day's most important. Why not sue the Environmental Protection Agency over its efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions? After all, CO2 is essential to all life on earth, he noted. Harry MacDougald, an attorney on the panel, smiled and pointed to David Schnare, a former member of President Donald Trump's EPA transition team who had a combative relationship with climate scientists during his more than three decades at the agency. Schnare also smiled before leaning into the mic. "We're going to do that. It won't be everybody on Earth, but ... I think we're going to look at specific farmers, large farmers who are harmed by reductions in CO2. I think that's where we're going," Schnare said. The endangerment finding is the root of all global warming evil at the EPA. Steven Milloy author and former Trump EPA transition team member The idea of suing the EPA on behalf of farmers is just one of several strategies that conservatives are pursuing in their quest for the holy grail of environmental deregulation. That prize is revoking the EPA's endangerment finding, the 2009 determination that requires the agency to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. That finding says carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions from human activity, which trap heat in the atmosphere and warm the planet, endanger public health and welfare. The endangerment finding underpinned President Barack Obama's efforts to control emissions from automobiles, power plants, oil and gas wells and other sources. It's little surprise, then, that the finding loomed over the entire America First Energy Conference, hosted by the Heartland Institute, a free-market think tank that has worked for years to undermine the consensus among climate scientists that human-caused emissions are the primary driver of global warming. A major goal of the conference, preceded by a day of closed-door strategy sessions, was to continue assembling the scaffolding that will make it easier for EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, himself a climate change skeptic, to tear down the endangerment finding. He has so far been reluctant to take up the task. watch now So long as the endangerment finding stands, the EPA is required to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. If it can be struck down, the Trump EPA could potentially wipe the slate clear. "The endangerment finding is the root of all global warming evil at the EPA," said Steven Milloy, another former Trump EPA transition team member and an author who runs the climate denial website junkscience.com. Current and former coal executives told the conference that building or restoring coal-fired plants will remain impossible so long as the finding stands. "Every day that goes by that endangerment is in place American society is at risk," said Heartland fellow and former Peabody Energy Senior Vice President Frederick Palmer. "Every day that goes by that people are still wanting to close coal plants, American society is at risk." Groups like the Heartland Institute have found a sympathetic ear in Trump, who has dismissed climate change as a hoax and vowed to revive the coal industry. The Trump administration is currently reviewing Obama-era emissions rules and is widely expected to issue far less stringent regulations. Those regulations are, in turn, expected to draw lawsuits from environmentalists who will surely point to the endangerment finding. @realDonaldTrump: The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive. David Doniger, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council's climate and clean air program, believes the endangerment finding will withstand any assault. "It's built on a Mount Everest of peer-reviewed data," he said. "Even if you were able to knock out one of them, the mountain would still stand. In fact, what they have to do is assemble a super Mount Everest of contrary evidence, and it doesn't exist." Tearing down the endangerment finding Rather than build that contrarian Everest, one strategy is to take apart the EPA's mountain stone by stone. Richard Belzer, a regulatory economics consultant, encouraged conference attendees to exploit a system that lets Americans ask federal agencies to review and correct information they've disseminated to the public. The mechanism was put in place to weed out data that don't meet the agency's information quality standards. The idea is to get the EPA to throw out hundreds of pieces of specific evidence it used to make the endangerment finding. If climate skeptics can get the Trump EPA to call into question the data behind climate policy, then a judge who later hears arguments won't have to consider the complicated scientific evidence only the fact that the agency rescinded that evidence. "What information quality does is it provides a procedure whereby you can convert a scientific issue into a process issue that judges can understand. That is the key to making it successful," he said. watch now Others are targeting just a few pillars of the endangerment finding. MacDougald, an attorney at Caldwell, Propst & DeLoach who has long fought the endangerment finding, filed a petition this year with the EPA that challenges the science behind the determination. He believes the EPA left itself vulnerable by focusing on three lines of evidence: its baseline understanding of climate, recent temperature records and climate models created with computers. "It's a goal post that cannot be moved," MacDougald said. "That's where they've planted the flag and that's the hill they've picked to die on, so if you kill the three lines of evidence, you have killed the endangerment finding." To be sure, these strategies would require that EPA officials and judges buy into contrarian claims that most of the scientific community dismisses as fringe views unsupported by evidence. But Pruitt has sought to elevate those views by calling for a debate between mainstream climate scientists and skeptics. He tapped the Heartland Institute to recruit climate change deniers for the debate. Schnare, the former member of Trump's transition team, made another point at the conference: strategies that other administrations might immediately dismiss could be embraced by Trump. Frustration with Trump Still, there is frustration with the president. Schnare notes that just prior to the conference, the Fourth National Climate Assessment, issued by 13 federal agencies, concluded that human activity is almost certainly the primary cause of global warming since the mid-20th century. He blames that in part on Trump's failure to nominate someone to lead the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. "This president has yet to get somebody into OSTP to get their hands around the bad science," he told the conference. "If you have that report sitting out there and then Scott Pruitt decides he's going to put a bunch of people in a room and come up with a different report, now you have competing reports," he told the conference. Myron Ebell, who led Trump's EPA transiton team, also criticized the president for not quickly nominating people to positions where they can steer the agenda. He noted that Trump waited until last month to nominate Kathleen Hartnett White, a prominent climate change denier, to lead the White House Council on Environmental Quality. "The major failing of the Trump administration is the totally dysfunctional personnel process," Ebell, director of the Center for Energy and Environment at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told CNBC on the sidelines of the conference. "It seems to stem directly from the president. He has said several times that he doesn't think we need to fill all these jobs, and ... at least some people in the White House think that they can run the entire government out of the White House. Well, that's incredibly naive." This is the second in a series of reports from CNBC on the growing influence of climate change skeptics on environmental and energy policy under the Trump administration. Read the first report on how skeptics plan to pressure Trump here. WATCH: US states and cities are still working on climate change efforts Saudi army officers walk past F-15 fighter jets, GBU bombs and missiles. FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP/Getty Images Saudi Arabia and Iran's ongoing battle for power and influence rages on in the Middle East but analysts aren't convinced that an all-out war will happen, yet. Many neighboring countries have been drawn into the conflict with Qatar, Yemen, Syria and Lebanon becoming proxy battlegrounds in the fight for regional dominance. Relations between Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia and Shia-dominated Iran have deteriorated to a new low recently, particularly over the ongoing civil war in Yemen and the political crisis engulfing Lebanon which has seen its Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri resign over what he called Iranian meddling. This has led to speculation that all-out war could be declared by one or another of the Middle Eastern superpowers. A source in the Iranian government, who asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the situation, told CNBC last week that Iran was a "peaceful nation" but that it was prepared for conflict if that was the only option left to it. "We love peace, we're not looking for war but sometimes you should be prepared for war," the source said. 'Pursuing divisions and creating differences' At the weekend Saudi Arabia convened its Arab League allies in Cairo for an emergency meeting to discuss what it said were "violations" in the region. The group criticized Iran and its Lebanese Shi'ite ally Hezbollah and also called for a united front to counter Iranian interference, Reuters reported. "The kingdom will not stand by and will not hesitate to defend its security," Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir told the assembly, according to Reuters, adding, "We must stand together." Iran's foreign minister responded to the meeting by saying Saudi Arabia and its allies were "pursuing divisions and creating differences." Pat Thaker, regional director for the Middle East and Africa at the Economist Intelligence Unit, told CNBC that against a backdrop of "historic intense rivalry" between the two countries, it "doesn't take much for tensions to flare up." watch now If there was a conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran, however, Thaker said "it would be the most dangerous times for the Middle East and the world. But neither Saudi Arabia nor Iran want war." Thaker also characterized the tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran as a struggle for religious authority in the Middle East, saying that Saudi Arabia was prepared to go to extreme lengths to stop any spread of Iranian influence. "Saudi Arabia will fight tooth and nail to retain that position as the head of Islam and the Middle East. It will even go to bed with Israel to stop Iran," she said, alluding to the fact that the Jewish state is hardly a natural ally for the Islamic kingdom although they both fear and resent the rise of Iran. On Sunday, Israel's energy minister confirmed that there had been what he called "covert" contacts between Saudi Arabia and Israel amid concerns over Iran but suggested that Saudi Arabia had wanted to keep "the ties quiet," Reuters reported. Proxy wars Saudi Arabia and Iran have rival interests and alliances across the Middle East, from Syria to Lebanon, Yemen to Qatar. Regional conflicts in these countries often see Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia and Shia-majority Iran supporting different factions that are often split down religious lines. With Yemen's civil war, for example, Saudi Arabia backs the Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, a Sunni. Meanwhile, Iran backs the Shia Houthi rebels loyal to the country's former President Ali Abdulla Saleh. Tensions ratcheted up a notch several weeks ago when Saudi Arabia accused Iran of being behind a ballistic missile attack carried out by Houthi militias. The missiles were intercepted as they headed to the Saudi capital Riyadh, Saudi Arabia said, adding that it perceived the attack as a "declaration of war" by Iran. Iran described the allegations as "unfounded." Meanwhile, tensions between Saudi Arabia and Qatar already high due to Saudi-led economic blockade on the country have also risen because Qatar restored diplomatic ties with Iran. Attentions have also turned to Lebanon after the surprise resignation of Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri due to what he said was Iran's meddling in his country and his fears of an assignation plot. There has been speculation that Hariri's resignation made when he was in the Saudi capital of Riyadh was orchestrated by the country's leadership and that he was held against his will, claims which he has denied. Amid continuing confusion over the resignation, Hariri has since traveled to Paris at the invitation of French President Emmanuel Macron, before returning to Beirut in time for the country's Independence Day celebrations on Wednesday where he suspended his resignation. Cold War Marcus Chevenix, Middle East and North Africa (MENA) analyst at TS Lombard, told CNBC Monday that Saudi Arabia's foreign policies, under the aegis of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, are hard to understand. "Domestically his (Mohammed bin Salman's) actions are radical but comprehensible, but on a foreign stage they're very hard to make sense of at all," Chevenix said. watch now Evian and Volvic owner Danone has put money into a Hawaiian bottled water from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, showing the depths multinationals will now go to in the quest to stand out. The investment in Kona Deep, for an undisclosed sum, is the fifth in a year for Danone Manifesto Ventures, a fund the French food giant set up last year to invest in entrepreneurial companies, which are eating away at the dominance of big brands. Kona Deep sources its water from a deep ocean current off the coast of Hawaii. The two-year-old company says its water has a unique blend of naturally occurring electrolytes and minerals that make it extra-hydrating. Danone, the world's No. 3 bottled water company, is one of nine food giants to set up such a fund recently. Kona Deep is typically priced at parity with Evian in the U.S. retail market, the companies said. One liter Kona Deep bottle retails from $2.29 to $2.69, depending on the retailer, with Evian roughly in the same range. After being pumped through a pipe that reaches 3,000 feet below the ocean's surface, Kona Deep desalinates the water using reverse osmosis, and bottles it. Danone did not give details about the environmental impact of the process, but said on Tuesday ocean water was a renewable source and that Kona Deep sources it in a "responsible and sustainable manner." Kona Deep can benefit from Danone's experience with eco-friendly packaging and community management, it added. Danone is taking a minority stake as part of Kona Deep's $5.5 million capital raising effort, which also includes private equity firm Grand Crossing Capital and local Hawaiian investors. The brand has recently expanded from Hawaii to the U.S. mainland and plans to use the funds to expand distribution and production capacity. Tumbleweed Tiny Homes is a Colorado manufacturer facing massive issues. Its owner, Steve Weissman, lacks the leadership skills needed and has put the business in over a million dollars of debt. Now, Steve struggles to create a consistent business model and morale is at an all-time low. If Marcus Lemonis can't get him to change his outlook and put the company before his own interests, the entire organization will collapse. Get a sneak peek above. The Profit All New Tuesdays 10P ET/PT About "The Profit" When Marcus Lemonis isn't running his multi-billion dollar company, Camping World, he goes on the hunt for struggling businesses that are desperate for cash and ripe for a deal. In each one-hour episode of The Profit, Lemonis makes an offer that's impossible to refuse; his cash for a piece of the business and a percentage of the profits. And once inside these companies, he'll do almost anything to save the business and make himself a profit; even if it means firing the president, promoting the secretary or doing the work himself. The former director of the Office of Government Ethics said Wednesday that White House counselor Kellyanne Conway likely violated the Hatch Act when she attacked Alabama Democratic Senate candidate Doug Jones during a recent interview on Fox News. Walter Shaub, who now leads the ethics practice at the nonprofit Campaign Legal Center, later wrote the he had filed a formal complaint with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel. OSC is the Justice Department agency responsible for conducting Hatch Act investigations. "She's standing In front of the White House. It seems pretty clear she was appearing in her official capacity when she advocated against a candidate. This is at least as clear a violation of 5 U.S.C. 7323(a)(1) as OSC identified with regard to Castro," wrote Shaub on Twitter, referring to an official finding in 2016 that then-Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro had violated the law. She's standing In front of the White House. It seems pretty clear she was appearing in her official capacity when she advocated against a candidate. This is at least as clear a violation of 5 U.S.C. 7323(a)(1) as OSC identified with regard to Castro The Hatch Act prohibits most executive branch federal employees from taking "any active part" in political campaigns while they're acting in an official capacity. The president and vice president are exempt from Hatch Act restrictions, but White House staff like Conway are subject to them. During a Monday appearance on Fox and Friends, Conway answered a question about Alabama Republican Senate nominee Roy Moore, who has been accused of sexual assault of a minor, by pivoting to attack Moore's opponent in next month's special election. "Doug Jones in Alabama, folks, don't be fooled. He will be a vote against tax cuts. He is weak on crime. Weak on borders. He's strong on raising your taxes. He is terrible for property owners," Conway said. "I just want everybody to know Doug Jones, nobody ever says his name and pretends he is some kind of conservative Democrat in Alabama. And he's not." Shortly after Shaub tweeted about the complaint, another former White House ethics czar agreed that Conway appears to have crossed the line. Richard Painter served as director of the Office of Government Ethics under former President George W. Bush, and is a frequent critic of the Trump administration's ethics practices. This is an official interview. She has violated the Hatch Act by using her position to take sides in a partisan election. That is a firing offense. And for her this is strike two. Reached for comment, White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah said Conway had been speaking about issues, not about whether or not people should vote for Jones. "Ms. Conway did not advocate for or against the election of a candidate, and specifically declined to encourage Alabamans to vote a certain way. She was speaking about issues and her support for the President's agenda. This election is for the people of Alabama to decide," Shah told CNBC. This is not the first time that Conway has been the subject of an ethics complaint. Earlier this year, she was officially "counseled" on federal ethics rules after she used her official platform to promote Ivanka Trump's clothing line. Government employees are largely prohibited from promoting private businesses during performance of their official duties. "Go buy Ivanka's stuff, is what I would say. I hate shopping I'm going to buy stuff today," Conway said on Fox and Friends in February. "It's a wonderful line. I own some of it. I'm going to give a free commercial here. Go buy it today, everybody. You can find it online." NASA tested exactly that on October 12 and Tuesday announced the results of the competition: The world-class drone pilot was faster but the autonomous drone was more consistent. Drone pilot Ken Loo was brought in by the team at NASA to race against the artificial intelligence-powered drone. Loo averaged 11.1 seconds for the drone loop while the autonomous drone averaged 13.9 seconds. But the course was tricky. "This is definitely the densest track I've ever flown," says Loo in a statement released by NASA. "One of my faults as a pilot is I get tired easily. When I get mentally fatigued, I start to get lost, even if I've flown the course 10 times." Indeed, the AI drone was steadier, says NASA. "We pitted our algorithms against a human, who flies a lot more by feel," says Rob Reid, the project's task manager, in the written statement. "You can actually see that the A.I. flies the drone smoothly around the course, whereas human pilots tend to accelerate aggressively, so their path is jerkier." As U.K. Finance Minister Philip Hammond prepares to deliver a key update to the country's budget, there are expectations that it will not include a mention of the so-called "Brexit bill" that the U.K. will have to pay to exit the European Union (EU), an economist told CNBC Wednesday. Known in the U.K. as the Autumn Budget, Hammond will outline on Wednesday how and where the U.K. government will be spending in the next year, as well as projecting borrowing and deficit figures over the next years. One expected expense in the near future is the financial contribution to the EU before the U.K. leaves the bloc. The Brexit bill aims to guarantee that there will be no loopholes in the EU budget once the U.K. a net contributor leaves the Union. But Sam Hill, a senior U.K. economist at RBC Capital Markets told CNBC it was "highly unlikely" that there will be reference to the Brexit bill in the budget on Wednesday. He believes that the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), which prepares the economic forecasts that the finance minister uses as a basis for his budget plans, will not include any Brexit bill until the negotiations have ended. By PTI: New Delhi, Nov 22 (PTI) About 6.71 lakh litres of liquor, Rs 1.38 crore in cash and gold and jewellery worth over Rs eight crore have been seized by the EC-appointed surveillance and expenditure monitoring teams in poll-bound Gujarat. Gujarat is a dry state. As per official data, the Election Commission (EC) teams have so far seized suspected illicit cash amounting to Rs 1.38 crore, 6.71 lakh litres of liquor and 27.02 kg of gold and other precious metals valued at Rs 8.13 crore. advertisement Separately, 3,650 pounds (about Rs 3.11 lakh) and 30,000 Thai currency has also been seized by the EC teams, as per the data. The EC has appointed about 100 election expenditure observers in Gujarat, apart from other central observers, to keep a check on black money and illegal inducements used to bribe voters. The 182-member Gujarat Assembly will go to the polls in two phases on December 9 and 14. The counting of votes will be taken up on December 18. PTI NES AAR --- ENDS --- The weekly grocery shop can be a familiar routine. Times are changing, though, with many of us now choosing to buy our essentials in different ways. Sixty-five percent of Britons now "regularly or occasionally" visit the supermarket more than once a day, while 11 percent decide what they'll have for supper "just before" eating, according to the Waitrose Food and Drink Report for 2017-18. Innovation is also driving change in the U.K, and technology has been at the heart of online supermarket Ocado's business since it was launched in 2000. Today, the company, which describes itself as "the world's largest dedicated online grocery retailer," says it has more than 600,000 active customers. The business was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2010, and in 2015 exceeded 1 billion ($1.32 billion) in annual sales. Towards the end of last year, Ocado began operations at an automated warehouse in Andover, southern England. The site makes use of cloud-based technology and swarm robotics to collect grocery orders. "There, we have thousands of robots flying around, and there's no way that human engineers could monitor those in real-time, let alone make sense of all the data that's being streamed back by those robots," Paul Clarke, Ocado's chief technology officer, told CNBC. "So all of it is being sent to the cloud and there we're building smart, machine learning based analytics to analyze that data." Clarke added that the business wanted to "pepper the planet" with automated warehouses, both for itself and business-to-business (B2B) customers. Ocado is not the only company looking to use robots to transform the way businesses are run. Amazon Robotics, a wholly-owned subsidiary of tech giant Amazon, was set up in 2003. It automates the business' fulfilment centers using a range of robotic technology such as machine learning, depth sensing and autonomous mobile robots. While Ocado sells produce to consumers via its website, it is also entering into agreements with other businesses. Its website describes the Ocado Smart Platform as a "proprietary solution for operating online retail businesses." The smart platform is offered as a managed service. "The way to think about it is as software as a service, which people are very used to, but with hardware thrown into the mix as well," Clarke said. "We're not just going to hand this technology over to these customers and kind of wish them luck, we're actually going to run it for them, we're going to build it into the warehouse and then we're going to operate it for them and we're going to guarantee its throughput," he added. This, Clarke said, meant it was a much less risky option than if a business was just buying technology and integrating it themselves. Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook. Martin Dimitrov | Getty Images Airlines want to get consumers away from the mall like, thousands-of-miles-away far. Domestic and international carriers, along with hotels and online travel agencies, have jumped on the Black Friday and Cyber Monday bandwagon in recent years, offering low fares for what are typically slow travel periods. Some of these sales start long before the turkey has been purchased. Four-year-old French airline La Compagnie recently advertised $1,000 round-trip airfares for flights from Newark Liberty International to Paris on its all-business-class planes. Icelandic budget airline Wow Air is promoting flights to Europe from several U.S. cities for as little as $100 a leg. Some airfare sales could be worth waiting for a few days after Thanksgiving. Patrick Surry, chief data scientist at airfare-tracking app Hopper said the so-called Travel Tuesday after Thanksgiving last year brought twice as many sales than usual. Travel is an excellent gift for those who value experiences over material things, but just as with shopping for a new television after Thanksgiving, there are a few things to keep in mind when searching for that post-turkey getaway to Paris or Aruba: 'Don't try to game the system' Fare sales come and go, sometimes within hours. Airlines are operating fuller flights these days, partially the result of historically low airfares, even during peak holiday periods. "Really, these peak holiday fares are similar to what non-holiday fares used to be an ebbing tide lowers all boats, to rephrase the old adage," said George Hobica, founder of airfare tracking website Airfarewatchdog.com. If you see a great deal, waiting could leave you disappointed. "Travel inventory goes quickly," said Henry Harteveldt, a travel analyst and founder of Atmosphere Research Group. "Don't try to game the system, especially given the demand environment." One bonus if you get cold feet: Airlines allow travelers to cancel their tickets with no penalties within 24 hours of purchase. Be flexible After the summertime, Thanksgiving is among the busiest times of year for air travel. If you can travel in the off-season, you'll not only be rewarded with a good airfare, but with better hotel rates, a spot on the beach, or access to cultural institutions that aren't packed with the usual selfie-stick-wielding hordes. Or, treat yourself or your loved one to some solitude. Alaska Airlines , which is running a fare sale starting on Black Friday, said nearly 70 percent of the tickets it sold on Cyber Monday last year was for solo travel. Another thing to consider is that demand for certain destinations might be higher than normal. Thousands of travelers were forced to put off trips in August, September and October to the Caribbean and Florida as a series of deadly hurricanes struck the region. JetBlue said it would shift service away from Puerto Rico this winter to other destinations, which could include more seats to Florida or other Caribbean destinations, as Puerto Rico struggles to rebuild. Track airfares. You might not even see the best deals Travelers may not even see the best airfares if they are only checking the sales pages of airline websites. Airfares can change in minutes, depending on demand. Because not all airfares are advertised as a Black Friday or Cyber Monday deal, or any other sale, some travelers may miss the fare altogether. Services like Hopper and Google Flights allow travelers to track airfares and sign up for alerts when prices drop. Keep in mind that Hopper does not include airfares from Delta or Southwest , which restrict some online travel sites from access to their feeds. "They could be selling off inventory," Hopper's Surry said. Hopper allows travelers to look up a region or many destinations if they aren't sure where they want to go. Hobica recommended checking airlines' Twitter and Facebook feeds for price cuts. Packaged trips, which include a flight and hotels often, will have significant discounts on airfare, he added. Specials outside of the airport Airlines aren't just hawking seats on their planes. American Airlines is offering members of its frequent flier program, AAdvantage, the chance to earn up to 50,000 miles when spending with partners including Hilton and Avis . United Airlines said it will increase the number of miles it gives members of its Mileage Plus program for gift cards they purchase through its site, as well as discounts on the miles required to buy items, such as Apple electronics, through the airline's site. WATCH: 3.95 million people to fly Thanksgiving weekend White House Senior adviser Jared Kushner sits behind U.S. President Donald Trump during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, November 1, 2017. White House senior adviser Jared Kushner urged President Donald Trump to fire James Comey as FBI director, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing sources familiar with the matter. The firing is reportedly being investigated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller as a possible attempt to obstruct justice. Sources cited by the Journal gave differing reasons for Kushner's support of Comey's termination. One source said the move would be supported by disgruntled FBI agents who thought Comey mishandled the Hillary Clinton email investigation. Comey's handling of that investigation was the reason the president originally cited for firing the FBI director in May. Trump also said he based his decision on a recommendation from the Justice Department. Another source cited by the Journal said that Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, believed Comey's handling of the Clinton investigation proved that he was too "unpredictable." Any obstruction of justice charge would be "exceedingly difficult" for the special counsel to prove, former Whitewater independent counsel Robert Ray told CNBC. In an email, Ray said there are "a panoply of innocent reasons for wanting to remove an FBI Director that you concluded was 'unpredictable.'" "The Government would have trouble proving beyond a reasonable doubt that one of those innocent reasons does not explain why the President decided to replace Director Comey, which the chief executive is absolutely entitled to do for any reason, or for no reason at all so long as that reason does not constitute a knowing and willful attempt to obstruct justice," he said. A 108-page report published in October by the Brookings Institution found that "the president likely obstructed justice." The president's lawyers have repeatedly denied that charge. Kushner's attorney, Abbe Lowell, told the Journal that Kushner supported the president's decision, while a White House attorney said that there was "no apparent evidence of Jared's involvement." Attorneys for Kushner and the White House did not respond to requests for comment from CNBC. The president offered some insights into his decision to fire the FBI director in the weeks that followed the announcement. The day after the firing, the president told NBC News that "regardless of recommendation, I was going to fire Comey." "When I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said, you know: This Russia thing with Trump and Russia, it's a made-up story," he told NBC. Later, the president told Russian officials during a meeting in the Oval Office that firing Comey had relieved "great pressure" on him, The New York Times reported. The special counsel also obtained a letter that the president drafted, that was ultimately blocked by the White House counsel, which offered "an unvarnished view" of the president's thinking, according to the Times. A lawyer for the president has called the letter "wholly exonerating." The White House's top lawyer Don McGahn will be interviewed by the special counsel in the coming weeks and is expected to discuss the Comey firing, CNBC previously reported. The special counsel's office declined to comment. "The truth is that transitioning to clean energy like wind and solar will create millions of new, good jobs that can't be outsourced, and spur economic growth - all while avoiding the inevitable, significant damages our economy will suffer should we keep building more pipelines." The same shortsighted decision-making and illogic that led Nebraska to consider the Keystone pipeline without taking safety risks into account drives much of the conversation about the economics of transitioning off dirty fossil fuels to clean energy. The do-nothing crowd claims that combatting climate change is too expensive for the economy and will cost Americans jobs. It's a very convenient argument for their fundersthe major oil, gas, and coal companies who poison our air and water to boost their bottom lines. Unfortunately, it has no basis in economic fact. The move to clean energy will create millions of net jobs. Like the Nebraska Public Service Commission, the deniers and industry shills are ignoring the cost side of the story. While continuing to burn every bit of fossil fuels pulled out of the ground may be extremely profitable for those oil, gas, and coal companies, if we stay on this path, it will come with tremendous costs for the country at large. The fact is, the longer we wait to fully transition to clean energy, the more devastating the long-term consequences will be for our economy and our communities. As we saw this summer, extreme weather events put our already-crumbling infrastructure at dire risk. The increasing intensity of these events bring increasing costs for businesses and consumers alike. In 2014, I partnered with Michael Bloomberg and Hank Paulson to analyze where we stood on the climate challenge. We projected that the average annual damages from hurricanes and flooding could cost the U.S. up to $108 billion more in damages than the current average. But Hurricane Harvey alonecost us an estimated $180 billionto say nothing of what South Florida and Puerto Rico will pay to recover from Irma and Maria. Or the fires up and down the West. Climate change carries implications that stretch far beyond extreme weather, however. The effects on public health are far more alarmingand those have to be taken into account in order to calculate an accurate estimate of the costs of inaction. Higher temperatures allow insect-borne diseases like malaria, dengue fever and lyme disease to spread farther and faster than ever before, increasing the prevalence of such serious illnesses and that means more sick days, lower productivity, and a drain on our economy. All of that and more will force employers out of business, kill jobs, and increase the costs of everything we buy. Our analysis concluded that the ability of outdoor workers to do their jobsfolks involved in construction, utility maintenance, landscaping, agriculture, among otherscould decline by three percent over time. That's double the decline the nation experienced during the "productivity slowdown" in the 1970s. The fossil fuel companies don't include any of this in their math when they argue that transitioning to clean energy will hurt us economically. Nor do they consider the new jobs that will be created supporting this new technology from engineers and technicians, to parts manufacturers, to secretaries and accountants. They want to rig the decision-making process to only include information that works in their favor. But just like we saw in Nebraska, a bad process yields bad outcomes. The truth is that transitioning to clean energy like wind and solar will create millions of new, good jobs that can't be outsourced, and spur economic growth - all while avoiding the inevitable, significant damages our economy will suffer should we keep building more pipelines. Most important of all, it will protect our air and water from toxic pollution produced by outdated fossil fuels, ensuring a healthier, more prosperous future. We will pay a heavy price if we insist on navigating the 21st century with a 20th century mindset. It's time we start rejecting all new fossil fuel infrastructure, and instead embrace a clean energy future. Commentary by Tom Steyer, the founder Farallon Capital. He is currently president of NextGen America, an environmental advocacy nonprofit. For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter. President Donald Trump holds up a signed executive order to advance construction of the Keystone XL pipeline at the White House in Washington January 24, 2017. A federal judge has ruled that a lawsuit brought by environmentalists over the Trump administration's approval of the Keystone XL pipeline can proceed. The decision comes just two days after Nebraska regulators lifted the final regulatory obstacle to the project. It creates a potential roadblock for pipeline operator TransCanada 's long-stalled project to transport heavy Canadian crude to U.S. refining hubs. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Brian Morris rejected efforts by the Trump administration and TransCanada to have the lawsuit dismissed. The administration argued that no further environmental reviews were necessary when President Donald Trump approved construction of Keystone XL. The environmentalists said the State Department and other agencies relied on outdated environmental reviews for the Keystone XL pipeline and did not consider relevant information when Trump issued his executive action in January. "Once again, the courts are serving as a critical backstop against this administration's attempts to flout the law for the benefit of corporate polluters," said Doug Hayes, senior attorney at Sierra Club, in a statement. Businessman Mark Cuban listens as he is introduced at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Music Film Interactive Festival 2017 in Austin, Texas, March 12, 2017. A new proposal could weaken federal oversight of internet service providers by rolling back net neutrality regulations a change that makes sense to tech investor and Donald Trump critic Mark Cuban. Cuban reiterated his criticism of net neutrality regulations on Wednesday, tweeting that the existing rules give the president the keys to the entire internet. Tweet: Do #NetNeutraility proponents realize that continuing the rules as is effectively puts @realDonaldTrump in charge of the Internet and it's future ? Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai said on Tuesday that the agency was reviewing a drafted proposal to replace existing net neutrality regulations. Pai's proposal would roll back Obama-era rules that prevented internet service providers like Verizon, AT&T , Charter or CNBC owner Comcast from changing the delivery speed and availability of specific internet content. A replacement plan would lift many of the federal regulations but maintain a mandate of transparency, Pai said. Cuban referred Twitter followers to his previous critiques on net neutrality regulation. He argued that private companies weren't really harmed by the state of the internet prior to the Obama-era rules, and thus would be unlikely to be harmed by rolling the rules back. Cuban has been an outspoken critic of Trump but has favored some policies associated with both the political left and the political right. Tweet: Do you want @realDonaldTrump and the same organization that felt the need to rule on and take 8 years to evaluate Janet Jackson's Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction in charge of the internet? Cuban made his name by building and selling online streaming company Broadcast.com during the dot-com boom. Cuban, unlike most of Silicon Valley, has maintained for years that private companies should compete for promotion on the internet not depend on FCC rules to mediate the entire ecosystem. The Internet Association, which counts companies like Amazon, Google and Facebook as members, opposed Pai's proposal. "Consumers have little choice in their [internet service provider], and service providers should not be allowed to use this gatekeeper position at the point of connection to discriminate against websites and apps," said Michael Beckerman, president and CEO of the Internet Association, in a statement on Tuesday. But the New York attorney general's office slammed the FCC's response as a deflection. An FCC spokesperson, in a statement to CNBC, said Schneiderman's "so-called investigation is nothing more than a transparent attempt by a partisan supporter of the Obama Administration's heavy-handed internet regulations to gain publicity for himself." The New York attorney general criticized the FCC for refusing to assist his office with the investigation. Schneiderman, in an open letter , said an enormous number of fake comments were sent to the FCC about its move to repeal net neutrality rules. Those behind the scheme may have impersonated hundreds of thousands of real Americans by appropriating their names and addresses to make submissions, he said, in a scam akin to identity theft on a "massive scale." New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and the Federal Communications Commission traded barbs on Wednesday over an investigation into a suspected scheme to manipulate the process through which Americans can weigh in on the FCC's move to repeal net neutrality rules. "The potential impersonation of hundreds of thousands of Americans in order to influence the policy-making process should concern everyone especially the FCC," said press secretary Amy Spitalnick. "Yet rather than cooperate with our investigation, the commission has stonewalled it, and now offers political attacks to distract from the core issue the manipulation of the FCC's own regulatory process," she said. In his open letter Tuesday, Schneiderman said: "It is important that the public comment process actually enable the voices of the millions of individuals and businesses who will be affected to be heard." But he said the FCC has essentially stonewalled his office by failing to provide evidence that is "crucial" to the investigation. "The FCC has refused multiple requests for crucial evidence in its sole possession that is vital to permit that law enforcement investigation to proceed," Schneiderman said. In a series of tweets on Tuesday, Schneiderman said his team has "received no substantive response" after reaching out to the FCC through a number of representatives. @AGSchneiderman Over the last 6 mos, my office has investigated a massive scheme to corrupt the @FCC's comment process on #NetNeutrality by impersonating 100,000s of real Americans. The FCC has been unwilling to provide information that is critical to the investigation: @AGSchneiderman We reached out for assistance to multiple top FCC officials, including @AjitPaiFCC, three successive acting FCC General Counsels, and the FCC's Inspector General. Yet we have received no substantive response to our investigative requests. Schneiderman's letter did not specify if the comments in question predominantly sought to shift the voice of the public for or against the repeal of net neutrality rules. The state attorney general expressed his own view on net neutrality in the letter, writing, "I have long publicly advocated for strong net neutrality rules ... and studies show that the overwhelming majority of Americans who took the time to write public comments to the FCC about the issue feel the same way while a very small minority favor repeal." But Schneiderman said the suspected scheme should concern all Americans, irrespective of their political or personal views surrounding net neutrality, on grounds that a failure to pursue illegal activity will embolden its actors in the future. He also appeared to reference the 2016 election of President Donald Trump. Multiple U.S. intelligence agencies have said Russia interfered in the election to favor Trump. "In an era where foreign governments have indisputably tried to use the internet and social media to influence our elections," Schneiderman said, "federal and state governments should be working together to ensure that malevolent actors cannot subvert our administrative agencies' decision-making processes." North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits the Command of the Strategic Force of the Korean People's Army (KPA) in an unknown location in North Korea in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on August 15, 2017. North Korea denounced on Wednesday U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to relist it as a state sponsor of terrorism, calling it a "serious provocation and violent infringement," North Korean state media reported. Trump put North Korea back on a list of state sponsors of terrorism on Monday, a designation that allows the United States to impose more sanctions and risks inflaming tension over North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile programs. In North Korea's first reaction to the designation, a spokesman for the foreign ministry denied in an interview with the state media outlet KCNA, that his government engaged in any terrorism. He called the state sponsor of terrorism label "just a tool for American style authoritarianism that can be attached or removed at any time in accordance with its interests". The U.S. designation only made North Korea more committed to retaining its nuclear arsenal, the official said. "As long as the U.S. continues with its anti-DPRK hostile policy, our deterrence will be further strengthened," he said, referring to North Korea by the initials of its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. "The U.S. will be held entirely accountable for all the consequences to be entailed by its impudent provocation to the DPRK." The designation came a week after Trump returned from a 12-day, five-nation trip to Asia in which he made containing North Koreas nuclear ambitions a centerpiece of his discussions. Announcing the designation, Trump told reporters at the White House: "In addition to threatening the world by nuclear devastation, North Korea has repeatedly supported acts of international terrorism, including assassinations on foreign soil." OPEC's meeting next week could be a volatile one for the energy market, as the cartel seeks to extend its agreement to limit oil production against rising U.S. output. OPEC is expected to extend its deal with Russia and other oil producers to keep 1.8 million barrels a day off the market, but what's not clear is for how long. Analysts say the market is positioning for a nine-month extension from the deal's current expiration in March. So far the agreement has been seen as a factor in stabilizing the oil market, and it has helped boost prices to a two-year high. But heading into the Nov. 30 meeting, Russia's oil companies have been complaining loudly because higher crude prices have helped the U.S. shale industry ramp up production and nibble away at global market share. Analysts expect the U.S. to add about another million barrels per day of production next year. In the past week, the U.S. produced 9.7 million barrels a day, 1 million barrels more than last year. The U.S. exported 1.5 million barrels a day. "The Russian corporates are being so public about being unhappy about the agreement, and the markets are getting a little jittery," said Helima Croft, global head of commodity strategy at RBC. "The problem now is with the expectation that it's for the full year ... if you get anything less, it would be a negative event." "The risks are weighted to the downside from this meeting," she said. The meeting puts the spotlight on the changing landscape of global energy production and politics. The U.S., the third-largest crude producer behind Russia and Saudi Arabia, has increasingly influenced the market, but unlike those two countries, the U.S. industry is made up of a collection of hundreds of independent oil-producing companies, both large and small. "One big question for [OPEC] as they head to Vienna is how vigorous will be the response of U.S. shale to these higher prices. That's a major topic of discussion," said Daniel Yergin, vice chairman of IHS Markit. The U.S. shale industry is also a big deal in Moscow, said Chris Weafer, senior partner at Macro-Advisory. "U.S. oil production is the elephant in the room because it's starting to surge again, and everyone is aware the cost of U.S. production is going lower and bringing more marginal barrels on to the market," Weafer said. "It's definitely in the background, particularly the [Russian] companies. They're looking very much at U.S. production because they're commercial companies and unlike the OPEC models, they have to produce results and pay dividends." Weafer said his sources in Russia's oil industry tell him the government is working out a compromise with the industry, which may revolve around the industry escaping a new tax if it agrees to go along with production curbs for longer. He said Gazprom Neft has publicly stated its opposition to an extension, and it is one company that could easily add more barrels to the market right away. "The Saudis are definitely pushing for a nine-month extension. President [Vladimir] Putin said he generally supports that, but the oil companies in Russia are starting off saying they don't want any extension because it raises the price for U.S. shale. Now they are compromising but they only want a six-month extension," he said. Weafer said if U.S. production continues to rise, Russian companies will bristle at the deal. Russian companies could add 300,000 to 400,000 barrels a day over the next several months. "We're at the latter part of this deal for sure," Weafer said. "Nobody wants to do favors for U.S. producers," he said. Russia's companies could come to some sort of agreement in the next couple of days, and Russia will likely announce its support of the extension just ahead of the OPEC meeting, Weafer said. The production deal was first agreed to a year ago and went into effect in January. Saudi Arabia and Russia have been the drivers of the production agreement, and neither would like to see prices so high as to draw in more shale producers or too low, which would hurt their own budgets. were trading at just under $63 per barrel Wednesday, while West Texas Intermediate futures rose above $58 per barrel Wednesday for the first time since July 2015. For Saudi Arabia's 31-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the OPEC meeting comes at a critical time. The prince, as head of a corruption committee announced by King Salman, has rounded up and is detaining members of the royal family, business leaders and military officials. Saudi officials are demanding the captives, including 11 princes, turn over hundreds of millions of dollars, which they claim was obtained through corrupt means. In the purge, MbS, as the prince is known, also has cemented his role as heir to his father's throne. A high oil price is necessary for the economic reforms MbS has planned, including the public offering of shares in state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco. Croft said the Saudis are serious about keeping the oil price high but not too high. "He [MbS] does nothing by half measures, the backdrop of this OPEC meeting is his go big, or go home that we've seen in Saudi Arabia," she said. "I think they're happy to lock in the gains they have now. ... If you ever broke $70 on Brent, I could see the Aramco planners say what could we to try to cool off the rally." In an effort to rebalance the market in the U.S., Saudi Arabia cut its exports to the market, which has had a huge inventory of crude in storage. "The Saudis have driven their exports in the U.S. to a 30-year low because they were told the U.S. is the most visible market," she said. For Russia, Weafer said the economy is beginning to grow again and it has learned to adjust to $50 oil and it has been helped by a weak ruble. He said oil is about 40 percent of Russia's budget revenue, down from more than 50 percent before the price collapsed. "The view from the oil companies ... is you're almost building in the next oil price collapse if U.S. oil production escalates," Weafer said. "The reason the oil price has been higher in the last few months is not because the deal is working. It's because of all the disruption in the U.S. in the oil states, in Texas in Q3" from hurricanes. Croft said there's a cynical view that Putin is letting Russian companies complain so that he can be the hero to OPEC and his friends in Saudi Arabia. The kingdom and Russia have grown closer with Saudi Arabia announcing infrastructure deals there. "You have a situation where it's not just Rosneft, Lukoil and Gazprom. They're adding to the uncertainty of whether Russia will co-pilot again. ... It was Putin himself that put all of 2018 out there," she said. John Kilduff of Again Capital said it makes sense the deal could be extended just until September. "There's an argument that the rebalancing will be really noticeable by mid-2018. At this point, they won't want to be pushing it past then," said Kilduff. OPEC probably will compromise on the timing. "The Saudis won't want to see the whole thing unravel. They'll just come into it knowing they can get an extension." Pakistan head of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) organisation Hafiz Saeed waves to supporters as he leaves a court in Lahore on November 21, 2017. A Pakistani court on Wednesday ordered an end to the house arrest of Hafiz Saeed, accused by the United States and India of masterminding the 2008 attacks on the Indian financial hub of Mumbai that killed 166 people, a public prosecutor said. Saeed was put under house arrest in January after years of living freely in Pakistan, one of the sore points in the country's fraying relationship with the United States. His freedom had also infuriated Pakistan's arch foe, India. The provincial government of Pakistan's eastern province of Punjab had asked for an extension to Saeed's detention but the request was turned down by the court, prosecutor Sattar Sahil told Reuters. Saeed is scheduled to be released on Thursday. By PTI: (Eds: Updating with details) New Delhi, Nov 22 (PTI) About 7.08 lakh litres of liquor, Rs 1.50 crore in cash, and gold and jewellery worth over Rs eight crore have been seized by the EC-appointed surveillance and expenditure monitoring teams in poll-bound Gujarat. Gujarat is a dry state. As per official data, the Election Commission (EC) teams have so far seized suspected illicit cash amounting to Rs 1.50 crore, 7.08 lakh litres of liquor valued at Rs 14.93 crore and 27.02 kg of gold and other precious metals valued at Rs 8.13 crore. advertisement Separately, 3,650 pounds (about Rs 3.11 lakh) and 30,000 Thai currency has also been seized by the EC teams, as per the data. The EC has appointed about 100 election expenditure observers in Gujarat, apart from other central observers, to keep a check on black money and illegal inducements used to bribe voters. The 182-member Gujarat Assembly will go to polls in two phases on December 9 and 14. The counting of votes will be taken up on December 18. PTI NES AAR --- ENDS --- watch now With so many retailers pushing their in-store pick up for online orders as a key offer this holiday season, CNBC in New Jersey and three NBC affiliate stations in Chicago, Dallas and San Diego decided to team up and test it out with six retailers. Each team placed orders at three pairs of competing retailers: Wal-Mart and Target , Macy's and Kohl's , Home Depot and Lowe's . The goal was to see how easy the process is overall, and how much time it took from checkout to when the order was ready for pickup. Without researching the process in advance, each team in each of the four locations ordered a set of items for same-day buy online, pick up in store. Items were ordered that were as similar as possible because assortment varies slightly between stores. (For example, in-ear headphones were ordered at Target. If the exact same headphones weren't available at each city's store, a similar pair was substituted.) Overall observations The good news is: experiences were consistent. No matter which Macy's we shopped, the experience was consistent. That was the same case for each retailer we tested. The bad news is: not all experiences were without hiccups. Ordering online is supposed to be convenient, but each team thought it was the more cumbersome part of the process. It wasn't always easy to find or filter your search so that only items available at a specific, preselected store came up in the query. Online, retailers can offer shoppers the "endless aisle," while in a store, there's space constraints. For example, Home Depot has over a million items on its website, while an average store has 35,000. So when looking for same-day pickup, shoppers are typically looking through just an individual store's actual, and current, inventory position. The other issue that happened when trying to look at just one particular store's selection was that the store location sometimes changed to another location. For a number of the retailers, shoppers are asked to choose the store pickup option multiple times throughout shopping and checkout. Changing availability was an issue too, between the time an order was placed and the time it was filled in a store. On both the Chicago and Northern New Jersey Lowe's orders, the Christmas tree skirt that was available at checkout, was no longer available by the time the call came that the rest of the order was ready for pickup. All teams found that in general, picking up the orders from the stores was the easier part of the process. Target, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Lowe's and Macy's pickup counters were near the front of the stores and were either clearly marked, or specifically noted in order pickup confirmation emails. Kohl's were toward the back of the store. There were still some lines to contend with at some of the locations, with the online order pickup counters serving multiple customer service purposes at retailers including Lowe's, Macy's and Target. We shared all our notes, put it all together, averaged numbers and experiences, and came out with the following results. The fastest? Easiest? Based on the four cities' average time, from the time the order confirmation came to the time the email/text/phone call alert came in telling us the order was ready for pickup, Target was the fastest. It took an average of 33 minutes for the four teams' Target order to be ready. Kohl's was a close second, with an average ready time of 46 minutes. However, when each team ranked their six retailers first to last considering both "ease of ordering" and pickup time, Kohl's came out slightly ahead of Target. Home Depot was third fastest, at 1 hour, 15 minutes on average. Macy's came in fourth. Orders were ready in an average of 2 hours, 11 minutes. Lowe's came in fifth with an average order ready time taking 2 hours, 45 minutes. Looking just at average speed, Wal-Mart comes up last in our small test, averaging 6 hours, 32 minutes. The big outlier was the order placed at a Dallas-area store. It was placed just before 5 p.m. with same-day pickup as a stated option, but the email and text notifying the team it was ready for pickup didn't come until after 9 a.m. the next day. Wal-Mart spokesperson Erin Hulliberger said, "While we don't share our average order time externally, we can say it's quite a bit less than what the CNBC/NBC affiliates experienced." When each team ranked their six retailers first to last considering both "ease of ordering" and pickup time, Lowe's and Wal-Mart tied for last place. Kohl's was the overall winner when factoring in speed and ease of process. All four teams had good, relatively easy and fast experiences with its buy online, pick up in store program. The online order pickup counters weren't located as close to the doors as with other retailers, but it was fast once you found it. Our Dallas team did wait in line for almost 15 minutes when picking up their order, and the pickup parking spots were in use at the New Jersey store when the CNBC team arrived, though only one person was in line at the pickup counter in front of us. watch now Kohl's said most orders are ready within two hours after orders are placed online. The retailer beat that by more than an hour in each of the four stores we tested. Target Each of the teams felt the Target in-store pickup was clearly marked, and three of the four teams had an easy pickup experience. Target's website also shows exact store inventory, so you have a better idea of how close you might be to missing out on an item. The Chicago team did have the following confusion happen at pickup: "Our order was ready for pickup 30 minutes after we placed it online. When we arrived at the store, the clerks could not find our order in the system. The items had been pulled and ready for us but when they tried to search using our order number (emailed and texted) or our name, they couldn't find it in their computer. So the clerk decided to ring up the order separately, as if we were shopping normally. When the clerk did this, the total price was more than what we were told we would pay. Turns out there was a discount for ordering online and doing in-store pickup. We pointed this out to the clerk and she made an adjustment on our bill." Target spokeswoman Erin Conroy explained that the retailer's pricing model is flexible "around current market demands" and at times pricing may be different online and in store, but the retailer offers shoppers the ability to match prices to assure they are "paying the lowest price." Target tells shoppers that items marked as eligible for same-day pickup should be ready in two hours. In its holiday press release, the retailer says 95 percent of same-day buy online, pick up in store orders are available in under an hour. In our small test, Target did indeed get all four orders ready in under one hour. Home Depot Home Depot's in-store process had fewer stumbles than Lowe's when comparing the two home improvement players, though wading through the websites to find items available for same-day pickup was challenging at both Lowe's and Home Depot. Lowe's has 400,000 items available online and 40,000 in a typical store, Home Depot has over a million items for sale on its site and 35,000 in a typical store. watch now Both show the exact store inventory and location, which is good if you want to find the item yourself once you get to the store instead of checking out online so a store employee fills your order. It also gives shoppers a heads-up on how close they might be to missing out on snagging an item before someone else does. Home Depot says most items will be ready for in-store pickup within two hours of the time you place your order on its website. Three of the four cities were way under the two-hour mark, only Chicago was just over it. Macy's buy online, pick up in store experience was also good for all the teams. Like with all the retailers, making sure to sort or order items that are available at a preselected store for same-day pickup was the most challenging part. In some cases with Macy's website, the selected store would change to another nearby store, so the teams had to be careful to make sure to watch that. While the pickup location was detailed in the confirmation email, in some cases it was a little harder to find it once inside the store. Macy's says if buy online, pick up in store orders are placed by 3 p.m., it will be ready for pickup that same day. Each store fulfilled that promise. Similar to Target, each team felt Wal-Mart's in-store pickup was clearly marked, well-staffed, fast and easy. However, when shopping on Walmart.com the teams said it was confusing and a bit clunky to determine which items were available for free same-day pickup in store and which were available for free in-store pickup, but not necessarily same day. Walmart has more than 70 million items available on its website thanks to a growing surge of third-party sellers in addition to Walmart's own inventory, and around 150,000 in a typical store. That volume can be great for offering vast selection, but it also makes it harder to narrow down an individual store's items available for same-day pickup. "Our customers love Pickup Today, including the ability to pick up select online items the same day from our stores," said Hulliberger. "It's so popular that we've tripled the number of items available for same day pickup since last year." Wal-Mart's pickup times also varied the most widely of all the retailers for our small test. The pickup times varied from 2 hours, 42 minutes to 17 hours, 20 minutes. (See the Dallas experience above). Wal-Mart doesn't give shoppers a time frame for when their same-day in-store order will be available for pickup. The teams had mixed experiences at Lowe's. While it was mostly good, there were some hiccups at the stores when it came time to pick up. (See the Christmas tree skirt availability for two teams above.) Several teams had wait times of 10 minutes or more at the store due to long lines or employees being unable to locate the order or the order hadn't actually been filled yet despite the ready-confirmation phone call. Lowe's doesn't give a ballpark time frame for when online orders will be available for pickup if it's same-day. WATCH: Malls struggle to reinvent themselves Struggling ride-hailing firm Uber faces a fresh regulatory crackdown after disclosing it paid hackers $100,000 to keep secret a massive breach last year that exposed personal data from around 57 million accounts. Discovery of the U.S. company's cover-up of the incident resulted in the firing of two employees responsible for its response to the hack, said Dara Khosrowshahi, who replaced co-founder Travis Kalanick as chief executive in August. "None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it," Khosrowshahi said in a blog post. Britain's data protection authority said on Wednesday that concealment of the data breach raises "huge concerns" about Uber's data policies and ethics. "Deliberately concealing breaches from regulators and citizens could attract higher fines for companies," James Dipple-Johnstone, deputy commissioner of the U.K. Information Commissioner's Office, said in a statement. Current British law carries a maximum penalty of 500,000 pounds ($662,000) for failing to notify users and regulators when data breaches occur. The stolen information included names, email addresses and mobile phone numbers of Uber users around the world, and the names and license numbers of 600,000 U.S. drivers, Khosrowshahi said. Uber declined to say what other countries may be affected. Khosrowshahi also said Uber had begun notifying regulators. The New York attorney general has opened an investigation, a spokeswoman said. Regulators in Australia and the Philippines said on Wednesday they would also look into the matter. Long known for its combative stance with local taxi regulators, Uber has faced a stream of top-level executive departures over issues from sexual harassment to data privacy to driver working conditions, which forced its board to remove Kalanick as CEO in June. In recent months, London's transport regulator stripped Uber of its license to operate citing the company's failure to deal with public safety and security issues, although Uber is appealing against the decision and the new CEO has held talks with Transport for London to resolve the stand-off. The agency said it was seeking more information from Uber. "We are pressing them for the full details of what has happened so that we can be satisfied that all the right protections are in place for the personal data of drivers and customers in London," a Transport for London spokesman said. Britain's National Cyber Security Centre said it was working with other national authorities to determine how UK citizens may have been affected, but added that it has no information, so far, that customer financial details had been compromised. Rockwell Automation on Wednesday rejected rival Emerson Electric's sweetened takeover offer, saying the $29 billion bid undervalued the industrial automation company and that a merger would dampen its growth prospects. Milwaukee-based Rockwell said its board of directors was unanimous in concluding that Emerson's latest offer about $2 billion higher than a previous proposal was "not in best interests of the company and its shareowners." Earlier this month, Emerson outlined a plan for a combined "Emerson Rockwell" that will maintain a significant presence in Milwaukee and become an "automation center of excellence." Rockwell on Wednesday questioned the strategic rationale for a merger. A combination with Emerson would "dampen, not enhance, the ability to grow in the evolving industrial automation and information market," Rockwell Chief Executive Blake Moret said. "Bigger is not always better for driving growth and value creation," Moret added. Rockwell is a leader in so-called discrete automation, helping assemble component parts to make automobiles, household appliances, and computer systems. Emerson's strength is in process automation, which helps power plants and factories in sectors including mining and cement operate more efficiently. St. Louis-based Emerson's latest offer values Rockwell at $225 per share, split between $135 in cash and $90 in Emerson shares. Shares of Rockwell fell 1.2 percent to $191 in premarket trading on Wednesday, with Emerson shares were slightly higher. Italian politician and billionaire businessman Silvio Berlusconi has taken his fight to become eligible for next year's Italian election to the European Court of Human Rights. Berlusconi appealed to the Strasbourg-based court in 2013 after a criminal conviction for tax fraud triggered a six-year ban from public office. The beleaguered former prime minister has denied all wrongdoing and his lawyers are hoping a lifting of the ban will mean he can run in the next Italian election expected to take place in early 2018. The media tycoon's political career was widely regarded to have ended in 2011 following a string of scandals. Berlusconi was forced to resign as prime minister amid a sex scandal involving his "bunga bunga" parties, while Italian bond yields were skyrocketing at the height of the euro zone debt crisis. After recovering from open heart surgery in 2016, the 81-year old politician known as the 'Comeback Kid' by his supporters has yet again returned to the political arena. And as head of the "Forza Italia" party, he is seeking to form a center-right coalition in the national ballot next spring. Somewhat surprisingly, Berlusconi's political revival is currently viewed as "a force of stability" by financial markets, Valentijn van Nieuwenhuijzen, chief investment officer at NN Investment Partners, told CNBC Wednesday. President Donald Trump talks to reporters and members of the media as he departs with his family going to his Mar-a-Lago resort for the Thanksgiving holiday on the South Lawn at the White House in Washington, DC on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017. Jabin Botsford | The Washington Post | Getty Images Ten months into his administration, President Donald Trump has not filled numerous holes in federal agencies. Trump has broadly lagged behind his predecessors in appointing people to Senate-confirmed jobs. While major vacancies exist at several departments, some agencies lack officials at a bigger proportion of top posts than others. As of Tuesday, Trump had nominated 458 people to posts deemed critical by the Partnership for Public Service, an organization that tracks presidential appointments. That figure, and the 249 people confirmed to those jobs by the Senate, fall short of the four presidents who preceded him at the same point in their presidencies. Trump has signaled that he has left at least some of those positions deliberately unfilled. The president has questioned the need for many government jobs, particularly at the State Department, where he has called for significant budget cuts. "Let me tell you, the one that matters is me," he told Fox News earlier this month when asked about vacancies in the department. "I'm the only one that matters, because when it comes to it, that's what the policy is going to be. You've seen that, you've seen it strongly." He later added: "We don't need all of the people. You know, it's called cost-saving." Uber could face an investigation and potential fines in the U.K. after covering up a massive data breach, the country's data watchdog told CNBC on Wednesday. On Tuesday, Uber revealed that it had suffered a hack by two people on its third-party cloud service. The names and driver's license numbers of around 600,000 drivers in the U.S. were stolen, as well as some rider names, email addresses, and phone numbers. In total, 57 million people were affected. The ride-hailing company also paid those hackers $100,000 to delete the data and keep the breach quiet. Britain's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), which was set up to ensure companies are protecting the privacy of individuals, said it was looking into the breach and Uber's subsequent actions. "We will be investigating but as regards what actions we eventually take that depends on what we find, and obviously it's very early days at this stage," an ICO spokesperson told CNBC by phone on Wednesday. In a separate statement posted online, ICO Deputy Commissioner James Dipple-Johnstone said Uber's actions to conceal the data breach "raises huge concerns around its data protection policies and ethics." "If U.K. citizens were affected then we should have been notified so that we could assess and verify the impact on people whose data was exposed," Dipple-Johnstone said. He added that the ICO will be working with the U.K.'s National Cyber Security Centre to determine the scale of the breach, how it has affected people in Britain, and what steps Uber needs to take next. "Deliberately concealing breaches from regulators and citizens could attract higher fines for companies," Dipple-Johnstone said. The ICO has a number of punishments it can hand out to companies that breach their rules. One of those is issuing fines up to 500,000 ($661,900). "None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it," CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in the statement after the breach was disclosed. Khosrowshahi was not at the company at the time of the hack. Former CEO Travis Kalanick was in charge. The ICO investigation adds to Uber's mounting problems in the U.K., where it has around 40,000 drivers. Earlier this year, London's transport authorities failed to renew Uber's operating license, effectively banning it from operating in the British capital. However, Uber lodged an appeal against the decision, allowing it to continue business while the process is ongoing. And earlier this month, an employment tribunal rules that Uber's drivers should be classified as workers and not self-employed, which would entitle them to benefits such as minimum wage and holiday pay. Uber said it plans to appeal the ruling. Eight people have been rescued after a United States Navy aircraft crashed into the Philippine Sea on Wednesday, according to a statement from the U.S. Navy. One of its aircraft, a C2-A Greyhound carrying 11 crew and passengers, crashed into the ocean southeast of Okinawa, Japan, at around 2:45 p.m. local time. In a statement, the Navy said it had rescued a number of people. "Search and rescue operations recovered eight personnel following a C2-A Greyhound aircraft crash southeast of Okinawa at approximately 3:23 p.m. today," the Navy said. "All personnel were transferred to USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) for medical evaluation and are in good condition at this time." Search and rescue efforts for three personnel continue, with U.S. Navy and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) ships and aircraft on the scene, it added. By Kamaljit Kaur Sandhu: In one of the first official reactions, a P5 member, Russia has congratulated India for one of its biggest diplomatic victories on the international platform after Dalveer Bhandari got re-elected in International Court of Justice with backing from more than 2/3rd UN Members. Russian Ambassador Nikolay Kudashev on Wednesday congratulated India on the big win. Kudashev said, "Congratulations to India on ICJ Victory. I think (India's victory) demonstrates the strength of the global community of nations to work as one. This will surely add more strength to the functioning of the functioning of the ICJ." advertisement In what is being seen as a coup of sorts, Bhandari persisted over UK's Sir Christopher Greenwood, who withdrew after 11 rounds of voting. United Kingdom, a permanent 5 member, is the first country to lose out in the ICJ in 71 years to a non-P5 member, in what is being seen as humiliating blow, despite being backed by other P5 members including US, Russia, France and China. The US State Department spokesperson also congratulated India's Dalveer Bhandari. Speaking to a news agency, the spokesperson said, "The United States remains open in principle to the idea of UN Security Council reform, including a modest expansion of the Security Council." Jodhpur-born Bhandari received 183 of the 193 votes in the General Assembly and secured all 15 votes in the Security Council to fill the final vacancy on the Hague-based International Court of Justice after separate but simultaneous elections were held at the UN headquarters. The ICJ is composed of 15 judges elected to nine-year terms by the UN general assembly and the UN Security Council. Filling the fifth vacancy, an Indian candidate, Bhandari will be serving his tenure from 2018-2027 at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague. This is also a crucial time as India fights off a case of Navy official Kulbhushan Jadhav against Pakistan. --- ENDS --- Zimbabweans drink, sing, and dance as they celebrate at night at an intersection in downtown Harare, Zimbabwe Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017. Mugabe resigned as president with immediate effect Tuesday after 37 years in power, shortly after parliament began impeachment proceedings against him. Belal Khaled | NurPhoto Zimbabwe's former vice president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, will be sworn in as the country's interim president on Friday. Mnangagwa, 75, is scheduled to return to the capital Harare on Wednesday after a brief exile in South Africa. Amid euphoric celebrations over longtime President Robert Mugabe's resignation Tuesday, many are questioning whether the strongman's successor a longtime Mugabe ally will actually bring about much-needed change. "Never should the nation be held at ransom by one person ever again, whose desire is to die in office whatever the cost of the nation," Mnangagwa said in a statement Tuesday, hours before Mugabe's resignation announcement. Mnangagwa's swearing-in will be the second time the nation will have a new president since its independence from British rule in 1980, when Mugabe took power as prime minister. Mugabe became president in 1987, after Zimbabwe's first post-independence president, Canaan Banana, relinquished the post to him. The 93-year-old's resignation followed a roller-coaster week that saw Zimbabwe's military take over the government and hold him under house arrest. Mugabe's 37-year rule was marked by corruption and violent oppression of dissent. Nicknamed "The Crocodile" for his political acumen, Mnangagwa's loyalty to Mugabe long preceded his appointment as vice president in 2014. The two have been comrades for more than three decades, with Mugabe making him the country's first minister of national security in 1980. watch now A leading guerrilla fighter during Zimbabwe's War of Liberation in the 1970s, Mnanagwa's powerful hand in government following independence saw him rise to top spymaster of the country's Central Intelligence Organization. In the 1980s, he oversaw the Gukurahundi massacres, a civil conflict during which thousands of Zimbabweans from the ethnic Ndele group were killed. Still feared by many and largely believed to be responsible, he has denied any responsibility. Veterans of the liberation war have long dominated Zimbabwean politics. Mnangagwa's leadership of the Joint Operations Command kept him in good stead with the country's security forces, whose support paved the way for his impending accession to the presidency. A note of caution "The coup is unlikely to bring about a new democratic era. There are significant uncertainties over, for instance, a transitional government and a timeframe for elections," Alisha Patel, Africa analyst at AKE, told CNBC on Friday. "Before talk of IMF funding and a resumption of ties with Western donors can even begin, the victors of this coup will need to restore the constitutional order. On top of this, they face a divided party, an economic crisis, and a political context which has stifled, rather than encouraged, democracy." A man takes part in a demonstration demanding the resignation of Zimbabwe's president with a sign featuring deputy president Emmerson Mnangagwa in the windshield of his car on November 18, 2017 in Harare. AFP | Getty Images Others are more optimistic. Analysts have suggested major economic growth potential for the southern African nation of 16 million following years of damaging economic mismanagement and international sanctions. Zimbabwe is one of the world's top producers of platinum and lithium, among other highly valued extractives. Currently, poverty exceeds 70 percent and Zimbabwe ranked 154 out of 176 nations in Transparency International's 2016 Corruption Perceptions Index. "Mnangagwa's apparent support for pro-business reforms are cause for cautious optimism after decades of mismanagement under Mugabe," said Ryan Turner, analyst at Protection Group International. 'People are hopeful' "People are hopeful. Much of the resentment is because of the economic difficulties that have been left to fester," Jean Devlin, partner at Control Risks, told CNBC on Tuesday. "It's unrealistic to expect you'd get anyone who hasn't been a significant political influencer in the last 20 years coming in as leader," Devlin said. "There certainly is a strong element of continuity (with Mnangagwa), but we can't underestimate the fact that anyone who's going to come in is a different character and will be able to exercise leadership in a different way." A man buys a newspaper at a stand on a street corner in Harare on November 22, 2017, the day after the resignation of President Robert Mugabe who ruled for 37 years last night. TONY KARUMBA | AFP The Missourians Opinion section is a public forum for the discussion of ideas. The views presented in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missourian or the University of Missouri. If you would like to contribute to the Opinion page with a response or an original topic of your own, visit our submission form Manohar Lal Khattar added that they will not allow anyone's sentiments to be hurt. By India Today Web Desk: Sanjay Leela Bhansali's controversial period drama, Padmavati, continues to be in dire straits. Several right-wing groups have been vehemently opposing the film on the grounds that it supposedly degrades the honour of the Rajput queen, Rani Padmini. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has said that he would take a decision on whether Padmavati will be released in the state only after the film is cleared by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). "We will not allow anyone's sentiments to be hurt. We don't think it is right to ban (a film) before censor board's decision," he told ANI. advertisement Incidentally, the CBFC delayed the certification of Padmavati after the makers failed to submit all the documents required. The release of the film has now been pushed indefinitely. "This might be his personal opinion; the government has nothing to do with it. We have issued him a show cause notice," Manohar Lal Khattar said, when prodded about Haryana BJP's (Bharatiya Janta Party) chief media coordinator Suraj Pal Amu, who was booked by the Gurgaon Police on Tuesday. Suraj Pal Amu was vocal in his support of the bounty of Rs 5 crore announced by the Meerut Kshatriya Samaj on the heads of Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Deepika Padukone. When a complaint was lodged against him, he declared that his voice will not be subdued and threatened to "set fire to each screen in the country". Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has maintained a somewhat neutral stand on Padmavati. While he is strictly opposed to violence and threats issued by some agitated protesters, he told IANS that anyone whose sentiments were hurt by the distortion of historical facts had the right to protest. He emphasised that protests and threats were not the same thing. Padmavati stars Deepika Padukone in the titular role, Shahid Kapoor as her husband, Maharawal Ratan Singh, and Ranveer Singh as Alauddin Khilji. ALSO WATCH | Padmavati row: Yogi Adityanath justifies threats against Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Deepika Padukone --- ENDS --- Rebecca Lowe Coulson was Parliamentary Candidate for the City of Durham at the 2015 General Election. In a talk at Kings College London last week, Dani Rodrik, a Harvard economist, argued against accepting the seeming inevitability of ever-closer globalised union. He spoke of the magnitude of the numbers in terms of the redistributive cost to less-skilled workers against national economic gains from the hyper-liberalisation of trade. And of the necessity to re-establish a balance: rather than stepping back from globalisation, he said, we should make it safer. Rodriks focus on domestic need felt welcome at a time when global solutions are all too often touted as the only way forward. I dont buy the explanation that Brexit and Trump, and everything else you can think of was simply the result of a left-behind rebellion. But our politicians have a deep moral and political need to regain trust from a divided electorate, many of whom feel that the aggregate gains of the past decades have not been shared fairly. Rodriks lecture publicised his latest book, Straight Talk on Trade: Ideas for a sane world economy, published last month by Princeton University Press. Its neat statistical arguments against unlimited globalisation are refreshing, with well-drawn revelations about distance elasticity, and the ways in which economists have talked down the negatives of ever-extended trade while talking up its positives. In that Rodrik believes that we cant have hyperglobalisation, democracy, and national sovereignty all at the same time, he comes down in favour of a model of global governance that would enhance democracy rather than enhancing globalisation. This is not least, he argues, because global governance just cannot be strong enough to instill necessary institutional regulation. Much of Straight Talk isnt new, however. Rodrik compiled it mostly from his Project Syndicate columns; it draws heavily on two earlier volumes. Many of its central themes were presented in The Globalisation Paradox (2010) including, somewhat ironically, seven premises outlined in a Straight Talk chapter entitled New Rules for the Global Economy. And the continual emphasis on economists needing to work harder to meet their public responsibility is also familiar. In Economic Rules (2016), Rodrik called out the bad practice that has led to economists discreditation. Overstating the benefits of trade, he claims, is at the heart of this. Thanks to his colleagues dishonest groupthink presentation economists are rarely humble we now dont trust them when they warn us of other more pressing issues like the rise of technology. Nonetheless, theres plenty of good economics in this new volume, particularly regarding the intricacies of trade. Rodriks chronicling of the economic and societal role of work and the diverse development of nations is compelling, as are his present-day comparisons with historical moments ranging from the ancient Greek city-states to Bretton Woods. His cynicism about the globalisation snowball is backed up by domestic concerns stemming from practices such as social dumping (he argues for broadening the concept of fair trade in trade law to include this), and by stressing that it was national banks that dealt with the recent economic crisis. The book also benefits from deft commentary on WTO lobbying, the so-called free-trade agreements that Rodrik says would make Smith and Ricardo turn over in their graves, and a nice analogy between capital and gun control. Sadly, the books more political chapters are less cogent. Some feel hastily compiled (particularly the section on Trump, trade, and tweeting), and some are just overly economisty (the term seems justified in that Rodrik celebrates Paul Romers criticism of some economists mathiness). More disappointing, however, is the way in which an understandable desire to tackle (too many) big issues de jour has led to a disjointed political subtext. The descriptive sections on politics are good, not least a taxonomy of different kinds of democracy. But its not only Rodriks language that is, at points, too economisty; his chapter on the importance of ideas over interests reads as if no thinker had ever previously conceived of such a thing. He also seems uncomfortable engaging with moral arguments or indeed, any which arent predicated on consequentialist economic efficiency (something he criticises his colleagues for being unable to get over). This means that the conclusion that what is needed is a focus on democratic deliberation feels like the presentation of a new economic model, eager for application. These weaknesses are presumably the explanation for Rodriks failure to understand Brexit. Or at least, its preferable to assume that, rather than finding him guilty of hypocrisy in a seeming refusal to recognise his public responsibility to speak out against the status quo when his evidence suggests he should. After all, his arguments are highly suited to an almost unarguable criticism of the EU. The experiences of Greece perfectly point up both his insistence that economic models are not universally applicable, and his view that hyperglobalisation can seriously harm vulnerable players in domestic labour markets. He even explains that the countrys current failure comes from the inappropriate EU-imposed logic of structural reform. Yet he finds it striking that European citizens feel so little attachment to the European Union. Similarly, throughout the book, Brexit is lumped with Trump, and other instances of (that all-too-often undefined term) populism. Rodrik divides right-wing populism into that which cleaves to identity, and left-wing populism as that which cleaves to income and class. Yet, he is surprised by the decidedly right wing tilt the political reaction [to globalisation] has taken, and misses the obvious related point that (harder) right-wing support in Britain has fallen substantially since Brexit. The problem here, again, is the placing of national or global economic interests above all else. Rodriks support for the nation state is predicated on disappointed economic necessity, rather than an understanding of national or cultural customs and sympathies. His criticisms of globalisation do not stem from any fear of the social risks of such a project. Rather, we live in a second-best world where policy action is almost always partial (and partially effective), and well-intentioned reforms in one area may backfire in the presence of distortions elsewhere in the system. To Rodrik, the EU is clearly an imperfect, yet nonetheless necessary solution. And its exactly that kind of argument that shows us why Brexit and everything else has to be about more than just economics. How glum the Tories looked for most of Philip Hammonds speech. He could not recapture the first fine careful rapture of his early appearances as Chancellor, when he was bursting with delight at having got the job. Now he just wants to hold on to the job. And he tried to do this by pretending to be bold, while actually being cautious. Caution is a conservative virtue. To believe one can reinvent the world every few months is a perilous illusion. But Hammond did not get the credit for being conservative. Like an over-eager gym instructor, he kept announcing he is going to get us fit for the future. We are also going to look forward not backwards. What is more, we choose the future. Indeed, we embrace the future. For we choose to run towards change, not away from it. As if that were not enough, we are also going to embrace change. The Chancellor will have to be careful, or he will find himself charged with inappropriate behaviour inappropriate, at least, for a Conservative. But how much change did he actually embrace? Not, so far as one could see, very much. He wants an urgent review into unused planning permissions, and a dynamic new growth corridor between Oxford and Cambridge which will deliver up to one million homes by 2050. That is the language of jam tomorrow. It also implies that things are pretty bad today. There was an awkward undertone of desperation in Hammonds performance. He did not draw, as he might have done, an economy with deep-seated strengths on which we can build. From time to time, he tried to lighten his technocratic language by telling jokes. That made matters worse, by introducing a matey note, as when he announced more maths for everyone and added, let no one say I dont know how to show the nation a good time. The Conservative benches cheered in a loyal enough way, but this was a willed loyalty which fell far short of any real pleasure in the performance. The abolition of stamp duty for first-time buyers of properties worth up to 300,000, which the Chancellor saved to the end, produced a very loud cheer. But it was impossible to repress the thought that this eye-catching tax cut is deeply unfair on anyone who has toiled to buy a one-room flat, and now needs somewhere large enough for a family. Jeremy Corbyn got very angry in his speech about the plight of the poor. He and John McDonnell affected to be furious with a Tory Whip, Andrew Griffiths, who was sitting on the bottom step of the gangway, next to the new Chief Whip, Julian Smith. When Griffiths sniggered at Corbyn, it was easy enough to accuse him of sniggering at the poor. Here is the Labour narrative: that the Government is grinding the faces of the poor and favouring, in Corbyns words, a super-rich elite which is allowed to get away with outrageous leeching. According to Corbyn, there is one rule for the super-rich and another for the rest of us, including, he implied, those who are merely rich. It is an implausible story, but not so implausible that Corbyn is unable to believe in it. Hammond did not sound as if he believed in anything. CORNWALL, Ontario The Cornwall Innovation Centre (CIC) held its second InnoTalk at the Nav Centre on Tuesday, Nov. 21. The guest speaker at the event was Ryan Androsoff, co-founder of the Canadian Digital Service (CDS) and former public servant specializing in the integration of digital technology in the public sector. Androsoff was invited to the event to talk to local entrepreneurs about how they can use digital technology to influence the public sector. Androsoff gave the example of his own company, the CDS. The CDS is focused on improving digital service for citizens, he said. The CDS partners with other federal departments to help them bring in and launch new services. We serve as in house experts and policy hackers. We go in and work with a prototype and build a new and easy to use service. Androsoff explained how municipal governments, like the City of Cornwall, could encourage innovation in their own communities. Open data, he said. By governments moving more of their data online and making it machine readable creates opportunities to build industry and entrepreneurs can take advantange. He gave an example of how he created an app based on the City of Ottawas public data on their bus routes. The app informed the user the exact time when the next bus would arrive at their stop. The CIC had more than 50 people show up to hear Androsoff speak on Tuesday night. In addition to the talk by Androsoff, the CIC also introduced their Premier and Founding Sponsors including the Royal Bank of Canada, The Benson Group, McDonald Duncan LLP, The Community Futures Development Corporation and the Nav Centre. The CICs Lead to Win entrepreneurs were also at the InnoTalk, which not only gave them the opportunity to be exposed to Ryan Androsoff, but also allowed them to network with the greater community in attendance. Lead to Win members present included Fan Saves, EVO WEIGH, Daydream Development, Brazen Bytes Inc. and Orange Neurosceinces. Orange Neurosciences are the creators of ReadON, an app to help those with learning differences. Dr. Vinay Signh, one of the co-founders of Orange Neurosciences said that the CIC has offered the best kinds of help to his business. Were loving it, the CIC really gave us a home, he said. Before they were a part of the Lead to Win program, Dr. Singh and his partner Ingrid Poupart ran Orange Neurosciences as an online business. The CIC has offered us free space, free internet and a great ecosystem and community, Singh said. In the wake of one of the most highly-publicized and highly-sensitive cybersecurity attacks in history, the bad news seems to be never ending for Equifax. A slew of litigation and investigations have quickly followed the breach as consumers and regulators try to grapple with the monumental theft of personal information that resulted from this incident. This includes over 240 individual class-action lawsuits, an investigation opened by the Federal Trade Commission, and more than 60 government investigations from U.S. state attorneys general, federal agencies and the British and Canadian governments. Now, a rare 50-state class-action suit has been served on the company. The complaint is an ambitious 322-page document that names plaintiffs from every state and the District of Columbia who claim to have been injured to varying degrees by the Equifax security breach. This case highlights the massive costs and critical damage involved in data breaches and is a particular warning to companies that hold large quantities of highly sensitive personal information to ensure they have the most effective cybersecurity protocols in place well before an incident occurs. Background on the Equifax breach Hackers breached Equifaxs system between mid-May and July this year, but it went undetected until July 29, with external forensic consultants engaged in early August. The breach was publicly announced on September 7. Around 145.5 million individuals personal information was exposed, mostly that of Americans but also data of Canadian and British consumers. This was an increase of 2.5 million from initial estimates after additional compromised accounts were found. Customer data was reportedly exploited through a in a website application vulnerability known as Apache Struts. This vulnerability was identified by the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) in March. While the company contends that it took steps to patch those identified vulnerabilities after March, the Apache Foundation, which oversees the open-source application framework, has said that Equifax failed to install security updates in a timely manner. The compromised sensitive data includes: social security numbers, dates of birth, email and mailing addresses and even some drivers license numbers. This type of data is often used to confirm identity in various types of applications. Legislators and regulators take a second look Following the breach, lawmakers and regulators took note. On the day the breach was publicly reported, Congress was hearing on a bill (FCRA Liability Harmonization Act) that would have capped the amount of damages consumers could be awarded in a lawsuit against credit reporting companies. That bill is now unlikely to move forward. Congressional hearings have also commenced by several different committees, including the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the Senate Banking Committee, where Richard Smith former Chair and CEO of the company - testified on October 3 that mistakes were made. A national standard for breach notification is also being considered by Congress. The chairman and ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee as well as the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee have forecasted a uniform breach notification standard. Another piece of legislation has been revived in the House that would establish a 30-day national standard for breach notifications and would mandate the Federal Trade Commission to help coordinate such disclosures. Currently, 48 states have their own separate statutes that govern companies notification to breach victims. These states are now stepping up regulation in this area. For example, as a reaction to the breach, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo directed the New York Department of Financial Services in late September to include credit-reporting agencies in their new Cybersecurity Regulations. In addition to Congressional actions, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray announced that in the wake of the Equifax hack, all three credit regulation agencies are going to have to get used to a new regime of regulation. Mr. Cordray has, however, recently announced that he will step down from the Bureau, so many will be watching to see the steps his successor takes in this regard. The 50-state class-action suit against Equifax The newly launched 50-state complaint alleges that Equifax failed to employ a critical software security patch that led to the breach itself, but also alleges that plaintiffs suffered further harm because Equifax took a number of missteps following the breach, including: Alerting customers more than a month after the breach was discovered and using confusing emails and notices regarding whose data was compromised; Creating a monitoring service with conflicting messages as to whether consumers would be forced to arbitrate claims if they took advantage of the service; Sending customers a link to a fake website to have their credit frozen; Allowing hackers to further exploit Equifaxs website, which prompted consumers to download a fraudulent software update; and Allowing several top Equifax executives to sell off $1.8 million in stock. Allegations of harm for the named plaintiffs range from having had to spend numerous hours monitoring personal accounts to those having experienced identity theft, multiple fraudulent charges on personal credit and debit cards, and/or the opening of unauthorized accounts and mortgages in their name. In total, the complaint provides eighty-three separate causes of action, brought on behalf of a nationwide class and two statewide subclasses, with one subclass brought under state consumer protection laws, and the other for state data breach statutes. The causes of action allege that Equifaxs business acts and practices were deceptive and unfair. With the rising number of class action suits pending across the country, a multidistrict litigation (MDL) to consolidate the numerous plaintiffs suits into one federal district court seems likely. In recent history, many prominent data breach cases have been consolidated in this manner by the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML). In this case, both Equifax and plaintiffs have already requested that the JPML establish an MDL to consolidate the growing number of class action suits. Oral arguments for the Equifax MDL is scheduled for November 30, 2017. Impact on the companys bottom line This case is a prime example of the costs involved in data breaches the fact that data security and proper data governance have become business critical and Board-level issues. It has now been reported that Equifax has already spent $88 million in the third quarter as a result of the breach, with their profits falling $35 million from this quarter last year. After a second scare with their credit report assistance portal, shares of the company continued to fall. The Internal Revenue Service has temporarily suspended a contract worth more than $7 million. In 2016, government services made up 5% of Equifaxs overall $3.1 billion in revenue. In the wake of the breach and the reputation harm to the company, Richard F. Smith stepped down as CEO on September 26. The companys CIO and CSO retired a week after the announcement. Equifaxs executives will also not receive incentive pay bonuses in 2017. With the impending lawsuits and increasing government and regulatory oversight, lets hope they have good cyberinsurance. Credit Union Magazine is celebrating the credit union movements heroesand you can be part of the nomination process. CUNAs monthly magazine is seeking candidates for its 11th annual Credit Union Hero of the Year Award, sponsored by CSCU. These individuals exemplify the credit union philosophy of people helping people, go the extra mile to make a difference in their communities, and demonstrate their service, advocacy, and commitment to the credit union movement. We seek to recognize those who are making significant contributions that advance the credit union movement, says Ann Peterson, CUNAs vice president of publishing. Were looking for people who have truly invested their hearts and souls into creating a lasting impression not only at their credit union, but on behalf of all credit unions. We invest annually to sponsor the Credit Union Hero of the Year Award because it gives us the opportunity to celebrate credit union leaders who live the credit union philosophy every day, says Jennifer Bryant, vice president of marketing at CSCU. We are pleased to partner with CUNA and look forward to celebrating all the 2018 nominees and their commitment to service. In late 2016, two people outside the company accessed the personal information of 57 million Uber users including names, email addresses and phone numbers, the company said. Hackers also accessed drivers license numbers of around 600,000 drivers in the United States. The 600,000 was included in the total number of affected users. The company did not alert victims or regulators of the breach when they discovered it happened. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a statement he recently learned of the breach. Khosrowshahi, who became CEO in August, said he launched an investigation into why the company did not alert authorities or individuals affected by the hack. He said, two of the individuals who led the response to this incident are no longer with the company. Khosrowshahi said the company is now notifying regulatory authorities. A Jonestown Survivor and King Woman's Kristina Esfandiari Discuss Healing from Trauma The frontwoman of King Woman talks with author Deborah Layton about her experience in the Peoples Temple cult on the anniversary of the horrific Jonestown Massacre. Vice/November 17, 2017 By Kristina Esfandiari The worlds largest mass suicide took place on November 18, 1978 inside an isolated compound in Jonestown, Guyana. There, more than 900 members of the Peoples Temple cult ingested a drink mixed with cyanide. The horrific event was orchestrated by Reverend Jim Jones, a charismatic and manipulative preacher from Indiana who gained prominence in the Bay Area. Jones established the Peoples Temple in 1964 in Redwood Valley, California. He quickly gained a following that made him a powerful political force with connections to men like California Governor Jerry Brown. From the outside, the church seemed to embody the spirit of the 60s, extolling socialism and championing black radicals like Huey Newton. They offered free services like food for the indigent. And they had a diverse congregation. But behind closed doors, Jones manipulated his followers into giving the church all of their assets. He ruled over them with humiliation, coercion, and physical abuse. Paranoid that the media and lawmakers would expose the brutal side of the Peoples Temple, Jones moved the church to Guyana, where he claimed he would establish a socialist utopia. Instead, he led his followers to slaughter in the name of revolutionary suicide. Deborah Layton is one of the few people who followed Jones down to Guyana and survived. While she suffered from the abusive tactics of Peoples Temple, she plotted her escape, which involved subterfuge of Joness armed followers and procuring a new passport. She fled by plane on May 12, 1978, leaving behind her brother and her mother who would eventually die of cancer in the camp. Back in the US, she testified before the State Department, warning of the potential for mass suicide. Unfortunately, she was too late. Inspired by her address to the State Department, Congressman Rep. Leo Ryan (D-Calif.) led a fact-finding mission on November 15 to investigate the religious settlement. On November 18, the politician and several others were murdered by Peoples Temple followers when they tried to leave GuayanaLaytons brother Larry, was arrested and later convicted for his role in the killings. That same day, Jones ordered the mass suicidethose who didnt drink the poison willingly were stabbed with syringes of cyanide. Its a story that still haunts the American psyche. But Laytons book, Seductive Poison: A Jonestown Survivors Story of Life and Death In the Peoples Temple, gives an insightful look into what drew people to the church and how it all devolved into death and suffering. While some people might wonder why Layton would write a book like Seductive Poison, I can totally relate. Like her, I was raised in a religious, cult-like movement. Several years ago, after I broke all ties with my traumatizing spiritual upbringing, I started a band called King Woman, and used it as a vehicle to work through some of my own pain. The project has helped free me from my past and essentially, saved my life. As we approach the 39th anniversary of the Jonestown Massacre, I reached out to Layton to talk about her experiences overcoming psychological trauma. VICE: What drew you to Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple? Deborah Layton: I was searching to be a part of something. When I was 17 and I went to a Peoples Temple meeting and Jones kept on saying, You have qualities your parents don't recognize. Suddenly a grown-up thought I was special. That was the hook. That was the beginning. What were some of the red flags you noticed once you were immersed in the Peoples Temple? No one was allowed to smoke or drink. At the great age of 18, I thought this was going to be difficult. I had just come home from boarding school in England and was still a troubled kid. My parents thought the Peoples Temples college campus was a great place because they had a dormitory. But unbeknownst to them, we were driving all the way up to Ukiah, California for all-day meetings... The intense indoctrination had begun. With Jones, it was, Cant you give up a little bit of your own life and not be so selfish? He preached as if we were joining the Peace Corps. Howd you get to Jonestown, Guyana? First, you had to fly down there from America. He had paid Guyana millions of dollars to have this piece of land in the middle of nowhere. If you tried to get out, you couldnt find your way back. The jungle became our bars. Why did you decide to escape the Peoples Temple? It was terrifying. The minute I got there, I knew I wanted out. I knew I had made a really scary decision: I had taken my mother, who was previously in Nazi Germany, into yet another concentration camp. The people I had known as so vibrant in the United States looked like a leper colony. Once you were in there for awhile, you were not the same person. Jim Jones was so fucking scary. He knew how to lure people in and then frighten them to death. For example, every grown up was subjected to the box. It was used to frighten us into shutting up and abiding by frightening rules. Plus, there were armed guards and you only had rice water soup. [I couldnt even] spend time with my mother because that would show I was weak, and I had to prove otherwise. You were subjected to humiliating catharsis meetings, where everyone would criticize whoever was on the floor. What was that like? Catharsis meetings were to break your spirit. He wanted me not to trust anybody but him. He wanted me to lose all faith in myself so he could come back in and say, What they made me do to you is horrific. Its all an evil mind game. You become so afraid, you try to live within these frightening borders that theyve created. My god you want to run away. But you think that if you run away, they are going to find you. What was the worst thing you saw in the meetings? There was one inner-circle meeting when one of the husbands had molested a child. When it was found out, he was brought in. The whole thing was filmed so that he could be blackmailed with it. We all had to whip his scrotum and penis with a rubber hose. But he was never taken to a hospital. The man was cared for in Jonestown so no word would get out. Jim Jones subjected people to stuff like this when he wanted to teach them a lesson, or he thought they might want to leave. Jones was the closest thing to God that we knew. What was it like after you left the Peoples Temple? When I returned to the United States, I started working at an investment banking firm that was all about following the rules, keeping your mouth shut, and working long hours. All the guys who worked there were into Erhard Seminars Training, which was an empowerment cult that took you on these long retreats where people would scream and yell at you. People could spit in your face. After seeing this, I thought, What is the difference? Everyone is susceptible to getting involved in something like this. Since Jonestown, what have been your most powerful tools for wellness and recovery? I think I was very lucky in that my father never turned his back on me. I took my mom, his wife, away from him to some place where she died. When I returned, he would cry. He would say, Why didnt you tell me? But then he would hold me and say, I got my baby girl back. He was so conflicted. He loved me. In a lot of these places, these people have nobody to run to because their whole family is in there. But he never turned his back on me. After being around an overwhelming amount of religious abuse, what does spirituality mean to you? I would say Im spiritual. I do not partake. I dont like group stuff anymore. I dont want to do that every Sunday. I did that for so many years. I just cant do it now. Yeah, church gives me the creeps. I cant be there. Did the process of writing and releasing a book bring you a sense of closure? It did. My book was just going to be about Jonestown, but when my editor saw it, she said, Wait a minute, Debbie, you cant just write about that! You need to go all the way back. People need to understand where you come from and why you were susceptible. Then it became really hard for me to write. Was there any information that you wanted to leave out at first? When I got on that plane to escape from Guyana, I had to compartmentalize that I was leaving my mother behind. I felt I could not ever go back and visit it. When I was writing Seductive Poison, my editor said, You have to write about your mother, and I stopped writing for several weeks. I had a six-year-old. I found her little acrylic paints. I went outside and I started painting our chairs and our planter boxes. It was a super hot day. There was no wind. And the back door of our house blew open and I felt as though my mother was saying, Its time to come back and say goodbye to me. Thats when I went back in and started writing about my mom. Even after writing the book, has it been hard to talk about it? When I finished the book, I went to Stanford to speak. That was outrageously cathartic. I thought the students were going to say, Shut up! But I got this standing ovation. I spent 20 years so afraid for anyone to know who I was and what Id done, even though I blew the whistle, even though I was the one who went to Washington D.C. I spent so much time afraid that everyone would hate me. That shame is so vile. Have you been back to Jonestown? Right before my book came out, I was asked to fly down to do a documentary. When we got into Jonestown, I was going to go and find where my mother had been buried. Well, the jungle had completely retaken everything except for one area that had no plants in it. That was where the pavilion was, and thats where all the people had died from cyanide poisoning. No plant had grown back. Did you feel her spirit there? I was intent on finding her essence and apologizing for leaving her, and then I realized she wasnt there. I felt no spirits there. If you die in Auschwitz, your memory is not in Auschwitz. Your memory is where your wife was, where it was made before these horrific events. I felt relieved that I didnt feel her or anybody elses essence there. They had all fled if there is such a thing. Looking back, what is the single thing you want people to understand about this tragedy? Nobody ever joins something they think is going to kill them. Nobody joins something that they think will rip them from their family forever. It happens over time. By the time you recognize it, you do not know how to extricate yourself because you have children, you have loved ones, you have family inside that you will never be allowed to see again. Thats why for so many of these organizations, there are people that want out, but they know if they leave, they will never see the people they care about. If we can figure out how to let people know they wont be harmed if they run away, and that theres some place for them to run to, I think we can save more lives. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length. To see more documents/articles regarding this group/organization/subject click here. What's going on in and around Somerset County? lifestyle Every now and then, like little genies popping out of a bottle, emerge dark prognostications of India becoming a mirror image of Pakistan. The cliched phrase bandied about is Hindu Pakistan. The BJP-led NDA government is doing its bit to give this manufactured lie a life of its own. Its reaction to the uproar over the movie Padmavati has been unconscionable. The Rajput votes in Rajasthan and the conservative Hindu votes elsewhere have made the BJP a party that places winning elections above doing the right thing. The makers of Padmavati have been forced to defer its release. Instead of arresting BJP leader Suraj Pal Amu who placed a Rs 10-crore bounty on Deepika Padukones head, the government has, by simply issuing him a show-cause notice, emboldened the rabble who pass off as guardians of Indian cultural tradition. BJP leaders argue: lets win elections first, then well take care of doing the right thing which is to protect free speech, not protect vandals from fringe groups. That assessment is wrong. Once you place elections above principle, the habit becomes hard to break. The reactions of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje to Padmavati feed into a regressive narrative. Suitably garnished, it becomes fodder for those crying wolf over how the BJP is creating a Hindu version of Pakistan where dissent is crushed. Yet websites, some with dodgy funding, abuse Prime Minister Narendra Modi daily. Politicians on the Left, in the Congress (which is much the same thing), in the Trinamool Congress, RJD and in AAP freely call the prime minister everything from a demon to a fool. And that is as it should be. A liberal democracy thrives on combative politics. So why the periodic clamour that India is spiralling down into the Hindu Pakistan abyss? The BJP government is partly to blame. Its messaging is amateurish, infrequent and unimpressive. In contrast, the Congress runs a slick operation. It has many distinguished rabbits it periodically pulls out of a well-endowed hat. Counter Modi legally? Theres Kapil Sibal, available on call. Trash DeMo in print? P Chidambaram does it every week in his column. Rubbish GST in public? Bank on Manmohan Singh, whos rediscovered his voice after 10 years of silence. The BJPs lack of tactical finesse shows up time and again. Its TV spokespersons are either too timid or too aggressive. The prime minister doesnt hold press conferences which is counter-productive. Modi is the governments most effective public face. A monthly press conference, taking tough questions head-on, is necessary in a liberal democracy. By not communicating regularly with the broader media in a structured two-way conversation, Modi makes the Oppositions case stronger, not weaker. Hindu Pakistan? The comparison between a terrorist state like Pakistan (which condones murders on the grounds of blasphemy, has Constitutionally delegitimised Ahmadis, targets Shias and has driven out most of its post-Partition Hindu population) and an India that protects its Muslim minority scarcely deserves serious attention. But are Muslims in fact protected in India? In some ways, yes, in others, no. Madrasas get government grants, Wakf boards enjoy huge land largesse, the devout receive Haj subsidies, personal laws remain untouched. Muslims are used as vote fodder every five years and packed off to their ghettos once theyve voted for the Congress, TMC, SP, RJD, AIMIM, IUML and other parties which claim to be secular. And yet, despite this cosmetic protection, Muslims have over the past 70 years been rendered Indias poorest, most backward group - poorer and more backward than even Dalits. Their sense of alienation has deepened since the BJP government took office. All this doesnt add up to India becoming a Hindu Pakistan, but it does show up the BJP as a party that needs to up its game. First, be socially liberal. India is a young country. It is also a deeply religious country. Dont use religion to promote regressive ideologies. Films, art and literature are the essence of liberal democracies. Any attempt to throttle them - even if they hurt the sentiments of a particular community - may win the BJP majoritarian votes but will eventually lose it majoritarian respect. Second, stay out of peoples lives. Aadhaar is a great idea but to link it to every aspect of a citizens life makes the BJP government look like Big Brother. Third, be more relaxed about peoples eating habits. Im vegetarian. That doesnt mean I impose my views on even my family who (proud Hindus, all) are non-vegetarian. Fourth, worship cows, but dont allow a single case of cow vigilantism. It brings out the worst in Hindu extremists. It also allows half-baked commentators to conflate Hindu extremists with Pakistani terrorists and advance their fictitious Hindu Pakistan narrative. That narrative allows congenitally Indiaphobic media like The New York Times to peddle silly innuendos about Hindu nationalism. Its recent disgrace of an article on saris and Hindu nationalism is just one example of how Asians writing for foreign media (in this case Asgar Qadri) ingratiate themselves with their Western bosses by upbraiding India at every opportunity. Hindu Pakistan trips off the tongues of ex-desi commentators with practised ease. It earns them brownie points and enhances their career prospects. India has the most pro-Muslim laws of any country where Muslims are not a majority. Britain, which like India also has a strong liberal anti-Islamaphobic movement, does not however hesitate to expel hate-spewing Muslim clerics. India hasnt dared to do so even with those Maulvis who call for the prime ministers beheading. It is this dichotomy that India must overcome. In practice, India protects Muslims with minority-favouring laws. In popular perception, especially among motivated foreign writers, India discriminates against Muslims. Both are misleading. In practice, the government must empower minorities with non-discriminatory treatment and equal opportunities. Simultaneously, it must stop mollycoddling them with cosmetic sops like quotas, Haj subsidies, unchallenged Waqf land rights and funds for madrasas. Treat Muslims like first-class citizens, not a group at whom you throw secular crumbs. Padmavati row continues, and now a petition has been filed against director Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Deepika Padukone in the District and Session Court in the Pali district of Rajasthan. By Dev Ankur Wadhawan: Sanjay Leela Bhansali's film Padmavati is in rough waters, and it doesn't look as if it will get out any time soon. A petition has been filed against director Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Deepika Padukone, in District and Session Court in Rajasthan's Pali district. It will come up for hearing in the court on 25th of this month. advertisement The petition, filed on behalf of a Youth Congress leader, Yashpalsingh Kumpawat, mentions that Bhansali and Deepika have been hurting the religious sentiments of of people in the country and creating unrest in various parts of the country. Kumpawat mentions, "In this film, Rani Padmini, who is an avatar of Goddess, is portrayed falsely. Rani Padmini is worshipped as Goddess of Sati in the Hindu religion. The trailer of the film Padmavati that is being presented, shows Mahasati Rani Padmini alias Padmavati performing Ghoomar dance, that too in wrong attire. Because of this, religious sentiments of lakhs of people like me have been hurt. In this trailer, Mahasati Rani Padmavati has been insulted because of which there is an atmosphere of unrest in the entire country. People have been protesting. Several cities in the country have been shut down as well." On the other hand, victory processions were taken out in Rajasthan's Dholpur after the state governments of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan announced ban on the release of the film in their respective states. During the processions, that were carried out by members of Shri Rajput Karni Sena and Shri Rajput Sabha, the members threatened that the film will not be allowed to release in the entire country. "Entire Hindu community is angry with the way filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali has distorted the character of Mata Padmavati in the film. Till the time the film is not banned in the entire country, we will not sit quietly," Raghupratap Singh Parmar, District President, Shri Rajput Sabha. mentioned. ALSO WATCH | Padmavati row: Shahid Kapoor breaks silence on controversy surrounding the film --- ENDS --- CACI International Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides expertise and technology to enterprise and mission customers in support of national security missions and government modernization/transformation in the intelligence, defense, and federal civilian sectors. It operates in two segments, Domestic Operations and International Operations. The Domestic Operations segment offers information solutions and services to the U.S. federal government agencies and commercial enterprises in the areas, such as digital solutions, C4ISR, cyber and space, engineering services, enterprise IT, and mission support. The International Operations segment provides a range of IT services, proprietary data, and software products to the commercial and government customers in the United Kingdom, continental Europe, and internationally. The company designs, implements, protects, and manages secure enterprise IT solutions. It also offers software-defined, full-spectrum cyber, electronic warfare, and counter-unmanned aircraft system solutions; and platform integration and modernization and sustainment, as well as system engineering, naval architecture, training and simulation, and logistics engineering. In addition, the company provides enterprise cloud solutions for classified and unclassified networks; and intelligence support that ensures continuous advances in collection, analysis, and dissemination to optimize decision-making. CACI International Inc was founded in 1962 and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia. Caleres, Inc. engages in the retail and wholesale of footwear in the United States, Canada, China, and Guam. It operates through Famous Footwear and Brand Portfolio segments. The company offers licensed, branded, and private-label athletic, casual, and dress footwear products to women, men, and children. Its retail shoe stores provide brand name athletic, casual, and dress shoes, including Nike, Skechers, adidas, Vans, Converse, Crocs, Puma, Birkenstock, New Balance, Asics, New Balance, Under Armour, Bearpaw, Timberland, Sperry, and Dr. Martens, as well as company-owned and licensed brands, such as Dr. Scholl's Shoes, Blowfish Malibu, LifeStride, Naturalizer, Zodiac, Circus by Sam Edelman, Franco Sarto, and Ryka. The company also operates naturalizer.com, naturalizer.ca, vionicshoes.com, samedelman.com, allenedmonds.com, drschollsshoes.com, lifestride.com, francosarto.com, ryka.com, bzees.com, and zodiacshoes.com, as well as Vince.com, blowfishshoes.com, and veronicabeard.com websites. In addition, it designs, sources, manufactures, and markets footwear to retail stores, such as national chains, online retailers, department stores, mass merchandisers, independent retailers, and catalogs. Further, the company wholesales men's apparel, leather goods, and accessories under the Allen Edmonds brand; footwear for women under LifeStride brand; Italian footwear Franco Sarto brand; athletic footwear for women under the Ryka brand; women's shoe collection under the Vince brand; and women's footwear under the Bzees brand; other footwear under Zodiac brand; and women's footwear collection under Veronica Beard brand, as well as Via Spiga brand. It operates approximately 980 retail stores. The company was formerly known as Brown Shoe Company, Inc. Caleres, Inc. was founded in 1878 and is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. We take a look at the medieval Rajput custom of jauhar since fringe groups have been issuing threats about Padmavati burning in the flames of jauhar. By Lakshana N Palat: The deadly witch-hunt against Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Padmavati, starring Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor continues. Rajput groups are out to protect the honour of a Rajput queen (whose existence is debatable) at any cost. They've accused director Bhansali of distorting the events around the historic 1303 siege of Chittorgarh, by Turkish invader Alauddin Khilji. advertisement Khilji ravaged Chittor, as he wished to take Rani Padmini to Delhi, or so legend says. To escape being enslaved by him, she committed jauhar (self-immolation). Along with protests against the film, there are death threats being issued to Bhansali and Deepika at an alarming rate. And now, there is a common war-cry to be heard by the protesters, "Padmavati will burn in the flames of jauhar". WHAT IS JAUHAR? The etymology of the term jauhar lies in the Arabic translation of the Persian word, jivhar, which means jewel, merit. Jauhar was a Hindu tradition practiced by Rajput women who wanted to avoid falling into the hands of the enemy. Instead of consuming poison, they preferred to burn in flames, as fire symbolised purity. It is said that the practice was performed only during wars between Rajput men and Muslim invaders, in the face of defeat. The women did this to avoid being enslaved and raped by the invaders. In short, they committed jauhar to preserve their royal honour and lineage. At night, they would dress in their bridal attire, and walk to the pyre. They would read Vedic texts before jumping into the flames. Some would even sing religious songs while committing jauhar, to endure the pain of the flames. It would be performed en masse, with all the Rajput women jumping into the flames together. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN JAUHAR AND SATI It is usually believed that jauhar was the precursor to sati. However, there are some important differences between the two customs. Sati was a mandatory Hindu ritual followed by women, after the death of their husband. They were forced to jump into the fire, as people believed that they could be with their husbands in the after-life. Jauhar was the prerogative for Rajput women. It could be performed before or without knowing whether their husband was defeated in battle. It was also done in groups, where several Rajput women immolated themselves at once. THE SAKA RITUAL Saka was a ritual that Rajput men followed after the women had committed jauhar. According to this custom, in the morning, the men would put ash from the pyre on their foreheads, wear saffron, and walk bravely to their deaths. Both jauhar and saka were seen as heroic customs, and were glorified in Rajput folklore and ballads. advertisement INSTANCES OF JAUHAR The most famous lore is of Rani Padmavati's, that took place during Alauddin Khilji's siege in 1303, which we're all probably well-versed with by now. Another famous one is that of Rani Karnavati. After Rana Sanga died in 1528, Mewar and Chittor came under the regency of his widow, Rani Karnavati. The kingdom was attacked by Bahadur Shah of Gujarat. The Rajput chieftains refused to fight under the ruler, Vikramaditya, as he was considered weak. As Chittorgarh faced attack from the Sultan of Gujarat, Karnavati sought assistance from Mughal emperor Humayun by sending him a rakhi. However, Humayun's response was delayed because of his expedition in Bengal. Rani Karnavati, with 13,000 women, shut herself up with gunpowder, lit it and committed mass self-immolation. Humayun reached, but it was too late. He defeated Bahadur Shah, and reinstated Vikramaditya. This jauhar was recorded by medieval scholar Abul Fazl in his Ain-i-Akbari. He wrote about how numerous fires were visible around Chittorgarh, after the siege. Raisen in Madhya Pradesh witnessed three jauhars. It was under constant attack by Humayun's Mughal army in the early 16th century. In 1528, Queen Chanderi led the first jauhar. After the Mughal army left, the kingdom refused to succumb to their rule, and did not accept orders from Delhi. The second jauhar was led by Rani Durgavati in 1532, after a long and exhausting siege of the Raisen fort. They still refused to submit to the Mughal rule, and in 1543, the third jauhar was led by Queen Ratnavali. advertisement In 1568, Akbar attacked Chittorgarh. The women committed jauhar, and the next morning, the men walked the saka ritual. The Mughals killed the men who walked out of the fort. According to Dave Smith, when Akbar walked into Chittorgarh, it was nothing but a mass crematorium. Maybe the groups issuing threats of making Padmavati, the film, burn in the flames of jauhar, need to brush up their history. Jauhar was the act of committing self-immolation, and not fire itself. ALSO WATCH: Padmavati protests: What is the road ahead for Sanjay Leela Bhansali's film? --- ENDS --- 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. By PTI: for censor call (EDS: Plea against Bhansali in Lucknow court: CPM attack) New Delhi/Ahmedabad/Chandigarh, Nov 22 (PTI) Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said today that film Padmavati was "hurting sentiments" and would not be screened in the poll bound state till issues were resolved even as a parliamentary panel sought a report from the I&B ministry and CBFC on the matter. advertisement Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said that a call on allowing the Sanjay Leela Bhansali directed period drama in his state would be taken after the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) decides on it. The row over the Bollywood flick, meanwhile, continued to simmer with the Shri Rajput Karni Sena demanding that its reels be "consigned to the flames of Jauhar". In Lucknow, a complaint was filed in a court seeking prosecution against Bhansali for showing the film to three journalists without the censor nod. BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha waded in questioning what he called the "silence" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani. Former CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat, in an editorial in party organ Peoples Democracy, compared the protesters with cow vigilantes, and said "mob rule" had become one of the "hallmarks of the Modi raj". In Ahmedabad, Chief Minister Rupani joined counterparts from BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan in expressing reservations about the film. The Government of Gujarat will not allow Bollywood movie Padmavati to be released in the state as it is hurting sentiments of Rajputs, he announced. "We cant allow our history to be distorted. We believe in freedom of speech and expression but any foul play with our great culture is not tolerated," the Chief Minister said. He referred to the upcoming state polls and said the government had taken the decision in the interest of law and order as it did not want any row. "There are issues with the film, our sympathy is with those who are protesting against the film and that is the reason we will not allow its release in the state till those issues are resolved," Rupani said in Ahmedabad. In Chandigarh, Haryana Chief Minister Khattar, however, chose to wait for the censor boards decision in the matter. "The government will take a call upon the screening of Padmavati after the decision by CBFC," Khattar said adding that nobody would be allowed to hurt sentiments. Khattar distanced himself from the Haryana BJP chief media coordinator Surajpal Singh Amus remarks about offering a bounty of Rs ten crore to anyone beheading Bhansali or lead actress Deepika Padukone. advertisement "The BJP has also issued a show cause notice to Amu," he said while also pointing to an FIR against the state leader. The controversy over the medieval drama also reached the portals of Parliament as a house panel sought a report on the film from the I&B ministry and the censor board. The matter was taken up for consideration by the Lok Sabha Committee on Petitions after two BJP MPs from Rajasthan, CP Joshi and Om Birla, filed a plea regarding objectionable content in the movie. Joshi told PTI that the movie should be shown to historians and the descendants of the erstwhile royal families, who trace their lineage to Padmavati, before release. "The panel has referred the matter to the I&B Ministry and the censor board. It has asked them to submit a report before November 30," BJP leader Bhagat Singh Koshyari, who heads the panel, said. Meanwhile, BJP MP and actor Shatrughan Sinha, who has often taken a stand contrary to that of his party, questioned the "silence" of the prime minister and the I&B minister. advertisement "How come our I&B Minister or our most popular Honble PM (according to PEW) are maintaining stoic silence. High time!" he said on Twitter. The Patna Sahib MP did not spare Bollywood top guns either. "As Padmavati becomes a burning controversy, people are asking why the legendary Amitabh Bachchan, most versatile Aamir Khan and most popular Shah Rukh Khan have no comments," Sinha tweeted. Meanwhile, the Karni Sena, which is leading the protests against the film, continued its offensive. "Its reel should be consigned to the flames of Jauhar," Lokendra Singh Kalvi, chief of the outfit, told reporters in New Delhi. He lashed at Padukone for her remarks that no force could stop the films release. "Who is Deepika Padukone? Is she the president or the prime minister? This film will not be released at any cost," he said. Asked on what basis was he claiming that the film distorted history, Kalvi said it was his "assumption" based on an alleged statement of Ranveer Singh, who plays Alauddin Khilji in the movie. Director Bhansali recently clarified that rumours about a romantic dream sequence between Rani Padmavati and Khiljis characters were not true as he was careful in depicting "Rajput honour and dignity". advertisement Kalvi also alleged to have received "life threats" from unknown numbers, one of which "was traced back to Karachi". Many groups have been protesting against the movie alleging distorting of history. Historians are, however, divided on whether Rani Padmavati even existed. PTI TEAM ADS --- ENDS --- Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. operates as a branded consumer products company worldwide. It operates through three segments: Home and Personal Care; Global Pet Care; and Home and Garden. The Home and Personal Care segment provides home appliances under the Black & Decker, Russell Hobbs, George Foreman, Toastmaster, Juiceman, Farberware, and Breadman brands; and personal care products under the Remington and LumaBella brands. The Global Pet Care segment provides rawhide chewing, dog and cat clean-up and food, training, health and grooming, small animal food and care, and rawhide-free products under the 8IN1 (8-in-1), Dingo, Nature's Miracle, Wild Harvest, Littermaid, Jungle, Excel, FURminator, IAMS, Eukanuba, Healthy-Hide, DreamBone, SmartBones, ProSense, Perfect Coat, eCOTRITION, Birdola, Good Boy, Meowee!, Wildbird, and Wafcol brands. This segment also offers aquarium kits, stand-alone tanks, and aquatics equipment and consumables under the Tetra, Marineland, Whisper, Instant Ocean, GloFish, OmegaOne, and OmegaSea brands. The Home and Garden segment provides outdoor insect and weed control solutions, and animal repellents under the Spectracide, Garden Safe, Liquid Fence, and EcoLogic brands; household pest control solutions under the Hot Shot, Black Flag, Real-Kill, Ultra Kill, The Ant Trap, and Rid-A-Bug brand names; household surface cleaning, maintenance, and restoration products, including bottled liquids, mops, wipes, and markers under the Rejuvenate brand name; and personal-use pesticides and insect repellent products under the Cutter and Repel brands. The company sells its products through retailers, e-commerce and online retailers, wholesalers, and distributors. Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Middleton, Wisconsin. Twitter, Inc. operates as a platform for public self-expression and conversation in real-time. The company's primary product is Twitter, a platform that allows users to consume, create, distribute, and discover content. It also provides promoted products that enable advertisers to promote brands, products, and services, as well as enable advertisers to target an audience based on various factors, including who an account follows and actions taken on its platform, such as Tweets created and engagement with Tweets. Its promoted products consist of promoted ads and Twitter Amplify, Follower Ads, and Twitter takeover. In addition, the company offers monetization products for creators, including Tips to directly send small one-time payments on Twitter using various payment methods, including bitcoin; Super Follows, a paid monthly subscription, which includes bonus content, exclusive previews, and perks as a way to support and connect with creators on Twitter; and Ticketed Spaces to support creators on Twitter for their time and effort in hosting, speaking, and moderating the public conversation on Twitter Spaces. Further, it offers products for developers and data partners comprising Twitter Developer Platform, a platform that enables developers to build tools for people and businesses using its public application programming interface; and paid access to Twitter data for partners with commercial use cases. Twitter, Inc. was founded in 2006 and is based in San Francisco, California. WESCO International, Inc. provides business-to-business distribution, logistics services, and supply chain solutions in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Electrical & Electronic Solutions (EES), Communications & Security Solutions (CSS), and Utility and Broadband Solutions (UBS). The EES segment supplies products and supply chain solutions, including electrical equipment and supplies, automation and connected devices, security, lighting, wire and cable, and safety, as well as maintenance, repair, and operating (MRO) products. This segment also offers contractor solutions, direct and indirect manufacturing supply chain optimization programs, lighting and renewables advisory services, and digital and automation solutions. The CSS segment operates in the network infrastructure and security markets. This segment sells products directly to end-users or through various channels, including data communications contractors, security, network, professional audio/visual, and systems integrators. It also provides safety and energy management solutions. The UBS segment offers products and services to investor-owned utilities; public power companies; and service and wireless providers, broadband operators, and contractors. This segment's products include wire and cable, transformers, transmission and distribution hardware, switches, protective devices, connectors, conduits, pole line hardware, racks, cabinets, safety and MRO products, and point-to-point wireless devices. This segment also offers various service solutions, including fiber project management, high and medium voltage project design and support, pre-wired meters and capacitor banks, meter testing and metering infrastructure installation, personal protective equipment dielectric testing, and tool repair, as well as emergency response, storage yard, materials, and logistics management. The company was founded in 1922 and is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. By PTI: wait for censor call as row simmers New Delhi/Ahmedabad/Chandigarh, Nov 22 (PTI) Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said today that film Padmavati was "hurting sentiments" and would not be screened in the poll bound state till issues were resolved even as a parliamentary panel sought a report from the I&B ministry and CBFC on the matter. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said that a call on allowing the Sanjay Leela Bhansali directed period drama in his state would be taken after the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) decides on it. advertisement The row over the Bollywood flick, meanwhile, continued to simmer with the Shri Rajput Karni Sena demanding that its reels be "consigned to the flames of Jauhar". BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha also waded in questioning what he called the silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani and leading Bollywood stars. In Gujarat, Chief Minister Rupani joined counterparts from BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan in expressing reservations about the film. The Government of Gujarat will not allow Bollywood movie Padmavati to be released in the state as it is hurting sentiments of Rajputs, he announced. "We cant allow our history to be distorted. We believe in freedom of speech and expression but any foul play with our great culture is not tolerated," the Chief Minister said. He referred to the upcoming state polls and said the government had taken the decision in the interest of law and order as it did not want any row. "There are issues with the film, our sympathy is with those who are protesting against the film and that is the reason we will not allow its release in the state till those issues are resolved," Rupani said in Ahmedabad. In Chandigarh, Haryana Chief Minister Khattar, however, chose to wait for the censor boards decision in the matter. "The government will take a call upon the screening of Padmavati after the decision by CBFC," Khattar said adding that nobody would be allowed to hurt sentiments. Khattar distanced himself from the Haryana BJP chief media coordinator Surajpal Singh Amus remarks about offering a bounty of Rs ten crore to anyone beheading Bhansali or lead actress Deepika Padukone. "The BJP has also issued a show cause notice to Amu," he said while also pointing to an FIR against the state leader. The controversy over the medieval drama also reached the portals of Parliament as a house panel sought a report on the film from the I&B ministry and the censor board. advertisement The matter was taken up for consideration by the Lok Sabha Committee on Petitions after two BJP MPs from Rajasthan, CP Joshi and Om Birla, filed a plea regarding objectionable content in the movie. Joshi told PTI that the movie should be shown to historians and the descendants of the erstwhile royal families, who trace their lineage to Padmavati, before release. "The panel has referred the matter to the I&B Ministry and the censor board. It has asked them to submit a report before November 30," BJP leader Bhagat Singh Koshyari, who heads the panel, said. Meanwhile, BJP MP and actor Shatrughan Sinha, who has often taken a stand contrary to that of his party, questioned the "silence" of the prime minister and the I&B minister. "How come our I&B Minister or our most popular Honble PM (according to PEW) are maintaining stoic silence. High time!" he said on Twitter. The Patna Sahib MP did not spare Bollywood top guns either. "As Padmavati becomes a burning controversy, people are asking why the legendary Amitabh Bachchan, most versatile Aamir Khan and most popular Shah Rukh Khan have no comments," Sinha tweeted. advertisement Meanwhile, the Karni Sena, which is leading the protests against the film, continued its offensive. "Its reel should be consigned to the flames of Jauhar," Lokendra Singh Kalvi, chief of the outfit, told reporters in New Delhi. He lashed at Padukone for her remarks that no force could stop the films release. "Who is Deepika Padukone? Is she the president or the prime minister? This film will not be released at any cost," he said. Asked on what basis was he claiming that the film distorted history, Kalvi said it was his "assumption" based on an alleged statement of Ranveer Singh, who plays Alauddin Khilji in the movie. Director Bhansali recently clarified that rumours about a romantic dream sequence between Rani Padmavati and Khiljis characters were not true as he was careful in depicting "Rajput honour and dignity". Kalvi also alleged to have received "life threats" from unknown numbers, one of which "was traced back to Karachi". Many groups have been protesting against the movie alleging distorting of history. Historians are, however, divided on whether Rani Padmavati even existed. PTI TEAM ADS --- ENDS --- Installed Building Products, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the installation of insulation, waterproofing, fire-stopping, fireproofing, garage doors, rain gutters, window blinds, shower doors, closet shelving and mirrors, and other products in the continental United States. The company offers a range of insulation materials, such as fiberglass and cellulose, and spray foam insulation materials. It is also involved in the installation of insulation and sealant materials in various areas of a structure, which includes basement and crawl space, building envelope, attic, and acoustical applications. In addition, the company installs a range of caulk and sealant products that control air infiltration in residential and commercial buildings; and waterproofing options, including sheet and hot applied waterproofing membranes, as well as deck coating, bentonite, and air and vapor systems. It serves homebuilders, multi-family and commercial construction firms, individual homeowners, and repair and remodeling contractors through a network of approximately 210 branch locations. The company was formerly known as CCIB Holdco, Inc. Installed Building Products, Inc. was founded in 1977 and is based in Columbus, Ohio. The following companies are subsidiares of HP: 3Com, 3PAR, ABB CADE, AOME Holdings Ltd., Albacore Holdings Jersey Ltd, Alpha Holding One B.V., Alpha Holding Two B.V., Anatolus Holding B.V., Apogee, Apogee Corp, Apogee Corporation Ireland Limited, Apogee Corporation Jersey Limited, Apogee Corporation Limited, Apogee Europe Limited, Apogee France Holdings SAS, Apogee France SAS, Apogee Germany Holding UG, Apogee Group Limited, Apogee Rentals Limited, Apollo Computer, AppIQ, Applied Optoelectronic Tech, ArcSight, Arnon Holding B.V., Arteis, Artivision Technologies, Aruba Networks, Atos Origin, Atos Origin Middle East group, Autonomy Corporation, Avantek, BAS - Burosysteme GmbH, BT & D Technologies, Balreed Digitec Group Limited, Balreed Digitec North Limited, Balreed Digitec SE Limited, Balreed Digitec UK Limited, Bamberga Holding B.V., Bitfone Corporation, Bluestone Software, Boonton Radio, Bristol Technology Inc., Bromium, Bromium UK Limited, CEC Europe Service Management, CGNZ, CaLan, China HP Co. Ltd Hangzhou Branch, China HP Co. Ltd., China HP Co. Ltd. Chengdu Branch, China HP Co. Ltd. Guangzhou Branch, China HP Co. Ltd. Jiangan Branch, China HP Co. Ltd. Nanjing Branch, China HP Co. Ltd. Shanghai Branch, Choose Packaging, City Docs Limited, City Docs Solutions Limited, Colorado Memory Systems, Colubris Networks, Colubris Networks, Compaq Cayman Holdings Company, Compaq Cayman Holdings General Partnership II, Compaq Information Technologies, Compaq Information Technologies LLC, Computing and Printing Global Services Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Computing and Printing Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Consera Software, ConteXtream Inc, Convex Computer, David Vision Systems GmbH, Dazzle, Digipro Limited, Division, EDS (Electronic Data Systems), EEsof, EYP Mission Critical Facilities, ElseWare, Eon Systems, Eucalyptus Systems, Eunomia Holding B.V., ExcellerateHRO, Exstream Software, Extreme Logic, F&M Scientific Corporation, F. Smith & Co Office Equipment Limited, F.L. Moseley Company, Flame Holding B.V., Fortify Software, Four Pi Systems, GNA Biosolutions GmbH, HP Austria GmbH, HP Belgium BV, HP Bilgisayar ve Baski Teknolojileri Limited Sirketi, HP Brasil Industria e Comercio de Equipamentos Eletronicos Ltda, HP Brasil Industria e Comercio de Equipamentos Eletronicos Ltda. - Branch 01 Tambore, HP Brasil Industria e Comercio de Equipamentos Eletronicos Ltda. - Branch 2 Sorocaba, HP Brasil Industria e Comercio de Equipamentos Eletronicos Ltda. - Branch 3 Porto Alegre, HP Canada Co. HP Canada Cie, HP Canada Licensing L.P., HP China Holding B.V., HP Chongqing Co. Ltd, HP Chongqing Manufacturing Export Procurement and Settlement Co. Ltd, HP Colombia SAS, HP Computing and Printing Middle East FZ-LLC, HP Computing and Printing Nigeria Ltd, HP Computing and Printing Systems India Private Limited, HP Computing and Printing d.o.o., HP Deutschland GmbH, HP Deutschland Holding GmbH, HP Europe B.V., HP Europe B.V. - Abu Dhabi Branch, HP Europe B.V. Regional Dubai Branch, HP Europe BV Amsterdam Meyrin Branch, HP Finland Oy, HP France Holding SAS, HP France SAS, HP Global Trading B.V., HP Global Trading B.V. Kazakhstan Branch, HP Health Solutions Inc., HP Health Solutions Spain Sociedad Limitada, HP Hewlett Packard Group LLC, HP Inc AP Hong Kong Limited, HP Inc Argentina S.R.L., HP Inc Bulgaria EOOD, HP Inc Chile Comercial Limitada, HP Inc Costa Rica Limitada, HP Inc Czech Republic s.r.o., HP Inc Danmark ApS, HP Inc Gulf, HP Inc Hong Kong Limited, HP Inc Magyarorszag Kft., HP Inc Peru S.R.L., HP Inc Polska sp. z o.o., HP Inc Romania SRL, HP Inc Slovakia s.r.o., HP Inc Thailand Ltd., HP Inc Tunisie SARL, HP Inc UK Limited, HP India Sales Private Limited, HP Indigo B.V., HP Indigo Ltd, HP Information Technology R&D Shanghai Co. Ltd, HP International Pte. Ltd., HP International Pte. Ltd. Taiwan Branch, HP International Sarl, HP International Trading B.V., HP International Trading B.V. Puerto Rico Branch LLC, HP Israel Ltd, HP Italy S.r.l., HP Jade Holding LLC, HP Japan Inc., HP KSA Ltd., HP Korea Inc., HP Licensing Holding LLC, HP Luxembourg S.C.A., HP Malaysia Manufacturing Sdn. Bhd., HP Nederland B.V., HP New Zealand, HP Norge AS, HP Onyx Holding L.P., HP PPS Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., HP PPS Australia Pty Ltd, HP PPS Costa Rica Limitada, HP PPS India Operations Private Limited, HP PPS Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., HP PPS Maroc, HP PPS Philippines Inc., HP PPS Sales Sdn. Bhd., HP PPS Services India Private Limited, HP PPS Singapore Sales Pte. Ltd., HP PPS Sverige AB, HP Pakistan Private Limited, HP Panama Sales and Distribution S. de R.L., HP Print Services Ireland Limited, HP Printing Korea Co. Ltd., HP Printing Shandong Co. Ltd., HP Printing and Computing Solutions S.L.U., HP Printing and Personal Systems Hellas EPE, HP Production Company Limited, HP Puerto Rico LLC, HP R&D Holding LLC, HP R&D Singapore Pte. Ltd., HP Schweiz GmbH, HP Scitex Ltd, HP Singapore Private Limited, HP Solutions Creation and Development Services S.L.U., HP South Africa Proprietary Limited, HP South Africa Trust, HP Taiwan Information Technology Ltd., HP Technology Holdings LLC, HP Technology Ireland Limited, HP Technology Israel Ltd, HP Technology Shanghai Co. Ltd, HP Technology Vietnam Company Ltd, HP Trading Kunshan Co. Ltd., HP Trading Shanghai Co. Ltd., HP Trading Shanghai Co. Ltd. Dalian Branch, HP Trading Shanghai Co. Ltd. Zhangjiang Branch, HP UK Development Limited, HP US Digital LLC, HP USA Manufacturing LLC, HPCP Computing and Printing Portugal Unipessoal Lda., HPI Bermuda Holdings LLC, HPI Brazil Holdings LLC, HPI Federal LLC, HPI J1 Holdings LLC, HPI Luxembourg LLC, HPQ Holdings LLC, Heartstream, Hewlett-Packard A.O., Hewlett-Packard Angola Lda., Hewlett-Packard Company Archives LLC, Hewlett-Packard Copenhagen B.V., Hewlett-Packard Development Company L.P., Hewlett-Packard Enterprises LLC, Hewlett-Packard G.K., Hewlett-Packard Global Holdings B.V., Hewlett-Packard Global Investments B.V., Hewlett-Packard Industrial Printing Solutions Europe BV, Hewlett-Packard Ireland 1 Limited, Hewlett-Packard Ireland Holdings Ltd., Hewlett-Packard Japan Holding B.V., Hewlett-Packard Japan NK Holdings C.V., Hewlett-Packard KSA Ltd. Qatar Branch, Hewlett-Packard Lisbon B.V., Hewlett-Packard MENA FZ-LLC Libya Branch, Hewlett-Packard Mercator B.V., Hewlett-Packard Sunnyvale B.V., Hewlett-Packard West Indies Limited, Hewlett-Packard World Trade LLC, Hiflex Software, HyperX, IBRIX, IndiGo, Indigo America Inc., Iseo Holding B.V., Kale Holding B.V., Kale Holding B.V. Puerto Rico Branch LLC, Knightsbridge Solutions, Kopiervertrieb Rhein-Ruhr GmbH, Lefthand Networks, Limited Liability Company HP Inc, Logoworks, Lyra Holding B.V., MacDermid ColorSpan, ManageOne, Manzana Bidco Limited, Manzana Holdings Limited, Melodeo, Mercury Interactive, Metrix Network Systems, NUR Macroprinters, Neoware, Nihon HP Nin-I Kumiai, Novadigm, NuView ManageX, OOO Hewlett-Packard RUS, Office Perfection Limited, OneFlow Systems Limited, Opelin, Opelin, Open Skies, Opsware, Opsware, Optimization Systems, Optotech, OuterBay Technologies, OuterBay Technologies, PERSIST Technologies, PIXACO, PROLIN, PT Hewlett-Packard Indonesia, Palm, Palm, Peregrine Systems, Perigee Holdco UK Limited, Perigee Midco UK Limited, Perseus Holding B.V., PipeBeach, Poly, PolyServe, PrinterOn America Corporation, Printware Limited, Qosnetics, RLX Technologies, Regor Holding B.V., SPI Dynamics, Samsung Printing Solutions, Scitex, Scitex Vision, Scope Communications, Security Force Software, Shunra Software, Shunra Software, Silverwire Holding, Simpress Comercio Locacao e Servicos Ltda, Snapfish, StorageApps, Stratavia, Synstar, Tabblo, Talking Blocks, Tall Tree Insurance Company, Technology Partners, Telegra, Teradici Corporation, Teradici Inc., Teradici UK Limited, The Danwood Group Limited, The Technology Partners, Tower Software, Tower Software Engineering Pty Ltd, Transoft Networks, Trellis Software & Controls, Triaton, Trinagy, TruLogica, Trustgenix, VeriFone, Verifone, Versatest, Vertica Systems, Vital Technology Pte Ltd, Voltage Security, VoodooPC, Xact Document Solutions Limited, and Xera-Logic Group Limited. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Marsh & McLennan Companies: 8WORKS INC., 8WORKS LTD, A. Constantinidi & CIA. S.C., A.C.N. 000 951 146 Pty Limited, A.C.N. 001 572 961 Pty Limited, A.C.N. 076 935 683 Pty Limited, A.C.N. 102 322 574 Pty Limited, ACE Insurance Agents Limited, ACE Insurance Consultants Limited, ACE Insurance and Reinsurance Brokers Limited, AD Corretora de Seguros, AFCO Premium Acceptance Inc., AFCO Premium Credit LLC, Access Equity Enhanced Fund GP LLC, Admiral Holdings Limited, Agnew Higgins Pickering & Co. (Bermuda) Ltd, Aldgate Investments Limited, Aldgate Trustees Ltd, Alexander Forbes Group Holdings Limited, Alpha Consultants Limited, Alta SA, Altius Real Assets (GP) LLC, Amal Insurance Brokers Limited (in liquidation), Anda Insurance Agencies Pte Ltd, AssetVal Pty Ltd, Assur Conseils Marsh S.A., Assurance Capital Corporation, Assurance Services Corporation, Australian Insurance Brokers Pty Ltd, Australian World Underwriters Pty Ltd., BBPS Limited, Barney & Barney Orange County LLC, Beaumonts (Leeds) Limited (in liquidation), Beaumonts Insurance Brokers Limited (in liquidation), Beaumonts Insurance Services Limited, Beneficios Integrales Oportunos SA, Benefitfocus Inc., Blue Marble Micro Limited, Blue Marble Microinsurance Inc., Bluefin, Bluefin Insurance Group Limited, Bluefin Insurance Services Limited, Boulder Claims LLC, Bowring (Bermuda) Investments Ltd., Bowring Marine Limited, Bowring Marsh (Bermuda) Ltd., Bowring Marsh (Hong Kong) Limited, Bowring Marsh Asia Pte. Ltd., Bowring Marsh Corretora de Resseguros Ltda., Bowring Marsh Limited, Broderick Piller Pty Ltd, Broker 2 Broker Limited, BuildPay LLC, Burke Ford Trustees (Leicester) Limited, C.T. Bowring Limited, CMC-Belgibo NV, CPRM Limited, CPSG Partners LLC, Carpenter Marsh Fac Chile Corredores de Reaseguros Limitada, Carpenter Marsh Fac Colombia Corredores de Reaseguros S.A., Carpenter Marsh Fac Peru Corredores de Reaseguros S.A.C., Carpenter Marsh Fac Re LLC, Carpenter Turner Cyprus Ltd, Carpenter Turner S.A., Cascade International Holdings C.V., Cascade Regional Holdings Limited, Central Insurance Services Limited, Charter Risk Management Services LLC, Chartwell Healthcare Limited, Chronos Insurance Brokers Pty Limited, Claims and Recovery Management (Australia) Pty Limited, Clark Thomson Insurance Brokers Limited, Client Provide Limited, Colombian Insurance Broking Wholesale Limited, Consultores 2020 C.A., Cronin & Co Insurance Services Limited, DVA - Deutsche Verkehrs-Assekuranz-Vermittlungs GmbH, Dawson Insurance, DeLima Marsh S.A. - Los Corredores de Seguros S.A., Dovetail Insurance Corp., Dovetail Insurance Corp., Dovetail Managing General Agency Corporation, Dovetail Technology Service India Private Limited, Draw Connect Limited, Draw Create Limited, Draw Group London Limited, Eagle & Crown Limited, Echelon Australia Pty Limited, Echelon Claims Consultants Sdn Bhd, Echelon New Zealand Limited, EnBW Versicherungs Vermittlung GmbH, Encompass Insurance Agency Pty Ltd., English Pension Trustees Limited, Epsilon (US) Insurance Company, Epsilon Insurance Company Ltd., Eustis Insurance & Benefits, Evolution Management Ltd, Exchange Insurance Services Limited (in liquidation), Exmoor Management Company Limited, Faulkner & Flynn LLC, Freedom Trust Services Limited, GC Genesis LLC, GCube Insurance Services Inc, GCube Underwriting Limited, Gama Consultores Associados Ltda., Gem Insurance Company Limited, Global Premium Finance Company, GrECo International Holding AG, Gracechurch Trustees Limited, Gresham Pension Trustees Limited, Group Promoters Pty Limited, Guy Carpenter & Cia (Mexico) S.A. de C.V., Guy Carpenter & Cia. S.A., Guy Carpenter & Co. Labuan Ltd., Guy Carpenter & Company AB, Guy Carpenter & Company Corredores de Reaseguros Limitada, Guy Carpenter & Company Corretora de Resseguros Ltda., Guy Carpenter & Company GmbH, Guy Carpenter & Company LLC, Guy Carpenter & Company Limited, Guy Carpenter & Company Limited, Guy Carpenter & Company Ltd./Guy Carpenter & Compagnie Ltee, Guy Carpenter & Company Participacoes Ltda., Guy Carpenter & Company Peru Corredores de Reaseguros S.A., Guy Carpenter & Company Private Limited, Guy Carpenter & Company Proprietary Limited, Guy Carpenter & Company Pty. Ltd., Guy Carpenter & Company S.A., Guy Carpenter & Company S.A. (Uruguay), Guy Carpenter & Company S.A.S., Guy Carpenter & Company S.r.l., Guy Carpenter (Middle East) Limited, Guy Carpenter Bermuda Ltd., Guy Carpenter Broking Inc., Guy Carpenter Colombia Corredores de Reaseguros Ltda., Guy Carpenter Insurance Brokers (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Guy Carpenter Japan Inc., Guy Carpenter Mexico Intermediario de Reaseguro S.A. de C.V., Guy Carpenter Reasurans Brokerligi Anonim Sirketi, HAPIP GP 2009 LLC, HAPIP GP LLC, HSBC Insurance Brokers International (Abu Dhabi) LLC (in liquidation), Hamilton Bond Limited, Hansen International Limited, Hayward Aviation Limited, INSIA Europe SE, INSIA SK s.r.o., INSIA a.s., INSURANCE BROKERS OF NIGERIA LIMITED, IRC Asia Insurance Brokers Limited, InSolutions Limited, Industrial Risks Protection Consultants, Ingeseg S. A., Ingeseg S.A., Insbrokers Ltda., InsurTech Alliance LLC, Insure Direct (Brokers) LLC, Insure Direct (Brokers) LLC [BAHRAIN BRANCH], Insure Direct - Jardine Lloyd Thompson Limited, International Catastrophe Insurance Managers LLC, International Loss Control Services Limited, International Risk Consultants (Asia) Limited, Invercol Limited, Irish Pensions Trust Limited, Isosceles Insurance (Barbados) Limited, Isosceles Insurance Company Limited, Isosceles Insurance Ltd, Isosceles PCC Limited, J&H Marsh & McLennan Limited, J.W. Terrill Benefit Administrators Inc., JI Holdings Limited, JIB Group Holdings Limited, JIB Group Limited, JIB Holdings (Pacific) Limited, JIB Overseas Holdings Limited, JIB UK Holdings Limited, JL Marine Insurance-Brokers GmbH & Co. KG, JLM Verwaltungs GmbH, JLT (Insurance Brokers) Limited, JLT Actuaries and Consultants Limited, JLT Advisory Limited, JLT Affinity Colombia Solutions SAS, JLT Agencies Limited, JLT Asesorias Ltda, JLT Asia Holdings BV, JLT Asia Shared Services Sdn Bhd, JLT Belgibo, JLT Benefit Consultants Limited, JLT Benefit Solutions Limited, JLT Benefit Solutions SA (Pty) Ltd, JLT Bermuda Ltd, JLT Brasil Holdings Participacoes Ltd, JLT Chile Holdings SpA, JLT Colombia Retail Limited, JLT Colombia Wholesale Limited, JLT Consultants & Actuaries Limited, JLT EB Holdings Limited, JLT EB Services Limited, JLT Employee Benefits Holding Company (PTY) LTD, JLT Employee Benefits SA (Pty) Ltd, JLT Financial Planning Limited, JLT France Holdings, JLT Group Services Pty Limited, JLT Holdings (Barbados) Ltd, JLT Holdings (NZ) Limited, JLT Independent Insurance Brokers Private Limited, JLT Insurance Agencies Limited, JLT Insurance Brokers Co. Limited, JLT Insurance Brokers Co. Limited ( Shanghai Branch), JLT Insurance Brokers Co. Limited (Beijing Branch), JLT Insurance Brokers Co. Limited (Guangzhou Branch), JLT Insurance Brokers Ireland Limited, JLT Insurance Brokers SA, JLT Insurance Group Holdings Ltd, JLT Insurance Management Malta Limited, JLT Intellectual Property Limited, JLT Intellectual Property [UK Branch], JLT Interactive Pte. Ltd., JLT Investment Management Limited, JLT LATAM (Southern Cone) Wholesale Limited, JLT Latin American Holdings Limited, JLT Life Assurance Brokers Limited, JLT Management Services Limited, JLT Marine (Pty) Ltd, JLT Mexico Holdings Limited, JLT Mexico Intermediario de Reaseguro S.A. de C.V., JLT Netherlands BV, JLT Norway AS, JLT PLA, JLT Pension Trustees Limited, JLT Pensions Administration Holdings Limited, JLT Pensions Administration Limited, JLT Peru Reinsurance Solutions Limited, JLT Peru Retail Limited, JLT Peru Wholesale Limited, JLT QFM Services Limited, JLT RE Brasil Administracao e Corretagem de Resseguros Ltda, JLT Re (French Branch), JLT Re (Northern Europe) AB, JLT Re Argentina Corredores de Reaseguros S.A.U., JLT Re Labuan Limited, JLT Re Limited, JLT Re Pty Ltd, JLT Reinsurance Brokers GmbH, JLT Reinsurance Brokers Limited, JLT Reinsurance Brokers Limited [French Branch], JLT Risk Management Limited, JLT Risk Solutions AB, JLT Risk Solutions AB Branch - Germany, JLT SA IB Holdings Company (Pty) Limited, JLT SCK Affinity Administracao e Corretora de Seguros Ltda., JLT SCK Corretora e Administradora de Seguros, JLT Secretaries Limited, JLT Sigorta ve Reasurans Brokerlii A.., JLT Singapore Holdings Pte. Ltd., JLT Specialty France, JLT Specialty Insurance Broker A/S, JLT Specialty Limited, JLT Specialty Limited [DUBAI BRANCH], JLT Specialty Pte. Ltd., JLT Towner Insurance Management (Anguilla) Limited, JLT Trust Services (Barbados) Ltd, JLT Trustees (Southern) Limited, JLT Trustees Limited, JLT UK Investment Holdings Limited, JLT Vantage Risk and Benefit Consulting Private Limited, JLT Wealth Management Limited, JLT do Brasil Corretagem de Seguros Ltda, JLTPCS Holdings Pte. Ltd., JMIB Holdings BV, JSL Securities Inc., Japan Affinity Marketing Inc., Jardine IBR Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson (Proprietary) Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Asia Pte Ltd, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Australia Pty Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Canada Inc, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group Ltd, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group plc, Jardine Lloyd Thompson India Private Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson India Private Limited (UK Branch Office), Jardine Lloyd Thompson Insurance Consultants Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Insurance and Reinsurance Brokers Inc., Jardine Lloyd Thompson Ireland Holdings Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Ireland Unlimited Company, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Korea Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Limited [Macao Branch], Jardine Lloyd Thompson PCS (Dubai) Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson PCS Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson PCS Pte Ltd, Jardine Lloyd Thompson PCS SA, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Private Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Pty Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Sdn Bhd, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Valencia y Iragorri Corredores de Seguros SA, Jardine Pension Trustees Ireland Limited, Jardine Risk Consulting Co. Limited, Jardine ShunTak Insurance Brokers Limited, Jardine ShunTak Insurance Brokers Limited [Macao Branch], Jardines PF- Consultoria Em Gestao De Risco Limitada, Jelf, Jelf Commercial Finance Limited, Jelf Financial Planning Limited, Jelf Insurance Brokers Limited, Jelf Limited, Jelf Risk Management Limited, Jelf Wellbeing Limited, John Lampier & Son Ltd, Johnson & Higgins (Bermuda) Limited, Johnson & Higgins Limited, KESSLER & CO AG, Kepler Associates Limited, Kessler & Co Inc., Kessler Consulting Inc., Kessler Prevoyance Inc., Key Underwriting Pty Limited, Kroll, Lambert Brothers Holdings Limited, Lambert Brothers Insurance Brokers (Employee Benefits) Limited, Lambert Brothers Insurance Brokers (Hong Kong) Ltd, Laterlife.com Limited (in liquidation), Lavaretus Underwriting AB, Lavaretus Underwriting AB (BRANCH - Denmark), Libra Insurance Services Limited (in liquidation), Lloyd & Partners Limited, Local Government Insurance Brokers Pty Limited, Lomond Macdonald Limited, Lynch Insurance Brokers Limited, M&M Vehicle L.P., M.P. Bolshaw and Company Limited, MAG JLT SpA, MERCER ALTERNATIVES LIMITED, MM Risk Services Pty Ltd (for dissolution), MMA Mid-Atlantic Employee LLC, MMA Securities LLC, MMB Consultores S.A., MMC (Singapore) Holdings Pte. Ltd., MMC 28 State Street Holdings Inc., MMC Borrower LLC, MMC Brazilian Holdings B.V., MMC Capital Inc., MMC Cascade Regional Holdings LLC, MMC FINANCE (EUROPE) LIMITED, MMC FINANCE HOLDINGS LTD, MMC Finance (Australia) Limited, MMC Finance (Singapore) Limited, MMC France Holdings (Luxembourg) S.a.r.l., MMC GP III Inc., MMC Group Services sp. z o.o., MMC Holdings (Australia) Pty Ltd, MMC Holdings (New Zealand) ULC, MMC Holdings (UK) Limited, MMC International Finance (Barbados) SRL, MMC International Holdings LLC, MMC International Limited, MMC International Treasury Centre Limited, MMC Middle East Holdings Limited, MMC Poland Holdings B.V., MMC Realty Inc., MMC Regional Asia Holdings B.V., MMC Regional Caribbean Holdings Ltd., MMC Regional Europe Holdings B.V., MMC Regional LATAM Holdings B.V., MMC Securities (Europe) Limited, MMC Securities LLC, MMC Treasury Holdings (UK) Limited, MMC UK Group Limited, MMC UK Pension Fund Trustee Limited, MMOW Limited, MMRC LLC, MOW Holding LLC, MPIP III GP LLC, MPIP IV GP LLC, MPIP V GP LLC, MPIP VI GP LLC, Mangrove Insurance Europe PCC Limited, Mangrove Insurance Solutions PCC, Mangrove Insurance Solutions PCC Limited, Manoel Management Services Ltd, Marchant McKechnie Insurance Brokers Limited, Marine Aviation & General (London) Limited, Marsh & McLennan (PNG) Limited, Marsh & McLennan Agencies AS, Marsh & McLennan Agencies Limited, Marsh & McLennan Agency A/S, Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC, Marsh & McLennan Agency Limited, Marsh & McLennan Agency Pty Ltd., Marsh & McLennan Argentina SA Corredores de Reaseguros, Marsh & McLennan Colombia S.A., Marsh & McLennan Companies Acquisition Funding Limited, Marsh & McLennan Companies Acquisition Limited, Marsh & McLennan Companies Asia Pacific Treasury Center Limited, Marsh & McLennan Companies BVBA/SPRL, Marsh & McLennan Companies Finance Center (Luxembourg) S.a.r.l., Marsh & McLennan Companies France S.A.S., Marsh & McLennan Companies Holdings (Luxembourg) S.a.r.l., Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc., Marsh & McLennan Companies Regional Holdings S.a.r.l., Marsh & McLennan Companies Services B.V., Marsh & McLennan Companies UK Limited, Marsh & McLennan Europe S.a.r.l., Marsh & McLennan GP I Inc., Marsh & McLennan Global Broking (Bermuda) Ltd., Marsh & McLennan Holding GmbH, Marsh & McLennan Holdings (Canada) ULC, Marsh & McLennan Holdings Inc., Marsh & McLennan Incorporated (for dissolution), Marsh & McLennan Innovation Centre Holdings II, Marsh & McLennan Innovation Centre Holdings S.a.r.l., Marsh & McLennan Innovation Centre Limited, Marsh & McLennan Insurance Services Limited, Marsh & McLennan Ireland Limited, Marsh & McLennan Management Services (Bermuda) Limited, Marsh & McLennan Risk Capital Holdings Ltd., Marsh & McLennan Servicios S.A. De C.V., Marsh & McLennan Shared Services Canada Limited, Marsh & McLennan Shared Services Corporation, Marsh (Bahrain) Company SPC, Marsh (Beijing) Risk Management Consulting Co. Ltd., Marsh (China) Insurance Brokers Co. Ltd., Marsh (Hong Kong) Limited, Marsh (Insurance Brokers) LLP, Marsh (Insurance Services) Limited, Marsh (Malawi) Limited, Marsh (Middle East) Limited, Marsh (Namibia) (Proprietary) Limited, Marsh (Pty) Ltd, Marsh (Risk Consulting) LLP, Marsh (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Marsh A/S, Marsh AB, Marsh AG, Marsh AS, Marsh Advantage Insurance Holdings Pty Ltd, Marsh Advantage Insurance Pty Ltd., Marsh Africa (Pty) Ltd, Marsh Argentina S.R.L., Marsh Associates (Pty) Ltd, Marsh Austria G.m.b.H., Marsh Aviation Insurance Broking Pty Ltd (for dissolution), Marsh B.V., Marsh Botswana (Proprietary) Limited, Marsh Brockman y Schuh Agente de Seguros y de Fianzas S.A. de C.V., Marsh Broker Japan Inc., Marsh Broker de Asigurare-Reasigurare S.R.L., Marsh Brokers (Hong Kong) Limited, Marsh Brokers Limited, Marsh Canada Limited/Marsh Canada Limitee, Marsh Company Management Services Cayman Ltd., Marsh Compensation Technologies Administration (Pty) Ltd, Marsh Corporate Services (Barbados) Limited, Marsh Corporate Services Isle of Man Ltd, Marsh Corporate Services Limited, Marsh Corporate Services Malta Limited, Marsh Corretora de Seguros Ltda., Marsh EOOD, Marsh Egypt LLC, Marsh Emirates Consultancy LLC, Marsh Emirates Insurance Brokerage LLC, Marsh Employee Benefits Limited, Marsh Employee Benefits Zimbabwe (Private) Ltd, Marsh Eurofinance B.V., Marsh Europe S.A., Marsh FJC International Insurance Brokers Limited, Marsh For Insurance Services S.A.E., Marsh Franco Acra S.A., Marsh GSC Servicos e Administracao de Seguros Ltda., Marsh GmbH, Marsh Holding AB, Marsh Holdings (Pty) Ltd, Marsh India Insurance Brokers Private Limited, Marsh Insurance & Investments LLC, Marsh Insurance Brokers, Marsh Insurance Brokers (Macao) Limited, Marsh Insurance Brokers (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Marsh Insurance Brokers (Private) Limited, Marsh Insurance Brokers AO, Marsh Insurance Brokers Limited, Marsh Insurance Consulting Saudi Arabia (in liquidation), Marsh Insurance and Reinsurance Brokers LLC, Marsh Intermediaries Inc., Marsh International Broking Holdings Limited, Marsh International Holdings II Inc., Marsh International Holdings Inc., Marsh Investment B.V., Marsh Ireland Brokers Limited, Marsh Ireland Brokers Limited (UK Branch), Marsh Ireland Holdings Limited, Marsh Israel (1999) Ltd., Marsh Israel (Holdings) Ltd., Marsh Israel Consultants Ltd., Marsh Israel Insurance Agency Ltd., Marsh Israel International Brokers Ltd. (in liquidation), Marsh JCS Inc., Marsh Japan Inc., Marsh Kft., Marsh Kindlustusmaakler AS, Marsh Korea Inc., Marsh LLC, Marsh LLC Insurance Brokers, Marsh LLC [Ukraine], Marsh Lda., Marsh Limited, Marsh Limited [Fiji], Marsh Limited [New Zealand], Marsh Limited [PNG], Marsh Ltd. [Wisconsin], Marsh Management Services (Bahamas) Ltd., Marsh Management Services (Barbados) Limited, Marsh Management Services (Bermuda) Ltd., Marsh Management Services (Dublin) Limited, Marsh Management Services (Labuan) Limited, Marsh Management Services (MENA) Limited, Marsh Management Services (USVI) Ltd., Marsh Management Services Cayman Ltd., Marsh Management Services Guernsey Limited, Marsh Management Services Inc., Marsh Management Services Isle of Man Limited, Marsh Management Services Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Marsh Management Services Malta Limited, Marsh Management Services Singapore Pte. Ltd., Marsh Management Services Sweden AB, Marsh Marine & Energy AB, Marsh Marine Nederland B.V., Marsh Medical Consulting GmbH, Marsh Mercer Holdings (Australia) Pty Ltd, Marsh Nest Inc., Marsh Oman LLC, Marsh Oy, Marsh PB Co. Ltd., Marsh Philippines Inc., Marsh Privat A.I.E., Marsh Private Client Life Insurance Services, Marsh Pty. Ltd., Marsh Qatar LLC, Marsh RE S.A.C. Corredores de Reaseguros, Marsh Rehder Consultoria S.A. (MRC), Marsh Rehder S.A. Corredores de Seguros, Marsh Resolutions Pty Limited, Marsh Risk Consulting B.V., Marsh Risk Consulting Limitada, Marsh Risk Consulting Ltda., Marsh Risk Consulting S.L., Marsh Risk Consulting Services S.r.L., Marsh Risk and Consulting Services (Pty) Ltd, Marsh S.A. Corredores De Seguros, Marsh S.A. Mediadores de Seguros, Marsh S.A.S., Marsh S.p.A., Marsh SA [Argentina], Marsh SA [Belgium], Marsh SA [Luxembourg], Marsh SA [Uruguay], Marsh SIA, Marsh Saldana Inc., Marsh Saudi Arabia Insurance & Reinsurance Brokers, Marsh Secretarial Services Limited, Marsh Semusa S.A., Marsh Services Limited, Marsh Services Spolka z.o.o., Marsh Sigorta ve Reasurans Brokerligi Anonim Sirketi, Marsh Spolka z.o.o., Marsh Szolgaltato Kft., Marsh Takaful Brokers (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Marsh Treasury Services (Dublin) Limited (in liquidation), Marsh Treasury Services Limited, Marsh Tunisia S.a.r.l., Marsh UK Limited, Marsh USA (India) Inc., Marsh USA Borrower LLC, Marsh USA Inc., Marsh Uganda Limited, Marsh Venezuela C.A. Sociedad de Corretaje de Seguros, Marsh Vietnam Insurance Broking Company Ltd, Marsh Zambia Limited, Marsh Zimbabwe Holdings (Private) Limited, Marsh d.o.o. Beograd, Marsh d.o.o. za posredovanje u osiguranju, Marsh for Insurance Services - Jordan, Marsh i-Connect (Pty) Ltd, Marsh s.r.o., Matthiessen Assurans AB, Mercer (Argentina) S.A., Mercer (Australia) Pty Ltd, Mercer (Austria) GmbH, Mercer (Belgium) SA-NV, Mercer (Canada) Limited/Mercer (Canada) Limitee, Mercer (China) Limited, Mercer (Colombia) Ltda., Mercer (Danmark) A/S, Mercer (Finland) OY, Mercer (France) SAS, Mercer (Hong Kong) Limited, Mercer (Ireland) Limited, Mercer (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Mercer (N.Z.) Limited, Mercer (Nederland) B.V., Mercer (Norge) AS, Mercer (Polska) Sp.z o.o., Mercer (Portugal) Lda, Mercer (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Mercer (Sweden) AB, Mercer (Taiwan) Ltd., Mercer (Thailand) Ltd., Mercer (US) Inc., Mercer Administration Services (Australia) Pty Limited, Mercer Africa Limited, Mercer Agente de Seguros S.A. de C.V., Mercer Asesores de Seguros S.A., Mercer Asesores es Inversion Independientes S.A. de C.V., Mercer Broking Ltd., Mercer Career Unipessoal Lda, Mercer Consultation (Quebec) Ltee., Mercer Consulting (Australia) Pty Ltd, Mercer Consulting (Chile) Limitada, Mercer Consulting (France) SAS, Mercer Consulting (India) Private Limited, Mercer Consulting B.V., Mercer Consulting Group Inc., Mercer Consulting Holdings Sdn. Bhd., Mercer Consulting Limited, Mercer Consulting Middle East Limited, Mercer Consulting S.L.U., Mercer Consulting Venezuela C.A., Mercer Corredores de Seguros Limitada, Mercer Corretora de Seguros Ltda, Mercer Danismanlik Anonim Sirketi, Mercer Deutschland GmbH, Mercer Employee Benefits - Medicacao de Seguros Unipessoal Lda., Mercer Employee Benefits Limited, Mercer Financial Advice (Australia) Pty Ltd, Mercer Financial Services Limited, Mercer Financial Services Limited liability company, Mercer Financial Services Middle East Limited, Mercer Global Investments Europe Limited, Mercer Global Investments Management Limited, Mercer HR Consulting Borrower LLC, Mercer HR Services LLC, Mercer Health & Benefits (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Mercer Health & Benefits Administration LLC, Mercer Health & Benefits LLC, Mercer Holdings Inc., Mercer Holdings Inc. [Philippines], Mercer Human Resource Consulting Ltda, Mercer Human Resource Consulting S.A. de C.V., Mercer ICC Limited, Mercer Investment Consulting Limited, Mercer Investment Management (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Mercer Investment Solutions (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Mercer Investments (Australia) Limited, Mercer Investments (Hong Kong) Limited, Mercer Investments (Japan) Ltd, Mercer Investments (New Zealand) Limited, Mercer Investments LLC, Mercer Ireland Holdings Limited, Mercer Italia Srl Socio Unico, Mercer Japan Ltd., Mercer Korea Co. Ltd., Mercer LLC, Mercer Limited, Mercer MC Consulting Borrower LLC, Mercer Master Trustees Limited, Mercer Mauritius Ltd., Mercer Oliver Wyman Holding B.V., Mercer Outsourcing (Australia) Pty Ltd, Mercer Outsourcing S.L.U., Mercer Pensionsfonds AG, Mercer Pensionsraadgivning A/S, Mercer Philippines Inc., Mercer Private Investment Partners IV General Partner S.a.r.l., Mercer Private Markets AG, Mercer Private Markets Advisers (US) AG, Mercer Services Poland Sp. z.o.o., Mercer Sigorta Brokerligi Anonim Sirketi, Mercer South Africa (Pty) Limited, Mercer Superannuation (Australia) Limited, Mercer Switzerland Inc., Mercer System Services LLC, Mercer Technology Acquisitions Limited, Mercer Treuhand GmbH, Mercer Trust Company LLC, Mercer Trustees Limited, Mercer WorkforcePro LLC, Mercury Insurance Services Pty Ltd, Moola Systems Limited, Mountlodge Limited, Muir Beddal (Zimbabwe) Limited, NERA Australia Pty. Ltd., NERA Economic Consulting GmbH, NERA Economic Consulting Limited, NERA S.R.L., NERA SAS, NERA UK Limited, NERA do Brasil Ltda. (for dissolution), National Economic Research Associates Inc., NetComp Insurance Corp., Neuburger Noble Lowndes GmbH, Normandy Reinsurance Company Limited, Northern Alliance Brokers Limited (in liquidation), OWL Marine Insurance-Brokers GmbH & Co.KG, OWL Marine Verwaltungs GmbH, Oliver Wyman (Bermuda) Limited, Oliver Wyman (Hong Kong) Limited, Oliver Wyman AB, Oliver Wyman AG, Oliver Wyman Actuarial Consulting Inc., Oliver Wyman B.V., Oliver Wyman Consulting (Shanghai) Ltd, Oliver Wyman Consultoria em Estrategia de Negocios Ltda., Oliver Wyman Energy Consulting Limited, Oliver Wyman FZ-LLC, Oliver Wyman Group KK, Oliver Wyman Inc., Oliver Wyman LLC, Oliver Wyman Limited, Oliver Wyman Limited Liability Company, Oliver Wyman Limited/Oliver Wyman limitee, Oliver Wyman Ltd., Oliver Wyman Pte. Ltd., Oliver Wyman Pty. Ltd., Oliver Wyman S. de R.L. de C.V., Oliver Wyman S.A.S., Oliver Wyman S.L., Oliver Wyman S.r.l., Oliver Wyman SNC, Oliver Wyman SPRL/BVBA, Oliver Wyman Sdn. Bhd., Oliver Wyman Services Limited, Oliver Wyman Servicios S. de R.L. de C.V., Oliver Wyman sp. z o.o., Omega Indemnity (Bermuda) Limited, Organizacion Brockman y Schuh S.A. de C.V., Osbornes Insurances Oxford Limited (in liquidation), PFT Limited, PI Indemnity Company Designated Activity Company, PT JLT Reinsurance Brokers, PT Jardine Lloyd Thompson, PT Marsh Indonesia, PT Marsh Reinsurance Brokers Indonesia, PT Mercer Indonesia, PT Nexus Asia Pacific, PT Oliver Wyman Indonesia, PT Quantum Computing Services, PT Quantum Investments, PT Quantum Support Services, Pallas Marsh Servicos Ltda., Pavilion Alternatives Group (Singapore) PTE. Ltd, Pavilion Financial Corporation Holdings UK Limited, Pavilion U.S. Investments Holdco LLC, Pension Trustees Limited, Pensionsservice Benefit Network Sverige AB, Perils AG, Personal Pension Trustees Limited, Pet Animal Welfare Scheme Limited, Portsoken Trustees (No. 2) Limited, Portsoken Trustees Limited, Potomac Insurance Managers Inc., Premier Pension Trustees Limited, Premium Services Australia Pty Limited, Professional Claims Handling Limited (in liquidation), Profund Solutions Limited, Promerit AG, Promerit Hungary Kft, Promerit Schweiz AG, Pymetrics Inc., R G Ford Brokers Limited, R R B Beratungsgesellschaft fuer Altersversorgung mbh, R. Mees & Zoonen Holdings B.V., Renewable Energy Loss Adjusters LLC, Renewable Energy Loss Adjusters Limited, Resource Benefit Associates, Rightpath Reinsurance SPC Ltd., Risk Management Australia Pty Limited, Rivers Group Limited, Rockefeller Risk Advisors Inc., Rutherfoord International Inc., SAFCAR-Marsh, SBJ Holdings Limited, SCIB (Bermuda) Limited, SCM Global Real Estate Select GP LLC, SCM Infrastructure General Partner S.a r.l., SCM International Private Equity Select III GP LLC, SCM LT General Partner S.a.r.l., SCM PE General Partner S.a.r.l., SCM PE II GP Ltd., SCM PE II Scotland GP Ltd, SCM Strategic Capital Management (Luxembourg) S.a.r.l., SICAR Marsh S.a.r.l., SME Insurance Services Limited, Sail Insurance Company Limited, Scalene Re Ltd, Seabury & Smith Borrower LLC, Seabury & Smith LLC, Secure Limited, Sedgwick (Holdings) Pty. Limited, Sedgwick Consulting Group Limited, Sedgwick Dineen Group Limited, Sedgwick Financial Services Limited, Sedgwick Forbes Middle East Limited, Sedgwick Group, Sedgwick Group (Australia) Pty. Limited, Sedgwick Group (Bermuda) Limited, Sedgwick Group (Zimbabwe) Limited, Sedgwick Group Limited, Sedgwick Internationaal B.V., Sedgwick Limited, Sedgwick Management Services (Barbados) Limited, Sedgwick Management Services (Singapore) Pte Limited, Sedgwick Noble Lowndes (UK) Limited, Sedgwick Noble Lowndes Group Limited, Sedgwick Noble Lowndes Limited, Sedgwick Overseas Investments Limited, Sedgwick Private Limited, Sedgwick Re Asia Pacific (Consultants) Pte Ltd (for dissolution), Sedgwick Trustees Limited, Sedgwick UK Risk Services Limited, Sedgwick Ulster Pension Trustees Limited, Settlement Trustees Limited, Shanghai Mercer Insurance Brokers Company Ltd., Shorewest Insurance Associates LLC, Sirota Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Sirota Consulting UK Limited, Smith Long Term Disability Management Group Inc., Societe d'Assurances et de Participation Guian SA, Software Underwriting Systems Limited (in liquidation), Southern Marine & Aviation Inc., Southern Marine & Aviation Underwriters Inc., Sudzucker Versicherungs-Vermittlungs GmbH, Sumitomo Life Insurance Agency America Inc., Sylvite Financial Services, TBX Solutions Limited, Talent Tech Labs LLC, The Benefit Express Holdings Limited, The Benefit Express Limited, The Carpenter Management Corporation, The Insurance Partnership Holdings Limited, The Insurance Partnership Services Limited, The Positive Ageing Company Limited, The Purple Partnership Limited, The Recovre Group Pty Ltd, Thomsons Online Benefits (HK) Ltd., Thomsons Online Benefits Inc., Thomsons Online Benefits Limited, Thomsons Online Benefits Pte Ltd., Thomsons Online Benefits S.R.L, Torrent Government Contracting Services LLC, Torrent Insurance Services LLC, Torrent Technologies, Torrent Technologies Inc., Tower Hill Limited, Tower Place Developments (West) Limited, Tower Place Developments Limited, U.T.E. AMG, U.T.E. Marsh - Caja Castilla La Mancha Junta de Comunidades, U.T.E. Marsh - Salvado Reus (in liquidation), U.T.E. Marsh - Salvado Reus 2012, U.T.E. Marsh - Salvado Vila-Seca 2010, UAD BB Marsh Lietuva, Vezina & Associes Inc., Vezina Assurances Inc., Victor Insurance Europe B.V., Victor Insurance Holdings Inc., Victor Insurance Italia S.r.l., Victor Insurance Managers Inc., Victor Insurance Managers Inc./Gestionnaires d'assurance Victor inc., Victor O. Schinnerer & Co. (Bermuda) Ltd., Victor O. Schinnerer & Company Limited, Victoria Hall Company Limited, Wellnz Limited, William M. Mercer (Canada) Limited/William M. Mercer (Canada) Limitee, William M. Mercer AB, William M. Mercer Comercio Consultoria e Servicos Ltda., Wortham Insurance & Risk Management, everBe SAS, and realright GmbH. Read More By PTI: (Eds: Updating with Saeeds comments, more details) By M Zulqernain Lahore, Nov 22 (PTI) JuD chief Hafiz Saeed will soon walk free after a Pakistani judicial body today ordered his release from house arrest, in a setback to Indias efforts to bring to justice the perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack. The banned Jamaat-ud-Dawah head, who carries a bounty of USD 10 million announced by the US for his role in terror activities, has been under detention since January this year. advertisement Rejecting the governments plea to extend his detention for another three months, the Judicial Review Board of Punjab province comprising judges of the Lahore High Court unanimously ordered Saeeds release on the completion of his 30-day house arrest which will expire tomorrow. "The government is ordered to release JuD chief Hafiz Saeed if he is not wanted in any other case," said the board which was headed by Justice Abdul Sami Khan. Saeeds counsel Advocate A K Dogar told PTI that his client will walk free tomorrow. "The JuD chief was illegally detained for 297 days. Hafiz Saeed always worked for Pakistan and the government could not prove any allegation against him," he said. The fire-brand cleric may walk out free if the government does not detain him in any other case. Soon after the verdict, Saeed resorted to rhetoric and said all efforts by India have failed and he was released. "It was not mine but Pakistans case. Today, India faced embarrassment as it is proved that Pakistan is an independent country. I tell you... India can do no harm to me and Kashmir will soon get freedom," he said in a statement. India has repeatedly asked Pakistan to re-investigate the Mumbai terror attack case and also demanded trial of Saeed and Lashkar-e-Taiba operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi in the light of evidence it had provided to Islamabad. Before the boards decision, a federal finance ministry official appeared before it and submitted "some important evidence" against Saeed to justify his detention. The board, however, could not be convinced by his arguments. The board had asked the ministry to explain how release of a single individual would affect the entire country. Punjab Assistant Advocate General Sattar Sahil said the government law officer had presented had some important evidence to justify detention of Saeed but all three members of the board unanimously rejected it and ordered his release. Earlier, the home department of the Punjab government told the board that Pakistan might face sanctions from the international community if Saeed is released. advertisement On January 31, Saeed and his four aides - Abdullah Ubaid, Malik Zafar Iqbal, Abdul Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Hussain - were detained by the Punjab government for 90 days under Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 and the Fourth Schedule of Anti- Terrorism Act 1997. However, the last two extensions were made on the public safety law. The board refused to give further extension to the detention of Saeeds aides. They were set free last month. Earlier today, the home department produced Saeed before the board and sought a three-month extension in his detention. Dogar said he told the board that those four aides of Saeed it (board) had set free last month had not created any law and order situation in the country after their release as was being alleged by the home department. "The same allegation the department has levelled against his client which is unfounded. Saeed has been placed under house arrest only to please the US and India," Dogar said and warned the government from detaining Saeed again in any other fake case or charges. "We will move the court without any delay if the government does not comply with the order of the judicial board and set him free tomorrow," he said. advertisement Strict security arrangements were taken at the LHC premises during Saeeds appearance before the board. A large number of JuD workers also gathered on the court?s premises. Saeeds supporters chanted slogans in favour of their leader. Welcoming the boards decision, JuD spokesman Yahya Mujahid said, "The friends of India are disappointed today." Last month, the board had allowed 30-day extension to the detention of Saeed which will expire tomorrow. Meanwhile, a source in the Punjab government told PTI that Saeed may not walk out free as the government is mulling to detain him in another case. "The government cannot afford to set Saeed free in the current circumstance. It cannot face international backlash in the event of releasing the JuD chief," the official source told PTI. Under the law, the government can detain a person for up to three months under different charges but for extension to that detention it needs approval from a judicial review board. Separately, the LHC today held hearing on Saeed?s petition challenging his detention and adjourned the proceedings for December 6. advertisement The JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) which is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attack. Saeed was put under house arrest after Mumbai terror attacks in November 2008 but he was freed by court in 2009. Ten LeT militants killed 166 people and wounded dozens in Mumbai in November, 2008. Nine of the attackers were killed by police while lone survivor Ajmal Kasab was caught. Kasab was executed after a court found him guilty and handed down deathAsentence. PTI MZ ZH AKJ ZH --- ENDS --- The following companies are subsidiares of Prudential Financial: 210-220 E. 22nd Street SSGA Owner LLC, AIG Edison, AIG Star, AREF Cayman Co Ltd., AREF GP II Pte. Ltd., AREF GP Ltd., ASPF II - Feeder Fund GmbH, ASPF II - Verwaltungs - GmbH & Co. KG, ASPF II Management GmbH, ASPF III Scots L.P., ASSURANCE, AST Investment Services Inc., Adlerwerke CB Investment LLC, Administradora de Fondos de Pensiones Habitat S.A., Administradora de Inversiones Previsionales SpA, Aoba Life Insurance Company, Aoba Life Insurance Company Ltd., Asia Property Fund III GP S.a.r.l., Assurance IQ LLC, Assurance Intelligence LLC, BSC CP LP, Braeloch Holdings Inc., Braeloch Successor Corporation, Brazilian Capital Fund GP Limited, Broad Street Global Advisors LLC, Broome Street Holdings LLC, CB German Retail LLC, CLIS Co. Ltd., COLICO INC., Capital Agricultural Property Services Inc., Chadwick Boulevard Investment Holdings Co. LLC, Cibecue LLC, Coconino LLC, Colico II Inc., Columbus Drive Partners L.P., Commerce Street Holdings LLC, Commerce Street Investments LLC, Coolidge LLC, Coral Reef GP, Coral Reef L.P., Coral Reef Unit Trust, Cottage Street Investments LLC, Cottage Street Orbit Acquisition LLC, DICKENS AVENUE HOLDINGS VI LLC, DICKENS AVENUE PARTNERS VI Ireland L.P., DICKENS AVENUE PARTNERS VI US L.P., Dale/P Minerals Limited Partnership, Don Cesar Investor LLC, Dryden Arizona Reinsurance Term Company, Dryden Finance II LLC, EVP II GP S.a r.l., EVP II Horizon GP S.a r.l., EVP II Sprint GP S.a r.l., Edison Place Senior Note LLC, Essex LLC, EuroCore GP S.a r.l., European Value Partners GP S.a.r.l., Everbright PGIM Fund Management Co. Ltd., Flagstaff LLC, GA 1600 Commons LLC, GA 333 Hennepin Investor LLC, GA BV LLC, GA Bay Area GP LLC, GA Bay Area Investor LLC, GA Belden LLC, GA CLARENDON LLC, GA Cal Crossings LLC, GA Collins LLC, GA E. 22nd Street Apartments Holdings LLC, GA East 86 Street LLC, GA JHCII LLC, GA MENLO PARK INVESTOR LLC, GA Manor at Harbour Island LLC, GA Metro LLC, GA TRITON INVESTOR LLC, GA W Paces LLC, GA/MDI 333 Hennepin Associates LLC, GIBRALTAR BSN HOLDINGS SDN BHD, GIBRALTAR INDIA SOLUTIONS LLP, Gateway Holdings II LLC, Gateway Holdings LLC, German Retail Income CP LP, Gibraltar BSN Life Berhad, Gibraltar International Insurance Services Company Inc., Gibraltar International Service LLC, Gibraltar Reinsurance Company Ltd., Gibraltar Universal Life Reinsurance Company, Glenealy International Limited, Global Portfolio Strategies Inc., Gold GP Limited, Gold II L.P., Gold L.P., Graham Resources Inc., Graham Royalty Ltd., Green Harvest Asset Management LLC, Green Tree GP, Green Tree L.P., Greenlee LLC, Halsey Street Investments LLC, Hirakata LLC, IVP Fund GP LLC, Impact Investments Bridges UK S.a.r.l, Inter-Atlantic G Fund L.P., Inversiones Previsionales Chile SpA, Inversiones Previsionales Dos SpA, Ironbound Fund LLC, Jennison Associates LLC, Kyarra S.a r.l., Kyoei Annuity Home Co. Ltd. Kabushiki Kaisha Kyouei Nenkin Home, LINEUP LLC, Lake Street Partners IV L.P., Lotus Reinsurance Company Ltd., MC GA COLLINS HOLDINGS LLC, MC GA COLLINS REALTY LLC, MC Insurance Agency Services LLC, Manor at Harbour Island LLC, Marble Canyon LLC, Maricopa LLC, Market Street Holdings IV LLC, Montana Capital Partners, Morenci LLC, Mulberry Street Holdings LLC, Mulberry Street Investment L.P., Mulberry Street Partners LLC, Mullin TBG Insurance Agency Services LLC, MullinTBG Insurance Agency Services, National Family Assurance Group LLC, New Savanna, Northbound Emerging Manager Fund A LP, Northbound Emerging Manager Fund II - A LP, Orchard Street Acres Inc., PAI Bay Farm LLC, PAI Bayrock Groves LLC, PAI Belvidere Farms LLC, PAI Big Cypress Farm LLC, PAI Corcoran 640 Ranch LLC, PAI DeKalb Farm LLC, PAI Delano 1500 Ranches LLC, PAI Desert Falcon Farms Manager LLC, PAI Flicker Orchard LLC, PAI Good Hope Farm LLC, PAI Hawk Creek Ranch LLC, PAI Hills Valley Ranches LLC, PAI Holly Hill Groves LLC, PAI Hunt Farm LLC, PAI Jackson Bayou Farm LLC, PAI Lake Placid Groves LLC, PAI River Bend Ranches LLC, PAI Wallula Gap Vineyard LLC, PCP V Cayman AIV GP L.P., PEREF II Co-Invest 1 GP S.a r.l., PEREF II GP S.a r.l., PFI EM-Tech Fund I LLC, PG Business Service Co. Ltd, PG Collection Service Co. Ltd., PG Friendly Partners Co. Ltd., PGA Asian Retail Limited, PGA European Limited, PGI Co. Ltd, PGIM AC Co-Invest GP Pte. Ltd., PGIM AVP IV GP S.a r.l., PGIM Advisory Shanghai Co. Ltd., PGIM Agricultural Investments GP LLC, PGIM Australia Pty Ltd, PGIM Broad Market High Yield Bond Fund L.P., PGIM Broad Market High Yield Bond Partners LLC, PGIM Capital Partners Management Feeder VI LLC, PGIM Capital Partners Management Fund VI L.P., PGIM Custom Harvest LLC, PGIM DC Co-Invest GP Pte. Ltd., PGIM DC JV GP Pte. Ltd., PGIM DC Solutions LLC, PGIM European Financing Limited, PGIM European Services Limited, PGIM Financial Limited, PGIM Fixed Income Alternatives Fund II L.P., PGIM Fixed Income Alternatives Fund L.P., PGIM Fixed Income Alternatives GP LLC, PGIM Fixed Income Alternatives II GP LLC, PGIM Foreign Investments Inc., PGIM Holding Company LLC, PGIM Holdings Limited, PGIM Hong Kong Ltd., PGIM INDIA ASSET MANAGEMENT PRIVATE LIMITED, PGIM INDIA TRUSTEES PRIVATE LIMITED, PGIM IRELAND LIMITED, PGIM Inc., PGIM International Financing Inc., PGIM Investments Ireland Limited, PGIM Investments LLC, PGIM Japan Co. Ltd., PGIM Korea Inc., PGIM LTIF Berlin GP S.a r.l., PGIM LTIF Berlin MLP S.ar.l., PGIM LTIF GP S.a.r.l., PGIM Limited, PGIM Loan Originator Manager Limited, PGIM M Campus GP S.a r.l., PGIM Management Partner Limited, PGIM MetaProp Investor LP LLC, PGIM Netherlands B.V., PGIM Overseas Investment Fund Management Shanghai Company Ltd, PGIM Private Capital Ireland Limited, PGIM Private Capital Limited, PGIM Private Placement Investors Inc., PGIM Private Placement Investors L.P., PGIM QUANTITATIVE SOLUTIONS LLC, PGIM REF EUROPE SCSp, PGIM REF Europe GP S.a r.l., PGIM REF Europe Member LLC, PGIM REF Intermediary Services Inc., PGIM Real Estate CD S.a.r.l., PGIM Real Estate Capital VII GP S.a r.l., PGIM Real Estate Carry & Co-Invest GP LLC, PGIM Real Estate Carry & Co-Invest GP S.a r.l., PGIM Real Estate Carry & Co-Invest L.P., PGIM Real Estate Carry & Co-Invest SCSp, PGIM Real Estate Co-Invest Holdings LLC, PGIM Real Estate Debt GmbH, PGIM Real Estate Finance Holding Company, PGIM Real Estate Finance LLC, PGIM Real Estate France SAS, PGIM Real Estate Germany AG, PGIM Real Estate Global Debt GP LLC, PGIM Real Estate Global Master Fund GP S.a r.l., PGIM Real Estate Inmuebles II S de R.L. de C.V., PGIM Real Estate Inmuebles S. de R.L. de C.V, PGIM Real Estate Italy S.r.l., PGIM Real Estate Japan Ltd., PGIM Real Estate Loan Services Inc., PGIM Real Estate Luxembourg S.A., PGIM Real Estate MVP Administradora IV S. de R.L. de C.V., PGIM Real Estate MVP Administradora V S. de R.L. de C.V., PGIM Real Estate MVP Inmuebles IV S. de R.L. de C.V., PGIM Real Estate MVP Inmuebles V S. de R.L. de C.V., PGIM Real Estate Management Luxembourg S.a.r.l., PGIM Real Estate Mexico S.C., PGIM Real Estate S. de R.L. de C.V., PGIM Real Estate U.S. CORE Debt Fund GP LLC, PGIM Real Estate U.S. Debt Fund GP LLC, PGIM Real Estate UK Limited, PGIM Scots Limited, PGIM Securities Investment Trust Enterprise, PGIM Senior Loan Opportunities Management (Feeder) I LLC, PGIM Senior Loan Opportunities Management Fund I L.P., PGIM Shanghai Company Ltd., PGIM Singapore Pte. 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KG, USPF V Carry LLC, USPF V Co-Invest LLC, USPF V Investment LP, United States Property Fund VI GP S.a r.l., VIP Australia Holding Company LLC, VIP Australia Trustee Pty Ltd, Vailsburg Fund LLC, Vantage Casualty Insurance Company, Wabash Avenue Holdings V LLC, Wabash Avenue Partners V L.P., Wadhwani Capital Limited, Waveland Avenue Holdings I LLC, Waveland Avenue Partners I Ireland L.P., Waveland Avenue Partners I US L.P., Wellness Services Ecossistema De Bem Estar Ltda., Wellness Services SRL, Yamato Life, and Yavapai LLC. Read More In 2017 alone, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan lashed out at media, asking them to "leave" and "move aside", twice. Yesterday, CM's office banned entry of media personnel into the secretariat. What's going on? By India Today Web Desk: Media is the fourth pillar of democracy, they say. But with all that's going on in India, the concept of media being a catalyst in maintaining and safeguarding democracy is crumbling. Prime Minister Narendra Modi doesn't engage with the media. It's been over three years since Modi assumed the Prime Minister's Office. He has not held even a single press conference. advertisement PM Modi has, of course, communicated his "Mann Ki Baat" regularly during his tenure, even jolted the nation with an announcement as big as turning four-fifth of the paper currency in circulation in the country invalid, but prefers to stick to this unconventional -- or like some say, smart -- way of unidirectional conversation. PINARAYI VIJAYAN AND MEDIA Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, on the other hand, used to be someone who interacted with the media regularly. He holds press conferences and takes questions. Whether or not he answers all the questions fired at him by journalists is a different discussion, but journalists at least had the liberty to have a dialogue with CM Vijayan. JULY On July 31, however, CM Pinarayi Vijayan lashed out at journalists ahead of a 'peace talk' convened between the CPM and the BJP at Thiruvananthapuram's Mascot Hotel. Reports had it that CM Vijayan asked journalists, who had gone to cover the developments of the peace talks after the murder of an RSS worker, to "get out". "Kadakku purathu", the Malayalam phrase he used (that translates to "get out"), was used by Malayala Manorama in multiple headlines on the front page the next day and has now found its place in memes on social media. Vijayan, who also asked journalists "who invited you here" as per reports, began the meeting with the BJP leaders only after all media personnel left the room. A statement released by the CMO said that the media was not invited for the meeting, not even for a photo-op, and that it was not possible to hold the meeting in the presence of journalists. NOVEMBER On November 17, CM Vijayan did something similar. Vijayan asked one of the journalists waiting outside his party office in Kochi, eager to ask him about the CPM-CPI conflict over ousted Transport Minister Thomas Chandy, to "move aside". Yesterday, on November 21, the CMO denied entry to the media personnel who reached the Secretariat to cover the submission of a report by a judicial commission (PS Antony Commission) on another ousted minister of the Pinarayi Cabinet -- AK Saseendran -- over a new Malayalam television channel airing an alleged sleazy talk involving him and a woman. advertisement This is the FIRST TIME that the media was banned inside the premises of the Secretariat. A report in Malayala Manorama said that the officials at the CMO hinted that the ban was to avoid "uncomfortable questions" journalists would throw at the chief minister. CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran slammed the CMO's decision and said, "Thiruvananthapuram is not Jaipur", a direct reference to the way Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje treats media and the Ordinance she brought to stop media from reporting corruption charges against public servants, magistrates and judges. Opposition leaders did not miss the chance to slam CM Vijayan either. Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala and former KPCC president VM Sudheeran called the CMO action of blocking media personnel at the gate of the secretariat "undemocratic". NO COUNTRY FOR JOURNALISTS? Such intolerance towards media, to questions being asked, cannot be not correlated with safety of journalists in India. As Donald Trump succeeded in creating a "fake news" narrative where he, very easily by repetition, established that news outlets asking tough questions have an agenda and their reports are fake, Narendra Modi and his chief ministers like Yogi Adityanath and Vasundhara Raje have been doing all they can to keep interaction with media to a minimum. advertisement The online troll armies funded by political parties have also managed to establish a new word to refer to journalists -- Presstitutes -- in an attempt to ridicule and intimidate journalists who have the courage to speak of the unpleasant truth and ask uncomfortable questions. --- ENDS --- By PTI: Rajkot, Nov 22 (PTI) The BJP today accused the Congress of having an "English mindset", a day after the Congress youth wing posted a meme mocking Prime Minister Narendra Modis chaiwala past and English speaking skills. BJP national spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao said the post--deleted after it created a controversy in the run-up to the Gujarat polls--was an "insult" to the common people of the country who do not speak English. advertisement "The tweet posted by the (Youth Congress) magazine against the prime minister is wrong. It is an insult to the common people who do not speak English language," Rao told reporters here. The BJP leader was in the city to campaign for the party candidates. The official Twitter handle of the Youth Congress online magazine "Yuva Desh" had kicked up a row by mocking Modis "chaiwalla" past and English speaking skills through a photograph showing him in conversation with British premier Theresa May and US President Donald Trump. The blurbs show Modi "mispronouncing" the word "meme", which is being corrected by Trump, and May dismissing the Indian prime minister by stating, "You stick to selling tea." After the flutter caused by the meme, the tweet was deleted and Indian Youth Congress (IYC) president Amarinder Singh Raja tendered his apology. Rao claimed it was wrong on the part of the Congress to "insult" the countrys prime minister in public although healthy criticism was acceptable in democracy. He said though the common people were using smartphones and social media, they did not use English language for communication. "I have seen every person in Gujarat has a phone and uses Facebook and Whatsapp. However, all of them do not use English language. The Congress has thus not only insulted our prime minister, but also the people of our country who do not use English," the BJP leader alleged. Rao said nobody insulted the Russian president for not speaking English. "Its the Congress English mindset which is wrong," he alleged. PTI VJA NSK AAR --- ENDS --- When President Kovind finished his address during opening ceremony of Gauhati University, a man rushed towards him with a letter in his hand and screaming that he wanted to speak to the President. By Kaushik Deka : There was a security scare when a college teacher tried to get close to President Ram Nath Kovind during a ceremony at Gauhati University on November 20. As the President finished his address, one Krishna Kamal Das, sitting among the audience rushed towards the dais with a letter in his hand and screaming that he wanted to speak to the President. The President's security team and Assam police personnel immediately surrounded Das, who is a lecturer in a private college in Guwahati, and forcibly took him out of the hall. advertisement However, one of the security officers read his letter, screened it and then handed it over to President's Secretary Sanjay Kothari. The letter was an appeal to save a six-year-old child Satvik Agarwal, who has been battling for life in a private hospital in Guwahati. Agarwal was run over by a school bus on November 15 and his parents had been seeking financial help for his treatment. When Das read about this incident on social media and got to know about President's visit, he wanted to draw attention of the first citizen of the country and managed to get an invite to the event at Gauhati University. Once the Assam police team was convinced that Das did not have any other motive, Assam Police Additional DGP (Security) Harmit Singh took him to Raj Bhavan where the President was staying. Meanwhile, on learning about the content of the letter, President Kovind asked state government officials to immediately offer all possible assistance to the child. At Raj Bhavan, Das met Kothari who promised that he would visit the child in the hospital. At around 10 pm, Kothari and some senior Assam government official reached the hospital and assured Agarwal's parents all kinds of assistance. --- ENDS --- By PTI: Chandigarh, Nov 22 (PTI) Perturbed at the sight of fire- fighters using wet sacks and scarves on their heads in a rescue operation, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today ordered the immediate release of funds for new uniforms which, he said, would improve the functioning of the fire department. He also asked Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu to assess if the personnel could be covered under fire insurance schemes. advertisement The chief minister?s instructions came at a state cabinet meeting, where he expressed concern over the state of affairs in the department, which lost six men fighting a fire that broke out in a building which collapsed in Ludhiana on Monday. Singh, who had visited the site of the collapse yesterday, said he was perturbed to see firemen with wet sacks and scarves on their heads during the rescue operations there. These men risk their lives for the sake of the people, he pointed out, adding that it was the duty of the government to ensure that they did not lack basic essentials to carry out their work. The rescue mission personnel, it is believed, tied the wet sacks and scarves to protect their heads and necks. The chief minister said he was also informed about a severe staff and material shortage faced by the department, which was trying to make do with an inadequate number of men even in emergency situations such as the Ludhiana building collapse. Singh also asked Sidhu to expedite the work on upgrading the department for efficient functioning. Sidhu claimed the previous SAD-BJP government had failed to do anything for the department and spent only Rs 13 crore on its equipment and upgradation from a budget of Rs 90 crore. The chief minister said his government was taking all possible steps to improve the infrastructure of the department. A Directorate of Fire Services was established earlier this year and 69 fire brigades were purchased and sent to the municipal corporations and municipal councils, he said. Another 27 fire brigades would be added to the fleet by December, he said. A new Fire Safety Act was under formulation and would also be ready by December, he added. The Directorate of Fire Services and the Fire Safety Act will check unauthorised buildings and those lacking fire safety measures, the chief minister said, adding that adequate equipment for the fire stations would be made available under the Fire Directorate, which will be headed by an IPS officer. PTI VSD BDS --- ENDS --- advertisement By PTI: legal experts; BJP calls it "mutual deception" (Combining related reports) Ahmedabad/New Delhi, Nov 22 (PTI) Legal experts today said the quota promised by the Congress to Hardik Patel for his Patidar community in poll-bound Gujarat may not pass judicial muster due to the 50 per cent cap even as the BJP dubbed the deal as a "big joke" and "mutual deception". advertisement As quota politics came to the fore ahead of next months Assembly polls, the legal experts also said the promised reservation by the Congress if it comes to power can survive if the Supreme Court was to reconsider its 1992 landmark judgement fixing the ceiling. The Supreme Court in its verdict in the Mandal Commission case had ruled that the total reservation for SC/ST and other backward classes or special categories should not exceed 50 per cent. Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said the party will take steps on the promised quota within the "Constitutional daayra (framework)." Hardik Patel, who is the leader of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), on his part said the 50 per cent reservation cap set by the apex court, was just a "suggestion". He claimed the reservation formula given by the Congress for his community will be over and above the 50 per cent quota for the SC, ST and OBCs. Hardik said if the Congress comes to power, it will conduct a proper survey for providing reservation. The party will bring a Bill in the state Assembly and give reservation, he said. "That 1992 judgement was not just a suggestion, it was a law laid down by the SC. We cannot cross that limit. Even if the survey about the backwardness of any community is conducted, the eligible community has to be included in the existing 50 per cent quota. There is no scope of additional quota," said senior Gujarat High Court lawyer Girish Patel. In the opinion of another advocate Krishnakant Vakharia, reservation can go beyond 50 per cent only if the Parliament amends the Constitution, or someone files an appeal in the Supreme Court against the 1992 judgement. "We all abide by the interpretation of the Constitution done by the SC. In the the historical 1992 judgement, the SC interpreted the Constitution and said that 50 per cent cap is necessary to protect the principle of Right to Equality," Vakharia said, adding, "If that limit is not there, that principle becomes meaningless." Vakharia said there are two possible ways to increase the cap. "Either the Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha amends the Constitution with two-third majority under Article 368, or someone files a petition urging the SC to reverse the 1992 judgement by claiming that social fabric has changed a lot since the judgement was delivered 25 years ago," he added. advertisement Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the "Congress-Hardik club" is one of mutual deception. "The law of the land is very clear and that is laid down by the Supreme Court and only last week in the Rajasthan case it has been re-affirmed that the 50 per cent cap cannot be increased." "So let them contnue to deceive each other and deceive the public by saying that they will devise a methodology to breach the gap," he told reporters in Delhi. "Legally and constitutionally that is not possible as the law stands today." Hitting out at Hardik Patel for declaring support to Congress, Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said the formula of reservation above the cap set by Supreme Court was something "offered by fools and also accepted by fools." "Though it is very much clear that reservation quota cannot go beyond 50 per cent in any situation, Hardik is trying to misguide the Patidar community with the formula offered by the Congress. In my opinion, this formula of reservation is a big joke," Patel told reporters in Ahmedabad. advertisement Nitin Patel claimed that Congress leaders like Kapil Sibal have made a fool out of Hardik by offering such formula. Reacting to Jaitleys "mutual deception" charge, Singhvi accused the BJP of fooling people everyday. "If you want to see who has fooled whom, you go and see it in Rajasthan. The BJP is a ruling party there. It fools people everyday. Sometimes they talk about Jat reservation, sometimes Gujjar reservation. They are in power, they can fulfil the promise, yet they dont," he told reporters in Delhi. "We are not in power, when we will come in power there, we will implement it staying completely within Constitutional framework. We have that capabilities to do that." Senior advocate Aman Lekhi said the quota promise was "pure power politics" where the primary aim is to grab power and the social welfare purpose behind reservation gets lost. PTI PJT PD NAB ENM SJK GSN GSN --- ENDS --- advertisement The duopoly that has dominated the Philippines for years could be shaken up following a meeting between President Rodrigo Duterte and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. Duterte has reportedly invited China to set up a third mobile operator in the market, although a possible operating partner has not yet been identified. The Filipino market is currently dominated by PLDT and Globe Telecom, with each holding nearly 50% of the market. In October last year Duterte threatened to open the market up to Chinese investment if they did not improve their services. Both operators have been accused of offering substandard internet speeds and typically lacklustre performance. The most recent data (May-July 2017) for the Philippines from OpenSignal, which maps wireless coverage, pegged the countrys average download speed at 8.6Mb/s well below the global 4G average of 16.2Mb/s. Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said: the good news is, consumers can look forward now to better telecommunications, not just in terms of cellular technology but also in terms of internet speed as well as access. MTN Group is querying a XOF134 billion ($213 million) bill issued to it by the regulator of Benin for unpaid frequency fees. The South African operator group is holding ongoing discussions with the regulator Arcep to reach an agreement over the penalty, which MTN has described as excessive. The fine relates to spectrum fees levied across 2016 and 2017. An atmosphere of controversy surrounds these discussions, with Benins interior ministry recently ordering the Stephen Blewett, the head of MTN Benin, to leave the country before 24th November on the grounds that he had participated in activities detrimental to security and public order. MTN issued a statement defending Blewett, arguing that he had discharged his duties as directed by MTN Group with the utmost integrity and that his actions had been legal. The governments accusation against Blewett and the spectrum fee penalty are not the first indications of a volatile relationship between operator and Benins authorities. MTN was earlier this year issued another fine for XOF492 million, with the government citing the operators persistent failure to meet its obligations on standards of service. At the end of Q3 2017, MTN led the Benin market with a 45% market share. UC Browser was booted from Play Store by Google for not complying with its policy. The removal led to speculation that it could be based on Indian government's request to act against services leaking user information to servers in China. UC Browser is once again available on the Google Play Store after being pulled down by Google for use of 'misleading' and 'unhealthy' methods of promotion to increase install base. Alibaba-owned UCWeb says that a new version that rectifies the issues is now available on Google Play and dismissed the claims of misleading promotion as baseless. Last week, Google removed UC Browser from Google Play without offering any reason. UCWeb claimed its app was removed due to a setting that did not comply with Google's policy. Now the company has updated technical setting of its app to adhere to Google's policy and is back in Play Store. In a statement shared with news agency IANS, Young Li, Head-International Business Department at Alibaba Mobile Business Group said, "During the brief absence of UC Browser on Play Store, we continued to meticulously check our technical settings while also witnessing an uninterrupted passion of our users for the product, who looked upon the alternative version, UC Browser Mini, and made it to the top of [the] Free Apps category on the Play Store." Back in October, UC Browser surpassed 500 million downloads on the Play Store and has made it to the top of Google Play in terms of downloads. According to StatCounter, it is the most popular mobile browser in India with nearly 50 percent market share. The removal of UC Browser from Google Play led to speculation that the move could be based on Indian government's request to act against services leaking user information to servers in China. A report recently indicated that UC Browser is under government scanner and will be banned in the country if found guilty of leaking user data to servers in China. The app has also been accused of taking control over the DNS of a user's device even after being uninstalled and security researchers have also highlighted major privacy and security vulnerabilities. "Our policies are designed to provide a safe and positive experience for users. That's why we remove apps from Google Play that violate those policies," Google said in a statement. Alibaba invested Rs 2 crore on the development of UC Browser in India. Uber has revealed that it kept a 2016 hack affecting 57 million customers and 7 million drivers under wraps. The ride-hailing startup has confirmed that it paid $100,000 to attackers to plug the leak. Uber has revealed that it paid $100,000 to hackers who stole personal data of 57 million customers and 7 million drivers in 2016. The company had kept details of this massive breach of its platform under wraps for more than a year. Uber is now coming clean on this security breach by revealing that some personal information of 57 million Uber users and 7 million drivers around the world was exposed. It adds that information included names, email addresses and mobile phone numbers. The hackers also got hold of names and drivers' license numbers of around 6,00,000 drivers in the United States. The information regarding this breach from more than a year ago came in the form of an official blog post from new Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Khosrowshahi writes that two individuals outside the company had inappropriately accessed the user data stored on a third-party cloud service used by the company. He adds that outside forensics experts have verified that hackers did not have access to information like trip location history, credit card numbers, bank account numbers or social security numbers of its US customers. The incident also did not breach its corporate system or infrastructure. In the light of this breach, Uber took steps to secure the user data and shut down further unauthorised access to its system by the individuals. It also identified the individuals and obtained assurances that the data accessed by them had been destroyed. "We also implemented security measures to restrict access to and strengthen controls on our cloud-based storage accounts," Khosrowshahi wrote in his post. Uber, the ride-hailing startup has ousted Joe Sullivan, its Chief Security Officer and another executive for not disclosing the hack. The company has also taken efforts to ensure that such a breach doesn't occur in the future and is individually notifying the drivers whose license numbers were accessed by the attackers. It is also notifying the regulatory authorities about the leak and Bloomberg reports that New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has also initiated an independent investigation into the hack. Uber has had a relatively tough year with its co-founder and CEO Travis Kalanick being forced to leave the company after reports emerged about his misconduct and toxic workplace culture. In the past year, Uber's attempt to fool Apple by geofencing its campus and running controversial 'Hell' tracking program have also come into light. Since taking over as CEO in September, Khosrowshahi has tried to set the records straight and change the culture. "None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it," he says in the blog post. Uber is embroiled in multiple lawsuits in New York and its service has been suspended by London with other governments expected to follow suit as well. The new revelations are expected to complicate the matters further especially in times when the company is seen to have changed the course of law. Late last year, when OnePlus launched a new device with the latest hardware specs, it somehow ended up in the bad books of its loyalists. The OnePlus 3T was an improvement on every aspect over the OnePlus 3. So why did it irk people? Thats because OnePlus suddenly decided to change their product update cycle. The beloved Chinese upstart seemingly believed they were falling back on the competition and they cant not give the best that their is to their fanbase. That did the trick of making the OnePlus 3T a success. That, and media reports of OnePlus selling out their stock in less than a minute during the first sale on Amazon. Fast forward to a year later and OnePlus has done the same thing with the OnePlus 5 and the OnePlus 5T. Just six months after launching the OnePlus 5, the company has launched the OnePlus 5T that now comes with a taller 18:9 display and a different dual camera application while everything else remained the same. So we asked OnePlus users whether they were happy with the update cycle OnePlus has settled for. The answer was a resounding NO. Out of the 251 responses we received, 66 percent people said they werent happy with OnePlus phasing out a device just six months after launch and introducing a new one, while 34 percent respondents said they were quite happy with the strategy. Is OnePlus holding back on innovation? The negativity is understandable. Its not like the OnePlus 5T is a bad phone. It is a great device and for Rs 37,000 and you will be hard pressed to find an all-rounder smartphone like this one. Its the timing. The fact that OnePlus believes it is okay to introduce an upgrade every six months is the problem. Nobody wants to find out a new and nearly identical device (at the same price) is available right after they bought what they thought was the latest. It leaves users feeling cheated, and OnePlus carries the reputation of listening to its user base which is why it hurts the company more. Digit readers have been quite vocal about OnePlus' decision to discontinue a six-month old flagship in place of a new one which is just an incremental upgrade. ; OnePlus carries the tag of Never Settle. Yet when the OnePlus 5 launched back in June, there wasnt a bezel-less display to boot, even though Samsung had made it mainstream with the Galaxy S8. More so, Xiaomi had made ripples a year back with the Mi Mix that had a bezel-less display. That means the technology was available at the time of the OnePlus 5 but OnePlus didnt implement it till the OnePlus 5T. That sounds a lot like making their loyalists settle for something less. One of our readers lamented about the fact that the OnePlus 5 was his first "flagship" phone bought with his own savings in the hope of having the latest technology in his fingertips. Now he feels cheated as the device is now obsolete after just four months. "A loyal customer fan base buy a phone out of other elite brands in the market trusting a company's proposition and delight it offers to its customers. There is still a loyal base of customers who will still love the OnePlus 5 as it has a front mounted fingerprint sensor and hardware of same specs, which hardly makes any difference with predecessor phone. A few spec changes with highlighting them as a major change doesn't go well with loyal customers," he said. Business as usual? OnePlus portray themselves as a small company that puts everything into making just one product and they do it with sheer perfection. Till last year, OnePlus would throw all its eggs into one basket to make a single great Android device. But at the end of the day, OnePlus is a business looking to make money. And in the face of cut throat competition, OnePlus couldnt do with just one phone. Especially when companies like Xiaomi and Nokia are clawing at the Flagship Killer status. That sort of justifies OnePlus decision to launch the OnePlus 5T, at least from the company's perspective. But is it really fair on its loyal band of fans who shelled out money to Never settle? The problem is OnePlus promised a lot ever since their first device and has struggled to deliver on the promises with each upgrade.This year, Xiaomi had the Mi Mix 2 with a bezel-less screen while the Nokia 8 was an all-rounder with the promise of latest updates. For instance, this year, the OnePlus 5 neither had an edge-to-edge display nor did it provide updates the quickest. At the end of the day, OnePlus comes out as a company that has lost its direction. It gathered a lot of followers and they all feel let down. Here is a company that once gave every possible flagship feature on one phone. Since last year, the company divided the features up into two devices with the OnePlus 3T and the OnePlus 5T being just incremental updates. So is it worth it to to shell out Rs 37,000 once again for a tall, new display? Here is what the readers are saying: HDR is arguably the best thing to have happened in the TV space over the last decade or so. Its a new format that brings noticeable improvements in terms of picture quality. But, to take advantage of this format, you need a television that can actually playback such content, and content that has been shot in HDR. That, and the fact that HDR is a comparatively new technology, means its a darling for high end TV makers. But, even Sony, LG and Samsung market HDR10 and Dolby Vision (not on Samsung TVs) on their top end televisions, there are companies making the technology cheaper. TCL, for instance, boasts that its Android TVs, which are considerably cheaper than those other companies, can support HDR playback. But did you read the fine print? If you did, you would know that TCLs televisions support something called HDR Pro, and not HDR10. What exactly is HDR Pro? To understand what HDR Pro is, one needs to understand what HDR picture is all about. Currently, the primary requirements for HDR10 consist of a 10 bit display panel, wide colour space support and 1000 nits peak brightness. Essentially, a TV needs to firstly read the input from HDR content, and then be able to reproduce it on the screen. Support for HDR Pro means the television can read the HDR content, but it cant play the same on the screen. So, it may have a 10 bit panel, but it doesnt support the wide colour gamut to actually show the vibrant imagery shot in HDR. It may or may not be capable of producing 1000 nits brightness as well, although any television with UHD Premium certification has to offer 1000 nits peak brightness in order to qualify for that certification. Thats exactly what happens in TCLs televisions and some other TVs. Why does this matter? This may not even matter to many, but the truth is that actual HDR content can be brighter and more vibrant than what you see on HDR Pro. If a television has a 10 bit panel, it is likely capable of better colour gradation. So, though the television is still playing SDR content, it will likely look better than the same content being played on non-HDR Pro televisions. However, it will not look as good as it could on a TV that supports HDR10. Major HDR standards Theres another popular HDR standard that TV makers use, called Dolby Vision. Its Dolbys proprietary technology and is more expensive to use. The primary difference between Dolby Vision and HDR10 is in colour depth. Any television capable of Dolby Vision playback needs to have a 12 bit panel, along with 4000 nits peak brightness and support for wide colour gamuts. The Rec.2020 gamut is the required colour space for Dolby Vision, while HDR10 can do with DCI-P3. So, to playback Dolby Vision content as it was mastered, a television needs to produce many more colours than the DCI-P3 gamut offers. Currently, very few TVs support the same. With a 12 bit panel, a TV is simply capable of producing more colours. Where a 10 bit panel can produce 1 billion colours, a 12 bit panel can produce 68 billion colours. This, along with the fact that a TV can reach up to 4000 nits brightness means Dolby Vision is theoretically much brighter, accurate and vibrant to look at. In addition, content meant for this standard is mastered for 12 bit color depth and 10,000 nits brightness, even though few televisions support it. That makes it an end-to-end solution. Currently, Dolby Vision content is very difficult to find in India, and barring Sony's Bravia A1 and LG's Signature series TVs, no other TV supports it. Dolby had originally said that supporting Dolby Vision would require specialised chips to be placed inside televisions, though software implementations seem to be possible now. For instance, smartphones with Dolby Vision support depend entirely on software for reading such content. Being capable of such high quality though means that Dolby Vision televisions will always support HDR10, but the opposite is not going to happen. Dolby Vision is without a doubt the best HDR technology to have, but it's also expensive. Simply put, HDR10 is to Dolby Vision what Android is to iOS today, while HDR Pro is a fork of Android meant for cheaper televisions. Oil and gas exploration firm Pantheon Resources announced "another year of progress" in its full-year results on Wednesday, as it completed the transition from a pure-play exploration company to a full-cycle energy and power business. Pantheon, which completed first production in November, reported that operating losses widened from $1.36m to $1.74m over the twelve months leading to 31 June. But after a successful $12.5m fundraise in July to accelerate the programme's development, the firm had managed to boost its cash on hand to $11.7m as of 21 November, ahead of the $4.43 it held at the end of the 2016 financial year. The group said it witnessed "continued demonstration" of the resource potential at its East Texas asset after a commercial discovery in its VOBM#3 well and the discovery of two new potentially significant horizons in the VOBM#4 well. Pantheon had expected to receive first production receipts from operations between late December and early January 2018. Jay Cheatham, chief executive, said, "The period since the beginning of the year has been one of progression which has seen us continue to demonstrate the resource potential of our acreage in East Texas, which included a commercial discovery in the VOBM#3 well and the discovery of two new horizons in the VOBM#4 well. "Additionally, Pantheon achieved the key milestone of first production in November 2017, with first cashflows to follow shortly. We also increased our working interest in both counties; in Polk County from 50% to 58%* and in Tyler County from 50% to 75% in the VOBM#4 well, with an option to move to 75% over a larger area in Tyler County," he added. Pantheon's "clear objective" for the 2018 financial year was to accelerate drilling, with plans to spud an additional conventional Eagle Ford sandstone early in the new calendar year as it "doggedly" pursued its goals of maximising assets while minimising equity dilution. "Although our drilling and development programme has not progressed as quickly as we had hoped, our confidence in the geological potential of our acreage is undiminished. As production ramps up, we will be generating cash as we head into 2018 with an exciting portfolio of high-quality prospects which should manifest into an active drilling period ahead," Cheatham said. As of 1530 GMT, shares had fallen back 4.66% to 56.25p. By India Today Web Desk: Actor Ram Kapoor is finally making his return to television. Yes, not web series, people, but the original small screen. According to a report in BollywoodLife, the actor will be seen in a episodic drama early next year called Crossroad, built along the lines of Crime Patrol. Over the years, Ram has starred and been a part of many shows, but we decided to make a listicle based on our top 5. Which one is your favourite? advertisement Kavita Who can forget the loving and caring Rishi Grover of Ekta Kapoor's social drama Kavita starring Smriti Irani in the titular role? Ram portrayed the warm, sensitive, and caring Rishi to perfection, which quickly made him a lot of female fans. The show hit the screens in 2000, and made Kapoor a household name. Ghar Ek Mandir Around the same time as Kavita, Kapoor bagged another show called Ghar Ek Mandir, which aired on Sony TV. Ram was the male lead once again, and it was on the sets of this romantic drama that he met the love of his life, Gautami, who was then essaying the female lead character called Aanchal. Ram and Gautami's chemistry caused ripples, and Ram garnered a strong group of female fans. Dhadkan Ram Kapoor then appeared as Dr Rajiv Agarwal, the psychologist. His portrayal of the doctor was subtle, underplayed and nuanced. Kapoor was patient, caring and practical as psychologist Agarwal. The concept of the show was inspired by the American drama ER. However, it failed to spread its magic on Indian TV. Kasamh Se Ram was then seen in his major comeback role as the ruthless businessman Jai Walia in Ekta Kapoor's romantic drama, alongside Prachi Desai. The show first aired on Zee TV in 2006, and ran for about three years, gaining a lot of fans. Jai's cold and assertive demeanour was a far cry from Ram's earlier roles, and as usual, the actor stunned again with his skills. Bade Achhe Lagte Hain The actor was then seen in a lead role as, well, Ram Kapoor in another Sony TV drama. A man who doesn't hope to find love, but discovers it after marrying a like-minded soul. The show was produced by Ekta Kapoor and was based on the Gujarati play Patrani by Imtiaz Patel. Both Ram and Sakshi Tanwar's chemistry was loved by the viewers, and the show was on air for almost three years. --- ENDS --- The ongoing legal saga of Clear Leisure and its Mediapolis asset took a fresh turn on Tuesday, as the company confirmed both itself and its Mediapolis subsidiary have appealed the recent judgement of the Ivrea Court in the Appeal Court of Turin. Its board had advised on 27 October that, despite every effort to the contrary, including the settlement of debts owing by the Mediapolis subsidiary amounting to 10m, the Ivrea Court had determined to rule in favour of the winding-up petition of the local prosecutor. The AIM-traded firm had 30 days to appeal that decision under Italian law. Clear Leisure explained that it is the beneficiary of a first charge on development land owned by Mediapolis up to an amount of 5.04m, whilst the Olivetti Multiservices debt of 4.29m recently acquired directly by Clear Leisure, provided an additional charge of 4m. Following the winding-up ruling, that latter debt would not be converted into new Mediapolis shares, as originally planned. Under Italian law, creditors with first charges on assets have seniority on all other creditors with regard to the proceeds generated by the sale of the relevant assets, Clear Leisure explained in its announcement on 27 October. Moreover, creditors beneficiaries of a first charge can negotiate the assignment of the assets against the credit existing certain assumptions foreseen by the Italian law. Given the administrative complexity of the relationship with Piedemont Region, the court reportedly could not achieve a value for the 497,884 square metre land plot, which took into account the full value of planning permission. As a result, the court-appointed surveyor chose to assign a very prudent valuation of 3.86m. Using the court valuation, the pro forma de-consolidation of Mediapolis as at 30 June resulted in a decrease of net assets of 2.7m based on the first charge on Mediapoliss 497,884 square metre land plot, adopting the conservative approach used by the court of a 3.86m valuation, Clear Leisure explained. We must acknowledge the new situation and take advantage of the first charge secured on the Mediapolis land plot, Clear Leisures CEO and executive chairman Francesco Gardin explained at the time. Ride-hailing app Uber is facing more controversy after it admitted to concealing a data breach of the details of 57m customers, leading the UK's data protection authority to express its "huge concerns" around "policies and ethics" at the US company. The US tech firm said this week that it had dismissed its chief security officer and another employee for concealing the hack from other executives. A $100,000 payment was made to the hackers for the deletion of the files, which included names, e-mail addresses and phone numbers of customers and drivers. "While we have not seen evidence of fraud or misuse tied to the incident, we are monitoring the affected accounts and have flagged them for additional fraud protection," Uber's chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi said. Former CEO Travis Kalanick stepped down from the company after a series of PR disasters, including several allegations of sexual harassment from executives within the company. "None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it," Khosrowshahi added. "While I can't erase the past, I can commit on behalf of every Uber employee that we will learn from our mistakes." Companies are generally required to disclose data breaches this size to regulators, which Uber failed to do in this case. James Dipple-Johnstone, deputy commissioner at the UK Information Commissioner's Office, said: "Uber's announcement about a concealed data breach last October raises huge concerns around its data protection policies and ethics. "It's always the company's responsibility to identify when UK citizens have been affected as part of a data breach and take steps to reduce any harm to consumers. If UK citizens were affected then we should have been notified so that we could assess and verify the impact on people whose data was exposed." The data regulator will work with the UK's National Cyber Security Centre and other relevant authorities at home and overseas to determine the scale of the breach, said Dipple-Johnstone, as well as how it has affected people in the UK and what steps need to be taken by the firm to ensure it fully complies with its data protection obligations. "Deliberately concealing breaches from regulators and citizens could attract higher fines for companies." Saad al-Hariri has revoked his resignation as Lebanon's prime minister, according to a local news report on Wednesday. Hariri had announced his resignation in a televised address after fleeing to Saudi Arabia three weeks ago, claiming he feared for his life amid increasing pressure from Iran. But on Wednesday he returned to Lebanon and attended independence day celebrations in Beirut, with the Al Arabiya network saying Hariri had flown into the capital city late on Tuesday. Hariri said he was putting his resignation on hold after President Michel Aoun asked him to reconsider, he said in a televised statement. I presented today my resignation to President Aoun and he urged me to wait before offering it and to hold onto it for more dialogue about its reasons and political background, and I showed responsiveness. Hariri's sudden resignation on 4 November pitched Lebanon into crisis, with the decision due triggered by his reported fears of assassination and in protest against the growing power of Hezbollah. But the Shiite group said Saudi Arabia had strong-armed Hariri into resigning, which Riyadh denied. Numerous reports noted speculation in Beirut and among some Arab officials that Riyadh demanded Hariri resign as he refused to confront Iran-backed Hezbollah, which has been contributing fighters to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces in the civil war against Saudi-backed Sunni groups. Hariri's resignation has only heightened tensions between Riyadh and Tehran, where Saudi has accusing Iran of trying to expand its influence in Arab countries, often through proxies such as Hezbollah. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman recently launched a supposed anti-corruption crackdown on many of the kingdom's rich and powerful as he seeks to consolidate his power and modernise the kingdom. Former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic has been convicted of genocide by a UN tribunal in The Hague for atrocities committed during the Yugoslavian civil war in the 1990s. Mladic appeared in front of the court on Wednesday, but was removed from the courtroom shortly before the verdict was read after having been ejected from the trial for berating the judges. Mladic is known as the Butcher of Bosnia, and was in charge of a group of forces involved in the Srebrenica massacre in 1995. The tribunal found him to be the chief organiser of a campaign to drive out Muslims, Croats and other non-Serbs in order to create a new region for Bosnian Serbs. The campaign of ethnic cleansing in the region was among the worst atrocities committed in Europe during the 20th century. Mladic faced 11 charges, including two counts of genocide, five of crimes against humanity and four for violations of the customs of war. He was cleared of one of the counts of genocide. Relatives of the victims of the atrocities gathered outside the courtroom where Mladic was being prosecuted. Thomas Cook said it was on track to meet expectations this year but problems in the UK, the tour operators biggest market, overshadowed its annual results. Underlying profit from operations rose 8% to 330m in the year to the end of September, broadly in line with revenue up 9% to 9bn. Equivalent profit in continental Europe jumped 44% to 108m and its German Condor airline swung to a 12m profit from a loss of 12m a year earlier. But profits in the UK fell 23% to 111m as strong first-half trading gave way to weakness caused by rising hotel prices, the reduced value of the pound and greater competition among airlines. Those factors put pressure on input costs and selling prices for holidays to Spain, with competition for Spanish holidays dragging the group's gross margin down to 22.1% from 23.4%. Thomas Cook said the UK business was also affected by rising fraudulent illness claims and supporting customers caught up in Hurricane Irma. Thomas Cook shares fell 12% to 107p at 08:17 GMT. The group said winter trading was in line with expectations with 58% of holidays sold. Bookings are up 3% at group level but by just 1% in the UK compared with 7% growth in northern Europe and 3% in continental Europe. Peter Fankhauser, Thomas Cooks chief executive, said: "Looking to the year ahead, we can see real momentum in our group airline, and expect our continental Europe and northern Europe tour operator businesses to continue their good performance. "While conditions are challenging in the UK, we have implemented a set of actions to improve performance. Overall, based on current trading, I believe that we are well-positioned to achieve a full year operating result in line with market expectations." Thomas Cook said it had clamped down on illness claims, including improvements to handling and legal action against fraudsters. It is also shifting UK holidays towards Egypt and Turkey, which are more profitable than Spain and are reviving as destinations following a slump in demand after terrorist attacks. By PTI: New Delhi, Nov 22 (PTI) Philippines-based LBC Express has signed a multi-million dollar repeat order with enterprise software provider Ramco Systems to unify and automate its logistics and supply chain operations across global branches. "LBC Express chose Ramcos Logistics Suite over global providers for its nimble, streamlined cloud offerings," a press statement said today. On top of HR and Payroll functions, Ramcos mobile platform includes modules for freight-forwarding, courier planning, rating and billing, as well as end-to-end warehouse, fleet and supply chain management. It comes equipped with chatbots and advanced analytics capabilities to improve company-wide visibility and hub management. advertisement "Logistics operations is the lifeline of our business. The decision to replace our existing systems with a new-age logistics suite is aimed at gaining complete visibility of operations to arrest revenue leakage and improve productivity," LBC Express CEO Mike Camahort said in the statement. Ramco Group Chairman P R Venketrama Raja said that the Philippines is a highly promising market and is adopting next-generation enterprise technology at a rapid rate. "We are glad to have built such a strong track record with providers like LBC Express and look forward to expanding our presence in the fast-growing Southeast Asian region," Raja said. LBC is the Philippines market leader in retail and corporate courier and cargo, money remittance, and logistics services. It has network of over 6,400 branches, hubs and warehouses, partners, and agents in over 30 countries. PTI SID BAL --- ENDS --- Car drivers that enter the road on the closure dam Afsluitdijk at night, are welcomed by sculptures that reflect in their car lights. The fairylike reflection lights have been designed by Dutch artist and innovator Daan Roosegaarde and outline the monumental square constructions of the flood gates on each side of the road. The line shaped design fits the iconic nature of the 32-kilomter straight dam that protects the Netherlands against floods since 1933. Car drivers can see the light sculptures each night till 21 January. The flood gates at the entrance of the 32 km long straigth closure dam in daylight. New icon For the occasion of the Gates of Light exhibition the studio of Daan Roosegaarde has impregnated the flood gates with a new retro-reflective material that glows in the headlights of oncoming cars. The flood gates have recently been restored as part of overall programme for upgrading the whole closure dam. The Dutch government has embarked on a 850 million euro reinforcement plan to make the Afsluitdijk a new icon of Dutch flood protection. Overflow-resistant and energy-neutral The Dutch government opts not to raise the dam but to reconstruct it as an overflow-resistant dam. Artist and innovator Daan Roosegaarde is specialised in light art. The owner of the dam, the national public work agency Rijkswaterstaat, wants to make the dam energy neutral. Already existing energy supply stations along the dam that generate power, are an array of tidal turbines and a Blue energy pilot plant that generates electricity from the difference in salt concentrations between the fresh water on one side of the dam and the salt sea water on the other side. A plan for a 6,5 MW solar station is being studied. A real novelty for the new Afsluitdijk will be a 5 km long artificial fish passage to allow migration between the Wadden Sea and IJssel Lake. This news item is based on the original publication on the website of Studio Roosegaarde. Read also on this website Ambitious 850 million reinforcement will make the Afsluitdijk a new icon of Dutch flood protection, 15 May 2015 Dutch tidal testing centre hits water with array of Tocardo turbines in Afsluitdijk, the Netherlands, 23 February 2015 Dutch King opens world's first RED power plant driven on fresh-salt water mixing, 26 November 2014 Country: The Netherlands More information New Afsluitdijk www.theafsluitdijk.com Studio Roosegaarde Rotterdam, the Netherlands +31 10 30 70 909 www.studioroosegaarde.net/info Video presentation of the 'Gates of light' exhibition. Work begins on second phase of Aston Clinton development New home owners in Aston Clinton will start to move in by Christmas as sales of the second phase of development at Bellways Estone Grange have begun. Bellway completed the first phase of 45 homes at the development in the summer and has since started building work on a further 95 homes on land off Chapel Drive. The second phase includes three-bedroom semi-detached properties which are already proving popular with first-time buyers and families. Chris Edginton, Sales and Marketing Director for Bellway Northern Home Counties, said: The three-bedroom semi-detached properties, which were not available in the first phase, have proven to be very popular. And were not only getting interest from first-time buyers and growing families. The homes are also giving people who were born and raised in the village the opportunity to move back to the area. Estone Grange is a development of three, four and five-bedroom homes which is also proving popular with people retiring from the city. Chris added: Weve had buyers who have sold their homes in London to release capital and have bought a bigger property up here, leaving them with money to enjoy in their retirement. The transport links to London mean they can still enjoy visiting the capital but being close to market towns such as Tring has given them a better quality of life. With some of the first homes in the second phase due to be completed by Christmas, Bellway is now hoping to help more buyers achieve their dream of owning a new home in 2018. Help to Buy, Part Exchange and Express Mover options are available to make the transition as smooth as possible. Homes at Estone Grange currently start from 393,995. For more information, visit bellway.co.uk. Bellway set to build 85 new homes in Ambrosden National housebuilder Bellway is set to begin work on a new development of homes in Ambrosden after plans were approved by Cherwell District Council. The housebuilder has been granted planning permission to build 85 new homes at Church Leys Farm, off Blackthorn Road to the south west of the village. The new development will feature a range of two to five-bedroom homes once complete, and work will begin at the site in Spring 2018. Sales and Marketing Director for Bellways Northern Home Counties division, Chris Edginton, said the housebuilder was looking forward to helping meet the demand for new homes in the area. He said: Were pleased to be granted planning permission to develop land at Church Leys Farm, and were looking forward to getting on site and starting to create what we hope will become a fantastic new community. Ambrosden is a popular location, and somewhere which we are excited to be building in. Its a great village with lots of amenities and is well connected to place such as Oxford, and is less than two miles from Bicester. When we were designing the development, one of the key objectives was to create a diverse mix of homes which would cater for all different buyers. Weve incorporated all sorts of different types and styles of home in to the scheme, and are confident we will be providing suitable homes to help meet the well-documented demand in the area. Were hoping to begin work shortly, and will be launching the first homes for sale here in 2018. Were confident that our plans will result in a brilliant community, and hope people will be impressed by the homes we plan to build. The site in Ambrosden will become the second development in the area to be built by Bellways Northern Home Counties division, which is also building at Saxon Meadows in Bicester. For more information about Bellways developments in Oxfordshire, go to bellway.co.uk. A new feature that Facebook recently has been testing in a handful of countries could hurt publishers everywhere if it should roll out globally. The feature removes users Liked pages from their main News Feed and aggregates them in a separate space called Explore. In the six countries where Facebook has been testing the idea, traffic to news outlets reportedly has dropped 60-80 percent. Publishers should be terrified by this, said John Carroll, a mass communications professor at Boston University. One of the risks that publishers run when they rely on traffic from Facebook is that it can go away as quickly as it arrived, he told the E-Commerce Times. No Planned Expansion Facebook on Monday attempted to calm the anxiety it created in the publishing community. There have been a number of reports about a test were running in Sri Lanka, Bolivia, Slovakia, Serbia, Guatemala and Cambodia, wrote Adam Mosseri, head of News Feed, in an online post. Some have interpreted this test as a future product we plan to deliver globally. We currently have no plans to roll this test out further. The test was launched in response to user feedback, he said. People tell us they want an easier way to see posts from friends and family. We are testing having one dedicated space for people to keep up with their friends and family, and another separate space, called Explore, with posts from pages, Mosseri explained. We will hear what people say about the experience to understand if its an idea worth pursuing any further, he noted. There is no current plan to roll this out beyond these test countries or to charge pages on Facebook to pay for all their distribution in News Feed or Explore. Hard to Ignore a Billion Users Despite Facebooks assurances, publishers have reasons for concern. Back in 2012, The Guardian, The Washington Post, Yahoo, Digg and other media outlets launched the Social Reader, a Facebook app designed to assist users in sharing news with their friends and family. At first, the app drove traffic to the publishers sites, but problems soon arose. Users objected when articles they read at the sites were posted to their News Feeds without their permission. Further, Facebook drew criticism for changing the way articles appeared in the feeds. The app had a short life. Facebooks Instant Articles, which it recently pulled from its Messenger app, met a similar fate. That media-focused initiative failed to gain the support of players like The Guardian, Forbes, Hearst, The New York Times, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, ESPN, CBS News, NPR, Financial Times and Vice News because of monetization problems with the platform and traffic reporting. There are times when Facebook favors news content, and there are times when they move away from it, noted Dan Kennedy, an associate professor of journalism at Northeastern University. Anybody that becomes too dependent on Facebook traffic is really running a risk, but its hard to stay away from one and a half billion active users a month, he told the E-Commerce Times. Concern over ceding too much power to Facebook has led some publishers to seek alternative ways to build traffic. Over the last couple of years, theres been a comeback of email newsletters, Kennedy observed. A lot of that is publishers saying,This is something we can control, and arent dependent on Facebook for. Unfortunately, the way they drive a lot of subscribers to those newsletters is through people encountering them on Facebook, he said. No Will to Hunt The severe impact of removing Liked pages from a users main News Feed demonstrates the importance of that feed. Most people wait for something to show up in their News Feed, which takes up the bulk of their focus, said Mark Marino, director of The Humanities and Critical Code Studies Lab at the University of Southern California. If its not there, theyre not going to go hunting for additional news streams, he told the E-Commerce Times. What gives news power in social media is that its mingled with information from friends and family, said Vincent Raynauld, an assistant professor in the department of communication studies at Emerson College. The fact that social is interwoven with news make the news more accessible and digestible. Im not too sure that people would go to a separate environment for news, he told the E-Commerce Times. The strength of Facebook and other social media outlets is that all content is interwoven into a social stream, Raynauld added. Excluding news from the social stream would have a negative impact on publishers when it comes to engagement. TransCanadas permit to operate its Keystone tar sands pipeline in South Dakota could be revoked if an investigation into last weeks 210,000-gallon leak determines that the pipeline operator violated its license, Reuters reported. State regulators expressed concern that the Nov. 16 spill in Marshall County was not the first from the controversial pipeline. This is a relatively new pipeline. It is supposed to have an operating life of more than 100 years and it was supposed to be a state-of-the-art pipeline construction. It appears that it is not, South Dakota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) member Gary Hanson told Aberdeen News. Weve had three fairly major leaks just on the border with North Dakota and two in South Dakota in a very short period of time, Hanson added. One might expect this to take place on a pipeline over a period of 30 or 40 years at the maximum, yet its been fewer than 10 years. In April 2016, the Keystone pipeline gushed 16,800 gallons of oil near Freeman, South Dakota. According to Reuters, the permit that the PUC issued for the Keystone in 2007 had 57 conditions that include construction standards and environmental requirements. The PUC can revoke or suspend the permit if TransCanada is found to have made misstatements in its application or does not comply with the conditions. The PUC is expecting a preliminary report about the spill from federal and state technical experts in the next 10 days. We are waiting to see what the forensic analysis comes back with to see if any of our conditions were violated, PUC chair Kristie Fiegen told the news service. The other two commissioners on the panel agreed. The PUC needs to determine whether any of the permit conditions for this pipeline were violated. Those conditions were placed on the permit to ensure safe construction and operation of the pipeline, commissioner Chris Nelson said. If it was knowingly operating in a fashion not allowed under the permit or if construction was done in a fashion that was not acceptable, that should cause the closure of the pipe for at least a period of time until those challenges are rectified, added commissioner Hanson. As for the status of last weeks spill, TransCanada said on its website that 160 crew members are on the spill site removing oil. As of Nov. 21, more than 16,000 gallons of oil have been removed using hydro-vac and excavation equipment. Company spokeswoman Jacquelynn Benson told the Associated Press that the cause of the leak is still unknown. By PTI: New Delhi, Nov 22 (PTI) The sparring over a deleted meme on Prime Minister Narendra Modis chaiwala past continued as BJP MP Paresh Rawal took a swipe at the Congress saying the "chai-wala is any day better than your bar-wala", only to get a cutting retort from the Congress today. Rawal deleted his Twitter comment last night, saying it was "in a bad taste" and apologised for it. advertisement On the backfoot over the meme put out by its youth wings online magazine Yuva Desh on Twitter yesterday, the Congress was quick to hit out at Rawal. The party questioned the actor-turned-politicians integrity and demanded Modi to apologise and act against him. The meme by the Congress youth wing that unleashed a political firestorm contained a photograph of Modi, US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Theresa May engaged in a conversation. Modi is seen as telling the two leaders about the oppositions memes targeting him. He mispronounces the word as "mainmain". Trump corrects him, saying the word is pronounced as "meem", while May tells him to go and sell tea. The meme was deleted later with the Congress apologising for it. Reacting on the issue, Rawal tweeted late night yesterday, "Our chai-wala is any day better than your Bar- Wala!" He deleted it and said, "deleted the tweet as its in bad taste n I apologise for hurting feelings." Latching onto his tweet, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala accused the MP from poll-bound Gujarat of resorting to cheapness. Though it was not clear at whom Rawals comment was directed at, Surjewala wondered "if it was the BJPs definition of respecting women". "Modiji should apologise and take action. Whether Bhakt channels will show guts?" he asked, apparently asking a section of the media whether it will air the news. Asked about Rawals comment, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal alleged that almost all the leaders in the BJP use such language. "The prime minister (when he was the chief minister of Gujarat) would also speak such things. Now their Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister (Yogi Adityanath) talks such things. The BJP workers too talk like that. We dont do that," he added. PTI ENM PYK ZMN --- ENDS --- Native American tribes are voicing concerns and demanding input on regulations on fossil fuel development in a New Mexico county, in the latest wave of tribal voices growing louder on oil and gas development across the country. Sandoval County, home to 12 Native tribes, will hold a final vote in January on a draft ordinance to regulate oil and gas development in the county. In packed public meetings over the proposed ordinance last week, tribal leaders called out the lack of tribal input in the draft ordinance and raised concerns over the ordinances lack of protections for water, air and land resources. Santo Domingo Pueblo Gov. Robert Coriz, who says he was one of the leaders not consulted on the ordinance, told the AP the decision must be based on honest, open, respectful communication with tribes. As reported by the Washington Post: At a contentious meeting late last week, Ahjani Yepa of Jemez Pueblo spoke about the connection between her people and the land, spurring fellow activists in the crowd to raise their fists in solidarity. As with many cultures and religions, we do not have a book to guide us. The land is our Bible. Once it is gone, you cannot print another copy, she told members of the Sandoval County Commission. For a deeper dive: AP, Albuquerque Journal, Santa Fe New Mexican For more climate change and clean energy news, you can follow Climate Nexus on Twitter and Facebook, and sign up for daily Hot News. Lying at the northern tip of the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aqaba might be able sustain its coral population for another 100 to 150 years, despite global warming, new research predicts. Scientists from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), the University of Essex and Al-Azhar University believe that a stretch of nearly 1,120 miles could become one of the fewand one of the largestrefuges for coral. By 2040, 25 out 29 World Heritage reef areas will experience twice-per-decade bleaching, an occurrence that will rapidly kill most corals present and prevent successful reproduction necessary for recovery of corals, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization concluded. In the past three years alone, three-fourths of the worlds reefs have experienced severe bleaching. Since the Gulf of Aqaba lies at the northern edge of the Red Sea, the surface water temperature is coolest. Uniquely, coral in the entire Red Sea is heat resistant, but populations in the south are already nearing their tipping point. Bleaching usually occurs at 1C over the summer mean average temperature, Christian Voolstra, one of the studys authors, told Nature Asia. In the northern waters of the Gulf of Aqaba, coral enjoys a temperature margin of 5C. To reach these conclusions, scientists compared patterns of coral heat sensitivity across the Red Sea to a dataset of coral bleaching events since 1982. This allowed them to identify areas least susceptible to thermal stress. The team then looked at thermal histories of Hurghada, Egypt and Thuwal, Saudi Arabiaeach bordering the Red Seaand their coral-bleaching patterns, but also the effect of 2015-2016 El Nino events on their coral areas. From this they were able to conclude that the Red Seas northern coral was less susceptible to rises in water temperature. This anomaly, which is only found in the Red Sea, gives us a window of opportunity to take action, Voolstra said. But tucked between Egypt, Jordan, Israel and Saudi Arabia, the coral will also have to contend with local, human-made threats, such as pollution and coastal development. The Gulf of Aqaba is home to two bustling port cities, the Israeli city of Eilat and the Jordanian city of Aqaba, both sitting next to coral reefs. In 2016, 200 tons of crude oil spilled into the gulf after an oil pipeline burst in the port of Aqaba. To the south of Aqaba and Eilat, Saudi Arabia and Egypt are planning a massive bridge to link the two countries. Such a project could disturb the fragile ecosystem. One of the worlds largest underground bodies of fresh waterthe Ogallala aquiferis quickly shrinking, threatening the livelihoods of farmers in eight U.S. states. Farmers in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Wyoming and South Dakota are overexploiting the aquifer beneath an American breadbasket, threatening an estimated $35 billion in annual crops. Agricultural wells are pulling out water faster than rainfall can recharge itfederal data shows the aquifer shrank twice as fast in the past six years as compared to the previous 60. Now I never know, from one minute to the next, when I turn on a faucet or hydrant, whether there will be water or not. The aquifer is being depleted, Lois Scott, 75, who lives west of Cope, Colorado, told the Denver Post. In some parts of eastern Colorado the depth at which groundwater can be tapped has dropped by as much 100 feet, according to U.S. Geological Survey data. The USGS has released data on the Ogallala aquifer since 1988. In Colorado alone, farmers pumped water out of 4,000 wells, sucking out as much as 500 gallons per minute to irrigate roughly 580,000 acres. Since 1950 the amount of water used to irrigate farm fields across the eight states equals roughly 70 percent of Lake Erie. Even if farmers drastically reduce pumping, the aquifer wouldnt refill for centuries, according to the latest research. But the eight states that sit on the Ogallala have no agreement among themselves to try to save the aquifer. This will truly become the Great American Desert, Scott said. The fallout from the aquifer is visible above ground as well. Streams are drying up at a rate of six miles per year. We have almost completely changed the species of fish that can survive in those streams, compared with what was there historically. This is really a catastrophic change, Keith Gido, one of the authors of a report on the aquifer, told the Denver Post. Overpumping has dried up 358 miles of surface rivers and streams within a 200-square-mile area across eastern Colorado, western Kansas and Nebraska. Another 177 miles of rivers and stream are on pace to disappear before the year 2060, according to researchers. Were not living in as sustainable a fashion as we need to be. Much of the damage has been done, Gido said. It is happening all over the world in places such as Pakistan. It causes conflicts. As human populations grow, the demand for water is going to be greater. Conflicts are going to increaseunless we become more efficient in using the water we have. Bottom Line: Risk for aging-related diseases such as heart disease and diabetes was significantly higher among thyroid cancer survivors in Utah than it was among age-matched, cancer-free individuals, with those diagnosed before age 40 having the highest risk for some of the diseases. Journal in Which the Study was Published: Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. Author: Mia Hashibe, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, and a Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) investigator. Background: Hashibe explained that cancer survivors are living longer today than ever before, and they need to be aware of long-term disease risks. Thyroid cancer survivors are a group we are particularly concerned about for long-term health issues, since thyroid cancer is often diagnosed at an earlier age than other cancers, and the five-year survival rate is very high, at 98 percent, she added. How the Study Was Conducted and Results: Hashibe and colleagues analyzed electronic medical records, statewide health care data, voter registration records, residential histories, family history records, and birth and death certificates obtained from the Utah Population Database, a research resource managed by the HCI, which contains an extensive collection of family histories linked to medical and demographic records. They identified 3,706 people who had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer between 1997 and 2012, 37 percent of whom were less than age 40 at diagnosis. For each of the thyroid cancer survivors, the researchers extracted data for up to five cancer-free individuals matched to the survivor by birth year, sex, and birth state. The investigators looked at risk for 39 aging-related diseases. Overall, thyroid cancer survivors had significantly increased risk for many of these diseases. For example, all thyroid cancer survivors had significantly increased risk for hypertension and diabetes at all time points after diagnosis compared with age-matched, cancer-free individuals. For most of the other diseases, risk was increased at some time after diagnosis for either the group diagnosed at a young age or an older age. For many diseases, including diabetes, cardiomyopathy, osteoporosis, and nutritional deficiencies, the increase in risk was higher for those diagnosed with thyroid cancer before age 40 than for those diagnosed at older ages. For example, survivors diagnosed before age 40 had an almost eightfold increased risk of osteoporosis one to five years after diagnosis compared with age-matched, cancer-free individuals, while survivors diagnosed at older ages had a twofold increase in risk of osteoporosis compared with age-matched, cancer-free individuals. Author Comment: "We found that thyroid cancer survivors are at increased risk of many aging-related diseases, including diabetes, heart disease, and osteoporosis," said Hashibe. "Some of the risks appeared to be higher for those diagnosed at a young age--less than 40--than for those diagnosed at older ages, and the more aggressive treatment often given to younger patients may contribute to this." "I hope that this study will increase awareness of the long-term health issues experienced by thyroid cancer survivors so that they and their health care providers are proactive about having regular follow-ups and discussions about adopting a healthier lifestyle," she continued. Limitations: This is a retrospective, observational study. One of the limitations of the study is that detailed information on treatment was limited, making it hard to determine the effects of specific treatments on risk. ### To interview Mia Hashibe, contact Julia Gunther at julia.gunther@aacr.org or 215-446-6896. Funding & Disclosures: This study was supported by the National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Institute, the Huntsman Cancer Foundation, the Utah State Department of Health, and the University of Utah. Hashibe declares no conflict. Follow us: Cancer Research Catalyst http://blog.aacr.org; Twitter @AACR; and Facebook http://www.facebook.com/aacr.org About the American Association for Cancer Research Founded in 1907, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) is the world's first and largest professional organization dedicated to advancing cancer research and its mission to prevent and cure cancer. AACR membership includes more than 37,000 laboratory, translational, and clinical researchers; population scientists; other health care professionals; and patient advocates residing in 108 countries. The AACR marshals the full spectrum of expertise of the cancer community to accelerate progress in the prevention, biology, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer by annually convening more than 30 conferences and educational workshops, the largest of which is the AACR Annual Meeting with more than 21,900 attendees. In addition, the AACR publishes eight prestigious, peer-reviewed scientific journals and a magazine for cancer survivors, patients, and their caregivers. The AACR funds meritorious research directly as well as in cooperation with numerous cancer organizations. As the Scientific Partner of Stand Up To Cancer, the AACR provides expert peer review, grants administration, and scientific oversight of team science and individual investigator grants in cancer research that have the potential for near-term patient benefit. The AACR actively communicates with legislators and other policymakers about the value of cancer research and related biomedical science in saving lives from cancer. For more information about the AACR, visit http://www.AACR.org. Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are medicines commonly prescribed to treat acid-related digestive problems, including gastroesophageal reflux disease (or GERD). As of 2011, up to 1 in 5 older adults reported using a PPI. Although healthcare practitioners have long believed that PPIs are safe, recent studies have linked PPIs to potential risks, including fractures and kidney disease. Some studies also have linked PPIs to an increased risk for dementia among older adults. However, several experts have suggested that these studies may not correctly measure the connection. In a new research article published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, scientists were able to conclude that developing dementia or Alzheimer's disease (the most common form of dementia) did not appear to be linked to taking PPIs. The researchers reviewed information from the Adult Changes in Thought (ACT) study, which included 3,484 adults aged 65 and older. Participants did not have dementia at the beginning of the study and were followed for an average of about 7.5 years. Researchers tested participants for dementia at the beginning of the study and then every two years. Those who tested positive were given complete evaluations to measure their abilities to think and make decisions. Researchers gave the participants who were diagnosed with dementia follow-up tests to confirm the diagnosis. Researchers used information from the ACT study to learn how many participants took PPIs and for how long. Overall, almost 24 percent of study participants developed dementia. Of these individuals, just 670 people developed possible or probable Alzheimer's disease. While other safety concerns with long-term PPI use exist, the researchers conluded that results from this study suggest that dementia is not linked to taking a PPI. ### If you're concerned about these or any other risks associated with PPIs or your other medications, make an appointment with your healthcare provider to review your treatment routines. You and your care team can work together to determine whether any changes are in order. Just remember: Never change your medication or discontinue a treatment before speaking to a healthcare provider first. If you're worried you may be experiencing a serious side effect, seek medical attention by calling 911 immediately. This summary is from "Proton Pump Inhibitor Use and Dementia Risk: Prospective Population Based Study". It appears online ahead of print in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. The study authors are Shelly L. Gray, PharmD, MS; Rod L. Walker, MS; Sascha Dublin, MD, PhD; Onchee Yu, MS; Erin J. Aiello Bowles, MPH; Melissa L. Anderson, MS; Paul K. Crane, MD, MPH; and Eric B. Larson, MD, MPH. About the Health in Aging Foundation This research summary was developed as a public education tool by the Health in Aging Foundation. The Foundation is a national non-profit established in 1999 by the American Geriatrics Society to bring the knowledge and expertise of geriatrics healthcare professionals to the public. We are committed to ensuring that people are empowered to advocate for high-quality care by providing them with trustworthy information and reliable resources. Last year, we reached nearly 1 million people with our resources through HealthinAging.org. We also help nurture current and future geriatrics leaders by supporting opportunities to attend educational events and increase exposure to principles of excellence on caring for older adults. For more information or to support the Foundation's work, visit http://www.HealthinAgingFoundation.org. About the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society Included in more than 9,000 library collections around the world, the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (JAGS) highlights emerging insights on principles of aging, approaches to older patients, geriatric syndromes, geriatric psychiatry, and geriatric diseases and disorders. First published in 1953, JAGS is now one of the oldest and most impactful publications on gerontology and geriatrics, according to ISI Journal Citation Reports. Visit wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/JGS for more details. About the American Geriatrics Society Founded in 1942, the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) is a nationwide, not-for-profit society of geriatrics healthcare professionals that has--for 75 years--worked to improve the health, independence, and quality of life of older people. Its nearly 6,000 members include geriatricians, geriatric nurses, social workers, family practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacists, and internists. The Society provides leadership to healthcare professionals, policymakers, and the public by implementing and advocating for programs in patient care, research, professional and public education, and public policy. For more information, visit AmericanGeriatrics.org. Washington, DC - November 22, 2017 - Up to 91 percent of bacterial strains causing a common type of invasive serogroup B meningococcal disease in children and young adults are likely to be covered by a four-component vaccine called MenB-4C (Bexsero), according to laboratory studies conducted by investigators at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and at GlaxoSmithKline, manufacturer of the vaccine. The work was published this week in mSphere, an open access journal from the American Society for Microbiology. Researchers used a laboratory test called the Meningococcal Antigen Typing System (MATS) to study the coverage potential of the MenB-4C vaccine, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in January 2015 for use in individuals ages 10-25 years. The vaccine contains 4 antigens to prevent invasive meningococcal disease caused by the serogroup B form of the bacteria Neisseria meningitidis: factor H binding protein (fHBP), Neisserial heparin binding protein (NHBA), Neisserial adhesin A (NadA) and PorA-containing outer membrane vesicles. These antigens are found on the bacteria, and vaccination with them induces an immune response in the recipients that helps protect them from infection by the bacteria that carry the antigens. In the United States in 2015, serogroup B strains of the bacteria caused approximately 40 percent of invasive meningococcal disease in all age groups, including adolescents, and over 60 percent of cases in infants aged less than one year. Researchers tested 442 N. meningitidis serogroup B samples collected by CDC from 2000 to 2008. The MATS test predicted that 91 percent of these bacterial strains causing meningococcal disease in the United States would be covered by the MenB-4C vaccine, with an estimated coverage ranging from 88 percent to 97 percent each year. More than half of the covered strains could be targeted by two or more antigens in the vaccine, the investigators found. NHBA covered 83 percent of the strains, fHBP covered 53 percent of the strains, PorA covered 5.9 percent of the strains and NadA covered 2.5 percent of the strains. "We are very pleased to see that it looks like the vaccine has the potential to cover most of the strains of meningococcal Group B bacteria currently circulating in the U.S.," said lead study author Gowrisankar Rajam, Ph.D., health scientist at CDC. "However, we need to continue our analysis to assess the coverage of currently circulating strains in the U.S. We are confident the MATS technique will be very useful at detecting any changes in bacterial expression of these antigens." Neisseria meningitidis is a leading cause of bacterial meningitis in children and young adults, resulting in significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. Meningococcal disease is a life-threatening illness that can infect the bloodstream and the lining that surrounds the brain and spinal cord. The bacteria can be transmitted from person to person through close or prolonged contact with respiratory or throat secretions, such as by coughing, kissing or living in close quarters. Another vaccine against serogroup B meningococcal disease, called Trumenba, was approved by the FDA in October 2014. Previous vaccines were available to protect against meningococcal disease caused by N. meningitidis serogroups A, C, Y and W but not against serogroup B. ### Funding, material and support for the study was provided by GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals SA, manufacturer of the Bexsero meningococcal vaccine. Some of the study co-authors are employed by the company, which was involved in analysis and interpretation of the data and which was provided the opportunity to review a preliminary manuscript for accuracy. The American Society for Microbiology is the largest single life science society, composed of over 50,000 scientists and health professionals. ASM's mission is to promote and advance the microbial sciences. ASM advances the microbial sciences through conferences, publications, certifications and educational opportunities. It enhances laboratory capacity around the globe through training and resources. It provides a network for scientists in academia, industry and clinical settings. Additionally, ASM promotes a deeper understanding of the microbial sciences to diverse audiences. A mutation in a gene called SCL24A4 that causes enamel hypoplasia, or poorly formed enamel of the teeth in Samoyed dogs has been identified by researchers at the Center for Companion Animal Health, University of California, Davis. The findings are published in the open access journal Canine Genetics and Epidemiology. Affected dogs have discoloured and malformed teeth and the condition can lead to tooth loss, severe erosion and root infections. The researchers developed a test for the mutation that can enable breeders to eliminate the faulty gene in Samoyed through selective breeding. Dr Niels Pedersen, lead author of the study said: "Fortunately, our research showed that this genetic disorder could be eliminated by breeders without any further loss of genetic diversity in the Samoyed breed. That is important information, because some attempts to eliminate deleterious genetic traits can actually result in loss of genetic diversity and greater inbreeding which could have other adverse health effects." Dr Pedersen added: "Enamel hypoplasia in Samoyed is an autosomal recessive disease which means that two abnormal versions of a gene must be present in an individual for disease to develop. It also means that seemingly healthy individuals can carry an affected version of the gene and pass it on to their offspring." The authors found that out of the 182 dogs whose genetic material was used in this study 14 dogs suffered from enamel hypoplasia. They all tested homozygous for the SCL24A4 gene mutation, which means they carried two affected genes. Twenty out of the remaining 168 healthy dogs tested heterozygous - they carried one affected version of the gene. The remaining 148 dogs did not carry the mutation. The findings suggest that the SCL24A4 mutation has been present in the breed for several decades but may be increasing in frequency now because the faulty gene has been amplified due to inadvertent positive selection for a favourable physical trait encoded by genes in the same region of the genome. The authors also studied the existing genetic diversity in Samoyed from various parts of the world. Knowledge of breed-wide genetic diversity is important for decisions on how to best combat harmful genetic traits now and in the future. Dr Pedersen said: "This is probably one of the first times that a newly recognized simple genetic trait - the SCL24A4 gene mutation - has been described in the context of the overall genetic background of a dog breed." Dr Pedersen added: "Although previous research suggests that Samoyed are not in any immediate danger, genetic diversity may not be as great as presumed and that the current practice of random breeding must be sustained in order to reduce the chances of other deleterious mutations in the future. The authors used gene samples from 182 Samoyed from North America (144), Europe (32) and Australia (6). Samples were sourced from breeders and owners using DNA sampling kits. The findings suggest that Samoyed from these distinct regions belong to a single breed with only small genetic differences caused by relative geographic isolation. The authors found that even though all Samoyed descended from the same small set of founders, most dogs examined in this study were as unrelated as possible. One quarter of Samoyed dogs had a higher degree of parental relatedness, one quarter had a lower degree of relatedness, and half were random genetic representatives of the breed. Parental relatedness refers to how genetically similar an individual's parents' genes are to each other. Seven out of 14 dogs affected by enamel hypoplasia and five healthy dogs were selected for genome wide association studies, which examines the entire set of genes in an individual to determine if any gene variant is associated with a trait - in this case the mutation in SCL24A4 was found to be associated with enamel hypoplasia. Work by one of the co-authors shows that the resulting health problems in affected Samoyed can be minimized by routine dental care. ### Media Contact Anne Korn Communications Manager BMC T: +44 (0)20 3192 2744 E: anne.korn@biomedcentral.com Notes to editor: 1. The disease was brought to the attention of the researchers by a veterinary dentist with a special interest in Samoyed dogs. Dr. Bonnie Shope, co-author of the study, a practicing Veterinary Dentist, recognized the condition in Samoyed as a potentially inherited disease, and initiated contact with Dr. Pedersen to prove this hypothesis and investigate the potential underlying genetic mechanisms. 2. Research article: An autosomal recessive mutation in SCL24A4 causing enamel hypoplasia in Samoyed and its relationship to breed-wide genetic diversity Pedersen et al. Canine Genetics and Epidemiology 2017 DOI: 10.1186/s40575-017-0049-1 For an embargoed copy of the research article, please contact Anne Korn at BMC. After the embargo lifts, the article will be available here: https://cgejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40575-017-0049-1 Please name the journal in any story you write. If you are writing for the web, please link to the article. All articles are available free of charge, according to BMC's open access policy. 3. Canine Genetics and Epidemiology is a peer-reviewed, open access journal addressing genetic, genomic and epidemiological research in both domestic and wild canids, relating to breed and species diversity, and canine evolution. 4. A pioneer of open access publishing, BMC has an evolving portfolio of high quality peer-reviewed journals including broad interest titles such as BMC Biology and BMC Medicine, specialist journals such as Malaria Journal and Microbiome, and the BMC series. At BMC, research is always in progress. We are committed to continual innovation to better support the needs of our communities, ensuring the integrity of the research we publish, and championing the benefits of open research. BMC is part of Springer Nature, giving us greater opportunities to help authors connect and advance discoveries across the world. Qiang Du, the Fu Foundation Professor of Applied Mathematics, has been elected a 2017 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for his "distinguished contributions to the field of applied and computational mathematics, particularly for theoretical analysis and numerical simulations of mathematical models in various applications." He joins 391 new fellows awarded this honor from the AAAS, which was founded in 1848 and now the world's largest multidisciplinary scientific society. "I am honored to join this esteemed group," says Du, who is also chair of the School's applied math program and a member of the Data Science Institute. "This is particularly significant to me as an applied mathematician, given the broad representation of AAAS in science and engineering and its social impact. Also, most important, I am happy to share this recognition with my students, postdocs, and collaborators." Du's research covers many areas of applied mathematics and computational sciences, including modeling, analysis, algorithms, and computation, with selected applications in physical, biological, materials, and information sciences. He has developed approaches to mathematically model and simulate defects and interfaces in nature, such as materials phase boundaries, cracks and fractures, biological membranes, and quantized vortices in superconductors and Bose-Einstein condensates (a state of matter with atoms cooled to temperatures close to absolute zero). He has also contributed to the design of space tessellation and mesh generation strategies, and developed mathematical models to explore hidden structure and information in images and data. He has been recognized with numerous awards and was selected to be a Fellow of the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics in 2013. "It is fun to work at the interface of mathematical, computational, and data sciences and to collaborate with experts in other domains," says Du, who leads the Computational Mathematics and Multiscale Modeling (CM3) group and has a number of ongoing interdisciplinary research projects with several Columbia colleagues. "We live in an age where the advent of computing technology is rapidly transforming our society and how mathematics get used in applications. What has intrigued me the most in my research are the challenging questions that have strong practical motivations and demand new mathematical and computational tools for their solutions." Du joins six colleagues at the Engineering School who have received this honor: Aron Pinczuk, professor of applied physics and physics (2001); Jeannette Wing, Avanessians Director of the Data Science Institute and professor of computer science (2007); Shih-Fu Chang, senior executive vice dean and Richard Dicker Professor of Telecommunications and professor of computer science (2010); Peter Schlosser, earth and environmental engineering department chair, Maurice Ewing and J. Lamar Worzel Professor of Geophysics, professor of earth and environmental sciences, and associate director at the Earth Institute (2010); Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, University Professor, Mikati Foundation Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and professor of medical sciences (in medicine) (2014); and Paul Sajda, professor of biomedical engineering, electrical engineering, and radiology (2016). The new AAAS fellows will be presented with an official certificate and a gold and blue (representing science and engineering, respectively) rosette pin on February 17 during the 2018 AAAS Annual Meeting in Austin, TX. ### About Columbia Engineering Columbia Engineering, based in New York City, is one of the top engineering schools in the U.S. and one of the oldest in the nation. Also known as The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, the School expands knowledge and advances technology through the pioneering research of its more than 200 faculty, while educating undergraduate and graduate students in a collaborative environment to become leaders informed by a firm foundation in engineering. The School's faculty are at the center of the University's cross-disciplinary research, contributing to the Data Science Institute, Earth Institute, Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Precision Medicine Initiative, and the Columbia Nano Initiative. Guided by its strategic vision, "Columbia Engineering for Humanity," the School aims to translate ideas into innovations that foster a sustainable, healthy, secure, connected, and creative humanity. People including experts claim that this is an unnecessary project which will create more bottlenecks in future. By Nolan Pinto: Concerned local citizens residing in and around Shivananda Circle have strongly demanded that the steel flyover project coming up at the junction be stopped immediately. They claim that this project will only add to the existing problems. In fact, they have now questioned the need for a flyover at this location where there is no extreme traffic congestion and instead the money allotted towards the construction be utilized for efficient traffic management and strict enforcement of traffic laws. advertisement The proposed bridge is said to be 326-metres-long and will connect commuters from Race Course Road towards Hare Krishna Road and the railway under-bridge in Sheshadripuram. The project will also lead to the felling of almost 30 trees which can damage the ecological balance in the area. Srinivas Alavilli from Citizens for Bengaluru (CFB) says that citizens are objecting to the culture of flyovers that is seen in Bengaluru. Opposing the Shivananda flyover, he says that it is like "taking a medicine that will give you a headache instead of solving the problem". It was only recently when residents from various Resident Welfare Associations came together to chalk out a plan on countering the government's plan for the stretch. At the meeting, they decided on legal and ground-level strategies for opposing the project. CITIZENS DEMAND ANSWERS FROM THE GOVERNMENT: 1. There is no justification for the need of a flyover. Why is it being made? 2. Citizens did not ask for it nor were they consulted. Where is the public consultation? 3. There is no major traffic problem and there has been an improvement in traffic flow after expansion of the metro lines, so why are public funds (Rs 50 crore) being wasted? 4. Existing traffic can be managed with better signaling and enforcement of traffic laws. 5. This is a key junction for buses, and flyover leaves little space for thousands of bus passengers. 6. The flyover creates traffic problems. It doesn't solve anything. Dr Desai whose hospital is at the junction itself is baffled as to why the government would want a flyover in the first place. According to him, what the flyover is doing is creating a huge road hump that will create more bottlenecks when completed. "Nobody has come and consulted with us (residents). Not one person from the government has bothered to come and tell us what they are doing. What they are doing is dadagiri," he added. Prof MN Sreehari, a traffic advisor says the proposed steel bridge is technically unsound, not viable and particularly not feasible. advertisement Among many reasons, he claims the minimum clear height of the flyover at the junction must be 5.5 metre as per IRC specifications. For this height, about 110 to 120 metre is required on either side which is not possible considering the road geometry, sight distance and also due to an existing railway bridge/Road Under Bridge (RUB). He also added that environmentalists must be consulted to know the rise in temperature due to the construction along with number of trees to be cut. Another individual, who is a practicing doctor in the USA and who grew up in this area, tells India Today that the government must listen to the voices of the people. He further added, "The Constitution is supposed to protect the people not the politicians, and the people clearly do not want this flyover at Shivananda Circle." --- ENDS --- The General Medical Council (GMC) regulates doctors in the UK and can stop or limit their rights to practice. Around 9000 doctors a year are reported to the GMC, and around 160 are suspended or erased from the medical register. Apart from those referred to the GMC, many other complaints are investigated formally or informally by hospitals and practices, meaning a doctor could be investigated a number of times for the same issue over a drawn out time period. Now, new research from Imperial College London has shown for the first time an association between the way complaints are handled and symptoms of anxiety, depression, and defensive medical practice in doctors. Examples of defensive practice include over-prescribing medicines and sending patients for unnecessary scans and procedures. Doctors can also engage in avoidance behaviours such as evading difficult procedures or not accepting high-risk patients. Previous studies have shown higher rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts in doctors being investigated, but this is the first study to associate these symptoms with specific aspects of the complaints process. This is the third instalment of research from Imperial on the mental toll of complaints procedures on doctors, and is published today in BMJ Open. Professor Tom Bourne, lead-author from Imperial's Department of Surgery & Cancer, said: "Patient complaints are important and should be used to improve the care doctors provide. However, the processes used to investigate them should be consistent with the principles of natural justice. The current culture of fear causes physicians to practice defensively, which is clearly not in the interest of patients and creates significant costs for the NHS. We must develop a system that's fair and timely." In the study, 6,144 doctors with past or current patient complaints against them completed an anonymous online survey to measure their perceptions of the complaints procedure, which included questions on how well supported they felt by colleagues and managers. The authors compared these responses to their levels of defensive practice, anxiety and depression. The researchers in the study found that during the complaints procedure, 61 per cent of doctors felt supported by colleagues and 31 per cent felt supported by management. Doctors who reported feeling supported by colleagues were 36 per cent less likely to experience depression, and 31 per cent less likely to experience anxiety. Doctors who reported feeling supported by colleagues were also less likely to practice defensively. Similarly, doctors who reported feeling supported by management were 13 per cent less likely to experience depression and 20 per cent less likely to experience anxiety. They were also less likely to practice defensively, and nine per cent less likely to practice avoidance. Complaints procedures are often prolonged, and some can last years. Many doctors are suspended from work while under investigation for long periods with no fixed end date. During suspension, doctors are also usually banned from communicating with colleagues. Seventy-eight per cent of doctors felt investigations took too long. These doctors were 16 per cent more likely to experience depression, 20 per cent more likely to experience anxiety and ten per cent more likely to show signs of avoidance in their practice. In addition, 20 per cent of respondents felt the complaint against them was lodged as a result of their whistleblowing, and 39 per cent felt bullied during the complaints process. 32 per cent felt managers used complaints to undermine them, and 24 per cent felt colleagues had used complaints to gain financial or professional advantages. The authors urge authorities and managers who handle patient complaints to give better support to doctors, including allowing them to contact their colleagues during suspension. Authorities should also stick to strict deadlines by which complaint investigations have to be completed, with better training for the staff responsible for investigation. They also say suspending doctors from work should be a last resort, and that doctors should be moved to non-patient facing roles during investigation if authorities feel this is necessary to protect patients. Professor Bourne said: "Authorities can help reduce the impact of these procedures on doctors' wellbeing by imposing time limits on investigations, and making them more transparent and less adversarial. This will benefit patients by reducing defensive medical practice." ### Shortness of breath and respiratory distress often increase the suffering of advanced-stage lung cancer patients. These symptoms can be triggered by pulmonary hypertension, as scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research in Bad Nauheim and the German Center for Lung Research found after examining more than 500 patients. The pulmonary hypertension observed is possibly due to immune and inflammatory processes triggered by cancer cells. Treatment could focus on this mechanism. Lung cancer has long since taken on the character of an epidemic: the disease is already responsible for more than a quarter of all cancer deaths, and the trend is rising. One reason for this is that the prognosis is poor: only one-fifth of patients are still alive five years after diagnosis. This is partly due to the fact that lung cancer is often not recognized until it is in an advanced stage. Another problem is that a variety of different lung cancers exist, each of which requires its own therapeutic concept. This, in turn, requires a better understanding of the disease. Doctors have noted that many patients with progressive lung cancer develop shortness of breath and respiratory distress. The same symptoms also occur in diseases such as pulmonary arterial hypertension. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research together with colleagues from the German Center for Lung Research therefore measured the diameter of the pulmonary artery of about 500 lung cancer patients using computer tomography. "We found thickening of the walls of the pulmonary artery in more than half the patients. This is a clear indication that these patients also suffer from pulmonary hypertension," says Rajkumar Savai, who headed the study. To identify the causes, the lung researchers analyzed three different forms of lung cancer in mice. "These were tumour types that grow at different rates and can be experimentally induced in the lungs of mice. All three mouse models showed signs of pulmonary hypertension as tumour growth progressed," says Soni Pullamsetti, the study's lead author. Inflammation in blood vessels could act as trigger But why does lung cancer often lead to pulmonary hypertension? "Neither in the patients nor in the mouse models were we able to detect any clots or cancer cells - both conceivable triggers - migrating into the vessel wall," explains Savai. However, the researchers did find that blood vessels located near tumours were infiltrated by a large number of immune cells. Further experiments showed that the immune cells release various chemical messengers, as is generally observed in inflammatory reactions. Conversely, pulmonary hypertension did not occur when the mice in the experiment lacked functioning immune cells. For the Bad Nauheim-based scientists, this is an indication that inflammatory processes triggered by lung cancer may be responsible for pulmonary hypertension. Werner Seeger, Director at the Max Planck Institute and Director of the Medical Unit at Giessen-Marburg University Hospital, hopes the team's findings will lead to approaches for developing a treatment. "Previously unknown abnormalities in blood vessels, triggered by inflammatory processes in lung tumours, could be the underlying cause of the symptoms observed in patients." New therapeutic approaches could start here." ### Original Publication S. Pullamsetti, B. Kojonazarov, S. Storn, H. Gall, Y. Salazar, J. Wolf, A. Weigert, N. El-Nikhely, A. Ghofrani, G. Krombach, L. Fink, S. Gattenlohner, U. Rapp, R. Schermuly, F. Grimminger, W. Seeger, R. Savai Lung cancer-associated pulmonary hypertension: role of microenvironmental inflammation based on tumor cell-immune cell crosstalk. Sci. Transl. Med. 9, eaai9048 (2017); 15 November, 2017 WOODS HOLE, Mass.-- Two new studies on the evolutionary origin of teeth and of vertebra further illuminate the human connection to marine organisms that goes back millions of years. Both studies in the little skate (Leucoraja erinacea) are published this week by J. Andrew Gillis and Katharine Criswell of the University of Cambridge, U.K., who conduct research as Whitman Center Scientists at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), Woods Hole. In the first paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Gillis and Criswell confirm the long-held assumption that teeth and the scales of sharks and skates have a common evolutionary origin. Moreover, their findings suggest that ancient fishes had multiple layers of external armor that evolved into the differing scale types we see today. The second paper, in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, narrows in on backbone formation in a common ancestor between all jawed vertebrates. Where did you get those teeth? Fish scales and teeth are similar in structure, material and genetic expression. The similarities are so strong that researchers have long assumed the two must be related. But research by others has shown that zebrafish scales are more related to the musculoskeletal system, rather than the tissues that form teeth. Gillis, however, thought the question needed more consideration. "The scales of sharks and skates are very different from the scales of zebrafish [and other] types of bony fish," he said. "We wondered if they may be a different type of scale, and have a different embryonic origin more closely related to teeth." Teeth are formed from a special group of cells located at the top (or "crest") of the neural tube, the embryonic tissue that eventually becomes the brain and spinal cord. Gillis hypothesized that these neural crest cells also formed the scales of sharks and skates. At the MBL, the team injected the neural tube of embryonic skates with a fluorescent dye that adhered to neural crest cells. That dye stayed in the cells as they divided and moved from the neural tube to form different parts of the skate's body. The cells that became scales were indeed marked by fluorescent dye, indicating they came from the neural crest cells. The Gillis lab's research, paired with the earlier finding that scales in some bony fishes are more related to the musculoskeletal system than to teeth, paints an interesting picture of the evolution of scales. "Ancestrally, jawed vertebrates...had big bony armor on the outside of their bodies composed of the same kind of material that teeth are made of, called dentine," Gillis said. Underneath that dentine armor was another, bonier layer. He suggests that different layers of this armor were lost in different fishes, with the dentine layer becoming the scales of sharks and skates and the bony layer becoming the scales of animals such as zebrafish. He hopes to further explore this idea in bichirs, a group of fish that retained both layers. "It just goes to show that not all scales are created equal," he said. Growing a spine In the second paper, Criswell and Gillis focused on the evolution of vertebral tissue. "The backbone provides protection to the spinal cord and support for the limbs and head. But despite this important role, the shape and construction of the backbone varies considerably between different animals," said Criswell. "This variation made us wonder how the earliest vertebrates built their backbones." In all land vertebrates (including humans), spines form from only one group of cells called somites. Ray-finned fishes, however, form their spine from both somites and a separate cell population called chordoblasts. Criswell and Gillis decided to study spinal development in skates, which are cartilaginous fishes--a distant relative of both land vertebrates and ray-finned fishes. Working at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Criswell used fluorescent cell tracking to determine that skates form their spines from somites alone. Since two of the three related groups use only somites in vertebral development, Criswell concluded that the common ancestor for all jawed vertebrates had a backbone derived from somites. Ray-finned fishes later evolved a slightly different method of spinal formation. "It is interesting to think that backbone development in sharks and skates is more similar to humans than it is to bony fishes like zebrafish and salmon. It refutes the old notion of sharks and skates as 'primitive' fishes," said Criswell. "As we found here, those developmental processes are still used to build the skeletons of many vertebrate groups, including humans." ### Citations: J. Andrew Gillis, Els C. Alsema, and Katharine E. Criswell (2017) Trunk neural crest origin of dermal denticles in a cartilaginous fish. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1713827114 Katharine E. Criswell, Michael I. Coates, and J. Andrew Gillis (2017) Embryonic origin of the gnathostome vertebral skeleton. Proc. R. Soc. B. DOI:10.1098/rspb.2017.2121 The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is dedicated to scientific discovery - exploring fundamental biology, understanding marine biodiversity and the environment, and informing the human condition through research and education. Founded in Woods Hole, Massachusetts in 1888, the MBL is a private, nonprofit institution and an affiliate of the University of Chicago. ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Killer bacteria - ones that have out-evolved our best antibiotics -- may not go away anytime soon. But a new approach to tracking their spread could eventually give us a fighting chance to keep their death toll down. Using data from a 2008 outbreak of one of the most-feared "superbugs," and modern genetic sequencing techniques, a team has successfully modeled, and predicted, the way the organism spread between and within dozens of healthcare facilities. The approach can tell if the bug is spreading within a hospital, nursing home or long-term acute care hospital - or if a new patient transferred from another facility has brought it there. In other words, if fighting superbugs is like a horror movie, the approach can tell if the call is coming from inside the house, or if the killer is lurking outside and about to barge through the door. And just like in a horror movie, getting an answer quickly can guide what kinds of barricades and weapons health professionals should use against the villain. The approach, published in Science Translational Medicine , combines current epidemiological approaches with whole-genome sequencing - spelling out the entire DNA sequence of bacteria from each infected patient. This makes it possible to use the tiny changes in superbug DNA - the kind of mutations that happen naturally over time -- to track their spread within and between healthcare facilities. The approach was developed by teams from Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and the University of Michigan Medical School, with funding from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Prevention Epicenters Program. The teams used data on a 2008 outbreak of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumonia (CRKP) in the upper Midwest. "These organisms permeate regions, but it hasn't been understood in detail how that happens - why they spread like wildfire in one region and don't make headway in another," says Evan Snitkin, Ph.D., a U-M assistant professor specializing in bioinformatics and systems biology. "Because this was the first outbreak of CRKP in the Chicago region, we decided to try to trace its initial movements based on patient transfers and whole-genome sequencing of samples. If we can understand what drives transmission in a region, we hope to be able to intervene to prevent further spread." Back in time Rush's hospital identified the second case of CRKP in the region. The hospital team identified the outbreak after a patient arrived at their emergency department in a transfer from an acute care hospital in Indiana. A team led by Mary K. Hayden, M.D., an infectious diseases physician who also directs Rush's Division of Clinical Microbiology, conducted and published its own investigation of the outbreak, using the best techniques available at the time. They concluded that the bug had spread from a single patient in mid-2007, and eventually infected 42 people treated in 14 acute care hospitals, two LTACHs, and 10 nursing homes. Transfers of patients among these facilities - for example, from an LTACH or nursing to a hospital for short-term acute care, and then back again - was identified as a major driver of spread. A single LTACH was identified as a key hub for transmission. In this outbreak, many patients died. Nationwide, death rates for CRKP are even higher, and it tends to prey upon the sickest, most vulnerable patients. Old samples, new analysis Back in 2008, whole-genome sequencing of this many samples was not feasible. "Although our research fellow at the time, Dr. Sarah Won, conducted an exhaustive outbreak investigation, the molecular epidemiologic tools available in 2008 did not allow us to determine timing and direction of spread for many cases," says Hayden. "We saved the isolates with the hope that more discriminating techniques would be available in the future. We were very excited when the future arrived!" The Rush team brought the samples to U-M's Center for Microbial Systems for sequencing, and Snitkin's team started to put the genome data together with what Hayden's team had found out about the outbreak. This included something that hadn't been available before the original outbreak report: clinical data on 'patient zero,' the person whose infection with CRKP dated back to mid-2007, and who Hayden's team had previously identified as the origin of the outbreak. This allowed the team to create a 'family tree' of the CRKP outbreak, back to that first patient on the trunk. They mapped the spread from patient to patient, and facility to facility, based on both the sleuthwork Hayden's team had done and the new genomic sequence information. They could see which cases had resulted from transmission within the facility - because of practices that allowed bacteria from the infected patient to reach others - and which had been introduced because a patient was transferred with the bacteria already inside them. Then, they tested the approach by trying to predict which facility each patient's CRKP infection had come from, using only the genomes of the other patients already treated in the outbreak - and none of the information from patients treated later. This real-time analysis, similar to what might happen in a real outbreak, successfully pinpointed the facility where the infection came from for every patient. "The genome sequence is powerful for finding pathways, but having epidemiological data about exposures and movement between facilities makes everything make sense," says Snitkin, who holds positions in the U-M Medical School's departments of Microbiology & Immunology and Internal Medicine. "We envision that we will be able to use this same approach on other organisms, too, though efficacy will vary." Adds Hayden, "This approach might be particularly useful in identifying pathways of transmission soon after emergence of a superbug in a region. The earlier we can intervene to contain an outbreak, the more likely it is that we can eradicate it." The complementary expertise of the Michigan and Rush teams made the project possible, he adds. Going forward, the team hopes to test the approach in other settings, to see if they can find the hubs of antibiotic-resistant bacteria development and transmission. They also will test the approach for its ability to trace the origin of transmission for an organism that's already present in an area. This could be much harder than tracking a newly introduced type of infection that has just entered a region. The role of LTACHs, where patients may live for months at a time receiving hospital-level care such as constant ventilation, is one they also hope to explore further. Such facilities may be especially prone to the development of antibiotic-resistant organisms simply because of the kind of care they provide to a very vulnerable and immobile population with weak immune systems. In the long run, the researchers hope their approach could be adapted broadly by public health authorities and infection control specialists in healthcare facilities - and used to steer interventions very early in an outbreak to prevent transmission across broad networks. To get to that point will require the development of public-domain software for public health disease detectives to use routinely, or even to automate the process. ### The research was funded by the CDC (CK000161) as well as the National Institutes of Health (HG00040) and the National Science Foundation (1256260). In addition to Snitkin and Hayden, the team includes U-M's Sarah Won, Ali Pirani and Zena Lapp, Cook County Health and Hospitals System infectious disease specialist Robert A. Weinstein, and Rush's Karen Lolans. EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State University is establishing an Accelerator Science and Engineering Traineeship (AS&E) program to address a national shortage in accelerator scientists and engineers. The AS&E program will bring together MSU's strengths to formulate a graduate student curriculum that will be implemented by faculty in the Department of Physics and Astronomy in the College of Natural Science, the College of Engineering, and the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams. The program will address four major areas where there are critical workforce needs: Physics and engineering of large accelerators Superconducting radio frequency accelerator physics and engineering Radio frequency power engineering Large-scale cryogenic systems The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE-SC) Office of High Energy Physics (OHEP) has awarded MSU a $990,000 accelerator science and engineering traineeship grant to develop the program. "It is a great honor and responsibility to have the DOE Office of Science award the nation's sole grant in the FY 2017 DOE Traineeship in Accelerator Science & Engineering competition to MSU," said Peter Ostroumov, FRIB Accelerator Physics Department manager, who is also the grant's principal investigator (PI). "I'm excited to work with my colleagues to establish the new program to educate PhD and master's students in accelerator science and engineering." Students who complete the curriculum will be certified, well-trained, and ready for productive AS&E careers in DOE laboratory facilities and industry in discovery science and technology. Fulfilling these needs is critical to maintaining U.S. leadership in accelerator technology and enhancing economic growth. "Development of this program is an outstanding example of the connection between the world-leading research being done at Michigan State and the education of the young people needed to maintain the scientific and technological leadership of the United States in areas of critical need," said R. James Kirkpatrick, College of Natural Science dean. MSU is building FRIB, a new $730 million national user facility supporting the mission of the Office of Nuclear Physics in the DOE-SC, funded by the DOE-SC, MSU, and the state of Michigan. The heart of FRIB is a state-of-the-art 400 kW superconducting linear accelerator. FRIB will provide numerous training opportunities in the four areas experiencing critical workforce needs. "The collocation of a world-class accelerator and strong academic programs provides particular educational opportunities and value to the nation," said Thomas Glasmacher, FRIB Laboratory director. "Collaborating with MSU faculty to solve a national issue underscores the uniqueness and significant positive impact of establishing FRIB at MSU for the Office of Nuclear Physics in the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science." Engineering Dean Leo Kempel said the College of Engineering will contribute its growing capabilities in radio frequency, cryogenics, accelerator, and plasma technologies to the project. "The College of Engineering is proud to be part of this collaboration with the College of Natural Science and the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams in expanding the nation's talent base in accelerator technologies. Such partnerships are a hallmark of the collaborative spirit at Michigan State University," Kempel added. The MSU traineeship program will be augmented with two adjunct faculty appointments at other DOE-SC national laboratories, Stanford National Accelerator Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory. Additionally, a national advisory committee has been established to help guide the program and its outcomes. Grant Co-PI John Verboncoeur, associate dean for research in the MSU College of Engineering, said the trainee program is a crucial science and technology driver. "The Department of Energy Accelerator Science and Engineering Traineeship program at MSU is an important component in maintaining the U.S. strength in accelerators, with broad economic and health impact beyond accessing extreme parameter regimes. It will expand our knowledge of the universe, including medical imaging and therapy, materials modification, and isotope creation," added Verboncoeur, who is also a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering. In addition to fulfilling a national workforce need, the traineeship program opens doors to exciting careers that students may not even know exist. "AS&E is a critical area of science and technology that is relatively unfamiliar to both undergraduate and graduate students," said Philip Duxbury, chairperson of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and grant co-PI. "This DOE training program enables the department to build a highly visible program in this interdisciplinary area; and to develop advertising and recruiting pipelines to ensure a strong pool of qualified graduates. The MSU cohort in AS&E will work in Engineering, FRIB and/or the Physics Department; providing an excellent environment for students interested in all related career paths." MSU is establishing FRIB as a new scientific user facility for the Office of Nuclear Physics in the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. Under construction on campus and operated by MSU, FRIB will enable scientists to make discoveries about the properties of rare isotopes in order to better understand the physics of nuclei, nuclear astrophysics, fundamental interactions, and applications for society, including in medicine, homeland security and industry. ### The MSU College of Engineering has eight academic departments serving almost 6,000 undergraduate and 850 graduate students. The college focuses on innovation in automotive, composite materials, energy, health care technologies, infrastructure, and security and has recently added two new academic units -- the Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Department of Computational Mathematics, Science and Engineering. For more, visit: http://www.egr.msu.edu The College of Natural Science (NatSci) at Michigan State University is home to 29 departments and programs in the biological, physical and mathematical sciences. With a mission to promote excellence in research, teaching, and public service, NatSci provides world-class educational opportunities to more than 5,400 undergraduate students and 900+ graduate students. Making a difference. It's in our DNA. MSU's Department of Physics and Astronomy is a highly-ranked department with the number one ranking in nuclear physics. The department offers undergraduate and graduate degrees with specializations in accelerator physics, astrophysics, biophysics, condensed matter physics, elementary particle physics and nuclear physics. Faculty lead two national facilities at MSU - the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) and the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL). There are strong ongoing programs at major international facilities, including CERN in Switzerland; T2K in Japan; and the ICECUBE laboratory at the South Pole. The SOAR telescope is a major facility for astronomical observations and a wide variety of in-house facilities are available for research at MSU. Do songbirds and humans have common biological hardwiring that shapes how they produce and perceive sounds? Scientists who study birdsong have been intrigued for some time by the possibility that human speech and music may be rooted in biological processes shared across a variety of animals. Now, research by McGill University biologists provides new evidence to support this idea. In a series of experiments, the researchers found that young zebra finches - a species often used to study birdsong - are intrinsically biased to learn to produce particular kinds of sound patterns over others. "In addition, these sound patterns resembled patterns that are frequently observed across human languages and in music," says Jon Sakata, Associate Professor of Biology at McGill and senior author of a paper published online in Current Biology on Nov. 22. On the shoulders of Chomsky The idea for the experiments was inspired by current hypotheses on human language and music. Linguists have long found that the world's languages share many common features, termed "universals." These features encompass the syntactic structure of languages (e.g., word order) as well as finer acoustic patterns of speech, such as the timing, pitch, and stress of utterances. Some theorists, including Noam Chomsky, have postulated that these patterns reflect a "universal grammar" built on innate brain mechanisms that promote and bias language learning. Researchers continue to debate the extent of these innate brain mechanisms, in part because of the potential for cultural propagation to account for universals. At the same time, vast surveys of zebra finch songs have documented a variety of acoustic patterns found universally across populations. "Because the nature of these universals bears similarity to those in humans and because songbirds learn their vocalizations much in the same way that humans acquire speech and language, we were motivated to test biological predisposition in vocal learning in songbirds," says Logan James, a PhD student in Sakata's lab and co-author of the new study. A buffet of birdsong In order to isolate biological predispositions, James and Sakata individually tutored young zebra finches with songs consisting of five acoustic elements arranged in every possible sequence. The birds were exposed to each sequence permutation in equal proportion and in a random order. Each finch therefore had to individually "choose" which sequences to produce from this buffet of birdsong. In the end, the patterns that the laboratory-raised birds preferred to produce were highly similar to those observed in natural populations of birds. For example, like wild zebra finches, birds tutored with randomized sequences often placed a "distance call" - a long, low-pitched vocalization - at the end of their song. Other sounds were much more likely to appear in the beginning or middle of the song; for example, short and high-pitched vocalizations were more likely to be produced in the middle of song than at the beginning or end of song. This matches patterns observed across diverse languages and in music, in which sounds at the end of phrases tend to be longer and lower in pitch than sounds in the middle. Future research avenues "These findings have important contributions for our understanding of human speech and music," says Caroline Palmer, a Professor of Psychology at McGill who was not involved in the study. "The research, which controls the birds' learning environment in ways that are not possible with young children, suggests that statistical learning alone -- the degree to which one is exposed to specific acoustic patterns -- cannot account for song (or speech) preferences. Other principles, such as universal grammars and perceptual organization, are more likely to account for why human infants as well as juvenile birds are predisposed to prefer some auditory patterns." Sakata, who is also a member of the Centre for Research on Brain, Language and Music (CRBLM), says the study opens up many avenues of future work for his team with speech, language, and music researchers. "In the immediate future," he says, "we want to reveal how auditory processing mechanisms in the brain, as well as aspects of motor learning and control, underlie these learning biases." Denise Klein, Director of the CRBLM and neuroscientist at the Montreal Neurological Institute, says James' and Sakata's study "provides insights on universals of vocal communication, helping to advance our understanding of the neurobiological bases of speech and music." ### The research was funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Centre for Research on Brain, Language and Music, and an award from the Heller Family Fellowship, and was shaped by discussions with McGill linguists including Heather Goad and Lydia White. "Learning Biases Underlie 'Universals' in Avian Vocal Sequencing," Logan S. James and Jon T. Sakata, Current Biology, published online Nov. 22, 2017. http://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(17)31322-2 A video, audio recordings, and an infographic are available here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/2xwyptik9rbne9b/AAAM5eT1f4GIpmwC59TaQO7da?dl=0 In a school of rummy-nose tetras, a common aquarium fish, group coordination appears to occur by each fish continuously changing which of its neighbors it pays attention to, according to new research published in PLOS Computational Biology. The seamless group movements seen in some schools of fish and flocks of birds depend on individuals sharing directional information and changing direction based on each other's movements. However, it is unclear how many neighbors each individual pays attention to, and where they are located within the group. To better understand these interactions, Li Jiang of Beijing Normal University, China, and colleagues from the Universities of Bristol, Roehampton, and Toulouse, studied schooling behavior in the rummy-nose tetra, a freshwater tropical fish. They developed a new method that combines behavioral analysis of live fish in a tank with computational modeling to reveal which neighbors each fish follows during collective school maneuvers. The researchers had small groups of tetras swim in a ring-shaped tank so that their directional shifts would be obvious; clockwise versus counterclockwise. With the assumption that a brief time delay occurs whenever a fish reacts to a neighbor's movement (which has been well-studied), the scientists were able to identify which fish were influenced by which neighbors during collective group U-turns. To refine their analysis, the research team also developed a computational model of the group U-turns that accounts for the fact that some movements that may appear to be coordinated could have just occurred by chance. The analysis revealed that, during a group U-turn, a fish may intersperse phases in which its movement choices are affected by one or two influential neighbors with other phases during which its neighbors' movements are irrelevant. Group coordination appeared to occur by fish continuously changing whom they decided to pay attention to; not necessarily their closest neighbors. "The ability to coordinate movements across a group without a leader confers a number of advantages, including efficient task partitioning and resilience to loss of a leader," Jiang says. "The rummy-nose tetra appears to have opted for a coordination strategy whereby any individual may become a leader depending on the need." Next, the researchers plan to study how these interactions are combined at the individual level. Meanwhile, Jiang says, "Our findings could serve as a source of inspiration to optimize and automate a variety of man-made processes, such as swarms of drones in search and rescue operations." ### In your coverage please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS Computational Biology: http://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005822 Citation: Jiang L, Giuggioli L, Perna A, Escobedo R, Lecheval V, Sire C, et al. (2017) Identifying influential neighbors in animal flocking. PLoS Comput Biol 13(11): e1005822. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005822 Funding: LJ was funded by a grant from the China Scholarship Council (CSC NO. 201506040167). LG acknowledges support from EPSRC grant EP/I013717/1. RE has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 655235 "SmartMass". VL was supported by doctoral fellowships from the scientific council of the University Paul Sabatier. ZH was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation grants 61374165, 31261160495. This study was supported by grants from the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and University Paul Sabatier (project Dynabanc). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Bowhead whales molt and rub on large rocks -- likely facilitating exfoliation -- in coastal waters in the eastern Canadian Arctic during late summer, according to a study published November 22, 2017 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Sarah Fortune from University of British Columbia, Canada, and colleagues. Most whales, dolphins and porpoises are thought to shed and replace their skin continuously. However, this may not be true of Arctic species -- such as beluga whales, narwhal and bowhead whales -- that seasonally occupy warmer waters such as estuaries and fiords. Beluga whales and likely narwhal molt in estuaries during the summer, where warmer water is hypothesized to facilitate skin turnover by increasing metabolic activities or by providing a physiological cue such as daylight. However, little is known about molting in bowhead whales. Fortune and colleagues studied molting and behavior of bowhead whales summering in Cumberland Sound, Nunavut, Canada. Data included still photographs of 81 bowhead whales and videos of four bowhead whales. The still images showed that all of the bowhead whales studied were molting, and that nearly 40 percent of them had mottled skin over much of their bodies (more than two-thirds). The videos captured bowhead whales rubbing on large rocks in shallow coastal areas. Both molting and rock rubbing appeared to be pervasive among bowhead whales during late summer in the study area. This work supports the hypothesis that warmer water may facilitate molting, and suggests that rock-rubbing facilitates exfoliation. Moreover, the researchers speculate that bowhead whales may molt to shed parasites such as whale lice or to shed skin that has been damaged by the sun. The latter could reduce the risk of ultraviolet radiation during the summer at high latitudes, which could be important for long-lived species such as bowhead whales because skin damage accumulates with age. ### In your coverage please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS ONE: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0186156 Citation: Fortune SME, Koski WR, Higdon JW, Trites AW, Baumgartner MF, Ferguson SH (2017) Evidence of molting and the function of "rock-nosing" behavior in bowhead whales in the eastern Canadian Arctic. PLoS ONE 12(11): e0186156. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0186156 Funding: Fieldwork was funded by: Fisheries and Oceans Canada (Emerging Fisheries 41436-810-120-4D875), Nunavut Wildlife Research Trust Fund (project 3-13-29 Bowhead Whale Movement's and Ecology), Molson Foundation (318366), Ocean Tracking Network (NSERC NETGP 375118-08), and ArcticNet Centre of Excellence (317588) awarded to S.H. Ferguson and World Wildlife Fund Canada (Arctic Species Conservation Fund) awarded to W.R. Koski and S.M.E. Fortune. Additional field work support was provided by: U.S. Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Service (MMS; now Bureau of Ocean Energy Management), through Inter-agency Agreement No. M08PG20021 with the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as part of the MMS Alaska Environmental Studies Program awarded to M.F. Baumgartner. Personnel support was provided by: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Canadian Graduate Scholarship, the W. Garfield Weston Award for Northern Research, University of British Columbia Affiliated Fellowship and Northern Scientific Training Program (Canadian Polar Commission) awarded to S.M.E. Fortune. Competing Interests: Two co-authors (WRK & JWH) have commercial affiliations (LGL Limited & Higdon Wildlife Consulting). The commercial affiliations of our co-authors has not altered our adherence to all PLOS ONE policies on data sharing and materials. OAK BROOK, Ill. - Information from brain MRIs can help identify people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and distinguish among subtypes of the condition, according to a study appearing online in the journal Radiology. ADHD is a disorder of the brain characterized by periods of inattention, hyperactivity and impulsive behavior. The disorder affects 5 to 7 percent of children and adolescents worldwide, according to the ADHD Institute. The three primary subtypes of ADHD are predominantly inattentive, predominantly hyperactive/impulsive and a combination of inattentive and hyperactive. While clinical diagnosis and subtyping of ADHD is currently based on reported symptoms, psychoradiology, which applies imaging data analysis to mental health and neurological conditions, has emerged in recent years as a promising tool for helping to clarify diagnoses. Study co-author Qiyong Gong, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues at West China Hospital of Sichuan University in Chengdu, China, recently introduced an analytical framework for psychoradiology that involves cerebral radiomics -- the extraction of a large amount of quantitative information from digital imaging features that can be mined for disease characteristics. Radiomics, combined with other patient characteristics, could improve diagnostic power and help speed appropriate treatment to patients. "The main aim of the current study was to establish classification models that can assist the psychiatrist or clinical psychologist in diagnosing and subtyping of ADHD based on relevant radiomics signatures," Dr. Gong said. With the help of his West China Hospital colleagues Huaiqiang Sun, Ph.D., and Ying Chen, M.D., Ph.D., Dr. Gong studied 83 children, ranging in age from of 7 to 14, with newly diagnosed and never-treated ADHD. The group included children with the inattentive ADHD subtype and the combined subtype. Researchers compared brain MRI results with those of a control group of 87 healthy, similarly aged children. The researchers used a relatively new feature that allowed them to screen relevant radiomics signatures from more than 3,100 quantitative features extracted from the gray and white matter. No overall difference was found between ADHD and controls in total brain volume or total gray and white matter volumes. However, differences emerged when the researchers looked at specific regions within the brain. Alterations in the shape of three brain regions (left temporal lobe, bilateral cuneus and areas around left central sulcus) contributed significantly to distinguishing ADHD from typically developing controls. Within the ADHD population, features involved in the default mode network, which is a network of brain regions active when an individual is not engaged in a specific task, and the insular cortex, an area with diverse functions related to emotion, significantly contributed to discriminating the ADHD inattentive subtype from the combined subtype. Overall, the radiomics signatures allowed discrimination of ADHD patients and healthy control children with 74 percent accuracy and discrimination of ADHD inattentive and ADHD combined subtypes with 80 percent accuracy. "This imaging-based classification model could be an objective adjunct to facilitate better clinical decision making," Dr. Gong said. "Additionally, the present study adds to the developing field of psychoradiology, which seems primed to play a major clinical role in guiding diagnostic and treatment planning decisions in patients with psychiatric disorders." The researchers plan to recruit more newly diagnosed ADHD patients to validate the results and learn more about imaging-based classification. They also intend to apply the analytic approach to other mental or neurological disorders and test its feasibility in a clinical environment, where the fully automatic analytic framework can be readily deployed, Dr. Gong said. ### "Psychoradiology utility of MR Imaging for Diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Radiomics Analysis." Collaborating with Drs. Gong, Sun and Chen were Qiang Huang, Ph.D., Su Lui, Ph.D., Xiaoqi Huang, Ph.D., Yan Shi, M.D., Xin Xu, M.D., and John A. Sweeney, Ph.D. Radiology is edited by Herbert Y. Kressel, M.D., Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass., and owned and published by the Radiological Society of North America, Inc. RSNA is an association of over 54,000 radiologists, radiation oncologists, medical physicists and related scientists promoting excellence in patient care and health care delivery through education, research and technologic innovation. The Society is based in Oak Brook, Ill. (RSNA.org) For patient-friendly information on brain MRI, visit RadiologyInfo.org. (Philadelphia, PA) - Endotracheal intubation, in which a tube is inserted through the voice box (larynx) into the windpipe, and tracheotomy, in which surgery is undertaken to create a hole through the neck and into the windpipe (trachea) to facilitate breathing, are widely used in the hospital setting for elective surgery and in cases of serious illness or critical injury. In rare instances, however, the procedures result in the development of scarring and narrowing of the larynx and trachea, a condition known as acquired laryngotracheal stenosis (ALTS). Who is susceptible to ALTS - and why - is unclear, but according to new research at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine (LKSOM) at Temple University, genetic and ethnic background may be underlying factors. "Many efforts have been made to decrease the risk of laryngeal and tracheal scarring through improved materials and techniques," explained Ahmed M.S. Soliman, MD, Professor and Interim Chair of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery; Director of the Voice, Airway, and Swallowing Center at LKSOM; and senior investigator on the new study. "Still, some patients develop ALTS, and now we realize that genetic differences, specifically those occurring in certain wound-healing genes, may put some patients at greater risk." The new study was published November 22 in the journal Laryngoscope. ALTS affects an estimated one to eight percent of patients who have an endotracheal or tracheotomy tube placed. While the condition is rarely fatal, patients can develop difficulty breathing, necessitating complex emergency surgery to open the airway. It can also lead to voice and swallowing dysfunction. In some cases, patients require permanent tracheotomy. "Our hypothesis was that aberrations in wound healing, which are observed in patients with other scarring disorders, are related to ALTS," Dr. Soliman said. Knowing this, Dr. Soliman and colleagues decided to search the DNA of ALTS patients for specific changes in genes associated with scarring and wound healing. A total of 138 patients were recruited from Temple University Hospital and its associated clinics for the study. Fifty-three of the recruits had ALTS, while the remainder of the patients were controls, individuals who had undergone endotracheal intubation or tracheotomy without scarring. DNA was isolated from each patient's blood and analyzed for the presence of any of six candidate genetic variations in a panel of scar formation and wound-healing genes. Although none of the overall candidate variations was significantly associated with ALTS, when Dr. Soliman and colleagues carried out subgroup analyses, they found that certain variants were in fact significantly linked to ALTS, depending on ethnic background. The association with stenosis was high particularly for African Americans. While the findings are preliminary, they pave the way for someday preventing ALTS through genetic testing. "If we know someone is at risk for developing ALTS, we could use alternatives to breathing tubes or use the tubes for only a short period of time, decreasing the chance of scar formation," Dr. Soliman said. In the near-term, the next step is to confirm the new findings in a larger study, involving about 300 study patients. A multi-institutional trial would likely be needed to obtain this number. Such a large pool of patient data would greatly facilitate research on ALTS and open new avenues of study into genetic aspects of other forms of laryngotracheal stenosis. "We are particularly interested in using the techniques that we developed to study the genetics of idiopathic stenosis, which has no known cause," Dr. Soliman explained. "The idiopathic condition occurs almost exclusively in women of Northern European descent, suggesting the existence of additional associations between laryngotracheal stenosis and genetic and ethnic background." ### Other investigators contributing to the new study include Mursalin M. Anis, the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at LKSOM and Coastal Ear, Nose and Throat, Neptune, New Jersey; Evgeny Krynetskiy and Natalia Krynetskaia, the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Temple University School of Pharmacy; and Zhigen Zhao, the Department of Statistics, Fox School of Business, Temple University. The research was supported in part by an investigator-initiated research grant from Acclarent, Inc. (IIS: A-007). About Temple Health Temple University Health System (TUHS) is a $1.8 billion academic health system dedicated to providing access to quality patient care and supporting excellence in medical education and research. The Health System consists of Temple University Hospital (TUH), ranked among the "Best Hospitals" in the region by U.S. News & World Report; TUH-Episcopal Campus; TUH-Northeastern Campus; Fox Chase Cancer Center, an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center; Jeanes Hospital, a community-based hospital offering medical, surgical and emergency services; Temple Transport Team, a ground and air-ambulance company; and Temple Physicians, Inc., a network of community-based specialty and primary-care physician practices. TUHS is affiliated with the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, and Temple University Physicians, which is Temple Health's physician practice plan comprised of more than 500 full-time and part-time academic physicians in 20 clinical departments. The Lewis Katz School of Medicine (LKSOM), established in 1901, is one of the nation's leading medical schools. Each year, the School of Medicine educates approximately 840 medical students and 140 graduate students. Based on its level of funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Katz School of Medicine is the second-highest ranked medical school in Philadelphia and the third-highest in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. According to U.S. News & World Report, LKSOM is among the top 10 most applied-to medical schools in the nation. Temple Health refers to the health, education and research activities carried out by the affiliates of Temple University Health System (TUHS) and by the Katz School of Medicine. TUHS neither provides nor controls the provision of health care. All health care is provided by its member organizations or independent health care providers affiliated with TUHS member organizations. Each TUHS member organization is owned and operated pursuant to its governing documents. Dr Rukhmabai was the first practicing female doctor of India. Here's all you need to know about the legendary physician. By India Today Web Desk: Dr. Rukhmabai Bhikaji, the first woman doctor of India, was a skilled physician in the 19th century. Born on November 22, 1864, Rukhmabai studied medicine from London School of Medicine for women in 1889. In 1894, Rukhmabai became the first practicing female doctor of India. How did Rukhmabai challenge the age of consent for women in India? advertisement Rukhmabai Bhikaji was born to Jayantibai and Janardhan. When her father passed away, her mother married Sakharam Arjun, a professor at the Grand Medical College in Bombay. Due to society pressure, Rukhmabai had to get married to 19-year-old Dadaji Bhikaji at the age of 11. But, she never left her parents' house after the marriage. Sakharam Arjun, Jayantibai's second husband, gave guidance to Rukhmabai during the time she stayed with them. After some time, Dadaji, Rukhmabai's husband asked her to move in with him but Rukhmabai denied. After her refusal, Dadaji filed a petition in the court. The case was one of India's most publicised trials ever. The judges asked her to face imprisonment or comply with his wishes. But, she refused and said that she would rather be in jail than be with him. This led to one of the most influential and strongest decisions ever made in case of age of consent for marriage. The case went on for about 4 years and was settled outside court in 1888. The case was contributory in the drafting of Age of Consent act. --- ENDS --- A University of Geneva researcher has recently shown that the accelerating expansion of the universe and the movement of the stars in the galaxies can be explained without drawing on the concepts of dark matter and dark energy For close on a century, researchers have hypothesised that the universe contains more matter than can be directly observed, known as "dark matter". They have also posited the existence of a "dark energy" that is more powerful than gravitational attraction. These two hypotheses, it has been argued, account for the movement of stars in galaxies and for the accelerating expansion of the universe respectively. But - according to a researcher at the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland - these concepts may be no longer valid: the phenomena they are supposed to describe can be demonstrated without them. This research, which is published in The Astrophysical Journal, exploits a new theoretical model based on the scale invariance of the empty space, potentially solving two of astronomy's greatest mysteries. In 1933, the Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky made a discovery that left the world speechless: there was, claimed Zwicky, substantially more matter in the universe than we can actually see. Astronomers called this unknown matter "dark matter", a concept that was to take on yet more importance in the 1970s, when the US astronomer Vera Rubin called on this enigmatic matter to explain the movements and speed of the stars. Scientists have subsequently devoted considerable resources to identifying dark matter - in space, on the ground and even at CERN - but without success. In 1998 there was a second thunderclap: a team of Australian and US astrophysicists discovered the acceleration of the expansion of the universe, earning them the Nobel Prize for physics in 2011. However, in spite of the enormous resources that have been implemented, no theory or observation has been able to define this black energy that is allegedly stronger than Newton's gravitational attraction. In short, black matter and dark energy are two mysteries that have had astronomers stumped for over 80 years and 20 years respectively. A new model based on the scale invariance of the empty space The way we represent the universe and its history are described by Einstein's equations of general relativity, Newton's universal gravitation and quantum mechanics. The model-consensus at present is that of a big bang followed by an expansion. "In this model, there is a starting hypothesis that hasn't been taken into account, in my opinion", says Andre Maeder, honorary professor in the Department of Astronomy in UNIGE's Faculty of Science. "By that I mean the scale invariance of the empty space; in other words, the empty space and its properties do not change following a dilatation or contraction." The empty space plays a primordial role in Einstein's equations as it operates in a quantity known as a "cosmological constant", and the resulting universe model depends on it. Based on this hypothesis, Maeder is now re-examining the model of the universe, pointing out that the scale invariance of the empty space is also present in the fundamental theory of electromagnetism. Do we finally have an explanation for the expansion of the universe and the speed of the galaxies? When Maeder carried out cosmological tests on his new model, he found that it matched the observations. He also found that the model predicts the accelerated expansion of the universe without having to factor in any particle or dark energy. In short, it appears that dark energy may not actually exist since the acceleration of the expansion is contained in the equations of the physics. In a second stage, Maeder focused on Newton's law, a specific instance of the equations of general relativity. The law is also slightly modified when the model incorporates Maeder's new hypothesis. Indeed, it contains a very small outward acceleration term, which is particularly significant at low densities. This amended law, when applied to clusters of galaxies, leads to masses of clusters in line with that of visible matter (contrary to what Zwicky argued in 1933): this means that no dark matter is needed to explain the high speeds of the galaxies in the clusters. A second test demonstrated that this law also predicts the high speeds reached by the stars in the outer regions of the galaxies (as Rubin had observed), without having to turn to dark matter to describe them. Finally, a third test looked at the dispersion of the speeds of the stars oscillating around the plane of the Milky Way. This dispersion, which increases with the age of the relevant stars, can be explained very well using the invariant empty space hypothesis, while there was before no agreement on the origin of this effect. Maeder's discovery paves the way for a new conception of astronomy, one that will raise questions and generate controversy. "The announcement of this model, which at last solves two of astronomy's greatest mysteries, remains true to the spirit of science: nothing can ever be taken for granted, not in terms of experience, observation or the reasoning of human beings", conclued Andre Maeder. ### A major study looking at changes in where UK birds have been found over the past 40 years has validated the latest climate change models being used to forecast impacts on birds and other animals. Led by the University of Adelaide, in collaboration with an international team of researchers, the scientists compared forecasts from ecological models with observed changes to the bird populations - and found the latest models were working well. "Models have been developed in recent years to predict how the area where a bird species lives - known as its range - will change as the climate does," says lead author Dr Damien Fordham from the University of Adelaide's Environment Institute. "The results show that the enormous effort being invested into improving tools for forecasting the effect of climate change on species range movement and extinctions is working. "We are now a lot more confident in what models should be used, and when, to provide a more accurate picture of biodiversity loss from climate change. While this study was on UK birds, we expect these results will also hold for many other birds and animals." Dr Fordham, who heads Global Ecology research at the University of Adelaide, directed a team of scientists who tested how accurately different types of ecological models predicted the contraction and expansion of the ranges of 20 UK bird species over the last 40 years. They found that the latest generation of models, which directly account for important ecological responses to climate change, do much better at forecasting recent range shifts. For example, the Sparrowhawk has colonised the eastern UK since 1970, and this was captured by sophisticated models that included population growth rates and how far birds travel from where they are born. "Our findings are a real win for bird conservation in the UK and beyond," said Dr Regan Early, of the Centre for Ecology and Conservation at the University of Exeter. "This is because we now have tools that not only better forecast climate-driven range movements, but can be used to target conservation management resources more effectively." The results also have direct consequences for efforts to protect biodiversity. The research team will now use the models to rank the cost effectiveness of different regional conservation alternatives for birds in the UK this century. The study is published in the journal Global Change Biology. ### Media Contact: Dr Damien Fordham, ARC Future Fellow, Environment Institute, University of Adelaide. Phone: +61 8 8313 6711, Mobile: +61 (0)477 303 470, damien.fordham@adelaide.edu.au Robyn Mills, Media Officer, Phone: +61 (0)8 8313 6341, Mobile: +61 (0)410 689 084, robyn.mills@adelaide.edu.au Imagine how much we could accomplish in a day if we could exchange messages at the speed of light. Thin two-dimensional materials, made atomic layer by atomic layer, may enable communications at higher speed and lower power consumptions than previously realized. Multidisciplinary research in this field is happening now at the University of Delaware. For this work, Tingyi Gu, an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is one of 43 scientists nationwide to receive a grant this year through the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) Young Investigator Program this year. The AFOSR Young Investigator Program was established to foster creative basic research. It is awarded to scholars with exceptional ability and promise who have earned their doctoral degrees within the last five years. Under this three-year, $450,000 grant, Gu is developing "next-generation hybrid optical communications"--small, lightweight devices for efficient light generation and transportation, enabling high speed and low power optical interconnects, which is an interface between electronic signals in computers and optical fiber communication signals. In optical communications, signals are transmitted via light. Fiber communication is the backbone bundling all the signals. In contrast, the communications devices you use everyday, like laptops and phones, use wireless radio signals to transmit signals. To build devices for optical communications, Gu first uses software to design the devices, optimizing their optical, electronic and thermal properties. Then, she will work with the team at the UD Nanofabrication Facility to make the devices. "The UD Nanofabrication Facility team is actively working with Prof. Gu's group on this project and we have recently made promising progress on fabricating those high quality nanophotonic devices on a large scale," said Iulian Codreanu, Ph.D., director of operations at UD NanoFab. The devices start with silicon, a material commonly used in photonics--the study of light and its applications. Then graphene, a two-dimensional material made from a single layer of atoms, is bonded onto silicon chips. Graphene can improve chip performance, including generation, amplification, modulation, and detection of optical signals. "Its unique structure gives it unique electronic properties not enabled by bulk materials," said Gu. In 2010, the pioneers of graphene research, located at the University of Manchester, won the Nobel Prize in Physics. Since then, "two-dimensional materials have been a hot area of research," said Gu. Gu isn't just making devices--she is testing them in order to improve speed, performance, and scalability of devices made with these materials. These could be the basis of next-generation optical interconnect systems in Air Force infrastructures, she said. "Together we are doing very sharp engineering in combination with hot science," said Gu. "This grant gives me more opportunity to tap the potential of my research." Gu's students will also benefit from this award. "This is a wonderful opportunity for students to get trained to understand the process from beginning to end," she said, "which is critical for their future careers." Gu's work with photonic devices has also garnered attention from NASA, which granted her an Early Career Faculty Award earlier this year. Dennis Prather, Engineering Alumni Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Dr. Gu's faculty mentor, has been studying silicon photonics for nearly two decades. He is impressed by Gu's success thus far. "I'm certain she will be a future pillar of our department and I'm already so proud to call her my colleague," he said. Gu joins several other UD professors who have been recognized by the AFOSR Young Investigator Program. Last year, Bingjun Xu, an assistant professor in chemical and biomolecular engineering, received a grant under this program to study catalyst development to enable flameless combustion of hydrogen in drones. Other recent winners from UD include Christopher Schuetz, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering (2012), Jingyi Yi, a professor of computer and information sciences (2009), David Burris, an associate professor of mechanical engineering (2009), Thomas H. Epps, III (2008), Thomas & Kipp Gutshall Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and a professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Erik Thostenson, an associate professor of mechanical engineering (2008). ### Throughout the United States, toxic algal blooms are wreaking havoc on bodies of water, causing pollution and having harmful effects on people, fish and marine mammals. One of the main contributors to these algal blooms is excess phosphorus that runs off from agricultural fields and while there has been a lot of efforts in recent years by farmers to improve agricultural management, the problem persists and there is still a lot of work to be done. In a paper published recently in the Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, the University of Delaware's Leah Palm-Forster met with farmers in northwest Ohio to test different incentives that would promote the use of best management practices (BMPs) to help curb the excess phosphorus runoff from their fields. Palm-Forster, assistant professor in the Department of Applied Economics and Statistics in UD's College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, collected the data for the study in 2013 while she was a doctoral student at Michigan State University. Palm-Forster and her co-authors--Scott Swinton, professor, and Robert Shupp, associate professor both at Michigan State University--travelled to four different locations and spoke with 49 farmers, looking specifically at farms that could have an impact on Lake Erie, which was hit earlier this year with an algal bloom that stretched over 700 miles. The researchers used four different incentives for their study--a cash payment, a cash payment with BMP insurance, a tax credit and a certification price premium--by the cost per pound of phosphorus runoff reduction to see which incentives the farmers most preferred. "For this study, we used an artificial reverse auction, meaning that farmers didn't have to go back to their farm and actually do any of these practices," said Palm-Forster. "We were trying to pilot test these incentives in a controlled environment, so although it was artificial, they actually were receiving real cash payments based on how they performed during the session." The farmers had mock farms which were designed to be typical farms in the Lake Erie watershed and they were given information about baseline management practices that they used and then they were given three different practices that they could bid on. "We learned a couple interesting things," said Palm-Forster. "First of all, there didn't seem to be a lot of differences between the bids for a cash payment or a tax credit which is interesting because it means we might have some flexibility in how we design programs. If there were the ability to create a tax credit that would be comparable, then we may be able to motivate this kind of management change through that mechanism instead of giving cash payments." Another surprising result was that the farmers asked for more money for the incentive where they were given a cash payment plus insurance. "You would expect them to bid less because you're giving them this insurance for free, so you would expect that they would request less cash in order to adopt a practice but they were very skeptical about how insurance would work in this particular setting," Palm-Forster said. "We learned in focus groups afterward that they assumed that there were going to be more transaction costs--time, effort, money being spent trying to comply with program rules and just maintain eligibility--and they didn't view that as being attractive at all." Farmers also seemed willing to accept the certification price premium as long as it would be comparable to an equivalent amount of cash payment. Palm-Forster said that the issue there is that if it happened in real life, it wouldn't be targeted towards only environmentally vulnerable areas. "If you imagine there's this certification price premium, and any farmer who is willing to do these practices could be eligible for the premium, that means a farmer that's on a piece of land that's not as sensitive in an environmental sense would be getting the same price premium as a farmer that was on a really environmentally vulnerable piece of land, which is not going to result in the most cost-effective use of those dollars," Palm-Forster said. One of the most important aspects of this research according to Palm-Forster was that the researchers went out in the world and interacted with actual farmers to hear their preferences. "Talking to the real decision makers is key," Palm-Forster said. "It can be difficult to get farmers to engage with you but it's really important and we learned so much from working with them in that setting. After we did the experiments, we had focus group discussions which let us understand why they were making these decisions in the experiment. This particular paper was enriched by having that understanding of where the farmers were coming from, which was facilitated by the focus groups." While this study focused on Lake Erie, it can be applicable to other areas of the country such as the Chesapeake Bay and the Mississippi River Basin. These sorts of economic experiments are important as policy makers need to get as much information as possible from actual farmers to hopefully one day roll out incentive programs that the majority of farmers prefer. "You want to do all these things before you try to roll out this type of program because you need to learn what would work and what wouldn't," Palm-Forster said. "This would be one piece of all of that ground work. There are a lot of projects right now in the western basin, a lot of researchers are thinking about this problem, and a lot of farmers are engaging in regional programs to help improve the lake but it's still just not enough," ### The research was funded by a grant from the Great Lakes Protection Fund. Researchers from the University of Granada (UGR) have proven, for the first time in history, that physical fitness in children may affect their brain structure, which in turn may have an influence on their academic performance. More specifically, the researchers have confirmed that physical fitness in children (especially aerobic capacity and motor ability) is associated with a greater volume of gray matter in several cortical and subcortical brain regions. In particular, aerobic capacity has been associated with greater gray matter volume in frontal regions (premotor cortex and supplementary motor cortex), subcortical regions (hippocampus and caudate nucleus), temporal regions (inferior temporal gyrus and parahippocampal gyrus) and the calcarine cortex. All of those regions are important for the executive function as well as for learning, motor and visual processes. This study has been published in the renowned Neuroimage journal and is part of the ActiveBrains project, which is a randomized clinical trial involving more than 100 overweight/obese children led by Francisco B. Ortega. Said project is being carried out mainly at the University of Granada's Sport and Health Institute (IMUDS, from its abbreviation in Spanish) and the Mind, Brain and Behavior Research Center (CIMCYC). "Our work aims at answering questions such as whether the brain of children with better physical fitness is different from that of children with worse physical fitness and if this affects their academic performance", Ortega explains. "The answer is short and forceful: yes, physical fitness in children is linked in a direct way to important brain structure differences, and such differences are reflected in the children's academic performance". Besides, the UGR research associates motor ability with a greater gray matter volume in two regions essential for language processing and reading: the inferior frontal gyrus and the superior temporal gyrus. However, muscular strength didn't showed any independent association with gray matter volume in any brain region. According to Irene Esteban-Cornejo, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Granada and main author of this paper, gray matter volume in the cortical and subcortical regions influenced by physical fitness improves in turn the children's academic performance. Moreover, "physical fitness is a factor that can be modified through physical exercise, and combining exercises that improve the aerobic capacity and the motor ability would be an effective approach to stimulate brain development and academic performance in overweight/obese children". This scientific paper means an important contribution to human knowledge which should be taken into account by educational and public health institutions. "We appeal both to politicians, who make educational laws that are increasingly more focused on instrumental subjects, and to teachers, who are the final link in the chain and teach Physical Education day after day. School is the only entity that gathers every children in a mandatory way for a period of at least 10 years, and as such, it's the ideal context for applying such recommendations", note the researchers. In their own words, the authors of this study are "at the disposal of educational and public health institutions for talking about possible measures and putting them into action". ### Bibliographic references: 1. Esteban-Cornejo I, Cadenas-Sanchez C, Contreras-Rodriguez O, Verdejo- RomanJ, Mora-Gonzalez J, Migueles JH, Henriksson P, Davis CL, Verdejo- Garcia A, Catena A, Ortega FB. A whole brain volumetric approach in overweight/obese children: Examining the association with different physical fitness components and academic performance. The ActiveBrains project. Neuroimage. 2017 Aug 5;159:346-354. 2. Informative blog: Ortega FB, Muntaner-Mas A, Martinez-Nicolas A, Esteban-Cornejo I. Fitter bodies, fitterbrains? https://mind-the-gap.live/2017/09/11/fitter-bodies-fitter-brains/ 3. ActiveBrains webpage: http://profith.ugr.es/activebrains 4. PROFITH research team webpage: http://profith.ugr.es/ Employers should do more to ensure employees do not feel pressured into working outside of their contractual hours and offer more support regarding how they work flexibly, a new study in the International Journal of Management Reviews reports. During the comprehensive evidence-based review, led by the University of Surrey in collaboration with Birkbeck, University of London and the University of Exeter, researchers scrutinised 56 studies examining the use of technology during non-working hours. They found that a 'one size fits all' approach to the use of technology outside working hours, such as switching off email servers outside of office hours, is not conducive to the needs of every employee. Researchers identified a number of factors that contribute to people choosing to work outside of hours. The internet and improvements in ICT have made non-manual work increasingly portable and accessible, resulting in employees finding it far easier to work during non-contractual hours. It was found that many employees felt pressure from their organisation to be constantly available and to engage in work during non-work time, which was exacerbated when expectations about what was required was vague. A desire to prove dedication and 'go the extra mile' were also found to be reasons why people were working more than their contracted hours. An employee's behaviour may in turn also shape what is expected and lead to additional out of hours working (e.g. a colleague who has been available at all times is expected to be available in the future). However, the researchers also found that increased access to technology and working outside of office hours is actually preferred by some employees, who felt it gives them greater flexibility and control over their workload, leading to increases in self-reported efficiency and performance. The study also found that employees appreciated the benefits of being able to monitor continuously the information flow and stay on top of their work. To overcome this disparity in how employees chose to work, researchers recommend that employers give individuals control over their working patterns and actively involve them in any decisions or policies about technology use so employees can reap the benefits of modern technologies without being enslaved by them. Lead author Svenja Schlachter from the University of Surrey said: "A failure to disconnect from work can negatively impact on a person's wellbeing and health. Many individuals report feeling pressured into logging in after hours to complete work, a task that is becoming more commonplace with the advance of technology. However, the flip side of this is that some actually prefer the flexibility this offers. "Although employers implementing policies such as restricting accessibility to emails outside of office hours take a step in the right direction to ensure a good work/life balance for their workers, such regimented approaches to when you should and shouldn't be working do not work for everyone. Employers need to work with their staff to understand their individual needs wherever possible. However, employees also need to take responsibility for their working behaviour, as it is ultimately up to them if they switch their phone off or not." Dr Almuth McDowall, from Birkbeck, University of London said: "Our research stresses two facts. First, there is no blanket solution to how to maximise technology use for communication. Second, we need to put the issue on the table and spell out expectations about what is reasonable. Then agree on some boundaries whilst retaining flexibility." Professor Ilke Inceoglu, from the University of Exeter Business School, said: "We have found the internet and new technology can give people flexibility in the way they work, and they feel this can make them more efficient and feel empowered. But other people feel enslaved by the constant need to check and reply to emails, and managers must lead by example to ensure their wellbeing is protected." ### Voluntary Work-related Technology Use during Non-work Time: A Narrative Synthesis of Empirical Research and Research Agenda, is published in the International Journal of Management Reviews. SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects 1 in 7 people in the United States, according to the U.S. National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). These individuals have a very high risk of cardiovascular disease, and some will also progress to kidney failure requiring dialysis and transplantation. However, few options exist to treat them, and few major breakthroughs have been made during the last 30 years. More than 660,000 Americans have kidney failure, according to the NIDDK. A new study that included researchers from Norway, the University of Washington, the University of California San Diego and The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (now called UT Health San Antonio) found that dozens of small molecules called metabolites are altered in this disease. "We analyzed these small molecules in the blood and urine of non-diabetic patients with chronic kidney disease and compared the results to samples obtained from a group of healthy individuals," said Stein Hallan, M.D., first author of the study published in EBioMedicine. "Importantly, our study identified that a group of molecules called tri-carboxylic acid (TCA) cycle metabolites are significantly affected in chronic kidney disease." Chronic kidney disease, fatigue and metabolism The TCA cycle is a process in which fuel molecules are converted into energy. This activity occurs in mitochondria--the energy centers of all types of cells. The fact that the TCA cycle is significantly impacted in chronic kidney disease supports the view of CKD as a state of mitochondrial dysfunction, said study senior co-author Kumar Sharma, M.D., FAHA, chief of nephrology and founding director of the Center for Renal Precision Medicine at UT Health San Antonio. "Typically, patients with more advanced stages of CKD suffer from severe fatigue, and many other organs (muscles, brain, gut and others) are also not functioning well," Dr. Hallan said. "The clinical picture indicates that there is a general underlying defect in mitochondrial function of these patients." Dr. Hallan has been an active collaborator with Dr. Sharma and has done several sabbaticals with Dr. Sharma in San Antonio and San Diego. This discovery builds on the Sharma group's earlier work. Since 2013, when the team was based at UC San Diego, the clinical investigators published several research papers supporting that mitochondrial dysfunction is an important mechanism in diabetic and other types of kidney diseases. The new study also found that in patients with CKD, expression of genes that regulate the TCA cycle was significantly reduced compared to healthy individuals. Molecular clues to kidney disease therapies Researchers hope that a new breakthrough therapy could arise from these insights. "This is certainly our goal," Dr. Sharma said. "Metabolomics, the analysis of small molecules in biological samples, has revealed numerous abnormalities in the blood of uremic patients, whose kidneys are unable to eliminate the body's waste products. Further exploration of the TCA cycle, using metabolomics, may identify novel therapeutic targets for CKD and in turn may help us evaluate the effects of promising interventions." The Center for Renal Precision Medicine at UT Health San Antonio contributed to the work and will expand upon it in future studies. The Kidney Precision Medicine Project, which is funded by the National Institutes of Health at centers including UT Health San Antonio, and The University of Texas System STARs Program will be part of the ongoing research. STARs awards, established by the UT System Board of Regents in 2004, are granted to UT System institutions to help attract and retain the best-qualified faculty. (STARs is short for Science and Technology Acquisition and Retention.) Center for Renal Precision Medicine Dr. Sharma recently was awarded a $1.4 million Translational STARs award to establish the Center for Renal Precision Medicine at UT Health San Antonio. Dr. Sharma is also the vice chair of research in the Department of Medicine of the Joe R. & Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine, and occupies the L. David Hillis, M.D. Endowed Chair in Medicine. Dr. Sharma has submitted an invention disclosure based on the research to the Office of Technology Commercialization at UT Health San Antonio. ### About UT Health San Antonio The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, with missions of teaching, research and healing, is one of the country's leading health sciences universities and is now called UT Health San Antonio. UT Health's schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, health professions and graduate biomedical sciences have produced more than 33,000 alumni who are advancing their fields throughout the world. With seven campuses in San Antonio and Laredo, UT Health San Antonio has a FY 2018 revenue operating budget of $838.4 million and is the primary driver of its community's $37 billion biomedical and health care industry. For more information on the many ways "We make lives better," visit http://www.uthscsa.edu. Citation Hallan, S., et al., Metabolomics and Gene Expression Analysis Reveal Down-regulation of the Citric Acid (TCA) Cycle in Non-diabetic CKD Patients, EBioMedicine (2017), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ebiom.2017.10.027 By PTI: Gurgaon, Nov 22 (PTI) Schoolbus conductor Ashok Kumar, who was arrested in connection with the killing of seven- year-old Pradhuman Thakur, was released from jail today, a day after a Gurgaon court granted him bail. After he was freed from the Bhondsi jail, Kumar went straight to his house in Ghambroj village in Sohna. He was accompanied by his lawyer Mohit Verma and family members. advertisement The family did not allow the media to talk to Kumar. Residents and the head of the village reportedly helped Kumars father Amirchand collect a bail bond of Rs 50,000. Verma had filed the bail application for Kumar after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested a 16-year-old school student of Ryan International on charges of killing his junior. Pradhuman was found with his throat slit in the toilet of the school in Bhondsi, Gurgaon, on September 8. Kumar, who was arrested by the Gurgaon SIT, has not got a clean chit from the CBI. PTI Corr GVS --- ENDS --- From: CommPRO.biz -- Fay Shapiro For Immediate Release: Dateline: New York , NY Wednesday, November 22, 2017 Mark Weiner, Chief Executive Officer, PRIME Research Public Relations benefits directly from the evolving science of marketing. As time progresses, more and more communications investment decision makers recognize PRs ability to deliver credible and involving messages that are lasting, effective and relatively inexpensive. This combination lasting, effective and inexpensive leads to a strong return-on-investment. And yet, while communicators know they must contribute a positive ROI (and management demands it) many public relations professionals refuse to assess and measure their public relations output and outcomes, not to mention their ROI. Just as executives require every other area within the organization to generate and demonstrate a measureable contribution to business goals, executives expect the same from public relations. This means that public relations practitioners must set measurable objectives and deliver results in light of these objectives to ensure that results are clearly understood (even if many top executives dont fully understand how public relations works). No CEO objects to meeting and beating measureable objectives, especially when performance is gauged over time, versus objectives and in light of competitive performance. While measurement requires an investment, it need not break the bank. As such, budget is a poor excuse for not measuringyou can always do something. In fact, the simplest and least expensive form of public relations evaluations is to simply set measurable objectives and then beat them. Assuming that your objectives are meaningful, measurable and reasonable, public relations research and evaluation may require no budget at all. With measurement as one of the critical challenges facing the public relations profession, why dont more PR practitioners use research and evaluation to set objectives, develop strategy, and improve performance over time? Professionals express a number of concerns: The costs will outweigh the benefits. Sure, research requires a level of investment to undertake a serious and rigorous public relations research program. However, the better question might be, what is the cost of not proving and improving your value when your competitors are proving and improving theirs? Sure, research requires a level of investment to undertake a serious and rigorous public relations research program. However, the better question might be, what is the cost of proving and improving your value when your competitors are proving and improving theirs? What could we possibly find that we didnt already know? There is value in validating what you know because even if your PR victory is obvious to you, it may not be to those funding your programs. Additionally, you never know what else you might learn that is surprising and transformative. There is value in validating what you know because even if your PR victory is obvious to you, it may not be to those funding your programs. Additionally, you never know what else you might learn that is surprising and transformative. This will be a lot of work for senior management: setting research criteria and measurement definitions, selling it, and so on. Yes, instituting a research-based public relations program can be time-consuming and should be undertaken at relatively high levels within the organization. However, the definition process is one that provides an immeasurable learning and prioritizing experience, and once the criteria are defined, they wont change very often. Yes, instituting a research-based public relations program can be time-consuming and should be undertaken at relatively high levels within the organization. However, the definition process is one that provides an immeasurable learning and prioritizing experience, and once the criteria are defined, they wont change very often. We have only limited control over the results. Why should we be held accountable for things we cannot control? While its true that certain aspects of the PR process are not completely controllable, much of it is manageable and, as a result, PR departments should be held accountable for delivering quality results that improve over time within that context. If you believe PR cant be measured it almost ensures you will be watching from the sidelines: marginalized, minimized, and living in limbo. While its true that certain aspects of the PR process are not completely controllable, much of it is manageable and, as a result, PR departments should be held accountable for delivering quality results that improve over time within that context. If you believe PR cant be measured it almost ensures you will be watching from the sidelines: marginalized, minimized, and living in limbo. The results will be used against us. Using the results as a scorecard is not the primary driver of PR measurement. Instead, research provides the feedback you need to do an even better job. Whats worse is not having any results at all. Using the results as a scorecard is not the primary driver of PR measurement. Instead, research provides the feedback you need to do an even better job. Whats worse is not having any results at all. Research is too complicated. It doesnt have to be complicated. What you need is a basic set of measures that reflect various business objectives and are aligned with your objectives and strategy. The purpose of research and evaluation, after all, is to provide clarity and understanding, not complexity and confusion. It doesnt have to be complicated. What you need is a basic set of measures that reflect various business objectives and are aligned with your objectives and strategy. The purpose of research and evaluation, after all, is to provide clarity and understanding, not complexity and confusion. Its too expensivewe cant afford it. Many steps lead to the summit, but all of them begin with a single step: much better to begin simply than to never begin. Make no mistake, communications professionals must ensure not just measure PRs positive return on investment. Its vital to advocate ROI thinking for PR within your organization as a foundation upon which to consistently communicate your success. And even if one falls short, a commitment to measurement is a commitment to improvement, to develop learning experiences which equip staff and clients with the insight and knowledge they need to understand what public relations ROI means. You cannot change the past but there is still much you can do about the future, and it begins simplyone step a time.. About the Author: Mark Weiner is the Chief Executive Officer of PRIME Research, LP, an international research-based communications consultancy helping many of the worlds most admired companies and brands to improve their PR-ROI. Mark is the 2017 Chairman of the Institute for Public Relations Measurement Commission. Connect with Mark at weiner@prime-research.com or follow him on Twitter at @weinermark This article originally appeared in PR News Brexit could offer a real opportunity for the UK vining pea industry to sell more home-grown peas to British consumers and import more abroad, according to a new report. Challenges and opportunities for the Vining Pea industry have been highlighted in a report launched by British Peas and Beans and British Growers. The UK Vining Report 2017 provides a comprehensive review of the way that the industry operates in the UK at present, as well as its future prospects. The UK market could provide a major opportunity, with nearly 35,000 tonnes of peas imported into the country at present. With rising exchange rates and Brexit potentially making imports more difficult, there is a real opportunity for the UK industry to sell more British peas to British consumers. Coral Russell of British Peas and Beans said Brexit offers an "exciting and challenging" time for the vining pea industry. There is a real opportunity to grow the British market in the post-Brexit period and we need to grasp it with both hands. There are challenges as well, but I am confident that we can face these with the right support from UK governments, she said. Crop protection threat The report makes it clear that there a number of challenges on the horizon. A general reduction in the number of active ingredients for crop protection could affect the industry. Andersons report on the issue, published in 2014, highlighted the British Pea as a high risk crop. Specifically, the restrictions on Wakil XL, which protects against downy mildew, could lead to a reduction in yields. Although the product has received a new licence, this restricts the period when Wakil-treated seed can be planted to post-April 1st, when many crops have already been drilled. The report also highlights the importance of Producer Organisations (POs) to the vining pea industry. There are currently eight British pea growing POs under the current EU scheme. The report warns that if a similar scheme is not available in the UK after Brexit, it would put UK producers at a serious disadvantage compared to their European counterparts. By PTI: assembly Chandigarh, Nov 22 (PTI) The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and BJP today urged the Punjab governor to "immediately remove" AAP legislator Sukhpal Singh Khaira from the post of leader of opposition in Punjab assembly as he has been summoned by a Fazilka court in an alleged drug case. The demand was put forward by a joint delegation of SAD-BJP to Governor V P Singh Badnore here. advertisement After submitting a memorandum to the governor, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal said that Khairas continuance as leader of opposition in the assembly after being summoned by the Fazilka court in a 2015 drug case will "sully the August chair". "Khaira had been summoned as an accused in a drugs case with anti-national antecedents due to seizure of Pakistani weapons and SIMs by a Fazilka court," he said. Sukhbir said that the delegation urged the governor to act expeditiously in the matter as this was an "extraordinary case in which the leader of opposition had been made an accused after submission of overwhelming evidence against him". He alleged that it "appears the Congress government was getting ready to play a friendly game with Khaira". The SAD leader said despite the court order, the government has not filed a chargesheet in the case. The delegation, including senior SAD leaders S S Dhindsa and B S Bhundar, besides Som Parkash from the BJP also urged the governor to direct the Congress government to immediately implement the Rs 90,000 crore loan waiver as promised by it. The delegation told the governor that farm suicides were on the rise and farmer accounts had been declared as NPA (non performing assets) making them ineligible to take future loans, Sukhbir said. The delegation also alleged that the Congress government had deliberately not hiked the State Assured Price (SAP) of sugarcane "because its ministers were sugar barons, which was a clear case of conflict of interest". The delegation requested the governor to direct the government to hike the price to at least Rs 350 per quintal, saying even Haryana was paying Rs 330 per quintal against Rs 300 per quintal SAP in Punjab, he said. It also urged the governor to direct the government to take action against sand mining mafia allegedly being run by Congress legislators in Punjab, Sukhbir said. The delegation also requested to ensure 60:40 ratio of officers between Punjab and Haryana in UT Chandigarh administration besides enforcing Punjabi as the official language of the UT, he said. PTI VSD AQS --- ENDS --- advertisement Chancellor Philip Hammond has increased investment in emerging technologies, increased the National Living Wage and set aside billions for Brexit contingency planning. Farmers and rural businesses have been eagerly awaiting today's Autumn Budget as the industry battles with increasing uncertainty of Brexit and a darkening economic outlook. Hammond has said that the UK must "seize the opportunities" from Brexit while tackling deep-rooted economic challenges "head on". The Chancellor, in his second budget, has promised investment to make Britain "fit for the future" as an "outward looking, free-trading nation" once it leaves the EU in 2019. Facing a dark economic outlook and the threat of Corbyn's Labour party, Hammond has confirmed the government will set aside an extra 3bn for Brexit contingency planning, and said that 700m is already invested in Brexit preparations. The Treasury will give 2bn more for the Scottish government, 1.2bn more for Wales and 650m more for Northern Ireland. Emerging technologies Hammond has increased government spending on emerging technologies. It will invest more than 500m in a range of initiatives from artificial intelligence, to 5G and full fibre broadband. The National Farmers' Union (NFU) submitted six key asks ahead of the budget announcement at 12:30pm, which included a plea for the roll-out of superfast broadband and emerging technologies such as robotics. The Government has been urged by the rural community to continue its commitment to deliver superfast broadband, as well as providing them with comprehensive mobile phone coverage. The rollout is seen as a chance for farmers to utilise emerging digital technology, improve productivity and assist rural businesses to compete with their urban counterparts in an ever-increasing sense of uncertainty. National Living Wage increase Hammond has also increased the national living wage. From April 2018, it will rise 4.4% from 7.50 an hour to 7.83. The government has accepted the low pay commissions recommendations. Suppliers expect the price of strawberries to rise due to the pressure of the National Living Wage on British farmers, with some predicting the closure of British farms as it becomes an unprofitable operation. A recent National Farmers Union (NFU) report states that the impact of the NLW could see growers lose up to 58% of their profits immediately. It stated that over the next four years, it could cost fresh food businesses up to 158% of current business profit, making strawberry growing completely unprofitable for British farmers without additional Government support. Business rates and VAT Hammond explained that the government has listened to concerns about the costs of uprating business rates. He said he will bring forward the uplifting of this by the CPI inflation index, not RPI. It will switch to CPI in April 2018, two years earlier than planned. That will save business 2.3bn, he said. The VAT threshold is to stay at 85,000 for the next two years, which will be seen as good news for small businesses. There had been speculation Hammond might lower the threshold to bring it in line with other European countries. He said: "I will consult on whether its design could better incentivise growth and in the meantime we will maintain it at its current level of 85,000 for the next two years." House building The Chancellor has looked to address housing challenge. He has committed 44bn of funding to support house-building over the next 5 years. There was a strong focus on urban housing, with some farmers on social media criticising the government's lack of support for the housing needs of farmers and growers. The NFU believes it is important for the town planning system to plan for the housing needs of farmers and growers as well as their rural communities. Oliver Letwin MP for West Dorset will chair a review of how land is being used for housing. It will report by the spring of next year, in time for the financial statement then. If necessary, the government will take powers to intervene to ensure land is used for housing, Hammond said. Tax saving reliefs Commenting on the Autumn budget, Rural Affairs Specialist at NFU Mutual Tim Price said at first glance, there isn't a lot for farmers to get excited about. Mr Price said a few measures will ease farmers' tax bills, such as fuel duty seeing no increase. He said this measure will come as a "huge relief" for people living in the countryside. Those running small farms and rural businesses will heave a sigh of relief that they wont be faced with expensive accounting admin as the Chancellor has decided to keep the threshold for VAT registration at the current 85,000, Mr Price said. There was good news for self-employed farmers and all those working as employees that the Chancellor has stuck to the Torys promise to keep increasing personal tax allowances. They will be going up to 11,850 for basic rate taxpayers and 46,350 which means a few hundred pounds more out of the taxmans grasp. Mr Price said that the confirmation of the governments plans to facilitate building of 300,000 new homes by the mid 2020s could mean "great opportunities" for farmers. He continued: We campaigned hard for the Chancellor to drop plans to increase the rate of Insurance Premium Tax and were delighted that he decided not to further add to the costs of responsible businesses by leaving the tax at its current rate of 12%. NFU Mutual believes further increases in IPT would have placed an unfair burden on country people who have no option but to use cars to get around. 'Continued viability' Andrew Fallows, Head of Rural Agency at Carter Jonas said the decision that business rates will be revalued every three years is a welcome intervention because many rural businesses depend on robust, long term plans to ensure their continued viability. But he said rumours of a reduction in Agricultural Property Relief (APR) unfortunately remained untouched in todays announcement. The governments commitment to the housing sector is commendable, but the continued pledge to protect the green belt raises more questions than it offers answers. We look forward to Mr Javids statement, for clarification on how this investment will impact the UKs rural communities, Mr Fallows said. Finally, we welcome the Governments further investment in delivering superfast broadband to the regions, which will level the playing field between more accessible rural areas and those that are currently less connected. NFUs six proposals Before the budget was announced, the NFUs outgoing president Meurig Raymond set out six key proposals for the government to deliver a new domestic agricultural policy with the environment, farm productivity and volatility mitigation at its heart. 1. The introduction of Farm Infrastructure Allowance to provide relief for the depreciation cost of farm infrastructure over its lifespan. 2. An exemption for agricultural buildings from any new system of Community Infrastructure Levy or Local Infrastructure Tariff contributions to avoid a further decline of farm investment. 3. An improved capital allowances regime to encourage the adoption of more new technologies and improve productivity. 4. Rolling out superfast broadband and providing complete mobile phone coverage to help farms make the most of emerging technologies such as robotics and GPS. 5. The introduction of a UK farm management deposit scheme to allow farms to better manage cash flow volatility and maintain more consistent levels of investment. 6. A review of trading loss restrictions to help farmers invest in restructuring their businesses. A super pest moth resistant to a class of common plant protection is now also capable of surviving through the UKs cold winter conditions, according to new research. Diamondback moth (DBM) caterpillars feed on crops including cabbage, broccoli, swedes and Brussels sprouts, causing cosmetic damage, which could result in the loss of up to 100 per cent of the crop. Brassicas were worth more than 200m to UK agriculture last year. The pests, which have developed resistance to the pyrethroid class of plant protection products often have reduced fitness levels so dont survive through winter. However, experts from Rothamsted Research and AHDB are concerned because this is not the case with this new strain of moth. Growers are being asked to submit samples of the DBM either when seen through winter, or in spring when numbers start to rise, to aid the continued monitoring and development of control strategies to manage the pest. Dr Dawn Teverson, Knowledge Exchange Manager at AHDB, said: This new research reconfirms what we found last year. Its important that Brassica growers are aware of this pyrethroid resistance and plan their crop protection programmes to treat against diamondback moths, accordingly. If pyrethroids are used, not only does this now fail to control DBM but it could also kill beneficial insect predators which would naturally help control the pest, further exacerbating the problem. Surviving winter Pyrethroid resistant DBM have been found overwintering on swede crops grown under insect netting. Dr Steve Foster, research entomologist at Rothamsted Research, said: We have seen in aphids that those which have developed resistance may not survive the winter, however this doesnt seem to be the case with this new strain of DMB. The identification of pyrethroid resistance in this seasons population of moths suggests that they are descendants of 2016s migrating diamondbacks and therefore that the resistance hasnt stopped them from surviving over winter. Andrew Rutherford, farm and agronomy manager at K. S. Coles, said: This study has been extremely helpful to growers, allowing them to increase their understanding of the pests they are trying to control and which actives will be effective. The diamondback moth is often described as a 'super-pest' because it has a rapid lifecycle, providing more opportunities for resistance to develop through gene mutation. In 2016, Steve Foster at Rothamsted Research tested three diamondback moth samples for resistance from Lincolnshire, Suffolk and Scotland. All three samples were resistant to pyrethroids. A farmer faces paying a 50,000 bill after his bullock jumped over a six-foot fence and caused a serious car crash. The half-a-tonne Charolais bullock leaped over the fence and crashed through a hedge and other fences before getting on to the A465 road at Glynneath, Neath Port Talbot, south Wales. Martyn Williams, who was driving through the area, hit the bullock. He was badly injured, and the bullock died on impact. He suffered amnesia after the incident and does not remember the event well. The Court of Appeal judges have now ruled that the farmer who owned the bullock, Jeffrey Hawkes, has to pay 50,000 compensation to Mr Williams, plus costs. The Court of Appeal heard how Mr Hawkes' now deceased father, Derfyl, had bought the bullock at an auction in December 2011, just one day before the accident happened. As Charolais cattle are usually docile, Derfyl put the bullock in a field with others and kept a close eye on them. But the bullock was later found to be missing by his son. It had jumped over the six-foot fence and slammed its way through others, eventually coming onto the A465, slamming into Mr Williams Ford Mondeo, which was severely damaged due to the impact. Due to Mr Williams' amnesia, the motorist behind him had to describe the event. An animal expert said Charolais can be "flighty" when scared, but to this day it is still unknown as to what spooked it into jumping the fence. The final amount of damages has yet to be assessed but Mr Williams is claiming up to 50,000. Mr Hawkes was also ordered to pay legal costs, estimated at 40,000. Jeffrey Hawkes was sued on behalf of his fathers estate, and is liable to compensate the injured motorist. The risks to British crop protection and plant health due to uncertainty caused by Brexit were highlighted at a potato industry conference on Wednesday. Dr Sophie Churchill, chair of the AHDB Potatoes Board, spoke at the industry event BP2017 about growers concerns over the ever-dwindling access to plant protection products. She has called upon the industry as a whole to work together to ensure long-term sustainability and productivity, whatever the future crop protection scenario is post-Brexit. She said: We dont know how the crop protection landscape will look post-Brexit and until we know the outcomes of trade negotiations, we are looking at a prolonged period of uncertainty. At the same time, we are aware of potential increased momentum to look for a sustainable future for crop protection in Britain. Dr Churchill has spent much of her six months in the role visiting growers and those in the supply chain. She stated the most common concern among farmers was the future of crop protection. Commenting after Dr Churchills speech, Will Shakeshaft of Spearhead Potatoes said: Over the past ten years a number of seed treatments, herbicides and desiccants have been removed from our tool-kit. Growers have relied on the work of organisations such as AHDB to provide an evidence-base for potential replacements. Any sudden or unexpected changes connected to Brexit could leave us without proven replacements for lost products. The consequence could be lost or lower value crop and it will be farmers who will be most affected. Critical time AHDB manages 137 crop protection and plant health related research projects, with a combined spend of 4.92m across the potatoes, horticulture and cereals and oilseeds sectors. It comes at a critical time when the European Union debates whether to renew glyphosate for a further five years following continued deadlock. Dr Churchill added: Our strength in tackling this issue is not only to consider all potential crop protection scenarios as we are already doing through our growing Horizon series which includes a report dedicated to crop protection but also in working together. AHDBs role is to provide a platform, to act as a catalyst for key organisations across agricultural sectors and to take a long-term view on the sustainability and productivity of the industry. We will therefore be leading a wider effort in research and innovation to ensure that the next generation of crop protection products meet these vital aims. We will be sharpening our focus on these issues throughout 2018. Hampshire police has sent out a strong-worded warning to dog walkers after a farmer discovered the dead bodies of 16 sheep in his field. The farmer found the sheep on the morning of Tuesday (7 November) in the Odiham area of Hampshire. While none of the sheep had visible injuries, it is believed a dog had got on to the field and the animals died due to the stress caused. PC Vincent Lane, from Hampshire Constabularys Country Watch team, said: I would like to remind dog owners of the importance of being in full control of their dog when in the countryside and around livestock and wild animals. Owners often voice surprise when their dog chases animals, but this is an innate part of a dogs behaviour and they will instinctively chase and injure animals given the chance. Dogs worrying livestock is a criminal offence contrary to the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953. PC Lane continued: In such incidents, livestock can be seriously injured or killed. It is also common for other animals witnessing this to die from shock. Dog owners should be aware that in such instances, the owner/person in control of the dog can be prosecuted, and the dog can be shot by the farmer to end an attack. Police advice to dog owners Keep your dog on a lead when in a field with livestock If there is no livestock in the field, keep the dog in sight at all times, be aware of what it is doing, and be confident it will return to you promptly on command. If you cannot be confident of this, the dog should not be off the lead Ensure the dog does not stray off the path or area where you have right of access. If you have any information about this incident, please call 101 quoting 44170433995. Solar must go on rooftops instead of farmland, charity says The Shutterbugs Went Berserk From the time the trio -Ash, Aaradhya and Vrinda - were spotted entering the hospital, the photographers went berserk. They Were Shouting At Each Other The photographers were screaming and shouting at each other. Aishwarya Had Already Posted For The Pictures But They were fighting for pictures whereas Aishwarya, along with her mom and daughter had already posed for the pictures. The Photographers Started Fighting With The Security The bouncers tried to clear the way when the photographers got into a fight with the security there. It Didn't End There That was not all. Inside, when the event began, the bullying tactics of some of the press photographers and camera persons continued. An Announcement Was Made Too A member from the hospital tried to make an announcement on the mic several times asking everyone to maintain discipline but to no avail. When Aishwarya Stepped In That was when Ash stepped in and asked the media and the photographers to calm down. "Can you all please shush? We are standing here only.'' Aish Said, ''Stop Your Cameras'' She said while the lens men kept clicking. An irritated Aishwarya then reiterated, "Stop it, I'm talking. Ek second ke liye aap camera bandh kijiye (stop your cameras for a second)." Aishwarya Requested Again But Aishwarya requested them politely again, asking them to maintain silence since the event was at a hospital and for a few minutes, everyone listened to her. This Time She Lost Her Cool But right after the AV was played, and the kids were brought in, the photographers once again started clicking. Ash then gave the photogs and the videographers a piece of her mind. She Was Badly Hurt Teary-eyed she said, "You do not need to click my photographs. I'm asking you all to please keep silent.'' She Said ''You guys don't need these images or this clip. We are used to these events because we belong to this business.'' What's Wrong With You All? ''Please show some respect. This is not a premiere or another public event. There are children here. What's wrong with you all?" Manushi Chhillar Manushi Chhillar's parents are doctors and she's studying to be a heart specialist too. Medical Student She is studying in the Bhagat Phool Singh Government Medical College for Women in Sonepat, Haryana. Haryana Girl Manushi Chhillar is a 20-year-old girl from Haryana. Medical Education She wants to complete her medical education and serve in the same field. Miss World 2017 Manushi Chhillar was crowned the Miss World 2017 title and made India proud. Bollywood Debut? Her Image Consultant said that she's open to debut in Bollywood if the script is good. In Demand We guess a few film-makers would really be interested to give it a shot. The Next Big Thing Manushi Chhillar might be the next Aishwarya and Priyanka in the film industry. Meaty Roles Aishwarya and Priyanka got good and meaty roles during the start of their career. Tread Carefully Manushi Chhillar should be very careful in what role she selects as that would define the rest of her career and image. Bright Career She really has a beautiful and bright career ahead of her. So Beautiful Isn't she the most beautiful woman you've ever seen? Education Vs Films We're sure she'll manage to complete her medical education and also give it a shot in Bollywood. So Cool She's achieved a lot of things at the ripe age of 20. So cool, right? Hollywood Calling? We never know, even Hollywood might be calling for Manushi Chhillar. Big Deal She's the next best thing to emerge out of India. What's Cooking? In the picture, one can see Salman and Katrina engrossed in a deep conversation during the shoot of 'Swagat Se Swagat' track. Any guesses what's the topic of discussion? When Salman Compared Katrina To A 'Humma' Recently while speaking to a leading news channel, Salman had said, "I've had a great time working with Katrina Kaif. She's lovely. She's worked so hard in the film that I feel... uff. She's like a humma. She keeps on working, working and working. So when you will actually see the action sequences, she has done it like on a different level altogether. She has done most her stuff by herself and kind of risky stuff as well." Even The Director Loves Their Chemistry Speaking about Salman and Katrina, the filmmaker had said, "In Ek Tha Tiger, everyone loved Salman and Katrina's chemistry, so for us, it was a challenge to push the envelope in terms of how they look and how the song is going to be. A lot of attention has been paid to bring out their chemistry, how they are styled, and the locations. They look the best they have looked together." Well, we couldn't agree more to this! 'Don't Do A Distasteful Song' Recently in an interaction with Al Jazeera, Kat said, "Can you possibly do a song or can a person do a song which may be distasteful? Of course! But then don't do the song. Don't do a distasteful song. But if you're going to say 'women should not dance in films,' then that's an ignorant comment. Because dance can be beautiful." Dance & Movies Go Hand-In-Hand For Her She further added, "I grew up in musicals. I grew up on the kind of movies that MGM was making which is all about dance and music. And, I love dance. I think dance for me and movies will always go hand-in-hand. Maybe not in every film. It's not to say there is a song in every film even I do. But when there's a song to me it's dance, it's celebration, it's in the heart of the people of this country. Even if we are not to look to Hollywood or to the kind of musicals they used to make more frequently." Mark The Date In Your Calendar The much awaited Tiger Zinda Hai is slated to hit the theatrical screens on 22nd December, 2017. Amid the ongoing uproar over Padmavati, a Meerut-based outfit today demanded action against those threatening Deepika Padukone, the lead actress of the movie. The Parshuram Swabhiman Sena issued a statement, condemning the threats. "There should be a strict action against those persons who are issuing threats to Deepika Padukone," Sena said in the statement. Amid rumours that there was a romantic dream sequence between Rani Padmavati and Alauddin Khilji's characters, many Rajput groups and others have been protesting against the movie, alleging that it distorts history. Director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, in a video appeal earlier this month, had stated that there was no such sequence in the movie and he was careful in depicting the "Rajput honour and dignity". Historians are divided on whether Rani Padmavati even existed but irate Rajput groups have called the film an insult to their honour. Padmavati Review By Arnab Goswami: Rajput Karni Sena Will Be Left Looking Utterly Foolish Even the top officials in Ministry of Finance hardly know about the existence and significance of SAFEMA. By Virendrasingh Ghunawat: The government officials who are dealing with dreaded underworld goons and selling their illegal properties are now fighting a lonely and lost battle with the Ministry of Finance and Department of Expenditure. Nobody knew much about SAFEMA until underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's properties were auctioned successfully last week for Rs 11 crore in Mumbai. Unfortunately, even top officials in Ministry of Finance (MoF) hardly know the existence and significance of SAFEMA. advertisement By definition, the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act, 1976 (SAFEMA) was enacted to deprive the persons engaged in illegal activities of their ill-gotten gains. The central government has appointed four competent authorities at New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata and also appointed them as Administrator under these Acts. Under Section 5 of SAFEMA and Section 68-D of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPSA) provisions are made to appoint the competent authority to identify/trace the illegally acquired properties, forfeit such properties, take possession of such properties, maintain it and sell it through auction. "Today, SAFEMA is an authority full of depressed and dejected staff. One major issue is shortage of manpower and second is pay disparity", an official on the condition of anonymity told Indiatoday.in. To give an example, the pay scales of Income Tax and Custom/Excise officials have been upgraded as per Sixth and Seventh Pay Commission, but being a small organisation, SAFEMA was neglected by the same Ministry, since last few years. The source said, "As a result, nobody is willing to come in SAFEMA even on deputation. Even inspectors in IT and Excise (with support of employees union) are getting basic pay grade of Rs 1600, then why he or she would enter SAFEMA with pay grade of Rs 1400?" The complaint is "The central government is not ready to reverse the pay disparity of SAFEMA, citing a reason that authority's staffs are not eligible". Ideally, at each zonal office, there should be one competent authority, one joint commissioner, five inspectors and two assistant officers with few lower division clerk and stenographers. But in present scenario, every zonal office is facing a shortage of at least 3-4 inspectors, few assistants and stenos. In September 2017, in a written communication, SAFEMA had requested the National Anomaly Committee to take up the issue of Pay Disparity in the post of Inspecting Officer, Superintendents, Inspector in all four offices of the Competent Authority, with their counterparts under the Income Tax, Customs, GST, etc. SAFEMA's request letter said, "As regards Inspector in Seventh Pay Commission Report (page 573), the commission had discussed and reported it's finding that the Inspectors grade pay need not be raised from grade pay 4200 to 4600, as CBI sub-inspectors draws grade pay 4200. But in the same report (page 715), the commission has raised the grade pay of sub-inspector, CBI to Rs 4600. This is clear injustice and anomaly. According to the grade pay of Inspector of SAFEMA has to be raised to Rs 4600 and the Inspecting Officer being promotion post of Inspector has to be placed in 4800 and after four years at 5400 at par with ITO/Superintendent". advertisement Though the Chairman of Anomaly Committee agreed that this is a point where there is disparity, it would not amount to anomaly; he directed the matter to Department of Expenditure (DoE) immediately for revision of pay scales on par with analogous posts. But, subsequently, the DoE rejected the plea. "The department refused to accept the request, saying it could not be done. The department doesn't understand that it's the matter of few lakh in its budget. Here, an official at Superintendent is getting a salary of Inspector i.e. one scale down. How much, our officials could motivate themselves", the source said. As the matter of fact, the Ministry of Finance and Department of Expenditure are unaware the role of SAFEMA. "For them, it is a small organisation with limited manpower. Unfortunately, our staff does not have the backup of any association/union body or senior members of CBDT or CBEC. Hence, we are left unheard", the source added. advertisement Hence, these issues are affecting SAFEMA's work, badly. "Today, 10 per cent of our work gets highlighted by media/press i.e. auction etc. But 90 per cent of work that includes, attending legal hearings in various Tribunals and Courts on property cases, documentation, investigation and submitting reports, etc., all gets affected due to shortage of manpower and most important, the dedication", one official said. Currently, SAFEMA has tightened its belt to clear all the disputed properties of Dawood and auction it in next few years, but with the hope that Central Government resolves its pay disparity issues, at the earliest. --- ENDS --- On Being Addressed As A 'Star's Son' The reporter asked Ishaan, "Being a star's son, what made you choose this film as your first film. Usually they (star kids) go with a Bollywood way with big launch but you have gone with Majid's film which is the kind of movie we usually do not see star's son or daughter getting launched in." Ishaan Chose Not To Mince His Words The young lad replied, "Would you mind if I ask you a question myself? Would you define star's son for me?" How Things Fell In Place For Ishaan He went on to add, "Honestly, it wasn't much of a decision to make because an opportunity like this seldom comes to an actor. Casting director Honey Trehan called me in and I had an opportunity to meet Majid Majidi and have a small conversation with him and after that it was not much of a decision to make for me because I'm a huge fan of cinema and I'm absolutely a huge admirer of his films." It Was A Calculative Process "I just wanted to be a part of good films. It was not a very calculated or thought out process. It was instinctive," said Ishaan. When Ishaan's Father Came To His Rescue After KJo received a lot of flak for casting Ishaan and Janhvi in Dhadak, Ishaan's father, actor Rajesh Khatter had lashed out in an interview with DNA, "It's not as if Karan was compelled to take Ishaan! He is going by the subject and what he wants to project. The story is about youngsters in the 18-21-year-old age bracket and he wanted actors with no image, which is why he chose them (Janhvi and Ishaan)." He Was Very Angry "Social media is great to reach out if you have something to convey or share, but unfortunately, has become an open defecation ground for trolls, where people want to dump their sh*t on anyone they fancy," said the actor. A Valid Point Rajesh had said, "What was nepotism applicable in Shahid's case? His parents - Pankaj Kapur and Neelima Azim - were not huge stars. He made his way up. Today, they are targetting Ishaan for being Shahid's brother." Newcomer Ishaan Khatter, who is making his debut with Iranian film-maker Majid Majidi's Beyond the Clouds, said he wants to be a part of films he can emotionally connect with. "From an actor's perspective, I would be really happy to work in a film which has relevant content with which I can connect emotionally. I would not like to limit myself to certain kind of cinema or roles. I would be happy to explore as many avenues as possible," he said. Ishaan said it was an "empowering experience" to work with the acclaimed director. "Honestly, for me to make a debut with Majidi sir was not much of a decision to make. It was really a great break. Honey Trehan (casting director) called me in and I had a small conversation with Majidi sir," the debutant said on the sidelines of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI). "I am a huge admirer of Majidi sir's work. I just want to be a part of good films. It is not a calculated decision. It is just instinctive and it is an honour to work with him... It has given us an empowering experience which will last with us forever," he added. He may be making his debut with alternative cinema but Ishaan has already signed a big-ticket Bollywood movie, Dhadak, with Karan Johar's Dharma Productions. Ishaan, who is Bollywood actor Shahid Kapoor's half- brother, will star with veteran actor Sridevi's daughter, Janhvi Kapoor in the movie, which is an official Hindi remake of Marathi blockbuster "Sairat". His co-star, Malayalam actor Malavika Mohanan, said although she felt the performance pressure when she came onboard the project, working with Majidi was a "precious opportunity" for her. "One doesn't get an opportunity like this every day. Most actors don't get a film like this in their whole career. There was a pressure to give heart and soul to the film and there was a fear what if we are not able to deliver what is expected from us," she said. Mohanan added, "Having said that, I have been a student of cinema and I knew the relevance of Majid Majidi and I never thought I was acting in his film. It was a surreal. It was a dream team to work with. The performance he brings out of actors is an amazing." PTI Ashok Kumar, relative of popular actor-director Sasikumar and co-producer of some his movies like Eesan, Poraali and the upcoming movie Kodiveeran, committed suicide on November 21, 2017. The tragic news regarding Ashok Kumar's suicide cameas a shocker to the insiders of the film industry and the entire Kollywood is grief-struck due to the incident. According to the reports, Ashok Kumar has left behind a long suicide note, in which he has cited and blamed the pressure that he has been receiving from a top financier from the industry, as the reason that forced him for this. Many of the Kollywood celebrities have been left in a state of shock upon hearing this unfortunate news. Popular actor Vishal and director Gautham Menon took to social media to react to the same. Actor Vishal, who is also the president of the Tamil Film Producers Council, took to his official Facebook page to send out a long note addressing the same. Below is the Facebook post of Vishal... "Devastated to hear the sad demise of a Dear Friend, Ashok Kumar who sacrificed his life succumbing to the pressure created by Financiers.... I truly wish that this will be the last Sacrifice in the name of Financial burden.... Suicide is not a solution & I hereby request Producers to reach out to us if they face such threats from Financiers, we will be more than happy to help them out. It's time, we put an end to such Financiers who harass producers & conduct kattapanjayathu. We wish all Producers stay united and work towards the welfare of each one of us. I request the Police to take stringent action and bring justice to the innocent's death & also consider this as a Murder & not Suicide.... This is a direct warning to all Financiers, likeminded people & so called federations who extort money, more than the stipulated interest & to the People who harass honest Producers & family members. It is high time, all you people who have been conducting Kangaroo Courts time and again to stop harassing Producers, it's time for U all to Run, since this death will be the last death and it will be an example to bring out all atrocities that's been happening in the Tamil film Industry. We as Producers will stand united and put an end to this come what may...." Vishal, (Another Affected Producer), President, Tamil Film Producer Council. On the other hand, popular film-maker Gautham Menon did send out an emotional note through his Facebook page, upon the tragic death of Ashok Kumar. Take a look at the Facebook post of Gautham Menon.. Popular Tamil actor Siddharth also took to Twitter to condole the death of the producer. Take a look at the same.. Travel credit cards offer all kinds of perks that make traveling more enjoyable and easier on your wallet. Below are the types of benefits available with travel cards. Once you know which benefits you want, you can look for cards that have those features. Purchase rewards: Travel credit cards earn rewards on purchases, and you can redeem them for free travel. Many of the most popular travel cards also have bonus categories in which you earn more rewards than the standard rate. If you find a card with bonus categories that match your spending habits, you can maximize your rewards. Sign-up bonus: Most travel cards include a sign-up bonus offer, which is a big chunk of rewards you can earn as a new cardholder. To get the bonus, you need to complete the terms. This usually requires spending a certain amount on the card within a timeframe, such as $3,000 in the first three months. Airport lounge access: Airline credit cards and premium travel credit cards often include complimentary access to airport lounge programs. If you spend a lot of time at the airport, this perk can make waiting for your flight more comfortable. Free checked luggage: Many airline credit cards allow you to check one or more bags for free. Depending on the card, companions traveling on the same itinerary may get to share in this benefit. Free night certificate: A common feature of hotel credit cards is a yearly free night certificate. Terms apply on when and where you can use these certificates, and they usually don't work at the most expensive properties. However, they can still save you $100 or more. Travel protections: Travel cards often include complimentary protections on eligible purchases such as: Car rental loss and damage insurance Trip cancellation and interruption insurance Trip delay insurance Lost luggage reimbursement Spending credits: Premium travel credit cards with high annual fees typically have spending credits to balance out their fees. These credits automatically apply on eligible purchases. Here are a few examples: A membership fee credit for TSA PreCheck, Global Entry, or CLEAR An annual credit covering travel purchases A monthly credit for Uber, DoorDash, or other popular apps Elite loyalty program status: Gaining elite status in airline and hotel loyalty programs normally requires that you make quite a few bookings. Some credit cards let you cut the line by offering cardholders complimentary elite status with one or more loyalty programs. By PTI: (Eds: With additional details) New Delhi, Nov 22 (PTI) In a stern message to embattled realty firm Jaiprakash Associate Limited (JAL), the Supreme Court today directed its 13 directors not to alienate their personal properties and asked the company to pay up Rs 275 crore by December end "like a good kid". A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra accepted a demand draft of Rs 275 crore submitted by the real estate firm today and directed it to pay another two tranches of Rs 150 crore and Rs 125 crore respectively by December 14 and 31. advertisement The top court also made it clear that it was granting "indulgence" to allow the firm to deposit Rs 2,000 crore in instalments as the interest of homebuyers was "paramount". "Agli tareekh ko achhe bachhe ki tarah paise deposit kar dena (deposit the money like a good kid on the next date of hearing)," the bench, also comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, said. It restrained 13 directors, including five promoters and eight independent directors, from alienating their personal properties as well as of their immediate family members. The apex courts direction that the directors shall not alienate their or their family members personal properties in any manner implies freezing of their assets. "This court has nothing against you. Homebuyers needed to get back their money. These people (directors) have gone to the top at the expense of homebuyers money. You mortgage, sell your assets, jewellery and pay back. Otherwise we will attach your properties," the bench said. It also warned the directors that any violation of its directive would hold them liable for criminal prosecution and contempt action. "Buyers must be paid back their money ... Do not destroy the life-time savings of middle-class home buyers," it said. The JAL directors, who were asked to appear in person, appeared today and filed affidavits giving details of their personal assets. The court has now asked them to appear again on January 10, the next date of hearing. The bench, meanwhile, appointed lawyer Pawan Shree Agrawal as an amicus curiae and asked him to set up within a week, a web portal which would contain all details including grievances of the hassled homebuyers. Senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Ranjit Kumar, who appeared on behalf of the directors, sought some more time for depositing money in the court. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the real estate company, said adequate time should be given to the firm to arrange the money or the firm may go the Sahara way. During the hearing, Sibal said the company would deposit Rs 275 crore today and sought time till June next years for depositing more money. "The idea is to pay the money. The fact that JAL will go into liquidation will not help anybody. The company wants to pay and deliver possession. It has 50,000 employees," he said. advertisement Attorney General K K Venugopal alleged that the company had diverted funds and a forensic audit was required to probe its affairs. The apex court, on November 13, had also restrained the managing director and the directors of Jaypee Infratech Ltd from travelling abroad without prior permission. While the company had then said it was willing to deposit the money, the plea was opposed by one of its bankers, ICICI Bank, on the ground that it would not be feasible as the process of loan restructuring was on. The court had asked Jaypee Infratech to hand over the records to the interim resolution professional (IRP) to draft a resolution plan indicating protection of interests of over 32,000 hassled home buyers and creditors. It also stayed any proceedings instituted against Jaypee Infratech for any purpose in any forum like the consumer commission, as the IRP has been given control of the companys management. Homebuyers including one Chitra Sharma had moved the apex court saying that around 32,000 people had booked their flats and are now paying installments. advertisement The top court had on September 4 stayed insolvency proceedings against the real estate firm at National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). Flat buyers, under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code of 2016, do not fall in the category of secured creditors like banks and hence they can get back their money only if something is left after repaying the secured and operational creditors, Sharma, in her plea, said. Hundreds of home buyers have been left in the lurch after the NCLT, on August 10, admitted the IDBI Banks plea to initiate insolvency proceedings against the debt-ridden realty company for defaulting on a Rs 526 crore loan, the plea said. PTI SJK ABA MNL ARC --- ENDS --- Forces kill three Kashmir terrorists in Handwara to take this year's tally to a recent high; 25 commanders among slain jihadis. By Ajit Kumar Dubey: Security forces have been able to eliminate 202 terrorists in less than 11 months in 2017 with top government sources pointing to the "complete synergy" between the Army, police and paramilitary for the stunning achievement. Officials said government troops over the past year have been working in close tandem and the credit game has been eliminated among them as no one claims brownie points for the jihadis killed in operations and the forces hold joint press conferences. advertisement This year, the combined troops of the Army, Jammu and Kashmir Police and the CRPF have been able to kill 202 terrorist of different groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Toiba and Hizbul Mujahideen. The list includes 25 top commanders of these groups, government security sources said. Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat, Jammu and Kashmir's director general of police SP Vaid and CRPF top brass was credited by the sources for the co-actions of the troops with intelligence agencies providing specific inputs for pinpoint operations. Sources said the turning point in the success story has been the deep involvement of local police as like the Punjab militancy where the cops were the biggest factor in finishing terrorism. "There is no better counter-insurgency force than the local police as they know the place like the back of their hand and since they have been attacked and are now hitting the terrorists hard, we see that forces are achieving great success," the sources said. They added that in 2017, the number of attacks being carried out by the terrorists on the security forces has come down drastically since the troops are now going out for search and destroy operations as could been seen from the recent mission of the army and IAF special forces, Garud, in the Hajin area of Bandipora district where they went to terrorists' hideout and killed them. The operation took place on Saturday in which one Garud commando, Corporal JP Nirala, lost his life and six terrorists from Pakistan were eliminated by the troops. On a recent decision by the government to hold parleys with all stakeholders in Kashmir to resolve the crisis, the sources said the intention is to provide an option to the locals to discuss their issues with the Centre and find solutions. They said government's interlocutor Dineshwar Sharma would be interacting with all sections of society in Kashmir and will convey the aspirations of the people of the state to the government. On the situation in the state, the sources said the separatists and their sympathisers may be coming out on social media or TV to show opposition, but the masses are with the country. "The success of the security forces' operations shows that," they said. advertisement The officials said despite the ongoing dialogue process, the Centre would ensure that the pressure on terrorists would continue and they have been clearly told to maintain the tempo of their actions. About the role of Pakistan in J&K, the sources said infiltration attempts were at an all-time high with 291 bids by jihadis to sneak in along the LoC till September 30 against the 165 attempts in the corresponding period last year. "The push from Pakistan is far greater than ever as they are getting frustrated in their attempts to change the atmosphere in the Valley which was visited by around 12 lakh domestic tourists this year," they said. Sources said the Pakistanis are now trying to undertake targeted killings of celebrities and important personalities in the country like they did in case of RSS leader Brigadier (retd) Jagdish Gagneja, who was killed in Punjab this year where money was paid through the Dubai-Mumbai route to gangsters. WATCH VIDEO | Available on hire: Stone pelters in Kashmir; India Today exposes their real face --- ENDS --- Calvin Klein store to open in Tbilisi on December 1, 2017 - GeorgianJournal EU Council adopts regulation for entry-exit system for third country nationals - GeorgianJournal US Ambassador respects Georgias right to make its own decisions about security issues - GeorgianJournal Giorgi Margvelashvili does not rule out the possibility to run again for presidency - GeorgianJournal Design Amazon Echo Plus is similar too its predecessor in terms of looks and design. The device features a cylindrical body and is pretty tall at 9.3 inches and weighs less than a kg. There are two buttons for the setup on the circular panel at the top with an action button, a light ring and a microphone button. The LED ring that circles at the top with blue and green colors has a multiple functions and also indicates the source from where the command is being prompted. The speaker grilles are positioned at the bottom of the device. There is a power port and an AUX port as well at the bottom. There is a 2.50-inch woofer and a 0.8-inch tweeter for improved audio processing. Setup process The Amazon Echo Plus is controlled with the help of the Alexa app. This app is available for both the Android and iOS devices. It is pretty easy to get started with the same. You need to just download the application, key in the Amazon credentials and follow the instructions on the screen. Remember that the Echo Plus and your device should be connected to the same Wi-Fi network. This Alexa app is a dashboard of your activities on Alexa. The app stores all your voice searches and suggests new voice commands in order to help you get familiar with Alexa Skills. The app is pretty simple to use and you can understand it without much effort. Performance After the setup process, the Echo Plus will start working and you can just voice out your commands. Amazon calls the different functions that the device can do as Skills. Amazon has implemented over 15,000 skills those can be installed via the Alexa app on your smartphone. To add a skill, you just have to open the app or go to the Skills page on the website and add a skill that you want. Just voice out Amazon add (skill name) skill. One good thing that we liked about the smart speaker is that the device can hear us from anywhere in the room but it does struggle to listen to us when the volume is too loud. Sometimes you might feel that the device is not able to find out what you are trying to say. Remember that accuracy is the key. Sound quality The improved audio quality of the Amazon Echo Plus is pretty impressive. The new model is a significant upgrade with warmer and richer sound audio that delivers an enjoyable music experience. Though it is not the best product in terms of audio quality, it does a pretty acceptable job in handling audio. Smart features The Echo Plus comes bundled with the new music streaming service called Amazon Prime Music and this is exclusive only to the Prime members. Also, there is compatibility with Saavn for music streaming. We enjoyed playing AR Rehman's songs by voicing out the command as: "Alexa, play AR Rehman songs on Saavn". Amazon is right now customizing the smart speaker to make it easy to use for the Indian users. The Amazon Prime Music service is in the process of increasing the music catalogue for the Indians. The device understands Hindi commands and the app also has many Hindi songs old a few decades. However, when we tried for other language songs, Alexa failed to play. For instance, it played songs from the movie Kabali from Saavn, but the same device did not play some Malayalam songs when we asked it to do so. If we had to increase the volume while playing, we just had to voice out saying "Alexa louder." As shown in the video below, my seven-year old enjoyed listening to a lot of educational information on the Echo Plus. He asked Alexa to play the nursery rhyme "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". Also, he had asked multiplication tables such as 6 tables and 2 tables. And, Alexa did a good job by reciting reciting up to "6 * 12 = 72." Also, Amazon Echo Plus can give latest news updates, depending on the Skills you choose. Of all the Skills, GizBot is also one of them and when asked for "flash briefing" it did give the News right. Amazon Echo Plus also controls smart IoT devices. The device can sync all IoT devices automatically and become a master controlling hub. The device offers support to the small bulbs like the Philips Hue but it has to be bought separately. Verdict The Amazon Echo Plus was launched in India at Rs. 14,999 and received a price cut that takes it down to Rs. 10,999. At this price point, the device is definitely a good piece of technology. Also, the Indian optimizations of Alexa are quite impressive. It understands our accents accurately. The company is right now investing a lot on amplifying the skills to suit the Indian users. We can expect Alexa to get refined in the future. Installing the App For your information, the Microsoft has already added an early-access version of Edge browser to the Google Play store dubbed as Microsoft Edge Preview. This is the beta version of the app and it might have few bugs as well. If you're ok with it, you can go ahead on tap on the Install button. In case, if you cannot install it, open your browser go to https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/microsoft-edge-mobile. Once you find the Android version of the app, you can provide either a mobile number or an email address to which Microsoft will send a link to the Edge preview. Setup Once you open the app, it will ask you for the Microsoft account to sign in. If you want to sync the browser with your desktop, you can sign-in or if you don't want to link it you can tap Skip for now. SEE ALSO: Swipe launches brand-specific customization for enterprises Things to know Once everything is done, you will come to the Home page. You can enter your questions into the search bar to get the results. Moreover, you can tap the microphone icon for voice search. Also, in the top right corner, there is a Star icon with three lines. Tapping the X on the far right will bring you back to the Home page. Adding to that, the three dots in the far right gives you access to your account, settings, and to open new tabs or private ones. There is another main icon -- mobile phone with an arrow pointing out of its side. This feature allows the users to link their Android phone and Windows 10 PC. By PTI: talaq Lucknow, Nov 21 (PTI) The All India Shia Personal Law Board today welcomed the setting up of a ministerial committee to consider a legislation to put an end to instantaneous triple talaq, saying the need of the hour was to enact a strict law against the Muslim way of divorce. advertisement Triple talaq is said to be still in practice despite the Supreme Court striking it down. "We welcome the move of the Centre. Many Muslim countries have already put an end to the practice as it is directly linked to the lives of Muslim women. In the Shia community, there has been no place for triple talaq in one go," All India Shia Personal Law Board (AISPLB) spokesperson Maulana Yasoob Abbas said. His comments came after reports that the Centre was considering bringing a suitable legislation or amending the existing penal provisions, which would make instantaneous triple talaq an offence. The AISPLB had on April 17 asked the Uttar Pradesh government to draft a strict law against triple talaq similar to the one against the practice of sati to prevent Muslim women from getting victimised. "The need of the hour is to enact a strict law against triple talaq in one go that is similar to the anti-sati law to prevent any Muslim woman from getting victimised and ensure that the culprit is punished," he said. All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board president Shaista Amber also welcomed the decision. Senior advocate Zafaryab Jilani, however, said, "This is just a propoganda in context of the Gujarat assembly elections, as no responsible minister has made any such announcement." "The Union law minister had already announced after the Supreme Court judgement in the triple talaq matter that the government was not contemplating bringing any legislation," said Jilani, who is also a member of All India Muslim Personal Law Board. The government had on August 22 virtually ruled out the need for a new law on triple talaq, the practice of which has been rendered as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, indicating that existing laws, including the one dealing with domestic violence, were sufficient. "The government will consider the issue in a structured manner. A prima facie reading of the judgement makes it clear that the majority (of the five-member bench) has held it (the practice of instant triple talaq) as unconstitutional and illegal," Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had said. advertisement According to the existing law, a victim of talaq-e- biddat would have no option but to approach the police for redressal of her grievance as a Muslim clergy would be of no assistance to her. Even police are helpless as no action can be taken against the husband in the absence of punitive provisions in the law. Reports said the ministerial committee has been set up to draft a bill which the government planned to introduce in the winter session of Parliament. The Supreme Court had in August struck down the controversial Islamic practice of instant divorce or talaq- e-biddat as arbitrary and unconstitutional. PTI NAV SMI GVS --- ENDS --- Reliance Jio partners with HMD Global to offer data benefits for Nokia 8 and Nokia 5 buyers News oi -Samden Sherpa Under the new partnership between Jio and Nokia, consumers who purchase Nokia 8 or Nokia 5 will get additional data of up to 100GB and 50GB respectively. Good news for Nokia fans. Popular telecom network service provider Reliance Jio has now announced its partnership with HMD Global to offer free data benefits for customers purchasing a new Nokia handset. While the telecom operator has already partnered with brands like Samsung, Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, and others in the past, now Nokia smartphones are getting the same treatment. Having said that, under the new partnership Nokia fans or consumers who purchase Nokia 8 or Nokia 5 will now get additional data of up to 100GB and 50GB respectively. Sadly, the Nokia 6 and Nokia 3 smartphones don't come with such offer. Moving forward, Nokia 8 buyers will be getting additional 10GB Jio data every month with a recharge of Rs 309 and above whereas Nokia 5 buyers will get additional 5GB data every month with the recharge of the same. Interestingly, customers will get free data for ten months until August 31, 2018. As per the given information, the additional data voucher will be credited to the users' Jio account within 48 hours from the time of recharge. Notably, Reliance Jio SIM card that will be used to recharge should be activated after October 14, 2017, and November 1, 2017. So if you have bought the Nokia phone and have received the additional Jio data voucher, you can head over to MyJio App and tab on My Vouchers>View Voucher>Recharge my number>Confirm Recharge to activate the voucher. One that is done, the applicable additional data vouchers will reflect under the "My Plans" section. Moreover, additional data vouchers can be redeemed on the Nokia smartphone as well. So if you are interested, the Nokia 8 is available for Rs 36,999 while the Nokia 5 is available for Rs 12,899 (2GB RAM variant) and Rs 13,499 (3GB RAM variant) in India. They can be bought from both Amazon and Flipkart as we as retail stores across India. Via Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications By Chayyanika Nigam: In a bid to nab a criminal, Punjab police allegedly fired from an AK-47 in retaliation after five of the gang members shot at the police team at rented accommodation in Delhi's Dwarka. But the main accused managed to flee with a double-barrel gun. At the time of the encounter that lasted for over 15 minutes, the Punjab Police kept the life of Delhi Police team at stake as they cried for mercy, sources close to the operation said. advertisement In a joint operation, Punjab Police along with Delhi Police managed to nab five other persons who were residing in the accommodation near Dwarka Mor Metro station. A huge cache of weapons that includes at least 13 firearms, including .312 bore rifles, 12 bore shot guns, 7.62mm pistols and around 100 cartridges were recovered from them. The main accused - Deepak alias Pradeep, a resident of Biwani whom Punjab Police were searching - had submitted his documents for police verification. "The landlord of flat number 204 had given the house on rent to Pradeep on October 21. The documents submitted to the Bindapur police station were sent to the concerned state for verification. Most probably, the documents were fake and it resulted in delay in the verification," said a Delhi Police official. Around 11.50 am, when Punjab Police reached the house, Pradeep learnt about the arrival. Wearing a Superman T-shirt, he jumped off the balcony of the second floor of the building with the help of a rope. He then climbed a tree to get down safely. At the time of escaping, he was carrying a double-barrel gun that he had covered with a dupatta. A CCTV footage showing him escaping is in possession with Mail Today. When police barged into the house, the other accused persons opened fired at the team. The Punjab Police team was wearing bullet proof jackets. In retaliation, the police team allegedly opened fired from AK-47 that made all these accused surrender before police. Sources said at the time of encounter, a team of Delhi Police was present inside the room but the Punjab Police officials kept on firing. They have kept the life of Delhi Police at risk. If sources are to be believed, the Delhi cops cried for mercy after which the Punjab Police stopped the firing. The arrested accused persons who have criminal background, including robberies, attempt to murders and carjacking, and have been identified as Naresh, Sunil, Krishna, Pinku and Deepak. A case under IPC and Arms Act has been registered. advertisement "No one was injured in the firing even though the shootout happened in a residential area," said DCP (southwest) Shibesh Singh. However, the residents presumed it to be an anti-terror operation. "A property dealer had got them a flat on rent. We are probing his role," said the officer. --- ENDS --- Georgia - Javelin Missiles and Command Launch Units Media/Public Contact: pm-cpa@state.gov Transmittal No: 17-59 WASHINGTON, Nov. 20, 2017 -- The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to Georgia for Javelin Missiles and Command Launch Units for an estimated cost of $75 million. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale on November 17, 2017. The Government of Georgia has requested to purchase four hundred ten (410) Javelin Missiles, and seventy-two (72) Javelin Command Launch Units (CLUs) (includes two (2) Javelin Block 1 CLUs to be used as spares). Also included are ten (10) Basic Skills Trainers (BST); up to seventy (70) simulated rounds; U.S. Government and contractor technical assistance; transportation; and other related elements of logistics and program support. The total estimated cost is $75 million. This proposed sale will contribute to the foreign policy and national security of the United States by improving the security of Georgia. The Javelin system will provide Georgia with increased capacity to meet its national defense requirements. Georgia will have no difficulty absorbing this system into its armed forces. The proposed sale of this equipment and support will not alter the basic military balance in the region. The prime contractors will be Raytheon/Lockheed Martin Javelin Joint Venture of Orlando, Florida, and Tucson, Arizona. However, these missiles are being provided from U.S. Army stock and the CLUs will be obtained from on-hand Special Defense Acquisition Fund (SDAF)-purchased stock. There are no known offset agreements proposed in conjunction with this potential sale. Implementation of this proposed sale will require the assignment of approximately one (1) U.S. Government and two (2) contractor representatives to Georgia. There will be no adverse impact on U.S. defense readiness as a result of this proposed sale. This notice of a potential sale is required by law and does not mean the sale has been concluded. All questions regarding this proposed Foreign Military Sale should be directed to the State Department's Bureau of Political Military Affairs, Office of Congressional and Public Affairs, pm-cpa@state.gov. -30- NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Navy Deploys Unmanned Submersibles in Argentine Submarine Search By U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command NAVAL STATION MAYPORT, Fla., Nov. 21, 2017 The Navy has deployed unmanned underwater vehicles to join in the search for the Argentine navy submarine A.R.A. San Juan, which is missing in South Atlantic waters. The equipment consists of one Bluefin-12D (Deep) UUV and three Iver 580 UUVs, which are operated by the Navy's recently established Unmanned Undersea Vehicle Squadron 1, based in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The UUVs are uniquely capable to help in the search. Both types are capable of deploying quickly and searching wide areas of the ocean using side scan sonar, a system that is used to efficiently create an image of large areas of the sea floor. The Bluefin-12D is capable of conducting search operations at 3 knots [3.5 mph] at a maximum depth of almost 5,000 feet for 30 hours, while the Iver 580s can operate at a depth of 325 feet, traveling at 2.5 knots [2.8 mph] for up to 14 hours. The U.S. is providing rapid response capabilities, including aircraft, equipment and personnel to assist Argentina in its search for the missing submarine. In addition to the UUVs, the U.S. has deployed aircraft to assist in the search, as well as underwater equipment specifically designed for submarine search and rescue. One Navy P-8A Poseidon aircraft is already in Argentina, where it joined a NASA P-3 research aircraft supporting the ongoing search efforts over the submarine's last known location. U.S. Southern Command directed the deployment of this equipment and personnel to Argentina to support the country's request for international assistance aimed at locating the missing submarine and crew. Southcom is one of the nation's six geographically-focused unified commands, with responsibility for U.S. military operations in the Caribbean and Central and South America. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address California Army National Guard runs Allied Spirit VII in Germany By Staff Sgt. David Overson, Joint Multinational Readiness Center November 21, 2017 HOHENFELS, Germany -- The California Army National Guard's 40th Infantry Division (Mechanized) is preparing to deploy to Afghanistan in support of Operation Freedom's Sentinel (OFS), where they are slated for operational command in the southern part of the country. In preparation, they participated in exercise Allied Spirit VII as the high command at the U.S. Army's Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany, Oct. 30 to Nov. 22. Allied Spirit is a U.S. Army Europe-directed, 7th Army Training Command-conducted multinational exercise series designed to develop and enhance NATO and key partners' interoperability and readiness. Approximately 4,050 service members from 13 nations participated in Allied Spirit VII. Nicknamed the "Sunshine" Division derived from their unit patch, the 40th ID is a Southern California Division headquartered in Los Alamitos, where they're generally not accustomed to the winter elements of Germany. To make matters even more different, during the exercise they primarily hunkered down indoors in the Division Tactical Operation Center (DTOC), where they directed the combat brigades and multinational forces to work together on the training battlefield. The DTOC's highest ranking member, and commander of this rotation, is also the 40th ID commanding general, Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Smiley. "Being here, working alongside our NATO allies develops skill sets we would not receive training at home station," said Smiley. "The California Army National Guard is honored to partake in any mission to enhance our relationships with our NATO allies and nation partners." The Army Total Force Policy (ATFP) requires all Reserve and National Guard units to meet the same readiness standards as the active-duty component and be capable of performing the same missions. This can clearly be seen as the 40th ID headquarters component trains to replace the Texas Army National Guard's 36th Infantry Division as a division command element in Train Advise Assist Command -- South (TAAC-South), Afghanistan. Forces in TAAC-South train, advise and assist the Afghanistan National Defense and Security Forces through security force integration of effects in order to develop long-term sustainability and posturing of the force. Though the German terrain is clearly different than that of Afghanistan, the training the 40th ID received during Allied Spirit VII will pay dividends as they assume command of TAAC-South. Knowing how to move assets around the battlefield is no small task, but working with other NATO and Allied Partner Nations is comparable to working with the Afghanistan Forces who they'll soon be working with. One of many other California Army National Guard members participating in Allied Spirit during this rotation is the Chief of Engineers, Capt. Jaybriel Kekauoha, originally from Hawaii, and the true epitome of a "Citizen Soldier." "Not only is this training preparing us for our upcoming Afghanistan mission, it's also very beneficial for me in my civilian job," said Kekauoha. "I work in international sales and working with other NATO and partner nations allows me to understand them much better." The training the 40th ID Soldiers received at Allied Spirit VII will have a long-lasting impact as they approach their real-world mission in Afghanistan this spring. "The importance of Allied Spirit is to bring our NATO partners together in a cohesive exercise where we can test and exercise our alliance together to prove interoperability, have situational understanding, learn tactics and maneuver, and increase our ability to integrate these forces to work together as a full team," added Smiley. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Kentucky National Guard visits Djibouti for State Partnership Program By Staff Sgt. Timothy Moore November 21, 2017 CAMP LEMONNIER, Djibouti - As part of the State Partnership Program (SPP), U.S. Army National Guard leaders Brig. Gen. Benjamin Adams III, Kentucky deputy adjutant general, and Command Sgt. Maj. David Munden, Kentucky state command sergeant major, visited with members of the Djibouti Armed Forces (FAD) at their military training center in Holhol, Djibouti, Nov. 14, 2017. U.S. Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Benjamin Higginbotham, Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) command senior enlisted leader, and other members of CJTF-HOA joined Adams and Munden as they met with FAD leaders to discuss working together and how CJTF-HOA could be an asset to the Kentucky SPP. The SPP is a joint Department of Defense security cooperation program managed by the National Guard Bureau in support of combatant commanders' objectives and ambassadors' integrated country strategies. Through the program, a state's National Guard is partnered with a country to promote enduring, mutually-beneficial security relationships. Since the establishment of the Kentucky and Djibouti partnership in June 2015, Adams has visited Djibouti every three or four months. "It's really (about) the consistency to show the Djiboutian citizens and the military that Kentucky is here for an enduring relationship and partnership," Adams said. Though Adams' visit is one of the key engagement approaches of the SPP to sow faith and goodwill between the partners, the logistics of having to travel so far to work together can create a problem when planning training and other engagements. However, Kentucky and Djibouti have found themselves in a unique situation in that they have CJTF-HOA to help facilitate engagements. "As an operational headquarters on the only permanent U.S. base on the continent, we are close to our Djiboutian hosts and uniquely positioned to consult, collaborate, and train with the Djiboutian military on a regular basis," Higginbotham said. "We partner with the Kentucky State Partnership Program to identify activities and engagements that we can assist with in meeting (U.S. Africa Command) and U.S. Embassy (Djibouti) security cooperation objectives." During a visit with the FAD in July 2017, the Kentucky National Guard invited Higginbotham out to the FAD academy in Holhol. "We met the enlisted instructor staff and discussed (noncommissioned officer) development," Higginbotham said. "After that meeting, I felt it would be a great opportunity to supplement the State Partnership Program by offering the Djiboutian instructors slots to our Joint Corporals Course we host here at CJTF-HOA." Two Djiboutian instructors attended the October 2017 class, and Higginbotham lauds it as a success. "They were put through the entire curriculum and saw firsthand the emphasis that the U.S. puts on enlisted professional military education (PME) and the development of future leaders," Higginbotham said. "It was a cooperative and mutually beneficial engagement that served as a forum to share best practices." Higginbotham said the experience not only strengthened the relationship with the FAD, it also confirmed the military professionalism and discipline of both forces. As such, the CJTF-HOA, the Kentucky National Guard, and the FAD continue to discuss and plan future training and learning engagements. Although the CJTF-HOA plans to supplement this partnership and facilitate some of the engagements, the Kentucky National Guard will still take lead on it as they will be key in giving the Djiboutians some continuity. "It's not that it's a bad thing here at (Camp Lemonnier), but (the personnel are) rotational," Adams continued. "The State Partnership is an enduring program that's been with the (National Guard Bureau) for almost 25 years now." With many Guardsmen staying with their units for long periods of time -- some their entire careers -- the continuity they offer the program and their partners can be a crucial part of these partnerships. "They build trust and confidence when they continually see the same people," Adams said. "It's not something (Djiboutians) have been exposed to for a long time." One aspect Adams likes about the SPP is that it really shows how the National Guard Bureau can bring in both the military and civilian sides of a partnership. Because nearly 85 percent of Guardsmen have full-time jobs outside of the military, they are able to bring the associated skills -- such as carpentry, plumbing, welding, and engineering -- to their partners as well as the professionalism of the U.S. military, Adams said. While the partnership can bring much to the both the Kentucky National Guard and the FAD, it has already brought a spark to the CJTF-HOA. "There are currently 13 state partnerships in AFRICOM, and two of those are in our area of responsibility (AOR)," Higginbotham said. "Our work with the Kentucky National Guard has educated us on the State Partnership Program and generated momentum and ideas on how we can work with the other countries in our AOR." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US airstrike kills over 100 al-Shabab militants: Pentagon Iran Press TV Tue Nov 21, 2017 06:57PM The US military says it has killed more than 100 militants in an airstrike on a camp of the al-Shabab extremist group in Somalia. In a statement on Tuesday, the US Africa Command (AFRICOM) said the aerial raid was carried out 125 miles (200 kilometers) northwest of the capital Mogadishu. "In coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia, US forces conducted an airstrike in Somalia against an al-Shabab camp on Tuesday, November 21, at approximately 10:30 am local Somalia time (0730 GMT), killing more than 100 militants," the statement read. There have been many ambiguities surrounding US drone strikes and bombardments in the rural regions of Somalia, a war-torn country still reeling from more than two decades of militancy. Local sources say such attacks have also inflicted casualties among civilians. The latest airstrike is a clear indication of growing US military involvement in Somalia after US President Donald Trump ordered an expansion to the operations against the al-Qaeda-linked extremist group, approving more aggressive airstrikes in the country. The Pentagon revealed on Thursday that the United States now has some 500 troops on the ground in Somalia even as it denies a "build-up" of forces in the country. Somalia has been the scene of deadly clashes between government forces and al-Shabab since 2006. The Takfiri militant group was forced out of the capital by the African Union troops in 2011 but still controls parts of the countryside and carries out attacks against government, military and civilian targets seemingly at will in Mogadishu and regional towns. The extremist group is just one of the challenges facing the new Somali government, which is still struggling to expand its authority beyond the capital and other selected areas. AFRICOM, which was established in 2008 under then US President George W. Bush, has been operating in at least 35 countries across the African continent. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Indian commando, three fighters killed in Kashmir Iran Press TV Tue Nov 21, 2017 04:12PM An Indian army commando and three independence fighters have been killed in separate gun fights across the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir, police say. Muneer Ahmed Khan, a senior police officer, said on Tuesday that fighting erupted in the northwestern area of Handwara after Indian troops launched a counterinsurgency operation and killed three fighters there. In another operation in the neighboring Kupwara area, a special forces soldier was killed in armed clashes. According to the police official, government forces were battling a few militants trapped in the area. The fierce clashes are the latest in a string of deadly shootouts between Indian forces and fighters seeking independence in Kashmir. At least eight fighters, an Indian air force commando and a policeman have been killed in the past two days. So far this year, 70 government soldiers and 190 fighters have been killed in fighting. The Muslim-majority region has witnessed an increase in mass protests and violence since early July 2016, when Burhan Wani, a top figure in a pro-independence group, was killed in a shootout with Indian troops. Over 100 protesters have also lost their lives and more than 12,000 have been injured in the ensuing crackdown. New Delhi has deployed some 500,000 soldiers to the disputed region to confront pro-independence demonstrations in its part of Kashmir, where about 70,000 people have been killed since 1989. India and Pakistan claim Kashmir in entirety and have fought three wars over the region. India accuses Pakistan of funding and training militants in Kashmir, a charge denied by Islamabad. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address By PTI: Jammu, Nov 22 (PTI) Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh today said that those "holding guns" will be given answers in the same language but those leaving arms will be brought backAto the mainstream. The deputy chief minister was speaking on the sidelines of a function organised by the Bikram Singh Yadgar Committee in memory of late Lt Gen Bikram Singh who was killed on November 22, 1948. advertisement "Those holding guns will be given answers in the same language," Singh said. "Those who want to leave the militancy and the gun culture andAhave not been involved in any crime, will be brought backAto the mainstream. They will be treated in the same language," he said. The security forces have got huge successes against terrorism and separatism this year, the deputy chief minister said, adding as a result of which the situation in the Valley has improved. Local people were now coming forward and giving information about militants, who are being eliminated on the basis of these inputs, he said. "You have heard what the GOC (General Officer Commanding of 15 Corps) said. He said that 193 terrorists have been eliminated this year and a dozen of commander have also been killed," Singh said. Some of the militants have left the guns and came back to their families and family members are appealing to them to come back to their homes, he said. Asked about his reaction on remarks made by National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah, the deputy chief minister said that his "statements should not be taken seriously". Singh said, "It was essential that we should be regularly honouring our martyrs, who have, without caring for their precious lives, rendered the sacrifice for the cause of the nation." Abdullah had on November 11 said that Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) belonged to Pakistan and "this wont change" no matter how many wars India and Pakistan fight. Singh said that patriotism and love towards ones country was the most "sacred feeling" and we have to ensure that it was properly propagated among the younger generation. The deputy chief minister, while recalling the contribution of Lt Gen Bikram Singh, said that he was a "peoples general" and the masses at the grass root level had great love and regard for him which was evident from the fact that he still held in great esteem of the people from Jammu and other parts of the country as well. PTI AB KJ --- ENDS --- advertisement Palestine freezes all meetings with US: FM Iran Press TV Tue Nov 21, 2017 02:21PM Palestine has frozen all meetings with the US after Washington's decision to close the representative office of the Palestinian Authority in Washington, the Palestinian foreign minister says. "In practice by closing the office they are freezing all meetings and we are making that official," AFP quoted Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki as saying on Tuesday. A spokesman for the Palestine Liberation Organization also confirmed that Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas has sent them instructions "regarding closing down all communication lines with the Americans." Palestinian officials had threatened earlier to cut all communications with the US, if US President Donald Trump administration continues with plans to shut down their diplomatic mission in Washington. The decision came after the US State Department threatened to close the Palestinians' diplomatic office in Washington unless they enter into direct, meaningful negotiations with the Tel Aviv regime. The Trump administration has 90 days to determine if the Palestinians are in "direct and meaningful negotiations with Israel." If so, the mission will be reopened. According to a State Department official, Abbas crossed the line in September after he called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate and prosecute Israeli officials for their involvement in settlement activities and acts of aggression against the Palestinian people. Less than a month before Trump took office, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2334, calling on Israel to "immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem" al-Quds. About 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 illegal settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds. Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital. The last round of Israeli-Palestinian talks collapsed in 2014. Among the major sticking points in those negotiations was Israel's continued settlement expansion on Palestinian territories. Trump backtracked on Washington's support for the so-called "two-state solution" in February, saying he would support any solution favored by both sides. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Lebanon urges border troops to stand fully ready in face of Israel threats Iran Press TV Tue Nov 21, 2017 10:11AM Lebanon's army chief has ordered soldiers to stand fully ready on the country's southern border to respond to the Israeli military's "threats and violations." In a post on his Twitter account on Tuesday, Commander General Joseph Aoun called on Lebanese forces to continue targeting terrorists who commit crimes against the army and the nation. "I urge you to be fully prepared at the southern border in order to confront the Israeli enemy's threats and violations." The senior general also warned that the Israeli regime has "hostile intentions against Lebanon, its people, and army." Elsewhere in his Tweet, Aoun demanded Lebanese army soldiers "to remain vigilant to ensure the implementation of Resolution 1701 in close coordination and cooperation with the UNIFIL in order to preserve stability" on the Lebanese southern frontier. Israel launched two wars on Lebanon in 2000 and 2006, in both of which the Hezbollah resistance movement inflicted heavy losses on the regime's military. United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 ended the 2006 war. The resolution tasks peacekeepers with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), who are stationed along Lebanon's southern border with the occupied territories, with monitoring the cessation of hostilities there. Israeli forces regularly violate Lebanon's sovereignty and target Lebanese patrol soldiers. Israeli officials have even threatened another war on Lebanon. Back in September, Israel conducted its biggest military drill in almost two decades on the Lebanese border. An Israeli military source said the 10-day exercise was meant to simulate "scenarios we'll be facing in the next confrontation with Hezbollah." The Israeli minister of military affairs Avigdor Lieberman has requested a boost in the regime's military budget, citing "a significant change in the security situation in the region." Tens of thousands of Israeli air, sea and land personnel took part in the war game, which also included aircraft, boats, and submarines. On Sunday, Arab League foreign ministers held an emergency meeting in Cairo, with the final statement accusing Hezbollah of "supporting terrorism and extremist groups in Arab countries with advanced weapons and ballistic missiles." This is while Hezbollah is represented in the Lebanese parliament and in the national unity government formed last year. Reacting to the Arab League statement, Lebanon's President Michel Aoun said his country reserved the right to resist and foil any Israeli aggression. "Lebanon was able to face the Israeli aggression since 1978 until the 2006 war. It was able to liberate its land. Israeli threats are still ongoing; the Lebanese have the right to fight and thwart it with all available means," he tweeted. Aoun further noted that Lebanon "cannot accept suggestions that Lebanon's government is a partner in acts of terrorism." Earlier this month, Lebanon's Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil cautioned Israel against waging a war on his country, citing Beirut's confidence to secure victory in the battle. Additionally, Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said Saudi Arabia has appealed to Israel to launch a military onslaught against Lebanon in the name of fighting Hezbollah, and is ready to spend billions of dollars to attain this objective. The army chief's appeal to soldiers comes at a time when Lebanon is grappling with a political crisis caused by the shock resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri during visit to Saudi Arabia. It is widely believed that Hariri, who led a coalition government including Hezbollah, was forced to step down by the regime in Riyadh over his refusal to take a confrontational approach against the resistance movement. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address State Dept. officials accuse Tillerson of breaching law on child soldiers Iran Press TV Tue Nov 21, 2017 09:32AM US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has violated a federal law designed to stop foreign military forces from recruiting child soldiers, State Department officials say, in what seems to be an unusual rebellion against the top American diplomat. Over a dozen department officials charge that a June decision by Tillerson to exclude Iraq, Myanmar, and Afghanistan from a US list of countries that used child soldiers was in breach of the Child Soldiers Prevention Act, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing a confidential "dissent" memo. Apparently, Tillerson made the move despite his department's public acknowledgment of child soldier conscriptions in those countries, the report stated. Removing the countries from the yearly list makes it easier for the US military to "assist" the countries in question, Reuters wrote. American troops have long been present in Iraq and Afghanistan, allegedly training military forces there against terrorist groups. In Myanmar, however, the US sees an emerging ally that can help offset China's influence in Southeast Asia. According to Reuters, Tillerson's decision also ran afoul of a unanimous recommendation by the heads of the State Department's regional bureaus overseeing US embassies in the Middle East and Asia, the US envoy on Afghanistan and Pakistan, the department's human rights office and its lawyers. "Beyond contravening US law, this decision risks marring the credibility of a broad range of State Department reports and analyses and has weakened one of the US government's primary diplomatic tools to deter governmental armed forces and government-supported armed groups from recruiting and using children in combat and support roles around the world," read the July 28 memo, which Reuters said had never been reported before. 'There is a difference' Tillerson's adviser Brian Hook acknowledged the claim in a September 1 response to the memo but said there was a difference "between governments making little or no effort to correct their child soldier violations ... and those which are making sincere - if as yet incomplete - efforts." Passed in 2008, the child soldiers law states that, before removing a country from the list, the US government must make sure that no children under the age of 18 "are recruited, conscripted or otherwise compelled to serve as child soldiers." The new document shows the extent of the opposition Tillerson is faced with in the State Department. The report said the department's "dissent channel," which allows officials to object to policies without fear of reprisals, has seen unprecedented use under the former chief of Exxon Mobil Corp. The views expressed by the US officials illustrate ongoing tensions between career diplomats and the former oil tycoon and close friend of President Donald Trump. Upon picking Tillerson for the job, Trump said he was appointed to pursue an "America First" approach to diplomacy. However, there has been increasing reports of simmering tensions between the two as they have publicly diverged on some of the administration's most crucial foreign policy challenges, including Iran and North Korea. They both have denied the allegations. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address ICC to probe CIA black sites, Taliban crimes in Afghanistan Iran Press TV Tue Nov 21, 2017 07:06AM The International Criminal Court (ICC) plans to begin a probe into war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan by US-led forces, the Taliban militants, and the Afghan security apparatus. In a Monday statement, the ICC said its Chief Investigator Fatou Bensouda would look into the crimes allegedly committed across Afghanistan since May 1, 2003 as well as any crimes linked to the US-led Afghan war that also took place outside of the Asian country since July 2002. The US led an invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, accusing the Taliban regime in power at the time of harboring the now-slain al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who had claimed responsibility for the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the US. "The situation in Afghanistan has been under preliminary examination by the Office of the Prosecutor since 2006," said the statement by the ICC. "After a comprehensive and careful scrutiny of the information available to the office, applying the applicable Rome Statute legal criteria, the prosecutor has determined that there is a reasonable basis to proceed with an investigation of the situation in Afghanistan," it added. According to the statement, the investigation will examine war crimes and human rights violations committed by the American and allied forces, with an additional focus on the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and its role in operating secret detention facilities also referred to as "black sites" on Afghan territory as well as in other allied countries. The so-called black sites were used by CIA operatives to hold and interrogate suspected terrorists following the September 11, 2001 attacks. Those operatives often resorted to what the US spy agency referred to as "enhanced interrogation techniques," a euphemism for torture. Among the techniques used by the American interrogators was waterboarding, in which a cloth is placed over a suspect's face and water is poured on top, creating the feeling of drowning. Other "enhanced interrogation techniques" used by US forces included stress positions and sleep deprivation. The CIA ran black sites in Poland, Lithuania, Romania, Thailand, and Afghanistan. The agency's current deputy director, Gina Haspel, ran one such facility in Thailand, nicknamed the "Cat's Eye," and later reportedly took part in the destruction of interrogation videotapes that documented the torture of detainees at the site she ran as well as at other secret facilities. Other parties targeted by the ICC investigation will be Afghanistan's Taliban militants and its affiliated factions, including the Haqqani network, which also operates in Pakistan, as well as the US-trained Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), in particular the members of the National Directorate for Security (NDS) and the Afghan National Police (ANP). The ICC, however, has no jurisdiction over the US, since Washington backed out of ratifying the Rome Statute in 2002. Meanwhile, the court has been censured for its apparent huge overspending and poor efficiency. Despite having an annual operating budget of $170 million, the court has only managed to score four convictions all of whom are African war criminals prompting complaints of anti-African bias. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Hague Court Seeks To Investigate Alleged War Crimes By Taliban, CIA In Afghanistan November 21, 2017 The International Criminal Court has announced that it is seeking authority to investigate possible war crimes in Afghanistan, including allegations involving the U.S. military, CIA, Afghan security forces, and Taliban militants. The request on November 20 marks the first time that The Hague court's lead prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, has targeted Americans for alleged war crimes. Bensouda said an investigation by the international tribunal could break through what she called "near total impunity" in Afghanistan. The prosecutor's formal application to judges at the court sets up a possible confrontation with Washington. The United States does not recognize the court as having jurisdiction over U.S. citizens, but Americans can be charged with crimes that are allegedly committed in countries that are members of the court. Afghanistan is a member. The U.S. State Department said it is reviewing the request but opposes the court's involvement in Afghanistan. "An ICC investigation with respect to U.S personnel would be wholly unwarranted and unjustified," the department said in a statement, adding that the proposed investigation "will not serve the interests of either peace or justice in Afghanistan." Established in 2002, the International Criminal Court is the world's first permanent court set up to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. The ICC is a court of last resort, intended to mete out justice to high-ranking suspects considered most responsible for grave crimes and only when national authorities cannot or will not take legal action. According to the court prosecutors, the Taliban and its allies are suspected of crimes against humanity and war crimes involving an estimated 17,700 people between 2009-16 in what documents say was "part of a widespread and systematic campaign of intimidation, targeted killings, and abductions of civilians." The prosecutors said Afghan security forces also are suspected of involvement in "systematic patterns of torture and cruel treatment of conflict-related detainees in Afghan detention facilities, including acts of sexual violence." The Afghan government and Taliban did not immediately comment on the accusations. Bensouda said the court wants to investigate the activities of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, as well as CIA operatives who held war prisoners in secret detention facilities in Afghanistan, Poland, Romania and Lithuania -- all countries that are members of the court. Bensouda said that "information available provides a reasonable basis to believe" that U.S. military personnel and CIA operatives "committed acts of torture, cruel treatment, outrages upon personal dignity, rape, and sexual violence against conflict-related detainees in Afghanistan and other locations, principally in the 2003-04 period." The prosecutor's office said there was reason to believe that at least 54 detainees were abused by U.S. military personnel and at least 24 by CIA operatives. The alleged abuse included waterboarding, which simulates drowning, and was allowed by the administration of President George W. Bush after the September 11, 2001, attacks. President Barack Obama banned such practices after taking office in 2009. The prosecutor's request said the people likely to be targeted in any future investigations "include persons who devised, authorized, or bore oversight responsibility for the implementation by members of the U.S. armed forces and members of the CIA of the interrogation techniques that resulted in the alleged commission of crimes." A Pentagon spokesman, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Mike Andrews, said the Defense Department does not believe an ICC investigation of U.S. personnel is warranted. "The United States is deeply committed to complying with the law of war, and we have a robust national system of investigation and accountability that more than meets international standards," Andrews said. "We do not believe that an ICC examination or investigation with respect to the actions of U.S. personnel in Afghanistan is warranted or appropriate." The Hague prosecutors said that while the United States maintains it has conducted numerous investigations of alleged detainee abuse, those probes appeared only to cover low-level suspects. Bensouda's filing said alleged abuses of detainees in CIA custody "appear to have been committed with particular cruelty, involving the infliction of serious physical and psychological injury, over prolonged periods, and including acts committed in a manner calculated to offend cultural and religious values, and leaving victims deeply traumatized." Former U.S. President Bill Clinton signed the Rome treaty that established the court, but Bush renounced the signature, citing fears that Americans would be unfairly prosecuted for political reasons. Richard Dicker, the international justice director at Human Rights Watch, welcomed the possibility of a Hague investigation into all parties in Afghanistan. "The request to pursue abuses by all sides, including those implicating U.S. personnel, reinforces the message that no one, no matter how powerful the government they serve, is beyond the law," Dicker said. There is no set time frame for judges to rule on Bensouda's request. Victims have until January 31, 2018, to make their views about the possible investigation known to the ICC judges who will decide on the request. With reporting by dpa and AP Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/hague- court-international-criminal-court- seeks-investigate-alleged-war -crimes-afghanistan/28865842.html Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Lavrov Not 'Too Optimistic' Over Settlement Of Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict RFE/RL's Armenian Service November 21, 2017 During a visit to Armenia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said there is no cause for "too much optimism" over a resolution of the long-standing conflict over Azerbaijan's breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh. "Together with our American and French colleagues we will now analyze where we are right now, we will try to take some sort of active steps to create conditions to achieve a settlement," Lavrov said in Yerevan on November 21. "I wouldn't be too optimistic, it's a challenging task, and our experience of negotiations makes us think they will not end quickly," he told a joint press conference with Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian. Yerevan and Baku have been locked in a conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh for even longer. The region, populated mainly by ethnic Armenians, declared independence from Azerbaijan amid a 1988-94 war that claimed an estimated 30,000 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of people. Internationally mediated negotiations with the involvement of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's so-called Minsk Group have failed to result in a resolution. The Minsk Group is co-chaired by France, Russia, and the United States. Speaking alongside Lavrov, Nalbandian said that Armenia was "willing to continue" negotiations to try resolve the conflict. Lavrov also met in the Armenian capital with President Serzh Sarkisian, who said that relations between Russia and Armenia were "characterized by genuine alliance." In a message read out at the opening ceremony of an historic exhibition in Yerevan on "friendship" between Russia and Armenia, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia and Armenia "are not just good neighbors," according to Russian news agencies. "We are bonded with shared history, pride in the feats of our ancestors, and traditions of friendship and mutual understanding that we cherish," he said. Lavrov flew in to Armenia from Azerbaijan on November 20 as part of a regional tour timed to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and the two ex-Soviet republics, which have been locked in a conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh for even longer. In Baku, where he met with Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and President Ilham Aliyev, Lavrov said that friendly diplomatic relations between the two countries played "a great role in providing security" in the South Caucasus and Caspian regions. During his meeting with Lavrov on November 19, Aliyev hailed the "high level" of bilateral ties between Azerbaijan and Russia and voiced confidence that cooperation will strengthen in the future. He also said that his country was "very interested" in resolving the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. With reporting by AFP, TASS, and Interfax Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-armenia- azerbaijan-nagorno-karabakh-lavrov- not-optimistic/28867970.html Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Trump, Putin Discuss Syria, Ukraine, Taliban RFE/RL November 21, 2017 U.S. President Donald Trump has spoken by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the White House said, adding that Syria, Iran, North Korea, and Ukraine were on the agenda. Trump's November 21 phone call with the Russian president came a day after Putin met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad at the Black Sea resort of Sochi ahead of a summit on November 22 in the same location with Turkey and Iran. In a statement, the White House said that Putin and Trump spoke for about an hour. The conversation came after Trump and Putin spoke informally several times earlier this month when they attended a summit in Vietnam, where they issued a joint statement on November 11 agreeing that a political solution was needed on Syria and that they would continue efforts to fight the Islamic State (IS) militant group. Trump at the time called that joint document "extraordinarily important." The White House said that, during their November 21 phone conversation, "the presidents affirmed their support for the joint statement of the United States and the Russian Federation, issued at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit on November 11." Trump and Putin during their phone call voiced support for "the UN-led Geneva process to peacefully resolve the Syrian civil war, end the humanitarian crisis, allow displaced Syrians to return home, and ensure the stability of a unified Syria free of malign intervention and terrorist safe havens," the White House said. UN-sponsored negotiations aimed at fostering a political solution to the conflict are due to resume in Geneva on November 28. Syrian opposition groups are expected to meet in Saudi Arabia on November 23 in an attempt to create a single representative body for the latest round of talks in Geneva. According to a Kremlin statement earlier on November 21, Assad was invited to Russia to get him to agree to potential peace initiatives drafted by Russia, Iran, and Turkey, the Kremlin said in a statement. Russia and Iran have given crucial military and diplomatic backing to Assad's government throughout the war, which began with a government crackdown on protesters in 2011. Turkey supports rebels who want to oust the Syrian president. Assad and Putin refer to the IS group and most of his other opponents as terrorists. The war has killed more than 330,000 people, created more than 6 million refugees, and forced some 5 million people to become internally displaced. Putin briefed Trump in the phone call about his talks with the Syrian leader and plans for a political settlement in Syria, saying that Damascus was in favor of finding a political solution to the six-year war, the statement said. Assad had confirmed to Putin his "commitment to the political process, and conducting constitutional reform and presidential and parliamentary elections," the statement said. Western powers have called for Assad to step down since the war broke out in 2011, and the Syrian president's fate has been a stumbling block in previous peace talks. It was the second time Assad has traveled to Russia to meet with Putin in the course of the war. The first was in October 2015, shortly after Russia launched its air and ground campaign in Syria to beef up Assad's forces. The presidents of Russia, Turkey, and Iran were scheduled to meet in Sochi on November 22 to discuss Syria. The meeting will focus on reducing violence in Syria and matters related to the delivery of humanitarian aid to the region, officials said. Moscow, Ankara, and Tehran are sponsoring separate talks in the Kazakh capital, Astana, that involve warring sides in the war and focus on battlefield issues, such as the formation of de-escalation zones in key regions of Syria. The White House also said Trump and Putin on November 21 "affirmed the importance of fighting terrorism together throughout the Middle East and Central Asia" and agreed to look into ways to step up cooperation in the fight against IS, Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and other terrorist groups. The two leaders also discussed ways to implement "a lasting peace in Ukraine," as well as the need to keep up international pressure on North Korea "to halt its nuclear weapon and missile programs," the White House said. With reporting by AFP and Reuters Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-us-syria-putin- trump-talks-iran-turkey/28868393.html Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Zimbabwe's President Mugabe Has Resigned - Parliament Speaker Sputnik News 18:47 21.11.2017(updated 19:51 21.11.2017) Jacob Mudendahe, the Zimbabwean parliament speaker, has said he had received a letter from Robert Mugabe that reads that the president is resigning. In the letter, Mugabe said that he decided to step down to allow for the smooth transition of power in the country, according to Reuters. "I Robert Gabriel Mugabe in terms of section 96 of the constitution of Zimbabwe hereby formally tender my resignation with immediate effect," the letter reads, according to AFP. The announcement comes as the parliament has made a decision earlier in the day to impeach Mugabe, giving him 24 hours to leave the office. Mugabe's letter put an end to the impeachment process triggered by the Zimbabwe's rulig party after the president ignored the Monday deadline to resign. The president was also stripped of all posts in the party along with his wife, Grace Mugabe. Reuters reported that the news of Mugabe's resignation was met with unbridled joy as Mudendahe was reading the president's address. The political situation in Zimbabwe has been worsening over the last week after Zimbabwe's military placed Mugabe into custody and took control of government buildings as well as the TV center. The move was made after Mugabe sacked and ousted from the ruling party his first vice president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was considered as a likely successor and enjoys the military's support. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address At Least 50 Killed in Mosque Bombing in Nigeria - Reports Sputnik News 12:23 21.11.2017(updated 13:16 21.11.2017) A suicide bomber blew himself up at a mosque in Mubi, Adamawa State, northeast Nigeria, according to local emergency services and a government official. The death toll is growing. At least 50 people were killed following an explosion at mosque in Mibi, a local government official said, as cited by AFP. The initial reports revealed the number of 15 victims amid the attack. "We were made to understand that there was a bomb blast at a mosque in Mubi and over 30 lives were lost. A boy about 17-year-old wearing a suicide vest entered the mosque along with other worshippers," state police spokesman Othman Abubakar said, as quoted by the TV360 Nigeria broadcaster. Moreover, the victims were sent to local hospitals. The exact number of wounded is not reported. According to head of the Adamawa state emergency management agency Haruna Furo and chairman of Mubi north local government area Musa Hamad Bello, blast occurred in the early hours of Tuesday during the morning prayer. Governor Muhammed Umar Jibrilla Bindow has already condemned the unfortunate incident, according to Nigeria's Daily Post. Bindow described the incident as "an act of wickedness perpetrated by criminals who are bent on destroying the hard earned peace in Mubi and other parts of the state." in his statement. Mubi is a town in Adamawa State, controlled by Boko Haram militant insurgents in 2014, but the militants were pushed out of those areas by troops in early 2015. Boko Haram (meaning 'Books Forbidden') is an African terrorist organization affiliated with Daesh (outlawed in Russia). The organization is responsible for a range of kidnappings and suicide bomber attacks in Nigeria, as well as in several neighboring African states, like Niger, Cameroon and Chad. Since 2009 Nigeria has fought Boko Haram militants, who made global headlines abducting hundreds of young women. Troops in Nigeria, as well as Niger, Cameroon and Chad have engaged the terrorist militants. Meanwhile, no one has claimed responsibility for the attack yet so far. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Detected Noises Not From Argentina's Sub, Only 2 Days Left to Find Missing Crew Sputnik News 10:30 21.11.2017(updated 10:39 21.11.2017) Navy spokesman Enrique Balbi has dashed hopes that they could have found the country's missing submarine, saying that the sounds which they have detected in the South Atlantic were not from the lost vessel. Meanwhile, time is running out as there are concerns that the sub, if submerged, only has oxygen for two more days. On Monday, Argentina's navy said that the noises which they hoped were coming from tools being banged against the hull of a submarine in Morse code signals have been analyzed. Experts determined that the sounds, which were heard in the South Atlantic about 360 kilometers (220 miles) from the Argentine coast at a depth of about 200 meters (650 feet) hadn't come from its missing submarine but rather from some "biological" source. "The sounds are not from the submarine and do not correspond to a pattern that could be interpreted as Morse code," Navy spokesman Enrique Balbi told reporters on Monday. He also noted that the search operation, which has been going on for five days already, has entered a "critical phase" due to a probable limit of oxygen onboard. Although the submarine has enough food and fuel to last for 90 days and enough oxygen for 30 days on the surface, it only had enough oxygen to survive for seven days if submerged. Given that five days have passed since it went missing, there are now only two days left to locate it. The rough conditions on the surface suggest that it has been traveling underwater. The navy said that its last communication with the San Juan sub with 44 crew members on board was on Wednesday, when it surfaced to report a mechanical breakdown related to its batteries. It was therefore asked to change course and go to the naval base in Mar del Plata. "This phase is critical," said Balbi. The submarine "should have arrived in Mar del Plata on Sunday or relayed Monday if the problem had only been a communications breakdown." He also commented on the reports that the navy had detected seven satellite calls from the missing vessel on Saturday morning, saying that they turned out to be from another ship broadcasting on the same frequency employed by the sub. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address By PTI: Syrian civil war By Lalit K Jha Washington, Nov 22 (PTI) US President Donald Trump today spoke over phone with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to peacefully resolving the Syrian civil war, the White House said. During the lengthy conversation, the two leaders also discussed jointly fighting terrorist groups in the Middle East, including ISIS and Al-Qaeda, and the Taliban in other parts, it said. advertisement "We had a great call with President Putin. Were talking about peace in Syria -- very important. Were talking about North Korea. We had a call that lasted almost an hour and a half," Trump told reporters before boarding Marine One on the White House lawns. "Were talking very strongly about bringing peace for Syria. Were talking very strongly about North Korea and Ukraine," he said. Both presidents supported the UN-led Geneva Process to peacefully resolve the Syrian civil war, end the humanitarian crisis, allow displaced Syrians to return home, and ensure the stability of a unified Syria free of malign intervention and terrorist safe havens, the White House said in a readout of the call. "The two presidents affirmed the importance of fighting terrorism together throughout the Middle East and Central Asia and agreed to explore ways to further cooperate in the fight against ISIS, Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and other terrorist organisations," it said. According to the White House, Trump and Putin also discussed how to implement a lasting peace in Ukraine, and the need to continue international pressure on North Korea to halt its nuclear weapon and missile programs. Trump and Putin spoke informally several times last week when they attended a summit in Vietnam. They agreed on a number of principles for the future of war-torn Syria. Trump spoke over phone with the Russian president, a day after Putin met with Syrian President Bashar Assad. Putin hosted Assad at a Black Sea resort ahead of a summit later this week with Russia, Turkey and Iran. The Kremlin said yesterday that Assad was called to Russia to get him to agree to potential peace initiatives drafted by Russia, Iran and Turkey. PTI LKJ CK --- ENDS --- US Launches New Airstrikes Against Islamic State in Libya By Carla Babb November 21, 2017 The U.S. military has launched new airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Libya, officials tell VOA. U.S. Africa Command spokesperson Robyn Mack said the strikes occurred on November 17 and 19 near Fuqaha "in coordination with the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA)." Another military official confirmed that several Islamic State militants were killed. "We are committed to maintaining pressure on the terror network and preventing them from establishing safe haven," Mack said. In September, 17 militants were killed during six precision strikes nearly 250 kilometers southeast of Sirte, a coastal city where the U.S. and Libyan government have driven out Islamic State fighters who had tried to establish a hub there in the north African country. The military carried out about 500 airstrikes last year against the Islamic State fighters in Sirte. And in January, armed drones and B-2 bombers attacked IS training camps in Libya, killing more than 80 militants. The increase in strikes in Libya and Somalia have led some to suggest the Pentagon may be ramping up pressure on terror groups in Africa, a claim the Pentagon has rejected. "I do not believe necessarily there's a ramp-up. It's the density of targets is such that now there's some opportunities to do those strikes," Joint Staff Director Lt. Gen. Kenneth "Frank" McKenzie told reporters last week. "As [the targets] become available and as we're able to process them and vet them, we strike them," he added. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Pakistan Welcomes US Offer to Prevent Militant Raids from Afghanistan By Ayaz Gul November 21, 2017 Pakistan is welcoming a U.S. military offer to take action against militants involved in cross-border raids against Pakistan from Afghan soil. Pakistani officials say the move "augurs well" for regional counterterrorism cooperation. General John Nicholson, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, told reporters in Kabul on Monday his offer was meant to discourage Pakistan's army from shooting at civilians across the Afghan border while responding to border raids by militants. "We have also offered if they [Pakistan] have a concern about anything on this side of the Durand Line [the border] to let us know and we will act against it so that it is not necessary for cross-border shelling to occur," said the U.S. general. Pakistani forces last week allegedly fired hundreds of rounds of mortar shells for several days into the Afghan border province of Kunar, forcing Afghan villagers to flee their homes in harsh winter weather, according to Afghan officials. The cross-border firing was provoked by repeated militant raids that claimed the lives of several border security personnel and wounded many more, according to Pakistani officials. The chief spokesman for Pakistan's army, Major General Asif Ghafoor, while responding to Nicholson's remarks, told VOA his country has always offered and sought cooperation to strengthen border security. "Unilaterally Pakistan, having cleared all areas on Pakistan side, has restored writ if [the] state, including steps like enhancing [troop] presence along the border [with Afghanistan], establishing new forts and posts and has also started to fence the border to deny freedom of movement to illegal crossers and terrorists." Ghafoor explained. General Nicholson also emphasized the need for improving border coordination to address mutual concerns. "I think the concern now is that we improve the mechanisms for control along the Durand Line so that we may have mechanisms to consult before people start shooting and not after innocent people have been displaced," the general observed. Mushahid Hussain, who heads the defense affairs committee of the Pakistani Senate, said Nicholson's remarks are an acknowledgment of Islamabad's "valid and justifiable" concerns regarding security management of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. "The U.S. promise, at long last, to address these core concerns augurs well not just for Pakistan-Afghanistan border management but also for Pakistan-U.S. counter-terror cooperation," said Hussain. Pakistani forces previously have also been accused of hitting civilian areas on the Afghan side, provoking street and official protests in Kabul. Officials in Pakistan maintain anti-state fugitive militants linked to the outlawed Pakistani Taliban are using sanctuaries in Afghan border areas for plotting cross-border terrorist attacks, taking advantage of the nearly 2,600 kilometer, largely porous border between the two countries. The Afghan government has for years alleged leaders of the Taliban are sheltering and using havens on Pakistani soil to sustain and expand insurgent activities in Afghanistan. U.S. officials back those allegations. Islamabad denies the accusations, saying its counterterrorism operations have uprooted all terrorist infrastructures in the country, allowing Pakistani forces to strengthen border security. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US Military: Drone Strike Kills More Than 100 Al-Shabab in Somalia By Carla Babb November 21, 2017 A U.S. military drone strike has killed more than 100 al-Shabab militants in Somalia, U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) said. Military officials told VOA that Tuesday's strike hit an al-Shabab training camp in the country's Bay region, about 200 kilometers northwest of the capital, Mogadishu. "It's obvious from what we were seeing that these were militants," AFRICOM spokesman Lieutenant Commander Anthony Falvo told VOA. The U.S. military said the strike was conducted in coordination with the Somali government to help Somalia address threats within its territory while targeting the al-Qaida affiliate's safe havens, which could be used to plan terror attacks across the globe. The United States has carried out roughly 30 strikes against al-Shabab this year. Earlier this month, U.S. forces killed several militants in a drone strike in the Lower Shabelle region, about 30 kilometers north of Mogadishu. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Mugabe's Presumptive Successor, Emmerson Mnangagwa, is Called 'the Crocodile' By Anita Powell November 21, 2017 For 37 years, Emmerson Mnangagwa was Robert Mugabe's right-hand man and one of his staunchest defenders. "Zanu-PF is a sacred party," he told a crowd at a ZANU-PF rally earlier this year in central Zimbabwe. "It will rule and rule. Those barking will continue doing that while Zanu-PF remains in power. Forward with Mr Mugabe. Forward with Zanu-PF." What a difference a few months make. This month, deposed Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa nicknamed "the Crocodile" for his cunning guerrilla tactics in Zimbabwe's independence war led the effort to oust the longtime president and is expected to be sworn in as president Wednesday or Thursday following Mugabe's resignation. "I told the President that the current political and constitutional crisis in the country is not a matter between him and myself but between the people of Zimbabwe and President Mugabe," he said in a statement sent to journalists Tuesday. "The people of Zimbabwe have clearly spoken on this matter. To me the voice of the people is the voice of God and their lack of trust and confidence in the leadership of President Mugabe has been expressed." Last week, the military put Mugabe under house arrest, demanding Mnangagwa's reinstatement and Mugabe's resignation. The catalyst for that drastic move came earlier in the move, when Mugabe fired Mnangagwa who is well-liked by the military accusing him of treachery. The move was widely seen as an chance for Mugabe to fill the position with his unpopular, 52-year-old wife. But Mnangagwa is no young buck. Since 1980, he's served in a handful of cabinet positions, including as intelligence chief, and was made vice president in 2014 after Mugabe fell out with his predecessor, Joice Mujuru, now also a bitter Mugabe critic. Mnangagwa's investiture, in fact, would settle a bitter generational power struggle within the ruling party. One faction, of liberation-era fighters turned politicians, is led by Mnangagwa, who earned his nickname in 1965, the year Grace Mugabe was born. The other, the G40 faction, of younger Zimbabweans, was led by Grace and enjoyed privileged access to Mugabe. Chris Mutsvangwa, head of the influential war veterans' association, said they are supporting Mnangagwa. He blamed the nation's spiraling economy on the poor leadership of the younger faction. "They have no idea of how to run a modern state, so they've run a scorched-earth policy on the economy," he said. "...But what we have done with my leadership of the war veterans is to give back the people of Zimbabwe their conscience, because they look to the people who fought and liberated them for guidance. And when we then said there's something wrong with this man and his wife, the team, the cabal called the G40." But is Mnangagwa a breath of fresh air? Zimbabwe scholars are quick to note he is widely credited with being the architect of Gukurahundi, a series of army-led massacres of political and ethnic rivals in the 1980s. "In many ways he's worse," said David Moore of the University of Johannesburg, who noted that Mnangagwa's actions were viewed internationally through the cynical lens of the Cold War, when the Communist-aligned African National Congress was flexing its muscle in Southern Africa and forging alliances with Mugabe's rivals. "Look, he planned, he did, a lot of Gukurahundi," he told VOA. "And why was he allowed, why did he get away with, Gukurahundi? Because the British and everybody else was really, really worried about the ANC getting a foothold in Zimbabwe, and the ANC was aligned with ZAPU. And Margaret Thatcher and her friends of course thought the ANC was run by the SACP and Russia. So it was a good thing to crush ZAPU, for the West. He was flavor of the month for a long while, and he might still well be." Mnangagwa has maintained a low profile since his firing. But his statement Tuesday, he criticizes the regime's "corruption, incompetency, dereliction of duty and laziness, social and cultural decadency." But why only now? Perhaps Mnangagwa let his cards show in an interview two years ago with local media, in which he spoke proudly of his nickname, "the crocodile." "It never goes in the villages or in the bush looking for food," he said. "It strikes at the appropriate time." Sebastian Mhofu in Harare contributed to this report. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US Seeks 'Genuine Transition' in Zimbabwe By Nike Ching November 21, 2017 The United States is urging Zimbabwean leaders to move the country towards a "genuine transition" and allow political space for the country's opposition and its people to determine their future. During a small roundtable with State Department reporters late Monday, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Donald Yamamoto said the implementation of "real, genuine, economic [and] political reforms" is key to meeting the needs of Zimbabweans. The message came hours before Zimbabwe's parliament speaker announced President Robert Mugabe had resigned Tuesday. Yamamoto said the international community "wants to lift sanctions" against Zimbabwe, and wants to see the country play a positive political role in the stability of its neighbors. The way for Washington to lift sanctions is for Harare to carry out the due process, to respect human rights, and to give the opposition a genuine opportunity to form a government, said Yamamoto. "What we don't want is a manipulation by the government or by the ruling ZANU-PF party - holding rush elections, not taking into consideration a lot of the reform issues that the opposition wants to implement; also, not giving political space for Zimbabwe people for them to express what they want to see in a new government," he said. U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe Harry Thomas has been meeting with officials from ZANU-PF party and the opposition party behind the scenes to try and help push the political process forward. US urging peaceful democratic evolution For years, the United States has taken a leading role in condemning the Zimbabwean government's increasing assault on human rights and the rule of law, calling on the government to embrace a peaceful democratic evolution. U.S. steps against Mugabe's rule included financial sanctions against selected individuals and entities, travel sanctions against selected individuals, a ban on transfers of defense items and services, and a suspension of non-humanitarian government-to-government assistance. Despite strained political relations, the U.S. is the largest provider of development and humanitarian assistance to the people of Zimbabwe. "We have about $220 million in foreign assistance to Zimbabwe, but none of that goes through the government," said Yamamoto, adding the U.S. aid goes through NGOs, community leaders, and is focused on health care as well as economic community development. Yamamoto indicated the U.S. foresaw last week's military's intervention. "You can predict, given [our] assessment in Zimbabwe," he said, when asked by VOA if the U.S. was informed of the military intervention in advance, amid reports that China and South Africa were given a heads-up. "The [Zimbabwean] military had made indications [of] what's acceptable to them [in terms of Mugabe's actions, and] what's not acceptable." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Diplomatic Maneuvering Aims to Defuse Lebanon Crisis By Jamie Dettmer November 21, 2017 France and Egypt are trying to shape a regional accommodation between Iran and Saudi Arabia in a bid to prevent Lebanon from being destabilized. Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri was to meet Tuesday with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi in Cairo before heading back Wednesday to Beirut the first time he will have set foot in Lebanon since his abrupt resignation on November 4 while on a visit to Saudi Arabia. In a pre-recorded television announcement in Riyadh, Hariri cited Iran's meddling in the region as the key reason for his resignation. Hariri is widely believed to have been compelled to resign by his Saudi patrons, who appear determined to curtail the power of the radical Shi'ite movement Hezbollah, Iran's ally, in Lebanon. Hariri is expected to resign formally on arriving in Beirut, forcing the country's reluctant president, Michel Aoun, to accept it this time, plunging Lebanon deeper into a political crisis and increasing tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The frenetic diplomatic maneuvering around Hariri's mysterious resignation just weeks after he formed a coalition government with Hezbollah features a cast of powerful characters and countries with competing agendas. On Monday, a senior Israeli minister, Yuval Steinitz, acknowledged publicly that joint enmity for Iran has pushed Israel and Saudi Arabia closer and that the two states, which do not enjoy formal diplomatic relations, had established "partly secret" ties to counter Iran's influence in the region. At the center of the crisis are two young untested national leaders - Saudi's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who appears set on pushing back against Iran's rising power in the region, and French President Emmanuel Macron, who has grabbed the mantle of Middle East mediator. The French leader is being credited by his officials with having persuaded the Saudi crown prince to allow Hariri to leave the Gulf kingdom and visit Paris last week. There are conflicting stories about whether Hariri was being held unwillingly in Saudi Arabia. French officials say Macron is trying to defuse Lebanon's political crisis and rein in Saudi Arabia and Iran by leveraging France's trade relations in the region, as well as its historical ties to Lebanon, a former French protectorate. And they say there has already been some success in Macron's efforts, pointing to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah announcing Monday that the militant group will pull out of Iraq once the Islamic State terror group has been defeated. "If there is no need for them in Iraq anymore, we will withdraw them and send them to areas where they are needed," Nasrallah said. The complexity of clashing agendas around the locked-in feud between Saudi Arabia and Iran could well defeat Macron's efforts, say analysts, especially if the 32-year-old Saudi crown prince is determined to use Lebanon as another front in efforts to curb Iran's growing regional influence. "It remains to be seen whether a regional accommodation can be found to enable the formation of a new Lebanese government and enable Lebanon to avoid a further escalation of the crisis," says Paul Salem, an analyst at the Middle East Institute, a Washington-based policy research group. Taking on Iran in Lebanon is a risky gambit by the crown prince, which could backfire, according to other analysts. They question whether there is a good, realistic endgame when it comes to confronting Hezbollah in Lebanon and say Mohammed bin Salman is over-reaching and could well end up weakening Saudi Arabia's influence in Lebanon. "Pressuring Saad Hariri to resign and confront Hezbollah marks a landmark shift in Saudi policy" in Lebanon, according to Joe Macaron, a policy analyst at the Arab Center, a U.S.-based research group. Historically, Riyadh's policy in Lebanon has been restricted to one of mediating between rivals and the Saudis have been most effective in Lebanese politics when acting as a junior partner to the United States or Lebanon's neighbor Syria, rather than in the forefront, he said in an article for the website Al Monitor. Saudi influence in Lebanon has been based more on economic power rather than political clout, he adds. There are signs that this may belatedly be understood now by the Saudis. Hariri's trips to Paris and Cairo may be an indication of Riyadh's readiness to negotiate an accommodation, most likely one built around Iran reducing its support for the Houthi rebels in Yemen, where the Saudis have found themselves increasingly caught in a military quagmire, say analysts. In a November 12 interview with a Lebanese TV affiliate of his political party, Hariri at one point suggested he might rescind his resignation, if Hezbollah committed to halting involvement in conflicts in the region, citing specifically the war in Yemen. Whether French and Egyptian diplomacy is working will become apparent quickly. Saudi officials have talked of ramping up pressure on Hezbollah by withdrawing Saudi deposits from Lebanese banks and expelling more than a quarter of a million Lebanese nationals who work in the Gulf kingdom and send remittances back home. If they hold off from doing so, that would indicate an accommodation may be taking shape. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Somaliland Ruling Party Candidate Bihi Wins Election By Mohamed Olad November 21, 2017 Ruling party candidate Muse Bihi Abdi has been declared the winner of the presidential election in the breakaway republic of Somaliland. The electoral commission said Bihi won 55 percent of the vote compared to 40 percent for Abdurahman Mohamud Abdullahi, the opposition Wadani party candidate. Faisal Ali Waraabe, of the For Justice and Development party (UCID), finished third with about 4 percent of the vote. Electoral Commission Chairman Abdikadir Iman Warsame, who announced the results in Hargeisa Tuesday, said the election was "peaceful, free and fair" The announcement came eight days after hundreds of thousands of voters cast ballots at more than 1,600 polling stations. Bihi would replace outgoing President Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud, who chose not to seek another term. He is Somaliland's fifth president since the region broke away from the rest of Somalia in 1991. Who is Bihi? Bihi was born in a rural part of Hargeisa in 1948. In 1985, as an air force military colonel, he joined the Somali National Movement, (SNM), a rebel group that fought for secession from Somalia.In 1993, after the collapse of the former Somali military government, he became Somaliland's interior minister. In 2002, he became a member of the executive committee of the ruling Kulmiye party, where he was named deputy chairman in 2008 and chairman in 2015. President-elect Bihi will serve a five-year term with an option for a second term. His central agenda is how to win international recognition for Somaliland. Somalia wants Somaliland to be part of a single Somali state. But Somaliland, which used to be a British colony and broke away from the rest of Somalia in 1991, wants to be a separate country. Since its formation it has been more stable than Somalia and democratic elections have been commonplace. Post-election tension Political tension mounted in Somaliland following the election, after the Wadani party candidate Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi said he would not accept what he termed the "massively rigged and corrupted exercise." Abdullahi questioned the transparency of the election and accused the current government of arresting his representatives at polling stations to steal votes and commit fraud. "The election was not [a] free and fair election because members of our party representatives and supporters were arrested on the Election Day and after," said Abdullahi. "And then we found out that the election was massively corrupted and rigged." Wadani party members withdrew from the counting process, saying they had evidence of fake ballots smuggled out of the polling stations in at least three Somaliland regions. The allegations were later denied by Electoral Commission Chairman Warsame, who said there was no ballot stuffing or other irregularities. On Thursday, at least two people were killed in protests that followed the opposition party's claims of alleged election fraud. Abdullahi then called on his supporters to show calm and asked the leaders of the current government to release party members from jails. The head of a British-funded team of 60 international observers, who monitored the vote, said last week they saw some minor infringements of voting rules, but agreed the overall voting process met international standards. "We determined from our observations that there were not [irregularities] of sufficient scale to undermine the integrity of the electoral processes," said Michael Walls, a senior lecturer in the Development Planning Unit at University College London. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Readout of President Donald J. Trump's Call with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release November 21, 2017 President Donald J. Trump today spoke with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia for more than one hour. The presidents affirmed their support for the Joint Statement of the United States and the Russian Federation, issued at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit on November 11. Both presidents also stressed the importance of implementing U.N. Security Council Resolution 2254, and supporting the U.N.-led Geneva Process to peacefully resolve the Syrian civil war, end the humanitarian crisis, allow displaced Syrians to return home, and ensure the stability of a unified Syria free of malign intervention and terrorist safe havens. The two presidents affirmed the importance of fighting terrorism together throughout the Middle East and Central Asia and agreed to explore ways to further cooperate in the fight against ISIS, al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and other terrorist organizations. President Trump and President Putin also discussed how to implement a lasting peace in Ukraine, and the need to continue international pressure on North Korea to halt its nuclear weapon and missile programs. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Soldiers ready to defend the homeland with domestic response training at Exercise Vigilant Shield By Scott Sturkol, Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office November 21, 2017 FORT MCCOY, Wis. -- Ghostly underground tunnels. Murky sewers. Collapsed buildings. These are just a few of the obstacles that 10th Mountain Division Soldiers faced recently during exercise Vigilant Shield 18 here. Sponsored by U.S. Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, the exercise enhanced Soldiers' rapid deployment capabilities in case of a domestic emergency or an attack on the homeland. While at Fort McCoy, the Soldiers trained mainly at the Combined Arms Collective Training Facility, or CACTF. Tom Hoff, CACTF manager, said the complex is an ideal location for all types of training, including the urban-terrain training taking place during the exercise. "The CACTF is set up to be as realistic a training environment as possible so the people who train here can train in ways that are as close to a real-world situation as possible," Hoff said. The support buildings in the CACTF complex represent multistory residential, commercial, government, business, and industrial operations, Hoff explained. Underground tunnel and sewer training areas also are on site. The complex includes a subway station building and a Structure Collapse Venue Site, which can support rescue training by firefighters and other emergency responders. The 100 Soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division units also used the fort's multi-use live fire range for tactical site exploitation training, according to Larry Richardson of the Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security's Range Scheduling. The Soldiers also traveled White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, as part of the exercise, training for possible domestic scenarios that would require close cooperation with local law enforcement who might not be familiar with military operations. The fast-paced training included conducting security sweeps and patrols, setting up observation points, and implementing infrastructure defense strategies. "Scenarios like suspicious persons, lost hunters, and guard shift changes were played out, giving the Soldiers a chance to practice handling situations that are likely to occur during a real domestic defense operation," said John Hamilton of White Sands Missile Range Public Affairs. While the 10th Mountain Soldiers perfected their skills and strategies during the exercise, the installations that hosted them also played a valuable role in homeland security by providing world-class training venues. "This training support system enterprise that we have at Fort McCoy comes together every year to work this training synchronization in a superb manner," said Brad Stewart, director of the Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security. "Everyone involved in this enterprise across the installation should be proud of the work that's been done." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Idaho National Guard's 101st Civil Support Team prepares for upcoming evaluation By 2nd Lt. Crystal Farris November 21, 2017 BOISE, Idaho -- The Idaho National Guard's 101st Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team responded to a hazardous material incident on Gowen Field, Oct. 26. Team members readied their equipment, donned their protective gear and gathered for a mission brief. The alert was part of an internal exercise to prepare the unit for an upcoming collective task evaluation in May. The evaluation, which has taken place every 18 months since the unit was first certified in 2002, ensures its ability to react to any type of chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear incident. To prepare for their evaluation, the unit conducts year-round training averaging one large-scale exercise per month that focuses on hazardous material response. This exercise helped team members cross-level their knowledge, train new personnel and practice new techniques after several weeks of classroom instruction. "We keep improving and changing our processes as we go," said 1st Lt. Aaron Decker, survey team leader. "I think we've been successful because we hire really smart people who catch on quickly and we are able to keep some key people around with that institutional knowledge." The exercise also gave leadership the ability to evaluate the team's performance and correct any areas that would otherwise cause it to receive a no-go during their evaluation. "We have some new survey team members, so we do this to expose them to real missions they may come across," said Sgt. 1st Class Marshall Cook, survey team sergeant. "It also gives us the opportunity to help them train on and grow in areas they are weak in." After receiving a mission brief, the entry team members went into the hazardous zone, or hot zone. Their job was to communicate back to personnel in the safe zone, or cold zone, everything that they observed. THE BRIEFING As part of Idaho's emergency response structure, the 101st CST works almost entirely in support of civilian agencies, such as regional hazardous response teams and other state and federal responders. Since the CST is a unit specialized in weapons of mass destruction, these agencies call upon the unit for assistance if the situation exhausts their own resources or goes beyond their capabilities. In this exercise, the CST simulated receiving a request for assistance from state law enforcement to identify the contents of unknown substances found at a crime scene. With its specialized detection and identification equipment, the CST can provide real-time answers about such unknown substances. Capt. Eugene Luze, the medical operations officer and acting commander for the exercise, briefed the team on the training scenario and disseminated intelligence collected by other responders. "Local law enforcement conducted a raid on a suspected terrorist cell known for making bombs," said Luze. "During the raid several bomb making materials were found and odors present, causing officers to be transported to the hospital for observation." After receiving the situation brief, Decker ensured his survey team understood its specific mission objectives before entering the hot zone. "We are making entry to confirm or deny the presence of vapor hazards and help advise the FBI on what personal protective equipment measures and requirements to take for following entries," said Decker. "We have also been instructed to collect intelligence and specifically identify unknown hazards." The entry team's objectives were to conduct an exterior 360 degree sweep of the building, conduct a reconnaissance of the first floor, perform detailed site characterization of all areas of interest, rule out radiological hazards, report all chemical readings and field screen and analyze pertinent samples for identification purposes. THE HOT ZONE Members of the survey entry team zipped up their protective suites, turned on their air tanks, jumped into their vehicle and drove to the hot zone. Once in the hot zone, they entered a building where they discovered two laboratory set ups, one with an unknown liquid substance and another with a biological substance. They were instructed to take and package samples of both for analysis in the cold zone. The sampling procedures gave a couple of the team's newest members the opportunity to train on good techniques and communication practices while performing in two- to three-man entry teams. "The more we train the better we are," said Staff Sgt. Denay Rogers, a survey team member on the CST since March. "Every time you go into the hot zone, you learn something new, how to operate better and be more proficient so you're not there longer then you need to be." After the samples were collected, one of the entry team members was instructed to simulate a man-down drill, or injury. During a man-down drill, an entry back-up team is called upon to retrieve the injured individual. BACK IN THE COLD ZONE After hearing "man-down" called over the radio, the personnel in charge of emergency decontamination donned their protective suits and prepared to receive the injured person for decontamination. The decontamination team members are responsible for setting up the proper equipment needed to clean any possible contaminants from personnel who traveled into the hot zone. The exercise gave them the opportunity to practice a new procedure called the wipe-spray-wipe method. "This was our first time using this method," said Maj. Shawn Allen, physician assistant. "We also had the largest member of our team as the man down, so that made for a difficult transfer of patients, but I think the new process is good and a lot quicker and less labor intensive." The method requires the decontamination team to wipe the area of the personal protective suit it intends to cut, then spray that area with a special solution and wipe the area again for any remaining contaminates. "What the method does is mitigate the time the person is in suit," said Staff Sgt. Esteban Gonzales, administrative sergeant. "Rather than trying to clean the entire suit, we focus on where we have to touch to get the person out, versus before when we would throw buckets of water and decontaminate the entire suit." The team made an incision in the suit after wiping it clean and pulled the individual out. Once the survey team member was safely out of his suit, he reentered the cold zone and prepared to receive any necessary medical attention. BEYOND THE ENTRY Once the survey entry team returns to the cold zone, it typically hands off any collected samples to the analytic laboratory system's operator, Maj. Jeremy Mclean. "The purpose of getting samples to analyze is to get an answer to the incident commander so he can make a decision based on what we find on scene," said Mclean, nuclear medical science officer. "We are going to try and come up with some answers on what the sample is so the local incident commander can make a decision on public safety, life safety and property." Mclean is responsible for receiving samples collected by the survey team and then analyzing them to determine what they are. The lab, comprised of advanced analytic equipment, is the only mobile laboratory in Idaho certified by the International Organization for Standardization. This standard demonstrates that the laboratory is technically competent and able to produce precise and accurate tests and data calibration. With the ability to provide answers about unknown substances within hours instead of days, the laboratory is one of the unit's most unique tools available in a hazardous material environment. Although Mclean did not receive any samples during this exercise, it gave him the opportunity to conduct internal calibrations of the unit's equipment, in addition to cross-training with the other laboratory operator. "When you are such a small team and there is so much to do, you have to cross-train," said McLean. "You have to be able to do more than one function and make yourself valuable. The operation tempo on the CST is very high and so much time is spent on training." The team intends on continuing a strict training regimen in preparation for the evaluation in May, with plans on conducting integrated training this winter with some external local state responders. The integrated training will give the team a situation more similar to what they will experience both during the evaluation and in the case of a real-world incident. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Douglas is the third member of the 'Fierce Five' gymnastics team who won a team gold at the 2012 London Olympics to allege abuse by USA Gymnastics team physician Larry Nassar. By Reuters: Three-times Olympic gold medalist Gabby Douglas said on Tuesday she was sexually abused by former USA Gymnastics team physician Larry Nassar, the latest in a list of female athletes to accuse the doctor of misconduct. Douglas, who last week was criticized for placing some of the onus on women to avoid sexual harassment, apologized again for her remarks while adding that she too was abused by Nassar, who is in jail awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to federal child pornography charges. advertisement In an Instagram post on Tuesday addressing last week's comments that were viewed by some as victim shaming, Douglas wrote: "It would be like saying that because of the leotards we wore, it was our fault that we were abused by Larry Nassar. "I didn't publicly share my experiences as well as many other things because for years we were conditioned to stay silent and honestly some things were extremely painful." Jeff Raymond, a publicist for Douglas, confirmed in an email that the gymnast was in fact "confirming that she too was a victim of Larry Nassar." Nassar's attorney, Matt Newburg, was not immediately available for comment but has previously said that due to a gag order imposed he had no comment. Douglas is the third member of the 'Fierce Five' gymnastics team who won a team gold at the 2012 London Olympics to allege abuse by Nassar, joining Aly Raisman and McKayla Maroney. It was after Raisman's allegations last week that Douglas wrote in a since-deleted post on Twitter that "it is our responsibility as women to dress modestly and be classy. Dressing in a provocative/sexual way entices the wrong crowd." --- ENDS --- USNS Comfort Completes Hurricane Relief Mission in Puerto Rico Navy News Service Story Number: NNS171121-20 Release Date: 11/21/2017 10:44:00 AM By Military Sealift Command Public Affairs NORFOLK (NNS) -- Military Sealift Command's hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) returned to Naval Station Norfolk after providing life-saving medical care to the people of Puerto Rico. Comfort departed Virginia Sept. 29 and had been in Puerto Rico for almost two months providing disaster relief support after Hurricane Maria devastated the island. "The ship's namesake Comfort was absolutely appropriate for what the crew was able to do, because we weren't just there to provide medical treatment, we were there for the comfort to the patient's families," said Capt. Kevin Robinson, the Comfort's mission commander. "We made every effort to bring family member escorts aboard to provide comfort to the patients as well as the family." Comfort worked with the Puerto Rico Department of Health and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to treat patients since the first day it arrived in Puerto Rico, Oct 3. Since departing Norfolk to provide humanitarian relief, Sailors aboard Comfort have treated 1,899 patients, performed 191 surgeries, provided 76-thousand liters of oxygen and ten tons of food and water. "When we first got there, there was no electricity and everything was dark. We were a bright beacon that had power," said Capt. Roger Gwinn, USNS Comfort's master. "We met people that hadn't showered in 8-9 days, hadn't had a hot meal in the same amount of time, and that made the crew realize what we were dealing with." The ship conducted nearly 200 total surgeries to include 44 general surgical procedures such as hernia repair, gallbladder removal and appendix removal; 25 major orthopedic surgical cases; 17 amputations and 15 urologic procedures. "What we saw were people with chronic conditions that had lost follow-up because either their clinics were gone or they hadn't gotten their medications refilled," said Capt. Kevin Buckley, USNS Comfort's medical treatment facility commanding officer. Several notable surgeries included a modified radical mastectomy for an advanced case of breast cancer, a complex multi-organ abdominal cancer resection, an urgent drainage and exploration of a complicated neck infection, and an emergent open repair of a ruptured aortic aneurysm which comprised the largest, most complex surgery ever performed on a hospital ship. There were two children born onboard Comfort during the hurricane relief mission. The first was a baby girl, Sara Victoria Llull Rodriguiz, Oct. 14 and the second was a baby boy, Isaias Valerio-Fonseca Nov. 3. The father of the boy was a U.S. Navy veteran. The recovery mission in Puerto Rico continues under the long-term leadership of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and U.S. military reservists and National Guard. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address White House Asks Supreme Court to Uphold Travel Ban By Victoria Macchi November 21, 2017 The White House is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold a ban on travelers from six countries after an appeals court in California last week allowed only parts of the president's order to go into effect. The request on Monday is the most recent salvo in an ongoing legal skirmish between plaintiffs in federal court and President Donald Trump's administration, which has issued three variations of an executive order since January in an attempt to block travelers from some countries from coming to the United States. The state of Hawaii, which sued to block the restrictions, argued that federal immigration law did not give Trump the authority to impose a ban on six of the eight countries included in the third and most recent ban, issued in September. U.S. officials say Chad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen are not in compliance with certain security screening measures. They are also Muslim-majority countries a sticking point for the previous two versions of the order, first in January then in March and the subject of related lawsuits. The Hawaii lawsuit did not challenge restrictions toward people from the two other countries listed in Trump's most recent ban, North Korea and Venezuela. A three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Nov. 13 partially granted a Trump administration request to block at least temporarily a judge's ruling that had put the new ban on hold. It ruled the government could bar entry of people from six Muslim-majority countries with no connections to the United States. Meanwhile, in a document obtained by Politico, and first reported late Monday, Inspector General John Roth at the Department of Homeland Security said the federal agency, which oversees many of the practical aspects of the travel bans, such as security at ports of entry, made several missteps while trying to carry out the orders. Roth, an internal watchdog at the agency, said in a letter to members of Congress who requested the review of the travel bans, that senior DHS officials have also been slow to release the findings of his report sent to them Oct. 6. In summarizing the report, he noted that while federal officials "largely complied" with the court orders restricting how the travel ban was implemented, U.S. Customs and Border Protection had violated two of them. CBP lacked clear guidance from senior officials during a hastily executed process, Roth said in the letter. "During the early period of the implementation of the order, neither CBP nor the Department was sure of the answers to basic questions as to the scope of the order, such as whether the order applied to Lawful Permanent Residents (LPRs), a significant percentage of the affected travelers and a fundamental question that should have been resolved early in the process," Roth wrote. DHS issued a press statement on the report Tuesday, saying it is in the midst of a "sensitivity review" and has not yet decided "whether it will invoke the attorney-client privilege or deliberative process privilege over portions of the report, which would prevent release of significant portions to the Congress and the public." Material from Reuters was used in this report. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Xi calls for "unswervingly" pushing forward reform People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 07:41, November 21, 2017 BEIJING, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday called for fully implementing the spirit of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and pressing ahead with reform. Xi, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks at the first meeting of the Leading Group for Deepening Overall Reform of the 19th CPC Central Committee, which he heads. "In studying and implementing the spirit of the Party congress, we should focus on its essence, arrangements and requirements on reform," said Xi. Senior officials Li Keqiang, Zhang Gaoli, Wang Yang and Wang Huning attended the meeting. METHODOLOGY OF REFORM Reform since the 18th CPC National Congress has made a series of theoretical, institutional and practical achievements, and established a framework for reform in major fields, said a statement issued after the meeting. They are a solid foundation for future reform in deeper layers, which must rely on the thorough study and implementation of the spirit of the 19th Party congress and Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. It also outlined three key points that should not be altered: CPC centralized, unified leadership of reform; the general goal of "improving and developing the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and modernizing China's system and capacity for governance"; and the people-centered reform philosophy. The leading group called for systematic, unified and coordinated action in pushing forward the tasks set at the 19th CPC National Congress, as well as continued efforts in ongoing projects. In addition, it ordered early planning of reform for 2018 -- the 40th anniversary of the beginning of reform and opening up. Revisions to the leading group's working rules and a report on supervising the implementation of reform were also adopted at the meeting. REFORM IN VARIOUS FIELDS A guideline stipulating that the State Council should report management of state-owned assets to the National People's Congress Standing Committee was adopted at the meeting. It is aimed at ensuring that management of state-owned assets is open and transparent, to enable resources to better serve development and benefit the people. A guideline on the selection and management of officials working in poverty-stricken regions was passed at the meeting, to help select officials able to promote poverty relief and deal with slack management and undesirable work practices. A three-year action plan on rural environment was approved at the meeting, primarily focusing on garbage and sewage disposal while preserving the landscape. A guideline on establishing a "lake chief" system was approved and lake chiefs will be appointed with responsibilities including resource protection, pollution prevention and control, and ecological restoration. China began to appoint "river chiefs" nationwide in December last year. The leading group also agreed to fully implement educational policy and adhere to socialist educational orientation. Great importance will be attached in cultivating rural teaching staff. The leading group asked for expansion of a pilot project to reform rural residential land, protecting public ownership of land, farmer's interests and arable land. Farmers should not trade their residential land or abandon their rights to use the land in exchange for becoming urban residents, according to the statement. The meeting called for improving the recruitment of general medical practitioners, especially in impoverished areas. A reform plan for Central School of Communist Youth League of China was adopted at the meeting. Participants agreed that the school should make innovation in school running and place emphasis on political training to provide talent support for the Party's work on youth and the Communist Youth League of China. The meeting passed a regulation on legislation, which requires consultation and third-party evaluation before making laws involving major adjustment of interests or those arousing wide controversies. Legislative organs should play a better role in expressing, balancing and adjusting social interests and ensure each legislation conforms to the spirit of the Constitution and the people's will and win public support, said the statement. The leading group also passed a guideline on deepening reform in trials of intellectual property cases, urging efforts to improve the intellectual property litigation system, expanding the establishment of courts dedicated to intellectual property trials, and improve judges' professional quality to encourage innovation in science and technology. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Chinese Media Reveals New Multi-Nuke Missile to Strike 'Anywhere in the World' Sputnik News 03:51 21.11.2017(updated 03:53 21.11.2017) As early as the first half of 2018, China's People's Liberation Army is slated to commission a new multi-warhead intercontinental ballistic missile, the Dongfeng-41, that can target "anywhere in the world," the Global Times reports. Speaking before 2,300 delegates of the Chinese Community Party, President Xi Jinping declared that Beijing "would strive to fully transform the people's armed forces into a world-class military by the mid-21st century," worrying some of China's neighbors. The Dongfeng-41 can reportedly reach speeds up to Mach 10 and uses dummy flares to throw off enemy air defense systems. The missile has been tested eight times since 2012, the India Times reported, leading analysts to believe it must have progressed considerably if the PLA is prepared to declare the missile at operational capability. The eighth test occurred sometime in early November, the South China Morning Post said, without specifying a location except for the country's western desert area. The report did not specify the exact date the test occurred, either. A TV broadcaster who formerly belonged to the PLA Rocket Force said the missile was probably already in service, since trial tests can be conducted after the projectile is formally commissioned. According to Global Security, the missile has a range of 10,000 to 12,000 kilometers, uses solid fuel propellant, has an estimated length of 15 meters and a diameter of about 2 meters, and has a mass of roughly 30,000 kilograms. The missile will "carry up to 10 nuclear warheads, each of which can target separately," the Global Times reported, but added, "China does not have an arms race agenda and will not compete with any country for any such purpose." Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US Returning North Korea to List of States Sponsoring Terrorism By Peter Heinlein November 20, 2017 The United States is returning North Korea to its list of states sponsoring terrorism after a 10-year absence, a move that will put additional financial and diplomatic pressure on the Pyongyang government. "It should have happened years ago," President Donald Trump said Monday from the White House, calling North Korea a "murderous regime." The U.S. Treasury Department will officially announce the designation and further sanctions on Pyongyang on Tuesday, Trump said. Other countries on the terrorism sponsors list are Iran, Sudan and Syria. "We still hope for diplomacy," Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told White House reporters in a follow-up briefing Monday. But he said there would be no letup in the campaign to constantly ratchet up sanctions until Kim Jong Un relents. "The U.S. is ready to continue to tighten pressure on the Kim regime with the intention to have him understand this is only going to get worse until you're ready to come and talk, " the secretary said. Tillerson noted recent success in persuading other countries in the region to withdraw support from the totalitarian regime. "On our visit to Vietnam, they have committed that they are going to curtail activities further with North Korea," Tillerson said. "Malaysia has indicated a curtailment, Singapore has cut off all trade with North Korea, the Philippines have cut off all trade." The secretary of state said the United States believes current sanctions are having a significant effect, and wondered aloud whether they might be responsible for Pyongyang's apparent halt in nuclear and missile tests. "Is this the reason we haven't had a provocative act in 60 days?" Tillerson said. "I don't want to suggest that I can say, but we're hopeful this period will continue." The U.S. put North Korea on the terror sponsor list in 1988, after North Korean agents blew up a South Korean civilian airliner, killing 115 people. But Pyongyang was removed in 2008 after it met benchmarks related to a nuclear disarmament deal. The six-party disarmament talks collapsed a short time later, and North Korea declared the nuclear deal void. It has since conducted five more nuclear tests and steadily ramped up its ballistic missile program, in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions. "We took them off that list for some specific issues we were seeking mainly the destruction of the cooling tower and some disabling steps," said former Ambassador Christopher Hill, who led the U.S. delegation to the six-party nuclear talks. "In the meantime, by all accounts they seem to have the graphite-moderated reactor back in service. So they should be put back on the list." A push to reinstate The effort to reinstate North Korea to the terror list intensified after American college student Otto Warmbier died in June, shortly after being released from North Korean custody. Warmbier had been sentenced to 15 years hard labor for the alleged theft of a propaganda poster from his North Korean hotel. The administration's move won praise from several members of Congress who have urged that North Korea be returned to the list of terrorism sponsors. "Over the past year alone, Kim Jong Un and his regime brazenly assassinated his brother with a chemical weapon and brutally tortured Otto Warmbier, leading directly to his tragic death," said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, a California Republican, in a statement. "These aren't isolated incidents, but are examples of a consistent pattern of terror." While North Korea is widely regarded as one of the most oppressive governments in the world with respect to its own people, its involvement with international terrorism had been less well known. But the label is accurate, says Bruce Klingner, a North Korea specialist at the Heritage Foundation. Specifically, Klingner cites recent cyberattacks against U.S. and South Korean targets, including the 2014 attack against Sony Pictures for producing a film critical of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Klingner also mentions multiple North Korean assassinations and assassination plots, including the killing of Kim Jong Nam, Kim's half brother, who was poisoned earlier this year at a Malaysian airport. "While global attention has been on nuclear weapons and missiles, we must not lose sight of North Korea's terrorist acts and gross violations of human rights," Klingner said. VOA's William Gallo and Nike Ching contributed to this report. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Trump designates DPRK as state sponsor of terror People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 07:47, November 21, 2017 US President Donald Trump said on Monday he was designating the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) as a state sponsor of terror. Trump said in a cabinet meeting in White House that "we will be instituting a very critical step, and that will start right now. Today, the United States is designating North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism." "It should have happened a long time ago. It should have happened years ago," said Trump, accusing the DPRK of "threatening the world by nuclear devastation" and repeatedly supporting "acts of international terrorism, including assassinations on foreign soil." White House officials previously blamed the Asian nation for killing a man in a Malaysia airport and murdering the US citizen Otto Warmbier, both denied by Pyongyang. Warmbier was an American university student who, while visiting DPRK as a tourist in Jan. 2016, was arrested and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment. He was released in June 2017 and died six days after he returned to the United States. "As we take this action today, our thoughts to turn to Otto Warmbier, a wonderful young man," Trump added, vowing to impose further sanctions and penalties on Pyongyang and related persons. Trump also said the US Treasury Department will announce measures on Tuesday to slap an additional "large" sanction against the DPRK. "It must end its unlawful nuclear and ballistic missile development, and cease all support for international terrorism -- which it is not doing," he noted. The DPRK was removed from the list of state sponsors of terror by President George W. Bush in 2008. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China urges talks after Trump blacklists North Korea Iran Press TV Tue Nov 21, 2017 11:09AM China has reiterated the importance of dialog to resolve the tensions over North Korea's weapons program following the re-labeling of Pyongyang as a "state sponsor of terrorism" by US President Donald Trump. "We still hope all relevant parties can contribute to easing tensions, that the relevant parties can resume talks and (adopt) the correct track to resolving the Korean Peninsula issue through dialog and consultation," China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Tuesday. "More should be done in that regard." Beijing has put forth a "double freeze" approach to resolving the crisis, calling for the US to freeze its annual war games with South Korea in exchange for North Korea halting its weapons programs. Trump on Monday vowed a swift escalation of US Treasury sanctions against Pyongyang after adding its name to Washington's terror blacklist. Seemingly contradicting Trump, however, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also stressed diplomacy. "We still hope for diplomacy," Tillerson said after Trump's designation, adding that punitive measures would pressure North Korea into talks. Although there was no immediate reaction to the latest US move from Pyongyang, an editorial in the ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun prior to the terror designation described Trump as a "mentally deranged money-grabber" who was leading his country down an "irretrievable road to hell." Backing Trump's latest move against Pyongyang were US regional allies Japan, South Korea, and Australia. "I welcome and support (the designation) as it raises the pressure on North Korea," Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Tuesday. Seoul's Foreign Ministry, too, said the US measure was "part of the international community's common efforts to bring North Korea to the path of denuclearization through strong sanctions and pressure." Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, meanwhile, used harsher rhetoric to express support for Trump's decision, saying the move was in line with international efforts to bring Pyongyang to its senses. "[North Korean leader] Kim Jong-un runs a global criminal operation from North Korea pedaling arms, pedaling drugs, engaged in cyber-crime and of course threatening the stability of region with his nuclear weapons," Turnbull said in a press briefing in Sydney on Tuesday. The designation of North Korea as a "state sponsor of terror" had been removed by former US president George W. Bush in 2008. South Korea's spy agency announced on Monday that Pyongyang might conduct additional missile tests this year to improve its long-range missile technology and ramp up the threat against the US. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Treasury Sanctions Trading, Labor, and Shipping Companies and Vessels to Further Isolate North Korea U.S. Department of the Treasury 11/21/2017 WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today sanctioned one individual, 13 entities, and 20 vessels as the United States continues to take action multilaterally and unilaterally to disrupt North Korea's illicit funding of its unlawful nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Today's sanctions target third-country persons with long-standing commercial ties to North Korea, as well as the transportation networks that facilitate North Korea's revenue generation and operations. "As North Korea continues to threaten international peace and security, we are steadfast in our determination to maximize economic pressure to isolate it from outside sources of trade and revenue while exposing its evasive tactics," said Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. "These designations include companies that have engaged in trade with North Korea cumulatively worth hundreds of millions of dollars. We are also sanctioning the shipping and transportation companies, and their vessels, that facilitate North Korea's trade and its deceptive maneuvers." Eleven of today's designations were issued pursuant to E.O. 13810, which targets, among others, persons that operate in the North Korean transportation industry, as well as persons who have engaged in a significant importation from or exportation to North Korea. The remaining entities were sanctioned pursuant to E.O. 13722, which targets, among others, persons involved in the exportation of workers from North Korea, including exportation to generate revenue for the Government of North Korea or the Workers' Party of Korea, and blocks the property and interests in property of the Government of North Korea and the Workers' Party of Korea. As a result of today's actions, any property or interests in property of those designated by OFAC within U.S. jurisdiction are blocked, and transactions by U.S. persons involving the designated persons are generally prohibited. Chinese Trading Companies and Individual OFAC designated Dandong Kehua Economy & Trade Co., Ltd., Dandong Xianghe Trading Co., Ltd., and Dandong Hongda Trade Co. Ltd. pursuant to E.O. 13810. Between January 1, 2013 and August 31, 2017, these three companies cumulatively exported approximately $650 million worth of goods to North Korea and cumulatively imported more than $100 million worth of goods from North Korea. These goods have included notebook computers, anthracite coal, iron, iron ore, lead ore, zinc ore, silver ore, lead, and ferrous products. OFAC designated Sun Sidong and his company, Dandong Dongyuan Industrial Co., Ltd. (Dongyuan), pursuant to E.O. 13810. Sun and Dongyuan were responsible for exporting over $28 million worth of goods to North Korea over several years, including motor vehicles, electrical machinery, radio navigational items, aluminum, iron, pipes, and items associated with nuclear reactors. Dongyuan has also been associated with front companies for weapons of mass destruction-related North Korean organizations. North Korean Shipping and Trading Companies and Vessels OFAC identified the Maritime Administration of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Ministry of Land and Maritime Transportation of the DPRK as agencies, instrumentalities, or controlled entities of the Government of North Korea, pursuant to E.O. 13722. OFAC also designated six North Korean shipping and trading companies pursuant to E.O. 13810 for operating in the transportation industry in North Korea, and OFAC blocked 20 of their vessels, all of which are DPRK-flagged: - Korea Rungrado Shipping Company and its vessels PU HUNG 1, RUNG RA DO, and YANG GAK DO; - Korea Rungrado Ryongak Trading and its vessels RUNG RA 1 and RUNG RA 2; - Yusong Shipping Company and its vessels WON SAN 2, ZA RYOK 2, 7-28, YU SONG 12, and YU SONG 7; - Dawn Marine Management Co. Ltd and its vessels JANG GYONG, KUM SONG 3, KUM SONG 5, KUM SONG 7, and KUM UN SAN 3; - Korea Daebong Shipping Company and its vessel RAK RANG; and - Korea Kumbyol Trading Company and its vessels KANG SONG 1, KU BONG RYONG, SO BAEK SAN, and RYE SONG GANG 1. North Korea is known to employ deceptive shipping practices, including ship-to-ship transfers, a practice prohibited by United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 2375 of September 11, 2017. The images below were taken on October 19, 2017, and they depict a recent attempt by Korea Kumbyol Trading Company's vessel RYE SONG GANG 1 to conduct a ship-to-ship transfer, possibly of oil, in an effort to evade sanctions: North Korean Overseas Labor Revenue OFAC designated Korea South-South Cooperation Corporation pursuant to E.O. 13722 for having engaged in, facilitated, or been responsible for the exportation of workers from North Korea, including exportation to generate revenue for the Government of North Korea or the Workers' Party of Korea. Korea South-South Cooperation Corporation has operated in China, Russia, Cambodia, and Poland. UNSCR 2375 prohibits countries from providing work authorizations after September 11, 2017 for DPRK nationals in their jurisdictions in connection with admission to their territories unless approved in advance. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address President in a phone call with French counterpart: Full implementation of JCPOA a key test for future cooperation in int'l stage ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency Tue / 21 November 2017 / 15:07 Tehran (ISNA) - Presidents of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of France had a phone conversation, discussing the most important bilateral, regional and international issues. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani had a phone call with the President of France, Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday and appreciated the French government, people and president for their message of condolence over recent earthquake in Kermanshah. He said that Iran was ready to deepen ties with France in all fields of mutual interest based on mutual respect and common interests. The president further referred to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and commended the efforts of France and the European Union to consolidate the international treaty, saying: "From the point of view of Iran, on the one hand, full and accurate implementation of the JCPOA is an important test for other important international cooperation and, on the other hand, adding or removing parts from the JCPOA will lead to the collapse of this agreement". The president also congratulated the collapse of ISIS' major bases, as the largest and most dangerous terrorist group in the region and the world, saying: "The main purpose of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the region is to fight terrorism, and we believe that after ISIS, the rest of the terrorist groups must be fought with". "Our presence in Iraq and Syria has been at the official invitation of the governments of these countries and to fight terrorism," Dr. Rouhani said, adding: "As we have repeatedly emphasized, Iran does not seek to dominate in the region. Iran's goal is to help bring peace and security to the region and prevent division of countries, and in our opinion, in all the countries of the region, the main decision-makers in the region are its people". The president said that the adventures that some inexperienced princes in the region are looking for in the region were to the detriment of the entire region, saying: "We are against adventure seeking and division in this region, and we believe that France, with its place in the region and by keeping its independence of vote, can play a constructive role by a realistic and impartial approach". Emphasizing that everyone in the region should be careful not to enter the Israeli game, Rouhani said: "Hezbollah is a part the Lebanese people and is very popular in this country, and its weapon is merely defensive and for use against potential attacks on Lebanon". He added: "Now, we must all try to ensure that the Lebanese groups can work together in security to have a government that will contribute to the progress of their country". The president also referred to the developments in Yemen and said: "We hope that the siege and bombing of Yemen will be stopped and groundwork will be provided for a Yemeni-Yemen negotiation to restore full security to the country." Rouhani called for opening of a route to deliver medicine and food to the Yemeni people in the current situation, adding: "Our main concern must be the situation of millions of Yemenis who are losing their lives due to the lack of medicine and food". The French president also called for the need for the development of Tehran-Paris cooperation in all fields of mutual interest and said that all countries should work to protect the JCPOA, and that France is fully committed to this agreement". End Item NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Victory over Daesh, defeat of divisive plots: Ayatollah Khamenei Iran Press TV Tue Nov 21, 2017 05:28PM Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says the victory over the Daesh terrorist group in Iraq and Syria is tantamount to the defeat of plots to sow division and wage a civil war in the Middle East. Ayatollah Khamenei made the remarks in reply to an earlier letter of Major General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), who congratulated the Leader on the collapse of the Daesh terrorist group in Iraq and Syria. "By disintegrating this cancerous and deadly tumor, you not only provided great service to regional countries and the Muslim world, but also all nations and the humanity," the Leader stated. Ayatollah Khamenei hailed great efforts by the IRGC forces to eradicate the Daesh terrorist group in Syria and Iraq. The Leader said the victory over Daesh Takfiris was a heavy blow to treacherous plots aimed at inciting a civil war in the region, destroying the anti-Israeli resistance front and undermining independent countries. It also dealt a blow to the current and former US governments and their vassal regimes in the region who created the terrorist group and provided it with full support to expand their dominance in the Middle East and help the occupying Zionist regime dominate the region, Ayatollah Khamenei added. However, the Leader warned that the enemy's deceit should not be overlooked and said those who made huge investment to create the Daesh terrorist group would try to re-hatch their evil plots in another part of the region or in other forms. Ayatollah Khamenei stressed the importance of remaining vigilant and motivated, maintaining unity, removing any dangerous remnants of the terrorist group, conducting cultural activities and staying fully prepared. In his congratulatory message to the Leader on Tuesday, General Soleimani hailed the "great victory" over Daesh which he said materialized thanks to the prudent leadership of Ayatollah Khamenei and the sacrifices of all resistance fighters in Iraq and Syria. Soleimani praised the steadfastness of the Iraqi and Syrian nations, governments, armies and popular forces throughout the counter-terrorism battles, paying special homage to the endeavors and struggles of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Units, better known as Hashd al-Sha'abi, in the offensive to annihilate Daesh. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address While the Pakistani courts have once again given Hafiz Saeed a breather, United States seems to be on the same page with India. By Geeta Mohan: While the Pakistani courts have once again given Hafiz Saeed a breather, U.S. seems to be on the same page with India. Just days before the ninth anniversary of 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, its mastermind Hafiz Saeed has been released from house arrest by a Pakistani court that rejected a plea by the Provincial government requesting an extension of three months the detention of Saeed under Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) Act. advertisement To a query on how America is viewing this decision, a U.S. State Department official on Wednesday said that the administration was "aware of the media reports regarding Pakistan's ordered release of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) leader Hafiz Saeed from house arrest". The decision of the court comes even as Pakistan government had expressed fears that the decision to release Hafiz Saeed could invite sanctions from the international community but the government of Pakistan could not provide any evidence as to why Saeed was kept under house arrest, after which the court decided to free him. "The government is ordered to release JuD chief Hafiz Saeed if he is not wanted in any other case," said the Pakistani board which was headed by Justice Abdul Sami Khan. While there was much criticism to the recent decision of the US Congress to de-link Pakistan 's action against LeT from US providing financial aid to Pakistan, the United States continues to maintain that Hafiz Saeed is a 'specially designated terrorist' and there has been no change in the US administration's stance on that. "In May 2008, the United States Department of the Treasury designated Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under Executive Order 13224. Saeed was also individually designated by the United Nations under UNSCR 1267 in December 2008 following the November 2008 Mumbai attack", the State department official said. India and the U.S. have been working together to bring to book the perpetrators of the November 2008 Mumbai attack. There has been a lot of intelligence sharing as well as evidence sharing on the attack that also claimed lives of American nationals. The official said, "The United States reiterates its stance that LeT is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization responsible for the death of hundreds of innocent civilians in terrorist attacks, including a number of American citizens." The official added, "LeT and several of its front organizations, leaders, and operatives remain under both State Department and Treasury Department sanctions." Saeed has been under house arrest since January 31 and will walk free only 48 hours ahead of 26/11 Anniversary. He also has a bounty on his head for USD 10 million bounty offered by the United States of America for masterminding the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. WATCH VIDEO | Pakistan admits terrorist Hafiz Saeed is a liability, refuses to recognise his political party --- ENDS --- advertisement Arab League works as tool against Muslim nations: Syria Iran Press TV Tue Nov 21, 2017 03:30PM Syria has strongly denounced the closing statement of the latest Arab League foreign ministers' meeting in Cairo, saying the so-called league, backed by petrodollars of "sheikhdoms", has been turned into a "tool" against Muslim nations. An official source at Syria's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates made the remarks in a statement, carried by Syria's official news agency SANA on Tuesday, adding that the money of oil sheikhs was also being used against the security of Muslim countries in order to advance the agendas of the Muslims' enemies. On Sunday, the Arab League foreign ministers held an extraordinary general meeting in the Egyptian capital at the request of Saudi Arabia. At the end of the meeting, the participants issued a statement accusing Iran of interfering in the internal affairs of the countries in the region and pursuing aggressive policies against Arab states. The so-called resolution further stated that Arab states had agreed to designate Lebanon's Hezbollah resistance movement a "terrorist organization", accusing it of supporting "terrorist groups" across the Middle East. Tehran strongly rejected the allegations and described the league's statement as "worthless" and as being "full of lies and distortions." Secretary General of the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah also categorically rejected Arab League's claims. The Syrian official also appreciated the efforts made by Iran and Hezbollah to curb Takfiri terrorist groups in the Arab country, saying that Arab nations are also well aware of the sacrifices made by the pair in foiling Israel's plans for the region and in resisting Zionist "expansionist aggression." The accusations leveled by Saudi-dominated Arab League against Hezbollah echoes exactly what Israel alleges against the resistance movement, strongly suggesting Riyadh is trying hard to help the Israeli entity by weakening Hezbollah. In an apparent reference to Saudi Arabia, the Syrian official also said "Whoever provided all forms of support for Takfiri terrorism and committed genocide against the Yemeni people does not have the credibility to speak about Arab national security because it is itself the real threat to the interests of the Muslim nations and Arab national security." On Monday, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas slammed the Arab League for labeling Lebanon's Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. A statement released by the Gaza-based Hamas said it "rejects the description of the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement as terrorist." The Palestinian movement added that instead of Hezbollah, Israel's actions against Palestinians should be labeled "terrorism." Hamas also called on Arab states to "support the legitimate struggle of the Palestinian people," urging them to work together to solve their differences through dialogue. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran's president extols regional efforts to uproot Daesh Iran Press TV Tue Nov 21, 2017 11:01AM Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has lauded the defeat of the Daesh terror group in Iraq and Syria, thanking all the nations and forces who pooled their resources to crush the remnants of the Takfiri outfit in the two neighboring countries. Speaking at a gathering in Tehran on Tuesday, Rouhani congratulated Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, and expressed his gratitude to the armed forces and peoples of Iran, Iraq, Syria as well as Lebanon for their endeavors to set the stage for the ultimate victory over Daesh. The extremist groups, Rouhani added, "have brought nothing but misery, destruction, massacre and barbarism" to the region. Backed by popular groups and Iranian military advisors, armed forces in Iraq and Syria have managed to flush Daesh militants out of their last strongholds in both countries, declaring full victory over the notorious terror group. The Iran chief executive lashed out at "global powers and certain reactionary states in the region" for funding and arming the Takfiri terrorist group. "We never imagined that the criminals, supported by the West, Americans and the evil Zionist regime, would commit such crimes in the 21st century," said the Iranian president. Commenting on the agenda of the upcoming tripartite summit meeting on the Syria crisis in Russia's Sochi, Rouhani said he would hold talks with his Russian and Turkish counterparts over the future of Syria and the region in the post-Daesh era. Arab League 'a worn-out body' Elsewhere in his remarks, Rouhani slammed the Arab League's double standards in addressing regional issues, particularly its silence on the Saudi crimes during its brutal war against Yemen. On Sunday, the Arab League foreign ministers held an extraordinary general meeting in the Egyptian capital at the request of Saudi Arabia. At the end of the meeting, the participants issued a statement accusing Iran of interfering in the internal affairs of the countries in the region and pursuing aggressive policies against Arab states. The Iranian president also called the pan-Arab bloc "old, worn-out, exhausted and ineffective," saying the body convened in Cairo to express regret over a missile attack by Yemen's Houthi fighters in response to Saudi-led massive campaign of airstrikes. He lashed out at the Arab leaders for their failure to take action when Takfiri terrorists were committing crimes in Iraq and Syria. The president also slammed the organization for not standing behind Lebanon when the country was fighting terrorist groups in the town of Arsal on the Syrian border. Rouhani also accused the bloc of turning a blind eye to the ongoing Israeli aggression against Palestinians. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi on Monday dismissed the resolution as "worthless" and urged Saudi Arabia to "immediately end its savage aggression" against the Yemeni Arab people so that civilians, particularly women and children, would no longer be affected by the "flames of their spite." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US Treasury slaps sanctions on 'IRGC-linked' individuals, entities Iran Press TV Tue Nov 21, 2017 09:18AM In yet another hostile measure against Tehran, the US has slapped sanctions on several individuals and companies for their alleged links with Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC). According to a statement issued by the US Treasury Department on Monday, two Iranian companies and their directors were placed on the latest sanctions list. It also included two German firms. The statement accused the individuals and companies of circumventing European export restrictions in order to provide supplies and equipment to the IRGC. The statement alleged that Iranian national Reza Heidari and Mahmoud Seif had used the companies -- ForEnt Technik and Printing Trading Center in Frankfurt, and Rayan Printing and Tejarat Almas Mobin Holding in Tehran to counterfeit Yemeni bank notes potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars for the IRGC-Qods Force. The IRGC is a branch of the Iranian Armed Forces, a standing army of a United Nations member state. It has been effectively providing advisory military support to the elected governments of Iraq and Syria in their battles against various groups of extremist militants. Earlier last month, the department also sanctioned four entities three based in Iran and one based in China over claims of providing "support to the IRGC or Iran's military." The sanctions are part of US President Donald Trump's supposedly new diplomatic offensive against Tehran, which he unveiled in mid-October by refusing to certify the 2015 nuclear deal. Trump also used the speech to authorize the US Treasury Department to impose further sanctions on "the entire" IRGC for what he claimed was "its support for terrorism." Following Trump's announcement, the US Treasury added the IRGC to its anti-terrorism sanctions list. Senior Iranian officials slammed Washington's belligerent stance against the IRGC, vowing support for the defenders of the country in the face of hostile US polices. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iraq to declare final victory after purging Daesh from desert: Abadi Iran Press TV Tue Nov 21, 2017 06:24PM Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi says Baghdad will declare final victory against Daesh Takfiri terrorists after the country purges the remaining militants from desert areas. Speaking at a Tuesday press conference, Abadi, however, noted that Daesh Takfiri terrorists have already been defeated in Iraq from a military perspective. The comments came a few days following the collapse of the pro-claimed caliphate of Daesh Takfiri terrorists in Iraq and Syria. On Friday, Iraqi armed forces liberated the town of Rawa near the border with Syria, which was the last remaining town under Daesh's control, and raised the Iraqi flag over its buildings. Two days later, Syrian army soldiers, backed by pro-government fighters from popular defense groups, fully liberated Bukamal, Daesh's last stronghold in Syria, which is a strategic city in the country's eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr on the border with Iraq. The recapture of the two towns marked an end to Daesh's reign of terror, which started in 2014 with the group making vast territorial gains in a lightning offensive and establishing its self-proclaimed "caliphate" in Iraq's Mosul and Syria's Raqqah. Abadi, also warned of the ramifications of political divisions in Iraq, saying that such disputes will pave the ground for Daesh to carry out attacks again. The Iraqi prime minister hailed the Monday verdict by Iraq's Supreme Federal Court that ruled the Kurdish independence referendum unconstitutional and called on Kurds not to resort to violence. Abadi, also warned of the ramifications of political divisions in Iraq, saying that such disputes will pave the ground for Daesh to carry out attacks again. The Iraqi prime minister hailed the Monday verdict by Iraq's Supreme Federal Court that ruled the Kurdish independence referendum unconstitutional and called on Kurds not to resort to violence. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Myanmar treatment of Rohingya constitutes crime against humanity, Amnesty concludes Iran Press TV Tue Nov 21, 2017 08:17AM "State-sponsored" violence against minority Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar constitutes the "crime against humanity of apartheid," Amnesty International has concluded, following a probe into the persecution of the Muslims in the Southeast Asian country. Amnesty published the findings of its probe in a 100-page report on Tuesday, detailing how years of persecution have created the current crisis in Myanmar's western Rakhine State and how repression intensified after the outbreak of Buddhist violence against Muslims in 2012. "Rakhine State is a crime scene. This was the case long before the vicious campaign of military violence of the last three months," Amnesty's senior director for research, Anna Neistat, said. More than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh since late last year, when military soldiers and Buddhist mobs began vicious attacks on the minority Muslims in Rakhine. The crackdown on the Rohingya has intensified since August 25. All along, government troops and the Buddhist mobs have been killing, raping, and arbitrarily arresting members of the Muslim community. They have also been setting the houses of the Muslims on fire in hundreds of predominantly-Rohingya villages in the restive state. Amnesty said a "state-sponsored" campaign has restricted virtually all aspects of Rohingyas' lives, confining them to what amounts to a "ghetto-like" existence in the Buddhist-majority country. The study, based on two years of research, said the crackdown met the legal criteria of the "crime against humanity of apartheid." Myanmar's authorities "are keeping Rohingya women, men and children segregated and cowed in a dehumanizing system of apartheid," Neistat said. Bangladesh has been in negotiations with Myanmar to facilitate the return of thousands of the displaced Rohingya Muslim refugees. Neistat said, "[The] Rohingya who have fled persecution in Myanmar cannot be asked to return to a system of apartheid." She also called for "restoring the rights and legal status of Rohingya, and amending the country's discriminatory citizenship laws." Myanmar's government denies full citizenship to the Rohingya, branding them illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Dhaka, in turn, regards the desperate refugees as Myanmarese. The Rohingya, however, track their ancestors many generations back in Myanmar. The volatile Rakhine, located in the western Myanmar, has been the scene of communal violence since 2012. Many Muslims had already lost their lives while tens of thousands had been displaced as a result of attacks by Buddhists long before the military began its crackdown in late 2016. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UNICEF warns of contaminated drinking water in camps for Rohingya refugees 21 November 2017 The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is working with authorities in Bangladesh to urgently investigate high levels E.coli contamination in water drawn from wells inside the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar. "The latest figures from the World Health Organization suggest that 62 per cent of water available to households is contaminated," UNICEF spokesperson Christophe Boulierac told reporters Tuesday at the regular press briefing in Geneva. "We are also concerned by an increase in cases of acute watery diarrhoea (AWD) which have included several deaths," he added. Between 25 August and 11 November 2017, a total of 36,096 AWD cases were reported, including 10 related deaths 42 per cent, or 15,206, of which were children under age five. "We are seeing an upward trend in infection rates. Whilst the exact cause of increased cases of AWD remains uncertain, it may be linked to contaminated food or water, Mr. Boulierac elaborated. Some of the wells inside the camps were dug too shallowly, less than 40 meters deep; have been poorly sited; and are very congested with no safeguards to prevent bacterial contamination at ground level. "Contamination may be being caused through poor hygiene practices, such as the use of dirty containers [and] bad hygiene habits of the population in water handling," the spokesperson said. UNICEF and the Bangladesh authorities are investigating levels of contamination to ensure better construction practices for tube wells that meet international standards and have an appropriate ceiling. "We are stepping up measures to distribute water purification tablets to provide for water treatment at the household level as well as promoting good hygiene practices," he said, noting that providing safe drinking water has been one of UNICEF's highest priorities in responding to the Rohingya refugees' needs. Smaller settlements at risk of being overlooked Since 25 August, some 622,000 refugees fleeing violence in Myanmar have sought refuge in Cox's Bazar bringing the total number of refugees there to an estimated 834,000. As international attention focuses on the main Kutupalong and Balukhali settlements, the thousands who have settled in smaller villages in the southern part of the district risk being excluded from humanitarian aid programmes, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said. Access to clean water is also a major concern across all the locations, particularly as the dry season approaches. Aid agencies providing water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services are racing to identify solutions to this potentially life-threatening problem. Although most are in the main settlements, 22,067 refugees live in Shamlapur, with 16 people sharing one latrine that are mostly full or dangerous; 22,130 in Leda, which has only one latrine per 47 people well below the humanitarian 'Sphere' standard of one per 20 people; and 29,915 in Unchiprang, where there is also only one well per 57 people. This totals more 74,000 Rohingya refugees in all. Many are contaminated with E.coli or are too shallow to provide enough clean water for the population through the dry season. IOM emergency managers say that the three sites urgently need to be developed, including providing vital infrastructure access roads, lighting and waste management. "Most of the temporary pit latrines are full. With little to no land for de-sludging, they are becoming unusable and a danger to communities living nearby," said IOM WASH specialist Stephen Waswa Otieno. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Suu Kyi Hopes for Rohingya Agreement With Bangladesh By VOA News November 21, 2017 Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi expressed hope Tuesday for reaching an agreement with Bangladesh on the return of Rohingya Muslims who have fled to Bangladesh in the past three months. More than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims have left Myanmar's Rakhine State since August 25, after insurgents attacked security forces and prompted a brutal military crackdown that has been described as ethnic cleansing. Aung San Suu Kyi said the neighboring countries are working on a memorandum of understanding for the "safe and voluntary return" for those who fled. "Nothing can be done overnight, but we believe that we will be able to make steady progress," she said. Also Tuesday, rights group Amnesty International issued a new report saying the government in Myanmar discriminates and segregates Rohingya and other Muslims communities. "In the case of the Rohingya this is so severe that it amounts to a widespread and systemic attack on a civilian population, which is clearly linked to their ethnic (or racial) identity, and therefore legally constitutes apartheid, a crime against humanity under international law," Amnesty said. The group called on Myanmar to institute an action plan to combat discrimination, to reform discriminatory laws and policies and to make sure that those responsible for crimes against humanity are held accountable. "We're calling for an arms embargo and targeted sanctions against officials responsible for this system, but we're also insisting that any development aid provided by the international community must be conditioned on the principle of non-discrimination, because otherwise it risks perpetuating this already atrocious situation," said Amnesty International Senior Director of Research Anna Neistat. Myanmar's government has repeatedly rejected claims that atrocities, including rape and extrajudicial killings, are occurring in northern Rakhine, the epicenter of the violence that the United Nations has qualified as "textbook ethnic cleansing." Myanmar does not recognize the Rohingya and denies them citizenship, referring to them as "Bengali" to imply origins in Bangladesh. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia detects radioactivity, confirming European readings Iran Press TV Tue Nov 21, 2017 09:34AM Russia has reported "extremely high" concentrations of the radioactive isotope ruthenium-106 in the country, confirming European readings of such contamination in the air. "Probes of radioactive aerosols from monitoring stations Argayash and Novogorny were found to contain radioisotope Ru-106" between September 25 and October 1, Russia's Rosgidromet hydrometeorology and environmental monitoring service declared on Monday. According to the federal service, the highest concentration was registered at the station in Argayash, a village in the Chelyabinsk region in the southern Urals, which had "extremely high pollution" of Ru-106, exceeding natural pollution levels by 986 times. Ru-106 is a product of splitting atoms in a reactor, which is also used in certain medical treatments. It does not occur naturally. The agency said the isotope had also been detected in Tatarstan and then in southern Russia, ultimately reaching "all European countries starting in Italy and toward the north of Europe" from September 29. It did not mention any specific source for the pollution, although the Argayash station is nearly 30 kilometers from the Mayak nuclear facility for reprocessing spent fuel, which was the site of one of the worst nuclear disasters in history back in 1957. 'No accidents' In a Tuesday statement, however, Russia's Mayak nuclear facility denied that it had been the source of the increased levels of ruthenium 106. Additionally, Russian nuclear corporation Rosatom said there had been no accidents that could have increased the level of the nuclide in the atmosphere. Earlier in November, media reports said most European countries had detected radioactive pollution in the air without being able to tell where exactly it originated from. France's Institute for Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) said the source of the pollution was probably somewhere between the Volga River and the Ural Mountains. It said, however, that the concentrations measured in Europe were not a public health risk. Russia's nuclear corporation Rosatom said at the time that "radiation around all objects of Russian nuclear infrastructure are within the norm and are at the level of background radiation." Meanwhile, Greenpeace Russia urged Rosatom on Monday to launch "an in-depth inquiry and publish the results about the incidents at Mayak." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia Confirms Spike In Radioactivity, Denies Nuclear Accident RFE/RL November 21, 2017 Russia's meteorological service has indicated that it measured "extremely high" concentrations of the radioactive isotope ruthenium-106 (Ru-106) in the southern Urals in late September, but then contradicted itself and accused environmental-protection organizations of raising a false alarm in order to attract more funding. The conflicting statements from Rosgidromet on November 21 came weeks after reports of a radioactive cloud drifting westward from Russia first appeared in Europe, a delay that government critics said was reminiscent of the Soviet government's initial silence about the Chernobyl nuclear-power-plant disaster in 1986. The French nuclear-safety agency said on November 9 that a cloud of radioactive pollution detected over Europe in the last week of September probably came from a facility -- such as a nuclear-fuel-treatment site or center for radioactive medicine -- in Russia or Kazakhstan. Neither of the two former Soviet republics has acknowledged any accident. In one report on its website, Rosgidromet -- the state agency that monitors air and water pollution -- said that it measured a concentration of Ru-106 at nearly 986 times normal levels at the Argayash weather station in the Chelyabinsk region in late September and early October. A table that was part of the report referred to that as "extremely high contamination." At the Novogorny meteorological station, in the same region in the southern Urals, levels were 440 times those of the previous month, the report said. A separate statement posted later, however, said that Ru-106 levels qualifying as "extremely high contamination" had not been detected. It said, using bold type for emphasis, that concentrations of Ru-106 were "several times lower" than the "permissible" level. It also said that the reason levels were hundreds of times higher than in the previous monitoring periods was that Ru-106 had been "absent" from the earlier findings. Rosgidromet said that the fact that it found "even negligible concentrations of radioactive isotopes" was evidence of the "high effectiveness" of its monitoring methods. It asserted that the "heightened attention" paid to the Ru-106 levels by "certain environmental-protection organizations" was an effort to "increase their importance in the eyes of society" at a time when "their budgets for the next year are being drafted." Environmental activist group Greenpeace said in a statement that it will petition the Russian Prosecutor-General's Office to open an inquiry into "possible concealment of a radiation accident" and check whether public health was sufficiently protected. Speaking to journalists, Rosgidromet chief Maksim Yakovenko said that the levels of Ru-106 recorded in Russia posed no danger to human health as they are "hundreds of thousands of times lower than the allowed maximum." Yakovenko added that Rosgidromet did not try to find the source of the increased radiation "because in Romania the level of the wastes concentration was 1.5-2 times higher than in Russia, and in Poland and Ukraine it was the same." The Russian monitoring agency did not point to any specific potential source of the pollution. The Argayash station is about 30 kilometers from the Mayak nuclear facility, which reprocesses nuclear fuel and produces radioactive material for industrial and research purposes. The Mayak plant, which is under the umbrella of Russia's nuclear energy corporation Rosatom, said that the contamination "has nothing to do" with its activities and that it had not produced Ru-106 for years. In 1957, the facility was the site of one of the worst nuclear accidents in history, and nearby residents say the government is still paying little attention to their plight 60 years later. Rosatom said there were no radiation leaks from its facilities that could increase the level of the radioactive isotope in the atmosphere. Yevgeny Savchenko, the Chelyabinsk region's minister of public security, said that the regional administration received no official information about dangerous levels of radiation in September. "When the media got hysterical about some accident and cloud of ruthenium-106, we asked for explanations" from Rosgidromet and Rosatom, Savchenko wrote on Facebook. The November 9 report from France's Institute for Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) said that ruthenium-106 had been detected in France between September 27 and October 13. Several other nuclear-safety institutes in Europe had measured high levels of the radioactive nuclide. The IRSN statement said it could not accurately locate the release of Ru-106 but, based on weather patterns, it most likely originated south of the Ural Mountains, between the Urals and the Volga River. This could indicate Russia or possibly Kazakhstan as the site of the origin of the cloud, IRSN Director Jean-Marc Peres said. IRSN ruled out an accident in a nuclear reactor, saying it was likely a leak at a nuclear-fuel-treatment site or center for radioactive medicine. Ruthenium-106 does not occur naturally. It is a product of splitting atoms in a reactor, and is also used in medical treatments. In mid-October in response to the earliest European reports about the radioactive cloud, Rosatom issued a statement quoted by Russian media outlets as saying that "in samples tested from September 25 to October 7, including in the southern Urals, no trace of ruthenium-106 was found, except in St. Petersburg." Rosatom later said in response to the French agency's report that "radiation around all facilities of Russian nuclear infrastructure are within the norm and are at the level of background radiation." With reporting by AFP, AP, and Reuters Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/report-russia- confirms-radioactivty-ruthenium-106-emanating- southeastern-urals/28865773.html Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Experts Point To Russian Nuclear Complex As Likely Source Of Mysterious Cloud Over Europe Tom Balmforth, Natasha Kondrashov November 21, 2017 MOSCOW -- The radiation that drifted over Europe in late September likely originated from a Russian nuclear complex that is one of the most polluted areas in the country, experts say, but does not represent any danger to health if publicly available figures are accurate. Weeks after European monitoring agencies reported a spike in radiation levels over parts of the continent, Russia's meteorological service on November 21 said two monitoring stations near the complex had recorded "extremely high" concentrations of the radioactive isotope ruthenium-106. This marked the first confirmation from Russian authorities about the mysterious cloud, which European agencies concluded came from either Russia or Kazakhstan. The isotope is relatively harmless, but the mystery surrounding the cloud, Russian authorities' slow acknowledgment of the incident, and the history of the site where the radiation emanated from has fueled suspicions. It has also evoked memories of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, where Soviet authorities took days to admit a catastrophic failure at the plant that spewed radiation across Northern Europe. Local activists said the information vacuum around the incident recalled the Soviet response to the Chernobyl disaster, and was deepening distrust of official statements. "It's sad that we learned about this from Western media," Albert Garapov, the chairman of the Tatarstan Antinuclear Society, told RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service. "People are anxious for information to know whether it's dangerous or not, expecting explanations if it is dangerous or not." Last month, the state-controlled nuclear corporation Rosatom rejected the European conclusions that Russia was the source of the findings, saying that radiation levels around all its atomic stations were normal. However, Rosgidromet, the Russian meteorological agency, said it had measured nearly 1,000 times the normal levels of Ru-106 pollution at its Argayash weather station in the Chelyabinsk region in late September and early October. Another nearby station called Novogorny recorded 440 times the normal levels. The statement does not clarify the exact origin of the contamination, however. Argayash is just 30 kilometers from the Mayak nuclear facility, near the secret town of Ozyorsk, which is closed off to foreigners and is known as one the most polluted areas in Russia. Boris Zhuykov, a scientist at the Russian Academy of Sciences, told RFE/RL's Russian Service that the most likely source was Mayak. "The fact that it is mainly ruthenium-106, and that there are no other [isotopes such as Ru-103], suggests that first of all, it came from the boiling of aqueous solutions," he said. "There are lots of those types of solutions [at Mayak]. It is possible they evaporated them to transport them in solid state." Experts ruled out a Chernobyl-style accident that would have released other radioactive pollution, and not just ruthenium-106. Mayak denied responsibility, saying it had not produced ruthenium-106 in 2017 and that its emissions into the atmosphere had been normal throughout. Nadezhda Kutepova, an ecologist from Ozyorsk who fled Russia to France in 2015 after facing allegations of industrial espionage, said that she believed that the ruthenium came from Mayak's electric furnace during nuclear waste processing on the night of September 25-26. During the Soviet era, the top-secret Mayak facility produced plutonium for nuclear weapons and also reprocessed fuel used in the country's atomic energy plants. In September 1957, a cooling system failed on a unit storing radioactive waste, resulting in an explosion that sent a plume of radioactive material over hundreds of kilometers. Thousands of villagers were reportedly evacuated. The accident was kept secret, though environmental activists and local residents documented health and environmental problems for years afterward. Kutepova said nuclear waste had been dumped into a nearby river from 1949 to 1952, which destroyed the ecology of the river and the surrounding environment. Mayak has "huge experience in covering up information and misinforming about radiation accidents," Kutepova wrote. Rashid Alimov, head of Greenpeace Russia's energy program, said other possible causes for the contamination included the crash of a satellite and a medical equipment manufacturer making use of ruthenium. Experts said the radiation levels do not appear to pose any health threat. "All these panicky numbers that activity has surpassed background levels hundreds of times doesn't tell us anything," Zhuykov said. "We need to look at whether the maximum permissible dose has been reached or surpassed. According to the data that's been published, we are 24 times lower than the permissible average activity." Vitaly Fedchenko, an expert on nuclear energy at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, noted that "From the public statement by radiation protection authorities in the three counties -- Russia, France, and Germany -- the concentration of ruthemium-106 involved in this particular case is way too low to be any kind of health and safety concern for the public." Alimov was less positive about potential health risks. He said ruthenium-106 does not occur naturally and that its presence indicates some sort of accident has taken place. "In radiology, there is threshold theory that holds that any additional radiation increases the risk of contracting cancer," he told RFE/RL's Russian Service. With reporting by Ron Synowitz and RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-nuclear -accident-radioactive-cloud-europe -mayak-complex/28868372.html Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address For the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Uttar Pradesh local body elections will be a referendum on the Yogi Adityanath-led government's performance. The local body elections in Uttar Pradesh will be the first litmus test for the Yogi Adityanath-led government. Photo: Reuters. By India Today Web Desk: The first phase of the Uttar Pradesh local body elections kicked off today with voting in 24 districts. Yogi Adityanath, who faces his first big electoral test in Uttar Pradesh since being appointed as the chief minister of the state, cast his vote in Gorakhpur. The local body elections in Uttar Pradesh are being held in three phases--25 districts go to polls on November 26 and the remaining 26 districts will cast votes on November 29. advertisement For the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Uttar Pradesh local body elections are an indicator of the government's popularity among masses. FOLLOW THE LIVE UPDATES ON NAGAR NIGAM ELECTIONS IN UTTAR PRADESH: 12:17 PM: This looks like a political conspiracy, says Sakshi Maharaj on his name missing from the voter list in Unnao 12:15 PM: BJP MP from Unnao Sakshi Maharaj raises objections with district magistrate after his name was not found in the voting list; DM has ordered an inquiry into the matter 11:30 AM: Problem reported at EVM booth number 243 in Meerut 10:40 AM: Voting underway in Jalaun district during first phase of nagar nigam election in Uttar Pradesh Voting underway for the first phase of local body election in #UttarPradesh: Visuals from a polling station in #Jalaun pic.twitter.com/hYKEZwTTB3- ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) November 22, 2017 10:30 AM: Voting starts in three booths of Mani Ram Bagia ward number 104 after technical glitches in three EVMs Kanpur: Voting started in three booths of Mani Ram Bagia Ward number 104 after technical glitches in three EVMs #UttarPradesh pic.twitter.com/8mqRlqgM3q- ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) November 22, 2017 Yogi Adityanath and his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya have been campaigning extensively and holding public rallies across the state. Hitting the campaign trail, the chief minister was in Ayodhya last week, where he interacted with voters ahead of the first phase of the Uttar Pradesh local body elections. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath casts his vote in Gorakhpur during the first phase of the local body elections. Photo: ANI. According to sources in the party, the BJP's victory will be a huge booster for Yogi Adityanath and ensure his development agenda is implemented without any friction in the party. BIGWIGS HIT THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL For the Congress, which suffered a humiliating defeat in the Assembly election early this year despite an alliance with the Samajwadi Party, the local body elections offer a chance to regain some lost ground ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election. The Congress has announced former Union minister Pradeep Jain as its mayoral candidate from Jhansi. Jain lost the Lok Sabha election in Jhansi to BJP heavyweight Uma Bharti in 2014. advertisement Both the BJP and the Congress have brought in national leaders to address constituencies during the three-phase local body elections in Uttar Pradesh. Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Union ministers V K Singh and Santosh Gangwar have campaigned in their respective constituencies. The Congress too has delegated responsibilities to senior leaders like Jitin Prasada and Salman Khurshid for campaigning in Uttar Pradesh along with state party chief Raj Babbar. During the three-phase local body elections in Uttar Pradesh, over 3.32 crore voters would exercise their franchise at 36,269 polling booths and 11,389 polling stations. Counting of votes will take place on December 1. ALSO WATCH: Padmavati row: Yogi Adityanath justifies threats against Bhansali and Deepika Padukone --- ENDS --- Locals Left In Dark About Russian Radiation Spike RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service November 21, 2017 ARGAYASH, Russia -- People living near a nuclear reprocessing plant that is suspected to have caused a spike in radioactivity over the Ural Mountains in Russia say they were never warned by officials of any potential danger. Residents and even local officials in the town of Argayash told RFE/RL on November 21 that they first heard reports of the rise in radioactivity from Western news reports. "No, we don't know anything. Just read about it on the Internet myself. We don't know any more. Only doctors might know," said a local official who requested anonymity, he explained, due to his working for the government. However, at least one doctor in Argayash, Abdulkhay Valeyev, said he couldn't comment because there was not enough information. "No, these are unconfirmed facts. We can't confirm or deny it because there's no data about it," Valeyev told RFE/RL. The comments come after Russian authorities earlier on November 21 confirmed reports of a spike in radioactivity in the air over the Ural Mountains. The Russian meteorological service said in a statement that it recorded the release of ruthenium-106 in the southern Urals in late September and classified it as "extremely high contamination." It also said high levels of radiation in residential areas adjacent to Rosatom's Mayak plant for spent nuclear fuel had been detected. Air samples in the town of Argayash, 30 kilometers from Mayak, in late September-early October, for example, showed levels nearly 1,000 times higher than those recorded in previous months. In 1957, the Mayak facility was the site of one of the worst nuclear accidents in history, and nearby residents say the government is still paying little attention to their plight 60 years later. In a statement on November 21, Mayak denied being the source of contamination. The plant said it has not conducted any work extracting ruthenium-106 from spent nuclear fuel "for several years." But many of those living near Mayak appear skeptical of such assurances, given the trickle of official information so far. A local antinuclear activist said the information vacuum around the incident smacked of the Soviet response to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986. "It's sad that we learned about this [radiation spike] from Western media. People are anxious for information to know whether it's dangerous or not, expecting explanations if it is dangerous or not," said Albert Garapov, the chairman of the Tatarstan Antinuclear Society. "We learned about Chernobyl from Swedish media. Despite the passage of time, we still get this type of news about our country from the West," Garapov added. Garapov also said high radiation levels were being detected elsewhere in Tatarstan. "In Bugulma, its [radiation] level is 16 times higher than normal. That means it probably got there through rain clouds," he said, adding that local people should not panic but be cautious. "I'd suggest people wash fruit and vegetables more thoroughly. We'll be monitoring the situation. It's not that dangerous but we need to know how to protect ourselves." Greenpeace said in a statement on November 21 that it would petition the Russian Prosecutor-General's Office to investigate "a possible concealment of a radiation accident" and check whether public health was sufficiently protected. Written by Tony Wesolowsky Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-radioactive -cloud-chelyabinsk-locals-nervous- mayak-chernobyl/28868250.html Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address HRW Calls Russian 'Foreign Agent' Law 'Devastating' For Environmental Groups Carl Schreck November 21, 2017 More than a dozen environmental groups in Russia have shuttered their operations since the authorities required them to register as "foreign agents" under a politically charged law that critics say is stymieing civil society and political dissent, a U.S.-based rights group says in a new report. The November 21 report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) accuses Russian authorities of using the law to "silence some of the country's most effective, rigorous, and committed environmental groups." "The effects of the law have been devastating for environmental groups and environmental activists, and we do know that a broad range of activities that were working to preserve Russia's natural environment can no longer take place," Richard Pearshouse, HRW's associate environment director and the author of the report, told RFE/RL in a telephone interview. The release of the report comes five years after the 2012 law came into effect, targeting nongovernmental organizations that receive foreign funding and are deemed to be engaged in "political" activities. Russian NGOs deemed to meet those criteria are required to register as "foreign agents." Opponents of the law say it is aimed at discrediting independent voices and organizations critical of the authorities, including election monitors and human groups -- criticism that officials have brushed off. The law has also swept up groups engaged in environmental activism and HIV-prevention efforts, and more recently Russian lawmakers have launched a push to label foreign-funded media outlets as "foreign agents" amid a mounting standoff with the United States. Russia has repeatedly accused the United States and other Western governments of seeking to stoke political unrest in the country by funding nongovernmental organizations, including election monitors and human rights groups often critical of authorities. Of the more than 150 NGOs that the Russian Justice Ministry has labeled "foreign agents" since President Vladimir Putin signed the law into force, 29 have been environmental groups, the HRW report says. It says at least 14 of those environmental organizations have halted their work rather than continue to operate under the "foreign agent" law, whose reporting requirements have been criticized as excessively burdensome for groups that often work on shoestring budgets. The report adds that the figure could be higher given that representatives of 11 groups either could not be reached or declined to discuss the matter. The environmental activities that Russian authorities determined to be "political" in nature include assessing the impact of hunting quotas, petitioning for the release of jailed environmental activists, and public campaigning against nuclear-energy plants, mines, refineries, and other industrial facilities, the HRW report says. It cites the case of Planeta Nadezhd (A Planet of Hope), an NGO based in the city of Ozersk, near the Mayak nuclear complex in the Chelyabinsk region. The group, which has ceased its activities, was active in defending the rights of radiation victims. The organization's director, Nadezhda Kutepova, left Russia for France in 2015 after the authorities branded it a "foreign agent" and a local television channel accused her group of espionage. She received political asylum in France last year. The region where the NGO operated is at the center of international attention after Russia's meteorological service said on November 21 that it measured "extremely high" concentrations of the radioactive isotope ruthenium-106 (Ru-106) in the southern Urals in late September. The statement came after France's nuclear-safety agency said in early November that a nuclear facility either in Russia or Kazakhstan was likely the source of a cloud of radioactive pollution over Europe at the end of September. Neither Kazakhstan nor Russia has acknowledged that any accident occurred. Pearshouse told RFE/RL that it was difficult to measure the "exact impact of the law in environmental terms." "But what we do know is that an incredibly useful range of very important environmental work has ceased," he said. With reporting by RFE/RL's Russian Service Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-hrw- says-foreign-agent-law-devastating- environmental-groups/28868194.html Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Internal Security Forces Assume Responsibility for Raqqa Neighborhoods From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release SOUTHWEST ASIA, Nov. 21, 2017 The Raqqa Internal Security Forces assumed security responsibility yesterday for three neighborhoods in the Syrian city of Raqqa, which the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria had claimed as its capital before being driven out, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials said in a statement released today. A ceremony in the eastern Raqqa neighborhood of Mishlib marked the RISF's assumption of the security mission from Syrian Democratic Forces, who liberated the city Oct. 20, officials said. In addition to Mishlib, the RISF now provides security for Raqqa's Jazra and Tayar neighborhoods, the task force statement said. "This ongoing handover is an important step in a process that will allow the SDF to continue fighting [ISIS] elsewhere," said Army Maj. Gen. James Jarrard, the coalition's Special Operations Joint Task Force commander. "With the RISF gradually assuming the security mission in Raqqa under the Raqqa Civil Council's leadership, we continue to have Raqqawis securing and governing Raqqawis." Local Volunteers The RISF is composed of local volunteers with subordinate sector commanders who are appointed by the Raqqa Civil Council, officials explained. RISF units will provide local security and prevent ISIS' re-emergence in Raqqa and the local area, they added. Enabled by the coalition, the RISF continues to expand and train new recruits, with the goal of assuming control of other sectors of Raqqa from the SDF, the statement said. "We will continue to support this local Syrian-led effort, which ensures representative, local governance, good security and full engagement with the tribal leaders and people of Raqqa," Jarrard said. The RCC establishes priority of tasks for the RISF, which is currently focused on demining, clearing rubble and providing essential service infrastructure to enable the return of internally displaced persons to their homes. "We need more help from the international community," Jarrard said. "The RCC leads the delivery of aid to Raqqawis without homes, ensuring they have water, food and shelter. There's a lot of work remaining, and there is a definite need for international and [nongovernmental organization] involvement." Raqqawis have been moving back to Mishlib, Jazra and Tayar areas that have been slowly cleared of improvised explosive devices, officials said. "The task is not yet complete, and the RCC are keen to remind everyone of the need to follow public safety announcements because of the continuing threat from explosive hazards," the statement said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address More than 13 million Syrians in need of aid: UN Iran Press TV Tue Nov 21, 2017 05:21PM The United Nations says more than 13 million Syrians are in need of aid despite a relative drop in fighting between the government troops and foreign-backed militant outfits in the war-torn Arab country in recent months. "Some 13.1 million people in Syria require humanitarian assistance. Of these, 5.6 million people are in acute need," said the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in a statement on Tuesday, adding that the figure showed a slight drop comparing to 13.5 million people in need last year. "Entering the seventh year of the crisis, the scale, severity and complexity of needs across Syria remain overwhelming," the statement further read. In late October, it made a similar announcement, saying conflict and violations of international humanitarian law continued to be the main drivers of humanitarian need, with civilians in many parts of the Middle Eastern country enduring "massive suffering." However, Under-Secretary-General for OCHA Mark Lowcock said at the time that some 6.3 million were in "acute need" of aid. The figure shows that the relative drop in violence has also helped the government and the charity groups to deliver aids to some seven hundred thousand people, who were in desperate need of assistance. Back in May, the fourth round of the intra-Syrian talks, held in Kazakhstan's capital, Astana, resulted in an agreement on creating four de-escalation zones across Syria, with Russia, Iran, and Turkey serving as guarantor states. The safe zones cover the Syrian provinces of Idlib and Homs as well as the Eastern Ghouta region near Damascus and the country's southern border with Jordan. They have sharply reduced fighting in the conflict zones. The UN says 40 percent of the needy are children, noting that people in besieged or so-called "hard-to-reach" areas are particularly vulnerable. According to the UN figures, over 330,000 people have lost their lives in Syria since the foreign-back militancy began its reign of terror in 2011. The world body also says that the violence has already displaced over half of Syria's 18 million-strong population, both internally and abroad, as refugees. In recent months, Syrian government troops, backed by Iranian military advisors and Russian airstrikes, landed hard blows on Takfiri terrorists. Over the weekend, Syrian troops also managed to retake the last urban center from the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group, days after Iraqi forces also declared that they had recaptured Daesh's last stronghold in the Arab country. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Putin Calls For Political Deal In Assad Meeting In Sochi RFE/RL November 21, 2017 Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeated his call for a negotiated political settlement to end the Syrian conflict during a surprise visit by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the Russian city of Sochi. Putin told Assad at the meeting late on November 20 that the military operation in Syria was "coming to an end," although there was still a "long way to go." The meeting came as the presidents of Russia, Turkey, and Iran are scheduled to meet in the Russian Black Sea resort on November 22 to discuss Syria. UN-sponsored negotiations aimed at fostering a political solution to the six-year Syrian conflict are due to resume in Geneva on November 28. Russia and Iran have given crucial military and diplomatic backing to Assad's government throughout the war, which began with a government crackdown on protesters in 2011. The war has killed more than 330,000 people, created more than 6 million refugees, and forced some 5 million people to become internally displaced. Turkey supports rebels who want to oust the Syrian president, while Assad and Putin have long characterized Syrian rebels as terrorists. "I think now the main thing is to move to political processes, and I am pleased to see your readiness to work with everyone willing to establish peace and find solutions," Putin told Assad in remarks broadcast on Russian television. Putin said that he expected the United Nations to "actively participate in the [political] process, particularly during its final stage." Expressing thanks for Russia's role in the Syrian conflict, Assad said, "especially since we've attained victory over the terrorists, we want the political process to progress." The Syrian president refers to the extremist group Islamic State (IS) and most of his other opponents as "terrorists." "We're counting on Russia's support to ensure the nonintervention of outside players in the political process, so that their role is to support the efforts of the Syrians themselves," he added. In separate remarks made at a meeting with Czech President Milos Zeman on November 21, Putin said Syrian government forces controlled "more than 98 percent of [the country's] territory." "Hotbeds of...resistance are still present, but they are rapidly disappearing under the strikes of our...forces and Syrian allies," Putin said. The Russian president said he intended to talk with U.S. President Donald Trump on November 21. Putin had said in March 2016 that Russian forces had largely achieved their goals in Syria, although Moscow's military campaign there continued. Moscow has been accused of killing hundreds of Syrian civilians in air strikes, a claim it denies. A Kremlin spokesman told the RIA Novosti news agency that Assad was in Russia on November 21 for four hours. It was the second time Assad has traveled to Russia to meet with Putin in the course of the war. The first was in October 2015, shortly after Russia launched its air and ground campaign in Syria to beef up Assad's forces. On November 19, the Iranian, Russian, and Turkish foreign ministers met in southern Turkey to discuss the war in Syria ahead of the Sochi summit. The November 22 meeting between Putin and his counterparts in Iran and Turkey -- Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Hassan Rohani -- will focus on reducing violence in Syria and matters related to the delivery of humanitarian aid to the region, officials said. Moscow, Ankara, and Tehran are sponsoring separate talks in the Kazakh capital, Astana, that focus on battlefield issues, such as the formation of de-escalation zones in key regions of Syria. Western powers have called for Assad to step down since the war broke out in 2011, and the Syrian president's fate has been a stumbling block in previous peace talks. Syrian opposition groups are expected to meet in Saudi Arabia on November 23 in an attempt to create a single representative body for the latest round of UN-sponsored talks in Geneva next week. On November 21, Iranian President Hassan Rohani declared the end of Islamic State in an address broadcast live on state TV, after the militants were ousted from strongholds in both Syria and Iraq. Major General Qassem Soleimani, who is the commander of foreign operations for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), also declared the end of the extremist group in a message sent to the country's supreme leader that was published on the IRGC-run Sepah news site. With reporting by Reuters, AFP, AP, TASS, and Interfax Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/putin-meets-with-assad-syria- sochi-discuss-peace-talks/28865897.html Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Assad Tells Putin at Meeting: Syria Was Saved as a State Thanks to Russia Sputnik News 08:10 21.11.2017(updated 15:14 21.11.2017) Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Syrian President Bashar Assad, who flew to Russain city of Sochi for a working visit. The two leaders discussed the situation in Syria. Vladimir Putin congratulated Bashar Assad for his success in fighting Islamist militants, saying "Syria is striving in the fight against terrorist groups," adding "the Syrian people are going through very difficult trials and are gradually approaching the final, unavoidable rout of terrorists." "You know, we are actively working with other countries as well, with Iraq, the United States, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan. And we are in constant contact with this partners," Putin said at a meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad. Putin expressed hope that the fight against terrorism in Syria will conclude in the very near future. "Thanks to the Astana process we managed to create de-escalation zones, which served to start a real and deep dialogue with the opposition, pretty much for the first time," Putin stressed. "Vladimir Putin also introduced Bashar Assad to the leadership of the Defense Ministry and the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, who were present in Sochi for the next round of meetings on the issues of military construction and the State Armaments Program," as quoted in Tuesday's statement of the Kremlin press service. Bashar Assad said at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that the aerial support provided by the Russian Aerospace Forces had been key to resolving the conflict in Syria through diplomacy: "I am very pleased to meet with you two years and a few weeks after Russia launched the operation, which is very successful It must be admitted that this operation allowed us to advance the political settlement in Syria." Syria's President added that Damascus is ready to hold a dialogue with all who are interested in a political settlement in Syria. Also, Bashar Assad stated that he relies on Russia's support in ensuring that external players don't interfere in the political process in Syria. "Over this period, great success has been achieved, both directly on the battlefield and in political terms. Many areas of Syria have been liberated from terrorists, and Syrians who were forced to leave them earlier could return to these areas," Assad added. The meeting between Russian and Syrian leaders took place on Monday in the Russian resort city of Sochi. The presidents of Russia, Iran and Turkey will meet on November 22 at the trilateral summit in Sochi, where they will discuss "the entire Syrian agenda," according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Trump, Putin Agree to Support UN in Syrian Peace Process By Peter Heinlein November 21, 2017 U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed Tuesday to support the U.N. effort to "peacefully resolve" the nearly seven-year-long Syrian civil war. The White House said the two leaders talked for more than an hour and stressed the importance of ending the humanitarian crisis in which millions of Syrians have been displaced from their homes. Trump and Putin said the displaced Syrians should be allowed to return and "the stability of a unified Syria free of malign intervention and terrorist safe havens" should be ensured. Trump talked by phone with Putin a day after the Russian leader held discussions in Russia with Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad about a political resolution to the civil war, which has killed 400,000 people. The White House said Trump and Putin "affirmed the importance of fighting terrorism together throughout the Middle East and Central Asia and agreed to explore ways to further cooperate in the fight against ISIS, al-Qaida, the Taliban and other terrorist organizations." In addition, they discussed ways "to implement a lasting peace in Ukraine," where pro-Russian separatists have been fighting troops loyal to Kyiv, and how to keep international pressure on North Korea to end its nuclear weapon and missile development programs. The Kremlin said Tuesday that it had called Assad to the Black Sea resort of Sochi for talks with Putin about Russia's peace proposals for Syria, ahead of Putin's summit Wednesday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Russia has bolstered Assad's rule with airstrikes since late 2015 against groups trying to overthrow his regime, with Iranian fighters also supporting Damascus, and Turkey backing the Syrian opposition. His power ensured, Asssad said he expressed his gratitude to Putin "for all of the efforts that Russia made to save our country." Putin, according to the Kremlin, told Assad that Russia's "military operation is coming to an end. Thanks to the Russian army, Syria has been saved as a state. Much has been done to stabilize the situation in Syria." He praised Assad, predicting terrorism would suffer an "inevitable" defeat in Syria. The Kremlin quoted Assad as saying, "It is in our interest to advance the political process. ... We don't want to look back. And we are ready for dialogue with all those who want to come up with a political settlement." U.N.-led peace talks about Syria are scheduled for November 28 in Geneva. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Military defends contract payment to Ching Fu Shipbuilding Co. ROC Central News Agency 2017/11/21 21:10:57 Taipei, Nov. 21 (CNA) The Ministry of National Defense denied on Tuesday that it had been pressured into making a payment to a financially-troubled naval contractor months before the budget for the project was finalized, saying the payment was made in accordance with the Budget Act. The ministry clarified its position in a statement after Kuomintang Legislator Ma Wen-chun () earlier this month accused the Presidential Office of placing pressure on the Navy to pay NT$2.4 billion (US$81.6 million) to Kaohsiung-based Ching Fu Shipbuilding Co., Taiwan's largest private shipbuilder, late last year. The payment was for work done on a NT$34.9 billion contract Ching Fu won in October 2014 to build six minesweepers for the Navy. In an audio recording played by Ma at a press conference on Nov. 14, Ching Fu Vice Chairman Chen Wei-chihwas heard seemingly telling Kaohsiung Marine Bureau Director-General Wang Tuan-jenand Fisheries Agency officials during a meeting on Oct. 7, 2016 that the Navy had initially rejected his request for a payment that should have been made in September last year and told him he would have to wait until March when the budget was to be approved. Chen said his company could not wait for payment because sub-contractors needed to be paid, so he went to the Presidential Office to "communicate" with senior officials on the issue, and a few days later the Navy told him it had obtained the funds. Ma also accused the ministry of misappropriation of public funds and of violating the Budget Act by paying Ching Fu from funds earmarked for the Armed Forces. In response, the ministry said on Tuesday that the payment was made in accordance with rules governing the implementation and control of government budgets as stipulated in the Budget Act and the Directions for Implementation of Subsidiary Agencies Budget of Central Government. The Navy also said on Monday that the NT$2.4 billion was a contractual payment that had to be made when Ching Fu completed the hull construction of the first minesweeper ahead of schedule on Sept. 27 last year and the company submitted two payment requests on Nov. 28 and Dec. 6, 2016, the Navy said, adding that the timeline contradicts Chen's claim made during the meeting on Oct. 7 last year, at which time the company had not yet submitted any payment request. The Navy urged the media not to spread false information about the case that could mislead readers, while threatening to take legal action over media allegations. The company is under investigation for its alleged role in a fraudulent bank loan case. The fraud allegedly occurred when Ching Fu was trying to obtain a NT$20.5 billion syndicated loan from a group of nine domestic lenders led by First Commercial Bank, after winning the Naval contract in 2014. Kaohsiung prosecutors, who launched their investigation in August, suspect the company used bogus documents falsify four capital increases that were required as part of the terms of the loan. On Oct. 25, First Commercial Bank determined that Ching Fu had defaulted on the syndicated loan, of which NT$15.4 billion had already been disbursed. Ching Fu had failed to pay interest on the loan for two months, according to the bank. The fraudulent bank loan case led to the replacement on Monday of the heads of three state-run financial services providers that provided Ching Fu with most of its syndicated loan. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp. Chairman Ray Dawn (), who has been appointed head of First Financial Holding Co. and its main subsidiary, First Commercial Bank, said Tuesday that the contract awarded to Ching Fu can be terminated if it does not help the banks and the ministry reduce their risk of exposure to bad debts. First Commercial Bank plans to write off the loans it extended to Ching Fu and its subsidiaries as bad debt at the end of the fiscal year, Dawn said. Meanwhile, President Tsai Ing-wen () on Tuesday directed the Ministry of National Defense to publish a list of ministry officials who have been censured for negligence by failing to confirm Ching Fu had the requisite financial and manufacturing ability before awarding the contract to the company. Tsai issued the instruction after hearing a briefing on the case by Defense Minister Feng Shih-kuan (). She also said the ministry should promptly address and follow up on any problems arising from the awarding of the contract to ensure the national interest is not undermined. Premier Lai Ching-te () also said Tuesday that the Cabinet has launched an investigation into the case and will refer all information it obtains, including findings related to the Navy's payment, to the Justice Ministry for further investigation. (By Lu Hsin-hui, Tien Yu-pin and Evelyn Kao) Enditem/AW NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Royal Navy Assault Ship Crew Receive Full Scale Training on UK Beaches Sputnik News 18:35 21.11.2017(updated 18:39 21.11.2017) Crew members on-board Britain's Royal Navy assault ship HMS Albion are almost ready to make a splash after receiving operational sea training in the UK. Royal Marines have stormed beaches in Devon and Cornwall, launched an attack on a Cornish fortress and implemented a full scale amphibious landing as part of their training on HMS Albion. The crew's tasks also included polishing up on their diplomacy skills, delivering humanitarian aid and patching up a fake community affected by a natural disaster. The US$119m refit of the assault ship comes amid speculation that the British government intended to decommission HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark. Rumors are rife that the ships would be scaled back as part of a review of Britain's national security capabilities under the UK Government's 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review. During a recent debate in Westminster Hall, minister for defense procurement, Harriett Baldwin faced calls from MP's to safeguard the future of Britain's naval capabilities. Mrs. Baldwin said that the defense review is "ongoing" and no decisions have been put to minister. Final Hurdle However, the Royal Navy says that the crew of "Britain's future flagship HMS Albion are half-way through all-action autumn training to prepare them for duties around the globe. "This is the final hurdle the sailors and Royal Marines must overcome to prove they are ready for the potential real challenges ahead," a statement from Britain's Ministry of Defense said. "The assault ship has undergone extensive trials and training since returning to sea in the summer," the statement added. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Ukraine Marks Fourth Anniversary Of Euromaidan Protests RFE/RL November 21, 2017 KYIV -- Ukraine has marked the Day of Dignity and Freedom, a holiday commemorating the beginning of the Euromaidan protests that started in November 2013 and pushed President Viktor Yanukovych from power three months later. President Petro Poroshenko and his wife, Maryna, Prime Minister Volodymyr Hroysman, and parliament speaker Andriy Parubiy placed flowers and lit candles at a monument on Kyiv's Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) on November 21. The monument honors the "Heavenly Hundred," a term for protesters who were killed in crackdowns by security forces during the protests. A day before the ceremonies, a senior prosecutor said that murder investigations launched in an effort to hold people responsible for the deaths of protesters are on hold because the cases have been transferred to an investigative body that does not yet exist. Serhiy Horbatyuk, chief of the directorate for in-absentia investigations at the Prosecutor-General's Office, said that cases involving corruption accusations against senior officials in Yanukovych's government were also effectively halted. He said that, by law, the murder probes were to be transferred from the Prosecutor-General's Office to the State Investigation Bureau, but that the bureau has not yet been created. However, Prosecutor-General Yuriy Lutsenko said on November 20 that his office would continue to investigate the Euromaidan killings and that the National Anticorruption Bureau (NABU) would continue handling cases against Yanukovych and his allies. The Euromaidan movement began when protesters gathered in central Kyiv after Yanukovych announced he was postponing plans to sign an Association Agreement with the European Union and would seek closer economic ties with Russia. In February 2014, Yanukovych signed a deal with opponents that was meant to end the crisis but abandoned office shortly afterward and fled to Russia. Moscow responded to his downfall by seizing control of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in March 2014 and fomenting separatism across much of the country -- one of the causes of a war that has killed more than 10,000 people in eastern Ukraine since April 2014. Russia denies it has sent troops, weapons, and other support to help the separatists fight government forces, despite what Kyiv and NATO say is incontrovertible evidence. Addressing paratroopers at a ceremony at Kyiv's Mykhaylivska Square on November 21, Poroshenko thanked soldiers for their contribution in what he called the "fight against Russia's terrorist armed troops in Ukraine's east." "We haven't emerged from the zone of turbulence and we are still paying for two decades of strolling the sidewalks of the so-called 'Russian World,' but strategically we are on the right path," Poroshenko said. "Millions of participants in the Revolution of Dignity brought Ukraine to that path," he added, referring to the massive Euromaidan protests. "They clearly identified the path on which our nation will enter the future." Poroshenko said that later on November 21 he would sign into law a bill to allocate state benefits to participants in the protests. He announced that, from now on, November 21 will be marked also as Ukrainian Paratroopers Day. During the ceremony, the paratroopers replaced their Soviet-style blue berets with dark red ones to symbolize what Poroshenko called "the blood shed by our paratroopers in battles against the Russian aggressors." Ukraine has also changed the name of the paratroops force, seeking to break the association with Russia by dropping the initials VDV. Kyiv police chief Andriy Kryshchenko said earlier that 2,000 additional security officers would be deployed in the city for the Euromaidan anniversary. Security was also beefed up in other Ukrainian cities. Meanwhile, Ukraine's Defense Ministry said on November 21 that in the previous 24 hours, Russia-backed separatists had violated the long-standing cease-fire 17 times in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, killing one Ukrainian soldier. With reporting by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service and Merhat Sharipzhan in Prague Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-fourth-anniversary- euromaidan-protests-poroshenko/28867506.html Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Mumbai Congress Chief Sanjay Nirupam has said that the vehicle towing company in Mumbai, Vidarbha Infotech, flouted rules mentioned in a document issued by Mumbai Police to get the contract. By Mayuresh Ganapatye: Vidarbha Infotech company got the vehicle towing contract of the entire Mumbai city by flouting the rules mentioned in the Request for Proposal (RFP) document issued by Mumbai Police, alleges Mumbai Congress Chief Sanjay Nirupam. According to the RFP document, towing contract should be given to a company which has got experience of at least five years in this field and has successfully completed projects which were needed to be completed before 31 March, 2016. But as per the document produced by Nirupam, Vidarbha Infotech made amendments in its main objective and incorporated 'towing' as one of the main objectives on 22 July, 2016. advertisement What is more shocking is that almost after two months of work order signed by then joint CP Traffic Milind Bjarambe, Vidarbha Infotech made amendment in their company's objective. To make this amendment, the special resolution was passed in the company's annual general meeting. "Now the important question is how then Jt CP Traffic Milind Bharambe signed work order when the company was clearly not having any experience in this filed. It is very much clear that how rules, terms and conditions were violated by the government to award this contract to Vidarbha Infotech. Milind Bharambe is also from Nagpur like IAS Pravin Darade and CM Devendra Fadnavis," said Nirupam. According to Nirupam, Vidarbha Infotech has gotten this contract for seven years. "CM talks about transparency but why he has shut his eyes now? CMO issued a clarification last week in which they said CMO and IAS officer Pravin Darade has no role in this. Audit, tax and advisory firm KPMG was appointed as consulting agency for this. So on what basis Vidarbha Infotech got this contract? I request CM to cancel all the contracts given to Vidarbha Infotech and put it on the black list." said Nirupam. Dyaneshwar Jare, President Mumbai Towing Van Associations said, "Old contractors never got contract for the entire city. There were more than 1,000 employees in the city and our daily collection was Rs 5 lakh. We used to get Rs 100 for per two wheeler and Rs 200 for each four wheeler." "Our case is in court against the contract awarded to private firm illegally. Court has asked them to file their say in this matter but yet they have not filed it. Said Advocate Pote who is representing this case for Towing Van Association. --- ENDS --- Masked, Gun-Toting Troops Hit Streets Of Ukraine's Separatist-Held Luhansk RFE/RL November 21, 2017 Armed men in unmarked uniforms have taken up positions in the center of Luhansk in what appears to be part of a power struggle among the Russia-backed separatists who control the city in eastern Ukraine. The region's separatist leader, Igor Plotnitsky, said the display of force by the masked, rifle-toting men in camouflage was a revolt by supporters of a fired police chief. The independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta said they were blocking administrative buildings in the provincial capital: The masked armed men began to deploy in Luhansk after Plotnitsky fired the region's police chief, Igor Kornet, on November 20. The move did not appear to be in direct connection to the conflict with Ukraine's government. Hours later, Plotnitsky suggested that Kornet's allies were whipping up tension and had put uniformed men into the streets. "I can say with confidence that the attempts by certain people to stay in power by destabilizing the situation...are futile, and in the very near future will be neutralized," Plotnitsky said in a statement. Parts of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions are held by Russia-backed separatists whose war against Kyiv's forces has killed more than 10,000 people since April 2014, when it erupted after Moscow fomented unrest following the ouster of Russia-friendly Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. In a statement posted on the Internet before Plotnitsky's statement, Kornet dismissed what he called "rumors about my dismissal" and said that the situation in what the separatists call the Luhansk People's Republic was "under the full control of forces of the law enforcement structures." In the statement, Kornet claimed that police had "thwarted the activity of a Ukrainian sabotage-and-espionage group" that he said tried to enter the separatist-held territory overnight to carry out "sabotage and terrorist acts." He said that several people were detained and that police forces were "looking for other members of the group and their accomplices." Kornet said that a probe had been opened against the director of the Luhansk television and radio company, Anastasia Shurkayeva, on suspicion of cooperation with Ukrainian intelligence. He also said that investigations had been opened into the chief of Plotnitsky's administration, Irina Teitsman, and the chief of the police unit responsible for security for members of the separatists' de facto government, Yevgeny Seliverstov, on suspicion of involvement in an alleged attempt to seize power in September 2016. Kornet said that Plotnitsky gave the order to launch the investigations, but there was no immediate word from Plotnitsky himself. With reporting by Novaya Gazeta, Reuters, and Meduza Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-gun-toting -troops-luhansk/28867778.html Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address With the successful air launch of the BrahMos missile in the Bay of Bengal, India has completed a supersonic cruise missile triad. Here is a video of the launch. By India Today Web Desk: An Indian Air Force Sukhoi-30MKI fighter jet today successfully test fired the BrahMos supersonic missile. With today's air launch, India completed what the Defence Ministry called a "Supersonic Cruise Missile Triad". The BrahMos Air-Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM) "was gravity dropped from the Su-30 from fuselage, and the two stage (sic) missile's engine fired up and straightaway propelled towards the intended target in Bay of Bengal," the ministry said in a statement. advertisement According to the statement, this was the first time a Sukhoi-30MKI had fired the BrahMos, which the ministry said was the "world's fastest supersonic cruise missile". The missile used in today's launch was a slightly lighter variant of the BrahMos. The Sukhoi jet carried a payload weighing 2.4 tonnes (the standard BrahMos weighs 2.9 tonnes) and fired the missile over the Balasore test-firing range. The Su-30 MKI has a cruising range of around 3,200 km while the missile is able to travel at nearly three times the speed of sound at Mach 2.8. Visuals of the event were initially hard to come by but later found their way to Twitter. In a video, Sukhoi-30MKI can be seen dropping the missile, which falls for several feet before its two-stage engines fires up and propels it towards the target at a supersonic speed. With today's launch, BrahMos "is now capable of being launched from Land, Sea and Air, completing the tactical cruise missile triad for India," the Defence Ministry said in its statement. "The completion of tactical cruise missile triad will significantly bolster the IAF's capabilities in long-range air combat operations," the ministry added. The BrahMos missile is a joint venture between India's Defence Research and Development Organisataion and Russia's NPO Mashinostroyeniya (NPOM) Corporation. The missile is named after two rivers - Brahmaputra in India and Moskva in Russia. WATCH | BrahMos missile test fired successfully from IAF's Sukhoi fighter jet --- ENDS --- TDP to have new headquarters at Mangalagiri! The new state headquarters of the Telugu Desam Party is going to come up at Atmakuru village near Mangalagiri town in Guntur district and it would be as big as NTR Trust Bhavan in Hyderabad. TDP president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu will lay the foundation stone for the new State party office at 5.17 am on November 26. The new office will be spread across two acres with four blocks and bigger than the current office. The State cabinet has cleared land allocation recently on receipt of an application filed by the TDP. With this, the national highway stretch between Vijayawada-Guntur cities is going to become a political hub and VIP zone on par with capital city Amaravati. The TDP has been conducting its State party affairs from its Guntur office on a temporary basis. After completion of the construction, the office set up totally would be shifted to Atmakuru. By Anil Giri: A minor girl was raped and later murdered in Lalbandh village under Taldangra police station of Bankura. Police have arrested the accused and produced him before the Khatra Subdivisonal court from where he was sent to jail. The family of the minor has demanded strict punishment for the accused. As per a report, the 13-year-old girl went to answer nature's call near a field with her brother. advertisement Accused Abdul Rauf Khan, 19, who hid inside the bushes, attacked her. Frightened by the sight, he ran away. Uncle of the deceased, Mujaffar Mondal, said Khan wanted to marry her, which she did not accept. Mondal said when he reached the spot, the girl was found lying senseless on the ground. Superintendent of police Sukhendu Hira said: "We have arrested the accused. He confessed. The postmortem report will come within few days. We have recorded his statement under 164 CrPC." --- ENDS --- A new report out of China is suggesting that Xiaomi's Mi 7 flagship will feature a Samsung-manufactured 6.01-inch screen with 18:9 aspect ratio, and will be powered by Snapdragon 845 SoC. The report also says Xiaomi will eventually adopt the 3D face recognition technology, but the Mi 7 won't have it on board. The Chinese company reportedly feels the technology needs to be improved further before it's ready for use in its smartphones. Other specs revealed by the report include 16MP dual-rear camera setup, 6GB RAM, rear-mounted fingerprint sensor, and fast charging. It also mentions a CNY 2,699 price tag, which currently translates to around $405. Source | Via Today it's Verizon's turn to unveil what it has prepared for Black Friday, and it's great news if you're into Android smartphones. The carrier will offer up to 50% off on devices such as the Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL, Samsung Galaxy S8, S8+, and Note8, as well as the Moto Z2 Force. You have to sign up for Verizon's unlimited plan and get the phone you want using monthly installments, but unlike other deals this one does not require a trade-in. It's "up to" and not exactly 50% off because Verizon will apply a fixed-amount $378 promo credit to your account over 24 months, regardless of how much the device you purchase is priced at. Additionally, you can pair your new handset with a 32GB iPad for $199 with a two-year contract (or just $99 when you buy an iPhone with installments). Alternatively, Verizon's own-brand Ellipsis 10 HD tablet can be yours for $29.99 with a two-year agreement if you grab it alongside one of the smartphones on offer. The carrier is also giving you the chance to save $100 on select Android phones (with a retail value of $400 or more) when bought on device payment and activated on the unlimited plan. The $100 promo credit will be applied to your account over 24 months. Eligible devices for this deal include the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S7, Google Pixel and Pixel XL, LG G6, V20, and V30, Moto Z Force, Kyocera DuraForce Pro, Asus ZenFone AR, as well as the ones that are part of the "up to 50% off" promo mentioned above. The deals will become available online on Thanksgiving Day, and in stores on Black Friday. Other things Verizon is offering: Google Home for $79.99, Home Mini for $29.99, Daydream View for $79.99, Chromecast Ultra for $54.99, $250 off any iPad with a two-year contract (or $300 off when you also buy an iPhone), $50 off Fitbit trackers, and even more savings on Bluetooth speakers and Nest products. Source Priyanka Gandhi's experience in managing election campaigns, striking political negotiations and her political charisma, which many have often compared with her late grandmother India Gandhi, will help the Congress as it prepares to revive itself. Priyanka Gandhi is likely to take on a bigger role in the Congress after Rahul's elevation. By India Today Web Desk: With Rahul Gandhi's elevation as Congress president almost certain, a possible role for sister Priyanka Gandhi is being discussed in political circles. Talks of Priyanka Gandhi joining active politics have been doing the rounds ever since she started managing the campaigns of her mother Sonia and brother Rahul in Rae Bareli and Amethi. Ahead of the Assembly election in Uttar Pradesh, murmurs within the Congress were strong that Priyanka may join the Congress as a full-time member, with some even suggesting that she could be named as the party's chief ministerial candidate. advertisement Priyanka was largely credited for saving the alliance between the Congress and Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh after differences cropped up over seat sharing. It was widely believed to be Priyanka's phone call to Dimple Yadav, wife of Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh, that helped break the deadlock over seats and paved way for the alliance to be sealed. Yet, she stayed away from a full-time role in the Congress. Her name figured in the Congress' list of star campaigners for Uttar Pradesh but she ended up campaigning in the family pocketborough of Amethi and Rae Bareli. Following the Congress' debacle in the Uttar Pradesh and no official word on Rahul's coronation as the party head, talks of Priyanka expanding her footprint in the Congress had lost momentum. However, a few months later, the scenario has now changed, especially after it is certain that Rahul Gandhi is ready to lead the party in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. Political pundits believe Priyanka's entry into the party's organisational fold is just waiting to happen, with some reports suggesting that she could be named as a party general secretary ahead of the Congress facing polls in big states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan next year, and the Lok Sabha election in 2019. While Rahul will be the face of the Congress, sister Priyanka, given her negotiation skills, is expected to work on opening backroom channels with other parties with an eye on possible alliance before the big 2019 fight. Priyanka, who has been otherwise reluctant to join active politics, could now be seen more prominently in the Congress' scheme of things as mother Sonia decides to take a back seat. Her experience in managing election campaigns, striking negotiations with other parties and her political charisma, which many have often compared with her late grandmother India Gandhi, will help the Congress as it prepares to revive itself. ALSO WATCH: Rahul speaks to social media volunteers in Banaskantha, reveals who tweets for him --- ENDS --- advertisement Gerry Adams finally ended years of speculation by announcing during his presidential address at the Sinn Fein Ard Fheis last Saturday that he will step down as leader next year. He has ruled his party with an iron fist for more than three decades. His leadership brooked no opposition, no challenges, no dissent and developed into a rather sinister cult. Although he received a tumultuous, well-choreographed reception from the party faithful, many in Sinn Fein will be happy to see the back of him. I have no doubt that the majority of the new crop of TDs and councillors considered Adams and all his bloody baggage from the past a major obstacle to the party's future political ambitions for seats at the cabinet table. Rejected I have my doubts that his departure will make Sinn Fein any more attractive as a partner for the two main political parties in the Republic. In the wake of Adams' announcement, both Fianna Fail and Fine Gael rejected out of hand any suggestion of going into government with Sinn Fein after the next election. Sinn Fein and its deputy leader, Mary Lou McDonald, have a long way to go before they can convince the majority of people here that they are fit for government or a normal democratic political party. The reality still is that Sinn Fein and the Provisional IRA are two sides of the same coin. The army council of the Provisional IRA, despite all denials to the contrary, has never been disbanded or stood down. To the present day, the armchair generals and hard men of the Provos in Belfast and South Armagh still call the shots, if you'll pardon the pun, and dictate overall policy and strategy to their political alter-ego, Sinn Fein. These sinister, shadowy individuals, as Adams warned us very publicly, "haven't gone away, you know". They have never repudiated the strategy "to achieve a united Ireland with a ballot box in this hand, and an Armalite in the other". Maybe in his retirement Mr Adams will have time to reflect on and repent the atrocities inflicted by the Provisionals on innocent people on both sides of the Border. Conscience may at last tempt him to unburden himself to the authorities down here and in the North and provide information on a number of notorious murders. These must include the brutal killings of mother-of-10 Jean McConville, Co Louth farmer Thomas Oliver, Armagh man Paul Quinn and prison officer Brian Stack. However, I realise it is indeed a forlorn hope that he will come clean. If, as expected, McDonald becomes the next leader of Sinn Fein, my fear and the fear of many in this country is that Gerry Adams will remain the puppetmaster pulling the strings behind the scenes. For the foreseeable future, Sinn Fein as a political party will remain subservient and an obedient servant of its military wing, the Provisional IRA. A young boy with cerebral palsy has secured a 15m payment and apology under a settlement of his legal action against a Dublin maternity hospital over negligence in the circumstances of his birth. The President of the High Court, Mr Justice Peter Kelly, agreed with Eoin McCallig's father that there must be a "better way" of dealing with cases involving catastrophically injured children than via litigation extending over years to a "bitter end" and last-minute settlement offers. The settlement for Eoin was approved yesterday, just three days before his fifth birthday. Fair The judge said it was a "fair and just" settlement and praised the child's parents, Jean and Anthony, for their dedication to, and love for, him. A 13.4m offer was made last week but the judge agreed with the family's lawyers that was not adequate to meet the child's lifetime care needs and declined to approve it. The case seemed to involve "error upon error", including failure to act on instructions to move Eoin's mother to a delivery room earlier and to ensure continuous monitoring of the foetal heartbeat, the judge said. While it appeared negligence was admitted, the dispute, had the case gone to hearing, would have been whether the negligence caused the child's injuries and the plaintiff had a strong case in that regard, he added. Denis McCullough SC, for Eoin, said they were confident they would have succeeded in showing the injuries were suffered in the 20 minutes before Eoin's delivery and, had he been delivered earlier, those would not have been suffered. In an apology read to the court, the Master of the Coombe, Dr Sharon Sheehan, said it wished to apologise "sincerely and unreservedly" to Eoin and his parents over the "catastrophic" injuries suffered by him and the "devastating consequences". The judge said the apology, issued last Friday, came late in the day but he was sure it would be "some comfort" to the parents. Asked if they wished to say anything, Mr McCallig said that while a mistake may be forgiven, they could not understand why the case could not have been settled earlier. He said it was "crazy" some 800m in legal fees is spent fighting such cases and he would appeal to hospitals not to "compound the mistake". Mr McCallig added he did not think anyone in the court room would put themselves in Eoin's position for 50m, never mind 15m. The trial of a man accused of murdering a father-of-one has heard the deceased suffered 30 stab wounds when he was attacked in north Dublin. The court heard the accused subsequently told gardai that he was involved with the incident, and said: "The chap is dead now and I need to give him peace." Seamus Clarke SC yesterday opened the Central Criminal Court trial of Andrew Gibney (25), of Dromheath Avenue, Mulhuddart, Dublin, who has pleaded not guilty to murdering Gerard Burnett (28), at Castlecurragh Vale, Mulhuddart, Dublin, on August 21, 2012. Mr Clarke told the jury that it is being alleged that Mr Gibney murdered Mr Burnett. The accused was 20 years old at the time and both men lived in Mulhuddart, not far from each other, he said. Knives Counsel said the prosecution alleges that Mr Gibney and four other men went to Mr Burnett's home shortly before midnight on the night in question. "At least two of the men were armed with knives, one being the accused man," he said. Detailing the evidence to be heard, Mr Clarke said that Mr Burnett heard the doorbell ring and answered the door. Counsel said the prosecution case is that Mr Burnett was pulled out of the house, and he met his death after 30 wounds in total were inflicted on him. Mr Clarke went on to tell the jury that it would hear from Mr Burnett's partner, Denise Farrell, who was in the house at the time. The barrister said the jury would also hear evidence from Chief State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy, who found multiple stab wounds to Mr Burnett's head, neck and chest. There were six stab wounds to the right side of his chest, causing damage to his lungs and liver, he added. Mr Clarke said a search later took place at Mr Gibney's home and the accused went to a garda station with his father the following day. Mr Gibney allegedly told gardai that he was involved in the incident, and said: "The chap is dead now and I need to give him peace." Prosecution counsel Vincent Heneghan SC called Ms Farrell, the partner of Mr Burnett, to give evidence. Ms Farrell said she was in a relationship with the deceased for five-and-a-half years and they had a son together. The witness agreed with counsel that Mr Burnett was not working at the time of his death and he was occasionally in trouble with the law. She agreed he sold ecstasy on a small scale and - if the off-licence was shut - bottles of wine, but they would always get a phone call if someone was calling up to the house to purchase alcohol, the court heard. Ms Farrell said she and her partner were in the sitting room when the doorbell rang at 11.45pm on August 21. "I said not to answer the door but he said he would get it," said Ms Farrell. The witness said she was standing behind her partner when he opened the door. She said she could only see a man wearing a scarf with his hood up and she did not recognise him. Ms Farrell said she heard someone ask: "Are you Ger Burnett?" Her partner replied: "Yeah, why?" Dead Ms Farrell said she then heard someone say: "Ger Burnett, you're f**king dead." The witness said she did not know how many people were at the door but could hear people on the other side. She agreed with counsel that her partner was pulled out of the house. The witness said she closed the door, ran upstairs to get her child, who was asleep, and rang the gardai before running out of the back of the house. She subsequently learned that her partner was taken to hospital and later died. Under cross-examination by the defence, Ms Farrell denied that there was a discussion about alcohol at the door on the night. The trial continues before Mr Justice Paul Butler and a jury of five men and seven women. It is expected to last up to three weeks. The High Court has thrown out three legal challenges to plans for a new 320m runway at Dublin Airport. Mr Justice Max Barrett dismissed the actions over the proposed development of a 3,110-metre runway on 261 hectares in townlands north and north-west of the airport terminal building. The runway has been deemed vital by parties including the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) to proposals to turn the airport into an international hub. While the judge accepted there is a constitutional right to an environment, as was argued by Friends of the Irish Environment in its challenge, he held that it did not arise in circumstances where the group was not entitled to participate in the decision extending permission for the runway. That case was also brought against Fingal County Council and the State, with the DAA and Ryanair as notice parties. They had all rejected the claims. The judge also dismissed the claim by St Margaret's Concerned Residents Group against the DAA. Unauthorised The residents claimed certain pre-construction works carried out last December by the DAA amounted to unauthorised development. The judge further dismissed the action brought by 22 residents - most with addresses at Kilreesk Lane, St Margaret's, Co Dublin, who alleged the development was illegal. The cases have been adjourned for a week to let the parties consider the decisions. A man has gone on trial charged with the sexual assault of a woman he met on the Tinder dating app. The 36-year-old, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, has pleaded not guilty to sexual assault of the alleged victim at the University College Dublin (UCD) campus, Belfield, south Dublin, on July 23, 2014. Opening the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court case for the prosecution yesterday, Paul Burns told the jury the accused and the alleged victim made initial contact on the Tinder "website". They then moved on to communicating with each other by text messages. The court heard that on the day of the alleged assault, the accused met with the woman and picked her up in his car from her city centre flat. Mr Burns said the man took her to a secluded park on the UCD campus where he parked the car and then proceeded to sexually assault her. Mr Burns described how the accused kissed the woman, then became aggressive. He said he held her by the arm, put his hand up her dress, touching her thighs and interfered with the upper part of her clothing. The woman was telling the accused to stop and struggled with him, Mr Burns continued. He said she was then struck on the head by the defendant. Mr Burns told the jury that the woman's evidence would be that the man tried to prevent her getting out the car, but she managed to and he drove off. The prosecutor added that he was only giving a thumbnail sketch of what he anticipated would be heard in evidence and that his summary was not evidence in itself. Judge Cormac Quinn told the jury of six men and six women that they must not research the case on the internet or Google and must not talk to anyone outside the jury about the case. Warning He said if any of the jurors saw another member of the jury researching the case, they should report that immediately. He told the jury that this was a standard warning issued to all jurors. He added that if members of the jury panel or anyone close to them had been the victim of a sexual assault and this meant that they would not be in a position to be impartial or objective, they should not serve on the jury. The trial continues today. A judge in the Special Criminal Court trial of a man accused of murdering a pub manager said the late service of evidence in the case was a "shocking waste of time and money". The trial was yesterday adjourned until this morning. Eamonn Cumberton (30), of Mountjoy Street, Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Michael Barr (35) in the Sunset House pub, in the capital's north inner city, on April 25 last year. Shooting It is the prosecution's case that Mr Cumberton is "inextricably linked" to items seized from a partially burnt-out car near the scene, and that the items themselves are "inextricably linked" to the shooting. The court was listening to evidence yesterday from gardai at the mapping section when Bernard Condon, for the accused man, asked the judges for time to consider additional evidence that had been served to the defence by the prosecution on Monday night. Mr Justice Tony Hunt, presiding, sitting with Judge Patricia Ryan and Judge James Faughnan, said the late service of evidence was "a shocking waste of time and money". He adjourned the trial until this morning. Dominic McGinn opened the prosecution case in the murder trial on Monday. He told the court that Mr Barr was the manager of the pub where, on the day in question, he began work at 5.20pm. The court heard that some time between 8.30pm and 9.33pm, two men wearing masks and boiler suits "burst" into the pub. Mr McGinn said the evidence will be that the men "targeted" Mr Barr, shooting him multiple times in the head and neck. Balaclavas The court heard the evidence will be that gardai arrived and extinguished the fire in the car before it had taken hold, and that items of relevance were found on the rear seat, including loaded and cocked firearms, masks, balaclavas and boiler suits. Mr McGinn told the court that the emergency services had arrived at Sunset House but were unable to save Mr Barr, who was pronounced dead at 10.12pm. He had been shot seven times, with five shots to the head and one each to the shoulder and neck, the court was told. Mr Condon told the court that the defence will be challenging all of the prosecution's evidence. Rory Cowan gets familiar with the script for the Olympia panto Rory Cowan has said he can't wait to get stuck into his new role in the Olympia Christmas panto. The former Mrs Brown's Boys star said that playing the dame in the new production of Polly and the Beanstalk was a challenge he's relishing. He replaces comedian Al Porter. Speaking to the Herald last night about joining the Applegreen Christmas spectacular, Rory said: "I'm looking forward to it. It's going to be fabulous. Decorations "I played the Olympia many times in the past with Mrs Brown's Boys and it's a theatre I love. Expand Close Rory as Ugly Sister Barby in the 2015 Cheerios Panto Cinderella at the Tivoli / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Rory as Ugly Sister Barby in the 2015 Cheerios Panto Cinderella at the Tivoli "And working over the Christmas period is going to be great. "It means I won't have to listen to all my friends and neighbours asking why I don't have a Christmas tree or decorations up." This year's panto was written by Karl Spain and will run at the Olympia from December 15 until January 14. Rory revealed he will be starting rehearsals next Monday. He went on to heap praise on his co-stars, including Dustin the Turkey. "I've been a big Dustin fan for over 20 years and to be actually working with him is going to be brilliant," he said. "It's also going to be great to be working with Ryan Andrews and Michaela O'Neill. "Because of my background I rarely got to work with new people. It was usually always the same group, which wasn't a bad thing, but working with new people is exciting." Rory also described how different his Christmas will be now that he will no longer be doing the Mrs Brown's Boys tour. "This Christmas I won't be finishing a long UK tour a week or two before Christmas, which meant I was really exhausted over Christmas," he said. "This year it's going to be great. I've had a good break from touring and I'll also be working in my home city, which means I get to sleep in my own bed. That's a luxury." The 58-year-old also joked that because he will be working he will miss out on the usual festive celebrations. "I'll get to miss all those Christmas parties too. I sound like a grumpy old man, don't I? "But at my age the fun of Christmas parties is long gone. Have you noticed that you never lose the inner child in you and you still get the excitement of going to a panto every Christmas? "And this year I'm actually in one, in the Olympia. How fabulous is that?" Videos Rory has spread his wings considerably since leaving the cast of Brendan O'Carroll's hit series last summer. As well as continuing to provide the voice-overs on TV3's hit series Gogglebox Ireland, he has branched out into social media and has been keeping his fans updated on his life with YouTube videos. He has big plans for next year too. "Well, I hope I'll be doing Gogglebox Ireland again. I love working on that. It's such a laugh," he said. "My New Year's resolution is that I want to do more work on telly, so I'm going to pile on weight and see if I can get on Operation Transformation." Sarah McInerney has been linked with Ireland AM Broadcaster Sarah McInerney has been linked with Sinead Desmond's vacant slot on Ireland AM after announcing her decision to leave her weekend show on Newstalk. The journalist has confirmed she is leaving the station less than four months into her current role and will host her last show on Saturday, December 23. Her announcement comes only days after her former co-presenter Chris Donoghue also announced he was leaving the station, to work with Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney's team. Commit Speaking about quitting Newstalk, which is in a huge state of flux, McInerney told the Herald she had lots of plans for 2018. "I'm writing a book, and between that and The Sunday Show on TV3 I could no longer commit to the weekly show on Newstalk," she said. "I've really enjoyed working at the station with some great colleagues. I'm looking forward now to the future." While no reason was given for her departure from her Between the Lines show, her name is among those that have been linked with the high-profile presenting slot on TV3's flagship morning show. Given that she hails from a similar journalistic background to Desmond and already works for TV3 on The Sunday Show, an inside source said she has been mooted as a strong contender for the role. "Sarah has a proven track record in broadcasting and is equally capable on TV as radio," the source said. "She would be a huge addition to the Ireland AM team and already works for TV3, so it wouldn't be a huge shift for her. "She has loads of experience so she could handle everything from politics to soft news, and would be considered an ideal candidate to step into Sinead's shoes." Desmond left the station seven weeks ago after an alleged dispute over pay, which is now the subject of a legal matter with TV3's owners Virgin Media. McInerney, who took home two accolades from the IMRO National Radio Awards, was shifted to her 8am Saturday slot after the Drivetime show she co-presented with Donoghue was axed to make way for Ivan Yates. The reshuffle in August was widely criticised at the time. Newstalk hit the headlines for the wrong reasons again last month after Dil Wickremasinghe had her Saturday show cancelled. The move came after she criticised controversial comments on rape made by George Hook. The Winter Session is likely to be held from December 15 to January 5, sources said. By Balkrishna: Parliament will reconvene for a regular Winter Session which won't overlap with Assembly elections, Union Finace Minister Arun Jailey said Thursday. The Winter Session is likely to be held from December 15 to January 5, sources said. On Tuesday, the Congress alleged that the Modi government was "avoiding" the Winter Session in view of the upcoming Gujarat assembly elections, and to evade a discussion on issues the Opposition wants to raise during the session: ministers' scams, the Rafale deal, GST and demonetisation, for example. advertisement "The truth does not go away because you hide from it. Modi ji, stop hiding and open the Parliament so the truth of what you did on Rafale can be heard by the nation," Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi tweeted. MODI 'SABOTAGING' WINTER SESSION: SONIA Sonia Gandhi said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was "sabotaging" the Winter Session "on flimsy grounds," and that he "lacks the courage" to face his opponents. Refuting Sonia's charge, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said Parliament sessions were often rescheduled to ensure they didn't overlap with elections, and that the Congress had itself done so several times. Jaitley said that the Opposition party - when in power - had delayed a session in 2011, and even earlier, because the sittings coincided with election campaigns. "It has been a tradition and it has happened several times that Parliament sessions are rescheduled when an election is happening," he told reporters in Rajkot. He also said the Winter Session would be held for sure. The Congress, he said, would be "totally exposed". "The Congress has given the most corrupt government in its ten years of rule, while Narendra Modi has given the most honest government. By forcibly saying that a truth is a lie does not make it a lie," Jaitley said. (Inputs from agencies) ALSO WATCH | Congress self goal before Gujarat polls: Youth wing deletes tweet with meme on tea-seller Modi --- ENDS --- How good are these two guys, Penn State fans? It may surprise you ... football Ballia Superintendent of Police Anil Kumar said "there were instructions" that no one should "show black cloth" to Yogi Adityanath. A screenshot from the video of the incident (Courtesy: ANI) By India Today Web Desk: Police asked a woman to remove her burqa at a rally attended by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Uttar Pradesh's Ballia on Tuesday, the news agency ANI reported. Zee News reported that the woman was a BJP worker. ANI posted a video of the incident on its Twitter page. It shows three policewomen standing next to a burqa-clad woman. advertisement The noise in the background makes it difficult to hear what they're saying to each other. #WATCH: Woman asked by police to remove Burqa during CM Yogi Adityanath's rally in #UttarPradesh's Ballia, yesterday. pic.twitter.com/CgkQWUnXlC- ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) November 22, 2017 (Video courtesy: ANI/Twitter) Ballia Superintendent of Police Anil Kumar said he hadn't been informed that a woman was asked to remove her burqa. However, "there were instructions" that no one should "show black cloth" to Adityanath, Kumar was quoted as saying by ANI. I have not been informed of any incident where a woman was asked to take off her burqa. However, everyone had the instructions to see that no one shows black cloth to Yogi ji. Whatever you are mentioning will be probed and action will be taken.: Anil Kumar, Balia SP pic.twitter.com/7PkgSOAQwF- ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) November 22, 2017 --- ENDS --- By Sweta dutta: As the Congress struggles to make its mark on urban seats in poll-bound Gujarat, the party's frontal organisations - Youth Congress and NSUI have for the first time launched independent campaigns to reach out to the electorate. The party is also trying to move from large impersonal rallies to direct contact through door-to-door campaigns and interactive sessions with smaller groups of professionals, youth, women, traders and communities. advertisement "On 60 urban seats, where the Congress did not have much of a connect with voters, such as Ahmedabad and Vadodara, Youth Congress workers are going to every house to spread the party's message. That apart, we are also holding nukkad sabhas at tea and barber shops," Youth Congress president Amrinder Singh told MAIL TODAY. On the other hand, by drawing out parallels between Gujarat's track record in education and 'achievements' of Congress-ruled states such as Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Punjab, the NSUI aims to 'call the bluff' of the BJP dispensation in the state. --- ENDS --- Waldorf Astoria Key West announces the appointment of David Ferrier as director of food and beverage for Casa Marina and The Reach Resorts. With more than 16 years of hospitality experience, Ferrier manages the culinary program for both resorts including 15,000 square feet of event and banquet space, Casa Marinas Sun Sun, RUMba rum bar, and Spencers by the Sea at The Reach. Most recently, Ferrier served as the director of restaurants overseeing the management, hiring, and training of four food and beverage outlets at ARRIVE Palm Springs in California. Previously, he spent six years as corporate director of new property openings and training as well as general manager of multiple restaurants with BR Guest Hospitality in New York City and Philadelphia. Ferrier began his career in hospitality as a server at New York Citys Blue Water Grill in 2004. ALIS features an extensive array of seminars hosted by leading experts and investors discussing important trends and identifying new opportunities. Proceeds from ALIS will benefit the educational, research, and training missions of the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Foundation, AH&LA's not-for-profit affiliate. About AH&LA Serving the hospitality industry for more than a century, the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) is the sole national association representing all sectors and stakeholders in the lodging industry, including individual hotel property members, hotel companies, student and faculty members, and industry suppliers. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., AH&LA provides members with national advocacy on Capitol Hill, public relations and image management, education, research and information, and other value-added services to provide bottom-line savings and ensure a positive business climate for the lodging industry. Partner state associations provide local representation and additional cost-saving benefits to members. AH&LEF is the charitable fund-raising and endowed fund- management subsidiary of the American Hotel & Lodging Association. Founded in 1953, AH&LEF is the premier organization for scholarships, professional certification, and instructional material as well as funding for hospitality industry research. About BHN With almost three decades of experience, nearly 120 events completed to-date, and over 80,000 international delegates, BHN conferences have become must attend events for industry leaders who come together to network, conduct business and to learn about the latest trends. BHN events include: the Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS) in Los Angeles; the ALIS Summer Update; the Caribbean Hotel & Resort Investment Summit (CHRIS) in Miami; the Hotel Investment Conference Asia Pacific (HICAP) in Hong Kong; HICAP UPDATE in Singapore; the Hotel Investment Forum India (HIFI) in Gurgaon Delhi N.C.R.; the Hotel Opportunities Latin America (HOLA) conference in Miami; and the Hotel Investment Conference Europe (Hot.E) in London. The BHN website at www.Burba.com is the gateway for information about the conferences BHN produces, as well as a direct link to important players in the hospitality investment world. For more information please contact Bob Hayes +1 714 540 9300 WaterWalk Breaks Ground in Richardson, Texas WaterWalk, Jack DeBoers fifth national brand, announced today the groundbreaking of its third property at 2210 North Glenville Drive in Richardson, Texas. This is the second WaterWalk franchise property sponsored by MBC Partners who opened their first WaterWalk franchise property in Centennial, Colorado in September of this year. The planned two-building, four-story, 153-room hybrid hotel and apartment concept has a projected opening date of November 2018. Law Company of Wichita, Kansas is serving as general contractor and Woolpert of Dallas, Texas is serving as architect and civil engineer. WaterWalk was created by entrepreneur Jack DeBoer, founder of Residence Inn (now Marriott), Candlewood Suites, Value Place (now WoodSpring Suites), and Summerfield Suites (now Hyatt House). WaterWalks first property opened in Wichita, Kansas in November 2014 and its second property opened in Centennial, Colorado in September 2017. Three additional locations are under construction and seven construction starts are planned for the next eight months. The next two locations to open will be San Antonio, Texas in March 2018 and Las Colinas, Texas in May 2018. WaterWalk combines the space and comfort of apartment living with the services of an upscale hotel. Business travelers staying a few nights to several months for relocations, training, or projects gain an added level of comfort and convenience with a fully-equipped modern kitchen, full-size in-room washer and dryer, housekeeping, and customized breakfast options delivered weekly to their suite. Guests also enjoy an onsite fitness center, 300 DirecTV channels and a DVR, internet, and 24/7 front desk service. For those seeking an improved apartment experience, residents of WaterWalk get more for their money with all utilities, internet, DirecTV with 300 channels, and a DVR included in one monthly payment. Additional benefits include a washer and dryer in each unit, flexible lease terms, 24/7 front desk service, an on-site fitness center, and the savings and convenience of no security deposit, administrative fee, or utility deposits. Upon completion, WaterWalk Richardson guests will experience additional amenities not yet seen before at previous WaterWalk locations with the planned introduction of WaterWalk Prototype 4.0. New amenities will include a beautiful outdoor swimming pool with a lounge area along with an expansive outdoor green space. WaterWalk Richardson will also be the very first WaterWalk location to have balconies and a spacious new lobby. The open concept will invite guests and residents to linger and connect with one another at the coffee bar or over a televised sporting event on the 70 flat screen television in the media room. A high level of attention will also be paid to selecting comfortable and stylish lobby furniture to further enhance the guest experience. WaterWalk is eager to add another WaterWalk property to the thriving Dallas, Texas area and were honored to be doing it with MBCs founding partners Rob Mossburg, Chris Copps, and Bill Booth, said David Redfern, president of WaterWalk. MBC Partners could not be more pleased to break ground in Richardson with its second WaterWalk franchise, and to have invested in two of the countrys most dynamic markets, said Rob Mossburg. We look forward to a smooth construction period, a strong pre-opening sales effort, and witnessing the operational talents for which WaterWalk management is well known. Companies using WaterWalk for their corporate housing needs will find a particularly convenient added level of service compared to other corporate housing facilities, including a national sales team, full support staff on-site 24 hours a day for any guest needs, increased flexibility in arrival and departure dates, and the convenience of a 24-hour notice to vacate. WaterWalk is focused on strategically expanding throughout the United States via corporate and franchised locations. Over the next two years, WaterWalks expansion plans include properties in Denver, CO; Washington, D.C.; Phoenix, AZ; Salt Lake City, UT; Miami, FL; Charlotte, NC; Raleigh, NC; Overland Park, KS; Nashville, TN; and Austin, TX. Benchmark has named Stacy T. Martin managing director of Delta Hotels - Marriott Dallas Allen & Watters Creek Convention Center, a Benchmark Resorts & Hotels property currently being constructed in the city of Allen, Texas, north of Dallas. The Four Star, full-service hotel and convention center is scheduled to open in January of 2019. Greg Champion, Benchmark's chief operating officer, announced the appointment, which represented a promotion for Ms. Martin. "It is with pleasure that I announce Stacy's new role in our company," said Mr. Champion. "I can't think of anyone more qualified for leading this exciting new property. A highly experienced hotel executive, Stacy also brings an important understanding of Benchmark's Be The Difference service culture to Delta Hotels - Marriott Dallas Allen & Watters Creek Convention Center. We congratulate her on this well-deserved promotion." Stacy Martin was previously Benchmark's general manager for The Heldrich, a hotel and conference center located in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Prior to joining Benchmark, Ms. Martin served as general manager of The Ellis Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia. She has held senior leadership positions for a number of hotels in markets across the country, including Daytona Beach, Naples, Seattle, Dallas, and Boston. Ms. Martin earned her Bachelor of Science in Hotel Administration degree from Whittemore School of Business and Economics at the University of New Hampshire. She also attended Cornell University. Martin is the recipient of numerous awards of excellence during her career. She is relocating to Wylie, Texas. All is not well on the Drake-Bella Hadid front. After rumors had been circulating for a while now about the couples supposed romance, it looks like these two arent actually in touch with each other anymore. According to Us Weekly, Drake apparently ghosted Hadid, which is the main catalyst as to why neither party is speaking to the other at the moment. Things ended over text when he basically ghosted her, a source close to Drake told the gossip outlet. The two began to heat up the rumor mill again when Drizzy was a guest at the models 21st birthday party, which was held in New York City back in October. Since then, speculation had grown more rampant about the two alleged lovebirds dating in secret, trying to shield themselves from being seen together in public by the paparazzi. Despite all of that, Drake has continued to insist that he and Hadid were just friends. Whatever warm and fuzzy they had for each other seems to have cooled now, but there has not been any confirmation of things one way or the other from the rapper or the model. Hadid is no stranger to dating Torontos most eligible bachelors from the world of hip-hop and R&B. She and The Weeknd had previously been an item, with the two breaking it off in 2016 after multiple years of dating. Abel then moved on to Selena Gomez and, while Drakes reported tryst with Hadid was never confirmed, reports had circulated not long ago that the relationship between the two music power players had soured. However, Gomez is now back with Justin Bieber, while The Weeknd has moved on to the Biebs ex, Yovanna Ventura. A potential reason why Drake remains a single man is that his dad keeps swiping any possible love interests for himself. Or, at least thats what their hilarious new commercial for Virginia Black Whiskey would lead you to believe. Also, Im pretty sure Dennis Graham is the only man who is able to get away with saying the words nice turtleneck to the Six God. Love, it seems, is more than a little complicated. Drake A couple months ago, rumors started circulating online that Eminems forthcoming 9th studio album, Revival, would be dropping November 17th, but as you know that unfortunately didnt happen as the day came and went and no album was dropped. But the site that originally started the rumor, Hits Double Daily, is now back with another projected release date for Ems 9th album. According to HDD, Revival is now projected to drop December 8th. U2 is now expected on 12/1 and Eminem is believed to be coming on 12/8, their page reads. While the release date hasnt been officially confirmed by Em or his camp, all signs are pointing that the album is right around the corner. Not only did Em drop off a new single with Beyonce called Walk On Water and perform on SNL this past weekend, but he also partook in a very rare interview on Shade 45 last week as well, which is imminent that hes in promo mode for the album. It should also be pointed that Walk On Water is no longer being promoted as Revivals lead single on Ems website thanks to one clever Reddit user. On November 10, it said the song was the first single from his forthcoming album and now, that part has been removed from the description. Its unknown if well get to hear another preview of the album before it arrives, but something tells me we will. This report comes just days after Eminem called the fan who decoded the album title on Reddit. Slim Shady stan Tara received an impromptu call from the legendary Detroit emcee after she was the first to pick up on one of the barely there hints to his upcoming studio effort back in mid-October. Well continue to keep you posted while we wait for an official announcement. Hopefully thats sooner than later though. [Via] Eminem The relationship between Nipsey Hussle and Lauren London is officially over. The California rapper and ATL actress have been together for a number of years and share a child, Kross Asghedom, who celebrated his first birthday on August 27th. The reason for the breakup is unknown, but its clear theres still, and seemingly always will be, a lot of love between the two. Lauren has always stayed private about her family matters on social media, but Nipsey found it necessary to tweet the news to his 694K Twitter followings, saying, this was A mutual choice and We will function with each-other as family w love and respect. Read the full tweet below. Lauren has not tweeted since July, but since the break-up news hit the media, she recently sent out one tweet saying, Love. Thats it. The couples decision to part ways romantically comes as a shock to some loyal fans and Twitter users who looked up to the duo as a hip-hop power couple. One user tweets, Lauren London and Nipsey Hussle breaking up, proves that the only thing thats real is, J. Cole going double platinum with no features. While another says, Nipsey and Lauren London broke up.i give tf up. Check out more reactions below. Over the past several years, Rihanna has taken her musical talents and used it in becoming a well-recognized business person. Shes launched her own fragrance, launched a line of beauty supplies and collaborated with numerous companies to deliver her own unique line of clothing and accessories. Most notably, she linked up with PUMA for her Fenty x Puma collection. The success of the line has undoubtedly created knock offs and bootlegs of the product. However, one of Rihannas relatives has been part of the fake Fenty apparel floating around. Barbados leading news outlet, Nation News, reports that Rihannas uncle, Leroy Fitzgerald Brathwaite, is charged with selling knock-offs of Rihannas Puma line. Funny enough, they say he was caught after Rihanna was visiting the country and had seen some knock-offs of her t-shirts and slippers being sold on Swan Street. She told a Puma representative who later flew in to Barbados to investigate the matter. After concluding they were indeed fake, the rep made a police report which led to Brathwaites arrest. They say he had about $1000 in merchandise and one of Pumas officials from Curacao went to court to witness it all. The charges Brathwaite faces are under the Fair Trading Comminssions Consumer Protection Act. His lawyer is now combating the charges, saying they werent laid properly and the case should ultimately be dismissed. Hes pleaded not guilty to the charges. As of now, hes off on $1000 bail. Its an interesting series of events. While just about anybody can sell knock-offs of anything, for Rihannas uncle to be the one to be doing that must lead to awkward family gatherings. Shes yet to make a public statement on the matter but its likely that she wont be doing that anytime soon. In other Rihanna related news, shes been on a streak to end 2017 on a high note. Yesterday, she was revealed as the face of Vogue Paris three cover edition as well as the face of four issues of Dazed Magazine. Regardless of the Fenty x Puma drama, shes been killing it regardless. Rome Fortunes been in full force for the past few weeks. The Atlanta rappers been gearing up to drop his forthcoming album Pimpstar Popstar and every track hes dropped thusfar has delivered a different side of Rome. Today, he comes through with an experimental banger with WHATCHUWANT. Romes latest track has a video game like synth running through it while the 808 drums on it give it the necessary bounce to keep running with. The rapper brings a laid back flow on the track, keeping his cool while getting his message across. Its a shorter track but Romes cool vibe makes this track a perfect song to vibe out to. With WHATCHUWANT, he continues to build anticipation for the project. Hes already dropped three songs, including this one, and is looking to release the project in January of next year. Romes definitely an artist to keep an eye out for and by the sounds of his most recent releases, it seems hes looking to take over 2018. Quotable Lyrics Knuckle still my nigga so, bitch you been guessed it Young nigga with attitude but still its no pressure You want it then you got it including hands, nigga catch it I always been the type of extend a long gesture 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 President Pahor's re-election as President of the Republic of Slovenia Washington, DC - The United States congratulates President Pahor on his re-election as President of the Republic of Slovenia. Slovenia is a close U.S. partner and NATO Ally, and we value the contributions Slovenia makes to regional and global peace and stability. We appreciate President Pahors work to strengthen the U.S.-Slovenian relationship and, during his second term, look forward to deepening our already close cooperation on security, economic, and people-to-people ties between our two countries. Womans Reaction to Daughter-in-law's Dance Moves is Melting Hearts on Internet Feelings of resentment and anxiety towards Brexit are particularly acute among those living in Border counties in the Republic, as they didn't have a vote in the referendum yet will be deeply affected by what occurs, according to a study by Queen's University. As tensions mount between the EU and UK over whether "sufficient progress" can be made on the Border issue by December, Queen's has published a report looking at the impact of Brexit on what it describes as the central border region, and the views of those living there. The area is made up of eight councils from Northern Ireland and the Republic, including Armagh city, Banbridge and Craigavon; Fermanagh and Omagh; Mid-Ulster and the counties of Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Monaghan and Sligo. The area had a population in 2011 of 850,000 people, and accounts for about a fifth of the land area of the island. Over 300 people in the area took part in the study. The report notes that there are feelings of "acute anxiety" among those on the southern side of the Border, and that the psychological aspect of a potential re-emergence of a border is not simply felt by those in Northern Ireland. "The fact that these respondents did not have a vote in the referendum and yet are deeply affected by its outcome means that the feelings of resentment, anxiety and voicelessness are particularly acute among respondents in the southern border counties," the report stated. The report quoted an unnamed respondent who highlighted the integrated nature of the communities. "The man that fixes my car lives in Newtownbutler, Co Fermanagh - to drive you'd go out the Cavan road into Co Fermanagh, then into Co Monaghan, then into Co Fermanagh - then you get to his house. I could do that journey in 10 or 15 minutes; what would that be like if crossing an international European border?" Read more: It said people from Donegal were particularly worried, given its geographic position and close links to the North. Prepared by Dr Katy Hayward, Reader in Sociology at Queen's, the report concludes that Brexit is already having an impact on people on both sides of the border. It said the different political responses to Brexit are starting to have a "polarising" effect at a community level and that many respondents said that they would avoid crossing the Border, or would do so less, should there be any difficulty or obstacles in the future. Dr Hayward concludes that the way that the Border is experienced today is seen primarily as an achievement of the peace process. "It is thus extremely important that, throughout the Brexit process, the EU and UK government continue to maintain their shared principles of upholding the 1998 Agreement, protecting the peace process and avoiding a hard border. In seeking to realise these principles in their negotiations, they hold immense and direct responsibility for the future prospects of the border region as a place of stability, growth and peace." British International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said the legislation would help the UK seize this unprecedented opportunity The UK government has published legislation allowing it to slap duties on imports in the event of a hard Brexit. The Taxation (Cross-border Trade) Bill will allow it to implement a standalone customs regime once it leaves the EU. The UK Treasury said the Bill would help ensure that goods can move "smoothly and safely in and out of the UK, and that everyone pays the right tax". London has previously said that it would apply the same customs duty to every country with which it does not have a trade deal, and that the scale of that duty would be set out before the country formally pulls out of the bloc. The Bill's publication shows that the UK government is preparing for the scenario that it might crash out of the EU without a deal. The Treasury also said that the legislation would allow the Government to implement different outcomes of the EU negotiations, including an implementation period. The Bill follows the publication in October of the White Paper legislating for the UK's future customs, VAT and excise regimes, which set out the key objectives of the new laws. The Bill will allow London to charge and vary customs duty on goods, specify which goods are subject to what duty, and set preferential or additional duties in certain circumstances. International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said the legislation will help the UK "seize this unprecedented opportunity to boost British businesses and support a global trade system that works for the UK". The Bill was also backed by UK Chancellor Philip Hammond. A fourfold increase in revenues from house sales last year contributed to pre-tax profits more than doubling to 5.99m at Michael Cotter's Park Developments. New figures show that Park Developments (Dublin) Ltd recorded the pre-tax profit increase last year after revenues increased by 147pc, from 18.43m to 45.69m. Park Developments is best known as the company behind the Park commercial development in Carrickmines, Dublin. The figures show that the company benefited from the recovery in the housing market in the capital last year, with revenues from residential homes increasing from 12m to 36m. The company also took advantage of the rise in land prices and recorded land sales totalling 8.3m last year - compared to 89,091 under that heading in 2015. The company recorded commercial sales of 4m in 2015 and no sales under that heading in 2016. The firm did record revenues of 1.28m for contracting industrial work last year. The company also recorded other income of 6.6m and this included income of 2.6m from US investments. The company incurred an exceptional cost of 7.86m and this related to the firm making a capital contribution of 7.86m to Killiney Estates Ltd. The amount is not repayable to Park Developments (Dublin) Ltd. A note attached to the accounts states that funding arrangements up to December 2018 have been agreed with the National Asset Management Agency. The note states that the funds are dependent on the group achieving specified financial performance metrics, primarily in relation to cash generated from operations and from a programme of asset development and asset disposals. On market risks facing the company, the directors state that "high transactional activity has improved in recent months, despite some uncertainty within the market. "High costs of borrowing and a difficulty in securing attractive lending terms continue to hamper investor demand". Six directors served during the year and directors' remuneration increased to 793,275 . The company had shareholder funds of 73.28m and this included 65.28m in accumulated profits. The company's cash pile increased from 1.7m to 5.23m. Farmers from as far away as Kerry and Donegal are storing their valuables in security vaults in Dublin. Seamus Fahy of Merrion Vaults told the Farming Independent that it has seen an increased number of farmers hire its vaults. "Farmers from all over the country are storing valuables in our vaults. They're coming from all over the country from Donegal to Kerry," he said. Mr Fahy said that the increased number of robberies in rural areas in recent weeks is the reason for the rising demand from farmers. "It always happens when there are aggravated burglaries. Farmers have CCTV and other security measures but the vaults give them an added peace of mind," he said. Mr Fahy added that farmers are storing important documents like title deeds and wills in the vaults, while young farmers are storing USB sticks with files on them. In 2015, Ireland's banks ended their safekeeping vault services with many now availing of private vault companies to store their valuables. IFA farm business chairman, Martin Stapleton added that there's been an increased number of Gardai asked to speak at regional IFA meetings due to the recent spate of rural crime incidents. The Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed has warned that using state funds to support farmers in difficulty due to fodder shortages could further fuel the crisis. In a debate on the issue in the Dail yesterday, Minister Creed said he acknowledged the difficulties faced by any farmer who has been farming on heavy ground in a year in which there has been exceptionally high rainfall. I am not going to get into the difference of opinion about whether there is sufficient fodder in the country, but the Teagasc assessment on the pasture sward is that 2017 was, in fact, a record year for grass growth and that there is sufficient fodder in the country. The problem is that we have surplus in certain areas and a deficit in other areas. Fianna Fail Agriculture Spokesperson Charlie McConalogue says the Government is walking us into another fodder crisis because it is failing to take action to respond to the issue. He is calling on Minister Michael Creed to establish a fund for affected farmers. Deputy McConalogue, along with seven Fianna Fail colleagues, tabled a special topical debate in the Dail, to emphasise the urgency of the issue. However, Minister Creed stressed that it is not the case that my Department has not been proactive on this issue. A number of weeks ago, long before any of the Deputies stood to raise the issue, I asked Teagasc to go out into the farmyards in the regions where they are and find out what the situation is on the ground. If there is to be a scheme it has to be one that is based on the evidence on the ground from the Department officials and Teagasc which is in the farmyards in the regions concerned. That process is under way. I am satisfied that there is sufficient fodder. There are problems at the moment about escalating prices for fodder being demanded. We need to be conscious of how we fuel that by the expectation that the State's chequebook may be opened in this area. We need to be conscious of how we progress this matter. The Department is obliged to be rational about it and accumulate the evidence as best it can and then make a decision. That is under way. I keep an open mind on the matter, but I am conscious that our commentary is fuelling fodder prices when there is no need for that escalation in price, he warned. A seasonal garda operation to target Christmas tree raiders is now "in full swing", as Irish growers predict a bumper harvest of festive firs. Operation Hurdle, which is now in its sixth year, will see an increased garda presence between now and Christmas in Co. Wicklow, which has the highest concentration of Christmas tree farms in the country. Regular air patrols in the run-up to Christmas will also enable gardai to keep an eye on any suspicious activity around the more remote plantations across the county. Supt. Paul Hogan, who set up the initiative back in 2012 after a delegation of concerned farmers approached him following a spate of thefts, said the threat growers used to face from criminal gangs has since reduced dramatically. He said: "We've only just officially launched this year's Operation Hurdle, but we've been running it for the past few weeks. "Our focus is primarily on prevention, because the criminals and gangs out there know we're keeping a very close eye on things. The Christmas tree farms are our main focus since we set it up at the instigation of the growers, but we're also looking out for poachers and that kind of activity, which tends to increase towards Christmas. "We also have the help of the air corps unit, which can cover large tracts of land and quickly spot anything suspicious." Supt. Hogan, who's based at Wicklow town garda station, set up Operation Hurdle after a group of farmers approached him for help, following an incident in 2011 when a grower in Roundwood was tied up and robbed. Up to then criminal gangs had successfully plundered many farms across the county, stealing over 2,000 festive firs a year and costing growers as much as 100,000. But an increased garda presence, plus investment from the growers themselves in security measures - such as employing security guards and setting up CCTV cameras and motion detectors around their plantations - has helped them win the war on Christmas tree crime. Grower Christy Kavanagh, who expects to supply around 10,000 trees in total from his isolated farm in Newtownmountkennedy, Co. Wicklow, to both the Irish and export market this year, described Operation Hurdle as "a wonderful success". He said: "There has hardly been any theft at all since it was set up and it has a ripple effect across the communities around here, because levels of poaching are kept right down and older people and those who live on their own feel a lot safer at night, because there's a bigger garda presence around. Christy, who's a multi-award winning grower and vice-president of the Irish Christmas Trees Growers Association, also said many Irish farmers can look forward to a bumper harvest following a "very good growing season". The total value of the Christmas tree market to the Irish economy is estimated to be about 21million. The Nordmann Fir accounts for 75pc of trees grown in this country, with another 15 per cent made up by the Noble Fir and the remaining 10 per cent by several other varieties. Denmark is the largest producer of Christmas trees in Europe, but the high-quality crop produced in this country have made Ireland the biggest exporter of festive first to the UK, with strong demand also from France, Germany, Belgium and Holland. I never bought into the notion that the Department of Agriculture is some kind of cruel taskmaster that has it in for farmers. Despite the tirades I've listened to from farmers over the years about how the treatment they received from the Department, I also know lots of great people in Kildare Street and Maynooth and elsewhere who put their hearts and souls into what can often be a thankless job on behalf of the State. But the last year has been an eye-opener for me and given more of the farmer's point of view. It is almost 12 months ago that I decided to have another go at full-time farming. Armed with my experiences in media and many years of part-time farming, I felt that no amount of government "red-tape" could faze me. Ah, the boundless optimism of youth! Over 200 pages of detailed rules, regulations, notices, and amendments later, I'm feeling fairly fazed alright. First of all there was a litany of hoops to be jumped through to have entitlements transferred. When that was finally sorted, I got a call from a Department fella one Friday who said that he just needed to do a parcel identification inspection. He knew that I had a few sheep too from the sheep census. He wanted to call there and then but I was in the Independent offices in Dublin at the time, and so he organised to come to the farm the following Monday. An affable chap turned up at the appointed time, and I duly showed him around amid pleasantries about silage cutting and the like. He seemed content that all the parcels checked out. "Now what about those sheep," he added before leaving. "I presume that you've got all in order there?" I've had two ewes and a few goats for the last 10 years that were part of a mobile farm unit that I brought around to schools to educate kids. One of them didn't have a tag. He told me not to be unduly worried, but to get a tag in the next few days, and he would return then. It was the first sheep tag I ever ordered and it was duly applied. On the return visit the tags were noted, but then a sheep register was demanded, and when I indicated that I'd never had one, the tone changed. A 5pc penalty duly followed in the following days, a big hit on the 250ac cropping enterprise that I was coming home to run. The fact that the penalty was due to a totally non-commercial element parked in a corner of the farm only rubbed salt in the wound. Notified Of course, I was only notified of this days before the Basic Payment was due - a time when most farmers' cashflows are at their most vulnerable, since much of the year is spent waiting for proverbial "cheque in the post". I still had my savings from my off-farm work to fall back on, so I appealed the fine, in the full knowledge that it would probably take a few months to sort out. More on that in a bit. In the space of the subsequent four weeks I was notified that I was also in breach of nitrates rules which would result in a 20pc penalty, and that I was going to lose another 1pc after a 'remote sensing report' had found that I had claimed on ineligible areas. I appealed both of these, especially the remote sensing result which carved out the end of the drills in each field where the planter has to be raised to turn. They were being kept in good agricultural condition, and there is no other way to plant tubers or bulbs in the ground with machinery. Both appeals were immediately accepted, but the appeal on the sheep tag had cost me handsomely and still lies in somebody's drawer somewhere. This is a full12 months after I initially appealed, and over six months since the 20-minute hearing of the appeal in Navan. This year I got another notice just days before the Basic Payment was due to be issued - this time to inform me that another slice had been carved off my total area for a gap or a hedge somewhere. It didn't bother me to accept it since I had the land to spare. But it reminded me of a farmer complaining bitterly about the issuing of notices of deductions and fines days before the payment is due. Only the financially strongest of farmers can afford to hold out and fight their corner. The vast majority simply have to accept the deduction and roll with it in order to keep cashflow - no matter how much reduced - coming in. Uncontested Thousands of uncontested reductions will undoubtedly multiply up over the years and reduce the total being paid out to farmers. Maybe that's the intention. That way the Department officials can show the lads in Brussels that they've really pulled up their socks since the LPIS overclaim affair where EU auditors calculated that the Department had overpaid farmers to the tune of nearly 100m. Unfortunately, all farmers are now bearing the brunt of Agriculture House's renewed efforts to administer a 2bn subsidy regime. It's a shame that honest farmers - yes, I include myself here - get soured in the process, and yes, I'm one of those, too. At some point the Department will need grassroots farmers championing their work, too. The absence of compulsory electronic tagging in the sheep sector is hindering access for exports into new markets, Agriculture Minister Michael Creed has warned. Mr Creed insisted the traceability issue would have to be "revisited". "I don't think we'll be getting sheepmeat access [to Japan] under our current traceability regime," he said following the recent Irish trade mission to Japan and Korea. Mr Creed acknowledged there has been strong resistance from the farming bodies on electronic tagging, with cost raised as a major factor. "It won't come as a surprise to the industry," he said. "It is an issue we just can't afford to ignore any more." Mr Creed said the traceability issue had also come up in access discussions with the US. Traceability was strong in the sheep sector but if an issue involving a recall ever arose, the discrepancies between the sheep and the beef system would be raised, added Mr Creed. Lamb does not feature strongly on menus in either Japan or Korea, with just 10,700 tonnes of sheepmeat imported into Korea last year compared with 464,900t of pigmeat. IFA national sheep chairman John Lynskey said Ireland has a strong national sheep identification system (NSIS) with individual tagging of all sheep, including electronic tagging of all our 2.5 million ewe flock. Electronic tagging involved "considerable work and costs on producers in a very low-income sector" and it must deliver dividends in terms of market access and price return, he said. The farm bodies have warned it would add to costs, with a pair of electronic ID tags costing 1.30. Mr Lynskey said Irish farmers are puzzled as to why New Zealand has market access to all EU countries as well as the US, China and Japan even though it has no tagging system at all. ICSA sheep chairman John Brooks said he is very sceptical about a sudden drive for full-electronic tagging on the back of the trade visit. "We should not rush to make substantial changes on foot of dubious promises of future sales of sheepmeat to countries thousands of miles away," he said. "There is absolutely no need for any more traceability when it comes to the majority of lamb which is killed direct at meat factories from the farm of birth." The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) confirmed an audit on traceability in the sheep sector was currently being finalised. Beef access Meanwhile, Minister Creed said he had received a "positive" response on the issue of access for beef over 30 months with his counterparts in Japan. Imports of Irish offal, mainly beef tongue, to Japan stand at 16m and continue to grow. He also met with his Korean counterpart to discuss beef access to the country which is just 70pc self-sufficient in beef. "There is a six stage process and we are at stage four," Minister Creed said. "We had a delegation from Korea in Ireland earlier this year and we believe it went quite well but it [progress] is slower than we would like," he admitted. Irish pigmeat exports to Korea are worth 4m a year. The European Commission has slammed Ireland for failing to collect 13bn from Apple that Brussels claimed is owed in Irish back taxes. Ireland says the tax was never owed and is appealing the controversial ruling, but was due to collect the tax by the start of this year and has so far failed to do so. More than one year after the commission adopted this decision, Ireland has still not recovered the money, EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager says in emailed statement. As a result, the Commission has now referred Ireland to the EU Court of Justice, which could impose a penalty for failing to meet the deadline. Expand Close Apple chief executive Tim Cook. Picture: PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Apple chief executive Tim Cook. Picture: PA The Department of Finance has described the Commission's decision as "extremely disappointing" in a statement. "Ireland has never accepted the Commissions analysis in the Apple state aid Decision," they said. "However, we have always been clear that the Government is fully committed to ensuring that recovery of the alleged Apple state aid takes place without delay and has committed significant resources to ensuring this is achieved. Ireland fully respects the rule of law in the European Union. "That is why it is extremely disappointing that the Commission has taken action at this time against Ireland. "Irish officials and experts have been engaged in intensive work to ensure that the State complies with all its recovery obligations as soon as possible, and have been in constant contact with the European Commission and Apple on all aspects of this process for over a year. "It is extremely regrettable that the Commission has taken this action, especially in relation to a case with such a large scale recovery amount. Ireland has made significant progress on this complex issue and is close to the establishment of an escrow fund, in compliance with all relevant Irish constitutional and European Union law. "The work on the establishment of the escrow fund to deal with the unprecedented recovery amount will continue, notwithstanding the fact that Commission has taken this wholly unnecessary step." More to follow... Since its launch in Ireland, Bain Capital Credit, has lent close 500m and is on course to hit close to 600m by the end of the year. Stock image Bain Capital Credit, the debt arm of the US private equity giant, has selected Dublin as the new headquarters of its European funds management operations, in a major coup for its local arm, Broadhaven Credit Partners, which is now expected to oversee a portfolio worth billions. The move will see Broadhaven, led here by ex-banker David Cullen, rebrand as Bain. Sources stressed the decision potentially paves the way for Bain to relocate the EU funds management arm of its far larger private equity unit to Dublin too. It is understood the credit arm of the US buyout giant, once known as Sankaty Advisers, had considered shifting its EU funds to Luxembourg but opted to expand its Irish business instead. Mr Cullen, now a principal on the Bain Capital Credit team, declined to comment on the firm's Brexit strategy but said "we are delighted to now operate under the Bain Capital name, one of the most respected investment brands in the world". "We fundamentally believe in the potential the Irish market and we are keen to partner with businesses with good management and a compelling strategic plan, irrespective of the sector," said Alon Avner, head of Bain Capital Credit's Europe team. Bain forged into the market in 2014, establishing a 220m fund under the Broadhaven banner in partnership with businessman Dermot Desmond to fill a lending gap left by retreating banks Since its launch in Ireland, Bain Capital Credit, has lent close 500m and is on course to hit close to 600m by the end of the year, making it one of the largest alternative financiers in the State. It recently injected 35m into the McGettigan family-run group that owns Dublin's Regency Hotel, ousting previous lender, Oaktree Capital, and enabling the hotelier to emerge from examinership. Now, closer a alignment with its US parent could herald a fresh expansion phase as the responsibility for a vast funds management business transfers to Ireland. Bain Capital Credit has hoovered up billions of euros worth of debt in Europe recently, amassing portfolios of soured loans from Spanish and Portuguese lenders. Last month it snapped up a 600m bundled of non-performing loans from Liberbank, a regional Spanish bank in partnership with the private equity firm, Oceanwood. By contrast, its Irish acquisitions have been far smaller, typically ranging from 10m to 70m, although it has always had the option to tap the balance sheet of its parent for a meatier deal. Bain is among buyers expected to look at AIB's vast Redwood portfolio, which is due to be launched within weeks. As this newspaper has reported, the partly nationalised bank is planning to shed close to 3.7bn worth of non-performing loans although a deal is expected to be struck at a far lower valuation of about 2bn. Meanwhile, UK ship insurer Standard Club has plumped for Dublin as the location for its new EU subsidiary, the second specialist provider to opt for Ireland in the past two days. North P&I Club, another UK regulated ship insurer, has also chosen Dublin for its EU base. Permanent TSB (PTSB) may be forced to raise fresh capital to make up for losses on loan sales, if new EU rules force the bailed-out lender to accelerate the disposal of problem loans - according to the bank that advised on its stock market flotation two years ago. US investment bank Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW) downgraded its recommendation on PTSB to "underperform" on the back of what it called "regulatory headwinds" and fears the bank could struggle to sell off non-performing loans without needing additional capital. KBW was part of the syndicate that managed PTSB's 2015 IPO. If PTSB was forced to raise fresh capital it would be at the expense of existing shareholders - including the State - in effect driving up the cost of the bank's bailout. A spokesman for PTSB declined to comment. The Irish bank is profitable, which has bolstered its capital - the reserves it has against potential losses - and is already planning to sell a 1.25bn portfolio of distressed buy-to-let mortgages to help clean up the 2.68bn of soured loans on its balance sheet. However, European banking supervisors are pushing all banks to speed up reduction of problem loans - by selling or curing the customer debts. PTSB has the highest share of problem loans of the main Irish banks. If it was forced to sell them off faster it would likely mean worse prices, and therefore eat up more of the capital the bank now holds. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analyst Daragh Quinn reduced his target price PTSB to 2, implying a 5.5pc decrease from the last regular trade. The shares closed at 2.12 each last night. The ECB's plans to force a faster clean-up of bad loans have strong support in countries including Germany, but face resistance among countries where the bad debts are a bigger problem. This week in Italy, the head of Banca Cariga criticised the EU's new still-to-be-approved rules, arguing they endangered a salvage operation there. ECB President Mario Draghi said on Monday that a Europe-wide bank rescue fund should be dependent on progress tackling problem loans. Dublin based med-tech company HealthBeacon is embarking on a new 5m round of investment funding. The company, which connects real life data about a patients behaviour and can provide powerful clinical insights and targeted interventions to improve treatment and outcomes, aims to raise the funds before the end of 2018. "We are excited to announce HealthBeacons next investment phase as we continue to move towards global connection of healthcare through assisting in clever patient medication management and revolutionizing medication adherence. Our technology provides powerful insights for medics by providing real world patient data," Jim Joyce, CEO, HealthBeacon, said. To-date HealthBeacon has raised over 3m with current investors including Elkstone Partners and Oyster Capital. The funding announcement was made at an "Investing in Digital Health" event, a private investor event hosted by HealthBeacon. The event gathered authorities from the world of medical tech, medical entrepreneurs, and investors for the purpose of discussing growth and investment opportunities in digital health. Earlier this year HealthBeacon announced the creation of 20 new jobs in Dublin, bringing its total headcount to 37. The companys "Smart Sharps System" helps patients adhere to their medication schedule and, the expansion of the platform will provide access to the technology globally in Europe, North America, South America and the Middle East. An Posts proposed strategy moving forward involves splitting the company into two distinct business units dealing with mail and retail. Stock photo Post offices are to develop a wider range of financial and banking services in a bid to remain relevant in the internet era. As he confirmed a 30m lifeline to rural post offices, Communications Minister Denis Naughten said there was an expectation that An Post would use the money to "restructure and modernise" the network. The minister said that post offices could replace "lost services previously available from the banking sector". "In addition, a new initiative called 'Digital Assist' will use the local post office as a digital gateway for Government business," Mr Naughten said. The loan to An Post, first revealed in yesterday's Irish Independent, has been welcomed by both the company and the Irish Postmasters' Union (IPU). It had been predicted that up to 400 post offices would close in the next four years, but this figure is now likely to be revised down. However, Mr Naughten warned: "There is no doubt that difficult decisions lie ahead but the reality is that without immediate action we could lose our national postal service. Doing nothing jeopardises the very survival of our national postal service and I am not prepared to let that happen." An Post welcomed the loan facility, saying significant actions had already been taken by the company this year to resolve the financial situation. The company incurred a loss of 15.6m in 2016 and this time last year PwC forecast a loss of 61m in 2017 if no action was taken. However, An Post is on course to break even this year. These actions included: Increasing prices for mail services; The re-launch and re-specification of the parcels business with evening and Saturday deliveries; A reduction in staff numbers by 317. An Post's proposed strategy moving forward involves splitting the company into two distinct business units dealing with mail and retail. CEO David McRedmond said: "The company is facing into extraordinary challenges, but by working collaboratively with all stakeholders including Government, unions and staff, we have already achieved a very significant turnaround in 2017. "Much work remains to be done, but with continued momentum and Government support, we will see the development of two great companies, An Post Mails and Parcels and An Post Retail in the years ahead." Postmasters said the fresh investment would help to keep post offices open. IPU general secretary Ned O'Hara said it had been a long and difficult journey for postmasters who had continually highlighted their social and community importance and carried strong public support. "What is important is that a significant portion of this money goes to protecting and securing the post office network and does not get consumed in addressing other problems faced by An Post," he said. "Postmasters will now focus on working with the minister and An Post to translate the investment into tangible benefits for post offices as quickly as possible." Taoiseach Leo Varadkar threatened the Government may take Apple to court over the delay in coughing up 13bn in back taxes demanded by the European Commission. Brussels has already referred Ireland to the European Court of Justice for failing to collect the money more than a year after the technology giant was ordered to pay up. The Government and Apple have consistently insisted the tax was never owed, and both have appealed the controversial ruling. It has said officials have been working on establishing an escrow fund to house the money once the final amount is calculated. But Mr Varadkar upped the ante yesterday as he appeared to cast blame for the delay on to Apple. Suggesting a strain in relations between the Government and one of the country's biggest employers, the Taoiseach said the Government didn't want to be in the position where it would have to take legal action against Apple. "We've indicated to them (Apple) that we want the escrow account established and we want funds to be paid into the escrow account without further delay," Mr Varadkar told the Dail. "We do not want to be in the situation where the Irish Government has to take Apple to court because the European Commission is taking the Irish Government to court. "I think that message is understood and I'd anticipate progress in the coming weeks." Mr Varadkar did not state what the basis for the court action might be, should the Government feel the need to opt for that course of action. The comments come just weeks after Apple boss Tim Cook effectively pulled the plug on the construction of a 850m data centre in Athenry, Co Galway. Plans for the centre were first announced in February 2015, but Apple grew increasingly frustrated over time as the process was held up by planning reviews and court challenges. Last month, EC Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager announced the commission would take court-enforcement action against Ireland over failure to collect the tax money, which is under appeal by both Ireland and Apple. Irish officials insist they are still working to comply with the commission ruling, which will involve calculating the exact amount to be owed before setting up an escrow account. But Ms Vestager told this newspaper she was still unclear about the timeframe by which Dublin would collect the 13bn. Shoppers have been warned by gardai about the risks of having their bank details stolen when they make purchases online. It has also emerged that people buying online are most likely to encounter problems having the goods delivered to them, and end up with difficulties getting refunds. The State's consumer enforcement agency said there was a 23pc rise in complaints from online shoppers last year. The revelation from the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) comes days ahead of Black Friday, when retailers offer discounts online and in stores. Online shoppers complained to the CCPC that they did not have goods they ordered delivered, or the items were not delivered in time. Consumers also contacted the agency because they were unable to secure refunds from online sites when returning something they were unhappy with, or because the item did not arrive. Gardai appealed to shoppers to take greater precautions when buying on the internet to avoid online theft. Detective Garda Jim O'Meara, of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau, said: "The message we want to get out to people is to protect your payment card as if it was cash." Gardai quoted banking figures indicating half of Irish people now shop online. Some 13bn was spent online by consumers using credit and debit cards last year. Up to a third of people who shop online now do so through their mobile phones. Senior members of An Garda Siochana insisted the force and its partners in Europol were actively targeting cyber crimes such as online fraud, which often originate outside the country. The public needs to be aware that the proceeds from these fraudulent activities go to fund organised criminal gangs, senior officers warned. A recent Central Statistics Office household survey found 79pc of people who made purchases online did not experience any problems. But 2pc of online shoppers reported fraudulent activity. There was a fall in card fraud in the first half of this year compared with the same period last year. Some 21m of transactions were thought to be fraudulent in the first six months of 2016, with the level of fraud falling to 17m in the first half of this year. Despite this, fraud awareness and payments manager at the Banking and Payments Federation Niamh Davenport advised consumers and businesses to take more care. "It is often a simple or easy measure that people can take to protect against fraud, and it is important that consumers know these to avoid being vulnerable to fraudsters. "Always independently check the person is who they say they are before engaging with them and as always - if it looks too good to be true, it probably is," Ms Davenport added. Deputy CEO of Retail Excellence Lorraine Higgins urged retailers to be prepared to take advantage of the forthcoming shopping sprees, this Friday, and on Cyber Monday, which is next week. She said Black Friday sales were becoming an increasingly important part of retailers' strategies. Protect yourself when shopping on the web Online shoppers have been advised to take precautions to avoid having their card details compromised. Here is An Garda Siochana's advice for online shoppers. The Don'ts If you are not buying a specific product or service, don't submit your card details. Avoid doing your online shopping at sites that don't use full authentication. Never send your card number, Pin or any other card information to anyone by email. When purchasing something online from another person, do not send money upfront. Never send your card details in an unencrypted email. Don't send money to anyone you don't know online. Always save all documents related to your online purchase. Remember The first nine months of the year saw Irish tech firms and startups attract 817m in venture capital Credit: Reuters Irish-based tech firms look set to raise over 1bn in venture cash this year, according to new industry figures from the Irish Venture Capital Association. The first nine months of the year saw Irish tech firms and startups attract 817m in venture capital, the highest amount ever recorded. The record haul, 11pc higher than the same period last year, indicates that venture cash is now a mainstream source of funding for hundreds of Irish businesses. The majority of the money (88pc) raised went to companies seeking expansion capital, according to the IVCA. "The third quarter was boosted by activity in Northern Ireland," said Peter Sandys, chairman of the IVCA. "Belfast fintech company Options accounted for 30pc of total funds raised in this quarter. This is the largest fundraising deal in Northern Ireland in over ten years. Seed and early stage support is growing significantly again with 59m raised in the third quarter, reaching a high of 115.2m for the nine months to the end of September." The IVCA figures indicate that International syndicates invested 220m, accounting for 58pc of total funds raised. "The Irish venture capital community continues to be the main source of funding for Irish innovative SMEs both through direct investment and as the local lead investor for international syndicates," said Regina Breheny, director general of the IVCA. EasyJet is intensifying efforts to shift more of its shares into the hands of European investors as it begins preparations for Brexit. Reporting full-year results yesterday, EasyJet said that under EU law, EU member states can only permit an air carrier to operate airline services if the majority of its share capital is owned, and the carrier is effectively controlled, by member states of the European Economic Area or their nationals. EasyJet has already established a new airline, EasyJet Europe, which is based in Vienna. That will enable EasyJet to continue operating flights across Europe and domestically within EU countries once the UK leaves the European Union. EasyJet, whose outgoing CEO Carolyn McCall is set to be succeeded by ex-TUI executive Johan Lundgren on December 1, will have three airlines, in the UK, Austria and Switzerland that will all be owned by EasyJet plc, which will in turn be EU-owned and controlled. EasyJet has also recently agreed to buy part of failed Air Berlin's assets, including leases for 25 jets. At its annual general meeting next February, EasyJet proposes to change its Articles of Association to ensure the carrier is able to remain EU-owned and controlled after Brexit. That will mean ensuring that more than 50pc of its share capital is owned by EU nationals. The airline assured investors that it already begins the process "from a position of strength", with close to 50pc of its shares already owned by European Economic Area nationals, excluding UK-only nationals. "The company has already begun a more rigorous investor relations programme across Europe with the intention of increasing EEA (non-UK) ownership above 50pc prior to the UK's exit from the EU," it noted. Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary has previously warned that its UK shareholders could have to sell shares in the carrier, as it also needs to ensure that more than 50pc of its shares are owned by EU nationals. About 20pc of Ryanair's shares are owned by UK investors. The airline also has a substantial investor base in the United States. Shares in EasyJet soared as much as 6pc yesterday despite its full-year, headline pre-tax profit tumbling 17.3pc to 408m (459.6m). Revenue rose 8.1pc to 5bn (5.6bn). The airline carried 80.2 million passengers in the 12 months to the end of September, a 9.7pc increase. It notched up a record load factor, or percentage of available seats sold, of 92.6pc. Ms McCall said EasyJet has a "huge amount of positive momentum". Ant and Dec have led tributes to The Likely Lads star Rodney Bewes who has died aged 79, days before his birthday. The actor best known for his role as Bob Ferris in the 60s BBC sitcom and its 70s sequel, Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads? died on Tuesday morning, a representative told the Press Association. His agent Michelle Braidman described him as a true one-off, while tributes came in from stars including Ant and Dec who worked with Bewes during a remake of The Likely Lads in the Noughties. We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference We are very sad to hear of the passing of Rodney Bewes, a fine comic actor who we had the honour of meeting and working with. He will live on through Bob Ferris and the brilliant Likely Lads. RIP, the duo wrote on Twitter. Allo Allo star Vicki Michelle, who worked with Bewes on The Likely Lads, said she had fond memories of working alongside him. She added: Sad to hear about Rodney Bewes, great actor and a lovely man. Saw him not so very long ago. We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference Sherlock star Mark Gatiss wrote: So long, kidda. RIP Rodney Bewes, alongside a clip of the actor in action. In later life Bewes lived in Henley-on-Thames and Olympic champion rower Matthew Pinsent shared a memory of the star from the town. We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference He wrote on Twitter: RIP Rodney Bewes. Rowers will remember him sitting on the booms at Henley in his @LondonRC cap/blazer, clapping every crew past. Every one, every day. Video of the Day His beloved Chelsea FC also paid tribute, writing on Twitter: Everybody at Chelsea FC has been saddened to learn of the death of Rodney Bewes, a much-loved actor, fan of the Blues and regular Stamford Bridge visitor. The BBCs controller of comedy, Shane Allen, labelled Bewes one half of the great British sitcom partnerships of all time. He added: Audiences got to see him go from black and white to colour as the revival was a huge hit with audiences of all ages. Its one of the all-time great BBC sitcoms; timeless in its humour and will be enjoyed for decades to come. He was a much loved man and our thoughts go out to his family and friends at this sad time. We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference Comedian Jack Dee also paid tribute, writing on Twitter: RIP Rodney Bewes. Likely Lads one of THE great sitcoms. Fellow comic Mitch Benn posted: Rodney Bewes is gone and I cant stand the confusion in my mind. RIP. Actress Annabel Giles starred alongside Bewes in a pantomime and remembered him as brilliant, naughty and very funny. She added: (He) adored his children and the sainted Daphne. His stories were wonderful. He was a bad but adorable influence on all who knew him, and Im so sorry hes gone. Writer and Radio DJ Danny Baker wrote: Rodney Bewes has died. What a dreadful bit of news. See ya, kidda. Announcing his death less than a week before he would have turned 80 on November 27 Ms Braidman said: It is with great sadness that we confirm that our dear client, the much loved actor Rodney Bewes, passed away this morning. We will miss his charm and ready wit. As Bob, he would often ponder the merits of beer and birds opposite James Bolam who played lovable sponger Terry Collier in the sitcom and its sequel which drew audiences of up to 27 million. But off-screen the pair endured a stormy relationship with them eventually not speaking for decades. The Likely Lads star James Bolam has denied a feud existed with his co-star Rodney Bewes, who has died at the age of 79. Bolam played lovable sponger Terry Collier opposite Bewess Bob Ferris in the 1960s BBC sitcom and its 1970s colour sequel, Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads?, but the pair did not speak for decades afterwards. This was down to busy schedules rather than any resentment, Bolam said in an interview following Bewess death on Tuesday, six days before his 80th birthday. On Wednesday, Bewess four children said they were touched by all the warm messages people have left following his death. It is a sad time for us all but we will always remember Dad as full of laughter and fun, they said in a statement to the Press Association. He will be much missed by his many friends in London, Henley, Edinburgh and Cornwall. Bolam told BBC Radio Sussex: There was no fall-out at all, as far as I was concerned. We worked together very happily and very well, enjoyed each others company and when we finished, we finished. This is what happens in acting. You work with people, you get to know them, you like them, we have a great time and the job finishes and you go off and it all starts again with other people and you cant keep contact with everybody that you know. I think that Rodney wanted to do some more Likely Lads and I never did, I felt that what we had done was to me so perfect and so right that to try and bring it back After we finished it the writers went on to do Porridge and Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and then they went off to America and the success of that series lay in the strength of those scripts. There was some suggestion that we had other writers come in and I just thought, well, I dont think it will work and so I didnt want to do it, I was busy doing other things. Video of the Day Bolam said he had nothing but fond memories of Bewes, adding: I just remember him with great warmth and with great happiness and the time we had when we actually did the shows, thats the greatest memory of all. In a separate statement to the Press Association, Bolam said: I am very sad to hear about Rodneys passing and my thoughts are with his family. What I will always remember is all the happy times we had making the show. Tributes came in from stars including Ant and Dec, who worked with Bewes during a remake of The Likely Lads in the Noughties. The duo wrote on Twitter: We are very sad to hear of the passing of Rodney Bewes, a fine comic actor who we had the honour of meeting and working with. He will live on through Bob Ferris and the brilliant Likely Lads. RIP. His agent Michelle Braidman described him as a true one-off. Cars make their way through floods on the Kerdiffstown in Sallins, Co. Kildare. Photo: Tony Gavin 22/11/2017 Traffic drives through floods on the Longmile Road in Dublin. Picture credit; Damien Eagers 22/11/2017 Workers try to clear a flood on the Citywest slip road off the M7 motorway Cars make their way through floods on the Kerdiffstown in Sallins, Co. Kildare. Photo: Tony Gavin 22/11/2017 Cars make their way through floods on the Kerdiffstown in Sallins, Co. Kildare. Photo: Tony Gavin 22/11/2017 Heading back out to help remove residents from the flooding at the Manor Road, Mountmellick. Photo Kevin Byrne Dozens of families have been evacuated from their homes in Laois as widespread rain and flooding continue to cause chaos nationwide. A precautionary evacuation has been ordered of homes in two housing estates outside Mountmellick in Laois after gullies around the River Owenass flooded following the torrential rainfall. All access routes to the estates were severed by the flood waters sparking the decision to evacuate. While there is no immediate flood threat to the houses, the evacuation is being undertaken as a precautionary measure amid fears of the homeowners being cut-off from vital services by the flood waters. Expand Close Cars make their way through floods on the Kerdiffstown in Sallins, Co. Kildare. Photo: Tony Gavin 22/11/2017 / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Cars make their way through floods on the Kerdiffstown in Sallins, Co. Kildare. Photo: Tony Gavin 22/11/2017 According to Laois County Council 35 homes have been evacuated. It is understood that the householders involved may be able to return to their homes within 12 to 24 hours, once the flood waters recede and the access roads again become passable. In the interim, the families and individuals involved are being assisted with high-axle lorries and jeeps which are able to negotiate the water-covered roadways. Gardai and fire brigade officials are assisting at the scene. Locals said it was "very unusual" to witness the scale of flooding in the area. We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference Expand Close Traffic drives through floods on the Longmile Road in Dublin. Picture credit; Damien Eagers 22/11/2017 / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Traffic drives through floods on the Longmile Road in Dublin. Picture credit; Damien Eagers 22/11/2017 We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference Officials believe that the scale of the flooding locally is the worst in living memory. Parts of the Laois town currently resemble a river as flood waters poured across roads and fields. Two local schools were forced to close early amid safety concerns. It is believed more than 40mm of rain fell in a 12 hour spell around Mountmellick and its hinterland with local culverts, streams and rivers totally unable to cope with the downpour. Parish priest Fr Micheal Murphy said the situation escalated in the town at around 4pm on Wednesday evening. "There is difficulty at the moment with water getting into homes and businesses around the town," he told Independent.ie. "We won't know the full extent of the damage done and hardship caused until tomorrow." Local Fianna Fail Councillor Patrick Bracken said the floods in Mountmellick were "unreal." "I've never ever seen floods as bad as this in Mountmellick. The flooding is very bad all over the town," he said. "It's two feet deep in places. It's unreal. It's the worst people have ever seen," said the local politician, who spoke of wading through the flood waters in the streets of the County Laois town. He said that the worst fears had been realised of flood waters entering homes in the town. "All the services are out trying to deal with it, including the fire service, the council staff, the civil defence and others. "It's been a terrible night," he said. Meanwhile, residents in the Portarlington area have been advised that levels in the River Barrow are high as a result of the recent heavy rainfall and are expected to rise further over the next six hours. We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference Residents in areas vulnerable to flooding should take "sensible" precautions the council said. An incident room has been set up. Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Infirmary Road on Wednesday morning - picture submitted by Andy Maher Picture submitted by Elaine Herlihy via Twitter Cars make their way through floods on the Kerdiffstown in Sallins, Co. Kildare. Photo: Tony Gavin 22/11/2017 Traffic drives through floods on the Longmile Road in Dublin. Picture credit; Damien Eagers 22/11/2017 Traffic drives through floods on the Longmile Road in Dublin. Picture credit; Damien Eagers 22/11/2017 Cars make their way through floods on the Kerdiffstown in Sallins, Co. Kildare. Photo: Tony Gavin 22/11/2017 Cars make their way through floods on the Kerdiffstown in Sallins, Co. Kildare. Photo: Tony Gavin 22/11/2017 Cars make their way through floods on the Kerdiffstown in Sallins, Co. Kildare. Photo: Tony Gavin 22/11/2017 Cars make their way through floods on the Kerdiffstown in Sallins, Co. Kildare. Photo: Tony Gavin 22/11/2017 Cars make their way through floods on the Kerdiffstown in Sallins, Co. Kildare. Photo: Tony Gavin 22/11/2017 / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Infirmary Road on Wednesday morning - picture submitted by Andy Maher Local paper Leinster Express reports that people are using blankets and duvets to stop water entering their homes. Separately gardai have issued a warning to all drivers. In a statement gardai advised that two lanes are closed on the Chapelizod bypass outbound at Con Colbert Road due to floods. Local authorities are at scene. Long delays are anticipated on M4/N4 westbound as a result of flooding. We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference The N3 has re-opened after earlier diversions and traffic remains heavy. We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference A number of collisions on roads around the capital and elsewhere are adding to delays. Earlier collision on the M50 and on the M9 have been cleared but delays persist in the area as a result. Dublin Fire Brigade (DFB) are responding to reports of several cars stranded in floodwater in Portmarnock. We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference A status yellow warning remains in place until 10pm tonight for Munster and Leinster. Gardai are advising that if the road ahead is flooded drivers must use alternative routes if possible. Motorists are warned not to drive through floods which may be deeper than they appear. Where possible people have been asked to delay their journey or use public transport. "People underestimate the force and power of water. They take unnecessary risks and their vehicle could be swept downstream. A mere half foot of fast-moving flood water can knock over an adult. It takes just a foot of rushing water to carry away a small car, while two foot of rushing water can carry away most vehicles," a garda spokesman said. In Dublin the fire brigade also responded to floods in a housing estate in Tallaght and were able to prevent water from entering the homes. We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference In Dublin the Chapel Road is closed at the junction with Drumney Road due to flooding. The Malahide/Clongriffin Road is closed between Chapel Road and Blackwood Lane. In Kildare the Naas/Newbridge DCW (R445/Old N7) will remain closed overnight between the Tougher roundabout and the Pfizer roundabout in Newbridge due to flooding. There is also extensive flooding on a number of routes in the Rathangan area, including the Kildare Road. Siobhan Ryan, meteorologist with Met Eireann, said the weather will turn colder tomorrow. "It is much colder outside Leinster and Munster, with sleet expected for some time over Connacht and Ulster," she told RTE Radio One. "As the rain begins to ease off, it will turn colder everywhere. We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference "We can expect some winter flurries early on tomorrow as the cold weather hits," she continued. "The sun will be very low in the sky, so we're advising motorists to take care while out driving. "Maximum temperatures are well below the average highs with temperatures of 5-9 degrees. "Beyond that cold conditions will be persisting for the foreseeable future. "We can expect some bitterly cold days to come and some crisp sunshine." "Motorists are warned to expect deteriorating driving conditions on Thursday as the colder weather moves in and flooding persists," the Road Safety Authority said in a statement. "Lower temperatures will mean roads may be icy with risk of black ice." The body is reminding people to ensure their widows and mirrors are clean before setting out, to used dipped headlights when visibility is poor and to wear sunglasses to combat glare. The RSA is asking road users to check local weather and traffic conditions and be aware of the conditions before setting out on a trip. Russia to temporarily ban Brazilian beef imports Russia Russia's veterinary and phytosanitary service, Rosselkhoznadzor, announced on November 20 that it will impose temporary restrictions on imports of Brazilian beef and pork as of December 1, 2017. The decision has been taken as substances such as ractopamine and other muscular growth stimulants have been detected in Brazilian meat imports. "Unfortunately, Rosselkhoznadzor is obliged to say that, according to laboratory studies, banned growth stimulants were again detected in livestock products arriving in Russia from Brazil in 2017," says a statement. Reportedly, Russian officials tried to "to regulate the situation and obtain reliable information from the Brazilian side," as per a proposal sent to Brazils Ministry of Agriculture on November 16, but the dialogue has not been taken further. Blairo Maggi, Brazils Agriculture Minister, said in a local news conference that Russia's beef and pork restrictions only concern some companies. According to Maggi, the use of the detected substance is allowed in Brazil, but prohibited in Russia and other European countries. Source: G1 The parents of a four-year-old boy with cerebral palsy have said the 15m settlement made by a maternity hospital was not "some form of Lotto win" and they would hand it back "in a heartbeat" if it meant their son could get back "what was robbed from him". The President of the High Court, Mr Justice Peter Kelly, agreed with Eoin McCallig's father Anthony there must be a "better way" of dealing with cases involving catastrophically injured children than through litigation extending over years to a "bitter end" and last minute settlement offers. Mr McCallig told the court that while a mistake may be forgiven, they could not understand why the case could not have been settled earlier because, for children like Eoin, "early intervention is crucial". It is "crazy" some 800m in legal fees is spent fighting such cases and he appealed to hospitals and others not to "compound the mistake". The way families are treated "needs to change". Mr McCallig said he didn't think anyone in the courtroom would put themselves in Eoin's position for 50m, never mind 15m. It was good to know Eoin will have financial security but the money "will never change his situation". In a statement issued through their solicitor Michael Boylan, the parents said the settlement marked the end of a five-year ordeal, but the family "would hand this 15m settlement back in a heartbeat if Eoin could get back what was robbed from him in those two precious hours before his birth". Expand Close Eoin McCallig / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Eoin McCallig "Let no one think that this is some form of Lotto win for Eoin. "This money will be badly needed so Eoin can live as normal a life as possible over the long life he will live and this will ensure that he gets all the excellent care, treatments and therapy he needs over the coming decades." Through his mother Jean, Eoin, of Priory Way, Terenure, Dublin, brought proceedings alleging negligence in the circumstances of his birth at the Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital on November 24, 2012. The settlement is against the hospital only. In an apology read to the court, Master of the Coombe Dr Sharon Sheehan said they wished to apologise "unreservedly" over the "catastrophic" injuries suffered by Eoin and the "devastating consequences" of those for Eoin and his family. A former army private who attacked a young woman with a broken glass bottle, leaving her bleeding profusely from the side of her face has been jailed for five years. Christopher O'Reilly (60) pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assault causing serious harm on O'Connell Street, Dublin on June 10, 2010. He also pleaded guilty to attempted robbery at Wolf Tone Quay on September 5, 2013. Garda Joe O'Connor told the court that on the night of the assault O'Reilly asked the woman for a cigarette, before wandering off and nearly being knocked down by a passing car. Sinead McMullen BL, prosecuting, said that O'Reilly then returned to where the woman was sitting with her boyfriend and out of nowhere hit her on the cheek with a broken glass bottle, piercing the left side of her face. The court heard that the victim was bleeding profusely and in deep shock at what had taken place. In a victim impact statement, the woman said that the attack caused her panic attacks, a huge setback in her confidence, nightmares and physical revulsion at her scar. The court heard that the scar has since faded but she is still concerned that it's noticeable. She said that she was afraid to walk down O'Connell Street again in case she encountered O'Reilly. The victim also said she found it difficult to be in the company of drunk people. Garda Mairead Doherty told Ms McMullen that the attempted robbery occurred on board a Dublin Bus, when O'Reilly approached a woman who was counting money and held a hammer over her head getting right in her face. He then calmly put the hammer back in his bag and got off the bus the court heard. Ms McMullen said the accused, of Rivercourt View, Chapelizod, Dublin 20, has several previous convictions including one for assault causing harm in 2005. Defending, Luigi Rea BL, said that O'Reilly had been homeless at various times and that the assault was a spontaneous attack using an improvised weapon. He said O'Reilly bitterly and deeply regretted what he did, adding that the crimes were both alcohol fuelled. Mr Rea said that O'Reilly now suffers from lung cancer and has entered several detoxification problems and residential treatment in an effort to deal with his chronic alcoholism. Sentencing O'Reilly, Judge Melanie Greally said the reasonless attack caused substantial injury to the young woman. She said that the psychological impact on the defendant's victim was considerable, and that the woman now perceived the world in a very different way. Referring to the attempted robbery, Judge Greally said it was an opportunistic incident. It is clear that alcoholism has characterised this man's life from a very early stage, she said. She gave him credit for his guilty pleas, his remorse and his co-operation with gardai. Judge Greally sentenced him to four years in prison for the assault and two years for the attempted robbery, with the final 12 months suspended. The sentences are set to run consecutively, meaning he will spend five years in jail. A woman has told a court that a man she met through Tinder was like a monster when he allegedly attacked her in his car. The 36-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to sexual assault of the foreign national at UCD campus, Belfield, south Dublin on July 23, 2014. The woman, now aged 35, told Paul Burns SC, prosecuting, that she had come to Ireland to learn English and had arrived the previous month. She said she couldn't speak any English and said she was adding people to her Tinder website account to start speaking English. She met the accused on Tinder on June 29 and they began chatting online. At one point he told her I only want to fuck you and she told him: that was rude, I'm a good person, I'm not a whore. Speaking through a translator, the woman told the jury that she became upset at this text from the defendant because it wasn't my intention. The man apologised and the pair continued to chat online on Whatsapp. He repeatedly asked to meet her and suggested they could go for a drive in his car. At one point the woman said you just want sex, it makes me scared. The jury were told the defendant replied no I don't just want this. I want to meet and be friends too. The woman told the jury It was scaring me, I only wanted to meet someone that could help me improve my English. The woman said she did agree to meet the man and they arranged for him to pick her up at her address in Dublin city centre. She said he looked friendly and was smiling and she got into the car. The court heard he drove them to the campus at UCD but that she didn't know where she was. She testified that he parked the car near a green area with trees and nobody around. She said she began to feel scared because we had said we are going for a coffee. She said he turned the car engine off and she heard the car doors locking. She said he then became very aggressive. He changed completely the way he was talking to me. He was saying a lot of bad words and I couldnt understand. He was looking like a monster. His face wasn't the same face that smiled to me when I got into his car. He was calling me bad names and trying to touch me. I tried to take his hands away, and I couldn't. The only word I could say to him, stop stop, I want my house, stop stop, she said. She said he didn't stop. She said that he put his hand on her knee and pulled her dress up to her thigh. She said he held her arm and her breast was exposed. During a struggle she hit him in his face with her elbow and he punched her head, she said. She then managed to take her seatbelt off and unlock the car door, the woman testified. I opened the door and shouted for help. He was holding me and he opened his hands. It's like he was afraid of someone hearing my screams. She said he drove off leaving her there and a woman out walking helped her get a taxi home. The trial continues before Judge Cormac Quinn and a jury of six men and six women. A FATHER has demanded a review of school and Department of Education anti-racism policies after expressing "disgust" at how an incident involving his young son was dealt with. A 10-year-old boy of mixed ethnicity claimed he was racially abused by an 11-year-old Irish older boy in a Munster national school. The father pointed out his son is the only child of mixed race background in the small school. He claimed the older boy, without provocation, called his son "a black b*****d". The younger boy retaliated and called the older boy a "white k*****r". The school principal, on becoming aware of the incident, disciplined both youngsters. However, he decided to hand down precisely the same punishment to both boys who were given detention for three days during their lunch breaks. The boys sat in the same classroom over lunch being supervised by a teacher. But the younger boy's father said he was shocked that there was no recognition with the discipline handed down of who started the incident or that his son might to vulnerable to racist taunts. "I was disgusted by what happened," he said. "There was absolutely no attempt to distinguish between the individual who provoked this incident and the victim who simply retaliated and decided to defend himself." The man was so enraged he complained to the principal, the school's board of management and the Department of Education. A school official could not be contacted. The Department of Education have not, as yet, replied to queries about their anti-racism policies and guidelines in respect of how the incident was handled. "What concerns me most about this is what kind of message it sends out to a child who is being subjected to racist insults," the father asked? "That you will be punished the same as the person who called you racist names if you attempt to defend yourself?" "What kind of message does it also send out to other children in the school?" "If we want a modern multi-cultural Ireland where people respect each others ethnic diversity, this is not how we should handle incidents like this." Letters were sent by the school to the families of both children over the trading of insults. "These insults were ethnically motivated. Insults were both given and received," the official letter warned. "Needless to say, incidents of this nature are very serious and unacceptable in any environment." "Both parties will be kept from the (play) yard for the next three days. I hope you can speak to your child and impress upon them how hurtful and wrong this type of language is." The school authorities also said they were available to discuss the incident with any of the two families involved. More than 43,500 public patients on gruelling hospital waiting lists have lost out to fee-paying patients in the past two years as some consultants flagrantly breach their contracts, it was claimed last night. The patients have been forced to endure long delays while some hospital consultants treat more private patients than they are entitled to, RTE's 'Prime Time Investigates' claimed. Several hospitals with long queues of public patients facing the longest delays are also flagrantly breaching the 20pc limit on private patients and are getting much-needed health insurance income. Surveillance by researchers on the programme found one orthopaedic consultant worked an average of 23.5 hours a week in his public hospital - nearly 16 hours less than he was paid for. At the same time he worked an average of 25 hours a week in a private hospital. It meant he only worked five out of eight weeks in the public hospital. It comes amid mounting concern about the soaring numbers of public patients on waiting lists - now at a record 684,800 - with many in pain and enduring waits of two years for surgery. The programme found that some hospital consultants, who are confined to treating private patients in their public hospital, are working off-site in the Mater Private in Dublin and other private facilities. Health Minister Simon Harris conceded last night that some consultants were "significantly exceeding" their private patient limits and were also working in private hospitals. He said the "department has written to the HSE in recent months" emphasising the need for doctors to comply with their contract. However, he refused to release the content of the letter and it is unclear if it was questions from the media which prompted the action. The HSE said it needed to view the programme before responding to the consultants' practices and added it was a matter for hospital groups since 2014 to monitor consultants' workload. The programme found that hospitals treating well beyond the 20pc of private patients included University Hospital Limerick, Croom Orthopaedic Hospital, Limerick, St Luke's Kilkenny, Tallaght Hospital and Mallow Hospital. In response, the Irish Medical Organisation said the vast majority of consultants worked over and above their contractual commitments. The Irish Hospital Consultants Association said many private patients were coming through A&E and doctors couldn't control the public and private mix. A man has told how locals fought desperately to save the life of a woman after she was struck by a lorry in the city centre. Tragically, Lorraine Burrows (48) died in hospital after the collision on Wellwood Street, which links Great Victoria Street and Sandy Row, at around 8am yesterday. The air ambulance arrived at the scene but was not needed as Ms Burrows was rushed to hospital by emergency services on the ground. Despite the rapid response, police made the announcement at 5.30pm that Mrs Burrows had died. The recruitment consultant, who is believed to be from Belfast, worked for Keenan Healthcare on Adelaide Street. Her shocked colleagues closed the office yesterday and issued an emotional tribute on the company website. "It is with the greatest of sadness that we have to inform you that our colleague and good friend Lorraine Burrows passed away suddenly. We are all numb with shock," they said. "Our thoughts and prayers go to Lorraine's husband Jonny, who was her absolute world, and to all of her family and friends. She will be sorely missed at Keenan." A resident of the nearby Victoria Place apartments, who asked not to be named, said he and others tried desperately to revive her yesterday morning. "I didn't see the accident myself, I live close by and was just walking on to Wellwood Street from the apartments on Glenalpin Street. "I heard a thump but didn't think much about it," he said. "When I got round the corner I saw the lorry had pulled over and the driver was getting out. There was another witness and I saw a shape on the ground. "At that stage I wasn't quite sure what had happened; it was only when I walked over I saw it was a person there." He continued: "I just got my phone out immediately to call 999. When I saw the woman, who I now know was Mrs Burrows, as far as I'm aware she wasn't conscious." The emergency services gave instructions over the phone, and one woman began performing CPR, with another man taking over shortly after. "It was very tough," the resident added. "I spoke briefly to the lorry driver. I don't know how it happened but he was in absolute shock. "The ambulance only took a few minutes to arrive and immediately continued the CPR while one paramedic got the defibrillator. They did absolutely everything they possibly could on the scene. "It's absolutely tragic she didn't make it, I'm just so sorry for her family." Last night, colleagues and friends continued to pay their respects to Mrs Burrows on Keenan Healthcare's Facebook page. One said: "Lorraine was always so lovely, bubbly and always looked out for you. She will be missed so much." PSNI Inspector David Gibson issued an appeal for any witnesses who were on Wellwood Street at 8am yesterday to contact police. He also urged anyone with a dashcam fitted to their vehicle, which may have recorded the collision, to come forward using the non-emergency number 101, quoting reference 198 for November 21. Ibrahim Halawa has spoken out about adapting to the outside world, and said he is only getting "two to three hours sleep a night". Halawa (21) was released last month after spending four years in an Egyptian prison after being accused of being a member of the banned Muslim brotherhood. The Dubliner said that he has attended a doctor after his ordeal and admits that he is having difficulty settling into life in Ireland again. Speaking on The Matt Cooper Show on Today FM, Ibrahim described the experience as "overwhelming". He said: "It's overwhelming, it's not easy, I'm trying to adapt to freedom and things like drinking in a glass and sleeping in my bed, going to the outside world. "It's worrying because you never had the freedom to go into the outside world and then one day you're allowed to open your door, it just feels weird. Expand Close Ibrahim Halawa with his five sisters at the Tatler awards Photo: Paul Sherwood / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Ibrahim Halawa with his five sisters at the Tatler awards Photo: Paul Sherwood "The outside world feels really weird now, it feels not normal for me now." Ibrahim said that he is looking to the future now and hopes to study IT and business next year but he revealed that adjusting to freedom has been difficult. He continued to say: "I was referred to a doctor and they said if I wasn't feeling like that they would be worried because I was away for four years and then I'm suddenly put back into a position where everything is supposed to be normal and it's not going to be like that for me... "I don't sleep much, maybe two or three hours a day so my mom is pretty worried. "I have been given sleeping pills but I don't want to take them yet because I don't want to get used to that." Read More He also said that despite online abuse, he has received a lot of support from the Irish public. Ibrahim said: "Walking down Grafton Street, a lot of people stop me for selfies. It's very heart-warming and welcoming. Expand Close Ibrahim Halawa celebrates moments after his acquittal of various charges at the Wadi el-Natrun prison outside Cairo yesterday. Photo: Declan Walsh/The New York Times/Redux / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Ibrahim Halawa celebrates moments after his acquittal of various charges at the Wadi el-Natrun prison outside Cairo yesterday. Photo: Declan Walsh/The New York Times/Redux "I haven't gotten a hate comment on the street but online there are some. "I have to stress that not everyone who disagrees with me online is a hater. "It's those who criticise me who say something about my religion or my family. "People are entitled to have their opinion, not everyone has to agree with me politically but I was falsely incarcerated for four years, I'm not saying please agree with me but there is a judicial system that is falsely imprisoning me." Ibrahim also refuted persistent rumours he tore up his Irish passport at a demonstration in Cairo. He said: "I actually dont know how that story got around. "Its with the Egyptian government at the moment, they fingerprinted me for it as well, they took my finger print from me to say they have it. So Im trying to get it back, just to prove." He explained that the Egyptian authorities took the document to facilitate consular visits while he was in prison. He added: "They took it because at the time that was the only ID I had, I was only 17 and I was walking around with it in Egypt because that was the only ID I had at the time. "Im trying to get it back, they Irish Embassy in Egypt are trying to get it back. I didnt tear up my passport, its total nonsense, whoever spread that rumour." GARDA whistleblower Maurice McCabe pulled back from issuing a statement that could have ended Tanaiste Frances Fitzgeralds career last night. Just minutes before Mrs Fitzgeralds Dail showdown with Opposition TDs, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar rang Sgt McCabe to brief him on the contents of an email received by the Tanaiste in 2015. The correspondence shows that the then-justice minister was made aware of aggressive tactics being adopted by lawyers for the then-Garda commissioner at the OHiggins inquiry into malpractice in the Cavan/Monaghan district. The email alerted Mrs Fitzgerald that the issue of a serious criminal complaint, which had always been denied by Sgt McCabe, was raised at the commission. The Tanaiste told the Dail last night that it was understandable that she doesnt remember the email because it concluded by stating that she had no function relating to the evidence a party to a Commission of Investigation may adduce. But Mrs Fitzgerald said: I can only assume that I did read it. Read More She survived almost an hour of intense questioning from Opposition parties, during which she insisted the content of the email did not mean that she was aware of an overall strategy to discredit Sgt McCabe. However, her standing in Fine Gael has been dramatically damaged by her handling of the controversy. While Mr Varadkar is standing by her, a number of other ministers told the Irish Independent they see her as isolated. Ministers are particularly angered that they were forced to repeatedly defend former Garda commissioner Noirin OSullivan in public, even though Mrs Fitzgerald had been made aware of legal clashes at the inquiry. One minister said the Tanaiste, who is now Enterprise Minister, is a liability and should be cut loose over the controversy. Another accused Mrs Fitzgerald of blind-siding and embarrassing the Government. Senior Fianna Fail figures yesterday held talks to discuss their response to the crisis, but remain cautious in their approach. Forcing Mrs Fitzgerald from office runs the risk of sparking a general election in the short-term, as it would undermine the confidence and supply arrangement Fianna Fail has with Fine Gael. Sources stressed that the issue is likely to run into today before we get all the answers. Among the outstanding questions is why wasnt the Taoiseach made aware of the email when it was first discovered last Thursday. Mr Varadkar only learned of its existence at 11.30pm on Monday. Questions also remain about why the email wasnt handed over to the Disclosures Tribunal, which is looking into an alleged smear campaign against Sgt McCabe, until yesterday. Sgt McCabe had indicated he would release a statement on the controversy after hearing Mrs Fitzgerald struggle to explain her position on RTEs News At One. Read More However, it is understood that he later decided to hold off on issuing any statement. In the Dail, the Taoiseach described Sgt McCabe as one of the bravest people that I have ever encountered in public life and he is somebody who has been very much wronged by the State on a number of occasions because of his bravery and because of his willingness to shine a light into some dark places. He urged the Dail to accept the explanation offered by Mrs Fitzgerald, and to allow the matters be dealt with by the Disclosures Tribunal. This is an email from two-and-a-half years ago between officials, said Mr Varadkar. It is not inconceivable and certainly should not give rise to conspiracy theories that it may take a few days for somebody to find such an email. It should be borne in mind that it is an email between two Department of Justice and Equality officials in which one official relates a third party conversation he had with an official from the Office of the Attorney General, he added. Mrs Fitzgerald also paid tribute to Sgt McCabe during her Dail contribution. TANAISTE Frances Fitzgerald should have been astonished by the aggressive approach being taken by lawyers for the Garda Commissioner at OHiggins Commission, Opposition TDs have said. As Ms Fitzgerald battled for her political career last night, Fianna Fail and the Labour Party questioned her management of the controversies surrounding Garda whistleblower Maurice McCabe. Fianna Fails Justice spokesperson Jim OCallaghan said Ms Fitzgeralds credibility had taken a hit as a result of her response to the critical email sent to her in 2015. Its emerged that Ms Fitzgerald was informed in the email of the then Garda Commissioner Noirin OSullivans intention to level a complaint of a serious criminal nature against Sgt McCabe during the OHiggins Commission. During the debate last night, Mr OCallaghan posed the question: Do you agree that a conscientious and competent Minister for Justice would have read the email and been aware from reading it that a confrontational approach would have been adopted towards Sgt McCabe? Senior Fianna Fail figures last night said they were not satisfied with the Tanaistes performance and that the issue will be pursued again today. The approach taken by the leader Opposition party - which is propping up the Fine Gael government - will be discussed at a meeting of the parliamentary party this evening. In the Dail last night, Sinn Feins justice spokesperson Donnacha O Laoghaire claimed that the information at the centre of the controversy would not have surfaced if it were not for the work of members of the media. Labour leader Brendan Howlin also piled the pressure on the Tanaiste, asking whether there has been a deep trawl to ensure that there are no emails of significance. Are you satisfied now that all documentation has been located, Mr Howlin asked Ms Fitzgerald. Tanaiste, when you receive an email of this nature, you should have acted. Do you accept the email you receive should have been a red flag? Ms Fitzgerald, the Jobs Minister said her understanding is that there has been a deep trawl carried out. Later during the debate, Solidarity TD Paul Murphy attacked the Tanaiste over her account of reading the email. He described the strategy adopted as a disgusting attempt to blacken the name of Maurice McCabe. The Dublin South West TD added: How could the minister possible get such an email and read it and then forget? Thats simply not credible. Ms Fitzgerald insisted she did not remember the email and reiterated that it stated she did not need to take action. Relations between the Government and the European Union have deteriorated dramatically after the surprise ruling over the Apple tax deal. The decision by the European Commission to initiate court proceedings against Ireland has sent shockwaves through Government circles in Dublin and prompted a series of firm rebukes from senior Government ministers. Dublin is now on a collision course with the commission after EU Commissioner Margrethe Vestager slapped down the Government over its failure to recoup 13bn in unpaid taxes from technology giant Apple. Both Apple and the Government dispute the ruling and have launched appeals. But the Irish Independent can reveal that senior Government figures, including Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, were left stunned by the decision to refer Ireland to the European Courts. There is now serious concern at senior Government level that the decision will be followed by a renewed focus on our corporation tax rate, currently at 12.5pc. There is also a view held among senior Government figures that Ms Vestager is trying to make an example out of Ireland as part of her wider ambitions to become head of the commission. The matter of Ireland's tax arrangements with Apple was discussed at European Commission level on Tuesday - with the Government being left with the impression that a three-month reprieve would be extended. Read More But very senior Government figures told the Irish Independent they were "blind-sided" and "shocked" by the move. Mr Varadkar told the Dail yesterday that the decision to refer Ireland to the European Court of Auditors was both "wholly unnecessary" and "unwarranted". Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald described the decision as "regrettable". The view in Dublin is that the Government will put the arrangements in place to collect the money in the coming weeks and lodge it to an escrow account. But the row itself centres on the tax arrangements applied once Apple invested in Ireland in the 1990s. The commission says the US multinational giant received illegal state aid and therefore owes Ireland 13bn in back taxes. Both Ireland and Apple contest the claim. The Department of Finance missed a deadline set for early January to recoup the 13bn. The record-breaking case shone a spotlight on Ireland's tax regime and led to criticism from the likes of US President Donald Trump. Fianna Fail finance spokesperson Michael McGrath said the decision must be respected. Read More "While Fianna Fail fundamentally disagrees with the European Commission's state aid ruling last year against Ireland, the ruling has to be fully respected while the appeals process runs its course," he said. "This means the Government should have moved, without delay, to collect the 13bn plus interest from Apple and place it in an escrow account. "The European Commission confirmed its ruling against Ireland over 13 months ago on August 30, 2016, and the simple fact is the Government has failed to collect the money from Apple and place it in an escrow account. "We have now missed the January 3, 2017, deadline for collection of the money by a full nine months." A Department of Finance spokesman said: "That is why it is extremely disappointing that the commission has taken action at this time against Ireland. Irish officials and experts have been engaged in intensive work to ensure that the State complies with all its recovery obligations as soon as possible, and have been in constant contact with the European Commission and Apple on all aspects of this process for over a year." Suggestions that Donegal should become part of the United Kingdom have been branded "farcical" and "intentionally provocative." John Taylor - known as Lord Kilclooney - claimed yesterday that Donegal is "ignored" by the Irish government and said that people who live there would be better off if they were part of Northern Ireland. The Armagh native said on Ocean FM on Tuesday: "I think Dublin ignores Donegal. It really is the hinterland of northern Ireland and it would be great to have it back in with us. "Oh Im certain it would because it would benefit from the block rent from London that we already enjoy in Northern Ireland, 10 billion a year we get." His remarks have been criticised by Donegal Sinn Fein Councillor Jack Murray. Cllr Murray told Independent.ie: "I think he's right that the Dublin government has forgotten about Donegal, there isn't enough investment and the infrastructure isn't there - the likes of rail access, dual carriageway access. Expand Close Sinn Fein Councillor Jack Murray strongly disagrees with the idea of Donegal becoming part of the UK / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Sinn Fein Councillor Jack Murray strongly disagrees with the idea of Donegal becoming part of the UK "There is also a lack of investment in health, Letterkenny Hospital in particular needs a lot of investment. "This has all had a negative impact and needs to be addressed. "The idea of British rule though is farcical." Read More In line with his party's position the Inishowen representative said that he feels a united Ireland would be better than expanding Northern Ireland. He said: "I would disagree with the idea of returning to the United Kingdom in the strongest terms possible. "Partition has had very negative impacts, what happened in the six counties under British rule was severe and much worse than Donegal being forgotten about. "I would rather see the reunification of Ireland, which would remove the problems caused by partition." Notorious 'Scissor Sister' murderer Charlotte Mulhall is under investigation after a prison member of staff was found hiding in the en-suite bathroom of her cell, the Herald has revealed. The Irish Prison Service has launched a probe into suspicions that the 33-year-old killer is involved in an "inappropriate sexual relationship" with the male staff member after he was found in the en-suite of her accommodation in the Dochas Centre women's prison last Sunday. Sources revealed last night that the male worker was snared after a colleague became suspicious over a number of weeks. It is understood that mother-of-one Mulhall was sitting on her bed when prison staff entered her accommodation. The male staffer was discovered hiding in her bathroom some minutes later. Sanctions He has not yet been suspended from work, but a full investigation has been launched by the governor of the Dochas Centre. Jail sources said he is likely to face "major disciplinary sanctions" up to dismissal if the allegation that he has been in a romantic relationship with Mulhall are proven. Mulhall is being fully co-operating with the investigation and has not been disciplined or moved out of the Dochas Centre. The matter is not the subject of a garda investigation. Charlotte and her older sister Linda were dubbed the Scissor Sisters after their involvement in one of the most gruesome killings in the history of the State. In October 2006, Charlotte was handed a mandatory life sentence for the murder of Farah Swaleh Noor - whose body was dismembered - while Linda received a sentence of 15 years for her part in Noor's death. Their mother, Kathleen, was given a five-year sentence for cleaning up the murder scene. She served her sentence in the Dochas Centre with her daughters and is now living in Britain. While Linda is due to be released some time in January, Charlotte could face many more years behind bars after she was convicted of Noor's murder. Charlotte, who was pregnant when she killed the brutal thug, was only 21 at the time. Linda has also been suspected of having sexual relationships with jail staff while behind bars. However, Charlotte is considered a far more troublesome inmate and has had many scrapes with jail authorities, In February 2014, she was disciplined after being caught with alcohol in her cell and fighting with another prisoner. The fight took place in a corridor a few days after she had the alcohol confiscated from her, which put her in a foul mood. Mulhall was served with two disciplinary actions against her after a "bad week" of behaviour, which resulted in her losing a lot of her prison privileges. She was at the centre of a major controversy in 2008 when it emerged that she had been given daily access to kitchen knives, shortly after being jailed for hacking her mother's lover to death. The Herald's exclusive photo showed the deranged knife killer holding a 10-inch knife to a male prisoner's throat, as it was revealed that she had been given kitchen work duties at the Dochas Centre. In May 2015, it emerged that she had been locked away from other prisoners after a series of violent incidents. It was alleged that Mulhall used heated hair tongs to burn another inmate's back in a sick attack. She had been in 23-hour lockdown away from the rest of the population in the Dochas Centre for more than a month after prison staff became concerned that she had an undue influence over fellow prisoners. They were also concerned that she was bullying and intimidating other inmates before being isolated from the rest of the prison. Suicide She was also under 24-hour suicide watch, with staff concerned for her safety and mental health. Mulhall is suspected of involvement in other violent incidents, but it is understood no prisoner has made a complaint against her. In October 2015, it was reported that Mulhall's previous prison lover, Karen Kelly (25), died in tragic circumstances in Waterford. 22/11/17 Heavy flooding on the N3 at Junction 2, Blanchardstown Centre this afternoon after heavy rain caused the River Tolka to burst its banks. Traffic in the area was brought to a standstill...Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin. The country will experience heavy rain for the day, before an extremely cold spell hits tomorrow. Morning commuters experienced traffic delays, widespread flooding nationwide and several road closures following heavy rain overnight. Heavy showers are now expected to continue to batter the country throughout today before temperatures will plummet for the rest of the week. Met Eireann has issued a Status Yellow rainfall warning for Munster and Leinster today with the possibility of snow on high ground. #KERRY Especially wet road conditions around Ballyheigue, Ballyduff and Causeway, with spot flooding in parts. Take caution. https://t.co/PSzIBsNprc AA Roadwatch (@aaroadwatch) November 22, 2017 #DUBLIN M50 is down to 1 lane n/bound between J6 Blanchardstown & J5 Finglas due to a crash. Traffic using left lane only. https://t.co/PSzIBsNprc AA Roadwatch (@aaroadwatch) November 22, 2017 #KILDARE Heavy surface water on all routes around Clane, including on the Kilcock/Naas Rd (R407) and the Celbridge/Allenwood Rd (R403). https://t.co/pdsEzKbsHZ AA Roadwatch (@aaroadwatch) November 22, 2017 The forecaster is predicting between 30mm-40mm of rain will fall, affecting all areas throughout the day. Siobhan Ryan, meteorologist with Met Eireann, said the weather does not look good anywhere today. Speaking to RTE Radio One's Morning Ireland, Ms Ryan said it was a "miserable start to the day". "There is widespread heavy rain and localised flooding, and a high volume of rain recorded overnight," she said. "Highs today will be 9-14 celsius. "It is much colder outside Leinster and Munster, with sleet expected for some time over Connacht and Ulster. "As the rain begins to ease off, it will turn colder everywhere. "We can expect some winter flurries early on tomorrow as the cold weather hits," she continued. Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Workers try to clear a flood on the citywest slip road off the M7 motorway. Picture credit; Damien Eagers 22/11/2017 Heavy rain on Patricks Street Heavy rain on Patricks Street ,Dublin this Morning . Heavy rain on Infirmary Rd, Dublin Heavy rain on Patricks Street in Dublin this morning . Heavy rain in Dublin today Heavy rain on Patricks Street in Dublin this morning Heavy rain on Infimary Rd ,Dublin this Morning . Heavy rain on Patricks Street / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Workers try to clear a flood on the citywest slip road off the M7 motorway. Picture credit; Damien Eagers 22/11/2017 "The sun will be very low in the sky, so we're advising motorists to take care while out driving. "Maximum temperatures are well below the average highs with temperatures of 5-9 degrees. "Beyond that cold conditions will be persisting for the foreseeable future. "We can expect some bitterly cold days to come and some crisp sunshine." Earlier the @M50Dublin was temporarily closed NB at Jct 6 Blanchardstown, due to an RTC. 1 to hospital. Blancharstown and Tallaght attended. Road now open. pic.twitter.com/IEsbO1jBC7 Dublin Fire Brigade (@DubFireBrigade) November 22, 2017 Tonight will turn cold everywhere as temperatures fall to near freezing in the early part of the night, with lowest overnight temperatures hitting 0C to 3C. Tomorrow will be a cold day with strong westerly winds gradually easing. There will be showers, mostly in the west and north, and also some for a time over north Leinster and it will remain cold this weekend. Transport Bus Eireann has been forced to cancel several routes due to severe flooding between Clonee and Blanchardstown on the M3/N3. The Route NX Dublin - Navan services at 10.15 and 10.55 were cancelled, as were the 11.40 and 12.20 journeys from Navan - Dublin. A spokesperson said they are also experiencing "severe disruptions" to the Route 109/109X/NX services. The following Route NX services have been cancelled due to severe flooding between Clonee & Blanchardstown M3/N3 10:15 Dublin Navan 10:55 Dublin Navan 11:40 Navan Dublin 12:20 Navan Dublin We are also experiencing severe disruptions to our Route 109/109X/NX services. Bus Eireann (@Buseireann) November 22, 2017 The R445 (the old N7) is closed in both directions near the Tougher R/A due to flooding. The N80 Stradbally/Portlaoise Road is also impassable due to flooding. Dublin's Infirmary Road was closed this morning due to flooding. Flooding on the Stillorgan Road caused delays inbound to the city. Clontarf Road was also impassable at the Mount Prospect Avenue junction due to flooding. #DUBLIN There is flooding on the Fonthill Rd northbound at the Lucan Newlands Rd jct. https://www/TheAA.ie/Newsroom AA Roadwatch (@aaroadwatch) November 22, 2017 There was also flooding on Clarehall Road and on the Fonthill Road at the Lucan Newlands Road Junction. Spot flooding was also recorded in Tipperary, Offaly, Kerry and Cork. The rain also caused some delays for rail commuters, with disruption to the Malahide to Portmarnock line. Dublin Fire Brigade also issued advice for motorist who are braving he elements today. They wrote on Twitter: "If you have driven through flood water make sure to tap your brakes gently when you have cleared the flood, and safe to do so, to clear the brakes off water." If you have driven through flood water make sure to tap your brakes gently when you have cleared the flood, and safe to do so, to clear the brakes off water. #flooding pic.twitter.com/yCptYveJjB Dublin Fire Brigade (@DubFireBrigade) November 22, 2017 Sexual harassment has dominated the news in recent weeks, with allegations made against powerful figures such as Harvey Weinstein sparking a worldwide #metoo social media campaign. The media's focus on Hollywood might have made it easy to dismiss serial predators as part of the celebrity lifestyle, but the #metoo initiative brought home the staggering scale and everyday nature of sexual harassment in women's - and many men's - lives. According to Facebook, 4.7 million people posted #metoo comments within the first 24 hours alone. Reading the stories posted, I was struck by two recurring themes: that experiences of unwanted sexual advances often began at an early age (11 or younger) and that a key motivation for posting #metoo stories was to ensure that the next generation won't have to experience this. Among the many areas in which concrete change can be effected, education is an obvious starting point. Sex Education, in particular, is key to teaching about equality, consent and respect. However, the Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) programme in Irish schools is over 20 years old. An analysis of the curriculum content conducted in 2006 noted that it focuses largely on the avoidance of pregnancy and STIs, and encourages students to wait for sex 'until the time is right'. An evaluation in 2007 also revealed that there was a strong perception amongst students that RSE was selectively addressed and sometimes even ignored. This study also found a lower implementation in all-boys schools. This kind of gender inequality in the provision of such an important aspect of education points to a wider issue with gender inequality in education and society. Emphasis on risk and prevention places a disproportionate responsibility on girls as the gatekeepers of sex, underpinned by an assumption that boys will push to go as far as they can. Teachers report that boys find it particularly difficult to talk about sex. There is little, if any, space for boys to discuss intimacy, hurt, sexual rejection and fears about sexual inadequacy, a void which can be filled by alternative sources online, from hardcore pornography to the burgeoning industry of pick-up artists (PUAs) who tap into male sexual rejection, frequently encouraging non-consensual approaches to so-called 'seduction'. Understanding and engaging with this broader social context is vital. The pervasive myth that women's self-objectification is empowering has exacerbated the idea that women's bodies exist to be rated, selected and consumed. A new wave of digital feminism has been met with a particularly toxic backlash, whose extreme misogyny has percolated into mainstream online discourse. Urban Dictionary, the crowd-sourced lexicon for contemporary slang, is infused with pornographic and misogynist rhetoric. The problem with the 'pornification' of mainstream culture is not about the greater visibility of sex, but the greater visibility of sexist sex, in which women are degraded, the sexual double standard still prevails and consent remains disputed. Often wider school cultures may compound rather than challenge this sexual double standard. Dress codes forbidding girls from wearing short skirts or 'revealing' tops presuppose that female sexuality is problematic because it is 'distracting to boys', yet no such assumptions are evident in rules which forbid boys from wearing tracksuits or jeans that show their underpants, which are often more concerned with sloppiness than male sexualisation. Similarly, cyber-safety guidelines, talks and educational videos about sexting generally reinforce the idea that it is the girl whose sexual reputation is at stake ('those pictures could ruin your career'), rather the boy who has violated her trust and privacy by sharing nudes with his mates ('boys will be boys'). Children are rarely taught to question the social order that perpetuates sexist values, an approach built into sexuality education programmes in the Netherlands and Sweden. A cultural shift in thinking about sexism, sexual abuse and harassment is needed and this includes our schools. Along with reviewing and updating curricula, we need to focus on changing practices in schools that may reinforce harmful gender stereotypes and limit development for both girls and boys. By setting high expectations for all students irrespective of their gender, we can start to change the inequality that persists in wider society when it comes to the different levels of accepted behaviour for men and women. Teaching young people about sex should not be viewed as a set of problems to be managed, but as an opportunity to empower them as sexual citizens. Developing critical literacy in this area from as early an age as possible is essential if campaigns such as #metoo are ever to become redundant. Dr Debbie Ging is Associate Professor of Media Studies in the School of Communications, DCU. She will deliver the keynote address at Educate Together's forthcoming Ethical Education Conference on November 25 in the Grand Hotel, Malahide. educatetogether.ie. An investigation revealed that those with a BMI of 25 or above were more likely to be diagnosed with tumours two centimetres or larger. Stock Image: Getty Images Overweight women should be screened for breast cancer more frequently as they have a greater chance of rapidly developing hard-to-treat tumours, a new study shows. An investigation revealed that those with a BMI of 25 or above were more likely to be diagnosed with tumours two centimetres or larger - the threshold between stage one and stage two cancers - than women of a healthy weight. The study authors called on doctors to more proactively recommend screening for overweight women. The investigation involved more than 2,000 cases of breast cancer over seven years in Sweden, where screening for the disease takes place at 18 to 24-month intervals. Here, Breastcheck offers mammograms every two years to women between the ages of 50 and 64. Drivers who use Toyota's Face It Down app - to avoid phone use and distraction - will get 50 off their car insurance from FBD. The free app for iPhone and Android has been downloaded 40,000 times and people have driven 8,000,000kms using it. The app rewards drivers who put their phone face down when driving. Points are earned for every km driven without picking up and can be redeemed with FBD Insurance and Topaz Re Store. Now anyone who collects 1,500 points will get 50 off an FBD insurance policy. I'm heading to Pasadena in California this weekend to test some of the best cars in the world as a member of the World Car of the Year jury. The award is regarded as a major accolade by manufacturers, but it's hugely important for buyers too. Ultimately the likes of myself are there on your behalf to reflect, absorb and hone expectations - especially in the current mercurial period of change. Motoring is going more global. The major markets such as China are increasingly dictating how and when things are done. So I'm privileged to get a flavour of those influences. The contenders are: Alfa Romeo Giulia and Stelvio, BMW X3, Buick Regal/Opel/Vauxhall Insignia, Citroen C3 Aircross, Dacia Duster, Ford Fiesta, Genesis G70, Honda Accord, Hyundai Kona, Jeep Compass, Kia Niro, Picanto, Stinger, Stonic, Land Rover Discovery, Range Rover Velar, Mazda CX-5, Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross, Nissan LEAF, Nissan Micra, Opel/Vauxhall Crossland X, Peugeot 3008, Renault Koleos, SEAT Ibiza, Skoda Karoq, SsangYong Rexton G4, Subaru XV/Crosstrek, Suzuki Swift, Toyota Camry, Volkswagen Polo, Volkswagen T-Roc, Volkswagen Arteon, Volvo XC60, Volvo XC40. World Urban Car contenders are: Ford Fiesta, Hyundai Kona, Kia Picanto, Kia Stonic, Nissan Micra, SEAT Ibiza, Suzuki Swift, Volkswagen Polo. Luxury Car contenders: Audi A8, BMW 6-series GT, Lexus LS, Porsche Cayenne, Panamera. Performance: Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio, Audi RS3 saloon, Audi RS 5 Coupe, BMW M5, Ferrari Portofino, Honda Civic Type R, Hyundai i30N, Lexus LC500, Renault Alpine A110, Suzuki Swift Sport, Volkswagen Polo GTI. The World Green Car competitors are: BMW 530e iPerformance, Chevrolet Cruze diesel, Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid, Hyundai FE, Nissan LEAF. All vehicles already mentioned are automatically in contention for the World Car Design award , plus the BMW i8 Roadster and Lamborghini Urus. * Congratulations to Ian Corbett, who is to take over as head of Lexus Ireland from December 1. Ian joined Toyota Ireland 19 years ago and is replacing Kevin O'Reilly, who is head of sales for Lexus Ireland. * Jose Mourinho recently visited Jaguar Land Rover's factory in Solihull to watch employees build his new car, the 100,000th F-PACE. He's a Jag fan so why is he always so miserable? Apparently he gave a team talk to workers about pride and passion in your work. Someone should tell him it's okay to smile now and again too. * Hyundai's IONIQ has won the Women's World Car Supreme Award. The only car award in the world with an all-female jury, it has members from 20 countries. * Volvo is to sell tens of thousands of autonomous driving-compatible base vehicles to Uber between 2019 and 2021. The vote for Brexit by the UK electorate is turning out to be a very significant historical occurrence in UK, European and especially Irish terms. The UK voted to tear up an agreement they signed with nearly 30 other European democracies. That agreement involved co-operating in matters of mutual interest, including a customs union and the freedom of movement of people. Brexit is, therefore, essentially a declaration of economic war. In relation to the UK's former colony Ireland, however, it is much more than that. Through Brexit, the UK voted to tear up the Good Friday Agreement it signed with Ireland. Among the many economic and political results is the effect of reimposing the Border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Much of the powerful, opinion-forming London media, while backing Brexit to the hilt, want total silence on the Border issue. This same London media, that spewed anti-EU propaganda and cheer-led a public discourse at the level of the 'straight banana' for decades, is now telling us Irish people that we are "puerile" and to "shut our gobs" on this issue. The answer to that has to be 'no'. To suggest that we are contributing to a 'hard Brexit' and should shut up is a pathetic return to the old colonial attitude that we are the 'deluded' Irish and should know our place. The present situation is a result of the decision of those who voted for Brexit, approximately 87pc of whom were English. We in this country have to continue to say firmly but with respect to those English people who are responsible for the present situation that the consequence of their present intimidatory attitude, if not modified, is going to be dire for co-operation in Europe for a long time to come. There should be no apologies for that. A Leavy Sutton, Dublin 13 Brexit could be a disaster for all I continue to read, with incredulity, editorials, articles and letters discussing the repercussions of the possible total or part failure of the first phase of negotiations on the withdrawal of the UK from the EU. The discussions revolve around the financial settlement, movement of EU nationals, and the open border issue. Even as an anti-Brexiteer, it is evident commentators from the EU countries, including Ireland, take the easy way out and report in a subjective manner, hiding their heads in the sand, which at the same time satisfies their readership and obfuscates rational reportage. Why is there no discussion on the reasoning, or more to the point lack of reasoning, of the EU's insistence on agreeing these three points before moving on to other areas of discussion? In any normal negotiation, there is no veto as to what to discuss at any part of negotiations. There is no reason why the UK should agree that some items of discussion should be opened only after the EU has satisfied itself on the outcome of particular areas of concern. This state of affairs clearly shows the mentality of the EU bureaucrats who are leading the talks. These out-to-pasture ex-politicians have nothing to lose if their bully-boy tactics don't work. The two-and-a-half sound economies in the EU are Germany, Britain and France. The rest are either bankrupt, of low economic value or, in the case of Ireland, dependent on a combination of trade with the UK and enticing multinationals to be tax resident in Ireland by allowing them to shelter their profits and pay a ridiculously low level of corporate tax. The Irish Government has bent over backwards to try to convince a multitude of financial organisations currently headquartered in the UK to move to Ireland, with no success. Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk are interested only in their short-term individual success, because, being non-elected civil servants, they have no commitment to the success of their policies and the dire consequences on, not only the minor EU countries, but the EU itself. Germany and France's continued support of Juncker and Tusk in their intransigence, and the weakness and dithering of Theresa May and her government in not insisting on the discussion of any aspect of withdrawal in no particular order, will lead to chaos and economic disaster to all concerned. What is needed are sound heads who want to negotiate, not arrogant has-beens on the one hand and incompetent jingoistic little Englanders on the other. Harry Charalambou Muswell Hill, London Brexit - what a shambles. Even if Theresa May hands over the 40bn-50bn required for stage two talks, the Brexiteers will still have to pull a rabbit out of the hat on the Irish Border. The Border is the biggest issue for them (even if they do not realise it), and a hard Border is out as it is incompatable with the Good Friday Agreement. Post-Brexit, they will have to leave Northern Ireland in the customs union/single market, or come up with a Patton-style Hong Kong arrangement for the region. They never gave the Border a second thought, as little old Ireland is never given the time of day by Tory administrations and to date they have offered no solution. What a mess. Perfidious Albion indeed. Bernard Guinan Claremorris, Co Mayo So the European Banking Authority moves to Paris and not Dublin over a flip of a coin! How outrageous is this? Given that Ireland will suffer most from the Brexit fallout, surely decency from our European "partners" would have determined that we should have been awarded at least one of the European agencies. Killian Brennan Malahide Road, Dublin 17 Educate ourselves on abortion Choice is a neutral word until it applies to choosing if someone lives or dies. No one should have the burden of being given such a choice over another living being, such as the child in the womb. Words around abortion are always chosen to cover up the reality of what occurs. We have many types of media resources available now, showing all kinds of operations and medical issues. Perhaps it might be wise to look at abortion procedures being carried out to really know what we are choosing, so that in a few years down the road we don't turn around and say I never knew what abortion really meant. We can see from the current Oireachtas Committee on abortion that our politicians are not concerned with genuinely informing the public, and so we must educate ourselves. Louise Heavey Renmore, Co Galway Very wise words from Billy What a wise and wonderful speech by Billy Keane to a health care graduation class in Tralee ('Keane's Kingdom', Irish Independent, November 18). I just love the wise words for us men: "Show the love, men, and show it often and always. Talk, talk, talk. Keep nothing in. There's a cure in talk, boys." Wise words indeed, Billy. Brian McDevitt Glenties, Co Donegal David Cassidy, who shot to fame in the sitcom The Partridge Family, has died aged 67. The 70s heartthrob had been hospitalised last week and died on Tuesday surrounded by family. His representative said in a statement: On behalf of the entire Cassidy family, it is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our father, our uncle, and our dear brother, David Cassidy. David died surrounded by those he loved, with joy in his heart and free from the pain that had gripped him for so long. Thank you for the abundance of love and support you have shown him these many years. Expand Close David Cassidy / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp David Cassidy Cassidy, who starred as Keith Partridge in the 1970s TV series The Partridge Family, was said to have been in need of a liver transplant when he was rushed to hospital in Florida. He also revealed he was battling dementia earlier this year. The star, who enjoyed hits in the 1970s such as How Can I Be Sure, said he had decided to stop touring, adding: I want to focus on what I am I want to love. I want to enjoy life. His nephew Jack Cassidy said on Twitter: My uncle David Cassidy has sadly passed away tonight & in the process of mourning I cant help but thank God for the joy that he brought to countless millions of people! I dont think Im alone in saying that we will all miss him. God Speed! Video of the Day We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference Tributes also poured in on social media from fans and fellow celebrities. Beach Boys musician Brian Wilson tweeted: Im very sad to hear about David Cassidy. There were times in the mid-1970s when he would come over to my house and we even started writing a song together. He was a very talented and nice person. Love & Mercy to David and his family. We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference Singer and talk show host Harry Connick Jr said on the social networking site: So sad to hear of the passing of david cassidy he was always so kind to me such a pleasure to have had him on my show sending love and prayers to his family R.I.P. friend. We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference And television and radio host Larry King tweeted: Sad to learn David Cassidy has died. Like his father Jack he had great talent, and a complicated life. Condolences to his wonderful family. Pixar co-founder and Walt Disney Animation Studios chief John Lasseter is taking a leave of absence after apologising to staff for unwanted hugs and gestures. Lasseter, who directed the first two Toy Story films and Cars, wrote to colleagues on Tuesday saying he has to face his missteps and acknowledging he has made some of them feel disrespected or uncomfortable. The announcement comes as Hollywood faces increased scrutiny in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, which has prompted public allegations against Kevin Spacey and Louis CK among others. Expand Close John Lasseter / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp John Lasseter The memo, seen by the Press Association, came as industry magazine The Hollywood Reporter prepared to publish allegations of misconduct against Lasseter, 60. He wrote to colleagues: Ive recently had a number of difficult conversations that have been very painful for me. Its never easy to face your missteps, but its the only way to learn from them. Its been brought to my attention that I have made some of you feel disrespected or uncomfortable. That was never my intent. I especially want to apologise to anyone who has ever been on the receiving end of an unwanted hug or any other gesture they felt crossed the line in any way, shape, or form. No matter how benign my intent, everyone has the right to set their own boundaries and have them respected. My hope is that a six-month sabbatical will give me the opportunity to start taking better care of myself, to recharge and be inspired, and ultimately return with the insight and perspective I need to be the leader you deserve. Video of the Day Expand Close Toy Story / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Toy Story Lasseters move comes just days before Pixars latest film Coco hits cinemas across the world before its UK-release in January. In a statement, Disney said: We are committed to maintaining an environment in which all employees are respected and empowered to do their best work. We appreciate Johns candour and sincere apology and fully support his sabbatical. The scene at the mosque after a deadly attack by a suicide bomber, in Mubi, Adamawa State, Nigeria. Photo: AP A suicide bomber killed at least 50 people at a mosque in north-eastern Nigeria yesterday, the biggest mass killing this year in a region facing an insurgency by Islamist militant group Boko Haram. "Some of the dead were in pieces beyond recognition," said Bayi Muhammad, a worshipper at the mosque in Mubi, who said he only escaped the blast because he was late for early morning prayers. The government and military have said numerous times since 2015 that Boko Haram's eight-year insurgency is almost defeated, but the group continues to attack civilian and military targets. Yesterday's bombing brings the number killed in 2017 to at least 278, according to calculations by Reuters. There was no claim of responsibility for the attack. Abubakar Othman, a police spokesman in Adamawa state, said the death toll is at least 50, but "there could be more as those seriously injured could add to the figure". Mubi is in Adamawa state, where Boko Haram held territory in 2014. Troops pushed it out in early 2015. The group mounts suicide attacks in public places such as mosques and markets. Yesterday's attack was the biggest in Nigeria's north-east since two schoolgirl suicide bombers killed 56 people and wounded dozens more at a market in Adamawa last December. It is also the first attack on Mubi since armed forces recaptured the town from Boko Haram in 2014. The blast bears the hallmarks of a faction led by Abubakar Shekau, which forces women and girls to carry out suicide bombings. The attacks often leave only the bomber dead. Boko Haram has waged an insurgency in north-eastern Nigeria since 2009 in its attempt to create an Islamic state in the region. It has killed more than 20,000 and forced around two million people to flee their homes, creating a vast humanitarian crisis. The group split in 2016, and the faction under Shekau is based in the Sambisa forest, on the border with Cameroon and Chad, and mainly targets civilians with suicide bombers. The other faction is based in the Lake Chad region and led by Abu Musab al-Barnawi. It mainly attacks military forces after quietly building up its strength over the past year. Most attacks focus on Borno state, the birthplace of the insurgency. The World Trade Centre in New York Insurers have agreed to pay 95 million dollars (71.5 million) to settle claims that security lapses led planes to be hijacked in the 9/11 attacks. The settlement on behalf of defendants including American Airlines and United Airlines was described in papers filed in Manhattan federal court. Developers of the new World Trade Centre buildings had once demanded 3.5 billion dollars (2.6 billion) from aviation companies after hijacked planes destroyed three skyscrapers on September 11 2001. Developer Larry Silverstein and World Trade Centre Properties have collected over five billion dollars (3.8 billion) from other defendants through numerous lawsuits. The money has aided the reconstruction of buildings on the 16-acre lower Manhattan site. Earlier settlements included 135 million dollars (102 million) paid to a financial services firm that lost two-thirds of its employees. Russia's meteorological service has reported "extremely high pollution" of a radioactive isotope in the Urals near a facility that previously suffered the third-worst nuclear catastrophe in history. The news bolsters international reports that a ruthenium-106 leak originating in the Urals sent a radioactive cloud over Europe. Greenpeace Russia has said it will ask the prosecutor general to investigate the possible cover-up of a nuclear accident. Rosatom, Russia's state nuclear company, has denied the leak. Its Mayak facility, where an explosion in 1957 contaminated a swath of central Russia, told state news agency RIA Novosti it had not processed nuclear fuel with ruthenium-106 this year. The isotope, which doesn't occur naturally, was detected in Germany, Austria, Italy and Switzerland in late September. France's nuclear safety institute said the "major" radiation leak likely occurred between the Urals and the Volga river. Rosatom said in October the "account of a supposed Russian origin of the pollution is baseless". But a report by the Rosgidromet service on Monday revealed that the concentration of ruthenium-106 in Argayash, a village near Mayak, exceeded natural background pollution by 986 times at the end of September. The head of the service said excessive ruthenium-106 levels had been documented in Poland, Bulgaria and Ukraine. Responding to accusations local authorities had covered up the leak, Yevgeny Savchenko, the Chelyabinsk region public safety minister, said "fluctuations in background radiation" had not reached dangerous levels and thus "there was no basis for protective measures". He also claimed it was suspicious the leak was reported in France, "where there is a nuclear waste processing facility that competes with our Mayak". The independent news outlet Znak quoted a source at Mayak as saying the ruthenium-106 could have come from nuclear waste brought there for reprocessing. F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets and E-2D Hawkeye plane are seen on the U.S. aircraft carrier John C. Stennis during joint military exercise called Malabar, with the United States, Japan and India participating, off Japan's southernmost island of Okinawa, Japan June 15, 2016. REUTERS/Nobuhiro Kubo/File Photo An E-2D Hawkeye plane approaches to the U.S. aircraft carrier John C. Stennis during joint military exercise called Malabar, with the United States, Japan and India participating, off Japan's southernmost island of Okinawa, Japan June 15, 2016. REUTERS/Nobuhiro Kubo/File Photo A U.S. Navy transport plane carrying 11 people crashed in the Philippines Sea south of Japan on Wednesday as it flew to the aircraft carrier the USS Ronald Reagan, the U.S. Seventh Fleet said. Eight people had been rescued, with the remaining three unaccounted for, Japan's public broadcaster NHK reported. A spokesman for the U.S. Navy in Japan said that it had no information on whether anyone on board had been picked up. A North Korean soldier has been seen racing for the border in a vehicle and then on foot before his former comrades shoot him at least 40 times as he limps into South Korea. The defection, subsequent surgeries and slow recovery of the soldier have riveted South Korea, but it will be a huge embarrassment for the North, which claims all defections are the result of rival Seoul kidnapping or enticing North Koreans to defect. Pyongyang has said nothing about the defection so far. North Korea's actions during the defector's November 13 escape at Panmunjom violated the armistice agreement ending the 1950-53 Korean War because North Korean soldiers fired across and physically crossed the border in pursuit of the soldier, US Colonel Chad G Carroll, a spokesman for the UN command, told reporters in a live TV briefing. The video, released by the US-led UN command, shows the soldier speeding down a tree-lined road, headlights on, past dun-coloured fields and shocked North Korean soldiers who begin to run after him. He crashes the jeep into a ditch near the line that divides North and South and the blue huts familiar to anyone who's toured the area. It is the part of the border where North and South Korean soldiers face each other at their closest distance just metres apart. There were no tour groups at the time of the defection, Col Carroll said. Soldiers from the North sprint to the area, firing handguns and AK rifles - about 40 rounds, the South says - at the defector; one hurries across the dividing line before running back to the northern side. South Korean soldiers then crawl up to the defector, who has fallen injured in a mass of leaves against a small wall. They drag him to safety as North Korean troops begin to gather on their side of the line. A UN Command helicopter later transported him to the Ajou University Medical Centre near Seoul. Expand Close File photo showing Hwang Pyong So, left, standing near North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (centre) (AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp File photo showing Hwang Pyong So, left, standing near North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (centre) (AP) Surprisingly, North and South Korean soldiers did not exchange fire in the first shooting in the area in more than three decades. In 1984, North Korean and UN Command soldiers traded shots when a Soviet citizen defected by sprinting to the South Korean sector of Panmunjom. Three North Korean soldiers and one South Korean soldier were killed. About 30,000 North Koreans have fled to South Korea, mostly via China, since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. A North Korean soldier defected via Panmunjom in 1998 and another in 2007 but neither of those events involved gunfire between the rivals. Expand Close NORTH KOREA: Kim Jong-un / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp NORTH KOREA: Kim Jong-un Col Carroll said the North violated the armistice by "one, firing weapons across the MDL, and two, by actually crossing the MDL temporarily", referring to the military demarcation line that bisects the Koreas. A UN Command statement said officials notified the North's military of these violations and requested a meeting to discuss the investigation results and measures to prevent future such violations. Panmunjom is inside the two-and-a-half-mile-wide Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) that is jointly overseen by the American-led UN Command and by North Korea. Guarded by mines, barbed wire fences, tank traps and combat troops on both sides, the DMZ is the world's most heavily fortified border. Panmunjom was the site of some bloodshed during the Cold War but there has not been major violence there in recent years. In 1976, North Korean soldiers axed two American army officers to death and the United States responded by flying nuclear-capable B-52 bombers toward the DMZ in an attempt to intimidate the North. Expand Close North Koreas leader Kim Jong-un visits the Mangyongdae Revolutionary Academy. Photo: Reuters / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp North Koreas leader Kim Jong-un visits the Mangyongdae Revolutionary Academy. Photo: Reuters After undergoing two surgeries last week to repair internal organ damage and other injuries, the soldier is now conscious and no longer relies on a breathing machine, according to hospital official Shin Mi-jeong. While his condition is improving, doctors plan to keep him at the intensive care unit for at least several more days to guard against possible infections. While treating the wounds, surgeons removed dozens of parasites from the soldier's ruptured small intestine, including presumed roundworms that were as long as 27cm, which may reflect poor nutrition and health in North Korea's military. The soldier is 5ft 7in tall but weighs just 60kg. As the UN war crimes court prepares to wrap up its work with a verdict in the landmark genocide trial of former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic, deep divisions persist in the Balkans over the tribunal's role in delivering justice and paving the way for reconciliation in the war-torn region of Europe. Mladic's trial is the last major case for the Netherlands-based tribunal for former Yugoslavia, which was set up in 1993 to prosecute those most responsible for the worst carnage in Europe since World War II. The tribunal declared its aim was to "deter future crimes and render justice to thousands of victims and their families, thus contributing to a lasting peace in the former Yugoslavia". More than 20 years on, however, the nations in the region are still led by nationalist politicians and remain divided deeply along ethnic lines. Known as the "Butcher of Bosnia", Mladic was charged with 11 counts of genocide and war crimes for the war's worst atrocities, including the 1995 slaughter by his troops of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica, and the siege of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo. While widely seen as a symbol of Bosnian war horrors, Mladic is still revered as a hero by many Serbs. In his native Bosnian village of Bozinovici, the main street is named after Mladic and almost every house cherishes at least one photo of him. T-shirts with his wartime portrait and inscription "Serbian Hero" are sold on the streets of Serbian towns. The 75-year-old former general, who insists he is innocent, faces a maximum life sentence if convicted. Unlike Serbs, most Muslim Bosniaks in Bosnia believe Mladic deserves to spend the rest of his days in prison. Among them is Ramiza Burzic, who lost her two sons in the Srebrenica massacre and so far has found just partial remains of one of them. "I expect he will be sentenced to life in prison, so that all his progeny will know what kind of a man he was and what he did," she said. This ethnic divide is reflected in how various groups judge the tribunal's legacy. Serbs view the court as highly biased, while the other ethnic groups generally harbour a more positive stance. Darko Mladic comments after the Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal handed down its verdicts of his father's genocide trial (AP) Ratko Mladic after an angry outburst in the Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague (ICTY via AP) A woman raises her hands as she reacts along with other Bosnian women on hearing the sentence (AP) Prosecutors have sought a life sentence, while Mladic's lawyers say he should be acquitted on all counts (AP) Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic, whose forces carried out the worst massacre in Europe since the Second World War, has been convicted of genocide and other crimes and sentenced to life behind bars. Mladic, defiant to the last, was ejected from a courtroom at the United Nations' Yugoslav war crimes tribunal after yelling at judges: "Everything you said is pure lies. Shame on you!" He was sent to a neighbouring room to watch on TV as Presiding Judge Alphons Orie pronounced him guilty of 10 counts that also included war crimes and crimes against humanity. Human-rights organisations hailed the convictions as proof that even top military brass long considered untouchable cannot evade justice forever. Mladic spent years on the run before his arrest in 2011. "This landmark verdict marks a significant moment for international justice and sends out a powerful message around the world that impunity cannot and will not be tolerated," said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International's Europe director. For prosecutors, it was a fitting end to a 23-year effort to mete out justice at the UN tribunal for atrocities committed during the Balkan wars of the early 1990s. Mladic's conviction signalled the end of the final trial before the tribunal closes its doors by the end of the year. But Mladic's attorneys vowed to appeal against his convictions on 10 charges related to atrocities from the beginning of the 1992-95 Bosnian war to its end. Mladic's son, Darko, said his father told him after the verdict that the tribunal was a "Nato commission ... trying to criminalise a legal endeavour of Serbian people in times of civil war to protect itself from the aggression." Judge Orie started the hearing by reading out horrors perpetrated by forces under Mladic's control. "Detainees were forced to rape and engage in other degrading sexual acts with one another. Many Bosnian Muslim women who were unlawfully detained were raped," Orie said. The judge recounted the story of a mother who ventured into the streets during the siege of Sarajevo with her son as Serb snipers and artillery targeted the Bosnian capital. She was shot. The bullet passed through her and killed her seven-year-old son. The war reached its bloody climax in Srebrenica as Bosnian Serb forces overran what was supposed to be a UN-protected safe haven. Serb forces systematically murdered some 8,000 Muslim males after transporting away women and children. "Many of these men and boys were cursed, insulted, threatened, forced to sing Serb songs and beaten while awaiting their execution," Judge Orie said. Mladic looked relaxed as the hearing started, greeting lawyers, crossing himself and giving a thumbs-up to photographers. But half way through the hearing his lawyer, Dragan Ivetic, asked for a delay because the general was suffering from high blood pressure. The judge refused, Mladic started yelling and was thrown out of court. The conflict in the former Yugoslavia erupted after the country's break-up in the early 1990s, with the worst crimes taking place in Bosnia. More than 100,000 people died and millions lost their homes before a peace agreement was signed in 1995. Mladic went into hiding for around 10 years before his arrest in Serbia in May 2011. Mladic's political master during the war, former Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadzic was also convicted last year for genocide and sentenced to 40 years. He has appealed against the ruling. The man widely blamed for fomenting wars across the Balkans, former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, died in his UN cell in 2006 before tribunal judges could reach verdicts in his trial. Top Bosnian Serb political leader Milorad Dodik said the court was established with the "single purpose" of demonising Serbs, describing Mladic as "a hero and a patriot." Serbian President Alksandar Vucic, a former ultranationalist who supported Mladic's war campaigns but now casts himself as a pro-EU reformer, agreed that the court has been biased against Serbs but added that "we should not justify the crimes committed" by the Serbs. The verdict was sweet relief for a former prisoner of Serb-run camps in north-western Bosnia who was in The Hague. Fikret Alic became a symbol of the horrors in Bosnia after his skeletal frame was photographed by Time magazine behind barbed wire in 1992 in a Bosnian Serb camp. "Justice has won," he said. "And the war criminal has been convicted." AP Saad Hariri, left, returns to Beirut, more than two weeks after announcing his resignation in Saudi Arabia (AP) Lebanon's prime minister Saad Hariri has said he is putting his resignation on hold following a request from the president to reconsider. In surprise conciliatory comments from the presidential palace, Mr Hariri said he is putting Lebanon's interest first and looks forward to a "real partnership" with President Michel Aoun. He said he presented his resignation to Mr Aoun at the presidential palace, but responded to the president's request to give him more time for consultations, "hoping it will constitute a serious introduction for (national) dialogue." Mr Hariri announced his resignation in a televised address from Saudi Arabia on November 4, stunning the nation and plunging the country in turmoil. Top Lebanese officials accused Mr Hariri's patron, Saudi Arabia, of forcing his resignation and detaining him in the kingdom for days. "Our beloved nation needs in this critical period exceptional efforts from everyone to protect it in the face of dangers and challenges," said Mr Hariri in a statement from the presidential palace. He reiterated the need for Lebanon to remain neutral on regional disputes and conflicts "and all that undermines internal stability and brotherly relations with Arab brothers." Mr Hariri's mysterious televised resignation from Saudi Arabia sparked a political and diplomatic crisis as Lebanese officials accused the Gulf kingdom, which is feuding with Iran for influence in the region, of forcing the Sunni, Saudi-aligned politician to resign and detaining him for days. The Lebanese rallied around Mr Hariri, unanimously calling for his return from Saudi Arabia in what became an embarrassment to the kingdom. Earlier on Wednesday, Mr Hariri participated in Independence Day celebrations, his first official appearance since his resignation. AP US Charge dAffaires Reece Smyth pardons Dustin the Turkey at a Thanksgiving reception at the US ambassadors residence in the Phoenix Park. Photo: Gerry Mooney Donald Trump issued a last minute reprieve for Ireland's favourite bird last night. Dustin the Turkey was granted a pardon from the chopping block at a reception at the American ambassador's residence as Americans prepare for their annual Thanksgiving celebrations tomorrow. In keeping with tradition in which the president 'pardons' a turkey from slaughter for the annual harvest feast, Charge d'Affaires Reece Smyth announced the foul-mouthed puppet would be spared the chop. Dressed in a silver lame bomber jacket adorned with red and blue stars, Dustin spoke of his relief in not winding up on the dinner table. "It's a dangerous time for us," he said. But it didn't take him long to get back to his wise-cracking ways, noting one speaker "was so dull he could have been Canadian". The Saudi-led military coalition has announced it will reopen Yemen's main international airport in the capital of Sanaa and a vital Red Sea port to give access to humanitarian aid. The coalition, fighting Shiite rebels in Yemen, said the Sanaa airport and the port of Hodeida in the war-torn country will reopen on Thursday. The coalition imposed the closure of all sea, air, and land ports in the Arab world's poorest country over two weeks ago, in response to a missile assault by the Shiite rebels that targeted the Saudi capital, Riyadh. The missile was struck down but it was the farthest a projectile by the rebels, also known as Houthis, had penetrated into the kingdom. The coalition said the United Nations and international relief groups have demanded it allow full access to hubs in Yemen so that humanitarian aid can reach those who desperately need it. Aid groups have also warned of worsening conditions for millions of Yemenis who fully depend on the aid. AP The UN said the move by Saudi Arabia will be "a very welcome and critically important development". UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said the UN is "monitoring these developments and we're trying to see whether that actually takes place on the ground". He said the world body has "made clear the tremendous amount of needs on the ground" and added: "We're ready to help if the ports are opened." The No. 1/9 Indiana University swimming and diving teams had four members honored by the Big Ten for their efforts last week at the Purdue Invitational.andwere named Big Ten Swimmers of the Week, whileandwere named Big Ten Freshmen of the Week.Pieroni earns weekly honors for the second-straight week and for the fourth time this year, while King has been named Big Ten Swimmer of the Week for the third time this year. The rookie of the week honor is the second for Haskett and the first for Blaskovic.King and Haskett helped the No. 9-ranked Hoosiers win the eight-team Purdue Invitational last weekend. King won three individual events the 200 IM (1:55.96), the 100 breaststroke (59.12) and the 200 breaststroke (2:10.99) with NCAA B cut times.The duo combined to help IU win the 200 free relay, 200 medley relay and 400 medley relay as well. The highlight was the 200 free relay that set a school record with a time of 1:28.95, which Haskett led off with a school record 50 freestyle leg of 22.10.In the 200 (1:34.58) and 400 medley (3:32.04) relays, King and Haskett helped Indiana post NCAA A cuts. IU's mark in the 200 medley relay is the best in the country this year, while the 400 medley relay time is the third-best.Individually, Haskett won the 50 (22.19) and 100 freestyle (48.72) events with a pair of NCAA B cuts. The freshman also helped IU win the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 3:16.60.For the No. 1 Hoosier men, Pieroni was dominant over the three days, winning two individual events the 100 freestyle (42.10) and 200 freestyle (1:32.33) with NCAA A cuts. Pieroni's time in the 200 is the best in the nation, while his mark in the 100 is second-best.The senior also helped IU win the 200 medley relay (1:25.09), 400 medley relay (3:05.57) and the 800 freestyle relay (6:17.75). Indiana recorded NCAA A cuts in both the 400 medley relay and 800 free relay, while the 200 medley relay earned a B cut. The Hoosiers' time in the 400 medley relay is the best in the country, while the time in the 800 free relay is second-fastest.Blaskovic had a great showing for the Hoosiers at the Purdue Invitational, posting NCAA B cuts in three individual events, finishing in the top-five in each one.Blaskovic placed second in the 50 freestyle (19.76) and the 100 freestyle (43.36) and took fourth in the 100 butterfly with a mark of 47.88.The No. 1/9 Indiana Hoosiers men's and women's swimming and diving teams will be back in the pool on Wednesday, Dec. 20 when the team takes on No. 11/24 Arizona State in a dual meet in Tempe, Ariz.Be sure to keep up with all the latest news on the Indiana men's and women's swimming and diving teams on social media Twitter Facebook and Instagram #GoIU Kolkata, Nov 22 (IBNS): After the successful networking meets in Guwahati, Patna and Ranchi, the US Consulate General Kolkata, in collaboration with the social enterprise Contact Base, launched a youth entrepreneurship initiative Y4BIZ (Youth for Business) in Kolkata recently. The website www.Y4Biz.com was also launched during the event by US Consul General Craig Hall and Ananya Bhattacharya, Director, Contact Base. The Y4BIZ program aims to support a promising group of 50 young entrepreneurs, and transform their business ideas from the initial stage to a sustainable business model, according to a release. The 50 entrepreneurs will be selected by a rigorous screening process after the launch events in all four cities, which is when online registration begins. This will be followed by an online capacity building and mentoring program run by the IC2 Institute, University of Texas, Austin. A group of 10 mentors will also be selected from Eastern India and who will be trained at the Nexus Incubator Hub, which is housed inside the American Center in New Delhi. The mentors will work with the 50 entrepreneurs on a regular basis and through selected boot camps. Finally, the top 10 business ideas will be showcased at the American Center in Kolkata before industry leaders, investors and policy makers. The top three business ideas will have the possibility of being incubated at the Nexus Incubator Hub in New Delhi American Center. Director of the American Center and Public Affairs Officer of the US Consulate General Kolkata, Jamie Dragon, said, Youth entrepreneurship development is a proven strategy that positively impacts the lives of young people. This project seeks to foster a culture of entrepreneurship in eastern India and to strengthen linkages between American and Indian youth leaders. This initiative, launched to celebrate the Global Entrepreneurship Week in November, is part of a series of #RoadtoGES activities leading up to the upcoming Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES 2017) that is scheduled for November 28-30 in Hyderabad. Organized annually since 2010, GES is an annual entrepreneurship gathering that convenes over one thousand emerging entrepreneurs, investors, and supporters from around the world, according to the release. This years summit, hosted jointly by the United States and India, will be held for the first time in South Asia. The theme for #GES2017 is Women First, Prosperity for all, and will focus on supporting women entrepreneurs and fostering economic growth globally. Ivanka Trump, Senior Advisor to the President will headline the United States delegation to the summit. The Director of Nexus in the New Delhi American Center, Erik Azulay said, "Nexus and the IC2 Institute of the University of Texas look forward to working with the American Center in Kolkata and Y4Biz to strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Eastern India. We are glad to share our expertise in innovation and entrepreneurship with a partner such as Y4Biz which shares our vision and passion for supporting startups. Suman Mukhopadhyay, Director & Vice President (Finance & Strategy) of Contact Base said, An entrepreneurs' journey is a journey of loneliness. For first generation early stage entrepreneurs this can be a daunting challenge to surmount. If one is attempting to start an enterprise in the eastern region of India, odds are stacked too unfavorably. An initiative like Y4BIZ, that intends to create a network of mentors, entrepreneurs, incubators and policy makers; that will work closely with the stakeholders towards evolving favorable environments for startups. This can help transform the landscape of entrepreneurship in this region. The asteroid, named Oumuamua by its discoverers, is up to one-quarter mile (400 meters) long and highly-elongatedperhaps 10 times as long as it is wide. That aspect ratio is greater than that of any asteroid or comet observed in our solar system to date. While its elongated shape is quite surprising, and unlike asteroids seen in our solar system, it may provide new clues into how other solar systems formed, read the NASA website. The observations and analyses were funded in part by NASA and appear in the Nov. 20 issue of the journal Nature. They suggest this unusual object had been wandering through the Milky Way, unattached to any star system, for hundreds of millions of years before its chance encounter with our star system. For decades weve theorized that such interstellar objects are out there, and now for the first time we have direct evidence they exist, said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASAs Science Mission Directorate in Washington. This history-making discovery is opening a new window to study formation of solar systems beyond our own. Immediately after its discovery, telescopes around the world, including ESOs Very Large Telescope in Chile and other observatories around the world were called into action to measure the objects orbit, brightness and color. Urgency for viewing from ground-based telescopes was vital to get the best data. Combining the images from the FORS instrument on the ESO telescope using four different filters with those of other large telescopes, a team of astronomers led by Karen Meech of the Institute for Astronomy in Hawaii found that Oumuamua varies in brightness by a factor of ten as it spins on its axis every 7.3 hours. No known asteroid or comet from our solar system varies so widely in brightness, with such a large ratio between length and width. The most elongated objects we have seen to date are no more than three times longer than they are wide. This unusually big variation in brightness means that the object is highly elongated: about ten times as long as it is wide, with a complex, convoluted shape, said Meech. We also found that it had a reddish color, similar to objects in the outer solar system, and confirmed that it is completely inert, without the faintest hint of dust around it. These properties suggest that Oumuamua is dense, comprised of rock and possibly metals, has no water or ice, and that its surface was reddened due to the effects of irradiation from cosmic rays over hundreds of millions of years. A few large ground-based telescopes continue to track the asteroid, though its rapidly fading as it recedes from our planet. Two of NASAs space telescopes (Hubble and Spitzer) are tracking the object the week of Nov. 20. As of Nov. 20, Oumuamua is travelling about 85,700 miles per hour (38.3 kilometers per second) relative to the Sun. Its location is approximately 124 million miles (200 million kilometers) from Earth -- the distance between Mars and Jupiter though its outbound path is about 20 degrees above the plane of planets that orbit the Sun. The object passed Marss orbit around Nov. 1 and will pass Jupiters orbit in May of 2018. It will travel beyond Saturns orbit in January 2019; as it leaves our solar system, Oumuamua will head for the constellation Pegasus. Observations from large ground-based telescopes will continue until the object becomes too faint to be detected, sometime after mid-December. NASAs Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) continues to take all available tracking measurements to refine the trajectory of 1I/2017 U1 as it exits our solar system. This remarkable object was discovered Oct. 19 by the University of Hawaiis Pan-STARRS1 telescope, funded by NASAs Near-Earth Object Observations(NEOO) Program, which finds and tracks asteroids and comets in Earths neighborhood. NASA Planetary Defense Officer Lindley Johnson said, We are fortunate that our sky survey telescope was looking in the right place at the right time to capture this historic moment. This serendipitous discovery is bonus science enabled by NASAs efforts to find, track and characterize near-Earth objects that could potentially pose a threat to our planet. Preliminary orbital calculations suggest that the object came from the approximate direction of the bright star Vega, in the northern constellation of Lyra. However, it took so long for the interstellar object to make the journey even at the speed of about 59,000 miles per hour (26.4 kilometers per second) -- that Vega was not near that position when the asteroid was there about 300,000 years ago. While originally classified as a comet, observations from ESO and elsewhere revealed no signs of cometary activity after it slingshotted past the Sun on Sept. 9 at a blistering speed of 196,000 miles per hour (87.3 kilometers per second). The object has since been reclassified as interstellar asteroid 1I/2017 U1 by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), which is responsible for granting official names to bodies in the solar system and beyond. In addition to the technical name, the Pan-STARRS team dubbed it Oumuamua (pronounced oh MOO-uh MOO-uh), which is Hawaiian for a messenger from afar arriving first. Astronomers estimate that an interstellar asteroid similar to Oumuamua passes through the inner solar system about once per year, but they are faint and hard to spot and have been missed until now. It is only recently that survey telescopes, such as Pan-STARRS, are powerful enough to have a chance to discover them. What a fascinating discovery this is! said Paul Chodas, manager of the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. Its a strange visitor from a faraway star system, shaped like nothing weve ever seen in our own solar system neighborhood. Image credit: European Southern Observatory/M. Kornmesser Washington, Nov 22 (IBNS): A new NASA tool links changes in sea level in 293 global port cities to specific regions of melting land ice, such as southern Greenland and the Antarctic Peninsula. It is intended to help coastal planners prepare for rising seas in the decades to come, read the NASA website. All coastal cities will see some impacts of global sea level rise. But the new tool shows that, for example, New York City is more strongly affected by melting ice in northeastern Greenland than in southwestern Greenland; while Sydney has a greater risk from the rapidly melting Antarctic Peninsula than from East Antarctica. A paper describing the new tool, titled "Should coastal planners have concern over where land ice is melting?," was recently published in the journal Science Advances. The research team is Eric Larour, Erik Ivins and Surendra Adhikari of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Melting ice and rising ocean temperatures contribute about evenly to global sea level rise today. Individual cities are also affected by local conditions such as land sinking. Other Web-based resources such as the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit address some of these issues, but the new NASA tool is the only resource to match specific melting ice locations with their effects on the world's ports. Water from melted ice on land doesn't spread evenly across the world's oceans because of a gravitational push-pull between ice and ocean. As a melting glacier or ice sheet dwindles, it loses mass, causing its local gravitational pull on nearby ocean water to diminish. Seawater that had been pulled toward the ice by the force of gravity flows away -- in other words, sea level drops in the vicinity of a melting glacier but rises farther away. When this spatial pattern can be attributed to a given glacier or ice sheet, it is known as a sea level fingerprint. To calculate this and other influences on sea level such as Earth's rotation, Larour and his colleagues used a dynamic mathematical formula called the adjoint method, which is used in seismic and meteorological studies. The method enables fast computation of the sensitivity of a model's output to its inputs -- in this case, the sensitivity of sea level to ice melting. They used the method with JPL's well-tested computer model of ice sheet melting, the Ice Sheet System Model, to develop their new tool, called Gradient Fingerprint Mapping. Users of the tool need no specialized training or extreme computer power; they simply download it, input data or projections of ice loss, and let it evolve the shifting ice and water patterns forward into the future. The result: a detailed profile of the sensitivity of sea level at any of these cities to changes in ice anywhere in the world. Calculations of sea level fingerprints have been made in previous studies but tended to be cumbersome and spatially coarse, Larour said. The new tool provides an overall mechanism for rapidly computing high-resolution results using a variety of potential data sets. Gradient Fingerprint Mapping is not dependent on a particular climate change scenario, Larour said. "You can apply the method to any type of melting scenario that you want." That means it will retain its utility as improved projections of ice loss become available in the future. The computations show that the specific location of mass loss in Greenland is crucial, as it greatly affects the local sea level predictions for many major coastal cities in North America and Europe. The spatial details of Antarctic melting are important for areas south of the equator in South America, Africa and South Asia. Among some intriguing results, Larour said, are those for New York, London and Oslo. Greenlands northeastern ice stream was shown to have an outsized effect on New Yorks local sea level, but the island's southern glaciers had little influence. London was more strongly affected by Greenlands northwestern and western glaciers. And Norway is so close to Greenland, the island's gravitational fingerprint is contributing to sea level decrease in Oslo. The authors note that ocean dynamics can accelerate or offset the changes in sea level from gravitational fingerprints -- particularly in New York, where the contribution of melting ice to accelerated sea level rise is minor compared to other sources. This is really a new capability, Larour said. Now a coastal planner can understand and see how the melting or growing of a given ice sheet could be detrimental or beneficial to a specific location. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Google. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons It is a known fact that our countrys economy is dependent on Agriculture industry. The government is constantly working towards the development of rural areas, as majority of our population resides in these areas. Therefore it is the need of the hour to have a thorough knowledge of this area and its industries. Rural Management is one such field that gives us an insight about this part of our country. It is one of the most emerging fields in our country, where students are looking for an opportunity to pursue their careers in. Higher studies in Rural Management gives you an insight about the working and managing the projects that can contribute in progress and development of such areas. It trains you to plan and manage in such a manner that every resource is utilized to its maximum potential. In this article, we are discussing the renowned colleges that offer this course and which one gives you the most valuable degree. Everything you should know aboutIRMA Institute of Rural Management Anand(IRMA) is one of the best institutions which offer the course for Rural Management. IRMAhas been acting as a center of excellence since its inception and it has been ranked as 29th according to NIRF. This is due to the fact that this institution has brought a professional approach to the complicated background of Rural Management. The founders believed that a sector like rural management is difficult to deal with and only trained professionals can be able to handle it to ensure success in related aspects. IRMAmainly provides two courses namely Post-Graduate Programme in Rural Management as well as Fellow Programme in Rural Management. Apart from this, other subsidiary courses are being offered to the students. According to resources, the educational experience which IRMA provides to its students is incredible and magnificent due to the fact that IRMA allows its students to have a fine blend of theoretical knowledge as well as practical knowledge. If we consider the placement records, it is a proof of the fact that IRMAis an institute which instigates interest of one regarding a brighter career in Rural Management. Everything you should know about XIMB: Everyone is aware of the popular, indigenous XIMB group of academic institutions. This is also a fact that XIMB provides a very famous Rural Management Course, which aims at providing all the necessary knowledge which is required by any individual to ensure progress in the rural sector of India. The education is being provided in such a way that the students tend to innovate and assure that this restricted sector moves towards exponential growth. XIMB ensures that the basic management skills are incorporated into the sector of rural management. After the initial period of classroom learning, the students are given a chance to experience the practical constraints in the rural sector of India. If we consider the placement profile of XIMB, the institution has shown its excellent placement records throughout the years. Institute of Rural Management, Jaipur As we all know, the Institute of Rural Management which is situated in Jaipur, is one of the best Management institutions which ensure quality provision of rural management as a course. This institute is affiliated to AICTE, the Government of India and it is well recognized with a proper grade and in the Rajasthan belt, it is a very famous institution. The institution provides Post Graduate Diploma in Rural Management and according to the record of placements of the previous years, the students have been placed with high salary packages and satisfactory job opportunities. Apart from this, the campus is a well-maintained one with several facilities such as Wi-Fi, proper laboratories, libraries and much more. Growing scope of Rural Management in India: For any individual, it is difficult to analyze the ground realities which prevail in the rural sector of India. Previously, only a few people opted for this challenging course but nowadays, a lot of students are opting for this course of rural management as they want to learn and showcase their skills to ensure that the performance in the rural sector is enhanced. The rural sector of India is almost the 70% of the whole population and apart from that, this particular sector contributes even more than half of the countrys Gross Domestic Product(GDP). So, it is recommendable that expert professionals are employed in this field. The curriculum related to rural management ensures that each and every student is able to understand the key features prevailing in the rural market, their patterns and how to execute operations within them. Recently, the spectacular attempt which aims at Digitizing India especially focuses on the development of the rural sector as a whole. This is why several MOUs have been signed between the government and other organizations so that these organizations can reach the deeper parts of India. The scope of opportunities in rural management is increasing day by day as organizations such as Aditya Birla Group of Organizations, Tata Steel, Flipkart, Snapdeal, Paytm and much more contributing their best as well to make a Digital India. Jobs one can expect after pursuing a degree in Rural Management: Since 67% of the companies are planning to expand its form into the rural market, one can experience a number of job opportunities after pursuing a degree in rural management. Some common recruiters are named below: 1) National NGOs such as SEWA, CARE, PRADHAN etc. 2) International NGOs such as Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation etc. Apart from these, the common recruiters are Aditya Birla Group of Organizations, Vedanta Resources, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Jindal Steel and Power Limited, Mahindra and Mahindra as well as the Hero Group of organizations. In terms of CSR as well as other sectors such as Micro-finance, Manufacturing, Agri-business and much more, an individual with a proper degree with rural management has a brighter future. Who is the best? Earlier we discussed the three popular institutes providing rural management as an academic program. A comparative analysis of these three institutions is done below to ensure that the candidates applying get a proper opinion about them and make the decision properly: 1) Approval and Recognition: According to resources, IRMAhas been receiving felicitations from various resources and it has been ranked as 29th by NIRF which takes this institute to an honorable position. On the other hand, XIMB has been ranked in 2015 as the Super League 2 in the Indian Management Best Business School Survey. It has received awards such as Bharat Excellence Award, RashtriyaRatan award etc due to its excellence in providing education. IRM Jaipur is also ranked within top 15 business schools in India which proves the level of versatility it delivers to its students. 2) Courses provided: IRMAprovides two major courses namely Post-Graduate Programme in Rural Management and Fellow Programme in Rural Management. On the other hand, XIMB provides courses in Rural Business Development and Marketing, Rural Finance as well as Development and Social Entrepreneurship. IRM Jaipur provides Post-graduate Diploma in Management-Rural Management with specializations available in Agri-Business Management and Rural Banking and Finance Management. 3) Fees and admission criteria: The basic admission criteria require 50% aggregate marks as well as a proper Bachelors degree. If we consider IRM Jaipur, the fee structure for the same is more than 4lakhs. While considering IRMA, their fee structure is around 8lakhs and in case of XIMB, the fee structure is around 11lakhs. 4) Placement record: IRMA is ranked as a good institution in terms of its placement records. With maximum pre-placement offers provided to the students, this institute has witnessed almost 100% placement where the salary package varies from 3lakhs to as much as 27lakhs in 2016. If we consider XIMB, in 2017 almost 30 recruiters came to this institution and recruited a bulk of students by offering them high salary packages ranging from 7lakhs to 11lakhs. In case of IRM Jaipur, a wide range of companies visit this institution and they have been recruiting a talented set of students, offering them high salary package which usually ranges from 3lakhs to even 7lakhs per annum. It is difficult to determine the best one among the three because the academic performances change each and every year and to some extent, whether a person will excel or not, depends on him or her. But when one is investing a sum of money for the purpose of education, he or she needs to analyze which institution provides him or her the best opportunities as a return of investment. From this point of view, IRMAprovides better opportunities if we consider the courses and the facilities provided to the fellow students. One aiming at a lower budget can definitely go for IRM Jaipur as it provides good experience within a lower fee rate. As we all know, XIMB is famous for delivering its promises to the students, as it demands high fees it does provide wonderful job opportunities as well. What actually makes physics so interesting are its widely used applications, when you think about it Physics is applicable in nearly all areas of science and research such as space research, nuclear energy, electronics, development engineering etc. Moreover, the skills developed while studying Physics, particularly the ability to analyze and apply information, gives one a good head start, in any field, one wishes to get in. As these skills are useful even in the management disciplines. Through this article, we will be discussing Masters of Science in Physics (M.Sc. Physics) program. This course gives physics enthusiasts a chance to develop their mathematical, problem solving, communication skills and critical thinking, that helps to interpret rich scientific data and that is always a boon to scientific researchers. Sure, makes one increase his/her employability in this field. Most colleges and universities ask for 50% marks in a bachelor's degree in Physics or Mathematics for admissions to this postgraduate program. Now if you are wondering about the best colleges or universities to pursue this degree? We have got some of the best names: Loyola College; St.Xavier's College, Mumbai; Christ University; Madras Christian college; Fergusson College, Pune; Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur; Presidency College, Kolkata, St. Stephens College, Delhi; Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur etc. to name a few. Lets Discuss Career Prospects!! Career Options after M.Sc. Physics Our next section in this blog is going to be a vibrant mix of interesting career options for all physics lovers. Check it out! Graduates in M.Sc Physics can easily avail of technical jobs, both in the private and public sector. Some of the common job positions or profiles for a physics enthusiast are Online tutor, College lecturer, Assistant Professor, Observation Scientist, Laboratory Technician, School Science Technician or Research Analyst, Assistant Scientist, Physics Training Manager, Software Engineer, Network Administrator, IT Consultant, Security Expert, Java Developer, Systems Support Administrator, Interface Engineer etc. They can apply for jobs in Aerospace and Defence, Automobile, IT and Software, Railways, Nuclear and Renewable energy, Oil and Gas, Electronics and Telecommunications and the Manufacturing sector. Few Other Options: iz Firstly, as physicists, one can be involved in research and development in specialized branches such as elementary particle physics, astrophysics, nuclear physics, biotechnology, biophysics, chemical physics, radio physics etc. So, choose your pick wisely based on your specific interests. Because specialized goals go a long way! iz You can pursue an M.Tech degree in a variety of engineering or technology disciplines such as aeronautical, automobile, instrumentation, electronics and communication, or computer sciences. But, make sure you crack the GATE (Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering) exam first, before going down this road. Do you wish to have a long career in the field of research? Then, it is advisable to pursue your M.Phil or Ph.D. in Physics, after completing M.Sc. Physics and join any science research center. iz Next, if you have a passion for teaching, you could also apply in government or private colleges and universities; polytechnic institutes, degree colleges, engineering colleges, IITs, IISc etc. The minimum requirement is M.Sc. Physics and UGC-CSIR NET exam for lectureship and JRF. Moving on, an M.Sc. Physics followed by a BEd can also land you a job in higher secondary schools. And then, there is the option of physics tutor, at the convenience of one's homes. iz One can also be a consultant, in this field. And a Ph.D. degree plus M.Sc. Physics, sure spices up that resume, if you want to try your hand as a consultant. iz Some of the prominent national organizations, that one can try aim for, include Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), BARC, SSPL, Space Application Centres, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research Centre, Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre, National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) and National Atmospheric Research Laboratory of Department of Space. iz Noted research institutes in India such as Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata and Nuclear Science Centre, New Delhi also recruit M.Sc. Physics graduates, for technical jobs. iz At the same time, you can also look out for the national laboratories and institutes like National Geographical Research Institute, Regional Research Laboratories, National Institute of Science Communication and Information Sources etc. These are some of the leading names to be associated with the field of science. iz Moving further, you can try your luck in public sector banking, as well. Why? Because many banks recruit M.Sc. Physics graduates to the post of Probationary Officers. Lastly, how about foreign countries? And the answer is yes. Physics graduates have ample of opportunities, be it, in healthcare, manufacturing and electronics companies in most foreign countries. Those with exceptional academic excellence, can go a step further and apply in National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the best space research organization there is! Salary and Perks Digging a bit deeper into the pros of being an M.Sc. Physics graduate. The salary and perks! A qualified fresher can get paid Rs.12,000 to Rs.18,000 p.m.or more in good research organizations. Salaries in private organization can vary depending upon skills and experiences. In case of teaching jobs, a decent salary of Rs. 40,000 (approx) in a government college, is possible. Usually, the starting average salary package, from campus placements would be Rs. 9-10 Lakhs p.a. (approx.) and it increases up to 30 Lakhs p.a., on gaining rapid experiences in the field along with yearly bonuses. Just as an example, below we have provided possible salary structures at National Physical Laboratory, UGC-DAE Consortium for Scientific Research, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, wherein M.Sc Physics graduates are quite often recruited for research etc. As a Research Associate, one can earn about Rs.16,000 p.m. plus HRA. Then a Junior Research Fellow earns about Rs.12,000 plus HRA. On the other hand, a Research Intern would get about Rs.11,500. Next, as a Scientist and Scientific Officer in Radiological Physics and Technical Officer, the normal pay would range between Rs.15,600 - 39,100 with Grade Pay Rs.6,600. But Grade Pay is Rs. 7,600 in case of Technical Officer. So, endless possibilities in the world of physics wait for those serious physics lovers. It's not just about researching and finding out things in a lab, that will benefit your employer and put in a bigger amount in your pocket, at the end of the month. Embarking in the world of Physics is also about a personal journey and discovery of the meaning of ones own life. Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 22 (IBNS): The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will challenge the acquittal of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in a corruption case that dates back to the 1990s, according to NDTV. According to the media report, the CBI will move the Kerala High Court that acquitted Vijayan in the 1990 case. The development comes amid a heightened political tussle involving the ruling CPI (M) and the BJP, eyeing the red citadel- both involved in continuing bloody conflicts. The High Court said the CBI could not produce much evidence against the Kerala CM. However, the document made by the law ministry suggests the CBI has enough ground to probe the case. The SNC-Lavalin case, which dates back to 1998, was about Canadian firm SNC-Lavalin which was given the contract to built several hydroelectric projects. Vijayan was the state power minister at the time the deal was made in the Left Front-lead coalition government in the state. The CBI was then asked to investigate the case but the Kerala HC passed the verdict in favour of the present CM. The investigation started when the Congress-led state government was in power and they alleged the deal with the Canadian firm was not transparent. Vijayan became the CM of the state in 2016 after the Left Front defeated the Congress in the Assembly election. Image: Facebook page of Pinarayi Vijayan Patna, Nov 22 (TheBiharPost/IBNS): Armed men shot dead a local businessman in Patna, Bihar, late Tuesday night, sparking panic in the area. The motive behind the murder is yet to be ascertained. The victim's family claimed they had no enmity with anyone and also no ransom was demanded. The victim, identified as Jitendra Kumar Gandhi, was the owner of a Khadims showroom in Raja Bazar locality of the state capital. Reports said the victim along with his son was returning to his residence late Tuesday night on his bike when four people riding two bikes fired at him, killing him on the spot. The miscreants fled after the victims son fired shots from his revolver. The incident took place near Sanjay Gandhi Institute of Dairy Technology which falls under Airport police station. The police are investigating the case. thebiharpost.com/IBNS Hyderabad, Nov 22 (IBNS) : Prime Minister Narendra Modi will play host to Ivanka Trump at a dinner at Hyderabads Falaknuma Palace on November 28, reports said. US President Donald Trump's daughter will be introduced to Indian cuisine at the banquet to be held on the occasion of the Global Entrepreneurs Summit (GES) at the Nizam dining hall in Falaknuma Palace. . Union Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and and other VVIPs will be among 99 persons who will be seated at the dining table, stated to be the largest in the world. .The Hindu said that industrialists Mukesh Ambani, Ratan Tata and Anand Mahindra will be among corporate big shots who would dine with the Prime Minister and Ivanka Trump. The dinner is expected to be attended by over 2,000 people, including GES delegates and Telangana police officials supervising security arrangements. According to CNN-News 18, the royal menu would include food from all regions of the country, including the famous Hyderabadi Biryani. The dinner will be followed by cultural events organised to highlight India's culture. New Delhi, Nov 22 (IBNS): The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the signing and ratifying of an Agreement between India and Philippines on co-operation and mutual assistance in customs matters. The Agreement will help in the availability of relevant information for the prevention and investigation of Customs offences,read a government statement. The Agreement is also expected to facilitate trade and ensure efficient clearance of goods traded between the countries. This Agreement shall enter into force after the necessary national legal requirements for entry into force of this Agreement have been fulfilled by both the countries. India using technology as weapon in war against poverty: PM Modi | After PM Modi-Rishi Sunak meet, UK gives go-ahead to 3,000 annual visas for Indians | Supreme Court orders retrial in 2018 Kathua rape-murder, accused to be tried as adult | Delhi murder: Accused Aaftab Ameen Poonawala was inspired by crime show Dexter | 'Will expose the reality of how Pakistan treated me': Singer Adnan Sami Ahmedabad, Nov 22 (IBNS); The Gujarat government on Wednesday said it will not allow the release of filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali's latest movie Padmavati in the state. Announcing the decision, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said his government could not allow distortion of history. "The Government of Gujarat will not allow #Padmavati - a movie hurting sentiments of Rajputs - to get released in the State. We cant allow our history to be distorted. We believe in freedom of speech & expression but any foul play with our great culture is not tolerated," he tweeted. The Government of Gujarat will not allow #Padmavati - a movie hurting sentiments of Rajputs - to get released in the State. We cant allow our history to be distorted. We believe in freedom of speech & expression but any foul play with our great culture is not tolerated. Vijay Rupani (@vijayrupanibjp) November 22, 2017 The movie was scheduled to release on Dec 1. Amid protests, makers have delayed the release of the movie in the country. The new date of the release of the movie has not been announced so far. The movie features Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor in the lead roles. New Delhi, Nov 22 (IBNS): Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will visit Russia from Nov 27 to 29, officials said on Wednesday. During three day visit, Union Home Minister will be holding discussions with Vladimir Kolokoltsev, Minister for Internal Affairs and other senior Russian leadership. The discussions would cover the entire gamut of bilateral, regional and international matters of mutual interest, read a government statement. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is likely to sign a comprehensive security agreement on cooperation in combating terrorism and organized crime with the Ministry of Interior of the Russian Federation which would reinforce the relationship between India and Russia through exchange and sharing of information, expertise, best practices and would help in curbing terrorism and enhancing security in the region. He is also expected to sign Joint Action/Implementation Plan for cooperation in areas of drugs and disaster management. As Both the countries have long history of close cooperation on matters of shared security concerns, this visit will provide an opportunity to further cement and strengthen the mutually beneficial bilateral ties between both the countries. New Delhi, Nov 22 (IBNS): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday chaired his twenty-third interaction through PRAGATI - the ICT-based, multi-modal platform for Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation. The first twenty-two meetings of PRAGATI have seen a cumulative review of 200 projects with a total investment of Rs. 9.31 lakh crore. Resolution of Public Grievances has also been reviewed in 17 sectors. Today, in the twenty-third meeting, the Prime Minister reviewed the progress towards handling and resolution of grievances related to consumers. The Prime Minister was briefed on the action taken to ensure speedy and effective disposal of consumer grievances. Expressing concern over the large number of grievances, the Prime Minister emphasized on the need for improvement in the administrative arrangements, so that consumers can be benefited. The Prime Minister reviewed the progress of nine infrastructure projects in the railway, road, power, and renewable energy sectors, spread over several states including Uttarakhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Nagaland, Assam, Maharashtra, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. These projects are cumulatively worth over 30,000 crore rupees. The Prime Minister reviewed the progress in implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Khanij Kshetra Kalyan Yojana (PMKKKY). He said that funds accruing to the District Mineral Foundations (DMFs) should be utilized to strategically focus upon and eliminate major development issues or deficits that these districts currently face. He said this should be done in a focused way, so as to achieve the greatest possible, tangible results by 2022, which marks 75 years of independence. New DelhI, Nov 22 (IBNS): The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given its approval for expansion of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao for a Pan India reach covering all the 640 districts (as per census 2011) of the Country to have a deeper positive impact on Child Sex Ratio. Expansion under BBBP has been approved based on the successful implementation in 161 districts. The Scheme was launched by the Prime Minister on 22nd January, 2015 at Panipat, Haryana as a comprehensive programme to address the declining Child Sex Ratio (CSR) and related issues of empowerment of women over a life-cycle continuum. The CSR, defined as number of girls per 1000 boys in the age group of 0-6 years, declined sharply from 976 in 1961 to 918 in Census 2011. However, there was no systematic response or comprehensive advocacy strategy to arrest and curb this disturbing trend. The Government recognized the challenge of declining Child Sex Ratio (CSR), as a telling indicator of gender discrimination towards girl child, requiring immediate attention and action and launched BBBP scheme in 2015. Currently the scheme is being implemented as a tri-ministerial, convergent effort of Ministries of Women and Child Development, Health & Family Welfare and Human Resource Development with focus on awareness and advocacy campaign, multi-sectoral action in select 161 districts, enabling girls' education and effective enforcement of Pre-Conception & Pre Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC&PNDT) Act. The specific objectives of the scheme include preventing gender biased sex selective elimination; ensuring survival and protection of the girl child and ensuring education and participation of the girl child. At the Central level, Ministry of Women and Child Development is the nodal ministry for the programme. At the State level, Chief Secretaries heads the State Task Force (STF) with representation of Department of WCD, Health and Education to monitor the implementation of the scheme. The District Collectors/Deputy Commissioners (DCs) lead and coordinate action of all departments for implementation of BBBP at the District level. The programme will be completing 3 years shortly and in this short duration, BBBP has been well-received and favourable trends are visible in many of the districts. The latest reports as per HMIS data of MoHFW for 161 BBBP districts indicate that for the time period between April-March, 2015-16 & 2016-17, an improving trend in Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) is visible in 104 districts, 119 districts have reported progress in first trimester registration against the reported Anti Natal Care registrations and 146 districts have reported improvement in institutional deliveries. Looking at the encouraging results of implementation in 161 districts and magnitude/criticality of the problem and its spread across the country, it has been realized that no district can be left out of BBBP ambit if a real dent is to be made on overall CSR. Accordingly, the Cabinet has approved the expansion for Pan India Coverage with a proposed outlay of Rs. 1132.5 Crore from 2017-18 to 2019-20, to be funded 100% by the Central Government. Out of 640 districts, BBBP is currently getting implemented in 161 districts. The expansion would include Multi sectoral intervention in 244 districts in addition to existing 161 districts. 235 districts are to be covered through Alert District Media, Advocacy and Outreach, thus covering all the 640 districts of the Country. Srinagar, Nov 22 (IBNS): A soldier was killed in North Kashmir after militants and army exchanged fire along Line of Control in North Kashmirs Kupwara district. Reports said that a gun fight broke out between army and militants at Choken Post in Keran Sector near Line of Control on Wednesday morning. A soldier identified as Sandeep Singh was killed in the gunfight. Sources added that government forces have launched a cordon and search operation is underway in the area. According to the sources, two more soldiers have sustained injuries in the gunfight. (Reporting by Saleem Iqbal Qadri) Imphal, Nov 22 (IBNS): Union Minister KJ Alphons on Tuesday confronted a furious passenger at Manipur's Imphal airport as her flight was delayed. Dr Nirala Singh, a final-year medical student at the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences in Imphal, was trying to reach her hometown in Patna to attend her brother's funeral. But her flight clashed with the arrival of President Ram Nath Kovind and as a result got delayed for two hours, media reports said. In a mobile footage, Singh was seen screaming at the minister. She even broke down in front of the minister. "I am a doctor, not a politician. I have very important time... I had to go to Patna at 2.45... that was the scheduled time... I told my family also. The body will degrade. I know... I am a doctor... the body will degrade and it will smell. It is still at my home," she was heard saying in the video. The minister was also seen calming her down. Later speaking to media, Alphons said: "I understand her distress, you can't blame her. She vented her anger at me because she probably was looking for a compassionate face." Guwahati, Nov 22 (IBNS): Noted Assamese actor Biju Phukan died at Apollo Hospital in Guwahati on Wednesday evening following severe cardiac ailments, family members said. He was 70. According to the reports, the popular Assamese film and theater actor was admitted at the private hospital on Wednesday evening around 4-30 pm with breathing difficulty. He passed away at 6-15 pm. The hero of the Assamese film industry in a career spanning over 55 years was born on February 18, 1947 in upper Assams oil rich district Dibrugarh. The award winning actor started his film career with Brajen Baruahs film Dr Bezbarua in 1970. He appeared as a hero with Samarendra Narayan Devs Aranya in 1971, which was adjudged best regional film at the National Film Awards. He acted over 80 Assamese, Bengali and Hindi films in his career such as Baruar Songshar, Lalita, Bonoriya Phool, Momota, Brishti, Ajoli Nobou, Upapath, Itihaas, Bowari, Aparoopa, Ghar Sangshar, Devi, Agnisnaan, Bohagor Duporiya, Mon Mandir, Anthony Mur Naam, Maa, Papori, Pita-Putra, Pahari Kanya, Agnisakshi, Barood, Rong, Rowd, Khandob Daah, Dur are some his popular movies. He also acted in four Bengali films named Hotel Showfox, Aparajita, Doishyu Ratnakar, Gajamukta and a Bollywood film Ananda Ashram directed by Shakti Samanta, which released in 1977. Meanwhile, Assam Governor Prof. Jagdish Mukhi condoled the death of popular Assamese actor Biju Phukan who breathed his last. I am deeply saddened by his death who hugely contributed to popularise Assamese cinema. With his death, a void will be created which will be hard to be filled. I extend my condolences to the bereaved family and his fans. May his soul rest in peace, Prof Mukhi said. On the other hand, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal mourned the demise of veteran actor. I am grieved and saddened by the sudden demise of Biju Phukan who is largely responsible for promoting Assamese film industry and brought it to the present status. His contributions will be remembered by posterity. Biju Phukan enriched Assmese cinema with his immortal roles in the films like Dr. Bezbaruah, Ajoli Nobou, Boari, Ghar-Sansar, Devi, Agni-Snan, Pita-Putra so on and so forth. His death is an irreparable loss to the society. He also empathised with the bereaved family members and prayed to the Almighty for eternal peace of the departed soul, Sonowal said. Sonowal, who is on an official tour to Upper Assam, has asked his Media Adviser Hrishikesh Goswami to rush to late Biju Phukans house and be with the family at this difficult time. He also spoke over phone and expressed his empathy with the bereaved family members. Sonowal asked Chief Secretary VK Pipersenia to take steps to complete his last rites with full state honour. All Assam Students Union (AASU), Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP), Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), BJPs Assam unit, Assam Pradesh Congress, AIUDF and several organizations have condoled the death of the popular Assamse actor. (Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath) Kaohsiung, Nov 22 (IBNS): Kaohsiung, a port city in southern Taiwan, is a home to many skyscrapers such as the 248m-tall Tuntex Sky Tower. The city is known for its diversity of parks. Its focal point is the Love River, with walking paths, restaurants and cafes along its banks and cruise boats navigating its waters. Shopping options range from high-end malls to the Liuhe and Ruifeng night markets that are fantastic for bargain buys. Kaohsiung has been rated as one of the top 10 cities to visit in 2018 by renowned publication 'Lonely Planet'. The article said: "A massive arts centre and 100,000 sqm cultural and music complex, complete with wave-lapped walkways and a night market, is emerging on Kaohsiung's balmy harbourfront Taiwan's showcase for experimental architecture from around the world." "Adding to this will be a spectacular cruise terminal, for those favouring an Odyssean approach to the port city. A sleek light-rail system links these monuments to the rest of Kaohsiung. Further north, in Xiaogang Shan Recreation Area, hikers can view the Taiwan Strait from the new 88m 'Eye of the Mountain' skywalk, a reminder that water is ever-present. Kaohsiung is surging with possibilities: visit before the world gets wind of it," the article reads. Taiwan is located in the western Pacific Ocean 160 km (100 miles) off the southeastern coast of the Chinese mainland and is a convenient gateway to Asia for the Indian traveler. Their brutality knows no bounds: sexual exploitation, forced labour, the removal of bodily organs and slavery are the tools of their trade, said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Tuesday, alongside Yuri Federov, the head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, connected via video conference. We must act urgently to protect the human rights and dignity of migrant populations, [bring] the perpetrators to justice, [and] increase humanitarian aid, he added. Noting, in particular, the horrific images of African migrants being sold as goods in Libya, Guterres also stressed the need to help Libyan authorities strengthen their own capacity to protect and provide for vulnerable men, women and children. At the same time, he highlighted the urgent need to create more opportunities for regular migration, to restore the integrity of the refugee protection regime, and to increase the number of refugees resettled in developed countries. We must also do more to support the victims and survivors of trafficking, Guterres said, underlining that they should be treated as victims of crime and not detained, prosecuted or punished for unlawful activities they were compelled to engage in, in order to survive. Also in his briefing, the UN chief recalled the steps taken by the Security Council the body within the UN system tasked with maintaining international peace and security including through resolutions to combat financial flow to traffickers. He also stated that along with the Political Declaration on the implementation of the Global Plan of Action, adopted by the General Assembly this September, the global community has built a framework for action rooted in international law. Channel collective horror into action against human trafficking UN anti-crime chief Also at on Tuesdays meeting, Yuri Fedotov, the Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime urged the international community for a global partnership against human trafficking. Collective horror at [the situation in Libya] serves an important purpose: it can quicken the pace of our actions, he said. Fedetov also stressed that UNIDO is fully prepared to help Libyan authorities strengthen their ability to prosecute the criminals behind such appalling crimes as well as to support them investigate the finances flowing from such activities. Other speakers at the open debate included Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, UN Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, and Smail Chergui, Commissioner for Peace and Security of the African Union. The Security Council open debate on preventing trafficking in persons in conflict situations was convened by Italy, the Council President for the month of November. The debate also saw the unanimous adoption of a resolution by the 15-member Council in which it called on all Member States to reinforce their political commitment to and improve their implementation of applicable legal obligations to criminalize, prevent, and otherwise combat trafficking in persons. The text also urged for strengthening efforts to detect and disrupt such activities, including through robust victim identification mechanisms and providing access to protection and assistance for identified victi It also called for combatting crimes that might be connected with trafficking in persons in areas affected by armed conflict, such as money-laundering, corruption, the smuggling of migrants and other forms of organized crime. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe Source: www.justearthnews.com People, no matter what their health needs, require comprehensive health solutions that are accessible, available, acceptable and of good quality, Michel Sidibe, the Executive Director of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), said in the foreword of the agencys new report, Right to health, which was launched yesterday in South Africa. Sidibe cited South Africa as an example of a dramatic scale-up of HIV treatment, saying that while in 2000, the country had 90 people on treatment, on Tuesday, there are more than four million. On Tuesday, South Africa has the biggest life-saving treatment programme in the world [] This is the kind of acceleration we need to encourage, sustain and replicate, he said. The rising treatment helps keep more people living with HIV alive and well. As treatment access has increased for pregnant women living with HIV, new infections among children have been rapidly reduced by almost half worldwide, according to UNAIDS. The new report highlights the gaps in accessing to health, while also providing some innovative examples of AIDS response. One challenge is to ensure 17.1 million people, including 1.2 million children, have access to HIV treatment, especially in the countries where new HIV infections are rising. In that regard, the report points out that new HIV infections are rising at a rapid pace in countries that have not expanded health services to those most affected. Wherever the right to health is compromised, HIV spreads, says UNAIDS. In eastern Europe and Central Asia, for example, new HIV infections have risen by 60 per cent since 2010, and AIDS-related deaths by 27 per cent. While in sub-Saharan Africa, the majority of new HIV infections are among young women and girls aged between 15 and 24 years. The report has been giving a voice to people living with HIV and giving affected communities and civil society the means to demand their right to health, stressed Sidibe. He further called on Governments to respect, protect and fulfil the right to health of everyone and reiterated the worlds commitment to Sustainable Development Goal 3, to ensure good health and well-being for all. Photo: Sean Kimmons/IRIN Source: www.justearthnews.com Image: Wallpaper Harare, Nov 22 (IBNS): Thousands of Zimbabweans cheered and partied all night long in the national capital after Robert Mugabe stepped down as the country's President, ending a near-four-decade rule. His resignation came in form of a letter, read out by the Speaker of the Parliament. In his letter, Mugabe said he was resigning to 'allow a smooth and peaceful transfer of power', and was doing so 'voluntary'. Mugabe assumed power in 1987 as the President of Zimbabwe and had ruled ever since. The country's second President, Mugabe was the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987, prior to his elevation as the President. He was a popular leader and over the years amassed the support of important people and organisation in the country, but one wrong move paved his downfall, rather quickly. It all went pear shaped for the 93-year-old after he sacked his powerful Vice-President, Emmerson Mnangagwa, two weeks ago, as the country plunged into a political turmoil. Soon the Army intervened and Mugabe was put under house arrest. Political commentators have stated that the move was ill-conceived and hasty and was done in a bid to clear the way for his 52-year-old wife, Grace Mugabe. Mnangagwa, nicknamed the 'crocodile' for his political acumen and shrewdness, reportedly fled the nation after his sacking, but has returned since. He has in the past held important positions, including that of looking after the country's defence and security. Meanwhile, Mugabe's departure has been greeted with equal cheer from both the incumbent and opposition parties. Activist and political candidate Vimbaishe Musvaburi told the BBC, "We are tired of this man, we are so glad he's gone. We don't want him anymore and yes, today, it's victory." Mnangagwa is likely to succeed Mugabe as the country's new President. However, according to commentators, Zimbabwe's political culture needs a change. Senior Zimbabwean opposition politician David Coltart tweeted: "We have removed a tyrant but not yet a tyranny." Mugabe had once famously said that 'only God' could remove him. He was, until his removal, the oldest leader in the world. Image: Wallpaper Washington/Pyongyang/Beijing, Nov 22 (IBNS): In a bid to tighten grip on North Korea and stop its nuclear programme, the United States has slapped new sanctions on Tuesday, a day after returning the isolated nations to its list of state sponsors of terrorism. The new US sanctions have also targeted Chinese companies and an individual, who have been blamed of helping Kim and his men. US treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement, "These designations include companies that have engaged in trade with North Korea cumulatively worth hundreds of millions of dollars." "We are also sanctioning the shipping and transportation companies, and their vessels, that facilitate North Koreas trade and its deceptive maneuvers," the statement read. At least three Chinese companies and one individual have been sanctioned. Those sanctioned will not be able to do business with America or hold assets in the US. US has alleged Dandong Kehua Economy & Trade Co. Ltd, Dandong Xianghe Trading Co. Ltd and Dandong Hongda Trade Co. Ltd of exporting goods worth $650 million to North Korea and import goods worth $100 million from North Korea since 2013. Chinese citizen Sun Sidong and his company, Dandong Dongyuan Industrial Co, too have been sanctioned. Both Sun and his company have been accused of exporting $28 million worth of goods to Pyongyang. The sanctions has not sat well with Beijing. Speaking about the latest US move, the Chinese Embassy in Washington said, "China firmly opposes unilateral sanctions out of the UN Security Council framework, especially the imposition of the so-called long-arm jurisdiction by other countries in accordance with their domestic laws." US secretary of state Rex Tillerson said that things are going to get a lot uglier until and unless North Korean leader Kim Jong-un engages in a diplomatic talk with America. "This is only going to get worse until youre ready to come and talk, Tillerson said. Both North Korea and the US have engaged in name calling in recent times, exacerbating an already delicate Washington-Pyongyang relations. While the US has pressurised the UN to put stricter sanctions on North Korea, to dry its cash flow and stop its nuclear programme, the North has blamed Trump and his administration of hampering peace in the Korean Peninsula. Beirut, Nov 22 (IBNS): Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri landed in the national capital, Beirut, for the first time since announcing his resignation on Nov 4 while in Saudi Arabia, reports said. After returning to the nation, he was quoted as saying "Thank you" to the people of Lebanon, which is undergoing a massive political turmoil. On Nov 4, while during his visit to Saudi Arabia, Hariri unexpectedly announced his resignation, stating that his life faces a threat. While stepping down, he also took pot shots at Iran. "Wherever Iran is involved, there is nothing but devastation and chaos," Hariri had said. The statement didn't go down well with Lebanon and Iran, with the former accusing Saudi Arabia of stating the entire saga and forcing Hariri to resign under pressure. Saudi Arabia, which is also involved in a verbal battle with Iran, has accused Hezbollah of being Tehran's proxy in Lebanon. According to experts and political commentators, the main battle between Saudi Arabia and Iran dates back to the age old issue of Shia and Sunni. While Iran believes in the Shia branch of Islam, which holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib as his successor, Saudi Arabia, the biggest regime in the Middle East, is a Sunni stronghold. Hezbollah too is a Shia Islamist political outfit and hence has fallen out of favour with the Kingdom of Saud. Meanwhile, Hariri's resignation was not granted by the Lebanon's President Michel Aoun, who had stated that the former must appear in person and submit his papers. Hariri, who later flew to Paris to meet with french President Emmanuel Macron, had said that he will take part in Lebanon's Independence celebrations on Wednesday, where he's expected to meet the President and express his desire. "It is there that I will make known my position... after meeting President Aoun," he was quoted as saying. Image: Wallpaper Mladic is the epitome of evil, and the prosecution of Mladic is the epitome of what international justice is all about, underscored Zeid Raad Al Hussein, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, in a statement on Wednesday. Todays verdict is a warning to the perpetrators of such crimes that they will not escape justice, no matter how powerful they may be nor how long it may take. They will be held accountable, he added. Mladic presided over some of the most horrific crimes to occur in Europe since World War II, bringing terror, death and destruction to thousands of victims, and sorrow, tragedy and trauma to countless more. In the statement, Zeid also noted that Mladics conviction, by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), is a testament to the courage and determination of those victims and witnesses who never gave up hope that they would see him brought to justice. Todays verdict is a warning to the perpetrators of such crimes that they will not escape justiceHigh Commissioner Zeid He also expressed hope that while the conviction will not return loved ones to their families or erase the past, the verdict can help counter the voices of those who either deny these horrific crimes or glorify those who committed them. Also in the statement, Zeid said that the ICTY verdict reinforced the importance of the International Criminal Court. All those who question the importance of the ICC should reflect on this case. All those who are committing serious international crimes in so many situations today across the world should fear this result, he said Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic two of the main architects of some of the worst atrocities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including the genocide of Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica have now been convicted by the Tribunal and are facing lengthy jail sentences. Mladic will be remembered by history for the many communities and lives he destroyed ICTY Prosecutor Also today, in a separate statement, Serge Brammertz, the Prosecutor at the ICTY, said that in delivering its judgement, the Tribunal accepted the evidence presented that Mladic was a key participant in four joint criminal enterprises. Mladic and other senior leaders intended to achieve their political and military aims by committing genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, said the Prosecutor. The convictions against the former Bosnian Serb army commander included for commanding violent ethnic cleansing campaigns across Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1992 to 1995; for commanding a campaign of crimes during the Siege of Sarajevo; for the genocide in Srebrenica in 1995; and for using forces under his command to take UN peacekeepers as hostages. In his statement, Brammertz underscored that while some people would claim that this judgment is a verdict against the Serbian people. [We] reject that claim in the strongest terMladics guilt is his, and his alone [] he will be remembered by history for the many communities and lives he destroyed he said. The true heroes are the victims and survivors who never gave up on their quest for justice [and] displayed real courage by coming to the Tribunal to tell the truth and confront the men who wronged them, highlighted the prosecutor. Photo: ICTY Source: www.justearthnews.com New York, Nov 22(Just Earth News): The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is working with authorities in Bangladesh to urgently investigate high levels E.coli contamination in water drawn from wells inside the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar. The latest figures from the World Health Organization suggest that 62 per cent of water available to households is contaminated, UNICEF spokesperson Christophe Boulierac told reporters On Tuesday at the regular press briefing in Geneva. We are also concerned by an increase in cases of acute watery diarrhoea (AWD) which have included several deaths, he added. Between 25 August and 11 November 2017, a total of 36,096 AWD cases were reported, including 10 related deaths 42 per cent, or 15,206, of which were children under age five. We are seeing an upward trend in infection rates. Whilst the exact cause of increased cases of AWD remains uncertain, it may be linked to contaminated food or water, Boulierac elaborated. Some of the wells inside the camps were dug too shallowly, less than 40 meters deep; have been poorly sited; and are very congested with no safeguards to prevent bacterial contamination at ground level. Contamination may be being caused through poor hygiene practices, such as the use of dirty containers [and] bad hygiene habits of the population in water handling, the spokesperson said. UNICEF and the Bangladesh authorities are investigating levels of contamination to ensure better construction practices for tube wells that meet international standards and have an appropriate ceiling. We are stepping up measures to distribute water purification tablets to provide for water treatment at the household level as well as promoting good hygiene practices, he said, noting that providing safe drinking water has been one of UNICEF's highest priorities in responding to the Rohingya refugees' needs. Smaller settlements at risk of being overlooked Since 25 August, some 622,000 refugees fleeing violence in Myanmar have sought refuge in Cox's Bazar bringing the total number of refugees there to an estimated 834,000. As international attention focuses on the main Kutupalong and Balukhali settlements, the thousands who have settled in smaller villages in the southern part of the district risk being excluded from humanitarian aid programmes, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said. Access to clean water is also a major concern across all the locations, particularly as the dry season approaches. Aid agencies providing water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services are racing to identify solutions to this potentially life-threatening problem. Although most are in the main settlements, 22,067 refugees live in Shamlapur, with 16 people sharing one latrine that are mostly full or dangerous; 22,130 in Leda, which has only one latrine per 47 people well below the humanitarian 'Sphere' standard of one per 20 people; and 29,915 in Unchiprang, where there is also only one well per 57 people. This totals more 74,000 Rohingya refugees in all. Many are contaminated with E.coli or are too shallow to provide enough clean water for the population through the dry season. IOM emergency managers say that the three sites urgently need to be developed, including providing vital infrastructure access roads, lighting and waste management. Most of the temporary pit latrines are full. With little to no land for de-sludging, they are becoming unusable and a danger to communities living nearby, said IOM WASH specialist Stephen Waswa Otieno. Photo: UNICEF/Brown Source: www.justearthnews.com Kabul, Nov 22 (IBNS): During clearance operation, at least six Taliban insurgents were killed in Afghanistan's Maidan Wardak province on Tuesday, media reports said on Wednesday. According to reports, the operation was conducted by the Afghan police, the army, special forces and commandos. During the operation ten villages were cleared and the operation is ongoing in Ali Khel, Zamni, Zeyolat, Ismail Khel, Mohammad Noor Khel and Dar-e-Kuhna Khomar villages, reported Tolo News. No casualty from the security forces or civilian side have been reported so far. Islamabad, Nov 22 (IBNS): in a major development, a review board, comprising judges of the Lahore High Court, refused to extend the detention of Jamaatud Dawas (JuD) chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, media reports said on Wednesday. The current house arrest of the JuD chief is scheduled to end on Nov 24. The review board under the chair of Justice Abdul Sami Khan passed these orders after a senior finance ministry official failed to convince the board that the release of Saeed would bring diplomatic and financial problems to the country, Dawn News reported. Saeed had been put under house arrest since Jan 31. He was initially put under house arrest for 90 days but the period was later extended more than one time. Saeed is suspected of masterminding the attack Mumbai in 2008 that killed 166 people. Image: Wikimedia Commons Ottawa, Nov 22 (IBNS): Amid the ongoing negotiations in the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said the country can't agree to extreme proposals put forward by the US, media reports said. After the fifth round of talk in Mexico city, Freeland told media: "There are some areas where some extreme proposals have been put forward, and these are proposals that we simply cannot agree to." Freeland even said certain proposals could become detrimental to the Canadian auto-industry. When asked about whether the country should look forward to have a future without NAFTA, Freeland told media, "..hope for the best and prepare for the worst and Canada is prepared for every eventuality". Canada is presently negotiating with the US regarding the NAFTA, an agreement which came into force from January 1994 by Canada, Mexico and United States creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. For almost two years, US President Trump criticised the agreement and also hinted to take some serious steps being in the administration or at least send some ultimatums. Both Canada and the US differ in the climate change. The US has already announced their withdrawal from the Paris Climate and the process of coming out from it is underway. On the other hand, Canada wants a new NAFTA with a reference to the global climate issues and make necessary steps to tackle them. In the negotiations, Canada is working for a better labour and environmental provisions. Both Canada and the US are in favour of making an environment agreement in the new NAFTA instead of designing a separate deal. The two nations also want to make certain provisions to prevent NAFTA nations from violating the rules for the sake of drawing investments. (Reporting by Suman Das) Image: twitter.com/cafreeland Mississauga, Nov 22 (IBNS): Deepak Anand, a resident of Mississauga for over 16 years, emerged as the winner in the nomination for the Ontario Provincial Parliament, according to media reports. The other candidates in the fray were Hardeep Grewal, Rajinder Bal, and Clyde Roach. After his win, Deepak Anand said that his aim is to serve the community and country. Speaking about Mississauga, Anand said: "It is this diversity and unity that made me to take a leap. I have worked with the people of this riding since many years and their strong belief in me and my vision, cemented my decision to be their nominee." During the campaign, Anand said on his website: "Our team's campaign is going to be based on three principles, Active, Inspired, Motivated - It will be our personal AIM." "As a candidate I promise to continue to be Active in the community and ensure to always fight for what is necessary. Secondly, I will make sure to listen to the citizens and learn from those who Inspire me, the good people of Mississauga-Malton. And finally I am Motivated, I have been involved in the community for more than 10 years and I want to continue to serve the people," he added. Anand completed his MBA degree from the Schulich School of Business. It is after that he had decided to return something to where he spent his last 16 years. Anand also believes that Canadian politicians are doing a lot of social services. He even illustrated the things he would to like to address. "Upon becoming Member of Provincial Parliament for Ontario, I will like to implement the following series of policies and ideas in Mississauga-Malton. These policies come under something what I call my AIM, it is what I will Act upon, what I am Inspired to do, and the Motivations behind it." (Reporting by Suman Das) After CCI penalty, FHRAI writes SEBI to stop OYO IPO The Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Association of India has written a letter to SEBI to stop the proceedings of the IPO of OYO, as reported by the Economic Times. This has come after the Co... November 16, 2022 | 16-11-2022 4:03 pm Markets end the day in Green Indian equity markets had another topsy-turve day today. Markets swung between red and green territory all through the day. Nifty 50 ended, up by 6.25 points. Sensex ended, up by 107.73 po... November 16, 2022 | 16-11-2022 3:40 pm Passenger vehicle sales may touch 3.8 million units in FY 23, says Tata Motors MD Passenger vehicle sales in India may touch 3.8 million units in FY 23, Tata Motors MD, Shailesh Chandra, said. He also added that a large part of these sales will be because of the pent-up dema... November 16, 2022 | 16-11-2022 3:21 pm Sai Silks Saree Retailers to launch IPO soon, gets nod from SEBI Sai Silks (Kalamandir) is one of the largest retailers of ethnic apparel. The company has received a nod to float an initial public offer (IPO) in the market to raise funds. As per the Draft Re... November 16, 2022 | 16-11-2022 2:49 pm HAL stock price rises after it gets LOI for 9 helicopters from Indian Coast Guard In hefty trading volumes on Wednesday, Hindustan Aeronautics' shares surged 7% to an all-time high of Rs 2,697.70 on the BSE after the company obtained a letter of intent (LoI) from the Indian ... November 16, 2022 | 16-11-2022 2:38 pm URBANA -- United States soybean exports will play a significant role in determining soybean prices this marketing year. According to University of Illinois agricultural economist Todd Hubbs, the recent level of soybean exports from the United States trails last years pace. The prospect of ending stocks for soybeans, once again diminishing throughout the marketing year, hinges on increased soybean exports, Hubbs says. The development of a lowered ending-stock scenario during 2017-18 may require a shortfall in South American production or U.S. exports capturing a greater market share of the world soybean trade. The current projection for U.S. soybean exports during the 2017-18 marketing year is 2,250 million bushels. This forecast is 76 million bushels larger than last marketing years total exports. Although were only 12 weeks into the marketing year, exploring the current pace of exports is of value because soybean exports from the U.S. typically slow as the South American soybean crop enters the world market during spring, Hubbs says. Census Bureau export estimates are only available for September, coming in at 170.5 million bushels, up 32 million bushels over the previous period last marketing year. Census Bureau exports exceeded weekly export inspections by 9 million bushels over the same time. Soybean exports through Nov. 16 equaled 713 million bushels if the margin at the end of September stayed consistent, Hubbs says. Soybean export inspections currently trail last years pace by approximately 12 percent. At this point in the marketing year, export inspections need to average 37.7 million bushels per week to meet the USDA projection. As of Nov. 9, 573 million bushels of soybean had been sold for export but not shipped. The current unshipped export sales trail the 716 million bushels sold at the same time last year. The pace and sales of soybeans currently lag last years pace. A brief look at the supply and demand situation can provide clarity on the prospects of meeting or exceeding the USDA projection, Hubbs says. U.S. soybean production is currently projected at 4,425 million bushels for the 2017 crop. This production level is 129 million bushels larger than the 2016 crop and is set to push ending stocks for the current marketing year above 400 million bushels despite the current export projection level. South American production is forecast to be 4.8 percent lower than 2016-17 production levels. This lower projection is despite a 3 percent increase in projected harvested acres in the region, mainly driven by an increased prospective planting of soybean acreage in Brazil. The lower production levels occur due to a lower projected yield in the region. Brazils soybean yield in 2016-17 came in at a record 50.1 bushels per acre, up from the drought-induced 43.1 bushels per acre yield in 2015-16. Current yield projections for Brazil in the 2017 crop sit at 45.9 bushels per acre. Although it appears reasonable to assume Brazil will not reach its record yield level again in 2017, the increased production level in the U.S. and expanded acreage in South America provide the prospect of plentiful supplies over the next year, Hubbs says. According to Hubbs, export demand over the last decade has been driven by the dramatic expansion of soybean imports from China. Currently, USDA projections for Chinese soybean imports for 2017-18 are 3,564 million bushels. The current level is a 3.7 percent increase from last years Chinese soybean import estimate. By using data from the USDAs Foreign Agricultural Service, the U.S. share of Chinese soybean imports since the 2010-2011 marketing year averaged approximately 38 percent of total Chinese imports. If we assume this market share for the 2017-18 marketing year, total U.S. exports to China would equal 1,343 million bushels, a mere 11.5 million bushels greater than the 1,331 million bushels exported to China in the 2016-17 marketing year, Hubbs says. If China expands imports to 3,764 million bushels as some reports have indicated, a similar calculation of U.S. share comes to 1,385 million bushels. Current projections for other major importers (the European Union, Japan, Mexico, and Southeast Asia) are expected to increase 52 million bushels to 1,112 million bushels for the 2017-18 marketing year. The prospect of meeting the current U.S. soybean export forecast may rely on acquiring a larger market share of the worlds soybean import expansion when considering the prospects for crops in South America, Hubbs says. Hubbs adds that U.S. soybean exports need to continue to build on the strength seen in the 2016-17 marketing year. The ability to exceed the current USDA export projections in 2017-18 is a possibility, but it is heavily dependent on South American production and the continued growth in demand from importers. If major importer demand grows at the projected rate, the soybean export and ending-stock projections outlined in the November World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report supply and demand figures appear to be reasonable approximations for the 2017-18 marketing year. Its a sad day for Kollywood. The Tamil film industry is in a state of shock after hearing that producer-director Ashok Kumar has committed suicide because of a financier who has been harassing him for years. He ended his life by hanging himself in his multi-storey apartment at Arcot Road, Chennai. In his eight-page suicide note, he has reportedly blamed a film financer for forcing him to take this decision. He accused Anbuvheziyan, a Madurai-based financier, of charging high interest on his loans. He also described that he has been paying him the interest for past seven years, but for last six months, he was being harassed and threatened of having an influence in the police as well as the political circle. Rip #Ashokkumar . It is sad that Tamil film industry has forgotten the tragic death of producer GV . Ashok Kumar's suicide note blames financier #AnbuChezhiyan pic.twitter.com/mDNzGDYRKJ bharathnt (@bharath1) November 21, 2017 Here's what he wrote in his suicide note: "Sasikumar was a boss better than the Almighty himself. He had given me all freedom and authority. But I have pushed this company into debt. Sasikumar only does good for everyone. But nobody reciprocated that kindness back to him. We have released all our films at the right moment in the past ten years. The biggest mistake we did was to borrow money from Anbuchezhiyan. He treated us very badly in the past six months. He threatened to kidnap the women in my family. Who could I ask for help? Officials, authorities, leaders of cine organisations were all on his side. He cant be touched. To punish him isnt it the Almightys job, isnt it? A person who I consider higher than my own life, Sasi, I couldnt bear the torture you are being subjected to. I am killing myself as I am not able to save you from them. Dont be a coward like me. I am leaving you amid cunning men, please forgive me for that. Dont think of me. You have worked hard. The god who didnt save me will save you and your family." wikimedia.org He (Ashok Kumar) has been my shadow and had been with me in all my steps. He was under extreme financial pressure. He was paying interest and interest for interest. How much embarrassment can he take?, actor-director Sasikumar was quoted as saying by India Today. Ashoks cousin Suseenthiran wrote on Twitter, I want brother Ashoks death to be the last in the industry. I would like to confess a shocking truth to actor Ajith fans. This same Anbu Chezhiyan (named on the suicide note) led Ajith sir to the same situation during Naan Kadavul movie talk. Popular directors Lingusamy sir, Gautham Menon sir, producers and actors have all been affected by this man. Even musician Immans choice of projects are influenced indirectly by him with a smile on his face. I want this man to be punished. I request the central government and the income tax department to raid Anbu Chezhiyan home as half the money of Tamil Nadu is with him. According to the reports, a case under IPC Section 306 (abetment of suicide) has been registered against the financier. Dharam Vira Gandhi, Member of Parliament from Patiala, Punjab, has been pushing for the legalisation of marijuana or cannabis. Finally, a private bill will be tabled in the Parliament during the upcoming winter session. He got support from some of his colleagues, including actor-turned-politician and BJP MP from Gurdaspur, Late Vinod Khanna. representational image Gandhi's bill, which proposes the decriminalisation and regulation of marijuana and opium, has been passed by the legislative branch of the parliament and would be tabled during the winter session as a private members bill. Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act of 1985 makes possession or use of drugs punishable offence. It also allows the government to regulate, control and produce certain drugs. Gandhi argues that 30 years of implementation of the bill did not yield expected results and the supply and use remains the same, just behind closed doors. While air travel is a thrill in itself, it can be significantly ruined by the meals offered on the flight. A similar incident happened to an Avianca Airlines passenger. The passenger, Steve Hogarty, who was flying the Colombian airlines, was left highly disappointed after he was served his meal. Steve Hogarty/twitter Also read: Air India Cabin Crew Allegedly Smuggled Ganja In Flight's Meal Cart, Get Arrested By Customs Instead of a delicious vegetarian meal that he had requested for, Hogarty was served with two fruits instead - an apple and a pear! Even more ridiculous was that the meal was served with a knife and a fork! Hogarty tweeted a photo of his meal and received overwhelming support from other users. The vegetarian meal on this flight is an apple and a pear wrapped in clingfilm, served with a knife and fork. pic.twitter.com/CT7hypCylb Steve Hogarty (@misterbrilliant) November 17, 2017 I asked for a veggie meal on a flight once and this is what I got. At least yours was wrapped pic.twitter.com/1yU8GCceO4 Dave O'Carroll (@DaveOCarroll) November 18, 2017 This is what @ThaiAirways calls a vegetarian meal. Notice the poured out bag of mixed nuts pic.twitter.com/FAUopx6qDW Frances Deighton (@Franny_Dee) November 21, 2017 The airlines responded with this, Service is our priority, please let us know your flight date/number and also your contact information via DM. This is not our standard so we surely will investigate as soon as possible. AC Avianca (@Avianca) November 17, 2017 To which Hogarty replied, I will DM you some recipe ideas. Steve Hogarty (@misterbrilliant) November 18, 2017 Also read: After Air India Stops Non-Veg Meals Onboard, Vistara Mocks The Airline's Decision In New Ad Hogarty's response may elicit a few laughs but what happened to him just goes to show the abysmal state of customer service in airlines - and not only in India but around the world. Poland, NATO say missile strike wasn't a Russian attack AP - Wed Nov 16, 5:05PM CST NATO's chief and the president of Poland say there are no indications that a missile that fell on Polish farmland and killed two people was a deliberate attack $SPX : 3,958.79 (-0.83%) $DOWI : 33,553.83 (-0.12%) $IUXX : 11,699.09 (-1.45%) Hogs Close Higher Barchart - Wed Nov 16, 5:03PM CST Afternoon strength moved the hog futures market back into plus territory as the front months went home mixed but mostly higher on gains of as much as 27 cents. The USDA National Average Base Hog Price... HEZ22 : 85.575s (+0.29%) HEJ23 : 95.625s (+0.13%) KMZ22 : 95.900s (unch) Red Close in Cotton Barchart - Wed Nov 16, 5:03PM CST Cotton futures faded their midday gains to close the midweek session in the red for Dec and March. December ended the day a net 30 points weaker, but off the intraday high by 141 points. The deferred contracts... CTZ22 : 88.10 (-0.38%) CTH23 : 86.36 (-0.46%) CTK23 : 85.31 (-0.65%) Cattle Close with Midweek Gains Barchart - Wed Nov 16, 5:03PM CST Front month live cattle futures went hoe $0.40 to $1.20 higher on Wednesday. The weekly FCE auction saw no sales for the 887 head listed. Bids were $149.50-$150.50, but asks were $151-152. USDA reported... LEZ22 : 151.800s (+0.35%) LEG23 : 154.250s (+0.78%) LEJ23 : 157.725s (+0.64%) GFX22 : 175.700s (+0.01%) GFF23 : 177.475s (+0.25%) Wheat Futures Fall on Wednesday Barchart - Wed Nov 16, 5:03PM CST Front month wheat futures dropped on the midweek session, taking back the premium built in yesterday regarding the uncertainty of the Poland missile. At the close, SRW futures were 10 3/4 to 11 1/2 cents... ZWZ22 : 813-6 (-0.46%) ZWH23 : 833-6 (-0.42%) ZWPAES.CM : 7.5182 (-1.39%) KEZ22 : 953-0 (-0.26%) KEPAWS.CM : 9.1382 (-0.81%) MWZ22 : 962-2 (-0.34%) Soy Market Tumbles on Wednesday Barchart - Wed Nov 16, 5:03PM CST Led by sharp drops in the soy oil market, soy futures posted double digit losses on Wednesday. BO futures fell by 3.2% to 3.77% on the day, taking the Dec contract to the lowest since 11/04. Soybeans then... CSF23 : 252-6s (-2.60%) ZSF23 : 1426-0 (-0.23%) ZSPAUS.CM : 14.0393 (-1.89%) ZSH23 : 1432-0 (-0.19%) ZSK23 : 1437-0 (-0.26%) Corn Finished Red but Off Lows Barchart - Wed Nov 16, 5:03PM CST The midweek corn session ended the day with fractional to 1 3/4 cent losses. That came after futures had fallen by over 9 cents at the days low. For the week Dec corn is currently up 7 1/4 cents. Red... ZCZ22 : 663-2 (-0.30%) ZCPAUS.CM : 6.6728 (+0.05%) ZCH23 : 665-4 (-0.30%) ZCK23 : 664-6 (-0.23%) As a fourth generation, family-run organization, Warwick, N.Y.-based Seely & Durland Insurance understands the importance of creating a welcoming, family environment in the workplace, according to President Garrett Durland. We like to treat both our clients and our employees like family, he told Insurance Journal. Seely & Durland was nominated by its staff and won this years Best Agency to Work For Bronze Award in Insurance Journals East region. To nominate the agency, its staff members filled out anonymous survey questions. Garrett has been working alongside his family throughout his insurance career, which began with a little encouragement from his father, Ken Durland the second generation to lead the family business following its founder and Garretts grandfather, Harry Seely. Seely & Durland Insurance Agency walks the walk. I was 20 years old with no clue about what I wanted to do with my life, when my father told me that he saw my grandfather in me and that hed like me to join the firm, Garrett recalled. I had no idea I would end up in insurance, let alone the family business. But here I am almost 37 years later and there are no regrets whatsoever. Garrett works alongside his brother, Vice President Stuart Durland, who has served as his partner in the business for 27 years, Garrett said. Those family values established within the business early on have remained throughout four generations to better serve clients and employees alike. It is simply common practice for us to provide our clients with the quarter for the parking meter or drive that bid bond over to their office at 6:30 a.m., Garrett said. Well be there for them at the claim site while the fire is still smoldering and answer their emails late into the night. In addition to working to go above and beyond to serve clients, the agency values retaining its employees while growing its business by hiring the newest generation of insurance professionals as well. Seely & Durland Insurance Agency walks the walk, one employee wrote in the survey. I was referred to this agency and have been made to feel like a part of the team since my first day. The welcoming atmosphere is evidenced in the agencys employee longevity, as Garrett pointed out it is celebrating two employment anniversaries in the next four months a 25-year anniversary in November and a 50-year anniversary in January. Longevity is not just something the agency sees in its staff, however, but in its clients as well. Having been in the community for generations, our clients are more like family members than just clients, another employee wrote in the survey. Each of our employees know parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, births, deaths, etc. of our insureds. I think each client feels important when they come in or call. We ask about their family or accomplishments, and it reinforces just how important they are to us as people, not just a name who is insured with us. They trust our company because we have their best interests at heart. Indeed, as one employee pointed out in the survey, one of the agencys values is to always have each others backs. I know that my agency cares about my well-being and success both in and outside the office, the employee wrote. Seely & Durlandhas been well-known and liked in the Warwick community for many, many years. While we strive to have the best for our agency, we also strive to have the best for our community. Indeed, the agency has a vision for future profitable growth through continued sales development, agency acquisition and investment in technology, Garrett said, and it plans to remain committed to its community in the process. It goes without saying that our commitment to our employees and our community will be unwavering, he said. We are working hard to see the business perpetuate well after our retirement to ultimately continue the legacy of a local business giving back to our community. Topics New York